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Books that you would call your "bible", anything very influential or profound
banned_crab
Veteran
I always read the books you guys suggest to me because most of them are really great. I have some books that I can live by. Im sure you might have some as well. Id prefer something that can teach me alot about myself or the world or power. Please give me a brief summary of this book so I can be motivated to read it. I pretty much end up reading almost every book you guys suggest as long as it has a summary that is interesting. Thanks friend.
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The Commanding Self
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Worldly_Wisdom
Seneca practiced according to the Hellenic school of Stoicism (which is NOT synonymous with how the word "stoic" is used today). There are some aspects of Stoic philosophy which remind me of Buddhism, though sometimes phrased rather differently.
Seneca in particular has a brilliant and memorable way of writing, reminding me a bit of Thoreau at times. The Letters to Lucilius in particular are very inspiring and encouraging and helped me gain a great deal of confidence and strength during a rough patch in my life last year.
Even the Christians liked him-- letters were created later supposedly between Paul and Seneca, and Augustine and even Tertullian referred to him as "our Seneca."
If you can, in addition, find Villy Sorensen's (out-of-print) book, Seneca: Humanist at the Court of Nero, which examines Seneca's fascinating life which isn't without ambiguity and complexity.
I find Seneca to be very motivating -- and highly quotable!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabric_of_the_Cosmos
The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta by Swami Prabhavananda (actually not a Hindu treatise, but a deeper look at Jesus's teachings).
The Sermon on the Mount itself.
The Bhagavad Gita (certain parts).
I bought this book years ago. When I opened up the first few pages and saw this:
I had to buy the book. Every page is a short teaching and has deep insight…
Sometimes Suttas can be either confusing, or seemingly too basic with no real day-to-day relevance. Bhikkhu Bodhi provides an excellent framework for presenting Buddha's words, along with his commentary which helps to draw a greater meaning from the Buddha's words.
I also like the way the book is arranged into themed sections. Adds more to the Sutta readings, IMHO.
As to one I'd call a "bible," then perhaps The Buddha and His Teachings - Narada, as it begins with a history of The Buddha's life, then runs through all the Theravada teachings and concepts from the First Discourse through kamma, rebirth right to Nibbana. Kind of a Theravada primer. Basic, but one of my go-to's.
That book is ... well, it is the Bible, lol.
For all its flaws we now have Wikipedia.
Learning never finishes . . . :clap:
There are four gospel books named after their supposed authors; Mark, Matthew, Luke and John which attempt to tell the story of Jesus's life and teachings (take John with a pinch of salt though, it wasn't meant to be taken as literal fact by the writers, despite what many believers would have you think).
There is also the Acts of the Apostles which tells the story of what happened after Jesus was crucified and various letters by Paul, and people pretending to be Paul, explaining early Christian dogma. The last book is "Revelations" which is an esoteric text that hardly any body understands correctly as it was written in a sort of code for specific people at a specific time and place, ignore it.