Buddha books

by Tony, Bernhard

Village Voice

Vol. 43 No. 5 1998.02.03

P. 66

Copyright by Village Voice


Buddhism is no longer simply a fashionable pursuit for celebrities or fodder for the pages of mass magazines that keep track of spiritual trends in the West. The Buddha's path has taken root in Western culture, and already the most favorable venues on the planet for seeking the fruit of Buddhist practice include several domestic meditation centers. Young people who found their way East in the '60s and '70s have returned home as mature teachers, and are encountering receptive audiences in study-practice centers prolifer-ating throughout the country. The final outlines of a fully developed Western Buddhism are far from clear, but the indigenous form appears to be fertilized by all three major traditions--Tibetan, Zen, and Theravada--and blended with some Western psychology and the clarity of academic scholarship. There is now a relative pro-fusion of books by Western authors interpreting Buddhism for Western sensibilities, and they are finding a growing market among lay practi-tioners who are discovering spiritual nourishment in the Buddhadharma. Notable public-ations of Western teachers include: Theravada: Joseph Goldstein, Insight Meditation (Shambhala); Sylvia Boorstein, It's Easier Than You Think (HarperCollins); Ayya Khemma, Being Nobody, Going Nowhere (Wisdom); Ajahn Sumedho, The Mind and the Way (Wisdom); Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart (Bantam) http://www.dharma.org/ (Insight Meditation Society/Barre Center for Buddhist Studies); http://world.std.com/metta/index.html (Access to Insight) Zen: Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen (HarperCollins); Robert Aitken, Taking the Path of Zen (North Point Press); Maurien Stuart, Subtle Sound (Shambhala); Toni Packer, The Work of This Moment (Charles Tuttle) http://www.servtech.com/public/ spwtrctr/ (Springwater Center--Toni Packer); http://www.westnet.com/sarahd/zendo/ (The Village Zendo--Bernard Glassman) Tibetan: Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape (Shambhala); Robert Thurman, Essential Tibetan Buddhism (HarperCollins); Thubten Chodron, What Color Is Your Mind (Snow Lion) http://www.padmasambhava. org/index2.html; http://www.naropa.edu/budma.htm Nondenominational: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are (Hyperion); Mark Epstein, Thoughts Without a Thinker (Basic Books); Stephven Batchelor, The Awakening of the West (Parallax). http://www. dharmanet.org/ (DharmaNet International); http://www.igc.apc.org/bpf/ (Buddhist Peace Fellowship); http://www.dharmanet.org/infoweb.html (Buddhist Info Web).