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Buddhism!


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Hi vespa, its really difficult to get any idea of what the Dhamma (Teaching) is from a book.

You will read about concepts and their definitions, for example The Four Noble Truths, simple to read but impossible to know what it really is.

Understanding comes through actual  experience, meditation being an efficient tool to enable you to experience.

What i have found in the past is that i had learned many of the ideas/concepts but i did not understand them until i actually experienced something that then made the concept clear. So, in a way the ideas/concepts come last.

But, you gotta start somewhere don't you.

I would recommend The Discourses of the Buddha (Anguttara Nikaya) .

Some modern books here http://www.watkinsmagazine.com/top-10-books-on-theravada-buddhism

If you want to just see how complex it can get there is Visuddhimagga - The Path Of Purification by Buddhaghosa,

https://archive.org/stream/Visuddhimagga-ThePathOfPurification/PathofPurification2011_djvu.txt

My personal favourite is The Manuals Of Buddhism by Ledi Sayadaw (Burmese monk early 20th C), not very available though.

 

Buddhism is a tricky and difficult path to start on, I don't know how far you want to go with it.

In the beginning it can be like there's nothing "happening".

Be wary of anyone who asks for money to teach you.

PM me if you want for any questions you may have.

 

Thank you very much for all the info.

'Buddhist Biology' by David Barrash.

 

Thank you.

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Thank you very much for all the info.

Thank you.

 

Buddhist Biology' by David Barrash- it made sense to me anyway so it must be readable and I liked the way he relates Buddhist philosophy to life. it sounds too theoretical usually for my brain to take it in. I do feel, however, that he exaggerates the influence religion has had on societies and still has. I don't think it's that important. I'd appreciate it if anyone can think of one single characteristic, trait or mode of thinking which has been put into us by a religion and which it can be proved wouldn't be there without.

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If you say you are a Buddhist, you are not really saying much at all.

The difference is the Buddhism is not really a belief system, its a guide to learning and changing oneself.

Religions are belief systems, requiring "faith" because nothing of what they say can be proved.

Communism and socialism are really religions without a god.

It can be hard to decipher often whether its the religion using the people or the people using religion when you see  conflicts involving people of "faith". its usually a combination of both I think.

 

The implanting of the idea of god into western and islamic societies (and Jewish people) is an extremely powerful tool to control the people,

Marx said it, religion is the opium of the people.

I watched Trumps inauguration last night, it was a christian ceremony! (with one jewish lobby representative), even though church and state are supposed to be separated.

Since Darwin selfishness has a "sound" theoretical basis, people use this often as an excuse for their behaviour without even realizing.

But it conflicts with christian teaching, as in throw down your possessions and follow me.

So we mostly see "respectable" greed/self-interest, a christian-darwinism hybrid.

These ways of being are so embedded in western societies they are no longer actually seen or questioned, its a very deep programming of the people.

If you get inside a culture and all your re-inforcement is from that culture you can believe anything without question.

Is mongering good? Of course it is, everyone says so and talks about how wonderful it is. Groups are very powerful and potentially very dangerous as well.

 

Buddhism is about subtraction, god based religions are about accumulation.

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Thai Buddhism is not very close to what the Buddha taught.

Thai Buddhism is to Buddhism .. as Catholicism is to Christianity

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

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On 12/16/2015 at 1:28 AM, MunterHunter said:

Any off you guys recommend a good book on Buddhism?

I lately discovered the Philosopher Alan Watts .There are loads of talks by him on Youtube  about Buddhism and many other topics .He certainly makes you think .

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that name rings an old  bell.

Alan Watts was one of the  popular Buddhism "interpreters" back in the 1970's.

Can't remember a thing of what he said!

 

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On 8/10/2017 at 9:48 AM, Grumbler said:

that name rings an old  bell.

Alan Watts was one of the  popular Buddhism "interpreters" back in the 1970's.

Can't remember a thing of what he said!

 

Listen to him again .It may mean more to you or not as the case may be .

https://youtu.be/56aYshUU6gI

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On 09/08/2017 at 11:41 AM, Chiang mai Tony said:

I lately discovered the Philosopher Alan Watts .There are loads of talks by him on Youtube  about Buddhism and many other topics .He certainly makes you think .

His stuff is pretty interesting

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Had a listen to that thanks. It does remind me of  how i used to be back then, my interest and inquiry was very word/idea based. Read books, remember wise quotes, think wise thoughts etc.

There was also the "Yellow Book" by Ram Dass, the Dhammapadda and lots of other popular books when we were all hippies, but really we were just subscribing to ideas we were not actually doing anything. I think that is the danger, getting caught in ideas and thoughts and concepts and thinking something will come from it.

Its a pretty normal Desire to want to be told what its all about, especially in the west because the whole thing is very foreign at first. That's how our education system works.

But the Buddha did lay it all out very clearly, maybe too simply for us, we want more detail, more explanation because we think we can can think our way to understanding it.

All this wise advice about there is nothing to attain, the Buddha is inside you etc. etc. are completely useless and and a distraction, a mind tease you can't resist playing with.

The only hard thing is finding YOUR path/method. The do it. Do it and do it.

The Second Noble Truth - The Cause of Suffering.

Desire IS suffering is a fact, its not an idea. Its an actual  experience not something out there in deep space.

The Dhamma is a statement of fact not a philosophy or a belief system.

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On 8/8/2017 at 7:23 PM, noself said:

Thai Buddhism is not very close to what the Buddha taught.

Thai Buddhism is to Buddhism .. as Catholicism is to Christianity

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 

I agree with you. Thais seem to corrupt everything they come in contact with, and their version of Buddhism is a great example of this.

 

Women are made to be loved, not understood.

 

 

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