To
facilitate the copying of the Sanghāta
by hand, a group in Singapore has produced a copy of the text with
trace paper over each page, greatly speeding the process of
copying by
hand. To get a copy of the traceable Sanghāta,
click
here
In the Words of the Sanghāta:
Those who fear the realms of hell
should not go to the devas’ world.
The life of a human is happy:
There the All-Knowing One appears.
- Ārya Sanghāta Sūtra
Lama Lhundrup Copies the Sanghāta:
Things to Do with the Sanghāta
Organize a Golden Festival of Sanghāta Merit
The following is reprinted from the newsletter
of the
Amitabha
Buddhist Centre, an FPMT center in Singapore, by the kind
permission of its publisher.
Writing for merit
by Vivian Seah
“Sarvashura,
it is impossible to make an analogy of the mass of merit of writing the
Sanghata-sutra dharma-paryaya … Compared to the mass of
merit of
that many wheel-turning kings, the mass of merit too of one who writes
down just one syllable of this dharma-paryaya will produce a much
greater mass of merit.”
Many of us at ABC are familiar by now with the sacred words of the Sanghāta Sūtra,
held very dear by our spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Thanks to
his extremely kind advice to us, we have had numerous opportunities
this past year to hear, recite and write out lines from this precious
teaching that the Buddha gave on Vulture’s Peak.
During our recent Vesak Day celebration, not only ABC members but
thousands of others came to receive the great merit of the Sanghāta Sūtra. A
special Sanghāta booth
was set up with the aim of attracting as many people as possible to
perform a unique and simple task: with a gold-ink pen, to trace out
nine lines of verse from the Sanghāta Sūtra
which were printed on sheets of yellow paper. In return, the
writer would receive heaps of merit from inscribing the holy speech of
the Buddha. During Saka Dawa, the oceans of merit received
would
be multiplied millions of times over. All it required of each
participant was that they take a seat at the café tables
provided and devote ten minutes to tracing over the pre-printed
words. When the task was done, volunteers taught the
‘writers’ how to roll up the paper and tie it to
lines
strung up on a specially-designed frame outside the tent.
Verses from the Sanghāta
make a wall of merit in Singapore festival
6,000 yellow ribbons
Over the four days of the Vesak celebration, the originally bare frame
was soon dressed in yellow bows – close to six thousand of
them! Half of the verses had been printed out in English and
the
other half in Chinese. With encouragement from the volunteers
and
other members, people were persuaded to take part in this
merit-creating activity. Once they got started, many needed
no
persuasion to come back for more. Volunteers at the booth
were
soon calling it the Sanghata ‘roadshow’ with people
eager
to ‘sign up’ for more merit!
A few of the 6,000 who copied verses from the Sanghāta
Who came to make merit
There were Sanghāta writers
of all ages, the youngest aged five. There were grandmothers
who
couldn’t read but gamely traced out the Mandarin characters
in
spite of it. There was a group of young women who seemed
reluctant to leave – one of them had copied out the verse ten
times! Khenrinpoche Lama Lhundrup, abbot of Kopan Monastery,
also
took a turn at tracing the words.
People started writing early in the morning as soon as the booth
opened. They didn’t mind the sweltering
heat. They
brought family and friends. People were writing past eleven
at
night. On the last morning, the English copies had run
out.
But the writers were undeterred. There were three men from
the
Indian community who sat down with the Chinese version before them and
determinedly traced out the characters! A German woman and
her
young daughter did the same.
Even when all the rolled up sheets had been collected in boxes ready
for Lama Lhundrup’s blessing during the puja, a few diehards
were
still tracing away - hundreds of gold ink pens put to a very noble
purpose indeed!
Thanks to this gem of an idea from one of our Exco members, thousands
of Vesak celebrants were able to perform an activity that will bring
them countless blessings of the Buddha for lifetimes to come.
May
there be many more roadshows like this with thousands more verses of
the Sanghata written. It is worthwhile remembering:
“Wherever the Sanghata is, always there the Buddha is
…”
With the Sanskrit manuscripts of the
Sanghāta that were found
in the stupa at Gilgit
were also the very first examples of decorated books we have in Indian
history. One of these earliest Sanskrit manuscripts
was discovered
nestled between painted wooden book covers. A number of
beautiful editions of the Sanghāta have been
printed already,
including 500 copies printed in
gold
ink in Singapore. (Some of the beautiful
editions that have been
produced in
Chinese or French
can be ordered online by donation.) But the early practice in India of
creating book covers to protect and beautify the Sanghāta remains
to be followed. For ideas as to how that might be
done, click
here to read about the use of book covers in Tibet,
or click
here
to view book covers made for other texts in Tibet.
Another
practice of interest is the illumination of manuscripts. For some
samples, and a good overview of this way of beautifying books, click
here.
And, Of Course, There is Always Reading and Reciting
For advice on reciting the Sanghāta
Sūtra, click
here.
