Three luminary teachers unfold a compelling series of dialogues on inner freedom-what it is and how to cultivate it in ourselves and others.

"We are, nearly all of us," writes Matthieu Ricard, "the playthings of our whims, conditioning, impulses, inner conflicts, wandering thoughts, and afflictive emotions. This servitude is at the root of much that torments us. How do we free ourselves from the prison of these mental mechanisms, in the face of which we often feel helpless, even resigned?"

With their acclaimed book In Search of Wisdom, these three gifted friends-a monk, a philosopher, and a psychiatrist-shed light on our universal quest for meaning, purpose, and understanding. Now, in this new in-depth offering, they invite us to tend to the garden of our true nature, freedom.

Turn by turn, each shares his own unique perspective on the various obstacles to inner freedom, the "ecology" of freedom, the...