Sutra of the secret Essential Method of Dhyana

Discuss and learn about the traditional Mahayana scriptures, without assuming that any one school ‘owns’ the only correct interpretation.
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Matticus
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Sutra of the secret Essential Method of Dhyana

Post by Matticus »

Does anyone know a location of this Sutra? It's the translated name from Chinese or Sanskrit. I don't know the Original title of the Sutra. It was mentioned in the White Skeleton Visualization meditation segment of Bavo Lievens' book, "The Mind Experiment". He mentions that it contains more than 30 plus variations of this meditation. Any help finding a translation of this Sutra would be INCREDIBLY helpful!
Jnana
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Re: Sutra of the secret Essential Method of Dhyana

Post by Jnana »

It's probably T 15 No. 613 Chan miyaofa jing. This text is only extant in Chinese, and AFAIK it hasn't been translated into English. See A Study of the Meditation Methods in the DESM and Other Early Chinese Texts by Ven. Dr. Yuanci.

* N.B. This paper first lists the text as T 15 No. 603, which is incorrect, but later corrects this to T 15 No. 613.
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pueraeternus
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Re: Sutra of the secret Essential Method of Dhyana

Post by pueraeternus »

Jnana wrote:It's probably T 15 No. 613 Chan miyaofa jing. This text is only extant in Chinese, and AFAIK it hasn't been translated into English. See A Study of the Meditation Methods in the DESM and Other Early Chinese Texts by Ven. Dr. Yuanci.

* N.B. This paper first lists the text as T 15 No. 603, which is incorrect, but later corrects this to T 15 No. 613.
Excellent paper. Thanks Jnana!
"Men must want to do things out of their own innermost drives. People, not commercial organizations or chains of command, are what make great civilizations work. Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness - they cannot work and their civilization collapses."
- A letter to CHOAM, attributed to the Preacher
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Leo Rivers
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Re: Sutra of the secret Essential Method of Dhyana

Post by Leo Rivers »

This is an amazing essay! Out of the blue from you - Thank you.
:guns:

It bridges the Pre-Mahayana Yogacara and the Yogacarabhumi of The Classic Third Turning of the Wheel.

I fixed the mis-quote in Adobe Acrobat if you want a corrected pdf.
:thanks:
Matticus
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Re: Sutra of the secret Essential Method of Dhyana

Post by Matticus »

Jnana wrote:It's probably T 15 No. 613 Chan miyaofa jing. This text is only extant in Chinese, and AFAIK it hasn't been translated into English. See A Study of the Meditation Methods in the DESM and Other Early Chinese Texts by Ven. Dr. Yuanci.

* N.B. This paper first lists the text as T 15 No. 603, which is incorrect, but later corrects this to T 15 No. 613.
Wow my friend, this is EXACTLY the sort of response I was hoping for! Well, maybe not EXACTLY, haha. I was crossing many fingers for info on an easy to obtain, English translation of the sutra. This is still more than wonderful, thank you! EDIT: Afterthought, does anyone know how to get ahold of a Chinese copy???
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Astus
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Re: Sutra of the secret Essential Method of Dhyana

Post by Astus »

Here is the Chinese on CBETA: 禪祕要法經
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
Matticus
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Re: Sutra of the secret Essential Method of Dhyana

Post by Matticus »

Astus wrote:Here is the Chinese on CBETA: 禪祕要法經
Wow, this is fantastic, thanks again you guys. I don't understand a word of it, but the first leg of the journey is complete! Time to start bothering people I know that can read Chinese..... Or learn it myelf??!! DUN DUN DUN
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Astus
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Re: Sutra of the secret Essential Method of Dhyana

Post by Astus »

Matticus wrote:Wow, this is fantastic, thanks again you guys. I don't understand a word of it, but the first leg of the journey is complete! Time to start bothering people I know that can read Chinese..... Or learn it myelf??!! DUN DUN DUN
Just make sure that those people can read classic Chinese with Buddhist terminology.
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
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