Meditation on Perception

Meditation on Perception PDF Author: Henepola Gunaratana
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1614291055
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
Use the unique Buddhist practice of meditation on perception, as taught by the best-selling author of Mindfulness in Plain English, to learn how shifting your perspective can transform mental and physical health. Perception—one of the basic constituents of the body and mind—can be both a source of suffering and pain, as well as a source of happiness and health. The Buddhist tradition teaches that perception can be trained and ultimately purified through the practice of meditation. When we understand how perception impacts our lives, we can use it, just as we do any other object of meditation, to overcome harmful ways of thinking and acting and to develop healthy states of mind instead. In Meditation on Perception Bhante G brings us, for the first time in English, an illuminating introduction to the unique Buddhist practice of meditation on perception as taught in the popular Girimananda Sutta. The ten healing practices that comprise meditation on perception make up a comprehensive system of meditation, combining aspects of both tranquility and insight meditation. Tranquility meditation is used to calm and center the mind, and insight meditation is used to understand more clearly how we ordinarily perceive ourselves and the world around us. Alternating between these two practices, meditators cultivate purified perception as explained by the Buddha. As a result of these efforts, we progress on the path that leads to freedom, once and for all, from illness, confusion, and other forms of physical and mental suffering. Meditation on Perception gives us the keys to move beyond ordinary, superficial perception into an enlightened perspective, freed from confusion and unhappiness.

Meditation on Perception

Meditation on Perception PDF Author: Henepola Gunaratana
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1614291055
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 124

Get Book

Book Description
Use the unique Buddhist practice of meditation on perception, as taught by the best-selling author of Mindfulness in Plain English, to learn how shifting your perspective can transform mental and physical health. Perception—one of the basic constituents of the body and mind—can be both a source of suffering and pain, as well as a source of happiness and health. The Buddhist tradition teaches that perception can be trained and ultimately purified through the practice of meditation. When we understand how perception impacts our lives, we can use it, just as we do any other object of meditation, to overcome harmful ways of thinking and acting and to develop healthy states of mind instead. In Meditation on Perception Bhante G brings us, for the first time in English, an illuminating introduction to the unique Buddhist practice of meditation on perception as taught in the popular Girimananda Sutta. The ten healing practices that comprise meditation on perception make up a comprehensive system of meditation, combining aspects of both tranquility and insight meditation. Tranquility meditation is used to calm and center the mind, and insight meditation is used to understand more clearly how we ordinarily perceive ourselves and the world around us. Alternating between these two practices, meditators cultivate purified perception as explained by the Buddha. As a result of these efforts, we progress on the path that leads to freedom, once and for all, from illness, confusion, and other forms of physical and mental suffering. Meditation on Perception gives us the keys to move beyond ordinary, superficial perception into an enlightened perspective, freed from confusion and unhappiness.

Yogic Perception, Meditation and Altered States of Consciousness

Yogic Perception, Meditation and Altered States of Consciousness PDF Author: Eli Franco
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Altered states of consciousness
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
The volume presents seventeen papers by different scholars that examine, from an interdisciplinary perspective, questions concerning meditation and yogic perception. The contributions focus on various aspects, such as the nature of consciousness, the relation of body and mind, and health, and bind together the perspectives and approaches of disciplines such as South Asian, Buddhist and Tibetan studies, religious studies, philosophy and the history of philosophy, medieval European history, anthropology and psychology. In contrast to recent interdisciplinary studies on meditation that take the natural sciences as their focal point (notably, quantum mechanics and neurophysiology), this volume uses methods established in the social sciences and humanities as tools for understanding meditative traditions, especially those found in Buddhism and Hinduism.

The Mind Illuminated

The Mind Illuminated PDF Author: CULADASA
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
ISBN: 1781808791
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
The Mind Illuminated is a comprehensive, accessible and - above all - effective book on meditation, providing a nuts-and-bolts stage-based system that helps all levels of meditators establish and deepen their practice. Providing step-by-step guidance for every stage of the meditation path, this uniquely comprehensive guide for a Western audience combines the wisdom from the teachings of the Buddha with the latest research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Clear and friendly, this in-depth practice manual builds on the nine-stage model of meditation originally articulated by the ancient Indian sage Asanga, crystallizing the entire meditative journey into 10 clearly-defined stages. The book also introduces a new and fascinating model of how the mind works, and uses illustrations and charts to help the reader work through each stage. This manual is an essential read for the beginner to the seasoned veteran of meditation.

Buddhahood Without Meditation

Buddhahood Without Meditation PDF Author: Bdud-'joms-glicn-Pa
Publisher: Padma Publishing
ISBN: 9781881847335
Category : Rdzogs-chen
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


The Path of Serenity and Insight

The Path of Serenity and Insight PDF Author: Henepola Gunaratana
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
ISBN: 8120812360
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
In the oldest scriptures of Theravada Buddhism much attention is given to the jhanas, high levels of meditative attainment distinguished by powerful concentration and purity of mind. Ven. Dr. Gunaratana examines these jhanas within the context of Buddhist teaching as a whole and particularly within the meditation disciplines taught by the Buddha. Beginning with the ethical foundation for meditation, the role of the teacher, the classical subjects of meditation, and the appropriateness of these subjects to individual practitioners, the author traces the practice of meditation to the higher reaches of realization. The eight stages of jhana are individually analyzed and explained in terms of their relation to one another and to the ultimate goal of the teaching. The author makes the critical distinction between the mundane jhanas and supermundane jhanas, pointing out that the lower four, while leading to various mental powers and psychic attainments, are not necessary to full enlightenment and may be developed or bypassed as the medita-tor wishes. The author goes on to explain the place of the jhanas among the accomplishments of an arahat and elucidate their usefulness for a dedicated meditator.

You Are the Placebo Meditation 1 -- Revised Edition

You Are the Placebo Meditation 1 -- Revised Edition PDF Author: Joe Dispenza
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1401951708
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
After introducing the open-focus technique, Dr. Joe Dispenza moves into the practice of finding the present moment. When listeners discover the sweet spot of the present moment and forget about themselves as the personalities they have always been, they have access to other possibilities that already exist in the quantum field. That's because they are no longer connected to the same body-mind, to the same identification with the environment, and to the same predictable timeline.

Meditating Selflessly

Meditating Selflessly PDF Author: James H. Austin
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026229771X
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
A guide to Zen meditative practice informed by the latest findings in brain research. This is not the usual kind of self-help book. Indeed, its major premise heeds a Zen master's advice to be less self-centered. Yes, it is "one more book of words about Zen," as the author concedes, yet this book explains meditative practices from the perspective of a "neural Zen." The latest findings in brain research inform its suggestions. In Meditating Selflessly, James Austin—Zen practitioner, neurologist, and author of three acclaimed books on Zen and neuroscience—guides readers toward that open awareness already awaiting them on the cushion and in the natural world. Austin offers concrete advice—often in a simplified question-and-answer format—about different ways to meditate. He clarifies both the concentrative and receptive styles of meditation. Drawing widely from the exciting new field of contemplative neuroscience, Austin helps resolve an ancient paradox: why both insight wisdom and selflessness arise simultaneously during enlightened states of consciousness.

Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic

Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic PDF Author: B. Alan Wallace
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231158343
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
A radical approach to studying the mind. Renowned Buddhist philosopher B. Alan Wallace reasserts the power of shamatha and vipashyana, traditional Buddhist meditations, to clarify the mind's role in the natural world. Raising profound questions about human nature, free will, and experience versus dogma, Wallace challenges the claim that consciousness is nothing more than an emergent property of the brain with little relation to universal events. Rather, he maintains that the observer is essential to measuring quantum systems and that mental phenomena (however conceived) influence brain function and behavior. Wallace embarks on a two-part mission: to restore human nature and to transcend it. He begins by explaining the value of skepticism in Buddhism and science and the difficulty of merging their experiential methods of inquiry. Yet Wallace also proves that Buddhist views on human nature and the possibility of free will liberate us from the metaphysical constraints of scientific materialism. He then explores the radical empiricism inspired by William James and applies it to Indian Buddhist philosophy's four schools and the Great Perfection school of Tibetan Buddhism. Since Buddhism begins with the assertion that ignorance lies at the root of all suffering and that the path to freedom is reached through knowledge, Buddhist practice can be viewed as a progression from agnosticism (not knowing) to gnosticism (knowing), acquired through the maintenance of exceptional mental health, mindfulness, and introspection. Wallace discusses these topics in detail, identifying similarities and differences between scientific and Buddhist understanding, and he concludes with an explanation of shamatha and vipashyana and their potential for realizing the full nature, origins, and potential of consciousness.

The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception

The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception PDF Author: Kun-dgaʼ-bstan-paʼi-ñi-ma (Sde-gźun Luṅ-rig Sprul-sku)
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0861713680
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 626

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Book Description
The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception is a revised edition of the classic guide to the Lamdre, a key system of meditation of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Written by one of the first Tibetan masters to live and teach in the United States, it is rendered in a lyrical style that entertains, inspires, and motivates the reader. A key work for all those who are eager to develop and deepen their meditation practice.

Meditation and Modern Psychology

Meditation and Modern Psychology PDF Author: Robert Ornstein
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781933779638
Category : Awareness
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Meditation and Modern Psychology examines meditation from two perspectives: first, from the perspective of religions and philosophies such as Zen, Yoga and from that of the Sufis and Christian mystics; and then from the modern psychologist's point of view -- what is happening neurophysiologically during and after meditation? By looking at meditation from both points of view, Ornstein produces a modern scientific synthesis - one sympathetic to the practice of meditation - enabling the reader to appreciate and understand meditation as a tool which can lead to a different mode of perception. Robert Ornstein, Ph.D., has written more than twenty books on the brain, mind, and consciousness since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1971. This work emphasizes our urgent need and ability to develop perceptions beyond our human inheritance.