Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82204 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In any meditation class, one of the first things one learns is the importance of breathing. For Larry Rosenberg, a seasoned instructor of insight meditation, the breath is everything. And he is not in bad company since the Buddha himself delivered a sutra on the subject. Rosenberg's Breath by Breath is an elaboration on this short classic, but couched in familiar language liberally spiced with anecdotes from Rosenberg's decades of practice and teaching. It's Rosenberg's earthy humour and patient instruction that make him such a popular teacher and that make Breath by Breath a rewarding read. He takes the beginning student from the wandering "doggy mind" to becoming a chicken, along the way getting a teacher's bite and sitting like a frog. For the hurried and harried, he includes a nutshell two-step version of the sutra's 16-step practice (appended is the full text of the sutra). More of a coach than a disciplinarian, Rosenberg takes a "see what happens" attitude. "You don't make liberation happen", he says. "To contemplate breathing is to contemplate life itself". --Brian Bruya

Customer Reviews

This one's a keeper
This book is wonderful. Rosenberg's approach to meditation and Buddhism comes without the baggage of superstition and folklore that attach themselves to some books on these topics. Rosenberg offers not only basic instruction, but a path for advancing one's practice through the various contemplative steps beyond that, using the anapanasati sutra. I also love the fact that his background is from the East Coast of the U.S., and Jewish. I get a little tired of the condescending attitude toward Westerners from some of the more traditional Eastern authors and teachers. Rosenberg doesn't have a built-in cultural bias toward the East, and is clearly an experienced, dedicated and wise teacher with a sense of humor. I'm usually too cheap to buy the hard-back version of any book (sorry, Amazon), but this one's hard-back, and I'm glad for it because it's a keeper.

Outstanding... really modivated me to sit.
I loved that the book is really written from a Western perspective. Allows the reluctant mediator (like me) to approach the topic from many different angles. This book helped moditvate me to meditate more regularly. Explains the paradox of meditation (i.e. the goal is to give up the goal) better than any book I've ever read.

Excellent... highly motivating... very promising
I am one of those people who wish it was easier to sit for an hour a day. I am one of those who is struggling to motivate myself to pursue what I have come to believe is an essential part of my life. This book is one that constantly makes my efforts and my struggles easier and keeps me motivated. I just wish I could do justice to this author's efforts in sharing what he has had the good furtune to have gained. I have given my copy of this book away on a few occasions just to replace it with yet another copy soon after. If you are a meditation enthusiast, make sure this book is on your bookshelf, if not right next to you, always.