Mahayana Sutras

[Nicholas Weeks]

The latest Sutra from 84000 Project:

https://read.84000.co/translation/toh248.html

SUMMARY
In The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa, Venerable Śāriputra requests the Buddha Śākyamuni to explain the conduct of bodhisattvas. The Buddha responds by describing how bodhisattvas train in many practices and in the cultivation of many qualities, here presented in sets of four, related to generosity and diligence in particular, and more broadly to their attitude, conduct, learning, insight, and teaching. In this way bodhisattvas swiftly progress along the path to buddhahood.

 

[Nicholas Weeks]

From the 2022 translation by Harrison and others:

From Introduction:
The Vimalakirtinirdesa (The Teaching of Vimalakirti) is one of the most celebrated literary creations of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, but until recently we were unable to see it in its full glory, reliant as we were on the Chinese and Tibetan translations, and on translations in various languages of those older versions. The Sanskrit text was lost, and, despite the talent and ingenuity of a long line of translators, our view of Vimalakirti was like that of a face through a pane of frosted glass. This all changed, suddenly and unexpectedly, with the discovery in 1999 of a complete Sanskrit manuscript of the sutra in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, which allowed us at last to see Vimalakirti’s features with crystal clarity.

 

[Nicholas Weeks]

Defilement, Reverend Upali, is volition, and the natural state of mind is free from volition and discrimination. Defilement is misperception, and the natural state of mind is free from misperception. Defilement is false imputation of a self, and the natural state of mind is the absence of self. All things, Reverend Upali, are destroyed as soon as they arise and they do not last; they are like conjurer’s illusions, like clouds and flashes of lightning. All things are unreliable, they do not last even a moment. All things are like a dream or mirage, they are false appearances. All things are like the moon we see in the water or the reflection we see in a mirror, they arise only because the mind imagines them in this way.

From chapter 3 of Vimalakirtinirdesa (The Teaching of Vimalakirti)