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
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.
*Stephen Snyder and Tina Rasmussen. Practicing the Jhanas. Boston: Shambhala, 2009.*
	For generations, a solid foundation in jhana practice was a prerequisite for Buddhist monks before undertaking sustained and systematic vipassana investigation. Somehow, the jhana practice never got much traction in the American vipassana scene until recently. Much of the recent upsurge in interest in jhana 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.
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 collection of 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.
NOTE: Books previously listed in the "new" category have been moved into other categories below.
General
Historical Overview
	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
	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.
	Richard Gombrich. What the Buddha Thought. London: Equinox Publishing, 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
	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.
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
	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
	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
	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.
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
	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
	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
	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
	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. 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
	*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.

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