u/Ptoliporthes

Hello, I have been a lifetime language learning fan and had spent the last 7-8 years of my life reading in English to a point where I can read 90 percent of the classical English literature (Paradise Lost, Shakespeare's works, Gothic literature etc.) without being bogged down by elusive meaning. I had also learnt Arabic to a level where I can read religious textbooks if only to look up the dictionary for specific words but I had long given up on that but it was a good mental training thing when I was doing it. Anyways, I wish to put in the same effort if not more to learn Chinese, starting with Mandarin, to read Journey to the West, Romance of Three Kingdoms, Confucian Works, Taoism etc. but I am painfully unaware of any Chinese literature that is not ancient. I aim to read these works in annotated editions as I would read Shakespeare in Oxford World's Classics series that is annotated. But I understand that to get to that level I need to read a lot of recent stuff as well but I generally have very little information about modern (1600's onwards if we can use western timeframes) chinese literature.

What this post asks is how relevant would my struggle be to eventually get to these works, and are we looking at a timeframe of 8-10 years of persistent effort? Thanks!

if the mind wanders around aimlessly without anchoring into one single object and this impermanence causes the thinking to be muddy and not reflective of dharma, and fixing your thought on one thing only to be grounded, to have meditation, can arts, writing or flowstate while studying/working be considered meditation or meditational practices? or does one have to keep their eyes shut and their hands still as to escape the world of senses and to find nothingness? I am asking how this question was approached in Early Buddhism/Pali Canon, in the early suttas of Buddha as he explain to his disciples. Thank you.

https://preview.redd.it/ehmggiuhl28h1.jpg?width=1530&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e3bb0895cb1eb5e7d9f6908bf5826f3099ea6d89

Open to feedback!!

Hello, I am interested in Buddhism but I am not from a Buddhist background nor do I have any Buddhist instution near me where I could inquire more. So I am learning on my own, which I do prefer, and I had been reading the Dhammapada, Buddhacarita and the Short History of Buddhism (Edward Conze), but due to my non-familiarity with the Sanksrit and the many beliefs of Indian subcontinent I am usually baffled by names and schools of thought. I had bought Lotus Sutra, Suvarnabhasa Sutra, Diamond Sutra to get into it in some way but so far Buddhist thought has been eluding me. I am not interested in reading any modern selfhelp-like books or short introductions, I am more interested in engaging it with at the level of sophistication it deserves. I am open to buddhist literature too, I had started reading Siddharta by Hesse but midway through the book had realized that its more so about German Romanticism than it is about Buddhism.

I am generally interested in Mahiyana thought, but I am open to reading Hinayana as I see it to be the other one's predecessor.

I feel like despite all the creativity in the world, males can only wear shirts, tshirts, vests, jackets and jeans or shorts for bottom half of the body. While women can make infinite amount of outfits with skirts, dresses, differently cut pieces of clothing, crops, leather trousers etc on top of things males already wear.