Dharma & Recovery Reading List

Here's a partial list of books to check out that I've found particularly helpful on the road to exploring Buddhism, spirituality and the 12 Steps of Recovery (note that not all of these are related directly to the 12 Steps):

One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps by Kevin Griffin

A Burning Desire: Dharma God and the Path of Recovery by Kevin Griffin

The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham

Dharma Punx: A Memoir by Noah Levine

Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries by Noah Levine

The Heart of the Revolution: The Buddha's Radical Teachings  on Forgiveness, Compassion, and Kindness by Noah Levine

The Noble Eightfold Path: Way to the End of Suffering by Bhikkhu Bodhi

12 Steps on the Buddha's Path: Bill, Buddha, and We by Laura S.

The Sound of Silence by Ajahn Sumedho

Mindfulness and the 12 Steps: Living Recovery in the Present Moment by Therese Jacobs-Stewart

Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guise to Awakening by Stephen Batchelor

Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil by Stephen Batchelor

Confession of a Buddhist Atheist by Stephen Batchelor

All of Jack Kornfield's books

All of Joseph Goldstein's books

All of Sharon Salzberg's books

The Dart Sutta (On Not Being an Uninstructed Worlding)!

(NOTE: We will be discussing this sutta on Tuesday, July 30.)


The Dart of Painful Feeling -- The Buddha (SN 36:6; IV 207-10)

"Monks, when the uninstructed worldling experiences a painful feeling, he sorrows, grieves, and
laments; he weeps beating his breast and becomes distraught. He feels two feelings--a bodily one
and a mental one. Suppose they were to strike a man with a dart, and then strike him immediately
afterward with a second dart, so that the man would feel a feeling caused by two darts. So too,
when the uninstructed worldling experiences a painful feeling, he feels two feelings--a bodily
one and a mental one.

“While experiencing that same painful feeling, he harbors aversion toward it. When he harbors aversion toward painful feeling, the underlying tendency to aversion toward painful feeling lies
behind this. While experiencing painful feeling, he seeks delight in sensual pleasure: For what reason? Because the uninstructed worldling does not know of any escape from painful feeling
other than sensual pleasure. When he seeks delight in sensual pleasure, the underlying tendency to lust for pleasant feeling lies behind this. He does not understand as it really is; the origin and
the passing away, the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of these feelings. When he does not understand these things, the underlying tendency to ignorance in regard to neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling lies behind this.

“If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it attached. If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it
attached. If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it attached. This, monks, is
called an uninstructed worldling who is attached to birth, aging, and death; who is attached to
sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair; who is attached to suffering, I say.

"Monks, when the instructed noble disciple experiences a painful feeling, he does not sorrow,
grieve, or lament; he does not weep beating his breast and become distraught." He feels one
feeling--a bodily one, not a mental one. Suppose they were to strike a man with a dart, but they
would not strike him immediately afterward with a second dart, so that the man would feel a
feeling caused by one dart only. So too, when the instructed noble disciple experiences a painful
feeling, he feels one feeling -a bodily one, and not a mental one.

“While experiencing that same painful feeling, he harbors no aversion toward it. Since he
harbors no aversion toward painful feeling, the underlying tendency to aversion toward painful
feeling does not lie behind this. While experiencing painful feeling, he does not seek delight in
sensual pleasure: For what reason? Because the instructed noble disciple knows of an escape
from painful feeling other than sensual pleasure. Since he does not seek delight in sensual
pleasure, the underlying tendency to lust for pleasant feeling does not lie behind this. He
understands as it really is the origin and the passing away, the gratification, the danger, and the
escape in the case of these feelings. Since he understands these things, the underlying tendency
to ignorance in regard to neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling does not lie behind this.

"If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it
detached. If he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it detached. This, monks,
is called a noble disciple who is detached from birth, aging, and death: who is detached from
sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair; who is detached from suffering I say.”

"This, monks, is the distinction, the disparity, the difference between the instructed noble
disciple and the uninstructed worldling."

from In the Buddha's Words: edited and translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi