#great wisdom sutra

[crazyfox-archives]

A hanging scroll dating to the Edo period (1600-1868) depicting the Buddha Shakyamuni (釈迦如来 Shaka Nyorai) surrounded by the Sixteen Divine Protectors of the Great Wisdom Sutra

from the collection of Henjōzan Saifukuji Temple (遍照山 西福寺) in Ide, Kyoto Prefecture

[yoga-onion]

Heart Sutra ~ A sutra that describes “The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom" (1) [So far]

The modern translation

While Avalokiteshvara practising the perfection of profound wisdom, they* saw that the five components (the five skandhas) of all beings are all ‘empty’, without inherent nature or substance, and therefore overcame all suffering and calamities.

(*There are no established theories on the origin or gender of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.)

O Sariputra (Ref), what is form (colour: the body as matter) is not different from Emptiness, and Emptiness is not different from what is form. That which is form is Emptiness, and Emptiness is form. And perception (impression and sensation), thought (perception and representation), action (will and other mental actions), and sense (mind) are emptiness as well.

O Sariputra, since every being is characterised by Emptiness, it neither birth nor death, it neither defilement nor purity, it neither increases nor decreases. That is why, in Emptiness there is no physical body, no perception, no thought, no action, and consciousness. 

There are also no laws for the objects of the sense organs, such as form, sound, smell, taste, touch and mental objects.

The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind do not exist. The objects of these sense organs - forms, sounds, smells, tastes and things that can be touched, as well as the Dharma as an object of the mind - also do not exist. There are no Eighteen Realms from the eyes as a category to consciousness. Eighteen Realms are the 18 elements of sensory awareness which are six roots, six borders, six consciousnesses (Ref2). There is no condition without wisdom, and there is no end to wisdom. There is no old age and death, and no end to ageing and death. There are no Four Noble Truths (Ref3): 'painful', 'cause', 'thirst' and 'cessation'. There is neither knowing nor gaining.

Precisely because there is nothing to gain, the bodhisattva relies on the perfection of wisdom, because there is nothing to obstruct the mind and precisely because there is no hindrance to the mind, there is no fear. Transcending false thoughts and dreams, they attain Nirvana. The Buddhas of the past, present and future also attain the supreme perfection of enlightenment because they rely on the perfection of wisdom.

That is why you should know. The Prajnaparamita (lit. Perfection of Wisdom) is the great mantra, the mantra of the great enlightened wisdom, the greatest mantra, the most wonderful mantra that has no comparison. It excludes all suffering completely, it is real and not vague.

That is why I shall here preach a mantra in praise of the Perfection of Wisdom.

O ye who go forth, ye who go forth, ye who go to the other shore, O enlightenment, be blessed.

般若心経 〜「智慧の完成」の精髄を述べる経典 (1) （これまで）

『般若波羅蜜多心経 (梵: ﾌﾟﾗｼﾞｭﾅｰﾊﾟｰﾗﾐﾀｰ･ﾌﾘﾀﾞﾔ･ｽｰﾄﾗ) 』 現代語訳

観自在菩薩が深遠なる智慧の完成を実践して��たとき、もろもろの存在の五つの構成要素（五蘊）は、皆、固有の本性・実体を持たない「空」であると見極め、だからこそ、あらゆる苦しみと災いを克服した。

舎利子よ（参照）、形あるもの（色: 物質要素としての肉体）は、空に異ならず、空は、形あるものと異ならないのである。形あるものは空であり、空は形あるものなのである。そして、感受作用・表象作用・形成作用・識別作用もまた、同じく空なのである。

舎利子よ、あらゆる存在は空を特質としているから、生じることも滅することもなく、汚れることも清まることもなく、増えることも減ることもない。だからこそ、空であることには、形あるものは存在せず、感受作用・表象作用・形成作用・識別作用も存在しない。

眼・耳・鼻・舌・身体・心も存在しない。これらの感覚器官の対象である形・音・香り・味・触れられるもの・心の対象の法も存在しない。範疇としての眼から、意識にいたるまでの十八界もない。十八界とは、六根、六境、六識である、感覚的意識の十八の要素（参照2）のこと。智慧が無い状態もなければ、智慧が無い状態も尽きることもない。また、老いて死ぬこともなければ、老いて死ぬことが尽きることもない。苦・集・滅・道という四諦（参照3）もない。知ることもなければ得ることもない。

得るところのものが何もないからこそ、菩薩は智慧の完成に依るのであり、心には妨げるものがなく、心に妨げるものがないからこそ、恐怖があることもない。誤った考えや夢想を超越して、涅槃を究めるのである。また、過去・現在・未来の諸仏も、智慧の完成に依るからこそ、無上なる完全なさとりを得るのである。

だからこそ知るべきである。般若波羅蜜多とは、大いなる真言であり、大いなるさとりの智慧の真言であり、この上ない真言であり、比べるものがないほど素晴らしい真言なのである。よく一切の苦悩を除き、それは実在であり、虚ろなものではないのである。

だからこそ、般若波羅蜜多を讃える真言を、ここで説こう。 往ける者よ、往ける者よ、彼岸に往ける者よ、さとりよ、幸いあれ。

[ed-recoverry]

List of free audiobooks on YouTube for anyone interested

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Alice in Wonderland

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H P Lovecraft

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Village by Caroline Mitchell

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (fuck JKR)

Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Upside Down by Danielle Steel

The Fiancée by Kate White

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Theif

Accidentally Married by Victoria E. Lieske

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

The Collector (book one) by Nora Roberts

The Lies I Told by Mary Burton

Dead Man’s Mirror by Agatha Christie

The Hobbit

The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey

The Good Neighbour by R J Parker

The Island House by Elana Johnson

Desperation by Stephan King

The Healing Summer by Heather B. Moore

The Last Affair by Margot Hunt

To Be Claimed by Willow Winter

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The Inn by James Patterson

Wonder by R J Palacio

Faking It With The Billionaire by Willow Fox

The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark

Forrest Gump by Winston Groom

The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum

The Catcher in the Rye

The Lottery Winner by Mary Higgins Clark

Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean

Death of a Nurse by M C Beaton

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Sonnets by William Shakespeare

Frozen Betrayal by Clive Cussler

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Line of Fire by R J Patterson

Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen

The Remnant by Tim LaHaye

The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins

The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

Payment in Kind by J A Jance

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida

The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn

The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A Marriage of Anything but Convenience by Victorine E. Lieske

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Inheritance Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The Kama Sutra by Mallanaga Vatsyayana

The Wisdom of Father Brown by G K Chesterton

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Robin Hood by J Walker McSpadden

The Poor Traveller by Charles Dickens

Days on the Road: Crossing the Plains in 1865 by Sarah Raymond Herndon

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Atomic Habits by James Clear

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Man After Man

Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Charlotte’s Web

Midsummer Mysteries by Agatha Christie

Out of Silent Planet by C S Lewis

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

The Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harai

Hamlet by Shakespeare

[talonabraxas]

Manjushri - The Way of Devotion ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ Talon Abraxas

Manjushri is the bodhisattva that represents clear seeing and wisdom. With his sword in one hand he cuts through delusion, with the The Great-Wisdom Sutra in the other, he teaches the emptiness of self nature.

Manjushri Mantra:

"Om Ah Ra Pa Ca Na Dhih"

In his book on the Wisdom Sutras the scholar Edward Conze explains that the syllables of this mantra are a type of mnemonic for the wisdom of emptiness as follows:

A is a door to the insight that all dharmas are unproduced from the very beginning (ādya-anutpannatvād).

RA is a door to the insight that all dharmas are without dirt (rajas).

PA is a door to the insight that all dharmas have been expounded in the ultimate sense (paramārtha).

CA is a door to the insight that the decrease (cyavana) or rebirth of any dharma cannot be apprehended, because all dharmas do not decrease, nor are they reborn.

NA is a door to the insight that the names (i.e. nāma) of all dharmas have vanished; the essential nature behind names cannot be gained or lost.

The mantra is used to improve one’s own wisdom faculties as well as ability in debating, writing and memory recall, which are all skills used for teaching and spreading the Dharma.

[teenageascetic]

“When the holy Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara had truly grasped the transcendent wisdom, he realized that visible form is only illusion. The same applies to its perception, to its names and categories, to discriminative intellect and finally even to our consciousness. They are all illusion. With this realizaton he was beyond all sorrow and bitterness.

Disciple Sariputra! The material is not different from the immaterial. The immaterial and the material are in fact one and the same thing. The same applies to perception, concepts, discriminative thinking and consciousness. They are neither existing nor not existing.

Sariputra! All things therefore they are in themselves not good and not bad, they are not increasing and not decreasing.

Therefore one may say there are no such things as form, perception, concepts, thinking process, and consciousness. Our senses such as eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are misleading us to illusion; thus one may also say there is no reality in visible form, sound, smell, taste, touch and mindknowledge. There are also no such things as the realms of sense from sight up to mind, and no such things as the links of existence from ignorance and its end to old age and death and their end. Also the caturāryasatyāni are nonexistent, just as there is no such thing as wisdom and also no gain.

Because the holy Bodhisattva who relies on transcendent wisdom knows that there is no gain, he has no worries and also no fear. Beyond all illusion he has reached the space of highest Nirvana.

All Buddhas of the past, present and future, found highest perfect knowedge because they relied on transcendental wisdom.

Therefore we ought to know that the great verse of the transcendent wisdom is unsurpassed in its splendor, and that it appeases truly all pain. It reads:

GATE, GATE, PARAGATE, PARASAMGATE BODHISVAHA!”

-The Heart Sutra.

[mahayanapilgrim]

Manjushri is represented as a male

Bodhisattva with this right hand wielding a flaming sword " Vajra Sword of Discriminating Light" that represents the sharpness of Prajna, and his left hand wielding beautiful lotus flower in full bloom. The Vajra Sword of Discriminating Light or Wisdom is believed to cut through ignorance and entanglements of conceptual views. This sword also represents light of transformation when the sword is in flames. The magnificent Lotus flower is believed to hold the Prajnaparamita Sutra (Great Wisdom Sutra) and contains the essence of the great Wisdom of Lord Buddha

[ruibaozha]

A Brief Note on Lotus Rebirth

Did you know that lotus rebirth is quite common within Buddhism, though Nezha’s case is the most well known? I’ve attached a digital rendering from the Yun’gang Caves, originally from around the fifth century.

This type of rebirth isn’t specific to any deity or bodhisattva. Rebirth into the Buddha Amitabha’s Pure Land is among the most coveted paradises for any Buddhist to be reborn into, reborn from lotus buds. The Lotus Sutra expands on this quite a lot. Simply, the most devout are reborn into Buddhas western paradise.

“When beings of this [superior] type are about to die, the Buddha of Measureless Light [Amitabha] appears before them, accompanied by a great crowd of attendants. Then, these beings follow this Buddha and go to be reborn in his land. They are reborn naturally and miraculously in the center of a lotus made of the seven precious substances, and they dwell in the state from which there is no falling back. They come to possess wisdom and courage, supernormal powers and spiritual mastery.” I have used Luis Gomez’s translation of Wuliang shou jing.

There’s nine ranks of rebirth catalogued in the fifth century Amitabha Visualization Sutra where those reborn are as infants. There’s a massive time skip from the fifth century to when Nezha’s rebirth was ever recorded, but it’s undoubtable this is the basis for why it is originally Buddha bringing Nezha back to life rather than his teacher Taiyi Zhenren.

[santoschristos]

“May all beings have happy minds.” —The Buddha

In the expanse of Buddhist teachings, there's an Ultimate Primordial Buddha known as Vairocana Buddha. Let's walk gently into the world of Buddhism to explore who this Buddha is, simplifying complex ideas for easier understanding.

Vairocana, also known as Mahavairocana, often referred to as the 'Illuminator', is a celestial Buddha. In some traditions, He's seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of Emptiness, or Sunyata, and represents the interconnectedness of all things.

Vairocana Buddha is frequently depicted in Buddhist art seated on a lotus throne. His hand gesture, or mudra, is the Dharmachakra mudra. This mudra symbolizes the turning of the wheel of Dharma, or teaching the path to Enlightenment.

Vairocana is seen as a central figure in various schools of Buddhism. For instance, in Shingon Buddhism of Japan, Vairocana is regarded as a prime figure, the cosmic Buddha who shines the light of wisdom on all beings.

Vairocana represents the idea that ultimate reality is beyond our everyday experiences and categories. It is not separate from the world but shines through it, just as the sun illuminates everything without discrimination.

Vairocana is sometimes referred to as the 'Great Sun Buddha'. As the sun doesn't pick and choose where it shines its light, so Vairocana illuminates the Dharma, The Buddha's teachings, to all beings equally.

According to the Avatamsaka Sutra, Vairocana Buddha is also considered as the embodiment of the Dharmakaya, one of the 'Three Bodies' of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha. In this role, Vairocana symbolizes the ultimate, unmanifested form of The Buddha, existing beyond time and space.

While understanding Vairocana Buddha might seem complex, think of Him as a symbol for the vast, interconnected reality we live in - an embodiment of wisdom that sheds light on all of existence without discrimination.

Like the warm rays of the sun, Vairocana's teachings touch all beings, awakening the inherent Buddha-nature within each one of us. He serves as a radiant reminder of the boundless wisdom and compassion in the heart of Buddhist practice.

--Buddha Beings @ BuddhaBeings

[a-chuffed-floating-panda]

Rereading the lam rim chen mo (volume 1):

(Omg, I’m actually going to make an attempt at this😵‍💫-)

A personal note from me:

I once read this book during the early chapters of Aliteoth solely to get an idea of how I could portray certain characters, what I could push on more and how I could push on those certain things. Stereotypes I could create and what not. What I remember from then was that Tsongkhapa valued studying, discipline, observing and reliance on the guru.

I will be honest and say I don’t quite know how to go about this, but I will try. (I know I’ve said ‘chapter summaries,’ I do.) My first language isn’t English, it’s in fact Norwegian and I’ve decided to thoroughly challenge my brain more than needed for some reason by writing my notes on the chapters in Norwegian. I now have to translate back into English to write this. Which is fun:) maybe I’ll add a comment in between paragraphs on oddities between the translations, idk yet.

(://hi, just finished writing this, kinda simplified the chapter a little and wrote a summary/‘what I remember from this’ at the end. I am not great at writing something studious with structure, never have been, so I am starting somewhere.)

Note before I start:

What I am familiar with is the Zen, Theravada and Pure land traditions, and this is notably Vajrayana. Something that I will not be able to comprehend 100% properly regardless of how much I try and analyse things because I don’t have a teacher within the gelug tradition Tsongkhapa founded. This will be me trying to explain the concept of swimming to someone else, not having heard of the idea of swimming before now and not knowing how to swim. But I am trying anyway because I find the idea so interesting.

Including the lam rim chen mo in the gelug tradition, there are lam rims in the other traditions as well. They are commentaries on Atisha’s ‘the lamp to the path of enlightenment.’

Prologue and Chapter 1: Atisha.

The prologue opens up with salutations to Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, then Maitreya, the future Buddha, Nagarjuna and Asanga, two revitalisers of the Mahayana tradition, and then he makes his salutations to Atisha.

He asks those who know the difference between right and wrong, those who wish to make good of their life to listen to what he has to say.

His reason for composing the books is quite important and he gives examples. There are those who are dedicated to their yogic and meditative practices, but lack in their learning. Those who are well learned struggle, but to put their knowledge into practise. People who are partial in their practise, for example, if someone wishes to study the Sūtra path, they forgo the Vajrayana path, if they wish to study the vajrayana path, they forgo the sutra aspects of the teachings.

People like he mentioned the examples- dedicated yogic practitioners with no learning, those who are knowledgeable, but can’t put their knowledge into practise and those who are biased in their understanding- can not truly practice the dharma in the way that would please the ‘wise ones.’ (Bodhisattvas/enlightened individuals.)

He then explains that what Atisha wrote in his Lamp to the path of enlightenment is to integrate all of those components into one practitioner.

Shortened, these books will lead someone to Buddhahood.

(:// I don’t remember where I heard it, but I heard someone described this book to be like the bible within the gelug tradition and that they were the only books you needed to practise.)

Atisha:

The first chapter is essentially a source check for the author, to show who he is, what he has achieved and what he did to further the teachings. (“The greatness of the author”)

Tsonkhapa includes all these points on the first page of the chapter:

1. Showing the greatness of the teachings author in order to establish that it is of noble origin.

A. How he took rebirth in an excellent lineage

B. How upon that basis he gained good qualities

1. How, knowing many texts, he gained the good qualities of scriptural knowledge.

2. How, engaging in proper practise, he gained the good qualities of experiential knowledge. There are seven bullet points beneath this that go over how Atisha possessed the training in ethics, possessed the training in concentration, and how he possessed the training in wisdom. (a3, b2, c2.)

3. Having gained all those good qualities, what he did to further the teachings in India and Tibet.

I don’t know if I can include all of those points, but I’ll see if I can cover over most of it. He cites Naktso Lotsawa Tsultrim Gyelwa’s work, a translator and student of Atisha, “Eighty verses of praise” throughout this entire chapter, some verses are even answers to certain points. I don’t have access to this work. Some of them can be quite long, as well, so I think I’ll add it if it’s short and add the long version at the end. I’m mainly using volume one of this book as a source for this, but I will also be using some other sources if I need to fill in some gaps and videos where Geshe Lobsang Yonten talks to see if I’m understanding correctly.

————————————————————————

Atisha has gone by multiple names, Candragarbha, Dipamkarasrijñana and Jñanaguhyavajra/Jñanavajra, but I will refer to him by Atisha.

1A: Tsongkhapa cites a verse of Naktso.

Atisha was born into the royal family in Zahor, (Bengal) as the second of three of King Kalyanasri and Queen Sriprabha. Atisha experienced visions of Tara from an early age and was blessed by her from early childhood.

B1-2: Tsongkhapa cites a verse of Naktso.

“At the age of twenty one,

He had mastered the sixty four arts,

All forms of craft,

The Sanskrit language,

And all philosophy.”

Atisha had aready become a knowledgeable scholar by the time he was twenty one, studying topics common to Buddhists and non-Buddhists and the four other topics he had studied since he was ten: grammar, logic, crafts and medicine. This basically means that he studied all the different areas of knowledge that one could study in India at that time, as mentioned in the verse above.

When he was fifteen, he heard the teachings on the “Drop of reasoning” once and successfully debated and won against a very famous non-Buddhist scholar, something that spread his fame everywhere. (Drolungpa is the source for this incident.)

After this, he received a complete initiation into the black mountain temple by Guru Rahulagupta and experienced visions of Hevajra and received prophesies from the dakinis. It is during this training that Atisha was given the secret name Jñanaguhyavajra. Atisha continued training in the Vajrayana until he reached the age of twenty nine with many gurus who had already achieved forms of spiritual attainments, becoming skilled in all tantric texts and its instructions. It was during a small moment where he let his pride get the better of him, believing that he alone was skilled in the mantra vehicle. This pride of his was later subdued in a dream by dakinis that showed him how much he had not seen before and that what he knew in reality was minuscule. (If I simplify this to the extreme, boy thought he knew something, boy still knew, just not as much as he thought.)

With the urging of his gurus and chosen deities, in person and in his dreams, urged him to become a monk, saying it would benefit the teaching and many other beings, he eventually did. Atisha received his predation from a Mahasamghika elder, an upholder of the Silaraksita texts of discipline. A verse of Naktso is cited here. “Your abbot was renowned by all as having attained the path of preparation.” During his ordination he was given the name Sri Dipamkarajñana.

Atisha continued to train in the lower and higher philosophical scriptures until he was thirty one. At Otantapuri(viahara/temple) he heard teachings from guru Dharmaraksita (the author of the lojong) for twelve years on the “Great detailed explanation” Atisha eventually became so skilled in the texts of the four schools that he learned, down to the smallest details, what behaviour he should adopt and what should be avoided in rules of the monastic discipline concerning the act of how to give and receive food. It was through his knowledge and studies of other schools that he learned all the key points of the scriptural teaching.

The answer to how he gained good qualities of experimental knowledge is quite short, scriptures and their commentaries praise often how the training in ethical discipline is the basis for all good qualities. Because of this, you need the good qualities of knowledge at the very start of the training in ethical discipline.

A1-3: that Atisha possessed the training in ethics is explained in relation to three aspects. 1. The superior vow of liberation, 2. The bodhisattva vow and 3. The vows to the vajrayana.

Tsongkhapa cites a verse of Naktso.

Atisha was willing to risk his life to guard every minor and major fundamental training he was committed to after receiving the complete vows of a monk. Therefore, like said it Naktso’s verse, Atisha is like an elder who was an upholder of discipline texts.

Naktso verse.

As said, he trained under many instructions for developing the spirit of enlightenment which has its roots in love and compassion. Under Ser-ling-pa’s(Dharmakīrtiśrī) guidance, he trained for a long time in supreme instructions that were transmitted from Maitreya and Manjughosa to Asanga and Santideva.

Naktso verse:

“The one who set aside his own interest and took up the burden of others is my guru [Atisha]”

The spirit of enlightenment arose in his heart and he continued to learn the practises expected of his promise to train in the bodhisattva deeds.

Naktso verse.

Naktso praises Atisha, calling him a chief of yogis because he reached the concentration of the stage of generation in which he saw his body as divine, and concentration at the stage of completion, where he attained a vajra state of mind. Because of his respect to honour the pledges of the tantric rules, Naktso verse says.

Atisha was courageous in his wish to keep his promises to guard the ethical discipline and not transgressing the rules and promising to train in the ethical discipline of the three vows. Should he have made a mistake and transgressed, he would immediately purify the infraction with the appropriate rite for restoring the mistake.

His mind became serviceable by means of meditative serenity. At this stage, having practiced between three-six years, he reached a stable stage of generation and upon hearing the secret tantric songs sung by the dakinis in Oddiyana, he memorised them on the first attempt. His common training in wisdom came from a concentration of insight that stemmed from a union of meditative serenity and insight. His uncommon training in wisdom came from a special concentration stage of completion. Naktso verse.

“It is clear that you achieved the path of preparation in accordance with the texts of the mantra vehicle.”

Now, what did he do in India? Coming back to India after studying with Serlingpa, Atisha upheld the teachings at Bodhgaya three times by debating and winning against three non-Buddhist philosophers. He continued to further the teachings in India by establishing institutions wherever he traveled and would immediately reform misinformed practises whenever he saw them. It is from this, that he was revered as a “crown jewel.”

Naktso verse.

Naktso verse.

What he did in Tibet. The dharma had already been introduced in Tibet centuries prior by Guru Padmasambhava (Nyingma founder) the dharma suffered during the reign of King Langdarma who had made great effort to repress it. King Yeshe Ö and Jangchub Ö sent two translators to India, one of these being Naktso himself, to invite him to Tibet to purify the teaching and help clarify the confusion that had occurred during the suppression period. Atisha made the journey toward Tibet, meeting two other known translators, Marpa and Rinchen Zangpo on their way there, arriving in Ngari after two years.

It’s during this time as he taught, he composed the “Lamp to the path to enlightenment” that brought together all the stages of practise and condensed the key points of the sutra and mantra vehicles. He taught the instructions for this text to all the students he taught while travelling and as a result of this, he re-established the dharma and the system that had disappeared, only slightly reinvigorated what had remained and removed corruption based on misconceptions.

In the later years as the teachings spread through Tibet, there were those who thought of themselves as scholars and yogis who ended up misconstruing the meaning of the collection of Tantra. This belief caused damage to the ethical discipline, the root of the teachings. Atisha refuted them all and caused their wrongful conceptions to disappear, giving room for the flawless teaching to grow. This is how his kindness reached all the people in Tibet.

Tsongkhapa goes on to list the ideal qualifications for an author of a text that explains the Buddhas intent in this way. 1. They have mastered the five topics of knowledge. 2. They have the instructions to practise in the topics of Buddhism knowledge that has been transmitted from excellent beings from the Buddha in an unbroken lineage. 3 have received permission to write the text from their chosen deity. Atisha has all of these three qualities.

1. Naktso verse.

Atisha had knowledge from many lineages through all the gurus he learned from, twelve of whom had achieved spiritual attainments. He who had hundreds of students in India, Kashmir, Oddiyana, Nepal and Tibet, was therefore someone who was able to determine the intent of the Buddha. Dromdönba, his main disciple, someone prophesied by Tara, was the one to further Atisha’s lineage and established the kadam tradition.

All of this, as Tsongkhapa says, is the greatness of the author.

————————————————————————

After reading summary/what I have retained from reading this/no looking at my notes unless they’re long words:

I had to search up some other sources to fill in the gaps, since there wasn’t anything mentioned about his childhood. I got Buddha parallels from him from the get go, that didn’t subdue when I read that he prostrated in front of the venerable objects at eighteen months old and thanked his parents for their compassion that gave him his life. (That reminded me of Guru Padmasambhava who was born out of a lotus flower at eight years already talking like an adult.)

After I learned that he experienced vision of Tara, I kind of figured out he was always meant to be a monk. He was an extremely knowledgeable individual who always sought to learn, attain enlightenment and teach others, eventually becoming one of the highest masters regarding bodhicitta at Vikramashila when Naktso arrived asking for him to come back to Tibet and purify the teachings.

He had a vision of the black mountain temple which led him to study there somewhere in his twenties, eventually ordaining under a mahasamghika elder to become a monk, and studied under multiple other teachers, some who had already achieved spiritual attainments.

Mahasamghika= this doesn’t exist anymore, but from my understanding of what I found, this is an ‘early” branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism

The dakinis that subdued his pride in a dream. This is something I will admit to laughing at while I imagined it. It’s essentially like this, he is in a dream where boundless of texts on tantra floats around him and the dakinis flying around him carrying texts containing tantra he doesn’t know saying “do you know this?”

“No.”

“Then what about this?”

No.”

“This then?”

“No.” And in the distance, he sees small amounts of texts that he does know and the dakinis then say, that doesn’t compare to what is in their world. Something that successfully subdued his pride.

Even with a subdued pride, he was eager to attain his fullest potential. His teacher then essentially said, “hey, I know, but calm down.” It was after this he learned about who held the complete teachings on how to develop a bodhichitta. Which was Serlingpa.

It completely escaped my knowledge that, while reading, Serlingpa (Dharmakīrtiśrī) didn’t live in India, but all the way down in the region where modern day Sumatra is. Atisha later traveled down there to learn from him. It was here during his twelve year stay that he learned the instructions transmitted from Maitreya, Manjughosa and Asanga to Santideva.

A source said that Atisha didn’t approach Serlingpa during the first two weeks after his arrival, and spent it instead with the monks that were students of his and prodded at them for information on him.

Atisha returned to India, this is where he upheld the teachings at Bodhgaya by debating and winning against no-Buddhist scholars and established institutions wherever he went and corrected wrong practises whenever he saw them. He eventually became an abbot of Vikramashila at some point and as he got older, the monks of Tibet arrived multiple times, asking for him to come with them, an invitation from the king.

Another source said that the monks from Tibet weren’t all that liked by the other monks there, and the other abbot of Vikramashila was hesitant to allow him to leave because he was the best they had on the bodhichitta teachings and without him there, they believed the teachings wouldn’t survive.

Atisha goes with the monks to Tibet, promising the abbot that he would return after three years. While on their way there, they lose their translator, they stop by Nepal and stumbled into Marpa who couldn’t come with them, they later stumbled into Rinchen Zangpo, who also couldn’t come with them. Atisha relies on Naktso’s limited Sanskrit for the rest of their way.

They arrive at Ngari and he begins teaching. He saw how dedicated they were, but they didn’t know how to apply their knowledge into answers when he asked them questions. The composition of the “Lamp to the path to enlightenment” was written during this time, with the all the points of the sutra and mantra vehicles and all the stages to the practise.

Atisha did try to leave back for India when the three years had passed, but he was prevented from doing so because of a war in the area so he sent a letter to the abbot instead asking if he could stay in Tibet until he died.

Atisha purified and explained the teachings to those who had become confused during the period of suppression. To what little practice remained, he only refined a little, and by the time of his death, he had completely re-established the system and practise in Tibet that had disappeared.

There, got down most I think. I can remember much more important.

(This was fun and so interesting, but this is such a studious book to read and I suck and writing anything remotely structured so it’s a bit everywhere😵‍💫 My brain feels fried and like soup at the same time😵‍💫😵‍💫

14/11/2024: The other sources I read to fill in the gaps for Atisha’s life:

Kagyu monlam

Dakinitranslations (didn’t use it as much, but I did look at it)

Studybuddhism)

[radical-revolution]

Dear fellow beings,

In yet another of our human narratives, we’ve labelled the old year as finished. And therefore, the old year must inevitably be followed by a “new year”. With those man-made categories, along comes something even more ludicrous called a “new year’s resolution”.

These new year’s resolutions require looking “back” and looking “forward”. When we do that, we see that things in the world haven’t been too easy in the recent past. And from the way it’s all going, it looks like the future won’t be easy either. Ecological destruction is one big reason. Another is that the old lords and masters are so threatened by newbies who want to be just like them and particularly by those who are managing to achieve that.

But we’re caught: How can we stop a billion Chinese wanting to clean their butts on the toilet seat the way a few million Japanese clean theirs? And how can we deny the aspiration of a billion Indians to water their lawns and dry their clothes with automatic dryers the way Americans do? The pain felt by those who were once lords as they watch the rise of subordinates is splendidly captured by none other than the great Satyajit Ray in his beautiful film Jalsaghar.

And if all the wannabes do get what they want, like a billion Indians and Chinese getting their own cars, taking holidays in campervans or on Mallorca and Aruba, and a whole lot more, which they surely deserve as much as those who presently have all that, then what? Surely that will not only accelerate ecological destruction but may well lead to global warfare as the former lords and masters use all their might to cling to their old privilege and control.

So, in the big picture, it’s hard to make an upbeat new year’s resolution for the world from anyone’s point of view. All I can do personally myself, is re-resolve to follow what Gautama taught.

I came to this resolution because the only way I can liberate myself from the delusion of expecting a perfect society is to follow this man Gautama. And because the only way I won’t be caught in the games of the dream is to wake up from the dream, not by adding even more systematic dreams in the name of politics, the economy, science, technology and the rest.

I also want to put effort into letting other human beings know what Gautama taught. I have come to realize that the only reason why people like Gautama, Lao Tzu and Mahavira are not widely known today is because of colonial and neocolonial might that has convinced itself that its own modernity is “the end of history” and convinced the rest of the world that westernization and modernization are one and the same.

That is why Obama quotes Kant and not Mahavira, why Deng Xiaoping quotes Karl Marx and not Gautama, and why people in the larger world only know about Kama Sutra not Arthashastra. I have read philosophers like Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and Marx, though of course not thoroughly. But I have also not read the Buddha’s teachings thoroughly. Still, I’ve so far not found any insight into so-called reality that these western writers have said that the Buddha has not said, and I’ve found so much that the Buddha said that those writers have not even begun to say.

It's one thing for traditions to die out if they are archaic, useless, or harmful like female infanticide, genital mutilation or forced enslavement. But the degeneration of genuine wisdom traditions into nothing more than objects of anthropological interest is a grave and even dangerous loss to humanity.

So I ask those who share my concern and aspiration to join me in this or a similar resolution. May this year bring you wakefulness and cheerfulness. And in doing so, may that bring us confidence and free us from panic and anxiety.

— Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse

[pathofregeneration]

Joseph Parker, Untitled

* * *

The Visions of Joseph Parker, part III

“In Aldous Huxley's 1959 lecture, Natural History of Visions, Huxley articulates the visionary realm as ‘…jewel-like luminescence evoking clarity in its multi-faceted and transparent shimmer and iridescent hues.’ This description evokes Parker’s world, a spectral world with one-point perspective using the symbol of the ascending path up the mountainous road to enlightenment.

In Parker’s own words:

Attaining the mountain top has a spiritual meaning as follows: All human souls on this planet are in a school of learning to perfect themselves in order to attain a higher state of being. I have painted the mountains very steep because as the soul masters the difficulties on the path, more difficult tests lie ahead. Once the soul reaches the peak, it attains what the Buddhists call Nirvana. Then the soul does not need to be reborn, but continues its evolution in the Spiritual Sun that surrounds the physical sun. On the top of the mountain is a holy being radiating out love in all directions.

Joseph Parker is one of the great mystic painters of the late 20th century. Mysticism, according to The Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, is summarily defined as: ‘an apprehension of an ultimate non-sensuous unity in all things, a direct apperception of deity, the art of union with reality, an immediate contact or union of the self with a larger-than-self.’ Images of paradise can be found in the literature of all the world’s wisdom paths. The visionary abode of Buddha, as described in the Flower Ornament Sutra, is ‘made of jewels of various colors and decorated with all kinds of precious flowers. The various adornments emanated lights like clouds.’ Joseph Parker’s vision-scapes of the soul confirm the ideal world described by Socrates in the Phaedo, a world beyond compare to that which we know. ‘In this other earth the colors are much purer and more brilliant than they are down here. The mountains and stones have a richer gloss, a livelier transparency and intensity of hue.’”

— Joseph Parker, Carl Hammer Gallery

[crazyfox-archives]

Detail of a hanging scroll dating to the Kamakura period (1185-1333) depicting the Buddha Shakyamuni (釈迦如来 Shaka Nyorai) surrounded by the Sixteen Divine Protectors of the Great Wisdom Sutra displayed during the Setsubun spring chanting of the sutra on February 3rd at the Great Lecture Hall of Tsubosakadera Temple (壺阪寺) in Takatori, Nara Prefecture

Image from the temple’s official Twitter account

[yoga-onion]

Heart Sutra ~ A sutra that describes “The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom" (3) 

The merits of “Prajna-paramita Hridhya Sutra” – Part 2 [Part 1]

There is also a commentary that describes as below:

‘When Xuanzang crossed over Silk Road to India, he traveled with his shadow as his companion along the way, where there were no birds to fly, no beasts to meet and no water plants to be found. During this time, Xuanzang was chanting the ‘Heart Sutra’ with Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva in mind. At one point, he encountered a group of evil demons and was surrounded in front and behind. He prayed to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva for help, but this had no effect and the demons did not leave. Next, believing in the power of the Heart Sutra, he recited it, and the demons fled at once. Thanks to this, Xuanzang was spared.’

It emphasises that the efficacy of the spiritual experience lies in the scripture itself and that reciting the scripture orally is an excellent manifestation of the spiritual experience. And although Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva appears in the Heart Sutra and is the embodiment of Prajna-paramita, they too is only a character in the Heart Sutra.

This commentary also states that if the Prajna-paramita Sutra is recited, it has miraculous efficacy of detoxification, curing illness and expelling disasters, as well as annihilating the sins and karma of previous lives.

Furthermore, it says that while it is beneficial to recite and memorise the Heart Sutra alone, if this sutra is copied and given to others to explain, the merit is greater and some spiritual benefit can be gained. In the "Great Storage of Scriptures", the ‘Pure Land Rebirth Mantra’ is given at the end of the translation annotation. And it is written that if the mantra ‘Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha’ at the end of the Heart Sutra is chanted together with it, this is a spiritual experience that will lead to swift rebirth in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss (Sukhavati). In other words, you can die peacefully.

These are just a few, and most commentators state through their annotations that the spiritual experiences of the Heart Sutra are extremely manifest.

般若心経 〜「智慧の完成」の精髄を述べる経典 (3)

『般若波羅蜜多心経 (梵: ﾌﾟﾗｼﾞｭﾅｰﾊﾟｰﾗﾐﾀｰ･ﾌﾘﾀﾞﾔ･ｽｰﾄﾗ) 』の功徳 〜 その2（これまで）

“玄奘三蔵がインドに渡るとき、途中は飛ぶ鳥もなく、獣に出会うこともなく、水草もないところを自分の影を伴友にして行った。その間、三蔵は観音菩薩を念じ『般若心経』を口ずさんでいた。あるとき、悪鬼どもに遭遇し、前後を囲まれてしまった。そこで彼は観音菩薩の助けを念じたが、一向に効きめがなく、悪鬼は退散しなかった。次に『般若心経』の威力を信じ口誦すると、悪鬼どもは一目散に逃げ去った。お陰で三蔵は難を免れた。“という『般若心経』の霊験を玄奘三蔵が受けたことを記している注釈書もある。

観音菩薩は『般若心経』の中に出てくる菩薩で、般若波羅蜜多の体現者ではあるが、その菩薩も所詮、『般若心経』の登場人物にすぎなく、霊験の効能は経典そのものにあり、経典を口誦することがすぐれた霊験を表すことを強調している。

この注釈書には『般若心経』を読誦するならば、解毒、治病、除災などの霊験もあり、先世の罪業も消滅する効能が見られるとも述べている。

さらに、『般若心経』を一人だけで読誦し記憶したりすることも効験があるが、この経典を写経して、それを他の人に与え、説明するならば、その功徳は多大で何らかの霊験を受けるはずだとも述べている。

その他にも、卍続蔵経（大蔵経）には、往生浄土神呪という真言を訳註の最後に示し、その真言と一緒に『般若心経』の末尾にある「ギャーテー・ギャーテー・ハーラーギャーテー・ハーラーギャーテー・ボージー・ソワカ」という真言を唱えると、速やかに極楽浄土に往生できる霊験を得ると記されている。つまり、安らかに死ねるということだ。

これらはほんの一部に過ぎず、ほとんどの注釈者たちは『般若心経』の霊験の効き目は著しく現れることを、註釈を通して述べている。

[unofficialchronicle]

“Gate Gate” CHANT

From the Heart of the Great Wisdom Sutra.   Gate, Gate, Paragate, Para Sam gate Bodhi svaha – 10 times “Gone, gone, all the way gone, gone beyond the beyond.”

[talonabraxas]

Manjushri – Buddha of Wisdom Talon Abraxas

Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva, personifying supreme wisdom. His name in Sanskrit means “gentle, or sweet, glory”; he is also known as Mãnjughoṣa (“Sweet Voice”) and Vāgīśvara (“Lord of Speech”). His name means “Gentle Glory” in Sanskrit, in Tibetan he is called Jamphel Yang. He represents Prajna Wisdom. Therefore, he often appears in classic Prajna.

Many legend stories often say he is the master of seven Buddhas and all the mothers of Buddha. It is said that Prajna Wisdom is the teacher and mother of all buddhas. The Lord Buddha once said Manjushri was his teacher in his past life.

Manjushri is often depicted holding a double edge flaming sword on his right hand and holding a lotus flower on which there is a scripture of Prajnaparamita sutra (Great Wisdom). He is either seen sitting on a lotus flower on a moon disc or riding a lion. The double edge sword is called Prajna Khadga (sword of wisdom). This sword represents the sharpness of wisdom that can cut the root of ignorance with its luminous rays emanating out of it. The scripture on the lotus flower symbolises wisdom as pure as a lotus. The lion symbolized the stern majesty of wisdom as it is the king of Animal. It also means Manjushri teaches Dharma without favour or fear.

He is an important presence in Mahayana sutra, especially the Prajnaparamita sutras (Perfection of Wisdom sutras, Lotus Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra. He is attributed with bringing the insight that leads many sentient beings to Enlightenment and he is considered the Bodhisattva of Wisdom; in Vajrayana, he is a completely enlightened Buddha. (This is not a contradiction, but rather, a path: the Bodhisattva path leads to Buddha Enlightenment.)

He is also one of the three “great” Bodhisattvas, along with Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani. Broadly speaking, they represent three critical concepts, or the three virtues of the Buddha:

Manjushri: wisdom and insight (prajna)

Avalokiteshvara: compassion and love (metta)

Vajrapani: power and strength and protection

His perfect Pure Land is Vimala, in the East, and he is associated with Vairochana (Tibetan, nangpar nangdze, English Buddha Resplendent.) His other names include Vakishvara (Lord of Speech.) As an emanation of Vairochana — who vowed to emanate throughout the universe as a youthful Bodhisattva of Wisdom — he represents the “beginnings” of wisdom and our own ability to achieve it.

Manjushri does not give us the answers; he grants us the process to find our own wisdom. The beginnings of wisdom, and that first all-important insight. He especially helps us see through the delusions of duality.

There are also specialized forms of Manjushri: Black, Orange, Four-armed Namsangiti, wrathful Yamantaka, and many others. For instance, as Namsangiti, he is yellow with one face and four hands and holds in the first right hand a blue sword of wisdom licked with flame, and in the left at his heart, he holds a pink utpala flower; then, the blossom at ear-level supports the Prajnaparamita sutra. In the lower two arms are a bow and arrow.

Jampal Tsanju is another emanation of Manjushri with one head and four hands holding a sword, the Prajnaparamita sutra and a bow and arrow. He is pink or white with one face and four hands. There is also a three-faced form.

Why is Manjushri always visualized as a beautiful youth of sixteen, in the prime or beginning of his manhood? This important symbol reminds us that Manjushri is the beginning of insight. Within his practice is also the ultimate completion of practice, as represented by the “Perfection of Wisdom” text in his hand. But,the youth symbolism is vital, since most suffering humans, even the most advanced among us, could be said to be just at the “beginning” of understanding and insight. He encourages us, with his smiling, gentle, face — the “gentle friend”, as he is called by many — and his simple symbolism.

Unlike other Buddhist deities, his symbolism is ultimately simple. Just as the Heart Sutra (part of the Prajnaparamita sutras‚ is short and simple — clear and concise “Form is emptiness; emptiness is form” — at the same time his elegant simplicity is also ultimate complexity and deep, profound wisdom. Just as Heart Sutra expresses the vastly profound in a few hundred words, Manjushri’s symbolism of sword, text and youth likewise deliver a concise, yet vastly profound message.

Manjushri Mantra:

"Om Ah Ra Pa Ca Na Dhih"

[santmat]

Receiving Inner Guidance in the Silence of Meditation - Spiritual Awakening Radio: https://youtu.be/dN61IeUQHpc

Wisdom from the Masters or Mystics of the East and West on the power of silence to guide our every step, so each step brings us closer to our most noble goals, leading us into a life of love, peacefulness, an enlightened existence. The art of listening in the silence of meditation provides us with countless opportunities to see clearly without the usual day-to-day distractions, perceiving the events of our life from a higher vantage point. Silence allows angels to whisper advice into our ears. It also makes it possible for the authentic self to rise to the surface, introducing a new divine power or grace into this dimension of reality. It imparts insight, and ultimately, wisdom borne out of the depths or womb of contemplative silence gives birth to the realization of the soul itself. Most of the time we human beings are distracted surface-dwellers. We live from the levels of conscious mind and ego, with our attention hopelessly held captive by the turbulence and agitation of our day-to-day circumstances. If we can develop a daily meditation practice, learn to take a break and detach ourselves, allowing some space for the silence to speak to us, we will gain access to a higher wisdom. If we can pause and listen, taking time each day to meditate, this will provide opportunities for angels, the Inner Master-Power or the Great Invisible Spirit to communicate, to whisper into our inner ear.

"Learn to sit still and be mentally still, and the silence thus generated with be more vocal than words spoken and written; and you will have an instantaneous solution not only to your own personal problems but to the problems of others as well." (Kirpal Singh, The Way of the Saints)

"I will come to you in the silence." (Acts of Thomas)

“Silence gives us a new way of looking at everything.” (Mother Teresa)

"To be pure and still means to be open to purity and stillness -- as a result you can intuit the truth." (7th Century Da Qin Scripture of China -- The Jesus Sutras of the Church of the Light)

"Within each of us there is a silence, a silence as vast as the universe. And when we experience that silence, we remember who we are." (Gunilla Norris)

"Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continually return." (A Testament of Devotion, by Thomas Kelly, Quaker mystic)

"Bestow upon us a spirit of knowledge for the revelation of your Mysteries, to come to a knowledge of ourselves: where we have come from, where we are going, and what we should do in order to live." (Book of Allogenes, Gnostic Gospels, Nag Hammadi Library)

"Through the faculty of meditation man attains to eternal life; through it he receives the breath of the Holy Spirit -- the bestowal of the Spirit is given in reflection and meditation." (Abdul-BAHA, Bahai Faith)

All for the Love of Wisdom, Radio, and Podcasting, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com