The Wonder of Presence: And the Way of Meditative Inquiry

Toni Packer gave me a new perspective on Mindfulness Meditation. In her I have found a teacher who eliminates forms, status, levels of achievement and urges presence alone. She writes in a simple way as good teachers do, and she moves me to the wonder of the present moment. That's it. That is the path to peace.

I highly reccomend this book, I have become a fan of Toni Packer and this book is her finest yet. It is a no frills book that you can pick up and open to any chapter for honest direct inquiry into the heart of silence. She amazes me with her candor and her fresh look at the human condition. I have reread chapters again and again, and each time I hear something new. This is what she is pointing to, pure listening and being in this moment completely.

Toni Packer's writings are emblematic of a new era of Buddhist teachings in the West: women Dharma teachers. Along with Charlotte Joko Beck, Toni Packer provides a no-nonsense, yet compassionate approach to inner transformation. A friend of mine once described these approaches as "not for the faint-hearted", and maybe that's true. Toni Packer invites relentless inquiry into the workings of the human mind and emotions, to lay bare the conditioning that forms the basis of much of human suffering. There is no sugar coating in Packer's teachings. Her description of the bereaved mind, her own, is searing. Yet one senses that in her approach lies freedom. Her understanding of human conditioning, and release from this conditioning, is simply profound. For example, she writes, in a talk on meditative questioning: "Watch how the incident translates itself into a story spun out by the brain, and how this story keeps triggering the chemicals that maintain the angry emotions long after the original stimulus has passed." To watch without being trapped in these processes is to know freedom. If you have read Krishnamurti and wondered what he was saying, Packer lays it bare. Combining Zen with Krishnamurti's teachings, this brave and compassionate teacher has written a manual of human liberation. Written with great courage and stunning intellectual honesty, Toni Packer embodies the words of the 8th Century Chinese Zen poet, Hanshan: Writing about the road to Cold Mountain, the enlightened terrain on which he lived, he says "My heart's not the same as yours. If your heart was like mine, you'd get and be right here." Toni Packer spells out what it means to have the heart, to 'get it', and to be right here in the present moment, free.

The Wonder Of Presence And The Way Of Meditative Inquiry by Zen practitioner Toni Packer is a compilation of serious thoughts about the nature of Zen, meditation, death, life, and truth. Written in simple, direct terms and drawing upon both Eastern philosophy and personal experience, The Wonder Of Presence is a careful, inquisitive and highly recommended introduction to opening one's mind to new thoughts, ideas, and all the Universe contains.