Meditation Techniques of the Buddhist and Taoist Masters

by Daniel Odier

Overview

A guide to the mental disciplines and visualizations that Masters have used for ages in their quest for illumination.
* An insider's view of specific meditation techniques and the steps necessary for a wide variety of * Buddhist and Taoist meditation practices.
* By the author of Tantric Quest (15,000 sold) and Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening.
The esoteric practices followed in the quest for divinity generally remain a secret to the world--kept cloistered away for only the most ascetic practitioners. Now Daniel Odier, having immersed himself in the life and spiritual practices of Buddhist and Taoist monasteries throughout India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Japan, reveals actual teachings passed on by the sages who are living expressions of their tradition.

Looking beyond doctrine, dogma, and philosophical treatises that ignore direct experiences of the practice, Odier provides a direct path to the heart of the religious experience that can be discovered through meditation. Beginning with the simple and fundamental steps necessary to prepare for meditation, Odier guides the reader through the specifics of the mental disciplines and visualizations that Buddhist and Taoist masters have used for ages in their quest for illumination. To devote oneself to meditation, in the sense understood by Buddhists and Taoists, is to realize the understanding of how every fiber of our being converges with all creation. Meditation Techniques of the Buddhist and Taoist Masters is a valuable guide to all who are in search of that realization.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620554432
Publisher:	Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Publication date:	01/28/2003
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Daniel Odier founded the Tantra/Chan Center in Paris and has taught Eastern spiritual traditions at a number of American universities. He is the author of several works of nonfiction, including Tantric Quest and Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening, and many novels. Under the name of Delacorta, he is the author of a series of mystery novels, one of which--Diva--was made into an award-winning film. He lives in Switzerland.
Daniel Odier began his studies with Kalu Rinpoche in 1968 and remained his disciple until his passing in 1989. In 2004 Odier received the Ch'an ordination in the Lin t'si and Caodong schools in China as well as permission to teach the Zhao Zhou Ch'an lineage in the West. He gives workshops in Europe, Canada, and the United States and is the author of Tantric Quest: An Encounter with Absolute Love and many other books, including Yoga Spandakarika: The Sacred Texts at the Heart of Tantra. He lives in Switzerland.

Read an Excerpt

From page 144
The 112 Ways of Meditation
C.M. Chen, a Chinese yogi practicing Chan and living as a hermit in Kalimpong, in northern India, introduced me to Vijnanabhairava Tantra in 1968. Later, with my master, the Kashmirian yogini Lalita Devî, I practiced and gained a deeper knowledge of this text for which I made a new translation including commentary and published under the title Tantra Yoga in 1998. This text, the oldest one on meditation that has come down to the present, provides a radical revelation of the similar approaches in Tantra and Chan that the majority of Chinese masters integrate into their teaching. It is all simply a return to the original mind and it hardly matters whether it is called Shiva nature or Buddha nature. In the original edition of this book I inadvertently omitted the introduction to this Tantra. I am restoring it here because the reader will find here the full flavor of this absolute way that removes all the illusionary factors from attaining what is already an integral part of ourselves.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One--Buddhism
1 The Lives of the Buddha
2 The Foundations of Buddhism
3 Preparation for Meditation
4 Contemplative Techniques of Hinayana
5 Contemplative Techniques of Mahayana
6 Contemplative Techniques of Vajrayana
7 Contemplative Techniques of Ch'an (Zen)
Map of the Spread of Buddhism

Part Two--Taoism
8 The Foundations of Taoism
9 Taoist Contemplative Techniques

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Source of Illustrations

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The thread running throughout this book is a love, reverence, and faith in the efficacy of these teachings that must not only be grasped by the mind, but authentically lived and realized."

Editorial Reviews

"The thread running throughout this book is a love, reverence, and faith in the efficacy of these teachings that must not only be grasped by the mind, but authentically lived and realized."

Anurag/Neal Aronowitz

"The thread running throughout this book is a love, reverence, and faith in the efficacy of these teachings that must not only be grasped by the mind, but authentically lived and realized."

From the Publisher