I think a thread like this is certainly worth bumping more often than that!
BTW, It is very easy to reply to multiple people in a single post instead of a new post for each. Just place your cursor at the end of your post, go up to the person you want to quote, select the text and then click the quote button. By quoting them they automatically get a ping. Othewise you can always type @ and their user name should pop up. This will also ping them.
I mention it because I have seen others doing the same thing of creating many posts at once.
Well said, indeed. I’d like to add two more aspects, triggered by the “… seeking out …” .
I’ve spent time with suttas partially randomly, until finding one which has something in it… For me it is helpful for immersion to copy&paste and format it with my intentions; paragraphs, underlines, make it readable. This could really take some -fruitful!-time to let the content touch my mind&heart. (Example from a very intense time: PC nano-index)
(1) But after that I had always to “go out” and reflect it with my life; reading about “metta” say, and let my playing&struggling in my life be reflected. Perhaps visiting friends and see whether it fits with my behave, relation, or reflect some incidence in the tram when the whole cloud of “metta”-implications has been raised by the previous reads. So I stopped the idea completely to read the full canon sequentially and sutta-by-sutta. If I may have read four or five, then -with good heuristic- there comes one which I can’t chew at all: it’s too high for me, too far away from my experiences or out of radius of my imagination… so another day, another sutta will do…
(2) Moreover, I felt a good time has been when I’ve been involved in a discussion group in the “usenet” years ago. This was a “hell” full of trolling and nonsense and shorttime-hate&anger - but still there were a handful of more serious searchers or contributors, and the involvement even in this harsh forum gave good conditions to grow/to learn: because contents and practice/experience were “entangled” , for instance I had enough reason and opportunities to observe my own anger and my own resource to calm down and get a stance, so, I might possibly say today, it was a good room for “learning-by-doing”, and I love it really when today I read a bit through (my small collection of) printed threads in there.
So: the intense reading needs concentration, immersion; but it needs as well breaks, time to go out, to verify (or at least reflect) in nature or social context what I did understand (or not); and this “time to go out” means not one afternoon, but sometimes phases. “Life” might be one of the experts to be sought- and still better if one finds even experts, or wise people as snowbird mentions, in that life…
Per your first point, yes, you need time to digest some suttas.
I’ve been doing a random sutta a day. Thankfully, some of the more substantial suttas are followed by quick ones that don’t have much to say. That gives me time to digest the others. I’ve found that not stopping a random-sutta-day has actually helped me to digest suttas I am more interested in. The latter read suttas will often expound further on a topic that peaked my interest in suttas I read earlier.
I’ve also been pasting links to ones I want to mull over into a “favorites” list, with one or two bullet points on what it is about. I can relax knowing it will “be there” for repeated reviews, and further digestion.
I too used Usenet in the 1990s - talk.religion.buddhsim.
It turned out that one of the more prolific, hostile, and obnoxious trolls there was a classmate of mine. He has also been in my extended social circles. Years later I can’t say he has made much progress. He is still trying to impress people with how well read he is and he is still pushing them away at the same time. A living hungry ghost.
I’ve never had trouble starting a conversation here about Buddhism or suttas. Discuss & Discover manages to be educational,positive, and peaceful where earlier Buddhist forums have failed.
I recently started to just go to random.org and taking number between 1-4, and going to SuttaCentral
Then, if it’s for example 2 - it’s Majjhimanikāya this time (1-4 as the 4 Nikayas), then going back to random number between 1-152 (total number of MN suttas) until an absolutely random sutta is ready to explore been very fun so far, maybe someone would find it fun this way too!
In this way it often turns into more than just that one sutta, for example SN 51.45-54 Also, I get to re-read suttas over and over or explore Pali if I already know the sutta.
Ive been reading the Suttas initially really fast almost daily with some of the more difficult suttas to understand being just read for the sake of reading. I started with DN>MN>SN (Still on SN).
With the more difficult suttas I would search them up on Youtube to see if there are any monks explaining them and listen to those.
But I’ve slowed down my reading pace and read for enjoyment and meaning than just getting it done. I would also recommend establishing a daily meditation sitting while practicing mindfulness throughout the day and just listening to your mind and how thoughts come about.
The Suttas hit a lot more differently when you reflect on things in your day to day life.
After I first created this thread people asked me in private a few times how my project to read the suttas was going. So, I have been posting occasional updates. The latest:
After I created this thread people have contacted me in private to ask me how I was doing.
Every 3 months I have been posting an update to this thread about my progress.
The latest update is below.
As of today. Monday 2023 May 15 it has been 1 year since I started with the Daily Sutta service.
I have read 528 suttas, which includes completing The Long Discourses.
A few of the thoughts that other people have shared in this thread I have thought about over again and again over the past year. Thanks again to those people!
In addition to continuing with the Daily Sutta service in the new year I am going to aim for finishing the Middle Length Discourses and whittling down the Anguttara Nikaya as much as I can.
Update
Year 1: 2022 May 15: Started
2022 Aug 15: 140 suttas checked off
2022 Nov 15: 250 suttas checked off
2023 Feb 15: 390 suttas checked off 2023 May 15: 528 suttas checked off
People messaged me several times to ask me how my progress is going so I thought I would update this thread every so often with my progress.
I finished the Long Discourses, I am over half done with Middle Length Discourses, and using The Daily Sutta service by email I have read 632 suttas so far.
Year 1: 2022 May 15: Started
2022 Aug 15: 140 suttas checked off
2022 Nov 15: 250 suttas checked off
2023 Feb 15: 390 suttas checked off 2023 May 15: 528 suttas checked off
Year 2:
2023 May 15: Started 2023 Aug 15: 632 suttas checked off
People messaged me several times to ask me how my progress is going, so I thought I would update this thread every 3 months with my progress…
I finished the Long Discourses, I have read 117 of the 153 Middle Length Discourses, and using The Daily Sutta service by email I have read 805 suttas so far.
Year 1: 2022 May 15: Started
2022 Aug 15: 140 suttas checked off
2022 Nov 15: 250 suttas checked off
2023 Feb 15: 390 suttas checked off 2023 May 15: 528 suttas checked off
Year 2:
2023 May 15: Started
2023 Aug 15: 632 suttas checked off 2024 Nov 15: 805 suttas checked off
When I created this thread people asked me to let them know how I was doing with my goal to read all of the suttas. I decided to read one(ish) a day and keep it light, fun, etc …
I’ve been keeping notes of what I read in Google docs. I have a file where I save my favorites and suttas I want to go back to. Otherwise I try to compartmentalize my notes by topic.
I’ve used the daily.readingfaithfully.org sutta-a-day-by-email service and I have done other readings on my own in addition to that.
Long Discourses: done. Middle Length Discourses: 138/152 done
I’ve got sizeable chunks of the other nikayas done too.
My grand total as of today is 920 suttas read.
Year 1: 2022 May 15: Started
2022 Aug 15: 140 suttas checked off
2022 Nov 15: 250 suttas checked off
2023 Feb 15: 390 suttas checked off 2023 May 15: 528 suttas checked off
Year 2:
2023 May 15: Started
2023 Aug 15: 632 suttas checked off
2024 Nov 15: 805 suttas checked off 2024 Feb 15: 920 suttas checked off
Also, I get to re-read suttas over and over or explore Pali if I already know the sutta.