Using vignettes and anecdotes from his own life—as well as quotations drawn from sources as varied as the Bible, Yiddish aphorisms, and stand-up comedy—Zen teacher and Unitarian Universalist minister James Ishmael Ford shares the gifts won over his lifetime of full-hearted engagement with the Zen path. “I’ve found myself broken open,” Ford says, “and found in that opening my fundamental connection to the whole world.”

What’s more, If You’re Lucky, Your Heart Will Break breathes new life into the Buddhist ideas of karma and rebirth—as well as the Buddhist precepts of ethical action—and finds for them kinship in other spiritual endeavors. Even the most cynical of hearts will find resonance in Ford’s compassionate presentation of basic human truths.