Some think of Buddhism as the right way to escape from a make-believe state of mind. The Buddhism is based on the interpretation and study of the collection of communications of Buddha Dharma. These communications are all translated into English by the Pali Text Society, the contents of which are extracted from around 5,000 pages within 16 volumes of translated communications that are part of the Pali Canon Collection (Tipitaka), boasting a total of 12,800 pages.
Regarding the right way to escape, Buddhism references this as escape from the satisfaction and the peril of the senses (self-indulgence). An excellent analogy presented by their teaching of this concept is like when a person attends a movie theater today to watch a fictional or make-believe movie with a fake reality. Once inside, the theater presents itself as ancient, on fire and falling a part, a painful source for you. As you look to the left, right, up or back, you spot Dharma of Buddhism, the exit sign: escape.
This escape take you through permanent pain, suffering and anguish. It takes you through the painful, continuous cycle of rebirth, decay, dying, death. Plus escape takes you through the painful things in between: struggle, anguish, peril along the way, etc. So you must follow the exit sign, which turns out to be Buddhism, with a sign of its own saying, This way to leave anguish behind; this way to safety. The decision about when to go, when to escape the pain, is up to each person.
You can get your own copies or the Pali Canon English translations. Simply write to:
PALI TEXT SOCIETY
73 Lime Walk
Headington, Oxford 0X3 7AD, ENGLAND
http://www.palitext.com
You can also get Pali Text English translations via their USA Distributor in care of:
Pariyatti Book Service
P.O. Box 15926
7557 Lake City Way, N.E.
Seattle, WA 98115
(800) 829-2748 or (206) 985-1663
http://www.pariyatti.com
Tony Ha is a freelance writer who writes about buddhism. He loves to provide an introduction to buddhism to people & he thinks about the pali canon a lot.
