Contents

• Cover
• Acknowledgements
• The Lessons of Gratitude
• No Strings Attached: The Buddha's Culture of Generosity
• The Power of Judgment
• Think Like a Thief
• Strength Training for the Mind
• Mindfulness Defined
• The Joy of Effort
• Head & Heart Together
• The Wisdom of the Ego
• Ignorance
• Food for Awakening
• The Buddha via the Bible
• Freedom from Buddha Nature
• Assumptions about the Mind
• Building on Discernment
• No Innate Nature
• Exploring Freedom
• Glossary
• Abbreviations

Cover   

Acknowledgements   

Many people have read earlier versions of these essays and have kindly offered suggestions for improvements. In particular, I would like to thank the monks here at the monastery, as well as Michael Zoll, Jane Yudelman, Barbara Wright, Margueritte White, Ginger Vathanasombat, Donna Todd, Mary Talbot, Donald Swearer, Dale Schultz, Larry Rosenberg, Xiaoquan Osgood, Nathaniel Osgood, Joan Oliver, Andrew Olendski, Bok-Lim Kim, Alexandra Kaloyanides, Jeff Hardin, Gil Fronsdal, Inez Freedman, John Bullitt, and Michael Barber. Any mistakes that remain, of course, are my own responsibility.

Some of these essays, in earlier incarnations, have appeared in Tricycle, Shambhala Sun, The Sati Center Journal, Mandala, Insight Journal, and Buddhadharma. I would like to thank the editors of these journals for their help in making the writing clearer and more coherent. The fact that the essays were originally intended for different audiences explains the overlap that occasionally occurs among them, as well as the inconsistent use of Sanskrit and Pāli terms: dharma, karma, and nirvāṇa in some essays; dhamma, kamma, and nibbāna in others. I hope that this poses no difficulties.

These and other essays on Buddhist practice are available on the Internet at www.accesstoinsight.org and www.dhammatalks.org.

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
(Geoffrey DeGraff).