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Perfect Clarity
By Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Longchen Rabjam, Padmasambhava Guru Rinpoche, Milarepa Yogi. 2012
For practitioners on the paths of Dzogchen and Mahamudra, one of the greatest joys is to personally receive oral instructions…
from a realized teacher. The excitement of being able to train based on that advice is further enhanced by the stimulation and support that guidance manuals provide. All of the selections presented in Perfect Clarity offer incredible teachings that are inspiring and vital. Pith instructions are so simple and direct that we can easily apply them without fear of mistakes.These days, the most effective style of teaching is not lengthy scholarly explanations but rather direct guidance manuals The Dzogchen tantras themselves were written in a style that shrouds and conceals the meaning so that only a master who is extremely well-versed in oral instructions and treatises is able to clarify the meaning. On the other hand, based upon oral instructions a guidance manual is a short, comprehensive teaching written in a clear and simple manner. Such summaries of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachings contain all the teachings that a worthy practitioner requires to reach the state of primordial enlightenment in this very life.Tulku Urgyen RinpocheThe amazing collection in Perfect Clarity is rounded out by an introduction by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a preface by Marcia Dechen Wangmo, biographical data of the authors, a glossary, line drawings and photos and Tibetan source material references.The Lost Teachings of Lama Govinda
By Lama Surya Das, Richard Power. 2007
The Lost Teachings of Lama Govinda offers a precious glimpse into the consciousness of an extraordinary scholar and mystic, shedding…
new light on Govinda's legendary role as both a pioneer and a prophet. Born in Germany, Lama Govinda was one of the first Westerners to introduce Tibetan Buddhism as an initiate in the tradition. His famed works, The Way of the White Clouds and Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism, live on as some of the best in the field.In this collection of essays and dialogues, Govinda delivers insights that are both timely and timeless. Ranging in issues and themes, including transpersonal psychology, drugs and meditation, Christianity, Theravada and Zen Buddhism, and the I Ching, editor Richard Power brings together Lama Govinda's rarest material-some never before published, some long out of circulation.Power starts off with a compelling and comprehensive introduction to Govinda's life and work, dividing this section into three parts. These include 1) a biography of Lama Govinda, 2) a perspective on his role in bringing Dharma to the West and his legacy for the 21st Century, and 3) an exploration of the major themes and insights in four of his masterpieces: The Way of the White Cloud, Fundamentals of Tibetan Mysticism, Psycho-Cosmic Symbolism of the Stupa and Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness.Every chapter of the book is one of Govinda's essays, each standing alone on its own strengths while also fitting together with the others to form a multi-dimensional look at practical Buddha Dharma in relation to Western psychology, mystical Christianity, Chinese Taoist philosophy, and scientific explorations in consciousness. Both beginners of Tibetan Buddhism and those interested in expanding their knowledge of the basic tenets of the tradition will find great value in this book.Christmas in Plains: Memories
By Jimmy Carter, Amy Carter. 2001
Jimmy Carter remembers Christmas in Plains, Georgia, the source of spiritual strength, respite, friendship, and vacation fun in this charming…
portrait.In a beautifully rendered portrait, Jimmy Carter remembers the Christmas days of his Plains boyhood--the simplicity of family and community gift-giving, his father's eggnog, the children's house decorations, the school Nativity pageant, the fireworks, Luke's story of the birth of Christ, and the poignancy of his black neighbors' poverty. Later, away at Annapolis, he always went home to Plains, and during his Navy years, when he and Rosalynn were raising their young family, they spent their Christmases together recreating for their children the holiday festivities of their youth. Since the Carters returned home to Plains for good, they have always been there on Christmas Day, with only one exception in forty-eight years: In 1980, with Americans held hostage in Iran, Jimmy, Rosalynn, and Amy went by themselves to Camp David, where they felt lonely. Amy suggested that they invite the White House staff and their families to join them and to celebrate. Nowadays the Carters' large family is still together at Christmastime, offering each other the gifts and the lifelong rituals that mark this day for them. With the novelist's eye that enchanted readers of his memoir An Hour Before Daylight, Jimmy Carter has written another American classic, in the tradition of Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory and Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales.The Third Tower
By Antal Szerb, Len Rix. 1936
In August 1936 a Hungarian writer in his mid-thirties arrives by train in Venice, on a journey overshadowed by the…
coming war and charged with intense personal nostalgia. Aware that he might never again visit this land whose sites and scenes had once exercised a strange and terrifying power over his imagination, he immerses himself in a stream of discoveries, reappraisals and inevitable self-revelations. From Venice, he traces the route taken by the Germanic invaders of old down to Ravenna, to stand, fulfilling a lifelong dream, before the sacred mosaics of San Vitale.This journey into his private past brings Antal Szerb firmly, and at times painfully, up against an explosive present, producing some memorable observations on the social wonders and existential horrors of Mussolini's new Roman Imperium.From the Trade Paperback edition.In This Very Life
By Kate Wheeler, Joseph Goldstein, Sayadaw U Pandita, Venerable U Aggacitta. 1984
Burmese meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita shows us that freedom is as immediate as breathing, as fundamental as a footstep.…
In this book he describes the path of the Buddha and calls all of us to that heroic journey of liberation. Enlivened by numerous case histories and anecdotes, In This Very Life is a matchless guide to the inner territory of meditation - as described by the Buddha.Dying with Confidence
By Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, Anyen Rinpoche, Allison Graboski, Eileen Cahoon. 2010
Anyen Rinpoche's wise and reassuring voice guides readers through the Tibetan Buddhist teachings on death and dying, while providing practical…
tools for end-of-life and estate planning. Dying with Confidence reads like a remarkable how-to guide, laying out in clear and straightforward language the preparations we must make and the best practices to use while dying to further our goal of enlightenment.Reason's Traces
By Matthew Kapstein. 2001
Reason's Traces addresses some of the key questions in the study of Indian and Buddhist thought: the analysis of personal…
identity and of ultimate reality, the interpretation of Tantric texts and traditions, and Tibetan approaches to the interpretation of Indian sources. Drawing on a wide range of scholarship, Reason's Traces reflects current work in philosophical analysis and hermeneutics, inviting readers to explore in a Buddhist context the relationship between philosophy and traditions of spiritual exercise.One Hundred Days of Solitude
By Jane Dobisz. 2008
In One Hundred Days of Solitude: Losing My Self and Finding Grace on a Zen Retreat, American teacher of Korean…
Zen Jane Dobisz (Zen Master Bon Yeon), recalls her first solitary meditation stint in the woods. Luckily, this is not just a recounting of a winter's worth of cabin fever. Instead, Dobisz takes us into her cabin, and into her mind, as she tries--at least temporarily--to live a Walden-like existence. All the bowing and meditating and wood-chopping that is part and parcel of her retreat is hardly first nature, but the good-humored and tenacious Dobisz is able to adapt, and to relate her hundred days with moving insight and humanity. Her Solitude in fact offers us all a chance to commune with her and to look inside and rediscover our own grace.Perfectly Miserable
By Sarah Payne Stuart. 2014
A wryly comic memoir that examines the pillars of New England WASP culture--class, history, family, money, envy, perfection, and, of…
course, real estate--through the lens of mothers and daughters. At eighteen, Sarah Payne Stuart fled her mother and all the other disapproving mothers of her too perfect hometown of Concord, Massachusetts, only to return years later when she had children of her own. Whether to defy the previous generation or finally earn their approval and enter their ranks, she hurled herself into upper-crust domesticity full throttle. In the twenty years Stuart spent back in her hometown--in a series of ever more magnificent houses in ever grander neighborhoods--she was forced to connect with the cultural tradition of guilt and flawed parenting of a long legacy of local, literary women from Emerson's wife, to Hawthorne's, to the most famous and imposing of them all, Louisa May Alcott's iconic, guilt-tripping Marmee. When Stuart's own mother dies, she realizes that there is no one left to approve or disapprove. And so, with her suddenly grown children fleeing as she herself once did, Stuart leaves her hometown for the final time, bidding good-bye to the cozy ideals invented for her by Louisa May Alcott so many years ago, which may or may not ever have been based in reality.How to Raise an Ox
By Taizan Maezumi Roshi, Eihei Dogen, Francis Dojun Cook. 2002
The writings of Zen master Dogen are among the highest achievements not only of Japanese literature but of world literature.…
Dogen's writings are a near-perfect expression of truth, beautifully expressing the best of which the human race is capable. In this volume, Francis Cook presents ten selections from Dogen's masterwork, the Shobogenzo, as well as six of his own essays brilliantly illuminating the mind of this peerless master.Approaching the Great Perfection
By Sam Van Schaik. 2004
Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, is the highest meditative practice of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. Approaching the Great Perfection…
looks at a seminal figure of this lineage, Jigme Lingpa, an eighteenth-century scholar and meditation master whose cycle of teachings, the Longchen Nyingtig, has been handed down through generations as a complete path to enlightenment. Ten of Jigme Lingpa's texts are presented here, along with extensive analysis by van Schaik of a core tension within Buddhism: Does enlightenment develop gradually, or does it come all at once? Though these two positions are often portrayed by modern scholars as entrenched polemical views, van Schaik explains that both tendencies are present within each of the Tibetan Buddhist schools. He demonstrates how Jigme Lingpa is a great illustration of this balancing act, using the rhetoric of both sides to propel his students along the path of the Great Perfection.Divine Stories
By Andy Rotman. 2008
Divine Stories is the inaugural volume in a landmark translation series devoted to making the wealth of classical Indian Buddhism…
accessible to modern readers. The stories here, among the first texts to be inscribed by Buddhists, highlight the moral economy of karma, illustrating how gestures of faith, especially offerings, can bring the reward of future happiness and ultimate liberation. Originally contained in the Divyavadana, an enormous compendium of Sanskrit Buddhist narratives from the early Common Era, the stories in this collection express the moral and ethical impulses of Indian Buddhist thought and are a testament to the historical and social power of narrative. Long believed by followers to be the actual words of the Buddha himself, these divine stories are without a doubt some of the most influential stories in the history of Buddhism.Mipham's Beacon of Certainty
By John W. Pettit, Penor Rinpoche. 1999
For centuries, Dzogchen - a special meditative practice to achieve spontaneous enlightenment - has been misinterpreted by both critics and…
malinformed meditators as being purely mystical and anti-rational. In the grand spirit of Buddhist debate, 19th century Buddhist philosopher Mipham wrote Beacon of Certainty, a compelling defense of Dzogchen philosophy that employs the very logic it was criticized as lacking. Through lucid and accessible textural translation and penetrating analysis, Pettit presents Mipham as one of Tibet's greatest thinkers.The Promise of Amida Buddha
By Yoko Hayashi, Joji Atone. 2011
The Promise of Amida Buddha is the first complete English translation of a seminal collection of writings by the Japanese…
Pure Land school's founder, Honen-shonin (1133-1212). The so-called Japanese Anthology (Wago Toroku) collects his surviving short writings composed in Japanese, including letters of exhortation and public pronouncements. The vital writings provide a window into Honen's life and the turbulent era in which he lived and taught. Honen-shonin, who lived in Japan in the twelfth century, saw that the complexity of traditional Buddhist practices made them inaccessible to people outside the monastic elite. Drawing on the Chinese Pure Land tradition, he re-imagined Pure Land practice for Japan and ushered in a new and dynamic practice that continues in the present day. In our degenerate age, says Honen, we cannot hope to reach enlightenment via the practices employed by the Buddhist masters of old. For us there is only one avenue to liberation--rebirth in the Pure Land of Amida, from whence our progress is irreversible and our ultimate release assured. The Pure Land is a heavenly destination made manifest through the pure vow of Amida to save all beings, and we secure passage to this land in our next life through pure faith in Amida at the very moment of death. The practice of faith in Amida is performed through nembutsu, the continual recitation of the mantra Namu Amida Butsu, which bonds us to Amida and brings us into his care.Dear Lama Zopa
By Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, Michelle Bernard, Diana Finnegan. 2007
Unconventional wisdom, affirmation, and advice from one of Tibetan Buddhism's most influential living teachers. Lama Zopa Rinpoche is a master…
at explaining Buddhism's radical but effective methods for transforming suffering into happiness, which have been practiced and taught by Tibetans for a thousand years. It's a challenging way to think - how can it be that the things that cause us pain are actually blessings? In Dear Lama Zopa, Rinpoche applies that challenge to our everyday, real-life problems - from the littlest to the biggest. Every year he receives thousands of letters from people around the world asking for advice - on coping with everything from addiction, grief, and depression, to war, terrorism, and death. In his detailed and deeply caring responses to these letters, reproduced here, Rinpoche shows again and again that the best method for solving our problems is to radically change the way we perceive them; that by emphasizing their inner causes we can even change the resulting outer circumstances. Even people familiar with notions like karma and reincarnation, which imply that we are the creators of our own experiences, may find the advice difficult. Yet uncountable thousands of people of all backgrounds have put Rinpoche's loving guidance into practice - and have seen real and positive change in their lives. Now, with Dear Lama Zopa, you can see for yourself...A Journey Into Flaubert's Normandy
By Susannah Patton. 2006
Richly illustrated with maps, historical and contemporary photographs, and period artwork, this guidebook takes tourists and armchair travelers on a…
stimulating journey through the small towns, rolling hills, and windswept coast of Flaubert's Normandy. The novelist's homes and the locations that are prominently featured in his controversial works are the focus of this pictorial travel guide, and include the ancient town of Rouen, where Flaubert was born in 1821; the resort town of Trouville and its frequently painted beach; Croisset, where Flaubert's riverside house gave him the refuge to write; and the quiet country town of Ry, which claims to be where the real Madame Bovary lived and died.In the Hot Zone
By Kevin Sites. 2007
Kevin Sites is a man on a mission. Venturing alone into the dark heart of war, armed with just a…
video camera, a digital camera, a laptop, and a satellite modem, the award-winning journalist covered virtually every major global hot spot as the first Internet correspondent for Yahoo! News. Beginning his journey with the anarchic chaos of Somalia in September 2005 and ending with the Israeli-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006, Sites talks with rebels and government troops, child soldiers and child brides, and features the people on every side, including those caught in the cross fire. His honest reporting helps destroy the myths of war by putting a human face on war's inhumanity. Personally, Sites will come to discover that the greatest danger he faces may not be from bombs and bullets, but from the unsettling power of the truth.Women Writing Art History in the Nineteenth Century
By Hilary Fraser. 2014
This book sets out to correct received accounts of the emergence of art history as a masculine field. It investigates…
the importance of female writers from Anna Jameson, Elizabeth Eastlake and George Eliot to Alice Meynell, Vernon Lee and Michael Field in developing a discourse of art notable for its complexity and cultural power, its increasing professionalism and reach, and its integration with other discourses of modernity. Proposing a more flexible and inclusive model of what constitutes art historical writing, including fiction, poetry and travel literature, this book offers a radically revisionist account of the genealogy of a discipline and a profession. It shows how women experienced forms of professional exclusion that, whilst detrimental to their careers, could be aesthetically formative; how working from the margins of established institutional structures gave women the freedom to be audaciously experimental in their writing about art in ways that resonate with modern readers.Himalayan Passages
By Andrew Quintman, Benjamin Bogin. 2004
Explore new research on the religious and cultural traditions of the Himalayan Buddhist world.Over decades, hundreds of American undergraduates spending…
a semester abroad have been introduced to Tibetan culture in India, Nepal, and China by Hubert Decleer. A number went on to become prominent scholars in the field at institutions such as Yale, Berkeley, and Georgetown, and as a tribute to him they have put together this collection of cutting-edge research in Himalayan studies, bringing together contributions of this new generation with those of senior researchers in the field. This new research on the religion and culture of the Himalayan Buddhist world spans a broad range of subjects, periods, and approaches, and the diversity and strength of the contributions ensures Himalayan Passages be warmly welcomed by scholars, travelers, and Tibetan Buddhists alike. Highlights include: Donald S. Lopez, Jr. tells the story of Gendun Chopel's unusual visit to Sri Lanka in 1941. Leonard van der Kuijp examines the Bodhicittavivarana, an ancient work on the enlightened resolve to free all beings. Kabir Mansingh Heimsath compares Western and Chinese curatorial approaches to Tibetan modern art. Alexander von Rospatt illuminates the fascinating history and artistic details of the famous Svayambhu stupa in Kathmandu. Sarah H. Jacoby translates the short autobiography of Sera Khandro, the celebrated female Tibetan mystic of a century ago. Additional contributors include Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Ernst Steinkellner, Jacob P. Dalton, Iain Sinclair, Anne Vergati, Punya Prasad Parajuli, and Dominique Townsend.Buddhism for Couples
By Sarah Napthali. 2014
Learn Buddhist principles that can help enrich your romantic life, your life in general, and the lives of those around…
you.Surely a happy marriage for a normally adjusted couple is a simple matter of give-and-take--some patience, tolerance, and just trying to be cheerful as often as possible. There is no shortage of books providing relationship advice that can help us with these matters. But Buddhist teachings address more than just surface knowledge, and guide us to delve deeper into our psyches.With an emphasis on self-compassion, Buddhism for Couples explains how to apply Buddhist teachings to your relationships to patch things up, hold things together, and, even on good days, scale the heights of relationship happiness. Written for both men and women, this book tackles the loaded subjects of housework, anger, sex, conflict, and infidelity, and introduces Buddhist strategies that can enrich a relationship.Humorous and informative, Buddhism for Couples provides a fresh approach to living as a couple, persuading us to leave behind stale, habitual ways of relating that don't work.From the Trade Paperback edition.