Ajahn Sumedho urges us to trust in awareness and find out for ourselves what it is to experience genuine liberation from mental anguish and suffering, just as the Buddha himself did two and a half thousand years ago.Buddhism is not about becoming the model of humanity or escaping the natural consequences of our past deeds, but of putting aside all pretence and all ideas in order to simply be where we are. The author therefore encourages us not to take our lives personally, but to look at the reality of this moment free from beliefs, views and opinions. He refers frequently to his own experiences, his own journey along the path, and this he does humorously, guilelessly and sometimes with brutal honesty.Ajahn Sumedho, an American Buddhist monk, practised for ten years in Thailand with the well known monk, Ajahn Chah. He has since spent over thirty years in England and is the founder of the Cittaviveka Forest Monastery in West Sussex and the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire. His many books include The Mind and the Way, Teachings of a Buddhist Monk, and The Sound of Silence.

Containing the modern practical teachings from one of the oldest Buddhist traditions, this collection of Sumedho's wisdom and humor bring readers into the heart of Buddhist meditation. (World Religion)

Spiritual life is not about becoming someone special but discovering a greatness of heart within us and every being. It is an invitation to inwardly drop our opinions, our views, our ideas, our thoughts, our whole sense of time and ourselves, and come to rest in no fixed position. Ajahn Sumedho invites us all, ordained and lay people alike, to enjoy the freedom beyond all conditions, a freedom from fears, from gain and loss, from pleasure and pain. This is the joy and happiness of the Buddha.

Jack Kornfield

Zen teaching of instantaneous awakeningA complete translation of the teaching of the Chinese Ch'an (Zen) Master Hui Hai by John Blofeld, with a foreword by Charles LukHui Hai, was one of the great Ch'an (Zen) Masters. He was a contemporary of both Ma Tsu and Huang Po, those early masters who established Ch'an after the death of Hui Neng, the sixth Patriarch. Hui Hai's direct teachings point immediately to this moment of truth and awakening, and the message of this classic eighth-century text is universal and timeless.

Zen Master Hakuin was a man of extraordinary gifts, mystic and practical, strong and gentle, imbued with true compassion and with an open eye for the miseries of the human situation on all levels. Moreover, he was a great painter - unique among the artists of his time - as well as a prolific writer with an acute power of observation.

Hakuin Zenji (1685-1769) averted the decline of the Rinzai movement and became the founder of modern Zen.

Though the earth is hard, tread on it softly! Great things are destroyed by little things. If you are careless about little things, you will accomplish nothing. Everybody - Wake up!

A simple guide to Buddhist meditation with easy-to-follow instructions on both sitting and walking meditation, plus insightful reflections on how to live a Buddhist way of life. Initially, Buddhist meditation is a process of freeing the mind of its entanglements, of learning how to undo the knots and getting beyond thinking. When we live with our minds full of thoughts, we don't sense much more than those thoughts; objects are not seen very clearly because the focus of our attention is directed towards what is in the mind rather than what is in front of us. Meditation allows us to see ourselves plainly as we are, as if standing before a large clear mirror. Nothing is hidden. When we do this, it is like waking up from a dream into a new way of life completely free of all self-imposed restrictions and conflicting states of mind.

Stories, parables, and examples have been a favoured way of conveying spiritual insights and truths since time immemorial, and Trevor Leggett was a master at it. He had the knack of pointing out the spiritual implications of practical events which everyone can relate to. This volume contains stories based on Buddhism and referring to martial arts, music, chess and incidents in ordinary life. He describes this as a freewheeling book: I am trying to give a few hints which have helped me and which can be of help to others, ' he said. For those who know nothing of Buddhism or Zen in particular, this is an ideal introduction, but is nevertheless relevant to long-term practitioners. As the author points out, occasionally a new slant, a new angle or a new illustration - especially if it is an unexpected one - can be a help in absorbing practice, study and devotion. Trevor Leggett (1914-2000) lived for a considerable time in Japan. He was the first foreigner to obtain the Sixth Dan (senior teachers degree) in judo from Kodokan and has written several well-known books on the subject. He has also written extensively on Zen, including A First Zen Reader, The Warrior Koans, Zen and the Ways, Yoga and Zen, Fingers and Moons, and this final work The Old Zen Master.

The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, The Prajnaparamita, is a collection of about forty texts. They were composed in India between approximately 100 BC and AD 600. Those contained within this volume are among the shorter ones; they are also some of the most well known such as The Heart Sutra and The Diamond Sutra.

The Prajnaparamita texts are central to the Mahayana, the Great Vehicle tradition of Buddhism which today includes the Zen and Tibetan traditions. They are a magnificent work which offer guidance to those who wish to plumb the depths of their own mind and come face to face with the reality of existence by realising the truth of the Buddha's deep teachings on Emptiness and Great Wisdom.

Dr Edward Conze (1904-1979) was the author of many books and the translator of much of the Prajnaparamita texts. He served on the faculties of several universities in Britain and the United States including Oxford, London, and California. Not only was he a great Buddhist scholar but also a serious practitioner, and his translations are very highly regarded.

The well-known Zen Buddhist phrase 'the finger pointing at the moon' refers to the means and the end, and the possibility of mistaking one for the other. Trevor Leggett says, 'the forms are the methods and they are very important as pointing fingers, but if we forget what they are for and they become, so to speak, the goal in their own right, then our progress is liable to stop. And if it stops, it retrogresses.' On the other hand there are those who say 'with considerable pride, I don't want fingers or methods. I want to see the moon directly, directly . . . to see the moon directly . . . no methods or pointing. But in fact they don't see it! It's easy to say.'With many varied analogies, stories and incidents, Trevor Leggett points to the truth behind words, behind explanations and methods. Indeed, the book itself is like 'a finger pointing at the moon'.

Understanding Karma and Rebirth A Buddhist Perspective

Rebirth and reincarnation have been generally accepted realities in the East since ancient times. There, the question is typically not whether there will be another life, but rather what form it will take. The West, conversely, has its own religious and secular beliefs which usually exclude the possibility of another life - at least not in this world or in this manner. A common Western perspective is that annihilation is inevitable: 'When you're dead, you're dead!'

However, whether East or West, until one awakens to the truth, one remains caught in cultural conditioning and personal beliefs. Buddhism focuses on becoming aware of what life actually is, rather than being blinded by beliefs and conditioning.

The Buddha saw life as a flowing procession of conditions, events and circumstances, with one thing leading to another without beginning or end - timeless and limitless. He recognised that our aware aspect - that which sees and knows - is never born and never dies. He spoke of directly 'seeing' into the nature of existence, beyond words and intellect.

This book explores the underlying message of understanding the cause-and-effect process - the nature of karma and rebirth - and what lies behind it. Diana St Ruth emphasises that Buddhism is a personal journey of discovery involving seeing through one's own delusions. She guides readers progressively towards awareness, mental clarity and understanding.