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Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment

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Discover your personal path to bliss"This book will give anyone interested in the spectrum of core meditative practices stemming from the Buddhist tradition but in essence universal the deepest of perspectives on what is possible for us as human beings as well as excellent guidance in the essential, time-tested attitudes and practices for actualizing our innate capacity for wisdom, compassion, and well-being, right here and right now."
Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Coming to Our Senses and Full Catastrophe Living

"In Genuine Happiness, Alan Wallace displays his rare talent in boiling down the complex to the clear and in guiding readers through a practical path to contentment. A gift for all moods and seasons."
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

"This lucid and rich book offers brillant, wise, and accessible teachings on the essentials of four core meditation techniques that lead one to genuine joy and happiness. Alan Wallace's years of practice and teaching shine through every page, as with ease and great humanity, he brings to the reader the possibility of liberation."
Joan Halifax Roshi, abbot of Upaya Zen Center

"Genuine Happiness is a treasure chest of wisdom: clear, inspiring teaching jewels. It is an excellent support for any student of meditation."
Sharon Salzberg, author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience

In today's overstimulated world, many are realizing that happiness gained through material wealth and frivolous conquests is short-lived. To achieve long-term happiness, you must access your own bountiful resources—housed in your heart and mind. In Genuine Happiness, longtime Buddhist practitioner Alan Wallace shows you the path to bliss.

Drawing on more than three decades of study under His Holiness the Dalai Lama and sixty other teachers, as well as 2,500 years of Buddhist tradition, Alan Wallace guides you step by step through five simple yet powerful meditations to help you focus your mind and open your heart to true happiness. Featuring a Foreword by the Dalai Lama, this book will help you discover that it is possible to experience genuine happiness every day.

As you incorporate the meditations from Genuine Happiness into your life, you will discover that the joy you've sought has always been only a few meditative minutes away.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2005

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B. Alan Wallace

71 books168 followers

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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Yolanda Blanch Ruiz.
90 reviews4 followers
September 17, 2016
I need to read it again. Some parts are inspiring, others seems science fiction. But i love sf, so I enjoyed them too. Lets see where all of this contemplative - science working together goes...
Profile Image for Fernanda.
112 reviews4 followers
June 9, 2021
A sequência prática/contemplação/prática.... dos capítulos deixa meio maçante a leitura. Também achei a edição mal traduzida.
Passando por cima disso, os ensinamentos pescados no decorrer do livro são valiosos pra quem quer transformar a meditação em um hábito. Se você for leigo no budismo também pode ser interessante.
19 reviews
September 10, 2008
This book has a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

"Meditation is an instrument or technique to shape or tranform the mind. According to my own meagr experience of meditation as a simple Buddhist monk, as I get older, even though many of the problems I hace become more serious and my responsibilities become more challneging, my mind is becoming calmer. The result of a calmer mind is largey undisturbed. This is certainly the result of meditation.

With meditation we learn to withdraw our mind inward; we don't let it chase after sensory objects. ....... This is a state of mind in which awareness is not afflicted by memories and thoughts of the past, nor is it afflicted by thoughts of the future, anticipations, fears, and hopes. Rather, our mind remains in a natural and neutral state.

We need a balanced approach, combining studying and learning with the practices of contemplation and meditation."

In this book, Alan Wallace describes a range of meditation techniques from the simplest mindfulnes of breathing up to the exalted methods of Dzogchen.
2,140 reviews
Want to read
August 1, 2009
from the library

TOC from the library computer:
Acknowledgments.

Forward by H. H. the Dalai Lama.

Introduction.

PART I. REFINING THE ATTENTION.
Chapter One. Mindfulness of Breathing.

Chapter Two. Settling the Mind in Its Natural State.

Chapter Three. The Awareness of Being Aware.

PART II. INSIGHT THROUGH MINDFULNESS.
Chapter Four. Mindfulness of the Body.

Chapter Five. Mindfulness of the Feelings.

Chapter Six. Mindfulness of the Mind.

Chapter Seven. Mindfulness of Mental Objects.

PART III. CULTIVATING A GOOD HEART.
Chapter Eight. Loving-kindness.

Chapter Nine. Compassion.

Chapter Ten. Empathetic Joy and Equanimity.

PART IV. EXPLORING THE NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
Chapter Eleven. Bodhichitta-The Spirit of Awakening.

Chapter Twelve. Daytime Dream Yoga.

Chapter Thirteen. Nighttime Dream Yoga.

Chapter Fourteen. The Great Perfection.

Appendix. Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

Profile Image for Francesca Hampton.
Author 9 books14 followers
December 26, 2021
Alan Wallace is perhaps the most extraordinary interpreter of Buddhism in modern times. He does not stray from Mahayana Buddhist traditions but knows them thoroughly and is able to express their values and core practices with amazing clarity. This is an outstanding book to help connect or reconnect with Buddhist practices, invaluable to both novices and knowledgeable older students.
Profile Image for tj.
2 reviews1 follower
February 28, 2007
Pretty rad book. Really goes more deeply into some things to consider while "meditating". Talks about different aspects of your being that you can observe from an outside'ish perspective.
Im still treading through it and will have a little more to say soon enough.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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