For those who approach Buddhism as a system of mental development, this book is a reliable and accessible guide to understanding the significance of themes from the Pali discourses. Themes include grasping, right view, craving, passion, contemplation of feeling, happiness, and liberation. A rare combination of scholarly rigor and extensive meditation experience from the author provides veracity to these studies and explorations.

In this new book, Analayo builds on his earlier ground-breaking work, Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization. Here, he enlarges our perspective on this seminal teaching by exploring the practices of mindfulness as presented in both the Pali and Chinese versions of this important discourse. The brilliance of his scholarly research, combined with the depth of his meditative understanding, provides an invaluable guide to the liberating practices of the Buddha's teaching. Joseph Goldstein, author Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

An Analysis of the Pali Canon is a comprehensive overview of the contents of the works that make up the Tipitaka, the Canon of the Theravada school of Buddhism. It also contains an index of the suttas and sections of the Tipitaka, as well as an extensive bibliography of the translations of canonical works and secondary literature. The second part of this book, A Reference Table of Pali Literature, is an extensive list of all the works composed in the Indic language known as Pali. It lists all the works of the Tipitaka, the commentaries and subcommentaries, historical chronicles, works on medicine, cosmology, grammar, law, astrology, Bible translations, etc. It also gives data on the authors, time of composition, country of origin and includes references to secondary literature that provide more information on the works listed. This book is an essential resource for students and researchers of the Tipitaka and other Pali literature.

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. What are we to make of Western Buddhism? Glenn Wallis argues that in aligning their tradition with the contemporary wellness industry, Western Buddhists evade the consequences of Buddhist thought. This book shows that with concepts such as vanishing, nihility, extinction, contingency, and no-self, Buddhism, like all potent systems of thought, articulates a notion of the “real.” Raw, unflinching acceptance of this real is held by Buddhism to be at the very core of human “awakening.” Yet these preeminent human truths are universally shored up against in contemporary Buddhist practice, contravening the very heart of Buddhism. The author's critique of Western Buddhism is threefold. It is immanent, in emerging out of Buddhist thought but taking it beyond what it itself publicly concedes; negative, in employing the “democratizing” deconstructive methods of François Laruelle's non-philosophy; and re-descriptive, in applying Laruelle's concept of philofiction. Through applying resources of Continental philosophy to Western Buddhism, A Critique of Western Buddhism suggests a possible practice for our time, an "anthropotechnic", or religion transposed from its seductive, but misguiding, idealist haven.

A cornerstone of Buddhist philosophy, the doctrine of the four noble truths maintains that life is replete with suffering, desire is the cause of suffering, nirvana is the end of suffering, and the way to nirvana is the eightfold noble path. Although the attribution of this seminal doctrine to the historical Buddha is ubiquitous, Rethinking the Buddha demonstrates through a careful examination of early Buddhist texts that he did not envision them in this way. Shulman traces the development of what we now call the four noble truths, which in fact originated as observations to be cultivated during deep meditation. The early texts reveal that other central Buddhist doctrines, such as dependent-origination and selflessness, similarly derived from meditative observations. This book challenges the conventional view that the Buddha's teachings represent universal themes of human existence, allowing for a fresh, compelling explanation of the Buddhist theory of liberation.

Exploring how notions of solitude in Pali literature are encompassed in various literary forms, such as stock formulae, poetry, narrative, and imagery, this book includes close analysis of some of the most famous Buddhist verses about solitary practice. Indaka Nishan Weerasekera considers how solitude is valued as one significant aspect of the Buddhist path, including how the imagery of landscape, especially the forest, serves to both inspire solitary practice as well as functions as a metaphor for meditation. The author employs a cross-section of primary sources to explore the practical and psychological aspects of solitude in relation to Buddhist meditation, as well as relational/attitudinal concepts such as renunciation or desirelessness, independence, and self-reliance. This 'lonely' aspect of the Buddhist path sits alongside the 'communal' aspect of the Buddhist teachings. Together, they serve to maintain monastic harmony, while the 'social' aspect preserves monastic relations with wider society.

'An original, insightful, and provocative evaluation of our economic situation today. If you wonder about the social implications of Buddhist teachings, this is an essential book.' David Loy, author Money, Sex, War, Karma. 'Lays bare the pernicious consequences of corporate capitalism and draws forth from Buddhism suggestions for creating benign alternatives conducive to true human flourishing.' Bhikkhu Bodhi, editor In the Buddha's Words. After his Enlightenment the Buddha set out to help liberate the individual and create a society free from suffering. The economic resources now exist to offer everyone decent food, shelter, work and leisure, to allow us to fulfil our potential as human beings. What is it in modern capitalism which prevents that? Can Buddhism build something better than our current economic system? Vaddhaka Linn explores these questions by examining our economic world from the moral standpoint of the Buddha.