THE BOOK IS IN

Limited Edition:
It Begins with Silence
by Stephen Schettini

It Begins with Silence is a hands-on, how-to guide to Mindful Reflection. Creatively written in easy-to-understand language, it's an ideal companion to your daily practice.

The book will be launched in the New Year, but especially for students of Quiet Mind seminars and workshops, this hardcover limited edition is available immediately from our new online bookstore.

Foreword by Glenn Wallis Ph.D.

Dear reader, if like me you tend to browse the 'spiritual' bookshelves, you're probably as tired as I am of empty words and counterfeit joy. Dozens of publications glibly promise to heal your soul for a mere $19.95. They may be largely well-meaning, but I don't buy it anymore. After thirty-five years of practicing, reflecting on, studying, reading, and writing about Buddhism and meditation, I just smile and walk away.

However, the book you now hold in your hand is a truly remarkable, rare find. Stephen Schettini has struggled like an alchemist in his lonely lab to distil the teachings of the historical Buddha into these ten deceptively simple stories, verses and explanations. This is an uncommonly beautiful presentation of Buddhist meditation.

In deeply caring language – warm, heartfelt and personal – Schettini leads you on the path to genuine practice. It begins with silence; it ends in stopping. Along the way, you'll traverse landscapes of inner chatter, gaze peacefully upon sky-like vistas and penetrate the intimate but elusive realities of the inner life.

Enjoy the journey. Your guide is skilled and wise. Yes, he goads, prods, and poses probing, unanswerable questions at times. That is what a loving teacher does.

May you discover the peace and happiness that you're seeking.

Glenn Wallis Ph.D.
Associate Professor & Chair
Applied Meditation Studies Program
Won Institute of Graduate Studies
Glenside, Pennsylvania

Dr. Wallis is author/translator of the Random House Modern Library publications: Basic Teachings of the Buddha (2007) & The Dhammapada: Verses on the Way (2004).

Link of interest

Tricycle, The Buddhist Review is a New York magazine featuring a wide variety of writers and interpreters of Buddhism and meditation, from the academic to artistic. View Tricycle online at www.tricycle.com or click here to subscribe.

Fall Workshops on Thursday evenings

Register now for the upcoming session at our beautiful studio in Hudson\Vaudreuil. We begin on Thursday September 11th just off Highway 40 at Exit 26. It's quiet, restful and there's plenty of parking.

H~OM Yoga Fitness Centre
Promenades Hudson,
3187 Route Harwood
Hudson\Vaudreui
DIRECTIONS

Good reading

Yoga Sutra

Yoga's a growth industry today that rivals any other form of exercise in its appeal and availability, but how many practitioners know that it's not just a system of bodily and mental relaxation, not just a philosophy of life, but a full-blooded path to liberation similar to the eightfold path of the historical Buddha Siddhattha Gotama?

The basic treatise (sutta) on the subject was written by the Indian sage Patanjali, who lived between the times of Buddha and Jesus. Like the Buddha, Patanjali scorned the dominant Vedic teachings of caste and scriptural authority and followed an independent, Sramanic approach that focused not on sacrifices to external gods but on uprooting one's own states of ignorance. This is Raja (king) yoga, conceived about a thousand years before the emergence of Hatha (energy) yoga on which today's various systems of physical postures are based. For Patanjali, the ultimate yogic posture (asana) is "just sitting" which, he says, "should embody steadiness and ease." The term asana, understood by today's yoga practitioners as "posture," actually comes from the Sanskrit root as (to be) and simply denotes "sitting here."

In practice, Hatha and other variants of physical yoga are great ways to deal with the most grinding stresses of twenty-first century life, and also a potent trigger to the process of stilling body and mind. As one practices, the states of relaxation become more subtle and tend towards states of greater stillness. Meditation is not just something yogis practice at the end of a workout, but an integral part of the whole process, as well as its ultimate goal.

An exceptionally well-written and informative article on the subject appears in the current issue of Shambhala Sun, written by Chip Hartranft, translator of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra.

Mindful Reflection

(Adapted from the preface of It Begins with Silence)

Meditation begins with the increased focus that emerges from single-pointedly watching the breath, and then using that focus to cultivate non-judgmental recollection of body, mind, feelings and phenomena. This refreshing mental bath of simple awareness is sometimes described as vipassana (insight meditation), but it's not quite so. Only when the crucial component of discernment is added does it lead to long-term change. The Buddha's teachings don't just calm stress. They mean to uproot it.

Discernment is deliberate, open-hearted, clear-headed, good judgment. Instead of erecting defensive shields and walls of opinion, it uses intelligence to watch out for the qualities of transience, stress and not-self in every physical and mental phenomenon. This perspective isn't just for formal practice of sitting meditation, but for all of life.

My Tibetan teachers addressed these two aspects of meditation as concentrative and contemplative. I've chosen to combine them in the term 'mindful reflection.' The phrase underlines that the method is not just a meditative technique but a reflective shift in one's approach to life. The first word refers to the skills that arise from focusing techniques; the second is a transformative outlook, cultivated through the Buddha's reflections and encapsulated in the ten chapters of It Begins with Silence.