XPost: talk.religion.buddhism, alt.zen, alt.philosophy.zen   
   XPost: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy   
   From: epsteinrob@yahoo.com   
      
   Tang Huyen wrote:   
      
   >   
   > halfawake wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   >>If the Lotus Sutra has great content and teaching in it, it is not in   
   >>the array of magical Buddhas and Bodhisattvas sitting on high making   
   >>pronouncements about the magical power of the sutra itself, which   
   >>turns the Buddhist teaching into a talisman or a magical object, a   
   >>wish-fulfilling gem, rather than an exercise in awakening.   
   >   
   >   
   > <   
   > Ven. Master Hsuan Hua, an important figure in Mahayana Buddhism,   
   > was one of the major proponents of the Surangama Sutra, which he   
   > commented and used in his instructions on protecting and supporting   
   > the Proper Dharma.   
   > He said: "In Buddhism all the sutras are very important, but the   
   > Surangama Sutra is even more important. Wherever the Surangama   
   > Sutra is, the Proper Dharma abides in the world. When the   
   > Surangama Sutra is gone, that is a sign of the Dharma Ending Age.   
   > In the Extinction of the Dharma Sutra it says that in the Dharma   
   > Ending Age, the Surangama Sutra will become extinct first. Then   
   > gradually the other Sutras will also become extinct. The Surangama   
   > Sutra is the true body of the Buddha; the sharira relics of the Buddha;   
   > the stupa of the Buddha.">>   
   >   
   > "Re: Impossible Dream", 22 Feb 2008, from: Robert Epstein.   
   >   
   > What you, Robbie, quoted from Hsuan Hua is very kindred in spirit   
   > to < itself, which turns the Buddhist teaching into a talisman or a magical   
   > object, a wish-fulfilling gem, rather than an exercise in awakening.>>   
   >   
   > Tang Huyen   
   >   
   >   
   >   
      
   It's not exactly the same though.  The Surangama itself is not *about*   
   the magical power of the sutra, and it does not laud Bodhisattvas as   
   royalty, seemingly in the opposite direction from the precepts of   
   Buddhism itself.  The Surangama gives a detailed analysis demonstrating   
   clearly and brilliantly that acts of perception, mentation and   
   consciousness itself are inherently empty.  It is not only a thesis, but   
   a philosophical demonstration of the most important Mahayana teachings.   
      
   Robert   
      
   = = = = = = = =   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)