The Journey and the Guide: A Practical Course in Enlightenment - Paperback

by Maitreyabandhu (Author)

Building on the success of Life with Full Attention, Maitreyabandhu offers a profoundly useful work on how to practice Buddhism in everyday life. Using examples from the life of the Buddha, Maitreyabandhu provides an easily understood outline of the spiritual life of Buddhists in the Triratna Community.

The journey starts with our mind, particularly when we begin to look into the truth of things--the truth of the friend in hospital, the coffin we carry to the graveside. What we find in our guide, the Buddha, is a man with a "fit," healthy mind. To get fit, we need to work on becoming a happy healthy human being.

Maitreyabandhu takes us on this journey with practical week-by-week exercises, focusing on cultivating mindful awareness and being happy.

Maitreyabandhu is an experienced teacher and a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order. Ordained in 1990, he has published articles on Buddhism and meditation in the United Kingdom and abroad. He is the director of Breathing Space, the London Buddhist Centre's health and well-being program. He is also a published poet, winning the Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition in 2011. Maitreyabandhu often presents Buddhism in the media. His previous books are Thicker Than Blood: Friendship on the Buddhist Path (2003) and Life With Full Attention: A Practical Course in Mindfulness (2009), published by Windhorse Publications.

Back Jacket

- Building on the success of Life with Full Attention, Maitreyabandhu offers a challenging but profoundly useful work on how to practice Buddhism in everyday life.

- Train your mind to be healthy and calm through learning from the life of the Buddha.

- Drawing on examples from the life of the Buddha, Maitreyabandhu gives an easily understood outline of the system of spiritual life as undertaken by Buddhists in the Triratna Community.

- Maitreyabandhu shows how the journey starts with our own mind, particularly when we begin to look into the truth of things -- the truth of the old man on the escalator, the friend in hospital, the coffin we carry to the graveside.

- What we find in our guide, the Buddha, is a man with a "fit" mind: a healthy, happy, non-neurotic, honest-to-goodness mind. To get fit, we need to work on becoming a happy healthy human being. We need to integrate our thinking faculty with our emotions. We need to wake up to thought and tune in to direct experience. And we need to work against the ever-rising tide of trivia, dissipation, and over-stimulation of the modern world.

- Maitreyabandhu takes us on this journey with practical week-by-week exercises, focusing on cultivating mindful awareness, being happy, integrating and simplifying our lives, and knowing ourselves.

Author Biography

Maitreyabandhu is an experienced teacher and a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order. Ordained in 1990, he has published articles on Buddhism and meditation in the UK and abroad.

He is a published poet, winning the Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition in 2011.

Maitreyabandhu has worked in such diverse fields as the visual arts, opera, and alternative health. Maitreyabandhu has often presented Buddhism in the media, including television and radio.

He is currently the director of Breathing Space, the London Buddhist Centre's health and wellbeing program. He lives and works at London Buddhist Centre in the East End of London.