KT45 Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Well I want to start studying other religions now since I'm free to do so. The first religion I wanted to start with was Buddhism. Well when I started to look for the buddhist holy book (See I'm still thinking like a christian) I found that buddhism has a lot of books!!!! Here's what I learned websurfing The Tripitaka or the "three baskets", includes Buddha's sermons, rules for the monks and philosophical teachings, with 100 volumes, and is about the size of 70 Bibles. The Mahayana sect has over 200 volumes. The Vajrayana (Tantrism Buddhism) has 225 volumes of stuff The Tibetan literature has 300 volumes The writings of the 6 Buddhist Councils has 600 volumes Then you got books by the different dalai lamas....... . I can see why some christians wouldn't want to get into it I'm not reading all of that!!!!! All I want is one or the two of the books closest to being called the "buddhist bible". yeah and no commentary stuff, I just want writings that were what buddha (if he existed) actually said. I'd also appreciate the key texts for other religions, zen buddhism, hinduism, wicca I don't care. Just want to learn and to become enlightened!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandora Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Hmm... yes, there is a lot. I would suggest visiting a local Buddhist temple and ask which scriptures and books are particuluarly important for their devotion. Otherwise, I would just get a few books on Buddhism, its history, practice, and range of belief. Usually, only scholarly books on Buddhism (ones universities use) are going to have books that will include basic scriptures from Buddhism... like the bodhi tree narrative. The only scripture I know that has been translated for the masses is Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. It's a collection of Zen writings popular with Western Zen Buddhists (and others, too). Sources of Indian Tradition (a series of books I used for my classes) has lots of eastern writings, inlcuding Buddhist, Hindu, and political. One of the baskets is the sayings of the Buddha... the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon. It may be difficult to find in it's entirety translated into English (it is originally in Sanskrit), though... but if you can, that's what you are looking for. Let me know what you are looking for and I'll go get my reference books from class and give you authors. Edit: Oh, I just remember a website our prof used to refer us to if wanted to read more. The links are actually translated: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/ Oh, a very popular text to most Hindus is the Bhagavad Gita. It's short and easily found at a bookstore. The Vedas, however make up most of the literature... they are as vast as the Pali Canon. I'm trying to find a link for you now.... http://www.hindunet.org/scriptures/ It's not that good, but it's a start... for Hinduism, it was much like Buddhism, the complete scriptures are not even all translated into English, very long, and most of it is not the esoteric philosophy that I am guessing you are looking for. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skankboy Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 Unlike Christianity, Buddhism has never been completely codified, nor had a primary organizational body (ie the Church). The result is a HUGE amount of writings and supposed sayings of the Buddha(s). But also unlike Christianity, Buddhism doesn't require one. One of the last things Sidhartha is supposed to have said before his death was: "Be lamps unto yourselves. Be a refuge unto yourselves. Do not turn to any external refuge...Work out your own salvation with diligence." Thus a single, homogenized piece of literature (like the bible) would run counter to this idea. My best suggestion would be like what Pandora said. Get some books on Buddhist history, and/or if there is a temple in your area, ask questions. Don't be surprised if different people give you different answers about Buddhism, that's kind of the point. Apart from the 4 Noble truths, etc (the basic philosophical tenets of the Buddha), the rest is just a way for you to be able to relate to it better (being a lamp unto yourself...) Hope that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadouKen24 Posted June 1, 2006 Share Posted June 1, 2006 I believe the Dhammapada is considered to be a good overall writing. Supposed to contain sayings from the Buddha himself. If you want sacred writings in general, http://www.sacred-texts.org/ has sacred writings from every major religion, and a whole passel of minor ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Afriend Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 To be honest if you are planning on studying more religions then just Buddhism, I would start with the Hindu Faith. The Unpanishads, or the Rig Veda are a good spot to start there. For Eastern Religions, I would go in this order Hinduism, Jainism, Budhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT45 Posted June 2, 2006 Author Share Posted June 2, 2006 To be honest if you are planning on studying more religions then just Buddhism, I would start with the Hindu Faith. The Unpanishads, or the Rig Veda are a good spot to start there. For Eastern Religions, I would go in this order Hinduism, Jainism, Budhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Is there a reason why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefranden Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 The core of Buddhism is the 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path. I suggest that you start there. You will probably find hundreds of explanations of just this. And check out Christmas Humphrys' Introduction to Buddhism. It is quite readable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT45 Posted June 2, 2006 Author Share Posted June 2, 2006 The core of Buddhism is the 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path. I suggest that you start there. Which holy book are those principles originally written Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loves_learning Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 Ahhh...you are discovering that not all religions are so rigid! Good for you! Here is where I would start: before you're really going to understand anything that is considered to be an authoritative writing in Buddhist literature, a good sourcebook on history of religions in India is going to be key. Buddhism started in India, but is virtually non-existent there now. Anything you would find in a college library would probably be useful. As far as an introduction into Buddhist writings (and other writings in Indian religions such as the ones mentioned above: Jainism, Rg Veda, Yoga, etc.) I will suggest this one, I use it ALL OF THE TIME as a graduate student in the field: "A Sourcebook In Indian Philosophy" edited by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore. I'll include a link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/069101958...glance&n=283155 While I would ignore most of the commentary in the book (neither I nor my profs agree with a lot of it) it has an exceptional amount of literature that covers all of your bases, including Buddhism. It is really long...but exhaustive. And, if you want to read more, there are tons of bibliographical references that will lead you to more. Good luck...update me with what you find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fallenleaf Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 The core of Buddhism is the 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path. I suggest that you start there. Which holy book are those principles originally written This question is impossible to answer. You will find that the vast majority of all the recorded words of the Buddha deal with these 12 things. There is no "first book" like Genesis in the bible. You have literally thousands of recorded instances where he taught on the four noble truths and the eightfold path (which is actually the 4th noble truth). Finding where they were originally written is not finding the best source. If you wish to read the account of when he first taught them... look for the Deer Park incident where he came down and taught his previous fellows the four noble truths. Any life of the Buddha account will include that. And you can find dozens of places it was recorded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuaiDan Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 I typed a long winded reply and fucked it up. Two aspects to buddhism: Religious, to appease the masses philosophical, the true core of buddhism Most people are into the religious aspect, they don't have the patience to understand what buddhism really is about (see the 4 Noble Truths). They like burning insesne, praying, making donations to the temple, putting fruit in front of their idols, etc. The reason a centralized dogma does not exist for buddhism, is because by its very nature buddhism is anti-dogmatic. Buddhism is about seeking the truth within yourself, not being programmed from the outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astreja Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 My recommendations: Dhammapada Insight Meditation by Joseph Goldstein Turning the Mind Into an Ally by Sakyong Mipham and the Heart (Mahaprajna Paramita Hridaya) Sutra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Afriend Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 The reason I reccomended starting with the Hindu faith is that it helps explains the origins of Buddhism. There is no need to go in the order I suggested, but to me doing so makes more sense. A lot of the ideas in Buddhism where first introduced to the world in the guise of the Hindu faith. The reason I gave the above order is because it allows one to follow Eastern religions development out of India, and into China. Some people are not as interested in history as I am. If you are primarly just interested in Buddhism, by all means start there. No harm will come from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT45 Posted June 3, 2006 Author Share Posted June 3, 2006 The reason I reccomended starting with the Hindu faith is that it helps explains the origins of Buddhism. There is no need to go in the order I suggested, but to me doing so makes more sense. A lot of the ideas in Buddhism where first introduced to the world in the guise of the Hindu faith. The reason I gave the above order is because it allows one to follow Eastern religions development out of India, and into China. Some people are not as interested in history as I am. If you are primarly just interested in Buddhism, by all means start there. No harm will come from it. thanks and welcome to the forums!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT45 Posted June 7, 2006 Author Share Posted June 7, 2006 Well I started on my little journey but it didn't go as planned. I went to books-a-million and went to the religion section. I didn't realize the monopoly it had on christianity. But anyway the big three were present. christianity more than any other book, the torah and the kabbalah, and the Quran. And nothing else. I got disappointed but found some stuff in the philosophy section. They had a few books on buddhism, taoism but again I didn't know where to start since they were all commentaries. The one book I did see was the tibetan book of the dead. I read the first chapter, section or book (I'm not sure what it would be called). But after reading that I went to the next part and I had no idea what was going on and there was no commentary for me to follow along with. So I relecutantly put the book down and glanced at the other books. Some seemed like they might be good but I'll search amazon and get reviews first. Well I was thinking that maybe I should approach my study a different way. Since it's really hard for me to visualize and understand the text maybe I should watch a dvd or listen to a podcast or something about the specific religion that isn't from a christian bias. Any suggestions. Any religion will do (except for one!!!). I just wanna learn. Oh I found some wicca stuff but I didn't know where to start with that either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadouKen24 Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Well I started on my little journey but it didn't go as planned. I went to books-a-million Ah, well, there's your problem right there. [/book snob] Seriously, though, Barnes and Noble or Borders would be much better places to look, as chain bookstores go. They have much better selections of books in general, and especially in the religion section. Oh I found some wicca stuff but I didn't know where to start with that either Any book that looks like a beginner's book and isn't written by Silver Ravenwolf should do. Though a lot of Wiccans would advise steering clear of Scott Cunningham as well, since his version of Wicca is a bit more, say, open ended than many Wiccans are comfortable with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefranden Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Taylor, What about the libraray? The books in there are free! And they are not stocked according to what is selling. My libraray will fall all over themselves to get me a book they haven't got. Its great. chef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT45 Posted June 8, 2006 Author Share Posted June 8, 2006 Here is my list of religious books to buy so far. Please critique them or offer better suggestions. If possible name dvds, websites, youtube channels anything to help me out. Buddhism Buddhism for Dummies (Paperback) by Jonathan Landaw, Stephan Bodian http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076455359...glance&n=283155 The Dhammapada : A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations (Hardcover) by Jack Kornfield (Translator), Gil Fronsdal (Translator), Gil Fronsdal http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159030211...glance&n=283155 Confucianism The Analects of Confucius (Lun Yu) (Paperback) by Confucius, Chichung Huang (Translator) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019511276...glance&n=283155 Hinduism The Bhagavad Gita : A Walkthrough for Westerners (Hardcover) by Jack Hawley (Translator) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157731147...glance&n=283155 The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Hinduism (Paperback) by Linda Johnsen, Linda Johnsen http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/002864227...glance&n=283155 A Source Book in Indian Philosophy (Paperback) by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Charles A. Moore http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/069101958...glance&n=283155 Judaism Kabbalah (Paperback) by Gershom Gerhard Scholem http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/045201007...glance&n=283155 Mormon The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (Official Edition) (Paperback) by Joseph Smith (Translator) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/096768656...glance&n=283155 Scientology What Is Scientology? (Paperback) by L. Ron Hubbard http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157318122...glance&n=283155 Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (Mass Market Paperback) by L. Ron Hubbard http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088404632...5Fencoding=UTF8 Islam The Qur'an: Text, Translation & Commentary (Hardcover) by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (Editor) http://www.amazon.com/gp/sitbv3/reader/ref...asin=0940368323 Taoism Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Paperback) by Stephen Mitchell (Author) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006095543...glance&n=283155 Wicca Buckland's Complete Book Of Witchcraft (Llewellyn's Practical Magick) (Paperback) by Raymond Buckland http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087542050...glance&n=283155 Satanism (not sure yet if I ready for this stuff yet) Satanic Bible (Mass Market Paperback) by Anton Szandor Lavey, Peter H. Gilmore http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-...eviews.start=11 The Necronomicon (Mass Market Paperback) by Simon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/038075192...glance&n=283155 Occult Book of Lies (Paperback) by Aleister Crowley http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087728516...glance&n=283155 Philosophy (plato, Socrates) Conversations of Socrates (Penguin Classics) (Paperback) by Xenophon, Robin H. Waterfield (Translator), Hugh Tredennick (Translator) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014044517...glance&n=283155 Great Dialogues of Plato (Signet Classics (Paperback)) (Paperback) by Plato, W. H. D. Rouse (Translator) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/045152745...glance&n=283155 Goddess worship New Age Gnosticism Greek Gods Others??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astreja Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 For the Qur'an, I've heard that Thomas Cleary's translation is particularly good. And the Bhagavad Gita that I have is this one, translated by Stephen Mitchell. Other suggestions, all online and free: The Poetic Edda - The Henry Adams Bellows translation Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the primary Sikh scripture The Kalevala The Rig Veda The Iliad and the Odyssey are must-read items for Greek mythology, but the translations that I found had Roman deities instead of the Greek ones (e.g. Minerva instead of Athena). Looking for better ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Mother Atheist Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 For Mythology you should get Mythology by Edith Hamilton Another source that is WONDERFUL for many different religious scriptures (and references by topic) is World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts ISBN: 1557787329 That one is truly wonderful. Also for many religions: Sourcebook of the World's Religions edited by Joel Beaversluis I would really recommend the last two especially because they have many religions in one book and will come more near helping you understand them. It is often difficult to just start into reading things from other religions because the cultures are so different. These books have been, and continue to be, very useful (especially the World Scripture book). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
its_just_me Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 The Necronomicon (Mass Market Paperback)by Simon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/038075192...glance&n=283155 Stick with the satanic bible....the necronomicon is not LaVeyan Satanism. (although you may want to look up the Temple of Set for a more 'literal' group of satanists) As for the occult, though I've never read the Book of Lies, Crowley's Book of the Law will enlighten you to some of the roots of Wicca/Neo-Paganism, Thelema and LaVeyan Satanism. You can view and print it out HERE. I also second http://www.sacred-texts.com/ - an EXCELLENT resource for religious/spiritual text! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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