Meditation Books

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Meditation Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah

Published in Paperback by Wisdom Publications (2002-09)

Authors: Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Chah

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Average review score:

Highly Recommended

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-16

I highly recommend reading this book to anyone and everyone. The teachings of Ajahn Chah are so simple and direct. They aren't watered down for lay people; his message to lay people and monks is basically the same. While reading there where many times when I was genuinley inspired to practice the teachings. While reading there were many times when I thought to myself "Yeah, that really is how things are" because Ajahn Chah states the obvious things in life that we all just don't seem to notice. I have a bunch of Buddhist books and this is by far my favorite.

No Nonsense Dhamma

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-09

I had always been interested in Buddhism but nothing spoke to me the way the teachings of Ajahn Chah did inside this book. He offers a no nonsense look at life and what it's all about with nothing held back. I must admit that when I first read this there were many things that went against the grain of modern Western thought but the more one contemplates and puts into practice Ajahn Chah's teachings the more one comes to realize that what he says is true. I now have so much confidence in his teachings and the teachings of Theravada Buddhism in general that I'm going to take up ordination as soon as I pay off my student loans and finish helping a friend with some business. This is a book for anyone who wants to seriously put an end to suffering. As a buddhist and as a fellow human being I urge all who encounter this gem to read it, contemplate what is inside and then put it into practice. You won't be dissapointed. Also, as some other folks have said, most of these dhamma talks are free on the forestsangha.org and accesstoinsight.org websites. If you want a nice carry around version of Ajahn Chahs talks then regardless of the free reading on the aforementioned sites, I'd still suggest this book. May you all be free of suffering.

A Beloved Thai Master

Helpful Votes: 13 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-07

Ajahn Chah took it upon himself as a life's mission to make the Buddha Dharma accessible to absolutely anyone, be that a Harvard professor or an uneducated rice farmer ( a life he was very familiar with). For about 25 years, until his death in 1992, he taught and trained nuns and monks on the way of monastic life while delivering countless wonderful teachings to laypersons around the globe. He taught Theravada meditation and applied the teachings thoroughly into his own life; he truly was practicing what he preached. Over a half million people attended his death in Thailand, an amount which says wonders about what kind of an impact he had on that region during his lifetime.

Chah always took great comfort from the Buddha's teachings on facing our suffering, simply to pass right through it with diligent practice. This monumental work successfully gives us all access to the core of Ajahn's teachings which he gave throughout his career in one convenient place which we can go back to again and again. It has 3 sections: Conduct, Virtue, and The World of Senses (which delves into meditation & wisdom).

This text gives virtually endless teachings on how to practice meditation, ethical living, and cultivation of wisdom. And to sum the book up, practice Chah believes to be the absolute core of the Buddha's teachings. While your sure to take away a breadth of helpful knowledge on how and what it means to practice, you'll equally enjoy his simplicity and humor, as well. Enjoy the book!

There has never been a Buddhist book so valuable

Helpful Votes: 23 out of 23 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-09

I read a lot of Buddhist books, and they all have value in one way or another. But never have I read a book that had ALL of the value of the other books between just one set of covers. This is that book.

Ajahn Chah of course was (and through his students still is) a marvelous teacher, with the gifts of humor and directness. Even in translation, you get a full feeling of what it must have been like to listen to this man talk. (Although, as Brahmavamso says, we laypeople get the jewels of sometimes all-night talks. Sorry, Ajahn Brahm!) This book is like having Luang Por speak directly to you, with kindness and toughness at the same time.

I "sipped" a chapter of this book a week, never wanting it to end. I have been reading it for six months now and finally finished it, and I will probably start over from the beginning and do it again. It is not overstating the point to say that this book is a gift to humanity.

Also, and this is less important but still nice, Food for the Heart is a truly handsome book. It's technically paperback, but with jacket tabs and a strong cover. The paper is thick and creamy--sorry if I'm enjoying my senses too much! :) And the typography is very pleasing. It's just a wonderful, wonderful book.

It's like hearing him speak!

Helpful Votes: 26 out of 26 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-03

This collection of talks from Ajahn Chah is well done. His first book, "A Still Forest Pool" was a breath of fresh air. The 'chapters' we short, some just a few sentences long, and were filled with deep teachings. 'Food for the Heart" offers long chapters and the incredibleness that was Ajahn Chah seems to jump off the pages. These talks have been translated from Thai and whoever did the translation did such a great job that often I feel as though I am 'hearing' the teaching instead of reading it.

"If you want to know the Dhamma, where do you look? You must look within the body and the mind. You won't find it on a bookshelf. To really see the Dhamma you have to look within your own body and mind - there are only these two things. The mind is not visible to the physical eye, it must be seen with the "mind's eye." The Dhamma that is in the body must be seen in the body. And with what do we look at the body? We look at the body with the mind. You won't find the Dhamma by looking anywhere else, because both happiness and suffering arise right here. Or maybe you've seen happiness arising in the trees? Or from the rivers, or the weather? Happiness and suffering are feelings that arise in our own bodies and mind." From Food for the Heart - page 336

So direct! This is Ajahn Chah really teaching and encouraging us to practice the Dhamma. His style of teaching truly encourages me to get on the cushion, and also to practice when I'm not on the cushion. There is no 'down time.'

If you are new to Buddhism you might really enjoy his first offering, 'A Still Forest Pool' but if you have some background and are seeking a teacher who can inspire and really point the way to the Buddha's teachings, this is a wonderful book.

I hope you enjoy it!

Gracefully: Looking and Being Your Best at Any Age

Published in Hardcover by McGraw-Hill (2008-04-02)

Authors: Valerie Ramsey and Heather Hummel

List price: $24.95

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Average review score:

Uplifting

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-13

Valerie brings an uplifting, common sense attitude to this stage of our lives. She will make you rethink any negative attitudes and make you smile and be grateful for all that you are.

Wonderfully Easy to Read and Educational

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-24

My father gave me Gracefully for mother's day. I then went to see Valerie Ramsey at the Tattered Cover in Denver when she did a book signing there. I was so impressed! She is wonderfully open and honest about her own life and how she and Heather Hummel came to write Gracefully. I was inspired to read the book cover to cover! The book is so easy to read - simple to understand and effortless to apply the concepts contained therein to one's own life. This is a book that would be perfect for anyone. May I only grow older (I am 41) as gracefully as Valerie Ramsey has!

The Balance of Beauty

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-25

Valerie Ramsey understands the true wisdom of beauty--that even though it is outwardly visible, its true source comes from within. Perhaps that is why all treatise on beauty should be written from the perspective of someone, like Ramsey, who has lived a life that allows for true beauty to flourish. Aging is bounded by time, beauty is not. And so, Ramsey, in prose that is clean, compelling, and--most of all--entirtely applicable, demonstrates what is so obvious and yet, for our youth obsessed world, often overlooked in terms of how to cultivate beauty, grace, and soulfulness throughout our lives.

Gracefully

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-20

This book Heather Hummel and Valerie Ramsey is full of wonderful advice for women of all ages. I found Valerie Ramsey's lust for life inspirational; she is a woman with a lot to teach. The book also gives practical tips such as how to look great in a photograph, and I will use it as a reference tool for years to come. It is an easy and interesting read, and I would highly recommend it.

Motivational and Practical

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-15

I found this book to be so easy to read with practical useful advice on creating a life that you want. It was inspirational at the same time, making me reaffirm my beliefs that one can accomplish whatever one puts one's mind to. I have passed this on to my mother and recommended to my girlfriends and aunts, but the over-riding message of this book is applicable to both genders. Worth the read. I took away tips to apply in daily life as well as future planning/dreaming.

Great Possessions: An Amish Farmer's Journal

Published in Paperback by North Point Press (1991-04-01)

Author: David Kline

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Average review score:

Birds and more Birds!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-31

I wish the descriptions had told me that it was basically a bird-watching book, since a vast majority of the chapters dealt with birds and that is not what I was interested in.

1

Living life Vicariously

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-25

This is a wonderful book. I live in an Amish area so was very surprised to discover such rich vocabulary and stunning visual imagery due to the fact that typically the Amish only have an eighth grade education. Reading this book is like spending days walking through the woods following animal tracks or bird watching. Or just lying in the hay and watching the world go by!

A Peaceable Kingdom

Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-08

"Great Possessions" radiates serenity and joy, but there is an underlying sadness for things lost--American chestnut trees, passenger pigeons, family farms. It is a rare natural history book that doesn't have this poignant undercurrent.

Here is an author who can write knowledgeably about diversified sustainable farming, because he is Old Order Amish and practices what he preaches. In the introduction, Wendell Berry says, "David's life--informed as it is by the Amish reverence for the natural world and the stewardship everywhere implicit in Amish farming--makes a union of economy and ecology."

This particular farmer-naturalist times his hay cutting to permit bobolink fledglings to leave the nest. When he top-seeds his wheat in the spring, his hand-cranked seeder flushes the horned larks and allows him to avoid their nests.

The Ohio Amish practice five-crop rotation so crop-damaging insects don't have time to build up. Horse-worked farms absorb almost seven times more water than conventional no-tilled farms.

Is it any wonder that the Amish in my area of middle Michigan at least, are quietly taking over the farm land that could not be made profitable by gigantic machines, insecticides, herbicides, and major debt?

Most Amish farmers are not pure organic farmers, but their use of herbicides is minute compared to the average non-organic farmer. The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) keeps trying to persuade this author that spraying poisons on his land would free him from tilling. An SCS technician informed him that "If I'd join the no-till crowd I'd be freed from plowing, and then my son or I could work in a factory. He insinuated that the extra income (increased cash flow) would in some way improve the quality of our lives."

The author, thank God, fails to get the point. He asks, "Should we give up the kind of farming that has been proven to preserve communities and land and is ecologically and spiritually sound for a way that is culturally and environmentally harmful?"

In one year, David Kline counted 155 different species of birds on his land.

When I was growing up a few hundred miles north of this author's Ohio farm, it was rare in those DDT-laden days to hear even a sparrow sing. At least we learned a lesson about that particular pesticide, and the birds are making a comeback. I counted 44 different bird species on our ten acres this year.

Maybe that's because I live in a county where the Amish farm.

God's Creation a Great Possession

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-11

The author, David Kline, is Amish and a farmer, so he lives very close to nature. While the subtitle is, "An Amish Farmer's Journal," this book is not about the Amish. It is about a man's love for God's creation that surrounds him on his farm and his sadness at what has been lost and what we continue to lose.

The introduction by the author is a powerful statement for sustainable, small scale, family farming. Wendell Berry in the foreword notes this with his statement that Kline's life, "informed as it is by the Amish reverence for the natural world and the stewardship everywhere implicit in Amish farming--makes a union of economy and ecology." In the introduction Kline asks, "Should we give up the kind of farming that has been proven to preserve communities and land and is ecologically and spiritually sound for a way that is culturally and environmentally harmful?" This truly summarizes the viewpoint David Kline brings to his journal.

Kline takes us through the year on his farm and lets us see the different plants, birds and animals that migrate through or live on his farm and those around him. He talks about the loss of Chestnut trees, mushrooms, Woodpeckers and a hundred other birds as they appear in his region of Ohio during the year.

This is a `must read' for those who love nature.

Kyle Pratt

Not much Wendell Berry, but a great book.

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-18

When I originally received this book, I was really unhappy because I was looking for something by Wendell Berry and he only wrote the 2 page introduction. However, this is a wonderful, beautiful book. You feel as though you were walking with Mr. Kline on a lazy afternoon while he explains the world around you.

Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine

Published in Hardcover by Harmony (1999-02-22)

Author: Saki Santorelli

List price: $23.00

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Average review score:

unexpected theories of self knowledge

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-11

The book was unexpected as far as the "HEALING" process. i was glad it took in words of wisdom and analogies that pertained to all human problems in life. i was impressed by the book but have not read the whole thing yet. i have learned a lot about myself through the process.

A Taste of MBSR

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-08

This book provides an anecdotal overview of the impact of mindfulness in medicine by walking and talking the reader through the experience of a full course. It teaches about mindfulness in the context of healing, or living with disease, via the experiences of the participants and the course leaders. It's a great resource for anyone exploring the use of mindfulness exercises or programs as a healing aid. It also provides a lot of self help lessons for anyone who would like to try out the concepts without committing to a full class, or for someone without access to a mindfulness program.

Profound little book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-14

I've read this little book several times, getting more and more from it with each rereading. I've also purchased several copies for friends. I've had the pleasure of attending a 7 day workshop with the author, and he is as sincere and charismatic as he is in this book. What a gift!!

Healing in a deeper way

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-16

I've read many books on healing. This book addresses healing in a deeply spiritual manner that is very easy to read, understand and implement.

A poetics of meditation

Helpful Votes: 12 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2003-10-29

I am just beginning graduate study in psychology, but I already consider this to be one of the truly indispensable books in the field. Saki is a brutally honest reporter of his own perceptions and feelings as he engages in the "healing relationship" as he teaches the MBSR program at UMassMed, and takes the reader deep into his view of what it means to "practice the healing arts", and invites us to consider the depth and meaning of our own journey into the field, as well as to begin our own journey into mindfulness.

See also "Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabat-Zinn for a more practical, informational view of the MBSR program, and for the finest practical guide to mindfulness meditation yet written.

Heart Steps

Published in Paperback by Tarcher (1997-09-22)

Author: Julia Cameron

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Average review score:

Excellent source of empowerment

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-23

This is Julia Cameron at her best. The words inside will nurture your soul and guide you on a personal journey of transformation. Highly recommend it to everyone!

Not for me

Helpful Votes: 15 out of 23 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-06

A bit too heavy on the "God" reference for me - I find my spirituality in nature and our mother earth. The passages are not poetic at all - they're declarations like the subtitle states - e.g. I will do X, I will do Y. The short quotes and titles to the passages are more inspiring & thought provoking than the passages themselves.

Heart Steps

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-29

Great Book for any artist, author etc. Julia Cameron is in my opinion one of the best encourager for all people in the arts of any field... would highly recommend any of her books...

peaceful reflections

Helpful Votes: 27 out of 28 total.
Review Date: 2001-02-18

Like another book that I reviewed by this author (Blessings: Prayers and Declarations for a Heartful Life) this book provides life affirming reflections written by the author. These reflections are religious in nature but are non sectarian, i.e., they are appropriate for all faiths: Christians, Jews, Moslems, etc. When you need spiritual reflections to help you connect with God, this peaceful book fills the bill. When you need thoughts to reaffirm your worth in the scheme of things, this book is for you. I recommend it.

Declaring yourself an artist

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2005-03-25

Cameron harnesses the power of the words to create a creative reality. Simple deep declarations to stand up for who you really are.

In Buddha's Kitchen : Cooking, Being Cooked, and Other Adventures at a Meditation Center

Published in Hardcover by Shambhala (2003-05-13)

Author: Kimberley Snow

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Average review score:

Laughed out Loud

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-27

This is a wonderful book, and if you haven't spent any time in a dharma center, you will feel as though you had. I loved how Dr Snow's realization shone through. You can learn a lot from this book, and it so fun & easy to read.

Great entertainment AND excellent teaching.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-19

I picked up this book with wonder. I am a writer who lived in a California Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center, and was the Cook. South of Dorje Ling, and thus somewhat different - yet I was profoundly moved by her eloquent portrait of what could have been my own experience. Despite the unusual reason for my personal resonance with the story, I believe that even people who are not former Meditation Center cooks will find this book wonderful reading. The story is quite entertaining, and the dharma is presented in an elegant, unassuming, and egoless style, that is incredibly readable.

Dharmically funny

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-03-11

What a fun and insightful book. While the theme of cooking runs through the book, the lessons are much deeper than recipes. Highly recommended!

Recommended to students of Buddhist philosophy

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-08-10

Congenially written by Kimberley Snow, (a resident of a Tibetan Buddhist community for six years and who served the center as head cook), In Buddha's Kitchen: Cooking, Being Cooked, And Other Adventures In A Meditation Center is a wry memoir of both physical and spiritual work, and which showcases the those transcendent values of meditation which can be found in mundane tasks and the simple joys of everyday life. A delight to read, In Buddha's Kitchen is enthusiastically recommended to students of Buddhist philosophy and practice as being deeply spiritual and embracing the crucial importance of compassion, love, and joy in even the most menial of life's duties.

What? No recipes?

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2003-10-08

I really enjoyed this book about the author's experiences cooking in a Buddhist Monastery in Northern California. Several chapters are real gems: Jizo Ceremony, Impermanence, A Cup of Tea and On Having A Teacher. She makes good use of her early experiences as a chef to contrast with the new attitude of mindfulness and silence.

Even though I give it five stars I still walked away from the table hungry for a little more.

I would have liked to read a deeper treatment of transforming the five poisons into the five wisdoms, something intriguing that was only mentioned in passing.

How can you write a whole book about cooking in a Buddhist kitchen and not include a single recipe? The Author does mention at one point that she is working on a cookbook. I'd love to read that as a companion volume to this great book on practical application of Buddhist ideas to daily life.

Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation

Published in Paperback by Continuum International Publishing Group (1994-06)

Author: Thomas Keating

List price: $15.95

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Average review score:

Do you hunger for deeper prayer? Read this book.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-28

This is one book I would recommend most highly to anyone who thinks about learning more about prayer and hungers for more. The subtitle, "The Way of Christian Contemplation" should not frighten anyone because it is not "new" nor is it just a "technique." Rather, it follows from the best tradition of the church, including John of the Cross, Theresa of Avila and others. Fr. Keating's writing is simple, clear, using examples we can all identify with. No one needs a theology degree for this, just a hunger to learn about deeper prayer. At 140 pages, Keating give a great introduction....and in fact lots more than just a start.

The "Way"

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-30

Other than the Bible itself, no other writings available offer sincere seekers a more illumined path to our Creator where we may dwell in His Truth. I thank God for Thomas Keating!

Gentle, solid introduction to contemplation

Helpful Votes: 21 out of 21 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-28

Father Keating displays a gift for imparting essential points of mystic theology (a beauty so ancient and so new ... could not resist adding that, because many of his references are Augustinian) in a manner so gentle that they seem simple reflections. (At this moment, I hope that my reference to "mystic theology" does not cause potential readers to click the back button.) Scriptural references abound, and are often haunting - so much so that the translations (his own?), which are rather excessively colloquial, do not make one wince. The author explains points clearly and well, and generally with an engaging charm. Very fine work.

Keating to the rescue again!

Helpful Votes: 23 out of 23 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-29

Having been to a retreat led by Father Keating, I find a seamless connection between the man and his books. Invitation to Love follows his typical pattern of treating profound spiritual issues with simplicity of style and great respect for the connection between spiritual and psychological growth. The ostrich can't see with his head in the sand; neither can we "see" spiritually until we have wiped the sand from our eyes and looked at our psychological formation and its effects on us as adults. Keating explains this connection and provides ways to progress from an "I-centered" to a spiritually-centered way of life. Reading this book was a gift to myself!

Invitation to Deeper Prayer

Helpful Votes: 44 out of 44 total.
Review Date: 2001-01-24

INVITATION TO LOVE is the third of Father Keating's books to deal with Christian Comtemplation, centering prayer and developing a deeper understanding of our relationship to God. This type of prayer, unlike more active forms, enables us to "rest in God's presence" and can help us in our journey toward God.

In this book, the author discusses the many false programs for happiness and levels of human consciousness, giving the reader a better understanding of how we seek God on our terms, rather than on His. Our obstacles to prayer are shown in the context of our psychological background and social upbringing, yet Father Keating does so in a clear, yet inspiring style.

As other reviewers have noted, the reader may get more out of this book by reading OPEN MINDS, OPEN HEARTS and THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST. I read both of those books and found that each built on the other. Together, they are an excellent resource.

Journey to the Center: A Meditation Workbook

Published in Paperback by Wisdom Publications (1998-10-25)

Author: Matthew Flickstein

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Average review score:

The Meditator's Atlas

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-13

Mathew Flickstein presemts a concise and accessible version on the practice of Vipassana meditation of the technical explanation found in the Visuddhimagga, the standard commentary on the Buddha's teachings. He presents a fresh and contemporary presentation of a profound ancient teaching. Provides a practitioner with the easily comprehensible guidepost, very helpful for one on the Path to the attainment of liberation.

Journey to the Center: A Secular Review

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-25

Journey to the Center: A Secular Review

Journey to the Center: A Meditation Workbook is a must have in anyone's self-improvement collection--whether he or she meditates or not. Heavily laden with psychological terminology, theories, exercises, and opportunities for discoveries; this book can serve as a catalyst for major life changes. One will be encouraged to think of one's life in terms of various aspects--health, finances, career, relationships, and creativity--as well as contemplate "goals" one has in each of these categories. One will also be inspired to deal with issues that may block or impede one's spiritual and psychological progress. Mr. Flickstein also walks the reader through what he suggests are the "Different Facets of the Mind," and the process through which we reach "deeper levels of self-understanding." His review of "mind" appears somewhat cursory, but is appropriate within the context and scope of his book's project.

Psychologically speaking, one will aim to reach greater levels of self-understanding through the practice of insight meditation, as well as the various psychologically oriented exercises throughout the book. Ontologically speaking, however, Mr. Flickstein does suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly encourage the reader to challenge the notion of a psychologically constructed "self." Philosophers and other scholars well versed in various "self" and "identity" theories--concepts primarily Western in nature due to the surge of this psychological construct during the West's early modern period--will easily adapt to Mr. Flickstein's ontological and teleological suggestions; ontologically, Mr. Flickstein re-visits a question as old as humanity itself: is there a "self," and if so, what is it? One need not be Buddhist to appreciate Flickstein's ultimate suggestion: that no permanent, fixed self serves as the axis for human existence. One may find it advantageous however, to possess an understanding of the ontological nature of this fundamental question concerning human existence in order to understand the psychological (or sociological, cultural, or biological) implications and consequences of Western culture's adoption of the fixed, permanent, masterful, rational self.

Moreover, one is not likely to gain such an ontological (or "spiritual") understanding through psychological rationales or exercises. Hence, Mr. Flickstein's directions for the cultivation of insight meditation serve as essential components in one's "Journey to the Center." Clearly, Flickstein is a meditation instructor par excellence; any reader will find it easy to record and re-play the meditation instructions. One may also find that a solid philosophical background in Western "self" and "identity" concepts can serve as a fastidious aid in one's journey.

Very helpful

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-24

A good workbook to help you come to terms with yourself and Buddhism.

A Conundrum of Past Issues and Bungee Jumping!

Helpful Votes: 22 out of 34 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-11

Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams that everything that we do is motivated by making pain less. This is why people follow the path of the Buddha or eat ice cream on a hot day. To reduce pain. Matthew Flickstein is a psychotherapist carrying a big stick in this book. The greatest classic in Insight Meditation is "Mindfulness in Plain English" by the Ven. Henepola Gunaratana. The preface to this book is written by him and it is full of accolades for this man and his work. So let's cut to the chase. Flickstein, Tara Bennett-Goleman , and Jack Kornfield hypothesize that NO MATTER HOW MANY HOURS YOU MEDITATE - IT WON'T DO ANY GOOD IF PAST ISSUES ARE NOT RESOLVED! As you can imagine, if this is true, a lot of people are wasting their time. Here is a quote from this book. Page 58. "This phenomena is similar to what happens during the sport of bungee jumping...the jumper falls through space, the bungee cord stretches to its fullest extent, then snaps back, taking the individual along with it. Similarily, if we jump into the context level of our minds without having dealt with our content issues, we can only go so far before we are snapped back by the issues to which we are emotionally tied." Flickstein explains that contextual issues are Insight Meditation. And content issues involve incidents in our past which simply cannot be resolved by meditation. But they can be resolved by exercises. I did the first exercises. I imagined my father coming into a room and I forgive him. We talk according to an algorhtym that Matthew has designed. And this exercise is supposed to resolve content issues. Today, I did the visualiztion exercise with my mother. I don't feel any different. But Matthew doesn't tell the reader whether he or she should do the exercise once, or five hundred times. The authour also states that low self-esteem is caused by faulty programming in the past. Both Zopa Rinpoche and Paramahansa Yogananda state that low self-esteem can be cured by helping and loving others. First. Then the self-esteem follows. The author wants you to sit for 45 to 60 minutes daily doing Insight Mreditation which deals with your contextual issues. Then he asks you to keep a journal in order to deal with your past "content" issues. But why would you even do Insight Meditation if it does very little good? If your past issues are not yet resolved? Matthew? Where are you?

An excellent throughly enjoyable and informative book.

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 1999-04-09

For beginning enthusiast to the practiced, this book will support wherever you may be on your journey.

Kindly Awareness: Managing Pain, Illness, and Stress with Guided Mindfulness Meditation

Published in Audio CD by Breathworks (2005-12-01)

Authors: Sona and Vidyamala

List price: $19.95

New price: $11.95
Used price: $19.90

Average review score:

Enjoyable

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-31

An enjoyable meditation, helping me to reconcile my ambivalence towards certain people while appreciating both the differences and the similarities between them, myself and others that I admire. Helpful for changing attitudes...

A Must

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-09

This CD has really helped me to develop a more positive attitude towards life. I try and do this practice every morning, as it sets me up for the day in that I feel more connected with people and more sympathetic towards them. I am an experienced meditator and can really recommend this CD to both those who are new to meditation as well as those who are more experienced. Highly recommended!

Connecting with all of life

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-21

I'd been practising the Metta Bhavana (Development of Kindness) in it's traditional form for about 25 years when I came across Vidyamala and Sona's adaptation of it. I think both ways of doing it are very good, but Vidyamala and Sona have adapted the practice specifically for people suffering from chronic pain and/or other chronic conditions, and I think it works very well. It helps you to empathise first with your own suffering, but then to expand outwards to use your pain as a point of empathy with all beings. Fantastic!

Recovering from Breast Cancer

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-10

I would like to recommend the Breathworks Kindly Awareness meditation CD to anyone. I received it soon after being diagnosed with breast cancer and I found the CD very helpful, as it was hard at times to feel love and compassion for myself. I am sure this benefited my immune system, along with the other Breathworks Cds, which helped my recovery.

I particularly enjoyed the quality of Vidyamala's voice on the CDs - gentle, balanced and authoritative.

kindly awareness

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-25

KINDLY AWARENESS
I have always loved this meditation for the feeling of love and intimacy to my friends strangers and the whole world that it gives but recently I had even greater reason to be thankful for it.

I was sent away from home for 6 weeks when my brother was born when I was 1year old. Then I was sexually abused by my father from when I was 5 to about 9. This is the first time I have written about these experiences but I am writing to show how much the Kindly Awareness and mindful moment practice can help even someone who has been deeply disturbed. These experiences have left me depressed and very scared of being alone. I have had lots of Counselling and lots of medication, some of it helpful and insightful(for a long time I didn't know why I was scared) some of it not.

Recently my eldest son went to live abroad for 2 years after living in Bristol and this induced the most terrible panic attacks in me. Then my younger son decided to leave home. I also got a terrible virus which relapsed my M.E. It was back on the merry-go-round of drugs and anti-depressants so that I just slept all day. Then when I managed to drag myself to a Retreat day and we were practicing the Kindly Awareness meditation (which I had been avoiding because I was scared to think about my feelings). Especially I have always been scared to have my father as the person I have difficulty with in case it brought on flash backs, overwhelming anger or fear. I cleared my mind to think how I was feeling emotionally, physically and mentally in THIS moment and it came to me that in this moment I am safe and in the next moment and the next moment. In other words when I cleared all the worries, fears, hang ups from the past out of my head for a moment I learned that I can be safe in each moment. Now every time I feel the fear coming back and I have accepted that it will come back instead of trying to avoid it (and avoiding issues takes such a lot of energy) I think to myself am I safe in this moment? If I am safe in this moment I can continue to be in each moment in spite of all that has happened. Of course there will be times in everyone's life occasionally that we are not safe, accidents and crimes do happen but they come from the real world and not in my fears and fantasies from the past which have dominated my life to now. Kindly Awareness and mindfulness is turning my life around.

............................................................................................................

Mahamudra: The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation

Published in Paperback by Shambhala (1987-02-12)

Author: Takpo Tashi Namgyal

List price: $30.00

New price: $50.00
Used price: $14.78
Collectible price: $45.00

Average review score:

Most Advanced & Complete MM Text Available in English

Helpful Votes: 14 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-27

This book, p. xxi: "represents the advanced doctrine and practice as understood and realized by the Kagyupa Order of Tibetan Buddhism." It is a translation of the 16th century "Moonlight: An Excellent Elucidation of the Meditational Stages of the Ultimate Great Seal" abbreviated as Moonlight of Mahamudra (source text for Thrangu Rinpoche's commentary, "Essentials of Mahamudra"). "This extraordinary treatise provides not only a wealth of knowledge but also methods for realizing enlightenment." The translator provides an extensive Introduction including a brief synopsis of the book. The author, Tashi Namgyal (1512-87) was a member of the Takpo Kagyu meditational order or lineage. This book includes tons of quotes from Sutras, Tantras, & Masters, noting conflicting opinions & with explanations thereof, presenting an -"exhaustive elucidation of the metaphysics and the meditation of Mahamudra." His (p. 413) "excellent treatise" and "elegant literary composition" does just that; it explains The 9 Stages of Tranquility (frontispiece)-(I obtained this diagram in Lhasa) & explores existence, dependent arising, relation to Madhyamaka philosophy, types of meditation, Sakya Pandita's criticisms,, condensed & elaborate explanations of Mahamudra (MM) meditation, relation of karma to MM (p. 287), "elevating the mind to the path," the 12 levels of the 4 MM Yogas in the greatest detail I've seen including their relation to Tantric grounds/paths/(bhumis), post-absorption, & non-conceptualization. He calls his approach "The Mahamudra of Ultimate Certainty."

More specifically, Namgyal explains the nature of intrinsic reality such that (p. xlviii): "The deities and mandalas are not external entities but a kind of psychological geograph of our mind" & (p. 218): "Alas, the 6 levels of sentient beings are Emanations of deluded minds" and describes the interrelationship of Mahamudra & Vajrayana/Tantric methods: while Gampopa (Milarepa's #1 disciple & 1st Karmapa's master), p. 112: "considers Mahamudra to be a separate path and independent of the sutras and tantras" & p. 123: "did not make the esoteric empowerment a prerequisite for receiving the Mahamudra teachings," (p. 124): "Lately the followers of this meditative order adapted Mahamudra to the practice of Tantric mysticism...Since these Mahamudra meditations incorporated Tantric elements, practitioners are required at the outset to receive ...initiation."

He provides the best description I've seen (p. 350) of the 3 groups of meditators (and their realizations): great (instantaneous), average (evanescent), and ordinary (gradual) and states that (pp. 123 & 144): "A great medicine for gradual seekers Becomes a poison for instantaneous seekers. A great medicine for instantaneous illumination Becomes a poison for gradual illumination."

He provides excellent descriptions of techniques: (p. 280): Mindfulness "is done in the same way an experienced cowherd watches his cattle. Without rounding them up or following every animal, he keeps them all under his observation, letting them graze freely, even though some may wander,"(pp. 334-5): the 5 practices of self-transformation to sublimate adverse conditions: "To behave--like a wounded deer" (shun companions); "a lion" (not fear internal/external obstacles); "the wind blowing through space" (let thoughts flow freely/openly without any attachment); "space" (unfocussed meditation without any support); "a crazy person" (without objective direction, attachment to anything, or value judgments), and (p. 335): bringing dualistic thoughts to the illuminating path, and even mentions chö [chöd].

The Best Buddhist Text Ever

Helpful Votes: 14 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2002-12-26

Among the 250 or so text that made up my library, this masterpiece bye Takpo Tashi Namgyal, was always my favorite, and most imporant text. Sadly, I lost my library, and this text that I once owned 12 years ago, is out of print! I Highly recommend this book to all who seek to perfect their sitting practice. Anyone new to mahamudra and are without a good understanding of vajrayana, will find this book a struggle and you will no doubt read it again and agian. Takpo Tashi Namgyal's language is a wonderful experince, but can be difficult at times, but he is not lacking any explaintions! My best read ever.

I also recommend Cloudless Sky by Jamgön Kongtrul or Garland of Mahamudra Practices to companion this book and study of Mahamudra.

If your needing a meditation manual, look no farther, Mahamudra: The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation by Takpo Tashi Namgyal will last many years to come.

The Real Deal

Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2002-12-09

It took me 10 years to get past the sutra quotes in this book and start reading the text in between. This is an amazing book because it provides the reader with about as much detail as could be imagined for progressing through a development path in meditation. NOT AT ALL THIS LANGUAGE, but the messages are things like "Here is a meditative state or activity. Here are forty different conceptual explanations for what it is and how it works. Here are two dozen ways that you can exercise to get yourself to experience it. After you experience it, this is the next thing to gain and experience of." And: "The teachings all say that you're supposed to start at the level that's right for you and go as fast as you're comfortable with. Here are twelve Sutra quotes affirming this." And: "Distractions arise from the neuro-physical energies in your body. Here are another eight Sutra quotes on this." And: "Let's not get all confused about emptiness and non-existence of self - that was all transitional teaching anyway; we're into vajrayana here so let's get on with it." And: "If you can't sit full lotus, sit cross legged and straight backed, and (lots more detail), and this is why it improves the energy flow that helps you stabilize your mental state." And: "Don't try to sit for a pre-set length of time. Sit until you have the insight and stabilize the experience, then get up, and come sit again." Perhaps most amazing is that it WORKS! Very fulfilling in terms of progress toward the Goal. Great book. Yes, a real loss that it's out of print. Please write the publisher and ask them to restart it.

Masterpiece

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-04

This is the best, most complete, most beautiful guide to meditation practice that I have ever seen. It is a marvelous, profound work that covers the Sutric paths of meditation from the perspectives of theory and practice. Richly documented with citations from Sutra and Shastra, this magnificent work illuminates the path with clarity and precision. I am extremely pleased to see that it is coming back into print. Highly recommended.

Moonlight on the Rising Sun

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-10

Some very real intelligence went into the translation and preparation of this text for readers of English. Mahamudra is a path in which the student's relationship with his or her teacher is of primary importance; readers should know that some fo the last century's foremost yogins and teachers of Tibetan Buddhism to non-Tibetans participated, including the Sixteenth Karmapa, Deshung Rinpoche (the "Saint in Seattle") and Trungpa Rinpoche. The reader can trust that this priceless text is transmitted in English responsibly and by very able hands in this volume.

Please allow me now to shut up and get out of your way.

(Of interest to Shambhala people: Trungpa Rinpoche would review a Tibetan edition of this text when preparing the lectures now collected in his books of Shambhala Teachings.)

Homage to the Enlightened Ones!