A Meditator's Life of the Buddha: Based on the Early Discourses

by Bhikkhu Analayo

Overview

Bhikkhu Analayo offers an inspiring biography of the Buddha from the viewpoint of his meditative development and practice, based on combining extracts from the early discourses with his own commentary.

The focus is on the Buddha as a meditator, so this is a life story offering inspiration and guidance for readers who are also meditators. Bhikkhu Analayo covers the period up to the Buddha's awakening and from the awakening to the Buddha's final Nirvana. Following this, he explores recollections of the Buddha, a topic that in one way or another underlies all the chapters. Each of the twenty-four chapters concludes with suggestions for meditative practice or conduct.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781909314993
Publisher:	Windhorse Publications
Publication date:	03/20/2018
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	810,947
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Analayo is a professor of Buddhist Studies at the Sri Lanka International Academy in Pallekele. He teaches at the Center for Buddhist Studies of the University of Hamburg and researches at the Dharma Drum Buddhist College in Taiwan. Analayo's published works include Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization (2003), Perspectives on Satipatthana (2014), Compassion and Emptiness in Early Buddhist Meditation (2015), and Mindfully Facing Disease and Death (2016).

Read an Excerpt

Read this book slowly.
Savour it and let it sink in.
Make it a manual of practice.
Use the reflections to deepen your journey.
May the teachings, stories and practices here bring you the blessings of the Buddha.
-From the Foreword by Jack Kornfield

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
1 THE MOTIVATION TO GO FORTH
2 MORAL CONDUCT AND FEAR
3 OBSTACLES TO CONCENTRATION
4 ABSORPTION
5 THE IMMATERIAL ATTAINMENTS
6 FORCEFUL CONTROL OF THE MIND
7 BREATH CONTROL
8 FASTING
9 FINDING THE PATH
10 DETERMINATION
11 RECOLLECTION OF PAST LIVES
12 THE DIVINE EYE
13 AWAKENING
14 THE DECISION TO TEACH
15 THE TWO EXTREMES
16 THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
17 THE THREE TURNINGS
18 HONOURING THE DHARMA
19 SEEING THROUGH VIEWS
20 DWELLING IN EMPTINESS
21 DAILY CONDUCT
22 TEACHING
23 OLD AGE AND DISEASE
24 FINAL NIRVANA
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
ABBREVIATIONS

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

In this work, Bhikkhu Analayo applies his consummate knowledge of the textual collections of Early Buddhism to the task of constructing a biography of the Buddha that focuses on his life as a meditator. The book not only paints a very human picture of the Buddha's life, but through the exercises attached to each chapter it enables the reader to join the Buddha on his quest for enlightenment and beyond, into his mission as a teacher and through to his parinirvana or passing away. While offering a scholarly portrait of the Buddha, this book is also a testament to the overarching unity of the various early Buddhist schools in their conception of the Buddha's life, a unity that coexists along with a rich diversity in their detailed narrations about particular events in that life. - Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Mindfully Facing Disease and Death:

In this wonderfully accessible and compassionate book Bhikkhu Analayo illuminates classic Buddhist teachings and offers practical counsel for facing death with clarity and kindness. - Frank Ostaseski

An invaluable and extraordinary resource on the profound teachings by the Buddha on dying, death, and grieving. - Roshi Joan Halifax

These teachings invite us to integrate their guidance directly into the laboratory of our own meditation practice and life, in the spirit of deep investigation and inquiry. As committed meditation practitioners know first hand, there is no more worthy or meaningful introspective undertaking in the world, nor a more difficult challenge for human beings to adopt and sustain throughout life.- from the Foreword, Jon Kabat-Zinn, co-editor (with Mark Williams) of Mindfulness: Diverse Perspectives on Its Meaning, Origins, and Applications

This is an indispensable book for serious students of Buddhism. It has the potential to transform the lives of everyone who reads it. - Toni Bernhard, author of How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide

From the Publisher