Description
Description
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"I set out to study and practice Vipassana meditation in India fifty years ago. Then, as now, I characterized myself as both a spiritual seeker and a writer. During the six months that I sojourned in meditation centers and monasteries, observing the strict rules of retreat, I nevertheless spent several hours a day feverishly filling notebooks by lamplight with tightly packed script legible only to me, recording my internal experiences.
I wanted to tell a story, because I am by nature a story teller, but on my return to America I was a bit disconcerted to find that my detailed accounts read like data recorded by a naturalist hidden in the bush observing the behavior of a strange creature in the wild, information that would have little interest to anyone except an extreme specialist in the field.
Up until then my unpublished works were lightly fictionalized autobiographical accounts of my young life, but fiction wouldn t be accurate enough to tell this tale. Instead, I created a protagonist, a bit of a hero, who was both me and not me, Eric Lerner. I re-created the external world of people and teachers and places he d encountered, as well as ideas and beliefs adopted and discarded. In other words, a setting and a plot. All of it was real, or real enough, the product of memory and interpretation, a new veracity. A memoir."
With a guru, in monasteries, and isolated for weeks at a time in forests, [Lerner] practiced the Buddhist art of vipassana or insight meditation. From exercises which took him inside his body to undo knots of pain, he progressed through various stages of awareness... Sensitively and convincingly written, his self-absorbed book nearly succeeds in describing the ineffable.
Journey of Insight Meditation not only gives a fine introduction to Vipassana but sets a standard of excellence for spiritual journals of its kind. It is so good because Lerner is highly aware of the difference between the twin pitfalls of over-enthusiasm and over-analysis. His book is readable, thought-provoking and very real. Strongly recommended.
Lerner captures with exquisite clarity the psychological underworld of the hardcore meditator. With candor and warmth he shares the pain, agony, occasional ecstasy and hard-earned insight he found as a student of Vipassana. His is a compelling travelogue of the mind.
I have shared many of the teachers, friends, and experiences of which Eric Lerner writes in this meditation diary. His characterization of the death gasps of our romanticism about self and journey I find to be a chillingly lucid and refreshingly accurate account of what is.
VIPASSANA PRODUCTS
Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. More information about Vipassana as taught by S.N. Goenka is available at www.dhamma.org.
The tag Vipassana identifies products that are directly related to this tradition and differentiates them from other Theravada resources available on our site. While the main emphasis in Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka is on actual practice, this product may provide inspiration and guidance to a Vipassana meditator.
We also carry titles from the Theravada tradition, as we feel that by exploring the wider world of the Theravada texts, which include the Buddha’s discourses, commentaries, and scholarly articles and treatises, meditators have an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the Dhamma and thereby enrich their meditation practice. This kind of intellectual exploration also helps a meditator to gain an understanding of the evolution and historical context of their meditation tradition. This understanding in turn deepens their practice and understanding of the Dhamma.
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A: Pariyatti is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help disseminate the words of the Buddha.
The generosity of our customers and donors (donations make up ~25% of our revenue) is what has allowed Pariyatti to cover our annual shortfall, and permitted us to continue operations. We strive to continue to find ways to make best use of this hard-earned money, generously donated by so many to Pariyatti. One of these is to explore ways to optimize our operations.
Our goal is to disseminate Dhamma content. The choice of working with a given distribution partner is solely based on whether they can provide you, our customer (no matter where you live) with the item(s) you ordered in an accurate, timely, and reliable manner.
With the advent of eBooks and the internet, the entire book publishing and distribution industry has faced significant challenges. With these industry changes, and Pariyatti's additional challenges in serving a niche market with low sales volumes, it has been financially difficult to staff our own warehouse and operations. Year after year, the costs of maintaining our own warehouse has far exceeded the income.
By focusing on what we do best (such as make Dhamma content available at low or no cost), and partnering with others who have already built robust printing, packing, and delivery systems, we free up resources that can be redirected towards expanding Pariyatti's offerings for you.
We are always on the lookout for creative ways to make Dhamma content as widely and freely available as possible. If you have any ideas along these lines, please feel free to be in touch via director@pariyatti.org .