A Brief Selection of Readings
on Buddhism and Buddhist Meditation
Donald Rothberg (June 2005)
* indicates good introductory text.

Teachings of the Buddha

* Jack Kornfield (Ed.), Teachings of the Buddha
* The Dhammapada (many editions)
   Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (Ed., Trans.), The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha:
        A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya
   Maurice Walshe (Ed., Trans.) Thus Have I heard: The Long Discourses of the Buddha
* Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught
   Nyanaponika Thera, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

Later Buddhist Texts

   Bhikkhu Bodhi (Ed.), A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidharma
   Buddhaghosa, The Path of Purification
   The Diamond Sutra (many translations)
   Stephen Batchelor, Verses from the Center (essay, translation of the main work of Nagarjuna)
   Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life (several translations)

Overview and History of Buddhism

   Edward Conze, A Short History of Buddhism
* Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism
   Richard Robinson and Willard Johnson, The Buddhist Religion
   Sangharakshita, A Survey of Buddhism
   Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism

Ethics

   Robert Aitken, The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics
   H.H. Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New Millennium
* Thich Nhat Hanh, For a Future to be Possible: Commentaries on the Five Wonderful Precepts
   H. Sadhatissa, Buddhist Ethics

Insight Meditation

* Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom:
       The Path of Insight Meditation
* Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight: A Gradual Unfolding
* Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart
   Jack Kornfield, Living Buddhist Masters
   Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation
* Sylvia Boorstein, It's Easier Than You Think
   Christopher Titmuss, Light on Enlightenment
* Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness
   Jack Kornfield and Paul Breiter, A Still Forest Pool: The Insight Meditation of Achaan Chah
   Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, Heartwood of the Bodhi Tree: The Buddha's Teaching on Voidness
   Ajahn Sumedho, The Way It Is

Lovingkindness and Compassion Practice

   Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha
* Jack Kornfield, The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peach
* Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindness
   B. Alan Wallace, Boundless Heart: The Four Immeasureables [Tibetan perspectives]

Zen Tradition

   Kazuaki Tanahashi (Ed.), Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen
   Robert Aitken, The Practice of Perfectioin: The Paramitas from a Zen Buddhist Perspective
   Joko Beck, Everyday Zen
   Ryokan, One Robe, One Bowl
* Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Tibetan Tradition

   Stephen Batchelor (Ed.), The Jewel in the Lotus: A Guide to the Buddhist Traditions of Tibet
   Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand: A Concise Discourse
       on the Path to Enlightenment
   H.H. Dalai Lama, Kindness, Clarity, and Insight: A Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of
       Writings by and about the Dalai Lama
* Pema Chodron, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living (on
       the lojong—"mind training"—teachings and tonglen)
   Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Cutting through Spiritual Materialism; The Sacred Path of the
       Warrior; Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness (on the lojong teachings)
   Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, Natural Great Perfection (Dzogchen)
   Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Socially Engaged Buddhism

* Fred Eppsteiner (Ed.), The Path of Compassion: Writings on Socially Engaged Buddhism
* Bernie Glassman, Bearing Witness: A Zen Master's Lessons in Making Peace
* Ken Jones, The New Social Face of Buddhism: A Call to Action
   Chan Khong, Learning True Love: How I learned and Practiced Social Change in Vietnam
   David Loy, The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory
   Joanna Macy, World as Lover, World as Self
   Joanna Macy and Molly Brown, Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect
       Our Lives, Our World
   Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace: Love in Action: Writings on Nonviolent Social
       Change; Call Me by My True Names (poems)
   Christopher Queen (Ed.), Engaged Buddhism in the West
   Christopher Queen and Sallie King (Eds.), Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation
       Movements in Asia
   Gary Snyder, Practice of the Wild

Buddhism in the West

   Stephen Batchelor, The Awakening of the West: Buddhism without Beliefs; The Faith to Doubt
   Sandy Boucher, Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism
* Rick Fields, How the Swans Came to the Lake
   Rita Gross, Buddhism after Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reeconstruction of Buddhism
   Stephen Levine, Who Dies?
   Rodney Smith, Lessons from the Dying