In this beautiful and lucid guide, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh offers gentle anecdotes and practical exercise as a means of learning the skills of mindfulness--being awake and fully aware. From washing the dishes to answering the phone to peeling an orange, he reminds us that each moment holds within it an opportunity to work toward greater self-understanding and peacefulness.

Since Thich Nhat Hanh's exile from his native Vietnam in 1966, the Zen Buddhist monk has gone on to become one of the most influential and beloved spiritual masters of our age. The seeming simplicity of his words belies the power of his ability to touch the heart and mind, and to inspire spiritual practice. Known for his warm, generous, and joyful teaching style, Hanh has made his wisdom remarkably accessible and resonant to readers across the globe.

Now, that wisdom has been compiled into one pocket-sized collection featuring his most powerful and inspiring teachings. Taken from his many published works, these selections make up a concise introduction to the Hanh's major themes--such as mindfulness, enlightenment, and compassion--and distill his teachings on the transformation of individuals, relationships, and society.

The Shambhala Pocket Library is a collection of short, portable teachings from notable figures across religious traditions and classic texts. The covers in this series are rendered by Colorado artist Robert Spellman. The books in this collection distill the wisdom and heart of the work Shambhala Publications has published over 50 years into a compact format that is collectible, reader-friendly, and applicable to everyday life.

Mindfulness in Plain English was first published in 1994, is one of the bestselling -- and most influential -- books in the field of mindfulness. It's easy to see why.

Author Bhante Gunaratana, a renowned meditation master, takes us step by step through the myths, realities, and benefits of meditation and the practice of mindfulness. The book showcases Bhante's trademark clarity and wit as he explores the tool of meditation, what it does, and how to make it work.

This book is:

• A best-selling introduction to mindfulness
• Full of practical advice on developing a meditation practice
• Written in approachable, clear language
• Containing chapters on loving-kindness and concentration

The reader can gain deeper understanding, inner peace, and clarity through meditation practice with the thoughtful guidance of this classic book. Written for those without any meditation background, but also an essential handbook for established students, Mindfulness in Plain English is a must-have for anyone exploring the benefits of Buddhist meditation.

This expanded edition includes the complete text of its predecessor along with a new chapter on cultivating loving kindness, an especially important topic in today's world. For anyone who is new to meditation, this is a great resource for learning how to live a more productive and peaceful life.

The 'you' that goes in one side of the meditation experience is not the same 'you' that comes out the other side. --Bhante Gunaratana in Mindfulness in Plain English

The mind contains the seeds of its own awakening--seeds that we can cultivate to bring forth the fruits of a life lived consciously. With Mindfulness, Joseph Goldstein shares the wisdom of his four decades of teaching and practice in a book that will serve as a lifelong companion for anyone committed to mindful living and the realization of inner freedom. Goldstein's source teaching is the Satipa hana Sutta, the Buddha's legendary discourse on the four foundations of mindfulness that became the basis for the many types of Vipassana (or insight meditation) found today. Exquisite in detail yet wholly accessible and relevant for the modern student, Mindfulness takes us through a profound study of:

- Mindfulness of body, including the breath, postures, activities, and physical characteristics
- Mindfulness of feelings--how the experience of our sense perceptions influences our inner and outer worlds
- Mindfulness of mind--learning to recognize skillful and unskillful states of mind and thought
- Mindfulness of dhammas (or categories of experience), including the Five Hindrances, the Six Sense Spheres, and the Seven Factors of Awakening

There is a wealth of meaning and nuance in the experience of mindfulness that can enrich our lives in unimagined ways, writes Goldstein. In Mindfulness you have the tools to mine these riches for yourself.

In Buddhism Plain and Simple, Zen priest and longtime teacher Steve Hagen presents the heart of Buddhist teachings, pared down to its essence and explained in simple, everyday language. This best-selling book is the perfect guide to Buddhism for beginners; the text has served international readers at all levels of study and practice since it was originally published over a decade ago.

More than 300,000 copies in various formats have sold to date, and now it's available in this brand new edition with a high-quality binding and paper, as well as elegant decorative illustrations scattered throughout.

Practiced by more than 1.2 million Americans and 2-3 million Europeans, Buddhism has become one of the West's largest religions. Whether you're simply interested in learning more about Buddhist philosophy, or hope to begin practicing but don't know where to start, Buddhism Plain and Simple will help you on your way.

This is a book about awareness. Not awareness of something in particular, but awareness itself--being awake, alert and in touch with what is actually happening. It's about examining and exploring the most basic questions of life. It's about relying on the immediate experience of this present moment. It's about freedom of mind. It's not about belief, doctrine, formula, or tradition. --from the Introduction

You have within you unlimited capacities for extraordinary love, for joy, for communion with life, and for unshakable freedom--and here is how to awaken them. In The Wise Heart, celebrated author and psychologist Jack Kornfield offers the most accessible, comprehensive, and illuminating guide to Buddhist psychology ever published in the West. Here is a vision of radiant human dignity, a journey to the highest expression of human possibility--and a practical path for realizing it in our own lives.

An illuminating perspective on the science of meditation--and a handbook for transforming our minds, bodies, and lives

In The Joy of Living, world-renowned Buddhist teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche--the happiest man in the world--invites us to join him in unlocking the secrets to finding joy and contentment in the everyday. Using the basic meditation practices he provides, we can discover paths through our problems, transforming obstacles into opportunities to recognize the unlimited potential of our own minds.

Chakung Jigme Wangdrak gives concrete advice on how to reorient your thinking when faced with the challenges, mess, and chaos that inevitably occur in life. By embracing pain and suffering, you can learn to see their roots, begin to work with them, and eventually let them go. This will create joy and ease, allowing you to fully savor happiness.

In clear language, Jigme Wangdrak conveys the steps, stages, and categories of mental exercises and methods that everyone--from beginner to experienced practitioner and non-Buddhists--can use to train their mind toward happiness:

• Take happiness and suffering as the path
• Cultivate courage, gratitude, and compassion
• Practice contentment (not complacency)
• Recognize outer and inner obstacles when faced with challenging situations
• Dispel self-grasping to reduce suffering
• Develop patience and tolerance

A Los Angeles Review of Books Best of the Year selection

Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it. A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.--Kirkus Reviews

Elegant and formally ingenious.--Geoff Wisner, Wall Street Journal

When world renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor turned sixty, he took a sabbatical from his teaching and turned his attention to solitude, a practice integral to the meditative traditions he has long studied and taught. He aimed to venture more deeply into solitude, discovering its full extent and depth.

This beautiful literary collage documents his multifaceted explorations. Spending time in remote places, appreciating and making art, practicing meditation and participating in retreats, drinking peyote and ayahuasca, and training himself to keep an open, questioning mind have all contributed to Batchelor's ability to be simultaneously alone and at ease. Mixed in with his personal narrative are inspiring stories from solitude's devoted practitioners, from the Buddha to Montaigne, from Vermeer to Agnes Martin.

In a hyperconnected world that is at the same time plagued by social isolation, this book shows how to enjoy the inescapable solitude that is at the heart of human life.

A thought-provoking and critical exploration of Buddhism's adaptation in America from Vietnamese immigrant and debut author Nhi Yến Đỗ Trần.

Born into a family legacy of Buddhist spirituality in Việt Nam, Trần immigrated to the US at age ten. Budding Lotus in the West follows her journey and unveils the complexities of how Buddhist teachings are used in America. With raw authenticity, Trần shares personal anecdotes, weaving together the mosaic of her own experiences with Buddhism, and provides readers with a fundamental understanding of key Buddhist concepts and traditions. Trần examines the interplay between ancient wisdom and contemporary challenges, inviting spiritual seekers and curious minds to engage critically with Buddhism in a way that resonates with contemporary life.

For example, what would the Buddha say about abortion, gun, and LGBTQIA+ rights? Or about prejudice, discrimination, and gender equality? How can practitioners more skillfully navigate romance in the sangha community? Whether you are a longtime Buddhist practitioner or just beginning to explore the religion, Budding Lotus in the West offers a critical examination, providing wisdom, inspiration, and a path toward a more balanced and inclusive understanding of Buddhism in the modern world.

A practical guide for invoking the power and blessings of Tara, the beloved female buddha of Tibet

Known as the female Buddha in Tibet and India, Tara connects us to the archetypal Divine Feminine--an energetic force that exists within us and all around us, and has been available to all humans since our earliest origin.

While there are many books on Tara, this practical guide shows us how those of any tradition can directly access her, through clear instruction and authentic Tibetan Buddhist teachings.

Jungian analyst, scholar, and spiritual practitioner Dr. Rachael Wooten combines the ancient Tara tradition with depth psychology to help us connect with each of Tara's manifestations and access her blessings within ourselves and in the external world.

In her myriad forms, Tara has the power to protect us from inner and outer negativity, illuminate our self-sabotaging habits, cleanse mental and physical poisons, address emotional trauma, open us to abundance, give us strength and peace, help us fulfill our life purposes, and more.

Here, you will explore all 22 manifestations of Tara. Each chapter begins with an epigraph that captures the spiritual and psychological essence of the emanation, explains her purpose, and teaches you specific visualizations, praises, mantra chants, and other ways of invoking her presence in yourself and the world.

If ever the voice of wisdom and compassion was needed in the form of an awakened female figure such as Tara, writes Dr. Wooten, that time is now. This book illuminates the way to her healing, blessings, and aid.

The Miracle of Mindfulness is a classic guide to meditation that has introduced generations of readers to the life-changing beauty of mindful awareness. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh offers gentle anecdotes and practical exercise as a means of learning the skills of mindfulness. From washing the dishes to answering the phone to peeling an orange, he reminds us that each moment holds within it an opportunity to work toward greater self-understanding and peacefulness. This gift edition features Thich Nhat Hanh's inspiring calligraphy, photographs from his travels around the world, and a revised afterword.

The tradition of Tantra or Tantric Buddhism is known to have existed in India as early as the 5th century AD. In this all-time bestseller, using the contemporary idiom and his own unique blend of wisdom and humor, Osho talks about the mystical insights found in the ancient Tantric writings. He also explores many significant Tantric meditation techniques, demonstrating how they are as relevant to the modern-day seeker as they were to those in earlier times.

No matter how complex, obscure, or mystical the subject, Osho always brings his uniquely refreshing perspective--introducing the most difficult concepts to the widest possible audience with irreverent wit and thought-provoking inspiration.

The greatest athletes in the world today are not the Olympic champions or the stars of professional sports, but the marathon monks of Japan's sacred Mount Hiei. Over a seven-year training period, these running buddhas figuratively circle the globe on foot. During one incredible 100-day stretch, they cover 52.5 miles daily--twice the length of an Olympic marathon. And the prize they seek to capture is the greatest thing a human being can achieve: enlightenment in the here and now.

This book is about these amazing men, the magic mountain on which they train, and the philosophy of Tendai Buddhism, which inspires them in their quest for the supreme. The reader will learn about the monks' death-defying fasts, their vegetarian training diet, their handmade straw running shoes, and feats of endurance such as their ceremonial leap into a waterfall. Illustrated with superb photographs, the book also contains the first full-length study in English of Mount Hiei and Tendai Buddhism.

John Stevens lived in Japan for thirty-five years, where he was a professor of Buddhist studies at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai. Stevens is a widely respected translator, an ordained Buddhist priest, a curator of several major exhibitions of Zen art, and an aikido instructor. He has authored more than thirty books and is one of the foremost Western experts on aikido, holding a ranking of 7th dan Aikikai. Stevens has also studied calligraphy for decades, authoring the classic Sacred Calligraphy of the East. Other John Stevens titles that are likely to be of interest include Extraordinary Zen Masters and The Philosophy of Aikido.

Readers interested in related titles from John Stevens will also want to see: Abundant Peace (ISBN: 1626543232), Aikido: The Way of Harmony (ISBN: 1626543275), Sacred Calligraphy of the East (ISBN: 162654994X), Secrets of Aikido (ISBN: 1626543259), The Philosophy of Aikido (ISBN: 1626549931), Extraordinary Zen Masters (ISBN: 1626549923).

Explores the music of the Tibetan Chöd tradition.

The Sound of Vultures' Wings offers the first in-depth exploration of the music of the Tibetan Chöd tradition, which is based on the liturgical song-poems of the twelfth-century Tibetan female ascetic Machik Labdrön (1055-1153). Chöd is a musical-meditative Vajrayāna method for cutting off the root of suffering, our mistaken view of a self. The Chöd practitioner applies the antidote to self-cherishing by developing bodhicitta (altruistic awakening mind) and the antidote to self-grasping through the realization of the ultimate nature of reality: the correct view of emptiness. Chöd is regarded by many Tibetan Lamas as one of the most effective Buddhist practices for spiritual and social transformation. Jeffrey W. Cupchik details the significance of the complex, interwoven performative aspects of this meditative ritual and explains how its practice can bring about experiences of insight and inner transformation. In doing so, he undoes the notion of meditation being exclusively an experience of silence and stillness.

This is an account of the Madhyamika (Middle Way) school of Buddhism, a method of mediation and enlightenment that was developed by the great Indian teacher Nagarjuna. In a collaboration between the Frenchwoman Alexandra David-Neel and her friend, the Tibetan lama Aphur Yongden, these teaching are presented clearly and elegantly, intended for the layman who seeks a way to practice and experience the realization of oneness with all existence.

...this is the most direct, no-nonsense, and down-to-earth explanation of Mahayana Buddhism that has been written. Specifically, it is a wonderfully lucid account of the Middle Way method of enlightenment worked out by the great Indian sage Nagarjuna. -Alan Watts, The Book