Essential Buddhism

Buddhism is practiced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, from Tibetan caves to Tokyo temples to redwood retreats. To an outside viewer, it might be hard to see what they all have in common. In Buddhism, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and American Buddhist nun Thubten Chodron map out with clarity the convergences and the divergences between the two major strains of Buddhism - the Sanskrit traditions of Tibet and East Asia and the Pali traditions of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

This user’s guide to Buddhist basics takes the most commonly asked questions - beginning with “What is the essence of the Buddha’s teachings?” - and provides simple answers in plain English. Thubten Chodron’s responses to the questions that always seem to arise among people approaching Buddhism make this an exceptionally complete and accessible introduction - as well as a manual for living a more peaceful, mindful, and satisfying Life.

This is the first book to offer the great master's incisive wisdom in short selections taken from the whole range of his voluminous works. The pithy and powerful readings, arranged according to theme, provide a perfect introduction to Dogen - and inspire spiritual practice in people of all traditions.

Over the course of twenty-five centuries, Buddhism spread from its place of origin in northern India to become a global tradition of remarkable breadth, depth, and richness. Donald S. Lopez Jr. draws on the latest scholarship to construct a detailed and innovative history of Buddhism—not just as a chronology through the centuries or as geographic movement, but as a dense matrix of interconnections.

Hinduism is an ancient religion, philosophy and way of life. Unlike other great religions that are based on a small set of books, there are hundreds of texts in Hinduism, most of which are very voluminous. They span not merely centuries, but millennia. And most importantly, these ancient...

Brought to you by Penguin. Every person's life is a journey toward themselves. The School for Broken Hearts, founded by bestselling mega-monk Haemin Sunim, provides a safe and caring space for people going through a difficult stage in life. Following on from his first two immensely successful...

Before it was a religion, a culture, or even a system of meditation, what was Buddhism? On Buddhism Without Beliefs, celebrated teacher, translator, and former Buddhist monk Stephen Batchelor takes us back to the first years after the Buddha's awakening to reveal the root insights of Buddhism...

Learn how to overcome the worries, insecurities and fears that hold you back in this perspective-shifting book. Drawing on his years of experience as a celebrated Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh shows that by mastering the practices of mindfulness, you can learn to identify the sources of pain that cause fear and move past them to live a mindful and happy life.

“Ram Dass lived a full life and then some. His final statement is thorough and, yes, enlightening.” —Kirkus Reviews Perhaps no other teacher has sparked the fires of as many spiritual seekers in the West as Ram Dass. If you’ve ever embraced the phrase “be here now,” practiced...

Presented in a practical Q&A format, No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners is the most clear-cut introductory guide to understanding the essential concepts of Buddhism and how they relate to your daily life. How is an awakening different from enlightenment? Can agnostics and atheists be Buddhist? In No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners, renowned Buddhism teacher and host of the popular Secular Buddhism podcast, Noah Rasheta, delivers an easily accessible introduction to the teachings of Buddhism that answers these common questions and many more.

In this simple, beautifully written book, David Michie opens the door to the core teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. With wry, self-deprecating humour, he shows us how he began to incorporate Buddhist practices into his daily life. He explains how he came to understand the difference between the temporary pleasures of ordinary life, and the profound sense of well-being and heart-felt serenity that comes from connecting with our inner nature.

Andrew Skilton - Senior Research Fellow in Buddhist Studies, Kings College, London - explains the development of the basic concepts of Buddhism and its spread across the continents during its 2,500 years of history. He begins with a close look at Buddhism in India, where it flourished until the 12th/13th century CE, charting the growth of different schools and practices. By the time it disappeared from its homeland midway through the millennium, it had become established in Central Asia and the Far East in a variety of forms.

New York Times bestselling author Damien Echols presents an unabridged audiobook of the spiritual practices that helped him survive and transcend his ordeal on death row. At age 18, Damien Echols was sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit. “I spent my years in prison training to be...

Discover the Infinite Possibilities of the "Vertical Dimension" of Existence Eckhart Tolle has long taught a curious truth: You’re not your possessions. You’re not your career. You’re not the events of your life. You’re not even the contents of your mind. So, who are you? With The...

At the heart of all Buddhist wisdom lies one astonishing truth: a way out of suffering and into a more deeply fulfilling life is not a myth, but a reality available to you the moment you open your eyes through the power of skillful inquiry. For generations, this fact has been proven again and...

Reiki master and best-selling author Diane Stein has been a dedicated hands-on healer since 1988. Stein believes strongly that this powerful healing art, once a closely guarded secret tradition, should be accessible and available to all. Since she began teaching in 1990, Stein has initiated...

Drawing on decades of experience, a psychotherapist and Zen practitioner makes the Abhidharma—the framework of Buddhist psychology—accessible to a general audience for the first time. The Abhidharma, one of the 3 major text collections of the original Buddhist canon, explores the critical...

The observations and insights of the Buddha are practical and eminently down to earth, dealing exclusively with awareness in the here and now. Buddhism Plain and Simple offers listeners these fundamental teachings, stripped of cultural trappings that have accumulated around Buddhism over the past 25 centuries.

Reiki is an ancient and profoundly simple system of “laying on of hands” healing derived from Tibetan Buddhism. In the West, Reiki has been kept highly secret for many years. ESSENTIAL REIKI presents full information on all three degrees of this healing system, most of it in print for the...

Around 2500 years ago a thirty-five-year-old man named Siddhartha had a mystical insight under a peepul tree in north-eastern India, in a place now revered as Bodhgaya. Today, more than 300 million people across the globe consider themselves beneficiaries of Gautama Buddha’s insight, and...