Customer Reviews
Look no further - the best meditation manual available. - By: A reader, 13 Aug 2008 
I have been interestedin Buddhism & meditation for many years & have been waiting all that time for a book that is a true 'nuts & bolts' manual of how to meditate. This is the first book I have found that I can totally recommend. It covers the subject with honesty, humour & an amazing level of clarity. For a beginner or experienced meditator, there is no better book that I have seen.
Also, the author has integrity & comes from the traditional Theravada school of Buddhism - beware that there are quite a few dodgy modern 'schools' that use the name of Buddhismin vain. If you are new to Buddhism, I strongly recommend the Theravada school (e.g. Amaravati monasteryin the UK).
A minor point & it doesn't detract at all from the book, but I feel that maybe the title is a bit misleading as it isn't very clear that it is a 'manual' of meditation - perhaps 'Meditation demystified' or 'How to meditate' would be clearer.
See for yourself - By: ChristianB, 30 Jun 2008 I do not have much too add not already said by other reviewers, but would like to point out that the whole book can be found online so you can preview it before you order the book. Just search for the title.
A True Meditation Manual - By: Adam, 11 Mar 2008 This book is fantastic! From the reviews, I was expecting a manual on Vipassana (insight) meditation only. But Bhante G covers both Shamatha (concentration) & Vipassana (insight) meditationin thorough detail,in a step-by-step, very user-friendly & practical way. By far the best book I have read on the two core Buddhist meditation practices. He dealsin great detail with the things us beginners struggle with, like the many distractions that can assail us during our practice, & the five hindrances, along with very useful techniques for over-coming these obstacles. If you are at all interestedin Buddhist meditation, then I am sure you will find this book invaluable.
One of many personal responses - By: Jan Gerhards, 23 Nov 2007 
After I had read this book I was very enthusiastic about it, because it is certainly a very good manualin comparison to any other I have read. I started 'practicing Vipassana' after reading the 3-page summary of the techniquein Fontana's Meditation Manual. For a technique that is said to take you to enlightenment, that is a decidedly concise account; concise enough for me to utterly misunderstand the practice.
Things to know about Vipassana:
There are Buddhists who sideline Vipassana because it is powerful enough to 'unbalance' an unwary practitioner. Too strong an opinion perhaps - but neither is it necessarily as "gentle" as the author of this book describes it!
There are as many variants of the technique as there are traditions. Some are very different to others, however this is not to say that there is only one effective technique. This book represents just one of many traditions.
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I learnt Vipassana on an intensive ten-day course as taught by S.N. Goenka. Only by the tenth day - & not before - did I feel like I had grasped the technique. There are limits to what you can learn on your own from a book. The technique I was taught was different to thatin the book - and,in my opinion, far superior.
I have a particular reservation with the wayin which this book advocates 'mindfulness' of mental objects. Merely watching the sensations is all we need consciously do, the mindfulness is a process that happens by itself. I do not think mindfulness can be achieved deliberately.
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a very experienced man, & I'm sure his opinion is worth more than mine. But for what it is worth, take a look at S.N. Goenkas 10-day course instead.
Mindfulness in real life - By: Ms. Lucia Cockcroft, 06 Jul 2007 The theme of the book is Mindfulness: actually seeing what is therein front of us.
Bhante's premise (which is difficult to ague with ) is that we see life through a screen of thoughts & concepts. As he puts it, we get so caught upin this endless thought-stream that reality flows by unnoticed.
Meditation can sometimes seem daunting & mystical but its goal is to simply free us from not being aware of our lives as they unfold.
Bhante's gift, which shines through every page of this book, is to break down some of the myths & make them real & practical.
What is left is a remarkably lucid, accessible & sensible account of how mindfulness meditation (in the Vipassana tradition - though that detail isn't important) can literally chance your life: your reactions, your perception, your ability to life for the moment.
There is no hint of high-mindednessin his tone, which is grounded, realistic, & thoroughly human.
Consider this, from page one: "There you are, & you suddenly realise that you are spending your whole life just barely getting by. You keep up a good front. You manage to make ends meet somehow & look okay from the outside.
"But those periods of desperation, those times when you feel everything cavingin on you - you keep those to yourself. You are a mess, & you know it.
"Meanwhile, way down under all of that, you just know that there has to be some other way to live, a better way to look at the world, a way to touch life more fully.... life is an emotional roller coaster, & you spend a lot of your time down at the bottom of the ramp, yearning for heights."
So what's wrong with you, Bhante asks? You are simply human, battling with all the usual human hallmarks of jealousy, suffering, discontent & stress.
Meditation isn't a quick-fix solution to the human condition, he says. In this age of instant gratification, this can be a hard pill to swallow.
"But what it does do is teach you to watch the functioning of your own mindin a calm & detached manner so you can gain insight into your own behaviour. The goal is awareness."
With a good deal of patience & commitment, meditation can simply teach you to stand aside from your own thought processes & not get involved.
Step by step, it will become clear that agitation is actually a superficial mental stage. It comes & goes, he says, & has no real grip on you at all.
There are so many pearls of hope & wisdomin this bok, but I particularly like this one, for its searing truth & humanity. Bhante writes:
"Somewherein this process, you will come face to face with the sudden & shocking realisation that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking, gibbering madhouse, utterly out of control & helpless.
"No problem. You are not crazier than you were yesterday. It has always been this way, & you just never noticed. You are no crazier than everybody else around you.
The only real difference is that you have confronted the situation & they have not."
This review is taken from a blog from www.yoga-abode.com
