Peaceful Dwelling: Meditations for Healing and Living by Ko-i Bastis, Madeline
"Like many people," says Madeline Ko-i Bastis, "I began my meditation practice when I didn't know what else to do There was a spiritual and emotional emptiness in my life." After taking a simple adult education class in meditation, she started to see miraculous results. "My physical energy soared, I slept more soundly, and seemed more able to concentrate on work.
Posture of Meditation: A Practical Manual for Meditators of All Traditions by Will Johnson
When it comes to meditation practices, the body is as important as the mind - a fact that may come as a surprise to the many people who regard meditation as a strictly mental activity. But, as Will Johnson shows, the physical aspect of the practice is far too often underemphasized.
THE PRACTICE OF TRANQUILLITY AND INSIGHT: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
The two types of meditation that form the core of Buddhist spiritual practice are: tranquillity (samatha) meditation aims at stilling the mind, while insight (vipasyana) meditation produces "clear vision," or insight into the nature of all phenomena. With masterful scholarship, Rinpoche explains this unified system of meditation--what to do, what to avoid and the stages of deepening meditation so the practitioner can gauge progress. His teaching is a commentary on the eighth chapter of the Treasury of Knowledge by Jamgon Kongtrul.
Present Fresh Wakefulness: A Meditation Manual on Nonconceptual Wisdom by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche
Present Fresh Wakefulness is more than a set of general instructions on how to practice, it is the quintessential advice of an experienced, living master on what he considers to be the absolute necessities for today's yogis to arrive at liberation and complete enlightenment.In this series of teachings and conversations, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, a revered abbot, Tibetan meditation master and author of Union of Mahamudra & Dzogchen, Bardo Guidebook and Indisputable Truth, conveys the indispensable principles for arriving at the heart of Buddhist practice in his characteristic style, filled with humor, candor and wit.
PROGRESSIVE STAGES OF MEDITATION ON EMPTINESS by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, trans. & arranged by Shenpen Hookham
In this teaching Rinpoche presents the main schools of Buddhist philosophy with their progressively more subtle and refined views of reality. However it is not just a teaching on the view, but a presentation providing the student the means to realise it through meditation practice. The idea of a series of meditation practices on a particular aspect of the Buddha's teaching is that beginning with one's first rather coarse commonsense understanding, one progresses through increasingly subtle and more refined stages until one arrives at complete and perfect understanding. Each stage in the process prepares the mind for the next in so far as each step is fully integrated into one's understanding through the medtitation process.
Samadhi; The Numinous and Cessative in Indo-Tibetan Yoga by Stuart Ray Sarbacker
Explores yoga and meditation in Eastern religions, incorporating psychological and social aspects of these practices.
A historical and comparative study grounded in close readings of important works, this book explores the dynamics of the theory and practice of yoga in Hindu and Buddhist contexts. Author Stuart Ray Sarbacker explores the fascinating, contrasting perceptions that meditation leads to the attainment of divine, or numinous, power, and to complete escape from worldly existence, or cessation. Sarbacker demonstrates that these two dimensions of spiritual experience have affected the doctrine and cultural significance of yoga from its origins to its contemporary practice. He also integrates sociological and psychological perspectives on religious experience into a larger phenomenological model to address the multifaceted nature of religious experience. Speaking to a broad range of methodological and contextual issues, Samadhi provides numerous insights into the theory and practice of yoga that are relevant to both scholars of religious studies and practitioners of contemporary yoga and meditation traditions.
Sitting; A Guide to Buddhist Meditation by Diana St Ruth
Simple lessons in the ancient art of meditation
Buddhist meditation originated when the Buddha "sat alone, accompanied merely by his own deep honesty and awareness, and refused to move until the barriers to truth were shattereSimple lessons in the ancient art of meditation. Buddhist meditation originated when the Buddha "sat alone, accompanied merely by his own deep honesty and awareness, and refused to move until the barriers to truth were shattered." Only by focusing his attention inward, being unmoved by the stimuli of the outside world, was he able to achieve enlightenment.d." Only by focusing his attention inward, being unmoved by the stimuli of the outside world, was he able to achieve enlightenment.
Stages of A-Khrid Meditation by Bru-sgom rGyal-ba g.yung-drung
Dzogchen Practice of the Bon Tradition. This work represents one tradition of th system of meditation known as "The Great Perfection" (rdzogs pa chen po), in the form of a methodical and practical guide for those noble beings who set themselves the task of leading others to enlightenment through the practice of the Great Perfection.
The A-Khrid teachings regarding the Ultimate Origin-(A) is believed to have a historical source in the great lama rMe'u dGongs-mdzod(1038-1096). This translation presents a condensed version of his original composition, written by Bru-sgom rGyal gyung-drung(1242-1296).
STAGES OF MEDITATION by the H.H. the Dalai Lama, trans. by Ven. Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, and Jeremy Russell
The Dalai Lama explains the principles of meditation in a practice-oriented format especially suited to Westerners. Based upon the middle section of the Bhavanakrama by Kamalasila, a translation of which is included, this is the most extensive commentary given by the Dalai Lama on this concise but important meditation handbook. It is a favorite text of the Dalai Lama and he often takes the opportunity to give teachings on it to audiences throughout the world. In his words, "This text can be like a key that opens the door to all other major Buddhist scriptures."
THE FOUR IMMEASURABLES: Cultivating a Boundless Heart by B. Alan Wallace
This book is a rich suite of practices that open the heart, counter the distortions in our relationships to ourselves, and deepen our relationships to others. Alan Wallace presents a unique interweaving of teachings on the Four Immeasurables (the cultivation of loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity, and empathetic joy) with instruction on quiescence or shamatha meditation practices to empower the mind and render it "fit for service." The book includes both guided meditations and lively discussions on the implications of these teachings for our own lives.
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