Transforming the Heart Both Buddhist practice and recovery from addiction point to an inner transformation of the heart. As practicing addicts, our hearts may have been pretty shut down, which we may not even realize until it starts to open in recovery, perhaps quite slowly at first. One of the wonderful things about Buddhist practice is that we learn we can train the heart through certain practices like lovingkindness (metta). Then we realize we’re not practicing Buddhist recovery for ourselves alone–we’re also learning how to benefit others. In fact, the Buddha encouraged us to be a refuge for all beings.
