Post by Yogavatar सौन्दर्य on Mar 19, 2024 11:21:05 GMT
A Hymn of Praise to the Buddha's Good Qualities
You sympathize with sentient beings;
You aspire to unite, to separate, and not to separate;
You aspire to happiness and well-being.
Homage to you!
verse 1, qualities 1-4, category 1
This verse is taken to refer to the Buddha's four "immeasurables," namely, his
friendliness, his compassion, his gladness, and his equanimity, as these are directed toward all sentient beings. The Buddha wants the happiness and wellbeing of all, and so aspires to unite them with happiness, to separate them from
suffering, and not to separate them from what happiness they already possess.
The immeasurables, then, are among the Buddha's perfections of attitude toward
all non-buddhas; they are immeasurable because they are extended to all equally
and without limit. They provide the basis for the Buddha's salvific action.
You are liberated from all obstacles;
You are the sage who masters the entire world;
Objects of awareness are pervaded by your awareness;
Your mind is liberated.
Homage to you!
verse 2, qualities 5-30, categories 2-4
Each of the first three lines of this verse is taken to refer to a series of altered
states of consciousness produced by the Buddha's meditational practice. The first
line is taken to refer to the Buddha's eight "liberations," by means of which the
Buddha is liberated from all obstacles to proper cognition-knowing the way
things are-and proper affective condition-reacting with emotional appropriateness to such knowledge. The second line is taken to refer to the Buddha's eight
"spheres of mastery," by means of which the Buddha attains complete control
over his own mental life, learning to manipulate and alter at will the images in
which it consists. And the third line of the verse is taken to refer to the Buddha's
ten "spheres of totality," by means of which the Buddha can extend his awareness
to the limits of possibility, so coming to be aware of everything and obtaining a
kind of omniscience (on which see verse 16). The commentators provide a good
deal of information about the meditational techniques designed to bring these
states into being. The verse as a whole thus refers to the Buddha's perfections of
cognition and affect, ne<:essary prerequisites for his salvific action.
Buddhism in Practice
You sympathize with sentient beings;
You aspire to unite, to separate, and not to separate;
You aspire to happiness and well-being.
Homage to you!
verse 1, qualities 1-4, category 1
This verse is taken to refer to the Buddha's four "immeasurables," namely, his
friendliness, his compassion, his gladness, and his equanimity, as these are directed toward all sentient beings. The Buddha wants the happiness and wellbeing of all, and so aspires to unite them with happiness, to separate them from
suffering, and not to separate them from what happiness they already possess.
The immeasurables, then, are among the Buddha's perfections of attitude toward
all non-buddhas; they are immeasurable because they are extended to all equally
and without limit. They provide the basis for the Buddha's salvific action.
You are liberated from all obstacles;
You are the sage who masters the entire world;
Objects of awareness are pervaded by your awareness;
Your mind is liberated.
Homage to you!
verse 2, qualities 5-30, categories 2-4
Each of the first three lines of this verse is taken to refer to a series of altered
states of consciousness produced by the Buddha's meditational practice. The first
line is taken to refer to the Buddha's eight "liberations," by means of which the
Buddha is liberated from all obstacles to proper cognition-knowing the way
things are-and proper affective condition-reacting with emotional appropriateness to such knowledge. The second line is taken to refer to the Buddha's eight
"spheres of mastery," by means of which the Buddha attains complete control
over his own mental life, learning to manipulate and alter at will the images in
which it consists. And the third line of the verse is taken to refer to the Buddha's
ten "spheres of totality," by means of which the Buddha can extend his awareness
to the limits of possibility, so coming to be aware of everything and obtaining a
kind of omniscience (on which see verse 16). The commentators provide a good
deal of information about the meditational techniques designed to bring these
states into being. The verse as a whole thus refers to the Buddha's perfections of
cognition and affect, ne<:essary prerequisites for his salvific action.
Buddhism in Practice