Search results for ""windhorse publications""

One of the seminal texts in the Buddhist literary canon, "The Dhammapada" presents the timeless wisdom of the Buddha. This edition is introduced and translated by the founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order and is annotated for ease of understanding. It can be taken as a straightforward and practical summary of the essential teachings of the Buddha, but - much more than that - the "Dhammapada" is a poetic representation of a sublime spiritual ideal.

Read more less

This illuminating collection of previously unpublished talks traces the development of Sangharakshita's presentation of the Dharma in the West from 1965 to 2011. It includes some of his characteristic teachings in their earliest forms (the levels of Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels, for example), and makes other talks accessible for the first time in published form. We see the unfolding of the Buddhist movement he founded, from Sangharakshita's talks before the movement began, his early teachings that foreshadow aspects of its nature, and then its beginnings in a basement in 1960s London. Other talks cover development of the sangha over the years, and Sangharakshita's reflections on what would help it develop in the years to come. Drawing on a wide range of sources, from the Pali canon and The Tibetan Book of the Dead to Beowulf and William Wordsworth, there are many intriguing perspectives: an exploration of Buddhist psychology, the histories of great teachers like Padmasambhava and Atisa, reflections on going forth, creativity, the demons around and within us, the role of the will in the spiritual life, and much more. The final talks in the volume, given towards the end of Sangharakshita's life, are more personal, and they include reflections on dreams, old age and rebirth.

Read more less

Most of us constantly look outside ourselves for something: happiness, love, contentment. But this something is not out there. 'It' is within us. We are full of these qualities: happiness, love, contentment and more. In It's Not Out There, Buddhist teacher and mentor, Danapriya, helps you to look inside yourself in such a way that life becomes more vivid, joyful and extraordinary. If you want to suffer less and to live life more fully, this book is for you. It's about seeing the reality of the human predicament, and seeing through the illusions that create unnecessary pain for yourself and others. This book uncovers the fertile ground of your own potential, and enables you to live the life you are here for. Stop, look, listen and sense, you are worth it.

Read more less

'The Bodhisattva ideal is a vast subject. It is the major distinctive emphasis of the phase of the development of Buddhism known as the Mahāyāna, which had its flowering for a period of around 500 years (0–500CE), but is still practised today in many different forms, from Tibetan Buddhism to Zen. To consider this topic is to place one’s hand on the very heart of Buddhism, and feel the beating of that heart.' Thus Sangharakshita introduces his theme. The first part of this volume describes the arising of the bodhicitta and the bodhisattva's path to Enlightenment in a weaving together of the sublime and the inspiringly practical, and the second part is a commentary on Śāntideva's classic 8th-century text, the Bodhicaryāvatara, based on a seminar given in 1973, in the very early days of Triratna, thus shaping the newly emerging Buddhist movement. The seminar was titled The Endlessly Fascinating Cry, echoing Śāntideva's fervent prayer: 'In order to grasp this jewel of the mind, I offer ... the endlessly fascinating cry of wild geese ...' The volume ends with 'The Bodhisattva Principle', a talk given in 1983 to a conference of scientists and mystics in which Sangharakshita presents a vision of the bodhisattva as an embodiment of the key to the evolution of consciousness, individual and collective. The subject of this book may be an ideal, but it offers many ways to take the first real steps on this most significant of all journeys, and much nourishment for the heart and mind of the would-be bodhisattva.

Read more less

Explore the potential of your heart and discover a warmer, more loving you. The second in this "Art of Meditation" series by Western Buddhist meditation teacher Vessantara after "The Breath", this book shows us how cultivating more warmth, more kindness, and more happiness is possible for all of us. Through the loving-kindness meditation, the gentle and encouraging approach of the author helps us to discover the positive wonder of what is already in our hearts. Accessible for those new to or experienced in meditation as well as teachers, this book provides clear instruction with suggestions for integrating meditation and what we can learn from it into our lives.

Read more less

This work features tools which are teachings, exercises and reflections which can be applied to everyday life. The tools draw on the Buddhist tradition to guide us along a progressive path of ethics, meditation and wisdom in the context of our day-to-day living. The tools are drawn from the author's rich experience of guiding newcomers to Buddhism and meditation in how to integrate the teachings into our daily lives. There are also tools on how to bring calm into the midst of a busy active life. It is the next best thing to your own personal Buddhist teacher!

Read more less

Bhikkhuni Dhammananda defied convention to become the first woman fully ordained in the Thai Theravada Buddhist tradition. Her American student Cindy Rasicot, tells her story, and shares Bhikkhuni Dhammananda's wisdom and direct insights about how to live a more compassionate life.

Read more less

The eagerly awaited Complete Works of Sangharakshita begins with Volume 9 on Dr Ambedkar and the revival of Buddhism. One of the most far-reaching of Sangharakshita's contributions to modern Buddhism was giving shape to the Buddhist conversion movement begun by the great Indian statesman and reformer, Dr B.R. Ambedkar. In 1956, along with hundreds of thousands of his followers, Ambedkar renounced the Hindu caste system - according to which they were condemned to be 'untouchable' - and converted to Buddhism, thus beginning a new life.The first part of this volume tells the story of how Ambedkar overcame the suffering and struggle of his early years to become the shaper of the Indian constitution and the leader of his people to a new life; and how, following Ambedkar's untimely death, Sangharakshita took on the challenge of teaching Buddhism to the new community of Buddhists.The second part is a collection of 36 edited talks, many published here for the first time, from Sangharakshita's tour of the Buddhist communities in India in 1981-2. Wherever and in whatever circumstances you live, there is much here to bring new life and depth to your Buddhist practice.

Read more less

'Once upon a time there was a rich old man who lived in a vast mansion ...' Aware that whatever our age, we never lose our responsiveness to story, myth and drama, the Buddha often told stories and parables, and in the Mahayana phase of the development of Buddhism, the stories became ever more mythical and magical. In this volume, Sangharakshita introduces us to the strange and wonderful worlds of three of the best-loved Mahayana sutras, worlds from which - if we pay close attention - we can return with treasures in the form of teachings and advice. Thanks to Sangharakshita's imaginative and creative approach to these sutras, their gems, mythical or even magical though their origins may be, turn out to be exchangeable for hard currency - the practical business of how we are to live our lives in the everyday world. From the transcendental critique of religion and the means of unification offered by the Vimalakirti-nirdesa to the light shed on economics, ecology and politics by the Sutra of Golden Light, and the vision of life as a journey offered by the White Lotus Sutra, these commentaries offer a unique and transformative perspective on the value of human existence.

Read more less

In this pioneering book, in turns poetic and philosophical, Nagapriya shows how the insights into the existential condition offered by Shinran can transform our understanding of what Buddhist practice consists in, and what it means to awaken to our ultimate concern. Shinran (1173 – 1263) is one of the most important thinkers of Japanese Buddhist history, and founder of the Jōdo Shinshū Pure Land school. Nagapriya explores Shinran’s spirituality and teachings through close readings, confessional narrative, and thoughtful interpretation. This book is an invitation to reimagine Shinran’s religious universe, not for the sake of historical curiosity, but as an exercise that has the potential to remake us in the light of our ultimate concerns.

Read more less

You're diagnosed with an aggressive cancer - what do you do? Devamitra - English actor and Buddhist teacher - describes the discomforts and indignities of being treated for prostate cancer. He also draws on the deep well of his Buddhist practice to work with his mind and meet fear, uncertainty and frailty with resolve. It is an entertaining read, full of wit and fantastically funny dialogue. If you or someone you know is facing a cancer diagnosis, this book will help light your way.

Read more less

'Uncontrived Mindfulness' is a fresh and comprehensive guide to awareness of how the mind shapes experience. The Buddha emphasized that happiness is found through understanding the mind rather than getting caught up in sense experience. This simple yet radical shift is key to a relaxed and uncontrived way of practising. Freedom comes from uniting right view and mindfulness. A deep dive into the practice of exploring our experience as it happens, Vajradevi's emphasis is on cultivating wisdom, using the tools of attention, curiosity and discernment to recognize and see through the delusion that is causing our suffering. Vajradevi is a warm and insightful guide to this exploration, drawing on her intensive and wide-ranging practice of satipatthana meditation. The clear explanations and instructions are amplified by Vajradevi's personal accounts, charting her uncompromising voyage into self-discovery. Guided meditations are included.

Read more less

Is there gender equality in Buddhist traditions? What do Buddhist texts say about women? How have Buddhist women responded to misogyny? Collett is well placed to review both recent scholarship and original writing by and about women in Buddhism. She shows that core Buddhist doctrines provide no justification for the notion that women are inferior to men. But Buddhism was born and took root in societies that held traditional views of women, and social norms positioning women as inferior to men have found their way into Buddhist tradition. This book tells the stories of many inspiring Buddhist women who overcame attempted constraint to gain liberation and become esteemed teachers. Not only do we hear about them in this book, but we also hear from them in their own words. An ideal introduction to gender studies in Buddhism and the history of women in the tradition.

Read more less

In this volume Sangharakshita approaches communicating Buddhism in the West from two very different, but equally illuminating, angles. In the first part, in talks given in the early years of his teaching in England, he introduces the apparently exotic worlds of Tibetan Buddhism (1965) and its creative symbols (1972) and Zen Buddhism (1965), clarifying their mysteries while also somehow allowing them to work their magic. In the second part, by contrast, he examines the practice of Buddhism in the context of Western culture. In the polemical paper The FWBO and 'Protestant Buddhism' (first published in 1992) he looks at the characteristics of the Triratna community (the FWBO at the time of writing) as it was 25 years after its founding, in a response to an academic's assessment of the nascent Buddhist movement. And in From Genesis to the Diamond Sutra (first published in 2005) he reveals his own attitude to the literature and doctrines of Christianity, including the Christian view of homosexuality, in a multi-faceted exploration which includes autobiographical material not found anywhere else in his written work.

Read more less

This beautifully illustrated new edition collects a number of Buddhist devotional rituals and verses. It features a revised translation of the Heart Sutra and enlarged typeface which is ideal for dimly lit rooms. This new edition also includes the traditional Pali and Sanskrit verses as well as English translations. What is a Puja? It is the chanting of devotional mantras and verses which has been performed by Buddhists worldwide for centuries. It is meant to encourage the arising of the Bodhicitta: the desire to seek enlightenment for the sake of all living beings.

Read more less

How do we really get on in this world? Tossed around by gain, buffeted by loss, borne aloft by praise, cast down by blame, how can we not be ground under, lose all direction, confidence, and sense of purpose? The Buddha had clear guidance on how to rise above these 'worldly winds', and Vajragupta here opens up for us the Buddha's compassionate yet uncompromising teaching. Using reflections, exercises and suggestions for daily practice, this book can help you find greater equanimity and perspective in the ups and downs - big and small - of everyday life.

Read more less

What is the meaning of life? How can we be truly happy? Buddhism answers these questions through the Dharma, which is a traditional term meaning both "the truth" and "the path", and is the subject of this book, which offers a starter-kit of Buddhist teachings and practices.

Read more less

The first part of this volume consists of Sangharakshita's writings about Anagarika Dharmapala, a Sri Lankan Buddhist who made it his life's mission to restore the sacred site of Bodh Gaya, and whom Sangharakshita came to revere as one of the great Buddhists of the twentieth century. The second part is made up of articles Sangharakshita wrote for the Maha Bodhi journal, first as a regular contributor and then as the editor. They include poetic and philosophical reflections on the Dharma, as well as trenchant observations on the Buddhist world and calls to action on the issues of the day. The third part is a collection of book reviews published in the Maha Bodhi journal and other magazines over the course of nearly fifty years, from the days when the appearance of any new translation or commentary was a significant event, to more recent times, when readers could choose between hundreds of new titles.

Read more less

Through Buddhist Eyes continues Sangharakshita's five volumes of memoirs. Covering journeys across five continents and two decades, this volume is made up of nineteen travel letters and one talk. They are Sangharakshita's heartfelt communications to the growing membership of the new Buddhist movement he founded: the Triratna Buddhist Order. The journey begins with Sangharakshita's return to India in 1979 after an absence of twelve years. There, the vision of Buddhism he longed to see in the land of the Buddha's birth was already coming to fruition in the movement initiated by Dr Ambedkar. It was to remain a constant theme throughout his subsequent thought and writing. The growing network of friendships, teams and communities that make up this pioneering Buddhist movement then come alive in a late twentieth-century world of airports and motorways, of Beat poets, vegetarian pizzas, counter-culture and visionary social activism. But the travel letters also have a deeper significance; these are, above all, spiritual communications. Whether awed by works of artistic brilliance or enveloped in moods of contemplation, Sangharakshita responds with a combination of keen observation and an ever-present imaginative engagement. Sangharakshita delights in culture, in art and particularly in literature in his letters. This volume supplements the accounts of his adventures with over 800 endnotes detailing the lives and achievements of artists, poets, writers, musicians, philosophers and members of the Triratna Buddhist Order that he references, plus twenty maps and illustrations. Part reflection, part travelogue, part chronicle of a vibrant new spiritual movement, Through Buddhist Eyes opens a window on the inner life and the outer world of Urgyen Sangharakshita, one of the greatest Buddhist teachers of the twentieth century.

Read more less

This volume includes two memoirs. In the Sign of the Golden Wheel tells the story of the `middle period’ of the fourteen years Sangharakshita was based in the Indian hill station, Kalimpong. It is a crucial time for Buddhism as the whole Asian world is preparing to celebrate 2,500 years of Buddhism, and Sangharakshita’s abundant energies are brought into play in diverse ways. His commitment to spreading the Dharma as widely as he can and to serving the (few) existing Buddhists in India takes him far afield: from tea estates in Assam to a film studio in Bombay, from the Maha Bodhi Society in Calcutta – he becomes the inspired editor of the internationally read Maha Bodhi Journal – to Kasturchand Park in Nagpur where he speaks to hundreds of thousands of bereaved followers of the great Dr Ambedkar. Whether describing great events of international import or those of more local significance, such as the funeral of Miss Barclay’s cat, the flowing prose descriptions of people, places and events bring it all vividly to life. And through it all the enlightening, inspiring and moving reflections on life, the Dharma, poetry, friendship – and himself. Precious Teachers covers the last period of Sangharakshita’s time in Kalimpong. Here too are vivid encounters with people – a damsel in distress, a dakini, a transsexual and many others. At the forefront, though, are Sangharakshita’s Buddhist teachers: the Tibetans Jamyang Khyentse Rimpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rimpoche, Dudjom Rimpoche, Kachu Rimpoche, Chattrul Sangye Dorje and Dhardo Rimpoche, and Chinese Yogi Chen. He recalls their meetings, his abhiṣekas or initiations, and the friendship that developed with Dhardo Rimpoche. In the background are events of international significance: the Chinese in Tibet, and the oppression of Buddhists in Vietnam. The memoir concludes with a letter from the English Sangha Trust inviting Sangharakshita back to the West....

Read more less

This companion to volume 9 begins with a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism, together with a rejoicing in his merits. Then we follow the dramatic history of the Buddhist revival in India, beginning with a commentary on Dr Ambedkar's article 'Buddha and the Future of His Religion', which prompted Sangharakshita's initial contact with him. Articles on the mass conversion in 1956 and Sangharakshita's crucial visit to Nagpur at the time of Dr Ambedkar's death are followed by the story of Sangharakshita's teachings among the new Buddhists in 1959 to 61, together with notes from some of the hundreds of talks he gave. Sangharakshita did not forget India after returning to England in 1964, giving talks to raise awareness of Dr Ambedkar, and in 1979 returning to perform the first ordinations of the Indian wing of the Order, later the Triratna Buddhist Order. In a sequence of talks (from 1979 to 1992) he tells his Indian audiences about the Buddhist movement he has founded in the West and his western audiences about the Indian sangha, thus weaving together the two communities of new Buddhists. The volume culminates in a commentary on the Pali canon's Udana, edited from two much-loved seminars from the early days of the FWBO and including new translations of the verses (udanas) by Dhivan Thomas Jones. Inspiring us to imagine the time when Buddhism was so new it didn't have a name, the text includes famous teachings - the taste of salt, in the seen only the seen - and declares the first question the Buddha was asked after his Enlightenment: who is the true brahmin? The Buddha's answer, rejecting the caste system and asserting the spiritual values to which he has awakened, takes us to the heart of Dr Ambedkar's revival of Buddhism in India.

Read more less

This volume of Sangharakshita's Complete Works includes Facing Mount Kanchenjunga, the second in the series of his memoirs, and, in Dear Dinoo, some very personal letters.Facing Mount Kanchenjunga covers the period 1950-1953, beginning with Sangharakshita's arrival in Kalimpong as a twenty-four-year-old sramanera, and his response to his teacher's injunction to 'stay here and work for the good of Buddhism!' In the pages that follow we are drawn into a deeply committed Dharma life lived in unusual circumstances and among some very colourful characters.As he recalls the significant events of those years - the setting up of the Kalimpong Young Men's Buddhist Association; the creation of a new Buddhist journal, whose contributors included Conze, Guenther, Govinda and other leading Buddhist writers of the time; accompanying the Sacred Relics of the Buddha's chief disciples; advising on the making of a Buddhist film; giving lectures; discovering Dharmapala; meeting Dhardo Rimpoche; in fact, working in every way to spread the Dharma - Sangharakshita also affords the reader glimpses of his inner life, his struggles and disappointments, his aspirations and inspirations, his responses to the beauties of nature, and his feeling for friendship. The twenty-nine letters collected together in Dear Dinoo span the period 1955-1974, giving a sighting of Sangharakshita's life as he experienced it at the time, including what happened on the day of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's untimely death in 1956. We are also afforded a glimpse of the unusual friendship that sprung up between the young English monk and the Montessori teacher.Kalyanaprabha's Introduction highlights some of the significances of the correspondence, including reflections on Sangharakshita, Women, and Friendship. A friend who often appears in the letters, Dr Dinshaw Mehta, Servant of God, and one time naturopath to Gandhi, is the subject of the appendix.

Read more less

This is the continuing story of Milarepa and his disciple Rechungpa, first encountered in volume 18 of the Complete Works. As portrayed in The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, Rechungpa is a promising disciple, but he has a lot to learn, being sometimes proud, distracted, anxious, desirous of comfort and praise, over-attached to book learning, stubborn, sulky and liable to go to extremes. In other words, he is very human, and surely recognizable to anyone who has embarked on the spiritual path. He all too often takes his teacher's advice the wrong way, or simply ignores it, and it takes all of Milarepa's skill, compassion and patience to keep their relationship intact and help his unruly disciple to stay on the path to Enlightenment. In the story that begins this volume, matters come to a head when Milarepa burns the books that Rechungpa went all the way to India to acquire, but by the end of the volume, Rechungpa is able to set out on his own mission to teach the Dharma. Much happens in between. Sangharakshita's commentary, based on seminars given in the late 1970s and early 1980s, draws from the stories of Milarepa and his wayward disciple much valuable advice for any would-be spiritual practitioner.

Read more less

This is the continuing story of Milarepa and his disciple Rechungpa, first encountered in volume 18 of the Complete Works. As portrayed in The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, Rechungpa is a promising disciple, but he has a lot to learn, being sometimes proud, distracted, anxious, desirous of comfort and praise, over-attached to book learning, stubborn, sulky and liable to go to extremes. In other words, he is very human, and surely recognizable to anyone who has embarked on the spiritual path. He all too often takes his teacher's advice the wrong way, or simply ignores it, and it takes all of Milarepa's skill, compassion and patience to keep their relationship intact and help his unruly disciple to stay on the path to Enlightenment. In the story that begins this volume, matters come to a head when Milarepa burns the books that Rechungpa went all the way to India to acquire, but by the end of the volume, Rechungpa is able to set out on his own mission to teach the Dharma. Much happens in between. Sangharakshita's commentary, based on seminars given in the late 1970s and early 1980s, draws from the stories of Milarepa and his wayward disciple much valuable advice for any would-be spiritual practitioner.

Read more less

Sangharakshita read the Diamond Sutra for the first time the summer he turned seventeen. It seemed to awaken him to something whose existence he had forgotten, and he joyfully embraced those profound teachings 'with an unqualified acceptance'. This experience decided the whole future direction of his life.In this first volume of memoirs he describes how, from a working-class childhood in the London suburb of Tooting, he came, a twenty-four-year-old Buddhist novice monk, to Kalimpong in the eastern Himalayas. Sangharakshita paints a vivid picture of the people, the places and the experiences that shaped his life: his childhood, his army days, and the gurus he met during his years as a wandering ascetic staying in the caves and ashrams of India. He moves between the ordinary and the extraordinary, from the mundane to the sublime; his narrative takes in the psychological and aesthetic, the philosophical and spiritual. His experiences are both universal - love and loss, comedy and tragedy - and unique to what is an exceptional life.

Read more less

From how to build your own stool to how a raisin can help you meditate, this illustrated guide explains everything you need to know to start or strengthen your meditation practice. This best-seller is in a new handy format and features brand new illustrations. Extract: 'The aim of Buddhist meditation is to clear away the 'defilements' so that we can experience ourselves - more deeply and more truly - in our primordial purity, clarity, and freedom of mind. Meditation helps us to cut through the agonizing clutter of superficial mental turmoil and allows us to experience more spacious and joyful states of mind. It is this pure and luminous state that I call your Wildmind'.

Read more less

This is a book about friendship - about the Buddhist ideals of spiritual friendship and about the author's personal experience. Maitreyabandhu describes his childhood and adolescence, his quest for life's meaning and his wholehearted engagement with Buddhism.

Read more less

Queens and old crones, Buddhas and goddesses, mothers and wild women. Female deities in Buddhism take many forms to inspire, beguile, rouse and protect us. Enter the magical realm of gently compassionate Kuan Yin from China, meet the elusive golden goddess from India representing Perfect Wisdom, and tangle with the energetic embodiments of freedom, the fearless sky-dancing dakinis of Tibet. Respected Western Buddhist teacher Vessantara invites us to learn more about ourselves as women and men by reflecting on these figures, for within us lie the seeds of love, wisdom and freedom that these figures symbolise in their fullness, qualities we can nurture through contemplating the beauty of these enlightened beings. Engage not just with your head but with your heart .. Follow your intuition … enrich your life.

Read more less

An inspired guide to sustaining compassion. The Buddha taught the practices of loving kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. These guide us in cultivating positive emotions and minimising harmful ones. Poet, writer, activist, mentor, and Buddhist teacher River Wolton gives new life to these teachings as resources for a life in which compassion for self and others are mutually sustaining. Beautifully illustrated and with exercises, meditations, and reflections

Read more less

What is it like to be completely alone, attempting to face your experience with only nature for company? Buddhist teacher and author, Vajragupta, has been doing just that every year for twenty-five years. Here he recounts how these `solitary retreats’ have changed him, how he fell in love with the places he stayed in and the creatures there. He reflects on how the outer world and his inner world began to speak more deeply to each other, and how there were moments when the barrier between them seemed to dissolve away. Also includes an `A-to-Z’ guide of how to do your own solitary retreat.

Read more less

Help with addictive habits is at hand. Developed by a leading writer on addiction and recovery, keep this small book close for those moments when you need inspiration, guidance, and the courage to deal with your impulses skilfully. An illustrated, accessible guide to choosing recovery over addiction.

Read more less

This book is all about kindness behaviour training (KBT). The authors have drawn on their clinical experience as well as Buddhism to develop a practical course in cultivating kindness, intended to complement and augment other mindfulness-based approaches. They are now presenting this training in an eight-week course book. Amid the recent explosion of secular mindfulness, their aim is to reemphasize the importance of the heart, introducing the reader to a variety of ways of approaching kindness-based meditation, as well as to how to put kindness into practice in daily life.A range of psychological theories and areas of research inform the KBT approach, primarily findings from cognitive neuroscience, as well as evolutionary and positive psychology literatures. It also uses a range of exercises found to be helpful in Eastern traditions, such as Buddhism. The KBT exercises have been isolated from their religious or spiritual origins and are used on a secular basis.The book will act as a companion, walking the reader through each week of the course offering guidance, reflections, and outlining the exercises in a concise user-friendly style.Worksheets and homework tasks to be completed into the book for each week will make the book interactive and accessible. Led meditations will be available to be downloaded by a KBT website.

Read more less

An engaging and practical guide to transforming your life through Buddhist practice. The Buddha said that you can't develop wise perspective and freedom through ideas alone - you need to test the truth in your own experience. This book is aimed at people who have an interest in Buddhism and are looking for a way to improve their lives and relationships. Without jargon, and illustrated with cartoons, diagrams, and photographs, it leads readers through potentially life-changing meditations, perspectives, reflections, and practices for everyday life.

Read more less

Sangharakshita was a Buddhist monk, a writer, a poet, and the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order and Community - a pioneering worldwide Buddhist movement. He was also an audacious reformer, and for some a deeply controversial figure. In an absorbing narrative, Nagabodhi takes us on a journey through the twists and turns of Sangharakshita's life; the experiences, insights, and reflections that nurtured his approach as a teacher; what it was like to live among his committed followers; and the controversies he left behind.

Read more less

Buddhist meditator and scholar Bhikkhu Analayo introduces the Buddhist backgrounds to mindfulness, ranging from mindful eating to its formal cultivation as satipatthana (the foundations of mindfulness). He also offers a historical survey of the development of mindfulness in different Buddhist traditions. Providing an accessible guide, he offers practical exercises on how to develop mindfulness. The orally transmitted early teachings examined here provide a range of perspectives on mindfulness, with a clear overarching focus on the role of mindfulness in the path to `awakening', to an understanding of reality as it is. Analayo shows how mindfulness is a central tool for recognizing the influence of greed, anger and delusion, and how to emerge from these to progress on the path of practice to liberation. He shows how mindfulness brings about a clear vision of reality, fostering a gradual freeing of the mind from these influences, and enabling us to be more fully in touch with what is taking place and remain in the present; we learn to slow down and come to our senses. As well as being directed within, Analayo demonstrates how mindfulness helps us discern how what we do impacts others, and thus naturally strengthens our compassion, helping us avoid harming others and ourselves. Mindfulness is something to be practised, and at the end of each chapter Analayo provides instructions for developing mindfulness step by step, bringing it into our personal experience.

Read more less

In our fast moving world many of us feel our time is wound tight, our lives constantly hassled and hectic. `Fast-forward' seems to be the collective default setting. So often we can be over busy and over stimulated, and this can send stress levels higher and higher. In Free Time!, Vajragupta Staunton shows us that investigating our experience of time, and considering our relationship with it, can be deeply and powerfully transformative. Noticing the feel and texture of our time can help us see more clearly, and understand more profoundly, the anxiety and restlessness that so often dominates our minds. We and time are intimately intertwined. It is not something we are in; it is something that we are. That means we have a choice about our experience of time: what we do with our minds and our hearts, with our thoughts and emotions, will condition the quality of the time we live in. Vajragupta Staunton explores time from a number of different angles, in order to see how we can have a more healthy and human relationship with it. He looks at our actual day-to-day experience of time and applies a variety of Buddhist ideas and teachings in order to understand what time really is. He also offers practical ways of helping us live in a way that is relaxed and open, in a way that is not oppressive and restrictive, but free and flowing.

Read more less

From 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.

Read more less

We are living in an age of climate and ecological emergency. Buddhist teacher and Nonviolent Communication trainer Shantigarbha suggests practical ways to make a difference. With personal stories, examples and guided reflections you will learn to work with doubt, overwhelm, grief and anger; engage with the science of the climate debates; free yourself to align with life; and act with courage, humour and generosity.

Read more less

In this volume are collected two works that complement each other very well, each being in its own way at the heart of Sangharakshita's writings. A Survey of Buddhism was first published in 1957, and Lama Anagarika Govinda wrote of that first edition, 'It would be difficult to find a single book in which the history and development of Buddhist thought has been described as vividly and clearly as in this survey. For all those who wish to know the heart, the essence of Buddhism as an integrated whole, there can be no better guide than this book.' The Survey, whose ninth edition is reproduced here, continues to provide an indispensable study of the entire field of Buddhist thought and practice, covering all major doctrines and traditions, and placing their development in historical and cultural context.The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path of course outlines the best-known formulation of the Buddha's teaching, and if its name sounds archaic, Sangharakshita's vivid explanation of how to follow that path provides a fresh and inspiring guide. Here, to the original text are added seminar extracts that give a range of helpful perspectives on the stages of the path. This volume includes a full section of endnotes locating the teachings to the suttas and sutras that inspired them, as well as a Foreword by Dharmachari Subhuti looking at these two texts from an inspirational and a critical perspective, and bringing out the inner connection between them.

Read more less

As mindfulness is increasingly being embraced in the contemporary world as a practice that brings peace and self-awareness, Bhikkhu Analayo casts fresh light on its earliest sources in the Buddhist tradition.

Read more less

Building on the success of his Life with Full Attention: A Practical Course in Mindfulness, Maitreyabandhu here offers a challenging but profoundly useful work on how to practise Buddhism in everyday life. Drawing on examples from the life of the Buddha, as well as weaving in astute references to poetry and art, Maitreyabandhu gives an easily understood outline of the system of spiritual life as undertaken by Buddhists in the Triratna Community. The journey starts with our own mind, particularly when we begin to look into the truth of things - the truth of the old man on the escalator, the friend in hospital, the coffin we help carry to the graveside. What we find in our guide, the Buddha, is a man with a 'fit' mind: a healthy, happy, non-neurotic, honest-to-goodness mind. To get fit, we need to work on becoming a happy healthy human being. We need to integrate our thinking faculty with our emotions. We need to wake up to thought and tune in to direct experience. And we need to work against the ever-rising tide of trivia, dissipation and overstimulation of the modern world.Maitreyabandhu takes us on this journey with practical week-by-week exercises, focusing on cultivating mindful awareness, being happy, integrating and simplifying our lives, knowing ourselves and truly being ourselves.

Read more less

In this highly readable handbook, Sangharakshita guides the reader through the at times complex Buddhist tradition. Part one tackles the essentials of the religion in sections devoted to the Buddha, his teachings, and the spiritual community while part two tackles the practicalities of trying to lead a Buddhist life. A Guide to the Buddhist Path is a reliable map of the Buddhist way that anyone can follow.

Read more less

Finding something of true value that evokes our faith and commitment is rare indeed, especially in a time when positive myths are in danger of disappearing. Those in the West today seeking ordination as Buddhists are still convinced of the need to commit to the search for spiritual awakening.

Read more less

Offering a description of the nature of mind and how it functions, this introduction to traditional Buddhist psychology guides readers through the Abhidharma classification of positive and negative mental states. The author was born in England, travelled to India as a young man, was ordained as a Buddhist monk, and has been writing about and teaching Buddhism for more than four decades. In this book he explores the part individuals play in creating their own suffering and happiness, describes the relationship of the mind to karma and rebirth, and stresses the ethical, "other-regarding" nature of Buddhist psychology.

Read more less

This multi-faceted volume includes a collection of aphorisms, a selection of teachings on Buddhism and the arts, and two collections of late writings. The aphorisms, from the first phase of Sangharakshita's teaching in the West, and first selected for publication in 1979 and 1998, are by turns uncompromising, provocative, witty, self-evident, gnomic and plain common sense, though responses will surely vary from reader to reader, mood to mood. The sequence on the arts sheds light on one of Sangharakshita's most distinctive perspectives on the Dharma, from The Religion of Art, which was one of his earliest works on the subject, to articles and interviews published over many years. Full of poetry and grace, they shine with the author's love of the subject and make a convincing case for the closeness of the relationship between Buddhism and the arts. The late writings cover an astonishingly wide range of themes, from his childhood memories to the lucid reflections of Sangharakshita's old age. Those written in the last weeks of his life include subjects as diverse as Einstein's 3-sphere, the relationship between Buddhism and Islam, and the symbolism of rainbows.

Read more less

This volume, which introduces the sequence of Complete Works volumes that include Sangharakshita's commentaries on a range of traditional Buddhist texts, begins with The Eternal Legacy, an introduction to the canonical literature of Buddhism, which succinctly and with great feeling gives the context for the commentaries to follow. Next comes Sangharakshita's talk 'The Glory of the Literary World', which considers how the Buddhist canon is to be approached, in a broad consideration of the literary traditions of both East and West. This is followed by an introduction to one of the earliest works of the Pali canon, the Udana, newly edited from a 1975 seminar for this Complete Works volume under the title Buddhism before Buddhism. Here we trace the Buddha's life from the period just after his Enlightenment to the time of his approaching death, and Sangharakshita (studying the text with members of what was in 1975 a very young Buddhist movement) draws out the newness and freshness of the Buddha's vision - so new, indeed, that words could scarcely be found to express it. And this volume concludes fittingly with Wisdom Beyond Words, Sangharakshita's much-loved commentary on several Perfection of Wisdom texts, another way of seeing how, in Asvaghosa's words, 'We use words to get free of words until we reach the pure wordless essence.'

Read more less

In this volume Sangharakshita approaches communicating Buddhism in the West from two very different, but equally illuminating, angles. In the first part, in talks given in the early years of his teaching in England, he introduces the apparently exotic worlds of Tibetan Buddhism (1965) and its creative symbols (1972) and Zen Buddhism (1965), clarifying their mysteries while also somehow allowing them to work their magic. In the second part, by contrast, he examines the practice of Buddhism in the context of Western culture. In the polemical paper The FWBO and 'Protestant Buddhism' (first published in 1992) he looks at the characteristics of the Triratna community (the FWBO at the time of writing) as it was 25 years after its founding, in a response to an academic's assessment of the nascent Buddhist movement. And in From Genesis to the Diamond Sutra (first published in 2005) he reveals his own attitude to the literature and doctrines of Christianity, including the Christian view of homosexuality, in a multi-faceted exploration which includes autobiographical material not found anywhere else in his written work.

Read more less

`It is its spiritual background which gives to Sangharakshita's poetry its depth and emotional appeal. It rests on the inner parallelism between the most fundamental human emotions and the highest experiences on the path of liberation and enlightenment, the relationship between love and wisdom, the individual and the universal, the moods of Nature and the moods of the human heart.' - Lama Anagarika Govinda In his preface to the Complete Poems published in 1994 Sangharakshita wrote that his poems 'constitute a sort of spiritual autobiography, sketchy indeed, but perhaps revealing, or at least suggesting, aspects of my life that would not otherwise be known'. He wrote many more poems after that, and more from his early years have come to light. This volume contains all of them, offering a truly complete collection, and also includes six short stories, written over many years and some of them previously unpublished, also shedding new light on the imagination and perceptions of their author. The volume is prefaced by a foreword and two essays introducing the poems in different ways, and also contains edited versions of two talks Sangharakshita gave about specific poems, and a sequence of conversations about his poetry that were recorded towards the end of his life.

Read more less