Martine Batchelor

In this slim, enlightening volume, internationally recognized Buddhist teacher Martine Batchelor presents the basic tenets and teachings of the Buddha through a selection of essential texts from the Pali canon, the earliest Buddhist scriptures. Viewed by scholars as the actual substance of the historical teachings (and possibly even the words) of the Buddha, these texts are essential to an understanding of the Buddhist faith, and Batchelor illuminates them with her lucid analysis and interpretations. Both accessible to nonpractitioners and helpful to scholars, The Spirit of the Buddha touches upon key themes, including dharma, compassion, meditation, and peace, among others, creating a panoramic view of one of the world’s most widely practiced faiths that is deeply rooted in its most vital texts.

When we break free from the habits that limit us, a new world of possibilities opens up. In Let Go, Martine Batchelor leads the way there. Negative patterns of mind may manifest as fear, avoidance, depression, addiction, judgment of self or other, and any of a host of other physical, mental, or psychological forms. Let Go aims at understanding what really lies at the root of these behaviors so we can reclaim control. Each chapter concludes with an exercise or guided meditation as a tool for the reader to work with negative habits in new and creative ways. You don't have to be a Buddhist for them to work. You just need to want to move on. Helpful exercises and guided meditations - designed to build understanding of our negative habits, as well as the confidence and skill needed to instead embrace our greatest qualities - appear throughout the book. Batchelor also looks at Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for depression, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz's use of meditation to deal with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), successful combinations of meditation and Twelve-Step programs, and offers her own innovations.

A rare and vivid narrative of a Buddhist nun's training and spiritual awakening. In this engagingly written account, Martine Batchelor relays the challenges a new ordinand faces in adapting to Buddhist monastic life: the spicy food, the rigorous daily schedule, the distinctive clothes and undergarments, and the cultural misunderstandings inevitable between a French woman and her Korean colleagues. She reveals as well the genuine pleasures that derive from solitude, meditative training, and communion with the deeply religious - whom the Buddhists call ""good friends."" Batchelor has also recorded the oral history/autobiography of her teacher, the eminent nun Son'gyong Sunim, leader of the Zen meditation hall at Naewonsa. It is a profoundly moving, often light-hearted story that offers insight into the challenges facing a woman on the path to enlightenment at the beginning of the twentieth century. Original English translations of eleven of Son'gyong Sunim's poems on Buddhist themes make a graceful and thought-provoking coda to the two women's narratives. Western readers only familiar with Buddhist ideas of female inferiority will be surprised by the degree of spiritual equality and authority enjoyed by nuns in Korea. While American writings on Buddhism increasingly emphasize the therapeutic, self-help, and comforting aspects of Buddhist thought, Batchelor's text offers a bracing and timely reminder of the strict discipline required in traditional Buddhism.

Einfühlsam, lebensnah und praxistauglich weist Martine Batchelor in MEDITATION Anfängern wie Fortgeschrittenen den Weg zur Meditation. Ein wunderschön illustrierter Begleiter auf dem Weg zur Meditation. Überzeugen Sie sich selbst, und werfen Sie einen ersten Blick auf unsere Leseprobe... Unterstützt von Stephen Batchelors ausdrucksstarken Fotografien offenbart uns das Buch facettenreich und feinfühlig das Wesen der Meditation - jener Geisteshaltung der völligen Gegenwärtigkeit und des offenen, unvoreingenommenen Wahrnehmens. Entstanden ist so ein inspirierender Bildband, der uns ausdrucksstark vor Augen führt, wie die meditative Haltung zu einem elementaren Bestandteil unseres täglichen Lebens werden kann. Tag für Tag kann uns die Qualität der Meditationserfahrung lehren, jeden Moment unseres Lebens mit wacher und mitfühlender Anteilnahme zu erleben. Es braucht allein unsere Bereitschaft, wacher und achtsamer durchs Leben zu gehen. Der Theravada-Buddhismus, der tibetische Buddhismus und der Zen-Buddhismus nähern sich der Meditationspraxis auf ihre je eigene Weise. Jede dieser Traditionen in ihrer ganzen Tiefe würdigend, erläutert Martine Batchelor anhand der Vorlieben der unterschiedlichen Traditionslinien die wesentlichen buddhistischen Ideen, die diesen Praktiken zugrunde liegen. Jedes Kapitel schließt mit einer geführten Meditation, die Themen wie Kreative Bewusstheit, Liebende Güte, Mitgefühl und Tod in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Eine eindrucksvolle Einführung in die Meditationspraxis, und das - angesichts der aufwändigen Ausstattung - zu einem erschwinglichen Preis.