Om Yoga Its Theory and Practice by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

Posted on | January 27, 2012 | No Comments

Om Yoga Its Theory and Practice by Swami Nirmalananda Giri published in 2006 by Atma Jyoti Press is an introduction to classic yoga as thought in the Bhagavad Gita.  It goes into details on breath and sound in both yoga and meditation. The book also has an extensive glossary. Download it here (113 pages):

Om Yoga Its Theory and Practice by Swami Nirmalananda Giri

Illumination of the Path to Freedom by His Holiness the First Dalai Lama Gyalwa Gendun Drup

Posted on | January 26, 2012 | No Comments

Illumination of the Path to Freedom by His Holiness the First Dalai Lama Gyalwa Gendun Drup (1391-1474), is a commentary to a much older Tibetan classic:  The Treasure House of Knowledge, written by the Master Vasubandhu (350 AD). Dalai Lama starts out with an entertaining discussion about Tibetan versus Sanskrit – Tibet versus India:

“If a commentary comes from India people will take the time to study and teach it. It’s just like the local merchants. If they hear some barley has come from the lowlands, right away they want to trade for it, because the source is a good one. A commentary may be excellent, but if you don’t put some Sanskrit in it nobody wants to work with it. They think it’s just Tibetan.”

Download it here (184 pages):

Illumination of the Path to Freedom by the First Dalai Lama

 

Echoes From the Gnosis – The Gnosis of the Mind – Six Volumes

Posted on | January 25, 2012 | No Comments

Echoes From the Gnosis – The Gnosis of The Mind is written by G. R. S. Mead the first modern scholar of Gnostic tradition. G. R. S. Mead was the private secretary of H. P. Blavatsky and in 1906 he published the first volume of eleven in the series Echoes From the Gnosis.The works are a combination oftranslations and interpretations of ancient Gnostic writings. Long before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, Mead translated these esoteric texts of various origins such as Christian, Roman and Greek. Unfortunately I have only been able to find six of the eleven volumes, download them here:

The Gnosis of The Mind (Echoes from the Gnosis Vol. I)

The Hymns of Hermes (Echoes from the Gnosis Vol.II)

The Hymn of Jesus (Echoes from the GnosisVol. IV)

A Mithriac Ritual (Echoes from the Gnosis Vol. VI)

The Gnostic Crucifixion (Echoes from the Gnosis Vol. VII)

The Hymn of the Robe of Glory (Echoes from the Gnosis Vol. X)

A Long Sadhana Vajrayogini – The diamond female yogi

Posted on | January 24, 2012 | No Comments

Last April I spend some time at the Tawang Monastary up between Bhutan and the border to Tibet. This is the second largest Buddhist monastary in the world, the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama and the first stop in safe-land for the 14th after his escape from Lhasa. One day I walked the mountains for hours to reach a branch of Tawang Monastary a nunnery called Khromteng Gonpa. Here lives about 20 nuns practicing Vajrayogini. It translates to ‘the diamond female yogi’ and it is a series of tantric practices including methods for preventing ordinary death, intermediate state, bardo, and rebirth by transforming them into paths to enlightenment. Here is a part of one central meditation, Meditation on the Mandala of Vajrayogini:

“My body is red in colour, with a brilliance like the fire of the Aeon of Destruction. I have one face, two arms, and three eyes which look up towards Dakini-land. With my right hand I hold a downwards-facing outstretched curved knife marked with a vajra. With my left I hold up in the air a skullcup filled with nectar.”

These women are hardcore. Download a detailed description of the practice A Long Sadhana Vajrayogin here. Keep in mind that these instructions are post-initial:

A Long Sadhana of Vajrayogini

The Urantia Papers – The Urantia Book or The Fifth Epochal Revelation

Posted on | January 23, 2012 | No Comments

The Urantia Papers also know as The Urantia Book or The Fifth Epochal Revelation is a long and very strange book. It is said to be written sometime between 1924 and 1955 somewhere around Chicago. The author is unknown and there are many speculations about how it was written from sleeping mediums to plain materialization. The story itself is quite amusing, Wikipedia has an extended article about it here. The fascinating thing about the book is its precision and details about the life of Jesus and the construction of cosmos. The Urantia Papers consists of more than 2.200 pages. Download it here:

The Urantia Papers

Rain on the Nile by Ajahn Amaro

Posted on | January 22, 2012 | No Comments

Rain on the Nile by Ajahn Amaro has the subtitle ‘Talks & Travels‘. The book was published by the Abhayagiri Forest Monastery in California in 2009 and it consists of Ajahn Amaro’s, a well-known and well-respected teacher of Buddhism, poems, teachings and itineraries from a travel to Egypt with a group of american Buddhists. Download it here (260 pages):

Rain on the Nile

 

 

 

 

Bushido the Soul of Japan by Nitobe Inazo

Posted on | January 20, 2012 | No Comments

Bushido the Soul of Japan is is Inazo Nitobe’s description of the Samurai code, Bushido. Bushido literally translates “the way of the warrior” and it was a widespread philosophy of work, war, art and spirituality which influenced the entire society. Bushido has it´s roots in Zen-Buddhism and the ethic codes of the Japanese chivalry and Bushido is a philosophical foundation for a range of martial arts such as Aikido and Kendo. Bushido the Soul of Japan was first published in 1904 and here it is:

 

Bushido the Soul of Japan by Nitobe Inazo

 

Hallucinogenic Plants – A Golden Guide

Posted on | January 18, 2012 | 1 Comment

Hallucinogenic Plants was a part of a serie of books and field guides published in the seventies under the name Golden Guides. Hallucinogenic plants were written by Richard Evans Schultes – a founder of modern ethnobotany. The book is a good intro to psychedelics that has been much further explored since it was published, but I have chosen to post it here because of it’s usability, rich illustrations (by Elmer W. Smith) and the fact that Richard Evans Schultes wrote it. Download it here:

Hallucinogenic Plants – A Golden Guide

 

The Debate of King Milinda

Posted on | January 18, 2012 | No Comments

The Debate of King Milinda – The Milinda Pañha is  a famous work of early Buddhist literature, probably compiled in the first century B.C. It presents the core Buddhist doctrines in an attractive and memorable form as a dialogue between a Bactrian Greek king, Milinda, who plays the ‘Devil’s Advocate’ and a Buddhist sage, Nagasena. Download the free pdf ebook here:

The Debate of King Milinda

 

 

Supermundane – The Inner Life – Book I-IV

Posted on | January 17, 2012 | No Comments

Supermundane -The Inner Life – quadrilogy was written in 1938 by Nicholas Roerich and his wife Helena. From the intro:
“Friend, how can we discuss the Supermundane if energy is not yet realized as the foundation of Existence? Many will not understand at all what is meant by this, while others may think that they understand the significance of fundamental energy, but cannot think about it with clarity. It is necessary to train one’s thought upon the idea of energy until the feeling of it becomes as real as the feeling about any solid object. We speak about feeling, because knowledge alone cannot provide an understanding of energy.”
The books are posted here with the permission from the Agni Yoga Society, which holds the copyright. Download the books here in PDF-format:

Supermundane – The Inner Life I

Supermundane – The Inner Life II

Supermundane – The Inner Life III

Supermundane – The Inner Life IV

You can also get them here as .mobi files her for your Kindle:

Supermundane .Mobi all four files in one Zip

The Shiva Samhita – A Critical Edition

Posted on | January 15, 2012 | 2 Comments

The Shiva Samthita – A Critical Edition is a translation of the ancient teachings on tantra known as Shiva Samhita. The sanskrit title means “The Collection of Verses of Shiva” and the book is considered the most important root text of Hatha Yoga. It starts out by outlining various methods of liberation and philosophical ideas and it goes into details on the non-dual Vedantic philosophy. Download the complete English translation of Shiva Samhita here:

Shiva Samhita

The Teachings of Ajan Chah – A Collection of Ajan Chah’s Dharma Talks

Posted on | January 8, 2012 | No Comments

The Teachings of Ajan Chah –  A Collection of Ajan Chah’s Dharma Talks includes the following eight Dhamma books by Ajahn Chah, more of them are here on the site as single volumes:
• Bodhinyana (1982)
• A Taste of Freedom (fifth impression – 2002)
• Living Dhamma (1992)
• Food for the Heart (1992)
• The Path to Peace (1996)
• Clarity of Insight (2000)
• Unshakeable Peace (2003)
• Everything is Teaching Us (2004)
Download the ebook here (725 pages):

The Teachings of Ajan Chah

The Paradox of Becoming by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Posted on | January 7, 2012 | No Comments

The Paradox of Becoming was written by Thanissaro Bhikkhu in 2008. The topic of becoming is one of the most important in Buddhas teachings, and it features some major paradoxes. The importance of becoming is evident from the role it plays in the four noble truths, particularly in the second: Suffering are caused by any form of craving that leads to becoming. Thus the end of suffering must involve the end of becoming. The central paradox is also evident in the second noble truth, where one of the three forms of craving leading to becoming is craving for non-becoming—the ending of what has come to be. This poses a practical challenge for any attempt to put an end to becoming. Download the book here (136 pages):

The Paradox of Becoming

The Kindness of Others By Geshe Jampa Tegchok

Posted on | January 6, 2012 | No Comments

The Kindness of Others posted with the permission from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. In The Kindness of Others Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Jampa Tegchok explains how we can train our mind away from self-cherishing, the cause of all suffering, and develop compassion, the cause of everything that is good. He bases his explanation on Kadampa Geshe Chekawa’s classic text, The Seven Point Mind Training, which, amongst other things, teaches us how to transform problems into a constructive process of growth. Download the complete ebook here in PDF-format (120 pages):

The Kindness of Others

Vedanta-Sutras With the Commentary by Sankaracharya

Posted on | January 3, 2012 | 1 Comment

Vedanta-Sutras With the Commentary by Sankaracharya. The doctrine advocated by Sankaracharya’s comments is the most important and interesting one which has arisen on Indian soil; neither those forms of the Vedânta which diverge from the view represented by Sañkara nor any of the non-Vedantic systems can be compared with orthodox Vedânta in boldness, depth, and subtlety of speculation. Sankara’s bhaashya (commentaries) is the oldest of the commentaries, it is further the authority most often referred to as to the right understanding of the Vedânta-sutras. Download the free ebook here (479 pages):

Vedanta-Sutras With the Commentary by Sankaracharya

keep looking »

Recent books

• Om Yoga Its Theory and Practice by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
• Illumination of the Path to Freedom by His Holiness the First Dalai Lama Gyalwa Gendun Drup
• Echoes From the Gnosis – The Gnosis of the Mind – Six Volumes
• A Long Sadhana Vajrayogini – The diamond female yogi
• The Urantia Papers – The Urantia Book or The Fifth Epochal Revelation
• Rain on the Nile by Ajahn Amaro
• Bushido the Soul of Japan by Nitobe Inazo
• Hallucinogenic Plants – A Golden Guide
• The Debate of King Milinda
• Supermundane – The Inner Life – Book I-IV

Holy Ebooks Categories

• alchemy
• Ancient Religions
• Biographies
• Buddhism
  • Mahayana
  • Theravàda
  • Tibetan
    • Dzogchen
  • Vajrayana
  • Zen
• Catholicism
• Christianity
• Hinduism
• Islam
  • Shia
  • Sufism
• Judaism
• Literature
• Non-duality
• Occultism
• philosophy
• Shamanism
• Taoism
• The Fourth Way
• Theosophy
• Uncategorized
• Yoga
• Zoroastrianism

Tags

Advaita Aurobindo Awakening buddha Buddhism consciousness Dalai Lama Dhamma Dharma ebook enlightenment fourth way freedom God guide Gurdjieff India karma Krishnamurti love Mahayana meditation mind mindfulness Ouspensky pdf philosophy poetry psychedelics rebirth Rodney Collin Sanskrit science suffering Sutra tantra teachings Theravàda Tibet Vedanta Vipassana Wisdom Yoga yogi Zen

Other Usefull-sites

• A Buddhist Library
• ABC of Meditation
• CurtRemington.com
• Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
• Newspapers
• Of the Soul

Search library for Ebooks

Download Spiritual Texts

Welcome to HolyBooks.com. Use the search function above to find our free PDF ebooks or use the category list to browse to books. All books on HolyBooks.com are Public Domain texts and free to download as pdf-files. This online library project is still under development and we are adding new e-books every day. Suggestions are welcome.

Donate to the library

Recent comments

• admin on The Shiva Samhita – A Critical Edition
• Karthik on The Shiva Samhita – A Critical Edition
• India on The Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka
• India on The Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka
• admin on Complete works of Swami Vivekananda

Ebook Archives

• January 2012 (16)
• December 2011 (10)
• November 2011 (15)
• October 2011 (17)
• September 2011 (24)
• August 2011 (25)
• July 2011 (19)
• June 2011 (13)
• May 2011 (23)
• April 2011 (4)
• March 2011 (22)
• February 2011 (31)
• January 2011 (35)
• December 2010 (25)
• November 2010 (36)
• October 2010 (25)
• September 2010 (60)
• August 2010 (31)
• July 2010 (45)
• June 2010 (47)
• May 2010 (34)

New Free Audio Books

• A View to Excellence - Talk One
• Excellence Retreat - Questions and Answers - Session One
• The Foundations For Excellence - Talk Two
• Introducing the Excellence Retreat
• Excellence In Action - Training In the Precepts - Talk Four
• Dharmacharya - Faring In the Dimensions of Spiritual Discipline
• Training For Ordination In the System of Spiritual Discipline Q and A
• Beyond Gods and Chance - Buddhism and Science - Talk Two
• Dharmacharya - Faring In the Dimensions of Spiritual Discipline - Q and A Part One
• Beyond Gods and Chance - Buddhism and Science - Talk Three
• Sex - LBC Open Day January 2012
• Training For Ordination in the System of Spiritual Discipline
• Dharmacharya - Faring In the Dimensions of Spiritual Discipline - Q and A Part Two
• Beyond Gods and Chance - Buddhism and Science
• 8 Wiatrow Swiata Czesc 2