- What, Why, How
 - Cover Page
 - Title Page
 - Contents
 - Editor’s Preface
 - 1. On Meditation
- How Much Effort?
 - Metta and Meditation
 - Best Meditation Object
 - Layperson’s Daily Meditation
 - Meditation and Relaxation
 - Pain and Discomfort
 - Beginning Buddhism
 - Ultimate Aim of Meditation
 - Samatha and Vipassana
 - Good and Bad Meditation
 - The Lotus Posture
 - Reaction to Pain
 - Other Meditation Postures
 - Meditating Outdoors
 - Misunderstanding Meditation
 - Meditation Progress
 - Hearing the Heart
 - Pain while Meditating
 - Meditation Focus
 - Training the Mind
 - Breath as an Agent
 - Light Show
 - Sensations during Meditation
 - Handling Joy and Bliss
 - Striving Too Hard
 - Counting Breaths
 - The Doubting Meditator
 - Meditation and Mantras
 - Peace in Solitude
 - “Solo” Practice
 
 - 2. Morality and Discipline
 - 3. Buddhist Principles and Practices
- The Buddha’s Teachings
 - The Triple Gem
 - The Illusion of “Self”
 - The Importance of Volition
 - A Creator God
 - Buddha Nature
 - Luminous Mind
 - Tricky Business
 - Dominant Thoughts
 - Life’s Purpose
 - Dispassion Explained
 - An Intellectual Understanding
 - Spiritual Friends
 - Hindrances and Fetters
 - Uprooting Hindrances
 - Appreciative Joy
 - The Meaning of Mara
 - Which Suttas?
 - Core Suttas
 - Where Is the “I”?
 - Ignorance and Craving
 - The Characteristics of Existence
 - Right Effort
 - Faith in Buddhism
 - Spiritual Friendship
 - Defining the Soul
 - Gender and Attachment
 - The Meaning of Chanda
 - Books and Buddhism
 - Secret Teachings
 - Improving the Teachings
 
 - 4. Buddhism and the Body
 - 5. Rebirth
 - 6. Dealing with Daily Life
- Meditation in Busy Life
 - Meditation and Sleep
 - Antidepressants and Meditation
 - Respecting Others
 - Hate and Violence in the World
 - Overturned Bowls
 - Buddhism and Western Psychology
 - The Middle Way
 - Stay Cool
 - Impermanence and Sadness
 - Letting Go
 - Look to Yourself
 - Spiritual Practice in Lay Life
 - Wholesome Directions
 - Clinging and Relationships
 - A Pregnant Blessing
 - Teachings on the Family
 - Meditation and Trauma
 - Crime and Compassion
 - Little White Lies
 - Fitting in Meditation
 - Strong Emotional States
 - Breezy Insight
 - Vegetarianism
 - Assisted Suicide
 - Animal Experimentation
 - Buddhism and Politics
 
 - 7. Enlightenment
 - 8. Working with Thoughts and Speech
 - 9. Negative Emotions
 - 10. Cultivating Metta or Loving-Friendliness
- Selfless Service
 - Metta and Meditation
 - Motherly Metta
 - Sharing Merit
 - Metta Toward All
 - Dealing with Bullies
 - The Seed of Metta
 - Arising Out of Meditation
 - Ill Will and Metta
 - Metta for Oneself
 - Metta and Concentration
 - A World of Hatred
 - Dealing with Anger
 - Self-Forgiveness and Metta
 - Equal in the Face of Metta
 - Tonglen and Metta
 - Avoid Being Abused
 - Resistance to Metta
 - Feeling Loving-Friendliness
 - The Politics of Metta
 - From Mindfulness to Metta
 
 - 11. Concentration and the Jhanas
 - 12. Mindfulness
 - 13. Understanding Impermanence
 - 14. Considering Kamma
 - 15. A Monk’s Life
- Becoming a Monastic
 - Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
 - From Theory to Practice
 - A Monk’s Practice
 - Coming to America
 - “Bhante G” Explained
 - Ordaining Women
 - Who Will Support You?
 - One Finger and Three Chairs
 - Life Minus Hair
 - West vs. East
 - Comparing Practices
 - Forgiving Each Other
 - A “Successful” Buddhist
 - Meditation Recitation
 - Looking Back
 - A Skeletal Gift
 - Personal Meditation Experience
 - Monk Selfies
 
 - 16. Difficulties and Challenges
- The Difficulty of Meditation
 - Attached to Meditation
 - The Weight of Anger
 - Just Practice
 - Present-Moment Awareness
 - Who Should Not Meditate?
 - Forgiveness and Meditation
 - Learning from the Breath
 - Handling Anger
 - Self-Inquiry
 - Measuring Improvement
 - Handling Hatred
 - Handling Hatred, Part 2
 - The Supreme Blessing
 - Unskillful Means
 - A Thief’s Donation
 - Laziness and Meditation
 
 - 17. Benefits of Practice
 - 18. Generosity and Dana
 - 19. On Death and Loss
 - 20. The Buddha as the Teacher
- A Treatment for Suffering
 - “Right” and “Wrong”
 - Finding a Teacher
 - Seeing the Dhamma
 - The Focus of the Teachings
 - Smiling Buddha
 - Rituals and Enlightenment
 - No Other Refuge
 - Love, Oneself, and the Universe
 - Masculine and Feminine
 - The Two Darts
 - Spiritual Friends
 - Being a Buddhist
 - Sticking with the Path
 - The Concept of Simplicity
 - American Buddhism
 - The Buddha’s Guarantee
 - Core Insights
 - Quote the Buddha
 
 - Index
 - About the Author
 - Copyright
 
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