Showing results by narrator "Brian Nishii" in All Categories

About 1,000 years ago, the great Indian pandit and yogi, Dipamkara Shrijnana (Atisha), was invited to Tibet to reestablish the Buddhadharma which had been suppressed and corrupted for almost two centuries. One of Atisha's main accomplishments in Tibet was his writing of the seminal text A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, in which he extracted the essence of all 84,000 teachings of the Buddha and organized them into a clear, steplike arrangement that makes it easy for any individual practitioner to understand and practice the Dharma. This genre of teachings is known as lam-rim, or steps of the path, and forms an essential part of every school of Tibetan Buddhism.

It is twenty years after the catastrophic war between the US and China that brought down the old American political order. A new party has emerged in the US, one that’s held power for over a decade. Efforts to tighten its grip have resulted in mounting violent resistance. The American president has control of the media, but he is beginning to lose control of the streets. Many fear he’ll stop at nothing to remain in the White House. Suddenly, he collapses in the middle of an address to the nation. After an initial flurry of misinformation, the administration reluctantly announces his death.

The inspirational teachings in this collection show that the real way of the warrior is based on compassion, wisdom, fearlessness, and love of nature. The teachings are drawn from the talks and writings of Morihei Ueshiba, founder of the popular Japanese martial art of Aikido, a mind-body discipline he called the "Art of Peace", which offers a nonviolent way to victory in the face of conflict. Ueshiba believed that Aikido principles could be applied to all the challenges we face in life.

Yuki Hirano is just out of high school when his parents enroll him, against his will, in a forestry training program in the remote mountain village of Kamusari. No phone, no internet, no shopping. Just a small, inviting community where the most common expression is “take it easy.” At first, Yuki is exhausted, fumbles with the tools, asks silly questions, and feels like an outcast. Kamusari is the last place a city boy from Yokohama wants to spend a year of his life. But as resistant as he might be, the scent of the cedars and the staggering beauty of the region have a pull.

The Kick-A** Book of Cobra Kai is a celebration of the superfans — an essential companion to the show acting as a master sensei ready to guide listeners through the karate-crazed San Fernando Valley. The legacy of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai continues with interviews with Ralph Macchio (Daniel LaRusso), William Zabka (Johnny Lawrence), Martin Kove (John Kreese), Xolo Maridueña (Miguel Diaz), and Mary Mouser (Samantha LaRusso).

Finding awareness in any kind of ordinary daily activity... The first trade book from a Southeast Asian Buddhist monk-teacher who is becoming prominent worldwide, particularly in the insight meditation community. Meditation is great - but it's not what Buddhist practice is all about. That's the message of this engaging and funny Burmese Buddhist monk, and it's a message that is finding a significant following among Westerners in the insight meditation tradition.

The teachings of Shunryu Suzuki have served for innumerable people as the gateway to Zen practice and meditation. In Zen Is Right Now, devoted student and biographer David Chadwick sheds new light on Suzuki’s presence and teachings through selected quotes from his lectures and a variety of stories told by his students.

Shunryu Suzuki’s extraordinary gift for presenting traditional Zen teachings using ordinary language is well known to the countless readers of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. In Zen Is Right Here, his teachings are brought to life through stories told by his students. These living encounters with Zen are poignant, direct, humorous, paradoxical, and enlightening - and their setting in real-life contexts makes them wonderfully accessible.

After defeating the demon who took over the clan's abode, Yang was initiated at the family altar, which made him one step closer to fulfilling his mission—reviving the great Raven clan. His path now leads to the most dangerous place in the Jade Empire—its capital. The journey of a thousand li begins with the first step, no matter how hard it is. Along the way, the young champion will face many dangers and gain new opportunities under the watchful eye of his new mentor.

Van Norden’s Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy is evidently of increasing importance in balancing our 21st century view of philosophy in general. It is to Van Norden’s regret, that when ‘philosophy’ is discussed or taught, it is almost always in the context of ‘Western Philosophy’ rather than a global perspective. Yet the contribution of China to global thought and understanding is crucial, especially in our contemporary context.

The Tides of March weaves a tale of espionage, as ancient Samurai legacies and a nation’s struggle with an unseen enemy are revealed, against a backdrop of a series of apocalyptic events that draw in the bewitched descendants of a Samurai family serving as elite agents. Tasked with the surveillance of activities within the murky world of high-level corruption and its connections with international adversaries, events begin to spiral out of control as they seek to confront a Korean spy ring’s deadly mission to draw a lethal advantage from the heart of chaos.

Sometimes, in order to ascend to Heaven, it is necessary to descend into the depths of Hell. It is precisely this path that Yang will have to walk in order to master himself and his new abilities. It is there that he will meet a former enemy who may become his close friend and ally.

Just yesterday, Ian Raven was a champion in Vale Tudo. His fighting spirit and the desire to win led him to the top of the fighting Olympus. Having met death in battle, Ian made a deal with a mysterious entity wearing the mask of a demon and found himself in a new body and a new world. A world that lives by old traditions. A world in which the law is the will of ruthless clans. A world with disturbed balance. A world hurtling toward the abyss.

A View from the Stars features a range of short works from the past three decades of New York Times bestselling author Cixin Liu's prolific career, putting his nonfiction essays and short stories side-by-side for the first time. This collection includes essays and interviews that shed light on Liu's experiences as a reader, writer, and lover of science fiction throughout his life, as well as short fiction that gives glimpses into the evolution of his imaginative voice over the years.

Inspired by the real-life Glico-Morinaga kidnapping, an unsolved case that terrorized Japan for two years, Lady Joker reimagines the circumstances of this watershed episode in modern Japanese history and brings into riveting focus the lives and motivations of the victims, the perpetrators, the heroes and the villains. As the shady networks linking corporations to syndicates are brought to light, the stakes rise, and some of the professionals we have watched try to fight their way through this crisis will lose everything—some even their lives.

A bestseller in Japan—a beautiful story about shared self-discovery and friendship involving an unlikely group of students who decide to defy the odds and pursue a seemingly impossible goal together.

Two dozen tales of future shock and twisted history from an undisputed king of cyberpunk science fiction, including Nebula Award finalists “Sunken Garden” and “Dori Bangs.”

Burned by napalm as an infant and adopted by the guardian spirit of a river, Numamushi spends the first years of his life catching frogs to eat and learning to shed his skin like his serpentine father. Then one day, a lonely man moves into the abandoned house next to the river, and curiosity for all things human awakens in Numamushi. This mysterious man shares Numamushi’s penchant for eating frogs but also carries the scars of war, a love of the written word, and knowledge of the secret history of the house and its river.

Wang Er, a twenty-one-year-old ox herder, is shamed by the local authorities and forced to write a confession of his crimes, but he instead takes it upon himself to write a modernist literary tract. Later, as a lecturer at a chaotic, newly built university, Wang Er navigates the bureaucratic maze of 1980’s China, boldly writing about the Cultural Revolution’s impact on his life and those around him. Finally, alone and humbled, Wang Er must come to terms with the banality of his own existence.

Yumeko the shape-shifter had one task: take her piece of the ancient and powerful scroll to the Steel Feather temple and prevent the summoning of the great Kami Dragon. But she has a new enemy now. The demon Hakaimono has escaped and possessed the samurai she thought would protect her, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan. Hakaimono has done the unthinkable and joined forces with Genno, the Master of Demons, to break his curse and set himself free. But Genno wishes to overthrow the empire and cover the land in darkness. To do that he needs only one thing, the scroll Yumeko is hiding.