The DePaul University Zen Society
Reading Suggestions
The following books have been useful for Zen students. Many are available for purchase online or at local bookstores. Finally, various translations of essential texts (sutras, koan collections) are widely available online: check the sites listed on our Links page, or do a search.
Recommended Text for Beginners:
- An Introduction to Zen Training, by Omori Sogen
Texts for Historical Background and Reference
- Buddha, by Karen Armstrong
- Basic Buddhist Concepts, by Kogen Mizuno
- What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula
- History of Zen Buddhism, Vol. 1 (India and China) and Vol. 2 (Japan), by Heinrich Dumoulin
- Buddhism in China, A Historical Survey, by Kenneth Kuan Sheng Ch'en
- Ch'an and Zen Teaching, by Charles Luk
- Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings, by Andy Ferguson
- The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen, by Jeffrey L. Broughton
- Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, by John R. McRae
- Eloquent Zen: Daito and Early Japanese Zen, by Kenneth Kraft
- A Manual of Zen Buddhism, by D.T. Suzuki
- Art of the Zen Master [a biography of Omori Sogen], by Dogen Hosokawa
Buddhist Sutras and Writings by Zen Masters
- The Heart Sutra
- The Diamond Sutra, transl. by Red Pine
- The Lankavatara Sutra: An Epitomized Version, transl. by D.T. Suzuki
- The Vimilakirti Nirdesa Sutra, transl. by Burton Watson
- The Surangama Sutra
- The Lotus Sutra
- The Avatamasaka Sutra
- The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma, transl. by Red Pine
- The Recorded Sayings of Ma-tzu
- The Recorded Sayings of Joshu
- The Zen Teaching of Huang-Po, transl. by John Blofeld
- The Recorded Sayings of Layman P'ang
- The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi, by Burton Watson
- The Record of Lin-Chi, by Ruth Fuller Sasaki
- The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
- Dream Conversations, by Muso Soseki (transl. by Thomas Cleary)
- Zen Words for the Heart: Hakuin's Commentary on the Heart Sutra, by Norman Waddell
- Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, by Hakuin Ekaku and Norman Waddell
- The Zen Master Hakuin, Selected Writings, by Philip Yampolsky
- Fudochi Shimmyo Roku, by Takuan Soho (transl. by Tenshin Tanouye)
Texts for Students Engaged in Koan Training with a Teacher
- Two Zen Classics: The Gateless Gate and The Blue Cliff Records, by Katsuki Sekida
- The Gateless Barrier: Zen Comments on the Mumonkan, by Zenkei Shibayama
- The Zen Koan as a Means of Attaining Enlightenment, by D.T. Suzuki
- The Zen Koan: Its History and Use in Rinzai Zen, by Isshu Miura and Ruth Fuller Sasaki
- Entangling Vines: Zen Koans of the Shumon Kattoshu, by Thomas Yuho Kirchner
- Zen Sand: The Book of Capping Phrases for Koan Practice, by Victor Sogen Hori
- Zen Dust: The History of the Koan and Koan Study in Rinzai (Lin-chi) Zen, by Isshu Miura
- Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp, by Torei Enji
Zen and Related "Ways"
- Zen and the Art of Calligraphy: The Essense of Sho, by Omori Sogen and Terayama Katsujo
- Zen and Budo, by Omori Sogen
- Zen and the Ways, by Trevor Legget
Misc. Other
- Toward a Philosophy of Zen Buddhism, Toshihiko Izutsu
