Recommended Reading for Those Taking the Precepts
These books are specifically recommended for people who are considering taking the precepts:
- Robert Aitken: The Mind of Clover
- Reb Anderson: Being Upright
- Bernie Glassman: Infinite Circle
- Daido Loori: The Heart of Being
- Diane Rizzetto: Waking Up to What You Do
Basic Books About Zen
Robert Aitken, Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teachings for Western Students, Pantheon
Robert Aitken, Taking the Path of Zen, North Point
Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen: Love and Work, Harper & Row
Roko Sherry Chayat, Subtle Sound: The Zen Teachings of Maurine Stuart, Shambhala
James Ishamel Ford, This Very Moment: A Brief Introduction to Buddhism and Zen for Unitarian Universalists, Skinner House
James Ford, If You’re Lucky, Your Heart Will Break, Wisdom
Bernie Glassman, Bearing Witness: A Zen Master’s Lessons in Making Peace, Bell Tower
Roshi Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen, Anchor
Dainin Katagiri, Returning to Silence: Zen Practice in Everyday Life, Shambhala
Taizan Maezumi and Bernie Glassman, On Zen Practice: Body, Breath, and Mind, Wisdom
Barry Magid, Ending the Pursuit of Happiness, Wisdom
David Rynick, This Truth Never Fails, Wisdom
Seung Sahn, Only Don’t Know: The Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn, Shambhala
Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Weatherhill
John Tarrant, The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul, and the Spiritual Life, Harper Collins
Kosho Uchiyama, Opening the Hand of Thought, Wisdom
Kosho Uchiyama and Ehei Dogen, From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment, Weatherhill
History of Zen
Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History (2 volumes), MacMillan
Andy Ferguson, Zen’s Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings, Wisdom
Peter Hershock, Chan Buddhism, University of Hawaii
Rick Fields, How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America, Shambhala
John R. McRae, Seeing Through Zen, University of California
Barbara O’Brien, The Circle of the Way, Shambhala
Koan Collections and Commentaries
Robert Aitken, The Gateless Barrier: The Wu-men Kuan (Mumonkan), North Point
Ross Bolleter, Dongshan’s Five Ranks, Wisdom
Florence Caplow and Susan Moon, The Hidden Lamp, Wisdom
Thomas and J.C. Cleary, The Blue Cliff Record, Shambhala
Thomas Cleary, Book of Serenity, Lindisfarne
Francis Dojun Cook, The Record of Transmitting the Light, Center
James Ford, Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons, Wisdom
James Ford and Melissa Blacker, The Book of Mu, Wisdom
Thomas Kirchner, Entangling Vines, Wisdom
Isshu Miura and Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Zen Koan, Harcourt, Brace
Nyogen Senzaki, The Iron Flute: 100 Zen Koans, Tuttle
John Tarrant, Bring Me the Rhinoceros, Shambhala
Gerry Shishin Wick, The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans, Wisdom
Sutras and Classical Zen Teachings
Edward Conze, Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra, Vintage
Francis Dojun Cook, How to Raise An Ox: Zen Practice as Taught in Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo, Wisdom
Peter Haskel, Bankei Zen: Translations from the Record of Bankei, Grove
Taigen Dan Leighton, Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi, Tuttle
Donald S. Lopez, Jr., The Lotus Sutra: A Biography, Princeton
Red Pine, The Heart Sutra, Counterpoint
Red Pine, The Diamond Sutra, Counterpoint
Red Pine, The Platform Sutra: The Zen Teaching of Huineng, Counterpoint
Red Pine, The Lankavatara Sutra, Counterpoint
Red Pine, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, North Point
Mu Soeng, The Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way We Perceive the World, Wisdom
Mu Soeng, Trust in Mind, Wisdom
Kazuaki Tanahashi, Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen, North Point
Kazuaki Tanahashi, Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo, Shambhala
Robert Thurman, The Holy Teaching of Vimilakirti, Penn State
Burton Watson, The Lotus Sutra, Columbia
Other Buddhist Teachings
Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening, Riverhead
Sylvia Boorstein, It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness, Harper
David Brazier, The Feeling Buddha, Palgrave
Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart, Shambhala
Norman Fischer, Training in Compassion, Shambhala
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English: Updated and Expanded, Wisdom
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Harmony
Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life, Bantam
David Loy, Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Environmental Crisis, Wisdom
Joanna Macy, World as Lover, World as Self, Parallax
Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation, Shambhala
Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindess: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, Shambhala
Contemporary Critiques of Buddhism and Zen
Stephen Batchelor, After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age, Yale
Eido Frances Carney, Zen Teachings in Challenging Times, CreateSpace
Alan Cole, Fathering Your Father: The Zen of Fabrication in Tang Buddhism, University of California
Bernard Faure, Chan Insights and Oversights: An Epistemological Critique of the Chan Tradition, Princeton
Rita Gross, A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism, SUNY
David Loy, Money, Sex, War, Karma, Wisdom
Christopher S. Queen, Engaged Buddhism in the West, Wisdom
Grace Schierson, Zen Women, Wisdom
Brian Victoria, Zen at War, Weatherhill
Anti-racist Literature
Dee Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Macmillan
Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Beacon Press
Rick Huntley, Rianna Moore, and Carol Pierce, Journeys of Race, Color, and Culture: From Racial Inequality to Equity and Inclusion, Newdynamics
Debby Irving, Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race, IVP Books
Ibram X. Kendi, How To Be An Antiracist, One World
Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, Bold Type Books
Ruth King, Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out, Sounds True
Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race, Seal Press
John A. Powell, Racing To Justice: Transforming Our Conceptions of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society, Indiana University Press
Howard J. Ross, Everyday Bias: Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives, Rowman & Littlefield
Sulak Sivaraksa, Conflict, Culture, Change: Engaged Buddhism in a Globalizing World, Wisdom
angel Kyodo Williams, Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace, Penguin
angel Kyodo Williams, Lama Rod Owens, Jasmine Syedullah, Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation, Penguin Random House
Larry Yang, Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community, Wisdom
