Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom

Lots of Buddhist books are using meditation to inspect the mind and watch its workings. The process works exceptionally well for monks and nuns, but the rest of the human race is busy householding, spends less time on the meditation cushion and could use a little help in applying Buddhist teachings to the messy world of relationships. This book by Buddhist meditation teacher Kramer fills that need somewhat unevenly. Kramer is a longtime student and teacher in the insight meditation tradition and has also studied Buddhist psychology. He has developed, and teaches, a practice that engages partners in a structured dialogue based on Buddhist practices and principles. Such dialogue, like meditation, yields insight. The book is at its best when the author explains and teaches this unique practice, offering real-world examples. Less successful, and far less novel, is a section that relates Buddhism’s four noble truths to “interpersonal truths.” This section is larded with sweeping psychological generalizations conveyed in fuzzy language (“All of these hungers rest on self-concept; they are the core around which the self constellates”). This book has potential as a text for advanced Buddhist practitioners interested in extending their practice into everyday life to illuminate and improve their relationships. (Sept. 11)