Tripitaka - Pali Canon for Beginners?

Peace2012ca

Hi everyone,

I am interested in studying the Pali Canon for the purposes of improving my mental well-being and mental discipline. I have OCD and I wanted those parts most relevant to helping me deal with that issue.

Does anyone have any suggestions? What's the best way to approach the Pali canon if you are a beginner? It seems very complex. I'd like to start with the application.

DaltheJigsaw

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/index.html
And: http://www.tipitaka.org/

Jeffrey

I think that is a weakness of the solitary realizer reading strategy. Not all of us, myself included, are blessed to be able to read these long sutras.

I might get started reading a book such as Mindfulness in Plain English which is in the Theravada tradition...

See if anyone in that tradition can give you a hand on reading recommendations?? Ajahn Brahm has some nice youtubes, you can pick up the mindset.

ajnast4r

As a beginner I have found these both very helpful:

A Systematic Study of the Majjhima Nikaya by Bhikkhu Bodhi
http://bodhimonastery.org/a-systematic-study-of-the-majjhima-nikaya.html

This series of lectures explores the direct teachings of the Buddha himself as preserved in some of the oldest records of his discourses. The first part of the series, covering fifty-two of the discourses (Parts I to IX), constitutes a systematic study program in the teachings of Early Buddhism. The later part of the series (Part X) takes selected discourses from the book in sequence, explaining their meaning and practical relevance.

The talks cover all the major teachings of Early Buddhism, including:

Life of the Buddha
Fundamental Ethics
Meditation and Mind-training
Nature of True Wisdom

and:

Wings to Awakening An Anthology from the Pali Canon by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/wings/index.html
http://dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/wings_complete_v111219.pdf

Many anthologies of the Buddha's teachings have appeared in English, but this 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 Awakening so as to give a clear sense of where the Wings to Awakening are headed. It does this by discussing the Buddha's accounts of his own Awakening, with special focus on the way in which the principle of skillful kamma (in Sanskrit, karma) formed both the "how" and the "what" of that Awakening: The Buddha was able to reach Awakening only by developing skillful kamma — this is the "how"; his understanding of the process of developing skillful kamma is what sparked the insights that constituted Awakening — this is the "what."

SpinyNorman2

I am interested in studying the Pali Canon for the purposes of improving my mental well-being and mental discipline. I have OCD and I wanted those parts most relevant to helping me deal with that issue.

This is an an excellent reference site for suttas, and you can search for topics of interest:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/search_results.html?cx=015061908441090246348:al1bklhbjbi&cof=FORID:9;NB:1&ie=UTF-8&q=suttas

I'd recommend starting with the Satipatthana Sutta, which is the core Buddhist text on mindfulness.

Spiny

Peace2012ca

Thank you all for the links and tips.

I will be sure to check out each and every site.

Looking forward to hearing more suggestions What worked and didn't work for you.

Metta,