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Ayya Khema, who died recently, was one of the foremost Western meditation teachers. Her teaching style is accessible while at the same time coming from deep experience of meditation and Buddhist practice. In this groundbreaking book, taken from teachings given on meditation retreats, she gently and skillfully guides readers through the meditative path, showing how to develop calmness and concentration. There aren’t many books on meditation that are likely to become modern classics, but this is one of them.

Ayya Khema wrote twenty-five books in English and German on meditation and the Buddha’s teachings; her books have been translated into seven other languages.

During her extraordinary lifetime she established …

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A respected Zen master in Japan and founder of the San Francisco Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki has blazed a path in American Buddhism like few others.

From diverse topics such as transience of the world, sudden enlightenment, and the nuts and bolts of meditation, Suzuki always returns to the idea of beginner’s mind, a recognition that our original nature is our true nature.

With beginner’s mind, we dedicate ourselves to sincere practice, without the thought of gaining anything special. Day to day life becomes our Zen training, and we discover that “to study Buddhism is to study ourselves.”

Suzuki had a rare dedication to the teaching of meditation, which …

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This warmly compassionate and practical book introduces you to the same meditation practices that are taught on Wildmind’s site, gives advice on how to set up a meditation practice and how to deal with any difficulties that may arise.

As well as introducing the mindfulness of breathing and metta bhavana practices, Paramananda, who is a gifted teacher, outlines the traditional hindrances to meditation and how to deal with them.

However the main thing we can take away from this book is not so much a method — a set of techniques, although that is certainly present — but a feeling for meditation and a sense of the need for …

This is one of the most complete guides to the Buddhist tradition that I have come across. Not only that, but it’s accessible, practical, and lighthearted. Gary Gach is a talented writer who makes learning about Buddhism not only interesting but a great deal of fun as well. I think you’ll like it.

Like all the “Complete Idiot” guides the writing style is light, humorous, and fast-paced. There are illustrations and numerous sidebars to present quotes, definitions, comments and anecdotes.

You’ll learn about the Buddha’s life story, the various Buddhist traditions, the arrival of Buddhism in the west, and about the key teachings of Buddhism, such as the eightfold path, nonviolence, karma, meditation, etc.

There …

Surprise, surprise! This book isn’t about meditation. But it is related, in that it helps us to live our lives in such a way that we cause less suffering. Another good reason for me recommending this book it that it’s written by one of my former meditation students, Patricia Leslie, who has a mission to help us reduce our dependence on animal products so that we can have a kinder, less exploitative world.

This isn’t a preachy book at all. It’s purely a book of around 50 dairy and egg (and sometimes wheat) free baking recipes, although it also offers useful advice on baking techniques and a list of suppliers. The recipes in this book …

Kabat-Zinn, son-in-law of historian Howard Zinn, is a true pioneer in the field of applying mindfulness to the problem of relieving psychological and physical distress. Thirty years ago at UMass Medical Center he started the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program — a program that has since spawned Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, Mindfulness-based Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Mindfulness-based Anxiety Reduction, Mindfulness-based approaches to eating disorders, and so on.

The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction title is arguably a misnomer, tending as it does to conjure up images of executives with ulcers. Kabat-Zinn’s field was working with people who experienced chronic pain, and whom conventional treatments had failed. In other words he took on the most difficult cases. And he …

This book is hilarious. It’s a very gentle parody of the Zen tradition, mostly following a “problem page” (advice column) format, but also including Susan Moon’s encounters with her alter ego, the eccentric Zen Teacher, Tofu Roshi.

Tofu Roshi is Abbot of the No Way Zen Center in Berkeley, California. For his day job he manages the Next to Godliness Laundromat across the street. Susan Moon has worked as his assistant for many years.

Here’s an extract:

Dear Tofu Roshi:
I am easily distracted by noises while I am sitting meditation. The other morning, somebody was trying to start a car just outside the meditation hall window.

Sixty-three times they tried! The few times the

This isn’t exactly a book review since I’m just in the early stages of reading this title. Kinder’s book came highly recommended to me by a Buddhist friend, and then another Buddhist friend told me she’d been been on one of Kinder’s workshops. Sometimes you can’t ignore the messages!

George D. Kinder is a nationally known financial planner and Buddhist teacher. His investment strategies have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, and Newsweek. As both a committed Buddhist and a high-powered figure in the world of financial planning I just had to read this book. So far it’s been fascinating, although I’m only a couple of chapters in.

So …

Kobai Scott Whitney is a Zen Buddhist practitioner who is employed as Buddhist Chaplain for the state of Washington and who has also done time himself. He is therefore ideally placed to write a book on Buddhist practice in America’s prisons. The subtitle is potentially misleading, however. Rather than being a survey of Buddhist practice in American penal institutions, Sitting Inside is a practice handbook for inmates and prison volunteers alike.

For inmates, Kobai offers an overview of key Buddhist teachings such as the Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths, introduces the practice of ethics (with specific reference to situations that inmates are likely to encounter in prison) and teaches 14 meditations that range …