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BOOKS IN BRIEF | EASTERN HORIZON 61

BOOKS IN BRIEF BOOKS IN BRIEF

Shambhala Publications, Inc.
(including Snow Lion, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc)
4720 Walnut Street,
Boulder, CO 80301-2670, USA
www.shambhala.com

environmental sustainability, aiding
the poor, and freedom of religion.
Both present day leaders and those
they lead will find this classic work,
finally available in English, profoundly
illuminating on political, societal, and
personal levels. EH

Touching the Infinite. A New The Just King. The Tibetan Buddhist
Perspective on the Buddha’s Four Classic on Leading an Ethical Life
Foundations of Mindfulness. by Jamgön Mipham. Translated by
by Rodney Smith, 2017. pp 269. José Ignacio Cabezón, 2017. pp 316.
US$16.95 US$24.95

Awakening manifests through Leadership. Power. Responsibility.
the application of mindfulness to From Sun Tzu to Plato to Machiavelli,
four areas: body, feelings, mind, sages east and west have advised
and dharmas. Buddhists of all the kings and rulers on how to lead. Their An Ocean of Blessings. Heart
traditions share this principle found motivations and techniques have Teachings of Drubwang Penor
in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, which has varied, but one thing they all have had Rinpoche. Translated by Ani Jinba
been expounded upon since the time in common is that their advice has Palmo. 2017. pp 149. US$24 .95
of the Buddha himself. Rodney Smith been as relevant to the millions who
challenges us to hold this teaching have read their works as it has been to This inspiring work is the first
up against our own experience, the few kings and princes they were, available collection of teachings
and in doing so to discover the on the surface, addressed to. by one of the most well-known
inherent interconnection of all Four Nyingmapa masters of the twentieth
Foundations. They are revealed to The nineteenth-century Buddhist century, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche.
be a sequential path leading the monk and luminary Jamgön Mipham’s Ani Jinba Palmo compiled and
practitioner from the world of form to letter to the king of Dergé, whose translated this valuable collection
the joyous perception of the formless. small kingdom straddled China and of Penor Rinpoche’s fundamental
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness Tibet during a particularly turbulent instructions for practitioners on the
thus serve as a road map for any period, is similar in the universality Vajrayana path. Coming straight
genuine spiritual path. EH of its message. This work, however, is from the heart and realization of
unique in that it stresses compassion, this great master, these honest
impartiality, self-control, and and clear teachings emphasize
virtue as essential for long-lasting the indispensable foundations of
success—whether as a leader or an loving-kindness, mindfulness, and
individual trying to live a meaningful simplicity needed to become a true
life. Mipham’s historic contribution yogi. Profound yet accessible, this
to ethics and governance, until now work serves to remind Buddhist
little studied outside of Buddhist practitioners of the heart of the
circles, teaches us the importance Tantric and Dzogchen traditions. EH
of protecting life, fair taxation,