With environmental concerns like dwindling natural resources, species extinction, and global warming now the Zeitgeist of public concern, many people are reevaluating their lifestyles. They are looking for ways to live sustainably with the world—by going solar, eating organic, and driving fuel-efficient cars—and within themselves by seeking new spiritual paths.

“It feels a lot like the 1960s and ’70s,” observes Stan Madson, co-owner of the Bodhi Tree bookstore in Los Angeles, California, which specializes in spiritual, metaphysical, and mystical literature. “The government has involved us in a strange war, there’s a lot of civilian unrest about it, and a huge rise in the consciousness movement. These days a lot of people are looking to do something on their own, spiritually outside of organized religion. It’s why Buddhism has taken hold as it has.”

Madson would know. During the 1960s he and two friends quit lucrative jobs as aerospace engineers and opened the Bodhi Tree in 1970 to dedicate themselves full time to spiritual pursuit.

The bodhi tree (ficus religiosa) is revered the world over for providing the safety to the Buddha and shade during the seven weeks he sought enlightenment under its boughs. Madson’s bookstore has lived up to its name by providing a haven for spiritual readers. The treasure trove of books —which began with 2,000 titles and now number more than 37,000— range from astral projection to Zen (there are more than 1,800 titles on Buddhism alone), and everything in between.

Buddhist book-buying trends

Among Buddhist book-buying trends, Madson says works by Buddhist masters like the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh have remained on the store’s bestseller lists over the years. “Thich Nhat Hanh was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968,” he said, “and established the revolutionary practice of engaged Buddhism—that equally important to personal enlightenment is engaging in social and environmental issues to effect change.” Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press, 978-1-888375-40-4) was recently revised with an introduction by Jack Kornfield. It is on the Bodhi Tree’s list of top twenty Zen Buddhism bestsellers. His new book, releasing this fall, is Nothing to Do, Nowhere to Go: Reflections on the Teachings of Zen Master Lin Chi (Parallax, 978-1-888375-72-5).

At the top of the Tibetan bestseller list, are the Dalai Lama’s How To See Yourself As You Really Are (Atria, 978-0-7432-9045-6), and Pocket Dalai Lama (Shambhala, 978-1-59030-001-5). His Holiness’ interpretation of Shantideva’s A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Shambhala, 978-0-87773-971-5) provides outstanding commentary on a key work by Shantideva, an eighth-century Indian Buddhist scholar. Madson says sales of some core Buddhist scholars were usurped when new voices, like those of the street-Zen movement, released books like Dharma Punx: a Memoir by Noah Levine (HarperOne, 978-0-06-000895-6) and Hardcore Zen by Brad Warner (Wisdom Publications, 978-0-86171-380-6). Warner’s follow-up Sit Down and Shut Up (New World Library, 978-1-57731-559-9) was released this spring, and One City: A Declaration of Interdependence by Ethan Nichtern (Wisdom, 978-0-86171-516-9) published in August.

However, Madson notes, there is a renewed interest in seminal works by American Buddhist patriarchs like D.T. Suzuki (Manual of Zen Buddhism, [FQ Classics, 978-1-59986-828-8]), Shunryuku Suzuki (Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, [Shambhala, 978-1-59030-267-5]) and Alan Watts’ Tao: The Watercourse Way, [Pantheon 978-0-394-73311-1] and The Way of Zen, [Vintage, 978-0-679-70510-9]). Demonstrating the point, this spring New World Library reprinted Watts’ autobiography, In My Own Way (978-1-57731-584-1) and in November they are reissuing Does It Matter?: Essays on Man’s Relation to Materiality (978-1-57731-585-8) which was originally published in 1971.

Over the years Madson has noticed a trend of Buddhist followers switching traditions. “Many who were studying Zen a decade ago are now studying Tibetan Buddhism,” he says, pointing to Pema Chodron, a Tibetan nun and author who has developed a large following over the last decade. Her books, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice For Difficult Times (Shambhala, 978-1-59030-226-2), The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala, 978-1-57062-921-1), and Awakening Loving-Kindness (Shambhala, 978-1-57062-259-5), are in the top six on the Bodhi Tree’s Tibetan Buddhism bestseller list.

Hindu books also in demand

Several seminal Hinduism authors have also stayed in demand, like Ram Dass (Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying [Riverhead Trade, 978-1-57322-871-8], Sri Ramakrishna (Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna by Sri Ramakrisha [Vedanta Press, 978-81-85301-19-8]), Ramana Maharishi (The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi, [Shambhala, 978-1-59030-139-5]) and especially, Krishnamurti (Inward Revolution: Bringing about Radical Change in the World [Shambhala, 978-1-59030-327-6], The Mystique of Enlightenment [Sentient Publications, 978-0-9710786-1-1]).

“Krishnamurti had a huge influence on everybody,” Madson noted. A volume he singles out as a definitive work is I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, translated by Maurice Frydman (Chetana Private, 978-81-85300-53-5). Two classics regarded as holy Sanskrit texts from the epic Mahabharata are the Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Divine One) recently translated by Eknath Easwaran (Shambhala, 978-1-59030-190-6) and the Ashtavakra Gita (Song of Ashtavakra). Both of these are considered the essential teachings of the Vedic school of Advaita Vedanta and must-haves for Hinduism bookshelves. A highly acclaimed version of of the latter is The Heart of Awareness: A Translation of the Ashtavakra Gita by Thomas Byron (Shambhala, 978-1-57062-897-9).

For something old and new all in one, this fall New World Library is publishing Hindu Altars: A Pop-up Gallery of Traditional Art & Wisdom by Robert Beer, Pieter Welevrede, and Bruce Foster (978-1-57731-579-7) as a home devotional for practitioners to focus their meditation and chanting.

The film What the Bleep Do We Know? generated tremendous interest in science-based spirituality. So popular was the film among his customers, that Madson dedicated a Web page to books on topics featured in the film. The top titles include: Fritjof Capra’s seminal The Tao of Physics (Shambhala, 978-1-57062-519-0), The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto (Beyond Words Publishing, 978-1-58270-114-1), A Hole In the Universe: How Scientists Peered Over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything by K. C. Cole (Harvest Books, 978-0-15-601317-8), Mind into Matter: A New Alchemy of Science and Spirit by physicist Fred Alan Wolf (Moment Point Press, 978-0-9661327-6-2), and The Visionary Window: A Quantum Physicist’s Guide to Enlightenment by Amit Goswami with a foreword by Deepak Chopra (Quest, 978-0-8356-0793-3). In response to interest in this field, Shambhala is releasing Embracing Mind: The Common Ground of Science and Spirituality by Alan Wallace (978-1-59030-482-2) in Spring 2008.

Interest in Wicca and Neo-Paganism

The Da Vinci Code generated a demand for spiritual subject matter spotlighting Mary Magdalene, Wicca and goddess worship. “The Wicca movement still remains strong, it has gone hand in hand with the feminist movement,” Madson said. NeoPaganism, the umbrella header for modern followers of Wicca, ritual magic, goddess worship, Shamanism, Celtic, Native American, and a host of other earth-based spiritual traditions, is rapidly growing, with more than a half million declared pagans in the United States today. Four thousand are serving in the military, which recently acknowledged them by permitting the pentacle on memorial plaques of registered pagan and Wiccan soldiers lost in service. NeoPaganism’s growth is also reflected in book sales: Scott Cunningham’s books (both from Llewellyn) Wicca (978-0-87542-118-6) and Living Wicca (978-0-87542-184-1), sold 400,000 and 200,000 copies respectively, and True Magick: A Beginner’s Guide by Amber K (Llewellyn, 978-0-7387-0823-2) also had sales of 200,000 copies.

Books like Pagan Visions For A Sustainable Future by Ly de Angeles, Emma Restall Orr, and Thom van Dooren (Llewellyn, 978-0-7387-0824-9), Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief by John Lamb Lash (Chelsea Green, 978-1-931498-92-0) and the new publication this spring, Sacred Land: Intuitive Gardening for Personal, Political & Environmental Change by organic gardener Clea Danaan (Llewellyn, 978-0-7387-1146-1) which aims to transform the world “one garden at a time,” answer a need for personal empowerment and the tools to effect positive environmental change. As guides to incorporating pagan beliefs into everyday living, Llewellyn publishes a series of almanacs: 2008 Wicca Almanac (978-0-7387-0335-0), 2008 Magical Almanac (978-0-7387-0553-8), and 2008 Witches Spell-A-Day Almanac: Holidays & Lore, Spells & Recipes, Rituals & Meditations (978-0-7387-0559-0).

Other recently published titles of interest include Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything by Ervin Lazlo (Inner Traditions, 978-1-59477-181-1) and The Chakras in Shamanic Practice: Eight Stages of Healing and Transformation by Susan J. Wright (Destiny, 978-1-59477-184-2) in an updated second edition.

Looking to the future, Madson says Hermetics, a belief system connected to paganism, is emerging as the new cutting edge for spiritual interest. The New Hermetics: 21st Century Magick for Illumination and Power by Jason Augustus Newcomb and Lon Milo Duquette (Weiser Books, 978-1-57863-305-0) examines the idea that Madson referred to earlier of the power of the human mind to shape reality and, by extension, the world.