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SUTRA READINGS
On full & new moon days and special days of the Buddhist calendar, in English, 1-2 hours long.
To find out when Tushita offers the next Sutra Reading, please visit: Program> Calendar of Events.
 The recitation of Mahayana sutras is one of the six virtuous practices
specifically recommended for purification, and the recitation of this
sutra in particular has far-reaching karmic consequences that last for
many lifetimes, as the Sanghata Sutra itself explains in detail. Within the sutra, the Buddha provides
numerous descriptions of the ways in which the sutra works on those who
recite it to clear away their seeds of suffering, and to assure their
future happiness all the way up enlightenment. The sutra also includes
some forceful teachings on death and impermanence, including a teaching
on the physical and mental processes that occur at the time of death.
While reading such a powerfully transformative sutra, which
Buddha Shakyamuni taught in order to make the path to enlightenment as easy as
possible, we can feel very palpably the Buddha's incredible kindness for us. At
the same time, because this sutra contains the actual words spoken by the
Buddha, by reproducing that speech ourselves during the recitation, we are
offering our voices to serve as conduits for the presence of his teachings in
the world. Thus in reciting the Sanghata Sutra, along with all the benefits we
ourselves receive, we are acting in a very direct and powerful way to keep
active the teachings of the Buddha, which are so urgently needed in order to
alleviate the sufferings of all beings.
by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
SANGHATA SUTRA
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has suggested that all FPMT centers recite the
Sanghata Sutra. The recitation of this sutra yields enormous benefits
for all those who hear or recite it, and has been recommended by
Rinpoche specifically in order to generate the merit that will be
needed to bring to completion the Maitreya Project, which itself will
yield enormous benefits for countless beings.
The Sanghata Sutra is a direct record of a teaching that was given by
Buddha Shakyamuni on Vulture's Peak in Rajagriha. This discourse of the
Buddha, like all Mahayana sutras, was memorized by his disciples and
later written down in Sanskrit. However, the Sanghata Sutra is unique
in that it is a teaching that the Buddha himself had heard from a
previous Buddha, and it is also unique in the scope of the effects it
has on those who recite it.
The Sanghata Sutra is one of a special set of sutras called
dharma-paryayas, or 'transformative teachings' that function to
transform those who hear or recite them in particular ways. One very
powerful benefit is that at the time of death, any person who has
recited the Sanghata Sutra will have visions of Buddhas who will come
to comfort them during the death process. A further benefit is that
wherever the Sanghata Sutra is established, the Buddhas are always
present, as explained in the text itself. As such, the recitation can
bestow a powerful blessing on the place where it is recited.
For many centuries, the Sanghata Sutra was among the most widely read
and copied of all Mahayana sutras. In the 1930s, an archeological
excavation conducted in northern Pakistan under British colonial rule,
unearthed a library of Buddhist texts. This archeological dig was
extremely important for historians, in that it yielded a large cache of
manuscripts written in the fifth century AD, a much earlier period than
can be found anywhere in India itself. Among these many important
manuscripts, the text of which we find the largest number of copies was
the Sanghata Sutra, more even than the Lotus Sutra, the Diamond Cutter
Sutra or the Perfection of Wisdom sutras that nowadays are more
familiar to us. Although the Sanghata had been translated into many
languages of early Mahayana Buddhism, including Chinese, Khotanese and
Tibetan, until that excavation in the 1930s, the original Sanskrit had
been lost.
In more recent times, after first encountering the Sanghata Sutra while
staying at Geshe Sopa la's monastery in Madison last year, Lama Zopa
Rinpoche decided to copy the sutra by hand in gold, and has asked his
students to recite the text on numerous occasions. On the anniversary
of September 11, Rinpoche requested that all his students worldwide
recite the sutra as many times as possible in order to prevent further
attacks.
While reading such a powerfully transformative sutra, which Buddha
Shakyamuni taught in order to make the path to enlightenment as easy as
possible, we can feel very palpably the Buddha's incredible kindness
for us. At the same time, because this sutra contains the actual words
spoken by the Buddha, by reproducing that speech ourselves during the
recitation, we are offering our voices to serve as conduits for the
presence of his teachings in the world. Thus in reciting the Sanghata
Sutra, along with all the benefits we ourselves receive, we are acting
in a very direct and powerful way to keep active the teachings of the
Buddha, which are so urgently needed in order to alleviate the
sufferings of all beings.
For more information about the Sanghata Sutra, including amazing stories & experiences of people who read it, please visit: www.sanghatasutra.net.
MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY!
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