An extended meditation on the Buddha's Four Noble Truths with new insights into this important foundation of Buddhist thought and practice. Four Noble Truths 1. Suffering exists. 2. Suffering arises from attachment to desires. 3. Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases. 4. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path. For 2,500 years, Gautama Buddha’s Four Noble Truths have stood as the Buddhist map to the causes of suffering and its release into enlightenment. In this book, Jason Shulman reinterprets these Truths for our era, revealing the powerful ally suffering can be in our search for freedom. Jason Shulman has the voice of an ancient prophet. He is versed in both wisdom traditions and modern thought. His rhetoric comes from on top, from differentiation, but don’t be mistaken: its weight comes from the hara, the belly, and integration…It’s from difficulty that we learn about ease. This book should be used as a guide, hints from one who has traveled the path, rather than an official highway atlas. Dear Reader, meet this teaching head on. Appreciate it as well as your doubts. Suffering is a great opportunity. Illustrator, Dairyu Michael Wenger is a Soto Zen priest and a disciple of Sojun Mel Weitsman. He has practiced Zen for 46 years, 38 of them at the San Francisco Zen Center. At the age of 63 he founded his own temple, Dragons Leap, emphasizing Zazen and brush painting; courage, compassion, and creativity. The Jason Shulman Library. More about the Library and Jason’s work and outreach can be found at the Foundation for Nonduality website: nonduality.us "This little book is a realjewel. Jason's expression of nonduality includes duality. It includes being a person. It includes everyday life. It includes shadows and uncertainties. And it includes suffering and desire, not as problems we caneventually transcend, but as integral aspects of the very fabric of existence.Instead of seeing desire, or clinging, as something we must transcend, Jasonsees it as how the universe holds together and functions. The cessation ofsuffering, in his view, "has to do with the integration of lightand dark." Instead of the transcendent, idealized, purist vision that views certainaspects of reality as superior to others, this is a down-to-earth,all-inclusive, fully-embodied approach. "In a world of uncertainty, awakeningdoes not bring the hoped-for certainty we longed for. Mystery remains. Wildnessremains. Danger remains. Vitality and freedom remain as well." And awakening isnever finished. It is on-going. I highly recommend this little book." -Joan Tollifson Author of Nothing to Grasp . "A Dharma teacher and Kabbalist, Jason Shulman has succeeded in creating a down-to-earth guide which makes the quest to find God into a realizable possibility." - Deepak Chopra, M.D., author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof."Beautiful lessons and brilliant insights on the divine nature of humanity and how we connect with God and ourselves. Enlightening and inspirational." - Stephen R. Covey, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness."Jason Shulman takes the Buddha's Four Noble Truths as his musical score, and riffs on them like an inspired jazz singer. His music is immediate, yet timeless. I found myself humming along, and I'm sure you could even dance to it." -Eric Utne, founder, Utne Reader "The Instruction Manual for Receiving God contains exactly the type of common sense wisdom required for a person to live a good oldfashioned grounded life in a society that encourages us to do things faster while multi-tasking. This book is a magnificent breath of tranquil air." - Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Sacred Contracts."Jason Shulman offers us a profoundly simple guide to the obviousness of awakening to our deepest Self. Lucid, contemporary, and most of all kind, this is a beautiful book which goes to the very heart of the human condition, by encouraging us to embrace both the impersonal oneness of all things and the richness of the personal life." - Timothy Freke, author of Lucid Living."Jason Shulman is a true adept of the inner teachings. He offers a very sophisticated and dynamic account of what happens between the Kabbalah and the great, luminous transparency. To engage with Jason Shulman's mind is to enter into the reality where true healing can occur." - Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement Other books by Jason Shulman and the Foundation for Nonduality include: .The Nondual ShamanThe Kabbalah MonographsEcstatic Speech: Expressions of True NondualityThe MAGI Process: A Nondual Method for Personal Awakening and the Resolution of ConflictThe Instruction Manual for Receiving GodKabbalistic Healing: A Path to an Awakened Soul Jason Shulman is an American spiritual teacher whose original work springs from his Judaic and Buddhist background. He is the founder of A Society of Souls: Th