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Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa
  • The Karmapa
    • A Short Biography
    • The Lineage of Karmapas
    • Activities & Projects
  • Teachings
    • Video Library
    • Podcast
  • News
  • Schedule
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    • Shakyamuni Buddha
    • Buddhism in India
    • Buddhism in Tibet
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    • The Golden Rosary
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Jan 23

Aspirations to End Adversity Day Two – Opening Words

I hope all of you are doing well.

Today is the second day of the Aspirations to End Adversity. Today, the prayers we will recite together are the Noble Aspiration for Excellent Conduct and the Sutra in Three Sections. These two are important texts for practitioners of Mahayana dharma, because the main aim of Mahayana practice is to achieve buddhahood.

Buddhahood is the result of gathering vast accumulations and abandoning the obscurations and their imprints. Thus, anyone who wishes to achieve buddhahood must definitely strive to gather the accumulations and purify obscurations. There are many ways to gather the accumulations and purify obscurations, but the Aspiration for Excellent Conduct divides them into the seven branches or parts of prostration, offering, confession, and so forth. Doing it this way has distinct advantages, including covering all the main points and being easy to remember. No matter what practice we do, whether sutra or tantra, the seven branches almost always appear within it.

It is not only Tibetan Buddhists who consider the Aspiration for Excellent Conduct to be extremely important. All of the northern Buddhist traditions, including the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean hold it in very high esteem. Its source is the Avatamsaka Sutra; it is taken from a chapter in one section of that. But because this Aspiration for Excellent Conduct is so important and well-known, a tradition of reciting it separately developed. In brief, the Aspiration for Excellent Conduct is not merely a text we recite orally or the words of a prayer. Rather, it is profound guidance and pith instructions on all the main points of practicing the Mahayana path.

The Sutra in Three Sections, which is commonly called the Confession of Downfalls, is very common in Tibet. It is called the Sutra in Three Sections because it has three parts—confession, rejoicing, and dedication. Many Mahayana sutras and treatises teach that bodhisattvas should definitely recite this sutra to confess and purify their wrongs and downfalls. In Tibet, this sutra is recited primarily as a confession. In Chinese Buddhism, there is not really any tradition of reciting this sutra, but there is a tradition of reciting the names of and making confessions to eighty-eight buddhas, including all of the thirty-five buddhas mentioned in the Sutra in Three Sections.

Among Tibetan traditions, there are slightly different ways of reciting the Sutra in Three Sections. For example, in the Geluk tradition, the word tathagata is added before the name of each buddha. In his writings, Karmapa Mikyö Dorje also said that doing so was a pith instruction of Telopa and Naropa. However, these are merely differences in the style of recitation, and there is no difference at all in the meaning.

Next, please join me in reciting the Aspiration for Excellent Conduct and the Sutra in Three Sections with the kind intention of bringing benefit to all sentient beings.

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[ long read ]

MIND TRAINING TEACHING
The Gyalwang Karmapa gave an extensive teaching on the 8 Verses of Training the Mind

[ video series ]

THE PRAJNAPARAMITA
Taught over six sessions, this is a direct explanation of the Buddhist view of emptiness

[ long read ]

THE CHENREZIK PRACTICE
The Gyalwang Karmapa taught on how to practice Chenrezik and recite his mantra

[ video series ]

100 SHORT INSTRUCTIONS
Taught over nine sessions, this text by the 8th Karmapa was taught in great depth by the present Karmapa.

[ long read ]

THREE PRINCIPLE ASPECTS
A comprehensive teaching that condenses the entire Buddhist path by Tsongkhapa

 

Recent Updates

  • Aspirations to End Adversity Day Eight – Opening Words
  • Aspirations to End Adversity Day Seven – Opening Words
  • Aspirations to End Adversity Day Six – Opening Words
  • Aspirations to End Adversity Day Five – Opening Words
  • Aspirations to End Adversity Day Four – Opening Remarks
  • Aspirations to End Adversity Day Three – Opening Words
  • Aspirations to End Adversity Day Two – Opening Words

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About the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, is the head of the 900 year old Karma Kagyu Lineage and guide to millions of Buddhists around the world.

Born in 1985, the Karmapa resides in his temporary home at Gyuto Monastery in India after making a dramatic escape from Tibet in the year 2000.

Traveling the world, the Karmapa skillfully teaches traditional Tibetan Buddhist Dharma while also advocating topics such as environmental conservation, feminism, digitization of the Dharma, and much more.

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