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Sunday, November 10, 2013

[BOOK] What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula


It has been more than ten years since I first joined a few Buddhist friends in their chanting ritual. At the time I was having my first lessons in balancing my life. After a few sessions I stopped chanting with the group but have been doing it by myself ever since. It were not my Buddhist friends who were the reason I stopped going to their gatherings. It was the wider group, other individuals telling me how I was SUPPOSED to sit and stand and behave CORRECTLY. It still makes me think back to the words of former Crass member Penny Rimbaud who said something like "no two people can get together on a good idea without turning it into an institution."

This book does a whole lot of good in explaining what Buddha "the enlightened one" had to say and how latter interpreters have institutionalized his beautiful teachings. This book, a little more than hundred pages, is a great introduction into real Buddhism: Not only is there no god but also no self and no soul. There should not be any altar and old Buddha would be shocked if he knew about all those useless statues of him that people worship. There is also need for a ritual of meditation. You meditation should be in your approach to everything you do. [Oneworld]
- Sigurður Harðarson
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3 comments:

  1. IngvarArniNovember 10, 2013 at 10:39 AM

    Have the same copy myself with that cover. One of my favourite Buddhism books as it's very broad and non-secular specific. As for the Buddhism, got into the same crowd I think. Where there were few, uhh lets say, fanatical Buddhists about.

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  2. Halifax CollectNovember 10, 2013 at 11:12 AM

    I believe I was around when Siggi started his journey of chanting. It was great.

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  3. AnonymousNovember 10, 2013 at 4:36 PM

    It is indeed strange, but also very human, how good things are turned to crap. It seems to me that people who are searching are looking for some ultimate truth, some ultimate answer but anyone who has thought it through knows that there is no final truth. That´s why good ideas turn into institutions. A bhuddist friend here in England told me that in bhuddist monasteries in some asian countries, sexism is a problem. Female monks have to wait until the male monks have eaten and the women have to fight for their rights within Bhuddism. That is just as wrong as the Vatican compared to the teachings of jesus christ the hippie. That is why this book is important. Digging through the institutions that have arisen around the teachings of Bhudda. Siggi

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