/lit/ - Literature

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>>20229380
>Majjhima Nikaya
>Samyutta Nikaya
I just want wisdom, similar to Pascal's Pensées. Which of the two should I read?

>>20229380
The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh isn't an anthology, per se, but it does provide a great introduction to the Buddhist teachings from a Mahayana perspective (Bhikkhu Bodhi is a Theravada monk).

I’m a zenfag but starting with Suzuki worked for me. Getting a clear picture of Mahayana made understanding everything else in the history of Buddhism pretty easy to grasp.

Donald Lopez is solid so I’m guessing his Penguin book on Buddhist Scriptures is also very good. I think it’s important to understand things beyond Theravada.

>>20230781
*DT Suzuki

>>20229380
Leigh Brasington recommends
„Buddhessence“

I finally met with an ordained Zen Buddhist and will finally try to live in a monestary.

I am scared but already feel a little better

>>20232481
godspeed anon

>>20232481
If it's Soto, I don't recommend it. If Rinzai, then it's fine.

>>20233101
What's wrong with Soto and what makes Rinzai better?

>>20233110
It depends on the teacher really, but I've had bad experiences with many Soto teachers and their obsession with formal posture, which not even Dogen promoted. Dogen is notoriously difficult to translate and even a lot of later Soto teachers had trouble interpreting him. Hakuin was much more lucid and aligned with the early patriarchs compared to Dogen.
Rinzai is more traditional and feels aligned with Chinese and Korean praxes. They utilize the Blue Cliff Record for koans. I do think the Blue Cliff Record has something special about it. Soto Buddhists don't even read it, preferring to reduce everything to autistic zazen posture and Shikantaza.
I have even seen some Rinzai utilize Hua You practice, which I think is good.
Some people argue Dogen shouldn't even be viewed as Zen, but I wouldn't go that far. I just think the school went into shambles and that Dogen was anything but clear.

>>20233131
>Hua You practice
Hua Tou practice*

>>20233131
Thanks
Do you think the BCR can be studied alone, without a master? Will I miss the point of the koans if I do so?

>>20233110
>>20233131
>>20233134
Also, obsession with formal posture isn't good unless you're flexible. Tons of people were getting knee surgery at my Soto Zen Center. You should do a lot to stretches improving flexibility for lower body if you are going to a Soto retreat.

>>20233153
You should do Shikantaza over the koans and then walk in solitude while maintaining what Hakuin calls "Great Doubt". The Shikantaza can be 30-60 minutes per day. You could spend more time with the solitary walk, but the important point is Hakuin's Great Doubt.

>>20233165
I understand. as you said in >>20233159 I assume the posture doesn't really matter and I can do it crosslegged or whatever as long as the technique is good?

>>20233171
Breathing naturally is the most important. Shikantaza is supposed to be instructionless and just involves nonjudgmental awareness of the patterns of one's thoughts. However, it is done without any goal in mind or expectation. It translates into "just sitting" in Japanese and in Chinese it was known as "Silent Illumination". It eventually leads to pacification of discursive mind, but it can't be done with goal oriented mind.

There are different styles. For example, you can also sometimes keep a koan in mind while generating "Great Doubt". Great Doubt refers to not jumping to any dualistic conclusion as the deconstructive aspect of the question is reflected on, while repeating it in a kind of melodious way in mind. Hua Tou works similarly.

>>20233195
This seems much less tedious than satipatthana and other forms of traditional meditation.

>>20233199
It’s folly to think the more systematized and detailed the technique the better it is. This is a large problem with Theravada in general, especially with how it presents its complexity as profundity.

>In one of the earliest of the Buddhist transmissions, the Sutta Nipāta (Sn), parts of which may actually go back to the historical Buddha, we find the word virajo (‘free from corruption’) in the Pāli version and virato (‘ceased’) in the BHS version of the poem (Mahāvastu). The underlying form must have been transmitted as virayo, where the intervocalic consonant was replaced with the -y- glide, leaving each translator to insert what he/she opined to be the “correct” consonant (Norman 1980a: 148–161; Levman 2014: 245–257).

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOT ONLY DO I HAVE TO LEARN PALI I HAVE TO BECOME A LINGUIST TO EXTRACT THE RECONSTRUCTED MIDDLE INDIC ORIGINAL LAYER NOW TOO

>>20234239
>A common epithet of the Buddha like tathāgata (usually translated ‘thus come’=tathā-āgata or ‘thus gone’=tathā-gata), for example, appears in AMg as tahāgaya, where the aspirated stop > aspirate only and the intervocalic stop > glide. This was probably also close to the koine form, as the characteristic dialect differences have been removed and it is up to the hearer to replace the aspirate and glide with the relevant phoneme from his/her dialect. So whether one pronounced it tathāgata, tathāgada, tathāgasa, tahāgaya, etc., in one’s own dialect, the simplified koine form (tahāgaya or tahāga’a; ’= > Ø) would be a common denominator of all forms, that is the most reduced form from which all can be derived. The latter part of this compound -gaya could of course point to another meaning altogether (with the intervocalic -y- taken as a glide phoneme, substituted for a weakened stop), as Buddhaghosa theorizes in his commentary, i.e. -āgado, ‘speech’ (tatha-āgada, ‘true speech’), or -agada, (tatha-agada, ‘true medicine’; Bodhi 2007 [1978]: 328–29). The compound tathāgata is a reconstruction, a translation and Sanskritization of an underlying form, which is only imperfectly understood.

>The Sanskrit word for ‘effort, exertion’, pradhāna (from S pra + √dhā, ‘devote oneself’), was pronounced in the earlier, underlying koine as pahāṇ(n)a, with the stop omitted and the aspiration alone remaining. pahāna, however, also meant ‘abandonment’ (from S pra + √hā, ‘forsake, abandon’) and the transmission shows several instances where the two meanings are confused and mistranslated, thus once again confirming the existence of the simpler koine form (Childers 1875: 157 sv iddhipādo; Levman 2011: 1–20).

>Sometimes only one transmission tradition has survived (usually P), but variant readings in the different Burmese, Sinhalese and other recensions reveal the potential underlying koine: maggajjhāyi (‘concentrated on the path’, Sinhalese) and maggakkhāyi (‘teacher of the path’, Burmese) in variant passages of the Sn indicated a translation from *maggahāyi (Sn v. 85-b).

>Often the koine is clearly identifiable, but its meaning is not, like P nekkhama (‘having left home’) – is it a simplification of naiṣkramya, ‘departure from the world’ (< S niṣ +√kram, ‘to go out, depart, leave worldly life’), naiṣkāmya, ‘without desire’ (< S niṣ + kāma ‘desireless, disinterested, unselfish’), or naiṣkarmya (< S niṣ + karman, ‘without action, tranquil’)? Or was it a pun meaning all three or two out of three? – certainly the last meaning seems most applicable to the Jaina tradition, where the word is also found (as AMg ṇikkamma) and understood as ‘quiescent, free from karma’ the elimination of which is the ultimate Jaina goal

>>20234239
>>20234254
Maybe I’m just autistic but I find linguistics exhilarating.

>>20234282
Me too, what I find scary is the idea that meanings are being hidden from me because only someone this dedicated to linguistics could unearth them

>>20234239
>parts of which may actually go back to the historical Buddha
>historical Buddha
Lol

>>20234239
>>20234254
Just feel it bro. Stop worrying about accuracy problems and practice.

>>20235240
this anon's advice is actually sound.

B Bodhi actually emphasizes this point in ITBW that OP posted. Buddhism is less about precise dogma, and more about laying down some fundamental directions and socratically extrapolating your way to enlightenment, and there is no set-in-stone path to your goal. Every single adherent must find their own unique a-la-cart or freestyle way to the truth for their own ego's perspective. Which is what makes Buddhism worth focusing on over other religions, imo.

the plethora of dhamma is good to reference to keep you centered on a healthy productive attitude, keep in touch with sanghas to stay connected to humanity and community, and find mentors and role models (buddhas) to aspire to. And remember that the end goal is to lessen suffering wherever you can around yourself.

And of course, why it's worth keeping up with any sort of religion with an optimistic philosophy, good lit, and good community to avoid a "dark night of the soul" if you are experimenting with spiritual yoga/alchemy and meditating without any sort of goal in mind.

I gravitated towards Buddhism because I saw a high number of communities around me, good alternative to Christianity (too rigid for my tastes), stayed for the wholesome and nonjudgemental attitude. There isn't really an incorrect religion, just strive to support your fellow human and make the world less shitty.

That being said, keep a copy of ITBW around and branch off that to understand denser stuff like the Bardo Thodol

>>20234254
desu famalam, the point of pursuing any religion is to become the hopelessly optimistic Bloomer. The human labrador.

the meme of the newly minted tradcath larper zoomer sneering at "degeneracy" (rather than helping the "degenerates" heal their lives) is a harmful way of going about religion.

>>20235869
Is ITBW lenient towards Theravada? Or does it represent pre-schismatic Buddhism pretty well? I’d like to get a very general picture of Buddhism as a start.