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B u d d h i s m - S
u t r a s  "Suttas
are not meant to be
'sacred scriptures' that tell us what to believe. One should read them,
listen to them, think about them, contemplate them, and investigate the
present reality, the present experience with them. Then, and only then,
can one insightfully know the truth beyond words".
- Venerable Sumedho Scroll down to read the following: What is a sutra/sutta? Selected Mahayana sutras Selected suttas from the Pali Canon What is a Sutra?"In Buddhism, the term "sutra" refers generally to canonical scriptures that are regarded as records of the oral teachings of Gautama Buddha. In Chinese, these are known as ching. These teachings are assembled in the second part of the Tripitaka which is called Sutra Pitaka. There are also some Buddhist texts, such as the Platform Sutra, that are called sutras despite being attributed to much later authors. The Pali form of the word, sutta is used exclusively to refer to Buddhist scriptures, particularly those of the Pali Canon." wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutra Mahayana SutrasOne of the earliest Mahayana sutras was the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra, or the 'Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines'. It was written in Sanskrit at around 100BCE. It was summarised, in verse, in the Ratnagunasamchayagatha using an old version of Sanskrit. Over the centuries it grew in content to become the 'Large Perfection of Wisdom', with several versions of different lengths, the longest being 100, 000 lines. "The main characteristic of the Prajnaparamita literature is that it is totally non-rational. It consists of paradox after paradox and is most frustrating to the rational mind. And this is its intention. It is an all-out attack on literalism. It sets out to destroy all conceptualisation and to thwart the rational mind at every turn".The Large Perfection of Wisdom Sutra was summarised into 35 shorter sutras, these include the popular Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra. Heart Sutra - Prajñāpāramitā Hridaya SūtraDiamond Sutra - Vajracchedika prajñāpāramitā sūtraPali CanonThe Pali Canon is a collection of Theravadan scriptures written down in the last century BCE. It is split into three categories and is therefore called the tipitaka:Vinaya Pitaka - Scriptures that include guidelines for the monastic community Sutta Pitaka - Over 10,000 suttas on many different aspects of Buddhism Abhidhamma Pitaka - Contains abstract terms to describe the ultimate realities (paramatthas) in the Universe and Nibbana (the highest goal of Buddhism). Below is a small selection of suttas that have resonated with me in my practice. Full
Awareness of Breathing - Anapanasati Sutta
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