A translation and detailed textual study of the Satipatthana Sutta, the foundational Buddhist discourse on meditation, drawing on traditional Buddhist texts, modern works, and the teachings of present-day meditation masters to make the rich implications of this text clear to all.
Buddhist scholar and teacher Bhikkhu Analayo explores the practice of mindfulness of breathing in the sixteen steps of the Anapanasati Sutta. This is an authoritative, practice-orientated elucidation of a foundational Buddhist text, useful to meditators whatever their tradition or background.
Analayo offers an inspiring biography of the Buddha based on the early discourses and focusing on his meditative development and practice.
For those who approach Buddhism as a system of mental development, this book is a reliable and accessible guide to understanding the significance of themes from the Pali discourses. Themes include grasping, right view, craving, passion, contemplation of feeling, happiness, and liberation. A rare combination of scholarly rigor and extensive meditation experience from the author provides veracity to these studies and explorations
A testimony to the invaluable contributions made by the women who were direct disciples of the Buddha—and a source of inspiration to Buddhist women today.It’s a common perception that the earliest textual records don’t contain many, if any, teachings by the Buddha’s female disciples; yet, this is not the case. In fact, the earliest discourses record a range of teachings from Buddhist women, lay and monastic. Unfortunately their important contributions have so far not received the attention they deserve.In Daughters of the Buddha , esteemed scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo examines the accounts of the first female disciples in the canonical scripture, taking the reader back to the earliest period in the history of Buddhism that can still be accessed today. He dedicates each of the twenty-one chapters in the volume to an individual and remarkable woman, sharing her particular insights and teachings with the reader. Both nuns and laywomen are featured in these pages, and their diversity of voices and richness of thought will serve as instruction and encouragement for modern scholars and practitioners alike.
Buddhist meditator and scholar Bhikkhu Analayo introduces the Buddhist backgrounds to mindfulness, ranging from mindful eating to its formal cultivation as satipatthana (the foundations of mindfulness). Providing an accessible guide, he offers practical exercises on how to develop mindfulness.
Renowned scholar-monk writes accessibly on some of the most contentious topics in Buddhism—guaranteed to ruffle some feathers.Armed with his rigorous examination of the canonical records, respected scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo explores—and sharply criticizes—four examples of what he terms “superiority conceit” in Buddhism:Ven. Analayo challenges the scriptural basis for these conceits and points out that adhering to such notions of superiority is not, after all, conducive to practice. “It is by diminishing ego, letting go of arrogance, and abandoning conceit that one becomes a better Buddhist,” he reminds us, “no matter what tradition one may follow.”Thoroughly researched, Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions provides an accessible approach to these conceits as academic subjects. Readers will find it not only challenges their own intellectual understandings but also improves their personal practice.
Mindfulness in Early Buddhism is a timely and thoroughgoing examination of the significance, meaning and development of mindfulness. In his far-ranging explorations of a number of discourses in the Chinese Agamas and in the Pali Nikayas, Bhikkhu Analayo captures the function and range of mindfulness.
As mindfulness is increasingly being embraced in the contemporary world as a practice that brings peace and self-awareness, Bhikkhu Analayo casts fresh light on its earliest sources in the Buddhist tradition.
Analayo outlines how to meditate on emptiness, according to early Buddhism. His presentation is geared to practical concerns, plus an appendix giving a translation of the key discourses from the Pali and Chinese. This brings out an aspect of early Buddhism so far fairly neglected, providing a perspective on emptiness as a form of meditation.