Going on Being: Buddhism and the Way of Change
Sign in to keep track of books you’ve read and want to read.
The bestselling author of Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart combines a memoir of his own journey as a student of Buddhism and psychology with a powerful message about how cultivating true self-awareness and adopting a Buddhist understanding of change can free the mind."Meditation was the vehicle that opened me up to myself, but psychotherapy, in the right hands, has similar potential. It was actually through my own therapy and my own studies of Western psychoanalytic thought that I began to understand what meditation made possible. As compelling as the language of Buddhism was for me, I needed to figure things out in Western concepts as well. Psychotherapy came after meditation in my life, but it reinforced what meditation had shown me."Before Mark Epstein became a medical student at Harvard and began training as a psychiatrist, he immersed himself in Buddhism through experiences with such influential Buddhist teachers as Ram Dass, Joseph Goldstein, and Jack Kornfield. The positive outlook of Buddhism and the meditative principle of living in the moment came to influence his study and practice of psychotherapy profoundly. Going on Being is Epstein's memoir of his early years as a student of Buddhism and of how Buddhism shaped his approach to therapy. It is also a practical guide to how a Buddhist understanding of psychological problems makes change for the better possible.In psychotherapy, Epstein discovered a vital interpersonal parallel to meditation, but he also recognized Western psychology's tendency to focus on problems, either by attempting to eliminate them or by going into them more deeply, and how this too often results in a frustrating "paralysis of analysis." Buddhism opened his eyes to another way of change. Drawing on his own life and stories of his patients, he illuminates the concept of "going on being," the capacity we all have to live in a fully aware and creative state unimpeded by constraints or expectations.By chronicling how Buddhism and psychotherapy shaped his own growth, Mark Epstein has written an intimate chronicle of the evolution of spirit and psyche, and a highly inviting guide for anyone seeking a new path and a new outlook on life.From the Hardcover edition.
Liked Going on Being: Buddhism and the Way of Change? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked Going on Being: Buddhism and the Way of Change. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
-
For a Future to Be Possible: Buddhist Ethics for Everyday Life Shares Buddhism, spirituality, nonfiction -
The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology Shares Buddhism, spirituality, psychology -
Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah Shares Buddhism, spirituality, mindfulness -
One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism Shares Buddhism, nonfiction, spirituality
“People who read Going on Being: Buddhism and the Way of Change tend to reach for these next.”
“If you want more of the same (psychology about buddhism), start with these.”
-
Already Free: Buddhism Meets Psychotherapy on the Path of Liberation
- The Lost Art of Compassion: Discovering the Practice of Happiness in the Meeting of Buddhism and Psychology
-
The Feeling Buddha: A Buddhist Psychology of Character, Adversity and Passion
-
Understanding Our Mind: 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology
“If it was the Buddhism that hooked you, try one of these.”
- Unlimiting Mind: The Radically Experiential Psychology of Buddhism
-
Understanding the Mind: An Explanation of the Nature and Functions of the Mind
-
The Heart of the Revolution: The Buddha's Radical Teachings on Forgiveness, Compassion, and Kindness
-
Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering
