Forest of Pearls

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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Nicholas Weeks
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Forest of Pearls

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

This is a three volume set of texts that BDK has available in free PDF's as well as in print. Here is a bit from the translator's Introduction:
A Forest of Pearls from the Dharma Garden (Fayuan zhulin, T. 2122) is a large
anthology of excerpts from Buddhist canonical sources and historical records,
arranged by theme. The scriptural passages, with some exceptions, were taken
from Indian Buddhist scriptures translated into Chinese; the settings of the narratives
they offer are for the most part Indian. The historical records excerpted
in the collection are of Chinese origin, and their settings are Chinese.
The collection is attributed to Daoshi, a seventh-century monk based at Ximingsi
Monastery in the capital city, Chang’an.
The topics in volume one are:
The Measurement of World Ages (Kalpas)
The Three Realms
The Sun and Moon
The Six Realms of Rebirth
BDK is a great source for all kinds of free Dharma, not just Mahayana.

https://www.bdkamerica.org/bdk-pdf-downloads
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Forest of Pearls

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Volume 2 is about past buddhas:
(Note: This has fifteen parts:) (1) The Seven Buddhas, (2) Causes and Conditions,
(3) The Clan, (4) Conception, (5) Birth, (6) Attending to and Raising
the Child , (7) Prognostication, (8) Studies, (9) Marriage, (10) Recognition
of Suffering, (11) Renunciation, (12) Enlightenment, (13) Preaching the
Dharma, (14) Extinction, and (15) The Collection of the Teaching.
Volume 3 topics:
Paying Respect to the Buddha
Paying Respect to the Dharma
Miracle Stories
Paying Respect to the Sangha
Worship (Paying Respect)
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Forest of Pearls

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More details about volume one contents:
[Topics To Be Discussed:] Measurement of world ages; the three realms; the
sun and moon; the six realms; one thousand buddhas; paying respect to the
Buddha; paying respect to the Dharma; paying respect to the Sangha (monastic
order); the practice of paying respect; the field of merit; turning to faith; men
and women; entering the Way; repentance; providing guidance; preaching
and listening to the Dharma; understanding; fate; sincerity; supernatural feats;
miraculous response; upholding the teaching; seclusion; anomalies; transformation;
dreams; meritorious work; controlling [one’s] thoughts; vows; the
Dharma robe; the lamp; the banner; incense and flowers; chanting; paying
respect to a stupa; temple building; relics; offerings; accepting invitations;
the cakravartin king; rulers and ministers; accepting remonstrance; investigating
the truth; caution; parsimony; punishments for faults; obedience; admonition;
loyalty and filial piety; unfiliality; returning kindness; failing to return kindness;
good friends; evil friends; choosing [one’s] associates; attendants; measurement;
debating skill; stupidity; deception; laziness; refuting wrong views; wealth;
poverty; debt; court cases; reviling; magic; sacrifice; divination; praying for
rain; the fruits of the garden; fishing and hunting; compassion; releasing living
beings; rescue; suffering; karmic causes; retribution; punishment and happiness;
desire; the four kinds of birth; the ten dispositions; the ten evil deeds; the six
perfections; repentance; receiving precepts; violating precepts; receiving a
feast; breaking the rule of offering a feast to monks; reward and punishment;
benefit and harm; [consuming] wine and meat; defilement; illness; giving up
one’s body; sending one to death; destruction of the Dharma; other miscellaneous
matters; scriptural records.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Forest of Pearls

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Effects from following precepts, page 79:
By following the seven precepts of not killing, not stealing, not engaging
in immoral sexual conduct, not telling lies, not engaging in insincere flattery,
not uttering slanderous words, and not speaking harshly one can be
reborn in the heaven of the four heavenly kings. By upholding seven kinds
of precepts, one can be reborn in the heavens. There are three kinds. By
upholding the precept of not killing one can be reborn in the place of the
four heavenly kings. By upholding the precepts of not killing and not
stealing one can be reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods (Trāyastriṃśa).
By upholding the precepts of not killing, not stealing, and not
engaging in immoral sexual conduct one can be reborn in Yama Heaven.
By upholding the precepts of not killing, not stealing, not engaging in
immoral sexual conduct, not lying, not uttering slanderous words, not
speaking harshly, and not engaging in insincere flattery, one can be reborn
in Tuṣita Heaven. Accepting worldly precepts and having faith in Buddhist
precepts, not killing, not stealing, not engaging in immoral sexual conduct,
not lying, not uttering slanderous words, not speaking harshly, and not
engaging in insincere flattery, one can be reborn in Nirmāṇarati Heaven
and Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Re: Forest of Pearls

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Although only two volumes are in print now, the third is forthcoming soon. Yet many more fascicles, 80 in fact, will be translated in time.
This major collection offers a comprehensive and distinctive reading of the Buddhist canon at the time of its composition (Seventh century CE). Because the work includes Chinese passages from mainly Indic sources, and the Indic sources are often no longer available, the work rescues scripture that would otherwise be lost to history. The settings of their narratives are for the most part Indian. The historical records excerpted in the collection are of Chinese origin, and their settings are Chinese. In addition, a set of miracle stories is appended at the end of each chapter, devoted to one of the one hundred topics around which the collection is organized. These ganying yuan, “stories of cosmic responses,” about events reported in China correlate to specific scriptural accounts set in India, and carry the distinct message that the occurrence of such miraculous events illustrates the efficacy in China of the practices described in scriptures. The principal sources for these miracle stories were collections of monastic biographies and a variety of miracle story collections.

Volume I includes Fascicles 1–7 (Chapters 1–4). Volume II is now in print, including Fasciles 9-12 (Chapter 5). In the near future, a third volume will appear, also translated by Professor Shinohara, covering fascicles 13-20. The remaining 80 fascicles of this large text are being translated by a number of scholars and will be published in sequential volumes over the next several years.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Forest of Pearls

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In addition to all the Dharma quotations compiled, there are 47 or so 'miracle' stories in volume one. A mix of spiritual, psychic & other realm events, this sort of literature was popular in ancient China.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
simsapa
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Re: Forest of Pearls

Post by simsapa »

Interesting, and potentially useful. Thanks.
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Forest of Pearls

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Not wishing to clutter up Dhamma Wheel (& perhaps offend some folks) with too many miracle stories from these books, here is a link to Dharma Paths site where there are many more:

https://www.dharmapaths.com/viewtopic.p ... 531#p11531

Also a fourth volume has been translated in the BDK series.
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Forest of Pearls

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The four volumes that have been translated so far are available in free PDF format or in books. This link is to those four. It is a treasure of ancient Chinese Dharma:

https://bdkamerica.org/?s=forest+of+pea ... pe=product
Good and evil have no fixed form. It's as easy to turn from doing bad to doing good as it is to flip over the hand from the back to the palm. It's simply up to us to do it. Master Hsuan Hua.
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