 Buddha Sutras |
 |
Mantras Sanskrit |
| Home | Introduction | Sutras | Translators | Mantras | Prayers | Sanskrit | Glossary | Email Us |
Buddha Sutras |
|
Mantras Sanskrit |
| Home | Introduction | Sutras | Translators | Mantras | Prayers | Sanskrit | Glossary | Email Us |
At that time the Buddha universally observed all sentient beings in the dharma realm with his obstruction-free pure Wisdom-eye and spoke these words: "Amazing! Amazing! Why do these sentient beings, deluded and confused, not know and not see that they have Tathāgata wisdom? I will teach them the holy Way, enabling them to leave the duality and fixation in their minds. Then they will be able to see within themselves the vast Tathāgata wisdom, no different from the Buddha's."
The above passage in the Flower Adornment Sūtra (Avataṁsaka Sūtra) explains clearly why Śākyamuni Buddha appeared in this world. To suit the varied capacities and preferences of all sentient beings, the Buddha has taught 84,000 Dharma Doors. Each is a skillful way through which one can eventually realize one's own Buddha mind and its infinite wisdom. Since the Dharma came to the West in the twentieth century, there has been growing interest in finding the truth about life and the universe through the teachings of the Buddha. Three Dharma Doors have found large followings in the West: Theravāda students practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness; Zen students mostly practice 'sitting only' introduced by the Japanese Soto School; and students that follow Tibetan Tantrism practice mantra recitation with visualization of a deity. All of them generally recognize the benefits to their lives from their meditation practices.
Relatively unfamiliar to and, perhaps, misunderstood by the West is the Chinese Pure Land School, which upholds the teachings in five particular Mahāyāna sūtras. For example, in the Amitābha Sūtra, the Buddha said, "Therefore, Śāriputra, if, among good men and good women, there are those who believe [my words], they should resolve to be reborn in that Land." Taking the Buddha's instruction to heart, the devotees of this School strive, as their immediate goal, to be reborn in Sukhāvatī, Amitābha Buddha's Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. In that sublime environment and in the excellent company of advanced Bodhisattvas, one will attain Buddhahood with Amitābha's training and support, bypassing the long Way to Buddhahood through the cycle of life and death in the Threefold Realm of Existence. However, one may choose to return to this impure world any time for delivering sentient beings if one feels compelled and able to do so.
This Buddha has two names in Sanskrit: Amitābha means infinite light and Amitāyus means infinite life, respectively signifying wisdom and emptiness, which are inseparable. Chinese Buddhists call Him Amituo, and Japanese Buddhists call Him Amida. He was once a monk named Dharmakara who, resolved to attain Buddhahood, had made 48 vows to form His sublime Buddha Land and to draw aspiring sentient beings there. One of His vows states that one can be reborn there by uttering His name in earnest faith even with only ten repetitions. To keep saying His name is obviously the simplest and the most popular practice of meditation performed by Pure Land aspirants. When ordinary beings die, karmic forces arise from their minds, impelling each to be reborn in a karmic life form and in an environment upon which the new life form depends. Therefore, in order to open a pure dimension in one's mind, it would be imperative to sustain the right thought and unwavering aspiration up to the final moment, quite a challenge for the dying one. In addition, Śākyamuni Buddha also said in the above Sūtra that "No one with the condition of few good roots and a meager stock of merits can be reborn in that Land." Although the Chinese Pure Land School claims that their Dharma Door is the Hard-to-Believe Easy Path, it really may not be that easy.
Nevertheless, hundreds of stories have been well documented to this day of monks, nuns, and laypeople in China who had trained themselves in the way of the Pure Land School and received excellent signs at death. In addition to having visions of Amitābha and His Pure Land before or upon dying, many foretold their departure date. Other signs have included fragrance, radiance, the crown of the head staying warm for hours after death, the body remaining pliable for days after death, and so forth. Departing this life peacefully in the midst of one's Lotus Friends chanting in unison "Amitābha Buddha" is a noble transition to a noble rebirth.
The Chinese Pure Land School is often offhandedly criticized that their leaving saṁsāra for the Pure Land is an act of uncaring for other sentient beings and that they do not seek enlightenment in the present life. Their defense is to remind the critics of the fact that rebirth of ordinary beings is impelled not by a sense of mission but by ignorance of the truth combined with yearning for becoming. Although there are those who are fortunate to have heard the Dharma in this life and those who have the means to help others, their spiritual progress and philanthropic contributions are encumbered by their afflictions and karmic obligations. Besides, they never know, as the cycle of life and death turns, how their next rebirth will turn out. According to the Mahāyāna doctrine, only a holy being, a Bodhisattva on the First Ground or above, will never be reborn in any of the three evil life forms. Ordinary beings and Bodhisattvas below the First Ground are not exempt from these evil life-paths. Therefore, rebirth in the Pure Land, in total likeness of a Buddha, overriding the karmic force of saṁsāra, is itself a great accomplishment. It takes great faith, resolve, and effort to achieve it. In that dimension, the inhabitants of the Pure Land, biding their time, fully intend to return to saṁsāra to teach and help others.
Furthermore, records indicate that a number of practitioners in the Chinese Pure Land School, including most of the 13 patriarchs and some of their disciples, before abandoning their bodies for rebirth in the Pure Land, had realized their true mind and seen their Buddha nature. In the terminology of the Chinese Zen School, these two realizations are respectively labeled the first gate and the second gate. Therefore, passing these two gateless gates is not achieved exclusively by Chinese Zen Buddhists through the Zen Door only. Constantly remembering and thinking of the Buddha is a great Dharma Door, through which one may achieve not only realization of the truth during one's life, as taught by Great Might Arrived Bodhisattva, but also rebirth in the Pure Land for advanced training toward Buddhahood—a twofold accomplishment.
To achieve rebirth in the Pure Land, one basically needs to rely on one's faith, resolve, and personal effort. However, at the final moment of truth, one can count on an empowering hospice service by a team of volunteers called Lotus Friends, a service provided by most Chinese Buddhist temples and lay groups. Lotus Friends will chant the name of Amitābha Buddha at one's death bed, invoking over again His blessings and strengthening one's final mindfulness and aspiration, as one's consciousness fades into darkness. They usually start chanting before death and continue to chant for at least eight hours after death. Although one may not necessarily achieve rebirth in the Pure Land, it is comforting to depart this life with the help and support of Lotus Friends. With lovingkindness and compassion for the deceased and the surviving family, Lotus Friends also serve to bear witness to favorable signs, if any, of rebirth in the Pure Land.
Although the Chinese Pure Land School has a line of 13 patriarchs, it has neither a guru-to-disciple lineage nor a centralized institution. Each patriarch has been recognized and honored posthumously for his achievement during his life and at death. Whether or not this School, without a living famous charismatic leader, can find its way into the consciousness of the West remains to be seen.
Whichever Dharma Door one chooses to cultivate one's mind, it is essential to study the sūtras to enforce and reinforce one's faith, understanding, and endeavor. Furthermore, the Buddha, having foreseen the problems that students of the Dharma will encounter in this Dharma-ending age, has instructed us to follow, under all circumstances, the Four Dharmas to Rely Upon. Therefore, to insure the purity and correctness of understanding, with the trust that only the Buddha is totally correct in His Dharma, one needs to recite and study the sūtras online or in print. To do so is to receive the teachings and blessings from the Buddha, the only perfectly enlightened teacher in this age. Not subjected to the authorization and rules of exclusive sects and lineages, the Buddha, with unconditional lovingkindness and compassion, bestows His teachings and blessings upon all who are receptive.
Out of the vast body of the Buddha's teachings, this website, unaffiliated with any Buddhist group, provides the English translations of only a few Mahāyāna sūtras selected from the Chinese Buddhist Canon on a CD produced by CBETA, which is also available online. These sūtras, however, are interesting, comprehensible, and just as profound as the well-known ones. Best efforts have been made to render the translations in English as faithful to the Chinese texts as possible.
These English translations include a few transliterated (Romanized) Sanskrit words. In consistency with the words already admitted into the English vocabulary, such as Buddha, Bodhisattva, karma, samādhi, sūtra, nirvāṇa, and so forth, which are not italicized, no Romanized Sanskrit words are italicized. Even though Romanized Sanskrit words are never capitalized, following the rules of English, all proper nouns are capitalized. Unlike most English nouns, the plural form of a Sanskrit noun is never formed by adding 's' or 'es' to its singular form. For example, the plural form of sūtra is sūtrāni. However, to make life simpler, a hybrid plural form is constructed by adding the letter 's' to the stem of a Sanskrit noun, as is already done in English translations by scholars.
In the ancient past, a Buddhist term in a sūtra was translated into Chinese either by sound or by meaning. If it was translated into Chinese by sound, this term is restored into a Romanized Sanskrit word. If it was translated into Chinese by meaning, this meaning is translated into English, but with two exceptions. One is Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, whose name is kept as it is in Sanskrit even though it has been translated into Chinese as Universal Worthy (Puxian, 普賢). Also kept as it is in Sanksrit is the name Avalokiteśvara (Lord Who Looks Down, or Sovereign Watcher). In Sanskrit, ava means down; lokita means seen, beheld, or viewed; and īśvara means lord or capable of. However, in Chinese texts, the Bodhisattva bearing this name is called either Watching with Mastery (Guanzizai, 觀自在) or Watching the Sounds of the World (Guanshiyin, 觀世音). The name Watching with Mastery is probably an interpretation of the sovereignty, which is free from interference and, thus, with mastery and ease. The Chinese name Watching the Sounds of the World, more likely, is based on Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sūtra (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra), in which the Buddha gives an interpretation of the name Avalokiteśvara. It is summarized as follows: When people in distress call the name of this Bodhisattva who constantly watches the sounds of the world, they will immediately be rescued. Furthermore, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva assumes the most suitable form to deliver those who make a practice of uttering this name.
Mantras pronounced by Buddhas or Bodhisattvas are included in some sūtras, ceremonial practices, and mantra-only texts in the Chinese Canon. In the ancient past, Buddhist masters translated these mantras into Chinese by sound, based on pronunciations of the Chinese words of their time and location. Different translators of the same mantra chose their own words. Now, modern scholars have painstakingly restored some of the mantras in the Buddhist Canon from Chinese back into Sanskrit. However, there are cases in which Sanskrit words are constructed, rather than restored, from Chinese pronunciations. Understandably, there is no guarantee of the absolute accuracy in the restored version of a mantra. Still, one should be confident that any version recited sincerely can be just as efficacious and powerful as another because a mantra is in tune with one's own Buddha mind. This is testified by Buddhist practitioners all over the world, who have been reciting mantras translated phonetically into their native languages from Sanskrit or another language. It is admirable that Western Buddhists, following their Eastern teachers, unflinchingly recite mantras in Romanized Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, and so forth. This means that all Buddhists who know the English alphabet can learn to recite mantras in Romanized Sanskrit, thus uniting all in one universal tongue.
Mantras numbered 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 on this website are taken from Zhen Cang Fan Wen Zhou Ben (珍藏梵文咒本), which means the Precious Collection of Sanskrit Mantras, published by Mahāyāna Vihāra Press in Taiwan. The mantras in this book are written in the Siddham script, with Roman letters as well as phonetic translations in Japanese and Chinese. Some of these mantras bear the text numbers in the Chinese Buddhist Canon. For example, the Buddha-Crown Superb Victory Dhāraṇī corresponds to Text no. 973, which is a ceremonial practice translated by Śubhakara-Siṁha (善無畏, 637-735 CE), who went to China in 716 CE, in the Tang Dynasty. This mantra in Text no. 973 is in Siddham, and its phonetic Chinese translation closely matches that in Text no. 967 but not that in Text no. 970.
Mantra numbered 5 is copied from Chua Boon Tuan's website. The mantra on the home page of this website and mantras numbered 4 and 9 are copied from the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon posted on the website of the University of the West. Mantra numbered 10, the Great Compassion Mantra, is copied from Answers.com. Many words in this Mantra are different from those in the popular Chinese version. Mantra numbered 11 is the mantra in the well-known Heart Sutra. Finally, corrections of typographical or grammatical errors in the source texts of these ten mantras are highlighted in red.
Even though one can read or recite a sūtra or a mantra aloud, in a whisper, or silently, voicing it aloud has a distinct advantage: not only does it involve all the sense organs, thereby purifying one's body, mouth, and mind, but it may benefit an uninvited audience visible or invisible to the human eye, planting a bodhi seed in their minds. For those who are inspired to recite a mantra in Sanskrit, the Romanized Sanskrit alphabet and a guideline for pronunciation are provided. The Devanāgarī letters of Sanskrit are not given because the Sanskrit pages on this website are intended to help one recite a mantra in virtual Sanskrit, not to teach anyone to read or write Devanāgarī.
To follow an audio, you can access an audio-supported page, whether a Sanskrit pronunciation page or a mantra page, and minimize the Media Player window to see the text. The recording will continue to play if you have set the Media Player at the Repeat mode.
The serious reader is recommended to say the Opening Sūtra Prayer before reciting a sūtra and, after reciting the sūtra, to say a second prayer to transfer the merit, followed by making the Four Vast Vows to conclude the practice. If one recites a mantra as a stand-alone practice, saying these prayers is also recommended.
In addition, a few other prayers are also posted on this website for one's comfort and inspiration. For example, the Repentance Prayer is for those who recognize their karma and seek purification and healing. Saying this prayer on one's knees, one needs to feel compassion for others who are in similar or even worse conditions. The Prayer for the Bodhisattva Way reminds one of the long-term training of a Bodhisattva on the Way to Buddhahood for self and others. Also posted are two prayers from the Chinese Pure Land School, which specifically affirm one's resolve to be reborn in the Pure Land. One certainly may compose a prayer, expressing one's wish to alleviate wars, epidemics, and natural catastrophes and to achieve world peace, harmony, health, and prosperity in this world. Since the former events are a manifestation of our collective impure minds and the latter of our collective purified minds, this kind of prayer serves to remind us of the importance of our training aimed to transform ourselves from within.
Sincere thanks are given to the following kind knowledgeable friends: To Dharma Masters Shi Yinhai (釋印海) and Shi Hongzheng (釋宏正), who discussed with me some passages in the Chinese texts; to Bruce Long and Linda Pheiffer Pauwels, who read the first draft of Sūtra no. 1; to Alisa Kanouse, who carefully reviewed the third draft of the first six sūtras; to Anne Moses, who undauntedly edited the fourth draft of all the sūtras and offered helpful comments and suggestions; to Kottegoda S. Warnasuriya, who helped correct some errors in the texts of the mantras; to Avinash Sathaye, who, with infinite patience, further edited the mantras; to Seetha Lath, who demonstrated Sanskrit pronunciation in two audios; to Carol Fong, who sent me for the heading of this website a picture of the Buddha statue at the Ch'an Meditation Center, Elmhurst, NY; to John C. Gilson, who kindly answered my elementary questions about web page construction and his HTML Tutorials; and to kind visitors to this website, whose constructive comments have led to some changes on a few web pages. Special thanks are given to Rider Cheng, who unwittingly dropped a seed in my mind on November 15, 2004. In that morning he had me recite with him three times the Chinese version of the Buddha-Crown Superb Victory Dhāraṇī, in honor of my late mother. This seed lay dormant for a year in poor soil and then took more than a year to germinate arduously into this website, which, I hope, will sow bodhi seeds in rich soil. Any flaws in my English translations are my sole responsibility. May the merit of all contributors be transferred to all sentient beings for their rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss and for their ultimate enlightenment!