That wish has come true for us. Now what? In this radically illuminating book, Alan Cohen delves into one of the world’s most venerated wisdom texts for answers and brings the lofty and enigmatic concepts of the Tao Te Ching down to earth in fresh, easy-to-grasp language with practical, personal examples we can use to uplift our daily lives.Most other interpretations of the Tao march through the stanzas one by one. Here Alan Cohen calls forth the ancient verses around themes that are central to our modern lives —from love to work to the lessons we learn from pain. Then he brings each message to life in short vignettes where he imagines himself a student of Lao Tse and interacts with the master directly and intimately. He invites you to join the ancient sage and the contemporary seeker as they wend their way through the challenges and triumphs of the same journey you’re taking yourself.

    Your life, just as it is, is the perfect place to be. Jack Kornfield, one of America's most respected Buddhist teachers, shares this and other key lessons gleaned from more than forty years of committed study and practice. Topics include:    • How to cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity    • Conscious parenting    • Spirituality and sexuality    • The way of forgiveness    • Committing ourselves to healing the suffering in the world Bringing Home the Dharma includes simple meditation practices for awakening our buddha nature—our wise and understanding heart—amid the ups and downs of our ordinary daily lives.

    His teaching was noted for its stirring beauty and power, as well as for its applicability to all people, regardless of religious or philosophical background. This book gathers together three of Inayat Khan's most beloved essays on the spiritual life from among the fourteen volumes of his collected works:    • "The Inner Life": Inayat Kahn's sublime portrait of the person whose life is a radiant reflection of the Divine    • "Sufi Mysticism": in which the author identifies and shatters the common misconceptions about mysticism to reveal its true meaning    • "The Path of Initiation and Discipleship": What it means to set out on the spiritual path and how to find and maintain the right relationship with a teacher

    

    Yogananda is one of the world's most widely known and universally respected spiritual masters. His Autobiography of a Yogi has helped stimulate a spiritual awakening in the West and a spiritual renaissance in his native land of India.More than half a century ago, in a hilltop ashram in Los Angeles, California, an American disciple sat at the feet of his Master, faithfully recording his words as his teacher had asked him to do. Paramhansa Yogananda knew this disciple would carry his message to people everywhere.Kriyananda was often present when Yogananda spoke privately with other close disciples; when he received visitors and answered their questions; when he was dictating and discussing his important writings. Yogananda put Kriyananda in charge of the other monks, and gave him advice for their spiritual development. In all these situations, Kriyananda recorded the words and guidance of Yogananda, preserving for the ages wisdom that would otherwise have been lost, and giving us an intimate glimpse of life with Yogananda never before shared by any other student.These Conversations include not only Yogananda's words as he first spoke them, but also the added insight of an intimate disciple who has spent more than 50 years reflecting on and practicing the teachings of Yogananda. Through these Conversations, Yogananda comes alive. Time and space dissolve. We sit at the feet of the Master, listen to his words, receive his wisdom, delight in his humor, and are transformed by his love.

    This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

    As the novel opens, Jack's twin brother, a Denver homicide detective, has just killed himself. Or so it seems. But when Jack begins to investigate the phenomenon of police suicides, a disturbing pattern emerges, and soon suspects that a serial murderer is at work - a devious cop killer who's left a coast-to-coast trail of "suicide notes" drawn from the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. It's the story of a lifetime - except that "the Poet" already seems to know that Jack is trailing him. . . Here is definitive proof that Michael Connelly is among the best suspense novelists working today. Blood Work: Thanks to a heart transplant, former FBI agent Terrell McCaleb is enjoying a quiet retirement, renovating the fishing boat he lives on in Los Angeles Harbor. But McCaleb's calm seas turn choppy when a story in the "What Happened To?" column of the LA Times brings him face-to-face with the sister of the woman whose heart now beats in his chest. From her, McCaleb learns a terrible truth: that the donor of his heart was not killed in an accident, as he'd been told, but was murdered. Wracked with guilt over the fact that he's alive because another human being was killed, McCaleb embarks on a private investigation of his donor's murder - a crime as horrific as anything he ever encountered as a serial killer investigator for the FBI.

    By one account, Gibran is the third bestselling poet of all time, after Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.In this beautiful gift book, we discover the essential wisdom about what it means to be alive. For Gibran life is the energy that saturates all we see and feel--as well as what we can only imagine. Here are over 100 fables, aphorisms, parables, stories, and poems from the author of The Prophet.Here on display is that visionary voice of comfort, love, and tolerance.Listing to Nature's LifeTaking time to listen to the natural world reveals a new dimension of beinghuman. It is as if all of nature were already within us, reminding us of ourconnection to the one life we share.SolitudeSolitude is a silent stormthat breaks down all our dead branches.Yet it sends our living roots deeperinto the living heart of the living earth.

    Being Mortal by Atul Gawande - A 20-minute Summary Inside this Instaread Summary: • Overview of the entire book• Introduction to the important people in the book• Summary and analysis of all the chapters in the book• Key Takeaways of the book• A Reader's Perspective Preview of this summary: Chapter 1 Gawande grew up in Ohio. His parents were immigrants from India and both were doctors. His grandparents stayed in India, and there were few older people in his neighborhood, so he had little experience with aging or death until he met his wife’s grandmother, Alice Hobson. Hobson was seventy-seven and living on her own in Virginia. She was a spirited widow who fixed her own plumbing and volunteered with Meals On Wheels. However, Hobson was losing strength and height steadily each year as her arthritis worsened.Gawande’s father enthusiastically adopted the customs of his new country, but he could not understand the way in which seniors were treated in the US. In India, the elderly were treated with great respect and lived out their lives with family.In the United States, Sitaram Gawande, Gawande’s grandfather, likely would have been sent to a nursing home like most of the elderly who cannot handle the basics of daily living by themselves. However, in India, Sitaram Gawande was able to live in his own home and manage his own affairs, with family constantly around him. He died at the age of one hundred and ten when he fell off a bus during a business trip.Until recently, most elderly people stayed with their families. Even as the nuclear family unit became predominant, replacing the multi-generational family unit, people cared for their elderly relatives. Families were large and one child, usually a daughter, would not marry in order to take care of the parents.This has changed in much of the world, where elderly people end up struggling to live alone, like Hobson, rather than living with dignity amid family, like Sitaram Gawande.One cause of this change can be found in the nature of knowledge. When few people lived to be very old, elders were honored. Their store of knowledge was greatly useful. People often portrayed themselves as older to command respect. Modern society’s emphasis on youth is a complete reversal of this attitude. Technological advances are perceived as the territory of the young, and everyone wants to be younger. High-tech job opportunities are all over the world, and young people do not hesitate to leave their parents behind to pursue them.In developed countries, parents embrace the concept of a retirement filled with leisure activities. Parents are happy to begin living for themselves once children are grown. However, this system only works for young, healthy retirees, but not for those who cannot continue to be independent. Hobson, for example, was falling frequently and suffering memory lapses. Her doctor did tests and wrote prescriptions, but did not know what to do about her deteriorating condition. Neither did her family… About the Author With Instaread Summaries, you can get the summary of a book in 30 minutes or less. We read every chapter, summarize and analyze it for your convenience.

    Experiencing is seamless and intimate, made of “knowing” or awareness alone. This intimacy, in which there is no room for selves, objects, or others, is love itself. It lies at the heart of all experience, completely available under all circumstances.

     Not anymore. Forget all Kundalini books.Most of them are either very abstract, occult, esoteric, with hidden information to not “enrage the Masters” or very “Goddess,” “physically focused,” “Westernized Yoga.”Not this one.No compromises with any guru, organization or tradition.No secrets held back.No dogmas or elaborated rhetoric masquerading as true knowledge.No agenda.No BS.No Kundalini questions shall remain unanswered.Not only for “high initiates” or members of “hidden societies.”It is for you. In simple and modern language. What you will find in the book: Rare Kundalini wisdom not found anywhere else. Disclosing the different levels of Kundalini awakening, its journey, and relation to Consciousness and Being. Know why awakening the Kundalini is of utter importance. Explanations on how to awaken it, raise it, and melt it into descending to its final reposing place. Real and direct first-hand knowledge—not from reading books or hearing stories. Suggestions for a powerful yet simple Kundalini Yoga routine. Straightforward practical instructions only. The Consequences of Kundalini Awakening and Grounding tricks to lessen any adverse side-effects. Revealing the truth about spiritual experiences and how to go beyond them. Cosmic Kundalini, “I-ego” and pure Consciousness uncovered. Helpful tips on how to prevent the “Kundalini syndrome,” for a safe awakening of the Kundalini energy. The complete unveiling of the Spiritual Heart, one of the biggest enigmas in the whole of spirituality, in a clear and understandable way. And much more. This book is not for followers of any tradition in particular, but for those whose heart and mind are open to receive love and wisdom.The Crown Chakra is not the end. This book will teach you how to go beyond it, into your deathless and infinite non-dual awareness, where complete fulfillment, peace, love, and joy live. That’s the true Home of the Kundalini. That’s your true Home. Are you ready?

    Here you discover that an ancient Peruvian manuscript has disappeared. Although few Westerners know of its existence and a government wants to suppress it, this precious document contains an important secret: the nine Insights the human race is predicted to grasp as we enter an era of true spiritual awareness. To find the manuscript, you will journey high into the Andes mountains and into the deepest places of the self. When the last of the nine Insights is revealed to you, you will have an exciting new image of human life, and a positive vision of how we will save this planet, its creatures and its beauty. But one Insight will still be missing...

    From central ideas like the Eight Fold Path and the Four Noble Truths to the role of meditation, Buddhism offers an indispensible introduction to the wisdom tradition that has shaped the lives of millions of people across centuries and continents. Writing in an engaging, approachable style, author Joan Duncan Oliver outlines the key tenants of Buddhism for every reader, unpacking complex philosophies and revealing the beauty of the timeless faith.A practitioner of Buddhist meditation for over thirty years, Oliver has written extensively on the subject and is uniquely well versed in Buddhist practice. Her expert knowledge and understanding make Buddhism an essential modern guidebook to an ancient tradition.

    Find enlightenment with these one-hundred twenty-two traditional Buddhist Zen koans -- stories, dialogues, questions, or statements, used in Zen-practice to provoke the "great doubt," and test a student's progress in Zen practice.

    In these essays, Einstein views science as the basis for a "cosmic" religion, embraced by scientists, theologians, and all who share a sense of wonder in the rationality and beauty of the universe. In the course of his career, Einstein wrote more than 300 scientific and 150 nonscientific publications. These essays date from the 1930s and 40s. In direct, everyday language the author develops a coherent view that transcends both the antiquated religion of fear and the modern religion of ethics. His concept of cosmic religion combines science and religion, with science forming the basis for a more enlightened religion. In these essays and aphorisms, Einstein also reflects on pacifism, disarmament, and Zionism. In addition to a brief biography of the author, this volume includes a warm appreciation by George Bernard Shaw.