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The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery
By Janwillem van de Wetering. 1973
Seen by many as a contemporary classic, Janwillem van de Wetering's small and admirable memoir records the experiences of a…
young Dutch student—later a widely celebrated mystery writer—who spent a year and a half as a novice monk in a Japanese Zen Buddhist monastery. As Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, author of Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, has written, The Empty Mirror "should be very encouraging for other Western seekers."It is the first book in a trilogy that continues with A Glimpse of Nothingness and Afterzen.Fourth Uncle in the Mountain: A Memoir of a Barefoot Doctor in Vietnam
By Quang Van Nguyen, Marjorie Pivar. 2004
Set during the French and American wars, Fourth Uncle in the Mountain is a true story about an orphan, Quang…
Van Nguyen, who is adopted by a sixty-four year old monk, Thau, who carries great responsibility for his people as a barefoot doctor. Thau manages, against all odds to raise his son to follow in his footsteps and in doing so, saves his son, as well as a part of Vietnam's esoteric knowledge from the Vietnam holocaust. Thau is wanted by the French regime, and occasionally must flee into the jungle, where he is perfectly at home living among the animals. Thau is not the average monk; he practices an ancient lineage of Chinese medicine and uses magic to protect animals and help people.As wise and resourceful as Thau is, he meets his match in his mischievous son. Quang is more interested in learning Cambodian sorcery and martial arts than in developing his skills and wisdom according to his father's plan.Fourth Uncle in the Mountain is an odyssey of a single-father folk hero and his foundling son in a land ravaged by the atrocities of war. It is a classic story, complete with humor, tragedy, and insight from a country where ghosts and magic are real.The Metal Children: A Play
By Adam Rapp. 2010
A play about fiction's power to both divide and unite, from Pulitzer finalist Adam RappIn small-town America, a young adult…
novel about teen pregnancy is banned by the local school board, igniting a fierce and violent debate over abortion, religious beliefs, and modern feminism. Its directionless New York City author arrives in town to defend the book and finds that it has inspired a group of local teens to rebel in strange and unexpected ways. A timely and unforgettable drama about the failure of urban and heartland America to understand each other, The Metal Children explores what happens when fiction becomes a matter of life and death.Urinetown: The Musical
By Greg Kotis, Mark Hollmann. 2001
Winner of three Tony Awards, including Best Book, Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann's Urinetown: The Musical is a tale of…
greed, corruption, love, and revolution in a time when water is worth its weight in gold.After a twenty-year drought made water a scarce commodity, private toilets became outlawed. Now, all restroom necessaries are controlled by the Urine Good Company (UGC), a megacorporation that charges fees for using public toilets. Anyone unable to pay fees--or who dares to relieve themselves outside the commode--are arrested and banished to "Urinetown".When UGC employee Bobby Strong's father falls victim to this tyranny, he spearheads a revolution, inspiring the people to rise up and reclaim their own restroom duties--unaware of the realities and consequences of his actions...With a preface by David Auburn, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of ProofAnd an introduction by the authorsSpring Awakening: A Play
By Frank Wedekind. 2007
From Jonathan Franzen, bestselling author of The Corrections and Crossroads, comes his razor-sharp translation of Frank Wedekind's major modern play,…
Spring Awakening.Featuring an introduction by Franzen.First performed in Germany in 1906, Frank Wedekind's controversial play Spring Awakening closed after one night in New York in 1917 amid charges of obscenity and public outrage. For the better part of the twentieth century Wedekind's intense body of work was largely unpublished and rarely performed. Yet the play's subject matter—teenage desire, suicide, abortion, and homosexuality—is as explosive and important today as it was a century ago. Spring Awakening follows the lives of three teenagers, Melchior, Moritz, and Wendl, as they navigate their entry into sexual awareness. Unlike so many works that claim to tell the truth of adolescence, Spring Awakening offers no easy answers or redemption.Today, more than a hundred years after the play's first performance, a new musical version of this essential modern masterpiece is being hailed as the "best new musical . . . in a generation" (John Heilpern, The New York Observer). Franzen's rendition of the text—for so long poorly served in English—is unique in capturing the bizarre and inimitable comic spirit that animates almost every line of this unrelentingly tragic play. There couldn't be a better time for this thrilling, definitive new translation.A Steady Rain: A Play
By Keith Huff. 2010
Joey and Denny have been best friends since kindergarten, and after working together for several years as policemen in Chicago,…
they are practically family: Joey helps out with Denny's wife and kids; Denny keeps Joey away from the bottle. But when a domestic disturbance call takes a turn for the worse, their friendship is put on the line. The result is a difficult journey into a moral gray area where trust and loyalty struggle for survival against a sobering backdrop of pimps, prostitutes, and criminal lowlifes.A dark duologue filled with sharp storytelling and biting repartee, A Steady Rain explores the complexities of a lifelong bond tainted by domestic affairs, violence, and the rough streets of Chicago.Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam
By Andrew X. Pham. 1999
Winner of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book PrizeA New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Whiting Writers'…
AwardA Seattle Post-Intelligencer Best Book of the YearCatfish and Mandala is the story of an American odyssey—a solo bicycle voyage around the Pacific Rim to Vietnam—made by a young Vietnamese-American man in pursuit of both his adopted homeland and his forsaken fatherland. Intertwined with an often humorous travelogue spanning a year of discovery is a memoir of war, escape, and ultimately, family secrets.Andrew X. Pham was born in Vietnam and raised in California. His father had been a POW of the Vietcong; his family came to America as "boat people." Following the suicide of his sister, Pham quit his job, sold all of his possessions, and embarked on a year-long bicycle journey that took him through the Mexican desert; on a thousand-mile loop from Narita in South Korea to Kyoto in Japan; and, after five months and 2,357 miles, to Saigon, where he finds "nothing familiar in the bombed-out darkness." In Vietnam, he's taken for Japanese or Korean by his countrymen, except, of course, by his relatives, who doubt that as a Vietnamese he has the stamina to complete his journey ("Only Westerners can do it"); and in the United States he's considered anything but American. A vibrant, picaresque memoir written with narrative flair and an eye-opening sense of adventure, Catfish and Mandala is an unforgettable search for cultural identity.Stone Cold Dead Serious: And Other Plays
By Adam Rapp. 2004
A collection of plays from Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Rapp, "one of the more daring young stylists working today" (Time…
Out New York)Adam Rapp's plays have captivated audiences across the country with their unflinching explorations of the good, the bad, and the ugly in America's heartland and cities. Gathered here are three of his works: Faster, in which two young grifters try to strike a deal with the devil during the hottest summer on record; Finer Noble Gases, a lament for a band of arrested thirty-year-olds slouching toward adulthood amid East Village decay; and the Off-Broadway hit Stone Cold Dead Serious. An honest, strange, and humorous look at a blue-collar family struggling to survive in the face of disability and addiction, and the seemingly surreal lengths their teenage son will go to save them from themselves."Rapp is very gifted, and, even rarer, he has something to say . . . Stone Cold Dead Serious [is] brave, compassionate, and . . . breathtakingly moving." -(New York Times)Assessment in the Drama Classroom: A Culturally Responsive and Student-Centered Approach
By Jonathan P. Jones. 2024
This textbook offers a practical approach for designing and implementing assessment for learning in the drama classroom.Assessment in the Drama…
Classroom begins with a theoretical overview that covers the purpose of assessment with student-centered, culturally responsive methods. The following chapters present an in-depth analysis of how to organize drama curriculum, develop measurable learning objectives, and implement a backward planning approach to summative assessment. Models and tools for generating diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments for various grade levels invite the reader to adapt these approaches to their classrooms.Ideal for drama education and pedagogy courses, this book is an accessible tool for drama educators to engage in critical reflection on assessment. Drama educators will find methods and suggestions for reimagining their assessment practices and be empowered to meet the learning needs of their students.In celebration of its 10th anniversary, a revised and updated edition of the award-winning #1 New York Times bestseller that…
changed the way we look at meditation, expanded with new material by Dan Harris. After having a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists. Eventually, Harris realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset: the incessant, insatiable voice in his head. We all have an inner narrator. It’s what has us losing our temper unnecessarily, checking our email compulsively, eating when we’re not hungry, and fixating on the past and the future at the expense of the present. Most of us assume we’re stuck with this voice—that there’s nothing we can do to rein it in—but Harris stumbled upon an effective way to do just that. 10% Happier is now considered a classic text on the power of meditation, an introduction to the practice that can convert even the most hardened skeptic. With over a million copies sold, 10% Happier is the go-to guide, and with meditation now a widely accepted and encouraged practice, Dan Harris is a pivotal and approachable figure in the field who has built a thriving platform based on the ideas he first presented in this book. In this 10th Anniversary Edition, Harris offers a new preface reflecting on how much has changed—for him and for the public perceptions of meditation, plus a revised and expanded appendix, filled with guided meditations and practical advice for people looking to boot up a habit. New York Times BestsellerGendered Agency in Transcultural Hinduism and Buddhism (ISSN)
By Ute Hüsken, Agi Wittich, Nanette R. Spina. 2024
Focusing on complex entanglements of religion and gender from a diversity of perspectives, this book explores how women enact agencies…
in transcultural Hindu and Buddhist settings. The chapters draw on original, in-depth empirical research in various contexts in South Asian religious traditions. Today, in an increasing number of such contexts, women are able to undergo monastic and priestly education, receive ordination/initiation as nuns and priestesses, and are accepted as ascetic religious leaders. They are starting to establish new religious communities within conservative traditions, occupying religious leadership positions on par with men. This volume considers the historical background, contemporary trajectories, and potential impact of the emergence of these new and powerful female agencies in conservative South Asian religious traditions. It will be of particular interest to scholars of religion, women’s and gender studies, and South Asian studies.Kadam: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet, Volume 3 (The Treasury of Precious Instructions)
By Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye. 2024
A comprehensive selection of texts central to the Kadam lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, including topics like Mind Training, Stages of…
the Path, and esoteric tantric instructions.The Treasury of Precious Instructions by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, one of Tibet&’s greatest Buddhist masters, is a shining jewel of Tibetan literature, presenting essential teachings from the entire spectrum of practice lineages that existed in Tibet. In its eighteen volumes, Kongtrul brings together some of the most important texts on key topics of Buddhist thought and practice as well as authoring significant new sections of his own. The Kadam lineage derives from the teachings and practices taught by the Indian master Atiśa and his Tibetan students. Atiśa spent twelve years in Tibet and left a scholarly and devotional lineage that would be significant to all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, but particularly the Geluk, the tradition of the Dalai Lamas, which fashioned themselves as the New Kadam tradition. Jamgön Kongtrul&’s catalog to The Treasury of Precious Instructions classifies Kadam literature into five categories: treatise, instruction, esoteric practice, ancillary works, and associated works. The first two are the main topics covered in this volume: Lamrim, or Stages of the Path, and Lojong, or Mind Training. These two Kadam teachings continue to exert a significant influence on Tibetan Buddhism and therefore represent the legacy of the Kadam tradition. The first centers around &“The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment,&” written by the eleventh-century Indian master Atiśa who spent twelve years in Tibet, and this volume also includes stories of Atiśa&’s life and travels. The second set of teachings consists of aphorisms known as the Seven-Point Mind Training, meant to be used as contemplative practices to develop compassion and transform the mind. These selections show not only the foundational texts of the Kadam tradition but also the widespread impact these teachings continued to have across traditions.Méditation Bouddhiste pour les débutants
By A. J. Parr. 2019
Les leçons et exercices contenus dans ce livre d’initiation vont vous aider à comprendre les enseignements essentiels du Bouddha (le…
Dharma, Chemin ou Voie), y compris les bases de la pratique de la méditation bouddhiste. Outre les citations d’anciens textes sacrés bouddhistes, vous trouverez dans les pages de ce livre des conseils inestimables du Dalaï Lama, d’Eckhart Tolle, de Krishnamurti et d’Alan Watts, parmi d’autres enseignants spirituels de renom. Bien que le but ultime de la pratique de la méditation bouddhiste soit d’atteindre un état d’éveil spirituel ou d’illumination, il faut dire que pratiquement personne n’atteint ce but – excepté peut-être les moines dévoués et les pratiquants avancés. Malgré cela, de nombreux bienfaits sont attribués à la pratique régulière de la méditation, comme le révèle une étude récente de la Mayo Clinic : « La méditation peut balayer le stress de la journée, conduisant à la paix intérieure… Si le stress vous rend anxieux, tendu et inquiet, envisagez la méditation. Passer ne serait-ce que quelques minutes à méditer peut restaurer votre calme et votre paix intérieure…La méditation peut vous procurer un sentiment de calme, de paix et d’équilibre qui est bon à la fois pour votre bien-être émotionnel et votre état de santé général. Et ces bienfaits se poursuivent au-delà de votre séance de méditation. La méditation peut vous aider à traverser la journée plus calmement et atténuer certains problèmes de santé… » Ce livre est vraiment recommandé à tous ceux qui veulent trouver la Vérité, fuir l’Illusion et vivre la paix intérieure dans le Moment présent !Kokoro: Japanese Wisdom for a Life Well Lived
By Beth Kempton. 2024
kokoro [n.] intelligent heart, feeling mind One year. Two devastating losses. Three sacred Japanese mountains. A major life transition, a…
heart full of grief and a revelation that changes everything. Join Japanologist Beth Kempton on a pilgrimage through rural Japan in search of answers to some of life's biggest questions: How do we find calm in the chaos and beauty in the darkness? How do we let go of the past and stop worrying about the future? What can an awareness of impermanence teach us about living well?Together you will journey to the deep north of Japan, hike ancient forests, watch the moon rise over mountains of myth and encounter a host of wise teachers along the way - Noh actors, chefs, taxi drivers, coffee shop owners, poets, philosophers and the spirits that inhabit the land. You will contemplate the true nature of time at one of the world's strictest Zen temples and nothing will be quite the same again.This book is an invitation to cultivate stillness and contentment in an ever-changing, uncertain world. It all begins with the kokoro, a profound Japanese term which represents the intelligent heart, the feeling mind and the embodied spirit of every human being.To explore the kokoro is to explore the very essence of what it means to be human in this tough yet devastatingly beautiful world. When you learn to live guided by the light in your kokoro, everything changes, and anything is possible.Bone Cage
By Catherine Banks. 2008
Jamie is twenty-two years old and works twelve-hour shifts operating a wood processor, clear-cutting for pulp. At the end of…
each shift, he walks through the destruction he has created looking for injured birds and animals and rescues those he can. Jamie's desire to escape this world is thwarted by his fear of leaving the place where he has some status.Bone Cage examines how young people in rural communities, employed in the destruction of the environment they love, treat the people they love at the end of their shift. Bone Cage is about the difficulty in growing and hanging on to dreams in a world where dreams are seen as impractical or weak. It is funny. It is tragic. It is about different kinds of escaping. It is about a soul trapped in its own rib cage, a cage of bone, a Bone Cage.The Diamond Eye: A Novel
By Kate Quinn. 2022
New York Times BestsellerThe bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm…
who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kyiv, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son—but Hitler’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper—a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.Still reeling from war wounds and devastated by loss, Mila finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC—until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila’s past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons and enemy bullets in the deadliest duel of her life.Based on a true story, The Diamond Eye is a haunting novel of heroism born of desperation, of a mother who became a soldier, of a woman who found her place in the world and changed the course of history forever.Luminous Emptiness: A Guide to the Tibetan Book of the Dead
By Francesca Fremantle. 2001
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a best-seller for three decades, is one of the most widely read texts of…
Tibetan Buddhism. Over the years, it has been studied and cherished by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Luminous Emptiness is a detailed guide to this classic work, elucidating its mysterious concepts, terms, and imagery. Fremantle relates the symbolic world of the Tibetan Book of the Dead to the experiences of everyday life, presenting the text not as a scripture for the dying, but as a guide for the living. According to the Buddhist view, nothing is permanent or fixed. The entire world of our experience is constantly appearing and disappearing at every moment. Using vivid and dramatic imagery, the Tibetan Book of the Dead presents the notion that most of us are living in a dream that will continue from lifetime to lifetime until we truly awaken by becoming enlightened. Here, Fremantle, who worked closely with Chögyam Trungpa on the 1975 translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Shambhala), brings the expertise of a lifetime of study to rendering this intriguing classic more accessible and meaningful to the living. Luminous Emptiness features in-depth explanations of: * The Tibetan Buddhist notions of death and rebirth * The meaning of the five energies and the five elements in Tibetan Buddhism * The mental and physical experience of dying, according to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition " Francesca Fremantle received her doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University. She is a scholar and translator of Sanskrit and Tibetan works and was a student of Chögyam Trungpa for many years. ""A deeply heartfelt guide to spiritual fulfillment through Buddhism, Luminous Emptiness provides interested seekers with a journey through the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and Fremantle is an expert guide."--Los Angeles Times "A scholar in Sanskrit and Tibetan, Fremantle is more than qualified to write this guide; she collaborated with renowned meditation master and scholar Chögyam Trungpa on a well-received translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead in 1975. Nothing less than a careful explanation of the world and the ideas that surround that text, this new work is an excellent and plainly written manual to the complex mythologies, symbols, philosophies, and doctrines of Tibetan Buddhism. The West could hardly ask for a better primer. Highly recommended."--Library Journal "In Luminous Emptiness, Francesca Fremantle provides a commentary on the Tibetan Book of the Dead that integrates its teachings with both the central topics of the Buddhist canon and with the ongoing experiences of our lives. Her illuminating exposition of the inner meanings and relevance of the text's tantric symbolism reflects many years of study, contemplation and practice. Luminous Emptiness is valuable in making the root text more meaningful and suggestive. It succeeds in enlivening our appreciation of the immense possibilities which we are offered now, moment to moment."--Shambhala Sun "This is the most lucid and comprehensive exposition of the Tibetan Book of the Dead to appear in English. It illuminates the esoteric path and reveals the way to heal life's miseries--the projection of our minds."--Tulku Thondup, author of the Healing Power of Mind and Boundless HealingA History of Theosophy
By W. J. Colville. 2024
A History of Theosophy by W. J. Colville is a comprehensive account of the development and evolution of theosophical thought…
and practice. Theosophy is a philosophical and spiritual movement that emerged in the late 19th century, drawing on a range of religious and philosophical traditions from around the world. Colville traces the origins of theosophy back to ancient wisdom traditions, and explores its key figures and ideas, including Helena Blavatsky, Annie Besant, and Krishnamurti. He also examines the impact of theosophy on literature, art, and culture, and its role in shaping modern spirituality. This book provides a detailed and engaging overview of one of the most influential spiritual movements of the modern era.-Print ed.The True Friend: English translation of Il vero amico
By Carlo Goldoni. 2009
True to Goldoni's mixture of comic wit and farce, the plot is a breathtakingly fast succession of twists and turns…
which only unravel in the final lines with a surprise ending.Two friends are in love with the same young woman. Neither wants to place their friendship in jeopardy. How can love triumph without breaking off their friendship? Goldoni explores the conflicts brought about when Florindo has to choose between Lelio, his best friend, and Rosaura, his friend's fiancée. Added to this conundrum are the issues of whether Ottavio, the old miser, will provide a dowry and the mature Beatrice's unashamed incessant pursuit of Florindo.The play is set in Bologna in Lelio's house. Florindo is a guest along with his faithful manservant. From the opening of the play, Florindo seeks to return home to Venice in order not to damage his friend's relationship. However, his departure is obstructed by his hosts, leading to one complication after another.From the beginning, the plot is intense and fast-moving with inversions fed into the action in quick succession. This creates suspense which continues throughout the play as potential marriage partners are switched back and forth until the very ending when the audience finally discovers what the main characters' destiny will be. Will love or friendship prevail?The Venetian element is brought into this play through Florindo and his manservant, both Venetians. Apart from these two characters, all the others are portrayed as self-seeking, selfish and sly - whether servants or masters. The tension is kept at a constantly high level by the struggles between the characters. These struggles are not just brought about through love and friendship but are also generational and social. Furthermore, there is the added complication in the contrast of the characters' ideas of reality as they deceive one another. This creates dramatic irony and humour as the audience know more than any of the characters on stage.Be More Japan
By Dk Eyewitness. 2024
Be More Japan is a celebration of all things Japanese. You can take a look through popular sights and pick…
and choose what interests you to plan your perfect trip. Or take a trip through everything to get the full experience of Japan.Whether you use Be more Japan as a travel guide or to help you learn more about the Japanese culture. Be More Japan helps you understand and experience the best of Japan, both at home and abroad. For those who can’t make the trip to Japan, or who want to carry on the experience when they return, this book also has useful tips and suggestions for how to bring Japanese culture to you, and places where you can see its influence around the world.With this book you can: -Learn about the traditional skills of the tea ceremony and calligraphy-Dive into the captivating culture of Japan, with topics such as art, music, food, wellness and innovation-Find details on topics such as transport, karaoke, ikigai, shopping and hot springs to help you make the most of your trip to JapanRevised and updated, and with each page alive with facts, history, and inspiration, Be More Japan unlocks the secrets behind modern Japanese living - whether you're eating sushi in London or enjoying the cherry blossoms in San Francisco. And if you're dreaming of a future trip to Japan, this book will get you closer to your destination before you've even departed.