Buddhism for Beginners

Buddhism for Beginners PDF Author: Thubten Chodron
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1559391537
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
This easy-to-understand introduction to Buddhism is “written for people wanting to understand basic Buddhist principles and how to integrate them into their lives” (H.H. the Dalai Lama) This user’s guide to Buddhist basics takes the most commonly asked questions—beginning with “What is the essence of the Buddha’s teachings?”—and provides simple answers in plain English. Thubten Chodron’s responses to the questions that always seem to arise among people approaching Buddhism make this an exceptionally complete and accessible introduction—as well as a manual for living a more peaceful, mindful, and satisfying Life. Buddhism for Beginners is an ideal first book on the subject for anyone, but it’s also a wonderful resource for seasoned students, since the question-and-answer format makes it easy to find just the topic you’re looking for, such as: • What is the goal of the Buddhist path? • What is karma? • If all phenomena are empty, does that mean nothing exists? • How can we deal with fear? • How do I establish a regular meditation practice? • What are the qualities I should look for in a teacher? • What is Buddha-nature? • Why can't we remember our past lives?

Buddhism for Beginners

Buddhism for Beginners PDF Author: Thubten Chodron
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1559391537
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Get Book

Book Description
This easy-to-understand introduction to Buddhism is “written for people wanting to understand basic Buddhist principles and how to integrate them into their lives” (H.H. the Dalai Lama) This user’s guide to Buddhist basics takes the most commonly asked questions—beginning with “What is the essence of the Buddha’s teachings?”—and provides simple answers in plain English. Thubten Chodron’s responses to the questions that always seem to arise among people approaching Buddhism make this an exceptionally complete and accessible introduction—as well as a manual for living a more peaceful, mindful, and satisfying Life. Buddhism for Beginners is an ideal first book on the subject for anyone, but it’s also a wonderful resource for seasoned students, since the question-and-answer format makes it easy to find just the topic you’re looking for, such as: • What is the goal of the Buddhist path? • What is karma? • If all phenomena are empty, does that mean nothing exists? • How can we deal with fear? • How do I establish a regular meditation practice? • What are the qualities I should look for in a teacher? • What is Buddha-nature? • Why can't we remember our past lives?

Early Buddhist Discourses

Early Buddhist Discourses PDF Author:
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 1603840028
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Twenty discourses from the Pali Canon--including those most essential to the study and teaching of early Buddhism--are provided in fresh translations, accompanied by introductions that highlight the main themes and set the ideas presented in the context of wider philosophical and religious issues. Taken together, these fascinating works give an account of Buddhist teachings directly from the earliest primary sources. In his General Introduction, John J. Holder discusses the structure and language of the Pali Canon--its importance within the Buddhist tradition and the historical context in which it developed--and gives an overview of the basic doctrines of early Buddhism.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind PDF Author: Shunryu Suzuki
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1611808413
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Named one of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century (Spirituality & Practice) A 50th Anniversary edition of the bestselling Zen classic on meditation, maintaining a curious and open mind, and living with simplicity. "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." So begins this most beloved of all American Zen books. Seldom has such a small handful of words provided a teaching as rich as has this famous opening line. In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the pervasive tendency students have of getting so close to Zen as to completely miss what it's all about. It is an instant teaching on the first page--and that's just the beginning. In the fifty years since its original publication, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind has become one of the great modern spiritual classics, much beloved, much reread, and much recommended as the best first book to read on Zen. Suzuki Roshi presents the basics--from the details of posture and breathing in zazen to the perception of nonduality--in a way that is not only remarkably clear, but that also resonates with the joy of insight from the first to the last page.

Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research

Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research PDF Author: Analayo
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1614294623
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Join a rigorous scholar and Buddhist monk on a brisk tour of rebirth from ancient doctrine to contemporary debates. German Buddhist monk and university professor Bhikkhu Analayo had not given much attention to the topic of rebirth before some friends asked him to explore the treatment of the issue in early Buddhist texts. This succinct volume presents his findings, approaching the topic from four directions. The first chapter examines the doctrine of rebirth as it is presented in the earliest Buddhist sources and the way it relates to core doctrinal principles. The second chapter reviews debates about rebirth throughout Buddhist history and up to modern times, noting the role of confirmation bias in evaluation of evidence. Chapter 3 reviews the merits of current research on rebirth, including near-death experience, past-life regression, and children who recall previous lives. The chapter concludes with an examination of xenoglossy, the ability to speak languages one has not learned previously, and chapter 4 examines the particular case of Dhammaruwan, a Sri Lankan boy who chants Pali texts that he does not appear to have learned in his present life. Rebirth in Early Buddhism and Current Research brings together the many strands of the debate on rebirth in one place, making it both comprehensive and compact. It is not a polemic but an interrogation of the evidence, and it leaves readers to come to their own conclusions.

Early Buddhist Metaphysics

Early Buddhist Metaphysics PDF Author: Noa Ronkin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134283121
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
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-à-vis modern philosophy, exploits Western philosophical literature from Plato to contemporary texts in the fields of philosophy of mind and cultural criticism.

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path PDF Author: Bhikkhu Bodhi
Publisher: Buddhist Publication Society
ISBN: 955240116X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 151

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Book Description
The Buddha's teachings center around two basic principles. One is the Four Noble Truths, in which the Buddha diagnoses the problem of suffering and indicates the treatment necessary to remedy this problem. The other is the Noble Eightfold Path, the practical discipline he prescribes to uproot and eliminate the deep underlying causes of suffering. The present book offers, in simple and clear language, a concise yet thorough explanation of the Eightfold Path. Basing himself solidly upon the Buddha's own words, the author examines each factor of the path to determine exactly what it implies in the way of practical training. Finally, in the concluding chapter, he shows how all eight factors of the path function in unison to bring about the realization of the Buddhist goal: enlightenment and liberation.

Archaeology of Early Buddhism

Archaeology of Early Buddhism PDF Author: Lars Fogelin
Publisher: AltaMira Press
ISBN: 0759114447
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
How do archaeologists explore the various dimensions of religion? Lars Fogelin uses archaeological work at Thotlakonda in Southern India as his lens in a broader examination of Buddhist monastic life. He discovers the tension between the desired isolation of the monastery and the mutual engagement with neighbors in the Early Historic Period. He also sketches how religious architectural design and use of landscape helped to shaped these relationships. Drawing on historical accounts, religious documents, and inscriptions, as well as results of his systematic archaeological survey, Fogelin is able to shed new light on the ritual and material workings of Early Buddhism in this region, and shows how archaeology can contribute to our understanding of religious practice.

Basic Buddhism Through Comics

Basic Buddhism Through Comics PDF Author: Mitsutoshi Furuya
Publisher: Rissho Kosei-Kai International
ISBN: 9780984204403
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Basic Buddhism Through Comics is a fun and novel look at the esoteric and occasionally difficult-to-grasp concepts behind Buddhism. This comic-style book Intended for adults as well as children and is an excellent guide for both those who have freshly entered the gate of Buddhism and those who have been practicing the teachings for a long time. Its 23 episodes offer not only easy-to-understand descriptions of Buddhist concepts but also the means to apply them in our daily lives.

Cambodian Buddhism

Cambodian Buddhism PDF Author: Ian Harris
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824861760
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
The study of Cambodian religion has long been hampered by a lack of easily accessible scholarship. This impressive new work by Ian Harris thus fills a major gap and offers English-language scholars a booklength, up-to-date treatment of the religious aspects of Cambodian culture. Beginning with a coherent history of the presence of religion in the country from its inception to the present day, the book goes on to furnish insights into the distinctive nature of Cambodia's important yet overlooked manifestation of Theravada Buddhist tradition and to show how it reestablished itself following almost total annihilation during the Pol Pot period. Historical sections cover the dominant role of tantric Mahayana concepts and rituals under the last great king of Angkor, Jayavarman VII (1181–c. 1220); the rise of Theravada traditions after the collapse of the Angkorian civilization; the impact of foreign influences on the development of the nineteenth-century monastic order; and politicized Buddhism and the Buddhist contribution to an emerging sense of Khmer nationhood. The Buddhism practiced in Cambodia has much in common with parallel traditions in Thailand and Sri Lanka, yet there are also significant differences. The book concentrates on these and illustrates how a distinctly Cambodian Theravada developed by accommodating itself to premodern Khmer modes of thought. Following the overthrow of Prince Sihanouk in 1970, Cambodia slid rapidly into disorder and violence. Later chapters chart the elimination of institutional Buddhism under the Khmer Rouge and its gradual reemergence after Pol Pot, the restoration of the monastic order's prerevolutionary institutional forms, and the emergence of contemporary Buddhist groupings.

Early Buddhist Teachings

Early Buddhist Teachings PDF Author: Y. Karunadasa
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1614294682
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
A clear, elegant clarification of the basic teachings of early Buddhism, ideal for both general readers and scholars. Discover the birth of Buddhism and the essentials of Buddhist teachings with this clear, comprehensive explanation of early Buddhism’s key doctrines. You’ll come away with: insight into the beginning of Buddhism and the significance of its core beliefs—dependent arising, non-self, moral life, the diagnosis of the human condition, the critique of theoretical views, and the nature of Nibbana; a lucid understanding of the Buddha’s challenge to the concept of the subject as a self-entity and the reality of both the subject and object, perceiver and perceived, as a dynamic process; a grasp of early Buddhist teachings as representing a middle position (equally aloof from spiritual eternalism and materialist annihilation) and a middle path (equally aloof from self-mortification and sensual indulgence); and the experience of the Buddha’s teachings on attaining liberation as comprehensible, sensible, and something we can make part of our own practice.