Fantastic free ebooks

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
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logidelic
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Fantastic free ebooks

Post by logidelic »

Hi all,

I just got my Kindle and am excited at the wealth of freely available Buddhist ebooks out there. The problem is that there are too many to choose from! Therefore, I thought I'd start a thread seeking personal recommendations of specific fantastic free ebooks.

I'll start things going by recommending Food for the Heart (Ajahn Chah). Actually I read this just recently in print (which has a lot more content than the ebook so probably worth the purchase anyway). This was my first real exposure to Ajahn Chah and I loved it. Simple, applicable, inspiring.

(This is my first post here, so I apologize if I broke a rule or if this is in the wrong forum, etc.)
David2
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by David2 »

Maybe you could just download a lot of them... and read in every book the first pages. Then you can decide if you read on or delete it again.

(Sorry that I cannot give you a recommendation, but at the moment I am not reading any ebooks -- though I am planning to buy a reader and do it, too.)
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Viscid
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by Viscid »

All of Chah's books are excellent: http://www.ajahnchah.org/index2.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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James the Giant
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by James the Giant »

EDIT: I have updated the links to the new December 2012 version

I love dipping into the suttas, often at random. I don't like paying for ebooks, so I converted the whole of Access To Insight's Tipitaka to both EPUB and MOBI formats.

Here's the Epub version, 12.4 Megabytes
http://www.mediafire.com/?q5pf18k3e8n18d9

And here's the MOBI version, for kindle, 18.5 Megabytes.
http://www.mediafire.com/?62cyhi48zc2ctwt

It's a quick and dirty conversion using Calibre auto-convert, but it works.
The hyperlinks within the book work fine, but there are also links to other pages of Access To Insight that aren't in the Tipitaka, so they are basically dead links unless you have internet access on your ebook.
Last edited by James the Giant on Sun Dec 16, 2012 10:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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saturated with joy,
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Euclid
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by Euclid »

I'm not sure how the format for ebooks works, but what-buddha-taught.net has a huge wealth of free buddhist publications in the form of PDFs, and occasionally in straight HTML
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Thaibebop
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by Thaibebop »

Thanks for sharing everyone,
cheers! :anjali:
Platypus
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by Platypus »

Not as much an e-book, but an online book,
I have the paper copy too.
http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/bu ... each00.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
BKh
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by BKh »

I have compiled a list of Sutta e-books(epub/mobi) here, although not all are free:

http://readingfaithfully.org/book-sourc ... bi-kindle/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm surprised that Bhante Anandajoti's huge collection of epub/mobi English Sutta translations have not (to my knowledge) been mentioned on the forums. All of his English Sutta translations are available in a bundle on this page:

http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/d ... /index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Of special note is the anthology Buddhist Wisdom Verses because it includes translations of many Jataka verses. If you enjoy his work, please do drop him an e-mail.
BKh
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by BKh »

I just uploaded an e-book of the Dhammapada by Ven. Buddharakkhita. The text was taken from Access To Insight.

It's about half way down on this page:
http://readingfaithfully.org/book-sourc ... bi-kindle/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Any feedback on formatting would be most welcome.

BKh
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christopher:::
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by christopher::: »

"As Buddhists, we should aim to develop relationships that are not predominated by grasping and clinging. Our relationships should be characterised by the brahmaviharas of metta (loving kindness), mudita (sympathetic joy), karuna (compassion), and upekkha (equanimity)."
~post by Ben, Jul 02, 2009
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hikerbob
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by hikerbob »

Euclid wrote:I'm not sure how the format for ebooks works, but what-buddha-taught.net has a huge wealth of free buddhist publications in the form of PDFs, and occasionally in straight HTML
As of this date, September 9, 2011,
what-buddha-taught.net recently considerable expanded their offerings
and another valuable site is
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma5/ebooks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
:sage:
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Assaji
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by Assaji »

Hi,

Sadhu! directory http://dhamma.ru/sadhu/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has a wide choice of good books.

Best wishes, Dmytro
BKh
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by BKh »

Ajahn Thanissaro's Dhammapada translation and the anthology Into the Stream have just come out as e-books. They, along with many other books, can be found here:
http://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And Ven. Yuttadhammo has created e-pubs for Cowel's Jataka translation. They can be found here:
http://yuttadhammo.sirimangalo.org/2010 ... ollection/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
They convert well to .mobi using Calibre.

The OP seemed to be asking specifically about e-books in the Kindle sense of the word, not just electronic texts in general.
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BKh
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by BKh »

There is now a version of Ajahn Viradhammo's The Stillness of Being available as a Kindle and Epub book.

(these are temporary links until it gets posted on the Tisarana website)

Epub:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52341497/Stilln ... Being.epub
Mobi/Kindle
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52341497/Stilln ... Being.mobi

There is also a version on the Tisarana website as pdf, for those without e-book readers:
http://tisarana.ca/includes/server.php?act=books
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BKh
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Re: Fantastic free ebooks

Post by BKh »

Just noticed that Ajahn Thanissaro's anthology Beyond Coping is now available as an epub, mobi/Kindle as well as PDF. For those who aren't familiar, this is a sizable anthology on the topic of old age, sickness and death.

http://dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html

You can view the same text on Access to Insight here:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/stud ... index.html
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