A popular guide to the art of living, the Sakya Legshe has been fundamental to the development of Tibetan culture and character. Pandita uses proverbs and stories to address the basic question of living peaceably. The only available English translation of the Sakya Legshe, this book reveals the heart of the Buddhist way of life.

Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom is a collection of intimate, heartfelt conversations with women spiritual teachers who live and look like ordinary people. They have kids, husbands, jobs, and bills to pay. What makes them extraordinary is that each woman has awakened to her true nature. And while that sounds like enlightenment, it doesn't look like the old stereotype of transcendence, detachment, and bliss. Quite the contrary. This is the feminine half of the spiritual journey--bringing it down to earth and embracing all of what it means to be human.

Randall and Kenyon examine the concept of wisdom. What wisdom is exactly has vexed thinkers throughout the history of thought. Indeed, for much of modern times, the topic has been taboo, given the intellectual climate created by such movements as analytic philosophy, behaviorist psychology, and cognitive science. This study adds to a growing movement that is reclaiming wisdom as a meaningful concept by viewing human development in terms of metaphors that enrich models like mind-as-computer, which proposes mental activity is reducible to processing information. Randall and Kenyon's metaphors are life-as-story and life-as-journey and their conceptual extension, life-as-adventure: ordinary metaphors with extraordinary implications. Through the lenses of these intertwining, time-honored tropes, the authors see wisdom not as an unattainable ideal nor as the sole province of experts or educators, geniuses, therapists, or saints. Rather, it is potentially within the reach of everyone, not as a commodity but as a quality of life; as a matter of being, not of having. Insofar as everyone is on a journey and has--or is--a story, everyone has access to an ordinary wisdom, which it behooves people to explore and express. This book will be of particular interest to scholars, students, and researchers involved with psychology, gerontology, theology, philosophy, and education.

This book offers penetrating insight into the nature and process of perception through a skillful interweaving of the concepts of the new physics, evolutionary biology, and cognitive psychology with the profound insights of meditative traditions. We are shown how we may go beyond the harsh and narrow limits of beliefs and habitual patterns of thought and behavior to awaken fresh perception that is fearless and compassionate, experiencing the sacredness of the ordinary world.

A unique collection of essays, instructions, letters, and personal advice on Dzogchen, Rimé, and other topics by famous Tibetan Buddhist masters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This selection features profound, provocative, and at times humorous texts from some of the leading figures associated with the Rimé tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The emphasis of these works is on the esoteric path of Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection, through which the nature of reality is pointed out directly, just as it is. Throughout the book the translator provides clear, succinct introductions to the individual translations, expertly setting the scene and guiding the reader through a world of intellectual renaissance, intersectarian debate, and the imparting of cherished insights. Through this, one truth above all becomes apparent: that genuine wisdom means transcending the limited confines of the ordinary mind.

Is meditation an escape from--or a solution to--our psychological problems? Is the use of antidepressants counter to spiritual practice? Does a psychological approach to meditation reduce spirituality to "self-help"? What can Zen and psychoanalysis teach us about the problems of the mind and suffering? Psychiatrist and Zen teacher Barry Magid is uniquely qualified to answer questions like these. Written in an engaging and witty style, Ordinary Mind helps us understand challenging ideas--like Zen Buddhism's concepts of oneness, emptiness, and enlightenment--and how they make sense, not only within psychoanalytic conceptions of mind, but in the realities of our lives and relationships. This new paper edition of Magid's much-praised book contains additional case study vignettes.