Buddhist Scriptures Book

If you've found your way into Buddhism through the books of D. T. Suzuki, Eugen Herrigel or HHDL's books and teachings, like I have, you might be excused to think that it is almost a kind of secular religion, a branch of moral philosophy and epistemology that steers clear from most of the usual metaphysical pitfalls. This collection of texts goes a long way towards dispelling this falsehood. Gods, ghosts, demons, heavens, hells, even a multiverse is here, as well as promises for longevity, good health and riches for the true believers. Not that it takes anything away from the core of the dharma; if anything, I'm glad to have a better understanding of the religion as a whole, and I'm adding a couple of Sutras in my reading list. And, like all religious texts, the book leaves you with a resolution to be a better person.

Personal favourite: Chapter 21, "Proving the Buddha", where the 7th century scholar Dharmakīrti precedes all of western philosophy by a thousand years with sentences such as: "Knowledge is non-deceptive cognition. Non-deception consists in suitability for the accomplishment of a purpose. Non-deception occurs even in the case of what is acquired through language, because it is a means of communicating the speaker's intention.".