Self Study

Gavin

I'm sorry if this has been asked before and I'm duplicating discussions.

Is there a guide to self study? I live some way from my nearest meeting point and to e honest I think I'd rather start off on my own with a bit of guidance.

Tosh

Hi Gavin,

Can you clarify what you mean?

Buddhism does provide a frame work that shows us a method to find out what the self is; and we do this by learning about the Five Aggregates and then meditating on them in an analytical way (or at least Gelupa Buddhism shows this; I don't know about other sects).

A book I like, which is of a more practical nature - we can get very scholarly about this subject - is No Self No Problems by Anam Thubten; Amazon will sell it. It's a read suitable for someone who is new to Buddhism or someone who has been around Buddhism for a while and is maybe overcomplicating things (I over complicate everything to begin with).

DairyLama

This site might be of interest:
http://www.buddhanet.net/

Cinorjer

There are websites maintained by various Buddhist sects that have basic information including some sutra translations about what they teach and what their practice consists of. The same goes for basic meditation instruction. The problem is that Buddhism is an ancient, world-wide religion so these sects have practices and even teachings that differ sometimes greatly. Think of how different the answers would be if Catholic, Methodist, and Pentacostal Holiness church members were asked how does one practice Christianity.

Also, when you surf the Buddhist web Sangha, you'll discover many Buddhist sects are way too concerned with extolling the virtues of their particular teacher or founder. Some Roshi or Master you never met might be a great guy and is practically or literally worshipped by current followers, but outsiders don't have a clue and you should avoid those schools.

Most people looking into Buddhism on the web do some surfing around, and when you find a website that speaks to you and makes sense, you can do further research on what branch of Buddhism this comes from.

Hope this helps.

BonsaiDoug

This is a decent, basic 10-week home study course on Buddhism. I took it quite awhile ago when it was an email course, but it appears it's only on the web currently: http://www.scribd.com/doc/36246889/Home-Study-Course-in-Basic-Buddhism-Lesson-1

ZenBadger

The FPMT (Tibetan - Gelug) do a range of home study courses but they are not particularly cheap and the materials are of variable quality. The content is good and fairly comprehensive though. If you subscribe at the $30/month or more then you get unlimited access to their study programmes otherwise you have to buy the key to each module individually.

FPMT Online Learning Centre

karasti

I guess it depends exactly what you are talking about. Do you want a self course that'll help you learn meditation? A course on Buddhism 101? What type of Buddhism are you wanting to study, or are you wanting to learn about many different types? There are A LOT of opportunities to either just start reading to find what strikes you, or online courses that range from free to really expensive. It just depends what you are setting out to do

Cloud

This site might be of interest:
http://www.buddhanet.net/

I second this. BuddhaNet has self-study courses. Also if you want Pali Canon suttas/sutras, http://www.accesstoinsight.org is a good one (and downloadable).

Jason

I'm sorry if this has been asked before and I'm duplicating discussions.

Is there a guide to self study? I live some way from my nearest meeting point and to e honest I think I'd rather start off on my own with a bit of guidance.

For a general overview, I suggest checking out The Path to Freedom: A Self-guided Tour of the Buddha's Teachings; and for more practical instructions on meditation, I suggest checking out Keeping the Breath in Mind.

Gavin

Thank you for all of your feedback. When I look into my local groups one has, apparently, serious sexual misconduct in it's Wiki history. Another was brought to tis country, imported another spiritual guider who then set up on his own which caused a split and ongoing problems that were sort of sorted out by the Dalai Lama and various people dying.

I'm just interested in becoming a good, spiritually grounded Buddhist leading a nice, chilled out life.

karasti

I would caution against putting too much weight on wiki. Check the references and see if any of the checks out. Anyone can type whatever they want in wiki's, and while general information is reliable most of the time, some of the other stuff is not. Make sure you verify it independently before just believing what a wiki says.

I started practicing on my own, and as I did so my eyes were open to more opportunitse that started presenting themselves. Things that happened in my area that I didn't know about, and someone even started a Sangha here with the spiritual master who lives far away but pariticipates with us via skype. So, certainly you can learn and practice on your own, but remember to keep your eyes and ears open along with your mind for opportunities to present themselves

Gavin

The Wiki references check out, I've just graduated from university so I know that it has limited reliability but like you say if the references are checked it can be quite useful. It's a bit like asking for help on web forums

I'm a very private person so practicing alone really appeals and I also won't to avoid picking up other peoples habits before I develop my own.

Sabre

This site might be of interest:
http://www.buddhanet.net/

I second this. BuddhaNet has self-study courses. Also if you want Pali Canon suttas/sutras, http://www.accesstoinsight.org is a good one (and downloadable).

Second this one.

This is really a good talk on why reading the suttas is so important. And indeed, one of the reasons is to avoid people who do teach something under the name of Buddhism, and may be close, but is not actually Buddhism.

So self study is great. This monk tells you a bit about it.

Jeffrey

@Sabre, In other traditions the authority of texts is not the cornerstone of practice. No 'i wrote it down first, so I am right'. Rather the emphasis is the lineage of teachers going all the way back to the Buddha. So a transmission.

Sabre

That teacher-pupil relationship exists in the tradition of that monk in the video as well. As far as I known, the line of ordination is not unbroken since the Buddha either.

But if one of the teachers in that long line would get it wrong, for example by misunderstanding his own teacher, all the rest after him will copy that mistake. And so each teacher can add little mistakes. I think it's not really reasonable to think they all fully get what they are talking about and can also convey that message accurately to their pupils. It's like this game in kindergarden where you whisper a word into the next person's ear, (s)he into the next etc, etc and in the end the word is totally changed. And 2500 years is a lot of time to make mistakes.

That's why I personally think it's good to go back to the texts (for me that would be the pali canon mainly, so that's what I talk about here) ourselves. They can be dated back to about 200 years after the Buddha and that's already much closer. Before that time they were transmitted by chanting them and that's usually very reliable as well. Of course, there can be (and are) some things in there that are not authentic.

So, the texts are no authority. We can also see some differences between ancient versions. Luckily there are some scholars who really compare these versions and try to find out which one is correct. But mostly, those are small things. In broad lines, the suttas are a very useful guide. I think it's as close as you can get to the Buddha's words, so why not take the chance?

Jeffrey

@Sabre, the idea is that the dharma is not information content. What do you think is better? No teacher and just sutras? Or no sutra just teacher and dharma talks? I think both are not too good. You can get the sutras wrong. And the teacher can also not know their stuff. On the other hand a person can see for themselves if they feel they are learning something helpful. So you can find out if you are learning from text/teacher just by how your mind is more resilient to change and so forth.

Sabre

Indeed, I think both are good, teacher and suttas. But if a teacher doesn't teach in line with the suttas, at least you know one of the two is not right. I should have added that teachers are very useful on the path. And yes, text is just information, understanding will only come from looking at our own mind. I totally agree with everything you say.

However if somebody wants to do self-study I think the suttas are the best place to start. And that's what this topic is about, my answers should be seen in that context.

Metta!

Cloud

I think that, without a teacher, suttas/sutras are the second-best place to start. The best IMO? A study guide or website or simple book, something, that gives a good overview of the entirety of Buddhism. Studying the suttas/sutras "cold" is a hard place for a newbie to begin and would be confusing. Getting a good bird's eye-view of the practice can shed light on many of the scriptures. This is the primary reason I recommend http://www.buddhanet.net for newbies... a way to get their feet wet but not drown in too-much-information.

Sabre

Useful note, may indeed be true. Perhaps the best place to start is an anthology of the suttas, which generally have an introduction as well.

Also, learning meditation from the suttas may be a bit though. For that, it's better to have a teacher. But still the suttas can give a bit of feedback.

Jeffrey

I tend to think that neither sutra nor teacher *is* the dharma. The dharma is our practice in the 'manure' of our life. Meditation should be the first thing with a method as you find by chance.

I would say meditation is the place to start. But as Trungpa said dharma with only meditation will produce an ego-maniac.

karasti

I started with Thich Nyat Hahn's "The Heart of Buddha's Teachings" and found it to be an excellent book for beginners. I think it'd be difficult for most newbie's to just pick up the Pali Canon or even the Tibetan Book of the Dead and just start reading. When you don't know the basic framework of Buddhism it's hard to get all the verses into any sort of meaningful context.

I find having a teacher, even only on occasion, to be most helpful. Our Sangha only meets twice a month right now, but I can't tell you many times I could kind of understand something, only to have a teacher be able to fully explain it in a couple sentences. Things I thought I understood until they were told a different way and then the lightbulb would go off and my understanding goes to another level. I can study and understand on my own, sure. But I personally find having a teacher to be invaluable, or even just a group to study with.

Sabre

I tend to think that neither sutra nor teacher *is* the dharma. The dharma is our practice in the 'manure' of our life.

:thumbsup: Agreed.

Sabre

I think it'd be difficult for most newbie's to just pick up the Pali Canon or even the Tibetan Book of the Dead and just start reading. When you don't know the basic framework of Buddhism it's hard to get all the verses into any sort of meaningful context.

Could indeed be true after another rethink on my part. I listened to quite a lot of dhamma talks before I started reading the suttas, so that's where I got my main framework, not really from a book. Probably that's why picking up the suttas was not too hard for me, but it may be from others.

But I still stand behind what I said, the suttas are excellent for self study, but perhaps not as the very first thing.

Also I now recall that perhaps the first booklet I seriously studied was this one:
http://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/wordofbuddha.pdf

Which has parts of the suttas and some commentary. I don't agree with all commentary, but at least it puts a framework around the suttas which makes them easier to digest. It's a pretty old booklet, but I think it's worth reading.

Must be said that it was from a Therevadin monk. So it may not be really useful for somebody more into one of the other schools. But if somebody just sets out to investigate Buddhism, I personally think reading some of the oldest texts is a good start. You can always go on to something else if you can't find the answers you are looking for in there.

Metta!

karasti

I'm still fairly a newbie myself, I find value in doing both. I read the sutras, and I understand them better and better. I'll read through a section, and then later when I re-read it of course I can find more meaning in them. But part of the reason I understand them more each time, is because I'm reading the easier books and having meetings that help those lightbulb moments come, then the sutras make more sense too.

how

I come from the Zen school but have found the tripitaka to be nothing but a help and an inspiration despite it's many varing flavours. I do not mix practises but I do find that each
school can provide it's own unique illumination to my path.

DairyLama

Meditation should be the first thing with a method as you find by chance.

Though with Theravada meditation is based on sutta accounts.