Ending the Pursuit of Happiness Audiobook By Barry Magid cover art

Ending the Pursuit of Happiness

A Zen Guide

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Ending the Pursuit of Happiness

By: Barry Magid
Narrated by: Joe O'Neill
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

This new book from Zen teacher, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and critical favorite, Barry Magid, inspires us to outgrow the impossible pursuit of happiness, and instead make peace with the perfection of the way things are. Including ourselves! Using wryly gentle prose, Magid invites readers to consider the notion that our certainty that we are broken may be turning our pursuit of happiness into a source of more suffering. He takes an unusual look at our secret practices (what we're really doing, when we say "practicing"), "curative fantasies," and our ideals of what spiritual practices will do for us.

In doing so, he helps us look squarely at some of the pitfalls of spiritual practice, so that we can avoid them. Along the way, Magid lays out a rich roadmap of a new psychological-minded Zen, which may be among the most important spiritual developments of the present-day.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2008 Barry Magid (P)2013 AudioCATCHWORDS Buddhism Consciousness & Thought Meditation Mental Health Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Spirituality Zen Mindfulness

Listeners also enjoyed...
The Antidote Audiobook By Oliver Burkeman cover art
The Antidote By: Oliver Burkeman
Ordinary Mind Audiobook By Barry Magid cover art
Ordinary Mind By: Barry Magid
Nothing Is Hidden Audiobook By Barry Magid cover art
Nothing Is Hidden By: Barry Magid
The Wisdom of No Escape Audiobook By Pema Chodron cover art
The Wisdom of No Escape By: Pema Chodron
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry Audiobook By Jack Kornfield cover art
After the Ecstasy, the Laundry By: Jack Kornfield
Fear Audiobook By Thích Nhất Hạnh cover art
Fear By: Thích Nhất Hạnh
Crooked Cucumber Audiobook By David Chadwick cover art
Crooked Cucumber By: David Chadwick
The Obstacle Is the Way Audiobook By Ryan Holiday cover art
The Obstacle Is the Way By: Ryan Holiday
Awareness Audiobook By Anthony de Mello cover art
Awareness By: Anthony de Mello
Stop Fixing Yourself Audiobook By Anthony De Mello cover art
Stop Fixing Yourself By: Anthony De Mello
Waking Up Audiobook By Sam Harris cover art
Waking Up By: Sam Harris
Wanting Audiobook By Luke Burgis cover art
Wanting By: Luke Burgis
The Denial of Death Audiobook By Ernest Becker cover art
The Denial of Death By: Ernest Becker
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind Audiobook By Shunryu Suzuki cover art
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind By: Shunryu Suzuki
Free Will Audiobook By Sam Harris cover art
Free Will By: Sam Harris
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet Audiobook By Thich Nhat Hanh cover art
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet By: Thich Nhat Hanh
The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching Audiobook By Thích Nhất Hạnh cover art
The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching By: Thích Nhất Hạnh
No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners Audiobook By Noah Rasheta cover art
No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners By: Noah Rasheta
The Road Home Audiobook By Ethan Nichtern cover art
The Road Home By: Ethan Nichtern
Ordinary Wonder Audiobook By Charlotte Joko Beck, Brenda Beck Hess cover art
Ordinary Wonder By: Charlotte Joko Beck, and others

People who viewed this also viewed...

Ordinary Mind Audiobook By Barry Magid cover art
Ordinary Mind By: Barry Magid
Nothing Is Hidden Audiobook By Barry Magid cover art
Nothing Is Hidden By: Barry Magid
Living Everyday Zen Audiobook By Charlotte Joko Beck cover art
Living Everyday Zen By: Charlotte Joko Beck
Ordinary Wonder Audiobook By Charlotte Joko Beck, Brenda Beck Hess cover art
Ordinary Wonder By: Charlotte Joko Beck, and others
Most relevant  
I loved this book! You must read if you struggling with your life. I sometimes think I need to be fixed, I am broken, but this book told me that like let it be. I can be broken.

I am read quite many books and tried to fix myself. It's kind a western thinking that you must be something, need to be winner of life. The truth is you no need to be anything and no become anything. Everything what you have is in the moment.

There's beautiful word, a present, it means gift and now ( this moment). What we have just now is a present moment, a gift moment... That is all what we have and it's enough. Like Osho said be, not become. But this book is one of my favourite book. If you feel you are lost in your life and struggling with your life, read this. Thank you for the author. Don't fix it, let it be.

A very good life guide

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

If you could sum up Ending the Pursuit of Happiness in three words, what would they be?

A Zen primer.

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A.

Would you be willing to try another one of Joe O'Neill’s performances?

No. I found both his voice, manner of delivery, frequent stumbling over words and frequent mispronunciations most distracting. ("Shun-ree Suzuki" or "Sessions" for sesshins). Not to mention what seems to be the odd paragraph or two suddenly sounding as if it were recorded in a completely different studio. A somewhat amateurish production. Too bad, a stye book's content is useful, insightful stuff.

Very fine book, very poor reading

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book, horrible narration. Not done in a studio, voice changes from sentence to sentence.

Wish I had read this years ago

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So many books come from viewpoint of the monastic tradition of Buddhism that it is refreshing and quite enlightening to see the lay-Buddhist perspective. The concept of the secret practice is very thoroughly discussed, and I must confess that it is indeed a large part of what holds us back. The message of the book is well-versed and down to earth to a sufficient enough degree that it makes even more sense. A topic that is covered, though may stand to suffer further discussion is the nonmystical mysticism - the fact that Buddhism is religion just as much as not-collecting stamps is a hobby, something often remarked about Atheism. The whole fact of not relying on belief is, in my opinion, important for relaying the message of Buddhism to contemporary western people - that it is not a paradigm to conflict with Abrahamic religions, religious practice, etc. Finally, the narrator. Frankly, in the beginning the husky voice was a bit of a distraction, but with the perceived topic the age and gravitas that the narrator imbued contributed significantly to the whole experience. All in all, a must-hear book from a great author and solid narrator.

Great introduction to Buddhism

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed the content of this book. Barry Magid writes clearly and with humor. The narration is quite choppy and this seems the result of sloppy editing - phrases are inserted here and there which have a different tone and speed from the speech that surrounds it. The result is jarring and distracting, not the manner one for which would wish in a book on this topic.

Very uneven narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you're going to listen to one book about Zen, this book is helpful, addressing the many dimensions of being human in a way that is accessible to the "lay" student.

HELPFUL!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I was disappointed in this book. To begin with the title is misleading. A Zen critique of the popular culture's obsession with finding a happy solution to every human problem might have been interesting. But this is a very egocentric book about the author's experience working as a psychoanalyst and a Zen teacher. The stories he tells about his own special experiences fail to demonstrate that he has gained self awareness from his practice of either discipline. He is quick to point out the foibles and failures of past and present Zen teachers and practitioners but it sounds like church gossip. Far from bringing any new perspective to Zen or psychoanalysis the author supports the hierarchical structure that is common to most religions and academies. If I thought the author's views were all there was to Zen, I would want no more to do with it.

Disappointing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.