THE GREAT FLOWER ADORNMENT (AVATAMSAKA) SUTRA

--Bhiksuni Heng Hsien, Ph.D.

"NOT DUE TO ONE CONDITION, NOT DUE TO ONE MATTER DO TATHAGATAS APPEAR IN THE WORLD AND ATTAIN ACCOMPLISHMENT: THEIR APPEARANCE IS BASICALLY FOR THE SAKE OF THE GREAT FLOWER ADORNMENT. "

All Buddhas, when they first attain Anuttarasamyaksambodhi speak the Great Means Expansion Buddha Flower Adornment Sutra() in Sanskrit the Mahavaipulyabuadhavatamsaka Sutra), but only beings with extremely good roots in the Great Vehicle are able to see, hear, and understand this most vast and profound of all the Buddhas' Teachings. After being spoken by Sakyamuni Buddha, the Sutra was stored away in the Dragon Palace, in three volumes.  The first two volumes are too long for our world to hold, but the third, which consists of 100,000 gathas, was recovered by Nagarjuna Bodhisattva and brought back to India. From India it was transmitted to China, and throughout the Orient. Only now does that Sutra come to the West.

June 13, 1971, marked the opening of the first Western lecture series on the Great Flower Adornment Sutra, delivered every evening at 7:00 p.m. (Saturdays and Sundays also at 12:30 p.m.) at Gold Mountain Monastery in San Francisco, California, by the Venerable Tripitaka and Dhyana Master Hua, Abbot of the Monastery. The Sutra has never, with the exception of a few isolated fragments, been translated into any Western language, primarily because it is impossible to understand without a Teacher--and few Teachers capable of explaining the Flower Adornment Sutra have appeared in the world. Now with the lectured commentary of the Venerable Master Hua, translation of this essential Sutra is being undertaken by the Buddhist Text Translation Society of the Sine-American Buddhist Association. The translation will be published in installments as it progresses.

The Venerable High Master began by lecturing the Preface and Prologue composed by T'ang Dynasty Tripitaka Master Ch'eng Kuan(), who was National Master Ch'ing Liang
(). The Preface and Prologue explain all of the doctrines and principles contained in the Flower Adornment Sutra and with the Venerable Master Hua's elucidation, constitute an indispensable introduction to the Sutra. Write the Sino-American Buddhist Association for details.