Recommended Reading

For each category, Mu Soeng, BCBS Scholar in Residence responsible for the BCBS library, has selected the key texts for your guidance. The first section, "New Books," highlights recently published works of interest from all categories. Although we have a section on meditation, we focus on resources for studying Buddhist texts in particular. Many other places on the web have done an excellent job of listing general interest Dharma books and meditation resources; for example, the Insight Meditation Society offers many of these here.

New Books
*Martine Batchelor. The Spirit of the Buddha.* New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.**
	Martine Batchelor is a well-known and much loved Buddhist teacher. She is best known for being a nun in the Korean Zen tradition for number of years and a tireless promoter of women practicing Buddhism everywhere. Here she undertakes the delightful and innovative task of creating a thematic framework of Buddhist practice, primarily through the passages found in the Pali tradition. This undertaking is not quite as easy as it sounds, and Batchelor does a first-rate job in creating an engaging framework of the tradition that’s easy to read and scholastically sound at the same time. This book should be a delightful overview of Buddhist teachings and tradition both for beginners and for those who are already familiar with other source materials.
*Andrew Olendzki. Unlimiting Mind: The Radically Experiential Psychology of Buddhism.* Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010.**
	Over the years, largely through his teachings at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and his essays in the Insight Journal, Olendzki has established himself as one of the most important Buddhist thinkers of his generation. This volume brings together many of the essays that were published in various Buddhist magazines in the last decade or so. A long introduction provides an overview that ties together these various essays into a cohesive whole. It is a sophisticated and delightful approach to the radical psychology of Buddha’s teachings. It goes way beyond “feel good Buddhism” and challenges serious Buddhist practitioners to engage with the teachings at a more elevated level. These essays challenge our easy assumptions and provide radical perspectives on how to think about things Buddhist.
*Joseph Bobrow. Zen and Psychotherapy: Partners in Liberation.* New York: W. W. Norton, 2010.**
	In recent years, within American Buddhist meditative approaches, the collaboration with psychotherapy has usually been the province of vipassanā meditation. It is not that Zen meditation is a stranger to this collaboration. After all, interest in North America in Buddhist meditation started in earnest largely due to the seminal conference on Buddhism and Psychotherapy held in August, 1957 at the National University of Mexico at Cuernavaca, Mexico and presided over by Erich Fromm, the noted psychologist, and D. T. Suzuki, the man who almost single-handedly introduced Zen Buddhism to the West. By and large, however, not many psychotherapists have been trained in the formal and institutional frameworks of Zen practice. Bobrow has the credentials as both a certified Zen teacher and a long-term practicing psychoanalyst to bring insights into the collaboration of these two traditions in a thoughtful and thought-provoking book.
NOTE: Books previously listed in the "new" category have been moved into other categories below.
General
Historical Overview
	Richard Gombrich. What the Buddha Thought. London: Equinox, 2009.
	Richard Gombrich has been one of the great scholars of Theravada Buddhism in recent decades as well as a custodian of Pali studies through the Pali Text Society. Here he brings a lifetime of fascination with and reflections on what and how the Buddha thought and creates a seamless narrative. He argues that the Buddha’s thought has a greater coherence than is usually recognized. To back up his argument, he locates the Buddha’s thought in the historical context of ancient Brahmanism and Jainism to give a much richer picture of the meanings that are contained in the Buddha’s teachings in the Pali Canon. These meanings especially become more potent when their satire and irony are appreciated. Gombrich also argues that even though the Buddha used metaphors extensively, his teachings are not merely metaphorical. Rather, they contain a great deal of abstraction, i.e. use of sophisticated language to back up his arguments. Gombrich devotes considerable space to a discussion of Buddha’s radical reinterpretation of karma and rebirth and his ethicization of this critical issue. All in all, it is one of the most important books to come out in recent years in understanding the basic building blocks of what the Buddha thought about and how to implement that thought into practice.
	Rupert Gethin. Foundations of Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
	Robinson/Johnson/Thanissaro. Buddhist Religions, 5th edition, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2004.
	Peter Harvey. An Introduction to Buddhism—Teachings, History, and Practices. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
	Takeuchi Yoshinori. Buddhist Spirituality: Indian, Southeast Asian, Tibetan, Early Chinese. The Crossroad Publishing Co., 1995.
Doctrinal Overview
	David Kalupahana. Buddhist Philosophy—A Historical Analysis. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984.
	David Kalupahana. A History of Buddhist Philosophy—Continuities and Discontinuities. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992.
	Roger Corless. The Vision of Buddhism: The Space Under the Tree. Paragon House Publishers, 1989.
	*Stephen J. Laumakis. An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy.* New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.**
History of Buddhism
Origins of Buddhism
	Richard Gombrich. How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings. London: Athlone, 1996.
	G. C. Pande. Studies in the Origins of Buddhism, 4th revised edition. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1999.
	Greg Bailey and Ian Mabbett. The Sociology of Early Buddhism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
	Sue Hamilton. Early Buddhism–A New Approach. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2000.
	Ajahn Sujato. The History of Mindfulness. Taipei, Taiwan: Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, 2005.
The Life of the Buddha
	Bhikkhu Ñānamoli. The Life of the Buddha According to the Pali Canon. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti edition, 1972, 2001.
	Trevor Ling. The Buddha. Gower Publishing Ltd., 1985.
	Karen Armstrong. Buddha. New York: Penguin Books, 2004.
	Michael Carrithers. The Buddha: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
	H. W. Schumann. Historical Buddha: The Times, Life, and Teachings of the Founder of Buddhism. New York: Penguin, 1990.
Buddhism in India
	Johannes Bronkhorst. Buddhist Teaching in India. Boston, Wisdom Publications, 2009.
	Bronkhorst provides an overview of the power of Buddhist ideas within the larger Indian intellectual and religious milieu spanning more than a thousand years after the Buddha. He tracks the development of Buddhist teachings both within the larger Indian context and among Buddhism’s many schools, and sheds light on the sources and trajectory of such ideas as dharma theory, emptiness, the bodhisattva ideal, buddha nature, formal logic, and idealism. Bronkhorst is one of the most distinguished scholars of ancient and medieval Indian Buddhism as well as the yoga tradition. This book is a delight for those wanting to make themselves familiar with the Indian background of Buddhist teachings.
	A. K. Warder. Indian Buddhism. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 4th revised edition, 2004.
	Edward Conze. Buddhist Thought in India. New York: Routledge, 1962, 2008.
	Hajime Nakamura. Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographic Notes. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1980.
	Reginald Ray. Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
	Akira Hirakawa and Paul Groner. History of Indian Buddhism: From Shakyamuni to Early Mahāyāna. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990.
	Anthony J. Tribe. Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition. London: Routledge, 2000.
	Sukumar Dutt. Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India: Their History and Their Contribution to Indian Culture. London: Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1962.
Buddhism in S.E. Asia
	Richard Gombrich. Theravāda Buddhism: A Social History From Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988.
	Donald Swearer. The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1995.
	Yoneo Ishii. Sangha, State, and Society: Thai Buddhism in History. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986.
	Peter Jackson. Buddhadasa: Theravāda Buddhism and Modernist Reform in Thailand. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2003.
	Stanley J. Tambiah. The Buddhist Saints of the Forest and the Cult of Amulets. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
	Elizabeth Harris. Theravāda Buddhism and the British Encounter. London: Routledge, 2006.
	Melford E. Spiro. Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and Its Burmese Vicissitudes. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.
	John Ross Carter. On Understanding Buddhists: Essays on the Theravāda Tradition in Sri Lanka. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.
	Walpola Rahula. History of Buddhism in Ceylon. Colombo, Sri Lanka: M. D. Gunasena, 1966.
Buddhism in China
	John Kieschnick, The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.
	A contemporary person in the West interested in Buddhist meditation is usually not concerned with the “Buddha” aspect of the three jewels, that is to say, with the embodiment(s) of the Dharma. Yet it all began with a historical person, Shakyamuni, whose heroic life gave voice and flesh to the Dharma he taught. Since that time, the idea of embodiment, or Buddhahood, or saintliness has been a core ingredient in the spread of Dharma from its original homeland in India to various parts of the world. Kieschnick’s book brings together a largely neglected understanding of how these embodiments helped Buddhist teachings establish themselves and spread throughout China for nearly fifteen hundred years. He uses the lens of the biographical/hagiographical genre to look at the lives of Chinese monks in medieval times and how the narratives of asceticism, claims to supernatural powers, institutional attitudes toward scholarship came to play a formative role in defining Buddha’s teachings for the Chinese population. No Buddhist culture has been exempt from these narratives. While clearly intended for scholars and academics, the basic investigation of this book is as relevant to a lay practitioner in the West today since these narratives from medieval China are being played out in contemporary American Buddhism in new forms and shapes.
	Matthew T. Kapstein (ed.) Buddhism Between Tibet & China. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009.
	Despite recent history of occupation of Tibet by China and China’s effort to suppress all religions both at home and in Tibet, there has been a long history of fruitful and creative interaction between Tibetan and Chinese Buddhists. This book is an anthology of essays by noted Buddhists academics both in the United States and Europe that cover the history of this interaction from the 7th century Tang empire to the current situation. Even in these troubled political times between the two countries, there are signs that Chinese Buddhist academics, newly freed from earlier constraints, are showing interest in the great scholarship tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This book is for the serious reader but it does provide a thorough lens for understanding the interaction between two great Buddhist traditions.
	Arthur F. Wright. Buddhism in Chinese History. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1969.
	Kenneth Chen. Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964.
	Kenneth Chen. The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.
	Jacques Gernet. Buddhism in Chinese Society: An Economic History from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.
	Patricia Ebrey & Peter Gregory. Religion and Society in Tang and Sung China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993.
	Garma Chang. The Buddhist Teaching of Totality: The Philosophy of Hwa Yen Buddhism. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971.
Buddhism in Korea
	Mu Soeng. Thousand Peaks: Korean Zen—Tradition and Teachers. Cumberland, R.I: Primary Point Press, 1991.
	Robert Buswell. Religions of Korea in Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007.
	Jae-Ryong Shim. Korean Buddhism: Tradition and Transformation. Seoul, Korea: Jimoodang, 1999.
	Kusan Sunim. The Way of Korean Zen. New York: Weatherhill, 1985.
Buddhism in Japan
	Yoshiro Tamura. Japanese Buddhism: A Cultural History. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Co. 2000.
	Dale Saunders. Buddhism in Japan with an Outline of its Origin in India. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1972.
	Joseph Kitagawa. On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.
	Kashiwahara/Sonoda. Shapers of Japanese Buddhism. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Co., 1994.
Buddhism in Tibet
	The Dalai Lama. The Buddhism of Tibet and the Key to the Middle Way. New York: George Allen & Unwin, 1975.
	Robert Thurman. Essential Tibetan Buddhism. San Francisco: Harper, 1995.
	John Powers. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1995.
	Giuseppe Tucci. The Religions of Tibet. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1980.
	David Snellgrove. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, 2 vols. Boston: Shambhala, 1987.
	Lama Anagarika Govinda. The Way of the White Clouds. London: Hutchinson, 1966.
Buddhism in the West
	Rick Fields. How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism Coming to the West. 3rd revised edition. Boston: Shambhala, 1981, 1992.
	Stephen Batchelor. Awakening of the West: Encounter of Buddhism and Western Culture. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1994.
	Lawrence Sutin. All is Change: The Two-Thousand Year Journey of Buddhism to the West. Little, Brown, and Co., 2006.
	Richard Seager. Buddhism in America. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
	Charles Prebish. Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. University of California Press, 1999.
	Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (ed) Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism Under Colonialism. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1995.
	Charles Allen. The Search for the Buddha: The Men Who Discovered India’s Lost Religion. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002.
Classical Traditions
Core Teachings of the Buddha
	Bhikkhu Anālayo. From Craving to Liberation: Excursions into the Thought-world of the Pali Discourses. Carmel, NY, The Buddhist Association of the United States, 2009.
	Bhikkhu Anālayo has established himself as one of the most incisive commentators on the Buddha’s teachings as found in the Pali texts. His recent commentary on the Satipatthāna Sutta is already a classic in its field. In this book, he takes up the core teachings of the Pali discourses, such as craving, feeling, happiness, liberation, etc., and provides thoughtful and precise commentary on those terms. Bhikkhu Anālayo’s essays bring to life for the contemporary reader teachings that can often be arcane and muddled in the hands of orthodox Buddhist monks.
	Walpola Rahula. What the Buddha Taught. New York: Grove Press, 1974.
	Ajahn Sumedho. The Four Noble Truths. Hertfordshire, UK: Amaravati Publishing Co., 1992.
	Bhikkhu Bodhi. The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of the Suffering. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti edition, 2000.
	Ajahn Buddhadasa. Paticcasamuppāda: Practical Dependent Origination. Thailand: Buddhidhamma Fund, 1992.
	Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro, The Island: An Anthology of the Buddha’s Teachings on Nibbāna. Abhayagiri Monastic Foundation, 2009.
	Ajahn Thanissaro. Wings to Awakening. Barre, MA: Dhamma Dana Publications, 1996.
Theravāda
	Richard Gombrich. Theravāda Buddhism: From Ancient Benaras to Modern Modern Colombo. London: Routledge, 1988.
	Winston L. King. In the Hope of Nibbāna: The Ethics of Theravāda Buddhism. La Salle, IL: Open Court Publishing Co., 1964.
	Steven Collins. Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravāda Buddhism. London: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Mahāyāna
	Paul Williams. Mahāyāna Buddhism: Doctrinal Foundations. Second Edition. New York: Routledge, 1989, 2009.
	Shohei Ichimura. Buddhist Critical Spirituality: Prajñā and Śūnyatā. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 2001.
	Daniel Taigen Leighton. Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003.
	Jan Willis. On Knowing Reality: The Tattvārtha Chapter of Asanga’s Bodhisattvabhūmi. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1982.
Madhyamaka
	*Jan Westerhoff. Nāgārjuna’s Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction.* New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.**
	In the burgeoning academic literature on Nāgārjuna and his thought, Jan Westerhoff’s book is a welcome new addition. The value of this book is that unlike other books that focus almost exclusively on Nāgārjuna’s key text, the Mūlamadhyamika-kārikā, Westerhoff offers a broad survey of his thought based on his key philosophical writings. Thus, Nāgārjuna’s thought is seen as a complete philosophical system and how it compares to, say, the Nyaya system that dominated the non-Buddhist philosophical thinking of Nāgārjuna’s time. This book is for the serious academic reader but it is rewarding for those who want to understand the broadest contexts of Indian Buddhist philosophy in the second to third centuries CE. To understand Nāgārjuna’s writings on Metaphysics, personal identity, ethics, epistemology, language, truth, and other related topics is to have a better insight into the foundations of Indian Buddhist philosophy in the centuries after the Buddha.
	Jay Garfield. The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
	David Kalupahana. Nāgārjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1986.
	The Dalai Lama. The Middle Way: Faith Grounded in Reason. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009
	Joseph Walser. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
Yogācāra
	William Waldron. The Buddhist Unconscious: The Ālaya-Vijñāna in the Context of Indian Buddhist Thought. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003.
	Dan Lusthaus. Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Cheng wei-shih lun. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003.
	Ronald M. Davidson. Indian Esoteric Buddhism. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
	Tao Jiang. Contexts and Dialogue: Yogācāra Buddhism and Modern Psychology on the Subliminal Mind. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006.
	Stephen Anekar. Seven Works of Vasubandhu: The Buddhist Psychological Doctor. New Delhi: Motilal Books (2nd edition), 2002.
Vajrayana
	The Dalai Lama. The World of Tibetan Buddhism: An Overview of Its Philosophy and Practices. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995.
	Donald Lopez. Religions of Tibet in Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.
	Reginald Ray. Secret of the Vajra World. Boston: Shambhala, 2002.
	Matthew Kapstein. Reason’s Traces: Identity and Interpretation in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Thought. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002.
Pure Land
	*Caroline Brazier. The Other Buddhism: Amida Comes West. Winchester, UK, O Books, 2007.*
	Up until recently, Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo Shin shu in Japan) has not had the benefit of scholar’s or psychologist’s interest in its transformative paradigms. While Westerners were largely drawn to Zen meditation and its aesthetic arts, Pure Land or Amidaism largely remained relegated to ethnic Japanese in the United States. Popular books by scholars such as Taitetsu Unno have rectified the situation somewhat. Caroline Brazier is a psychologist in England who, along with her psychologist husband David, has founded the Amida Trust organization, and brings a much-needed dimension of psychological understanding of the structures of prayer to Amida Buddha. Certainly there are Buddhists out there whose needs are met more by practices of devotion and surrender. Brazier’s book is a timely response to that need while remaining psychologically astute.
	Alfred Bloom. The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting. World Wisdom, 2007.
	Taitetsu Unno. River of Fire, River of Water: An Introduction to Pure Land. New York: Doubleday, 1998.
	Julian F. Pas. Visions of Sukhavati. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1995.
	D.T. Suzuki. Buddha of Infinite Light: The Teachings of Shin Buddhism. Revised edition. Boston: Shambhala, 2002.
	*Jeff Wilson. Buddhism of the Heart: Reflections on Shin Buddhism and Inner Togetherness. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009.*
	From being a religion of the ethnic Japanese-American community in California for nearly a hundred years, Shin Buddhism has emerged in recent years as quite appealing to Americans and Westerners of all stripes. Much of the credit for creating a new language for making Shin Buddhism appealing goes to Taitetsu Unno, long-time professor of Buddhist studies at Smith College. His son, Mark Unno, now a professor of Japanese Buddhism at the University of Oregon, has carried on the torch admirably. Both Unnos have written an engaging preface to this user-friendly book by Jeff Wilson in which the author explores the age-old faith-based approach of Shin Buddhism through the language of “entrusting heart” that, along with humility and wonder, creates new space for those who wish to live more heartfully. Wilson uses anecdotes, reflection, and humor to invite the reader into the world of Shin stories and metaphors, passed down, elaborated, and re-energized generation after generation. The tradition of Shin Buddhism’s sacred storytelling comes alive in the book and does much to place the tradition in the mainstream of American Buddhism's widening horizons.
Ch’an
	Heinrich Dumoulin. History of Zen Buddhism: India & China, volume 1. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1988.
	John Wu. The Golden Age of Zen: Zen Masters of the Tang Dynasty. Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 1967, 2003.
	Andrew Ferguson. Zen’s Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000.
	Thomas Hoover. The Zen Experience. New York: New American Library, 1980.
Zen
	*Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright (eds) Zen Ritual: Studies of Zen Buddhist Theory in Practice.* New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.**
	The Chan of China got transformed in Japan in ways that its great founding teachers would not have imagined or thought possible. One of the hallmarks of Zen Buddhism of Japan has been its highly ritualized visuals. These rituals, in turn, hastened the institutionalization of Zen in Japan and were increasingly codified themselves by those institutions. The essays in this volume come from well-known Buddhist academics and are meant for the specialized reader. The value of this collection of essays is to offer a portrait of Japan’s Zen Buddhism as a startling contrast to the “Beat Zen” of Jack Kerouac and other aficionados who focused on the Zen emphasis on spontaneity, and demythologized it from its institutional and ritual contexts. These essays provide a more nuanced portrait of the tradition.
	Heinrich Dumoulin. History of Zen Buddhism: Japan, volume 2. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1990.
	Arthur Braverman. Living and Dying in Zazen: Five Zen Masters of Modern Japan. New York: Weatherhill, 2003.
	Robert Buswell. Tracing Back the Radiance: Chinul’s Korean Way of Zen. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991.
	Stephen Addiss. Zen Sourcebook: Traditional Documents from China, Korea, Japan. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 2008.
	John Stevens. Three Zen Masters: Ikkyu, Hakuin, Ryokan. New York: Kodanasha International, 1993.
Texts and Translations
General
	John Strong. The Experience of Buddhism: Sources and Interpretation. Walnut Creek, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 3rd edition, 1995, 2007.
	Edward Conze, et. al. Buddhist Texts Through the Ages. New York: Harper & Row, 1959, 1990.
	Donald Lopez. Buddhist Scriptures. New York: Penguin Classics, 2004.
	*William Edelglass and Jay Garfield. Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.*
Pali Texts
	Bhikkhu Bodhi. In the Buddha’s Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2005.
	Maurice Walsh. Thus Have I Heard: The Long Discourses of the Buddha: Dīgha Nikāya. London: Wisdom Publications, 1987.
	Bhikkhu Bodhi. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: Majjhima Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995.
	Bhikkhu Bodhi. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: Samyutta Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000.
	Bhikkhu Bodhi. The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: Anguttara Nikāya: An Anthology. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 1990.
	H. Saddhatissa. Sutta Nipata. London: Curzon Press, 1985.
	Gil Fronsdal. The Dhammapada. Boston: Shambhala, 2006.
	John Holder. Early Buddhist Discourses. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 2006.
	Bhikkhu Bodhi. A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma. Kandy, Sri Lanka. Buddhist Publications Society, 1993.
	(The Pali Text Society has been publishing translations of Pali Texts since the 1880s. Some of these translations may be archaic and may have been superseded by translations listed above. Nonetheless, the PTS translation project is a valuable resource for a discerning reader.)
Sanskrit Texts
	Edward Conze. The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1985.
	Burton Watson. Lotus Sutra. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
	Robert Thurman. The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976.
	Thomas Cleary. The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Boston: Shambhala, 1993.
	D. T. Suzuki. Lankāvatāra Sutra. London: Routledge, Kegan and Paul, 1956.
	Mu Soeng: Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way We Perceive the World. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000.
	Red Pine. Heart Sutra: The Womb of the Buddhas. Washington, D.C: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2004.
	Red Pine. Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom. Washington, D.C: Counterpoint, 2001.
Chinese Texts
	Chung-Yuan Chang. Original Teachings of Chan Buddhism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1969.
	Jeffrey Broughton. The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999.
	Red Pine. The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma. Berkeley, CA: North Point Press, 1989.
	Garma C. Chang. The Practice of Zen. New York: Harper & Row, 1959.
	John Blofeld. The Zen Teachings of Huang-po. New York: Grove Press, 1959, 1994.
	Red Pine. Platform Sutra: The Zen Teaching of Huineng. Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2007.
	Mu Soeng. Trust in Mind: The Rebellion of Chinese Zen. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004.
	Asvaghosa & Suzuki. The Awakening of Faith. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.
	Sheng-yen. Hoofprint of the Ox: Principles of the Chan Buddhist Path as Taught by a Modern Chinese Master. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Japanese Texts
	Shohaku Okumura. Realizing Genjokoan: The Key to Dogen’s Shobogenzo. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010.
	Dogen, the thirteenth-century Zen master who founded the Japanese Soto school of Zen, is renowned as one of the most remarkable religious geniuses in human history. His works are both richly poetic and deeply insightful and philosophical, pointing to the endless depths of meditative exploration. Because of his inventive and playful language, Dogen is often difficult for readers to understand and fully appreciate. The Shobogenzo is the main collection of Dogen’s writings and it is one of the great treasures of Buddhist literature. The Genjokoan is perhaps the most famous essay in the collection for Zen practitioners; justly famous for its lines, “To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self.” Realizing Genjokoan is a guided tour of the this most important essay as well as a comprehensive introduction to the teachings and approach of this great thinker. The author is one of the most able translators and interpreters of Dogen’s thought in contemporary West. As a bonus there is a comprehensive chapter on the life and thought of Dogen.
	Kazuaki Tanahashi. Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen. Berkeley, CA: North Point Press, 1995.
	Gudo Nishijima. Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo. Surrey, UK: Windbell Publications, 2003.
	Yoshito S. Hakeda. Kukai and His Major Works. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972.
	Mark Unno. Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004.
	Norman Waddell. Essential Teachings of Zen Master Hakuin. Boston: Shambhala, 1994.
Tibetan Texts
	Robert Thurman. The Central Philosophy of Tibet. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.
	Giuseppe Tucci. Minor Buddhist Texts. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1986.
	Gene Smith. Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001.
	Jeffrey Hopkins. Tsong-kha-pa’s Final Exposition of Wisdom. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2008.
	Thupten Jinpa. Mind Training: The Great Collection. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2005.
Meditation
Vipassanā Meditation
	Paul R. Fleischman. An Ancient Path. Onalaska, WA: Vipassana Research Publications, 2008
	This book is a collection of public talks on Vipassanā Meditation (as taught by S. N. Goenka) given by the author in Europe and America. Fleischman is Goenka’s appointed spokesperson to professional, academic, and literary audiences. The talks here are brilliant, lucid, and thoroughly sophisticated. They connect the reader to a highly nuanced understanding of Buddha’s teachings that speaks as much to the contribution of vipassanā and mindfulness to mental health as to cultivating inner peace, and to living one’s life through that cultivation. It is an excellent introduction for contemporary Western audiences to worldviews and approaches suggested in, but not limited by, the widespread “Goenka method” of vipassanā meditation.
	Stephen Snyder and Tina Rasmussen. Practicing the Jhānas. Boston: Shambhala, 2009.
	For generations, a solid foundation in jhāna practice was a prerequisite for Buddhist monks before undertaking sustained and systematic vipassanā investigation. Somehow, the jhāna practice never got much traction in the American vipassanā scene until recently. Much of the recent upsurge in interest in jhāna practice is due to the efforts of the Burmese master, Pa Auk Sayadaw who is one of the great living meditation masters of our time. This book by two of his American students offers a glimpse into the structure of the practice. It is not a substitute for actual practice but a reader will have a better idea of what the traditional Theravadin concentration practice is all about.
	Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield. Seeking the Heart of Wisdom. Boston: Shambhala, 1987.
	Nyanaponika Thera. The Heart of Buddhist Meditation. New York: Weiser Books, 1973.
	Bhante Gunaratana. Mindfulness in Plain English. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002.
	Bhikkhu Anālayo. Satipatthāna Sutta: The Direct Path to Realization. UK: Windhorse Publications, 2004.
	Ajahn Buddhadasa (revised edition, edited by Santikaro Bhikkhu). Mindfulness With Breathing. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1996.
	Larry Rosenberg. Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation. Boston: Shambhala, 2004.
Zen Meditation
	Shunryu Suzuki. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. New York: Random House, 1972.
	Philip Kapleau. Three Pillars of Zen. New York: Doubleday, 1965, 1980.
	Katsuki Sekida. Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy. New York: Weatherhill, 1975.
	Sheng-yen. The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination. Boston: Shambhala, 2008.
	Sheng-yen. Shattering the Great Doubt: The Chan Practice of Huatou. Boston: Shambhala, 2009.
Tibetan Meditation
	Khenchen Trangpu Rinpoche. The Practice of Tranquility and Insight: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1998.
	Daniel Brown and Robert Thurman. Pointing Out the Great Way: The Stages of Meditation in the Mahāmudrā Tradition. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2006.
	Dalai Lama and Sogyal Rinpoche. Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of Great Perfection. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2004.
	Pema Chodron. Start Where You Are. Boston: Shambhala, 2004.
	Pema Chodron. Comfortable With Uncertainty. Boston: Shambhala, 2008.
	*Pema Chodron. Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears. Boston: Shambhala, 2009.*
	Through her many books on Buddhist meditation practice, Pema Chodron has become one of the most important translators of the complex Tibetan Buddhist meditation to lay contemporary Western readers. In this book, she takes up the Tibetan word, shenpa, generally translated as “attachment,” but she translates it as “hooked.” With this innovative alternate reading of the term, Pema Chodron speaks eloquently to contemporary audience and their experience of stress and pain and how to work with it effectively.
Contemporary Buddhism
Buddhism and Cognitive Science
	Francisco Varela, et. al. The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1992.
	Alan Wallace and Brian Hodel. Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.
	Anne Harrington and Arthur Zajonc. The Dalai Lama at M. I. T. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
Buddhism and Healing
	*Jon Kabat-Zinn. Full Catastrophe Living. New York: Delta, 1990.*
	*Jon Kabat-Zinn. Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness. New York: Hyperion, 2006.*
	*Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindel Siegel. The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness. New York: The Guilford Press, 2007.*
	*Carol Anderson. Pain and Its Ending: The Four Noble Truths in the Theravada Buddhist Canon. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 2001.*
Buddhism and Neuroscience
	*James H. Austin. Selfless Insight: Zen and the Meditative Transformations of Consciousness. Boston: The MIT Press, 2009.*
	Dr. James Austin has long been the acknowledged pioneer of mapping the brain during the actual stages of meditation, more specifically Zen meditation. His first book, Zen and the Brain, practically invented the field that’s now being increasingly called NeuroDharma. His new book incorporates the latest research in brain sciences to clarify what the awakening process in Zen practice implies for our understanding of consciousness. Through these researches, we are better able to understand how meditation trains our attention, reprograms it in a new channel that is more mindfulness of what’s going on in the present moment. It is routinely accepted by researchers like Dr. Austin that our malformed notions of self programs our brains to function in unhealthy ways. The good news for the meditators is that their research also shows that by changing our notions of self we can also readapt the functioning of the brain in healthy ways.
	Rick Hanson, with Richard Mendius. Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom. Oakland, CA, New Harbinger Publications, 2009
	In the emerging new field of “Neuro-Dharma,” Rick Hanson and Rick Mendius offer a practical and down-to-earth guide to understanding how the brain’s neural pathways can be shaped, through applied meditative attention, to be happy and peaceful. The value of the book is that it gives equal weight to core Buddhist precepts as it does to the science of the brain. The book has the feel of a power-point presentation but it is a valuable resource in finding the edge between science and personal happiness within ethical frameworks.
Buddhism and Psychology
	Franklyn Sills. Being and Becoming: Psychodynamics, Buddhism, and the Origins of Selfhood. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2009.
	Sills is one of the pioneers of Core Process Psychotherapy in which Eastern and Western understandings of being and selfhood are integrated, with the intention to alleviate the suffering that emerges from our conditioned self-forms. His book is a creative synthesis of Buddhist understanding, the psychological structures of contemporary families and society, and Western psychological insights about core issues of being, selfhood, and the healing process. Sills provides a wider context for this healing process; he sees a breakdown in families and communities that is amplified by our disconnection from the earth that sustains us, at a time when that ecology is at risk from our neglect and abuses.
	Christopher Germer, et. al. Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. New York: Guilford Press, 2005.
	Jeremy Safran. Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003.
	John Suler. Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eastern Thought. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1993.
	*John Pickering (ed.) The Authority of Experience: Essays on Buddhism and Psychology. London: Curzon Press, 1997.*
Buddhism and Social Engagement
	Richard K. Payne (ed.) How Much is Enough: Buddhism, Consumerism, and the Human Environment. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010.
	The title of this book captures one of the core intentions of Buddhist teachings as exemplified in the Buddha’s sermon on the eight qualities of a great being (Anguttara Nikāya 160 (VIII, 30). The first of these qualities, said the Buddha, “This Dhamma is for one of few wishes, not for one with many wishes.” The teachings, inviting simplicity of life and simplification of wishes and desires, make for a poor consumer. Today we live in a world of extreme production of goods and services, and hyper-consumerism. The decisions we make in our consumptive choices have implications not only for our personal lives but also for the global environment where extremes of production and consumption are inextricably intertwined. This book brings together essays and reflections from noted Buddhist teachers and thinkers on issues of environmentalism and consumerism. Out of these reflections emerges a new modality tentatively being called “Buddhist Ecology” which holds out a promise of Buddhist teachings impacting the consumeristic choices of its practitioners.
	Jonathan Watts (ed). Rethinking Karma: The Dharma of Social Justice. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 2009.
	For nearly twenty years now, a group of Buddhist thinker-activists have been participating in Think Sangha, a socially engaged Buddhist think tank affiliated with the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. These thinker-activists have been on the cutting edge of asking penetrating questions about the relevance and applicability of Buddha’s teachings to urgent social issues: what is a Buddhist response to political oppression and economic exploitation? Does Buddhism encourage passivity and victimization? Can violent perpetrators be brought to justice without anger and retributive punishment? This volume is a collection of papers by eleven authors on the Buddhist response to issues of social justice at a grassroots level.
	Sallie King. Socially Engaged Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2009.
	Christopher Queen. Engaged Buddhism in the West. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000.
	David Loy. Money, Sex, War, Karma. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008.
Buddhism and Modernity
	Alexandar Berzin. Wise Teacher, Wise Student: Tibetan Approaches to a Healthy Relationship. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2010.
	The relationship between a teacher and a student in contemporary American Buddhism is often one of the most confusing and perplexing quandaries faced by newcomers as well as experienced students. The Theravada tradition grounds itself in the modality of kalyāna-mitta (spiritual friends) as a response to this relationship. In the Mahāyāna tradition in general, and Tibetan Buddhism, in particular, this relationship gets more heated up in a highly personalized guru-disciple relationship with intonations of a feudal lord-serf dynamic. Berzin’s book is the most comprehensive treatment of the subject yet, and its focus on Tibetan Buddhism’s incorporation of this relationship is highly rewarding, even if that exclusivity may not always translate easily into other Buddhist traditions.
	*David McMahan. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008*
	As the Buddhist tradition matures in the West, the academic profession, unsurprisingly, turns its probing lens on to what’s going on. Thoughtful commentators are looking at the phenomena of an ancient tradition’s encounter with modernity and mapping out the terrain in which this encounter is taking place. It has been noted, for example, that Buddhism in the modern era (both in the colonized Asia of 19th and 20th centuries, and in the West of the last fifty years or so) can only be understood against the background of dominant Western discourses. At the same time, there are ideological and imaginative encounters between Buddhism and science, mythology, literature, art, psychology, and religious pluralism. Certain themes tackled by McMahan in the book cut across cultural and geographical contexts but he is fair enough to show that Buddhist modernism is a construction of numerous parties with varying interests.
	Stephen Batchelor. Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2010
	Stephen Batchelor is among the best known voices of Buddhism in the West, as well as one of its most respected teachers and thinkers. Trained in the classic traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and Zen in Korea, he has an easy familiarity with the Pali Nikaya tradition, thus holding citizenship in all the three major traditions of Buddhism. Moreover, he is not affiliated with any sect, school, or institution and maintains an independent status as a Buddhist thinker. Written with brilliance and boldness, this autobiography is vintage Batchelor and an illuminating walk through the landscape of Western Buddhism in the last thirty or forty years. It is as much a personal story as it is a narrative about the coming of Buddhism to the West.
	Stephen Batchelor. Buddhism Without Beliefs. New York: Riverhead Books, 1997.
	Joseph Goldstein. One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism. New York: HarperOne, 2003.
	David Loy. A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2002.
	Bernard Faure. Unmasking Buddhism. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
	David L. McMahan. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
	Shoji Yamada. Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zen, and the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Buddhism and Western Philosophy
	*Stephen J. Laumakis. An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008*
	This book is written as an undergraduate textbook but it is clear and concise that a curious beginner may get a lucid overview of the origin and development of Buddhist ideas and concepts. The book focuses on the philosophical ideas developed by various Buddhist thinkers through the ages as well as key passages from the Mahayana sutras. It’s a good combination of primary source materials and precise explanations of key terms and teachings.
	*William Edelglass and Jay Garfield (eds.) Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009*
	This anthology is designed to make the philosophical dimensions of Buddhist thought easily accessible to students and those with background in Western philosophy. The book treats the tradition of Buddhist thought as a rigorous intellectual tradition reflecting on issues of knowledge, language, existence, mind, and ethics. It does so through carefully selected and excellently translated primary texts. Each section has a valuable historical introduction to the philosophical problem it is dealing with. The value of this anthology is that it does not try to artificially validate Buddhist philosophical systems through the frameworks of Western philosophy but rather lets them stand on their own without external justification.
	*Mark Siderits. Buddhism as Philosophy. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 2007.*
Buddhism and Women
	Thea Mohr & Ven. Jampa Tsedroen (eds). Dignity & Discipline: Reviving Full Ordination for Buddhist Nuns. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2010.
	The recent controversy surrounding full female ordination in Theravada Buddhism is one of the most pressing issues facing modern Buddhism. When the Buddha established his community over twenty-five centuries ago, he did so upon a foundation of radical equality among women and men. And indeed, the earliest Buddhist scriptures celebrate the teachings and inspiring influence of these path-blazing female renunciants. Nonetheless, through much of the Buddhist world, the order of nuns has disappeared or was never transmitted at all. Today’s controversy not only raises issues of power and authority but also a basic human right: gender equality. The seventeen papers included in Dignity & Discipline were presented at a 2007 conference in Hamburg, the International Congress on Women’s Role in the Sangha. These papers from leading scholars and Buddhist leaders from all around the world make this book a watershed moment in Buddhist history and a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary Buddhism.
	*Grace Schireson. Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens, and Macho Masters. Boston, Wisdom Publications, 2009.*
	This book is a delightful introduction to the growing literature about the role of women practitioners and teachers in Buddhism. While Schireson’s collection of stories deals primarily with women in the Zen traditions of China, Japan, and Korea, its broader concerns seek to reclaim the contributions made by women practitioners in the larger Buddhist tradition. Appropriately, Schireson keeps reminding the reader that all of these stories are intimately connected to the lives of women practicing in various Buddhist traditions today.
	*Ranjini Obeyesekere. Yasodhara: The Wife of the Bodhisattva. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2009.*
	This unusual book picks up the story of the wife of the Buddha, who remains unnamed in the Pali Canon. Gathering information from the Sinhalese commentarial tradition, the book shows that Yasodhara enters the picture around first century CE and lives on in the Sinhalese folk tradition. The portrait we get is a nuanced one: Yasodhara is first seen as a nun, obscure and undefined; then she is seen as an arahat (a saint), then even having magical powers. Although the story of Yasodhara belongs properly to the Buddhist folk tradition, it is nonetheless an insight into how the tradition developed over generations and centuries.
	*Ellison Findly (ed). Women's Buddhism, Buddhism's Women. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000*
	*Rita Gross. Buddhism After Patriarchy: Feminist History, Analysis. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1993*
	*Susan Murcott. The First Buddhist Women: Translations and Commentaries on the Therigatha. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1991.*
	*Karma Lekshe Tsomo (ed). Buddhist Women Across Cultures: Realizations. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1999.*

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