Favorite sutra?

Discuss and learn about the traditional Mahayana scriptures, without assuming that any one school ‘owns’ the only correct interpretation.
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Ngawang Drolma
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Favorite sutra?

Post by Ngawang Drolma »

Do you have an all-time favorite Mahayana sutra? I think mine is the Heart Sutra.
Anyone else?

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Drolma

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sraddha
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Re: Favorite sutra?

Post by sraddha »

I can't make up my mind -- I love all of them..., I can't stop reading them! :tongue:

Each sutra teaches something so valuable that adds to one's depth and breadth of understanding the Dharma!

Each sutra is like a facet of a diamond. It's like asking which facet of a diamond do you like better! All the facets make the diamond absolutely dazzling! :smile:
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DNS
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Re: Favorite sutra?

Post by DNS »

Ngawang Drolma wrote:Do you have an all-time favorite Mahayana sutra? I think mine is the Heart Sutra.
Anyone else?
Me too. This was asked in another forum (I forget which one) and I chose the Heart Sutra and then someone wrote that Theravadins tend to choose the Heart Sutra -- so I guess I chose correctly. :tongue:

It is a great teaching on anicca and anatta and written, composed so poetically too.
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malalu
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Re: Favorite sutra?

Post by malalu »

Whereas I have not read a large amount of sutra's in their entirety, one that I have read and recited numerous times is the Sutra of the past vows of Earthstore Bodhisattva (Ksitigharba Sutra). There is great merit from reciting this sutra, especially on behalf of family members who have passed away.

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The past is but a present memory or condition, the future but a present projection, and the present itself vanishes before it can be grasped.- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
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kirtu
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Re: Favorite sutra?

Post by kirtu »

I've been so lazy about reading sutras. When I was a kid I dismissed many sutras (more properly many parts of sutras) as embellishments of one sort of another (you know those pesky parts that can be dismissed as "cultural embellishments"). Still, I would often find sutras in different places (sometimes even just walking down the street!).

Nonetheless I have often been partial to the Brahma Net Sutra. I'm trying to make headway on the Avatamsaka Sutra. More recently I am drawn to the Tse Do Sutra, one of the Amitayus sutras. When I was a Zen student I memorized the Heart Sutra and still frequently recite it.

I also am very fond of the Pali cannon. In many ways my favorite sutta there is the Ant Hill Sutta although many other suttas are dear to me.

Kirt
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Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

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Annapurna
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Re: Favorite sutra?

Post by Annapurna »

Oh, I don't know them all....but ad hoc I would have to say the Angulimala story , but I read it in the Accesstoinsight.

When I read the Angulimala story, and came to: "Come, Bikkhu", I was so overwhelmed I burst into tears.
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Huseng
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Re: Favorite sutra?

Post by Huseng »

I like the Vimalakirti Sutra. It seems to contain elements of humour.

Thereupon, the venerable Sariputra had this thought: "There is not even a single chair in this house. Where are these disciples and bodhisattvas going to sit?"

The Licchavi Vimalakirti read the thought of the venerable Sariputra and said, "Reverend Sariputra, did you come here for the sake of the Dharma? Or did you come here for the sake of a chair?"

Sariputra replied, "I came for the sake of the Dharma, not for the sake of a chair."
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