Unlimiting Mind: The Radically Experiential Psychology of Buddhism - Softcover

Olendzki, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0861716205 ISBN 13: 9780861716203

Publisher: Wisdom Publications, 2010

Synopsis

Both broad and deep, this eye-opening book is one of the best available overviews of the radical psychological teachings underlying the Buddhist approach to freedom and peace. Sophisticated without being daunting, brilliantly clear without becoming simplistic, Andrew Olendzki's writing is filled with rich phrases, remarkable images, and the fruits of decades of careful thought. Grounded in profound scholarship, psychological sophistication, and many years of teaching and personal practice, this much-anticipated collection of essays will appeal to anyone looking to gain a richer understanding of Buddhism's experiential tools for exploring the inner world. In Unlimiting Mind, Olendzki provokes fresh and familiar reflections on core Buddhist teachings.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Olendzki, PhD, was trained in Buddhist Studies at Lancaster University in England, as well as at Harvard and the University of Sri Lanka. The former executive director of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) and of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS) in Barre, Massachusetts, and executive editor of the Insight Journal, he is now senior scholar at BCBS.

Reviews

Olendzki, executive director of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and editor of a Buddhist journal, has written a dense book on Buddhist psychology. The book consists of short essays grouped by themes; many of the essays first appeared elsewhere. This gives the book a bit of a sound-bite feel; no one idea is developed for very long, so the reader, given the difficulty of the material, must, like a good Buddhist, pay attention. Olendzki is himself a close reader of Buddhist texts and clearly grounds his reasoning in those texts. His academic prose—use of passive voice, Latinate words—unfortunately compounds the difficulty of comprehension (If there is no regarding of phenomena as 'mine' then the self who suffers from attachment to phenomena is not constructed). This is not for the nightstand Buddhist; readers will require some knowledge of the Buddhist understanding of how the mind works, and they will also need some patience with highly abstract prose.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0861716205
• ISBN 13: 9780861716203
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200