18th century Tibetan mystic Jigmé Lingpa wrote a number of poems on the practice of Dzogchen, one of the great wisdom traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. In A Trackless Path renowned translator and teacher Ken McLeod offers a beautiful and evocative translation of one of these poems. Illumined by his own lucid commentary, McLeod makes this ancient poem relevant and accessible to today's seeker.The Jigmé Lingpa poem has three sections: how conceptual thinking corrupts deep contemplative practice; the timeless freedom of direct awareness (the Buddhist equivalent of gnosis in Christianity); and subtle errors one often makes in this practice and how to correct them. McLeod's book is likewise divided into three sections. The first is a thoughtful introduction to the text and McLeod's relationship with it; the second is his beautiful and evocative translation of Jigmé Lingpa's poem; the third and main part of the book is his verse-by-verse commentary through which he illuminates the meaning of the poem. McLeod is clearly writing (and writing clearly) for the seeker in today's world who is called to pursue the awareness that Jigmé Lingpa describes.McLeod's lucid practice-oriented commentary is enriched by the seamless interweaving of experiences from his own spiritual journey. What emerges is a picture of a person who felt a profound calling to pursue contemplative practice and the direct and personal ways he found to meet the challenges and he encountered. With great clarity, McLeod communicates the central theme of the poem - namely, that when you rest and do nothing, you find the wisdom of the ages present within you. This is a book for the practitioner of any contemplative tradition--Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism or non-dual awareness.

18th century Tibetan mystic Jigmé Lingpa wrote a number of poems on the practice of Dzogchen, one of the great wisdom traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. In A Trackless Path renowned translator and teacher Ken McLeod offers a beautiful and evocative translation of one of these poems. Illumined by his own lucid commentary, McLeod makes this ancient poem relevant and accessible to today's seeker.The Jigmé Lingpa poem has three sections: how conceptual thinking corrupts deep contemplative practice; the timeless freedom of direct awareness (the Buddhist equivalent of gnosis in Christianity); and subtle errors one often makes in this practice and how to correct them. McLeod's book is likewise divided into three sections. The first is a thoughtful introduction to the text and McLeod's relationship with it; the second is his beautiful and evocative translation of Jigmé Lingpa's poem; the third and main part of the book is his verse-by-verse commentary through which he illuminates the meaning of the poem. McLeod is clearly writing (and writing clearly) for the seeker in today's world who is called to pursue the awareness that Jigmé Lingpa describes.McLeod's lucid practice-oriented commentary is enriched by the seamless interweaving of experiences from his own spiritual journey. What emerges is a picture of a person who felt a profound calling to pursue contemplative practice and the direct and personal ways he found to meet the challenges and he encountered. With great clarity, McLeod communicates the central theme of the poem - namely, that when you rest and do nothing, you find the wisdom of the ages present within you. This is a book for the practitioner of any contemplative tradition--Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism, Judaism or non-dual awareness.

The key to becoming fully alive and joyful is to develop our natural capacity for attention and to be fully present here and now. In this informative guidebook to practical Buddhism you discover: How to live life with equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and joy How to cut through obsessions with the external world, relationships, harmful emotions, pleasure and power, and self Tried-and-true methods for cultivating active attention with your body and mind.

Overbooking? Running late? Feeling overwhelmed by clutter and to-dos? Management consultant Dr. Marilyn Paul guides you on a path to personal change that will bring true relief from the pain and stress of disorganization. Unlike other books on getting organized, It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys offers a clear seven-step path to personal development that is comprehensive in nature. Drawing on her own experience as a chronically disorganized person, Paul adds warmth, insight, humor, and hope to this manual for change and self-discovery. She introduces the notion of becoming “organized enough” to live a far more rewarding life and make the difference that is most important to you.

In this masterful translation and commentary on Tokmé Zongpo's Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, Ken McLeod shines the light of wisdom on the challenges of contemporary life and illuminates a path the modern reader can take to freedom, peace and understanding. Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva is one of the most revered and loved texts in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In just thirty-seven verses, Tokmé Zongpo summarizes the bodhisattva path as it was taught and practiced in this tradition. While this text has been translated many times, Ken McLeod's plain and simple English beautifully reflects the simplicity and directness of the original Tibetan. McLeod's commentary is full of striking images, provocative questions and inspiring descriptions of what it means to be awake and present in your life. Practical instruction, brief and to the point, is found in each of the verse commentaries, providing straightforward responses to the question, "How do I practice this?" McLeod is clearly writing from his own experience. Yet, instead of anecdotes and personal history, he challenges the reader to engage various scenarios, and consider how compassion, clarity, presence and balance could take expression in his or her life. Reflections on Silver River has three parts. The first is an informative introduction to the text and to Tokmé Zongpo. The introduction is followed by McLeod's translation of Tokmé Zongpo's Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva. The third section is the main part of the book, a traditional verse-by-verse commentary. At less than 200 pages, Reflections on Silver River is a highly accessible introduction to Tibetan Buddhist practice as well as a valuable resource for the experienced practitioner, regardless of his or her tradition of training. McLeod himself is a teacher, translator, author and business consultant. He pioneered one-on-one meditation instruction, has taught numerous retreats and classes, published a highly regarded translation of Mahayana mind-training under the title The Great Path of Awakening, wrote an encyclopedic treatment of meditation practice in Wake Up to Your Life, and composed a poetic and evocative commentary on the Heart Sutra in An Arrow to the Heart.

A translation and commentary on the Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra is the most widely known and widely recited scripture in Mahayana Buddhism. This exciting, trail-blazing, non-traditional commentary takes the reader right into the emptiness of all experience through a delightfully irreverent combination of wit, irony, prose and poetry. In the words of Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism Without Beliefs, "Written in a voice that is neither pious nor academic, hectoring nor detached, An Arrow to the Heart is a fine example of the new wave in contemporary Buddhist writing. In its quietly relentless way, this pithy and unorthodox commentary to the Heart Sutra leaves you with nowhere to stand but right here." In addition to McLeod's revised translation of the Heart Sutra, and a line-by-line commentary on this enigmatic scripture, this second edition contains a new introduction by Peter Clothier, an internationally-known writer who writes about art and artists.The Heart Sutra is about the perfection wisdom-an experiential understanding of life that goes beyond the conceptual or the intellectual. In contrast to most commentaries, McLeod offers an experiential journey, a dance of words, ideas, images, quotations, and stories that opens the reader to the experience to which the sutra is pointing. As Peter Clothier says in his introduction, "Frequently the reader falls into a complete and unexpected stillness to dwell on a revealing line or a quotation, before being swept off again into a new direction."One reader of the first edition described it in these words, "What I love most about it is that it's not even a book, really - more the literary equivalent of yellowcake uranium, meant to blow the mind open to ultimate reality. This is book as verb, not noun - book as instigator of awareness."And, "This is a book to ingest in nonlinear fashion. Pull it off the shelf, open to any page, read a few lines, pause, breathe, and allow concepts to collapse. It's a direct hit of reality, as bracing as a plunge into a glacial lake."

Readings in Vedic Literature provides a firsthand experience of India's timeless wisdom. Along with concise essays, the book includes the entire Bhagavad-gita and illuminating excerpts from the Puranas and Upanisads. In this way the reader can discover the tradition for himself. “Readers, be of good cheer. To those of you who have surveyed in confusion the trackless path of Indian philosophy, this volume offers hope and respite. You are holding in your hands a reasonable and highly readable account of the particulars of Vedic thought. … Read and find enlightenment.” Professor Jerry Clack Department of Classics, Duquesne University “I am impressed by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami’s presentation. His initial chapter is one of the best statements available on the importance of the guru in transmitting spiritual knowledge.” Dr. Thomas J. Hopkins Department of Religious Studies, Franklin & Marshall College