The "Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind Toward the Dharma," also called the Common Preliminaries and the Four Reversals are considered by many as the place to begin understanding, learning, and practicing the Dharma. Not some scholarly doctrine or list of imperatives, the Four Thoughts are already familiar to most people as part of their deepest inner sense of reality.

The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind, Michael Erlewine, Heart Center Publications, Paperback, 41 pp, $5.60

Michael Erlewine is an Internet pioneer and well-known archivist of popular culture, founding the largest music database in world (AllMusic.com), one of the two largest movie databases (AllMovie.com), the largest Rock n' Roll concert poster database (ClassicPosters.com), and others.

Michael Erlewine has studied Buddhism since the 1950s, and practiced it for last forty years, running the Heart Center for meditation instruction since the 1980s. Trained in the Karma Kagyu system of Tibetan Buddhism, Erlewine has worked practiced Mahmudra Meditation for 27 years under guidance of Karma Kagyu teachers.