Books

[follinge@gmail.com]

I have read that Jhananda believes that most books on meditation/Buddhism are not very useful.

I believe that one exception is: _Clarifying the Natural State_.

I bought it, and I find it to be very useful.

Does anyone have any other books on meditation which are useful? I'd be interested in looking at them.

[Alexander]

Hi Follinge, some of these might interest you.

One thread posted here:

http://fruitofthecontemplativelife.org/forum/index.php/topic,693.0.html

The Dark Night of the Soul and The Inner Castle are some of the best written works on the spiritual life out there. I found free copies of them at http://www.ccel.org/.

Another thread:

http://fruitofthecontemplativelife.org/forum/index.php/topic,734.0.html

That book by P. D. Ouspensky was the beginning of my inner life, but it may not be that interesting to you. Cosmic Consciousness may be the same: it gives a good theoretical background for the modern seeker, but you likely already have that.

I enjoyed spending a couple years reading Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill. The Philokalia and The Ladder of Divine Ascent are also the real deal and not things you hear about often. They are from the hesychast tradition.

Shameless self-promotion in the stickies:

http://fruitofthecontemplativelife.org/forum/index.php/board,50.0.html

You might like reading The Book of Shiva.

Complete Buddhist sutras index:

http://buddhasutra.com/

[Jhanananda]

I have read that Jhananda believes that most books on meditation/Buddhism are not very useful.

I believe that one exception is: _Clarifying the Natural State_.

I bought it, and I find it to be very useful.

Does anyone have any other books on meditation which are useful? I'd be interested in looking at them.

I recall reading the book.  It is from Tibetan Buddhism, and, if I recall correctly, it is on non-dualism, and I believe I found it useful, but rare to find such depth in Tibetan Buddhism.

The GWV website offers one of the most complete collections of translations of the Pali cannon on the web.

[follinge@gmail.com]

Thanks. I'll read these books.

Only after I posted did I realize that this thread had come up at least twice so I felt dumb.

Sorry for the repeat; I'll try to read more archives in the future.