True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart

True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart, by Thich Nhat Hanh and Sherab Chodzin Kohn. Love might not be what we think it is. We all seek the happiness that comes from loving and being loved, yet we often find ourselves dissatisfied in our relationships and unable to grasp the cause. Thich Nhat Hanh here shows the way to overcome our recurrent obstacles to love—by learning to be mindful, open, and present with ourselves and others. As he explains, “training is needed in order to love properly; and to be able to give happiness and joy, you must practice deep looking directed toward the person you love. Because if you do not understand this person, you cannot love properly. Understanding is the essence of love.”

This quintessential guide to loving also introduces the four key aspects of love described in the Buddhist tradition—loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and freedom—and describes many simple and direct ways in which we can practice authentic love in our everyday lives.

A Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh is an internationally known author, poet, scholar, and peace activist, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. He is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling Living Buddha, Living Christ; Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames; Peace Is Every Step; and The Miracle of Mindfulness. He has founded monastic communities in France, Vermont, and California and teaches actively around the world.

Click here for more information or to order.

The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha

The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha, by Ravi Zacharias. Have you ever wondered what Jesus would say to Mohammed? Or Buddha? Or Oscar Wilde? Maybe you have a friend who practices another religion or admires a more contemporary figure. Drop in on a conversation between Jesus and some well-known individuals whose search for the meaning of life took them in many directions -- and influenced millions. Popular scholar Ravi Zacharias sets a captivating scene in this first in the intriguing Conversations with Jesus books. Through dialogue between Christ and Gautama Buddha that reveals Jesus' warm, impassioned concern for all people, God's true nature is explored. It's a well-priced, hard cover volume readers will want to own, and also share with others.

Ravi Zacharias was born in India, immigrating to Canada at age twenty. After earning a Masters of Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, he began a speaking ministry that has taken him worldwide (including the campuses of Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford University) as a recognized authority on comparative religions, cults, and philosophy. Zacharias' holds three doctorate degrees, and his books include the Gold Medallion winner Can Man Live without God, Deliver Us from Evil, Cries of the Heart, Jesus Among Other Gods, and two children's titles. He teaches a weekly, international radio program entitled Let My People Think. Ravi lives with his wife, Margaret, in Atlanta. They have three grown children.

---

Sprouts Nutrition: The Health Benefits of Eating Sprouts

Ten Zen Seconds

Ten Zen Seconds, by Eric Maisel. A powerful, ten-second technique can change stress into calm, strength and a centered approach. The basis of The Ten Second Pause is using a single deep breath as a container for a specific thought. This technique is simple to grasp, simple to use, simple to practice and simple to master. This technique can be used anywhere, anytime, by anyone and it's profound in its benefits. You'll find yourself able to do things that previously felt too painful or too difficult to attempt. You'll be able to calm and center yourself before an important meeting or conversation. You'll be able to change your basic attitudes about life, becoming calm and positive where before you may have been anxious or pessimistic. Blending Eastern principles of breath awareness and mindfulness with Western principles of positive psychology, together they offer a powerful antidote to stress, procrastination and anxiousness. Eric Maisel, PhD has written more than 20 works of fiction and non-fiction and has 55,000 readers of his monthly column in Art Calendar magazine. He is a licensed family therapist, creativity coach and trainer of creativity coaches. He has a doctorate in counseling psychology. He lives and works in San Francisco, California.

Zen-Brain Reflections

Zen-Brain Reflections, by James H. Austin. This sequel to the widely read Zen and the Brain continues James Austin’s explorations into the key interrelationships between Zen Buddhism and brain research. In Zen-Brain Reflections, Austin, a clinical neurologist, researcher, and Zen practitioner, examines the evolving psychological processes and brain changes associated with the path of long-range meditative training. Austin draws not only on the latest neuroscience research and new neuroimaging studies but also on the Zen literature and his personal experience with alternate states of consciousness.

Zen-Brain Reflections takes up where the earlier book left off. It addresses such questions as: how do placebos and acupuncture change the brain? Can neuroimaging studies localize the sites where our notions of self arise? How can the latest brain imaging methods monitor meditators more effectively? How do long years of meditative training plus brief enlightened states produce pivotal transformations in the physiology of the brain? In many chapters testable hypotheses suggest ways to correlate normal brain functions and meditative training with the phenomena of extraordinary states of consciousness.

After briefly introducing the topic of Zen and describing recent research into meditation, Austin reviews the latest studies on the amygdala, frontotemporal interactions, and "paralimbic" extensions of the limbic system. He then explores different states of consciousness, both the early superficial absorptions and the later, major "peak experiences." This discussion begins with the states called kensho and satori and includes a fresh analysis of their several different expressions of "oneness." He points beyond the still more advanced states toward that rare ongoing stage of enlightenment that is manifest as "sage wisdom."

Finally, with reference to a delayed "moonlight" phase of kensho, Austin envisions novel links between migraines and metaphors, moonlight and mysticism. The Zen perspective on the self and consciousness is an ancient one. Readers will discover how relevant Zen is to the neurosciences, and how each field can illuminate the other. James H. Austin is Professor Emeritus of Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Affiliate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Idaho.

Sitting with Koans : Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Koan Study

Sitting with Koans: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Koan Study, by John Daido Loori and Tom Kirshner. The Zen tradition has just two main meditative practices: shikantaza, or "just sitting;" and introspection guided by the powerful Zen teaching stories called koans. Following up on his previous book, The Art of Just Sitting, John Daido Loori's new anthology illuminates the subtle practice of koan study from many viewpoints. Section one examines the history of the study and use of koans in China and Japan, with essays from such important contemporary Zen scholars as Heinrich Dumoulin ("Five Houses of Zen"). Section two includes writings from the masters of Japanese Zen such as Hakuin Ekaku's "The Voice of the Sound of One Hand." Section three vividly portrays the living tradition of koan introspection today in East and West in such pieces as Sokei, and Sasaki's "Ninth Koan." These scholars clarify the nature of one of Zen’s most enigmatic forms, making the book useful to those with casual interest and indispensable to students of Zen.

The Laughing Buddha of Tofukuji

The Laughing Buddha of Tofukuji: The Life of Zen Master Keido Fukushima by Ishwar C. Harris, from World Wisdom Inc., ISBN 0941532623. Roshi Keido Fukushima, Abbot of Tofukuji temple-monastery in Kyoto, Japan, is a master koan trainer and calligrapher whose insight has awakened many disciples to an awareness of Zen. Combining the central techniques of Roshi Fukushima's Zen with illuminating biographical details, this book conveys the radiant spirit of one of our time's most remarkable spiritual masters. In these pages we see deeply into the Zen tradition and feel the pulse of the Zen master as a flesh-and-blood human being.