Search results for ""author sarah shaw""

A guide to key writings from Buddhism’s meditative tradition and what they reveal about the history and practice of meditation Is it possible to capture the spirit of Buddhist meditation, which depends so much upon silence and unspoken wisdom? Can this spirit be found after two millennia? This wise and reassuring book reminds us that the Buddhist meditative tradition, geared to such concerns from its inception, has always been transmitted through texts. A great variety of early writings—poems, stories, extended practical guides, commentaries, and chants—were purposely designed to pass teachings on from one generation to the next. Sarah Shaw, a longtime practitioner and teacher of Buddhism, investigates a wide and varied range of ancient and later Buddhist writings on meditation. Many of these texts are barely known in the West but, as the author shows, they can be helpful, moving, and often very funny. She begins with early texts of the Pali canon—those that describe and involve the Buddha and his followers teaching meditations—and moves on to “commentaries,” with their copious range of practical tips, anecdotes, and accounts of early meditators. The author then considers other early texts that were inspirational as Buddhist traditions spread through India and on to China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet. Centuries after being written, early Buddhist texts have lost none of their relevance, this authoritative book shows. In a tradition characterized by flexibility and mobility, these writings offer wisdom unchanged by time.

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Secret Diary of a 1970s Secretary is the diary of Sarah Shaw for the year of 1971, which she recently uncovered whilst clearing out her loft. Working as a secretary for the BBC at the time, Sarah's diary describes the life of a suburban girl who certainly wasn't 'swinging' but who was, ironically, not only working on a cutting edge BBC survey on sex education but also in the throes of an unlikely affair with middle-aged, working-class, Irish lift attendant, Frank.Sarah talks humorously and frankly about what it was like to be a young, working woman at the time as well as life at the BBC during the 1970s and the difficulties of navigating her first romance. She is funny and self-effacing with a self-knowledge that only few attain. Her innocence and naivety are hugely charming and the diary forms a valuable snapshot of a time not so far away that is now lost to us.

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This is the first complete English translation in over a century of the ten great jātaka tales covering the Bodhisatta’s final adventures in the human realm before his ultimate life and enlightenment as the Buddha. Introductory comments to each story provide background and analysis. A general introduction explores themes and the stories’ role in Buddhist art and practice. Color images show the stories’ centrality in the Buddhist visual landscape of Southeast Asia.These definitive new translations reestablish the stories as ancient literary treasures of South Asia. Readers will be delighted by their magic and intrigue, philosophical insight, and deep roots in the religious and cultural world of the Buddha.

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Sheet music, a genre of printed music with many difficulties of definition and categorization, has posed a serious problem of bibliographical control to many libraries throughout this century. Cataloging Sheet Music: Guidelines for Use with AACR2 and the MARC Format has been written primarily for the use of catalogers in archives, libraries, and museums to assist them in the preparation of standard cataloging records in print or electronic format. The work ties the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, a recognized cataloging standard, to the genre. There are explanations of music cataloging practice intended to aid non-music catalogers in the use of this tool. Other discussions are designed to expand the music cataloger's understanding of publishing practices somewhat peculiar to sheet music. While much of the content emphasizes the description of the music, there are also sections devoted to subject access to illustrations, first line/chorus/refrain text, illustrators, engravers, and publishers. There are extensive reproductions of title pages from the eighteenth through mid-twentieth centuries that are accompanied by examples of the cataloging. Each example includes three levels of description—minimal, core, and enhanced.

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