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In a time of social distancing and isolation, a meditation on the
beauty of solitude from renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor
A Los Angeles Review of Books "Best of the Year" selection
"Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.
A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a
good life."-Kirkus Reviews "Elegant and formally ingenious."-Geoff
Wisner, Wall Street Journal When world renowned Buddhist writer
Stephen Batchelor turned sixty, he took a sabbatical from his
teaching and turned his attention to solitude, a practice integral
to the meditative traditions he has long studied and taught. He
aimed to venture more deeply into solitude, discovering its full
extent and depth. This beautiful literary collage documents his
multifaceted explorations. Spending time in remote places,
appreciating and making art, practicing meditation and
participating in retreats, drinking peyote and ayahuasca, and
training himself to keep an open, questioning mind have all
contributed to Batchelor's ability to be simultaneously alone and
at ease. Mixed in with his personal narrative are inspiring stories
from solitude's devoted practitioners, from the Buddha to
Montaigne, from Vermeer to Agnes Martin. In a hyperconnected world
that is at the same time plagued by social isolation, this book
shows how to enjoy the inescapable solitude that is at the heart of
human life.
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.
In "Buddhism Without Beliefs," author Stephen Batchelor reminds us
that the Buddha was not a mystic. His awakening was not a
shattering insight into a transcendent truth that revealed to him
the mysteries of God, and he did not claim to have had an
experience that granted him privileged, esoteric knowledge of how
the universe ticks. What the Buddha taught, says Batchelor, is not
something to believe in but something to do. He challenged people
to understand the nature of anguish, let go of its origins, realize
its cessation, and bring into being a way of life. This way of life
is available to all of us, and Batchelor explains clearly and
compellingly how we can practice it and live it every day. Each
chapter of Batchelor's book examines how to work toward awakening
realistically, with the understanding that embarking on this path
does not mean never deviating from it.
A renowned philosopher of the mind, also known for his
groundbreaking work on Buddhism and cognitive science, Evan
Thompson combines the latest neuroscience research on sleep,
dreaming, and meditation with Indian and Western philosophy of
mind, casting new light on the self and its relation to the brain.
Thompson shows how the self is a changing process, not a static
thing. When we are awake we identify with our body, but if we let
our mind wander or daydream, we project a mentally imagined self
into the remembered past or anticipated future. As we fall asleep,
the impression of being a bounded self distinct from the world
dissolves, but the self reappears in the dream state. If we have a
lucid dream, we no longer identify only with the self within the
dream. Our sense of self now includes our dreaming self, the "I" as
dreamer. Finally, as we meditate-either in the waking state or in a
lucid dream-we can observe whatever images or thoughts arise and
how we tend to identify with them as "me." We can also experience
sheer awareness itself, distinct from the changing contents that
make up our image of the self. Contemplative traditions say that we
can learn to let go of the self, so that when we die we can witness
its dissolution with equanimity. Thompson weaves together
neuroscience, philosophy, and personal narrative to depict these
transformations, adding uncommon depth to life's profound
questions. Contemplative experience comes to illuminate scientific
findings, and scientific evidence enriches the vast knowledge
acquired by contemplatives.
A renowned philosopher of the mind, also known for his
groundbreaking work on Buddhism and cognitive science, Evan
Thompson combines the latest neuroscience research on sleep,
dreaming, and meditation with Indian and Western philosophy of the
mind, casting new light on the self and its relation to the
brain.
Thompson shows how the self is a changing process, not a static
thing. When we are awake we identify with our body, but if we let
our mind wander or daydream, we project a mentally imagined self
into the remembered past or anticipated future. As we fall asleep,
the impression of being a bounded self distinct from the world
dissolves, but the self reappears in the dream state. If we have a
lucid dream, we no longer identify only with the self within the
dream. Our sense of self now includes our dreaming self, the "I" as
dreamer. Finally, as we meditate -- either in the waking state or
in a lucid dream -- we can observe whatever images or thoughts
arise and how we tend to identify with them as "me." We can also
experience sheer awareness itself, distinct from the changing
contents that make up our image of the self.
Contemplative traditions say that we can learn to let go of the
self, so that when we die we can witness the dissolution of the
self with equanimity. Thompson weaves together neuroscience,
philosophy, and personal narrative to depict these transformations,
adding uncommon depth to life's profound questions. Contemplative
experience comes to illuminate scientific findings, and scientific
evidence enriches the vast knowledge acquired by
contemplatives.
This uniquely contemporary guide to understanding the timeless
message of Buddhism, and in particular its relevance in actual
human relations, was inspired by Shantideva's 'Guide To The
Bodhisattva's Way Of Life', which the author translated into
English, the oral instructions of living Buddhist masters,
Heidegger's classic 'Being and Time', and the writings of the
Christian theologians Paul Tillich and John MacQuarrie.
A renowned Buddhist teacher's magnum opus, based on his fresh
reading of the tradition's earliest texts Some twenty-five
centuries after the Buddha started teaching, his message continues
to inspire people across the globe, including those living in
predominantly secular societies. What does it mean to adapt
religious practices to secular contexts? Stephen Batchelor, an
internationally known author and teacher, is committed to a
secularized version of the Buddha's teachings. The time has come,
he feels, to articulate a coherent ethical, contemplative, and
philosophical vision of Buddhism for our age. After Buddhism, the
culmination of four decades of study and practice in the Tibetan,
Zen, and Theravada traditions, is his attempt to set the record
straight about who the Buddha was and what he was trying to teach.
Combining critical readings of the earliest canonical texts with
narrative accounts of five members of the Buddha's inner circle,
Batchelor depicts the Buddha as a pragmatic ethicist rather than a
dogmatic metaphysician. He envisions Buddhism as a constantly
evolving culture of awakening whose long survival is due to its
capacity to reinvent itself and interact creatively with each
society it encounters. This original and provocative book presents
a new framework for understanding the remarkable spread of Buddhism
in today's globalized world. It also reminds us of what was so
startling about the Buddha's vision of human flourishing.
An essential collection of Stephen Batchelor's most probing and
important work on secular Buddhism As the practice of mindfulness
permeates mainstream Western culture, more and more people are
engaging in a traditional form of Buddhist meditation. However,
many of these people have little interest in the religious aspects
of Buddhism, and the practice occurs within secular contexts such
as hospitals, schools, and the workplace. Is it possible to recover
from the Buddhist teachings a vision of human flourishing that is
secular rather than religious without compromising the integrity of
the tradition? Is there an ethical framework that can underpin and
contextualize these practices in a rapidly changing world? In this
collected volume of Stephen Batchelor's writings on these themes,
the author explores the complex implications of Buddhism's
secularization. Ranging widely-from reincarnation, religious
belief, and agnosticism to the role of the arts in Buddhist
practice-he offers a detailed picture of contemporary Buddhism and
its attempt to find a voice in the modern world.
"The Awakening of the West" is an insightful and elegantly
written history chronicling the developing relationship between
Buddhism and Western culture. As anyone familiar with the work of
Stephen Batchelor (best-selling author of Buddhism Without Beliefs)
would expect, "The Awakening of the West" is presented in a fresh
and lively way and backed by thorough research. Using the
innovative approach of starting with the present and working back
in time, Batchelor makes it easy to connect familiar contemporary
Buddhist teachers to their historical roots. He breathes life into
history by capturing the personalities and times of famous and
lesser-known but important Buddhist figures. After absorbing these
stories and their context, readers will not only have a greater
appreciation of Buddhism as a religion but can gain insights that
can help them develop their own discerning wisdom. "The Awakening
of the West" is a unique, engaging and important book for anyone
seeking a greater understanding of Buddhism.
The understanding of the nature of reality is the insight upon which the Buddha was able to achieve his own enlightenment. This vision of the sublime is the source of all that is enigmatic and paradoxical about Buddhism. In Verses from the Center, Stephen Batchelor explores the history of this concept and provides readers with translations of the most important poems ever written on the subject, the poems of 2nd century philosopher Nagarjuna.
In bestselling author and former monk Stephen Batchelor's seminal
work on our greatest struggle-to become good-he traces the
trajectory from the words of the Buddha and Christ, through the
writings of Shantideva, Milton, and Pascal, to the poetry of
Baudelaire, the fiction of Kafka, and the findings of modern
physics and evolutionary biology-to examine who we really are, and
to rest in the uncertainty that we may never know.
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