Meditation has been a daily practice of mine for 10+ years. Meditation and mindfulness is directly responsible for improvements in both my mental and physical health. I’m deeply thankful to have gone done this route of mindfulness practice.
While these books provides great inspiration to get started, the best way to learn meditation is to do it. Actually, meditation and mindfulness isn’t about adding information (or reading books), but about letting go of information. You do that by practicing.
When that’s said, a meditation themed books is great to keep you on track or get started. So here you go: 10 of the best meditation books out there ๐
10 best meditation book list:
- Siddhartha
- Zen Mind Beginners Mind
- Be Here Now
- Eckhart Tolle
- The Art of Happiness
- Wherever You Go, There You Are
- Mindfulness in Plain English
- The Miracle of Mindfulness
- Meditations
- The Tao of Seneca
1. Siddhartha
By Hermann Hesse.
The young Indian boy Siddhartha goes on a quest to find enlightenment. It’ll teach you a lot valuable lessons related to meditation, through brilliant story telling. This book is hard to describe. Like meditation it should be experienced, not talked about.
2. Zen Mind Beginners Mind
Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice. By Shunryu Suzuki.
Steve Jobs trained his own brain with zen meditation. One of the books read is Zen Mind Beginners Mind.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.“
3. Be Here Now
The Original Be Here Now Talks. By Ram Dass.
This is another meditation book recommended by Apple founder Steve Jobs.
It’s a light conversational book on the practice and lessons of Meditation.
4. The Power of Now
By Eckhart Tolle.
The The Power of Now is about leaving your analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. You take the step into the Now, the present moment, where problems do not exist, and where you’ll find your true self. It’s a great book for all students of meditation and mindfulness.
5. The Art of Happiness
By Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler.
Through meditation, stories, and the meeting of Buddhism and psychology, the Dalai Lama shows us how to defeat day-to-day depression, anxiety, anger, jealousy, or just an ordinary bad mood.
6. Wherever You Go, There You Are
By Jon Kabat Zinn.
Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In his book “Wherever You Go, There You Are”, he teaches you to capture the present, to live fully in the moment and reduce anxiety, achieve inner peace, and enrich the quality of life.
7. Mindfulness in Plain English
By Bhante Henepola Gunaratana.
With over a quarter of a million copies sold, Mindfulness in Plain English is one of the most influential books in the burgeoning field of mindfulness and a timeless classic introduction to meditation. Written by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, a 92 year old, Srilankan buddhist munk since the age of 12.
8. The Miracle of Mindfulness
By Thich Nhat Hanh.
In this book, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, will teach you how to acquire the skills of mindfulness. With these skills, even simple acts like washing the dishes or drinking a cup of tea may be transformed into acts of meditation.
9. Meditations
By Marcus Aurelius.
Meditations, by roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius, is a treasure. The book was written thousands of years ago, a yet here it is. If that isn’t a testimony to its importance, I don’t know what is. It’s one of those books that I’ve read multiple times (along with the book no. 1,2 and 10 on this list).
“Meditations” is different from the other books. While the books above has its roots in buddhist inspired meditation, the teachings of this book is based in roman Stoicism.
10. The Tao of Seneca
Practical Letters from a Stoic Master. By Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Presented by Tim Ferriss.
“Think of it as an ideal operating system for thriving in high-stress environments.” – Tim Ferriss.
The Tao of Seneca is an audiobook series of three, consisting of Senecas moral letters, written to his friend Lucilius. Like “Meditations”, these books is a treasury from the past. I’ve personally read each volume multiple times. As Ferriss writes, Senecas letters is especially useful to combat stress and other discomfort.
There’s a lot of great books on meditation out there. Please share your favorites with me here, or on Twitter.
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