Opening up the Book Club

[doc benway]

Please follow these simple guidelines:

 

1. Post the title of the book and author as the topic title. Feel free to abbreviate if the title is long but try to make it clear what is being discussed.

 

2. In the first post in your book topic, lead off with the full title, the author's full name, and a link to the book on a retail site if possible, to facilitate others getting the book.

 

3. In the first post, also include a brief summary of why you chose the book, what it's about, and when you would like to begin the discussion. Feel free to lead a formalized discussion or just open the floor to generalized discussion at your discretion.

 

4. We'll leave these topics ongoing so that people can dig up old threads and continue discussions as they read books that might interest the group.

 

5. Please search the subforum prior to posting a new topic to avoid duplication.

 

 

Many thanks to Adeha for the idea.

[Gerard]

Title: The Doctrine of Awakening: The Attainment of Self-Mastery According to the Earliest Buddhist Texts

Author: Julius Evola

Available at Inner Traditions. Link.

Also available online at the Internet Archive for registered users. Link.

 

I chose this book because it was written according to the original intent of Buddhism without falling into the 'pitfall' of organised religion.

 

What is the book discussing?

 

In a probing analysis of the oldest Buddhist texts, Julius Evola places the doctrine of liberation in its original context. The early teachings, he suggests, offer the foremost example of an active spirituality that is opposed to the more passive, modern forms of theistic religions. This sophisticated, highly readable analysis of the theory and practice of Buddhist asceticism, first published in Italian in 1943, elucidates the central truths of the eightfold path and clears away the later accretions of Buddhist doctrine. Evola describes the techniques for conscious liberation from the world of maya and for achieving the state of transcendence beyond dualistic thinking. Most surprisingly, he argues that the widespread belief in reincarnation is not an original Buddhist tenet. Evola presents actual practices of concentration and visualization, and places them in the larger metaphysical context of the Buddhist model of mind and universe. The Doctrine of the Awakening is a provocative study of the teachings of the Buddha by one of Europe's most stimulating thinkers. 

 

 

Anyone can discuss it at their own pace. 

 

Thanks!