Buddha's Heart: Meditation Practice for Developing Well-being, Love, and Empathy

An inspiring and healing guide to immersive meditation in the ancient Buddhist heart practices—the brahmavihāras

“A profound integration of clarity, heart, and grounded practice.”
—Rick Hanson, PhD, psychologist and NYT bestselling author of Buddha’s Brain

With Buddha’s Heart, senior meditation teacher Stephen Snyder reveals an original and clear path to the powerful brahmavihāras. These practices offer rich, soothing support for the soul and a portal to spiritual awakening and deepening self-realization.

Informed by Snyder’s experiential understanding, and suitable for those at any level of meditation practice, Buddha’s Heart leads us step-by-step through:
• traditional teachings on wholesomeness and concentration meditations to establish a supportive bedrock for our personal discovery;
• guided, heart-opening meditations on loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity;
• further guided practices for deepening awareness, including gratitude, forgiveness, and opening to the Oneness of Reality;
• exploratory exercises for each meditation practice, illuminating the psychological blocks to accessing our deeper nature’s heart qualities; and
• embracing mindfulness and warm attunement in everyday life—opening our hearts to the profound depths of reality and the Absolute.

Buddha’s Heart teaches what seems counterintuitive but is undeniably true: the more we open our hearts, the more resilient and flexible we are. And the more authentically vulnerable we are, the safer and more protected we become.

“Stephen’s original framing of classical Theravada teachings will inspire practitioners to explore unfathomed depths of their own tender hearts.”—Karin Meyers, PhD, Academic Director, Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages

“A deep dive into the heart of who we truly are.”—Loch Kelly, meditation teacher, psychotherapist, and author of The Way of Effortless Mindfulness

“Buddha's Heart speaks to meditators at all levels with a grace, eloquence, and thoroughness seldom found.”—Susie Harrington, meditation teacher, Desert Dharma