Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 454 pages of information about Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2.

Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 454 pages of information about Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2.

Besides the nine Dharmas, numerous other sutras exist in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan and the languages of Central Asia.  Few have been edited or translated and even when something is known of their character detailed information as to their contents is usually wanting.  Among the better known are the following.

10.  One of the sutras most read in China and admired because its style has a literary quality unusual in Buddhist works is commonly known as the Leng-yen-ching.  The full title is Shou-leng-yen-san-mei-ching which is the Chinese transliteration of Surangama Samadhi.[143] This sutra is quoted by name in the Sikshasamuccaya and fragments of the Sanskrit text have been found in Turkestan.[144] The Surangama-Samadhi Sutra has been conjectured to be the same as the Samadhiraja, but the accounts of Rajendralala Mitra and Beal do not support this theory.  Beal’s translation leaves the impression that it resembles a Pali sutta.  The scene is laid in the Jetavana with few miraculous accessories.  The Buddha discusses with Ananda the location of the soul and after confuting his theories expounds the doctrine of the Dharma-kaya.  The fragments found in Turkestan recommend a particular form of meditation.

11.  Taranatha informs us that among the many Mahayanist works which appeared in the reign of Kanishka’s son was the Ratnakuta-dharma-paryaya in 1000 sections and the Ratnakuta is cited not only by the Sikshasamuccaya but by Asanga.[145] The Tibetan and Chinese canons contain sections with this name comprising forty-eight or forty-nine items among which are the three important treatises about Amitabha’s paradise and many dialogues called Paripriccha, that is, questions put by some personage, human or superhuman, and furnished with appropriate replies.[146] The Chinese Ratnakuta is said to have been compiled by Bodhiruchi (693-713 A.D.) but of course he is responsible only for the selection not for the composition of the works included.  Section 14 of this Ratnakuta is said to be identical with chapters 11 and 12 of the Mulasarvastivadin Vinaya.[147]

12.  The Guna-karanda-vyuha and Karanda-vyuha are said to be two recensions of the same work, the first in verse the second in prose.  Both are devoted to the praise of Avalokita who is represented as the presiding deity of the universe.  He has refused to enter Buddhahood himself until all living creatures attain to true knowledge and is specially occupied in procuring the release of those who suffer in hell.  The Guna-karanda-vyuha contains a remarkable account of the origin of the world which is said to be absent from the prose version.  The primeval Buddha spirit, Adi-Buddha or Svayambhu, produces Avalokita by meditation, and Avalokita produces the material world and the gods of Hinduism from his body, Siva from his forehead, Narayana from his heart and so on.  As such doctrines are not known to have appeared in Indian Buddhism before the tenth century it seems probable that the versified edition is late.  But a work with the title Ratna-karandaka-vyuha-sutra was translated into Chinese in 270 and the Karanda-vyuha is said to have been the first work translated into Tibetan.[148]

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Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.