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Which Book?

BekenzeBekenze
edited March 2012 in Arts & Writings
Over the past year, I've received many spiritual/Buddhist type books. Although, I've only read bits and pieces of each. I'm a lazy Buddhist, only being interested in the intellectual aspect of it, but I'm even a lazy intellectual too. I only get bits and pieces of information and piece them together without getting the whole picture. I'd like to change my ways, and to start this off, I'd actually like to finish reading one of these books. Which one(s) do you recommend/not recommend? Or, what other ones should I get?

I took some pictures of some of the books I had on hand.

The list of the one's I have go as follow:

A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
Understanding Buddhism - The Complete Idiot's Guide
The Book of Secrets - Deepak Chopra
Life After Death - Deepak Chopra
The Tao of Inner Peace - Diana Dreher
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Shunryu Suzuki
The Universe in a Single Atom - The Dalai Lama
How to See Yourself as You Really Are - The Dalai Lama
World of the Buddha - Lucien Stryk
The Teaching of the Buddha - Society for the Promotion of Buddhism
Taking the Leap - Pema Chödrön
Buddhism Plain and Simple - Steve Hagen
The Tibetan Book of the Dead


Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    read Buddhist books by Buddhist authors, not those purporting to have a psudo-spiritual message...
    the Dalai Lama is good, Pema Chodron is good....
    the Teaching of the Buddha is good....

    and stop flitting.....
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    read Buddhist books by Buddhist authors, not those purporting to have a psudo-spiritual message...
    the Dalai Lama is good, Pema Chodron is good....
    the Teaching of the Buddha is good....

    and stop flitting.....
    Always trust a mothers words ;)
  • BekenzeBekenze
    and stop flitting.....
    ?
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2012
    Without knowing more about what your practice is like how can we know? I've only ever read two of those books, the Suzuki book and the Hagen book.

    Both of those don't strike me as scholarly because they show with cutting writing and not so much 'material'.

    The main scholarly book I have read is the Jewel Ornament of Liberation. It would give you a look at Tibetan Buddhism in the Kagyu school. It is the full buddhist path 'all the way.'
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    and stop flitting.....
    ?
    I only get bits and pieces of information and piece them together without getting the whole picture.
    ....

    is flitting.....
    like a bird on a bird table, hopping and skipping from one tasty morsel to the other....picking and choosing.....
  • BekenzeBekenze
    edited March 2012
    So, How to See Yourself as You Really Are then?
  • pokeypokey
    I'm pretty sure he's not flirting with you.
  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    about a practical/technical meditation book?

    you don't seem to have many of those.

    maybe: Mindfulness, Bliss & Beyond by Ajahn Brahm.
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    For rank beginners, I'd recommend (from your list) the Idiot's Guide, Buddhism Plain and Simple and the Teaching of the Buddha. Any one of those. If the last one quotes sutras, that might be additionally helpful, as a reference.

    Some of the books you have are not about Buddhism, so it would be distracting and potentially confusing to include those (the Chopra books, Tolle, and the Tao book). The others mostly are for more advanced students. People give Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind as a good beginners' book, but I've seen many comments that it's not at all a Beginner's book. It's a discussion of the concept of "Beginner's Mind" for experienced students.
  • craigpoffcraigpoff
    I am reading, second time through (first was on Audio), "Awakening the Buddhist Within" by Lama Surya Das and can't rave enough about it. I look forward to my opportunities, during the day, to pull it out and read a few more pages. From a Tibetan point of view, but covers the basics very nicely.
  • lamaramadingdonglamaramadingdong Veteran
    edited March 2012
    It is a good book (although the title is "Awakening the Buddha Within")
  • pineblossompineblossom Veteran
    I would recommend you read 'How to Meditate' by Kathleen McDonald.

    You will also benefit from talking to your teacher.
  • craigpoffcraigpoff
    My bad, on the title...an important distinction, as the core of the book is that all of us have Buddha potential.
  • lamaramadingdonglamaramadingdong Veteran
    My bad, on the title...an important distinction, as the core of the book is that all of us have Buddha potential.
    No worries, just put that out there for anyone looking to get the book.
    Namaste.
  • weightedweighted Veteran
    Although, I've only read bits and pieces of each. I'm a lazy Buddhist...
    If I've learned anything, it's that Buddhism is a constant, every second way of living in this world. Being mindful, aware, compassionate, and bringing the wisdom learned in meditation into our every day lives isn't easy and it shouldn't be a lazy practice.

    I don't say this to hinder you in any way, but if your interest is solely to learn more then the books you have are all wonderful ones. Try to stick with one and read it to the end, though! :) I suppose this is what @federica meant by flitting, although I must admit that I haven't caught up entirely on the responses above.

    If Buddhism is for you, then it will speak to you, but it can only do that if you allow the tenets and principles into your mind by focusing on the books in order to learn more.

    metta
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    Although, I've only read bits and pieces of each. I'm a lazy Buddhist...
    If I've learned anything, it's that Buddhism is a constant, every second way of living in this world. Being mindful, aware, compassionate, and bringing the wisdom learned in meditation into our every day lives isn't easy and it shouldn't be a lazy practice.

    I don't say this to hinder you in any way, but if your interest is solely to learn more then the books you have are all wonderful ones. Try to stick with one and read it to the end, though! :) I suppose this is what @federica meant by flitting, although I must admit that I haven't caught up entirely on the responses above.

    If Buddhism is for you, then it will speak to you, but it can only do that if you allow the tenets and principles into your mind by focusing on the books in order to learn more.

    metta
    That is a great lesson @weighted to have learnt, buddhism being a constant way of living from moment to moment. It is not something that you should think of as an activity along side your life like yoga or jogging, it is your life.
  • ZenBadgerZenBadger Derbyshire, UK Veteran
    If I were to put together three books for a beginner they would have to be the following

    The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh - this is the one I recommend to anyone as a first book, it cuts to the heart of practice with lots of practical examples and things to try.

    Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana - an excellent easy-to-digest manual for meditation and mindfulness which has been around for donkey's years (with very good reason).

    How to Practice by HH The Dalai Lama - after reading the first two books you may be ready for the "meat course" of HHDL's guide to the path in the Tibetan Tradition. An alternative is Step by Step by Geshe Namgyal Wangchen, both are based on the Lam Rim of the Gelug tradition but have little that can't be applied elsewhere.

    One of the problems is that you can't read a dharma book like a magazine. It is better to read a single page thoroughly and learn from it than to skim-read half a book in a single sitting. If you can't shake the habit of skimming or flitting then I recommend reading a book as carefully as you can, reading something else and maybe one more book before re-reading them again. If you actually get around to practicing rather than seeking an intellectual understanding of Buddhism you may find that your inner hummingbird starts to settle down enough to really get your teeth into something serious.
  • Bodha8Bodha8 Veteran
    read Buddhist books by Buddhist authors, not those purporting to have a psudo-spiritual message...
    the Dalai Lama is good, Pema Chodron is good....
    the Teaching of the Buddha is good....

    and stop flitting.....
    I have had the opportunity to read several of the books mentioned here, and I have taken the time to fully absorb both "Buddhist authors" and these "psudo-spiritual" pretenders. Could it be that you need to examine both before forming an opinion? I found there is something to learn from both. But I could be wrong.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2012
    I've read all of the books above.
    that's why i responded as i did.... :)

    EDIT:
    I should say i've read all of the authors above, not necessarily those specific books.
    but as someone else pointed out - not all of those are Buddhist, and that's what the OP was asking for.....
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    I'm looking for a book to give as a gift. Beginners book on zen. Anyone wanna bite?
  • BrianBrian Detroit, MI Moderator
    edited March 2012
    I'll take this time to mention that if you'd like to support the NewBuddhist hosting costs and server fees, any Amazon.com link that is clicked on this site earns us a small commission. Therefore, if you're recommending a book to someone and paste a link to the book from Amazon, that helps us. Thank you!

    http://amazon.com
  • lamaramadingdonglamaramadingdong Veteran
    edited March 2012
    I'm looking for a book to give as a gift. Beginners book on zen. Anyone wanna bite?
    Try this- gets at Zen thought without being too confounding for a beginner.

    http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Happiness-Chris-Prentiss/dp/0943015537
  • SabreSabre Veteran
    edited March 2012
    only being interested in the intellectual aspect of it
    For me there is no intellectual part.

    You may consider this.

    So in this case, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.'
    I'd recommend books on meditation first.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Jack Kornfield, at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, has a good video on meditation. It discusses several different styles. http://www.spiritrock.org
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