13 Oct 2022
The Buddha’s disciple Ānanda is on an alms round in Śrāvastī when he notices an immaculate palace. He wonders whether it would be more meritorious to offer such a palace to the monastic community or to enshrine a relic of the Buddha within a small stūpa.
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29 Sep 2022
While residing in Nyagrodha Park in Kapilavastu, the Buddha meets an emaciated, long-haired brahmin named Vasiṣṭha. When the Buddha asks Vasiṣṭha why he looks this way, Vasiṣṭha explains that it is because he is observing a month-long fast. The Buddha then asks him if he maintains the eightfold observance of the noble ones, prompting an exchange between the two about what the eightfold observance entails and how much merit is to be gained by maintaining it.
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15 Sep 2022
While the Buddha is staying at the Bamboo Grove with a diverse retinue, the monk Maudgalyāyana asks him about some unusual beings he saw during an alms round. The Buddha informs Maudgalyāyana that these beings are starving spirits. The Buddha gives a discourse explaining how these starving spirits were once humans yet committed misdeeds related to food that led them to their current dismal state.
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1 Sep 2022
The Quintessence of the Sun is a long and heterogeneous sūtra in eleven chapters. At the Veṇuvana in the Kalandakanivāpa on the outskirts of Rājagṛha, the Buddha Śākyamuni first explains to a great assembly the severe consequences of stealing what has been offered to monks and the importance of protecting those who abide by the Dharma. The next section tells of bodhisattvas sent from buddha realms in the four directions to bring various dhāraṇīs as a way of protecting and benefitting this world.
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31 Aug 2022
This year 84000 published an English translation of The Perfection of Wisdom, marking the availability of 25 percent of the Kangyur in English. In June, our Founding Chair Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche offered a beautiful introduction to the sūtra, and we …
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18 Aug 2022
In Praise of the Glorious Goddess Sarasvatī presents a series of lyrical verses in praise of the deity Sarasvatī, the patron goddess of spoken and written eloquence. With evocative imagery and inspiring language, the praise pays tribute to Sarasvatī’s unimpeded speech, memory, and knowledge, and to her physical majesty and compassionate nature.
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4 Aug 2022
On their morning alms round, the Buddha and Maitreya meet Queen Kṣemavatī who is bedecked in all her royal jewelry. When the Buddha asks her about the source of such fine jewelry, referring to it metaphorically as fruit, Queen Kṣemavatī explains that her worldly position is the fruit of the tree of her previous good deeds.
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23 Jul 2022
We invite you to join us live on Monday, August 1, with the well-respected teacher, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche who will teach 84000’s publication of The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma, on this special occasion of Chökor Düchen.
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14 Jul 2022
The Teaching on the Effulgence of Light consists of a series of teachings related to the lights emitted by awakened beings as manifestations of their spiritual achievements. Amid the display of his miraculous powers, the Buddha describes the specific qualities with which each of those lights is associated, and he repeatedly emphasizes the fact that such lights are a natural expression of the insight into the emptiness of all phenomena.
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7 Jul 2022
In the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, a god has reached the end of his life. He foresees his rebirth as a pig and calls out to the Buddha to save him. The Buddha prompts him to seek refuge in the Three Jewels and, as a result, the god finds himself reborn into a wealthy family in Vaiśālī.
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