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Introductions to Meditation

Browse our diverse selection of introductory meditation books and manuals. Ranging from Tibetan, to Zen, Chan, Theravada, and Insight traditions, we have the right books to get anyone started off in meditation with a sound foundation.

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12 Steps on Buddha’s Path
Bill, Buddha, and We
Laura S., Author
Sylvia Boorstein, Foreword

12 Steps on Buddha's Path is an inspiring firsthand account of what happens when life seems hopeless, and the miracle of finding out that it's anything but.

The author describes her own journey of recovery from alcoholism—an astonishing passage through strange and frightening territory—and marks out the path that allowed her to emerge from that darkness as a wise and compassionate person living a life that is joyous and free. This book is a powerful and enriching synthesis of the 12-Step recovery programs and the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism. It is sure to appeal to anyone touched by addiction, including those looking for new ways to understand and work with the tried-and-true 12-Step system. Tens of millions of Americans suffer from Alcoholism and other forms of dependence, and 12 Steps on Buddha's Path offers hope and help for any one of them.

Though writing anonymously out of deep respect for 12-Step policies, the author is in fact a well-known professional author, deeply involved in the recovery and meditation communities.

ISBN:0-86171-281-1_|_208 pp_|_Our Price: $10.36 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Art of Just Sitting, The (First Edition)
Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza
John Daido Loori, Editor
Taigen Dan Leighton, Introduction

The practice of "just sitting" is central to all Zen practice; it is the simplest yet most subtle form of meditation. This comprehensive and unparalleled volume brings together a wealth of writings, from Bodhidharma and Dogen to the most prominent modern teachers, collecting the substantial core of centuries of Zen teachings. Edited by one of America's preeminent Zen teachers, this book is essential reading for any practitioner, but also will be of great value to all who are interested in Eastern religions. In addition the book is a tremendous resource for schools and libraries as it stands as the best available collection of writings on the subject.

ISBN:0-86171-327-3_|_256 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Art of Just Sitting, The (Second Edition)
Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza
John Daido Loori, Editor
Taigen Dan Leighton, Introduction

This unprecedented and unparalleled volume offers essential guidance—from the most influential Buddhist masters, and from many of modern Zen's preeminent teachers—on one of Zen's two most central practices. The second edition contains three new translations by renowned scholar-practitioners.

Essential for readers interested in meditation or Eastern religion. There is no other book devoted solely to the very important Zen practice of Shikantaza (literally, "just sitting").

ISBN:0-86171-394-X_|_256 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Attention Revolution, The
Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind
B. Alan Wallace, Author
Daniel Goleman, Foreword

As featured in Psychology Today.

Meditation offers, in addition to its many other benefits, a method for achieving previously inconceivable levels of concentration. Author B. Alan Wallace has nearly thirty years' practice in attention-enhancing meditation, including a retreat he performed under the guidance of the Dalai Lama. An active participant in the much-publicized dialogues between Buddhists and scientists, Alan is uniquely qualified to speak intelligently to both camps, and The Attention Revolution is the definitive presentation of his knowledge.

Beginning by pointing out the ill effects that follow from our inability to focus, Wallace moves on to explore a systematic path of meditation to deepen our capacity for deep concentration. The result is an exciting, rewarding "expedition of the mind," tracing everything from the confusion at the bottom of the trail to the extraordinary clarity and power that come with making it to the top. Along the way, Alan also provides interludes and complementary practices for cultivating love, compassion, and clarity in our waking and dreaming lives.

Attention is the key that makes personal change possible, and the good news is that it can be trained. This book shows how.

ISBN:0-86171-276-5_|_224 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Awakening the Kind Heart
How to Meditate on Compassion
Kathleen McDonald,


A Spiritually & Practice “Best Spiritual Books of 2010” winner.

Awakening the Kind Heart offers powerful and inviting meditation techniques to activate the heart of kindness within us all-a modern and motivating interpretation of traditional and powerful practices.

ISBN:0-86171-695-7 _|_168 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Be an Island
The Buddhist Practice of Inner Peace
Ayya Khema, Author


From the best-selling author of Being Nobody, Going Nowhere, Ayya Khema's latest offering guides us along the path of Buddhist meditation with direct and practical advice, giving us contemplative tools to develop a healthy sense of personal being. Be an Island is at once an introduction to the teachings of Buddhism and a rich continuation of Ayya Khema's personal vision of Buddhist practice.

ISBN:0-86171-147-5_|_160 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Becoming the Compassion Buddha
Tantric Mahamudra for Everyday Life
Lama Thubten Yeshe, Author
Robina Courtin, Editor_|_Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Foreword

Lama Yeshe was both one of the most beloved Tibetan Buddhist masters of the late twentieth century and a remarkably effective teacher and communicator. In one of his earlier books, Introduction to Tantra, he manages to present a subject that has been misinterpreted and muddled by numerous commentators in a clear and accessible way.

Since his death in 1984, many of his teachings have been collected and some have been published, but still some of his most important teachings have yet to become readily available. Becoming the Compassion Buddha represents a significant development in that it is the first of a series of books that examine key tantric deity practices in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. What is remarkable is that again, as with his book on Tantra, his teachings make coherent and understandable to the general reader and those just discovering Buddhism practices that once were considered arcane or hidden.

Lama Yeshe strongly believed that practices that helped develop compassion and wisdom should not be limited to advanced practitioners, but that the man in the street could benefit from them as well. In this book he provides a commentary on a short guru yoga practice written by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The practice includes visualizations that inspire the development of compassion and wisdom. The final section of the book goes into detail on the subject of Mahamudra, the true nature of all phenomena, another potentially tricky subject. Here again, Lama Yeshe presents the teachings by drawing on examples from daily life and by introducing meditation practices that all can follow.Becoming the Compassion Buddha is an extraordinary book that opens new doors for countless readers.

ISBN:0-86171-343-5_|_224 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Becoming Vajrasattva
The Tantric Path of Purification, 2nd Edition
Lama Thubten Yeshe, Author
Nick Ribush, Editor

"The practice of purification is one of the most important solutions to life's problems."—Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Common to all four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, the practice of Vajrasattva is used to purify obstacles to spiritual development, negative karma and illness. Lama Yeshe, the inspirational teacher who strongly influenced the development of Buddhism in the West, found that the practice of Vajrasattva brought dramatic results for his Western students. Becoming Vajrasattva, is a complete guide to this purification practice, providing instruction on the method, commentary on the traditional texts, and insight into tantra. Also included is an entire section of complete retreat instructions-required reading for anyone undertaking a meditation retreat in the Tibetan tradition.

Click here to download a large format line drawing of Vajrasattva
Click here to download a color practice image of Vajrasattva

ISBN:0-86171-389-3_|_320 pp_|_Our Price: $14.36 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Being Nobody, Going Nowhere
Meditations on the Buddhist Path
Ayya Khema, Author
Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Foreword

In this new edition of her classic best-selling book, Ayya Khema gives clear, practical instruction on meditation and techniques for overcoming counterproductive mental habits and beliefs. Through the simple practices detailed here, you will develop deeper insight, a sense of calm well-being, and a greater capacity to love and feel loved on a daily basis. Being Nobody also includes an eloquent, sparklingly lucid outline of the Buddhist path that can be understood and enjoyed by everybody.

ISBN:0-86171-198-X_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English
An Introductory Guide to Deeper States of Meditation
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana,


Countless people worldlwide have made Mindfulness in Plain English a beloved and bestselling classic in almost a dozen languages. Now after nearly two decades, Bhante helps meditators of every stripe take their mindfulness practice to the next level—helping them go, in a word, beyond mindfulness. In the same warm, clear, and friendly voice, Bhante introduces the reader to what have been known for centuries as the "jhanas"—deeply calm, joyous, and powerful states of meditation that, when explored with the clearly presented tools in this book, lead to life of insight and unshakeable peace.

ISBN:0-86171-529-2_|_240 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Book of Equanimity
Illuminating Classic Zen Koans
Gerry Shishin Wick, Author
Bernie Glassman, Foreword

The Book of Equanimity contains the first-ever complete English commentaries on one of the most beloved classic collections of Zen teaching stories (koans), making them vividly relevant to spiritual seekers and Zen students in the 21st century. Continually emphasizing koans as effective tools to discover and experience the deepest truths of our being, Wick is particularly adept at making the koans alive and meaningful for those who want to bring more wisdom into their busy lives, relationships, and other challenges of modern society.

The koan collection Wick explores here is highly esteemed as both literature and training material in the Zen tradition, in which koan-study is one of two paths a practitioner might take. This collection is used for training in many Zen centers in the Americas and in Europe but has never before been available with commentary from a contemporary Zen master. Wick's Book of Equanimity includes new translations of the preface, main case and verse for each koan, and modern commentaries on the koans by Wick himself.

ISBN:0-86171-387-7_|_352 pp_|_Our Price: $15.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Buddhism Between Tibet and China

Matthew Kapstein,


As Tibet enters into its fiftieth year of Chinese rule, questions of cultural distinctions and similarities become ever more important in determining the future of the relationship between the Snow Lion and the Red Dragon. But often left unsaid is the long history the two countries share, and the significant cultural interchanges that have existed over time. Setting political agenda aside, Buddhism Between Tibet and China features a collection of noteworthy essays that probe the nature of this relationship, from the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) to the present. Annotated and contextualized by noted scholar Matthew Kapstein and others, the historical accounts that comprise this volume display the rich dialogue between Tibet and China in the areas of scholarship, the fine arts, politics, philosophy, and religion. This thoughtful book provides insight into the surprisingly complex history behind the relationship from a variety of geographical regions.

Includes contributions from Rob Linrothe, Karl Debreczeny, Elliot Sperling, Paul Nietupski, Carmen Meinert, Gray Tuttle, Zhihua Yao, Ester Bianchi, Fabienne Jagou, Abraham Zablocki, and Matthew Kapstein.

Click here to return to the complete Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism Series

ISBN:0-86171-581-0_|_480 pages_|_Our Price: $27.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Buddhism of the Heart
Reflections on Shin Buddhism and Inner Togetherness
Jeff Wilson,


Includes a foreword by Mark Unno and Taitetsu Unno

Jeff Wilson started his walk on the Buddha's Path as a Zen practitioner-taking up a tradition of vigorous self-effort, intensive meditation, and meticulous attention to rectitude in every action. But in Jeff's case, rather than freeing him from his suffering, he found those Zen practices made him nothing short of insufferable. And so he turned to Shin Buddhism-a path that is easily the most popular in Zen's native land of Japan but is largely unknown in the West.

Shin emphasizes an "entrusting heart," a heart that is able to receive with gratitude every moment of our mistake-filled and busy lives. Moreover, through walking the Shin path, Jeff comes see that each of us (himself especially included) are truly "foolish beings," people so filled with endlessly arising "blind passions" and ingrained habits that we so easily cause harm even with our best intentions. And even so, Shin holds out the tantalizing possibility that, by truly entrusting our foolish selves to the compassionate universe, we can learn to see how this foolish life, just as it is, is nonetheless also a life of grace.

Buddhism of the Heart is a wide-ranging book of essays and open-hearted stories, reflections that run the gamut from intensely personal to broadly philosophical, introducing the reader to a remarkable religious tradition of compassionate acceptance.

ISBN:0-86171-583-7_|_264pages_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Buddhist Psychology
The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, Volume 3
Geshe Tashi Tsering, Author
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Foreword

This new volume from the Foundation of Buddhist Thought series, provides a stand-alone and systematic -but accessible!- entry into how Buddhism understands the mind. Geshe Tashi, an English-speaking Tibetan monk who lives in London, was trained from boyhood in a traditional Tibetan monastery, but he is adept in communicating this classical training for a modern Western audience.

Buddhist psychology addresses both the nature of the mind and how we know what we know. Just as scientists observe and catalog the material world, Buddhists for centuries have been observing and cataloging the components of our inner experience. The result is a rich and subtle knowledge that can be harnessed to the goal of increasing human well being.

ISBN:0-86171-272-2_|_176 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Christian Insight Meditation
Following in the Footsteps of John of the Cross
Mary Jo Meadow, Author
Kevin Culligan, Author_|_Daniel Chowning, Author

The practice of Christian insight meditation can enliven one's entire prayer life. It can prepare our hearts to hear God's word in new ways, set the stage for new insight into the deeper meaning of the words and symbols we celebrate in Christian worship and practice, and help us to grow in the purity of heart, poverty of spirit, and emptiness of self that dispose us for God's work in our lives. The practice is particularly valuable for taking prayer beyond discursiveness, petition, and thinking. Christian insight meditation is nothing short of a powerful way to "pray always" and practice loving presence to God.

Drawing heavily on the teachings of St. John of the Cross, and also drawing from the illuminating writings of Teresa of Avila, the authors here offer a masterful explication of a practice and path firmly grounded in the meditative technology of Eastern wisdom, yet wholly and vividly Christian in spirit.

ISBN:0-86171-526-8_|_288 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Enlightenment to Go
Shantideva and the Power of Compassion to Transform Your Life
David Michie,


Essential reading for those seeking life-changing psychological tools and transcendent wisdom. In Enlightenment to Go, David Michie provides a lively, accessible introduction to the 'best of' Shantideva. With warmth, humor, and stories of his own experiences, Michie shows how modern psychological science confirms Shantideva’s insights, and he explores its powerful antidotes to contemporary problems, including stress, anxiety, and depression. Whether you are a newcomer to Buddhism or a seasoned practitioner, Enlightenment to Go offers a glimpse of a radiantly different reality right here in your busy life.

ISBN:0-86171-757-0_|_288pp_|_Our Price: $14.36 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Essential Sangharakshita
A Half Century of Writings From the Founder of The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order
Urgyen Sangharakshita, author


Profoundly knowledgeable and articulate, and equally at home with science, philosophy, myth, art, and poetry, Urgyen Sangharakshita uses every inner avenue to communicate the timeless Dharma to the Western mind. Engaging both the intellect and the heart countless times in a single chapter, the author draws remarkably apt examples from sources as diverse as Orwell, Aeschylus, and Jane Austen. This distilled volume is a primer to the breadth and depth of Buddhist thought and practice.

ISBN:0-86171-585-3_|_792 pages_|_Our Price: $23.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Essentials of Mahamudra
Looking Directly at the Mind
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Author


What would you see if you looked directly at your mind?

The Tibetan Buddhist teachings on mahamudra are known for their ability to lead to profound realization. Peaceful and infinitely adaptable, these teachings are as useful for today's busy world as they have been for centuries.

Written by the tutor to the seventeenth Karmapa, Essentials of Mahamudra is a commentary on Tashi Namgyal's famous Moonlight of Mahamudra-a text that the sixteenth Karmapa had identified as the most valuable for Westerners. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche recognized that Western meditators don't just need to know how to maintain our meditation practice-we need to know why we should do it. Unmatched in its directness, Essentials of Mahamudra addresses both these needs, rendering one of the most advanced forms of meditation more easily adaptable to our everyday lives.

ISBN:0-86171-371-0_|_288 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Fine Arts of Relaxation, Concentration and Meditation
Ancient Skills for Modern Minds, Revised Edition
Joel Levey, Author
Michelle Levey, Author_|_Margaret J. Wheatley, Introduction

Joel & Michelle Levey have taught thousands of people around the globe to live in greater harmony and balance. Field-tested and refined over many years, the Leveys' unique approach to stress-mastery and personal development offers step-by-step guidance for developing your personal strengths, enhancing the quality of your life, and making a real contribution to your world.

The Fine Arts of Relaxation, Concentration and Meditation offers a treasury of their most useful teachings:

-Waking up throughout the day-finding your meditation practice and sticking to it.

-Balancing breath, brain, and mind-mastering stress and enhancing performance in every arena of your life.

-Creative intelligence--the dynamic synergy of active and quiet mind skills.

-Mastery, mystery, and meditation-awakening to your true nature.

-Inspired Work--relaxation, concentration, and meditation on the job.

A vital blend of profoundly practical skills, advice, instruction, and encouragement makes the Fine Arts a complete course for awakening more fully to your highest potentials in each moment of your life.

ISBN:0-86171-349-4_|_304 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

First Invite Love In
40 Time-Tested Tools for Creating a More Compassionate Life
Tana Pesso,
His Holiness Penor Rinpoche,

A Spiritually & Practice “Best Spiritual Books of 2010” winner.

First Invite Love In is a beautiful collection of exercises inspired by the ancient meditative arts of Tibetan Buddhism. Tana Pesso and the Penor Rinpoche work together to create a guidebook for anyone who would like to live more compassionately, wisely, and with an open and inviting heart.

Moment by moment, thought by thought, step by step we can transform our minds through time-tested compassion practices, and ultimately create a garden of delight out of any life history or current circumstance, regardless of how traumatic or difficult. There are countless examples of people from all spiritual paths, faiths, and religions who have experienced terrible hardships or even themselves created hardships and suffering for others, who have turned their minds towards love and compassion and found peace and happiness.

ISBN:0-86171-285-4_|_256 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Focused and Fearless
A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity
Shaila Catherine, Author


Now ordinary meditators (and non-meditators) can understand how to attain non-ordinary states with relative ease. Blended with contemporary examples, pragmatic exercises, and "how to" instructions that anyone can try, Focused and Fearless provides a wealth of tools to cultivate non-distracted attention in daily life and on retreat. Shaila Catherine has a friendly, wise approach to the meditative states (jhanas) that lead to liberating insight.

Focused and Fearless is about much more than merely meditation or concentration. It offers a complete path towards bliss, fearlessness, and true awakening.

ISBN:0-86171-560-8_|_280 pages_|_Our Price: $14.36 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English

Bhante Gunaratana,


In simple and straightforward language, Bhante Gunaratana shares what the Buddha said about mindfulness in his instructional talks and how we can use these principles to improve our daily lives, deepen our mindfulness, and move closer to our spiritual goals. While this book is based on a classic text, the Satipatthana Sutta, its presentation is thoroughly modern in Bhante’s trademark “plain English” style.

Based around one of the Buddha's must succinct yet rich explanations of meditation, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English can be read as a stand-alone volume either before or after the bestselling Mindfulness in Plain English. Newcomers will find it lays strong groundwork for mindfulness practice and gives them all they need to get started right away, and old hands will find rich subtleties and insights that will help consolidate and clarify what they may have started to see for themselves.

ISBN:1-61429-038-5_|_192_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Four Foundations of Mindfulness, The (First Edition)

U Silananda, Author


The Venerable U Silananda has written one of the best and most illuminating commentaries on the Maha Sattpatthana Sutta, the Great Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness. This sutta represents one of the Buddha's most important teachings for both scholars and practitioners.

ISBN:0-86171-092-4_|_232 pp_|_Our Price: $6.4 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Four Foundations of Mindfulness, The (Second Edition)

U Silananda, Author


An absolute essential of Buddhist thought and practice.

In addition to practitioners of Insight meditation, those who engage in other meditation forms such as dzogchen, mahamudra, and zazen will find that The Four Foundation of Mindfulness provides new means of understanding how to approach and deepen their own practices.

The entire Great Discourse is included here, coupled with a beautifully clear commentary from the great scholar-yogi, Venerable U Sil›nanda.

ISBN:0-86171-328-1_|_256 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Freeing the Heart and Mind
Introduction to the Buddhist Path: Part 1
His Holiness Sakya Trizin,


His Holiness Sakya Trizin, the head of the glorious Sakya lineage, one of the four primary schools of Tibetan Buddhism, presents here the essential Buddhist teachings of the four noble truths, universal compassion, and the proper motivation for practice. This book opens by sharing a private teaching His Holiness gave to a young newcomer seeking to understand this great master’s spiritual heritage. His Holiness’s advice inspires us to integrate the living power of these teachings into our daily lives.

Full of timeless wisdom, Freeing the Heart and Mind contains, in addition to this introduction, an explanation of the teaching Matchless Compassion by the Indian saint Virupa, and a selection of commentaries on the essential teaching called Parting from the Four Attachments. Developed as the first volume in a course of study for students of the Sakya tradition, it nonetheless stands alone as an excellent entry into the teachings of the Buddha.

Freeing the Heart and Mind includes a full-color photo insert of Sakya lineage masters.

ISBN:0-86171-638-8_|_184 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Gateless Gate, The
The Classic Book of Zen Koans
Koun Yamada, Author
Ruben L.F. Habito, Foreword

In THE GATELESS GATE, one of modern Zen Buddhism's uniquely influential masters offers classic commentaries on the Mumonkan, one of Zen's greatest collections of teaching stories. This translation was compiled with the Western reader in mind, and includes Koan Yamada's clear and penetrating comments on each case. Yamada played a seminal role in bringing Zen Buddhism to the West from Japan, going on to be the head of the Sanbo Kyodan Zen Community.

THE GATELESS GATE would be invaluable if only for the translation and commentary alone, yet it's loaded with extra material, makes it a fantastic resource to keep close by:

* An in-depth Introduction to the History of Zen Practice

* Lineage charts

* Japanese-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-Japanese conversion charts for personal names, place names, and names of writings

* plus, front- and back-matter from ancient and modern figures: Mumon, Shuan, Kubota Ji'un, Taizan Maezumi, Hugo Enomiya-Lasalle, and Yamada Roshi's son, Masamichi Yamada.

A wonderful inspiration for the koan practitioner, and for those with a general interest in Zen Buddhism.

ISBN:0-86171-382-6_|_336 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Gesture of Awareness
A Radical Approach to Time, Space, and Movement
Charles Genoud, Author


From a major mind of Buddhism today comes this unique philosophical work, which hearkens back to the classical verse-form, but in a modern voice that speaks directly to the 21st-century reader and practitioner.

Gesture of Awareness involves a fascinating philosophical exploration of time, space, and movement but at the same time is a manual for an embodied 'practice of exploration.'

Genoud is very well known to the leading lights of Buddhism today. He and his work are continuingly praised for their invention and importance. Well-versed in French and continental philosophies, as well as Eastern thought, he has produced a work that will be welcomed as a Buddhist book and a noteworthy contribution to the larger philosophical community.

ISBN:0-86171-506-3_|_184 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Hardcore Zen
Punk Rock, Monster Movies & the Truth about Reality
Brad Warner, Author


This is not your typical "Zen" book. Brad Warner, the young punk who grew up to be a Zen master, spares no one—just like Reality itself. This bold new approach to the Why of Zen Buddhism is as strongly grounded in the tradition of Zen as it is utterly revolutionary: Warner's voice is hilarious, and he calls on the wisdom of everyone from punk and pop culture icons to the Buddha himself to make sure his points come through loud and clear.

The subtitle (and the cover!) say it all: there has never been a book like this one.

ISBN:0-86171-380-X_|_224 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Healing Breath
Zen for Christians and Buddhists in a Wounded World
Ruben L.F. Habito, Author


Healing the woundedness of Earth is not unrelated to healing our personal woundedness. The wounds of Earth and those of the individuals making up our Earth community cannot be separated. Thus the healing of our individual lives can become the basis of the healing of Earth. This book sheds light on Zen as a spiritual path that leads to healing-in the personal, social, and ecological dimensions of our being. If you are seeking a form of spiritual practice that addresses all three of these dimensions or simply seeking to deepen your understanding of the Zen path, it is written for you. If instead of fragmentation, disorientation, and vacuity, you seek wholeness, groundedness, and integrity in your life-The Healing Breath is for you. Perhaps you, too, have come to realize that our global community is in a sad state of affairs, that we need to radically change how we live and relate to one another and to the Earth. You may already be engaged in some form of social or ecological action addressing these issues-and you may feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task. If you've been tempted to pessimism or have thrown up your hands in despair when your best efforts don't seem to make a dent, this book is for you, The Healing Breath offers a way to integrate a spiritual path with active, socio-ecological engagement as the ground.

This book also addresses another set of questions:

Can a Christian practice genuine Zen? How is Zen practice compatible with a Christian faith commitment? To fully engage in a Zen practice, what kind of belief system is presupposed or required? How can spiritual practice in an Easternn tradition inform Christian life and understanding?

In the process of describing the Zen way of life, The Healing Breath will consider various Christian expressions, symbols, and practices-not as an apologetic for that belief system, but to show how they, too, point to the transformative and healing perspectives and experiences provided by Zen.

ISBN:0-86171-508-X_|_184 pp_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

How to Be Happy

Lama Zopa Rinpoche,


In How to Be Happy Lama Zopa Rinpoche helps us find our good heart, the heart that can easily rejoice in the happiness of others; he also gives us wonderful advice in transforming problems into happiness, and even in finding compassion for our “enemies”—those people, thoughts, and situations in daily life we find so troublesome and unpleasant. The books ends with three wonderfully rich and evocative guided meditations that help us vividly see that the more we give the more happiness we find always in this moment right here.

Anyone looking for advice on how to be happy—truly, meaningfully happy—will find Lama Zopa Rinpoche to be a trustworthy and skillful guide. He is a tireless teacher of methods that work for us when all is well, and also when life’s troubles, big and small, seem unmanageable.

ISBN:0-86171-196-3_|_144 pages_|_Our Price: $7.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

How to Meditate
A Practical Guide - Revised and Expanded!
Kathleen McDonald, Author
Robina Courtin, Editor

Now with new meditations!

What is meditation? Why practice it? Which techniques is best? How do I do it? The answers to these often-asked questions are contained in this down-to-earth book, making it of enormous value for anyone who wishes to begin and maintain a meditation practice. Written by a Western Buddhist nun with solid experience in both the practice and teaching of meditation, How to Meditate contains a wealth of practical advice on a variety of authentic techniques, from what to do with our minds, to how to sit, to visualizations and other traditional practices. Best of all, McDonald's approach is warm and encouraging. The next best thing to private instruction!

Download MP3 files of meditations being led by the author here:

Appreciating Our Human Life :: Body Of Light :: Compassion And Tong-Len :: Death 1- Inevitability :: Meditation On Breathing :: Meditation On Emptiness :: Meditation On Equanimity

ISBN:0-86171-341-9_|_288 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

How to Raise an Ox
Zen Practice as Taught in Zen Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo
Francis Dojun Cook, Author
Taizan Maezumi Roshi, Foreword

Thirteenth-century Zen Master Eihei Dogen has been unanimously acknowledged by Japanese and Western scholars alike as Japan's foremost philosopher. Now Francis Dojun Cook, a Dogen scholar for many years, has translated ten practice-oriented chapters of Master Dogen's masterwork, the Shobogenzo ("Treasury of the True Dharma Eye"), in which he discusses what is involved in the wholehearted, moment-to-moment practice of Zen, with numerous examples from the lives of past masters.

ISBN:0-86171-317-6_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

In This Very Life
Liberation Teachings of the Buddha
Sayadaw U Pandita, Author
Joseph Goldstein, Foreword_|_Kate Wheeler, Editor
U Aggacitta, Translator
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.

ISBN:0-86171-311-7_|_320 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Joyously Through the Days
Living the Journey of Spiritual Practice
Les Kaye,


Drawing inspiration from such diverse sources as Khalil Gibran, Virginia Woolf, and Frank Sinatra, as well as theBible, and the great Zen masters of old, this book offers a path to rich and lasting happiness achieved through what Huston Smith calls “goal-attaining patience.”

ISBN:0-86171-681-7_|_208 pages_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Meditation and Relaxation in Plain English

Bob Sharples, Author


Odds are that you or someone you know could truly benefit from Meditation and Relaxation in Plain English. After all, who wouldn't like to have less stress-and more enjoyment-from life?

Meditation and Relaxation in Plain English teaches us how to achieve just that, with potent tools that are easy to learn, enjoy, and keep doing. And these practices do so much more than more than allow us freedom from anxiety and stress: they allow us to be a better friend to ourselves, and to the people around us.

ISBN:0-86171-286-2_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Meditation for Life

Martine Batchelor, Author
Stephen Batchelor, Photographs

Meditation for Life, from Martine Batchelor with vivid full-color photographs by Stephen Batchelor, is simply one of the best meditation book arounds. It's well written, informative, and comprehensive, and is without a doubt the most beautiful meditation book on the market.

Stephen Batchelor's evocative photography invites even the most seasoned practitioner to see with new eyes. Martine Batchelor's writing—through a mix of anecdote, humor, and practical instruction—brings to bear her considerable experience as a meditation teacher as she explains the techniques of three major Buddhist traditions (Theravada, Tibetan, and Zen).

Meditation for Life shows that Buddhist meditation is not just for Buddhists, but for everyone with a desire to live life more fully. No matter who you are or what your goal-whether you want to start meditating, to revitalize your practice, or to find the perfect gift to share the joys of meditation with others—this splendid book is right for you. Each chapter contains a time-honored guided meditation on such themes as loving-kindness, equanimity, death—and even cooking! And nearly every page presents an evocative photograph from Stephen Batchelor, inviting us to see the world around us with new eyes.

ISBN:0-86171-302-8_|_"168 pp, 80 color and bw photographs"_|_Our Price: $18.36 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Mind in Comfort and Ease
The Vision of Enlightenment in the Great Perfection
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Author


In September 2000, at the invitation of Sogyal Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama visited the south of France to give what would be one of his most extensive and vital Buddhist teachings, entitled "The Path to Enlightenment." Over ten thousand people attended, from twenty-one different countries.

In these teachings, His Holiness set out the key principles of Buddhism, showing how the mind can be transformed, and suffering overcome, through love, compassion, and a true understanding of the nature of reality. Illustrating his brilliant overview of the path with his own personal experiences and advice on how to integrate practice into our lives, the Dalai Lama is at his best here, bringing Buddhist teachings, especially those of the Great Perfection, or Dzogchen, to life.

"Like an expert jeweller," as Sogyal Rinpoche writes in his foreword, the Dalai Lama "set the teaching of Dzogchen within the context of the other traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, highlighting their parallels and their common ultimate aim of realizing the clear light nature of the mind."

Mind in Comfort and Ease was not drawn from the oral translation of the event but is instead a re-translation of His Holiness’s original Tibetan. Thus it captures a deeper fidelity and nuance than other such works, and will stand the test of time as a remarkable record of the Dalai Lama’s great erudition, compassion, humor, and insight.

Click here to download the Table of Contents

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ISBN:0-86171-493-8_|_352 pages_|_Our Price: $19.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda

Lauren Alderfer,
Kerry Lee MacLean, Illustrator

This wonderful picture book for children and adults alike introduces the powerful practice of mindfulness in a fun and exciting way. With the delightful characters Monkey and his serene friend Happy Panda guiding readers to a calmer and more attentive mind, this whimsical yet universal and warm presentation will delight all readers.

As our story begins, Monkey is not so mindful—his Monkey Mind constantly jumping from one thing to another—but he encounters a mysterious and playful friend in Happy Panda. Panda helps Monkey recognize the simple joy of doing what you’re doing while you’re doing it.

ISBN:0-86171-683-3_|_32 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond
A Meditator’s Handbook
Ajahn Brahm, Author


Meditation. It's not just a way to relax, or to deal with life's problems. Done correctly, it can be a way to radically encounter bliss, and to begin and sustain real transformation in ourselves.

In Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond, self-described meditation junkie Ajahn Brahm shares his knowledge and experience of the jhanas-a core part of the Buddha's original meditation teaching. Never before has this material been approached in such an empowering way, by a teacher of such authority and popularity.

Full of surprises, delightfully goofy humor, and entertaining stories that inspire, instruct, and illuminate, Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond will encourage those new to meditation, and give a shot in the arm to more experienced practitioners as well.

ISBN:0-86171-275-7_|_304 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Mindfulness In Plain English
20th Anniversary Edition (2011)
Bhante Gunaratana,


With over a quarter of a million copies sold, Mindfulness in Plain English is one of the most influential books in the burgeoning field of mindfulness and a timeless classic introduction to meditation. This is a book that people read, love, and share—a book that people talk about, write about, reflect on, and return to over and over again.

Bhante Gunaratana is also the author of Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness, Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English, and the memoir Journey to Mindfulness.

ISBN:0-86171-906-9_|_224pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Mindfulness with Breathing
A Manual for Serious Beginners
Ajahn Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, Author


Any practitioner, after meditating for some time, inevitably wonders what meditation method the historical Buddha Shakyamuni himself used while beneath the Bodhi Tree. Many people understand that prior to his realization, Shakyamuni Buddha studied with many of the great yogis of his time, but most do not know what method he ultimately found leads most directly to Nirvana. In Ajhan Buddhadasa Bhikkhu's book, Mindfulness With Breathing, the Thai meditation master provides practitioners with penetrating insights into the Anapanasati Sutta, the canonical text which many believe is the most direct transmission of Shakyamuni Buddha's breath meditation methods. Combined with a concise translation of the sutta itself, Mindfulness with Breathing is one of the best guides to Buddhist meditation practice available in the English language.

ISBN:0-86171-111-4_|_160 pp_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Mindfulness Yoga
The Awakened Union of Breath, Body, and Mind
Frank Jude Boccio, Author
Georg Feuerstein, Foreword

Whether you have no background in meditation or yoga or have been practicing for years, Mindfulness Yoga is for you. This groundbreaking book introduces an entirely new form of yoga, Mindfulness Yoga, which seamlessly integrates the Buddha's teachings on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness with traditional asana yoga practice.

Mindfulness Yoga emphasizes the spiritual side of yoga practice, an aspect often overlooked in a culture that tends to fixate solely on the physical benefits of yoga. Unlike any other Buddhism-meets-yoga book, Mindfulness Yoga presents the two disciplines as a single practice that brings health to the body and liberates the mind and spirit, awakening compassion and fostering equanimity and joy. Mindfulness Yoga will appeal to the many people who have an interest in yoga, Buddhism, and meditation, but who may not have been able to find a teacher who could bring these practices together in a meaningful, practical way.

In the first part of the book, author Frank Jude Boccio offers a superb and lively introduction to the Buddha's teachings and locates them within the larger context of the Indian spiritual traditions. Then, in second half of the book, Boccio offers three complete Mindfulness Yoga sequences, including over 100 pictures, with detailed guidance for body, breath, and mind. Special lay-flat binding makes this book even more useful as a practice aid.

ISBN:0-86171-335-4_|_368 pp_|_Our Price: $15.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Momentary Buddhahood
Mindfulness and the Vajrayana Path
Anyen Rinpoche,


We think of enlightenment as something that happens all at once, like a tidal wave that cleans away everything impure. In truth, however, realization happens incrementally, from moment to moment. And in any moment when true wisdom is recognized, all concepts and afflictions are freed right on the spot and we can affirm for ourselves that the experience of enlightenment is possible. When we do, we experience a moment of the mind of a buddha—”momentary buddhahood.”

In this tantalizing presentation, Anyen Rinpoche offers a vision of the crucial necessity of mindfulness in any exploration of the Buddha's path—especially the path of tantric practice.

ISBN:0-86171-598-5_|_152 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Moody Cow Meditates

Kerry Lee MacLean,


It all started one stupid, rotten day when everything went wrong…

Peter the cow is having a BAD day. After missing the bus and wiping out on his bike he loses his temper and gets in trouble. And to make matters worse all the other kids are teasing him, calling him Moody Cow. Peter's day just seems to get worse until his grandfather comes over and teaches him how to settle his mind and let go of his frustration through a simple and fun exercise. This vibrant and funny children's book is a playful and hilarious way to introduce children to the power of meditation. With full color illustrations by the author Moody Cow Meditates is a wonderful book for parents and children to share together.

ISBN:0-86171-573-X_|_32 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Never Turn Away
The Buddhist Path Beyond Hope and Fear
Rigdzin Shikpo, Author
Francesca Fremantle, Foreword

An all-new book from Rigdzin Shipko!

A meditator's meditator, Rigdzin Shikpo (né Michael Hookham) began the practice in the mid 1950s and eventually became a prominent student of several renowned Tibetan Buddhist teachers, including Chögyam Trungpa and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Over the years he has developed his own utterly unique style made of straight talk and sparkling, inspiring insights.

The title of this, his long-awaited new book, comes from the teachings Rigdzin Shikpo received from Trungpa Rinpoche, who said that we should always turn toward those things that scare us, open to them completely, and never turn away from them. This path of openness, clarity, and sensitivity is a hallmark of the Dzogchen tradition of Buddhist practice. Rigdzin Shikpo has lived its truth so deeply that his words shine with authenticity and freshness.

ISBN:0-86171-488-1_|_192_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

No River to Cross
Trusting the Enlightenment that’s Always Right Here
Zen Master Daehaeng (Daehaeng Kun Sunim), Author


It is often said that enlightenment means "crossing over to the other shore," that far-off place where we can at last be free from suffering. Likewise, it is said that Buddhist teachings are the raft that takes us there.

In this sparkling collection from one of the most vital teachers of modern Korean Buddhism, Zen Master Daehaeng shows us that there is no raft to find and, truly, no river to cross. She extends her hand to the Western reader, beckoning each of us into the unfailing wisdom accessible right now, the enlightenment that is always, already, right here.

A Zen (or seon, as Korean Zen is called) master with impeccable credentials, Daehaeng has developed a refreshing approach; No River to Cross is surprisingly personal. It's disarmingly simple, yet remarkably profound, pointing us again and again to our foundation, our "True Nature"—the perfection of things just as they are.

ISBN:0-86171-534-9_|_136 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

On Zen Practice
Body, Breath and Mind
Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi, Author
Bernard Tetsugen Glassman, Author

This updated landmark volume makes available for the first time in decades the teachings that were formative to a whole generation of American Zen teachers and students. Conceived as an overarching primer on the practice of Zen, chapters in this volume address every aspect of practice: beginning practice, shikantaza, chanting, sesshin, working with Mu, and the nature of koans.

In the intervening years since the publication of the earlier edition, countless books have appeared on Zen. Few, if any, have approached the strengths of On Zen Practice as a reference or teaching tool, and the book retains a lively, immediate quality that will appeal to today's readers.

ISBN:0-86171-315-X_|_208 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

One City
A Declaration of Interdependence
Ethan Nichtern, Author


What you wear. What you say. What you think/ignore/buy/don't buy…Welcome to One City-Population: Everyone-where EVERYTHING you do matters. You've lived here your whole life, whether you know it or not.

Ethan Nichtern, the charismatic and creative force behind New York's upstart Interdependence Project (theidproject.com) is your guide to the beauty that is everywhere in the urban jungle-in the rattling of subway trains, the screechings of traffic, the hum and drone of millions scurrying for work, food, sustenance, art, culture, and meaning. There may be no greater setting for exploring the great truth that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expounded: "Whatever effects one directly, effects all indirectly."

One City melds Dr. King's message with modern Buddhist wisdom to offer a new way of understanding what binds us all together-no matter where we are, no matter who. With its pop-culture savvy, humor, and literary liveliness, One City will speak to—and even, it's fair to say, help define—the spiritually-inclined, conscious Next Generation.

ISBN:0-86171-516-0_|_192_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Opening the Hand of Thought
Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice
Kosho Uchiyama, Author
Shohaku Okumura, Foreword_|_Shohaku Okumura, Editor
Tom Wright, Editor_|_Jisho Warner, Editor
For over thirty years, OPENING THE HAND OF THOUGHT has offered an unmatched introduction to Zen Buddhism.

This new edition contains even more useful material: new prefaces, an index, and extended end notes are here, in addition to the book's revised glossary and main sections. But then, the book's utility was never in question. As Jisho Warner writes in the book's opening, 'The Story of This Book and Its Author,' OPENING THE HAND OF THOUGHT "goes directly to the heart of Zen practice [. . . ], showing how Zen Buddhism can be a deep and life-sustaining activity." She goes on to say, "Uchiyama looks at what a person is, what a self is, how to develop a true self not separate from all things, one that can settle in peace in the midst of life."

By turns humorous, philosophical, and personal, OPENING THE HAND OF THOUGHT is above all a great book for the Buddhist practitioner. It's a perfect follow-up for the reader who has read Zen Meditation in Plain English , and is specially useful for those who have not yet encountered a Zen teacher.

ISBN:0-86171-357-5_|_256 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Real Meditation in Minutes a Day
Enhancing Your Performance, Relationships, Spirituality, and Health
Joseph Arpaia, Author
Lobsang Rapgay, Author

As seen in Newsweek.

Got a few minutes? You can:

* Reduce your stress, even when under pressure! * Sleep better! * Get re-energized! * Think more clearly, and more creatively! * Reconnect with the people who count on you! * Learn to recognize and encourage the best in yourself!

You know that meditation would probably be good for you, just like you know that you should floss your teeth. First, though, you need the motivation to make it happen. This book, with its jargon—free tone and incredibly simple exercises-little but effective things you can do in just a minute at work, in the car, wherever-will make you want to meditate. You'll realize: it's just a good thing to do. Like flossing—only, for your mind.

Real Meditation in Minutes a Day is an easygoing, always-encouraging mental workout buddy, ready to teach and train you. Throughout the book, composite everypersons "Maria" and "Brian" recount their efforts, reinforcing the basics, answering FAQ's, and removing common obstacles and quandaries.

With its clear language and exercises that even the busiest of us can find time for, Real Meditation in Minutes a Day can help anyone to make meditation's very real benefits part of everyday life.

ISBN:0-86171-556-X_|_264_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Relative Truth, Ultimate Truth
The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, Volume 2
Geshe Tashi Tsering,


Relative Truth, Ultimate Truth is a clear and remarkably practical presentation of a core Buddhist teaching on the nature of reality. Geshe Tashi Tsering provides readers with an excellent opportunity to enhance not only thier knowledge of Buddhism, but also a powerful means to profoundly enhance their view of the world.

The Buddhist teaching of the "two truths" is the gateway to understanding the often-misunderstood philosophy of emptiness. This volume is an excellent source of support for anyone interested in cultivating a more holistic and transformative understanding of the world around them and ultimately of their own conciousness.

ISBN:0-86171-271-4_|_208 pages_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Shingon Refractions
Myoe and the Mantra of Light
Mark Unno, Author


Shingon Buddhism arose in the eighth century and remains one of Japan's most important sects, at present numbering some 12 million adherents. As such it is long overdue appropriate coverage. Here, the well-respected Mark Unno illuminates the tantric practice of the Mantra of Light , the most central of Shingon practices, complete with translations and an in-depth exploration of the scholar-monk Myoe Koben, the Mantra of Light's foremost proponent .

ISBN:0-86171-390-7_|_368 pp_|_Our Price: $21.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Sitting with Koans
Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection
John Daido Loori, Editor
Thomas Yuho Kirschner, Foreword

The Zen tradition has just two main meditative practices: shikantaza, or "just sitting"; and introspection guided by the powerful Zen teaching stories called koans. Following in the tradition of The Art of Just Sitting (endorsed as a "A book we have needed for a long, long time"), this new anthology from John Daido Loori illuminates the subtle practice of koan study from many different points of view.

INCLUDES WRITINGS BY: Robert Aitken * William Bodiford * Robert Buswell * Roko Sherry Chayat * Francis Dojun Cook * Eihei Dogen * Heinrich Dumoulin * Hakuin Ekaku * Victor Sogen Hori * Keizan Jokin * Philip Kapleau * Chung-fen Ming-Pen * Taizan Maezumi * Dennis Genpo Merzel * Soen Nakagawa * Ruth Fuller Sasaki * Sokei-an Sasaki * Nyogen Senzaki * Zenkei Shibayama * Eido Shimano * Philip Yampolsky * Hakuun Yasutani * Wayne Yokoyama * Katsushiro Yoshizawa

ISBN:0-86171-369-9_|_368 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

State of Mind Called Beautiful, The

Sayadaw U Pandita, Author
Kate Wheeler, Editor

In The State of Mind Called Beautiful, Burmese meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita lays out the breadth, depth, and wealth of the Theravadan tradition of Buddhism. U Pandita begins with the basic guidelines of Buddhism, and moves on to various practices: those that can be done for one minute a day, those that sweeten and strengthen the mind, those that heal societies and families, those that lead to liberation.

Also included are complete teachings on Vipassana or Insight meditation, from how to do it, to how to refine it, to how to deal with difficulties. Teachings on the development of mindfulness, wisdom, patience, and practice itself are all included, and the book is capped by an extremely helpful “Question and Answers” section—an FAQ for newcomers and established practitioners alike. Lastly, both Pali-to-English and English-to-Pali glossaries are included, with all such terms also being glossed in the text, ensuring that readers easily master the meanings of important terms.

ISBN:0-86171-345-1_|_208 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Step by Step
Basic Buddhist Meditations
Geshe Namgyal Wangchen,


Step By Step is a practical introduction to the profound meditation methods of Tibetan Buddhism. Based on the teachings of the great Tibetan saint and founder of the Gelug School, Tsongkhapa, the techniques explained here are simple, direct and possess the power to radically alter the way we see the world and ourselves. They present a time-tested means for counteracting depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and countless other forms of mental suffering. This book provides the reader with all of the instruction necessary to embark on the path of transformation that Tibetan Buddhists have refined over the last 1300 years. Geshe Wangchen provides detailed explanations on the six perfections, emptiness, the preciousness of life, and how to develop the genuine altruistic wish to live one’s life in a way that brings only benefit to all living things. Geshe Wangchen provides three life-changing meditations that the reader can immediately integrate into their lives in order to work toward a life experience that is more compassionate, confident, and full of wisdom.

ISBN:0-86171-600-0_|_256 pages _|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

The Beginner’s Guide to Insight Meditation

Arinna Weisman,
Jean Smith,

Arinna Weisman and Jean Smith combine clear explanations of the Buddha's teachings on freedom and happiness with their personal stories high- lighting some of the challenges and insights of practice. The Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation offers advice about going on retreat and help in choosing a teacher and a community to practice with. This is an enormously practical book that covers every aspect of the teachings a beginner needs to get started.

ISBN:0-86171-671-X_|_256 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

The Heart of the Universe
Exploring the Heart Sutra
Mu Soeng,


Form is emptiness; emptiness is form.

This is the bold and intriguing assertion of the Heart Sutra, a text of seminal importance to the Buddhist tradition made even more fascinating by its deep resonance with the cutting edges of quantum physics and cognitive science. In spare and approachable language, The Heart of the Universe deftly explores this gem of world religious literature from a variety of perspectives—historical, spiritual, linguistic, and scientific—each serving to interdependently illuminate the other.

ISBN:0-86171-574-8_|_128 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

The Meditator’s Workbook
A Journey to the Center
Matthew Flickstein,


Using hands-on exercises, journal entries, guided meditations, and lively vignettes, The Meditator's Workbook will help you:

* Live more deeply and joyfully in the moment o Uncover the true source of stress

* Resolve grief o Explore and express forgiveness

* See through the inevitable distortions of the mind o Recognize and actualize your goals

* Find real inner peace and a thorough-going well-being.

ISBN:0-86171-586-1_|_248 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

The Meditators Atlas
A Roadmap of the Inner World
Matthew Flickstein, Author
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Foreword

Meditation can seem a mystery: Where do you begin? Where will you end up? What might you find along the way?

You'll find the answers in The Meditator's Atlas. Formerly titled Swallowing the River Ganges and now totally revised, The Meditator's Atlas truly is a comprehensive and trustworthy "roadmap of the inner world" for anyone who meditates. Respected teacher Matthew Flickstein is your friendly guide, explaining what meditation is, how to do it, and how to make the skills and benefits that it engenders your own, including:

* finding work that supports your priorities * overcoming doubt * cultivating helpful attitudes * incorporating mindfulness into every aspect of your life * and, how all of this adds up to a happier life.

What makes this book unique is the way Flickstein uses two classic Buddhist texts—the Path of Purification, and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness—to help readers make clear sense out of the new, fascinating, and sometimes even frightening states that one may encounter on the long journey to enlightenment. Readers will come away from this book with their own insights clarified and with a helpful sense of what lies ahead.

ISBN:0-86171-337-0_|_208 pp_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up
A Practical Approach for Modern Life
B. Alan Wallace, Author
Steven Wilhelm, Editor

As long as our minds are dominated by the conditions of the external world, we are bound to remain in a state of dissatisfaction, always vulnerable to grief and fear. How then can we develop an inner sense of well-being and redefine our relationship to a world that seems unavoidably painful and unkind?

Many have found a practical answer to that question in the 2,500-year-old teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. Here at last is an organized overview of these teachings, beginning with the basic themes of the sutras—;the general discourses of the Buddha—;and continuing through the esoteric concepts and advanced practices of Tantra. Unlike other introductions to Tibetan Buddhism, this accessible, enjoyable work doesn't stop with theory and history, but relates timeless spiritual principles to the pressing issues of modern life, both in terms of our daily experience and our uniquely Western world view.

This fascinating, highly readable book asks neither unquestioning faith nor blind obedience to abstract concepts or religious beliefs. Rather, it challenges us to question and investigate life's issues for ourselves in the light of an ancient and effective approach to the sufferings and joys of the human condition.

ISBN:0-86171-075-4_|_224 pp_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Unlearning the Basics
A New Way of Understanding Yourself and the World
Rishi Sativihari,


In fresh and inviting language and making frequent use of strikingly clear diagrams and illustrations, Unlearning the Basics challenges many of our common-sense understandings about ourselves and the world. The author lays out a new way of seeing that enables us to live more serenely, more compassionately, and more free from the slings and arrows of our busy lives.

Along the way, Rishi Sativihari looks at love and grasping, at “the great unfixables,” and at how vulnerability and pain feed the “evolution of character”-all in the service of helping us return to our true home and find new ways to flourish. Grounded in the Buddhist tradition yet completely free from the formulas of traditional, tired presentations, Unlearning the Basics has an informal, straightforward style that will immediately captivate the reader.

ISBN:0-86171-572-1_|_168 pages_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

When the Chocolate Runs Out
A “little book of wisdom.”
Lama Thubten Yeshe,


To know Lama was to know he loved chocolate! It was his favorite metaphor to epitomize our attachments.

This funny and trenchant little volume answers the question of how we can be happy even after the “chocolate” has run out. By cutting the cords of attachment, we discover the indestructible happiness that has always been available to us.

This beautiful little book captures the remarkable personality of Lama, who played an integral role in introducing Tibetan Buddhism to the world. When the Chocolate Runs Out will delight both readers who have known Lama Yeshe for decades and those who have never met this timelessly inspiring spiritual teacher.

This “little book of wisdom” is a perfect companion to How to Be Happy by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

ISBN:0-86171-269-2_|_176 pages_|_Our Price: $7.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Who is My Self?
A Guide to Buddhist Meditation
Ayya Khema, Author


Self-transformation is an essential element in all forms of Buddhist meditation—from Tantra to Zen. Ayya Khema, author of the best-selling Being Nobody, Going Nowhere, uses one of the earliest Buddhist suttas to guide us along the path of the oldest Buddhist meditative practice for understanding the nature of "self." By following the Buddha's explanation with clear, insightful examples from her years of teaching meditation, she guides us back and forth between the relative understanding and higher realizations of the Buddhist concept of "self." Her thoughtful contemplation of the Buddha's radical understanding of "self" and her practical advice for achieving insight offer the reader a profound understanding of the "self." Both beginning and advanced practitioners will greatly benefit from Ayya Khema's warm and down-to-earth exposition of the Buddha's meditation on "self."

ISBN:0-86171-127-0_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Wholesome Fear
Transforming Your Anxiety About Impermanence and Death
Lama Zopa Rinpoche,
Kathleen McDonald,

Our anxiety around sickness, old age, and death can be a “wholesome fear”—a fear with a positive quality that ultimately enriches and nourishes our lives. Lama Zopa Rinpoche shows us how we can use our anxiety as a high-octane fuel to really live what's most important, and Kathleen McDonald presents meditations that integrate these teachings and lead to peace, compassion, and joy for ourselves and others. Doing so will help us to live well and, when the time comes as it inevitably will, to die well too. It's never too early to start making this most important of efforts—and, fortunately, it is never too late.

ISBN:0-86171-630-2_|_160 pages_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants
108 Metaphors for Mindfulness
Arnie Kozak, Ph.D.,


This engaging and accessible little book is filled with both humor and profound teaching. It presents 108 metaphors for mindfulness, meditation practice, the nature of the self, change, deep acceptance, and other related concepts that Dr. Kozak has cultivated over twenty-five years of meditating, practicing yoga, and working as a clinical psychologist.

Metaphors are indispensable to understanding mindfulness, and to help deeply internalize it and make it a part of everyday life. These mentally catchy images can motivate us to practice, show us how and where to bring mindfulness to life in our personal experience, and help us employ powerful methods for transformation.

ISBN:0-86171-576-4_|_240 pages_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Wisdom Energy
Basic Buddhist Teachings
Lama Thubten Yeshe, Author
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Author_|_Jonathan Landaw, Editor
Alexander Berzin, Editor

Wisdom Energy is a simple and compelling introduction to Buddhism by two Tibetan lamas renowned for their insight and skill in teaching Westerners. Containing an entire meditation course, it goes to the heart of basic Buddhist practice and discusses the meaning and purpose of meditation, the causes of dissatisfaction and unhappiness, and the methods for subduing them and gaining control over our minds and lives.

This special 25th Anniversary Edition of Wisdom Energy preserves the power, humor, and directness of the lamas' first teaching tour of North America. It gives the reader the feeling of an intimate audience with two highly respected teachers.

ISBN:0-86171-170-X_|_160 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Zen Master WHO?
A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen
James Ishmael Ford, Author


With the exception of parts of the late Rick Field's pioneering study, How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America, there has been no attempt to write a history of Zen coming to North America. Zen Master Who? does just that, surveying also many of the shifts and challenges to Zen as it attempts to find a Western home.

Zen Master Who? traces Zen's history in Asia, looking at some of Zen's most seminal figures-the Sixth Ancester Huineng, Dogen Zenji, the founder of the Soto Zen school, Hakuin Ekakui, the great reformer of the Rinzai koan way, and many other formative personages-and then outlines the state of Zen in North America today.

Clear-eyed and even-handed, Ford shows us the history and development of the institution of Zen, warts and all. But it doesn't dwell there, focusing instead on the beautiful faces of Zen.

This book will aid those looking for a Zen center and a teacher, but who may not know how to decide where to start. It will also be of use to those who lead our the Zen centers of today and tomorrow, today, suggesting what might be possible, skillful, and fruitful.

ISBN:0-86171-509-8_|_320 pp_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Zen Meditation in Plain English

John Daishin Buksbazen, Author
Peter Matthiessen, Foreword

An excellent, practical introduction to Zen meditation. Written in a warm and easily accessible style, the book appeals to anyone with an interest in meditation, Zen, or, as is often the case today, a combination of the two. The book emphasizes the importance of receiving good instruction and of finding groups to practice with, yet it lays out the necessary steps to practice Zen meditation on your own. The book includes easily followed exercises to help the reader along. For anyone looking to uncover a clear and insightful path into the philosophy and practice of Zen meditation, this book represents the culmination of that search.

ISBN:0-86171-316-8_|_128 pp_|_Our Price: $10.36 (20% OFF)_|_More Info



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