Best book about the teachings of the original Buddha and the early Buddhist texts?

Question

I am looking for some book recommendations on scholarly reconstructions of the Early Buddhist Teachings/Texts and the teachings of the original Buddha. E.g. some scholars say that kamma didn't have a major role in early Buddhism, or they say that some other things that are considered a part of Buddhism didn't exist back then or weren't taught by the original Buddha. So I'm looking for a book that talks about this and tries to reconstruct the teachings of the original Buddha in the most authentic way.

Answer 1

For a long time all I had read about Buddhism was what scholars and historians wrote about it.

When this site started I discovered that Buddhism (like other religions) has canonical texts -- the Early Buddhist Texts (EBT) are probably what you're asking about. They exist in at least two two versions: the Pali texts; and the same translated into Chinese (where they're referred to as āgama).

I must recommend that you read these, instead of (or as well as) a "scholarly" text -- so that you could "see for yourself" what the 'Dhamma' says.

Answers to these questions helped me start:

• English (or other European) translations of Pali Canon
• Chronological or other sequence for beginners

E.g. some scholars say that kamma didn't have a major role in early Buddhism

If you read the suttas in what I think is considered to be the "historical" sequence -- i.e. the sequence in which the newly-enlightened Buddha taught them -- they don't include doctrine about explicitly kamma.

Yet kamma is part of the doctrine -- e.g. these are excerpts from some suttas on that topic:

• Intentional action kamma (Skt: karma)

I don't know, it might be like saying that "arithmetic doesn't have a major role in college-level maths" -- I say that because Gradual training is a thing.

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The Pali texts include suttas, the vinaya, and the abhidhamma -- maybe the suttas are enough to begin with.

There are scholars, often monks, who anthologize the suttas -- for example:

• In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon
• The Buddha's Teachings on Prosperity: At Home, At Work, In the World

These are very different in emphasis:

• The latter is an anthology of suttas for lay-people, often on topic (like commerce) that are inapplicable or forbidden to monks.
• The former includes suttas taught to monks and may be more representative (since so many of the suttas were addressed to monks)

You can find more than one other topic on this site with answers to the same kind of question that you asked -- for example using this search, because it's one of frequently-recommended books:

• Posts containing "In the Buddha's Words"

Maybe this was the earliest topic with the most answers:

• Introductory books to Buddhism

Answer 2

The most important sutta for a beginning point of learning about Early Buddhism is MN 117. Around ten years ago, some high profile rebirth obsessed Western heretic monks made a concerted yet unsuccessful effort to disrepudiate MN 117. All they appeared to achieve was coughing up hot blood. This shows how important MN 117 is.

In short, MN 117 explains there are two types of dhamma teachings:

1. mundane teachings, which include teachings connected to good & bad kamma. MN 117 literally says these mundane teachings side with (lead only to) merit/morality yet also partake of/result in attachment/acquisition. In other words, such teachings are for the majority of people who still have self-belief.

2. supramundane teachings, which lead to liberation and are connected to the Noble Eightfold Path and Emptiness (SN 20.7). These teachings are for Noble Ones.

MN 143 is merely one sutta that highlights these two types of dhamma teachings, when the Venerable Sariputta says to a layperson:

This sort of talk on the Dhamma, householder, is not given to lay people clad in white. This sort of talk on the Dhamma is given to those gone forth.

MN 143

Similarly, DN 31 explains what monks are to teach laypeople, as follows:

(i) they restrain him from evil,

(ii) they persuade him to do good,

(iii) they love him with a kind heart,

(iv) they make him hear what he has not heard,

(v) they clarify what he has already heard,

(vi) they point out the path to a heavenly state.

Notice above how monks are not to teach laypeople the Four Noble Truths and Nibbana. This principle was thus also found in MN 97, when the Venerable Sariputta taught a dying Brahmin the path to a heavenly state (instead of teaching the Brahmin the path to stream-entry).

This principle goes back to the very first sermon, where the Buddha said:

There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth [from the household life]. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

SN 56.11

A core supramundane teaching is that of Dependent Origination. In MN 28, it is reported the Buddha said:

Now, the Blessed One has said, "Whoever sees dependent co-arising sees the Dhamma; whoever sees the Dhamma sees dependent co-arising." And these things — the five clinging-aggregates — are dependently co-arisen. Any desire, embracing, grasping, & holding-on to these five clinging-aggregates is the origination of stress. Any subduing of desire & passion, any abandoning of desire & passion for these five clinging-aggregates is the cessation of stress.'

AN 3.61 literally says the twelve conditions of Dependent Origination are the Second Noble Truth.

However, in the history of Buddhism, dependent origination was transformed into a mundane teaching about reincarnation over three life times, which Early Buddhism never teaches and which reached its highest fruition with the 5th century Visuddhimagga. The Visuddhimagga is essentially Theravada Buddhism; similar to how the teachings of St Paul came to dominate Christianity. This is why Buddhism is so mixed up, namely, the Buddhist scholars & teachers stopped differentiating between the mundane & supramundane teachings of the Buddha.

These Theravada gurus (such as in the Visuddhimagga) completely mixed up the mundane & supramundane, thus taught:

1. Empty phenomena are reborn, which is the opposite of how Early Buddhism says emptiness leads to non-birth.

2. No person is reborn, which is the opposite of Early Buddhism, which says 'persons' or 'selves' go to heaven &/or hell for their deeds.

In summary, kamma does not have a major role in Early Buddhism, as literally explained in MN 117. Kamma, in Early Buddhism, is largely something taught to the laypeople to keep the laypeople free from self-harm plus to get them to give donations to the monks, which is why the most significant suttas on kamma are often addressed to laypeople, such as MN 135 or AN 10.176.

In short, I cannot recall any books on Early Buddhism starting with the above emphasis, apart from some by Bhikkhu Buddhadasa (below), which are poorly referenced with suttas.

1. Kamma in Buddhism

2. Two Kinds Of Language

3. Practical Dependent Origination

4. Anatta & Rebirth

Answer 3

If you are looking for one book, please see "How Early Buddhism differs from Theravada: a handy checklist" by Ven. Sujato. It's available for free online download in the PDF and EPUB formats.

This book exactly answers your question.

This is a handy summary of some major points of distinction between Early Buddhism and Theravada. Let’s clarify what we mean by these.

• Early Buddhism is the teachings of the “early Buddhist texts” (EBTs), that is, the canonical discourses that were codified in the Buddha’s lifetime or shortly thereafter, and which have been passed down to us in Pali, Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit.
• Theravada is the school of Buddhism established at the Mahāvihāra in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, and which later spread across south-east Asia. It regards the Pali Tipiṭaka alone as authoritative.

Theravada, like any religious tradition, has evolved and changed over the years. Many of these doctrines are codified in the Visuddhimagga and other commentaries of Buddhaghosa (5th century CE), while others have developed down to the modern era. In this list, I am focusing on those teachings that are commonly accepted within mainstream Theravada as taught by learned scholars and practitioners, not with marginal theories or folk practices. Nor is this about corruption within Theravada; it’s about the beliefs and aspirations that good people have, not whether everyone lives up to them.

Differences inevitably arise as new conditions demand new readings of ancient texts. The evolution of ideas is an essential part of a living tradition, and today we continue the commentarial practice of delving into implications and discovering new interpretations of scripture. Nonetheless, since commentaries claim to elucidate the canonical texts, and since their readings influence the beliefs and practices of many people, it is important to critically assess these claims.

The aim of this list is to help students understand where the language and ideas of modern Theravada has diverged from the Suttas. Of course, the fact that something is different does not mean that it’s better or worse. Sometimes things change in the letter but not the meaning; sometimes they adapt to circumstances; sometimes they expand things told in brief; and sometimes they change the meaning. I try to indicate where changes lie, and offer enough context to show why they matter.

At the end of the day, we must all be accountable for our beliefs, and you must ultimately figure out your own understanding of Dhamma. It’s not for me to say what you should believe or practice. But when I started my process of learning, it took many years and many wrong paths to try to understand these matters, so I offer these brief notes in the hope that they will help smooth that path for some.

I make little attempt to trace the historical evolution of the terms and ideas. It’s a checklist, not a thesis. Nor do I attempt to engage with the complexity of discourse around these issues, many of which have multiple interpretations.

I also do not discuss modern ideas such as “one lifetime dependent origination” or “jhāna-lite”, for these are found in neither the EBTs nor the Theravada tradition. It is worth bearing in mind that certain modern forms of Buddhism, with their dismissal of rebirth, Nibbana, and the monastic Sangha, have diverged further from the Buddha’s teachings in a few decades than the traditions did in millennia.

We should not be surprised that traditions accumulate changes. And if we gather them all as a big list, it sure looks like a lot. But don’t forget, traditions are also responsible for maintaining the Dhamma and making it possible for us to practice. And they also preserve many aspects of Dhamma that are not easily reducible to simple doctrines: a way of being or ethos, a sense of virtue, a reverence for the Buddha and his teachings.

Many of these issues are actively debated within Buddhist traditions, and indeed I learned many of them from traditional scholars and practitioners. We criticize only out of love and respect, in the faith that a living tradition is one that is capable of revitalization.

Also useful is The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts by Venerables Sujato and Brahmali.