The book is divided into two parts: the tradition’s history and its beliefs and practices.
Jones provides a comprehensive introduction to Pure Land Buddhism, the dominant tradition in East Asia, whose practitioners chant the name of Amitabha Buddha (the Buddha of Infinite Light) in hope of being reborn in his land of bliss and attaining enlightenment. Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice The book offers down-to-earth teachings on Buddhist philosophy and psychology as well as practical meditation tips, including a seven-point method for establishing a solid base to anchor you in your body. For Tsoknyi Rinpoche, therein lies the key to one of the tradition’s most cherished concepts, bodhicitta. In Tibetan Buddhism, the words mind and heart are used interchangeably. Open Heart, Open Mind: Awakening the Power of Essence Love (The Vipassana Fellowship provides a digital copy of an earlier edition of the book on their website.) He makes meditation seem like magic and then succeeds in convincing us that we’re all capable of wizardry. Walking readers step-by-step through the benefits of meditation and the practice of mindfulness, Bhante G’s instructions are no less inspiring than they are accessible. The sparkling short essays discuss topics from generosity, metta, and karma to working with anger and fear. Gil Fronsdal’s training in Zen and Theravada along with his PhD in Buddhist Studies have provided him with a thorough grasp of dharma, which he presents clearly and accurately for a modern audience. This slim volume is more than just an introduction it contains gems of insight that will continue to stimulate and deepen your practice as it unfolds. For those committed to the path of tantra, Creation and Completion’s practical guidance is indispensable. In this book, which also features a commentary from contemporary teacher Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Kongtrul explains the meditative states that are meant to occur beneath the ritualized and explicit actions of body, speech, and mind. To fill that gap, she translated 19th-century luminary Jamgon Kongtrul’s Creation and Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation.
Tibetan Buddhist translator Sarah Harding once noted that despite their best intentions, many Westerners who engage in Vajrayana Buddhist practices don’t understand the nuts and bolts of how these practices work. This is a dense volume, but its coherent presentation of Buddhist philosophy in all its variety makes diving in worth the effort.Ĭreation and Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditationīy Jamgon Kongtrul, translated by Sarah Harding While the diversity of Buddhist schools of thought makes it all but impossible to encapsulate the tradition in one book, Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings is as comprehensive an attempt as any. Chodron also relates the Buddhist teachings to modern-day issues, such as the ecological crisis, euthanasia, and social activism. What is the goal of the Buddhist path? What is karma? Tibetan Buddhist nun Thubten Chodron tackles the most commonly asked questions about Buddhism and provides clear, simple answers without oversimplifying. So she set out to find other young Buddhists and collected their stories. She realized that twenty-somethings had very different reasons than she did for practicing Buddhism. Sumi Loundon Kim’s interest in the practice of young American Buddhists was stirred while working in the kitchen of a Buddhist retreat center in New England.
Here is an updated list of the best books for those new to Buddhism, plus some suggested reading for the more seasoned practitioner:īlue Jean Buddha: Voices of Young Buddhists We created that list in 2011 (read the original here), and asked readers to suggest more. It occurred to us that we should compile all the Buddhist books for beginners and that such a list, composed solely of personal accounts of life-altering realizations, could be quite special. While reading through the discussion from people of many different backgrounds and traditions, one common theme became immediately apparent: Buddhist books. In 2011, Tricycle hosted a discussion titled “What Led You to Buddhism?” in which participants were asked to share the stories of how they came to learn more about Buddhism.