New translations from Kalavinka

[Nicholas Weeks]

Part of Nagarjuna's chapter 24 on using verses praising Buddha to enhance Buddha mindfulness:

Now that, in this way, we have reached the end of this explanation
of the forty dharmas exclusive to the Buddhas, one should take the
aspects emblematic of these forty exclusive dharmas and use them in
one’s own practice of mindfulness of the Buddha. One should also use
verses to praise the Buddha, doing so as if one were standing directly
before him, speaking to him. If one proceeds in this manner, then one
may succeed in entering the mindfulness-of-the-Buddha samādhi.
Accordingly, there are verses, as follows:

B. The Praise Verses
1. Verses in Praise of the Forty Dharmas Exclusive to the Buddhas

Oh, greatly vigorous lord of the Āryas—
Now, in the presence of the Buddha,
I shall praise with reverential mind
these forty dharmas possessed only [by buddhas].

As for his supernatural powers and travel through flight,
their power when enacted is utterly limitless.
Among the psychic powers of the other āryas,
there are none at all that can equal these.

Among the śrāvaka disciples, he holds sway with sovereign mastery,
using his measureless knowledge of others’ thoughts.
Thus he is well able to train their thoughts
by according with their minds as he appropriately responds to them.

His mindfulness is as expansive as the great ocean
while also being tranquil and calmly secure.
In all the world, there is no dharma
able to cause him to become perturbed.

The jewel of the vajra samādhi
that is praised by all buddhas—
he has acquired it and it resides within his heart
just as the Worthies embrace the straightforward mind.

He thoroughly knows the unfixed dharmas
and the matters associated with the four formless absorptions
that are so subtle they are difficult to distinguish.
He exhaustively knows them all without exception.

Many more verses follow from Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Ten Grounds

[ezza]

Kalavinka's books are now all available on Kindle and other popular eBook websites.
Here's the Amazon author page linking to all the books currently avail via Kindle by Bhikshu Dharmamitra: https://www.amazon.com/Bhikshu-Dharmamitra/e/B08HL5K4QJ

[Nicholas Weeks]

It is now possible to get all of Dharmamitra's translations in pdf format for Free. Yes, there is mention of "considering" a donation, but that can be ignored by the poor or thrifty. Just click on the title in Blue type. Some are English Only, some have Chinese on facing pages:

http://kalavinka.org/kp_main_pages/books.htm

[Nicholas Weeks]

Nagarjuna teaches in this short excerpt on meditation & practice of Buddha recollection, a common daily theme for many:

http://kalavinka.org/Jewels/book_excerp ... xcerpt.pdf

[Nicholas Weeks]

Begins with purpose of the practice:

Nāgārjuna on Recollection of the Buddha

I. Recollection of the Buddha
A. The Purpose of the Practice

The Buddha told the bhikshus: “If one is engaging in contemplations in a forest hermitage, an empty building, a charnel ground, the mountains, the forests, or the desolate wilderness, and if one becomes so fearful that the hairs on one’s body stand on end, at just such a time, one should engage in recollection of the Buddha, recalling that the Buddha is a tathāgatha, an arhat, samyaksaṃbuddha, and so forth until we come to a bhagavat. One’s fearfulness will then disappear.”

[Nicholas Weeks]

From Dharmamitra's synopsis' Preface to all chapters:

The Flower Adornment Sutra’s description of the cosmos as consisting of
infinitely many quantumly entangled interpenetrating worlds populated
by countless buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other beings playing out a grand
scenario of karma and Dharma in all the realms of rebirth is so vast, so
multi-leveled, so intricate, and so marvelous that it is nearly impossible for
anyone to envision, grasp, and simultaneously hold all of its amazing teachings
in mind without the aid of some sort of simplifying skillful means with which
to keep track of this scripture’s main story lines and ideas as they are set forth
in its thirty-nine chapters and several thousand pages.

To that end, for the benefit of those readers who feel they might benefit
from such an aid to reinforced understanding, in addition to the
approximately thirteen hundred clarifying and commentarial endnotes provided
for my translation of the Flower Adornment Sutra, I have also included
here [in vol. III] a general synopsis of the main events, primary teachings, and most
important ideas contained in each of those thirty-nine chapters as well
as in the traditionally appended conclusion, “The Conduct and Vows of
Samantabhadra” with which this grand spiritual saga concludes.

For the most part, these synopses of the content of each of the sutra
chapters are constructed from a series of quotations interspersed with my
brief comments that together more or less reconstruct the narrative and
most important ideas of the often rather long chapters that in a half dozen
instances range between one hundred and seven hundred pages in length.

[Nicholas Weeks]

A reminder of how to find & download any Kalavinka Press translation, such as the Avatamsaka Sutra for free. Of course the printed volumes can be bought also:

http://kalavinka.org/Jewels/jewels_toc.htm