Josh Bartok

Saying Yes To Life

Presented in simple yet strikingly memorable language, the messages in Saying Yes to Life (Even the Hard Parts) provide inspiration for each day, and invitations to go more deeply into the spiritual life. These gems of wisdom range from page-long reflections to simple aphorisms. The themes presented emphasize the importance of making peace with life’s paradoxes, opening to the unwanted, finding the happiness in difficulty, and living always with what’s here. Page after page reveals truths that can be put into action in the moment, yet also unfold ever more deeply with thorough examination. Insightful and never convoluted, Saying Yes to Life (Even the Hard Parts) is a great companion for life’s long journey.

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More Daily Wisdom

Like its successful predecessor, Daily Wisdom, More Daily Wisdom draws on the richness of Buddhist writings to offer a spiritual cornucopia that will illuminate and inspire day after day, year after year. Sources span a spectrum from ancient sages to modern teachers, from monks to laypeople, from East to West, from poetry to prose. Each page, and each new day, reveals another gem of Daily Wisdom.

Entries included are from some of Buddhism’s best-known figures: the Dalai Lama, Sylvia Boorstein, Bhante Gunaratana (Mindfulness in Plain English), Lama Zopa Rinpoche (Transforming Problems into Happiness), Lama Yeshe (Introduction to Tantra), Ayya Khema (Being Nobody, Going Nowhere) and of course, the Buddha himself.

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Daily Wisdom

Open up Daily Wisdom and find page after page of illuminating words. You’ll encounter ancient Buddhist sages and contemporary meditation masters offering encouragement and quiet counsel—some in spacious poetry, others in lucid prose—on love and living wisely, on meditation and mindfulness, on the pitfalls of anger and necessity of compassion. Whether you’re seeking morning inspiration or a few uplifting words to help keep a difficult day in perspective, Daily Wisdom is a valuable companion. Includes words of wisdom from:

• The Dalai Lama
• Lama Yeshe
• Ayya Khema
• Bhante G.
• Thich Nhat Hanh
• B. Allan Wallace
• Lorne Ladner
• Sandy Boucher
• Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• Master Hsing Yun
• Sakya Pandita
• Milarepa
• Kalu Rinpoche
• and many more!

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Nightly Wisdom

Nightly Wisdom mines a rich vein of Buddhist teachings on such topics as lucid dreaming, Tibetan “dream yoga”—the art of extending meditation into the boundless world of dreams—and relaxing into restful sleep. In addition to inspiration and encouragement, you’ll find here simple practices for transforming your sleep into something that’s beneficial in entirely new ways, as well as practices for greeting each morning with fresh eyes and an open heart.

Featuring poetry and prose from sources modern and ancient (including the Buddha himself), Nightly Wisdom is a bedside keepsake, perfect for anyone who has wants to wake up to the entirety of life or bring fresh wisdom into that third of our lives we spend in bed.

Includes inspiring nighttime reflections from:

• Shakyamuni Buddha
• The Dalai Lama
• Padmasambhava
• Eihei Dogen
• Ajahn Brahm
• Susan Murphy
• Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche
• Ezra Bayda
• Gyatrul Rinpoche
• Lama Yeshe
• Geshe Lhundub Sopa
• Serinity Young
• Kalu Rinpoche
• Robert Langan
• Barry Magid
• Venerable Yin-Shun
• Manhae
• Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
• B. Alan Wallace
• … and many more!

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Daily Doses of Wisdom

Daily Doses of Wisdom draws on the richness of Buddhist writings to offer a spiritual cornucopia that will illuminate and inspire day after day, year after year. Sources span a spectrum from ancient sages to modern teachers, from monks to laypeople, from East to West, from poetry to prose. Each page, and each new day, reveals another gem carefully selected from the entire list of titles published by Wisdom.

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I See You, Buddha

An instant classic, this book will help children (and their parents) learn patience and to see the good in everyone—including themselves! It will also help children meet difficult circumstances, such as being sick, doing chores, and not getting everything they want—and help them overcome low self-esteem and negative self-talk.

I See You, Buddha is based on a chapter in the Lotus Sutra, one of the most influential Buddhist texts worldwide—a classical scripture that has inspired a whole genre of works, especially in Japan, known as Lotus Literature. The Lotus Sutra teaches the way of the bodhisattva—a being engaged in compassionate, enlightened activity in the service of all—by offering examples of what this activity might look like in the world. One such model in the text is Bodhisattva Never Disrespectful (or Never Disparaging), who, despite troubling encounters with and even harsh treatment from others, bows down respectfully to everyone, recognizing their Buddha nature and honoring their own journeys along the bodhisattva path to enlightenment—whether they know they’re future buddhas or not!

Listen to author Josh Bartok as he reads I See You, Buddha in this video reading.

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I See You, Mara!

Destined to be classic, I See You, Mara! is a beautifully illustrated tale from the Buddhist sutras that will help kids learn how to better relate to their most difficult thoughts and feelings—including fear, self-doubt, and all kinds of insecurities. 

The story is told in memorable and engaging rhyming verse in the tradition of Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein, and illustrated in a traditional and yet light-hearted style by Demi, the renowned and award-winning illustrator of I See You, Buddha, as well as Wisdom’s Illustrated Lotus Sutra and many other books.

Mara is a character from the Buddhist tradition who is the personification of the mind that causes suffering, also known as delusion. I See You, Mara! provides time-tested tools for dispelling the voice of fear, doubt, and inadequacy that arises for all of us.

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