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Skull

06-10-2021 10:21 PM

Sutra Snips

Scores of sutras and shastras from the Buddhist tradition have been translated, many in English. Here are a few sample excerpts:

From the Benefits of Giving Sutra:

Quote:

Discerning people give gifts in thirty-seven ways. What are the thirty-seven?

1. In order to be rid of miserliness, they give gifts out of faith.370
2. They give gifts at appropriate times.
3. They give the three objects that are fully purified as they accord
with those allowed by the Tathāgata.
4. In order to be rid of all the faults of disturbed thoughts, they give
gifts while showing respect.
5. In order to extract something worthwhile from the body that has
no worth, they give gifts with their own hands.
6. Giving gifts without causing any harm to others leads to accomplishing
a grand renunciation of property.
7. Giving colorful gifts leads to a beautiful complexion.
8. Giving aromatic gifts leads to the fragrant scent of good reputation.
9. Giving delicious gifts leads to the auspicious characteristic of
a supreme ability to discern tastes.
10. Giving refined gifts leads to refined enjoyments.
11. Giving gifts plentifully leads to plentiful enjoyments.
12. Giving food leads to freedom from hunger in all births to come.
13. Giving liquids to drink leads to freedom from thirst in all births to come.
14. Giving garments leads to the enjoyment of all sorts of cloth.
15. Giving housing leads to the possession of upper stories, courtyards,
gabled houses, palaces, mansions, gardens, pleasure groves, and land.
16. Giving beds and seats leads to birth in a high-ranking family.
17. Giving vehicles leads to the accomplishment of the four means of
supernormal power.
18. Giving medicine leads to the realization of nirvāṇa, the state that is
without aging and death and that is the termination of sorrow and affliction.

From the new collection of 25 sutras by Peter Skilling, Questioning the Buddha

BigJohn

06-10-2021 10:34 PM

Gift giving in Buddhism is something I enjoy doing.

Thanks for sharing this timely information.

Skull

06-10-2021 10:49 PM

On the same important theme of generosity, here is the summary of the Perfection of Generosity Sutra:

Quote:

In this sūtra a bodhisattva asks the Buddha how bodhisattvas should exert themselves after having given rise to the mind set on awakening. The Buddha replies by describing the ten virtuous actions and the motivation that bodhisattvas should engender when they engage in those practices. Next, after explaining how they should exert themselves in the ten perfections, the Buddha presents a detailed explanation of the perfection of generosity, focusing on the compassionate motivation that bodhisattvas cultivate while practicing it. A particular feature of this sūtra is how it details the significance of making different kinds of offering, in terms of the spiritual attainments, qualities of awakening, and other benefits that will result.

This is just one sutra from the many at 84000 translation project: https://84000.co/

BigJohn

06-10-2021 10:56 PM

Thanks for sharing.

Exercizing generosity brings forth compassion, comfort, unity, etc.

Unseeking Seeker

07-10-2021 05:28 AM

Art of giving

Now, where did I read something beautiful related to this somewhere, gist of which goes like this:

Giving alms while looking at the recipient’s feet
Was asked why his self esteem did deplete
To which he said ‘I seem to be the giver
Yet God alone is the divine lover
So I look down ashamed
Lest heart be stained’

Skull

12-10-2021 05:58 PM

Technically this is a shastra, yet being as any good shastra is, packed with sutra quotations, I suggest the one volume for study and practice. Here is one of many excellent reviews:

Quote:

This is an excellent translation of Tsongkhapa’s Middle-Length Treatise (Lam rim ’bring ba), which sets out the way to skillfully progress through the stages of the path to enlightenment. This translation successfully conveys that Tsongkhapa is speaking not only to his fifteenth-century disciples but to us as well, more than six hundred years later. I am absolutely sure that this work offers us a key to concisely comprehend the profound and magnificent system of Tsongkhapa’s lam rim teaching.

– Kodo Yatsuya, professor, Komazawa University

The title is - The Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment by Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa, translated by Philip Quarcoo.

BigJohn

12-10-2021 06:58 PM

Sounds very interesting.

Thanks for sharing.

Skull

18-10-2021 12:47 AM

Master Hsuan Hua (d. 1995) commented on many sutras and taught buddhadharma from his youth. Here are some teachings on cultivation and practice of Buddhism:

Quote:

You don’t have to believe in me or believe in the Buddha. Believe in your own inherent wisdom. Discover the wisdom in your own nature.
What is wisdom? It is a manifestation of selflessness. What is idle thinking? It is an indication of selfishness. Once selfishness takes hold, idle thoughts arise.

Master Hsuan Hua, Spring Sun, Lotus Flower

sky	18-10-2021 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skull

Master Hsuan Hua (d. 1995) commented on many sutras and taught buddhadharma from his youth. Here are some teachings on cultivation and practice of Buddhism:

Master Hsuan Hua, Spring Sun, Lotus Flower

'Whatever joy there is in the world arises from wishing for others happiness. Whatever suffering there is in the world arises from wishing for your own happiness.' Shantideva.
When you read this it seems to advise that we shouldn't wish for our own happiness, but through the Teachings of The Buddha we can see that's not true. We can and should wish for personal happiness but not by making others miserable....

Skull

20-10-2021 03:35 PM

This foundational booklet by Bhikkhu Payutto is helpful to ponder before one tackles his huge Buddhadhamma book:

https://www.watnyanaves.net/uploads/...ma-English.pdf

Skull

20-10-2021 09:05 PM

Quote:

Reputation, profit, wealth, beauty, fame, food, and sleep are things that worldly people like. When one is defiled by worldly dharmas, one cannot achieve transcendental dharma. When worldly dharmas prevail, transcendental dharma seems insignificant.

Master Hsuan Hua, Spring Sun, Lotus Flower

Skull

06-11-2021 12:02 AM

A few verses from the 84000 project's new Gandavyuha Sutra on the nature of a bodhisattva. They title this free to all sutra, the Stem Array:

“Whatever worldly good fortune there is
That occurs within the realms of beings,
The resolute ones renounce it all,
And they remain in the Buddha’s good fortune.

“The world remains fruitless,
Continuously in bondage.
Those whose conduct is free from attachment
Are continuously fixed on benefiting beings.

“Their unequaled conduct
Is inconceivable for all beings.
They who think of the world’s happiness
Bring an end to suffering.

“They have compassion for the whole world
And have the pure wisdom of enlightenment.
They are a light for the world
And bring liberation to the entire world.”

sky	06-11-2021 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skull

“They have compassion for the whole world
And have the pure wisdom of enlightenment.
They are a light for the world
And bring liberation to the entire world.”

Nice :smile:

Skull

11-11-2021 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skull

A few verses from the 84000 project's new Gandavyuha Sutra on the nature of a bodhisattva. They title this free to all sutra, the Stem Array:

Forgot to add the link to the new translation, which is only in e-book formats so far.

https://read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-037-007.html

Skull

05-01-2022 05:03 PM

From a talk by late Lama Yeshe:

Quote:

Our love is weak. We know we have love, but our love is so limited. That is why we have to meditate on limitless love. The limitation of our love is the problem. Our jealousy comes from this limitation. “I love you.” What does that mean? Does that mean I want you to be happy? No! That means I want to be happy. “I love you” almost means taking advantage in some way. So that is not love; it is completely the opposite. But limitless love is the psychologically healthy way. With limitless love, no one can irritate you. It is amazing! And its function is to understand every person’s needs and to wish that they get the happiness they need. Everyone needs happiness, without exception. With limitless love we give our energy and time with a wish-fulfilling attitude, instead of feeling jealous when someone else receives something.

What is bodhicitta? Bodhicitta is a Sanskrit word. Citta means heart, the totally open heart. It is like the lotus, which first grows in the mud and then slowly, slowly opens up fully into a pristine lotus blossom. So this sense of totally open, or totally developed, can also be understood as omniscience, total wisdom and compassion. And this is what we call “buddha.” “Buddha” means one who is totally open and totally developed, one in whom all limitations have been extinguished. This buddhahood state is also one of total healing. And bodhicitta is the attitude wishing to lead all beings to that total healing state.

And how did the Medicine Buddha become so special, having this energy to heal disease and so forth? The Medicine Buddha was once a sentient being, like us. He was not special. But at a certain point he woke up and saw all living beings, filled with disease, misconceptions, karma, demons and so forth. On this earth how many sentient beings have sicknesses or disease? Now in our twentieth century cancer is everywhere; it is this century’s worst disease. Also, how many people’s minds are sick, occupied by spirits or demons? Then, of course, there is the demon of our ego, which creates great suffering, shaking our minds.

Seeing all this, his bodhicitta attitude grew and became great healing for all these universal living beings. As a bodhisattva he prayed with great determination to be successful in helping sentient beings. He was very determined, which is why he became a great healer.

So what is Medicine Buddha? Medicine Buddha is this attitude, bodhicitta. He is the fully developed consciousness energy of wisdom-compassion, manifesting as blue radiating light.
************************
This teaching by Lama Yeshe is from a Medicine Buddha initiation given at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, on December 18–19, 1979. Excerpted from Big Love: The Life and Teachings of Lama Yeshe. Edited from archive #168 by Nicholas Ribush.

Skull

25-01-2022 05:38 PM

Quote:

333. Good is virtue until life’s end, good is faith that is steadfast, good is the acquisition of wisdom, and good is the avoidance of evil.

Dhammapada

Skull

28-01-2022 07:14 PM

This series, Library of Wisdom and Compassion by the Dalai Lama now contains seven volumes. They are arranged from basic to advanced.

This is the seventh one:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/boo.../9781614297956

Skull

09-02-2022 01:01 AM

The 84000 translation project will unveil 4 March, 2022 their new free translation of this very large sutra, listing info on 1000 or so buddhas. Dharma Publishing still has their four volume 1986 Fortunate Aeon version available, I think.

The Good Eon

in The Collection The Kangyur Discourses General Sūtra Section
བསྐལ་པ་བཟང་པོ། · bskal pa bzang po
Bhadrakalpika

Summary
While resting in a park outside the city of Vaiśālī, the Buddha is approached by the bodhisattva Prāmodyarāja, who requests meditation instruction. The Buddha proceeds to give a teaching on a meditative absorption called elucidating the way of all phenomena and subsequently delivers an elaborate discourse on the six perfections. Prāmodyarāja then learns that all the future buddhas of the Good Eon are now present in the Blessed One’s audience of bodhisattvas. Responding to Prāmodyarāja’s request to reveal the names under which these present bodhisattvas will be known as buddhas in the future, the Buddha specifies these names and goes on to describe the circumstances surrounding their birth, awakening, and teaching in the world. In the sūtra’s final section, we learn how each of these great bodhisattvas who are on the path to buddhahood first developed the mind of awakening.

Title variants
’phags pa bskal pa bzang po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
འཕགས་པ་བསྐལ་པ་བཟང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ མདོ།
The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Good Eon”
Āryabhadrakalpikanāmamahāyānasūtra
《賢劫經》

Skull

16-02-2022 08:03 PM

Master Hsuan Hua gave lectures on the entire Avatamsaka Sutra over a ten year span. At the beginning of the series he said this about the foundational nature of it:

Quote:

After becoming a Buddha, Sãkyamuni Buddha reflected how all Buddhas of the past first spoke the Flower Adornment Sutra upon their becoming Buddhas, all Buddhas of the present also speak this sutra first, and all Buddhas of the future will also do the same. The Flower Adornment Sutra must be spoken first, in order for the foundation for Great Dharma to be established. The Flower Adornment Sutra is the foundation of all Buddhadharmas.

Skull

26-02-2022 03:16 PM

White Universe

After a chanting session of Om Mani Padme Hum, Master Hua wrote a poem, and explained the meaning on the next two pages:

http://www.cttbusa.org/founder/whiteuniverse.asp

Skull

02-04-2022 03:43 PM

Bhikkhu Sujato's recent, free, public domain translation of Buddha's Sutta Nipata. Powerful blessings when read. Even more so when understood & practiced.

https://readingfaithfully.org/sutta-...e-epub-kindle/

sky	02-04-2022 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skull

Thanks Skull, as an accomplishment,

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipi...snp/index.html

Skull

07-05-2022 09:14 PM

A large sangha of bodhisattvas planned to visit our realm to praise Sakyamuni Buddha. The Padmanetra Buddha in their realm warned them that our Endurance realm was not as sacred & holy as theirs -- so be careful He said in Jewel Cloud Sutra 1.23-24:

Quote:

"Once you are in that realm, be careful. Why? Because among the beings of that realm desire, anger, and dullness are rife. They have no regard for mendicants and no regard for brahmins. They have no concern for their fathers, no concern for their mothers. Numerous are their wishes that run counter to the Dharma. They are spiteful, savage, and malicious. They are impudent and haughty, easily carried away, and full of craving. They are lazy, unkind, and evil. They are tied down by envy and miserliness and suffer from an abundance of afflictions. It is among such beings that Sakyamuni thus-gone one teaches the Dharma.”

“Blessed One,” replied the bodhisattvas, “teaching the Dharma among such sentient beings is a tremendous feat displayed by Sakyamuni thus-gone one.”

“Yes, it is,” the Blessed One Padmanetra agreed. “Noble children, teaching the Dharma among such sentient beings is indeed a tremendous feat displayed by that thus-gone one. Moreover, noble children, when sentient beings within such a world of rampant afflictions give rise to just a single virtuous mind state then they also display a tremendous feat. Why? Well, what would be amazing about finding pure beings in pure worlds? On the other hand, it is indeed a wonder when anyone in a world of rampant afflictions is able, ever so briefly, to engender faith, or go for refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, or purely observe discipline. However, it is an even greater wonder if, even for just a moment, they can attain a mind free from desire. Still, the greatest wonder of all is if they can briefly develop compassion and give rise to the mind of unexcelled and complete awakening.”

“The Blessed One is amazing!” the bodhisattvas responded. “The Thus-Gone One Sakyamuni is amazing!”

Skull

14-06-2022 01:41 AM

A major Mahayana sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom just came out from the 84000 translation project!

https://read.84000.co/translation/toh10.html

A difficult sutra for most folks, so here is a little from Sparham's introductory matter:

Quote:

Modern readers unfamiliar with the sacred tradition set forth in the
fundamental texts can read, for example, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi’s In the
Buddha’s Words. Alternatively, the fundamental texts can be learned from the
Eighteen Thousand, which presents them in a very clear and accessible
manner. But a modern reader unfamiliar with the dharmas set forth in the
fundamental texts can get confused, because at the same time that the
Eighteen Thousand is setting them forth with veneration, it is exhorting the
reader to reject them as an object of attachment.

Thus, chapter 3 of the Eighteen Thousand begins with the monk Śāriputra
asking, “How then should bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection
of wisdom?” to which the Lord responds, “They do not see form. Similarly,
they do not see feeling, perception, volitional factors, or consciousness
either.” “They do not see” means that they reject it as an object of
attachment. It does not mean that the aggregates, and so on, are not there or
are not something they should know. Worthy ones obviously know the
aggregates and so on, because it is the basic teaching of the truth of
suffering, the first words the Buddha Śākyamuni uttered to the five
companions when he returned to the Deer Park outside Vārāṇasī after
reaching awakening.

Skull

04-06-2023 02:39 PM

Quote:

With the full moon this evening, we mark the celebration of the Buddha's birth, awakening, and parinirvāṇa, known in Tibetan as Saga Dawa Düchen. This offers us all a wonderful opportunity to remember the Buddha with joyful practice!

We consider 84000’s vision and work to be a unique celebration of the Buddha’s awakening, and on this auspicious day, we are very pleased to release our newest publication: The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines.

https://read.84000.co/translation/toh9.html#toc

Quote:

Summary:
The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines is among the most important scriptures underlying both the “vast” and the “profound” approaches to Buddhist thought and practice. Known as the “middle-length” version, being the second longest of the three long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras, it fills three volumes of the Kangyur. Like the two other long sūtras, it records the major teaching on the perfection of wisdom given by the Buddha Śākyamuni on Vulture Peak, detailing all aspects of the path to enlightenment while at the same time emphasizing how bodhisattvas must put them into practice without taking them‍—or any aspects of enlightenment itself‍—as having even the slightest true existence.

Skull

29-08-2023 05:57 PM

A reminder of how to find & download any Kalavinka Press translation, such as the Avatamsaka Sutra for free. Of course the printed volumes can be bought also:

http://kalavinka.org/Jewels/jewels_toc.htm

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