Living By Vow

A Sot Zen priest and Dharma successor of Kosho Uchiyama Roshi explores eight of Zen's most essential and universal liturgical texts and explains how the chants in these works support meditation and promote a life of freedom and compassion.

A vow is like a GPS system for your life. When taken on mindfully it can be a source of surprising wisdom and powerful energy, enabling you to accomplish things you never dreamed possible. It can have profound effects even beyond the original intention—and it can even live on after you’re gone. A vow can be as small as the aspiration to smile at someone at least once every day, or it can be as big as marriage; it can be as personal as deciding to be mindful whenever you pick up the phone, or it can be as universal as a commitment to save all sentient beings. But whatever its inspiration, when it’s done with conscious intention a vow becomes a conduit for the energy of your life. In this guide to the vow-directed life, Jan Chozen Bays provides a wealth of practical exercises to use for formulating and implementing vows of your own and for using them to navigate your life with honesty and compassion.

In Jizo Bodhisattva, Zen teacher and practicing pediatrician Jan Chozen Bays explores the development of traditional Buddhist practices related to Jizo, as well as the growing interest in Jizo practice in modern American Zen Buddhism. She also shows how you can incorporate this rich tradition into your own life, through meditations, mantras and chanting. In traditional Buddhist belief, a bodhisattva is an enlightened being who has forsaken entry into nirvana until all beings are saved. Jizo, one of the four great bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism, is know as "the Bodhisattva of the Greatest Vows." He is regarded as the protector of travelers—whether their journeys in the physical world, or in the spiritual reams. Jizo also has special significance for pregnant women and parents whose children have died.

This book offers with infused and wise humor, an eminently practial presentation of meditation, and with clarity shows how Zen Buddhism can be an ever-unfolding path of inquiry.

Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacharyavatara (A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) holds a unique place in Mahayana Buddhism akin to that of the Dhammapada in Hinayana Buddhism and the Bhagavadgita in Hinduism. In combining those rare qualities of scholastic precision, spiritual depth and poetical beauty, its appeal extends to a wide audience of Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Composed in India during the 8th century of the Christian era, it has since been an inspiration to millions of people throughout the world. This present translation by Stephen Batchelor is based upon a 12th century Tibetan commentary as orally explained by Ven. Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. The ninth chapter on wisdom has been expanded for this edition with relevant commentarial passages.

Instant bestseller: Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön shares life-changing practices for living with wisdom, confidence, and integrity amidst confusing situations and uncertain times We live in difficult times. Life so often seems like a turbulent river threatening to drown us and destroy our world. Why, then, shouldn’t we cling to the certainty of the comfortable—to our deep-seated habits and familiar ways? Because, Pema Chödrön teaches, that kind of fear-based clinging keeps us from the infinitely more powerful experience of being fully alive. The Buddhist teachings she presents here—known as the “Three Commitments”—provide a treasure trove of wisdom for learning to step right into the unknown, to completely and fearlessly embrace the groundlessness of being human, for people of all faiths. When we do, we begin to see not only how much better it feels to live an openhearted life, but we find that we begin to naturally and more effectively reach out to help and heal all those around us.

How can we respond urgently and effectively to the ecological crisis—and stay sane doing it? This landmark work is simultaneously a manifesto, a blueprint, a call to action, and a deep comfort for troubling times. David R. Loy masterfully lays out the principles and perspectives of Ecodharma—a Buddhist response to our ecological predicament, introducing a new term for a new development of the Buddhist tradition. This book emphasizes the three aspects of Ecodharma: practicing in the natural world, exploring the ecological implications of Buddhist teachings, and embodying that understanding in the eco-activism that is needed today. Within these pages, you’ll discover the powerful ways Buddhism can inspire us to heal the world we share. Offering a compelling framework and practical spiritual resources, Loy outlines the Ecosattva Path, a path of liberation and salvation for all beings and the world itself.