"when I first started meditating, I had the idea that meditation would make me kinder and happier... But during the first two months, I never felt so much hatred and anger in my life."

Issa was not only a Buddhist priest but also one of Japan’s greatest Haiku poets. His verses featured in this extract are quite mysterious…

Zen Master Dōgen Zenji on the correct form and practice for sitting Zazen (meditation).

Zen master Daiyu explains what taking refuge in the Buddha really means

After pushing his body too far in the pursuit of insight, a young Master Bankei finds himself on the verge of death when something miraculous suddenly happens.

This Book Extract looks at the history of early Buddhism in China and it’s symbiotic development with Chinese spiritual traditions of the time.

In this extract from Trevor Leggett, we have a description of what the state of realisation feels like, and the next step that has to be taken afterwards.

Ven. Ajahn Sumedho explains how our relationship to everything we experience can produce (or not produce) an awakened mind.

Ven. Ajahn Sumedho teaches us how to become aware of the ‘no-thing’.

Venerable Ajhan Sumdeo on the difference between trying to be a ‘good’ person and being a ‘whole’ person.

Ven. Ajahn Sumedho recounts his experience as an 'arrogant', 'stubborn' and 'rebellious' foreigner, starting life as a monastic in very harsh conditions in the north of Thailand.

While meditating we can get so wrapped up in the mind that we forget the body. Meditation master Ajahn Amaro gives us a method for reintroducing the body back into the meditation.