Reviews

A delightful book: you can open it at any page and find a jewel, familiar or new.
— San Francisco Chronicle

An elegant anthology of sacred poetry, chosen with fine taste and purpose.
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Stephen Mitchell’s work has always crossed religious boundaries. The Enlightened Heart continues this ecumenism by gathering together poetry from twenty-five centuries, from many cultures and spiritual traditions. Arranged chronologically from the Upanishads to Robinson Jeffers, the book seems to be Mitchell’s version of paradise: here are the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Indian mystics Kabir and Mirabai in conversation with Shakespeare and George Herbert; the Japanese Buddhists Bunin, Gensei, and Basho talk across the continents to Angelus Silesius and Thomas Traherne; Lao-tzu and the Psalmist bow to each other; Dogen and Rumi laugh and dance. These writers have found not just “meaning” but being. There is a sense of joy, of humor, and a depth of wisdom and peace that come through.
— Parabola