Christian Insight Meditation

Despite the long history of mysticism within Christianity and its many and varied approaches to meditation and contemplative prayer, more and more Christians have turned to Eastern religions to find a kind of guidance for their interior life that they were not able to find in Christianity. Some have completely abandoned the religion of their childhood, believing they have found the "pearl of great price" in Eastern meditation. Christian Insight Meditation offers an ancient Buddhist meditation practice within a Christian prayer tradition, to teach readers a process of inner purification meant to lead to deeper Christian faith and to the direct vision of God. This wonderful, inspiring book offers reliable guidance and a way for any of us to begin to follow the footsteps of such towering figures as John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. Readers will soon discover for themselves the power of Christian Insight Meditation to bring inner peace and healing and to deepen and enhance their Christian life, and the inseparable connection between wisdom and compassion known for centuries to both Christian and Buddhist meditators.

In Taking Jesus Seriously, the words of Jesus become clearer when matched with the practices and insights of Buddhist meditation. This book presents a Christian way to implement the words of Jesus by looking inside to see what stands between the reader and God's kingdom. Cowan connects everyday examples and Jesus' words to the method of Buddhist vipassana or insight meditation by offering instruction, perception, and guidance. With practice, readers can begin to notice what is actual, leave anxiety to the Father, accept pain, and see the world as a child would. This book is designed to be read over twelve weeks while practicing 20-30 minutes of daily meditations. Each chapter includes questions and answers

All Christians who appreciate Buddhist wisdom and their numbers is large will value this way of deepening their prayer life through Christian spirituality and Buddhist meditation.

Many Christian commentators have been taken aback by the seemingly unstoppable rise of the ‘mindfulness revolution’ that has occurred over the past decade. But there are many Christians who worry that mindfulness techniques constitute a covert import from Buddhism. How far are Christians adopting Buddhist techniques, ideas and ideologies? Do we risk squaring Buddhist ideology and approaches to fit the Christian circle? Beginning with an exploration of the practice of mindfulness in its Buddhist origins, Peter Tyler reflects on the practical use of mindfulness, its place within the Christian tradition of prayer, and its future within the Christian tradition. Tyler argues that far from a foreign import mindfulness is not only endemic but essential to the Christian understanding of how the human person relates to the divine. Each chapter concludes with practical exercises to help the reader in their understanding of mindfulness in the Christian context.

Although raised Roman Catholic, Susan Stabile was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun and devoted 20 years of her life to practicing Buddhism before returning to Catholicism in 2001. In Growing in Love and Wisdom, she draws on this unique dual perspective to explore the value of interreligious dialogue, the spiritual dynamics that operate across faith traditions, and how Buddhist meditation practices can deepen Christian prayer. She begins by examining the values and principles shared by the two faiths and shows that both traditions seek to effect a fundamental transformation in the lives of believers. Both stress the need for experiences with deep emotional resonance that goes beyond the level of concepts to touch the heart. The center of the book offers 15 Tibetan Buddhist contemplative practices, adapted for Christian use. Stabile provides clear instructions on how to do these meditations and helpful commentary on each, explaining its purpose and the relation between the Buddhist original and her Christian adaptation of it. Throughout, she highlights the many remarkably close parallels between the teachings of Jesus and the Buddha. The meditations offered in this unusual book will be extremely useful to thoughtful Christians, to those responsible for giving spiritual direction, and also to Buddhist sympathizers who will be intrigued and pleased to see familiar contemplations handled so skillfully by a former Buddhist practitioner who has gratefully learned so much from her former religion and now introduces the riches of that tradition to her fellow Christians.

Through the teachings of Jesus and Christian mystics such as St. Augustine and Meister Eckhart, Stefan Gillow Reynolds demonstrates that the practice of mindfulness leading to silent meditation, recommended by many therapists, is not a modern fad but has always had a place within contemplative Christianity.

Mindfulness can help you live more joyfully and wholeheartedly in the world God created. The Mindful Christian provides readers with an overview of mindfulness practice through the lens of faith, showing how the ancient healing practice of mindfulness can help them live more joyfully and wholeheartedly. For Christians who are experiencing emotional pain, spiritual lethargy, or feelings of disconnection--or for Christians who are simply curious about how mindfulness can fit with their lives and their faith--this book will help them learn about and engage mindfulness practices in ways that leave them more compassionate, joyful, content, and at peace with themselves--and with God. The book offers easy-to-do mindfulness practices that will impact daily activities and relationships--empowering readers with the benefits of mindfulness for their emotional, spiritual, and relational health within the Christian life.

By establishing a dialogue in which the meditative practices of Buddhism and Christianity speak to the theories of modern philosophy and science, B. Alan Wallace reveals the theoretical similarities underlying these disparate disciplines and their unified approach to making sense of the objective world. Wallace begins by exploring the relationship between Christian and Buddhist meditative practices. He outlines a sequence of meditations the reader can undertake, showing that, though Buddhism and Christianity differ in their belief systems, their methods of cognitive inquiry provide similar insight into the nature and origins of consciousness. From this convergence Wallace then connects the approaches of contemporary cognitive science, quantum mechanics, and the philosophy of the mind. He links Buddhist and Christian views to the provocative philosophical theories of Hilary Putnam, Charles Taylor, and Bas van Fraassen, and he seamlessly incorporates the work of such physicists as Anton Zeilinger, John Wheeler, and Stephen Hawking. Combining a concrete analysis of conceptions of consciousness with a guide to cultivating mindfulness and profound contemplative practice, Wallace takes the scientific and intellectual mapping of the mind in exciting new directions.