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/lit/ - Literature

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3117143 No.3117143[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

How do I get into Buddhist literature? Should I find contemporary entry level books, or is there a central body of work that developed in the past that I should read? Naming specific books would be highly appreciated.

>> No.3117146

"Stare at your belly button until you laugh."

>> No.3117147

alan watts, DT Suzuki etc. etc.

>> No.3117155

While it's not necessarily Buddhist lit, i just read "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse and I'd definitely recommend it

>> No.3117164

>>3117143
From a sectarian Zen perspective:

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
Journey to the West

>> No.3117166

Just sit.

>> No.3117165

>>3117155
this

>> No.3117169

you want buddhist literature?

read you're breathe

>> No.3117195

Zen reads you. You are nobody.

>> No.3117203

Okay, buddhism is about Buddha. "Buddha" is something of a title, a name, it means "enlightened", but "the buddha" that people usually mention is Siddharta Gautama, who lived half a millenium b.C.

He was a prince who left his palace to think about all this shit. He tried many religious cults and techniques, nothing was exactly right. When meditating about things, he was enlightened. He started talking about these things and students gathered around. They memorized what he said, they meditated with him and so on. After he died, some guys wrote down what was memorized and that was the Dharmapada, a good starting point.

What was Buddha talking about? Well, he said: "problem, bro? well, of course. All this shit is made of suffering(dukha). You know, you crave things, you don't want to miss out, you want to live forever, you have fantasies, desires, you want to have it all and you can't.", and from there he developped a way to deal with these things, how to accept them and get away from this cycle. He used hindu mythology to exemplify what he was talking about.

You get the Theravada(Hirayana) and the Mahayana sides of Buddhism. Theravada is traditional, it is south east Asia, it is kind of strict in its rituals and so on. Mahayana is usually what people go for when talking about buddhism, it is the chinese and japanese side of buddhism.

cont

>> No.3117206

>>3117203 cont

When buddhism got to China, China was confucian with all that thinking on the collective and all. Mahayana is a sort of a product of that: how to be buddhist and still be you and live your daily life. You also had taoism(read Tao Te Ching), which was about how you can't speak of things without corrupting them, how everything comes from nothing and goes to being and then back to nothing, how everything is a balance of Yin and Yang, etc.

From the clash of taoism and buddhism you got a buddhism which is based on Ch'an (dhyana), that is, contemplation. Mere seeing and sitting and being, without the need to theorize about shit. Ch'an in japanese turned to Zen. That's why you see those zen stories about masters and students, jokes, physical things that to the west appear to be meaningless or about nothing. In a way, they are about nothing (sunyata), but they hold everything as well. So the great difficulty relies on being without acting upon it, interpreting it, translating it and changing it. You just are.

cont

>> No.3117208

>>3117206 cont

In the 20th century, you got D.T. Suzuki who was this dude that showed it all to the west through several books and talks. One of the guys inspired by him was the "philosophical entertainer" Alan Watts, who has numerous talks and books on the subject. Watts is eloquent and make it look simple, so I highly recommend him for a start, he will put you in the context of eastern thinking, a good starting point for reading all else on the subject. Youtube has several of his talks, but to save you time and keep you from watching those horrible musical versions, search for "philosophical discourse" series. There is also a huge collection of Alan Watts on mp3 on piratebay, easy to find.

>> No.3117214
File: 62 KB, 478x600, zazen.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3117214

>>3117166
If sitting got you anywhere then frogs would have Buddha nature.

If you can't get up by yourself, they make chairs to help you.

fucking zazen fuck off back to >>>/sp/

>> No.3117224

>>3117203
>>3117206
>>3117208

Thanks man, that was quite helpful. I'll start with Watts.

>> No.3117223

>>3117214
>If sitting got you anywhere then frogs would have Buddha nature.

But they have...

Not even the guy you are talking with, but you are just helping with by saying that.

>> No.3117226

>>3117223
So much samsara in this thread.

>> No.3117230

>>3117195
Not Zenning, not reading, not youing, not areing, not nobody.

>> No.3117252

>>3117208
You seem to know your stuff. What's your take on Rajneesh (Osho)?

>> No.3117264

>>3117252
Fucking cults. Almost, but not quite as bad, as the Thai buddhist state genociding muslims; or, the Tibetan revanchevist murder squads sponsored by the United States.

Fucking warmongering buddhist genocides.

>> No.3117263

>>3117208
Could you recommend a book? I prefer reading to listening.

>> No.3117268

Listen to the many voices of the river OP

>> No.3117282

>>3117264
W-what?

>> No.3117356

>>3117282
Didn't you know:
*The Thai government is a Buddhist Kingdom, which is using armed priests to kill the religious minority of Muslims in Southern Thailand to steal their land and destroy their way of life?

*That the Tibetan Theocracy ran death squads in Tibet after the reunification with China, killing peasants and officials?

*That the Japanese fascist state was fundamentally dependent on Buddhist indoctrination of all sects—including Zen fascists—in furthering its plans of genocide and war crimes?

Buddhism is not "nice." And it wasn't just in the distant past. It is this century that Buddhists are engaging in religious genocide. Now you know.

>> No.3117377

Thich Nhat Hanh. I know he's extremely entry level and not really focused on orthodoxy, but I like what he writes.

>> No.3117386

>>3117155
Shit novel.

>> No.3117402

>>3117356
Cool to know. What does this has to do with Rajneesh's work though? Have you read him? He wasn't a buddhist

>> No.3117406

>>3117356

The Buddhist Burmese government has also launched an ethnic cleansing campaign against their Muslim minority. reportedly with clerical support and the tacit approval of much-lauded democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

And here's a quote from well-know Japanese Zen exponent Hakuun Yasutani (from 1943):

>Annihilating the treachery of the United States and Britain and establishing the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere is the only way to save the one billion people of Asia so that they can, with peace of mind, proceed on their respective paths. Furthermore, it is only natural that this will contribute to the construction of a new world order, exorcising evil spirits from the world and leading to the realization of eternal peace and happiness for all humanity. I believe this is truly the critically important mission to be accomplished by our great Japanese empire.
>In fact, it must be said that in accomplishing this very important national mission the most important and fundamental factor is the power of spiritual culture.

>> No.3117414

Journey to the West?

>> No.3117416

I recommend starting with The Heart of Understandingl The Miracle of Mindfulness, both by Thich Nhat Hanh; Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, and then getting your but down to some kind of practice center.

For more intermediate level texts, right now I'm really enjoying Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's Shambala and the Padmakara translation of The Bodhisattva's Way of Life.

Read widely from Buddhist literature; it seems like it covers a lot of the same ground sometimes but each unique flavor brings something beneficial. I particularly like the juxtaposition of, say, Zen and Vajrayana texts.

>> No.3117437

>>3117402
No, nor am I going to read a cultist's material. Cult material is an intellectual virus, don't open the attachment you fucking moron.

>> No.3117439

>>3117406
You're going to need to at least provide proof on the that Suu Kyi claim.

But, yes, pop-Buddhism is silly and annoying.

>> No.3117468

>>3117439
I'd suggest that Theocratic Buddhist Fascism is more annoying than pop-Buddhism. (Not the person who asserted about Suu Kyi).

>> No.3117469
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3117469

>>3117437
>No, nor am I going to read a cultist's material. Cult material is an intellectual virus, don't open the attachment you fucking moron.
Just when I thought you were a cool dude, you turn around and say pseudo intellectual shit like this. You forgot the part where he LOL FOOD POISONED people, bro. Do you disregard Heidegger's stuff, just because he supported Nazis, too?

Degenerate.

>> No.3117484

>>3117439
>You're going to need to at least provide proof on the that Suu Kyi claim.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/burmas-rohingya-muslims-aung-san-suu-kyis-blind-spot-80
61619.html

http://www.theweek.co.uk/asia-pacific/burma/49788/aung-san-suu-kyi-loses-her-gloss-failing-denounce-
killings

Politicians in democracies tend to lose any moral fiber they once had rather quickly.

>> No.3117485

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCGUwRo5Ork

>> No.3117491

>>3117469
>Cult material is an intellectual virus, don't open the attachment you fucking moron.

Heidegger wasn't attempting to produce a distinct experience within my brain. Cult material tends to be perfected memetic warfare.

I do not expose my mind to hazardous works beyond the mass and industrial suffering inflicted in the 20th century / Sadean explorations of the variety of object qualities of subjectivities. And I only do that for work.

The argument is about the form of the text, not the association of the author of the text.

>> No.3117502

>>3117491
>The argument is about the form of the text
Who are you to judge anyway? You just stated that you haven't even read any of his work. Prejudices gonna prejudice.

>> No.3117516

>>3117491
I think your position is pretty cool.

>> No.3117541

>>3117502
Open hotsex.exe then. You haven't even executed hotsex.exe. Who are you to judge anyway. Your prejudices gonna prejudice.

>> No.3117543

>>3117516
Yeah, after reading about the Yugoslavian Police Battalions I started drinking spirits daily.

>> No.3117560
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3117560

>>3117541
Oh god.

>> No.3117577

I know you guys are getting all mad at each other like anonymous people on the internet do, but I found this, if OP wants to check it out.

http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/damapada.pdf

>> No.3117593

>>3117577
>How do I get into Buddhist literature?

You don't, Buddhist literature gets in you.

>> No.3117597

>>3117593
fuck this quote shit, I only wanted to quote the op and make a stupid joke.

>> No.3117641

Weird, I had been feeling like complete shit every day for the past few months and hated everything and had what felt like three existential crises once a day and last Saturday I happened to pick up a copy of the Dharmapada from my local bookstore and the next day after having an awful night I started reading through the first part and came across these lines:

Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world.
By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased.
This is a law eternal.

There are those who do not realize
that one day we all must die.
But those who do realize this
settle their quarrels.

It's kind of felt like a wave has washed over me since I read it and even though I still have a little bit of an anxiety issue, everything has just felt so much better. Idk mane, it's weird and nice.

>> No.3117663

>>3117468
I'd suggest they're both shit, and that my previous post was not am implication to the contrary.

>> No.3117701

>>3117484

Does Buddhism have an in-built program for especially hating Muslims? Seriously, any time I've ever seen Islam brought up around lay Buddhists they fly off the handle.

>> No.3117782

i think the reason buddhists are so good at both pr and killing muslims is that they meditated until the moral constraints normal people suffer from evaporated

>> No.3117783

>>3117701
I quite like Sufis.

But I'm not from an Asian ethnicity. Asians who are buddhists would hate Islamics because of the whole come over here and take Malaysia, they cut off our heads and pour nails in our eyes, and children are bleeding and we have no rice, we sing and we starve and we sing and we die.

>> No.3117810

>>3117783
Well that sounds pretty awful (my God, singing and dancing, my God), but it doesn't really explain why Burmese and Western Buddhists feel that way. Well, (idiot) Western Buddhists hate Muslims because 'lol theism iz gey sandniggers etc.' but you get what I'm saying.

>> No.3117848

>>3117203
>>3117206
>>3117208
here

>>3117263
The Way of Zen by Alan Watts

>>3117252
I hope you understood that I'm not >>3117264 nor any other on the thread. But I'm not a fan of Osho either.

And on the matter of the "evil buddhism", we all know that cults, religions as institutions are political by nature and it's fairly easy for them to corrupt original values and make a political mission for the people.

In the west you have christianity, which is not bad in itself, which, like buddhism, states that admiring images is not admiring the thing itself, that preaches equality and kindness... but look at what happened with that.

When westerns get to meet buddhism they usually see it as a very free spirited philosophy, not even a religion per chance, that would be incapable of something like an inquisition. However, there are examples of intolerance and the only reason it didn't get any worse is because the political context didn't want it to be. To finish the parallel, imagine if christianity remained as a philosophy of nature rather than a dogmatic rule.

One important point to get here is that the moment you define yourself for your religion, people associate you with the name. A buddhist will never speak for all buddhists, that's the same for every religion.

There are other examples of intolerance in the east. Stay away from the sickening monotheism of Prabhupada.

Otherwise, I really dislike the approach of the other anon towards buddhism. A counter-generalization.

>> No.3117869

>>3117848 here again

It's a constant battle for balance, really. For instance, Zen buddhism is not about cults, images, dogmas or anything of that sort. But then you have shrines that will welcome you with open arms and show you that they are great for not being a cult. And then you must still follow a disciplined routine in the chance that you get to the zen state, which is absolutely great. But then you start taking it as a dogma all over again, you take the discipline as a task and you fall for the same problem.

This entire paradox on religion and its cults amuse me. The best religions are the no-religions, but then they turn into religions for being so good, get what I mean?

Same thing happened to the logical and rational scientific world. It's so rational it's irrational, it's so free that it has turned into dogma.

>> No.3117882

>>3117810
What country borders Burma? What is that Country full of? What did the nationalists who made "burma" a nation distinguish Burma from that country by?

Buddhism in Burma is bound up with anti-Bangladeshi anti-Islamic nationalism.

Also Burma has anti-government hill tribes who just happen to be islamic.

Buddhists are shits—but you have to understand the "why" of poor Buddhist-Islamic relations in Southern and South East Asia first.

Also you need to consider the relationship between Han traditional religions (3 ways) and the Uighur muslims.

>> No.3117886

>>3117848
To my ear you sound like a schematist who reads too much and listens too little.

>> No.3117978
File: 71 KB, 328x588, sadalfred.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3117978

>>3117886
Perhaps I'm that, perhaps not.

But you just hit a weak spot, I don't want to be called that...

>mfw

>> No.3117980

>>3117978
I'm sorry, I meant it as a criticism of your current practice; not as an insult.

>> No.3117990

>>3117980
I hate to weight on things like that, but is there anything in particular that struck you to think that?

>> No.3118001

>>3117990
It is impossible to instruct someone in Buddhism over an imageboard, and they don't really need sutras either. We can't really explain ourselves here, only the lack.

I'd suggest Koans where the student has everything right—and they're still wrong.

"Show me what you learnt in India?"
—beat, "We don't need more stone buddhas."

We don't need more text buddhas.

I guess, perhaps, I can't see your practice here fully. Consult someone in person.

>> No.3118003

>>3117869


>This entire paradox on religion and its cults amuse me. The best religions are the no-religions, but then they turn into religions for being so good, get what I mean?
>Same thing happened to the logical and rational scientific world. It's so rational it's irrational, it's so free that it has turned into dogma.


Wow, I bet your 18 year old brain ejaculated after you showed us how deep and articulated you are.....

I am not a buddhist but this is one of the first things they talk about to any "initiated" person. I know quite a few buddhist, I even had the chance of meeting a Tibetan Lama and my 18 year old 2edgy3betrue asked him about the exact same topics you just did...and he answered without flinching or getting preachy

I won't comment about the politicals aspects of Buddhism, but from this, I can tell you that you're wrong and you are only spewing bullshit.

>> No.3118011

>>>/x/

>> No.3118023

>>3118001
I get what you mean. It's a constant problem with me, in that sense I know that I fall for saying too much and practicing too little. I was trying to tackle the subject from a very western perspective, as if it was ordinary /lit/ talk, in fear that any other approach would draw even more importance to it and create a "stone buddha", you know?

I don't really define myself as a buddhist either anyway.

>>3118003
If your problem was that I was obvious as fuck, then it's alright, I knew I was from the beggining. It was not meant to wow anyone or anything, I was caught in the flow of typing and posted that extra thing, nothing much.

You're mad as hell.

>> No.3119448

Ok serious answer here

Theravada
The whole Pali canon of course, but a good anthology is in the Buddha's words by Bhikku Bodhi.
The Visuddhimagga by Buddhagosa
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā - the fundamental verses on the middle way - Nagarjuna
Shantideva - Bodhicaryavatara

From modern theravada masters:
Practical Vipassana exercises by Ven Mahasi Sayadaw
A still forest pool by Ven Ajahn Chah
Knowing and Seeing by Ven Pau Auk Sayadaw
A handbook for mankind - Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
In this very life - Sayadaw U Pandita
Bhante G - mindfulness in Plain english and beyond mindfulness in plain english
For a western teacher see the books of Jack Kornfield

Zen

Traditional
The platform sutra of the sixth patriarch Hui Neng
The diamond sutra and the heart sutra
Everything by Dogen, especially the Shobogenzo
Lankavatara Sutra
The gateless gate and the blue cliff record
Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin

Modern zen
Anything by DT Suzuki
Zen mind beginner's mind by Shunryu Suzuki
The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau Roshi
Empty cloud the teachings of zen master Xu Yun
Wanting Enlightenment Is a Big Mistake: Teachings of Zen Master Seung San

Tibetan (I know very little of this, the Tibetan canon - the Kagyur - is huge and diverse)
Life of Milarepa
Bardo Thodol - Liberation through hearing in the liminal stage AKA 'book of the dead'
You could read all the tantras, but there really isn't a big all encompassing anthology I know of. I would read a modern text that explains it well, something by B Alan Wallace or Lama Surya Das (the only American Lama atm). Sorry but I don't know much about Tibetan Buddhism.

Fiction
The temple of the golden Pavillion
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Dharma Bums