Spirituality Buddhism

In a clear and engaging way, this book shows how the principle of emptiness, the philosophic heart of Tibetan Buddhism, connects intimately to quantum nonlocality and other foundational features of quantum mechanics. Detailed connections between emptiness, modern relativity, and the nature of time are also explored. For Tibetan Buddhists, the profound interconnectedness implied by emptiness demands the practice of universal compassion.

From jewelry to meditation pillows to tourist retreats, religious traditions are being commodified as never before. Imitated and rebranded as “new age” or “spiritual,” they are marketed to secular Westerners as an answer to suffering in the modern world. In Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi, Sophia Rose Arjana examines the appropriation and sale of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam in the West today, the role of mysticism and Orientalism in the religious marketplace, and how the commodification of religion impacts people’s lives.

Miguel’s realistic. He knows it’ll never be all sunshine and peaches. And yet, he is (for the most part) at peace with the world and with himself. It shocks even him sometimes. But he’s come to see the interconnectedness of all things, the beauty of life...even the parts that suck. Each short chapter ends with a hands-on practice that the listener can put into action right away - and each practice offers a distilled “TL;DL” takeaway point.

This book shows how we can move beyond secular mindfulness and compassion techniques to the cultivation of insight - seeing into and thereby becoming free of the repetitive thinking that keeps us trapped in cycles of suffering. Most books in the secular mindfulness tradition stop with mindfulness and self-compassion but do little to uncover the root causes of our suffering. Drawing on both Buddhist analyses of mind and current findings in psychology and neuroscience, the book explains how our thinking becomes fixed through our engaging with unconscious preferences and reactions.

With Transitory Nature, radical Buddhist and spiritual guide Sue Hunt walks listeners through a nine-month Consciousness Design Process to dismantle Binary Worldview and challenge existing hierarchies of power. From our interactions with our inner selves, to how we interface with both the public sphere and our own intergenerational inheritance and cultural programming, Hunt shows how liberation lies in stepping into the contemplative vision of self and surrounding reality which she terms “non-binary worldview".

Breath Perception is your companion to understanding the power of breath and using it as a tool to improve your physical and mental health. Partly because we take breath for granted and do not work with it, we are somewhat unaware of the potential it holds to reduce stress, change metabolism, and increase our supply of energy. Breath Perception presents 261 simple exercises - one for every Monday through Friday - for using breath to attain greater well-being.

Dinty Moore set out to explore America's fascination with Buddhism and found himself enthralled. You will be too, as Moore takes you into the world of American-style Buddhism, from a mountain retreat for executives learning to deal with stress to a Tibetan Freedom Concert with the Beastie Boys.

"Everyone dies, but no one is dead," goes the Tibetan saying. It is with these words that Advice on Dying takes flight. Using a 17th-century poem written by a prominent scholar-practitioner, His Holiness the Dalai Lama draws from a wide range of traditions and beliefs to explore the stages we all go through when we die, which are the very same stages we experience in life when we go to sleep, faint, or reach orgasm (Shakespeare's "little death").

Going on Being is Mark Epstein's memoir of his early years as a student of Buddhism and of how Buddhism shaped his approach to therapy, as well as a practical guide to how a Buddhist understanding of psychological problems makes change for the better possible.

In these chapters, the Karmapa shares his vision for bringing social action into daily life, on a scale we can realistically manage through the choices we make every day - what to buy, what to eat, and how to relate honestly and bravely with our friends and family and coworkers. His fresh and encouraging perspective shows us that we have the strength to live with kindness in the midst of the many challenges we face as socially and environmentally conscious beings.

Perpetually bored, anxious, fatigued, and overweight, modern society has failed to deliver the happiness it promised. The remedy, Jevan Pradas argues, is in a unique synthesis of a Paleolithic lifestyle and Buddhist meditation. A sprawling journey, featuring Jevan's adventures with naked Amazonian tribes and retreats with enlightened monks to learn the secrets of optimal well-being, The Awakened Ape will teach you how to achieve deep states of bliss. All while shaping your body into the fit and healthy animal millions of years of evolution programmed you to be.

As an orphan in the slums of Tsu City, Japan, Kodo Sawaki had to fight his way to adulthood, and became one of the most respected Zen masters of the twentieth century. Though he remained poor by choice, he was rich in spirit. A student of Kosho Uchiyama, Arthur Braverman has compiled an anthology of Sawaki's writings and a garland of sayings gathered from throughout his lifetime. One of a few collections of Sawaki's teachings published in English, his life and work bracket the most intriguing and influential period of modern Zen practice in Japan and America.

Accessible, playful, and genuine, this concise guide shows how we can incorporate our own daily experiences into our spiritual path and awaken to how things truly are. By embracing sadness, love, and openness in our lives, we develop an altruistic attitude to help all beings who suffer and to reduce our own greed and aggression. This easy-to-listen-to manual by one of the most widely loved and respected Tibetan Buddhist teachers of our time teaches us how to honestly explore and deal with our own hang-ups and neuroses.

With war and violence flaring all over the world, many of us are left feeling vulnerable and utterly helpless. In this book Pema Chödrön draws on Buddhist teachings to explore the origins of aggression, hatred, and war, explaining that they lie nowhere but within our own hearts and minds. She goes on to explain that the way in which we as individuals respond to challenges in our everyday lives can either perpetuate a culture of violence or create a new culture of compassion.

The Web site Tiny Buddha began as a quote-a-day Twitter account, @tinybuddha, in 2008. Lori Deschene's daily wisdom posts about mindfulness, nonattachment, and happiness became so popular that she now has more than 200,000 Twitter followers who share quotes and stories about inspiration in their daily lives.

People who charge through their days on autopilot are often missing out on life’s most precious gifts. Mindless living puts you at risk of stress, mental health problems, and even weakens your immune system. When you can’t appreciate who you are and what you have—right here, right now—life will always be unsatisfying. In Mindfulness: The Remarkable Truth Behind Meditation and Being Present in Your Life, you’ll discover the secrets of truly calm, contented people. You’ll grow a more compassionate heart and make goals that align with your deepest values.

A new look at Advaita through the eyes of the most unlikely of sages - Wayne Liquorman. Wayne is a former alcoholic and drug addict who shortly after being “struck sober” began a spiritual quest that led him to his guru, Ramesh Balsekar, and then to Ultimate Understanding. Wayne’s expression of his spiritual understanding is at once irreverent and profound. We laugh sometimes joyously, sometimes uncomfortably, but always with the recognition that we are in the presence of a master. Edited from talks at Wayne’s house by Catherine Asche.

Millions outside of Asia become curious about Tibetan Buddhism through hearing and being touched by the words of the Dalai Lama, reading a book about Tibet, seeing images, or watching films. Many who are curious about Buddhist ideas eventually find themselves reaching a point where they are exposed to aspects of Tibetan Buddhism but are unsure what participating in the tradition and its practices entails. In this candid, practical guide from a longtime practitioner, Bruce Newman offers guidance. Special emphasis is placed on the pitfalls and benefits of the guru-disciple relationship.

The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the most important teachings in Buddhism. In this series of eight lectures, given originally in 1965, Urgyen Sangharakshita introduces each stage, from right understanding to right meditation, explaining the deeper implications involved. Sangharakshita, the London-born Buddhist teacher, is one of the most influential figures in the development of Buddhism in the West.

Zen Master Tales collects never-before-translated stories of four prominent Zen masters from the Edo period of Japanese history (1603–1868). Drawn from an era that saw the “democratization” of Japanese Zen, these stories paint a picture of robust, funny, and poignant engagement between Zen luminaries and the emergent chonin or “townsperson” culture of early modern Japan. These masters affirmed that the essentials of Zen practice could be conveyed to all members of Japanese society in ordinary speech, including even comic verse and work songs.