Drawn from his masterful presentation of Islam in the bestselling book The World's Religions (over two million copies sold), Huston Smith offers a revealing look into the heart of a tradition with more than one billion adherents worldwide. Dispelling narrow and distorted notions about the nature of Islam and featuring a new introduction by the author, this book compellingly conveys the profound appeal of Islam, while addressing such timely issues as the true meaning of jihad, the role of women in Islamic societies, and the remarkable growth of Islam in America.

The Spiritual Traveler's Travel Guide "A must read before a trip." Escape "One of the greatest travel books I have ever read." Peter Feibleman, author of Lilly: Reminiscences of Lillian Hellman #1 Bestseller in Atlases & Maps The classic guide to making travel meaningful. The Art of Pilgrimage is a travel guide full of inspiration for the spiritual traveler. Not just for pilgrims. We are descendants of nomads. And although we no longer partake in this nomadic life, the instinct to travel remains. Whether we're planning a trip or buying a secondhand copy of Siddhartha, we're always searching for a journey, a pilgrimage. With remarkable stories from famous travelers, poets, and modern-day pilgrims, The Art of Pilgrimage is for the mindful traveler who longs for something more than diversion and escape. Rick Steves with a literary twist. Through literary travel stories and meditations, award-winning writer, filmmaker and host of the acclaimed Global Spirit PBS series, Phil Cousineau, shows readers that travel is worthy of mindfulness and spiritual examination. Learn to approach travel with a desire for risk and renewal, practicing intentionality and being present. Spiritual travel for the soul. If you're looking for reasons to travel, this is it. Whether traveling to Mecca or Memphis, Stonehenge or Cooperstown, one's journey becomes meaningful when the traveler's heart and imagination are open to experiencing the sacred. The Art of Pilgrimage shows that there is something sacred waiting to be discovered around us. Inside find: Inspirational stories, myths, parables, and quotes from many travelers and many faiths How to see with the "eyes of the heart" Over 70 illustrations If you enjoyed books like The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, Unlikely Pilgrim, Zen on the Trail, or Pilgrimage The Sacred Art, then The Art of Pilgrimage is a travel companion you'll want to have with you.

Huston Smith, the author of the classic bestseller The World's Religions, delivers a passionate, timely message: The human spirit is being suffocated by the dominant materialistic worldview of our times. Smith champions a society in which religion is once again treasured and authentically practiced as the vital source of human wisdom.

In honor of its 50th anniversary comes a special edition of Huston Smith's masterpiece "The World's Religions", the classic exploration of the essential elements and teachings of the world's predominant faiths. Emphasizing the inner - rather than the institutional - dimensions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Smith devotes special attention to Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, Sufism, indigenous religions and the teachings of Jesus. He convincingly conveys the unique appeal and gifts of each of the traditions and reveals their hold on the human heart and imagination. This special 'plus' edition will include an essay by Smith which provides an overview of his life spent 'Exploring the World's Religious Frontiers'.

Huston Smith, dean of world religions, presents the essential teachings of Christianity, and, for the first time, his own profound Christian faith and convictions. In this elegant and concise treatise, Huston Smith examines and puts forth what being a Christian has meant for him personally, how it has shaped his life and beliefs. In contrast to the misguided course of culturally rigid and intolerant evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity on the one hand, and the non-transcendent liberal Christianity of Marcus Borg, John Shelby Spong, et al. on the other, Smith presents a passionate and convincing argument for a vital alternative that is a deeper, authentic Christian faith that is both tolerant, respectful of people's and religious differences, yet substantial.

Brave New World author Aldous Huxley on enlightenment and the "ultimate reality"

In this anthology of twenty-six essays and other writings, Huxley discusses the nature of God, enlightenment, being, good and evil, religion, eternity, and the divine. Huxley consistently examined the spiritual basis of both the individual and human society, always seeking to reach an authentic and clearly defined experience of the divine. Featuring an introduction by renowned religious scholar Huston Smith, this celebration of "ultimate reality" proves relevant and prophetic in addressing the spiritual hunger so many feel today.

Huston Smith, the man who brought the world's religions to the West, was born almost a century ago to missionary parents in China during the perilous rise of the Communist Party. Smith's lifelong spiritual journey brought him face-to-face with many of the people who shaped the twentieth century. His extraordinary travels around the globe have taken him to the world's holiest places, where he has practiced religion with many of the great spiritual leaders of our time.

Smith's life is a story of uncanny synchronicity. He was there for pivotal moments in human history such as the founding of the United Nations and the student uprising at Tiananmen Square. As he traveled the world he encountered thinkers who shaped the twentieth century. He interviewed Eleanor Roosevelt on the radio; invited Martin Luther King Jr. to speak at an all-white university before the March on Washington; shared ideas with Thomas Merton on his last plane ride before Merton's death in Bangkok; and was rescued while lost in the Serengeti by Masai warriors who took him to the compound of world-renowned anthropologists Louis and Mary Leaky.

In search of intellectual and spiritual treasures, Smith traveled to India to meet with Mother Teresa and befriended the Dalai Lama; he studied Zen at the most challenging monastery in Japan; and he hitchhiked through the desert to meet Aldous Huxley, dropped acid with Timothy Leary, and took peyote with a Native American shaman. He climbed Mount Athos, traipsed through the Holy Land, and was the first to study multiphonic chanting by monks in Tibet, which he recorded with Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Most important, he shared the world's religions with the West--writing two bestselling books and serving as the focus of a five-part PBS television series by Bill Moyers.

Huston Smith is a national treasure. His life is an extraordinary adventure, and in his amazing Tales of Wonder, he invites you to come along to explore your own vistas of heart, mind, and soul.

Buddhism and psychedelic exploration share a common concern: the liberation of the mind. This new edition of Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics has substantially evolved from the landmark anthology that launched the first serious inquiry into the moral, ethical, doctrinal, and transcendental considerations of the intersection of Buddhism and psychedelics. A provocative and thoughtful exploration of inner states and personal transformation, Zig Zag Zen now includes an expanded display of stunning artwork from Android Jones, Sukhi Barber, Randal Roberts, Luke Brown and Ang Tsherin Sherpa, and more work by the pioneering visionary artist Alex Grey. Complementing these new images are original essays by such luminaries as Ralph Metzner and Brad Warner; exciting interviews with James Fadiman, Kokyo Henkel, and Rick Doblin; and a discussion of ayahuasca's unique influence on Zen Buddhism by David Coyote (six new text contributions in total); all of which have been carefully curated to extend the original inquiry of authors Joan Halifax Roshi, Peter Matthiesen, Jack Kornfield, Terence McKenna, Rick Fields and many others. Contemporary seekers of spiritual truth know that both Buddhism and psychedelics are inevitably subjects encountered along the journey. By examining them together, the reader can discover truth about the essence of each.

The author of The World's Religions and the award-winning author of The World's Wisdom present an incisive introduction to Buddhism that traces its history, teachings, and practices throughout the world. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

The authors (a mycologist, chemist, and classics scholar, each respected in his field) make an informed and plausible case that the famed Mysteries conducted at Eleusis in Greece for a period of nearly two millennia in antiquity entailed psychoactive substances in a ritual context. In so doing, they find valuable lessons for the modern world in the solution of an ancient mystery. Although controversial when first published, the book's hypothesis has got much more serious attention in recent years, as scholars have increasingly come to realize the prime importance of entheogenic substances in religious rituals worldwide.All three authors have written significant books and papers relating to entheogens, and this book presents an authoritative exposition of their discoveries. This will be the first popularly accessible edition of a work that has acquired a cult reputation in the three decades since its first publication, and will attract an audience of open-minded students of earth-based spiritual practices as well as those familiar with the authors in related contexts. Its underlying theme of the universality of experiential religion, and its suppression by forces of exploitation and repression, should give it a receptive audience among many who are interested in earth religions and the reconciliation of the human and natural worlds.

This new edition of The Eye of the Heart, one of perennialist author Frithjof Schuon's earliest works, features a fully revised translation from the French original as well as over 50 pages of new material, including previously unpublished selections from the author's letters and other private writings. Also featured is a foreword by renowned religion scholar Huston Smith, an editor's preface, extensive editor's notes, a glossary of foreign terms and phrases, an index, and biographical notes.Schuon's perspective is that of the sophia perennis or "perennial wisdom", which is capable of discerning the spiritual intentions behind religious doctrines, forms, and practices. The essays collected here cover a wide range of subjects, including the fundamental principles of spiritual symbolism, the enigmatic nature of evil, questions on the afterlife, and many invaluable insights concerning the integration of everyday activities into the spiritual life. Schuon also evokes the sacredness of creation and the message of beauty, which when seen with the "eye of the heart", leads back to God.

"In February 1968 the Beatles went to India for an extended stay with their new guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It may have been the most momentous spiritual retreat since Jesus spent those forty days in the wilderness. "
With these words, Philip Goldberg begins his monumental work, "American Veda," a fascinating look at India's remarkable impact on Western culture. This eye-opening popular history shows how the ancient philosophy of Vedanta and the mind-body methods of Yoga have profoundly affected the worldview of millions of Americans and radically altered the religious landscape.
What exploded in the 1960s actually began more than two hundred years earlier, when the United States started importing knowledge as well as tangy spices and colorful fabrics from Asia. The first translations of Hindu texts found their way into the libraries of John Adams and Ralph Waldo Emerson. From there the ideas spread to Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and succeeding generations of receptive Americans, who absorbed India's "science of consciousness" and wove it into the fabric of their lives. Charismatic teachers like Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda came west in waves, prompting leading intellectuals, artists, and scientists such as Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, Allen Ginsberg, J. D. Salinger, John Coltrane, Dean Ornish, and Richard Alpert, aka Ram Dass, to adapt and disseminate what they learned from them. The impact has been enormous, enlarging our current understanding of the mind and body and dramatically changing how we view ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
Goldberg paints a compelling picture of this remarkable East-to-West transmission, showing how it accelerated through the decades and eventually moved from the counterculture into our laboratories, libraries, and living rooms. Now physicians and therapists routinely recommend meditation, words like "karma "and "mantra "are part of our everyday vocabulary, and Yoga studios are as ubiquitous as Starbuckses. The insights of India's sages permeate so much of what we think, believe, and do that they have redefined the meaning of life for millions of Americans--and continue to do so every day.
Rich in detail and expansive in scope, "American Veda" shows how we have come to accept and live by the central teaching of Vedic wisdom: "Truth is one, the wise call it by many names."

One God, Many Prophets by Zachary Markwith is a lucid and compelling exposition of religious pluralism written from within the Islamic tradition. Through selections from the Quran, sayings of the Prophet Mu ammad, and the writings of Muslim philosophers and Sufis, we discover that traditional Islam and Muslims acknowledge the common Divine origin of previous revelations and prophets as cardinal tenets of faith, and also the esteemed status of other revealed religions and those who practice them. This volume also examines fascinating and timely aspects of Islamic philosophy and spirituality alongside other wisdom traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Greek philosophy, and Hinduism. The themes and principles discussed include Islam and the perennial philosophy, love of the divine feminine, the metaphysics of the Self, Christic, Eliatic, and Hermetic wisdom, and traditional cosmology. The universal and particular wisdom of Islam highlighted throughout this volume is an affirmation of the universal or perennial wisdom of humanity. It challenges us to see Islam and all revealed religions not as competing ideologies, but as "paths that lead to the same summit.""

Smith's life is a story of uncanny synchronicity. He was there for pivotal moments in human history such as the founding of the United Nations and the student uprising at Tiananmen Square. As he traveled the world he encountered thinkers who shaped the twentieth century, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thomas Merton.

In search of intellectual and spiritual treasures, Smith traveled to India to meet with Mother Teresa, befriended the Dalai Lama, and recorded music with Pete Seger. Most important, he shared the world's religions with the West--writing two bestselling books and serving as the focus of a five-part PBS series by Bill Moyers.

Huston Smith is a national treasure. His life is an extraordinary adventure, and in his amazing "Tales of Wonder," he invites you to come along to explore your own vistas of heart, mind, and soul.

"Two very important books have appeared in 1996: 'Reuben Snake: Your Humble Serpent' and 'One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native America Church.' I say they're important because they are designed for the U.S. Government and the American people as an audience. The books are not teaching Indigenous people about peyote; they're documents to voice the concerns of indigenous Nations, to protect those of us who participate in the spirituality of peyote -- as members of the Native American Church or as individuals". (The Native American Press, Ojibwe News)

"One Nation Under God is an essential and informative contribution to Native American studies reading lists". (The Midwest Book Review)

"Reuben Snake's personal testimony on behalf of the sacred peyote is seconded and supported by the chapter 'Voices of the Native American Church, ' which presents a persuasive collection of short, heartfelt testimonials... about the life-affirming teachings of love and respect that are at the heart of the peyote way". (Shaman's Drum)

This book celebrates the endurance of the Native American Church, which now has some 80 chapters throughout the country. Prayer meetings, the sacramental use of peyote, and the significance of various practices and objects are described. Eloquent testimony of Church members from different tribes demonstrates that peyote is not used to obtain "visions" but to heal the body and spirit and to teach righteousness. The authors describe the legal battle to overturn the Supreme Court's Smith decision of 1990, which cited peyote use to deny the Native American Church the First Amendment right to "the free exercise of religion". The American Indian Religious Freedom ActAmendments, passed by Congress in 1994, providing an exemption allowing the use of peyote by the Native American Church, was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1997.

In this collection of illuminating conversations, renowned historian of world religions Huston Smith invites ten influential American Indian spiritual and political leaders to talk about their five-hundred-year struggle for religious freedom. Their intimate, impassioned dialogues yield profound insights into one of the most striking cases of tragic irony in history: the country that prides itself on religious freedom has resolutely denied those same rights to its own indigenous people. With remarkable erudition and curiosityOCoand respectfully framing his questions in light of the revelation that his discovery of Native American religion helped him round out his views of the world's religionsOCoSmith skillfully helps reveal the depth of the speakers' knowledge and experience. American Indian leaders Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux), Winona LaDuke (Anishshinaabeg), Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), Frank Dayish, Jr. (Navajo), Charlotte Black Elk (Oglala Lakota), Douglas George-Kanentiio (Mohawk-Iroquois), Lenny Foster (Dine/Navajo), Tonya Gonnella Frichner (Onondaga), Anthony Guy Lopez (Lakota-Sioux), and Oren Lyons (Onondaga) provide an impressive overview of the critical issues facing the Native American community today. Their ideas about spirituality, politics, relations with the U.S. government, their place in American society, and the continuing vitality of their communities give voice to a population that is all too often ignored in contemporary discourse. The culture they describe is not a relic of the past, nor a historical curiosity, but a living tradition that continues to shape Native American lives."

For more than sixty years, Huston Smith has not only written and taught about the world's religions, he has lived them. This Reader presents a rich selection of Smith's writings, covering six decades of inquiry and exploration, and ranging from scholarship to memoir. Over his long academic career, Smith's tireless enthusiasm for religious ideas has offered readers both in and outside the academy a fresh understanding of what religion is and what makes it meaningful. "The Huston Smith Reader" offers a comprehensive guide to understanding religion and spirituality as well as a memorable record of Huston Smith's lifelong endeavor to enrich the inner lives of his fellow humans.

Vedanta Voz de la Libertad de Swami Vivekananda Compilado por Swami Chetanananda Excelente compilacion y maravillosa exposicion de la filosofia Vedanta, con la fortaleza y la calidad explicativa que caracterizan al Swami Vivekananda. Con prologos de los famosos escritores Christopher Isherwood y Huston Smith. ------------------------------- Vedanta: Voice of Freedom Swami Vivekananda Compiled by Swami Chetanananda Swami Chetanananda successfully presents Vedanta philosophy and religion through Swami Vivekananda's lectures. It is an excellent compilation as well as an introduction to Vedanta. With prefaces from Christopher Isherwood and Huston Smith. En Espanol, 325 pp Sarada Ma Publishing

This groundbreaking primer illuminates contemplative methods that can improve mental and physical health. Contemplative practices, from meditation to Zen, are growing in popularity as methods to inspire physical and mental health. Contemplative Practices in Action: Spirituality, Meditation, and Health offers readers an introduction to these practices and the ways they can be used in the service of well being, wisdom, healing, and stress reduction. Bringing together various traditions from the East and West, this thought-provoking work summarizes the history of each practice, highlights classic and emerging research proving its power, and details how each practice is performed. Expert authors offer step-by-step approaches to practice methods including the 8-Point Program of Passage Meditation, Centering Prayer, mindful stress management, mantram meditation, energizing meditation, yoga, and Zen. Beneficial practices from Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, and Islamic religions are also featured. Vignettes illustrate each of the practices, while the contributors explain how and why they are effective in facing challenges as varied as the loss of a partner or child, job loss, chronic pain or disease, or psychological disorders.

""In a quiet moment in therapy, a breakthrough comes--the miracle of the new."
"Epiphany" is defined by Webster's as a "sudden insight into the reality or essential meaning of something."
"But my favorite part of the definition," says psychotherapist Ann Jauregui, "tells us that the revelation is usually brought on by some simple, homely, or commonplace experience. Something big is occasioned by something little, something easily missed. And it unfolds from there--sometimes as a flash, sometimes in exquisite slow motion--out of conventional time and space and language. 'Look at this, ' you whisper as you see something about the universe you've never seen before. 'And look at this, ' you whisper too, seeing yourself seeing it. The universe is bigger than it was a minute ago, and so are you."
In this intimate, lyrical integration of psychology and spirituality, Dr. Jauregui shares the stories of nine clients, casting light on moments that "just came," bringing surprise, comfort, and joy. "Shyly we venture out with these stories," she writes, "into a world still in the thrall of a reluctant science and its cousin, a reluctant psychotherapy." We are the beneficiaries, invited into a sparkling conversation that explores these life-changing surprises, and our own.

In this provocative volume two important scholars of religion, Huston Smith and Henry Rosemont, Jr., put forth their viewpoints and share a probing conversation. Though the two diverge considerably in their accounts of religious faith and practice, they also agree on fundamental points. Huston Smith, author of the important work "The World's Religions," has long argued for the fundamental equality of the world's religions. Describing a "universal grammar of religion," he argues that fourteen points of similarity exist among all of the major religious traditions and that these similarities indicate an innate psychological affinity for religion within the human spirit. As Noam Chomsky has argued that humans are hardwired to use language, Smith similarly argues that humans are hardwired for religious experience. In response, Rosemont explicates his humanistic vision of the world, in which the "homoversal" tendency to contemplate the infinite is part of our co-humanity that endures across time, space, language, and culture. Rosemont also elaborates upon Noam Chomsky's theory of universal grammar and its relevance to Smith's ideas about the similarities among religions. This insightful exploration of the most essential basis of religion provides a new direction for comparative-religion scholars everywhere.