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Buddha’s Ancient Path, The
Over the years, many expositions of the Buddha's teachings have been published in English, but many lack authenticity and do not represent what the Buddha taught correctly. Hence the need for this authentic and comprehensive book based on the Four Noble Truths, which are the central conception of Buddhism, and the Noble Eightfold Path, which is Buddhism in practice. This is a book on basic Buddhism with a difference, for it was written by a monk who was a native of Sri Lanka, a scholar and a well-known preacher. He has the Pali Canon and the Commentaries at his fingertips, so that the book is full of apposite stories and quotations of what the Buddha said— many of them hard to find elsewhere in English.
210 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 21, 2014
What religion demands its attendants not take its proclamations on faith but rather seek the truth through their own investigation? And really, what philosophy does? What philosophy proceeds without the slightest leap, assumption, or theory in which its subject is expected to simply believe? Granted, in the case of philosophy, it may be ‘reasoning’ one is asked to believe in but it is belief nonetheless. What religion or philosophy offers its attendants a practice to precede, indeed even supersede its preachings that is not beset with the theater of ritual or the ornament of symbol?
These questions separate Buddhism from the intellectual games of philosophy and from the wishful thinking and false security of religion. But don’t take my word for it. Find out for yourself. Just know that that does not mean picking up a book like this one and comparing its contents with what seems to be real. Gotama, commonly known as the Buddha (meaning enlightened one), taught a practice that involves nothing but observation and its object–reality. It is this practice that claims to give its practitioner direct knowledge for which books like this one are but an afterthought, a crosscheck, or at most, a complement. It is through this practice that the Buddha asks us to make our investigation.
While it is our habit to botch the investigation. We go straight to the book, to the theories, as if they are the source, assuming we will just know the truth, not when we see it but when we read it. Thus Buddhism itself has been taken on faith, misinterpreted, and perverted in the hands of its own devotees: it too has been made into countless sects of religion, of philosophy, no different than any other.
This is partly because unlike some religions Buddhism has nothing to hide; nor does it try to lure people into a following by dangling secrets or the prestige of inner-circle-hood before them. (For example, one could easily devote 15 years of their life to Mormonism before they learn the secret handshake.) Anyone can then easily ignore the demand of personal investigation and skip the practice through which it is done, proclaiming the teaching’s veracity or lack thereof, accepting or dismissing its precepts on faith.
The importance of the demand of personal investigation is finding something much more powerful than faith: certainty. Vipassana is the aptly termed ‘insight’ meditation that the Buddha taught. Through it, the nature of reality as it is is revealed in a self-secured understanding that makes theory in such books superfluous.
Though the meditation practice is simple, it, for all intents and purposes, isn’t to be learned from a book. Vipassana is taught free of charge in 10-day, silent courses at meditation centers around the world. I find it to be beyond recommendation. But if you do give it a chance, give it a fair one, so that if or when you read this book or one like it, the complex beauty behind it’s simple but reticent doctrine might be revealed. This book, with Ceylon roots, delineates basic Buddhism of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path coming from the Theravada tradition. It itself is not revelatory or necessary but rather a point of reference for the meditator making his own investigation into the nature of reality.
These questions separate Buddhism from the intellectual games of philosophy and from the wishful thinking and false security of religion. But don’t take my word for it. Find out for yourself. Just know that that does not mean picking up a book like this one and comparing its contents with what seems to be real. Gotama, commonly known as the Buddha (meaning enlightened one), taught a practice that involves nothing but observation and its object–reality. It is this practice that claims to give its practitioner direct knowledge for which books like this one are but an afterthought, a crosscheck, or at most, a complement. It is through this practice that the Buddha asks us to make our investigation.
While it is our habit to botch the investigation. We go straight to the book, to the theories, as if they are the source, assuming we will just know the truth, not when we see it but when we read it. Thus Buddhism itself has been taken on faith, misinterpreted, and perverted in the hands of its own devotees: it too has been made into countless sects of religion, of philosophy, no different than any other.
This is partly because unlike some religions Buddhism has nothing to hide; nor does it try to lure people into a following by dangling secrets or the prestige of inner-circle-hood before them. (For example, one could easily devote 15 years of their life to Mormonism before they learn the secret handshake.) Anyone can then easily ignore the demand of personal investigation and skip the practice through which it is done, proclaiming the teaching’s veracity or lack thereof, accepting or dismissing its precepts on faith.
The importance of the demand of personal investigation is finding something much more powerful than faith: certainty. Vipassana is the aptly termed ‘insight’ meditation that the Buddha taught. Through it, the nature of reality as it is is revealed in a self-secured understanding that makes theory in such books superfluous.
Though the meditation practice is simple, it, for all intents and purposes, isn’t to be learned from a book. Vipassana is taught free of charge in 10-day, silent courses at meditation centers around the world. I find it to be beyond recommendation. But if you do give it a chance, give it a fair one, so that if or when you read this book or one like it, the complex beauty behind it’s simple but reticent doctrine might be revealed. This book, with Ceylon roots, delineates basic Buddhism of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path coming from the Theravada tradition. It itself is not revelatory or necessary but rather a point of reference for the meditator making his own investigation into the nature of reality.
February 24, 2012
Many expositions of the Buddha's Teaching in English have appeared in recent year, but a great number of them lack authenticity and do not represent the Buddha-word correctly. I have in all humility undertaken to set out as accurately as possible the Teaching of the Buddha as it is found in the Pali Canon, the Tripitaka, of the Theravada which has pre-served of the oldest and most faithful tradition. This book, therefore, gives a comprehensive account of the central conception of Buddhism-the Four Noble Truths-with special emphasis on the Noble Eightfold Path which is Buddhism in practice. I have named the book The Ancient Path (puranamaggam), the very words used by the Buddha in reference to the Eightfold Path. As an introduction the first chapter gives a concise account of the life of the Buddha, while the second sets out the correct standpoint of Buddhism. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are discussed at full length in the following chapters. A good deal space is devoted to Buddhist meditation, as found in the suttas or discourses of the Buddha, in chapters 12, 13 and 14.
April 29, 2020
I highly recommend this text on the Buddha's teaching. It clear, concise and easily understood. It is a small text but simple and accurate explanations of the Four Noble Truths and the Eight fold path.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews