Falling into Grace: Insights on the End of Suffering

by Adyashanti

Overview

"You've felt it your whole life. You've always known there's something inside of you that's sought to be born fresh and real–something far beyond your imagination trying to break out and be. Everyone feels this inside. But to allow life to express itself in that way, with that much abandon, requires a true surrender into the unknown."—AdyashantiAdyashanti asks us to let go of our struggles with life and open to the full promise of spiritual awakening: the end of delusion and the discovery and expression of our essential being. After 15 years as a spiritual teacher, Adyashanti has found that the simpler the teaching, the greater its power to initiate this awakening.

On Falling into Grace, he shares what he considers fundamental insights to "open ourselves to that mysterious element that enters in the hidden and quiet moments and sparks a revolution in the way that we perceive life." Wherever you may be on your own spiritual path, you will find in these sessions down-to-earth guidance on breaking the trance of ego, experiencing the raw energy of emotion, cultivating inner stability, transcending the world of opposites, and more.

In the same way that we fall into the arms of a loved one or drop our heads on the pillow at night, we can surrender into the beauty and truth of who and what we really are. Falling into Grace is a program that gets to the core of why we suffer, and allows us to explore Adyashanti's invitation "to be taken by a moment of grace and fall into a sense of life when it is not separate from you, when life is actually an expression of something indefinable, mysterious, and immense."

Highlights:

The human dilemma–the concept of a separate self and the choice to stop believing the thoughts that perpetuate suffering
• “Taking the backward step” into the pure potential of the present moment
• Why spiritual awakening can be a disturbing process
• Intimacy and availability–feeling absolute union with every part of our experience
• True autonomy–the unique expression of our own sense of freedom
Adyashanti began teaching in 1996 at the request of his Zen teacher of 14 years. Adya's teachings have been compared to some of the early Ch'an (Zen) masters of China as well as teachers of Advaita Vedanta in India. His award–winning books include Emptiness Dancing, The End of Your World, and True Meditation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591799245
Publisher:	Sounds True, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/01/2011
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 6.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Adyashanti
Adyashanti is an American-born spiritual teacher devoted to serving the awakening of all beings. His teachings are an open invitation to stop, inquire, and recognize what is true and liberating at the core of all existence. His books include Emptiness Dancing, The End of Your World, True Meditation, The Way of Liberation, and Falling into Grace.

Asked to teach in 1996 by his Zen teacher of 14 years, Adyashanti offers teachings that are free of any tradition or ideology. "The Truth I point to is not confined within any religious point of view, belief system, or doctrine, but is open to all and found within all." For more information, please visit adyashanti.org.

Read an Excerpt

When I was a young child, about seven or eight years old, one of the things I started to notice and ponder as I watched the adults around me was that the adult world is prone to suffering, pain, and conflict. Even though I grew up in a relatively healthy household with loving parents and two sisters, I still saw a great deal of pain around me. As I looked at the adult world, I wondered: How is it that people come into conflict?

As a child, I also happened to be a great listener-some may even say an eavesdropper. I would listen to every conversation that went on in the house. In fact, it was a family joke that nothing happened in the house without me knowing about it. I liked to know everything that was going on around me, and so I spent a lot of my childhood listening to the conversation of adults, in my home and in the homes of relatives. Much of the time, I found what they talked about to be quite interesting, but I also noticed a certain ebb and flow to most of their discussions-how conversations moved into a little bit of conflict, then back away from it.

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface vii

Introduction ix

1 The Human Dilemma 1

2 Unraveling Our Suffering 25

3 Awakening from the Egoic Trance 51

4 Letting Go of Struggle 73

5 Experiencing the Raw Energy of Emotion 99

6 Inner Stability 121

7 Intimacy and Availability 139

8 The End of Suffering 161

9 True Autonomy 177

10 Beyond the World of Opposites 201

11 Falling into Grace 221

About the Author 233

Editorial Reviews

Adyashanti affirms that we make the journey to realization not by separating from the relative reality of our everyday lives, but precisely by developing an attitude of complete acceptance and openness toward all situations and emotions and all the people we encounter.” —Reginald A. Ray Author of Touching Enlightenment

“Falling Into Grace is a dazzling, clear, profound book-a cool drink of water for thirsty hearts everywhere.” —Geneen Roth, author of Women, Food, God

“The path to enlightenment today is cluttered with concepts: Adyashanti cuts through them with a sword so merciless and tender that only space remains.” —Meg Lundstrom, author of What to Do When You Can't Decide

“Adyashanti's teachings point us toward what we most yearn for: realizing and embodying the love and awareness that is our natural state. Falling Into Grace is wonderfully lucid, simple, and powerful. It will remind you to stop the struggle and to relax back into what you already are.” —Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance

“One of the best explanations of mindfulness I have ever come across.” —Janice Long (Amazon review)

From the Publisher