/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.6649674]

Where do you start with Buddhism?

[Anonymous No.6649682]

>>6649674
http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/gqga-5ed.pdf

[Anonymous No.6649696]

>>6649682
This is good thanks. I will read it but I'm looking for something more akin to Tao Te Ching.

Something more historical, less of a modern summarization.

[Anonymous No.6649793]

Start with the Greeks

[Anonymous No.6649846]

>>6649674
where you finish with buddhism
:)

[Anonymous No.6649849]

>>6649696
You can always read the various canons.

There is no single "Buddhist Bible" like in Abrahamic religions. There is a LOT of shit out there.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/index.htm

[Anonymous No.6649851]

>>6649696
I'd say look towards the Pali canon but it's huge. Then there's also a shitload of mahayana sutras.

Jumping into primary texts isn't very much advised with Buddhism I think, it's a very wide and diverse tradition and apparently Buddhists love to write.

[Anonymous No.6649859]

>>6649846

underrated comment

[Anonymous No.6650270]

>>6649696
The Dhammapada is like the Taoteching, with short, pithy verses

Also the Udana

[Anonymous No.6650286]

>>6649674
In the Buddha's words by Bhikkhu Bodhi is a good jumping off point. Buddhism isn't really about the literature though, and the more you read on it the less you'll want to read, instead contemplating and meditating

[Anonymous No.6650288]

initiate with the indians?

[Anonymous No.6650334]

So, the Dalai Lama walks into a pizza joint. He walks up to the guy behind the counter and asks him, "Could you make me one with everything?"

[Anonymous No.6650362]

>>6649674
http://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313

[Anonymous No.6650369]

>>6649674
Go to Japan
Stay in a hotel
Find the book "The Teachings of Buddha" that will be in your hotel room in the same way as there is a bible in most US hotel rooms
Steal the book
Note, stealing is bad karma. You will have to do something to get good karma back, or you will be reincarnated with a peanut allergy or something.

[Anonymous No.6650372]

>>6649674
>Where do you start with Buddhism?
reddit.com/r/buddhism

[Anonymous No.6650378]

hegal

[Anonymous No.6650386]

>>6650378

Why do i literally always spell his name wrong?

[Anonymous No.6650390]

>>6650378
Hagel*

[Anonymous No.6650404]

You obviously hasten with the Hindus.

[Anonymous No.6650415]

Start with the memes

[Anonymous No.6650507]

>>6649674
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu for meditation.

Alan Watts for Zen.

[Anonymous No.6650539]

Welp, the highest ideal of buddhism is to achieve nirvana, and seeing as how nirvana is just not existing but still existing enough to be aware of your none existence (coupled with the fact that most western buddhists are also atheist, and thus don't believe in nirvana), I would suggest you start with a rope.

[Anonymous No.6650611]

>>6650378
MY

[Anonymous No.6650638]

Start with the Bhagavad-Gita. Buddhism is an evolution of Hinduism.

[Anonymous No.6650727]

>>6649674
fuck that stupid bitch
no dedication or sacrifice or understanding of reverting the focus inwards. she just wants to break another guy and move on.
her learning lesson will be growing old

[Anonymuos No.6650737]

>>6649674
You start by realizing you're already in the pure land and there is nothing to attain.

[Anonymous No.6650764]

>>6650737
Oh yeah. Say Amitabha five times fast. And you're done.

[Anonymous No.6650773]

>>6650369
This Buddhism bullshit sounds like reddit.

[Anonymous No.6650787]

>>6649674
You don't, it's depressing.

>>6649793
Also this, Pythagoras did it first

[Anonymous No.6650898]

OP, don't ask about Buddhism on /lit/ because they are clueless about it around here.

For a suitable internet forum, hit
dhammawheel.com

For an introduction to meditation and the buddhist practice in general, see this collection of Dhamma talks entitled "Basics:"

http://www.dhammatalks.org/mp3_collections_index.html#basics

For a more formal introduction to the theoretical background of Buddhism, you want to read suttas from the Pali Canon. It helps to find a decent collection of important suttas that will give you a strong foundation from which to understand the rest (akin to "starting with the greeks.")

Collections that I really like are:

Basic Teachings of the Buddha, by Glenn Wallis
- A highly condensed and easy-to-read translation that I find really gets the lucidity of the teaching across in written form.

In the Buddha's Words, by Bhikku Bodhi
- A much less condensed, and heavily expanded upon, collection of many more suttas. I haven't personally found it as useful as the book above, because this exists:

accesstoinsight.org

which is a massive online collection of almost all of the Pali Canon, translated to English, and also a collection of pieces written by some very influential Buddhist figures.

See Tipitaka -> Sutta Pitaka -> from here, any link is a good starting point.

[Anonymous No.6650931]

Can't a nigga fucking meditate? Shit

[Anonymous No.6652079]

>>6650898
isn't theravada an artificial construct by white people?

[Anonymous No.6652101]

>>6649674
A buddhist monk goes to the hot dog vendor and says: "Make me one with everything."
The vendor complies and the monk pays him with a $10 bill. When the monk asks for change, the vendor says: "The change must come from within."

[Anonymous No.6652543]

Has anyone read The Buddha: A Beginner's Guide by John Strong? I've seen his other book, The Experience of Buddhism, highly rated on /lit/ and I was wondering if his other work is good too.

[Anonymous No.6652552]

>>6652543
it is said to be good in previous thread

[Anonymous No.6652701]

1. "buddhism" doesnt exist. But a thousand different buddhisms does. However only one can claim to be the first: theravada.
2. Theravada doesnt exist. Only the tipitaka does. The closest buddhism existing in the world to Tipitaka exists in USA of all places and not in Asia(they mostly even dont read the tipitaka there(!)).
3. the tipitaka isn't translated in _good english_(two presidents of the pali text society agrees with me) and due to the tetralemma(google it) existing at the time of the buddha(which is not good logic) and the repetition of everything(which is because the texts had to be remembered before there were written language) make the texts 1000x times harder to comprehend which dilutes the beautiful message. It should be correspondingly 1000x easier to understand for you now though since i have explained these deficiencies as you can now ignore them.
4. Most of the books on Buddhism do more harm than good. What the Buddha Taught is basically one of the very few good ones. But ideally you should read the tipitaka: accesstoinsight.org knowing all the caveats i have presented.
5. Realize most of the Tipitaka is directed towards /monks/ not laypeople. Some of the stuff the Buddha teaches isn't neccesarily something that will help you in your life unless you are willing to go all the way.
6. Evidenced by this thread people have no idea what the fuck they are talking about. Most "buddhists" are the same. Only speak with intelligent people over the internet or in the very few places offline they can be reached.

accesstoinsight.org

[Anonymous No.6652710]

>>6652701
My plan is to learn Pali, to shortcircuit all those translations tbh.

How long does it take to learn Pali ? how difficult is it ? Are there many words to know ? Is the polysemy strong or there are enough words to avoid problems of interpretations ?

[Anonymous No.6652817]

>>6652710
I was too dumb to learn pali immediately. It was only after many years of reading the Tipitaka and realizing all these shortcoming that i started realizing what the message were. Not an ideal situation i know. However progress were made when i started looking /at experience itself/ and comparing it with the tipitaka. If you have sufficient experience with looking at experience you start to understand what the Buddha meant here and here although the translators invent new words devoid of meaning when really there exists english words that are sufficient. So should you learn pali immediately? Probably. If you think you are dedicated enough. Although try to realize that there have been upwards of 11 completely differing translations of the word sati over the years for example, which is only the most important word in the whole buddhist canon... The translators got it wrong because /you need experience/ in order to understand what it means.

If i could chose again i would try to learn pali at the same time as i read the tipitaka and - the most important - /experience/ experience. Then reflect upon it, rinse and repeat.

Oh. And don't only read the Tipitaka; that's what religious people do, not people who are after Truth.

[Anonymous No.6652836]

>>6652817
indeed, doing, reading, learning mus tbe done simultaneously.

So how long did it take you to learn pali ? with what amount of work ? what dictionnary do you recommend ?

[Anonymous No.6653373]

>>6649674

that no ass having slut is ruining what would otherwise be a pretty cool picture.

[Anonymous No.6653388]

>>6653373
you mean makes the picture. Its kind of an Apollonian and Dionysian contrast going on rather than just another old picture of a monk.

[Anonymous No.6653406]

>>6652701
except the "closet Buddhism existing in the world" isn't any better then the ideas people in this thread have of Buddhism

[Anonymous No.6653422]

Is it just me or do some Mahayana traditions barely have anything to do with Buddhism as put forward by Gautama?

[Anonymous No.6653485]

>All this talk about finding the real Buddhism.

Buddha encouraged people to figure shit out for themselves. He would have considered the fact that his religion has fragmented the way it has to be a good thing.

All this Tipitaka shit is however, probably a good way for western orientalists ,obsessed with the idea that they understand other people's cultures better than they do, to learn Buddhism.

[Anonymous No.6653560]

>>6652101
lel, did you just come up with that?

[Anonymous No.6653576]

>>6649674
http://www.amazon.com/Norton-Anthology-World-Religions-Buddhism/dp/0393912590/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1433704728&sr=8-2&keywords=anthology+of+world+religions+norton

This is part of a larger multi-religion anthology which is also available. Would recommend as a good introduction/overview with helpful introductions and explanations of key themes and ideas.

[Anonymous No.6653670]

>>6653485
>implying Buddhist isn't an Aryan religion
Fucking retard

[Anonymous No.6653785]

>>6653670
Tibet is populated by the indoaryans? Tell me more, champ.

[Anonymous No.6653789]

>>6653406
I don't agree. I'm too lazy to find out the names of these places(i believe there are 1 or 2) who practice buddhism how it is written in the Tipitaka. I investigated this a couple years back.

>>6653422
It's not just you. It's the conclusion of anyone coming at it from a rational point of view and not one of willful stupidity like some people who need "religion" do.

>>6653485
I really doubt Buddha would be happy with the way his religion has fragmented as he also said we should listen to wise people and test and implement our beliefs and if they dont hold up to scrutiny drop them. There's a lot of nonsense perpetuated in these "buddhist" countries that doesn't hold up or have anything to do with anything he said, for example the widespread practice of worshipping buddha statues or asking them(as if he was a god) to give them welfare in their life or fix the health of a relative...

I see that you are a romanticist however. Perhaps you should read a book by a practitioner of "asian buddhism" for 20 years like i have done before making your conclusions about me being a western supremacist or whatever you learn in college these days. In most asian countries "buddhism" is just something you are sent into by a poor family not needing another mouth to feed. It's not very idealistic at all.

[Anonymous No.6653808]

>>6653785
>he thinks buddhism started in tibet, or has any special relationship to tibet

tibet was actually pretty late to the buddhism party, but they have been real geniuses at marketing it to westerners

[Anonymous No.6654209]

>>6653785
>Tibet

[Anonymous No.6654237]

>>6653422

Isn't that the typical conclusion? Mahayana added back in every sort of thing that Gautama had originally stripped away from Hinduism to create Buddhism.

[Anonymous No.6654279]

Forget about the doctrine and go straight to the practice, which is Zen.
And if you need literature for it, how about this:
Zen Mind Beginner's Mind

[Anonymous No.6654763]

>>6653422
That's a very negative and narrow view of Mahayana. Many Mahayana sects retain most of the teachings of the Buddha, even if they do not refer constantly to the suttas. Indeed, the Theravada is similar, few people in the Thervada read just the suttas. In fact, in many places, Buddhaghosa is seen as the central source, and that's without even mentioning 'Tantric Theravada'.

Mahayana also retains the emphasis on practice, even if they've added new stuff like Tantra and Koans. Now we could go fundamentalist and say that the Buddha didn't teach any of that stuff so its not true Buddhism and should be discarded, but I think that would be a mistake. There is a lot to learn from looking at different traditions and different practices and to narrow oneself down to one single set of texts and one teaching by one man is making a big mistake.

In my opinion the Chinese values in Chan and the Tantric values in Vajrayana infused Buddhism with a sense of this-worldliness that it was lacking in its search for escape from the world. Buddha's genius was his development of a systematic path and meditation system, Mahayana's genius is to make this path accessible to all, not just monks and to make this path much more integrated in daily life and much more life affirming. The Buddha of the Nikayas seems to begin to distance himself from asceticism (what the actual 'historical' Buddha's position is we will never know for sure) but only Mahayana truly managed to finish this project and create a holistic philosophy of life here.

A similar thing happened in Hinduism which went from the Ritualism of the Vedas, to the ascetic philosophizing of the Upanishads, to the Theism of Vedanta, the non-dualism of Shankara and finally the tantric synthesis in Kashmir Shaivism. In both you see a slow evolution from what Georg Feuerstein called "verticalism" (ascetic rejection of the world and practices meant to escape the world) to "integralism" which incorporates this world and this life into a spiritual transcendental project.

[Anonymous No.6654802]

>>6653785
Are you joking? I really hope so.