How does interpretation of Sutra work?

Discuss and learn about the traditional Mahayana scriptures, without assuming that any one school ‘owns’ the only correct interpretation.
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Padmist
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How does interpretation of Sutra work?

Post by Padmist »

To avoid confusion and disagreements, how does sutra interpretation works? Is there some kind of authority or ancient commentary records on how these sutras are supposed to be interpretated?
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Aemilius
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Re: How does interpretation of Sutra work?

Post by Aemilius »

There are words and the meaning of words. Suppose there is a tradition of swimming, and there are books and explanations of swimming, but swimming itself is quite rare, or non-existent according to most people and according to certain venerated traditions. Still there are manuals of how to swim, but how could a person with no personal experience of swimming know what the words in these texts mean? The problem is also that swimming carries an enormous status and authority, thus the real swimmers have to be kept secret, and instead non-swimmer are elevated into a position of authority. And other weird phenomena take place...
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)
muni
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Re: How does interpretation of Sutra work?

Post by muni »

All scriptures by awaken Nature, Buddha are given to help to "come to see" what is not in the texts themselves to find. So as well for sutras. Okay this is how I should say, while Aemilius says it more clear.
Scriptures, written or spoken are like a variety of shining lamps to awaken. Or they are opening doors, windows in different ways.

It could help when Master/Buddha is expressing the meaning from inside, or better said from insight-compassion, is then going through the words and make the definite meaning more accessible, when our minds are open to receive.

https://www.padmasambhava.org/2017/11/t ... reliances/
_/\_
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: How does interpretation of Sutra work?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

There is actually a system which has been around for centuries, that uses four criteria to determine whether a teaching is provisional, to be taken figuratively or literally, and so on. Unfortunately, I don’t recall what those four are. Dzongsar Khyentse Norbu Rinpoche explains them during a talk that you can find on YouTube. Sorry, I don’t remember which one! Maybe one of the scholars here can assist.

Generally, however, one has to look at the context in which the teaching was given. Probably 99% of what the Buddha taught was as an answer to a question somebody asked him. So, you can’t just point to a line from a Sutra and say, “Buddha says...!” Because if two people whose roofs leaked during the rainy season asked the Buddha for advice, he might tell one person to buy a bucket and the other person to buy a hammer. If you take the answer out of context, then you might think that the Buddha says a hammer is the same as a bucket. So, context is very important.

Another thing is to consider consistency. For example, one of the foundations of what the Buddha teaches is that nowhere in phenomena can a “self” be located. So then, if you find within a Sutra he is talking about beings, or says somebody does an action “by himself” or whatever, that doesn’t mean that suddenly he is contradicting what was said before.

One other thing whose importance is becoming more obvious these days is translation, and the use of English language terms to refer to Indic languages concepts, that kind-of-but-don’t-really express the full meaning. You have to make sure that the translation you are reading is accurate. A lot of translations written even as recently as 50 years ago are very clumsy and sometimes misleading.

An example of this is ‘emptiness’ for ‘sunyata’. Sunyata really suggests a lack of isolated existence. But a table doesn’t just pop up out of nowhere. It is the product of many interconnected events and conditions. It is made of many parts, none of which contain essence of “tableness.” But in the English language, we have expressions such as, “I feel empty inside” which refers to lack of feeling, or depression. So, people read ‘emptiness’ and they think it means that you meditate to achieve some kind of mental or emotional numbness. So, it is important to really understand the terminology, and to rely on good translations.

This is why it is good to rely on qualified and learned teachers as well as to study on your own. It’s not that their personal interpretation is the best. It’s because they too have studied under qualified teachers.
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
SilenceMonkey
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Re: How does interpretation of Sutra work?

Post by SilenceMonkey »

Padmist wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 10:56 am To avoid confusion and disagreements...
Each tradition has their own corpus of commentaries written by masters in their tradition. Among the Tibetan traditions, it seems rare for monks and nuns in the shedras to be taught from texts of different traditions. (Although some schools may have Rime leanings and source from various Rime masters.)

To avoid confusion and disagreements... well, they debate.
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