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The Surangama Sutra

Shakyamuni Buddha.
Shakyamuni Buddha.

In Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra, H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III tells us that “Ancient Buddhas and Bodhisattvas adopted various methods to become accomplished.” In the same sutra He also tells how Avalokiteshvara became a Bodhisattva and also how we can also become holy beings and ultimately Buddhas. In Learning from Buddha, the Buddha Master lists several sutras and commentaries or treatises that we should study including the Surangama Sutra. In this sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha asks twenty-five Bodhisattvas to describe the different methods by which each had attained Enlightenment so that others can learn something from them. That sutra also states that Manjushri Bodhisattva stated that the method employed by Avalokiteshvara was judged the most suitable for human beings today.

Shakyamuni Buddha predicted that the Surangama Sutra will be the first to disappear in this Dharma-ending Age. The sutra also reveals the “. . .law of causality relating to both delusion and enlightenment and teaches the methods of practice and realization to destroy forever the roots of birth and death.” The original Surangama Sutra also included theSurangama Dharani” or mantra and rituals for avoiding all obstructions on the Path. They are not included in the translation of this sutra offered below for several reasons that are included in the pdf. The translator, Charles Luk, indicated that the Chinese transliteration of the mantra is now so corrupt that an English transliteration would be misleading. I believe the Buddha Master had His nuns stop that practice or at least using the Chinese version they had been chanting for the same reasons.

However, this sutra covers many of the same themes and concepts in the Buddha Master’s Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra and although there are differences and given the fact that the Buddha Master said we should study it, I feel we should do so and now is a good time as we explore the Buddha Master’s text in DCB22-Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Text of the Heart Sutra-I and related courses.

CLICK to download pdf of Charles Luk’s translation of the Surangama Sutra.

CLICK for articles on Expounding the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra and links to discussions of preliminary translations of the same.

CLICK for Sutras and Commentaries to be mastered by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III.

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Thus Have I Seen (and Heard) on zhaxizhuoma.org is a blog offered by Zhaxi Zhuoma for English-speaking followers and those interested in the teachings and activities of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. Read more about this blog

Caveat

Most of the quotes from H.H Dorje Chang Buddha III posted on this blog are from unapproved translations and may contain errors. Likewise the contents of this blog have not been reviewed or approved by the Buddha and should be considered as reference material and not Buddha-dharma.

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