The DePaul University Zen Society
Reading Suggestions
The following books have been useful for Zen students. Some of them are available through Daiyuzenji temple in Chicago, which conducts a Buddhism study group every Sunday; DePaul Zen Society members, please inquire. Many others 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 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 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 Study 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