Suggested readings

Titles in boldface are especially recommended to beginning students. These are but a few of the rich literature on Zen, and we encourage reading from other traditions such as the Vippasana and Tibetan schools of meditation.

History of Buddhism & Buddhist doctrine

• What the Buddha Taught, Rahula
• Buddhist Thought in India, Conze
• Dharmapada, various translations
• Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, Takakusu
• The Life of the Buddha, Nanamoli

History of Zen

• The Golden Age of Zen, Wu
• Zen Buddhism: A History, Volumes 1 & 2, Dumoulin
• Zen Dust, Mura & Sasaki

Zen classics

• The Gateless Barrier, Aitken
• The Record of Transmitting the Light, Cook,
  or Transmission of Light, Cleary
• Book of Serenity, Cleary
• Blue Cliff Record, Cleary
• Zen Comments on the Mumonkan, Shibayama
• Platform Sutra, various translations
• Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra, with commentary, Conze

Contemporary commentaries on Zen

• Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki
• Branching Streams Flow in the Dark, Shunryu Suzuki
• Crooked Cucumber, The Life & Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki, Chadwick
• Opening the Hand of Thought, Uchiyama
• Being Peace, Thich Nhat Hanh
• The Tiger's Cave, Leggett
• Timeless Spring, Cleary
• The Infinite Mirror, Sheng-Yen
• Taking the Path of Zen, Aitken

Zen Master Dogen

• Moon in a Dewdrop, Tanahashi
• Enlightenment Unfolds, Tanahashi
• Record of Things Heard, Cleary
• The Way of Everyday Life, Maezumi
• How to Raise an Ox, Cook

Buddhism & women

• Buddhist Women on the Edge, Dresser
• Buddhism After Partiarchy: Feminist History, Analysis & Reconstruction, Gross
• Being Bodies: Buddhist Women on the Paradox of Embodiment, Moon & Friedman
• Meetings with Remarkable Women, Friedman
• The First Women Buddhists, Murcott

Engaged Buddhism

• Path of Compassion, Eppsteiner
• Seeds of Peace, Sivaraksa
• Engaged Buddhist Reader, Kotler