When the author, Lars Ims, returned to complete his Sanskrit studies at the University of Oslo after staying many years with his Guru, Swami Shyam, in the Himalayas, he wanted to continue exploring the awakened or self-realized state of mind in the Indian tradition. He wanted to understand exactly what the most famous of all awakened beings - the Buddha - said about how he reached Nirvana and what it was like. He studied the earliest records of the Buddha's words from the Basket of Sermons (Sutta Pitaka) and realized that at the heart of the Buddha's teachings there is a very simple path which he discovered while searching for an end to his suffering. By meditating to bring peace (samatha) to your feelings, and applying mindfulness to bring clarity (vipassana) to your thoughts, the negative influences of desire and ignorance will leave the consciousness, and their removal will reveal the true nature of the human being, what you are behind the layers of false ideas about the self and the world: the immortal element, or amata dhatu. Nirvana is the revelation or realization of this Deathless being, which was the only reality for the Buddha. Everything else was illusion. In this book the meaning of Nirvana is explained, and the techniques to reach it are described in detail. The book also provides practical advice including a guided meditation.The most striking discovery during the author's research was the clarity and indubitability with which the Buddha explained what the meaning of Nirvana is: the realization of the Immortal being as the only reality. Nirvana is the true nature of the human being behind the illusion of the mind and body. Nirvana is not emptiness: it is the fullness of you. Nirvana is not disappearance: it is the appearance of you. Nirvana is not about denying this world: it is about being wholly present in it. Nirvana is not worrying about the past or the future, but living every moment with love and awareness. Nirvana is to uncover who you are, to discover the purpose of your life. This book is about this original message of the Buddha.

How the heck to Invest and Reach Nirvana: A 5-Step Journey to Financial Freedom I wrote this book as an alternative to the conversation I would have loved to have with you on investing successfully, becoming a fully-equipped savvy investor, and achieving financial freedom. I realized a bit late in my life that investing is The One Thing that you can do that will take you all the way to Financial Freedom. That it’s too important to let your current knowledge, investing behaviors, and resources limit your success. That you can’t afford to leave it to others. In the last 15 years, I have been on a journey to find an investing solution that is simple, effective, something I can implement with conviction and never screw up. This led to the creation of moneyworks4me.com. Thousands of users have contributed to the creation of this website that works for them by making things simple and also helping them succeed in investing. Our initial conversations with users were long and usually involved seeing things on the site. These conversations were gratifying and exhilarating for both parties. I wrote this book as a conversation between you and me. I thoroughly loved writing it because I could hear you asking the next question and the next question until you were thoroughly satisfied. Read the chapter titles first to know what we will talk about. Happy Reading!

Working speaking for itself title of the present book was “My Way to opening chakras (to reaching Nirvana or to awakening Kundalini), which unlike all other ways does not include dangerous and difficult respiratory exercises (Pranayama) and comprises a lot of very effective secrets of spiritual development, while, the known secrets of spiritual development remain invariable and ineffective thousands of years”. The present book could be entitled and characterized in following way too: “The easiest, safest and combined Way to open chakras (to reach Nirvana or to awaken Kundalini), which author learned about existence of chakras only after he opened them”. An author of the present book elaborated logically and intuitively absolutely unique the only possible recommendations to reach spiritual realization (opening chakras) by the best in the author’s sincere opinion Way. The author opened 6 from 7 existing chakras as a result of two-year special pleasant very effective very much facilitated combined occupations. Please, compare: The most specialized discipline for the fastest opening chakras – Sahaja yoga needs the same two years but of unpleasant occupations to open at least one chakra. The author achieved fantastic results in intellectual games and he felt himself as the happiest person. As though the effect of eternal superconductivity of energy in his body was observed. All his organs worked like a clock. There were objective and very pleasant feelings of that all his organs were washed by energy from chakras and that he will live 1000 years (it will be especially important for you if you are not so young). It gives all grounds to believe that rare and optimum from the point of view of internal pleasure and health and from the point of view of external productivity (see below about increasing intellectual level) opening majority of chakras was observed at the author. The author even considers his level of development as further spiritual development after known at present levels of spiritual development. This level was reached by the author in two weeks after his Ajna chakra opened. It happened so fast because he did not stop following to entire without exceptions recommendations described in the present book after his Ajna chakra opened. All these circumstances represent mentioned in the title of the present book meaning indicators distinguishing the described in the given book Way to opening chakras from known ways. However, author’s chakras were opened during one month only since he made two mistakes led to two closings of chakras. The author opened chakras after the first mistake again but, unfortunately, he could not open chakras after the second mistake. Both mistakes and other cautions are described in the present book not to let you make mistakes. The present document has such impact characteristic as perfect, most probably, the best guide for professional players and certainly all other ones. The author’s experience and his former wife’s one say that mediocre player who opened chakras according to just this document begins to play such games as chess, (lawn) tennis and Preference (card game) on professional and very, very successful level. Most probably, the majority of players will reach the same success playing other games. This circumstance represents one of mentioned in the title of the present book meaning indicators distinguishing the described in the given book Way to open chakras from known ways. Thus, very substantial increase of author’s intellectual level, in that period when his 6 chakras were opened, was expressed in his great successes in games chess, (lawn) tennis and Preference (card game). Author’s former wife also opened her Ajna chakra and, just after it, she won a match with a professional (!!!) (lawn) tennis player (a woman). Their match passed in 1990 within the limits of competition, in which the Physical Culture Institute, which author’s former wife studied in, participated.

Ajaan Mun is a towering figure in contemporary Thai Buddhism. He was widely revered during his lifetime for the extraordinary courage and determination he displayed in practicing the ascetic way of life and for his uncompromising strictness in teaching his many disciples. The epitome of a wandering monk intent on renunciation and solitude, he assumed an exalted status in Buddhist circles, his life and teachings becoming synonymous with the Buddha’s noble quest for self-transcendence.

Can A Common Man With Family Responsibilities Achieve Nirvana Or Buddhahood? What Should Be The Spiritual Limit Of Ambition For A Busy Professional? Are There Different Kinds Of Negative Emotions? How Do You Stay Positive When Confronted With Environmental And Human Injustice? His Holiness The Dalai Lama Answers These And A Host Of Other Questions In This Companion Volume To The Transformed Mind: Reflections On Truth, Love And Happiness, Successfully Published Around The World In 1999. Interpreting The Ancient Wisdom Of Lord Buddha For Today'S Generation, He Speaks To Us About The Paths To Self-Realization And The Need To Overcome Negative Emotions In Order To Develop One'S Inner Consciousness. Wise, Compassionate And Always Pragmatic, He Offers Advice On The Many Issues That Confront The Ordinary Human Being: How To Free Yourself From Emotional Afflictions And Petty Cravings, How To Transform Anxiety And Depression Into Contentment, How To Initiate And Keep Alive Inter-Faith Dialogue In The Troubled Times We Live In. Undeniably One Of The Best Books Of Its Kind, Many Ways To Nirvana Gives Us An Insight Into The Dalai Lama'S Philosophy And Guides Us Along The Path To True Liberation.

By establishing a dialogue in which the meditative practices of Buddhism and Christianity speak to the theories of modern philosophy and science, B. Alan Wallace reveals the theoretical similarities underlying these disparate disciplines and their unified approach to making sense of the objective world. Wallace begins by exploring the relationship between Christian and Buddhist meditative practices. He outlines a sequence of meditations the reader can undertake, showing that, though Buddhism and Christianity differ in their belief systems, their methods of cognitive inquiry provide similar insight into the nature and origins of consciousness. From this convergence Wallace then connects the approaches of contemporary cognitive science, quantum mechanics, and the philosophy of the mind. He links Buddhist and Christian views to the provocative philosophical theories of Hilary Putnam, Charles Taylor, and Bas van Fraassen, and he seamlessly incorporates the work of such physicists as Anton Zeilinger, John Wheeler, and Stephen Hawking. Combining a concrete analysis of conceptions of consciousness with a guide to cultivating mindfulness and profound contemplative practice, Wallace takes the scientific and intellectual mapping of the mind in exciting new directions.

One of the most accessible introductions to Tibetan Buddhism ever published.

This Very Short Introduction introduces the reader to the teachings of the Buddha and to the integration of Buddhism into daily life. What are the distinctive features of Buddhism? Who was the Buddha, and what are his teachings? How has Buddhist thought developed over the centuries, and how can contemporary dilemmas be faced from a Buddhist perspective? Words such as 'karma' and 'nirvana' have entered our vocabulary, but what do they mean? Damien Keown's book provides a lively, informative response to these frequently asked questions about Buddhism.

An investigative reporter explores an infamous case where an obsessive and unorthodox search for enlightenment went terribly wrong. When thirty-eight-year-old Ian Thorson died from dehydration and dysentery on a remote Arizona mountaintop in 2012, The New York Times reported the story under the headline: "Mysterious Buddhist Retreat in the Desert Ends in a Grisly Death." Scott Carney, a journalist and anthropologist who lived in India for six years, was struck by how Thorson’s death echoed other incidents that reflected the little-talked-about connection between intensive meditation and mental instability. Using these tragedies as a springboard, Carney explores how those who go to extremes to achieve divine revelations—and undertake it in illusory ways—can tangle with madness. He also delves into the unorthodox interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism that attracted Thorson and the bizarre teachings of its chief evangelists: Thorson’s wife, Lama Christie McNally, and her previous husband, Geshe Michael Roach, the supreme spiritual leader of Diamond Mountain University, where Thorson died. Carney unravels how the cultlike practices of McNally and Roach and the questionable circumstances surrounding Thorson’s death illuminate a uniquely American tendency to mix and match eastern religious traditions like LEGO pieces in a quest to reach an enlightened, perfected state, no matter the cost. Aided by Thorson’s private papers, along with cutting-edge neurological research that reveals the profound impact of intensive meditation on the brain and stories of miracles and black magic, sexualized rituals, and tantric rites from former Diamond Mountain acolytes, A Death on Diamond Mountain is a gripping work of investigative journalism that reveals how the path to enlightenment can be riddled with danger.

For Nirvana features exceptional examples of the poet Cho Oh-Hyun's award-winning work. Cho Oh-Hyun was born in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, Korea, and has lived in retreat in the mountains since becoming a novice monk at the age of seven. Writing under the Buddhist name Musan, he has composed hundreds of poems in seclusion, many in the sijo style, a relatively fixed syllabic poetic form similar to Japanese haiku and tanka. For Nirvana contains 108 Zen sijo poems (108 representing the number of klesas, or "defilements," that one must overcome to attain enlightenment). These transfixing works play with traditional religious and metaphysical themes and include a number of "story" sijo, a longer, more personal style that is one of Cho Oh-Hyun's major innovations. Kwon Youngmin, a leading scholar of sijo, provides a contextualizing introduction, and in his afterword, Heinz Insu Fenkl reflects on the unique challenges of translating the collection.