MahamudraA Practical Guide
Essential instructions on Mahamudra from one of today's greatest Mahamudra masters. In his first major book, His Eminence the Twelfth Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche, the head of the Zurmang Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, elucidates the essence of a fundamental Mahamudra teaching. At the heart of this book are Rinpoche's practical instructions on how to settle the mind and meditate in a way that directly works with the mind, with the aim of discovering and becoming familiar with the nature of the mind. These instructions are given as commentary to a short text written by Bokar Rinpoche, which is itself a concise commentary on the Ninth Gyalwa Karmapa Wangchuk Dorj矇's Ocean of Definitive Meaning, which is considered to be one of the most authoritative and exhaustive treatises on Mahamudra. The book covers topics such as the preliminary practices, the practice of samatha and vipasyana according to the Mahamudra tradition, and advice for overcoming obstacles and making progress along the path. His Eminence Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche offers revealing commentary on Bokar Rinpoche's pithy teaching, illuminating and unlocking it for contemporary readers, showing us the way to understand the very nature of our own minds.
Translating Buddhism
Although many Buddhist studies scholars spend a great deal of their time involved in acts of translation, to date not much has been published that examines the key questions, problems, and difficulties faced by translators of South Asian Buddhist texts and epigraphs. Translating Buddhism seeks to address this omission. The essays collected here represent a burgeoning attempt to begin to shape the subfield of translation studies within Buddhist studies, whereby scholars actively challenge primary routine decisions and basic assumptions. Exploring questions including how interpretive translators can be and how cultural and social norms affect translations, the book draws on the broad experiences of its contributors--all of whom are translators themselves--who bring different themes to the table. Each chapter can be used either independently or as part of the whole to engender reflections on the process of translation.
Lineages of the Literary
In the aftermath of the cataclysmic Maoist period, three Tibetan Buddhist scholars living and working in the People's Republic of China became intellectual heroes. Renowned as the "Three Polymaths," Ts矇ten Zhabdrung (1910-1985), Mug矇 Samten (1914-1993), and Dungkar Lozang Trinl矇 (1927-1997) earned this symbolic title for their efforts to keep the lamp of the Dharma lit even in the darkest hour of Tibetan history. Lineages of the Literary reveals how the Three Polymaths negotiated the political tides of the twentieth century, shedding new light on Sino-Tibetan relations and Buddhism during this turbulent era. Nicole Willock explores their contributions to reviving Tibetan Buddhism, expanding Tibetan literary arts, and pioneering Tibetan studies as an academic discipline. Her sophisticated reading of Tibetan-language sources vivifies the capacious literary world of the Three Polymaths, including autobiography, Buddhist philosophy, poetic theory, and historiography. Whereas prevailing state-centric accounts place Tibetan religious figures in China in one of two roles, collaborator or resistance fighter, Willock shows how the Three Polymaths offer an alternative model of agency. She illuminates how they by turns safeguarded, taught, and celebrated Tibetan Buddhist knowledge, practices, and institutions after their near destruction during the Cultural Revolution. An interdisciplinary work spanning religious studies, history, literary studies, and social theory, Lineages of the Literary offers new insight into the categories of religion and the secular, the role of Tibetan Buddhist leaders in modern China, and the contested ground of Tibet.
Lineages of the Literary
In the aftermath of the cataclysmic Maoist period, three Tibetan Buddhist scholars living and working in the People's Republic of China became intellectual heroes. Renowned as the "Three Polymaths," Ts矇ten Zhabdrung (1910-1985), Mug矇 Samten (1914-1993), and Dungkar Lozang Trinl矇 (1927-1997) earned this symbolic title for their efforts to keep the lamp of the Dharma lit even in the darkest hour of Tibetan history. Lineages of the Literary reveals how the Three Polymaths negotiated the political tides of the twentieth century, shedding new light on Sino-Tibetan relations and Buddhism during this turbulent era. Nicole Willock explores their contributions to reviving Tibetan Buddhism, expanding Tibetan literary arts, and pioneering Tibetan studies as an academic discipline. Her sophisticated reading of Tibetan-language sources vivifies the capacious literary world of the Three Polymaths, including autobiography, Buddhist philosophy, poetic theory, and historiography. Whereas prevailing state-centric accounts place Tibetan religious figures in China in one of two roles, collaborator or resistance fighter, Willock shows how the Three Polymaths offer an alternative model of agency. She illuminates how they by turns safeguarded, taught, and celebrated Tibetan Buddhist knowledge, practices, and institutions after their near destruction during the Cultural Revolution. An interdisciplinary work spanning religious studies, history, literary studies, and social theory, Lineages of the Literary offers new insight into the categories of religion and the secular, the role of Tibetan Buddhist leaders in modern China, and the contested ground of Tibet.
Walking with Buddha
Walking with Buddha is a moving-meditation set along Japan's stunning Shikoku 88-Temple Trail. The ancient 1,200-kilometer path around the island of Shikoku serves as a reflective backdrop for cultural immersion and introduction into the Buddha-Nature. Wearing her heart on her sleeve, Lockhart sets off on a walking pilgrimage to nourish her soul and contemplate her next fifty years. While learning to embrace her own Buddha Nature, she discovers the wisdom, courage, and grace to accept change and re-create a life she truly desires.
The Dalai Lama and the Nechung Oracle
Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama enjoy global popularity and relevance, yet the longstanding practice of oracles within the tradition is still little known and understood. The Nechung Oracle, for example, is believed to become possessed by an important god named Pehar, who speaks through the human medium to confer with the Dalai Lama on matters of state. The Dalai Lama and the Nechung Oracle is the first monograph to explore the mythologies and rituals of this god, the Buddhist monastery that houses him, and his close friendship with incarnations of the Dalai Lama over the centuries. In the seventeenth century, during the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama, the protector deity Pehar and his oracle at Nechung Monastery were state-sanctioned by the nascent Tibetan government, becoming the head of an expansive pantheon of worldly deities assigned to protect the newly unified country. The governments of later Dalai Lamas expanded the deity's influence, as well as their own, by establishing Pehar at monasteries and temples around Lhasa and across Tibet. Pehar's cult at Nechung Monastery came to embody the Dalai Lama's administrative control in a mutual relationship of protection and prestige, the effects of which continue to reverberate within Tibet and among the Tibetan exile community today. The friendship between these two immortals has spanned nearly five hundred years across the Tibetan plateau and beyond.
Ethnic and Religious Diversity in Myanmar
One of the most comprehensive volumes on Myanmar's identity politics to date, this book discusses the entanglement of ethnic and religious identities in Myanmar and the challenges presented by its extensive ethnic-religious diversity. Religious and ethnic conjunctions are treated from historical, political, religious and ethnic minority perspectives through both case studies and overview chapters. The book addresses the thorny issue of Buddhist supremacy, Burmese nationalism and ethnic-religious hierarchy, along with reflections on Buddhist, Christian and Muslim communities. Bringing together international scholars and Burmese scholars, this book combines the perspectives of academic observers with those of political activists and religious leaders from different faiths. Through the breadth of its disciplinary approach, its focus on identity issues and its inclusion of insider and outsider perspectives, this book provides new insights into the complex religious situation of Myanmar.
The Bodhisattva and the Space Age
Adapted from its original format, published here for the first time, Roger Weir's The Bodhisattva and the Space Age: The Great Idea in Our Time, which blends the ancient Buddhist writings with a modern cosmic understanding, guiding the learner on a journey through time and space.In The Bodhisattva and the Space Age, you'll explore: The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (Shraddhotpada Mahayana Sutra) - Learn the eight reasons for the creation of the revolutionary text and the shift in Buddhist consciousness from a personal liberation to a universal liberation through the introduction of the goddess Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion.The Teaching of Vimalakirti (Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra) - Discover one of the most famous of the Mahayana Sutras, which tells the story of Yuima (also known as Vimalakirti), a layman whose wisdom surprised and amazed even some of the most famous Buddhas and bodhisattvas in history.The Accumulation of Precious Qualities (Prajna Paramita Ratna Guna Samcaya Gatha) - The paradise of the Amitabha Buddha is not one of just singing and mindlessness, but one of study and great erudition because the bodhisattva ideal includes omniscience-one must know it all-every bit of it, in all of its ramifications, for all beings to learn.The Space Age - The modern scientific worldview reveals that there are infinite galaxies in all directions around ours, and from a Buddhist perspective, they are peopled with infinite beings in need of liberation from the cycle of samsara.
The Bodhisattva and the Space Age
Adapted from its original format, published here for the first time, Roger Weir's The Bodhisattva and the Space Age: The Great Idea in Our Time, which blends the ancient Buddhist writings with a modern cosmic understanding, guiding the learner on a journey through time and space.In The Bodhisattva and the Space Age, you'll explore: The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (Shraddhotpada Mahayana Sutra) - Learn the eight reasons for the creation of the revolutionary text and the shift in Buddhist consciousness from a personal liberation to a universal liberation through the introduction of the goddess Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion.The Teaching of Vimalakirti (Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra) - Discover one of the most famous of the Mahayana Sutras, which tells the story of Yuima (also known as Vimalakirti), a layman whose wisdom surprised and amazed even some of the most famous Buddhas and bodhisattvas in history.The Accumulation of Precious Qualities (Prajna Paramita Ratna Guna Samcaya Gatha) - The paradise of the Amitabha Buddha is not one of just singing and mindlessness, but one of study and great erudition because the bodhisattva ideal includes omniscience-one must know it all-every bit of it, in all of its ramifications, for all beings to learn.The Space Age - The modern scientific worldview reveals that there are infinite galaxies in all directions around ours, and from a Buddhist perspective, they are peopled with infinite beings in need of liberation from the cycle of samsara.
A Rose for Your Pocket
Thich Nhat Hanh leads us to a new and deeper appreciation of motherhood. Using Buddhist teachings, recollections of his own mother, and rituals from around the world, Nhat Hanh reveals our deep interconnectedness with our mothers. Full of personal stories of love, struggle, and reconciliation, this book is a gift to treasure.
Spirituality for Badasses
Fulfillment, healing, peace & happiness should never come at the cost of losing our smarts, uniqueness, strength, integrity, sense of humor, or cool...Finally! Someone had the cojones to write it: A seriously funny & irreverent spiritual self-help book for adults, that bypasses all the conventional & cliched niceties & offers you - the reader & star of the show- dead-on, practical ways to change your life for good, forever.Spirituality for Badasses contains numerous astonishingly simple and spectacularly effective principles, techniques and methods to help you find your true, happy, confident, aware self. No preparation required. Anyone can do it. Start right now. You'll experience deep inner changes simply by reading the book. You'll replace who you think you are with who you truly are. Yep- Spirituality for Badasses is some powerful mojo. It's also funny as sh#! You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll learn and grow.Fair warning- Rated R- Contains cursing language, tequila drinking, loud rock-n-roll, bar fights, irreverent humor, emotional button pushing and ego shattering wisdom. This isn't your parent's self-help book. If you're looking for a bulleted list of coddling, woo-woo, positive-think, rainbows & unicorns spiritual advice & exercises- This is not the spiritual self-help book you are looking for... Move along.Spirituality for Badasses takes you the reader on a high-stakes, cross country, road trip adventure where you'll encounter a cornucopia of beautiful places, strange experiences and wild people. In the midst of this adventure you will be challenged, pushed to the edge and invited to experience life and yourself in radically transformative ways: Your guide and traveling companion, J. Stewart Dixon shows you the gritty no-holds bar ropes of what it takes - attention, awareness, mindfulness, recognizing the limited ego-mind, meeting deep seated fears and knowing your most intimate inner self- to become a true spiritual badass.The Midwest Book Review sums it up: "Spirituality for Badasses goes where no other books in these genres dare travel...in a way no other book matches." Chuck Hillig, best-selling author of Seeds for the Soul says: "Spirituality for Badasses is an irreverent, exuberant, free-wheeling, stream of consciousness saga that chronicles the spiritual journey in ways that are unique, humorous, challenging and a hell of a lot of fun ..."Okay Badass- It's time to decide: Purchase the book and experience the first self-help book you've ever read- that will actually make a huge, fundamental difference in your life.
Becoming Buddha
The Buddha's teachings, the dharma, have gone through three paradigmatic shifts over the millennia, known as the 'turnings' of the dharmic wheel and are reviewed in this book. These paradigm shifts are a result of a deepening understanding into the nature of suffering and the methods of healing. At this time the process of cultural interaction between East and West, and its inevitable synthesis, is well underway as many of the fundamental insights of Buddhist contemplative psychology are becoming integrated into western psychotherapy. There is currently a need for integral dharma teachings that are grounded in the theory and practice of Buddhist contemplative psychology that is synthesized with Western psychological healing and adult development. This book opens a door to this amazing integral synthesis for our times.
Allow Joy into Our Hearts
When faced with an event that disrupts every aspect of our lives, how do we avoid succumbing to hopelessness, bitterness, and other destructive habits of the mind, and instead find ways to allow joy, kindness, and generosity to fill our hearts in the midst of suffering? Rebecca Li explains how we can, through the cultivation of clear awareness, transform challenging circumstances into fertile soil for wisdom and compassion to grow by facing each moment with tenderness, clarity, and courage.
The Buddha’s Tooth
John S. Strong unravels the storm of influences shaping the received narratives of two iconic sacred objects. Bodily relics such as hairs, teeth, fingernails, pieces of bone-supposedly from the Buddha himself-have long served as objects of veneration for many Buddhists. Unsurprisingly, when Western colonial powers subjugated populations in South Asia, they used, manipulated, redefined, and even destroyed these objects to exert control. In The Buddha's Tooth, John S. Strong examines Western stories, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, surrounding two significant Sri Lankan sacred objects to illuminate and concretize colonial attitudes toward Asian religions. First, he analyzes a tale about the Portuguese capture and public destruction, in the mid-sixteenth century, of a tooth later identified as a relic of the Buddha. Second, he switches gears to look at the nineteenth-century saga of British dealings with another tooth relic of the Buddha-the famous Daḷadā enshrined in a temple in Kandy-from 1815, when it was taken over by English forces, to 1954, when it was visited by Queen Elizabeth II. As Strong reveals, the stories of both the Portuguese tooth and the Kandyan tooth reflect nascent and developing Western understandings of Buddhism, realizations of the cosmopolitan nature of the tooth, and tensions between secular and religious interests.
Buddhist Dictionary
This highly important book translates and clearly explains foundational Pali terms that are vital to a complete understanding of Buddhist philosophy and religion. It is an accurate, detailed, and authentic Buddhist dictionary of doctrinal terms from the Pali Canon and its Commentaries. It is of value for understanding the early Buddhist tradition and the Theravada tradition which grew out of it, but does not cover the later Buddhist traditions. The author, Nyanatiloka, was a German monk who compiled the book while interned in India by the British during World War II. Since then, it has been enlarged and revised-this being the third revised and enlarged edition. The main entries are listed under the Pali terms, and the English expressions commonly used are explained and included. Original Pali words are often used in Buddhist texts and remain untranslated, since writers often did not know their accurate meanings. Therefore, this book is widely known as an essential work for all serious students of Buddhism.
The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects
This is an account of the Madhyamika (Middle Way) school of Buddhism, a method of mediation and enlightenment that was developed by the great Indian teacher Nagarjuna. In a collaboration between the Frenchwoman Alexandra David-Neel and her friend, the Tibetan lama Aphur Yongden, these teaching are presented clearly and elegantly, intended for the layman who seeks a way to practice and experience the realization of oneness with all existence."...this is the most direct, no-nonsense, and down-to-earth explanation of Mahayana Buddhism that has been written. Specifically, it is a wonderfully lucid account of the Middle Way method of enlightenment worked out by the great Indian sage Nagarjuna." -Alan Watts, The Book
Comes Judgment
Thank you for picking up this book. It was written with you in mind! There is nobody like you on this earth and you are as important as any other person, from kings to beggars. Jesus Christ existed and lived among us about two thousand years ago. He was brutalized and hung on a cross to die explicitly for you. He was resurrected to prove his credentials as our Savior. Those who place their trust in him will receive forgiveness for sins committed and will live eternally in heaven. Those who reject his offer will not. The amazing thing is, Jesus gives you the choice. Explore his incredible story and the significance of judgment. Many balk at the idea of judgment, but it is a part of everyday life. Judgment Is! Find out why but know that Christ offers joy and happiness along with his forgiveness. May you find peace, now and forever. Be blessed!
Buddhism and Human Flourishing
The Buddha and Aristotle offer competing visions of the best possible life to which human beings can aspire. In this volume, Seth Zuihō Segall compares Theravāda and Mahāyāna accounts of enlightenment with Aristotelian and neo-Aristotelian accounts of eudaimonia, and proposes a syncretic model of eudaimonic enlightenment that, given prevalent Western beliefs about well-being and human flourishing, provides a credible new end-goal for modern Western Buddhist practice. He then demonstrates how this proposed synthesis is already deeply reflected in contemporary Western Buddhist rhetoric. Segall re-evaluates traditional Buddhist teachings on desire, attachment, aversion, nirvāṇa, and selfhood from the eudaimonic enlightenment perspective, and explores the perspective's ethical and metaphysical implications.
Human Beings or Human Becomings?
Great transformations are reshaping human life, social institutions, and the world around us, raising profound questions about our fundamental values. We now have the knowledge and the technical expertise, for instance, to realize a world in which no child needs to go to bed hungry--and yet, hunger persists. And although the causes of planetary climate disruption are well known, action of the scale and resolution needed to address it remain elusive.In order to deepen our understanding of these transformations and the ethical responses they demand, considering how they are seen from different civilizational perspectives is imperative.Acknowledging the rise of China both geopolitically and culturally, the essays in this volume enter into critical and yet appreciative conversations with East Asian philosophical traditions--primarily Confucianism, but also Buddhism and Daoism--drawing on their conceptual resources to understand what it means to be human as irreducibly relational. The opening chapters establish a framework for seeing the resolution of global predicaments, such as persistent hunger and climate disruption, as relational challenges that cannot be addressed from within the horizons of any ethics committed to taking the individual as the basic unit of moral analysis. Subsequent chapters turn to Confucian traditions as resources for addressing these challenges, reimagining personhood as a process of responsive, humane becoming and envisioning ethics as a necessarily historical and yet open-ended process of relational refinement and evolving values.
El noble camino 籀ctuple
El noble camino 籀ctuple es una de las pocas ense簽anzas de Buda conocidas por Occidente, pero que a menudo se malinterpreta. Es un m矇todo de ocho pasos que el Buda explic籀 en lo que ser穩a despu矇s de su muerte f穩sica en Saṃyukta Āgama. Quien recorre este camino debe integrar y aplicar sucesivamente el conocimiento correcto, el pensamiento correcto, la palabra correcta, el comportamiento correcto, la profesi籀n correcta, la perseverancia correcta, la atenci籀n correcta y, finalmente, la concentraci籀n correcta. El Buda, consciente de que los que ven穩an a aprender de 矇l no estaban todos comprometidos con la v穩a mon獺stica, les hab穩a propuesto que practicaran este m矇todo seg繳n su situaci籀n social, mientras que a los monjes les hab穩a ordenado aplicarlo de forma m獺s estricta y adecuada a su vocaci籀n. Son estos dos enfoques del noble camino 籀ctuple los que proponemos al lector en este breve texto, para que tenga una comprensi籀n suficientemente clara del mismo y pueda, si lo desea, aplicarlo en su vida cotidiana.
Pure Dzogchen
Dzogchen is the state of great perfection. In Bon, there are nine steps to achieving enlightenment. The gradual path contains the beginning eight steps and include many practices and teachings. The Dzogchen teaching is the highest step and directly introduces Dharmakaya or primordial Buddhahood. This is attained by means of one practice: single-pointed meditation on the Natural Mind. The meditator passes beyond mind and encounters the inconceivable vastness of the natural mind and ultimate truth. All delusions, ignorance and emotions are liberated. Freeing the practititioner from daily problems is of bene t; however, Dzogchen, the path of liberation, is the ultimate benefit.This compilation of Geshe Namgyal's teachings provides the route, summary and essential points of the Pure Dzogchen from the Zhang Zhung Tradition.
Magic and Mystery in Tibet
Born in 1868 to a respectable French family, Alexandra David-Neel became the most remarkable female travel writer of the Twentieth century. David-Neel studied at the Sorbonne at a time when women were not allowed to formally matriculate and converted to Buddhism after viewing a statue of the Buddha in the Guimet Museum. In 1911 she set off, alone, to travel around India for the second time and in 1914 she secluded herself in a cave in the Himalayas for two years, intensively studying the mysteries of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the mystic legends that surrounded Buddhist monks. From 1918 she spent three years in a Buddhist monastery translating texts into French and English. By 1924 she had travelled to the forbidden city of Lhasa and returning to France in 1927 began to write, recording her extraordinary experiences. She died in 1969, 101 years old, still travelling, and an inspiration for a generation that included Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Magic and Mystery in Tibet, like Seven Pillars of Wisdom, attempts to bring ancient wisdom into the modern age. David-Neel records the seemingly magic feats performed by Buddhist monks; telepathy, tumo breathing (the art of generating body heat to keep warm in freezing conditions), the ability to run for days at a time, the ability to defy gravity and the ability to become invisible. As a child David-Neel had wanted to search for the unknown and as an adult she went beyond the Western world, and into areas unexplained by Western science. No other Western writer has ever been so immersed in Tibetan culture and Buddhism, and few other books have entranced readers for seventy years.Seeker, adventurer, pilgrim, and scholar, David-Neel was the first European woman to explore the once-forbidden city of Lhasa. This memoir offers an objective account of the supernatural events she witnessed during the 1920s among the mystics and hermits of Tibet - including levitation, telepathy, and the ability to walk on water.
Aspects of Buddha-Dhamma
The Buddha saw the genesis of all problems and their solutions in the mind. An impure mind is the spring of all evils, of all kinds of problems and sufferings. And a pure mind is the panacea for all problems. Therefore the crux of his teaching is how to purify the mind. And mind can be purified by observing moral precepts (sīla), attaining concentration (samādhi) and developing insight wisdom (pa簽簽ā). The importance of these three cornerstones of the Buddha's teaching has been shown everywhere and are written about in this book of essays. This book is a collection of 28 essays written over a period of two decades and covers a wide variety of topics such as why Dhamma is compared to a wheel, how it's founded on experience and reason, Buddha's social philosophy and view on caste, good governance, and human rights. Other essays ask whether the Buddha's views are relevant to modern issues like ecology, bioethics, and education while others focus on the cardinal teachings of the Buddha, the importance of Pāli literature, what real beauty is and how we can achieve world peace through peace of mind. Whether it is a spiritual problem or a social or material problem, the role of the mind is great. The three cornerstones of the Buddha's teaching, sīla, samādhi and pa簽簽ā, find place in practically all the essays collected here. Most of these essays are published in different journals and proceedings of seminars, both national and international. The journals and proceedings include Journal of the Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi; Proceedings of the International Buddhist Conference, Indosan Nipponji, (Japanese Temple) Bodh Gaya; Somaiya Publications Pvt Ltd, Mumbai; Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and Aryan Books International, New Delhi; Nava Nalanda Mahāvihāra, Nalanda Publications and Dr. Gustav Roth Felicitation Volume, Patna. (Note: This title was previously published under ISBN 978-1-681722-41-2 . Due to technical issues a new ISBN had to be assigned. Rest assured that both versions of this title are exactly the same.)
Religious Epistemology Through Schillebeeckx and Tibetan Buddhism
This study investigates how a comparison between the Catholic theologian Edward Schillebeeckx's controversial reading of Thomist philosophy and the Tibetan Buddhist Gendun Chopel's challenge to the standard Geluk teaching of Tsongkhapa's Madhyamaka philosophy might assist in rethinking conceptions of religious knowledge. Utilizing a wide variety of methodical approaches to establish an imaginary dialogue between these two thinkers, this comparison remains embodied in the thought and praxis of actual individuals, and yet still firmly embedded within the conversations and trajectories of their broader religious traditions.
Rising of Bodhisattvas! 2020
This book, Rising of Bodhisattvas! 2020, collected weekly Dharma talks of International Buddha Dharma Society for Cosmic Law during the year of 2020.
An Introduction to Zen Buddhism
One of the world's leading authorities on Zen Buddhism, D. T. Suzuki was the author of more than a hundred works on the subject in both Japanese and English, and was most instrumental in bringing the teachings of Zen Buddhism to the attention of the Western world. Written in a lively, accessible, and straightforward manner, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism is illuminating for the serious student and layperson alike. This abridged reissued introduction presents the nature, technique and practice of Zen. A Japanese Zen master, Dr Suzuki taught regularly in the USA and Europe.
Rising of Bodhisattvas! 2017-2018
This book, Rising of Bodhisattvas! 2017-2018, collected Dharma talks given by International Buddha Dharma Society for Cosmic Law from Nov. 2017 to Dec. 2018.
Bringing Meditation to Life
"Meditation is not just something we do on the cushion, it's a way of living."Zen teacher Claude AnShin Thomas shares his experiences and insights into how Zen teachings and practice can move off the meditation cushion and into everything we do, transforming all aspects of our lives.Bringing Meditation to Life features 108 pithy and potent teachings for inspiration and contemplation, drawn from Claude AnShin's public talks and previous writings. Interspersed throughout the book are some of the author's favorite quotes from Zen literature.
Mahavanshaya Part 2
This book is the second part of the great history of Sri Lanka and how the Teachings of the Buddha have reached the island more than 2000 years ago. It explains how the great disciples and pupils of the Buddha have dedicated their lives to protect and preserve the Teachings of the Buddha in its purest form. You will also learn how the great kings of the past were able to protect the Community of Monks and Nuns as well as protecting the Island of Dhamma from invaders of other countries and sects.
Achchariya Manusso
This is a book which details the life story of the Gautama Buddha, detailing from before his Birth all the way to the Passing Away (Parinibbana). You can read about the Life of the Buddha as though the Buddha himself talking to you. Chapters are respectfully dedicated with many suttas about the extra-ordinary life of the Buddha, profound Dhamma which the Buddha realized, community of the disciples, and gods and brahmas who attained lasting happiness through the Buddha's path. Most venerable Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero presents this precious book with pure intention of helping everyone to go for refuge to the Gauthama Buddha.අපගේ භාග්]යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ අතිශය ආනුභාව සම්පන්න වූ, ආශ්චර්ය අද්භූත වූ නික්ලේශී චරිතයත්, උන්වහන්සේ අවබෝධ කරගත් ධර්මයත්, ඒ ධර්මයෙන් නිපන් ශ්]රාවක සංඝයාත්, උන්වහන්සේගෙන් පිහිට ලැබූ අන්]ය වූ දිව්]ය බ්]රහ්මාදී ඈත එපිට ලෝකවල ජීවත්වන සත්ත්වයින් පිළිබඳවත්, අනන්ත විශ්වය පුරා පැතිර ඇති භාග්]යවතුන් වහන්සේගේ අසිරිමත් ශාස්තෘත්වයත් ඔබගේ දෑස් ඉදිරියෙහි විදහා දක්වන නවතම සදහම් ග්]රන්ථය, 'අච්ඡරිය මනුස්සෝ'අතිපූජනීය කිරිබත්ගොඩ ඤාණානන්ද ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ විසින් රචනා කරන ලද, සත්පුරුෂ කලණමිතුරන් වෙතත්, බුදුවදන් නුවණින් විමසන අය වෙතත් සෙනෙහසින් පිදෙන මෙම මහානීය ග්]රන්ථ රත්නය කිය&#
Sirimath Wesathuru Dawa
This book is about one of the past lives of the Gauthama Buddha. It is called Wessanthara Jatakaya. In one of his previous lives, he was born as the king Wessanthara. As the king Wessanthara, his generosity is extra-ordinary. He is ready to donate whatever is asked by others. He donates even his own son, daughter and wife. This is a heart touching story. You can learn how the Buddha-to-be practiced perfections ( Paramis) in order to attain enlightenment out of compassion for all beings.
Transcending Madness
The Tibetan word bardo is usually associated with life after death. Here, Ch��gyam Trungpa discusses bardo in a very different sense: as the peak experience of any given moment. Our experience of the present moment is always colored by one of six psychological states: the god realm (bliss), the jealous god realm (jealousy and lust for entertainment), the human realm (passion and desire), the animal realm (ignorance), the hungry ghost realm (poverty and possessiveness), and the hell realm (aggression and hatred). In relating these realms to the six traditional Buddhist bardo experiences, Trungpa provides an insightful look at the madness of our familiar psychological patterns and shows how they present an opportunity to transmute daily experience into freedom.
Orderly Chaos
According to the mandala principle, a prominent feature of tantric Buddhism, all phenomena are part of one reality. Whether good or bad, happy or sad, clear or obscure, everything is interrelated and reflects a single totality. As Ch?gyam Trungpa explains in this book, from the perspective of the mandala principle, existence is orderly chaos. There is chaos and confusion because everything happens by itself, without any external ordering principle. At the same time, whatever happens expresses order and intelligence, wakeful energy and precision. Through meditative practices associated with the mandala princliple, the opposites of experience - confusion and enlightenment, chaos and order, pain and pleasure - are revealed as inseperatble parts of a total vision of reality.
Mahawanshaya
This book is the combination of first, second and third part of the great history of Sri Lanka and how the Teachings of the Buddha have reached the island more than 2000 years ago. It explains how the great disciples and pupils of the Buddha have dedicated their lives to protect and preserve the Teachings of the Buddha in its purest form. You will also learn how the great kings of the past were able to protect the Community of Monks and Nuns as well as protecting the Island of Dhamma from invaders of other countries and sects.
The ZEN Ox-Herding Pictures
This book is based on "the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures of Zen", a classic of Zen literature from the 12th century. It counts among the fundamental and essential works of Zen Buddhism. The book portrays the spiritual path to realisation by means of a story, illustrated in picture and verse, of an ox-herder searching for his lost ox - his true self. Zen Master Zensho's invaluable annotations are an expression of his enlightened consciousness - exceptionally clear, readily understood and true-to-life. They are highly practical and a unique orientation aid on the path to self-realisation. These enlightening explanations give us a new opening to a clear understanding of the mystical meaning of the Ten Ox-herding Pictures of Zen.
The Religious Ethic and Mercantile Spirit in Early Modern China
Why did modern capitalism not arise in late imperial China? One famous answer comes from Max Weber, whose The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism gave a canonical analysis of religious and cultural factors in early modern European economic development. In The Religions of China, Weber contended that China lacked the crucial religious impetus to capitalist growth that Protestantism gave Europe. The preeminent historian Ying-shih Y羹 offers a magisterial examination of religious and cultural influences in the development of China's early modern economy, both complement and counterpoint to Weber's inquiry. The Religious Ethic and Mercantile Spirit in Early Modern China investigates how evolving forms of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism created and promulgated their own concepts of the work ethic from the late seventh century into the Qing dynasty. The book traces how religious leaders developed the spiritual significance of labor and how merchants adopted this religious work ethic, raising their status in Chinese society. However, Y羹 argues, China's early modern mercantile spirit was restricted by the imperial bureaucratic priority on social order. He challenges Marxists who championed China's "sprouts of capitalism" during the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries as well as other modern scholars who credit Confucianism with producing dramatic economic growth in East Asian countries. Y羹 rejects the premise that China needed an early capitalist stage of development; moreover, the East Asian capitalism that flourished in the later half of the twentieth century was essentially part of the spread of global capitalism. Now available in English translation, this landmark work has been greatly influential among scholars in East Asia since its publication in Chinese in 1987.
A Partial Enlightenment
In many ways, Buddhism has become the global religion of the modern world. For its contemporary followers, the ideal of enlightenment promises inner peace and worldly harmony. And whereas other philosophies feel abstract and disembodied, Buddhism offers meditation as a means to realize this ideal. If we could all be as enlightened as Buddhists, some imagine, we could live in a much better world. For some time now, however, this beatific image of Buddhism has been under attack. Scholars and practitioners have criticized it as a Western fantasy that has nothing to do with the actual experiences of Buddhists. Avram Alpert combines personal experience and readings of modern novels to offer another way to understand modern Buddhism. He argues that it represents a rich resource not for attaining perfection but rather for finding meaning and purpose in a chaotic world. Finding unexpected affinities across world literature--Rudyard Kipling in colonial India, Yukio Mishima in postwar Japan, Bessie Head escaping apartheid South Africa--as well as in his own experiences living with Tibetan exiles, Alpert shows how these stories illuminate a world in which suffering is inevitable and total enlightenment is impossible. Yet they also give us access to partial enlightenments: powerful insights that become available when we come to terms with imperfection and stop looking for wholeness. A Partial Enlightenment reveals the moments of personal and social transformation that the inventions of modern Buddhism help make possible.
The Buddhist Cleanse
Detox Your Life Like a Monk in 24 HoursAs a Buddhist monk and psychotherapist with over 10 years of experience in the mental health field, Nick Keomahavong has packaged ancient wisdom into a simple, relatable, and-above all-practical guide to shift your life in 24 hours. Whether you are looking to deepen your existing spiritual practice, break out of the monotony of a stale, daily routine, or undergo a full-on life-reset, the Buddhist Cleanse will help you instigate the change you seek. Flush your old patterns. Slow down for 24 hours. Discover balance. Make space for the life you want to live but can't find time for. Based on a Buddhist framework that remains as relevant and effective today as it was when it was first practiced 2,500+ years ago, the 1-Day Spiritual Detox will walk you through the steps to jumpstart the process of change in your life. But don't take our word for it, come try it and see for yourself.
Buddhist Literature as Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy as Literature
Can literature reveal reality? Is philosophical truth a literary artifice? How does the way we think affect what we can know? Buddhism has been grappling with these questions for centuries, and this book attempts to answer them by exploring the relationship between literature and philosophy across the classical and contemporary Buddhist worlds of India, Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, and North America. Written by leading scholars, the book examines literary texts composed over two millennia, ranging in form from lyric verse, narrative poetry, panegyric, hymn, and koan, to novel, hagiography, (secret) autobiography, autofiction, treatise, and sutra, all in sustained conversation with topics in metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and the philosophies of mind, language, literature, and religion.Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural, this book deliberately works across and against the boundaries separating three mainstays of humanistic pursuit--literature, philosophy, and religion--by focusing on the multiple relationships at play between content and form in works drawn from a truly diverse range of philosophical schools, literary genres, religious cultures, and historical eras. Overall, the book calls into question the very ways in which we do philosophy, study literature, and think about religious texts. It shows that Buddhist thought provides sophisticated responses to some of the perennial problems regarding how we find, create, and apply meaning--on the page, in the mind, and throughout our lives.
A Buddhist Sensibility
Founded in 1676 during a cosmopolitan early modern period, Mindr繹ling monastery became a key site for Buddhist education and a Tibetan civilizational center. Its founders sought to systematize and institutionalize a worldview rooted in Buddhist philosophy, engaging with contemporaries from across Tibetan Buddhist schools while crystallizing what it meant to be part of their own Nyingma school. At the monastery, ritual performance, meditation, renunciation, and training in the skills of a bureaucrat or member of the literati went hand in hand. Studying at Mindr繹ling entailed training the senses and cultivating the objects of the senses through poetry, ritual music, monastic dance, visual arts, and incense production, as well as medicine and astrology. Dominique Townsend investigates the ritual, artistic, and cultural practices inculcated at Mindr繹ling to demonstrate how early modern Tibetans integrated Buddhist and worldly activities through training in aesthetics. Considering laypeople as well as monastics and women as well as men, A Buddhist Sensibility sheds new light on the forms of knowledge valued in early modern Tibetan societies, especially among the ruling classes. Townsend traces how tastes, values, and sensibilities were cultivated and spread, showing what it meant for a person, lay or monastic, to be deemed well educated. Combining historical and literary analysis with fieldwork in Tibetan Buddhist communities, this book reveals how monastic institutions work as centers of cultural production beyond the boundaries of what is conventionally deemed Buddhist.
A Buddhist Sensibility
Founded in 1676 during a cosmopolitan early modern period, Mindr繹ling monastery became a key site for Buddhist education and a Tibetan civilizational center. Its founders sought to systematize and institutionalize a worldview rooted in Buddhist philosophy, engaging with contemporaries from across Tibetan Buddhist schools while crystallizing what it meant to be part of their own Nyingma school. At the monastery, ritual performance, meditation, renunciation, and training in the skills of a bureaucrat or member of the literati went hand in hand. Studying at Mindr繹ling entailed training the senses and cultivating the objects of the senses through poetry, ritual music, monastic dance, visual arts, and incense production, as well as medicine and astrology. Dominique Townsend investigates the ritual, artistic, and cultural practices inculcated at Mindr繹ling to demonstrate how early modern Tibetans integrated Buddhist and worldly activities through training in aesthetics. Considering laypeople as well as monastics and women as well as men, A Buddhist Sensibility sheds new light on the forms of knowledge valued in early modern Tibetan societies, especially among the ruling classes. Townsend traces how tastes, values, and sensibilities were cultivated and spread, showing what it meant for a person, lay or monastic, to be deemed well educated. Combining historical and literary analysis with fieldwork in Tibetan Buddhist communities, this book reveals how monastic institutions work as centers of cultural production beyond the boundaries of what is conventionally deemed Buddhist.
An Introduction to Mental Development
The teachings of the Buddha contain clear and plain instructions for a mental development whose goal is the recognition of reality as it is. Of course reality is obvious and nothing is hidden, but an untrained mind will wander aimlessly and get caught up in all kinds of cravings, aversions, and imaginations. When reality and imagination collide, the result is suffering. Buddhist mental development trains the mind in such a way that it can perceive reality clearly, thereby liberating it from its mental fetters. This book introduces the reader to the basics of Buddhism with emphasis on fundamental concepts, Pali terminology, and meditation practice. Mental development is based on experiential knowledge, which can only be gained in meditation. This book provides enough background and instructions for beginning meditation practice and guiding the practitioner until mental development matures. The text is a technical manual rather than an inspirational book. It is intended for people who already have decided to walk the path of the dhamma and look for concrete instructions. It may also be interesting to those who merely want to acquire a quick overview over Buddhist practice.
The Noble Eightfold Path
This book offers a clear, concise account of the Eightfold Path prescribed to uproot and eliminate the deep underlying cause of suffering-ignorance. Each step of the path is believed to cultivate wisdom through mental training, and includes an enlightened and peaceful middle path that avoids extremes. The theoretical as well as practical angles of each of the paths-right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration-are illustrated through examples from contemporary life. The work's final chapter addresses the Buddhist path and its culmination in enlightenment. (Note: This title was previously published under ISBN: 9781928706076. Due to technical issues a new ISBN had to be assigned. Rest assured that both versions of this title are exactly the same.)
Exploring Ch獺n
Drawing on over three decades of study and practice, Chuan Zhi, an ordained monk in the Chinese Linji tradition, takes us on a fascinating journey to uncover the causes and conditions that led to Chan's formation as a unique expression of Chinese Buddhism. Along the way, he explores some complex topics: How and why did the Chan institution invent its characteristic lineage system and what is its significance? How has state sponsorship shaped the presentation of Chan and Zen throughout the Orient? How might there be a disparity between the mystical practice of Chan and its religious expression? How does one "do" Chan as a mystical practice, and why would someone want to? And how might a practitioner of Chan best engage with its institutional form to ensure healthy spiritual growth? Offering his own insights along with those of past meditation masters, historians, scholars, and canonical texts, Chuan Zhi takes us on a captivating journey that challenges many long-held assumptions. Throughout the narrative, he argues that Chan's mystical practices are as valuable for life today as they have been for centuries.
Mettā
The Pāli word mettā is a multi-significant term meaning loving kindness, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence, fellowship, amity, concord, inoffensiveness and non-violence. The Pāli commentators define mettā as the strong wish for the welfare and happiness of others (parahita-parasukha-karana). Essentially mettā is an altruistic attitude of love and friendliness as distinguished from mere amiability based on self-interest. Through mettā one refuses to be offensive and renounces bitterness, resentment and animosity of every kind, developing instead a mind of friendliness, accommodativeness and benevolence which seeks the well-being and happiness of others. True mettā is devoid of self-interest. It evokes within a warm-hearted feeling of fellowship, sympathy and love, which grows boundless with practice and overcomes all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers. Mettā is indeed a universal, unselfish and all-embracing love. Mettā makes one a pure font of well-being and safety for others. Just as a mother gives her own life to protect her child, so mettā only gives and never wants anything in return. To promote one's own interest is a primordial motivation of human nature. When this urge is transformed into the desire to promote the interest and happiness of others, not only is the basic urge of self-happiness of others, not only is the basic urge of self-seeking overcome, but the mind becomes universal by identifying its own interest with the interest of all. By making this change one also promotes one's own well-being in the best possible manner. Mettā is the protective and immensely patient attitude of a mother who forbears all difficulties for the sake of her child and ever protects it despite its misbehaviour. Metta is also the attitude of a friend who wants to give one the best to further one's well-being. If these qualities of mettā are sufficiently cultivated through mettā-bhāvanā-the meditation on universal love-the result is the acquisition of a tremendous inner power which preserves, protects and heals both oneself and others.Apart from its higher implications, today mettā is a pragmatic necessity. In a world menaced by all kinds of destructiveness, mettā in deed, word and thought is the only constructive means to bring concord, peace and mutual understanding. Indeed, mettā is the supreme means, for it forms the fundamental tenet of all the higher religions as well as the basis for all benevolent activities intended to promote human well-being.The present booklet aims at exploring various facets of mettā both in theory and in practice. The examination of the doctrinal and ethical side of mettā will proceed through a study of the popular Karanīya Mettā Sutta, the Buddha's "Hymn of Universal Love". In connection with this theme we will also look at several other short texts dealing with mettā. The explanation of mettā-bhāvanā, the meditation on universal love, will give the practical directions for developing this type of contemplation as set forth in the main meditation texts of the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, the Visuddhimagga, the Vimuttimagga and the Patisambhidamagga.
Die unausl繹schliche Lampe
Die Abhandlung 羹ber die Unausl繹schliche Lampe der Zen Schule (Shumon mujinto ron) ist ein wichtiges Werk der Rinzai Zen Tradition und wurde von dem bedeutenden Zen Meister Torei Enji (1721-1792) verfasst. Er war ein Sch羹ler und Dharma Erbe von Meister Hakuin (1686-1769), dem gro?en Reformator und Erneuerer der Zen Schule in Japan im 18. Jahrhundert. In diesem Buch werden die Richtlinien f羹r das traditionaelle Zen Training klar dargelegt. Torei beginnt mit einer kurzen Geschichte der Rinzai Schule und ihrer Abstammungslinie und in den folgenden Kapiteln beschreibt er dann alle wichtigen Aspekte der Zen ?bung. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf Meditation gerichtet, sowie die Arbeit mit Koans und die ?bermittlung durch den Lehrer. Diese Ausgabe enth瓣lt auch den Kommentar von Meister Daibi, der oft in Zen Schulen als Erl瓣uterung hinzugef羹gt wird. Meister Daibi von Unkan (1881-1964) war der Leiter des Rinzai Klosters Kokutaiji. Mit gro?er Sorgfalt und in aller Ausf羹hrlichkeit, erl瓣utert er Toreis Text und bietet damit einen vollst瓣ndigen Lehrgang 羹ber die Mahayana Schriften an. Sein umfassendes Wissen und tiefe Einsicht veranschaulichen diese Lehren sowohl f羹r den ?benden als auch f羹r den allgemeinen Leser. Zen Meisterin Myokyo-ni (1921-2007) erhielt ihre Ausbildung in der Rinzai-Tradition im Kloster Daitoku-ji in Japan, wo sie 羹ber zw繹lf Jahre unter den Meistern Oda Sesso Roshi und Sojun Kannun Roshi studierte. Sp瓣ter wurde sie ?btissin von den zwei ?bungstempeln des Zen Centre, London. Myokyo-ni ist Autorin von vielen lehrreichen B羹chern 羹ber Zen Training und 羹bersetzte auch viele wichtige Chinesische und Japanische Zen Klassiker. Dazu geh繹rt auch Die Abhandlung 羹ber die Unausl繹schliche Lampe der Zen Schule zusammen mit den Kommentaren von Meister Daibi. Ihre hilfreichen Notizen dazu machen dieses Werk ein wichtiges Handbuch f羹r Zen ?bende.
Records of the Transmission of the Lamp (Jingde Chuandeng Lu)
This compilation of Buddhist biographies, teaching and transmission stories of Indian and Chinese Chan (Japanese 'Zen') masters from antiquity up to about the year 1008 CE is the first mature fruit of an already thousand year-long spiritual marriage between two great world cultures with quite different ways of viewing the world. The fertilisation of Chinese spirituality by Indian Buddhism fructified the whole of Asian culture. The message of this work, that Chan practice can enable a free participation in life's open-ended play, seems as necessary to our own time as it was to the restless times of 11th century Song China. This is the fifth volume of a full translation of this work in thirty books. Records of the Transmission of the Lamp translated by randolph s. whitfield jingde chuandeng lu by daoyuan
The Dhammapada (Royal Collector’s Edition) (Case Laminate Hardcover with Jacket)
The Dhammapada is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form. It is one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. According to tradition, the Dhammapada's verses were spoken by the Buddha on various occasions. Each saying recorded in the collection was made on a different occasion in response to a unique situation that had arisen in the life of the Buddha and his monastic community.The Dhammapada is considered one of the most popular pieces of Theravada literature. The text is part of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka, although over half of the verses exist in other parts of the Pali Canon, a collection of Buddhist writings of Theravada Buddhism.This case laminate collector's edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket.
