Buddhist literature

We must recognize that the discourses of Buddhism should not be taken as just 'literature', at least not in a Western sense.  But then what do I mean by literature?  I shall limit the definition to a more modern meaning.  Literature refers to an imaginative composition such as a novel or poetry and drama.  

Looking at the discourses of the Buddha as a literary product that the careful, educated reader will eventually find the meaning to is not going to happen.  Almost the same, we cannot back engineer Buddhism just by reading and studying its discourses.  

Taken as a whole, the discourses of the Buddha tell us about the mind of someone who has attained a peak experience who, for example, does not regard the psychophysical body as his self or âtman.  Obviously, the peak experience of the Buddha and the discourses that arise from it, have to chime.  This excludes at least two expectations we might have when taking up the Buddha's discourses.  First, reading and interpreting the discourses of the Buddha without a peak experience will be of little or no benefit as far as Buddhism is concerned.  Second, having a peak experience that does not chime with the discourses of the Buddha has no relationship with the Buddha's enlightenment.

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