Best Buddhism Books
Buddhism is not only a religion. Buddhism is a philosophy; a way of approaching life and dealing with its ups and downs. The beauty of Buddhism is in its universality. You don’t need to be a practicing Buddhist to get something of value from it. I’ve decided to write this blog post highlighting what I believe are the best Buddhism books that you simply must read. These books will give you an amazing understanding of what Buddhism is about and how you can apply it to your life.
What Are The Benefits of Buddhism?
The benefits of Buddhism are how the philosophy addresses the nature of human suffering and how it teaches us ways to train our minds and live our lives so that we can overcome this suffering. More specifically, learning about Buddhism can bring some positives to your life such as:
- Buddhism can improve your mental health by reframing how readily you attach to your thoughts.
- Buddhist meditation can help you achieve inner peace and tranquility of mind.
- Buddhism teaches mindfulness, which enables you to become more present in your life.
- Buddhism is secular; it doesn’t depend on believing in a higher power.
- Buddhism teaches the value of compassion towards our fellow humans.
With all of these great benefits in mind, let’s now move on to some of the best Buddhism books that encapsulate what Buddhism is about and how you can apply it.
1. The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and a prolific writer. His bibliography includes over 70 books, all of which are marked by a wonderfully poetic use of language. The Heart of the Buddha’s teaching is an excellent book and it serves as a wonderful guide to how you can apply Buddhist philosophies and ideas to your life.
The book covers important Buddhist teachings like the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. Hanh, who is known affectionately by his followers as Tai, presents the ideas of Buddhism with excellent lucidity. I think this book should be on any list of the best Buddhist books.
2. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
This little gem of a book is a compilation of teachings from Shrunryu Suzuki, a Zen master. One of the reasons I like Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind so much is that it focuses mostly on the benefits of meditation. In Zen, which is a school of Buddhism, the practice of sitting and letting go of attachment to thoughts is known as zazen.
Zen monks and practitioners often talk about the virtue of maintaining an attitude of Shoshin (初心). This is a mindset in which one approaches a subject, no matter how much knowledge they have about it, with the eagerness and lack of preconceived ideas that a beginner would. I like to think of it as approaching a topic like a child would; with that eagerness and curiosity to learn and listen. One of the important ways to cultivate this mindset is to meditate.
As Suzuki says in the book, “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” I like this quote because it is so relevant in the modern world of divisive online discourse. Everyone has an opinion, everyone expresses those opinions strongly, and everyone thinks they are an expert. But an untrained mind is always clouded by preconceived notions.
3. Buddhism for Beginners by Thubten Chodron
This is perhaps the best Buddhist book that gets across to the reader the fundamental ideas behind Buddhism. The beauty of its book is its use of language and a Q&A format that answers common questions on Buddhism with impressive clarity.
I also like how Buddhism for Beginners answers more general existential questions in relation to Buddhism. This is not a dry book based on acquiring theoretical knowledge. Some of the questions you’ll get answers to (from a Buddhist perspective) include:
- How can you deal with fear better?
- How do you establish a regular meditation practice?
- If the world is emptiness, does nothing exist?
Buddhism for Beginners provides essential Buddhist knowledge for people who aren’t interested in reading dry, strictly theoretical texts. Therevada Buddhism, which is practiced widely in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, is filled with thousands of discourses aimed at improving understanding of its ideas. This is a Western-friendly Buddhist book that knows what its aim is and sticks to it well.
4. Buddhism the Religion of No-Religion by Alan Watts
Self-proclaimed spiritual entertainer Alan Watts is one of my favourite people to read and listen to. His lectures have gained prominence on YouTube recently, with thousands of videos uploaded by different channels, some of which are mixed with questionable music. As a person who enjoys reading as much as listening, I am grateful Alan watts was as talented at writing as he was at public speaking.
This book is actually taken from a series of lectures Watts gave, so it is not actually his writing, but these lectures translate beautifully to text. The great achievement of this book is how well it conveys Buddhist ideas and the evolution of Buddhism through both Watts’ impressive knowledge of the Orient and his classic British wit. The great achievement of this book is that it manages to be an excellent self-help manual, which pretty why Buddhism is so important.
5. The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh’s second appearance on this list. But I couldn’t write about the best books on Buddhism without including this all-time classic on mindfulness. If you were to distill what aspect of Buddhism is most secular and most applicable to everyone’s lives, it’d surely be mindfulness.
Other than how applicable it is, mindfulness has also been rigorously studied by scientists. An intriguing 2015 paper entitled ‘The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation’ delves into the intersection between mindfulness meditation and neuroscience. Tons of brain changes are discussed, including changes in areas that regulate emotions, self-awareness, and attention.
The Miracle of Mindfulness is essentially a manifesto on mindfulness and how to apply it to our daily lives. Life seems to fly by and part of the reason for that is we are not ordinarily present enough throughout each day. Each activity, every second, provides an opportunity to be present. What Tai conveys beautifully in The Miracle of Mindfulness is that by focusing our entire attention on whatever we happen to be doing, we can achieve a state of mental calmness.
The profundity of this book is how it can transform a simple act like shaving or washing the dishes into something meaningful that we appreciate and are fully present for. This approach to the apparent mundanities of life contrasts sharply with how must of us in the West are conditioned to approach mundane tasks. We always worry about the future and think about the past, so that we miss the present, which is where life actually happens.
6. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
The only fiction book on this list and it is an absolute corker. I read Siddhartha in one sitting at my local library while waiting for my mother to undergo a routine medical procedure in a nearby hospital. The book is essentially a riff on the true story of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.
Gautama Buddha was a wealthy Indian royal whose father sheltered him from death, disease, hunger, and destitution for the first 28 years of his life. Siddhartha then left the grounds of the palace in which he had been sheltered on his 29th birthday. He encountered everything his father sheltered him from and he was left wondering what is the meaning of life if such suffering exists in the world.
Gautama Buddha renounced his worldly possessions and became an ascetic who depended on the kindness of others to share food with him. But extreme asceticism didn’t provide the meaning that the Buddha strived for. He then underwent a serious study of the nature of his own mind by meditating continuously under a Bodhi tree for 49 days. After 49 days, the Buddha became awakened. (Buddha means awakened one).
Hesse’s Siddhartha is an exquisite book both in terms of the depth of its themes and its simple use of language to convey complex ideas. It is the ultimate book on finding meaning and it is a profound example of the Buddhist idea of finding The Middle Way between outright asceticism and being a functioning member of society who embraces the world. Siddhartha is one of very few books that is bound to stick with you even if you only ever read it once in your life.
Closing Thoughts
Whether you want to read one of these books or all six, I believe there is something in here for everyone. My personal favourite from this list of best Buddhism books is Siddhartha even though it is the only book here that doesn’t directly explain Buddhist ideas.
I firmly believe that Buddhism is by a long way the most relevant and interesting of the world’s religions in terms of providing plausible answers to the important questions in life. At the very least, learning about Buddhism makes you reconsider who you are and what you deem important in life.