Flower Adornment Sutra: Chapter 28, The Ten Spiritual Powers & Chapter 29 The Ten Patiences

Hsuan Hua

Dec 2014 · Buddhist Text Translation Society

About this ebook

The Flower Adornment Sutra (Avatamsaka Sutra) is known as the 'King of Kings' of all Buddhist sutras because of its profundity and great length. This sutra contains the most complete explanation of the Buddha's state of realization and the Bodhisattva's quest for awakening. It is said: “Unless you read the Avatamsaka Sutra, you will not know of the Buddha's true blessings and honor. The Avatamsaka Sutra is the Buddha's greatest store of treasures.”

In forty chapters the sutra conveys a vast range of Buddhist teachings. It presents, in detailed description, the stages of Awakening that a Bodhisattva or 'Awakened Being’ must progress through on the path towards Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi – ‘Supreme Perfect Enlightenment.’

The sutra depicts the events that immediately unfolded upon the Buddha's Awakening under the Bodhi tree. It describes a cosmos that has infinite realms within realms, boundless and interpenetrating.

Chapter 28 describes the Ten Spiritual Powers that Bodhisattvas attain upon perfecting their meritorious virtues in the practice of the Bodhisattva Path. These powers enable Bodhisattvas to discern the potentials of living beings to teach and guide them to bring forth the aspiration for enlightenment.

Chapter 29 describes the Ten Patiences that Bodhisattvas must develop in their quest towards ultimate Awakening. If Bodhisattvas can perfect these ten kinds of patience, they will attain the positions of unobstructed patience of all Bodhisattvas.

Ratings and reviews

Allows one to see what the ultimate progression from sentient being to bodhisattva to Buddha.

About the author

The late Tripitaka Master Hua was born near Manchuria, China in 1918. He taught at Nan Hua Temple near Canton, China, the same monastery where the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng taught in the 7th century. Fulfilling his goal of spreading the orthodox Dharma to the west, he has established 28 monasteries in Asia and north America, and had lectured sutras for 50 years before his passing. He spent nine years explaining the Flower Adornment Sutra to his disciples who later translated his lectures into English.