Reading the Sutras

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Mushin
    Member
    • Jul 2008
    • 40

    Reading the Sutras

    Greetings Sangha,

    I have read a few classics in asian philosophy (Tao te Ching, Art of War, Ueshiba's Art of Peace) but haven't read any of the sutras. I looked on Amazon and found the Diamond and Heart Sutras, and I think one or two others.

    Where is a good source to purchase the majority of Sutras and which book should I start with first?

    M.
  • Damian
    Member
    • Jan 2008
    • 84

    #2
    Re: Reading the Sutras

    I have a copy of the Buddhist Bible which has lot's o' Sutras in it. Might be worth checking out for you.



    Good luck with your search, I am sure will get many more responses!

    Gassho,
    Damian

    Comment

    • Jundo
      Treeleaf Founder and Priest
      • Apr 2006
      • 40617

      #3
      Re: Reading the Sutras

      Hi Mushin,

      Have a look at our suggested reading list ...
      http://www.treeleaf.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=889

      The Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra (now being discussed daily on "sit-a-long with Jundo") are later Mahayana works of the "Perfection of Wisdom" genre.

      If you want to read the early Pali Suttas, a good book is ...

      In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon, Bhikkhu Bodhi (Editor)

      http://www.allbookstores.com/book/0861714911

      I advice with that book though, just to read the Buddha's words and do not get lost in the footnotes (which are largely interpretation from Bhikku Bodhi's school). The Buddha's words themselves are clear and bright.

      The "Buddhist Bible" that Damian mentions is a very old (very early 20th century, around 1932 I think) translation, very rough and impressionistic in places. I really can't recommend it compared to later translations and scholarship like that by Bhikku Bodhi.

      Gassho, Jundo
      ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

      Comment

      • Fuken
        Member
        • Sep 2006
        • 435

        #4
        Re: Reading the Sutras

        The Internets can be a boon.
        You may be interested in exploring this link:http://www4.bayarea.net/~mtlee/

        Gassho,
        Jordan
        Yours in practice,
        Jordan ("Fu Ken" translates to "Wind Sword", Dharma name givin to me by Jundo, I am so glad he did not name me Wind bag.)

        Comment

        • Dainin
          Member
          • Sep 2007
          • 389

          #5
          Re: Reading the Sutras

          A book that I've been recommending lately is Basic Teachings of the Buddha by Glenn Wallis. Wallis chose 16 suttas that are pretty much accepted by most Buddhist schools. His translation is refreshing in that he translates Buddhist concepts in new ways; I have found that this helps illuminate the basic teachings. He also provides an excellent commentary.

          http://www.amazon.com/Teachings-Buddha- ... 791&sr=8-1

          Gassho,
          Keith

          Comment

          • Al
            Member
            • May 2007
            • 400

            #6
            Re: Reading the Sutras

            I still love my old standby, The Dhammapada. As Jundo says, it is "clear and bright."
            Gassho _/\_

            brokenpine.tumblr.com

            Comment

            • Dainin
              Member
              • Sep 2007
              • 389

              #7
              Re: Reading the Sutras

              Originally posted by aebaxter
              I still love my old standby, The Dhammapada. As Jundo says, it is "clear and bright."
              Hey aebaxter,

              I like the Dhammapada, too. Wallis has a pretty good translation, a little on the scholarly side, but like with his Basic Teachings of the Buddha, he provides excellent commentary. What translation do you like to read?

              Gassho,
              Keith

              Comment

              • Al
                Member
                • May 2007
                • 400

                #8
                Re: Reading the Sutras

                Originally posted by Keith
                Hey aebaxter,

                I like the Dhammapada, too. Wallis has a pretty good translation, a little on the scholarly side, but like with his Basic Teachings of the Buddha, he provides excellent commentary. What translation do you like to read?

                Gassho,
                Keith
                Hi there Keith-
                I actually have two translations. One is a little pocket version, The Dhammapada with a foreward by Thich Nhat Hanh and translated by Ananda Maitreya. The other is The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations translated by Gil Fronsdal. I will have to check out the Wallis version.
                Gassho _/\_

                brokenpine.tumblr.com

                Comment

                • Dainin
                  Member
                  • Sep 2007
                  • 389

                  #9
                  Re: Reading the Sutras

                  Originally posted by aebaxter
                  Hi there Keith-
                  I actually have two translations. One is a little pocket version, The Dhammapada with a foreward by Thich Nhat Hanh and translated by Ananda Maitreya. The other is The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations translated by Gil Fronsdal. I will have to check out the Wallis version.
                  Although I have not read them from cover to cover, I am familar with both translations. The Fronsdal translation has gotten a lot of good press.

                  Gassho,
                  Keith

                  Comment

                  • Jundo
                    Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                    • Apr 2006
                    • 40617

                    #10
                    Re: Reading the Sutras

                    Originally posted by Jordan
                    The Internets can be a boon.
                    You may be interested in exploring this link:http://www4.bayarea.net/~mtlee/

                    Gassho,
                    Jordan
                    Yes, I should have thought of that. And besides the Mahayana materials that Jordan posted, Thanissaro Bhikkhu has a great and respected online collection of his Pali translations.

                    http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... index.html

                    That should keep you busy reading for awhile.

                    Of course, remember that even the earliest Suttas were written down hundreds of years after the Buddha is said to have spoken the words (although said to have been accurately preserved as an oral tradition from generation to generation), that many of the Suttas (for example, all the Mahayana Sutras) were actually written completely by other authors "channeling" what that Buddha is said to have said through their vivid imaginations, and that hundreds of different schools have been debating thousands of different interpretations of what the Buddha said since he is said to have said them (no different from Christianity and the Bible in that regard).

                    So, somewhere in there ... you may find "Buddhism" and "What the Buddha taught".

                    And of course, from our Zen Perspective, "what the Buddha taught" is fully realized the moment you sit down on your Zafu.

                    Actually, every time I go back to the early writing (like that Bukkhu Boddhi collection) I am so happy to find that what we are practicing now is merely what the Buddha is said to have been preaching way back then ... although maybe with some development and honing, seasoning, adaption to new times and cultures, some new ways of viewing or expressing things 2500 years later. Still, our Zen Practice is faithful to the Founder. I think he would not be displeased with our Ways.

                    What he taught (The Four Noble Truths & The Eightfold Path, Non-Self, Non-Attachment, Dependent Origination, etc. etc.) is what we Practice, with a few tweeks to things like literal rebirth stories.

                    Gassho, Jundo
                    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                    Comment

                    • Jinho

                      #11
                      Re: Reading the Sutras

                      Hi y'all,

                      Does anyone know when the Pali texts were written? Or when scholars have dated the texts to? (I really must take that english grammar course....)

                      gassho,
                      rowan

                      Comment

                      • Jundo
                        Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                        • Apr 2006
                        • 40617

                        #12
                        Re: Reading the Sutras

                        Originally posted by ros
                        Hi y'all,

                        Does anyone know when the Pali texts were written? Or when scholars have dated the texts to? (I really must take that english grammar course....)

                        gassho,
                        rowan
                        Hi Rowan,


                        It is my understanding that the texts were first written down somewhere between the 1st century B.C.E. and 5th century C.E., many centuries after the time of Buddha. Various claims are made, however, for the accuracy of the oral traditional in between. Some works are considered to have been written down earlier than others, and various "Council" over the centuries set to the task of compiling and editing.

                        http://ebudhaindia.com/india/buddhistcouncil.htm

                        In any case, the Pali Canon was also, over the centuries, subject to various reformulations and modifications according to changing orthodoxy, not unlike what occurred in the process of standardization of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible ... with certain texts excluded on doctrinal grounds.

                        For a scholar's treatment of these issues, please see the following fairly recent article (especially Section II, which begins on p. 76).

                        This eight-volume set brings together seminal papers in Buddhist studies from a vast range of academic disciplines published over the last forty years. With a new introduction by the editor, this collection is a unique and unrivalled research resource for both student and scholar. Coverage includes: - Buddhist origins; early history of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia - early Buddhist Schools and Doctrinal History; Theravada Doctrine - the Origins and nature of Mahayana Buddhism; some Mahayana religious topics - Abhidharma and Madhyamaka - Yogacara, the Epistemological tradition, and Tathagatagarbha - Tantric Buddhism (Including China and Japan); Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet - Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia, and - Buddhism in China, East Asia, and Japan.


                        In our Zen View, the Buddha's words can be realized right in a moment of Zazen.

                        Gassho, Jundo
                        ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                        Comment

                        Working...