by Theresa O'Riordan

Created on: April 30, 2008

This article will list helpful books for the person who is just starting out learning about Buddhism. A list of amazing and valuable quotes is also provided at the end.

Buddhist books and quotes often serve to calm my mind when it is doing crazy acrobatics. Sometimes it acts like a monkey on a zip line, and other times it acts like a monkey that fell off a zip line and is struggling to get back up......SLOWLY.

If you, like me, are often feeling anxious or not making sense of the world, or are overwhelmed by nervousness about the future (which I am famous for), try these books and / or quotes. The ones dealing with compassion force you to put yourself into an ego-less state of mind so you can help others, but they teach you how to do this without making it too difficult. If you create more compassion in the world and directly around you, you make the world a better, safer-feeling place to be. In my opinion, that way, (hopefully!) when you are in need of help, there is compassion out there in the world that you contributed to and passed on to other people, that you can then benefit from.

The thing I've learned from Buddhism that is the most important to me is that the world is like a lake where all the selfish actions and all that are pollutants, and compassion is a clean-up crew. Whatever we throw out into the world, we have to then swim around in. Every good or bad thing we do ripples outward and influences other people, and they feel the effects of it whether we know it or not. It's a "you made you bed, now lie in it" sort of thing, I think.

In any case, here are some books I recommend:

*The Lost Art of Compassion: Discovering the Practice of Happiness in the Meeting of Buddhism and Psychology by Lorne Ladner

*Hooked! Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume by Stephanie Kaza

*Mindfulness in the Market Place: Compassionate Responses to Consumerism by Julia Butterfly Hill and Allan Hunt Badiner

* No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva by Pema Chodron

*Cultivating A Compassionate Heart: The Yoga Method of Chenrezig by Thubten Chodron

*The Path of Compassion: Writings on Socially Engaged Buddhism by Fred Eppsteiner

Quotes:

If only I could throw away the urge to trace my patterns in your heart, I could really see you. David Brandon (Zen in the Art of Helping)

Do not speak- unless it improves on silence. (I should work on this one)

Develop the mind of equilibrium.
You will always be getting praise and blame,
but do not let either affect

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