揭諦 揭諦 波羅 揭諦 波羅僧 揭諦 菩提 娑婆訶 a-je a-je ba-ra-a-je ba-ra-sung-a-je mo-ji […]
Category: buddhism
Mantra For Correcting Mistakes and Omissions (補闕真言)
There is a much shorter mantra in the Korean tradition with the same title. But this video is of a different, longer version used today in China. It is a really lovely video in which a mother is teaching the mantra to her daughter. 補闕真言 南無喝囉怛那，哆囉夜耶。 佉囉佉囉。俱住俱住。 摩囉摩囉。虎囉，吽。賀賀， 蘇怛拏，吽。潑抹拏，娑婆訶。 nā mó hē là dá nà […]
Getting Hold of the Ox
竭盡神通獲得渠 心強力壯卒難除
竭 jié exhaust; use up
盡 jìn end; finish; use up
竭盡 exhausted
神 divine
通 tōng pass through; expert; know well
神通 = Abhijñā (अभिज्ञा) direct knowledge; higher knowledge
“A cave and a grave are not two.”
心生故種種法生, 心滅故龕墳不二 “Because of the arising of thought, various phenomena arise; when thought ceases, a cave and a grave are not two.” Master Wonhyo 心 mind, thought 生 born 故 (gù) cause, reason 種種 (zhǒng zhǒng) all kinds of 法 dharma, thing 生 born 心 mind, thought 滅 (miè) destroy, extinguish 故 cause, reason 龕 […]
大悲咒 (Great Compassionate Mantra)
大悲咒 (Great Compassionate Mantra). This is one of the most popular mantras among present-day Buddhists. It is not to be confused with the longer mantra that is also often referred to as 大悲咒, and in English is often simply called “The Great Dharani”. That longer mantra is also known as “The Nilakantha Dharani”, but the […]
“Do not pass your days and nights in vain.”
In Chinese, the two character combination 光陰 (guāng-yīn) literally means “light-dark”. But the intended sense is like that in the English phrase “day in, day out”. Or even like that in the song “Sunrise, Sunset”. This phrase occurs in the ancient poem called “The Harmony of Difference and Sameness” (aka The Sandokai), in the line: […]
The Four Great Vows (四弘誓願)
The teachings are infinite; we vow to learn them all.
法門無量誓願學
法門 Pinyin: fǎ-mén. Meaning (literal): Dharma gate. Composition: 法 + 門 (“Dharma” + “gate”)
無量 Pinyin: wú-liàng. Meaning: immeasurable. Composition: 無量 (“no” + “measure”)
學 Pinyin: xué. Meaning: learn
五 蘊 皆 空 (five skandhas all empty)
In this post I’ll do the last four characters of the third line of the Heart Sutra. But perhaps before going any further I should point out that there is no standardization (at least none that I am aware of and/or comply with) for numbering the “lines” of the Heart Sutra. So these “lines” of […]
“… a determined, optimistic attitude ….”
Because ignorance and wisdom are diametrically opposed in the way they apprehend phenomena and because ignorance is an erroneous consciousness, wisdom can overcome ignorance. When ignorance is uprooted, all the afflictions that depend on it also cease. Other counterforces do not have the ability to eliminate ignorance but are applied to individual afflictions. Since cultivating […]
時 照 見 (from the third line of the Heart Sutra)
OK – now things get a little complicated. Here are the first three lines of the Heart Sutra, with some characters highlighted in two different colors. The color coding is explained below: 1—————————————————————————————– 摩 訶 般 若 波 羅 蜜 多 心 經 ma ha ban ya ba ra mil ta shim gyong great prajna […]