BOOKS BY REGINALD RAY

Published titles

To purchase Reggie’s books and audio programs, please visit Shambhala Publications, Sounds True and at Better World Books.

The Awakening Body

Reggie Ray presents here six fundamental practices that enable us to use the body itself as a supremely powerful tool for connecting us to the joyful reality of who we really are. These practices allow us to bypass the mental fabrications that keep us from experiencing our world and lead us directly to the richness of living a fully present, embodied human life.

The Practice of Pure Awareness

Perhaps the most precious teaching Tibet has to offer the modern world is the practice of meditation. Reginald Ray presents the essence of this tradition through the somatic practice of Pure Awareness—a unique kind of meditation that is thoroughly grounded in the body and in ordinary experience. This fundamentally transformative practice offers the possibility of enlightenment in this present life and invites us into the immensely powerful journey that Tibetan tantric spirituality has to offer.

Somatic Descent

Have you ever had a “gut feeling” about a certain person or situation? Or a sense of intuition about how to respond to a particular challenge in your life? Through a meditation practice called Somatic Descent, Reggie Ray shows us how to connect with our body’s intuitive intelligence. In Somatic Descent we see that the body is always showing us what sort of response, direction, or action may be called for at any given time, and can in fact be relied upon as a primary practical resource for decision-making in our everyday life. The book includes links to online audio recordings of the guided meditations to further aid the reader.

Touching Enlightenment

What does it mean to “meditate with the body”? Until you answer this question, explains Reggie Ray, meditation may be no more than “a mental gymnastic”— something you can practice for years without fruitful results. In Touching Enlightenment, the esteemed author of five books on Buddhist history and practice guides you back to the original practice of the Buddha: a systematic process that results in a profound awareness “in your body rather than in your head.”

Indestructible Truth

In Indestructible Truth, Tibetan Buddhism is introduced not as an exotic religion, but rather as an expression of human spirituality that is having a profound impact on the modern world. In addition, it presents the point of view of meditation and the practice of the spiritual life, paying special attention to contemplative practice and meditation as taught in the Kagyu and Nyingma schools. Reggie presents complex and sophisticated teachings and practices in nontechnical language, using engaging stories and personal anecdotes to illustrate his points.

Secret of the Vajra World

Secret of the Vajra World is the companion volume to Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism. While that book focuses on the history, cosmology, philosophy, and practice of the more public, exoteric side of Tibetan Buddhism, this work treats its more hidden and esoteric aspects as they take shape in Vajrayana. Together, the two volumes provide a broad introduction to the major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The “Vajra World” (vajradhatu in Sanskrit) is a realm of indestructibility, the level of reality beyond all thought and imagination, all impermanence and change, which a fully realized person knows and inhabits.

The Wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism

Alternately sage and humorous, eloquent and pithy, these inspirational selections illustrate a central affirmation of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition: through the cultivation of self-knowledge, humility, and compassion for others, we can bring about positive and necessary change in ourselves and even in the world around us. Featuring many great masters past and present, including Milarepa, the Dalai Lama, Sogyal Rinpoche, Patrul Rinpoche, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and others, this compact volume offers wisdom on a variety of topics—bringing a light to the darkness for those seeking guidance.

In the Presence of Masters

Thirty of the most creative, eloquent, and energetic Tibetan Buddhist teachers of Westerners in recent decades are featured in this collection of teachings that are certain to be highly treasured by all students of Buddhism. The contributors are masters who helped establish Buddhism in the West. The book highlights the teachings of the practice lineages, the branch of Tibetan Buddhism that emphasizes meditation practice, personal experience, and spiritual realization. Selections are thematically organized, including topics such as the major approaches to the spiritual path, meditation and other practices, Buddhist ethics, tantric practice, and the role of the teacher.

Buddhist Saints in India

A scholarly work, Buddhist Saints in India provides information and insight accessible to a broader audience. Reggie traces the role of the saints in Indian Buddhist history, examining the beginnings of Buddhism and the origin of Mahayana Buddhism. Drawing on an extensive variety of sources, the book examines the nature, dynamics, and history of Buddhist hagiography, surveys the ascetic codes, conventions and traditions of Buddhist saints, and the traditions both of living saints and of those who have “passed beyond.”