Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living

Pema Chödrön takes the lojong slogans, a set of Tibetan Buddhist mind-training sayings from the twelfth century, and works through them in plain language. Her central idea is maitri, unconditional friendliness toward oneself, and tonglen, a practice of breathing in pain and breathing out relief. She argues that we grow compassionate by staying with our own discomfort, not by running from it, and she shows how ordinary frustration can be the starting point.

If you have been trying meditation and keep stumbling over self-criticism, this gives practical instruction and gentle humour. It also suits readers new to Buddhism who want a teacher who speaks in everyday examples, such as bad moods and difficult relatives, rather than doctrine.

Deep, inward-looking and contemplative; a moderate read.

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