Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2205 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Synopsis
Mindfulness in Plain English is a book that people give to everyone they know - a book that people talk about, write about, think about, and return to repeatedly. With his distinctive clarity and wit, "Bhante G" - as he is affectionately known - extends a hand to readers of all backgrounds; he takes us step by step through the myths, realities, and benefits of meditation and the practice of mindfulness. He reveals that we already have the foundation we need to live a more mindful, productive, and peaceful life. This expanded edition includes the complete text of its bestselling predecessor and a new chapter on the cultivation of loving-kindness, an especially important subject in today's fractious world. Mindfulness in Plain English is like meditation itself: spacious, personal, rewarding - and simpler than you might think.

Customer Reviews

See for yourself
I do not have much too add not already said by other reviewers, but would like to point out that the whole book can be found online so you can preview it before you order the book. Just search for the title.

A True Meditation Manual
This book is fantastic! From the reviews, I was expecting a manual on Vipassana (insight) meditation only. But Bhante G covers both Shamatha (concentration) and Vipassana (insight) meditation in thorough detail, in a step-by-step, very user-friendly and practical way. By far the best book I have read on the two core Buddhist meditation practices. He deals in great detail with the things us beginners struggle with, like the many distractions that can assail us during our practice, & the five hindrances, along with very useful techniques for over-coming these obstacles. If you are at all interested in Buddhist meditation, then I am sure you will find this book invaluable.

One of many personal responses
After I had read this book I was very enthusiastic about it, because it is certainly a very good manual in comparison to any other I have read. I started 'practicing Vipassana' after reading the 3-page summary of the technique in Fontana's Meditation Manual. For a technique that is said to take you to enlightenment, that is a decidedly concise account; concise enough for me to utterly misunderstand the practice.

Things to know about Vipassana:

There are Buddhists who sideline Vipassana because it is powerful enough to 'unbalance' an unwary practitioner. Too strong an opinion perhaps - but neither is it necessarily as "gentle" as the author of this book describes it!

There are as many variants of the technique as there are traditions. Some are very different to others, however this is not to say that there is only one effective technique. This book represents just one of many traditions.

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I learnt Vipassana on an intensive ten-day course as taught by S.N. Goenka. Only by the tenth day - and not before - did I feel like I had grasped the technique. There are limits to what you can learn on your own from a book. The technique I was taught was different to that in the book - and, in my opinion, far superior.

I have a particular reservation with the way in which this book advocates 'mindfulness' of mental objects. Merely watching the sensations is all we need consciously do, the mindfulness is a process that happens by itself. I do not think mindfulness can be achieved deliberately.

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a very experienced man, and I'm sure his opinion is worth more than mine. But for what it is worth, take a look at S.N. Goenkas 10-day course instead.