Buddhism Books

Book SynopsisYongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a highly respected scholar and teacher and is best known for his ability to address our human weaknesses with deeply personal understanding and compassion. Editor and translator Eric Swanson is the author of two novels and after converting to Buddhism he wrote Karmapa, the Sacred Prophecy and What the Lotus Said.

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Book Synopsis''It isn''t likely that this collection of journal entries will pass the censors. If it can''t be published, I hope my friends will circulate it among themselves. I''ll leave Vietnam tomorrow...'' Thus Thich Nhat Hanh begins his 11 May 1966 journal entry. Since that time, he has been unable to return to his homeland but, now based in France, he has become one of the world''s most respected spiritual leaders. Fragrant Palm Leaves reveals a vulnerable and questioning young man reflecting on the many difficulties he and his fellow monks faced in Vietnam trying to make Buddhism relevant to the people''s needs. We follow him, in 1964, as he helps establish the movement known as ''engaged Buddhism'': starting self-help villages, a new university, a Buddhist order and many other efforts for peace. Fragrant Palm Leaves is regarded by many Vietnamese as Thich Nhat Hanh''s most endearing and stimulating book. It offers readers a glimpse into the mind of a great thinker a

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Book SynopsisHow To Practise is a major inspirational work, by one of the world''s greatest spiritual teachers. It is broken down into the basic steps to enlightenment: how to practice morality, how to practice meditation, and how to practise wisdom, whilst simultaneously delving deeper into His Holiness'' more general Buddhist teachings, his spirit, wisdom and sense of humour. The book, meant to be used as part of daily practice, is easy to understand and filled with anecdotes. It includes guidance on peace of mind, generosity, compassion, and much more besides. Beautifully packaged, this is the ultimate gift from the Dalai Lama, and a wonderful gift to give to anyone interested in having a richer, more fulfilled life.Trade Reviewan inspirational primer on living a meaningful life * Publishing News *The Dalai Lama is the most influential person in the world * Time magazine *A symbol of serenity, a spiritual leader second only to the Pope * Independent *He draws crowds that no other spiritual leader or politician could hope to match...he seems to look at life in a different way to everyone else * The Times *

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Book SynopsisDr Akong Tulku Rinpoche was an experienced meditation master of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He was co-founder of the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre and supervised many other centres in Europe, Africa and Asia. He formed several humanitarian organisations for the aid of refugees, the distressed and the poor and was advisor to a large number of people, including therapists in the UK and Europe. He died in 2013.

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Book SynopsisAn insightful investigation of how Eastern spirituality can enhance Western psychology, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama. As patients and therapists find themselves reaching for new solutions to their problems, the traditional disctinctions between matters of the mind and matters of the spirit are increasingly being questioned. Mark Epstein, a traditionally trained psychotherapist, has immersed himself in the Buddhist tradition. Drawing on his own experiences as patient, meditator and therapist, the author argues that the contemplative traditions of the East help patients go beyond merely recognizing their problems to healing them, and that such an approach is not at odds with the psychodynamic method.The book begins by focusing on the Buddhist perspective. Dispelling misconceptions common even among those already practising meditative techniques, this section presents the Buddha's psychological teachings in the language of Western psychodynamics. It then goes on to explain the meditative practices of bare attention, concentration, mindfulness, and analytical inquiry, and shows how they speak to issues at the forefront of psychological concern. Finally, the Epstein uses Freud's treatise of psychotherapy - 'Remembering, repeating and working-through' - as a template to show how the Buddha's teaching can complement, inform and energize the practice of psychotherapy.

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Book SynopsisDraws on nearly three years of ethnographic research to provide a comprehensive view of Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land) temple life with temple wives (known as bomori, or temple guardians) at its centre. Throughout, Jessica Starling focuses on domestic religion, a mode of doing religion centering on more informal religious expression.

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Book SynopsisUntil its recent political thaw, Burma was closed to most foreign researchers, and fieldwork-based research was rare. In The Traffic in Hierarchy, one of the few such works to appear in recent years, author Ward Keeler combines close ethnographic attention to life in a Buddhist monastery with a broad analysis of Burman gender ideology.

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Book SynopsisThe Dalai Lama’s teacher's autobiography offers glimpses into the young Dalai Lama's spiritual upbringing and his escape from Tibet.As the mentor to the young Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Trijang Rinpoché became one of his most trusted confidants. Rinpoché’s status gave him a front-row seat to many of the momentous historical events that befell Tibet. He observes the workings of Tibetan high society and politics with an unvarnished frankness, including inside details of encounters with Mao Zedong, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Pope Paul VI.   Most widely known as a yogi with profound, lifelong religious training, Trijang Rinpoché was also a statesman, a preserver of culture, a poet, writer, and artist. His autobiography is a beautifully written account of Tibetan life in the twentieth century, including intimate details about the upbringing of the Dalai Lama.

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Book SynopsisFeaturing a foreword by the Dalai Lama, this introduction to Tibetan Buddhism “will help many on the open path of meditation and in dealing with challenges of everyday life” (Thich Nhat Hanh) An open heart is the dwelling place of compassion that extends toward all beings; a clear mind is the source of the penetrating wisdom of deep insight. Their union leads to the enlightened way of life that is at the heart of the spiritual path as taught by the Buddha.This practical introduction to the Buddha's teachings focuses on the application of Buddhist psychology to modern life. Thubten Chodron, an American Buddhist nun, presents the basic points of this path for understanding ourselves and improving the quality of our lives. Writing with warmth, humor, and easy-to-understand language, Chodron provides the fundamental points of the Buddha's teaching on transforming habitual attitudes and realizing our full human potential.

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Book SynopsisMachine learning, big data and AI are reshaping the human experience and forcing us to develop a new ethical intelligence. Peter Hershock offers a new way to think about attention, personal presence, and ethics as intelligent technology shatters previously foundational certainties and opens entirely new spaces of opportunity. Rather than turning exclusively to cognitive science and contemporary ethical theories, Hershock shows how classical Confucian and Socratic philosophies help to make visible what a history of choices about remaking ourselves through control biased technology has rendered invisible. But it is in Buddhist thought and practice that Hershock finds the tools for valuing and training our attention, resisting the colonization of consciousness, and engendering a more equitable and diversity-enhancing human-technology-world relationship. Focusing on who we need to be present as to avoid a future in which machines prevent us from either making or learning from our own misTrade ReviewThis book asks a very original research question: who do we need to be present as in order to respond to the predicament of artificial intelligence? This is not a self-help guide, but an invitation to an interpersonal, intercultural, and intergenerational pluralist deliberation about one the pressing challenges of our time. Compulsory reading for anyone who looks further than the usual discourses and is ready to improvise. * Mark Coeckelbergh, Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology, University of Vienna, Austria *Hershock breaks new ground in linking Buddhist scholarship to contemporary predicaments occasioned by intelligent technology. Recommended for anyone working in technology ethics as a means of extending their perspective beyond the usual ethical frameworks. * Laura Specker Sullivan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University, USA *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Artificial Intelligence: A Brief History 2. The Intelligence Revolution: A Work in Progress 3. Total Attention Capture and Control: A Future to Avoid 4. Anticipating an Ethics of Intelligence 5. Dimensions of Personal Resolve: Confucian Conduct, Socratic Reasoning, and Buddhist Consciousness 6. Humane Becoming: Cultivating Responsive Virtuosity 7. What Comes Next? Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBuddhism is often the religion that teachers have the least confidence in teaching despite being the sixth largest religion in the UK and being commonly regarded as one of the six major religions to be taught in schools throughout the country. This book explores the beliefs and practices of Buddhism as a lived religion in the UK. This book engages with Buddhist beliefs and practices and provides students and teachers with the confidence to address misconceptions and recognise the importance of beliefs in the lives of believers, in a way that will enable readers to go forward with confidence. Aspects of Buddhism explored include the concepts that form the central beliefs of Buddhism, and then the expression of these beliefs in worship, daily life, and the ethics of Buddhists in the modern day. Each chapter includes authentic voices of believers today and provides opportunities for the reader to consider the concepts and how they can be respected and taught and in the classroom.The bookTrade ReviewThis book is an extremely helpful guide in presenting Buddhism in the classroom, as well as to a general audience, for a better understanding of how Buddhism offers answers to life’s big questions, and how Buddhism in its manifold forms continues to influence the lives of many all over the world today. -- Ruben L.F. Habito, Professor of World Religions and Spirituality, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, USATable of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables Series Editor’s Foreword Acknowledgements Notes on Text Introduction Part I: Key Concepts in Buddhism 1. The Nature of Existence and the Problem of Suffering 2. The Nature of Humanity 3. The Buddha 4. The Middle Way and the Threefold Path 5. The Bodhisattva and Arahant Ideals 6. The Dhamma/Dharma and the Sangha 7. Expressions of Belief Part II: Contemporary Issues 8. The Ethical Dimension 9. Authority and Diversity in the Buddhist World 10. Buddhism and Contemporary Britain References Glossary

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive and theory-rich investigation of the history and philosophy of yoga, from its Indian origins to the contemporary context.Clear, accessible, and meticulously annotated, Tracing the Path of Yoga offers a comprehensive survey of the history and philosophy of yoga that will be invaluable to both specialists and to nonspecialists seeking a deeper understanding of this fascinating subject. Stuart Ray Sarbacker argues that yoga can be understood first and foremost as a discipline of mind and body that is represented in its narrative and philosophical literature as resulting in both numinous and cessative accomplishments that correspond, respectively, to the attainment of this-worldly power and otherworldly liberation. Sarbacker demonstrates how the yogic quest for perfection as such is situated within the concrete realities of human life, intersecting with issues of politics, economics, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as reflecting larger Indic religious and philosophical ideals.

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Book SynopsisA practical guide to Buddhahood and Seven-Point Mind Training, the meditation practice at the very heart of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition Highly respected by thousands of students throughout the world, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was one of the foremost poets, scholars, philosophers, and meditation masters of our time. Here he speaks frankly, drawing on his own life experience. Condensing the compassionate path to Buddhahood into practical instructions that use the circumstances of everyday life, Rinpoche presents the Seven-Point Mind Training—the very core of the entire Tibetan Buddhist practice.

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Book SynopsisYantra Yoga, the Buddhist parallel to the Hathayoga of the Hindu tradition, is a system of practice entailing bodily movements, breathing exercises, and visualizations. Originally transmitted by the mahasiddhas of India and Oddiyana, its practice is nowadays found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism in relation to the Anuttaratantras, more generally known under the Tibetan term trulkhor, whose Sanskrit equivalent is yantra. The Union of the Sun and Moon Yantra (Phrul ''khor nyi zla kha sbyor), orally transmitted in Tibet in the eighth century by the great master Padmasambhava to the Tibetan translator and Dzogchen master Vairochana, can be considered the most ancient of all the systems of Yantra, and its peculiarity is that it contains also numerous positions which are also found in the classic Yoga tradition. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, one of the great living masters of Dzogchen and Tantra, started transmitting this profound Yoga in the seventies and at that time wrote this commentary, which is based on the oral explanations of some Tibetan yogins and siddhas of the twentieth century. All Western practitioners will benefit from the extraordinary instructions contained in this volume.

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Book SynopsisReaders are hard-pressed to find books that can help them understand the central concept in Mahayana Buddhism—the idea that ultimate reality is emptiness. In clear language, Introduction to Emptiness explains that emptiness is not a mystical sort of nothingness, but a specific truth that can and must be understood through calm and careful reflection. Newland''s contemporary examples and vivid anecdotes will help readers understand this core concept as presented in one of the great classic texts of the Tibetan tradition, Tsong-kha-pa''s Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. This new edition includes quintessential points for each chapter.

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Book SynopsisA collection of teachings on how to correctly practice the view and meditation of Dzogchen by one of its most accomplished and beloved masters of the twentieth century. This volume is a heartfelt, intimate presentation of the entire system of the Nyingma tradition from sutra to tantra to Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, and how through it, modern-day practitioners can succeed in attaining fully realized buddhahood. Inspiring stories of the great masters Longchenpa and Jigme Lingpa kindle the prerequisites of faith and devotion that are the basis for the practices that follow. The Tibetan Buddhist master Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje gave these talks during a three-year retreat in France from 1982 to 1985.

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Book SynopsisA leading authority on the rainbow body traces its history in the encounter of religions in medieval Central Asia, exploring a previously unimagined connection between early Dzogchen and the resurrection of Jesus Francis V. Tiso, a noted authority on the rainbow body, explores this manifestation of spiritual realization in a wide-ranging and deeply informed study of the transformation of the material body into a body of light. Seeking evidence on the boundary between physical science and deep spirituality that might elucidate the resurrection of Jesus, he investigates the case of Khenpo A Chö, a Buddhist monk who died in eastern Tibet in 1999. Rainbow Body and Resurrection chronicles the dissolution of Khenpo''s material body within a week of his death, including eye-witness interviews. Tiso describes the spiritual practices that give rise to the rainbow body and traces their history deep into the encounter of religions in medieval Central Asia. His erudite exploration of the Tibetan phenomenon raises the fascinating question of whether there is a connection between the rainbow body and the dying and rising of Jesus. Drawing on a wealth of recent research, Tiso expands his discussion to include the contemplative geography out of which Dzogchen arose some time in the eighth century along the great Silk Road across Central Asia. The result is an illuminating consideration of previously unimagined relationships between spiritual practices and beliefs in Central Asia.

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Book SynopsisA “wonderfully accessible” interpretation of the Buddha’s teachings on breathwork in meditation, from a leading insight meditation teacher (Joseph Goldstein, author of The Experience of Insight)  Freedom from suffering is not only possible, but the means for achieving it are immediately within our grasp—literally as close to us as our own breath. This is the 2,500-year-old good news contained in the Anapanasati Sutra, the Buddha''s own teaching on cultivating both tranquility and deep insight through the full awareness of breathing. In this book, Larry Rosenberg brings this timeless meditation method to modern practitioners, using the insights gained from his many years of practice and teaching. With wisdom, compassion, and humor, he shows how the practice of breath awareness is quietly, profoundly transformative—and supremely practical: if you''re breathing, you''ve already got everything you need to start.

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Book SynopsisA Tibetan Buddhist master shares his commentary on Santideva''s Way of the Bodhisattva, illuminating the path to enlightenment and the meaning of true compassion What would be the practical implications of caring more about others than about yourself? This is the radical theme of this extraordinary set of instructions, a training manual composed in the fourteenth century by the Buddhist hermit Ngulchu Thogme, here explained in detail by one of the great Tibetan Buddhist masters of the twentieth century, Dilgo Khyentse. In the Mahayana tradition, those who have the courage to undertake the profound change of attitude required to develop true compassion are called bodhisattvas. Their great resolve—to consider others’ needs as paramount, and thus to attain enlightenment for the sake of all living creatures—carries them beyond the limits imposed by the illusions of “I” and “mine,” culminating in the direct realization of reality, transcending dualistic notions of self and other. This classic text presents ways that we can work with our own hearts and minds, starting wherever we find ourselves now, to unravel our small-minded preoccupations and discover our own potential for compassion, love, and wisdom. Many generations of Buddhist practitioners have been inspired by these teachings, and the great masters of all traditions have written numerous commentaries. Dilgo Khyentse’s commentary is probably his most extensive recorded teaching on Mahayana practice.

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Book SynopsisHow can we live a balanced life in unbalanced times? How can the practices of meditation and yoga support our relationships, our work lives, and the greater good? Author, teacher, and psychotherapist Michael Stone presents the essential insights of mindfulness and yoga, emphasizing the teachings of simplicity and the interdependence of all life. Stone explains that the practices of yoga and meditation are not about escaping reality but about living fully in the here and now, opening to our experience, and gaining access to stillness within the flow of life. The essence of yoga and Buddhist practice is opening the heart—our own and the heart of the world. With that awareness, Stone encourages us to get involved in our communities, to speak out when we see wrongdoing, and to find ways of helping others.

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Book SynopsisBuddhism, Fourth Edition tells the story of Buddhism's origins and its development into three major schools of thought - and presents the particular beliefs and practices of those schools of Buddhism that still flourish today. This fascinating title explores the concept of the 'socially engaged Buddhist,' the growth and practice of Buddhism in America, and the recent revival of Buddhism in Asia. Coverage includes: introduction to the modern Buddhist world; the life of the Buddha; the spread of Buddhism throughout Asia, and the world; differences between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism; the literature of Buddhism; Buddhism and the arts' the year in Buddhism; and Buddhism today and in the future.

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Book SynopsisA renowned meditation master retells the stories and realization songs of Tibet''s best-known and most-beloved religious figure—and reveals how they relate to our everyday livesHe went from being the worst kind of malevolent sorcerer to a devoted and ascetic Buddhist practitioner to a completely enlightened being all in a single lifetime . . . The story of Milarepa (1040–1123) is a tale of such extreme and powerful transformation that it might be thought not to have much direct application to our own less dramatic lives—but Chögyam Trungpa shows otherwise. This collection of his teachings on the life and songs of the great Tibetan Buddhist poet-saint reveals how Milarepa’s difficulties can be a source of guidance and inspiration for anyone. His struggles, his awakening, and the teachings from his remarkable songs provide precious wisdom for all us practitioners and show what devoted and diligent practice can achieve.

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Book SynopsisA repurposed and hearty tribute to the Western master of Tibetan Buddhism, Jeffrey Hopkins.This is a book offered in tribute to Jeffrey Hopkins by colleagues and former students. Hopkins has, in his several decades of work, made profound and diverse contributions to the understanding of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism in the West. In his collaborations with the Dalai Lama, such as Kindness, Clarity, and Insight, and in books like Tibetan Arts of Love and Emptiness Yoga, Hopkins has reached out to the general reader, making the wisdom of Tibet accessible to all English speakers. Though there is never anything superficial about his work, his Emptiness in the Mind-Only School is a magisterial display of painstaking scholarly work.Changing Minds contains essays that reflect the breadth and influence of Hopkins''s work. Topics presented include the two truths, the object of negation, the results of a

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Book SynopsisBest Spirituality Books of 2018 - Spirituality & PracticeA little guide to cultivating tsewa: the loving warmth of heart from which the awakened mind arises--from the popular Buddhist teacher and author of The Intelligent Heart.This is a call to a revolution of heart. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is taught that one of the most essential qualities of enlightenment is tsewa, a form of warm energy and openness of heart. It is the warmth we express and receive through empathy with others, especially those closest to us. In this compact gem of a book, Dzigar Kongtrul opens the door to this life-changing energy and shows us how to transform our attitude toward ourselves and those around us through its practice. And through its practice, we can actually heal our fractured world.This is a guide to the building blocks of compassion and the purest and deepest form of happiness. And with these tools, we can awaken the most powerful force in the world—a tender, open heart.

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Book SynopsisA wise, accessible guide that makes the spiritual and ethical teachings of the yogic tradition immediately relatable to our practice on the mat—and in our everyday relationships and activities“There is no daily practice without some formal training; and there is no deep spiritual training without the mess of relational life. The two are one,” says Michael Stone. At the root of yoga practice there is a vast and intriguing philosophy that teaches the ethics of nonviolence, patience, honesty, and respect. Innovative teacher Michael Stone draws from numerous disciplines—including Buddhism and psychotherapy—to provide an in-depth, completely clear explanation of yogic philosophy, along with teachings on how to bring our understanding of yoga theory to deeper levels through our practice on the mat—and through our relationships with others. Yoga, says Stone, is a practice that helps us be more present with the actual, fluid life we are living right now—and there is no yoga without the conditions of your life. This book describes how to work with those conditions and how to fully appreciate yoga as a practice of being intimate with moment-to-moment reality.

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Book Synopsis“What does liberation mean when I have incarnated in a particular body, with a particular shape, color, and sex?”In The Way of Tenderness, Zen priest Zenju Earthlyn Manuel brings Buddhist philosophies of emptiness and appearance to bear on race, sexuality, and gender, using wisdom forged through personal experience and practice to rethink problems of identity and privilege. Manuel brings her own experiences as a lesbian black woman into conversation with Buddhism to square our ultimately empty nature with superficial perspectives of everyday life. Her hard-won insights reveal that dry wisdom alone is not sufficient to heal the wounds of the marginalized; an effective practice must embrace the tenderness found where conventional reality and emptiness intersect. Only warmth and compassion can cure hatred and heal the damage it wreaks within us. This is a book that will teach us all.

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Book SynopsisThe second volume in the Dalai Lama’s definitive and comprehensive series on the stages of the Buddhist path, The Library of Wisdom and Compassion.Volume 1, Approaching the Buddhist Path, contained introductory material that set the context for Buddhist practice. This second volume, The Foundation of Buddhist Practice, describes the important teachings that will help us establish a flourishing Dharma practice.   Traditional presentations of the path in Tibetan Buddhism assume the audience already has faith in the Buddha and believes in rebirth and karma, but the Dalai Lama realized early on that a different approach was needed for his Western and contemporary Asian students. Starting with the four seals and the two truths, His Holiness illuminates key Buddhist ideas, such as dependent arising, emptiness, and karma, to support the reader in engaging with this rich tradition. This second volume in the Library of Wisdom and Compassion series provides a wealth of reflections on the relationship between a spiritual mentor and student, how to begin a meditation practice, and the relationship between the body and mind.

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Book SynopsisRealize the power of Tara, the Buddhist goddess of compassion, within yourself in this modern guide to her 21 forms.Explore down-to-earth meditations and stories of real women who embody Tara''s qualities.Tara, the Buddhist goddess of compassion, can manifest within all of us. In this illustrated 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 through: insight into core Buddhist concepts and teachings; meditations; mantra recitations; and journal exercises. 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.Find out how important women and movements in modern history have achieved this through their own embodiment of Tara''s enlightened activities. The stories of Jane Goodall, Nawal El Saadawi, Oprah Winfrey, Vandana Shiva, Black Lives Matter, Me Too, and others will inspire you to bring these aspects of Tara into the world in creative and socially conscious ways for the benefit of all.

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Book SynopsisIn a small medieval palace on Kathmandu's Durbar Square lives Nepal's famous Living Goddess - a child as young as three who is chosen from a caste of Buddhist goldsmiths to watch over the country and protect its people. To Nepalis she is the embodiment of Devi (the universal goddess) and for centuries their Hindu kings have sought her blessing to legitimize their rule. Legends swirl about her, for the facts are shrouded in secrecy and closely guarded by dynasties of priests and caretakers. How come a Buddhist girl is worshipped by autocratic Hindu rulers? Are the initiation rituals as macabre as they are rumoured to be? And what fate awaits the Living Goddesses when they attain puberty and are dismissed from their role? Weaving together myth, religious belief, modern history and court gossip, Isabella Tree takes us on a compelling and fascinating journey to the esoteric, hidden heart of Nepal. Through her unprecedented access to the many layers of Nepalese society, she is able to put the country's troubled modern history in the context of the complex spiritual beliefs and practices that inform the role of the little girl at its centre. Deeply felt, emotionally engaged and written after over a decade of travel and research, The Living Goddess is a compassionate and illuminating enquiry into this reclusive Himalayan country - a revelation.Trade Review"Completely fascinating, beautifully written and stranger than fiction. I loved it. (Joanna Lumley) A unique insight into an astonishing tradition (Colin Thubron) An extraordinary story, beautifully told. Isabella Tree combines the observational and literary gifts of a Diana Eck or an Andrew Harvey with Roberto Calasso's ability to retell mythology and Wendy Doniger's ability to interpret it. The resulting search is nothing short of a revelation. (William Dalrymple)

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Book SynopsisFrom jewellery to meditation pillows to tourist retreats, religious traditions – especially those of the East – are being commodified as never before. Imitated and rebranded as ‘New Age’ or ‘spiritual’, they are marketed to secular Westerners as an answer to suffering in the modern world, the ‘mystical’ and ‘exotic’ East promising a path to enlightenment and inner peace. In Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi, Sophia Rose Arjana examines the appropriation and sale of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam in the West today, the role of mysticism and Orientalism in the religious marketplace, and how the commodification of religion impacts people’s lives.Trade Review‘Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi highlights the hidden costs of what would appear to be positive stereotypes about Eastern religiosity. In doing so, Arjana interrogates cultural colonialism, i.e. the borrowing of other people’s cultures and religions without giving credit to actual persons and institutions… With its comprehensive theoretically informed approach and exciting case studies, I would especially recommend this book for use in undergraduate classes.’ * Religion (Liz Wilson, Miami University) *‘an expansive book, covering the intersection of mysticism and capitalism… illuminating… I would recommend this book in undergraduate classrooms learning about Asian religions and especially the last chapter for a media studies class. This type of sweeping project is difficult to pull off, and Arjana certainly does an admirable job.’ * Politics, Religion & Ideology *‘A wide-ranging overview of the ongoing power and cultural significance of long-standing Western Orientalist tropes about “the Mystic East”. This is an important work for anyone working on Asian traditions and their contemporary appropriation, transformation and commodification.’ -- Richard King, Professor of Buddhist and Asian Studies, University of Kent‘A fascinating and wholly engrossing exploration of how “mysticism”, as we know it in the West, circulates as a modern-day product of colonial structures of power.’ -- Sylvia Chan-Malik, Associate Professor, Departments of American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies, Rutgers University‘Both scholarly and readable, Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi deepens our understanding of the way the West appropriates Eastern religion.’ -- Jeffrey H. Mahan, Ralph E. and Norma E. Peck Professor of Religion & Public Communication, Iliff School of Theology‘Tribal events and mystic tourism in Bali are some of the topics entertainingly and critically described and analyzed by Arjana… The book is not only well researched with many fine examples and convincing arguments to underline the theoretical assumptions of the commodification of Eastern religions in the West; it is also well written and a pleasure to read. Furthermore, it raises some important theoretical, methodological and moral questions that could be the center of good discussions with students… The book is very interesting, well written, highly recommendable and useful for critical discussions.’ -- Journal of Religion, Media and Digital CultureTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Histories of Religion and Mysticism 2 Cultural Colonialism, Muddled Orientalism, and the Mystic Poor 3 Mysticism, Incorporated 4 Hindu Hippies and Boulder Buddhists 5 Rumimaniacs 6 Lost, Star Wars, and Mystical Hollywood Postscript Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisGandharan Art in its Buddhist Context is the fifth set of papers from the workshops of the Classical Art Research Centre's Gandhara Connections project. These selected studies revolve around perhaps the most fundamental topic of all for understanding Gandharan art: its religious contexts and meanings within ancient Buddhism.Addressing the responses of patrons and worshippers at the monasteries and shrines of Gandhara, these papers seek to understand more about why Gandharan art was made and what its iconographical repertoire meant to ancient viewers. The contributions from an array of international experts consider dedicatory practices in monasteries, the representation of Buddhas, and the lessons to be learned from some of the latest excavations and survey work in the region.

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Book SynopsisBreathwork guide and meditation teacher Matteo Pistono offers a how-to book for upgrading your nervous system to live your optimal life physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Do you want to calm your racing thoughts before lying down for a restful night of sleep? Or raise your energy levels before your morning exercise or spin class, and have laser focus before an important meeting? Are you overwhelmed from the flood of information from your social media and news feed? Any time your emotional state is out of balance, there are time-tested, practical methods to breathe your way back into the state of being you want. You have the capacity to change how you feel, in any moment, when you partner with your breath. It's a matter of paying attention and then consciously altering your breathing pattern. Too often books on breathing and breathwork coaches do not teach the actual mechanics of breathing. Instead, they guide one-off sessions, teach protocols, o

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