Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
tibetan buddhist sutra
sean
Explorer
what tibetan sutras should i get in book form? what is your favorite?
0
Comments
I haven't read any others other than chanting the heart sutra which is also quite profound.
And I read a little of the Surangama sutra.
My favorite sutra is the Heart Sutra, but that's really because I was first exposed to it in the Tekken Tag Tournament soundtrack... Oh, and there's that whole dispelling dualistic conceptualization thing, but have you heard this?
lol, but seriously, I really like the heart sutra. It's so short, sweet, and to the point.
1 - Before the Lions Among Men[7]throughout the worlds of the ten directions,
In the past, in the present, and also in the future,
with body, mouth, and mind entirely pure,
I bow before them all, omitttng none.
With the awesome spiritual power of Samantabhadra's vows,
I appear at the same time before every Thus Come One,
And in transformed bodies as numerous as motes of dust in all lands,
Bow to Buddhas as numerous as motes of dust in all lands.
In every mote of dust are Buddhas as numerous as motes of dust,
Each dwelling amid a host of Bodhisattvas.
Throughout motes of dust in endless Dharma Realms it is the same:
I deeply believe they all are filled with Buddhas.
2 - with oceans of sound I everywhere let fall
Words and phrases, wonderful and endless,
Which now and through all the eons of the future,
Praise the wide, deep sea of the Buddhas' merits and virtues.
3 - Flower garlands supreme and wonderful,
Music, perfumes, parasols, and canopies,
And other decorations rich and rare,
I offer up to every Thus Come One.
Fine clothing, superior incense,
Powdered and burning incense,lamps and candles,
Each one heaped as high as mount Sumeru,
I offer completely to all Tathagatas.
With a vast, great, supremely liberated mind,
I believe in all Buddhas of the three periods of time;
With the strength of Samantabhadra's conduct and vows,
I make offerings to all Thus Come Ones everywhere.
4 - For all the evil deeds I have done in the past,
Created by my body, mouth, and mind,
From beginningless greed, anger, and delusion,
I now know shame and repent them all.
5 - I rejoice in the merits and virtues
Of all beings in the ten directions,
The Learners and Those-Past-Study in the Two Vehicles,[8]
And all Thus Come Ones and Bodhisattvas.
6 - Before the Lamps of the Worlds[9]of the ten directions,
who have just accomplished Supreme Bodhi,
I now request and beseech them all
To turn the foremost, wondrous Dharma wheel.
7 - If there are Buddhas who wish for Nirvana,
I request with deep sincerity
That they dwell in the world for a long time
To bring benefits and bliss to every being.
I worship those with blessings, praise them and make offerings;
I request that the Buddhas remain in the world and turn the Dharma wheel;
The good roots gained from following and rejoicing in merit and virtue and from repentance and reform,
I transferto living beings and the Buddha Way.
8 - I study with the Buddhas and practice
The perfect conduct of Samantabhadra;
I make offerings to all the Thus Come Ones of the past
And to all present Buldhas throughout the ten directions.
All future Teachers of Gods and Men
Whose aspirations and vows have been completed,
I will follow in study throughout the three periods of time
And quickly attain Great Bodhi.
In all lands of the ten directions,
Vast, great, pure, and wonderfully adorned,
All Tathagatas sit beneath regal Bodhi trees,
While assemblies circumambulate them.
I vow that every being in all directions
Will be peaceful, happy, and without worry.
May they obtain the proper Dharma's profound aid,
And may all their afflictions be wiped away, without exception
While striving to attain Bodhi,
I will gain the knowledge of past lives in all destinies.
I will always leavehome-life and cultivate pure precepts,
Without outflows,[10] never broken, and without stain.
Be they gods, dragons, yakshas, or knmbhandas,
Humans, non-human, and the rest,
In the many languages of all such living beings,
With every sound I will speak the Dharma.
I will cultivate the pure paramitas with vigor,
And never abandon the Bodhi Mind.
I will banish all obstructions and defilements,
And fulfill all wondrous practices.
From all delusions, karma, and demon-states,
Amid all worldly paths, I will be freed,
As the lotus does not touch the water,
As sun and moon do not stop in space.
And to everyone equally bringing joy,
May I for eons like the motes of dust in all lands
Ever benefit all in the ten directions.
Always in accord with living beings,
Cultivating through all future eons
The vast conduct of Samantabhadra,
The unsurpassed Great Bodhi will I perfect.
May all who cultivate with me
Assemble with me in one place,
Our karmas of body, mouth, and mind the same,
As we cultivate and study all practices and vows.
With all advisors good and wise who aid me
By explaining Samantabhadra's deeds,
I vow always to congregate together:
May they never be displeased with me.
I vow always to meet Thus Come Ones face to face
And the hosts of disciples who gather around them.
I will raise offerings which are vast and great,
Untiring to the end of future eons.
I will hold high the subtly wondrous Buddhadharma
And illuminate all the practices of Bodhi;
I will be ultimately pure in Samantabhadra's way,
Practicing until the end of time.
Inexhaustible blessings and wisdom
I cultivate throughout all worlds;
By concentration, wisdom, skillful means, and liberation,
I will gain an endless store of merits and virtues.
In one mote of dust are lands as numerous as motes of dust;
In each land are incalculable numbers of Buddhas.
In every place where Buddhas dwell I see the host assembled,
Endlessly proclaiming all the practices of Bodhi.
In ten directions everywhere, throughout the sea of lands,
Every hair-tip encompasses oceans of past, present and future.[11]
So, too, there is a sea of Buddhas, a sea of Buddha lands;
Pervading them all I cultivate for seas of endless time.
The speech of all Tathagatas is pure;
Each word contains an ocean of sounds.
According with what beings like to hear,
The Buddhas' sea of eloquence flows forth.
All Tathagatas of the three periods of time
Forever turn the wonderful Dharma wheel,
With these inexhaustible seas of words and languages.
I understand all with my deep wisdom.
I can penetrate the future
And exhaust all eons in a single thought.
In a single thought I completely enter
All eons of the three periods of time.[12]
In one thought I see all Lions of Men
Of the past, present, and future;[13]
I constantly fathom the Buddhas' states,
Their magical liberations and their awesome strength.
On the tip of an extremely fine hair,
Appear jewelled lands of past, present and future;
Lands on hair-tips as numerous as dust motes in all lands of the ten directions,
I deeply enter, adorn, and purify.
All Lamps of the Future that light the world,
Complete the Way, turn the Dharma wheel, and rescue living beings,
As they perfect the Buddhas' work and manifest Nirvana,
I draw near and attend to each one and obtain:
The spiritual power to go everywhere swiftly;
The power to enter the Mahayana universally through the Universal Door;
The power of wisdom and conduct to cultivate merits and virtues universally;
The subtle spiritual power to shield all with Great Compassion;
The power to purify and adorn [all] with supreme blessings everywhere;
The power of wisdom which is unattached and independent;
The awesome spiritual powers and the powers of concentration,wisdom, and skill-in-means;
The power of universally accumulating Bodhi;
The power of good karma which purifies all things;
The power to eradicate all afflictions;
The power to subdue all demons;
The power to perfect Samantabhadra's conduct.
The sea of lands I everywhere adorn and purify,
And I liberate all living beings, without exception.
With skill I make selections from among the sea of Dharmas[14]
And enter deeply into the wisdom sea.
I cultivate the ocean of practices to purity,
Perfect and complete a sea of vows.
I draw near to a sea of Buddhas and make offerings,
And cultivate without fatigue for a sea of time.
To all Tathagatas of the three periods of time,
With Bodhi, conduct, and vows most supreme,
I completelyoffer up my perfect cultivation;
With Samantabhadra's practices, I awaken to Bodhi.
Each Tathagata has an elder disciple
Named Samantabhadra, Honored One.
I now transfer all good roots, and I vow
To perform deeds of wisdom identical to his.
I vow that my body, mouth, and mind will be forever pure
And that all practices and lands will be also.
I vow in every way to be identical
To the wisdom of Samantabhadra.
I will wholly purify Samantabhadra's conduct,
And the great vows of Manjusri as well.
All their deeds I will fulfill, leaving nothing undone.
Till the end of the future I will never tire.
Infinite and measureless is my cultivation;
Boundless merit and virtue I obtain.
Amid limitless practices I will dwell in peace,
And penetrate the strength of spiritual powers.
10 - Manjusri has wisdom, courage and bravery;
Samantabhadra's conduct and wisdom are the same.
I now transfer all good roots
In order to follow them in practice and in study.
In the three periods of time, all Buddhas praise
Such vows as these, lofty and great.
I now transfer all good roots, wishing to perfect
The supreme practices of Samantabhadra.
I vow that when my life approaches its end,
All obstructions will be swept away;
I will see Aimitabha Buddha,
And be born in his land of Ultimate Bliss and Peace[15]
When reborn in the Western Land,
I will perfect and completely fulfill,
Without exception, these Great Vows,
To delight and benefit all beings.
The Assembly of Amitabha Buddha is completely pure;
When from a matchless lotus I am born,
I will behold the Tathagata's Measureless light as He appears before me
To bestow a prediction of Bodhi.
Receiving a prediction from the Thus Come One,
I will take countless appearances and forms,
And with wisdom power vast and great, pervade ten directions
To benefit all the realms of living beings.
Realms of worlds in empty space might reach an end,
And living beings, karma and afflictions be extinguished;
But they will never be exhausted,
And neither will my vows.
With myriad jewels in boundless lands in all directions,
I make decorations and offerings to the Thus Come Ones.
For eons as numerous as the motes of dust in all lands, I bring
The foremost peace and joy to gods and humans.
Yet, if anyone believes in these Great Vows,
As they pass by the ear but a single time,
And in search of Bodhi thirstily craves these vows,
The merits and virtues gained will Surpass these offerings.
With bad advisors forever left behind,
From paths of evil he departs for eternity,
Soon to see the Buddha of Limitless Light
And perfect Samantabhadra's Supreme Vows.
Easily obtaining the blessings of long life,
Assured of a noble rebirth in the human realm,
Before long he will perfect and complete
The practices of Samantabhadra.
In the past, owing to a lack of wisdom power,
The five offenses of extreme evil he has committed;
In one thought they can all be wiped away by reciting
The Great Vows of Samantabhadra.
His clan, race, and color, marks and characteristics
With his wisdom are all perfected and complete;
Demons and externalists will haveno way to harm,
And he will be a field of merits in the Three Realms.[16]
To the regal Bodhi free he will quickly go,
And seated there subdue hordes of demons.
Supremely and perfectly enlightened, he will turn the Dharma wheel,
To benefit the host of living beings.
If anyone can read, recite, receive, and hold high
Samantabhadra's Vows and proclaim them,
His reward only the Buddhaswill know,
And he will obtain Bodhi's highest path.
If anyone recites Samantabhadra's Vows,
I will speak of a portion of his good roots:
In one single thought he can fulfill
The pure vows of sentient beings.
The supreme and endless blessings from Samantabhadra's conduct
I now universally transfer.
May every living being, drowning and adrift,
Soon return to the Land of Limitless Light!
When the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Samantabhadra finished speaking these pure verses on the Great Vows of Samantabhadra before the Thus Come One, the youth Sudhana was overwhelmed with boundless joy. All the Bodhisattvas were extremely happy as well, and the Thus Come One applauded saying, 'Good indeed, good indeed!"
Then stop by this handy site to get some free sutras and commentaries:
http://www.buddhanet.net