What, Why, How: Answers to Your Questions About Buddhism, Meditation, and Living Mindfully
328
What, Why, How: Answers to Your Questions About Buddhism, Meditation, and Living Mindfully
328eBook
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Overview
How can I fit meditation into my busy life?
How should I understand karma and rebirth?
Is enlightenment even possible for me?
Sound familiar? If you’ve ever meditated or studied Buddhism, you may have found yourself asking these questions—and many more! Here’s the good news: there are answers, and you’ll find them all in this book. Imagine that you could sit down with one of Buddhism’s most accomplished and plainspoken teachers—and imagine that he patiently agreed to answer any question you had about meditation, living mindfully, and key Buddhist concepts—even the myriad brilliant questions you’ve never thought to ask! What, Why, How condenses into one volume a half-century of Bhante G.’s wise answers to common questions about the Buddha’s core teachings on meditation and spiritual practice. With his kind and clear guidance, you’ll gain simple yet powerful insights and practices to end unhealthy patterns and habits so that you can transform your experience of the world—from your own mind to your relationships, your job, and beyond.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781614296171 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wisdom Publications MA |
| Publication date: | 01/21/2020 |
| Sold by: | SIMON & SCHUSTER |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 328 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Editor's Preface xi
1 On Meditation 1
How Much Effort?
Metta and Meditation
Best Meditation Object
Layperson's Daily Meditation
Meditation and Relaxation
Pain and Discomfort
Beginning Buddhism
Ultimate Aim of Meditation
Samatha and Vipassana
Good and Bad Meditation
The Lotus Posture
Reaction to Pain
Other Meditation Postures
Meditating Outdoors
Misunderstanding Meditation
Meditation Progress
Hearing the Heart
Pain while Meditating
Meditation Focus
Training the Mind
Breath as an Agent
Light Show
Sensations during Meditation
Handling Joy and Bliss
Striving Too Hard
Counting Breaths
The Doubting Meditator
Meditation and Mantras
Peace in Solitude
"Solo" Practice
2 Morality and Discipline 33
Significance of Sila
No Regret, No Remorse
Meditation Groundwork
Right Livelihood and Responsibility
The Significance of Precepts
The Eight Lifetime Precepts
3 Buddhist Principles and Practices 41
The Buddha's Teachings
The Triple Gem
The Illusion of "Self"
The Importance of Volition
A Creator God Buddha Nature
Luminous Mind
Tricky Business Dominant Thoughts
Life's Purpose
Dispassion Explained
An Intellectual Understanding
Spiritual Friends
Hindrances and Fetters
Uprooting Hindrances
Appreciative Joy
The Meaning of Mara
Which Suttas?
Core Suttas
Where Is the "I"?
Ignorance and Craving a The Characteristics of Existence
Right Effort
Faith in Buddhism
Spiritual Friendship
Defining the Soul
Gender and Attachment
The Meaning of Chanda
Books and Buddhism
Secret Teachings
Improving the Teachings
4 Buddhism and the Body 67
Limits of Sense Pleasures
Bodily Awareness
Mindful of the Body
Pain Is Not Suffering
Dukkha Is in the Mind
Unpleasantness of the Body
Sexual Misconduct
Desire and Craving
The Danger in Attachment
5 Rebirth 75
Understanding Rebirth
Evidence of Rebirth
No Permanent Self
Rebirth and Reincarnation
Human Rebirth
Rebecoming, Not Reincarnation
Sowing and Reaping
6 Dealing with Daily Life 83
Meditation in Busy Life
Meditation and Sleep
Antidepressants and Meditation
Respecting Others
Hate and Violence in the World
Overturned Bowls
Buddhism and Western Psychology
The Middle Way
Stay Cool
Impermanence and Sadness
Letting Go
Look to Yourself
Spiritual Practice in Lay Life
Wholesome Directions
Clinging and Relationships
A Pregnant Blessing
Teachings on the Family
Meditation and Trauma
Crime and Compassion
Little White Lies
Fitting in Meditation
Strong Emotional States
Breezy Insight
Vegetarianism
Assisted Suicide
Animal Experimentation
Buddhism and Politics
7 Enlightenment 109
The Possibility of Enlightenment
Why Nibbana?
The Only Permanent State
Spiritual Attainments
A Sotapanna
Qualities of Stream Entry
How Can One Achieve Nibbana?
A Rare Commodity
Awakening to Awakening
Meat and Alcohol
Arahants in Modern Life
After Enlightenment
Where Do They Go?
Lay Attainment
8 Working with Thoughts and Speech 123
Cake or Meditate?
Resistance to Meditation
Papanca or Mental Proliferation
Right Speech
Wise Reflection
9 Negative Emotions 131
Neutralizing Frustration
Strong Emotions
Tug of War
Skillful Negativity?
Dealing with Fear
The Origin of Suffering
A Smiling Face
Shame and Buddhism
Self-Centered Actions
Self-Forgiveness
The Roots of Worry
The Root of Fear
Trauma and Practice
When the Will Is Ill
10 Cultivating Metta or Loving-Friendliness 143
Selfless Service
Metta and Meditation
Motherly Metta
Sharing Merita
Metta Toward All
Dealing with Bullies
The Seed of Metta
Arising Out of Meditation
Ill Will and Metta
Metta for Oneself
Metta and Concentration
A World of Hatred
Dealing with Anger
Self-Forgiveness and Metta
Equal in the Face of Metta
Tonglen and Metta
Avoid Being Abused
Resistance to Metta
Feeling Loving-Friendliness
The Politics of Metta
From Mindfulness to Metta
11 Concentration and the Jhanas 157
Teaching Jhana
What Are Jhanas?
Jhana Practice as a Goal
Studying the Jhanas
Stages of Jhana
The Tool of Concentration
A Sign of Concentration
The Hindrances and Jhana
Walking Jhana
Knowing Jhana
Take It Easy
Don't Worry about Jhanas
12 Mindfulness 167
New Moment, Fresh Moment
Mindful Reflection
The Who of Mindfulness
Things as They Really Are
Concentration and Mindfulness
Mindfulness of the Aggregates
Step-by-Step Mindfulness
Mindfulness and Morality
"Secular" Meditation
Mindfulness and Money
Clinging and Suffering
In Every Breath
Marketing Buddhism
13 Understanding Impermanence 183
Under Your Nose
Impermanence Is Not Mysterious
Firsthand Knowledge
Seeing Impermanence
The Habitual "I"
Mental Noting
Impermanent Equanimity
Permanently Impermanent
What Is So Unsatisfactory?
Developing Insight
Daily Awareness
14 Considering Kamma 197
Understanding Kamma
The Impermanence of Kamma
Repentance and Kamma
Disease and Kamma
15 A Monk's Life 203
Becoming a Monastic
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
From Theory to Practice
A Monk's Practice
Coming to America
"Bhante G" Explained
Ordaining Women
Who Will Support You?
One Finger and Three Chairs
Life Minus Hair
West vs. East
Comparing Practices
Forgiving Each Other
A "Successful" Buddhist
Meditation Recitation
Looking Back
A Skeletal Gift
Personal Meditation Experience
Monk Selfies
16 Difficulties and Challenges 219
The Difficulty of Meditation
Attached to Meditation
The Weight of Anger
Just Practice
Present-Moment Awareness
Who Should Not Meditate?
Forgiveness and Meditation
Learning from the Breath
Handling Anger
Self-Inquiry
Measuring Improvement
Handling Hatred
Handling Hatred, Part 2
The Supreme Blessing
Unskillful Means
A Thief's Donation
Laziness and Meditation
17 Benefits of Practice 237
Cleansing the Mind
The Four Unlimitables
The Power of Thought
No Greed, No Need
Taking Refuge
18 Generosity and Dana 243
Generosity
Significance of Dana
Kinds of Dana
The Benefits of Dana
Dhamnia Dana
19 On Death and Loss 253
Confronting Death
Life after Life
Losing Loved Ones
Impermanence and Mourning
Dealing with Death
20 The Buddha as the Teacher 261
A Treatment for Suffering
"Right" and 'Wrong"
Finding a Teacher
Seeing the Dhamma
The Focus of the Teachings
Smiling Buddha
Rituals and Enlightenment
No Other Refuge
Love, Oneself, and the Universe
Masculine and Feminine
The Two Darts
Spiritual Friends
Being a Buddhist
Sticking with the Path
The Concept of Simplicity
American Buddhism
The Buddha's Guarantee
Core Insights
Quote the Buddha
Index 287
About the Author 307