Thailand's International Meditation Centers


Book Description

This book explores contemporary practices within the new institution of international meditation centers in Thailand. It discusses the development of the lay vipassana meditation movement in Thailand and relates Thai Buddhism to contemporary processes of commodification and globalisation. Through an examination of how meditation centers are promoted internationally, the author considers how Thai Buddhism is translated for and embodied within international tourists who participate in meditation retreats in Thailand. Shedding new light on the decontextualization of religious practices, and raising new questions concerning tourism and religion, this book focuses on the nature of cultural exchange, spiritual tourism, and religious choice in modernity. With an aim of reframing questions of religious modernity, each chapter offers a new perspective on the phenomenon of spiritual seeking in Thailand. Offering an analysis of why meditation practices appeal to non-Buddhists, this book contends that religions do not travel as whole entities but instead that partial elements resonate with different cultures, and are appropriated over time.




Thailand's International Meditation Centers


Book Description

This book explores contemporary practices within the new institution of international meditation centers in Thailand. It discusses the development of the lay vipassana meditation movement in Thailand and relates Thai Buddhism to contemporary processes of commodification and globalisation. Through an examination of how meditation centers are promoted internationally, the author considers how Thai Buddhism is translated for and embodied within international tourists who participate in meditation retreats in Thailand. Shedding new light on the decontextualization of religious practices, and raising new questions concerning tourism and religion, this book focuses on the nature of cultural exchange, spiritual tourism, and religious choice in modernity. With an aim of reframing questions of religious modernity, each chapter offers a new perspective on the phenomenon of spiritual seeking in Thailand. Offering an analysis of why meditation practices appeal to non-Buddhists, this book contends that religions do not travel as whole entities but instead that partial elements resonate with different cultures, and are appropriated over time.




Religious Tourism in Northern Thailand


Book Description

Temples are everywhere in Chiang Mai, filled with tourists as well as saffron-robed monks of all ages. The monks participate in daily urban life here as elsewhere in Thailand, where Buddhism is promoted, protected, and valued as a tourist attraction. Yet this mountain city offers more than a fleeting, commodified tourist experience, as the encounters between foreign visitors and Buddhist monks can have long-lasting effects on both parties. These religious contacts take place where economic motives, missionary zeal, and opportunities for cultural exchange coincide. Brooke Schedneck incorporates fieldwork and interviews with student monks and tourists to examine the innovative ways that Thai Buddhist temples offer foreign visitors spaces for religious instruction and popular in-person Monk Chat sessions in which tourists ask questions about Buddhism. Religious Tourism in Northern Thailand also considers how Thai monks perceive other religions and cultures and how they represent their own religion when interacting with tourists, resulting in a revealing study of how religious traditions adapt to an era of globalization.




Mindfulness and Insight


Book Description

A clear, simple meditation method on practicing mindfulness for insight, which takes us to our goal of liberation, the end of all suffering. Discarding any striving or ambition to attain something, the refined guidance that Mahasi Sayadaw provides in this book will lead practitioners to systematically and gradually purify their minds of attachment, aversion, and delusion and to realize the successive stages of enlightenment, culminating in the attainment of enlightenment (nibbana). Mindfulness and Insight is an excerpt of two key chapters from the comprehensive, authoritative Manual of Insight, which expounds the doctrinal and practical aspects of mindfulness (satipatthana) and the development of insight knowledge (vipassana) up to and including nibbana. In Manual of Insight, Mahasi Sayadaw acknowledged that these two chapters alone offer suitable guidance on our own journey of awakening by realizing path knowledge, fruition knowledge, and nibbana, particularly for those with little or no knowledge of the Pali scriptures. Part 1, “The Development of Mindfulness,” offers comprehensive instructions for developing mindfulness based on the Buddha’s teachings on the four foundations of mindfulness, as outlined in the highly regarded Discourse on Mindfulness (Satipatthana Sutta). Part 2, “Practical Instructions,” provides guidance in both the practices preliminary to undertaking insight meditation and in developing insight knowledge, ranging from initial practices to advanced levels of practice.




Mindfulness with Breathing


Book Description

Here is a clear explanation of the meditation technique of anapanasati, or "mindfulness with in-breaths & out-breaths." If you have yet to sit down & watch your breath, this book will point out why you should & how to do it.




Chi Nei Tsang


Book Description

An ancient Taoist system for detoxifying and rejuvenating the internal organs • Presents techniques to clear blockages in the body’s energy flow • Includes illustrated exercises to relieve common ailments, revitalize the organs, and enable readers to take charge of their own health and well-being • Focuses on the navel center, where negative emotions, stress, and illness accumulate The techniques of Chi Nei Tsang evolved in Asia during an era when few physicians were available and people had to know how to heal themselves. Many people today have symptoms that modern medicine is not able to cure because a physical source for the problem is not easily found. The energies of negative emotions, stress, and tension--all common in modern life--and the weight of past illness accumulate in the abdominal center, causing energy blockages and congestion. When this occurs, all vital functions stagnate and myriad problems arise. By practicing the techniques of Chi Nei Tsang, this stagnation is removed and the vital organs surrounding the navel center are detoxified and rejuvenated. Master Chia teaches readers how to avoid absorbing negative energies from others and take full charge of their health through the self-healing techniques of Chi Nei Tsang. He offers fully illustrated exercises that show how to detoxify the internal organs and clear the energy (chi) channels throughout the body. He also presents methods for balancing emotions, managing stress, and observing the body in order to recognize, ameliorate, and prevent maladies before they become a problem.




A Study Guide for Right Practice of the Three Trainings


Book Description

Based on Lord Buddha’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the Commentaries from the Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga)




The Funeral Casino


Book Description

Table of contents




Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior


Book Description

The classic guide to enlightened living that first presented the Buddhist path of the warrior to a Western audience There is a basic human wisdom that can help solve the world’s problems. It doesn’t belong to any one culture or region or religious tradition—though it can be found in many of them throughout history. It’s what Chögyam Trungpa called the sacred path of the warrior. The sacred warrior conquers the world not through violence or aggression, but through gentleness, courage, and self-knowledge. The warrior discovers the basic goodness of human life and radiates that goodness out into the world for the peace and sanity of others. Interpreting the warrior's journey in contemporary terms, Trungpa shows that, in discovering the basic goodness of human life, the warrior learns to radiate that goodness out into the world for the peace and sanity of others. That’s what the Shambhala teachings are all about—and this is the book that has been presenting them to a wide and appreciative audience for more than twenty years.




Satipatthāna Vipassanā


Book Description