LIVING WITH THE DEVIL: A Buddhist Meditation on Good and Evil by Stephen Batchelor
A bestselling Buddhist philosopher offers a personal meditation of extraordinary insight.
Whether we are religious or not, the Devil-evil incarnate-is a concept that can still strike fear in our hearts. What if he does exist? What if he is causing all our problems in his determination to keep us from reaching our full potential?
Stephen Batchelor takes the concept of the Devil out of literature and history and brings him to life in his many forms and guises: the flatterer, the playmate, the caring friend, the stranger who offers rest and solace, the person who knows you best and shows you your greatness in the world. And, most of all, as the great obstructer that blocks all paths to goodness and true humility.
CREATION AND COMPLETION: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation by Jamgon Kongtrul, trans. by Sarah Harding, comm. by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
Creation and Completion is a unique guide to the practice of Tibetan Buddhist tantra. Drawing on experiential explanations from two great masters, it is both concise and thorough, both authoritative and clear. In the creation stage of tantra, practitioners visualize themselves in the form of buddhas and other enlightened beings. This meditation practice prepares the mind for engaging in the completion stage, where one comes face to face with the ultimate nature of mind and reality.
Jamgon Kongtrul, a pivotal figure in the Buddhist revival movement of nineteenth-century Tibet, was a master practitioner and one of Tibetan Buddhism's most prolific writers. His guide to tantric Buddhist meditation, translated here by Sarah Harding, was written in the style of the Tibetan songs of realization. The commentary by contemporary master Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche skillfully clarifies the nuances of Kongtrul's text, making the language come alive in a practical way for the modern reader. Harding's excellent introduction distills the essential features of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
The powerful meditation instructions, traditionally reserved for initiates alone, will be of immense value, both to aspiring and experienced practitioners alike.
"...very beneficial...will resolve all doubts about tantric practice."--Thrangu Rinpoche
CHENREZIG, LORD OF LOVE: Principles and Methods of Deity Meditation by Bokar Rinpoche
The Tibetan Buddhist practices of meditation are part of the spiritual wealth of humanity and deity meditation forms the heart of this treasure. For over a millennium Tibetan lamas have used meditation on deities as a means to master the inner world.
Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit), the deity that represents the loving and compassionate potential of the mind, is the most popular deity of Tibet. In this volume a great living teacher, Bokar Rinpoche, gives detailed instructions for this practice. He specifically addresses the concerns of Western practitioners in offering these unique teachings.
Chenrezig is within us because love and compassion are not qualities added to the mind. These qualities are part of the awakened state even if for the moment this state exists only as a potential for us.
Yoga of Tibet, The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra-2 and 3 by Tsong-ka-pa
The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra part 2 & 3 by Tsong-ka-pa, details the practices of Action and Performance Tantra. Special deity yoga techniques for the development of the heart, mind and physical form of a Buddha are presented in a coherent series of yogic exercises. The mudras (hand gestures) that accompany the meditations are clearly illustrated.
A Supplement by Jeffrey Hopkins outlines in detail the structure of Action Tantra practices as well as the need for development.of special yogic powers.
REALIZING EMPTINESS: Madhyamaka Insight Meditation by Gen Lamrimpa, trans. by B. Alan Wallace
In Realizing Emptiness, Gen Lamrimpa draws on his theoretical training as well as his solitary meditative experience to show how students can gain realization of ultimate reality. He explains in a practical and down-to-earth fashion how to analyze experience to fathom how it has been misperceived and misunderstood because of our many delusions and how to use Madhyamaka reasoning to experience theway in which all things exist as dependently related events. Those who wish to apply the Madhyamaka view to meditative practice and daily life will undoubtedly find this work to be of great practical value. The book closes with two chapters on Dzogchen and its relation to Madhyamaka.
Practical Advice for Mahamudra Meditators. Crystal Clear by the learned and realized Tibetan Master Thrangu Rinpoche, is a companion volume to the classic meditation manual - Clarifying the Natural State. In his straightforward and lucid style Rinpoche gives us an indispensable guidebook for insight practice (vipashyana). For people who want more than just theory, this is a handbook that begins with watching the breath and leads practitioners through stages of realization, all the way to complete enlightenment.
PRIMORDIAL EXPERIENCE: An Introduction to rDzogs-chen Meditation by Manjushrimitra, trans. by Namkhai Norbu & Kennard Lipman
This is the first English translation of one of the most revered texts in Tibetan Buddhism. A part of the rDzogs-chen, or Ati, tradition, Primordial Experience was written by Manjusrimitra, an Indian disciple of the first teacher of Ati yoga. Legend has it that the teacher, in a debate about the Buddhist doctrine of cause and effect, opened his students eyes to the reality of Ati yoga, the state of pure and total presence. This book is the result of that encounter.
Poet and teacher of meditation Dr. Steven Levine writes simply amd gently about his personal experiences with and insights into vipassana meditation.
Excerpt from page 1: Meditation is for many a foreign concept, somehow distant and foreboding, seemingly impossible to participate in. But another word for meditation is simply awareness. Meditation is awareness.
The motivation for meditating is often quite different for each person. many people come to meditation because of their love for the qualities of some teacher or their desire to know God. Others because of a desire to understand mind. Some begin not even knowing what meditation is, but with a great longing to be free from some sadness, some pain, some incompleteness in their lives.
Here is offered a simple Buddhist mindfulness practice to come to wholeness, to our natural completeness. The basis of the practice is to directly participate in each moment as it occurs with as much awareness and understanding as possible.
In this intimate account of compassion and healing, Levine's narrative turns progressively inward as he describes his life's path toward a deeper understanding of "the way of things". A former drug addict become spiritual teacher, Levine describes how he learned to use his life as a jumping-off point from which to teach healing principles and guided meditations. The author lays bare his own understanding of mindfulness, loving kindness, and service (the fundamental pillars of Buddhism) in an account of a life rich with characters immediately recognizable as leaders of the modern Eastern spirituality movement.
The topic of this teaching is vipasyana, or LHAKTONG in Tibetan, which means insight. Generally speaking, the term LHAKTONG refers to the knowledge that is the realization of selflessness. There are two types of realization of selflessness. One type is an intellectual, or conceptual understanding, which is gained thorugh analysis. The other type is the direct experience of sleflessness, which is generated through meditation practice.