Cease to do evil, learn to do good, purify the heart.

The essence of Buddhism may be simple to understand, but it is strangely hard to put into practice. A clear understanding of the teachings is not enough. We need also to have a deep feeling for them, if they are to have a real impact on our lives. Somehow we need to bridge the gap between knowing and being.

For many people in the West, devotional practice is a confronting aspect of Buddhism which it is easier to ignore. Skillfully steering us through the difficulties we may encounter, Sangharakshita shows that ritual and devotion have a crucial role to play in our spiritual lives because they speak the languages of the heart. Leading us through the Sevenfold Puja, a poetic sequence of devotional moods, he gies us a feeling for the depth of spiritual practice to be contacted through recitation, making offerings, and chanting mantras.

Knowledge alone cannot take us far along the spiritual path. This book reveals the power of devotional practices to help us commit ourselves to spiritual change with all our hearts.

"A useful addition to the canon of Buddhism in the West." - Publishers’ Weekly