Description
Book SynopsisFrom his three decades of teaching Buddhist meditation, Paramananda offers an approach that is a challenge both to the way we experience ourselves, and the way in which we see and `be' in the world. He contends that the historical Buddha offered not a panacea for the ills of his time but rather a radical alternative way of living in the world, still as valid today as it was 2500 years ago. At the very heart of this radical vision is the art of meditation. Engaging in this art is what Paramananda outlines in The Myth of Meditation. Enlivened by his love of both the natural world and poetry, he guides us in a threefold process: grounding meditative experience in the body, turning towards experience in a kindly and intelligent way, and seeing through to another way of understanding and being in the world.
Table of ContentsIntroduction Part One - Grounding 1. Grounding as image 2. Beginning to ground; the role of a good posture 3. Trusting what is there Laying down and letting the Earth support us Using the breath to release tension in the body 4. Remembering the world Meditating in the world 5. The diamond throne Taking our place in the world Grounding in the posture Part Two - Turning Towards 1. An elephant's stance 2. Embracing the depths The mindfulness of our breathing body 3. A call to kindness and care Calling of your name meditation 4. Our own aliveness in life itself Energy circuits meditation The Metta Bhavana using the body and the breath 5. Beings thrown into time and history Tonglen Part Three - Seeing Through 1. The paradoxical aspect of seeing through The six element practice 2. The gateway of suffering Prayer to the world meditation 3.The other side of insight
