True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart

by Thich Nhat Hanh

Overview

The renowned Zen master and peace activist introduces a Buddhist approach to practicing authentic love in our everyday lives

In this eye-opening guide, Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh offers timeless insight into the nature of real love. With simplicity, warmth, and directness, he explores the four key aspects of love as described in the Buddhist tradition: lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and freedom—explaining how to experience them in our day-to-day lives. He also emphasizes that in order to love in a real way, we must first learn how to be fully present in our lives, and he offers simple techniques from the Buddhist tradition that anyone can use to establish the conditions of love. 

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, is an internationally known author, poet, scholar, and peace activist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590309391
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	10/11/2011
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	127,168
Product dimensions:	4.30(w) x 6.60(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

A Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh is an internationally known author, poet, scholar, and peace activist, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. He is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling Living Buddha, Living Christ; Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames; Peace Is Every Step; and The Miracle of Mindfulness. He has founded monastic communities in France, Vermont, and California. He passed away peacefully at the age of 95 in January 2022.

Table of Contents

1	The Four Aspects of Love	1
2	Love Is Being There	5
3	Recognizing the Presence of the Other	13
4	Being There When Someone Is Suffering	19
5	Overcoming Pride	23
6	Deep Listening	33
7	Learning to Speak with Love Again	39
8	Restoring Peace within Yourself	43
9	The Energy of Mindfulness	49
10	Caring for Our Pain	55
11	The Principle of Nonduality	65
12	Reconciliation	71
13	Coming to Life Again	81
14	Telephone Meditation	85
15	Everybody Should Practice Mindfulness	91
16	Getting Rid of Our Concepts	95
	About the Author	103
	Thich Nhat Hanh's Practice Centers	105

Editorial Reviews

Among Buddhist leaders influential in the West, Thich Nhat Hanh ranks second only to the Dalai Lama.”
—New York Times

“A simplicity and directness that brings true love within reach.”
—Dragonfly Review

“Recommended reading for anyone who loves.”
—Ascent Magazine

“Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha.”
—Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

“[Thich Nhat Hanh] shows us the connection between personal, inner peace and peace on earth.”
—The Dalai Lama

From the Publisher

With the elegant simplicity that characterizes his style, Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh here explores the four key aspects of love: lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and freedom. Not merely descriptive, True Love explains how mantra practice and the technique of conscious breath can actually enhance our capacity for love. In the book's concluding section, he tells how love can help us heal our pain, fear, and habitual negativity. A gorgeous keepsake; a gift of love.

Zen monk Nanh offers his insights into love as private emotion and public force in his thought-provoking guide to Buddhism's four key aspects of love. Narrator James Gimian, a Buddhist himself, relates Hanh's ideas with admirable clarity. However, listeners may find themselves struggling to get through the entire recording as Gimian's delivery is fairly monotonous. For those able to focus on the message rather than the medium, there is much to be gained by repeated listening. A Shambhala hardcover. (Mar.)

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Publishers Weekly

TRUE LOVE, by prolific author and Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh, feels somewhat like a Buddhist primer on how to love well. During the course of the two-hour reading by Buddhist practitioner James Gimian, the book covers the basics of mindfulness and how, with practice, it can help people develop greater compassion. Gimian's voice is slow and steady, a style that sometimes suits the spiritual attitudes that Hanh extols. But his presentation is often so flat it undermines the ideas with which Hanh wants to inspire his readers. Yet while Gimian starts his narration stiffly, he does warm up as he describes his beloved Buddhist tenets. His voice conveys the most varied tone as he relates Hanh's allegorical anecdotes of people who struggle to love. R.L.G. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

JULY 2009 - AudioFile