Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

What is the best way for a beginner to begin studying the Sutta Pitaka? I am including a daily reading of the Dhammapada as a part of my practice but I want to know if there are specific nikayas that I should purchase and study that would be helpful for a beginner. Is there a suggested order of study of the nikayas for beginners?

Much Metta,
Don

Bhikkhu Bodhi's audio lecture series, the Systematic Study of the Majjhima Nikaya is a great one:

http://bodhimonastery.org/a-systematic- ... ikaya.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would recommend Bhikkhu Bodhi's "In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon" as a start.

http://www.amazon.com/Buddhas-Words-Ant ... 0861714911" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can read the first chapter of In the Buddha's Words from a PDF on the Wisdom Publications site:
http://wisdompubs.org/Pages/display.las ... n=&image=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And there are also lectures from Bhikkhu Bodhi based on those texts:
http://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2392" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Mike

I'm going to do a shameless plug for some pages on readingfaithfully.org

dhamma_newb wrote:What is the best way for a beginner to begin studying the Sutta Pitaka?

Slowly, persistently, patiently, and perpetually. Be in it for the long haul.
http://readingfaithfully.org/2011/09/25 ... -practice/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

dhamma_newb wrote:I am including a daily reading of the Dhammapada as a part of my practice but I want to know if there are specific nikayas that I should purchase and study that would be helpful for a beginner.

In terms of Nikayas, you are doing well starting with the Dhammapada as a daily practice. Several other books in the Khuddaka Nikaya work well this way, especially the Itivuttaka and the Udana. Many people begin by reading the Majjhima Nikaya. It covers a broad range of topics and many suttas contain a story element as well. Sometimes people recommend the Samyutta Nikaya to begin with since has many shorter suttas grouped by topic. Personally I recommend the MN since it is well suited to a sutta a day practice.
http://readingfaithfully.org/canonical- ... -practice/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://readingfaithfully.org/majjhima-n ... -practice/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This page also includes a bibliography to help you build a complete sutta collection. Some titles are marked with a * to indicate they are good to start with.
http://readingfaithfully.org/buildingasuttalibrary/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As others have indicated, anthologies are a great place to begin and In the Buddha's Words is an excellent choice. Depending on your available time, you could start reading through that at the same time you moved through the MN. Or you could use it as a back-up text on days with less time for reading.

And for sure, plan on re-reading the same book at least a second time before moving to something new. You will understand much more the second time (and the third, and the fourth...) and the familiarity of having just read it will make it even more enjoyable.
http://readingfaithfully.org/when-you-c ... of-suttas/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Greetings Don,

You've got some good answers here and (unsurprisingly) your questions are not unique, so you'll find other comments throughout the forum too.

Metta,
Retro.

Thank you everyone for the helping me out. When I recently purchased a bunch of books on Buddhism I kinda went overboard and just started buying whatever I heard was a good book without doing much research if they were appropriate for beginners and now I have books like "A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma" by Bhikkhu Bodhi . I should've purchased all of the Sutta Pitaka first before attempting to understand the Abhidhamma.

I have a copy of "In the Buddha's Words" by Bhikkhu Bodhi on my Kindle so I'm glad that it was recommended by Stefan and Mike and BKh. Thanks for the links on Bhikkhu Bodhi's lectures Mike and santa100! I'm sure they will be a great help in my studies.

Thanks BKh for your detailed advice. Btw I really like your site and will use it as a reference when studying the Sutta Pitaka.

Hi retro


Don

I think it's best to start with the anthology that Stefan mentioned, because if you start directly with the Nikayas you'll probably be frustrated with the amount of things you have to read.

I am supprised no-one has mentioned Access to insight
a website with a good chunk of the suttas there and a good resourse for other material
also you can look at specific topics and related texts both sutta ond other.

Yes, Access to Insight is a great resource: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However, it's easy to get lost in there, and personally I prefer books. I found that reading In the Buddha's Words was extremely valuable in giving me a coherent overview of a wide variety of suttas, so I'd recommend either working through that or through Bhikkhu Bodhi's talks on the Majjhima Nikaya (along with the Nanamoli-Bodhi translation).


Mike

mikenz66 wrote:Yes, Access to Insight is a great resource: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However, it's easy to get lost in there, and personally I prefer books. I found that reading In the Buddha's Words was extremely valuable in giving me a coherent overview of a wide variety of suttas, so I'd recommend either working through that or through Bhikkhu Bodhi's talks on the Majjhima Nikaya (along with the Nanamoli-Bodhi translation).


Mike

I am right with you there sister!
Yeah we are both men but it sounds better in my head to say sister

I am resisting the e-book things, but do see an advantage...
but there is nothing like a good book to read!

Modus.Ponens wrote:I think it's best to start with the anthology that Stefan mentioned, because if you start directly with the Nikayas you'll probably be frustrated with the amount of things you have to read.

I got a little overwhelmed trying to decide how to continue with my studies so it's good to know that I already own the book I need to continue.

mikenz66 wrote:Yes, Access to Insight is a great resource: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However, it's easy to get lost in there, and personally I prefer books. I found that reading In the Buddha's Words was extremely valuable in giving me a coherent overview of a wide variety of suttas, so I'd recommend either working through that or through Bhikkhu Bodhi's talks on the Majjhima Nikaya (along with the Nanamoli-Bodhi translation).


Mike

Yes I agree about acesstoinsight.org being a great resource and also how easy it is to get lost in there. I do prefer books as well.

Cittasanto wrote:

mikenz66 wrote:Yes, Access to Insight is a great resource: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However, it's easy to get lost in there, and personally I prefer books. I found that reading In the Buddha's Words was extremely valuable in giving me a coherent overview of a wide variety of suttas, so I'd recommend either working through that or through Bhikkhu Bodhi's talks on the Majjhima Nikaya (along with the Nanamoli-Bodhi translation).


Mike

I am right with you there sister!
Yeah we are both men but it sounds better in my head to say sister

I am resisting the e-book things, but do see an advantage...
but there is nothing like a good book to read!

I'm a total bookworm (which makes me feel right at home here) and I always end up running out of room in my apartment for books so I try to purchase ebooks as much as possible but I agree there is nothing like the feel of a "real" book in your hands.

Thank you everyone.

Although the OP didn't mention it, now that the topic of e-books has been raised, here are some thoughts about using an e-book reader for sutta practice, especially for a beginner...

http://readingfaithfully.org/2011/10/24 ... -nook-etc/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Personally, after having used a Kindle extensively over the last year I would not recommend a beginner use a Kindle for reading the MN and probably not the DN or SN either. It's nearly impossible to get to the missing parts when the text is elided. And if you have to scan back to figure out what is going on it is very difficult. But for a text like the Dhammapada or an anthology it would probably be ok. And although the digital version has some advantages for study, such as searching, the paper version is just so much easier to navigate. (No indexes in the Kindle Wisdom editions) So the paper copies will always be necessary for study.

In fact, the poor navigation in an e-book is actually an advantage in some ways because you don't get distracted like you would on Access to Insight.

One exception for recommending the e-book versions of the Nikayas for beginners would be if English is not your first language. The dictionary look up is extremely helpful.

But for someone who is already familiar with the texts, actually reading on an e-ink reader is great. If you are just reading one sutta after another there is no problem.

Awesome BKh, your advice will save me some money because I probably would have ended up buying the ebook versions first and then the paperback versions too. Thanks!

Nice website Bkh!
Gregory Krahmer has published a book along the same lines called Dharma Contemplations, although it is a group practice it certainly can be done solo as it is based upon the Lecio Divina practise in Christianity.

I have a copy but I don't know if it is widely distributed as yet as the copt I have was a free distribution book published as a gift for people, and I only got a copy because of a mutual friend who knows I like that practice myself.

but here is a doc I done which was for others who want to do lecio, and I like pali so found some close words for it