Avatamsaka Sutra

Discuss and learn about the traditional Mahayana scriptures, without assuming that any one school ‘owns’ the only correct interpretation.
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rory
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra

Post by rory »

Sorry if I am repeating something but is this group a serious one? http://newhuayen.com/page33.html
Are there Huayan masters still in Taiwan/HK/China
gassho
rory
Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu
Chih-I:
The Tai-ching states "the women in the realms of Mara, Sakra and Brahma all neither abandoned ( their old) bodies nor received (new) bodies. They all received buddhahood with their current bodies (genshin)" Thus these verses state that the dharma nature is like a great ocean. No right or wrong is preached (within it) Ordinary people and sages are equal, without superiority or inferiority
Paul, Groner "The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture"eds. Tanabe p. 58
https://www.tendai-usa.org/
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

From ch. 25 - an aspiration that is very hard to fulfill:
A bodhisattva does not become weary of evil beings nor does he commit the error of bringing forth thoughts inclined to reject them and cast them aside. Even were one to fill up the entire world with beings, all of whom failed to have any sense of gratitude for kindnesses, the bodhisattva would still never become disgusted with or resentful of them.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Punya
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra

Post by Punya »

Will wrote:From ch. 25 - an aspiration that is very hard to fulfill:
A bodhisattva does not become weary of evil beings nor does he commit the error of bringing forth thoughts inclined to reject them and cast them aside. Even were one to fill up the entire world with beings, all of whom failed to have any sense of gratitude for kindnesses, the bodhisattva would still never become disgusted with or resentful of them.
Of course, but having the aspiration is still a very worthwhile activity. If evil beings are those whose actions create negative karma even if we see them as enemies we might still ocassionally feel compassion. Doing largely thankless tasks such as being an unpaid union official (my experience) or a DW moderator and approaching it without any expectation of gratitude in return is good bodhisattva training.
We abide nowhere. We possess nothing.
~Chatral Rinpoche
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch 25

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

The svabhava of nisvabhava:
Just as true suchness takes the absence of any inherent nature in
all dharmas as its nature, so too do his dedications of roots of
goodness take the complete comprehension of all dharmas as
devoid of any inherent nature as their nature.

Just as true suchness takes signlessness as its characteristic sign, so
too do his dedications of roots of goodness take the complete
comprehension of all dharmas as signless as their characteristic
sign.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Vidyaraja
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra

Post by Vidyaraja »

Can anyone tell me what the influence of the Avatamsaka Sutra has been on Buddhist schools outside of Huayen/Kegon, Shingon, and Zen? In particular what is the position of the Avatamsaka Sutra in Tibetan Buddhism and has its vision been as influential in Tibetan Buddhism as the others spoken of?
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch. 37

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

If there be anyone who sees the Buddha's body, hears his name, or praises his qualities, they are all thus caused to forever abandon the sorrow-inducing calamity of cyclic births and deaths.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch. 37

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Sons of the Buddha. So too it is in the case of the great medicine king tree of the Tathāgata’s wisdom. It takes as its roots vast and greatly compassionate vows generated in the past that then brought about the perfection of all wise and good dharmas with which he everywhere covers all realms of beings and extinguishes all sufferings associated with the wretched destinies. It grows forth from all tathāgatas’ genuine wisdom lineage, takes solidly unmoving skillful expedient means as its trunk, takes Dharma realm pervading wisdom and the pāramitās as its branches, takes the dhyāna absorptions, the liberations, and the great samādhis as its leaves, takes the comprehensive-retention dhāraṇī formulae, the eloquences, and the limbs of bodhi as its blossoms, and takes all buddhas’ ultimate and unchanging liberations as its fruits.
Sons of the Buddha. Why is it that the great medicine king tree of the Tathāgata’s wisdom is known as “Endless Roots”? This is because it never rests and because it never ceases carrying forth the bodhisattva practices. It is for this reason that it is known as “Endless Roots.”
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch 38

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

From the beginning of the chapter:
Buddha's marvelous awakening was in all respects completely fulfilled.
He had eternally cut off the two kinds of action.
He had acquired the penetrating comprehension of the dharma of signlessness.
He had come to dwell where buddhas dwell.
He had acquired the uniform equality of buddhahood.
He had reached the station of the unobstructed.
He had come to course unimpededly in the dharma of irreversibility.
He had become established in the realm of the inconceivable.
He had come to universally perceive all three periods of time.
He had become possessed of the body that constantly and completely pervades all lands.
He had become possessed of the wisdom that constantly and clearly abides in a penetrating comprehension of all dharmas.
He had entirely completed all of the practices.
He had entirely ended all doubts, had acquired the body that no one is able to fathom.
He had acquired the wisdom that all bodhisattvas equally seek to acquire.
He had reached the far shore of perfection in the Buddha’s ultimate non-duality.
He had completely fulfilled the Tathāgata’s uniformly equal liberations.
And he had achieved realization of the Buddha’s ground of uniform equality that is devoid of both the middle and the extremes that reaches exhaustively throughout the Dharma realm and is equal in its extensiveness to the entire realm of empty space.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch 38

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Sons of the Buddha. The bodhisattva, mahāsattva, has ten kinds of things upon which he relies. What then are those ten? They are as follows:

He relies on the bodhi resolve, doing so through never forgetting or losing it.
He relies on the good spiritual guide, doing this through remaining so continuously together with him as if to be united.
He relies on roots of goodness, doing this through cultivating their accumulation and growth.
He relies on the pāramitās, doing so through cultivating them to complete perfection.
He relies on all dharmas, doing so through achieving ultimate transcendence of them all.
He relies on great vows, doing so through bringing about growth in realization of bodhi.
He relies on all of the practices, doing so through universally bringing them all to a state of complete development.
He relies on all of the bodhisattvas, doing so through development of wisdom identical to theirs.
He relies on offerings to all buddhas, doing so through maintaining purity in the mind of faith.
And he relies on all of the tathāgatas because they incessantly provide teachings to them in a way comparable to a kindly father.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

It is through envisioning all good spiritual guides as tathāgatas that the mahasattva realizes he is bound to receive the prediction of buddhahood.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch 38

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Great Bodhisattvas have ten kinds of wooded gardens.
Birth-and-death is a wooded garden for Bodhisattvas because they do not reject it.
Teaching beings is a wooded garden for Bodhisattvas because they do not tire of it.
Living in all ages is a wooded garden for Bodhisattvas because they embrace all great deeds.
Purifying the world is a wooded garden for Bodhisattvas because it is where they themselves sojourn.
All abodes of demons are a wooded garden for Bodhisattvas because they conquer them all.
Thinking about the teachings they hear is a wooded garden for Bodhisattvas because they examine them truthfully.
The six ways of transcendence, four means of integration, and thirty-seven aids to enlightenment are a wooded garden for Bodhisattvas because they succeed to the domain of the Buddha.
The ten powers, four fearlessnesses, eighteen unique qualities, and all other aspects of buddhahood are a wooded garden for Bodhisattvas because they do not think of anything else.
Manifesting the autonomous spiritual capacities of all enlightening beings is a wooded garden for Bodhisattvas because they use great spiritual powers to turn the wheel of teaching unceasingly and civilize beings.
Instantly showing all beings the attainment of true enlightenment in all places is a wooded garden of Bodhisattvas because the body of reality pervades all worlds in space.
Based on these, Bodhisattvas can achieve the buddhas' unexcelled peaceful, happy action, free from sorrow and affliction.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch 38

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Sons of the Buddha. The bodhisattva, mahāsattva, has ten kinds of generation of resolve. What then are those ten? They are as follows:
They generate this resolve: “I shall bring about the liberation of all beings.”
They generate this resolve: “I shall cause all beings to cut off their afflictions.”
They generate this resolve: “I shall cause all beings to melt away their habitual karmic propensities.”
They generate this resolve: “I shall bring about the severance of all doubts and delusions.”
They generate this resolve: “I shall bring about the elimination of all beings’ anguishing afflictions.”
They generate this resolve: “I shall bring about the elimination of all of the wretched destinies.”
They generate this resolve: “I shall reverently accord with all of the Tathāgatas.”
They generate this resolve: “I shall skillfully train in everything in which all bodhisattvas train.”
They generate this resolve: “I shall manifest all buddhas’ realization of right enlightenment on the tip of each and every hair.”
And they generate this resolve: “I shall beat the drum of the unsurpassably supreme Dharma in all worlds, thereby causing all beings in a manner adapted to their faculties and desires to then succeed in achieving awakened understanding.”
These are the ten. If bodhisattvas abide in these, then they acquire the Tathāgata’s unsurpassably supreme and great resolve by which they generate the ability to carry out their endeavors.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra

Post by Karma Tashi G. »

I would like to say something on ways of showing respect to the holy teachings of Buddha whether shastas, sutras, pali and so forth.

1. Never shelf such sacred objects where other books are above them.
2. Always touch to your head before reading in gratitude for the opportunity to encounter such teachings.
3. Never ever read for selfish purpose (I want to learn something). Always pray for benefit of all sentient beings before reading aloud or silent.
4. When you read, it is always best to settle into access state before reading. Never read with busy, distracted mind!
5. Read aloud making dedications to the welfare of all beings. Reading aloud benefits all beings more than silent, selfish reading.
6. Never put scriptures on floor be disrespectful, pick up scripture with both hands. Never use one hand! Always pass to others with two hands.
7. Be respectful in same way to other religion's sacred books! Ris med brings all home leaving brothers and sisters into one family!

more, but I have forgotten.

KTG
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch 38

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Although the word paramita is not used in this verse, it gives the standard 6 plus the standard 7th of 10 and then adds the 4 brahmaviharas. I noticed in this chapter several examples of those four being included with the standard six. Perhaps at one time the 10 paramitas included these four instead of 'skillful means' etc.?
Giving, moral virtue, patience, vigor, dhyāna, wisdom,
skillful means, kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity—
always cultivating these for a hundred thousand myriads of kalpas—
The Humane Ones should hear of that man’s meritorious qualities.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch 39

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Manjushri to Sudhana:
Drawing close to and making offerings to the good spiritual guide is the very first of the causes and conditions essential to the embodiment of all-knowledge. Therefore, in regard to this, you must not become weary or satisfied.
Or as Cleary puts it:
Attending and serving spiritual friends is the beginning, the logical course, for the accomplishment of omniscience. Therefore you should tirelessly attend spiritual benefactors."
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch. 39

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A king bodhisattva:
All of the beings in this land of mine are in every case free of any fear of me. Son of Good Family, if there be any beings at all that are poor, destitute, beset with difficulties, or otherwise in need, if they but come to me with a request for anything they might seek, I open up the storehouses and allow them to freely take whatever they will while also then telling them this:

You must not engage in any sort of evil, you must not visit any injury on any being, you must not bring forth any of the various wrong views, and you must not form attachments to anything.
You who are so poor and destitute—If you have anything at all of which you are in need, then you should come forth to my abode or to those places along the four avenues where all things will be completely and abundantly supplied to you in all its different varieties so that you may take for them as you will. Have no constraining doubts with regard to any of this.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra

Post by kirtu »

Vidyaraja wrote:Can anyone tell me what the influence of the Avatamsaka Sutra has been on Buddhist schools outside of Huayen/Kegon, Shingon, and Zen? In particular what is the position of the Avatamsaka Sutra in Tibetan Buddhism and has its vision been as influential in Tibetan Buddhism as the others spoken of?
The Avatamsaka Sutra is one of the most important sutras in Tibetan Buddhism generally. It is the source for two extremely important prayers taken directly from the sutra: Samantabhhadra's Prayer, called the King of Prayers and the Seven Limb Offering Prayer.

Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch. 39

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Guru is just the Tathāgata.
Guru is the cloud of all dharmas.
Guru is the treasury of all merit and virtue.
Guru is only rarely found.
Guru is the precious cause of the ten powers.
Guru is the torch of infinite wisdom.
Guru is the roots and sprouts of blessings and virtue.
Guru is the gateway to all wisdom.
Guru is the guiding master on the sea of wisdom.
Guru provides the essential aids along the path that reaches all wisdom.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra, ch 39

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

All bodhisattvas are such that it is difficult to ever succeed in seeing them, it is difficult to ever succeed in hearing them, and it is rare for them to come forth into the world. Among all beings, they are of the most supreme sort.
These are the white lotus blossoms among all people and serve as refuges for beings, serve as rescuers of beings, serve the entire world as a place of peace and security, serve the entire world as sources of intense radiance that reveals the peaceful, secure, and right path to the confused and deluded, serve as great guides who lead beings through the gates of the Buddha’s Dharma, and serve as great Dharma generals well able to preserve and protect the city of all-knowledge.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Avatamsaka Sutra

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

An interesting document that summarizes the gurus of Kumara Sudhana as he makes his pilgrimage in chapter 39:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/32987507/Avat ... lm-Chapter

Only five Bhikshu gurus; 33 males, 21 females et cetera....
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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