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Threefold Lotus Sutra
The ''Threefold Lotus Sutra'' (法華三部経 pinyin: fǎ huá sān bù jīng, Jp: Hokke-sambu-kyo) is the composition of three complementary sutras that together form the "three-part Dharma flower sutra": :1. The ''Innumerable Meanings Sutra'' (無量義經 Ch: Wú Liáng Yì Jīng, Jp: Muryōgi Kyō), prologue to the ''Lotus Sutra''. :2. The ''Lotus Sutra'' (妙法蓮華經 Ch: Miào Fǎ Lián Huá Jīng, Jp: Myōhō Renge Kyō) itself. :3. The ''Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue''/''Samantabhadra Meditation Sutra'' (普賢經 Ch: Pǔ Xián Jīng, Jp: Fugen Kyō), epilogue to the ''Lotus Sutra''. They have been known collectively as the ''Threefold Lotus Sutra'' in China and Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ... since ancient times. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese form, to learners already familiar with the Latin alphabet. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, but pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written in the Latin script, and is also used in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The word ' () literally means "Han language" (i.e. Chinese language), while ' () means "spelled sounds". The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by a group of Chinese linguists including Zhou Youguang and was based on earlier forms of romanizations of Chinese. It was published by the Chinese Government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted pinyin as an international standard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu, Austroasiatic, Koreanic, and the now-discredited Altaic, but none of these proposals has gained widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), there was a massive influx of Sino-Japanese vocabulary into the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese. Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords. The basis of the standard dialect moved f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sutra
''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a condensed manual or text. Sutras are a genre of ancient and medieval Indian texts found in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In Hinduism, sutras are a distinct type of literary composition, a compilation of short aphoristic statements.Gavin Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press, , pages 54–55 Each sutra is any short rule, like a theorem distilled into few words or syllables, around which teachings of ritual, philosophy, grammar, or any field of knowledge can be woven. The oldest sutras of Hinduism are found in the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of the Vedas. Every school of Hindu philosophy, Vedic guides for rites of passage, v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Innumerable Meanings Sutra
The ''Innumerable Meanings Sutra'' also known as the ''Sutra of Infinite Meanings'' (Sanskrit: अनन्त निर्देश सूत्र, ''Ananta Nirdeśa Sūtra''; ; Japanese: ''Muryōgi Kyō''; Korean: ''Muryangeui Gyeong'') is a Mahayana buddhist text. According to tradition, it was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by Dharmajātayaśas, an Indian monk, in 481, however Buswell, Dolce and Muller describe it as an apocryphal Chinese text. It is part of the '' Threefold Lotus Sutra'', along with the ''Lotus Sutra'' and the ''Samantabhadra Meditation Sutra''. As such, many Mahayana Buddhists consider it the prologue to the ''Lotus Sutra'', and Chapter one of the ''Lotus Sutra'' states that the Buddha taught the Infinite Meanings just before expounding the ''Lotus Sutra''. Title For Buddhists, the term "Innumerable Meanings" or "Infinite Meanings" is used in two senses. The first, used in the singular, refers to the true aspect of all things, the true nature of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Language
Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the world's population) speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. Chinese languages form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be variants of a single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered separate languages in a family. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin (with about 800 million speakers, or 66%), followed by Min (75 million, e.g. Southern Min), Wu (74 million, e.g. Shangh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prologue
A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Ancient Greek ''prólogos'' included the modern meaning of ''prologue'', but was of wider significance, more like the meaning of preface. The importance, therefore, of the prologue in Greek drama was very great; it sometimes almost took the place of a romance, to which, or to an episode in which, the play itself succeeded. Latin On the Latin stage the prologue was often more elaborate than it was in Athens, and in the careful composition of the poems which Plautus prefixes to his plays we see what importance he gave to this portion of the entertainment; sometimes, as in the preface to the ''Rudens'', Plautus rises to the height of his genius in his adroit and romantic prolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Sutra
The ''Lotus Sūtra'' ( zh, 妙法蓮華經; sa, सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्रम्, translit=Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, lit=Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, italic=) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. It is the main scripture on which the Tiantai, Tendai, Cheontae, and Nichiren schools of Buddhism were established. It is also influential for other East Asian Buddhist schools, such as Zen. According to the British Buddhologist Paul Williams, "For many Buddhists in East Asia since early times, the ''Lotus Sūtra'' contains the final teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha—complete and sufficient for salvation." The American Buddhologist Donald S. Lopez Jr. writes that the ''Lotus Sūtra'' "is arguably the most famous of all Buddhist texts," presenting "a radical re-vision of both the Buddhist path and of the person of the Buddha." Two central teachings of the ''Lotus Sūtra'' have been very i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sutra Of Meditation On The Bodhisattva Universal Virtue
The ''Samantabhadra Meditation Sūtra'' (; Japanese: 普賢経; rōmaji ''fugen-kyō''; Vietnamese: Kinh Quán Phổ Hiền Bồ Tát Hạnh Pháp; Korean: 관보현보살행법경; Gwanbohyeonbosalhaengbeop Gyeong), also known as the ''Sūtra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue'', is a Mahayana Buddhist sutra teaching meditation and repentance practices. The extant Chinese text of the meditation sutra was translated by Dharmamitra between 424 and 442 CE (T09n277). The ''Samantabhadra Meditation Sūtra'' is often included in the so-called "Threefold Lotus Sutra," along with the ''Lotus Sutra'' and the ''Innumerable Meanings Sutra''. It is not known, however, when or by whom the sutra was first recited, but it is considered by many Mahayana sects to be a continuation (an epilogue) of the Buddha's teachings found within the ''Lotus Sutra''. This sutra is believed to have followed two earlier translations, including one by Kumarajiva, which are now lost; no original ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samantabhadra Meditation Sutra
The ''Samantabhadra Meditation Sūtra'' (; Japanese: 普賢経; rōmaji ''fugen-kyō''; Vietnamese: Kinh Quán Phổ Hiền Bồ Tát Hạnh Pháp; Korean: 관보현보살행법경; Gwanbohyeonbosalhaengbeop Gyeong), also known as the ''Sūtra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue'', is a Mahayana Buddhist sutra teaching meditation and repentance practices. The extant Chinese text of the meditation sutra was translated by Dharmamitra between 424 and 442 CE (T09n277). The ''Samantabhadra Meditation Sūtra'' is often included in the so-called " Threefold Lotus Sutra," along with the ''Lotus Sutra'' and the ''Innumerable Meanings Sutra''. It is not known, however, when or by whom the sutra was first recited, but it is considered by many Mahayana sects to be a continuation (an epilogue) of the Buddha's teachings found within the ''Lotus Sutra''. This sutra is believed to have followed two earlier translations, including one by Kumarajiva, which are now lost; no original ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epilogue
An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the work. It is presented from the perspective of within the story. When the author steps in and speaks directly to the reader, that is more properly considered an afterword. The opposite is a prologue—a piece of writing at the ''beginning'' of a work of literature or drama, usually used to open the story and capture interest. Some genres, for example television programs and video games, call the epilogue an "outro" patterned on the use of "intro" for "introduction". Epilogues are usually set in the future, after the main story is completed. Within some genres it can be used to hint at the next installment in a series of work. It is also used to satisfy the reader's curiosity and to cover any loose ends of the story. History of the term T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. Covering an area of approximately , it is the world's third largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and financial center is Shanghai. Modern Chinese trace their origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the well-attested Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a bureaucratic political system to serve hereditary monarchies, or dyna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
