‘I want to be’ I said. ‘But who am I?’ Have you ever noticed that what you think about who you are, how you should be, how well you are doing changes? This is because our idea of who we are is created in thought and it is the nature of thought to change. Looking at this more clearly takes us on a breath-taking exploration into what is real about us. We discover what is permanent, unchanging. And it is never what we think. The first part of REAL looks at everything that cannot be true about who we are. It looks at what is transient, momentary and ever-changing such as our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, insecurities, habits, stress. These are all the things we can stop paying attention to because the only thing we know for sure about them is that they will change. And this leaves us with one important question: who are we? The second part of REAL explores what remains when our thought-created idea of self dissolves. It explores what is constant, what is always there regardless of transient thought and belief. By looking for the constant we get closer to the truth of us. When we live from this understanding, we have more freedom, integrity and wholeness than we had ever thought possible.

     Shohaku Okumura—renowned for his translations of and magisterial teachings on Dogen—guides the reader through the rich layers of metaphor and meaning in “Sansuikyo,” which is often thought to be the most beautiful essay in Dogen’s monumental Shobogenzo. His wise and friendly voice shows us the questions Dogen poses and helps us realize what the answers could be. What does it mean for  mountains to walk? How are mountains an expression of Buddha’s truth, and how can we learn to hear the deep teachings of river waters? Throughout this luminous volume, we learn how we can live in harmony with nature in respect and gratitude—and awaken to our true nature.

    Many of us feel trapped or stuck. And, as a result, we suffer. It looks like freedom depends on having more of what we think we need and less of what seems to be in the way. So we try to create the perfect life or turn ourselves into the perfect person. But even when we have what we thought we needed and even when we have ditched what we thought was in the way, we still don’t feel free. There just seems to be more to have and more to ditch. We still feel limited and trapped. In FREE we explore why that is and what it actually means to live a life of no limits. FREE goes to the heart of some of the most embedded misunderstandings of our time and invites us to gain a whole new perspective on who we are and what we think we need. We will realise that freedom is not what we think it is. And we are not the trapped individual we believe ourselves to be. This realisation opens up the space of intelligence, love and freedom that is our true nature. This is life without limits. This is freedom.

    From this perspective, creativity is a solitary endeavor—the struggle of the individual to express their distinctive vision to the world.But what if we looked at creativity through a wider lens, as a dynamic force that animates us and connects us with every being on the planet? From this perspective, creativity is not just a spark igniting the fire of inspiration. It is a way of living spontaneously from the sacred space within us—from the source of infinite potential and positive qualities, such as love, compassion, and joy. Expression in any voice, any form that emerges from this core, has the power to heal us and benefit others. The heart of creativity is being of service.Acclaimed author and meditation master Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche draws on the ancient wisdom of the Tibetan Bon Buddhist tradition to guide us in developing the ability to show up fully for our lives and clear whatever blocks us from expressing our creative gifts for the greatest good.

    Unlike other Three Principle books, this book has a special coating that allows you to use it for firewood in case you live in a very cold area of the world. Author, speaker, dancer, philanthropist, and self-made genius Amir Karkouti has accumulated 18 questions that have been pondered since the discovery of the Three Principles by Sydney Banks. Although Amir Karkouti was not a welder with a 9th grade education, he pretends to know about these Three Universal Gifts. Join him as he dismantles these pressing questions, and allows each reader to get a mind-blowing insight into the Three Principles of Mind, Consciousness, and Thought. Each question has been pondered, hand-washed, and gently dried out for your reading pleasure. You will be shocked, amazed, and hopefully, enlightened. The goal is for the reader to be shockingly enlightened. So...stop reading the back of the book and buy it already!

    The Dharma of Modern Mindfulness uncovers the essential Buddhist teachings at the heart of this powerful anti-stress program, enabling you to deepen your historical and spiritual understanding of MBSR and nourish your practice.Meditation and mindfulness are everywhere: in hospitals, clinics, and schools; in major medical, psychological, and scientific journals; on TV; and in popular publications—even on the cover of Time magazine. And thankfully so—since Jon Kabat-Zinn developed MBSR, a treatment blending meditation and yoga, it has been proven effective in treating conditions like chronic pain, stress, anxiety, and depression for sufferers around the world. Lesser known, however, are the deep philosophical roots of MBSR known as the Buddhist dharma, translated as “the teachings of the Buddha.” Although they form the very foundation underlying MBSR and other mindfulness-based interventions, they often remain hidden within modern mindfulness practices.The Dharma of Modern Mindfulness illuminates these cornerstones, communicating previously esoteric teachings with language that makes them easily accessible and applicable to your complex daily life. The book follows the structure of an eight-week MBSR class, paralleling the participant’s journey with that of the Buddha for the alleviation of suffering. With real-life examples, guided reflections, and practices throughout, this book will show you the connections between the ancient wisdom of Buddhism and contemporary MBSR.Regardless of your background, status, or education, and whether you’re a practitioner, teacher, or trainer, this invitation to explore the essential Buddhist teachings at the heart of modern mindfulness—such as the four noble truths, the noble eightfold path, and the four brahmaviharas: loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity—will expand your understanding and enhance your practice, and, in doing so, connect you with your inner wisdom and deepest humanity.

     What if everything you thought about yourself and your struggles, habits and beliefs wasn't actually true? What if you could uncover freedom from what you were led to believe was a life sentence of suffering? Through a groundbreaking understanding of the simplicity behind our human experience, Amanda Jones shares what lies behind the curtain of the old paradigm of psychology, exposing a new paradigm and an extraordinary glimpse into the freedom available to everyone. With endless implications from eating disorders including bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating, to depression, anxiety, and worry, there is a profound understanding to be unveiled from within us, and nothing to apply or practice. This is true freedom and it is closer and much simpler than we think. Editorial Reviews Uncovery by Amanda Jones is an incredibly honest, thought provoking tangible gift for anyone out there who believes they are not enough. This book smashes the view many have about the source and the sustainability of their mental health and invites readers to take a fresh and transformational view of how they create their experience of life. Uncovery truly uncovers how our minds work practically and pragmatically through Amanda's insightful writing and her wonderfully colorful character. Read it now …. you will not be disappointed! Jacquie Forde RGN, RM, Principles Coach and Leadership Consultant, CEO The Wellbeing Academy Amanda Jones's book is beautifully written and eminently readable. Her personal story of awakening is inspiring and points the reader in the direction of their true self. Amanda is a gifted storyteller, who shares an understanding that is simple yet profound. It provides hope for anyone who is looking for true and lasting transformation. Her candor and authenticity reveal deftly and intelligently how we don't need to be afraid of our humanness, and she provides real world examples that show the path to healing is much easier than we think. Read this book and be impacted by the wisdom of Amanda's heart. Rohini Ross MA, LMFT, Psychotherapist and Amazon best-selling author of Marriage - (Soul-Centered Series Book 1)

    To really understand and fully embrace this point is to live in a radically different world—a world of awakening, inclusion, and love. Zen Master Dogen frames the teaching on impermanence explicitly as a teaching about time—and all of Dogen’s profoundly poetic teachings flow from his seminal understanding of time, as expressed in Uji (Being-Time), the famous—and famously difficult—essay in his masterwork, Shobogenzo. In Uji, Dogen teaches that time itself, being itself, is luminous awakening. It is all-inclusive, all-elusive, ultimately healing, and eternal.             In this book, Shinshu Roberts does full justice, as does no other book I know of, to Dogen’s words. She offers interpretation of Uji only after careful consideration and marshaling of many sources—and offers simple everyday examples to illustrate points that seem at first abstruse. If this text causes you to doubt your most cherished concepts about your life, it will have done its work.” —from the Foreword by Norman Fischer Being-Time thoroughly explores Dogen’s teaching on how we practice as Buddhas by understanding the relationship between being and time as it is—and as we perceive it to be. Using Dogen’s Shobogenzo Uji (The True Dharma Eye, Being-Time), Shinshu Roberts offers a twofold analysis of this teaching: the meaning of the text and practice with the text, giving examples how we apply Dogen’s complex teaching to our daily lives.

    James Ford, an excellent storyteller and longtime Zen practitioner, presents a detailed and beautiful description of the craft of zazen, including “just sitting” and various forms of breath meditation—but focuses primarily on koan introspection. The power of koans, these 'public cases' from China, has never ceased to enrich my own experience of Zen. They are a medium of exploration of the history, culture, and view of Zen, but most importantly are a medium of awakening. James Ford is fundamentally a koan person, and for this, the book is particularly rich, opening the practice of koans in a splendid way. I am grateful for his long experience as a teacher and practitioner of this rare and powerful practice. Since the word koan has found its way into popular English usage, I am grateful too for the more nuanced and fertile view of koans that Ford presents. His definition of the word is telling: “a koan points to something of deep importance, and invites us to stand in that place.” He has also has created a wonderful translation of the Heart Sutra, Zen’s central scripture—and carefully opens up the heart of the Heart Sutra through scholarship and practice. Rich in textual sources and woven throughout with the perspectives of contemporary teachers, Introduction to Zen Koans sheds new light on ancient teachings. Through it, the reader will discover the importance of lineage, the traceless traces of the Zen ancestors, and the places of “just sitting” and koan practice as paths to awakening, as the great doorways into Zen.” —from the foreword by Joan Halifax

     “Sanctuary” is the home we can return to when our lives are under threat, where we can face what's difficult to love, and have a place where we can truly say, “I am home”—and spiritual teachers often emphasize sanctuary’s inner dimensions, that “our true home” is within. “Homelessness,” in turn, can be viewed as a forced experience or one in which there is a spiritual void in being or feeling home. Drawing from her life as a Zen Buddhist priest whose ancestors labored as slaves in Louisiana, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel explores the tension between oppression—based on race, religion, ability, class, orientation, gender, and other “ghosts of slavery”—and finding home within our own hearts. Through intimate personal stories and deep reflection, Manuel helps us see the moment when the unacknowledged surfaces as “the time we have been practicing for,” the epiphany when we can investigate the true source what has been troubling us. This insightful book about home and homelessness, sanctuary and refuge offers inspiration, encouragement, and a clear-eyed view of cultivating a spiritual path in challenging times.

    However, she came to question not only contemporary American values but also traditional monastic ones. This book is about becoming an adult—about sexuality, religion, work, ethics, and individuality—but it is also about being a human being trying to be happy. Questioning is a theme that runs throughout the book: how can I be happy? What is true? What is authentic? The reader is invited along a journey that is difficult, inspiring, sad, funny, and sincere.

    Asian & Asian American Studies. Religion and Spirituality. Buddhism. Translated by Red Pine. Empty Bowl is proud to present Red Pine's newest offering: two sutras that record a day in the life of the Buddha when the Buddha was teaching the Prajnaparamita, the teaching that formed the basis of Buddhism's Mahayana path. Not only are they among the shortest Prajnaparamita texts, they're connected and read as if they span the events of a single day. In the Empty Bowl Sutra, which appears here in English for the first time, the Buddha's disciples' question Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, on his way to town to beg for food, and he responds with the teaching of emptiness--that anything we might think of as real is illusory and its thingness based on nothing more than our own projections. In the Diamond Sutra, the translation of which has benefitted from recently discovered Sanskrit copies, the Buddha returns from his own begging round and tells his disciples what results when they combine this teaching with the vow to liberate others. In using the most significant events in his own career as an example, the Buddha presents one of the earliest accounts of how buddhas become buddhas.Both sutras are presented together in a 5X7 chapbook, saddle stitched, with an introduction but minimum of notes so that readers can experience the force of these texts uninterrupted and in a convenient hand-held, open-page format.

    He was an illiterate woodcutter who famously attained enlightenment after only hearing a single line of the Diamond Sutra, and who went on to decisively upstage senior monks with a poem that demonstrated the depth and clarity of his insight. His example has demonstrated to generations of students and spiritual seekers worldwide that enlightenment is attainable regardless of education or social standing. His exhortations to directly perceive one's true nature, right here and now, still reverberate in contemporary Zen. Shodo Harada Roshi’s fresh reading of the Platform Sutra offers both the history behind the work and the lived experience of its wisdom. In a plain-English, conversational voice, Shodo Harada brings the sutra to life for his students, discussing and explaining its central points chapter by chapter and illustrating it with his own beautiful calligraphy. This is an essential Buddhist text brought to life.

    864–949) was a master of the Chinese Zen (Chan) tradition and one of the most influential teachers in its history, showing up in many famous koans—in one of which he’s credited with the famous line, “Every day is a good day.” His teachings are said to permeate heaven and earth, to address immediately and totally the state and conditions of his audience, and to cut off even the slightest trace of duality. In this classic study of Master Yunmen, historian and Buddhist scholar Urs App clearly elucidates the encompassing and penetrating nature of Yunmen’s teachings, provides pioneering translations of his numerous talks and dialogues, and includes a brief history of Chinese Zen, a biography of the master, and a wealth of resource materials.

    Returning to the uncomplicated genuineness of the original and classical Zen masters, Foyan offers many simple exercises in attention and thought designed to lead to the awakening of Zen insight into the real nature of the self. These succinct teachings emphasize independence and autonomy, and show us how to open our own eyes and stand on our own two feet, to see directly without delusion and act on truth without confusion. Translator Thomas Cleary provides an incisive introduction and extensive references from traditional Zen sources, placing the work in both historical and contemporary contexts. Newcomers to Zen will find this book a useful and sophisticated introduction to authentic inner Zen practices from an impeccable source, without cultural exoticism or religious cultism. Instant Zen sheds new light on this vital tradition, making available the immediacy of Zen practice and unveiling our innate potential for conscious awakening.