From Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sulak Sivaraksa comes this look at Buddhism’s innate ability to help change life on the global scale. Conflict, Culture, Change explores the cultural and environmental impacts of consumerism, nonviolence, and compassion, giving special attention to the integration of mindfulness and social activism, the use of Buddhist ethics to confront structural violence, and globalization’s threat to traditional identity.
The practice of Christian insight meditation can enliven one’s entire prayer life. It can prepare our hearts to hear God’s word in new ways, set the stage for new insight into the deeper meaning of the words and symbols we celebrate in Christian worship and practice, and help us to grow in the purity of heart, poverty of spirit, and emptiness of self that dispose us for God’s work in our lives. The practice is particularly valuable for taking prayer beyond discursiveness, petition, and thinking. Christian insight meditation is nothing short of a powerful way to “pray always” and practice loving presence to God.
Drawing heavily on the teachings of St. John of the Cross, and also drawing from the illuminating writings of Teresa of Avila, the authors here offer a masterful explication of a practice and path firmly grounded in the meditative technology of Eastern wisdom, yet wholly and vividly Christian in spirit.
Any practitioner, after meditating for some time, inevitably wonders what meditation method the historical Buddha Shakyamuni himself used while beneath the Bodhi Tree. Many people understand that prior to his realization, Shakyamuni Buddha studied with many of the great yogis of his time, but most do not know what method he ultimately found leads most directly to nirvana. In Ajahn Buddhadasa Bhikkhu’s book, Mindfulness With Breathing, the Thai meditation master provides practitioners with penetrating insights into the Ānāpānasati Sutta, the canonical text which many believe is the most direct transmission of Shakyamuni Buddha’s breath meditation methods. Combined with a concise translation of the sutta itself, Mindfulness with Breathing is one of the best guides to Buddhist meditation practice available in the English language.
What would life be like if each one of us chose compassion over anger, loving-kindness over hatred, awareness over ignorance? The Mind and the Way demonstrates a radically simple approach to life, one in which we are able to awaken to our true loving nature and delight in the mystery and wonder of the world. With warmth and a wonderful sense of humor, Ajahn Sumedho draws on the experiences of ordinary life to convey Buddhist insights that for 2,500 years have continued to remain vital and pertinent to our lives.
Using hands-on exercises, journal entries, guided meditations, and lively vignettes, The Meditator’s Workbook will help you:
- Live more deeply and joyfully in the moment
- Uncover the true source of stress
- Resolve grief
- Explore and express forgiveness
- See through the inevitable distortions of the mind
- Recognize and actualize your goals
- Find real inner peace and a thoroughgoing well-being
Whether your goal is to reduce stress or to gain deeper insight and mastery over your inner life, this simple, straightforward guidebook is the tool to use for learning why and how to meditate. Through its unique workbook-style presentation, The Meditator’s Workbook leads you to discover your own starting point, teaches you how to gain mental clarity and remove the obstacles you inevitably encounter, and helps you to identify the insights that are appropriate to each stage of your journey to spiritual and psychological maturity.
In the same lyrical voice that met with such acclaim in Landscapes of Wonder, Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano invites us to look upon the natural world with new eyes and to find the truths of the Buddha’s teachings in our immediate experience. Attentive to the subtle power of language, Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano choose his words in these essays with such artisty and care that Longing for Certainty resounds with sparkling, fluid clarity.
Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano has been referred to as “American Buddhism’s Thoreau” and indeed, his ability to inspire his readers to discover the wonders of nature and the spiritual insights that they arouse is unsurpassed among modern Buddhist writers. Fans of his acclaimed Landscapes of Wonder, will find that Longing for Certainty moves into even deeper fields of reflection.
In simple and straightforward language, Bhante Gunaratana shares the Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness and how we can use these principles to improve our daily lives, deepen our mindfulness, and move closer to our spiritual goals.
Based on the classic Satipatthana Sutta, one of the most succinct yet rich explanations of meditation, Bhante’s presentation is nonetheless thoroughly modern. The Satipatthana Sutta has become the basis of all mindfulness meditation, and Bhante unveils it to the reader in his trademark “plain English” style.
Contemplating the Four Foundations of Mindfulness—mindfulness of the body, of feelings, of the mind, and of phenomena themselves—is recommended for all practitioners. Newcomers will find The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English lays a strong groundwork for mindfulness practice and gives them all they need to get started right away, and old hands will find rich subtleties and insights to help consolidate and clarify what they may have begun to see for themselves. People at every state of the spiritual path will benefit from reading this book.
Burmese meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita shows us that freedom is as immediate as breathing, as fundamental as a footstep. In this book he describes the path of the Buddha and calls all of us to that heroic journey of liberation. Enlivened by numerous case histories and anecdotes, In This Very Life is a matchless guide to the inner territory of meditation—as described by the Buddha.
Self-transformation is an essential element in all forms of Buddhist meditation—from Tantra to Zen. Ayya Khema, author of the best-selling Being Nobody, Going Nowhere, uses one of the earliest Buddhist suttas to guide us along the path of the oldest Buddhist meditative practice for understanding the nature of “self.” By following the Buddha’s explanation with clear, insightful examples from her years of teaching meditation, she guides us back and forth between the relative understanding and higher realizations of the Buddhist concept of “self.” Her thoughtful contemplation of the Buddha’s radical understanding of “self” and her practical advice for achieving insight offer the reader a profound understanding of the “self.” Both beginning and advanced practitioners will greatly benefit from Ayya Khema’s warm and down-to-earth exposition of the Buddha’s meditation on “self.”
Please note: the ebook edition of this book has a new, revised cover.
Anita Feng has crafted in Sid a delightful jewel that captures both the classic story of the Buddha, as well a deeply personal and familiar reflection of the story in a contemporary retelling.
Sid weaves the traditional tale of Siddhartha, the Buddha-to-be, with the story of Sid, an everyman who finds himself waking up amid the reality of work and family life in the modern world. Returning to the standard tale with careful consideration of the relationships in Buddha’s life—to his wife, parents, and child—Feng’s narrative embodies the Mahayana perspective of living one’s enlightenment in the world.
Beautifully told in poetic prose, Sid teaches that the key to the story of the Buddha’s life is that the story could be about any of us.
Includes beautiful black and white illustrations, created especially for this book.
From the Buddha in ancient India to a nun in modern-day Los Angeles, Lives Lived, Lives Imagined crosses time, traditions, and cultures to present fascinating depictions of lives lived on the Buddhist path. Buddhist biographies come to life in many forms; they come from known poets and anonymous compilers; they are told by bards and even enacted by performers; they may also be autobiographies, either public or secret. Equally diverse have been the purposes they have served—as models for emulation, as origin stories for a particular community or lineage, or as narrative explications of doctrine.
This book, a collection of papers presented at a conference at the University of Oxford, presents a multifaceted, multitradition portrait of Buddhist biographies. Part 1 deals with biographies of the Buddha, investigating Chinese and Pali sources and the Sanskrit dramatizations of Asvaghosa. Part 2 contains modern Buddhist life stories, including a rare autobiography from Burma. Part 3 explores the Tibetan tradition, including such well-known figures as Milarepa, Shakya Chogden, and Karmapa Mikyö Dorje. Together, these biographies and studies reveal the rich diversity of Buddhism’s myriad incarnations over its long history and the dynamic scope of its thought and practice.
Read the biographies of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyo Dorje and Milarepa at the Treasury of Lives.
In the same engaging style that has endeared him to readers of Mindfulness In Plain English, Bhante Gunaratana delves deeply into each step of the Buddha’s most profound teaching on bringing an end to suffering: the noble eightfold path. With generous and specific advice, Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness offers skillful ways to handle anger, to find right livelihood, and to cultivate loving-friendliness in relationships with parents, children, and partners, as well as tools to overcome all the mental hindrances that prevent happiness. Whether you are an experienced meditator or someone who’s only just beginning, this gentle and down-to-earth guide will help you bring the heart of the Buddha’s teachings into every aspect of your life.
A Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards finalist (Spirituality/Inspirational).
Meditation: it’s not just a way to relax, or to deal with life’s problems. Done correctly, it can be a way to radically encounter bliss and to begin—and sustain—real transformation in ourselves.
In Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond, self-described meditation junkie Ajahn Brahm shares his knowledge and experience of the jhanas—a core part of the Buddha’s original meditation teaching. Never before has this material been approached in such an empowering way, by a teacher of such authority and popularity.
Full of surprises, delightfully goofy humor, and entertaining stories that inspire, instruct, and illuminate, Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond will encourage those new to meditation, and give a shot in the arm to more experienced practitioners as well.
Renowned for the beauty and simplicity of his teachings, Ajahn Chah was Thailand’s best-known meditation teacher. His charisma and wisdom influenced many American and European seekers, and helped shape the American Vipassana community. This collection brings together for the first time Ajahn Chah’s most powerful teachings, including those on meditation, liberation from suffering, calming the mind, enlightenment and the ‘living dhamma’. Most of these talks have previously only been available in limited, private editions and the publication of Food for the Heart therefore represents a momentous occasion: the hugely increased accessibility of his words and wisdom. Western teachers such as Ram Dass and Jack Kornfield have extolled Chah’s teachings for years and now readers can experience them directly in this book.
In Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu presents in simple language the philosophy of voidness, or sunnata, that lies at the heart of the Buddhism. By carefully tying voidness to ethical discipline, Buddhadasa provides us clear and open grounds to reflect on the place of the philosophy in our lives. With his ecumenical, stimulating, and enthusiastically engaged approach to reading the Buddha’s teaching in full flourish, Ajahn Buddhadasa transforms the jungle of philosophy into a glade as inviting as the one in which he famously taught.
Use the unique Buddhist practice of meditation on perception, as taught by the best-selling author of Mindfulness in Plain English, to learn how shifting your perspective can transform mental and physical health.
Perception—one of the basic constituents of the body and mind—can be both a source of suffering and pain, as well as a source of happiness and health. The Buddhist tradition teaches that perception can be trained and ultimately purified through the practice of meditation. When we understand how perception impacts our lives, we can use it, just as we do any other object of meditation, to overcome harmful ways of thinking and acting and to develop healthy states of mind instead. In Meditation on Perception Bhante G brings us, for the first time in English, an illuminating introduction to the unique Buddhist practice of meditation on perception as taught in the popular Girimananda Sutta.
The ten healing practices that comprise meditation on perception make up a comprehensive system of meditation, combining aspects of both tranquility and insight meditation. Tranquility meditation is used to calm and center the mind, and insight meditation is used to understand more clearly how we ordinarily perceive ourselves and the world around us. Alternating between these two practices, meditators cultivate purified perception as explained by the Buddha. As a result of these efforts, we progress on the path that leads to freedom, once and for all, from illness, confusion, and other forms of physical and mental suffering.
Meditation on Perception gives us the keys to move beyond ordinary, superficial perception into an enlightened perspective, freed from confusion and unhappiness.
Twenty-First-Century Buddhists in Conversation collects the very best of the round-table discussions recorded in the pages of Buddhadharma magazine for over a decade. These conversations among a who’s who of contemporary Buddhist teachers, ranging over topics from student-teacher relationships to the place of prayer and the leadership roles of women in modern Buddhism, are always lively and insightful. With participants such as Bhante Gunaratana, Shohaku Okumura, Sharon Salzberg, John Tarrant, and Jack Kornfield, discussions equally represent old-school and newly emergent Buddhist traditions.
Contributers include: Sharon Salzberg, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Bhante Gunaratana, David R. Loy, Robert Thurman, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Anne Carolyn Klein, B. Alan Wallace, Taigen Dan Leighton, Andrew Olendzki, Reginald Ray, Ringu Tulku, and many more.
Take the online course based on this book!
Winner of an IndieFab Award from Foreword Reviews!
Buddhism is practiced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, from Tibetan caves to Tokyo temples to redwood retreats. To an outside viewer, it might be hard to see what they all have in common. In Buddhism, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and American Buddhist nun Thubten Chodron map out with clarity the convergences and the divergences between the two major strains of Buddhism—the Sanskrit traditions of Tibet and East Asia and the Pali traditions of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Especially deep consideration is given to the foundational Indian traditions and their respective treatment of such central tenets as
- the four noble truths
- the practice of meditation
- the meaning of nirvana
- enlightenment.
The authors seek harmony and greater understanding among Buddhist traditions worldwide, illuminating the rich benefits of respectful dialogue and the many ways that Buddhists of all stripes share a common heritage and common goals.
This engaging and accessible little book is filled with both humor and profound teaching. It presents 108 metaphors for mindfulness, meditation practice, the nature of the self, change, deep acceptance, and other related concepts that Dr. Kozak has cultivated over twenty-five years of meditating, practicing yoga, and working as a clinical psychologist.
Metaphors are indispensable to understanding mindfulness, and to help deeply internalize it and make it a part of everyday life. These mentally catchy images can motivate us to practice, show us how and where to bring mindfulness to life in our personal experience, and help us employ powerful methods for transformation.
This book was previously published under the title Wild Chicken and Petty Tyrants.
The 108 pieces in the international bestseller Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung? offer thoughtful commentary on everything from love and commitment to fear and pain. Drawing from his own life experience, as well as traditional Buddhist folk tales, author Ajahn Brahm uses over thirty years of spiritual growth as a monk to spin delightful tales that can be enjoyed in silence or read aloud to friends and family.
Featuring titles such as “The Two-Finger Smile” and “The Worm and His Lovely Pile of Dung,” these wry and witty stories provide playful, pithy takes on the basic building blocks of everyday life. Suitable for children, adults, and anyone in between, this eloquent volume wraps insight and inspiration inside of a good old yarn.