In The Buddha's Words
A Major Source Book Of Pali Buddhist Scripture
"If you want to criticize Buddhism, you have to study it.
If you want to practice Buddhism, you have to study it."
Khenpo Choga Rinpoche, Tibetan scholar and abbot
This is a classical text on source Buddhist teaching, which is of course one of the primary and most important traditions of philosophy for the entire world, both across classical Asia and for the entire world today.
The study of Buddhism is now growing substantially in the West, in Europe and North America and Australia. We know this from the high volume of sales for Dalai Lama books. I recommend several of those books.
Philosophy in the Buddhist sense covers an extremely broad range of meanings and teachings. There is no one book or set of books that covers Buddhist ethics, dialectics, mysticism, cosmology and so forth.
Most people who study Buddhist philosophy study sections of the overall system.
What is needed in all cases is a foundational text for students, teachers, and for the general public. This is the text I recommend.
This set of text translations originates in the early, basic Pali language tradition and culture which was mainly propagated across South Asia.
This text is extremely broad and useful for both outsiders and for Buddhist practitioners all over the world.
I have included the pdf for the entire table of contents.
The book is organized by topics which can be read separately.
Many people claim to criticize or reject the teaching of Sakyamuni Buddha, and in the West there are people who claim to comprehend it and to teach it.
In many of these cases I find little effective knowledge or communicated understanding of Buddhist principles.
This book is the answer for such issues, on the basic level. It is foundational.
It is important to understand the foundations of the Buddhist teaching.
Classical Buddhist practice and culture remain very new and mostly unknown to the West as a whole.
This is not a fundamental or blocking problem when good books such as this one are available, known, and propagated.
The main teaching language for Buddhist study and practice is now English. We have now in English many excellent translations from many Buddhist traditions.
This book is one major example.
And the same author / translator has provided a tremendous amount of high quality dharma translation in his several books for Wisdom Publications.
This book should be part of the core collection of public libraries and assigned reading for university courses on world religion.
There are now many books that are related to Buddhism and claim to give perspective on the Buddhist teaching.
But there is no substitute for the classical source materials.
I have recently placed this book review in my major Buddhist teaching and practice collection G+ "Buddhist Teaching".
I am a licensed Buddhist teacher and putting forward this specific book in particular is foundational for my professional teaching work.
My overarching goal is to support and represent the totality of the classical Buddhist teaching, and that requires at least one major Pali / Theravadin sourcebook.
I am in the process of establishing the Buddhist teaching as a whole across this social platform.
It is important to emphasize to westerners that the Buddhist teaching is not little bits of confetti, not piles of confetti. That it is rather a comprehensive system with great depth and breadth.
In previous centuries for various reasons, very few people in the East or the West had effective access to substantial and authoritative books on Buddhist teaching and practice.
That has changed. We have excellent books and they should be used.
I have already promoted a substantial set of major Buddhist books on this social platform, often several at once.
I am the main proponent of Buddhist books on G+.
This book is written in modern English and it is very accessible. There are smaller and simpler books, starting with the Dhammapada.
This follows the Dhammapada.
May All Beings Benefit!
Sarva mangalam!
Primary Buddhist Book Reference: In The Buddha's Words
Keywords: Buddhism, Sakyamuni Buddha, Formal Classical Buddhist Teaching, Buddhist Culture, Early Tradition / Theravada, Pali Canon.
The compilation "In The Buddha's Words" is a major and foundational text for all Buddhist traditions.
In general, every Buddhist or prospective Buddhist or interested outsider should start with the Dhammapada, a short simple collection of statements by Sakyamuni Buddha.
While that works as a starting point, there is much more to study.
I strongly recommend this book to all libraries, scholars, college programs on religion, Buddhist centers, and Buddhist teachers.
It is a primary source book and reference text.
Here are the introductory materials and table of contents:
[ Link removed. ]
This anthology is very clear and accessible because the translation is made by a western monk and major Buddhist scholar, Bhikkhu Bodhi. And it is endorsed by the Dalai Lama and published by Wisdom Publications, a premier Buddhist publisher.
It is not necessary to read the entire volume. The book is well organized for study of specific subjects which can be read individually. This book conveys a great deal of Buddhist culture at the very source of all the Buddhist traditions.
There are now a large number of books on Buddhism and Buddhist teaching. It is therefore necessary to examine the available books and determine which are more important and more useful, whether for general audiences, scholars, or dharma practitioners and teachers.
This book is of great value to people of all Buddhist traditions, be they Theravadin, Great Way / Mahayana, or Esoteric Great Way / Vajrayana.
All the Buddhist traditions share a common foundation in the general teachings given by Guru Sakyamuni Buddha, and it is extremely important to emphasize this common ground.
The Pali tradition of the Elder / Theravada School does historically emphasize material renunciation, living as a monk or nun, and turning away from the world.
This is classical but it is not the whole story.
The main renunciation is an inner renunciation, not literal poverty and homelessness. These are after all illegal in the West, where begging from door to door is mostly illegal.
It is not necessary to learn a foreign language to study Buddhism, nor to move to a Buddhist monastery in Asia, nor take college courses.
We already have all the teachings in English.
It is important to understand basic Buddhist policies, norms, and shared values. Without a basic understanding of these there is no Buddhist culture.
This book is a foremost example. It is a five hundred page synopsis of a larger set of texts.
And it is available to all of us, because English is a major secondary language in many parts of the world.
This single volume anthology is not my primary reference for study and teaching. Nor is it in my core library for personal study and practice.
My primary reference is a much smaller and more technical book called "Dakini Teachings" by Padmasambhava.
There is however no substitute for this single volume summary of the Buddha's direct teachings. It is both small enough and large enough to serve as a top-tier reference on the formal classical Buddhist teaching, and as an excellent book to follow the Dhammapada.
As a Buddhist guru my public work is to promote and support the Buddhist teaching as a whole, not as this piece or that piece.
That primarily means the broader and deeper Great Way / Mahayana teaching, which mainly propagated in Northern Asia.
With this essay I have effectively supported the foundational teaching that is most characteristic of Southern Asia and Southern Buddhism, and which is critically important to the propagation of authentic Buddhist teaching and culture in the West.
From the author / translator:
"If this anthology is meant to make any other point, it is to convey the sheer breadth and range of the Buddha’s wisdom.
While Early Buddhism is sometimes depicted as a discipline of world renunciation intended primarily for ascetics and contemplatives, the ancient discourses of the Pali Canon clearly show us how the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion reached into the very depths of mundane life, providing ordinary people with guidelines for proper conduct and right understanding.
"Far from being a creed for a monastic élite, ancient Buddhism involved the close collaboration of householders and monastics in the twin tasks of maintaining the Buddha’s teachings and assisting one another in their efforts to walk the path to the extinction of suffering.
"To fulfill these tasks meaningfully, the Dhamma had to provide them with deep and inexhaustible guidance, inspiration, joy, and consolation. It could never have done this if it had not directly addressed their earnest efforts to combine social and family obligations with an aspiration to realize the highest."
In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon
Paperback – July 28, 2005
by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Author), His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Foreword)
Series: The Teachings of the Buddha
Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Wisdom Publications; First Edition edition (July 28, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0861714911
This landmark collection is the definitive introduction to the Buddha's teachings - in his own words.
The American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, whose voluminous translations have won widespread acclaim, here presents selected discourses of the Buddha from the Pali Canon, the earliest record of what the Buddha taught.
Divided into ten thematic chapters, In the Buddha's Words reveals the full scope of the Buddha's discourses, from family life and marriage to renunciation and the path of insight.
A concise, informative introduction precedes each chapter, guiding the reader toward a deeper understanding of the texts that follow.
In the Buddha's Words allows even readers unacquainted with Buddhism to grasp the significance of the Buddha's contributions to our world heritage.
Taken as a whole, these texts bear eloquent testimony to the breadth and intelligence of the Buddha's teachings, and point the way to an ancient yet ever-vital path.
Students and seekers alike will find this systematic presentation indispensable.
Review:
"A remarkable book.
In the Buddha's Words is an anthology drawing primarily of the first four [widely available translations of collections of the Buddha's spoken teachings], and manages quite successfully to both summarize them and extract their essence. [ . . . ]
Although this material has been available for some time now, one of the things that has remained a difficulty for many readers is its complexity and scope.
In the Buddha's Words provides a framework with which to see the teachings' overall structure, and it does so in a skillful way.
"Bhikkhu Bodhi's introductions alone, strung together, would themselves serve as a beautiful and accessible overview of the dhamma. [ . . . ]
I think this anthology will rapidly become the sourcebook of choice for both neophyte and serious student alike.
In the Buddha's Words reveals the mature understanding of someone who has not only a complete mastery of his material, but also of someone who has deeply understood the nature and intention of the dhamma and who shares it with us as an expression of his own caring.
"This publication will be very much welcomed by Western meditators and students of the dhamma. [ . . . ]
Any amount of study or practice that helps to deepen wisdom and assist us to emerge from layers of delusion is precious. This book could contribute to this enterprise more than almost anything else in print.
"It gives us access to the very texture of the dhamma, the specific words and phrases, which guided and inspired the Buddha's original students.
Bhikkhu Bodhi has created a framework upon which he has placed the key elements of the dhamma for all to plainly see and investigate for themselves.
"With a map of such clarity in hand, one may tread the landscape with confidence.
Those for whom the Buddha's teaching is a living tradition will find this book to be a dear friend and spiritual companion."
Andrew Olendzki, Executive Director of the Barre Center of Buddhist Studies -- excerpted from a three-page review in Buddhadharma
[ For educational purposes only. All legal rights remain with copyright owner. No infringement intended. ]
====================
Dedication Prayer of HH Dudjom Rinpoche
DZAM LING CHI DANG YUL KHAM DI DAG TU
at this very instant, for all the people and nations of Earth,
NED MUG TSHON SOK DUG NGAL MING MI DRAG
Let not even the words "disease," 'famine," "war" and "suffering" be heard,
CHÖ DAN SO NAM PAL JOR GONG DU PHEL
But may virtue, merit, wealth and plenty increase
TAG TU TASHI DE LEG PHUN TSHOG SHOG
And auspiciousness and well-being ever abound.
A Major Source Book Of Pali Buddhist Scripture
"If you want to criticize Buddhism, you have to study it.
If you want to practice Buddhism, you have to study it."
Khenpo Choga Rinpoche, Tibetan scholar and abbot
This is a classical text on source Buddhist teaching, which is of course one of the primary and most important traditions of philosophy for the entire world, both across classical Asia and for the entire world today.
The study of Buddhism is now growing substantially in the West, in Europe and North America and Australia. We know this from the high volume of sales for Dalai Lama books. I recommend several of those books.
Philosophy in the Buddhist sense covers an extremely broad range of meanings and teachings. There is no one book or set of books that covers Buddhist ethics, dialectics, mysticism, cosmology and so forth.
Most people who study Buddhist philosophy study sections of the overall system.
What is needed in all cases is a foundational text for students, teachers, and for the general public. This is the text I recommend.
This set of text translations originates in the early, basic Pali language tradition and culture which was mainly propagated across South Asia.
This text is extremely broad and useful for both outsiders and for Buddhist practitioners all over the world.
I have included the pdf for the entire table of contents.
The book is organized by topics which can be read separately.
Many people claim to criticize or reject the teaching of Sakyamuni Buddha, and in the West there are people who claim to comprehend it and to teach it.
In many of these cases I find little effective knowledge or communicated understanding of Buddhist principles.
This book is the answer for such issues, on the basic level. It is foundational.
It is important to understand the foundations of the Buddhist teaching.
Classical Buddhist practice and culture remain very new and mostly unknown to the West as a whole.
This is not a fundamental or blocking problem when good books such as this one are available, known, and propagated.
The main teaching language for Buddhist study and practice is now English. We have now in English many excellent translations from many Buddhist traditions.
This book is one major example.
And the same author / translator has provided a tremendous amount of high quality dharma translation in his several books for Wisdom Publications.
This book should be part of the core collection of public libraries and assigned reading for university courses on world religion.
There are now many books that are related to Buddhism and claim to give perspective on the Buddhist teaching.
But there is no substitute for the classical source materials.
I have recently placed this book review in my major Buddhist teaching and practice collection G+ "Buddhist Teaching".
I am a licensed Buddhist teacher and putting forward this specific book in particular is foundational for my professional teaching work.
My overarching goal is to support and represent the totality of the classical Buddhist teaching, and that requires at least one major Pali / Theravadin sourcebook.
I am in the process of establishing the Buddhist teaching as a whole across this social platform.
It is important to emphasize to westerners that the Buddhist teaching is not little bits of confetti, not piles of confetti. That it is rather a comprehensive system with great depth and breadth.
In previous centuries for various reasons, very few people in the East or the West had effective access to substantial and authoritative books on Buddhist teaching and practice.
That has changed. We have excellent books and they should be used.
I have already promoted a substantial set of major Buddhist books on this social platform, often several at once.
I am the main proponent of Buddhist books on G+.
This book is written in modern English and it is very accessible. There are smaller and simpler books, starting with the Dhammapada.
This follows the Dhammapada.
May All Beings Benefit!
Sarva mangalam!
Primary Buddhist Book Reference: In The Buddha's Words
Keywords: Buddhism, Sakyamuni Buddha, Formal Classical Buddhist Teaching, Buddhist Culture, Early Tradition / Theravada, Pali Canon.
The compilation "In The Buddha's Words" is a major and foundational text for all Buddhist traditions.
In general, every Buddhist or prospective Buddhist or interested outsider should start with the Dhammapada, a short simple collection of statements by Sakyamuni Buddha.
While that works as a starting point, there is much more to study.
I strongly recommend this book to all libraries, scholars, college programs on religion, Buddhist centers, and Buddhist teachers.
It is a primary source book and reference text.
Here are the introductory materials and table of contents:
[ Link removed. ]
This anthology is very clear and accessible because the translation is made by a western monk and major Buddhist scholar, Bhikkhu Bodhi. And it is endorsed by the Dalai Lama and published by Wisdom Publications, a premier Buddhist publisher.
It is not necessary to read the entire volume. The book is well organized for study of specific subjects which can be read individually. This book conveys a great deal of Buddhist culture at the very source of all the Buddhist traditions.
There are now a large number of books on Buddhism and Buddhist teaching. It is therefore necessary to examine the available books and determine which are more important and more useful, whether for general audiences, scholars, or dharma practitioners and teachers.
This book is of great value to people of all Buddhist traditions, be they Theravadin, Great Way / Mahayana, or Esoteric Great Way / Vajrayana.
All the Buddhist traditions share a common foundation in the general teachings given by Guru Sakyamuni Buddha, and it is extremely important to emphasize this common ground.
The Pali tradition of the Elder / Theravada School does historically emphasize material renunciation, living as a monk or nun, and turning away from the world.
This is classical but it is not the whole story.
The main renunciation is an inner renunciation, not literal poverty and homelessness. These are after all illegal in the West, where begging from door to door is mostly illegal.
It is not necessary to learn a foreign language to study Buddhism, nor to move to a Buddhist monastery in Asia, nor take college courses.
We already have all the teachings in English.
It is important to understand basic Buddhist policies, norms, and shared values. Without a basic understanding of these there is no Buddhist culture.
This book is a foremost example. It is a five hundred page synopsis of a larger set of texts.
And it is available to all of us, because English is a major secondary language in many parts of the world.
This single volume anthology is not my primary reference for study and teaching. Nor is it in my core library for personal study and practice.
My primary reference is a much smaller and more technical book called "Dakini Teachings" by Padmasambhava.
There is however no substitute for this single volume summary of the Buddha's direct teachings. It is both small enough and large enough to serve as a top-tier reference on the formal classical Buddhist teaching, and as an excellent book to follow the Dhammapada.
As a Buddhist guru my public work is to promote and support the Buddhist teaching as a whole, not as this piece or that piece.
That primarily means the broader and deeper Great Way / Mahayana teaching, which mainly propagated in Northern Asia.
With this essay I have effectively supported the foundational teaching that is most characteristic of Southern Asia and Southern Buddhism, and which is critically important to the propagation of authentic Buddhist teaching and culture in the West.
From the author / translator:
"If this anthology is meant to make any other point, it is to convey the sheer breadth and range of the Buddha’s wisdom.
While Early Buddhism is sometimes depicted as a discipline of world renunciation intended primarily for ascetics and contemplatives, the ancient discourses of the Pali Canon clearly show us how the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion reached into the very depths of mundane life, providing ordinary people with guidelines for proper conduct and right understanding.
"Far from being a creed for a monastic élite, ancient Buddhism involved the close collaboration of householders and monastics in the twin tasks of maintaining the Buddha’s teachings and assisting one another in their efforts to walk the path to the extinction of suffering.
"To fulfill these tasks meaningfully, the Dhamma had to provide them with deep and inexhaustible guidance, inspiration, joy, and consolation. It could never have done this if it had not directly addressed their earnest efforts to combine social and family obligations with an aspiration to realize the highest."
In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon
Paperback – July 28, 2005
by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Author), His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Foreword)
Series: The Teachings of the Buddha
Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Wisdom Publications; First Edition edition (July 28, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0861714911
This landmark collection is the definitive introduction to the Buddha's teachings - in his own words.
The American scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, whose voluminous translations have won widespread acclaim, here presents selected discourses of the Buddha from the Pali Canon, the earliest record of what the Buddha taught.
Divided into ten thematic chapters, In the Buddha's Words reveals the full scope of the Buddha's discourses, from family life and marriage to renunciation and the path of insight.
A concise, informative introduction precedes each chapter, guiding the reader toward a deeper understanding of the texts that follow.
In the Buddha's Words allows even readers unacquainted with Buddhism to grasp the significance of the Buddha's contributions to our world heritage.
Taken as a whole, these texts bear eloquent testimony to the breadth and intelligence of the Buddha's teachings, and point the way to an ancient yet ever-vital path.
Students and seekers alike will find this systematic presentation indispensable.
Review:
"A remarkable book.
In the Buddha's Words is an anthology drawing primarily of the first four [widely available translations of collections of the Buddha's spoken teachings], and manages quite successfully to both summarize them and extract their essence. [ . . . ]
Although this material has been available for some time now, one of the things that has remained a difficulty for many readers is its complexity and scope.
In the Buddha's Words provides a framework with which to see the teachings' overall structure, and it does so in a skillful way.
"Bhikkhu Bodhi's introductions alone, strung together, would themselves serve as a beautiful and accessible overview of the dhamma. [ . . . ]
I think this anthology will rapidly become the sourcebook of choice for both neophyte and serious student alike.
In the Buddha's Words reveals the mature understanding of someone who has not only a complete mastery of his material, but also of someone who has deeply understood the nature and intention of the dhamma and who shares it with us as an expression of his own caring.
"This publication will be very much welcomed by Western meditators and students of the dhamma. [ . . . ]
Any amount of study or practice that helps to deepen wisdom and assist us to emerge from layers of delusion is precious. This book could contribute to this enterprise more than almost anything else in print.
"It gives us access to the very texture of the dhamma, the specific words and phrases, which guided and inspired the Buddha's original students.
Bhikkhu Bodhi has created a framework upon which he has placed the key elements of the dhamma for all to plainly see and investigate for themselves.
"With a map of such clarity in hand, one may tread the landscape with confidence.
Those for whom the Buddha's teaching is a living tradition will find this book to be a dear friend and spiritual companion."
Andrew Olendzki, Executive Director of the Barre Center of Buddhist Studies -- excerpted from a three-page review in Buddhadharma
[ For educational purposes only. All legal rights remain with copyright owner. No infringement intended. ]
====================
Dedication Prayer of HH Dudjom Rinpoche
DZAM LING CHI DANG YUL KHAM DI DAG TU
at this very instant, for all the people and nations of Earth,
NED MUG TSHON SOK DUG NGAL MING MI DRAG
Let not even the words "disease," 'famine," "war" and "suffering" be heard,
CHÖ DAN SO NAM PAL JOR GONG DU PHEL
But may virtue, merit, wealth and plenty increase
TAG TU TASHI DE LEG PHUN TSHOG SHOG
And auspiciousness and well-being ever abound.
