Buddhist books

[Meat Shake]

What are some good buddhist books?
Why?

[bodhitree]

"No Death No Fear" by Thich Naht Hahn

It completely changed me!

[Sho]

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (Sogyal Rinpoche)

You won't need anything else. :D

[Young Gotti]

I can name many, but not now.

ill post it later.

[Meat Shake]

ANY thicht naht hanh book is excellent.

[Azrael]

My all time favorite book would have to be 'The Unfettered Mind', by Zen (Rinzai Sect) monk Takuan Osho. From memory, it is dated early 1600's. It is written in three parts - one essay, and two of which are letters (in essay form) written to his friend, the legendary samurai, Yagyu Munenori (whose Heiho Kadensho is also an excellent piece of literature), head of the Yagyu Shinkage School of Swordsmanship.

Essentially, Takuan's philosophy was that every aspect of life could and should be approached with the same spirit used within the zen teachings/way. Takuan wrote these letters/essays in such a way as to blend the two. He takes martial concepts and uses them to explain zen development and philosophy. Considering himself a student, he himself saw the martial arts as a reflection of his own training. In fact and from memory, he was apparently quite skilled in the martial arts.

Although the work does not directly outline specific training, it is in fact all in there. I've read numerous books on Buddhism, some containing hundreds upon hundreds of concepts and training principles, yet I learnt more than I can possible express in the mere 100 odd pages that make up this book.

My favourite and most personally insightful part of the book is the following:

"Persumably, as a martial artist, I do not fight for gain or loss, am not concerned with strength or weakness, and neither advance a step nor retreat a step. The ememy does not see me. I do not see the enemy. Penetrating to a place where heaven and earth have not yet departed, where yin and yang have not yet arrived, I quickly and necessarily gain effect."

[ZhouJiaQuan]

Anything by D.T. Suzuki isalmost gaurenteed great.
("Zen is that which makes you ask the question" :D )

i am reading "Zen and comparative studies" for a class right now and its really good. a collection of different essays looking at different topics within Zen thinking. by Masao Abe(

Taking the path of zen, by robert aitken - very good intro to practices and ideas

for an overall history try huston smith - the worlds religions/relgions of man was the old title (more than just buddhism but has a good buddhism section)


Being Dharma, never finished reading this book due to time constraints, but what i did read was great by Ajahn Chan(theravaden monk)

there are some "books" for download at www.buddhanet.net try them out i havent read any yet(again time wont let me) but plan to when i get time.

peace

[chen zhen]

D. T. Suzuki is a must. You cant study chinese & japanese buddhism without it, being a westerner. also Roshi Philip Kapleaus books should be checked out.