The library
Essential non-dual books and practices
The texts and practices the hidden friend draws on, from Advaita Vedanta to Zen and Dzogchen.
Practices
Advaita Vedanta
Who is aware of this?
When the mind is looping or rehearsing an argument.
Advaita Vedanta
Not this, not this
When you are fused with a feeling or an identity.
Advaita Vedanta
Rest as the space
When everything feels loud and close.
Madhyamaka
Look for the edge
When a problem feels total and permanent.
Madhyamaka
Given this, that
When you are blaming one person or one cause.
Zen
Just sit, nothing to attain
When practice has become another performance.
Zen
One breath, unmanaged
When the body is braced and the mind is ahead of it.
Yogacara
Sensation only
When thinking will not stop but the body is available.
Tibetan
Name the groove
When you catch yourself repeating a pattern.
Tibetan
Breathe for both
When the trouble has become self-enclosed.
Dzogchen
Look at what is looking
When you need the shortest possible return.
Dzogchen
Open awareness, no support
When attention is narrow and tight.
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is an Indian school of philosophy rooted in the Upanishads and systematised by Shankara. Its central teaching is that the true self (Atman) and ultimate reality (Brahman) are not two. Practice centres on inquiry: seeing that you are the awareness in which thoughts, feelings and the world appear.
- The Upanishads · Compiled from the Vedas
- Bhagavad Gita · Vyasa
- Mandukya Upanishad with Gaudapada's Karika · Gaudapada
- Vivekachudamani (Crest-Jewel of Discrimination) · Adi Shankara
- Ashtavakra Gita · Ashtavakra
- Avadhuta Gita · Dattatreya
- Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi · Ramana Maharshi, Munagala S. Venkataramaiah
- Be As You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi · David Godman
- I Am That · Nisargadatta Maharaj
- The Transparency of Things · Rupert Spira
Madhyamaka
Madhyamaka, the Middle Way school founded on the work of Nagarjuna, teaches that nothing exists with a fixed, independent essence. Things arise in dependence on causes and conditions, and are therefore empty (sunyata). Seeing this loosens the grip of rigid views, including views about ourselves.
- The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā) · Nāgārjuna
- Nagarjuna's Precious Garland (Ratnavali) · Nāgārjuna, translated by Jeffrey Hopkins
- Introduction to the Middle Way (Madhyamakavatara) · Chandrakirti
Yogacara
Yogacara, sometimes called the Mind-Only school, studies how experience is constructed by consciousness. It shows how habits of perception build the sense of a solid self facing a solid world, and how that construction can be seen through.
- The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra · Mahāyāna sutra
- Living Yogacara: An Introduction to Consciousness-Only Buddhism · Tagawa Shun'ei
Zen
Zen is the meditation school of Mahayana Buddhism that spread from China to Japan and Korea. It points directly to the mind before it divides experience into subject and object, through sitting practice, attention to ordinary life and short, direct teachings.
- Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind · Shunryū Suzuki
Tibetan
Tibetan Buddhism brings together Indian Buddhist philosophy, meditation and compassion training. Many of its teachers emphasise working directly with the mind, seeing through spiritual self-improvement as another trap of the ego.
- Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism · Chögyam Trungpa
- Shift into Freedom: The Science and Practice of Open-Hearted Awareness · Loch Kelly
Comparative
Comparative works set the non-dual traditions side by side, showing where Buddhist and Vedantic views meet and where they differ.
- Non-Duality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy · David Loy
Dzogchen
Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, is a Tibetan tradition that points to the natural, already-awake state of awareness. Rather than building something new, practice is recognising what is already present and resting in it.
- The Treasury of the Fundamental Nature · Longchenpa, with the Buddha-Nature works