Buddhist Practice on Western Ground

Buddhist Practice on Western Ground
Author: Harvey Aronson
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2004-08-10
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 0834823527

This is the first book to offer Buddhist meditators a comprehensive and sympathetic examination of the differences between Asian and Western cultural and spiritual values. Harvey B. Aronson presents a constructive and practical assessment of common conflicts experienced by Westerners who look to Eastern spiritual traditions for guidance and support—and find themselves confused or disappointed. Issues addressed include: • Our cultural belief that anger should not be suppressed versus the Buddhist teaching to counter anger and hatred • Our psychotherapists' advice that attachment is the basis for healthy personal development and supportive relationships versus the Buddhist condemnation of attachments as the source of suffering • Our culture's emphasis on individuality versus the Asian emphasis on interdependence and fulfillment of duties, and the Buddhist teachings on no-self, or egolessness

Engaged Buddhism in the West

Engaged Buddhism in the West
Author: Christopher S. Queen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2012-11-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0861718410

Engaged Buddhism is founded on the belief that genuine spiritual practice requires an active involvement in society. Engaged Buddhism in the West illuminates the evolution of this new chapter in the Buddhist tradition - including its history, leadership, and teachings - and addresses issues such as violence and peace, race and gender, homelessness, prisons, and the environment. Eighteen new studies explore the activism of renowned leaders and organizations, such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Bernard Glassman, Joanna Macy, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and the Free Tibet Movement, and the emergence of a new Buddhism in North America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia.

The Making of Buddhist Modernism

The Making of Buddhist Modernism
Author: David L. McMahan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2008-11-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199884781

A great deal of Buddhist literature and scholarly writing about Buddhism of the past 150 years reflects, and indeed constructs, a historically unique modern Buddhism, even while purporting to represent ancient tradition, timeless teaching, or the "essentials" of Buddhism. This literature, Asian as well as Western, weaves together the strands of different traditions to create a novel hybrid that brings Buddhism into alignment with many of the ideologies and sensibilities of the post-Enlightenment West. In this book, David McMahan charts the development of this "Buddhist modernism." McMahan examines and analyzes a wide range of popular and scholarly writings produced by Buddhists around the globe. He focuses on ideological and imaginative encounters between Buddhism and modernity, for example in the realms of science, mythology, literature, art, psychology, and religious pluralism. He shows how certain themes cut across cultural and geographical contexts, and how this form of Buddhism has been created by multiple agents in a variety of times and places. His position is critical but empathetic: while he presents Buddhist modernism as a construction of numerous parties with varying interests, he does not reduce it to a mistake, a misrepresentation, or fabrication. Rather, he presents it as a complex historical process constituted by a variety of responses -- sometimes trivial, often profound -- to some of the most important concerns of the modern era.

Myth of Meditation

Myth of Meditation
Author: Paramananda
Publisher: Windhorse Publications
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2019-05-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1911407228

Paramananda guides us in grounding meditative experience in the body, turning towards experience in a kindly and intelligent way, and seeing through to another way of understanding and being in the world.

Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up

Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up
Author: B. Alan Wallace
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2016-04-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0861717902

As long as our minds are dominated by the conditions of the external world, we are bound to remain in a state of dissatisfaction, always vulnerable to grief and fear. How then can we develop an inner sense of well-being and redefine our relationship to a world that seems unavoidably painful and unkind? Many have found a practical answer to that question in the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. Here at last is an organized overview of these teachings, beginning with the basic themes of the sutras--the general discourses of the Buddha--and continuing through the esoteric concepts and advanced practices of Tantra. Unlike other introductions to Tibetan Buddhism, this accessible, enjoyable work doesn't stop with theory and history, but relates timeless spiritual principles to the pressing issues of modern life, both in terms of our daily experience and our uniquely Western world view. This fascinating, highly readable book asks neither unquestioning faith nor blind obedience to abstract concepts or religious beliefs. Rather, it challenges us to question and investigate life's issues for ourselves in the light of an ancient and effective approach to the sufferings and joys of the human condition.

Buddhist Practice on Western Ground

Buddhist Practice on Western Ground
Author: Harvey B. Aronson
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2004
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781590300930

A comprehensive and sympathetic examination of the differences between Eastern spiritual ideals and Western cultural values explores the expectations that Westerners bring to Buddhism, common problems they experience, and helpful methods of identifying and working with difficulties that arise from this culture conflict. Original.

A Monk's Guide to Happiness

A Monk's Guide to Happiness
Author: Gelong Thubten
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2020-08-11
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1250266831

“Thubten is able to explain meditation using clear language and an approach which really speaks to our modern tech-infused lives.” —Rami Jawhar, Program Manager at Google Arts & Culture In our never-ending search for happiness we often find ourselves looking to external things for fulfillment, thinking that happiness can be unlocked by buying a bigger house, getting the next promotion, or building a perfect family. In this profound and inspiring book, Gelong Thubten shares a practical and sustainable approach to happiness. Thubten, a Buddhist monk and meditation expert who has worked with everyone from school kids to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Benedict Cumberbatch, explains how meditation and mindfulness can create a direct path to happiness. A Monk’s Guide to Happiness explores the nature of happiness and helps bust the myth that our lives and minds are too busy for meditation. The book can show you how to: Learn practical methods to help you choose happiness Develop greater compassion for yourself and others Learn to meditate in micro-moments during a busy day Discover that you are naturally ‘hard-wired’ for happiness Reading A Monk’s Guide to Happiness could revolutionize your relationship with your thoughts and emotions, and help you create a life of true happiness and contentment. “His writing is full of inspiration but also the pragmatism needed to form a sustainable practice. His book clearly illustrates why we all need meditation and mindfulness in our lives.” —Benedict Cumberbatch “[A] powerful debut . . . a highly accessible and jargon-free introduction to meditation.” —Publishers Weekly

Buddhism and Psychotherapy Across Cultures

Buddhism and Psychotherapy Across Cultures
Author: Mark Unno
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2006-07-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0861715071

As Buddhism and psychotherapy have grown and diversified in Asia and the West, so too has the literature dealing with their intersection. In this collection of essays, leading voices explore many surprising connections between psychotherapy and Buddhism. Contributors include Jack Engler on "Promises and Perils of the Spiritual Path," Taitetsu Unno on "Naikan Therapy and Shin Buddhism," and Anne Carolyn Klein on "Psychology, the Sacred, and Energetic Sensing."

A Buddhist History of the West

A Buddhist History of the West
Author: David R. Loy
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0791489124

Buddhism teaches that to become happy, greed, ill-will, and delusion must be transformed into their positive counterparts: generosity, compassion, and wisdom. The history of the West, like all histories, has been plagued by the consequences of greed, ill-will, and delusion. A Buddhist History of the West investigates how individuals have tried to ground themselves to make themselves feel more real. To be self-conscious is to experience ungroundedness as a sense of lack, but what is lacking has been understood differently in different historical periods. Author David R. Loy examines how the understanding of lack changes at historical junctures and shows how those junctures were so crucial in the development of the West.

Buddhist Practice and Visual Culture

Buddhist Practice and Visual Culture
Author: Julie Gifford
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2011-03-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136817956

Providing an overall interpretation of the Buddhist monument Borobudur in Indonesia, this book looks at Mahayana Buddhist religious ideas and practices that could have informed Borobudur, including both the narrative reliefs and the Buddha images. The author explores a version of the classical Mahayana that foregrounds the importance of the visual in relation to Buddhist philosophy, meditation, devotion, and ritual. The book goes on to show that the architects of Borobudur designed a visual world in which the Buddha appeared in a variety of forms and could be interpreted in three ways: by realizing the true nature of his teaching, through visionary experience, and by encountering his numinous presence in images. Furthermore, the book analyses a particularly comprehensive and programmatic expression of Mahayana Buddhist visual culture so as to enrich the theoretical discussion of the monument. It argues that the relief panels of Borobudur do not passively illustrate, but rather creatively "picture" selected passages from texts. Presenting new material, the book contributes immensely to a new and better understanding of the significance of the Borobudur for the field of Buddhist and Religious Studies.