The Experience of Meditation: Experts Introduce the Major Traditions / Edition 1

by Jonathan Shear

Overview

A fulfilled life and happiness is more than physical comfort or buyingnew things. It involves awareness and development of our inner beingand consciousness. The major meditation traditions of the world, eachin their own way, aim at the creation of an inner peace and happinesswhich provides a solid foundation for action and compassion in theworld. This book describes the techniques and experience of the majormeditation traditions impacting the West in the words of highlyrespected practioners of each tradition. Taken together, theyconstitute a solid overview of meditation and how the major traditionsare similar or different from one another.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557788573
Publisher:	Paragon House Publishers
Publication date:	05/17/2006
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Shear was a Fulbright Scholar in philosophy of science at the London School of Economics, and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley where he received his doctorate. He has enjoyed daily practice of Eastern procedures such as Zen, TM, taiji ("t'ai chi") and qigong for more than forty years, and is an internationally known expert on meditation experiences, publishing and lecturing in India and China as well as the West. For the past nineteen years he has taught philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. He was also a founding editor of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, is an experienced meditation instructor, and a formal disciple in one of China's major taiji systems.

Table of Contents

Foreword—Ken Wilber
Introduction
Zen—Shodo Harada Roshi
Transcendental Meditation—Johnath Shear
Taoism/Qigong—Shou-Yu Liang and Wen-Ching Wu
Yoga—Georg Feuerstein
Therevada—Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Bryan Clark
Tibetan Buddhism—Robert A.F. Thurman and David B. Gray
Integral Yoga—Donald Salmon
Kriya Yoga—Sri Daya Mata
Sufism—Llewellyn Baugn Lee
Christianity—Basil Pennington
Conclusion
About the Authors

What People are Saying About This

Ken Wilber

"This is a superb collection not only for beginners who would like an exquisite introduction to meditation, but also for advanced practitioners who would like to refine their own understanding of this most precious gift of the great saints and sages of our human family. And if you have not yet started a meditation practice...take up this great experiment in depth, and I promise you, your life will never be the same again."
—author A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science, and Spirituality

Peter Russell

"For years, I have been seeking a comprehensive and authoritative survey of the world's major meditation practices that I can recommend to students. Now I have one."
—author, From Science to God et al

Editorial Reviews

"This is a superb collection not only for beginners who would like an exquisite introduction to meditation, but also for advanced practitioners who would like to refine their own understanding of this most precious gift of the great saints and sages of our human family. And if you have not yet started a meditation practice...take up this great experiment in depth, and I promise you, your life will never be the same again."—Ken Wilber, author A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science, and Spirituality

"For years, I have been seeking a comprehensive and authoritative survey of the world's major meditation practices that I can recommend to students. Now I have one."—Peter Russell, author, From Science to God et al

From the Publisher

"For years, I have been seeking a comprehensive and authoritative survey of the world's major meditation practices that I can recommend to students. Now I have one."—Peter Russell, author, From Science to God et al

Blurb from reviewer