Description
According to the Buddha's teaching in the Anapanasati Sutra, maintaining awareness of our breathing is a means of awakening to the true nature of all things and arriving at spiritual liberation. Breathe, You Are Alive outlines 16 exercises of conscious breathing that were taught by the Buddha, together with commentaries and further exercises for practicing them every day and in any situation. Thich Nhat Hanh's insights and explanation give the reader access to the profound nurturance available when we slow down and get in touch with our in-breath and out-breath. He walks the reader
Library's review
The Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing is one of the main editation texts of early Buddhism. Along with the Sutra on the Four Foundatons of Mindfulness, it is still regarded as one of the two most important scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. This new translation and commentary are offered to
We would do well to become familiar with the literature fundamental to meditation which was studied and practiced at the time of the Buddha. If we understand the essence of these, we will have a deeper vision and more comprehensive grasp of the sutra as classified as Mahayana, just as after we see the roots and the trunk of a tree, we can appreciate its leaves and branches.
'I am breathing in and making my whole body calm and at peace.' It is like drinking a cool glass of lemonade on a hot day and feeling our body become cool inside. When you breathe in, the air enters your body and calms all the cells of our body. At the same time, each 'cell' of your breathing becomes more peaceful and each 'cell' of your mind also becomes more peaceful. The three are one, and each one is all three. This is the key to meditation. Breathing brings the sweet joy of meditation to you.-from the Commentary
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen master in the Vietnamese tradition, which draws on both Northern and Southern Buddhism. He is the founder of Van Hanh Buddhist University, and has taught at Columbia University and the Sorbonne. He is author of Being Peace, The Miracle of Miindfulness, The Sun My Heart, and many other books.
Contents
A note on the translation
The sutra
Commentary on the sutra
1 A brief history
2 Summary of the content
3 Analysis of the sutra's content
4 A point of view on the practice
5 Methods of practice
Notes
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make these teachings more widely available.We would do well to become familiar with the literature fundamental to meditation which was studied and practiced at the time of the Buddha. If we understand the essence of these, we will have a deeper vision and more comprehensive grasp of the sutra as classified as Mahayana, just as after we see the roots and the trunk of a tree, we can appreciate its leaves and branches.
'I am breathing in and making my whole body calm and at peace.' It is like drinking a cool glass of lemonade on a hot day and feeling our body become cool inside. When you breathe in, the air enters your body and calms all the cells of our body. At the same time, each 'cell' of your breathing becomes more peaceful and each 'cell' of your mind also becomes more peaceful. The three are one, and each one is all three. This is the key to meditation. Breathing brings the sweet joy of meditation to you.-from the Commentary
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen master in the Vietnamese tradition, which draws on both Northern and Southern Buddhism. He is the founder of Van Hanh Buddhist University, and has taught at Columbia University and the Sorbonne. He is author of Being Peace, The Miracle of Miindfulness, The Sun My Heart, and many other books.
Contents
A note on the translation
The sutra
Commentary on the sutra
1 A brief history
2 Summary of the content
3 Analysis of the sutra's content
4 A point of view on the practice
5 Methods of practice
Notes
Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member JamesBlake
Good introduction to one of the few early Buddhist texts that gives detailed, explicit meditation instructions. Includes the whole of the sutra as well as commentary.
ISBN
093807704X / 9780938077046
Publication
Parallax Press Berkeley, California