/lit/ - Literature

南无阿弥陀佛

Can anyone rec me a 500+ page book that goes through the history of zen buddhism using modern western historical methods

Pure Land resources

audio
Amitabha mantra: https://files.catbox.moe/u27zzk.mp3
Amitabha Sutra, Pt. 1: https://files.catbox.moe/cqvmi1.mp3
Amitabha Sutra, Pt. 2: https://files.catbox.moe/1wm5os.mp3
Amitabha Sutra, Pt. 3: https://files.catbox.moe/p2z5bd.mp3

text
Amitabha Sutra: http://web.mit.edu/stclair/www/smaller.html
Infinite Life Sutra: https://files.catbox.moe/djvbr0.pdf
Plain Words on the Pure Land Way: https://files.catbox.moe/fc5md8.pdf

I don't know if anyone ever made a reliable chart, there's a lot out there, but some of it too academic for my tastes.

>>18335674
It's not just Zen/Chan and it's 456 pages but I think this is in your wheelhouse

>>18335674
>>18335674
I too be interested in recommendations for any buddhist history books that uses "modern, western historical methods". So long as it's a good read.

>grandfather moved to Thailand and converted to Buddhism

>But one might go further and ask the Nihilist why he does not feel thoroughly ashamed to go on recognizing himself as the agent in every successive cognition right up to his dying breath, and to remember all his past cognitions from birth on as having had himself as agent, while continuing to adhere to his doctrine that everything goes to destruction the moment it arises? He might perhaps rejoin that all this comes about through similarity. One might then reply to him that the notion ‘this is like that’ shows that similarity involves two entities. But as the Nihilist cannot admit that there is a single perceiver who could perceive the two similar things, his claim that recognition is based on similarity is just babble. If, on the other hand, there were really a single perceiver able to perceive the similarity of two moments, then there would be one person persisting during two moments, which would contradict the principle of universal momentariness.

>I sure hope advaitins don’t show up and turn this into a shit flinging contest
>too late

>>18337757
These threads are made by one guy, guenonfag larps as himself an some Buddhist anti-guenonfag. Shame because it means that hinduism and Buddhism can never be discussed on this board again

>>18337768
such a pity

Is hesse's Siddhartha a good representation?

>>18337757
Thread is now officially under the watch of warrior caste gang and merchant caste gang. Priestly inverters of morality, you have been put on notice!

Give me some introduction to Buddhism book.

>>18338631
Start with the Pali Canon series by Bhikku Bodhi. In The Buddha’s Words is a great start.

>>18338206
>Steve Jobs as a vaishya
lmao

>>18338118
Yeah, it has a simplified version of the ideas. I don't see why it gets so much hate here.

>>18338631
What the Buddha Taught and the Heart Sutra.

Reminder that Guénon (pbuh) and Shankara (pbuh) BTFO Buddhism

>>18338972
>Called reality a void without any explanation for its appearance

Five psycho-physical aggregates.

>>18338631
Putting the Buddha in an edgy Halloween mask offends me and I'm not even part of a Dharmic religion much less a Buddhist, never use the internet again

>>18339016
Go back.

>>18339016
It's either a clever example of "corpse meditation" or retarded zoomers.
>>18338972
>theology
Keep seething indo-thomist
>>18338649
If you're committed enough get the Long Discourses or Middle Discourses and read one or two a day.

>>18339064
To 4chan? But I'm already here? Anyways reddit is down the hall.
>>18339068
It's retarded zoomers you know where we are.

>>18335723
Pure Land Buddhism is so retarded and misses the point of Buddhism hard. What a sad and pitiful doctrine.

Which sect of buddhism is best?
Theravada, mahayana, zen or what?

>>18335631
Buddha didn't exist. Surprisingly, Bodhidharma did exist though. He is better anyways.
>>18339590
A more literate Ch'an/Zen. Early Ch'an Buddhists emphasized literacy unlike the semi-moron Dogen.

>>18339590
Read the teachings of boddidharma

>>18338972
>Called Reality a Void
No, he didn't.
>denied the existence of God
The Buddha did not affirm the existence or non-existence of God.

>>18335631
Will we ever have a truly comfy Buddhism thread? Or will it always be the same shitflinging thread, again and again and again? Truly, /lit/ is suffering.

>>18340121
if you guys would just shut up and ignore it maybe we could. anyway,
does anyone have any favorite texts or dharma talks explaining the "om mani padme hum" mantra, preferably including advice on how to meditate on it or what visualizations one should do (if any)? also, does anyone have anything they can share about their experiences incorporating this mantra into their practice?

sat under a tree today and followed my breath.

how are the rest of you doing?

>>18339590
I like Theravada, it gives you enough techniques to take up practice, even for westerners

>>18340289
based. hopefully it doesn't rain again tomorrow, i've been meaning to take my meditation out into the forest.

>>18338649
Pali Canon is theravada, right? What would be the closest thing to a Mahayana equivalent?

>>18340361
the pali canon is foundational for all Buddhists, they're the earliest Buddhist texts. theravada, mahayana, vajrayana, all should have a strong foundation in these texts and teachings.

>>18340399
aight cool

>>18340361
Lotus Sutra

>>18339590
Whatever gets you to Nirvana.

>>18340361
If you want a "Buddhism Bible" then you aren't going to get it. The Theravada tradition is about a traditional system, not a single text. The Pali Canon is a literary canon, nobody reads all of it (roughly a third is monastic legalism and discipline). If you want to start in the Theravada tradition as far as reading goes, you read commentaries on the Pali Canon (and the canon itself, of course).

For Mahayana, start with the Heart Sutra. It's not a "Mahayana Bible", but it is a distillation of the Mahayana philosophy. Get Red Pine's translation (I can go through it line by line if you want, it's short, it fits in a 4chan post).

>>18340361
Mahayana sutras like Lankavatara, Samdinirmocana and Lotus

>>18340361
The trippytoka

>>18340851
Or you could listen to it chanted though I like the Chinese version by the Fu Yan seminary the most.
https://youtu.be/7vRjqszHDHc

>>18338972
the guenonfag is here

>>18339590
it all depends on your way to aproach things, if you like psychology and logic theravada will be more in your alley, if you're more of a religious person with a drive for helping other, ethics and society mahayana will fit better, if you like weird stuff, rpgs, and magic vajrayana will use those inclinations to you benefit
the best you can do is search teachers and listen to dharma talks, you'll find that some system or teacher will resonate better with you

>>18337748
lol shankara was such a retarded faggot, all his arguments just show how little he understood buddist philosophy
>"A witness is necessary in order to have a cognition of any phenomenon – take the event of your momentariness or flux. A witness can only say something is transitory or momentary. If there is no Witness, who would perceive and who would make a statement?"

Buddhism does not reject this generally, it holds that there is viññāṇa, consciousness or knowing. It just states that consciousness is impermanent, ever changing, and interdependent and so cannot be a "Self".
> "against what standard you measure permanence relative to impermanence? Everything is impermanent relative to what? If everything if temporary, then how would the concept of any sort of permanence even arise? ... But then how do you create your own locus standi for the transitoriness to be perceived? Who is the witness, the spectator? There has to be One. The primordial ground, the eternal essence, which is at the basis of everything and from which the whole world has arisen."

This argument is mistaken. You do not need something to measure against - something permanent - to prove impermanence. Impermanence is proven through an empirical argument in Buddhism, not a rationalist one. If you just observe the world and your mind, you will see it is constantly changing. Everything is constantly in flux. The focus, feel, intensity and phenomenal object of consciousness are always changing. Sometimes you are clearly seeing a visible object, sometimes you are sleepy and you cannot be aware of things clearly, etc. Sometimes you experience suffering and sometimes happiness. The onus is not on the Buddhist to prove impermanence, which is easily observable, it is on the Vedantin to prove that consciousness is permanent (and ever blissful!, a ridiculous claim), while it always appears as ever fleeting.
>Memory proves impermanence is wrong - "If both perceived object and the perceiver change, there would be no connect – and there would not be any case for memory! "

This is a bad argument too. Memory is just another process, a process which is always in flux. Memory is not a fixed thing, it's always being rearranged and re-built (modern psychology has shown this). That does not mean that there is not something which is remembered, just because something is always changing does not mean that it is totally being wiped out each moment. It only means that parts of it are being lost or changed (which, indeed, is what modern psychological studies of memory show) There is a causal connection between the past and present mental processes and this allows for memory. A river is always changing, but it keeps it's shape for years, for example.

>>18341097
>"Everyone has the notion "I am"; no one can deny the self, because when you go to deny – there would be the self of the denier – who would scale up the denial."

The sense of "I am" is not denied in Buddhism, the sense of "I am" is ''asmi mana'', it arises from ignorance and is a cause of suffering. It is an impermanent, interdependent process that arises from grasping at a sense of self. A Buddha has eliminated the sense of "I am."

>>18340961
Gate gate paragate parasangate bodhi svaha, anon. I know that the Heart Sutra is much beloved for chanting because of how fucking short it is compared to shit like the Lotus Sutra.

>>18339572
We are in the degenerate age of the dharma, the true dharma was only able to be learned in the first 500 years after Buddha's appearance according to the suttas and we're way past that. Since the dharma is corrupted and it's almost impossible to reach enlightenment now, I'd say going to the pure land to get the uncorrupted teachings of an actual Buddha is the only thing that makes sense.