A Lamp unto Yourself: A Beginner's Guide to Asian Spiritual Practices, from Advaita and Buddhism to Yoga and Zen
Apr 2025 · Beacon Press
Ebook
232
Pages
family_home
Eligible
info
infoThis book will become available on April 22, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
For “spiritual explorers” ready to travel beyond Western bounds, a beginner’s guide to Asian spiritual traditions spanning regions, cultures, and history
Asian spiritual practices, from yoga and tai chi to qigong and mindfulness meditations, permeate our culture. But these practices are often casually used in the West, and sometimes little understood. As informative as it is inviting, A Lamp unto Yourself introduces “spiritual explorers” of all experience levels to embodied Eastern spiritual practices.
Employing decades of personal and professional experience with Asian spiritualities, C. Pierce Salguero explains the origins of key Asian spiritual practices. He grounds them in their historical and philosophical contexts and provides information on how the reader can begin and deepen their personal practices. Salguero also discusses the focus of the path (heart, body, or perception) and describes what one might experience as they develop their practice. In A Lamp unto Yourself, readers will learn more about such traditions as
Those looking to begin practicing for the first time or to simply expand their ever-growing spiritual tool kits will feel empowered to explore Eastern spirituality with knowledge and autonomy. With Salguero as their guide, readers can confidently embark on their journeys to becoming, as Buddha would encourage, a lamp unto themselves.
Asian spiritual practices, from yoga and tai chi to qigong and mindfulness meditations, permeate our culture. But these practices are often casually used in the West, and sometimes little understood. As informative as it is inviting, A Lamp unto Yourself introduces “spiritual explorers” of all experience levels to embodied Eastern spiritual practices.
Employing decades of personal and professional experience with Asian spiritualities, C. Pierce Salguero explains the origins of key Asian spiritual practices. He grounds them in their historical and philosophical contexts and provides information on how the reader can begin and deepen their personal practices. Salguero also discusses the focus of the path (heart, body, or perception) and describes what one might experience as they develop their practice. In A Lamp unto Yourself, readers will learn more about such traditions as
- mindfulness meditation, insight meditation, and loving-kindness meditation
- yogas, tai chi, and qigong
- Taoism and Advaita
- mantras, chakras, and tantra
Those looking to begin practicing for the first time or to simply expand their ever-growing spiritual tool kits will feel empowered to explore Eastern spirituality with knowledge and autonomy. With Salguero as their guide, readers can confidently embark on their journeys to becoming, as Buddha would encourage, a lamp unto themselves.
About the author
Dr. C. Pierce Salguero is a historian of Buddhism and Asian medicine, and a long-time practitioner of several different forms of Asian spirituality. He has a PhD in the history of medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010) and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University’s Abington College, near Philadelphia. He is the author of many books on Buddhism and Asian medicine, including Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical. When he’s not working on a manuscript or teaching a class, you might find him traveling the world with his wife and kids, making huge batches of homemade Sichuan chili sauce or out on his back porch meditating on a cup of Tippy Yunnan.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
