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Question on the buddhist "bible"?

edited July 2010 in Buddhism Basics
I'm looking for the source of buddhism. I realize there are different sects, but there must be a central source of buddhism. Where can I read the texts about Buddha? It seems like everywhere I look I find second hand sources telling me what they think of Buddha and his teachings, but I'd like to just read what he said for myself.

Comments

  • GlowGlow Veteran
    edited July 2010
    What you want is the Pali canon -- they are the oldest surviving Buddhist texts in an Indian language and probably as close as we'll ever get to knowing what the historical Buddha taught. The canon itself is traditionally called the Tipitaka ("three baskets"). It's is vast and, to my knowledge, has never been translated in full. Thankfully, enough of it exists in English translation to practice. The second basket (the Sutta Pitaka -- basket of discourses) is the one that contains the Buddha's discourses. The Sutta Pitaka is itself divided into five collections (Nikayas). You can a considerable portion of the Sutta Pitaka on Access to Insight.

    To get you started:
    The Dhammacakkapavatana Sutta: Setting In Motion the Wheel of Truth -- This is traditionally thought to be the Buddha's first sermon.

    The Satipatthana Sutta: The Foundation of Mindfulness and the Anapanasati Sutta: mindfulness of Breathing -- The Buddha's instructions for meditation.

    The Karaniya MettaSutta -- The Buddha's teaching on loving-kindness (metta).

    The Dhammapada: The Path of Truth -- Probably the most popular of the Pali scriptures; it's a collection of sayings that encapsulate the Buddha's teaching in the form of poetry. Traditionally it was understood as the actual words of the Buddha, but more likely, quite a few of these sayings were already circulating in India at the time in popular songs and poems.

    EDIT: I switched a few of the links ot better translations.
  • edited July 2010
    newguy wrote: »
    I realize there are different sects, but there must be a central source of buddhism. .

    There must? There isn't!
    You're mistaking Buddhism with the revealed religions where there are rules and stories that sum up that entire faith which you have to accept in order to belong to that sect.
    Buddhism isn't a revealed religion but an experienced religion. So there are no central source that comprises Buddhism and which you have to know and accept. Buddhism consist of a lot of scattered teachings by the Buddha and later realized followers on the path. And they are not to be accepted before they have been tested and experienced.

    Much love

    Allan
  • cazcaz Veteran United Kingdom Veteran
    edited July 2010
    newguy wrote: »
    I'm looking for the source of buddhism. I realize there are different sects, but there must be a central source of buddhism. Where can I read the texts about Buddha? It seems like everywhere I look I find second hand sources telling me what they think of Buddha and his teachings, but I'd like to just read what he said for myself.


    The basis of Buddha's teachings is the 4 noble truths, Of course as for their being a bible of Buddhism this would not be so, as there are many different sets of teachings ranging from, Self-Liberation vehcile ( Theravada ) Great-enlightenment vehcile ( Mahayana), Swift-enlightenment vehcile ( Vajrayana )
    It would be very hard to compile all these sets of teachings into one book as Buddha was reputed to have given 84,000 teachings in total, and because of the differing needs of sentient beings some would appear contray to others, Therefore it is best to study the teachings of each vehcile and sect individually to see which type of Dharma you find is best for your well being.

    A good start is always reading the Sutra's and Sutta's The Theravada do some good commentarys to these. :o
  • edited July 2010
    The Dhammapada was my 1st book and I highly recommend it.
  • jinzangjinzang Veteran
    edited July 2010
    If you want to find the source of Buddhism, look at your own mind,
  • edited July 2010
    jinzang wrote: »
    If you want to find the source of Buddhism, look at your own mind,

    That reminds me - I heard a monk being asked about a possible buddhist bible, and he said: "meditation is the buddhist bible" ;)

    Much love

    Allan
  • edited July 2010
    newguy wrote: »
    I'm looking for the source of buddhism. I realize there are different sects, but there must be a central source of buddhism. Where can I read the texts about Buddha? It seems like everywhere I look I find second hand sources telling me what they think of Buddha and his teachings, but I'd like to just read what he said for myself.

    It seems you are looking for "Pre-sectarian" Buddhism, that is, teachings of the Buddha before the various sects came into being. That's what I looked for in the beginning as well, but it seems to me that all we can rely on is the suttas/sutras of the different sects. The Pali Canon (Threravada) seems to be the oldest surviving suttas.

    But if you want to have some idea of the original teachings of the Buddha, perhaps you could look at what is common to all the surviving sects. The list might include the following (but I'm not too sure):

    1. The Four Noble Truths.
    2. The Noble Eightfold Path.
    3. Three Marks of Existence (Anicca, dukka, and anatta).
    4. Dependent Origination (Paticca-samuppada).
    5. The Five Aggregates (khandhas).
    6. The Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipatthana-sutta).

    I wish you well on your spiritual quest. :)
  • edited July 2010
    Wapola Rahula's What the Buddha Taught is an excelent beginners book as it is the teachings closest to the pali source ,but like Caz said there isn't a bible. I would however start with Rahula's book or Geshe Tashi Tsering's Four noble truths, if you want the mahyana perspective.
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