Reddit mentions: The best buddhism books

>The point in my response was that I interpreted you to say that elimination of craving was not part of the path to reduce suffering, when it clearly is, as is evident if you read any introductory text on Buddhism, and I provided a quote from the Pali cannon to illustrate this.

>But now it seems to have morphed into a quibble over how to summarize the third noble truth.

If something has morphed its your argument and its because you morphed it. When I originally joined this thread this is the comment I responded to:

>I am asking about the second Noble truth. I am asking concretely, how one reduces/eliminates thirst in the context of meditation...

>It's as if I asked about how exactly to do step 4 of a recipe, to mix flour and butter together, and you responded with, follow the recipe. I'm asking specifically about one of the steps in the recipe.

This is you stating emphatically that you are talking about the Second Noble Truth.

I replied:

>The First Noble Truth is all life is suffering.

>The Second Noble Truth is suffering is caused by desire.

>The Third Noble Truth is there can be an end to suffering.

>The Fourth Noble Truth is that the end to suffering is in following the Eightfold Path.

>I know you've seen people here say that if you eliminate all desire you can end suffering, and maybe you've seen a website or even a book that says as much, and if you want to believe that too that's perfectly fine.

>>I am asking concretely, how one reduces/eliminates thirst in the context of meditation...

>You can't make a Turkey with salt. You can't extinguish desire with meditation. It takes more than that, but that can help.

To which you replied:

>The third Noble truth is more specific than you note

>>nirodha (cessation, ending) of this dukkha can be attained by eliminating all "craving, desire, and attachment";[7][8]

This is you mentioning the Third Noble Truth for the first time. I don't know why you brought up the Third Noble Truth. I think you're confused and I'm not here to "quibble", or to flex my ego, or to expose anyone so I simply wished you good luck.

You then replied with:

>Here is a short summary of the four noble truths from the Saṃyutta Nikāya of the Pali cannon, as quoted in The Foundations of Buddhism by Buddhist scholar Rupert Gethin.

>>This is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, ageing is suffering, sickness is suffering, dying is suffering, sorrow, grief, pain, unhappiness, and unease are suffering; being united with what is not liked is suffering, separation from what is liked is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in short, the five aggregates of grasping are suffering.

>>This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: the thirst for repeated existence which, associated with delight and greed, delights in this and that, namely the thirst for the objects of sense desire, the thirst for existence, and the thirst for non-existence.

>>This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: the complete fading away and cessation of this very thirst its abandoning, relinquishing, releasing, letting go.

>>This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: the noble eightfold path, namely right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

I don't know why you chose to share this translation, or how it advances your point. But I noticed that it is a workable translation so I replied:

>The second noble truth here doesn't look anything like what you described before. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

I thought that this would gently point out that you had switched from the Second Noble Truth to the Third Noble Truth, and I was trying to point out that even in the translation you quoted The Second Noble Truth is not how you described it here:

>I am asking about the second Noble truth. I am asking concretely, how one reduces/eliminates thirst in the context of meditation...

>It's as if I asked about how exactly to do step 4 of a recipe, to mix flour and butter together, and you responded with, follow the recipe. I'm asking specifically about one of the steps in the recipe.

1. One does not reduce or eliminate desire in the context of meditation
   
2. The Four Noble Truths are not like a recipe or step by step instructions
   
3. The Second Noble Truth only says that suffering is caused by desire. It does not describe or imply any action.
   
   But as a response you say:
   
   >That's because I was describing the third noble truth not the second. And the previous quote is in agreement with this quote from the Pali cannon. "Thirst" here is equivalent to craving.
   
   >>I know you've seen people here say that if you eliminate all desire you can end suffering, and maybe you've seen a website or even a book that says as much, and if you want to believe that too that's perfectly fine.
   
   >I am responding to this comment of yours, given that it is not something said only by "people" or found in a "website"/"book", but the pali cannon itself.
   
   I am not quibbling over how to summarize the Third Noble Truth. You are insisting that you have always been talking about the Third Noble Truth, and you have not. You also seem to be saying that your point is that The Third Noble Truth implies or describes some action, which it does not.
   
   So I reply:
   
   >The third noble truth says only that there can be an end to suffering.
   
   >You need to look at the discussion and really think about what you've said. I think you're confused. I know you are.
   
   Suggesting some of my suspicions and encouraging you to review the discussion which I've detailed above.
   
   And now this last reply from you:
   
   >The point in my response was that I interpreted you to say that elimination of craving was not part of the path to reduce suffering, when it clearly is, as is evident if you read any introductory text on Buddhism, and I provided a quote from the Pali cannon to illustrate this.
   
   >But now it seems to have morphed into a quibble over how to summarize the third noble truth.
   
   >>This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: the complete fading away and cessation of this very thirst its abandoning, relinquishing, releasing, letting go.
   
   >Sure you can summarize the third noble truth by saying that there is an end to suffering, but it is only gets at half point, as is evident above, that end can occur by removing the cause of suffering, namely thirst: "...the cessation of suffering:[is achieved by]...complete...cessation of...thirst [craving/strong desire]".
   
   >The noble truths as stated are just short descriptions of a general structure to the diagnosis of the state of things from a Buddhist perspective. The truths are expanded in great detail, in basically every element of Buddhism.
   
   Do you recall the story of the Buddha before he reached Enlightenment? He had become frustrated in his practice and decided that he would sit beneath a tree and do nothing but meditate until he reached Enlightenment. He was not able to reach Enlightenment in this way and you will not either. This is something I am absolutely sure of. Elimination of desire is part of the path, but it is not the whole or primary focus, and in the context of meditation it's not something to focus on in the way that you mean it. Nor is it suggested in any introductory text of Buddhism. You have misunderstood your reading.
   
   I am not quibbling over how to summarize the Third Noble Truth. It does not say what you think it says, or mean what you think it means. I am trying to have a discussion and address your questions.
   
   >Sure you can summarize the third noble truth by saying that there is an end to suffering, but it is only gets at half point, as is evident above, that end can occur by removing the cause of suffering, namely thirst: "...the cessation of suffering:[is achieved by]...complete...cessation of...thirst [craving/strong desire]".
   
   Bracketing in words you think should be there is not helping you understand. Let me be clear:
   
   The way to end suffering is by following the Eightfold Path. Meditation is a part of that path and being mindful of desire is a part of that path. Meditation on ending desire will not, in and of itself, bring you to Enlightenment.

Sorry brotha, but I can't allow you to do this. I'm not going to sit here and drop the usual cliche on how you can improve your life. I'm sure you heard it all before. I can only tell you that I know how you feel. My whole life I have been battling with mental health problems because of a fucked up childhood. I was only a kid when I first tried to end my life. I could never dream of a day where things would have gotten better for me.. but it did. There's no cookie-cutter solution I can give you that would immediately improve your life. We are all different and your particular outlook on life is a product of your own life experiences.

I know though my own experiences and interacting with others who were contemplating suicide that the main source of our angst is our own toxic mindset and loneliness. There is nothing wrong with you. Just to put it into context, if you were the same person you are now, but surrounded by many who adored and loved you, your outlook on life and yourself would be drastically different. In a way your validation of yourself and your life comes externally instead of from within. Because your life is void of many elements that you believe is needed to constitute a satisfying life you have come to the conclusion that it is not worth living.

If you believe race is a major contributor to your misery than remove race as a factor. Move to an Asian enclave where you are the majority and no one would give a second thought about your race.

If your dead end job is reinforcing this perception of yourself of being a person of little value than find something that will give you fulfillment. It doesn't have to be something that brings you a shitload of money, but just something that you can be proud of or you enjoy doing. Heck, if you're seriously thinking about ending your life, go balls to the wall and start your own business on the side! It can be anything that you have interest in. With outsourcing (cheap labor), cloud, and the wealth of information online, you can start many businesses without much capital. At my gf's workplace there's this doctor who didn't become one until he was 45. It's never too late to pursue whatever you want if you have the drive and willingness.

If past failed dating experiences have jaded your views on relationship than replace it with new experiences. The truth is, most of us have had bad experiences at one time or another. Most people in general make shitty partners. But don't let a few rotten apples prevent you from hopping on the horse and trying again. Download every dating apps you can think of, go on those dating meetups, or do whatever you have to do get your tip wet or find that true love if that's what you're looking for. There are just as many women out there who are single and nearing middle age/30s+ that are in desperate need of loving. For women it's even more difficult being single when you start getting older. Worst comes to worst, tap into the divorcee pool and get yourself a heartbroken hunny looking for a rebound.

If you have few close friends than it's time to make some more by opening yourself up and actively seeking some. A solid homie is not just going to pop up in your life. Good friends are hard to come by and takes work like any relationship. What are your interests or hobbies? It's easier to make friends when you have a common interest. There's a meetup, convention, local chapter, etc. for everything you can possibly conceive of. If being Asian is a big part of your identity and life, go join an Asian org or asian club sports team at your local community center. There's leagues for every age range, so you can find others similar to yourself. Once you graduate college, it's difficult for most to make new meaningful friendship. You're going to have to put in the effort. Finding that bromance is no different than find a great woman.

Ultimately, you don't have to be different to belong. You just have to find your place. For some it comes easy and natural, for others we have to work for it. The moment you adopt a defeatist attitude is the day you pretty much accepted that life is unfair and hard but it's not within your control to dictate. We both know that's not true. Yes, your cards may be stacked against you. Yes, being Asian is like playing hardcore mode in America, but it's not impossible. All you have to do is get more skilled at playing the game of life.

Ask yourself what you really want out of life. Make a list of short term/long term goals, things you want do, see, accomplish however big or small. Having a direction in life and something to work towards is very important because it gives our lives meaning.

And all it really takes is one person to really change our lives around. Whether it is yourself after finding that self-empowerment or through another, don't lose hope until the very end. We become discontent with our lives when our lives become stagnant. Progress is important. Keep working on yourself, read and watch a shitload of self-help books and videos. Start caring less about what other people think. Put yourself out there. Open yourself up to the world. Take risks. And after all this if you still feel the same than at least you have the satisfaction knowing that you didn't leave one rock left unturned and you lived your life to the fullest.

I recommend this book to you. It can help you on adopting a new outlook on life and replacing it with your current toxic views: https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Buddhas-Teaching-Transforming-Liberation/dp/0767903692/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482592780&sr=8-3&keywords=buddhism

You deserve to be happy. You have to let yourself. Happiness is a state of mind. It truly is. Buddhist monks in Bhutan are considered the happiest in the world, yet they have none of the things you speak of. It's like if you took an exam for class that was hard af, and you just found out you aced it. Immediately, your whole day starts looking brighter and everything starts going your way. The exam itself did not give you the feeling of happiness or your newfound positive outlook on life, it's just a meaningless piece of paper.. you did. You created that sensation, that release of hormones, by perceiving things in a more positive lens. You have to become aware that your perception and reality is not actually reality. It is a sum of your own bias life experiences and exposures. Keep fighting for the life you want. We're all rooting for you brotha!

This is a fair question. A condition to practicing toward awakening is a desire to awaken, which comes from good teachings. For pragmatic dharma resources, I recommend you check out the sidebar links, particularly Daniel Ingram's MCTB and Ron Crouch's website (and, specifically, his post "Why Meditate?". Those inspired me to practice.

There are lots of other interesting books on the subject too, including Shinzen Young's recent book The Science of Enlightenment, Sam Harris's Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, and Adyashanti's The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment. Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now also is quite popular.

And, really, depending on your bent, you can't get any better than the original Buddhist teachings. On the subjects of Enlightenment, the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra are two of my personal favorites. (These are as translated by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.)

So, I'd recommend reading and seeing if you feel inspired by the teachings. For me, there was something about the very idea of "Enlightenment" that stirred a desire deep within my heart. It was palpable, and it started at an early age, sometime in middle school or high school when I had to do a project on religions and happened to be assigned Buddhism. Encyclopedia-like resources don't necessarily point you in the direction of Enlightenment, but the explanation of "Nirvana" had some sort of primal appeal to me.

Once pragmatic dharma teachers like Daniel Ingram and Ron Crouch started claiming that some form of "awakening" was actually possible for Average Joe Layperson (like me), I was intrigued, and I decided to give the experiment a shot. Of course I did.

What changes? It depends on how you define "stream entry" and who you ask. There are lots of different models for Enlightenment (as discussed in Daniel's MCTB). Using the pragmatic dharma definition, stream entry is defined as the first time a practitioner completes a fully cycle of insight (typically measured against the Progress of Insight maps) and experiences a "cessation" event. What changes varies from practitioner to practitioner, but on the Fetters Model, which I think is as good as any, three important "fetters" are dropped: (a) belief in self, (b) doubt about the Path, and (c) attachment to rites and rituals.

Concretely, based on my experience, the fetters model (filtered, of course, through my still sometimes cloudy conceptual lens) made a lot of sense. Regarding "self view," the "cessation" experience has a way of kicking you out of the linear way of looking at your life, as an existent self living chronologically in time. While often this insight fades for a while, it is pretty clear at the point of initial awakening, and I speculate that a part of your mind never forgets that. This insight deepens with further practice. Your perspective on your experience shifts from being caught typically in the horizontal dimension of time to instead tuning into the vertical dimension of "just this," in which time, like all things, including the self, is seen as just a concept, a particular way of looking at this immediate, obvious, and manifest reality. Seeing "just this," and recognizing that there is no permanent self that is just this or that provides tremendous relief. Most of our lives are spent trying to protect the self, improve it, make it happy. Seeing through this delusion, even for a moment, has a way of radically transforming one's perspective on experience.

Second, after you complete a cycle of insight, you don't really doubt "just this." There's a lot of work necessary to integrate and deepen that insight. But it feels like you have directly touched reality, the Tao, Nirvana, God, or whatever. Interestingly, in my experience, that which seems to remains when all else fades is all that you ever wanted to begin with. So, the value of this Path becomes obvious. Faith is no longer necessary. A deep part of your mind understands that "this is it."

Finally, the attachment to rites and rituals goes away because you realize that it's "just this." You might have done a lot of work to realize that, but once you do, it's all pretty simple. That realization can't be taken away from you. It's done. It's always available. As a practical matter, that realization tends to fade, come and go, which teaches us an interesting thing about "awakening experiences," a lesson we will have to learn well as we continue to deepen our practice. But generally speaking, after "stream entry," one realizes that awakening is not somehow external to one's present situation, indeed the very idea of internal and external is just another concept which has no concrete, permanent status (is ultimately empty). Thus, the need for rites and rituals is seen through.

All that said, these realizations may not be perfectly obvious at the conceptual level after stream entry. As a practical matter, people generally feel lighter, relieved, happier, at least for a time. But those states are just states, which are not permanent. Enlightenment, Awakening, Liberation, Nirvana, or whatever you want to call it is something that goes beyond particular states or this or that. Once you begin to open up to that dimension of being, you experience a much more profound and lasting sense of peace with just this existence, as it is. It's a nice spot to be in. :)

Hope that helps.

An old guy who lived in China has a great answer for this question:

>Meet the ancestral teachers, be familiar with their instruction

Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage - translation by Daniel Leighton

Basically, learn from other people. The Zen teachings are based on the writings of masters going back to the 5th century. However, these writings aren't particularly accessible. Luckily, we are currently living through an explosion of Buddhism in the west and there are many teachers that explain these ancient concepts in a manner that westerners can understand easily.

Here are some recommendations for entry level, western-targeted Zen books:

>Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Shunryu Suzuki

Suzuki Roshi was one of the earliest Zen masters to immigrate to the United States back in the 1960's. His teachings are very simple and fundamental. He gets at the very heart of Zen in a concise, plain manner. This book is a collection of transcribed Dharma talks he gave in California during the 60's. It is likely the most well known book on Zen in the west. It is short and clearly written, making it one of the best places to start learning about Zen.

> The Miracle of Mindfulness - Tich Nhat Hanh

Tich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Zen monk. He has been a huge contributor to the spread of Zen in the west. He has established practice centers in France, New York, California, Mississippi, and Germany. This book is a practical guide to bringing Zen practice into your life. He offers a lot of analogies that make you take a step back and think about the way you live your life. Another short and accessible book.

> Inside the Grass Hut - Ben Connelly

Ben was my guitar teacher for many years before he introduced me to Zen. He is a Zen priest in the lineage of Dainin Katagiri, the founding abbot of the Minnesota Zen Mediation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This book is a study of the poem I have linked and quoted above, The Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage by the 8th century Zen master Shitou. It was extremely useful book for me when I was at my darkest point. Ben distills Shitou's somewhat arcane parables into a simple, practical set of recommendations for living a life that will free you of suffering. Ben offers a lot of insight into incorporating Zen practice into a modern lifestyle. Like the other two, it also short and easy to read. This is a great introduction to what a lot of historic Zen writing is like. I think it is a particularly useful book for people struggling with addiction. Ben had some trouble with alcohol himself and I believe he is 10+ years sober.

Those are some great places to start, but you can read all the books you want about Zen and not get the picture if you don't meditate. Meditation is the foundation of Zen and all of Buddhist practice. The great thing about meditation is that you can do it on your own just about anywhere. The Miracle of Mindfulness gives a good description of how to meditate. There are also plenty of free resources available online. There are many ways to meditate and it is best to find one that works for you.

A daily mediation habit is not an easy thing to develop. Similar to abstinence, it takes discipline and commitment. I still struggle with it myself. It is, however, the best way to fully realize the benefits of Zen. Some things that might help with this is to find a Sangha to practice with or download an app like Headspace. Having a community to practice with has been the biggest help in getting me on the zafu. Doing something with other people makes it easier to do, a little bit like how this subreddit works. Headspace is really popular, although I have not used it myself. It can be used to track mediation sessions and work towards mediation goals. The app that I have found useful is MindBell, but really it's just a glorified timer. The last thing I would recommend are the guided meditations by Jon Kabat Zinn. JKZ is a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and has conducted many clinical studies on the benefits of mindfulness in medicine and healthcare. He is a long time practitioner of Zen and has written several books about his work. I haven't read much of his work, but I have utilized his guided meditations extensively. I particularly like this body scan one. Even when I was at my most depressed and couldn't find the strength to get out of bed, I was able to get myself to queue this video up and follow along. There are a lot of other guided meditations floating around the web. I also like this one by Sam Harris that's only 9 minutes.

Zen is not necessarily an easy thing to get involved in. It requires a commitment of time and it is not particularly fun or pleasurable. However, any level of Zen practice will produce concrete rewards. If you have any question, I am always available for answers.

Welp, if you go on /r/Buddhism there are tons of resources and plenty of helpful folks there who don't judge and are really just there to help you with receiving teachings (either life advice, centers nearby, clarity of teachings).
>I've had a lot of past trauma, and I'm afraid of what my mind has in store for me if I let it go for just a second. :/

With the right practice these things will heal naturally. I mean if it's not serious and you believe you can overcome it yourself, meditation (when it's taught to you the right way) can help you as much as therapy, because they are the same thing in practice.

I'm not suggesting that you should try to cure, idk, schizophrenia with meditation, but it does alleviate a lot more than you expect.
>The closest Meditation Center is 3 hours away (and has one star fwiw). I have been to one I really liked, that it was still an hour and a half away and very expensive. There are meditation groups in my area, could you give me some keywords to look for?

Depending on the tradition there are many archives on the internet. Most of them are listed on /r/Buddhism and you can just leave a post there if you need advice from someone who lives in the area. I live in Europe, so I'm afraid I can't help.

Typically these are called meditation centers, dharmacenters or Buddhist centers (it really depends on the fantasy of those who run it); I'd actually encourage to also try to maybe just go on a retreat. On retreats you basically take vows that will limit your mundane interactions with the world and you'll spend about a week (10 days are the shortest AFAIK) just meditating and reading. That will give you the basics in the most auspicious way.
>Also, I've been researching Buddhism lately, and I'm quite interested. If you have any books or podcasts to recommend to a newbie, I would really appreciate it. :)

I think, What the Buddha Taught is a great starter book. You can probably get this free somewhere if you look hard enough. After reading the book any question you have can probably be only answer from the standpoint of one tradition, because many things are explained differently and the more popular traditions like Tibetan or Chinese or Japanese Buddhism (Mahayana and Vajrayana schools) also tend to introduce just a lot more concepts that IME has confused lots of people out there. I myself stick to the "orthodox" school, Theravada. It's often looked down upon because "it's bone dry" some might say, but IMO, you don't need more. It explains the basics and foundations clearly and gives you the freedom to find your own way in meditation.

With that being said, I can mostly just speak for my tradition. There are various great teachers out there, like Ajahn Brahm (he is very pleasant, humorous, engaging and carefree about his teachings), Bhikkhu Bodhi (technical, well-spoken, a bit rigid in his ways but he writes eloquent essays about the doctrines), Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu (mostly talks about meditation and its benefits when done regularly; lots of online guided meditations)

Make sure to ask on the sub for some centers and options in the area.

Also, don't be afraid of meditation. You'll realize eventually, that that is the only solid thing you have in this life and that the Buddha's "teachings" are essentially just insights gained from meditation and not some superficial doctrine.

Good luck and I sincerely hope you find happiness.

Feeling guilty is certainly not going to help your meditation!

I assume you're fairly young. You're going to become independent sooner or later, but this might not be the best time to break away from your parents' religion in any radical way.

Since you're in this subreddit, I assume you've come in contact with Buddhist teachings. That's great! But I would say that unless you become very deeply involved with Buddhism, it is not very important whether or not you have belief in God.

For many people, God works within meditation. You might not be aware that there is a huge tradition of Christian meditation — monks and nuns have been doing it for ages. There are even ordained Zen Buddhist priests who are also Catholic priests.

I've seen the book Living Buddha, Living Christ recommended here many times. It's written by a Vietnamese Zen master named Thich Nhat Hanh who is one of the most outstanding Buddhist masters of our time — he was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is also a huge wave of meditation as a completely secular activity, promoted for its many health benefits: stress reduction, deep relaxation, psychological well-being, and who knows what else.

You definitely should not have to feel guilty for wanting to meditate. It's a highly beneficial practice and a wonderful way to deepen and nourish your spiritual inclinations.

If it's at all agreeable to you — I'm not sure how you feel about Christianity — you might want to talk to your priest or somebody from your church about meditation. That might help you feel like meditation is an alright part of your life instead of something you have to hide.

You don't have to make meditation into a big thing. I meditate a lot and am very deeply interested in it — I talk about it sometimes with my closest friends, and my parents know I do it, but I don't go around announcing that I am a Buddhist, or wear funny clothes, or anything like that. It's just a healthy great thing that I love to do every morning and night.

Just curious, how'd you come in contact with meditation and Buddhism?

The aspects of Buddhism that worked the most for me were about mindfulness and meditation. I am not a Buddhist, but do enjoy the philosophical aspects.

Mindfulness is simply about living in the moment and appreciating every moment. Do not worry or think too much on the past or the future. For example, if you're eating an apple. Concentrate on the apple. Its taste, texture, the crunch. Do not eat the apple and worry over the details at work or a relationship you're in. Simply, concentrate on the apple.

This is a simple approach to life with huge rewards. Life becomes more satisfying, the more you let go of worrying about the future or the past. All aspects of life become more enjoyable, assuming they are moments meant to be enjoyed. You become more present in whatever you're doing. At work, you pay better attention and have increased focus. At play, you will have more fun. It is easier to become content with life and stop worrying about what you do not have or have not achieved.

If interested, there are books you can read which will help develop mindfulness.

Buddha in Blue Jeans: An extremenly short simple Zen guide to sitting quietly and being Buddha by Tai Sheridan

This is the Kindle version and free of charge. Tai Sheridan advocates for people spending 5-10 minutes just pondering and relaxing / reflecting. The book is full of little sayings for us to reflect on to create more awareness of our own lives and appreciation of life.

Tai Sheridan is a Zen priest and poet. He has a series of books titled Budda In Blue Jeans which are about an appreciation of life. You do not need to be Buddhist to read or appreciate these books. I have looked at some and find them to be books that encourage introspection and self-reflection.

Another book that addresses mindfulness is:

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

The Power of Now can be somewhat inaccessible to people. I find the book very rewarding to read. However, the book becomes more understandable if you have experience with meditation or intend to begin meditating. Eckhart talks about quieting our minds and learning how to control the mental chatter which is constantly running through our minds. The more we learn how to control our minds (meditation helps here), the more mindful we can become, and live in the moment.

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

Hmm, good question. I can't claim to have read a lot of Thay's work (because as you said, there's quite a bit), but my hunch based on what I have read is that where you should start depends on your current knowledge of Buddhism.

Thay seems to write two types of books: a "general audience" type book that draws on Buddhism, but only to the extent that the teachings can be practiced by anyone regardless of their background. The Miracle of Mindfulness might be an example of this, or his "one-word-title books" as I call them: Power, Savor, Fear, etc.

The other type of book he writes seems to be intended for readers who either are already Buddhist or interested in going more deeply into Buddhist teachings. To know where to start with these works, a lot depends on how familiar you already are with the Buddha's teachings. I can tell you the order I read them, which seemed to work quite well:

Started with: The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: This is Thay's overview of the core teachings of Buddhism. I see this book like this: if Buddhism was a country, this would be a map of it. It shows you all the major points of interest, and the roads connecting all of them together. After reading this, you'll have a good grasp of what the different pieces of Buddhism are and how they work together to help you toward awakening/enlightenment.

But if you've never read anything about Buddhism at all before, I'm personally not sure if this is a good first book as it's not exactly a light read. Don't get me wrong: it's written with Thay's usual elegance and clarity, but it's packed with a lot of stuff (in the best sense). I was already somewhat familiar with the basics of Buddhism, so for me it was easy to build on that; but for someone brand new, I think the "general audience" books would still be a better start.

After that first book: In the first book itself, Thay recommends three sutras every serious practitioner should study regularly: the Bhaddekaratta Sutra, the Anapatasati Sutra, and the Satipatthana Sutra. Thankfully, Thay has translated and written commentaries on all three sutras and my links go to his books on these sutras.

Not much more I can share given that I'm about halfway through Thay's book on the Anapanasati Sutra. What I can say is that I can see why he says these are sutras to be studied throughout your life. They have some really powerful teachings that I have no doubt will take me years to grasp and practice properly.

Hope that helps. I'm sure others have read far more of Thay's work than I have, and can either correct my attempt here or give better recommendations.

I don't think it's really clear what you want. You could make a book describing the similarities between anything and Buddhism. My impression is that your project is making this particular comparison because it's interested in tacitly bolstering a certain metaphysics that you think both Buddhism and science point to, and that it's resting on the assumption that science is giving us access to reality as it is. For example in the thread you mention

> I'd consider scientific methodologies for empirical observation guided by reason to be a Western parallel to Buddhist principles for seeing through to the genuine non-conceptual, non-illusory reality.

That's a very common view in scientific materialist circles, for example, but it isn't actually established what the relationship between science and truth is. That seems to be overlooked by most scientific materialists (though not by philosophers of science). Metaphysical assumptions are being made, but in this materialist worldview they're often not addressed, supported, or even recognized. A lot of the times it's just asserted that a metaphysical assumption is truth in a way that glosses over the fact that it's a metaphysical assumption. So in other words, science is sort of being held up as a firm foundation of a worldview, but what science is itself is overlooked. Philosophy of science isn't addressed. I think I see that omission in that quote. If science is helping us see non-illusory reality then the metaphysical assumption is made that science is a means of finding truth, not just a means of finding better models to make predictions.

Also with that quote, I don't know how science could be non-conceptual. Non-conceptual, at least in the Buddhist sense, means direct experience and not making models. So to my mind metaphysical philosophies (like scientific materialism) that interpret scientific models as reality itself are actually trying to build conceptions of reality.

Of course Buddhism contains some conceptions of reality too. Just to mention some differences in these conceptions: Scientific materialism assumes that there is substance at the foundation of reality or the root of perception. The closest you get to that idea in Buddhism AFAIK is in the Abhidharma, where one attempt was made to systematize what was inferred to be Buddha's idea of reality, and where the result was the notion of Dharmas, which you could say are atoms of experience. They aren't atoms in the scientific sense, but in the sense that they are essential aspects of experience that can't be broken down into sub-aspects. So for example there's a dharma earth which is a component of all perceptions that include aspects of solidity. That's all pretty much Theravadan thought. If you get into Zen there's the Yogacarin idea that everything is projections of mind, and that even dharmas are empty of substance or self-existence. Then there's Madhyamaka thought which breaks everything including mind down to no substance or essence.

Anyway Buddhism generally describes experience and sometimes describes certain conceptions of reality, but all so that we can move in the direction of seeing through conceptions. Science lets us make conceptual models that help us make predictions, and you might say it's independent of Buddhism, but scientific materialism is different from science. It's a metaphysical philosophy or worldview that revolves around bolstering a certain conception of reality as reality itself, so you might say it's in conflict with the goal of Buddhism in that respect.

So I think what would serve you best is to gain some clarity by taking some time examining some of the issue's underlying philosophy first, and Nagel's book is one that deals specifically with some issues that you seem to be overlooking in this comparison, if my impression is right. And the fact that you don't agree with the descriptions of a prominent philosopher's ideas is the best reason to read it and see why he's arguing for them. :) Also something that might be helpful is to look at some of the philosophy in Buddhism. Buddhism as Philosophy is a really nice introductory book covering a a range of what you'll find.

> All of these weird things started at the same time, so I’m wondering if any of it can be accounted for by the awakening process.

Always see a doctor if you're concerned, but yes. Everything you're saying sounds very familiar to my own experience.

My own theory about it is that egoic mind takes up a lot of energy (or attention), so when that energy is freed up, it goes elsewhere. The body becomes more sensitive and open.

> I’m not tired when I wake up, but it’s still somehow unsatisfying.

I know exactly what you mean here, and can empathize. For me, a lot of that unsatisfactoriness was my mind not accepting the 'weirdness' of the situation. "I'm only getting 3 hours of sleep per night! This can't be healthy!" Etc.

Physically I felt fine, and the doctor confirmed I was very healthy. Eventually (after hearing Adyashanti talk about something similar) I quit mentally arguing with the reality of the situation, and accepted that even though things were a bit weird, they were find. Mind is used to our bodies being a certain way, and when that changes it takes a bit for mind to get onboard, in other words.

I can only speak to my own experience, but for me at one point it all just settled. I was getting ~3 hours of a sleep per night (and like you beautiful phrased, it felt more like a 'trance of being-ness'), weird physical sensations (including profuse sweating at night) and a whole lot of other stuff, then one day there was another 'shift' (not dissimilar to the awakening itself), and it was like a switch was turned off and a bunch of the 'weird' stuff disappeared (though others showed up, heh).

The yoga and healthiness are your friends. If your diet is really light, it may be helpful to introduce heavier, 'grounding' foods like beets, sweet potatoes, etc, but listen to your body here. Bodies are mysteriously wise, and know what they need - it's more a question of how much we can get out of the way.

All of that to say: you're not alone and what you're describing could certainly be related to the awakening.

If you haven't already, I'd strongly recommend reading Adyashanti's book The End of Your World. There's a lot of helpful info inside.

I was born into a Buddhist (immediate) family. So, I was always supported in my practice. However, I have extended family who are very Fundamentalist, Conservative Christian. If they were my immediate family, my experience would've been much different. As well, I have many friends who "came out" as Buddhist to their family and had pretty terrible experiences, at first (both as young people living in their families' homes and adults no longer dependent on their parents).
Your parents do not need to know right now about your spiritual pursuits. If they ask you flat out, I'm not a fan of lying. But, there are also ways of wording things to make them less 'painful' for others. Such as, "I'm looking into other paths, just to see what's out there." As opposed to "Mom, Dad, I'm a Buddhist and that's what I want and none of your business!"
I don't think you can always gauge how people will react. I've heard of instances where people thought their parents were going to freak out and instead they were completely supportive, saying that they had done some spiritual searching when they were younger, as well. Then, I've had friends who thought their parents were going to be fine, and instead their parents completely flipped out, destroying Buddhist items (malas, books, etc). I've had extended family members who have disowned me due to my religious and political beliefs, even though I've been nothing but supportive of them. You never know how difficult a lack of control is to another person.
Which is why I suggest waiting until you're more independent (in college, etc) to begin a conversation. However, it's your choice. Just be prepared for any and every possible outcome.
Fortunately, Buddhism seems to do well for you. It seems like you're becoming the person you want to be--more compassionate, empathetic, etc. So, when the conversation does happen, you'll be able to discuss this aspect of it. How you feel it's helped you become a "better" person.
I agree that finding a community of believers would be helpful for your own personal pursuits. With technology these days, that could even be online! Check around your town. There are Buddhists everywhere. Sometimes you just have to look a little harder to find them. Try a yoga class or coffee shops around a university or college (I know, super stereotypical!).
There are tons of great books out there that bridge the gap between Buddhism and Christianity. For instance, Thich Nhat Hanh's 'Living Buddha, Living Christ'. I have friends who are Christian pastors and teach meditation to their congregation. Two churches in my city (and I live in the midwest) have 'Labyrinths' for walking meditation on their premises. But, I understand that that's definitely not the mainstream or Conservative Christian perspective.
Good luck. Remember that you have plenty of time! Feel free to PM me with any questions or if you want to chat further. We're all on this crazy journey together!

I would like eventually to be able to handle the non-secular Buddhism, part of the mess I got myself into was convincing myself there is no god. I like that Buddha didn't take a stance on it.

No. I saw your post; I saw your post history; I'm having a pretty good time with my understanding of Zen and Zen practice, but I'm only a month or so in. I was hoping for someone who appears to me to be critical of Zen, you could offer an alternative based on your understanding. I know I could disembowel a Buddhism tradition to create my own, but I felt ... you would be a good person to ask.

I've been to the local zendo, and the lay practitioner told my wife that the sutras they chant "they don't believe in the words." I mean, if you don't believe in the words, why bother saying them?

It seems hard to meet with the teacher, and ... I don't understand why you would want to. My understanding of Zen is everything comes from zazen, which seems to me to be the same kind of enlightenment the Buddha received. If that's true, what are the teachers for? If the teacher is important, how often should you talk to them to help your practice? The zendo near me, it looks like you need to spend 3 months of practice before formally meeting with the teacher. Is that reasonable?

Zen is very mapless. Meditate and you will arrive eventually. Do this one thing with a singular focus. Trust it.


Contrast that to .... Daniel Ingram (yes, I understand most everyone fucking hates this guy), ... who literally has a map of the terrain.

I have no interest in group study, other then maybe a circle of friends, of which, I'm the focal point.

I've never in my life learned well from other people talking to me, I'm more of a read the book, test it out, kind of person. I'm reading this currently

I like doing zazen, I'm starting to understand why it would be advantageous to focus single minded on breath and posture, asymmetry is nice, not being worried about perfection is nice, and being continuously in the now is nice.

Do you think I can get the above with Zen?

I've been reading Thich Nhat Hanh's Peaceful Action, Open Heart, which is wonderful, concurrently with A Guide to the Threefold Lotus Sutra, by Nikkyo Niwano, that gives a concise overview of each chapter. It also helps to have an introduction, in the form of a talk or short articles. There's a short chapter in Cultivating the Mind of Love on this Sutra.

I was at a retreat with TNH in the 1990's where he spoke about the Avatamsaka and Lotus Sutras, that's since been issued by Sounds True as The Ultimate Dimension.

Most of the talks were on the foundational practices for entering into the kinds of experiences described in these Sutras, and I found that his framing them in this way actually made them accessible. Remarkable!

These are good places to start.

As Thay said in his commentary, these are not so much works to be studied with the rational part of ourselves as they are to be received as inspired poetry, lived with and enjoyed. Then meaning of these sutras and the truth they speak of can reveal themselves to us gradually.

He says, in the beginning of The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching:

“When we hear a Dharma talk or study a sutra, our only job is to remain open. Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say that it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing. If we read or listen with an open mind and an open heart, the rain of the Dharma will penetrate the soil of our consciousness.

“The gentle spring rain permeates the soil of my soul.
A seed has lain deeply in the earth for many years just smiles.

“When reading or listening, don’t work too hard. Be like the earth. When the rain comes, the earth only has to open herself up to the rain. Allow the rain of the Dharma to come in and penetrate the seeds that are buried deep in your consciousness.

“A teacher cannot give you the truth. The truth is already in you. You only need to open yourself - body, mind, and heart - so that his or her teachings will penetrate your own seeds of understanding and enlightenment. If you let the words enter you, the soil and the seeds will do the rest of the work.”

Best wishes to you in your practice.

This is the last place you'll find any sort of helpful information on zen. Ewk and a few other ideologs have pretty much hijacked the forum. /r/zendo is good, but its not nearly as active. You're not wrong for assuming zen can be peaceful and elegant, its what you want it to be. A lot of what you see here is westerners confusing zen with nihilism. If I were to mention the Two Truths Doctrine here, many wouldn't really know what I was talking about. Things like this getting over looked is why you seen so much arguing here. Its mostly due to lack of understanding of buddhist doctrine by westerners that are new to the religion.

With that said, Suzuki Roshi's Zen Mind Beginner's Mind was a great starting point for myself. If you want tot just download it for free, Heres a link to the pdf. Also this website gives rough details into soto zen practice and forms. http://global.sotozen-net.or.jp
Last book, this isn't zen, but Zen is considered Mahayana Buddhism and shares many of the same teaching as Tibetan Buddhsim. The Dalai Lama give a wonder discourse of some of the core beliefs of Mahayana Buddhism. Essential Teachings Dalai Lama

I started around when I was your age, and that was along time ago :) Hope you find what you are looking for. Good luck!

disclaimer: ewk please don't reply to my comment. thank you.

Describe the Four Noble Truths? I sometimes like looking at Wikipedia's simple english version of pages to get good, short overviews of things. I don't think that description of the first step of the Eightfold Path is very good though. The normal english article is better for that one, but other than that it's a good summery.

Many Zen teachers express things differently. They might not go into a lot of detail or focus on lists and texts as much. There are also some differences. For example under Right Action, some Japanese Zen lineages allow monks to marry and have families. In general though all that page will still apply to Zen.

Zen is pretty hard to learn on your own. Koans, which are things you might call spiritual questions, make up a lot of the practice in a lot of Zen, and to practice them you pretty much need to be working with a teacher. I don't know of any good resources that I'd recommend for learning to practice Zen on your own.

If you'd like a good book to learn about Zen from an scholarly point of view this is a good one. It's only going to teach you about Zen, like things you'd learn about the subject if you took a college class. It won't teach you how to practice Zen. If you'd like a book that isn't from an academic point of view this is a nice one, but still, it's not really going to teach you how to practice Zen.

In a sense, enlightenment is not in your hands at all. In another, equally true sense, you really can beckon the solution.

The best advice I have found for people trying to beckon the solution is to work in cycles. You need to know spiritual truths - that desire breeds anger, that life without attachment to worldly things is better than life bound to the ups and downs of the world - in every cell of your body. You need to know them with your heart, with your stomach, with your intellect, with your emotions. This means, read spiritual works and meditate like it was the last thing on earth you could do. But then go out and live them, get your hands dirty on life, let those ideas really digest, let them sink in deeply. Figure things out through experience, through seeing things as they really are. Then go back and meditate more, read more, see what new truths are uncovered through this cyclical learning process.

Clearing your mind of these false notions of salvation/happiness creates an incredible amount of space. In this space of non-grasping, of not-doing, clarity is born. Clarity is the means and the end of the spiritual path. You see life as it really is. With true clarity, there is no hope or fear at all. Clarity turns into transcendent knowledge; knowledge without words, without the limits of language, without reason. Silent knowledge composed of pure certainties. One day you will feel a click.


If you want to study some beautiful, simple, universal (as in, it isn't dogma) eastern philosophy, check out the Bhagavad Gita. It is as close to perfection of the path to self-knowledge as I have found.

We see Arjuna on the battlefield, this impressive warrior, bent, burdened, eyes glistening, pleading for the meaning of life.


Krishna, totally calm, responds in effect, "Oh, you really want to know?"


http://www.amazon.com/The-Bhagavad-Gita-Walkthrough-Westerners/dp/1608680142



Another good book at the beginning/middle of the path is The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle. He frames the awake state in a very persuasive, intuitive manner: as an alternative to the mind's insistence of living in the past or the future. It shows you the power of clarity, of living fully in the present moment.

If you are far on the path already, then I suggest these two books to help fine-tune your search:

http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Your-World-Enlightenment/dp/1591797799

http://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Spiritual-Materialism-Shambhala-Classics/dp/1570629579/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412001113&sr=1-1&keywords=cutting+through+spiritual+materialism+by+chogyam+trungpa

Good luck/shoot me a PM if you have questions

ps: tripping can be a tool, but it is limited. any realizations you have under the influence of psychedelics, you will have to re-realize while sober. sometimes this is incredibly easy, but sometimes not so much. if you depend too much on them, the realizations while on drugs will never be there when you really need them. think of psychedelics as "advance scouts" into your consciousness - showing you what level of clarity is possible if you keep on this path, showing you what silent knowledge feels like. they don't give you that level of clarity, but they show you that it is possible, and give you faith and determination to see it become your natural state.

Rupert Gethin's Foundations of Buddhism is a thorough introduction to Buddhism. For starting reading the Pāli discourses, there's Bhikkhu Bodhi's In the Buddha's Words - this is a selection of discourses serving as an entry point.

Then you can start with the discourses directly: start with the Majjima Nikāya and then you can also go through The Dīgha Nikāya and the Samyutta Nikāya. And then the last but not least: Aṇguttara Nikāya and the Khuddhaka Nikāya (search on Amazon). These texts would be important references for the rest of your life if you seriously pursue Buddhism.

Regarding insight meditation, Bhikkhu Anālayo's Satipaṭṭāna book is the best modern day commentary available. Highly recommend it. His "Excursions into the Pāli Discourses" Part 1 and Part 2 are also very useful since they summarize many of the topics discusses in the discourses.

Books by Shaila Catherine or Ajāhn Brahmavaṃso would be good texts regarding samatha meditation.

There are the various texts written by the Ledi Sayādaw and Mahāsi Sayadaw - two Burmese scholar-practitioners who popularized insight meditation in the last century. You can go through Ven. Ledi Sayādaw's Vipassanā Dīpani (Manual of Insight) and you can find Ven. Mahāsi Sayadaw's books here.

Bhikkhu K. Ñānānanda has many books discussing deep questions about dependent arising, the nature of nirvāna, and so forth. You can find them here.

I'll let others recommend Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna and Zen material. In general, Reginald Rays books on Tibetan Buddhism are great entry points to Tibetan Buddhism, and then there's Gampopa's Jewel Ornament Of Liberation. There's also Shantidēva's Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, useful for any Mahāyāna practitioner. With Zen there's always Dōgen Zenji's Shōbōgenzō.

You should be able to find all of the above by googling if it's available for free or on Amazon (or a University library) otherwise.

I appreciate the OP's original post as well as your R.D. Laing recommendation. I also 100% agree with the idea of a "predisposition towards realization and compassionate output" when it comes to certain mental illnesses (Specifically, those involving extremely heightened senses of perception).

I've been undertaking a similar "process" as you've (OP) described for about two years now. I had somewhat of an existential crisis as I was finishing out my last semester of college a couple years ago. Not really in the aspect of "how can I face this impending 40 hour work week with no end in sight?," but more of "how can I possibly be happy in this modern society in general when the standard goals are not desired?"

It led me into a deep, later clinically treated, depression that bottomed out for a good month's time as the winter settled in. As things began to become increasingly unstable in my mental state, the voices started becoming distinct and clearer. They never were commanding or provoking, but typically simple commentary or strange basic conversations. Most of the time they were harshly critical of my own life, though at other times they tended to drift off into random dialogue (there were usually two). The fact that they were occurring ended up leading me down a long, long winding spiritual path as I searched for some sort of understanding to them.

I had a new understanding of mental illness, as I was experiencing it myself, but specifically of certain schizophrenic-type aspects. The voices I heard were as real to my consciousness as any other aspect of perception that is picked up by the senses. It sounded as if they were talking in the room adjacent to mine, or at least muffled by a thin wall- usually. I found that at certain frequencies, they were more apparent and distinct. While they varied in clarity, they were undoubtedly occurring and for whatever reason I was hearing them. I was withdrawn and fascinated by this phenomena and was able to successfully communicate through thoughts, though only in what I could describe as a deep meditative state (which wasn't too difficult as I sat in a helpless bout of catatonic depression). This went on for about at week or so before I returned home, saw a doctor and got clinical assistance for my depression. Still, my idea of those with schizophrenic-type mental illnesses had changed from "people experiencing delusions" to "people experiencing reality differently."

I kept a journal during those few weeks of delusion, because I was experiencing things that I couldn't comprehend. The spiritual/knowledge path soon began as I was recovering over the next few months. I began to research ideas that had popped into my head during that time. Now, in hindsight, these revelations really aren't that mind blowing and had I been more educated on the subjects or just more of a true academic in general, I probably would've come across what I ended up with at an earlier time.

My primary empirical conclusion, was that, yes these voices do indeed exist. They hold some sort of reality in some aspect, because my consciousness is experiencing them. I also know that others experience similar instances of phenomena. This led to an idea of there being a higher/alternate dimension that conscious thought can reside in. A place that holds no truth in objectivity to the world in general, yet still a place in the mind of the beholder.

So, that's how I became acquainted with quantum theory and it's possible application to consciousness. I'm not saying that I directly subscribe to all that's laid out in a quantum consciousness theory, but it did open a whole slew of new doors of thinking and understanding quantum physics in general.

Another aspect that I derived from my experience with the voices was the idea of the duality of consciousness and matter. And that's how I began reading more into Buddhism, which I had read about before but seemingly never understood quite as fully as I did after the experience.

Just as all of this was taking place (a few months after the breakdown), I had a moment of synchronicity when I ran into an old friend during happy hour who was in the city for a day before heading back home up north. Without me even mentioning much about my experience or new found ideas, he offered me a book for borrowing (that he just happened to have on hand). It was The Quantum and the Lotus (Ricard, Thuan). It may have been the perfect combination of my two newest obsessions in one book. Reading it finally put my mind at ease and gave me a truly new perspective on life that I've been building off of ever since then.

My views have evolved and adapted with time over the last couple years, but I still haven't lost this unquenchable thirst for learning that began during those darker times. I truly think that the Buddhist perspective on life has fueled this passion while keeping me at peace with my own thoughts. I can still hear the voices, though only through a means of deep meditation, and they hardly interfere with my everyday life.

Sorry for any typos, the sun's yet to rise where I am right now.

TL;DR - Got severely depressed, heard voices that led to a more innate understanding of both quantum physics and Buddhism (neither of which I had extensive knowledge of) that has improved my outlook on life, my empathy towards others and has greatly increased my desire for knowledge than it had ever been previously.

Sure, happy to! Chogyam Trungpa's The Myth of Freedom is one of my favourite books. The World of Tibetan Buddhism by His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a good overview and covers some of the complexities of Tibetan Buddhism and the differences in kinds of buddhism. Likewise: HHDL's The Four Noble Truths and The Power of Compassion are lovely books that explain some of the philosophies behind Mahayana practice. Chogyam Trungpa's The Path is the Goal is a classic, as is Start Where You Are by Pema Chodren. I have all of these on the shelf and continue to use them after all these years. Also, Hermann Hesse's classic Siddhartha is a lovely novel that outlines the story of Shakyamuni Buddha. I read it when I was 14 and it still resonates with me. Feel free to ask me any questions you'd like. I lived in a Buddhist Monastery for 4 years. I'll do my best to answer them. Depending on where you live, I could very likely recommend a monastery or retreat centre for you to visit, if you were interested. Glad you are exploring!

Sorry you are having a hard time. Maybe you can start small. It's very common for people to give themselves a dream or goal that's so big, they feel that even if the fall a bit short they would still be amazingly successful. However, as you are seeing here, this is unskillful and most often leads to a cycle of disappointment, self-doubt and recrimination.

Quite often, some big dreams are achievable but it takes time to really understand what goes in to making it real. So you might want to adopt a pragmatic approach here and say, "Ok, my previous approach didn't work. That's no problem. We all come up short sometimes." But it's important to not to repeat mistakes that you know don't work and wallow. Do something different and do it now.

So start small. What do you think you could want in a year or two's time? For example: do you want to be enrolled in a degree program for Therapy? That seems doable. Not easy, but doable. You'll need to start researching programs and determine what prerequisites and requirements are needed. Then see where you might be short and reach out to a few programs to speak to their admissions or advising departments. They will be happy to help as they have enrollment considerations top of mind. Then you put together a schedule for your application, get your transcripts in order or finish whatever prereq's you need. Especially in CA, there are a TON of places other than Berkeley to apply. How about the College of the Pacific? Davis? Does Chapman have a program? You can check out the programs here on MFT California.

On that note, are you aware that many/most folks working as Therapists don't have PHDs for instance? Be clear with the requirements for the role. Here's what I found with a little Googling https://www.bbs.ca.gov/applicants/lmft.html

This avenue seems most critical right now. You need to get out of your head and out of the self-recrimination game. Grandiose plans and self-hatred are together in an unhelpful cycle here so drop all of it.

On the Buddhism side, forget all that you thought you knew. Start a daily meditation habit. 10 minutes a day and build up from there. Do it every day without fail. Read What the Buddha Taught. Buy the book. It's better than reading online.

Finally, you didn't state it in your note but if you'll allow some advice from someone who used to be young: if the following are in your life, drop them while you get things on track (and hopefully beyond):

Weed, booze, video games, porn and other wastes of your time that dissipate your energy and erode your mind. You'll save a lot of time if you nip this garbage in the proverbial bud.

The good news is you can forgive yourself. None of us are perfect and you have plenty of time to get on track. Now get to it!

I am 15 months into my ongoing healing process from the greatest loss of my life, so I'd like to share some things I've learned:

Rushing into another relationship is unsound advice, and most likely to hurt you and the next person you prematurely involve yourself with.

The best thing I can tell you is that healing from a loss is not like getting a cut on your flesh, where there is consistent and predictable healing. If healing from a physical wound is a straight line, then healing from an emotional loss is a jagged, swirling journey, where you sometimes take one step forward and 10 steps back. Don't get frustrated by these setbacks--just understand that the timetable for healing is not set, and trust in the heart's ability to heal:

"When an emotional injury takes place, the body begins a process as natural as the healing of a physical wound. Let the process happen. Trust the process. Surrender to it." --from "How to Survive the Loss of a Love"

Don't make any rash life-altering decisions, don't turn to drugs or alcohol (which only postpone or subvert healing), give to those who are less fortunate than you, and surround yourself with family and friends that love you unconditionally.

Here is a link to the book quoted above, which I wholeheartedly recommend:
http://www.amazon.com/Survive-Loss-Love-Peter-McWilliams/dp/0931580439

And another I'm in the midst of reading, which, so far, is also exceptional:
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Past-Your-Breakup-Devastating/dp/0738213284

This is a beautiful recounting of the Buddha's journey to understanding suffering:
http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Buddhas-Teaching-Transforming-Liberation/dp/0767903692/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411858603&sr=8-1&keywords=heart+of+a+buddha

And this is a pocket book available for free from the Amida Society:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2040437.Heart_of_A_Buddha?from_search=true

For me, feeling her "fade away" from my memory was so hurtful that I would hold on to the pain to keep the memories fresh. That is not conducive to healing. What helped me was creating a document (I used Google Docs so I could update from anywhere), and whenever a sweet memory surfaced of something she did, said, or was, I would write it down. It provided a catharsis--like a treasure chest of everything she was. I no longer compulsively read it, but it is comforting to know it's there, and has definitely helped my healing process.

For the first six months of my loss, I could barely leave the house. Since I love movies, I started trying to find ones that contained people being kind to one another (they are very rare). They helped me in reconnecting to and believing in kindness again, and I found myself watching some of my favorites just to get myself to sleep at night. I compiled a few into an IMDb list:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls056580941/

Take care of yourself
--D

Source: Losing my dear wife--the sweetest, kindest person I've ever known.

I can identify with many of the replies to this post, so I wanted to share some personal insights that have helped me tremendously with these existential anxieties/depression (although I still struggle with them). Please excuse me if I'm not as well-spoken as others here, but I'm not a native speaker and... even worse, I'm an engineer.

First, you have to realize that this kind of existential anxiety has been recognized as part of the human condition by many philosophers and thinkers from almost the beginning of our recorded history. So, even though it is true that it can be hard to find peers to whom you can talk openly about these problems, and who will understand you from personal experience, this is not true if you count the experiences of the thousands of persons who had exactly the same feelings and have written about them. Of course they all had their own experiences, insights and solutions which may not apply to you, but it would be stupid to think that there is not some valuable wisdom to be gained from these thousands of years of tradition of thinking about these issues.

I don't want to elaborate too long about all the things out there, neither do I want to force my own opinions on others, but here are some personal recommendations:

• Albert Camus (as mentioned numerous times in this thread)
  
• Herman Hesse - Siddhartha
  
• I recommend reading any good book on the history of philosophy that sticks to a few pages per school/person to get a good overview of how people have been approaching these issues throughout history. You can just skip all the guys who where thinking about irrelevant shite that has long become obsolete because of modern science. I have used Joachim Storig's excellent book for this, although I think it is only available in German, Dutch and Spanish.
  
• If you consider yourself more of a deep physical/metaphysical thinker and you think these practical philosophies are not relevant to your issues or too superficial, try the following approach:
  
  • get at least a limited understanding of the following fields of science: quantum physics, systems theory/cybernetics, some neuroscience, the problems of mathematics (i recommend the graphic novel logicomix as an easy to read and interesting introduction)
    
  • read about Buddha's (Siddhartha Gautama's) life and how he developed his philosophy/doctrine. This guy is extra relevant because he made existential anxiety the core of his practical philosophy (This is often misunderstood because 'dukkha' is somewhat misleadingly translated as just 'suffering'). I highly recommend Osamu Tezuka's graphic novel, Wikipedia's Buddhism template, Alan Watts talks on Buddhist philosophy, or any basic introduction to buddhist concepts such as this one. While doing this keep in mind that he was just a regular spoiled-ass prince who was really smart, had too much time on his hands and was suffering from the same existential anxieties as you are. Try to really understand his philosophy (especially non-self, impermanence and nirvana) in the context of modern science, and be amazed at how well it holds up (hence the interest in Buddhist thought among physicists and neuroscientists).
    
  • ???
    
  • Profit!
    
    Peace and good luck y'all.

> It proves that the respected philosophical institutions don't consider it to be worth thinking about in terms of philosophical practice

No, it doesn't! That's just an inference that the absence supports. The other inferences include, but are not limited to: there is no student interest, there is no professor interest, there is no knowledgeable professor, there is not enough money, there is not enough space, there is not enough time, Buddhism isn't interesting as a philosophy, the topic can be already be covered in another class, etc... All of those are inferences that are supported by Buddhism not being taught in the philosophy department, but we haven't proven any of them just by showing that it's not taught in the philosophy department.

>It proves that the respected philosophical institutions don't consider it to be worth thinking about in terms of philosophical practice

You mean kind of like the book that was given good praise on Ashgate and was reviewed in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Pleaes note that this particular philosopher has given lectures at least through Columbia University. This just shows his credibility, if he was really a hack, as you've asserted, I doubt he'd have been invited to speak about philosophy at all.

>Only you say this.

Obviously it's a complex system otherwise people wouldn't say that it's a philosophy and a religion. If it were simple, it would have a single classification, but it's not. It can, and does, exist in two realms at once. Philosophy and religion.

>Yes, you do

No, I don't. I'm not making a specific claim to a specific area of philosophy. I'm not saying Buddhism is Kant's views. I'm saying that the broad label of "philosophy" encompasses Buddhism. Buddhism is a sub-sub-category of philosophy.

>Which?

It was called Justice. 3rd time I've told you that by the way.

>Academia is hard and most can't do it, many go to law school

Academia isn't as hard to do as you suggest. Only about 2% of the population teach Whereas, .36% become lawyers. Sorry, I was just slightly offended that you inferred it was harder to teach than to become a lawyer.

>Enough that I can point at a few of them and say

And out of the 150 (guessing) professors that teach at Cornell, how many people do you think went to class with them and aren't teaching?

>His name just never really comes up.

So, now you've shrunk the field even further. Now you're arguing that because he isn't one of the legendary philosophers he can't be worth anything. How many philosophers in our time do you think will become legendary? How many philosophers do you think have existed throughout history that no one will ever know of? Do you only respect people if they are legends? How many legends have you sat in class with? You've taken your list of reliable experts for a crazy ride during this argument. You started with professors, then you took it down to professors who teach at respectable institutions, now you've taken it down to legendary masters of the topic. Well, you've got me. I don't think I can find any legendary masters of philosophy who have talked about Buddhism as a philosophy. Cool thing is, that still doesn't mean it's not a philosophy.

>Enough that I could easily do a google search for historians who are involved in history, academia, or teaching.

Okay, but that still doesn't prove your point. Only a small percentage of people go on to teach. A smaller percentage will be lucky enough to teach at a prestigious school, but that doesn't automatically mean that all the others are hacks.

>Isaiah Berlin, Edward de Bono, Alain LeRoy Locke, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, John Finnis, PF Strawson, and probably others.

And how many people do you think they went to class with that we will never know about?

I think I've finally figured out why you are having such a hard time grasping what I'm getting at. When I say Buddhism is a philosophy, you automatically think I'm saying that philosophers study epistimology, logic, aesthetics, metaphysics, and buddhism. Which is definitely not the case. The difference here and we can use the dictionary definition for illustration is that to you, metaphysics and the lot ARE the "ideas" you study regarding truth, knowledge, and life. Buddhism is not one of those ideas and so it cannot fit within your concept of philosophy. However, I am referring to Buddhism as "a particular set of ideas about truth, knowledge, and life." In this way Buddhism is definitely a philosophy because it is a particular set of ideas about those things. In these ways, Buddhism is a philosphy and it is not a philosophy. It all depends on what interpretation we are using. I don't think that when people say philosophy they mean something other than philosophy, I think they mean a different definition of philosophy. It's still philosophy, but it's not The Philosophies. This is how I'd break it down from here. We have Philosophy. Within Philosophy are the Ideas of Philosophy and then Philosophies. In this way we have our categories: Philosophy (Fruit) > Ideas of Philosophy (Apples) and Philosophies (Oranges). Buddhism is a philosophy, but it's not a philosophy in the same way that metaphysics is a philosophy. This is the only way I see that makes sense and ties together our conflicting views, the facts, and the evidence.

🙏

>Thanks for sharing your wisdom

You as well.

By the way, perhaps you may find benefit in learning the word kenshō, and as one last suggestion, perhaps you might enjoy someone like Huangbo, perhaps something like this.

Whereas this sub might perhaps tend towards a sort of rational, perhaps masculine, analysis based approach, some of the Zen adepts such as Huangbo might tend towards a more ... poetic or heart based, pithy approach, and maybe you would delight in it, if you’re inclined to check it out.

If you’re put off by too much dogma, he might be perfect ;)

Best wishes, as always.

Instant Zen by Foyan and translated by Thomas Cleary is really good. The introduction by the translator is a bit wonky but the body of the book is great.

If you're more Shikantanza inclined Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind and Not Always So are pretty good. They're both collections of dharma talks by Shunryu Suzuki.

I personally have a great affection for the book Zen Question it has beautiful illustrations and is in a very simple Q & A format.

Hi Porkgreen,

It sounds like you're having an awakening. Strap in, buckle up, and take some deep breaths, but I can assure you that in the end everything will be just fine.

There are basically three levels on which things begin to restructure themselves such that your whole being is brought more into alignment with the truth of things. And when things are changing on all these levels it can feel quite disorienting. The three levels are the physio-energetic (aka the body, aka traditional kundalini), your external life (job, relationships, etc.), and your internal life (your sense of who and what you are).

When people begin to awaken, there are two main reasons they suffer. First, awakening brings phases of great change which most have a tendency to resist at least initially. Resisting 'What Is' will always bring suffering. Thus it's important to learn to surrender to, and trust in what is happening. You will need to meet your experience as it arises and learn to open to it, however it may reveal itself.

The second main reason people suffer during an awakening is that they feel disoriented as identities and external circumstances begins to change/fall away because they do not have a conceptual framework for understanding what is happening. This is where spiritual teachings can be helpful. A good teacher, even if a personal relationship isn't possible is extremely helpful. I recommend this book, and in general the Non-dual teachings of Adyashanti. He won't steer you wrong.

Weird energetic phenomena (pressure, vibrations, tingling, etc) and visions are normal. The important point here is not to indulge in them too much, and don't believe them (the visions especially). But if they arise, allow them to happen and just witness what is going on without believing or identifying with them.

If you live among close minded people, it may not be necessary to tell them about kundalini. However, act how you feel you should. Feel free to let me know if you have any more questions.

If you have the patience for it, listening to the current Dalai Lama can be interesting. Here are some recordings of his appearance in Mountain View, CA in 2001 (the "Heart Sutra" mp3 files). The only problem is he speaks slowly and with an accent, so if you have a short attention span or aren't really that interested, it probably isn't for you. You can probably get similar material in book form, but I don't have a reference handy. (edit: duh, the link to [Essence of the Heart Sutra](
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0861713184/ref=lamrimcom) on that page is probably the way to go.)

The interesting thing about the Dalai Lama is that he's totally into accepting and integrating scientific results, and his interpretation of Buddhism reflects that, being more metaphorical in cases where something would obviously be in conflict with reality if taken literally. This doesn't usually appear forced, because much of Buddhism is expressed metaphorically, so it's really those who take it too literally who are probably missing the point a bit.

Re Alan Watts, first of all it's important to note that he focused on Zen Buddhism, which is one of the most distinct branches of Buddhism, quite different from most of the others. Second, you have to keep in mind that he was one of the earliest popularizers of Zen in the West, and as such his personal perspective perhaps had a greater influence on his approach than those who came later, once there was a more established Western Zen tradition. Part of that personal perspective was a somewhat Californian proto-New Age ethic which used Buddhism as a prop for ideas that didn't themselves come from Buddhism, and combined them with Western ideas about psychology and cosmology. The ones you mention, like "we are all one" etc., certainly fit that mold. If you look at the sources in Buddhism for such positions, they are never quite as literal as Watts tends to imply.

For a no-nonsense intro book to Zen, you could try something like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. It focuses on teaching how and why to do Zen meditation, along with plenty of psychology and philosophy, but very little by way of Watts-style mysticism.

I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder a few years ago. Buddhism helps with my anxiety in many ways:

• meditation: learning how to meditate is not easy for many people. I meditated on and off for a few years before I starting doing it as a consistent habit every day. All I can say here is that once you learn how to meditate (either via books, online guided meditations or visiting a meditation center/sangha), the science is very, very convincing about the plethora of health benefits meditation will bring you. In particular, I find basic breath meditation and visualization meditations once a day helps me handle my stress and anxiety better, it just gives me an overall increased sense of well being
  
  
• combat negative thoughts with positive thoughts: whenever you catch yourself having negative, anxious thoughts, simply recognize them, then combat them with positive thoughts. This simple exercise, if done habitually, will literally rewire your brain to start thinking more positively. Many psychologists and counselors will teach you this exercise
  
  
• It gives my life meaning. People get anxiety for different reasons, mine was usually existential: worrying that everything is pointless and meaningless, etc. Studying and practicing Buddhism has given great meaning to my life. The Buddha was interested in the happiness of all people, and he taught people from a wide variety of walks of life, and showed them how to imbue meaning into their lives, no matter where they were at spiritually. There's such a rich variety of teachings attributable to the Buddha: teachings to husbands, wives, children, employeers, employees, politicians, monks, etc. It's exciting. My goal is to one day become a Buddha: someone who has discovered the path to obtaining an unshakable liberation of heart and mind, and who shares this path with others. Definitely not an easy goal, but an interesting, meaningful one nontheless :)
  
  
• EDIT: here are some resources: I recommend Mindfulness in Plain English for learning how to meditate and practice mindfulness; and Taking the Leap for learning how to deal with negative emotions. Then I recommend What the Buddha Taught for the best introduction to Buddhism I've found yet. This book even includes an entire chapter about how what the Buddha taught relates to the world today. The author includes several suttas that specifically teach how the dharma applies to the ordinary lay life. Highly recommend.

I'm not sure that this is a forum that specializes in issues of this nature, though we may be able to provide support in related areas of subject matter. I would assume that many of us have been in the business of confronting and dealing with our various pains, sufferings, and other shadows in the dark night of the soul.

History and myth are ripe with tales beings of ambiguous or crossed genders. They have played an important part of many traditions as symbols and sacred figures representing alchemical principles and equanimity of the soul, an androgyny that forms a balanced human being comprised of both masculine and feminine principles.

It is my opinion that if you face this conflict within you earnestly and seek to understand it that you will begin to unravel the knot of your pain and come to a better understanding of what is going on within you. Learn self-reflection and seek to understand yourself. Helpful tools include meditation and consumption of as much relevant literature on any related subjects.

Possible starting points:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphroditus

http://chemicalmarriage.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/the-great-hermaphrodite-explained/

http://pathofsoul.org/2013/03/09/carl-jung-the-hermaphrodite-creative-union-of-opposites/

For a compassionate guide to practicing self-reflection and meditation I cannot recommend a better starting point than The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh. I would make the case to you that it will help you do the real hard work of refining yourself as a human being. And if you do decide to delve further into occult practice and study, a good foundation in meditation, mindfulness, and present moment awareness can be invaluable, particularly on chemognostic psychedelic voyages into other realms of reality.

I apologize if this is not the sort of thing that you are looking for. Magic and occult practice isn't necessarily about quick fixes and easy solutions. But I can almost guarantee that if you work at it sincerely it will be transformative of who you are in unexpected and most often beneficial ways. Good luck and feel free to message if there is anything I can do to further assist you.

My post in the book recommendations to the right:

>For all Buddhists:

> The Majjhima Nikaya: The Middle Length Discources of the Buddha
> The Digha Nikaya: The Long Length Discourses of the Buddha

>For Mahayana Buddhists:

> The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva

>For Vajrayana Buddhists:

> Words of my Perfect Teacher by Patrul Rinpoche

>Nothing in particular after that.

>There are a TON of misconceptions out there about what the Buddha taught and the presentation of the basic Buddhist path. Not reading the Digha/Majjhima Nikaya and calling yourself a Buddhist is the same as calling yourself a Christian without ever reading the Bible.

>Similarly, not having read the Bodhicharyavatara (a commentary really helps on this one, which is why I linked the best one) and calling yourself a Mahayana Buddhist is the same.

>Words of my Perfect teacher is simply an excellent introduction to the Vajrayana path, so I think it should be on there as well. Maybe not as necessary as the previous 3 (because in Vajrayana it's most important to learn from a qualified guru), it's still an excellent book. And if you haven't found a teacher yet, it would certainly help in finding a good one.

I don't want to add extra reading to your life, but here goes ;-)

You may find "The Four Foundations of Mindfulness" to be of help off the cushion. I found this is of great benefit for dealing with what you're speaking about as well.

Awareness of form, feeling, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness (the five aggregates model) -- powerful stuff.

This is the [book] (https://www.amazon.ca/Satipatthana-Direct-Realization-Bhikkhu-Analayo/dp/1899579540/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502836095&sr=8-1&keywords=the+direct+path+to+realization) I found of great help.

I see a therapist when I know something isn't right, but I am unsure what. Sometimes having someone to ask the right questions (with no vested interest) helps me come to realizations I wouldn't have otherwise.

I was terrified of going at first, but I am so happy I did! If you want to go but are scared, feel free to ask me questions.

I also enjoy guided journals. Right now I am doing one called "Design The Life You Love"

Zen/Buddhism/mindfulness books help me when I am stuck in my head, feeling as though my existence has no meaning. This book is the first one I read along those lines, and here is a popular Buddhist author whose books I find easy, relatable, and enjoyable to read. If you enjoy challenging books, there are plenty of those too - here is a hugely popular one.

Lastly, is there anyone close to you who you trust with this concern? Could you share your observations with this person, ask if they have noticed it as well, and ask what suggestions they might have?

A great primer for the core tenets and historical context is "What The Buddha Taught" by Walpola Pahula. It provides a wonderful explanation of the thought process and is very clearly written; a lot of colleges use it in their comparative religion courses.

I also think that reading the "Dhammapada" is particularly vital. I prefer the Eknath Easwaran translation; I feel like he did an excellent job translating it into modern laguage while retaining the meaning of the text and providing excellent discussions of each sutra without being to neurotically overbearing, like so many religious commentaries can be. He also did excellent versions of the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads if you are interested in broader Indian spirituality.

Have you heard of the book Living Buddha, Living Christ? It was written by a well-known monk (endorsed by major Christian leaders) and is about how the teachings of Buddha and teachings of Christ relate to each other. There are obviously major teachings of the Church that don't carry over into Buddhism, but ideas of holiness, loving your neighbor and mindfulness sure do.
Learning about the peaceful and loving nature of Buddhism has helped shape my faith. For example, reading Buddhist teachings helped me understand how to love my neighbor in new ways. But I'm careful to apply these concepts in the framework of my Catholic beliefs, rather than adopt Buddhism as a religion.

>"If you and Mom sit here and take his shit, then that's on you guys. It's not my fault if you don't want to stand up to him."

this is a good sentiment because you'd just be enabling his bs. Eventually they will enable him or get tired of it.

>I can't dye my hair, get piercings, or get tattoos which to me are all things that are beautiful. Plus being overweight. I don't even want to try to lose weight because I feel like I still won't be beautiful and like I'm never going to be able to be myself and love myself.

You seem really concerned with your outward image and it seems like a lot of energy is spent worrying about this. If you feel so negatively about it, then you should do what you can to improve it instead of doing nothing. This is a big problem for you that you have the power to fix, SO FIX IT. less shit on your plate, know what I mean? And you don't have to have a strict regiment of working out and stuff. Just change your diet, go walking, and the fat will fall off. Use myfitnesspal to log your calories too. also don't weigh yourself all the time.


It seems like youre stuck in a depression and it sucks but in order for things to be different, YOU have to be different. It will seem pointless at times, but work towards the change you want to happen. You say that you believe your image limits your income and you generally don't feel happy about it? Diet and exercise is a good place to start.(I lost almost 40lbs when I became a vegan last november. I never go to the gym, but if you do this make sure you are eating for nutrition too)

As for work, look into retail sales merchandiser positions if you have a car. Most have super flexible schedules.



You may not have anyone that understands, but that's okay because you have yourself. While corny, true happiness comes from within. Those that cant find it in within themselves waste time and energy constantly searching for the next thing to provide them pleasure in things that are impermanent. this is a good book


Understanding yourself and taking wisdom from where you can is paramount, for the applications derived from both are innumerable

This is my first time posting here. I'm going to pledge an hour and a half every day for the next 66 days. I look forward to being a part of this virtual sangha, and I wish you all the best of luck with your practice. I've practiced meditation for a year and a half now, but have only become serious about it for 3 months. I'm currently reading Wisdom Wide and Deep, which is an excellent guide to jhana and vipassana that I recommend to anyone interested in Buddhist meditation.

17th April (1/66): 1 hour anapanasati sitting on a chair in the morning, 30 minutes anapanasati sitting in half-lotus position before bed. It's getting much easier for me to make the full hour and the surge of pleasure following meditation is growing stronger. Both recollection of the object and equanimous experience of thoughts are slowly becoming easier. Uncomfortable sitting posture has always been a hindrance to my meditation, but daily stretching is making half-lotus position easier to remain in. Looking forward to sitting in full lotus position.

> just read the wiki on the "Mūlamadhyamakakārikā", which seems pretty enlightening; though am a hardcore philosophical-theorist

I just looked over the wiki page and it seems pretty esoteric. The MMK is pretty hard-nosed philosophy when you get down to it. If that approach interests you, you might like Buddhism as Philosophy as a short, more down-to-earth overview of this, along with a bunch more topics from the tradition. The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way seems to be recommended a lot around here if you're at all interested in diving into a translation/commentary.

> Thank you for your thoughtful replies.

Sure thing.

>what does the Buddha mean when he references his teachings simply as a raft meant to cross a river in Chapter 6[1] ?

This is actually a very deep simile, rich with many layers of meaning. I've sat here for a while and typed out several explanations, then deleted them realizing none of them captures all the levels of what the Buddha was saying here. That would be an entire essay, really.

The essence of it is that the Buddha did not want people to get caught up in his words, thinking that by analyzing his words they would attain enlightenment. He had to use words because that was the primary way he could communicate the Dhamma, but what he was teaching is beyond words.

This connects to your second question, because later in the Diamond Sutra the Buddha said:

>Subhuti, as to speaking truth, no truth can be spoken.

A clue to understanding this is given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh when he wrote in The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching (emphasis mine): "Right View is the absence of all views."

So when you ask, "Here is my view now, is it valid?" The answer is most likely "No."

The Buddha taught purely out of compassion. He didn't teach because we lacked something, or he needed to "save" us, or any of that. He sat for days after his enlightenment deciding what to do, because he realized that there was nothing to do. And that is why he says there is no teaching, and that to consider the teaching as having an existence is false.

You are therefore right to connect no-self with the non-existence of the teaching as well. The teaching of no-self, anatta, is something also deep and requiring a good teacher to go through with you. I am definitely not a master or teacher of that caliber, so all I can do is recommend this video on non-self that might help you understand it.

Heyo! A little late to the thread, but I have two sources I like to point people to as an introduction to Buddhism and the Buddha himself—they're both secondary: one being a book, the other a documentary.

The book: an introduction to Buddhism, What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula. It was written, primarily, for a western audience unfamiliar with the teachings of Buddha and perceived it as part of "the other." A great starting point (was mine)!

The documentary: it is available on Netflix or on the PBS website, The Buddha by filmmaker David Grubin. It's a great informative and introductory documentary detailing the life of Buddha and his most basic teachings. The narration is wonderfully done and the visuals are titillating.

I hope these help!

I got there slowly over time but I found this book on my father's bookshelf and it got me thinking differently. It's not a self-help book, more of a concise summary of this guy's philosophy but it's not difficult to read:


https://www.amazon.ca/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313



That said, different approaches work for different people. Finding a good yoga teacher (one that actually guides you through a meditation every class) can be really motivating... for others mindfulness therapy is a good option.


What it really takes is for you to demonstrate to yourself that you can change your mood and thought patterns if you need to, and then to be curious about how far you can take it.



A simple way to demonstrate this to yourself is to find a quiet place, get comfortable, and try to focus on something in the present moment (an object, your breath, a sound, etc...). You will lose focus, but that's exactly what you want. When you lose focus, just respectfully bring your attention back to your object.


By doing this you are getting better at two things: your ability to control where your attention is, and your ability to observe where your attention is. That last one is key. It elevates you above your thoughts to the level of a passive observer. That was the most life-changing tool for me. From this place, you can choose which thoughts to grab onto and which ones to let fly by. You learn to let the bad ones fly past you and let go of seemingly good thoughts that make you act badly when you entertain them. This place is my center... where i go to when i feel unbalanced.


It's important to make sure you have lots of time available, or you will get distracted by obligations. If you don't have any free time then that's probably the first thing you need to change if you want to grow in this way.


Sorry for the stream of thought, but i figured it might be helpful :)

Hi Steve!

I would recommend reading Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki who was a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the West. I would also recommend The Mind of Clover by Robert Aitken which is an excellent guide on Zen Buddhist ethics (and important part of the practice).

If you haven't already started, I would recommend you pick up a regular zazen habit, sitting daily even for just five minutes if that's all you can manage. Sitting zazen is the most important thing in the Sōtō school and Master Dogen could not recommend it enough!

Books are good but practice is much better!

Beyond that, I'm a big fan of all of Brad Warner's books. He has a great approach to Zen, I think, and makes understanding some of its more obscure and hard-to-penetrate ideas easier to digest.

And of course you can always come here and ask as my questions as you like!

Nice, man. I wish for you to persevere in your practice. Just like you I've studied and now practice Zen, Buddhism, and some of the Taoism.

I should look into the set of authors you've written. If you have time look into it, some of the books I found most inspiring in my practice are:

Zen mind, Beginner's Mind
Not always so
The two above are for inspiration and breathtaking take on the spirit of practice, the once below are for the practical and daily aspects of the practice:
Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha - Supremely useful!
Mindfulness in Plain English - Of course "Beyond Mindfulness" is equally as impressive, just goes into a greater detail on what to expect, and how to achieve higher jhanas.

Mark Siderits has written a wonderful introductory overview of many key features of Buddhist philosophy in a book that I would consider a must-read on the subject. It is called Buddhism as Philosophy and offers both great depth and critical examination of the arguments at play in many of the Buddhist traditions.

I would also recommend Owen Flanagan's The Bodhisatva's Brain for an insightful discussion on some of the problems facing the very hyperbolic and enthusiastic view that many contemporaries express when discussing the effects of Buddhist practice and meditation.

If you are interested in a broad and concise overview of Buddhist thought from a Buddhist scholar, I'd recommend Walpola Sri Rahula's classic What the Buddha Taught. This book is very lean in terms of metaphysical speculation and portrays the Buddhist path in a philosophically austere and precise manner.

Since there is no one universally accepted interpretation of Buddha's teaching I would highly recommend reading wide and deep on the subject. There are many contemporary philosophers who have done great work in interpreting and examining Buddhist philosophy through the lens of modern day thought. To name a few: Miri Albahari, Jonardon Ganeri, Evan Thomspon and Matthew Mackenzie. Galen Strawson has also engaged with Buddhist thought in his writing on questions of selfhood and consciousness. Have a look at their respective academia pages and you should find much ongoing discussion on the subject and recommendations for further reading in their published articles.

Hope this helps!

edit: spelling

I appreciate you responding to me and taking me up on a debate. I can tell that you really put time and effort into thinking about these particular issues and thats great.

I think in order to get the whole gist of buddhism you should try to look it through the view of someone else who claims to know about buddhism https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Buddhas-Teaching-Transforming-Liberation/dp/0767903692/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=A88VX0WPXS0XGDAPBRNF this book is great for plenty of reasons, goes throughout the history of how we know what we know and what that means.

I would say that your view of karma is correct in a sense, however its not the whole idea. To be honest I think a lot of the things in Buddhism can get lost without proper practice. That reading on the idea of emptiness and reading on the idea of no-self can be disconcerting and misunderstood. The only way to fully grasp these ideas is to practice. By practicing the ideas taught through meditation we can fully understand and embrace the teachings.

In terms of reincarnation I believe reincarnation to be true (maybe not in the same sense that you believe), and true we cannot scientifically test this to be true. But I do believe I have a intellectually rational view on the subject.

I think if you are interested in Buddhist philosophy you should try meditation and "buddhist like practice", its scientifically proven that meditation does great things and you can even approach the meditation from a secular point of view.

If you need any resources let me know. I would also not mind continuing this discussion if you are inclined to do so.

Mahayana is a much bigger beast than Theravada. Rather than a general introduction to all of Mahayana, you would be better off looking for introductions to particular traditions- Zen, Tibetan, Pure Land, etc. Mahayana Buddhists generally accept as canonical the full variety of Mahayana texts, but specific texts are more emphasized by particular traditions.

In addition, there has been a kind of 'reconstruction' movement within the Theravada that sought to reform the tradition to conform more closely to the canonical texts. That movement came about in part because of critique and contact with Western theology, which emphasizes the primacy of source texts. In other traditions, post-canonical texts may be more important- rather than tackling the source texts, monks and lay students are taught from summaries and commentaries that contain the views of the oral tradition and prominent teachers.

Something like Words of My Perfect Teacher contains a pretty comprehensive overview of the Tibetan tradition as derived from the traditional sources... In the Zen tradition, The Platform Sutra is primarily a biography/hagiography of the Patriarch Hui Neng, but also contains information on how the Zen tradition regarded the teachings of various popular sutras.

>He told me that he has never felt more calm and happy. [...] He says he is having an insight that no one else can possibly imagine because he says it scares them.

I've experienced just that. He will most likely come out of it. Like kirkirus said, just give him time to sort things out and he'll become more responsive.

Whatever he's thinking about, tell him that he is most likely not alone. Human beings in all cultures have spent months contemplating in isolation, and a lot of them have used psychedelic substances.

I would actually be very interested in hearing what your friend has to say. But well! Let him rest, and make sure to tell him you love him! Best of luck.

---
Also, The End of Your World by Adyashanti may be useful to him, or even to you! And perhaps this television series by Alan Watts for a different cultural context.

If you haven't already checked out Culadasa's dharma treasure audio archives there are some great talks on there about some of these topics. The Teaching Retreats page especially. Meditation & Insight is a great series to start with, but several of them check off the boxes on your interests.

Secondly, I'd recommend Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization by Analayo. It's a very in good analysis of this sutta, which ends up covering a lot of ground including in-depth exploration of some of these concepts (The Aggregates, The Sense-spheres, Four Noble Truths, The Awakening Factors,etc), and how they play a role in Awakening. Can't recommend enough.

I'm unfamiliar with Schopenhauer's work, especially as it relates to Buddhism, but I have read a few books on Buddhism, the best of which was Rupert Gethin's The Foundations of Buddhism, which I highly recommend as an introduction to Buddhism.

It is worth noting that some Buddhists reject rebirth, and have a more "non-magical" take of the Buddha's teachings. Interestingly the truth of karma and rebirth is said to be discoverable when one is developed enough in their meditative practices, and indeed that is how the Buddha is supposed to have discovered it, along with everything else he taught.

Buddhism has some very interesting things to say about the human condition, much of which I can see manifesting itself in my own life, and in some ways many of those truths are being discovered by modern science. See here and here.

Wow! I never thought I'd see Pema Chodron quoted on reddit!

>To be without a reference point is the ultimate loneliness. It is also called enlightenment.

Her book Awakening Loving-Kindness (abridged version of The Wisdom of No Escape) was my first introduction to all things related to Buddhism as is truly a masterpiece of simplicity and wisdom.

Her master was Chögyam Trungpa, who was (one of?) the first to introduce the very-much secular tradition of Shambhala to the Western world. From wikipedia:

>Although Chogyam Trungpa, founder of Shambhala International, came out of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, in his teachings Shambhala vision has its own independent basis in human wisdom that does not belong to East or West or any one culture or religion [5]. Shambhala kingdom is seen as enlightened society that people of all faiths can aspire to and actually realize. The path to this is provocatively described as the practice of warriorship — meeting fear and transcending aggression, and of secular sacredness — joining the wisdom of the past and one's own culture with the present in nowness.

All you jaded atheists should check out Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior. All the spiritual goodness without religious bullshit!

If you're interested in the practice as it was done in early Buddhism, check out this reading list:.

Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization by Bhikkhu Analayo.
A Swift Pair of Messengers by Bhikkhu Sujato.
Right Mindfulness: Memory & Ardency on the Buddhist Path by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

Those are the best 3 to start with...what you're going to want to look for is early Theravada Buddhist practice which is called Satipattana. Analayos book is generally considered the best, but all 3 are excellent, especially Thanissaros book which is free. All 3 have correspondencing audio lectures which I'll post if you want. You can also contact me via Pm anytime. Hope that helps!

What you are going through is actually pretty typical given your age and environment.

Something similar happened to me. I grew up in a liberal Catholic home and then when I became a teenager I started to think it was all non-sense. Then I studied Buddhism, and after that Hinduism because both of these religions allowed me to find spiritual meaning without the question of the existence or non-existence of God. This went on for the majority of my adult life, and I considered myself agnostic the whole time. Then a couple of years ago I started having experiences within Islam. Now, I do believe in God, and it's something that's important to me (I haven't quite converted to Islam - there's a major rule I don't think I can follow) and I work on. So don't let it stress you - in the long it'll help you discovered a lot of cool and meaningful things.

But to answer you question directly check out the book Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit. It's a good balance between Eastern and Western spirituality. And if you want to study Buddhism on its own I highly recommend What the Buddha Taught - it's probably the best primer on Buddhism that I've ever read.

As for Tibetan Buddhism, I remember that Words of My Perfect Teacher says that the number of hell beings compared to pretas is like the stars visible at night compared to stars visible in the day. The same analogy applies for the number of pretas vs. animals, and the number of animals compared to humans.

The Pansu Suttas say the number of sentient beings who get bad rebirths as opposed to good rebirths is like the dirt under your fingernail compared to the size of the planet Earth. That's from the Pali Canon, so it should apply to all traditions.

>Then the Blessed One, picking up a little bit of dust with the tip of his fingernail, said to the monks, "What do you think, monks? Which is greater: the little bit of dust I have picked up with the tip of my fingernail, or the great earth?"

>"The great earth is far greater, lord. The little bit of dust the Blessed One has picked up with the tip of his fingernail is next to nothing. It doesn't even count. It's no comparison. It's not even a fraction, this little bit of dust the Blessed One has picked up with the tip of his fingernail, when compared with the great earth.

>"In the same way, monks, few are the beings who, on passing away from the human realm, are reborn among human beings. Far more are the beings who, on passing away from the human realm, are reborn in hell.

The most lucid expositions I know of for original buddhism are Walpola Rahula - What the Buddha taught and Paul Williams - Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition.

I read them years ago, but I remember that what I particularly liked about them is that they are pretty clever in clearing common objections that a modern student may have, they don't dumb it down (while still being clear and concise), and they don't avoid the sides of Buddhism that may be scary for people (in other words they won't present Buddhism as a good-vibe, let's just chill out and love everybody style of life, like many books do to cater to wide audiences).

If you want to find the Oneness and bliss back, you can do it with Jhana meditation. You don't need drugs. Jhana is the Buddhist way of connecting with the One and feeling that bliss. There are two great books about Jhana meditation on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0861715608/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/086171623X/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

In addition to 1 hour of meditation a day, you must help the situation with the following:

1. Half an hour of yoga, or simply walking out in nature.
   
2. Half an hour out in the sun (or get some D3, although you also need sun's UV to help lift depression). You can do this while you're doing #1.
   
3. Diet changes (as important): Avoid gluten completely (which is known to creating depressive symptoms). Limit sugar and processed foods, eat more veggies/fruits. Also avoid vegetable seed oils, which promote inflammation: go for coconut oil for cooking (grass-fed butter occasionally), which creates more ketones that benefit the brain (use olive oil for salads). Eat more WILD fish (low-mercury ones), shellfish, and sea vegetables to get more DHA (that also benefit the brain). Consider also supplementing with Magnesium (you can't get enough via food post-Industrial revolution), and CoQ10 Ubiquinol (not Ubiquinone).
   
   Do these four things to yourself, and you will see a major change to your being within 15-20 days.

There are some scathing reviews in there. Especially the one where he's talking about levitation.

I have to say that I don't completely disagree with some of the reviewers' complaints. Lama Surya Das is a decent writer in my opinion, and the book is entertaining. But as others have said, it really is more of an autobiography. And while he has led an interesting life, this is not why I originally read the book. He definitely tries to put a "Western spin" on Buddhism, and this is obviously because westerners are his target audience. But what winds up being produced is a new-age self-help kind of book.

If you are interested, my top 4 recommendations for easy to read, entertaining books that cover some different aspects/sects of Buddhism (in order of my personal preference) are as follows:

1. What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula.
   
   
2. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki.
   
   
3. The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh.
   
   
4. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche.
   
   As I said, those are my personal favorites and will give you a good look at some of the major Buddhist traditions.

Welcome.

I would recommend Buddhanet's Basic Buddhism Studies as a starting point.

After that, try listening to some of the Dhamma talks by Gil Fronsdal and others over at Audiodharma.

In terms of books. Believe it or not "Buddhism for Dummies" is actually a surprisingly accurate primer/overview that covers most of the popular schools.

What the Buddha Taught is frequently recommended. It covers the core Theravadin philosophies and is very well respected. However, it can be a little dry and scholarly if you're not the literary type.

Other books to look at, imo, are anything by Pema Chodron, or anything by Thich-Nhat-Hanh. The books with the Dalai Lama's name attached are usually alright, but tread with caution as some of them are ghost written or co-authored by others and misinterpret or misrepresent some of the concepts.

For plain old mindfulness and meditation without the metaphysical trappings, try Wherever you go, there you are by John Kabat Zinn and the free online book Mindfulness in Plain English by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana.

Then check out the world Buddhist directory on Buddhanet and see if there's a school near you that fits with whatever style of Buddhism resonates most with you. Almost every town has a Zen center or a secular mindfulness center, but if you want more traditional schools like pure Theravada or Tibetan, you may or may not need to travel to find a school.

Hope that helps!

I really like https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Buddhas-Teaching-Transforming-Liberation/dp/0767903692/ as a good introductory book.

It's great to go to practice with a group, but even better if possible is to go practice with several groups, to get a feel for the variety of the traditions within Buddhism. You can then pick the one that feels best for you. Also, as your practice evolves, maybe you will start to feel a bit stuck somehow, and you will know about other groups that might help you get unstuck. Really Buddhism is like a vast toolbox or medicine chest. Use what helps you. As you evolve, your practice can and should evolve.

I usually recommend Zen Essence as a primer: very easy to read quotes from 18 Chan masters, they each get a dozen or so, so they all get to talk to each other without any one particular master or style dominating the conversation. Because of the format it also lets you see through the translator because each master has a different style (thus making the translator's colorations and mudding easier to notice).

Then of course Mumonkan, Faith in Mind, and then the records of whomever you're interested in based on either mumonkan or Zen Essence. The Cleary translation has multiple poems about each case from different Masters.

I also think it's crucial to read the treatment of Baizhang's fox in the Book Of Serenity, and not just Mumonkan.

The Blue Cliff Record is in my mind the ultimate mountain peak, and the BoS is the perfect compliment to it. But to start, ZE plus Mumonkan, then spiraling into the records of whom you're interested in makes a very strong foundation.

The Zen Teaching of Huang Po is short and very straightforward unlike some Zen books. It has been the single most important book I've read without a doubt.

I've read a couple books by Shunryu Suzuki and found them very helpful. "Zen Mind Beginners Mind" is a book I read and reread many times, each time getting a bit more out of it.

I honestly don't know anything about Seung Sahn or Sawaki or other contemporary teachers. My teacher was Joshu Sasaki Roshi.

When I first started looking into Zen, I was a bit paranoid. Having been raised by very strict atheists who put down all things religions or spiritual, I wanted to be sure I was on the right track of authentic Zen and not in danger of ending up in a cult.

I decided very early on that reading books that have been tested by centuries of time was the safest and so I avoided most modern authors for the first 2 years.

If you enjoy ancient literature, I highly recommend reading a couple of the old sutras. They are often easier to read than some modern shit and they are AMAZING considering how long ago they were written.

My favorites so far as the Surangama Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra.

First, check out the directories on DharmaNet and BuddhaNet. If you're lucky you'll find someplace close to you. If you're really lucky you'll find a good teacher who you connect with. I think that is important. My practice gained a new depth once I found a teacher.

If you're not so lucky, there are still great resources out there. Both the websites I mentioned above have a lot of good stuff on them. One of my favorites is Buddhism in a Nutshell.

If you're willing to spend the money (or have a good library system) two of my favorite books are Mindfulness in Plain English and What the Buddha Taught. Personally, I recommend buying both of them.

Mindfulness in Plain English is an amazing "how to" guide to get you meditating. In the absence of a teacher this will take you quite a ways. What the Buddha Taught is very much from the Theravada perspective and is a fantastic introduction to the most important concepts. It can be a bit textbookish at time but it well worth the read.

Opening the Hand of Thought and Zen Mind, Beginners Mind have both been very helpful to me. Especially the second one, but the first one is a little easier to understand.

In Zen, there's sort-of an oddity. How-tos are often blended with Introductory texts. Both of those books have sections that describe the practice of Zazen more then sufficiently enough to begin.

There's also the r/buddhism and r/zen subreddits, which both have plenty of helpful recommendations and explanations.

Good luck :)

SO MANY!

["Lies my Teacher Told Me"] (http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0743296281) by James Loewen. This is about how the world really works, basically. It's all about history and politics and economics and how world powers interact with each other and their own population. It's incredibly eye-opening and will make you understand why everything is the way it is today! It's also ridiculously fun to read :D

["The Quantum and the Lotus by"] (http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Lotus-Journey-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383171898&sr=1-1&keywords=the+quantum+and+the+lotus) by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan. This is a super fascinating read! It's actually a transcribed conversation between a Buddhist who became a quantum physicist and a physicist who left science and became a Buddhist! It's this AMAZING look into complicated science and it's explained in such simple terms anyone can understand it. But beyond that, it's this really fascinating glimpse into a world where science and spirituality can co-exist. It's like science explaining spirituality, or spirituality giving a wholesome quality to science. It's just so unique and amazing!

["The Power of Myth"] (http://www.amazon.com/Power-Myth-Joseph-Campbell/dp/0385418868/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383172215&sr=1-3&keywords=joseph+campbell) by Joseph Campbell. If you can, read EVERYTHING by this guy that you can get your hands on! This book is especially poignant because it's addressing all of the aspects of our modern day society, from religion to gangs to marriage, even education. It is incredibly powerful and eye-opening and explains so much about the way we work as humans and the way the individual interacts with society. Plus, you'll learn a shit ton about mythology that you never knew before! And you'll be looking at mythology from a ridiculously profound perspective that I've never seen anyone else address before.

I can give you more if you tell me what you're interested in learning more about :)

EDIT: Typos.

I'm not against therapy at all, but might I suggest another angle? Meditation.

If you really want to get better as you say you do, find a zen practice center and learn to sit. Meditation is all about opening up space in your mind and learning to observe it. It's a long process, but very enlightening since the beggining.

If you'd like to start by reading a book, I'd like to suggest this one. It's very simple and straightforward. You don't have to be a buddhist to read it.

This video is incredible too. Watch it right now. It goes straight to the point. Alan Wallace is a very wise dude.

+++

If you don't mind me saying, by your description it seems like you just might suffer from Borderline personality disorder. Get yourself a professional opinion on this.

Thanks for your response Shuun. I've been exposed to these by this book (get the audio if you can as Ben Kingsley's read is wonderful). https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Buddhas-Teaching-Transforming-Liberation/dp/0767903692

Ty has done a lovely job updating the precepts for modern living too including things like how what you eat effects the climate of the world and how sensory entertainment effects right mind.

Anyhow, I am definitely putting these into practice daily, it's definitely a process which is why I was meant to find the word Kenshō.

In the chan tradition, they have what are known as an Upāsaka a lay person who abides by the precepts without need for ordaining or staying within the temple. This is definitely the middle path I'm taking.

Perhaps I should have said "the way the mind works". True they may not have made direct statements about the biology of the brain, but many sutra's were written about the way the mind functions for sure. As for how it relates to modern science a good start is the book Zen and the Brain by James Austin http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Brain-Understanding-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/0262511096. Theres also the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/ which has some very useful info. Another good example is this book http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Lotus-Journey-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382480784&sr=1-1&keywords=quantum+lotus

Oh wow. As to specific books. Hmm. That's sort of all over the place but each one had something to offer. The ones I remember are:

• Conversations with God books 1 and 2.
  
  
• The Power of Now
  
  
• Sacred Heart Yoga
  
  
• Change You Aura Change Your Life
  
  
• Children Who Remember Previous Lives
  
  
• Old Souls
  
  
• Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment
  
  
• A New Earth
  
  
• Practicing the Power of Now
  
  
• The Chakra Deck and The Walking Deck
  
  
• Some books by Doreen Virtue
  
  
• Some books by Deepak Chopra
  
  Books on my list to read:
  
  
• The Mind Made Prison
  
  
• The Untethered Soul
  
  
• The 7 Ancient Keys to Happiness
  
  
• Zen and the Perception of Happiness
  
  
• Making Sense of People
  
  
• The End of Your World
  
  
• Flow
  
  
• Starting from the End
  
  
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dummies
  
  I have also dabbled in the study of Zen and a few types of Buddhism, Tao, other Eastern Religions and philosophies as well as some Western religions, ho'oponopono, mindfulness and reiki.
  
  Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle have some good techniques for separating yourself from your ego.

No, you are not destined to eternal suffering. All religions hold some parts of the Truth, some more than others. It is not an easy path to walk, but its a rewarding one. I've even heard of people talk of how Christ's sacrifice paid for our bad karma--not that I think that myself, but its out there.

Check out the Unitarian Universalist Association. They may be able to help you. Its the best place I can think of short of a university campus that will have people who know what they're talking about from many different outlooks.

This book might be of help as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Living-Buddha-Christ-Thich-Nhat/dp/1573225681

I know there's a UUA Church in Dublin, but I dont know about one of your side of the border. There are Unitarian/Universalist Christian Churches in NI, but no UUA ones I can think of. Maybe they can help you as well. Its gets confusing, but if you can find a UUA church I think it'll help you a lot. Mine has both Buddhist and Christian groups on Church grounds.

There are several popular 'flavors' of Buddhism, but unfortunately I have not read any general overview books covering all of the sects. Most of my generalized knowledge has come from podcasts like Buddhist Geeks and Zencast. Gil Fronsdal and Jack Kornfield are both enjoyable to listen to.

But back to books!

The most accessible Zen book I've read was Nishijima's To Meet The Real Dragon. Other overviews like Alan Watt's What Is Zen and Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind are good but a little obtuse.

And while I can't give it a general recommendation because the writing style isn't for everyone, I really enjoyed Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up.

Of those mentioned, I would go with To Meet the Real Dragon unless you prefer a much more informal style -- then I would pick Hardcore Zen.

To attain right view is to really understand by experience (wisdom) the teaching of the four noble truths.

Right resolve/intention, would be that the backbone of your practice and desire to learn more about buddhism etc, is to help ease the suffering of all beings (including yourself).

Right action, speech, livelihood are basically that you behave accordingly with right view and intention. Etc etc.

Honestly i dont like the way of separating each into groups like that. All the eightfold path are completely related and dependent on one another. To have one, you need them all.

Here's a book recommendation. Great thich nhat hanh book, that does a phenomenal job explaining the core teachings.

https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Buddhas-Teaching-Transforming-Liberation/dp/0767903692

Here's a brief series of videos, a few minutes each, of Thich Nhat Hanh discussing the Buddhist concepts of the Buddha, karma, dharma, nirvana, impermanence, eternalism/nihilism, and meditation from his own very naturalistic perspective.

Nhat Hanh has studied Buddhist scriptures extensively, especially the earliest ones thought to have been transmitted with the fewest errors like the Satipatthana and Anapanasati Suttas, and developed his own lineage with an emphasis on openness, non-attachment to views, and freedom of thought. If that sounds like something you may be interested in then be sure to check out http://plumvillage.org/, or perhaps his overview of Buddhism recommended in the FAQs, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching

I don't think there's anything wrong with interfaith dialogue, but reddit is probably not the best place for it. This would probably work best as a panel discussion, of which there are numerous examples on youtube.

I'm not familiar with Quaker views, but the Three marks of existence: anicca, dukkha, and anatta would make God, Christ, the soul, and salvation as presented in traditional Christianity rather moot.

What the Buddha Taught is a great book for understanding the Buddhist view. I also like chapter 3 of Meido Moore's book The Rinzai Zen Way, titled "Zen and Abrahamic Faiths" for another take on this topic.

There is indeed debate among Buddhists, but Dependent Origination, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Three Marks are difficult to dispute since the Buddha himself taught them.

How one would reconcile these teachings with traditional Christian views of an eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing God and all of the individual souls that must be "saved" is quite a puzzle. Perhaps the Quaker view is different.

If you want to learn about Buddhism, check out What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula for a fantastic overview of the teachings. Otherwise if you will have access to the internet check out Access To Insight as it has nearly the entire Tipitaka online, as well as loads of study guides, etc.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell is a really interesting read about comparative mythology and the basic themes of a hero's journey in nearly every story we find.

Faust by Goethe is one of the most incredible books I have ever read from a writing standpoint. I think I heard that part of the reason he wrote it was to show how beautiful of a language German can be, though that may be just a rumor, or I could have fabricated the whole idea. Regardless it truly is beautifully written.

And as others have pointed out, Hermann Hesse is a great author, and my personal favorite. Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, Demian, Narcissus and Goldmund, his Fairy Tails, and the Glass Bead Game/Magister Ludi are all incredible novels. As well as Journey to the East, but I feel like to get the most out of that story, you should read his other stuff first.

I'm in a similar situation and after having looked around a bit I've put these two books on my Christmas list. (My family still celebrates the holiday and I look at it more as a time for giving and being with Family.)

• Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Reps and Senzaki
  
• The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh
  
  If anyone here as any specific praise or criticism of either of these books as starters I would love to hear it. I'm also reading electronic copies of Mindfulness in Plain English and Zen and the Brain.

Thanks for the link. Looks interesting.

There might be a bit of rebuilding concentration, but not much in my experience. The key for Leigh's method is feedback loops. Once the mind has found a pleasant object to focus on, it stops chasing after other sensations, and it allows itself to get absorbed with little effort. This in turn deepens the pleasant sensation which in turn deepens absorption and so on. Leigh's method works.

I don't know enough about Rasmussen and Snyder to say much, but it is possible that they are talking about a deeper level of absorption that can be cultivated...where you stop hearing sounds around you, and the senses are almost or completely withdrawn. This (I think) requires a different approach than Leigh's.

But, the lighter jhanas are enough to get the work done. (some people say you only really need access concentration). If you'd like to hear from a more experienced practitioner about the subtleties we're dancing around here, check out Upasaka Culadasa's retreat on the Jhanas.

edit: And Pa-Auk wrote the foreword to Wisdom Wide and Deep. Which is great. And so I'm remembering that he does emphasize the deeper absorptions.

As a 7w8 ENTP - I find other ENTPs and INTPs annoying if their ideas aren't rooted in practicality. I often also find them willdly speculative. If we can't realize this vision, whats the point? I mean, that being said, I love talking about things just to talk about it, but I still kind of have an end goal. I enjoy talking about radical ideas and systems as a way to change my reality and affect the way I live or do things.

For example, quantam mechanics, relatively useless study for the common person. But I disagree. Quantam mechanics shows that even our greatest scientists, have been wrong. We conceptualize reality to such an extent that our belief blinds us to other perspectives. I care about quantam mechanics because it shows us that reality is much different than we believe. I feel that having such fundamental consensuses about reality affect us personally as people. That is how quantam mechanics is applicable to me. Well, I did read a book connecting quantam theory with buddhism so I may be biased. (Mutual causality, if you're interested)

Space travel? Worm holes? I don't give a fuck about that really. Unless you can connect these to a broader talk about human consciousness and an affect that can have on me or society. Don't care. I could learn about it, sure. But I'm not going to learn in depth to the extent that I could explain it to someone else.

That's where a 7w8s pragmatism comes into play. A 7w8 not only wants to dream, they want to realize their dreams, while a 7w6 or E6 ENTP is going to be more content staying within their heads moreso. A 7w8 wants to see it happen.

I haven't read Mindfulness in Plain English either, but I've heard good things. I found Zen Meditation in Plain English by Buksbazen to be a helpful intro. For more inspiration than instruction, I liked Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Suzuki.

Thich Nhat Hanh's The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching is a really wonderful primer I discovered recently. My own introduction was the free podcast by Gil Fronsdal. He's a terrific speaker and communicates from an easy Western perspective.

thank you again for your replies; very well articulated, very helpful to me

I would like to ask you for your favorite resources on how to enhance mindfulness/awareness.

Mine are E Tolle's The Power Of Now and Stillness Speaks.

I listened to Alan Watts Out Of Your Mind and Do You Do It or Does It Do You?: How to Let the Universe Meditate You, and read his The Way Of Zen. I liked the book very much, did not enjoy much the audios. I went right back to listening to E Tolle audiobooks, mainly his TPON.

Also, I am reading the The Zen Teaching of Huang Po

What about you? What do you definitely think I should listen to or read?

The best part of Buddhism is the experience of the teachings. In my opinion, that either happens through faith or with the help of a teacher, so in that context, reading about Buddhism is much like talking about sex - doesn't really do it. That said, here is my favorite book on the foundations of good practice: Chagdud Tulku's, Gates to Buddhist Practice.

>However, the real question is: "Even if I knew the answer to that question, would it affect my decision making while I am alive?". As far as I am concerned: "No it would not". Therefore, the whole dilemma is irrelevant, for me. Or as in the link you posted: "This questions belongs to the category to: best put aside."

Yep, I think so. Thank you for the reminder on Sapolsky, he is brilliant. I watched something like 10 episodes of that series a few years ago. His Behave has been sitting untouched on my bookshelf for quite some time so maybe it's time to give it a look?

As Culadasa's approach in TMI jives well with you, you might also find that Joanna Macy's Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural Systems of interest. He has recommended it emphatically a number of times.

Hello! Like you, I am relatively new to the path. Probably the most helpful book I have read so far in terms of "getting" Buddhist beliefs and concepts down in an easy to understand way has been The World of Tibetan Buddhism by the Dalai Lama.

Although I don't follow Tibetan Buddhism, it has been immensely helpful in my journey and is a pretty interesting read on its own!

If paying shipping doesn't bother you, check out used books on Amazon. Lots of people would rather pass a book along to the next reader than throw it away, and some people sell books just for the tiny profit they can make on Amazon's shipping fee, so there are a lot of used books that go for basically free + shipping. Here are some good deals:

• An Introduction to Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki, $0.32 plus shipping
  
• The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, $0.01 plus shipping
  
• What the Buddha Taught, $0.91 plus shipping
  
• How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life, by H.H. the Dalai Lama, $0.18 plus shipping

These two are good for all levels: A book on the Tao, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are by Byron Katie. For using journaling to support meditation: Quiet Mind, Open Heart. Lots of thought provoking questions, as well as meditation practices.

For people who have practiced a while: The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment. It can really help give direction beyond basics.

• Focused and Fearless. A Meditator's Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity by Shaila Catherine. Beginning to Intermediate.
  
• Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond. A Meditator's Handbook. by Ajahn Brahm. All Levels.
  
• The Attention Revolution. Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind by B. Alan Wallace. All Levels.
  
• The Open-Focus Brain. Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body. by Les Fehmi. Beginner.
  
• Emptiness Dancing. by Adyashanti. Intermediate.
  
• The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment by Adyashanti. Intermediate/Advanced.

I have no qualifications to answer your question, but I went through the same search as well and was very happy to be guided toward this book by Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught. It's designed to be friendly to a Western newcomer while also laying a very thorough groundwork (also includes well-translated original texts as appendices and points you toward other sources for further reading if you want to dig deeper).

The foundations of buddhism by Rupert Gethin is a good start. I think it provides a very solid ground to build upon, as it provides historical information on the development of buddhism, aswell as doctrinal information on both theravada and mahayana. It's basic, or rather, it's written for beginners, but it still contains a lot of very good information. It has very good reviews on amazon too (link), so many people evidently like the book.

American Theravada monk Bhikkhu Bodhi is a well read writer and has some of works available for free on this website.

I'd also pick up a book about Therevadan buddhism as its considered the least liberal and closer to the source material (yes, this is arguable). Bodhi has a book on this subject. Rahula's "What The Buddha Taught" I find to be very readable and an easy intro into the life and teachings of Buddha.

Per usual, the wikipedia entry on him is good too.

/atheist who likes to study religion, if you're interested in my criticisms please pm me

Okay, I will tell you some things about me.

First, I ghosted everyone that knew me as a Blue Pill guy. Now, an inherent part of ghosting is being alone. When most people tell you they are independent, it's fucking bullshit. Emerson wrote a great deal on self-reliance.

Here is an essay by Emerson on the subject of self-reliance. It is both a great introduction to his views and how beautifully he writes.
http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm

Here is a collection of Emerson's essays. Ignore the 1 star review, which is for the Kindle version of the book, but heed it and buy the physical book instead of the Kindle version.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1598530844/

Emerson was friend and mentor to Thoreau, who wrote the following account of his two-year stay in a cabin near Walden Pond. One of Thoreau's goals was self-sufficiency.
http://www.amazon.com/Walden-A-Fully-Annotated-Edition/dp/0300104669

Here is some further reading.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0762415339/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1492777862/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0199291152/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0802150926/

You mention you are going to be a radiographer soon. Now, I have seen said on TRP that some here do not see the point in film, but I fucking love film. Now, there is one film in particular that I think relates to your situation incredibly. That is Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ikiru/
Ikiru is about a Japanese man who, near the end of his life, learns he has a terminal disease. He has, up to that point, wasted his whole life at his government job. Learning of his illness inspires in the main character a will to change, and seeing him undergo that inspires change in those around him. But, and this is another lesson to be learned from the film, we see that the main character's transformation has no lasting effect on those around him. Change has to come from within.

Another film seriously worth watching is Whiplash. I saw it mentioned in this subreddit in passing and am glad I did.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7d_jQycdQGo

If you want me to elaborate on the things that I didn't, ask. I have a lot more film recommendations, but cannot recommend any more books, as I do not read that much. I don't recommend any music as I would consider most of what I listen to to be blue pill.

> I don't think the zen characters expressed any metaphysical views, or conceptual explanations in their teachings. Logic, yes, to expose hypocrisy but not to try to support or clarify Mazu’s position.
> Mazu points. What is pointed at (the moon) is inherently a mystery. Zen is experienced non verbally, non conceptually.
> Zongmi is building conceptual models, truths, a philosophical and metaphysical synthesis, verbal descriptions of reality. This is not what Mazu, Dongshan, or their followers were doing.

So Zongmi was really more of an academic himself, than a zen student.
Academia is not about emulating zen masters (or even students), but about gathering accurate information regarding their history and concepts.
Like academics in other fields, e.g. biology, are not trying to emulate animals either.
Since this seems to be what Zongmi was also trying to do, it makes sense that he would be one of the most important sources.

>Though Zongmi was not character within the zen stories and conversations, you may enjoy reading Foyan, Instant Zen https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Zen-Waking-Up-Present/dp/1556431937 in the sense that Foyan spends a lot of time disabusing Zongmi's followers (not his immediate followers, but the institutional results of Zongm's point of view, which prevailed in Song period Chan Orthodoxy) of which Foyan is critical, and expounds upon.

I've read Foyan already (a year ago or so). I don't remember too much, though.
Maybe I'll reread it when I have time, trying to see how his teaching is actually a reaction to the conceptualized zen of people following
academics Zongmi.

• Yuttadhammo Bhikkhu has lots of videos and covers tons of stuff. He does weekly videos explaining scriptures and frequently does Q&A. Check out his most popular videos for beginner stuff. Watch his videos for tips on meditation.
  
  
• The Heart of Buddha's Teachings by Thicht Nhat Hanh and What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula are going to be the two most recommending books you'll hear from most people in this sub. I've only read Thicht Nhat Hanh's book, I can can definitely vouch for that.
  
  
• This is a basic quick read guide covering the fundamentals. Here is the Noble Eightfold Path in more detail. and this is an archive of Dharma talks by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Each of these sites contain other good info, so I encourage you to do some exploring
  
  

Thanks!

I don't think the zen characters expressed any metaphysical views, or conceptual explanations in their teachings. Logic, yes, to expose hypocrisy but not to try to support or clarify Mazu’s position.

Mazu points. What is pointed at (the moon) is inherently a mystery. Zen is experienced non verbally, non conceptually.

Zongmi is building conceptual models, truths, a philosophical and metaphysical synthesis, verbal descriptions of reality. This is not what Mazu, Dongshan, or their followers were doing. Later, expecially in the Song period, people who claimed to be in the lineage of Mazu and Dongshan had essentially hijacked the lineage name in order to teach a new Buddhist synthesis, based largely on what Zongmi had done:

>Zongmi's lifelong work was the attempt to incorporate differing and sometimes conflicting value systems into an integrated framework that could bridge not only the differences between Buddhism and the traditional Taoism and Confucianism, but also within Buddhist theory itself.

Zongmi was classifying the finger, not looking at the moon. His interests had nothing to do with zen. And yet Zongmi's work provides the

>"most valuable sources on Tang dynasty Zen. There is no other extant source even remotely as informative"

according to Broughton, who speaks for all modern Buddhist Religious Studies department academia in this regard.

I also addressed some of this in a recent conversation with grass skirt, a Buddhist academic Phd candidate:

https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/4u2v6d/hating_ewk/d5nf9ns?context=3

>point me to some other book or website ..... that clarify's Zongmi's interpretation of Mazu

Though Zongmi was not character within the zen stories and conversations, you may enjoy reading Foyan, Instant Zen https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Zen-Waking-Up-Present/dp/1556431937 in the sense that Foyan spends a lot of time disabusing Zongmi's followers (not his immediate followers, but the institutional results of Zongm's point of view, which prevailed in Song period Chan Orthodoxy) of which Foyan is critical, and expounds upon.

> You stop to think (or focus on your breath if you can't simply stop thinking) and when thoughts arise you observe that you're thinking about something as if someone has shoved an object in front of your face

One should not try to stop thinking, that is a futile effort, like turning off fire with fire. Also by imagining thoughts are being shoved in front of your face you're highlighting their intrusion, that is no good either. It is best to realize that thoughts will come, and when they do gently become aware of them and then focus back on your breathing. Without anger, without judgement, coming back to the here and now.

That is the muscle you exercise, the ability of getting out of your head and coming back to the now. With practice you'll be able to do this effortlessly without even trying, to the point where you live in the here and now permanently without going back into your head full of fear and doubts.

When you see that approach anxiety is only the act of being in your head and not in the present moment with a woman. You can see how the ability to leave that state at will can be beneficial to Game.

Here is the best book on the subject for anyone who wishes to learn how its done from a Master. Shunryu Suzuki is the Japanese Zen Master who brought Zen practice to the United States. It's a small book, contains no theology or religion, just practice:

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind |
---------|
In one of the best and most succinct introductions to Zen practice, the important teacher Shunryu Suzuki discusses posture and breathing in meditation as well as selflessness, emptiness, and mindfulness. |

The Words of My Perfect Teacher is a great book on the preliminary practices in the Nyingma tradition. The preliminaries aren't much different from tradition to tradition, so it's pretty applicable regardless of the school. This book will give you a crystal clear idea of what your practice would be like for the first X,XXX hours of practice if you happen to begin a Vajrayana practice.

If you're keen on Dzogchen, you could also check out The Crystal and the Way of Light.

The source: Words of My Perfect Teacher by Patrul Rinpoche

>The Words of My Perfect Teacher was composed by the great Nyingma master, Patrul Rinpoche. The work is an explanation of the Longchen Nyingtik ngöndro, the preliminary practices from the Longchen Nyingtik cycle of teachings, discovered by Jikmé Lingpa. This famous commentary is a completely faithful written record of the oral teachings Patrul Rinpoche received directly from his teacher, Jikmé Gyalwé Nyugu.

Here's a free PDF of Bhikkhu Bodhi's Noble Eightfold Path book. If you can get your hands on a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh's Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, it's an excellent complement to Bodhi's book, and expands on the 8fold path and other Buddhist teachings in a very accessible way.

I always recommend engaging with primary source works (translated, naturally...), but some people are not ready to grapple with Yuanwu's collection of koans or with Linji yet.

Some initial works to start out:

• The Way of Zen, by Alan Watts
  
• Buddhism is Not What You Think, by Steve Hagen
  
• The Taoteching (the Taoist classic - Taoism is the mother of Zen)
  
• What the Buddha Taught (a primer on classic Buddhism - Buddhism is the father of Zen)
  
• Headless experiments inspired by Douglas Harding
  
  If you've worked through (one or more of) those and want more, some primary works I recommend:
  
  
• The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma
  
• The Platform Sutra, by Huineng the 6th Patriarch of Zen
  
• The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po
  
  That will get you to a good level.

. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, who's a personal tutor to the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje as well as the four Kagyu regents (Tai Situ Rinpoche, Shamar Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and Gyaltsab Rinpoche) said:

"However, faith in one’s guru does not mean blind faith. It does not mean believing “My guru is perfect,” even though your guru is not perfect. It is not pretending that your guru’s defects are qualities. It is not rationalizing every foible of the guru into a superhuman virtue. After all, most gurus will have defects. You need to recognize them for what they are."

. The Dalai Lama stated:

"The problem with the practice of seeing everything the guru does as perfect is that it very easily turns to poison for both the guru and the disciple. Therefore, whenever I teach this practice, I always advocate that the tradition of “every action seen as perfect” not be stressed. Should the guru manifest un-dharmic qualities or give teachings contradicting dharma, the instruction on seeing the spiritual master as perfect must give way to reason and dharma wisdom."

"Therefore, as students, you should first watch and investigate thoroughly. Do not consider someone as a teacher or guru until you have certain confidence in the person’s integrity. This is very important. Then, second, even after that, if some unhealthy things happen, you have the liberty to reject them. Students should make sure that they don’t spoil the guru. This is very important.”

"What is in the best interest of the Buddhadharma is much more important than anything concerning an individual guru. Therefore, if it is necessary to criticize a guru to save the Buddhadharma or to benefit several hundred of their disciples, do not hesitate.
... It is essential to distinguish between two things: the person and their action. We criticize the action, not the person… Speaking out against the action does not mean that we hate the person… Thus, we may criticize a teacher’s abusive actions or negative qualities while we respect them as a person at the same time… Motivation is the key: speaking out of hatred or desire for revenge is wrong. However, if we know that by not speaking out, their bad behavior will continue and will harm the Buddhadharma, and we still remain silent, that is wrong."

"If students sincerely point out the faults of the guru and explain any contradictory behavior, this will, in fact, help the guru to correct that behavior and adjust any wrong actions."

. Mingyur Rinpoche said:

"Actions that are rooted in compassion and wisdom—even when they appear odd, eccentric, or even wrathful—do not instill fear or anxiety. They bring about a flowering of compassion and wisdom in the student. In other words, the results of genuine “crazy wisdom” are always positive and visible. When a teacher uses an extreme approach that is rooted in compassion, the result is spiritual growth, not trauma. Trauma is a sure sign that the “crazy wisdom” behavior was missing the wisdom to see what would truly benefit the student, the compassion that puts the student’s interest first, or both.

It is also worth noting that these extreme teaching styles we see in Vajrayana history took place in the context of a very mature spiritual bond between teacher and student. They were not all that common. Marpa didn’t make all of his students build stone towers. In fact, he treated his other students very differently from how he treated Milarepa.... Not only are these extreme teaching methods used only with very mature students and in the context of a relationship of stable trust and devotion, they are also a last resort. There are said to be four kinds of enlightened activity: peaceful, magnetizing, enriching, and wrathful. Wrathful activity is only used for those who are not receptive to more subtle approaches. So again, this style is not a norm, but something that is only employed in certain circumstances.

Thus we must distinguish teachers who are eccentric or provocative—but ultimately compassionate and skillful—from those who are actually harming students and causing trauma. These are two very different things, and it is important that we do not lump them together. There are plenty of teachers who push and provoke students to help them learn about their minds, but that is not abuse. Physical, sexual, and psychological abuse are not teaching tools."

The heart of the Buddhas teaching:Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation by him is a really good book. If you ever have time to read it I highly recommend it.

Zen is super confusing at times, which might frustrate the inquirer. Also, there's a lot of seemingly contradictory information, and a lot of the zen masters actually admonished meditation. Without context it's a little unclear as to why, aside from the fact that they didn't want their disciples to meditate for the sake of blissing out. That said, I'd wholly recommend this book, since it's very lucid:

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Essence-Shambhala-Dragon-Editions/dp/1570625883/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464891954&sr=8-1&keywords=zen+science+of+freedom

Foyan is featured in it, and his book is fantastic as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Zen-Waking-Up-Present/dp/1556431937/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464892102&sr=8-1&keywords=instant+zen

For something a little more challenging but great, go with:

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Teaching-Huang-Po-Transmission/dp/0802150926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464892139&sr=8-1&keywords=zen+teachings+of+huang+po

Have fun!

If anyone's interested about learning about Buddhism What the Buddha Taught is a fantastic book that really explains the religion.

That said, Thai Buddhism has some very strong Hindu influences and has some interesting qualities like animism that aren't found in a lot of other practicing Buddhist countries .

Please read this book, it will help you a lot: https://www.amazon.com/End-Your-World-Uncensored-Enlightenment/dp/1591797799. It's basically written for you - you will relate, just like I did.

What I learned from it is what you're experiencing is normal - he says most people lose it before they gain it for good. And even then it's somewhat possible to lose it haha. What he says is it's all part of the process, it's important not to fight it, not to resist it, because the more you fight something the more you get of it.

I don't feel I'm gonna lose it, but I could be wrong and I don't much care either way. I was already pretty happy before it happened through openness and honesty. I had 1.5 years of the worst depression in my life before I learned to be happy. I'm not in a position to give advice (I feel like a newborn), but if I was forced to, I'd say: don't sweat over it, "sweating" is what ego does best, don't give it that power.

As for me, I meditate every day for 20-30 minutes because I find it enjoyable and I like the process of quieting my mind. I am also going to Vipassana in about a month. Mostly I plan to just chill and unfold with the flow. I distinctly feel that the fear of losing it is counter-productive. It's all ego talking.

If you're looking for an overview of the concepts of Buddhism, I think reading would be better. Perhaps the short scholarly classic What the Buddha Taught or The Buddhist Handbook, a book that Altar_Spud recently recommended that looks like a great survey of Buddhism.

If you're looking for the practical application of Buddhism, especially as it applies to meditative practices, then I recommend the teachings of Gil Fronsdal. His seven part audio series, Buddist Meditation, provides a framework for the practice. There are other series in the left column if you want to further explore core teachings. There are also podcasts under the name of Audiodharma that are updated regularly, but cover all different aspects of the practice and are less concisely organized for a beginner.

Mindfulness, The Most Fundamental Skill is a Shinzen Young talk I found on Grooveshark that explains mindfulness in beautiful simplicity.

Yeah, but then some days I wonder if I'm such a nihilist that I would never even consider myself a nihilist. A potentially terrifying prospect! What can you do.

If you wanted, Zen Mind Beginner's Mind is a good, quick, accessible read. Basically its about knowing enough to know that you know nothing. I'm not sure how Jehovah's Witnesses feel about cross-pollination, but a lot of Christian sects, particularly those crazy Jesuits, integrate Zen into their practice since, as I've said, it's more of a practice than a belief system. I've even meditated with a Muslim friend, although I'm pretty sure any Imam would have considered that a no-no. I like your style.

All you have to do is sit quietly. Your parents cannot stop you from doing that.

I also recommend reading something short and freely available online like Buddha in Blue Jeans by Tai Sheridan. The eBook is free if you have the Kindle app on your phone or tablet.

http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Blue-Jeans-Extremely-Sitting-ebook/dp/B005ZZ2T2C

Otherwise you can Google it and read it on your computer for free.

No offense taken. :) Sure, It's not something I'd rely on for a doctoral dissertation, and the heady conclusions of a new paradigm caused my cynical alarm to go off, but took it as entertaining. I would not consider any parallels he draws as neat or clean by any stretch.

I'm also aware of books like the Tao of Physics and The Quantum and The Lotus...

I really enjoyed The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh. Could be another good one to help introduce you to some things.

There are a lot of different approaches to Buddhism.

Thich Nhat Hanh's The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation is a great introduction.

Refuge is a bit like Christian conversion, but more importantly it's a continuous thing. Every Vajrayana practice kicks off with taking Refuge for example, and it's also a practice in itself. Here's a teaching by Chögyam Trungpa on this topic. For a classical in depth look I recommend the relevant chapters in Gampopa's Jewel Ornament and Patrül Rinpoche's Words of My Perfect Teacher.

Hmm yes, the comparison you made is between a collection of discourses from Master Huangbo and a collection of Koans and stories. I can recommend really any more discourse oriented Chan teachings ranging from Master Foyan's "Instant Zen" to the recorded sayings of Master Linji. The Recorded sayings of Master Linji also include some interactions and stories, but also some clear discourses from the Master... the same with the Recorded sayings of Master Zhaozhou, which is mostly interactions and some discourses. Another one that you might find interesting is "Ch’an Master Hui Hai- Zen Teaching of Instantaneous Awakening" or The Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue.... but really, reading those discourses and not doing the practice won't be very helpful... hence the 'clear discourses' are rather rare since you should penetrate it yourself directly and not have it chewed out by those old grandmothers

please start by encouraging her to seek help from a mental health professional. a book is not going to help anyone truly depressed, no matter how enlightening it is.

that out of the way, I did find "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" helpful for dealing with anxiety and smaller bouts of depression.

best of luck to you.

Hey. As mentioned before, there are some different traditions so depending on your flavor of choice, there can be some minor differences. I tend to come from a Theravada approach. For me, the best intro book to Buddhism was "What the Buddha Taught" by W. Rahula (https://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313). For an online resource, my go to is Access to Insight: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/

Hope those help.

Peace,

-Dave

I would suggest reading a few zen books. Be careful, because some of the words are supposed to be vice grips that trap you, but you will read things that cause you to wonder, thus growing your mind, and zen is not about the religious aspects of Buddhism so much as the tangible, concrete, here-and-now perceptions of deeper and deeper wisdom. I can give you . . . four recommendations of zen books that I really enjoyed.

Zen Bridge

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Don't Be A Jerk

The Zen Teaching of Huang Po

Meditation is amazing. Usually instructions for beginners say that it's best to start by focusing on your breathing. Watching every in and out breath as if it were the most important thing in the world. Since you can watch your body, it can not contain you-the-watcher. You discover, as you already have, that you can watch your thinking mind and again, since you can watch it, it can not contain you. So where and what are you? Some meditation guides, like zen, suggest you keep your eyes a tiny bit open, without focusing on anything, because if you close your eyes, you get drift away from reality and according to zen, the purpose of meditation is to experience pure reality prior to conceptualization. It's important to remain grounded and to avoid abstraction. Watching the breath is a good technique for remaining grounded in reality. Congrats on a great beginning. Check out Shunryo Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. In this book, he calls the thinking mind "small mind" and the observer mind "big Mind". It provides a good starting point but you can read it over and over and get more out of it every time.

Personally, I am not familiar with the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, and certainly it is very different than the Pali version of Gautama's Maha-parinibbana.

I am skeptical, though, because the insistence that Buddha did indeed teach of the Self is characteristic of a rather small but vehement group of Buddhists whose affiliation with any lineage I know nothing. The only presence I have surmised is a shady connection of Amazon.com reviewers who post the same exact things under different pseudonyms. See, attadipa viharathi here. Or, Denise Anderson here.

The Self-espousing is a vanishingly small but vocal community in Buddhism, and I would really like to know more about their origination.

edit: I should note that, yes, I do see the similarity between my post re: the apparent eternal mental continuum of a Buddha in the Mahayana and the 'Light of the Soul' mentioned later. However, my curiosity is centered more around the apparent discrepancy between the positive assertions of those like the Dalai Lama and the (almost) absolute lack of reference to Atman-espousing suttas throughout the entire Buddhist corpus. I mean, it is (apparently) only a small, vocal group of 'Buddhists' that hold forth these suttas in opposition to conventional Buddhist dogmas.

If you are embracing suffering you're still doing it wrong, i suggest you read "the heart of buddha" , "a beginners mind", and "living christ living buddha" as both holistic teachers tought the same thing, but had different methods to help people obtain the goal of unlocking the door to the inner true self, conciousness, the shadow within.

Opening the hidden door in the bible: https://www.openbible.info/topics/doors

An entire website dedicated to finding the hidden door buddha talks about: https://www.buddhistdoor.net/features/the-all-knowing-buddha-a-secret-guide

If you think the bible is about "God" you still havent solved the riddle.

Maybe reading up on the ancient poet Rumi would be a nice place to look.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/5322592-1-one-went-to-the-door-of-the-beloved-and

You still havent found the door, youre embracing suffering rather than ending it.

Behind the door is a familure face, dont blink.

"Occasionally he stumbled over the truth but he always picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened. " (Winston Churchill)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0767903692/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_1u2SBbZ1N3G98

https://www.amazon.com/dp/159448239X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_aX2SBbYPPCCYE

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1721250093/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_9U2SBbJSXH2A6

The Preciousness of Human Birth is a good reminder for me. Walking and contemplating these ideas makes every step, every breath and every thought I have feel a bit like a miracle. I forget the name of the teachings they gave on retreat, but it was from this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Words-Perfect-Teacher-Translation-Introduction/dp/0300165323

I also find the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva to be very helpful on bad days.

Good luck to you.

If you are looking for good reading on Buddhism, I cannot recommend enough a book called, "The Way of the Bodhisattva", by Shantideva.

Another favorite is, " Gates to Buddhist Practice ", by Chagdud Tulku

( an excerpt )

Best of luck.

Uhm.. it all depends on what you want to write about!

1. Buddhism for Beginners
   
   
2. This may help too
   
   
3. This is a classic
   
   
4. Another good book
   
   Im sure google would help in your search as well

Ci sono diverse scuole buddiste con diverse interpretazioni dei sutra di Buddha e con pratiche diverse: le varie tibetane (più teorici ma anche meditazione), le varie scuole zen (più meditazione e koan), buddismo del s-e asiatico (mix strano), ecc...

Ti consiglio qualche titolo, magari leggili tutti, se leggi in inglese dovresti trovarli facilmente.

• Joyful Wisdom - E' più un'introduzione alla meditazione molto discorsiva che altro ma introduce anche i concetti più importanti del buddismo (relativismo, impermanenza, quattro nobili verità) in modo semplice. [tibetano]
  
• Buddhism without Beliefs - Ex monaco(tibet/zen coreano) di origini occidentali fa una critica costruttiva del buddismo tibetano, proponendo un approccio "secolare", in Confession of a Buddhist Atheist l'autore racconta la sua storia. [tibetano]
  
• Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Introduzione al buddismo zen, meditazione, molto bello. [Soto zen]
  
• Qualcosa di Thich Nhat Nahn tipo La pace è ogni respiro, tutti libri molto discorsivi (evita magari quelli con i titoli più banali) che più che parlare di buddismo introducono il modo di pensare. [zen s-e asia,vietnam]
  
• The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching - Altro libro di thn molto teorico con rimandi a diversi sutra. [tutte le scuole]
  
  Magari inizia da Zen Mind e Joyful Wisdom.

Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization manages to be scholarly without being dry. It's a really great in-depth look at this Sutta. It is extensively footnoted as well and gives a lot of great leaping-off points for further exploration.

The best general introductory work is The Foundations of Buddhism by Rupert Gethin: http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Buddhism-OPUS-Rupert-Gethin/dp/0192892231 It's very readable and is a thorough introduction to the history, practice, and theory of Buddhism. It's widely recommended as the first book you should read by scholars in the field. Starting with a solid rational and diverse understanding of Buddhism is definitely valuable.

Interesting. My question came up because of a book I am reading in an online group at the moment, Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization. In meditation, when I am aware of my thoughts, they do go away very quickly! As if they are running from my awareness. But how do I learn about their causes and conditions if they disappear so quickly? Maybe just more practice :-) Thank you for the offer to lend me the book. I would accept, but I am currently reading 3 Buddhism books right now instead of my school text books :-) Cheers

Honestly a lot Eastern religions are non-theist, like Buddhism or Taoism (I realize they certainly have mystic elements). But I would recommend checking out those religions. Here's a good book on Zen: http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Informal-Meditation/dp/0834800799

Depends what you mean by questioning your religion and heck what your religion is currently.

From my perspective the numbers are a nice thing to do if your mind tends to wander constantly.
Once you have a little space in your mind and there are moments with no distractions just pure presence, shifting to zen meditation or another breath based meditation would be a natural progression.

Here are the two best books on meditation I have ever used.
https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Shunryu-Suzuki/dp/1590308492/
https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Action-Yourself-Meditation-Awareness/dp/1611803535

I am sure you can find them free online too.

I read this book on Buddhism long ago. One thing I took from it was the idea of impermanence.

When you're happy, cherish that happiness because it won't always be there. When you're sad, just know that these bad moments will pass. Nothing is forever. That principle has helped me so much in life, and I'm super thankful for it.

You're welcome. Yes, there are tons of books. A lot of people start with What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula. There's also a great webite: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ You can find a lot of the early Buddhist suttas there, as well as essays about a very wide range of topics.

Ha, there is certainly an argument for that! I've been reading Buddhist books lately, you might find that linked one an interesting read. The Buddha said that free will is an illusion because all karmic actions are influenced by dukkha (loosely, suffering) - an enlightened one acts without karma/influence because they act from knowledge of Reality instead of the common constructed assumptions about reality.

Here's a book I wish I'd have found when I had my first experience like yours...

​

Enjoy the journey my friend.

Mindfulness is the primary means of purification of all activities; and the primary rubric for that is satipatthana: the foundations of mindfulness in the body, its feelings, the mind and mental objects.

In the Sutta Pitaka:

DN 22 - Maha-satipatthana Sutta: The Great Frames of Reference

MN 10 - Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: Frames of Reference

SN 47 - Satipatthana-samyutta - a chapter from the Samyutta Nikaya on the subject


AN 8.63 - Sankhitta Sutta: In Brief (Good Will, Mindfulness, & Concentration)

Some valuable secondary reading:

Soma Thera - The Way of Mindfulness: The Satipatthana Sutta and Its Commentary

Thanissaro Bhikkhu - Wings to Awakening, Part II.B: The Four Frames of Reference

Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo - Frames of Reference


Mahasi Sayadaw - Satipatthana Vipassana

Bhikkhu Analayo - Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization (this is a free version, it is also available in print or on Kindle)

What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula is a great book for the newcomer to Buddhism. If you'd like a free PDF version of it, here you go!

All you need is Love!

Speaking of love, how about this one?

Context: This comment is technically a reply to an excellent reply by /u/abhayakara, but geared more towards OP u/idigsquirrels. It just seems that a comment I wrote on another thread is highly relevant for this comment-thread. So I copy paste it below (it was reply to u/hlinha):

------

After 4 days: Thanks. I can see how it could appear that I am interested in that whole "self" debate. But I really am not :). For me, the most useful model to view "self" is emergence - self happens (vs self is). The experience of being a "self" emerges from mind-body firing in suitable patterns in the moment. Sometimes I experience self "normally". Sometimes I experience self as "everything I experience". Sometimes I do not experience self at all. Maybe there are more ways of experiencing self. In all cases, self happens in the moment as an emergent property happening over some lower level complexity.

How about belief of having a self / soul / consciousness that exists even after my mind-body dies? Emergence model explains how the experience of believing such a thing happens (it just emerges from a suitable firing pattern). If we limit the experience of anything emerging strictly from this particular biomass, it implies that there is no "life after death". However, we do not know what are the exact rules of any experience emerging. Therefore, we can not rule out the possibility of some form of "self" happening even after death.

However, the real question is: "Even if I knew the answer to that question, would it affect my decision making while I am alive?". As far as I am concerned: "No it would not". Therefore, the whole dilemma is irrelevant, for me. Or as in the link you posted: "This questions belongs to the category: best put aside."

Analogous view that possible existence of God(s) is irrelevant: Apatheism.

Actually, I find it quite fun/beautiful to view that emergence is "the" operating principle of the whole universe(s) on all levels of complexity. Therefore, it might as well be god :D

PS. On Stanford course Human Behavioral Biology, Robert Sapolsky made students practice emergence by simulating cellular automata. According to his experience, some students find it transformative. They are "just at peace". Youtube links:

21. Chaos and Reductionism

22. Emergence and Complexity

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Later, /u/hlinha added:

>As Culadasa's approach in TMI jives well with you, you might also find that Joanna Macy's Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural Systems of interest. He has recommended it emphatically a number of times.

A few good books:

Pali suttas:
http://www.amazon.com/Buddhas-Words-Anthology-Discourses-Teachings/dp/0861714911

Overview of the Mahayana:
http://www.amazon.com/An-Open-Heart-Practicing-Compassion/dp/0316930938

Bodhicitta:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Expand-Love-Widening-Relationships/dp/0743269691

Shunyata:
http://www.amazon.com/How-See-Yourself-You-Really/dp/0743290461

Perfection of wisdom sutras: Heart Sutra:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Heart-Understanding-Commentaries-Prajnaparamita/dp/1888375922

Diamond Cutter sutra:
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-That-Cuts-Through-Illusion/dp/1935209442

3 principle aspects of the path:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Principal-Aspects-Path/dp/1559393505

Zen:
http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Shunryu-Suzuki/dp/1590308492

may not be the original place he wrote this, but I know I read it in here as well.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Quantum-Lotus-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333420840&sr=8-1

Edit: it's a good read for anyone interested in physics and Buddhism

> How do the tathāgatagarbha ideas fit into the Madhyamaka

You'll find a lot of background on this from one of the most popular Buddhist teachers around - Thich Nhat Hanh. In particular refer to his book Zen Keys, and his seminal book The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching. He also goes into quite some depth about Yogacara in his book Understanding the Mind.

Maybe your ambition is to just sit there. Maybe you should look into Buddhism and travel the globe and hone your meditation craft. Find peace within you.

Edit: since this is getting upvotes, I'll put some more advice in here. If you're looking to get into Buddhism, which personally I find to be so very very fulfilling. It teaches inner peace and happiness. I read about Buddhism during a very rough time in my life, where I was trying to find something or someone to blame on the problems. Buddhism taught me that anger, hatred & sadness are reactionary emotions. By reacting in that way towards those feelings, I am myself creating the anger and hatred. It taught me to look at every situation from other points of views. I was made angry by XYZ but their actions that cause my anger was because they had a shitty day and took it out on me, etc etc. It's my reaction that I can control, and it's my reaction that causes the anger and sadness.

The book that I read was by Thich Nhat Hanh and is titled The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation and/or Old Path White Clouds. I included a link to purchase on amazon. My best friend recently went through some trying times and I shipped him this book. I really recommend it to anyone going through struggle, or if you'd just like to see ways to handle stress.

Edit 2: So the book I suggested just went from around #2,300 on Amazon to #409 since the post. Reddit, that's pretty damn cool.

Here are a few books that opened my mind to questioning reality, and a few books that I've read to help me understand this shift in consciousness I've been going through.

1. https://www.amazon.com/Book-Taboo-Against-Knowing-Who/dp/0679723005
   
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Insecurity-Message-Age-Anxiety/dp/0307741206/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7Y1AS7AQTH1C1NRRCDQ7
   
   
3. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (don't let the commercialization of that book strip you from believing it to be authentic; plenty of profound truths in that!)
   
   
4. The Law of One
   
   
5. https://www.amazon.com/Falling-into-Grace-Suffering-Adyashanti/dp/B00MF18YFU/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1497199153&sr=1-2&keywords=adyashanti+falling+into+grace
   
   
6. https://www.amazon.com/End-Your-World-Uncensored-Enlightenment/dp/1591797799/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1497199264&sr=1-1&keywords=adyashanti+the+end+of+your+world
   
   I highly suggest, whenever you're going for a long drive or walk out in the park, taking out your phone and searching "Adyashanti" in the YouTube search bar. There are tons of profound talks by him, all on this subject. He has changed my life and opened my mind hugely. Enjoy!

> I used to practice zen

You didn’t. What you did was some mind relaxation to not lose your cool.

If you’re interested in zen, I recommend you to dive deeper into the topic.

Would it help you with your housemate problem? Oh boy, you have no idea what’s waiting for ya :D

1. [Blue Cliff Record] (https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cliff-Record-Thomas-Cleary/dp/159030232X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479373811&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+cliff+record)
by the Cleary brothers.

The preface will provide you a good introduction to the history of zen. Plus, insights into the lineage of the masters.

This book is actually a collection of koans. But my advice is: Don't jump into cold water. Make yourself familiar with the background first (preface's).

2. [Zen Essence] (https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Essence-Shambhala-Dragon-Editions/dp/1570625883/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479374319&sr=8-1&keywords=zen+essence+thomas+cleary) by Thomas Cleary.

Cleary provides quotes/ sayings from the masters referring to “topics” or “questions”, like “Zen Teaching?”, “Basis of Zen?”, “Summary of Zen Practice?”.

I think this approach is very helpful for people who want to get introduced to Zen, in terms of “What the hell is this shit about?” -- good guy Thomas Cleary!

3. Gateless Gate
by Robert Aiken.

This is rather a workbook for the practitioner than literature regarding zen.

I haven’t read the book I’ve linked to, but in my opinion, starting with the Mumonkan without any notes or comments from contemporary scholars/ students/ teachers/ translators is not the right approach. Use the commentaries from Aitken only as an orientation or a hint. The meaning itself has to be found by you!

I have found meditation to be extremely helpful, but I don't schedule it or anything. I use it to get in touch with how I'm feeling. The best way is with some chill music, and a quiet environment.

This book helped me a lot:
http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Blue-Jeans-Extremely-Sitting-ebook/dp/B005ZZ2T2C

Welcome to adulthood: that awkward moment where you realize that you actually know more about the world than your parents (instead of just thinking you do, like most teens).

I feel your pain. My mom, who has never been religious, announced recently that she wants to be a Buddhist. I guess she's reading this book. I'm doing my best to point out to her that the parts of both Christianity and Buddhism which are worth keeping, are universally true, and have nothing to do with the religions themselves.

Given your interest in the topic I think you'd really enjoy this book. He talks about this sort of thing way better than I do.

The problem is that primary sources are almost invariably misunderstood or taken in a shallow perspective if one is not also receiving guidance and doing practice. When the teachings are put into perspective through direct experience, which happens through the correct application of effort and activity, then they can gradually be digested. But trying to get it from a book often enough has something of an opposite effect: the mind gets hung up on concepts and less able to perceive truth directly.

If you insist on reading, I implore you to avoid koan collections until you are actually trained in the practice and assigned the work by your teacher. Speculation about koans is the worst of the worst, a common hell-pit of Zen, which we see so often on these very forums. It not only creates a huge block for the one doing the speculating, it muddies the waters for countless others dipping their toes in. Speculation leads to false pride, posturing, and a house of cards that at some point will be torn down.

Two original texts that come to mind as basis for the study of Zen are The Zen Teaching Of Bodhidharma translated by Red Pine, and The Zen Teaching Of Huang Po translated by John Blofeld.

Bodhidharma was the First (Chinese) Patriarch of Zen. His teaching is quite foundational. The teaching of Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch, was quite formative and represented an evolution from Bodhidharma's view, but without commentary it tends to be less accessible than that of the later Master Huang Po. By Huang Po's time, Zen had already evolved a great deal, and had split into factions with their own perspectives, training, and method.

Note that the Huang Po translator, Blofeld, sometimes gets the concept wrong, because he himself hadn't achieved that depth of training and insight. The translation suffers from shallow view at times; but someone experienced in right practice can trace the words back to their original intent and make sense of the translation.

Other primary sources from the Golden Age Of Zen include the aforementioned Hui Neng, Pai Chang, Hui Hai, and Ta Hui. Very evolved teachings can be found with Chinul in Korea and, sometimes considered the peak, Dogen in Japan. Several others along the way left their distinctive mark, such as Hakuin.

To distinguish between the teachings and understand them in a way that is useful for practice and life, first, receiving teaching and making gradual progress in practice are essential; second, understanding the difference between the three types of Zen (Patriarchal/Ancestral, Doctrinal, and Tathagata) would be very helpful. This is where the western-white-people commentators come in, bridging the gap between a view that is by nature beyond words, and the mind of the common person seeking to understand -- including the rigid or naive conceptualization of those who haven't yet made much progress in practice.

Please take to heart that a minute of practice is better than ten hours of reading, and that "one time seeing is better than a thousand times hearing". We shake our heads at those who try to get something beyond words by pursuing words.

Be aware of r/Buddhism as a resource. I recommend avoiding r/zen, which has devolved into a shitty mire of confusion, speculation, and posturing.