A Lamp unto Yourself: A Beginner’s Guide to Asian Spiritual Practices, from Advaita and Buddhism to Yoga and Zen
C. Pierce Salguero. Beacon, $24.95 (216p) ISBN 978-0-8070-2039-5
Historian Salguero (Buddhish) takes readers on an accessible tour through Asian spiritual traditions. Breaking down practices that center the heart, body, and nondual perception (the awareness that there are no boundaries between humans and the divine), he covers Theravada Buddhism’s vipassana (a meditation that involves observing thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations without judgment); Hinduism’s meditative absorption (using a “deep stillness of the mind” to unlock “subtler and subtler states of concentration”); and Daoism and neo-Advaita’s doing-nothing meditation (an “unstructured” practice of “rest[ing] in the natural state”). Salguero brings a cheerful and inquisitive spirit to his exploration, inviting readers to view spirituality in an expansive, non-exclusionary way (a means of “experienc[ing] reality differently” rather than a rigid set of rules) while gently challenging them to avoid such pitfalls as spiritual materialism (focusing on external trappings, like expensive meditation retreats) and spiritual bypassing (avoiding the difficult work of self-exploration to “get to the bliss”). The result is a skillful distillation of Asian religious practices and a solid starting point for seekers. (Apr.)
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Reviewed on: 01/27/2025
Genre: Religion