The Mahaparinirvana Sutra gives us the parable of the Prince’s Secret Royal Sword – that no one else has ever seen. Only the Royal Family – the Prince and the King himself – know that this precious sword looks like. All of the King’s men can only speculate – oh the sword looks like this and this and this – but they describe it all wrong! This is an analogy of how people in the world – describe who they really are – their Real Self, their True Self all wrong. For example, modern people in our time right now with modern tech and stuff think that our body is our self – but that’s wrong. Our body ..read more

Dragons are called Naga’s in Sanskrit language. If we read the Buddhist scriptures, we will read about Dragons. And if we read the biographies of great monks – we will hear about their encounters with dragons. In Theravadan Buddhism, there are Paritta chants to the Nagas for protection. In Mahayana Buddhism, for example in Chapter 12 of The Lotus Sutra, it talks about Long Nu (in Chinese this translates as Dragon girl or Dragon maiden), who was the daughter of the Dragon King Sagara, who was praised by the wisest of the Bodhisattvas – Manjushri, who was trying to teach the Buddha’s wisest disc ..read more

How to Learn the Great Compassion Mantra in Sanskrit – Part 3 Final Part before the Mantra Proper Tasmai Namaskrtva imam AryAvalokitesvara bhasitam Nilkantha nama Hrdayam vartayisyami  Sarvatha sadhakam subham ajeyam Sarva bhutanam Bhava marga visodhakam So this part of the final part of the introduction in the mantra before the proper mantra The timestamp to listen to this section is here: Tasmai Namaskrtva imam Tasmai Unto Him Namaskrtva – Offering obeisances Imam – This Unto Him, I offer obeisances, this AryAvalokitesvara bhasitam Nilankantha Nama Hrdayam vartayisyami AryAvalokites ..read more

How to learn the Great Compassion Mantra in Sanskrit -Part 2 The 5 Sarva… …Karaya’s How to learn the Great Compassion Mantra in Sanskrit Part 2: The 5 Sarva… …Karaya’s So the Great Compassiona Mantra starts with the Invocation to the Triple Jewel and to Gwan Yin Bodhisattva. Immediately after the Invocation Immediately after that, we have the 5 Sarva.. …Karaya’s: Sarva bandhana chedana karaya Sarva bhava samudram shosana karaya Sarva vyadhi prashamana karaya Sarva eti upadrava vinasana karaya Sarva bhaye su trana karaya Easy way to remember these 5 lines So all you need to remember here is t ..read more

Our Buddha – Shakyamuni Buddha, told us to not recite his name, but the name of another Buddha – Amitabha Buddha (also called Amitayus Buddha) so that we can rely on this Buddha’s great vow to take us to his Pure Land name Sukhavati when we die – the Land of Ultimate Bliss/the Land of Ultimate Happiness. There, we will be transformationally born from 9 different grades of Lotus and never again fall into the 3 evil destinies of the Hells, the Hungry Ghost realm or the Animal realm – we will never again be reborn into these destitute realms when we die IF we are able to call upon the power of Am ..read more

With Omicron infecting so many people across the world, I wanted to wish you all safety from being infected. 5 of my friends have been infected in just the past week – and it’s spread to their family members too. So there is an extremely high risk that we could all catch it. What’s are the best ways to stay safe from Covid? Get double vaccinated AND get your booster shot – a PhD, Dr Shawn Carbonell tested his own antibody levels and found that his antibody levels went up by 400% after his booster shot. Double Mask – Make sure 1 of the masks is a KN95 or N95 mask (regular cloth masks and even ..read more

The key part of this little lesson from the Buddha about Fools vs Wise is the WRONG DOING. Once a wrong has been done: Does the person who did the wrong see the error in their ways? Do others pardon them once they confess their wrongdoing? This will tell you who is a fool and who is wise in each of these 2 situations. The 2 Types of Fools “Monks, these 2 are fools. Which 2? The one who does NOT see his transgression as a transgression, and The one who doesn’t rightfully pardon another who has confessed his transgression. These two are fools. So which 2 types of people are fools? Someone w ..read more

Here is what the Buddha says on the question of Emptiness and Liberation: Mahaparinirvana Sutra:  “Emptiness [shunyata] means that one can find nothing even after having sought it. Although the Nirgranthas [Jains] also have a ‘nothing’, Liberation is NOT like that. Emptiness is like this: Concerning a honey jar, a butter jar, an oil jar, a water jar, or a yoghurt jar, no matter whether there is any yoghurt in the jar or not, it is still called a ‘yoghurt jar’, and Similarly no matter whether there is any honey or water there or not – one still calls them a honey jar or a water jar. How ..read more

What is the Buddha Nature? “You have asked what the Buddha-dhatu  is, so listen with sincerity, listen with sincerity. I shall analyse and elucidate it for your sake. “Nobly-born one, the Buddha-dhatu is termed: – ‘Ultimate Emptiness‘ [paramartha-shunyata], and – Ultimate Emptiness is termed “Awareness / Knowingness” [jnana]. So-called ‘Emptiness’ is neither viewed as Emptiness nor as non-Emptiness. The wise perceive: 1. Emptiness AND non-Emptiness, 2. The Eternal [nitya] AND the Impermanent [anitya],  3. Suffering [duhkha] AND Bliss [sukha],  4. Self ..read more

Commentary by Dr Tony Page Let us now return to the several fables in the Fa-xian version which front the chapter on “The Tathagatagarbha” and which are quoted above. We shall start with the introductory comments to the story of the impoverished man and the cache of hidden treasure within his house. The Buddha is asked by Kashyapa whether, like the Buddha, the beings of the 25 categories of existence also have a Self. The Buddha replies that the “True Self is the Tathagata-dhatu“. Kashyapa had NOT mentioned the word, “true”, so this addition by the Buddha is significant: it implicitly dra ..read more