Translations of Buddhist Classics from the Indian and Chinese Traditions
Kalavinka Buddhist Classics
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Four New Bodhisattva Path Translations (01/01/2020)
Published Both With and Without Facing-Page Chinese Text (= 8 New Books)
Nāgārjuna's Treatise on the Ten Bodhisattva Grounds - Bilingual
(Bilingual Chinese-English Edition)
By Ārya Nāgārjuna (ca 2nd c.)
Nāgārjuna's Daśabhūmika Vibhāṣā
"Nāgārjuna’s Treatise on the Ten Bodhisattva Grounds" is Bhikshu Dharmamitra’s translation of Nāgārjuna’s Daśabhūmika Vibhāṣā, a commentary on the Ten Grounds Sutra. It consists of 35 chapters that explain the cultivation of the ten highest levels of bodhisattva practice leading to buddhahood, focusing almost exclusively on the first two of the ten bodhisattva grounds.
This special bilingual edition (English / Chinese) includes facing-page simplified and traditional Chinese scripts.
New ! (01/01/2020)
Nāgārjuna's Treatise on the Ten Bodhisattva Grounds
(English Edition)
By Ārya Nāgārjuna (ca 2nd c.)
Nāgārjuna's Daśabhūmika Vibhāṣā
"Nāgārjuna’s Treatise on the Ten Bodhisattva Grounds" is Bhikshu Dharmamitra’s translation of Nāgārjuna’s Daśabhūmika Vibhāṣā, a commentary on the Ten Grounds Sutra. It consists of 35 chapters that explain the cultivation of the ten highest levels of bodhisattva practice leading to buddhahood, focusing especially on the first two of the ten bodhisattva grounds.
The Ten Grounds Sutra - Trilingual
(Trilingual Chinese-English-Sanskrit Edition)
The Daśabhūmika Sūtra
"The Ten Grounds Sutra (Trilingual)" is an annotated English Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra of Tripitaka Master Kumārajīva’s circa 410 ce Sanskrit-to-Chinese translation of the Daśabhūmika Sūtra. This sutra describes in great detail the ten highest levels of bodhisattva practice on the path to buddhahood.
This special trilingual edition (English / Chinese / Sanskrit) includes the facing-page simplified and traditional Chinese scripts along with the entire appended P. L. Vaidya Sanskrit text.
(English Edition)
The Daśabhūmika Sūtra
"The Ten Grounds Sutra" is an annotated English Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra of Tripitaka Master Kumārajīva’s circa 410 ce Sanskrit-to-Chinese translation of the Daśabhūmika Sūtra. This sutra describes in great detail the ten highest levels of bodhisattva practice on the path to buddhahood.
This otherwise "English-only" edition includes as an appendix the entire P. L. Vaidya Sanskrit text.
The Ten Bodhisattva Grounds - Trilingual
(Trilingual Chinese-English-Sanskrit Edition)
The Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Chapter 26
"The Ten Bodhisattva Grounds" is an annotated English Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra of Tripitaka Master Śikṣānanda’s circa 699 ce Sanskrit-to-Chinese translation of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Chapter 26, "The Ten Grounds Chapter." This text describes in great detail the ten highest levels of bodhisattva practice on the path to buddhahood as taught in that sutra.
This special trilingual edition (English / Chinese / Sanskrit) includes facing-page simplified and traditional Chinese scripts along with the entire appended P. L. Vaidya Sanskrit text.
(English Edition)
The Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Chapter 26
”The Ten Bodhisattva Grounds” is an annotated English Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra of Tripitaka Master Śikṣānanda’s circa 699 ce Sanskrit-to-Chinese translation of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Chapter 26, "The Ten Grounds Chapter." This text describes in great detail the ten highest levels of bodhisattva practice on the path to buddhahood as taught in that sutra.
This otherwise "English-only" edition of the translation includes as an appendix the entire P. L. Vaidya Sanskrit text.
(Bilingual Chinese-English Edition)
By Ārya Nāgārjuna (ca 2nd c.)
“Nāgārjuna on Mindfulness of the Buddha” consists of Bhikshu Dharmamitra's translations of Ārya Nāgārjuna’s explanations of three closely related but rather different "mindfulness-of-the-Buddha" practices that are sometimes conflated with each other: “Mindfulness of the Buddha” as pure land practice; “Mindfulness of the Buddhas” as cultivation of the “seeing-the-Buddhas” (pratyutpanna) samādhi; and “Recollection of the Buddha” as a protective practice. The first two explanations are drawn from Nāgārjuna’s Daśabhūmika Vibhāṣā and the third explanation is drawn from Nāgārjuna’s Mahāprājnāpāramitopedeśa.
This special bilingual edition (English / Chinese) includes facing-page simplified and traditional Chinese scripts.
(English Edition)
By Ārya Nāgārjuna (ca 2nd c.)
“Nāgārjuna on Mindfulness of the Buddha” consists of Bhikshu Dharmamitra's translations of Ārya Nāgārjuna’s explanations of three closely related but rather different "mindfulness-of-the-Buddha" practices that are sometimes conflated with each other: “Mindfulness of the Buddha” as pure land practice; “Mindfulness of the Buddhas” as cultivation of the “seeing-the-Buddhas” (pratyutpanna) samādhi; and “Recollection of the Buddha” as a protective practice. The first two explanations are drawn from Nāgārjuna’s Daśabhūmika Vibhāṣā and the third explanation is drawn from Nāgārjuna’s Mahāprājnāpāramitopedeśa.
Meditation Instruction Texts:
The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation
By Śramaṇa Zhiyi (Chih-i) - (538-597 ce)
Master Zhiyi is the famous Tiantai Mountain meditation master, exegete, and teachings-school founder. His Essentials for Practicing Calming-and-Insight and Dhyana Meditation is a calming-and-insight (śamatha-vipaśyanā) meditation manual deeply rooted in the early Indian Buddhist meditation tradition. It offers perhaps the most reliable, comprehensive, and practically-useful Buddhist meditation instruction currently available in English.
Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime
By Śramaṇa Zhiyi (Chih-i) - (538-597 ce)
This classic, also by Master Zhiyi, serves as an ideal companion volume to The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation. It explains the six practices crucial to success in traditional Indian Buddhist breath (ānāpanā) and calming-and-insight (śamatha-vipaśyanā) meditation. Correctly implemented, these six "gates" lead the practitioner to realize the third of the four truths (cessation), of which the "sublimity" referenced in the title is one of the four canonically-described practice aspects.
Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
Previously Published Bodhisattva Path Texts:
Nāgārjuna's Guide to the Bodhisattva Path
By Ārya Nāgārjuna (ca 2nd c.)
Nagarjuna's Bodhisaṃbhāra Śāstra with Abridged Bhikshu Vaśitva Commentary.
This is Nāgārjuna's Bodhisaṃbhāra Śāstra (Treatise on the Provisions for Path to Enlightenment). It describes the essential prerequisites for the complete enlightenment of a buddha. It is accompanied here by an abridged version of its only commentary, originally written by the early Indian Bhikshu Vaśitva.
Translation, abridgement, and notes by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
The Bodhisaṃbhāra Treatise Commentary
By the early Indian monk, Bhikshu Vaśitva (ca 300-500 ce)
This is a very detailed commentary on the meaning of each stanza comprising Ārya Nāgārjuna's Treatise on the Provisions for the Path to Enlightenment. It is the only extant traditional commentary on this important work by Nāgārjuna.
Translation and clarifying notes by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
Nāgārjuna on the Six Perfections
By Ārya Nāgārjuna
This is a translation of chapters 17-30 of Ārya Nāgārjuna's Exegesis on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, a free-standing section exclusively devoted to analyzing and explaining the bodhisattva's six perfections. Nāgārjuna sets forth stories, analogies, and analyses as he discourses on the six primary practices forming the core of the Bodhisattva Path.
Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
By Ārya Nāgārjuna
This is Tripitaka Master Paramārtha's earliest (ca 550 ce) complete edition of Nāgārjuna's Ratnāvalī, a 500-stanza treatise on the Bodhisattva Path presented in the form of a spiritual advisor's letter to an Indian King. In it, Nāgārjuna presents both abstruse teachings and practical advice to lay and monastic practitioners.
Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
Letter from a Friend
The Three Earliest Editions of Nāgārjuna's
Suhṛllekha,
Nāgārjuna's spiritual counsel to an Indian monarch.
By Ārya Nāgārjuna
As translated by Tripitaka Master Guṇavarman (ca 425)
As translated by Tripitaka Master Saṃghavarman (ca
450)
As translated by Tripitaka Master Yijing
(ca 675)
English translations with notes by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
Marvelous Stories from the Perfection of Wisdom
As told by Ārya Nāgārjuna
This volume consists of 130 stories and short Dharma anecdotes selected from Nāgārjuna's immense commentary on the 25K Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. Each story is "framed" by the inclusion of Nāgārjuna's introductory and summarizing Dharma discussions.
Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
Resolve-for-Enlightenment / Bodhicitta Texts:
On Generating the Resolve to Become a Buddha
Three Works on Bodhicitta
By Ārya Nāgārjuna, Patriarch Sheng'an Shixian, and the Tang-Dynasty literatus, Peixiu.
--On Generating the Resolve to Become a Buddha. By Ārya Nāgārjuna. (Ch. 6 of The Ten Grounds Vibhāṣā)
--Exhortation to Resolve on Buddhahood. By Dhyana Master Sheng'an Shixian. (1686-1734)
--Exhortation to Resolve on Buddhahood. By the Tang Dynasty literatus, Peixiu. (797-870)
Translations by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
Vasubandhu's Treatise on the Bodhisattva Vow
By Vasubandhu Bodhisattva (ca 300)
This is Vasubandhu's treatise on the Sutra on Generating the Resolve to Become a Buddha wherein Vasubandhu discourses on the causality behind the origination of bodhicitta and on the six perfections through which it reaches fruition.
Translation by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.