Long-term retreat prep recommended reading
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The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind Meditation offers, in addition to its many other benefits, a method for achieving previously inconceivable levels of concentration. Author B. Alan Wallace has nearly thirty years' of practice in attention-enhancing meditation, including a retreat he performed under the guidance of the Dalai Lama. An active participant in the much-publicized dialogues between Buddhists and Scientists, Alan is uniquely qualified to speak intelligently to both camps, and The Attention Revolution is the definitive presentation of his knowledge.
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MINDING CLOSELY: The Four Applications of Mindfulness Second Edition This edition includes a new preface and never-before-published translations by B. Alan Wallace of three renowned Buddhist works on mindfulness by Asanga, Shantideva, and Dudjom Rinpoche. The ability to sustain close mindfulness is a learned skill that offers profound benefits in all situations. This book explains the theory and applications of the practice the Buddha called the direct path to enlightenment. These simple but powerful techniques to cultivate mindfulness will allow anyone, regardless of tradition, beliefs, or lack thereof, to achieve genuine happiness and freedom from suffering. By closely minding the body and breath, we relax, grounding ourselves in physical presence. Coming face to face with our feelings, we stabilize our awareness against habitual reactions. Examining mental phenomena nakedly, we sharpen our perceptions without becoming attached. Ultimately, we see all phenomena just as they are, and we approach the ground of enlightenment.
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This book is a rich suite of practices that open the heart, counter the distortions in our relationships to ourselves, and deepen our relationships to others. Alan Wallace presents a unique interweaving of teachings on the Four Immeasurables (the cultivation of loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity, and empathetic joy) with instruction on quiescence or shamatha meditation practices to empower the mind and render it "fit for service." The book includes both guided meditation and lively discussions on the implications of these teachings for our own lives.
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In The Attention Revolution, bestselling author Alan Wallace guided readers through the stages of shamatha, a meditation for focusing the mind. Here he uses the wisdom of the Dzogchen—the highest of all the Tibetan meditation traditions—to open up this practice into a space of freedom from hope and fear by introducing us to one of the most cherished works of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Düdjom Lingpa’s Vajra Essence.
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Fathoming the Mind “I am happy to bask in the glory of Düdjom Lingpa’s extraordinary Vajra Essence and am deeply grateful to Alan Wallace for bringing that brilliant and remarkable dialogue to a wider English-speaking audience. May all who touch and read this treasure benefit, and may its truth and power liberate all beings.”—from the foreword by DZONGSAR KHYENTSE RINPOCHÉ