The Magnanimous Heart: Compassion and Love, Loss and Grief, Joy and Liberation

Liebenson (When Singing, Just Sing), a columnist for Buddhadharma magazine, explores how meditation, dharma, and awareness work together in her life in this helpfully challenging book. She starts from the assumption, central to Buddhism, that all people share certain core questions: How do I live a good life? How do I find peace? How can I find a fulfilling way to be in the world? These questions serve as jumping-off points for explorations of loss, grief, joy, and liberation. In each section, Liebenson discusses pertinent Buddhist teachings relevant to the given emotion (for example, regret) and suggests practices for readers to try, such as ways of letting go and strategies for reconceiving emotions during meditation. She stresses that meditation is most useful as an ongoing practice rather than something resorted to in extremes. Novice meditators may find the book intimidating, as it is directed toward readers with established mediation practices, but those looking to deepen or strengthen their meditation or understanding of dharma will find much to explore. (Feb.)