Reading List · Lisanne Swart
Authors Like
By Lisanne Swart · 6 authors · Mindfulness & Buddhism · Updated July 2026
Thich Nhat Hanh made mindfulness feel achievable rather than aspirational — not a retreat from ordinary life but a way of doing the dishes, walking to the corner store, or drinking a cup of tea. His voice is gentle, unhurried, and almost entirely free of the intellectual pyrotechnics some Buddhist-adjacent writers reach for; the depth is in the plainness. The writers below share some part of that project: making contemplative practice usable in an ordinary day, whether through a Buddhist lens, a broader spiritual one, or a strictly secular mindfulness framework.
Readers who enjoy Thich Nhat Hanh often turn to Pema Chödrön for a similarly warm, practical Buddhist voice aimed at Western readers; Jon Kabat-Zinn for the secular, clinically-grounded mindfulness tradition Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching helped inspire; Eckhart Tolle for a related but more philosophical take on presence; Alan Watts for the wittier, more intellectual side of Buddhism's introduction to the West; Sadhguru for a comparably practical approach from the yogic rather than Buddhist tradition; and Ram Dass for the same warmth and devotion filtered through an American countercultural lens.
Similar Voice & Approach
Pema Chödrön
Chödrön, an American-born Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition, shares Thich Nhat Hanh's gift for making Buddhist practice feel immediately relevant rather than abstract, particularly around difficulty and loss. When Things Fall Apart is built almost entirely around the idea that groundlessness — the collapse of certainty — is not a problem to be solved but the actual starting point of spiritual practice, a very Thich Nhat Hanh-adjacent reframe of suffering as workable material rather than an obstacle.
If you found comfort in Thich Nhat Hanh's calm during hard moments, Chödrön addresses crisis and loss even more directly. When Things Fall Apart is the place to start.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Kabat-Zinn founded Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the clinical program that took meditation practice out of a specifically Buddhist framework and into hospitals, universities, and secular wellness contexts worldwide — a project deeply indebted to teachers like Thich Nhat Hanh even as it strips away most of the explicitly Buddhist language. Where Thich Nhat Hanh writes as a monk addressing spiritual suffering, Kabat-Zinn writes as a scientist addressing stress, attention, and chronic pain, though the underlying practice is nearly identical.
Read Kabat-Zinn if you want Thich Nhat Hanh's practical mindfulness with the religious framing removed and clinical research added. Full Catastrophe Living is the more clinical entry point; Wherever You Go, There You Are the more accessible one.
Eckhart Tolle
Tolle's core claim — that the anxious, separate self is a construction of thought rather than a fixed reality — overlaps substantially with Thich Nhat Hanh's Buddhist teaching on non-self, though Tolle arrives there through his own experience of psychological crisis rather than through formal Buddhist training, and writes in a more philosophical, less overtly devotional register. Both writers share an emphasis on the present moment as the only place transformation is actually available.
If Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching on presence resonated but you want it argued at greater philosophical length, Tolle covers similar ground from a less explicitly Buddhist angle. Start with The Power of Now.
→ See all books written by Eckhart TolleAlan Watts
Watts and Thich Nhat Hanh both helped introduce Buddhist thought to Western readers, but their temperaments diverge sharply: Watts is witty, paradoxical, and intellectually playful, treating Zen almost as a puzzle to be turned over and enjoyed, while Thich Nhat Hanh is gentle, devotional, and insistently practical, treating Buddhism as a way of living rather than a set of ideas to admire. Reading them together gives you both the intellectual appeal and the lived practice sides of the same tradition.
Read Watts if you want the more cerebral, entertaining introduction to the ideas underneath Thich Nhat Hanh's gentler practice-first approach. The Way of Zen is the classic starting point.
→ See all books by Alan WattsSadhguru
Sadhguru comes from the yogic rather than Buddhist tradition, but shares Thich Nhat Hanh's insistence that spiritual practice is a practical, almost technical matter rather than a system of belief. Both writers are more interested in what you actually do — how you breathe, how you pay attention, how you relate to your own mind — than in doctrine, and both are skilled at making ancient practice sound immediately usable rather than remote.
If what draws you to Thich Nhat Hanh is the practical, non-doctrinal framing of spiritual practice, Sadhguru offers a similar practicality from a different tradition. Start with Inner Engineering.
→ Read more about SadhguruRam Dass
Ram Dass shares Thich Nhat Hanh's warmth and emotional directness, though his path ran through Hindu devotion under his guru Neem Karoli Baba rather than through Vietnamese Zen Buddhism. Be Here Now, first published in 1971, remains one of the defining texts of the American spiritual counterculture, and its emphasis on presence and service overlaps considerably with Thich Nhat Hanh's own teaching, despite the different traditions each writer draws on.
Read Ram Dass if Thich Nhat Hanh's gentleness and devotion appealed to you and you want the American countercultural version of the same warmth. Be Here Now is the place to start.
More from the shelf
Frequently asked questions about authors like Thich Nhat Hanh
Who should I read if I like Thich Nhat Hanh?
Readers who enjoy Thich Nhat Hanh often turn to Pema Chödrön for a similarly warm, practical Buddhist voice aimed at Western readers, Jon Kabat-Zinn for the secular, clinically-grounded mindfulness tradition Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching helped inspire, Eckhart Tolle for a related but more philosophical take on presence, Alan Watts for the wittier, more intellectual side of Buddhism's introduction to the West, Sadhguru for a comparably practical approach from the yogic rather than Buddhist tradition, and Ram Dass for the same warmth and devotion filtered through an American countercultural lens.
Is Pema Chödrön similar to Thich Nhat Hanh?
Yes, both share a gift for making Buddhist practice feel immediately relevant rather than abstract, particularly around difficulty and loss. Chödrön, an American-born Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition, builds much of her work around the idea that groundlessness is not a problem to be solved but the actual starting point of spiritual practice, a reframe of suffering that closely echoes Thich Nhat Hanh's own teaching.
What is a good book to start with if I like Thich Nhat Hanh?
If you want the same practical, everyday mindfulness with the Buddhist framing replaced by clinical research, start with Jon Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go, There You Are. If you want a Buddhist teacher addressing loss and difficulty even more directly, Pema Chödrön's When Things Fall Apart is the natural next step. If you want the more philosophical side of the same territory, Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now covers related ground.
Is Jon Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness based on Buddhism?
Yes, Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program is deeply indebted to Buddhist teachers, including Thich Nhat Hanh, even though it deliberately strips away explicitly religious language to make the practice usable in secular clinical settings like hospitals and universities. The underlying meditation techniques are very close to the practices Thich Nhat Hanh teaches, presented instead through the language of stress reduction and attention research.
