Mind in Comfort and Ease


Book Description

This book sets out the key principles of Buddhism, showing how the mind can be transformed, and suffering overcome, through love, compassion, and a true understanding of the nature of reality.




Mind in Comfort and Ease


Book Description

Here, in a teaching of outstanding completeness and clarity, the Dalai Lama sets out the key principles of Buddhism, showing how the mind can be transformed, and suffering overcome, through love, compassion, and a true understanding of the nature of reality. By illustrating his brilliant overview of the path with his own personal experiences and advice on how to integrate the practice, the Dalai Lama brings these teachings to life. The Dalai Lama delves deep into the teaching of the Great Perfection, or Dzogchen. His enthusiasm and admiration for this profound tradition shine through as he comments on an important work by the great Dzogchen master Longchen Rabjam, Finding Comfort and Ease in Meditation on the Great Perfection. This teaching, with its remarkable breadth and richness, was originally given to an audience of ten thousand in France in 2000, and this book perfectly captures the majesty of the occasion. As Sogyal Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama's host for the occasion, said, "All of us were moved by the depth, relevance, and accessibility of these teachings; there were those who said that they were among the most remarkable they had ever heard him give. To receive these teachings from him was the opportunity of a lifetime." Blending the highest wisdom with the deepest compassion and humanity, Mind in Comfort and Ease offers a glimpse into the Dalai Lama's wisdom mind and a panoramic view of the Buddhist path.




Kindly Bent to Ease Us: Mind


Book Description

The first volume in the Trilogy by the thirteenth-century Nyingma master Longchenpa. Clear descriptions of the stages of the Vajrayana Path. Foundation in Mahayana views and practices for anyone interested in Vajrayana and Dzogchen teachings. Used in 25 university courses.




A Monk's Guide to Happiness


Book Description

“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




Buddha's Brain


Book Description

Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Gandhi, and the Buddha all had brains built essentially like anyone else's, yet they were able to harness their thoughts and shape their patterns of thinking in ways that changed history. With new breakthroughs in modern neuroscience and the wisdom of thousands of years of contemplative practice, it is possible for us to shape our own thoughts in a similar way for greater happiness, love, compassion, and wisdom. Buddha's Brain joins the forces of modern neuroscience with ancient contemplative teachings to show readers how they can work toward greater emotional well-being, healthier relationships, more effective actions, and deepened religious and spiritual understanding. This book will explain how the core elements of both psychological well-being and religious or spiritual life-virtue, mindfulness, and wisdom--are based in the core functions of the brain: regulating, learning, and valuing. Readers will also learn practical ways to apply this information, as the book offers many exercises they can do to tap the unused potential of the brain and rewire it over time for greater peace and well-being.




The Comfort Crisis


Book Description

“If you’ve been looking for something different to level up your health, fitness, and personal growth, this is it.”—Melissa Urban, Whole30 CEO and New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Boundaries “Michael Easter’s genius is that he puts data around the edges of what we intuitively believe. His work has inspired many to change their lives for the better.”—Dr. Peter Attia, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Outlive Discover the evolutionary mind and body benefits of living at the edges of your comfort zone and reconnecting with the wild—from the author of Scarcity Brain, coming in September! In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort. Easter’s journey to understand our evolutionary need to be challenged takes him to meet the NBA’s top exercise scientist, who uses an ancient Japanese practice to build championship athletes; to the mystical country of Bhutan, where an Oxford economist and Buddhist leader are showing the world what death can teach us about happiness; to the outdoor lab of a young neuroscientist who’s found that nature tests our physical and mental endurance in ways that expand creativity while taming burnout and anxiety; to the remote Alaskan backcountry on a demanding thirty-three-day hunting expedition to experience the rewilding secrets of one of the last rugged places on Earth; and more. Along the way, Easter uncovers a blueprint for leveraging the power of discomfort that will dramatically improve our health and happiness, and perhaps even help us understand what it means to be human. The Comfort Crisis is a bold call to break out of your comfort zone and explore the wild within yourself.




Not for Happiness


Book Description

From the author of What Makes You Not a Buddhist comes a fresh look at the foundations of Tibetan Buddhist practice, with practical advice and guidance for the modern practitioner Do you practice meditation because you want to feel good? Or to help you relax and be “happy”? Then frankly, according to Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, you are far better off having a full-body massage than trying to practice the Dharma. Genuine spiritual practice, not least the Ngöndro preliminaries, will not bring the kind of comfort and ease most worldly people crave. Quite the opposite, in fact. But if your ultimate goal is enlightenment, Ngöndro practice is a must, and Not for Happiness your perfect guide, as it contains everything an aspiring practitioner needs to get started, including advice about: • Developing “renunciation mind” • Discipline, meditation and wisdom • Using your imagination in visualization practice • Why you need a guru




Compassion and the Individual


Book Description

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is loved and respected world-wide as a man of peace. As spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, he has consistently advocated policies of non-violence, even in the face of great aggression -an approach that in 1989 won him the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. In lectures and tours around the world he has touched people’s hearts, transcending religious, national and political barriers by the simplicity, profundity and great-heartedness of his message – that of universal responsibility and great compassion. In this small booklet he explains with utter clarity and reasoning why compassion is so inseparable from our human nature and how at any moment we can tap into and develop this birthright.




May I Be Happy


Book Description

For all her wisdom as a teacher, Cyndi Lee understood intuitively that she still had a lot to learn. In spite of her success in physically demanding professions - dancer, choreographer, and yoga teacher - Lee was caught in a lifelong cycle of repetitive self-judgment about her body. Instead of the radical contentment expected in international yoga teachers, she realised that hating her body was a form of suffering, which was infecting her closest relationships - including her relationship to herself. Inspired by the honesty and vulnerability of her students, Lee embarked on a journey of self-discovery that led her outward - from the sacred sites of the parched Indian countryside to the center of the 2011 earthquake in Japan - and inward, to seek the counsel of wise women, friends and strangers both. Applying the ancient Buddhist practice of loving-kindness meditation to herself, Lee learned that compassion is the only antidote to hatred, thereby healing her heart and changing her mind. With prose as agile as the yoga sequences she creates, May I Be Happy gives voice to Lee's belief that every life arises, abides, and ultimately dissolves. By becoming her own best student, Lee internalizes the strength, stability, and clarity she imparts in her Buddhist-inspired yoga classes.




How to Be Sick


Book Description

This life-affirming, instructive, and thoroughly inspiring book is a must-read for anyone who is - or who might one day be - sick. It can also be the perfect gift of guidance, encouragement, and uplifting inspiration to family, friends, and loved ones struggling with the many terrifying or disheartening life changes that come so close on the heels of a diagnosis of a chronic condition or life-threatening illness. Authentic and graceful, How to be Sick reminds us of our limitless inner freedom, even under high degrees of suffering and pain. The author - who became ill while a university law professor in the prime of her career - tells the reader how she got sick and, to her and her partner's bewilderment, stayed that way. Toni had been a longtime meditator, going on long meditation retreats and spending many hours rigorously practicing, but soon discovered that she simply could no longer engage in those difficult and taxing forms. She had to learn ways to make "being sick" the heart of her spiritual practice - and through truly learning how to be sick, she learned how, even with many physical and energetic limitations, to live a life of equanimity, compassion, and joy. And whether we ourselves are ill or not, we can learn these vital arts from Bernhard's generous wisdom in How to Be Sick.