Beyond dogma

Sample

Barbara Ann Kipfer

Poor communication lies at the heart of most relationship problems. Everyone wants to be heard, to be understood, and to be treated with respect. But in our digital age of texting and social media, it's easy to distance ourselves from the words we put out into the world, and many times, we may not be aware of the negative impact our words can have on people, whether they are our friends, family, or coworkers. This is where the concept of Right Speech comes in. An important part of the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path, Right Speech is the philosophy that what you say can positively or negatively impact your life, as well as the lives of those around you. Speech to avoid includes divisive speech, abusive speech, lies, and idle gossip. In addition, most of what we say fails to convey what we really mean in our hearts.

Sample

Robert Allen

" ... thoughtful observations are interwoven with examples from Buddhist teachings and Zen masters as well as stories from everyday life"--Jacket.

Sample

Bernard Reardon

This book is a survey of French Catholic thought - theological, philosophical and political - during a period of marked spiritual and intellectual revival, delimited roughly by the Napoleonic Concordat with the Vatican in 1802 and the Separation Law of 1905. The thinkers and scholars studied include such diverse figures as Maistre, Lamennais, Lacordaire, Bautin, Gratry, Olle-Laprune, Maurice Blondel and Alfred Loisy. The authors studies these writers, and many others, in detail and analyses in characteristically lucid manner the distinctive contribution of each to French intellectual life in this 'second grand siècle'. Dr. Reardon examines too the major trends in French Catholic thought and concludes that in the nineteenth century there was a recurring tension between liberalism and tradition, between the poles of a secular and even agnostic humanism, and a rigid ultramontanism. The century saw a profound and many-sided reaction to traditional scholasticism, and Dr. Reardon explores this reaction in its various expressions, in theology and philosophy, in political and social thought. The approach is non-technical, and this book will be of considerable interest to a wide variety of readers, both general and specialist. It is the first book in English to cover the development of Catholic thought in France though the whole of the nineteenth century and it will be indispensable for all those who wish for a comprehensive and reliable background to one of the major currents of French intellectual thought in this century. -- from dust cover.

Sample

Stephen Batchelor

"Living with the Devil is Stephen Batchelor's work on humankind's greatest struggle - to become good. Batchelor traces the trajectory - from the words of the Buddha and Christ, through the writings at Shantideva, Milton, and Pascal, to the poetry of Baudelaire and the fiction of Kafka - of impediments that keep us from doing what's in our own and others' best interests. He shows us the myriad forms those obstacles take: a wandering farmer, a caring friend, a devout religious believer, a powerful king, even a frustrated old man who doodles in the sand when he cannot snare the Buddha. The devil need not appear with horns and a forked tail: he stands for everything that paralyzes our innate wisdom, freedom, and empathy, thus blocking our paths in life. In a world of black and white, Batchelor paints in shades of gray, illustrating what it means to live in an ambiguous and precarious environment that continually tempts us from what we hold to be good." "Drawing on classic religious texts from East and West, as well as the findings of modern physics and evolutionary biology, Batchelor asks us to examine who we really are, and to rest in the uncertainty that we may never know." "Living with the Devil tells a tale that weaves its way among philosophy, religion, and science, and psychology, history, and myth. This is a book that will challenge your attitudes, your beliefs, the very way you live your life."--BOOK JACKET.