Mind Training is a comprehensive practice that is suitable for all types of students. It contains the entire path and does not depend on a person's background. Mind Training nurses and cultivates the Buddha Nature that pure seed of awakening that is at the very heart of every sentient being. It has the power to transform even egotistical self-clinging into self-lessons. Put into practice diligently, it is enough to lead all the way to awakening. In The Path to Awakening, Shamar Rinpoche gives his own detailed commentary on Chekawa Ye-shes-rdo-rje's Seven Points of mind Training, a text that has been used as a basis for transformative practice in Tibetan Buddhism for close to a thousand years. Clear accessible, and yet profound, this book is filled with practical wisdom, philosophy, and meditation instructions. -- Amazon.com.

A guide to understanding the relationship between Western psychology and the contemplative sprituality of the East—and how one’s spiritual journey can be enriched by both How can we connect the spiritual realizations of Buddhism with the psychological insights of the West? In Toward a Psychology of Awakening John Welwood addresses this question with comprehensiveness and depth, building on his innovative psychospiritual approach to health, healing, and spirituality. He covers the following topics: • What can the spiritual methodologies of the East teach us about psychological health? • What issues arise when the recognition of our larger nature challenges our very conception of individual self ? • What new directions become possible when psychological work is undertaken in a spiritual context? • How does Western psychological understanding affect our approach to spirituality? Welwood's psychology of awakening brings together three major dimensions of human existence: personal, interpersonal, and suprapersonal in one overall framework of understanding and practice.

A study of a classic list of Buddhist teachings which includes such familiar items as the four establishings of mindfulness and the noble eightfold path.

The best writers say their work seems to come from a source beyond the thinking mind. But how do we access that source? “We must first look inside ourselves and be willing to touch that raw emotional core at the heart of a deeper creativity,” writes Albert Flynn DeSilver. In Writing as a Path to Awakening, this renowned poet, writer, and teacher shows you how to use meditation to cultivate true depth in your own writing—so your words reveal layers of profound insight that inspire and move your readers. Constructed as a year-long exploration with a new focus for each month and season, Writing as a Path to Awakening includes: • How to approach writing and reading with a greater level of presence and immersion • Engaging curiosity, playfulness, and spontaneity to keep your regular practice fresh • Meditating with poetry to deeply embody the power of language • How you can spark your imagination by connecting to the groundless source of creation • The meditative approach to storytelling—how not being trapped in your story liberates your capacity to create • Editing, rewriting, and the path of spiritual transformation “Writing and meditation practice are a powerful pair, a dynamic duo,” Albert Flynn DeSilver teaches. “Together they nourish and push, trigger and define, inform and inspire, enable, and energize. To engage in both practices fully is to activate a more complete, creative, and spiritual self.” With a mixture of engaging storytelling and practical exercises, Writing as a Path to Awakening invites you on a yearlong journey of growth and discovery—to enhance your writing through the practice of meditation while using the creative process to accelerate your spiritual evolution.

As women’s spirituality continues to gain popularity, The Buddha’s Wife offers to a broad audience for the first time the intimate and profound story of Princess Yasodhara, the wife Buddha left behind, and her alternative journey to spiritual enlightenment. What do we know of the wife and child the Buddha abandoned when he went off to seek his enlightenment? The Buddha’s Wife brings this rarely told story to the forefront, offering a nuanced portrait of this compelling and compassionate figure while also examining the practical applications her teachings have on our modern lives. Princess Yasodhara’s journey is one full of loss, grief, and suffering. But through it, she discovered her own enlightenment within the deep bonds of community and “ordinary” relationships. While traditional Buddhism emphasizes solitary meditation, Yasodhara’s experience speaks of “The Path of Right Relation,” of achieving awareness not alone but together with others. The Buddha’s Wife is comprised of two parts: the first part is a historical narrative of Yasodhara’s fascinating story, and the second part is a “how-to” reader’s companion filled with life lessons, practices, and reflections for the modern seeker. Her story provides a relational path, one which speaks directly to our everyday lives and offers a doorway to profound spiritual maturation, awakening, and wisdom beyond the solitary, heroic journey.

***WINNER, 2011 Storytelling World Resource Award – Best Storytelling Collection The jataka tales—stories of the Buddha’s past lives (in both human and animal form)—were first said to have been told by the Buddha himself 2,500 years ago. Five hundred and fifty jataka tales comprise part of the oldest Buddhist text, the Pali Canon. From this wealth of folklore, award-winning author and storyteller Rafe Martin has chosen ten tales that illustrate the ideals of the Buddhist paramitas, or “perfections” of character: giving, morality, forbearance, vitality, focused meditation, wisdom, compassionate skillful means, resolve, strength, and knowledge. Artist and designer Richard Wehrman helps bring the spirit of these stories alive with rich illustrations that open each chapter. Endless Path presents these ancient stories, usually reduced to children’s tales in the West, for adults, reconnecting modern seekers with the more imaginative roots of Buddhism. The jatakas help readers see their own lives, their failures and renewed efforts, in the same light as the challenges the Buddha faced—not as obstacles but as opportunities for developing character and self-understanding. Endless Path demonstrates the relevance of these tales to Buddhist lay practitioners today, as well as to those more broadly interested in Buddhist teaching and the ancient art of storytelling.

Unlike similar works, The Path of Direct Awakening references an impersonal divine expressed as Nature or Mind for meditators or seekers who resist the notion of a personalized divinity such as God, Krishna, or Yahweh. Selections in this illustrated collection are drawn from the Buddhist literature of India and China, and the Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist traditions of China. They include 70 poems and 10 prose pieces -- writings by such legendary figures as Lao-Tzu, Confucius, Buddha, Han Shan, Huang Po, and Wang Wei. Brief essays and annotations provide context, and four Chinese-style brush-stroke drawings enhance the text and help the reader address the Absolute directly.