The Making of a Teacher: Conversations with Eknath Easwaran

This is a beautiful book! It tells many stories about Eknath Easwaren's childhood in Kerala, his relationship with his grandmother and his journey to the states, teaching meditation at Berkeley and then founding the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation & Nilgiri Press. Kerala is one of the few places where a matrilineal social structure still exists and women have a very strong and central position. I highly recommend reading this exquisite and moving story.

Racing Alone by Nader Khalili

"Is it really sane to follow one's ideals and dreams 
and race alone in today's world?...
Midway in my life I stopped racing with others. 
I picked up my dreams and started a gentle walk…
I touched my dreams in reality by racing and 
competing with no one but myself."
-Nader Khalili

Originally published in 1983, Racing Alone is Nader Khalili's first book and it takes the reader on a journey through the early years of his quest to provide shelter to people in the world. It tells the story of how an Iranian-born, Western-trained architect — armed only with notebooks, a motorcycle, and his own unique vision — set off on a five-year odyssey through the poor desert villages of his native Iran in search of a simple, inexpensive, yet permanent form of dwelling — and his ultimate triumph in discovering the "untouched magic" of clay. Racing Alone begins as one man's dream, and ends with a village of ceramic houses, an exhibition in Paris, and lectures to schools of architecture all over the world.

Road to Heaven, and Zen Baggage by Bill Porter

In the spring of 2006, Bill Porter traveled through the heart of China, from Beijing to Hong Kong, on a pilgrimage to sites associated with the first six patriarchs of Zen. Zen Baggage is an account of that journey. He weaves together historical background, interviews with Zen masters, and translations of the earliest known records of Zen, along with personal vignettes. Porter’s account captures the transformations taking place at religious centers in China but also the abiding legacy they have somehow managed to preserve. Porter brings wisdom and humor to every situation, whether visiting ancient caves containing the most complete collection of Buddhist texts ever uncovered, enduring a six-hour Buddhist ceremony, searching in vain for the ghost in his room, waking up the monk in charge of martial arts at Shaolin Temple, or meeting the abbess of China’s first Zen nunnery. Porter’s previously published Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits has become recommended reading at Zen centers and universities throughout America and even in China (in its Chinese translation), and Zen Baggage is sure to follow suit.

In addition, his translations of Chinese poems can be found HERE.

Harvesting Color: How to Find Plants and Make Natural Dyes by Rebecca Burgess

"Harvesting Color explains where to find these plants in the wild (and for those that can be grown in your backyard, how to nurture them) and the best time and way to harvest them; maps show the range of each plant in the United States and Canada. For the dyeing itself, the book describes the simple equipment needed and provides a master dye recipe. Harvesting Color is organized seasonally; as an added bonus, each section contains a knitting project using wools colored with dyes from plants harvested during that time of the year. With breathtaking color photographs by Paige Green throughout, Harvesting Color is an essential guide to this growing field, for crafters and DIYers; for ecologists and botanists; and for artists, textile designers, and art students."