Recommended Literature
Here you will find our small selection of recommended literature. Keeping to tradition, everything is free and may be redistributed freely. Links to more Buddhist literature can be found under the “Dhamma Texts” section of our Dhamma-links page.
The Thread
This book is a selection of talks initially recorded for a U.K. meditation group, consisting mostly of beginners.
Ajahn Kalyano was born in Hitchin in 1961. He has been
a practicing Buddhist since he was 17. He began visiting
Amaravati in the 1980’s. As a layman his path of practice
and enquiry led him to work in hospitals for nearly twenty
years specialising in neurological rehabilitation and learning
disabilities as a Clinical Psychologist, Physiotherapist and
T’ai chi teacher. He has a particular interest in exploring the
relationship between body and mind. He took full ordination
at Chithurst Monastery in 1998 and has since travelled to Italy,
Thailand and Australia.
Download as PDF 
Issues Through The Moss
The book that you are now going to read is the the story of the Dhamma practice of a female Buddhist from Norway. She started to practice after having experienced extreme suffering in her life. She did not give up, but fought with patience, energy and endurance. With firm resolution, she investigated thoroughly, using the full force of vigilance in order to find the cause of this suffering, until the heart finally found the Buddha Truth in all phenomena. This resulted in freedom from the power of suffering. It gave her energy to endure, to live at ease, and be free from danger in the midst of “the Stream of the World”, which is full of suffering. This happened before she had learned of the Buddhist Religion. Download as PDF 
Tranquillity and Insight
This is a Dhamma talk given by Ajahn Chah where he explains the basics of Breath Meditation. It was originally published in “The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah”.
“Normally the mind isn’t still, it’s moving all the time. We must make an effort to strengthen the mind. Making the mind strong and making the body strong are not the same. To make the body strong we have to exercise it, to push it, but to make the mind strong means to make it peaceful, not to go thinking of this and that. For most of us the mind has never been peaceful, it has never had the energy of samadhi; so we must establish it within a boundary. We sit in meditation, staying with the ‘one who knows’.”
Stillness Flowing – The Life and Teachings of Ajahn Chah
This important work details the life and teachings of Luang Por Chah, also known as Ajahn Chah, and has been in the making for over two decades. This biography is based on the 1993 Thai biography of Luang Por Chah entitled ‘Upalamani’ which was also authored by Ajahn Jayasaro. It includes translations from ‘Upalamani,’ in particular many of the anecdotes and reminiscences of Luang Por’s disciples, as well as a significant amount of social, cultural, historical and doctrinal information to provide context to an audience that may be unfamiliar with Thai culture and its Buddhist heritage. Download as PDF, Kindle mobi 
, or ePub 
Samadhi For Liberation by Tan Ajahn Anan Akincano
In the beginning practising samadhi is difficult. If one has samadhi, but then encounters, with negative mind-states, the samadhi disappears. So one has to reflect more. Having reflected a lot, the samadhi is gone even more. The power of mind is not strong enough. That’s how it is. One becomes tired both with focusing and investigating. But, please be patient. If one experiences dukkha in the present, one will experience sukha as result. One has to be patient, keep being patient and one will receive the fruits later on.
Manasikāradhamma – Dhamma for Reflection
Luang Por Guṇha is actually a nephew of the great Ajahn Chah, although he has long since established himself as a great Ajahn and teacher in his own right. As a young monk he was known as an austere tudong monk with an unrelenting determination and fearless commitment to sacrifice for the sake of his practise. Nowadays, he is highly revered for the power of his meditation, particularly his mettā, and for the simple ‘straight talk’ of his teaching style. He currently lives in Nakhorn Ratchasima province, Thailand.
Mae Chee Kaew – Her Journey to Spriritual Awakening & Enlightenment, by Bhikkhu Silaratano
Mae Chee Kaew lived a simple village life in the northeast of Thailand and overcame great difficulties in attempting to leave home and follow the Buddha’s noble path. Blessed with the good fortune to meet the most renowned meditation masters of her era, she took their teachings on meditation to heart, diligently cultivating a mind of clear and spontaneous awareness. Her persistence, courage, and intuitive wisdom enabled her to transcend conventional boundaries and find release from suffering. Download as PDF, or Audio book 
An Unentangled Knowing – The Teachings of a Thai Buddhist Lay Woman – Upāsikā Kee Nanayon
Upāsikā Kee Nanayon, also known by her penname, K. Khao-suan-luang, was arguably the foremost woman Dhamma teacher in twentieth-century Thailand. Born in 1901 to a Chinese merchant family in Rajburi, a town to the west of Bangkok, she was the eldest of five children—or, counting her father’s children by a second wife, the eldest of eight. Her mother was a very religious woman and taught her the rudiments of Buddhist practice, such as nightly chants and the observance of the precepts, from an early age. In later life she described how, at the age of six, she became so filled with fear and loathing at the miseries her mother went through in being pregnant and giving birth to a younger sibling that, on seeing the newborn child for the first time—“sleeping quietly, a little red thing with black, black hair”—she ran away from home for three days. This experience, plus the anguish she must have felt when her parents separated, probably lay behind her decision, made when she was still quite young, never to submit to what she saw as the slavery of marriage. Download as PDF, or Audio book