The Buddha Is Still Teaching: Contemporary Buddhist Wisdom
by Jack Kornfield
Why You'll Love This
Forty of today's most respected Buddhist teachers distill 2,500 years of wisdom into one remarkably readable volume — and none of it feels ancient.
- Great if you want: a wide-ranging sampler of contemporary Buddhist thought and practice
- The experience: unhurried and meditative — best read slowly, a few pages at a time
- The writing: Kornfield curates voices like Pema Chödrön and the Dalai Lama with quiet editorial restraint
- Skip if: you want sustained depth from one teacher rather than anthology breadth
About This Book
The Buddha's teachings are twenty-five centuries old, yet they keep arriving as if delivered this morning. That paradox sits at the heart of this anthology, which gathers voices from the most influential contemporary Buddhist teachers—Pema Chödrön, Tara Brach, the Dalai Lama, Ram Dass, and dozens more—to show how ancient wisdom lands in modern lives. The questions these teachers address are not abstract or historical: they concern grief, anxiety, the ordinary cruelty we inflict on ourselves, and the possibility of waking up inside an ordinary day. Kornfield assembles these voices not as museum pieces but as living transmission, proof that the Dharma hasn't aged so much as deepened.
What makes this collection worth returning to is its texture. Kornfield resists the temptation to homogenize; each contributor retains a distinct voice and sensibility, so reading through it feels less like a survey course and more like sitting with a series of remarkably honest teachers. The selections are short enough to absorb slowly, one by one, yet substantive enough to stay with you. It rewards browsing as much as linear reading—open it anywhere and find something that cuts straight to the point.