Riding the Ox Home: History of Meditation from Shamanism to Science Book

This erudite and stimulating history traces the development of meditation from the age of the Shaman to the present day. Written with clarity and a refreshing directness, it investigates the origins of meditation, its meaning in different cultures, its psychology and metaphysics, and the mysticism in world literature it ranges from the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali to the Interior Castle of St Teresa of Avila to Henry David Thoreau's Walden. In considering the future it finds that increased scientific interest in meditative phenomena - in psychology, anthropology, physiology, and parapsychology - is bridging the gap between subjective and objective knowledge, opening up the possibility of meditation becoming a powerful force in the evolution of human consciousness. Each chapter ends with a brief commentary on a picture in the 'ox-taming' series of the classical Chinese Ch'an and Japnese Zen meditation tradition, in which the author elaborates on the ox-taming allegory of the process by which one attains enlightenment. Professor Johnson's book is unique in that it is free of any attackment to particular cults or traditions. Based upon his own findings, Riding the Ox Home serves as an excellent and highly accessible introduction to the field and offers practical advice in the appendices to readers who wish to deepen their knowledge of the subject or who would take up meditation themselves. --- from book's back coverRead More