What Makes you Not a Buddhist

What Makes you Not a Buddhist by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse (Shambhala, 2007). This is one of the best new dharma books I've read in a long while. Born in 1961, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse is both a traditional Tibetan Buddhist (he is considered the present main incarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö and has studied with many of the great masters, including H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche), and someone who is totally involved with the modern world - spending much time in the west and even directing feature films such as The Cup and Travellers and Magicians. This ability to speak from both worlds is part of what makes this book such a great teaching. He writes in a highly accessible style, filled with modern references, sometimes humorous, sometimes devastatingly direct and cutting - always filled with both wisdom and compassion.
His main premise in the book is that a Buddhist is not someone who follows particular external cultural traditions or even one who acts in a moral, non-violent manner (though of course that is important): one is a Buddhist if they accept the following four truths: 1. All compounded things are impermanent. 2. All emotions are pain. 3. All things have no inherent existence. 4. Nirvana is beyond concepts. Highly recommended reading. - L.