A Meditator's Guide to Buddhism: The Path of Awareness, Compassion, and Wisdom

by Cortland Dahl, Yongey Mingyur (foreword)

Nautilus Book Awards Silver Winner

Amid stress, anxiety, and life’s challenges, Buddhism offers a path that can meet them fearlessly with awareness, compassion, and wisdom. This core resource for Buddhist practice offers accessible teachings for beginners or for anyone ready to explore meditation more deeply.

Buddhism is rooted in the simple idea that you can train your mind to suffer less and flourish more. In this experiential guide, Cortland Dahl will take you on a journey through the core principles and meditation practices of the Buddhist tradition. The journey begins with teachings on the Four Noble Truths, practical observations that will help you understand the causes of unhappiness, and how you can access inner calm and deep insight through meditation. The journey continues with teachings on compassion, buddha nature, and the profound principle of emptiness, before culminating in a discussion of meditation practices that use common experiences like dreams and strong emotions to awaken. Through accessible teachings and relatable stories, you will learn simple methods to transform your mind and embrace true, unshakeable happiness.

Genres: Buddhism, Meditation, Nonfiction, Religion, Self Help, Spirituality, Philosophy

265 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 3, 2024

About the author

Cortland Dahl, Ph.D. is a leading expert on mindfulness, meditation, and the science of wellbeing. His eclectic background includes long periods of solitary retreat in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal and the translation of ancient Tibetan meditation manuals, as well as cutting-edge research on the science of wellbeing and the creation of an acclaimed meditation app. He is a scientist, author, translator, entrepreneur, and meditation teacher, but his true passion is using ancient wisdom and modern science to help people flourish.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buddhism distilled to its essential beauty

Dr. Dahl has given us an amazing gift in this book! I have never before seen Buddhism presented so clear and compelling a way as he has done here. This is accessible for any reader, any level of practitioner including if you’ve never hear of Buddhism before. I am so grateful for these teachings, and even though i have been practicing Buddhism for years I had many an Aha moment while reading this. Thank you Dr. Dahl for your compassion, wisdom, and awareness

[Zane Zuzanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Cortland is my favorite meditation and Buddhism teacher.

[Teddy Monacelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're like me and picked up this book because you engage with the excellent Healthy Minds meditation app (the author is the main contributor/narrator), I'd caution you that it primarily focuses on explaining key Buddhist teachings and practices, with meditation as a minor component.

With that said, I found this book to be an excellent primer. Dahl's writing is consistently warm, approachable, gentle, and clear, even when explaining HONESTLY CONFUSING IDEAS like "emptiness" (the vast amount of complexity and depth to any being's character that we normally reduce to superficial and simple categories/labels), "Buddha Nature" (our inherent capacity to transcend suffering, confusion, and selfishness), and "Samsara" (the constant cycle of all non-Buddha-natured people of striving towards things we want and pushing against things we don't want in a way that inevitably leaves us feeling dissatisfied with what we have/who we are). Dahl acknowledges the challenges of grasping these and many other concepts and shares his own struggles along his learning path, making it feel realistic to reach a similar understanding.

I do wish the book delved deeper into the process of meditation, though it does offer meditation examples in every section. I sense that this book is a gentle nudge towards actually walking down the Buddhist path yourself, rather than trying to fully explain every idea and provide a gradually more elaborate and complex set of meditations for you. Ultimately, if you're curious about learning more about Buddhism but feel nervous or embarrassed about visiting a temple or taking a course, I'd suggest reading this book over doing your own research on Reddit.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Meditator's Guide to Buddhism: The Path of Awareness, Compassion, and Wisdom by Dr. Cortland Dahl 5/5

This is an incredible book that gives one an intro guide to Buddhism.

The book is broken down into chapters but also then subchapters. All of which is very readable to anyone. I love the way he breaks topics down. I don't like using hi-liters when I read, but this book is perfect for that. Then you can come back to parts later on to reflect on or to connect with in later sections of the books.

Anyone familiar with the Healthy Minds app or Center for Healthy Minds @ UW Madison will recognize the author. I do live in the Madison area so I was aware of this book coming out and had it pre-ordered.

This book has held a special place for me. Both my mom and I are huge fans of using the Healthy Minds app. So we decided to book club this book. Each Friday morning I call her and discuss the next part of the book. We split the chapters in about half. It's a great way to be able to discuss what we read, but also get someone else point of view on what they've read.

[Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised and humbled me. As a longtime student in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, I had assumed much of the information in here would be familiar to me and hence approached it without much interest when I started Tergar's associated course on A Meditator's Guide to Buddhism. Well, in one sense, the information was indeed familiar - but it was shared here with so much intelligent nuance that it landed as almost new.

I loved the focus on application, the accessibility of the householder-yogi tradition, and Cortland Dahl's reflections on applying various aspects of the path.

I think this should belong in any Buddhism 101 course and is worth revisiting (as I learned) no matter how long we have been part of the tradition.

[Nobody · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title can be a bit deceptive. This book doesn't provide instruction on meditation or serve as a comprehensive introduction to Buddhism. However, it excels in what it aims to do. It offers a practical guide to meditation, detailing the subtleties of three meditation practices: Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. The book's strength lies in its comparison of these traditions, along with examples of meditations specific to each one. I plan to read this again and explore the Healthy Minds app as well.


If one is looking for a great meditation book try "The Mind Illuminated" by John Charles Yates or the mindfulness classic "Mindfulness in Plain English" by Henepola Gunaratana.

[Spencer Tibbling · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The important part here is we are not deepening or stabilizing our true nature… but rather our experience of it. We learn to recognize pure awareness in meditation and then in daily life. With time, our identity shifts, and we see ourselves less and less through the lens of our memories & emotions.”

This was a great read on the different avenues or vehicles you can follow on your road of Buddhism. I particularly loved the fact Dr. Dahl included a glossary for beginners like me.

[Edwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

No matter where you are on the path, a refresher is always welcome. Especially when it expresses the views of your teacher on topics, you thought you already knew. Don't be an Expert. I especially liked the discussion of Shamatha and Vipassana and the chapter on Vajrayana. It's not too basic nor too esoteric. Dahl's book will meet you where you are on the path and can be read over and over again. The book, however, could use a beefier index and more detailed table of contents.

[Priya Chapagain · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writer hasn’t even done his due diligence on Buddhism. The Buddha was not from India; he was born as Siddhartha Gautam, the son of a king, in Lumbini, Nepal. After reading these historically misguided statements, the writer’s credibility was already lost, and I couldn’t bring myself to trust any of the words that meandered thereafter.

[Christopher Keene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding overview of Buddhist traditions

The book breaks down the complex tapestry of Buddhist teachings into three broad traditions and very clearly describes the similarity and differences of those traditions. It takes a pragmatic approach that is less historical or philosophical and more about how each tradition provides tools that I can use as a meditator.

[Renata Leal · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful introduction to Buddhism. And what an inspiring and clarifying read for those of us who already practice, my my. Felt like receiving a loving and compassionate letter from a dear spiritual friend.

[Adam Zuwerink · Rating 5 out of 5]

As others have noted, the title is a little misleading. But this is my new favorite entry-level take on the different strands of Buddhist philosophy, and the clearest explanation I have come across for the subtle differences between three major schools of Buddhist thought.

[Wisconsin Alumni]

Cortland Dahl PhD'16, faculty
Author

In this experiential guide, Cortland Dahl will take you on a journey through the core principles and meditation practices of the Buddhist tradition.

[Deryck Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic introduction to meditation through a Buddhist lens. Extremely well written with clear concise language and salient examples for everyday practice, can’t recommend to everyone enough.

[Eliot Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clear and accessible guide to the various paths and practices of Buddhist meditation. More a survey than an in depth treatment of each path - which gives one a view of the whole landscape.

[Tam Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book you read once. There is so much good info in this one that I keep going back. I don't know if I will ever "finish" it, lol.

[lynns · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true reflection of Cort at his core—this book is a wise and witty guide to living a beautifully prosaic life.

I’m grateful to know Cort and am glad this book is finally out in the world. 🌏

[Carolinaboy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great overview of meditative practices grounded in Buddhist tradition.

[keep-it · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best books i have read on Buddhism

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

good introduction to Buddhism

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an easy read for such big ideas!!

[Jordy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic work.

[LemontreeLime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fantastic overview, but in depth everywhere it was needed. Highly recommend. I will be rereading this.