Buddhism Literature

[Anonymous No.15281048]

I wanna get into real buddhism, what do you recommend? What should I know in order to start meditating?

[Anonymous No.15281064]

People always recommend In The Buddha's Words. Which I'm gonna start reading right now because this thread reminded me I own it. Cheers

[Anonymous No.15281118]

>>15281064
And why is it recommended?

[Anonymous No.15281652]

>>15281048
>I wanna get into real buddhism, what do you recommend?
Read the dhammapada, which is one of the best book to read; https://archive.org/details/DhammapadaTheWayOfTruthSangharakshitaOCR/page/n10/mode/2up You don't need to know much more. If you kinda like it, then practice. Buddhism is a set of practices, not a subject for intellectual reasoning h such as semitic systems.

>what should I know in order to start meditating
Nothing. Just practice as taught there
https://youtu.be/Oh5ii6R6LTM [Open] Don't try to read about meditation in the beginning, it won't be beneficial at all. Just fix some time in the morning and the night to practice it during at least three weeks. Then you will decide yourself if useful or not.

[Anonymous No.15281845]

Collins

[Anonymous No.15281885]

>>15281652
What's vispassana though? Is it real buddhism?

[Anonymous No.15282088]

>>15281048
>What should I know
know thyself
>raises finger

[Anonymous No.15282089]

>>15281048
start with Ken Wheeler's videos and essays

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DPZLSrfgimc

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7UEFaATtySw

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1efL7wW2WxLwYyto3oPmVJ0kiYv-xshEL/view?usp=drive_open

[Anonymous No.15282171]

>>15281652
What is the meat of buddhist practice?
Shankaras way is very practical as you dont need to separate ordinary and spiritual life.
You remove obs-curation as it arises and continually identify with brahman and reside in real self , it is 24/7 lifestyle .

[Anonymous No.15282203]

>>15281885
I also wonder that. I know it started in the 19th century as a revival movement in british India, but is it legit?

[Anonymous No.15282211]

>>15281885
Yeah. Buddha taught mainly two meditation techniques, vipassana and anapana. Vipassana is recalling awareness (usually on breath). It is simple technique that cannot be wrong.
Since you are here, you are a child of this wicked system, so you will discover more about your nature with vipassana than with other meditation techniques. Don't expect positive effect in the short term, though. Yet, if you practice everyday, you will feel some kind of progress within a two weeks probably (but that depends on every case).
It is canon/pure Buddhism and not mixed with other doctrines - if you are worried about this.

Dhammapada is a collection of Buddha words were he taught his art of life. Is aimed to be accessible, clear, concise, and provide the main guidelines to people who want to be happy and stop suffering. It reads in an afternoon and I'm sure you will like it more than most of poetry you've read, and it is not poetry...
It is the perfect introductory book of Buddhism, imo.

[Anonymous No.15282368]

>>15282203
Well, Buddhism practices themselves are (can be seen as a) subset of yogic practices which are millenary and have been forgotten by the mainstream a lot of times. They influenced other practices and were being influenced by other practices.
The Indian civilization was already damaged before being conquered by semitic islam first, and semitic britain later, and all what was left has been raped, no doubt. Of course I don't really know what Buddha did taught, but vipassana is founded in the old pali canon, which is probably the less contaminated branch of Buddhism conserved in written form. Vipassana technique is found in old text of the yogic tradition too. The technique wasn't invented in the past centuries, that's for sure. Buddha, wasn't the inventor, either, but one of the notables spread the practice.
Also, the Western schoolars don't know shit. Not being popular don't mean that the tradition was passed down in monasteries, caves, and sheds far from the mundane life.

Note Buddhism started to get "corrupted" at the very moment buddha died - his interpretation of the monks/alsman and the monacal life is probably in opposition of most of what came afterwards.

[Anonymous No.15282409]

>>15281885
I also wonder that. I know it started in the 19th century as a revival movement in british India, but is it legit?

[Anonymous No.15282435]

read the Life of Buddha and the Life of Milarepa, check out some Buddhist poetry (inc, Milarepa's) and meditate a little

when you read the sutras, be sure to get copies that include commentary

[Anonymous No.15282492]

>>15281885
>>15282203
Vipassana is just "insight". It's been a constant in both Theravada and Mahayan since the days of the Buddha. As a specific teaching, it sort of died off in the Theravada tradition, and experienced a revival in the 1700s. That's not to say that what was being done wasn't done between 1,000-1,700, but rather that it just wasn't something separate, or even really worthy of a specific name. It's more complex than just doing a specific thing, and overlaps a lot with other things like walking meditation, mindfulness, chanting, breath meditation, etc.

The "Vipassana Movement" was a lay-revival amongst various SEA nationalists as a means of combating Christian-induced secularism and reconnect various SEA peoples with their Buddhist heritage. It actually advocated a collection of practices. In the West, it's little more than just an attempt to co-opt Buddhist practices to make sitting in a cubicle eating bugs and drinking s()y less damaging to the mind, body, and soul. You can basically ignore "Secular Mindfulness". Don't disregard Vipassana, or Mindfulness, however. It's a valid technique.

>>15281048
Read What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula. You can get it free on the internet, namely on libgen. It goes over... What the Buddha Taught, and what it means. It doesn't cover meditation, however, except in the very lightest touches. Access to Insight should be your starting place for that, it has lots of free material. It's all Theravada, which isn't bad, but if you want, say, Zen stuff, you'll have to look elsewhere. Denominations don't work like in Christianity, feel free to take whatever from whichever tradition (be... careful... with Vajrayana stuff, however).

[Anonymous No.15282602]

>>15282492
>be... careful... with Vajrayana stuff
Why seems like a based direct path and they seem to engage with worldly passions to use them in liberation.

[Anonymous No.15282623]

>>15282211
>within 2 weeks
i remember when i was practicing this it felt forced and kind of shity compared to now i instantly feel results,there is no need for any future benefits.

[Anonymous No.15282632]

>>15282602
I'm not saying that Vajrayana is bad, but rather that you should do your research. There's more hucksters in Vajrayana, and you're more likely to fuck yourself up if you're doing something like tulpa practice or whatever in your bedroom without a guru.

[Anonymous No.15282724]

>>15282632
Tulpa practice would fall more under occult tho, what even is Vajrayana about is there any practitioner or anyone very familiar with its structure here?

[Anonymous No.15282914]

>>15282724
Realistically, it's easiest to just call it "Tibetan Buddhism", but that's really simplistic. The basic goal of Vajrayana is to engage in esoteric behavior for the purpose of more quickly achieving enlightenment. Historically, it developed out of Tibetans travelling to India (back when there was still a sizable Buddhist community) and bringing back various teachings. It really coalesced out of a key period of nation building in Tibet, however, resulting in a very large monastic community (By percentage). This resulted in a structure similar to feudal Europe, with monasteries holding large tracts of land with serfs.

Vajrayana has lots of esoteric practices (esoteric Buddhism =/= Vajrayana, Shingon Buddhism falls into this). They see these as tools for communicating truths where language fails (all of Mahayana Buddhism is dealing with this problem in various ways). Vajrayana uses this an excuse to engage in behavior that other schools of Buddhism would decry as bad, however, involving the consumption of meat, alcohol, and even engaging in sexual intercourse. Vajrayana parries that by saying yes, those are bad, but Vajrayana methods allow for the bad karma to be sidestepped. It gets into a whole song and dance.

[Anonymous No.15283408]

>>15282088
really though, why is zen buddhism so weird? it seems pretty contrary to what the buddha taught

[Anonymous No.15283509]

>>15283408
How so?

[Anonymous No.15283626]

>>15283509
splitting cats, everything with the kyoto school and WW2, and apparently it's been associated with many other violent things as well. I admit I don't know a ton about it so maybe I'm misjudging it, but it sure seems outside of the realm of compassion for other beings and seeking peace and stillness

[Anonymous No.15284115]

>>15283626
Trust the japanese dude, have they ever been wrong before?

[Anonymous No.15284125]

Am I the only one who meditates on his back like when sleeping?
When I try sitting I slouch forward and it begins to be a game of catching myself doing it and return to orioginal position which makes the whole thing not-so-meditative.

[Anonymous No.15284135]

>>15284125
That's wrong