Recommended meditation guide book for seekers and meditators.
Meditation Guidebooks vol 1, 2 & 3 by Piya Tan.
1. Meditation 1: a Safety Guide by Piya Tan, 2013. [ISBN: 978-981-07-8585-7, size A4, 220 pp.] A recommended handbook for meditators and seekers.
CONTENTS:
- Introduction. Why meditate? Who should not meditate? Downside of meditation.
- (1) What is meditation? Personal development and mental cultivation.
- (2) The 4 kinds of samadhi. Mental concentration, stillness and dhyana.
- (3) The stages to spiritual liberation. The nature of spiritual solitude.
- (4) The nature of mental stillness. What is samadhi and how it arises.
- (5) Nimitta: The mental sign in cognition and meditation. Joy in meditation.
- (6) The 3 kinds of meditation signs. When is our mind really peaceful?
- (7) Dhyana (jhana): The mind when it is fully free from the body.
- (8) The layman and dhyana: How to awaken without dhyana.
- (9) The Buddha discovered dhyana: Some misconceptions and clarifications. What does dhyana really mean? Was there dhyana before the Buddha? Does thinking occur in dhyana? How does the mind and the object become “one”?
- (10) Bibliography
2. Meditation 2: a Skills Guide (click for details) by Piya Tan, 2014. [ISBN: 978-981-09-0617-7, size A4, 176 pp] A recommended handbook for meditators and seekers.
CONTENTS:
- Introduction.
- (1) The 5 mental hindrances. The 5 barriers to mental focus and habits that weaken wisdom; how to break through them.
- (2) Negative desire. How the senses work and how they can work for us.
- (3) Lust and how to overcome it.
- (4) Ill will and negative emotions hinder personal progress: how to overcome them.
- (5) Karaniya Metta Sutta (Khp 9 = Sn 1.8). How to cultivate unconditional love.
- (6) Sloth and torpor. Mustering effort and energy in our minds.
- (7) (Thina,middha) Tissa Sutta (S 22.84). Drowsiness can be overcome by insight.
- (8) Restlessness and remorse: Not letting our past control us; keeping the future where it is.
- (9) Doubt: Why we lack confidence and how to build it up.
- (10) Nivana Pahana Vagga (A 1.2.1-10). The 5 mental hindrances: their causes and ending.
- (11) Vitakka Santhana Sutta (M 20). How to overcome distractions during meditation.
3. Meditation 3: a Stillness Guide by Piya Tan, 2014.
- Introduction
- 1 Patisallana Sutta (It 45). The benefits of a balanced practice.
- 2 Dhajagga Sutta (S 11.3). The recollections of the 3 jewels.
- 3 Buddhanussati. Recollection on the 9 virtues of the Buddha.
- 4 (Sanditthika Dhamma) Brahmaṇa Sutta (A 3.53). The nature of the Dharma.
- 5 Dhammânussati (Vism 7.68-88). Recollection on the 6 virtues of the true teachings of the Buddha.
- 6 Sanghanussati. Recollection on the 9 virtues of the noble community.
- 7 Silanussati (Vism 7.101-106). Recollection of moral virtue.
- 8 Caganussati (Vism 7.107-114). Recollection of charity.
- 9 Devatanussati (Vism 7.115-118). Recollection of deities. Meditating on one’s own godliness.
- 10 Pacala Sutta (A 7.58). Eight ways of overcoming drowsiness and the nature of discipleship.
- 11 Vimutt’āyatana Sutta (A 5.26). Can liberation be won without meditation?
Price (per book):
In Singapore: S$20.00 (self-collection); $25.00 (by post).
Outside Singapore (incl Malaysia & Brunei): $43.00 (by airmail).
Outside Singapore (except Malaysia & Brunei): S$28.00 (by surface mail).
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