Commonplace Buddhism

Quotes from my buddhist reading notes.

[commonplacebuddhism]

Bibliography

All the Buddhist books I have taken notes from, with links if they are available free online. Updated 06/08/26.

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path by Jack Kornfield

Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path by Ayya Khema

Buddha's Brain: the Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom by Rick Hanson, Ph.D., and Richard Mendius, M.D.

Buddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas For the Curious and Skeptical by C. Pierce Salguero

Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening by Stephen Batchelor

Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha translated by Thomas Byrom, Shambhala Pocket Classics 1993 (link goes to a different edition)

Enlightenment is an accident: ancient wisdom and simple practices to make you accident prone by Tim Burkett

Essence of Chan, The by Guo Gu

Everyday Zen: Love & Work by Charlotte Joko Beck

Happiness is Overrated: Simple Lessons on Finding Meaning in Each Moment by Cuong Lu

The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh

How to Raise an Ox: Zen practice as taught in Zen master Dogen's Shobogenzo by Francis Dojun Cook (2002)

How We Live is How We Die by Pema Chödrön

Illumination: a guide to the Buddhist method of no-method by Rebecca Li

The Method of No Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination by Sheng Yen

Love for Imperfect Things by Haemin Sunim

"Living my vow," by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel in Lion's Roar, March 2021.

Meditation in Action by Chögyam Trungpa

Nothing Holy About It: The Zen of Being Just Who You Are by Tim Burkett

Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity by Soto Morinaga

Opening to Oneness: A Practical & Philosophical Guide to the Zen Precepts by Nancy Mujo Baker

Orthodox Chinese Buddhism by Sheng Yen

The Other Shore by Thich Nhat Hanh

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chögyam Trungpa

A Spiritual Renegade's Guide to the Good Life by Lama Marut

Start Here Now: An Open-Hearted Guide to the Path and Practice of Meditation by Susan Piver

Taking the Path of Zen by Robert Aitken

The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim

The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment by Roshi Philip Kapleau (I read the 25th anniversary edition, this is the 1970 edition)

Wake Up: How to Practice Zen Buddhism by Bonnie Myotai Treace

Walking the Way: 81 Zen Encounters with the Tao Te Ching by Robert Meikyo Rosenbaum

The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva, revised translation and new preface by the Padmakara Translation Group (2006) (Link goes to a different edition.)

When Things Don't Go Your Way: Zen Wisdom for Difficult Times by Haemin Sunim

Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright

Zen and the Art of Anything by Hal W. French

Zen Beyond Mindfulness: Using Buddhist and Modern Psychology for Transformational Practice by Jules Shuzen Harris

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps (link goes to a different edition than I read)

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki (Link goes to a book that is listed as the 2006 ed but it looks identical to my 2002 edition)

[commonplacebuddhism]

The moment of chopping wood and carrying water is the moment of happiness. We do not need to wait for these chores to be done to be happy.

— The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh

[commonplacebuddhism]

Freedom entails responsibility. Freedom from self-centered craving is freedom to creatively realize the possibilities of the world for others. When understanding and compassion are two sides of the same coin, an authentic vision of the empty and contingent nature of things spontaneously seeks to reflect itself in concrete and vivid forms of life. Face to face with the world, we struggle to find concepts, images, ideas through which to express the awesome inexpressibility of reality in authentic speech and acts. This unformed vision strives for form through imagination.

— Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening by Stephen Batchelor

[correctopinionhaver]

the american education system never taught me to escape samsara

[commonplacebuddhism]

Our practice is to make the most compassionate choice possible in each circumstance and then experience fully whatever arises from our decisions.

— Nothing Holy About It: The Zen of Being Just Who You Are by Tim Burkett

[commonplacebuddhism]

All our activities are Buddha activities — including our intellectual activity. The purpose of Zen practice is to actualize the total individual — mind, feelings, physical organism, will.

— How to Raise an Ox: Zen practice as taught in Zen master Dogen's Shobogenzo by Francis Dojun Cook

[commonplacebuddhism]

It is not that enlightenment will happen out of the blue once we have gotten rid of all our afflictions or vexations. Practice is not suppression; also, it does not produce enlightenment. Our intrinsic awakened mind is already here.

— The Essence of Chan: A Guide to Life and Practice according to the Teachings of Bodhidharma by Guo Gu

[commonplacebuddhism]

In Chan there is a saying: "Small doubt, small enlightenment; medium doubt, medium enlightenment; great doubt, great enlightenment; no doubt, no enlightenment.”

— The Essence of Chan: A Guide to Life and Practice according to the Teachings of Bodhidharma by Guo Gu

[cryptotheism]

Teleporting does kill you but it also launches your soul through samsara in a sort of geostationary orbit velocity, so you reincarnate instantly.

[commonplacebuddhism]

If you are happy At the expense of another man’s happiness, You are forever bound.

— Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha translated by Thomas Byrom, Shambhala Pocket Classics 1993

[commonplacebuddhism]

When you experience the goodness of being alive, you can respect who and what you are.

— Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior by Chögyam Trungpa

[commonplacebuddhism]

When you study Buddhism, you should have a general house cleaning of your mind. You must take everything out of your room and clean it thoroughly. If it is necessary, you may bring everything back in again. You may want many things, so one by one you can bring them back. But if they are not necessary, there is no need to keep them.

— Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki (2002 edition)

[commonplacebuddhism]

Being "good" will not make you invulnerable to disease, assure you of job promotions, or protect your children. Even being yourself will not add or subtract one iota from your life; it will only make your perceptions a bit more keen, soften your heart a little, deepen your dark places until they sound the depths, and brighten your shining to reflect your experience more clearly.

— Walking the Way: 81 Zen Encounters with the Tao Te Ching by Robert Meikyo Rosenbaum

[commonplacebuddhism]

If you see yourself as a separate, stand-alone being, that is not correct. Your parents are in you — whether you get along with them or not. All your ancestors are in you. And society is in you, too. You can't take society out of you.

— Happiness is Overrated: Simple Lessons on Finding Meaning in Each Moment by Cuong Lu

[andhumanslovedstories]

There’s an emotion only unlocked when you live in a house with multiple stories. I call it “the stair emotion” and it’s when you realize the object you need is on the other side of yet another trip up and down those goddamn stairs. It’s the closest I get to transcending the desire for material goods. Maybe I don’t need that notebook. Maybe I don’t need anything.

[commonplacebuddhism]

But I don't think it happens very often that the truth sets you free, period. Sometimes it's the other way around: freedom lets you see the truth.

— Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright

[commonplacebuddhism]

Forgiveness is the heart's capacity to release its grasp on the pains of the past and free itself to go on.

— After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path by Jack Kornfield