buddhism
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February Update (More Dīrgha Āgama Sutras)
Last month, I added three new Dīrgha Āgama translations, a couple sutras from the Saṃyukta Āgama, and I also began work on the Chinese Dharmapāda, posting a couple commentary stories found in T211 for the first chapter. A quick list of the additions can be found on the What’s New page at Dharma Pearls. DĀ 11 Increasing One Continue reading
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2021 Update: Switching Gears to the Dīrgha Āgama
Ah, finally, I have a new update for Dharma Pearls. The past month and a half has been … well … eventful here in the US, to say the least. However, the translation project continues. I’ve changed gears a bit, which is also part of why there’s been only the sound of crickets for the Continue reading
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Project Progress Report
I decided today (Dec. 31 here in the US) to tabulate exactly where I’m at in terms of translating the four Āgamas after the past year working full-time on MĀ and various parallels to important Pali suttas. So here’s the numbers: Āgama Sutras Translated / Total Pages Translated / Total Completed Dīrgha (T1) 2 / Continue reading
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December Update
Here’s a summary of the translations that have been added since November 12. I worked on parallels to SN 22.60, SN 22.79, SN 22.85, SN 36.6, SN 56.31, AN 3.37-38, and AN 10.21 in addition to added a couple sutras that I edited as time allowed. MĀ 146 Parable of the Elephant’s Footprint The Madhyama Continue reading
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October/November Update
Since my last update, I’ve been focusing on translating Chinese parallels to MN 12. T757 Hair-Raising Joy This is the complete parallel to MN 12 that we have in Chinese. It’s clearly a later version of the same sutra preserved in Pali. The two texts have almost identical structures with only a couple substitutions like Continue reading
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T212. Producing Light: (C1:1) Maitreya

In the opening story of Chu Fonian’s “Producing Light,” one of two Chinese Udana collections, the Buddha describes the future era when Maitreya will be born. Continue reading
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Perfect Wisdom: The Short Prajnaparamita Texts (Conze)
Edward Conze spent his academic career studying and translating the Sanskrit Perfection of Wisdom literature, and his work continues to be the standard for the English-speaking audience. Paired with his other major work (The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom), Perfect Wisdom: The Short Prajnaparamita Texts serves as a broad survey of these texts in English. Continue reading
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An Introduction to the Middle-Length Agama

The Middle-Length Agama (MA) is Taisho No. 26, which spans 60 fascicles and 388 pages of the Taisho Daizokyo, Vol. 1. To put this in perspective, a page of Taisho prose typically translates to 1,500 words of English, so a complete translation of MA will probably be 600,000-700,000 words in length. In addition to this Continue reading
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Book Review: The Diamond Sutra (Red Pine)
Red Pine’s The Diamond Sutra: Text and Commentaries Translated from Sanskrit and Chinese is a book that I recommend to readers who want to explore the various Diamond Sutra translations and exegesis that remains untranslated today. In this book, Red Pine presents a translation of the sutra based on his studies of the Sanskrit and Continue reading
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Weekly Update: Agamas and Dharmapadas

It’s been over a month since my last update on my translation work. I began the year with a general idea of updating my previous translations that needed polishing and correction, and I republished a much improved edition of Kumarajiva’s Diamond Sutra in February. In March things changed somewhat when I rediscovered some of my Continue reading