The Ten Grounds (Flower Garland Sutra, Chapter 26)

Somehow I managed to miss this thread until today. What a shame that it just seemed to die out. @Cino did you continue with the sutra?
 
Leveller said:
Somehow I managed to miss this thread until today. What a shame that it just seemed to die out. @Cino did you continue with the sutra?
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Yeah, I got bogged down with work stuff back then.

No promises, but as the Ten Grounds are a longstanding interest of mine, the chances are good.

How about the format? So far, I've just been posting my rambling commentary on the text, from the perspective of someone trained in a different school. This has annoyed at least one person, so if I should be less irreverent, let me know!
 
Cino said:
How about the format? So far, I've just been posting my rambling commentary on the text, from the perspective of someone trained in a different school. This has annoyed at least one person, so if I should be less irreverent, let me know!
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Having just found the thread I have done little more than skim. I saw nothing to cause any offence though.

I first came across the term "spiritual map" many years ago, in a book on meditation. I was fascinated by the term but unable to find out more. This was pre-google. Finding the thread has rekindled that interest so I am thinking of making a bit of a project out of it. The references to works by Christian mystics here has just whetted my appetite more.
 
Cino said:
Thanks, and how are you doing? Better, I hope?
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Marginally.

You may have noted that Kalavinka has several other versions of Ten Grounds Sutra that came out in 2020, in addition to the new complete Avatamsaka which has it in volume 2.
 
Leveller said:
Having just found the thread I have done little more than skim. I saw nothing to cause any offence though.

I first came across the term "spiritual map" many years ago, in a book on meditation. I was fascinated by the term but unable to find out more. This was pre-google. Finding the thread has rekindled that interest so I am thinking of making a bit of a project out of it. The references to works by Christian mystics here has just whetted my appetite more.
Click to expand...

Spiritual maps fascinate me.

To me, they represent the "gradual" side of gradual vs. sudden realization. Or in Western terms, they are squarely in the "works" camp of faith vs. works.

My own mode of mystical practice is oriented along the lines of such maps. And I need to remind myself occasionally how "the map is not the territory".

Again, can't promise anything, but this reading project is interesting, so let's keep it going. If you like, and have time, feel free to do a section?
 
Devas' daughters praise Fifth ground bodhisattvas:

The Great Sea, so ancient and vast, for the first time, now moves.
The Buddha’s light, so ancient and far-reaching, now shines forth.
Beings, after a long and distant past, for the first time, are happy.
The voice of the great compassion, after so long, is now heard.

Dharmamitra translation
 
Not sure where Cino's reading left off, so here is chapter 26 Ten Grounds - Bhikshu Dharmamitra's Kalavinka Press version:

http://kalavinka.org/Jewels/book_excerpts/HY-EO_excerpts/HY-EO-V2_Ch. 26_excerpt.pdf

Also English only version of Nagarjuna's Treatise on the bodhisattva Grounds or Stages:


Cannot ignore Roberts, using the Tibetan chapter 26 Ten Bhumis version from 84000 project. It is also downloadable as pdf etc.


This should keep folks occupied on their upward Path!
 
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The final chapter is on the 10th Ground, the Dharma Cloud. At the very end of it Vajragarbha Bodhisattva gives short summaries of the Ten Grounds. This is from the Kalavinka version:

The first ground is chief in vows, the second in upholding precepts,
the third ground in virtues, the fourth in singular focus,
the fifth ground in sublimity, the sixth in extreme profundity,
the seventh in vast wisdom, and the eighth in adornment.

The ninth is foremost in the contemplation of sublime meanings
in a manner that surpasses that of all the world’s paths.
On the tenth ground, one takes on and preserves Buddha dharmas.
It is in this way that the ocean of practices is inexhaustible.

Ten practices overstep the worldly, the first is generating the resolve,
upholding precepts is second, dhyāna is third,
purification of practices is fourth, fulfillment is fifth, conditioned
arising is sixth, his threading of [means and wisdom] is seventh,

the eighth is placement atop the vajra pillar,
the ninth is contemplation of the beings’ thickets,
the tenth is the anointing of the crown according to the King’s intent.
It is in this way that the jewel of virtue gradually becomes purified.

Even if, having crushed the ten directions’ lands to dust,
one could know in but a single mind-moment their number of dusts,
and, even if one could measure the size of space with a hair tip, still,
one could not finish describing [the grounds] even in a koṭi of kalpas.
 
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