"Compassion is the root of healing. It's the doorway to the real miracle, which is an open heart. In this most extraordinary book, Stephen Levine shows us why, and how. Highly recommended." Dean Ornish, M.D., Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute

"After decades of Stephen Levine's devotion to compassionate service, who better to bring us the story of the transformative journey of Miao Shan becoming Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion." Ram Dass, author of Be Here Now

Stephen Levines new book, Becoming Kuan Yin, is a beautifully written masterpiece that embraces the reader in a reverent flow. The tale of awakening, alternating with principles of practice and guided meditations, opens the heart and generates a profound inner stillness. A remarkable and vibrant transmission of love. Francine Shapiro, PhD, originator of EMDR therapy, author of Getting Past Your Past

In his long career as a poet, Buddhist teacher, spiritual advisor, and writer, Stephen Levine has changed our understanding of death and dying. In Becoming Kuan Yin, Levines first new book in many years, he turns to the legend of Kuan Yin, the Bodhistitva venerated by East Asian Buddhists for her compassion.

In Becoming Kuan Yin, Levine shares the tale of Miao Shan, born centuries ago to a cruel king who wanted her to marry a wealthy but uncaring man. This is the story of how Miao Shan refused to follow the path her father had in mind and, instead, became Kuan Yin, the first acknowledged female Buddha who watches over the dying and those who work with them.

Levine weaves together story and practice and helps readers discover their own infinite capacity for mercy and compassion under difficult circumstances. This book will have resonance for Kuan Yin's millions of followers.

From the book: "Becoming Kuan Yin follows her very difficult and remarkably beautiful path to Bodhisattva and ultimately completed Buddha nature. It is a semi-fictional tale composed of myth and the true nature of practice. She was Miao Shan, a gifted human being on an arduous merciful path, long before she came to be referenced as a celestial."

Becoming Kuan Yin: The Evolution of Compassion, Stephen Levine, Weiser Books, Paperback, 141 pages, 2013, $16.95.

Stephen Levine (July 17, 1937 � January 17, 2016) was an American poet, author and teacher best known for his work on death and dying. He is one of a generation of pioneering teachers who, along with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, have made the teachings of Theravada Buddhism more widely available to students in the West. Like the writings of his colleague and close friend, Ram Dass (formerly Richard Alpert), Stephen's work is also flavoured by the devotional practices and teachings (also known as Bhakti Yoga) of the Hindu Guru Neem Karoli Baba. This aspect of his teaching may be considered one way in which his work differs from that of the more purely Buddhist oriented teachers named above. Allusions in his teachings to a creator, which he variously terms God, The Beloved, The One and 'Uugghh', further distinguish his work from that of other contemporary Buddhist writers.