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E-books by Tarchin in PDF Format
These e-books are all in PDF formats and available for free download. Please feel free to share them. They are listed from the most recent publications through to the oldest. Some of the books are available for purchase in print form. Click here to see what is available.
Gifts of Wonderment – 2023
Gifts of Wonderment is an expansion of contemplations that have been with me since writing Natural Awakening nearly thirty years ago. From time to time I would jot down an essay, or a poem, some of which appeared in earlier books or postings on this site. Revisiting them now, it seems that all my writings are linked and so I find myself bundling them together in this book. You could think of it as a long drawn out message, put into a metaphoric bottle and thrown into the ocean of life, with the hope that it might some day wash up on the shores of someone’s experience, helping to reassure them that in their thinking and seeking, they are not alone.
Please accept this offering in the spirit it is given; a patchwork quilt of essays, instruction and poetic intimation which I hope will inspire you to embrace, to love and to wonder about this ever mysterious caravan of life unfolding, this collective dancing of all of us.
I have divided the book into three sections, each one of which can stand independently on their its own. The first section is now fairly complete and is posted below. The remaining two sections will be added when they are ready.
Click here to download Gifts of Wonderment; Section One (165 pages)
Stargroup Meditation: – 1988; Reformatted for GDT – 2022
A vehicle for exploring and working with the collective mind
Stargroup Meditation, written in the early 1980 and first published 1988, outlines a form of contemplative exploration that is done by small groups of people rather than by individuals. This 2022 edition has been slightly edited and reformatted for Green Dharma Treasury.
Click here to download the entire 28 page A5, PDF text.
This Nectar of Naturalness: a beginningless/endless cycling of easeful clarity and luminous presence – 2022 – final edition
This Nectar of Naturalness is a book about meditation and contemplation. It is about the nature of mind and knowing and being. It is also about the mind of nature and how we – all creatures – might live well with each other. While the explorations found throughout these pages are informed by years of engagement with Buddhism they will be relevant to a wide range of people regardless their religious and philosophical backgrounds. Between the covers is a collage of suggested explorations; encouragements; poetry to give a sense of larger possibilities; and imaginative thought experiments to stimulate deeper levels of question and curiosity. You are invited to delve into them; think, ponder, feel, and experiment with them. Doing this again and again, your sense of who and what and how you and we are, will surely enlarge.
May this book inspire and encourage you to deepen a way of being that is life affirming, profoundly engaging, and utterly natural. A book without beginning or end, reminders to refresh our investigations when we forget. May it bring you pleasure and may you also have the opportunity to share its essence with others.
Click here to download “This Nectar of Naturalness”
The Unbroken Wholeness of Sublime Understanding and Love: Reflections on a Sadhana of Amitabha –2021
The language of sadhana is the language of poetry,
a subtle and sometimes oblique hint,
A veiled intimation of levels of life deeply known,
yet often hidden;
Tucked away in cherished beliefs and expectations.
The words and verses of a sadhana, and even the words of its title, could be seen as an invitation to dance in and with a timeless mystery; a mystery that is being revealed and demonstrated in each movement and moment of our living.This pathway of natural blessing is instantly available to any who, saturated with curiosity, integrity and compassion for all beings, find themselves answering life’s prompting to open their senses, their heart of empathy and their deep commitment to supporting this vibrant community of life-unfolding in all its abundance.
The following reflections on the Sadhana of Buddha Amitabha may enlarge your appreciation of this practice and help transform your understanding of the words and images found in the text into palpably evocative experience.
Click here to download “The Unbroken Wholeness of Sublime Understanding and Love”
Reflections and Prayers: Nurturing
A Life of Natural Awakening – 2021
A revised (2021) and extended collection of daily contemplations, reflections and meditations in language that will inspire people from a wide range of traditions.
Download Daily Contemplations PDF
Foundations of Mindfulness:
A Manual for Meditators New Edition – 2019
The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta is one of the most succinct and detailed outlines, given in the Buddhist tradition, for addressing the challenge of how to live well in this world of continuous transformation and change. It sketches out, in a step by step progression of mindful explorations, a very practical path for awakening fundamental life skills coupled with profound ecological understanding. Blending the pragmatic analysis and experimental questioning of the scientist with the ecstatic union of the mystic, this path of wholesome living is as vital and precious today as it was at the time of the Buddha.
Drawn from numerous sources and from Tarchin’s rich experience of more than 50 years of personal study and practice, “Foundations of Mindfulness” will be a valuable resource and reference for meditators wishing to enrich their exploration and understanding of this essential Buddhist Path.
Click here for “Foundations of Mindfulness” – the entire book in PDF.
Walking in Wisdom – 2003, 2019
Revised, Extended and Illustrated – 2019
Walking in Wisdom presents a path of awakening to be realised in the midst of walking outdoors in nature. Filled with techniques, reflections and poems, it teaches us to be attentive and compassionately present while engaging in life. Simple yet profound, it re-awakens interest in many facets of life we have come to take for granted and touches some of the deepest themes of Buddhist teaching.
Click here for “Walking in Wisdom”– the entire 74 page PDF text.
Marcher-en-Sagesse
A French translation of ‘Walking in Wisdom’
Coming To Your Senses – 2002, 2017
Coming to Your Senses gives detailed instructions for cleansing and then exploring each of the five senses. This booklet was compiled after a cleansing of the senses retreat given in Tasmania in early 2002. I hope that it will serve as a practical manual for people wishing to explore this work on their own and that it will be a useful reminder for those wishing to share the work with others. It is not intended as something to just read. Rather it’s a guide to hands-on-direct experience. The heart of the booklet will be revealed in the experiences you have through actually doing the exercises and meditations.
Click here for the 53 page Coming to Your Senses PDF text.
True Refuge – 2014
True Refuge is a beautiful blend of poetry, philosophy and practical instruction – a prolonged meditation on the mystery of refuge.
Click here to download True Refuge PDF e-book
Something Beautiful for the World:
a shakuhachi sadhana – 2008
In January 2007, a group of people gathered in New Zealand to explore a week of meditation and flute making. During this week, Tarchin gave teachings on the theme of how making a fine shakuhachi (a Japanese bamboo flute) could be compared to crafting a fine human being. Along with these reflections, he suggested various meditative exercises, to be done with and without a flute, to help transform the ideas into direct personal experience.
Click here to download Something Beautiful PDF e-book
Daily Puja (Fifth edition) – 2007
This booklet is a collection of reflections or mini-contemplations inspired or taken directly from the Buddhist tradition. They are presented in a way that will speak to the universal nature of everyone, regardless of their religious beliefs. Puja means to honour or to venerate. With these contemplations we honour the mystery of life and refresh our intention to live in a sane, healthy and compassionate manner.
For the entire text in PDF format, click here
Sangha Work:Essays, Contemplations and Practical Exercises to Support a Community of Friends in Dharma – Tools for a Healthy and Happy Community – 2005, 2006
Do you have a sense of community, a sense of sangha? If you don’t, how can you find it? Assuming you have a community, does it work, does it function well? What can be done to get it working? How can we recognize sangha, heal sangha, unfold and strengthen sangha? All of these explorations come under the term, sangha work.
Click here for the entire PDF text of Sangha Work.
Breathing:The Natural Way to Meditate – 1991, revised – 2005
The Natural Way to Meditate invites us to couple our breathing with love and clear seeing and to meditatively explore the world within and around us. A beautifully written, practical and uplifting book, it elucidates the Buddha’s teaching on breathing meditation, weaving together ancient tradition and modern experimental methods and approaches. Thoroughly non-sectarian, this is a path of awakening that will speak to seekers from all traditions and backgrounds and stages of experience.
Click here to download Breathing PDF e-book
Growth and Unfolding – 1985, 2004
Growth and Unfolding combines poetry and vision with clear instruction and good down-to-earth common-sense. It leads us step by step to a life that is awake, integrated and joyous and truly universal in scope.
Click here for Growth and Unfolding PDF e-book
Loving Kindness – 1999
A collection of essays and articles written by a number of dharma teachers who teach regularly in NZ; compiled and edited by Tarchin Hearn.
Cycle of Samatha – 1996
Cycle of Samatha is a simple yet rich practice for living with ease and insight in the midst of whatever is occurring. Based on five reminders; smiling breathing, present, appreciating, and offering, this little booklet has been a pocket mentor of sense and sanity for many people, ever since it was first published in 1996.
Click here to download the 23 page pdf in English
Click here to download the 20 page pdf in German. Translated by Peter Gerdes.
Natural Awakening – 1995
Natural Awakening is a book of great inspiration and beauty. Throughout its pages, travel interleaves with poetry, philosophy weaves with meditation techniques and science merges with mysticism. Twenty-two practical exercises are included, making a book of great clarity and relevance to all who are interested in health, awakening and the well being of the world.
Meditative First-Aid: A Doorway to Health – 1990
Ten simple exercises that will help balance your energies and bring more vitality into your life.
Commonsense Retreat – 1984
‘Commonsense Retreat’ is a small booklet introducing some of the broadly practical considerations that will help support a solitary retreat. It was originally written in 1984 to help introduce people to the use of retreat huts at the Wangapeka Study and Retreat Centre in N.Z. Though based on general Buddhist principles, it speaks to people from a wide range of traditions and backgrounds. It touches on themes such as one’s motivation for retreating, basic preparation, the environment or place for retreat, physical health, diet, basic mindfulness practice, and how to smoothly emerge from retreat.
Click here to download the entire ‘Commonsense Retreat’ PDF (10 pages)
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