Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment

by B. Alan Wallace, The Dalai Lama (Foreword by)

Overview

Discover your personal path to bliss

"This book will give anyone interested in the spectrum of core meditative practices stemming from the Buddhist tradition but in essence universal the deepest of perspectives on what is possible for us as human beings as well as excellent guidance in the essential, time-tested attitudes and practices for actualizing our innate capacity for wisdom, compassion, and well-being, right here and right now."
—Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Coming to Our Senses and Full Catastrophe Living

"In Genuine Happiness, Alan Wallace displays his rare talent in boiling down the complex to the clear and in guiding readers through a practical path to contentment. A gift for all moods and seasons."
—Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

"This lucid and rich book offers brillant, wise, and accessible teachings on the essentials of four core meditation techniques that lead one to genuine joy and happiness. Alan Wallace's years of practice and teaching shine through every page, as with ease and great humanity, he brings to the reader the possibility of liberation."
—Joan Halifax Roshi, abbot of Upaya Zen Center

"Genuine Happiness is a treasure chest of wisdom: clear, inspiring teaching jewels. It is an excellent support for any student of meditation."
—Sharon Salzberg, author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

In today's overstimulated world, many are realizing that happiness gained through material wealth and frivolous conquests is short-lived. To achieve long-term happiness, you must access your own bountiful resources—housed in your heart and mind. In Genuine Happiness, longtime Buddhist practitioner Alan Wallace shows you the path to bliss.

Drawing on more than three decades of study under His Holiness the Dalai Lama and sixty other teachers, as well as 2,500 years of Buddhist tradition, Alan Wallace guides you step by step through five simple yet powerful meditations to help you focus your mind and open your heart to true happiness. Featuring a Foreword by the Dalai Lama, this book will help you discover that it is possible to experience genuine happiness every day.

As you incorporate the meditations from Genuine Happiness into your life, you will discover that the joy you've sought has always been only a few meditative minutes away.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684425853
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/01/2005
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	686,508
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

B. Alan Wallace began his studies of Tibetan Buddhism, language, and culture in 1970 at the University of Göttingen and then continued his studies over the next fourteen years in India, Switzerland, and the United States. The founder and president of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, he serves as the chairman of the Thanypura Mind Centre in Thailand, where he leads meditation retreats. He has edited, translated, authored, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism, medicine, language, and culture.

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935 to a peasant family in northeastern Tibet and was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. The world's foremost Buddhist leader, he travels extensively, speaking eloquently in favor of ecumenical understanding, kindness and compassion, respect for the environment, and, above all, world peace.

Basil Sands has been participating in creative storytelling, or, as his father puts it, hamming it up, since before he can remember. After working as a Marine, a lumberjack, a carpenter, a computer-shop owner, and an EMT, he went on to find his true passion in audiobook narration and writing. A member of the Alaska Writer's Guild, he currently resides with his wife and sons in Anchorage, Alaska.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD BY HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Introduction.

PART ONE: Refining the Attention.

1. Mindfulness of Breathing.

2. Settling the Mind in Its Natural State.

3. The Awareness of Being Aware.

PART TWO: Insight through Mindfulness.

4. Mindfulness of the Body.

5. Mindfulness of the Feelings.

6. Mindfulness of the Mind.

7. Mindfulness of Phenomena.

PART THREE: Cultivating a Good Heart.

8. Loving-Kindness.

9. Compassion.

10. Empathetic Joy and Equanimity.

PART FOUR: Exploring the Nature of Consciousness.

11. Bodhichitta: The Spirit of Awakening.

12. Daytime Dream Yoga.

13. Nighttime Dream Yoga.

14. The Great Perfection.

APPENDIX: THE SANTA BARBARA INSTITUTE FOR CONSCIOUSNESS STUDIES.

NOTES.

RECOMMENDED READING.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

INDEX.

Editorial Reviews

* Wallace, founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, explores key Buddhist meditation-related concepts that aid the "conquest of our inner obscurations" and "present a path to inner fulfillment and human flourishing." He first examines several particular methods—such as "mindfulness of breathing"—for cultivating shamatha, a state of "meditative quiescence" in which people's capacity for attention is refined and stabilized. They can then use these techniques to make a direct, delusion-free investigation of their own bodies, feelings and thoughts. These insights, in turn, help them nurture hearts of compassion and equanimity and, ultimately, realize more advanced teachings such as cultivating bodhichitta (a "spirit of awakening"), dream yoga and a highly developed meditation technique known as dzogchen. Wallace's discussions are usually clear and helpful (on why meditation works: "sustained, continuous effort can actually reconfigure your brain"), and his questions invite readers to see for themselves if his assertions resonate. Moreover, each chapter contains guided meditations to help readers encounter the teachings more directly. Nevertheless, the text can become dense and self-referential, and if readers miss a particular point early on, the effectiveness of later sections may be lessened. The result is a solid—if advanced—examination of some key Buddhist meditation techniques that will appeal to the serious student more than the casual seeker. (Apr.) (Publishers Weekly, February 28, 2005)

“[Genuine Happiness]…is a practical guide.” (Publishers Weekly, February 14, 2005)

From the Publisher

Wallace, a longtime student and practitioner of Buddhism, has learned from the Dalai Lama (who contributes the foreword) and 60 other teachers. Here he takes lessons learned to suggest that worldly happiness is short-lived. The happiness that lasts, he suggests, comes through self-awareness. Wallace's remedies for unhappiness and the path to true happiness are deeply rooted in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, but he makes the material accessible by using a minimum of daunting terms. For most collections. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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