The Mind Illuminated

A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness

By: Culadasa, Jeremy Graves, Matthew Immergut PhD, John Yates PhD

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

The Mind Illuminated is a comprehensive, accessible and - above all - effective book on meditation, providing a nuts-and-bolts stage-based system that helps all levels of meditators establish and deepen their practice. Providing step-by-step guidance for every stage of the meditation path, this uniquely comprehensive guide for a Western audience combines the wisdom from the teachings of the Buddha with the latest research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. 

Clear and friendly, this in-depth practice manual builds on the nine-stage model of meditation originally articulated by the ancient Indian sage Asanga, crystallising the entire meditative journey into 10 clearly-defined stages. This manual is an essential listen for beginners and seasoned veterans of meditation alike.

©2015 John Charles Yates (P)2017 Tantor

Rare book on meditation

Excellent book by competent authority. Practical, well explained, in depth book for meditators of any stage and any method
performance too is very good.
I am impressed.

Must read book for all interested in Buddhist meditation

This is a masterpiece! Read it, practice it, do good, be happy! One of the most compelling books on meditation ever written

Struggled with the narrator

I bought the book without listening to a sample. So my own fault really.
The narrator has a lisp where he whistles his S’s so I did not make it past the foreword.
I will have to get again on my kindle.
Might sound a weird reason to rate a book down but I have autism and I am particular sensitive to sound :-/ (I wish I wasn’t)

Audible + Paperback combo!

Excellent and comprehensive. The physical book is large and somewhat intimidating. Yet the illustrations are valuable. I found it beneficial to combine this (smooth) narration with the physical book as guide. :)

Excellent

You will need to persevere through the conceptional mind reviews, best results from reading it more than once and slowly , practicing each stage thoroughly .

Culadasa holds our hand through the troublesome thickets of starting, developing and truly refining our meditation practice

As one experienced meditation teacher said, Is there really that much to write about ‘just sitting’?
Turns out, if you have truly walked the path, and you have also deep professional insight into brain science, yes there is.
This is a profound exploration of the Buddhist path of meditation practice that for those drawn to it, will really act as a huge aid and guide along the hard and sometimes dispiriting thickets of the serious meditators journey.
It will, no doubt, be a book to return to time and again as on stumbles dusts oneself down and yet again returns to the cushion.
Highly recommended.

Please read and digest.

This book is fantastic.
It has helped me immensely.
It will help you, if you believe and follow the process.

A great western look at meditation

A great in depth look at meditation from the point of view of a Western observer. It is very difficult to describe mental states in words that make sense to people, however the authors do remarkably well. overall it is a good introductory/ intermediate guide to meditation.

The best book for learning meditation

I have been doing daily 30 minutes of mindfulness meditation for the past 8+ months but without much success and didn't see much progress or benefits... Then I started to read this book and I had impressive progress in just one week. Book explains step by step meditation progress, goals and stages to achieve. After finishing audiobook I also purchased printed version to study more thoroughly. This book gives me hope and faith that achieving mind-body balance is in reach for relatively short time also for ordinary people and not reserved exclusively for monks who have a life long training.

Not for me

I don't even speak Sanskrit. I didn't get out of the introduction or perhaps I did
I'll return it as soon as the option appears.

Possibility of our perception

Interesting journey through the stages of meditation that immediately motivates to reflect about how present and aware we really are of what we are experiencing in live.
I only started to meditate now and this is the first book I ever read on this topic and I have to immediately made me much calmer.
I will definitely read or hear it again couple of times.

Slow

This book is irritating, the fella spends a couple of hours repeating himself, saying what the book is about and how it is structured. I had to keep checking I hadn’t inadvertently gone back to the start.

Much of it is incomprehensible