Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra


The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra is an early Mahayana Buddhist scripture, which probably originated between the 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE in the Gandhara area of northwestern India. The full title for this text is Pratyutpannabuddha Saṃmukhāvasthita Samādhi Sūtra, which translates to, "Sūtra on the Samādhi for Encountering Face-to-Face the Buddhas of the Present".
The Pratyutpanna is a particularly important Mahayana sutra in East Asian Pure Land Buddhism and Tiantai Buddhism, since it contains key teachings on Buddha contemplation and Buddha recollection. It is the main source for the Tiantai school's "constantly walking samadhi" practice, also known as the pratyutpanna-samādhi. The sutra was commented on and relied upon by numerous Chinese Pure Land masters, like Huiyuan, Shandao, Cimin Huiri, and Fazhao.

History

The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra was first translated into Chinese by the Kushan Buddhist monk Lokaksema in 179 CE, at the Han capital of Luoyang. This translation is, together with the Prajnaparamita Sutra, one of the earliest historically datable texts of the Mahayana tradition.
In 2018, the discovery of fragments of a birch bark manuscript in the Gāndhārī language and written in Kharoṣṭhī script was announced by scholars Paul Harrison, Timothy Lenz, and Richard Salomon, who wrote regarding the dating of the manuscript:
The post-script of the same paper notes that as the article went to press, scholar Mark Allon brought to the authors' attention "another set of birch-bark fragments, possibly from the same scroll or set of scrolls, containing a large section of Chapter 9 of the PRaS", which the authors state will be included in a follow-up article in the future.

Contents

The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra contains the first known mentions of the Buddha Amitābha and his Pure Land, said to be at the origin of Pure Land Buddhism in China:

Pratyutpanna samadhi

The full practice developed by Zhiyi is 90 days long. Lay practitioners often take a much shorter time. Any practice that exceeds one day requires a bystander called a dharma protector to look after the practitioner. The exercise includes constant walking or praying to Amitabha, sometimes accompanying or helped by the bystander. The practitioner should avoid sitting, laying, resting or sleeping during the period of practice. The bystander would warn the practitioner if he or she engages in prolonged resting. Very few Buddhists practice this. Shi Yinguang suggested that people should practice the much easier recitation of name of the Buddha nianfo instead. But some buddhists have said that they feel healthier after the practice.