I’m looking to do some research on different religions, mainly Budhism. Can you suggest some good books?
Read Joseph Campbell’s Myths of Light, a slender yet cogent primer on Buddhist symbology, or Oriental Mythology, the second volume in The Masks of God series.
Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Suyra Das, and anything by Thich Nhat Hanh.
A good choice, I had planned on recommending it too.
My recommendation: “Nine Headed Dragon River” and “The Snow Leopard” by Peter Mathiesson.
The first is a history, of sorts, of Zen Buddhism in America. The second is the author’s account of a a natural history expedition in the Himalayas, deeply informed by his own involvement in the religion. It’s wonderful. So much writing about Zen seems cold to me. The Snow Leopard really brings in the emotional experiences he had.
Neither are intros to Zen, but Mathiesson is such an excellent writer, I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from both.
(PS - forgive misspellings, please)
If you are looking for an easy to read general primer on World Religions “The Joy of Sects” Its kind of religion for dummies. Nothing too in depth. Little factoids. I doubt he got everything right, but its well researched enough to be a good place to start.
The World’s Religions by Huston Smith is a very general overview.
Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings… by D.T. Suzuki is a wonderful book that explains zen well and captures the feeling of the symbology. I can’t recommend it enough.
I second Campbell’s Myths Of Light, a great collection of lectures/writings!
Patterns in Comparative Religion by Mircea Eliade is good, as is everything else by him.
Some other authors with good comparative mythology works are: Robert Segal, J.F. Bierlein, Wendy Doniger, Alan Watts, Phil Cousineau.
And for some interesting other takes on myths see Hamlet’s Mill by DeSantillana and the wonderful Cry For Myth by Rollo May.
Roberto Calasso’s books are artistically appealing on the subject.
OLD SOULS by Tom Shroder
You will have to figure out which religion it applies to tho.
Dal Timgar
Big ditto for this book.
Brad Warner’s Hardcore Zen is quite possibly the best book on Buddhism I’ve read in quite awhile. The dude’s a former punk rocker, works in the studio that makes the Ultraman monster-stomping show, is a jen-yoo-wine certified Zen Master (“Dharma Transmission” and lineage and all, natch), and refreshingly down-to-earth about it all.