The Fruitful Darkness

A Journey Through Buddhist Practice and Tribal Wisdom

By: Joan Halifax, Thich Nhat Hanh - foreword

Narrated by: Judith West

Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

In this masterwork of an authentic spirit person (Thomas Berry), Buddhist teacher and anthropologist Joan Halifax Roshi delves into the fruitful darkness - the shadow side of being, found in the root truths of Native religions, the fecundity of nature, and the stillness of meditation. In this highly personal and insightful odyssey of the heart and mind, she encounters Tibetan Buddhist meditators, Mexican shamans, and Native American elders, among others. In rapt prose, she recounts her explorations from Japanese Zen meditation to hallucinogenic plants, from the Dogon people of Mali to the Mayan rain forest, all the while creating "an adventure of the spirit and a feast of wisdom old and new" (Peter Matthiessen). Halifax believes that deep ecology (which attempts to fuse environmental awareness with spiritual values) works in tandem with Buddhism and shamanism to discover the interconnectedness of all life", and to regain life's sacredness.

Grove Press is proud to reissue this important work by one of Buddhism's leading contemporary teachers.

©1993 Joan Halifax. Recorded by arrangement with Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Excellent Book, Okay Reader

The content in this book is transformative, but the reader has a tendency to over-pronounce (especially in the cases of names in other languages than English), and this proves distracting. Over all, an excellent read, but I’d recommend picking up the print version instead.

Another bore

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I keep buying books with interesting titles. Unfortunately too many of them have little to no content. Just endless ramblings about life that are completely personal and of no value to the listener and absent of any wisdom or even objective reality. This seems to be a pattern by middle aged white/western writers who think themselves so fascinating they must share every thought with us rather than some actual insight. Reggie Ray, Robert Thurman, Shenzhen young are a few others I've purchased recently who have the same long winded rambling and incredibly dull lacking in depth, self glorifying style. I never have this come up when I listen to thich nhat Hahn or jack kornfield.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I have TNH ULTIMATE DEMENSION next.

Would you be willing to try another one of Judith West’s performances?

No. She made the content even less appealing although I think her voice captured the writers grandiosity.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Fruitful Darkness?

When a writer uses the word "I" over and over it becomes clear what the book is about. Has nothing to do with the reader. Narcissism gone wild. Very common these days. Amazing how many enlightened people have no awareness of how self absorbed they really are. The opposite of enlightened.

Any additional comments?

A book should teach the reader. Otherwise it is just another fiction.

AWFUL READER!!! Just read it!

The voice is awful and ruins the text. Just read it. It is so disappointing. I couldn’t make it through due to the reader.

I expected it to be more like the other books of the autor. Instead it’s an ego like self biography

I expected it to be more like the other books of the autor. Instead it’s an ego like self biography

great book. horrible narration

The narrator sounds like she's constantly asking a run-on question that never ends... Her inflections don't at all match the tone or voice of the book. It's entirely distracting, and I couldn't get through the first chapter. Read the book. The book itself is excellent.