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What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada?
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What the Buddha Taught is pretty good and often recommended.
>This comprehensive, compact, lucid, and faithful account of the Buddha’s teachings persistently enjoys great popularity in colleges, universities, and theological schools both here and abroad. “An exposition of Buddhism conceived in a resolutely modern spirit.”—from the Foreword.
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>“For years,” says the Journal of the Buddhist Society, “the newcomer to Buddhism has lacked a simple and reliable introduction to the complexities of the subject. Dr. Rahula’s What the Buddha Taught fills the need as only could be done by one having a firm grasp of the vast material to be sifted. It is a model of what a book should be that is addressed first of all to ‘the educated and intelligent reader.’ Authoritative and clear, logical and sober, this study is as comprehensive as it is masterly.”
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>A classic introductory book to Buddhism, What the Buddha Taught, contains a selection of illustrative texts from the original Pali texts, including the Suttas and the Dhammapada (specially translated by the author), sixteen illustrations, and a bibliography, glossary, and index.
This is a good book to start with: https://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313/
Buddhism itself doesn't recognize western holidays, however there is certainly nothing stating that Buddhists are not allowed to celebrate holidays of other religions/cultures.
>What the Buddha Taught, by Theravadin Walpola Rahula, is a widely used introductory book on Buddhism for non-Buddhists. Using quotes from the sutras, Rahula gives his personal interpretation of what he regards to be Buddhism's essential teachings, including the Four Noble Truths, the Buddhist mind, the Noble Eightfold Path, meditation and mental development, and the world today.
Strongly recommend: What the Buddha Taught.
It will set a very strong foundation for you.
>However, aside from this I don't see myself making more progress. What I mean is I'm now trying to learn the four noble truths and the eightfold path but I don't know how to embody those practices. I'm just going to ask if you guys could give me some advice so that I could have some idea on where to go next.
You might consider picking up a copy of What the Buddha Taught — it goes into much detail specifically about the four noble truths and noble eightfold path, with some historical context regarding how the tenets of the noble eightfold path were and/or are to be followed. It's not a long or difficult read, and most of the book is specifically about these topics in particular, as they are foundational to the Buddha's teachings.
Aside from that, I would mostly just recommend learning as much as you can about each part of the noble eightfold path, and try to think deeply about the ways your behavior matches or diverges from the intent behind each part, with the goal of identifying and adjusting those behaviors which don't yet match so well.
One of the characteristics of our world, as defined by the Buddha, is anatta or no-self.
There is no god self either, only an ever changing (anicca) impersonal (anatta) phenomenon. Our attachment towards the five aggregates in which we perceive the sensation of self, leads to suffering, is suffering in itself. (dukkha)
I'd highly recommend you check out the book "What the Buddha thaught" by Walpola Rahula for a clear and concise picture of the theoretical aspect of Dhamma.
What the Buddha Taught, by far my favorite "intro to Buddhism" book. This book is highly recommended here on this subreddit
I have some thoughts for you. I converted to Buddhism at 13 (now 28). I've gone through quite a few things to get to a place where I am happy with how I practice. Some of this is going to depend on your particular upbringings and worldviews but I'll try to make it as general as possible.
Find a solid introductory text. Jumping straight into the Pali Canon or other suttas can be incredibly intimidating. Finding a, "digested," text is often the best way to begin understanding the teachings. The Dhammapada and, "What the Buddha Taught," tend to be good starting points. If you do wish to read the Pali Canon, Access to Insight is a good resource. The people who updated it have moved to a different site (I can't remember the name) but it is still a fantastic source.
Practice regularly and constantly strive to improve your practice. Figure out what practices jive with you and set a regular schedule. And, even if something seems to be working, don't be afraid to analyze it and ask yourself, "am I doing this correctly? Could I be doing it better?," etc. But above all, do something.
Worry about practicing as an individual over as a member of a sect. One of the traps I fell into was getting really worried about what kind of Buddhist to label myself as. Initially, I got into Buddhism via exposure to Tibetan Buddhism. But I didn't feel that fit. So I tried Zen. Several arguments (on reddit) about whether Zen was really Buddhism made it lose its appeal. So I tried Theravada, but again it just didn't feel right. At some point in this journey I also began becoming heavily involved in skepticism. This caused some internal discomfort with some of the more metaphysical Buddhist beliefs and I actually neglected my practice for a long while. I stumbled upon so-called secular Buddhism but was told by the community writ large that many forms of Secular Buddhism were just cultural appropriation masked. Obviously, appropriating a culture is not high on my list of to-do's so that was a no go. I eventually realized that it was more important for me to come to a personal conclusion (based on valid cultural sources, when necessary) about these problems I had. I eventually did that and my practice has become much fuller as a result. Edit: I should have added that though your individual understand is paramount, finding a teacher and/or sanga is unparalleled when it comes to resources for navigating Buddhism. If you can, find a temple near you and don't be afraid to visit.
Though it is important to respect the cultures that Buddhism comes from (both past and present) don't become overwhelmed by the cultural aspects. Start your journey at the core of Buddhism, really understand the meanings and purpose of the central teachings, and then begin incorporating other, more culturally specific aspects of Buddhism when you feel ready.
These are just some off-the-cuff thoughts I can think of. The path you take will be unique so some suggestions might apply, some might not. But don't be afraid to just jump in and see what happens!
I liked this book: What the Buddha taught.
One of the most recommended book for beginners is What the Buddha Taught. I myself have yet to read it, but have gone through the contents page and can see that it presents the Four Noble Truths in very beginner-friendly manner.
One other book I would highly recommend is The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering. It is completely free to read online and perhaps one of the of the best books introducing the Buddhist path to awakening.
There are more recommendations in the sidebar. Best wishes :)
Check out Ajahn Sona's short talk on the Four Noble Truths. This is the foundation of all of Buddhism. If his approach resonates with you, you can continue on in the series with each talk on the Noble Eightfold Path.
Ajahn Sona is a Canadian born monk practicing in the Thai Forest Tradition. He is particularly adept at explaining difficult concepts to westerners where we often get tripped up.
You might also look into What the Buddha Taught as a primer.
The sidebar of this sub is very helpful. In particular, I really like What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula
Cool stuff!
If I may, I have a book recommendation for Buddhism. https://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313
It’s very concise and highly regarded from what I understand. As you said in your blog post, Buddhism has a lot of traditions and interpretations. This book was intended to be a lowest common denominator, or essential overview of Buddhism.
Now, as a disclaimer, I’m not a Buddhist scholar, nor have I studied with many teachers from the east or west. But I am a pretty diligent Buddhist practitioner, and I’ve read a fair amount on the topic. As you said your intent is not necessarily accuracy or a comprehensive study of the topic, so make of all this what you will.
I love that you have the three characteristics in there. They have this cool overlapping thing going on where you can start with any one of them and logically move to the others. It’s been said that if you can see any two of them in your practice, you’ll understand the third and awaken :)
Duhka, which you’ve translated as suffering in your post, can also be translated as unsatisfactoriness. I prefer this term because I find it’s a little less loaded. The message isn’t just that the world of experience is marked by suffering, it’s that nothing in our experience can permanently satisfy. Habitually, we forget this which leads to much of our suffering.
As for no self, I think you have a pretty good grasp on it. Particularly here:
>”soul”, for lack of a better term, is not a true self but rather malleable and impermanent.
The other piece of the puzzle there is that what we experience as self is not separate from everything. It’s another aspect of conditioned experiential reality. In other words, it’s subject to the interrelated/interdependent karma of the world.
Anyhow, that was long, and I hope anyone reading this doesn’t interpret this as me saying “I know more about this, so you should listen to me”. I just don’t get a chance to discuss this stuff often, so I kind of nerded out and brain dumped
Wonderful that you are drawn to the Dhamma!
You might start your investigations by listening to Ajahn Sona's talk on the Four Noble Truths. These are foundational to Buddhism and are shared across traditions. (Also available as a podcast - just search his name.)
What the Buddha Taught is a highly recommended book to understand the principles of Buddhism. Hard copy
Mindfulness in Plain English is a good starting point for a meditation method. I recommend a hard copy - it's well worth it!
Good luck on your path! :)
Wonderful that you are drawn to the Dhamma!
What the Buddha Taught is a highly recommended book to understand the principles of Buddhism. Hard copy
Mindfulness in Plain English is a good starting point for a meditation method. I recommend a hard copy - it's well worth it!
Ajahn Sona has a wonderful series of talks on the Noble Eightfold Path. (Also available as a podcast - just search his name.)
I really enjoy What the Buddha Taught. Kindle version is very affordable: https://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313/ref=nodl_
A very good place to start is with the book "What the Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula: https://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GAyymh5-Tlmv8TtLlDEAsJ3CfpIioU7u/view?usp=sharing
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Conspiracy against the human race - Thomas Ligotti.
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As for buddhism, I recommend the book ( https://www.amazon.ca/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313 ) What the Buddha Taught, as well as this guide: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/beyondcoping/index.html
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The primary thing about Buddhism, the core of Buddhist philosophy, is the Three Mark's of Existence:
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Impermanence: All things are subject to change, falling and arising based on interdependent conditions.
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Non-self: As a result of impermanence and the interdependent nature of existence, there is no essential element in existence. Nothing exists in and of itself, but always in relation to something else. This doctrine primarily counters the common belief in the 'soul', that there is some fundamental part of us that grants us autonomy and meaning or connects us to the greater world but in a very 'meaningful' way.
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Dukkha: As a result of the two above structures, life is unsatisfying, stressful, conditional, not worth clinging to. Aka, suffering. Bad things permeate existence, good things bring grief through their impermenance, we are constantly subject to the conditions of change and life and have no essential self, and are therefore constantly pulled and pushed by desire and aversion, a metaphysical rat race.
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All else follows from these three, and the beauty of this truth is it applies to all worlds. Regardless if god(s) existed, regardless if soul(s) existed, regardless of the success of progress, socialism, technology, etc, life would always be defined by these three traits for all sentients.
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The noble path described by buddhism is summed up by this truth 'All conditional phenomenon is not worth clinging to'. Everything else is attempting to achieve this dispassion/detachment in a skillful, healthy way. While the actual phenomenon of ego-death/nirvana is more a neurological trick than a definite end goal, the path still leads to peace and acceptance, although in a pessimistic way that the modern woo version of buddhism does not allow the public to realize.
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The primary means of achieving non-clinging, according to early buddhist teachings, is, for material things, to become disenchanted with objects, which is to say, to realize their insignificance and why they are worth neither pursuit nor fear or anger. One does this by deconstructing things, which is why buddism meshes really well with post modernism and science, as it shares reductionist methodology and pursuits to achieve an objective view of life.
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For emotional matters, one counters negative emotions through critical evaluation and countering the fire of anger by dousing it with compassion, and positive emotions through the deconstruction method pointed out above.
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The primary method, of course, is mediation and the active watching of these petty emotions and phenomenon naturally passing away, realizing that you do not need to be a slave to them and do not need them to be content. (Easier said than done, patience is).
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Ethical training, I believe, is important for Buddhism due to a) seeking to let go of egotistical attachments and things that could harm your training and b) because if nirvana is achieved, you essentially kill a primary high mental function and your personality will largely be set in stone, which is why it's not uncommon for enlightened people to actually be quite egotistical despite their charisma and childishness, if they are not buddhists/trained properly (such as osha, who possessed an odd aura in person despite being a materialistic twat).
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But overall, you'll find alot of Buddhist's attempts to argue for disenchantment from the world to be rooted in archiac views of the world, full of superstition, aka karma and rebirth etc. The key is replacing the old practices of corpse watching and hell realm contemplation with modern practices of nihilism, hence why pessimism/nihilism like the book above complemented buddhism well, at least for detaching from positive things. Negative things will require compassion contemplation and the kind of reductionist materialism seen in sociology (It's not his fault he became a pedophile, he was born/made to be that way!) and realization that negative emotions harm you rather than serve you. Take of that what you will.
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E: Be warned that looking into Buddhist history and topics outside the primary study of suffering will result in findings of superstition and the same kind of corruption, misogny, homophobia, status quo complacency, etc, that plagues all institutional faiths. Ignore the parts you dislike, although with careful consideration, and take the core truths that help.
For clarification I should state that all the things I've been saying are my points of view having studied Buddhism over the years. As my tag suggests - I am not a Buddhist. Also, I've mainly studied Zen (and in particular Japanese Zen which is different from Chinese Chan) so my bias is from that perspective. So others might have differing points of view.
> when you say "reality merely shifts," you mean the "complete unity" merely shifts?
"Reality" only exists as a singular thing, and all things within reality are the same. You and I are the same, you and your laptop are the same, you and the air your breathe are the same, and so forth. The notion that your perception of a as separate from other aspects of reality is false or illusion, and enlightenment is full realization of non-existence of self. I should note that the next logical question is whether reality exists, but that question isn't really pertinent to your question.
So now that we've defined how reality is a unitary thing let me make a few illustrations (which have aspects of dualism, but are necessary from a beginners perspective to understand the later concepts).
Reality is a unitary thing, but also think of reality as a giant gelatinous blob that is constantly in motion - stretching, concentrating, flowing away and into itself. You have the illusion of yourself because "you" are merely the concentration of reality within time and space. When you "die" that moment of concentration stretches apart and the "pieces" of it concentrate in other places. It might concentrate as a frog, it might concentrate as another human being, it might do both of these things simultaneously. So there is a concept of "self" in a myopic sense, but in the broader sense your true "self" is the broader totality of reality.
So why is the distinction important? The reason is because the myopic sense of self causes "suffering" (dukkha), and the way to cure this is through the realization that the sense of duality (a perceived separation of the myopic self with the broader self of reality) is an illusion.
> It seems as if it's "your" exterior changing (your body, skin, shell, whatever), not "your" interior (soul, spirit, etc.), no? What transfers if neither "your" body nor "your" soul does? Doesn't reincarnation imply, maybe even necessitate, some sort of transfer? If it's merely the "complete unity" shifting, any idea as to what this shifting process looks like?
There is no "soul" because a soul would create duality within reality. Also, whatever your "interior self" is not separate from you "exterior self" which is itself not separate from unitary reality. Therefor there is no "transfer" merely a shifting. Again, these concepts can be difficult to wrap your brain about because describing them necessitates using metaphors and examples that contain duality. So don't take the metaphors as the "correct" answers only as simplified illustrations of more complex issues.
> If the self isn't real, it's that the sense of it SEEMS real?
Sure does! That's why it takes people a lifetime to truly obtain enlightenment.
> Then does "your" mere sense of self transfer to the, e.g., frog, even if "he's" obviously not conscious of it?
I don't think there's an answer to this. From a strictly sense I think most people would have to conclude that no it doesn't (which is why in the West Buddhism seems to be compatible with atheism or humanism) and that reincarnation (unlike in Hinduism) is merely a way of describing the stretching and concentrating of reality, and is not a literal process of rebirth of the Ego.
> Anyway, thanks! So many questions! :)
Sure glad to help! It's really really complicated so don't worry about being confused. It took me years to get it.
This book is IMO the best primer on Buddhism. It's taught from a Theravada/Hinayana point of view, because because of that makes the concepts both more straightforward and eliminates conceptual influence from other religions. If you like that and you find yourself drawn to Zen I recommend this book which is probably the most important book about Zen written natively in English. It is heavily informed by Shintoism, but that's really what gives Japanese Zen (Seon in Korean, Chan in Chinese, and Dhyana in Sanskrit) it's particular outlook.
personally i love what the buddha taught. simple and goes over all the basics.
Hey. As mentioned before, there are some different traditions so depending on your flavor of choice, there can be some minor differences. I tend to come from a Theravada approach. For me, the best intro book to Buddhism was "What the Buddha Taught" by W. Rahula (https://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313). For an online resource, my go to is Access to Insight: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/
Hope those help.
Peace,
-Dave
Best one I've come across. Nonbiased, straight to the point. https://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313
Read "What the Buddha Taught" https://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313
It gives you an overview of what you're getting into when following Buddhism.
> Who are the authors?
http://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313
That should make it easy.
>The emperor wasn't that bad, if I'm not recalling my history classes okay. We didn't discuss Japan all too in depth; I just remember very clearly the way that the nationalists misappropriated both Buddhism and Shinto into something that they weren't.
Showa, the emperor during the Pacific War - I attribute part of the atrocities to him, for he publicly supported Tojo's rule - and as the symbolic leader of Japan, he did not do enough on his part, IMHO, to declare him innocent.
>the nationalists misappropriated both Buddhism and Shinto into something that they weren't.
Tbh, its actually more that they misappropriated the samurai code, the Bushido - into something it wasn't. That was what made them do suicide charges rather than surrender, and grind the lotus off their guns if they were going to be captured ( I own a Type 99 Arisaka infantry gun. )
You should link people this version
"What the Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula is a wonderful one that I've read through a couple of times.
http://www.amazon.com/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313
I'm waiting on a book called "What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada" and a black Timex watch.
Ah, so the real problem here is that you don't know anything about Buddhism and its function as a religion. Here is a good introductory book about it written by one of its best-educated scholars. And while we're at it, you may be interested in this well-known atheist's views about the difference between faith and meditation.
I live in Michigan and there are two Theravada temples near me (one Sri Lankan, one Thai), but I understand not everyone has the luxury of that.
For podcasts, I would recommend that you download and listen to these podcasts by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi. He is a native New Yorker who studied in Sri Lanka and became a monk, and I think he is one of the best English-speaking lecturers.
For meditation advice, someone that is outstanding for native English speakers is Ven. Henepola Gunaratana, (affectionately known as Bhante G) who wrote the absolutely invaluable Mindfulness In Plain English, which is far and away the best manual to mindfulness practice in the English Language.
As far as websites go, the premier collection of Theravada literature online is Access To Insight, which collects lots of material written by many sources, but is best for its collection of Pali suttas - sometimes with multiple translations - and the Self-Guided Tour of the Buddha's Teachings which is outstanding for beginners.
The best physical book I can recommend for anyone interested in Theravada, or Buddhism in general, is Ven. Narada's translation of the Dhammapada, with commentaries.. This is a really great book because it's part of the Pali Canon, and it is a collection of Gotama Buddha's pithiest quotes collected from suttas and from first-hand encounters. The commentaries that go along with it explain the circumstances of each quote, and some of the linguistic context of the quote. It's really brilliant.
Along with that I can suggest What the Buddha Taught by Ven. Walpole Rahula, which is a great introductory book to Buddhism from the Theravada perspective.
I hope all this helps!
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