Dharma Resources

Study With Our Sangha or On Your Own

Study With Us

  • The World Could Be Otherwise

    Friday Morning Meetings

    The World Could Be Otherwise: Imagination and the Bodhisattva Path
    by Norman Fischer 

    a creative guide to practicing The Six Perfections

    Learn More

  • The Serviceberry

    Monday Afternoon Reading Aloud Group

    The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity In The Natural World 
    by Robin Kimmerer  

    honoring an interdependent community life of spirit,  reverence and wonder

    Learn More

Reading and discussing a diversity of texts enhances our learning process about how Zen practice evolves over 2500 years. This emphasis on learning together is at the center of our weekly gatherings.

A different text is chosen approximately every two months using:

  • Ancient foundational teachings sourced from the Buddha’s lifetime

  • Historical records and reflections of monks, nuns, householders, poets, and pilgrims

  • Contemporary contemplative memoirs, journal articles, and commentaries

The short list of books below (just a taste from a great feast of what’s available) is informally organized to help support an ongoing process of inquiry and insight for beginners as well as seasoned practitioners.

Our intention is to engage in a wide and deep experience of spiritual learning. New texts will be added over time.

Study on Your Own

Suggested Books

To open the lists of books by topic, click the plus signs

  • Norman Fischer, Taking Our Places

    Diane Eshin Rizzetto, Waking Up to What You Do

    Robert Aiken, The Mind of Clover

    Nancy Mujo Baker, Opening To Oneness: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to the Zen Precepts

    Shunryu Suzuki, edited by Jiryu Rutschman-Byler and Sojun Mel Weitsman, Becoming Yourself: Teachings on the Zen Way of Life

  • Red Pine, The Heart Sutra

    Thich Nhat Hanh, The Other Shore, and Interbeing

    Dogen, Treasury Of The True Dharma Eye, Shobogenzo edited by Kaz Tanahashi

    Thomas Cleary, Transmission of Light

    Red Pine, The Diamond Sutra

    The Dhammapada (all translations)

    Nikkyo Niwano, A Guide to the Threefold Lotus Sutra

    Red Pine, The Lankavatara Sutra

    Shantideva, The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life

    Norman Fischer, Training in Compassion: Teachings on The Lojong 

    Bikkhu Bodhi, Great Disciples of the Buddha

    Tao Te Ching, three different versions: A. Stephen Mitchell, B. William Martin, C. Ursula Le Guin

  • Shohaku Okumura, Living By Vow

    Robert Aiken, Zen Vows for Daily Life 

    Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright, Zen Ritual

    Susan Moon and Norman Fischer, What Is Zen?

  • Joanna Macy, World As Lover, World As Self, and A Wild Love For The World

    Jikyo Cheryl Wolfer, Seeds of Virtue, Seeds of Change

    Thich Nhat Hanh, “What is Sangha,” Lion’s Roar Magazine

    Norman Fischer,  The World Could Be Otherwise

    Susan Murphy, A Fire Runs Through All Things

    Joan Sutherland, Acequias

    Wendy Garling, The Woman Who Raised the Buddha

    Maureen Stuart, Subtle Sound

    Katherine Thanas, The Truth Of This LIfe: Zen Teachings On Loving The World

    Paula Arai, A Little Book of Zen Healing

    David Hinton, Wild Mind, Wild Earth

    Joan Halifax, Standing At The Edge

    Eido Frances Carney, Receiving The Marrow: Teachings on Dogen by Soto Zen Women Priests  

    Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind, and Becoming Yourself

    David Chadwick, Crooked Cucumber: Life of Shunryu Suzuki

    David Schneider, Street Zen: Life of Issan Dorsey

    Frank Ostaseski, The Five Invitations

    Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart

    Sharon Salzberg,  Loving Kindness

    Esho Sudan (editor), In This Body, In This Lifetime: Awakening Stories of Japanese Soto Zen Women