I have been looking into Buddhism for a year now, on and off. My country, unfortunately, has only one (1) buddhist temple that is open to public and has a few monks. I wanted to learn more about Buddhism, but the idea of traveling across the country to visit the temple is not ideal. What is some fundamental and key literature (that is translated to English) that I can read up on to grasp the basics of Buddhism? What are more advanced options after I read up on the basics?
>>16885307Try to read in this order:>Dhammapada>Samannaphala Sutta>Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta>Heart Sutra>Diamond Sutra>Lotus Sutra>Life of MilarepaI highly suggest using physical books (this organization will send you up to 15 for nothing but a shipping fee: https://www.buddhisttexts.org/collections/free-english ), but you can find all of these in digital formats at the following locations as well:https://suttacentral.nethttps://www.lotuslibrary.com/browse-ebooks/https://www.buddhisttexts.org/collections/free-english-ebookshttps://www.dharmadata.org/index.php?lang=enhttps://library.bdrc.io/https://zentexts.org/texts/https://archive.orghttps://libgen.is/
Just go on suttacentral and read the long discourses
>>16885381>no satipatthana suttawhy? it's enough alone.
>>16885381>>>Heart Sutra>>Diamond Sutra>>Lotus Sutra>>Life of Milarepaso none of this is buddhism, go it
you want the suttas, especially the SN ones fro the redpillhttps://americanmonk.org/free-pts-sutta-ebooks/you can read all this in 1 month if you are neet, otherwise jsut do this :take 1h to read that and you'll be up to date and know more than 99% of the alleged buddhists :>starthttps://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN19.htmlhttps://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN6_63.html>middlehttps://suttacentral.net/mn148/en/sujatohttps://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN12_51.htmlhttps://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN11_1.html>finishhttps://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN54_8.htmlspeed learning about buddhism with videos-the redpill which is the ajahn brahm teaching for monkshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnuVoJXWhM&list=PLQ_Y6m62B_MVZVGIzfjqrpoUmszVMcxWV-then work slowly with the soft pill which is the retreat for lay people, so watch the other ones here (watch the QA too)https://www.youtube.com/c/AjahnBrahmRetreats2011-15BSWAMedia/playlists
>>16885912>none of this is buddhism
>>16885307>What is some fundamental and key literature (that is translated to English) that I can read up on to grasp the basics of Buddhism?The Four Noble TruthsThe Eightfold PathVipassana MeditationDhammapada
>>16885912be careful
I read https://wiswo.org/books/niknib/ and came up to the conclusion that Buddhism is annihilationistic, even with the author denying it. It's a text by a monk explaining that nibbana is the cessation of the khandhas, but somehow "not annihilationistic". Have your own conclusions, OP, but I think you'll get disappointed with Buddhism soon.
You should at least read classical chinese before attempting to access the mahayanaTranslations are done in dense, buddhological ways that are not accessible to people without deep knowledgeAnd are often done by people with more knowledge of Tibetan or sanskrit than Chinese and who heavily rely on those versions of the texts or on commentaries instead of directly translating the Chinese versionsSo obviously you would want to be able to read the text and the commentary yourself to decide
And although the heart sutra and diamond sutra are beloved and influential texts, they are not introductory or beginner-friendly in any wayThey are very highly-condensed jewels of wisdom taught in language that is difficult to penetrate And anyone who recommends them at a whim, in my mind, betrays their own lack of understandingThere are many, many other things to read and understand before the heart of perfected wisdom might be available to you
>>16886915>>16885970He's right. It's Mahatranny nonsense.
>>16888225If you want to act like a dumb Abrahamic cultist, that's fine, but they are Buddhists, whether you like the Mahayana texts or not.
>>16888230You could charitably argue that these texts contain valuable wisdom that can aid in the contemplative path, but they are later additions. Not the words of the Buddha, thus not buddhism. INB4 mahatranny cope about these texts being genuine suttas taught by the blessed one and not later additions. INB4 mental gymnastics justifying why the buddha never taught these doctrines in his lifetime. NOOO y-you don't understand! T-the Buddha hid these texts from us with the naggas b-because he just did ok!?!
can someone convince me that buddhism isn't just an elaborate, long winded sour-grapes cope for the low-T midwit losers of humanity (forgive me shakyamuni)
>>16888256Why are you seething about strawmen? They are later additions, and I don't believe they were hidden from us. You are acting self-righteous and presuming to know what is in others' hearts. The Buddha did not teach us to do that. Literally half of the Buddhists on earth are Mahayana. Kill the little protestant wasp man living inside of your anus.
>>16888573>can someone convince me that buddhism isn't just this baseless stream of gibberish buzzword faggotry I just dumped out into the world like a nigger?Yes. You are a nigger animal, and everything you say comes from a place of deep-seated delusion. Your god is your delusion projecting itself onto the world.
>>16888587Every mahatranny I've spoken with has always asserted the authenticity of the mahayana sutras, you're literally the first I've spoken with that has admitted that they are latter additions. It's always some cope about how the Buddha taught mahayana teachings to an elite, select few. Even though the Buddha of the pali cannon never seems to hide the true dhamma from anyone who comes to him in good faith.
>>16888693You shouldn't speak to other Buddhists this way, anon. It is very bad. Please be more careful.
Mahayanists fear the buddhist suttas
>>16888715You are trapped in duality and will never enter the stream.
>>16888256>>16888225Buddhists don't think this way and we're finding historical and archeological evidence that the Mahayana:Theravada soft split was grassroots
>>16885912>>16888225>>16888256>>16888603>>16888693>>16888715>/his/ bible-basher rhetoric but replace jesus with buddhaRidiculous
>>16888573Low T midwit losers would gravitate towards hedonism, not an ideology that demands discipline and the rejection of material pleasures
