The ruins of the great ancient Buddhist university at NALANDA (427-1195), located in north-east India in the state of Bihar, about 55 miles south-east of Patna.
This bibliography is organized according to the Five Vidyas with most of the “Classic Commentaries” devoted to the Inner or Causality Vidyas. A short section of a few books devoted to the Other Vidyas is also included. A listing of some of the Pali Suttas and Mahayana Sutras are included in these archives with either links or actual translations.
Studying the principles but not practicing or, conversely, practicing but not understanding the principles or concepts are both superficial approaches to the Buddha-dharma. Mastery of principles will cause you to attain a certain understanding or awareness and enable you to cultivate yourself accordingly. To realize enlightenment, it is absolutely necessary for you to have thoroughly understood the principles, but you must not be attached to a mere understanding of the principles. The books listed here are offered as holy texts that will help you gain an understanding of these principles, but remember that unless you apply these principles to your daily life, they will not benefit you. Reading is not the same as remembering and remembering is not equal to practice. Likewise, listening is not the same as understanding, and understanding is not equal to practice.
The following sources are listed as reference sources to help you understand the dharma, but should not be considered as necessarily true Buddha-dharma. Although the words of Buddhas and fully realized masters are always correct, the translations may not be. This is even true for the works of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. How can you be sure the person doing the translation had a level of realization that was high enough to translate these works correctly?
The stupa of Venerable Shariputra, one of the greatest disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, who died at Nalanda. Nalanda is regarded as the first great residential university with as many as 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. Many of the leading Buddhist scholars and practitioners whose books are listed here were abbots and teachers here. Its library was located in a nine storied building. Nalanda in Sanskrit means “giver of knowledge.” It is believed that Shakyamuni Buddha once used the village located at this site as His base of operation. A consortium led by Singapore and including China, India, and Japan are raising $1billion to build a revived Nalanda International University at this site with construction starting in 2009.
The sources listed below are mostly by or about Buddhas and true Dharma Kings, Rinpoches, or Venerable Dharma Masters, but since they were not composed in English by these Buddhas and holy beings, we cannot be sure of their authenticity in English. See “Receiving the Dharma” for more. The most important book in English for understanding the true Buddha-dharma is H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, which contains certain sutras and discourses by His Holiness. Click for other sutras and commentaries required by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III for all masters who have students.
Books by Dorje Chang Buddha III (Master Wan Ko Yee)
- Correcting the Treatise of Patriarch Bodhidharma. [Chinese only]
- Commentary on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra. [Chinese only]
- Essential Buddha-dharma (The Essence of the Buddha-Dharma). [Chinese only]
- The Supreme and Unsurpassable Mahamudra of Liberation. [Chinese only]
- Expounding the Truth Through the Heart Sutra [Chinese only]
- Learning From Buddha [Chinese only]