The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works

Best book on meditation available

If you are new to meditation or a veteran, this is an ideal book and practice to start with. Shinzen Young is an excellent teacher. His skill and depth of experience are unparalleled. His knowledge of languages, science, technology, is the broadest I have experienced. Enjoy the book in print and audio.

4 sur 4 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Esclarecedor

Este libro permite explorar temas como mindfulness, Flow, presencia y similares. Menciona prácticas budistas con términos nativos de la India. Puede ser tan profundo o ligero según lo que el lector desee experimentar.

1 sur 1 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Outstanding, provocative book on a critically important subject, presented in a unique way.

I don’t know what is, or could be, more important to human well being than what has traditionally been called “spiritual enlightenment.” This book discusses that topic in a way that is, overall, quite unique and, I think, helpful and useful. I highly recommend it for anyone who’s ever considered the subject. I especially recommend it for those who’ve been interested, but couldn’t, for whatever reason, handle more traditional presentations. Deeply thoughtful, and practical, it could be an important part of a person’s “path.”

Additionally, the reader is outstanding, and makes it easy and pleasant to follow a theme that could otherwise be more difficult and daunting.

Highly recommended!

Best overview of enlightenment so far

I really enjoyed this book. So many "Wow!" moments.

If I were to sum up the single thing that really made the book stand out for me, it would be this:

So much of what is written about enlightenment feels to be about the "pre-conceptual" - taking away the contribution of conceptual thought towards our state / how we feel in any given moment. I get this - many of my most precious moments are remembered for the bliss of discovering the spirit in everything that you look at - tree, bird, sky, bush, work of art.... Getting to this point is often a switch that takes you into your appreciation of the thing just for how you sense it. For this reason, I've often assumed that full enlightenment would simply relate to being able to step fully into this "world without words". All of my encounters with the Magic of Everyday Life are consistent with this direction.

I've spent much of my life as a conceptual modeller (and sometimes quantitative modeller) of biological systems. So it's always seemed a little ironic that my pursuit of the spiritual feels like a complete negation of the way that I've invested the last forty professional years.

Shinzen's book has given me a jolt: I'm not just around the corner from living in a world of ongoing magic. I've only glimpsed that first step of the journey! His proposition is that the bliss of stepping towards / blissing out in the non-conceptual MUST be matched by equivalent effort in exploring one's inner world in a way that has analogy to developing a conceptual model of how it functions.

Before reading the book, I'd recommend going through the free course on the linked website: unifiedmindfulness.com.

But don't miss out on the book - it is a tour de force!

Absolutely five stars!

brilliant but theoretical, pretentious narrator

super smart and interesting, but quite dry and abstract. narrator was agonizing for me. sounded like he's trying very hard to make his voice sound aristocratic

2 sur 6 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

Prolix

First third of the book is jerking off his master and telling his life story

0 sur 1 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

A good first half, not so much from then on

This book starts out very good, but gets weird there after. Demons and Monsters, Power, mystical powers oh my.

0 sur 1 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.

drugs enlighten you

very boring.. I suffered throughout this book.
you can't live in the past or future live in the now.

3 sur 14 personne(s) ont trouvé cet avis utile.