'I am very impressed by Dharma Master Cheng Yen.'-- Thich Nhat Hanh'Dharma Master Cheng Yen is a role model for us all.'--Dalai LamaThe Thirty-Seven Principles of Enlightenment contains 7 parts: (1) The Four Right Efforts, (2) The Four Steps Towards Obtaining Supernatural Powers, (3) The Four Considerations, (4) The Five Roots, (5) The Five Strengths, (6) The Seven Factors of Wisdom, and (7) The Noble Eightfold Path. The Buddha reminded us to practice the Thirty-Seven Princ...

This easily accessible translation and commentary by Thich Nhat Hanh on the Sutra on Knowing the Better Way To Live Alone, is the earliest teaching of the Buddha on living fully in the present moment. "To live alone" doesn’t mean to isolate oneself from society. It means to live in mindfulness: to let go of the past and the future, and to look deeply and discover the true nature of all that is taking place in the present moment. To fully realize this is to meet our appointment with life an...

A landmark work by Thich Nhat Hanh, this book shines 60 years of study and practice upon one of the crowning scriptures of Buddhism—the Lotus SutraThe Lotus Sutra is one of the most revered of Mahayana sacred texts and is sometimes called “the king of sutras.” Despite this fact, there are very few commentaries in English available today. In Peaceful Action, Open Heart, Thich Nhat Hanh explores the Sutra’s main theme—that everyone has the capacity to become...

This 20th anniversary edition of Thich Nhat Hanh's classic commentary offers new insights into one of the Buddha's most important teachings. According to 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 the Buddha's exercises of conscious breathing along with commentaries and further exercises for daily life. Thich Nhat Hanh gently walks t...

The Best Buddhist Writing 2005. Shambhala Sun '' Touching the Earth has the capacity to awaken us to the nature of reality, to transform us, to purify us, and to restore joy and vitality to our life. As soon as we begin to practice, we can taste the benefits.'' Thich Nhat Hanh Touching the Earth is a guide to one of Thich Nhat Hanh's most popular and transformative practices. Written as 46 short conversations with the Buddha, this practice, called Beginning Anew, has the capacity to remove ob...

A fifth-century Indian Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma is credited with bringing Zen to China. Although the tradition that traces its ancestry back to him did not flourish until nearly two hundred years after his death, today millions of Zen Buddhists and students of kung fu claim him as their spiritual father.While others viewed Zen practice as a purification of the mind or a stage on the way to perfect enlightenment, Bodhidharma equated Zen with buddhahood and believed that it had a p...

Thich Nhat Hanh offers powerful, direct, and uncompromising reflections on Zen thought, mindfulness, and the enlightenment inherent within us all.One of the key tenets of the Zen school of Mahayana Buddhism is that each one of us is already a Buddha—our enlightenment is inherent within us, and the practice of mindfulness is the tool to bring this truth to our full awareness. While it can bring much relief, this simple statement does not preclude the need for practi...

Spiritual practice is not some kind of striving to produce enlightenment, but an expression of the enlightenment already inherent in all things: Such is the Zen teaching of Dogen Zenji (1200–1253) whose profound writings have been studied and revered for more than seven hundred years, influencing practitioners far beyond his native Japan and the Soto school he is credited with founding. In focusing on Dogen's most practical words of instruction and encouragement for Zen students, ...

This immensely useful book explores Zen's rich tradition of chanted liturgy and the powerful ways that such chants support meditation, expressing and helping us truly uphold our heartfelt vows to live a life of freedom and compassion. Exploring eight of Zen's most essential and universal liturgical texts, Living by Vow is a handbook to walking the Zen path, and Shohaku Okumura guides us like an old friend, speaking clearly and directly of the personal meaning and implications of t...

A team of mountain climbers were scaling Mount Everest and they camped below the summit. Another team was returning from the top and saw them camped there. "Why are you camped?" they wanted to know."We are waiting for our map," they replied. "We forgot our map at the base camp and we have sent a sherpa back to retrieve it. So we are waiting.""But from here you do not need a map!" the returning team replied. "There are no avalanches, no problems. From here, go straight to the...

Here is a spiritual practice uncomplicated enough for anyone to learn, yet rich enough to be worked with for a lifetime. The traditional Chan (Chinese Zen) practice called Silent Illumination begins with nothing more than putting aside all thoughts except the awareness of oneself "just sitting." It’s so simple in execution that it has sometimes been called the "method of no-method"—yet simple as it is, the practice is subtle and profound, with the potential for ever subtler refinements as ...

A pocket-sized presentation of the three most venerated Buddhist sutras of Zen Buddhism: the Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, and Platform Sutra, featuring easy-to-understand translations and helpful footnotes—all from a legendary practitioner and translator of Buddhist teachingsThree classic Buddhist sutras—often linked to form a trio of texts that have been revered and studied for centuries—are now available together in this single volume. Red Pine, whose acclaimed tr...