Eastern Spirituality

Condensed from more than three million words, these conversations involve housewives and cabinet ministers, professors and assembly-line workers, on the subject of how traditional psychology can illuminate current human, social, and spiritual problems. More than 100 tales and extracts from Sufi lore, ranging from the eighth century (Hasan of Basra) to the modern Afghan poet Khalilullah Khalili, are woven into Shah’s narratives of how and why the Sufis learn what they learn and how spiritual understanding develops and deteriorates in all societies.

Attract good fortune and joy to every aspect of your life. Pamela Chen and Samantha Blossom teach you how to use ancient, Far Eastern magic in a modernized way, no matter your background or experience level. With their help, you can create your unique revolution through sacred devotional practices that anyone can tap into immediately.

The question-and-answer format makes this introduction to Zen especially easy to understand - and also to use as a reference, as you can easily look up just the question you had in mind. The esteemed Zen teacher Norman Fischer and his old friend and teaching colleague Susan Moon (both of them in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind) give this collaborative effort a playful tone: Susan asks a question on our behalf, Norman answers it, and then Sue challenges him.

To hear one line of his is to forget all the troubles of the world. Rabindranath Tagore writes music for his words, and one understands at every moment that he is so abundant, so spontaneous, so daring his passion, so full of surprise, because he is doing something which has never seemed strange, unnatural, or in need of defense. At every moment the heart of this poet flows outward without derogation or condescension, for it knows that most will understand; and it has filled itself with the circumstances of life.

Over more than a century, fed by ambition and oil wealth, al Saud (as the royal family is known) has come from having next to nothing to ruling as absolute monarchs. Their story starts with Saudi Arabia's founder, the lowly refugee Abdul Aziz, embarking on a daring gambit to reconquer his family's ancestral home: the mud-walled city of Riyadh. And it ends with al Saud's most ambitious move yet: taking Aramco, the multinational business that has made them the wealthiest family in the world, public.

To many in the West, Orthodoxy remains shrouded in mystery, an exotic and foreign religion that survived in the East following the Great Schism of 1054 that split the Christian world into two camps - Catholic and Orthodox. However, as the second largest Christian denomination, Orthodox Christianity is anything but foreign to the nearly 300 million worshipers who practice it. For them, Orthodoxy is a living, breathing reality; a way of being Christian ultimately rooted in the person of Jesus and the experience of the early church.

Eve Tibbs offers a comprehensive, yet very accessible, introduction to the beliefs and practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church for Western listeners. Tibbs has devoted her career to translating the Orthodox faith to an evangelical audience, and she has over 20 years of experience teaching this material to students. Assuming no prior knowledge of Orthodox theology, this survey covers the basic ideas of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, from its origins at Pentecost to the present day.

One of the most significant and popular books in the history of human thought, and China’s earliest philosophical classic, The Dao De Jing has served for millennia as a brilliant guide to living healthily and happily, to treating the Earth with respect, and to understanding our place in the cosmos. Renowned translator J. H. Huang has spent over two decades researching the Dao, resulting in the most accurate translation to date based on the oldest known transcripts of the text.

In Eastern wisdom traditions, it is taught that practicing one small bit of wisdom each day will add up to a life of insight and joy. This volume of 365 life-transforming readings brings the sacred teachings of the Tao to our everyday lives. The Tao of Joy Every Day contains Taoist sayings, insights, and stories-all designed to clearly provide understanding of what makes our lives meaningful, especially in a world that can seem hurried and crazed.

The Vedas are a 5000-year-old esoteric, intriguing, mystical body of works which carries within it the seed of divine, transcendental knowledge. We live in a world wherein yoga now reigns supreme as the preferred, go to method of modern spiritual realization, and this unique, exclusive, audio presentation by Bhakti Yogi H. G. Jagannatha Dasa paves the way for a clearer, more meaningful understanding of the powerful, enlightening yoga system.

Distinguished philosopher Hilary Putnam, who is also a practicing Jew, questions the thought of three major Jewish philosophers of the 20th century - Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas -- to help him reconcile the philosophical and religious sides of his life. An additional presence in the book is Ludwig Wittgenstein, who, although not a practicing Jew, thought about religion in ways that Putnam juxtaposes to the views of Rosenzweig, Buber, and Levinas.

Morrison offers an illuminating study of two linked traditions that have figured prominently in 20th-century thought: Buddhism and the philosophy of Nietzsche. Nietzsche admired Buddhism, but saw it as a dangerously nihilistic religion; he forged his own affirmative philosophy in reaction against the nihilism that he feared would overwhelm Europe. Morrison shows that Nietzsche's influential view of Buddhism was mistaken, and that far from being nihilistic, it has notable and perhaps surprising affinities with Nietzsche's own project of the transvaluation of all values.

Alan Watts is today remembered as a trailblazing interpreter of Eastern philosophy, but The Two Hands of God reveals a different side of his multifaceted genius. In this ambitious work, Watts takes listeners on a fascinating journey through the mythology of China, Egypt, India, the Middle East, and medieval Europe. His theme is the human experience of polarity, a condition in which opposing qualities define and complement each other. Watts illustrates the way great sages and artists across time have seen beyond the apparent duality of the universe to find a deeper unity.

For centuries, Chinese sages, rulers and spiritual seekers have embraced a simple yet powerful principle to enable them to live in harmony with the Source of nature and all life; the art of 'self-cultivation' or, xiu yang. Xiu yang works with the idea that we can steadily nurture our capacity to being fully human and fully awake.

"Namaste", a word used in many cultures, expresses the idea that when we come from a place of love and oneness, we connect with others, to become one. Our times are plagued with senseless violence, bullying, prejudices, and blatant hatred. Something has happened to the model of love that all wisdom traditions expound upon as the greatest virtue - the concept of treating everyone as we wish to be treated. Take the time to find your own narrative within their stories. Discover how can you use these stories and beliefs to gratify your life with the joy that is your birthright.

Many men have written about Tibet and its secret lore, but few have actually penetrated it to learn its ancient wisdom. Among those few was Madame Alexandra David-Neel, a French orientalist. A practicing Buddhist...she actually lived in Tibet for more than 14 years. Magic and Mystery in Tibet tells the story of her experiences in Tibet, among lamas and magicians. It is neither a travel book nor an autobiography but a study of psychic discovery, a description of the occult and mystical theories and psychic training practices of Tibet.

What if you could approach every part of your life - from the smallest decisions to life's biggest setbacks - with total confidence, clarity, and control? According to Sakyong Mipham, we all have that power. The secret is simple: If you just stop thinking about yourself all the time, happiness and confidence will come naturally. It sounds absurd and, what's more, impossible. But in Ruling Your World, Sakyong Mipham shares ancient secrets on how to take control of our lives and be successful while cultivating compassion for others and confidence in our own intelligence and goodness.

Current Western society would lead us to believe that acquiring financial wealth would be the answer to all of our problems. Or would it? In this thought-provoking program, author and Eastern philosopher Laurence Boldt takes you on a journey to uncover what your belief system is and just how much your life is being dictated by a misdirected desire to gain peace of mind through acquiring material wealth.

With his one-of-a kind blend of autobiography, pop culture, and plainspoken Buddhism, Brad Warner explores an A-to-Z of sexual topics; from masturbation to dating, gender identity to pornography. In addition to approaching sexuality from a Buddhist perspective, he looks at Buddhism - emptiness, compassion, karma - from a sexual vantage. Throughout, he stares down the tough questions: Can prostitution be "right livelihood"? Can a good spiritual master also be really, really bad?

In Meri Gita, acclaimed mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik demystifies The Bhagavad Gita for the contemporary listener. His unique approach - thematic rather than verse-by-verse - makes the ancient treatise eminently accessible.In a world that seems spellbound by argument over dialogue, vi-vaad over sam-vaad, Devdutt highlights how Krishna nudges Arjuna to understand rather than judge his relationships. This becomes relevant today when we are increasingly indulging and isolating the self.