Scripture Group
DONE Medicine Buddha scripture1 https://bdkamerica.org/download/2773/
outline
- conversation between Mañjusŕi and the Buddha
- the vows and land
- vows to give beings whatever they need, such as food and clothing
- vow to cure beings of diseases and disabilities
- vow to turn women into men
- vow to save beings from punishment by the law
- marvelous land has no women, is made out of precious substances, is similar to the western land and full of bodhisattvas—beings should aspire to be born there
- efficacity of remembering the name, worshipping the
sūtra
- those who are not happily willing to give away property they don't need will naturally go to unpleasant destinies as hungry ghosts or animals. but if they hear this buddha's name now, they may at that time give rise to a thought of it, and escape that condition, become humans and reform themselves.
- similar goes for precept-breakers, those who disparage others, or who are plain disagreeable.
- the name also assures good rebirth and that women can become men.
- worshipping the sūtra according to a described procedure will ensure long life and wealth and dispel demons that steal vital energy
- recalling this buddha's name and worshipping can save one from various calamities
- the vows and land
- Ānanda and the Buddha: the difficulty of faith and of
meeting with this teaching
- it may seem hard to believe that all these results are possible from something so simple. but in fact, it's difficult to even encounter the name. and all of this is due to that buddha's power, which he has built up through bodhisattva practices impossible to fully expound.
- address from Saving Deliverance and questioning by
Ānanda
- deathbed practice
- body gods report our actions to King Yama
- a dying person is taken before King Yama to be judged, but if you get monks to come recite this sūtra, they can be brought back
- it's ambiguous whether that means returned to life or just assured human rebirth in the same place
- worshipping that buddha
- ill people, kings facing epidemics or invasions, etc. are enjoined to donate to the saṇgha, worship this buddha with lamps and banners, recite the sūtra
- these practices provide safety from untimely death
- false divinatory teachings and meat sacrifices ineffective for stopping illness
- deathbed practice
- 12 yakṣa generals who will defend those that uphold this teaching
- appendix passage with dhāraṇī
DONE great compassion dhāraṇī sūtra2
there's a parallel version on that blog of @edwardw2 from twitter
- https://edwardwhite123.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-great-compassion-sutra-taisho-1060.html
- https://edwardwhite123.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-great-compassion-sutra-taisho-1060_5.html
PLEASE IGNORE the sanskrit version of the dhāraṇī as it is written in the pdf. it's not the real one people actually say, but a "reconstruction" by some academic. instead refer to the syllables here: http://fodizi.net/fojing/zhouyu/1017.html
recording of the mantra: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8613tU7dxws
DONE brahmā's net sūtra, fascicle 13
DONE brahmā's net sūtra, fascicle 24
- medieval context: visionary self-ordination and repentance
- other bodhisattva precept texts
- Xuanzang's ones derived from bodhisattvabhūmi (there is a translation in 2 parts of his text, and one of the bodhisattvabhūmi from tibetan)
- vaipulya dhāraṇī sūtra (partial trans. in Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight)
- book of bodhisattva precepts 菩薩戒本 pu sa jie ben https://www.sutrasmantras.info/sutra31.html
- tendai bodhisattva only precepts: see book by Paul Groner
- 3 categories of pure precepts: restraining evil, doing good, benefitting sentient beings
- differences from hearer precepts
- anyone (who hasn't committed 7 heinous acts) can take them
- for focused on intent than behavior
- hearer ones are all broken if one is broken, here they can be received partially (Muller 225)
- emphasis on aspiration to awakening; precepts lost if that is lost
- filial piety and repaying kindness
- according to Taehyeon's commentary (trans. A.C. Muller), since all beings have been our parents, it's to all of them that we owe filial piety
- the precepts
DONE 2 āgamas on maitreya
- universal ruler's practice (long āgama 6, BDK vol. 1) 20
pages https://bdkamerica.org/download/1953
- it's a king's responsibility to protect and morally
educate the people of his realm
- he should listen, perhaps not uncritically, to ascetics of good character
- if he relies on his own principles instead of the ancient ones, the whole country is headed for disaster
- poverty and theft are products of bad government but punitive measures are sadly necessary against crime
- it's a king's responsibility to protect and morally
educate the people of his realm
- discourse on origins (middle āgama 66, BDK vol. 1) 15 pages https://bdkamerica.org/download/1900
DONE descent/ascent and lovingkindness
- The Sūtra That Expounds the Descent of Maitreya Buddha
and His Enlightenment (BDK) 10 pages https://bdkamerica.org/download/1955
- all three of these involve descriptions of beautiful pure places: in the future, in heaven, or on a tiny scale within bodies
- overall tone: Maitreya's actual enlightenment happens easily, the conditions for this place have already been built up over an insanely long period. consummation
- p.20: those reborn with Maitreya were guided and entrusted by Śākyamuni, and conducted various practices to get here
- contrast between the miserable conditions of our time which they have overcome and the wonderful conditions of that time they thereby achieved
- final note: arouse mind of the way and build merit to see Maitreya
- little or no particularly Māhāyana themes
- The Sūtra on Maitreya's Birth in the Heaven of Joy
(toh199) 9 pages https://read.84000.co/translation/toh199.html
- what's the purpose of this text?
- "visualization sūtra": this is/is not the correct observance. commentary from korean monk interprets whole thing this way
- contemporary scholarship: early medieval rebirth aspirations and bodhisattva reverence not about specific devotional cults in post-Song Amituo sense, but "heaven above" in general way, much about dragon flower tree/three assemblies
- unimaginable splendor of Maitreya's court
- goddesses wait on beings born there
- getting there: make merit, good conduct, sweep stūpas,
offer incense/flowers, practice samādhis, read/recite sūtras
- other recommended practices: take refuge in Maitreya, contemplate Tuṣita, take buddha vows, practice 10 virtues, dedicate merit to seeing Maitreya, recite his name, hear his name and put palms together, prostrate before Maitreya
- what's the purpose of this text?
- Maitrī-bhāvanā-prakaraṇa (lovingkindness one with
Khotanese parallel) <13 pages
- lovingkindess contemplation often considered as therapeutic complement to impurity of body meditation, but afaik most explanations don't actually involve body
- classic non-self move: my body is made of matter (elements/atoms), and the matter inside is not distinguished from the matter outside
- can't distinguish self from other: emptiness, no distinction
- all are alike full of buddha-lands: nested
beings-within-beings seems to suggest refraction or mutual
containment—p.54 even suggests lands of the three
times
- what's normally considered precisely impure and suffering is shown as containing purity
- and possess marvelous qualities like softness and purity
- reasons not to have anger
- you and the hated one are full of compassionate buddhas
- there's no one who hasn't wronged you, so if that's a good reason not to benefit someone, you'll never benefit anyone
- anger will send you to hell, and the haters will love that
- buddhas will shake their heads at you
- reduce visualized beings and phenomena back to emptiness
- by lovingkindness one controls oneself, one sees that one is making offerings to buddhas and beings etc. in the three times, but then recognizes also that this is illusory construction
Iyanaga and Giebel, The Scripture of Master of Medicine, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata; C. Pierce Salguero, Buddhism and Medicine See also version in ::↩︎
C. Pierce Salguero, Buddhism and Medicine.↩︎
A. Charles Muller and Kenneth K. Tanaka, The Brahmā’s Net Sutra.↩︎
A. Charles Muller and Kenneth K. Tanaka.↩︎