Hello

I am new to this group.  I have dabbled in Buddhism for many years now; I finally have come to the point that I feel confident this path with take me to my intended goal, living a life of peace (not happiness, I am very happy, but what I am not is peaceful.).

What I am doing now is trying to immerse myself in the 4 Noble Truths and The Dharma.
What is your favorite book that covers one, or both of these topics?  Its time to dig in and learn the basics

I try to stay away from sources that claim they are the only way.  That kind of close mindedness is very annoying to me.

Thank you
-Brady Hansen

I'm assuming you've read Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha which has good descriptions of noting practice and insight maps.

Some tips on noting by Gil Fronsdal:
http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/mental-noting/

http://www.amazon.com/Satipatthana-Direct-Path-Realization-Analayo-ebook/dp/B00DEDAXQ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415855474&sr=8-1&keywords=Direct+Path+to+Realization
Good understanding of the 3 characteristics.

http://www.amazon.com/Perspectives-Satipatthana-Bhikkhu-Analayo/dp/190931403X/ref=asap_B00DAH02P8_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415855563&sr=1-2
My favorite description on Right Effort.

http://www.amazon.com/Clarifying-Natural-State-Principal-Mahamudra/dp/9627341452/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415855622&sr=1-1&keywords=Clarifying+the+natural+state
Clarifying the Natural State - Helped me with being okay with thinking.

http://www.amazon.com/Mahamudra-Moonlight-Quintessence-Mind-Meditation-ebook/dp/B00HT53JJI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415855696&sr=1-1&keywords=moonlight+mahamudra
Mahamudra Moonlight - Really good pointing instructions. I just basically skip to the end to see where the goal is but if you want more it's all there.

http://www.dharmaseed.org/retreats/1044
Rob Burbea Emptiness Retreat especially 2/12/2010 to 2/15/2010. You'll have to listen to these many times over the months and years. The 2/13/2010 one has a shitload of jewels briskly described and should be listened to even more times because it's easy to miss a diamond here or there Especially look at how habitual intentions are operating all the time.

Those recommendations should cover the 4 noble truths and The Dharma and then some.

Good luck on your investigation!

My favorite book (Buddhist) of all time is "Liberating Insight" by Frits Koster.

Available on Kindle (can be read in your web browser), about 10 bucks, introduces basic Buddhist principles, rebirth, karma, the four noble truths, the five spiritual faculties, the noble eightfold path, has a translation of the Satipatthana Sutta, instructions for Vipassana meditation (New Burmese method), great introduction:

http://www.amazon.com/Liberating-Insight-Introduction-Psychology-Meditation/dp/9749575318

Also references the Visuddhimagga and the progress of insight.

Highly recommended!

I recommend the earliest writings on what the Buddha taught = the suttas in pali or agamas in sanskrit/chinese.
can be found at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/

Rob Burbea has a new book out that I'm reading called Seeing That Frees, which I like so much that I'm planning on creating a thread here just to recommend it when I'm finished it. You can get a PDF of it from Google Books for about $6, but I'd actually recommend getting a physical copy because it's the kind of dharma book you're going to treasure, and return to again and again. It also contains many instructions for individual meditations on the material covered so you could potentially use it as your primary guidebook for many years.

The only reservation I'd add is that it doesn't take the Theravada view of the emptiness of just the self, but focuses on seeing the emptiness of everything right from the start, so if you're stricly a Theravadin this might be less useful.

It's 464 pages long. Unlike MCTB, it doesn't treat practice post-SE as an afterthought, but instead about a third of the book is about building on the cessation experience and achieving the deepest understanding of emptiness, through both phenomenological and analytical (e.g. Nagarjuna's reasonings, the sevenfold reasoning, etc.) approaches. Grounded in extensive quotations, based on years of experience teaching at Gaia house, beautiful cover, I just love it! I've also had several hours of interviews with Rob Burbea on retreat so I can safely say he's the real deal.

I'm not sure how legal this is, but here's the contents to give you a better idea, which unfortunately I couldn't just highlight and copy due to the DRM restrictions on my PDF version.

I like Bhikkhu Bodhi's books and I can not lie
Other bhikkus can't deny
That when a Br'klyn scholar talks nitty-gritty Pali
With a radiant face
You get hooked, want to pull out your book
Cause you notice that man year after year
Gets wiser, lighter.
I'm booked and I can't stop listening
"Oh, bhikkus, thus have I heard..."


=]

You've made my day! I've been looking to see if he did a book and couldn't find anything. This is one of the reasons why this site is better than many Sanghas.

Aww, Richard, now your christmas surprise is ruined...

I have never actually pre-ordered a book before but I was so excited to get this one, and it seems to be what I hoped for.  BB, look forward to discussion of this book.