Best of
Mysticism

1993

The Lotus-Born: The Life Story of Padmasambhava: Shambhala Dragon Editions


Yeshe Tsogyal - 1993
    Titles in the original Tibetan "The Sanglingma Life Story," it was recorded by the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, concealed in the ninth century at Sanglingma (Copper Temple) in Samye, and revealed by Nyang Ral Nyima Oser in the twelfth century. In addition to narrating the legendary story of a unique spiritual personality, the book contains oral instructions and advice that he left for the benefit of future generations. Also included are "A Clarification of the Life of Padmasambhava" by Tsele Natsok Rangdröl, an extensive glossary and index, and a bibliography of Tibetan and English sources.

The Path of Perfection


Bahram Elahi - 1993
    Uniquely fresh in its approach.

The Book of Words (Sefer Shel Devarim): Talking Spiritual Life, Living Spiritual Talk (The Kushner series)


Lawrence Kushner - 1993
    In the incomparable manner of his award-winning "The Book of Letters: A Mystical Alphabet", Kushner now lifts up and shakes the dust off 30 primary religious words used to describe the spiritual dimension of our lives.

Jesus Christ, Sun of God: Ancient Cosmology and Early Christian Symbolism


David Fideler - 1993
    In this book, many of these sources are revealed for the first time. Special emphasis is placed on the Hellenistic doctrine of the "Solar Logos" and the early Christian symbolism which depicted Christ as the Spiritual Sun, the illumination source of order, harmony, and spiritual insight. Based on 15 years of research, this is a unique book which throws a penetrating light on the secret traditions of early Christianity. It clearly demonstrates that number is at the heart of being. Jesus Christ, Sun of God, illustrates how the Christian symbolism of the Spiritual Sun is derived from numerical symbolism of the "ancient divinities."

The Night Speaks


Steven Forrest - 1993
    This wise and intriguing volume combines the best of historical research and logical argument with a finely honed appreciation for the wonders of the stars.

I Sit Listening to the Wind: Woman's Encounter Within Herself


Judith Duerk - 1993
    As Judith Duerk powerfully shows, the world is crying out for a developed Feminine voice, a voice that can mediate, once again, the ancient values of the Feminine. These are values of interiority and of the sacredness of the earth, that honor the privacy of individual process; values of the deeper Self held within us all. Many women experience a battle within themselves between the critical, dismissing voice of their masculine side and the interior, self-sustaining voice of their feminine side. Without coming to terms and seeking balance with our masculine side, our feminine side can never reach its full potential. For those seeking balance between the masculine urge to DO and the feminine desire to BE, Duerk's mixture of prose, poetry, and reflective questions creates a model for integration.

René Guénon: A Teacher for Modern Times


Julius Evola - 1993
    It also contains passages from their correspondence, and Evola evaluates those scholars who attempted to follow in Guénon's footsteps. It is a good introduction to the similarities and differences between Evola and Guénon.

Gnosis: Divine Wisdom: A New Translation with Selected Letters


Frithjof Schuon - 1993
    This new edition of Frithjof Schuon's classic work, Gnosis: Divine Wisdom, is a fully revised translation of the most recent French edition, and has an extensive Appendix containing previously unpublished letters and other private writings.

Black Madonnas: Feminism, Religion, and Politics in Italy


Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum - 1993
    Since then my understanding of black madonnas has been deepened by geneticists finding that the origin of modern humans is Africa, that primordial migrations from Africa carried a belief in a sacred dark woman to all continents. Black madonnas may be considered a metaphor for healing millennial divisions of gender and race in concerted world movements for justice.

The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice and Tribal Wisdom


Joan Halifax - 1993
    In this highly personal and insightful odyssey of the heart and mind, she encounters Tibetan Buddhist meditators, Mexican shamans, and Native American elders, among others. In rapt prose, she recounts her explorations—from Japanese Zen meditation to hallucinogenic plants, from the Dogon people of Mali to the Mayan rain forest, all the while creating "an adventure of the spirit and a feast of wisdom old and new” (Peter Matthiessen). Halifax believes that deep ecology (which attempts to fuse environmental awareness with spiritual values) works in tandem with Buddhism and shamanism to discover “the interconnectedness of all life,” and to regain life’s sacredness. Grove Press is proud to reissue this important work by one of Buddhism’s leading contemporary teachers.

Doctor Illuminatus: A Ramon Llull Reader


Ramon Llull - 1993
    Available for the first time in an affordable format, these works serve as an introduction to the life and writings of the Catalan (properly, Majorcan) philosopher, mystic, and theologian who lived from 1232 to 1316. Founder of a school of Arabic and other languages, Llull was also a poet and novelist and one of the creators of literary Catalan. This volume contains three prefaces on Llull's life, thought, and reputation. Of Llull's works, it offers Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men, his seminal Christian apology; the Ars brevis, a summary of his philosophical system; The Book of the Lover and the Beloved, a celebration of mystical love in the courtly tradition; and his wittily scathing Book of the Beasts.

Last Writings: Nothingness and the Religious Worldview


Kitarō Nishida - 1993
    He achieved recognition as Japan's leading establishment philosopher during his tenure as professor of philosophy at Kyoto University. After his retirement in 1927, and until his death in 1945, Nishida published a continuous stream of original essays that can best be described as intercivilizational, a meeting point of East and West.His final essay, The Logic of the Place of Nothingness and the Religious Worldview, completed in the last few months before his death, is a summation of his philosophy of religion and has come to be regarded as the foundational text of the Kyoto school. It is one of the few places in his writings where Nishida draws openly and freely on East Asian Buddhist sources as analogs of his own ideas.Here Nishida argues for the existential primordiality of the religious consciousness against Kant, while also critically engaging the thought of such authors as Aristotle, the Christian Neo-Platonists, Spinoza, Fichte, Hegel, Barth, and Tillich. He makes it clear that he is also indebted to Pascal, Kierkegaard, and Dostoievsky as well as to N�g�rjuna, the Ch'an masters, Shinran, D�gen, and other Buddhist thinkers. This book--a translation of the most seminal work of Nishida's career--also includes a translation of his Last Writing (Zeppitsu), written just two days before his death.

Thunder in the Sky: Secrets on the Acquisition and Exercise of Power


Thomas Cleary - 1993
    Thunder in the Sky presents two secret classics of this ancient Chinese tradition. The commentary by Thomas Cleary—the renowned translator of dozens of Asian classics—highlights the contemporary application of these teachings.

Love Is a Stranger


Rumi - 1993
    His poems of spiritual love still speak directly to our hearts after more than seven hundred years. These classic selections contemplate separation and longing, intoxication and bliss, union and transcendence.