Our society is incredibly unhealthy, far more unhealthy than it is possible for most people to understand. You are beginning to realize this and "wake up", and it can be scary. You have been programmed with all these unhealthy patterns that make living a sheer misery and a terror, but you are expected to act as if nothing is wrong. It's very tricky to climb out of a hole like this.

Where are your bright spots? Do you have any good friends? Any communities you belong to? What are your dreams and passions in life?

The best thing I can recommend is Chogyam Trungpa's three-part series The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma. It is a complete guide to all of the aspects of Buddhist practices to end suffering and create a happy life. If you read and master any one of these three books, your problems will end. Very practical:

• Hinayana: The Path of Individual Liberation is the basics of Buddhism, meditation, clearing the mind and letting go of things which harm us
  
  
• Mahayana: The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion is the "second turning of the wheel" of Buddhism (like Christianity adds on to Judaism), and it focuses on developing compassion and joy, purity and brilliance through empathy and devotion to helping the world.
  
  
• Vajrayana: The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness is full of advanced techniques for near the end of the Buddhist path of self-purification. These techniques are incredibly powerful but can be dangerous if practiced before first balancing the mind with the first two "turnings of the wheel".
  
  These books are not about religion, but are technical guides for how to handle your life and existential issues of suffering and love, motivation and joy, depression and alienation, etc. I would recommend getting the first two books and working diligently out of them. You will find your problems quickly resolving themselves if you do something like this.
  
  Another perspective that helps me relax is the Church of the SubGenius. Their parody religion is actually a very high quality actual religion. Their main books, The Book of the SubGenius and Revelation X are hilarious and full of techniques for getting through the day and living with the "normals" or "pinkboys".
  
  There is also a fun community on Telegram you can join. See the sidebar in my subreddit, /r/sorceryofthespectacle, for a link to join the Telegram channel. Say hi to me on Telegram and I will introduce you to the wizards there.
  
  P.S. It sounds to me more like you have found your spark, than lost it ;-)

• Confucius' Analects: Some things in Confucius don't exactly fit in with my world view (such as his and later Confucians' view of women), and some of the specifics don't conform to the gospel (such as sticking with Chinese rituals of ancestor worship), but most of the ideas and concepts are incredible and extremely practical in everyday life. It's all about cultivating oneself and one's mind, doing the proper things to conform with the Way. I highly recommend Edward Slingerland's translation, which includes translations of important commentaries.
  
  
• Dao de jing by Laozi: Opposes Confucius on many things, but still some incredible stuff there. Lots of stuff about letting go and allowing things to happen without trying so hard to push them in the exact direction you want. In most things, I lean towards Confucius, but in creative endeavors I lean toward Laozi. More and more, however, I lean toward Laozi, because I realize there are things that are outside of my control that I have to let go. It's very hard for me to do, and I'm nowhere near mastering it, but I'm working on it.
  
  
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster: The best book on the importance of a well-rounded education. Everything you learn, everything you can learn, is important, and while you may not see a use for a particular thing in your life right now, it doesn't mean you'll never use it. Also, it's the best children's book with the highest number of great puns.
  
  
• Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon: This book is great for anyone in any creative endeavor, be it art, music, writing, or even business. It's all about where to get great ideas from, and how most of the time, you have to steal them. This doesn't mean you plagiarize, but you take them and make them your own and make them something new. It's a tiny book that packs a big punch. It's really opened my mind to the possibilities of creativity. How this relates to the gospel... I'm not quite sure yet. But it's changed my life and mindset in so many ways, I had to share it.
  
  

Entrepreneur Reading List

1. Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble
   
2. The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
   
3. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It
   
4. The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
   
5. The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win
   
6. Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers
   
7. Ikigai
   
8. Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition
   
9. Bootstrap: Lessons Learned Building a Successful Company from Scratch
   
10. The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time
    
11. Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web
    
12. The Web Startup Success Guide
    
13. The Best of Guerrilla Marketing: Guerrilla Marketing Remix
    
14. From Program to Product: Turning Your Code into a Saleable Product
    
15. This Little Program Went to Market: Create, Deploy, Distribute, Market, and Sell Software and More on the Internet at Little or No Cost to You
    
16. The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully
    
17. The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth
    
18. Startups Open Sourced: Stories to Inspire and Educate
    
19. In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High Tech Marketing Disasters
    
20. Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup
    
21. Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business
    
22. Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed
    
23. Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days
    
24. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
    
25. Eric Sink on the Business of Software
    
26. Words that Sell: More than 6000 Entries to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas
    
27. Anything You Want
    
28. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers
    
29. The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business
    
30. Tao Te Ching
    
31. Philip & Alex's Guide to Web Publishing
    
32. The Tao of Programming
    
33. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
    
34. The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity
    
    

    Computer Science Grad School Reading List
    

    
    

35. All the Mathematics You Missed: But Need to Know for Graduate School
    
36. Introductory Linear Algebra: An Applied First Course
    
37. Introduction to Probability
    
38. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
    
39. Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society
    
40. Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery
    
41. What Is This Thing Called Science?
    
42. The Art of Computer Programming
    
43. The Little Schemer
    
44. The Seasoned Schemer
    
45. Data Structures Using C and C++
    
46. Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs
    
47. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
    
48. Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming
    
49. How to Design Programs: An Introduction to Programming and Computing
    
50. A Science of Operations: Machines, Logic and the Invention of Programming
    
51. Algorithms on Strings, Trees, and Sequences: Computer Science and Computational Biology
    
52. The Computational Beauty of Nature: Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaptation
    
53. The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine
    
54. Computability: An Introduction to Recursive Function Theory
    
55. How To Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method
    
56. Types and Programming Languages
    
57. Computer Algebra and Symbolic Computation: Elementary Algorithms
    
58. Computer Algebra and Symbolic Computation: Mathematical Methods
    
59. Commonsense Reasoning
    
60. Using Language
    
61. Computer Vision
    
62. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
    
63. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
    
    

    Video Game Development Reading List
    

    
    

64. Game Programming Gems - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
    
65. AI Game Programming Wisdom - 1 2 3 4
    
66. Making Games with Python and Pygame
    
67. Invent Your Own Computer Games With Python
    
68. Bit by Bit

Yea, I just got home. I'm bored, mini rants incoming.

When I first heard of The Four Agreements, I was in detox back in 09 or something. And this tweaker chick kept going manic. She'd be happy/sad/angry/empty... just over and over. She was throwing chairs, and freaking out, but she kept telling me to read that book. So I had to, because she had excellent chair throwing skills. It was a great read, ... very very interesting take on spirituality but it is pretty applicable. It's a feel good philosophy warrior book thing.

The Power of Now. I had what AA would call a "spiritual awakening" and it really wasn't much like a burning bush, but A LOT like this guy talks about in this book. When I was about to kill myself with a teener of dope, I had this very very strange experience where I couldn't identify with myself anymore. .. "Who is this person that wants to die so badly?... Who am I?" It really changed things. The power of now was the most powerful thing I've read.

The New Earth is pretty interesting. I have to disagree with some points, because traditionally, you can't really get rid of the ego. The ego is necessary to survive. But it's interesting. It's worth a read, especially someone stuck in a facility with only their remorse and addiction to keep them company.

I personally LOVE Gabor Mate. This guy deals with the most tragic cases of addiction in Vancouver, and he's a neurologist and he has some pretty good insights on addiction. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. It's partly where I came up with my flair.

Rational Recovery was another I would suggest. It's a lot like those Allen Carr Easy Way to Quit Smoking. But the basic idea is disassociation from the "Addictive Voice". That it's not ME that wants to get high, but my addiction. That shit rocked my world when I learned it, and I immediately integrated it into my first step in Narcotics Anonymous.
EDIT, Rational Recovery, and Jack Trimpey are VERY AGAINST 12 step ideology. He HATES IT, and he hates the God idea. I get that, but I cannot and will not deny the therapeautic value of one addict helping another. Nothing compares. Even Bill W. in AA wrote about it in his memoirs and grapevines and the Big Book. "When all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic saved the day."

Tao de Ching really helped me. Although it may be missattributed, the whole "Living in the Past is living in depression, living in the future is living in anger and fear, living in the now is living in peace."

So, as you can see, I really like the "now" concept, but it's helped me stay clean and be happy about it. Non-fiction would probably be great too. But these are very spiritual new agey ideas.

This reminds me, I need to read The Spirituality of Imperfection.

THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS THOUGH:

I highly recommend the NA Basic Text, and I love the Step Working Guide.

Supposedly, "karmic results of our actions most frequently do not ripen in the same lifetime in which we commit the actions."

"So for a result to arise in this lifetime, a deed must have great power, and to produce a deed of great power, the person (object) to whom we are doing this deed must be someone special, such as a fully enlightened being. The motivation for doing the deed must be incredibly strong, and the article involved in the deed must be a special object. If either of these elements are not strong enough, then the result will arise in the next lifetime; if they are even less powerful, then the result can only arise after three or more lifetimes. Thus, it is very difficult to obtain a result quickly in this lifetime." - Khenpo Appey Rinpoche




"Some of our acts are what we call karma that is visibly experienced: the act and the motivation are so strong that the result comes in this very life. If we do something extremely good and virtuous in this life, its result might be happiness in this very life." - Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

"By giving to the poor, giving food, clothing, housing, and medicine, and by generally serving the needy, you create the causes of a long, healthy, and comfortable life. Some of these results may ripen in this life; most will be experienced in future lives." - Geshe Lhundub Sopa

Humans are not given the wish of lasting happiness without also being given the power to make it true. You will have to work for it, however.

You also didn't put yourself into this situation without giving yourself everything you need to transcend it. You need to recognize the same Truth in all scriptures, instead of focusing on the different symbols and ways of pronouncing God's name. I was able to make such progress because I learned at a very early stage of my transformation the power of repetition and constant practice. "The well-practiced mind does not wander after anything else." Start with the books that You have already written for yourself. They are all love songs from Divinity to its friend, Man, and if you can discern the same esoteric truths in them then you will be well on your way.

For starters:

(The most ancient and most beautiful of all spiritual texts)
http://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-Walkthrough-Westerners/dp/1608680142/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375114419&sr=1-1&keywords=bhagavad+gita+walkthrough

(The most obscure yet thought-provoking of spiritual texts)
http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Lao-Tzu/dp/1613822421/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375114436&sr=1-4&keywords=tao+te+ching

(One of the newest yet most poignant and relevant spiritual texts)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Now-Spiritual-Enlightenment/dp/1577314808

(One of the most truly humble, and therefore powerful, works of spirituality. Read this and understand that the idea of Christ is the same as the Atma in the Bhagavad Gita.)
http://www.amazon.com/Imitation-Christ-Thomas-Kempis/dp/1420926357/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375114470&sr=1-3&keywords=the+imitation+of+christ

Remember that you can't change yourself, so don't get frustrated or try to force things. All you can do is cultivate your mind, cultivate your habits, and make space in your cluttered mind for Divinity to enter. It may take time, but have faith! You are living in an age that is finally starting to see man turn from fleeting worldly pleasures to lasting inner wisdom and peace. Your spiritual efforts will quite literally make the universe elevated and sublime.

The problem is that the Dao De Jing and other Daoist texts are not simple things to read. I would say that, yes, what Dao is is perfectly explained by the Dao De Jing, but only if you know how to read it. There are plenty of secondary sources out there providing commentary and alternate translations (because these things are never so straightforward) on the Dao De Jing. Personally, I would recommend the following two translations on the Dao De Jing, this one by Roger Ames and this one by Hans-Georg Moeller. Also, if you want a close reading of what Dao is I recommend you pick up Daoism Explained, also by Hans-Georg Moeller, a lot of which is freely available to read on Google Books. For the specific question you posted here, I would recommend reading section "The Wheel--An Image of the Dao" which begins on page 27 of Daoism Explained and is one of the sections freely available in the last link I provided. I hope this helps.

Edit: Just wanted to add that I've read a lot of books by different translators and commentators of Daoism, but Hans-Georg Moeller is by far my favorite for both clarity and correctness.

Issues:

1. I'm almost positive that no one actually knows whether or not Laozi was a real person. There are some historical sources that might be accurate, but they are almost impossible to verify. I can give you a bit of information if you want, but the point is that it doesn't really matter whether you put Kongzi first or Laozi first, because no one can say with any certainty who came first.
   
   
2. Mitchell's translation can be best described as garbage. He's popular in the same way that New Age spiritualism is popular, which is to say, it's entirely non-academic or scholarly (or even accurate for that matter. The guy doesn't speak or read a word of Chinese, so the thought that he could translate anything Chinese is laughable). I think the best translation of the TTC is Philip J. Ivanhoe's translation here.
   
   
3. I'll look into some if you'd like. I'm very busy, so it might take a while, but I'd gladly help in any way.

I'm not sure what you've read thus far, but the three most important books in the Daoist canon are, in generally agreed upon order:

1. The Tao Te Ching (Dao De Ching, Daodejing, &c.). My favorite translation is the done by Addiss and Lombardo, but there are certainly other good translations.
   
   
2. The Chuan Tzu (Zhuangzi) I'm partial to the translation by Hamill and Seaton, though I admit that may be because it was my first exposure to Daoism. It doesn't strive for accuracy, but has taken some liberties in making the text accessible to most readers by doing away with pedantry.
   
   
3. The Lieh Tzu (Liezi) My favorite translation is the one by Eva Wong, though it also was going for readability above accuracy. I'm currently reading a much more accurate translation done by Thomas Cleary which has, thus far, been rather good.

I have this problem for sure. I started getting singing lessons back in October and that helped some, but ultimately my biggest improvements have been as of late. I do meditate everyday for 20 minutes, and I can see improvements in my ability to relax. Also, this post helped me a ton, particularly the part about essentially imagining you are inhaling while you sing. That has helped me more than anything. It opens up everything and my voice has finally felt free because of that. So give it a shot and start meditating, I'd say. The Buddha Walks into a Bar is a good way to start with the meditation stuff. Good luck!

>True. I just think emphasis is perhaps more essential than name.

Yeah, from a practice point of view, one should treat the differences very seriously. It's the critical historians who like to insinuate that it was mostly rhetorical.

>the actual Jatakas were kind of entertaining, anyway, and their mere presence doesn't mean Chan would have been all hard-line about rebirth

I agree these stories are also very entertaining. Sometimes, those who grew up in predominantly Christian cultures have a hard time seeing humour and entertainment as anything other than secular pursuits. My experience is that Chinese religions very frequently incorporate humour and irreverence, and that these are quite compatible with an attitude of religious piety. So Westerners see Yunmen calling Buddha a "shit-stick", and think there's no way he could possibly have been a pious Buddhist. I disagree with that.

I suppose I'm waiting to find a clear indication from a traditional Chan source that rebirth is nothing more than a fancy joke. Until then, I'm going to assume the teaching was taken seriously.

>I don't know if it was you I already asked, but how/when did you learn Classical Chinese?

My undergraduate degree was in Chinese Studies. I got the opportunity to take a course in basic Classical Chinese around my second or third year, and a more advanced course in my fourth year. (Sadly, the latter course has since been axed at my institution.) I just kept at it when I began postgrad studies. The first year of my PhD was pretty much all spent translating Chan texts. That was a great year.

I'm on leave right now, and might never return (?), but last time I was lecturing I was the course co-ordinator for the same introductory Classical Chinese subject which I'd taken as an undergrad. And also for a complimentary subject in Chinese philosophy, which dealt with much the same sources albeit in English translation.

EDIT: btw, if you are going to learn Tibetan and Chinese, you might be able to do work on the Tibetan Zen corpus from Dunhuang. Sometimes those Tibetan translations shed light on things which are not too clear in the Chinese, for example Bodhidharma's "wall-gazing" meditation technique. Also, you would be well-placed to tell the world how Nyingma Vajrayana and Chan Buddhism might have influenced each other. That would make Padmasambhava-related posts on /r/zen a real possibility. ;)

I agree with other commentators, this may be (in my non-medical opinion) mild to moderate depression. (Again, this is just an idea, diagnosing people over the internet with little information is not entirely ethical). I would like to suggest to other posters that depressive disorders are somewhat diverse.

Depending on your personal and financial situation, I cannot recommend seeing a psychologist enough, as I have been in this same situation. Whether you come from a background of hard science or spirituality, I would urge folks to see therapists/psychologists as a teacher that can help you understand what what is real, and how to have a good relationship with your thoughts/feelings.

I would like to suggest a few books that I have found to be personally helpful in this regard:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), very good read which outlines how your mind, Buddhists might call it the ego, creates a fake reality in a depressed state, and methods to counteract it:

Burns, David Feeling Good

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a different but similar approach to dealing with challenging thoughts/feelings, borrows a lot from Buddhism. Main idea is to be aware of thoughts and feelings as occurring, and not good or bad (and not "you"). To accept thoughts and feelings, not as reality but just as thoughts or feelings, and to take action towards something you value:

Harris, Russ The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living

If you're on a little, or big, Buddhist kick, I'd recommend the writings of Zen Master Seung Sahn. This particular book takes his bright and connectable style, and examines a variety of Buddhist traditions to see how they alleviate dukkha/suffering/stress/etc. in different ways:

Seung Sahn The Compass of Zen

Please do check out these books and post questions if you have them. If you are interested in finding a psychologist, and it is something that takes personal buy-in, I would suggest taking a look at Psychology Today or on your insurance company's website, if you're American.

Have a great night! =D

I'm not a teenager but I am a college student. Early 20's. I have learned a great deal from this book Really goes into some Buddhist practices and everyday life. Deals with issues like parties, drinking, money and women. Really practical for a beginner in an ever changing world. I found it really helpful in tough "college" situations. I also want to put out there that Buddhism isn't a religion but a way of life. Explore the world and live your life while being mindful! Good luck.

Here's some further reading!


The best and most academically accepted translation of the Dao De Jing

Here, A.C. Graham is an intensely clever and erudite Sinologist - Disupters is definitely a "classic" in the literature of early Eastern philosophy.

Great book on a lesser known section of the Zhuangzi, which Roth shows to be the origin of meditative practice in Daoism. Roth is also my Prof!

A great translation by the same A.C. Graham of most of the chapters of the Zhuangzi. The Zhuangzi, different from the Laozi, uses narratives and short essays in deeply stratified, humorous, and incredibly profound ways well ahead of its time.

Source: I've been studying contemplative practices, cultural anthropology, and Chinese philosophy for most of my undergrad

I have read a couple of decent books that are kind of a spiritual/metaphysical approach to self-help. These aren't so much about self-confidence as they are about gaining a more peaceful perspective on your entire life, which in turn will help you feel more confident about yourself.

The first is called Loving What Is by Byron Katie. She discusses a method called the turnaround, where you examine negative beliefs about yourself, and sort of meditate on them to realize that they are not true. Then you start to replace them with more positive beliefs, and your perspective becomes a lot brighter.

Another one I liked is Work Sex Money by Chogyam Trungpa.. This one is about taking a sort of Western-adapted Buddhist approach to your life without traveling to a monastery or any of the garbage that people assume they have to do in order to be more peaceful. It provides very logical ideas for examining your life and taking the stress out of it, which will help you find more of your own identity.

Finally, this is a bit of a weird one, but A Course in Miracles is my favorite. I don't recommend this for personal reading, but if you can find a weekly group or something where they read this book, it can be an amazing resource for improving your life. The book goes against a lot of Christian beliefs about the afterlife and metaphysics, but it basically teaches that you are the only one in control of your life.

If these are too intense, maybe try Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Ken Wapnick. Sorry if none of these interest you.

this one

but seriously, you want taoism, you should read zhuangzi. it actually is a very good counterpoint to nietzsche. though i wouldn't call it necessarily more positive, i also wouldn't call nietzche negative.

nietzche believed that you couldn't really know anything, but you gotta start somewhere, start with your ability to affect the world around you (will-to-power), combine that with context, and forge your own path.

zhuangzi believed that you couldn't really know anything, but you can step back and look at all the different ways to approach situations, people, life and death. once you've taken stock of the context and the options, choose the path that makes the most sense and don't be afraid to change your mind.

neither are really negative, but because they start skirting with absolute relativism they get misunderstood as though they just stayed in that abyss the whole time.

imho, z&taomm is only as juvenile as the dao de jing, his ideas on quality are superb, but underdeveloped and underexplained.

pretty oversimplified, but i'm a couple beers in after hiking all day... best i can do

all this being said, zarathustra is more than enough for six days, read for one minute, ponder for two. otherwise it's not making sense or you're making bad assumptions.

Philip J. Ivanhoe's translation is very good, and it looks like there are some good translations online. However, I would warn you that although the language is simple, it isn't easy to understand the book without some context. It's worth studying, because even though the book is ancient it
has interesting ideas about how to live a natural life in a civilized society.

I recommend Religious and Philosophical Aspects of the Laozi for some context on who wrote the Laozi and why.

Ooh, and I just found a cool site that includes several translations, a good way to get various opinions on the text.

Thanks, i love my name!

All those noble truths and 8 fold paths and what not arent necessarily as important as they seem. You spend all this time learning about them, and for what? To be a "better" person? To be free of suffering? The most important thing is that you dont become attached to any teaching. The sort of irony in it is that the teachings are designed to free you of attachment. So you use the teachings to be free of them lol. Buddhism, at its core, is full of these oddities/idiosyncrasies/contradictions. It can be very confusing, and some of the teachings are indeed designed to confuse you because they force you into letting go. At the end of the day, nothing can save you. No zen masters, no teachings, no self, no nothing. If that doesnt make sense, then you already understand.

Here is one of the best books ive ever read. It blew my mind so many times, and i only read it after 4 yrs of being a zen buddhist an i sitll got a lot out of it. A++ 10/10 would read again

http://www.amazon.com/The-Compass-Shambhala-Dragon-Editions/dp/1570623295

You can read the first 15 pages on amazon!

Awesome question! I hope more people come to answer it. I'd like more sources myself. I know of two sources that might be useful though.

1. The Chinese History Podcast:
   http://chinahistorypodcast.com/china-history-podcast-050-daoism-part-1-2
   A student of Chinese history, Laszlo Mongtomery, involved in the region, runs a solid podcast about a lot of the widespread of Chinese history. He's done a couple episodes on Daoism. I do not think he completely covers all the nuance of topics, but it is hard to blame him for that, and he does a great job of giving historical summaries.
   
   
2. Daoism Explained:
   http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812695631
   A generally solid book that covers some of the history of Daoism, though it mostly focuses on the philosophy and meaning in Daoism and Daoist short stories.
   
   That's all I have right now, but it is a start. You could probably find a lot of daoism sprinkled in the big books about general Chinese history. Of course those things often read drier than the desert and feel just as unending. Hope it helped.

Only one thing makes you a Buddhist -- taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings), and the Sangha (his followers). This means you see them as the means for escaping all suffering and reaching enlightenment.

It's important to note here that taking refuge in the Sangha means you see them as good companions on the path to enlightenment. Part of this is realizing that many of them are not enlightened so they suffer from the same afflictive emotions and mental states that you do, so don't be surprised if they piss you off from time to time. :P

But anyways, if you're interested in Buddhist teachings, that's great. There's so many of them to choose from it's pretty easy to get a bit lost. If you're into philosophy, especially existential philosophy, I'd look into Madhyamaka, and Nagarjuna's Seventy Stanzas is a great start to that. In a nutshell, Madhyamaka is about philosophical refutation of all philosophical viewpoints (including it's own), so if you like having nowhere as a home I think it'd sit well with you.

The tao's teachings correlate well with my studies of Nietzsche, Socrates, and other famous philosophers. For myself, "The Way" is about accepting and understanding the natural way of things and finding balance through this. Each maxim should be read and considered multiple times before moving on; it's not the type of book where you finish #1 and get started on #2. I'm fortunate that my copy has explanations for each maxim in the back that sometimes rope in the work of other philosophers. My edition can be purchased here

I'm unique in my minimalism that I love having lots of books. It's a goal to one day have a personal library, and I'd rather be known for a collection of literature than videogames and movies/episodes. However some of y'all are different, so I've compiled different translations below:

• Website: Gia-fu Feng and Jane English (this is my translation minus the intro and explanations)
  
• PDF: Tolbert McCarroll, intro/comments by Thomas Knierim
  
• PDF: Multi-edition: side by side translations from Wu, Lau, Chan, Henricks, and Feng/English
  
  Cheers!

I did my own search a few years ago and chose this edition, and I absolutely love it. I really like the wording, and the picture illustrations are a huge bonus.

I linked to amazon.ca because I couldn't find that exact one with the illustrations on amazon.com (and I live in Canada).

I have also found that many different versions used to cross-reference help to give a much broader perspective on the text.

I got this version of Zhuangzi that has a lot of added traditional commentary, along with good explanations of words like “Tao” and “Virtue” plus a lot of other stuff. I’ve only made it through the first chapter, since it’s a bit of a tough read, but it’s worth it.

This is the version I got: Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries (Hackett Classics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0872209113/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_PbUBCbH8QN404

The Tao of Pooh wasn’t at all bad, it was actually pretty enjoyable :) if you’re not very familiar with the concepts of Wu Wei and the Uncarved Block, then it’s a great way to learn about those.

Well, Griffith was a Major General or something. Probably considered himself a gentleman-scholar. Which is cool, but Cleary? That mofo was a SCHOLAR-scholar. I think he's a monk or priest or something and he's translated a shit ton of Taoist texts. Buddhist ones as well. I mean practically all of them. He has a few three and four volume compendiums of various Taoist and Buddhist texts he's translated. Tao Te Ching, I Ching, Art of War, Book of Balance and Harmony, like fifty more. Shambala press makes a damn cottage industry just on that guy almost. I mean not really but he's done a load of translations. And he seems to be pretty intent on doing it right.

I think the RL Wing texts are out of print but if you're into this type of thing I'd recommend looking on Amazon.

The Tao of Power: Lao Tzu's Classic Guide to Leadership, Influence, and Excellence [A new translation of the Tao Te Ching]

http://amzn.com/0385196377

^^^ I feel like the commentary in the introduction in this is really fucking amazing. It says that the sage (or wizard/wiseman) doesn't try to make shit happen, he just waits for nature to take its course and then positions himself at the forefront of the impulse of energy. He appears to the masses to be creating all this amazing shit but really he's just surfing. It's pretty brilliant.

The Art of Strategy: A New Translation of Sun Tzu's Classic "The Art of War"

http://amzn.com/0850308518

^^^ it's been a while since I've cracked this one open. But I seem to recall it being similarly sublime.

I think I may take a trip to my storage and dig these bitches out. Give them a flip through.

-)

EDIT: Also, this -> Tao Te Ching
http://amzn.com/0307949303

If you're into TTC, apparently this dude's introduction sets the standard. I haven't gotten through it yet, but I'm a lazy westerner.

I haven't read that yet, but will definitely put it on my list of books to read.

I'm currently reading "The Sun of Wisdom" by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso. It's a modern explanation of the famous "The Fundamental wisdom of the Middle Way" by Nagarjuna.

https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Wisdom-Teachings-Nagarjunas-Fundamental/dp/1570629994

I've thought a lot about this apparent conflict during the past years and my conclusion is that there is no conflict for two reasons.

First, Buddhism is about working with our present situation as it is, and that includes paying bills, living in a society, having responsibilities and relationships.

Second, goals are just imaginary. We put a lot of landmarks in our lifes, and we constantly compare our present self with those future ideals in order to value ourselves. But the more our lifes are closer to Dharma, the more we value the present moment, and thus the less interesting those imaginary goals become, to the point that simply living becomes the goal. At this point we still work, study and strive to be good at what we do, but the whole process looks less heavy and more joyful. That's the difference.

I recommend you the book Work, Sex, Money: Real Life on the Path of Mindfulness by Trungpa Rinpoche.

The translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English has wonderful black-&-white photography in it that, I feel, really helps to illustrate the concepts, emphasizing negative space and challenging your perception of objects, etc.

The Amazon page for this book includes the "look inside" option to see a few of the photos.

ETA: I would also strongly recommend reading at least 2 or 3 different translations, side-by-side (it's a tiny book). That's the best way of really getting a sense of the variety, subtlety, and (... ambiguity? ... equivocality?) of meanings in the verses ... you know ... without actually learning ancient Mandarin.

Open Heart, Clear Mind by Thubten Chodron, great book and easy to read, I have to say the best beginner book on Buddhism I have ever read. She has her email at the end and she will actually write back to you.

Open Heart, Clear Mind: An Introduction to the Buddha's Teachings https://www.amazon.com/dp/0937938874/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_WIw7CbRQ6T3N0

If you are looking for something more studious you can get the Buddha's discourses, they are a bit dry at times but they are the closest thing to the Buddha's own words you will be able to find.

The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya (The Teachings of the Buddha) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0861711033/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_jIw7Cb6WRBSMW

This may help:

http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/study/comparison_buddhist_traditions/tibetan_traditions/intro_compar_5_traditions_buddhism_bon.html

I can also recommend three comprehensive books:

http://www.amazon.com/Indo-Tibetan-Buddhism-Buddhists-Tibetan-Successors/dp/1570629730

http://www.amazon.com/Indestructible-Truth-Spirituality-Tibetan-Buddhism/dp/1570629102/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321049941&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Vajra-World-Tantric-Buddhism/dp/157062917X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1321049984&sr=8-3

Good luck!

The teachings on the lack of a intrinsic self are meant help us to realize that there is no hard limit on how good it is that we could make things, because no thing has a fixed nature, we can be free. You can certainly mull in a nilhist like state about it or you could see it as the factor then enables freedom. It has to be a choice, you have to want to become better.

The book that helped me more then any other to get out of that spot myself is 70 Stanzas on Emptiness: A Buddhist Psychology of Emptiness you might want to get him a copy, it really turned me around.

Reading the most excellent A Comprehensive Guide to Daoist Nei Gong and working on many short (5 minute-ish) periods of zhan zhuang daily. Multiple short sessions seems to be more beneficial for me than one longer one, the latter of which I also have more resistance to actually doing.

For people that already have a daoist energy practice, I highly recommend reading Damo Mitchell's A Comprehensive Guide to Daoist Nei Gong. It is by far the most comprehensive text I've seen so far

There's also a section within it where it goes in depth with zhan zhuang/the wuji posture and highlights important pieces and theory, which I think most other texts don't bother to explain

As a man born into Catholicism but now an atheist, it's my opinion that Buddhism is the most logical and reasonable religion that I've been exposed to. As someone mentioned before, it's almost like a philosophy mixed in with religion. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about Buddhism.

Trungpa's Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness is great if you want a pretty in depth survery of the whole landscape of Tantrayana.

It's a bit expensive though.

Two of my favorite books on the topic are very in-depth and detailed:

• Indestructible Truth: The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism (World of Tibetan Buddhism, Vol. 1)
  
  
• Secret of the Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet (World of Tibetan Buddhism, Vol. 2)
  
  I seriously can't recommend them enough. I think they are brilliant. They are more academic than "scriptural" if that makes sense. They're the sort of books you'd read in college that are about Tibetan Buddhism.

Uhm to be honest I don't know any good resource, and I don't know much about that either.

The details might vary some depending on the context, my experience comes from Taijiquan (Tai Chi) and Nei Gong. This Nei Gong book explains some of it, although it might not be easy for beginners.

It's nice as a confirmation of your own practice, but not so much as a learning resource. Kind of like the Tao Te Ching :p

Also, good book on "Vivid Awareness: The Mind Instructions of Khenpo Gangshar ", by (iirc) the root guru of Ven. Chogyam Trumpa (or at least one of his main teachers). (It used to be free on Amazon Kindle Unlimited.)

https://www.amazon.com/Vivid-Awareness-Instructions-Khenpo-Gangshar/dp/1590308166/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473534460&sr=1-1&keywords=vivid+awareness

Thubten Chodron - Open Heart, Clear Mind

IMHO, forget "articulate, accurate synopsis" and get a very realistic, real-world, human understanding of Buddhism. The Buddha Walks into a Bar...: A Guide to Life for a New Generation! has been a huge help for me. It's a very down-to-earth book that explains things for ley people, even novices like me. (< 1 year practicing Buddhism)

So I read #21... "Never stray from the Way" and the article's analysis of the meaning of this precept was "The way is your path. Your mission through life. You need to spend your life finding the beginning of your path. Then, the rest of your life walking as far as your feet will carry you."

This is an entirely inaccurate analysis of the precept. He was talking about "The Way" as described in Taoism.

https://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/the-taoist-influence-on-japanese-martial-arts-by-dota/

Check out that article.

If you are further interested let me recommend The Tao Te Ching as translated by Redpine. (It has many commentaries on each passage that help you understand the material.) Additionally and perhaps more important is the Chuang Tzu by Zhuangzhi. Here is a decent copy with commentary;

https://www.amazon.com/Zhuangzi-Essential-Selections-Traditional-Commentaries/dp/0872209113/ref=sr_1_24?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524947461&sr=1-24&keywords=Chuang+Tzu

It's very important to get editions with commentary because many of the concepts are very difficult to understand without the commentary explaining it owing to differences in language, culture, and time period.

Here is a quote from the Chung Tzu;

The Empty Boat:

Who can free himself of achievement and fame,

Then descend and be lost

Amidst the masses of men?

He will flow like Tao, unseen…

He will go about like life itself.

With no name and no home

Simple is he, without.

To all appearances he is a fool.

His steps leave no trace.

He has no power.

He achieves nothing.

He has no reputation.

Since he judges no one,

No one judges him.

Such is the perfect man.

His boat is empty.

— Chung Tzu

I read some of his stuff, long time ago, but he doesn't really appeal much to me, to be honest. One book I read recently that contained really lucid and detailed instructions on this tipe of meditation was Vivid Awareness, from Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. Can't recomend it enough.

There is an excellent book on this topic. Goes deep into the existence of Chan in Tibet early on and how the 2 influenced each other. It uses direct documents from the time. They’re mainly from the border areas of the Tibetan and Chinese empires. It’s called “Tibetan Zen” and is a bit academic, but very interesting read. Here’s a link to it on Amazon: Tibetan Zen: Discovering a Lost Tradition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1559394463/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_UAEkDb1BD6F8W

For a good overview of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, try this one.
[Indestructible Truth - The Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism Vol 1, by Reginald Ray]
(http://www.amazon.com/Indestructible-Truth-Spirituality-Tibetan-Buddhism/dp/1570629102?ie=UTF8&keywords=indestructibe%20truth&qid=1465296734&ref_=sr_1_sc_1&s=books&sr=1-1-spell)

Part 2 within Vol 1 of this book, delves on this topic.

I highly recommend Edward Slingerland's translation of the Analects because he shares verse by verse commentaries from many of the famous historical Chinese commentaries on the text. This will greatly help you understand the context in which the Analects was written, as well as help you enter into the dialogue and conversation that the Analects was meant to provoke. As far as I'm aware, Slingerland's translation is the only english translation that gives a wide variety of famous historical Chinese commentaries on the Analects, but translated into English.

The Compass of Zen by Seung Sahn Soen Sa Nim is an excellent introduction to Buddhism in general, and more specific introduction to Korean Buddhism.

No problem at all.

The texts I have are Moss Roberts' translation of the Daodejing, Ziporyn's translation of Zhuangzi, and then Ivanhoe and Van Norden's Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy.

The Ivanhoe/Van Norden book has the Daodejing and other works in it so it's probably not worth the money until you've gone through the Daodejing maybe (and want to compare translations), but if you're mostly just interested in the Zhuangzi strain of Daoism the Zhuangzi texts are probably more than enough. Though confusing, they're not quite as abstract as the Daodejing itself (and the commentary in Ziporyn's text helps a lot).


http://www.amazon.com/Dao-Jing-Book-Way-Laozi/dp/0520242211/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301237538&sr=1-1 and


http://www.amazon.com/Zhuangzi-Essential-Selections-Traditional-Commentaries/dp/0872209113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301237406&sr=8-1


http://www.amazon.com/Readings-Classical-Chinese-Philosophy-Ivanhoe/dp/0872207803/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301237612&sr=1-1

My favorite is the Steven Mitchell translation.

Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching

Plus the illustrations are nice.

The most accurate in relation to the original language is the translation by Addiss and Lombardo. Although that's my 2nd favorate after the translation by Feng and English.

Cool! I knew the instructor's name sounded familiar. Let us know how it goes.

I recommend the Addiss/Lombardo translation

Link?

EDIT: I wrote his name wrong. Here it is at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Confucius-Analects-Hackett-Classics/dp/0872206351

Bless him for using Pinyin! It makes me so irritated to see people coming up with new versions of the analects not using Pinyin.

Carefree Dignity by Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Mahamudra: The Moonlight by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal

Vivid Awareness by Khenchen Thrangu

Lankavatara sutra

The Now Habit

The Power of Habit

Thinking fast, thinking slow

Tao te Ching

Uh... either Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or The Compass of Zen.

I think this may be what you're looking for.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1590309375?pc_redir=1405865875&robot_redir=1

Of course you could be very wrong. There is only one true tradition and that is Buddhism the rest are like different medicines for the ignorant. Zen, Mahamudra, Dzogchen all stem from Buddhism (baudda in Sanskrit). Btw, have you read the bk. Tibetan Zen?

There a few meditation suggestions already and second those suggestions. I identify completely with what you described, and my quality of life was starting to suffer because of the side effects. Mindfulness and meditation is helping me get control of my thoughts and live in the "now". This is the book I started with ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Buddha-Walks-into-Bar/dp/1590309375 ).