Spiritual Advice for Buddhists and Christians
Spiritual Advice for Buddhists and Christians

Author: Dalai Lama XIV Bstan-?dzin-rgya-mtsho

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 1998-06-01

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 9780826410764

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In the words of the Dalai Lama, the purpose of religion is not to build churches and elaborate temples, but to cultivate positive human qualities such as tolerance, generosity and love. This text contains the four talks given by the Dalai Lama when he attended a meeting of Buddhist and Christian monks at Gethsemani Abbey, Kentucky. The Dalai Lama shares his understanding of four major themes explored in the meeting: the practice of prayer and meditation in the spiritual life; the stages in the process of spiritual development; the role of the teacher and the community in the spiritual life; and the spiritual goals of personal and and societal transformation. In each talk the Dalai Lama expresses the basic principles of Tibetan Buddhism and shows how they are applicable to daily practice for all spiritual seekers, regardless of their religious affiliation.

Radical
Radical

Author: David Platt

Publisher: Multnomah

Published: 2010-05-04

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1601422210

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New York Times bestseller What is Jesus worth to you? It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily... But who do you know who lives like that? Do you? In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple--then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a "successful" suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus. Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment -- a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring.

Growing in Love and Wisdom
Growing in Love and Wisdom

Author: Susan J. Stabile

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-10-02

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0199862745

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Although raised Roman Catholic, Susan Stabile was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun and devoted 20 years of her life to practicing Buddhism before returning to Catholicism in 2001. In Growing in Love and Wisdom, she draws on this unique dual perspective to explore the value of interreligious dialogue, the spiritual dynamics that operate across faith traditions, and how Buddhist meditation practices can deepen Christian prayer. She begins by examining the values and principles shared by the two faiths and shows that both traditions seek to effect a fundamental transformation in the lives of believers. Both stress the need for experiences with deep emotional resonance that goes beyond the level of concepts to touch the heart. The center of the book offers 15 Tibetan Buddhist contemplative practices, adapted for Christian use. Stabile provides clear instructions on how to do these meditations and helpful commentary on each, explaining its purpose and the relation between the Buddhist original and her Christian adaptation of it. Throughout, she highlights the many remarkably close parallels between the teachings of Jesus and the Buddha. The meditations offered in this unusual book will be extremely useful to thoughtful Christians, to those responsible for giving spiritual direction, and also to Buddhist sympathizers who will be intrigued and pleased to see familiar contemplations handled so skillfully by a former Buddhist practitioner who has gratefully learned so much from her former religion and now introduces the riches of that tradition to her fellow Christians.

Sadhana
Sadhana

Author: Anthony De Mello

Publisher: Image

Published: 1984-09-01

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 0385196148

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Christian Exercises in Eastern Form Truly a one-of-a-kind, how-to-do-it book, this small volume responds to a very real hunger for self-awareness and holistic living. It consists of a series of spiritual exercises for entering the contemplative state -- blending psychology, spiritual therapy, and practices from both Eastern and Western traditions. Anthony de Mello offers here an unparalleled approach to inner peace that brings the whole person to prayer -- body and soul, heart and mind, memory and imagination. In forty-seven exercises that teach things such as awareness of physical sensations, stillness, healing of hurtful memories, and consciousness of self and world, de Mello succeeds in helping all who have ever experienced prayer as difficult, dull, or frustrating. The essential key, he notes, is to journey beyond mere thought-forms and discover satisfying new depths in prayer from the heart. This allows for a greater sense of awareness amid silence, and disposes the one who prays to untold riches, spiritual fulfillment, and ultimately, a mystical experience of God-centeredness. Drawing on Scripture, as well as insights from Eastern and Western spiritual masters, the author has a unique appeal that transcends time, culture, and religious background. For many years a bestseller in the English language, Sadhana has now been translated into more than two dozen foreign languages. Readers the world over have eagerly received this sincere spiritual leader, who has led many toward the wealth of insight and spirit that dwells within them.

Family in Buddhism
Family in Buddhism

Author: Liz Wilson

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2013-08-06

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 143844754X

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The Buddha left his home and family and enjoined his followers to go forth and "become homeless." With a traditionally celibate clergy, Asian Buddhism is often regarded as a world-renouncing religion inimical to family life. This edited volume counters this view, showing how Asian Buddhists in a wide range of historical and geographical circumstances relate as kin to their biological families and to the religious families they join. Using contemporary and historical case studies as well as textual examples, contributors explore how Asian Buddhists invoke family ties in the intentional communities they create and use them to establish religious authority and guard religious privilege. The language of family and lineage emerges as central to a variety of South and East Asian Buddhist contexts. With an interdisciplinary, Pan-Asian approach, Family in Buddhism challenges received wisdom in religious studies and offers new ways to think about family and society.

Without Buddha I Could Not be a Christian
Without Buddha I Could Not be a Christian

Author: Paul F. Knitter

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-01-01

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 1780742487

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An honest, unflinching tale of re-finding one's faith, from one of the world's most famous theologians Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian narrates how esteemed theologian, Paul F. Knitter overcame a crisis of faith by looking to Buddhism for inspiration. From prayer to how Christianity views life after death, Knitter argues that a Buddhist standpoint can encourage a more person-centred conception of Christianity, where individual religious experience comes first, and liturgy and tradition second. Moving and revolutionary, this book will inspire Christians everywhere.

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.

Approaching the Buddhist Path
Approaching the Buddhist Path

Author: Dalai Lama XIV Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-08-15

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 1614294410

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The Buddha wanted his students to investigate, to see for themselves whether what he said were true. As a student of the Buddha, the Dalai Lama promotes the same spirit of investigation, and recognizes that new approaches are needed to allow seekers in the West to experience the relevance of the liberating message in their own lives. This volume stands as an introduction to Buddhism, and provides a foundation for the volumes to come.

Christian Zen
Christian Zen

Author: William Johnston

Publisher: Fordham Univ Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 9780823218011

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When Christian Zen was first published in the early 1970's, it was reviewed enthusiastically in many parts of the world. A subsequent edition added new material from the author's experience. This latest edition, from Fordham University Press, includes a new Preface by the author and a letter to the author from the Christian mystic Thomas Merton, written shortly before Merton's untimely death. William Johnston presents a study of Zen meditation in the light of Christian mysticism.