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Opening The Door Of Your Heart And Other Buddhist Tales Of Happiness (2000)

by Ajahn Brahm(Favorite Author)

4.3 of 5 Votes: 5

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English

genre

review 1: cerita-ceritanya sangat menarik dan saya pikir dapat saya aplikasikan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Tapi saya tidak bisa mengingat semua pesan yang disampaikan melalui tiap cerita. Kemudian terpikir untuk menulis pesan moral dari masing-masing cerita dalam 1-3 kalimat. Saya berharap agar ke-108 x 3 pesan itu dapat dibaca dalam waktu yang singkat serta lebih mudah mengingatkan saya tentang suatu pertimbangan bagaimana sebaiknya saya bereaksi terhadap situasi, kondisi, dan peristiwa tertentu.
review 2: Let me tell you a story: once there was a little frog who went to see a Buddhist monk-ey speak at an amphibian university. The frog had great expectations, for its little heart was open and it had much respect for the enlightened monk-ey. For the most part it was a ... morefine speech – the monkey advocated such wonderful virtues as peace and compassion. The frog certainly felt, by the end, that it understood and appreciated Buddhism much better than she had before. Then the monkey went on to speak about a man who cruelly peed on a tree he’d cut down and then he got a urinary tract infection so NATURE GAVE HIM A UTI FOR BEING MEAN, that’ll teach the man for being a bastard. The frog nearly burst out laughing then and there, almost ruining the sombre tone of the crowded lilypad. The monkey also gave a pretty appalling answer to a question a giraffe asked about her son’s videogame addiction, and the frog was surprised by that. But then the frog realised, of course the monk-ey doesn’t know the ins and outs of videogame addiction - he lives in a forest! How is he supposed to know? The frog went back to her pond and wrote a book review. The moral of the story is – sometimes stories don’t have morals, they’re just stories.Ever since then, I have been torn about Brahm. On the one hand, he does have many pithy things to say on a range of issues. On the other hand, his insight into many problems of the modern world is limited, because he’s not really part of it. And apparently being a Buddhist doesn’t prevent you falling prey to many pseudo-scientific and logical fallacies left, right and centre. For example, the introduction to his book contains a story about a woman who had crippling depression, anxiety and pretty much everything else, and who’d had many years of therapy and medications before she found his book; then she read it and got better. Hence, Brahm concludes – his book was the only thing that helped. Instead of considering the possibility (which may not be the case, but it certainly could be) that those years of therapy and medication may have done valuable groundwork in getting her to a place where she could accept his insights and act on them, he chooses the road well-travelled by many gurus before him - “look how amazing I am, only I could help”. I wouldn’t have expected this kind of ego-stroking from a Buddhist that has supposedly devoted his life to wisdom and humility. I felt a seed of doubt growing as to whether Brahm was actually as supremely wise as I’d previously thought. Eventually I went back to the book and guess what? I couldn’t read it any more. I started getting angry at every spurious connection he made and couldn’t focus on the core message that was being put across. Where did this anger come from? Maybe I felt disappointed, cheated even. My image of the enlightened, peace-radiating monk that the book inspired was crumpled by this nice but not very impressive fellow who thinks that urinating on trees gives you karmic infections. (Why does religion always seem so determined to oppose itself to basic logic and medical facts? Come on Buddhists, you can do better.) It is now sitting on my bedside table waiting for me to make peace with it again. For me at least, the book would have been more accurate had it been titled “Opening the Door of Your Heart, Then Closing it Most of the Way, With the Possibility of Re-Opening it at Some Future Point”.But at the risk of only seeing the “two bad bricks”, I must say that many of the stories are wonderful, wise, and really do have the ability to change your attitude to life/pain/anger/relationships/forgiveness in a meaningful way. Because of their abstract nature, the short tales and anecdotes sneak up on you and take you delightfully by surprise. Ultimately, it’s definitely worth reading. You don’t have to like all the stories - some are silly and some endorse perspectives I wouldn’t advocate - but if only one or two good ones grasp you and make you think, then it’s all been worth it. less

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