Wisdom Publications :: Literature and Poetry

Literature and Poetry

Browse our selection of Buddhist literature and poetry from all traditions, spanning from ancient verses to modern commentary on pop-culture phenomenon.

A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency

Edited by John Stanley, David R. Loy, and Gyurme Dorje,

Never before have so many teachers from all Buddhist traditions—Zen, Vajrayana, Theravada, Vipassana; from the West and the East—come together to offer a unified response to a matter of utmost urgency. This watershed volume is at the same time a clarion call to action and a bright beacon of hope.

With contributions from: the Dalai Lama, the Seventeenth Karmapa, Sakya Trizin,Dudjom Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, Ato Rinpoche,Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche,Thrangu Rinpoche,Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche,Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Robert Aitken, Joanna Macy, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Joseph Goldstein,Taigen Dan Leighton, Susan Murphy,Matthieu Ricard,Hozan Alan Senauke, Lin Jensen, and Thich Nhat Hanh

ISBN:0-86171-605-1_|_312 pages_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Available Truth

Excursions into Buddhist Wisdom and the Natural World
Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano, Author

With his books Landscapes of Wonder and Longing for Certainty, the American monk Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano led readers down literary trails, providing enlightening glimpses of the natural world.

In Available Truth, he guides us further along the path. His unqualified embrace of the Buddha’s worldview—in intelligent and deeply thoughtful prose—distinguishes his work from many other Western Buddhist books. Along with reflections on mindfulness, impermanence, and the end of suffering, Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano is not afraid to delve into the topics of rebirth, karma, nonvirtue, and the roles of reasoned faith, ritual, and monasticism, revealing their continuing relevance for today's seeker. His patient awareness of the workings of the mind and the natural world will enable readers to deepen both their practice and their lives.

Available Truth will surely stand the test of time as both sound teaching and elegant writing.

ISBN:0-86171-519-5_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Awesome Nightfall

The Life, Times & Poetry of Saigyo
William Lafleur, Author

Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyo captures the power of Saigyo's poetry and this previously overlooked poet's keen insight into the social and political world of medieval Japan. It also offers a fascinating look into the world of Japanese Buddhism prior to the wholesale influence of Zen.

ISBN:0-86171-322-2_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Bad Dog!

A Memoir of Love, Beauty, and Redemption in Dark Places
Lin Jensen, Author

What would happen if instead of bolting your doors against the intrusion of demons you invited them in?

Bad Dog! is a vivid testament to the unforeseen love, beauty, and redemption discovered in the most difficult times and places. Bad Dog! reads like a collection of closely linked short stories (think JD Salinger) but is in fact a work of literary nonfiction (think Robert Fulgham, or and Augusten Burroughs). Bad Dog! will appeal to anyone who has fallen into dark places and wants to climb back into the light.

With quietly crafted poetic language of a quality rarely seen in spiritual books, Lin Jensen tells the stories of his remarkably difficult life: his tumultuous early years on a struggling Midwestern turkey farm, his failed marriage, and the search for meaning that led him eventually to become a Zen teacher. The raw and earthy lessons of Bad Dog! cut to the quick with an understated power, and the reader is left at the end of each chapter subtly transformed, able to reflect more deeply and more fruitfully on the struggles of our own lives. Lin Jensen's writing is of a poetiic and literary merit rarely seen.

Lin Jensen received the Best Nonfiction/Spiritual Book award from Today's Librarian for his previous book, Uncovering the Wisdom of the Heartmind. He has taught writing in various colleges and universities for over twenty years, and continues to teach Buddhist ethics and practices at Chico State University. He is the founding teacher and senior teacher emeritus of the Chico Zen Sangha, in Chico, California, where he lives with his wife.

ISBN:0-86171-486-5_|_288 pages_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Beckett and Zen

A Study of Dilemma in the Novels of Samuel Beckett
Paul Foster, Author

In this vital new approach to Samuel Beckett's work, Paul Foster applies his understanding of Zen Buddhism to the 'absurdity' of Beckett, which he sees as an expression of deepest spiritual anguish. Foster uses Buddhism as a tool for understanding the dilemmas Beckett's insightful observations of the human mind reveal: the nature of consciousness and personal identity, the meaning of existence and human suffering, the truth of reality and the possibility of salvation.

ISBN:0-86171-059-2_|_228 pp_|_Our Price: $15.16 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Daughters of Emptiness

Poems of Chinese Buddhist Nuns
Beata Grant, Author

A sample poem for this stunning collection:

The sequence of seasons naturally pushes forward,

Suddenly I am startled by the ending of the year.

Lifting my eyes I catch sight of the winter crows,

Calling mournfully as if wanting to complain.

The sunlight is cold rather than gentle,

Spreading over the four corners like a cloud.

A cold wind blows fitfully in from the north,

Its sad whistling filling courtyards and houses.

Head raised, I gaze in the direction of Spring,

But Spring pays no attention to me at all.

Time a galloping colt glimpsed through a crack,

The tap [of Death] at the door has its predestined time.

How should I not know, one who has left the world,

And for whom floating clouds are already familiar?

In the garden there grows a rosary-plum tree:

Whose sworn friendship makes it possible to endure.

—Chan Master Jingnuo

ISBN:0-86171-362-1_|_208 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Dharma of Dragons and Daemons, The

Buddhist Themes in Modern Fantasy
David Loy, Author
Linda Goodhew, Author_|_Jane Hirshfield, Introduction

Many books are called groundbreaking, but this one is truly unique and sure to appeal to anyone with an interest in fantasy literature. It employs a Buddhist perspective to appreciate some of the major works of modern fantasy - and uses modern fantasy fiction to elucidate Buddhist teachings. In the tradition of David Loy's cutting-edge presentation of a Buddhist social theory in The Great Awakening, this pioneering work of Buddhist literary analysis, renown scholar David Loy and Linda Goodhew offer ways of reading modern fantasy-genre fiction that illuminate both the stories themselves, and the universal qualities of Buddhist teachings. Authors examined include J.R.R. Tolkien, Philip Pullman (of The Amber Spyglass trilogy, from whose works the word "daemon" is borrowed in the title), Ursula K. LeGuin, and the anime movie Princess Mononoke.

ISBN:0-86171-476-8_|_176 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Divine Stories

Divyavadana Part 1
Andy Rotman,

The Divyavadana is an enormous compendium of Indian Buddhist narratives written in Sanskrit from the early centuries of the Common Era, whose stories have since spread throughout Asia, as both narrative and narrative art, leaving an indelible mark on Buddhist thought and practice. The stories in the collection were frequently used in the education of both monastics and laity in premodern Asia, exerting a powerful influence as moral exempla and legal precedent, and they were considered by many to be the word of the Buddha himself. These stories were likewise canonical in their influence on Buddhist art.

Representations of these stories can be found across Asia, from Kizil in China to Sanchi in India to Borobudur in Indonesia. It is not hyperbole to say that these are some of the most influential stories in the history of Buddhism. The stories presented here, among the first texts to be inscribed by Buddhists, highlight the moral economy of karma, illustrating how gestures of faith, especially offerings, can bring the reward of future happiness and ultimately liberation.

Click here to return to the complete Classics of Indian Buddhism Series

ISBN:0-86171-295-1_|_528 pages_|_Our Price: $19.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Drinking the Mountain Stream

Songs of Tibet’s Beloved Saint, Milarepa
Milarepa, Author
Brian Cutillo, Translator

Jetsun Milarepa, Tibet’s renowned and beloved saint, is known for his penetrating insights, wry sense of humor, and ability to render any lesson into spontaneous song. His songs and poems exhibit the bold, inspirational leader as he guided followers along the Buddhist path.

More than any other collection of his stories and songs, Drinking the Mountain Stream reveals Milarepa’s humor and wisdom. Faithfully translated by Lama Kunga Rinpoche and Brian Cutillo, this rare collection -- never before available in any Western language -- cuts across the centuries to bring Milarepa’s most inspiring verses, in all their potency, to today’s reader.

ISBN:0-86171-063-0_|_188 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Essential Sangharakshita

A Half Century of Writings From the Founder of The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order
Urgyen Sangharakshita, author

Profoundly knowledgeable and articulate, and equally at home with science, philosophy, myth, art, and poetry, Urgyen Sangharakshita uses every inner avenue to communicate the timeless Dharma to the Western mind. Engaging both the intellect and the heart countless times in a single chapter, the author draws remarkably apt examples from sources as diverse as Orwell, Aeschylus, and Jane Austen. This distilled volume is a primer to the breadth and depth of Buddhist thought and practice.

ISBN:0-86171-585-3_|_792 pages_|_Our Price: $23.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Everything Yearned For

Manhae's Poetry of Love and Longing
Francisca Cho, Translator
David R. McCann, Foreword

Manhae (1879-1944), or Han Yongun, was a Korean Buddhist (Son) monk during the era of Japanese colonial occupation (1910-1945). Manhae is a political and cultural hero in Korea, and his works are studied by college students and school children alike.

Everything Yearned For is a collection of 88 love poems, evocative of the mystical love poetry of Rumi, and even reminiscent of the work of Pablo Neruda.Though Manahe's poetry can be read allegorically on many levels—political and religious—it is completely unlike any other poetry in Buddhist or secular realm.

The first poem, "My Lover's Silence," narrates the lover's departure and establishes the enduring themes of the work: The happiness of meeting, the sadness of separation, the agony of longing and waiting, and, most of all, the perfection of love in absence that demands the cost of one's ongoing life, as opposed to the relief of death. The Korean word translated in these poems as "love" and "lover" is nim, though nim has many and broad interpretations. Understandably, the identity of Manhae's lover, or "nim" has been the subject of much speculation.

Manhae writes in his own preface:

"Nim" is not only a human lover but everything yearned for. All beings are nim for the Buddha, and philosophy is the nim of Kant. The spring rain is nim for the rose, and Italy is the nim of Mazzini. Nim is what I love, but it also loves me. If romantic love is freedom, then so is my nim. But aren't you attached to the lofty name of freedom? Don't you also have a nim? If so, it's only your shadow. I write these poems for the young lambs wandering lost on the road home from the darkening plains."

ISBN:0-86171-489-X_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $12 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Gesture of Awareness

A Radical Approach to Time, Space, and Movement
Charles Genoud, Author

From a major mind of Buddhism today comes this unique philosophical work, which hearkens back to the classical verse-form, but in a modern voice that speaks directly to the 21st-century reader and practitioner.

Gesture of Awareness involves a fascinating philosophical exploration of time, space, and movement but at the same time is a manual for an embodied 'practice of exploration.'

Genoud is very well known to the leading lights of Buddhism today. He and his work are continuingly praised for their invention and importance. Well-versed in French and continental philosophies, as well as Eastern thought, he has produced a work that will be welcomed as a Buddhist book and a noteworthy contribution to the larger philosophical community.

ISBN:0-86171-506-3_|_184 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Hermit of Go Cliffs

Timeless Instructions from a Tibetan Mystic
Cyrus Stearns, Translator
Cyrus Stearns, Introduction

The great Tibetan meditation master Gyalwa Godrakpa (1170-1249) practiced and taught a nonsectarian approach to realization. Hermit of Go Cliffs is the first English translation of The Collected Songs of Godrakpa, presented here with the original Tibetan text and with Cyrus Stearns' comprehensive introduction to Godrakpa's life, legacy, and poetry.

Like the songs of Tibet's great saint Milarepa, Godrakpa's songs are uniquely beautiful and accessible: sometimes stern and sharp, sometimes lyrical and filled with allusions to the natural world. These songs express what Godrakpa emphasized in his life-a no-nonsense approach to the practice of meditation.

ISBN:0-86171-164-5_|_224 pp_|_Our Price: $15.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Landscapes of Wonder

Discovering Buddhist Dhamma in the World Around Us
Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano, Author
Bhikkhu Bodhi, Foreword

Landscapes of Wonder is a collection of eighteen literary essays on the philosophy and practices of Buddhism. Though not conceived of as an introduction to Buddhism so much as an application of its teachings to modern life, it effectively summarizes most of the main areas of Buddhist teachings. In doing so, Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano takes one of the oldest traditions in Buddhism and presents it in its most natural setting: the natural world in which we live. His examination will appeal both to practitioners and those interested in broadening their knowledge of Buddhism through an enjoyable literary exploration.

In language that sings, former actor and playwright Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano communicates the essence of Buddhism in eighteen inspiring essays. Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano's reflections will appeal not only to novice and seasoned practitioners but also to those simply waiting to stretch their spirits on this modern literary exploration of the Buddha's eternal truths.

ISBN:0-86171-142-4_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Landscapes of Wonder

ISBN:0-86171-142-4_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Like A Dream, Like a Fantasy

The Zen Writings and Translations of Nyogen Senzaki
Nyogen Senzaki, Author
Eido Shimano, Editor_|_Eido Shimano, Introduction
Soen Nakagawa, Foreword
Just as D.T. Suzuki introduced the West to Zen philosophy, Nyogen Senzaki helped introduce it to Zen practice, becoming the first great Japanese meditation master to fully immerse himself in the everyday life of America. Like a Dream, Like a Fantasy collects many of his talks, essays, and poetry into one fascinating volume that offers an intimate, in-depth look at one ofWestern Zen’s earliest pioneers.

ISBN:0-86171-280-3_|_224 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Longing for Certainty

Reflections on the Buddhist Life
Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano, Author

In the same lyrical voice that met with such acclaim in Landscapes of Wonder, Bhikkhu Nyanasobhanoa invites us to look upon the natural world with new eyes and to find the truths of the Buddha's teachings in our immediate experience. Attentive to the subtle power of language, Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano choose his words in these essays with such artisty and care that Longing for Certainty resounds with sparkling, fluid clarity.

Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano has been referred to as "American Buddhism's Thoreau" (by no less than Bhikkhu Bodhi) and indeed, his ability to inspire his readers to discover the wonders of nature and the spiritual insights that they arouse is unsurpassed among modern Buddhist writers. Fans of his acclaimed Landscapes of Wonder, will find that Longing for Certainty moves into even deeper fields of reflection.

ISBN:0-86171-338-9_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Lotus

Kaz Tanahashi, Translator
Allan Baille, Photographs

In Lotus,Kaz Tanahashi and photographer Alan Baillie provide a super-close-up view of one of world culture's most famous flowers. Baillie's carefully assembled collection of photographs of the lotus capture the legendary flower throughout its "life," as it were: from seed to brilliant flower, and finally, into dust. Some of Baillie's photographs rival the best of the genre; these are truly "classical" in their approach. But he also provides a wholly fresh view, providing surprising images from each stage of the lotus's existence. Readers will alternate between swooning, and exclaiming, "I can't believe that's a flower!"

Editor Kaz Tanahashi, an expert of Asian cultures and storytelling, offers the perfect complement to the photography here. His introductory frontmatter tells of the lotus' prominence in various cultures, and the mystical and practical meanings that the flower continues to embody. Next to appear are his carefully selected poetry and prose-extractions, chosen to match Baillie's photographs, on facing pages. Each illuminates the other, making Lotus a gratifying way to relax, please the eyes, and feed the mind.

ISBN:0-86171-277-3_|_128 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Minding What Matters

Psychotherapy and the Buddha Within
Robert Langan, Author
Robert Coles, Foreword

Minding What Matters could be considered part of a new genre, the "literary self-help" book. Echoing the style of Kundera and the insights of Jung, with dashes of The God of Small Things and Thoughts Without a Thinker, this timely book alternates between discursive sections on Buddhist topics and engrossing fictional scenes between a psychotherapist and a patient. Sometimes going so far as to directly address the reader, the book shows how of any one of us can intimately explore his or her mind. By encouraging readers to create a stare of inquiry and allowing them to put themselves into hypothetical situations-such as participating in therapy or engaging in Buddhist practices-the book shows us how to discover our inner thoughts and then act on them in positive ways. At once informative and evocative, Minding What Matters offers an entrancing vision of, in Robert Coles's words, "what is possible to do and to be."

ISBN:0-86171-353-2_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Nightly Wisdom

Buddhist Inspirations for Sleeping, Dreaming, and Waking Up
Josh Bartok, Editor
Gustavo Szpilman Cutz, Editor

Includes inspiring nighttime reflections from:

Shakyamuni Buddha * The Dalai Lama * Padmasambhava * Eihei Dogen * Ajahn Brahm * Susan Murphy * Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche * Ezra Bayda * Gyatrul Rinpoche * Lama Yeshe * Geshe Lhundub Sopa * Serinity Young * Kalu Rinpoche * Robert Langan * Barry Magid * Venerable Yin-Shun * Manhae * Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche * B. Alan Wallace

…and many more!

Nightly Wisdom mines a rich vein of Buddhist teachings on such topics as lucid dreaming, Tibetan "dream yoga"--the art of extending meditation into the boundless world of dreams--and relaxing into restful sleep. In addition to inspiration and encouragement, you'll find here simple practices for transforming your sleep into something that's beneficial in entirely new ways, as well as practices for greeting each morning with fresh eyes-and an open heart.

Featuring poetry and prose from sources modern and ancient (including the Buddha himself), Nightly Wisdom is a bedside keepsake, perfect for anyone who has wants to wake up to the entirety of life or bring fresh wisdom into that third of our lives we spend in bed.

ISBN:0-86171-549-7_|_304 pages_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree

and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction
Kate Wheeler, Editor
Charles Johnson, Foreword

Pico Iyer, Victor Pelevin, Doris Dorrie and other renowned contributors join young award-winners in what National Book Award-winner Charles Johnson calls "an embarrassment of literary riches," sure to please fiction lovers of every stripe. From the O. Henry Award-winning title story, to visionary short-shorts and barely fictionalized personal memoirs, Nixon Under the Bodhi Tree is inventive, exciting, and unlike any collection before it.

CONTRIBUTORS: Sharon Cameron * Dorris Dorrie * Lama Surya Das * Martha Gies * Francesca Hampton * Keith Heller * Marie Henry * Jan Hodgman * MJ Huang * Pico Iyer * Keith Kachtick * Anne C. Klein * Jake Lorfing * Margo McLoughlin * Dinty W. Moore *Victor Pelevin * Judith R. Peterson * Gerald Reilly * Cathy Rose * John Rueppel * Kira Salak * Lea Sammel * Merry Speece * Marilyn Stablein *Ira Sukrunggruang * Mark Terrill * Easton Waller * Jeff Wilson * Diana Winston

ISBN:0-86171-354-0_|_288 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Novice to Master (Cloth Edition)

An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity
Morinaga Soko Roshi, Author

EVERYBODY loves Novice to Master! As you'll see in the glowing endorsements and reviews included below, this modern spiritual classic has been embraced by readers of all types.

In his singularly humorous and biitingly direct way, Zen abbot Soko Morinaga tells the story of his rigorous training at a Japanese Zen temple, his spiritual growth and his interactions with his students and others. Morinaga's voice is uniquely tuned to the truth of the condition of the human mind and spirit and his reflections and interpretations are unvarnished and succinct. His great gift is the ability to lift the spirit of the reader all the while exposing the humility and weakness in the lives of people, none more so than his own.

Read on to see what everyone from Publishers Weekly to well-known Buddhist figures and even New York Times bestselling author Anthony Swofford have to say about this one of a kind book!

ISBN:0-86171-319-2_|_154 pp_|_Our Price: $15.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Novice to Master (Paperback)

An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity
Soko Morinaga, Author
Belenda Attaway Yamakawa, Translator

Everybody loves NOVICE TO MASTER! As you'll see in the glowing endorsements and reviews included below, this modern spiritual classic has been embraced by readers of all types.

Read on to see what everyone from Publishers Weekly to well-known Buddhist figures and even New York Times bestselling author Anthony Swofford have to say about this one of a kind book!

ISBN:0-86171-393-1_|_160 pp_|_Our Price: $9.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Pavement

Reflections on Mercy, Activism, and Doing “Nothing” for Peace
Lin Jensen, Author

There's a war on—and Lin Jensen isn't gonna take it standing up. In 36 riveting scenes, Pavement shows how the Buddhist perspective can help us all, even in the toughest times.

EVERY DAY, Lin Jensen has gone down to the center of his small town of Chico, California, plopped down a meditation cushion, and sat "peace vigils" in protest of the US invasion of Iraq—his honest effort to change the world.

From his knee-level spot on the pavement, he has encountered a wonderful array of what Lin calls "uprights": a heart-breakingly generous homeless man who offers Lin his only possession; hostile passers-by who shout "F@#k you, Peace Wimp!"; "White Wolf," who punctuates every comment (always SHOUTED!) with a sharp poke to Lin's chest; compassionate soldiers; and more—all amid rain and bright sun, exhaust fumes, and the scent of azaleas.

Jensen, the author who so moved readers with his acclaimed memoir Bad Dog!, here shares what sidewalk-dwelling has taught him about humility, generosity, and what it really means to love our neighbors. It's inspiring, good-humored reading—especially for anyone who might work or wish for change but doesn't want to be just spitting into the wind.

ISBN:0-86171-522-5_|_144 pages_|_Our Price: $10.36 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind

The Life and Letters of an Irish Zen Saint
Maura O'Halloran, Author

One of the most beloved Buddhist books of all time-having inspired popular musicians, artists, a documentary film, and countless readers-is now in an expanded, new edition, loaded with extras. Absolutely absorbing from start to finish, this is a true story you might truly fall in love with.

At only 24, Maura O'Halloran left her Irish-American family stateside and traveled to Japan, where she began studying under an inscrutable Zen master. She would herself become recognized as a Zen master-in an uncommonly brief amount of time. Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind is Maura's beautifully-written account of her journey. These journal entries and letters home reveal astonishing, wise-beyond-her-years humor, compassion, wisdom, and commitment.

This expanded edition includes never-before-seen entries and poems, the author's unfinished novel, and an afterword that discusses the book's cultural impact. It will be a must-have for Maura's previous fans-and will surely find her thousands of new ones.

ISBN:0-86171-283-8_|_ 320_|_Our Price: $14.36 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Song for the King, A

Saraha on Mahamudra Meditation
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Author
Michele Martin, Editor_|_Peter O’Hearn, Translator

Mahamudra is the basic meditation practice for many Tibetan Buddhists, particularly of the Kagyu tradition. It is particularly adaptable for modern people, since it involves no rituals and can be incorporated into all daily activities. Saraha’s “Song for the King” is a short verse text from classical India that is a basis for the tradition and is widely known in Tibetan Buddhist circles. It is often the basis for teachings given in the West, but there is only one outdated translation of it in print, first published in 1969. Michele Martin has produced a stellar new translation, which is accompanied by a commentary from the well-known teacher Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, who is uniquely skilled and concerned with making this method of meditation available to Westerners.

While pithy and accessible, the book easily stands up to academic scrutiny, and includes the original Tibetan as well—making it ideal for the popular, scholarly, and Tibetan audiences all at once.

ISBN:0-86171-503-9_|_192 pp_|_Our Price: $11.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Splendor of an Autumn Moon, The

The Devotional Verse of Tsongkhapa
Tsongkhapa, Author
Gavin Kilty, Translator_|_Gavin Kilty, Introduction

The Tibetan saint Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the founder of the Dalai Lama's tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, was renowned for his vast learning, meditational achievements, influential writings on practice and philosophy, and reform of tantric religious practices. A deeply humble and religious man, he expressed himself in exquisite verse.

Here, presented in both the original Tibetan and in English translation, are twenty-one devotional poems by Tsongkhapa. Each verse -- dedicated to the Buddha, bodhisattvas, and lamas -- illuminates some aspect of the Buddhist path. Gavin Kilty's commentary places each prayer into context, and his careful, artful translations will appeal to anyone with a love of poetry.

ISBN:0-86171-192-0_|_304 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Taneesha Never Disparaging

M. LaVora Perry, Author
Floyd Cooper, Illustrator

Fifth grade isn't exactly easy for eleven-year-old Taneesha Bey-Ross. For one thing, she's getting tired of being her best friend Carli Flanagan's personal bodyguard. Carli wears a leg brace and she's white, and when Taneesha does stand up for Carli in the face of a local bully-a giant of a girl with big fists and army boots-she's told to expect revenge. Taneesha's also running a loser's race for class president, and her love-hate interest Rayshaun has learned that Taneesha is a Buddhist, so now he's taunting her, saying that she's going to hell. Her mom may have told her that Taneesha's got heaven in her heart, but it doesn't feel that way. And just in case she forgets it, there's always Evella, Taneesha's evil imaginary twin, to remind her that she's a total failure.

This beautifully written, fun, and instantly engaging novel presents vivid characters and a timely story about the big issues that every child faces.

ISBN:0-86171-550-0_|_216 pages_|_Our Price: $7.16 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

The Banyan Deer

A Parable of Courage & Compassion
Rafe Martin,
Richard Wehrman,

An Elephant Journal “Best Reads of 2010” selection.

This inspiring tale reminds us that no one can be truly at peace unless all beings have a chance for peace, freedom, and happiness. The Banyan Deer is a wonderful, heart-warming gift for anyone who loves a great story. This beautiful hardcover edition will delight both adults and children alike.

ISBN:0-86171-625-6_|_48 pages_|_Our Price: $12 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

The Best of Inquiring Mind

25 Years of Dharma, Drama, and Uncommon Insight
Edited by Barbara Gates and Wes Nisker,

For over a quarter century Inquiring Mind has been a pathblazer at the forefront of Buddhism in the West. Rich in insight, humor, and world-renowned expertise, The Best of Inquiring Mind is an unprecedented gathering of wisdom from the minds of some of the most influential thinkers in the realm of modern Dharma.

ISBN:0-86171-551-9_|_360_|_Our Price: $14.36 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

The Clouds Should Know Me by Now

Buddhist Poet Monks of China
Red Pine, Author
Mike O’Connor, Author_|_Andrew Schelling, Introduction

This unique collection presents the verse, much of it translated for the first time, of fourteen eminent Chinese Buddhist poet monks. Featuring the original Chinese as well as english translations and historical introductions by Burton Watson, J.P. Seaton, Paul Hansen, James Sanford, and the editors, this book provides an appreciation and understanding of this elegant and traditional expression of spirituality.

ISBN:0-86171-143-2_|_224 pp_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

The Lotus Sutra

A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic
Gene Reeves,

The Lotus Sutra is one of the world's great religious scriptures and most influential texts. It has been a seminal work in the development of Buddhism throughout East Asia, and by extension in the development of Mahayana Buddhism throughout the world. Taking place in a vast and fantastical cosmic setting, the Lotus Sutra places emphasis on skillfully doing whatever is needed to serve and compassionately care for others, on breaking down sharp distinctions between the ideals of the fully enlightened buddha and the bodhisattva who vows to postpone personal salvation until all beings may share it together, and especially on each and every being's innate capacity to become a buddha.

This new translation takes particular care to appeal to readers with little or no familiarity with technical Buddhism vocabulary, and this volume includes the full "threefold" text of this classic.

Cover illustration from The Illuminated Lotus Project (detail) (c) Roberta Mansell

ISBN:0-86171-571-3_|_504 pages_|_Our Price: $15.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Upside-Down Zen

Finding the Marvelous in the Ordinary
Susan Murphy, Author

Writing and teaching in the same tradition as Robert Aitken (Taking the Path of Zen) and John Tarrant (Bring Me the Rhinoceros), Susan Murphy shares their warm and lyrical approach to Zen Buddhism.

Upside-Down Zen is Murphy's unique invitation to explore the vivid spirit of Zen. Concentrating her gaze on the particular-the lived moment-she delivers Zen's timeless wisdom in a voice that stimulates and sustains the interest of the contemporary reader. She illuminates Zen koans, the often misunderstood teaching stories of the tradition, by drawing on diverse sources such as literature, folk-tales, modern cinema, and Australian aboriginal spirituality.

Upside-Down Zen is an excellent, enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in meditation, self-knowledge, and the opening of insight and compassion in ordinary life.

ISBN:0-86171-279-x_|_296 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Vast as the Heavens, Deep as the Sea

Verses in Praise of Bodhicitta
Khunu Rinpoche, Author
Gareth Sparham, Translator_|_Gareth Sparham, Introduction
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Foreword
Revered by many—especially His Holiness the Dalai Lama—as the very embodiment of altruism, the late Khunu Rinpoche Tenzin Gyaltsen devoted his life to the development of bodhicitta—the aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. Presented in both English and the original Tibetan, this modern classic is a collection of Khunu Rinpoche’s inspirational verse.

ISBN:0-86171-146-7_|_160 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

When I Find You Again, It Will Be in Mountains

The Selected Poems of Chia Tao
Mike O’Connor, Editor
Mike O’Connor, Translator

"A gorgeous tapestry."—Anne Waldman, Naropa University

Chia Tao (779-843), an erstwhile Zen monk who became a poet during China's T'ang Dynasty, recorded the lives of the sages, masters, immortals, and hermits who helped establish the great spiritual tradition of Zen Buddhism in China.

Presented in both the original Chinese and Mike O'Connor's beautifully crafted English translation, When I Find You Again, It Will Be in Mountains brings to life this preeminent poet and his glorious religious tradition, offering the fullest translation of Chia Tao's poems to date.

ISBN:0-86171-172-6_|_160 pp_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Where the World Does Not Follow

Buddhist China in Picture and Poem
Mike O’Connor, Author
Steven Johnson, Author

Gorgeous and unique, Where the World Does Not Followcaptures an almost-hidden China. Acclaimed translator Mike O'Connor and photographer Steven Johnson uncover a world rarely seen by outsiders - even as they capture it in its everyday beauty. O'Connor's translations of poems from China's Tang Dynasty sing in the present day, while Johnson's photographs reveal a modern-day China that seems almost unchanged by the passing of centuries.

Chinese authorities are only now allowing access to ancient Buddhist sites and many writings and devotional objects are being made available for the first time in decades. These poems written by Zen and Taoist hermit-sages, together with the crisp yet almost dreamlike images capture the aesthetic, literary, and spiritual roots of Buddhist China. Where the World Does Not Follow provides insight into a world that very few have been able to visit—and a time difficult even to imagine. O'Connor and Johnson's book is a hymn to nature, to the art of photography, and to the common beauty of humanity that extends to us like a silk thread from another time and place.

WISDOM CONGRATULATES MIKE O'CONNOR, who has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, with a 2003 creative writing fellowship for poetry and translation!

ISBN:0-86171-309-5_|_114 pp_|_Our Price: $19.96 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?

Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties
Ajahn Brahm, Author

The 108 pieces in Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung? offer thoughtful commentary on everything from love and commitment to fear and pain. Drawing from his own life experience, as well as traditional Buddhist folk tales, author Ajahn Brahm uses over thirty years of spiritual growth as a monk to spin delightful tales that can be enjoyed in silence or read aloud to friends and family.

Featuring titles such as "The Two-Finger Smile" and "The Worm and His Lovely Pile of Dung," these wry and witty stories provide playful, pithy takes on the basic building blocks of everyday life. Suitable for children, adults, and anyone in between, this eloquent volume wraps insight and inspiration inside of a good old yarn.

ISBN:0-86171-278-1_|_288 pp_|_Our Price: $12.76 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

Wisdom Anthology of North American Buddhist Poetry

Andrew Schelling, Editor

INCLUDES WORKS BY:

Diane di Prima o Lawrence Ferlinghetti o Norman Fischer o Sam Hamill o Jane Hirshfield o Mike O'Connor o Gary Snyder o Eliot Weinberger o Philip Whalen o Michael McClure o Leslie Scalapino o and more...

Playful, thoughtful, and important, the 28 poets found in The Wisdom Anthology of North American Buddhist Poetry offer innovations on traditional and time-honored Buddhist poetic forms.

This unique collection brings us African Americans reading the Black diaspora through the eyes of exiled Tibetan monks; Americans of Vietnamese and Tibetan heritage wrestling with the cultural norms of their parents or ancestors; Zen and Dada inspired performance pieces; and groundbreaking writings from the pioneers of the Beat movement, so many of whom remain not just relevant but vital to this day.

With its eclectic mix of acknowledged elders and newly emergent voices, this landmark anthology vividly displays how Buddhism is influencing the character of contemporary poetry.

Includes biographical notes and historical introduction by the editor, enhancing its value for workshop and classroom use.

ISBN:0-86171-392-3_|_416 pp_|_Our Price: $17.6 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

You Are Not Here and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction

Keith Kachtick, Editor
Lama Surya Das, Foreword

The stories in You Are Not Here and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction dramatize the spirit of Buddhism-often with wit, always with verve, and each in some distinctly vivid way. Only a few of these stories touch on the Dharma explicitly and this book takes you on an inward tour across the whole world-to the jungles of Indonesia, a fog-shrouded park in San Francisco, the sun-blistered African veldt, a Burmese monastery surrounded by gun-fire, and the church-like sanctuary of a Nebraska barn, just to name a few. Collectively these stories paint a living portrait of the face of Buddhism, and readers may discover that that face is a strangely familiar one-and that every journey only ever leads home.

Edited by Keith Kachtick-the author of Hungry Ghost: A Novel (A New York Times Notable Book)-You Are Not Here and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction offers more surprising and transcendent work from some of fiction's famous names, alongside that of names you've never heard before-but surely will again:

Lama Surya Das, Keith Kachtick, Robert Olen Butler, Kate Wheeler, Anne Donovan, Samantha Schoech, Mary Yukari Waters, Andrew Foster Altschul, Jess Row, Anh Chi Pham, Sean Murphy, Pico Iyer, Dan Zigmond, Michele Martin, Sean Hoade, Jeff Davis, Jake Lorfing, Geshe Michael Roach, Anne Carolyn Klein, Dean Sluyter, Mark Salzman, and Hal Hallstein.

ISBN:0-86171-291-9_|_256 pp_|_Our Price: $13.56 (20% OFF)_|_More Info

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