The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist

84000 is pleased to announce its newest publication:

Toh 65

སྒྱུ་མ་མཁན་བཟང་པོ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ།
The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist
Bhadra­māyākāravyākaraṇa

While the Buddha Śākyamuni is residing at Vulture Peak Mountain, in the nearby city of Rājagṛha the accomplished illusionist Bhadra hatches a scheme to humiliate the Buddha and disprove his omniscience in order to win over the people of Magadha. The failure of Bhadra’s plan, in which he conjures the illusion of a resplendent courtyard that, to his dismay, cannot be undone, culminates in a series of surreal and magnificent visions that convince Bhadra of the superiority of the Buddha’s powers. This sūtra presents a colorful and often humorous narrative and contains teachings on illusion, emptiness, and the distinction between the illusionist’s mundane abilities and the Buddha’s miraculous display. The Buddha also teaches Bhadra forty-three sets of four qualities that together constitute the bodhisattva path.

Access this and other sūtras in the 84000 Reading Room:
The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist

 

 

Click here to make a dāna donation

This is a free publication from 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, a non-profit organization sharing the gift of wisdom with the world.

The cultivation of generosity, or dāna—giving voluntarily with a view that something wholesome will come of it—is considered to be a fundamental Buddhist practice by all schools. The nature and quantity of the gift itself is often considered less important.