i have been wonding what that are called

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripitaka

Wow I thought that people would have taken all the "Bob" names long before you registered. Being the name of a profit of a major cult and all.

yep im special

a-mi-tuo-fo

Could you be more specific, bob?

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/index.htm

i would like the word of Siddartha Gautama the buddha

Well, that will be a problem: there is no one "authoritative" collection of the Buddha's works. Nothing of what the Buddha said was written down during his lifetime, in fact, it was several hundred years after his death before anything was written down. Each "sect" of Buddhism has a collection of writings they consider to be "authentic", but another sect might not consider those authentic.

quote:Originally posted by bob:

i would like the word of Siddartha Gautama the buddha

The direct words of the Buddha weren't written down, but the majority, if not all of his discourses, were recited daily by the monastic commmunity in unision to preserve the teachings. If you are in search of particular sutras or just the the overall aspects that contribute to totality of Buddhism, I would suggest www.buddhanet.net. (http://www.buddhanet.net.) You should find what you're looking for there.

Social, please correct me if my words hold no truth to them. I am still fairly new to Buddhism and don't want to give another person the wrong idea.



[This message has been edited by NurotiK_SykotiK (edited 05-22-2005).]

No, you're right, NurotiK, it was most definitely the oral tradition that kept the Buddha's discourses preserved until they were written down. My dad and I (my dad was the person who introduced me to Buddhism) have had long discussions about just how authentic some sutras are and such, but we came to the conclusion that it doesn't really matter. Their words are still helpful and inspirational.

Man, thanks for the website. I can't believe I've never come across it, before! It's much easier than looking through all of my books.

I look at the suttas the same way I look at the bible. There is almost always a wider, underlying message; and if certain passages don't fit at all with the underlying message then it was probably altered or later added.

When Tribe speaks, threads tremble.

If you are looking to pratice Buddhism based on the Sutras, you might have a hard time. Like it has been mentioned before, a lot of them conflict with each other. The two biggest opposites I've seen was reading about if eating meat meant murder and if killing someone for your survival is valid or not. You will find a lot of "policies" that will conflict unless you concentrate on one school.

I do not consider myself Buddhist because of this reason, it is hard to say your Buddhist when your not sure what it actually stands for. I recommend you just read the 4 noble truths, and the 8 fold path. From there you should formulate your own ideas. I would never give up something I do just because someone told me it is wrong. If I turely believe in something with all my heart that is all that matters, and I think that was what Sid was trying to teach. We all have Buddha-nature in us, we just got to bring it out.

If you do want some stories or better ideas on teachings get the book or online text of Zen Flesh Zen Bones. It has 101 Zen stories with each story teaching a certain lesson about Buddhism

The beauty of Buddhism is the real absence of adherence to one doctrine by all sects. The dharma would probably be the most unifying piece of work in buddhism, but look at it in context. The dharma is the teachings of the Buddha (Prince Siddhartha to be more technical), one of possibly countless enlightened beings. His teachings could possibly be one of numerous ways to achieve enlightenment. There's no god to Buddhism, therefore no need for one totally unifying scripture.

Dharma is God.

quote:Originally posted by Tyrant:

When Tribe speaks, threads tremble.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/buddha.html

quote:Originally posted by Run Screaming:

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

I love the Kalama Sutra.