Request for Sutra References

[Indrajala]

I have a request from a monk which I hope people here can help me with:

Anyway, I was wondering if you could find me any Mahayana text on (1) familial love (parents to children, children to parents, etc) (2) kindness to animals and (3) strangers, i.e. hospitality. I know that there is at least one ‘Love of Parents Sutra’ in Chinese but I can’t remember if it’s a Chinese production rather than an Indian work.

Anyone have any good ideas about Mahayana sutras which deal with these themes?

[Inge]

I have a request from a monk which I hope people here can help me with:

Anyway, I was wondering if you could find me any Mahayana text on (1) familial love (parents to children, children to parents, etc) (2) kindness to animals and (3) strangers, i.e. hospitality. I know that there is at least one ‘Love of Parents Sutra’ in Chinese but I can’t remember if it’s a Chinese production rather than an Indian work.

Anyone have any good ideas about Mahayana sutras which deal with these themes?

The filial piety sutra comes to mind. I don't know if you'll consider it to be within those themes though.

http://cttbusa.org/filialpiety/filialpietysutra.htm

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutra_of_Filial_Piety it is composed in China.

[Kaji]

I have a request from a monk which I hope people here can help me with:

Anyway, I was wondering if you could find me any Mahayana text on (1) familial love (parents to children, children to parents, etc) (2) kindness to animals and (3) strangers, i.e. hospitality. I know that there is at least one ‘Love of Parents Sutra’ in Chinese but I can’t remember if it’s a Chinese production rather than an Indian work.

Anyone have any good ideas about Mahayana sutras which deal with these themes?

One more for filial piety (children to parent) - the Ullambana Sutra.

Many practitioners in Chinese Buddhism consider the Kṣitigarbha Sutra to be another one, attributed to the story of the bodhisattva's life as a Brahmin maiden:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ksitigarbh ... min_maiden

[Huifeng]

I have a request from a monk which I hope people here can help me with:

Anyway, I was wondering if you could find me any Mahayana text on (1) familial love (parents to children, children to parents, etc) (2) kindness to animals and (3) strangers, i.e. hospitality. I know that there is at least one ‘Love of Parents Sutra’ in Chinese but I can’t remember if it’s a Chinese production rather than an Indian work.

Anyone have any good ideas about Mahayana sutras which deal with these themes?

1. 父母恩重難報經 and parallels.
2. Any one of a number of Jatakas...
3. Likewise.
Some of Asoka's teachings may apply here, too.

As for "Mahayana text", I'd recommend taking a broader attitude, ie. that all texts / teachings are included within the Mahayana.

~~ Huifeng

[Aemilius]

I think this sutta in Itivuttaka is nice:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/iti/iti.4.100-112.than.html#iti-106

[Aemilius]

Buddhism A to Z has an article about hospitality in Buddhism and in indian culture generally. It is valuable and quotes something from the Mahayana too.
http://www.buddhisma2z.com/content.php?id=178
Same source has articles about animals and kindness to animals, which may be useful.

There is the Buddha Speaks the Sutra about Karma, which contains some horrible things, but there are several examples of behaviour toward animals in it.
http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/resources/downloads/sutras/01earlyTexts/Karma%20sutra.pdf

[viniketa]

Bhrama Net sutra covers all 3...

[Greg]

I have a request from a monk which I hope people here can help me with:

Anyway, I was wondering if you could find me any Mahayana text on (1) familial love (parents to children, children to parents, etc) (2) kindness to animals and (3) strangers, i.e. hospitality. I know that there is at least one ‘Love of Parents Sutra’ in Chinese but I can’t remember if it’s a Chinese production rather than an Indian work.

Anyone have any good ideas about Mahayana sutras which deal with these themes?

Re animals, big article and I haven't read it but probably worth a read: http://www.scribd.com/doc/47340845/Attitudes-Towards-Animals-in-Indian-Buddhism - probably will point you to some sutras

[Aemilius]

There are the Dhammapada verses 129, 130, 131, and 405, that praise noncruelty to animals, and prohibit cruelty to animals based on one's greed (for their meat). This topic next leads to the wornout issue of vegetarianism, to me it seems very clear that Dhammapada forbids all greed based consumption of and demand for meat. If you can eat meat without having a greed for it, it might be OK in some circumstances, otherwise not. At the same time Buddha knew that you can't enforce vegetarianism. You can't make a law of it, it wont work. This dilemma and this view is expressed in the Lankavatara sutra, therefore I see no reason to doubt its authenticity as an original teaching of Buddha Shakyamuni. It is very difficult because the habitual tendencies for meat eating are very strong, and they cause corresponding interpretations of Dharma to appear. I see the Lankavatara chapter as a more original text than all the corresponding Theravada texts that blatantly allow meat eating.
Then you have other Mahayana texts like Parinirvana sutra and the Avalokitesvara fasting practice texts that prohibit meat eating, and the Brahma net sutra, as has been said already. Buddha didn't a make a law of vegetarianism, he must have been aware of the consequences that would follow from such a policy, he says it in the Lankavatara after a lengthy praise of vegetarianism.

[Aemilius]

The filial piety sutra comes to mind. I don't know if you'll consider it to be within those themes though.
http://cttbusa.org/filialpiety/filialpietysutra.htm

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutra_of_Filial_Piety it is composed in China.

These very same ideas that are in the Filial Piety sutra are prominent in tibetan buddhism, especially in the tradition of bodhicitta precepts of Atisha. I found some of the wordings of Atisha's tradition also in a poem of Nagarjuna (that is in Christian Lindtner's work). There is no reason to doubt that a sutra like that has existed in indian Mahayana, and also in indian sravakayana, its ideas are found also in pali suttas. I don't understand these scholars whose main occupation is to doubt all mahayana works, and then declare them to be inauthentic. Apparently they get highly paid for it.

A sutta on Gratitude to One's Parents http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an02/an02.031.than.html