Teachings on the foundational practices of Tibetan Buddhism by a renowned and beloved master--now in paperback. In this book, Dudjom Rinpoche explains a key text attributed to Padmasambhava, the great Indian meditation master credited with bringing the Buddha's teachings to Tibet. The instructions here are clear, direct, and personal, illuminating the heart of Vajrayana Buddhist practice and philosophy. Included is the root text ("The Heart Essence of the Dakini") by Padmasambhava and the commentary by Dudjom Rinpoche. Of interest to practitioners of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

The foundations of Vajrayana practice are laid out with eloquence and precision here by one of the greatest Tibetan Buddhist masters of our age. His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche's commentary on the preliminary practices (ng�ndro) is informed by his profound realization and wide-ranging scholarship, and illuminated with an array of quotations from the Vinaya, Sutra, and Tantra traditions. In addition to the commentary on the outer and inner preliminary practices, he provides other invaluable instructions on the correct view, conduct, and activity of a practitioner. Dudjom Rinpoche taught that the realization of the teachings of the Great Perfection depends entirely on the practice of these preliminary practices, thus his compassionate exposition of them here makes this book a particularly precious resource for anyone who seeks to remove the obstacles between themselves and the total freedom of enlightenment.

Contains photos of copper-alloy menorahs made by pioneer artisans during the historic period of Jewish and Israeli history (1920's-1970's), telling both the stories of Hanukkah and of modern Israel.

Freedom is a flame. It cannot be confined to the realm of politics, religion or philosophy. It encompasses all. Burning within the hearts of men and nations can be found the unquenchable fires of freedom. Throughout the centuries seekers have discovered the way of freedom, the freedom of which Jesus spoke when he said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." How can we achieve this freedom? There are teachers-the ascended masters. Buddha, Maitreya, Confucius, Saint Germain, Jesus and Saint Francis are but a few of the saints and sages who have risen to attain liberation and union with God. They continue to work with earnest seekers who have made the greater way of freedom their goal. If you will receive them, the masters offer guidance and instruction. Having reached the summit to which we now climb, they are releasing teachings that lead to self-mastery and the freedom of the soul in God.

In this absorbing analysis of modern Irish writing, an acknowledged expert considers the hybrid character of modern Irish writing to show how language, culture, and history have been affected by the colonial encounter between Ireland and Britain. Examining the great themes of loss and struggle, David Pierce traces the impact on Irish writing of the Great Famine and cultural nationalism and considers the way the work of Ireland’s two leading writers, W. B.Yeats and James Joyce, complicate and elucidate our view of "the harp and the crown.” The book draws a contrast between the West of Ireland in the 1930s, when the new Irish State enjoyed its first full independent decade, and the North of Ireland in the 1980s, when the spectre of British imperialism threatened the stability of Ireland. Pierce then surveys contemporary Irish writing and reflects on the legacy of the colonial encounter and on the passage to a postmodern or postnationalist Ireland in the work of such crucial living writers as John Banville, Derek Mahon, and John McGahern.

Karenna Gore Schiff's nationally bestselling narrative tells the fascinating stories of nine influential women, who each in her own way, tackled inequity and advocated change throughout the turbulent twentieth century. Ida B. Wells-Barnett, who was born a slave and fought against lynching; Mother Jones, an Irish immigrant who organized coal miners and campaigned against child labor; Alice Hamilton, who pushed for regulation of industrial toxins; Frances Perkins, who developed key New Deal legislation; Virginia Durr, who fought the poll tax and segregation; Septima Clark, who helped to register black voters; Dolores Huerta, who organized farm workers; Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias, an activist for reproductive rights; and Gretchen Buchenholz, one of the nation's leading child advocates. Gore Schiff delivers an intimate and accessible account of the nine trail-blazing women who deserve not only to be honored but to have their example serve as beacons.

This book employs Heidegger’s work of the 1920s and early 1930s to develop distinctively Heideggerian accounts of agency, freedom, and responsibility, making the case that Heidegger’s thought provides a compelling alternative to the mainstream philosophical accounts of these concepts. Hans Pedersen demonstrates that Heidegger’s thought can be fruitfully used to develop a plausible alternative understanding of agency that avoids the metaphysical commitments that give rise to the standard free-will debate. The first several chapters are devoted to working out an account of the ontological structure of human agency, specifically focusing on the Heideggerian understanding of the role of mental states, causal explanations, and deliberation in human agency, arguing that action need not be understood in terms of the causal efficacy of mental states. In the following chapters, building on the prior account of agency, Pedersen develops Heideggerian accounts of freedom and responsibility. Having shown that action need not be understood causally, the Heideggerian view thereby avoids the conflict between free will and determinism that gives rise to the problem of free will and the correlative problem of responsibility.