Buddhist Mahyna Texts

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Cosimo, Inc., Apr 1, 2007 - Religion - 456 pages
The Buddhist Mahyna is a series of poems written in the first century AD that tell the legendary history of the life of the Buddha. The last four books of this version of the text were written by a Nepalese author in the 1830s in an attempt to reconstruct lost books. Buddhists and anyone interested in religious studies and comparative mythology will be delight in this hagiographic account of the life of the foundational figure of one of the world's great religions. English scholar EDWARD BYLES COWELL (1826-1903), who lived in Calcutta from 1856 to 1867, is most famous for his translations of the poetry of Hafez. German author FRIEDRICH MAX MULLER (1823-1900) combined the studies of language, culture, and religion to create the discipline of comparative mythology. Among his many works are The Sacred Books of the East, India: What Can It Teach Us?, and Wisdom of the Buddha: The Unabridged Dhammapada.

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Contents

PART II
iii
THE LARGER SUKHÂVATÎVYÛHA I
77
INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS 105
105
INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS 155
155
INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS 202
202
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Page 6 - Like the sun bursting from a cloud in the morning, — so he too, when he was born from his mother's womb, made the world bright like gold, bursting forth with his rays which dispelled the darkness.
Page 161 - Maras together with ignorance and the Asravas have been conquered by me ; and perfect wisdom has been attained able to deliver the world. 10. ' I too, resolved to follow the teaching of the former Buddhas, remained four whole weeks in the fulfilment of my inauguration V 11. Then Mara, utterly despondent in soul, thus addressed the Tathagata, ' O holy one, be pleased to enter Nirvağa, thy desires are accomplished.
Page 34 - Sukhavatt belonging to that Bhagavat Amitabha is prosperous, rich, good to live in, fertile, lovely, and filled with many gods and men. Then, O Ananda, in that world there are neither hells, nor the brute creation, nor the realm of departed spirits, nor bodies of Asuras, nor untimely births1.
Page 12 - This is the true way in which those seerkings of old, rejecting through duty all trivial riches1, have ever flung them away as was right, — being poor in outward substance but rich in ascetic endurance. 62. ' But hear now the motive for my coming and rejoice thereat ; a heavenly voice has been heard by me in the heavenly path, that thy son has been born for the sake of supreme knowledge.
Page 172 - When this perception has been formed, thou shouldst meditate on its (constituents) one by one and make (the images) as clear as possible, so that they may never be scattered and lost, whether thine eyes be shut or open. Except only during the time of thy sleep, thou shouldst always keep this in thy mind. One who has reached this (stage of) perception is said to have dimly seen the Land of Highest Happiness (Sukhavati).
Page 99 - Then again all beings, O Sariputra, ought to make fervent prayer for that Buddha country. And why? Because they come together there with such excellent men. Beings are not born in that Buddha country of the Tathagata Amitayus as a reward and result of good works performed in this present life.
Page 92 - O Sariputra, there is neither bodily nor mental pain for living beings. The sources of happiness are innumerable there. For that reason is that world called Sukhavati (the happy).
Page 101 - Thus also in the West do other blessed Buddhas, led by the Tathagata Amitayus, the Tathagata Amitaskandha, the Tathagata...

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