Buddhism Plain and Simple
Buddhism Plain and Simple

Author: Steve Hagen

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 1999-04-29

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 0141929715

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This is a book about awareness - it's about being 'awake' and in touch with what is going on here and now. Practical and down-to-earth, it deals exclusively with the present, not with speculation, theory or belief in some far-off time and place. The teachings of the Buddha are plain and straightforward, and because they remain focused on the moment they are just as relevant now as they have ever been. BUDDHISM PLAIN AND SIMPLE is the book for anyone wanting to discover, or rediscover, the essence of Buddhism.

The Everything Buddhism Book
The Everything Buddhism Book

Author: Arnie Kozak

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-12-18

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1440511632

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"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." --Dalai Lama That's easy for the Dalai Lama to say--but for the rest of us, understanding this mysterious, multilayered faith can be very difficult. With this updated and revised edition of the classic Buddhist primer, you can delve into the profound principles of nonviolence, mindfulness, and self-awareness. From Tibetan Buddhism to Zen, you'll explore the traditions of all branches of Buddhism, including: The life of Buddha and his continuing influence throughout the world A revealing survey of the definitive Buddhist texts What the Sutras say about education, marriage, sex, and death Faith-fueled social protest movements in Tibet, Burma, and elsewhere Buddhist art, poetry, architecture, calligraphy, and landscaping The proven physiological effects of meditation and other Buddhist practices The growing impact of Buddhism on modern American culture In this guide, you'll discover the deceptively simple truths of this enigmatic religion. Most important, you learn how to apply the tenets of Buddhism to your daily life--and achieve clarity and inner peace in the process.

Setting Out on the Great Way
Setting Out on the Great Way

Author: Paul Maxwell Harrison

Publisher: Equinox Publishing (UK)

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781781790960

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Setting Out on the Great Way brings together different perspectives on the origins and early history of Mahāyāna Buddhism and delves into selected aspects of its formative period. As the variety of the religion which conquered East Asia and also provided the matrix for the later development of Buddhist Tantra or Vajrayāna, Mahāyāna is regarded as one of the most significant forms of Buddhism, and its beginnings have long been the focus of intense scholarly attention and debate. The essays in this volume address the latest findings in the field, including contributions by younger researchers vigorously critiquing the reappraisal of the Mahāyāna carried out by scholars in the last decades of the 20th century and the different understanding of the movement which they produced. As the study of Buddhism as a whole reorients itself to embrace new methods and paradigms, while at the same time coming to terms with exciting new manuscript discoveries, our picture of the Mahāyāna continues to change. This volume presents the latest developments in this ongoing re-evaluation of one of Buddhism's most important historical expressions.

Buddha Taught Nonviolence, Not Pacifism
Buddha Taught Nonviolence, Not Pacifism

Author: Paul R. Fleischman

Publisher: Pariyatti Publishing

Published: 2002-01-01

Total Pages: 59

ISBN-13: 1928706223

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In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, this thought-provoking essay explores the Buddha's teaching to find one prescription: not war, not pacifism but nonviolence.

The Noble Eightfold Path
The Noble Eightfold Path

Author: Bhikkhu Bodhi

Publisher: Buddhist Publication Society

Published: 2010-12-01

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 955240116X

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The Buddha's teachings center around two basic principles. One is the Four Noble Truths, in which the Buddha diagnoses the problem of suffering and indicates the treatment necessary to remedy this problem. The other is the Noble Eightfold Path, the practical discipline he prescribes to uproot and eliminate the deep underlying causes of suffering. The present book offers, in simple and clear language, a concise yet thorough explanation of the Eightfold Path. Basing himself solidly upon the Buddha's own words, the author examines each factor of the path to determine exactly what it implies in the way of practical training. Finally, in the concluding chapter, he shows how all eight factors of the path function in unison to bring about the realization of the Buddhist goal: enlightenment and liberation.

Buddha's Nature
Buddha's Nature

Author: Wes Nisker

Publisher: Bantam

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0553379992

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The Buddha said that "everything we need to know about life can be found inside this fathom-long body." Then why is most people's spirituality--whether Buddhist, Christian, or Jewish--completely cut off from their body? In this provocative and groundbreaking book, you'll discover that enlightenment comes not from "out there," but from a deep understanding of our own personal biology. Using the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, a traditional Buddhist meditation, Nisker shows how cutting-edge science is proving the tenets first offered by the Buddha. And he provides a practical program, complete with meditations and exercises, that enables readers to become mindful of the origins of emotions, desires, and thoughts. One of the great synthesizers of East and West, Nisker shows how to incorporate the traditional understanding of the Buddha with the latest scientific discoveries while on our spiritual journey. He shows that we are not separate from nature and the evolving universe. The way to enlightenment lies within our very biology. Most important, Nisker offers a practical program--complete with meditations and exercises--so readers can take their own evolutionary journey into their bodies to find the origins of emotions, desires, and thoughts. Nisker provides a liberating way for each of us to incorporate into our lives the understanding, proven by the latest scientific evidence and foretold in the great traditional teachings of the Buddha, that we are not separate from nature and the evolving universe. Our biology is not our destiny, but our way to enlightenment. -->

After Buddhism
After Buddhism

Author: Stephen Batchelor

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2015-10-28

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 030021622X

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Some twenty-five centuries after the Buddha started teaching, his message continues to inspire people across the globe, including those living in predominantly secular societies. What does it mean to adapt religious practices to secular contexts? Stephen Batchelor, an internationally known author and teacher, is committed to a secularized version of the Buddha’s teachings. The time has come, he feels, to articulate a coherent ethical, contemplative, and philosophical vision of Buddhism for our age. After Buddhism, the culmination of four decades of study and practice in the Tibetan, Zen, and Theravada traditions, is his attempt to set the record straight about who the Buddha was and what he was trying to teach. Combining critical readings of the earliest canonical texts with narrative accounts of five members of the Buddha’s inner circle, Batchelor depicts the Buddha as a pragmatic ethicist rather than a dogmatic metaphysician. He envisions Buddhism as a constantly evolving culture of awakening whose long survival is due to its capacity to reinvent itself and interact creatively with each society it encounters. This original and provocative book presents a new framework for understanding the remarkable spread of Buddhism in today’s globalized world. It also reminds us of what was so startling about the Buddha’s vision of human flourishing.

Ahimsā
Ahimsā

Author: Bodo Balsys

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13:

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"Ahimsa means ""harmlessness,"" carried out in thought, word or deed. A major precept of Buddhists of all denominations is to practice harmlessness. Such activity is not supposed to be theory, but a practical fact, a sacred pledge (samaya) integrated into the fibre of one's every mode of conduct on the path to enlightenment and liberation from the samsara. However, as this text elaborates, all good intent along this line falls flat in the light of the practice condoned by many Buddhists of meat consumption. Harm is thus caused to the animal butchered, to the consumers of the flesh, and to the environment we all live in. It is also a decidedly gross act of adharma to all in the society wherein the Buddhist practitioner that consumes animal products resides, as clearly explained in this book. It is time that Buddhists whole-heartedly spurn all considerations of meat toxins in their bodily environments, to actively espouse the cause of true harmlessness in all that they do; and to act as Bodhisattvas by teaching all how to be compassionate through not killing or harming their animal brethren. The reasons are clear as to the way to be truly compassionate, as all Buddhists should be. Read, learn and observe your true motives in everything you do; desist from harmful actions, and thereby grow and become Bodhisattvas and Buddhas at the end of it all."

Why I Am Not a Buddhist
Why I Am Not a Buddhist

Author: Evan Thompson

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2020-01-28

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 0300226551

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"A provocative essay challenging the idea of Buddhist exceptionalism, from one of the world's most widely respected philosophers and writers on Buddhism and science. Buddhism has become a uniquely favored religion in our modern age. A burgeoning number of books extol the scientifically proven benefits of meditation and mindfulness for everything ranging from business to romance. There are conferences, courses, and celebrities promoting the notion that Buddhism is spirituality for the rational; compatible with cutting-edge science; indeed, "a science of the mind." In this provocative book, Evan Thompson argues that this representation of Buddhism is false. In lucid and entertaining prose, Thompson dives deep into both Western and Buddhist philosophy to explain how the goals of science and religion are fundamentally different. Efforts to seek their unification are wrongheaded and promote mistaken ideas of both. He suggests cosmopolitanism instead, a worldview with deep roots in both Eastern and Western traditions. Smart, sympathetic, and intellectually ambitious, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Buddhism's place in our world today."--Provided by publisher.

Confession of a Buddhist Atheist
Confession of a Buddhist Atheist

Author: Stephen Batchelor

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2010-03-02

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 1588369846

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Does Buddhism require faith? Can an atheist or agnostic follow the Buddha’s teachings without believing in reincarnation or organized religion? This is one man’s confession. In his classic Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen Batchelor offered a profound, secular approach to the teachings of the Buddha that struck an emotional chord with Western readers. Now, with the same brilliance and boldness of thought, he paints a groundbreaking portrait of the historical Buddha—told from the author’s unique perspective as a former Buddhist monk and modern seeker. Drawing from the original Pali Canon, the seminal collection of Buddhist discourses compiled after the Buddha’s death by his followers, Batchelor shows us the Buddha as a flesh-and-blood man who looked at life in a radically new way. Batchelor also reveals the everyday challenges and doubts of his own devotional journey—from meeting the Dalai Lama in India, to training as a Zen monk in Korea, to finding his path as a lay teacher of Buddhism living in France. Both controversial and deeply personal, Stephen Batchelor’s refreshingly doctrine-free, life-informed account is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism.