I need to read a 500 pages book to get started? I've had a few mindfulness mediatation sessions with a teacher, and he was able to convey the most important parts in 10 minutes.

No, you don't need to read the whole book just to start. It divides the practice into ten stages, and you don't move on from a stage until you have mastered it. So you only need to read about the first stage to get started.

Mind Illuminated isn't really about mindfulness meditation though, but about getting to the threshold of Enlightenment (this does involve mindfulness).

If anybody just wants to have some grease to start, get the Kabat-Zinn book and listen to the CD.

Can you share the details of your teacher, how you found him, etc?

Just to get started you would read the first chapter or two.

There's a subtle irony here...

Reject the mindfulness apps and trust no one, but hey read this mindfulness book!

Haha I am realizing that now. It does indeed sound like a totally fluke argument, but what I can assure you is that Apps I've used require $10/month subscription and that I think is excessive. Get a book, read it once, and sell it off and you have all the knowledge and understanding of mindfulness for life. It is not like a C++ reference book that I need to pull off every other day for reference. It is a technique which once you learn, its cemented and you don't need anything else forever!

In case anyone is searching by author name, it's actually Culadasa.

Which search engine do you use? I don't think it's possible to search for "Cudalasa" and not immediately be corrected to "Culadasa", seamlessly and with zero ambiguity.

In which case, why are you even pointing this out? The commenter spelled a name wrong and anyone with a single ounce of intelligence can understand from context what was meant.

The pirate bay?

I’m slowly reading through this book, and I agree that it’s really, really great. I disagree, however, that this means one should “delete all these apps”. I’ve tried the Headspace and 10% Happier, and I think they’re great introductions for anyone who might not be ready to absorb the simple-but-not-at-all-simple language of The Mind Illuminated. It seems that perhaps you’ve forgotten that each of us is on a path, that it’s perfectly fine if this path is different for everyone, and that there is no end to the path outside of death or loss of awakening; certainly not “I finished this cool book”. As someone else has already pointed out, there’s quite a bit of irony in your commentary.

There's a good subreddit dedicated to the book: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMindIlluminated/

And if you really want an app, someone made a beautiful one for android, free and without ads, that follows the stages described in the book: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ragone.io.quie...

I found the light gamification useful to establish my practice.

Where can I get the book for free?

If you see somebody reading it at the bus stop, you can grab it out of their hands and run away.

Completely accurate, whilst being impractical and a bit dangerous.

You are a genius. I love it.

This is getting downvoted and piled-on but it doesn't seem to me like an unreasonable response to a comment that starts "Meditation and mindfullness are free. You really don’t need an app." and then goes on to recommend a book.

I hope you were just asking for directions to your local public library. Violating Buddhism's Second Precept isn't an ideal way to get started on Buddhist practice.

I thought we were talking about mindfulness. When did we get to Buddhism?

Same thing, roughy.

Or rather: mindfulness was derived from Buddhist ideas.

The library

Do some useful work for someone and ask them to reward you with the book.

Put it on your Amazon wish list and hope someone gifts it to you.

The usual place, aka libgen.

I tend to lose track of time when I meditate, so I found an app that silences my phone and then alarms audibly every fifteen minutes. I guess that is my version of a mindfulness app.

What's the name of the app?

I'll second the book recommendation above (mind illuminated).