Mindfulness is the best way to be with our suffering without being overwhelmed by it. Mindfulness is the capacity to dwell in the present moment, to know what’s happening in the here and now.”

“With mindfulness we can discover the fact that the conditions of happiness we already have are sufficient… and that happiness is possible right now.

No Mud, No Lotus, Thich Nhat Hanh

Pile of books on meditation, love, kindness, art, and environmental topics, with various titles and authors visible.

Mindfulness, Meditation and Living on Earth

We recommend these books that offer teachings on mindfulness, lovingkindness and living with compassion and awareness on earth.

May they offer insight into being present, suffering well and living in full awareness that peace, love and happiness can be found within you, right here, right now.

No Mud, No Lotus, Thich Nhat Hanh

Lovingkindness, Sharon Salzberg

True Love, Thich Nhat Hanh

Be Free Where You Are, Thich Nhat Hanh

The Other Shore, Thich Nhat Hanh

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki

Awake Where You Are, Martin Aylward

We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons on Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption, Kaira Jewel Lingo

The True Source of Healing: How the Ancient Tibetan Practice of Soul Retrieval Can Transform and Enrich Your Life, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

A Course in Meditation, OSHO

The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief, Francis Weller

The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down, Haemin Sunim

Metta is the ability to embrace all parts of ourselves, as well as all parts of the world… We can open to everything with the healing force of love. When we feel love, our mind is expansive and open enough to include the entirety of life in full awareness, both its pleasures and its pains.”

Lovingkindness, Sharon Salzburg

Stack of books with titles related to Asian philosophy, travel, and culture, placed on a table near a window with decorative dried flowers and a lemon-scented candle.

Poetry and Philosophy

These books of poetry and philosophy help readers see the world through the lens of poetry as meditation and presence, and philosophy as a way to navigate life with clarity, wisdom, lightness and ease.

A Year with Hafiz: Daily Contemplations, Hafiz, translated by David Ladinsky

The Essential Rumi, Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

Upstream, Mary Oliver

New and Selected Poems, Volume 1, Mary Oliver

New and Selected Poems, Volume 2, Mary Oliver

Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World, Jane Hirshfield

Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry, Jane Hirshfield

Cold Mountain Poems, Han Shan

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, Basho

The Tao of Pooh: The Principles of Taoism Demonstrated by Winnie-the-Pooh, Benjamin Hoff

Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin

Tao: The Watercourse Way, Alan Watts

The Way of Zen, Alan Watts

Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, Thich Nhat Hanh

“Nevertheless, become an oasis for all things. For

the finite is a tree growing into the infinite.”

—Hafiz