This fascinating and innovative book explores the relationship between the philosophical underpinnings of Advaita Vedanta, Zen Buddhism and the experiential journey of spiritual practitioners. Taking the perspective of the questioning student, the author highlights the experiential deconstructive processes that are ignited when students' "everyday" dualistic thought structures are challenged by the non-dual nature of these teachings and practices. Although Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism are ontologically different, this unique study shows that in the dynamics of the practice situation they are phenomenologically similar. Distinctive in scope and approach Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism: Deconstructive Modes of Spiritual Inquiry examines Advaita and Zen as living practice traditions in which foundational non-dual philosophies are shown "in action" in contemporary Western practice situations thus linking abstract philosophical tenets to concrete living experience. As such it takes an important step toward bridging the gap between scholarly analysis and the experiential reality of these spiritual practices.

Explores the relationship between the philosophical underpinnings of Advaita Vedanta, Zen Buddhism And The experiential journey of spiritual practitioners.

Live a life of peace, love, and happiness through spiritual awakening In Wake Up Now, author Stephan Bodian--nationally recognized expert on meditation and spirituality and former editor-in-chief of Yoga Journal--reveals that spiritual awakening is not some faraway dream, or overly complicated to achieve, but an ever-present reality that is always available here and now. Based on his own experience and over 30 years of teaching the direct approach to spiritual awakening, Bodian has broken down the awakening process into five overlapping, loosely sequential stages: seeking, awakening, deepening and clarifying, embodying, and living the awakened life. Wake Up Now guides you through every stage of the journey, from the process of seeking through the often prolonged and challenging process of integrating the awakening into everyday life. "This book is one of the most concise guides to spiritual awakening I have read. Both profound and practical, it guides the reader through the intricacies of awakening as only someone who has walked the walk themselves can do. The clarity and compassion this book offers the sincere spiritual seeker is both rare and welcome." --Adyashanti, renowned spiritual teacher and author of The Impact of Awakening and Emptiness Dancing Topics include: Entering the Gateless Gate; Seeking without a Seeker; Freedom from the Known; The Practice of Presence; Who is Experiencing this Moment Right now; Spontaneous Awakening; In the Wake of Awakening; Embodying the Light; Freeing the Dark Inside the Light; The Awakened Life

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the doctrines of early Advaita and Buddhism that has important implications for the question of the relationship between Hindu and Buddhist thought. The author examines the central doctrines of the Gaudapadiya-karikain a series of chapters that discuss early Advaita in relation to the Abhidharma, Madhyamaka, and Yogacara schools of Buddhism. The question of the doctrinal diversity of Indian Buddhism is also discussed through an analysis of the concept of 'Buddha-Nature' and its relationship with Vedantic thought.

Zen Buddhism blossomed in China starting in the sixth century CE and spread to Japan and other Countries. Advaita Vedanta spread all over India starting in the eighth century CE because of the efforts of Shankaracharya. Both of these popular sects in the modern world, one from Mahayana Buddhism and the other from Hinduism, consider 'non-duality' as their main characteristic. This book makes a comprehensive comparative analysis of all aspects of Zen and Advaita Vedanta: history, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics and practice. One could harmoniously blend many aspects of their tenets in one's practice regardless of Whether they are Buddhists or Hindus.

In 1633, at age eleven, Bankei Yotaku was banished from his family's home because of his consuming engagement with the Confucian texts that all schoolboys were required to copy and recite. Using a hut in the nearby hills, he wrote the word Shugyo-an, or "practice hermitage," on a plank of wood, propped it up beside the entrance, and settled down to devote himself to his own clarification of "bright virtue." He finally turned to Zen and, after fourteen years of incredible hardship, achieved a decisive enlightenment, whereupon the Rinzai priest traveled unceasingly to the temples and monasteries of Japan, sharing what he'd learned. "What I teach in these talks of mine is the Unborn Buddha-mind of illuminative wisdom, nothing else. Everyone is endowed with this Buddha-mind, only they don't know it." Casting aside the traditional aristocratic style of his contemporaries, he offered his teachings in the common language of the people. His style recalls the genius and simplicity of the great Chinese Zen masters of the T'ang dynasty. This revised and expanded edition contains many talks and dialogues not included in the original 1984 volume.

The book brings to light how great and true knowledge is born of intuition, quite different from modern Western method. The ancient Indian method and its secret techniques are examined and shown to be capable of solving various problems of mathematics. The universe we live in has a basic mathematical structure obeying the rules of mathematical measures and relations. All the subjects in mathematics-Multiplication, Division, Factorization, Equations, Calculus, Analytical Conics, etc.-are dealt with in forty chapters, vividly working out all problems, in the easiest ever method discovered so far.