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Best Books for Burgeoning Buddhists
WonderingWanderer
California New
Hello everyone, I'd like to learn more about Buddhism and how to incorporate it's teachings into my life. I am also interested in how Buddhist teachings apply to current issues. Does anyone have any books or online lectures to recommend to me?
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Hi I learned to meditate from this series of videos by Ajahn Jayasaro of the Thai Forest Tradition.
As for books Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Being Dharma Ajahn Chah
Food for the Heart Ajahn Chah
A Still Forest Pool AJahn Chah
Don't Take Your Life Personally Ajahn Sumedho
The Sound of Silence Ajahn Sumedho
Zen Mind, Beginners Mind Shunryu Suzuki
Not Always So Shunryu Suzuki
That should keep you going for a while.
If you use the search bar at the top, you should find several threads about books. It kind of depends if you are looking for more general overall info or a specific school (Tibetan etc). The first one I ever read was Thich Nhah Hanh's The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching and found it quite easy to grasp. He tends to do a more modern take on some things, but that book in particular is a good overview of the important major parts that are present in most schools of Buddhism.
Hello. Welcome.
Do you have access to the Interweb? Any 'current issues' in particular?
https://engageddharma.com/2016/05/16/buddhism-and-a-secular-path-part-v/
If you look at the core of Buddhism it's usually fairly easy to apply it to current events, but it depends on the issue. How you view it is going to vary based on all of your previous experiences. Buddhism isn't much different as it is interpreted by people. So you can look up an issue and find multiple views from a Buddhist perspective, on any of them. From politics to war to religion to environmentalism etc. Thich Nhat Hanh is a big proponent of caring for our earth. Another teacher I went to a retreat with laughed and said it doesn't matter, if we ruin our planet we just get reborn elsewhere. Just depends on the person, lol. Buddhism doesn't have the answers to the world's problems. It's unlikely any single religion does. Complex problems require multi-pronged sources of knowledge, wisdom and experience.
Here is a training manual
http://www.mondozen.org/_literature_142288/Mondo_Training_Manual_2016
Mindfulness in Plain English / Henepola Gunaratana
I downloaded the manual, @lobster, thank you.
I found it extremely helpful
Me too @lobster . Thank you.
I have so many favourites, a list is impossible.
But Pema Chödrön and Thich Nhat Hanh have very accesible books for beginners.
The latter's "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching" is very clear.
I also like Walpola Rahula's "What the Buddha taught."
I am also very fond of rare books on Buddhism and have some beautiful late 19th century / early 20th century editions, such as:
●Nyanatiloka Thero's "The word of the Buddha" (this one is a classic)
●Henry Clarke Warren's "Buddhism in Translations"
●Alexandra David Neel's "Buddhism: its doctrine and its methods"
●T.W. Rhys-Davids "Buddhism"
●F.L. Woodward's "Some Sayings of the Buddha"
●K. J. Saunders "The Buddha's Way of Virtue" (Dhammapada)
●Samuel Beal's "Texts from the Buddhist Canon" (Chinese Dhammapada)
●Paul Carus "Gospel of the Buddha"
I would add a vote for Thich Nhat Hanh's The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, and the collected teachings of Ajahn Chah, which are available as a PDF online.
http://cdn.amaravati.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/The-Collected-Teachings-of-Ajahn-Chah-Single-Volume-Ajahn-Chah.pdf
Wow, thanks everyone for all your responses. It looks like I have a lot of reading to do!
Try "this" for a starter
Out of curiosity, has anyone read Don't Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan's Greatest Zen Master by Brad Warner?
@lobster posted about it in one of the IT groups today, so he should know something about it...
Baring in mind that I am very new to this, the first book on buhddism that I am currently reading is "Buddhism in a Nutshell" by Venerable Narada Thera. It can be downloaded for free as a PDF or read online!
Not thick enough to sit on.
A good book (you may need two) can be covered with a pillow, towel or blanket for a firm meditation seating.
Meditation for Dummies is excellent.
TNH's The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching has been incredibly informative in guiding me through the infancy of my Buddhist journey!
This is a little book I like a lot. My practice started with this one. Before, I've been reading and reading, but this little pearl made me practice for real. And although it's very very simple - or maybe just because it is:) - I still come back to it from time to time.
It's "Hello - with Love & Other Meditations" by Visuddhacara, and you can read it here: http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/hello_with_love.pdf
I know it's a bit late to post it, but this book fits here so much...!
^^the meditations remind me of Thay's gathas to recite in different moments of the day, @mosquito ??
i highly recommend "Nothing Special - Living Zen" by Charlotte Joko Beck
also, "What Makes You Not A Buddhist" by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse.
How to incorporate Buddhism into your life? Be kind and thoughtful toward people. Monitor yourself (this is called "mindfulness") to observe when your motive for choosing an action might be ego-based, vs. compassion-based. Let go of the ego as a driving motive.
You'll be well on your way to being a serious practitioner, if you can do those simple things.
Closed until OP returns and requests further dialogue.