Basic Translations
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Dedication Prayer |
The dedication prayer plays an important
role in Buddhist practices |
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Definition of Existence |
The definition of existence
is perceiving valid perceptions (pramanas). |
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The Four Immeasurables |
The so-called Four Immeasurables are used to develop great loving
kindness, great compassion, great sympathetic joy,
and great equanimity.
The four are called immeasurable" because they
are thoughts directed at an immeasurable number of beings, and because
one gains immeasurable merit from thinking about them. |
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Freedom From the Four Attachments
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The author of this root text was Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, who lived
1092-1158AD.
He was one of the five patriarchs of the Sakya tradition.
Manjushri gave this teaching to Sachen Kunga
Nyingpo when he was twelve years old. The whole Mahayana Buddhist path
is explained in these four lines.
Many extraordinary commentaries were
written about this root text in the Sakya tradition, by Sachen Kunga
Nyingpo, Jetsun Drakpa Gyeltsen, Sakya Pandita, and many others.
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His Holiness Dalai Lama Long Life Prayer |
This long life prayer of His Holiness is a very common prayer used
when dedicating merits from dharma teachings or
other virtuous events.
The wish is that by the good deed may HH Dalai
Lama stay around us for as long as possible, have a long life, and may
we always be blessed of being in the presence of HH Dalai Lama.
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Mandala Offering |
The so-called mandala offering is given at the beginning of teachings,
or when starting a practice.
The concept is to understand the huge
benefit and value of the teachings or the practice, and the
practitioner does the biggest offering one could imagine, the whole
universe.
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Refuge and The Wish Prayer |
The Buddhist refuge and bodhichitta prayer is recited at most events
as well at the beginning of various Buddhist practices.
It is set in
verse for easy chanting, thus there are some interesting issues with
grammar that points out how to make sentences that are of equal length.
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Shantideva's Bodhichitta Prayer |
Master Shantideva's masterpiece, Engaging in the Deeds of a
Bodhisattva
(Sanskrit bodhicharyaavatara), ends with the tenth chapter that
has dedication as its theme. The 55th verse in this chapter is
very amous.
His Holiness Dalai Lama is fond of reciting this verse
daily. It has the main concept behind the Mahayana (great vehicle)
Buddhism. This book describes the so-called six perfections that a
bodhisattva is engaged in.
These are practiced, or perfected, to
become a fully enlightened, to get to a state where someone really
could help all sentient beings.
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Bow Down to Holy Lamas - Paying Homage in Buddhist Texts |
Buddhist texts usually have an opening line
where the author pays homage to a certain quality or attribute on the
Buddhist path. You will encounter these opening lines quite frequently,
so it's good to know what they look like. By
knowing what is the homage object you could even classify the
literature into certain sections. For example, if the author pays
homage to Manjushri, the text is dealing with the wisdom aspect of the
Buddhist path. |
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All
Phenomena Are Impermanent |
All Phenomena Are Impermanent |
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Vasubandhu – Abhidharma-Kosha, Chapter 4, First Sentence |
Vasubandhu’s commentary called
abhidharmakosha, Treasure House of Knowledge, is a summary of the
higher knowledge including what is higher knowledge, pure and impure
things, the five heaps, the parts of the mind, the structure of the
universe, what karma is, types of meditation and so forth. The fourth
chapter is the Karma chapter; it explains how karma operates. The
first line explains how the worlds are created, by the sentient beings’
karma that forces them to experience the world in a certain way. |
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Vasubandhu – Abhidharma-Kosha, Chapter 4, Second Sentence |
Master Vasubandhu’s commentary called
abhidharmakosha, Treasure House of Knowledge, is a summary of the
higher knowledge including what is higher knowledge, pure and impure
things, the five heaps, the parts of the mind, the structure of the
universe, what karma is, types of meditation and so forth. The fourth
chapter is the Karma chapter. The Second line in the fourth chapter
defines what karma is: |
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Definition of Renunciation |
Definition of Renunciation |
