I want to learn more about Buddhism. What are the core books that should be read? Are there modern supplimental books that present the terms & themes of Buddhism in simpler language?

by davy89irox

Thank you all for your time.

JimeDorje

My top ten books for an introduction to Buddhism, out of the hundreds that have been written, would be:

  • What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula (general Buddhism)
  • A Concise History of Buddhism by Andrew Skilton (the history of Buddhism, mainly it's rise and fall in India)
  • The Dhammapada of which there are many translations. (Mainly in the Pali tradition, extant in the Chinese, and translated in the 20th Century into Tibetan)
  • The Bhikkhu Bodhi series of the translation of the Pali Canon. This is a vast collection of the Discourses of the Buddha, Connected, Short, Middle, and Long. Not for the faint of heart and only if you're ready for a very big reading challenge. (Theravadin Tradition mainly)
  • A Very Short Introduction to Buddhism and Buddhist Ethics by Damien Keown (general Buddhism)
  • Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah (a personal favorite of mine, but it also gives a good introduction and a short history of the Thai Forest Tradition)
  • The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Nagarjuna, trans. Nishijima and Warner (the foundational text of Mahayana philosophy)
  • Tibetan Zen by Sam van Schaik (another personal favorite, of the lost Samten tradition, the Tibetan equivalent of Chinese Ch'an/Japanese Zen)
  • The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama by Thomas Laird (more about the history of Tibet than Buddhism itself, but filtered through the Dalai Lama, it is primarily the most modern and recent history of Tibet by a Tibetan, filtered through a western journalist)
  • Buddhist Warfare ed. Michael Jerryson and Mark Juergenmeyer (for a sobering take on how Buddhists of all traditions throughout history have failed to uphold the most basic precept)

I'm sure those will keep you busy for a while. Let me know if you have any questions.

DGBD

This question is fine for this subreddit, but please note that the resources you get here are going to be geared towards the history of Buddhism, the development of Buddhist thought and practices, etc. To learn about the practices, beliefs, and traditions themselves, it would be better to ask in r/Buddhism.