With poetry and clarity, Thich Nhat Hanh imparts comforting wisdom about the nature of suffering and its role in creating compassion, love, and joy – all qualities of enlightenment. “Thich Nhat Hanh shows us the connection between personal, inner peace, and peace on earth.”—His Holiness the Dalai Lama In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, now revised with added material and new insights, Nhat Hanh introduces us to the core teachings of Buddhism and shows us that the Buddha’s teachings are accessible and applicable to our daily lives. Covering such significant teachings as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Three Doors of Liberation, the Three Dharma Seals, and the Seven Factors of Awakening, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching is a radiant beacon on Buddhist thought for the initiated and uninitiated alike.
“Writing a ‘nuts and bolts’ guide that is genuinely wise, charmingly conversational, and a pleasure to read requires a particular talent, and Jean Smith has proved once again that she has it.”—Sylvia Boorstein, author of Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There The third of Jean Smith’s Beginner’s Guides focuses on the Buddha’s Eightfold Path—the concepts central to practicing the Buddha’s teachings in daily life. The eight steps on the path are: right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Smith explains exactly what the Buddha had in mind, using translations of his own words and then elucidating them for us. Throughout the book are wonderful quotes from a broad range of Buddhist teachers, giving a taste of the very best each of them has to offer. The Beginner’s Guide to Walking the Buddha’s Eightfold Path is a prescription for happiness, not just for overcoming suffering, which is how many people think of Buddhism. Here is a book for Buddhists of every tradition.
Why do we suffer? Is there a purpose to our pain? Noting that human beings have wrestled with such questions for thousands of years, Phillip Moffitt has found answers for his own life in Buddhist philosophy and meditation. Reflecting on his own journey from Esquire magazine editor-in-chief to Buddhist meditation teacher, Moffitt provides a fresh perspective on the Buddha's ancient wisdom, showing how to move from suffering to new awareness and unanticipated joy. In this deeply spiritual book that is sure to become a Buddhist classic, Moffitt explores the twelve insights that underlie the Buddha's core teaching--the Four Noble Truths--and uses these often neglected ideas to guide readers to a more meaningful relationship to suffering. Moffitt write: "These twelve insights teach you to dance with both the joy and pain, finding peace in a balanced mind and calm spirit. As the most specific, practical life instructions I have ever encountered, they serve as an invaluable tool for anyone who seeks a life filled with meaning and well-being." Practicing these twelve insights, as Moffitt suggests, will help readers experience life's difficulties without being filled with stress and anguish, and they will enhance their moments of happiness. With engaging writing and a strong message of self-empowerment, Dancing with Life offers a prescriptive path for finding joy and peace that will appeal to meditation students and readers of "Dharma Wisdom," Moffitt's column in Yoga Journal, as well as anyone searching for a more authentic life.
The sequel to "Mindfulness in Plain English" delivers a simple message: Living a happy life is not a theory or dream, but something eminently practical and achievable through the Buddha's Eightfold Path.
In print for more than fifty years and translated into some ten languages, Nyanaponika Thera’s The Heart of Buddhist Meditation has attained the stature of a modern spiritual classic. Combining deep personal insight with the power of clear exposition, the author guides the reader into the essential principles making up the Buddha’s Way of Mindfulness. Besides offering a lucid account of the basic practices of insight meditation, the book contains a complete translation of the Great Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s own instructions on the practice. “A work of unique importance ... written with great depth, extraordinary knowledge, deep humanity... I do not know of any book which could be compared to this work as a guide to meditation.” Erich Fromm
A reissue of the most popular collection of teachings from Buddhist literature, selected by one of the best known American Buddhist teachers—with a new preface and afterword Jack Kornfield, one of the most respected American Buddhist teachers, has compiled these teachings to impart the essence and inspiration of Buddhism to readers of all spiritual traditions. This treasury of essential Buddhist writings draws from the most popular Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese sources, and is perfect for those both new to Buddhism and longtime practitioners. Among the selections: · Some of the earliest recorded sayings of the Buddha on the practice of freedom · Passages from later Indian scriptures on the perfection of wisdom · Verses from Tibetan masters on the enlightened mind · Songs in praise of meditation by Zen teachers · New selections on the role of women in early Buddhism Also included are traditional instructions on how to practice sitting meditation, cultivate calm awareness, and live with compassion.
This text is regarded as the essence of Buddhist teaching, offering subtle and profound teachings on non-duality; the letting go of all preconceived notions, opinions, and attachments, and so become open to all the wonders of our life. This book features a translation and commentary by Thich Nhat Hanh.
"This landmark collection is the definitive introduction to the Buddha's teachings in his own words. The American scholar monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, whose voluminous translations have won widespread acclaim, here presents selected discourses of the Buddha from the Pali Canon, the earliest record of what the Buddha taught. Divided into ten thematic chapters, In the Buddha's Words reveals the full scope of the Buddha's discourses, from family life and marriage to renunciation and the path of insight. A concise informative introduction precedes each chapter, guiding the reader toward a deeper understanding of the texts that follow." "In the Buddha's Words allows even readers unacquainted with Buddhism to grasp the significance of the Buddha's contributions to our world heritage. Taken as a whole, these texts bear eloquent testimony to the breadth and intelligence of the Buddha's teachings, and point the way to an ancient yet ever vital path. Students and seekers alike will find this systematic presentation indispensable."--BOOK JACKET.
In his Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path, Takamaro Shigaraki examines Shin Buddhism anew as a practical path of spiritual growth and self-transformation, challenging assessments of the tradition as a passive religion of mere faith. Shigaraki presents the core themes of the Shin Buddhist path in fresh, engaging, down-to-earth language, considering each frankly from both secular and religious perspectives. Shigaraki discloses a nondual Pure Land that finds philosophical kinship with Zen but has been little discussed in the West. With its unassuming language and insights drawn from a life of practice, Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path dispels the fog of misconception that has shrouded Western appreciation of Shin traditions to reveal the limitless light of Amida Buddha that reaches all.