Only
in a vertical view,
straight down into
the abyss of his own
personal existence,
is a man capable of apprehending the perilous insecurity of his situation;
and only a man
who does apprehend this
is prepared to listen to the
Buddha's Teaching.
Ñānavīra Thera
Early Writings (1950-1960) Letters to Ven. Ñānamoli Thera
Additional Letters Early Essays Other
new letters! currently being edited
Note
1954 (1-10)
1955 (11-22)
(No letters for 1956)
1957 (23-51)
1958 (109-139)
1959 (140a-166)
1960 (167-168)
N.B.
If
you click on the each year and scroll to the end
of the page, there is a link 'Older Posts'. When
you click
on it there will appear remaining letters.
Letters to the dāyaka
[EL. 169-176]
Letter to family from 1951
Nibbāna and Anattā
Sketch for a Proof of Rebirth
Commonplace Book
Marginalia
Miscellany
Review of E. Baptist's pamphlet
Suttas & Sartre
Introduction to Early Writings
“...With regard to any of my past writings that you may come across..., I would ask you to treat with great reserve anything dated before 1960, about which time certain of my views underwent a modification. If this is forgotten you may be puzzled by inconsistencies between earlier and later writings....”
Ven. Ñānavīra Thera, 22nd March, 1963
Before use is made of these Ven. Ñānavīra Thera’s Early Writings (1950 – 1960), the reader should be familiar with Notes on Dhamma and Collected Writings (1960 – 1965), to which the present collection serves as a supplement.
The major portion of this collection consists of letters written to late Ven. Ñānamoli Thera. With the manuscript letters, which were preserved by the recipient (tied up in bundles, one of which, containing letters written between August and December 1958, was not found), were found draft copies of some of the replies which were sent to Ven. Ñānavīra Thera. These have been included here; it should be remembered, however, that they are only draft copies and not final versions.
Following the letters to Ven. Ñānamoli are few letters written to Ven. Ñānavīra Thera's chief supporters. Mr. And Mrs. Hinton Perera. The two essays following the letters were published (the Sketch was reprinted several times) in abbreviated form: the texts reproduced here are taken from the author's typescripts, which may be regarded as the definitive versions. Following these two essays are the contents of the author's Commonplace Book, and then Marginalia, being the comments the author made in the margins of various book which engaged him (together with the text commented upon, where useful). Finally there is a collection of various papers discovered after author's death: notes, translations, etc. These have been edited only to avoid unnecessary repetition of material already contained in other parts of this work.