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The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra
Rob Preece
Foreword by Stephen Batchelor
Published in the US by Snowlion Publications
ISBN -10 1-55939-263-0
Price: £12.95
(£14.95 including post and packaging in the UK)
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This book masterfully suceeds in clarifying the nature of Tantric practice. In contrast to the approaches of conventional religion, tantra does not attempt to soothe the turmoil of existence with consoling promises of heaven and salvation. The tantric practitioner chooses to confront the bewildering and chaotic forces of fear, aggression, desire and pride, and work with them in such a way that they are channeled into creative expression, loving relationships, and wisely engaged forms of life.
In order to make the process of tantra psychologically intelligible for a contemporary reader, Rob Preece makes judicious use of the work of modern psychotherapy, forging a compelling link between a Western tradition that hearks back to the alchemical traditions of our own past and the comparably "alchemical" strategies of Tibetan Buddhist practices. In keeping with the pragmatic and therapeutic aims of both psychotherapy and Buddhist meditation, The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra never loses sight of the central importance of applying these ideas to the concrete realities of daily life.
"Rob Preece has given us one of the most illuminating unpackings of Tibetan tantra yet to emerge in the English language." -Mark Epstein, author of Thoughts without a Thinker.
"The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra succeeds in clarifying the nature of tantric practice. He does not seek to explain away the undeniably evocative and darkly potent language of tantra, but to recognise them as transformative symbols of the rich complexity of our own inner lives." -Stephen Batchelor.
Rob Preece has been a practising Buddhist since 1973, and has spent many years in intensive retreat, in the Himalayas of India. He has worked as a Psychotherapist since 1987 and given many workshops on comparative Jungian and Buddhist psychology. He has taught at the Sharpham College for Buddhist studies in Devon, and at the Centre for Transpersonal Psychology in London. He is an experienced meditation teacher and Tankha painter.
For a brief extract go to Introduction
The Wisdom of Imperfection
The challenge of individuation in Buddhist life
Rob Preece
Published in the US by Snowlion Publications
ISBN 1-55939-252-5
Price £11.50 (£13.50 including post and packaging in the UK)
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and in the USA
2nd Edition 2010
Compassion grows from an understanding of our fallibility not from ideals of perfection. Wisdom does not always come as a flash of inspiration but from the slow often painful working of experience. We grow from our errors, they are the manure of transformation. The Wisdom of Imperfection explores the journey of individuation in Buddhist life, looking at the psychological process beneath the traditional Buddhist path of the Bodhisattva. Rob Preece draws on his work as a psychotherapist and meditation teacher to explore the psychological influences on our struggle to awaken."The Wisdom of Imperfection strikes an illuminating balance between commitment to a Buddhist practice and recognition of deep-seated psychological realities. This is the book for all those who wonder why they can't stop undermining and contradicting what they cherish most deeply."--Stephen Batchelor, author of Living with the Devil
"The Wisdom of Imperfection is a wonderfully thorough and engaging look at the unfolding of the spiritual/psychological journey. Drawing on a depth of personal experience, Rob Preece offers an insightful and important perspective."--Sharon Salzberg, author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience
"In The Wisdom of Imperfection, Rob Preece takes us on a remarkable journey of self-discovery. The book offers a powerful vision of wholeness, based on profound insight into the principles of Buddhism as well as a sophisticated understanding of modern Western psychology. This lucid and well written work is further enriched and brought to life by compelling anecdotes and case histories drawn from Rob Preece's practical experience as a skilled psychotherapist and Buddhist practitioner. The Wisdom of Imperfection is an important contribution to the growing dialogue between Western psychology and Eastern spirituality."--Howard C. Cutler, M.D., co-author, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, of The Art of Happiness and The Art of Happiness at Work.
"Preece generously offers Jungian insight to the common pitfalls encountered by westerners on the Buddhist path. His depth of understanding yields gems for anyone struggling to hold the tension of opposites the spiritual life demands. The Wisdom of Imperfection is a perfect read!"--Deborah Bowman, Ph.D., Associate Professor and founder of the Transpersonal Counseling Psychology program at Naropa University
For extracts go to Articles and Introduction
The Courage to feel
Buddhist practices for opening to others
Rob Preece
Published in the US by Snowlion Publications
ISBN-10: 1-55939-333-5
Price: £9.95
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and in the USA
When circumstances are challenging, how do we react? This book offers methods to help us develop greater inner strength and openness to life by changing the habit of "self-preoccupation" - the tendency to act from a narrow perspective dominated by insecurity and isolation. When we learn to look outside this mentality and truly cherish others as well as ourselves, we create a happier, relaxed mind and more fulfilling relationships, as well as realising our life's purpose in a menaingful way.
A long time Buddhist practitioner and psychotherapist, Rob shares traditional meditations and practices for awakening the mind and heart including tonglen, but he also offers a Jungian persepctive on these and his own sense - cultivated during many years experience - of ways in which Westerners may need to re-see these practices to benefit most from them. Rob's insightful fusion of East and West will help readers tap inner resources of compassion and integrity in order to realise the awakened mind for the benefit of all living beings. Rob offers meditation practices at the end of many chapters to help the reader digest and integrate the book's information.
"Rob Preece has brought traditional Buddhist practices alive by translating them into these times and the personal and collective psyche into which we are born. This is a true engagement of the particularness of the conditioned mind and its developmental causes and the ancient wisdom practices from Tibetan Buddhism.
Rob shares his lifelong journey to embody his learning through his Tibetan teachers and his Transpersonal Psychotherapeutic client experience. He has allowed us to see his struggles and realizations. In this way he reveals the qualities he so well communicates in the book. The qualities of courage, perseverance, humility; ordinariness; compassion and wisdom. Rob shares with us his own journey in “Awakening Mind”, embodied Bodhichitta. He uncovers our natural, inherent motivation towards kindness and our shared humanity.
This book is essential reading for those who want to engage with the deeper questions of meaning and would be a resource to meditators; counsellors and psychotherapists.
In these times, the world seems to suffer from a malaise in relationship at all levels. Rob’s book not only uncovers the cause but offers us the remedy as the mind awakens and remembers its true nature." Maura Sills (Director of training at Karuna Institute)For extracts go to Articles and Introduction
Preparing for Tantra
Creating the Psychological Ground for Practice
Rob Preece
Published in the US by Snowlion Publications
ISBN 9781559393775
Price £11.95
To order contact:
and in the USA
It is now very common for people in the West to receive empowerments into extraordinary and complex tantric practices. However, to embark upon them without having first prepared the ground may have a number of negative consequences. Our psychological and energetic maturity simply may not have been developed sufficiently to bring out the real potential of the practice.
In Preparing for Tantra, Rob Preece draws on his experience as a Tantric Buddhist practitioner, meditation teacher, and psychotherapist to show how to make the preliminary practices psychologically meaningful and spiritually transformative. These preliminaries are an extraordinarily rich collection of practices, and he examines them with an eye to revealing how they may be used to heal and transform psychological trauma, offering practical suggestions for integrating them into one's daily life.
ENDORSEMENTS
"An accessible guidebook for engaging in ngondro, the preliminary practices that are done before engaging in a long tantric retreat. These practices are also powerful tools for purifying negativities and alleviating guilt, healing difficult experiences, and enriching our minds with goodness so that we will be able to progress in our Dharma practice and gain realizations of the path. As a Dharma practitioner and a psychotherapist with many years of experience in both fields, Rob addresses many of the psychological issues that arise for Westerners practicing the Dharma and explains how to use the preliminary practices to clear and heal these. It is a great manual to have at your side while doing the preliminary practices."--Thubten Chodron, author of Buddhism for Beginners"Western Students of Buddhism--particularly those attempting to master the meditative techniques of Highest Yoga Tantra--face the daunting challenge of weaving these profound transformative practices into the fabric of their busy daily lives. In Preparing for Tantra, Rob Preece draws on his many years of experience as both a meditator and psychotherapist to demonstrate most eloquently how one's daily life and work, far from being a hindrance to one's spiritual practices, can serve as its ongoing foundation, fully integrated with the ngondro, or traditional tantric preliminaries. Inspiring and highly recommended."--Jonathan Landaw, author of Images of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice
For extracts go to Articles: Introduction; In the Shadow of Goodness; Giving Up