A Monk's Guide to Finding Joy

Book excerpt: A profound and practical guide to uncovering your own wise mind and kind heart. We all want to find happiness. But how do we go about it? In this easygoing and clear-sighted guide, celebrated Buddhist meditation and philosophy master Khangser Rinpoche provides us with down-to-earth advice on how to train our minds and find our own innate wisdom and kindness along the way. He helps us see the profound insight that is open to us all, and how it can awaken us to the truth of the way things are. This insight into the truth, and the practices that help you cultivate this awareness, transform suffering into wisdom and compassion—and ultimately joy. A Monk's Guide to Finding Joy brings the ancient Tibetan mind training tradition into our twenty-first century lives. Through stories, real-life examples, reflections, and meditation practices—all told with warmth and humor—Khangser Rinpoche shows us how we can transform the suffering of our life into happiness. When we train the mind from within the context of our difficult emotions we can find true joy, just as the oyster transforms sand into a pearl.