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Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 3:42 pm
by bodom
Great news! A new book from Bhante G. coming this August:
In simple and straightforward language, Bhante Gunaratana shares what the Buddha said about mindfulness in his instructional talks and how we can use these principles to improve our daily lives, deepen our mindfulness, and move closer to our spiritual goals. While this book is based on a classic text, the Satipatthana Sutta, its presentation is thoroughly modern in Bhante’s trademark “Plain English” style.
Based around one of the Buddha's most succinct yet rich explanations of meditation, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English can be read as a stand-alone volume either before or after the bestselling Mindfulness in Plain English. Newcomers will find it lays strong groundwork for mindfulness practice and gives them all they need to get started right away, and old hands will find rich subtleties and insights that will help consolidate and clarify what they may have started to see for themselves.
http://www.wisdompubs.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 7:07 pm
by DNS
Glad to hear that; Bhante does an excellent job of explaining important things like mindfulness, jhanas, and other important teachings in plain English.
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 7:18 pm
by marc108
Wow, I'm excited for this. Bhante G is the best! How lucky we are to have someone so deeply practiced, with a genius level intellect AND can explain things so simply and effectively!
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 5:24 am
by Polar Bear
How funny, I've had that book on my amazon account waiting to ship list for a month now and I just cancelled it off my list yesterday because I already have Analayo's book The Direct Path to Realization and The Heart of Buddhist Meditation by Nyanaponika.
Any of you guys think I should still get Gunaratana's book to hear another interpretation or do you think it would be excessive?
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 6:30 am
by tiltbillings
polarbuddha101 wrote:How funny, I've had that book on my amazon account waiting to ship list for a month now and I just cancelled it off my list yesterday because I already have Analayo's book The Direct Path to Realization and The Heart of Buddhist Meditation by Nyanaponika.
Any of you guys think I should still get Gunaratana's book to hear another interpretation or do you think it would be excessive?
It is likely worth reading, and it is always of value to hear differing takes on the same thing from experienced and good teachers.
Also, Joseph Goldstein, an excellent long time practitioner, well grounded in the suttas, has done an extensive series of talks on the Satipatthana Sutta from standpoint of actual practice. The talks can be found here.
http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 6:35 am
by cooran
Tilt said: The talks can be found here.
Where?
with metta
Chris
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 6:36 am
by tiltbillings
cooran wrote:Tilt said: The talks can be found here.
Where?
with metta
Chris
Oooops.
Here
http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 9:30 am
by Polar Bear
Thanks for the input Tilt. I actually found another thread you posted on with a link to Goldstein's lectures a few weeks ago and have been listening to them almost everyday since, so thanks for that as well
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 9:32 am
by Ben
Great news, indeed!
Thank you for sharing, Bodom!
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 9:37 am
by tiltbillings
polarbuddha101 wrote:Thanks for the input Tilt. I actually found another thread you posted on with a link to Goldstein's lectures a few weeks ago and have been listening to them almost everyday since, so thanks for that as well
Good on you and you are welcome.
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 9:50 am
by piotr
Hi,
You can find fairly new recordings of Bhante Guṇaratana talks on
satipaṭṭhānas here. I suppose that content of upcoming book might be quite similar.
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 4:57 am
by marc108
as a triple fyi... Bhavana Society offers, on a Dana basis, a CD with 25's worth of discourse by Bhante G on Satipatthana.
http://www.bhavanasociety.org/resource/ ... _sutta_cd/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:49 pm
by bodom
I ordered and downloaded my ebook copy to my Nook today and I am so glad I did! What an amazing and excellent teacher Bhante G. is. This book is my new go to guide for anything meditation related. I cannot recommended it highly enough!
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:51 pm
by Cittasanto
bodom wrote:I ordered and downloaded my ebook copy to my Nook today and I am so glad I did! What an amazing and excellent teacher Bhante G. is. This book is my new go to guide for anything meditation related. I cannot recommended it highly enough!
I have gone through his PHd thesis which was turned into a book and goes by a couple of names (although both escape me now). it is a fascinating read although not a practice manual like Mindfulness in plain English, but well worth the read also. I have a feeling Mindfulness in Plain English is a scaled down version in many respects.
Have a look in the Biblography for it!
and just realised this is off topic to the book being refered to
anyway, do with as you see fit :p
Re: Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:21 pm
by DNS
bodom wrote:I ordered and downloaded my ebook copy to my Nook today and I am so glad I did! What an amazing and excellent teacher Bhante G. is. This book is my new go to guide for anything meditation related. I cannot recommended it highly enough!
Thanks for that report. I just ordered a copy. I think I have all of his books now (or will have when this arrives) and yes, he is a great writer / teacher.