This week we’re giving away the eBook edition of A Guide to the Bodhisattvas by Vessantara. Bodhisattvas, or ‘Enlightenment Beings’, are dedicated to one thing: working endlessly in the service of living beings, helping them to achieve Enlightenment. This book introduces a panoply of archetypal bodhisattvas from the Buddhist tradition and their visualization practices, including Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, Vajrapāṇi, Green Tārā and White Tārā.

In an interview in 2012, Vessantara commented: 

“[One] main use of visualization practices is that they help us see clearly how things are in reality. In order to function in everyday life, we see things in terms of fixed objects that are all nice and solid and steady. Actually, they’re impermanent, but because we don’t know this we get taken by surprise and turned upside-down when something that we relied on suddenly isn’t there any more.

So in a traditional practice you might see a Buddha appear, but because they’re made of light and they dissolve back into the openness of the blue sky at the end of the practice, it’s clear that they’re not permanent or stable. And after visualizing this day after day, the meditation starts to transform your experience of the everyday world – your understanding of it, your expectations of it, and the way you interact with it all start to change. You begin to think and act more in accordance with the way things are and because you’re no longer trying to wring things out of the world that the world won’t ever give you, you become much happier.”

Last week’s free eBook, A Guide to the Buddhas, also by Vessantara, is still free until the 31st of August.

Next month we’ll be releasing two new books by award-winning author Bhikkhu Anālayo: Introducing Mindfulness, which is an accessible beginner’s guide, and Mindfulness in Early Buddhism, which is an invaluable resource for Buddhist scholars, meditation teachers and other experienced practitioners wishing to deepen their practice of mindfulness. Both books are now available to pre-order.

And finally, don’t forget to log into your membership account on our website to get 10% off everything (excluding subscriptions). If you’re not already a member, you can sign up for an account here. It’s completely free.