These two Dharani's & their translations were originally intended for my personal practice and devotion to Mahakala, but thought I could post here in case it brings benefit to any of you.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fOKKlKvW5wLFLV7YaMZIPvp2KrAXtpaAUySL2rBQgcw/edit?tab=t.0

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x7MGJzqZjLHlsjb2JfM__tIvR7wNmkc8eeGvVlVzxJI/edit?tab=t.0

Source: The Noble Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses
https://84000.co/translation/toh1086

Hi friends,

This Dharani & translation was originally intended for my personal practice and devotion to Vajrapani, but thought I could post here in case it brings benefit to any of you.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FArg4NmpFtQsQd5tInDVaGwoDyxYDzBE8BQ-8Lkyarw/edit?usp=sharing

It goes along with this link for chant-along: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGdO0-sZwZc

The 29th day of the ninth lunar month is the Medicine Buddha's birthday. The Medicine Buddha is often thought of as the great, compassionate healer of all sufferings, whether physical, mental, or spiritual.

In honor of the Medicine Buddha's birthday, here are a few of the truly endless benefits of hearing and cherishing the Buddha's name (quoted and paraphrased from the Medicine Buddha Sutra):

• Cultivators of Brahma conduct who have violated any of the three clusters of precepts will, upon hearing his name, regain their purity and not fall into the evil destinies. (Fifth Vow)
• Those who suffer from mental and physical illnesses, afflictions and imperfections will, upon hearing his name, be freed from their sufferings. (Sixth Vow)
• Those who are sick and poverty-stricken and have no place or no one to turn to (whether that be family, relatives, a doctor, medicine, and other aid) will, upon hearing his name, be cured of their sufferings and become peaceful and happy in body and mind. Moreover, they will have a family and relatives, and acquire an abundance of property and wealth, and even realize unsurpassed Bodhi. (Seventh Vow)
• Those who have fallen into the hands of the law and are subjected to various oppressions, humiliations, hardships, and torments will, upon hearing his name, be liberated from all worry and suffering by means of the Buddha's blessings, virtue, and awesome spiritual power. (Tenth Vow)
• Those who are so plagued by hunger and thirst that they create all kinds of bad karma in their quest for food, upon hearing the Buddha's name and single-mindedly accepting and maintaining it, will be filled with delicious food and drink and afterward will, by means of the flavor of Dharma, settle in ultimate peace and happiness. (Eleventh Vow)
• Those who are poor and without clothes and thus afflicted day and night by mosquitoes and flies, cold and heat, will, upon hearing the Buddha's name and single-mindedly accepting and maintaining it, be blessed with all kinds of fine and wonderful garments that accord with their tastes, as well as a variety of precious adornments, flower garlands, fragrant balms, and the enjoyments of music and various kinds of talents, so that all their hearts' delights will be fulfilled. (Twelfth Vow)
• Those who accept and uphold the eight precepts for a year or three months may, with these good roots, seek rebirth in Amitabha's Pure Land. If they lack confidence in their rebirth but hear the Medicine Buddha's name, at the time of their death, eight great bodhisattvas will appear and guide these sentient beings to the Western Pure Land.

Namo Medicine Buddha (Namo Vaidurya-prabha-raja Buddha)
Namo Medicine Buddha (Namo Vaidurya-prabha-raja Buddha)
Namo Medicine Buddha (Namo Vaidurya-prabha-raja Buddha)

Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

I've lived many years in VN and TH but will be spending 90 days in Dharamshala for the first time in March. I'm wondering how available classes, satsang, and general Mahayana community is there.

Thanks in advance.

"Moreover, in the past there arose in the world a Buddha named Krakucchanda Buddha. If there are men and women who hear this Buddha’s name, and with a resolute mind, they gaze reverently at and make obeisance to him, or they also sing his praises, these people will be great Brahma kings in the assemblies of the thousand Buddhas of the present kalpa and be given superior prediction." ****

[...]

"World-Honored One, all living beings in the present and future—be they devas or humans, men or women—as long as they remember a Buddha's name, they will attain measureless virtues. How much more so when they remember many [Buddhas’] names! These beings will gain great benefits at the time of birth and the time of death, and they will never fall into the lower realms.

“If a person is on the verge of death and his family members, even just one of them, recite a Buddha’s name clearly for the sick one’s sake, with the exception of the five great violations that lead to incessant torments, the ripened effects of the dying person’s other karma will be dissolved. The five great violations that lead to incessant torments are so extremely grave that the offender would pass through millions of kalpas without release.

Nevertheless, by virtue of other people reciting and meditating on the names of Buddhas for his sake when he is on the verge of death, [even the torments from] such offenses can be gradually dissolved, too. How much more so when living beings themselves recite and meditate on [the names of Buddhas]! They will gain measureless merit and dissolve measureless [torments of] offenses.”

—From Original Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra, "Chapter Nine: Reciting the Names of Buddhas"

Namo Krakucchanda Buddha
Namo Krakucchanda Buddha
Namo Krakucchanda Buddha

Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva

Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Link to the complete Ksitigarbha Sutra in English
Link to Khenpo Sodargye Rinpoche's incredible lecture notes on "Reciting the Names of Buddhas"

***To be given superior prediction= to be given a prediction of Buddhahood.

“Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita, to the west of here is a world system known as Free of All Misery and Darkness. There, the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Glorious Array of Eloquence in All Teachings currently resides, alive and well. That eon is known as Beautiful Śākya. The faithful noble sons and daughters who remember the name of the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Glorious Array of Eloquence in All Teachings will not meet their deaths because of a blade. Furthermore, they will not meet their deaths because of poison, water, or fire, and they will have a miraculous rebirth. Immediately in their next lives they will attain the dhāraṇī called one hundred powers. Regarding this, it is said:

“‘Those who speak this buddha’s name
Will not perish by fire,
Or by blade, water, or poison;
They will have only miraculous rebirths.’"

—From The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita”

Namo Glorious Array of Eloquence in All Teachings
Namo Glorious Array of Eloquence in All Teachings
Namo Glorious Array of Eloquence in All Teachings

Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Link to the Sutra (An inexpressibly beautiful Sutra. In it, Shakyamuni Buddha details the inconceivable merits of reciting and remembering the names of the Buddhas of the ten directions.)

“Moreover, in the past, inexpressibly-inexpressible asamkhyeya kalpas ago, there arose in the world a Buddha named Lion’s Roar Tathagata. If there are men and women who hear this Buddha’s name and in a thought take refuge in him, these people will meet measureless Buddhas who will place their hands on the crowns of their heads and give them prediction."

[...]

"World-Honored One, all living beings in the present and future—be they devas or humans, men or women—as long as they remember a Buddha's name, they will attain measureless virtues. How much more so when they remember many [Buddhas’] names! These beings will gain great benefits at the time of birth and the time of death, and they will never fall into the lower realms.

“If a person is on the verge of death and his family members, even just one of them, recite a Buddha’s name clearly for the sick one’s sake, with the exception of the five great violations that lead to incessant torments, the ripened effects of the dying person’s other karma will be dissolved. The five great violations that lead to incessant torments are so extremely grave that the offender would pass through millions of kalpas without release.

Nevertheless, by virtue of other people reciting and meditating on the names of Buddhas for his sake when he is on the verge of death, [even the torments from] such offenses can be gradually dissolved, too. How much more so when living beings themselves recite and meditate on [the names of Buddhas]! They will gain measureless merit and dissolve measureless [torments of] offenses.”

—From Original Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra, "Chapter Nine: Reciting the Names of Buddhas"

Namo Lion's Roar Tathagata
Namo Lion's Roar Tathagata
Namo Lion's Roar Tathagata

Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva

Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Link to the complete Ksitigarbha Sutra in English
Link to Khenpo Sodargye Rinpoche's incredible lecture notes on "Reciting the Names of Buddhas"

“Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita, to the south of here is a world system known as Arrayed with Precious Qualities. There, the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha King of Splendor Arrayed with the Glory of Precious Qualities currently resides, alive and well. That eon is known as Flourishing Qualities. The faithful noble sons and daughters who remember the name of the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha King of Splendor Arrayed with the Glory of Precious Qualities will, immediately in their next lives, attain the absorption known as the sun disk’s universal illumination. They will also attain an array of the immeasurable qualities of the buddhafields. Immediately in their next lives they will attain the thirty-two marks of a great being. They will be born into the buddhafield of their aspiration prayers. Since for them only a single rebirth remains, they will fully awaken to unexcelled and perfect buddhahood. They will also achieve unceasing eloquence. Regarding this, it is said: 

"‘Those who speak this buddha’s name
Will manifest inconceivable absorptions.
They will attain bodies endowed with the thirty-two marks,
And they will be just one rebirth away from awakening.’"

—From The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita”

Namo King of Splendor Arrayed with the Glory of Precious Qualities Buddha
Namo King of Splendor Arrayed with the Glory of Precious Qualities Buddha
Namo King of Splendor Arrayed with the Glory of Precious Qualities Buddha

Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Link to the Sutra (This Sutra is a priceless treasure. In it, Shakyamuni Buddha details the inconceivable merits of reciting and remembering the names of the Buddhas of the ten directions.)

"Moreover, in the past, as many kalpas ago as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River, there arose in the world a Buddha named Jewel Nature Tathagata. If there are men and women who hear this Buddha's name and, within the time of a finger snap, generate the mind to take refuge in him, these people will never fall back or turn away from the Unsurpassed Way."

[...]

"World-Honored One, all living beings in the present and future—be they devas or humans, men or women—as long as they remember a Buddha's name, they will attain measureless virtues. How much more so when they remember many [Buddhas’] names! These beings will gain great benefits at the time of birth and the time of death, and they will never fall into the lower realms.

“If a person is on the verge of death and his family members, even just one of them, recite a Buddha’s name clearly for the sick one’s sake, with the exception of the five great violations that lead to incessant torments, the ripened effects of the dying person’s other karma will be dissolved. The five great violations that lead to incessant torments are so extremely grave that the offender would pass through millions of kalpas without release.

Nevertheless, by virtue of other people reciting and meditating on the names of Buddhas for his sake when he is on the verge of death, [even the torments from] such offenses can be gradually dissolved, too. How much more so when living beings themselves recite and meditate on [the names of Buddhas]! They will gain measureless merit and dissolve measureless [torments of] offenses.”

—From Original Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra, "Chapter Nine: Reciting the Names of Buddhas"

Namo Jewel Nature Tathagata
Namo Jewel Nature Tathagata
Namo Jewel Nature Tathagata

Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva

May all sentient beings hear this Buddha's name and never turn away from the Unsurpassed Way.

Link to the complete Ksitigarbha Sutra in English
Link to Khenpo Sodargye Rinpoche's incredible lecture notes on "Reciting the Names of Buddhas"

Namo Array of Immense Precious Qualities Like the King of Splendor Buddha

"The Blessed One said, “Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita, to the east of here is a world system known as Arrayed with the Qualities of All Phenomena. There the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Array of Immense Precious Qualities Like the King of Splendor currently resides, alive and well. That eon is known as Gathering of Complete Abundance. There, the lifespan of sentient beings is immeasurable. That blessed one’s full retinue of bodhisattvas is also innumerable. When faithful noble sons and daughters remember the name of the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Array of Immense Precious Qualities Like the King of Splendor, sixty thousand eons of wandering in cyclic existence are negated. ***

“From their next lives onward, they will attain the dhāraṇī called unhindered teaching. They will be provided with the eloquence of the blessed buddhas in a hundred million buddhafields. When they teach the Dharma, they will have no trepidation. Regarding this, it is said:

“‘Those who speak this buddha’s name

Will quickly manifest these qualities.

For them, even better things will occur,

And unsurpassed awakening will not be difficult.’

—From The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita”

Namo Array of Immense Precious Qualities Like the King of Splendor Buddha

Namo Array of Immense Precious Qualities Like the King of Splendor Buddha

Namo Array of Immense Precious Qualities Like the King of Splendor Buddha

Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

Link to the Sutra (I highly, highly recommend reading this Sutra. In it, Shakyamuni Buddha details the inconceivable merits of reciting and remembering the names of the Buddhas of the ten directions.)

*** In the Chinese version of this Sutra, this line is worded slightly differently. It says something like, reciting this Buddha's name can clear the offenses of sixty thousand kalpas.

Namo Vipasyin Buddha

"Moreover, in the past there arose in the world a Buddha named Vipasyin [Buddha]. If there are men and women who hear this Buddha's name, they will never fall into the lower realms and will always be reborn among humans or devas and experience excellent, wonderful happiness."

[...]

"World-Honored One, all living beings in the present and future—be they devas or humans, men or women—as long as they remember a Buddha's name, they will attain measureless virtues. How much more so when they remember many [Buddhas’] names! These beings will gain great benefits at the time of birth and the time of death, and they will never fall into the lower realms.

“If a person is on the verge of death and his family members, even just one of them, recite a Buddha’s name clearly for the sick one’s sake, with the exception of the five great violations that lead to incessant torments, the ripened effects of the dying person’s other karma will be dissolved. The five great violations that lead to incessant torments are so extremely grave that the offender would pass through millions of kalpas without release.

Nevertheless, by virtue of other people reciting and meditating on the names of Buddhas for his sake when he is on the verge of death, [even the torments from] such offenses can be gradually dissolved, too. How much more so when living beings themselves recite and meditate on [the names of Buddhas]! They will gain measureless merit and dissolve measureless [torments of] offenses.”

—From Original Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra, "Chapter Nine: Reciting the Names of Buddhas"

Namo Vipasyin Buddha
Namo Vipasyin Buddha
Namo Vipasyin Buddha

Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva-Mahasattva

Link to the complete Ksitigarbha Sutra in English
Link to Khenpo Sodargye Rinpoche's incredible lecture notes on "Reciting the Names of Buddhas"

In the introduction, he writes,

“The Brahmā’s Net Sutra Bodhisattva Precepts” greatly influenced the way in which Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Buddhists came to view what constitutes the correct mode of practice for all who aspire to cultivate the bodhisattva path to buddhahood. To this day, these precepts continue to be transmitted, not only to monks and nuns in their ordination sessions, but also, depending on the country, to laymen and laywomen as well.

The part I've bolded has an endnote that reads:

Beginning a few decades ago, it became a not uncommon practice for laypeople in Taiwan to instead receive a code of six major and twenty-eight minor bodhisattva precepts from Chapter Fourteen of The Sutra on the Upāsaka Precepts (Upāsakaśīla Sūtra) translated into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa in 426 ce (Taisho Volume 24, Number 1488).

This precepts ordination under this particular text is something that occasionally happens in the Vietnamese tradition also, and is given great emphasis when temple communities do ordain laity under this text. Now, I had thought this had occurred during the Yogacara Revival in Vietnamese Buddhism in the middle of the 20th century, but from this note, it seems more likely that we inherited this from Taiwanese Buddhism...? It's possible it goes in the other direction, but I'm doubtful of that.

We already know that Taixu had a huge influence on contemporary Vietnamese Buddhism. It was Taixu's Humanistic Buddhism that inspired Vietnamese Buddhism to shift heavily toward worldly engagement and altruistic efforts, while also drawing into Taixu's thoughts with the worldly Confucian-Buddhist syncretism established by Tran Nhan Tong in the 13th century under the banner of 'Entering-the-world Buddhism". The merging of this historical iteration of worldly / socially-engaged Buddhism with modernist Taiwanese Buddhism is what gives us the Engaged Buddhism of today.

There are also scholars within the Fo Guang Shan sect studying Vietnamese Buddhism, both in Vietnam and in Taiwan, the latter of which has a fairly large Kinh diaspora. In a lecture I saw of hers, one of her motivations for studying this was, apparently, attending a Vietnamese temple's Ullumbana ceremony and realizing that it's completely different from how Taiwanese Buddhists observe that holiday--she started doing a comparative analysis, which led to discovering a trove of wood-block-print commentaries in Classical Chinese, stored in the libraries of Vietnamese monasteries, many of which had been lost to the Chinese canon, which was the main focus of her talk... but she highlighted a lot of interesting ethnographic details about contemporary Vietnamese / Taiwanese Buddhist relations.

However, it's starting to seem to me more and more like there's been a lot of communication and integration between Buddhists in Taiwan and Vietnam within the last ~200 years at least.

This leads to me a couple of questions...

First, does anyone have any more information on the Taiwanese adoption of the Upasaka-sila Sutra for lay bodhisattva ordination?

Second, does anyone have any more reading or lectures possibly on interactions between Taiwanese and Vietnamese Buddhists in modern and pre-modern history, particularly anything that does not have to do with Taixu's significant impact on Engaged Buddhism?

I might just be seeing a closer connection here than what might exist in reality, but with the historically documented connection between Humanistic and Engaged Buddhism, and the knowledge that Taixu was a massive influence on the Buddhist Revival in Vietnam (1920s-ish), and now the note that it appears only Taiwan and Vietnam ordain laity under the Upasakasila Sutra, it seems to suggest to me that contemporary Taiwanese and Vietnamese Buddhism may share a history of influencing each other, and may possibly share a marginally closer relationship to one another than they do (or at least Vietnam does) to mainland China.

I know I've progressed. No doubt in my mind. But that's me. There's still this big world around me. Scary big world sometimes. A world that requires money to exist at a certain tier of experience. And hey, I'm fine with finding a nice over pass in a temperate climate and existing without ever thinking about making money ever again. Hyperbole. Probably.

This need to have a job and that job to define you to some extent is so depressing I can't even wrap my head around going back to a thing I really don't want to be doing. Oh yeah, I'm undeployed. And in my 40s.

I see people my age involved in Dharma full time. Are these people sponsored? I also see people my age just living normal, not explicitly spiritual lives without issue too. That's not my path apparently and it really makes me paralyzingly sad. Clearly I don't understand money. Am I just supposed to be homeless in this western culture if money is something that seizes the whole human process for me?

There is an academic article on this from google scholar, unfortunately behind a paywall, but when reading the Lotus Sutra there is the Parable of the Phanton City and the Parable of the Ox Cart that seem to portray the Buddha as someone who uses illusions and deception to tease people out of the world of suffering. This seems to have flowed into later myths, as Kwan Yin often used illusions and tricks, like desires for a good afterlife or lust, to preach the Dharma.

I'm wondering how this squares with the Buddha always speaking the truth. Even in the Lifespan of the Thus Come One, the Buddha says he remains in this world, gives out word that he is dead, yet no one can say he speaks falsely, revealing tension between truth and trickery.

hi there I have a question I was hoping to find an answer too. So at the end of a kalpa when the universe contracts and destroys all unit worlds and most of the heavens and other realms (except Purelands) we all go to our local Abhassara Brahmaloka which survives every kalpa then when the universe expands again we devolve from that realm back to the lower realms. My question is this does the fact this realm survive each kalpa a contradiction to the teaching of Impermanence? I can't see any answers online

Theravadan here. I'd like to listen to some Mahayana Dharma talks to get a better understanding. Please link some favourites for me. Metta to all 🙏