Touching Ground

Author: Tim Testu
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1614293449
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Book Description
The vivid story of a hippie, a carpenter, a Vietnam vet, an alcoholic, a marine engineer, and a great dad who battled his demons on the Buddhist path. From October 16, 1973, to August 17, 1974, Tim Testu walked all the way from San Francisco to Seattle, bowing his head to the ground every three steps. And that’s not even the best part of his story. Tim Testu was one of the very first Americans to take ordination in Chinese Zen Buddhism. His path—from getting kicked out of school to joyriding in stolen boats in the Navy to squatting in an anarchist commune to wholehearted spiritual engagment in a strict Buddhist monastery—is equal parts rollicking adventure and profound spiritual memoir. Touching Ground is simultaneously larger than life and entirely relatable; even as Tim finds his spiritual home with his teacher, the legendary Chan master Hsuan Hua, he nonetheless continues to struggle to overcome his addictions and his very human shortcomings. Tim never did anything halfway, including both drinking and striving for liberation. He died of leukemia in 1998 after packing ten lifetimes into fifty-two years.

The Science of Enlightenment

Author: Shinzen Young
Publisher: Sounds True
ISBN: 9781683642121
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
Enlightenment—is it a myth or is it real? Across time and culture, inner explorers have discovered that the liberated state is a natural experience, as real as the sensations you are having right now. Few teachers achieve clarity with the application of scientific inquiry to these states of consciousness like Shinzen Young. Now in paperback, The Science of Enlightenment makes Young’s essential insights available to readers everywhere. The Science of Enlightenment merges scientific precision, Young’s grasp of the source-language teachings of many spiritual traditions, and his rare gift for sparking insight upon insight through original analogies and illustrations. The result: an uncommonly lucid "Aha, now I get it!" guide to mindfulness meditation—how it works and how to use it to enhance our cognitive capacities, compassion, and experience of happiness independent of conditions. For meditators of all levels and lineages, this multifaceted wisdom gem will be sure to surprise, provoke, illuminate, and inspire.

Touch of Peace

Author: Nayaswamis Jyotish
Publisher: Crystal Clarity Publishers
ISBN: 1565895967
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 335

Book Description
With all of the changes taking place in the world around us, the need for inner peace is greater than ever before. Learning to live in peace under all circumstances is the secret of a happy life. This powerful collection of spiritual writings will change your life by guiding you through inspiration and new perspectives for facing life’s challenges and finding peace within. Drawing from the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda (author of the classic Autobiography of a Yogi), Touch of Peace shares practical tools, instructive stories, and right attitudes to help you tap the wellsprings of peace inside you. “Who among us has not had to deal with his share of trials? It is worry, even more than the trial itself, that usually does damage to our peace and happiness,” said author, Nayaswami Jyotish. “Raising our consciousness is the true solution” he continues, for facing the battlefield of life—to keep us from sinking into our worries, so we may learn to overcome our trials. In their newest release, Touch of Peace, co-authors Nayaswami Jyotish and Nayaswami Devi, show us the way forward to a brighter future. Since the onset of the global tsunami of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting dramatic changes in people’s lives around the world, the passages within this book offer fresh perspective, practices, and ancient yoga teachings to help individuals deal with the special challenges we face. After the success of their first three books, Touch of Light, Touch of Joy, and Touch of Love, Nayaswami Jyotish and Devi offer a lifeline in a sea of uncertainty within each letter found in Touch of Peace. Based on their famous blog, A Touch of Light, this book is the compilation of profound and practical spiritual teachings faithfully shared in the spirit of their beloved guru, Paramhansa Yogananda and his direct disciple, Swami Kriyananda.

Touching Enlightenment (Volume 1 of 2) (EasyRead Super Large 20pt Edition)

Author:
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1442963336
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Book Description

A Death on Diamond Mountain

Author: Scott Carney
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 069818629X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 307

Book Description
An investigative reporter explores an infamous case where an obsessive and unorthodox search for enlightenment went terribly wrong. When thirty-eight-year-old Ian Thorson died from dehydration and dysentery on a remote Arizona mountaintop in 2012, The New York Times reported the story under the headline: "Mysterious Buddhist Retreat in the Desert Ends in a Grisly Death." Scott Carney, a journalist and anthropologist who lived in India for six years, was struck by how Thorson’s death echoed other incidents that reflected the little-talked-about connection between intensive meditation and mental instability. Using these tragedies as a springboard, Carney explores how those who go to extremes to achieve divine revelations—and undertake it in illusory ways—can tangle with madness. He also delves into the unorthodox interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism that attracted Thorson and the bizarre teachings of its chief evangelists: Thorson’s wife, Lama Christie McNally, and her previous husband, Geshe Michael Roach, the supreme spiritual leader of Diamond Mountain University, where Thorson died. Carney unravels how the cultlike practices of McNally and Roach and the questionable circumstances surrounding Thorson’s death illuminate a uniquely American tendency to mix and match eastern religious traditions like LEGO pieces in a quest to reach an enlightened, perfected state, no matter the cost. Aided by Thorson’s private papers, along with cutting-edge neurological research that reveals the profound impact of intensive meditation on the brain and stories of miracles and black magic, sexualized rituals, and tantric rites from former Diamond Mountain acolytes, A Death on Diamond Mountain is a gripping work of investigative journalism that reveals how the path to enlightenment can be riddled with danger.

Touching the Jaguar

Author: John Perkins
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1523089873
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Book Description
“This eloquent book inspires us to create a new reality of what it means to be humans on this magnificent planet.” —Deepak Chopra This all happened while Perkins was a Peace Corps volunteer. Then he became an "economic hit man" (EHM), convincing developing countries to build huge projects that put them perpetually in debt to the World Bank and other US-controlled institutions. Although he'd learned in business school that this was the best model for economic development, he came to understand it as a new form of colonialism. When he later returned to the Amazon, he saw the destructive impact of his work. But a much more profound experience emerged: Perkins was inspired by a previously uncontacted Amazon tribe that “touched its jaguar” by uniting with age-old enemies to defend its territory against invading oil and mining companies. For the first time, Perkins details how shamanism converted him from an EHM to a crusader for transforming a failing Death Economy (exploiting resources that are declining at accelerating rates) into a Life Economy (cleaning up pollution, recycling, and developing green technologies). He discusses the power our perceptions have for molding reality. And he provides a strategy for each of us to change our lives and defend our territory—the earth—against current destructive policies and systems.

The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Volume 1)

Author: Tsong-kha-pa
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1559398698
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Book Description
The first volume of the 15th-century spiritual classic that condenses Buddhist teachings into one easy-to-follow meditation manual The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Tib. Lam rim chen mo) is one of the brightest jewels in the world’s treasury of sacred literature. The author, Tsong-kha-pa, completed it in 1402, and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Because it condenses all the exoteric sūtra scriptures into a meditation manual that is easy to understand, scholars and practitioners rely on its authoritative presentation as a gateway that leads to a full understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. Tsong-kha-pa took great pains to base his insights on classical Indian Buddhist literature, illustrating his points with classical citations as well as with sayings of the masters of the earlier Kadampa tradition. In this way the text demonstrates clearly how Tibetan Buddhism carefully preserved and developed the Indian Buddhist traditions. This first of three volumes covers all the practices that are prerequisite for developing the spirit of enlightenment (bodhicitta).

How to Attain Enlightenment

Author: James Swartz
Publisher: Sentient Publications
ISBN: 1591810949
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
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.

Practical Enlightenment

Author: Ariel and Shya Kane
Publisher: Waterfront Digital Press
ISBN: 9781943625017
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Book Description
Enlightenment isn't a mystical state that requires years of effort to achieve. It is a practical lifestyle that you can have right now. In Practical Enlightenment, Ariel & Shya Kane share a refreshing approach to living life without worry, stress or anxiety - a way of living where your past no longer dictates your present or future and you experience your own perfection. Through humorous and touching stories of real people in real life situations, the Kanes show you the easy way to live an enlightened life - no effort required!

Enlightenment

Author: Reno Ursal
Publisher: Pacific Boulevard Books
ISBN: 098444081X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Book Description
When Dorothy Dizon meets the mysterious Adrian Rosario and his alluring knowledge of Filipino history, her life takes an unchartered detour. Dorothy's true calling is connected to the hidden history of the Philippines, but Adrian reveals little to keep her safe from enemies of his blood-eating secret society. Together, they experience a paranormal journey that brings them to the brink of a new enlightenment. Enlightenment, Book One of The Bathala Series explores the forgotten history of the Philippines through first-person perspectives of Filipino characters who live on the opposite sides of the truth.