Some Stimulating Books
Here are a few authors and books that I have found most influential. The books of the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Pema Chodron have been most helpful to me; almost any title by any of these three is recommendable. I’ll get into the other two another time; the one of the three that has had the most impact on me recently, that was most helpful to me in my recent crisis, is Pema Chodron.
Chodron is an American Buddhist nun, and a student of the Tibetan meditation guru, Chogyam Trungpa. She has also been a teacher at the first Tibetan monastery in the West: Gampo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Three of her books have spoken to me deeply, and I pick up new things with every re-reading. They are No Time To Lose, The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times, and When Things Fall Apart. Their titles are perfectly indicative of their contents. I discovered When Things Fall Apart very early in my difficulties, and I have no doubt that its messages about maintaining equanimity, the benefits of meditation, and how to handle upsets with compassion, not despair, saved my life, perhaps literally. I recommend this book to anyone, Buddhist or not, struggling with a crisis or a sad reversal of fortune.
More about these books and authors in future posts.
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