"Darsan, " a Sanskrit word that means "seeing," is an aid to our vision, a book of ideas to help us read, think, and look at Hindu images with appreciation and imagination.

    The message for the retreat participants—and for the reader as well—is to be with oneself without embarrassment or harshness. This is instruction on how to love oneself and one's world. This Shambhala Pocket Classic is an abridged version of The Wisdom of No Escape.

    Depending on where you live, you might be able to find a coven or circle where you can meet fellow Wiccans and ask questions, but most newcomers to Wicca find themselves traveling solo.Luckily, there is no shortage of information about the "Old Religion" in print and online. Yet with all of the diverse and often conflicting perspectives out there, it can be hard to know where to begin. That's why best-selling author Lisa Chamberlain created the Wicca Starter Kit, bringing together 3 of her top guides-Finding Your Path, Magical Deities, and Living a Magical Life-to get your journey well underway.Finding Your Path: A Guide to Wiccan Traditions, Solitary Practitioners, Eclectic Witches, Covens and CirclesOne of Wicca's greatest strengths as a spiritual practice is the variety of paths one can choose from. Perhaps you want to join a coven within an established tradition, or maybe a more individualized practice is your calling. In Finding Your Path, you'll learn about the wide spectrum of contemporary Wiccan practice, from traditional "orthodox" covens to looser, more "eclectic" covens and circles, as well as the more recent phenomenon of solitary practice, which has appeal for both traditional and eclectic Wiccans alike.Lisa covers everything you need to know about covens and circles, including their history, their structures, and how to find your Wiccan community. You'll also be introduced to the main Wiccan traditions: Gardnerian, Alexandrian, and Dianic, as well as other less common traditions. If you don't already have a sense of the amazing diversity of this innovative religion, you certainly will after reading this book!Magical Deities: A Guide to the Wiccan God and Goddess, and Choosing a Deity to Work Magic WithMagical Deities provides an orientation to the concept of divinity within the Wiccan belief system. You'll learn about the Wiccan Goddess and God-the ageless, timeless manifestations of the feminine and masculine energies at work in our world-and their various names, forms, and representations found in contemporary Wiccan practice. As with so many elements of Wicca, beliefs about divinity are varied, with some emphasizing traditional duotheism and others taking a polytheistic approach.You'll learn about the difference between these two spiritual orientations, and find advice for developing your own unique connection with the divine masculine and feminine. You'll also be introduced to sixteen ancient deities who often function as "aspects" of the God and Goddess within Wiccan practices, drawn from ancient civilizations that have influenced modern Wicca: the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans, and the Celts. Finally, you'll find ideas for honoring and working with these deities in your magical practice.Living a Magical Life: A Guide to Initiation and Navigating Your Journey in the CraftNew Wiccans will encounter two essential questions: 1) should you formalize your practice of the Craft with an initiation ritual? and 2) how do you integrate your new beliefs into your day-to-day life?In Living a Magical Life, Lisa addresses questions regarding coven initiation and solitary self-dedication, as well as less often-discussed topics like navigating common obstacles along your spiritual path, leaving behind old beliefs that no longer serve you, and developing and strengthening your inner psychic guidance system. There's also a step-by-step solitary initiation ritual you can p

    The texts were written between the ninth and the seventeenth centuries and convey each author's underlying sense of the world and what is to be valued in it. Four Huts presents original translations by Burton Watson—one of the most respected translators of Chinese and Japanese literature. The qualities that emerge from these writings are an awareness of impermanence, love of nature, fondness for poetry and music, and an appreciation of the quiet life. Four Huts features eleven brush paintings by artist Stephen Addiss.

    In Polynesia we set sail with navigators whose ancestors settled the Pacific ten centuries before Christ. In the Amazon we meet the descendants of a true lost civilization, the Peoples of the Anaconda. In the Andes we discover that the earth really is alive, while in Australia we experience Dreamtime, the all-embracing philosophy of the first humans to walk out of Africa. We then travel to Nepal, where we encounter a wisdom hero, a Bodhisattva, who emerges from forty-five years of Buddhist retreat and solitude. And finally we settle in Borneo, where the last rain forest nomads struggle to survive. Understanding the lessons of this journey will be our mission for the next century. For at risk is the human legacy--a vast archive of knowledge and expertise, a catalog of the imagination. Rediscovering a new appreciation for the diversity of the human spirit, as expressed by culture, is among the central challenges of our time.

    In Meditations on Living, Dying and Loss, Graham Coleman, the editor of Viking?s acclaimed unabridged translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, collects the most beautifully written passages, ones that draw out the central perspectives most relevant to modern experience: What is death? How can we help those who are dying? And how can we come to terms with bereavement? New to this edition are Coleman?s introduction and his brilliant and incisive essays, which preface each chapter and provide the seeker entrée to these ancient insights. With introductory commentary by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and a highly praised translation by Gyurme Dorje, this succinct but authoritative volume will convey the profundity of the original to those hungry for a better understanding of this life and the next.

    The translation adheres closely to the original Japanese, with a clear style and extensive annotations. Book 1 presents translations of twenty-one chapters of Shobogenzo including Genjo-koan (The Realized Universe), Soku-shin-ze-butsu (Mind Here & Now is Buddha), Uji (Existence-Time), and Sansuigyo (The Sutra of Mountains & Water). Its several reference sections include a Chinese/English appendix of references to the Lotus Sutra, and an extensive Sanskrit glossary. 'At last I visited Zen Master Nyojo of Dai-byaku-ho mountain, and there I was able to complete the great task of a lifetime of practice. After that, at the beginning of the great Sung era of Shojo, I came home determined to spread the Dharma and to save living beings, it was as if a heavy burden had been placed on my shoulders....I will leave this record to people who learn in practice and are easy in the truth, so that they can know the right Dharma of the Buddha's lineage. This may be a true mission.'

    One of the great classics of world literature, it has inspired such diverse thinkers as Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, and T.S. Eliot; most recently, it formed the core of Peter Brook's celebrated production of the Mahabharata.

    Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu’s disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzussu, The Second Book of the Tao offers Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with Taoism or Buddhism or old or new alone, but everything to do with truth. Mitchell has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao and adapted them into versions that reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts with a thrilling new power. Alongside each adaptation, Mitchell includes his own commentary, at once explicating and complementing the text. This book is a twenty-first-century form of ancient wisdom, bringing a new, homemade sequel to the Tao Te Ching into the modern world. Mitchell’s renditions are radiantly lucid; they dig out the vision that’s hiding beneath the words; they grab the text by the scruff of the neck—by its heart, really—and let its essential meanings fall out. The book introduces us to a cast of vivid characters, most of them humble artisans or servants, who show us what it means to be in harmony with the way things are. Its wisdom provides a psychological and moral acuity as deep as the Tao Te Ching itself.The Second Book of the Tao is a gift to contemporary readers, granting us access to our own fundamental wisdom. Mitchell’s meditations and risky reimagining of the original texts are brilliant and liberating, not least because they keep catching us off-guard, opening up the heavens where before we saw a roof. He makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless.Listen to a special podcast with Stephen Mitchell:

    No matter who we are, we feel fulfillment, happiness, and purpose inside of ourselves. These qualities are not felt outside of ourselves, and cannot be found in external things or circumstances. Similarly, knowledge of ourselves and our purpose cannot be found in external things, but are found inside. By knowing what is in our hearts and minds, by seeing what we usually ignore, we learn not only what we are capable of, but also what prevents us from developing our full potential. By knowing ourselves, we acquire the knowledge of how to change for the better. As we improve ourselves and awaken to our true nature, we spontaneously begin to radiate the light of divinity in everything we do, increasing our own happiness, and spreading it to others. This is how we begin to live the Gnostic message, which states that the light of the Divine is within us. By knowing ourselves, we also learn about that light, and can bring it into the world to benefit everyone. "All things, all circumstances that occur outside ourselves on the stage of this world, are exclusively the reflection of what we carry within. With good reason then, we can solemnly declare that the 'exterior is the reflection of the interior.' When someone changes internally-and if that change is radical-then circumstances, life, and the external also change." - Samael Aun Weor This book reflects and illuminates the spiritual psychology of all genuine religions and mystical traditions. With the practical guidance in this book, anyone can awaken to see the light for the Divine for themselves.

    Too many "learn the tarot books" give you a handful of spreads and some keywords to memorize—or they give you endless paragraphs of words you have to try to remember every time you stare at your cards. The result you get from those books is that you will always be "referring back to the book" to figure out what your card means, in a reading. Look: We’ve all been there, and it gets frustrating when you are trying to learn to cast spreads and learn how to tell the future, or know what someone is thinking—or doing—and you end up staring at your cards and getting vague answers. That all stops here, and it all stops now. Simply put, this is the fastest and easiest way to learn how to read cards. That is why it is the #1 tarot textbook in the world. In this book you will learn what your cards mean and how to cast spreads easily: Just look at the cards (which is what you are going to be doing anyway when you are casting spreads for yourself or clients). Written by the #1 tarot teacher in the world, a tarot expert with over 40 years of experience reading cards, and decades of teaching beginning students and professionals. This book holds your hand every step of the way—and even comes with a free video tarot course (over 20 hours of video lessons, no cost, no catch). Our job is to help you actually learn what the card images mean when you look at them so that you are NEVER WRONG and never in doubt. We have you do lots of fun exercises and even play a few games with your cards to sharpen your awareness and strengthen your intuition to the point where someday you won't even need your tarot cards any more. In this book you will develop REAL tarot skills, not just learn some words to memorize or a few generic spreads. Everything in this book has been developed by experts, tested, and used with hundreds of thousands of clients all over the world. Dusty has worked with hundreds of the top tarot readers in the world to develop these techniques, and these are all taught and used by successful students at the House of White Metaphysical Academy. This is the #1 bestselling book on the tarot for the absolute beginner, and anyone who has consistently been frustrated with years of trying to master the tarot. NO MORE KEYWORDS! No more trying to force formula, like numerology or the Kabbalah into the tarot. In this special ebook version you will get to start right into the fun and easy exercises that help you see inside each tarot card, without the dogma and invented “Fool’s Journey” nonsense that is a complete lie (you would find this out anyway after you have read for a while, so you might as well know now). If you stop and think about it for a moment—hands-on practice is the *only way* to develop real tarot skills. You could read dozens of books and never become a truly great tarot reader, and too many people do that every day. With this one book and a deck of cards you will learn how to read your cards in any situation, for yourself or for others, even paying clients, and you will get access to free downloadable worksheets where you can practice your skills and write down your own thoughts on what the cards in your hands mean to you. There simply is no other book like this (even though there are several imitators). This is the *definitive* guide to learning and mastering the Tarot quickly & easily. Unique, fun, easy-to-learn exercises teach you how to hear what the cards are trying to tell you. This is not yet another book of Tarot card meanings.

    The book takes us on a journey through the Steps, examining critical Twelve Step ideas like Powerlessness, Higher Power, and Moral Inventory through the lens of Buddhism. One Breath at a Time presents potent ancient techniques for finding calm and clarity and offers a vision of a Higher Power not tied to traditional Western Judeo-Christian concepts. One Breath at a Time, describes the convergence of two vital traditions, one ancient, the other contemporary, and shows how they are working together to create a rich spiritual path for our times.Certain to resonate with both meditators and those whose mantra is "One day at a time," One Breath at a Time should find a large, welcoming audience.

    Yet few people recognize how to access this tremendous source of guidance and wisdom.Denise Linn, healer and author of Sacred Space and The Secret Language of Signs, calls upon her Cherokee heritage and her knowledge of native cultures around the world to present little-known information regarding dreams. In The Hidden Power of Dreams she presents simple ways to utilize dreams and dreaming for spiritual transformation. Denise herself has journeyed into the space between two worlds through a near-death experience, and has brought back invaluable perceptions from the amazing realm of dreams.This comprehensive book uncovers the power of dreams so that you can:Remember your dreams and recognize their meaningHarness the life-changing qualities of dreamsDevelop the skill of astral projectionHeal yourself, your children, and loved onesMeet your guides and angelsExplore past livesLearn to have prophetic dreamsPLUSA complete dream dictionary of the most prevalent dream symbols and how to interpret them

    Suzuki. In the reissue of his best work, readers are given the very heart of Zen teaching. These writings are brought together to form the most accessible & definitive overview of Zen philosophy available.The sense of ZenZen in relation to Buddhism generallyThe history of Zen Satori, or, EnlightenmentPractical methods of Zen instruction The reason of unreason: the koan exercise The Zen doctrine of no-mind The role of nature in Zen BuddhismExistentialism, pragmatism & ZenPainting, swordsmanship, tea ceremony

    Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.