Balancing The Mind: A Tibetan Buddhist Approach To Refining Attention - Softcover

Wallace, B. Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1559392304 ISBN 13: 9781559392303

Publisher: Snow Lion, 2005

Synopsis

For centuries, Tibetan Buddhist contemplatives have directly explored consciousness through carefully honed and rigorous techniques of meditation. B. Alan Wallace explains the methods and experiences of Tibetan practitioners and compares these with investigations of consciousness by Western scientists and philosophers. Balancing the Mind includes a translation of the classic discussion of methods for developing exceptionally high degrees of attentional stability and clarity by fifteenth-century Tibetan contemplative Tsongkhapa.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Seeking Tsongkhapa's Vision

The attempt to portray another person's vision of reality is a challenging one even if this person is a contemporary member of one's own culture The task is more difficult if this person lived in an earlier era of one's own civilization, and even more demanding if he or she was raised and educated long ago in an alien culture. Finally, if this person is an accomplished contemplative whose vision of reality purportedly transcends societal conventions and norms, the challenge of presenting his or her vision of reality may appear simply insurmountable. Tsongkhapa certainly fits into this final category, and though I can in no way claim to have penetrated the core of his vision, I shall attempt to sketch some of the central themes of his view of the world as he sets them forth in his own writings. In so doing, I shall not go into the details of the progression of his thought during the course of his life, nor shall I try to validate my assertions about his views with quotes from his writings; but I shall cite the textual bases in the eighteen volumes of his collected works for the major themes that are addressed here. Tsongkhapa asks fundamental questions of existence that have been posed by people the world over, but his Buddhist theoretical and empirical methods for seeking answers to these questions are often without analog in Western civilization. Moreover, many of the discoveries claimed by Buddhist contemplatives, if true, would shake the very foundations of our Western beliefs concerning the nature of consciousness and its role in the natural world. While passing through some of the salient features of his world view, I shall occasionally rub them against some distinctly Western beliefs, particularly those of Christianity and scientific naturalism. Although there are certainly many diverse belief systems that have sprung up in our civilization, none are more dominant than these two; and both continue to exert powerful (and not always incompatible) influences on our society today. Thus, I shall make references to three world views: (1) Christianity; (2) scientific naturalism, which branched off from Christianity and still intermingles with it on occasion; and (3) Indo-Tibetan Buddhism as represented by Tsongkhapa, which shares few, if any, common origins with either of the other two world-views; and has barely begun to interact with them. In the course of this discussion, I shall also make frequent references to the writings of William James, though I stop short of a fall-scale comparative analysis of his writings and those of Tsongkhapa. The reason for my emphasis on James is that, given his wide interests in the fields of psychology; philosophy, and religion, and his brilliant contributions in the fields of introspective psychology; pragmatism, empiricism, and the philosophy of religion, there are many points of contact between his writings and the literature of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism; I hope that this highlighting of points of contact will encourage more detailed comparative studies on the part of Jamesian and Buddhist scholars alike. In citing Western views in relation to those of Tsongkhapa, I shall not attempt any thorough or definitive comparative analyses. Rather, I shall confine myself to the more modest task of pointing out areas in which such comparative studies might eventually be pursued, possibly to the enrichment of our understanding of both Western and Buddhist traditions. Even this task, however, has its pitfalls, for if the cited views are not representative of the traditions in question, then their juxtaposition will be of little value to anyone. Thus, while my references to Western views must of necessity be cursory in nature, I shall do my best to choose those that are truly representative, and not distort them in the telling.

From the Back Cover:

"A spectacular cross-cultural presentation of techniques for achieving meditative states."--Jeffrey Hopkins, author of Maps of the Profound

For centuries Tibetan Buddhist contemplatives have directly explored consciousness through carefully honed rigorous techniques of meditation. B. Allan Wallace explains the methods and experiences of Tibetan practitioners and compares these with investigations of consciousness by Western scientists and philosophers. Balancing the Mind includes a translation of the classic discussion by fifeenth-century Tibetan contemplative Tsongkhapa of methods for developing exceptionally high degrees of attentional stability and clarity. (This book is a re-release of Bridge of Quiesence).

"Stop in your tracks - this is an extraordinary book!"--David Galin, M.D., University of California San Francisco School of Medicine

"The most important book on Buddhist meditation to appear in over a decade."--Roger Jackson, Carleton College

" Alan Wallace is one of the great Western Buddhist thinkers of our day." --Howard Cutler, co-author with H.H. the Dalai Lama of The Art of Happiness

B.Alan Wallace trained for many years as a monk in Buddhist monasteries in India and Switzerland. He has taught Buddhist theory and practice in Europe and America since 1976 and has served as interpreter for numerous Tibetan scholars and contemplatives, including H.H. the Dalai Lama. He has published many books on Tibetan Buddhism, including Buddhism with an Attitude, The Four Immeasurables, and The Seven-Point Mind Training.

About this edition

• Publisher: Snow Lion
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1559392304
• ISBN 13: 9781559392303
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352