Must read books on Vipassana, samatha meditation practices

[trusolo]

Thanks @Linda for your answer. I have all the other books mentioned in the thread and as mentioned by you and @Sumano it is about subjective/personal experience and I am aware that reading such books is like reading about swimming!

[Peter_Durham]

Keeping the breath in mind - Ajahn Lee

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/inmind.html

[thomaslaw]

@Linda

I’m much more oriented to ‘early Buddhism’ and practices as discussed in the suttas. … Emptiness , which interweaves vipassana and samatha practice in the way it’s taught in the suttas. … it’s important for each practitioner to discover for themselves what approach(es) works for them, but it’s good to understand the historical layers in terms of how Buddhist schools and traditions have developed. Otherwise teachings can seem quite contradictory as they are operating within different contextual and conceptual frameworks.

The following two books by Choong Mun-keat closely related to the practice of vipassana and samatha in Early Buddhism may be useful for everyone and beginners:

• The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism: A Comparative Study Based on the Sūtrāṅga portion of the Pāli Saṃyutta-Nikāya and the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama (Series: Beitrage zur Indologie Band 32; Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2000).

• The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism (1995; second revised edition, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1999).

The EBTs based on Saṃyutta-Nikāya/Saṃyuktāgama center mainly on practice and experience for practitioners. They lay emphasis on the teachings related to the aggregates, sense spheres, causal condition, and the path in a practical sense, rather than on idealistic and systematic theory.

Read also 1. Historical background, and 2. Historical importance of SN/SA and of its Sūtra-aṅga portion, in the book, The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism, pp. 2-11.

[thomaslaw]

@thomaslaw

2. Historical importance of SN/SA and of its Sūtra-aṅga portion

Regarding this topic/issue, the same author provides further useful information in the following recent paper:

“Ācāriya Buddhaghosa and Master Yinshun 印順 on the Three-aṅga Structure of Early Buddhist Texts” in Research on the Saṃyukta-āgama (Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, Research Series 8; edited by Dhammadinnā), Taiwan: Dharma Drum Corporation, August 2020, pp. 883-932.

[GRACE]

Breath by Breath by Larry Rosenberg.
Anapanasati Sutta and Anapanasati meditation.
Recently heard Ajahn Amaro recommended it as one of the best books on breath meditation.
I am listening to the audiobook. Maybe I will buy it.
Metta and Mudita

[Gabriel]

Don’t know if it’s a ‘must’ but I liked in my early days some simple works by Mahasi Sayadaw, eg ‘Practical Vipassanā meditation exercises’ or ‘Practical Insight Meditation’

I also recommend [audio recordings of Ayya Khema].(https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/334/?sort=rec_date&page_items=100)

[ngoonera]

Thank you for starting this thread. I’m not sure what I would consider a “must read” book since it depends quite a bit on your tradition/approach, but here are some thoughts:

1. Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation, Mark Johnson: This book mostly describes the TWIM approach, but I found it very helpful because it has an extensive discussion of the suttas and includes mention of the historical evolution of Buddhist practices, describing specific chanes introduces by the commentaries, for example. It has an extensive body of references, translations and annotations, and while I do not practice TWIM, I can respect the extensive scholarship Dr. Johnson has conducted.
2. Samadhi, Richard Shankman: I’m nearly done with reading this, and have really found this helpful. He begins by describing EBT texts, then the commentarial approach, then he interviews several practitioners (Leigh Brasington, Ajahn Brahm, etc.). It is very interesting to see how each describes their practice and since the questions he asks are similar, you can really see the contrasting approaches (nimitta? jhana? dry insight?)
3. Mindfulness of Breathing: A Practice Guide and Translations, Bhikkhu Analayo: A helpful discussion of the EBTs and his thoughtful perspective on this seminal practice
4. Breath by Breath, Larry Rosenberg: A very approachable and engaging book that links the practice back to daily life
5. Samatha, Jhana and Vipassana, Hyun-Soo Jeon: Mostly describes the Burmese approach, but interesting because the author shares his personal visions and direct experiences (what he saw in his mind’s eye while meditating), something which most books do not describe.
6. Right Concentration, Leigh Brasington: He provides several practical approaches to working with the jhana states
   (These are all available as Kindle books so you can use the Kindle Notes and Highlights feature). There is also a plethora of excellent publicly available documents/PDFs on Accesstoinsight.

Ultimately, though, the best place to read about the meditation practices is in the suttas. MN118 and MN119 are very accessible, and concise, for example. Satipatthana Sutta MN10 is quite thorough, but has a list of many practices and does not describe them in as much detail individually as MN118 or MN119, for example. The other benefit of starting from the suttas, doing your own meditation practice, then reading the contemporary commentaries is that it helps you be a critical reader and make more thoughtful decisions about the opinions each contemporary writer introduces in their work. I hope you enjoy your journey.

[Ander]

I learned to swim off YouTube, but meditating is a way harder than swimming!