The World Could Be Otherwise
Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path
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4.0 • 5 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An imaginative approach to spiritual practice in difficult times, through the Buddhist teaching of the six paramitas or "perfections"—qualities that lead to kindness, wisdom, and an awakened life.
In frightening times, we wish the world could be otherwise. With a touch of imagination, it can be. Imagination helps us see what’s hidden, and it shape-shifts reality’s roiling twisting waves. In this inspiring reframe of a classic Buddhist teaching, Zen teacher Norman Fischer writes that the paramitas, or “six perfections”—generosity, ethical conduct, patience, joyful effort, meditation, and understanding—can help us reconfigure the world we live in.
Ranging from our everyday concerns about relationships, ethics, and consumption to our artistic inspirations and broadest human yearnings, Fischer depicts imaginative spiritual practice as a necessary resource for our troubled times.
Customer Reviews
Yes and no
While I deeply appreciate Norman Fischer’s teachings of the value of imagination in Buddhist practice (a very insightful teaching, indeed). The fact that he lives among rich liberals in Marin County, California and notes in this book that they shouldn’t feel guilty about living in mansions by the sea (because it’s only temporary) is not Dogen’s or Shakyamuni’s teaching. Ultimately, this book is kind of all over the place and often offers vague teachings in a modern liberal values vein that I fear encourages a form of righteous liberal narcissism.