Berbs, I struggled to find any books that were not martial arts heavy. I have plenty of stuff on that. I have samurai maxims, sword treatises, illustrated martial arts books galore.
I think the book you ought to pick up is
Zen in the Art of Archery: Training the Mind and Body to Become One, by Eugen Herrigel (Which inspired the title for the popular
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, another good read). An insight into the practice of Zen, the experience of training, more anecdotal, etc. This might be a better start rather than going straight into the raw texts. It’s a fascinating book even if you’ve only got passing curiosity towards Zen. Also,
Zen Bow, Zen Arrow: The Life and Teachings of Awa Kenzo. Awa Kenzo is the Zen master under which Eugen Herrigel trained. it’s a great insight into his life and wisdom.
Some more good ones:
The Book of Five Rings, by Myamoto Musashi, a treatise from probably the greatest swordsman who ever lived, which is a classic recommendation, but not exactly light reading.
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki, informal talks on Zen meditation and practice.
Hagakure - Book of the Samurai, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. Does what is says in the title
Mumonkan (The Gateless Gate), which is a 13th century collection of koans.
Here’s a list of some general books on Zen, but I’ve not read half of them:
LinkStraight Buddhism is a bit easier to recommend. First you should get some understanding of the foundational teaching:
The Four Noble Truths and
The Eight Fold Path. You can read about those on any decent online resource or introductory book. Then, it’s
The Discourses of the Buddha, which you can get in short, medium or long form.
The Gospel of Buddha, by Paul Carus is quite a popular book too, one of the ones that made Buddhism so attractive to a Western audience.
Some decent online resources:
ZenguideZen Virtual LibraryBuddhism Virtual LibraryOpen Directory ZenHinduwebsite (decent resource for all kinds of Oriental or Asian texts
You could look up writings by Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. An inspiring man. I’m not sure where to begin recommending him though. Most of the books I have with his words in are in Aikido books, mostly illustrated, focusing on combat technique, which are pretty useless unless you’re practicing. You could look up
The Art of Peace, which is a short collection of some of his quotes to give you an idea of the essence of Aikido. Or even more briefly, Aikido in essence is:
“In order to practice Aikido properly, you must not forget that all things originate from One Source; envelop yourself with love, and embrace sincerity. A technique that is based only on physical force is weak; a technique based on spiritual power is strong.
The practice of Aikido is an act of faith, a belief in the power of non-violence. It is not a type of rigid discipline or empty asceticism. It is a path that follows the principles of nature, principles that must apply to daily living. Aikido should be practiced from the time you rise to greet the morning to the time you retire at night.
Aikido is good for the health. It helps you manifest your inner and outer beauty. It fosters good manners and proper deportment. Aikido teaches you how to respect others, and how not to behave in a rude manner. It is not easy to live up to the ideals of Aikido but we must do so at all cost - otherwise our training is in vain.”~ Morihei UeshibaI’d recommend a few more, but I’m not actually all that clued up about it. I’m still picking it up myself. Plus, researching it is half the fun in my opinion. Maybe some others here have some good recommendations. I’d deffo like to hear about them too.
Topic: The ex-muslim super ego, do you haz it?