Monthly Archives: March 2015

A Propitious Prophecy

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Vajragoni

The Sutra continues with a long litany by Bodhisattva Akṣhobhya’s resolve to obey all of the monastic precepts that need to be honored before his attainment of Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi (Supreme Enlightenment). One of these precepts begs to be further examined: read more

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Origin of the Immovable One

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Vajragoni


              Anya Langmead

The Buddha told Śāriputra. “A thousand worlds from here to the east, there is a Buddha-land named Wonderful Joy, where Tathāgata Great Eyes, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Enlightened One, once appeared to expound the subtle, wonderful Dharma to Bodhisattva-Mahāsattvas, beginning with the six pāramitās. read more

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The Dharma-Door of Praising Tathagāta Akṣhobhya’s Merits

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Vajragoni

Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was dwelling on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa near Rājagṛha, together with an assembly of twelve hundred fifty great monks. All these monks were well-known Arhats who had extinguished all defilements and suffered afflictions no more. They were liberated in mind and in wisdom, and were as free and unhindered as great dragons. They had done what should be done and abandoned the heavy burdens. They had benefited themselves and severed all bonds of existence. They were conversant with the true teaching and had reached the other shore. Among them, only Ānanda remained in the stage of learning. read more

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Akṣhobhya’s Pure Land

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Vajragoni

We now return to our series based on the large compendium of the Māhāratnakūṭa Sutra. Our focus at this junction is on a sutra pertaining to a Pure-Land. Many mistakenly assume that the only “pure-land” that exists in Buddhism is that of Amitabha (Amida) Buddha. On the contrary, he shares that most noble position with other Buddha-brothers from his Dhyāna-Buddha family. Sutra 6 in the Māhāratnakūṭa is The Dharma-Door of Praising Tathagata Akṣhobhya’s Merits. It pertains to Akṣhobhya’s early Bodhisattva Career, his rise in Bodhipower through the Inconceivable-field of the prajñapāramitā; his firm and immovable position in the Buddhadharma as a Dharma-Lord; and the ensuing establishment of his Buddha-land: read more

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Similarities and Contrasts of the Evil Ones

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Vajragoni

As an overview of this series, James W. Boyd in the concluding chapter of his work, Satan and Māra: Christian and Buddhist Symbols of Evil, provides in  classical fashion the similar and dissimilar characteristics encompassing the existential-composition of the two arch-emissaries of evil. His main emphasis concerns mythological motifs that “disclose a basic similarity as well as the difference between them.” Boyd begins by highlighting a “numinal sense of mysterium and tremendum” that both have in common: read more

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Towards a Psychology of the Māras, Part II

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Vajragoni

Māras in the Sutrayana 

Lotus Sutra 

The Lotus Sutra’s interpretation of Māra is similar to his portrayal in the Pali Canon. He is an evil deva who occupies a prominent place in the Cosmos and who seeks to wreck-havoc on those who adhere to the Buddhadharma. read more

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