Acupuncture, herbs, and bodywork are fast becoming accepted as complements to standard healing methods. This riveting personal story of the unconventional education of an alternative healer provides extraordinary insight into how and why such methods work. Blending Chinese medicine, the martial arts, and Native American knowing, Daniel Santos challenges us to view the body and its healing in an exciting new way. A self-published edition of Luminous Essence (ISBN 0-9642416-0-9) was well on its way to becoming an underground best-seller in the southwestern U.S. when Quest purchased the rights for national distribution.

Luminous Essence is a complete introduction to the world of tantric thought and practice. Composed by the renowned Tibetan master Jamgön Mipham (1846–1912), the text provides an overview of the theory and experiential assimilation of a seminal tantric scripture, the Tantra of the Secret Essence (Guhyagarbha Tantra). Embodying the essence of tantric practice, this text has been a central scripture in Tibetan Buddhism for well over a thousand years. Mipham's explanation of this text, here translated for the first time, is one of the most celebrated commentaries on the Tantra of the Secret Essence, which today occupies an important place in the tantric curriculum of Tibetan monastic colleges. Luminous Essence is a specialized guide meant for initiated tantric practitioners. To fully appreciate and assimilate its message, it should be studied under the guidance of a qualified teacher by those who have received the appropriate empowerments, reading transmissions, and oral instructions.

Blending contemporary and traditional perspectives, this groundbreaking work offers guidance on the profound foundational practices of the Great Perfection. It contains classic commentaries by the renowned Tibetan masters Jigme Lingpa and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, alongside a lively contemporary discussion by filmmaker, author, and spiritual teacher Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse that discusses how to incorporate these ancient practices into the fast-paced lifestyle of the Western world. Also included are a lengthy introduction to the world of Tibetan Buddhism and its meditative practices, as well as the long and short preliminary practice liturgies and numerous appendices on the nine yanas and other topics. The ngöndro or preliminary practice is treasured in the Ancient School of Tibetan Buddhism as vital for effecting a profound inner transformation and as a foundation for the very highest teachings of the Great Perfection, or Dzogchen. In particular, the Longchen Nyingtik ngöndro—revealed by the great saint Jigme Lingpa following a series of visions in which he was blessed by the omniscient Longchen Rabjam and received the transmission of his wisdom mind—has long been cherished by followers of all traditions on account of its power, depth, and poetic beauty.

The fourth volume of the Anthology of Philosophy in Persia deals with one of the richest and yet least known periods of philosophical life in Persia, the centuries between the seventh/thirteenth century, that saw the eclipse of the school of Khorosan, and the tenth/sixteenth century that coincided with the rise of the Safavids. The main schools dealt with in this volume are the Peripatetic (mashsha'i) School, the School of Illumination (ishraq) of Suhrawardi, and various forms of philosophical Sufism, especially the school of Ibn 'Arabi, that had its origins in the works of Ghazzali and 'Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani. This period was also notable for the philosopher-scientists such as Nasir al-Din Tusi and Qutb al-Din Shirazi.

This multi-diciplinary and inter-diciplinary work presents the rethinking of the entire tradition of Islamic philosophical psychology by Mulla Sadra on the most profound questions and issues pertaining to the soul. It includes the views of the ancient Greek philosophers and physicians, Muslim philosophers, theologians, Sufis, theosophists and physicians, the teachings of the Qur'an the Traditions of the Prophets and the Shi'ite Imams and Mulla Sadra's own profound insights and intellectual elucidations combined with impeccable logical proofs and demonstration. It deals with the definition of the soul, the proof of its existence, its birth as corporeal and its survival as spiritual, various levels of the soul and the body, the vertical development of the soul through its substantial motion, the soul-body relation, the holistic approach to psychosomatic diseases, the resurrection and post-mortem survival of the soul, the body of the resurrection, his original interpretation of metempsychosis, the meaning of Heaven and Hell and the intellectual or spirituas worlds beyond this world. The central issue in this work is self-knowledge. The human soul is created in the Image of God with a purpose. This image comes to full actualization through self-knowledge, which according to Mulla Sadra is the key to knowledge of God, the Day of Resurrection and the Return of all creatures to God.

"Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy of Mind and Nature is a philosophical overview of Tibetan Buddhist thought. Charting the different ways Buddhist traditions in Tibet configure the relationship between Madhyamaka and Mind-Only, Duckworth shows how these configurations inform the shape of distinct contemplative practices"--

The subject of "human free-will" versus "divine predestination" is one of the most contentious topics in classical Islamic thought. By focusing on a theme of central importance to any philosophy of religion, and to Islam in particular, this book offers a critical study of the intellectual contributions offered to this discourse by three key medieval Islamic thinkers: Avicenna, al-Ghāzālī and Ibn ʿArabī. Through investigation of primary sources, Free Will and Predestination in Islamic Thought establishes the historical, political and intellectual circumstances which prompted Avicenna, al-Ghāzālī and Ibn ʿArabī’s attempts at harmonization. By analysing the theoretical and linguistic ‘techniques’ which were employed to convey these endeavours, this book demonstrates that the three individuals were committed to compromise between philosophical, theological and mystical outlooks. Arguing that the three scholars’ treatments of the so-called qaḍā wa’l-qadar (decree and destiny) and ikhtiyār (free-will) issues were innovative, influential and fundamentally more complex than hitherto recognized, this book contributes to a fuller understanding of Islamic intellectual history and culture and will be useful to researchers interested in Islamic Studies, Religion and Islamic Mysticism.