Recommended General Reading on Meditation

Non-Fiction: General Read Literature

This list is by no means exhaustive. These are my personal recommendations as books that have taught me a great deal. This list contains general reads on everything from the origins within various contemplative and wisdom traditions and classical texts, to the vast range of contemporary applications and scientific discoveries in modern texts.

Please Note: This list will be updated on a monthly basis.

Meditation in Ancient and Modern Contemplative Traditions

365 Tao: Daily Meditations
By Deng-Ming Dao

A New Earth: Create a Better Life
By Eckhart Tolle

A Path with Heart: The Classic Guide Through the Perils and Promises of the Spiritual Life
By Jack Kornfield

The Art of Meditation
By Matthieu Ricard

Autobiography of a Yogi
By Paramahansa Yogananda

Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharishi
By Ramana Maharishi

Before I Am
By Mooji

Change Your Mind: Practical Guide To Buddhist Meditation
By Paramananda

Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao
By Wayne Dyer

Concentration and Meditation
By Swami Sivananda

Cultivating Stillness: A Taoist Manual for Transforming Body and Mind
By Eva Wong

The End of Your World: Uncensored Straight Talk on the Nature of Enlightenment
By Adyashanti

Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind
By Roger Walsh

The First and Last Freedom
By J Krishnamurti

Freedom from the Known 
By J Krishnamurti

Full Catastrophe Living, Revised Edition: How to Cope with Stress, Pain, Illness Using Mindfulness Meditation
By John Kabat-Zinn

I am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
By Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Living Beautifully: With Uncertainty and Change 
By Pema Chödrön

The Nature of Consciousness: Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter
By Rupert Spira

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
By Eckhart Tolle

Scholar Warrior: An Introduction to the Tao in Daily Life
By Deng-Ming Dao

Stillness Speaks: Whispers of Now
By Eckhart Tolle

The Sufis
By Idris Shah

Tao: The Watercourse Way
By Alan Watts with Al Chung-Liang Huang

The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience
By Ralph Metzner

Voices of Insight: Teacher of Buddhism in the West Share Their Wisdom, Stories and Experience of Insight Meditation
By Sharon Salzberg

Walden and Civil Disobedience
By Henry David Thoreau

The Way of Heart and Beauty: The Tao of Daily Life
By Deng-Ming Dao

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
By Pema Chödrön

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness for Everyday Life
By John Kabat-Zinn

Who Am I? Nan Yar? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
By Ramani Maharishi

Meditation and The Body 

Your Body Speaks Your Mind: Decoding the Emotional, Psychological and Spiritual Messages That Underlie illness
By Deb Shapiro

The Body: Art of Meditation
By Paramananda

Meditation in Classical Texts

Bhagavad Gita
Translation and commentaries by Stephen Mitchell

Meditations (Marcus Aurelius)
Translation and commentaries by Diskin Clay and Martin Hammond

The Book of Chuang Tzu
Translation and commentaries by Martin Palmer and Elizabeth Breuilly

Tao Te Ching (A New English Version)
Translation and commentaries by Stephen Mitchell

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation
Translation and commentaries by Graham Coleman and Thupten Jinpa

Specific Meditation Techniques and Practices

The 112 Meditations from the Book of Divine Wisdom: the Meditations from the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, with Commentary and Guided Practice 
By Lee Lyon

A Mind at Home with Itself: How Asking Four Questions Can Free Your Mind, Open Your Heart, and Turn Your World Around
By Byron Katie

A Thousand Names For Joy: How To Live In Harmony With The Way Things Are
By Byron Katie with Stephen Mitchell

Chinese Healing Exercises: The Tradition of Daoyin
By Livia Kohn

How to Meditation: A Practical Guide
By Kathleen McDonald

The Inner Smile: Increasing Chi through the Cultivation of Joy
by Mantak Chia

Living in Balance: A Dynamic Approach for Creating Harmony and Wholeness in a Chaotic World
By Joel Levey and Mitchell Levey

Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness
By Sharon Salzberg

Loving What Is: How Four Questions Can Change Your Life
By Byron Katie

The Six Healing Sounds: Taoist Techniques for Balancing Chi
By Mantak Chia

Meditation and Science

The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You?
By Miguel Farias and Catherine Wikholm

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One
By Joe Dispenza

The Healing Power of Meditation: Leading Experts on Buddhism, Psychology, and Medicine Explore the Health Benefits of Contemplative Practice
Edited collection by Andy Fraser (with contributions from Daniel Goleman, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Sogyal Rinpoche and Clifford Saron)

Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love
By Arthur Zajonc

Meditation As Medicine: Activate the Power of Your Natural Healing Force
By Dr Dharma Singh Khalsa and Cameron Stauth

The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness
By John Yates

The Science of Meditation: How to Change Your Brain, Mind and Body
By Daniel Goleman

Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud
By Robert L Parks

Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
By Robert Wright

You Are The Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter
By Joe Dispenza

Evolving Dharma: Meditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment
By Jay Michaelson

The 21st-Century Brain: Explaining, Mending and Manipulating the Mind
By Steven Rose

The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-being
By Daniel J Siegel

Mindsight:The New Science of Personal Transformation
By Daniel J Siegel

Meditation and Creativity

The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity
By Julia Cameron

How the Light Gets In: Writing as a Spiritual Practice
By Pat Schneider

Writing and the Spiritual Life
By Patrice Vecchione

Writing Your Way
by Manjusvara

By Dr. Gabriella F. Buttarazzi (Uma Shakti Devi)

Teacher, Teacher Trainer, Writer and Educational Researcher

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