The Different Paths of Buddhism

The Different Paths of Buddhism
Author: Carl Olson
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2005-01-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0813537789

For centuries, Buddhist teachers and laypeople have used stories, symbols, cultural metaphors, and anecdotes to teach and express their religious views. In this introductory textbook, Carl Olson draws on these narrative traditions to detail the development of Buddhism from the life of the historical Buddha to the present. By organizing the text according to the structure of Buddhist thought and teaching, Olson avoids imposing a Western perspective that traditional texts commonly bring to the subject. The book offers a comprehensive introduction to the main branches of the Buddhist tradition in both the Mahayana and Theravada schools, including the Madhyamika school, the Yogacara school, Pure Land devotionalism, Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and village folk Buddhist traditions. Chapters explore the life and teachings of the Buddha in historical context, the early development and institutionalization of Buddhism, its geographic spread across Asia and eventually to the United States, philosophy and ethics, the relationship between monks and laity, political and ethical implications, the role of women in the Buddhist tradition, and contemporary reinterpretations of Buddhism. Drawn from decades of classroom experience, this creative and ambitious text combines expert scholarship and engaging stories that offer a much-needed perspective to the existing literature on the topic.

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path
Author: Bhikkhu Bodhi
Publisher: Buddhist Publication Society
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2010-12-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 955240116X

The Buddha's teachings center around two basic principles. One is the Four Noble Truths, in which the Buddha diagnoses the problem of suffering and indicates the treatment necessary to remedy this problem. The other is the Noble Eightfold Path, the practical discipline he prescribes to uproot and eliminate the deep underlying causes of suffering. The present book offers, in simple and clear language, a concise yet thorough explanation of the Eightfold Path. Basing himself solidly upon the Buddha's own words, the author examines each factor of the path to determine exactly what it implies in the way of practical training. Finally, in the concluding chapter, he shows how all eight factors of the path function in unison to bring about the realization of the Buddhist goal: enlightenment and liberation.

Why Bother?

Why Bother?
Author: Lama Tsomo
Publisher: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Time
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2020-10-13
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9780999577097

In this book, the first in the series Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times: Tibetan Buddhist Practice, Lama Tsomo introduces the essential concepts of the ancient traditions and practices of Tibetan Buddhism as a method to find happiness and peace in this modern world. Full of humor, compassion, and stories from Lama Tsomo's own life, Why Bother? meets us where we are and guides us onto the path to a deeper awareness of the world and ourselves.

12 Steps on Buddha's Path

12 Steps on Buddha's Path
Author: Ayya Khema
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2010-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1458783499

12 Steps on Buddha's Path is an inspiring firsthand account of what happens when life seems hopeless, and the miracle of finding out that it's anything but. The author describes her own journey of recovery from alcoholism - an astonishing passage through strange and frightening territory - and marks out the path that allowed her to emerge from that darkness as a wise and compassionate person living a life that is joyous and free. This book is a powerful and enriching synthesis of the 12-Step recovery programs and the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism. It is sure to appeal to anyone touched by addiction, including those looking for new ways to understand and work with the tried-and-true 12-Step system. Tens of millions of Americans suffer from Alcoholism and other forms of dependence, and 12 Steps on Buddha's Path offers hope and help for any one of them. Though writing anonymously out of deep respect for 12-Step policies, the author is in fact a well-known professional author, deeply involved in the recovery and meditation communities

The Beginner's Guide to Walking the Buddha's Eightfold Path

The Beginner's Guide to Walking the Buddha's Eightfold Path
Author: Jean Smith
Publisher: Harmony
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0307421813

“Writing a ‘nuts and bolts’ guide that is genuinely wise, charmingly conversational, and a pleasure to read requires a particular talent, and Jean Smith has proved once again that she has it.”—Sylvia Boorstein, author of Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There The third of Jean Smith’s Beginner’s Guides focuses on the Buddha’s Eightfold Path—the concepts central to practicing the Buddha’s teachings in daily life. The eight steps on the path are: right understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Smith explains exactly what the Buddha had in mind, using translations of his own words and then elucidating them for us. Throughout the book are wonderful quotes from a broad range of Buddhist teachers, giving a taste of the very best each of them has to offer. The Beginner’s Guide to Walking the Buddha’s Eightfold Path is a prescription for happiness, not just for overcoming suffering, which is how many people think of Buddhism. Here is a book for Buddhists of every tradition.

Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling?

Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling?
Author: Lama Tsomo
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-04
Genre: Buddhism
ISBN: 9780990571100

Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? is a lively, approachable guide for using the ancient traditions and practices of Tibetan Buddhism to find happiness and peace in this modern world.

Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path

Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path
Author: Takamaro Shigaraki
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2013-02-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1614290601

In his Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path, Takamaro Shigaraki examines Shin Buddhism anew as a practical path of spiritual growth and self-transformation, challenging assessments of the tradition as a passive religion of mere faith. Shigaraki presents the core themes of the Shin Buddhist path in fresh, engaging, down-to-earth language, considering each frankly from both secular and religious perspectives. Shigaraki discloses a nondual Pure Land that finds philosophical kinship with Zen but has been little discussed in the West. With its unassuming language and insights drawn from a life of practice, Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path dispels the fog of misconception that has shrouded Western appreciation of Shin traditions to reveal the limitless light of Amida Buddha that reaches all.

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path
Author: Bodhi (Bhikkhu.)
Publisher: Pariyatti
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2000
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781928706076

This book offers a clear, concise account of the Eightfold Path prescribed to uproot and eliminate the deep underlying cause of suffering--ignorance. Each step of the path is believed to cultivate wisdom through mental training, and includes an enlightened and peaceful middle path that avoids extremes. The theoretical as well as practical angles of each of the paths--right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration--are illustrated through examples from contemporary life. The work's final chapter addresses the Buddhist path and its culmination in enlightenment.

Survey of Buddhism / The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path

Survey of Buddhism / The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path
Author: Sangharakshita
Publisher: Windhorse Publications
Total Pages: 653
Release: 2018-04-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1909314935

This first volume of Sangharakshita's Complete Works includes two foundational texts that have inspired readers for decades in their understanding and practice of Buddhism: A Survey of Buddhism and The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path.Of the first, the great Buddhist teacher and writer Lama Anagarika Govinda wrote, 'It would be difficult to find a single book in which the history and development of Buddhist thought has been described as vividly and clearly as in this survey.' The first chapter illuminates the doctrines and methods common to all schools and draws out the transcendental unity of Buddhism. Later chapters discuss the teachings and practices of the different schools. The concluding chapter is dedicated to the bodhisattva ideal, 'the perfectly ripened fruit of the whole vast tree of Buddhism'. Sangharakshita's beautiful prose, shot through with poetry, combines with an exceptional clarity of thought to make the Survey one of the most inspiring elucidations of the Dharma.The Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path: Vision and Transformation looks at one of the best known formulations of the Buddha's teaching. We are led step by step from the mundane world to the transcendental, from wrong view to right view, and on to Perfect Vision. A practical perspective shows how we can apply the Buddha's teachings to all aspects of our lives, including the food we eat, our relationships and our work. Sangharakshita goes on to make clear the real meaning of mindfulness and meditation, thus giving the reader both a vision of the whole path and guidance in setting out upon it.This volume includes a full section of endnotes locating the teachings to the suttas and sAtras that inspired them, as well as a Foreword by Dharmachari Subhuti looking at these two texts from an inspirational and a critical perspective, and bringing out the inner connection between them.

Approaching the Buddhist Path

Approaching the Buddhist Path
Author: Dalai Lama XIV Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2017-08-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1614294410

The Buddha wanted his students to investigate, to see for themselves whether what he said were true. As a student of the Buddha, the Dalai Lama promotes the same spirit of investigation, and recognizes that new approaches are needed to allow seekers in the West to experience the relevance of the liberating message in their own lives. This volume stands as an introduction to Buddhism, and provides a foundation for the volumes to come.