Bøker av James Low

Where do we come from?What is the true source of our life?There are many answers to these questions. Mostly they serve to confirm the reality of our current identity, supporting our belief that I am who I think I am.This book offers an alternative view based on the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni. On a relative level, every aspect of our experience arises in dependence on some other arisings. Due to this dependence no arising or appearance has an inherent existence, not me, not you. On a more profound level, all appearances and experiences arise inseparable from emptiness-nothing is ever established as existing in truth. Empty of self-essence, each and every appearance including ourselves is not other than emptiness. Emptiness is not a null void, but the ever-open source of our life.Ever fertile emptiness, the ever-fertile mother of everything, is symbolised by the Great Mother Prajnaparamita, the essence of the wisdom of emptiness that is the mother of all the Buddhas. This mother is our source. This mother is, in fact, the source of everything as it actually is. This mother is the source of all of us becoming Buddhas therefore we honour her.In similar fashion, we honour our own mother in this life, remembering with gratitude all her kindnesses. Moreover we remember that all sentient beings have been our own mother in previous lives and honour their kindnesses.

Although the word 'emptiness' can seem a bit intimidating, in the Buddhist traditions it is the key to freedom. Our mind is intrinsically empty of self and any fixed or defining content. We are not defined by anything which has occurred, that is occurring now, or will even occur in the future. Being empty of fixed content allows us to open to all that occurs without being trapped in reactivity. By resting in the intrinsic openness of our mind it becomes clear that we are not a thing amongst things.

The ten teachings in this book provide a buddhist account of the formation of attachment and anxiety and show how we can release ourselves from involvement in their deluding intensity. By understanding the unborn and ungraspable nature of our own mind, we can release ourselves from our habitual tendency to see the world in terms of self and other. This frees us from the urge to judge what occurs in terms of what is pleasing or displeasing to our ego-self and thereby allows us to rest in clarity and equanimity.

This book focuses on Padmasambhava, the Lotus Born Guru who awakens us to our own lotus source. Padmasambhava brought tantric Buddhism to Tibet and his power and blessing continues to guide and inspire meditators in the Himalayan regions and worldwide to this day.All Buddhist practice is concerned with awakening from the illusions which bind us. The lotus represents this awakening and for the intrinsic purity which is the source of both awakened Buddhas and deluded sentient beings. Forgetfulness of our lotus source has given rise to our experience of being someone real somewhere in a real world.The wide range of prayers and practices translated and explained in this book provide guidance on how to live in a clear and ethical way. These practices ease the process of dying and guide us to Padmasambhava in his pure realm of Lotus Light, also known as Zangdopalri, the Copper Coloured Mountain.Texts translated by C. R. Lama and James Low.

Each section of the book leads into the next, showing how, by peeling away our habitual assumptions and projections, we can directly encounter the intrinsic purity of our own mind. "This is it", Dzogchen, the great completion.The first facet, One Thing Leads to Another, offers sutra texts on dependent origination. The second, Increased Transparency, includes the Heart Sutra and indicates that all phenomena, whether seemingly outer or inner, subject or object, are empty and devoid of inherent existence. This leads onto the third facet Encountering the Other, the story of how the Buddha Chakrasamvara manifested in order to deal with cruelty and malicious behaviour. The fourth Facet, Getting Lost Invites Trouble, offers two accounts of how pride and self-confidence can lead a person astray so that their provocations lead to a display the Buddhas' wrathful power, enforcing transformation and the abrupt end to the careers of heartless bullies.Next, in the fifth facet, we see how transformation can be elective rather than imposed. Cutting Free begins with the story of Machig Labdron, her struggle to free herself from social constraints so that she could pursue a life in dharma. There is a short guru yoga practice and her Chöd practice, The Dakinis' Laughter. Finally in facet six, Just This is The Cuckoo Cry, the foundational text of the dzogchen mind series. In just three couplets it sets out the view, meditation and activity which are the inseparability of primordial purity and instant presence.

Scintille è l'ottavo libro di questo popolare autore, e il quarto pubblicato in italiano.Si tratta di una raccolta informale di brevi scritti e di poesie, frutto della sua pluriennale esperienza di pratica e insegnamento del Buddhismo.La lettura di questa agile raccolta in prosa e poesia può essere iniziata, goduta e meditata da un punto qualsiasi, poiché ogni "scintilla" o "frammento" sono completi in sé stessi. L'argomento è profondo, eppure è condensato ed espresso in un linguaggio semplice, ricorrendo a esempi e metafore tratti dalla vita quotidiana e dal mondo vivente che ci circonda.In un linguaggio semplice e bello, la raccolta esprime la profonda visione non duale dello Dzogchen, che illumina il vivificante potenziale di Buddha presente in tutti noi.I libri di James Low sono stati tradotti in estone, francese, tedesco, italiano, polacco, portoghese e spagnolo.James Low ha concluso di recente la sua attività di Psicoterapeuta presso il Servizio Sanitario Nazionale con sede a Londra, ma continua a esercitare privatamente nel suo studio. Inoltre, ha insegnato in molte scuole di psicoterapia, alcune in Italia, ma per lo più in Inghilterra.James Low has now retired from his post as a Consultant Psychotherapist in the National Health Service. He maintains a small private psychotherapy practice in London and has taught in many psychotherapy institutes, mostly in the UK.

Sparks is the 8th book by this popular author. It is an accessible collection of short writings and poems arising from his experience of practising and teaching Buddhism for many years. In simple and beautiful language it is an expression of the profound non-dual view of Dzogchen, which illuminates the enlivening Buddha potential present in all of us.This pithy collection of prose and poems can be entered at any point, enjoyed and reflected upon since each 'spark' or 'snippet' is complete in itself. The topic is profound, yet it is condensed and expressed in simple language using examples and metaphors from everydaylife and the living world around us.James Low's books have been and are being translated into Estonian, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish.James Low has now retired  from his post as a Consultant Psychotherapist in the National Health Service. He maintains a small private psychotherapy practice in London and has taught in many psychotherapy institutes, mostly in the UK.