(Part 3) Top products from r/Buddhism

Of course! Thank you for giving me an opportunity to be helpful. A couple of the links I added refer to A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life by Shantideva. There is also a commentary version by The Dalai Lama called For The Benefit of All Beings. Also of interest: The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha and Cultivating Compassion: A Buddhist Prespective. Last but NOT least, an important summary work, which gets to the heart of Santideva's ancient treatise is Dilgo Khyentse's masterpiece, The Heart of Compassion: The Thirty-seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva. I'm providing Amazon links but please feel free to shop anywhere you like. :)

Reading is very good! These will definitely help. If I had to pick one I might go with Dilgo Khyentse's book. But it's up to you.

The best thing you can do is to begin a regular practice. A link in my previous comment talks about 6 cause meditation - and here I'm going to talk about Metta meditation - or Loving-kindness meditation. These are transformative practices that can bring a new understanding, and a new heart.

To practice loving-kindness meditation, sit in a comfortable and relaxed manner. Take two or three deep breaths with slow, long and complete exhalations. Let go of any concerns or preoccupations. For a few minutes, feel or imagine the breath moving through the center of your chest - in the area of your heart.

Metta is first practiced toward oneself, since we often have difficulty loving others without first loving ourselves. Sitting quietly, mentally repeat, slowly and steadily, the following or similar phrases:

May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease.


While you say these phrases, allow yourself to sink into the intentions they express. Loving-kindness meditation consists primarily of connecting to the intention of wishing ourselves or others happiness. However, if feelings of warmth, friendliness, or love arise in the body or mind, connect to them, allowing them to grow as you repeat the phrases. As an aid to the meditation, you might hold an image of yourself in your mind's eye. This helps reinforce the intentions expressed in the phrases.

After a period of directing loving-kindness toward yourself, bring to mind a friend or someone in your life who has deeply cared for you. Then slowly repeat phrases of loving-kindness toward them:

May you be happy. May you be well. May you be safe. May you be peaceful and at ease.

As you say these phrases, again sink into their intention or heartfelt meaning. And, if any feelings of loving-kindness arise, connect the feelings with the phrases so that the feelings may become stronger as you repeat the words.

As you continue the meditation, you can bring to mind other friends, neighbors, acquaintances, strangers, animals, and finally people with whom you have difficulty. You can either use the same phrases, repeating them again and again, or make up phrases that better represent the loving-kindness you feel toward these beings.

This is a meditation practice you can undertake daily. This is my wish of compassion for you.

For the benefit of all sentient beings.

>Your response implies that Theravada is like the tree-trunk, while Mahayana starts at the point the branches shoot out in various distinct directions

Not really my intent... I would say that it is better to say that Theravada is a collection of specimens taken from a particular forest at a particular place and time. The Mahayana is a much larger collection of specimens, taken from many more locations over a much larger period. The movement from oral to written tradition complicates the situation, as does Sri Lanka's geographic isolation.

>Naively, I would argue that if that is the case, then should be at least some "common ground" introduction to this collection of Sutras that "all of Mahayana" accepts.

Something like Santideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life may fit best with what you are looking for- it isn't a summary of sutras, but rather a summary of the thought of a particularly prominent school of Indian Mahayana. Manuals like this are a good example of the kind of texts that emerge in the Mahayana tradition and become very important in terms of the education of monks and practitioners, maybe more so than the sutra texts. At its greatest extent, with the Mahayana we're talking about a library's worth of texts that were preserved, composed, and debated over across a large geography and a long period of time. Only a subset of those texts survived transmission to Tibet and East Asia and were then organized and collected in the ways that made sense to their interpreters and translators. A specific text might be of central importance to one tradition, and collecting dust on a shelf in the others.

>Makes one wonder whether the proliferation of teachings, texts, and orientations evident in Mahayana is principally contradicting of the Buddha's teaching.

I think this is a somewhat common sentiment among people who are impressed by the clarity of the Theravada texts, but to me it's something of an unjustified leap. Within the Theravada canon, the Buddha remarks that the teachings that he has delivered are like a handful of leaves in a forest compared with what the Tathagata actually knows and perceives. The Pali Mahaparinibbana Sutta also records that not all of the Buddha's students gathered together for the first recitation of the canon, with some groups breaking off to preserve their own version of his teachings.

The early texts have a lot of repetition and enumeration that can clearly be seen as aides to memory for oral transmission- I have some doubts that the Buddha taught that way in the first draft. The giant lists of gods and bodhisattvas in Mahayana texts are often dismissed as exaggeration, but might also reflect the real popularity and scale of the Buddhist community once the great monastic universities of India were up and running. There are also big lists of gods and worshipers in the Pali Canon in places, but that seems to be ignored- I think a Western tendency to cut out the supernatural and cosmological features of the Pali Canon makes the Mahayana canon look more strange by contrast. The Theravada texts that you mention both come out of a Sri Lankan tradition that has made an active effort since the 19th Century to de-emphasize aspects of the tradition that are challenging to Western skeptics and emphasize the rational and ethical teachings- if you add back into the Pali Canon the things that are omitted, the Theravada Canon and Mahayana Canon start to look quite a bit more alike.

On the other hand, there are Mahayana teachings that are clearly directed at disrupting excessive attachment to the method of categories and enumeration that is found in the Agamas/Pali Canon... Something like the Diamond Sutra can be seen as a corrective to the human tendency to confuse categories for real things. The history of preservation and transmission for such a teaching might be quite different from the history of the Pali Canon, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it shouldn't be regarded as having the same authority. Whenever it was first written down, it seems to have been widely accepted by the community as having been something taught by the Buddha himself.

When we look at any sutra, we have to remember that according to our best evidence we are not seeing the verbatim words of the Buddha- more likely there was a 'seed' teaching that was preserved orally and elaborated and recorded according to the poetic and linguistic fashions of the time. Some 'seeds' may have been preserved orally longer than others, while some may have been subsequent creations by students. The early versions of the Abhidharma or 'matrika' (matrix) texts speak to this possibility.

Those are very good questions. Here are some helpful resources:

Trading Candy for Gold: Renunciation as a Skill by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Excerpt:

Buddhism takes a familiar American principle — the pursuit of happiness — and inserts two important qualifiers. The happiness it aims at is true: ultimate, unchanging, and undeceitful. Its pursuit of that happiness is serious, not in a grim sense, but dedicated, disciplined, and willing to make intelligent sacrifices.

What sort of sacrifices are intelligent? The Buddhist answer to this question resonates with another American principle: an intelligent sacrifice is any in which you gain a greater happiness by letting go of a lesser one, in the same way you'd give up a bag of candy if offered a pound of gold in exchange. In other words, an intelligent sacrifice is like a profitable trade. This analogy is an ancient one in the Buddhist tradition. "I'll make a trade," one of the Buddha's disciples once said, "aging for the Ageless, burning for the Unbound: the highest peace, the unexcelled safety from bondage."...

oOo

Other resources:

Mindfulness In Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana.

Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond by Ajahn Brahm.

Wings to Awakening

Kind regards,

...

I don't think it's really clear what you want. You could make a book describing the similarities between anything and Buddhism. My impression is that your project is making this particular comparison because it's interested in tacitly bolstering a certain metaphysics that you think both Buddhism and science point to, and that it's resting on the assumption that science is giving us access to reality as it is. For example in the thread you mention

> I'd consider scientific methodologies for empirical observation guided by reason to be a Western parallel to Buddhist principles for seeing through to the genuine non-conceptual, non-illusory reality.

That's a very common view in scientific materialist circles, for example, but it isn't actually established what the relationship between science and truth is. That seems to be overlooked by most scientific materialists (though not by philosophers of science). Metaphysical assumptions are being made, but in this materialist worldview they're often not addressed, supported, or even recognized. A lot of the times it's just asserted that a metaphysical assumption is truth in a way that glosses over the fact that it's a metaphysical assumption. So in other words, science is sort of being held up as a firm foundation of a worldview, but what science is itself is overlooked. Philosophy of science isn't addressed. I think I see that omission in that quote. If science is helping us see non-illusory reality then the metaphysical assumption is made that science is a means of finding truth, not just a means of finding better models to make predictions.

Also with that quote, I don't know how science could be non-conceptual. Non-conceptual, at least in the Buddhist sense, means direct experience and not making models. So to my mind metaphysical philosophies (like scientific materialism) that interpret scientific models as reality itself are actually trying to build conceptions of reality.

Of course Buddhism contains some conceptions of reality too. Just to mention some differences in these conceptions: Scientific materialism assumes that there is substance at the foundation of reality or the root of perception. The closest you get to that idea in Buddhism AFAIK is in the Abhidharma, where one attempt was made to systematize what was inferred to be Buddha's idea of reality, and where the result was the notion of Dharmas, which you could say are atoms of experience. They aren't atoms in the scientific sense, but in the sense that they are essential aspects of experience that can't be broken down into sub-aspects. So for example there's a dharma earth which is a component of all perceptions that include aspects of solidity. That's all pretty much Theravadan thought. If you get into Zen there's the Yogacarin idea that everything is projections of mind, and that even dharmas are empty of substance or self-existence. Then there's Madhyamaka thought which breaks everything including mind down to no substance or essence.

Anyway Buddhism generally describes experience and sometimes describes certain conceptions of reality, but all so that we can move in the direction of seeing through conceptions. Science lets us make conceptual models that help us make predictions, and you might say it's independent of Buddhism, but scientific materialism is different from science. It's a metaphysical philosophy or worldview that revolves around bolstering a certain conception of reality as reality itself, so you might say it's in conflict with the goal of Buddhism in that respect.

So I think what would serve you best is to gain some clarity by taking some time examining some of the issue's underlying philosophy first, and Nagel's book is one that deals specifically with some issues that you seem to be overlooking in this comparison, if my impression is right. And the fact that you don't agree with the descriptions of a prominent philosopher's ideas is the best reason to read it and see why he's arguing for them. :) Also something that might be helpful is to look at some of the philosophy in Buddhism. Buddhism as Philosophy is a really nice introductory book covering a a range of what you'll find.

The introduction to this translation of the Digha Nikaya talks about this at some length.

In short, before the Buddha, there were early versions of the castes, but there was also a Sramana tradition of those that basically left society.

In general, the Brahmins were respected, but the Sramanas were also given a good deal of honor.

These Sramanas did not follow a particular code, but were of many different mindsets, codes of conduct, etc. This ranged from wanderers to atheists to any number of other ways of thinking and conduct.

When the Buddha 'went forth' from the home life into homelessness, he entered this group of Sramanas. He worked with various teachers at the time, and ultimately found that their teachings were basically limited.

After his enlightenment and the establishment of the Sangha, the 'monks' at the time were basically homeless wanderers, generally. However, at times, they would reside in one place, sometimes for a short period and sometimes for a longer period, often because they were basically sponsored by lay disciples.

Some, like Mahakaccana I believe, resided in one place for the majority of the time. Others, like Mahakassapa perhaps, lived in the wilderness basically all of the time.

In general, some of them basically resided in the wilderness, some would wander, gathering alms at various towns and cities and the like.

In some cases, I think, there were cases where various townspeople, city people, kings, etc, would basically set up a more long-lasting system of giving alms, which allowed there to be a bit more established areas where monastics could stay, more or less. Also, various disciples would basically give retreat places, some of which are featured prominently in the suttas in terms of places where the Buddha gave discourses.

Also, it may be worth considering that northern India has monsoons related to the Himalayas, and so often times during the rains, the monastics would kind of settle in for a time, I think.

It seems like a very interesting life, to me. Very inspiring. Some of the poems that are written in the Theragatha give some sense of the lives of these individuals, including those that frequented the wilderness.

Great questions! I'm a bit of a noob myself, but I would recommend avoiding paying too much attention to some of the more superficial aspects of Buddhism: monastic life, positions, temples, ceremonies, etc.

I would suggest reading about and studying basic Buddhist principles: 4 noble truths, 8 fold path, non-attachment, impermanence, etc.

Through your study of the Dharma you'll encounter many cultural variations of Buddishm, which like any other religion / philosophy can be deeply rooted in and absorb local culture and tradition. Buddhism in the West is a relatively new concept and only in the past 60 years are North Americans creating their own definition of what it means to be a Buddhist when it comes to ritual, dress, and salutations. Different sanghas (communities) appropriate from Eastern practice what they like, amalgamating it with more modern secular traditions, and leave the rest behind. However, the underlying principles and the Dharma continue to hold true as they're pitted against science, psychology, and philosophy.

Also, be sure to check-out "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism". http://www.amazon.com/dp/1570629579
This might help you avoid a lot of pitfalls of any spiritual path.

I think looking at monks, ritual, dress, temples, and ceremonies when starting to learn about Buddhism is like taking a tour of the Vatican as an introduction to Christianity. It's one interpretation of the teachings with lots of sociological-economic-political-cultural-historical layers heaved on top.

Strip all the superficialities away and you'll get to the heart of the matter - the inner workings of the mind.

My post in the book recommendations to the right:

>For all Buddhists:

> The Majjhima Nikaya: The Middle Length Discources of the Buddha
> The Digha Nikaya: The Long Length Discourses of the Buddha

>For Mahayana Buddhists:

> The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva

>For Vajrayana Buddhists:

> Words of my Perfect Teacher by Patrul Rinpoche

>Nothing in particular after that.

>There are a TON of misconceptions out there about what the Buddha taught and the presentation of the basic Buddhist path. Not reading the Digha/Majjhima Nikaya and calling yourself a Buddhist is the same as calling yourself a Christian without ever reading the Bible.

>Similarly, not having read the Bodhicharyavatara (a commentary really helps on this one, which is why I linked the best one) and calling yourself a Mahayana Buddhist is the same.

>Words of my Perfect teacher is simply an excellent introduction to the Vajrayana path, so I think it should be on there as well. Maybe not as necessary as the previous 3 (because in Vajrayana it's most important to learn from a qualified guru), it's still an excellent book. And if you haven't found a teacher yet, it would certainly help in finding a good one.

A great primer for the core tenets and historical context is "What The Buddha Taught" by Walpola Pahula. It provides a wonderful explanation of the thought process and is very clearly written; a lot of colleges use it in their comparative religion courses.

I also think that reading the "Dhammapada" is particularly vital. I prefer the Eknath Easwaran translation; I feel like he did an excellent job translating it into modern laguage while retaining the meaning of the text and providing excellent discussions of each sutra without being to neurotically overbearing, like so many religious commentaries can be. He also did excellent versions of the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads if you are interested in broader Indian spirituality.

I was introduced to buddhism while in recovery. There are some great sources out there that you might be able to benefit from. Here are a couple of books that helped me and can answer your questions much better than I:

One Breath at a Time; and

Zen of Recovery.

You are certainly not alone, if that gives you any comfort. During my time in Alcoholics Anonymous, I met a number of others with buddhist practices. If you are interested in learning more or stopping, you might find something useful in r/stopdrinking or r/alcoholism. I'll leave you with one other wonderful piece of wisdom that someone shared with me once on the subject.

"I didn't start meditating so I could stop drinking. I stopped drinking so I could start meditating."

Good luck.

*Added links

> just read the wiki on the "Mūlamadhyamakakārikā", which seems pretty enlightening; though am a hardcore philosophical-theorist

I just looked over the wiki page and it seems pretty esoteric. The MMK is pretty hard-nosed philosophy when you get down to it. If that approach interests you, you might like Buddhism as Philosophy as a short, more down-to-earth overview of this, along with a bunch more topics from the tradition. The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way seems to be recommended a lot around here if you're at all interested in diving into a translation/commentary.

> Thank you for your thoughtful replies.

Sure thing.

Oh I took the question as: if I only had one book for the rest of my life, rather than one I would literally have on my person at all times in my pocket.

I have part one of the Nishijima Cross version and personally find it a lot less readable than the linked one. I think I'd you're a Dogen scholar and need to do comparative work the footnotes and the literal style are probably valuable but it just doesn't read as well for personal practice and contemplation (in my opinion). The linked version I enjoy a lot if you're into a lifetime investment in original texts. It's very poetic and a well made book physically.

A great pocket book on Soto Zen though is "Opening the Hand of Thought". There are also now a lot of great Dogen commentaries coming out recently:

Deepest Practice, Deepest Wisdom

Being Time

Realizing Genjokoan

I watched an interview of the Dalai Lama once by Larry King. Having very little knowledge of Buddhism, Larry King asked him what he does when mosquitoes land on him to suck his blood.

The Dalai Lama replied that it depends entirely upon his mood at the moment. If he's in a good mood, he said, he blows on it to send it away. If he's not in a good mood, he smashes it to bits!

And then he laughed and laughed the way he does. I love Tenzin Gyatso.

Writing this just reminded me of a very helpful book by Tibetan Buddhist, Chogzam Trungpa that I hope to god OP will read, called "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism".

This is a great book for everyone interested in Buddhism or religion in general. It's well written and very easy to read and understand. If I knew OP's address, I'd buy one and send it.

There's an anthology, 'The Buddha and His Teachings' (Bercholz/Kohn), that I often recommend to newcomers. What I like about it is that it is designed to answer the question "what is the Buddha's teaching?", but approaches that question by offering essays from major -- ancient and modern -- figures in Indian, Tibetan, Japanese, Chinese and other traditions (people who pretty much everyone would agree grasp the Buddha's dharma). It's a nice book to hold on to and turn back to over time as well.

I think that approach helps you to see what essays speak the most to you... then you can explore those paths...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Buddha-Teachings-Samuel-Bercholz/dp/1570629609

Good luck with your practice!

Desire for truly positive, transformative results is called aspiration. It is still desire, but a different category of desire. One uses it until one overcomes other attachments. Then the dualistic spiritual desire can be let go as well.

Letting go is, of course, also put into practice during meditation. Your aspiration brings you to practice; but when you're actually applying choiceless awareness, you can let go of all thoughts of where you're going to or coming from. Only return to the method, only return to application of the awareness. Then, outside of meditation, when self and attachment habitually arise, you can again apply your positive aspiration to cut them off.

~

One of the all-time classics of Dharma and dharmic practice is Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. I highly recommend this book if you're into reading.

Before starting on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, you might want a survey book of Buddhism. Although not at all complete, I do think the book The Buddha and His Teaching is a great academic survey covering many foundations of Buddhism including the Buddha's story, Karma, the eightfold path, ego, attachment, and meditation. It mainly follows the Tibetan model in organization: Part 1: Hinayana, Part 2: Mahayana, Part 3: Vajrayana, excluding focus on schools like Zen and Theravada. All in all, though, an excellent read.

There are also a number of contemporary readings that will explain Dharma through a modern lens. What Makes You Not a Buddhist? was recommended to me awhile back.

Also, if you'd like to get to the heart of it, start meditating. You only need 10 minutes a day of basic shamatha and vippasana practice to start becoming a student of your own mind.

Good luck

EDIT: it just dawned on me that Shamatha and Vippasana might be foreign terms to you. You can do a google search, or you can PM me and I'd be happy to help

Addiction is seen as a situation of a strongly conditioned mind. The repetitive action (karma) feeds into more of the same action. Also, the chasing of sense pleasure as an attempt to remedy the unavoidable and fundamental discomforts of life.

It's wonderful to hear that you have integrated meditation into your recovery. There are a couple of excellent books on the subject, and there are a number of organizations to support the combination of recovery and the practice.

There are two excellent books that I know of (and there are probably more), Refuge Recovery by Noah Levine, and One Breath at a time by Kevin Griffin.

Also, if you are in the US, and you are interested in a community, there are Refuge Recovery groups all over the place, which are based on the first book I listed above. Just look on the site for any groups in your city.

Whatever you choose, I wish you freedom from addiction.

If you're really, really interested about this topic. I'd suggest you two books, even after the fact of the interview:

Living Buddha, Living Christ, by Thich Nhat Hanh, everyone's favorite :)

http://www.amazon.com/Living-Buddha-Christ-Thich-Nhat/dp/1573220183


Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian:

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Buddha-Could-Not-Christian/dp/185168963X


I think reading on how two perspectives try to bridge each other is the best way for someone who is surrounded by Christianity mostly will be introduced to it.

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With that being said, I was born a Christian, but I got engaged in Buddhism since high school. I do often get questions from friends about this topic. Your interview is how they did it in my high school right, as in over the internet through something like skype? If so, I could definitely try lending a voice. I try not to overflow too much about Buddhism to someone who doesn't know too much, like explaining the different sects in one sitting.

I could explain them of course, and don't feel intimidated by the information being presented here. Yes, there are many sects, and the Buddhist sects are more different than are Christian denominations towards each other, but at the end of the day, they are "Buddhist" sects for a reason.

Welcome.

I would recommend Buddhanet's Basic Buddhism Studies as a starting point.

After that, try listening to some of the Dhamma talks by Gil Fronsdal and others over at Audiodharma.

In terms of books. Believe it or not "Buddhism for Dummies" is actually a surprisingly accurate primer/overview that covers most of the popular schools.

What the Buddha Taught is frequently recommended. It covers the core Theravadin philosophies and is very well respected. However, it can be a little dry and scholarly if you're not the literary type.

Other books to look at, imo, are anything by Pema Chodron, or anything by Thich-Nhat-Hanh. The books with the Dalai Lama's name attached are usually alright, but tread with caution as some of them are ghost written or co-authored by others and misinterpret or misrepresent some of the concepts.

For plain old mindfulness and meditation without the metaphysical trappings, try Wherever you go, there you are by John Kabat Zinn and the free online book Mindfulness in Plain English by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana.

Then check out the world Buddhist directory on Buddhanet and see if there's a school near you that fits with whatever style of Buddhism resonates most with you. Almost every town has a Zen center or a secular mindfulness center, but if you want more traditional schools like pure Theravada or Tibetan, you may or may not need to travel to find a school.

Hope that helps!

I'm going to give perhaps a different point of view, please take what it helpful and if it doesn't resonate with you, then you can dismiss it.

>I meditate by the lake, I talk myself out of it all the time, but the thought always comes back, I can't detach. What should I do?

After you recognize when you have wondered (this is completely natural that everybody faces), then put your mind back to the breath. Do that many times, a hundred times, a thousand times. Keep going.

That is wonderful that you meditate by the lake : ) I recommend meditating with your eyes open, try that. I also highly recommend doing walking meditation around the lake and nature - wherever you are - try to relax and let go.

>What should I do? I reject going to the doctors (hard no), a psych ward (hard no), or a therapist (only a psychotherapist) but I do not have a car or live near one

I recommend a therapist that resonates with you (not all of them are helpful), but you can also work on yourself. I didn't go for help because they did not help me and also could not afford to pay. (not everyone has that luxury).

You need to learn to let go of your thoughts, and don't get too attached to them. Don't try to get rid or suppress your thoughts, you are just recognizing that your suffering is the result of being attached to your sense of self. Don't fight yourself, learn to let go.

I'm not the guy that will tell you to seek out doctors, since most of them see depression as a medical problem, which I believe is mostly a spiritual problem. SSRI or Awakening, I made my choice. I stopped seeking help I guess because I had this strange feeling why I had to go make an appointment and pay someone to ease my suffering when I could make progress right now, using my own mind. I can do that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anytime I want. And it's free.

Anyway, some things that helped me out of my depression was watching Ajahn Brahm videos on youtube, and the book The Mind Illuminated. No other meditation book gave me as much motivation as this one. Why? Because it gave me something to progress towards, even though I was not sure where I was going. To at least improve my mind a little bit, day by day.

It's scientifically studied that depressed people lacking goals have their depression stagnate and worsened. It makes sense that giving my mind a sense of purpose and direction years ago helped me.
It lit that spark of inspiration for me to get out of my bed and walk forward to a path of self-transformation, deep inner peace and ultimate bliss.

These are just what has helped me, you have to hang in there and find what works for you. Keep tinkering, experimenting and take small steps, each and every day.

Lastly,

Stay alive. Just stay alive. Suffering exists in this world, that is the nature we live in, but we can transcend stress and suffering, this is the four noble truths.

Never give up, ever. And believe in yourself. I know this may sounds cliche, but anything is possible if you begin to believe in yourself. You can do this.

Oh, I wanna try too:
>Are there different "branches" of Buddhism, sort of like in Christianity?

• The Schools of Buddhism
  
• Differences between the schools
  
  >Who was The Buddha?
  
  
• PBS documentary on The Buddha
  
• BBC documentary on The Buddha
  
• Buddha Nature
  
  > why is there prayer in Buddhism? How is Buddhist prayer different than, say, Christian and Islamic prayer?
  
  
• IIRC only a few sects actually 'pray' in the classical sense, otherwise it's simply paying homage; showing respect, saying thanks.
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puja_(Buddhism)
  
• Paying Homage
  
  >Do Buddhists go to temples on a certain day of the week like Christians? Is there a ritualistic process on what is done each day?
  
  
• This depends on the hours your local temple/center holds. However there are 'typical hours', once in the 'morning', once in the 'afternoon', and once in the 'evening'.
  
• Ritualistic processes will depend upon the culture of the school of Buddhism you subscribe to.
  
  > If I call my local Buddhist temple or meditation center, would someone there be willing to talk to me over the phone and introduce me in real life to what Buddhism is?
  
  
• They may be busy, and ask you to come back later.
  
• Some zen schools will turn you away outright to test your resolve. (This is wrong, see /u/Gundi9's comment bellow.)
  
  > Basically, I would really appreciate it if you could explain to me what Buddhism means to you, what your daily Buddhist lifestyle is, and how it affects you.
  
  
• I meditate, keep the 4 noble truths at the forefront of my attention and make a concerted effort to stay on the 8 fold path.
  
  Also, here are some books:
  
  
• The Dhammapada
  
• The Dhammapada is so ubiquitous i'm certain you can find versions of it online for free.
  
• The 8 Fold Path
  
• Also, see our sidebar, it says things I didn't, and probably says the things I did say so much more gooderbetter.
  
  TADA!
  
  

If I can, I'd like to suggest a book. It's called Going Home by Vietnamese Monk Thich Nhat Hanh. It does a fantastic job of going over the parallels (and differences) between the two. This will definitely benefit you more than I could hope to do in a comment section on reddit.

The book is pretty popular so you may be able to find it at you library or order off of Amazon for $10.

I would suggest reading some books on the subject. The Way Of Zen has been extremely helpful for me. There are many other books that are good as well. And don't be shy to ask questions on this sub - most will be very willing to discuss these things with you.

Also look up The Noble Eightfold Path, and the Four Noble Truths. Here's a handy reference; and there are many helpful links in the sidebar to the right.

Try to distance yourself from the desire of wanting to be called, or labelled as anything. A good book to read that is full of wisdom is Chogyam Trungpa's Cutting Through Spirtual Materialism.

When one starts to awaken, Ego will often try and get in the way. The wisdom and realizations you come into, are often bound to ego. I find the trick is say very little about your own personal realizations. The more and more you talk about something you've realized (that may very well be so exciting and incredible) the more the experience is diminished and replaced by 'the story' of a realization. This is like watering down your epiphanies so they can be communicated with others.

Finally, try and remember that the people you see, who you talk too, are projections of your mind, and if you feel a certain way about them, there must be a karmic cause for this. Dig into that. Try and see/feel where it's all coming from.

I'm fond of Thai Ajahns as well. Ajahn Brahm is my favorite, his book Who ordered this truckload of dung? is super easy to read and is split up into many small, relatable yet powerful stories/teachings.

It's still very questionable how close we are to understanding consciousness. From just dabbling into the mind sciences and the different camps there, it really doesn't seem like we're quite there yet. But even if our technology can eventually create the conditions for consciousness, I think Buddhism will become more relevant.

For example, Francisco Varela, Humberto Maturana and Evan Thompson are all examples of a Buddhist-inspired approach to the science of mind. Check out (though be warned you're entering into the fray of some heavy philosophy-speak) Embodied Mind, Mind in Life, and a textbook on the subject, The Tree of Knowledge. To them, the contemplative disciplines of the East (and the West for that matter - what has survived through the traditions), are all examples of a deeply sophisticated "inner science" that can actually help inform and guide the scientific understanding of consciousness. In short, I think the trend we have today is telling: as neuroscience and consciousness studies develop, the Western interest in Buddhism also seems to be increasing.

I think a few other popular books are Rick Hanson's Buddha's Brain and B. Alan Wallace's Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge Hope this was helpful!

Edit ~ Forgot to mention something about reincarnation. Well, many traditions have an esoteric perspective on reality, an inner dimension, and in some sense, an inner world with its own laws and realities that are in some respects more real than our material senses. So, some might be against uploading their consciousness for fear of stagnating their own spiritual evolution. Personally, I learn towards believing that reality is more than our contemporary, secular culture can articulate. So even with AI, I think these spiritual realities will not become "irrelevant" - but if we believe like many of the traditions do that there are subtle bodies (etheric, astral, etc) - then there are certain dangers in attempting to create life and mind without awareness of these. This is borderline science fiction, but I can imagine a gnostic fear of spiritual "entrapment." A consciousness that has lost its soul - or worse yet, a soul that is ensnared within a machine and unable to move on because it is missing critical spiritual bodies that would allow it to move onto the next life (or beyond this world). Should make for some interesting new mythologies...

On the other hand, scientists may unwittingly create the conditions for the etheric (the animating force of life, chi or ki), and other bodies simply by learning the physical principles of life. So artificial beings may also have chakras and energy channels - and there may even be new spiritual traditions and metaphysics that humans may not be able to understand. Anyhow, many traditions speak of transcending the ego and allowing the "higher self" to guide us - well, maybe, just maybe, an AI might be a suitable mind for the Higher Self, or Daimon, to descend and incarnate. Whoo, this is fun thinking about. This is sounding like a science fiction version of Sri Aurobindo's "Supramental descent."

You might find this book, "Living Buddha, Living Christ" by Thich Nhat Hanh useful to 'unstick' yourself spiritually. He skillfully discusses Buddhist concepts in a Christian framework, making it very easy to understand if you have a Christian background. He talks in some depth about the Eucharist, for example, interweaving with Buddhist terminology that makes for a very deep and interesting read. He also encourages you to continue practicing both Christianity and Buddhism. Once you're done reading the book, I can guarantee you'll find doing that a whole lot easier.

I disagree with most of the people giving answers here, but I guess that's okay.

Your kids are always going to be in contact with people who don't agree with your points of view. Your job as a parent is to teach them how to navigate those waters in a healthy way. You might also want to check out a Jewish or black or Asian parenting subreddit--how do they teach their kids to deal with ignorant comments? I remember some Jewish friends just telling their kids something like, "Some people believe/do (this or that), but in our house, we believe (this or that). We still care about and love people, even if they do things differently than we do."

Your kids are old enough to understand that they can love Grandpa even though he believes stuff that your family doesn't believe. Encourage them to come to you if Grandma or Grandpa ever say or do anything that confuses them or they don't understand. (oops, just read your already did that--bravo)

Sit down and ask yourself, "why does it bug you so much that your Dad made that comment?" Since I am also coming from a fundamentalist Christian background, I would guess it is

1. fear that your different path will never be accepted?
   
2. fear that your kids will believe Grandpa over you and reject you?
   
3. anger that your Dad will never get you and accept you?
   
   We are never going to be able to control what other people think of us/about us. The thing you can control is how you react to those comments. This is your Dad, so your reaction is going to be stronger.
   
   Why did your Dad make that comment? My guess is that your Dad is feeling fear that he is going to lose you and he won't see you again when he dies. You guys are probably already not as close as you were when you were still Christian, so the way he sees it, part of his fear is already realized. (Doesn't matter if you agree in an afterlife or think he's silly to fear that--he is still coming from a feeling of strong emotion).
   
   Have you read Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Nhat Hanh? It really helped my relationship with my fundamentalist father-in-law. I worked on being a deep listener so I could understand the emotions behind stuff he said.
   
   I also really like Ajahn Brahm and his youtube videos.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

It depends on which school of Buddhism you are interested in. Different schools of Buddhism have different scriptures. For example, the school of Theravada Buddhism cherishes the Pali Canon, which consists of Vinaya Pitaka (monastic rules and disciplines), Sutta Pitaka (Buddha's discourses) and Abhidhamma Pitaka (philosophical treaties). The school of Mahayana Buddhism cherishes the Tripitaka, while the school of Tibetan Buddhism also has their own scriptures.

If you are into the Theravada school of Buddhism, which is the oldest school and also closest to the original teaching of the Buddha, then I'd recommend the following books:

The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya

The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya

The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya

The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Complete Translation of the Anguttara Nikaya

The Suttanipata: An Ancient Collection of the Buddha’s Discourses Together with Its Commentaries

The Life Of Milarepa

An Introduction To Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki

The Way Of Zen by Alan Watts

Be Here Now by Ram Dass

These are just some of the better ones ive read so far, all really great starting off points into Buddhism. Zen in particular. Good luck!

I come to buddhism by way of recovery -- looking for more information on meditation to incorporate into my AA program. I wasn't really looking for buddhism to overcome addictive behavior -- but it has definitely been a factor in my recovery.

I have been able to discover quite a bit of commonality in the practice and in the program. I think that the commonality helped convince me of the utility of AA at times when I otherwise doubted it (and maybe vice versa). There are a couple of books I've read on the subject: Zen of Recovery and One Breath at a Time. Both were helpful in allowing me to see how these ideas complimented and contrasted with one another.

My favorite line with regard to the 11th step's invocation of meditation: "I didn't meditate so I could stop drinking. I stopped drinking so I could meditate."

from your description i think you've inadvertently stumbled upon sleep yoga or 'clear light' practice. from p. 161 of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's 'The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep':

"As consicousness withdraws from the senses, allow the awareness to move smoothly through the tigles until only non-dual awareness - the clear light of the central tigle - remains. It is as if the body spirals down into sleep while you spiral down into the clear light."

what is a tigle? in the context of this practice it is a small sphere of light representing particular qualities of consciousness or, in the case of the central tigle, representing pure rigpa.

i think you might benefit by pursuing this practice.

I think those moments you feel in yoga and biking are exactly what you need more of. A meditator is called a yogi. It is about focusing the mind. Yoga is focusing the mind while in many asanas (postures) and meditation is focusing the mind in one asana (usually sitting, though it could be walking or whatever you pick). You can just as easily practice Biking Meditation as well (I like running meditation).

Those brief moments are touching your experience in the present moment. Keeping in touch with the present is what you are practicing with meditation. This is what is extraordinarily simple and natural. Keep reading these difficult ideas, find some more accessible books, and start regularly practicing/sitting and you should be good to go. Happy learning!

Edit: For an accessible book check out The Way of Zen by Alan Watts. Or Steve Hagen's Buddhism Plain and Simple.

> I know "The Way of the Bodhisattva" is a fundamental text of Mahayana Buddhism... should I start with that?

Absolutely!

> Any translations or commentaries you recommend?

I would suggest this one: by Vesna and Alan Wallace, Snow Lion Publications, 1997

> What are some good books for learning more about the path of the Bodhisattva?

The Path To Awakening

> In The Path to Awakening, Shamar Rinpoche gives his own detailed commentary on Chekawa Yeshe Dorje's Seven Points of Mind Training, a text that has been used for transformative practice in Tibetan Buddhism for close to a thousand years. Clear, accessible, and yet profound, this book is filled with practical wisdom, philosophy, and meditation instructions.

The Buddha and His Teachings by Samuel Bercholz and Sherab Chodzin Kohn was my first real introduction to Buddhism. It has a great biography of the Buddha and covers the core Buddhist teachings, as well as information on the different schools and traditions that exist in the world.

A great book that I've just finished reading and can't recommend highly enough is Indestructible Truth by Reginald A. Ray, which is a very comprehensive introduction to Tibetan Buddhism's history, theory, practise and philosophy.

I think it may be helpful to have a series of discussions about why you are looking to learn more about Buddhism. For many Christians non-Abrahamic religions are very difficult to understand (source: me, an agnostic raised by an Evangelical Born-Again father and Catholic mother). Part of the process for you and your girlfriend could be learning about Buddhism together, and understanding how it is both different and similar to Christianity.

As someone who comes from a Christian background myself, as a teenager I found Thich Nhat Hanh's works Living Buddha, Living Christ and Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers as effective ways of comparing and contrasting various concepts and values of both the religions. As long as you and your partner are having an ongoing open discussion about your spiritual journey I think you'll be OK.

EDIT: I'll also put forward that if part of your reason for looking outside of Christianity is that you're "not much of a social guy", you should be aware that community (Parsa or Gana) is very important to Buddhists as well.

There's some new book about meditation that's supposed to be, like, the most thorough book on meditation ever, I guess. Buddhist meditation, anyway. I read some reviews that said it was extraordinarily difficult reading, so I took a look at the "look inside" preview on Amazon and I could tell right away that I would never get very far with this book, but some people who find this thread might want to check it out:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0990847705/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=BRGP8O8PXQFC&coliid=I2KJYS9WGBUB9A

It seems like it would certainly help you master your own mind.

1. The book that I have started recommending is "The Mind Illuminated," especially for atheists and agnostics. It's a step-by-step guide to Buddhist meditation, synthesized from many different sects into a neat and contemporary form.
   
   
2. There's a robot that always recommends "What the Buddha Taught," which is truly an excellent piece.
   
   
3. Search for 'atheist' in this subreddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/search?q=atheist&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all

You should check out Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook by Ajahn Brahm. It's a complete guide to meditation, from the basics into and including the deepest states. First ~50 pages available here.

>I recently called a tibetan buddhist center to ask about the various non-mind, non-body states I’ve been experiencing, because I wanted to compare notes and see how others maneuver through them, as the states can’t be willed I’ve found, unlike any normal out of body experience, they’re independent and the more one tries to move it the more one remembers the “self,” and the desire to move.

Yes, if you use will that ruins the meditation. You're supposed to let go of will completely :-)

What sort of out of body experience are you describing here? Is it that the five sense have disappeared completely? (All notions of body, space, time are gone; a serious deviation from "normal consciousness").

Are you left only with a bright white/colored light?

Yeah, Ingram does a great job covering the jhanas. You might also want to check out:

1. Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English
   
   
2. [Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond](http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Bliss-Beyond-Meditators-Handbook/dp/0861712757/ref=sr_1_1? s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318903325&sr=1-1)
   
   
   
   

Sounds like you'd like Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom. Available for tasting in Buddhist Geeks podcasts with the author: A Crash Course in Applied Neurodharma.

Might want to check out these sites:

http://the12stepbuddhist.com/

http://www.kevingriffin.net/

and/or check out these books:

12 Step Buddhist

Buddhism and the Twelve Steps

One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps

Good luck :)

And I didn't read far enough :) some already said it below.


Opening the Hand of Thought is a good one too

http://www.amazon.com/Opening-Hand-Thought-Foundations-Buddhist/dp/0861713575/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293835672&sr=1-1

The Wikipedia article on Dream Yoga may be of use to you.

I hear The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep is widely recommended.

I imagine such practices require a great deal of concentration.

I have heard anecdotal stories of yogis who have almost maintained total mindfulness over 24 hours, slipping only during the times of entering and exiting sleep states. This implies that they are maintaining total mindfulness in the dream states.

Ajahn Brahm's Mindfulness, Bliss, And Beyond: A Meditator's Guide

Great guide for deeper meditation and entering the jhanas.

I agree that some teachers give off that vibe, but Culadasa is about as down-to-earth and non-new-agey as it gets. Perhaps it's the Pali ordination name that's giving you the willies?

Have you read any of his stuff or listened to any recordings? I recommend reading the preview pages on Amazon's listing for The Mind Illuminated (click on "Look inside").

I thought that Kosho Uchiyama's Opening the Hand of Thought was a great book on "Zen meditation" from a Soto perspective.

Thich Nhat Hanh has a book entitled Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames.

But I'd recommend you also go beyond books, and visit a dharma center near you.

You may enjoy these books The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural
Light by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu.

Dream Yoga is a practice that originated in India and has been an integral aspect of Vajrayāna for centuries.

It sounds like this would be a great book for your situation:

Waking Up

Man this is a tough question. Buddhism is not easy to understand. The best "Intro to Buddhism" books I know, half of my friends (in their early 20's) would have a very difficult time understanding.

Although it's not a Buddhist book, perhaps she would enjoy The Tao of Pooh which uses the Winne the Pooh characters (pictures too!) to explain Taoism. Although Taoism is different than Buddhism, this book may help your daughter to lighten up on the tough existential questions, and to try to simply enjoy life and be present.

 

In a few years, to introduce her to Buddhism, I'd recommend What the Buddha Taught, Awakening the Buddha Within, Mindfulness In Plain English, and the Dhammapada - which is a collection of verses/sayings that are said to represent the essential core of Buddhist teachings.

 

The Dalai Lama is my favorite spiritual teacher, but I think his books can be a little difficult, especially for someone so young. I remember when I first started dwelling on existential questions in high school, I borrowed the Dalai Lama's Meaning of Life from my Dad. Although the book was difficult, it was one of the main factors responsible for me starting to seriously pursue Buddhism.

You might have better luck looking for the book Who ordered this Truckload of Dung?

Ok - given you're an atheist, I suggest you to read Waking Up by Sam Harris

I think given who Sam Harris is, his background and the style of his writing - I reckon you'll feel most comfortable reading his book.

Waking Up by Sam Harris is what piqued my interest in Buddhism. He doesn't himself identify as a Buddhist, but it's definitely a new, modern, and different take on Buddhism.

I just finished The Buddha's Brain, which my therapist suggested and I really enjoyed. Now I am working on The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings. The writing itself is clear and concise, which is helpful for someone who is just beginning to explore these ideas. The ideas themselves, though, are extremely challenging. Thich Nhat Hanh says at one point that "Rightness or wrongness is not objective. It is subjective....[A]ll views are wrong views. No view can ever be the truth. That is why it is called a "point of view." If we go to another point, we will see things differently and realize that our first view was not entirely right," (56).

As someone who has p'shawed moral relativism my whole whole life as a form of wishy-washiness and as a back door for allowing immoral behavior, I spent a lot of time thinking about this last night. I have established that I have an attachment to this idea, but I don't know that I have come to the conclusion that it is wrong, per se. Interesting stuff.

Edit: Grammar/formatting.

With Each and Every Breath by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond by Ajahn Brahm
Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas by Leigh Brasington
Wisdom Wide and Deep by Shaila Catherine
Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana
Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana

I love his book "Who ordered this truckload of dung?" http://www.amazon.com/Who-Ordered-This-Truckload-Dung/dp/0861712781

Sorry if this is a repeat, but Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism is a great read. It can be a mind fuck, but it's precise and clear.

This book http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-as-Philosophy-An-Introduction/dp/0872208737 is awesome as a survey of the theoretical aspects of Buddhist doctrine

This is where I started. Lots of great info.

http://www.amazon.com/Anger-Cooling-Thich-Nhat-Hanh/dp/1573229377

Nhat (one of the great modern Buddhist authors) wrote a book specifically on this topic. I recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Dummies-Jonathan-Landaw/dp/111802379X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498746817&sr=8-1&keywords=buddhism+for+dummies

No joke, it has been a huge help to me.

The introduction in Easwaran's translation of the Dhammapada is excellent. It succinctly summarized the essence of Buddhism and got me started on that path.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Dhammapada-Classics-Indian-Spirituality/dp/1586380206/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1371158557&sr=8-2&keywords=the+dhammapada

Bhikkhu Bodhi's collection of sutras.

http://www.amazon.com/Buddhas-Words-Anthology-Discourses-Teachings/dp/0861714911

http://www.amazon.com/The-Middle-Length-Discourses-Buddha/dp/086171072X/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0JGB8GYHNJYWS360RV6E

http://www.amazon.com/The-Connected-Discourses-Buddha-Translation/dp/0861713311/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0JGB8GYHNJYWS360RV6E

http://www.amazon.com/The-Long-Discourses-Buddha-Translation/dp/0861711033/ref=pd_sim_b_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=0JGB8GYHNJYWS360RV6E

They have commentaries, but they are seperate from the sutras themselves.

Just don't read the commentaries if you are opposed to them, but if you have questions about the meanings of the sutras, you should read the commentaries as Bhikkhu Bodhi is a very well established pali translator, and thus can discern subtle differences in the pali that don't come across in English.

There actually is a Buddhism for Dummies book. I also read [The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buddhism] (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Buddhism-Edition/dp/1592579116/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1382312621&sr=8-7&keywords=buddhism+for+dummies) in a Buddhist study group a while ago. It was pretty informative for just starting to get your feet wet.

The techniques are often overlapping, much of the Guru stuff in Tantra, you don't want to mix or deviate from your instructor, but being creative and using ingenuity is often at the heart of a good practitioner's arsenal.

My household had/has some anger in it and I know it's infectious. I am wondering because it is a disorder, but sometime is a behavioral one. Thich Nhaat Hanh talks about it being inherited from father to son and so forth. For instance, I had anger before, but had to get out of the environment myself to fully let it dissolve. If you are interested you can check out his book http://www.amazon.com/Anger-Cooling-Thich-Nhat-Hanh/dp/1573229377

Middle length discourses

Long discourses

Connected Discourses


Those 3 make up the Nikayas and will keep you busy until infinity. They're also a bit pricey.

I have a copy of Buddhist Suttas that contains many of the key suttas in it.

A Buddhist Bible contains some of the more important Mahayana suttas as they relate to Zen especially.

And then of course there is the Lotus Sutra, an epic classic unto itself.

I'm currently walking along this path and can recommend these books -

​

John Yates - The Mind Illuminated

Sam Harris - Waking Up

Owen Flanagan - The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized

READ ALAN WATTS. The Way of Zen is amazing. Zen is probably the most natural for an atheist- speaking as an agnostic zen minded kinda guy.

The Way of Zen, by Alan Watts

The Three Pilars of Zen, by Philip Kapleau Roshi

Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, by Stephen Batchelor.

Outside of that, most of the stuff that I read comes from brazilian monks, like Monja Coen or Monje Gensho

Read this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Hand-Thought-Foundations-Buddhist/dp/0861713575

You can get it used for like $10

Maybe recommend one of these books...

Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh

Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers by Thich Nhat Hanh

Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian by Paul F. Knitter

Hanh goes in to greater detail about these intersections in one of his books. http://www.amazon.com/Living-Buddha-Christ-Thich-Nhat/dp/1573220183

Although it's not exactly what you asked for, you might like this article or even this book.

Enlightenment is not nirvana. The goal of Buddhism is nirvana.

What good is enlightenment if it does not last after we get up from our chair? Many, many Buddhists are enlightened: they have experienced the profound and sacred wordless knowledge that comes from total inner silence. But then the world still catches up to them and they are pulled back into cycles of desire and aversion. Few, few Buddhists abide in nirvana: they are beyond all delusion and rest forever in the deathless state.

edit: here's a good explanation from http://www.amazon.com/The-Dhammapada-Classics-Indian-Spirituality/dp/1586380206

>In Buddhism, enlightenment (sambodhi or bodhi) is an instantaneous experience in which mental activity is momentarily suspended completely and sleeping realms of consciousness are dazzled into full wakefulness. Bodhi is not nirvana. It is a temporary stilling of the mind, which brings illumination of consciousness; nirvana, the permanent release from all sources of suffering, is attained only when the experience of enlightenment has been repeated so often that it, not ordinary conditioned awareness, has become one's constant state. Only when the insights of bodhi are completely absorbed into one's character and conduct would the Buddha call a person truly awake.

Mark Siderits, Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction, Hackett Pub Co Inc., 2007. Amazon link

 

One of fine books which deals with the subject from philosophical point of view (accessible introductory book for any reasonably educated lay reader).

What about this one? I haven't read it.

This book will explain the situation:
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism

Read The Mind Illuminated

https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Bodhisattva-Way-Life/dp/1559390611/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1559390611&pd_rd_r=EEEMWGYAQ6ZWHYSDGF34&pd_rd_w=yGlp9&pd_rd_wg=MOkmR&psc=1&refRID=EEEMWGYAQ6ZWHYSDGF34#customerReviews

I don't think there is one, though it would be an appropriate work to eventually receive such a treatment.

There are only really three (published) English versions to speak of: by the Padmakara Translation Group,
Vesna Wallace, and Crosby and Skilton. I can't vouch for any of them.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's book contains some specific practices.

http://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Through-Spiritual-Materialism-Chogyam/dp/1570629579

Try reading this book: https://www.amazon.com/Going-Home-Jesus-Buddha-Brothers/dp/1573228303

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism knocked my, "I'm spiritual and everything is solved by talking about Buddhist concepts" self on its ass. Rightfully.

I feel for you. Suffering is no fun. What helps me:

All pain is not suffering. Pain and suffering are two different phenomena. The dialogue on the two arrows, SN 36.6, addresses this issue, and it is worth bearing this in mind. This is not to belittle your predicament, or to claim that I understand the nature of your pain, but to put pain and suffering into a beneficial perspective. A perspective that allows us to begin to work with the situation.

In a general Buddhist perspective, as you know, we are all in some kind of state of perpetuated suffering with differing degrees of temporary relief or intensity. All life is suffering, pleasure and pain experiences are equally marked by this essential truth. That being the case, we are encouraged to learn to become unattached to our deep aversion to perceived pain, and attachment to perceived pleasure. There are ways to do this in a healthy, liberating way regardless of our situation.

Bringing home the doctrine via reflection or reading alone is not going to accomplish this for you, for instance: intellectually understanding that lifting weights will make you stronger will not make you stronger, it can, however inform your practice of exercise. Meditation, Vipassana, this is what helps me deal with what I perceive as extreme pain and discomfort. It helps me to learn to hold the pain without aversion, to see through it, to gradually learn to experience it as mere sensation, and then to move beyond it entirely. I highly recommend this if you have not begun. Please do not misunderstand me, doctrinal understanding is powerful and important, but for extreme pain and suffering, nothing beats the added benefit of properly executed Vipassana. If your pain keeps you from attending a retreat, consider contacting the Vipassana Meditation people, and requesting that they help you learn their technique. They are very awesome, in my own experience, and may be willing to work with you. Just a suggestion, intended to be a happy one.

When facing the dark decision of stepping out of this life to escape the pain, I have heard that this particular consideration is beneficial:

• the predicament of suffering that you face holds no intrinsic reality of its own, it is the empty, ungraspable expression of some sort of ultimately unknowable cause.
  
• It has as its creator, blind, habitual reactivity
  
• It has as its support, blind, habitual reactivity
  
• it has as its perpetuation, blind, habitual reactivity.
  
• To eliminate the suffering born of, supported by, and perpetuated by blind, habitual reactivity, non-attached awareness in a state of equanimity must be, and can be produced. There IS a way to do this.
  
  There are deep perspectives that also suggest that if you allow the pain to move you to exit stage left, that you are creating a future seed of suffering that will be inherited by the midstream that you identify with as being you, by committing an act of volitional intention in reaction to an aversion to sensation. In other words, there will be future karma produced that will perpetuate existence in samsara. No action is inherently right or wrong, but that is not to say that there are not inheritable consequences relative to our ultimate liberation and suffering with every intentional action. There is no exception to this mechanic.
  
  To work with this, we can "offer up" our pain, and learn to reduce suffering by developing equanimity and wisdom. Reflect in the ultimate non-permanence of the pain, and do Tonglen with your own suffering, give compassion and metta to yourself. Reflect on all others going through this and develop an intention to experience the pain and the suffernig directly, to know it as it is so that you can understand it, its cause, and its cessation, and use that as a seed of compassion for others going through this experience as well, "May I experience this so that no other beings have to experience the misery of this suffering." Use it as a seed of liberation. This is a very beneficial practice.
  
  You can also understand that if this suffering is the result of a perpetuated aggregation of ultimately empty causes which are defined by blind, habitual reactivity, then what you have is an opportunity to transcend this beginning-less cycle in the here and now by developing direct insight and transcendental wisdom coupled with genuine compassion, leading to perfect liberation. Utilize this moment of difficulty as a tool leading to ultimate liberation, reclaim this purpose of your life, and move this away from the weight of it as a reason to give up and run away. There can be purpose to your suffering, even if it is purposeless in and of itself, you can make that distinction.
  
  You can do this work, it will require practice, and will not happen overnight, which is why it is called practice. You will fill a bucket drop by drop by consistent practice. This is the sure and steady way to liberation. Always remember, the way out is though, not around, not avoiding, but through.
  
  Pema Chodron is an excellent teacher, I recommend her audio-book lessons on overcoming habitual re-activity, particularly, "Getting Unstuck" and her recent teachings, "The Truth of Our Existence."
  
  Additionally, you may want to look into Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs, as they are based on Buddhist meditation techniques and have been clinically proven as effective tools working with "Stress" and increasing resilience. You can check out his Mindfulness for Pain program. If you are involved in a clinical rehabilitation program, consider asking them about MBSR, they may offer it, and if not, try to connect to a social worker through your clinical provider, hospital, or rehab center, depending on your situation, who may be able to help you out with a connection.
  
  Finally, just reading books on fundamental Buddhist principles like, "In the Buddha's Words" always help to increase my foundation of perspective in difficult and overwhelming times, or Shantideva's Guide To The Bodhisattva Way of Life (depending on your tradition preference).
  
  Any of the materials I listed can be found if you know how to look for them. I hope this has been, in some way, helpful, and not to long!
  
  Metta