Bibliography:
Early Buddhist Discourses. ed. & trans. John J. Holder. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2006.
This volume seeks to understand early Buddhist Teachings as a critical response to the binary opposition between two perennial worldviews, spiritual eternalism and materialist annihilationism. The first is the theory of the metaphysical self, a self that is distinct from the physical body. The second is the theory of the physical self, a self that is identical with the physical body. It is by keeping itself equally aloof from these two theoretical views of the self that early Buddhism becomes a "middle position".
A translation of the traditional commentary and sub-commentary to one of the most challenging discourses in the Pāli Canon: MN 1.
Bibliography:
The Discourse on the Root of Existence: The Mūlapariyāya Sutta and its Commentaries. Trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. 2016
A translation of the traditional commentary and sub-commentary to one of the most challenging discourses in the Pāli Canon: MN 1.
Bibliography:
The Discourse on the Root of Existence: The Mūlapariyāya Sutta and its Commentaries. Trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. 2016
Davids, T. W. Rhys. Early Buddhism. London: Archibald Constable & Co Ltd. 1908.
Bhikkhu, Analayo. Paccekabuddhas in the Isigili-sutta and its Ekottarika-agama Parallel.
Canada: Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Number 6, 2010
Kloppenborg, Ria. The Paccekabuddha: A Buddhist Ascetic, A study of the concept of the Paccekabuddha in Pali cononical and commentarial literature. Kandy: Buddhsit Publication Society Inc. 1983
This book is written on the notes Thanissaro Bhikkhu wrote for at retreat in France with focus on Anatta. The book draws on passages from the Pali Canon and on the writings and talks of the ajaans, or teachers, of the Thai forest tradition, in which Thanissaro Bhikkhu was trained.
Chapter One
1. The Buddha in the Pali Canon
Renunciation, Self-Mortification & Enlightenment
The Buddha’s Mission
Salient Features of the Theravada Concept of the Buddha
Chapter Two
2. Impermanence as a Basic Fact of Existence
Arguments Adduced in the Anattalakkhaõa-sutta
Empirical Observation of Facts
Etymological & Doctrinal Meaning of the Term ‘anicca’
Impermanence: the Nature of all Component Things
Is Consciousness Soul?
Chapter Three
3. The Concept of Dukkha in Early Buddhist Teaching
The Etymological Definition & the Exegesis
In the second part, Buddhism and Buddhist teachings are looked at from the perspective of medicine. What do Buddhist teachings say on illness and health? Health for example, is referred to as the greatest gain in life. There is much that Buddhist anthropology and sociology could gain from Buddhist thought. The social aspects of the community of monks are discussed from a sociological point of view as its theme. …..
Buddhism, Fourth Edition tells the story of Buddhism’s origins and its development into three major schools of thought—and presents the particular beliefs and practices of those schools of Buddhism that still flourish today. This fascinating title explores the concept of the “socially engaged Buddhist,” the growth and practice of Buddhism in America, and the recent revival of Buddhism in Asia.
Coverage includes:
- Introduction to the modern Buddhist world
- The life of the Buddha
- The spread of Buddhism throughout Asia, and the world
Early Buddhism borrowed two of its central terms from the workings of fire. Upadana, or clinging, originally referred to the fuel that kept fire burning; nibbana, the name of the goal, to a fire's going out. This is the first book to examine these terms from the perspective of how the early Buddhists themselves viewed fire--what they saw happening as a fire burned, and what happened to the fire when it went out--to show what light this perspective throws on Buddhist doctrine in general, and the practice of meditation in particular.
Many anthologies of the Buddha’s teachings have appeared in English, but this ebook is the first to be organized around the set of teachings that the Buddha himself said formed the heart of his message: The Wings to Awakening (bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma). The material is arranged in three parts, preceded by a long Introduction. The Introduction tries to define the concept of Enlightenment so as to give a clear sense of where the Wings to Awakening are headed.
The Doctrine Of Paticcasamuppada By U Than Daing with the subtitle “The Law of Dependent Origination” is a guide for the yogi who seeks the path to end all suffering and for the English speaking reader an explanation of the various mental and physical phenomena we call personality. This work has a great insight to the Buddhist doctrines of Anatta, Non-Ego og Not-self (something only found in Buddhism and a very few temporary schools).
The Seventy Three Kinds of Knowledge describes at a glance the knowledges Buddhas and their disciples gain in the attainment of mundane and supramundane states. Since these knowledges are, as a Summary, very briefly stated, the present translation has explanatory notes in order to facilitate the reader understand them, at least intellectually, more easily. These explanations are based on the Pañisambhidà-magga, the Visuddhi-magga and their corresponding commentaries, and their references are clearly distinguished.
Buddha’s awakening gave him a new perspective on the limitations of words. He had discovered a reality—the Deathless—that no words could describe. At the same time, he discoveredthat the path to Awakening could be described, although it involved a new wayof seeing and conceptualizing the problem of suffering and stress. Because ordinary concepts were often poor tools for teaching the path, he had to invent new concepts and to stretch pre-existing words to encompass those concepts so that others could taste Awakening themselves.
This constitutes the first volume of the series. It indicates the scope of the project and provides a list of sources which will be surveyed in the subsequent volumes, as well as provide a guide to secondary literature for further study of Indian Philosophy. It lists in relative chronological order, Sanskrit and Tamil works. All known editions and translations into European languages are cited; where published versions of the text are not known a guide to the location of manuscripts of the work is provided.
Armstrong carefully ties the Buddha's time to our own and champions his spiritual discoveries with an understated dignity that even the Buddha might bless. While exercising a scholar's restraint, she reveals a detectable compassion for Sidhatta Gotama, the radical who walked away from a pleasure palace because he refused to "remain locked in an undeveloped version" [of himself]. Armstrong overcame peculiar challenges to write about this historical figure who became "a type rather than an individual," as his personality and life particulars evaporated into the power of his selflessness.
The author devotes a good part of his book to the elaboration of the anatta doctrine stating that the Buddha sought for the atta in the indirect way, by taking away from the atta everything that is not the atta. The Buddha, according to the author, followed this way so radically and with so much success, that whatever is cognizable revealed itself to him as anatta.
From the dust jacket: The word and its meaning are inseparable. A word may appear simple, yet it may possess such potency that, though dormant for many centuries, it suddenly shakes off its slumber and changes the course of history. One such word is arhan. People used it, for ages from the dawn of the Vedic period to the advent of the Buddha, for naming a worthy or venerable person.
The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed a growing interest in Buddhism, and it continues to capture the imagination of many in the West who see it as either an alternative or a supplement to their own religious beliefs. Numerous introductory books have appeared in recent years to cater to this growing interest, but almost none devotes attention to the specifically ethical dimensions of the tradition. For various complex cultural and historical reasons, ethics has not received as much attention in traditional Buddhist thought as it has in the West.
From the Introduction: “In so far as the group of religious ideas called ‘Buddhism’ is conceded to have a history – and I have seen this denied by one or two! – it is generally held, that the earliest known stratum of this group, born in India and thence transplanted to South Asia, came to be known as Hina-yana (the lower ‘vehicle’), otherwise called Theravada (opinion of the elders).
Early European histories of India frequently reflected colonialist agendas. The idea that Indian society had declined from an earlier Golden Age helped justify the colonial presence. It was said, for example, that modern Buddhism had fallen away from its original identity as a purely rational philosophy that arose in the mythical 5th-century BCE Golden Age unsullied by the religious and cultural practices that surrounded it. In this book Robert DeCaroli seeks to place the formation of Buddhism in its appropriate social and political contexts.
This book offers a clear, concise account of the Eightfold Path prescribed to uproot and eliminate the deep underlying cause of suffering—ignorance. Each step of the path is believed to cultivate wisdom through mental training, and includes an enlightened and peaceful middle path that avoids extremes. The theoretical as well as practical angles of each of the paths—right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration—are illustrated through examples from contemporary life.
The Anguttara Nikaya (literally "Increased by One Collection", also translated "Gradual Collection" or "Numerical Discourses") is the fourth of the five Nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka. This Nikaya consists of several thousand discourses ascribed to the Buddha and his chief disciples arranged in eleven books, according to the number of dhamma items referenced in them. The segments are short and easy to read, yet poignant in their messages. It contains many straightforward examples and even some inspiring words from the Buddha to his disciples.
Bailey,Greg & Ian Mabbett. The Sociology of Early Buddhism. New York: Cambridge University Press - 2003
Here is an exposition of Buddhism conceived in a resolutely modern spirit by one of the most qualifies and enlightened representatives of that religion. The Rev. Dr. W. Rahula received the traditional training and education of a Buddhist monk in Ceylon, and held eminent positions in one of the leading monastic institutes (Pirivena) in that island, where the Law of the Buddha flourishes from the time of Asoka and has preserved all its vitality up to this day.
Rhie, Marylin Martin. Early Buddhist Art of China and Central Asia. Vol 1 : Later Han, Three Kingdoms and Western Chin in China and Bactria to Shan-shan in Central Asia. Leiden : Brill, 2007.
Schotsman, Irma. Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita the Life of the Buddha: Sanskrit text with word-by-word translation melodies for chanting and verses in English Grammatical Explanation. Varanasi: Central Institutute of Higher Tibetan Studies, 1995.
The book here translated—as it stands, it was perhaps composed more than two thousand years ago—sets forth a method intended for the guidance of those who already know intellectually the Buddha's teaching and want to explain his utterances. It is not a commentary but a guide for commentators: it deals with scaffolding, not with architecture. Its name, Nettippakarana, means 'guide-treatise', but the translation has been called, more simply, the
Guide.
There are two recognized aspects of language, which are complementary, that is to say the Normative and the Contextual.
This book is based primarily on the source material available in the Pali Canon, studied historically and philosophically in the light of the contemporary, earlier and later literary evidence related to the subject. The antiquity and authenticity of the material is vouchsafed by the literary, linguistic, ideological, sociological, and historical evidence existing into Pali Canon itself. The book traces the origin of the theory of knowledge and its development in early Buddhism.
Awakening of the Heart is a comprehensive, single volume collection of the Buddha’s key sutras, translated with contemporary commentary by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. It is an essential complement to Happiness, the bestselling collection of meditation and mindful practices released in 2009. Awakening of the Heart captures the heart of Buddhist wisdom and Thich Nhat Hanh’s unique talent to make the Buddha’s teachings accessible and applicable to our daily lives and times. This is a wonderful gift for anyone looking to deepen their practice and understanding of the teachings, as well as a unique resource to understand the fundamentals of Buddhism from its source.
One of the Buddha's most central ideas is the importance of transcending “either/or” thinking to avoid the trap of extremist views. In Beyond the Self Thich Nhat Hanh suggests that we can find tranquility by embracing all aspects of life, instead of focusing on what we like and dislike. The book contains Nhat Hanh's original translation of the Sutra on the Middle Way, as well as his commentary on how we can use this teaching to better understand how to navigate our difficulties and find peace of mind. By changing how we see the world, Beyond the Self helps us transform ourselves.
The Sutra has been studied, practiced, and handed down with special care from generation to generation for 2,500 years. In these commentaries, Thich Nhat Hanh guides the reader to an understanding of the fundamental basis of the Buddhist practice and encourages application in daily life. The book describes the four methods of mindfulness: mindfulness of the body, the feelings, the mind, and the object of mind. It teaches how to deal with anger and jealousy; to nurture the best qualities in our children, spouse, and friends; and to greet death with compassion and equanimity.
In a manner never before published, this book presents both Buddhism and Yoga and relates them to contemporary Western psychology. Although existing books begin with advanced concepts, such as emptiness or egolessness, The Positive Psychology of Buddhism and Yoga begins with very basic concepts and avoids the exotic and so called "mystical" notions. Levine emphasizes the goals of Buddhism and Yoga and the methods they employ to achieve those goals.
In a probing analysis of the oldest Buddhist texts, Julius Evola places the doctrine of liberation in its original context. The early teachings, he suggests, offer the foremost example of an active spirituality that is opposed to the more passive, modern forms of theistic religions. This sophisticated, highly readable analysis of the theory and practice of Buddhist asceticism, first published in Italian in 1943 , elucidates the central truths of the eightfold path and clears away the later accretions of Buddhist doctrine. Evola describes the techniques for conscious liberation from the world of maya and for achieving the state of transcendence beyond dualistic thinking. Most surprisingly, he argues that the widespread belief in reincarnation is not an original Buddhist tenet. Evola presents actual practices of concentration and visualization, and places them in the larger metaphysical context of the Buddhist model of mind and universe.
As more and more westerners study and practice Buddhism, reliable modern translations of the Buddha's teachings are increasingly in demand. One of the main sources for knowledge of the Buddhadharma is the four Pali Nikayas or "collections" of his sayings. Written in Pali, an ancient Indian language closely related to Sanskrit, the Nikayas are among the oldest Buddhist texts and consist of more than one and a half million words. This new translation offers a selection of the Buddha's most important sayings, reflecting the full variety of material contained in the Nikayas: the central themes of the Buddha's teaching (his biography, philosophical discourse, instruction on morality, meditation, and the spiritual life) and the range of literary style (myth, dialogue, narrative, short sayings, verse). This edition is the most critically up-to-date and For anyone seeking a more direct encounter with the Buddha's words and teaching, this new translation will prove to be essential reading, rewarding scholars and practitioners alike.
The idea of nirvana (Pali: nibbana) is alluring but elusive for non-specialists and specialists alike. Offering his own interpretation of key texts, Steven Collins explains the idea in a new, accessible way - as a concept, as an image (metaphor) and as an element in the process of narrating both linear and cyclical time. Exploring nirvana from literary and philosophical perspectives, he argues that it has a specific role: to provide `the sense of an ending' in both the systematic and the narrative thought of the Pali imaginaire.
Early European histories of India frequently reflected colonialist agendas. The idea that Indian society had declined from an earlier Golden Age helped justify the colonial presence. It was said, for example, that modern Buddhism had fallen away from its original identity as a purely rational philosophy that arose in the mythical 5th-century BCE Golden Age unsullied by the religious and cultural practices that surrounded it. In this book Robert DeCaroli seeks to place the formation of Buddhism in its appropriate social and political contexts.
"Early Buddhist Metaphysics" provides a philosophical account of the major doctrinal shift in the history of early Theravada tradition in India: the transition from the earliest stratum of Buddhist thought to the systematic and allegedly scholastic philosophy of the Pali Abhidhamma movement. Entwining comparative philosophy and Buddhology, the author probes the Abhidhamma's metaphysical transition in terms of the Aristotelian tradition and vis-a-vis modern philosophy, and exploits Western philosophical literature from Plato to contemporary texts in the fields of philosophy of mind and cultural criticism.
Meditative practice lies at the heart of the Buddhist tradition. This introductory anthology gives a representative sample of the various kinds of meditations described in the earliest body of Buddhist scripture, the Pali canon.
It provides a broad introduction to their traditional context and practice and supplies explanation, context and doctrinal background to the subject of meditation. The main themes of the book are the diversity and flexibility of the way that the Buddha teaches meditation from the evidence of the canon. Covering fundamental features of Buddhist practice such as posture, lay meditation, and meditative technique it provides comments both from the principal early commentators on Buddhist practice, Upatissa and Buddhaghosa, and from reputable modern meditation teachers in a number of Theravadin traditions.
Zen master Nhat Hanh turns his hard-earned wisdom as a survivor of war, persecution, and exile to the age-old dilemma of what happens when one dies. If the greatest fear is, as he suggests, that one becomes nothing, then how is one to live with this threat of complete annihilation? Using Buddhist parables and anecdotes, Nhat Hanh offers an alternative perspective. Buddhists see birth and death as mere concepts, not manifestations of reality. When someone dies, they are still with us, just in a different form.
Philosophy of the Buddha is a philosophical introduction to the teaching of the Buddha. It carefully guides readers through the basic ideas and practices of the Buddha, including kamma (karma), rebirth, the not-self doctrine, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, ethics, meditation, nonattachment, and Nibbana (Nirvana). The book includes an account of the life of the Buddha as well as comparisons of his teaching with practical and theoretical aspects of some Western philosophical outlooks, both ancient and modern.
We spend our lives protecting an elusive self - but does the self actually exist? Drawing on literature from Western philosophy, neuroscience and Buddhism (interpreted), the author argues that there is no self. The self - as unified owner and thinker of thoughts - is an illusion created by two tiers. A tier of naturally unified consciousness (notably absent in standard bundle-theory accounts) merges with a tier of desire-driven thoughts and emotions to yield the impression of a self. So while the self, if real, would think up the thoughts, the thoughts, in reality, think up the self.
This book is in 2 volumes and has become a classic in Pali studies. It provides a vast amount of information about early Buddhism and about early Indian ancient history. It is a valuable reference book for the scholar as well as the general reader interested in Buddhism.