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A Buddhist Bible
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha (Pali/Sanskrit "the awakened one"). The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end suffering (or dukkha), achieve nirvana, and escape what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth. Two major branches of Buddhism are Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Theravada—the oldest surviving branch—has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana is found throughout East Asia and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, Tendai and Shinnyo-en. In some classifications Vajrayana—a subcategory of Mahayana practiced in Tibet and Mongolia—is recognized as a third branch. While Buddhism remains most popular within Asia, both branches are now found throughout the world. Estimates of Buddhists worldwide vary significantly depending on the way Buddhist adherence is defined. Lower estimates are between 350–500 million. Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. The foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are the Three the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings), and the Sangha (the community). Taking "refuge in the triple gem" has traditionally been a declaration and commitment to being on the Buddhist path and in general distinguishes a Buddhist from a non-Buddhist. Other practices may include following ethical precepts, support of the monastic community, renouncing conventional living and becoming a monastic, the development of mindfulness and practice of meditation, cultivation of higher wisdom and discernment, study of scriptures, devotional practices, ceremonies, and in the Mahayana tradition, invocation of buddhas and bodhisattvas.
134 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
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About the author
Dwight Goddard
127 books6 followersAmerican writer Dwight Goddard (1861-1939) studied at a monastery in Kyoto, Japan, for a year and was among the first Westerners to bring Zen Buddhism to the United States. His most famous book is The Buddhist Bible (1938).
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September 5, 2024
Buddhist Texts in America
Dwight Goddard's collection of Buddhist Sutras and related texts, first published in 1932, is available in paperback with introductions by Robert Aitken and Houston Smith. The importance of this book lies in its role in the development of American Buddhism as well as, of course, in the texts themselves.
Dwight Goddard, according to Aitken's introduction, was an enigmatic figure with training first as an engineer (where he became wealthy as a result of an invention) and as a Christian minister. In the latter role, he travelled to the East and became interested in Eastern Religions -- a seeker in the true sense of the term. In the 1930s, while in his 60s he produced this collection of texts, many of which he translated himself, which give a broad view of the nature of the teachings of Buddhist schools. The book helped teach Buddhism to Americans beginning in the 1930s.
In the 1950s, Jack Kerouac, then living in San Jose, California discovered Goddard in the public library. He carried the book with him wherever he went and used it as the basis of whatever knowledge of Buddhism he had. The beats in the 1950s were one of the sources leading to the growth of American Buddhism, and Goddard's book was Kerouac's teacher.
The main value of this book, though, is not in its role in Buddhist history in the United States but lies in the texts themselves. Goddard presents in one volume a selection of primary source materials from the Theravada, Manayana, Zen, Tibetan, and other Buddhist traditions. Many of these texts have been more recently translated, but the translations in this book are readable, at the least and they are all in one volume. They are not easy reading and will require many rereadings, but they do present a compiliation of basic Buddhist materials for those wishing to benefit from them. My own familiarity with Buddhist texts is primarily with the earlier texts in Theravada Buddhism. This book is comparatively light on Theravada texts but gave me the opportunity to read the texts of other Buddhist Schools.
"A Buddhist Bible" remains a fine anthology and is of historical interest for the transmission of the Buddha's teaching to the United States. I have found that many people interested in Buddhism restrict themselves to the practice of meditation or to books setting out Buddhist teachings rather than availing themselves of the original source materials. This book is a great way to read the original texts. There will be something of meaning in them for you.
Robin Friedman
Dwight Goddard's collection of Buddhist Sutras and related texts, first published in 1932, is available in paperback with introductions by Robert Aitken and Houston Smith. The importance of this book lies in its role in the development of American Buddhism as well as, of course, in the texts themselves.
Dwight Goddard, according to Aitken's introduction, was an enigmatic figure with training first as an engineer (where he became wealthy as a result of an invention) and as a Christian minister. In the latter role, he travelled to the East and became interested in Eastern Religions -- a seeker in the true sense of the term. In the 1930s, while in his 60s he produced this collection of texts, many of which he translated himself, which give a broad view of the nature of the teachings of Buddhist schools. The book helped teach Buddhism to Americans beginning in the 1930s.
In the 1950s, Jack Kerouac, then living in San Jose, California discovered Goddard in the public library. He carried the book with him wherever he went and used it as the basis of whatever knowledge of Buddhism he had. The beats in the 1950s were one of the sources leading to the growth of American Buddhism, and Goddard's book was Kerouac's teacher.
The main value of this book, though, is not in its role in Buddhist history in the United States but lies in the texts themselves. Goddard presents in one volume a selection of primary source materials from the Theravada, Manayana, Zen, Tibetan, and other Buddhist traditions. Many of these texts have been more recently translated, but the translations in this book are readable, at the least and they are all in one volume. They are not easy reading and will require many rereadings, but they do present a compiliation of basic Buddhist materials for those wishing to benefit from them. My own familiarity with Buddhist texts is primarily with the earlier texts in Theravada Buddhism. This book is comparatively light on Theravada texts but gave me the opportunity to read the texts of other Buddhist Schools.
"A Buddhist Bible" remains a fine anthology and is of historical interest for the transmission of the Buddha's teaching to the United States. I have found that many people interested in Buddhism restrict themselves to the practice of meditation or to books setting out Buddhist teachings rather than availing themselves of the original source materials. This book is a great way to read the original texts. There will be something of meaning in them for you.
Robin Friedman
January 4, 2008
This isn't the most amazing collection, or the best translation, but for historical impact this gets an extra star. Definitely a great intro to the concepts of Buddhism, with a simplicity and sincerity that more modern translators sometimes lack.
February 8, 2011
I get that it's foundational for studies of buddhism in the west, but a lot of the translations are pretty archaic... Just because you put "Bible" in the title doesn't mean you need to model your style on the King James version.
January 1, 2008
I carried this book everywhere I went for years. It slowly fell apart, but by then I had absorbed all I could and it felt good to part with it.
July 28, 2008
Wonderful collection of Buddhist thought, in a concise and easy to read format. This was a favorite of Kerouac.
March 1, 2022
(tl;dr, the book had some stuff I thought was agreeable and some stuff I thought was disagreeable, and I'm fine with accepting what I accept and rejecting what I reject)
This book took me two months to finish, with a lot of contemplation taking place over that time. I do not call myself a Buddhist, but I wanted to see what I could learn from this book. A couple passages really stood out for me, and I wrote down notes on my thoughts while reading some of them. I'll share those notes here.
From 'The Lankavatara Scripture': "Then Mahamati said: 'If the Tathagatas are un-born, there does not seem to be anything to take hold of--no entity--or is there something that bears another name than entity? And what can that "something" be?' The Blessed One replied: 'Objects are frequently known by different names according to different aspects that they present--the god Indra is sometimes known as Shakra, and sometimes as Pundara. These different names are sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes they are discriminated, but different objects are not to be imagined because of the different names, nor are they without individuation. The same can be said of Myself as I appear in this world of patience before ignorant people and where I am known by uncounted trillions of names. They address me by different names not realizing that they are all names of the one Tathagata. Some recognize me as Tathagata, some as the Self-Existent One, some as Gautama the Ascetic, some as Buddha. Then there are others who recognize me as Brahma, as Vishnu, as Ishvara; some see me as Sun, as Moon, some as a reincarnation of the ancient sages...'
'Thus in this world and in other worlds am I known by these uncounted names, but they all see Me as the moon is seen in water. Though they all honor, praise, and esteem Me, they do not fully understand the meaning and significance of the words they use; not having their own self-realization of Truth, they cling to the words of their canonical books, or to what has been told them, or to what they have imagined, and fail to see that the name they are using is only one of the many names of the Tathagata.'"
What I find really interesting in that is what it seems to say about the idea of gods, that many names may each represent an aspect of a god, and that the very notion of a god is a human conception applied to a separate reality that may be outside of the human's ability to understand. I can see that as a way for Buddhism to assimilate polytheistic religious teachings in the cultures that it reached. Human ideas are pointing to aspects of a reality beyond human limitations, but for humans it's better to follow the eight-fold path and develop their own experience of meditation and dharma rather than being tied to written canonical teachings. I may be projecting too much of my own recent ideas onto this text. If you go with that thinking perhaps what you land on is the notion that when anybody speaks of God or gods or a force or higher power or anything like that, they are speaking of an aspect of a separate reality that is beyond the human capacity to fully understand. A sort of optimistic agnosticism, perhaps.
From 'Awakening of Faith: Mahayana Shraddhotpada Shastra': "For those who are practicing 'stopping', they should retire to some quiet place, or better live in some quiet place, sitting erect and with earnest and zestful purpose seek to quiet and concentrate the mind. While one may at first think of his breathing, it is not wise to continue it very long, not to let the mind rest on any particular appearances or sights, or conceptions arising from the senses, such as the primal elements of earth, water, fire, and ether, nor to let it rest on any of the lower mind's perceptions, particularizations, discriminations, moods, or emotions. All kinds of ideation are to be discarded as fast as they arise, even the notions of controlling and discarding are to be gotten rid of. One's mind should become like a mirror, reflecting things but not judging them nor retaining them. Conceptions of themselves have no substance, let them rise and pass away unheeded. Conceptions arising from the senses and lower mind will not take the form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention, but if they are ignored there will be no appearing and no disappearing. The same is true of conditions outside the mind: they should not be permitted to engross one's attention nor hinder one's practice. As the mind cannot be absolutely vacant, as thoughts rising from the senses and discriminating mind are discarded and ignored, one must supply their place by right mentation. The question then arises: what is right mentation? The reply: right mentation is the realization of the mind itself, of its pure and undifferentiated Essence. Even when we sit quietly with the mind fixed on its pure Essence, there should be no lingering notions of self, of self-realizing, or any phenomena of realization. Pure Mind-Essence is ungraspable of any rising or appearing individuation."
Much later I came to the portion 'Dhyana for Beginners'. "Dhyana" is the Sanskrit word that came to be known in China as "Chán" and that audiences in the English-speaking world more likely know by the Japanese term "Zen". The teachings in this chapter were less towards the "discover it for yourself" notion from earlier. Instead they were very puritanical, teaching rejecting of all kinds of pleasures of the senses that people experience in life, as those pleasures are illusory and ultimately perpetuate the cycle of suffering. Now, a total rejection of the legitimate pleasures of the world is not an ideal that I can support. Someone could call this cherry-picking, but I'm looking at this book and plenty of other books and teachings, and trying to embrace the parts that sound agreeable. Really, I think everyone with any kind of beliefs does that. Even Christians who swear that the sixty-six books of the Bible are directly dictated by God have to pick and choose what they follow and prioritize and what they dismiss through various excuses. Only the tiny minority of extremists try to obey every single piece of their favored teaching. I'm just not limiting it to one faith. I want to see what good can be learned from a variety of faiths. But someone will say using "good" in a very subjective way is limiting it to my own personal preference. But doesn't everybody? Unless you refuse to think and you simply are conditioned to follow one leader and claim their statements as truth, everybody makes judgements and choices about what they see as "good". I think the really important thing is to do that with integrity, and not to lie to others and to yourself about what is and isn't right. You know when you're lying. You know when the words coming out of your mouth are words that you don't believe. A lot of people would say that I'm speaking of dangerous subjectivity. They might say the one leader whose statements are absolute truth, who they committed to following, is Jesus. They'll say they have a relationship with the living person of Jesus. All of that is still subjective to the individual and their perceptions. When they read the New Testament they'll choose which parts they accept and which parts they reject or make excuses for. When they believe they get some divinely inspired insight, well, that's all in their minds. Another person who hears that insight is not necessarily going to be convinced of its divine inspiration. Now, I wrote before of my concern about the slipperiness of New Age ideas and how fallible humans are. That concern still stands. People can be deceived and mistaken, and embrace statements that are untrue and ideas that are destructive. As humans with thoughts and impulses, we all have to live with that risk...I don't say all ideas are equal. A whole lot of ideas are vile. Hmm, someone will say that's subjective to my perception, and that what I'm saying implies a sort of democracy or morality, where the general notion of good is determined by "the madness of crowds", to borrow a term from Charles Mackay. And yeah, for better or for worse that's what it comes down to. Demonstrable facts can rise above all that, and influence the subjective ideas that people hold. Those ideas will stay slippery though. The world can be harsh and confusing.
This book took me two months to finish, with a lot of contemplation taking place over that time. I do not call myself a Buddhist, but I wanted to see what I could learn from this book. A couple passages really stood out for me, and I wrote down notes on my thoughts while reading some of them. I'll share those notes here.
From 'The Lankavatara Scripture': "Then Mahamati said: 'If the Tathagatas are un-born, there does not seem to be anything to take hold of--no entity--or is there something that bears another name than entity? And what can that "something" be?' The Blessed One replied: 'Objects are frequently known by different names according to different aspects that they present--the god Indra is sometimes known as Shakra, and sometimes as Pundara. These different names are sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes they are discriminated, but different objects are not to be imagined because of the different names, nor are they without individuation. The same can be said of Myself as I appear in this world of patience before ignorant people and where I am known by uncounted trillions of names. They address me by different names not realizing that they are all names of the one Tathagata. Some recognize me as Tathagata, some as the Self-Existent One, some as Gautama the Ascetic, some as Buddha. Then there are others who recognize me as Brahma, as Vishnu, as Ishvara; some see me as Sun, as Moon, some as a reincarnation of the ancient sages...'
'Thus in this world and in other worlds am I known by these uncounted names, but they all see Me as the moon is seen in water. Though they all honor, praise, and esteem Me, they do not fully understand the meaning and significance of the words they use; not having their own self-realization of Truth, they cling to the words of their canonical books, or to what has been told them, or to what they have imagined, and fail to see that the name they are using is only one of the many names of the Tathagata.'"
What I find really interesting in that is what it seems to say about the idea of gods, that many names may each represent an aspect of a god, and that the very notion of a god is a human conception applied to a separate reality that may be outside of the human's ability to understand. I can see that as a way for Buddhism to assimilate polytheistic religious teachings in the cultures that it reached. Human ideas are pointing to aspects of a reality beyond human limitations, but for humans it's better to follow the eight-fold path and develop their own experience of meditation and dharma rather than being tied to written canonical teachings. I may be projecting too much of my own recent ideas onto this text. If you go with that thinking perhaps what you land on is the notion that when anybody speaks of God or gods or a force or higher power or anything like that, they are speaking of an aspect of a separate reality that is beyond the human capacity to fully understand. A sort of optimistic agnosticism, perhaps.
From 'Awakening of Faith: Mahayana Shraddhotpada Shastra': "For those who are practicing 'stopping', they should retire to some quiet place, or better live in some quiet place, sitting erect and with earnest and zestful purpose seek to quiet and concentrate the mind. While one may at first think of his breathing, it is not wise to continue it very long, not to let the mind rest on any particular appearances or sights, or conceptions arising from the senses, such as the primal elements of earth, water, fire, and ether, nor to let it rest on any of the lower mind's perceptions, particularizations, discriminations, moods, or emotions. All kinds of ideation are to be discarded as fast as they arise, even the notions of controlling and discarding are to be gotten rid of. One's mind should become like a mirror, reflecting things but not judging them nor retaining them. Conceptions of themselves have no substance, let them rise and pass away unheeded. Conceptions arising from the senses and lower mind will not take the form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention, but if they are ignored there will be no appearing and no disappearing. The same is true of conditions outside the mind: they should not be permitted to engross one's attention nor hinder one's practice. As the mind cannot be absolutely vacant, as thoughts rising from the senses and discriminating mind are discarded and ignored, one must supply their place by right mentation. The question then arises: what is right mentation? The reply: right mentation is the realization of the mind itself, of its pure and undifferentiated Essence. Even when we sit quietly with the mind fixed on its pure Essence, there should be no lingering notions of self, of self-realizing, or any phenomena of realization. Pure Mind-Essence is ungraspable of any rising or appearing individuation."
Much later I came to the portion 'Dhyana for Beginners'. "Dhyana" is the Sanskrit word that came to be known in China as "Chán" and that audiences in the English-speaking world more likely know by the Japanese term "Zen". The teachings in this chapter were less towards the "discover it for yourself" notion from earlier. Instead they were very puritanical, teaching rejecting of all kinds of pleasures of the senses that people experience in life, as those pleasures are illusory and ultimately perpetuate the cycle of suffering. Now, a total rejection of the legitimate pleasures of the world is not an ideal that I can support. Someone could call this cherry-picking, but I'm looking at this book and plenty of other books and teachings, and trying to embrace the parts that sound agreeable. Really, I think everyone with any kind of beliefs does that. Even Christians who swear that the sixty-six books of the Bible are directly dictated by God have to pick and choose what they follow and prioritize and what they dismiss through various excuses. Only the tiny minority of extremists try to obey every single piece of their favored teaching. I'm just not limiting it to one faith. I want to see what good can be learned from a variety of faiths. But someone will say using "good" in a very subjective way is limiting it to my own personal preference. But doesn't everybody? Unless you refuse to think and you simply are conditioned to follow one leader and claim their statements as truth, everybody makes judgements and choices about what they see as "good". I think the really important thing is to do that with integrity, and not to lie to others and to yourself about what is and isn't right. You know when you're lying. You know when the words coming out of your mouth are words that you don't believe. A lot of people would say that I'm speaking of dangerous subjectivity. They might say the one leader whose statements are absolute truth, who they committed to following, is Jesus. They'll say they have a relationship with the living person of Jesus. All of that is still subjective to the individual and their perceptions. When they read the New Testament they'll choose which parts they accept and which parts they reject or make excuses for. When they believe they get some divinely inspired insight, well, that's all in their minds. Another person who hears that insight is not necessarily going to be convinced of its divine inspiration. Now, I wrote before of my concern about the slipperiness of New Age ideas and how fallible humans are. That concern still stands. People can be deceived and mistaken, and embrace statements that are untrue and ideas that are destructive. As humans with thoughts and impulses, we all have to live with that risk...I don't say all ideas are equal. A whole lot of ideas are vile. Hmm, someone will say that's subjective to my perception, and that what I'm saying implies a sort of democracy or morality, where the general notion of good is determined by "the madness of crowds", to borrow a term from Charles Mackay. And yeah, for better or for worse that's what it comes down to. Demonstrable facts can rise above all that, and influence the subjective ideas that people hold. Those ideas will stay slippery though. The world can be harsh and confusing.
December 11, 2018
A Buddhist Bible: The Favorite Scriptures of the Zen Buddhist Sect (English Edition) by Dwight Goddard.
The only reason to read a book like this is if you're interested in Buddhism. It contains The Diamond Sutra, the Sutra of the 6th Patriarch, the Lankavatara Sutra and a Preface on the history of Zen or Chan, as it's called in China, Buddhism by Dwight Goddard.
The Kindle edition is a selection from a much earlier book. The translations were done back in the 1960s. It's not clear whether the sutras were translated from Chinese translations of the original Sanskrit or directly from Sanskrit by the Japanese translator whose name is Suzuki. The ebook was not proofread very well and there are lots of odd errors. It doesn't have a table of contents and there's little information about the original from which the selection was taken. The translations have been edited and that's probably a good idea because the timespan since they were originally written is over 1,500 years. As a result, it's like reading about a different world. The Diamond and Lankavatara are the oldest. They begin with a devout follower asking 'O Blessed One' - to explain various aspects of Buddha's teaching. By the time we get to the 6th Patriarch (Hui Neng) in China, it feels somehow closer to our time. I'm glad I read it. You can't rate a book of this kind. It's like asking someone to rate the Bible! So ignore my 'three lucky stars'! It's hard to get to the gist of what enlightenment is. One thing it isn't about is dealing in words. So I better write off and get back to direct reality!
The only reason to read a book like this is if you're interested in Buddhism. It contains The Diamond Sutra, the Sutra of the 6th Patriarch, the Lankavatara Sutra and a Preface on the history of Zen or Chan, as it's called in China, Buddhism by Dwight Goddard.
The Kindle edition is a selection from a much earlier book. The translations were done back in the 1960s. It's not clear whether the sutras were translated from Chinese translations of the original Sanskrit or directly from Sanskrit by the Japanese translator whose name is Suzuki. The ebook was not proofread very well and there are lots of odd errors. It doesn't have a table of contents and there's little information about the original from which the selection was taken. The translations have been edited and that's probably a good idea because the timespan since they were originally written is over 1,500 years. As a result, it's like reading about a different world. The Diamond and Lankavatara are the oldest. They begin with a devout follower asking 'O Blessed One' - to explain various aspects of Buddha's teaching. By the time we get to the 6th Patriarch (Hui Neng) in China, it feels somehow closer to our time. I'm glad I read it. You can't rate a book of this kind. It's like asking someone to rate the Bible! So ignore my 'three lucky stars'! It's hard to get to the gist of what enlightenment is. One thing it isn't about is dealing in words. So I better write off and get back to direct reality!
June 30, 2024
This is an interesting and informative set of documents but its presentation is very dated, as it was originally published in 1932.
The book focuses upon the Zen (Ch’an) tradition of Buddhism and while it provides an introduction to that tradition it does not locate the tradition in the wider context of what modern readers know as a contrast between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. This means that the rationale for the selection of the texts is not entirely clear, as while they may be particularly important within the Zen Buddhism that the author refers to, thoughtful readers are going to wonder what their relationship is to broader canonical writings and to those of particular note, such as the Tripitaka.
The texts selected provided a good overview of some important ideas. However, the texts were adapted from a range of different sources, and some included very archaic language of thees and thous. That made the texts read as an oddly disjointed set of documents, as others were in a more modern style.
Overall, this is a book which has been a historically important source for students of Buddhism. It is still a useful and valuable resource. But the question has to arise whether it also needs updating, both in its introductory materials and in the format and presentation of its texts.
The book focuses upon the Zen (Ch’an) tradition of Buddhism and while it provides an introduction to that tradition it does not locate the tradition in the wider context of what modern readers know as a contrast between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. This means that the rationale for the selection of the texts is not entirely clear, as while they may be particularly important within the Zen Buddhism that the author refers to, thoughtful readers are going to wonder what their relationship is to broader canonical writings and to those of particular note, such as the Tripitaka.
The texts selected provided a good overview of some important ideas. However, the texts were adapted from a range of different sources, and some included very archaic language of thees and thous. That made the texts read as an oddly disjointed set of documents, as others were in a more modern style.
Overall, this is a book which has been a historically important source for students of Buddhism. It is still a useful and valuable resource. But the question has to arise whether it also needs updating, both in its introductory materials and in the format and presentation of its texts.
July 17, 2025
Dwight Goddard was one of the first American intellectuals to spread Buddhism, and A Buddhist Bible is his collection of edited Buddhist texts. The book includes sections of The Lankavatara Sutra, The Diamond Sutra, and The Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. The book is a great starting point for anybody interested in Buddhism--especially Zen Buddhism. Bodhidharma, the legendary first patriarch of the Zen school, is said to have given The Lankavatara Sutra to his successor, claiming that no other text was needed for enlightenment.
Goddard's "bible" eventually influenced the new generation of writers and thinkers, notably Gary Snyder and Jack Kerouac. Ironically, Goddard converted back to Catholicism on his deathbed, renouncing all the sutras he had helped popularize.
The book was first published in 1932 and can be a bit dated when it comes to translations of key terms and ideas. Other than this, however, I recommend the book--it's a good collection of texts to have in the library of any spiritual seeker.
Goddard's "bible" eventually influenced the new generation of writers and thinkers, notably Gary Snyder and Jack Kerouac. Ironically, Goddard converted back to Catholicism on his deathbed, renouncing all the sutras he had helped popularize.
The book was first published in 1932 and can be a bit dated when it comes to translations of key terms and ideas. Other than this, however, I recommend the book--it's a good collection of texts to have in the library of any spiritual seeker.
April 9, 2023
This is a great, probably the greatest, source book on Zen Buddhism available, and has been for many years. The translations focus on the spiritual aspect of the scriptures, and they are just wonderful. I am writing this review, basically to warn the reader about getting other editions. When you go to Amazon, for example, and click on the Kindle edition, you get a shortened version that does not contain all of the texts that this black-cover Beacon edition contains, so beware. Also, if you have an older version of the Beacon edition and buy a new version from Beacon, you’ll discover that the print and paper used are different, and if you highlight the new text, you may get some smudging. Anyway, for me this is THE collection of Zen texts. It is indeed a bible.
July 29, 2024
As others have mentioned, there are probably better translations now, but this book is perfectly servicable. I was a bit turned off by the Lankavatara Sutra (the difficulty of the language, and no commentary), but I was familiar with the Diamond Sutra already, and Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch seemed much more accessible, so I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could. Of course my rating is for the presentation and translation, not the sutras themselves. The sutras are all 5-star wisdom of the ages.
December 22, 2018
Excellent set of translations from original sources. If you want to understand the foundations of Buddhism, this is the book to read. Translations are clear and complete. I actually read this book twice.
July 10, 2017
This was an excellent book. Very informative. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants a straightforward understanding of Buddhism.
August 30, 2021
Good introduction to Buddhist texts
September 4, 2023
An excellent resource. An example of the unity that is possible across Buddhism and Taoism.
August 22, 2015
At about 700 pages, this is a huge corpus of Buddhist sutras and other related writings. It gets dry and repetitive at times, but pulls from traditions and schools spanning thousands of years. If you want to understand how Buddhism has evolved since the days of the Awakened One himself, this is a good place to start.
This work was much too dense to summarize in a single review, so I'll just include some first impressions. I had a basic college/university level understanding of Buddhism before, but never really went beyond the basics you get at that stage: historic timeline of the Buddha, well-known doctrines like nirvana, eightfold path, etc. Reading just a little more in-depth, I can see how this broad overview has led to some common misconceptions in the Western educated mind about what Buddhism actually is.
It is not:
-Selfish or obsessed with the Self: Almost every sutra, whether attributable to the Buddha himself or not, emphasizes the importance of compassion and kindness toward others. Compassion IS the means toward enlightenment. The dismissive idea of "navel-gazing" monks who don't care about the physical needs of others is a gross oversimplification.
-Focused on Nothingness, or the Void: Nirvana is an incredibly complicated idea that is far more than just mental annihilation. In several places the Buddha himself specifically states that those who think this have completely misunderstood his teaching. Again, there is far too much to get into in a single review, but Nirvana =/= Nothing.
-Atheist: This is a somewhat more nuanced mischaracterization. I've read many arguments that go back and forth on whether or not Buddhism is "atheist." In true Buddhist, non-dualistic fashion, I think the answer to this question may be that it both is, and is not. It's true that Buddhism has no "supreme being," and Buddha is not a god. But Buddhism has historically been open to the idea of supernatural beings and concepts, often incorporating the cultures and societies it has existed in. From what I've read, it might be safer to say that Buddhism is compatible with atheism, but also with theism.
-Fatalist: Karma is not some nebulous force or fate-driven destiny. It translates into "action," and is just another word for how our own actions influence the world around us, often in unforeseen ways.
It is:
-individualist: The Buddha's wisdom and insight is achievable through the mind alone. There is constant emphasis (even in Mahayana sutras) that YOU are responsible for your own enlightenment.
-empirical: Many of the Buddha's key insights were made simply by observing life and meditating on the results--life is suffering, our own desires lead to suffering, etc. Some of these ideas seem like cheap pop psychobabble now, but keep in mind, he came up with these points 2500 years ago. Bland self-help authors are (poorly) copying him, not the other way around.
-compassionate: I already mentioned this above, but it's worth bringing up again. Buddhism is heavily focused on the well-being not only of yourself, but everyone around you. This ties into the idea of Karma above: when you treat others well, this changes the world--literally. Every kind deed leads to a gentler, better, safer world for all, even if only in tiny increments.
-non-dualistic: Aside from compassion, the idea of non-duality was probably the one other concept that continually emerged in all the writings. Becoming too attached to dichotomies can lead to suffering and ignorance. Life is often too complicated to fit everything into a good/bad, yes/no framework, and trying to force this interpretation will only lead to more problems.
When reading this book, it is also important to remember that there really is no such thing as a "Buddhist Bible." This term is more of a convenience for Western minds which may have nothing else to compare this collection with. There are thousands of sutras, some of which have never been translated, and of varying levels of acceptance within the Buddhist community worldwide. The closest you might get to a "Bible" in Buddhism would be the Pali canon, which are the oldest sutras, written soonest after the Buddha's death. Even then, this still assumes that Buddhists think of sutras in the same way that Christians think of scriptures, with an emphasis on who wrote what book, when, how "inspired" it was, etc., all of which is superimposing one religion's values and ideals on another's. Don't fall into that trap!
This work was much too dense to summarize in a single review, so I'll just include some first impressions. I had a basic college/university level understanding of Buddhism before, but never really went beyond the basics you get at that stage: historic timeline of the Buddha, well-known doctrines like nirvana, eightfold path, etc. Reading just a little more in-depth, I can see how this broad overview has led to some common misconceptions in the Western educated mind about what Buddhism actually is.
It is not:
-Selfish or obsessed with the Self: Almost every sutra, whether attributable to the Buddha himself or not, emphasizes the importance of compassion and kindness toward others. Compassion IS the means toward enlightenment. The dismissive idea of "navel-gazing" monks who don't care about the physical needs of others is a gross oversimplification.
-Focused on Nothingness, or the Void: Nirvana is an incredibly complicated idea that is far more than just mental annihilation. In several places the Buddha himself specifically states that those who think this have completely misunderstood his teaching. Again, there is far too much to get into in a single review, but Nirvana =/= Nothing.
-Atheist: This is a somewhat more nuanced mischaracterization. I've read many arguments that go back and forth on whether or not Buddhism is "atheist." In true Buddhist, non-dualistic fashion, I think the answer to this question may be that it both is, and is not. It's true that Buddhism has no "supreme being," and Buddha is not a god. But Buddhism has historically been open to the idea of supernatural beings and concepts, often incorporating the cultures and societies it has existed in. From what I've read, it might be safer to say that Buddhism is compatible with atheism, but also with theism.
-Fatalist: Karma is not some nebulous force or fate-driven destiny. It translates into "action," and is just another word for how our own actions influence the world around us, often in unforeseen ways.
It is:
-individualist: The Buddha's wisdom and insight is achievable through the mind alone. There is constant emphasis (even in Mahayana sutras) that YOU are responsible for your own enlightenment.
-empirical: Many of the Buddha's key insights were made simply by observing life and meditating on the results--life is suffering, our own desires lead to suffering, etc. Some of these ideas seem like cheap pop psychobabble now, but keep in mind, he came up with these points 2500 years ago. Bland self-help authors are (poorly) copying him, not the other way around.
-compassionate: I already mentioned this above, but it's worth bringing up again. Buddhism is heavily focused on the well-being not only of yourself, but everyone around you. This ties into the idea of Karma above: when you treat others well, this changes the world--literally. Every kind deed leads to a gentler, better, safer world for all, even if only in tiny increments.
-non-dualistic: Aside from compassion, the idea of non-duality was probably the one other concept that continually emerged in all the writings. Becoming too attached to dichotomies can lead to suffering and ignorance. Life is often too complicated to fit everything into a good/bad, yes/no framework, and trying to force this interpretation will only lead to more problems.
When reading this book, it is also important to remember that there really is no such thing as a "Buddhist Bible." This term is more of a convenience for Western minds which may have nothing else to compare this collection with. There are thousands of sutras, some of which have never been translated, and of varying levels of acceptance within the Buddhist community worldwide. The closest you might get to a "Bible" in Buddhism would be the Pali canon, which are the oldest sutras, written soonest after the Buddha's death. Even then, this still assumes that Buddhists think of sutras in the same way that Christians think of scriptures, with an emphasis on who wrote what book, when, how "inspired" it was, etc., all of which is superimposing one religion's values and ideals on another's. Don't fall into that trap!
April 29, 2016
Great introduction to the philosophy and different sects. A bit dated in some entries but very accessible to the novice and indispensable as a quick reference to the eagle-eyed philosophy nerd seeking to merge physics with spirituality in explaining the perception of reality through literature...possibly. Essentially it's a damn good reference book and if you are minimalist...this, this is the one. Bonus points, inspired Jack Kerouac's dharma bum stage. OM Bliss, blisss, bliss
April 5, 2009
I've had this near my bed for months now. I read it all the goddamn time, especially the first bit, which is a collection of a number of the Pali texts glommed together to give a sensible presentation of the historical Buddha's actual teachings.
The title irks me to no end, though.
The title irks me to no end, though.
January 7, 2008
the actual words of the buddha... or supposedly.
January 30, 2008
another book used for reference that i have not read from cover to cover.
July 22, 2008
This book will always be on my currently reading shelf...because little pieces of it need to be read everyday
July 12, 2023
I’ve read this multiple time. I love these texts!
October 18, 2009
Didn't read all
February 25, 2010
Some authors caught my eye, and some others didn't.
July 3, 2020
Lots of grammatical errors in this, which only adds charm. Solid, if muddled, intro to Zen Buddhism. Lots of Q&A-style, riddle-oriented content to explain concepts.
June 17, 2010
this collection of sutras hasgifted me new insights into living life and the nature of reality.
September 9, 2016
Got it to read the Diamond Sutra. Liked some of the explanatory text.
April 3, 2013
Zen literature presents some fascinating philosophy, even if you're not a Buddhist.
October 18, 2012
"The Dharma which establishes the Truth of Noble Wisdom belongs to the realm of the Dharmata-Buddha" (page 355)
April 11, 2013
Fantastic book to observe the roots of different kinds of Buddhism with.
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