Help Resources for studying Buddhism as a total rookie/novice?

[Cloud Busting]

Anyone know of any good online communities (fb, Reddit, discord, etc.) or any free classes/websites? I've found a few free courses online, but I don't know which ones are good or where to start. Seminal texts would be helpful too.

I found this and it looks promising.

 

[Kattt]

Many years ago, I used to attend classes at a Buddhist vihara. A fellow student was a novice at a Catholic seminary, but he converted to Buddhism and became a monk. He spent the ensuing years travelling through India and Asia in a quest to find the style best suited to him.
He returned to the UK and established a meditation retreat here. It's free of charge to attend a residential course although donations are always welcome and volunteering to help with the day to day running of the place is another way to pay your way.
There are virtual classes and more... take a look at the website....

Satipanya | Buddhist Retreat

| Buddhist Retreat

www.satipanya.org.uk

 

[Shiva_Story]

I'd say everything from Allan Watts on Youtube, would be a great starting point

 

[AllCatsAreGrey]

That link does look promising! I'm not familiar with it. Thanks for the share. They are from the Theravada school, which is particularly strong on the Pali cannon (the first Buddhist scriptures that focus on the historical Buddha's teaching). It would be an excellent foundational course to Buddhism.

There are many schools of Buddhism that have different variations of forms and traditions. The form of Buddhism that I'm most familiar with is Zen, a Japanese school. I actually practice semi-regularly at a local Zen center. I volunteer in their library and am working on cataloging it. I'll keep an eye out for books that may be good intro books.

One of my personal favorites is Zen Mind Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. The book is a collection of talks he gave and it serves as a great intro to Zen.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to try to elaborate the best I can or direct to specific texts. For context, I was a Hindu monk and priest when I was younger. I've been practicing Zen, to varying degrees of intensity, for the last 10 years.

 

[real person]

siddhartha by herman hesse is a famous book which is pretty short