Buddhist Philosophy

Friends Big Panda and Tiny Dragon journey through the seasons of the year together, day and night, in rain and in sun. Travelling through nature, they find hope and inspiration in the world around them, realising that even in the darkest of days, spring will always return. Feel the calming influence of Big Panda, who reminds us of the bigger picture while appreciating the simplicity of small moments. Explore your surroundings with the inquisitive eye of Tiny Dragon, our friend who is big in heart if not in stature.

Based on extensive cultural studies and long years of practice, Livia Kohn creates a new typology of meditation, based on six distinct ways of accessing the subconscious. In a special chapter on each type, she outlines the physiology, world view, and traditional practice as well as its modern medical adaptations and organizational settings. Providing a thorough theoretical framework combined with a comprehensive, analytical overview, the book greatly advances our understanding of meditation.

In this extended pamphlet, free-thinking advocate Henry Tichenor presents the life story of Gotama Buddha in the style of a hagiography, in which the fundamental doctrines of Buddhism are interwoven.

Why do we suffer? Is there a purpose to our pain? Reflecting on his own journey from Esquire magazine editor-in-chief to Buddhist meditation teacher, Phillip Moffitt provides a fresh perspective on the Buddha's ancient wisdom, showing how to move from suffering to new awareness and unanticipated joy. With a strong message of self-empowerment, Dancing with Life offers a prescriptive path for finding joy and peace that will appeal to anyone searching for a more authentic life.

Diligence is the essential quality to inspire joy and openheartedness for Buddhist practice and daily life. In this commentary focused on the Diligence Chapter from Shantideva’s eighth-century classic The Way of the Bodhisattva, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche illuminates how diligence is the inner vigor that sparks enthusiasm despite difficulty, the dynamic armor that protects against laziness, and the inner strength that aims to meet the world with joy and openheartedness.

In this masterwork of an authentic spirit person (Thomas Berry), Buddhist teacher and anthropologist Joan Halifax Roshi delves into the fruitful darkness - the shadow side of being, found in the root truths of Native religions, the fecundity of nature, and the stillness of meditation. In this highly personal and insightful odyssey of the heart and mind, she encounters Tibetan Buddhist meditators, Mexican shamans, and Native American elders, among others.

If the Buddha were alive today, what would he say about the unique challenges we face? In Tea and Cake With Demons, NYC-based mindfulness and meditation teacher Adreanna Limbach shares a down-to-earth, often humorous, and delightfully insightful discussion of Buddhism through the lens of modern life - and all our cultural, technological, and still-timeless obstacles. Throughout, Adreanna shares simple meditation practices, personal anecdotes, and traditional Buddhist tales that help you embrace the full experience of being human.

An unlikely duo—Professor Peter Singer, a preeminent philosopher and professor of bioethics, and Venerable Shih Chao-Hwei, a Taiwanese Buddhist monastic and social activist—join forces to talk ethics in lively conversations that cross oceans, overcome language barriers, and bridge philosophies. The eye-opening dialogues collected here share unique perspectives on contemporary issues like animal welfare, gender equality, the death penalty, and more. Together, these two deep thinkers explore the foundation of ethics and key Buddhist concepts.

Lama Surya Das, author of the best-selling Awakening the Buddha Within, defines the Buddhist heart as our own inner goodness - our most tender, compassionate, and caring self, our innate Buddha-nature. The Buddhist heart, called Bodhicitta by Tibetans, beats within each and every one of us and is awakened through meaningful connections - connections to our families, romantic partners, our colleagues and work, our neighbors, society, and extending out to all living creatures, including ourselves. This book tells us how we can use relationships as a vehicle for a sacred life.

Alleviate and eliminate anxiety using proven techniques of Buddhism. This is an anxiety meditation book with Buddhist self help. Learn Buddhist psychology for dealing with anxiety from numerous Buddhist meditation masters. These teachers include seasoned Thai forest monks, Chinese hermits, a Zen teacher, and many more experts in Buddhism anxiety. These anxiety reducing skills have been mastered for over 2,000 years by devout monks and the Buddha himself. I’ve aggregated techniques from various masters into this single how-to guide for reducing your anxiety with Buddhism.

In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Damien Keown explores how Buddhism approaches a range of moral issues of our age, including our relationship with our environment, our treatment of animals, and our stance on abortion, on sexuality and gender, on violence and war. This new edition also includes a discussion of the ethical challenges posed by cutting-edge developments in science and biomedical technologies, including neuroscience, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and gene editing.

Many of us speak to ourselves in demeaning and hurtful ways, using language we would never use with anyone else. To make matters worse, we often don't even realize when we are doing this, as these old mental tapes play in repeating loops without our awareness. In Talk to Yourself Like a Buddhist, certified mindfulness and meditation instructor Cynthia Kane introduces the Middle Path of Self-Communication, which consists of five mindful tools - Listen, Explore, Question, Release, and Balance - all of which are grounded in Buddhist principles.

Using step by step instructions, the author illustrates how to be fully present in the moment without clinging to joy or resisting sorrow. This opens the door to a kind of wellness that goes beyond circumstances. Actively engaging life as it is in this fashion holds the potential for awakening to a peace and well-being that are not dependent on whether a particular experience is joyful or sorrowful.

Matthew Bentley has been a Buddhist practitioner and occasional teacher for the past 24 years, and has studied Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana practices. In an effort to spread the scientifically established benefits of Buddhist meditation to those uncomfortable with religious practice, 10 foundational techniques are presented with explanations and guidance.

The Mindfulness of Breathing meditation has been practised in the Buddhist tradition for 2,500 years. It is now widely used not just among Buddhists but increasingly in the secular world as the basis of mindfulness training, and in other contexts such as yoga and, in recent times, stress and pain management. After all, as the author and teacher Vessantara observes: ‘The breath is always with us, necessary to our very existence, though it is often goes unnoticed. Yet giving it attention can transform our lives.' In The Breath, Vessantara, who has been meditating on the breath for over 40 years, writes engagingly for both newcomers and those with some experience.

Does the real world, defined as a world of objects that exist independent of human interests, concerns, and cognitive activities, really exist? Jan Westerhoff argues that we have good reason to believe it does not. His discussion considers four main facets of the idea of the real world, ranging from the existence of a separate external and internal world (comprising various mental states congregated around a self), to the existence of an ontological foundation that grounds the existence of all the entities in the world.

Anger plagues all of us on many levels and can be a formidable emotion to overcome. Yet, we see people, such as the Dalai Lama, who have faced circumstances far worse than many of us have faced—including exile, persecution, and the loss of many loved ones—but do not burn with rage or seek revenge. Using the teachings and advice presented by beloved Buddhist teacher Thubten Chodron, anyone can learn to calm their emotions, sit with and understand their anger, and peacefully move toward resolution and peace.

Thirty years ago, "mindfulness" was a Buddhist principle mostly obscure to the west. Today, it is a popular cure-all for Americans' daily problems. A massive and lucrative industry promotes mindfulness in every aspect of life, however mundane or unlikely: Americans of various faiths (or none at all) practice mindful eating, mindful sex, mindful parenting, mindfulness in the office, mindful sports, mindfulness-based stress relief and addiction recovery, and hire mindful divorce lawyers.

This is a call to a revolution of heart. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is taught that one of the most essential qualities of enlightenment is tsewa, a form of warm energy and openness of heart. It is the warmth we express and receive through empathy with others, especially those closest to us. In this compact gem of an audiobook, Dzigar Kongtrul opens the door to this life-changing energy and shows us how to transform our attitude toward ourselves and those around us through its practice. And through its practice, we can actually heal our fractured world.

Buddhism for Beginners is the introductive guide to an ancient and profoundly revered practice that helped millions of people struggling against the multiple issues of their lives. Buddhism is even more popular now than it has been in decades. The reason behind its steady rise is due to the plethora of benefits that this way of life reaps upon those who apply its teachings to their lives.