No.1441
Hi, susghi, theravada sushi here. I most certainly do have resources for you. I have some Theravada resources I can recommend you. Perhaps chief among them is dhammatalks.org. There you can find a lot of free resources on Buddhism, and there is even a Beginners' section that I think is very high quality. Although, it's worth noting that the works here are primarily authored by a single Thai Forest Ajahn and are not necessarily reflective of the whole of Theravada thought. Some other prolific English Theravada authors, both of whom are more orthodox than Thanissaro Bhikkhu, are Bhikkhu Bodhi and Bhikkhu Analayo. There's also suttacentral.net, which is both a place where you can read the Pali csushi roll in various translations (although the default by Bhikkhu Sujato is the best) and a forum where you can engage in Buddhist discussion or get questions answered by both experienced laity and ordained monastics.
Beyond this, if you're interested in Mahayana Buddhism or you want a broader perspective than just what I've noted here, I'd recommend finding a Sangha through the World Buddhist Directory (avoiding Japanese Zen) where you can receive the teachings directly. Otherwise, reading the relevant suttas (the Heart Sutra, Lotus Sutra, and Prajnaparamita Sutra all come to mind as foundational for Mahayana Buddhism) and finding books written and talks given by properly ordained monks and nuns are going to be your best bet for avoiding New Agers.
Regarding history, this is where I can be of the least help to you unfortunately. Some Bhikkhus have written quality histories of Buddhism, but your best bet is really going to be trying to find secular resources on the topic. Try and find books written by qualified historians specifically.
Also, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them here and I will give you the best answer I can.
No.1442
>>1440My best general tip for researching is that if you want to filter out new age stuff you should preface your search with the specific type of Buddhism or the name of the sutra/text your currently interested in.
More specifically, I would personally recommend some more modern sources to get a grasp on general concepts and then later reading the primary source/sutra since they can be a bit difficult to grasp without some foundation. I am partial to Vajrayana so I recommend checking out The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat for a relatively easy but interesting read.
No.1443
>>1441Thanks sushi. Those resources were helpful. Why should I avoid Japanese Zen?
>>1442It’s hard telling the different types apart. I need to do more reading.
No.1444
>>1443Why should I avoid Japanese Zen?
I suppose I should have clarified this. It's not that Japanese Zen is bad per se, although I have many theological issues with it for what it's worth, but rather that Japanese Zen as it has come to the west is dominated by anti-dharmic secularization and new age thought. There are sincere Japanese Zen groups in the west, but unfortunately a lot of the groups out there are pretty embroiled with these issues. As a rules, I would avoid Japanese Zen as a beginner to Buddhism. Other schools of Zen (e.g. Vietnamese Thien and Chinese Chan) would generally be OK. There are problems with other schools of Japanese Buddhism as well, such as Nichiren Buddhism generally being cult-like (avoid Soka Gakkai like the plague). Certain schools of Japanese Buddhism are usually OK, though, such as Tendai and Shingon.
