Into the Mirror combines contemporary Western inquiries into the nature of consciousness, with classical Buddhist investigations into the nature of mind, to offer deep insights into the nature of reality. Andy Karr invites the reader to make this a personal, experiential journey through study, contemplation, and meditation.
The first part of the book presents the Mahayana Buddhist approach to the path of freedom from suffering. It explores foundational teachings, such as the four truths, the notion of enlightenment, and the practice of meditation, from a fresh perspective. The second part deconstructs assumptions about mind and the material world using easily understood tools from contemporary Western philosophy. Part three presents a series of contemplative practices, ethics, and insights, starting with the Middle Way teachings on emptiness and interdependence, through Yogachara's subtle understanding of non-duality, to the view that buddha nature is already within us to be revealed rather than something external to be acquired.
Into the Mirror concludes with a call to cultivate compassion for beings and the environment right within this world of illusion.
Into the Mirror: A Buddhist Journey through Mind, Matter, and the Nature of Reality; Andy Karr; Shambhala Publications; Paperback; 272 pages; $21.95
ANDY KARR is a teacher, author, and photographer who offers profound and penetrating insights into dharma and mind. He trained at the San Francisco Zen Center under Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and under Ch�gyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. Andy co-founded the first Shambhala Centre in France and taught regularly in Paris and other European dharma centers for ten years.
After Trungpa Rinpoche passed away in 1987, Andy and his family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1993 he began studying Mahamudra, and the stages of view and meditation, with Khenpo Ts�ltrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. He later became a senior teacher in his sangha.
In the late 1990s, and early aughts, Andy studied contemplative photography with Michael Wood. This was an opportunity to bring together the Dharma Art teachings of Trungpa Rinpoche, the Mahamudra teachings of Khenpo Rinpoche, and Michael�s insights into photography as a contemplative practice.
Andy�s first book, Contemplating Reality, is a series of investigations into the nature of mind and the phenomenal world. Andy�s second book, written with Michael Wood, The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes, teaches the most essential photographic skill�clear seeing. His next book, Into the Mirror: A Buddhist Journey through Mind, Matter, and the Nature of Reality, shows how Mahayana teachings can meet modernity, without losing their profundity. The book is due out in the Spring of 2023.
Nowadays, Andy mainly teaches Mahayana view and meditation, and Mahamudra. To learn more about Andy�s work, go to www.andykarrauthor.com.
CONTENTS: Into the Mirror
|
Foreword by Matthieu Ricard |
ix |
Prologue |
xiii |
Introduction: Dispelling the Darkness |
xv |
|
PART ONE: Starting from Square One |
1
|
1
|
Four Truths for Noble Beings |
3
|
2
|
The Three Trainings |
8
|
3
|
Awakening |
14 |
4
|
Textures of Feelings |
22 |
5
|
Perception and Conception |
28 |
6
|
Exorcising Ego |
34 |
|
An Interlude |
43 |
|
PART TWO: Overcoming Materialism |
45 |
7
|
Through the Looking Glass |
47 |
8
|
The Hard Problem |
52 |
9
|
Eliminative Materialism |
59 |
10 |
Reductive Materialism |
64 |
11 |
The Case against Materialism |
70 |
|
An Interlude |
78 |
|
PART THREE: A Profound Journey |
81 |
12 |
Traces of the Buddha |
83 |
13 |
The Mahayana Emerges |
91 |
14 |
The Middle Way |
96 |
15 |
Experiencing Emptiness |
102 |
16 |
Two Realities |
112 |
17 |
Illusory Forms |
119 |
18 |
Two Brothers Take It to Another Level |
124 |
19 |
Mere-Cognizance |
130 |
20 |
New Insights into Consciousness |
139 |
21 |
Three Natures |
147 |
22 |
We Are All Buddhas (with Stains) |
155 |
23 |
Where Rubber and Road Meet |
162 |
24 |
Compassion in an Illusory World |
171 |
25 |
The End |
177 |
|
Epilogue |
186 |
|
APPENDIX 1: Contemporary Thinking about Mind and Nature |
187 |
APPENDIX 2: Root Text of the Seven Points of Training the Mind |
209 |
|
Acknowledgments |
213 |
Notes |
217 |
Selected Bibliography |
235 |
Index |
241 |
|