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Accidental Enlightenment

Author: Stephen Banick

Publisher: BookPros, LLC

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 1933538635

Part travel guide, part illuminating how-to manual for a more fulfilling, connected life, Accidental Enlightenment is an absorbing look into the adventures and insights of Stephen Banick, an inveterate wanderer, observer, and chronicler of the world at large. Banick recounts mishaps, bummed rides, quirky friendships and riveting personal epiphanies spanning nearly twenty years of exploration into far-flung places - some out of this world. With stunning imagery and impressive political and cultural trivia, Banick offers frank and humorous insight into his travels, which encompass more than just where to find cheap lodging and cheaper beer. [i]Accidental Enlightenment[/i] is the author's personal Gulliver story as he seeks to both connect with the great tapestry of human culture as well as discover his own 'Landscapes, Mindscapes, and Soulscapes.' Throughout the book, Banick encourages readers to s-t-r-e-t-c-h their own perception of Self through immersion in as many cultures and ideas as possible: The end result hopefully being that we can all 'step into our latent magnificence.'

The Accidental Buddhist

Author: Dinty W. Moore

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Published: 1997-01-10

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1565128516

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THE ACCIDENTAL BUDDHIST is the funny, provocative story of how Dinty Moore went looking for the faith he'd lost in what might seem the most unlikely of places: the ancient Eastern tradition of Buddhism. Moore demystifies and explains the contradictions and concepts of this most mystic-seeming of religious traditions. This plain-spoken, insightful look at the dharma in America will fascinate anyone curious about the wisdom of other cultures and other religions. "Sure of foot in complex terrain, and packing a blessedly down-to-earth sense of humor, Dinty Moore is the perfect scout for the new frontiers of American Buddhism."--Rodger Kamenetz, author of THE JEW IN THE LOTUS and STALKING ELIJAH.

A Partial Enlightenment

Author: Avram Alpert

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2021-04-06

Total Pages: 119

ISBN-13: 0231553390

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In many ways, Buddhism has become the global religion of the modern world. For its contemporary followers, the ideal of enlightenment promises inner peace and worldly harmony. And whereas other philosophies feel abstract and disembodied, Buddhism offers meditation as a means to realize this ideal. If we could all be as enlightened as Buddhists, some imagine, we could live in a much better world. For some time now, however, this beatific image of Buddhism has been under attack. Scholars and practitioners have criticized it as a Western fantasy that has nothing to do with the actual experiences of Buddhists. Avram Alpert combines personal experience and readings of modern novels to offer another way to understand modern Buddhism. He argues that it represents a rich resource not for attaining perfection but rather for finding meaning and purpose in a chaotic world. Finding unexpected affinities across world literature—Rudyard Kipling in colonial India, Yukio Mishima in postwar Japan, Bessie Head escaping apartheid South Africa—as well as in his own experiences living with Tibetan exiles, Alpert shows how these stories illuminate a world in which suffering is inevitable and total enlightenment is impossible. Yet they also give us access to partial enlightenments: powerful insights that become available when we come to terms with imperfection and stop looking for wholeness. A Partial Enlightenment reveals the moments of personal and social transformation that the inventions of modern Buddhism help make possible.

Enlightenment Underground

Author: Martin Mulsow

Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Published: 2015-11-30

Total Pages: 617

ISBN-13: 0813938163

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Online supplement,"Mulsow: Additions to Notes drawn from the 2002 edition of Moderne aus dem Untergrund": full versions of nearly 300 notes that were truncated in the print edition. Hosted on H. C. Erik Midelfort's website. Martin Mulsow’s seismic reinterpretation of the origins of the Enlightenment in Germany won awards and renown in its original German edition, and now H. C. Erik Midelfort's translation makes this sensational book available to English-speaking readers. In Enlightenment Underground, Mulsow shows that even in the late seventeenth century some thinkers in Germany ventured to express extremely dangerous ideas, but did so as part of a secret underground. Scouring manuscript collections across northern Europe, Mulsow studied the writings of countless hitherto unknown radical jurists, theologians, historians, and dissident students who pushed for the secularization of legal, political, social, and religious knowledge. Often their works circulated in manuscript, anonymously, or as clandestinely published books. Working as a philosophical microhistorian, Mulsow has discovered the identities of several covert radicals and linked them to circles of young German scholars, many of whom were connected with the vibrant radical cultures of the Netherlands, England, and Denmark. The author reveals how radical ideas and contributions to intellectual doubt came from Socinians and Jews, church historians and biblical scholars, political theorists, and unemployed university students. He shows that misreadings of humorous or ironic works sometimes gave rise to unintended skeptical thoughts or corrosively political interpretations of Christianity. This landmark book overturns stereotypical views of the early Enlightenment in Germany as cautious, conservative, and moderate, and replaces them with a new portrait that reveals a movement far more radical, unintended, and puzzling than previously suspected.

Accidental Buddhist

Author: Dinty W. Moore

Publisher: Harmony

Published: 1999-02-16

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0385492677

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The Accidental Buddhist is the funny, provocative story of how Dinty Moore went looking for the faith he'd lost in what might seem the most unlikely of places: the ancient Eastern tradition of Buddhism. Moore demystifies and explains the contradictions and concepts of this most mystic-seeming of religious traditions. This plain-spoken, insightful look at the dharma in America will fascinate anyone curious about the wisdom of other cultures and other religions. Cutting through religious jargon and abstract concepts, Moore explains in clear terms why Buddhism is becoming part of popular culture. He has the rare ability to be at once sincere about religion and good-humored about the human condition. The Accidental Buddhist never takes itself too seriously—which, as Moore discovers, Buddhists aren’t supposed to do, even when they are mindful, enlightened, and sitting perfectly still. “Moore’s hilarious and sometimes irreverent look at Buddhism is a perfect primer for the budding Buddhist.”—Publishers Weekly “[Moore’s] witty and candid ‘regular guy’ approach to these experiences is entertaining and comforting, and his conclusions are right on target.”—Booklist

The Science of Culture in Enlightenment Germany

Author: Michael C. Carhart

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780674026179

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In the late 1770s, as a wave of revolution and republican unrest swept across Europe, scholars looked with urgency on the progress of European civilization. Carhart examines their approaches to understanding human development by investigating the invention of a new analytic category, "culture."

Secret of the Vajra World

Author: Reginald A. Ray

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2002-07-23

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 0834825236

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An entrée into the world of Tantric Buddhism—a unique collection of texts, concepts, and meditation practices presented by Tibetan masters teaching in the West The “Vajra World” (vajradhatu in Sanskrit) is a realm of indestructibility, the level of reality beyond all thought and imagination, all impermanence and change, which a fully realized person knows and inhabits. Used metaphorically, “Vajra World” refers to the traditional culture of Tibet and the unique spirituality that is its secret strength. Secret of the Vajra World is the companion volume to the author’s earlier book, Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism. While that book focuses on the history, cosmology, philosophy, and practice of the more public, exoteric side of Tibetan Buddhism, this work treats its more hidden and esoteric aspects as they take shape in Vajrayana. Together, the two volumes provide a broad introduction to the major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Topics include: • The tantric view of human nature and the external world • The special role of the guru, or tantric mentor • The preliminary practices that prepare the student for full initiation • The major dimensions of Vajrayana practice, including visualizations, liturgies, and inner yogas • The tradition of the tulku, or incarnate lama • The lore surrounding the death of ordinary people and of saints • The practice of solitary retreat, the epitome of traditional Tibetan Buddhism

Accidental Genius

Author: Mark Levy

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Published: 2010-08-09

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1605096512

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A new and thoroughly revised edition of marketing and positioning genius Mark Levy, which helps readers unleash their inner creativity, problem solving skills, while also generating content. This is The Artist's Way for business people and social media people. Accidental Genius uses a similar methodology of freewriting to create business plan, find solutions, and generate new content. Over 10,000 of the original edition sold.

The Zero's Journey

Author: Jon M. Ketcham

Publisher: Abiyd Publishing Company

Published: 2015-09-24

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 9780990551126

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As Robert Burns poem, To a Mouse, reminds us, "The best laid plans of mice and men / Often go awry."Anyone who has ever suffered a great loss, whether relational, financial, career, health, spiritual or otherwise, knows all to well the depths of despair and the anguish that arise in what Saint John of the Cross referred to as The Dark Night of the Soul. The Dark Night of the Soul is all about pain, suffering and loss. Yet, like the phoenix, out of all of that, hopefully, we emerge more than we were when we started.On this journey to "accidental enlightenment," it is common to experience the complete decimation of any pre-conceived notions, roles and identities we have grown accustomed to identifying ourselves by. During this traumatic destruction of our EGO, it can seem as though God is reducing our very existence to absolute zero. This is the "Zero's Journey!"

Dance of the Electric Hummingbird

Author: Patricia Walker

Publisher: Rainbow Ridge

Published: 2011-11

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780984495573

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Wandering into a bar in Mexico with her husband, Pat Walker is hoping to enjoy a rock concert by a famous singer previously unknown to her--but something frightening and wonderful happens instead. In the midst of the cheering fans and screaming guitars, she is lifted out of her body and becomes engulfed in a white light and a feeling of ecstasy. She stumbles upon her soul, and God. Soon after this experience, more stange things begin to happen to her--she starts having psychic revelations, glimpses of past lives, and contact with angels and spirits. Fearing the loss of her sanity, Pat's search for an explantation leads her to international recording star Sammy Hagar (former lead singer of Van Halen), who takes it upon himself to help her decipher the meaning of these supernatural experiences. In this true story, Pat struggles to maintain her roles of middle-class wife and mom, while simultaneaously being thrust into the explosive world of celebrities, sex, and rock 'n' roll. She confronts the incredible power of her mind and spirit, and soon begins to reevaluate her perception of reality, and the meaning of life.