Difficult Points In Buddhism

Textual analysis and comparative discussion on early Buddhist sects and scriptures.
alexbunardzic
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:46 pm

Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by alexbunardzic »

Hello there,

I have just published a book on "Difficult Points In Buddhism" in which I discuss the Buddhist practice from the Early Buddhism perspective. Would like to hear what other esteemed members think about the line of reasoning presented in this book.

Thanks,

Alex
User avatar
retrofuturist
Posts: 27848
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Alex,

Do you wish to give us a summary of the reasoning presented in your book?

It's not really fair to expect people to pay for a copy of your text in order to provide you feedback on it.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
User avatar
manas
Posts: 2678
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:04 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by manas »

Hi alex,

I followed that link, but could find no way to read even an excerpt from the book in question, is there some easy way to do this, or to access the whole?

with metta,
manas.
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
alexbunardzic
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:46 pm

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by alexbunardzic »

manasikara wrote:Hi alex,

I followed that link, but could find no way to read even an excerpt from the book in question, is there some easy way to do this, or to access the whole?

with metta,
manas.
Hi Manas,

On that page there is a box to the right where it says "Try it free". You can get a sneak preview if you click on that link and supply your email address. Please let me know if you'd need more detailed instructions.

Also, you don't have to own a Kindle in order to read the samples. There are free Kindle readers for pretty much any platform; these free apps can be downloaded from the Amazon Kindle site.

Thanks,

Alex
alexbunardzic
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:46 pm

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by alexbunardzic »

retrofuturist wrote:Greetings Alex,

Do you wish to give us a summary of the reasoning presented in your book?

It's not really fair to expect people to pay for a copy of your text in order to provide you feedback on it.

Metta,
Retro. :)
Hi Retro,

Yes, I agree with you. The thing that bothers me is that there is no way to offer my book as a gift, or as a free sample for others to review. Even I, as the author, am expected to pay for my own book (sic!)

Here is the quick, off the cuff summary of my book:

Buddhism is a spectacular teaching that could be compared to a magnificent sunset. When enjoying such sunset, we would be annoyed if someone attempted to embellish it for us by organizing a huge display of fireworks that would only cloud the spectacular sunset.

In the same fashion, any attempt to embellish the Buddha's original teaching is equally annoying. There is absolutely no need to try and improve on the Buddha's original teaching (i.e. the Early Buddhism) by introducing foreign and fabricated concepts such as Buddha Nature and such.

Cheers,

Alex
alan
Posts: 3111
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:14 am
Location: Miramar beach, Fl.

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by alan »

No one would ever accuse me of not enjoying sunsets. I'm the king of sunsets.
But equating the Dhamma with a sunset seems likely to fail as a teaching technique.
User avatar
retrofuturist
Posts: 27848
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:52 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Alex,
alexbunardzic wrote:Here is the quick, off the cuff summary of my book:

Buddhism is a spectacular teaching that could be compared to a magnificent sunset. When enjoying such sunset, we would be annoyed if someone attempted to embellish it for us by organizing a huge display of fireworks that would only cloud the spectacular sunset.

In the same fashion, any attempt to embellish the Buddha's original teaching is equally annoying. There is absolutely no need to try and improve on the Buddha's original teaching (i.e. the Early Buddhism) by introducing foreign and fabricated concepts such as Buddha Nature and such.
I can sympathise with that perspective - my preference for Buddhavacana is well known around these parts. :lol:

But why a whole book (which of course, is not Buddhavacana) dedicated to this topic? Pointing to a few choice extracts from the Maraparinibbana Sutta, Ani Sutta, Simsapa Sutta etc. should be sufficient to make this point. But if people do not buy into the argument made through the concatenation of such extracts, what then? It is good to be able to explain one's own reasons behind one's own perspective, but what if others prefer fireworks over sunset? There is no totally objective way to demonstrate that one is superior to the other. If it were that simple there would be no sects in Buddhism at all.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
alan
Posts: 3111
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:14 am
Location: Miramar beach, Fl.

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by alan »

Sunsets and fireworks are both odd ways of describing the teachings. Don't see how either is relevant.
But if you are asking, I'll take a good quiet sunset over noisy, loud, smokey fireworks every time.
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by tiltbillings »

So, far there really nothing much said here. I'd like to see something of actual substance from this book, dince it author is here. I'm sure he'd be happy to share something.
The thing that bothers me is that there is no way to offer my book as a gift
Easily done. Turn it into a PDF.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
manas
Posts: 2678
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:04 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by manas »

Hi alex,
I think that if you were to 'copy and paste' some significant portions of the book here, you would find a sympathetic audience. If you are into original, unembellished Buddhism, then great, most people here are too, just give a more detailed, larger sample maybe?
with metta,
manas.
To the Buddha-refuge i go; to the Dhamma-refuge i go; to the Sangha-refuge i go.
User avatar
James the Giant
Posts: 791
Joined: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:41 am

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by James the Giant »

alexbunardzic wrote:The thing that bothers me is that there is no way to offer my book as a gift, or as a free sample for others to review. Even I, as the author, am expected to pay for my own book
You know there are lots and lots of places on the internet where you can freely host books? Or indeed any kind of file, be they mobi or epub or pdf of txt or doc or whatever.
Then,
saturated with joy,
you will put an end to suffering and stress.
SN 9.11
Nyana
Posts: 2233
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:56 am

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by Nyana »

manasikara wrote:I followed that link....
Where's the link?
User avatar
Ben
Posts: 18438
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:49 am
Location: kanamaluka

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by Ben »

Greetings Geoff,
An administrative decision was made early on to remove the link on suspicion of the member being a spammer, as the member suggests that we should purchase his book to provide him with feedback.
An examination of the e-book's page on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Difficult-Points- ... 610&sr=1-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
reveals very little information regarding the work.
kind regards,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
Nyana
Posts: 2233
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:56 am

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by Nyana »

Ben wrote:An administrative decision was made early on to remove the link on suspicion of the member being a spammer, as the member suggests that we should purchase his book to provide him with feedback.
Ah, thanks Ben.

I already did a bit of a search. The following excerpt from this Interview with Alex Bunardzic leads me to think that the author doesn't really know much about the subject matter he is trying to criticize (emphasis added).
  • My book is about certain difficult points in Buddhism. There appears to be a fairly large body of confusion about what is Buddhism, what is the fundamental Buddhist teaching and practice, and how can Buddhism fit into our daily lives. Upon closer inspection of the contemporary Buddhist literature available on the market today, it turns out that many of the books dealing with the topic are actually not discussing Buddhism at all. They’re mostly Brahmanism, Taoism, or other Absolutist religions disguised as Buddhism.
I have a library of 100s of books and have had access to a Buddhist monastic library containing almost every significant book and translation published in English on the subject of Buddhism over the past 50 years, and I have seen very little evidence of books being published where "Brahmanism, Taoism, or other Absolutist religions [are being] disguised as Buddhism."
User avatar
Ben
Posts: 18438
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:49 am
Location: kanamaluka

Re: Difficult Points In Buddhism

Post by Ben »

Indeed!
And what I have seen of alexbunardzic from here:
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... ic#p159767" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and
alexbunardzic wrote:
tiltbillings wrote:
alexbunardzic wrote:
The seeds of the Mahayana movement were apparently planted by the Buddha himself, who had repeatedly refused to provide definitive answers to the two most burning questions that people were constantly asking him:

1. Who is the Buddha's chosen heir (i.e. who will get appointed by the Buddha as a rightful successor to continue the teaching after the Buddha's death)?
2. What happens to the Buddha/Tathagata after he dies?
To clarify: When I asked for your source, I was asking for your source for your claim that this is what drove the formation of the Mahayana.
Ah, gotcha! My source is some Gypsy woman (at least she looked like she could be Gypsy, but my sources on that are shaky, so let's just leave it at that for now). I ran into her many moons ago at a country fair and she ended up reading my palm (for a nominal fee, of course).
does not fill me with any desire whatsoever to purchase his "book".
kind regards,

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
Post Reply