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SUGGESTED READINGS FOR ZEN


GENERAL

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  • Taizan Maezumi and Bernie Glassman. On Zen Practice, Body, Breath and Mind. Excellent on  presenting the fundamentals of sitting and practice, koan work, etc.  

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  • Thich Nhat Hanh. Being Peace, The Miracle of Mindfulness, and The Other Shore (about the Heart Sutra). All his books are poetic and clear. Highly recommended.

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  • Harada, Shodo. Moon by the Window, Summerville, Ma: Wisdom Publications, 2011. Short essays accompany his calligraphy. Wonderful.

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  • Roshi Robert Kennedy. Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit, The Place of Zen in Christian Life, Revised and Edited Second Edition, Bloomsbury Press, 2020 (edited by Susan Kodo Efird). Interfaith.  Highly recommended.

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  • Tisdale, Sally. Women of the Way: Discovering 2,500 Years of Buddhist Wisdom. New York: HarperCollins. 2007.

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  • Ellen Birx (dharma heir of Roshi Kennedy). Healing Zen: Awakening to a Life of Wholeness and Compassion, Viking Compass,2002. Interfaith. Excellent for beginning students (and for all of us).

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  • Pat Enkyo O’Hara. Most Intimate: A Zen Approach to Life’s Challenges. Boston: Shambhala, 2014. By the prominent abbot of the Village Zendo. Practical and helpful.

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  • Angel KoDo Williams. Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation. North Atlantic Books, 2016. An urgent call to action outlines a new dharma that takes into account the ways that racism and privilege prevent our collective awakening. Excellent.

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  • Zenju Earthlyn Manuel. Shamanic Bones of Zen: Revealing the Ancestral Spirit and Mystical Heart of Zen. Shambhala: February 2022 Exploration of connections between contemporary Zen practice and indigenous spirituality. Author relates her personal journey with the black church.

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  • Shunryu Suzuki. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. A classic for beginners and everyone. 

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  • Beck, Charlotte Joko. Ordinary Wonder, Boston: Shambhala, 2021. Excellent and accessible.

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  • Norman Fischer and Susan Moon. What Is Zen: Plain Talk for a Beginner’s Mind. A very readable question-and-answer format by two highly regarded teachers 

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  • Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Appreciate Your Life: The Essence of Zen Practice. Highly recommended. Maezumi Roshi is the founder of the White Plum lineage.

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  • Glassman, Bernie. The Infinite Circle and Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master’s Lessons in Living a Life that Matters. By one of the most revered Zen masters, known for his socially engaged Buddhism.

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  • Uchiyama, Kosho. Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. 2004. A classic. Particularly helpful on zazen.

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  • Leighton, Taigen Daniel. Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi. Clarendon, VT: Tuttle. 2000. Poetic classic on silent illumination.

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  • Thich Nhat Hanh. Breathe, You Are Alive! Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing. Parallax Press. A treasure of a book on the importance of conscious breathing.

ZAZEN

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  • Koun Yamada. The Gateless Gate. Probably the most classic collection of koans.  

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  • Other collections include The Book of Equanimity and The Blue Cliff Record.

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  • James Ismael Ford. Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of the Dragons. Foreword by Joan Halifax.  Excellent book for those who enjoy koans. 

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  • Roshi Janet Abels (dharma heir of Roshi Kennedy). Making Zen Your Own: Giving Life to Twelve Key Golden Age Ancestors. An excellent book on the lives of early Zen masters and their koans. 

KOANS

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  • Pine, Red. The Heart Sutra. Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker and Hoard. 2005.

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  • Pine, Red. The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom, Text and Commentaries Translated from Sanskrit and Chinese.

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SUTRAS

DOGEN STUDIES

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  • Okumura, Shohaku. Realizing Genjokoan. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2018. Superb.

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  • Tanahashi, Kazuaki. Enlightenment Unfolds: Writings of Zen Master Dogen. Boston: Shambhala, 2000. Masterful.

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  • Tanahashi, Kazuaki. Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen. New York: North Point Press. 1995. Masterful.

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  • Cook, Francis H. Sounds of Valley Streams: Enlightenment in Dogen’s Zen Translation of Nine Essays from the Shobogenzo. State University of New York: 1988. Particularly good on the Genjokoan.

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  • Tanahashi, Kazukai. Sky Above Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan. Boston: Shambhala, 2012. Highly recommended.

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  • Okamura, Shohaku. Ryokan Interpreted. Dogen Institute, 2021. A study of Ryokan by one of most highly regarded Zen masters today.

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  • Stevens, John. Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems of Ryokan. Boston: Shambhala, 2004. Excellent translations.

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  • Stevens, John. Three Zen Masters: Ikkyu, Hakuin, Ryokan. Tokyo: Kodansha Int’l., 1993. Highly engaging.

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  • Grant, Beata. Daughters of Emptiness: Poems of Chinese Buddhist Nuns. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2005. Superb.

POETRY

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READING LIST OF CURRENT BOOKS ON CHALLENGING RACISM

   
Prepared by Beverly E. Mitchell, Ph.D., for Sky Above Zen


​White Authors Challenging White Supremacy

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  • Carol Anderson, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide

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  • Robin Di Angelo, White Fragility

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  • Frances Kendall, Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race (Teaching/Learning Social Justice)

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  • Paul Kivel, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice

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Authors of Color Challenging White Supremacy

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  • James Baldwin, Fire Next Time

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  • Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism without Racists: Colorblind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States

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  • Ta-Nehesi Coates, Between the World and Me

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  • Ibram X. Kendi, How to be an Anti-Racist

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  • Derald Wing Sue, Racism Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

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  • George Yancy, Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America​

 

Authors Examining America’s Unspoken Caste System

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  • Isabel Wilkerson, Caste - The Origins of Our Discontents

 

​American Histories of People of Color

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  • Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

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  • Paul Ortiz, An African American and Latinx History of the U.S.

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  • Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.

​Schedule & Contact

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