Best of
Eastern-Philosophy

2012

The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out


Ogyen Trinley Dorje - 2012
    In these chapters, he shares his vision for bringing social action into daily life, on a scale we can realistically manage through the choices we make every day—what to buy, what to eat, and how to relate honestly and bravely with our friends and family and coworkers. His fresh and encouraging perspective shows us that we have the strength to live with kindness in the midst of the many challenges we face as socially and environmentally conscious beings. Because he sees the world through the lens of the interdependence of all beings, he sees that humans can change social and environmental problems by changing their attitudes and actions. And so, he shows ways that we can change our world by changing ourselves—by examining our own habits of consumption and by being willing to look into how our food reaches our table and how the products we buy are made. In his chapter on gender, he points out that we don’t have to label others according to a social construct. If his viewpoint seems optimistic, it is—and it’s also demanding. The Karmapa calls on us to open our mind and heart to the innumerable connections we share with others—in our families, communities, social systems, and on our planet. Thanks to the depth of his spiritual training, and the breadth of his curiosity about the world and his love for it, he presents a relevant framework for understanding what it means to be human now—and why it’s imperative that we concern ourselves with the well-being of all others. He points to a world we can create through our own effort, using a resource we already have in abundance—the basic nobility of our human heart.

The Deepest Acceptance: Radical Awakening in Ordinary Life


Jeff Foster - 2012
    His informal gatherings, blogs, and kitchen-table video posts have created a rising tide of interest in his teachings.With The Deepest Acceptance, Jeff Foster invites us to discover the ocean of who we are: an awareness that has already allowed every wave of emotion and experience to arrive.While Jeff delightfully admits the irony of writing a book to convey something that is beyond words to teach, here he confirms his ability to guide us in unexpected new ways to a space of absolute acceptance and joy, no matter what's happening in our lives.Candid, thoughtful, humorous--and deeply compassionate toward those searching for a way out of suffering--this refreshing new luminary inspires us to stop trying to "do" acceptance ... and start falling in love with "what has already been allowed."

Nothing to Grasp


Joan Tollifson - 2012
    This book is an invitation to wake up from commonplace misconceptions and to see through the imaginary separate self at the root of our human suffering and confusion. Nothing to Grasp is a celebration of what is, exactly as it is.

The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the Nonduality of Dzogchen


Tulku Pema Rigtsal - 2012
    Weaving in personal stories and everyday examples, Pema Rigtsal leads the reader to see that all phenomena are the spontaneous display of mind, a magical illusion, and yet there is something shining in the midst of experience that is naturally pure and spacious. Not recognizing this natural great perfection is the root cause of suffering and self-centered clinging. After introducing us to this liberating view, Pema Rigtsal explains how it is stabilized and sustained in effortless meditation: without modifying anything, whatever thoughts of happiness or sorrow arise simply dissolve by themselves into the spaciousness of pure presence. In addition to Pema Rigtsal’s text, this volume includes a short biography of the author written by Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche.

The Direct Path: A User Guide


Greg Goode - 2012
    It’s not my experience!” If so, The Direct Path, inspired by Sri Atmananda (Krishna Menon), could be for you. This book is the “missing manual” to the Direct Path. For the first time in print, Direct-Path inquiry is presented from beginning to end and beyond, in a user-friendly way. The core of the book is a set of forty experiments designed to help dissolve the most common non-dual sticking points, from simple to subtle. The experiments cover the world, the body, the mind, abstract objects, and witnessing awareness. You are taken step-by-step from the simple perception of a physical object all the way to the collapse of the witness into pure consciousness. Your takeaway is that there’s no experiential doubt that you and all things are awareness, openness, and love. Also included are three tables of contents, illustrations, an index, a section on teaching, and the notion of a “post-nondual realization.” This book can be utilized on its own or as a companion volume to the author’s Standing as Awareness.

Enlightenment: Behind The Scenes


Marc Leavitt - 2012
    It starts with the recounting of my personal quest for ‘Spiritual Enlightenment,’ which can also serve as a roadmap for any human being who takes the spiritual journey seriously. This story centers on the peak period of my spiritual journey just after returning home from a weeklong meditation retreat at the world renowned ‘Monroe Institute.’ I had been home less than a week after attending one of their advanced programs when, without warning, I began to have profound Visions while living out my day-to-day life. I could be taking a walk with my wife and daughter or going about my daily routine at work when I would find myself spontaneously thrust into a vastly more expansive perspective that placed my entire world in a wholly new context. These Visions were progressive in nature as they clearly and pointedly demonstrated to me the Grand Design of Reality. Some of these Visions were existentially devastating and some were downright terrifying, as they exposed the true nature of the ‘self’. Others were so blissful that they could only be tolerated for brief moments. Ultimately, they coalesced to reveal a model of Reality that is as elegant in its simplicity as it is mind-numbing in its implications. In this book, I outline a play-by-play account of how four of these Visions shaped a new understanding regarding the true architecture of Reality and how this understanding resolves some of our greatest philosophical paradoxes, such as the relationship between mind and matter or God and the world. Given the universal nature of these experiences, there are opportunities throughout the book for you to verify each truth for yourself. I wrote this book to demystify the subject of Enlightenment. There are already many excellent books on the subject of Enlightenment otherwise known as ‘Nondual Wisdom.’ However, what is missing is a book that chronicles the day-to-day, month-to-month, and year-to-year unfolding of the Self in detail. This book is a very personal account of an incredibly impersonal process, broken down step by step and presented almost in slow motion. The reader is invited on a journey that chronicles each step along the path to Enlightenment. The details of the climactic experience itself and the final understanding that results from undergoing such a radical and permanent shift in perspective is where I intend to lead you. It is also my hope that this book will demonstrate how the experience of Enlightenment is not something mythical — a fable belonging to some other time or place — but an actual shift in perspective that is available right here and now to anyone who is curious enough to explore the true nature of ‘being’. I speak to you from the point of view that we all share the human experience and when we explore the depths of our minds we find that the same treasure awaits us all. The fact that I am a husband and father with a full-time career stands as proof that you don’t have to choose between a worldly life and Enlightenment.Throughout the book, you are offered a number of opportunities to verify for yourself some of the subject matter as its being discussed. To be true to my story, I rely mostly on my personal journals, which are individually dated and appear in italics, while my current narration appear in normal type. And so it begins …

The Ceasing of Notions: An Early Zen Text from the Dunhuang Caves with Selected Comments


Soko Morinaga - 2012
    The Ceasing of Notions is one such text. It takes a unique form: a dialogue between two imaginary figures, a master and his disciple, in which the disciple tenaciously pursues the master's pity utterances with follow-up questions that propel the dialogue toward ever more profound insights. And these questions prove to be the reader's very own. Soko Morinaga brings alive this compact and brilliant text with his own vivid commentary.This volume also includes a generous selection from Morinaga's acclaimed autobiography, Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of my Own Stupidity.

Full Stop! the Gateway to Present Perfection


John Wheeler - 2012
    In Full Stop! John looks directly at the root cause of suffering; the assumed separate entity and the misidentification with that assumed entity. John's unwavering focus, and his gift for guiding sincere questioners towards clarity, makes this a must-have book for any sincere seeker.