I was prepared to not like "Awakening to Zen" when it was given to me by one of my students. I was happily suprised to find the best book I had ever read on Zen Buddhism. Kapleau-Roshi addressed the concerns of the Western Zen Sangha, while stil maintaining a traditional Zen outlook. On a scale of 1-5, this could only be rated a ten!! Extremely Highly Recommended.

Once again, Kapleau Roshi has out done himself."Three Pillars of Zen" has always been the Zen Bible. "Awakening to Zen"is a perfect companion. Easy to understand, The Roshi writes for everyone, so everyone can be touched by the beauty of a Zen life. Thank you Sir!

Buddhism and psychology have recently gained increasing interest for their intriguing similarities about the human mind, growth, inner healing, and creativity. In this stimulating book, the editors offer a variety of provocative essays. I found the discussions about Jungian psychology and its relevance to Buddhism today to be particularly interesting. Strongly recommended.

While the work of Carl Gustav Jung is of immense importance to the development of psychological and philosophical thought in the 20th century, the written works of Jung and many of his followers are framed within the historical context of the first half of the century. In more recent years, many volumes have been published to explain Jungian thought, often to popularize it, occasionally to excoriate it. This collection of essays edited by Polly Young Eisendrath and Terence Dawson is an excellent critical introduction to Jungian and post-Jungian thought from a 21st century perspective. While very readable, the essays are scholarly and avoid oversimplifying the ideas to make them more popularly palatable. In addition to being a useful introduction, the depth of the essays should make them interesting even to readers who are familiar with Jung and his work.

I read about 20 books a month. This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. Although the title suggests strong faminism this is not the case. It has some great stories and many wonderful suggestions. I hightly recommend it for everyone.

This book is phenomenal! Better than self-help, yet not as cumbersome as a classroom text, it should be required reading for every married couple out there!

Dr. Young-Eisendrath's thesis is that ours is the first era in history when men and women en masse have the potential to have emotionally intimate, honest relationships. In the past the power in a male-female relationship was too off balance for true intimacy.

Since this potential is a recent phenomenon, very few models exist for a gender-opposite relationship based on equality. The good doctor builds such a model, based on extensive research, and its malleable for all of us.

Excellent, helpful, and well-written. Of special interest to those interested in Buddhism. Definitely not in the same vein as the usual pain management fare. I keep waiting for the author's next book.

One of my all time favorite psychology books is the author's "Women and Desire." This more recent book has a more pratical, how to help yourself live better, focus. I find her message insightful and helpful in the face of stress and challenges. Her underlying message is spriritual, in both the Jungian and the Buddhist sense, yet the applied psychology here also reminds me of the concept of 'social interest' advanced by the great, and greatly neglected, psychologist Alfred Adler. You don't need to be religious to appreciate and benefit from Young-Eisendrath, and the same is true, perhaps more so, for Adler's books on social interest and human life.

Simply, this book changed my life. More importantly, its message of service to others changed my life. Doing for others is what heals.

The information in this book is very academic in nature, but still provides some insight into the paradox many women feel about desire, "wanting to be wanted," and wanting to be successful. I wouldn't call it "eye-opening," but a focused work.

The title of this book spoke volumes to me before I even cracked the cover. Reading about her perspective that women want to be wanted rather than fully know was right on target for me and because of the new found perspective, I felt released from the need of "wanting to be wanted." I resist some of her claims as to WHY women do this - from my point of view, she spends a little too much time blaming society, culture, men. I think the WHY is important to know, but I wanted to see the book focus a bit more on what women can DO about it. In general, the book more than serves its purpose to raise the issue and bring awareness to it. Overall, excellent, thought-provoking book.

In the first 23 pages, this book changed my life. She hit the nail on the head, so to speak about the crux of my biggest subconscious issue, being the object of desire. This book is a must for all women and definitely for men who want to know and understand women more fully. This book opened me up to the knowledge that I am not irreparably broken, and that coming into my own power is still well within my reach. Thank you! Thank you!

Polly Young-Eisendrath and Florence Wiedemann examine the process of how women in the American culture develop autonomy. The authors, as Jungian analysts, explore the female path of individuation using characters derived from Greek Mythology and contemporary case studies. The path involves a successive integration of the unconscious animus complexes throughout the woman's life-span. In Jungian psychology the animus appears to be the source inside the female unconscious which provides male representations within women's dreams. The authors outline a five stage model for animus development by providing a path through psychotherapy. The model for ego development for women includes moving away from a symbiotic relationship with one's mother characterized by Demeter and Persephone and overcoming dependencies and stereotypes exemplified by Pandora and Zeus. Finally, the process evolves through a series of tasks involved within her relationship with her mate as seen in the Amor-Psyche myth. The work is brilliantly creative as it addresses the quest of many American women regarding finding one's Self on a depth psychological level The book offers a path by interweaving a series of mythological models with case study examples. This book is destined to be a classic in the psychology of women.

In "The Gifts of Suffering," Jungian psychologist Polly Young-Eisendrath discusses the impact of suffering on both the child and adult psyche, with a special emphasis on resilience and transcending pain to find a deeper meaning.

While the concept was very illuminating and interesting, the book suffers from a lack of focus. Part social criticism, part inspirational, part Buddhist history and theory, and part psychological theory, the book never seemed to quite come together. I wanted to hear more about how to develop resilience, what cultivates it. I also felt that Dr. Young-Eisendrath could have expanded the parameters of her research to include more than four individuals, interesting though those were, and perhaps made her language a bit more universal, and watered down some of her more critical opinions, which, in my opinion, detracted from the overall effect of her book.