Which book has Enlightened you the most? If you had just one book to give a friend, what wud it be?

zenmyste

Do you have a specific book in which you regard as an important read in your buddhist practice..

Has any book 'blew you away' ??

Thanks x

Jeffrey

A Path With Heart, Jack Kornfield

Takuan

"The Book" by Alan Watts

how

If we are in constant change, don't we relate to different books at different times?
Isn't it like seeing a particularly captivating view of the surface of a stream which is really only a momentary experience.
Otherwise, why would we ever look at another book?

federica

I agree, to an extent, but read the question again.
Is there not one specific book that sticks out as a complete blind-sider, one that you consider to have had a deeper impact for its, maybe, novelty, insightful truth?
For me, the one that turned my life around, was The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying.

Sure, it certainly may not have the same impact now as the first time I read it, but of all the books I have read, that one was the one....

zenmyste

If we are in constant change, don't we relate to different books at different times?
Isn't it like seeing a particularly captivating view of the surface of a stream which is really only a momentary experience.
Otherwise, why would we ever look at another book?

Why answer the question with a question?

You could have just answerd 'NO' if you havent got a specific book you like.
Its no problem.
We all know we are in constant change etc etc etc... But some could still have a favourite book. And thats what my question was.

Do you have a specific book in which you regard as an important read in your buddhist practice.

Either YEP, or NOPE! ;-)

Sabre

Dhammapada, other suttas, especially the Brahmajala Sutta.

That sutta really struck me by its depth. Probably one of the suttas that got me looking more into the aspects of Buddhism outside of meditation (which was what I started with mostly)

Arthurbodhi

I really like Dhammapada and "The monk and a philosopher" by Matthieu Ricard and his father, Jean-François Revel; but like @how said my others favorites change in time.

how

Why answer the question with a question?

Do you have a specific book in which you regard as an important read in your buddhist practice.

Either YEP, or NOPE! ;-)

If I respond to one question with another its because that is my answer or I'm asking for some clarification on the where or why of your question.
The one thing I seldom do is to presume to tell someone how to respond.

I have been a voracious reader of the Tripitaka at one time or another but the Book that initially hooked me into a practise in the beginning was Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.
Bizarrely, this was not because I could understand it, but because I couldn't understand why I didn't.
The Prajna Parimita, Sandokai and The Most Excellent Mirror Samadi have been my most reliable compasses on the path.

lamaramadingdong

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. That said, I don't know that I'd give it to a friend without them having a fairly firm background in Buddhism.

person

The Bodhisattva's Way of Life by Shantideva. Even though it was written in the eighth century many of the arguments and logic still hit home and feel fresh. Also, if you've ever done tonglen practice this book is where the idea first originated.

BhanteLucky

Mindfulness in Plain English, by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana.
And it's available free in PDF and epub formats, here
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html

PrairieGhost

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/cob/index.htm

It's unorthodox, I don't stand by everything that is written in it, but in the words of the O.P., this is the book that has enlightened me most.

The Creed of Buddha

by Edmond Holmes

[2nd ed., 1919]

Edmond Holmes, a Pantheist, reviews Buddhist theology and critiques Western conceptions (or misconceptions) of fundamental concepts such as Nirvana. In this book Holmes attempts to get back to the core of what Buddha taught, not necessarily what is considered orthodox. His interpretation is thought-provoking.

PrairieGhost

(if I may whet your appetite with a sample)

It is true that he condemned the life of pleasure. But why? Not because those who led it were trying to be happy, but because they were trying to be happy in the wrong way,--because they had mistaken the shadow of happiness for the reality, because what they sowed as pleasure they were doomed to reap as pain. So far was he from condemning man's longing for happiness, that his whole scheme of life may be said to base itself on an appeal to, and resolve itself into a systematic attempt to cultivate, that instinctive desire, by teaching men to "fix their hearts" "where true joys are to be found."

More important even, and more characteristically Western, than the ultra-Stoicism which dominates Dr Rhys Davids' own ethical philosophy is the dualism which dominates his metaphysical theory of things. This tendency affects his interpretation of Buddha's ideas in more ways than one, but chiefly in this one way. He insists on things being divided into the existent and the non-existent, which are alternatives, whereas the higher thought of India seems to have divided them into the real and the unreal, which are not alternatives but polar opposites.

Thus Dr Rhys Davids would say that the Ego exists or does not exist, whereas the Indian thinker would concern himself with the problem of the reality of the Ego, and would see that what is real (or unreal) from one point of view may be unreal (or real) from another. The difference between the two ways of looking at things goes very deep; goes in fact to the root of most of the problems that perplex the student of Buddhism. Existence and non-existence are alternatives; and, if we are to choose between alternatives, we must provide ourselves with a criterion by which we may know the true alternative from the false. But how shall man, who is presumably not omniscient, provide himself with a criterion which will enable him to define the boundaries of the Universe? For it is this, and nothing less, that he attempts to do when he takes upon himself to divide things into the existent and the non-existent.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/cob/cob07.htm

PrairieGhost

to ask whether the inward and spiritual side of life is existent or non-existent, is to ask a meaningless and therefore an unanswerable question. To ask whether it is real or unreal is to ask a question to which life itself, both in its universal and in its individual movement, is the abiding, though never formulated, answer. That Buddha thought in the category of the real and the unreal is suggested by the whole tenor of his teaching. If there is any one thing which his sayings make quite clear, it is that he regarded outward things and the outward side of life as unreal. But he was not so foolish as to think of them as non-existent. Which is the real pole of existence? is the question which he must have asked himself; and his scheme of life is his answer to that question.

David

Geez... That's a toughy. There have been a few but as others have said, it really depends on the relation between the frame of mind I was in at the time of reading it and the frame of mind I'm in right now. I want to say either Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or Infinite Circle but if I answer tomorrow it could be The Dhammapada or Thich Nhat Hanhs book of poetry...

As for which one I'd give a friend, I always ask what kind of aspect they want to explore and go for something fitting.

Sorry if that was kind of a lame answer but hey.

karasti

"The Heart of the Buddha" by Thich Nhat Hahn was the first book I read fully, and it is what set me on the Path. But it was not the book that has had the most profound effect on me. As someone else said, my answer would probably change every day. Right now, I am reading "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" and I find Sogyal's style of writing very appealing. The book with the most impact on me has been "Dying with Confidence" I cannot recall the author, it is on my Kindle which has a dead battery right now. But I picked it up at a time my grandmother was very ill and we thought she was close to death, and it helped immensely with my understanding, and how to talk with her. It also helped me understand what I hope for in my own death one day. I found it to be most comforting.

sova

Although I'm not done with it yet, I'm reading "A Truthful Heart: Buddhist practices for connecting with others" and it's a beautiful elucidation of the transformative methods of Buddhism [ perhaps in this context synonymous with Compassion].

The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva is something one should certainly check out, as it is/was created from such a deep well of compassion and empathy that there are many verses to sing and inspire. "As long as space endures, and as long as sentient beings remain, may I too abide to dispel the sufferings of this world" (I have seen various renditions of this most beautiful sentiment)

But, as someone mentioned above, I think it is true that books will have their appeal when the stars align, when the conditions are ripe, when they are of most use, and thus it is difficult to recommend a specific book without knowing some shed of circumstance for whom it is meant, and "where" they are, so-to-speak.


Texts specific to practice aside, there are many works of fiction, by Shakespeare, poems by Yeats, countless books and a vast multitude of songs and works of art that I would consider deeply inspiring. Wisdom is wisdom no matter what the source, so consider not who wrote what, or what title a book has, but how you can further yourself, and in concert, further the human evolution. To love, to love, to love.


"Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman" and the successive "What do you care what other people think?" are certainly on my list of works so valuable that one cannot assign to them a price.

Tread softly, travel light, and keep your mind's view higher than the sky.

zenknight

The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva translated by the Dalai Lama. I'm still working on it. It is a life long project to become a light unto ourselves.

howarda

Three Pillars of Zen

MaryAnne

I've thought about this for quite a while, and my mind keeps going back to that one amazing, wondrous, emotional, spirit-soaring day, circa 1974, when I'd read
(Remember) Be Here Now, by Ram Dass.
It - completely - opened my mind, and changed my life and life-perceptions.

Many other books and authors I've read since then have had an impact on me as well, but none (so far) quite like Be Here Now.
I totally "got" the whole message and concept of the way the message was presented and illustrated. It was truly a 'Revelation' -- in every way possible.

SattvaPaul

Zen: Dawn in the West

sova

@PrarieGhost I have been reading The Creed of Buddha (the link you posted) and even though the book is from 1919 it's AWESOME. Thanks very much for that.

reposted here for the interested: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/cob/index.htm

son_of_dhamma

zenmyste said:

Do you have a specific book in which you regard as an important read in your buddhist practice..

Has any book 'blew you away' ??

Thanks x

Dhammapada

Sile

Hard call, but mine would have to be The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying.

FullCircle

Book that set me in right direction - Bhante g Mindfulness in Plain English..

PeaceOfMe

Thanks for the book suggestion guys!
I'm gonna have lots to read =D

RebeccaS

Power vs Force - Dr. David R. Hawkins

taiyaki

Natural Perfection: Longchenpa's Radical Dzogchen.

Blew my mind, continues to blow my mind.

DaltheJigsaw

What Buddha Taught - Walpola Rahula

http://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313

seeker242

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

mindatrisk

Conversations with God.

Cloud

Oh gee, I wouldn't point to any particular book. Some stuff by Bhikkhu Bodhi has been extremely helpful though I can't recall which. Definitely the collected teachings of Ajahn Chah (of the Thai Forest Tradition) which are available for free HERE and in PDF HERE, and from Zen you have Dogen's Shobogenzo (though this is much more difficult for beginners).

The most helpful things seem to be contemplating the teachings constantly, reasoning them out and seeing how they apply to your life, and especially meditation so you don't get stuck in false intellectualizations, interpretations or views. Some books, audio lectures, and so forth can give you "aha!" moments, but only if you're spiritually ready for them.

DaltheJigsaw

Conversations with God.

Yes! Very good series!

lamaramadingdong

LeonBasin said:

Conversations with God.

Yes! Very good series! Like that too.

Geoff-Allen

Mine would be one few have heard of - The Lost Art of Compassion by Lorne Ladner - I have read it over several times!

http://www.buddhanet.net/compassion.htm

son_of_dhamma

The Alchemist by Paulo Choelo

I_AM_THAT

I have read a number of books, but this is the one that has truly enlightened me. This is a book you will need to read a number of times and each time something new will be presented to you...

I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj;

Nisargadatta Maharaj (Author), Sudhaker S. Dikshit (Editor), Maurice Frydman (Translator)

TreeLuvr87

Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach - because of the timing; I'd just been through a really bad breakup. That book is what eventually led me to meditation and Buddhism. I still am blown away by her podcasts.