Noah Levine's Heart of the Revolution
I admit it: I'm a "Noah Levinian". I've been to a few of his retreats and talks and generally love the guy. I also love his trained teachers (two of whom live in Vancouver and who I am honoured to call my friends).
I first read his book Against the Stream in 2007. I was looking for more in my life and a way out of the constant battles and struggles I found myself in. Relating whole-heartedly to his writing, I dove into meditation right away. My "monkey mind" wouldn't sit still. I expected I would flip this switch and my mind would be clear and serene. It wasn't until I went on one of his retreats that I learned this was false. There is no magic switch. There is no such thing as a blank mind. The thoughts will never stop. It's just a matter of letting them arise and fall away with a friendly attitude towards yourself.
I found meditation very difficult at first. I had pain in my legs and I didn't want to sit upright. I thought it was more spiritual to sit on a cushion, legs crossed in a half-lotus position. Years later, I would finally succumb to sitting in a chair and not give a shit about being "spiritual". I just wanted to be comfortable and able to focus on my meditation than constantly shifting my position every minute.
I found out about a local group called D.I.Y. Dharma from a participant at one of the retreats. After I returned from my retreat, my best friend and I tried to find the "Dharma Lab", located in the industrial part of the city. We walked around and around the block, finally interrupting a man working on a car in the back alley who told us the entrance was around the front. I recognized a lady from the retreat opening a non-descript green door. She invited us in. About 10 people showed up for the meditation. Having had a little instruction from the week-long retreat I was just at, I felt ready to meditate without guidance. Boy, was I wrong. I felt panicked and restless. All I could think about was that bell ringing, signalling the end of the meditation.
It's been an interesting six years since then and I have kept up with the group, forged relationships, and my own meditation practice. I've gone deeper than just focusing on my breath and expanded my practice to having compassion, forgiveness, and tolerance for others.
That's why I was so excited when Heart of the Revolution came out. It explains the Buddha's teachings on forgiveness, compassion, and kindness in great detail. Noah calls it being "1 %s of the heart" (like the biker gangs). It's less of a memoir like Dharma Punx and more of a practical guide like Against the Stream.
Heart includes the metta (loving kindness - universal love) sutta and breaks it down. Noah explains each verse practically in a way you can apply to your own life. He talks about personal love: love we have for our friends and family, and romantic love: love we have for our sexual partners. He talks about the clinging that accompanies each, how each type is conditional, and with expectation. It seems pretty grim: love brings pain. But a solution is presented! There are practical meditation guides for everything from forgiveness to metta. You can sit on the cushion and apply these techniques and get results. Noah says it took him 10 years of meditation practice to feel like he'd forgiven everyone everything and that it's still a struggle at 22 years.
I especially liked the chapter "Hurt People Hurt People". Apparently it's a line from a movie that stuck with Noah. It's true: people who are suffering hurt others. I know I have. This chapter talks about having compassion and forgiveness for those who have hurt us. It also includes the forgiveness meditation. I practiced one at a retreat and cried. It felt good to forgive and let go.
This book also tells you to question everything you hear. Question your teachers and only trust your own experience. It also talks about the trap of religion and not getting caught up in "Buddhism" and not being that person who stares into others eyes proving how serene and meditative they are.
Overall, this is a sweet book. It's a quick and easy read and Noah writes very eloquently and with a sense of play and humour. He also relates his own experience of pain and how meditation has given him real results in his life. Also included are experiences of his own folly; ways that he hurt others and how he amended it.
I highly recommend reading this book if you want to learn more about your own capacity for forgiveness, compassion, and kindness. This is a way out of suffering. This is a way to help others and be of service. What better life could there be?
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