In his long career as a poet, Buddhist teacher, spiritual advisor, and writer, Stephen Levine has changed our understanding of death and dying. In "Becoming Kuan Yin," Levine's first new book in many years, he turns to the legend of Kuan Yin, the Bodhistitva venerated by East Asian Buddhists for her compassion.

In "Becoming Kuan Yin," Levine shares the tale of Miao Shan, born centuries ago to a cruel king who wanted her to marry a wealthy but uncaring man. This is the story of how Miao Shan refused to follow the path her father had in mind and, instead, became Kuan Yin, the first acknowledged female Buddha who watches over the dying and those who work with them.

Levine weaves together story and practice and helps readers discover their own infinite capacity for mercy and compassion under difficult circumstances. This book will have resonance for Kuan Yin's millions of followers.

From Ram Dass, one of America's most beloved spiritual figures and bestselling author of Be Here Now and Be Love Now, comes this timeless classic about the experience of being and the risks and rewards of our spiritual path. Originally published in 1976, Grist for the Mill offers a deep spiritual journey of self-discovery, and a universal understanding of what it means to "be" and to grow as human beings. The book is fully revised with a new introduction. As Ram Dass puts it, "When the faith is strong enough it is sufficient just to be. It's a journey towards simplicity, towards quietness, towards a kind of joy that is not in time. It's a journey that has taken us from primary identification with our body and our psyche, on to an identification with God, and ultimately beyond identification."

HOLLYWOOD From Below the Line: A Prop Master's Perspective Steven M. Levine, a veteran Hollywood property master, through both humorous recollections and poignant stories, not only takes the reader onto a Hollywood set as a crew member but is also hugely informative about the art department and props in particular-any item handled or used by actors during the filming of a show. Once awakened to the world of props, the reader will never watch films or television shows the same way again. The reader will gain a whole new perspective and appreciation for a department, rarely if ever mentioned, but just as vital to the look and feel of a production as costumes, make up, set design, etc. The book explains what property masters do, how a script is "broken down", why props must be thoroughly researched, how the prop master interfaces with other departments, and how to deal with the inflated egos he or she will certainly encounter. He also opens up about the toll that 14-16 hour days and being away on location for months at a time can take on a family. In this "Entertainment Tonight" kind of world, "HOLLYWOOD" immediately catches the readers' eyes and attention, making them want to find out "what about Hollywood?" HOLLYWOOD From Below the Line is not a mainstream phrase normally associated with the word HOLLYWOOD, so it peaks the reader's curiosity. The subtitle, A Prop Master's Perspective lets the readers know that they are going to hear something different and unique about Hollywood. The Foreword is by Emmy Award winning actor and former prop master assistant, Michael Badalucco. There are 26 photos with captions/descriptions in this book, including photos of Tanya Tucker, Lilly Tomlin, Ron Howard, Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens). "Steven clearly shows how vitally important props are to an actor-and to a film. His book is full of amazing information, anecdotes, and details only an insider would know. This is a wonderful, personal view of an often-overlooked, rarely written about, fascinating part of show business. My personal favorite is the chapter on Pee-wee's Big Adventure! " - Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens

In his new book, Stephen Levine, author of the perennial best-seller Who Dies?, teaches us how to live each moment, each hour, each day mindfully--as if it were all that was left. On his deathbed, Socrates exhorted his followers to practice dying as the highest form of wisdom. Levine decided to live this way himself for a whole year, and now he shares with us how such immediacy radically changes our view of the world and forces us to examine our priorities. Most of us go to extraordinary lengths to ignore, laugh off, or deny the fact that we are going to die, but preparing for death is one of the most rational and rewarding acts of a lifetime. It is an exercise that gives us the opportunity to deal with unfinished business and enter into a new and vibrant relationship with life. Levine provides us with a year-long program of intensely practical strategies and powerful guided meditations to help with this work, so that whenever the ultimate moment does arrive for each of us, we will not feel that it has come
too soon.

Poet and meditation teacher Levine writes simply and gently about his own personal experiences with and insights into vipassana meditation. An inspiring book for anyone interested in deep personal growth.

In his most intimate book, the world-renowned spiritual teacher shares his inner journey of transformation and wisdom.

This is the first book to show the reader how to open to the immensity of living with death, to participate fully in life as the perfect preparation for whatever may come next. Levine provides calm compassion rather than the frightening melodrama of death.

The culmination of nearly two decades of personal and professional explorations, this book offers readers a unique source book comprised solely of guided meditations, new and familiar, for the deeper healing of spirit, mind, and body.

In this book Steven Levine explores the relation between objectivity and experience from a pragmatic point of view. Like many new pragmatists he aims to rehabilitate objectivity in the wake of Richard Rorty's rejection of the concept. But he challenges the idea, put forward by pragmatists like Robert Brandom, that objectivity is best rehabilitated in communicative-theoretic terms - namely, in terms that can be cashed out by capacities that agents gain through linguistic communication. Levine proposes instead that objectivity is best understood in experiential-theoretic terms. He explains how, in order to meet the aims of the new pragmatists, we need to do more than see objectivity as a norm of rationality embedded in our social-linguistic practices; we also need to see it as emergent from our experiential interaction with the world. Innovative and carefully argued, this book redeems and re-actualizes for contemporary philosophy a key insight developed by the classical pragmatists.

This authoritative account of the 2011 New Zealand election and electoral system referendum is the story of an odd campaign of leaders' debates where the most memorable line, "Show me the money ," comes from a Hollywood movie. Set against the backdrop of a country caught up in rugby heroics and the aftermath of several life-changing natural disasters, it is the story of an election that topples two party leaders and ends the three-year political honeymoon of a third. With contributions from authors across the political spectrum, "Kicking the Tyres" is a valuable resource for anyone interested in New Zealand elections, government, and politics. The book also comes with a specially prepared DVD containing televised highlights from the campaign and election night coverage.

2020 was a year unlike any other. Still in her first term as prime minister, Jacinda Ardern found herself facing her biggest challenge yet—protecting New Zealanders against a worldwide pandemic. By year’s end New Zealand had kept its nerve, protected its borders, and for the most part kept its residents alive and well. In the midst of all this an election was held. Politics in a Pandemic provides a deeper understanding of what happened during the election, which was held in the most difficult circumstances facing New Zealand since the Second World War. It includes contributions from the New Zealander of the Year, Jacinda Ardern, and the Wellingtonian of the Year, epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker, as well as the National Party’s Judith Collins, Greens’ co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson, ACT’s leader David Seymour, the Minister for Covid-19 Response Chris Hipkins, and award-winning journalists Tova O’Brien and Henry Cooke, along with many other reporters, pollsters, and academics, together providing 35 perspectives on the election.