(Part 2) Best christian meditation books according to redditors

The book Taoist Meditation has selections from classic Chinese texts related to the subject. I picked up a copy cheap at a used book store. It's an interesting read, and fairly short, although it definitely reads like a Taoist classic, so don't expect a lot of to the point instruction. But a valuable source nonetheless.

I have never cared for the book nor the teacher myself, but many seem to benefit from it so I have never mentioned it. It's just my preference.

You might try Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield's Seeking the Heart of Wisdom.

Also, Thich Nhat Hanh's The Blooming of a Lotus has over 30 meditations and is quite worthwhile.

There are many good resources out there. Shinzen Young has a great website and fantastic videos.

Agreed.

For Christians who are looking for something similar to the "popular" modern secularized presentations of Buddhist meditation (i.e. "mindfulness" stuff) and just want to get their feet wet with one easy book, I recommend Christian Meditation (James Finley) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060750642 - he learned from Merton, left the monastery after a few years, also investigated Zen but the book is not overtly Zen enough to scare anyone away (the fingerprints are there if you know what you're looking for.)

The quote is from Dogen's Fukanzazengi or Universal Instructions for Zazen. It is chanted every night in Soto Zen Temples.

People talk about how, when they first heard the Heart Sutra, they knew it was right and felt it in their hearts etc etc. Well, not me. For me, this was what got me. To me it has everything in it. I was lucky enough to, on my own, study it pretty throughly. In addition to many of the resources I had access to, this commentary was very good too.

I don't know a lot, but I do know that this chant struck a deep cord in me. Sometimes hearing truth's can do that, and I will never forget it. And I enjoy sharing this with people, but I try to walk a line to not get into a masterbatory argument.

As a Zen roshi said in a teisho to his students recently, "Nobody here cares if you believe in anything!" That's not making light of the teachings of Buddhism, it just means that you're absolutely free to practice Zen no matter what you believe, what you think, what you think you believe, what you want to believe or disbelief. We have conversations about whether the hungry ghosts prefer we offer them bread or sunflower seeds, but we throw all the offerings to the birds, and they don't seem too picky. Take all the wisdom of Zen and use it to wipe your ass! ;) But yeah, zazen (sitting meditation) is the foundation. A famous verse says "upholding the precepts, showing remorse, giving gifts, countless good deeds, and right living -- it all has its source in zazen."

I practice Zen with a sangha. In my daily life, Zen mostly means that I do daily zazen, try to live harmoniously and wisely (don't ask), and try to be one with whatever I'm doing, not getting tangled up in unnecessary thoughts. Zazen is the basic ingredient, it's like tasting zazen makes it possible to see what else needs to be done.

Edit: Two books I think are really good: You Have to Say Something by Dainin Katagiri roshi, and The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau roshi. The former is by a Soto teacher, very warm and beautiful, and full of good stuff. The latter is from a tradition that's influenced by both Soto and Rinzai, and is a bit more rough and practical, and has some really inspiring first-hand accounts of initial awakening by modern lay Westerners.

And another little practice that works anywhere is to watch your mind state and care for it. Try to bring a kind of gentleness, clarity, and purposefulness to your actions, speech, and even your thoughts. This means literally everything you do is a profound Zen practice. Ritually I think bowing is a good example: externally it looks like a tiny little gesture of respect, but internally, it's a focused and intense practice. Try bowing to something you appreciate, like a cup of coffee, and see what happens in your mind. Can you find some concentration, love, silence, or gracefulness? That's Zen practice!

The Dalai Lama calls himself "a simple monk", and maybe it's his humility and human qualities which make him so approachable.

As you probably already know, esoteric teachings are generally not for the public, for many reasons. This is probably his best book, as dzogchen is a 'higher' teaching of Tibetan Buddhism. I see there are used copies if you are really interested: https://www.amazon.com/Dzogchen-Heart-Essence-Great-Perfection/dp/1559392193

Shameless Plug for the books written on Icons by the former Archbishop.

Ponder These Things

The Dwelling of the Light

Thich Nhat Hanh has translated and updated a ton of these. They are called "gathas". His book of them with commentary on each is Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: mindfulness verses for daily living.

They are also simply listed out on various places on the internet. Such as here.

They are great if you can remember them. You can also write them on note cards and put them around the house which can help.

Sure, happy to! Chogyam Trungpa's The Myth of Freedom is one of my favourite books. The World of Tibetan Buddhism by His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a good overview and covers some of the complexities of Tibetan Buddhism and the differences in kinds of buddhism. Likewise: HHDL's The Four Noble Truths and The Power of Compassion are lovely books that explain some of the philosophies behind Mahayana practice. Chogyam Trungpa's The Path is the Goal is a classic, as is Start Where You Are by Pema Chodren. I have all of these on the shelf and continue to use them after all these years. Also, Hermann Hesse's classic Siddhartha is a lovely novel that outlines the story of Shakyamuni Buddha. I read it when I was 14 and it still resonates with me. Feel free to ask me any questions you'd like. I lived in a Buddhist Monastery for 4 years. I'll do my best to answer them. Depending on where you live, I could very likely recommend a monastery or retreat centre for you to visit, if you were interested. Glad you are exploring!

I find this very handy to have on me. Just read a random page here and there:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1563054671?pc_redir=1397150482&robot_redir=1

Here's some examples from it:
http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~ddd/zen.html

You're better off doing a meditation retreat to give Buddhism a serious try. I would read The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation for a seriously good, concise intro to Buddhist meditation.

>Why are there so few comparative resources

Lots of the popular, definitive, comprehensive paths/techniques are built so that you can jump in and stick with it. One byproduct of that is that some people can get the sense that there's nothing else out there if that's all they stuck with. The comparitive-resource-stuff is good for academics, or adventurous types, or experts who want to 'make their own' techniques, but for a lot of people they just want something that makes them feel better, and if they find that, then stopping what works and turn to textbooks and videos about history and culture doesn't add much (I speak as a fan of jumping around, just generalizing).

>Are there Intro to Meditation classes or books that expose students to a few different styles

Try--> 'The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience' by psychologist (and meditator) Daniel Goleman

>encourage them to seek out more information on the one that works best for them

It's not that teachers discourage seeking information, they just work with what they know and promote what has worked for them. That can look like bias for their style, and that can happen a lot, but a lot of the time it's just the teacher/students being fans of that approach.

>Why are teachers (and some posters in this sub) so reluctant to label the style they're teaching?

I'm not sure what you mean. The label depends on the context: must I say that I practice 'mindfulness,' because it's also called Satipatthana, by others it's called Vipassana, or maybe I should turn around and take the National Institute of Health's label of 'open monitoring' style... I find that getting into the labels isn't as helpful as just dealing with you as an individual, speaking about consciousness, attention, health, and wellbeing based on your tradition of choice.

>Many Eastern traditions, like Yoga, Zen and Taoism, incorporate a range of styles, but in the West only a single style from each of those traditions is popular - why is that

What do you mean? You said 'Eastern traditions' have a range of styles. Ok. Next, you say one single style (of each tradition?) is popular? So are you saying that only one style of Zen is popular in the West, one style of Yoga, and one style of Taoism...or are you claiming that each of those traditions is syncretic in some way in the East while in the West we don't add-in things from the surrounding regional culture/et-cetera?

Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land. (And its sequel.)

James Finley, Christian Meditation.

Peter Torkington, The Hermit (and two remaining books in the trilogy).

I like his science oriented works a lot. You can see his translations of the root proverbs here to see if his translation resonates with you:

http://lojongmindtraining.com/sectionSummary.aspx?sectionID=0

His "The Seven-Point Mind Training" is relatively short but offers some commentary that has been very good for me:

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Point-Mind-Training-Alan-Wallace/dp/1559392223

I use the guided meditations in meditation for busy people

It's by a Buddhist dude but I think he's Scots so sounds less mystical haha and doesn't bang on about anything other than 'the now' and feelings on oneness.

The audiobook is showing as free on Amazon uk and the audio tracks are readily available out in torrent land

I think what you wrote is really the main thing--sit peacefully, be aware of your thoughts and all that. Don't go into it with expectations, just sit peacefully and do it. Over time it seems to fall into place.
Check out a book called "Meditation in Action" by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. It was a huge help for me. Chögyam writes that the real keys are trying to develop generosity, discipline, patience, energy, clarity, and wisdom. This is something else I like about him--its non-theistic and those virtues are useful for everyone.

A big thing too is not letting your ego dictate your actions. And that's really hard, especially in Western cultures which encourage individuality and looking out for number one.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon.

His other books are great too.

Also, there might be a Shambhala center near you. If there is, they can help with meditation instruction. It should be free. If not don't give them anything. It should always be free!


Edit - I figured out how to make a real link instead of just pasting one in.

If you want "esoteric" Tendai practices (Taimitsu) you will need a teacher to teach you. If you want to learn general Tendai/Tiantai practices here's a few resources

Some Tendai texts

http://www.bdkamerica.org/system/files/pdf/dBET_TiantaiLotusTexts_2013.pdf

Magnum Opus of Master TianTai ZhiYi founder of the Tendai Tradition

https://www.amazon.com/Stopping-Seeing-Comprehensive-Buddhist-Meditation/dp/1570622752

Master ZhiYi's shorter meditation manuals

https://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Buddhist-Meditation-Kalavinka-Classics/dp/1935413007/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1935413007&pd_rd_r=MADZDCZVVP6JYR4NQARA&pd_rd_w=W3kXn&pd_rd_wg=IRbmr&psc=1&refRID=MADZDCZVVP6JYR4NQARA

https://www.amazon.com/Six-Dharma-Gates-Sublime/dp/1935413015/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1935413015&pd_rd_r=MADZDCZVVP6JYR4NQARA&pd_rd_w=W3kXn&pd_rd_wg=IRbmr&psc=1&refRID=MADZDCZVVP6JYR4NQARA

Introductory book

https://www.amazon.com/Emptiness-Omnipresence-Essential-Introduction-Philosophies/dp/025302112X

I strongly recommend looking into this book: Layayoga

I just got an amazing book, although not for the timid. Just started reading it. "Beyond Thinking, A guide to Zen Meditation" by Zen Master Dogen. Check it out if you are interested in "advanced koans".

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Thinking-Guide-Zen-Meditation/dp/1590300246/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253360004&sr=1-1

A good, short book to read about mindfulness is Be Free Where You Are by Thich Nhat Hanh (the link will take you to the book on Amazon).

I do mindfulness meditation every day. It consists of sitting and focusing on my breath. I've been doing it every day since July 19 (according to the app on my phone that has a timer with a pleasant sounding bell and also has guided meditations of different lengths with and without relaxing music). It's tough "just sitting and breathing" but it seems to help with my anxiety. I had a bad experience with a customer last week and got very anxious and stressed out and down about myself, doing the meditations has definitely helped me go in to work every day. I do the short ones on my breaks at work. It's like "me time" where you just breathe and focus on breathing.

There's also mindfulness "in action". It's like breathing where you're basically living in the present moment. Your mind is in the present moment. Your body is in the present moment. Lets say your task is to wash the dishes. It's not "I'm washing dishes and thinking about what movie I want to see next and then humming a song in my head" it's "I'm washing dishes and I'm thinking about washing dishes and feeling the soap on my hands and feeling the sponge washing the dishes and then rinsing the dishes and then putting them on the drying rack. Now I pick up the next dish. Feel the sponge in my hand. (So on and so forth)" You're just there, being the experience.

I am moved by the stories of the Desert Mothers and Fathers. The common themes are solitude, silence, and prayer. Meditation can take us into the interior world of deep silence where we can indeed commune with the divine. Silence and prayer are supports for this.

There are some great wikipedia pages about them as groups and then also pages on individidual ascetics/saints linked at the bottom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Mothers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Fathers

There are some excellent books on the individual saints as well as their practices and sayings. Here are some that I value:

https://www.amazon.com/Desert-Mothers-Spiritual-Practices-Wilderness-ebook/dp/B00C122V7U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503763502&sr=8-2&keywords=desert+mothers

https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Desert-Mothers-Sayings-Christian-ebook/dp/B00DRE2BIA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503763502&sr=8-1&keywords=desert+mothers

https://www.amazon.com/Praying-Desert-Mothers-Mary-Forman/dp/0814615228/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1503763502&sr=8-9&keywords=desert+mothers

https://www.amazon.com/Way-Heart-Spirituality-Fathers-Mothers-ebook/dp/B01GCBUP64/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1503763502&sr=8-11&keywords=desert+mothers