[NumsAmenniams]

Maybe even with my title you see where I may have it wrong. What do we call the buddhist writings?

I come from a Christian background which reveres their scripture as infallible, inerrant, perfect, yadda yadda etc. They hold up their book as the bastion of absolute truth.

I've come away from such thinking as well it doesn't hold up for me as absolute truth.

This in my mind - how do Buddhists approach their writings? More specifically: how should I personally approach Buddhist scripture?

I've already seen things in them that I can't gel with - but that doesn't negate the truths I do find in them.

[viagraman]

I think you need to bear in mind that they were written in a different language, in a different culture, with a different understanding of how the world works, than you or I have reading them today. It would be naive to think they are infallible, inerrant, perfect but it's the only record we've got.

The core teaching is as true today as it was then and makes sense to most people. The rest might provide more context if you dig more deeply or maybe not, but I don't think you need to let it become a source of doubt.

[JetePlentuara]

Thanks for the reply. It's all up to interpretation and beyond my study-capabilities to understand it all.

I'm basically searching out the essence of the teachings. I'm digging deeper because I want to understand the teaching further.

[JediReturns84]

Hello gerrardthor,

This link can be of some help:

Befriending the Suttas

I think you have issued a good topic, because it is important how to approach them.

I agree that Suttas should not be taken with blind faith but with confidence. But to have confidence, practice is important. For practice it is needed understanding. So some suttas are about having core understandings that prepare us to approach the practical suttas.

In this way, there are suttas that are taught in an instructive way meaning that they can be put into practice testing the teaching.

Other suttas guide us in order to make clear the reason of practice: Quenching mental torment.

Some suttas need time to bear its fruit, so, sometimes they do not make too much sense. If that is the case, we can leave it aside and work with that one that fits well with the particular stage of understanding.

I have seen that there is needed some help form experienced practitioners or awakened teachers so to grasp efficiently into a sutta. This information can be given in texts, commentaries or by personal teaching in the presence of a teacher.

The approach I give to instructive suttas is more like a handbook than an ultimate truth as happens with other texts in religions. This means that suttas give us the opportunity to verify the teaching instead of just believing them blindly.

Other approach to suttas is like tools the Buddha brings us. Cognitive tools so to understand better how things work in order to perform well when practice.

Hope this can be of some help, gerradthor.

[MediconStop]

Thanks for the reply - I wrote out a lengthier reply but it got deleted.

Overall I like the idea of seeing the suttas as tools that are meant to be used to see their worth.

[Z1IRo4Ap]

Overall I like the idea of seeing the suttas as tools that are meant to be used to see their worth.

Sure.

Some examples that have come to mind:

A sutta that give us guidance in order to make clear the goal of the teachings:

Simsapa Sutta

A sort of cognitive sutta:

Bhara Sutta

A sort of instructive sutta:

Anapanasatti Sutta

[xochex]

how should I personally approach Buddhist scripture?

As verifiable through practice...

[chzvacmyye]

As verifiable through practice... I concur.

[hieklyintinee]

It is also worthwhile mentioning that not all Buddhist texts are necessarily verifiable through practice. It just seems more likely that a Buddha would teach something verifiable through practice. That could have been one reason why Buddha dhamma was unique among other philosophies at that time.

[Toivaluadiora]

It may help to know that many buddhist scholars doubt the veracity of all buddhist suttas. If you think about how many there are altogether its obvious that not all of them can be the teachings of the buddha. I think you'd be advised to read some texts on scholarship to get a sense of what is thought about this aspect of the suttas.

For example its widely held that the abhidhamma came much later. This text is not considered a teaching of the buddha by most but strict theravada followers.

Some scholars will indicate which suttas they think are likely to represent core teachings of the buddha. It pays to read the texts The middle discourses of the Buddha by Bhikku Bodhi and The long discourses of the Buddha by hm i can't remember his name. Gombrich is a buddhist scholar of high repute though i still haven't read any of his books.

Also on the secular buddhist forum, there are a few scholars who have positions on how to determine which are likely to be true and which are not. Its really not all an easy topic to get confidence when until you can rely on your own wide and deep study. And for that you'd have to learn pali and do some translations of your own.

If this is an inclination, you will probably find it valuable to pursue. Otherwise, over time you will work out for yourself what seems true and reasonable and what doesn't.

When you say you've seen things you can't gel with, i'd say go with your gut instinct until your experience suggests otherwise.