High King Avalokitesvara Sutra question

Buddhism Questions in the Buddhism Questions section!!

1) meaning question:
What is the Li Po Li Po Di ... mantra that comes at the end of the HKA Sutra and we chant 7 times?  Does it have a name?  Does it have any "conventional" meaning?

2) process question:
If sometimes I am doing my cultivation away from home, or on a short schedule, I do not have time or ability to chant the whole High King Avalokitesvara Sutra, is it reasonable to still chant the mantra that comes at the end.  That much I have memorized!  Is it "OK" to separate it from the rest of the Sutra?

3) idle curiosity question:
Earlier in the HKA Sutra, there are some lines praising the Maha Prajna Paramita mantra - but, is this mantra part of the sutra anywhere?  Not in a form I can recognize.  Is there a TBS practice that uses the maja prajna paramita mantra?

???
[I need a smilie with the question marks, but without the frown.  These questions are not giving me indigestion.  They are prodding my inquiring mind into wondering what I am doing every day!  Some of it can be put into words, some not.]

lian hua dance
nothing here.

Dance,

This mantra is the Seven World Honored Buddhas Mantra, an extremely powerful mantra for both repentance and for the removal of negative hinderance.

This mantra is sometimes used seperately in repentance yoga but I've not come across it being used on it's own. The virtue of reciting the entire High King Sutra is that by doing so, the protectors associated with it will be near you. In addition you will foster better affinity with the many Buddhas within it.

"An affinity with the Pure Lands opens the Dharma Doors".

This contains the essence of what you are trying to achieve which this most powerful Sutra. I think it's best to keep trying until you have the Sutra commited to memory, either in English or Chinese, whichever you find easiest.. although it is said that the Buddhas are fond of hearing this Sutra in Chinese as that was the language it was first transmitted in! So be bold, do 1,000 recitations and it will become part of your conciousness. Until you have this in memory, you won't have realised the full benefits of the High King Sutra as a supplement toyour Yogas.

If you want to turbo charge your practice, try chanting the Seven World Honored Buddhas Mantra 108 times instead of 7. There are also visualisations one can add involving the colours of the Seven World Honoured Buddhas, but the Prajna Paramita Mantra is not used in the High King Sutra.

Lyciss,

I understand that to be the right mantra.

Emptiness is actually part of the first level of Tantric practice. Success in the Vajrasattva Yoga during the Four Preliminary Practices yields a unison with emptiness. Therefore it is (relatively!) close to all practitioners as you begin.

There are Six Paramitas of which Prajna is but one. The others are generosity, precepts, patience, diligence, mediation and prajna (wisdom). Since generosity, precepts, patience, diligence and mediation are all within our everyday reach, you can therefore see that you are closer to attaining the first level insight than you think! Use diligence in practice and you'll soon have all Six Paramitas! ;D

Dance,

I found that other Dharma! The following excerpt is from Book 103 Great Spiritual Response of Tantra. The mantra in section 3 is none other than the same, just with a differing phonetic. When I find the full practice I'll post it:
[hr]

In the "Ling Xian Vajra Tantra", I talked about how to do a True Buddha repentance ritual. There are five salient points:

1. Invocation of Buddha to witness
In our meditation, We must summon three Buddhas from the West, five Buddhas from the south, five Buddhas from the south and eight Buddhas from the north - altogether 21 Buddhas - to appear in the air and be our witnesses in the repentance ritual.

2. Radiation of lights for eradication
The virtue of 21 Buddhas can be used to reduce unwholesome karma and increase the merit of a cultivator. The cultivator must visualise the appearance of the Buddhas, each radiates colourful lights from his pores. The ray comes out from the pores will burst into illumination, and endless colours can be spotted. The light will be able to turn the worlds in ten directions into Buddha countries. And the cultivator immerses in a world of brightness. The five stages of a world's existence will have the lights. As the lights are omnipresent, first it can be used to change a filthy country to a Buddha country. Second, to liberate all the sentient beings who are supposed to be descended to hungry ghosts and animal realms because they have ten unwholesome karma, five profound sins, slander of triple gems, do not respect gurus and are un-filial.

Third, the light will radiate at the cultivator, so that his unwholesome karma will be eradicated. After the empowerment, he will be happy, upright, fortunate and smart. And be as dignified as a Buddha. He could also see the Buddhas of three lives from the ten directions.

3. Recite the names of Buddhas and chant mantra.
When seeing the lights, the cultivator must wholeheartedly recite the name of all the 21 Buddhas three times and chant the karma eradication mantra between 108 times and 1080 times. "Lipo lipo ti, qiu he qiu he ti, tuo luo ni ti, zhen ning qian it, suaha."

4. Visualisation and mudra
Left hand forms a fist and place it near the waist. Open the right palm, extend the five fingers (just like a five colour lights shine naturally ), and put the palm near the heart.

5. Transference and repentance
The unwholesome karma created over the past lives which would lead us to lower realms such as hell, animal, hungry ghosts or asura. Or the eight conditions in which it is difficult to see a Buddha or hear his dharma. All these will be eradicated when we cultivate right belief and repentance and the bad effect will not ripen. Following the Bodhisattvas before us who did cultivation and repent their unwholesome karma, we must confess and repent the same, so that all our past misdeeds will be exterminated and all our future misdeeds will not arise. The 21 Buddhas are invited to be our witness.

This is the True Buddha repentance ritual that must be cultivated together with four basic rituals and guru yoga. If we follow the rites properly, our merit will increase and hindrance will be removed totally.

Hi Brother L.H. Dance,

the "7 Buddha Mantra" found at the end of the HK sutra refers to the 7 Buddhas that has achieved Buddhahood in this Kalpa alone. These 7 Buddhas are pre-ordained Buddhas that has been pre-destined to appear in this world, such as the next Buddha - Maitreya Buddha. They are not the five Dhyani Buddhas nor the seven Buddhas that we chant during the bardo deliverance ceremony. The seven past Buddhas are Sakyamuni and his six predecessors - Vipassin, Sikhin, Vessabhu, Kondanna, Konagamana and Kassapa. Each predecessor being the Master of the successor - thus the unbroken lineage is established, just like GM is the direct disciple of Sakyamuni Buddha (Maha Shariputra), although GM never admitted it but merely hinted it, it was clearly written in the Lotus Sutras.

To my knowledge, the Mahayana monks chants the "7 buddha mantra" as a standalone in their daily practices as one of the "ten small mantras" that they cultivate daily.

The verse "shower limitless compassion upon all living beings" should, in my humble opinion, refer to Buddhas that were spoken of in the earlier section of the sutra. The original Chinese text is also as truncated and opened for interpretation.

The seven Buddhas that are usually on display in most TBS temples are the five Dhyani Buddhas + Sakyamuni Buddha + Medicine Buddha

Amitabha.
 

This coming Sunday, 7-29-02 is Avalokitsvara's Ordination Day, so would recitation of the High King Sutra on that day be especially meritorious?  

Is there anything one should prepare ahead of time if one plans to spend a good deal of the day meditating, chanting on Avaloktsvara?

Hi mimosa:

Yes, it's okay. Below is the revision of the above.

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I would like to share my personal experience about High King Sutra. Upon reaching 500 recitation, on the 450 to 500 recitation for the last five   days or so, I found many birds hanging around the trees surrounding my house. I don't think they are just a flock of birds singing just to be happen there because I have this for 5 days. And everytime I chant for about the third time of the High King Sutra, I will hear the birds singing, and most importantly, they sing correspond to my chanting and to my heart. The small birds sound 'cool', there are birds that sound  quite 'majestic' as of peacock, the raven signifies something will happen, and it feels very different mostly than other birds. There are many others, I won't be able to describe all of them. To tell you the truth, before the September 11 accident, I was in US, and in the very early morning before the accident takes place, I heard a flock of raven hanging around outside. I only know its meaning right afterward. I read on tbsn and on English Board that they are actually the transformations of Dharma Protectors and Dakinis. It's a very wonderfull feeling. You can really feel that Dharma Protectors and Dakinis are really exist all around you.  

I feel that as long as one keep on chanting the High King Sutra for sure one will receive the response soon. I read on PLS Journal that Master Samantha often assign homework for the people who consult with her to chant High King Sutra for at least 1000 times, and they really receive the spiritual response.



Om Mani Padme Hum !

Lotus Phan Hwa

thank you very much!!!

great merits to you!

Mimosa

dragonball, you had mention that GM clearly states that he is direct disciple of shakyamuni. I was looking for that sutra for a long time. do you know where I can find it?

alenachan

hey guys, I found the lotus sutra already. no need to post it here cause it's pretty lonnnnnngggg.  check it out at
www.tarogold.com

Glad you found it, sister alenachan.

For evidence, go to the chapter where Shakyamuni Buddha pre-ordained Shariputra as a Buddha, just before Shariputra entered into parinirvana. Notice the name of the Buddha that Shariputra is to become in future (I hope the translator gets it right!). It is Lotus Light Buddha.

Nuff' said.

Amitofo
DragonBall