We all encounter obstacles on a daily basis—from small inconveniences
and nuisances to the really big hardships wreaking havoc with our lives.
Sometimes just the small things are enough to set us reeling. Andrew
Holecek offers us a progressive path, beginning with common, easily
understood hardships, and moving on to more subtle and challenging ones
that commonly arise on our spiritual journeys.
"From Andrew Holecek's first words, you know you can trust him. He
writes from deeply felt experience as well as a masterful grasp of the
vast dharma. His essential point is riveting: 'the path leading to the
cessation of suffering necessarily includes suffering.' This book is the
essence of good meditation instruction."—Irini Rockwell, author of The Five Wisdom Energies
"With brilliance and kindness, Andrew Holecek brings the shadow side of
the spiritual path into the light, helping the practitioner navigate the
hardships he or she will inevitably discover. Holecek shows them for
what they are—necessary obstacles on all levels of the path that can
either hinder or strengthen our practice, and we can indeed be grateful
to him for so clearly and completely elucidating this profound and
necessary but rarely mentioned side of the spiritual path."—Dr. Jeremy
Hayward, author of Warrior-King of Shambhala: Remembering Chogyam Trungpa
"The spiritual hardships that each of us face along the way can be
literally hard to bear, whether these are purely psychological pressures
or events that impact us on a physical level as well. Yet they can be
ameliorated when we see their connection to our path as a whole. That is
the distinctive gift of The Power and the Pain for
contemporary Buddhist practitioners. It helps us make sense of our
individual experiences, which, as unique as they are, have been
challenging practitioners in different ways since the time of the
Buddha.... When we move beyond our theories about the spiritual path
into the actual practice of it, that is when the insights and methods
offered in this book will become truly useful. Andrew's book is in this
sense a compassionate refuge for troubled times."—The Dzogchen Ponlop
Rinpoche, author of Mind Beyond Death
Andrew Holocek is an in-demand teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. As founder of the Forum of
Living and Dying, he teaches seminars throughout the country on
spiritual hardship and the Tibetan views of life, death, and beyond. He
is also the co-founder of the Himalayan Dental Relief Project, which
serves impoverished children in five Asian countries. Dr. Holecek is
affiliated with Shambhala centers worldwide, and was adjunct faculty at
Naropa University and the Ngedon School of Buddhist Studies.
279 pages. Paperback.
1.800.331.7751
