Shruti Vedas Rig Veda Sama Veda Yajur Veda Atharva Veda Brahmanas Aranyakas Upanishads Smriti Itihāsas Mahābhārata Bhagavad Gītā Ramayana Puranas (List) Tantras Sutras (List) Stotras Ashtavakra Gita Gita ...

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Sutras:

A sanskrit word meaning "thought threads".

(See also: Sutras, Body Mind and Soul)

sutra

a Vedic aphorism.

(See also: sutra, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

A Sutra or an aphorism is a short formula with the least possible number of letters, without any ambiguity or doubtful assertion, containing the very essence, embracing all meanings, without any stop or obstruction and absolutely faultless in nature.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

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sutra: (Sanskrit) "Thread."

An aphoristic verse; the literary style consisting of such maxims. From 500 bce, this style was widely adopted by Indian philosophical systems and eventually employed in works on law, grammar, medicine, poetry, crafts, etc. Each sutra is often accompanied by a commentary called bhashya and sometimes subcommentary called tika, vyakhyana or tippani.

Through the media of short, concise, easily memorized sutras, vast amounts of knowledge were preserved. Reciting relevant sutra texts from memory is a daily sadhana in various Hindu arts and sciences.

Sutra also names the wife's wedding pendant (mangala sutra).

See: bhashya, wedding pendant.

(See also: Sutra, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Narada Sutra (Sutras): (Sanskrit) A Vaishnava text of 84 aphorisms in which Sage Narada explains bhakti yoga (ca 1200).

(See also: Narada Sutra, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kamasutram, generally known to the Western world as Kama Sutra, is an ancient Hindu text on human sexual behavior, widely considered to be the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature. The text was composed by Vatsyayana, (pronounced Vaats-yaa-yan), as a brief summary of various earlier works belonging to a tradition known generically as Kama Shastra, the science of love. Kama is literally desire. Sutra signfies a thread, or discourse threaded on a series of aphorisms. Sut ...

Including:

• Kama Sutra - Preceding history
• Kama Sutra - Time and background of Kama Sutra
• Kama Sutra - Translations

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The Shiva Sutras (also Maheshvara Sutras) are the 14 sutras that form the basis of the Aṣṭādhyāyī (See: Aṣṭādhyāyī), the Sanskrit grammar by Pāṇini (See: Pāṇini). According to legend, these sutras were revealed to

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The Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra), "The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra that Cuts like a Thunderbolt," is a short Mahayana sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom genre, which teaches the practice of the avoidance of abiding in extremes of mental attachment. A copy of the Diamond Sutra, found sealed in a cave in China in the early 20th century, is the oldest known dated printed book, with a printed date of 868. Since it can be read in approximately forty minutes, the Diamond Sutra is often memorized and ch ...

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Sutra is the Sanskrit word for string. Sutra neti is the method of clearing nasal obstructions with a string. It is a practice used in yoga to aid pranayama. It is considered an advanced practice that is usually preceded by jala neti. Other related archivesSanskrit, jala neti, pranayama, yoga

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Vimalakirti Sutra (Chinese 維摩經 wéimó jing, Japanese 維摩経 yuima-gyō, Korean 유마경 yuma-gyeong, Sanskrit विमलकीर्ति-निर्देश-सूत्र Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra.) This scripture is considered one of the most profound, as well as literarily excellent of the Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist sutras. The sutra expounds the profound principle of Mahāyāna as opposed to Theravada teachings, focusing on the explication of the meaning of nonduality. A significant ...

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The Ullambana Sutra is a Mahayana sutra which consists in a brief discourse given by the Gautama Buddha principally to the monk Mahāmaudgalyāyana (Mokuren in Japanese) on the practice of filial piety. The text is considered of questionable authenticity by many. In the Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha instructs his disciple Mahāmaudgalyāyana on how to obtain liberation for his mother, who had been reborn into a lower realm, by making food offerings to the sangha on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. This practice is the basi ...

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The Agam Sutras are 12 scriptures written or recorded from the Jain Tirthankars, mainly the twenty fourth, Mahavira. 11 of them have supposedly survived. It is believed that Shri Gautam Swami composed the twelve Agam Sutras based on the three great mantras he heart from Lord Mahavira which describe the entire universe and the universal cosmos. Other related archivesMahavira, Tirthankars

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The Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma (Sanskrit: Saddharmapundarīka-sūtra; 妙法蓮華經 Cn: Miàofǎ Liánhuā Jīng; Jp: Myōhō Renge Kyō) is one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sutras in East Asia and the basis on which the Tiantai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established. Like all Buddhist texts, it was probably written several hundred years after the death of Sakyamuni Buddha. According to translator Burton Watson, it may have been originally comp ...

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The Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra or Heart Sutra (Sanskrit: Prajñāpāramitā Hridaya Sūtra, Chinese: 般若波羅蜜多心經, Buorebuoluomituo Xinjing) is a well known Mahāyāna Buddhist sutra. The Heart Sutra comes from the 3rd of Conze's four periods in the development of the Perfection of Wisdom literature. It is a very much contracted presentation of the ideas of the perfection of wisdom tradition which had ballooned up to 100,000 lines. Along with the Diamond Sutra the Heart Sutra is the main representat ...

Including:

• Heart Sutra - Content

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Kalpa Sutras is a Jain ancient text book containing the life and history of the Jain Tirthankars. It contains a detailed and illustrated life history of the last Tirthankar Lord Mahavira. The book is read and illustrated in the eight day long Jain festival Prayushana by Jain monks to general people. Other related archivesJain, Lord Mahavira, Tirthankars

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Shruti Vedas Rig Veda Sama Veda Yajur Veda Atharva Veda Brahmanas Aranyakas Upanishads Smriti Itihāsas Mahābhārata Bhagavad Gītā Ramayana Puranas (List) Tantras Sutras (List) Stotras Ashtavakra Gita < ...

Including:

• Brahma Sutras - Related Links

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Nirvana Sutra or Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (Chinese: Niepan Jing (涅槃經); Japanese: Nehankyō (涅槃経)) is one of the major texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Note that this is one of two Buddhist texts having approximately the same title, the other being part of the Pali Canon. However, both for historical reasons and for the sake of clarity, the former is generally referred to by its Sanskrit title, Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra (or simply "Nirvana Sutra"), and the latter by its Pali title, Mahaparinib ...

Including:

• Nirvana Sutra - Overview
• Nirvana Sutra - Versions
• Nirvana Sutra - Quotations from the Nirvana Sutra
• Nirvana Sutra - Textual history
• Nirvana Sutra - English edition

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The Lankavatara Sutra is one of the most important sutras (sacred texts) of Mahayana Buddhism. According to tradition, these are the actual words of the Buddha as he entered Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon). This sutra figured prominently in the development of Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism. It is the cornerstone of Chinese Chan and its Japanese version, Zen, and was translated from Sanskrit into Japanese and English ...

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The Amitabha Sutra, or Shorter Sukhavativyuha Sutra (Chn: 佛說阿彌陀經), is a Mahayana Buddhist text associated with Pure Land Buddhism. It was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by Kumarajiva in the beginning of the 5th century. The text describes the Pure Land and the beings that reside there, including Amitabha, and goes on to explain what one must do in order to be reborn there. See also. Infinite Life Sutra (Longer Pure Land Sutra) < ...

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