Translations of Buddhist Classics from the Indian and Chinese Traditions
Kalavinka Buddhist Classics
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The First & Only Complete Translation of the Avataṃsaka Sutra !!!
New ! (10/01/2022)
The Flower Adornment Sutra
An Annotated Translation of the Avataṃsaka Sutra
With a Commentarial Synopsis of the Flower Adornment Sutra
(In Three Volumes, 2,500 pages.)
"The Flower Adornment Sutra" is the first and so far only complete English translation of any edition of the Avataṃsaka Sutra, the very long collection of bodhisattva path teachings considered to be so complete that it was otherwise traditionally referred to as "the Bodhisattva Canon." Bhikshu Dharmamitra has translated it from Tripitaka Master Śikṣānanda’s 80-fascicle circa 699 ce Chinese rendering of the Sanskrit Mahāvaipulya Buddha Avataṃsaka Sūtra (T0279: 大方廣佛華嚴經). This most complete Tang Dynasty edition of the sutra consists of 39 chapters to which Dharmamitra has added the traditionally appended conclusion to Chapter 39, "The Conduct and Vows of Samantabhadra" that was only finally translated into Chinese a century later (798 ce) by Tripitaka Master Prajñā.
The scenarious that unfold across the course of these 39 chapters introduce an interpenetrating, infinitely expansive, and majestically grand multiverse of countless buddha worlds extending throughout all three periods of time and all dimensions of space, revealing as it does so a cosmos in which all phenomena are visible in any given phenomenon and any given phenomenon is visible in all phenomena, more or less analogous to the vision of the cosmos inferred by the revelations of modern physics in its descriptions of quantum entanglement and quantum non-locality. Meanwhile, the text proceeds to reveal and explain in great detail and with countless cases the cultivation of the bodhisattva path to buddhahood, most notably the ten highest levels of bodhisattva practice known as "the ten bodhisattva grounds."
To aid deeper understanding of the sutra and to clarify the rationale for emendations based on variant readings in different Chinese editions, Bhikshu Dharmamitra has included 1200 endnotes while also appending his "A Commentarial Synopsis of the Flower Adornment Sutra" which serves to assist the student in easily reviewing the content and meaning of each of the forty chapters, some of which run in length to hundreds of pages or even, as in the case of the final chapter, seven hundred pages. Other important and useful sections include a relatively brief introduction, a list of abbreviations, and a glossary of the standard Buddhist technical terminology used throughout all three volumes.
New ! (10/01/2022)
The Flower Adornment Sutra - Volume One
An Annotated Translation of the Avataṃsaka Sutra
With a Commentarial Synopsis of the Flower Adornment Sutra
Volume One consists of Chapters 1 - 25.
Purchase Volume One from Amazon.com: $26.94
New ! (10/01/2022)
The Flower Adornment Sutra - Volume Two
An Annotated Translation of the Avataṃsaka Sutra
With a Commentarial Synopsis of the Flower Adornment Sutra
Volume Two consists of Chapters 26 - 38.
Purchase Volume Two from Amazon.com: $24.07
New ! (10/01/2022)
The Flower Adornment Sutra - Volume Three
An Annotated Translation of the Avataṃsaka Sutra
With a Commentarial Synopsis of the Flower Adornment Sutra
Volume Three consists of the 53-part Ch. 39, "Entering the Dharma Realm" (the Gaṇḍavyūha) together with the traditionally appended "Conduct and Vows of Samantabhadra."
Purchase Volume Three from Amazon.com: $27.00
Recently Published Bodhisattva Path Texts:
(01/01/2020)
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.
(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.
(01/01/2020)
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.
(01/01/2020)
(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.
(01/01/2020)
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.
(01/01/2020)
(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.
(01/01/2020)
(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.
(01/01/2020)
(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 Shramana 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 (samatha-vipasyana) 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 Shramana 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 (anapana) and calming-and-insight (samatha-vipasyana) 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:
Nagarjuna's Guide to the Bodhisattva Path
By Arya Nagarjuna (ca 2nd c.)
Nagarjuna's Bodhisambhara Shastra with Abridged Bhikshu Vasitva Commentary.
This is Nagarjuna's Bodhisambhara Shastra ("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 Vasitva.
Translation, abridgement, and notes by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
The Bodhisambhara Treatise Commentary
By the early Indian monk, Bhikshu Vasitva (ca 300-500 ce)
This is a very detailed commentary on the meaning of each stanza comprising Arya Nagarjuna's Treatise on the Provisions for the Path to Enlightenment. It is the only extant traditional commentary on this important work by Nagarjuna.
Translation and clarifying notes by Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Includes facing-page source text.
Nagarjuna on the Six Perfections
By Arya Nagarjuna
This is a translation of chapters 17-30 of Arya Nagarjuna's Exegesis on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, a free-standing section exclusively devoted to analyzing and explaining the bodhisattva's six perfections. Nagarjuna 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 Arya Nagarjuna
This is Tripitaka Master Paramartha's earliest (ca 550 ce) complete edition of Nagarjuna's Ratnavali, a 500-stanza treatise on the Bodhisattva Path presented in the form of a spiritual advisor's letter to an Indian King. In it, Nagarjuna 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 Nagarjuna's
Suhrllekha,
Nagarjuna's spiritual counsel to an Indian monarch.
By Arya Nagarjuna
As translated by Tripitaka Master Gunavarman (ca 425)
As translated by Tripitaka Master Sanghavarman (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 Arya Nagarjuna
This volume consists of 130 stories and short Dharma anecdotes selected from Nagarjuna's immense commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. Each story is "framed" by the inclusion of Nagarjuna'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 Arya Nagarjuna, Patriarch Sheng'an Shixian, and the Tang-Dynasty literatus, Peixiu.
--On Generating the Resolve to Become a Buddha. By Arya Nagarjuna. (Ch. 6 of The Ten Grounds Vibhasa)
--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 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.