*Book Study* Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization

[James Stewart]

Book Study Group

Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization
By: Bhante Analayo



Join us as we read Bhante Analayo's seminal book on early Buddhist meditation. We will read one chapter per week and hold a discussion to help each other gain insight.
When: 7pm every Wednesday. Starting Oct. 5
Where: To be announced (suggestions?)
How: E-mail jste...@pariyatti.net to RSVP
and then
Pick the book up from your favorite bookseller.

    'a gem...I learned a lot from this wonderful book and highly recommend it to both experienced meditators and those just beginning to explore the path.'
Joseph Goldstein

... an indispensable guide ... surely destined to become the classic commentary on the Satipatthana.
Christopher Titmuss

The Satipatthana Sutta is the teaching on mindfulness and the breath and is the bases of much insight meditation practice today. This book is a thorough and insightful guide to this deceptively simple yet profound teaching.

'With painstaking thoroughness, Ven. Analayo marshals the suttas of the Pali canon, works of modem scholarship, and the teachings of present-day meditation masters to make the rich implications of the Satipatthana Sutta, so concise in the original, clear to contemporary students of the Dharma.

Unlike other popular books on the subject, he is not out to establish the exclusive validity of one particular system of meditation as against other's. Rather, his aim is to explore the sutta as a wide-ranging and multi-faceted source of guidance which allows for alternative interpretations and approaches to practice. His analysis combines the detached objectivity of the academic scholar with the engaged concern of the practitioner for whom meditation is a way of life rather than just a subject of study.

The book should prove to be of value both to scholars of Early Buddhism and to serious meditators alike. Ideally, it will encourage in both types of readers the same wholesome synthesis of scholarship and practice that underlies the author's own treatment of his subject.'
Bhikkhu Bodhi

About the Author
Ven. Analayo was born in Germany, was ordained in Sri Lanka in 1995 and completed his PhD on satipatthana at the University of Peradeniya in 2000. At present he is mainly engaged in the practice of meditation and amongst other things contributes to the Encyclopedia of Buddhism.

[James Stewart]

Great news!

    In order to have an easier and more inclusive conversation the book study group has been moved online. I've convinced the online forum www.dhammawheel.com to host the study group. This will enable more people to participate. As a result, I've moved the start date back 2 weeks to allow new people time to get the book and start reading. I hope everyone contributes something to the conversation!

When: Starting Monday, October 17th
Where: Dhammawheel Forum
How: Visit www.dhammawheel.com and register for an account. Pick up the book from your favorite bookseller and start taking notes on chapter 1. We'll go wherever the conversation takes as and we explore questions that might come up as you read, any realization or inspiration you might have, the pali background, and even points of controversy.

The book study will be held in the forum entitled "Study Group" under the parent forum called "Modern Theravada".

-James