XPost: talk.religion.buddhism, alt.zen, alt.philosophy.zen   
   XPost: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy   
   From: evelyn.ruut@gmail.com   
      
   "Tang Huyen"  wrote in message   
   news:c56dncZU9JXx5_vRnZ2dnUVZ_qydnZ2d@supernews.com...   
   >   
   >   
   > 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   
      
      
   This is true.   As I understand it, there are people who definitely hold the   
   Lotus Sutra as the ONLY valid one, and do indeed treat it as a talisman or   
   magical object.    They chant more for personal and financial gain, less for   
   awakening.   
      
   --   
   Best Regards,   
   Evelyn   
      
   In the stony fastness of the mountains there is a strange market, where one   
   may barter the vortex of life for boundless bliss.  - Milarepa   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)