Recommended Readings

Jan 17th, 2011 by Brian Ruhe

Beginning Meditation:

In the Forest Tradition the ‘Meditation on Breathing’ is recommended as your main meditation practice. Next in importance is the Loving Kindness metta practice, but you could even make that your main technique if you chose. Walking meditation is optional but recommended as a compliment to the sitting practice.

Try to have a daily meditation practice of at least 20 minutes per day. Over time you could get it up to an hour a day.

You could start a session with walking for about 10 to 15 minutes to burn off any restlessness, then sit and do breathing meditation for 20 minutes, then loving kindness for 10 or 15 minutes. It’s important to keep up the effort!

Additional readings can be found on the Birken Forest Monastery Reading List.

Suggested Readings:

Meditation on Loving Kindness (Brian Ruhe)

Meditation on Breathing (Venerable Sona)

Meditation on Loving Kindness (Venerable Sona)

The Four Noble Truths (Brian Ruhe)

What is Buddhism (Narada Mahathera)

Walking Meditation (Ajahn Kusalo)

Buddhism in a Nutshell (Narada Mahathera)

What is Theravada Buddhism?

Karma: It’s not about fatalism By Bhikkhu Thanissaro

Questions on Kamma (Bhikkhu Bodhi)