If you think that enlightenment is reserved for only a chosen few and requires decades of spiritual practice--think again. The awakened state--that place of peace and bliss--is present and available to you, right here, right now, and this is the book that can point you to it. This themed collection of passages by ancient Buddhist sages, Christian and Jewish mystics, contemporary teachers, philosophers, and poets celebrates the perfection of the present moment. This book was originally published by Hampton Roads under the title The Tao of Now in 2008, and an earlier edition was published by HarperCollins UK under the title 365 Nirvana.

"Combining ancient and modern teachings with the author's own experiences, this book shows how to realize enlightenment now"--Provided by publisher.

"Skach-Mills gives us wisdom as refreshing and new as this moment's wind in the trees, and wisdom as secure in tradition as the cardinal directions with which we name any wind's path."--Paulann Petersen.

Filled with hard-won personal observations and practical, tested exercises for following The Way, Every Day Tao lives somewhere between the Tao of this and that, so popular lately (good advice, maybe, but is it Taoism?) and the more traditional teachings of writers steeped in academic study and Eastern culture. Leonard Willoughby comes to the Tao as a Western seeker, looking for both a spiritual practice and a method of living. In this book, he frankly recounts his own struggles--with life and with the Tao. He offers a plenitude of suggestions both for understanding and following the Way and for becoming a fully-integrated personality. After his initiation into the Jade Purity School of Tao, Willoughby's teacher suggested that he write a book on philosophical teachings of this particular school--for Western seekers like himself. You might say this book answers the question: If Tao is the Way, where are we going? In Part One, the author explains the Way, Tao, in simple terms for western minds. In Part Two, Te, or Virtue, he gives readers the advice, stories, and skills they need for the journey. How to give up negativity, perceive reality, practice self-forgiveness and self love. Plus advice about celibacy and sexuality, and more. In Part Three--Sam Ching--Three Realms of Being--the book culminates in the answer--we're going home to our True Selves.

Tao Te Ching is a classic Chinese text, probably from around the 6th century BC. While the authorship is still debated, most of the text is attributed to Lao-Tzu ("Old Master"), who was a court record keeper during the Zhou Dynasty. The text is considered an essential element of Taoist philosophy as well as having significant influences on Chinese religions, including Buddhism. This is a classic translation of the book by James Legge. Visit www.ArcManor.com for other, similar books.

Alan Watts — noted author and respected authority on Far Eastern thought — studied Taoism extensively, and in his final years moved to a quiet cabin in the mountains and dedicated himself almost exclusively to meditating and writing on the Tao. This new book gives us an opportunity to not only understand the concept of the Tao but to experience the Tao as a personal practice of liberation from the limitations imposed by the common beliefs within our culture. The philosophy of the Tao offers a way to understand the value of ourselves as free-willed individuals enfolded within the ever-changing patterns of nature. The path of the Tao is perhaps the most puzzling way of liberation to come to us from the Far East in the last century. It is both practical and esoteric, and it has a surprisingly comfortable quality of thought that is often overlooked by Western readers who never venture beyond the unfamiliar quality of the word Tao (pronounced "dow"). But those who do soon discover a way of understanding and living with the world that has profound implications for us today in so-called modern societies. The word Tao means the Way — in the sense of a path, a way to go — but it also means nature, in the sense of one's true nature, and the nature of the universe. Often described as the philosophy of nature, we find the origins of Taoism in the shamanic world of pre-Dynastic China. Living close to the earth, one sees the wisdom of not interfering, and letting things go their way. It is the wisdom of swimming with the current, splitting wood along the grain, and seeking to understand human nature instead of changing it. Every creature finds it's way according to the laws of nature, and each of us has our own inner path — or Tao.