What speaks to each of us will vary widely. Check reviews and descriptions and trust your inner wisdom to choose materials that will best support you. Within each category, resources are generally in the order read, with recent additions made to the top of each list. Enjoy your exploration!
When I talk to people about the sutras that I'm reading (I plan to start studying the Pali suttas soon too), I usually get comments like "Oooh, you're a scholar." Well, I don't know about that! But I really get a lot out of studying these texts and discourses. Sometimes they motivate and move me, sometimes I gain insights and have deep meditation experiences after reading the sutras, they deepen my understanding of the Buddha's teaching like few other resources have, and they work their way into my daily practice. So that's my sales pitch! That said, sutras and suttas can be difficult to understand if you don't have a teacher well-versed in the texts and/or a strong knowledge of core Buddhist terminoloy and concepts and/or, as translator Red Pine says, if you don't have really good karma!
Below are non-sutra/sutta Buddhism books from many schools of Buddhism, including Theravada, Mahayana - along with Zen/Chan, Vajrayana, and Dzogchen - and Pure Land. Though it can take some effort to determine the common language and keep the different schools approaches and teachings clear (not mixing them up), I have come to appreciate Buddhism through many lenses and my practices really pull from all schools.
Below you'll find a mix of Buddhist, Taoist, Advaita Vedanta and other relevant non-dual wisdom tradition teachings that I've found particularly illuminating.
There have been a simple living resource here and there who had ideas that I appreciated. But most of what I know and do are my own thing and the best ideas come from just talking openly with others who are interested in simplifying their lives. Of course, the Tao Te Ching is probably the earliest authority on the topic... about 2500 years ago and still totally relevant today!
Vicki hosts book club and general discussion events on spiritual, personal growth, and aware living topics through a Meetup.com group called Practical Transformation. These are often hosted as online events but may sometimes only be available as local events in the Vancouver, WA (USA) location. I also co-host or cross-post aware living meetups at The Simplicity Project.
Movies are quite personal to taste. Some may contain content that is unpleasant to you, so please do check trailers and reviews first. Although I find these to all have a quality of personal growth or awakening, don't assume because I like them that you won't find a movie to be boring, stupid or downright offensive!
Aware being - a journey of awakening
Copyright © 2022 Vicki M. Blair. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy