/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19644204]

I want to get into buddhism as a complete beginner, where do I start? what should I do beyond reading and meditation? do I need to join a monastery to achieve any progress towards enlightenment?

I have personally killed an animal in my life, will this bad karma prevent me from achieving sotapanna in this life? is there anything I can do to redeem myself? also can someone explain theravada vs Mahayana Buddhism to me? is theravada really considered a "lesser" practice? which is closer to what buddha himself taught?

[Anonymous No.19645157]

>>19644204
>I have personally killed an animal in my life, will this bad karma prevent me from achieving sotapanna in this life?

Better luck next bardo pal.

[Anonymous No.19645166]

>>19644204
>I have personally killed an animal in my life
Its over

[Anonymous No.19645211]

>>19644204
>I want to get into buddhism as a complete beginner, where do I start?
Read Teaching of Buddha first. It will explain all the basic terms, and ideas of all the Buddhist paths, and tell you about the life of the Buddha. This book has been around for almost 100 years and is still being continually revised almost every year by the BDK Tokyo (Buddhist Book Trust).

https://bdkamerica.org/product/the-teaching-of-buddha-english-hardcover-edition/


>do I need to join a monastery to achieve any progress towards enlightenment?
No, but you should have a teacher. I have been practicing Buddhism for more than 10 years and unfortunately I have to tell you pretty much all Buddhist organizations and teachers are corrupted.

> is theravada really considered a "lesser" practice?
yes, but you can still reach Nirvana with it, and almost all of the theravada scripture and ideas are considered fundamental in the other paths.

[Anonymous No.19645226]

>>19645211
based mahayana poster

[Anonymous No.19645270]

>>19644204
>I want to get into buddhism as a complete beginner, where do I start?
This is the literature board so you start with books. I would suggest direct texts like the Dhammapada or the Heart Sutra rather than secondary lit since if you don't like the former there's no reason to explain them away using the latter. The problem with this approach is of course that you will read things and understand about 10% of it the first time, if you are lucky. Personally I have never read a general overview I liked, the best and most useful are going to be specific to Buddhism in a country or a specific sect. Also lots of translations provide useful introductions and notes, glossaries, etc. which help with reading primary texts by yourself.
>what should I do beyond reading and meditation?
Whatever you want. You are a layman.
>do I need to join a monastery to achieve any progress towards enlightenment?
Opinions vary based on the reading of the materials by different sects. Certainly, becoming a monk would not be against the spirit of Buddhism. It's also not always a permanent thing; in Asian countries some people adopt monastic life for a period or as a kind of retirement, while others do so their whole lives.
>I have personally killed an animal in my life, will this bad karma prevent me from achieving sotapanna in this life?
You've killed animals before and been yourself killed before in a cosmological sense, otherwise you wouldn't still be going through death and rebirth, so on the one hand not too big a deal to have done so again. On the other hand the maturation of deeds is certain if a bit open-ended and opinion varies when that is exactly and what form it takes
>is there anything I can do to redeem myself?
In some traditions you'd want to do some meritous actions as an offset
>also can someone explain theravada vs Mahayana Buddhism to me?
South vs North is really the quickest way to explain it.
>is theravada really considered a "lesser" practice?
Theravada is a Hinayana school from the Mahayana perspective because Mahayana views itself as completionist towards the older schools insofar as it teaches a doctrine of universal salvation in contrast to what it sees as a too personal or individual view in older schools, of which Theravada is basically the last extant representative
>which is closer to what buddha himself taught?
That's up to you. But they do share many similarities despite the different expressions.

[Anonymous No.19645275]

>>19644204
>theravada vs Mahayana Buddhism
The Theravadins restrict themselves to the Canon that was agreed upon under the Counsil of Emperor Ashoka in ~270BC. His brother then compiled the standard Pali Canon and spread it throughout India, to Burma, Thailand, and Indonesia. It is lacking many ideas that were continued by other schools in India which were persecuted by Ashoka. Those schools can be called the early Mahayana. They spread along the Himalayas into Ghandahar, Central Asia, then into China, and from there into Tibet, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. The additional doctrine in Mahayana is quiet substantial and varies from sub-school to sub-school.

[Anonymous No.19645296]

>>19645211
>pretty much all Buddhist organizations and teachers are corrupted.
The great drawback of the ability of anyone to "restart" Buddhism from a favored text, practice, and pedagogy is that not everyone who attempts it is any good at it

[Anonymous No.19645301]

There was a monk in the Buddha's time who was basically a mass serial killer before he met the Buddha:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/hecker/wheel312.html
His bad karma didn't stop him from reaching nirvana. I think he did have a rough life because of it though. The families of his victims would beat him up whenever they saw him.
Buddhism teaches that the best way to atone for your past misdeeds is to get rid of the hatred or greed that made you commit them in the first place, and replace that with goodwill. A good way to start is by not killing bugs if they land on or near you, and putting them back outside if they get into your house.