Reading List
A Buddhist Reading List
At twenty-nine, a prince leaves his palace after seeing an old man, a sick man and a dead body for the first time. Six years later he sits down under a tree and decides not to get up until he understands why people suffer. Two and a half thousand years later, a nun in Nova Scotia tells her students that things falling apart can be the start of something, and a psychiatrist in New York finds the same ideas useful in his practice. These twelve books follow Buddhism from the Buddha’s own words to the teachers who brought it to the West, and to the psychologists who are testing it now.
By Lisanne Swart · 12 books · Buddhism, Psychology & Practice · Updated October 2026
Quick answer
Start with What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula for a clear explanation of the teaching, or When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön if you come to Buddhism in a difficult time. The twelve books below cover the early teachings, the life of the Buddha, Tibetan Buddhism, modern secular Buddhism and the meeting with psychology. Further down is a guide to which book fits which question.
The list at a glance
- 01What the Buddha Taught Walpola Rahula
- 02The Dhammapada Sayings of the Buddha
- 03Buddha Karen Armstrong
- 04The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching Thich Nhat Hanh
- 05When Things Fall Apart Pema Chödrön
- 06The Art of Happiness Dalai Lama
- 07The Way of the Bodhisattva Shantideva
- 08Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism Chögyam Trungpa
- 09The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying Sogyal Rinpoche
- 10Buddhism Without Beliefs Stephen Batchelor
- 11Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
- 12Thoughts Without a Thinker Mark Epstein
Twelve books on Buddhism
What the Buddha Taught
A Sri Lankan monk and scholar explains the core of the Buddha’s teaching in plain language: the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the idea that there is no fixed self, and meditation. The book ends with a small selection of the original texts.
Why read itShort, exact and written from inside the tradition. It is still one of the best first books on Buddhism.
The Dhammapada
423 short verses attributed to the Buddha, in 26 chapters, from the early Buddhist scriptures in Pali. It opens with the mind: everything we experience is led by it, and whoever speaks or acts with an impure mind is followed by suffering, the way a cart’s wheel follows the ox.
Why read itThe quickest way to hear the Buddha’s teaching in something close to its original form.
Buddha
A historian of religion reconstructs the life of Siddhattha Gotama from the early scriptures: the comfortable youth, the departure from home, the years of extreme fasting, the awakening and the long life of teaching that followed.
Why read itShort and clear, and the best way to meet the man before the religion.
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching
The Vietnamese Zen teacher explains the central teachings of Buddhism, from the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path to impermanence and non-self, with examples from daily life.
Why read itWarmer than Rahula and just as complete. It shows how the teaching works in an ordinary day.
When Things Fall Apart
An American-born Buddhist nun, a teacher at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, writes about fear, loss and pain, and about staying with them instead of running away. Its subtitle is “Heart Advice for Difficult Times”.
Why read itThe book people give each other when life breaks open. You do not need to know anything about Buddhism to read it.
The Art of Happiness
An American psychiatrist, Howard Cutler, talks with the Dalai Lama about happiness, suffering, anger and relationships, and puts his answers next to Western psychology.
Why read itThe most accessible way to hear the Dalai Lama think, and a bestseller for good reason.
The Way of the Bodhisattva
A long poem by an Indian monk about how to live for the good of others: on generosity, patience, effort and wisdom. Its chapter on patience, about how to meet anger, is one of the most practical texts in the whole tradition. The Dalai Lama often teaches from it.
Why read itThe classic of Tibetan Buddhism, and more direct and personal than you would expect from a text that is thirteen centuries old.
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
A Tibetan teacher who came to the West warns that the ego can turn even the spiritual path into another way of collecting achievements, and describes what genuine practice looks like instead.
Why read itOne of the sharpest books here. Read it knowing that Trungpa, who founded Naropa University, was also known for heavy drinking and sexual relationships with his students.
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
An explanation of the Tibetan Buddhist view of death and what follows it, and of how to care for the dying, which sold millions of copies and was used in hospices around the world.
Why read itStill the best-known book on Buddhism and death. In 2017 Sogyal Rinpoche’s senior students accused him of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and he stepped back from his organisation; read it with that in mind.
Buddhism Without Beliefs
A former monk who trained in Tibetan and Korean Zen Buddhism argues that the Buddha’s teaching is something to do, not something to believe, and that you can practise it without accepting rebirth or karma as articles of faith.
Why read itThe book for readers who are drawn to Buddhism but not to religion.
Why Buddhism Is True
A journalist who writes about evolutionary psychology argues that modern science supports the Buddhist view of the mind: that the self is less solid than it feels, and that natural selection built us to chase satisfactions that never last.
Why read itFor the sceptical reader. It explains meditation in the language of psychology rather than faith.
Thoughts Without a Thinker
A New York psychiatrist who practises meditation shows where Buddhism and psychotherapy meet: both are about seeing your own mind clearly, and both are suspicious of the self we cling to.
Why read itThe book on this list for readers who want to understand what drives people, using both traditions at once.
Not sure where to start?
If you want to understand the teaching
→ Read What the Buddha Taught, then The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching.
If you are going through a hard time
→ Read When Things Fall Apart.
If you are sceptical of religion
→ Read Buddhism Without Beliefs or Why Buddhism Is True.
If you want to know who the Buddha was
→ Read Buddha by Karen Armstrong.
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Frequently asked questions about books on Buddhism
What is the best book on Buddhism for beginners?
What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula is the clearest short introduction to the core teaching. If you would rather start with practice in daily life, read The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh.
What are the main schools of Buddhism?
Theravada, the oldest surviving school, followed mainly in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia; Mahayana, which includes Zen and Pure Land Buddhism in East Asia; and Vajrayana, the Tibetan tradition of the Dalai Lama.
Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy?
Both, depending on who you ask. Many Buddhists practise it as a religion, with rituals and a belief in rebirth, while writers such as Stephen Batchelor present it as a practice that does not require belief.
What is the best book on Tibetan Buddhism?
The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva is the classic text. For modern introductions, read Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chögyam Trungpa or When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön.
Are there books on Buddhism and psychology?
Why Buddhism Is True by Robert Wright looks at Buddhism through evolutionary psychology, and Thoughts Without a Thinker by Mark Epstein brings it together with psychotherapy.
Footnotes
- Dates for the classic texts are approximate; scholars disagree about most of them.
- The allegations against Sogyal Rinpoche were made in a letter by eight former students in July 2017; he withdrew as spiritual director of Rigpa and died in 2019.
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From the bookshelf
“Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing.”
— Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart
More books I keep coming back to are on my personal bookshelf, and every month one of them goes out to the Night Owl Bookclub.
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I update this list as I read. New picks go to my monthly newsletter first.
