“Most Buddhist writers are not often lighthearted or zesty, but the British-born Ajahn Brahm is a delightful exception. Even though meditators are taught not to expect anything, since that represents an attachment, meditation should bring you joy and bliss, according to Brahm. The bliss states of meditation (jhanas) are little-taught, so this book is an addition with value in a crowded niche. Trained in the Thai forest tradition by the Buddhist master Ajahn Chah. Brahm is a clear communicator of the ineffable. He is able to write about a variety of mental states and visualizations with precision and discrimination, drawing on his own experience. He is step-by-step systematic, which helps demystify what happens in meditation. Also useful is the specificity with which he describes the kinds of problems meditators encounter and what to do to resolve them. Meditation is difficult to teach on the page, but Brahm, who began his life as an academic at Cambridge, fulfills his calling as a teacher. He projects both energetic conviction and calm equanimity7. […] An excellent manual.”
—Publishers Weekly

Contents

Part 1 – The Happiness of Meditation

Chapter 1 – The Basic Method of Meditation I

• Stage One: – Present-Moment Awareness
• Stage Two: – Silent Present-Moment Awareness
• Stage Three: Silent Present-Moment Awareness of the Breath
• Stage Four: Full Sustained Attention on the Breath

Chapter 2 – The Basic Method of Meditation II

• Stage Five: Full Sustained Attention on the Beautiful Breath
• Stage Six: – Experiencing the Beautiful Nimitta
• Stage Seven: Jhana
• The Great Vipassana versus Samatha Debate

Chapter 3 – The Hindrances to Meditation I

• The First Hindrance—Sensory Desire
• The Second Hindrance—111 Will

Chapter 4 – The Hindrances to Meditation II

• The Third Hindrance—Sloth and Torpor
• The Fourth Hindrance—Restlessness and Remorse
• The Fifth Hindrance—Doubt
• The Workshop of the Hindrances
• When the Hindrances Are Knocked Out

Chapter 5 – The Quality of Mindfulness

• Setting Up the Gatekeeper
• Instructing the Gatekeeper
• Samadhi—Attentive Stillness
• Arousing Energy
• Turning Up the Lights
• Building Up the Muscles of Insight
• The Different Levels of Mindfulness Revisited

Chapter 6 – Using Variety to Freshen Up Our Meditation

• Loving-Kindness Meditation
• Letting Be
• Walking Meditation
• Choosing the Right Meditation for the Right Time

Chapter 7 – The Beautiful Breath

• The Preliminaries
• The Sixteen Steps
• Emerging from a Jhana

Chapter 8 – The Four Focuses of Mindfulness

• Preparing for Satipatthana
• Body Contemplation
• Feeling Contemplation
• Mind Contemplation
• Mind Object Contemplation

Part 2 – To Bliss and Beyond

Chapter 9 – The Jhanas I: Bliss

• The Buddha’s Discovery
• Can One Be Attached to Jhana?
• The Beautiful Breath: – The Beginning of the Journey into Jhanas
• PIti-sukha—Jov and Happiness
• The Wav into Stillness

Chapter 10 – The Jhanas II: Bliss upon Bliss

• The Nimitta: The Home Stretch into Jhana
• Entering the Jhana

Chapter 11 – The Jhanas III: Bliss upon Bliss upon Bliss

• The Landmarks of All Jhanas
• The First Jhana
• The Second Jhana
• The Third Jhana
• The Fourth Jhana
• The Buddha’s Similes for the Four Jhanas
• Moving from Jhana to Jhana
• The Immaterial Attainments

Chapter 12 – The Nature of Deep Insight

• The Tenfold Path
• Perfect Wisdom— Seeing Things as They Truly Are
• The Five Hindrances and Deep Insight
• Upacara Samadhi—the Immediate Neighbor of Jhana
• The Story of the Two Messengers
• The Gong Bonger
• The Most Beautiful Chimp of Bamboo in the World
• The Flashlight Phis the Map

Chapter 13 – The Deep Insight That Liberates

• Remembering Past Lives
• Deep Insight into Dukkha
• Deep Insight into Anicca
• Deep Insight into Anatta
• The Buddha’s Word on the One Who Knows
• Deep Insight into the Citta
• Deep Insight and Satipatthana

Chapter 14 – Enlightenment: Entering the Stream

• What Nibbana Is Not
• Demystified Nibbana
• The First Experience of Nibbana—Stream Winning
• Causality and Some Consequences of Stream Winning

Chapter 15 – Onward to Full Enlightenment

• The Seven Shipwrecked Sailors
• The Vipallasa and Purifying One’s Thought The Nonretumer
• The Arahant. or Fully Enlightened One
• The End of All Suffering
• How to Tell If Someone Is Enlightened

Language: English
Format: epub
Size: 1 mb
Free download Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator’s Handbook by Ajahn Brahm
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