Reddit mentions: The best buddhist history books

Well, for mahayana the book I have is this one. However, I don't remember how good it is. What I did for buddhism was simply go through various online resources. The reason being that western misconceptions about the connotations of buddhism are so deep that the only way to balance them out is by reading a lot of different sources, and trying to ignore the obviously interpretive parts. The main misconceptions revolve around ignoring or hand-waving that the Buddha post enlightenment was seen as divine, and that this and the system in general were meant to be very literal.

> I also wanted to ask, do you know of any theistic views that are different to classical and personalist theism that you consider intelligible and consistent?

Well, if you want a book on tillich, this one is good.

You already know about process theism, but I can give you some good reads. The iep page for whitehead is a good place to get the basics down. The important ting to note about process theists is that some of them hold to some of the general points, but not others. And so its a good general basis to explore a general idea that can be taken in different ways. For instance, whitehead's specific ontology of events is obviously a little more specific than someone today would be likely to profess. But the general format of the system is still top of the line. I would also say to read this book written by the first big process theist after whithead who turned it into a distinctly theological project instead of just a philosophical system.

Note that (well, obviously after you'll read them you can note that) the idea of a social conception of god is compatible also with tillich. Both tillich and some of the process theists explore the idea that the living aspects of god should be seen as a collective / social organism by nature of the summation of all the values of individual entities relating together through the absolute. Another way they tie them together is that john b cobb who you mention points out that the process theological concept of "creativity" parallels closely tillich's concept of the power of being. Process theism has a bit more metaphysics than tillich's minimalistic form, but they are very compatible ideas.

Another important person to look into is Carl Jung (yes, the psychologist carl jung). Because interestingly for his profession he actually provides a pretty substantial idea of a pantheist system. Which in short has to do with the idea that gods have a kind of quasi existence since they exist as abstract archetypes in the world at large, and are given form by human consciousness. But that once you properly frame into context what human consciousness even is you begin to see why that despite them being psychological images that they are also real. (its not easy to describe how, but basically it has to do with the fact that people aren't discrete, and the images are images of things external to the mind to begin with, so the mediated form exists as a submind encoded across multiple beings, and the world at large). Its a bit hard to get how it work until you intuitively grasp it, and it helps to know some relevant philosophy of mind that would make it seem more real. But a good book for seeing jung in a religious light is this one. It starts off a little slow, but in the middle it has a metaphorical religious text written by jung itself, and then it picks up in analysis of his real beliefs from it. As a psychologist he talked about the collective uconscious as a human psychological phenomenon, but it seems he really thought it was a kind of world soul relation between entities and the world itself.

Now, I must admit that tillich, the process theists, and jung are the three best modern things to look into. But there's a few more notable things to look at.

this book by the physicist schrodinger is about an idea called open individualism, which is basically a modern secularization of the hindu idea of brahman. He points out at the beginning that he is not a philosopher himself, but merely expressing the idea in an easy to read way. (Which is fortunate, since the actual philosophy textbook I want on the idea is $110). The gist of the idea is that there are no actual metaphysical borders between people, and so all people are abstractions of a super-identity that you can identify with god.

this book by fechner is a quasi religious book that argues for a secular reason to think life exists in a sense after death. The book is 150 years old, so it might have parts that seem overly idealistic, but the general idea and its arguments are something that's relevant even today. There's pantheistic elements in it too, but they are sidelined.

The kyoto school in japan blends modern metaphysics, zen metaphysics, and pantheism into a modern system. I haven't read anything from it, but hear that this anthology is good.

Here is a well-rated anthology of panentheistic writings from many authors in general. Including many I haven't read. You can look into it to see if any of them look like interesting areas of interest to branch off into.

Also, of course there's any number of old traditions one could look into even if one doesn't consider them totally literal to frame into context ways of looking at things that could carry over to a more transtheistic system. Kabbalah and stoicism are good places to look. here Is a book written by a psychologist and stoicism scholar that details their beliefs and how to engage in the practice in modern day. (Though obviously one can disagree with the virtue ethic framework). And here is one of the best kabbalah books. Obviously kabbalah is way too specific for me to consider literal, but it does have beautiful work and ways of looking at things to frame religious experience into context.

---

For a few closing remarks, I'd point out to remember that these ideas are not necessarily all competing. Many of them (perhaps all at once depending on how strict you are) are compatible. You'll probably also notice that they all have similar tones of panentheism. That's because that's my general area of interest. The reason for this being that ultimately I think tillich is correct. There may be sentient godlike distinct beings out there, but we need to make religious experience revolve around things we have more of a definite concrete justification for. And the values of the religious experience pervade our world anyways, and so we don't need to rely on the literal existence of these independently sentient beings. Via jungian ideals we can even abstract the idea of gods to positive useful archetypes, and if they exist as concrete instantiations as well, all the better. If you ask me, the universe is likely tremendous in size. Bigger than we can even dream. There's probably more complex segments of it somewhere that very much have tangible sentient entities we would consider godlike. But there doesn't seem to be evidence of them interacting directly with us. So like epicurus says, belief in gods isn't an excuse for belief in superstition. They exist "elsewhere." Its better to focus on the transtheistic absolute.

<Blind faith is un-Buddhist.

I don't disagree, but I'm an academic. The understanding of Buddhism I have is academic and my arguments are based in issues of history as I understand it.

<I quote scholars and you quote yourself, as if you are an authority. State your name and your credentials then.


This tells me that my arguments alone are insufficient to identify me as an authority to you- really I wouldn't claim to be on this topic. As I said, I study mostly American Buddhism today- no I will not provide my name because I like to preserve some anonymity on the internet. I have a M.A and am doing PhD coursework. The problem that you are having is that you are not taking an academic view of the discussion.

>Your faith is greater than your wisdom

This is an ad-hominem fallacy at its best. I'm not Buddhist at all. I have no faith because I study the topic. I respect the tradition but I certainly don't worship in it. This is a discussion about historical understanding- something that you have garnered from questionable scholars. Here is a brief reading list of real scholars you can take and read to see what actual authorities in the field are saying.

Don Lopez: Elaborations on Emptiness
Don Lopez: The Heart Sutra Explained this is a series of translated commentaries on the Heart Sutra. Though it uses the long version, which is problematic.

J.L Austin: How to Do Things With Words This will tell you a lot about the linguistic empiricists and how words function in religious settings.

If you want to read the theory that I do you might also read
Alfred North Whitehead: Process and Reality
Also:Whithead's Symbolism: It's meaning and Effect
And
Bruce Lincoln's Authority

For Buddhist histories that are not popularist:

Peter N. Gregory: Tsung-Mi and the Sinification of Buddhism

Gimello's Paths to Liberation
or his Studies in Ch'an and Hua-yen

For modern philosophical takes on Buddhism Nancy Frankenberry's Religion and Radical Empiricism though to understand her you need a wider knowledge base than you probably have. Here, let me suggest something for you to read first:

James: The Varieties of Religious Experience
James: The Will to Believe
James: Pragmatism
Rorty: Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature
Rorty: Consequences of Pragmatism

This one is particularly important for you:
Rorty: Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth

You want to know about the origins of Buddhism? How about Vajrayana?
Snellgrove: Indo-Tibetan Buddhism
Pollock (a great book): The Language of the Gods in the World of Men
For a modern take: Wedemeyer: Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism

Davidson: Indian Esoteric Buddhism
Bhattacharyya: An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism These last few present conflicting views on the nature of Tantrism, particularly the last one that might fit your "fundamentalist" category.

TO understand American Buddhism better:
Merton: Zen and the Birds of Appetite
Eck: A New Religious America
Tweed (this is one of my favorite books ever) The American Encounter with Buddhism 1844-1912
Neusner (ed) World Religions in America
on individuals: Sterling: Zen Pioneer
Hotz: Holding the Lotus to the Rock Sokei-an was a traditionalist and a near mirror of Thich Nhat Hanh, yet his teachings never took off.
Since you Love Thich Nhat Hanh: Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966 and the companion to that, Merton's journals
Another of Hanh's Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire This is before he was popular and so is much more interesting than some of his later works.

Also Mcmahan: The Making of Buddhist Modernism

One of the greatest Tibetan yogins - Milarepa - sang many enlightening songs. You can find them in the collection of his songs titled "The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa."

Some of them are presented in this selection for free reading.

Here are two of my favorites:

>At first, my experiences in samsara

>Seemed most pleasant and delightful;

>Later, I learned about its lessons;

>In the end, I found a Devil’s Prison.

>These are my thoughts and feelings on samsara.

>So I made up my mind to renounce it.

>At first, one’s friend is like a smiling angel;

>Later, she turns into a fierce exasperated woman;

>But in the end a demoness is she.

>These are my thoughts and feelings on companions.

>So I made up my mind to renounce a friend.

>At first, the sweet boy smiles, a Babe of Heaven;

>Later, he makes trouble with the neighbours;

>In the end, he is my creditor and foe.

>These are my thoughts and feelings about children.

>So I renounced both sons and nephews.

>At first, money is like the Wish-fulfilling Gem;

>Later, one cannot do without it;

>In the end, one feels a penniless beggar.

>These are my thoughts and feelings about money.

>So I renounced both wealth and goods.

>When I think of these experiences,

>I cannot help but practise Dharma;

>When I think of Dharma,

>I cannot help but offer it to others.

>When death approaches,

>I shall then have no regret.

The Six Resolutions

>When one has lost interest in this world,

>His faith and longing for the Dharma is confirmed.

>To relinquish one’s home ties is very hard;

>Only by leaving one’s native land

>Can one be immune from anger.

>It is hard to conquer burning passions

>Towards relatives and close friends;

>The best way to quench them

>Is to break all associations.

>One never feels that one is rich enough;

>Contented, he should wear humble cotton clothes.

>He may thus conquer much desire and craving.


>It is hard to avoid worldly attractions;

>By adhering to humbleness,

>Longing for vain glory is subdued.

>It is hard to conquer pride and egotism;

>So, like the animals,

>Live in the mountains.

>My dear and faithful patrons!

>Such is the real understanding

>That stems from perseverance.

>I wish you all to practise deeds that are meaningful,

>And amass all merits!

Rupert Gethin's Foundations of Buddhism is a thorough introduction to Buddhism. For starting reading the Pāli discourses, there's Bhikkhu Bodhi's In the Buddha's Words - this is a selection of discourses serving as an entry point.

Then you can start with the discourses directly: start with the Majjima Nikāya and then you can also go through The Dīgha Nikāya and the Samyutta Nikāya. And then the last but not least: Aṇguttara Nikāya and the Khuddhaka Nikāya (search on Amazon). These texts would be important references for the rest of your life if you seriously pursue Buddhism.

Regarding insight meditation, Bhikkhu Anālayo's Satipaṭṭāna book is the best modern day commentary available. Highly recommend it. His "Excursions into the Pāli Discourses" Part 1 and Part 2 are also very useful since they summarize many of the topics discusses in the discourses.

Books by Shaila Catherine or Ajāhn Brahmavaṃso would be good texts regarding samatha meditation.

There are the various texts written by the Ledi Sayādaw and Mahāsi Sayadaw - two Burmese scholar-practitioners who popularized insight meditation in the last century. You can go through Ven. Ledi Sayādaw's Vipassanā Dīpani (Manual of Insight) and you can find Ven. Mahāsi Sayadaw's books here.

Bhikkhu K. Ñānānanda has many books discussing deep questions about dependent arising, the nature of nirvāna, and so forth. You can find them here.

I'll let others recommend Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna and Zen material. In general, Reginald Rays books on Tibetan Buddhism are great entry points to Tibetan Buddhism, and then there's Gampopa's Jewel Ornament Of Liberation. There's also Shantidēva's Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, useful for any Mahāyāna practitioner. With Zen there's always Dōgen Zenji's Shōbōgenzō.

You should be able to find all of the above by googling if it's available for free or on Amazon (or a University library) otherwise.

http://www.dhammatalks.org/. They have recommended readings (or listenings) for the starters. The essays are really meant for serious folks. Since you have some experience with breath meditation, I am sure you have sufficient ground to appreciate the Bhikkhu's commentary and relate to it in a personal way. Read a chapter a day or a few paragraphs a day and in a year, you would have covered very good ground. Unless you can talk about the 4 Noble Truths or Eightfold path for atleast 30 minutes non-stop, you don't have sufficient ground in Buddhism.

If you want to get a good overview of Buddhism in a manner that a graduate student would I would recommend http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Buddhism-Teachings-Practices-Religion/dp/0521676746/.

(I am more of a "hokey-dokey" practitioner. I am not a scholar or a religious studies student)

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ is also a good resource.

Meditation - Bhavana -- an attitude -- is just playing around with your mind. Satipatthana practice is where the meat is. (You can mix Anapana with Satipatthana).


I am not much familiar with Mahayana stuff. If you have a good grounding in Theravadin thought, switching to Mahayana or appreciating it will be definitely easier. Here are some recommendations.

Lineage texts are a good way to waste your time, particularly if you are a beginner and lack sufficient context to approach the text. If you are of analytic bent -- mathematician or an engineering student -- you will relate well to Theravada. If you are of non-analytic bent -- student of humanities or engaged in social work -- Mahayana or Zen literature will appeal to you.

http://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/NanHuaijin.html writings are also a good place to start.

----------

The most difficult part about Buddhism is Right Resolution. Buddhist practice is about having a strong will.

I don't want to add extra reading to your life, but here goes ;-)

You may find "The Four Foundations of Mindfulness" to be of help off the cushion. I found this is of great benefit for dealing with what you're speaking about as well.

Awareness of form, feeling, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness (the five aggregates model) -- powerful stuff.

This is the [book] (https://www.amazon.ca/Satipatthana-Direct-Realization-Bhikkhu-Analayo/dp/1899579540/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502836095&sr=8-1&keywords=the+direct+path+to+realization) I found of great help.

> I'm not familiar with Pyrrhonism, so if there's any links / articles / books you'd recommend please do so!

I've just found out about it too, due to a post by /u/sponsored

The primary source of Pyrrhonism are Sectus Empiricus writings, he wrote multiple books one of which is "Outlines of Pyrrhonism", which I'm currently reading. I think to get an understanding of Pyrrhonism, this is pretty much required reading, since it's a book written by a pyrrhonist of ancient greece.

/u/sponsored also pointed me towards these books:

A comparison of Pyrrhonism and nargajuna:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009W3SAKS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#nav-subnav
(very good, you might even start with this if you're interested in parallels to buddhism)

A master thesis comparing Pyrrhonism and the platform sutra:
http://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/bitstream/140.119/38734/1/401701.pdf
(read with caution, the authors understanding of Chan seems questionable at times, but good at some parts.)

> what compels you to visit /r/streamentry or consider a meditation practice?

/r/streamentry I don't know, I'm leaving it anyways. Meditation basically because it sounds fun. I don't see it as related to enlightenment at all, but the jhanas sound interesting, so I'll probably do some concentration based meditation. Also I believe that concentration practice might have positive effects on other areas of life, so that's also nice.
So I actually have no interesting reason other than, just being curious.

If you haven't already checked out Culadasa's dharma treasure audio archives there are some great talks on there about some of these topics. The Teaching Retreats page especially. Meditation & Insight is a great series to start with, but several of them check off the boxes on your interests.

Secondly, I'd recommend Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization by Analayo. It's a very in good analysis of this sutta, which ends up covering a lot of ground including in-depth exploration of some of these concepts (The Aggregates, The Sense-spheres, Four Noble Truths, The Awakening Factors,etc), and how they play a role in Awakening. Can't recommend enough.

To start, I would check out The Dragon in the Land of Snows by Tsering Shakya. He is one of the most prominent Tibetan historians in the West. It is a history of modern tibet since 1947.

Other notable books to start include The Tibetans by Matthew Kapstein and History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People's Republic of China by John Powers.

A history of Tibet is complicated. But there is a lot of misinformation out there, shaped by Orientalism, and reinforced by an apologetic look at Mao's destructive policies and rule. Tibet was never a shangi-la, only uninformed westerners thought that it was. But China's rule in Tibet has been incredibly repressive, devastating, and near genocidal.

If you get through those books, here are some more suggestions for some in depth understanding:

• The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk by Venerable Palden Gyatso
  
• Buddha's Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters, the Chinese Communist Invasion, and the Ultimate Fall of Tibet by Mikel Dunham
  
• Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Memories of a Forgotten War by Carole McGranahan
  
• Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West by Donald Lopez
  
• The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama by Thomas Laird
  
• In Exile from the Land of Snows: The Definitive Account of the Dalai Lama and Tibet Since the Chinese Conquest by John Avedon
  
  I'll also mention these two by Melvyn Goldstein, with the preface that he is academically rigorous, but widely thought of in Tibetan communities as an apologist and biased towards China.
  
  
• A History of Modern Tibet, 1913-1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State, and
  
• The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama
  
  One final note is that Tibetans do not want a return to the past, they want freedom. They want freedom of religion, freedom to practice their culture, freedom from military occupation, and a return of the Dalai Lama. Check out Phayul for current news from Tibetan exile communities.
  
  Happy reading

If you're interested in the practice as it was done in early Buddhism, check out this reading list:.

Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization by Bhikkhu Analayo.
A Swift Pair of Messengers by Bhikkhu Sujato.
Right Mindfulness: Memory & Ardency on the Buddhist Path by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

Those are the best 3 to start with...what you're going to want to look for is early Theravada Buddhist practice which is called Satipattana. Analayos book is generally considered the best, but all 3 are excellent, especially Thanissaros book which is free. All 3 have correspondencing audio lectures which I'll post if you want. You can also contact me via Pm anytime. Hope that helps!

Buddha was not an atheist. He believed in various gods and assorted heavenly-hellish beings. His main point was that Buddhahood, not godhood, is the highest state that a sentient being can attain. Therefore he lectured heavenly beings and suggested that, because godhood is impermanent, they should study the Dharma with the aim of becoming Buddhas.

On the other hand, "God", as an ultimate good, is not necessarily foreign to Buddhism:


" … Two meanings [of the word “God”] must be distinguished for its place in Buddhism to be understood. One meaning of God is that of a personal being who created the universe by deliberate design and periodically intervenes in its natural causal processes. Defined in this sense, nirvana is not God. The Buddha did not consider it personal because personality requires definition, which nirvana excludes... If absence of a personal Creator-God is atheism, Buddhism is atheistic.


There is a second meaning of God, however, which (to distinguish it from the first) has been called the Godhead. The idea of personality is not part of this concept, which appears in mystical traditions throughout the world. When the Buddha declared, 'There is O monks, an Unborn, neither become nor created nor formed. Were there not, there would be no deliverance from the formed, the made, the compounded,' he seemed to be speaking in this tradition. Impressed by similarities between nirvana and the Godhead, Edward Conze has compiled from Buddhist texts a series of attributes that apply to both. We are told that


“Nirvana is permanent, stable, imperishable, immovable, ageless, deathless, unborn, and unbecome, that it is power, bliss and happiness, the secure refuge, the shelter, and the place of unassailable safety; that it is the real Truth and the supreme Reality; that it is the Good, the supreme goal and the one and only consummation of our life, the eternal, hidden and incomprehensible Peace.”


We may conclude with Conze that nirvana is not God defined as a personal creator, but that it stands sufficiently close to the concept of God as Godhead to warrant the linkage in that sense."


(Buddhism: A Concise Introduction. Huston Smith and Philip Novak. Harper, San Francisco: 2003, pp. 53-54)

https://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Concise-Introduction-Huston-Smith/dp/0060730676/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=buddhism+a+concise+introduction&qid=1574028674&s=books&sr=1-2

Secular Buddhist / Buddhist atheist here, for whatever that's worth.

Super-quick and utterly inadequate run-through:

u/Guck_mal is right; the oldest version of Buddhism, Theravada, is pretty damn secular and has very few overtones of anything religious. There are instructions for monks, but Buddha explicitly avoided talk of how the universe got here, the supernatural, etc. Buddha is not seen as a god, but as a guy who figured out how to completely be at peace with the way things as they are instead of how he wished they would be. The ideal of Theravada is (loosely) cultivating individual insight and wisdom. I find myself very drawn to these ideals and consider them much more philosophical than religious.

As Buddhism spread over hundreds of years, a later branch called Mahayana became much more prevalent. This is much more traditionally
religious and features much more iconography, chanting, deities, talk of Buddha as a god, and supernatural features. There's much more talk of karma, reincarnation, etc. than there is in Theravada. The ideal in Mahayana is generally considered becoming a Bodhisattva, or helping others attain enlightenment. While I appreciate the focus on others, I can't get behind the supernatural aspects. Mahayana strikes me as much more religious than philosophical.

I'm a hardcore atheist and reject anything supernatural, but this is no problem within the belief system. Most branches of Buddhism explicitly encourage critical thinking and rejecting what your experience shows not to be true.

Reminds me, I was wearing my "Buddhist Atheist" t-shirt that I got from my sangha (fellow practitioners), and I pulled up to a car wash fundraiser. Turns out it was for an evangelical church group. Let's just say that my attire was a conversation starter.

Some helpful resources:

Smith and Novak's book is a very accessible introduction.

And an obligatory plug for the kickass Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, which I suspect many Redditors would enjoy.

It is (and vice versa). You should read Batchelors "The Awakening of the West" and even the works of some others (I'll post links) to get a better explanation than I could give, but I'll do my best:

Ok, so you know how there was Gautama Buddha and then his disciples went out and spread the Dhamma far and wide? Well, one group of people to encounter the Dhamma was King Ashoka of India and his family (those who preceded him and his descendants). Around this time (between Gautama Buddha and Ashoka), you had Alexander the Great running around trying to conquer the world. One result of this was a group of ethnically Greek people that lived in the far west of India (Pakistan / Afghanistan as the current borders don't correspond to the ancient ones). The result was an interaction between the ideas of early Buddhism and Greek/ Hellenic ideas (like Stoicism). Google "King Menander" for more on this. Oh, and King Ashoka recorded that he sent at least 2 Buddhist missionaries to Greece - so there's that too.

Also, check these out:
http://secularbuddhism.org/2015/03/21/episode-220-massimo-pigliucci-secular-buddhism-and-neo-stoicism/

http://secularbuddhism.org/2014/08/31/tend-your-garden/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Awakening-West-Encounter-Buddhism/dp/0963878441

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menander_I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism

People can argue about whether rebirth as commonly understood in Buddhist teachings is true or not, but I have yet to see any reasonable justification, based on the Suttas, that any of these currently fashionable re-interpretations of ideas like rebirth were ever actually intended.

I think maybe the source of much of this is that people come to Buddhism with an impression of Buddhist teachings originating from the "Scientific Buddha" ideas that are still quite commonplace and originating from Western philosophers and some early translators seeing in Buddhism, with a bit of selective reading and imposition of their own cultural prejudices, a rational and scientific counterpart to the superstitious excesses of Christianity at a time when the church was losing the absolute power it had once had and the modern scientific worldview was becoming increasingly dominant and respected.

It is also to some extent a result of historical debates, for example in Sri Lanka, between Christian missionaries attacking Buddhism for its "unscientific" ideas like Mount Meru, etc. that have lead some involved in this kind of debate to strongly emphasise aspects of Buddhism more aligned with the modern scientific worldview and downplay and selectively reinterpret those aspects that were seen at odds with it.

Donald Lopez is an academic that has written a couple of books on exactly this phenomenon:

• The Scientific Buddha: His Short and Happy Life
  
  
• Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed
  
  I've only read the second of these, but would strongly recommend it as a very interesting account of the history of Buddhism's early encounter with western thought.

Lotus Sutra: I've only read the Watson translation, which is very good, but I've also heard good things about JC Cleary's translation, although that appears to only be available as an e-book.

Heart Sutra: I have read, and recommend, Karl Brunnholzl's The Heart Attack Sutra, Red Pine's translation, and TNH's Heart of Understanding. I've also got a copy of Kaz Tanahashi's exigesis on the shelf, which people speak very highly of.

Overviews are still "beginner" books. Here are some good ones - Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions, An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices

Within a tradition, you will find more advanced books. The Tibetans might recommend "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation" or "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment". For Theravada, first see the online resources like http://aimwell.org/books.html and https://www.dhammatalks.org/

Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization manages to be scholarly without being dry. It's a really great in-depth look at this Sutta. It is extensively footnoted as well and gives a lot of great leaping-off points for further exploration.

Interesting. My question came up because of a book I am reading in an online group at the moment, Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization. In meditation, when I am aware of my thoughts, they do go away very quickly! As if they are running from my awareness. But how do I learn about their causes and conditions if they disappear so quickly? Maybe just more practice :-) Thank you for the offer to lend me the book. I would accept, but I am currently reading 3 Buddhism books right now instead of my school text books :-) Cheers

Who Rules the World? – Noam Chomsky

Siddhartha– Herman Hesse

The Way of Zen– Alan Watts

Dropping Ashes on the Buddha

The Platform Sutra of Huineng

Dogen on Meditation and Thinking

Essays in Zen Buddhism by DT Suzuki

Lyrical and Critical Essays- Albert Camus

The Myth of Sisyphus- Albert Camus

The Metamorphosis- Franz Kafka

The Stranger- Albert Camus

The Rebel- Albert Camus

Man's Search for Meaning- Viktor Frankl

On The Advantages and Disadvantages of History for Life- Nietzsche

Frankenstein– Mary Shelley (Surprising, but highly existential)

Nausea– Jean-Paul Sartre

The Awakening- Kate Chopin

Candide- Voltaire

The Gateless Gate (Mumonkan)

Couldn't get all the PDF's at the moment, but just google the name of the book and then "PDF" for a potential online copy. Highly recommend all of these– Frankenstein and The Myth of Sisyphus are must in general. Alan Watts is great for synthesizing Zen thought as well.

Mindfulness is the primary means of purification of all activities; and the primary rubric for that is satipatthana: the foundations of mindfulness in the body, its feelings, the mind and mental objects.

In the Sutta Pitaka:

DN 22 - Maha-satipatthana Sutta: The Great Frames of Reference

MN 10 - Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: Frames of Reference

SN 47 - Satipatthana-samyutta - a chapter from the Samyutta Nikaya on the subject


AN 8.63 - Sankhitta Sutta: In Brief (Good Will, Mindfulness, & Concentration)

Some valuable secondary reading:

Soma Thera - The Way of Mindfulness: The Satipatthana Sutta and Its Commentary

Thanissaro Bhikkhu - Wings to Awakening, Part II.B: The Four Frames of Reference

Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo - Frames of Reference


Mahasi Sayadaw - Satipatthana Vipassana

Bhikkhu Analayo - Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization (this is a free version, it is also available in print or on Kindle)

Disclaimer: My comment is not providing material that will be a good guide to Buddhism / how to be a Buddhist. But they are my go to recommendations for people with no background/prior knowledge of Buddhism who are looking for a some secular thoughts that are Buddhist inspired.

• Dan Harris's 10% Happier (Also check out his podcast with the same name)
  
  
• After Buddhism by Stephen Batchelor
  
  
• Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
  
  And for good measure, you should absolutely read The Dhammapada.
  
  I am biased (or maybe hopeful is the right word), but I really believe that we're on the precipice of a new thought-movement in reaction to the consumerist culture we live in. I don't think it will be Buddhist, but I believe it will be Buddhist inspired to an extent.

I've read much of it, but I didn't "get it" until research led me to understand that Dogen's view of Zen is radically different than Chinese Chan Buddhists, e.g. Bodhidharma [1]. That understanding did help, but I'm still confused by Dogen's philosophy of practice-enlightenment (I don't find it as straighforward as Bodhidharma, for example), so I'm still researching occasionally as time permits. But honestly, I think Dogen just confuses things for me, and may be unneccessary.

[1] There are myriad Zen scholars that detail the idea that Dogen is different. Here are some starting points for anyone interested.

http://www.georgewrisley.com/The%20Buddha%20Still%20Rides%20a%20Bike-Wrisley.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/Dogen-Meditation-Thinking-Reflection-View/dp/0791469263

http://www.amazon.com/Dogen-Textual-Historical-Steven-Heine/dp/0199754470


Before you get mad at me for presenting a slanted view (i.e. that Dogen is a different brand of Zen), these authors are well respected and pro-Dogen.

SGI does get a bad rep here a lot. I think it's cause of two things :

1. Unlike most Western Buddhism , it is essentially a Japanese organization. Different branches seem to have evolved different styles of doing things. In some places traditional Japanese elements like obedience and lack of transparency are evident , in other places it's the opposite. I've witness both.
   
2. SGI is a lay organization so some members, not necessarily the most devote but certainly the loudest, do not have a very deep understanding of Buddhism. Some members would criticize other forms of Buddhism without having a real understanding of those forms or indeed of Nichiren Buddhism itself. This is regrettable and gives the SGI a bad name.
   
   To OP, ultimately it's up to you to make the decision. Only you know whether chanting has made your life better or not. I'm not sure how knowledgeable people are in your community, so for theory I would recommend this books The Buddha in Daily Life which , in my opinion, is better than many of the publications or Ikeda's writing (!). I would recommend to keep chanting and try to understand the teaching through observing your own mind while chanting. Take what you can from the community , but don't do anything that you are uncomfortable with. All the best

For the MMK, Jay Garfield's The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way is quite well-regarded, albeit somewhat academic in style. I've also heard good things about Siderits' work.

If you haven't explored much yet, try speed-reading or scrolling to random sections of any of the sutras translated on this site: www.sutrasmantras.info. The selection is excellent (including some that are virtually unheard of in the English-speaking world) and the translation is top-notch. Even just the glossary by itself is quite epic.

I also highly recommend the Ratnakuta sutras (where I got that excerpt from), though it's only available in print and is only a partial translation: A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras.

A good place to start is with the Dhammapada. Pocket sized versions are only a few bucks. And Introduction to Buddhism. It's a very informative book that will help you easily understand the basics of Buddhism.

Hey, /u/Apiperofhades. I read your /r/AskPhilosophy post so I'll suggest books based on the following:

>I'm more interested in academic historical work on doctrine and practices and so on.

/r/Buddhism's most famous academic (who recently passed away), /u/michael_dorfman, recommended Rupert Gethin's The Foundations of Buddhism and Peter Harvey's An Introduction to Buddhism religiously, "to get a basic understanding of Buddhist doctrine".

Additionally, you may wish to consider chapter 5 of Surendranath Dasgupta's A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1, titled 'Buddhist Philosophy' (all five volumes can be found here on Internet Archive; the first alone here on Project Gutenberg), and chapter 5 (and, perhaps, 9) of Mysore Hiriyanna's Outlines of Indian Philosophy, titled 'Early Buddhism' (and 'Later Buddhistic Schools'). This book can be found here on Internet Archive.

Very reasonable response. For the connotations, there is nothing negative with dictionary definitions either. But I see why some people will react negatively... although I had hoped Buddhist meditators would react more skillfully...

They might seem arbitrary to you, but there are lots of people that gain insight from those categories, as I do. I think the condescending tone is excellent... it's good to see our faults, but again, I expect equanimity and critical self-analysis from Buddhist meditators...

>but I don't really encounter actual people who seem to be as committed to a defense of their particular interpretation over all else

I see this an awful lot on this sub. I have had really lengthy discussions with folks who have a hard time understanding why they react so negatively, say, to the idea that Buddhism can be improved. Traditionalists fight back and feel insulted when you propose the possibility of improvement. I had a conversation about this with a guy who ended up deleting his account in fury... because he so strongly believed that Buddhism couldn't be improved, and failed to understand or accept any alternative viewpoint. Really, I think once you dig into it, folks here are far more dogmatic than you think... as you can see by downvotes on this thread, the majority of people are really not willing to accept these divisions.

The top comment as evidence:

>Lol that blog is joke.

Just because they disagree with his viewpoint, they will dismiss it completely.

And this one:

>This book: https://www.amazon.com/After-Buddhism-Rethinking-Dharma-Secular/dp/030020518X

Also receives downvotes... because the author's POV disagrees with theirs. Even though that author is probably far more experienced and knowledgable than any of the folks who hit the downvote.

Just my 2 cents, I respect and think your opinion is just as valid as mine.

There used to be a scholar who was really active in this forum until he passed away - Michael Dorfman - and he would always recommend these two books:

The Foundations of Buddhism

An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices

The Buddah in Daily Life is a great introduction.

There is a wonderful academic analysis of this sutra by Ven. Analayo,: http://www.amazon.com/Satipatthana-The-Direct-Path-Realization/dp/1899579540/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332535032&sr=8-1
if you want to study it in depth.

Gonna have to watch this later tonight when I get a chance. For those interested in a specific case-study of the topic:

http://www.amazon.com/Pyrrhonism-Reinvented-Buddhism-Comparative-Philosophy/dp/0739125060

The foundational Mahayana text is Nagarjuna’s Middle Way.

From the description:

“Nagarjuna's renowned twenty-seven-chapter Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way (Mulamadhyamakakarika) is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. It is the definitive, touchstone presentation of the doctrine of emptiness. Professors Siderits and Katsura prepared this translation using the four surviving Indian commentaries in an attempt to reconstruct an interpretation of its enigmatic verses that adheres as closely as possible to that of its earliest proponents. Each verse is accompanied by concise, lively exposition by the authors conveying the explanations of the Indian commentators. The result is a translation that balances the demands for fidelity and accessibility.”

This book is a good place to start:

Pyrrhonism: How the Ancient Greeks Reinvented Buddhism

Academic introduction to the religion:

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Buddhism-Teachings-Practices-Religion/dp/0521676746

Good online resource:

http://buddhasutra.com/

also, wanted to add - a good precursor to that book is confession of a buddhist atheist.

and his third book in a similar fashion, after buddhism: rethinking the dharma for a secular age.

I'd recommend the Satipatthana Sutta with translation and commentary from Analayo, along with commentary in text and audio by Joseph Goldstein.

There's a chapter of his writing with introductory biography in The Roaring Stream: A New Zen Reader.

That book's bibliography points to three sources:

The Original Face: An Anthology of Rinzai Zen

Five Mountains: The Rinzai Zen Monastic Institution in Medieval Japan

Zen Buddhism: A History (Japan)

When it comes to Buddhism it's very important to rid your mind of intoxicants - this means no drugs, no smoking, and no alcohol - if you drink it to excess.

I would buy this book to start: http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Buddhism-explanation-Buddhist-life/dp/0978906772

And a copy of the Dhammapada: http://www.amazon.com/Dhammapada-Translation-Buddhist-Classic-Annotations/dp/1590303806

You will learn pretty quickly what you're getting into.

Peter Harvey's "An Introduction to Buddhism 2nd Edition".

What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula (1974) and Buddhism: A Concise Introduction by Huston Smith and Philip Novak are the classic introductory texts to Buddhism and still used in colleges. In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Bodhi (2005) is a newer introductory book and more text based.