Not Everything Is Impermanent

Download or read book Not Everything Is Impermanent written by David Brazier and published by . This book was released on 2013-04 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ..".a book by a true Bodhisattva - an awake awakening being - who brings his compassion and insight to those with troubled hearts everywhere." Rev. Saigyo Terrance Keenan, author of "St. Nadie in Winter: Zen Encounters with Loneliness" ..".the hitch-hiker's guide to no-bullshit Buddhism." Alastair McIntosh, author of "Soil and Soul" "A fine dharma book. Rich in anecdote, it guides the reader on a radical path of awakening." Roshi Joan Halifax, Founder and Abbot of Upaya Zen Center 'Not Everything Is Impermanent' explores what it means to be a fallible human being in an imperfect world. It shows us how we can live a joyful and meaningful life supported by faith, compassion and wisdom. David Brazier points to the mystical core of Buddhism by bringing together the devotional heart teachings of Pureland and the paradoxical wisdom of Zen. His writings are grounded in a sound understanding of Buddhist doctrine, decades of spiritual practice and experience, and an ease in speaking to ordinary people about the problems we all encounter in our everyday lives. This is a book for theperson swimming through the ocean of samsara, calling out for light and assistance. It encourages us to look deeply and fearlessly beyond our immediate concerns and to aspire towards becoming true Bodhisattvas. The author is not afraid of controversy. Along the way he presents a critique of mindfulness and reinterpretations of some classic Buddhist teachings. His arguments are presented robustly, and we are encouraged to enjoy the debate and to agree or disagree with equal passion. Above all, this is a reassuring book. It doesn't flinch from looking at the difficulties and pain we encounter in life, but it shows us how even when alone we are connected, even in the midst of change we can rely upon our deepest intuition that transcends impermanence. This settled faith empowers us to reach outwards with compassion into the world, just as it is, just as we are. As he says, "At the core of all is love."

Download or read book Indian Buddhist Philosophy written by Amber Carpenter and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-03 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Organised in broadly chronological terms, this book presents the philosophical arguments of the great Indian Buddhist philosophers of the fifth century BCE to the eighth century CE. Each chapter examines their core ethical, metaphysical and epistemological views as well as the distinctive area of Buddhist ethics that we call today moral psychology. Throughout, this book follows three key themes that both tie the tradition together and are the focus for most critical dialogue: the idea of anatman or no-self, the appearance/reality distinction and the moral aim, or ideal. Indian Buddhist philosophy is shown to be a remarkably rich tradition that deserves much wider engagement from European philosophy. Carpenter shows that while we should recognise the differences and distances between Indian and European philosophy, its driving questions and key conceptions, we must resist the temptation to find in Indian Buddhist philosophy, some Other, something foreign, self-contained and quite detached from anything familiar. Indian Buddhism is shown to be a way of looking at the world that shares many of the features of European philosophy and considers themes central to philosophy understood in the European tradition.

Download or read book Why I Am Not a Buddhist written by Evan Thompson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A provocative essay challenging the idea of Buddhist exceptionalism, from one of the world's most widely respected philosophers and writers on Buddhism and science. Buddhism has become a uniquely favored religion in our modern age. A burgeoning number of books extol the scientifically proven benefits of meditation and mindfulness for everything ranging from business to romance. There are conferences, courses, and celebrities promoting the notion that Buddhism is spirituality for the rational; compatible with cutting-edge science; indeed, "a science of the mind." In this provocative book, Evan Thompson argues that this representation of Buddhism is false. In lucid and entertaining prose, Thompson dives deep into both Western and Buddhist philosophy to explain how the goals of science and religion are fundamentally different. Efforts to seek their unification are wrongheaded and promote mistaken ideas of both. He suggests cosmopolitanism instead, a worldview with deep roots in both Eastern and Western traditions. Smart, sympathetic, and intellectually ambitious, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Buddhism's place in our world today."--Provided by publisher.

Download or read book Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away written by Ajahn Chah and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2005-03-08 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Powerful Buddhist teachings, demystified—from the spiritual mentor of Jon Kabat-Zinn, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield Previous books by Ajahn Chah have consisted of collections of short teachings on a wide variety of subjects. This new book focuses on the theme of impermanence, offering powerful remedies for overcoming our deep-seated fear of change, including guidance on letting go of attachments, living in the present, and taking up the practice of meditation. Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away also contains stories and anecdotes about this beloved master's life and his interactions with students, from his youth as a struggling monk to his last years when American students were coming to study with him in significant numbers. These stories help to convey Ajahn Chah's unique spirit and teaching style, allowing readers to know him both through his words and the way in which he lived his life.

Download or read book Zen Therapy written by David Brazier and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-10-25 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhism, from Abhidharma to Zen, offers a practical path to harmony of head and heart. For over 2,000 years Buddhists have been developing sophisticated psychologies to guide the work of achieving freedom from mental suffering. Now East and West are beginning to learn from each other. In a readable and practical manner, this book challenges basic assumptions of Western psychology, demystifies Buddhist psychology and presents Zen as a therapy. Giving examples of its effectiveness in psychotherapeutic practice, the author shows how Zen derives from the Buddhist theory of the mind and throws new light upon the Buddhist theory of relations and conditions. This seminal wok is a resource full of intriguing and controversial ideas.

Download or read book What Makes You Not a Buddhist written by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2008-08-12 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An innovative meditation master cuts through common misconceptions about Buddhism, revealing what it truly means to walk the path of the Buddha So you think you’re a Buddhist? Think again. Tibetan Buddhist master Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, one of the most creative and innovative lamas teaching today, throws down the gauntlet to the Buddhist world, challenging common misconceptions, stereotypes, and fantasies. In What Makes You Not a Buddhist, Khyentse reviews the four core truths of the tradition, using them as a lens through which readers can examine their everyday lives. With wit and irony, he urges readers to move beyond the superficial trappings of Buddhism—beyond the romance with beads, incense, or exotic robes—straight to the heart of what the Buddha taught. Khyentse’s provocative, non-traditional approach to Buddhism will resonate with students of all stripes and anyone eager to bring this ancient religious tradition into their twenty-first-century lives.

Download or read book More Than Happiness written by Antonia Macaro and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2018-01-04 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This groundbreaking study provides a much-needed philosophical framework for those practising mindfulness as well as a call to recover the pragmatic and therapeutic dimensions of philosophy.' - Stephen Batchelor, author of After Buddhism and Secular Buddhism Modern readers tend to think of Buddhism as spending time alone meditating, searching for serenity. Stoicism calls to mind repressing our emotions in order to help us soldier on through adversity. But how accurate are our popular understandings of these traditions? And what can we learn from them without either buying in wholeheartedly to their radical ideals or else transmuting them into simple self-improvement regimes that bear little resemblance to their original aims? How can we achieve more than happiness? In More than Happiness, Antonia Macaro delves into both philosophies, focusing on the elements that fit with our sceptical age, and those which have the potential to make the biggest impact on how we live. From accepting that some things are beyond our control, to monitoring our emotions for unhealthy reactions, to shedding attachment to material things, there is much, she argues, that we can take and much that we'd do better to leave behind. In this synthesis of ancient wisdom, Macaro reframes the 'good life', and gets us to see the world as it really is and to question the value of the things we desire. The goal is more than happiness: living ethically and placing value on the right things in life.