Buddhist Scriptures Read online

  Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Hopkins, Kalachakra Tantra: Rite of Initiation, 2nd rev. edn. (London: Wisdom Publications, 1989)

  Davidson, Ronald M., Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002)

  De Groot, Jan J. M., Sectarianism and Religious Persecution in China (Taipei: Literature House Limited, 1963)

  Dharmasena Thera, Jewels of the Doctrine: Stories of the Saddharma Ratnāvaliya, trans. Ranjini Obeyesekere (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1991)

  Donner, Neal and Daniel B. Stevenson, trans., The Great Calming and Contemplation: A Study and Annotated Translation of the First Chapter of Chih-i’s Mo-ho chih-kuan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1993)

  Dutt, Sukumar, Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India: Their History and their Contribution to Indian Culture (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1962)

  Emmerick, R. E., The Sūtra of Golden Light: Being a Translation of the Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra (London: Luzac & Company Ltd, 1970)

  Faure, Bernard, The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998)

  Faure, Bernard, The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991)

  Franco, Eli, Dharmakīrti on Compassion and Rebirth (Wien: Arbeitskreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien, 1997)

  Gombrich, Richard F., Precept and Practice: Traditional Buddhism in the Rural Highlands of Ceylon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971)

  Gómez, Luis O., Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light: Sanskrit and Chinese Versions of the Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtras (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1996)

  Gómez, Luis O. and Jonathan A. Silk (eds.), The Great Vehicle: Three Mahāyāna Buddhist Texts (Ann Arbor, MI: Collegiate Institute for the Study of Buddhist Literature and the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, 1989)

  Gregory, Peter, Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991)

  Guenther, Herbert V., The Life and Teachings of Nāropa (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963)

  Hakeda, Yoshito S., Kūkai: Major Works (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972)

  Harrison, Paul, The Saṃādhi of Direct Encounter with the Buddhas of the Present: An Annotated English Translation of the Tibetan Translation of the Pratyupanna-Buddha-Saṃmukhāvasthita-Samādhi-Sūtra (Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1990)

  Heine, Steven and Dale S. Wright (eds.), The Kōan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)

  Hirakawa Akira, A History of Indian Buddhism: From Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1990)

  Hirota, Dennis, trans., The Collected Works of Shinran, 2 vols. (Kyoto, Japan: Jodo shinshu Hongwanji-ha, 1997)

  Hōnen, Hōnen’s Senchakushū: Passages on the Selection of the Nembetsu in the Original Vow (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998)

  Hopkins, Jeffrey, Meditation on Emptiness (London: Wisdom Publications, 1983)

  Horner, Isabel B., Women Under Primitive Buddhism: Lay Women and Alms Women (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1930)

  Horner, Isabel B., trans., Milinda’s Questions, 2 vols. (London: Luzac & Company Ltd, 1964)

  Horner, Isabel B., trans., The Book of Discipline (VinayaPiṭaka), vol. 4 (Mahāvagga) (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1996)

  Hurvitz, Leon, Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma (The Lotus Sūtra) (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976)

  Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé, Myriad Worlds: Buddhist Cosmology in Abhidharma, Kālacakra, and Dzog-chen (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1995)

  Jayawickrama, N. A., trans., The Story of Gotama Buddha: The Nidāna-kathā of the Jātakaṭṭhakathā (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1990)

  Kalupahana, David J., Mūlamadhyamakakārikā of Nāgārjuna (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1986)

  Kieschnick, John, The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1997)

  Kitagawa, Joseph and Mark D. Cummings, Buddhism and Asian History (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1989)

  Kloppenberg, Ria, The Paccekabuddha: A Buddhist Ascetic (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974)

  Lamotte, Étienne, trans., The Teaching of Vimalakirti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa) (London: Pali Text Society, 1976)

  Lamotte, Étienne, History of Indian Buddhism (Louvain: Peeters Press, 1988)

  Lindtner, Christian, Nagarjuniana: Studies in the Writings and Philosophy of Nāgārjuna (Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1982)

  Lobsang Gyatso, Memoirs of a Tibetan Lama, ed. and trans. by Gareth Sparham (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1998)

  Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (ed.), Buddhist Hermeneutics (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1988)

  Lopez, Jr., Donald S., The Heart Sūtra Explained: Indian and Tibetan Commentaries (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1988)

  Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (ed.), Buddhism in Practice (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995)

  Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (ed.), Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism Under Colonialism (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1995)

  Lopez, Jr., Donald S., Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sūtra (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996)

  Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (ed.), Religions of China in Practice (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996)

  Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (ed.), Religions of Tibet in Practice (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997)

  Lopez, Jr., Donald S., The Story of Buddhism: A Concise Guide to its History and Teachings (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001)

  Lopez, Jr., Donald S., A Modern Buddhist Bible: Essential Readings from East and West (Boston: Beacon Press, 2002)

  Mayer, Robert, A Scripture of the Ancient Tantra Collection: The Phur-pa bcu-gnyis (Oxford: Kiscadale Publications, 1996)

  McRae, John R., The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch’an Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1986)

  McRae, John R., Zen Evangelist: Shenhui (684–758), the Sudden Teaching, and the Southern School of Chinese Chan Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2004)

  Mizuno, Kōgen, Buddhist Sūtras: Origin, Development, Transmission (Tokyo: Kōsei Publishing Company, 1982)

  Ñāṇamoli Bhikku, trans., The Minor Readings (Khuddakapāṭha), Pali Text Society Translation Series, No. 32 (London: Luzac & Company Ltd, 1960)

  Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu and Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans., The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995)

  Narada Maha Thera, The Buddha and His Teachings (Colombo, Sri Lanka: Lever Brothers Cultural Conservation Trust, 1987)

  Nattier, Jan, Once Upon a Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of Decline (Berkeley, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 1991)

  Nattier, Jan, A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path According to the Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛccha) (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003)

  Nguyen, Cuong Tu, Zen in Medieval Vietnam (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1997)

  Norman, Kenneth Roy, trans., The Elders’ Verses, 2 vols., Pali Text Society Translation Series Nos. 38, 40 (London: Luzac and Company Ltd, 1969–71)

  Norman, Kenneth Roy, Pāli Literature: Including the Canonical Literature in Prakrit and Sanskrit of all the Hīnayāna Schools of Buddhism (Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1983)

  Norman, Kenneth Roy, trans., The Group of Discourses (Sutta-nipāta). 2 vols., Pali Text Society Translation Series No. 45 (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1992)

  Nyanaponika Thera and Hellmuth Hecker, Great Disciples of the Buddha: Their Lives, Their Works, Their Legacy (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1997)

  Pas, Julian F., Visions of Sukhāvatī: Shan-tao’s Commentary on the Kuan Wu-liang
shou-fo ching (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1995)

  Patrul Rinpoche, The Words of My Perfect Teacher (San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994)

  Payne, Richard (ed.), Re-Visioning ‘Kamakura’ Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998)

  Reader, Ian and George J. Tanabe, Jr., Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1998)

  Robinson, Richard H. and Willard L. Johnson, The Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction, 4th edn. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1997)

  Sadakata, Akira, Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origins (Tokyo: Kōsei Publishing Company, 1997)

  Salomon, Richard, Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999)

  Śāntideva, The Bodhicaryāvatāra, trans. Kate Crosby and Andrew Stilton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)

  Schober, Juliane (ed.), Sacred Biography and Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1997)

  Schopen, Gregory, Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1997)

  Snellgrove, D. L., The Hevajra Tantra: A Critical Study (London: Oxford University Press, 1959)

  Snellgrove, David, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and their Tibetan Successors (Boston: Shambhala, 1987)

  Stone, Jacqueline, Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1999)

  Strong, John S., The Legend of King Aśoka: A Study and Translation of the Aśokāvadāna (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983)

  Strong, John S. (ed.), The Experience of Buddhism: Sources and Interpretations (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1995)

  Strong, John S. (ed.), The Buddha: A Short Biography (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2001)

  Swearer, Donald K. and Sommai Premchit, The Legend of Queen Cāma: Bodhiraṃsi’s Cāmadevīvaṃsa, A Translation and Commentary (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998)

  Tanabe, Jr., George J. (ed.), Religions of Japan in Practice (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999)

  Teiser, Stephen F., The Ghost Festival in Medieval China (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988)

  Teiser, Stephen F., The Scripture of the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1994)

  Tiyavanich, Kamala, Forest Recollections: Wandering Monks in Twentieth-century Thailand (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1997)

  Tsong-ka-pa, Tantra in Tibet: The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1977)

  Tucker, Mary Evelyn and Duncan Nyuken Williams, Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997)

  Voice of the Buddha, The Beauty of Compassion: The Lalitavistara Sūtra (Berkeley, CA: Dharma Publishing, 1983)

  Walshe, Maurice, trans., Thus Have I Heard: The Long Discourses of the Buddha (London: Wisdom Publications, 1987)

  Ward, Tim, What the Buddha Never Taught (Berkeley, CA: First Celestial Arts Printing, 1993)

  Warren, Henry Clarke, Buddhism in Translations (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1953)

  Welch, Holmes, The Practice of Chinese Buddhism: 1900–1950 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967)

  White, David Gordon (ed.), Tantra in Practice (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000)

  Wilson, Liz, Charming Cadavers: Horrific Figurations of the Feminine in Indian Buddhist Hagiographic Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996)

  Wisdom of the Buddha: The Saṁdhinirmocana Mahāyāna Sūtra, trans. John Powers (Berkeley, CA: Wisdom Publications, 1995)

  Yü, Chün-fang, The Renewal of Buddhism in China: Chu-hung and the Late Ming Synthesis (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981)

  This list provides additional background for the selections that follow.

  THE BUDDHIST UNIVERSE

  1

  THE REALMS OF REBIRTH

  The doctrines of karma and rebirth are fundamental to Buddhist theory and practice. Karma is the law of the cause and effect of actions, according to which virtuous actions create pleasure in the future and non-virtuous actions create pain. It is a natural law, accounting for all the happiness and suffering in the world. The beings of the universe have been reborn without beginning in the six realms of gods, demigods, humans, animals, ghosts, and hell beings. (These six realms are sometimes collapsed into five, as in the text below, with demigods included in the realm of ghosts.) The actions of these beings create not only their individual experiences of pleasure and pain, but also their bodies and minds, and even the domains in which they dwell. The physical universe is thus the product of the individual and collective actions of the inhabitants of the universe. Buddhist practice is directed largely at performing deeds that will bring happiness in the future, avoiding deeds that will bring pain, and counteracting the future effects of misdeeds done in the past. The ultimate goal is freedom from the bonds of karma and the universe it has forged.

  Because of this causal link between past deeds and present circumstances, descriptions of the Buddhist cosmos are often also ethical treatises, identifying which human actions result in rebirth in a particular realm, and exhorting their readers to practise virtue and eschew sin. The text translated here is an excellent example of this genre. It begins at the bottom with the hells. Buddhist texts often describe a system of eight hot hells, eight cold hells, four neighbouring or secondary hells, and various trifling hells (the hot hells and the neighbouring hells are set forth here), providing elaborate details of the gruesome sufferings that the denizens undergo as a result of their sinful actions in the past.

  Next is the section on animals, followed by the section on ‘ghosts’. This section includes descriptions not only of petas (Sanskrit preta, a term that literally means ‘departed’ and is usually translated as ‘ghost’ or ‘hungry ghost’) but a wide variety of generally malevolent beings. Modern English is relatively impoverished in its demonology, leaving only words like ‘demon’, and ‘ogre’ to render terms that are much more evocative in the original. For example, a rather ghoulish denizen of charnal grounds is the kumbhaṇḍa, which literally means ‘pot testicle’; so named because its testicles are the size of water pots, creating difficulty when walking but apparently providing a convenient place to sit. Also included here are the demigods (asuras), a class of jealous deities that sometimes warrants its own category among the six places of rebirth. They are jealous of the riches of the gods and wage war against them, only to be defeated.

  The section on humans describes our various pleasures and sufferings, and identifies what deeds were done in the past to cause them. Those who find themselves in happy circumstances in this life are experiencing the result of their past virtues. It is also the Buddhist view, however, that illness, physical or mental disability, as well as the female gender, are the consequences of negative deeds done in the past. The text concludes with a description of the Buddhist heavens, the most pleasant realms within the cycle of rebirth.

  The work translated below is entitled Pañcagatidīpanī (Illumination of the Five Realms of Existence), a work in Pali of unknown date and authorship, but perhaps written in Cambodia in the fourteenth century.

  ILLUMINATION OF THE FIVE REALMS OF EXISTENCE

  Let there be homage:

  Homage to the Virtuous One, conqueror of what must be conquered, resplendent with right knowledge, always working for the good of others, the teacher of the three worlds! (1)

  ‘Whatever good or bad deed is done by themselves with body and so on, people reap the fruit of it; no other creator is found.’ (2)

  With this thought, and displaying compassion, the Ins
tructor, the one teacher of the three worlds, spoke for people’s benefit about the fruit of each deed. (3)

  Having heard what was said by the Completely Awakened One, I shall now speak briefly about deeds good and bad to be done or to be eschewed by you. (4)

  Naraka Section The Eight Great Narakas [Hells]

  There are the Sañjīva, Kāḷasutta, Saṅghāta and also the Roruva, the Mahāroruva, Tapa, Mahātapa and Avīci [hells]. (5)

  Those men who, because of greed, delusion, fear or anger, kill living creatures, or having reared them, slaughter [them] – they surely go to Sañjīva; (6)

  Though killed and killed again for many thousands of years, because they revive there [again and again] it has the name of ‘Sañjīva’ – the Revival Hell. (7)

  Men who show enmity to their friends, including mother, father and dear ones, who are slanderers and liars – they go to Kāḷasutta; (8)

  Since they are split like wood with burning saws along [a mark made by] black thread, so it is thought of as ‘Kāḷasutta’ – the Black Thread Hell. (9)

  Those men who kill goats, rams, jackals and so on, hares, rats, deer and boar and other living beings – they go to Saṅghāta; (10)

  Since, crushed together, they are slain there in a total slaughter, therefore this niraya [hell] is considered to be named ‘Saṅghāta’ – the Crushing Hell. (11)

  Those men who cause torment of body and mind to creatures and who are cheats go to Roruva; (12)

  There they give forth terrible howls, constantly consumed by fierce fire, so that is thought of as ‘Roruva’ – the Hell of Those Screaming Aloud. (13)

  Those who take the property of devas [gods], brahmans and [their] gurus, by causing suffering to them even, go to Mahāroruva, as well as those who steal what was entrusted to them; (14)

  The awfulness of the fire-torment, and also the greatness of the howling [there gives rise to the name] ‘Great Roruva’; its greatness [must be heard] with respect to Roruva [which it surpasses]. (15)

  Whoever burns creatures in conflagrations such as forest fires, that person, wailing, is consumed by fire in Tāpana in blazing flames; (16)