Insight meditation is the heart of the Buddha's teaching - a practice of awareness that leads us beyond the confines of our ordinary psychology to the freedom and clarity of our essential nature.
The fruit of some twenty years' experience leading Buddhist meditation retreats, this book touches on a wide range of topics raised repeatedly by meditators, whether they are beginners attending their first weekend course or seasoned practitioners on a three-month retreat. In short sections that can be either read in sequence or browsed through at leisure, Joseph Goldstein offers favorite stories, key Buddhist teachings, and answers to most-asked questions. The discussions include:
* freeing the mind from disturbing emotions, such as fear, jealousy, anger, loneliness, guilt, greed, and boredom
* the difference between psychotherapy and meditation
* helping ourselves to happiness: mindfulness, lovingkindness, and compassion
* detailed meditation instructions
* working with physical pain
* the realization of egolessness: the Buddha's teaching on "no-self"
* daily life as spiritual practice
* the art of wise communication
* meditation at the time of death


Insight Meditation, Joseph Goldstein, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 179 pages, $14.95

Joseph Goldstein is Sterling Professor of Law at Yale University Law School, and is the author and coauthor of a number of books on the law, including The Government of a British Trade Union, Beyond the Best Interests of the Child, and Criminal Law, Theory, and Process.