Contemplative Literature: A Comparative Sourcebook on Meditation and Contemplative Prayer

Contents
Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Part I: Approaching Contemplative Practive
	Chapter 1. Approaching Contemplative Practice
		Contemplative Practice
		Contemplative Studies
		Context and Locatedness
		Psychology, Consciousness Studies, and Neuroscience
		Interpretive Issues in Contemplative Studies
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
	Chapter 2. Contemplative Traditions
		Contemplative Traditions
		Dimensions of Contemplative Practice
		Contemplative Experience
		Psychologies of Realization
		Contemplative Literature
		Future Prospects
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
Part II: Contemplative Traditions
	Chapter 3. Daoist Apophatic Meditation: Selections from the Classical Daoist Textual Corpus
		Elders of the Inner Cultivation Lineages of Classical Daoism
		Classical Daoism and the “Family of the Way? (Daojia)
		Ways to the Way: Classical Daoist Apophatic Meditation and Its Results
		Inner Cultivation according to the Textual Corpus of Classical Daoism
		Further Inquiries on the Way
		Contemplative Being-in-the-World
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		Selections from the Classical Daoist Textual Corpus
			Cosmology
				Neiye (Inward Training)
				Laozi (Book of Venerable Masters)
				Zhuangzi (Book of Master Zhuang)
				Huainanzi (Book of the Huainan Masters)
			Inner Cultivation: Theory and Techniques
				Neiye (Inward Training)
				Laozi (Book of Venerable Masters)
				Zhuangzi (Book of Master Zhuang)
				Xinshu shang (Techniques of the Mind I)
				Huainanzi (Book of the Huainan Masters)
			Contemplative States: Transient yet Transformative
				Xinshu shang (Techiniques of the Mind I)
				Zhuangzi (Book of Master Zhuang)
				Huainanzi (Book of the Huainan Masters)
			Contemplative Traits: Long-Lasting Benefits
				Neiye (Inward Training)
				Laozi (Book of Venerable Masters)
				Zhuangzi (Book of Master Zhuang)
				Huainanzi (Book of the Huainan Masters)
	Chapter 4. Quaker Silent Prayer: A Guide to True Peace
		The Guide and Christian Quietism
		The Religious Society of Friends and Quaker Quietism
		Quaker Silent Prayer and Quietist Spirituality
		Instructions on Prayer from the Guide
		Reading the Guide in Later Quakerism
		Minding the Light in Contemplative Studies
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		A Guide to True Peace: Or, the Excellency of Inward and Spiritual Prayer
			Preface
			1: The Spirit of God Dwells in the Heart of Man
			2: On Faith
			3: On Prayer
			4: All Are Capable of Attaining to Inward and Spiritual Prayer
			5: On Attaining to True Prayer
			6: On Spiritual Dryness
			7: On Defects and Infirmities
			8: On Temptations and Tribulations
			9: On Self-Denial
			10: On Mortification
			11: On Resignation
			12: On Virtue
			13: On Conversion
			14: On Self-Annihilation
			15: Man Acts More Nobly under the Divine Influence, than He Can Possibly Do by Following His Own Will
			16: On the Possession of Peace and Rest before God
			17: On Perfection, or the Union of the Soul with God
	Chapter 5. Jewish Kabbalah: Hayyim Vital’s Shaarei Kedusha
		Sixteenth-Century Safed, Isaac Luria, and Hayyim Vital
		Rabbinic Judaism and Lurianic Kabbalah
		The Journey to YHVH through Hebrew
		Entering the Gates of Holiness
		Lurianic Contemplative Practice in Later Jewish Kabbalah
		Translating the Untranslatable: A Note on Kabbalistic Translation
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		Shaarei Kedusha (Gates of Holiness)
			The First Gate
				(The necessary conditions required for an individual to be prepared to apprehend the divine)
			The Second Gate
				(Explaining the process of apprehending God)
	Chapter 6. Southern Buddhist Meditation: The Anepenasati Sutta
		The Historical Buddha and the Early “Discourses?
		The Early Sa?gha and Southern Buddhism
		Samatha, Vipassane, and the Path to Liberation
		Mindfulness of Breathing according to the Anepenasati Sutta
			First Tetrad: Mindfulness of Body
			Second Tetrad: Mindfulness of Feeling
			Third Tetrad: Mindfulness of Mind
			Fourth Tetrad: Mindfulness of Dhammas
		Breathing with the Buddhist Tradition
		Breathing Outside the Buddhist Tradition
		Abbreviations
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		Anepenasati Sutta (Discourse on Mindfulness of Breathing)
		Glossary of Key Peli Terms
	Chapter 7. Sufi Contemplation: ‘Abdullah Shah’s Suluk-i Mujaddidiyya
		‘Abdullah Shah and Twentieth-Century Indian Sufism
		Islam, Sufism, and the Naqshbandi Lineage
		Dimensions of the Mujaddidi Universe
		‘Abdullah Shah’s Suluk-i Mujaddidiyya
		Contemporary Mujaddidi Practice
		Bringing Awareness to Contemplative Studies
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
			Suluk-i Mujaddidiyya (Mujaddidi Wayfaring)
			The First Exercise: Remembrance of God
			The Second Exercise: Contemplation
			The Third Exercise: Bonding with the Shaykh
			Visualizing the Shaykh
			The Method of Focusing Spiritual Energy
			Ecstatic Attraction to God
			Subtle Centers
				The Heart Subtle Center
				The Spirit Subtle Center
				The Mystery Subtle Center
				The Arcanum Subtle Center
				The Superarcanum Subtle Center
				The Ego-Self Subtle Center
				The Physical Frame Subtle Center
		The Practice of Negation and Affirmation
		The Contemplation of Being Together with God
		The Circle of Contingent Existence
	Chapter 8. Eastern Orthodox Prayer: The Rasskaz strannika
		In Search of the Pilgrim
		Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Hesychasm, and the Philokalic Tradition of the Rasskaz strannika
		Hesychastic Prayer and Eastern Orthodox Spirituality
		Pilgrimage to the Interior and to God
		The Pilgrim Continues His Journey
		Further Meetings with the Pilgrim
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		Otkrovennyi rasskaz strannika dukhovnomu svoemu ottsu (Candid Tale of a Pilgrim to His Spiritual Father)
			The First Tale
			The Second Tale
			The Fourth Tale
	Chapter 9. Maheyena Buddhist Visualization: The Guan wuliang shoufo jing
		Listening to the Buddha in Fifth-Century China
		Maheyena Buddhism and the Early Pure Land Schools
		Seeking the Pure Land in Medieval China
		Pure Land Visualization according to the Guanjing
		Visualizing Amiteyus Buddha in Later Pure Land Buddhism
		Between Consciousness and Reality
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		Guan wuliang shoufo jing (Sutra on Visualizing the Buddha of Infinite Life)
	Chapter 10. Hindu Classical Yoga: Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras
		Patañjali and Second-Century-CE Hinduism
		Yoga and the “Yoga School"
		Classical Yoga as Hindu Soteriological System
		Aphorisms on Discipline and Liberation
		Reading the Yoga Sutras in Later Hinduism and the Modern West
		Yoga as Yoga
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		Yoga Sutras (Yoga Aphorisms)
			Chapter One: Samedhi Peda (Meditative Absorption)
			Chapter Two: Sedhana Peda (Practice)
			Chapter Three: Vibhuti Peda (Mystic Powers)
			Chapter Four: Kaivalya Peda (Absolute Liberation)
	Chapter 11. Roman Catholic Prayer: The Novem modi orandi sancti Dominici
		Saint Dominic and the Formation of the Order of Preachers
		Roman Catholicism, the Order of Preachers, and Early Dominican Writings
		Dominican Contemplative Practice and the Religious Spirit of the Preachers
		The Nine Ways of Praying of Saint Dominic
		Saint Dominic’s Ways in the Later Dominican Tradition and Beyond
		Praying with Saint Dominic
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		Novem modi orandi sancti Dominici (Nine Ways of Praying of Saint Dominic)
			The First Way of Praying
			The Second Way of Praying
			The Third Way of Praying
			The Fourth Way of Praying
			The Fifth Way of Praying
			The Sixth Way of Praying
			The Seventh Way of Praying
			The Eighth Way of Praying
			The Ninth Way of Praying
	Chapter 12. Daoist Internal Alchemy: Liu Huayang’s Huiming jing
		Liu Huayang and Eighteenth-Century Chinese Religiosity
		Buddho-Daoist Syncretism and the Wu-Liu Lineage
		Seeking Enlightenment through Alchemy
		Neidan Training according to the Huiming jing
		Reading the Huiming jing in Modern Chinese Society and in the Modern West
		Transmuting Contemplative Studies through Internal Alchemy
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		Huiming jing (Scripture on Wisdom and Life-Destiny)
			1. Diagram of the Cessation of Outflow
			2. Diagram of the Six Phases of the Dharma Wheel
			3. Diagram of the Governing and Conception Vessels
			4. Diagram of the Embryo of the Dao
			5. Diagram of Sending Out the Fetus
			6. Diagram of the Transformation Body
			7. Diagram of Facing the Wall
			8. Diagram of Disappearance into the Void
	Chapter 13. Therapeutic Meditation: Herbert Benson’s The Relaxation Response
		Herbert Benson and the Discovery of the “Relaxation Response"
		Mind-Body Medicine and Therapeutic Meditation
		Relaxation, Self-Care, and Stress Management
		The Relaxation Response
		Coping with Stress and the Popular Imagination
		Beyond the Relaxation Response
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		The Relaxation Response
			The Hidden Epidemic
			The Fight-or-Flight Response
			A Disease with No Symptoms
			Internal Signs of Stress
			Age-Old Wisdom
			Meditation: The Four Basic Elements
			Decreasing Blood Pressure
		How to Bring Forth the Relaxation Response
			(1) A Quiet Environment
			(2) A Mental Device
			(3) A Passive Attitude
			(4) A Comfortable Position
		Personal Experiences with the Relaxation Response
	Chapter 14. Techniqueless Meditation: J. Krishnamurti’s This Light in Oneself
		J. Krishnamurti, the Theosophical Society, and the Order of the Star in the East
		Life beyond Tradition, Systems, and Conditioning
		Meditation beyond Technique
		This Light in Oneself
		A Star in Both the East and the West: J. Krishnamurti’s Legacy
		Freedom from the Known
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
		This Light in Oneself: True Meditation
			A New Consciousness
			The Miracle of Attention
			This Light in Oneself
			The Summation of All Energy
			What Is Creation?
			To Live Without the Action of Will
			Enlightenment Is Not a Fixed Place
			Light Cannot Be Given by Another
Part III: Reapproaching Contemplative Practice
	Chapter 15. Comparative Reflections
		Conversations with Contemplatives
		Transformative Praxis
		(En)countering Reality
		Into the Labyrinth
		Notes
		Works Cited and Further Reading
Appendix: Toward a Technical Glossary of Contemplative Studies
About the Contributors
Index