Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation [Paperback]

Larry Rosenberg (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 9, 2004

Freedom from suffering is not only possible, but the means for achieving it are immediately within our grasp—literally as close to us as our own breath. This is the 2,500-year-old good news contained in the Anapanasati Sutra , the Buddha's teaching on cultivating both tranquility and deep insight through full awareness of breathing. In this book, Larry Rosenberg brings this timeless meditation method to life. Using the insights gained from his many years of practice and teaching, he makes insight meditation practice accessible to modern practitioners.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In any meditation class, one of the first things one learns is the importance of breathing. For Larry Rosenberg, a seasoned instructor of insight meditation, the breath is everything. And he's not in bad company since the Buddha himself delivered a sutra on the subject. Rosenberg's Breath by Breath is an elaboration on this short classic but couched in familiar language, liberally spiced with anecdotes from Rosenberg's decades of practice and teaching. It's Rosenberg's earthy humor and patient instruction that make him such a popular teacher and that make Breath by Breath a rewarding read. He takes the beginning student from the wandering "doggy mind" to becoming a chicken, along the way getting a teacher's bite and sitting like a frog. For the hurried and harried, he includes a nutshell, two-step version of the sutra's 16-step practice (appended in the full text of the sutra). More of a coach than a disciplinarian, Rosenberg takes a see-what-happens attitude. "You don't make liberation happen," he says. "To contemplate breathing is to contemplate life itself." --Brian Bruya --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Rosenberg, a teacher at the Insight Meditattion Center in Cambridge, MA, provides a clear description of meditative practice. The technique is based on the Anapanasati Sutra, the Buddha's own instructions to meditators.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; First Edition edition (November 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590301366
• ISBN-13: 978-1590301364
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and Interesting Meditation Guide March 8, 2001

By Elizabeth M

Format:Paperback

I picked up this book after a professor read excerpts from it out loud in a class. I was taken with the author's wit and writing skill. This is an absolutely essential guide to meditation, great for beginners, advanced students, and folks like me who are just interested. Very clear, entertaining, lots of antecdotes. Not a dry tome by any means, but not a frivelous book either. It does get to be a bit repetitive at times, but otherwise, well done!

62 of 67 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent... highly motivating... very promising April 6, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I am one of those people who wish it was easier to sit for an hour a day. I am one of those who is struggling to motivate myself to pursue what I have come to believe is an essential part of my life. This book is one that constantly makes my efforts and my struggles easier and keeps me motivated. I just wish I could do justice to this author's efforts in sharing what he has had the good furtune to have gained. I have given my copy of this book away on a few occasions just to replace it with yet another copy soon after. If you are a meditation enthusiast, make sure this book is on your bookshelf, if not right next to you, always.

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding... really modivated me to sit. March 31, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I loved that the book is really written from a Western perspective. Allows the reluctant mediator (like me) to approach the topic from many different angles. This book helped moditvate me to meditate more regularly. Explains the paradox of meditation (i.e. the goal is to give up the goal) better than any book I've ever read.