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The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S. N. Goenka Kindle Edition
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- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateNovember 15, 2011
- File size325 KB
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About the Author
S.N. Goenka was born in Burma in 1924. He studied and practiced Vipassana meditation for 14 years with his teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin. His non-sectarian teaching of Dhamma and the technique of Vipassana has spread from India to every continent and is practiced by people of all religions and no religion. He oversees the Vipassana International Academy in Igatpuri, India, and continues to travel and speak extensively, including at the World Economic Forum and the World Millennium Peace Summit at the UN in 2000.
Product details
- ASIN : B0069CJMG6
- Publisher : Pariyatti (November 15, 2011)
- Publication date : November 15, 2011
- Language : English
- File size : 325 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 178 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #99,273 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3 in Theravada Buddhism (Kindle Store)
- #14 in Theravada Buddhism (Books)
- #82 in New Age Meditation
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the book helpful for understanding meditation and its purpose. They describe it as insightful, clear, and accessible. Readers praise the well-organized text and find it easy to read and understand.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book helpful for understanding the purpose of the course and what vipassana meditation is. They say it provides an insightful introduction to basic Buddhist concepts and meditation, explaining the fundamentals of the technique and the reasons behind some of its peculiarities. The book contains interesting question and answer sessions and a persuasive narrative.
"...review for those who have finished a course, and a valuable transcript of questions from students with answers straight from Geonkaji himself...." Read more
"...and evening as recommended, but it has become very nicely integrated in my spiritual practice as well as my public life...." Read more
"...Where does this book come in? It explains a lot about the fundamentals of the technique, the reasons behind some of the peculiarities that make it..." Read more
"Very attractive and persuasive narrative, but it doesn't tackle any of the severe criticism launched against the actual practice of the 10-day..." Read more
Customers find the book easy to read and understand. They say it's clearly written, concise, and well-organized. The structure of the method is presented in a simple way that makes it accessible. The material is presented in a straightforward manner that is true to the original content.
"...But the value for a regular practitioner is having a concise book that accurately describes a system that is somewhat mysterious to the outside world..." Read more
"...Concise and well written and, for me, there is something on every page that resonates...." Read more
"...was on his retreat, I read the book and was immediately taken by its clear, practical approach to what is considered Buddha's original prescription..." Read more
"...I love the fact that this is not a religion-based, and very easy to read and follow. Really made me think of life and happiness...." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2024I first completed a ten-day Vipassana course back in 2004. Back then, after the course, when we were allowed to talk again, the conversation was predominantly about how we could possibly translate the discourses into different languages, or perhaps provide subtitles. My concern was wanting to review the discourses over and over again. Of course, when YouTube arrived, the discourses have been uploaded there already in several languages. But now comes these books (along with Discourse Summaries, also by William Hart). These are amazing reminders of the valuable lessons generously given during the evening discourses at a ten-day course.
Nothing compares with learning Vipassana Meditation at an actual ten-day course. Please enlist if you are called to the practice. This book is no substitute for that experience. This book gives a great review for those who have finished a course, and a valuable transcript of questions from students with answers straight from Geonkaji himself.
In September 2024, I enrolled for the ten-day Vipassana course again. Yes, twenty years apart! This time, I was seething with hurt and anger at former friends who have done me great evil. My head was whirling with thoughts on revenge. Also, I did not like any of my classmates in the course. They were noisy, egotistic, smelly, ate too much, complained too much…. At the end of the ten days, however, I experienced a profound transformation and the beginning of understanding the principles of Buddhism. I have not become perfect or enlightened. But I now continue the practice every day. And I read this book after I got home from the course and it was a wonderful refresher of Goenkaji’s wisdom.
Please dedicate twelve days of your life to learning Vipassana at a ten-day course, and then read this book. We shape our lives and this planet with the quality of our Consciousness. Vipassana purifies our minds from the deepest level of reality and science. If all humans practice Vipassana, there’ll be hope for our species.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2014I utilize Vipassana as one of my primary spiritual practices, having sat and served a number of courses in Southern California. I do not do an hour in the morning and evening as recommended, but it has become very nicely integrated in my spiritual practice as well as my public life. I provide this level of detail to make it clear that I very much appreciate the Vipassana system as taught by SN Goenka, but I am far from one of the Vipassana sycophants who adhere to nothing but Vipassana.
While serving a course in December 2013, I came across this book in the library. It's shorter than most books in this category, and I have seldom gotten much of value reading about meditation, so I did not have very high expectations. The author does a very good job of composing a summary of Vipassana while staying very close to Goenka's method and style. I would not have been surprised if the book had been penned by Goenka himself, the author did that good of a job.
I would suspect this would be a great book for someone new to the Vipassana system. But the value for a regular practitioner is having a concise book that accurately describes a system that is somewhat mysterious to the outside world. Now we have something to hand to our bosses or our spouses or our best friends that can intelligently explain why we are drawn to this form of personal growth and discovery. Therefore, I would recommend this book to newbies and hard core sitters alike.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2011I actually read this book after taking the 10 day course. I was first introduced to this technique through the 10 day discourses on a CD that a monk gave to me; they are available to purchase online in mp3 format as well. The technique is incredibly practical, logical and showed immediate results in my daily life.
Where does this book come in? It explains a lot about the fundamentals of the technique, the reasons behind some of the peculiarities that make it different than many others, the difficulties one may encounter and what to do about them. I found the Q&A sections in the book to be wonderful; full of many questions I myself had, or that many people had asked me.
I found that this book made a strong case for logically explaining the reasoning behind this form of Vipassana and it's goal of destroying the negative habit patterns of the mind and ultimately reaching liberation from suffering (nirvana).
Nothing compares to taking a 10 Vipassana course at one of the hundreds of centers around the world and learning the technique first hand. I practiced on my own for hours daily for months before I took the course, but by taking the course I had progressed perhaps twice as much as those several months in just the first day of being there.
No amount of reading will ever give you the experiential knowledge required for eradicating the habit patterns of the mind which is what will really change one's life for the better. Reading is good for inspiration to practice, and hopefully this book will do that for one who hasn't taken the course, and if they have already taken a course, I know for myself, it can clear up several importation questions or confusions.
This book is not a 'How To' (which is what the course is [necessary] for), but rather an exposition of theory and explanations about the technique. It also goes over the core principles in Buddha's teachings, the Four Noble Truths, The Noble Eight Fold Path, Anapana-sati, Kayagata-sati, and Vipassana-Bhavana as well as some other key issues.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2017Very attractive and persuasive narrative, but it doesn't tackle any of the severe criticism launched against the actual practice of the 10-day process, easily accessed on the web. Difficult to assess the practice as a result. Take your chances.
Top reviews from other countries
- Naresh FatnaniReviewed in India on April 15, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Review of book
I read the book 'The Art of Living' by William Hart. It is a good guide as regards Vipassana meditation. It speaks in a layman's language altough I found some texts a bit difficult to read. Overall a fine book.
- lfcfanReviewed in Germany on September 18, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book
As I had completed one vipassana course, it was easier for me to understand based on my experience. The book is very nicely written and explains the concept of Dhamma quite clearly.
-
ANIL P.Reviewed in Spain on May 24, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Gran libro
Gran libro sobre la filosofia budist vista desde el pubto de vista del autor. Muy recomendable
- SanjeewaReviewed in Italy on February 8, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended!!!!
Best book i ever read. Fantastic 🙏🙏🙏
-
Rodrigo Cardoso RibeiroReviewed in Brazil on May 18, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful! Wonderful!
The book of my life. :)
It was perfect to read it after the 10 days course, so I could go back through all the knowledge again, taking my time to review the most important concepts, some of which I didn't understand completely in my first course.
And I also presented a copy to my mother (translated to Portuguese) for her to decide whether to go to a course, and to understand what is this Vipassana that changed my life so much for better.
The text is very well written by Goenka's old student and experienced teacher Bill Hart, and contains many things in common with the course contents and discourses, carefully organized and written.
As Goenka would say: "Wonderful! Wonderful!"