True Meditation: Discover the Freedom of Pure Awareness [Hardcover]

Adyashanti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2006

What would happen if you were to allow everything to be exactly as it is? If you gave up the need for control, and instead embraced the whole of your experience in each moment that arose? In the fourteen years that he studied Zen, Adyashanti found that most seasoned meditators had used the practice as a means to a goal they never reached. What he ultimately realized: that only when you let go of all techniques?even the concept of yourself as a meditator?will you open to the art of true meditation: dwelling in the natural state. True Meditation invites you to join the growing number of seekers who have been touched by the wisdom of Adyashanti.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Meditation is a way to restore our lost wholeness -- our integrity as human beings -- by surrendering to a potent state of consciousness. -- Yoga + Healthy Living, May/June 2008

From the Inside Flap

What would happen if you allowed everything to be exactly as it is? If you gave up the need for control, and instead embraced the whole of your experience in each moment that arose? In the fourteen years that he studied Zen, Adyashanti found that most seasoned meditators had used the practice as "an end instead of a means to an end." What he ultimately realized was that only when you let go of all techniques - even the concept of yourself as a meditator - will you open to the art of True Meditation, dwelling in the natural state. True Meditation invites you to join the growing number of seekers who have been touched by the wisdom of Adyashanti to learn:

- How to make the "effortless effort" that will vivify the present moment

- Meditative self-inquiry and "The Way of Subtraction" - how to ask a spiritually powerful question - and determine the real answer

- Two guided meditations on CD intended to reveal what Adyashanti calls "your home as awareness itself

"We've been taught that awakening is difficult," explains Adyashanti, "that to wake up from the illusion of separation takes years. But all it really takes is a willingness to look into the depths of your experience here and ow." True Meditation gives you the opportunity to reclaim the original purpose of meditation - as a gateway to "the objectless freedom of being."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 87 pages
• Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591794676
• ISBN-13: 978-1591794677
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After 15 years of Zen practice and a series of ever-deepening realizations, this direct, loving and engaging modern teacher began to offer dharma talks, weekend programs and retreats in 1996. Known for his clarity, wisdom and rich humor he has a rapidly expanding base of students, many of whom have awakened to their true nature in his presence. His teachings have been compared to those of the early Zen masters, and the wisdom teachings of Advaita Vedanta, and speak deeply to all seekers of Truth.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meditation- effortless, choiceless, silent awareness, September 10, 2006

By 

Tom Thompson "Tom Thompson" (Southern Pines, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Meditation (Audio CD)

True Zen is about Waking Up and discovering the Truth of your Being, the Unborn, your Buddha Nature here and now, but for the most part Zen has become very rigid and institutionalized, often mistaking the finger for the moon it is pointing to.

Adyashanti and his teaching style are a wonderful and refreshing exception to this as Adya's teachings arise spontaneously out of prajna, like the teachings of the ancient Zen masters of China. Wake up now!

Adya's "True Meditation" seems to be based on the Zen practice of shikantaza, or just sitting and allowing everything to be as it is, and koan practice, which once was a spontaneous inquiry into Truth, but has become a formalized and ritualized practice that is not of particular value to the present day Western spiritual seeker. Adya has very appropriately modernized these ancient practices so they are very useful to anyone sincerely wanting to wake up without getting all caught up in some sect, religion or belief system. True meditation and meditative self-inquiry are like the two wings of an airplane. Both are needed if it is going to fly.

The teaching here is so direct, simple and clear that it can be easily overlooked by those who are highly trained in one system of meditation or another, or those with complex belief systems about what it takes to wake up. If your intention is to simply wake up and discover what is true rather than learn a system or gather more information, then these CDs are for you. They are really all you need!

"Our minds are surely gone
when we see everything as God.
Prepare yourself Mother Earth
the inmates are loose
the fools have
broken free of their chains." (Adyashanti)

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is discovered when the "meditator" is dropped from meditation? Freedom!, June 25, 2006

By 

KAP (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Meditation (Audio CD)

This is a three CD set devoted to what Adyashanti calls "true meditation". In the first two CDs he describes what separates the meditator from the goal of meditation (the meditator!) and in the third CD he leads the listener in arriving at the goal of meditation through the dismantling of the meditator - he does this in three different guided meditations. In other words, he speaks to the "illusory self" the listener takes himself to be so that that illusory self is seen for what it is. Then in the 3rd CD he takes the listener "by the hand" and step-by-step leads him/her to what remains (consciousness) when the grip of the ego is loosened and finally dropped altogether. This loosening and dismantling of the ego is accomplished by the recognition and then dropping of the many ways in which the ego manipulates what arises within the mind so that the foundation of what one is stands alone and unobscured.

There are many forms of meditation and Adyashanti briefly mentions the goals of some of these. But when it comes to discovering what one truly is Adyashanti assserts, and I agree with him on this, that one must realize and then discover directly for oneself that the impediment to the goal of Self-realization is the very one who seeks for that goal, the ego entity. It is this ego entity which gets in the way of "true meditation" and which obscures the natural state of awareness which is here always. One IS the natural state of awareness, and by no longer manipulating anything this is discovered directly. Adyashanti is brilliant in leading you to this discovery for yourself.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profoundly Enlightning, January 12, 2007

By 

WeAreOne "Bruce" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Meditation: Discover the Freedom of Pure Awareness (Hardcover)

The object of meditation for me is to find out what we really are, not what we 'think' we are or are 'taught' we are. To awaken to my true nature or being.

I think the problem for me has been in the trying to get something, or to achieve something. As Adyashanti points out, True Meditation isn't about 'trying' to get anything. The problem is in the effort, the solution is in the letting go, "effortless effort". The quided meditation CD that comes with the book helps to develop that attitude.

Interestingly, Adyashanti inquires "What Am I". It is a more profound question that the mind cannot try and grasp as easily as "Who Am I"? After all, were not looking for something that the mind can grasp. From page 50 "Thoughts come and go, but that which is witnessing the thoughts remains."