APPENDIX

shiloh108" <bialick@usit.net> Date:  Wed Dec 19, 2001  4:37 pm Subject:  The Prayer of Maitreya

Buddha Shakyamuni taught the following prayer of Maitreya in the forty-first chapter of the Ratnakuta Sutra

The Aspiration Prayer of Maitreya

I prostrate to all the buddhas
And to the bodhisattvas,
Endowed with the divine eye of the sages,
And to the sravakas as well.

I prostrate to bodhicitta
Which counteracts [birth in] all lower realms,
Perfectly shows the path to the higher realms,
And leads to no ageing nor death.

Whatever negative actions I have done
Under the influence of an [afflicted] mind,
In the presence of the buddhas,
I fully acknowledge them [all].

By the accumulation of any merit I have created
Through the three kinds of activities,
May my seed of omniscience [grow]
And may I [attain] awakening that never ends.

Whatever offerings to the buddhas
[That can be found] in realms of the ten directions
Are known to the buddhas who rejoice in them;
I rejoice in [all] these [offerings].

I fully acknowledge all negative actions
[And] rejoice in all merit.
I prostrate to all the buddhas.
May I attain supreme primordial wisdom.

I earnestly request the bodhisattvas,
Who reside on the ten levels
In all the direction of the [worlds in the] ten directions,
To awaken into supreme enlightenment.

Once you have awakened into genuine enlightenment
And tamed the maras and their hordes,
May you turn the wheel of Dharma
So that all living beings may be healed.
With the sound of the great Dharma drum
May you free all sentient beings who are suffering.

Throughout inconceivable millions of kalpas
May you remain and teach the Dharma.
Mired in the swamp of desire,
Entangled in the strands of cyclic existence,
I am fettered by all that binds.
I supplicate those, supreme among humans, to look upon me.

The buddhas do not blame
Sentient [beings] who are flawed.
With a loving heart for all sentient beings,
May [the buddhas] free them from the ocean of cyclic existence.

Any perfect buddhas who are present,
Those who have passed away, and those yet to come,
May I train following in their way
And engage in enlightened conduct.

Having perfected the six paramitas,
May I liberate the six [families of] sentient beings.
Having actualized the six extraordinary faculties
May I reach unexcelled enlightenment.

[Future phenomena] are not born and [those past] will not occur;
[Present phenomena] have no [inherent] nature.
There is no [actual] location.
There is no perception; there are no [outer] things.
May I realize the dharma[dhatu] which is empty.

According to the buddhas, the great sages,
There are no [truly existent] sentient beings nor life force;
There is no [truly existent] individual [and] no nurturing [of a self].
May I realize the dharma[ta] where the self is not present.

An entity [such as] grasping onto a self and "mine"
Is not present within any [of the paramitas]
To benefit all sentient beings,
May I give with generosity free of avarice.

Since things do not exist as entities,
May my wealth appear spontaneously.
Since all things totally disintegrate,
May I perfect the paramita of generosity.

Endowed with a flawless ethics [that is guided by] rules,
And an ethics that is completely pure,
With an ethics free of an arrogant mind
May I perfect the paramita of ethics.

Just as the elements of earth, water, fire, and wind,
[Bodhisattvas] do not remain [caught by mental constructs];
[By attaining] patience, anger never arises,
May I perfect the paramita of patience.

Through [the power of] previous perseverance
Having become stable, enthusiastic, and free of laziness,
And through a strong body and mind,
May I perfect the paramita of perseverance.

Through the samadhi [where all] is illusion-like,
Through the samadhi of the hero's stride,
And through the samadhi that is like a vajra,
May I perfect the paramita of meditative concentration.

Through actualizing the three gates of full liberation,
The equal nature of the three times,
And the three types of knowing as well,
May I perfect the paramita of prajna.

Through persevering in a bodhisattva's [practice],
[May I attain] the [kaya] praised by all the buddhas,
The luminous [kaya], and the kaya blazing with majesty.
[Thus] may my intention be fulfilled.

May [I be like] the famed Maitreya,
Who engaged in such a practice,
Perfected the paramitas,
And perfectly abides at the zenith of the tenth level.

Excerpt from the translation by Michele Martin with the assistance of Karl Brunnholzl and Chryssoula Zerbini under the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche

"shiloh108" <bialick@usit.net> Date:  Fri Dec 21, 2001  5:00 pm Subject:  new images

seasons greetings

check out this collection of maitreya images: thangkas, statues, a roerich and even a rare relic from the Kabul museum!

http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/uttaratantra/lst

"shiloh108" <bialick@usit.net> Date:  Wed Jan 2, 2002  10:48 am Subject:  Dolpopa


    This advice by the Omniscient Dolpopa should be kept as the essential point in our hearts: "If buddhahood will be reached merely as a result of having heard the word 'Buddha-nature,' what need to mention what will happen from actualizing it by means of faith and devotion, and meditating upon it? Therefore, compassionate experts should teach it even though they may lose their lives, and so forth, and those who strive for liberation should seek it out and listen to it even though they must cross through a great pit of fire."

-Jamgön Kongtrul


RELEVANT LINKS

Asanga's Retreat

A painting of asanga and vasubandhu-

Here’s an excellent page on Buddha Maitreya

Vasubandhu on the three natures

The Philosophy of Mind Only by Peter Della Santina

The Doctrine of Buddha Nature is Impeccably Buddhist by Sallie B. King

Alaya-vijnana: Walpola Rahula on  'warehouse consciousness'

HHDL on Buddha Nature talk given at Bodh-gaya

Maitreya   a beautiful rupa

Maitreya in Tushita Image of Maitreya Buddha

Sky Dragon: a short teaching by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso

Buddha Nature by Dilgo Khyentse

The D
octrine of Buddha Nature is Impeccably Buddhist
Adobe file, 19 pages by Sally B. King

The Significance of Tathagatagarbha 
by Heng-Ching Shih

We are All gZhan-tong-pas

"In his commentary on BCA 9, Mi-pham had argued— pace Rje Tsong-kha-pa (1357–1419) and his Dge-lugs-pa successors—that Śāntideva’s refutation was intended only with reference to ultimate truth ( paramārthasatya ,don dam bden pa ) and did not preclude recourse to the concept of reflexivity in relative terms, even on the part of an adherent of Prāsaṅgika-Mādhyamika. In so arguing, he was contradicting the Dge-lugs-pa tenet that one of the eight special features of the Prāsaṅgika system is its critique of the concept of reflexive awareness in both ultimate and relative terms."

 -Matthew Kapstein looks at Dzogchen and reflexive awareness

Taranatha on Shentong

Suchness and the Tathagata are of the same stuff which is called buddha-nature. The meaning of Tathagatagarbha, Sugatagarbha, and the essence of the Buddha is the same. That abides equally in the Buddha, in all phenomena, and in all sentient beings. In sentient beings, buddha-nature is present as a seed. In the Buddhas, buddha-nature is completely actualized. The ultimate Buddha is the same as the seed in the mindstream of sentient beings. Therefore, all sentient beings have buddha-nature.



Hwa-shang's vs. Kamalashila

Hwa  'shang,  along   with   the  Ch'an masters, insists  that this apprehension does not mean the acquisition  of something  new;  rather, it means only the realization of something that is always present. The problem is that the aspirant to bodhi is not aware of this because  of his ignorance and folly, especially demonstrated in the ratiocinative process of conceptualization. In fact, Hwa 'shang  stresses  that  all the buddhas  who were disengaged  from every thought  of what is graspable and ungraspable were "without  thought  and without reflection, as s clear mirror"

-Joseph F. Roccasalvo

 Interview with Khenpo Tsultrim

The true nature according Dzogchen

Vasubandhu on the Trisvabhava

If anything appears, it is imagined.
The way it appears is as duality.
What is the consequence of its non-existence?
The fact of non-duality!
-Vasubhandu

What is Denied in the statement -External Objects Do Not Exist?  by Dan Lusthaus

In Defense of Yogacara by Alex Wayman

Buddha Nature and the concept of Person
by Sallie B. King


KHENCHEN THRANGU
Nine Examples of Buddha Nature  by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Buddha's Metaphors

OUTLINE

CONTENTS


back to VAJRA FAMILY