/lit/ - Literature

>>20633190
>why don't you just kill yourself
I was born specifically to irritate people such as yourself, who seethe at the notion that someone could be less miserable than they are.

>>20609645
>>20609650
There are minor philological criticisms of them but Conze's translations of the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra are very good and cheaply available in a single volume as "Buddhist Wisdom." Red Pine has also translated them, and I see these more commonly recommended, but he cites Conze anyway in his commentary on the Heart Sutra. Conze is hard to avoid as an English authority on the Prajñaparamita literature of Buddhism and for good reason. I would ultimately recommend the Dhammapada first as well as some of the canonical Buddhist scriptures (Long Discourses, Middle Discourses, i.e. the nikayas of the sutta pitaka from the Pali canon) as Mahayana stuff is a response to scholastic issues with the systemization of the Buddha's teachings. The Diamond and Heart Sutras are extremely terse in their presentation—the latter isn't even really a full sutra but meant to be recited like a spell or for meditation purposes—so much will merely sail over your head if you have no foundation in early Buddhism or were not born into a Buddhist culture.

>>20562929
>what must be destroyed in order for the world to return to paradise
this post oozes ngmi in every word

>>20486300
If you aren't just shitposting start with something short like the Dhammapada. Buddhism: Its Essence and Development by E. Conze is a good intro in terms of survey.

>>19524982
I have thought about it, which is why any theology short of Spinozism is pure mentation

Serenity now

>>17489498
Too long. There are sects that don't even exist anymore that you'd be learning just for genealogical reasons. Wouldn't bother unless you are extremely interested. It would be something like being a polymath. But who knows, if you adequately learned all the different schools and were able to explain them forwards and backwards you could be reborn somewhere that everyone already knows them as well and debate one another in autistic bliss.

>>17274348
>>17274379
>apophatism
Just because this is /lit/'s favorite word does not make it the reasoning behind not-self. Self is a kind of hypostatization, not some ineffable true reality. You are supposed to give up turning your thoughts into ultimately real things, and the self is no exception, hence anatta/anatman

Tfw I failed nonut November for the third time this year

>>16640855
You could just...not.

>>16621339
>Are there any books on this issue?

I'm writing it. But my internet addiction slows my work down.

>>15027235
hmmm I think I will kill myself now