B. Alan Wallace

B. ALAN WALLACE has authored, translated, edited, and contributed to more than forty books on Tibetan Buddhism and culture, as well as on the interface between science and religion, and he has spent many years in solitary meditation retreat. Having trained for many years as a Buddhist monk in India, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, and the United States, he then earned a BA in physics and the philosophy of science and later a PhD in religious studies. After teaching in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he founded the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and more recently the Center for Contemplative Research.

"Alan Wallace is one of the great Western Buddhist thinkers of our day." —Howard Cutler, coauthor with H.H. the Dalai Lama of The Art of Happiness

"A comprehensive and rich teaching that combines skillful instruction and scholarly knowledge. Minding Closely draws on wisdom from both Theravada and Vajrayana traditions to offer a systematic and practical approach to liberation through mindfulness." —Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart

"Its ingenious structure combines theoretical and philosophical discussions with guided meditations, leading readers simultaneously into deeper understandings and experiences of mindfulness. Wallace's writing is clear and often informal, providing readers with personal insights and reflections from an experienced meditator who is also a scholar. An impressive feature of this volume is that it allows those with little prior exposure to Buddhism to gain a solid introduction to numerous core Buddhist concepts and terms without the process seeming arduous. As a popular introduction to Buddhist traditions of mindfulness, this volume is superb and useful as background reading for any student of Buddhism. The exercises are especially valuable." —Choice