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Blue Sky, White Cloud The Buddhist Practise of "Silently-Illuming" by Āloka David Smith
Āloka has clearly ‘been there’ and grappled with all these issues repeatedly himself and is passing on his observations from his own experience. There aren’t that many books that deal in this very experiential, hands-on way with issues arising not only before, but also subsequent to the arising of insight...For anyone whose practice has reached a stage in which a more ‘formless’ approach is relevant and necessary, whatever their practice tradition, a careful reading of this book is likely to be very helpful...There’s some good hands-on practical advice here on skilfully cultivating śamatha and avoiding possible pitfalls - Western Buddhist Review (full review here)
The immanent model of dharma training is well known for its epithet of being a 'practice of no practice'. The paradoxical nature of this form of training found traditionally in China, Japan and Tibet is one that so easily defeats the Western mind as this generally will only accept something that fits its logical conditioning. In this new book Western dharma teacher Āloka David Smith, who has nearly 40 years of traditional dharma training experience, teaches this often misunderstood training model to the sangha of Western practitioners of his DharmaMind Buddhist Group. This teaching is delivered through a series of talks given on retreat, where he offers from his considerable experience how it is possible to become comfortable with this paradox and put it into everyday practise, both on the meditation cushion and off it. With dedication and commitment this training he proclaims will bear fruit and bring a level of contentment that offers spacious mental and emotional freedom from suffering, and the environment for profound life-changing spiritual insight. Click here to read a short passage from the book. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Prologue 7 Talk One Creating the Form 25 Talk Two Silent 61 Talk Three The Landscape of Insight 95 Talk Four Blue Sky, White Cloud 131 Afterword Glossary 187
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DharmaMind Buddhist Group
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