"Lifelong guidance for learning to change the way we relate to the scary and difficult moments of our lives, showing us how we can use all of our difficulties and fears as a way to soften our hearts and open us to greater kindness We always have a choice in how we react to the circumstances of our lives. We can let them harden us and make us increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and allow our inherent human kindness to shine...

As the practice of mindfulness permeates mainstream Western culture, more and more people are engaging in a traditional form of Buddhist meditation. However, many of these people have little interest in the religious aspects of Buddhism, and the practice occurs within secular contexts such as hospitals, schools, and the workplace. Is it possible to recover from the Buddhist teachings a vision of human flourishing that is secular rather than religious...

In this wonderful guide, respected teacher Ken McLeod deconstructs Tibetan Buddhism to make it a path accessible to the Western reader. With abundant anecdotal and illustrative material, he addresses a vast number of teachings, from the Four Noble Truths, through death and impermanence meditations, karma, mind training, and insight practices. Especially engaging and relevant to Western readers are the sections on dismantling attachment to conventional...

"We live in a shallow "junk" pleasure-seeking culture, searching for connection in the wrong places, keeping our restlessness and anxiety at bay with unfulfilling distractions. The results of our junk pleasure culture are obvious: hundreds of articles have been published about the rise of loneliness and its detrimental effects on our mental, emotional, and physical health. Even those of us who have succeeded in the ways that society encourages--getting...

The Buddha wanted his students to investigate, to see for themselves whether what he said were true. As a student of the Buddha, the Dalai Lama promotes the same spirit of investigation, and as the rich tradition of the Buddha makes its way into new lands and cultures, His Holiness has recognized that new approaches are needed to allow seekers in the West to experience the relevance of the liberating message in their own lives. Such an approach cannot...

One of America's most respected Buddhist teachers distills a lifetime of practice and teaching in this groundbreaking exploration of the new Buddhist tradition taking root on American soil.

The Satipatthana Sutta-- taken from the 2,500-year-old teachings of the Buddha himself-- is the original manual on how to meditate and be mindful. One of its recommended practices is the worldwide practice of mindfulness. Harrison has made the Sutta the basis of his teaching career. Now, with a new translation and commentary, he makes mindfulness more accessible than ever.

“[Wake Up] contributes significantly to the fascinating picture of Kerouac’s spirituality, revealing the depth of Kerouac’s identification with the Buddha.”—The Beat Review

“The long, streaming style makes the book majestic and something that you absorb in one sitting, like a symphony.”—Robert A. F. Thurman, from the Introduction
 
In the mid-1950s,...