Good observations.
Main points to consider:
1. There is no need to read the whole Tipitaka. The three main main sections (Pitaka) serve different purposes.
- It is the Sutta Pitaka that needs laypeople’s attention the most.
- The Vinaya Pitaka is mainly for the bhikkhus. However, the background of the reason the Buddha established a given Vinaya rule can be informative. For example, the rule not to translate the Tipitaka into Sanskrit was based on a request by two Brahmins who were knowledgeable in the Vedas. See #13 of “Misinterpretation of Anicca and Anatta by Early European Scholars.” Furthermore, there are two books on Thergatha and Therigatha (verses by male and female Arahants) how they cultivated their paths and the concepts they struggled with, etc.
- The Abhidhamma Pitaka is for those who like to be thorough and want to “dig deeper.” Even then, it is not necessary (or even possible) to read all of it.
2. Tipitaka cannot be read like reading a set of novels or even textbooks on various mundane subjects. One must (at least until the Sotapanna stage) rely on a Noble Person (Ariya) to explain the basic concepts.
- First of all, most suttas are highly condensed. Even someone with a knowledge of Pali will not be able to grasp the concepts/ideas embedded in the suttas.
- It gets much worse if one tries to read the “word-by-word” English translations, as I have explained in many posts: “Elephant in the Room 1 – Direct Translation of the Tipiṭaka“
3. For example, I read comparatively little of the Pali Tipitaka in the first few years of this website’s existence. I mainly listened to the discourses by Waharaka Thero and a few others on the internet.
- Shortly after Waharaka Thero‘s passing, I started allocating significant time to reading relevant suttas in the Pali Tipitaka.
- Both the English and Sinhala translations of the Tipitaka were useless for me.
- Of course, before coming into contact with Waharaka Thero‘s desanas, I had read both English and Sinhala translations (in my school days in the early years) and had many issues to resolve. The incorrect translations caused many inconsistencies.
- While in Sri Lanka, I learned Buddhism as a subject until high school, and I studied Abhidhamma and Pali on my own. Luckily, it is easier for those good in the Sinhala language to learn Pali; there are many common words (for example, all the terms in Paticca Samuppada are the same in Pali and Sinhala.) But all that stopped after high school until I retired in 2009. Only after retiring did I start looking into Buddha Dhamma again and was fortunate to come across Waharaka Thero‘s discourses on the internet. Of course, I had been in the USA for most of that time.
I hope that will help clarify some questions. Please feel free to ask questions.
