Theravadin Resource guide

[BlackBird]

Theravadin Resource Guide

The goal of the Theravadin Resource Guide is to produce an easy reference directory of Theravadin and Early Buddhism resources on the internet. Where there is practical application to the Theravadin practitioner, Mahayana based links will be included. It is the compiler's hopes that this resource will include many contributions by other members of the site and thus any bias on my part will be minimized, however it is inevitable that some bias towards resources will remain, and for that I apologise.

Dhamma search engine

• Google Saffron - Theravada search engine, searching Dhamma pages across the web for the information you need.

Tipitaka and Discourse

• Access to Insight - Large collection of English translations of Suttas, and many essays from esteemed Buddhist writers.
• Metta net - Includes a work in progress translation of the Tipitaka, articles by Buddhist writers and information on Sri Lankan Buddhism.
• Wikipitaka - A wiki based work in progress translation of the Tipitaka, currently over 700 suttas have been translated.
• Tipitaka.org - Online Burmese Tipitaka in Pali, various scripts, includes a very thorough exposition on "the gist" of the Tipitaka.
• eTipitaka quotation - Well organised online Pali tipitaka of the 6th Buddhist council

General Dhamma

• Buddhanet - Buddhist information network, contains an e-library, info on meditation audio, magazine, and directory of Buddhist centres
• Aimwell - The Association for Insight Meditation website is run by Venerable Bhikkhu Pesala, and contains all his own works free for reproduction, translations and expositions of several important suttas, as well as a variety of works by esteemed Mahasi lineage teachers.
• Nibbana.com - Burmese Buddhist mega site (in english, of course) contains a hefty lot of Dhamma related materials
• Michael Kewley's Dhamma site - Dhamma-site of esteemed teacher Michael Kewley, includes audio, video and a good bio

Specific Dhamma

• The Nibbana Sermons - Venerable Nyanananda's revolutionary Nibbana Sermons have struck a chord with Theravadin practitioners across the globe, receiving praise at large - especially here at Dhamma Wheel.
• Ian Andrew's recommendations and reading list - Dhamma Wheel member IanAnd gives us an important list of doctrinal points and Dhamma books to further one's understanding.

Dhamma E-book libraries

• What-Buddha-Taught - Extensive collection of e books from contemporary meditation masters and Dhamma teachers
• BuddhaSasana - Hidden in the recesses of Buddhanet is this hefty collection of articles and e-books on Dhamma and meditation, well deserved of it's own description.
• Buddhist Publication Society - Well known and highly regarded, the Buddhist Publication Society founded in 1958 has been a bastion of light in producing Buddhist texts for the world at large, the website has a broad library of online reading material available including much of their 'The Wheel' and 'Bodhi leaves' Buddhist Journals.
• Forest Dhamma books - E-library of the writings of Luang Por Maha Boowa

Dhamma audio

• Dharma Seed - Dharma seed has been around since the 1980's providing talks by way of tapes and cds, with the advent of the internet they have brought a vast amount of Dhamma talks online, specializing in Vipassana.
• Dhammatalks.org.uk - A large collection of talks given by various teachers within the Thai Forest tradition in the Ajahn Chah lineage
• Buddhist Society of Western Australia - The BSWA has an abundant supply of Dhammatalks given by Ajahn Brahmavamso and fellow monks and nuns residing at Bodhinyana and Dhammasara forest monasteries
• Audiodharma - Talks given by Gil Fronsdal, and guest speakers at the Insight meditation centre in Redwood City, California
• Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu @ dhammatalks.org - A website dedicated to talks given by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, also includes books and essays
• Birken collection - Birken Forest Monastery are maintaining a collection of over 3000 Dhamma talks (over 45gb) available for download at their website
• Dhammaweb - Site featuring talks from the Burmese and Thai traditions, many in Burmese, but also many in English, good source of some hard to find talks.
• Bhavana Society - Talks given by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana (of Mindfulness in plain English renown)
• Aruno - Talks given by Ajahn Munindo, Ajahn Abhinando and Ajahn Puñño from Aruna Ratanagiri
• Introduction to Buddhism - Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi delivers 10 lectures as an introduction to Buddhism
• Majjhima Nikaya lectures - Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi delivers lectures on the Majjhima Nikaya (the middle length discourses) of the Pali Canon.

Dhamma-video

• Dhammatube - Dhammatube has an wide range of Dhamma-video available for viewing on Youtube, Google video and Veoh.
• Dhammaweb video database - In a similar refrain to their audio section, Dhammaweb bring a collection of Dhamma videos from various speakers.
• BBC: The Life of the Buddha - An inspiring documentary on the early life of the Buddha by the BBC.

Important Dhamma-wheel topics

• Dhamma Wheel terms of service - Important and succinct rules for the forum.
• Introductory Resources - Resources the community have deemed great 'starting' points for learning about Buddhism.
• Abhidhamma Resources - Resources for learning about the Abhidhamma - The 'higher' doctrine in Theravada Buddhism.
• Good resources in non-english languages - Title says it all, if you speak anything other than English then this thread's for you.
• Ordination in Thailand - Thread for all resources pertaining to ordination in Thailand, visas, monasteries, teachers, considerations etc.
• Dana - Suggested places to make donations - Websites of charities and NGOs to make donations to.
• Dhammawheel Meditation Challenge - Set you meditation goals and share your results, support etc.
• What book are you reading right now? - A thread for discussing what book you're reading, whether or not you like it and why.
• Daily Dhamma drops from Ceylon - Venerable Bhikkhu Samahita's daily teachings on the Dhamma.
• The great rebirth debate - Thread for discussing your views on the Buddhist concept of rebirth.
• The great Abhidhamma authenticity debate - A thread for discussing your views on the Abhidhamma and whether or not you believe it to be authentic Buddhavacana.

Dhamma encyclopedias and wikipedia pages of note

• Dhamma Wiki - Theravada Buddhist encyclopedia with over 10,000 articles and links.
• Buddhism A to Z - A Buddhist encyclopedia with over 500 entries by Ven. Dhammika, focusing on the Pali Canon and early teachings of Buddhism.
• Wikipedia entry for Theravada Buddhism - Self explanatory, far from comprehensive and in need of some TLC
• Wikipedia entry for Outline of Buddhism - Comprehensive list of Buddhist concepts

Dhamma blogs

• Theravadin - Blog by an anonymous practitioner, a lot of good stuff crops up here
• Sujato's Blog - Venerable Sujato's blog, posts on reform of Theravada and Bhikkhuni ordination
• Bhikkhu's blog - Blog by Ajahn Punnadhammo, covers a wide range of issues
• Path press blog - Blog of the Path Press, includes the writings of Ven. Nanavira Thera, Ven. Bodhisako and Sister Vajira.
• Genkaku again - Adam Genkaku Fisher's blog, Dhammawheel member and Zen practitioner since ages ago.

Misc

• Access to Insight iPhone ap - An iPhone app for the Access to Insight website

[BlackBird]

Righto, lest my browser crash, i'm posting what I've done so far, will revise again soon.

To add:
- General Dhamma sites eg. Buddhanet, Aimwell, Nibbanadotnet
- Specialist Dhamma sites eg. Nibbana Sermons, Pathpress etc
- Important blogs eg. Theravadin
- Discussion sites
- Misc

metta
Jack

[Laurens]

Nice work

http://www.aruno.org - there's some audio teachings there too, if you wanted to add it to the list?

[appicchato]

Looking very good Jack...

[David N. Snyder]

May I suggest, also:

General Dhamma and Encyclopedias

• Dhamma Wiki - Theravada Buddhist encyclopedia with over 10,000 articles and links.
• Buddhism A to Z - A Buddhist encyclopedia with over 500 entries by Ven. Dhammika, focusing on the Pali Canon and early teachings of Buddhism.

[Laurens]

http://forestsangha.org/ - "a portal page to the communities associated with Ven. Ajahn Chah"

[BlackBird]

Sounds good, will set a side an hour after I get home from work tonight.

[Dmytro]

Hi Jack,

Thank you! I've used your description for one new link at Sadhu! directory.

Metta, Dmytro

[Laurens]

Just as a random useful thing:

http://www.jetcityorange.com/meditation/timer/ - An online meditation timer which you can set to go off after 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45 or 60 minutes

[Ben]

Nice work jack!

[IanAnd]

NIce thread, Blackbird.

I've posted the following on two different forums to help direct people to relevant readings that may help them begin to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Perhaps some here will benefit also from this reading list.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Apropos of some recent posts here in question of explanations about the Dhamma, I thought to put together a brief reading list of books which might help the poor old sod struggling to make out what the Dhamma is teaching, despite all the complex archaic commentarial literature there is to read and to figure out.

At one point in my training, I came to the "realization" that reading and contemplating anything other than the direct words of the Buddha (read that as: books other than the translations of the Pali canon) was for me at that time a waste of my time. I therefore put down any outside reading I was then doing and shifted my focus to the discourses of the Buddha. What I had realized was that I really had no way of verifying what others (in their books and essays) were espousing that the Buddha taught because I hadn't yet finished reading the discourses themselves. There were questions that I had which were cleared up during the course of that exercise in reading and contemplation of the discourses, as well as other questions which resulted (arose) from that same reading. I've spent a great deal of time in study, contemplation, and observation of my own practice experience in getting to the point I'm at today, and it hasn't always been an easy or smooth journey. What I can say, though, is that if one has a practice in meditation and is willing to wade through all the discourses and a few modern commentarial books, one stands a chance of being able to begin making some sense of this thing called the Dhamma.

It took a good two years to go through the Digha Nikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, and the anthology of the Anguttara Nikaya that I had obtained. It took over a year to undertake and complete a reading of the Samyutta Nikaya, which is some 2000 pages in Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation, including stopping to read and understand the relevant footnotes in each of these volumes, of which there are many. This may look and sound like some kind of Chinese torture test, until one realizes that there actually is some light at the end of the tunnel waiting for one to discover it. All that reading, study, contemplation, and meditation eventually paid off, because I was able to say at the end of it all that I had read and understood from my own experience of it what the Buddha taught according to its presentation in the Theravada tradition, which I believe to be the closest to the original teachings as they were spoken.

The main teachings to focus on coming to understand and realize are the following:

1. The Four Noble Truths

2. The Noble Eightfold Path

3. The Five Aggregates (this is especially important for insight into beginning to understand the teaching of anatta)

4. The Three Characteristics of Existence (also known as the tilakkhana or anicca, dukkha, and anatta)

5. Dependent Co-Arising (or Dependent Origination — paticca-samuppada)

Other important teachings to become aware of during the course of practice include:

1. The Five Hindrances (especially as they pertain to meditation — sensuous lust, aversion and ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and skeptical doubt)

2. The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (these also as they pertain to the meditation technology — of mindfulness, investigation of states, energy, rapture, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity)

3. The Five Spiritual Faculties (the Indriyas — of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom)

4. The Ten Fetters of Existence (as they relate to the path and the fruit of the path: self delusion, doubt, clinging to ritual and observances, sensuous lust, ill will, greed for fine material existence, greed for immaterial existence, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance)

As for the books themselves, the four main Nikayas are as follows:

The Long Discourses of the Buddha, The Digha Nikaya, trans. by Maurice Walshe.

The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, The Majjhima Nikaya, trans. by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi.

The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, An Anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikaya, translated and edited by Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi.

The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, The Samyutta Nikaya, trans. by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Select volumes from the Khuddhaka Nikaya (The Shorter Collection of Discourses) which can be very helpful to understanding are:

The Udana & The Itivuttaka, trans. by John D. Ireland

The Sutta Nipata, trans. by H. Saddhatissa

The Dhammapada, trans. by Narada Thera

Other modern commentarial books include:

The Great Discourse on Causation, The Mahanidana Sutta and Its Commentaries, Introduction and translation from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi

The All-Embracing Net of Views, The Brahmajala Sutta and Its Commentaries, Introduction and translation from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi

The Root of Existence, The Mulapariyaya Sutta and Its Commentaries, Introduction and translation from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi

The Noble Eightfold Path, Way to the End of Suffering, by Bhikkhu Bodhi

Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought, by Bhikkhu Nanananda

The Magic of the Mind, An Exposition of the Kalakarama Sutta, by Bhikkhu Nanananda

The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, by Nyanaponika Thera

Satipatthana, The Direct Path to Realization, by Ven. Analayo

What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula

For some insightful scholarly and academic books, the first three listed here are very helpful in understanding about the aggregates and anatta:

The Five Aggregates: Understanding Theravada Psychology and Soteriology, by Mathieu Boisvert. Also can be found here when in stock.

Identity and Experience, The Constitution of the Human being According to early Buddhism, by Sue Hamilton

Selfless Persons, by Steven Collins

How Buddhism Began, The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings, by Richard Gombrich

[BlackBird]

Thank you Ian, always enjoy reading your posts. I'll link this post to the OP, in case viewers don't read down this far

Also hope to get a bit of a blogroll section going today, just got a bit of work to do first.

Edit: Just spend the last half hour on an update, hit ctrl+r instead of ctrl+t and lost everything... I'm never using IE again, from now on it's SRware Iron all the way

metta
JAck

[Cittasanto]

here is my teachers site, he has just started a blog on their not sure if it is going to be weekly or monthly as both have been mentioned, in our discussions.

http://www.puredhamma.org/index.php

[Cittasanto]

http://www.chantpali.org/

spme pali chanting resourses

[Kim O'Hara]

Edit: Just spend the last half hour on an update, hit ctrl+r instead of ctrl+t and lost everything... I'm never using IE again, from now on it's SRware Iron all the way

I have never had a high opinion of Microsoft software (not since first working on a Mac, anyway), so I'm with you on that.
Firefox is probably the way to go for a browser, though Opera has its fans, too. No problems at all.
If you want to go really radical for the New Year, download OpenOffice and say 'bye, bye' to Word, Excel and the rest.
OpenOffice works very well but there is are occasional problems exchanging documents with the rest of the world.
If you want to go really really radical for the New Year, get Linux and say 'bye, bye' to Windows as well.
But it's good to have a friend nearby who has already done it.

Kim

[BlackBird]

Thanks for the recommendations Kim I may just end up switching to Linux at this rate

I'm currently using Iron, a derivative of Google's Chrome, which is basically more private and secure. I used to use FF for quite some time but have found it a bit of a memory hog.

Anyway, got a few more points added - Still missing the blog section, which can be tommorow's job. By the way, can anyone think of a more relevant description of the Nibbana sermons? I've only read a portion of number 1.

metta
Jack

[Lampang]

Thanks for the recommendations Kim I may just end up switching to Linux at this rate

After a fabulously frustrating couple of weeks, I've abandoned my Linux plans. Maybe I'll try again some time in the coming year but I need to re-stock my courage and determination before the next assault!

Some Bhikkhu Bodhi audio resources which I think are worth listing here:

Introduction to Buddhism - http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma10/bbodhi10.html

Lectures to accompany In the Buddha's Words - http://www.noblepath.org/audio.html

Lectures on the Majjhima Nikaya - http://www.bodhimonastery.net/courses/MN/MN_course.html

[Grindle's Grindis]

www.forestdhammabooks.com

Luangta Maha Boowa's writings

[Chula]

For the Tipitaka Section:
Comprehensive well-organized Tipitaka in Pali:
http://studies.worldtipitaka.org/

[BlackBird]

My sincere apologies for taking so long to update this, I've now added a blog section and added most member contributed links to their appropriate spots. Hopefully get another update sorted tonight.

metta
Jack