Books available free of charge

• Buddha Pradipa Centre (Sri Lanka). According to a flyer I received recently (Feb 2006), this group does "free distribution of Dhamma books and Buddhism-related charitable work." The flyer lists 75 titles, including many BPS Wheel booklets. Write to the Buddha Pradipa Centre for a copy of the flyer. If you have done business with them, please drop me an e-mail to let me know how it went.

  Write to:
  Buddha Pradipa Centre
  No. 25 1/3 U C Building
  Alagalla Road
  Kadugannawa
  Sri Lanka
  Tel: +94 (0) 777-46045 and -223676

• » Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation (Taiwan). This organization reprints and distributes free Dhamma books from many Buddhist traditions, including Theravada.

  Write to:
  Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation
  3F, 55, Sec.1, Hang-Chow S. Road
  Taipei
  Taiwan, ROC
  Tel: +886 2-2395-1198
  Fax: +886 2-2391-3415

• » Dhamma Dana Publications (USA). Dhamma Dana Publications is dedicated to bringing a long-standing Buddhist tradition to America by making high-quality books on Buddhist teachings available for free distribution. Through the generosity of individual donors like yourself, Dhamma Dana publishes original works, whether based on critical scholarly interpretation of the canonical teachings, or on the unique perspective that arises from extensive practical meditative experience. Call or write for more information. Recent offerings include: Dhammapada: A Translation and Itivuttaka: A Translation.

  Write to:
  Dhamma Dana Publications
  c/o Barre Center For Buddhist Studies
  149 Lockwood Road
  Barre, MA 01005
  USA
  Tel: +1 978-355-2347
  Fax: +1 978-355-2798
  

• » Inward Journey Books (Malaysia). Inward Journey offers a growing catalog of free Dhamma books by such authors as Nyanaponika Thera, Sayadaw U Silananda, and Francis Story. Contact Inward Journey at the address below if you are interested in obtaining books, sponsoring the publication of a particular book, or contributing towards the publication of Dhamma books.

  Write to:
  Inward Path Publisher
  House of Inward Journey
  35 Lebuh Batu Maung 8
  Iping Garden
  11960 Bayan Lepas
  Penang
  Malaysia
  Tel/Fax: +60 4 6264 696

• Metta Forest Monastery (USA). The monastery distributes free books from the Thai forest traditions, including translations of teachings by Ajaan Lee, Upasika Kee, Ajaan Fuang, and Ajaan Suwat, as well as books by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, including The Wings to Awakening: An Anthology from the Pali Canon and Mind Like Fire Unbound: An Image in the Early Buddhist Discourses.

  Write to:
  Metta Forest Monastery
  P.O. Box 1409
  Valley Center, CA 92082
  USA

• » Sati Center for Buddhist Studies (USA). The Sati Center distributes copies of Handful of Leaves, an anthology of sutta translations by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

  Write to:
  Sati Center for Buddhist Studies
  P.O. Box 2021
  Santa Cruz, CA 95063-2021
  USA
  Tel: +1 415-646-0530

• » Singapore Buddhist Meditation Centre (Singapore). This group offers a good selection of titles by such authors as Vens. Narada, Piyadassi, Sarada, and Dhammananda. Most are available with a "voluntary donation."

• » Wat Pah Baan Taad (Thailand). Wat Pah Baan Taad is the forest monastery of Ajaan Maha Boowa. The website provides a list of free books by Maha Boowa, many of which are available upon request in both print and electronic formats.

  Write to:
  Wat Pah Baan Taad
  Baan Taad
  Ampher Meuang
  Udorn Thani 41000
  Thailand
  

• » Wisdom Audio-Visual Exchange (Malaysia). WAVE has an extensive catalog of Dhamma books for free distribution, with titles by such authors as Ajaan Lee, Ajaan Chah, Mahasi Sayadaw, and many others. WAVE welcomes donations to sponsor publication of new books or to reprint old titles.

  Write to:
  Mrs Lim Tay Poh
  c/o No. 1187, Jalan 17/46
  Petaling Jaya
  46400 Selangor
  Malaysia

Books for sale 1

All the major commercial booksellers nowadays have at least a few Theravada-related titles in their catalogues. The following booksellers either specialize in Theravada or have a noteworthy collection of Theravada titles. All provide international mail-order service.

• » Buddhist Cultural Centre (Sri Lanka). The Buddhist Cultural Centre is a nonprofit distributor of Buddhist books. Their catalog includes an unusual and wide-ranging selection of books, many of which are impossible to find in the US.

  Write to:
  Buddhist Cultural Centre
  125, Anderson Road
  Nedimala
  Dehiwala
  Sri Lanka
  Tel: +94 1-734256
  Fax: +94 1-736737
  

• » Buddhist Publication Society (Sri Lanka). The BPS is a nonprofit publisher of books on Theravada Buddhism, with an excellent international mail-order service. Their current international mail-order catalog is available from their website. The BPS runs the Nyanaponika Dhamma Dana Project, which distributes free copies of BPS publications to libraries and schools. Publications from the BPS are distributed in the Americas (North and South) by Pariyatti and in Europe by Wisdom Books. (You may read a selection of titles from the BPS right now.)

  Write to:
  Buddhist Publication Society
  P.O. Box 61
  No. 54, Sangharaja Mawatha
  Kandy
  Sri Lanka
  Tel: +94 81-223-7283 & 81-223-8901
  Fax: +94 81-222-3679

• » Dharma Publishing (USA). Although Dharma Publishing publishes and sells books primarily from the Nyingma Tibetan Buddhist tradition, some of their titles — especially their series of beautifully illustrated children's books of the Jataka tales — will also be of interest to Theravadins.

  Write to:
  Dharma Publishing
  2910 San Pablo Ave.
  Berkeley, CA 94702
  USA
  Tel: +1 510-548-5407 & 800-873-4276
  Fax: +1 510-548-2230

• » Maithri Publications (Sri Lanka). Maithri Publications offers an unusual selection of books on Theravada Buddhism, many of which are usually hard to find outside Sri Lanka. Their catalogue includes books on Dhamma, Kamma, Nirvana, Buddhist Psychology, and Philosophy. Books may be ordered using their state-of-the-art secure online ordering service.
• » Pali Text Society (UK). Since its founding in 1881, this nonprofit organization has been the world's pre-eminent publisher of texts from the Pali canon. The PTS offers offer a hardbound edition of the complete Tipitaka in romanized Pali, and most of the Tipitaka in English translation. Some of their translations of key texts are now very badly out of date, and have been superseded by more fluent translations from other publishers (for example, their translation of the Digha Nikaya dates back to 1899; Maurice Walshe's Long Discourses of The Buddha, published by Wisdom Publications in 1987, is a much more useful text). Nevertheless, many of their translations are still valuable. Their romanized Pali editions are indispensable tools for the serious Pali student. PTS books are distributed in North America by Pariyatti.

  Write to:
  Pali Text Society
  c/o Gazelle
  White Cross Mills
  High Town
  Lancaster, LA1 4XS England
  Tel: +44 (0) 1524 528530

• » Pariyatti (USA). Pariyatti (formerly Pariyatti Book Service) is a nonprofit bookseller with a large online catalog of books on Buddhism and meditation from various publishers. Pariyatti is the official North American distributor for the Buddhist Publication Society and the Pali Text Society.

  Write to:
  Pariyatti
  867 Larmon Road
  Onalaska, WA 98570
  USA
  Tel: +1 360-978-4998
  Fax: +1 360-978-4557
  

  Canadian orders:
  » Pariyatti Canada
  Tel: +1 613-267-3973

• » Wisdom Books (UK). Wisdom Books is a for-profit publisher and distributor of Buddhist books and is the official European distributor for the Buddhist Publication Society.

  Write to:
  Wisdom Books
  25 Stanley Road
  Ilford
  Essex, IG1 1RW
  England
  Tel: +44 208 553 5020
  Fax: +44 208 553 5122
  

• » Wisdom Publications (USA). Wisdom is a nonprofit publisher and distributor of Buddhist books, including several important modern translations of the Digha, Majjhima, and Samyutta Nikayas.

  Write to:
  Wisdom Publications
  199 Elm Street
  Somerville, MA 02144
  USA
  Tel: +1 800 272-4050