Neuroscience and Psychology of Meditation in Everyday Life addresses essential and timely questions about the research and practice of meditation as a path to realization of human potential for health and well-being. Balancing practical content and scientific theory, the book discusses long-term effects of six meditation practices: mindfulness, compassion, visualization-based meditation techniques, dream yoga, insight-based meditation and abiding in the existential ground of experience. Each chapter provides advice on how to embed these techniques into everyday activities, together with considerations about underlying changes in the mind and brain based on latest research evidence. This book is essential reading for professionals applying meditation-based techniques in their work and researchers in the emerging field of contemplative science. The book will also be of value to practitioners of meditation seeking to further their practice and understand associated changes in the mind and brain.

This book presents a new answer to the question: what is nirvana? Part One distinguishes between systematic and narrative thought in the Pali texts of Theravada Buddhism, looking at the place of nirvana in both. Part Two explores other Buddhist utopias and relates Buddhist utopianism to studies of European and American utopian writing. Steven Collins discusses these issues in relation to textuality, world history, and ideology in premodern civilizations, aiming to contribute to a new vision of Buddhist history that integrates the inside and the outside of texts.

We tend to think that the Buddha has always been seen as the compassionate sage admired around the world today, but until the nineteenth century, Europeans often regarded him as a nefarious figure, an idol worshipped by the pagans of the Orient. Donald S. Lopez Jr. offers here a rich sourcebook of European fantasies about the Buddha drawn from the works of dozens of authors over fifteen hundred years, including Clement of Alexandria, Marco Polo, St. Francis Xavier, Voltaire, and Sir William Jones. Featuring writings by soldiers, adventurers, merchants, missionaries, theologians, and colonial officers, this volume contains a wide range of portraits of the Buddha. The descriptions are rarely flattering, as all manner of reports some accurate, some inaccurate, and some garbled came to circulate among European savants and eccentrics, many of whom were famous in their day but are long forgotten in ours. Taken together, these accounts present a fascinating picture, not only of the Buddha as he was understood and misunderstood for centuries, but also of his portrayers.

In this book, Julia Ching offers a survey of over 4,000 years of Chinese civilization through an examination of the relationship between kingship and mysticism. She investigates the sage-king myth and ideal, arguing that institutions of kingship were bound up with cultivation of trance states and communication with spirits. Over time, the sage-king myth became a model for the actual ruler. As a paradigm, it was also appropriated by private individuals who strove for wisdom without becoming kings. As the Confucian tradition interacted with the Taoist and the Buddhist, the religious character of spiritual and mystical cultivation became more pronounced. But the sage-king idea continued, promoting expectations of benevolent despotism rather than democratization in Chinese civilization.

In this book, Julia Ching offers a magisterial survey of over four thousand years of Chinese civilisation through an examination of the relationship between kingship and mysticism. She investigates the sage-king myth and ideal, arguing that institutions of kingship were bound up with cultivation of trance states and communication with spirits. Over time, these associations were retained, though sidelined, as the sage-king myth became a model for the actual ruler, with a messianic appeal for the ruled. As a paradigm, it also became appropriated by private individuals who strove for wisdom without becoming kings. As the Confucian tradition interacted with the Taoist and the Buddhist, the religious character of spiritual and mystical cultivation became more pronounced. But the sage-king idea continued, promoting expectations of benevolent despotism rather than democratisation in Chinese civilisation.

Moments of peace and stillness give us a glimpse of how extraordinary our lives could be. Yet this sense of meaning and wonder is so easy to lose sight of in the hectic pace of modern living. In The Buddhist Path to Simplicity, Christina Feldman, an internationally renowned Buddhist teacher, shows you how to find harmony and balance by applying ancient Buddhist Wisdom to the here and now. The path of conscious simplicity she suggests allows us to fully recover ourselves, by rediscovering our sense of meaning and wonder. As a mother, a layperson and an internationally renowned teacher, Feldman knows the stresses and strains of modern life. In this book she shows how to harmonize and achieve balance and how to apply Buddhist wisdom to the here and now. She addresses subjects of compassion, speech, effort, intention, mindfulness and awakening. The path to peace, she suggests, is not necessarily complex or arduous. If we simply turn our attention to this moment, it will speak to us of wonder, mystery, harmony and peace. She demonstrates that there is no better moment in which to awaken and discover everything our heart longs for than this very moment.

The Indian Buddhist world abounds with goddesses--graceful nature divinities, maternal nurturers, potent healers, mighty protectors, transcendent wisdom figures, cosmic mothers of liberation, and dancing female Buddhas. Despite their importance in Buddhist thought and practice, female deities have received relatively little scholarly attention, and no comprehensive study of the female pantheon has been available. Buddhist Goddesses of India chronicles the histories, legends, and artistic portrayals of nineteen goddesses and several related human figures and texts. Beautifully illustrated and drawing on a sweeping range of material, from devotional poetry and meditation manuals to rituals and artistic images, Shaw reveals the character, powers, and practice traditions of the female divinities in this definitive and essential guide.

The Heart Sutra is Buddhism in a nutshell. It has had the most profound and wide-reaching influence of any text in Buddhism. This short text covers more of the Buddha's teachings than any other scripture, and it does so without being superficial or hurried. Although the original author is unknown, he was clearly someone with a deep realization of the Dharma.For this new English translation, Red Pine, award-winning translator of Chinese poetry and religious texts, has utilized various Sanskrit and Chinese versions, refining the teachings of dozens of ancient teachers together with his own commentary to offer a profound word-for-word explication. Divided into four parts and broken into thirty-five lines to make it easier to study or chant, and containing a glossary of names, terms, and texts, The Heart Sutra is a wise book of deep teaching destined to become the standard edition of this timeless statement of Mahayana truth.

In An Appeal to the World, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet illuminates the way to peace in our time, arguing for a form of universal ethics that goes beyond religion – values we all share as humans that can help us create unity and peace to heal our world.

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‘I see with ever greater clarity that our spiritual well-being depends not on religion, but on our innate human nature, our natural affinity for goodness, compassion and caring for others’

In this urgent ‘appeal to the world’, His Holiness the Dalai Lama addresses our time of division, calling on us to draw upon the innate goodness of our shared humanity to overcome the rancour, mistrust, and divisiveness that threaten world peace and sustainability.

Working with trusted collaborator Franz Alt, the Dalai Lama calls on the better angels of our nature to tackle a wide range of contemporary issues, from war, violence and intolerance to climate change, global hunger and materialism. Applying the techniques and teachings of Tibetan Buddhism – from listening and contemplation to meditation and nonviolence – His Holiness provides a roadmap forward.

Brief yet profound, An Appeal to the World is an inspiring message of love and optimism that can truly change the world.

This book brings together the studies of Jeaneane Fowler in Taoism, Chinese popular religion and the broader canvas of Chinese cosmogony, and those of Merv Fowler in Confucianism, Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism. 'Chinese Religions' requires no previous knowledge and thereby serves as an introduction to the religions of China, and places it in the wider context of Chinese history and philosophy. The facets of Chinese religions are as broad, multilayered and varied as the geographical vastness of China itself, yet so many Chinese beliefs have found their way into the West -- the theory of yin and yang, the I Ching, the Tao Te Ching are good examples. One of the greatest characteristics of Chinese religions is that they encompass virtually every avenue of religious thought throughout the long span of Chinese pre-historic and historical pathways.

Revised and clarified to guide the meditator through the profound and world-transforming practice of Mahamudra: the very essence of Buddha's teachings of Sutra and Tantra. Reveals the uncommon practice of Tantric Mahamudra of the Ganden Oral Lineage which the author received directly from his Spiritual Guide, Vajradhara Trijang Rinpoche. Following the root text of the Mahamudra - The Main Path of the Conquerors by the First Panchen Lama - this remarkable book provides easy-to-understand explanations and extremely clear insights based on the author's experience during many years of retreat. The author concisely explains the entire spiritual path from the initial preliminary practices to the final completion stages of Highest Yoga Tantra, which enable to attain full enlightenment in this life. Includes precious meditation instructions on tranquil abiding, superior seeing, the yoga of the central channel, the yoga of the drop, and the yoga of wind.

Tessa Bartholomeusz explores the relationship between female world-renunciation in Buddhist Sri Lanka and attitudes about women and the religious vocation. She gives a history of Buddhist female renouncers in Sri Lanka and recounts her own field experiences of contemporary Buddhist women who have chosen to live celibate and cloistered lives. By presenting the point of view of the women themselves and describing their role and vocation in present-day Sri Lanka, the author puts a new perspective on the island's Buddhist culture.

This work is a critical analysis of Sikh literature from a feminist perspective. It begins with Guru Nanak's vision of Transcendent Reality and concludes with the mystical journey of Rani Raj Kaur, the heroine of a modern Punjabi epic. The eight chapters of the book approach the Sikh vision of the Transcendent from historical, scriptural, symbolic, mythological, romantic, existential, ethical and mystical perspectives. Each of these discloses the centrality of the woman, and show convincingly that Sikh Gurus and poets did not want the feminine principle to serve merely as a figure of speech or literary device; it was intended rather to pervade the whole life of the Sikhs. The present work bolsters the claim that literary symbols should be translated into social and political realities, and in so doing puts a valuable feminist interpretation on a religious tradition which has remained relatively unexplored in scholarly literature.

This spiritual manual describes mahamudra meditation from the perspective of the "gradual path," a progressive process of training that is often contrasted to sudden realization. The book contains a step-by-step description of the ways to practice, precise descriptions of the various stages and their intended realizations, and the typical problems that arise along with their remedies. Drawn from a variety of sources, "Pointing Out the Great Way" distills the experiences of many great masters who have traversed the path of meditation to the point of perfect mastery.

While indeterminacy is a recurrent theme in philosophy, less progress has been made in clarifying its significance for various philosophical and interdisciplinary contexts. This collection brings together early-career and well-known philosophers-including Graham Priest, Trish Glazebrook, Steven Crowell, Robert Neville, Todd May, and William Desmond-to explore indeterminacy in greater detail. The volume is unique in that its essays demonstrate the positive significance of indeterminacy, insofar as indeterminacy opens up new fields of discourse and illuminates neglected aspects of various concepts and phenomena. The essays are organized thematically around indeterminacy's impact on various areas of philosophy, including post-Kantian idealism, phenomenology, ethics, hermeneutics, aesthetics, and East Asian philosophy. They also take an interdisciplinary approach by elaborating the conceptual connections between indeterminacy and literature, music, religion, and science.

Buddhism is one of the major world religions today, with approximately 500 million followers worldwide and nearly 300,000 in the UK. Following the Buddha's Enlightenment in north India in the 5th century, Buddhism was adopted across Asia and is now widely practised in the West, where many people embrace a Buddhist lifestyle or select practices such as meditation. Accompanying the largest ever display of the British Library's Buddhist treasures, Buddhism introduces the history, philosophy, geographical spread and practices of Buddhism, exploring its relevance in the modern world. Illustrated throughout with astonishingly beautiful scrolls, manuscripts and printed books, Buddhism presents the idea of the `Middle Path' - promoting mindfulness, compassion, tolerance and non-violence - with a renewed relevance for a 21st-century reader.

This 1991 book provides a brief yet detailed account of the ideal way of life prescribed for Buddhist monks and nuns in the Pali texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism. The author describes the way in which the Buddha's disciples institutionalized his teachings about such things as food, dress, money, chastity, solitude and discipleship. This tradition represents an ideal of religious life that has been followed in South and Southeast Asia for over two thousand years. In previous writing on the early period of Buddhist monasticism, scholars have usually tried to give an historical account of the evolution of the monastic order, and so have seen the extant Vinaya texts as coming from distinct historical periods. This book takes a different approach by presenting a synchronic account, which allows the author to show that sources are in fact predominantly consistent and coherent.

This book provides a vivid and detailed picture of the daily life and religious practices of Buddhist monks and nuns in the classic period of Theravada Buddhism. The author describes the way in which the Buddha's disciples institutionalized and ritualized his teachings about food, dress, money, chastity, solitude, and discipleship. This tradition represents an ideal of religious life that has been followed in India and South Asia for more than two thousand years. The introduction by Steven Collins describes Theravada Buddhist literature, discusses the issue of the historical reliability of the texts, and offers extensive suggestions for further reading. The book will be of interest to scholars and students in Asian studies, religious studies, anthropology, and history.

This book explains the Buddhist doctrine of annattá ("not-self"), which denies the existence of any self, soul, or enduring essence in man. The author relates this doctrine to its cultural and historical context, particularly to its Brahman background. He shows how the Theravada Buddhist tradition has constructed a philosophical and psychological account of personal identity on the apparently impossible basis of the denial of self. Although the emphasis of the book is firmly philosophical, Dr. Collins makes use of a number of academic disciplines, particularly those of anthropology, linguistics, sociology, and comparative religion, in an attempt to discover the "deep structure" of Buddhist culture and imagination, and to make these doctrines comprehensible in terms of the western history of ideas.

Everyone has negative habits -- even the smallest ones can take control of us. "Let Go" is a much-needed guide to getting that control back. Martine Batchelor helps readers focus their minds and uncover the roots of their repetitive behaviors. For Batchelor, it's all about how we relate to our thoughts. By adopting the kind of "creative engagement" that she teaches in "Let Go, " readers can start to see real change, and recognize problems for what they really are: growth opportunities! Batchelor's methods are applicable to all unwanted behavior -- from the slightest undesirable recurring actions to more serious patterns of cruelty, self-abuse, and negativity. Each chapter concludes with Batchelor's expert guidance in exercises or meditations that helps readers begin to work with their harmful habits in a new, creative, and empowering way.

A practical and inspiring guide for developing our ability to be happy and benefit others this commentary on "The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas" by Gyalsay Togme Sangpo is studied by followers of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The root text gives in thirty-seven short verses the essential practices leading to enlightenment. Gyalsay Togme Sangpo (1295-1369) was renowned as a bodhisattva in Tibet and revered for living according to the bodhisattva ideals and practices that he taught. He inspired not only his direct disciples but also generations of practitioners up to the present day. This extraordinary commentary by Geshe Jampa Tegchok clearly explains the popular practice of exchanging oneself with others for developing love and compassion for all living beings. It lays open the methods for doing glance stabilizing and analytical meditations and offers an in-depth discussion of the nature of emptiness. All the essentials are here for transforming our attitudes and developing courage and joy.