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Rating: 
Summary: Look for yourself
Review: Having read more spiritual books than I can remember it comes as a great shock to read one that stopped me cold in my tracks. Harding has found a way to stop the world. His solution is to "look for yourself" into the nature of being - no techniques, no gurus, no formulas, just look for yourself, and if you actually do look in the way that he suggests, you will learn to "see". This book is a revelation.
Rating:
Summary: Why have spiritual teachers not made it this simple before?
Review: I am 68 and have spent many of my years looking for something this book points out in the very first chapter. The "exercises" discussed are designed to redirect ones attention to the most obvious but consistantly overlooked aspect of our being. I doubt that any thing I have to say about it would convey my deep appreciation and enthusiasim for the teaching that is presented here. As the author says, try it for your self, it works.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth reading but don`t stop there
Review: I really liked this book because of its strong practical outlook. It could be titled : Some useful tricks to remember your true nature. However I would have liked some more insights. I hope I am not unfair to Douglas Harding but, reading it, I sometimes got the feeling the teaching was based on hearsay. The book is based on conversations and on workshops that he conducts and it has this kind of workshop marketing flavour sometimes. I do not agree with the assumptions that this is even shorter Short Cut. The "tricks" are helpful to remember who we are but they do not form a true teaching> It might be a shortcut but how far do you really want to go ??
Rating:
Summary: pure wisdom
Review: This book edited by David Lang, is one of the most accesible books of Douglas Harding. It may bring you from hear - say to look - see. Highly recommanded.
Douglas and Catherine have visited me in my house here in Belgium, and they are wonderful people, indeed. I hope you can meet them one day.
You can read the preface Douglas wrote for my first book on my website, []Jan Kersschot, author of "nobody home"
Rating:
Summary: Awakening to Your Self.
Review: We study the ancient wisdom texts because we feel they may be able to help us understand who and what we are. But what we quickly discover is that these ancient texts, whether Zen such as Seng-ts'an's 'Hsin-hsin-ming,' or Buddhist such as the Prajnaparamita 'Heart Sutra,' or Vedantic such as the 'Ashtavakra Gita,' even when quite short, as these three are, are by no means easy to understand. One could easily spend a lifetime studying the original texts, their translations and commentaries, and still end up no wiser. Ultimately, what they demand is not so much understanding as insight. What is Brahman, or Emptiness, or Seng-ts'an's 'Not-Two'? How does one really find out? Traditionally one approaches a Master, attends to his words, and practises meditation. Then, after prolonged meditation, insight may come. But not everyone can avail themself of a Master. Some of us have to make do with texts. And meditation can take years. And we are busy and harassed modern folks. Is there a simpler, easier, faster way of arriving at insight? Amazingly, there is. If you really want to grasp what all the great Indian and Tibetan and Chinese and Japanese Masters and Sages and Rishis have been trying to convey to their disciples down through the centuries, all you need do is read this book. Why, after these thousands of years, it should have been left to an Englishman to discover a simple mental act, an act which anyone can perform anywhere at any time and which unlocks the mystery of 'Not-Two,' I have no idea. But after spending more than twenty years puzzling my head over Eastern texts before finally discovering Harding, I can assure you that his instructions for "reversing the arrow of attention" really do work. His are the most important books I have ever read. Attention is a bit like a compass. The act of attention which you are bringing to bear on these words as you read them is like the compass needle. Just as the needle always points North, your attention is almost always pointing here, out here. You give no thought to this. But the answer you seek is not out here. Make Harding your Master. Let him neatly sever your head. You will quickly find that the 'Not-Two' is not a mystery any more. For by following his simple instructions you will have become it.
Rating:
Summary: Awakening to Your Self.
Review: We study the ancient wisdom texts because we feel they may be able to help us understand who and what we are. But what we quickly discover is that these ancient texts, whether Zen such as Seng-ts'an's 'Hsin-hsin-ming,' or Buddhist such as the Prajnaparamita 'Heart Sutra,' or Vedantic such as the 'Ashtavakra Gita,' even when quite short, as these three are, are by no means easy to understand. One could easily spend a lifetime studying the original texts, their translations and commentaries, and still end up no wiser. Ultimately, what they demand is not so much understanding as insight. What is Brahman, or Emptiness, or Seng-ts'an's 'Not-Two'? How does one really find out? Traditionally one approaches a Master, attends to his words, and practises meditation. Then, after prolonged meditation, insight may come. But not everyone can avail themself of a Master. Some of us have to make do with texts. And meditation can take years. And we are busy and harassed modern folks. Is there a simpler, easier, faster way of arriving at insight? Amazingly, there is. If you really want to grasp what all the great Indian and Tibetan and Chinese and Japanese Masters and Sages and Rishis have been trying to convey to their disciples down through the centuries, all you need do is read this book. Why, after these thousands of years, it should have been left to an Englishman to discover a simple mental act, an act which anyone can perform anywhere at any time and which unlocks the mystery of 'Not-Two,' I have no idea. But after spending more than twenty years puzzling my head over Eastern texts before finally discovering Harding, I can assure you that his instructions for "reversing the arrow of attention" really do work. His are the most important books I have ever read. Attention is a bit like a compass. The act of attention which you are bringing to bear on these words as you read them is like the compass needle. Just as the needle always points North, your attention is almost always pointing here, out here. You give no thought to this. But the answer you seek is not out here. Make Harding your Master. Let him neatly sever your head. You will quickly find that the 'Not-Two' is not a mystery any more. For by following his simple instructions you will have become it.
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