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Book Cover for: A Lamp Unto Yourself: A Beginner's Guide to Asian Spiritual Practices, from Advaita and Buddhism to Yoga and Zen, C. Pierce Salguero

A Lamp Unto Yourself: A Beginner's Guide to Asian Spiritual Practices, from Advaita and Buddhism to Yoga and Zen

C. Pierce Salguero

For "spiritual explorers" ready to travel beyond Western bounds, a beginner's guide to Asian spiritual traditions spanning regions, cultures, and history

Asian spiritual practices, from yoga and tai chi to qigong and mindfulness meditations, permeate our culture. But these practices are often casually used in the West, and sometimes little understood. As informative as it is inviting, A Lamp unto Yourself introduces "spiritual explorers" of all experience levels to embodied Eastern spiritual practices.

Employing decades of personal and professional experience with Asian spiritualities, C. Pierce Salguero explains the origins of key Asian spiritual practices. He grounds them in their historical and philosophical contexts and provides information on how the reader can begin and deepen their personal practices. Salguero also discusses the focus of the path (heart, body, or perception) and describes what one might experience as they develop their practice. In A Lamp unto Yourself, readers will learn more about such traditions as

  • mindfulness meditation, insight meditation, and loving-kindness meditation
  • yogas, tai chi, and qigong
  • Taoism and Advaita
  • mantras, chakras, and tantra

Those looking to begin practicing for the first time or to simply expand their ever-growing spiritual tool kits will feel empowered to explore Eastern spirituality with knowledge and autonomy. With Salguero as their guide, readers can confidently embark on their journeys to becoming, as Buddha would encourage, a lamp unto themselves.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Beacon Press
  • Publish Date: Apr 22nd, 2025
  • Pages: 216
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.60in - 5.50in - 0.70in - 0.90lb
  • EAN: 9780807020395
  • Categories: EasternComparative ReligionCultural & Ethnic Studies - Asian Studies

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About the Author

Dr. C. Pierce Salguero is a historian of Buddhism and Asian medicine, and a long-time practitioner of several different forms of Asian spirituality. He has a PhD in the history of medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010) and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University's Abington College, near Philadelphia. He is the author of many books on Buddhism and Asian medicine, including Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical. When he's not working on a manuscript or teaching a class, you might find him traveling the world with his wife and kids, making huge batches of homemade Sichuan chili sauce or out on his back porch meditating on a cup of Tippy Yunnan.

More books by C. Pierce Salguero

Book Cover for: Encyclopedia of Thai Massage: A Complete Guide to Traditional Thai Massage Therapy and Acupressure, C. Pierce Salguero
Book Cover for: Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical, C. Pierce Salguero
Book Cover for: Thai Herbal Medicine: Traditional Recipes for Health and Harmony, Nephyr Jacobsen
Book Cover for: Traditional Thai Medicine: Buddhism, Animism, Yoga, Ayurveda, C. Pierce Salguero
Book Cover for: Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources, C. Pierce Salguero
Book Cover for: A Global History of Buddhism and Medicine, C. Pierce Salguero
Book Cover for: Translating Buddhist Medicine in Medieval China, C. Pierce Salguero

Praise for this book

"This the perfect introduction for understanding what Asian-inspired spiritual practices might offer you and what their philosophical underpinnings are, and for helping you get started. And Salguero is just the right guide: knowledgeable, companionable, and aware that, like just about everything in life, one size does not fit all."
--Dr. Zubin Damania, creator of the ZDoggMD Show and founder of Turntable Health