Bhikkhu Analayo Book order

An incisive look into the early Buddhist teachings on emptiness, and a manual for bringing those teachings into our everyday lives.Before the growth of the Mahayana and the Perfection of Wisdom, before Avalokitesvara taught Sariputra the meaning of emptiness, the Buddha gave his own teachings, to his attendant Ananda, on the importance of emptiness (Pali sunnata , Sanskrit sunyata ) in everyday practice. In this volume, renowned scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo explores these teachings and shows us how to integrate them into our lives.In this practical companion to his scholarly work The Signless and the On the Realization of Nirvana , Bhikkhu Analayo draws from instructions found in the Greater and the Smaller Discourses on Emptiness (the Mahasunnatasutta and the Culasunnatasutta ). In each chapter, he provides a translation of a pertinent excerpt from the discourses, follows this with clear and precise explanations of the text, and concludes by offering instructions for practice.Step by step, beginning with daily life and concluding with Nirvana, Bhikkhu Analayo unpacks the Buddha’s teachings on this foundational concept.

"Nirvana is a critical part of the Buddhist path, though it remains a difficult concept to fully understand for Buddhist practitioners. In The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana, scholar-monk Bhikkhu Anālayo breaks new ground, or rediscovers old ground, by showing the reader that realizing Nirvana entails "a complete stepping out of the way the mind usually constructs experience." With his extraordinary mastery of canonical Buddhist languages, Venerable Anālayo first takes the reader through discussions in early Buddhist suttas on signs (Pali nimitta), the characteristic marks of things that signal to us what they are, and on cultivating concentration on signlessness as a meditative practice. Through practicing bare awareness, we can stop defilements that come from grasping at signs-and stop signs from arising in the first place. He then turns to deathlessness. Deftly avoiding the extremes of nihilism and eternalism that often cloud our understanding of Nirvana, Venerable Anālayo shows us that deathless as an epithet of Nirvana "stands for the complete transcendence of mental affliction by mortality"-ours or others'-and that it is achievable while still alive. Advanced practitioners and scholars alike will value the work for its meticulous academic expertise and its novel way of explaining the highest of all Buddhist goals-the final end of suffering"-- Provided by publisher

A testimony to the invaluable contributions made by the women who were direct disciples of the Buddha—and a source of inspiration to Buddhist women today.It’s a common perception that the earliest textual records don’t contain many, if any, teachings by the Buddha’s female disciples; yet, this is not the case. In fact, the earliest discourses record a range of teachings from Buddhist women, lay and monastic. Unfortunately their important contributions have so far not received the attention they deserve.In Daughters of the Buddha , esteemed scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo examines the accounts of the first female disciples in the canonical scripture, taking the reader back to the earliest period in the history of Buddhism that can still be accessed today. He dedicates each of the twenty-one chapters in the volume to an individual and remarkable woman, sharing her particular insights and teachings with the reader. Both nuns and laywomen are featured in these pages, and their diversity of voices and richness of thought will serve as instruction and encouragement for modern scholars and practitioners alike.

Renowned scholar-monk writes accessibly on some of the most contentious topics in Buddhism—guaranteed to ruffle some feathers.Armed with his rigorous examination of the canonical records, respected scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo explores—and sharply criticizes—four examples of what he terms “superiority conceit” in Buddhism:Ven. Analayo challenges the scriptural basis for these conceits and points out that adhering to such notions of superiority is not, after all, conducive to practice. “It is by diminishing ego, letting go of arrogance, and abandoning conceit that one becomes a better Buddhist,” he reminds us, “no matter what tradition one may follow.”Thoroughly researched, Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions provides an accessible approach to these conceits as academic subjects. Readers will find it not only challenges their own intellectual understandings but also improves their personal practice.

Mindfulness in Early Buddhism is a timely and thoroughgoing examination of the significance, meaning and development of mindfulness. In his far-ranging explorations of a number of discourses in the Chinese Agamas and in the Pali Nikayas, Bhikkhu Analayo captures the function and range of mindfulness.

Buddhist meditator and scholar Bhikkhu Analayo introduces the Buddhist backgrounds to mindfulness, ranging from mindful eating to its formal cultivation as satipatthana (the foundations of mindfulness). Providing an accessible guide, he offers practical exercises on how to develop mindfulness.

Buddhist scholar and teacher Bhikkhu Analayo explores the practice of mindfulness of breathing in the sixteen steps of the Anapanasati Sutta. This is an authoritative, practice-orientated elucidation of a foundational Buddhist text, useful to meditators whatever their tradition or background.

Join a rigorous scholar and Buddhist monk on a rich tour of rebirth, from ancient doctrine to contemporary debates. German Buddhist monk and university professor Bhikkhu Analayo had not given much attention to the topic of rebirth before some friends asked him to explore the treatment of the issue in early Buddhist texts. This succinct volume presents his findings, approaching the topic from four directions. The first chapter examines the doctrine of rebirth as it is presented in the earliest Buddhist sources and the way it relates to core doctrinal principles. The second chapter reviews debates about rebirth throughout Buddhist history and up to modern times, noting the role of confirmation bias in evaluation of evidence. Chapter 3 reviews the merits of current research on rebirth, including near-death experience, past-life regression, and children who recall previous lives. The chapter concludes with an examination of xenoglossy, the ability to speak languages one has not learned previously, and chapter 4 examines the particular case of Dhammaruwan, a Sri Lankan boy who chants Pali texts that he does not appear to have learned in his present life. Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research brings together the many strands of the debate on rebirth in one place, making it both comprehensive and compact. It is not a polemic but an interrogation of the evidence, and it leaves readers to come to their own conclusions.

Analayo offers an inspiring biography of the Buddha based on the early discourses and focusing on his meditative development and practice.

Building on his ground-breaking The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal, with the present monograph Bhikkhu Analayo approaches a closely related topic from the perspective of the bodily dimension as evident in the thirty-two marks with which, according to tradition, the Buddha was endowed. The study begins by proposing that a cross-fertilization between text and art has influenced the conception of one of these marks, namely the wheel-marks on the soles of the Buddha's feet. By way of a comparative study of the early discourses, Analayo proceeds to show how the thirty-two marks - initially nearly imperceptible features - came to be more clearly visible and acquired salvific power. Eventually, he argues, these turned into a psychosomatic chart for the bodhisattva path and thereby set a precedent for the prediction (commonplace in later Buddhist doctrine) that assures an aspiring bodhisattva of becoming a Buddha in the future.