Zen Center Garden

1931 Russell Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
510-845-2403


Directions, map, parking, wheelchair access

Liturgy & basic texts

Berkeley Zen Center

Suggested readings

Titles in boldface are especially recommended to beginning students.

History of Buddhism & Buddhist doctrine

  • What the Buddha Taught, Rahula
  • Buddhist Thought in India, Conze
  • Dharmapada, various translations
  • Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, Takakusu
  • The Life of the Buddha, Nanamoli

History of Zen

  • The Golden Age of Zen, Wu
  • Zen Buddhism: A History, Volumes 1 & 2, Dumoulin
  • Zen Dust, Mura & Sasaki

Zen classics

  • The Gateless Barrier, Aitken
  • The Record of Transmitting the Light, Cook,
    or Transmission of Light, Cleary
  • Book of Serenity, Cleary
  • Blue Cliff Record, Cleary
  • Zen Comments on the Mumonkan, Shibayama
  • Platform Sutra, various translations
  • Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra, with commentary, Conze

Contemporary commentaries on Zen

  • Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki
  • Branching Streams Flow in the Dark, Shunryu Suzuki
  • Crooked Cucumber, The Life & Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki, Chadwick
  • Opening the Hand of Thought, Uchiyama
  • Being Peace, Thich Nhat Hanh
  • The Tiger's Cave, Leggett
  • Timeless Spring, Cleary
  • The Infinite Mirror, Sheng-Yen
  • Taking the Path of Zen, Aitken

Zen Master Dogen

  • Moon in a Dewdrop, Tanahashi
  • Enlightenment Unfolds, Tanahashi
  • Record of Things Heard, Cleary
  • The Way of Everyday Life, Maezumi
  • How to Raise an Ox, Cook

Buddhism & women

  • Buddhist Women on the Edge, Dresser
  • Buddhism After Partiarchy: Feminist History, Analysis & Reconstruction, Gross
  • Being Bodies: Buddhist Women on the Paradox of Embodiment, Moon & Friedman
  • Meetings with Remarkable Women, Friedman
  • The First Women Buddhists, Murcott

Engaged Buddhism

  • Path of Compassion, Eppsteiner
  • Seeds of Peace, Sivaraksa
  • Engaged Buddhist Reader, Kotler

Last revised April 6, 2000.
Copyright 2000 Berkeley Zen Center.
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