The Edge of Certainty: Dilemmas on the Buddhist Path

This intriguing book challenges common conceptions and misconceptions about traveling the Buddhist path to enlightenment.

The author asks the questions that some dare not:

* Is spiritual freedom gained through effort and struggle, or by giving up our need for things to be different?
• * How do we really know if our spiritual activities are moving us closer to our goal, or just keeping us from experiencing freedom in the here-and-now?
• * Does our need for spiritual guidance point us in the "right" direction, or is it simply an expression of our habitual and futile need to "know" what cannot be known?

Peter Fenner approaches these questions by first providing clear and illuminating summaries of the orthodox and unorthodox ways of the many different Buddhist traditions. He traces his own experiences with such practices as mindfulness meditation, Vipassana, the transformational tools of Tantra, and the natural meditations of the Dzogchen tradition. He contrasts the traditional approach of change-through-practice with the non-traditional, Western need for immediacy.

Fenner shows us how the paradoxes that emerge on the spiritual path can be used to deconstruct our fixations about "getting it" or "losing it": if I give up everything, will I gain fulfillment? Ultimately, he provides answers that are as proactive as his questions.

Peter Fenner is a writer, practitioner, and spiritual teacher. He has a Ph.D. in Buddhist philosophy and psychology, and was a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for nine years. He has taught Asian philosophy and spirituality at institutes and universities for over 20 years. He is presently a senior lecturer in Philosophy and Religious Studies at Deakin University in Australia and is founder of the Center for Timeless Wisdom. Peter Fenner, with Penny Fenner, is also the co-author of Essential Wisdom Teachings (Nicolas-Hays, 2001). He teaches regularly in Australia, Europe, and the United States.