This new, expanded edition includes a Foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn, a guide to running an Eight Step Recovery meeting, and how to teach a Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery (MBAR) programme, including teacher's notes and handouts.

These teachings and the container of the MBAR program are offered as both a refuge and a practical curriculum for this hardest of all journeys back to the well-being that is our birthright as human beings. The basic message from the authors is that reclaiming your life and what is deepest and best in yourself is not only possible but actually workable if you are willing to engage in a certain kind of interior work on yourself, and to give yourself over to this intrinsically kind and trustworthy invitation to heal your own life and heart and relationships. - Jon Kabat-Zinn, from the Foreword

This wonderful book shows how we are all addicted to aspects of life and can all benefit from training our minds and hearts to be free of the tyranny of compulsion. The Mindfulness-Based Addiction Recovery (MBAR) programme draws on a wide range of the Buddha's practical, yet deeply profound, teachings. Over the eight steps you are given a priceless gift - the possibility to gain mastery over your mind and heart and find freedom. - Vidyamala Burch (OBE), founder and co-director of Breathworks, author of Mindfulness for Health

Through Buddhist teachings, personal experiences, and case examples, this book provides a wise illustration of the fundamental processes underlying a broad range of addictive behaviors. Mason-John and Groves offer here a practical and compassionate step-by-step guide to freedom from the deep trappings and suffering of addiction. - Sarah Bowen, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Washington, author of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Addictive Behaviors

Surely destined to become the classic commentary on the Satipatthana --Christopher Titmuss Now in its second printing!

Bhikkhuni Dhammananda defied convention to become the first woman fully ordained in the Thai Theravada Buddhist tradition. Dubbed Rebel Monk by the Thai press, she faced enormous opposition by the media, the public, and senior orthodox Thai monks. She has given a fresh existence to the ancient tradition.

American author Cindy Rasicot became her student and disciple in 2005. This compelling book tells the story of Venerable Dhammananda's remarkable path from TV personality, author, academic, wife and mother to ordained Bhikkhuni. Cindy Rasicot writes beautifully of their relationship, and shares Bhikkhuni Dhammananda's gentle wisdom and direct insights about how to live a more powerful and compassionate life.

Help with addictive habits is at hand.

Developed by a leading writer on addiction and recovery, keep this small book close for those moments when you need inspiration, guidance, and the courage to deal with your impulses skilfully. A workbook, a guide to reflection, and a prompt for greater embodied mindfulness - turn away from stinking thinking to what is meaningful in your life and relationships. An illustrated, accessible guide to choosing recovery over addiction.

Written by the co-author of the Eight Step Recovery book, winner of the 2015 International Book Awards, and the 2014 USA Best Book Awards, and author and master trainer in Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery.

Vimalasara (Valerie Mason-John) has a high profile and is widely sought after for public speaking, leading retreats, and recovery and trauma work.

A trauma-informed way of working with mental health.

This book is the result of rigorous textual scholarship that can be valued not only by the academic community, but also by Buddhist practitioners. This book serves as an important bridge between those who wish to learn about Buddhist thought and practice and those who wish to learn from it. . . . As a monk engaging himself in Buddhist meditation as well as a professor applying a historical-critical methodology, Bhikkhu Analayo' is well positioned to bridge these two communities. . . . Exploring the meditative practices of compassion and emptiness, Analayo' casts fresh light on their earliest sources in the Buddhist tradition.--17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Arising from the author's long-term, dedicated practice and study, this book provides a window into the depth and beauty of the Buddha's liberating teachings. Serious meditation students will benefit tremendously from the clarity of understanding that Venerable Analayo's efforts have achieved.--Sharon Salzberg

In this study, Venerable Analayo' brings a meticulous textual analysis of Pali texts, the Chinese Agamas and related material from Sanskrit and Tibetan to the foundational topics of compassion and emptiness. While his analysis is grounded in a scholarly approach, he has written this study as a helpful guide for meditation practice.--Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Bhikkhu Analayo' completed a PhD on the Satipatthanasutta at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2000, published in 2003 by Windhorse Publications under the title Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization. At present Analayo' is a professor of Buddhist studies at the Sri Lanka International Academy in Pallekele.

Paramananda's light style helps to answer the bigger picture of 'why meditate?' as well as walk us through the mindfulness of breathing and the lovingkindness meditations. With key reminders on the importance of our body and suggestions on working with it in meditation, he also considers the distractions, how to set up and maintain a regular meditation practice, insight and further levels of consciousness.

Born John Wilson in London, Paramananda was curious about Asian ideas but it was not until the death of his father that his interest in Buddhism was aroused. Ordained in the Western Buddhist Order in 1985, he has been teaching meditation, Buddhism and body awareness full-time in San Francisco and London since then.

First published in 1991, this book has become established as a comprehensive guide to the theory and methods of Buddhist meditation, providing a complete introduction for beginners as well as detailed advice for experienced meditators seeking to deepen their practice.

With this third edition Kamalashila has included new sections on the importance of the imagination, on Just Sitting, and on refection on the Buddha. There is also new material on sadhana--including less formal, more experimental ways to connect with the living reality of the awakened mind--on mindfulness, and on the balance required between active and receptive approaches in meditation.

Writing in an informal, accessible style, Kamalashila draws particular inspiration from the great Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa, from Zhiyi--the preeminent master of the Chinese Tien-t'ai School--and above all from the Buddha. The result is a practical handbook, complete with trouble-shooting guides to the places your practice might take you. It is also an exploration of the ultimate aim of Buddhist meditation: heightened awareness, true happiness and--ultimately--liberating insight into the nature of reality.

Kamalashila has been teaching meditation since 1976. He has developed approaches to meditation practice that are accessible to people in the contemporary world while being firmly grounded in the Buddhist tradition.

As mindfulness is increasingly embraced in the contemporary world as a practice that brings peace and self-awareness, Bhikkhu Anālayo casts fresh light on the earliest sources of mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition.

..an excellent synopsis of current scholarship...--Alan Sponberg, Professor of Asian Philosophy and Religion, University of Montana

The chief aim of this book is to provide a collection of passages taken from the Buddha's early discourses that provide guidance for facing disease and death. The present anthology focuses on the theme of compassion, and is concerned with anukampa: compassion as the underlying motivation in altruistic action. The author draws on his own translations from the Chinese Agama collection, presented here for the first time, alongside their counterparts from the Pali texts, enabling readers to compare the parallel versions in English translation. Taken together with Analayo's practical commentary we gain a first-hand impression of what early Buddhism had to say about disease and death.

Meeting the Buddhas is a modern classic, giving a vivid and accessible introduction to all the main figures meditated on in the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition. First published in 1993, this new edition incorporates a section on Vajrakīla, as well as new images, and hundreds of small changes that nuance and deepen earlier editions. It is a mine of information for those who want to learn about buddhas, bodhisattvas and tantric deities, and of inspiration for those who are already doing the practices.

Vessantara powerfully evokes the figures, giving the reader a real feeling for what it's like to meditate on them, and how they can transform us on a deep level. It gives detailed descriptions of the figures, including their mudras and symbolic emblems, so it can be used as a handy reference to identify and learn about particular images.

Ritual is the area of Buddhist practice that receives the least amount of attention. This book is for both sceptical and enquiring practitioners. Combining research in psychology and cultural studies and the author's own practice, Bodhidasa draws out the liberatory potential of Buddhist ritual. More than a book 'about' Buddhist ritual, this is a personal guide to assist the reader to move more deeply 'into' its practice and benefit from its fruits.

'Bodhidasa invites us to awaken our imaginations and to see the world as a magician might in this delightfully unpretentious book. He skilfully shows us how, far from being extraneous to the Buddhist path, ritual lies at its heart - because it lies at the heart of human life itself.' - Subhadramati, a member of the ordination team at Tiratanaloka Retreat Centre and author of Not About Being Good

'I can't think of anyone more on fire with the magic of ritual than Bodhidasa. Bodhidasa's own devotion shows in this always surprising, wonderful book. It will lead anyone who's curious, sceptical, or passionate about ritual to a better understanding of what it's really all about - in heart and in mind.'

Candradasa, author of Buddhism for Teens and founder of Free Buddhist Audio and The Buddhist Centre Online

'Do devotional practice and ritual have any place in the life of a modern Buddhist? Straight from the heart, Bodhidasa offers an overview of the territory and, above all, the challenge all Buddhists face: to find emotional equivalents for their intellectual understanding.'

Nagabodhi, author of Sangharakshita: The Boy, the Monk, the Man

'Bodhidasa succeeds in writing both for the newcomer to ritual as well as the old hand: responding to the questions we inevitably ask ourselves - but are sometimes afraid to ask aloud - and offering fresh insights in equal measure. With wit, intimate knowledge of the terrain, and a vivid imagination, he makes a compelling case for ritual as a path to Enlightenment.'

Prajnaketu, author of Cyberloka: A Buddhist Guide to Digital Life

Drawing on his own experience and on Buddhist teachings, Western philosophy, psychology and literature, Ratnaguna provides a book about reflection as a spiritual practice, about its importance, about 'what we think and how we think about it'. Like any art, reflection can be learnt and developed, leading to a deeper understanding of life and to the fullness of wisdom.