mahayana-sutras

"Lord of Mysteries, how is one to know one’s own mind."

"World-honored One, just as, for example,"

"Lord of Mysteries, next there is a special practice."

"Those who accept, recite, explain, and copy it, and practice according to the teaching, in whichever land they may be, in a place where the sutra abides—either in a garden, a forest, under a tree, in a monk’s chamber, in a layman’s house, in a palace, on a mountain, in a valley, or in the wilderness—in all of these places they should erect and pay homage to a monument. Why is this? Because you should know that these places are the terraces of enlightenment where all the buddhas have attained highest, complete enlightenment, where all the buddhas have turned the wheel of the Dharma, and where all the buddhas entered parinirvāṇa."

"I deeply respect you. I dare not belittle you. Why is this? Because all of you practice the bodhisattva path, and will become buddhas."

"If sons or daughters of a virtuous family preserve this Lotus Sutra, recite, explain, and copy it, they will attain eight hundred qualities of the eye, twelve hundred qualities of the ear, eight hundred qualities of the nose, twelve hundred qualities of the tongue, eight hundred qualities of the body, and twelve hundred qualities of the mind. These qualities will adorn the six sense faculties, purifying them all. Through the natural bodily eyes given them by their parents, which are thus purified, those sons and daughters of a virtuous family will see the mountains, forests, rivers, and oceans both within and beyond the great manifold cosmos, all the way from the lowest hell up as far as the highest summit of the universe. They will also see all the sentient beings there, perceive and know the causes and consequences of their deeds and of their states of birth."

"This sutra is profound and difficult to encounter even in thousands of myriads of koṭis of kalpas."

"The world is impermanent like splashes of water, bubbles, a mirage! The feeling of repulsion for it should quickly awaken in you!"

"When the Buddha said this all the lands of the great manifold cosmos in the sahā world quaked and the earth split. From out of this crevice there simultaneously appeared incalculable thousands of myriads of koṭis of bodhisattva mahāsattvas. All of these bodhisattvas had golden bodies endowed with the thirty-two marks and radiating immeasurable rays of light. They had all previously been living in the space under the earth of the sahā world. Having heard the sound of Śākyamuni’s teaching, all of these bodhisattvas emerged from below."

"At that time there was a sage called Asita who came to the great king and said: "I possess a subtle and true Dharma that is rare in the world. If you are able to practice it, I will explain it to you!""

"If I become a buddha, after my parinirvāṇa if the Lotus Sutra is being taught anywhere in all the lands of the ten directions, my stupa shall appear there so that this sutra may be heard, and in order that I may bear testimony to it and praise it with the word “Splendid!”"

"If, in the presence of the Buddha any beings such as these hear a single verse or line of the Lotus Sutra, and thereupon have even one thought of rejoicing in it, I will bestow upon them my prediction that they will attain highest, complete enlightenment."

"The intimate friend who gave him the jewel meets this poor man later and bitterly reproaches him, showing him the jewel that had been sewn into his garment. The poor man, seeing this jewel, rejoices greatly, and with this rich treasure he enjoys to his satisfaction the desires of the five senses. We are exactly like this. For a long time, the Bhagavat has led and inspired us through his compassion, and planted in us the highest aspiration. Because we were ignorant, we neither noticed nor knew; we were satisfied with attaining only a small measure of nirvana and did not seek for the rest."

"What you have attained is not the ultimate goal. You must call forth great efforts in order to obtain the omniscience of a buddha. If you attain omniscience and the qualities of the Buddha, such things as the ten powers, and become endowed with the thirty-two marks, then you will have attained the ultimate goal."

"O Kāśyapa! Suppose in the great manifold cosmos there are mountains, rivers, valleys, and plains where many kinds of grasses, trees, shrubs, and herbs of different names and colors grow. Dense clouds thoroughly cover this great manifold cosmos and rain falls at the same time everywhere, moistening the small, medium, and large roots, stems, branches, and leaves of all the grasses, trees, shrubs, and herbs. The sizes of all the trees depend on whether their capacities are superior, mediocre, or inferior; and the rain falling from the same cloud makes them grow according to the nature of their various seeds. Flowers blossom in the same place and fruit ripens in the same place moistened by the same rain, yet there are differences among these grasses and trees. O Kāśyapa! You should know that the Tathāgata is exactly like this. He appears in this world like a great overspreading cloud. His great voice resounds over the devas, humans, and asuras in the world, just as the great cloud thoroughly covers the great manifold cosmos."

"I am the father of the world, the best of the sages. All sentient beings are my children. They are deeply attached to worldly pleasures and have no wisdom. There is no peace in the triple world, just like in the burning house, which is full of various suffering and which is extremely terrifying. There are always the sufferings of birth, old age, illness, and death. Such fires as these burn endlessly. The Tathāgata, who has already left the burning house of the triple world, lives in tranquility and dwells at ease in the forest. Now this triple world is my property and the sentient beings in it are my children. There are now many dangers here and I am the only one who can protect them."

"To those who are modest and pure, and seek the path of the buddhas, I will praise extensively the path of the single vehicle."

"I lead and inspire the bodhisattvas only with the path of the single vehicle; I am here without disciples."

"For immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of incalculable kalpas, I practiced this Dharma of highest, complete enlightenment, which is hard to attain. I now entrust it to you. You should preserve and recite it. You should spread this teaching extensively. You should let all the sentient beings hear and know it."

"Those who preserve this sutra will before long attain the Dharma, the hidden essence, which was attained by the buddhas seated upon the terrace of enlightenment."

"You have forever cast away delusive ideas, reflections, and thoughts—"

"Śāriputra,"

"Because there is nothing to attain, bodhisattvas rely on Prajñāpāramitā, and their minds have no obstructions."

"Like someone counting other's treasures Without half a coin of his own: So is the one who is learned Who doesn't practice the teaching."

"When one grasps at non-dharmas, then that is immediate attachment to a self, a person, a being, and a life. Therefore, you should neither grasp at dharmas, nor should you grasp at non-dharmas. Regarding this principle, the Tathāgata frequently says, ‘You bhikṣus should know that the dharma I speak is like a raft. Even dharmas should be relinquished, so how much more so the non-dharmas?’"

"All conditioned dharmas"

"Subhūti, if someone says that the Tathāgata comes, goes, sits, or lies down, then this person does not understand the meaning of my teachings. Why? The Tathāgata is one who neither comes nor goes anywhere, and for this reason is called the Tathāgata."

"If one perceives me in forms,"

"Subhūti, do not say that it occurs to the Tathāgata, ‘I have a spoken Dharma.’ Do not compose this thought. Why? If someone says ‘The Tathāgata has a spoken Dharma,’ then this is like slandering the Buddha, because my teachings have not been understood. Subhūti, one who speaks the Dharma is unable to speak any dharma, and it is thus called speaking the Dharma."

"The perfected body of form that the Tathāgata speaks of is itself not a perfected body of form, and is thus called the perfected body of form."

"There is no fixed dharma of Anuttarā Samyaksaṃbodhi [Supreme Enlightenment], nor is there a fixed dharma the Tathāgata can speak. Why? The Tathāgata’s exposition of the Dharma [teaching] can never be grasped or spoken, being neither dharma nor non-dharma [being neither a fixed rule nor licence]. What is it, then? All the noble ones are distinguished by the unconditioned Dharma."

"Subhūti, if a bodhisattva has a notion of a self, a notion of a person, a notion of a being, or a notion of a life, he is not a bodhisattva."

"The light of wisdom burns brightly in order to shed light on the vacuity of indulgence."

"Any bodhisattvas whose thoughts are at present concentrated and directed toward the buddhas of the ten quarters, will, if they possess mental concentration, achieve all the exalted practices of a bodhisattva. What is mental concentration? Through compliance with the conditions for reflection on the Buddha, having one’s thoughts directed toward the Buddha; having thoughts that are not disturbed, thereby obtaining wisdom; not giving up energy; joining together with good friends in the practice of emptiness; eliminating sleepiness; not congregating; avoiding bad friends; drawing close to good friends; having energy that is not disorderly; in eating, knowing when one has had enough; not craving robes; not begrudging one’s own life; being solitary and avoiding one’s relatives; keeping away from one’s home village; practicing equanimity, mastering the attitudes of compassion and rejoicing, and the practice of circumspection."

"All of you Bhikshus, after my Nirvana, you should revere and honor the Pratimoksha. It is like finding a light in darkness, or like a poor person obtaining a treasure. You should know that it is your great teacher, and is not different from my actual presence in the world."

"Those who maintain pure discipline must not engage in commerce and trade. They must not own fields and houses, or keep slaves or domestic animals. They must stay far away from all forms of wealth and property, as if avoiding a fiery pit. They must not cut down plants or till the soil. They must not engage in compounding medicines or doing prognostication and augury. They must not engage in gazing at the constellations or plotting the movements [of the stars] through the sky."

"If you have wisdom, you will be without greed or attachment. Always examine yourselves, and do not allow yourselves to have faults, for it is in this way that you will be able to obtain liberation within my Dharma."

"One with true wisdom is a secure boat for crossing over the ocean of old age, sickness, and death. He is also like a great bright lamp in the darkness of ignorance, a good medicine for all kinds of illnesses , and a sharp axe for cutting down the tree of afflictions."

"You should increasingly benefit yourselves by acquiring hearing, contemplating , and cultivating wisdom. Even though a person only has flesh eyes, if he has illuminating wisdom, he has clear understanding."

"If you have all sorts of idle discussions, your mind will be scattered, and even though you have left the home life, you will not attain liberation... you should quickly renounce and distance yourself from having a scattered mind and idle discussions. If you wish to be one who attains the bliss of still Extinction, you only need to be skillfully eliminate the peril of idle discussions."

"If you have doubt about suffering and the other Four Truths, you may quickly ask about them now. Do not harbor doubts and fail to clear them up."

"When those in this assembly who have not yet done what should be done, see the Buddha cross over to Extinction, they will certainly feel sorrow. Those who have newly entered the Dharma and heard what the Buddha taught, will all cross over. They have seen the Way, like a flash of lightning in the night."

"The Dharma for benefiting oneself and others is complete. If I were to live longer it would be of no further benefit. All of those who could be crossed over, whether in the heavens above or among humans, have already crossed over, and all of those who have not yet crossed over have already created the causes and conditions for crossing over. From now on all of my disciples must continuously practice. Then the Thus Come One' s Dharma body will always be present and indestructible."

"You should know therefore, that everything in the world is impermanent. Meetings necessarily have separations, so do not harbor grief. Every appearance in the world is like this, so you should be vigorous and seek for an early liberation. Destroy the darkness of delusion with the brightness of wisdom. The world is truly dangerous and unstable, without any durability. My present attainment of Nirvana is like being rid of a malignant sickness. The body is a false name, drowning in the great ocean of birth, sickness, old age and death. How can one who is wise not be happy when he gets rid of it,"

"All of you Bhikshus, you should always singlemindedly and diligently seek the way out of all the moving and unmoving dharmas of the world, for they are all decaying, destructible, insecure appearances. All of you, stop; there is nothing more to say. Time is passing away, and I wish to cross over to Nirvana. These are my very last instructions."

"Before his demise, the Buddha gave His last sermon. It has eight main points:"

"The object of Right Knowledge is Suchness of things as not conditioned by the category of being and non-being. It is in this sense that ultimate reality is said to be like the moon in the water, it is not immersed in it, nor is it outside it. We cannot say that the moon is in water, for it is a mere reflection; but we cannot say that it is not there, for a reflection though it may be it is really before us. Plurality of objects is not real from the point of view of relativity as well as from the point of view of Suchness. If some one declares such reality as maintained by the Mahayana is too ethereal, too phantom-like, too unreal for our religious aspirations, the Lanka will immediately retort, "You are still on the plane of relativity.""

"The food of the wise, Mahāmati, is what is eaten by the Rishis; it does not consist of meat and blood."

"For fear of causing terror to living beings, Mahāmati, let the Bodhisattva who is disciplining himself to attain compassion, refrain from eating flesh."

"Thus, Mahāmati, wherever there is the evolution of living beings, let people cherish the thought of kinship with them, and, thinking that all beings are [to be loved as if they were] an only child, let them refrain from eating meat. So with Bodhisattvas whose nature is compassion, [the eating of] meat is to be avoided by him. Even in exceptional cases, it is not [compassionate] of a Bodhisattva of good standing to eat meat."