Is solitary practice superior? We will consider that problem through a look at one of the most powerful and enigmatic early Buddhist poems, the sutta on the rhinoceros. What does it tell us, and who composed it?

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✅ Books mentioned:
Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.) The Suttanipāta: An Ancient Collection of the Buddha’s Discourses Together with its Commentaries (Wisdom, 2017). https://amzn.to/45044ou
Richard Salomon, The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhāra (Wisdom, 2018). https://amzn.to/3Ztne4M

✅ Video mentioned:
The Early Ideal of the "Lone Buddha" or Paccekabuddha —    • The Early Ideal of the "Lone Buddha" ...  

✅ Sutta mentioned:
https://suttacentral.net/mn122/en/sujato

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00:00 Intro — viewer question and a poem
02:26 What does the poem say?
04:37 The central tension of Buddhist practice: solitude and community
08:06 Who composed the poem, when, and why?
09:14 Pre-Buddhist origin?
09:59 Buddhist origin?
14:10 Both origins?

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