Reading or listening to a sutra and commentary online is such a wonderful way to learn sometimes! You can get the book of your choice by simply clicking the appropriate link. As soon as you open the book, you can choose a voice and have the reader read the content to you, or you can simply read it on your own. Please kindly share the links around so that they benefit more people and spread the dharma.
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In The Surangama (Shurangama) Sutra has been held in great esteem in the Mahayana Buddhist countries of East and Southeast Asia for over a thousand years. Its appeal lies in the broad scope of its teachings and in the depth and clarity of its prescriptions for contemplative practice. Its wealth of theoretical and practical instruction in the spiritual life often made it the first major text to be studied by newly ordained monks, particularly in the Chan School.
This is a question and answer format between the Buddha and Venerable Ananda and Pruna, we learn that living beings possess a universal mind. In order to fully comprehend this universal mind, individuals need to enter the door of cultivation. Different sages explain 25 different methods of cultivation. The Buddha discloses the durable and great Shurangama Samadhi, and based on this an ordinary human may advance throughout the stages of enlightenment and attain true liberation. Finally, the Buddha instructs his disciples on how to break through various states as one progresses in meditation. For those wishing to cross the great sea of birth and death, then this sutra is an essential guide.
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The Heart Sutra is familiar to Buddhists everywhere. What makes this volume special are the standless verses composed by the late Venerable Master Hsuan Hua to annotate each section of the sutra. The verses take their name from the line of the verse of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng that say, “The bright mirror has no stand.” These standless verses, filled with the flavor of Chan meditation, delve into the deeper meanings of the sutra. The commentary of the Master, which covers both the sutra text proper and the standless verses, is rich in classic definitions of terms and concepts and sprinkled with stories and illustrations that both appeal to the people and the world of today and tomorrow.
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The Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, or The Diamond Sutra, is a teaching given by the Buddha about the nature of reality and the path to Enlightenment. In this Sutra, the Buddha reveals to one of his Elder disciples Subhuti, along with an assembly of Arhats and Bodhisattvas, that all phenomena are dreamlike and illusory. The Buddha expounds the destiny of all living beings, providing a description of Nirvana as the final liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Completely perfect unexcelled awakening is a state of being that is the basis for practitioners who wish to enter into Nirvana. This condensed version of the Perfection of Wisdom contains profound verses that illuminate the true mind of cultivation, awakening and the final Nirvana. The book also includes Venerable Master Hsuan Hua’s commentaries and explanations on this Sutra.
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Are you aware of the ten possible realms of existence within the Buddha’s teachings?
Wouldn’t you like to know where you could possibly end up in your next life – granted that rebirth was indeed true?
If you’re like most people, you may not have given this idea even a single thought.
If any of this rings true, then perhaps One Thought Ten Dharma Realms may just be the book for you as it:
- Outlines the ten possible realms of existence for both sages and ordinary beings;
- Shows you why we are ultimately responsible for our lives and where we end up in the future;
- Plants a potential seed for awakening in one’s consciousness;
- Provides an explanation as to why you might be so easily angered or eager to fight with others;
- Details the realms easiest for one to fall down to and those that are hardest to transcend;
- Reveals the sole factor and reason behind why beings are reborn as animals;
- Explores the different and subtle levels of ignorance found between enlightened beings;
- Shares the one destination where constant worry and depression will take you;
- Exposes the pitfalls of the Heavens despite the extremely long lifespans and types of bliss to be experienced there; and
- Highlights how we can transform our surroundings so that wherever we are becomes a place for the Proper Dharma.
One Thought Ten Dharma Realms
- explores a series of poems composed by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua that details each of the ten possible realms of existence.
- Master Hua explores twelve poetic verses with a humor, wit, and candor to match that explains how we ascend and descend between these realms of existences depending on what we choose to do – or refrain from doing – within our lifetimes.
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Everyone should bring forth his or her true heart in reciting the Buddha’s name. For every time you recite the Buddha’s name, a ray of light fills up the universe, so that the energy of three thousand great thousand worlds will be auspicious and harmonious and the atmosphere of violence, defilement, and disaster will be dispelled and transformed.
“Bring forth your true mind in studying the Buddhadharma. Your every move and action, your every word and deed need to be true”
Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
