Books on Buddhism

 

General Buddha Dalai Lama Dhammapada Dharma

History Karma Mahayana Sutras Theravada

Tibetan Vajrayana Zen Zen Philosophy

Autobiography of a Yogi
by Paramahansa Yogananda, W. Y. Evans-Wentz
Listed under Yogananda

Anger : Wisdom for Cooling the Flames
by Nhat Hanh, et al
Anger can be one of the most frustrating emotions, carrying us headlong away from ourselves and depositing us into separation and dismay. Vietnamese monk and world teacher Thich Nhat Hanh tackles this most difficult of emotions in Anger. A master at putting complex ideas into simple, colorful packages, Nhat Hanh tells us that, fundamentally, to be angry is to suffer, and that it is our responsibility to alleviate our own suffering. The way to do this is not to fight our emotions or to "let it all out" but to transform ourselves through mindfulness. Emphasizing our basic interdependence, he teaches us how to help others through deep listening and how to water the positive seeds in those around us while starving the negative seeds. Serious though lighthearted, Anger is a handbook not only for transforming anger but for living each moment beautifully. --Brian Bruya - Amazon.com
Hardcover: 227 pages
Riverhead Books; ISBN: 1573221872; (September 10, )

The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
by Dalai Lama, et al
Listed under Dalai Lama

An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life
by Bstan-Dzin-Rgya-Mtsho, et al
In the summer of 1999, the Dalai Lama addressed an audience of over 40,000 in Central Park on how to live a better life. Open Heart is derived from this and other popular lectures given in New York. Here, the Dalai Lama progresses beyond his bestsellers The Art of Happiness and Ethics for the New Millennium by introducing specific practices that can engender happiness. Spiritual practice, according to the Dalai Lama, is a matter of taming unwanted emotions, which means becoming aware of how the mind works. Through the methods of analytical and settled meditation, the Dalai Lama shows how we can cultivate helpful states of mind and eliminate harmful states, leading us to develop compassion for others and happiness for ourselves. But there is no preaching of a single, right method. This revered but humble monk merely invites the reader to understand the causes of one's suffering and consider how best to alleviate it. Open Heart should draw crowds to the bookstores and lead us all to more satisfactory living. --Brian Bruya - Amazon.com
Hardcover: 208 pages
Little Brown & Company; ISBN: 0316989797; 1st edition (September 25, )

Bones of the Master : A Journey to Secret Mongolia
by George Crane
Listed under Mongolia

Buddha (Penguin Lives)
by Karen Armstrong
Books on Buddhism may overflow the shelves, but the life story of the Buddha himself has remained obscure despite over 2,500 years of influence on millions of people around the world. In an attempt to rectify this, and to make the Buddha and Buddhism accessible to Westerners, the beloved scholar and author of such sweeping religious studies as A History of God has written a readable, sophisticated, and somewhat unconventional biography of one of the most influential people of all time. Buddha himself fought against the cult of personality, and the Buddhist scriptures were faithful, giving few details of his life and personality. Karen Armstrong mines these early scriptures, as well as later biographies, then fleshes the story out with an explanation of the cultural landscape of the 6th century B.C., creating a deft blend of biography, history, philosophy, and mythology.
At the age of 29, Siddhartha Gautama walked away from the insulated pleasure palace that had been his home and joined a growing force of wandering monks searching for spiritual enlightenment during an age of upheaval. Armstrong traces Gautama's journey through yoga and asceticism and grounds it in the varied religious teachings of the time. In many parts of the world during this so-called axial age, new religions were developing as a response to growing urbanization and market forces. Yet each shared a common impulse--they placed faith increasingly on the individual who was to seek inner depth rather than magical control. Taoism and Confucianism, Hinduism, monotheism in the Middle East and Iran, and Greek rationalism were all emerging as Gautama made his determined way towards enlightenment under the boddhi tree and during the next 45 years that he spent teaching along the banks of the Ganges. Armstrong, in her intelligent and clarifying style, is quick to point out the Buddha's relevance to our own time of transition, struggle, and spiritual void in both 
his approach--which was based on skepticism and empiricism--and his teachings. Despite the lack of typical historical documentation, Armstrong has written a rich and revealing description of both a unique time in history and an unusual man. Buddha is a terrific primer for those interested in the origins and fundamentals of Buddhism. --Lesley Reed - Amazon.com
Hardcover: 205 pages
Viking Press; ISBN: 0670891932; (February 15, )

The Buddha in Your Mirror : Practical Buddhism and the Search for Self
by Woody Hochswender, et al
Paperback: 248 pages
Middleway Press; ISBN: 0967469783;

Buddhism Plain and Simple
by Steve Hagen
(Paperback -- December 29, )

The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Strategies for Managing Your Business and Your Life
by Michael Roach
(Hardcover -- February 15, )

Emotional Alchemy : How the Mind Can Heal the Heart
by Tara Bennett-Goleman
According to ancient legends, alchemists use a magical philosopher's stone to transmute lead into gold. In Emotional Alchemy, Tara Bennett-Goleman shows readers how they can use this alchemist metaphor to transform emotional confusion (lead) into insightful clarity (gold). And what does the magic stone represent? "Mindfulness," a lifelong practice that can bring readers more joy and contentment than the gold, according to Bennett-Goleman. "Mindfulness means seeing things as they are without trying to change them," she writes. "The point is to dissolve our reactions to disturbing emotions, being careful not to reject the emotion itself." Those who have never entered this practice will find a concise and articulate teacher in Bennett-Goleman, who leads national workshops with her husband, author Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence). What make this book such an exciting breakthrough is Bennett-Goleman's ability to apply Buddhist mindfulness to Western psychology. She shows how emotional alchemy can be used to address typical habits, such as mistrust, fear of rejection, feeling unlovable. Readers will also find fascinating scientific facts on how emotional alchemy affects brain chemistry and even cancer survival. --Gail Hudson - Amazon.com
Hardcover: 341 pages
Harmony Books; ISBN: 0609607529; (January 9, )

A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life (Shambhala Dragon Editions)
by Bstan- Dzin-Rgya-Mtsho, et al
(Paperback -- April )

How to Practice : The Way to a Meaningful Life
by His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Listed under Dalai Lama

The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, & Liberation: The Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and Other
by Thich Nhat Hanh
What should we think when on the one hand Buddhism tells us that life is suffering and on the other we are told to enjoy life's every moment? Loved around the world for his simple, straightforward explanations of Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh has finally turned his hand to the very core of Buddhism and conundrums such as this. In the traditional way, Thich Nhat Hanh takes up the core teachings one by one--the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Twelve Links of Interdependent Co-Arising--but his approach is as fresh as a soft breeze through a plum orchard. For illustration, he dips into the vast stores of Buddhist literature right alongside contemporary anecdotes, pointing out subtleties that can get glossed over in other popular introductions. He also includes three short but key sutras, essential source teachings from which all Buddhism flows. Studying the basics of Buddhism under Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh is like learning basketball from Michael Jordan. --Brian Bruya - Amazon.com
(Paperback -- May 4, )

If the Buddha Dated: A Handbook for Finding Love on a Spiritual Path
by Charlotte Sophia, Phd. Kasl, Charlotte Davis Kasl
(Paperback -- February )

In Defense of Dharma: Just-War Ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka
by Tessa J. Bartholomeusz
Listed under Sri Lanka
 

Infinite Life: Living Here and Now, Beyond and Forever by Robert A. F. Thurman Hardcover from Riverhead Books

The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya (Teachings of the Buddha) by Bhikkhu Nanamoli, Bhikkhu Bodhi Hardcover from Wisdom Publications

A Path With Heart : A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
by Jack Kornfield
In undertaking a spiritual life, we must make certain that our path is connected with our heart, according to author and Buddhist monk Jack Kornfield. Since 1974 (long before it gained popularity in the 1990s), Kornfield has been teaching westerners how to integrate Eastern teaching into their daily lives. Through generous storytelling and unmitigated warmth, Kornfield offers this excellent guidebook on living with attentiveness, meditation, and full-tilt compassion. Part of what makes this book so accessible is Kornfield's use of everyday metaphors to describe the elusive lessons of spiritual transformation. For example, he opens with "the one seat" lesson taught to him by his esteemed teacher. Literally it means sitting in the center of a room and not being swayed or moved by all the people and dramas happening around you. On a spiritual level it means sticking "with one practice and teacher among all of the possibilities," writes Kornfield; "inwardly it means having the determination to stick with that practice through whatever difficulties and doubts arise until you have come to true clarity and understanding." The same could be said for this "one book." Among all the spiritual self-help books, this is a classic worth sticking with and returning to--a highly approachable teacher that can only lead to greater clarity and understanding. --Gail Hudson - Amazon.com
Paperback: 352 pages
Bantam Doubleday Dell Pub (Trd Pap); ISBN: 0553372114; (July 1993)

Peace Is Every Step : The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
by Thich Nhat Hanh, Arnold Kotler (Editor)
Thich Nhat Hanh's writing is deceptive in its subtlety. He'll go on and on with stories about tree-hugging or metaphors involving raw potatoes; he'll tell you how to eat mindfully, even how to breathe and walk; he'll suggest looking closely at a flower and to see the sun as your heart. As the Zen teacher Richard Baker commented, however, Nhat Hanh is "a cross between a cloud, a snail, and piece of heavy machinery." Sooner or later, it begins to sink in that Nhat Hanh is conveying a depth of psychology and a world outlook that require nothing less than a complete paradigm shift. Through his cute stories and compassionate admonitions, he gradually builds up to his philosophy of interbeing, the notion that none of us is separately, but rather that we inter-are. The ramifications are explosive. How can we mindlessly and selfishly pursue our individual ends, when we are inextricably bound up with everyone and everything else? We see an enemy not as focus of anger but as a human with a complex history, who could be us if we had the same history. Suffice it to say, that after reading Peace Is Every Step, you'll never look at a plastic bag the same way again, and you may even develop a penchant for hugging trees. --Brian Bruya - Amazon.com
Paperback: 134 pages
Bantam Books; ISBN: 0553351397; Reissue edition (March 1992)
 

The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron Pema Chödrön may have more good one-liners than a Groucho Marx retrospective, but this nun's stingers go straight to the heart: "The essence of bravery is being without self-deception"; "When we practice generosity, we become intimate with our grasping"; "Difficult people are the greatest teachers." These are the punctuations to specific teachings of fearlessness. In The Places That Scare You, Chödrön introduces a host of the compassionate warriors' tools and concepts for transforming anxieties and negative emotions into positive living. Rather than steeling ourselves against hardship, she suggests we open ourselves to vulnerability; from this comes the loving kindness and compassion that are the wellsprings of joy. How do we achieve it? Through meditation, mindfulness, slogans, aspiration, and several other practices, such as tonglen, which is taking in the pain and suffering of others while sending out happiness to all--emphasis on the all. Chödrön introduces each of these practices in turn, backing them up with succinct practical reasoning and a framework of ideas that offers fresh interpretations of familiar words like strength, laziness, and groundlessness. Chödrön is the type of person you'd like to have with you in an emergency, and to deal with the extremes of daily life. In her absence, The Places That Scare You will do nicely. --Brian Bruya - Amazon.com Hardcover: 144 pages Shambhala Publications; ISBN: 1570624097; (August 21, )

Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Little Book of Eastern Wisdom
by Taro Gold
Hardcover: 96 pages
Andrews McMeel Publishing; ISBN: 0740714465; Miniature edition (April )

The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom : With the Divisions of the Abhisamayalankara
Paperback - 697 pages Reprint edition (February 1985)
University of California Press; ISBN: 0520053214
 

	Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki, Edward Espe Brown (Editor) (Hardcover -- May 28, )

One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism
by Joseph Goldstein
(Hardcover -- June 4, )
 

Radical Acceptance : Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach Hardcover from Bantam

The Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects
by Alexandra David-Neel
Listed under Alexandra David-Neel
 

	Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living (Shambhala Classics) by Pema Chodron (Paperback -- August 21, )

Throwing the Elephant: Zen and the Art of Managing Up
by Stanley Bing
(Hardcover -- March 15, )
 

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: The Spiritual Classic & International Bestseller; Revised and Updated Edition by Sogyal Rinpoche, Patrick D. Gaffney, Andrew Harvey Paperback from Harper SanFrancisco 1994

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
by Satchidananda, et al
(Paperback -- October 1990)

Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center
by Michael Downing
Why did the richest, most influential, highest flying Zen center in America crash and burn in 1983? Novelist Michael Downing wondered the same thing, and after three years of interviewing members and poring over documents, his Shoes Outside the Door tells the story. Womanizing, BMW-driving Richard Baker was the abbot and visionary behind the rapid growth of the San Francisco Zen Center, but in many ways he was the antithesis of his teacher and predecessor, the inimitable and revered Shunryu Suzuki, who would choose the bruised apples out of compassion. After the early death of Suzuki, a blind and driven cult formed around Baker, seemingly filling the void until this "Dick Nixon of Zen" finally slept with his best friend's wife and brought his world crashing to the ground. Working with direct quotations from students and workers of the Center and its many enterprises, Downing delivers a page-turning exposé of a community that is as laudable as it is laughable. And as an outsider to both the community and Buddhism, he does it with wit and an even hand. --Brian Bruya - Amazon.com
Hardcover: 384 pages
Counterpoint Press; ISBN: 1582431132; (October 16, )

When Things Fall Apart : Heart Advice for Difficult Times
by Pema Chodron
Much like Zen, Pema Chodron's interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism takes the form of a nontheistic spiritualism. In When Things Fall Apart this head of a Tibetan monastery in Canada outlines some relevant and deceptively profound terms of Tibetan Buddhism that are germane to modern issues. The key to all of these terms is accepting that in the final analysis, life is groundless. By letting go, we free ourselves to face fear and obstacles and offer ourselves unflinchingly to others. The graceful, conversational tone of Chodron's writing gives the impression of sitting on a pillow across from her, listening to her everyday examples of Buddhist wisdom. Amazon.com
Paperback: 147 pages Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1570623449; (September 12, )

What the Buddha Taught
by Walpola Sri Rahula, Paul Demieville (Foreword)
Beneath the enormous umbrella of Buddhism, there is a diverse galaxy of customs and beliefs, but there is also a kernel of truth that every sect holds dear. Rahula Walpola, scholar and monk, discovers this foundation of Buddhism for us first through straightforward explication, never skipping over a point that has yet to be substantiated, then through translations from key scriptures. Logical and focused, these are the essentials of Buddhism; know them first, then move comfortably on to other Buddhist works. Amazon.com
(Paperback -- April 1986)

What Would Buddha Do at Work? 101 Answers to Workplace Dilemmas
by Franz Metcalf, BJ Gallagher Hateley
ith the better part of our lives spent at work, it's a wonder there aren't more books devoted to practical living in the workplace. Franz Metcalf, a Buddhist scholar and author of What Would Buddha Do? has teamed up with management consultant BJ Gallagher Hateley to apply the Buddha's insights to life on the job. What would Buddha do at work? Of course, he'd quit and go find a comfortable spot in the forest to meditate. But those of us for whom early retirement is not an option can still profit from the Buddha's wisdom. Buddha's advice is not always obvious but certainly always helpful. What would Buddha do to get promoted? To influence others? To maintain job security? The answer to the first two questions is that he would simply do his job well. You would think that would also be the answer to the third question. But for the third, our authors teach us the Buddhist notion of impermanence--that in a world that is always changing, job security is an illusion. So although the Buddha himself was focused on liberation, he also offered guidance for the workaday world that, with elaboration from Metcalf add Gallagher Hateley, can itself prove liberating. --Brian Bruya - Amazon.com
Hardcover: 180 pages
Ulysses Pr; ISBN: 1569753008; (July 10, )

The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindness (Shambhala Classics)
by Pema Chodron
(Paperback -- August 21, )

The Work of Kings : The New Buddhism in Sri Lanka
by H. L. Seneviratne
Listed under Sri Lanka

Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game
by Joseph Parent
Listed under Golf
 

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, Shunryu Suzuki Paperback from Weatherhill

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
by Robert M. Pirsig
Listed under Robert M Pirsig

The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation; Or, the Method of Realizing Nirvana Through Knowing the Mind
Out of Print - Try Used Books
 
 

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