Selected Book
Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation
- Paperback
- Author: Larry Rosenberg
- Publisher: Shambhala
- Release Date: November 2004
- ISBN-10: 1590301366
- ISBN-13: 9781590301364
- List Price: $15.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryIn 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's 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 humor 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 in 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
Average Rating: 
Five stars
Rating:
The discipline the book describes has been important to me for years; the author was my teacher. This copy was a gift to s friend who has also found it to be helpful.
Very Well Written, Interesting and Informative
Rating: 
mindfullness of the breath. and opener of many doors. larry quotes the buddha... "the summary of all my teaching is 'do not attach to me or mine'" really i guess larry has summed up a third of all buddhism by quoting this therevadan approach. the emotional and psychic enlightenment side of buddhism. the annihilation of the tainted self.
there is very little on mahayanan 'philosophical' enlightenment, but i am incredibly grateful to this great teacher for quoting the buddha and for his introduction to mindfullness of the breath. the last and most important third of buddhism comes through in the pages of this book... true love/loving kindness (metta).
of those coming to this book, some will have realised that we only truly learn or know through experience. these people are seeking for genuine experience through meditation. mindulness of the breath will lead to other types of meditation, discovery of how to talk to or learn from spiritual beings, and ultimately how to talk to the perfection that everyone is and has within them through mastery of the unconscious mind. (learning how to harness stream of consciousness, imagination/visualisation etc etc). the kingdom of god is like a baby seed that becomes a little sapling and then and then on it grows. you will find that one thing leads to another, but ultimately to uncover who you are you will need to rely on yourself and not be confused by other people. every snow-flake is unique and has its own unique route to the earth/attainment. you are all snow-flakes, but you just dont see this yet, or do not have enough experience/conviction to know this.
as a digression... what is suchness? put in circular terms suchness is: As is ness, thusness. things just are, what is is what is. 'is' is is. this view is the ultimate 'relative' statement... it indicates that all truth is relative. everyone has their own truth. on the other hand it can be said to be the ultimate 'objective' statement. this 'is' objective reality. is it emptiness?, is it form? actually... no. it just is. this can seem to be the ultimate buddhist statement. that all knowledge is beyond conceptualising, beyond formulation. as is ness is just as things are. this is the water approach, which levels all theories. it is empty of knowledge in knowing much. suchness is the water of the moon. female womb, sometimes empty, sometimes full. rising and falling, rising and falling. bringing with it peace. (but... do not become attached to suchness! without speculation/conceptualization, we will not see where we are walking, nor will we see what thing matters most, mistakenly believing all things to be of equal importance).
what is absolute truth? if you seek the truth you will find it, generally speaking truth is 'understanding'. but, actually only true love/loving kindness is the absolute truth, and only this truly understands, if i/you do not know true love, then i/you do not know God, however there are lesser, though still objective truths. truth can be seen as what is... reality, taste and see. everything that 'is' has its roots in the one absolute truth, which is true love. the truth is true love, without love there cannot be understanding (truth). love is the truth, and this should gear our entire understanding of reality. even 'this'(consciousness) has its roots in ineffable true love/loving kindness. in the christian faith, we believe that what we seek is what we find. if we seek relative truths in accordance with suchness then we shall find them... like-wise, if we seek absolute objective truth, eventually we will find perfect love. true love is the ultimate seed and root of all, of essence (existence/is) itself. love is the fire of the sun.
bringing with it warmth. the light of the sun, penetrates the darkness of the moon. rising and falling, rising and falling, a child is born.
some feel that knowledge is helpful... well yes and no. yes if that knowledge is truth/understanding. however no, very often, and this is since much of what people know leads them away from the ultimate truth... and so i say, it is not ignorance that matters, nor is it knowledge (which puffeth up). what matters is truth/understanding. And anything that engenders true love is in accord with God. "he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love". "he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." "everyone that loveth is born of God"(born anew, spiritually). knowledge is not sufficient, we must not forget the heart, seat of emotions.
the buddha realised that without the anchor of true love/loving kindness, one becomes a nihilist... and you only need see their actions and crippled emotions to realise how unsatisfying nihilism is. (freedom of mind is not everything).
this is also why certain types of philosophy are utterly unsatisfying. theyve ripped their hearts out.
larry may have given more than he ever realises, this man is a true master.
true love/chesed, snow-flake. xxx
blessing/prayer: may all of us who read this, including myself, see the ultimate truth, loving kindness and become it and be it/him/her, by the grace of the one truth, loving kindness. amen.
Anapanasati in plain English
Rating:
Breath by Breath is an outstanding and seamless synthesis of interventions and talks that Rosenberg held about the Buddhist sutra (i.e., text) on the 'awareness on breathing' during his thirty-year teaching experience at Vipassana retreats and courses. Rosenberg style is plain and direct and his personal anecdotes make this fundamental teaching even more vivid and present for both beginners and expert practitioners. Clear links to other relevant Buddhist teachings make this text a good introduction to the Dhamma (Theravada tradition), as well.
All things considered, one of best introductions to the matter, a book that sheds a contemporary and western perspective on an universal and antique wisdom by focussing more on the main concepts and underlying rationales of Buddhist mindfulness practice and breath awareness (and its consequences on any personal life) than on some particular technique or method.
Breath by Breath
Rating:
Very clear, concise, and practical. Every one of us must have a copy.
A very good guide to insight meditation.
Rating:
The step by step guide of the 16 stages of breath meditaiton according to the Anapanasati suttra is very inspiring. It has helped tremendously in my learning insight mediatation.
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