Book Description
In this series of questions and answers by a living Dharma master (Theravada, Chan, and Mahamudra traditions) and his students over the last ten years, readers may encounter a teaching that's unusually clear, candid, and compassionate. This extended collective dialogue is especially recommended for those who would rather cut through the exotic trappings that often surround Buddhist teachings in order to get to their untimely gist, which is their practical value here and now. The selected conversations cover topics of general interest for everyday life as well as specific instructions for meditators and practitioners. In four sections they present the noble path of Dharma, explain the Buddhist understanding of how the mind works, illustrate with many examples how this understanding applies to daily living, and discuss several tools this path puts in people's hands to enable them to find their own nature. Shanjian's unique teaching style reflects his training as biologist and psychologist in the US, his learning from legendary Buddhist masters such as Narada Mahathera and Nyanaponika Thera and, most important of all, his direct experience of the truth of the path as outlined by the Buddha. Combining his first-hand knowledge of the Dharma's Eastern roots with the down-to-earth, no-nonsense approach favored by Western audiences, Shanjian's replies range from the iconoclastic to the deeply moving as they open a straight and level path to access the Dharma in a way that makes sense to contemporary readers.
