Good beginner books to introduce friends and relatives

xabir

Ok, I know probably this topic has been discussed before so if that's the case maybe someone can point out to me.

I am looking for a good dharma intro book - reliable and yet not overly difficult and complicated, which introduces the essentials of what Buddhism is about. Target audience: absolute beginners, something I can pass to anyone - my dad, mom, relatives and friends to introduce them to Buddhism. Hopefully something interesting to hook their interest and attention on Dharma.

Any good ones you've read to share?

Reason I posted this: I wish to pass my dad something so he can learn about and practice Buddhism.

person

I got this one from some book club intro offer a while ago. It has lots of pictures and easily digestable bits on Buddhism. I gave it to my mom to look through. IMO it gives a simple, clear overview of Buddhist concepts and practices.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Illustrated-Encyclopedia-Buddhist-Wisdom/dp/0835607860

vinlyn

Ok, I know probably this topic has been discussed before so if that's the case maybe someone can point out to me.

I am looking for a good dharma intro book - reliable and yet not overly difficult and complicated, which introduces the essentials of what Buddhism is about. Target audience: absolute beginners, something I can pass to anyone - my dad, mom, relatives and friends to introduce them to Buddhism. Hopefully something interesting to hook their interest and attention on Dharma.

Any good ones you've read to share?

Reason I posted this: I wish to pass my dad something so he can learn about and practice Buddhism.

I can't say that all Buddhists or Buddhist groups believe this, but I was taught never to proselytize unless specifically asked.

patbb

who ordered this truck load of dung

by ajahn brahm


http://www.amazon.ca/Who-Ordered-This-Truckload-Dung/dp/0861712781

xabir

I can't say that all Buddhists or Buddhist groups believe this, but I was taught never to proselytize unless specifically asked.

Buddha taught his students to spread his message far and wide, so the early sangha was evangelical to the core. The Buddha for instance told his community to each go in different directions to spread the dharma, and not all stay or go the same directions. It is sad that Buddhists aren't doing as much as what Buddha hoped his sangha do, theseadays. Otherwise Buddhism would have been much more widespread in the world.

The Buddha also taught that teaching dharma is the way to repay parents' kindness so I think it is the duty of every Buddhist to intro the dharma to their parents:

{II,iv,2} "I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother & father. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder & your father on the other shoulder for 100 years, and were to look after them by anointing, massaging, bathing, & rubbing their limbs, and they were to defecate & urinate right there [on your shoulders], you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. If you were to establish your mother & father in absolute sovereignty over this great earth, abounding in the seven treasures, you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. Why is that? Mother & father do much for their children. They care for them, they nourish them, they introduce them to this world. But anyone who rouses his unbelieving mother & father, settles & establishes them in conviction; rouses his unvirtuous mother & father, settles & establishes them in virtue; rouses his stingy mother & father, settles & establishes them in generosity; rouses his foolish mother & father, settles & establishes them in discernment: To this extent one pays & repays one's mother & father."

Lookingformyway

We don't know he didn't

who ordered this truck load of dung

by ajahn brahm


http://www.amazon.ca/Who-Ordered-This-Truckload-Dung/dp/0861712781

I just spat coffee everywhere...that is seriously a title for a Buddhist book :clap:

xabir

Buddha was more evangelical than Jesus and had a good strategy to spread his teachings, this is why he got so many thousands tens of thousands of awakened students in his lifetime. Unfortunately evangelism is nowadays a Christian thing (which had become very successful) than a Buddhist thing.

xabir

Thanks for the suggestions will visit the Buddhist bookstore soon.

Sabre

who ordered this truck load of dung

by ajahn brahm


http://www.amazon.ca/Who-Ordered-This-Truckload-Dung/dp/0861712781

I'd recommend this one too. It's a nice book.

I also found this quite nice for as far as I've read it:
Answers from the Heart: Practical Responses to Life's Burning Questions
by Thich Nhat Hahn

http://www.amazon.com/Answers-Heart-Practical-Responses-Questions/dp/1888375825

vinlyn

I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just telling you what I was taught.

I only know that many, many people are offended by evangelism, and it doesn't matter if it happens to be Buddhist evangelism or Christian evangelism.

person

My understanding of early Buddhist evangelism was that it was through teaching and debate, the loser usually agreeing to convert, than it was through some kind of brow beating or threat of hellfire. So while it seems that there was a certain amount of evangelising I'm not sure the manner of its occurance should be compared to modern Christian evangelizing.

Today people don't respond to being swayed by debate and are turned off by existential threats so any sort of conversion attempts I don't think would fall under skillful means. Also, teaching to others isn't supposed to be done unless requested. I do think though that an offer of a book to a parent or friend in order to help them understand yourself or the teachings would be fine as they can then choose to read it or not.

Lookingformyway

I await the incoming barrage of laughter directed towards me and this book...But I will put it out there...

The first Buddhist book I ever read was.......


wait for it....



"Buddhism for Dummies"



I found it in a closing down store for $5. I can honestly say for someone who had never read a thing...it wasn't that bad.

Let the jokes and laughter commence

weighted

Thich Nhat Hanh's Peace is Every Step

Pema Chodron's Taking the Leap

Jon Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go There You Are

person

I got this one from some book club intro offer a while ago. It has lots of pictures and easily digestable bits on Buddhism. I gave it to my mom to look through. IMO it gives a simple, clear overview of Buddhist concepts and practices.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Illustrated-Encyclopedia-Buddhist-Wisdom/dp/0835607860

If I can argue for this one again. It gives an overview and understanding of Buddhism more from a religious studies perspective rather than a book meant to be for application and practice. It stays true to Buddhist understanding though so I think it would be good for someone who wants to know about Buddhism but doesn't necessarily want to practice Buddhism.

vinlyn

Today people don't respond to being swayed by debate and are turned off by existential threats so any sort of conversion attempts I don't think would fall under skillful means. Also, teaching to others isn't supposed to be done unless requested. I do think though that an offer of a book to a parent or friend in order to help them understand yourself or the teachings would be fine as they can then choose to read it or not.

I agree. I have taken friends to a Buddhist temple, but only on those occasions when they asked.

xabir

Just recalled something. Just now when booking out of my camp for nights out, there was a few guys just behind me lining up for the shuttle bus, same age as me (probably 21 or 22). They were discussing about religion. In my country, although officially Buddhists make up one third of the population - the largest religious group, Christians are slowly picking up but still at 15 percent. However, the Christians and megachurches are what seems to be attracting the youth sector.

So they were discussing why is this so... I remembered them saying the inaccessibility of english dharma books (or perhaps it is just that the ordinary bookstores here don't sell as much dharma books as I hoped they do - I think those bookshop owners are mostly Christians) as compared to the texts of other religions. People generally read in English nowadays, but there is a lack of english materials on dharma, and furthermore a lack of "marketing" of dharma. We need to be able to present the dharma to others.

I think so too - the lack of dharma materials and good marketing is preventing the knowledge of buddhism from becoming widespread, at least in my country. And this thread is relevant, because to "market" our teachings to the masses, we need more accessible, reliable yet not obscure, intro/beginner books to impart the teachings of Buddhism to a general audience.

Kwantum_Kev

The 2 books I liked the best, as far as nice introductions to Buddhist teachings and wisdom, were "The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings" by Thich Nhat Hahn, and "Awakening the Buddha Within" by Lama Surya Das. The first one is what I consider a more classical intro, with a lot of explanation of the many different concepts - the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Three Doors of Liberation, the Three Dharma Seals, etc - while the second one (by Das) was written specifically with Westerners in mind and speaks of his personal experiences in finding Buddhism and how it is applied to a life in the west. Both very good books, IMHO, and both very readable : )

Many Blessings,

KwanKev

RichardH

hi xabir..

Ajahn Sumedho gives a basic orientation in a really plain speaking way.. but with real precision. His little book "The Four Noble Truths" is free online.. and can be printed off.

http://www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm

...

Invincible_summer

I await the incoming barrage of laughter directed towards me and this book...But I will put it out there...

The first Buddhist book I ever read was.......


wait for it....



"Buddhism for Dummies"



I found it in a closing down store for $5. I can honestly say for someone who had never read a thing...it wasn't that bad.

Let the jokes and laughter commence

No I actually think those types of books are pretty decent for absolute strangers to Buddhism, and for telling people about it. It's free of jargon and weird hippy-ish language that you sometimes find with Buddhist authors.

Arthurbodhi

One of my first book in Buddhism was...Buddhism for Beginners by Stephen Asma.
Is like a comic book, but is quite decent.

The Buddha is despited more like a fakir, (actually is based in the author own appearance), but like the author said, no one knows how Buddha really look likes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1571745955/




The Spanish version's (that I have) re-editors maybe believe this could confuse some readers so they change the cover.



Blessings.

possibilities

^^Buddha seriously winks? LOL

xabir

Thanks for all the great recommendations... it is a hard choice. But I might go with "Buddhism for Dummies"

kashi

Ok, I know probably this topic has been discussed before so if that's the case maybe someone can point out to me.

I am looking for a good dharma intro book - reliable and yet not overly difficult and complicated, which introduces the essentials of what Buddhism is about. Target audience: absolute beginners, something I can pass to anyone - my dad, mom, relatives and friends to introduce them to Buddhism. Hopefully something interesting to hook their interest and attention on Dharma.

Any good ones you've read to share?

Reason I posted this: I wish to pass my dad something so he can learn about and practice Buddhism.

I would highly recommend "In the buddhas words" by bhikkhu bodhi. its a collection of suttas bassed of the pali cannon.. starts with very simple teachings, lots of notes, index and many topics.

xabir

Thanks kashi, I love "In the buddhas words" - I have that one too