Dharma Gems

Discuss and learn about the traditional Mahayana scriptures, without assuming that any one school ‘owns’ the only correct interpretation.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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1. Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their
chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an
impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering
follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.

2. Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their
chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with a pure
mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows
him like his never-departing shadow.

3. “He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered
me, he robbed me.” Those who harbor such
thoughts do not still their hatred.

4. “He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered
me, he robbed me.” Those who do not harbor
such thoughts still their hatred.

5. Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this
world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased.
This is a law eternal.

6. There are those who do not realize that one
day we all must die. But those who do realize this
settle their quarrels.
Dhammapada, Buddharakkhita translation
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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11. Those who mistake the unessential to be
essential and the essential to be unessential,
dwelling in wrong thoughts, never arrive at the essential.

12. Those who know the essential to be essential
and the unessential to be unessential, dwelling
in right thoughts, do arrive at the essential.

13. Just as rain breaks through an ill-thatched
house, so passion penetrates an undeveloped mind.

14. Just as rain does not break through a well-thatched
house, so passion never penetrates a
well-developed mind.
Dhammapada
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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17. The evil-doer suffers here and hereafter; he
suffers in both the worlds. The thought, “Evil
have I done,” torments him, and he suffers even
more when gone to realms of woe.

18. The doer of good delights here and hereafter;
he delights in both the worlds. The thought,
“Good have I done,” delights him, and he delights
even more when gone to realms of bliss.

19. Much though he recites the sacred texts, but
acts not accordingly, that heedless man is like a
cowherd who only counts the cows of others—he
does not partake of the blessings of the holy life.

20. Little though he recites the sacred texts, but
puts the Teaching into practice, forsaking lust,
hatred, and delusion, with true wisdom and
emancipated mind, clinging to nothing of this or
any other world—he indeed partakes of the
blessings of a holy life.
Dhammapada
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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Within the large Nagarjuna Treatise on the Ten Grounds that Kalavinka Press just published are seven chapters that focus on meditation on Buddha. Here is a snip describing an audience that attends a Buddha teaching:
They [yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas]
abide in the midst of an audience adorned by the presence of the
eight kinds of great āryas, surrounded by a great assembly of humans
and devas. When in attendance there, the dragons and golden-winged
garuḍa birds all listen together to the teaching of Dharma, remaining
free of any thoughts of mutual hostility.

Everyone in the entire assembly is imbued with a deeply sincere
sense of shame and dread of blame as, with reverential affection for
the Buddha, they all listen single-mindedly to the discourse of the
Buddha, accept and uphold it, reflect upon it, and practice in accordance
with what is taught. Because their minds are focused as they
listen and because their thoughts are pure, they are able to block any
interference by the hindrances. Everyone in the great assembly gazes
insatiably up at the Tathāgata, with all the hairs raised on their bodies,
with their eyes filled with tears, with their minds afire with intensity,
or with hearts filled with great joy.

Wherever people have become like this, one knows that their
minds have become purified. They remain there motionless and silent,
serenely still, and as if having entered dhyāna absorption. Their minds
are free of either love or hatred and remain undistracted by any extraneous
matters. They have thoughts of great compassion by which
they feel kindness and pity for beings, wishing to rescue them all.
Their minds do not descend into flattery or deviousness, but rather
have become utterly quiescent and pure as they distinguish what is
good from what is bad. They have an immensely strong determination
from which they neither fall away or shrink back and they do not
regard themselves as superior or others as inferior.
Page 349-50
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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Although a buddha may have already passed into nirvāṇa, afterward,
he is still freely ever able in all those worlds to remain for however
long he wishes, ceaselessly implementing his spiritual powers.
Nagarjuna
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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I respectfully pay reverence to the boundless community
Of past, future, and present-era Buddhas,
The possessors of unshakable wisdom as vast as space,
The saviors of worlds, the greatly compassionate Bhagavāns.

There exists among the mahāvaipulya teachings the most superior
and sublime of dharmas. Drawn from the mātṛkā treasury and cultivated
by the Bodhisattvas and the Mahāsattvas, it is:

1. The exhortation to delight in cultivating and accumulating
[the bases for realization of] the unsurpassed bodhi.
By resort to it, one is able to influence other beings:
2. To generate the profound and vast resolve;
3. To establish the vows to carry out the most definite form of
adornment;
4. To relinquish lives and wealth in subduing covetousness;
5. To cultivate the five groups of moral precepts, teaching and
leading forth those transgressing against the prohibitions;
6. To practice the ultimate patience by which they control and
subdue the hindrance of hatred;
7. To generate the heroic vigor through which they establish
and stabilize beings;
8. To accumulate the dhyāna absorptions for the sake of
knowing the minds of the many varieties of beings;
9. To cultivate wisdom, destroying and eliminating ignorance;
10. To enter the gateway of according with reality, thus abandoning
all forms of attachment;
11. To propagate and explain the extremely profound practices
of emptiness and signlessness;
12. And to proclaim praises of the associated merit, thus preventing
the lineage of the Buddhas from being cut off.
Vasubandhu's Treatise on the Bodhisattva Vow
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Mirror
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Re: Dharma Gems

Post by Mirror »

All sufferings, obstacles, misfortunes and undesirable things come from the self-cherishing thought, from cherishing the I.

- Thubten Zopa Rinpoche

Reciting the Buddha's name every day in a recitation session, we are planting the seeds of Buddhahood. Each recitation sows a seed; ten recitations sow ten seeds. If you recite a million times a day, you plant that many seeds, and one day they will sprout. Just recite; don't worry about having a scattered mind.

When the water-clearing pearl is tossed in muddy water, the muddy water becomes clear.
When the Buddha's name enters a confused mind, the confused mind attains to the Buddha.

Reciting the Buddha's name is like throwing a pearl into muddy water so that the muddy water becomes clear. This clear-water pearl can purify even the filthiest water. Recitation of the Buddha's name is just like this pearl. Who can count the false thoughts which fill our minds and succeed one another endlessly like waves on the sea? When the Buddha's name enters a confused mind, the confused mind becomes the Buddha.

- Hsuan Hua

‌If you maintain your recitation with undivided attention morning and night without stopping, you may recite to the point that you don’t know that you are walking when you walk, you don’t feel thirsty when you are thirsty, and you don’t experience hunger when you are hungry, you don’t know you are cold in freezing weather, and you don’t feel the warmth when you are warm. People and dharmas are empty, and you and Amita Buddha become one. “Amita Buddha is I and I am Amita Buddha.” The two cannot be separated. Recite single-mindedly and sincerely without false thoughts. Pay no attention to worldly concerns. When you don’t know the time and don’t know the day, you may arrive at a miraculous state.

[...] If you can recite with one unconfused heart, you may arrive at the state where the ten thousand dharmas are empty. You may then let go of everything and obtain independence and purity. So the Dharma-door of Buddha recitation is ineffably wonderful.

When you have recited enough to have gained some skill, not only will you not feel thirsty, but you will feel as if you were drinking sweet dew. Don’t become attached, however, for if you do, your greedy thoughts for sweet dew will cause for the fine state to vanish. You may also recite until you see light, the Buddhas, or lotus flowers. But don’t be greedy for these states, either, or in your delight, they will disappear.

[...] Day and night we recite the Buddha’s name and with each sound we think of Amitabha. The phrase Namo means “homage.” To whom are we paying homage? Ultimately, we pay homage to ourselves! On the day when you entirely forget yourself, the Amitabha of your own nature will appear.
All living beings possess the Buddha-nature. The Land of Ultimate Bliss is merely a manifestation of the mind. Your own heart is the Pure Land and your nature, Amitabha. The absence of false thoughts is the Pure Land, and freedom from affliction and the destruction of ignorance are Amitabha.

- Hsuan Hua



NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA
Memento mori
Remember that you die
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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Well chosen Gems Mirror :twothumbsup: :bow:
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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namo gurave
Mañjuśrī, you who are the definitive meaning,
The dharmatā nature of mind, untainted from time without beginning,
You continuously cut through the web of afflicted existence
With the ever sharp sword of reasoning that leads to certainty.


Here I will present the all‑pervading sugatagarbha, which alone is the essential point of
the teachings of all the victorious buddhas of the three times, their innermost wisdom, as
well as the single most important point of sūtras and tantras. Since it is an extremely
profound subject, the Buddha said that even for the mightiest of the great lords of the ten
bhūmis, it is as difficult to know as it is to perceive a form at night. There is no need to
mention how difficult it is for ordinary beings to understand.
Our teacher the Sugata sometimes spoke clearly of the sugatagarbha'ʹs essence (ngo bo) by
teaching emptiness. On other occasions he gave clarifications on its nature (rang bzhin) by
explaining its primordially present qualities such as the ten strengths. We must
understand that these two aspects do not contradict or exclude each other, but are one and
the same (zung 'ʹjug).
Lion's Roar, Buddha Nature in a Nutshell
By Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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24. Ever grows the glory of him who is energetic,
mindful and pure in conduct, discerning and
self-controlled, righteous and heedful.
25. By effort and heedfulness, discipline and self-mastery,
let the wise one make for himself an
island which no flood can overwhelm.
26. The foolish and ignorant indulge in
heedlessness, but the wise one keeps his
heedfulness as his best treasure.
27. Do not give way to heedlessness. Do not
indulge in sensual pleasures. Only the heedful
and meditative attain great happiness.
Dhammapada
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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The ocean, home of creatures fierce,
Could fail to send its tides on time.
But when the time has come to tame
Their offspring, buddhas never fail.
Hundred Deeds Sutra
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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With a kind, compassionate regard, a regard full of joy and giving,
Guan Shr Yin rescues all beings, transforming great-thousand world systems.
Gathering in those with and without prior affinities,
He helps them to end suffering, find joy, and return to the source.
Master Hua verse on line of Great Compassion mantra.
Last edited by Nicholas Weeks on Sat Mar 14, 2020 5:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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Our body, mouth and mind form a wheel that is this mighty dharani.
As the many-petaled lotus blossom just begins to open,
White, green, red, and purple light shines on us all,
Disciples of the Buddha have affinities to join the sages' celebrations.
Master Hua verse on line of Great Compassion mantra.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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Holding a bowl, Contemplating Sounds saves us mortals.
Prescribing medicine to cure our ills, he nurtures the three thousand worlds.
Bowing in homage, we earnestly entreat him to answer our calls.
In various ways he fulfills all our heart's desires.
Master Hua verse on line of Great Compassion mantra.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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Enlightening sentient beings plants causes for sagehood.
When we reach the unconditioned Way, we tally with the true mind.
As we benefit others and ourselves, our merit becomes perfected.
Thus, together we enter the prajna doors to liberation.
Master Hua
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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In a future lifetime, upon my enlightenment, I vow to aid all sentient beings who suffer from any form of malady. I vow to relieve those whose bodies are deformed, who lack their complete sense organs, who lack beauty and appeal, or who are simple-minded or foolishly stubborn. Those who are blind, deaf, raspy-voiced, or mute, who suffer with palsied or crippled limbs, who are hunchbacks or lepers or insane, or who encounter any other form of infirmity; all these shall, after hearing my name, gain optimum health and intuitive mastery of all knowledge and skills. They shall find themselves in complete possession of all sense organs and no longer experience the suffering of illness.

In a future lifetime, upon my enlightenment, if there are any sentient beings who are tormented by illness, who have no hope of release or respite from their suffering, who are without doctors or medicine, or who have no family members or other caregivers to assist them, who are homeless or impoverished, or are suffering in any way, I vow that once the sound of my name has penetrated their ears, all illness shall cease, and they shall find serene contentment in body and mind. They shall be surrounded by family and caregivers and all that they have previously lacked shall become abundantly available to them, even unto the actualization of Buddhahood.
Two vows of Medicine Buddha
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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Beginningless, endless, neither ancient nor modern.
Swallow the void and the Dharma Realm in a single gulp.
Our own tranquil nature is not inside or outside.
So it is! So it is! The causes are just like this.
Master Hua
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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Not only are Bodhisattvas mindful of the Buddhas and their Dharmas, they are mindful of the Sangha, too. They always recollect all the sagely Sangha members, the great Bodhisattvas of the ten directions and the three periods of time, and so they are very happy.

If we cultivators of the Way could at all times, be mindful of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, when could we have time to be jealous or obstructive? We would never have the time to spend looking at others’ faults. We would always be seeing out own faults, returning the light and illumining inwards.
Master Hua
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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The Books mention three classes of Bodhisattas namely:
1. Those in whom is a superabundance of Confidence (Saddhādhika).
2. Those in whom is a superabundance of Energy (Viriyadhika).
3. Those in whom is a superabundance of Wisdom (Paññādhika).

Those Bodhisattas who are distinguished for wisdom are generally lacking in Confidence, the energetic
ones in Wisdom, and the devotional one in Energy. Seldom, if ever, are these three characteristics
harmoniously combined in one person. Buddha Gotama may be instanced as one belonging to the third
group. Owing to his profound wisdom He completed his probationary period in the minimum time limit.
Bhikkhu Narada Thero (d. 1983)
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Dharma Gems

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I should now dwell within the
dharmas of the ten good karmic deeds and should also explain
all good dharmas for beings' sakes, revealing for them the bases
of right practice. And why should I proceed in this manner? It is
because, if one were to fail to personally practice goodness himself
and yet nonetheless expected that he could cause others to
dwell in goodness simply by explaining such dharmas for their
sakes, it would be impossible to succeed in this.
Ten Grounds Sutra
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