How to read Foucault by Johanna Oksala

Training the Samurai Mind by Thomas Cleary

The DaVinci Method by Garret LoPorto

Touching the edge a mother's spiritual path from loss to life by Margaret Wurtele

Living in Process - Basic Truths for Living the Path of the Soul by Anne Wilson Schaef

Learning and teaching therapy by Jay Haley

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Quiet your mind by John Selby

Seven Masters, One Path Meditation Secrets from the World's Greatest Teachers by John Selby

A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life by Jack Kornfield

The Tibetan Book of Living&Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chogyam Trungpa

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron

Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh

Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki, Edward Espe Brown (Editor)

The Joy of Living by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche with Eric Swanson

尊者的棒喝 : 禅说 by 蔡志忠

三国演义 十七卷 勇士的战场 by 孙家裕

Psychology in Singapore Issues of an Emerging Discipline edited by Tan Ai-Girl, Michael Goh.

The force of character : and the lasting life by James Hillman.

Colourful Myanmar by Khin Myo Chit. (NLB Singapore)

Kimchi and IT: Tradition and Transformation in Korea by Kim Choong-soon. (Seoul Selection) (partial)

Related: 'Kimchi and IT' Sheds Light on Korea.

Buddhism Religion in Korea by Choi Joon-sik. (Seoul Selection)

Going to Pieces without Falling Apart by Mark Epstein.

Contentment: A Way to True Happiness by Robert A. Johnson, Jerry M. Ruhl.

Living Your Unlived Life: Coping with Unrealized Dreams and Fulfilling Your Purpose in the...Second Half of Life by Robert A. Johnson, Jerry M. Ruhl.

Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth by Robert A. Johnson. (partial)

Wherever You Go There You Are Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Taming the tiger within : meditations on transforming Difficult Emotions by Thich Nhat Hanh.

The Miracle of mindfulness : A manual of meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Related: Meditation on Interdependence.

The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Luminous Mind The Way of the Buddha by Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche.

The Silk Road Journey With Xuanzang by Sally Wriggins.

Holy Places of the Buddha (Crystal Mirror 9) by Elizabeth Cook. (partial)

Related:

Books Read in 2007.

A distinguished scholar of Buddhism, Lewis Lancaster founded the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative to use the latest computer technology to map the spread of various strands of Buddhism from the distant past to the present.

In his lecture, Lewis explains the spread of Buddhism throughout the world due to the portability of Buddhism. Buddhism spreads through the relics, images, monks and buddhist texts. ..

We can never know the full cause (history) of an event. ..

We must always be aware of the moment because it is this moment that is the magic and secret of life. ..

Share by Buddhist Fellowship.

Meditation is not imitation, but creation. Meditators who only imitate their instructors cannot go far. The same is true of cooking, or anything. A good cook is someone with a creative spirit. You can enter the Meditation on the Interdependence of All Phenomena through many different doors -- observing your internal organs: blood, heart, intestines, lungs, liver, kidneys; or thousands of other means, including thoughts, feelings, images, poetry, dreams, or a river, a star, a leaf, and so on.

A good practitioner uses meditation throughout daily life, not wasting a single opportunity, a single event, to see deeply the nature of dependent coarising. All day long practice is carried out in perfect concentration. With eyes open or closed, the nature of meditation is no other than samadhi. You can discard the idea that you must close your eyes to look inside and open them to look outside. A thought is no more an inner object than a mountain an outer one. Both are objects of knowledge. Neither is inner or outer. Great concentration is achieved when you are fully present, in profound communion with living reality. At these times the distinction between subject and object disappears and you penetrate living reality with ease, are one with it, because you have set aside all tools for measuring knowledge, knowledge which Buddhism calls "erroneous knowledge."

Fearless in Life and Death

Continue to practice the meditation on interdependence for awhile and you will notice a change in yourself. Your perspective will widen, and you will find that you look at all living beings with compassion. The grudges and hatreds that you thought were impenetrable will begin to erode, and you will find yourself caring for each and every being. Most important, you will no longer be afraid of life and death.

To meditate means to observe.

The secret of meditation is to be conscious of each second of your existence and to keep the sun of awareness continually shining -- in both the physical and psychological realms, in all circumstances, on each thing that arises.

Meditation reveals not a concept of truth, but a direct view of truth itself. This we call Insight, the kind of understanding based on attention and concentration.

The notion of "not self" is a method, not a goal. If it becomes a concept, it must be destroyed along with all other concepts.

These four virtues: lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and non-attachment are the fruits of the meditation on the principle of the interdependent co-arising of things.

Peace can exist only in the present moment. If you truly want to be at peace, you must be at peace right now.

Related:

Sunshine is Green Leaves.

There is Knowing in the Wind.

Forgiveness: How to Let Go of Grudges and Bitterness.

"Whoever... sees in illness a vital expression of the organism, will no longer see it as an enemy. In the moment I realize that the disease is a creation of the patient, it becomes for me the same sort of thing as his manner of walking, his mode of speech, his facial expression, the movements of his hands, the drawings he has made, the house he has built, the business he has settled, or the way his thoughts go: a significant symbol of the powers that rule him, and that I try to influence when I deem it right."

Georg Groddeck; MD

About 35 years ago I had the good fortune to study with a woman who was a powerful healer. Among her many talents was her gift of helping people heal themselves from cancer. She worked with herbs, diet, energy healing, self awareness, and prayer. I learned a great deal from her, and in the years since I've continued to use and further develop what she taught me.

My teacher believed that disease was a life affirming communication from the person's deeper self. A strong voice calling out to the person, letting them know they needed to redirect their energy and live their life differently. The more serious a disease appeared to be, the stronger the signal from the deeper self. The more serious a disease appeared to be, the more of the person's whole self was being activated for the task of healing. Life threatening illnesses were understood to show a strong desire to live a better life.

Clients were taught to listen carefully to the wisdom of their symptoms, so they could appreciate what their body was telling them, and begin to decode the life affirming messages their body was communicating.

On one occasion a man in his early thirties showed up who had late stage cancer. My teacher asked him to tell her about his life and a compelling story of self destruction followed. The gentleman was a highly accomplished stock broker who was using cocaine, alcohol, and stimulants to keep himself on a wild roller coaster ride of "success".

Over the following months the man cleaned up his life. He changed his diet, took a range of supplements, got into meditation and praying, and gave up his debilitating habits. As often but not always happened, the man wound up healing himself of his cancer.

A few months after he'd been declared fully healthy by his doctors the man showed up at one of my teacher's classes. He said he was in the final stages of writing a book called "Cancer can save your life!".

"As weird as it might seem," he said, "I'm now truly thankful for having had cancer."

"Without the cancer I would have certainly gone on living the kind of life that in some strange way had felt like a 'privilege' of my success."

"It would have only been a matter of time before my many excesses would have killed me!"

I remember the first time I told the story of the stockbroker to a client who was suffering from a life threatening illness. She said, "Easy for him to be so positive after regaining his health!"

"Yes," I said, "It is easy to appreciate your illness after you’ve regained your health."

"The task we have before us now," I suggested, "Is to begin to engage your own process of appreciation prior to recovering your health, so that the healing energy hiding within your disease is given the opportunity to be activated."

"Simple but not necessarily easy," I said.

"At least one of us needs to start out believing you are indeed capable of recovering your health. I will thus sit here trusting in your capacity to activate the healing energy that resides within you, until such time that you're ready and able to join me. Together, we will find the best way to appreciate and respond to your system's call for help!"

Request for prayers and assistance

Charlie 's Russian friend and colleague Inessa Rebeyko (the webmaster for Seishindo) has been recently diagnosed with cancer and is beginning to undergo various treatment methods.

Please keep Inessa in your thoughts and prayers. The more of you who can find the time to send caring thoughts her way, the better!

The cost for Inessa's treatment and rehabilitation will be considerable, and beyond the resources she currently has. If you would like to make a donation to a health fund for Inessa, please go to the following link:

http://www.seishindo.org/making_a_donation.html.

The story of Prince Siddhartha and his spiritual transformation into the Buddha.

Life of the Buddha. (BuddhaNet)

Related:

Buddha’s Compassion And The Story of Kisa Gotami and The Mustard Seed.