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The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
By Eckhart Tolle

The Power of Now provides a clear and persuasive argument of how we can improve our lives by being more present. Tolle states that while we spend our lives seeking happiness and fulfillment outside of ourselves, the true treasure can be found within. Tolle's words resonate with the intensity and seriousness of one who has reached a high level of enlightenment. While not specifically a book about meditation, The Power of Now details how meditative practices and awareness can dramatically improve our lives.




The Meditative Mind
By Daniel Goleman

In this seminal book, Goleman describes the meditative practices of 14 different traditions, including Sufiism, Zen, Kabbalah, Christian Hesychasm, Tibetan Buddhism, Krishnamurti, and Transcendental Meditation. Goleman then analyzes the similarities and differences among the traditions and concludes that there is significant overlap between these mystical meditative traditions. This is an essential book for those interested in the varied meditative traditions that humans have developed.

The Zen Teaching
of Huang-Po: On the Transmission of Mind

Edited by John Blofeld

Huang-Po, a 9th Century Zen Master, is considered the intellectual father of Rinzai Zen. His teachings relate to the direct transmission of mind; he urges his disciples to set aside their conceptual understandings and still their cluttered minds. Huang-Po's words are incisive, powerful and true to the original intentions of the Zen tradition.
"This Mind is no mind of conceptual thought and it is completely detached from form. So Buddhas and sentient beings do not differ at all. If you can only rid yourselves of conceptual thought, you will have accomplished everything."



Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy
By Katsuki Sekida

This is an excellent beginner's primer to Zen practice. Sekida details the technique of Zazen including its posture, breathing, and practices. Useful distinctions are made between Absolute Samadhi, a state of no-perception, and Positive Samadhi, the state of acting in the world while maintaining the awareness and understanding developed in meditation. This book has an excellent description of the physiological effects of "bamboo breathing" on the awareness portions of the mind. The reader will also appreciate the first person accounts of Sekida's own satori experiences.

Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness
By Dr. James Austin


Zen and the Brain is a comprehensive (900 pages) tome that compares Zen experiences with their neurological underpinnings. This is the book to read for those interested in the scientific understanding of the various mystical states encountered in meditation. Dr. James Austin provides an overview of the Zen tradition as well as an intro to Neuroscience and therefore no background in either field is required to appreciate this study of the effects of Zen on the brain.


Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Daily Life
By Jon Kabat Zinn


For over 20 years, Jon Kabat-Zinn has run a mindfulness clinic at the UMass Medical School, teaching patients how to overcome stress, anger, and fear through a mindfulness practice. This book summarizes his ideas of how to incorporate mindfulness into daily life and why we so desperately need to do this. Zinn does an excellent job of debunking any notions of that meditation is not a mainstream activity.

 

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