Buddhist Religion

Accessible, playful, and genuine, this concise guide shows how we can incorporate our own daily experiences into our spiritual path and awaken to how things truly are. By embracing sadness, love, and openness in our lives, we develop an altruistic attitude to help all beings who suffer and to reduce our own greed and aggression. This easy-to-listen-to manual by one of the most widely loved and respected Tibetan Buddhist teachers of our time teaches us how to honestly explore and deal with our own hang-ups and neuroses.

No religion or spiritual movement is more known for its association with meditation than Buddhism. Yet, in the Western world there has been very little comprehensive instruction available on this integral practice in book form - until now. In How to Meditate Like a Buddhist, best-selling author and certified meditation instructor Cynthia Kane demystifies this ancient practice and gently teaches you everything you need to know about building a meditation practice that works for you, including detailed guidance on posture, breathing, mindset, overcoming common obstacles, and more.

If the Buddha were alive today, what would he say about the unique challenges we face? In Tea and Cake With Demons, NYC-based mindfulness and meditation teacher Adreanna Limbach shares a down-to-earth, often humorous, and delightfully insightful discussion of Buddhism through the lens of modern life - and all our cultural, technological, and still-timeless obstacles. Throughout, Adreanna shares simple meditation practices, personal anecdotes, and traditional Buddhist tales that help you embrace the full experience of being human.

Know the Secrets of Inner Peace and Enlightenment! Are you searching for a deeper understanding of life's purpose? Do you look for a path to lasting happiness and inner tranquility? Look no further! "Buddhism: A Primer for Non-Buddhists" is your gateway to one of the world's most profound and transformative spiritual traditions. In a world filled with chaos and uncertainty, this comprehensive guide offers a beacon of clarity and wisdom. Discover why millions around the globe have embraced Buddhist principles to navigate life's challenges and find true contentment. "Buddhism: A Primer for ...

Written in India in the early eighth century CE, Santideva's The Bodhicaryavatara takes as its subject the profound desire to become a Buddha and save all beings from suffering. The person who enacts such a desire is a Bodhisattva. Santideva not only sets out what the Bodhisattva must do and become; he also invokes the intense feelings of aspiration which underlie such a commitment, using language which has inspired Buddhists in their religious lives from his time to the present.

On the spiritual path we speak of enlightenment. But how do we reconcile the idea of enlightenment with what we see when we look in the mirror - when insecurities, doubts, and self-centered tendencies arise in our minds? Dzigar Kongtrül suggests that we need not feel "doomed" when these experiences surface. In fact, such experiences are not a problem if we are able to simply let them arise without judging them or investing them with so much meaning. This approach to experience is what Kongtrül calls self-reflection.

Gallileo, Copernicus, Newton, Niels Bohr, Einstein. Their insights shook our perception of who we are and where we stand in the world and in their wake have left an uneasy co-existence: science vs. religion, faith vs. empirical enquiry. Which is the keeper of truth? Which is the true path to understanding reality?

An introductory guide to cultivating patience and opening your heart to difficult circumstances from leading Buddhist teacher Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche.

The Dīghanikāya or Long Discourses of the Buddha is one of the four major collections of teachings from the early period of Buddhism. Its 34 suttas (in Sanskrit, sutras) demonstrate remarkable breadth in both content and style, forming a comprehensive collection. The Art of Listening gives an introduction to the Dīghanikāya and demonstrates the historical, cultural, and spiritual insights that emerge when we view the Buddhist suttas as oral literature.

Do you feel at home right now? Or do you sense a hovering anxiety or uncertainty, an underlying unease that makes you feel just a bit uncomfortable, a bit distracted and disconnected from those around you? In The Road Home, Ethan Nichtern, a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, investigates the journey each of us takes to find where we belong.

The Surangama Sutra, one of the most important works of Mahayana Buddhism, dates from some time before the 8th Century when the first Chinese translation was written, probably from an Indian original. It has long been a seminal work for Buddhist practitioners in East and South-East Asia, especially China and Korea. Indeed this “Sutra of the Indestructible”, as it is often translated, is regarded as a staple manual of practice for newly-ordained monks of the Ch'an and Zen schools, giving instruction, through the words of the Buddha himself.

Joan Halifax has enriched thousands of lives around the world through her work as a humanitarian, a social activist, and an anthropologist and as a Buddhist teacher. Over many decades, she has also collaborated with neuroscientists, clinicians, and psychologists to understand how contemplative practice can be a vehicle for social transformation. Through her unusual background, she developed an understanding of how our greatest challenges can become the most valuable source of our wisdom.

Of all the Buddhist meditations, lovingkindness is thought to have the most immediate effect on shifting the negative thought patterns of your mind into positive ones. No matter the degree you allow negative thought patterns to dominate your thinking, supplanting them with lovingkindness will improve your life experience.

The Mindfulness of Breathing meditation has been practised in the Buddhist tradition for 2,500 years. It is now widely used not just among Buddhists but increasingly in the secular world as the basis of mindfulness training, and in other contexts such as yoga and, in recent times, stress and pain management. After all, as the author and teacher Vessantara observes: ‘The breath is always with us, necessary to our very existence, though it is often goes unnoticed. Yet giving it attention can transform our lives.' In The Breath, Vessantara, who has been meditating on the breath for over 40 years, writes engagingly for both newcomers and those with some experience.

Buddhism has a lot to say about suffering - and there are likely few times we suffer more intensely than when we break up with a romantic partner. It feels like you may never recover sometimes. But Lodro Rinzler has wonderfully good news for those suffering heartbreak: The 2,500-year-old teachings of the Buddha are the ultimate antidote for emotional pain. And you don't need to be a Buddhist for them to apply to you.

The Venerable Ayya Khema was beloved for her crystal-clear presentation, the extremely practical guidance she always gave, and the open-hearted quality of her teachings. In The Path to Peace, she presents a complete course in the active and intentional process to cultivate peace through metta, unconditional love. Peace is the sum of many parts, namely the fifteen wholesome qualities the Buddha himself noted in the Metta Sutta, including usefulness, mildness, humility, contentment, receptivity, and others.

With his one-of-a kind blend of autobiography, pop culture, and plainspoken Buddhism, Brad Warner explores an A-to-Z of sexual topics; from masturbation to dating, gender identity to pornography. In addition to approaching sexuality from a Buddhist perspective, he looks at Buddhism - emptiness, compassion, karma - from a sexual vantage. Throughout, he stares down the tough questions: Can prostitution be "right livelihood"? Can a good spiritual master also be really, really bad?

In this masterwork of an authentic spirit person (Thomas Berry), Buddhist teacher and anthropologist Joan Halifax Roshi delves into the fruitful darkness - the shadow side of being, found in the root truths of Native religions, the fecundity of nature, and the stillness of meditation. In this highly personal and insightful odyssey of the heart and mind, she encounters Tibetan Buddhist meditators, Mexican shamans, and Native American elders, among others.

Based on extensive cultural studies and long years of practice, Livia Kohn creates a new typology of meditation, based on six distinct ways of accessing the subconscious. In a special chapter on each type, she outlines the physiology, world view, and traditional practice as well as its modern medical adaptations and organizational settings. Providing a thorough theoretical framework combined with a comprehensive, analytical overview, the book greatly advances our understanding of meditation.

In this user’s guide to psychedelic Buddhism, Lama Mike Crowley presents techniques for Buddhists who wish to incorporate psychedelics into their practice as well as for psychonauts who are interested in the maps of inner space provided by Buddhism. The author details how psychedelics have led to spontaneous awakening experiences, such as “Indra’s net” and universal voidness, that were once thought to be available only to advanced meditators.