Formosa Neijia

Nan Huai-jin’s books are great. I recently acquired three more. If you’re looking for the inside scoop on meditation methods, his books are a great place to start. Most of what is out there is so basic and bland that it’s useless. Nan’s books are great because he’s practiced many different paths and researched many others over the long course of his life. So he can talk with authority about each path’s pluses and minuses. And he is not afraid to tell it like it is. He is very critical of some types of meditation and reading his works could save you a lot of time and energy if you heed his advice.

His excellent set of lectures on Buddhist meditation Working Toward Enlightenment: The Cultivation of Practice is back in print. It had been unavailable for a long time unless you wanted to pay big bucks. Amazon has it again so grab it while you can.

However, the lectures are fairly advanced and depend on some knowledge of his other works.

Start with Basic Buddhism: Exploring Buddhism and Zen. This gives a great overview of the entire history of Buddhism from Nan’s point of view. This will orient you. Then read his excellent commentary Diamond Sutra Explained. This is a great sutra and don’t let that scare you. Many people interested in Buddhism and meditation don’t actually read the sutras because they think they’re too dry or that they can’t understand them. Nan makes the Diamond Sutra come alive. His excellent commentary will guide you rather than perplex you.