which dhamma texts would you pick?

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
Nyana
Posts: 2233
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:56 am

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by Nyana »

User avatar
bodom
Posts: 7216
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:18 pm
Location: San Antonio, Texas

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by bodom »

Without a doubt the two texts I would be bringing are Nyanatiloka"s anthology of suttas The Buddhas Path to Deliverance and Ajahn Chah's Food for the Heart.

:anjali:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
alan...
Posts: 824
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:37 pm

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by alan... »

all sound great. ajahn chah is really popular! i know little about him. is he as meticulous and specific as ajahn brahm? all i've read by him are snippets and quotes that seem vague, but then again snippets and quotes are frequently in themselves vague.

why the dhammapada? is it a commentary along with it?
alan...
Posts: 824
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:37 pm

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by alan... »

bodom wrote:Without a doubt the two texts I would be bringing are Nyanatiloka"s anthology of suttas The Buddhas Path to Deliverance and Ajahn Chah's Food for the Heart.

:anjali:
never read any nyanatiloka, i'll have to look into that. another ajahn chah mention! he must be good.
alan...
Posts: 824
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:37 pm

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by alan... »

lojong1 wrote:
manas wrote:I don't know if people could actually learn the Dhamma *just* from books, without losing their way.
They would have each other. They ought to be able to make some progress with...

the MAJJHIMA NIKAYA
seriously! along with bhikkhu bodhi's notes that book is extremely comprehensive and useful!!! it's my desert island book if i had to pick one for sure.
User avatar
ground
Posts: 2591
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:01 am

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by ground »

Sort of "Survival" books may be more appropriate, books about simply agriculture ... because it is an "island in the middle of nowhere" :sage:
User avatar
retrofuturist
Posts: 27848
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,
alan... wrote:why the dhammapada? is it a commentary along with it?
There's a set of stories that have been forcibly retrofitted into it, but I'm not aware of a commentary beyond that.
another ajahn chah mention! he must be good.
There's a free PDF online that collects all his translated Dhamma talks.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Nyana
Posts: 2233
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:56 am

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by Nyana »

alan... wrote:ajahn chah is really popular! i know little about him. is he as meticulous and specific as ajahn brahm? all i've read by him are snippets and quotes that seem vague, but then again snippets and quotes are frequently in themselves vague.
I haven't found Ajahn Chah to be vague. IMO he often gets to the heart of the matter. Many translations of his teachings are available here: ajahnchah.org.
alan... wrote:why the dhammapada?
It's a useful collection of teachings that cover various aspects of conduct and practice.
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by tiltbillings »

Ñāṇa wrote:
alan... wrote:why the dhammapada?
It's a useful collection of teachings that cover various aspects of conduct and practice.
It is a very rich and deep text.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
Ben
Posts: 18438
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:49 am
Location: kanamaluka

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by Ben »

ground wrote:Sort of "Survival" books may be more appropriate, books about simply agriculture ... because it is an "island in the middle of nowhere" :sage:
He must mean Australia.
When you get here, he'll see we've had various forms of agriculture for 40,000 years +.
We've also got the tipitaka, commentaries and the storehouse of Theravadin post-canonical literature.
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
User avatar
Dhammanando
Posts: 6492
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:44 pm
Location: Mae Wang Huai Rin, Li District, Lamphun

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by Dhammanando »

alan... wrote:why the dhammapada? is it a commentary along with it?
There is an old commentary to it, traditionally attributed to Buddhaghosa. The commentary comprises an explanation of the words in each verse, along with some story that ostensibly accounts for the verse's origin. The stories were translated many decades ago by Burlingame as Buddhist Legends, but he left out the arguably much more useful word-commentary. The latter has now been translated by John Ross Carter, but you need to get the right edition. The Ross Carter translation that Ñāṇa linked to is the 112-page edition, with the verses only. For the word-commentary you need to get the 552-page edition by Ross Carter, Mahinda Palihawadana and Jaroslav Pelikan:

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/s ... 0195108606

But if you don't want to spend $65 there is also a Kindle version for $7.
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
alan...
Posts: 824
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:37 pm

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by alan... »

Ben wrote:
ground wrote:Sort of "Survival" books may be more appropriate, books about simply agriculture ... because it is an "island in the middle of nowhere" :sage:
He must mean Australia.
When you get here, he'll see we've had various forms of agriculture for 40,000 years +.
We've also got the tipitaka, commentaries and the storehouse of Theravadin post-canonical literature.
just so everyone is clear i was never talking about australia. as far as i know australia is just like any other modern country such as england, france, japan, or the united states. my fictional island has no tv, internet, etc. it's your classic lost island in the middle of nowhere scenario. whereas australia is totally modern and connected with everyone else via all sorts of technology. australia would in no way fit my hypothetical scenario.

how in the world people think i'm talking about australia is beyond me.
User avatar
LonesomeYogurt
Posts: 900
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:24 pm
Location: America

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by LonesomeYogurt »

If it's NOT Australia, then I would bring the Samyutta Nikaya hollowed out and filled with tons of horrifying spiders - I wouldn't want my island nation to feel wimpy in comparison.

Seriously Australia what's up with your spiders
Image

Anyway, I would suggest, as a text, the Majjhima Nikaya or the Sutta Nipata - I value the latter more, but the former is probably filled with more worthwhile stuff just because of its size. As a non-canonical source, Buddhadasa's Mindfulness with Breathing would be all the meditation instruction anyone out there would need.
Gain and loss, status and disgrace,
censure and praise, pleasure and pain:
these conditions among human beings are inconstant,
impermanent, subject to change.

Knowing this, the wise person, mindful,
ponders these changing conditions.
Desirable things don’t charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.

His welcoming and rebelling are scattered,
gone to their end,
do not exist.
- Lokavipatti Sutta

Stuff I write about things.
User avatar
reflection
Posts: 1116
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 9:27 pm

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by reflection »

alan... wrote:
Ben wrote:
ground wrote:Sort of "Survival" books may be more appropriate, books about simply agriculture ... because it is an "island in the middle of nowhere" :sage:
He must mean Australia.
When you get here, he'll see we've had various forms of agriculture for 40,000 years +.
We've also got the tipitaka, commentaries and the storehouse of Theravadin post-canonical literature.
just so everyone is clear i was never talking about australia. as far as i know australia is just like any other modern country such as england, france, japan, or the united states. my fictional island has no tv, internet, etc. it's your classic lost island in the middle of nowhere scenario. whereas australia is totally modern and connected with everyone else via all sorts of technology. australia would in no way fit my hypothetical scenario.

how in the world people think i'm talking about australia is beyond me.
Pretty much sounds like a place I'll be visiting soonish.. All the bookwork I take is a map to get me off again at the other end. :D I do think of taking a dhammapada, though. To have something inspiring to read in the evenings.
User avatar
reflection
Posts: 1116
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 9:27 pm

Re: which dhamma texts would you pick?

Post by reflection »

ground wrote:Sort of "Survival" books may be more appropriate, books about simply agriculture ... because it is an "island in the middle of nowhere" :sage:
Image

:jumping:
Post Reply