Moola Bandha : The Master Key By Swami Buddhananda

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Moola Bandha - the Master Key is for those dedicated yoga practitioners researching for the master key to unlock the abode of maha kundalini. Little has been written about the ancient practice of bandha, which is regarded as an important aspect of both hatha and kundalini yoga. Moola Bandha is a simple yet dynamic practice with profound physical, mental and spiritual benefits for the practitioner. 

The text focuses on the theory and practice of bandha. The physical, pranic and psychotherapeutic effects are explored, including the relationship between moola bandha and acupuncture. A concise practical section includes both preliminary practices and advanced techniques to enable the practitioner to pursue this sadhana to the utmost, thus awakening the primal energy within. Includes the drawings and diagrams.

The Zen Teaching of Rinzai : The Record of Rinzai By Irmgard Schloegl

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"One of my favourite books" 
---jebalkober

"Far better to have nothing further to seek, and to put oneself at ease. When hungry, I eat my food. When sleepy, I shut my eyes. Fools laugh at me; the wise understand." 
---Rinzai

Rinzai Gigen, father of the line or school of Rinzai Zen, died January 10th, 866 A.D. His date of birth is unknown, but it is generally taken that his teaching career was not much longer than a decade. The Rinzai Line is one of the Five Houses of Zen, best thought of as teaching styles that developed within the Zen school, following a great master. It was brought to Japan in the 13th century. 

The historical development of the Zen School is well documented. A bibliography is appended. Rinzai's "Record" was written by his disciples. It contains his teachings, episodes from his training, and from his teaching career. As all the great Zen masters, he was firmly based on the Buddhist teachings, conversant with the scriptures, and freely quoting them. But rather than lip-service and routine learning, he demands genuine insight into the scriptures, and a life lived out of this insight. If at times he seems to deride, it is not the scriptures, but his students, who were apt to piously and tenaciously cling to the words rather than attempt to understand them. 

Rinzai has the reputation of being extremely fierce and direct. When he really lashes out, it is to break down attachments to any ideal, and he is addressing seasoned monks. His seeming contradictions are another teaching device to rout his students from any complacency. In his Record, he speaks for himself, clearly and decisively. There are, however, some passages which may seem obscure. These are worked on in meditation only, and insight into them is tested by the Zen master. They are training subjects rather than teaching material. But this does not mean that they are in any way special, or "esoteric", or available only for a few. 

Zen is refreshingly direct and down to earth, entirely commonsensical. As a training it has been and is open to anybody, monk or layman. But it has always demanded a good deal of hard training without which the sight will not become clear. The Record may give the impression that monks were a good deal on the road, wandering about. In fact, this was the practice only for senior and well settled monks, who went from master to master -- either to test their own understanding or, in case they felt "something still lacking," to find a master under whom they could complete their training. 

Young monks stayed put to undergo their basic training. In general, as well as in Rinzai's own life, three phases can be distinguished in the life of a master: The training under a master, wandering about to settle and test his insight, and his teaching career.

Ninja Power of the Mind By Grandmaster Toshitora Yamashiro

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"One of my favourite books" 
---jebalkober

The Koga Ninja have employed various mystical methods to channel and utilize the inner energies of the mind and body. Less than ten percent of one's inner potential is used by the average person. In extreme situations, however, even common, untrained people may accidentally tap these hidden reserves and perform amazing feats of strength, concentration and sheer force of will. The Ninja have developed systematic ways to invoke such abilities and more. This is not, as some claim, a religion or sorcery, but a proven approach to connecting oneself with the physical and psychic forces within. 

Through years of training, discipline and practice, a Ninja can perform feats that, to the ignorant, seem superhuman. This can account for many of the supernatural legends about the Ninja being able to turn invisible, control the minds of others, and stun or kill with a touch, a shout, or even a look. 

This instruction manual is designed to start a novice Ninja on the path to enlightenment. The Jumon is a term referring to the system of 81 cuts, or hand symbols (9x9), for complete enlightenment and mastery of oneself and all things. Many of these hand symbols have specialized uses, and must be taught by a Master Ninja. The Jumon hand symbols are referred to as cuts because they intersect mystical planes of force which emanate throughout the universe. The hand symbols cut through these planes of energy and tap into them. Thus the term cut will be used interchangeably with hand symbol. 

For example, the system of nine hand symbols described in Chapter Three is known as the "Kuji-kiri." This term, literally translated, means "nine cuts." This training manual will introduce the Ninja to special breathing techniques, the five basic cuts of the Jumon levels of power: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void, the nine cuts of the Kuji-kiri (the nine cuts), and the combined power of the Ju-jitsu power grid (all nine cuts of the Kuji-kiri combined with a tenth cut). It must be understood from the beginning that these skills, like the Silent Way itself, take a lifetime to master. 

A student devoted to Ninjitsu must practice channeling his inner forces every day. At first, progress will be slow and difficult. 

A true Ninja must exhibit diligence, patience and dedication. 

By the time significant results can be achieved, within an average period of about five years, they will seem as they truly are, real and possible. Things are only impossible to the ignorant, the foolish and the undisciplined. View something as impossible and it will be. Accept the reality of the possible and triumph. 

Mastering the art of the Silent Way takes a lifetime of dedication. Ninjitsu is a way of life. 


******************************

Grandmaster Toshitora Yamashiro, 
The Nine Shadows of the Koga Ninja

Ninja Mind Control By Ashida Kim

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Ninja Mind Control is, without doubt, one of the best selling and most widely read books on Ninja Meditation ever written. It has been translated into six languages and distributed worldwide with excellent result. 

Achieve mastery over your own mind and possess the key that unlocks the secrets of the cosmos. The true Mystic-Warrior prevails without unsheathing his weapon. He is master of the bloodless coup. With his mental and physical abilities he evades, confuses, and “clouds the mind” of any opponent. 

Revealed here are the Breathing Exercises and Kuji-Kiri hand positions that enable you to collect, cultivate, and circulate Qi, the vital lifeforce that surrounds, permeates, and flows within the body. Through these methods, mind reading, hypnosis and suggestion, the Ninja controls himself, and, in so doing, the outcome of every encounter as well. 

Includes the Five Element Exercises and Mi Lu Kata, the Lost Track Form, of self defense that can turn even the most humble into a fighting champion. 

Ninja Mind Control was first published in 1984.

The Book of Ninja By Antony Cummins & Yoshie Minami

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The Book of Ninja, the ultimate ninjutsu manual, was penned in 1676 by a ninja known as Fujibayashi. Born in the post-civil war era of Japan, Fujibayashi collected and combined information from the ninja clans of Iga - regarded to be the homeland of the ninja - and compiled it into an authoritative book. 

Known as The Bansenshukai, this book has now been translated into English by the Historical Ninjutsu Research Team. The Book of Ninja begins with an in-depth introduction to the history of the times. 

The heart of the text takes us into the secrets of guerilla warfare and espionage. We learn spycraft, mission planning, concealment tactics, and infiltration techniques. We put on the mindset of a warrior. 

And those wishing to attain the highest levels of ninjutsu can discover how to kidnap enemies, perform night raids, make secret codes, and utilize the Ninja's system of divination. 

The Book of the Ninja is the final say in the world of the ninja and the ultimate classic for samurai and ninja enthusiasts alike. Did Ninjas really wear black? Read the Book of Ninja to find out.

Change the World Without Taking Power : The Meaning of Revolution Today By John Holloway

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Change the World Without Taking Power, includes an extensive new preface by the author. The wave of political demonstrations since the Battle of Seattle in 2001 have crystallised a new trend in left-wing politics. 

Modern protest movements are grounding their actions in both Marxism and Anarchism, fighting for radical social change in terms that have nothing to do with the taking of state power. This is in clear opposition to the traditional Marxist theory of revolution which centres on the overthrow of government. 

In this book, John Holloway asks how we can reformulate our understanding of revolution as the struggle against power, not for power. After a century of failed attempts by revolutionary and reformist movements to bring about radical social change, the concept of revolution itself is in crisis. 

John Holloway opens up the theoretical debate, reposing some of the basic concepts of Marxism in a critical development of the subversive Marxist tradition represented by Adorno, Bloch and Lukacs, amongst others, and grounded in a rethinking of Marx's concept of 'fetishisation'- how doing is transformed into being.

Steps to an Ecology of Mind By Gregory Bateson

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The title of this book of collected essays and lectures is intended precisely to define the contents. The essays, spread over thirty-five years, combine to propose a new way of thinking about ideas and about those aggregates of ideas which I call "minds." This way of thinking I call the "ecology of mind," or the ecology of ideas. It is a science which does not yet exist as an organized body of theory or knowledge. 

But the definition of an "idea" which the essays combine to propose is much wider and more formal than is conventional. The essays must speak for themselves, but here at the beginning let me state my belief that such matters as the bilateral symmetry of an animal, the patterned arrangement of leaves in a plant, the escalation of an armaments race, the processes of courtship, the nature of play, the grammar of a sentence, the mystery of biological evolution, and the contemporary crises in man's relationship to him environment, can only be understood in terms of such an ecology of ideas as I propose. 

The questions which the book raises are ecological: How do ideas interact? Is there some sort of natural selection which determines the survival of some ideas and the extinction or death of others? What sort of economics limits the multiplicity of ideas in a given region of mind? What are the necessary conditions for stability (or survival) of such a system or subsystem? 

Some of these questions are touched upon in the essays, but the main thrust of the book is to clear the way so that such questions can be meaningfully asked.

Tantric Secrets for Men : What Every Woman Will Want Her Man to Know about Enhancing Sexual Ecstasy By Kerry Riley

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Contains everything a man needs to know in order to be a good lover, based on esoteric traditions of sexual ecstasy. 

• Includes practical and easy-to-follow Tantric rituals and sacred sexuality exercises for a modern lifestyle. 
• Uses real-life stories of couples to show the benefits achieved with the practices. 
• Offers an approach to lovemaking that encompasses all dimensions--physical, emotional, and spiritual. 
• Written by the co-creators of The Secrets of Sacred Sex video Being a good lover isn't easy. 

With more freedom, knowledge, and body awareness, today's woman knows better than to settle for predictable, performance-based sex. Tantric Secrets for Men offers everything a man needs to know in order to satisfy a woman's physical, emotional, and spiritual yearnings. 

Employing the ancient secrets of physical ecstasy, men learn to transform rote sex into passionate lovemaking, pleasure into ecstasy, and partnership into union. From the expert teachings of a committed couple practicing and teaching ecstatic sexuality in a modern-day context, men will learn how to satisfy a woman on the levels of body, heart, and soul--and how to bring themselves to new heights of ecstasy in the process. 

The authors draw upon time-honored tantric and Taoist practices and modern sexology that will enable couples to make love more frequently, achieve higher and prolonged states of orgasmic intensity, experience lovemaking as a sacred endeavor, and deepen loving relationships.

The Lone Samurai : The Life of Miyamoto Musashi By William Scott Wilson

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Miyamoto Musashi (1584‒1645) was the legendary samurai known throughout the world as a master swordsman, spiritual seeker, and author of the classic book on strategy, the Book of Five Rings. 

Over 350 years after his death, Musashi and his legacy still fascinate us and continue to inspire artists, authors, and filmmakers. Here, respected translator and expert on samurai culture William Scott Wilson has created both a vivid account of a fascinating period in feudal Japan and a portrait of the courageous, iconoclastic samurai who wrestled with philosophical and spiritual ideas that are as relevant today as they were in his time. 

For Musashi, the way of the martial arts was about mastery of the mind rather than simply technical prowess—and it is this path to mastery that is the core teaching in his Book of Five Rings. 

This volume includes supplemental material on Musashi’s legacy as a martial arts icon, his impact on literature and film, and the influence of his Book of Five Rings.

Budo Mind and Body Training Secrets of the Japanese Martial Arts By Nicklaus Suino

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Budo is about learning more than how to fight; true budo is a way of seeking and uncovering meaning in life. Here, Nicklaus Suino, one of the leading iaido teachers in North America, gives expert advice on how to get the most from training in traditional Japanese martial arts such as iaido, kendo, aikido, judo, kyudo, and karate-do. He reveals the essential components of budo training, including: 

• how to determine the principles behind techniques 
• how to develop physical strength, technical strength and strength of character 
• how to discipline your mind to really focus and be in the present moment

Sex at Dawn : How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships By Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jetha

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“Sex at Dawn challenges conventional wisdom about sex in a big way. By examining the prehistoric origins of human sexual behavior the authors are able to expose the fallacies and weaknesses of standard theories proposed by most experts. This is a provocative, entertaining, and pioneering book. I learned a lot from it and recommend it highly.” — Andrew Weil, M.D. 

“Sex at Dawn irrefutably shows that what is obvious—that human beings, both male and female, are lustful—is true, and has always been so…. The more dubious its evidentiary basis and lack of connection with current reality, the more ardently the scientific inevitability of monogamy is maintained—even as it falls away around us.” — Stanton Peele, Ph.D. 

A controversial, idea-driven book that challenges everything you (think you) know about sex, monogamy, marriage, and family. In the words of Steve Taylor (The Fall, Waking From Sleep), Sex at Dawn is “a wonderfully provocative and well-written book which completely re-evaluates human sexual behavior and gets to the root of many of our social and psychological ills.”

The Little Book of Contentment By Leo Babauta

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A guide to becoming happy with life & who you are, while getting things done. 

What is contentment? For me, it’s really about being happy with who you are. Which I wasn’t for many years, and I think most people are not. In my life, I’ve learned to be better at the skill of contentment. 

I am happy with my life. I am happy with myself. I’m happy with where I am professionally, and I don’t seek to add more readers or pageviews or income. I’m happy wherever I am.

The Power of Less By Leo Babauta

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Do Less. Get More Done. 

With the countless distractions that come from every corner of modern life, it’s amazing that we’re ever able to accomplish anything. 

The Power of Less demonstrates how to streamline your life by identifying the essential and eliminating the unnecessary — freeing you from everyday clutter and allowing you to focus on accomplishing the goals that can change your life for the better. 

The Power of Less will show you how to: 

• Break down any goal into manageable tasks 
• Focus on only a few tasks at a time 
• Create new and productive habits 
• Hone your focus 
• Increase your efficiency 

By setting limits for yourself and making the most of the resources you already have, you’ll be able to work less, work smarter, and focus on living the life that you deserve. 

The Power of Less will be on sale starting Dec. 30, 2008, just in time for New Year! Use this book to help transform your life, accomplish your goals, and work and live in a saner and simpler manner.

Essential Motivation Handbook By Leo Babauta

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"How to motivate yourself?” is a question that only YOU know the answer to. Hidden deep inside all of us is both the desire to do great things and the knowledge to strive for them. 

But for many of us, these are things that are buried beyond our normal understanding of ourselves. So if you want to know how to motivate yourself, you have to first learn a bit more ABOUT yourself.

Zen To Done The Ultimate Simple Product By Leo Babauta

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Zen To Done is a simple system to get you more organized and productive, and keep your life saner and less stressed, with a set of habits. 

Zen To Done takes some of the best aspects of a few popular productivity systems (GTD, Stephen Covey and others) and combines them with the mandate of simplicity. It makes things as simple as possible, and no more.

What is ZTD? 

Simply put, ZTD teaches you: 

• The key habits needed to be productive, organized, and simplified … and no more than that. 

• How to implement these key habits … tips on forming a habit. 

• How to organize these habits into a simple system that will keep everything in your life in its place. 

• How to simplify what you need to do. 

Minimal ZTD. Also includes an even simpler version called Minimal ZTD. Thousands of readers have written to me with comments about how ZTD has changed their lives, made them more organized and less stressed, and has worked better than other productivity systems. It’s definitely worth a try.

52 Changes By Leo Babauta

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My name is Leo Babauta. Many of you might know me as the creator of Zen Habits and someone who writes about simplicity and forming habits. 

What makes me qualified to write this book? In short, I’ve transformed my life using some simple principles. I’ve learned how to make changes and have fun doing them. I do little experiments, one or two a month, and I see what happens. I stick with the changes that feel good, and leave behind those that don’t work as well for me. !at’s what I suggest you do. 

In the last 7 years (since 2005), I’ve made uncountable small changes — and yes, small changes are what work best. I started running, eventually running a marathon at the end of 2006 and two more in the next couple years, along with a number of other races and triathlons and the like. I started eating healthier, and am now a vegan, and have lost about 70 lbs. 

I started waking earlier, meditating, learning to focus and stop procrastinating, paid o" a lot of debt, started saving and then investing, created a popular website, wrote several books and created some popular courses, started traveling, moved my wife and six kids to San Francisco from Guam (whew! that was a biggie), gave up our second vehicle on Guam and then went car-free when we moved to San Francisco, and on and on. 

I’ve made all the changes in this book at one time or another, though sometimes I have to revisit some of them. Yes, it’s OK to let some of them go when it feels best for you, and revisit them when you feel up to it. 

The changes in this book aren’t a way to improve your life. Let me stress that: this isn’t a self-improvement book. It’s an experimentation book. It’s a change lab. It’s a way to explore yourself, to figure out what works best for you, to get out of your comfort zone, to learn how to change, and to be OK with change. And that’s the most important thing: learning how to be OK with change. 

It’s about living life in a way that will give you the greatest fulfillment, will help you help the world, and to live more fully and in the present. 

I present 52 Changes, with gratitude to you for reading it.

The Simple Guide To A Minimalist Life By Leo Babauta

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What is a minimalist life? 

It's one that is stripped of the unnecessary, to make room for that which gives you joy. It's a removal of clutter in all its forms, leaving you with peace and freedom and lightness. 

A minimalist eschews the mindset of more, of acquiring and consuming and shopping, of bigger is better, of the burden of stuff. 

A minimalist instead embraces the beauty of less, the aesthetic of spareness, a life of contentedness in what we need and what makes us truly happy. 

A minimalist realizes that acquiring stuff doesn't make us happy. That earning more and having more are meaningless. That filling your life with busy-ness and freneticism isn't desirable, but something to be avoided. 

“Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” - Lao Tzu  

A minimalist values quality, not quantity, in all forms. I'm a minimalist, and it's something that's deeply satisfying. I wake in the morning in a room that lacks clutter, in the quiet of the early morning, have coffee and read, go out for a run, and then write. 

Work a little more, spend some time with my family. These are the things that make me happy. Not buying a lot of things. 

Not traveling all the time, nor going to parties or spending money on expensive entertainment. 

Not watching a lot of television and being bombarded with ads. Others might find joy in these things, and I'm not criticizing them. I'm just stating what makes me happy. And that's the key. 

Figure out what makes you happy. Get rid of the rest, so you have room for those important things. 

It's not a life of nothing, of boringness. It's a life of richness, in less. 

Your minimalist life will be different than mine. You'll need to figure out what makes you happiest. Plan your ideal day. Then strip your life of the non-essentials, to make room for this ideal day, for the things and people you love. 

This book is meant to help you find that path.