Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

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Zhen Li
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Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by Zhen Li »

Forgive my ignorance on this matter but does anyone know precisely which chapter and verse Berzin gets this from?

http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/ar ... er_01.html

I tried searching his own translation, but they seem to be a bit different. Is there a standard of some sort?

I am also aware that the King of Prayers from the end of the Guhyasamaja Sutra has the same Sevenfold offering, but obviously Santideva's Sanskrit is a little easier to work with.
:anjali:
yegyal
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by yegyal »

In the BCA there are actually eight limbs and they are discussed in chapter 2 and 3 as the preliminaries to the actual bodhisattva vow, which if memory serves me right is found in verses 23 and 24 of the 3rd chapter. So you should be able to find all the verses scattered intermittently starting at the beginning of the 2nd chapter up until about 2/3's way through the 3rd.
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by Nilasarasvati »

Berzins version does seem to be a selection of verses rather than their standard order. In the edition of Bodhicaryavatara I have, the seven branch prayer happens in a sort of meandering way--

Verse 2 of Berzin corresponds with what I have listed as 2.2.

Verse 3 corresponds with my 2.28 and 2.29

His Verse 4 seems like 3.47

5 is 3.5

6 is 3.6

7 is 3.7

I hope these match up with whatever your copy is. Mine are from Pema Chodron's commentary No Time to Lose, but as far as I can tell, the verse numbers must be from the standard Kangyur translation Padmakara translation group made.
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by yegyal »

1= 2.24
2= 2.22
3= 2.28-29
4= 3.1
5= 3.5
6= 3.6
7= 3.7

That should be right.
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by Zhen Li »

Thanks, seems about right, but rather
5= 3.4
6= 3.5
7= 3.6
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by Nilasarasvati »

:anjali:
Glad this worked out. I've always wondered why the seven branch prayer in there was so disjointed. It's interrupted by long meditations on death and impermanence, etc. It might just be a later rearrangement by typographers, or perhaps the seven branch prayer as we know it was organized later than Shantideva?? I have no idea.
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by yegyal »

Only according to Berzine's translation, because he adds the short two line verse onto the end of verse three. The way I was taught this text, is to treat this as a separate verse, which makes those verses 5-7 rather than 4-6.
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by yegyal »

Nilasarasvati wrote::anjali:
Glad this worked out. I've always wondered why the seven branch prayer in there was so disjointed. It's interrupted by long meditations on death and impermanence, etc. It might just be a later rearrangement by typographers, or perhaps the seven branch prayer as we know it was organized later than Shantideva?? I have no idea.
As I alluded to above, there are eight branches in the BCA, with the addition of refuge, and the order is different than what became standardized in the Tibetan tradition. So in the BCA it goes offering , homage, refuge, confession, rejoicing, requesting to turn the wheel, requesting to remain, and dedication, rather than homage, offering, confession and so forth. So it's not really that these are disjointed, they're just in a different order and some sections take up more verses than the others.
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by Zhen Li »

yegyal wrote:Only according to Berzine's translation, because he adds the short two line verse onto the end of verse three. The way I was taught this text, is to treat this as a separate verse, which makes those verses 5-7 rather than 4-6.
Ah I see. I'm not familiar with that two line verse, it must be from the Tibetan because the Sanskrit corresponds to Berzin's numbering.
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by Aemilius »

Ben Yuan wrote:Forgive my ignorance on this matter but does anyone know precisely which chapter and verse Berzin gets this from?

http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/ar ... er_01.html

I tried searching his own translation, but they seem to be a bit different. Is there a standard of some sort?

I am also aware that the King of Prayers from the end of the Guhyasamaja Sutra has the same Sevenfold offering, but obviously Santideva's Sanskrit is a little easier to work with.
:anjali:
What is called King of Prayers to my knowledege is from the Avatamsaka sutra, or from the Gandhavyuha sutra, or it is also an independent sutra called Samantabhadra Pranidhana Sutra, or part of it, the chinese version is longer than the commonly recited King fo Prayers.
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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Re: Seven Limb Prayer adapted from Bodhicaryavatara

Post by Zhen Li »

Aemilius wrote:
Ben Yuan wrote:Forgive my ignorance on this matter but does anyone know precisely which chapter and verse Berzin gets this from?

http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/ar ... er_01.html

I tried searching his own translation, but they seem to be a bit different. Is there a standard of some sort?

I am also aware that the King of Prayers from the end of the Guhyasamaja Sutra has the same Sevenfold offering, but obviously Santideva's Sanskrit is a little easier to work with.
:anjali:
What is called King of Prayers to my knowledege is from the Avatamsaka sutra, or from the Gandhavyuha sutra, or it is also an independent sutra called Samantabhadra Pranidhana Sutra, or part of it, the chinese version is longer than the commonly recited King fo Prayers.
Sorry, yes, I meant Gandhavyuha.
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