Pema Chodron, Getting Unstuck (2006) — Audiobook — Review

© 2013 Peter Free

 

03 December 2013

 

 

Recommended for “beginning and intermediate” compassion-oriented mediators

 

Getting Unstuck is audio recording of pertinent Pema Chödrön — Tibetan Vajrayana tradition, Chögyam Trungpa lineage — sessions at the Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia.

 

Experienced American Buddhists will (probably) immediately recognize:

 

(a) who Pema Chödrön is

 

and

 

(b) who Chögyam Trungpa was.

 

If so, the meditative instruction that is subject of this audiobook will be readily familiar.

 

Most of these sessions revolve around recognizing and dealing with reflexively emotional, psychic “stuckness”— or “shenpa” (loosely translated as “attachment”).

 

If we could pick only one aspect of the human condition to get familiar with, in order to psychically “better” — meaning de-crazy and open — ourselves, this would be it.

 

 

Technique

 

The meditative technique involved focuses on breathing (in the present moment) and nonjudgmentally noticing the mind’s endless stream of thoughts, as they come up.

 

Though such a simple method of staying present and noticing one’s “garbage” might initially appear to be without merit (or “benefit” to Western minds), experienced meditators will know better.

 

Try it and see.

 

One of the inviting aspects of what I call Core Buddhism is its willingness to stick with what works, based on evidence, and discard what doesn’t.  In its almost scientific approach to cultivating spiritual insight and skillfulness, Buddhism is unique.

 

 

Of specific value

 

Pema Chödrön is a patient, gentle soul — one familiar with the twisted ways in which our distorted views of other people and situations cause us (and them) unnecessary suffering.

 

Her delivery in these abbey sessions is patient, insightful, and easy, even for meditation beginners to relate to.

 

I am partial to Pema Chödrön’s teaching and writing style, especially regarding compassion and the Bodhisattva’s Way because they are so unpretentiously accurate.  Her delivery is a welcome relief from the authoritarian, male-dominated writings of many other Buddhist sources.

 

 

An absence of unnecessary jargon

 

These sessions are free from the abstruse jargon that mars a good many Buddhist writings.  Pema implicitly makes it clear that the sectarian distinctions that make Buddhism (writ large) confusing are unnecessary to obtaining a good foundation in spiritual practice.

 

 

Caveat — extraneous mouth sounds bother some listeners

 

A friend, as well as Amazon.com reviewer E. Z. Aull Power 10, noticed that:

 

 

the microphone picked-up Pema's every swallow, every aspiration, every oral/nasal sound combination - distracting!

 

Though I noticed the recording defect, the shortcoming did not intrude on my appreciation the audiobook.  My guess is that anyone easily distracted by non-essentials is not quite ready for spiritual practice and insight of this kind.  I could be wrong.  I do have significant hearing loss in the higher frequency range that these two critics may be hearing.

 

 

Recommended, nonetheless

 

If you have the power to concentrate, in spite of hearing the sounds associated with Pema Chödrön’s enunciation, the message in these teachings is worthwhile.  I was surprised at this audiobook’s substantive quality, even as compared with Pema’s outstanding books.

 

For people interested in a core element of generalized Buddhism, and who learn their auditory brain, Getting Unstuck is a no brainer.