Showing titles in Buddhism

Uncover the Roots of Happiness with Pema Chödrön Happiness is your birthright, readily available at any moment, teaches Pema Chödrön. So why do we live in such suffering? “The potential for happiness is not based on outer things—they come and go, causing us misery,” she begins...

One of the earliest of all Buddhist texts, the Atthakavagga, or Book of Eights, is a remarkable document, not only because it comes from the earliest strain of the literature - before the Buddha, as the title suggests, came to be thought of as a "Buddhist" - but also because its approach to awakening is so simple and free of adherence to any kind of ideology. Instead the Atthakavagga points to a direct and simple approach for attaining peace without requiring the adherence to doctrine.

Author Keith Crossley outlines a clear path to transcend your ego and end your suffering. In the process, you'll discover who you truly are, learn how to live in harmony with reality as it is, and fulfill your highest potential as an enlightened being. The path to enlightenment has predictable signposts and milestones, as well as a final destination that can be described, but must ultimately be experienced.

Rooted in the Kagyu lineage, these teachings focus on the cultivation of clarity, insight, and direct experience of the nature of mind. Through vows, meditative instructions, and spiritual commentary, listeners are led on a path toward awakening, liberation, and inner transformation. This edition makes these traditionally esoteric teachings accessible for contemporary students, providing clear explanations, commentary, and guidance to support the practice of Mahamudra meditation.

Known for bringing insight meditation to the West and for his many bestselling books, including A Path with Heart (more than 100,000 copies in print), Jack Kornfield now offers a collection of his most popular teachings with Buddhist Meditation for Beginners. This specially designed gift-set...

Theravada, Tibetan and Zen may be the most well-known forms of Buddhism in the West, but in many parts of the East it is the Pure Land schools which dominate. Though their roots are clearly embedded in the initial teachings of the historical figure of Shakyamuni, the richly devotional nature of...

Stress is a constant presence in our everyday lives – more than ever before, we're working harder, juggling more responsibilities and taking less time for ourselves.

Bushido. This one word contains a wealth of meaning. Honor and grace, strength and compassion, loyalty and vengeance. Bushido is the warrior code of the samurai, a standard of conduct and an unwritten guide for right behavior and attitude. It is the core principle of ethics in Japan, an ideal that extends into every aspect of life and character.

This book is an invitation to awaken the healing power of mind through inspiring images and sounds, mindful movements, positive perceptions, soothing feelings, trusting confidence, and the realization of openness. The healing principle on which these exercises are based is the universal nature and omnipresent power envisioned in Mahayana Buddhism. Yet for healing, we don't have to be believers in any particular faith.

One of Thich Nhat Hanh’s most beloved books, The Sun My Heart contains the journey, on the path of everyday practice, from mindfulness to insight. Using the objects and events of everyday life in his hermitage in Plum Village—the gradual settling of the pulp in a glass of apple juice or the wind blowing into the room and scattering papers about—Thich Nhat Hanh draws from Buddhist psychology, epistemology, and the world of contemporary literature and science to guide the reader along the path of clarity and understanding.

The ancient Indian Sanskrit epic the Ramayana was composed some time between the first and fifth centuries BCE. As is the case with most ancient literature firmly rooted in the oral tradition, precise dating is problematic. Traditionally attributed to the sage Valmiki, and composed in rhyming...

At the beginning of his career, Joseph Campbell developed a lasting fascination with the cultures of the Far East, and explorations of Buddhist and Hindu philosophy later became recurring motifs in his vast body of work. However, Campbell had to wait until middle age to visit the lands that inspired him so deeply. In 1954, he took a sabbatical from his teaching position and embarked on a year-long voyage through India, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and finally Japan. 

At the request of her students, Lama Shenpen Hookham tells her fascinating and unconventional life story in the Keeping the Dalai Lama Waiting & Other Stories. The lively, anecdotal autobiography documents her extraordinary spiritual journey and her encounters with her teachers that are deeply profound, moving and often humorous. Lama Shenpen shares first-hand experience of how differing cultures and ways of thinking overlap and collide with unexpected consequences.

Tara, the Buddhist goddess of compassion, can manifest within all of us. In this introduction to Tara's twenty-one forms, respected female Buddhist teacher and practitioner Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton shows you how to invite Tara's awakened energy to come alive in yourself. The relatable stories from Buddhist history and the author's personal reflections will give you the tools to live a more compassionate life, befriend your fears, and overcome everyday challenges.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama provides intimate details on an advanced meditation practice called Dzogchen using a visionary poem by the 19th-century saint Patrul Rinpoche, author of the Buddhist classic Words of My Perfect Teacher. The Dalai Lama deftly connects how training the mind in compassion for other beings is directly related to - and in fact a prerequisite for - the very pinnacle of Buddhist meditation.

The night Brad Warner learns that his childhood friend Marky has died, Warner is about to speak to a group of Zen students in Hamburg, Germany. It’s the last thing he feels like doing. What he wants to do instead is tell his friend everything he never said, to explain Zen and what he does for a living and why he spends his time “Sitting. Sitting. Sitting. Meditating my life away as it all passes by. Lighting candles and incense. Bowing to nothing.” So, as he continues his teaching tour through Europe, he writes to his friend all the things he wishes he had said.

The Vimalakirti Sutra is one of the most popular of all Mahayana sutras, being especially loved and revered in the Far East. One of the reasons for the sutra’s popularity is that its principal character, Vimalakirti, is not a Buddha or a Bodhisattva or even a monk, but a layman with a family...

What is Zen? What are its doctrinal principles? What is its purpose? These are just some of the questions this audiobook will answer. Zen is a methodology of the spirit, conscience and mind that can be adopted by anyone, anywhere and at any time. Zen is a practice that needs to be experienced, not understood. Perhaps for this reason for us Westerners it may seem difficult, but it's actually simpler than you might think.

General interest in Buddism has never been higher. The story and teachings of a man who lived 2,500 years ago have a special resonance for us today, perhaps because he taught a way of life that was not based on belief in a creator god but rather on personal experience. "Test my words for yourself," he said. But what lies behind those distinctive images of the Buddha, seated with unshakeable poise, with eyes half-closed and a slight smile? How did Buddhism develop? And where does Zen fit in?

No matter how rich, well-connected, famous, intelligent, talented and compassionate a person may be, no one can avoid death. Yet how many of us believe death will happen to us? Or wonder what dying will be like? Or imagine what comes after death? Death is certain and inescapable, so wouldn’t it be sensible to at least inform ourselves about an event that we have no choice but to experience? In Living Is Dying, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse presents us with everything we need to face death calmly and confidently.