ONE BOOK: Spiritual Guides Recommend a Book

ONE BOOK
Spiritual Guides Recommend a Book

Not so long ago I figured out how to make widgets, particularly those that can be used to hawk books for Amazon. I made one to put in the sidebar of my blog. And then I got the brilliant idea of asking friends who are in the spiritual guidance business if they would recommend one book, just one book. My thought was to create another widget. And briefly I posted one with the first sixteen recommendations. But, I didn’t feel particularly comfortable with it and took it down.

What follows is a larger list, yet. It’s still a dynamic; I expect to add titles for a while. But, sorry, no widget, you’ll have to dig ’em up yourself.

I found the exercise quite interesting. A number of folk rebelled and insisted on giving several titles. What you get is one, usually the first, but in one instance at least, a non duplicated title. Others wanted to grill me closely about context, the possible audience, the color of my eyes, etc, before they would be willing to divulge their secret…

However, good sports all, many finally said, okay, and gave me one book. I find the crop is pretty intriguing. Some titles are what one would expect from the folk I would ask this question of, which includes a lot of Zen teachers of various flavors, a number of Unitarian Universalist clergy, an Episcopal priest, a psychologist and one or two surprise guests.

Looking for one book on a spiritual theme? Something to touch the heart? Or open the mind? Perhaps it’s one of these…

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Sue Allen, old Zen hand, recommends Diane Risetto’s Waking Up To What You Do

Wayne Arnason, co-minister of the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and president of the Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship recommends Ken Wilber’s Integral Spirituality

Josh Bartok, priest-in-charge at the Ralph Waldo Emerson Zen Sangha in Boston, and an acquisitions editor at Wisdom Publications, recommends Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha as did several others.

Christopher Thomas Bell, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Rosa, California, and old Zen hand, recommends the Tao Te Ching as did several others, including old Zen hand Neil Bartholomew.

Patricia Dai-en Bennage, abbess of the Mt Equity Zen Center in Pennsdale, Pennsylvania, recommends the Dhamapada, as did others

Melissa Myozen Blacker, Zen priest and a guiding teacher at the Boundless Way Zen sangha, recommends Emily Bronte’s Jane Eyre

Angie Boissevain, Zen priest and teacher of the Floating Zendo in San Jose, California, recommends Herman Melville’s Moby Dick

Nonin Chowaney, abbot of the Nebraska Zen Center recommends Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind as did bunches of others.

Adam Fisher, journalist and old Zen hand recommends, Stephen Becker’s The Chinese Bandit

Danny Fisher, Buddhist chaplain, recommends Leo Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You

James Ford, well known Zen Buddhist & Unitarian Universalist gasbag, recommends Thomas Merton’s The Wisdom of the Desert

Gaelyn Godwin, resident teacher at the Houston Zen Center recommends Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

David Heald, Episcopal priest and old Zen hand, recommends Robert Richardson’s Emerson: The Mind on Fire

Alex Holt, Unitarian Universalist minister and old Zen hand recommends Wayne Muller’s How Then Shall We Live?

Barbara Kohn, teacher and head priest at the Austin Zen Center, recommends Wendy Johnson’s Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate

Bodhin Kjolhede, abbot of the Rochester Zen Center, recommends Philip Kapleau’s Three Pillars of Zen

Doug Kraft, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, and Insight meditation teacher recommends Tsoknyi Rimpoche’s Carefree Dignity

Cynthia Landrum, minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of East Liberty, Clarkelake, Michigan, reommends the Diary of Anne Frank

Victor Lapuszynski, old Zen hand, recommends Monroe Beardsley’s Thinking Straight: Principles of Reasoning for Readers and Writers

Taigen Leighton, guiding dharma teacher of the Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago, recommends Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov

Doug Phillips, psychologist, old Zen hand and Insight meditation teacher, recommends Krishnamurti’s The Awakening of Intelligence

Hank Pierce, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford recommends Charles Bukowski’s Love is a Dog From Hell (this has to be the most unexpected recommendation I’ve gotten for this list…)

Charles Pokorny, Zen priest and executive director of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, recommends Dogen’s Moon in a Dewdrop

Dosho Port, teacher at the Wild Fox Zen Center near the Twin Cities, recommends Dogen’s Extensive Record

Zuiko Redding, resident teacher at the Cedar Rapids Zen Center, in Iowa, recommends Shundo Aoyama’s Zen Seeds

Barbara Rhodes, guiding teacher of the Kwan Um School of Zen, recommends Seung Sahn’s The Compass of Zen

Judith Roitman, guiding teacher of the Kansas Zen Center and professor of Mathematics at the University of Kansas, recommends Jane Dobisz’s One Hundred Days of Solitude

Alan Senauke, vice-abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center, recommends Leo Tolstoy’s War & Peace

Elihu Smith, resident teacher of the Praire Zen Center in Champaign, Illinois, recommends the thirteenth century koan anthology the Blue Cliff Record