11
You absolutely can recognize it in yourself. Not only can, you definitely should put effort in doing so -- it makes a huge difference in one's practice (from my own experience being a student).
Spiritual Materialism, (or we could call it Spiritual Accumulation or Spiritual Aggrandizement or Spiritual Indulging) is a tendency of samsaric mind to use ...
10
Nirodha is a term that is normally translated as 'cessation' or 'stopping'. It's what happens to suffering in the 3rd noble truth, dukkhanirodha (cessation of suffering) and to all of the other elements of the chain of Dependent Arising.
The context which you refer to is the state of nirodhasamāpatti (attainment of cessation), saññāvedayitanirodha1 (...
9
I've heard that they don't believe in any god.
It depends on what you mean by God. Buddhism does not have the concept of a almighty, creator (deism), sustainer, creator plus sustainer (theism), destroyer, everlasting god, external controller or owner or creator of the soul, enforcer of karma or retribution and rewards for one's actions, etc. but does ...
answered Feb 14 '16 at 4:21
Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena
36.7k3 gold badges24 silver badges78 bronze badges
7
Venerable Prayudh Payutto a distinguished Thai Scholar Monk explains that another way of interpreting nirodha is that the phenomena does not arise because it's cause has been eliminated. In that sense nirodha would not entail the cessation or suppression of something that has already arisen but instead there is no arising at all. Like for example in 3rd ...
7
The prajnaparamita canon is quite ancient going back to 1-2 BCE. It's not clear if the original set of sutras were composed in Sanskrit or Gandhari first and subsequently translated to Sanskrit. (Source: Wikipedia)
However the heart (Hṛdaya) sutra, said to be part of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra canon, and most famous certainly, is in the view of modern ...
7
You don't believe in any God. Ok. You don't believe in rituals. Ok. Very likely you already don't. So why Buddhism? I'd like to make an important point here stating that Buddhism is anything but a religion. The right question to ask would be why would you want to follow anything at all.
You will find many answers here that will give you sources and some ...
6
Also check out suttacentral.net, really good sources in Pali, Chinese, Sanskrit, Tibetan and various different language translations..
6
Daniel Goleman was mistaken. An excellent internet review of his book states:
Two notable mistakes are made in this section, one being the consistent misspelling of pañña as puñña (I get a little worried when
an author misspells key terms), the second being the placement of
nirodha-samapatti (“cessation of feeling and perception”) as above, or
...
6
The main idea is pretty Zen yes. The premise of the book is that Western philosophy made a wrong turn at Aristotle, who placed (conceptual) Truth at the top of the hierarchy of all knowable, thereby subsuming the Good (aka Quality aka Beauty) as a byproduct of Truth. Through this sleight of hands the conceptual has falsely acquired status of universal, while ...
6
What books address various difficulties that may arise during various stages of meditation practice?
The Five Hindrances disturb one's path in meditation and practice. The canonical description can be found in the Nivarana Sutta.
Here are some useful resources:
Book entitled Unhindered: A Mindful Path Through the Five Hindrances by Gil Fronsdal.
A selection of texts and their commentaries on The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest by Nyanaponika ...
6
In my opinion, one of the best translations is the one in Analayo Bhikhu's "Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization".
see https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/direct-path.pdf or
https://ahandfulofleaves.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/satipatthana_direct-path_analayo_free-distribution-copy2.pdf
5
To avoid confusion - I base my understanding of the term 'Hinayana' on Andrei's answers to two different questions - this and that.
Hinayana way (or as Andrei puts it - level) refers to basic/elementary/foundational aspects of Buddhism. On this level precepts are central and students learn to follow basic discipline. The main idea is to work with one's own ...
5
I think the answer is not much. Robert Pirsig states that
it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual
information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very
factual on motorcycles, either.
The title itself is apparently a play on the book Zen and the Art of Archery
However to say it isn't about Zen doesn't mean ...
5
Deathbed Sutra of the Buddha
From the customers' reviews of the book, I get the impression that it is a fictional work to provoke a reassessment of one's thinking in light of controversies.
A few reviews from customers:
This book a very clever merging of philosophy and fiction, which examines and challenges some fundamental Buddhist beliefs in a manner that ...
5
It's a cup is half empty, half full kind of thing.
One says, life is full of suffering so one succeeds by coming out a winner ahead of others.
The other says the life is full of suffering, so one must help everyone out of suffering to personally come out of suffering.
One view point creates conflict, the other eliminates conflict.
I see Art of War as ...
5
Very few of the early Buddhist texts survive in Sanskrit translation. Also the Sanskrit translations were made relatively late, perhaps the 4th or 5th century CE and they had frequently been substantially changed by this point. For example the Samaññaphala Sutta does survive in Sanskrit, but it is a very different text (and as far as I know, only available ...
5
In my opinion, 'Secular Buddhism' can be problematic since often adherents to this new group (such as Stephen Batchelor, who believes purity of mind is not possible) often misrepresent the Buddhist teachings due to no aspiration to practise Buddhism at a high level. They are like Protestant Christians that seek to modify the Buddhist teachings to suit ...
4
In Japan in 2003 the number of Buddhist temples were
30,000 Pure Land
21,000 Zen
15,000 Shingom
14,000 Nichiren
5,000 Tendai
The source for this is Introducing Buddhism by Peter Harvey (pp 409 2nd Edition)
There is a Japanese Theravada Association which claims thousands of members and the Dhammakaya movement has six centres in Japan. However this ...
4
In the sense that Shunryu Suzuki uses "beginner's mind" there is no losing the beginners mind. It is our natural beingness. Being lost to it is believing there is something in this world of appearance that can fulfill us or satisfy our longing to be in "beginner's mind".
Here is one quote that talks about our natural beingness:
http://www.goodreads.com/...
4
Buddhanet contain a lot of meditation related ebooks on the topic which you can read. A good introductory book would be:
Essentials of Insight Meditation Practice
MINDFULNESS IN PLAIN ENGLISH
Right Mindfulness: Memory & Ardency on the Buddhist Path
Also following questions on the site might be of interest also:
Introductory books to Buddhism
Beginner ...
answered Dec 10 '14 at 3:56
Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena
36.7k3 gold badges24 silver badges78 bronze badges
4
In the Mahasi tradition we don't have the idea of beginner's mind, just a continuous refinement of the process. Many times throughout my practice, I've learned that some phenomena or thought process was just that—where previously I mistook it for a deeper reality. And I continue to experience these refinements.
But to attempt to answer your question, try ...
4
I'm the author of the Deathbed Sutra, so I can assure you that it's fiction. It was intended as a work of philosophical fiction which examines some problematic aspects of the Buddha's teachings in the Pali sutras.
4
You may see these two books:
Buddha by Karen Armstrong,
The Life of Buddha according to the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Nanamoli.
4
If you are looking to most accurate and reliable the best translations are by Piya Tan:
Mahasatipatthana
Mahasatipatthana Trilinear Edition
An Introduction to the Satipatthana Suttas
Satipatthana Mula by Ven. Sujato Edited By Piya Tan
After which the next best is from VRI:
Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta
Discourses on Satipatthana Sutta - which carries a more ...
answered Nov 3 '15 at 16:33
Suminda Sirinath S. Dharmasena
36.7k3 gold badges24 silver badges78 bronze badges
4
You don't need to join any community to become a buddhist.
You can start by taking five precepts.
To abstain from evil (Sila - Morality)
To do good (Samadhi - Concentration)
To purify the mind (Panna - Wisdom)
These are the teachings of all the Buddhas.
Dhammapada, verse 183
Sila (The Precepts)
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
...
4
The paper titled "Between reverence and revolt:
Hesse and the two faces of religion" suggests that Hesse was primarily a (Christian) Protestant.
It says for example that in his 1921 diary he wrote:
“And now the whole of Buddhism increasingly appears to me to be
a kind of Indian Reformation, an exact equivalent of the Christian one”
So far as I know, a ...
4
Did some googling.
The Buddha Way
by Harper San Francisco
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-buddha-waya-folding-screen-book_harper-san-francisco/2596039/item/13174882/#isbn=0062511394&idiq=13174882
Is this it?
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible