Archive for the 'Gurus' category
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki
December 25, 2007 1:36 pm
What it is: This book is a transcription of talks on Zen Buddhist practice that Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki delivered to a small sitting group in Los Altos California in 1970. He came down from San Francisco once a week to join the group’s meditation periods, and afterwards answered their questions, encouraged them in their practice of Zen, and helped them to have perspective on their lives. His approach was informal, and he drew his examples from ordinary events and common sense.
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi was a Soto Zen priest and the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center. He was born 1904 in rural Japan, arrived in the United States to teach in 1959, and died of cancer in San Francisco in 1971.
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I Am That, by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
December 15, 2007 9:38 am
What it is: “I Am That” is a collection of transcripted talks of the teachings of an Indian spiritual teacher who went by the name Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. As Amazon.com says, “‘I Am That’ preserves Maharaj’s dialogues with the followers who came from around the world seeking his guidance in destroying false identities. The sage’s sole concern was with human suffering and the ending of suffering. It was his mission to guide the individual to an understanding of his true nature and the timelessness of being. He taught that mind must recognize and penetrate its own state of being, ‘being this or that, here or that, then or now,’ but just timeless being.”
Nisargadatta Maharaj was born in 1897 with the name “Maruti”, and lived a simple uneducated life, as a husband and shopkeeper in the slums of Bombay, until he died in 1981. He is considered by some however to have attained the supreme state of “moksha” (Sanskrit for “enlightenment” or “liberation”), and to be one of the deepest modern masters of the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta (emphasizing direct nondualistic realization of truth).
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Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
November 20, 2007 11:26 pmWhat it is: Our friends at Wikipedia have this to say, “Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk … [He was] born December 7, 1927 in Sri Lanka. He was ordained as a monk at the age of 12, and … came to the United States at the invitation of the Sasana Sevaka Society in 1968 … He is the author of the considerably influential work Mindfulness in Plain English.” The book is a staple of the American “Vipassana”, or mindfulness meditation, scene. As an act of generosity by its author, It is available for free at a number of places on the web (flex your Google-fu to check it out).
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Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality by Ken Wilber
October 26, 2007 1:45 am
What it is: Sex Ecology and Spirituality is the breakthrough book where Ken Wilber first described his All Quadrants, All Levels approach to Integral Thinking. This tour de force of scholarship and spirituality differentiates the pre-rational (magic and mythical) conceptions of spirituality from the rational and the trans-rational (phenomenological and experiential) conceptions of spirituality. He then places the various ideas of spirituality on a developmental spectrum from birth to enlightenment, examining each phase of development through 4 “quadrants” or perspectives that contrast interior and exterior on the one hand, and individual and collective on the other.
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Satsang with Pamela Wilson
October 4, 2007 2:14 pmAutobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda
August 20, 2007 9:03 am
What it is: The autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda, one of the first Yogi’s to bring self-realization through yoga (much more than just poses) to America. It is a tale of personal growth like many of us are really striving for…a global best seller and inspiration to literally millions. The book outlines the life of Yogananda and his spiritual quest of self realization as he meets Sadhus, monks, holy people, and every day saints. His retelling of his life’s path is done so in a way that is easily digestible by all, not just those curious about Yoga.
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