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Mindfulness in Plain English

Author: Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Publisher: Wisdom Publications,U.S.
Category: Book

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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

15 reviews
Sales Rank: 3447

Media: Paperback
Edition: 2Rev Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.8

ISBN: 0861713214
Dewey Decimal Number: 294.34435
EAN: 9780861713219
ASIN: 0861713214

Publication Date: September 30, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 4 - 5 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.

Also Available In:

•	Paperback - Mindfulness in Plain English

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Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Look no further - the best meditation manual available. August 13, 2008
I have been interested in Buddhism and meditation for many years and have been waiting all that time for a book that is a true 'nuts and bolts' manual of how to meditate. This is the first book I have found that I can totally recommend. It covers the subject with honesty, humour and an amazing level of clarity. For a beginner or experienced meditator, there is no better book that I have seen.

Also, the author has integrity and comes from the traditional Theravada school of Buddhism - beware that there are quite a few dodgy modern 'schools' that use the name of Buddhism in vain. If you are new to Buddhism, I strongly recommend the Theravada school (e.g. Amaravati monastery in the UK).

A minor point and it doesn't detract at all from the book, but I feel that maybe the title is a bit misleading as it isn't very clear that it is a 'manual' of meditation - perhaps 'Meditation demystified' or 'How to meditate' would be clearer.

5 out of 5 stars

See for yourself June 30, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I do not have much too add not already said by other reviewers, but would like to point out that the whole book can be found online so you can preview it before you order the book. Just search for the title.

5 out of 5 stars

A True Meditation Manual March 11, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This book is fantastic! From the reviews, I was expecting a manual on Vipassana (insight) meditation only. But Bhante G covers both Shamatha (concentration) and Vipassana (insight) meditation in thorough detail, in a step-by-step, very user-friendly and practical way. By far the best book I have read on the two core Buddhist meditation practices. He deals in great detail with the things us beginners struggle with, like the many distractions that can assail us during our practice, & the five hindrances, along with very useful techniques for over-coming these obstacles. If you are at all interested in Buddhist meditation, then I am sure you will find this book invaluable.

3 out of 5 stars

One of many personal responses November 23, 2007
2 out of 5 found this review helpful

After I had read this book I was very enthusiastic about it, because it is certainly a very good manual in comparison to any other I have read. I started 'practicing Vipassana' after reading the 3-page summary of the technique in Fontana's Meditation Manual. For a technique that is said to take you to enlightenment, that is a decidedly concise account; concise enough for me to utterly misunderstand the practice.

Things to know about Vipassana:

There are Buddhists who sideline Vipassana because it is powerful enough to 'unbalance' an unwary practitioner. Too strong an opinion perhaps - but neither is it necessarily as "gentle" as the author of this book describes it!

There are as many variants of the technique as there are traditions. Some are very different to others, however this is not to say that there is only one effective technique. This book represents just one of many traditions.

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I learnt Vipassana on an intensive ten-day course as taught by S.N. Goenka. Only by the tenth day - and not before - did I feel like I had grasped the technique. There are limits to what you can learn on your own from a book. The technique I was taught was different to that in the book - and, in my opinion, far superior.

I have a particular reservation with the way in which this book advocates 'mindfulness' of mental objects. Merely watching the sensations is all we need consciously do, the mindfulness is a process that happens by itself. I do not think mindfulness can be achieved deliberately.

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a very experienced man, and I'm sure his opinion is worth more than mine. But for what it is worth, take a look at S.N. Goenkas 10-day course instead.

5 out of 5 stars

Mindfulness in real life July 6, 2007
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

The theme of the book is Mindfulness: actually seeing what is there in front of us.

Bhante's premise (which is difficult to ague with ) is that we see life through a screen of thoughts and concepts. As he puts it, we get so caught up in this endless thought-stream that reality flows by unnoticed.

Meditation can sometimes seem daunting and mystical but its goal is to simply free us from not being aware of our lives as they unfold.

Bhante's gift, which shines through every page of this book, is to break down some of the myths and make them real and practical.

What is left is a remarkably lucid, accessible and sensible account of how mindfulness meditation (in the Vipassana tradition - though that detail isn't important) can literally chance your life: your reactions, your perception, your ability to life for the moment.

There is no hint of high-mindedness in his tone, which is grounded, realistic, and thoroughly human.

Consider this, from page one: "There you are, and you suddenly realise that you are spending your whole life just barely getting by. You keep up a good front. You manage to make ends meet somehow and look okay from the outside.

"But those periods of desperation, those times when you feel everything caving in on you - you keep those to yourself. You are a mess, and you know it.

"Meanwhile, way down under all of that, you just know that there has to be some other way to live, a better way to look at the world, a way to touch life more fully.... life is an emotional roller coaster, and you spend a lot of your time down at the bottom of the ramp, yearning for heights."

So what's wrong with you, Bhante asks? You are simply human, battling with all the usual human hallmarks of jealousy, suffering, discontent and stress.

Meditation isn't a quick-fix solution to the human condition, he says. In this age of instant gratification, this can be a hard pill to swallow.

"But what it does do is teach you to watch the functioning of your own mind in a calm and detached manner so you can gain insight into your own behaviour. The goal is awareness."

With a good deal of patience and commitment, meditation can simply teach you to stand aside from your own thought processes and not get involved.

Step by step, it will become clear that agitation is actually a superficial mental stage. It comes and goes, he says, and has no real grip on you at all.

There are so many pearls of hope and wisdom in this bok, but I particularly like this one, for its searing truth and humanity. Bhante writes:

"Somewhere in this process, you will come face to face with the sudden and shocking realisation that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking, gibbering madhouse, utterly out of control and helpless.

"No problem. You are not crazier than you were yesterday. It has always been this way, and you just never noticed. You are no crazier than everybody else around you.

The only real difference is that you have confronted the situation and they have not."

This review is taken from a blog from www.yoga-abode.com