Prayers or Sutras for practioners

[Dave The Seeker]

Could someone please help me here.
I understand that many of the Prayers and Sutras are for Ordained Monks or Nuns only.
Is there a link, or a book that could help me find some for the layman, in English please


Kindest wishes, Dave

[kirtu]

Could someone please help me here.
I understand that many of the Prayers and Sutras are for Ordained Monks or Nuns only.
Is there a link, or a book that could help me find some for the layman, in English please


Kindest wishes, Dave

In Mahayana Buddhism basically prayers and sutras are generally not divided between laymen and the ordained.

So for some sutras: you could check out the old "Buddhist Bible" by Goddard from 1923, which is a kind of anthology of Buddhist sutras, Thich Naht Hahn's anthology of sutras depicting the life of Shakyamuni Buddha "Old Path White Clouds", Lopez's anthology "Buddhist Scriptures", The Three Heap Sutra (which is a purification practice), the Heart Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra (parts of which can be found online), the Lotus Sutra, the Golden Light Sutra, The Diamond Sutra, the Amitabha Sutras*, the Brahma Net Sutra, various editions of the Prajnaparamita Sutras (Conze's The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdon and Lex Hixon Mother of the Buddhas: Meditations on the Prajnaparamita Sutras), here's a link to several sutras online and here: Buddhist Scriptures in Various Languages. We also may have several links in the various Buddhist resources topics scattered through several forums.

Prayers: Atisha's Refuge Prayer, Shakyamuni Buddha Sadhana, Medicine Buddha Sadhana, Amitabha Sadhana, Tara Sadhana (all of these are from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition), Samantabhadra's Prayer (emphasized in the TBist tradition but taken from the Gandavyuha Sutra, itself a chapter in the Avatamsaka Sutra) and numerous Zen tradtion prayers.

Then there are numerous sites online with sutra collections, often from the Chinese Buddhist community:
Master Hsuan Hsa's City of 10,000 Buddhas online sutra collection
Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition sutras

I'll try to go back and provide links for these. But basically since 1992 or so Buddhist online resources just exploded. Buddhanet was one of the first (and they largely started Buddhist ebooks).

Then there are all the Theravadin sutta resources online like Access to Insight.

Kirt

*There are three main Amitabha sutras ( the Smaller Amitabha Sutra, ...) and then there is a Tibetan version of an Amitabha Sutra.

[Dave The Seeker]

Thanks a lot Kirt, I was not aware, as I'm still new and learning, that these weren't divided between the ordained and lay people.
I'll be checking out the links.

Kindest wishes, Dave

[dakini_boi]

Here's another great resource for sutras, as well as commentaries:

http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&cid=87

[Dave The Seeker]

Thank you also dakini_boi.
The links you both have provided have given me a great amount of insight.

A quote from HHDL

It is very important to understand that the core teachings of the Theravada tradition embodied in the Pali scriptures are the foundation of the Buddha's teachings. Beginning with these teachings, one can then draw on the insights contained in the detailed explanations of the Sanskrit Mahayana tradition. Finally, integrating techniques and perspectives from the Vajrayana texts can further enhance one's understanding. But without a foundation in the core teachings embodied in the Pali tradition, simply proclaiming oneself a follower of the Mahayana is meaningless.

I can at least now know more of begining of the Mahayana Tradition.


Kindest wishes, Dave

[Virgo]

I understand that many of the Prayers and Sutras are for Ordained Monks or Nuns only.

Kindest wishes, Dave

This is incorrect. You can pick up any Mahayana Sutra and recite it, worship it, recite the prayers etc.

Kevin

[Mr. G]

I can at least now know more of begining of the Mahayana Tradition.

Kindest wishes, Dave

Hi Dave,

I would also recommend reading Paul William's book "Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition". There may be one floating on Scribd. It's a fairly comprehensive introductory book that covers Theravada to Mahayana to Vajrayana. Quite a nice read you may enjoy. After that you can dive into his other book, "Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations"

[Dave The Seeker]

Thank you very much Mr. G.
I will definetly find that book.

Virgo, thank you as well, but Kirt also informed me in the second post.

Kindest wishes, Dave