This Nectar of Naturalness

This is a book about meditation and contemplation. It is about the nature of mind and knowing and being. It is also about the mind of nature and how we all creatures might live well with each other. While the explorations found throughout these pages are informed by my years of engagement with Buddhism, I think they will be relevant to a wide range of people regardless their religious and philosophical backgrounds. I have tried to present them in straightforward and do-able ways, that require only a passion to live fully, to understand deeply, and to honour and support everyone we meet on our journey.

Samatha and vipassana are universal facets of meditation and contemplation. Samatha is the gentle, passive, accepting, loving, healing, accommodating, allowing aspect of each moment of lived experience. Vipassana is the sharp, questioning, discerning, discriminating, alert aspect. Seamlessly intermingled, they support a deepening experiential understanding of the infinite diversity and the profound unity of all that exists. Samatha-vipassana is a beginningless/endless cycling of easeful clarity and luminous presence the heart of Buddhist awakening practice.

Although it is traditional in some introductions to preview the various chapters of the book, I will leave it for the contents page to give you a glimpse of what is to come.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1
Entering: A Cycle of Samatha
In this chapter we learn to cultivate a natural flow of easeful presence 'samatha'; calm abiding in the midst of whatever is occurring. Five words are introduced to support this work: smiling, breathing, present, appreciating and offering.

Chapter 2
Deepening: A Cycle of Vipassana
In this chapter, we deepen our understanding of the five supports while emphasising the 'vipassana' aspect of experience; an increased capacity for actively probing and investigating the nature and detail of what is immediately occurring.

Chapter 3
Seamless Abiding: A Cycle of Samatha~Vipassana
In this chapter 'samatha~vipassana' carries the meditator ever more deeply into the flowing mystery of life; a knowing, being and utterly complete functioning of profound wholeness. This is the true nectar of naturalness.

Chapter 4
Action: Continuous Attunement
Given the seemingly transcendent nature of 'abiding where there is no abiding', and given the immense social and ecological challenges facing us throughout the world, how should we act?

May this book inspire and encourage you to deepen
a way of being that is life affirming,
profoundly engaging, and utterly natural.
A book without beginning or end,
reminders to refresh our investigations when we forget.
May it bring you pleasure and
may you also have the opportunity
to share its essence with others.

Dettagli