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well, i am in the middle of "The art of happiness at work", which is continuation of "The art of happines", and gives thoughts about the relation toward work, money, challanges...and it talks also about "the flow", when one lose the feeling for time while being completely focused in some activity...great book!
bye&take care, simona
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Dinesh
- Sunday, December 23 2007
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this post has been removed
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tatra
- Monday, December 24 2007
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I am currently reading "Old Path White Cloud, by Thich Nhat Hanh. It is the story of Buddha, beautifully told. This book is a true delight. I am told negotiations are in place for a movie...awesome.....
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macloo
- Saturday, April 5 2008
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I agree, this is a completely delightful book. It is as if I just fell into a soft cloud, and as I float on it, I see the life of the Buddha passing by me. I was worried by the length of the book but now I am sorry that I will ever finish it.
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I do agree too. This book told me how it was for Buddha to live and spread his message in those days. How simple yet delightful life was...Trying to apply the essense in life!
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Reading Hinduism and Buddhism, A Historical Sketch by Charles Eliot. It's an interesting read.. it's certainly making me see how blindly people follow and misinterpret "truths". It's 3 volumes tho, so it'll probably take me forever to finish it.
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pampe
- Sunday, January 6 2008
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re-reading the Tao Te Ching....slowly as meditation verse.
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leegee
- Wednesday, January 9 2008
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Will today complete reading The Three Pillars of Zen, by Philip Kapleau. The author was the offical reporter for the War Crimes trials at Neuronberg, a matter close to my heart; he also covered the International Military Tribinual for the Far East in Tokyo. The "strain" of Zen Buddhism into which he was evetually to be ordained, and which he carried to American in the mid 1960s, and which he expounds in this volume, I find to be a pleasing blend of Japanese Zen traditionsm. The book contains an awful lot of information on the practice of zazen, as well as a number of "testemonials" of personal experiences, with any too-personal information (such as insights into koans) carefully removed.
Reading this has caused me to contemplate finding a Roshi in London, and has moved my meditation to a more formal practice.
Highly recommended as a no-bullshit guide.
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Brian A
- Thursday, January 10 2008
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"Wisdom of Buddha, The Samdhinirmocana Mahayana Sutra, Essential Questions and Direct Answers for Realizing Enlightenment". It is a collection of teachings the buddha gave to various Bodhisattvas. It reads in the form of a direct question to the Buddha and then his reply to the student. It is very heavy, I rread one story andthen digest it for a week or so..
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leegee
- Friday, January 11 2008
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Hi Brian A. How would you describe the translation? Any chance you could put it on your Reading List here? Thanks, Lee
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Brian A
- Saturday, January 12 2008
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I would say it is rich and dense, yet simple. If you are not familiar with the basic concepts of Tibetan Buddhism and it's core "lingo" you might have a difficult time reading it. As we all know the English language does not have words that aptly describe the spiritual and mental phenomena that can not be described to begin with. If you understand what that just ment you will probably enjoy reading it. They are almost like Buddhist Koan's. They are questions about the direct experience of and attaining of enlightenment through various means. The stories have been passed down for centuries. It is on my shelf, on the last page I believe, has a black cover, in reality the cover is red.
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leegee
- Monday, January 14 2008
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Brian - when is a koan not Buddhist?
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
First i know the title doesn't make it look like a respectable and decent book, and is not exactly Buddhism but i tell you people, it goes in the lines that it encounters itself with Buddhism, of course that is more on the line of Zen Buddhism.
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leegee
- Monday, January 14 2008
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I read a little of this and liked it, but think it attempts to offer too much of a "short cut" when zazen, or at least somekind of meditation, is preferable. It prints at least one answer to a koan, which is traditionally taboo for reasons that are probably beyond the scope of this thread. Recommend the Alan Watts' book of earlier, or the Kapleau book mentioned above.
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leegee
- Monday, January 14 2008
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"One God Clapping: The Spiritual Path of a Zen Rabbi" by Alan Lew (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2002). Obscure (hence the fullish citation) but fascinating if you are of Hebrew extraction and have an interest in Buddhism.
"Stages of Meditation" by His Holiness The Dalia Lama. Commentary, as down-to-earth as is always welcome for this author, on a text by Kamalashila. Wonderful emphasis on logic and interpretation, almost Cultural Materialist in its sense.
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Essence of the Heart Sutra by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. There is a retreat on this subject this weekend and I thought I'd prepare my mind by reading this book. I never tried it before because I thought it would be too challenging for a beginner like myself. It has turned out to be exactly what I needed to read right now. Who knows, perhaps this is the moment I was waiting for. Anyway, I am utterly absorbed and thoroughly enjoying this read.
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Lily B
- Friday, February 1 2008
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I'm in the middle of reading "How to see yourself as who you really are", written by Dalai Lama and translated by Jeffrey Hopskins.
A book with depths, and I am not sure if I can understand it all, LOL.
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I read that book recently and think I need to go back to it again. The format and use of repetition seemed to diminish the meaning for me rather than emphasizing it.
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The Joy of Living by Mingyur Rinpoche - for the fourth time. I was fortunate enough to take a class with him, and every time I reread the book, I am reminded of something new. If you are new to Buddhism, or new to meditation and working with the mind, this is a very approachable book. And he is just like it in person as well, very funny.
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Hi I'm new here and am trying to carefully read the answers in these discussions. I've only been reading about Zen and it's concepts have completely captivated me. It(Zrn) seems more psycho-analytic than religious at this point.
Anyway, I am currently trying to read The Thre PIllars of Zen by Philip Kapleau and Zen MInd, Beginners MInd.
I had read a few books about Zen, like Everyday Zen and There Is NOthing Wrong With You, and while they were interesting, they didn't give any details into what Practice was exactly and HOW to do it. I feel these two books I am reading now does.
I'm not very familiar with other types of Buddhism at the moment and that is why I am reading and joined this group.
Wow, some of you really know your stuff and these discussions are most enlightening.
Thank you and I hope I can contribute more as I learn more.
:-)
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leegee
- Sunday, February 17 2008
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Hi, ShellzArt! I'm a huge fan of Philip Kapleau: I find him very open-minded, very fair, and very honest. His take on Zen make perfect sense to me, and I find many of his observations of the different sects (not to mention of general practice) ring true. I hope you enjoy the book!
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macloo
- Sunday, April 27 2008
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I have been reading "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" in very small doses since February. It's really a wonderful book. I skipped the part about how to sit zazen and have been opening it at random each time I pick it up. It's like magic -- I don't think I have read the same passage twice yet!
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leegee
- Wednesday, April 30 2008
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I can recommend Kapleau's Straight To The Heart of Zen, in which he discusses koans without handing "answers" on a plate. Very provocative, but very logical in a way that I personally find unusual in zen (macloo - different to Suzuki in very many ways?). He places great emphasis on the Buddha's teaching in the manner suitable for the specific audience of the moment - which is very hard to achieve, especially in writing, but this book manages it in a most masterful manner.
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I just sent off orders to Shambala and to Snow Lion, so I have a stack of things I am working on. The reviews of John Powers' Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism have been excellent, so I thought I could use a systematic treatment as a resource. I am also reading Ringu Tulku's Path to Buddhahood, which is a commentary on Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation. It sounds much more dense than it is, and since it is a critical text for the Kagyu lineage, I want to understand it as best I can. For more from the stack of new stuff, see my shelf. I just added all of them tonight!
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Im currently reading "Anger" by Thich Nhat Hanh and will read another book by him next, "Teachings on Love". Odldy enough, I've never read any of his books before.
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I am reading "Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World." by Lama Surya Das. I highly recommend this book. The author is an American who has spent many years training in Tibet. He presents Buddhism in such a way that it is easily understood by westerners. Thich Nhat Hanh writes, "Lama Surya Das communicates the wisdom to the people of his times and environments. To me this is a great achievement and I feel deeply grateful for it." It has clarified for me many of the questions I had about Buddhism. I plan on reading this one more than once.
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pampe
- Monday, March 10 2008
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