Recommended Reading
There are so many books on spirituality, mindfulness meditation, Buddhism, and spirituality that it can be hard to know where to start. How do you know if a book on meditation is right for you? How do you tell if it’s genuine and valuable or just watered down wisdom? Which books are rooted in an authentic lineage of wisdom teachings and which are pop culture appropriation?
This list offers some guidance around where to start and how to go deeper with Buddhist meditation: from classic texts to more modern interpretations. May it be of benefit!
Thai Forest Tradition
Turning the Wheel of the Truth: Commentary on the Buddha’s First Teaching, Ajahn Sucitto
Parami: Ways to Cross Life’s Floods, Ajahn Sucitto (hard copies on demand here)
A Still Forest Pool: The Insight Meditation of Ajahn Chah (Ed. Jack Kornfield, Paul Breiter)
The Sound of Silence: Selected Teachings of Ajahn Sumedho (and other titles by Ajahn Sumedho)
Pure and Simple: The Extraordinary Teachings of a Thai Buddhist Lay Woman, Upasika Kee Nanayon
Insight Meditation & Theravada buddhism
A Path with Heart, Jack Kornfield
The Experience of Insight, Joseph Goldstein
Being Nobody, Going Nowhere, (and other titles) by Ayya Khema
Three Steps to Awakening, Larry Rosenberg
Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, (and other titles) Sharon Salzberg
Faith: Trusting your Own Deepest Experience, Sharon Salzberg
Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master, Amita Schmidt
General Buddhism
What the Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula
Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha’s Path, Bhante Gunaratane
One Dharma, Joseph Goldstein
The Issue at Hand: Essays on Buddhist Practice, Gil Fronsdal
classical texts
In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon (The Teachings of the Buddha), translation by Bhikkhu Bodhi
The Life of the Buddha According to the Pali Cannon, Bhikkhu Nyanamoli
The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, Nyanaponika Thera
Dhammapada: New Translation by Gil Fronsdal
Dhammapada, transl Ananda Maitreya
by Thich That Hanh
The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
The Sun My Heart: The Companion to The Miracle of Mindfulness
Old Path, White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
Zen and Tibetan Teachings
Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, Shunry Suzuki Roshi
When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chödrön
The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation, Chogram Trungpa Rinpoche
Carefree Dignity, Tsoknyi Rinpoche
The Joy of Living, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche
Contemporary teachings & favorites
The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff
You Belong, Sebene Selassie
Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness, David Treleaven
Healing Resistance, Kazu Haga (on nonviolent social change)
Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens and Jasmine Syedullah Ph.D.
Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists, Chenxing Han