Bhante Henepola Gunaratana (b. December 7, 1927) is an internationally recognized author and Buddhist meditation teacher.
He arrived in the United States in 1968 and later founded the Bhavana Society in West Virginia, a community of monastics and laypeople dedicated to the practice of Theravada Buddhism.
Affectionately known as “Bhante G” by his students, he offers a well-rounded approach to the Buddha’s teachings, emphasizing concentration and loving-kindness as integral elements of spiritual training. That’s why I’m sharing three best Bhante Gunaratana books on Buddhism.
1. Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha’s Path
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In his classic and engaging style, Bhante Gunaratana delves deeply into the Noble Eightfold Path, the Buddha’s most profound teaching on bringing an end to suffering.
With easy-to-understand and specific advice, Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness offers skillful ways to handle anger, find right livelihood, cultivate loving-kindness, and overcome the mental hindrances that prevent happiness.
Whether you are an experienced meditator or someone who’s only just beginning, this gentle and down-to-earth guide will help you bring the heart of the Buddha’s teachings into every aspect of your life.
2. Impermanence in Plain English
In Impermanence in Plain English, the beloved author and teacher Bhante Gunaratana, alongside Julia Harris, clearly and masterfully explains the key Buddhist insight of impermanence and invites the reader to personally investigate its truth.
Once-youthful bodies grow old and weary. New thoughts, feelings, and sensations arise and fade every second. Impermanence is not some abstract, metaphysical idea. This is the Dhamma, and you can see it for yourself.
Drawing from Pali scriptures and writing with fresh, direct language, Bhante Gunaratana and Julia Harris highlight the Buddha’s exhortation that we must directly realize for ourselves the liberating insights that free us from suffering and cyclic existence, without relying only on the word of religious authorities or academic or philosophical musings.
3. Dependent Origination in Plain English
Nothing happens by accident. All things, no matter how mundane or meaningful, arise based on causes and conditions.
And without those causes and conditions they would not arise at all. This, in short, is the Buddha’s teaching of dependent origination.
Embedded in this fundamental theory are central teachings such as nonself, impermanence, and the four noble truths.
And from it we can see for ourselves how suffering and rebirth, the great problems lying at the heart of the Dhamma, arise—and how they pass away.
In Dependent Origination in Plain English, the venerable scholar-monk Bhante Gunaratana and his student Veronique Ziegler break down this keystone Buddhist teaching from the Pali canon into its core components, guiding the reader step by step from ignorance to suffering and its end.
The process leading to future rebirths may seem far off, but it’s not some distant event. It’s happening now, with every breath you take.
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Complement this list of best books on Buddhism by Bhante Gunaratana with five best Buddhism books for beginners.
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