Zen Books

Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

Thich Nhat Hanh

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Bantam Amazon Marketplace: 121 new & used starting at $4.24

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( H ) -> Hanh, Thich Nhat

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 84 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Thich Nhat Hanh's writing is deceptive in its subtlety. He'll go on and on with stories about tree-hugging or metaphors involving raw potatoes; he'll tell you how to eat mindfully, even how to breathe and walk; he'll suggest looking closely at a flower and to see the sun as your heart. As the Zen teacher Richard Baker commented, however, Nhat Hanh is "a cross between a cloud, a snail, and piece of heavy machinery." Sooner or later, it begins to sink in that Nhat Hanh is conveying a depth of psychology and a world outlook that require nothing less than a complete paradigm shift. Through his cute stories and compassionate admonitions, he gradually builds up to his philosophy of interbeing, the notion that none of us is separately, but rather that we inter-are. The ramifications are explosive. How can we mindlessly and selfishly pursue our individual ends, when we are inextricably bound up with everyone and everything else? We see an enemy not as focus of anger but as a human with a complex history, who could be us if we had the same history. Suffice it to say, that after reading Peace Is Every Step, you'll never look at a plastic bag the same way again, and you may even develop a penchant for hugging trees. --Brian Bruya

Zen And the Art of Happiness

Chris Prentiss

Amazon Price: $8.76 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Power Pr Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $5.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Happiness
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Eastern -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Very good read! 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I think this is a great little book. I am a Christian... where as some Christians think reading a buddhist book goes away from Christ, many of the topics and practices of the buddhist are very Christ like. Where the author may speak about the energy of the universe, I just see that as God. Great reminders here to remove our focus off ourselves and think of our neighbors... and isn't that also what Christ taught! Great book for anyone trying to grow in who they are... I will read this one over and over.

Editorial Review:

Cutting-edge science and spirituality tell us that what we believe, think, and feel actually determine the makeup of our body at the cellular level. In Zen and the Art of Happiness, you will learn how to think and feel so that what you think and feel creates happiness and vibrancy in your life rather than gloominess or depression. You ll learn how to adapt to life s inevitable changes, how to deal with stress in a healthy way, and how to nurture a mindful happiness in your daily life. Most importantly, the gentle wisdom of Zen and the Art of Happiness will show you how to invite magnificent experiences into your life and create a personal philosophy that will sustain you through anything. A timeless work about the art of happiness, the way of happiness, the inner game of happiness.

True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart

Thich Nhat Hanh

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Shambhala Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $2.76

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> Social Psychology & Interactions
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An Onion Layer Pealer 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I just finished reading Thich Nhat Hanh's "True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart." This little 100 page meditation simply changed my perspective on many things.

Talking about a powerful read on how to show and demonstrate love in your life. It all comes back to mindful presence, being there, not just in body, but in full absolute awareness. A true demonstration of love is not monetary or even a gesture but the action of being truly present.

The book really helped me see things differently. If my soul was a gorgeous red onion, and the sweet, yet spicy heart was my true essence, then True Love peeled away a couple of layers to help me see things better. And it put the way I care for others into a perspective, some of which I really didn't want to see. I think the book made me a better person.

There many fantastic meditations, which get your mind to calm itself and focus on true love. It focuses on making oneself loving in your actions towards wife/husband, etc., rather than other-centric love. Though Buddhist at its heart, one of the things that makes Hanh so accessible is his ability to tie his meditation and theory back to Christian theology. In essence, he knows his reader is Western and caters to us.

The book begins with the four aspects of love, which Hanh describes as:
1) Maitri: Loving kindness
2) Karuna: Sympathy, or the ability to ease others pain
3) Mudita: Joyful loving
4) Upeksha: Freedom through love

Really, quite a good book if spirituality and/or matters of the heart are important to you.

Editorial Review:

In this little treasure, Thich Nhat Hanh, the renowned Zen monk, offers timeless insight into the nature of real love. With simplicity, warmth, and directness, he explores the four key aspects of love as described in the Buddhist tradition: lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and freedom—explaining how to experience them in our day-to-day lives. He also emphasizes that in order to love in a real way, we must first learn how to be fully present in our lives, and he offers simple techniques from the Buddhist tradition that anyone can use to establish the conditions of love.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, is an internationally known author, poet, scholar, and peace activist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Shambhala Library)

Shunryu Suzuki

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Shambhala Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $11.23

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( S ) -> Suzuki, Shunryu
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Buddhism -> Zen
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Buddhism -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 140 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

If you are going to read on book on Zen...Right Here 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I can't count how many times I have read this book. this book is the rudder in my life.

Editorial Review:

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. He is the master who climbs down from the pages of the koan books and answers your questions face to face. If not face to face, you can at least find the answers as recorded in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, a transcription of juicy excerpts from his lectures. 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." And to know our true selves is to be enlightened. --Brian Bruya

Osho Zen Tarot: The Transcendental Game Of Zen

Osho

Amazon Price: $21.56 List Price: $27.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: St. Martin's Press Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $12.84

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( O ) -> Osho

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 98 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When life seems to be full of doubt and uncertainty we tend to look for a source of inspiration: what will happen in the future? What about my health, the children? What will happen if I make this decision and not that one? This is how the traditional tarot is often used, to satisfy a longing to know about the past and future. This Osho Zen Tarot focuses instead on gaining an understanding of the here and now. It is a system based on the wisdom of Zen, a wisdom that says events in the outer world simply reflect in the outer world simply reflect our own thoughts and feelings, even though we ourselves might be unclear about what those thoughts and feelings are. So it helps us to turn our attention away from outside events so we can find a new clarity of understanding in our innermost hearts. The conditions and states of mind portrayed by the contemporary images on the cards are all shown as being essentially transitional and transformative. The text in the accompanying book helps to interpret and understand the images in the simple, straightforward and down to earth language of Zen.

Big Mind - Big Heart: Finding Your Way

Dennis Genpo Merzel

Amazon Price: $12.21 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Big Mind Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $7.49

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General AAS
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Personal Transformation

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This book presents a highly original and accessible pathway to self-discovery and personal liberation. Since 1999 the Big Mind process has been experienced by many thousands of people in seminars across America. Big Mind employs a Jungian voice dialogue technique that enables people to step out of limited self-concepts into awareness of their many different sub-selves (emotions/mental states). In addition to exploration of the more familiar sub-voices like anger and fear, author Zen Master Dennis Genpo Merzel uses this technique to help people access the ever-present Big Mind/Big Heart awareness - the clear, "just being" awareness and the unconditional compassion that we all can experience. The Big Mind process is now available in book form to bring readers of all backgrounds many benefits including: access to our innate wisdom, compassion and equanimity; openness of mind and ability to shift perspectives; greater presence and empowerment; and appreciation for the wisdom within all of our many sub-selves even ones we tend to dislike or disown, like fear and anger.

Zen in the Art of Archery

Eugen Herrigel

Amazon Price: $9.56 List Price: $11.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Vintage Amazon Marketplace: 65 new & used starting at $5.25

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Buddhism -> Zen

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This is not a book on kyudo. 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is not a book on kyudo. As Earl Hartman says in another review, Herrigel did have little contact with kyudo in Japan (3-4 years). This book could be about many interesting things (zen, misticism, ...), but I don't know of them. But it's not a book on Kyudo. It seems more a book on Herrigel himself.
I don't says this is the worst book someone can read if is interested on kyudo. Last years saw apearing one or two terrible book's with kyudo in title.
Should be read with precaution and specially doesn't substitute pratice and guidance from a teacher or a master. Many persons come to kyudo allready knowing this book but after a few sessions they give up. and many of them continue to claim that they know about kyudo only by reading this book.

Editorial Review:

So many books have been written about the meditation side of Zen and the everyday, chop wood/carry water side of Zen. But few books have approached Zen the way that most Japanese actually do--through ritualized arts of discipline and beauty--and perhaps that is why Eugen Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery is still popular so long after it first publication in 1953. Herrigel, a philosophy professor, spent six years studying archery and flower-arranging in Japan, practicing every day, and struggling with foreign notions such as "eyes that hear and ears that see." In a short, pithy narrative, he brings the heart of Zen to perfect clarity--intuition, imitation, practice, practice, practice, then, boom, wondrous spontaneity fusing self and art, mind, body, and spirit. Herrigel writes with an attention to subtle profundity and relates it with a simple artistry that itself carries the signature of Zen. --Brian Bruya

Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen

Shunryu Suzuki, Edward Espe Brown, Zen Center San Francisco

Amazon Price: $9.56 List Price: $11.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperOne Amazon Marketplace: 48 new & used starting at $4.95

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Eastern -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Eastern -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( S ) -> Suzuki, Shunryu

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

If you can imagine Zen Existentialism, Not Always So is it. Part instruction manual for Zen practice and part philosophical meditation, Shunryu Suzuki's teachings emphasize being-in-the-world. He does not point toward a singular enlightenment-event as a burst into higher consciousness. Rather, he suggests a more experiential enlightenment that finds meaning in a full awareness of the present. For example: "If you go to the rest room, there is a chance for enlightenment. When you cook, there is a chance for enlightenment. When you clean the floor, there is a chance to attain enlightenment."

Shunryu Suzuki was an important emissary of Zen Buddhism to the United States. Establishing a Zen center in San Francisco in the 1960s, he attracted many noted pupils, including this book's editor, Edward Espe Brown. In fact, Not Always So is Brown's collection of Suzuki's teachings during his last years, in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

No doubt some readers will want to wrestle with the often paradoxical nature of Zen teachings. And those from the Western philosophical tradition may find vast differences between the Western system that takes its cue from Descartes' cogito and the Eastern one that emphasizes the destruction of the ego. Says Suzuki: "It is just your mind that says you are here and I am there, that's all. Originally we are one with everything." While the book does not wrestle with cultural-philosophical differences, it is nevertheless a good introduction to Zen. Suzuki's teachings tend to flow from simple stories, usually drawn from his own experiences. It's almost entirely free of the jargon that clutters many books on Buddhism, and the teachings are communicated with clarity and brevity. --Eric de Place

The Way of Zen

Alan W. Watts

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Vintage Amazon Marketplace: 68 new & used starting at $3.02

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Eastern -> General
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Eastern -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

After D.T. Suzuki, Alan Watts stands as the godfather of Zen in America. Often taken to task for inspiring the flimsy spontaneity of Beat Zen, Watts had an undeniably keen understanding of his subject. Nowhere is this more evident than in his 1957 classic The Way of Zen, which has been reissued. Watts takes the reader back to the philosophical foundations of Zen in the conceptual world of Hinduism, follows Buddhism's course through the development of the early Mahayana school, the birth of Zen from Buddhism's marriage with Chinese Taoism, and on to Zen's unique expression in Japanese art and life. As a Westerner, Watts anticipates the stumbling blocks encountered with such concepts as emptiness and no-mind, then illustrates with flawlessly apt examples. Many popular books have been written on Zen since Watts' time, but few have been able to muster the rare combination of erudition and clarity that have kept The Way of Zen in readers' hands decade after decade. --Brian Bruya

There Is Nothing Wrong with You: Going Beyond Self-Hate

Cheri Huber

Amazon Price: $9.60 List Price: $12.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Keep It Simple Books Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $4.90

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Psychology & Counseling -> General AAS
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Self-Esteem

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A must read book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have struggled with a strong Inner Critic for a very long time when I found this book. It is simple and straight forward and has been immensely helpful in breaking the pattern with my Critic. I have read it numerous times and keep returning to it for reminders and support. I highly recommend it to anyone who struggles with low self-esteem. It is not you. There is nothing wrong with you. This book will help you come to realize that Truth. Cheri's explanations are clear, understandable and based on deep knowing. I am grateful for her teachings. I have read Cheri's Fear Book and listened to her CD course Unconditional Self-Acceptance. All were helpful in breaking patterns of conditioning that keep me in bondage. Highly beneficial work!

Editorial Review:

This book reveals the origin of self-hate, how self-hate works, how to identify it, and how to go beyond it. It provides examples of some of the forms self-hate takes, including taking blame but not credit, holding grudges, and trying to be perfect, and explores the many facets of self-hate, including its role in addiction, the battering cycle, and the illusion of control. After addressing these factors, it illustrates how a meditation practice can be developed and practiced in efforts to free oneself from self-hating beliefs.