Bücher veröffentlicht von Shambhala

"As you look deeply into your own awareness, and relax the self-contraction, and dissolve into the empty ground of your own primordial experience, the simple feeling of Being-right now, right here-is it not obvious all at once? Were you not present from the start? Did you not have a hand to play in all that was to follow? Did not the dream itself begin when you got bored with being God? Was it not fun to get lost in the productions of your own wondrous imagination, and pretend it all was other? Did you not write this book, and countless others like it, simply to remind you who you are?" -Ken Wilber The author of nineteen books of philosophy and psychology, Ken Wilber is a pioneering thinker who has developed an integral "theory of everything" that embraces the truths of both Eastern spirituality and Western science. Yet while he is best known for his scholarly research into the world's contemplative traditions, Wilber is also an accomplished spiritual practitioner and mystic in his own right. In order to highlight the personal wisdom of this popular author, the editors of The Simple Feeling of Being have assembled a collection of inspirational, mystical, and instructional passages drawn from his publications. These heartfelt writings, born of Ken's own meditation practice and inner experiences, include: • Poetic passages of contemplative insights and reflections • Inspired descriptions of Spirit, Nondual Awareness, the Witness, One Taste, and other topics • Commentary on the spiritual contributions of figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Saint Teresa of Ávila, Meister Eckhart, and Ramana Maharshi • Anecdotes of personal experience and glimpses into Wilber's inner world • Practical spiritual instructions and guided meditations

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is one of the best-known Tibetan Buddhist texts. It is also one of the most difficult texts for Westerners to understand. In Living, Dreaming, Dying, Rob Nairn presents the first interpretation of this classic text using a modern Western perspective, avoiding arcane religious terminology, keeping his explanations grounded in everyday language. Nairn explores the concepts used in this highly revered work and brings out their meaning and significance for our daily life. He shows readers how the Tibetan Book of the Dead can help us understand life and self as well as the dying process. Living, Dreaming, Dying helps readers to "live deliberately"-and confront death deliberately. One thing that prevents us from doing that, according to Nairn, is our tendency to react fearfully whenever change occurs. But if we confront our fear of change and the unknown, we can learn to flow gracefully with the unfolding circumstances of life rather than be at their mercy. Of course, change occurs throughout our life, but a period of transition also occurs as we pass from the waking state into sleep, and likewise as we pass into death. Therefore the author's teachings apply equally to living as well as to dreaming and dying. Through meditation instructions and practical exercises, the author explains how to: • Explore the mind through the cultivation of deep meditation states and expanded consciousness • Develop awareness of negative tendencies • Use deep sleep states and lucid dreaming to increase self-understanding as well as to "train" oneself in how to die so that one is prepared for when the time comes • Confront and liberate oneself from fear of death and the unknown

Living and Dying in Zazen combines the life stories and teaching of five teachers-Kodo Sawaki, Sodo Yokoyama, Kozan Kato, Motoko Ikebe, and Uchiyama-associated with Antaiji monastery and the story of Bravermen and other Western students coming to grips with Zen, Japanese culture, and themselves. The deification of Zen teachers by their followers has been a problematic issue in American Zen; this book provides a healthy antidote, presenting four men and one woman who have lived and died in Zen within the rich context of their personal lives and their culture, so that we can fully understand what makes a Zen master in Japan.

These fascinating discussions between 11th century court ladies and the great master Padmasambhava, available for the first time in English, weave intriguing issues of gender into Buddhist teachings. The women's doubts and hesitations are masterfully resolved in these impassioned exchanges. The wonderful material in this book is part of a terma (treasure) revealed by Pema Lingpa (1450-1521), the greatest terton (treasure-revealer) of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The pithy collection is rounded out by Pema Lingpa's astonishing life story.

There is no greater or more powerful or more pure human rapport with the elements than that experienced by a surfer dancing with the ocean. In Dancing the Wave, Jean-Etienne Poirier brings alive the world of surfing by offering historical, anthropological, and cultural perspectives on this increasingly popular sport. By recounting tales of his own surfing adventures, he opens the door to this world beyond the summer sun and simple pleasures of the ride, inviting readers to reflect upon the true place of human beings in the universe. This book is for all board riders, for all those who are touched by the forces of the ocean, and for all those who wish to understand the boldness of surfers, who join power and elegance in that harmonious dance with the sinuous movement of the wave.

Does the mind produce consciousness-or transmit it? Can machines detect love? Why has job stress become a worldwide epidemic? Why do objects sometimes seem to have minds of their own? Could war be a biological condition? Dr. Larry Dossey, one of the most influential spokespersons for the role of consciousness and spirituality in medicine, tackles all these questions and more with clarity and wit. In this book, he explores the relationship-often documented in extensive research-between science and "unscientific" topics such as prayer, love, laughter, war, creativity, dreams, and immortality.

These selections from Rumi's Mathnawi - a classic of Sufi spiritual literature - express the "lion's roar" of courage, discipline, clarity, and integrity. The lion represents the fierce intensity that recognizes no authority except the highest truth. At the same time, Rumi's lion is full of heart and devotion. Through these poems the reader will explore the qualities that are vital to the spiritual aspirant who seeks to overcome the imprisonment of ego.

From appetizers to cakes and desserts, these recipes combine the freshest ingredients -- whole grain flour, olive oil, lemons, yogurt and cheese, wild herbs, among others - -in ways that will tantalize the palates of both vegetarians and lovers of traditional Greek food. To complement the 200 recipes, the author outlines religious, historical, and other influences on Greek cuisine. He also relates anecdotes of his life in Greece and accounts of folk customs there.A full array of mouth-watering dishes is included, along with a note on the pronunciation of Greek words and an extensive glossary. The recipes include Cucumber and Yogurt Dip, Bean Soup with Hot Peppers, Chick Peas with Apricots, Cauliflower Fritters, Olive and Orange Salad, Cheese Rolls, Melon with Honey Dressing, and Semolina Halva.

For thousands of years, in traditional societies around the world, actors were seen as the guardians of intuitive wisdom, and the way of the actor was a path to knowledge and power. Brian Bates believes that this is still the case today -- that actors and actresses fulfill an important function in our culture as modern-day seers and shamans. He portrays the actor as a creator of visions who transports spectators out of their habitual ways of being and leads them on a journey of self-discovery. Personal magnetism and charisma, intense body awareness, and psychic sensitivity are among the special powers that contribute to the actor's mystique.Citing the observations and experiences of over thirty famous performers -- including Meryl Streep, Marlon Brando, Glenda Jackson, Liv Ullmann, Jack Nicholson, and Shirley MacLaine -- the author also draws on extensive research in science, psychology, parapsychology, and Eastern and Western mysticism to explore the significance of the dramatic art. He not only shows how the magical world of stage and screen mirrors our lives, but also reveals how actors and actresses point the way to self-transformation for everyone. For, as he writes, "the way of the actor is not an esoteric discipline divorced from everyday life. It is everyday life, heightened and lived to the full, with an awareness of powers beyond understanding."

Calm Abiding and Special Insight presents an intimate and detailed picture of the intricacies of meditation so vividly that the reader is drawn into a Tibetan worldview of spiritual development. Geshe Gedün Lodrö, one of the foremost scholars of Tibet, reveals methods for overcoming afflictive states and disorders to create a mind which is stable, calm, and alertly clear. This book illustrates the mind's potential for profound transformation. The dangers of not recognizing states contrary to successful meditation are great, and the possibilities of implementing the wrong antidote, or of overextending an appropriate one until it becomes counterproductive, are many. Through such detail, Geshe Gedün Lodrö makes vividly clear a Tibetan approach to meditative transformation. This is a completely revised new edition of Walking Through Walls.

Women--religious and secular, medieval and modern--have always demonstrated their own unique approach to matters of the spirit. Limited in their public roles throughout much of history, women have been compelled to turn inward, developing rich interior lives in uniquely feminine ways. This anthology brings together women's writing from classic religious literature--Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu--as well as many passages of fiction and poetry that are truly undiscovered treasures of women's spirituality. With writers ranging from Helen Keller to Aung San Suu Kyi, from Agatha Christie and Ursula K. Le Guin to Rabi'a the Mystic and Hildegard of Bingen. Sarah Anderson's collection proves beyond a doubt that "the exploration of 'the hidden seas within' is a journey on which we can all embark."

Soen Nakagawa Roshi (1907-1984) was an extraordinary Zen master and a key figure in the transmission of Zen Buddhism from Japan to the Western world. A man of many faces, he was a simple Japanese monk, a world traveler, a spiritualized being of the highest order, a poetic genius, a creator of dynamic calligraphy - and a notoriously eccentric teacher who, for example, was known to conduct "tea ceremonies" using instant coffee and styrofoam cups.Endless Vow is the first English-language collection of the literary works of this remarkable teacher.