
Ordinary Mind
Exploring the Common Ground of Zen and Psychoanalysis
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Claire Slemmer
-
By:
-
Barry Magid
About this listen
Is meditation an escape from - or a solution to - our psychological problems? Is the use of antidepressants counter to spiritual practice? Does a psychological approach to meditation reduce spirituality to "self-help"? What can Zen and psychoanalysis teach us about the problems of the mind and suffering?
Psychiatrist and Zen teacher Barry Magid is uniquely qualified to answer questions like these. Written in an engaging and witty style, Ordinary Mind helps us understand challenging ideas - like Zen Buddhism's concepts of oneness, emptiness, and enlightenment - and how they make sense, not only within psychoanalytic conceptions of mind, but in the realities of our lives and relationships.
©2002 Barry Magid (P)2020 Barry MagidListeners also enjoyed...
-
Nothing Is Hidden
- The Psychology of Zen Koans
- By: Barry Magid
- Narrated by: Barry Magid
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this inspiring and incisive offering, Barry Magid uses the language of modern psychology and psychotherapy to illuminate one of Buddhism's most powerful and often mysterious technologies: the Zen koan. What's more, Magid also uses the koans to expand upon the insights of psychology (especially self-psychology and relational psychotherapy) and open for the listener new perspectives on the functioning of the human mind and heart.
-
-
Integrative Masterwork
- By Amazon Customer on 05-19-22
By: Barry Magid
-
Ending the Pursuit of Happiness
- A Zen Guide
- By: Barry Magid
- Narrated by: Joe O'Neill
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This new book from Zen teacher, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and critical favorite, Barry Magid, inspires us to outgrow the impossible pursuit of happiness, and instead make peace with the perfection of the way things are. Including ourselves! Using wryly gentle prose, Magid invites readers to consider the notion that our certainty that we are broken may be turning our pursuit of happiness into a source of more suffering.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Rich S. on 08-17-13
By: Barry Magid
-
Reverse Meditation
- How to Use Your Pain and Most Difficult Emotions as the Doorway to Inner Freedom
- By: Andrew Holecek
- Narrated by: Andrew Holecek
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reverse Meditation is for anyone who wants to bring the challenges of life onto the path of awakening. When things get hard, it’s time to turn your practice on its head—and throw out any assumption that meditation exists to insulate you from the confusion, difficulties, and uncertainty of life. “By putting your meditation into reverse,” Holecek teaches, “you’ll actually find yourself going forward. Step into your pain and you can step up your evolution.”
-
-
Life Changing Material
- By Azeem Y Sitabkhan on 08-23-23
By: Andrew Holecek
-
Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism
- By: Erich Fromm
- Narrated by: Claire Slemmer
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A master of psychoanalysis and social philosophy explores Zen Buddhism. In 1957, social philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm invited Daisetz T. Suzuki, the most famous Zen Buddhist master in the Western world, to a seminar at his new home in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Their discussion was one of the highlights of Fromm’s life, and the paper Fromm presented (and later expanded into a book) was a watershed work. Fromm demonstrates his mastery of the philosophy and practice of Zen.
-
-
Great book!
- By Lucas on 11-21-13
By: Erich Fromm
-
Ordinary Wonder
- Zen Life and Practice
- By: Charlotte Joko Beck, Brenda Beck Hess
- Narrated by: Barbara Barnes
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this collection of never-before-published teachings by Charlotte Joko Beck, one of the most influential Western-born Zen teachers, she explores our “core beliefs” - the hidden, negative convictions we hold about ourselves that direct our thoughts and behavior and prevent us from experiencing life as it is. Wryly humorous and relatable, Beck uses powerfully clear language to show how our lives present us with daily opportunities to move from thinking to experiencing, from compulsivity to confidence, and from anguish to peace.
-
-
Thank you
- By fred on 08-01-21
By: Charlotte Joko Beck, and others
-
The Tools
- Transform Your Problems into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity
- By: Barry Michels, Phil Stutz
- Narrated by: Phil Stutz, Barry Michels
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A groundbreaking book about personal growth that presents a uniquely effective set of five tools that bring about dynamic change. The Tools offers a solution to the biggest complaint patients have about therapy: the interminable wait for change to begin. The traditional therapeutic model sets its sights on the past, but Phil Stutz and Barry Michels employ an arsenal of techniques - "the tools" - that allow patients to use their problems as levers that access the power of the unconscious and propel them into action.
-
-
You Owe It to Yourself to Try
- By Jennifer on 08-24-12
By: Barry Michels, and others
-
Nothing Is Hidden
- The Psychology of Zen Koans
- By: Barry Magid
- Narrated by: Barry Magid
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this inspiring and incisive offering, Barry Magid uses the language of modern psychology and psychotherapy to illuminate one of Buddhism's most powerful and often mysterious technologies: the Zen koan. What's more, Magid also uses the koans to expand upon the insights of psychology (especially self-psychology and relational psychotherapy) and open for the listener new perspectives on the functioning of the human mind and heart.
-
-
Integrative Masterwork
- By Amazon Customer on 05-19-22
By: Barry Magid
-
Ending the Pursuit of Happiness
- A Zen Guide
- By: Barry Magid
- Narrated by: Joe O'Neill
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This new book from Zen teacher, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and critical favorite, Barry Magid, inspires us to outgrow the impossible pursuit of happiness, and instead make peace with the perfection of the way things are. Including ourselves! Using wryly gentle prose, Magid invites readers to consider the notion that our certainty that we are broken may be turning our pursuit of happiness into a source of more suffering.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Rich S. on 08-17-13
By: Barry Magid
-
Reverse Meditation
- How to Use Your Pain and Most Difficult Emotions as the Doorway to Inner Freedom
- By: Andrew Holecek
- Narrated by: Andrew Holecek
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reverse Meditation is for anyone who wants to bring the challenges of life onto the path of awakening. When things get hard, it’s time to turn your practice on its head—and throw out any assumption that meditation exists to insulate you from the confusion, difficulties, and uncertainty of life. “By putting your meditation into reverse,” Holecek teaches, “you’ll actually find yourself going forward. Step into your pain and you can step up your evolution.”
-
-
Life Changing Material
- By Azeem Y Sitabkhan on 08-23-23
By: Andrew Holecek
-
Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism
- By: Erich Fromm
- Narrated by: Claire Slemmer
- Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A master of psychoanalysis and social philosophy explores Zen Buddhism. In 1957, social philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm invited Daisetz T. Suzuki, the most famous Zen Buddhist master in the Western world, to a seminar at his new home in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Their discussion was one of the highlights of Fromm’s life, and the paper Fromm presented (and later expanded into a book) was a watershed work. Fromm demonstrates his mastery of the philosophy and practice of Zen.
-
-
Great book!
- By Lucas on 11-21-13
By: Erich Fromm
-
Ordinary Wonder
- Zen Life and Practice
- By: Charlotte Joko Beck, Brenda Beck Hess
- Narrated by: Barbara Barnes
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this collection of never-before-published teachings by Charlotte Joko Beck, one of the most influential Western-born Zen teachers, she explores our “core beliefs” - the hidden, negative convictions we hold about ourselves that direct our thoughts and behavior and prevent us from experiencing life as it is. Wryly humorous and relatable, Beck uses powerfully clear language to show how our lives present us with daily opportunities to move from thinking to experiencing, from compulsivity to confidence, and from anguish to peace.
-
-
Thank you
- By fred on 08-01-21
By: Charlotte Joko Beck, and others
-
The Tools
- Transform Your Problems into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity
- By: Barry Michels, Phil Stutz
- Narrated by: Phil Stutz, Barry Michels
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A groundbreaking book about personal growth that presents a uniquely effective set of five tools that bring about dynamic change. The Tools offers a solution to the biggest complaint patients have about therapy: the interminable wait for change to begin. The traditional therapeutic model sets its sights on the past, but Phil Stutz and Barry Michels employ an arsenal of techniques - "the tools" - that allow patients to use their problems as levers that access the power of the unconscious and propel them into action.
-
-
You Owe It to Yourself to Try
- By Jennifer on 08-24-12
By: Barry Michels, and others
-
Opening the Hand of Thought
- Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice
- By: Kosho Uchiyama, Tom Wright - editor translator, Jisho Warner - editor translator, and others
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For over 30 years, Opening the Hand of Thought has offered an introduction to Zen Buddhism and meditation unmatched in clarity and power. This is the revised edition of Kosho Uchiyama's singularly incisive classic. This new edition contains even more useful material: new prefaces, an index, and extended endnotes, in addition to a revised glossary.
-
-
One of the best books on Zazen
- By Otto Hannah on 09-07-23
By: Kosho Uchiyama, and others
-
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
- How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path
- By: Jack Kornfield
- Narrated by: Jack Kornfield
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When does enlightenment come? At the end of the spiritual journey? Or the beginning? In After the Ecstasy, the Laundry, Jack Kornfield brings into focus the truth about satori, the awakened state of consciousness, and enlightenment practices today. The result is this extraordinary look at the hard work we all must do - the laundry - no matter how often we experience ecstatic states of consciousness through meditation and other disciplines.
-
-
Title points to meat of the message
- By Remived on 10-26-15
By: Jack Kornfield
-
The End of Your World
- Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment
- By: Adyashanti
- Narrated by: Adyashanti
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caution Spiritual Seekers: You Might Just Find What You're Looking For! Underneath the turmoil of thought, emotion, and personal will, there is a flow. If you're reading these words, you've probably felt it - the natural movement of life, the truth that beckons below the surface of things. What would happen if you were to stop avoiding this universal energy, and instead completely embrace it?
-
-
quietly blasting through the usual zen-fare
- By rebecca purcell on 06-15-13
By: Adyashanti
-
A New Earth
- Awakening Your Life's Purpose
- By: Eckhart Tolle
- Narrated by: Eckhart Tolle
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his bestselling spiritual guide The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle inspired millions of readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived “in the now.” In A New Earth, Tolle expands on these powerful ideas to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world.
-
-
A Realized Being Shares In Person...a rare find.
- By Mr. Word Sponge on 12-05-09
By: Eckhart Tolle
-
It Came from Beyond Zen!: More Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye)
- By: Brad Warner
- Narrated by: Brad Warner
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Japan in 1253, one of the great thinkers of his time died - and the world barely noticed. That man was the Zen monk Eihei Dogen. For centuries his main work, Shobogenzo, languished in obscurity, locked away in remote monasteries until scholars rediscovered it in the 20th century. What took so long? In Brad Warner's view, Dogen was too ahead of his time to find an appreciative audience. To bring Dogen's work to a bigger audience, Warner began paraphrasing Shobogenzo, recasting it in simple, everyday language. The first part of this project resulted in Don't Be a Jerk, and now Warner presents this second volume, It Came from Beyond Zen! Once again, Warner uses wry humor and incisive commentary to bridge the gap between past and present, making Dogen's words clearer and more relevant than ever before.
-
-
Great insights in a fun way
- By Gvido on 07-24-18
By: Brad Warner
-
Sex, Sin, and Zen
- A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between
- By: Brad Warner
- Narrated by: Brad Warner
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his one-of-a kind blend of autobiography, pop culture, and plainspoken Buddhism, Brad Warner explores an A-to-Z of sexual topics; from masturbation to dating, gender identity to pornography. In addition to approaching sexuality from a Buddhist perspective, he looks at Buddhism - emptiness, compassion, karma - from a sexual vantage. Throughout, he stares down the tough questions: Can prostitution be "right livelihood"? Can a good spiritual master also be really, really bad?
-
-
Perhaps a co-author would have helped?
- By Rob Myers on 10-11-20
By: Brad Warner
-
Anchored
- How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory
- By: Deb Dana, Stephen Porges PhD - Foreword by
- Narrated by: Deb Dana
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An intense conversation, a spat with a partner, or even an obnoxious tweet - these situations aren't life-or-death, yet we often react as if they are. That's because our bodies treat most perceived threats the same way. Yet one approach has proven to be incredibly effective in training our nervous system to stop overreacting: polyvagal theory. In Anchored, expert teacher Deb Dana shares a down-to-earth presentation of polyvagal theory, then brings the science to life with practical, everyday ways to transform your relationship with your body.
-
-
Know thyself.
- By Debora on 04-17-22
By: Deb Dana, and others
-
Sit Down and Shut Up
- Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death, and Dogen's Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye
- By: Brad Warner
- Narrated by: Brad Warner
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Sit Down and Shut Up, Brad Warner tackles one of the great works of Zen literature, the Shobogenzo by 13th century Zen master Dogen. Illuminating Dogen's enigmatic teachings in plain language, Warner intertwines sharp philosophical musings on sex, evil, anger, meditation, enlightenment, death, God, sin, and happiness with an exploration of the power and pain of the punk rock ethos.
-
-
Still excellent but I see a flaw
- By Mark on 09-12-15
By: Brad Warner
-
Why Buddhism Is True
- The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
- By: Robert Wright
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of America's greatest minds, a journey through psychology, philosophy, and lots of meditation to show how Buddhism holds the key to moral clarity and enduring happiness. In Why Buddhism Is True, Wright leads listeners on a journey through psychology, philosophy, and a great many silent retreats to show how and why meditation can serve as the foundation for a spiritual life in a secular age.
-
-
Clear Explanation of How the Mind Works
- By George on 08-10-17
By: Robert Wright
-
Waking Up
- A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
- By: Sam Harris
- Narrated by: Sam Harris
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From multiple New York Times best-selling author, neuroscientist, and "new atheist" Sam Harris, Waking Up is for the 30 percent of Americans who follow no religion, but who suspect that Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Rumi, and the other saints and sages of history could not have all been epileptics, schizophrenics, or frauds.
-
-
I don't completely agree. BUT THAT SAID...
- By World Peace on 09-11-14
By: Sam Harris
-
Mindfulness for Beginners
- By: Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Narrated by: Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if you could profoundly change your life just by becoming more mindful of your breathing? According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, you can. What if "paying attention on purpose and non-judgmentally" could improve your health? Again, according to Dr. Kabat-Zinn, it can.
-
-
Profound
- By ArtC on 03-05-10
By: Jon Kabat-Zinn
-
Through Forests of Every Color
- Awakening with Koans
- By: Joan Sutherland
- Narrated by: Joan Sutherland
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Koans are the record of paradoxical and provocative exchanges between Zen masters and their students that developed in medieval China. These exchanges, though often elaborated through commentary, have also been boiled down to one-line questions or statements to be held in meditation and daily life. Famous examples include, "What is the sound of one hand?" and "Not knowing is most intimate." In Through Forests of Every Color, renowned Zen teacher Joan Sutherland reimagines the koan tradition with allegiance to the root spirit of the koans.
-
-
so much beauty
- By Ryan A. Sparks on 10-25-23
By: Joan Sutherland