An English version of the Summary of the Perfections (Pāramitāsamāsa)

General forum on the teachings of all schools of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Topics specific to one school are best posted in the appropriate sub-forum.
Post Reply
User avatar
Javierfv1212
Posts: 309
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:39 am
Location: South Florida

An English version of the Summary of the Perfections (Pāramitāsamāsa)

Post by Javierfv1212 »

A few months ago I was looking for an English translation of Āryaśūra's Pāramitāsamāsa (Summary of the Perfections) and noticed that there is no English version available (the only one which exists is out of print and not to be found in the depths of the interwebs). I did find translations into Spanish and Italian however. I decided it would be a fun project to use these along with the Sanskrit (which is on GRETIL) to make an English version and put it on my website. I have finally completed this and am excited to share it!

The Summary of the Perfections (Pāramitāsamāsa) is a lesser-known work on the six perfections by an Indian Buddhist Mahayana author. In some ways, it is similar to other Mahayana works such as Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland and Shantideva’s Entering the Bodhi Way. This poem explains the six perfections from the śūnyavāda (“view of emptiness”) or madhyamaka school.

This is obviously an amateur translation, mainly based on secondary sources (and so it should not be seen as being very scholarly or exact). But I hope I've captured the Mahayana spirit of the original.

https://sites.google.com/view/abhayajan ... am%C4%81sa
It is quite impossible to find the Buddha anywhere other than in one's own mind.
A person who is ignorant of this may seek externally,
but how is it possible to find oneself through seeking anywhere other than in oneself?
Someone who seeks their own nature externally is like a fool who, giving a performance in the middle of a crowd, forgets who he is and then seeks everywhere else to find himself.
— Padmasambhava

Visit my site: https://sites.google.com/view/abhayajana/
User avatar
Zhen Li
Posts: 2749
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:15 am
Location: Tokyo
Contact:

Re: An English version of the Summary of the Perfections (Pāramitāsamāsa)

Post by Zhen Li »

Javierfv1212 wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 3:27 pm A few months ago I was looking for an English translation of Āryaśūra's Pāramitāsamāsa (Summary of the Perfections) and noticed that there is no English version available (the only one which exists is out of print and not to be found in the depths of the interwebs). I did find translations into Spanish and Italian however. I decided it would be a fun project to use these along with the Sanskrit (which is on GRETIL) to make an English version and put it on my website. I have finally completed this and am excited to share it!

The Summary of the Perfections (Pāramitāsamāsa) is a lesser-known work on the six perfections by an Indian Buddhist Mahayana author. In some ways, it is similar to other Mahayana works such as Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland and Shantideva’s Entering the Bodhi Way. This poem explains the six perfections from the śūnyavāda (“view of emptiness”) or madhyamaka school.

This is obviously an amateur translation, mainly based on secondary sources (and so it should not be seen as being very scholarly or exact). But I hope I've captured the Mahayana spirit of the original.

https://sites.google.com/view/abhayajan ... am%C4%81sa
Hi Javier, I look forward to seeing it. I think you must have put a Google Drive PDF file onto the Google Sites, but it says the viewer needs to request access to view the file. I think if you edit the sharing settings of the file on Google Drive, you can make it so that the file will be visible to all viewers on Google Sites.
User avatar
Javierfv1212
Posts: 309
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:39 am
Location: South Florida

Re: An English version of the Summary of the Perfections (Pāramitāsamāsa)

Post by Javierfv1212 »

Ah, thanks for the heads up. I believe this is fixed now.
It is quite impossible to find the Buddha anywhere other than in one's own mind.
A person who is ignorant of this may seek externally,
but how is it possible to find oneself through seeking anywhere other than in oneself?
Someone who seeks their own nature externally is like a fool who, giving a performance in the middle of a crowd, forgets who he is and then seeks everywhere else to find himself.
— Padmasambhava

Visit my site: https://sites.google.com/view/abhayajana/
User avatar
Zhen Li
Posts: 2749
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:15 am
Location: Tokyo
Contact:

Re: An English version of the Summary of the Perfections (Pāramitāsamāsa)

Post by Zhen Li »

Javierfv1212 wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 12:03 am Ah, thanks for the heads up. I believe this is fixed now.
It works, very nice work!
Post Reply

Return to “Mahāyāna Buddhism”