Customer Reviews

Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English: An Introductory guide to Deeper States of Meditation

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book, the most recently published of Bhante G's is so clear, so comprehensive regarding Jhanas; the states of meditation through practice. There are so many books out there that are just gimmicks to the real thing. Bhante Gunaratana is so REAL that reading his words penetrate to carry you further on the path of insight; a critical key to our liberation along with practice of 8 Fold Path.

People in our culture are suffering due to their lack of focus. This book can help anyone who is feeling scattered and needs a practice to calm their body and mind. There are so many benefits to concentration. Bhante G shows the way to practice best. He claims no superpowers. Although, in fact, he is the leading Theraveda monk in the western world. Walk on with him; you are likely to find peace. He has paved the way with loving friendliness and diligent effort to make Buddhas teachings accessible to us all. He wrote his dissertation for his PHD on Jhanas and has come full circle with this publication. A Beautiful work.

I've got to tell you that I was thrilled that Gunaratana had written a follow-up to his wonderful "Mindfulness in Plain English." And I was very pleased at the opening few chapters of this book: they are clearly written and very instructive.

I have to admit, though, that I have recently put the book down. When the author starts talking about the Jhanas in great detail, he gets a little more vague and frankly, boring. Still I think this is a worthwhile endeavor and worth taking a look at. Perhaps others may be more intrigued than I was.

This book is clearly aimed at people who have progressed well beyond the beginner level meditation. Therefore, if the reader is not so experienced or not curious enough, he or she may find this "boring " or Useless" otherwise this is a truly accurate and rare book.

For me this is an unimaginably 100% exact book I wanted. I began meditation without seriously reading any books. But I knew I got to watch my breath and eventually to be locked in to it in order to experience something. I tried very hard but I could not do that. Later I discovered that Metta meditation helps to concentrate, and I tried that and then continued in mindfulness meditation.

One day it happened to me, suddenly felt that I just immersed into something I never experienced before, but continued some days without knowing what exactly it is (I had relatively lesser knowledge in Jhnas and deeper experiences)

Then, I watched this video series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X4o1Q2QP94 and discovered that I have experienced a Jhana. I was really happy and I kept doing this regularly and I felt that I was becoming more aware and progressing on this.

Then this book came across me, and I started to read it I could not believe my eyes, every word and every step it explained is exactly as I have experienced. I felt so grateful to this monk for writing this book. With this I discovered that I have almost gone beyond 2nd Jhana.

This book has explained all accurately up to where I am now, therefore I can safely assume that rest of it accurate too. If you go beyond basics, this is a wonderful companion. I think this book assumes that you already know about mindfulness meditation and have some knowledge in Buddhism.

Both Concentration and Insight Meditation practices are equally important. While I have read many useful guidebooks on Insight Meditation (including this author's), it is the first time that I see a practical guide to Concentration. I intend to spend long hours following the easy but detailed instructions here.

I consider this book to be the last part of a "trilogy":
1. Mindfulness in Plain English, Updated and Expanded Edition
2. Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path
3. Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English: An Introductory guide to Deeper States of Meditation

The first book was a no nonsense nuts and bolts for me (I "needed" some kind of rationale context, not fairy tales). The only difficult part was the extended part about universal loving friendliness (why should I unconditionally trust the author).

The third book answered my question from the first book. Everything clicked together. Of course a few years of meditation and reflective thinking between reading these two books was a good help. The first four Jhanas make sense for me. The last eight is kind of in the fog (I don't even see any point in going into the last eight Jhanas). This is perfectly ok. I will still give the book five stars, because I was inspired to go for the eightfold path. I could write a whole book about this decision (what is free will, how are decisions made, levels of decisions, ...). Now I was ready to read the second book.

The second book contains to many fairy tales for me (stories of "irrational" monks). But because of the first and third book, I could just skip the stories, read between the lines, and make sense of the rest. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't be without this second book. Other people might find these stories about monks to be wonderful stories, and I should't be so rough in my description when I say "fairy tales". I'm just describing what I felt when I read the book!

It's difficult to write a review about these books. Different people will get different messages from the same text. Even the same person will get different messages from the same text during different parts of the life. That is why I have included how the books was read by me, not only what I read. Reading them is not enough, what you end up doing (how you live your life) is what counts.

I practiced Jhana with Rev. Bhante Rahula at the Bhavana Society for some time in the mid to late 1990s, with periodic guidance from Bhante G, of course. This book really lays out the traditional approach, as practiced in the Theravadan Buddhist tradition. Reading about Jhana from the traditional texts can be daunting. One is going to have quite a bit of trouble attempting Jhana without a live teacher, but this book can lay the foundation and at least show you what you're in for.

This is the last book in Bhante Gunaratana's trilogy on Theravada buddhism. The first two books helped me get on the right path, which I read at least twice each. But then when I began reading this book I realized that I need another five years of practice before I can fully comprehend it. This is a very advanced book ladies and gentlemen that focuses on the deepest states of meditation called "jhanas". It was too advanced for me and I would only recommend it to very experienced practitioners. For everyone else, just continue meditating and studying the eightfold path in your daily life until you naturally start to experience deep states of meditation, then you can pick this book up as a guide to navigate them.

Bhante G's sequel to Mindfulness in Plain English is a superb explanation, especially for the practitioner who must work alone.

This book is excellent, In my opinion all you would need on jhana. I would also recommend reading an article by Bhante G with this book. The article is available on his website, it is entitled "Should We Come Out of Jhana to Practice Vipassana?" Read the article then check out the suttas in his footnotes.

So empowering and from the first page it lights up your enthusiasm for this subject. I have tried other meditation processes with little success, but this is something else! I thought it worth pointing any reader in the right direction. There's nothing worse than trying something out for the first time and just feeling let down, but this book is not like that. I have tried some audio books on meditation and have felt badly let down, but with this book I have regained my belief in what mediation can do for you. Worth a try!