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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jill Scott Jill Scott (born April 4, 1972) is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. In 2007, Scott made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog (as ) and in Tyler Perry's feature film, Why Did I Get Married? That year, her third studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, was released on September 25, 2007. She has won three Grammy Awards. She also appeared in the lead role of the BBC/HBO series The No.

1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Early life Scott grew up an only child in a North Philadelphia neighborhood, raised by her mother, Joyce Scott, and her grandmother. She indicated in an interview with Jet Magazine that she had a happy childhood and was 'very much a loved child'. Scott was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls. After graduating, she attended Temple University while simultaneously working two jobs. She studied secondary education for three years and had planned to become a high school English teacher, but after spending time as a teacher's aide, disillusionment with the teaching profession set in causing her to drop out of school. Prior to breaking through the music industry, Scott worked at a variety of jobs, including a number of retail positions and stints at a construction site and an ice cream parlor.

She remains close to her mother and grandmother who is nicknamed Blue Babe. Scott has resided in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey and currently resides in California. Music career 2000-2009: Words and Sounds albums Jill Scott began her performing career as a spoken word artist, appearing at live poetry readings to perform her work. She was eventually discovered by Amir '?uestlove' Thompson of.?uestlove invited her to join the band in the studio. The collaboration resulted in a co-writing credit for Scott on the song, 'You Got Me.' In 2000, and The Roots won a Grammy for best rap performance by a duo or group for 'You Got Me', and Scott debuted as an artist during a Roots live show, singing as original artist/singer of the song.

Subsequently, Scott collaborated with Eric Benet, Will Smith, and Common, and broadened her performing experience by touring Canada in a production of the Broadway musical Rent. Scott was the first artist signed to Steve McKeever's 'Hidden Beach Recordings' label. Her debut album, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol.

1 was released in 2000. She experienced some notice and chart success with the single 'A Long Walk', eventually earning a Grammy nomination in early 2003 for Best Female Vocal Performance. Scott lost that award, but won a 2005 Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative R&B Performance for 'Cross My Mind.' The live album, Experience: Jill Scott 826+, was released November 2001. Scott's second full-length album, Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol.

2, followed in 2004. Scott continues to write poetry; a compilation volume of her poems, The Moments, The Minutes, The Hours, was published and released by St. Martin's Press in April 2005. In early 2007, Scott was featured on the & collaboration 'God Bless The Child', which earned Scott her second Grammy award, Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, at the 2007 Grammy Awards ceremony. Scott shared the win with Benson & Jarreau. In 2006, Scott was prominently featured on hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco's single 'Daydreaming,' which won a 2008 Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance and also appeared on a new Scott collection called Collaborations on January 30, 2007. The Collaborations collection served as 'an appetizer' for her next studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol.

3 released September 25, 2007. A clip of the title track was released on a bonus disc from Hidden Beach Records and included with Collaborations.

The lead single 'Hate on Me', gained airplay in May 2007 with a video released in mid-July. In advance of the album's release, Hidden Beach released a 17-minute album sampler through their forums. Interspersed between the dozen songs previewed on the sampler was a personal explanation from Jill for the inspiration behind some of her songs. In 2008, Scott released her second live album, Live In Paris+, which consists of 8 songs recorded during her set list of the 'Big Beautiful Tour' in Europe. The bonus DVD contains the same concert, plus some live cuts from The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol.

In the same year, 'Whenever You're Around', a single from The Real Thing which features, was a moderate hit on urban radio. 2010-present: The Light of the Sun Following up 2007's Grammy nominated Gold certified album The Real Thing, Jill is currently about to release her fourth studio album titled The Light of the Sun. The album embarks Jill on a flurry of emotional poetry as both her career and personal life have skyrocketed with success in Hollywood and the birth of her first child. In an interview with HitQuarters, producer and album collaborator JR Hutson commented on Scott's approach to the record by saying, 'Shes now in charge of a lot of different things and with it comes a lot of trials and tribulations, and I think her goal is to just give people a very realistic glimpse of where she is in her life right now.'

In 2011, following a recently settled, tumultuous legal battle with previous label Hidden Beachwhich found her countersuing the label's claim that she exited halfway through a six-album deal last yearJill Scott signed a distribution deal with Warner Brothers Records. Jill plans to release her fourth studio album, The Light of the Sun, June 21, 2011. Dance auditions for Jill's buzz single from the album, 'Shame', were held in Philadelphia on March 17, 2011. West Philly native Eve, who is featured on the song, will appear in the video, as will Black Thought,, Pharaohe Monch, Peedi Crakk and Ms. Jade, says the video's director, Devin Hampton.

'So in Love' featuring Anthony Hamilton will be released as the first official single from the album. The song debuted at number 43 on Billboards Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart, making it the highest debut of her career on that chart. Before she releases her fourth studio album, former record label Hidden Beach Recordings is releasing an 11 song compilation entitled 'The Original Jill Scott from the Vault, Vol. 1' She also has a cover of Bill Withers' Lovely Day.

Other appearances and song-writing Her live performance in 2004 with members of, which also includes a joint performance with, is featured in Dave Chappelle's 2006 concert film, Dave Chappelle's Block Party. UK dance duo Goldtrix covered Scott's song 'It's Love', re-naming it 'It's Love (Trippin')' with singer Andrea Brown taking over vocal duties. The song became a top ten hit in the UK, peaking at number six.

Jill is also featured on a Lupe Fiasco song named 'Daydreaming'It's Love (Trippin')' was also covered by South West Beats (Featuring Claudia Patrice) in 2008. The song 'Golden' is featured in a R&B themed radio station in the Rockstar Games video game Grand Theft Auto IV. She recently appeared on Pharoahe Monch's 2011 release W.A.R. (We Are Renegades). Also Jill is one of the featured artists in Kirk Franklin's video 'I Smile' released in 2011. Vocal profile Scott is a vocalist who infused jazz, R&B, spoken word, and hip hop among other genres to create a distinct style that many refer to as neo soul.

Her vocal capabilities are so rich that a reviewer on Pop Matter, referring to Scott's vocal ability (1st soprano), stated 'Scott draws on her upper register, recalling the artistry of the late 'songbird' and '. The same reviewer in another article stated, 'The song evokes the artistry of Minnie Riperton as Scott sings in the upper register that makes its only appearances on Who is Jill Scott? On the teasing 'I Think It's Better' and 'Show Me.' Scott has 'a very rare facility to hit notes in the sixth octave as displayed on songs such as 'Gimme' where she hits a D6 with full vibrato, and on 'Spring Summer Feeling' where she hits a C7 in the background'. Film and television On the advice of her good friend, director Ozzie Jones, she began pursuing a career in acting in 2000. She joined a fellowship at a theater company in Philadelphia. For two years, she took small, menial jobs in exchange for acting lessons.

In 2004, Scott expanded her resume by appearing in several episodes of season four of UPN's Girlfriends, playing Donna, a love interest to main character, William Dent (Reggie Hayes). She also appeared in the Showtime movie Cavedwellers, starring and Kyra Sedgwick. In 2007, Scott appeared in Hounddog (as ) and in Tyler Perry's movie, Why Did I Get Married?

In 2008, Scott appeared as Precious Ramotswe in Anthony Minghella's film adaption of Alexander McCall Smith's series of books The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency playing a detective. Scott then filmed additional episodes for the series in Botswana in late 2008, co-funded by the BBC and HBO that were broadcast as a seven-part series on BBC1 in March 2009; and on HBO, which debuted March 29, 2009. BBC and HBO are contemplating whether to produce a second round of episodes of the series. In 2010 she voiced Storm of the X-Men on the BET series Black Panther.

On March 24, 2010, Scott guest-starred in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She reprised her role as Sheila in Why Did I Get Married Too? The movie was shot in August 2009 and received an April 2, 2010 release. In 2010, Scott starred in the Lifetime Movie, 'Sins of the Mother', as Nona, an alcoholic mother confronted by her estranged daughter who she neglected. At the 42nd NAACP Image Awards, Jill Scott was awarded Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for her role in 'Sins of the Mother'.

Performed at BET Awards 2011 on June 26, 2011. Personal life Scott and longtime boyfriend Lyzel Williams, a graphic artist and DJ, married in 2001 in a private Hawaiian ceremony during a vacation. The couple dated for seven years before they wed. Scott wrote and recorded the song 'He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)' about Williams. After six years of marriage, Scott and Williams divorced in 2007.

On June 20, 2008, at a concert in New York's Carnegie Hall, Scott shared a long on-stage kiss with her drummer, Lil' John Roberts; the couple then told the audience that they were engaged. They expected their first child on April 25, 2009 but the baby boy, Jett Hamilton Roberts, arrived five days earlier. On June 23, 2009, Scott announced that she and Roberts had broken up, with Scott breaking the news to Essence. Despite the break-up, Scott hopes for both parents to have an active part in their child's upbringing, stating that 'We definitely love our son and we are co-parenting and working on being friends. It is what it is. I have a lot of support, so I want for nothing as far as that's concerned.' Charity work and advocacy Scott has established the Blues Babe Foundation, a program founded to help young minority students pay for university expenses.

The Blues Babe Foundation offers financial assistance to students between the ages of sixteen to twenty-one, and targets students residing in Philadelphia, Camden, and the greater Delaware Valley. Scott donated USD$100,000 to help start the foundation. The foundation was named after Scott's grandmother, known as 'Blue Babe'.

On the foundation's website, it defines its mission statement as one where it 'seeks to provide financial support and mentoring for those students who have shown the aptitude and commitment to their education, but whose families may not have the resources to ensure completion of their undergraduate degrees'. In Spring 2003, the Blues Babe Foundation made a donation of more than $60,000 to the graduating class of the Creative Arts School in Camden, New Jersey. Any student who maintained a 3.2 GPA received a yearly stipend for the next three years that was put toward his or her college education. At the Essence Music Festival in July 2006, Scott spoke out about how women of color are portrayed in the lyrics of rap songs, and in rap music videos. Scott criticized the content for being 'dirty, inappropriate, inadequate, unhealthy, and polluted' and urged the listening audience to 'demand more'. Scott was a columnist in the April issue of Essence magazine and she expressed her point of view about Black men who marry Caucasian women. In the column Scott says 'We reflect on this awful past and recall that if a Black man even looked at a White woman, he would have been lynched, beaten, jailed or shot to death.

These harsh truths lead to what we really feel when we see a seemingly together brother with a Caucasian woman and their children. That feeling is betrayed.'

The column has sparked controversy on the internet. Discography Main article: Jill Scott discography Studio albums • Who Is Jill Scott?

Words and Sounds Vol. 1 (2000) • Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 (2004) • The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol.

3 (2007) • The Light of the Sun (2011) Tours • Words And Sounds Tour (2001) • Buzz Tour (2004) • Big Beautiful Tour (2005) • Sugar Water Festival Tour (2005) • The Real Thing Tour (2008) • Maxwell & Jill Scott: The Tour (2010) • Summer Block Party (2011) Films • Cavedweller (2004) • Hounddog (2007) • Why Did I Get Married? (2007) • Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010) • Sins of the Mother (2010) Award history List of Jill Scott's Awards and Nominations References. Jill Scott Studio albums Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 (2000) Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 (2004 The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol.

3 (2007) ' The Light of the Sun (2011) Compilation albums Collaborations (2007) The Original Jill Scott from the Vault, Vol.

Joan Tollifson's List of Recommended Books JOAN'S ANNOTATED RECOMMENDED READING LIST This list of recommended authors and books is in no way intended to be a comprehensive, definitive or authoritative list of nondual or spiritual books. I'm not endorsing every single word spoken or written by any of these authors (including Joan Tollifson). Over the years that I’ve offered this list, my own sensibilities have changed, and my response to some of these books might be different if I read them again today.

The list includes books from a variety of different perspectives, and in many cases, they contradict each other. Some of them say that life (including you and your whole spiritual journey) is nothing but a dream-like illusion, while others say this present happening is all there is. Some insist that there is nothing to do other than exactly what is happening, while others offer some kind of apparent process, practice or method for waking up. Some seem to suggest that 'you' have the power of choice, while others say that everything is the result of infinite causes and conditions and that there is no one apart from this whole happening to direct or control it. Some say liberation is found in the realization of complete impermanence while others insist it comes with the recognition of that which never changes.

Who has it right? What should you believe? No words or concepts can capture reality. Maps are useful, but they can only describe and point to the territory itself. Eating the meal is what nourishes you, not reading the menu. Take what resonates and leave the rest behind. Don't believe anything you read, and be aware of the difference between what you can actually know for sure and a metaphysical idea that you are hypnotized into believing.

Question, look, listen, and see for yourself. The book that wakes you up one day may lull you to sleep the next. Always be ready to see something new and unexpected. PLEASE NOTE: These recommendations are periodically updated or revised. If you've been here before, refresh or reload the page to be sure you are getting the most current version. You're welcome to link to this page, but please do not re-publish this list anywhere else. Coustic Amp 190 Manual High School. JOAN TOLLIFSON: Nothing to Grasp(2012); Painting the Sidewalk with Water: Talks and Dialogs about Nonduality (2010); Awake in the Heartland: The Ecstasy of What Is (2003); and Bare-Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life (1996) − My books are about waking up from the imaginary problems created by conceptual thought and discovering the aliveness and immediacy of the awaring presence and the present happening that is effortlessly showing up here-now.

My books always encourage the reader to investigate directly rather than holding onto beliefs or ideas. All my books include material drawn from my own life, and several of them are wholly or partly in the form of personal narrative or memoir. At the same time, all of them are about seeing through the stories of our lives and waking up from the belief that we are an autonomous, separate individual who is authoring our thoughts and making our decisions. These books all invite the discovery that 'the body' and 'the person' (and everything else) are actually ever-changing, fluid events inseparable from the rest of the universe. My books explore questions of identity and free will, as well as many of the commonplace issues people face in everyday life such as addiction, depression, anxiety, anger, uncertainty, illness and disability, difficult neighbors and so on.

My aim is not to cure all these things, but simply to be awake to them, as they are. A fifth book is in the works that explores death, growing old, the end of the search for transcendence, and the embrace of groundlessness and not knowing. All my books point to the simplicity and immediacy of right here, right now, just as it is, and they invite a kind of meditative exploration that is direct, non-methodical and awareness-based. Readers have expressed appreciation for the honesty, clarity and humor in all of these books. More details TONI PACKER: The Wonder of Presence; The Light of Discovery; Seeing Without Knowing / What Is Meditative Inquiry?; The Silent Question: Meditating in the Stillness of Not-Knowing; and The Work of This Moment − Toni was my main teacher (although she never used that word), and I never stop learning from her.

I spent five years living and working at the retreat center she founded in northwestern New York, and we remained in touch until her death in 2013 at the age of 86. Toni was a former Zen teacher who began to question the rituals, beliefs, dogmas and hierarchy of traditional Zen. She was deeply affected by her contact with J. Krishnamurti, and she eventually left formal Zen practice behind. She continued to offer silent retreats, but in a much more open and bare-bones way. Toni wasn't interested in the abstractions of metaphysics, philosophy or ideology, and her work was always rooted in present moment awareness, direct insight, and the breath and bones of ordinary life.

The mind habitually wants comforting, feel-good answers; Toni provided none: 'No matter what state dawns at this moment, can there be just that? Not a movement away, an escape into something that will provide what this state does not provide, or doesn't seem to provide: energy, zest, inspiration, joy, happiness, whatever. Just completely, unconditionally listening to what's here now, is that possible?'

Toni asked questions rather than handing out answers. She was wonderful at waking you up to the wonder, simplicity and immediacy of the nondual absolute: the wind in the trees, the swaying grasses, the chirp of a bird, the hum of the air conditioner, the listening silence being and beholding it all. There is a delicate subtlety and a spaciousness in her work, combined with a relentless ability to slice through all forms of self-deception. Toni approached meditative inquiry with the curiosity of a scientist—everything had to be tested, seen directly, never taken on faith or on someone else's authority—and whatever was discovered could always be questioned, looked at anew, taken further. Toni was passionately interested in listening and looking without answers or formulas, and without relying on the authority of the past. She had a keen eye for when the mind was turning insight into dogma or making something out of no-thing.

I recommend Toni for the open and explorative spirit that she so beautifully conveys, for the clarity with which she sees through all stories and beliefs, for her remarkable ability to point to the deepest truth in a way that is utterly alive and immediate, and for the nuanced subtlety of her expression. Toni was exceptionally good at clarifying the difference between awareness and thinking, and between direct perceiving and the abstractions of conceptual thought. She invites us to pay careful attention as choices and decisions unfold, to question what it is that gets defensive or hurt, to see if we can find the 'me' at the center of our lives, the self that is supposedly thinking our thoughts and making our choices.

Her work reveals that there is no self with individual free will, and yet at the same time, Toni never makes 'no self' or 'no choice' into a new and limiting dogma or belief. Instead, she invites us to be present and aware, to wonder and not know what is possible or not possible in this moment. Her overall approach, which she called 'the work of this moment' or 'meditative inquiry,' is about attending to what is, questioning and investigating directly—not by thinking and analyzing, but by looking and listening with awareness—seeing through the thoughts and stories that so often run our lives, and coming upon the undivided wholeness Here / Now. Toni looked closely at human suffering (anger, fear, compulsion, and so forth) and suggested meeting whatever is here with open interest and non-judgmental curiosity. She was no stranger to human pain and suffering—Toni grew up half-Jewish in Nazi Germany, and in the last 14 years of her life, she lived with severe chronic pain and increasing disability.

After she left the Zen tradition behind, Toni came to see the roles of 'teacher' and 'student' as a divisive hindrance to the freedom of open inquiry, and she always regarded herself as a friend and fellow-explorer. In 1981, Toni and friends founded Springwater Center, a lovely 200 acre retreat center in rural northwestern NY where others now carry on her work, meeting with people and offering silent retreats. Springwater is utterly unique in its open and undogmatic approach.

If you're looking for a place to do meditation, meditative inquiry or silent retreats free of religious tradition, authority, ritual or dogma, Springwater is wonderful. The atmosphere is open and spacious, inviting you to look and listen and find your own way. I very highly recommend Toni's books and recorded talks, and I also highly recommend Springwater Center and the others who are now offering retreats there (Richard Witteman, Wayne Coger, Sandra Gonzalez, Les Schaffer, and others). You can learn more at the, and you can find a treasure trove of Toni's talks (audio and video) on the Springwater Center, including recordings from the early days of Genesee Valley Zen Center when Toni was still using koans and Zen terminology, through all the years when she was teaching at Springwater Center, on up to her final years when she was quite ill—many phases in her life and many amazing and wonderful talks. There are a few talks by some of the current Springwater teachers as well. I talk about Toni and read from one of her books in the interview I did on Conscious TV. Toni's books and talks are all very highly recommended.

One of the greatest teachers of all time, in my opinion. ALAN WATTS: The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are and The Wisdom of Insecurity − These two books are excellent. They will give you an excellent understanding of the nondual perspective found in Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta and Taoism, but without any of the traditional baggage. He zeroes right in on the undivided and seamless nature of reality and the illusion of a separate self with free will. Alan Watts was an unconventional, iconoclastic, renegade who left organized religion behind and went right to the heart of the matter, and this he communicated with great lucidity and always with a sense of humor and play. Watts was perhaps the single person most responsible for introducing Zen and eastern spirituality to America.

If you haven't read him in a long time, he's definitely worth exploring anew, and if you've never read him before, by all means do. Clear, direct, right on the mark, and always enjoyable to read. Watts was a one-time Christian minister with a doctorate in theology who left the church and turned to Vedanta and Zen, both of which he came to understand deeply and experientially, to the core and the root.

There are many other wonderful books (including The Way of Zen) and several fine audio collections available now, and you can find Alan Watts on YouTube as well. I talk about and read from The Book by Alan Watts in the interview I did on Conscious TV.

All very highly recommended. ECKHART TOLLE: The Power of Now; A New Earth; Stillness Speaks; Practicing the Power of Now; and Guardians of Being: Spiritual Teachings from Our Dogs and Cats – Eckhart is an exceptionally clear contemporary teacher whose expression is deeply grounded in presence and refreshingly free of conventional religious or dogmatic trappings. He is excellent at shifting the focus from our habitual entrancement in thought-stories to the boundlessness of nonconceptual presence.

His message is all about being fully awake in the (timeless) Now, seeing through the illusory separate self, and discovering the 'eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.' His talks and the pages of his books are palpably saturated with the awake stillness that he embodies and expresses so beautifully. Eckhart points eloquently and simply to the transformative power and freedom of boundless awareness, the ever-present Now. He illuminates the workings of the egoic mind—the habitual thoughts and behaviors that obscure the truth—with great clarity. He has a wonderfully whimsical sense of humor, and he so perfectly, with such spot-on accuracy and love, captures and pokes fun at the obsessive machinations of the thinking mind.

Eckhart offers a stripped down, bare-bones, nondual approach to meditation and the art of present moment living, a very simple and direct way of seeing through thought-created suffering and being fully present with whatever is showing up, including an intelligent way of working with difficult emotions, compulsions and neurotic patterns (what he calls the pain-body). He once described his teaching as being like a marriage of Ramana Maharshi and J. Krishnamurti, and that feels on the mark to me. If you're all tied up in mental knots trying to think your way to enlightenment, Eckhart is excellent at waking you up from the mental trance of concepts and beliefs, and bringing you into the aliveness and immediacy of Now. To his credit, he has managed to speak to a wide range of people in ways that they can hear—e.g.

He did a series with Oprah that was seen by millions worldwide. Eckhart has a beautiful ability to start wherever the questioner is and then open it up in deeper ways. Don't be fooled by the occasional New Agey titles such as 'Finding Your Life's Purpose,' 'Manifesting Abundance in Your Life,' or 'The New Earth.' When you really listen to what he's actually saying in any of these talks or books, you find that he always brings it back to Here and Now—'your life's purpose' is to be fully present right Now, and the 'New Earth' is Now, not some future utopia.

The beauty of his teaching is that he wakes the listener up to what matters most, not as an idea or a concept, but as a direct experiential reality. German by birth, he now lives in western Canada. There is tremendous depth and subtlety in all of Eckhart's books and tapes, and I recommend them very highly. A New Earth is his most comprehensive and recent book, and the one I would most recommend for getting his complete teaching.

Stillness Speaks is a highly distilled jewel that offers the essence of his message in sutra-like form—exquisitely clear and simple. The Power of Now was Eckhart's first book, and it is excellent. Practicing the Power of Now is a short book that distills some of the key material in The Power of Now along with some new material, also very good.

There is a great deal of audio and video also available. Some of my favorites have been discontinued, but some excellent DVDs that I believe are still available include: Finding Your Life's Purpose; The Flowering of Human Consciousness; What Is Meditation; and The Art of Presence. Some excellent CDs I enjoyed include: Through the Open Door and Stillness Admidst the World. There are many others available that I haven't seen or heard, with new ones being added all the time, and I'm sure they're all excellent. There's an excellent, profound interview with him that comes and goes from YouTube—it starts outdoors by the water and then soon moves inside his home, and that part indoors is what I really loved. You may be able to find it or by googling Eckhart Tolle’s “Most Powerful Video on Spirituality and Happiness.” All very highly recommended. More at Eckhart's website STEVE HAGEN: Buddhism Is Not What You Think; Buddhism Plain & Simple; Meditation Now or Never — These are all excellent, outstanding books, all of which I very highly recommend.

Steve is one of the clearest, most awake and most articulate Zen teachers I've ever encountered, and I continue to learn from him. Many books and teachings give you something to hold onto and believe in, however subtle it might be, but Steve gives you absolutely nothing to grasp, and he shows you that this alone is true freedom. This is the radical (true and original) kind of Buddhism that is about nothing more or less than being awake right now. As Steve puts it, “This is about awareness.

Not awareness of something in particular, but awareness itself—being awake, alert, in touch with what is actually happening. It’s about examining and exploring the most basic questions of life. It’s about relying on the immediate experience of this present moment.

It’s not about belief, doctrine, formula, or tradition. It’s about freedom of mind.” Meditation, as Steve uses the word, is not a relaxation technique, nor is it about visualization or getting into special trance or samadhi states. It is 'the practice of awareness, openness, and direct experience of here and now.' And as he says, 'Meditation is not escapism, or tuning anything out.

Meditation is tuning in and facing our problems head-on.' The understanding that Steve conveys about impermanence, enlightenment and nonduality is so subtle, clear and complete that it instantly dissolves all conceptual fixations, leaving only the vibrant immediacy of this ever-changing here and now. Steve is excellent at clarifying the distinction between reality and our ideas about reality, between conceptual thought and direct perception. He goes right to the root of what creates human suffering, exposing the habitual tendency to freeze and grasp life with concepts and then to mistake the conceptual map for the actual living territory.

Steve talks about emptiness not as a big empty space that contains all the forms, but as the impermanence that is so total, complete and thoroughgoing that no- thing actually ever forms to even be impermanent: “Impermanence (the relative) is total, complete, thoroughgoing, Absolute. It’s not that the universe is made up of innumerable objects in flux. There’s only flux. Nothing is (or can be) riding along in the flux, like a cork in a stream; nothing actually arises or passes away. There’s only stream.” This understanding completely erases all the false dualistic divides between form and emptiness, consciousness and matter, free will and determinism.

Steve has another book called Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense: An Inquiry into Science, Philosophy, and Perception that is more scientific in nature and not nearly as easy to read as Steve's other books, but it is worth the effort. In this book, Steve argues for the primacy of Mind over matter: 'It's only when consciousness is seen as antecedent to matter that our problems with consciousness cease,' and 'True Knowledge, or Certitude, is pure, objectless Awareness.' (That book was originally published as How the World Can Be the Way It Is, but the new edition, Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense, is updated and revised, and if you're going to read it, I recommend the newer edition--and if you find yourself unable to undertstand certain parts where he gets into complicated math and science, my advice is to just skip over those parts and keep going. You'll get something from the book even if you can't follow all of it.) A Zen priest in the lineage of Dainin Katagiri and a former science researcher, Steve founded Dharma Field Zen Center in Minneapolis. He teaches Zen practice in a pretty bare-bones, stripped-down way, without much ceremony or fanfare, but it is still formal Zen practice, so he occasionally says things about sitting postures and hand positions and so on that don't particularly resonate with me, but everything he says about life and about the essential heart of meditation practice is right on the mark. I have found Steve to be truly humble, awake, down to earth, and very bright.

He is a true Zen Master, in my opinion, although he would never tell you that. I highly recommend Dharma Field to anyone who feels drawn to formal Zen practice, and I very highly recommend Steve's books and talks to everyone with an interest in nonduality and waking up. This is excellent material. Buddhism Is Not What You Think had a huge impact on me, and I found all his other books very enlightening as well. I attended a few sesshins (Zen meditation retreats) with Steve when I was living in Chicago, and I continue to listen to his talks and dip into his books. I talk about Steve and read a bit from one of his books in the interview I did on Conscious TV.

You can find a wealth of excellent talks and classes by Steve and other Dharma Field teachers (I especially recommend Norm Randolph and Cynthia Scott) on the and Steve's books are not to be missed. Very highly recommended. ANAM THUBTEN: The Magic of Awareness and No Self, No Problem − Anam Thubten is a very awake, wonderful, deeply realized contemporary teacher, originally from Tibet, who has been living and teaching in the West for many years now. He teaches from the heart and his whole being seems to radiate boundless love. He is transparently present, has a genuine humility and lack of self-concern, and a wonderful sense of humor.

Anam Thubten is at the nondual edge of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and he comes across as refreshingly down-to-earth and unbound by tradition or dogma. Clear and full of light, he has this wonderful twinkle of amusement and wonderment in his eyes. Simple and radical in his approach, Anam Thubten invites us to see through the frozen mirage-world of stories and concepts and to wake up (or melt) to our True Nature as boundless love and pure awareness, but not in some airy-fairy, transcendent, other-worldly way, but rather, right here in the immediacy of what is, as it is. His expression is open, honest, and warm-hearted. Tamil Love Sad Songs Free Download. He sees our human foibles very clearly, but always with humor and genuine empathy, and he encourages us to love our limitations, to love ourselves and the world just as we are, to find nirvana in samsara and enlightenment in delusion.

Here are some quotes to give you a taste: 'All of the problems we fight against do not really exist.When we don't believe in our thoughts we are always awakened. When we believe in our thoughts we are unawakened.Love is the ability to see every circumstance and every being as perfect just as they are.It is the total acceptance of all things.In every moment we are absolutely perfect.It's okay to fail and to fail continuously, time after time. In fact, every time we fail we should give ourselves a chocolate as a reward.The heart of all spirituality is to love this life, to enjoy this life.Awareness is like a fire because it burns down all illusions right there on the spot.When we start inquiring into what is holding us back from realizing the truth, we come to the realization that there is really nothing there. There are no obstacles.

Nothing is holding us back from awakening.' Anam Thubten is the head teacher at the Dharmata Foundation, based in the California Bay Area, and he gives talks and holds retreats all over the United States and the world. If you have the opportunity to be with him in person, by all means take it. He has other books, but these two are my favorites and the ones I most highly recommend. Excellent audio and video is also available. Anam Thubten is a beautiful, rare, amazing jewel.

Very highly recommended.. JON BERNIE: Ordinary Freedom and The Unbelievable Happiness of What Is — These are two of the clearest and most refreshingly alive articulations of what this is really all about that I've come across. Beautiful, gorgeous books. I love Jon's writing because he doesn't give us philosophy, metaphysics, nondual dogmatism, or a bunch of abstract mental ideas to think about or believe in, but rather, he invites us to let go into the openness and immediacy of bare presence. He talks about learning how to let things be exactly as they are, dropping out of conceptual thought and belief into a process of exploration and discovery that is sensory and energetic, being present as boundless awareness and allowing whatever is showing up to move through. He conveys a spirit of open, alive, never-ending discovery, and a gentle and loving approach to our human struggles.

“Spirituality does not mean leaving your humanity behind,' he writes, 'Rather, the height of spirituality is the complete embrace of every aspect of your humanity. Many people believe being ‘spiritual’ means transcending our humanity, somehow escaping our flawed and messy human experience.

But true spirituality is the opposite of that. Nothing is denied. Nothing is excluded.” Jon was a concert violinist and a teacher of the Alexander Technique before becoming a teacher of nondual awakening. He practiced Zen and Theravada Buddhism and spent time with Advaita teachers Jean Klein, Papaji and Robert Adams, and also with Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk. Jon lives and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He speaks from a place that is authentic, original, alive to the unknown and grounded in presence. These are both excellent books. Very highly recommended. DARRYL BAILEY: Dismantling the Fantasy and Essence Revisited − Darryl offers the clearest, simplest, most articulate description of the dynamic, ever-changing, seamless, automatic and inconceivable nature of reality that I've ever found. His writing is refreshingly clean, spare, radical (to the root), unpretentious and free of jargon, pointing always to the living reality from which nothing stands apart. He shows you that in reality there is no separation or solidity, that the apparently separate self with free will is an illusion, that everything is as it is and could not be otherwise: 'Whatever we are now, whatever we're doing now, is an inexplicable movement accomplishing itself.

Nothing can be added to it and nothing can be taken away from itWe don’t exist as anything apart from this flow.' Darryl focuses on three main points: that everything is changing, that there is no way to describe or understand what this is, and that there is no one controlling any of it. Impermanence is so thorough-going that no separate and enduring forms ever actually exist. Everything is an inconceivable, uncontrollable happening, happening by itself. “Ultimately, my descriptions are false too,' he says, 'but they invite you to step out of description, in order to experience a sense of freedom and well-being that is impossible to create or to understand.' Darryl’s expression is never prescriptive, never aimed at self-improvement or a release from suffering.

His writing is a dismantling of every hopeful and curative fantasy, every place you try to land, every thing you try to grasp. Of course, it is precisely our hopeful grasping and our belief that we 'should' be other than how we are that is our suffering, so realizing what Darryl points out is a huge and liberating relief. Although he spent many years meditating as a Buddhist monk, he doesn't offer any kind of meditative path, but he does invite what he calls a simple, non-conceptual 'acknowledgement of the moment,' in which 'nothing needs to be accomplished,' and where 'attention has permission to rest with the entire happening of the moment,' rather than being totally immersed in the storylines of thought. This could be called meditation, but Darryl makes it clear that he is not talking about techniques, or being in any particular posture, or doing any sort of intentional concentration or mindfulness practice. His emphasis is never on experiences or states of consciousness, but always on “the inexplicable wholeness of existence freely expressing itself.' This, as he makes clear, is effortlessly always already happening.

Our every thought, urge, impulse, desire, mood and action is this inexplicable wholeness; there is no 'wrong' expression. Everything is a 'vibrant, mysterious dance.” Darryl emphasizes the impossibility of influencing or controlling our lives or the world through individual choice or will-power: “Our appearance, direction, and actions simply happen. This realization is freedom.' And he says, “This would be a doctrine of determinism if we existed as something separate from the movement of the universe, something being pushed around by it. But we’re not separate from it; we are this movement.' By focusing on the choiceless nature of everything, and by refusing to offer anything prescriptive to do, Darryl brings the mind to a complete stop in its relentless search for a solution or an attainment: 'Spiritual liberation frees you from the misery-inducing fantasy of perfecting yourself,' he writes. 'In this moment, I am what I am; you are what you are; we’re both the dance of the cosmos.

Liberation isn’t the act of breaking free of this. Liberation is knowing it can’t be otherwise.' Elsewhere he writes: “This is a complete opening to the unformed, the undirected, the uncontrolled, the unexpected, and the unpredictable. This openness is often called love.This love is not some cold, intellectual understanding; it’s an openness of heart.a truly sensitive vulnerability to what is.” When this radical message is truly realized, it is immensely freeing and brings forth compassion for oneself and all beings. Darryl studied with mindfulness meditation teacher Ruth Denison for nine years and spent six years as a Buddhist monk under the guidance of Ajahn Sumedho.

He also had recurring contact with J. Krishnamurti and a significant connection with the Advaita sage Robert Adams. Darryl has an earlier book, Buddhessence, also excellent and highly recommended, in which he distills what he sees as the core teachings of the Buddha and includes material by Alan Watts and U.G. Krishnamurti along with some developmental psychology.

Darryl currently lives in Winnipeg, Canada and has worked as an ice fisherman, bus driver, suit salesman, childcare worker, carpenter and maintenance man among other things. He recently retired after many years working in a warehouse. He was offering 'explorations' of non-duality in Winnipeg and occasionally elsewhere as well as monthly podcasts, but he recently stopped all of that, feeling his work is complete. I believe he is still available for private sessions via Skype.

In addition to Darryl's wonderful books, excellent audio and video is available on his website. Very highly recommended.

NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ: I Am That – translated by Maurice Frydman, this collection of dialogs with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is the most well-worn book in my library − in fact, my first copy completely disintegrated − and this is the book of Niargadatta's teaching that I most highly recommend − it is the classic. Nisargadatta Maharaj was a 20th century Indian guru, a family man and a shopkeeper, living and teaching in the back lanes of Bombay, where he died in 1981. His teaching is Advaita Vedanta.

Advaita means 'not two,' and refers to a nontheistic, nondual form of Hinduism that (supposedly) does not rely on scriptures, dogma or tradition, although I feel that, in actuality, Advaita does in fact include many metaphysical beliefs. So I would be careful not to read Nisargadatta in the way some people read the Bible−as revealed Truth that cannot be quetioned.

But that said, Nisargadatta is certainly one of the clearest Advaita sages, and this book is full of wonderful insights. 'Stop thinking of achievement of any kind,' he says, 'You are complete here and now, you need absolutely nothing.” He points to the boundless and formless conscious presence or beingness Here-Now, which he often calls the 'I AM,' the impersonal sense of being present that is here prior to everything that gets added on later (such as name, gender, social status, profession, etc). 'Reality is what makes the present so vital,' he says, 'so different from the past and future, which are merely mental. If you need time to achieve something, it must be false.'

He points beyond our deeply held assumption that what appears Here-Now has any kind of inherent, observer-independent, objective reality outside of consciousness, and instead he compares everything perceivable and conceivable to a dream: 'Just as the dream state is untrue, the waking state is also an appearance. Both happen spontaneously. Our talk is also taking place in a dream.' Ultimately, Nisargadatta points beyond consciousness itself, to what is prior to the entire movie of waking life and even to that first bare sense of being present: 'The sense of presence which has come spontaneously will leave spontaneously,' he says. 'The desire to be is the strongest of all desires and will go only on the realization of your true nature.'

His teaching can be summarized in a nutshell by one of his most beautiful statements: “When I see that I am nothing, that is Wisdom; when I see that I am everything, that is Love; and between the two my life flows.” Nisargadatta points not to attaining something new or having some exotic experience. It is rather about seeing through delusions and discovering what remains: “Expect nothing from experience.

Realisation by itself is not an experience, though it may lead to a new dimension of experiences. Yet the new experiences, however interesting, are not more real than the old. Definitely realisation is not a new experience. It is the discovery of the timeless factor in every experience.” Or as he puts it elsewhere: 'There is no such thing as enlightenment. The appreciation of this fact is itself enlightenment.' Described by Maurice Frydman as 'warm-hearted, tender, shrewdly humorous, absolutely fearless and true,' Nisargadatta could be fierce as well as loving, and he definitely didn’t conform to the stereotypic image of a soft-spoken, other-worldly, beatific guru.

He smoked bidis (Indian cigarettes) during his satsangs, even as he was dying of throat cancer, and he would sometimes yell at people and throw them out. He offered satsang not in some quiet or idyllic location, but in a small apartment in a noisy, crowded, seedy part of Bombay near the red light district. Self-improvement was never his concern—he pointed to what is already free, prior to the body and the mind, prior to consciousness: “You are not confined to your body; you are everywhere.