Nirvana is at once a critical part of the Buddhist path and a concept difficult to fully understand for Buddhist practitioners. Canonical texts broach this mysterious and essential idea in a variety of ways, whether in the form of metaphor or literary description. In The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana, scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo sheds light on two key aspects of Nirvana that have gone underappreciated: signlessness and deathlessness.

Commanding an extraordinary mastery of canonical Buddhist languages, Venerable Analayo breaks new ground, or rediscovers old ground, by presenting a new way of approaching Nirvana, based on the Buddha's teachings on how our minds construct experience. This novel treatment, backed up by meticulous academic expertise, is valuable for scholars and practitioners alike. Through practicing bare awareness...realizing Nirvana entails "a complete stepping out of the way the mind usually constructs experience."

The Signless and the Deathless: On the Realization of Nirvana, Bhikkhu Analayo, Wisdom Publications, Hardcover, 256 pages, $34.95

Bhikkhu Analayo is a scholar-monk and the author of numerous books on meditation and early Buddhism, such as Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization, Perspectives on Satipatthana, and Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide. He is a Faculty Member at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, having retired from being a professor at the Numata Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg. His main area of academic research is early Buddhism, with a special interest in the topics of meditation and women in Buddhism. At the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies he regularly teaches residential study & practice courses, participates in online programs and undertakes research into meditation-related themes.