Uncommon Happiness

by Dzigar Kongtrül III, Marcia Binder Schmidt, Śhāntideva

From 2005 to 2007, teacher Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche gave classes on Buddhist scholar Shantideva’s The Way of the Boddhisattva at a noted retreat center in Northern California. His commentaries revealed such a deep understanding that practitioner Marcia Binder Schmidt decided to collect them for other students of Buddhism as an independent work. This book is the result.Beginning with an overview of the entire path of Buddhism, Kongtrül Rinpoche goes on to examine different aspects of Shantideva’s text, always relating the teachings to individual experience. He explores in depth the training of the four immeasurables—equanimity, loving kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy—and discusses the importance of wholehearted engagement in the process. His advice for setting up and maintaining a spiritual practice is both practical and inspiring.Although the book contains three years of teachings, it remains remarkably compact, reflecting Kongtrül Rinpoche’s characteristic directness and emphasis on implementation. In the words of the editor, “Dharma practice needs to be more than mere theory. Dharma needs to be trained in, integrated into our lives, and embraced by wisdom.” Uncommon Happiness contains the guidance to undergo that training with the right attitude of clarity and commitment.

Genres: Buddhism

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

The 3rd Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, also known as Jigme Namgyel, (Tibetan: འཛི་སྒར་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་འཇིགས་མེད་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་, Wylie: 'dzi sgar kong sprul 'jigs med rnam rgyal, where "Rinpoche" is an honorific and not a surname) is a Tibetan Buddhist Lama of the Nyingma school, and is held to be one of the principle incarnations of Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé, and the third such in a line traced through Dzigar Kongtrul Lodrö Rabpel.

Reviews

[Gabrielle Jarrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uncommon Wisdom was not as enlightening (for me) as other Buddhist writers ie. Chodrun, Salzberg, The Dalai Lama, etc. It's clearly a left brain book, focusing far more on doctrine than inspirational for everyday life or philosophy.

[Jim Lavis · Rating 3 out of 5]

As many of you know, I try to read something spiritual each day to help keep me focused. I didn't find this book to be well written, but it did help me identify some habits that need to be eliminated from my thinking, so for that reason, I'm glad I read it.