Philosophy and Religion

From the author of the best-selling Buddha Walks into a Bar . . ., wisdom for "Generation Next" on how to make your work meaningful, satisfying, and of benefit to others.

There is perhaps no more potent symbol of the samurai era than the sword. By the seventeenth century in Japan, the art of swordsmanship had begun to take on an almost cult-like popularity.

The classic Taoist text freshly translated using the original Chinese script from Lao Tzu's time, and beautifully illustrated with seventeenth-century artwork. Renowned translator William Scott Wilson has rendered Lao Tzu's classic in the most authentic way possible, using both the ancient text and the even older Great Seal script used during Lao Tzu's time.

How to meditate—a concise, pocket-size guide that tells you everything you need to know, from the best-selling author of The Buddha Walks into a Bar...      This is the ultimate go-to guide for learning how to meditate. It contains all the instructions you'll need to get started in a remarkably short space, but it also shows you how to make meditation practice a pe

A guide to personal discipline and social ethics from a classical Sanskrit scholar, designed for the modern yoga practitioner.   In today´s complex world, how is it possible to truly live as a yogi? Traditional yoga theory offers fresh, insightful solutions to today´s practical lifestyle concerns, ranging from environmentalism to personal health and wellness. Tuning into classic yoga philos

A psychologist and longtime practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism shows how emotions relate to spiritual practice--that our feeling life is truly at the heart of our awakening.

Teachings on the practice of things-as-they-are, through commentaries on a legendary Chinese Zen figure. The joy of “suchness”—the ultimate and true nature inherent in all appearance—shines through the teachings attributed to Dongshan Liangjie (807–869), the legendary founder of the Caodong lineage of Chan Buddhism (the predecessor of Soto Zen). Taigen Dan Leighton looks at the

A popular American Buddhist teacher explores the creative relationship between faith and doubt, knowing and not-knowing, and shows how an awakened life results from living from the place in between. Faith is a thorny subject these days.  Its negative expressions cause many to dismiss it out of hand--but Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel urges us to reconsider, for faith is really nothing but our natu

A bold and provocative work from the late preeminent feminist scholar, which challenges men and women alike to free themselves from attachment to gender.  At the heart of Buddhism is the notion of egolessness—“forgetting the self”—as the path to awakening. In fact, attachment to views of any kind only leads to more suffering for ourselves and others. And what has a greater hold o

A new, four-stage approach to the popular Buddhist practice known as loving-kindness meditation, with the aim of finding unconditional love in our own hearts, in our relationships, and in our perception of the world around us.      The unconditional love that we all long for—in our own lives and in the world around us—can be awakened effectively with this uni

This unique introduction to Zen teaching and practice takes the remarkably accessible form of question-and-answer—making it a most useful reference for looking things up.

Meditators relax An esteemed modern Tibetan Buddhist teacher presents a system of meditation instructions he devised especially for those affected by the too-fast-paced Western world (i.e., most all of us)--to help them relax, as a way of deepening their meditation practice.

An exposition of the similarities and differences between Vajrayana Buddhism and Zen, by one of the twentieth century's greatest meditation teachers. The Teacup and the Skullcup is made up of edited transcripts from two seminars that Chögyam Trungpa gave near the beginning of his North American teaching career in 1974--one in Barnet, Vermont, and one in Boston--called "Zen and Tantra." Altho

A radical approach to mindfulness and self-transformation that combines an ancient meditation technique with leading-edge theory With practical teachings and detailed instructions, Ken Wilber introduces Integral Mindfulness, a new way of practicing the widely popular meditation. Integral Mindfulness applies many of the leading-edge insights of Ken Wilber's Integral Theory—the first system

A funny and engaging guide to finding awareness in daily activities beyond sitting meditation—from a rising leader in the Insight Meditation community   Meditation is great, but it's not what Buddhist practice is all about. Deep insight and liberation from suffering can be found in any ordinary activity—from sorting the laundry to data entry—as long as we approach them wit

An illuminating in-depth study of one of the most well-known and recited Buddhist texts, by a renowned modern translator The Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra is among the best known of all the Buddhist scriptures. Chanted daily by many Zen practitioners, it is also studied extensively in the Tibetan tradition, and it has been regarded with interest more recently in the West in various fields of stud

In this compelling, poetic memoir of love, loss, and longing, a daughter's pilgrimage to her mother's native Tibet becomes a journey of homecoming and self-discovery. In this beautifully written memoir, a daughter travels to her mother's Tibetan homeland and finds both her own deep connections to her heritage and a people trying to maintain its cultural integrity despite Chinese occupation.

The best-selling author of The Wisdom Jesus and The Meaning of Mary Magdalene demystifies the popular Christian meditation method rooted in contemplative prayer Centering Prayer is the path to a wonderful and radical new way of seeing the world. It is not, as is sometimes thought, simply an act of devotional piety, nor is it simply a Christianized form of other meditation metho

Sacred art presented as coloring templates for contemplation and creativity—stunning and detailed artwork from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Drawing on his brush paintings in The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs and other works, Robert Beer has selected 50 images meant to be used as templates for coloring. The book features figures spanning centuries of the tradition, including

An overview of Tibetan tantric practice that explains its concepts, clarifies its terminology, and shows how its myriad pieces fit together, including an extensive teaching on the bardos, or "between states"--essential for those new to the topic and a welcome source of illumination for longtime students.      Vajrayana methods for realizing the true nature of th