Reddit reviews The Triadic Heart of Siva: Kaula Tantricism of Abhinavagupta in the Non-Dual Shaivism of Kashmir (Suny Series, Shaiva Traditions of Kashmir) (SUNY series in the Shaiva Traditions of Kashmir)

I studied Buddhist and Hindu traditions as a under- and grad student. Look, if you want a 'Westernized' D.T. Suzuki-type view (who actually spent no time in a Zen monastery), then go with Robbins, Watts, et, al. Even as a 'casual philosopher' you will never lose by being familiar with translations of key texts. You want to read le wild Buddhist texts and develop your own view, and not rely on someone's opinion.

With respect to the mahaa-yaana Buddhist tradition, I got a lot from the Lotus Sutra - this translation:
http://books.google.com/books?id=dYuVW73FQIsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=lotus+sutra&hl=en&ei=xAM2Tr7cGe2x0AGDkoSJDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

On the side of the Hindu-traditions, you cannot escape the Bhagavad Gittaa and if you're up for it, the UpaniSad-s.

My personal preference:
http://www.amazon.com/Triadic-Heart-Siva-Tantricism-Abhinavagupta/dp/0887067875
I was fortunate to read this book in class with Prof. Ortega.
Also:
http://www.amazon.com/Play-Consciousness-Autobiography-Swami-Muktananda/dp/0911307818/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312164031&sr=1-1

And, this is a great read:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_30?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=aghora+at+the+left+hand+of+god&sprefix=aghora+at+the+left+hand+of+god

However, I'm not sure that actual Hindu-folks would accept what is here as part of their belief system, these last three are a specific sub-set of the Hindu traditions. Good Luck!

Oh yes, 100%. Kashmir Shaivism is brilliant, and I'm so glad that it's being made more accessible by his books. I'm in the middle of The Recognition Sutras right now.

I can also recommend The Doctrine of Vibration and The Triadic Heart of Shiva. They are more academic than Christopher's books, but full of interesting tidbits.

So basically all of them? Okay well I can't speak for Shakta or the much more rare Vaishnava LHP sects. I'm more refering to LHP Shaivism but check out Kaula:

https://www.amazon.com/Triadic-Heart-Siva-Tantricism-Abhinavagupta/dp/0887067875

That's the first book that usually comes to mind for me on Shaivite Kaula. It's kinda hard to do alone (traditionally speaking it's group-based and you need a guru) but it might give you a good start since it's a householder path and thus you don't need to be an ascetic. It's based around following Aham "heart" and finding enlightenment through personal avenues. Trika/Kashmir Shaivism in general has a lot of LHP and RHP traditions.

So even just reading say the Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta and finding your way to Shivagama by way of your own LHP journey is also acceptable and basically what I do with influences from all the different Shaiva LHP sects as well as things like Satanism ect

If you are interested in my approach I actually blogged about this about a month ago and either way it should give you some general info that might help you in the right direction: https://kapalika108.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/my-tantra-of-shiva-and-satan/ (I own the domain name but am sorting out a new wordpress-based host atm)

An important note but in Trika the godhood is both individuated and nondual at the same time... it's personality infinately multiplied. One's consciousness maintains an unbroken chain from limited to unlimited awareness unlike Advaita Vedanta or Samkhya where the self is said to be only illusion. The Jaidev Singh commentaries on the Sutras talk about this at length at one point.