sacred writings eBooks

The Buddhist Tantras

David B. Gray

The tantric Buddhist traditions emerged in India beginning in the seventh century CE and flourished there until the demise of Buddhism in India circa the fifteenth century. These traditions were disseminated to Central, East, and Southeast Asia, and continue to be...

Finding the Heart Sutra

Alex Kerr

'An erudite and charming book . . . both a primer and a paean to one of the central texts of Buddhism, known as the Heart Sutra. . . Alex Kerr delves into the Japanese soul' Literary ReviewThe material world is itself emptiness.Emptiness is itself the material...

Three Japanese Buddhist Monks

Kamo No Chomei , Yoshida Kenko , Meredith Mckinney , Saigyo

'I have relinquished all that ties me to the world, but the one thing that still haunts me is the beauty of the sky'These simple, inspiring writings by three medieval Buddhist monks offer peace and wisdom amid the world's uncertainties, and are an invitation to...

The Profound Reality of Interdependence

Künzang Sönam

The Way of the Bodhisattva, composed by the monk and scholar Śāntideva in eighth-century India, is a Buddhist treatise in verse that beautifully and succinctly lays out the theory and practice of the Mahayana path of a bodhisattva. Over one thousand years...

The Dhammapada

N.C.

'Hate is not conquered by hate: hate is conquered by love. This is a law eternal.'Captivating aphorisms illustrating the Buddhist dhamma, or moral system.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge...

Women in Early Indian Buddhism

Alice Collett

The path of practice as taught in ancient India by Gotama Buddha was open to both women and men.The texts of early Indian Buddhism show that women were lay followers of the Buddha and were also granted the right to ordain and become nuns. Certain women were known as...

The Record of Linji

Jeffrey L. Broughton , Elise Yoko Watanabe

The Dhammapada

Valerie J. Roebuck

One of the best-known and best-loved works of Buddhist literature, the Dhammapada forms part of the oldest surviving body of Buddhist writings, and is traditionally regarded as the authentic teachings of the Buddha himself, spoken by him in his lifetime, and memorized...

The Dispeller of Disputes

Jan Westerhoff

Nagarjuna's Vigrahavyavartani is an essential work of Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophical literature. Written in an accessible question-and-answer style, it containsNagarjuna's replies to criticisms of his philosophy of the "Middle Way." The Vigrahavyavartani has been...

The Six Perfections

Dale Wright

The Dhammapada

Juan Mascaró

The Dhammapada is a collection of aphorisms that illustrate the moral teachings of Buddha - the spiritual path to the supreme Truth. Probably compiled in the third century BCE, the verses are arranged according to theme, covering ideas such as self-possession, good and...

Buddhist Scriptures

Donald Lopez

While Buddhism has no central text such as the Bible or the Koran, there is a powerful body of scripture from across Asia that encompasses the dharma, or the teachings of Buddha. This rich anthology brings together works from a broad historical and geographical range,...