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Books on Buddhism, meditation and yoga

The articles at this website (except for "Ag­ing and Yoga" and those on the Bud­dhism - page) are ex­cerpts from the fol­low­ing books by Khun Rein­hard. They are not avail­able in book­shops. If you are inter­ested, you can order them as e-book by e-mail at:
KR.emailcontact@gmail.com

Introduction to Buddhism and to Buddhist Meditation – 3rd Edition

Book Cover An Engineer This book is the result of my studies and prac­tice of Bud­dhism and medi­ta­tion, es­pe­cially of the teach­ings of Ven­er­able Buddha­dasa Bhik­khu, of listening to talks given by other monks and nuns, of my ex­pe­ri­ences during the many re­treats I have taken care of at the In­ter­na­tion­al Dharma Her­mit­age of Wat Suan Mokkh, at Dipa­bhavan Medi­ta­tion Centre on Koh Samui and Wat Khao Santi in Hua Hin (all located in Thai­land), and of the nu­mer­ous books I have read about related topics on eastern and western phi­los­ophy and other, spir­i­tu­al­ity con­cern­ing matters.

The basics of the Buddhist theory and med­ita­tion prac­tices are ex­plained in eight chap­ters each. The emphasis in the theory part is on the Four Noble Truths while the Four Foun­dations of Mind­ful­ness are the focus in the chap­ters about med­ita­tion.

Included is a detailed ex­pla­na­tion of the Wheel of Life (De­pend­ent Orig­ina­tion), a des­crip­tion of the No­ble Eight­fold Path or the Middle Way and expla­na­tions about the med­ita­tion tech­niques: Mind­ful­ness with breath­ing (Ana­pana­sati), In­sight- or Vi­pas­sana- Med­ita­tion, Lov­ing Kind­ness Med­ita­tion and about mind­ful­ness in every­day life.

Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2012 the infor­ma­tion given during the talks has under­gone ex­pansion and change, partly due to my own devel­opment in the studies of Bud­dhism and prac­tice of medi­tation, but more due to the inter­action with the many students and par­tici­pants dur­ing the cours­es. Their ques­tions and con­tri­butions dur­ing dis­cus­sions have trig­gered a little change here and a more elab­orate expla­nation there.
This 2nd edition contains all these changes plus some extra mate­rial con­cern­ing some inter­est­ing but con­tro­ver­sial Bud­dhist topics like non-self and karma. As these topics are not meant to be dis­cussed in the intro­duc­tory section of the book, ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion re­gard­ing these sub­jects have been added in the Appen­dix.

This 3rd Edition has been fully revised, the liter­ature list has been up­dated com­plete­ly. Those parts of the book which had been tai­lored specif­i­cally for par­tic­i­pants of the courses at Wat Khao Santi have been omitted.

Price:   5.95 Euro or 6.45 US$
Book cover: Introduction to Buddhism E-book avail­able in EPUB, MOBI and PDF for­mat.

A preview of the book is avail­able at:
(http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H8L80RO)
Price: 5.95€ or 6.45US$
This book is the result of my studies and prac­tice of Bud­dhism and medi­ta­tion, es­pe­cially of the teach­ings of Ven­er­able Buddha­dasa Bhik­khu, of listening to talks given by other monks and nuns, of my ex­pe­ri­ences during the many re­treats I have taken care of at the In­ter­na­tion­al Dharma Her­mit­age of Wat Suan Mokkh, at Dipa­bhavan Medi­ta­tion Centre on Koh Samui and Wat Khao Santi in Hua Hin (all located in Thai­land), and of the nu­mer­ous books I have read about related topics on eastern and western phi­los­ophy and other, spir­i­tu­al­ity con­cern­ing matters.

The basics of the Buddhist theory and med­ita­tion prac­tices are ex­plained in eight chap­ters each. The emphasis in the theory part is on the Four Noble Truths while the Four Foun­dations of Mind­ful­ness are the focus in the chap­ters about med­ita­tion.

Included is a detailed ex­pla­na­tion of the Wheel of Life (De­pend­ent Orig­ina­tion), a des­crip­tion of the No­ble Eight­fold Path or the Middle Way and expla­na­tions about the med­ita­tion tech­niques: Mind­ful­ness with breath­ing (Ana­pana­sati), In­sight- or Vi­pas­sana- Med­ita­tion, Lov­ing Kind­ness Med­ita­tion and about mind­ful­ness in every­day life.

Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2012 the infor­ma­tion given during the talks has under­gone ex­pansion and change, partly due to my own devel­opment in the studies of Bud­dhism and prac­tice of medi­tation, but more due to the inter­action with the many students and par­tici­pants dur­ing the cours­es. Their ques­tions and con­tri­butions dur­ing dis­cus­sions have trig­gered a little change here and a more elab­orate expla­nation there.

This 2nd edition contains all these changes plus some extra mate­rial con­cern­ing some inter­est­ing but con­tro­ver­sial Bud­dhist topics like non-self and karma. As these topics are not meant to be dis­cussed in the intro­duc­tory section of the book, ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion re­gard­ing these sub­jects have been added in the Appen­dix.

This 3rd Edition has been fully revised, the liter­ature list has been up­dated com­plete­ly. Those parts of the book which had been tai­lored specif­i­cally for par­tic­i­pants of the courses at Wat Khao Santi have been omitted.

The Table of Contents of this book can be viewed at the desktop ver­sion of this website or at: TOC-In­tro­duc­tion ... .pdf
Table of Contents of Khun Reinhard's book: Introduction to Buddhism and to Buddhist Meditation
CONTENTS
page
Preface i 
Introduction ii 
PART I – DHAMMA TALKS 12
Orientation 13
What is Bud­dhism? 17
Historical over­view 17
Teachings – over­view 21
Why meditate? 36
Basics 44
The meaning of the term Dhamma 44
Two kinds of lan­guage 47
The Five ag­gre­gates 50
The 1st Noble Truth 60
Forms of Dukkha 62
What turns life into Dukkha? 66
Common ways to escape from Dukkha 69
The 2nd Noble Truth 76
De­pend­ent Orig­ination 80
The realms of existence 108
Other features of The Wheel of Life 114
The 3rd and 4th Noble Truth 117
Wisdom 120
Morality 121
Concentration 123
Techniques aimed at end­ing spiritual suf­fer­ing 125
Meditation in daily life 132
Formal Meditation 132
Daily activities 135
One activity at a time 139
Changes in attitude 141
"Introduction to Buddhism" in a nutshell 147
Table of Contents (continued) of Khun Reinhard's book: Introduction to Buddhism and to Buddhist Meditation
CONTENTS (continued)
page
PART II – MEDITATION IN­STRUC­TION 149
Meditation postures 150
Concentration med­ita­tion 155
Basic concentration med­ita­tion in­struc­tion 163
Anapanasati – Mind­ful­ness with breath­ing 168
Summary – The breathing process as med­ita­tion object 168
The Four Foun­da­tions of Mind­ful­ness 174
Awareness in eve­ry­day ac­tiv­i­ties 176
Vipassana (In­sight) med­i­ta­tion 184
Loving kindness med­i­ta­tion 194
Obstacles to med­i­ta­tion prac­tice 201
Recommendation - meditation instruction 211
Appendix 212
Self and Non-Self 212
Karma 223
Literature 236
About the Author 246

This e-book is available in:

EPUB, MOBI (AZW3) and PDF format.

The page-numbers refer to the PDF - version.

A preview of the book is available at:

(http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H8L80RO)

Enjoy Hatha Yoga – 2nd Edition

YogaBook-En YogaBas-En
Yoga Exercise Sequence       
This book is intended for people with nor­mal health for their ages. Most exer­ci­ses taught in this A 5 size book­let are easy to learn and to prac­tice, suit­able for begin­ners and seniors.
Beginners will develop their skills and become inter­ested in more chal­leng­ing tech­niques. The pres­ent 2nd E­di­tion has been en­larged by some ex­er­cis­es and se­quenc­es suit­able to ad­vance fur­ther on the path of yoga.
All exercises are described in much detail, sup­port­ed by more than 100 in­form­ative graphics.

It is sensible to pick some ex­er­cis­es out of the large num­ber avail­able and ar­range them in an even­ly bal­anced se­quence to train the entire body with­out strain­ing it un­even­ly. Three dif­fer­ent se­quenc­es are in­tro­duced. These se­ries may be altered ac­cord­ing to per­son­al likes or re­stric­tions.

Price:   5.95 Euro or 6.45 US$
YogaBook-En YogaBas-En
Price: 5.95€ or 6.45US$    Exercise Se­quence
This book is intended for people with nor­mal health for their ages. Most exer­ci­ses taught in this A 5 size book­let are easy to learn and to prac­tice, suit­able for begin­ners and seniors.
Beginners will develop their skills and become inter­ested in more chal­leng­ing tech­niques. The pres­ent 2nd E­di­tion has been en­larged by some ex­er­cis­es and se­quenc­es suit­able to ad­vance fur­ther on the path of yoga.
All exercises are described in much detail, sup­port­ed by more than 100 in­form­ative graphics.

It is sensible to pick some ex­er­cis­es out of the large num­ber avail­able and ar­range them in an even­ly bal­anced se­quence to train the entire body with­out strain­ing it un­even­ly. Three dif­fer­ent se­quenc­es are in­tro­duced. These se­ries may be altered ac­cord­ing to per­son­al likes or re­stric­tions.

This e-book is available in PDF format only.
Its Table of Contents can be viewed at the desktop version of this website or at:
TOC-Enjoy Hatha Yoga.pdf


Table of Contents of Khun Reinhard's book: Enjoy Hatha Yoga
CONTENTS
page
FOREWORD vi 
INTRODUCTION 7
EXERCISES – ASANAS 10
Relaxation postures and tran­si­tions 11
Relaxation while lying on the back 11
Relaxation while lying on the front 11
Transition from lying on the back to a sitt­ing posture 12
Standing postures 13
Standing postures – over­view 13
Mountain posture – basic stand­ing posture 14
Neck and throat 15
Shoulders (I) (dynamic) 16
Shoulders (II) (cow face) 16
Body stretch 17
Tree (I) 17
Triangle ♦ ♦ = for advanced students 18
Backward bend 18
Forward bend 19
Standing sequence 20
Warrior II 20
Twisted lunge ♦ 21
Simple extended side angle stretch ♦ 21
Revolved side angle posture ♦ 22
Extended side angle stretch ♦ 23
Kneeling sequence 24
Lunge posture 24
Balancing low lunge 24
Crescent lunge or crescent moon posture ♦ 25
Prayer twist ♦ 25
Spinal twist – standing 27
Hip rotation 27
Tree (II) 27
Loosening joints and muscles of the legs, balancing exercise 28
Sun salutation 29
Sun salutation – overview 29
Basic variation 30
Easy variation 33
Postures while lying on the back 35
Supine postures – overview 35
Unsupported bridge 36
Shoulder stand ♦ – partly for ad­vanced students 37
Plough ♦ 38
Fish 39
Penknife ♦ – partly for ad­vanced students 40
Dough stirring 42
Rowing the boat 43
Nose to the knee 43


This e-book is available in PDF format only.

Table of Contents (continued) of Khun Reinhard's book: Enjoy Hatha Yoga
CONTENTS (continued)
page
Postures while lying on the front 45
Prone postures – overview 45
Diagonal arm and leg lifting 46
Cobra 46
Locust 47
Camel ♦  ♦ = for advanced students 48
Bow posture ♦ 49
Child's or Hare pose 49
Simple pigeon posture se­quence 51
Downward facing dog 51
One-legged downward facing dog 51
Downward facing or sleep­ing pigeon posture 52
Supported pigeon posture 53
Cow Face Pose ♦ 53
Complete pigeon posture se­quence 54
Downward facing dog 54
One-legged downward facing dog 54
Supported pigeon posture 55
Pigeon posture ♦ 55
Half pigeon posture ♦ 56
Downward facing or sleeping pigeon posture 56
Cow face pose ♦ 57
Following the prone postures 58
On hands and knees (I) 58
On hands and knees (II) 58
Spinal twist – lying on the back 59
Sitting postures 61
Sitting postures – overview 61
Spinal twist (I) – sitting 62
Spinal twist (II) ♦ – sitting 65
Butterfly (I) 63
Exercises for groin and hips 64
Burmese sitting forward bend 65
Butterfly (II) 65
Final relaxation 66
BREATHING AND BREATHING EXERCISES 67
Physiology of respiration 67
Complete yoga-breath­ing 72
Literature - respiration 77
Coordination of breath­ing and bodily move­ments 78
Welcome 78
Hands stretch breath­ing 79
Ankle / Body stretch breath­ing 80
Tiger breath­ing 80
Unsupported bridge – breath­ing ex­cer­cise 81
Straight leg raising breath­ing 81
Nose to the knee – breath­ing ex­er­cise 82
Diagonal arm and leg lifting 83
Spinal twist – lying on the back 83
EXERCISE SEQUENCES 85
Basic series 87
Easy series 88
Advanced series 89