TEACHINGS AND INSTRUCTION
Reading Zen: A booklist
READING ZEN
Zen is about the practices of presence. In East Asian traditions, any kind of intellectual study is usually discouraged until one has firmly established a disciplined meditation practice. This caution might well be kept in mind.
At the same time, intellectual study has an important place for anyone on a spiritual path. While reminding people that these are at best cookbooks, and that at some point one needs to actually cook, and eat, the following is a brief listing of significant books addressing Buddhism and particularly the Zen school of Buddhism.
This list includes:
introductions; histories; studies of koans, the unique contribution of
Zen to meditation disciplines; writings of various contemporary
Buddhist teachers in the West; and, some critiques. This is in no
manner an exhaustive bibliography. It is, however, particularly
oriented to the concerns of a possibly-emerging Western spiritual
tradition.
INTRODUCTIONS
TO ZEN
Robert Aitken, Taking the Path of Zen, North Point
Martine Batchelor, Principles of Zen, Thorsons
James Ishamel Ford, This Very Moment: A Brief Introduction to
Buddhism and Zen for Unitarian Universalists, Skinner House
HISTORIES
OF ZEN
Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History (2
Volumes), MacMillan
Andy Ferguson, Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their
Teachings, Wisdom Publications
Rick Fields, How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative
History of Buddhism in America, Shambhala
KOAN COLLECTIONS
Robert Aitken, The
Gateless Barrier: The Wu-men Kuan (Mumonkan), North Point
Stefano Mui Barragato, Zen Light: Unconventional Commentaries
on the Denkoroku, Tuttle
Thomas and J.C. Cleary, The Blue Cliff Record,
Shambhal
Thomas Cleary, Book
of Serenity, Lindisfarne
Francis Dojun Cook, The Record of Transmitting the Light,
Center
Nyogen Senzaki, The Iron Flute: 100 Zen Koans,
Tuttle
SUTRAS,
SCHOOLS, AND TEACHERS: STUDIES
Edward
Conze, Buddhist Wisdom: The Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra,
Vintage
Francis Dojun Cook, How to Raise An Ox: Zen Practice as
Taught in Master Dogen's Shobogenzo, Wisdom Publications
Peter Haskel, Bankei Zen: Translations from the Record of
Bankei, Grove
Mu Soeng, The Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way We Perceive
the World, Wisdom Publications
CONTEMPORARY
ZEN TEACHERS
Robert Aitken, Mind of Clover, North Point
Robert Aitken, Encouraging Words: Zen Buddhist Teachings for
Western Students, Pantheon
Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen: Love and Work,
Harper & Row
Roko Sherry Chayat, Subtle Sound: The Zen Teachings of
Maurine Stuart, Shambhala
Ruben Habito, Healing Breath: Zen Spirituality for a Wounded
Earth, Orbis
Roshi Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen,
Anchor Press
Taizan Maezumi and Bernie Glassman, On Zen Practice: Body,
Breath, and Mind, Wisdom Publications
Isshu Miura and Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Zen Koan,
Harcourt, Brace
Seung Sahn, Only Don't Know: The Teaching Letters of Zen
Master Seung Sahn, Shambhala
Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind,
Weatherhill
John Tarrant, The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul, and the
Spiritual Life, Harper Collins
OTHER
BUDDHIST TEACHINGS
Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary
Guide to Awakening, Riverhead
Sylvia Boorstein, It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist
Way to Happiness, Harper San Francisco
Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart, Shambhala
Marianne Dresser, Buddhist
Women on the Edge: Contemporary Perspectives from the Western Frontier,
North Atlantic
Bernie Glassman, Bearing Witness: A Zen Master's Lessons in
Making Peace, Bell Tower
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English:
Updated and Expanded Edition, Wisdom Publications
Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart: A Guide Through the Perils
and Promises of Spiritual Life, Bantam
Joanna Macy, World as Lover, World as Self, Parralax
Larry Rosenberg, Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of
Insight Meditation, Shambhala
Sharon Salzberg, Lovingkindess: The Revolutionary Art of
Happiness, Shambhala
CONTEMPORARY
CRITIQUES OF BUDDHISM AND ZEN
Bernard Faure, Chan Insights and Oversights: An
Epistemological Critique of the Chan Tradition, Princeton
Rita Gross, A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction
of Buddhism, SUNY
Christopher S. Queen, Engaged Buddhism in the West,
Wisdom
Brian Victoria, Zen at War, Weatherhill