Natural Wakefulness: Discovering the Wisdom We Were Born With [Hardcover]

Gaylon Ferguson (Author), Sakyong Mipham (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2009

Wakefulness is our natural state: enlightened, complete, perfect in wisdom and compassion. It’s not something outside ourselves that we need to attain or become. But it’s also true that some effort is required to get in touch with it—and that effort is what spiritual practice is about. Gaylon Ferguson highlights two essential aspects of the path of awakening: learning to trust that we are already naturally awake and committing to meditation practice. And he shows how each supports the other in our efforts to become fully who we are.

He begins by showing how to understand natural wakefulness in ourselves and how to gain confidence in it. Then he teaches the fundamentals of meditation and goes on to provide exercises and guided contemplations intended to help us experience innate wakefulness. Along the way, he shares selections from question-and-answer sessions with students from retreats that he's led that provide practical advice for manifesting awareness in daily life. Finally he shows how we can reinforce and support each other in wakefulness through community.

This long-awaited first book from this renowned meditation teacher is a complete introduction to meditation and the spiritual path—suitable for both beginners and seasoned practitioners as a source of inspiration and insight.

To learn more about the author, visit his website: shambhala.org/teachers/acharya/gferguson

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This welcoming book offers a wise, warm-hearted, and practical understanding of the awakened heart. Reading it is like talking with your best dharma friend, who helps you to shift from being lost in thought to spacious and kind attention.”—Jack Kornfield

“A wonderfully wise and practical introduction to mindfulness meditation that explores and addresses all the ins and outs of the practice, the obstacles and confusions, as well as the rewards of this path. This book is like a friendly, helpful companion, offering clear and trustworthy guidance and support for beginning or aspiring meditators. Highly recommended.”—John Welwood, author of Toward a Psychology of Awakening

“Many essential questions on the view and meditation practice of Buddhadharma—and everyday life—are answered here with great clarity and with a genuine heart of caring and loving-kindness.”—Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, author of The Healing Power of Mind

“The advice in this book will be of tremendous benefit to those who have the courage to engage their mind and heart and develop their potential. As a result, it will benefit the greater world.”—Sakyong Mipham, author of Turning the Mind into an Ally

“Acharya Gaylon Ferguson is an exceptional meditation teacher, both for having been a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as well as for being a senior meditation teacher of many years’ standing. Gaylon’s great learning and deep experience are reflected on every page. He has achieved a rare blend of subtle scholarship, readability, and practical use.”—Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, author of Mind at Ease and The Essence of Buddhism

About the Author

Gaylon Ferguson is a faculty member in both Religious Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies at Naropa University, in Boulder, Colorado. He is an acharya, or senior teacher, in the Shambhala International Buddhist community. After studying meditation and Buddhist philosophy with Tibetan master Chögyam Trungpa in the 1970s and 1980s, Ferguson became a Fulbright Fellow to Nigeria and completed a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology at Stanford University. After several years of teaching cultural anthropology at the University of Washington, he became teacher-in-residence at Karmê Chöling Buddhist Retreat Center, through 2005, when he joined the faculty of Naropa University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590306570
• ISBN-13: 978-1590306574
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.8 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT RESOURCE FOR SOCIALLY-ENGAGED MEDITATORS, June 18, 2009

By 

Judith L. Lief (Colchester, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Natural Wakefulness: Discovering the Wisdom We Were Born With (Hardcover)

In this guide to meditation practice, Gaylon Ferguson places the practice of meditation squarely within the need to engage in the pressing social issues of our time. He broadens the scope of meditation and the spiritual path altogether beyond the more limited self-help approach and the even more escapist approach of disengagement and self-absorption. Gaylon gently guides the reader through the many questions that arise as one begins to meditate and infuses his writing with the gentle tones of a wise grandfather. His clarity as to the relevance of meditation to the demands of daily living and as to the way in which layers of greater and greater depth naturally unfold as one practices--and his personal joy and delight in the practice--shine through. This book on the practice of meditation is an accessible, straightforward, comprehensible and charming conversation about this simple, but oddly powerful, method of personal and social transformation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Natural Wakefulness, May 28, 2010

By 

Donna in NC (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Natural Wakefulness: Discovering the Wisdom We Were Born With (Hardcover)

The book is clearly written, and the author gives practical advice on how to meditate. This was the perfect read in preparation for a workshop on meditation.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and insightful look at Wakefulness from a great teacher!, March 23, 2010

By 

Mike B "Dharma Dad" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Natural Wakefulness: Discovering the Wisdom We Were Born With (Hardcover)

Had the privilege to attend a teaching (one day workshop) from the author/teacher Gaylon Ferguson, and his book reads just like his workshop. Very practical advice, surrounded by the foundational teachings and sources he gained insight from.
Highly recommend it!