Buddhist Religion

From the best-selling author of the biography of Shunryu Suzuki (Crooked Cucumber), comes a memoir and oral history of Tassajara—a monastery founded in 1967 by Shunryu Suzuki, abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. Peopled like a Sixties film of Buddhist invasion, with hippies, dreamers, lovers, a wave of serious practitioners. Nyogen Senzaki, D.T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, and of course Shunryu Suzuki and Richard Baker are all here. This is the story of what happened at and surrounding the founding of the first Zen monastery in the West.

Buddhism goes beyond a philosophical framework; it's a way of life that has brought peace to millions over centuries. By meticulously applying these principles, many have transformed their lives and successfully turned pain into a source of growth and understanding. Now, join the exploration of how these practices can be a beacon in your life, bridging the gap between ancient wisdom and modern needs.

Dinty Moore set out to explore America's fascination with Buddhism and found himself enthralled. You will be too, as Moore takes you into the world of American-style Buddhism, from a mountain retreat for executives learning to deal with stress to a Tibetan Freedom Concert with the Beastie Boys.

Are you tired of going through the motions and dealing with the same old problems? Regardless of your circumstances, it is important to know just one thing: you can change your life for the better. A spiritual approach to life in the philosophy of Buddhism is practiced in the East and by millions of people in the West. The wisdom of the Buddha, explained through the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path provides insight into the mysticism of the karmic cycle of life, death and rebirth.

The book The Way of Zen Buddhism & Zen Mind for Beginners goes beyond teachings of spirituality. The main focus of the book is to empower you to reach your full potential as an individual. Here, you’ll be introduced to Zen minimalist aesthetics, which will help you go from zero to abundance in no time.

If the Buddha were alive today, what would he say about the unique challenges we face? In Tea and Cake With Demons, NYC-based mindfulness and meditation teacher Adreanna Limbach shares a down-to-earth, often humorous, and delightfully insightful discussion of Buddhism through the lens of modern life - and all our cultural, technological, and still-timeless obstacles. Throughout, Adreanna shares simple meditation practices, personal anecdotes, and traditional Buddhist tales that help you embrace the full experience of being human.

Matthew Bentley has been a Buddhist practitioner and occasional teacher for the past 24 years, and has studied Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana practices. In an effort to spread the scientifically established benefits of Buddhist meditation to those uncomfortable with religious practice, 10 foundational techniques are presented with explanations and guidance.

The Mindfulness of Breathing meditation has been practised in the Buddhist tradition for 2,500 years. It is now widely used not just among Buddhists but increasingly in the secular world as the basis of mindfulness training, and in other contexts such as yoga and, in recent times, stress and pain management. After all, as the author and teacher Vessantara observes: ‘The breath is always with us, necessary to our very existence, though it is often goes unnoticed. Yet giving it attention can transform our lives.' In The Breath, Vessantara, who has been meditating on the breath for over 40 years, writes engagingly for both newcomers and those with some experience.

In Seeking Peace, Mary Pipher tells her own remarkable story, and in the process reveals truths about our search for happiness and love. While her story is unique, "the basic map and milestones of my story are universal," she writes. "We strive to make sense of our selves and our environments." In Seeking Peace, she recounts how she tried to achieve that.

On the spiritual path we speak of enlightenment. But how do we reconcile the idea of enlightenment with what we see when we look in the mirror - when insecurities, doubts, and self-centered tendencies arise in our minds? Dzigar Kongtrül suggests that we need not feel "doomed" when these experiences surface. In fact, such experiences are not a problem if we are able to simply let them arise without judging them or investing them with so much meaning. This approach to experience is what Kongtrül calls self-reflection.

Buddhism teaches us to live with wisdom, tranquility, and compassion. In his new book, Katsuki Ohgami has compiled some of the most profound and spiritual proverbs that act as a source of inspiration and a focus for your meditation. Day by day, it gives us the opportunity to increase our wisdom and gain understanding by incorporating the insights of Buddha into our daily lives.

The term meditation is often spoken of as a single, uniform practice, but in fact there are innumerable techniques that can be employed to achieve different ends. However, to make real progress in any practice, the methods need to be paired with a view of how our minds and our experience of the world around us really work. In this uncommonly practical and experiential guide, Phakchok Rinpoche teaches us how to achieve this correct view so we can genuinely practice a meditation that will transform our lives by helping us abandon our own bad habits and hypocrisy.

A fascinating biography of Freda Bedi, an English woman who broke all the rules of gender, race, and religious background to become both a revolutionary in the fight for Indian independence and then a Buddhist icon. She was the first Western woman to become a Tibetan Buddhist nun - but that pioneering ordination was really just one in a life full of revolutionary acts. Freda Bedi broke the rules of gender, race, and religion - in many cases before it was thought that the rules were ready to be challenged.

In little time, Loy has become one of the most powerful advocates of the Buddhist worldview, explaining like no one else its ability to transform the sociopolitical landscape of the modern world. In this, his most accessible work to date, he offers sharp and even shockingly clear presentations of oft-misunderstood Buddhist staples - the working of karma, the nature of self, the causes of trouble on both the individual and societal levels - and the real reasons behind our collective sense of "never enough", whether it's time, money, sex, security...even war.

Having realized, as a 16 year old in pre-WWII London, that he was a Buddhist, the early life of Dennis Lingwood and his path to becoming a bhikkhu named Sangharakshita is a most extraordinary personal story. He was serving as a signals officer in India when, at the conclusion of the war, he threw away his official identity cards, took off his uniform, donned yellow robes and set off, barefooted, along the dusty paths of India as a spiritual seeker, begging for his food, as the Buddha did 2,500 years ago.

Buddhism has been applied to everything from parenting to golf, but until now no one has offered Buddhist principles as a healing path through divorce. In Storms Can't Hurt the Sky, Gabriel Cohen bravely delves into his personal experience - along with insights from Buddhist masters, parables, humor, social science studies, and interviews with other divorces - to provide a practical and very helpful guide to surviving the pain of any breakup.

In today's fast-paced world, many women are searching for ways to find greater peace, balance, and fulfilment in their daily lives. Practical Buddhism for Modern Life offers a comprehensive guide to the key teachings and practices of Buddhism, tailored specifically to the needs and challenges for the women of today.

Learn how Buddhism, the fourth largest religion in the world, can help you deal better with suffering and also improve your mental capabilities like focus, empathy, etc. The truth is that everyone faces personal struggle as they navigate through life. It’s just inevitable. To not expect obstacles or suffering is as naive as not preparing for them. But what preparation can we do to deal with suffering? This is not exactly a new question we’re asking here. Eastern religion and spirituality have been providing us with many solutions for ages.

Of all the Buddhist meditations, lovingkindness is thought to have the most immediate effect on shifting the negative thought patterns of your mind into positive ones. No matter the degree you allow negative thought patterns to dominate your thinking, supplanting them with lovingkindness will improve your life experience.

The Dhammapada is the single most important extant Buddhist text. It is unquestionably 'the voice of the Buddha' where many of his key ideas are presented in a cogent verse form. It opens: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought", and each of the following sections gives clear guidance on how to change our thought. Also included on this recording are other key Buddhist concepts illustrated by original texts.