Bodhisattva practice in Ekottarika Agama

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Aemilius
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Bodhisattva practice in Ekottarika Agama

Post by Aemilius »

Buddha established the Bodhisattva Order according to Ekottarika Agama:
"The Bhagavān told him (Uruvilva Kashyapa), 'When a Tathāgata is present in the world, he should do five things. What are the five? First is to turn the Dharma wheel. Second is to explain the teaching to his father. Third is to explain the teaching to his mother. Fourth is to lead ordinary men to establish the bodhisattva practice. Fifth is to give the prediction [of becoming a Buddha] to a bodhisattva. These, Kāśyapa, are the five things a Tathāgata appears in the world to do.' "

Numerical Discourses, Chapter 24: Tall Flag, 5. Miraculous Transformations
https://canon.dharmapearls.net/01_agama ... _24_5.html
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)
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Leo Rivers
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Re: Bodhisattva practice in Ekottarika Agama

Post by Leo Rivers »

What a nice surprise. Thanks for sharing this. :thanks:

Leo

:namaste:

PS: Is BDK America considering adding this? They still have 2 volumes to go on the Madhyama Āgama (Middle-Length Discourses) which I believe Bhikkhu Analayo is doing.
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Javierfv1212
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Re: Bodhisattva practice in Ekottarika Agama

Post by Javierfv1212 »

There are other passages in the EA which discuss bodhisattvas too, I added some of these references to the wikipedia article on bodhisattva awhile back - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisatt ... y_Buddhism
Yet another important element of the bodhisattva doctrine, the idea of a prediction of someone's future Buddhahood, is found in another Chinese early Buddhist text, the Discourse on an Explanation about the Past (MĀ 66). In this discourse, a monk named Maitreya aspires to become a Buddha in the future and the Buddha then predicts that Maitreya will become a Buddha in the future.[32] Other discourses found in the Ekottarika-āgama present the "bodhisattva Maitreya" as an examplary figure (EĀ 20.6 and EĀ 42.6) and one sutra in this collection also discusses how the Buddha taught the bodhisattva path of the six perfections to Maitreya (EĀ 27.5).[33]
MA 66 has been translated and its found here - https://www.bdkamerica.org/product/the- ... -volume-i/

Not sure when BDK is going to translate EA soon, but Charles Patton's next project is to translate the EA. He is the translator in that Dharma pearls website you shared in the OP. I believe he is mostly done with Dirgha Agama now. He's a very capable independent translator and is doing a great service in translating the Agamas and publishing them online free of charge. More people should support his work if they are able.
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/
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Leo Rivers
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Re: Bodhisattva practice in Ekottarika Agama

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THANK YOU!

Those Maitreya references are of immediate interest.

AND So Maitreya is predicted as "just a monk" in the role one expects Ajita.

LEO
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Aemilius
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Re: Bodhisattva practice in Ekottarika Agama

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Ekottarika Agama, The Numerical Discourses
Chapter 24: Tall Flag; 6. The Three Fasting Days


1. Thus I have heard: One time, the Buddha was staying at Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park in Jeta’s Grove of Śrāvastī.

2. It was then that the Bhagavān addressed the monks, “During fifteen days of the month, there are three fasting days. What are the three? The eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth day.
.
.
.


40. “Monks, you should know, if good men and good women keep the eight fasting observances and want to be born to the four clans, they’ll also obtain that birth. Further, good men and good women who keep the eight fasting observances and want to become a lesser god of one direction, two directions, three directions, or a lesser god of four directions, they’ll also win their aspiration. Why is that? If they want to become a wheel-turning noble king, they’ll also be granted their wish. Why is that? Those who keep the precepts obtain their aspirations. If good men and good women want to seek the disciple, pratyeka-buddha, or Buddha vehicles, they will achieve their aspiration. Now, I became a Buddha as a result of keeping the precepts, meaning the five precepts and the ten virtues. There’s no aspiration that won’t be granted. Monks, if someone wants to achieve their path, they should train in this way.”

https://canon.dharmapearls.net/01_agama ... _24_6.html
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)
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DNS
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Re: Bodhisattva practice in Ekottarika Agama

Post by DNS »

Leo Rivers wrote: Mon Jul 11, 2022 6:23 am What a nice surprise. Thanks for sharing this. :thanks:
+1 Interesting, that is definitely some Mahayana teachings there in that Agama. And this confirms that the EBTs are not all Pali / Theravada.
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