Seeking a specific book on Buddhism

score:4

My best guess: What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula. It's early enough (published in '59, and revised in '74), and is widely respected as an introductory text. If I were going to put something in a hotel drawer, that's what I'd choose.

Second guess: The Teaching of Buddha, a collection published by the Society for the Promotion of Buddhism. It is (apparently) extremely common to find these texts in hotels in Japan, but I'm not much of a traveler, so I can't speak to that, or to how far that practice might have spread internationally. But it is possible a translated edition made its way to San Francisco.

Ted Wrigley 4928

Upvote:1

I can't help you find that specific edition.

The Dhammapada can be an easy read. It's a collection of verses, they're a kind of (a partial summary of) Buddhist doctrine. There are several translations (on paper and online), including an example here. The Preface starts ...

The Dhammapada is the best known and most widely esteemed text in the Pali Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theravada Buddhism.

... and the Introduction ...

From ancient times to the present, the Dhammapada has been regarded as the most succinct expression of the Buddha's teaching found in the Pali canon and the chief spiritual testament of early Buddhism.

I like it as a summary. It can be easy to understand at least superficially -- more difficult in detail as a first and only introduction, so it's often published with some introduction and explanatory commentary.

I once found a book too (as well as a Bible and a Koran): in a hotel room in Singapore. Not about "mindfulness meditation", this one was structured as a "Life of the Buddha" -- a biography or hagiography -- including some of the most important lessons or doctrines (things he said). I think there are several books (in English) like that.

In case you're interested there have had a lot of questions on this site, almost too many, asking for various book recommendations -- see here.