/lit/ - Literature

The absolutely best book is The Foundations of Buddhism by Rupert Gethin
It describes the history and doctrine of Buddhism with an almost surgical clarity and yet the book is written in such a way that it is gripping from cover to cover
Trust me, download it now and start reading

>>23423258
Nāgārjuna refutes all views of existence and non-existence with his metalogic. Read Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.
Vasubandhu is also relevant for his parallels to Greek Orphic cult ritual, Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle.

>>23423283
Fuck off niggerjuna

>>23423274
Gonna see it

>>23423283
What does "metalogic" mean? Nagarjuna is just using regular logic.

>>23423283
>>23423293
>>23423324
Who's this Nagarjuna guy?

Buddhist bump

>>23423258
https://streamable.com/sol61c

An introduction to buddhism: Teachings, history, practices by Peter Harvey
https://archive.org/details/anintroductiontobuddhismpeterharvey

>>23423258
Siddhartha is a good, quick, and easy intro or gateway

>>23423557
It has nothing to do with Buddhism

>>23423258
In the buddhas words by bhikkhu bodhi

What the buddha taught is the best primer to theravadin teachings. The bukkyo dendo kyokai one is best for those who prefer mahayana teaching. Rupert gethin one is good if you interested in buddhism solely through academical lenses, which is terse but adequate enough if youre interested on buddhism solely through academic lenses/ you wanna be western buddhist.
Also hijacking the thread, are thanissaro bhikku translations of sutta's good enough for you guys who have read it?

Best resource on the web is https://puredhamma.net/

Join this discord aswell if you want to know more:
https://discord.gg/5Dks28V2Pp

Buddhism is for brown and asian people. If you aren't one, you won't get it.

Buddha bump

>>23424499
this site and Hillside Hermitage are the best resources on the web

I got into it through Evola's Doctrine of Awakening. It's not always 100% concordant with Theravada orthodoxy but the spirit is a breath of fresh air compared to more modern "hippie" presentations of Buddhism.
>>23423557
Hesse literally rejects Buddhism in that book. It's really an intro to modern existentialism couched as a novel about ancient India.

Picrel

>>23423258
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/BuddhasTeachings/Section0003.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/WithEachAndEveryBreath/Section0003.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/OnThePath/Section0000.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/ShapeOfSuffering/Contents.html

Thich Nhat Hanh's books are good for developing compassion.

>>23424507
The dhamma is for everyone.

>>23424499
https://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=39810
>Puredhamma.net Warning !!!

>>23425324
>They don't really have much discussion and I am loathe to point out that they have a specific section in their discord to solicit donations. Seems more like an attempt to make money, but I would be happy to be proven wrong. There's also people who openly declare to have Sotapanna and Anagami attainment which is also taboo. A lot of the actual philosophy seems to be trying to read something else into the Suttas using Sinhala pronunciation rather than Pāli language.

>>23424499
>>23425324
yeah puredhamma is turbo cringe, the ramblings of some idiot devotee to an idiot guru
it's amazing google puts it at the top of the list for pretty much any query for theravada

>>23424499
ctrl+f "jhana" = not found

Fake dhamma.

https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/NobleStrategy/Section0012.html

Almost any book on early Buddhist meditation will tell you that the Buddha taught two types of meditation: samatha and vipassanā. Samatha, which means tranquility, is said to be a method fostering strong states of mental absorption, called jhāna. Vipassanā—literally “clear-seeing,” but more often translated as insight meditation—is said to be a method using a modicum of tranquility to foster moment-to-moment mindfulness of the inconstancy of events as they are directly experienced in the present. This mindfulness creates a sense of dispassion toward all events, thus leading the mind to release from suffering. These two methods are quite separate, we’re told, and of the two, vipassanā is the distinctive Buddhist contribution to meditative science. Other systems of practice pre-dating the Buddha also taught samatha, but the Buddha was the first to discover and teach vipassanā. Although some Buddhist meditators may practice samatha meditation before turning to vipassanā, samatha practice is not really necessary for the pursuit of Awakening. As a meditative tool, the vipassanā method is enough for attaining the goal.
Or so we’re told.

But if you look directly at the Pali discourses—the earliest extant sources for our knowledge of the Buddha’s teachings—you’ll find that although they do use the word samatha to mean tranquility, and vipassanā to mean clear-seeing, they otherwise confirm none of the received wisdom about these terms. Only rarely do they make use of the word vipassanā—a sharp contrast to their frequent use of the word jhāna. When they depict the Buddha telling his disciples to go meditate, they never quote him as saying “go do vipassanā,” but always “go do jhāna.” And they never equate the word vipassanā with any mindfulness techniques. In the few instances where they do mention vipassanā, they almost always pair it with samatha—not as two alternative methods, but as two qualities of mind that a person may “gain” or “be endowed with,” and that should be developed together.

Vipassanā is not a meditation technique. It’s a quality of mind—the ability to see events clearly in the present moment. Although mindfulness is helpful in fostering vipassanā, it’s not enough for developing vipassanā to the point of total release. Other techniques and approaches are needed as well. In particular, vipassanā needs to be teamed with samatha—the ability to settle the mind comfortably in the present—so as to master the attainment of strong states of absorption, or jhāna.

>>23425353
who do you recommend instead?

>>23425365
https://www.dhammatalks.org/#/ebook_index.html#BuddhasTeachings

>>23425372
>>23425297
https://www.dhammatalks.org/mp3_collections_index.html

>>23425372
what do you think of nyanamoli?

>in the following video in the Sinhalese language, Ven Kumara Kassap clearly explain why the teaching of
Ven Abhaya is incomplete. When Anatta is explained as Anartha it distorts the meaning.
Because of Anartha (fruitless nature of existence) is lie within the existence and non-existence.
What Buddha taught is the Dependent Origination.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4iMrMxPP1tg?start=2661

https://puredhamma.net/paticca-samuppada/paticca-samuppada-introduction/
>12. The Buddha advised against translating keywords in Pāli (and even verses in deep suttas) to other languages. In most cases, there are no equivalent words in other languages.

lol

Bump

Some time ago I found advert on meetup.com - meetings once a week with a mentor and few other people to learn about Buddhism and sense of existence. Mentor was a Nigerian guy and this was modern school of Buddhism originating in Japan or China I don't remember name, it was based on " third way" or something like that ("path" or "way" was in the title for sure). Mentor was from Buddhist university in Japan - but when googling it nothing much comes out.
Presentation was fine but after first one he wanted me to write my name etc into Google docs and when i asked why, he told me i will be member of the org and as member i should pay voluntary alms once a minth or something.
Is this kind of begging common for Buddhist schools or was I right in thinking this is scam?
Since then I just read Buddha's words and will read Doctrine of Awakening now. Philosophy is pretty interesting to me , sounds like a good cope but sutras themselves sounds too similar to each other when you read several of them

>>23425023
Chapter when he is on the boat and writes about fisher fixated on waves remindem me of taoism

why are crypto-nihilist annihilationist 'buddhists' so smug?

>>23425527
Go back to adoring some Jew.

>>23425541
i'm not talking about buddhism as a whole, but the nibbana = nothingness/extinction/there is nothing outside the aggregates camp.

>>23425545
>there is nothing outside the aggregates camp.
That is the whole of buddhism, the difference is whether you think there are actually existent aggregates which can cease, or that the aggregates never arose in the first place, so there is nothing to cease.

>>23425603
>“But when beings know as it has come to be—with regard to these six internal sense media—the allure as the allure, the drawbacks as the drawbacks, and the escape as the escape, they have escaped from this cosmos with its devas, Māras, & Brahmās, this generation with its contemplatives & brahmans, its royalty & commonfolk, and they dwell disjoined from it, released from it, with UNRESTRICTED AWARENESS.”
SN 35:17

Then what did the Buddha mean by this?

>>23423258
what the buddha taught by walpola rahula

>>23425615
Awareness is either the vijñana skandha itself or a positive mental factor belonging to the samskara skandha
>The Blessed One said, "What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All. Anyone who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range."
SN 35:23

>>23425632
Fine, then what about this?

>“Then, householder, you should train yourself in this way: ‘I won’t cling to eye-consciousness… ear-consciousness… nose-consciousness… tongue-consciousness… body-consciousness; my consciousness will not be dependent on body-consciousness.’ … ‘I won’t cling to intellect-consciousness; MY CONSCIOUSNESS will not be dependent on intellect-consciousness.’ That’s how you should train yourself.

>“Just as a red, blue, or white lotus born in the water and growing in the water, rises up above the water and stands with no water adhering to it, in the same way the Tathāgata—freed, dissociated, & released from these ten things—dwells with UNRESTRICTED AWARENESS.” – AN 10:81

the lotus metaphor is self-contradicting according to your view, which would make the Buddha quite a lousy teacher.

Would buddhism help me with the feeling of loneliness in the crowd when i meet some people for "fun" and no one wants to talk like me and i sit sad like a pussy? In that time i was not able to recall details of any philosophy to console me, even though i did finished Buddha's Words maybe 2 weeks before the event

>>23425642
The first quote is making a distinction between the vijñana skandha and the mano ayatana. The vijñana skandha is nonconceptual, when it engages with concepts it is the mano ayatana. Bhikku Sujato translates "unrestricted awareness" in the second quote as "a mind free of limits." It's just making the point that the Buddha has completely purified his mind. If the lotus referred to a pure awareness apart from the aggregates, the metaphor wouldn't make sense, because the lotus is dependent upon the water, which represents impure samsara. Do you have a response to the Buddha explicitly saying there is nothing outside of the six sense organs and their objects?

>>23425712
A mind purified of its substrate is no mind at all according to you, so why even designate it as anything at all?

>the lotus depends on the water to be a lotus
The dhamma, too, depends on wholesome desire to untangle the knot of desire. Why aren't we allowed to conceive of a mind that is in the aggregates but not of it?

>Do you have a response to the Buddha explicitly saying there is nothing outside of the six sense organs and their objects?
Does the Buddha have a response to his own teachings that describe the liberated state as unfathomable, deep as the ocean, etc.?

>>23425659
yeah but it takes hard work to bridge the you reading the dhamma and the you being a sad sack at a party. when the former overdetermines the latter, and not the other way around, is when you'll know you're making progress. the power of philosophy to console and set you on the right path comes with time, suffering, and experience. you get better and better at correlating what you've been reading with what you're experiencing.

>>23425621
By far the best intro book to Buddhism

>>23425395
I like his emphasis on keeping precepts and avoiding sensual pleasures.

>>23423258
>Intro to Buddhism
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/BuddhasTeachings/Section0003.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Refuge/Section0003.html

>Meditation (To understand the cause of suffering and to free ourselves from it)
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/WithEachAndEveryBreath/Section0003.html

>Kamma/Karma (Intentions/Actions/Results) & Rebirth
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/KarmaQ&A/Section0009.html
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/TruthOfRebirth/Section0003.html

>The Four Noble Truths (The cause of suffering and how we free ourselves from it)
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/FourNobleTruths/Section0003.html

>Dependent Origination (The causal factors that lead to suffering)
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/ShapeOfSuffering/Section0004.html

>The Noble Eightfold Path (The way to end suffering)
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/OnThePath/Section0005.html

>Nibbana/Nirvana (Unbinding — Cessation of suffering)
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/MindLikeFire/Section0007.html

>The Wings to Awakening (Summary of The Buddha's teachings)
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/Wings/Section0000.html

>Biography of the Buddha
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/NobleWarrior/Section0003.html

Buddha bump

>>23423258
Not a book but you can explore the suttas of the pali canon at random or in order here: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/

>>23425227
I would recommend skipping all the Mahayana stuff (Heart Sutra, bodhicharya) because it's not all straightforward or, I'd contend, particularly useful to anyone who isn't looking to be an armchair practitioner rather than someone who, being grounded in reality as certain and real, is a good person with reference to all.

>>23423258
>George Grimm. Doctrine of the Buddha. [original Buddhism]
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.70145

Sooner read Advaita Vedanta than post-schismatic derivative syncretic bullshit. And understand that 'anatta' DOES NOT mean "no soul", and in the 500 or so instances in the Pali Canon it is in all but a handful of cases describing what lacks essence/substantiality; it's part of the retroductive/apophatic methodolgy-- burn the haystack to acquire the needle, negate the objective/manifest/mutible to arrive/cohere to/with the Source & Self.

>>23426677
>burn the haystack to acquire the needle, negate the objective/manifest/mutible to arrive/cohere to/with the Source & Self.
So the Buddha just taught the Vedantin neti neti? He taught the same Self as the Upanishads?

>>23423258

>>23426630
>rather than someone who, being grounded in reality as certain and real, is a good person with reference to all.
You do realise this is a thread about Buddhism.

>>23423258
The Bible (and nothing else).

Bump

>>23427057
https://www.dhammatalks.org/books/ShapeOfSuffering/Contents.html
>#1 Ignorance

>>23426682
>vajrayana

fake dhamma

>>23427818
It's not Vajrayana

If you had to take ONE aspect / teaching of Buddhism that is widely and greatly misunderstood what would it be?

>>23427054
Yes..?

>>23427807
Pretty effective pic. I'm going to save it with tentative confidence that I will use it in the future.

>>23429357
Non-attachment probably. This sutta is a good one for understanding what it is (I think) and isn't: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN35_88.html

>>23426677
Maybe you should spend some time out in the sun, Mr. Wheeler.

>>23426681
Pay him no mind, he is a lone crackpot hawking his idiosyncratic ideology all over the internet. Suffice to say that no, the Buddha did not teach anything like Vedanta. One of the core teachings, which Mr. Wheeler there misconstrues, is that all phenomena are not-self.
>sabbe dhammā anattā
This is a categorical statement that there is no atmān. Not only that, the Buddhist method is analysis of reality into discrete phenomena or "dhammas", whereas Vedanta is nondualistic; "you are that", atmān = brahmān, all is One, etc. For example from the Kathopanishad:
>He who supposes a profusion of particulars gets lost like rain water on a mountain slope; the truly wise man, however, must realize that his Atman is at one with the Universal Atman, and that the former, if purified from dross, is being absorbed by the latter, just as clear water poured into clear water becomes one with it, indistinguishably.

>>23429357
Dukkha, its really effective filtering abrahamics

>>23423258
the suttas/agamas are the base of the basic in all the buddhist brands. the buddha's teachings from thanissaro bhikkhu is excellent for a sutta/agama based presentation of buddhism.
>>23429357
how to meditate.