The aim of this book is to study certain meditation methods followed not only by religious traditions or metaphysical movements that are still alive nowadays like Advaita Vedanta, Kabbalah (within the Jewish tradition), Christianity or Islam (particularly Sufism), but also practiced by other currents or schools that, even though already gone, significantly influenced the West. This is the case of Neoplatonism or Stoicism, whose influence was felt by ancient and medieval Christianity, or Greco-Egyptian Hermetism, which played an important role in the European cultural Renaissance from the 15th century on. A special consideration has been given to Christian tradition, introducing some of the most representative authors of recollection and their meditation methods. Este libro tiene por finalidad el estudio de ciertos métodos de meditación seguidos no solo por tradiciones religiosas o movimientos metafísicos que continúan vivos actualmente como el vedanta advaita, la cábala (en la tradición judía), el cristianismo o el islám (particularmente el sufismo), sino practicados también por otras corrientes o escuelas que, aunque ya desaparecidas, influyeron significativamente en Occidente. Es el caso del neoplatonismo o del estoicismo cuya influencia se dejó sentir en el cristianismo antiguo y medieval, o del hermetismo greco-egipcio que tuvo un papel destacado en el Renacimiento cultural europeo a partir del siglo XV. Especial consideración se ha dado a la tradición cristiana mostrando algunos de los autores más representativos del recogimiento y de su método de meditación.

Meditation techniques, including mindfulness, have become popular wellbeing practices and the scientific study of their effects has recently turned 50 years old. But how much do we know about them: what were they developed for and by whom? How similar or different are they, how effective can they be in changing our minds and biology, what are their social and ethical implications? The Oxford Handbook of Meditation is the most comprehensive volume published on meditation, written in accessible language by world-leading experts on the science and history of these techniques. It covers the development of meditation across the world and the varieties of its practices and experiences. It includes approaches from various disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, history, anthropology, and sociology and it explores its potential for therapeutic and social change, as well as unusual or negative effects. Edited by practitioner-researchers, this book is the ultimate guide for all interested in meditation, including teachers, clinicians, therapists, researchers, or anyone who would like to learn more about this topic.

This complete guide to enlightenment presents the wisdom of the ancient science of self-inquiry, a time-tested means for achieving spiritual freedom. The author convincingly refutes the popular view that enlightenment is a unique state of consciousness and debunks a host of other myths. In his straightforward style he reveals proven methods for purifying the mind, and takes the reader from the beginning to the end of the spiritual path, patiently unfolding the logic of self-inquiry.

The Seven Steps to Awakening is the most powerful collection of quotes ever assembled on the subject of how to directly experience the true Self whose nature is Infinite-Eternal-Awareness-Love-Bliss and how to bring the impostor self, its tricks and all suffering to a final end in this lifetime. Most books on the subject of Self-realization are written by those who have only conceptual knowledge and no direct experience of the infinite Self. All seven of the sages quoted in The Seven Steps to Awakening lived in the infinite and their knowledge came from their direct experience of the infinite Self. The quotes in The Seven Steps to Awakening are doorways to liberation and a loving transmission from the Infinite Self to you. When the impostor self attempts to derail you from your journey to Awakening, reading the quotes in The Seven Steps to Awakening can inspire and encourage you to get back on track. Only the most essential and most powerful quotes that have no distractions or detours were selected for The Seven Steps to Awakening. The first collection of quotes describes how to tell the difference between a conceptual journey and a journey to Awakening. The second points out that the world, etc. is a dreamlike illusion. The third reveals why it is necessary to bring the impostor self to its final end. The fourth is about the importance of increasing your desire for liberation. The fifth is for the purpose of encouraging, inspiring and motivating you to actually practice all seven steps. The sixth is about turning your attention inward. The seventh describes the most rapid, direct and effective method that brings the impostor self, its tricks and all suffering to their final end so that you can remain forever in the true Self whose nature is Infinite-Awareness-Love-Bliss.

The best-selling author of The Wisdom Jesus and The Meaning of Mary Magdalene demystifies the popular Christian meditation method rooted in contemplative prayer Centering Prayer is the path to a wonderful and radical new way of seeing the world. It is not, as is sometimes thought, simply an act of devotional piety, nor is it simply a Christianized form of other meditation methods. Cynthia Bourgeault here cuts through the misconceptions to show that Centering Prayer is in fact a pioneering development within the Christian contemplative tradition. She provides a practical, complete course in the practice and then goes deeper to analyze what actually happens in Centering Prayer: the mind effectively switches to a new operating system that makes possible the perception of nonduality. With this understanding in place, she then takes us on a journey through one of the sources of the practice, the Christian contemplative classic The Cloud of Unknowing, revealing it to be among the earliest Christian explorations of the phenomenology of consciousness. Cynthia Bourgeault’s illumination of the Centering Prayer path provides compelling evidence of how important the practice has become in the half-century since it first arose among American Trappist monks, and of its maturation and refinement over the ensuing years of sincere study and practice. It will resonate with beginners on the Centering Prayer path as well as with seasoned practitioners.

"When crystallized identities enter a nondual field of awareness and begin to interact with a being embodying that state, suffering can't be sustained. It dissolves into a space where there is neither suffering nor its absence. Nondual awareness creates a transformational field or vortex that gently or abruptly, but irrevocably moves people into radiant awareness.... This is the paradoxical state that bodhisattvas play in for eternity." This Guide goes behind the curtains of Dr. Peter Fenner's highly distinctive nondual teachings. It reveals in great detail and clarity the subtle and sometimes mysterious skillful methods he uses in his workshops, trainings, public presentations and coaching to swiftly awaken people to the liberating freedom of nondual, panoramic awareness. Peter has a unique ability to reflect on the deep processes involved in his nondual transmission, especially the nuances of language, deep feelings and silence. He is well known for the rigor, precision and organic flow of his unfindability dialogs. The skills he reveals in this Guide are many of the very same methods used by Dzogchen masters, Zen roshis and Advaita sages in "pointing out events" and "mind-to-mind transmission." Peter's teaching has been described by others as "free-form, continuous pointing to awareness." In Buddhism nondual awareness is often called the "ultimate medicine" because no higher evolutionary accomplishment is possible for any conscious being, living anywhere, at any time. When we see everything as the seamlessly changing fabric of immutable, unfindable awareness it's impossible to be negatively touched by any environmental circumstance or inner perturbance. We move into the realm of embodied transcendence beyond disturbances and conditioned forms of peace. In this Guide Peter often shares at the "result, or fruition level." He shows us how comprehensive awakening is our natural state, that infuses and embraces the totality of existence whenever we let go of personal striving, ambition, fantasies, hopes, fears and self-judgment. At this level our familiar preoccupations transform into a blissful and exquisite mandala that's completely free of the narrow concerns of a self-absorbed life. The neurotic energies and paranoiac projections that shape samsaric existence self-liberate into a panoramic clearing that supports evolutionary transformation throughout the universe. In this Guide Peter's outlines everything he has discovered in 42 years of teaching. The Guide is especially useful for facilitators, therapists and coaches as it powerfully accelerates the integration on the nondual in a form that lends itself to the public sharing of pure awareness. Part One is a virtual manual for spiritual teachers, therapists and coaches in how to introduce groups and clients to the ultimate state of healing and being-pure, pristine, timeless awareness. Part Two traces Peter's contemporary expression of nonduality, and more especially his well-known Radiant Mind course, through to its Asian origins.