Buddhism For Dummies (For Dummies (Religion & Spirituality))
by Jonathan Landaw
from For Dummies
From the outside, Buddhism seems like a bundle of contradictions wrapped inside a paradox. It is a religion without a god, a belief system without rules, and a faith that encourages its adherents to question everything, including its own teachings. You could spend a lifetime studying Buddhist texts and following its observances and still feel like you’ve only just barely scratched the surface. Yet, over the past 2500 years, this lovely religion that preaches compassion, generosity, tolerance, selflessness and self-awareness has commanded the fervent devotion of hundreds of millions of people around the world who believe it to be the true path to enlightenment.
If you’re curious about Buddhism but feel intimidated by all the exotic jargon and strange trappings, this book is for you. Written by two leading American Buddhist teachers and scholars, it offers you a uniquely friendly way to explore the fascinating history of Buddhism and discover:
- Who Buddha was and his significance in world history and spirituality
- How the practice of Buddhism can enrich your everyday life
- How Buddha’s teachings combine to create a path to enlightenment
- Daily observances and meditation practices
- How to fulfill your highest potential through Buddhism
In plain English, experts Jonathan Landaw and Stephan Bodian define the important terms, explain the key concepts and explore, in-depth a wide range of topics, including:
- Buddha’s life and teachings and the evolution of the major Buddhist traditions
- How Buddhism works as a religion, philosophy of life and a practical approach to dealing with life’s problems, all rolled into one
- The idea that the mind is the source of all happiness and suffering
- How the practices of wisdom and compassion can connect you with your inner spiritual resources
- Meditation and other core Buddhist practices and how they can affect your everyday life
- How to apply Buddhist teachings at each stage along the spiritual path
Whether you’re a searcher of truth, a student of religions, or just curious about what’s got Richard Gere and all the rest of those celebrity Buddhists so excited, Buddhism For Dummies is your intro to Buddhism basics.
Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses
by Donna Freitas
from Oxford University Press, USA
Today's college students are fascinated by religion but they are also more sexually active than previous generations. How do these young people reconcile their spiritual longings with sexual freedom on campus?
Based on dozens of face-to-face interviews, Sex and the Soul explores the sexual and spiritual lives of today's college students. Donna Freitas crisscrossed the country, visiting a range of America's colleges and universities--from public to private, Catholic to evangelical--to find out what students had to say about these highly personal subjects. Their stories will not only engage readers, but, in many cases, move them with the painful struggles these candid young women and men face. Indeed, the book uncovers aspects of college life that may unsettle some readers, especially parents. Many campuses, for instance, are dominated by the hook-up culture of casual sex. Moreover, a surprising number of students see little connection between sex and religion. Indeed, these observations hold true even at Catholic schools. Only at evangelical colleges is religion an important factor when deciding whether or not to engage in sex. But Freitas's research also reveals that, even at secular schools, students are not comfortable with the prevalence of casual sex, and that they do want religion to speak about what they should do and who they should try to be--not just what they should avoid doing.
Sex and the Soul will offer readers the chance to hear college students speaking honestly about extremely sensitive topics, in a book that will be of great interest to students, parents, clergy, teachers, and anyone who wants to know what's happening on today's college campuses.
Kabbalah For Dummies (For Dummies (Religion & Spirituality))
by Arthur Kurzweil
from For Dummies
Kabbalah For Dummies presents a balanced perspective of Kabbalah as an “umbrella” for a complex assemblage of mystical Jewish teachings and codification techniques. Kabbalah For Dummies also shows how Kabbalah simultaneously presents an approach to the study of text, the performance of ritual and the experience of worship, as well as how the reader can apply its teaching to everyday life.
Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World
by Ken Wilber
from Shambhala
Integral Spirituality is being widely called the most important book on spirituality in our time.
Applying his highly acclaimed integral approach, Ken Wilber formulates a theory of spirituality that honors the truths of modernity and postmodernity—including the revolutions in science and culture—while incorporating the essential insights of the great religions. He shows how spirituality today combines the enlightenment of the East, which excels at cultivating higher states of consciousness, with the enlightenment of the West, which offers developmental and psychodynamic psychology. Each contributes key components to a more integral spirituality.
On the basis of this integral framework, a radically new role for the world’s religions is proposed. Because these religions have such a tremendous influence on the worldview of the majority of the earth’s population, they are in a privileged position to address some of the biggest conflicts we face. By adopting a more integral view, the great religions can act as facilitators of human development: from magic to mythic to rational to pluralistic to integral—and to a global society that honors and includes all the stations of life along the way.
Mother Earth Spirituality: Native American Paths to Healing Ourselves and Our World (Religion and Spirituality)
by Ed Mcgaa
from HarperOne
An examination of the Scientific Revolution that shows how the mechanistic world view of modern science has sanctioned the exploitation of nature, unrestrained commercial expansion, and a new socioeconomic order that subordinates women.
Dancing the Dream: The Seven Sacred Paths Of Human Transformation (Religion and Spirituality)
by Jamie Sams
from HarperOne
The result of nearly twenty-five years of intensive study with two Native American dreaming societies, Dancing the Dream draws our attention to the four directions of the Medicine Wheel (East, South, West, and North) and the three unseen directions - Above, Below, and Within - and explains how each of these seven directions represents a specific path on the spiritual journey. In the East, we encounter the first stirrings of the spirit; in the South, the healing of relationships; in the West, we work to build self-esteem; in the North, we learn wisdom and the opening of the heart; Above represents the world of spirit; Below, the earth; Within, full awareness of the present moment.Most people will walk these paths in sequence. Some will never make it through all seven. Many will continue to move forward but continue to double back on earlier paths until they get things rights. But for those willing to walk all seven paths, there is the great reward of being able to see the world with the soaring vision of an eagle, fully aware and present to meet life's challenges with vision, wisdom and purpose.
Original Faith: Finding the Interfaith Soul of Progressive Religion and Spirituality
by Paul Maurice Martin
from Lucid Interface LLC
Original Faith looks at faith and spiritual life from a fresh, thoughtful point of view. In evocative and moving language, the book references direct experience, not doctrine. This approach enlivens the believer's awareness of faith while bringing the faith dimension of experience to the attention of nonbelievers. Paul Maurice Martin's qualifications are both personal and academic. They include an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago; fifteen years of a rare progressive illness that has left him mostly bedridden; and a spontaneous religious experience that was the genesis of Original Faith. The book's topics include love, ego, despair, faith and identity transformation. Martin's suggestions for practice are varied and wide ranging, allowing readers to integrate them with their own lives to help realize their potential for constructive and creative action. Original Faith's perspective is that we are not here to search for meaning, but to help create it.
365 Days Of Walking The Red Road: The Native American Path to Leading a Spiritual Life Every Day (Religion and Spirituality)
by Terri Jean
from Adams Media
According to Native American tradition, walking the Red Road is a metaphor for living within the Creator's rules—a life of truth, friendship, respect, spirituality, and humanitarianism. For centuries, Native American elders, parents, teachers, and spiritual leaders have handed down their wisdom and values from generation to generation, leading others down the path of self-discovery and enlightenment.
365 Days of Walking the Red Road captures this priceless ancient knowledge and shows you how you can live your life to the fullest through integrity, compassion, and brotherhood. By reading the daily messages in this compelling work, you will discover yourself inside and out and move positively down your personal road without fear or doubt.
Special highlights:
·Inspiring quotations from Native Americans, such as Tecumseh, Black Hawk, Geronimo, and Chief Joseph
·A monthly Red Road ethical principle
·A monthly Red Road spiritual lesson
·Instructions on what to do at a powwow
·The proper uses of dreamcatchers and other symbols and crafts
·The twelve moon names that tribes use to track the seasons
·Important dates in Native American history
This superb collection of Native American philosophy and culture helps you on your path along the Red Road in your quest for truth, light, and love.
Psyche and the Sacred: Spirituality Beyond Religion
by Lionel Corbett
from Spring Journal Books
Describes an approach to spirituality that is based on personal experience of the sacred rather than upon any pre-existing religious doctrine or dogma. Using the language and insights of depth psychology, it describes the intimate relationship between sacred experience and the psychology of the individual, revealing the seamless continuity of personal and transpersonal levels of the psyche. This work contributes to the emergence of the new myth that is arising alongside the Judeo-Christian tradition.
The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions
by Wayne Teasdale
from New World Library
Author Wayne Teasdale believes that we're entering the "Interspiritual Age," when a new civilization will be formed--a global culture based on common spiritual values. "Such a universal society will draw its inspiration from perennial spiritual and moral insights, intuitions, and experiences," Teasdale predicts. Throughout this ambitious book, Teasdale examines the world's religions and highlights the underlying beliefs and yearnings that will ultimately link humankind.
Nonetheless, Teasdale is also a proponent of spiritual diversity, urging readers to protect and study their own indigenous religions (or in many cases the religions of their childhoods) before rejecting them. In his glowing introduction, the Dalai Lama also speaks to the importance of preserving religions while simultaneously joining forces to create a more spiritually evolved and compassionate planet. In his final chapters, Teasdale offers ideas for cultivating a more spiritual life. Although his suggestions aren't startlingly original ("Gravitate toward silence," "Always leave the door of hope wide open.") they are tried and true and well worth the reader's time and investment. --Gail Hudson
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