Most important books to become a buddhist?

[Anonymous No.16150242]

I would like to convert to buddhism and would appreciate if you, anons, could help me out. What are the essential readings if somebody wants to start his buddhist journey?

[Anonymous No.16150248]

test: shankara

[Anonymous No.16150319]

>>16150242
Start by following vegan YouTubers. After that you can begin using a chastity device for a few days a week. Go apply for membership at your local Green Party headquarters. Proceed to nearest rally against borders. End by reading Prajñāpāramitā sūtras by Nagarjuna.

[Anonymous No.16150333]

>>16150319
>follow the jains and then read the hindus

he asks for buddhism

[I No.16150369]

>>16150242
you don't need a book, faggot. you need comfy chair and wall. sit, stare at wall. you are buddhist!

[Anonymous No.16150394]

I would be careful about reading Advaita Vedanta interpretations such as Shankara's as a commentary to the Upanishads, they are extremely reliant on Buddhist philosophy (Shankara is called a "cryptobuddhist" by most Hindus, and most scholars agree). If you want to read the Upanishads, work through them with editions and commentaries that aren't sectarian, or at least read an interpretation that is closer to the original meaning of the Upanishads, rather than Shankara's 9th century AD quasi-buddhism.

[Anonymous No.16150396]

>>16150333
Jainism is unironically not as retarded for laypeople as Buddhism is.

[Anonymous No.16150450]

>>16150248
>>16150394
lel it's real

[Anonymous No.16150477]

Why would you want to convert to the most retarded and self-contradictory of all world religions?

[Anonymous No.16150587]

>>16150477
All religions are retarded and full of contradictions

[Anonymous No.16150793]

>>16150242
You don't "convert", you just take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.

Read "What the Buddha Taught" or "In the Buddha's Words". Then read the Heart Sutra. Get Red Pine's translation and commentary. From there, move into either Mahayana or Theravada (they're both equally as valid).

>>16150396
How so? Jainist laity only exist to cook tendies for the NEET monks, who literally lay around naked all day not doing anything.

[Anonymous No.16150875]

buddhism is so fucking cringe

it's literally just a suicide method for people who believe in samsara/rebirth

if buddha didn't believe in rebirth, he would just kill himself to acheive parinibbana

[Anonymous No.16150899]

>>16150793
>How so?
Buddhist laypeople adopt the same precepts as the Buddhist monks, only less of them. Whereas what I've found out about lay precepts in Jainism they seem to be different from the Jain monk precepts.

Five laypeople vows:
Ahimsa: Binding, beating, mutilating limbs, overloading, withholding food and drink
Satya: Perverted teaching, divulging what is done in secret, forgery, misappropriation, and proclaiming other's thoughts.
Asteya: Prompting others to steal, receiving stolen goods, under- buying in a disordered state, using false weights and measures, and deceiving others with artificial or imitation goods.
Brahmacharya: Bringing about marriage, intercourse with an unchaste married woman, cohabitation with a harlot, perverted sexual practices, and excessive sexual passion.
Aparigraha: Exceeding the limits set by oneself with regard to cultivable lands and houses, riches such as gold and silver, cattle and corn, men and women servants, and clothes.

Compare the first precept with the first Buddhist precept for example.
>Jainism: don't abuse animals
>Buddhism: literally don't hurt or kill any living being

[Anonymous No.16150924]

Covert to Christianity. Simple as.

[Anonymous No.16150927]

>>16150242
Jesus you people are all insufferable immature retards

[Anonymous No.16151177]

>>16150899
Non activity thru Non violence is at the core of Jainism. Wisdom is at the core of buddhism. The 5 precepts are just tools to get a pleasant rebirth.

[Anonymous No.16151186]

>>16150242
read MahaPrajnaParamita-Sastra by Nagarjuna

[Anonymous No.16151205]

I'll use this thread and ask more specifically what are the most important sutras and where do I start?

[Anonymous No.16151262]

>>16151205

monks spend decades studying a single sutra, you needn't read them one after another, they're all just expedient means point toward the same thing, idk have a look on wiki or whatever and pick one that interests you

[Anonymous No.16151323]

>>16151262
Okay...

I'm just asking for recommendations.

[Anonymous No.16151424]

>>16151323
this has an ample selection:

>https://bdkamerica.org/product/buddha-dharma-the-way-to-enlightenment-2e-paperback/

has link to free pdf on page btw.

[Anonymous No.16151489]

>>16151205
Mahayana has two kinds of Sutras: what I would call "canonical" (often identical to the Pali canon, part of a larger canon of the Buddha's teachings) and "discrete" (usually written well after the Buddha's paranirvana, not part of a "stream of content", not necessarily a "historical" text). Some of these are:
>Heart Sutra (roughly equivalent to the Nicene Creed in lengthy, purpose, and density)
>Platform Sutra (important in Zen/Chan, in many ways a foundational text)
>Lotus Sutra (Important in Tiantai and descendants, sets up the universal nature of Buddhism, and by necessity, its local nature)
>Diamond Sutra (big in Chan/Zen, deals with the nature of bodies)
>Flower Garland Sutra (sets up the Buddhist idea of a multiverse)

There are, however, several Mahayana Canons, so you have to sort of narrow it down. What school or tradition are you looking at?

In Theravada, the Pali Canon is huge (the Mahayana canons are as well), and lacks these sort of "stick out, discrete" sutras that the Mahayana have. A really important one is the Anapanasati Sutta, which details how breath meditation works. This one is FUNDAMENTAL to Theravada practice.

[Anonymous No.16151502]

>>16151489
>Buddha's teachings
Which he never expressed and are part of a very fluid oral tradition

[Anonymous No.16151516]

>>16151502
The Buddha expressed them, he's the source of them. We have no reason to doubt the oral tradition (or rather, the pre-literary oral tradition period), especially given that it apparently held consistent in two different traditions (the Mahayana and Theravada canons contain many, MANY of the same texts).

[Anonymous No.16151558]

>>16151424
Thanks

>>16151489
Thank you, I'll look into those you mentioned. I'm mostly interested in foundations for Zen Buddhism, though I really want to know about other branches as well.

[Anonymous No.16151560]

>>16151323
maybe you thought my post was dismissive, but the reason i urge you to make your own way is so that you don't make a habit of interacting with internet buddhists, which'll only confuse you and eventually make you resent buddhism itself, that'd be a great shame

[Anonymous No.16151569]

>>16151558
I'd recommend starting with the Heart Sutra. It lays out the basics of what the Mahayana are getting at. You should always read a Sutra with commentary, for two reasons. One, the language can be highly technical (literally every word in the Heart Sura is loaded with technical meaning). Two, there's usually context that is missed by just reading the Sutra (the Heart Sutra, again as example, is actually a dunk by School A on School B). Three, the tradition is very different from what you as a Westerner (presumably) are used to, so it's totally possible to read a passage and have absolutely no clue what it means or is trying to mean just because of sheer distance.

Red Pine's commentary is good because while he puts in his own thoughts, he also details historical context and commentary by other masters. He's done a few other Sutras (namely the Diamond Sutra). I should also add, while the Heart Sutra is very short, and the Diamond sutra is short, the Lotus Sutra is MUCH longer.

[Socorrista No.16151610]

>>16150242
>I wanna convert to a religion whose basic teachings I seem to ignore
Ur a retard

[Anonymous No.16151622]

>>16151560
I'll keep that in mind. It did sound a bit dismissive, beacuse I'll have to start somewhere anyway, but I see your point, thanks anon.

>>16151569
Thank you again for the recommendations, anon. I've only read very introductory things like Alan Watts and know a thing or two, but it's been years since I wanted to dive more deeply into buddhism.

>Red Pine's commentary is good
Funny, I was downloading Red Pine versions of the sutras you rec'd even before you mentioned, I guess I'm on the right track. I always prefer editions with commentary, not only for Buddhism, but to anything that is that far in space, time and culture.

[Anonymous No.16152152]

>>16150242
You don't read shit to quit words
Stop doing, stop reading, realize it's all just lies and illusion, and the thing inside you that tells you to keep consuming to be is a disease

[Anonymous No.16152274]

>>16150242
Brah, this has everything you need to know about thervada: http://www.buddhanet.net/audio-lectures.htm..
For a better overview I'd say Christmas Humphreys ' book just called buddhism.

Honestly though friend buddhism is just an off shoot of Hinduism which, imo, comes from Abraham (pbuh). Kabbalah and sufism and that stuff is way more enlightening imo.

[Anonymous No.16152287]

>>16150242
Read the Bodhicharyavatara. If you really like reading spend a year going through the Long and Middle Discourses of the Pali Canon. If you really like effortposting read the Mulamadhyamakakarika. If you really liked The Matrix, read the Mahayanasamgraha. Read The Making of Buddhist Modernism to understand where Western ideas about Buddhism are coming from and how they have been distorted.

[Anonymous No.16152289]

>>16152274
>(((perennialism)))

[Anonymous No.16152294]

>>16151516
>We have no reason to doubt
Nigger are you retarded? Oral traditions can see massive changes within a few decade
Nobody cares about your retarded sectional spats, you're both wrong if you think your teachings have anything to do with the actual Buddha whose teachings are only vaguely related to yours

[Anonymous No.16152308]

>>16152274
>Buddhism is an offshoot of Hinduism
That's kind of like saying Mormonism is an offshoot of Hasidic Judaism. There was a Vedic religion which predated Buddhism and Hinduism centered around ritual and sacred texts in classical India which Buddhism and Hinduism today are clades of.

[Anonymous No.16152349]

>>16151622
It's nearly worthless to read any Buddhist texts without commentary since they were often meant to be memorized by monks so a teacher could expound on them to an audience that already knew what was being referenced. Scholarly editions of many translated Buddhist texts will often in addition to copious introductions and notes also include translated Tibetan or Indian commentaties. Brunnhölzl's translation of the Mahayanasamgraha for instance is three volumes long for this very reason.

[Anonymous No.16152812]

>>16152289
(((Anti-Semitism)))
Grow up.

[Anonymous No.16152840]

>>16152308
Its obvious that Buddhism developed out of the upanichads. Why obfuscate?

[Anonymous No.16152893]

>>16152812
>stop mocking me for believing similarities are more important than the differences
No. I will not allow you to mash all the colours of beliefs together and then proceed to say your gray goo is spiritually superior and closer to the truth than the individual colours.

Get some testosterone. Allow yourself to become a zealot; a fanatic, for truth instead of being this tender meek proponent of equality and a world without sharp edges. Truth which you can't cut unbelievers and ignorance with is not truth at all.

[Anonymous No.16152912]

>>16152294
Oral traditions can also hold onto information for incredibly long periods of time, what's your point?

>you're both wrong if you think your teachings have anything to do with the actual Buddha whose teachings are only vaguely related to yours
Then what ARE the true teachings of the Buddha?

[Anonymous No.16152936]

>>16152840
Because it didn't, as even a cursory glance will demonstrate. The Upanishads weren't even codified until centuries after the Buddha's death.

>>16152349
This is a problem a lot of Modernists run into, in my opinion. That and (for some reason) ditching the Two-Truths Doctrine. Nagarjuna wrote commentary on some of the things he wrote (the MMK is written in a style meant to preserve its meaning in oral tradition, but by his day writing had been in use for centuries), and I've seen people just totally ignore that.

[Anonymous No.16153540]

[Anonymous No.16153863]

>>16152893
>I will not allow you to mash all the colours of beliefs together and then proceed to say your gray goo is spiritually superior and closer to the truth than the individual colours

I think you are confusing Perennialism with Theosophy

[Anonymous No.16154508]

>>16150924
oof no

[Anonymous No.16154556]

just think and say shit buddhist

[Anonymous No.16154928]

>>16154556
This, but unironically. Imagine thinking you need to read thousands of pages of buddhist scriptures in order to become 'enlightened'. Literally just sit down with good posture for 2 hours everyday and learn to clear your mind of all thoughts, then you will naturally make realisations about the world, reality, and the self, without needed a teacher or a mentor, just as the Buddha himself did.

[Anonymous No.16156398]

Reminder that early Buddhism and Advaita came out of the same movement, Sramana.

[Anonymous No.16156797]

>>16156398>>16152840

Sramana is just a generic term for being a hobo.
Advaita is way later than buddhism. Advaita is a an attempt to make the vedas more like jainism and buddhim. Same thing upanishits.

[Anonymous No.16156804]

>>16152274
>>Honestly though friend buddhism is just an off shoot of Hinduism which, imo, comes from Abraham (pbuh). Kabbalah and sufism and that stuff is way more enlightening imo.
The utter state of intellectuals.

[Anonymous No.16157054]

>>16150369
I would like to add, instead of staring at a wall, close your eyes and observe your natural respiration

[Anonymous No.16157075]

>>16150242

I see all this advice of read this, read that. Trust me OP you dont need to read anything. You dont even need to convert into a 'ism'

Buddha didnt teach a ism, he taught dhamma - the law of nature.

Whenever Covid dies out, if you have the time, take a 10 day course of Vipassana Meditation under SN Goenka. Its free of charge, you can donate what you want at day 11. It will take you step by step into the practical realities of Dhamma. After that read whatever you want, I dont care.

Its the only pure technique left since the time of the Original Buddha passed on from teacher to student.

[Anonymous No.16157132]

you can begin with the following...

>eat my shorts