Into the Mirror: A Buddhist Journey through Mind, Matter, and the Nature of Reality

"Into the Mirror is an integrative presentation of the Mahayana Buddhist view of the nature of reality, combining insights from modern Western philosophy, science, and physics to guide the reader on an experiential journey. Andy Karr invites the reader to engage in complex Buddhist ideas with guided contemplations, such as how to bring awareness to the textures of thoughts and feelings that come and go in meditation practice, how to investigate the way we impute qualities onto the objects we crave, and how to generate compassion without a sense of grasping on to things as having a concrete essence. Turning the classical mind-body problem of contemporary philosophy on its head, he guides the reader to investigate the mind's role in creating experiences ofthe external world. The book consists of three parts. The first is a highly accessible summary of the Buddhist path to the cessation of suffering, presenting foundational concepts such as the four truths, the notion of enlightenment, and the practice of meditation. The second part offers methods for deconstructing our presumptions about the relationship between consciousness and matter, incorporating modern philosophy and science into a traditional Buddhist presentation of the true nature of mind. Part three then explores the progressive stages of insight of the Mahayana tradition, introducing the reader to key premodern Buddhist thinkers such as Nagarjuna and Asanga. This history of Indian Buddhist thought, and the Yogacara tradition in particular, is used a guide for an inquisitive journey that offers transformative insight into ordinary human experience"--
Into the Mirror examines the materialism of the modern world through the profound teachings of Mahayana Buddhism and offers an accessible and powerful method for investigating the way our minds construct our worlds.Into the Mirror combines contemporary Western inquiries into the nature of consciousness, with classical Buddhist investigations into the nature of mind, to offer deep insights into the nature of reality. Andy Karr invites the reader to make this a personal, experiential journey through study, contemplation, and meditation.The first part of the book presents the Mahayana Buddhist approach to the path of freedom from suffering. It explores foundational teachings, such as the four truths, the notion of enlightenment, and the practice of meditation, from a fresh perspective. The second part deconstructs assumptions about mind and the material world using easily understood tools from contemporary Western philosophy. Part three presents a series of contemplative practices, ethics, and insights, starting with the Middle Way teachings on emptiness and interdependence, through Yogachara’s subtle understanding of non-duality, to the view that buddha nature is already within us to be revealed rather than something external to be acquired.Into the Mirror concludes with a call to cultivate compassion for beings and the environment right within this world of illusion.