Search results for ""author sangharakshita""
Windhorse Publications Poems and Short Stories: 25
`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a truly complete collection, and also includes six short stories, written over many years and some of them previously unpublished, also shedding new light on the imagination and perceptions of their author.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.
£29.95
Windhorse Publications In the Sign of the Golden Wheel: 22
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....
£19.95
Windhorse Publications Living Wisely: Advice from Nagarjuna's Precious Garland
How do we live wisely? Sangharakshita outlines how in this companion volume of commentary on Nagarjuna's Precious Garland, showing us how to use our positive ethical position, our momentum in goodness, to develop a deep understanding of the nature of life. In the companion volume, Living Ethically, Sangharakshita showed us that to live a Buddhist life we need to develop an ethical foundation. Ethical living means being motivated increasingly by love, contentment and awareness. However, from a Buddhist viewpoint, this 'being good' is not good enough. We become good in order to be wise. Although ultimately the most satisfying of all human endeavours, here we learn that the development of wisdom is also not an easy task. The truth of things is elusive, subtle and even frightening. So we need to get to it by developing both a more non-literal and reflective intelligence, and greater maturity and courage.
£12.02
Windhorse Publications Through Buddhist Eyes
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.
£26.96
Windhorse Publications A New Buddhist Movement II
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.
£26.96
Windhorse Publications The Bodhisattva Ideal: 4
'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.
£19.95
Windhorse Publications Dr Ambedkar and the Revival of Buddhism: Part 9
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.
£14.00
Windhorse Publications Eastern and Western Traditions: 13
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.
£19.95
Windhorse Publications The History of My Going for Refuge
'Going for refuge' is the act of committing one's life to Buddhism. Tracing his own path of discovery, Sangharakshita shows how the monastic life and spiritual life are not identical but that what is truly important is commitment to Buddhist spiritual ideals. This work features a new introduction. With a timeless design and brand new introductions, "Sangharakshita Classics" refreshes these important and beloved works by Sangharakshita. First published twenty years or more ago, they are as relevant now as when they were first written.
£8.88
Windhorse Publications Beating the Dharma Drum: India Writings II
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.
£19.95
Windhorse Publications Pali Canon Teachings and Translations
This volume contains Sangharakshita's translations of several Pali suttas, including the Dhammapada, the 'best known and best loved of all Buddhist scriptures'. It also contains commentaries on the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha's seminal teaching on mindfulness; the Karaniya Metta Sutta, the equally essential teaching on loving kindness; the Mangala Sutta; and the Tiratana Vandana. The volume concludes with The Threefold Refuge, in which Sangharakshita explores perspectives on Going for Refuge to the Three Jewels not found elsewhere in his writings.
£19.95
Windhorse Publications Aphorisms, the Arts, and Late Writings
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.
£26.96
Windhorse Publications A Guide to the Buddhist Path
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.
£16.99
Windhorse Publications The Purpose and Practice of Buddhist Meditation
Can metta take me all the way to Enlightenment? How much meditation is good for you? Why visualize an Enlightened being? Can you tell if meditation is changing you? All of these questions and very many more are tackled in this substantial compilation of Sangharakshita's teachings on meditation. First published in 2012, this volume draws from previously published works and from the unpublished transcripts of seminars on a wide range of Buddhist texts, from the Pali canon to the songs of Milarepa. The dialogue form is a reminder that teaching is a communication, a creative meeting between the depth and breadth of Sangharakshita's knowledge and experience and the willingness of students to ask the kinds of questions any meditator would like to ask if they had the chance (or the nerve). Discussions reveal how Sangharakshita learned the practices on which his system of meditation - 'an organic, living system' - is based and how that system has evolved over the years. Amid much curiosity about dhyana and Insight, and explorations of how to deal with fear or distraction, doubt, drowsiness or desire, topics also include such matters as whether it's good to meditate in the open air and whether to include your least favourite politician in your metta bhavana. To this edition some extra material on 'just sitting' and the guru yoga has been added. Whether dipped into, consulted on a specific subject or read from cover to cover, the collection offers practical, inspiring and encouraging advice for new and experienced meditators alike. It is deeply imbued with the Buddhist vision of the role of meditation in the quest for Enlightenment.
£19.95
Windhorse Publications Crossing the Stream: India Writings I
Sangharakshita's arrival in India in 1944 marked the beginning of a period of prodigious literary and intellectual output. This was the base from which he would begin his life's work for the future of Buddhism. The essays gathered here, first published in journals such as Stepping Stones, The Maha Bodhi and The Middle Way, were written between 1944 and 1964. Ranging from The Unity of Buddhism, written in London at the age of only 18, to the panoramic A Bird's Eye View of Indian Buddhism, published on his return from India, all that distinguishes Sangharakshita's thought as teacher, synthesizer and translator is already evident here. We see the unity underlying all Buddhist schools, the inspiring ideal of the Bodhisattva, and the certainty that the Dharma is urgently needed in the modern world. This volume contains the previously published collections Crossing the Stream and Early Writings, plus other articles long since out of print. In the groundbreaking Ordination and Initiation in the Three Yanas (1959), Sangharakshita first comes close to recognizing Going for Refuge as the unifying factor in all of Buddhism. In Krishna's Flute (1944), the mind of the philosopher combines with the poet, and in A Visit to a Tibetan Monastery (1946), Sangharakshita the insightful traveller appears, seen later in his memoirs and travel letters. All the essays are fully annotated, and those previously published in Early Writings come with a detailed commentary and extensive introduction by Kalyanaprabha. A foreword by Nagabodhi introduces the collection. The insights and ideas expressed in these brief passages are as illuminating, as stimulating and as indispensable as anything Sangharakshita was ever to produce.
£19.95