Beginner academic text recommendation
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If you can come to Sri Lanka, you can follow a diploma or a post graduate diploma in Buddhism at the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka. In the mean time, you can get a good start with books like Buddhism in a Nutshell by Ven. Narada thera. Or the life of the Buddha.
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For a general introduction, I heard good things about An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices by Peter Harvey of Cambridge.
Now, if you by chance would like to taste a way Buddhism is taught to students within the tradition itself then you will do good to read Treasury of Precious Qualities (in two volumes) by Kangyur Rinpoche, studied as a review text at the end of a comprehensive course of study Tibetan monks take towards their Geshe degrees.
Upvote:1
If you want academia and Buddhism, here are some great resources. They all have done numerous introductory and advanced books on Tibetan Buddhism.
Dr. Robert Thurman [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Thurman], "Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, holding the first endowed chair in this field of study in the United States. He also is the co-founder and president of the Tibet House New York".
Jeffrey Hopinks [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Hopkins], "American Tibetologist. He is Emeritus of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he taught for more than three decades since 1973.[1] He has authored more than twenty-five books about Tibetan Buddhism,", or
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, my favorite teacher, on my favorite teaching "Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment" (http://lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=398), a "stepped path" (literally) of teachings that are designed to take one to enlightenment. (Also a great site for all levels of teachings.)
Enjoy! There are so many more online now in the many Buddhist traditions. Lucky us!
Upvote:3
I just read this, and it is pretty solid. It's from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, so it should meet the requirement that it be an academic text.
I recommend also reading the suttas (source texts), many of which are available here and simply reading them critically. A third option is to buy a text such as this which has suttas as well as commentary from a prominent Buddhist scholar, Bhikku Bodhi (Although he is Buddhist).
One reason why I would personally urge caution when reading anything without having the source texts is that they can be easily misrepresented. For example, one modern position that is not uncommon is that the teaching of rebirth was a metaphor or was simply a cultural belief. If one reads the source texts (the suttas) thoroughly however, it is very difficult to defend this view as the Buddha claims to have direct, personal knowledge of rebirth (e.g., in the Bhaya-bherava Sutta).
I hope this helps. Best.
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