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TABLE
OF CONTENTS
PREFACE:
Origins & Overview of the Book
PART I –
NARRATIVE
PROLOGUE: A
Glimpse of Happier Times
POEM:
“Moon-Faced Buddha: A Requiem”
CHAPTER I –
IMPACT
CHAPTER 2 –
ABYSS
Signs of Trouble
Descent
CHAPTER 3 – THE
ROOTS OF SORROW
Why Understand Past Causes?
Family Origins of Suffering
My Own Background of Sorrow
Influences Within My Own Family
Developments and Difficulties for Chris in Vermont
Concluding Assessment
CHAPTER 4 --
BACK FROM THE EDGE
Clinic Transitions
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Extended Grief Work
Signs of Healing
Reconstruction Begins
CHAPTER 5 – OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO HEALING
Illness and Fragmentation
Decline of the Hidden Mountain Zen Center
Issues of Teacher Misbehavior and Accountability
Breakthrough: Finding my “Yearning Creature”
CHAPTER 6 –
LETTING GO AND SEEING THE STRUCTURE OF
DELUSION
The Process of Learning to Let Go
Accessing Unconscious Emotional Structures
Seeing My Own Structure of Grief
Resulting Insights and New Directions
CHAPTER 7 –
CULTIVATING PEACE & RETURNING TO LIFE
Ongoing Practice and Healing
Four Poems
Transitional Openings into Freedom
The Dance of Relative and Absolute
PART II –
TEACHINGS & HEALING PRACTICES
CHAPTER 8 --
THE TRUTH OF SUFFERING
Three Pillars of Strong Practice
The Importance of Intention and Choice
Relevant Healing Practices
Coping with Immediate Dangers
Finding Social Support
Knowing You’re Not Alone
CHAPTER 9 --
ORIGINS OF SUFFERING
Teachings on the Origin of Suffering
The Construct of Self or the I-System
Impermanence and No-Self
Frustrated Desires and Suffering
Being Stuck in “Samsara”
Relevant Healing Practices
Educating
Yourself
Self-Expression
A Tool
for Emotional Crisis
CHAPTER 10 –
INSIGHTS INTO THE SELF-ORIGINS OF SUFFERING
Self as a Trap
Cause and Effect in Buddhism
Zen’s “Frontal Assault” Approach
Gentler Approaches
The Challenge of Getting Unstuck
Relevant Healing Practices
Why Meditation?
How to Begin Meditating
` Overcoming Traditional Barriers
The Importance of Physical Awareness
CHAPTER 11 –
ENTERING THE FIRE-GATE OF HEALING
Entering the Fire Gate
More on the Importance of Intention
The Healing Power of Mindfulness Meditation
Developing Strong Meditative Concentration & Mindfulness
The “Warrior Spirit”
Relevant Healing Practices
Overcoming Common Barriers to Getting Unstuck
Focusing Mindfulness on the Afflictive Emotions
Intensifying the Lens of Mindfulness
Exercises for Working with Afflictive Emotions
Accessing Dark Emotions Via Body
Meditations
CHAPTER 12 –
HEALING, EMOTIONAL ALCHEMY AND THE
STRUCTURE OF SUFFERING
Clearly Seeing the Realities of Our Condition
Schemas
The Nature of Healing
The Process of Healing: Dissolving the Bonds of
Reactivity
Emotional Alchemy
Relevant Healing Practices
Interrupting Automatic Reactions
Long-Term Practice
Cultivating Wholesome Emotions
CHAPTER 13 --
LETTING GO INTO TRANSFORMATION
Preparations for Letting Go
Facing the Truth About Self
The Transition
The Challenge of Fundamental Letting Go
Aspects of Liberation
Relevant Healing Practices
Everyday Mindfulness
Techniques for Letting Go
Re-taking One’s Bearings
CHAPTER 14 --
DISCOVERING GROUNDLESSNESS & FORGETTING
THE SELF
Formless Forms of Meditation
Deeper Letting Go
Forgetting the Self
Discovering Groundlessness
Returning to Ordinary Life
Feeling the Pain of Others
Endless Practice: Continuing the Dance Independently
PART III –
SUMMARY, BIBLIOGRAPHY & SHORT BIOGRAPHY
CHAPTER 15 –
SUMMARY OF HEALING PRACTICES AND EXERCISES
BIBLIOGRAPHY &
RECOMMENDED READINGS
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
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