Books Recommended by Rama
Rama recommended books in a variety of categories for his students. Reading books with a high consciousness can help the spiritual aspirant focus on the worlds of clarity and light. Rama’s first recommended list contained the 12 highest books he believed were available at the time. Rama’s next list explored novels and spiritual adventures and his final formal list (28 books) was recommended for students who wanted to teach meditation. Rama recommended other books from time to time.
The RMS Book Club has been reviewing these recommended books since 2010. In addition, Rama and his students wrote several books that the Club has explored. Finally, from time to time one of Rama’s students will recommend an additional selection for the Club to enjoy.
We hope this list provides you with some great ideas for high books to transform your consciousness.
| Books (alpha order) | Author | Book Club Date |
| American Buddhist Rebel (formerly Blue Skies Buddha; Rama: Gaze in my Direction) | Lewinson | 3/26/2016 |
| Art of Dreaming | Castaneda | 8/27/2022 |
| Art of Loving | Fromm | 8/25/2018 |
| Art of Rama | Pritchard | 1/30/2016 |
| Art of War | Tzu | 2010 |
| Autobiography of a Yogi | Yogananda | 3/31/2012 |
| Bhagavad Gita: Song of God | Prabhavananda / Isherwood | 11/19/2011; 10/25/2014 |
| Book of Five Rings | Musashi | 5/30/2015 |
| Brothers Karamazov | Dostoevsky | 6/2019 |
| Buddha’s Lions | Dharma Publishing | 5/7/2011 |
| Buddhism for Sheep | Riddell | 9/2019 |
| Buddhist Bible | Beacon | 12/28/2013; 1/15/2014; 2/22/2014 |
| Buddhist Handbook | Snelling | 1/27/2018 |
| Buddhist Mahayana Texts | Cowell | 11/26/2022 |
| Buddhist Scriptures | Conze | 2/23/2013 |
| Buddhist Texts Through the Ages | Conze | 2/2019 |
| Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies | Collins / Porras | 5/28/2022 |
| Calvin and Hobbes – all versions | Watterson | 6/24/17 (Scientific Progress); 8/23/22 Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat |
| Catch 22 | Heller | 3/2019 |
| Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke | Roethke | 9/2015 |
| Crest Jewel of Discrimination by Shankara | Prabhavananda / Isherwood | 12/17/2011 |
| Doors of Perception | Huxley, Aldous | Oct 2023 |
| Dhammapada, The Sayings of the Buddha | Shambala | 10/29/2016 |
| Drinking the Mountain Stream: Songs of Tibet’s Beloved Saint, Milarepa | Milarepa, Jetsun | Mar 2023 |
| Dune | Herbert | 4/24/2021 |
| Eternal Companion: Brahmananda His Life & Teachings | Prabhavananda | 3/26/2022 |
| Evolution of Matter & Spirit in the Poetry of Theodore Roethke | Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz | 7/2019 |
| Federalist Papers | Kesler, Charles R. | May 2023 |
| Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings Part 1) | Tolkien | 10/28/2017 |
| Four Quartets | Eliot | 10/2019 |
| Fundamentals of Mainstream Buddhism | Cheetham | 3/30/2013 |
| Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna | “M” | 2010 |
| Graceful Exits How Great Beings Die | Blackman | 1/29/2022 |
| Great Path of Awakening | Kongtrul | 2010 |
| Hackers | Levy | 12/2019 |
| Hamlet | Shakespeare | 9/25/2021 |
| Hidden Teachings of Tibet | Talbot | 3/2020 |
| Highest Yoga Tantra | Cozort | 9/29/2012 |
| Hobbit | Tolkien | 9/30/2017 |
| Holy Teachings of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture | Thurman | 8/26/2017 |
| Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow | Harar | 12/25/2021 |
| How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life | Lakein | 7/27/2013 |
| How to Get out of Debt, Stay out of Debt and Live Prosperously | Mundis | 11/2020 |
| How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali | Prabhavananda / Isherwood | 02/18/2012; 8/30/2014 |
| How to Win Friends and Influence People | Carnegie | 10/22/2011; 4/29/2017; 2/2020 |
| I Ching | Wilhelm / Baynes | 2010; 5/31/2014 |
| Illusions | Bach | 5/26/2012 |
| Insights – Tantric Buddhist Reflections on Life | Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz | 1/1/2020 |
| IT | King | 6/30/2018 |
| Jonathan Livingston Seagull | Bach | 5/28/2016 |
| Journey in Ladakh | Harvey | 10/27/2012 |
| Journey to Ixtlan | Castaneda | 3/31/2012 |
| Kabir: Ecstatic Poems | Bly | 6/30/2012 |
| Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You | Bryant | 7/31/2021 |
| Kingdom of Shivas Irons | Murphy | 3/27/2021 |
| The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation | Ikujiro Nonaka & Hirotaka Takeuchi | Feb 2023 |
| Lady of the Lotus Born, The Life & Enlightenment of Yeshe Tsogyal | Changchub / Nyingpo | 1/21/2017 |
| Large Sutra of Perfect Wisdom | Conze | 9/28/2013; 10/26/2013 |
| Last Incarnation | Rama students | 2/27/2016 |
| Last Temptation of Christ | Kazantzakis | 12/31/2016 |
| Lectures on the I Ching: Constancy and Change | Wilhelm, Richard | Jun 2023 |
| Legend of the Great Sutra | Dharma Publishing | 1/2019 |
| Life and Teachings of Naropa | Guenter | 7/30/2016 |
| Life of Marpa | Shambala | 8/27/2016 |
| Lifetimes: True Accounts of Reincarnation | Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz | 7/30/2022 |
| Little Prince | de Saint-Exupery | 9/17/2011 |
| Mahabarata | Buck | 2/27/2021 |
| Making Peace with Money (1999) | Mundis | 5/29/2021 |
| Masks of God | Campbell | 4/25/2015 |
| Masters of Enchantment: The Lives and Legends of the Mahasidhas | Dowman | 2/29/2014; 3/29/2014; 12/2020 |
| Masters of Meditation and Miracles: Lives of the Great Buddhist Masters of India and Tibet | Thondup, Tulku Rinpoche | Jul 2023 |
| Meditation: Bridge is Flowing but the River is Not | Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz | 7/28/2018 |
| Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha | Nanamoli | 4/27/2013; 5/25/2013; 6/29/2013 |
| Moby Dick | Melville | 2/26/2022 |
| Monk who Sold his Ferrari | Sharma | 8/2020 |
| Mystic Verses of a Mad Dalai Lama | Mullin | 8/25/2012 |
| Mythical Man-Month | Brooks | 11/2019 |
| Neuromancer | Gibson | 5/2019 |
| Oh, the Places You’ll Go! | Dr. Suess | Aug 2023 |
| On the Road | Kerouac | 5/2020 |
| Once and Future King | White | 4/28/2018 |
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | Kesey | 8/28/2021 |
| One Minute Manager (NEW) | Blanchard / Johnson | 11/25/2017 |
| One Robe, One Bowl | Ryokan | 6/25/2016 |
| Passages | Sheehy | 10/27/2018 |
| Power of Silence | Castaneda | 08/24/2013; 4/2019 |
| Rama: American Buddha | Rama students | 4/30/2016; 11/27/21 |
| Ramayana | Buck | 6/2020 |
| Return of the King (Lord of the Rings Part 3) | Tolkien | 12/29/2018 |
| Samurai Selling: The Ancient Art of Service in Sales | Laughlin / Sage | 10/30/2021 |
| Second Ring of Power | Castaneda | 1/30/2021 |
| Self Reliance | Emerson | 3/31/2018 |
| Siddhartha | Hesse | 12/30/2017 |
| Snow Lion’s Turquoise Mane | Surya Das | 2/25/2017 |
| Snowboarding to Nirvana | Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz | 2010; 9/27/2014; 10/2020; 6/26/21 |
| Sorcerer’s Crossing | Abelar | 3/25/2017 |
| Spiritual Teachings of Ramana Maharshi | Maharshi | 4/30/2022 |
| Stand | King | 6/25/2022 |
| Stranger in a Strange Land | Heinlein | 6/27/2015 |
| Supreme Yoga; Yoga Vasistha | Venkatesananda | 1/31/2015; 2/28/2015; 2/24/2018 |
| Surfing the Himalayas | Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz | 2010; 7/26/2014; 7/2020; 12/31/2-22 |
| Tales of Power | Castaneda | 9/24/2016 |
| Talisman | King | 4/28/2012 |
| Tantric Mysticism of Tibet | Blofeld | 9/2020 |
| Teachings of Don Juan | Castaneda | 7/2015 |
| Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna | Ramakrishna, Sri | Sep 2023 |
| Tempest | Shakespeare | 10/29/2022 |
| Thief of Always | Barker | 3/28/2015 |
| Thriving on Chaos | Peters | 10/2015 |
| Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa | Evans-Wentz | 12/15/2012 |
| Tibetan Book of Great Liberation | Evans-Wentz | 4/25/2014 |
| Tibetan Book of Living and Dying | Rinpoche | 9/24/2022 |
| Tibetan Book of the Dead | Evans-Wentz | 8/13/2011 |
| Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrine | Evans-Wentz | 1/27/2013 |
| Total Relaxation | Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz | 4/2020 |
| Transforming the Organization | Gouillant / Kelly | 11/30/2013 |
| Two Towers (Lord of the Rings Part 2) | Tolkein | 11/24/2018 |
| Ulysses | Joyce | 11/29/2014; 12/27/2014 |
| Understanding Media | McLuhan | 8/2015 |
| Upanishads | Prabhavananda / Manchester | 5/27/2017 |
| Walden and Civil Disobedience | Thoreau | 9/29/2018 |
| Wasteland | Eliot | 11/2015 |
| Way of Life by Lao-Tzu | Brynner | 06/28/2014; 11/26/2016 |
| Weaveworld | Barker | 12/2015 |
| What Religion Is: In the Words of Swami Vivekananda | Vivekananda, Swami | Nov 2023 |
| Wheel of Dharma | Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz | 8/2019 |
| Wheel of TIme: The Shamans Of Mexico – Their Thoughts About Life, Death And The Universe | Castaneda | 5/26/2018 |
| Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings | Paul Reps (Compiler) | Jan 2023 |
| Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma | Pine, Red | Dec 2023 |
| Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind | Suzuki | 7/29/2017 |