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Rating: 
Summary: Just the path, ma'am
Review: Confused or adrift in your practice? Maybe reading a lot and putting off actually getting on that cushion you ordered? Well, read this book (and Ayya Khema's *Visible Here and Now*) and you will be confused, lost, or procrastinating no more. Brilliant insight shined right where you need it. GET THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Just the path, ma'am
Review: Confused or adrift in your practice? Maybe reading a lot and putting off actually getting on that cushion you ordered? Well, read this book (and Ayya Khema's *Visible Here and Now*) and you will be confused, lost, or procrastinating no more. Brilliant insight shined right where you need it. GET THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Sensible mysticism
Review: Finally, a Dharma text that avoids the unnecessary mystical, vague, and ambiguous writing notorious in much of Buddhist literature without devaluating the inherent mystical, vague, and ambiguous nature of Buddhism. Bravo, Mr. Flickstein!
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Summary: Sensible mysticism
Review: Let's get clear about specifics here! This book addresses ONLY vipassana/ insight methods. Very little on the jhana ("tranquility") practice, which is what you would be talking about if you draw a close association between this book and the Vissudhimagga. So that is which side of the street we are talking about, okay? Having said that, it's a marvelously good piece of writing, a must-have for every Theravada practicer. You can avoid wasting your time trying to unravel the Vissudhimagga, the Vimuttimagga, the Patisambhaga, also the The Seven Purifications book, and the Seven Insights book (all being translations from Sri Lanka). (You guessed it: I have read them all.) I found this to be EASY READING! But you will have to look elsewhere for jhana practice methods.
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Summary: A Profound and Helpful Atlas for the Path of Truth
Review: This book offers the reader gentle and illuminating guidance to the Path of Purification. Matthew's style of writing is simple, yet direct. In the tradition of the great Buddhist teachers, he offers insightful and meaningful explanations of the important teachings contained in the Path of Purification in a timeless and relevant manner. This book, together with his earlier work, will join the list of contemporary Buddhist classics. It will help those on the path to realization here and now in this life.
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Summary: Companion for Meditators
Review: This is a cloudless and exceedingly matter-of-fact atlas for anybody who involves themselves with meditation practice. This book is truly a practice guide, as the title suggests. Although I would without hesitation recommend this book to beginner's, it's honestly more for those of us more familiar with meditative practices. The author, Matthew Flickenstein, takes aim at what most of us commonly call vipassana (insight) meditation. He gives a pretty surprising investigation into both it's benefits, and what sometimes can lead to actual drawbacks. The purpose of insight meditation, he points out, is to simply see things as they really are. Reality as it is. In order for that to happen, we need to not discriminate what we are aware of, we must be truly be aware of all that arises, without grasping or even resisting any of our experiences. But whenever we move our concentration in a specific direction, such as the breath, we are subtly forming a purpose and we are no longer communicating "no preference" in our awareness of what we are experiencing. This book goes into much more specific detail about the benefits and drawbacks of certain styles of practice, something I could never summarize in the confines of such a review. Matthew Flickenstein presents us with a most intriguing body of work here, a priceless companion on our road of discovery and introspection. So what are you waiting for? Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Companion for Meditators
Review: This is a cloudless and exceedingly matter-of-fact atlas for anybody who involves themselves with meditation practice. This book is truly a practice guide, as the title suggests. Although I would without hesitation recommend this book to beginner's, it's honestly more for those of us more familiar with meditative practices. The author, Matthew Flickenstein, takes aim at what most of us commonly call vipassana (insight) meditation. He gives a pretty surprising investigation into both it's benefits, and what sometimes can lead to actual drawbacks. The purpose of insight meditation, he points out, is to simply see things as they really are. Reality as it is. In order for that to happen, we need to not discriminate what we are aware of, we must be truly be aware of all that arises, without grasping or even resisting any of our experiences. But whenever we move our concentration in a specific direction, such as the breath, we are subtly forming a purpose and we are no longer communicating "no preference" in our awareness of what we are experiencing. This book goes into much more specific detail about the benefits and drawbacks of certain styles of practice, something I could never summarize in the confines of such a review. Matthew Flickenstein presents us with a most intriguing body of work here, a priceless companion on our road of discovery and introspection. So what are you waiting for? Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Clear practice guide to Path of Purification
Review: This is an excellent book which condenses and puts into clear English the complex and ancient textbook of Buddhism known as the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification) which was written in the 5th century common era. Swallowing the River Ganges provides an explanation of beginning practices all the way up to the work of those nearing enlightment. In particular this is a clear rendering of the sort of knowledges needed for progress on the spiritual path from a Buddhist perspective. There is no other book quite like this.
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