Vajrayana Buddhism Association

Perfect Enlightenment: Intro and Table of Contents

By readers’ request, Master Tam decided to present his commentary to the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment as an overview to the Buddhist foundation, practice, and fruition. He posted a weekly column on the VBA website (Chinese) in 2016. In 2020, the column was extended and published as The Secret Meaning of the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenmentwhich became the 12th book in the  Beyond Words series, aiming to offer a lay and non-sectarian view on scriptures in the Buddhist Canon.…

Perfect Enlightenment 9: On the Samādhi of Illusion

Buddha’s answer to Samantabhadra’s questions was in fact instructions to practicing the illusion-like samādhi.

First, Buddha pointed out that all phenomena are illusory arising, arisen from “the perfectly enlightened marvelous mind of the Tathāgata.” While the arising themselves are illusive, “the perfectly enlightened marvelous mind” that gives rise to these phenomena is not.…

Translator’s Preface

Not too long ago I came across a newspaper column discussing the guru-student relationship. The columnist wrote, many a times he gave a seminar on Buddhism, he encountered a question irrelevant to the topic of discussion, that if one’s master is not what one had expected, especially in terms of his conduct, what is one to do?…

Perfect Enlightenment 7: Buddha Answers Mañjuśrī, On the Perfect Awareness

In Buddha’s answer to Mañjuśrī, he said, “Good sons, the unsurpassed King of the dharma possesses the great dhāraṇī-entrance. It is called Perfect Enlightenment. From it is manifested all purity, suchness, bodhi, nirvāṇa and the paramitas that teach bodhisattvas.”

According to the text, “perfect enlightenment is this great dhāraṇī-entrance, the epitome of entrances, epitomizes the dharma and other relevant teachings.…