Name: Buddhism plain and simple
ISBN: 9780767903325

Buddhism plain and simple

In this book Steve Hagen puts the essence of Zen Buddhism in simple words - deceptively simple. Reading a page a day would not be too little. One should let the words sink in, instead of wanting to read page after page like a novel.

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Disruptive_DaveJan 2022

Above any sort of passive learning is doing - meditation. This is a contact sport. No different from weight training.

Beyond that, I would recommend "10% Happier" as it is very pragmatic and belief agnostic. Good for newcomers. Next, I'd recommend "Buddhism Plain And Simple" (Steve Hagen). You do not need to follow Buddhism or have any intention to engage with it as a philosophy to wring a ton of value from the book re: how the mind works.

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aurbanoJul 2018

Have you read “Buddhism, plain and simple”?

We share many ideas and have gone through a similar awakening. As most of the people commenting here, I wish we could all gather around a coffee table to discuss that book and others...

Please, if you haven’t read it, consider doing so :)

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robertcoreySep 2017

I would recommend reading through the entire blog archive, all together it's about the same length as a book. You can skip over articles on things that aren't interesting to you, for example I don't care about real estate.

My personal philosophy is a combination of all the different sources I have been exposed too. My main influences would be the mustachian thought sphere (MMM, The Magic of Thinking Big, Stoicism), secular western buddhism (Buddhism Plain and Simple, In the realm of hungry ghosts, The magic of tidying up) Game theory probabilistic thinking (Poker background).

When I first started reading MMM I was already a very tribal person. The us vs them mentality really appealed to me because I was used to strongly identifying with minority tribes (atheist, vegan). After I started studying buddhism I've been able to let go of some of the tribalism of mustachianism , but the frugality and the powerful self belief have remained. This is an example of my personal philosophy forking from a monolithic belief system.

I also have a couple dieties I worship. MMM is the god of frugality and not being a wimp. RNGesus is the god of accepting random bad stuff. I'll spin up/down dieties to put on my altar depending on my current priorities/ needs.

I know recommending you a bunch of books isn't really a proper response, but a proper definition would be the length of a book and I haven't written that yet.

What I would recommend to everyone is to study different belief systems and roll your own religion. Our brain is designed to consume faith-y belief systems. It's arrogant to believe those mechanisms in your brain won't latch on to something. It should be something your consciously decide on and design.

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Disruptive_DaveFeb 2016

I strongly recommend "Buddhism Plain & Simple" by Steve Hagen. It's much more meditation / awareness than Buddhist practice, so don't worry much about the title. I also really enjoyed "10% Happier" which was way more of a practical story vs. instruction manual. In general, meditation is NOT about "not thinking" - a major misconception about the practice. It's always helped me to view it less as a "mental getaway" and more as "training my mind like a muscle."

The practice, btw, is the whole point, it's not a means to getting to "the real part." That's a difficult point for some to grasp. Every time you sit and your mind wanders, that's the practice right there. This might be the most accurate image of what meditation is: http://www.highexistence.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/medi...

A few links that might help: http://buyalex.com/2015/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/breatheAw...

http://i.imgur.com/75wn1o9.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze6t34_p-84

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linuxhanslOct 2014

A book that liked a lot is "Buddhism Plain and Simple", by Steve Hagen.

It manages well to steer clear of all cultural trappings and mysticism and just gives an introduction into the core ideas of Buddhism (which as Hagen points out isn't even an -ism).

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jodrellblankJan 2010

Discovering existential angst?

> completely irrelevant.

Not so. While you are alive time is passing and you are seeing and hearing. You may as well focus on seeing and hearing things that are pleasing as it will make the time more pleasant.

> if you did not exist, you would not miss it.

I agree completely.

> there is nothing to be said against not existing

While not existing is not terribly bad, it does rather limit your options. You can't do anything fun anymore. You can't have another go. You've cut off your nose to spite your face.

> while there are many things to be said against existing.

Yes, but why are you focusing on those things?

> I would sign up for "post industrial techno-topia"

I would too, ohh, a few months maybe a year or two ago. It wasn't until I was idling and reading somewhere here that I really began to grasp the question: Then what?

There's no happy ever after like in a film, where they get married and it fades to the credits, or they get hired or promoted or win some money, or save the day, then the credits roll. IRL the next thing that happens is you look around and go "now what?". Even if you win enough to retire you still have a lifetime which is going to pass and you have to find something to do every day. It isn't just escape wage slavery, win the game, the end. There isn't a game, or an end.

Ever seen the black comedy Death Becomes Her? They are trying to get a guy to take the immortality potion, and, well I'll quote from IMDB:

"""Lisle Von Rhuman: Go on... Drink it... It is the completion of your life's work. You gave other people youth and wasted your own! Drink. And you will be able to work again forever! Drink... drink, Dr. Menville. You owe yourself another chance! Drink! It's the right choice! The only choice! Drink! SEMPRE VIVE! LIVE FOREVER! Ernest Menville: Then what? Lisle Von Rhuman: What? Ernest Menville: Then what happens? Lisle Von Rhuman: What?"""

Well it's a good question. But really, you may as well say "Sleep! Wake up tomorrow!", "Then what?".

I don't know if there is 'an answer', but you could consider the Buddhist style views (I liked Awareness by Anthony De Mello, Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. You might say they're a bit new agey or self helpey, but you're contemplating death so it's not like you've got a lot to fear from reading something different, eh?). Anyway, that leads to a kind of 'why do you want to escape? Nobody in the cosmic sense expects anything of you. Let your family and friends have their expectations and be their problem. Only concentrate on what you do, live your life, stop desiring everything to be different' kind of view.

And/or you could ask yourself about people who are often or always happy. It's seems quite well established that exercise, a simpler diet with fewer processed foods, regular sunshine and a regular sleep cycle improve moods. You are human not just a floating intelligence, you have a body and maybe your unhappiness is a product of something out of balance and not something inherent in the universe? Maybe you'd see the same lack of purpose and ultimate ending in a different light, as more of a release? Why not do something daring that you want to? In 100 years who is going to care?

Also, check out

http://lesswrong.com/lw/sc/existential_angst_factory/

"If it seems to you like nothing you do makes you happy, and you can't even imagine what would make you happy, it's not because the universe is made of particle fields. It's because you're still solving the wrong problem. Keep searching, until you find the visualizable state of affairs in which the existential angst seems like it should go away - that might (or might not) tell you the real problem;"

> but the point is precisely that there are no realistic alternatives.

There aren't anyway. What are you going to do if you are immortal and free from debt and wage slavery? You have forever to fill and you are stuck in the universe. You can't escape out of it, there is nowhere out of it to escape to anyway. You can't escape past it when it ends, because it might end without time or in heat death or with a big crunch, and even if you could escape what would you do there? Trapped trapped trapped, it's just ... well, that's life! :D :( sigh.

> Why do we continue bringing life into this world

Biological drives, I guess. But why does it bother you if other people have hope where you don't? If we die out this generation, human life cannot improve. If we don't, maybe it can. Assuming you think removal of all pain and suffering is an improvement - what would we be like if stuck with happiness turned up to 11 all the time and no other reference points?

> when the vast majority face such a bleak existence?

shrug. What was that you were dismissing about the little things that happen everyday?

> I don't see how being able to contemplate this fate redeems anything.

What are you wanting some universal overlord to give your life meaning for? If your existence is the product of evolution, natural selection, the world is not giving you shit that needs to be redeemed before it can be good, the world is just what it is and you are interpreting it as bad and also refusing to let it be good. Stop.

> how is humanity still a good idea?

Who said it was ever a good idea? It just happened. Why do you care if it stops? What would you replace it with anyway?

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