The Art and Skill of Buddhist Meditation: Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight

The author is very good at explaining the subtleties of meditation in plain language. I will be gifting this book to others as an intro into Buddhist meditation. And while this book is easy to understand for beginners, I also found it useful as a more experienced meditator.

Richard Shankman's Art and Skill of Buddhist Meditation is part of an emerging trend in Buddhist meditation in the West that presents an integrated path of meditation practice, one that brings together mindfulness, deep meditative stillness (samadhi, sometimes translated as "concentration"), and liberating insight. In many practice traditions in both East and West, these three currents have become separated into schools or traditions, each of them often segregated from the others. In this volume of practical guidance, Shankman succeeds at reintegrating the Buddha's path of practice in a way that can benefit meditators at all stages of development.The book is written in an easy and personable style that captures Shankman's spoken voice and conveys his special approach to one-on-one and group coaching of meditators. Shankman reveals himself here to be a gentle and attentive guide, one very attuned to the great variety of individual experience in meditation. He provides knowledgeable support for many different ways of meditating, with a consistent emphasis on finding the integrated practice that works for you and on doing "the best you can" in all circumstances.Throughout the book, Shankman takes the view from inside the meditating mind—an unusual perspective in a field of books that tend to focus on concepts and descriptions from the outside. Shankman's perspective makes his book invaluable for understanding the full array of experiences that can arise in meditation, how to make sense of them, and how to work productively when they arise. Shankman is also one of the very few authors brave enough to actually talk about what samadhi (and the associated jhana states) actually feel and look like; in doing so, he demystifies and normalizes experiences that have all too often been made out to be rare, rarified, and hush-hush. Doing so is important because, as Shankman shows, the collected and still mind, a natural capacity of mind that we all share, is a rich field for deep insight.The book is refreshingly free of jargon and adroitly sidesteps the tendentiousness and rancor that have sometimes characterized discussions of the various currents of practice that are skillfully blended here. Shankman doesn't explore the fascinating history of how the integrated path of practice laid out in the Pali canon, the earliest record of the Buddhist teachings, became divided into separate practices in 19th-century Burma and the 20th-century West. But that history is now well covered elsewhere: Shankman keeps the focus on the practical issues that confront meditators in daily practice.I highly recommend this book to all meditators, but particularly to those who find themselves confused by the varied, sometimes conflicting, instructions or guidance that they have received from teachers about the importance of focusing on mindfulness to the exclusion of samadhi, samadhi to the exclusion of mindfulness, or insight to the exclusion of both. This book can truly help you bypass all that unnecessary "thicket of views" and deepen your meditation practice in an integrated way that suits your temperament and the realities of your daily life.

This is a gem of a book for understanding how meditation is currently taught and practiced by some of the best meditation teachers alive today. If you've never attended a retreat at Spirit Rock in California, this is the kind of brilliant teaching you would receive while there. There are many books on the topic of meditation, but few leave you with as much value as Shankman's. There is nothing too abstract here as Shankman describes in detail, the process and reward of various meditation techniques, ranging from beginning to advance. The advice is all practical and avoids the typical over-thinking found in many books on the same subject. Also appreciated is Shankman's honesty about what is to be gained from doing advanced concentration (the jhanas). He seems to realize these practices are not an end, but only a means. Because to get to the end, one needs direct knowledge (not just experience). Nevertheless, all the disciplines described in this book are an excellent way to cultivate a mind receptive to learning the truth.

With impressive clarity and precision, Richard Shankman has managed to express in words the wide range of deeply nuanced and subtle meditative experiences that characterize the path that progresses from beginning meditation to highly advanced states of concentration. He successfully avoids jargon and scriptural verbiage that may be intimidating to the beginning meditator or the practitioner outside Theravada Buddhist tradition. He provides helpful, specific instructions on how to fine tune the meditation as it deepens, and how to address specific obstacles that arise. Importantly, throughout the book he returns to the essential goal of meditation practice: to deepen our ability to see where we are clinging and creating our own suffering and to develop the skills and abilities required to live life from a place of non-reactivity, with a wise and open heart. What stands out is Shankman's obvious compassion for his readers and his understanding of how hard this practice can be. There is essential dharma in this book.

While under 200 pages may seem brief to cover the art and skill of meditation this book is packed with clarity. I recommend read this book and Shankman's "The Experience of Samadhi". The two of them together provide a great deal of wisdom/practice.

This book belongs to a new genre of meditation books that present the theory and practice of Buddhist meditation without the esoteric and confusing language found in meditation books.In the 1960's and 70's many meditators in the west migrated to the East seeking spiritual enlightenment, the ones that were enlightened realized the true essence of the matter without the esoteric fluff.This master is one of them, he summarized it and kept the the essence only.

One of the best guides to meditation I've ever read, but prospective buyers of the book in Kindle format should be aware that the formatting leaves a great deal to be desired. There's no table of contents, no index - just one long chapter. 5 starts for the content, 1 star for the Kindle format. Buy the paperback!

Richard Shankman's book is excellent for beginners as well as established meditators. The chapters cover beginning meditation instructions through mindfulness, concentration and insight. His writing is concise, accessible and very practical. I highly recommend this book.

Finally a step by step guidance on how to meditate.. I cannot recommend this book enough.. After many failed attempts at meditating over the years, this is the book that helped me "get it" & relate to the subject ..highly recommended

Libro assolutamente immancabile per chi si interessa alla meditazione cosiddetta concentrativa e vuole allontanarsi un po dalla solita onnipresente mindfulness. Manuale chiaro, appassionante su una pratica di meditazione che si basa sulla sintesi di meditazione di concentrazione e vipassana in un unico percorso meditativo, rifacendosi alle più antiche dottrine di Buddha.

Troppo discorsivo poco o per nulla pratico. Mixer dei jhana dei Sutta e dei commentari; inconcludente. Non lo consiglio. Chiesto rimborso

Very good book for beginners and intermediate-level practitioners.

Great book! Arrived as promised!