Best Of

@Jeroen One of the big problems for students is reading spiritual books without
help, because words really don’t touch the truth; you have to look beyond
them.
My Master says :"When I taught the Dharma in Thailand, India, and China, I met
people in monasteries who, as monks, studied the Sutras (which are better
than most books) on a daily basis but hadn’t grasped the essence and
therefore hadn’t liberated themselves at all from the mind in preparation to
advance on the path. People go to temples, do initiations, and follow practices
for years without having the slightest idea of what they’re really doing."

My buddhist library is modest. I have maybe 10 books and about 40 pdfs. Some of them have been key in my understanding of buddhism.

But I do find it interesting that @ShanJieshi2’s buddhist welcome letter says to only read those materials that the your teacher has approved. When I was studying with the Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa temple, they had a similar policy. There was a cabinet with many slender, similar-looking volumes which had been written by the Rinpoche, which you could borrow.

Personally it was one of the reasons for me not to continue with that temple. Being free in searching for books and writings is a privilege, hard-won in some places in the past, and not something I am keen to let go of. Similarly it is a reason for me to not pursue becoming a monk.