Thank you for your kindness! I may have mislead somewhere about the Kindle app. The app itself is free and the Dhammapada is only $1:00 and is neutral  there by guiding the person to learn the Buddha's teachings without sectarian influence.  After learning the Five Precepts the Four Noble Truths and reading of the origanal Dhammapada that hasn't any sectarian influences can a person make an informed choice about their life.

The Five Precepts:

Theravada Buddhism

The Four Noble Truths

www.thisismyanmar.com/nibbana/anurudh1.h...

www.thisismyanmar.com/nibbana/individu.h...

Four Classes of Individuals who encounter the Sasana

(According to the Buddha as stated in the 'Puggala Pannatti' and the 'Anguttara Nikaya')

Maung Lwin
(Reference='Bodhipakkhiya Dipani' by Mahathera Ledi Sayadaw, Aggamahapandita, D. Litt.)

(1) A Ugghatitannu : an individual who

encounters a Buddha in person, and
who is capable of attaining the Holy Paths and the Holy Fruits through the mere hearing of a short concise discourse.


(2) A Vipancitannu: an individual who

encounters a Buddha in person, but
who is capable of attaining the Paths and the Fruits only when the short discourse is expounded to him at some length.


At the present day, only the following Neyya and Padaparama classes of individuals remain.
(3) A Neyya : an individual who needs

to study the sermon and the exposition, and then
to practise the provisions contained therein for 7 days to 60 years, to attain the Paths and the Fruits during this lifetime if he tries hard with guidance from the right teacher.


(4) A Padaparama : is an individual who

cannot attain the Paths and the Fruits within this lifetime.
can attain release from worldly ills in his next existence if he dies while practising samatha or vipassana and attains rebirth either as a human being or a deva within the present Buddha Sasana.

Necessary Conditions of Practice for Neyya and Padaparama Individuals

Neyya-puggala

An individual of the Neyya class can become a Sotpanna in this present life, if he faithfully practises the bodhipakkhiya-dhamma comprising satipatthana (four Applications of Mindfulness), sammapadhana (Right Exertion), etc. If he is lax in his practice, he can become a Sotapanna only in his next existence after being reborn in the deva planes. If he dies while still aloof from these (bodhipakkhiya-Dhammas) he will become a total loss so far as the present Buddha Sasana is concerned, but he can still attain release from worldly ills if he encounters the Sasana of the next Buddha.


Padaparama-puggala

An individual of the Padaparama class can attain release only within the present Buddha Sasana after rebirth in the deva planes in his next existence, if he can faithfully practise the bodhipakkhiya-Dhammas in his present existence. The present Buddha Sasana will continue to exist so long as the Tipitakas remain in the world. The Padaparama class of individuals have to accumlate as much of the nuclei or seeds of Parami as they can within this lifetime.

May 29, 2011 -- 4:31AM, Hukserfan wrote:

Yet other sect's of Buddhism teach that only the enlightened one can be reborn.

This is really interesting, I had never heard this before.  I just want to know which sect of Buddhism teaches this?

May 29, 2011 -- 4:31AM, Hukserfan wrote:

Buy yourselves a Dhammapada that has NOT been transcribed by any one sect but by a scholar.

 

This last is a refreshing statement because usually the opposite is recommended ("make sure you are reading a translation by an actual Buddhist monk").  I think there is a lot to be said for disinterested scholarship in translating texts, and the Dhammapada is very old and thought to, like much of the Pali suttas, pre-date most sectarian divisions of Buddhism.  I know that a scholar can apply biases as well as any one, and they are not always without motive, but it is healthy to be aware of differing, well-informed translations especially in key concepts, and scholarly efforts are generally very helpful!

The original poster, might, if interested in this concept, look into the ideas discussed in the following website:

www.fundamental-buddhism.com/index.html

The Dhammapada text itself is not highly technical and so is an interesting place to start with study.   It is also nice in that its chapters are thematic, and there are many of the Buddha's memorable similes.  When I was a young person interested in Buddhism, however, it struck me  as very preachy (its tone reminded me of evangelical ministry, which at the time was the last thing I thought I needed from religion--like many, my original interest in Buddhism was as an alternative to the popular religions offered to me as a young small-town American) and I  had to mature some years before I began to appreciate it. 

Hukserfan, which scholar's Dhammapada translation do you recommend most?

in friendliness,

V.

The Dhammapada that I use is the one that is recognised as the Second Book of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Suttanta Pitaka, which was approved by the Sixth Buddhist Council.

It was translated by the Burmese Scholar Daw Mya Tin MA, and was edited by the Editorial Committe of the Burma Tipitaka Associtation< whose Academic Qualifications are shown here:

www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/#Burma Pitaka Association

Burma Pitaka Association
Editorial Committee

Doctrinal Adviser Sayadaw U Kumara, BA, Dhammcariya (Siromani, Vatamsaka).
   
Chairman U Shwe Mra, BA., I.C.S. Retd.,
Former Special Adviser, Public Administration Division, E.S.A., United Nations Secretariat.
   
Members U Chan Htoon, LL.B., Barrister-at-law;
Former President, World Fellowship of Buddhists.
  U Nyun, B.A., I.C.S. Retd.,
Former Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East;
Vice-President, World Fellowship of Buddhists.
  U Myint Too, B.Sc., B.L., Barrister-at-law,
Vice-President, All Burma Buddhist Association.
  Daw Mya Tin, M.A.,
Former Head of Geography Department, Institute of Education, Rangoon.
   
Doctrinal Consultant U Kyaw Htut, Dhammacariya;
Former Editor-in-chief of the Board for Burmese Translation of the Sixth Synod Pali Texts.
   
Editors U Myo Min, M.A., B.L.,
Former Professor of English, Rangoon University.
  U Thein Maung, B.A., B.L
  U Hla Maung, B.A., B.L.
   
Secretary U Tin Nwe, B.Sc.

Its all good! 

In the final analysis, all critical thinking by sentient beings leads to the portal by which one will enter the Buddha wisdom whether in one's present life or the next. All states of being are manifestations of karma. Make good causes and seek out the highest good.  This way will lead to the Buddha wisdom. Unforetunately most common people begin to make good cause only after they have caused themselves much suffering. This is quite unavoidable given the nature and structure of our reality.

Another sad truth is that many people living today can not surmize that post pardem Buddhism or Satdharma has already spread through many third party cultures as it made its way North, South, East and now West. The same concerns that we have today about the Buddha's teachings being tainted and impurified were made and explored by many wonderful and sincere seekers through out the entire history of Buddhism.  Great and profound measures have already been taken to insure a correct transmission of Buddhism to all future generations. In fact such measures were taken by the Buddha himself. But a person's karma also determines all these things no matter what age they are born in. The fact that any living person of any age struggles within himself to determine which of the many teachings of life are true and not true in itself is a form of negative karma.  This goes whether one belives themselves to be operating within the Buddhist realm or without the Buddhist realm. 

Even within the Buddhist realm there is the so called divisions of Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Even within these divisions there are many substages of learning and accomplishments with such designations and degrees. It can become a confusing mess indeed. BUt in the end it is all due to ones karma whether one encounters the correct teacher and the correct method of practice that suits the times and the persons capacity.

For example ---------->