Synopses & Reviews
Here is Buddhism in a nutshell: In just over a hundred pages, using simple language that anyone can understand, What Is Meditation? delivers as complete a treatment of Buddhist teaching and practice as many books twice its length. It covers both the basics of the Buddhist worldview-which many people call a philosophy, not a religion-and the age-old practice it offers to help us unfold our innate qualities of compassion, self-acceptance, and inner peace.
Part One contains the essentials of Buddhism: its principles, history, and its main schools, especially as these appear in the West. It outlines basic principles like karma, reincarnation, compassion, and the Four Noble Truths. Part Two provides step-by-step instructions for beginning your own meditation practice. It teaches how to make meditation a daily habit, how to integrate it with the rest of life, and how to deal with typical problems that arise. Three simple exercises-"Bare Attention," "Remaining in the Present," and "Meditation Using Sound"- will help get you started.
Meditation is unlike normal business or worldly activity because it is not goal oriented and does not involve linear or direct thinking. It begins as a process of allowing the busy day-to-day mind, with all its agitation, aggression, anger, fear, and anxiety, to slow down and come to rest of its own accord.
Synopsis
Here is Buddhism in a nutshell: In just over a hundred pages, using simple language that anyone can understand, What Is Meditation? delivers as complete a treatment of Buddhist teaching and practice as many books twice its length. It covers both the basics of the Buddhist worldview--which many people call a philosophy, not a religion--and the age-old practice it offers to help us unfold our innate qualities of compassion, self-acceptance, and inner peace.
About the Author
Rob Nairn resigned as professor criminology at the University of Cape Town in 1980 in order to practice Buddhism full time-including a four-year retreat at the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre in Scotland. His training in both Buddhism and psychology make him especially well qualified to translate complex Eastern concepts into terminology Westerners can understand and apply. He teaches meditation and Buddhism at universities and centers in South Africa, England, Ireland, and the United States.