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The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness Kindle Edition
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The Mind Illuminated is a comprehensive, accessible and - above all - effective book on meditation, providing a nuts-and-bolts stage-based system that helps all levels of meditators establish and deepen their practice. Providing step-by-step guidance for every stage of the meditation path, this uniquely comprehensive guide for a Western audience combines the wisdom from the teachings of the Buddha with the latest research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience.
Clear and friendly, this in-depth practice manual builds on the nine-stage model of meditation originally articulated by the ancient Indian sage Asanga, crystallizing the entire meditative journey into 10 clearly-defined stages. The book also introduces a new and fascinating model of how the mind works, and uses illustrations and charts to help the reader work through each stage.
This manual is an essential read for the beginner to the seasoned veteran of meditation.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHay House UK
- Publication date3 Jan. 2017
- File size18722 KB
Product description
Review
In a time where meditation and its twin sister, mindfulness, have become the fads du jour, Culadasa gives us the real deal in this encyclopedic handbook. If you're serious about meditation, The Mind Illuminated should be on your bookshelf. -- Lama Marut, author of 'A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life' and 'Be Nobody'
Essential reading for anyone interested in meditative development from any tradition. At once comprehensive and also very easy to read and follow in practice, this is the most thorough, straightforward, clear, and practical guide to training the mind that I have ever found. A remarkable achievement. -- Daniel Ingram, MD, author of 'Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha'
The Mind Illuminated is an extraordinary accomplishment. Culadasa has distilled his many years of meditative practice and teaching, his deep background in Theravada and Vajrayana traditions, and his extensive knowledge of cognitive science and neuroscience to provide a unique and highly practical guidebook to meditation practice. The granular detail that Culadasa provides regarding various experiences along the path and his practically grounded
advice for dealing with obstacles and developing specific skills are unique in the published literature on meditation. Regardless of the particular tradition in which one practices, or the amount of one's practice experience, there is a cornucopia of wisdom and detailed guidance here that merits careful study and practice. This is a true jewel of a book that belongs on the desk or night table of every meditation practitioner
With wisdom, clarity, and grace, Culadasa has written an invaluable manual for awakening. I believe this book will become one of the Top 10 Must Reads for anyone on the spiritual path for years to come. Helpful for beginning meditators and valuable for advanced meditators who are already committed to meditation but have not yet experienced the fruits of consistent practice. -- Stephanie Nash, mindfulness coach and integrative counselor
Writing with warmth and clarity, Culadasa brings a lifetime of investigation into Buddhism and neuroscience to his descriptions of the tasks and nuances of meditation. Though it is often encouraged, a meditation practice is not often explained. The Mind Illuminated provides comprehensive, step-by-step guidance about how to actually do it, how to handle the many hindrances that might stop us from practicing, and how the mind benefits when we do meditate regularly. A masterful and inspiring guide, Culadasa encourages us to savor the process that leads to becoming fully conscious. -- Susan Suntree, author of 'Sacred Sites: The Secret History of Southern California' and editor of 'Wisdom of the East: Stories of Compassion, Inspiration, and Love'
This book does an outstanding job of both constructing a cognitive theory of how the mind works and presenting a detailed handbook for learning and mastering meditation. The result is a beautiful integration of theory and practice, whose parallel strands lead to experientially, and account for conceptually, the radical shift in consciousness we call awakening. -- Richard P. Boyle, author of 'Realizing Awakened Consciousness'
The Mind Illuminated provides among the greatest syntheses I've ever seen of concepts from across the spectrum of psychological research and theory. The book integrates knowledge from areas as diverse as cognition and neural systems, psychoanalytic notions of unconscious processes and catharsis, theories of William James, and third-wave strategies for emotion regulation. It also provides a valuable step-by-step instruction manual for mental training
to focus attention while developing self-insight and deep psychological healing. The secular nature of the instructions allows for bringing meditation into the therapy relationship without dogma and without the risk of either supporting or contradicting clients' religious views.
About the Author
Matthew Immergut, PhD is an associate professor of sociology. He is a longtime meditator and a dedicated student of Culadasa. He lives in Woodstock, NY. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"[Culadasa] takes me through the science of the practice straight to the adventure of sitting, and offers context through sustainable, practical applications and tools. This book is full of wisdom, story, and creativity, and I'll be glad to have it as a reference for many years to come."--Elena Brower, author, Art of Attention
"A systematic, hands-on manual, The Mind Illuminated will be a great help to anyone who wants to completely fathom the process of meditative development in all its stages. Culadasa gives us the full conceptual framework together with complete instructions for putting it into play. In largely Western language, with help from wonderful images and diagrams, this book brings the path of meditation to life."--Sharon Salzberg, author, Real Happiness
"Essential reading for anyone interested in meditative development from any tradition. At once comprehensive and also very easy to read and follow in practice, this is the most thorough, straightforward, clear, and practical guide to training the mind that I have ever found. A remarkable achievement."--Daniel Ingram, M.D., author, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha
"In a time where meditation and its twin sister, mindfulness, have become the fads du jour, Culadasa gives us the real deal in this encyclopedic handbook. If you're serious about meditation, The Mind Illuminated should be on your bookshelf."--Lama Marut, author, A Spiritual Renegade's Guide to the Good Life
"This book does an outstanding job of both constructing a cognitive theory of how the mind works and presenting a detailed handbook for learning and mastering meditation. The result is a beautiful integration of theory and practice, whose parallel strands lead to experientially, and account for conceptually, the radical shift in consciousness we call awakening."--Richard P. Boyle, author, Realizing Awakened Consciousness
"This book is a rare and valuable treasure, providing a detailed, step-by-step account of how meditation practice progresses. Culadasa is the real deal, a living adept with decades of experience."--Shinzen Young, author, Beginner's Guide to Meditation --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product details
- ASIN : B01LWVW6KP
- Publisher : Hay House UK (3 Jan. 2017)
- Language : English
- File size : 18722 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 514 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 64,307 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 153 in Personal Transformation
- 201 in Philosophy of Buddhism
- 307 in Philosophy Textbooks (Kindle Store)
- Customer reviews:
About the authors

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Matthew Immergut is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Purchase College, SUNY. He is also a meditation instructor and workshop leader. For more info see matthewimmergut.com

Culadasa (John Yates, Ph.D.) is a meditation master with over four decades of experience in the Tibetan and Theravadin Buddhist traditions. He taught physiology and neuroscience at the Universities of Calgary and British Columbia. He lives in Arizona's wilderness, and leads the Dharma Treasure Buddhist Sangha.
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Reading this book has provide a structure to meditation that feels obvious yet insightful. Where I previously blindly scrambled through my meditation sessions I now feel focussed and confident that I'm making positive progress in my meditation skills.
The book is organised in 10 stages. Each stage guides the reader through meditation skills, clearly identifying what might arise to help or hinder at each stage. Each stage is broken down into relevant parts that are described clearly and concisely. I don't feel as though the steps are too big. I had considered my previous personal efforts in meditation might have influenced the else with which I understand the I structions, but as I approach chapters describing new unconscious experiences, I find it's the authors explanations, and incremental complexity that aids my understanding.
I bought this book for about £16. I would happily pay £30 for it. As time goes by and my appreciation of the instructions increases, the value is approaching priceless.
However people may look at it Buddhists have been meditating and investigating the nature of the Mind, its states and possible abilities and refining the technical language to explain such states for over 2500 years and where most contemplative traditions died out in India due to various historical reasons such practices and investigation continued in Tibet and the surrounding Theravadin countries... and has amassed a vast literature on this subject, it's for this reason that I personally think Buddhism is the best place to look for this type of information.
NOW for the Book itself.
Even though this book does draw it's information from various Buddhist sources (as well as science) the language used by Buddhists on meditation itself is of a technical and non religious nature which is reflected in this book thus anyone from any Contemplative Tradition may find this book useful, or even those who are purely secular in outlook.
The method presented takes its approach from an ancient Buddhist model where a concentration (tranquil abiding, shamatha or samatha) is developed in certain stages. Where this book excels is the share amount of detail and practical advice for all stages of mental development.
For those already familiar with the Buddhadhamma one very important point the author covers is access concentration which gives access to the Jhanas, he explains quite clearly that access concentration can arise even before Tranquil Abiding is accomplished, something I've NEVER seen covered else where and over which there is much confusion even among Tibetan Lamas (sorry but it's true). He also, in my honest opinion, ends the debate between Sutta & Abhidhamma type Jhanas, Thank you Culadasa & Saaadhu !
Plus the book has what the author calls interludes which are chapters filling in essential information to progress to the next level and well as slowly presenting a more sophisticated model of mind/Consciousness as ones practice and experience develops.
There is NO book on the market as detailed and comprehensive as this one, NONE, from the Tibetans, Theravadins or anyone else, and I say this after 35 years of experience and study, if YOU or anyone else can find better than please let me know.
This author also has one or two other "tricks" up his sleeve, e.g. he explains why "laziness" might have actually been useful and is not necessarily always negative, never seen that before and, well a very useful way of seeing things, I'll let purchasers of the book learn why by reading the book...
I cannot fault this book, it has everything you need to develop tranquil abiding and much more besides. I would recommend this book over all others.
HAPPY MEDITATING.
After some initial success, I became doubtful and tried to increase my efforts, wondering whether my way was the right one and encountered all the pitfalls that the author describes in his book. I began to take time off training, convincing myself that breaks were helpful in bringing back my focus and attention, looking at new techniques and trying to rebuild my motivation.
Eventually I realised that without proper teaching, I was receding rather than advancing and all the benefits I had earned were slowly fading away. Numerous times I tried to go to retreats, but the timing was not right, a lot of them were in faraway locations and apart from the usual advice of breath in – breath out and focus, I found little detailed, practical and step by step advice in how to overcome my problems.
Until I discovered this book! Right from the first chapter, the realisation hit me that at last I had come across a manual that describes a methodology, just like the ones I had studied many times in my academic and professional life. Very quickly I got back to good habits, proper motivation and consistent joyful practice. Whereas I recognise that I am nowhere near the end of the road, I am now confident of moving down that road.
My advice is that whether you have a passing or a serious interest in meditation and if you have time to read just one book on the subject, this one is a MUST for you.





