Who Is My Self?: A Guide to Buddhist Meditation [Paperback]

Ayya Khema (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 1997

Self-transformation is an essential element in all forms of Buddhist meditation — from Tantra to Zen. Ayya Khema, author of the best-selling Being Nobody, Going Nowhere, uses one of the earliest Buddhist suttas to guide readers along the path of the oldest Buddhist meditative practice for understanding the nature of "self." By following the Buddha's explanation with clear, insightful examples from her years of teaching meditation, she guides us back and forth between the relative understanding and higher realizations of the Buddhist concept of "self." Her thoughtful contemplation of the Buddha's radical understanding of "self" and her practical advice for achieving insight offer the reader a profound understanding of the "self." Both beginning and advanced practitioners will greatly benefit from Ayya Khema's warm and down-to-earth exposition of the Buddha's meditation on "self".

Editorial Reviews

Review

Ayya Khema is a meditator's meditator, a real expert, as clear about the nuts and bolts of technique as she is about the basic sanity and profound peacefulness that is the goal of all technique. Who Is My Self? is a truly astonishing book. It discusses, for the first time as far as I know, in definite and practical language, the well-known eight stages of absorption, based not on textual sources but on personal experience. If you are interested in Buddhist meditation in all its color, depth, and refinement you will want to pay close attention to this book. -- Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Co-Abbot, San Francisco Zen Center, author of Jerusalem Moonlight

Ayya Khema's teachings are strongly grounded in a practical daily life perspective, yet she shows how to experience sublime states in meditation. In this excellent book she lays out the path specified by the Buddha himself. -- Sandy Boucher, author of Turning the Wheel and Opening the Lotus--A Woman's Guide to Buddhism

From the Back Cover

In this beautifully crafted guide to one of the Buddha's most famous teachings, Ayya Khema leads you, as the Buddha led his disciple Potthapada, through progressively higher levels of understanding and realization of the true nature of the "self." Interpreting this famous discourse with insightful examples from her years of teaching meditation, she guides you along the path of perhaps the most effective Buddhist meditative practice for personal transformation. Along the way you will learn about the language, customs, and culture of the era in which the Buddha gave his discourses and be surprised at how pertinent this 2500 year-old teaching is for you and your world.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications (October 9, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0861711270
• ISBN-13: 978-0861711277
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #353,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A skillful exploration into Buddhist meditation, October 8, 2004

By 

Brad4d "bb" (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Who Is My Self?: A Guide to Buddhist Meditation (Paperback)

--This wonderful book, despite its somewhat misleading title, is arguably the best modern commentary on Buddhism's Jhanas, or supreme meditative contemplations (others might use terms like "peak spiritual experiences" or "liberated states of awareness."). The Jhanas include eight levels of conscious awareness, and they appear to be the mystical "mystical experiences" that so many pilgrims from so many religious traditions have sought for so many centuries. This book gives a Buddhist perspective on them.
--Ayya Khema, a well-respected Buddhist nun, centers her book around a little-known part of Buddhist scripture called the Potthapada Sutta, in which a well-meaning but unsophisticated student asks the Buddha how to achieve the highest level of conscious awareness. The Buddha often answered such complicated questions very simply and with some humor, but he now takes the reader into a journey full of wisdom and depth. Instead of answering the student directly, he defers the answer until he has addressed the preparation needed to comprehend the question. The Buddha clearly indicates that the higher mental states should be approached indirectly, carefully, and with great ethical and mental preparation. Such preparation usually takes tremendous effort and personal change, but without them, chasing after something like the "highest conscious states" may not only be useless but a dangerous source of attachment and delusion. Far from being an esoteric spiritual cookbook, Buddhism demands adequate awareness, a practiced discernment of existence, and an ethical "guarding of the sense doors." Only then can the various Jhanas be productively accessed, although they are not simply "obtained" by our own efforts. Liberation depends on understanding existence, not in manipulating existence.
--Ayya Khema then gives a superb commentary on the Buddha's description of the Jhanas, and discusses what they mean for us. The author suggests the Buddha viewed these supreme mystical experiences far differently from many other religious leaders. Although the Jhanas are a supremely wonderful and useful place for the mind to be, they too are subject to arising and passing away, and are not the End of the Road. Instead, their value is to allow the mind to become so clear and so focused that Insight Meditation becomes more, well, insightful. As the author puts it, the Jhanas can have indispensible value in "understanding experience," and in managing the questions of old age, suffering, and death. When all becomes still and one becomes kind, all becomes obvious.
--Ayya Khema has artfully described a wonderful teaching. She has introduced us to steps on the spiritual journey that many of us had not expected to take -- those of discipline, renunciation, heightened awareness, and decency. Life isn't easy, but it can be positive for one who pays attention and changes accordingly.
--This book deserves the attention of anyone interested in this dimension of Buddhist meditation. You may also want to consider a directed Jhana retreat, such as one of those found on her student Leigh Brasington's website.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars first rate !!!, July 16, 2001

By 

danyew "danielyew" (Singapore Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Is My Self?: A Guide to Buddhist Meditation (Paperback)

books on meditation abound . the hard part is sifting through the morass of confusing and often contradictory methods that all but scream for your attention . ayya khema's book doesn't scream .... it whispers . and its still whispering to me , long after i have finished it .

meditation books can be dry , they can be humorous , technical etc , but they all need to appeal to the experience of the everyday person , the one we're all so familiar with . we have to see our everyday selves in a book on meditation for it to appeal to us . ayya khema's book appeals .

buddhism can be so esoteric . but this book keeps it simple , the way buddha intended it before our vainglorious egos started putting words into his mouth .

now if i sound like i'm about to fall at ayya's khema's feet in servile obeisance , i'm not . there are plenty of other good books out there on meditation , but few wrenched my gut the way this one did . the best part of this book is that ayya khema writes like she has herself been through the pains of the path . buy it and begin practising !

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally: a book that answers my question!!!, March 6, 2006

By 

Jasmine N. (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Is My Self?: A Guide to Buddhist Meditation (Paperback)

I own over a dozen books on Buddhism, but this is the *only* one that actually describes stream-entry. The descriptions of the jhanas are just wonderful, and certainly have helped me in my meditation practice. My deepest gratitude goes out to the late Ayya Khema.

Don't be fooled by the title (which I really find misleading). This book is a treasure of simple, yet detailed explanations on a complex subject. This book is a must for the serious buddhist meditation practitioner.