Buddhism Books

Award-winning author Lama Tsomo provides insights and practices to enrich our relationships, be mindfully and joyfully present in the world, and deepen our understanding of ourselves. The tide of modern life is sweeping us even further into...

A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners.No religion or spiritual movement is more known for its association with meditation than Buddhism. Yet, in the Western world there has been very little comprehensive instruction available on this integral practice in...

Enlightened Contemporaries is the first book to compare the lives and teachings of three of the world's most admired spiritual masters: Francis of Assisi, the Christian saint; Dogen, the great Zen Buddhist teacher; and Rumi, the Islamic Sufi...

Despite the widespread popularity of Buddhist practices (like meditation), there is little understanding of the complex philosophy behind Buddhism. The historical Buddha, Gautama, was a real person--a radical--who challenged the religious leaders of his...

While in grad school in the early 1990s, Chris Niebauer began to notice striking parallels between the latest discoveries in psychology, neuroscience, and the teachings of Buddhism, Taoism, and other schools of Eastern thought. When he presented his...

An Instruction Manual for Clear CommunicationThe most well-known Buddhist teachers on the planet all have something in common: they are excellent communicators. This is not a coincidence, as the Buddha taught what are called the four elements of right...

Zen monk Santoka Taneda (18821940) is one of Japan's most beloved modern poets, famous for his "free-verse" haiku, the dominant style today. This book tells the fascinating story of his life, liberally sprinkled with more than...

Wellsprings of the Great Perfection presents the primary sources explaining how the Dzogchen teachings came into this world, who received them and through whom they passed. It is an impressive collection of original translations from a vast number of...

The Gateway to Knowledge is a condensation of the Tripitaka and its accompanying commentaries. Consolidating the intent of Buddha Shakyamuni's teachings into a unified body of textbooks, it is the philosophical backbone of the living tradition of Tibetan...

Tara is an inspirational figure to many practitioners. She embodies the most compelling and vital qualities of the feminine: beauty, grace, and the ability to nurture, care for and protect. In addition, she is a true warrior, vanquishing fear and...

Tsoknyi Rinpoche is a reincarnate lama educated in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He has been teaching students from around the world since 1990. "Being carefree, you can fit in anywhere. If you're not carefree you keep on bumping up against things...

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones offers a remarkable collection of primary sources which enable readers to experience the meaning of Zen directly for themselves. It includes:101 Zen Stories, a collection of tales recounting the experiences of Chinese and Japanese...

A world of dew And within every dewdrop A world of struggleThe iconic three-line haiku form is increasingly popular today as people embrace its simplicity and grace-and its connections to the Japanese ethos of mindfulness and minimalism. Say more with...

Learn how to create a tranquil outdoor space at home with this practical and inspiring guide!With instructive drawings and step-by-step techniques, Inside Your Japanese Garden walks you through designing and creating your very own Japanese garden. From...

THE RENOWNED TEACHER AND AUTHOR'S SPIRITUAL MEMOIR, AS TOLD THROUGH HIS LIFELONG ENCOUNTERS WITH ANIMALS AND NATUREThis book of sutras - wisdoms - provides spiritual and practical teachings on the importance of humanity's relationship with animals and...

An engaging and sumptuously designed examination of the influence andimpact of Buddhism on art in North America from the post-war period to the present.In Buddhist teaching, the concept of being in the present moment refers to a practice of living...

In simple and direct language, the Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen contains teachings on a complete path to enlightenment, based on eight songs by the 17th century yogi and poet, Karma Chagmey. The Bardo Guidebook is straightforward, direct instructions...

Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's impeccable qualities were evident to all who met him and received pith instructions and empowerments from him. His teachings on mind nature and the path of the Great Perfection were unparalled. He had confidence and utterly...

Following in Your Footsteps, Volume III: The Lotus-Born Guru in Tibet connects the reader with the sacred sites of Guru Padmasambhavathe forefather of Tibetan Buddhism. This volume provides guidance through multiple resources so that today's...

Following in Your Footsteps: The Lotus-Born Guru in India presents the incredible feats of Guru Padmasambhava in the Indian subcontinent. This tantric embodiment of awakening spent hundreds of years training with the greatest masters of India, practicing...

A shorter and less technical treatment of its subject than the author's acclaimed Buddhism As Philosophy (second edition, Hackett, 2021), Mark Siderits's The Buddha's Teachings As Philosophy explores three different systems of thought that arose...

Naikan is a Japanese word that means 'inside looking' or 'introspection'. A more poetic translation is "seeing oneself with the mind's eye."Drawing on Eastern spiritual and psychological traditions,...

The Heart Sutra is the most widely read, chanted, and copied text in East Asian Buddhism. Here Frederik L. Schodt explores his lifelong fascination with the sutra: its mesmerizing mantra, its ancient history, the "emptiness theory, and the way it is used...

In his long career as a poet, Buddhist teacher, spiritual advisor, and writer, Stephen Levine has changed our understanding of death and dying. In Becoming Kuan Yin, Levine's first new book in many years, he turns to the legend of Kuan Yin, the...

In this insightful guide minister Jonalu Johnstone invites readers into an adventure of encountering firsthand the words and stories that have inspired billions throughout the centuries. Exploring the wisdom of the ages, she argues, helps equip us to...

One of the best-selling English-language translations of the Taoteching."A refreshing new translation. . . . Highly recommended."-Library Journal"With its clarity and scholarly range, this version of the Taoteching works as both a readable text and a...

"Fear is not what we think it is. When we bring conscious compassionate awareness to our explorations, we find that all that separates us from ourselves and the life we want is illusion. This revised edition ... includes instruction and exercises in...

If you think meditation is only for monks, think again. Today's world seems to be growing more and more stressful by the minute-for all of us. So now, as a teacher of Tibetan Buddhist practice and a 21st century woman, Lama Tsomo offers...

While the notion that "happiness can found within oneself" has recently become popular, Buddhism has taught for thousands of years that every person is a Buddha, or enlightened being, and has the potential for true and lasting happiness. Through...

Secret Drugs of Buddhism is the first book to explore the historical evidence for the use of entheogenic plants within the Buddhist tradition. Drawing on scriptural sources, botany, pharmacology, and religious iconography, this book calls attention to...

More than ever, people are in pursuit of greater fulfillment in their lives, seeking a deeper spiritual truth and strategies for liberation from suffering. Both Buddhism and psychedelics are subjects that one encounters in such spiritual pursuit. Edited...

Aura Glaser wrote this book to remedy a deficiency she discovered while engaged in psychological research-a nearly complete omission of the importance and cultivation of compassion. Other books exploring Buddhism and psychology have focused on what the...

Deepening global crises surround us. We are beset by climate change, fracking, tar sands extraction, GMOs, and mass extinctions of species, to say nothing of nuclear weapons proliferation and Fukushima, the worst nuclear disaster in history. Many of us...

Thousands of readers - from prisoners to priests - have embraced Jerry Braza's insights - adopting and integrating the mindfulness practices and habits this book presents. This new edition expands on the author's time-tested approach, introducing...

Named one of TIME magazine's 100 Greatest Men of the Century, Bruce Lee's impact and influence has only grown since his untimely death in 1973. Part of the seven-volume Bruce Lee Library, this installment of the famed martial artist's private notebooks...

Follow the brilliant and hilarious adventures of a mad Zen Buddhist monk who rose from humble beginnings to become one of China's greatest folk heroes! Ji Gong studied at the great Ling Yin monastery, an immense temple that still ranges up the steep...

Zen Masters of Japan is the second book in a series that traces Zen's profoundly historic journey as it spread eastward from China and Japan, toward the United States. Following Zen Masters of China, this book concentrates on Zen's significant passage...

Buddhist teacher and anthropologist Joan Halifax delves into "the fruitful darkness" — the shadow side of being, found in the root truths of Native religions, the fecundity of nature, and the stillness of meditation. In The Fruitful Darkness, a...

"Somebody comes into the Zen center with a lighted cigarette, walks up to the Buddha statue, blows smoke in its face, and drops ashes on its lap. You are standing there. What can you do?" This is a problem that Zen Master Seung Sahn is fond of posing to...

Words for the Heart is a captivating treasury of emotion terms drawn from some of India's earliest classical languages. Inspired by the traditional Indian genre of a 'treasury' - a wordbook or anthology of short texts or poems - this...

In Losing Ourselves, Jay Garfield, a leading expert on Buddhist philosophy, offers a brief and radically clear account of an idea that at first might seem frightening but that promises to liberate us and improve our lives, our relationships, and the...

Zen and Japanese Culture is a classic that has influenced generations of readers and played a major role in shaping conceptions of Zen's influence on Japanese traditional arts. In simple and poetic language, Daisetz Suzuki describes Zen and its...

From bestselling cartoonist C. C. Tsai, a delightfully illustrated collection of classic Zen Buddhist stories that enlighten as they entertainC. C. Tsai is one of Asia's most popular cartoonists, and his editions of the Chinese classics have sold more...

With more than 5,000 entries totaling over a million words, this is the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of Buddhism ever produced in English. It is also the first to cover terms from all of the canonical Buddhist languages and traditions:...

"Zen Flesh, Zen Bones," the best-selling collection of the most popular enlightenment stories, anecdotes, and koans of Zen literature, introducing a generation of Americans to Zen. Included here are four Zen and pre-Zen classics:101 Zen...

Not believing, but only experiencing, says Osho in this inspiring book, is a way of finding truth and meaning. While Nietzsche's declaration that "God is dead, therefore man is free" was an incredible step in understanding, he argues, it is in itself a...

Film, television and popular fiction have long exploited the image of the serene Buddhist monk who is master of the deadly craft of hand-to-hand combat. While these media overly romanticize the relationship between a philosophy of non-violence and the...