How to Meditate: A Practical Guide Book

	Preface	vii
Part 1	Mind and Meditation
1	Why Meditate?	3
2	What Is Meditation?	6
Part 2	Establishing a Meditation Practice
1	Advice for Beginners	15
2	The Meditation Session	20
3	Posture	24
4	Common Problems	27
Part 3	Meditations on the Mind
1	Meditation on the Breath	37
2	Meditation on the Clarity of the Mind	42
3	Meditation on the Continuity of the Mind	45
Part 4	Analytical Meditations
	About Analytical Meditation	51
1	Meditation on Emptiness	53
2	Appreciating our Human Life	59
3	Meditation on Impermanence	65
4	Death Awareness Meditation	69
5	Meditation on Karma	80
6	Purifying Negative Karma	90
7	Meditation on Suffering	97
8	Equanimity Meditation	106
9	Meditation on Love	111
10	Meditation on Compassion and Tonglen (Giving and Taking)	116
11	Dealing with Negative Energy	122
Part 5	Visualization Meditations
	About Visualization	143
1	Body of Light Meditation	147
2	Simple Purification Meditation	148
3	Meditation on Tara, the Buddha of Enlightened Activity	151
4	Meditation on Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion	155
5	Inner Heat Meditation	161
Part 6	Prayers and Other Devotional Practices
	About Devotion	167
1	Prayers	171
2	Explanation of the Prayers	175
3	A Short Meditation on the Graduated Path to Enlightenment	183
4	Meditation on the Buddha	186
5	Meditation on the Healing Buddha	194
6	Meditation on the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation	200
7	Prayer to Tara	211
8	Vajrasattva Purification	219
9	The Eight Mahayana Precepts	228
10	Prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas	238
	Glossary	247
	Suggested Further Reading	253
	Index	257