The Back Country (1971) is one of Gary Snyder's most Eastern-influenced collections of poetry. What makes it especially interesting is his blending of East Asian thought and western United States culture.

Probably the most prolific collection of poems dealing with Buddhist thought is the 358-page Beneath a Single Moon: Buddhism in Contemporary American Poetry, published in 1991. Edited by Kent Johnson and Craig Paulenich. and with an introduction by Gary Snyder, this massive volume contains dozens of poems by writers from around the world, including Stephen Berg, Diane Di Prima, Allen Ginsberg, and Anthony Piccione.

Most people know author Jack Kerouac for his Beat-movement "bible" On the Road. But he is also the author of Dharma Bums, an autobiographical work, published in 1958, relating his experiences with Buddhism while living in California in the mid-1950s. The character "Japhy Ryder" - a poet...