Zen reflections

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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.

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Robert Winson, Miriam Sagan

One hundred days, one complete opportunity - to look at the way spiritual practice operates and life actually works. Robert Winson, poet and priest, and Miriam Sagan, poet and practitioner, spent a winter with their young daughter at a Zen Buddhist monastery in the mountains of Crestone, Colorado. While engaged there, each kept diaries and noted the events of their lives - neither compared their words. What resulted is a curious documentation via reflective analysis, rants, dreams, facts, marital strain, gossip, and honest exploration as to the dynamics of following the Dharma. Being aware can require us to come clean.

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translation and introduction by Karen C. Lang

Candrakīrti, who lived in India in the 7th century CE, is a major Mahayana Buddhist scholar whose works are studied in modern western universities and traditional Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. This is a translation of the first four chapters of Candrakīrti's commentary on Aryadeva's 400 Stanzas.

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Josh Baran

"Combining ancient and modern teachings with the author's own experiences, this book shows how to realize enlightenment now"--Provided by publisher.