Dharma ocean series

According to the Buddha, no one can attain basic sanity or enlightenment without practicing meditation. The teachings given here on the outlook and technique of meditation provide the foundation that every practitioner needs to awaken as the Buddha did. Trungpa teaches us to let go of the urge to make meditation serve our ambition; thus we can relax into openness. We are shown how the deliberate practice of mindfulness develops into uncontrived awareness, and we discover the world of insight that awareness reveals. We learn of a subtle psychological stage set that we carry with us everywhere and unwittingly use to structure all our experience - and we find that meditation gradually carries us beyond this and beyond ego altogether to the experience of unconditioned freedom.

""Dharma art" refers to creative works that spring from the awakened meditative state, characterized by directness, unselfconsciousness, and nonagression. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche shows that dharma art provides a vehicle to appreciate the nature of things as they are and express it without any struggle or desire to achieve. A work of dharma art brings out the goodness and dignity of the situation it reflects - dignity that comes from the artist's interest in the details of life and sense of appreciation for experience. At the same time, the author stresses the need for artists to study their craft, develop skill, and absorb knowledge and insight passed down by tradition. And, finally, he extends the principles of dharma art to everyday life, showing how any activity can provide an opportunity to relax and open ourselves to the phenomenal world."--BOOK JACKET.