Instinct for Freedom: A Maverick's Guide to Spiritual Revolution - Softcover

Clements, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1577315391 ISBN 13: 9781577315391

Publisher: New World Library, 2006

Synopsis

After spending many years in Burma training in meditation as a Buddhist monk, author Alan Clements began travelling the world as a human rights activist. Instinct for Freedom is part memoir and part spiritual inquiry. He details his early years of living in silence in a Burmese monastery, offering a rare, beautiful, and nuanced account of the experience of intensive meditation and what it can offer. He goes on to illuminate a doctrine he calls World Dharma, the belief that no amount of spiritual practice or meditative training can adequately prepare one for life. One must find liberty through living firmly in the present no matter the circumstance. He gives voice to a politically engaged mysticism, based on the irreducible value of freedom. He teaches liberation from fear, ignorance, and dogma, and the elevation of dignity, conscience, and beauty.

About this title

About the Author

Alan Clements was the first American to pioneer the dharma from the remote South East Asian Buddhist country of Burma, where he lived in a Buddhist monastery during the 1970s and 80s, five years of which he spent as a monk. During this time he trained in classical Buddhist psychology and Vipassana (insight) meditation with two of the most respected meditation masters of our era, the late Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw, and his successor Sayadaw U Pandita.

Since 1989, Clements has expanded his teaching beyond classical Buddhism to become an evocative spokesperson for the transformation of consciousness as the basis of freedom and dignity, lecturing and teaching retreats worldwide. His contemporary understanding of "engaged mysticism," and its expression through social and political activism, have brought him international recognition. His efforts on behalf of oppressed peoples worldwide have led Mr. Jack Healy, the former director of Amnesty International, to call Alan "one of the most important and compelling voices of our times."

Alan has lived in some of the most highly volatile areas of the world. In the jungles of Burma, in 1991, he witnessed and documented the genocide of the ethnic minorities by the military dictatorship, which he wrote about in his first book, Burma: The Next Killing Fields? He then lived in the former-Yugoslavia for nearly a year during the war where he wrote "Burning" (a screenplay). Back in Burma he co-authored The Voice of Hope (Seven Stories Press) the internationally acclaimed book of conversations with Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace laureate and leader of her country's non-violent struggle for freedom. Clements is also co-author of Burma's Revolution of the Spirit, with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In addition, Clements was the script revisionist and advisor for Beyond Rangoon, a feature film depicting Burma's struggle for democracy, directed by John Boorman. Alan has been interviewed on ABC Nightline, CBS Evening News, Talk to America, CBC, VOA, BBC, and by the New York Times, London Times, Time and Newsweek magazines, and scores of other media worldwide.

Presently, Alan focuses his efforts on evolving his vision: WorldDharma, a spiritually-edgy, non-sectarian community of seekers, artists, writers and activists dedicated to exploring the link between our inner journey and engagement with our outer journey through, creativity, service and activism. In addition, Alan is a spoken word artist who regularly performs his highly acclaimed one man show Spiritually Incorrect, described by Lloyd Kandall at Taboo Recordsas as "Krishnamurti meets Michael Moore." Clements also leads World Dharma retreats - speaking to audiences on the fundamental importance of trusting one's own instinct for freedom - the natural urge of the heart to know itself and seek its liberation from all obstacles, real and imagined.

Review

This extraordinary book articulates a vision of "World Dharma," a path...that embraces all beings in compassion. -- NAPRA ReView, November/December 2002

[Clements’] experiences . . . shine through this liberating, compelling and sometimes very funny book. -- Mandala Magazine Fall 2002

Edition details

• Publisher: New World Library
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1577315391
• ISBN 13: 9781577315391
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288