Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra

Living Life fully is a very touching story about a man’s journey towards liberation. It would be so nice if there were more stories like this to inspire one on the path ;0)

Menindra respected and taught many paths. He was accepting not doctrinaire. He embodied the teachingsof humility and equanimity. Many people quoted who knew him.

I stumbled upon this book while searching for supplemental material for studying The Ten Paramis. I highly recommend this beautifully-written, and well-researched book for anyone studying The Ten Paramis (life off the cushion) and/or Vipassana Meditation (life on the cushion). Munindra was a Bengali Buddhist master and scholar who dedicated his life to teaching the dharma to anyone who was interested in the topic, including laypersons, regardless of religion. Admired for his gentleness, wisdom and insatiable curiosity, he had a deep knowledge of the Pali canon, which made him accessible to Westerners. He chose to lead the nomadic life, without attachment to anything (other than his books), in order to focus on the dharma, and be accessible to anyone who needed his help. Many of the most well-respected teachers in the West, such as Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, studied with him in the late 60's-70's. This is now one of my favorite books, as the author has carefully compiled interviews from more than 200 people showing how his personal style made him one of the grandfathers of the Vipassana meditation / mindfulness movement. This insightful and very relevant book shows how Munindra lived his life by example. I have personally benefitted from reading, smiling, laughing and sometimes crying from reading all the stories (and teachings) of this great meditation master.

I am nearing the end of Munindra and really enjoyed it. Mirka pulled off a miracle, writing an excellent biography using the recollections of so many people, very interesting every one of them, while intertwining it with a Dharma lesson of extraordinary appeal. Two excellent books for the price of reading one. This is really a great job, and no wonder it took her a long while to do it. Worth every minute of her time. Of my time to read it. I have spent much of a lifetime reading various Buddhist Lessons, finding them valid and of interest, but never quite coming together for me. This is so real. So inspiring. So human. Bravo!

Dr. Knaster treats us to a readable review of the life of Munindra, a Buddhist teacher who has lived and taught the Buddhist darmha. She has traced the teacher's life using her distillation of the principles of the Buddha's teachings into 16 topics. She devotes a chapter to each of these: Mindfulness, One-pointedness of mind; Conviction; Generosity; Virtuous Conduct; Truthfulness, Integrity; Determination, Resolve; Energy, Vigo; Patience, Forbearance; Loving-Kindness; Compassion; Relinquishment, Renunciation; Delight; Investigation, Curiosity; Wisdom, Discernment; and Equinimity.Knaster writes masterfully of the teacher's life, and so she tells us in depth of who he was and why he was so loved. Moreover, she gives us a clear overview of the sixteen qualities of Buddhist life. These provide a useful introduction to Buddhist values, for us who are only marginally familiar with them.I recommend this book highly to those on a spiritual journey who wish to understand others' views of their journeys. It's a wonderful gift for friends!

For everyone practicing in the Insight tradtion in the US, Mirka Knaster book about the life and teaching of Munindra is the first and only chance to read about one of the key root teachers that taught so many of the senior teachers that have introduced and shapped Buddhism in the US. Where did they learn all this? Mirka Knaster's book is a chance to read about one of the key root teachers that brought Buddhism to life for so many."Living This Life Fully" is the only written work on the life and teachings of this remarkable teacher.

Ironically, Theravāda Buddhism, which is based on the best evidence we have of what the Buddha actually taught, is relatively little known in the West. This book is about Munindra, a meditation master in the Theravāda tradition who was enormously influential in teaching insight meditation (vipassanā), the form of meditation unique to Buddhism. If you have no experience with insight meditation this book will inspire you to look into it. If you already have it as a practice, it will show you how a joyful master incorporated it into every bit of his life. The care and scholarship with which this work is written are impeccable. It is worth having for the meticulous definitions and the fine glossary alone.

I enjoyed this book so much I caught myself more than one time looking to see how many pages were in the book because I wanted it to never end. I am so thankful to the author and the contributors for writing this book about this wonderful man. I find such inspiration in stories about amazing people like this. Along with Dipa Ma's biography this book is one of my absolute favorites. Many blessings and thanks to all responsible for putting this excellent book together.

Never have I read a more inspiring book about a spiritual teacher. Very well structured, great research work and beautiful written. The reader gets a vivid impression of Munindra and his pure lifelong devotion to the Dharma and his unceasing will to help others, what a pure heart. And his enthusiasm about the buddhist path and especially the practice of mindfulness sparkles through all the pages and while reading I felt blessed...nothing more exciting than mindfulness! Lets do it!

Munindra-ji taught me in '66 - at Samanvaya Ashram, Bodhgaya - i was his sole student at this periiod.his words still ring in my ears, and are faithfully recorded in this book.before i left, he said: "some time you will want to sit and be quiet"; and although i seemed to have forgotten all about the matter, his prediction came fully true starting 7 years later when an american friend invited me to meditate, (at that time in chögyam trungpa's school). since then until now his instructions of 1966 take up more and more space in my heart, words so concise that none of my subsequent teachers from zen to vajrayana could supersede them. this wonderfully elucidating book gives many of the details i heard from him and it is a good starter or deepener for everybody who wants to find out more about themselves and what life is about - on the buddhist or any other spiritual path. it is maybe good to mention that munindra's interest in everything led him to tell me about computers in 1966, and he told me how far off western objective psychology is from elucidating the mind from outside compared to insightful meditation. he showed me a work, possibly indian, created in this way detailing and systematizing all aspects of thought, sensations, volition etc. i'd be interested to find such a book now. anyway i owe munindra my basic tools for relating to all that is - until now, still using the technique he told me - in a few words, but precisely - to locate my self, or my non-self in the universe, or its relation to the illusions of maya.you have the basic tools to vipassana in this book - read it and practise - i wish you good luck.

A wonderful compilation of differing accounts by people who knew or who had been affected by Munindra and his teachings.Some poignant stories which help give an insight into this most human and modest of meditation teachers whose compassion and joy touched so many lives. Inspiring......

A five collection of stories and anecdotes on Mujindra Ji. His influence was instrumental on those who introduced Buddhist meditation to the west particularly Vipassana.

Very interesting book on the life of a Buddhist master. It brings out beautifully Mumindraji's simplicity, good will and love for all.A little more on his teachings would have added further value to the book.