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The Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation
Arinna Weisman and Jean Smith combine clear explanations of the Buddha's teachings on freedom and happiness with their personal stories highlighting some of the challenges and insights of practice. The Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation offers advice about going on retreat and help in choosing a teacher and a sangha (practice community), as well as suggestions for further reading and information on various Insight Meditation or Vipassana centers and resources. Here is an enormously practical book that covers every aspect of the teachings a beginner needs to get started.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
237 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 28, 2008
I love this book. It is simultaneously a very practical how-to guide to meditation, an American Buddhist-style self-help book, and an introduction to Buddhist history and philosophy. It really just has it all.
November 20, 2008
I read this in a time in my life when I wasn't comfortable with who I was, where I was or anything in my life.
I was depressed to say the least. I hated everything and every one, most of all myself.
This book changed my life.
I was depressed to say the least. I hated everything and every one, most of all myself.
This book changed my life.
May 20, 2018
Perfect as both an introduction to Insight Meditation/Buddhism and as a manual to keep and refer to over and over again.
May 13, 2015
Amazing introduction to Buddhism and it breaks down a lot of the buddhist texts into the basics but takes it further than what people would normally get from an introductory course. It gives you a glimpse of the amazing detail with which the Buddha broke down the thought process and tried to structure the unseen, unheard and unfelt quality of cognitive process. It gives you hope that you can someday be the master of your conscious and to some extent subconscious mind. Must read if you want to dip your ankle into Buddhism and don't mind some theory.
March 17, 2009
I thought that this was a really helpful and, ahem, insightful book. It really addressed the main points of a Buddhist practice in a clear and concise way that was very accessible.
July 24, 2011
This is a good, basic introduction to Insight Meditation which is a form of Theravada Buddhism.
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September 19, 2007my-books
January 23, 2019
Wonderfully written. A perfect book for people learning meditation. I have used it in my curriculum teaching meditation and it was well-received by the group's participants.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews