Three Steps to Awakening
By Larry Rosenberg
By Laura Zimmerman
The deceptively simple three-phase method presented here is a meditation practice that can be worked with for a lifetime. Larry Rosenberg looks to Zen, to Insight Meditation, and to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti to find three kinds of meditation that anyone can do and that complement each other in a wonderful way: (1) breath awareness, (2) breath as anchor, and (3) choiceless awareness.
Having the three methods in one’s repertoire gives one meditation resources for any life situation. In a time of stress, for example, one might use breath awareness exclusively. Or on an extended retreat, one might find choiceless awareness more appropriate. The three-step method has been taught to Larry’s students at the Cambridge Meditation Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for many years.
After teaching the three-step method, Larry goes on to show how to bring the awareness gained in meditation to the world off the cushion, into relationships and into all areas of daily life.
"For those who seek clear, wise guidance in the ‘how to’s’ of Buddhist meditation, Larry Rosenberg’s new book will become a valued resource. Written with great simplicity, intelligence and warmth, Three Steps to Awakening introduces core practices that together constitute a vibrantly alive spiritual path." —Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge
"Larry Rosenberg offers us a practice that, although based on the Anapanasati Sutta of the Buddha, is honed from his own realization and thus holds the pragmatism of his decades of meditation and teaching. He does not stop with formal instructions but encourages us forward beyond special forms and environment and drops us off at the gateway of our lives. Larry calls himself a minimalist, and it is because he gives us only what is relevant so that we can move easily with his teaching toward the liberation of our own minds and hearts." —Rodney Smith, author of Stepping Out of Self-Deception: The Buddha’s Liberating Teaching of No-Self and Awakening: A Paradigm Shift of the Heart