Sam Harris Book - Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality ...

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Nicolas
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Sam Harris Book - Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality ...

Post by Nicolas »

Sam Harris has recently been mentioned on this forum for some of his blog posts on meditation.
His new book, "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion" has been released on September 9 (cf. Sam Harris's website & the publisher's website).

Knowing the following that Sam Harris has within the atheist "community", I am confident that this book will lead some to have a new perspective on spirituality, may lead them to meditation, and eventually, to the Dhamma. As such, I think it may be of interest to some of you.
Joseph Goldstein wrote:In his provocative new book, Sam Harris reminds us that awakening does not depend on religious belief. With his usual probing clarity, Sam points out the rational methodology for exploring the nature of consciousness. Waking Up really does help us wake up.
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imagemarie
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Re: Sam Harris Book - Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality ...

Post by imagemarie »

Hi

I was a bit surprised by the strength of this endorsement by Joseph Goldstein, but perhaps I shouldn't be?
And though not normally a fan of Sam Harris, find Goldstein's words intriguing.

Is no one else going to investigate "Waking up..." for this reason?

:anjali:
Spiny Norman
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Re: Sam Harris Book - Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality ...

Post by Spiny Norman »

So is Sam Harris the latest convert to Buddhism? ;)
Buddha save me from new-agers!
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tiltbillings
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Re: Sam Harris Book - Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality ...

Post by tiltbillings »

Spiny Norman wrote:So is Sam Harris the latest convert to Buddhism? ;)
I do believe Harris has had a long standing interest in Buddhism.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
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Aloka
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Re: Sam Harris Book - Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality ...

Post by Aloka »

tiltbillings wrote:
Spiny Norman wrote:So is Sam Harris the latest convert to Buddhism? ;)
I do believe Harris has had a long standing interest in Buddhism.
from Sam Harris's website:

KILLING THE BUDDHA

by Sam Harris

Kill the Buddha,” says the old koan. “Kill Buddhism,” says Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith, who argues that Buddhism’s philosophy, insight, and practices would benefit more people if they were not presented as a religion.

The ninth-century Buddhist master Lin Chi is supposed to have said, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” Like much of Zen teaching, this seems too cute by half, but it makes a valuable point: to turn the Buddha into a religious fetish is to miss the essence of what he taught. In considering what Buddhism can offer the world in the twenty-first century, I propose that we take Lin Chi’s admonishment rather seriously. As students of the Buddha, we should dispense with Buddhism.

This is not to say that Buddhism has nothing to offer the world. One could surely argue that the Buddhist tradition, taken as a whole, represents the richest source of contemplative wisdom that any civilization has produced. In a world that has long been terrorized by fratricidal Sky-God religions, the ascendance of Buddhism would surely be a welcome development. But this will not happen. There is no reason whatsoever to think that Buddhism can successfully compete with the relentless evangelizing of Christianity and Islam. Nor should it try to.

The wisdom of the Buddha is currently trapped within the religion of Buddhism

Continued:
http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text ... he-buddha/


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Aloka
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Re: Sam Harris Book - Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality ...

Post by Aloka »

He discusses meditation and mentions Tibetan Dzogchen in this blog post "Taming the Mind"

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/taming-the-mind

I also remember reading somewhere that he was a member of the Dzogchen Community - but I don't know if that's true or not.


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