Reciting the Arya Sangatasutra from 5-19 March 2011

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The first full moon in Tibetan lunar calendar is celebrated as the Day of Miracles, or Chotrul Duchen which falls on 19 March this year, commemorates the final day of miraculous display by the Buddha which lasted 15 days. He performed these numerous miracles in response to a challenge from six heretical teachers. These 15 days (5-19 March 2011) are considered to be merit-multiplying days in which any virtue created is magnified by 100 millions of times as cited in the Vinaya Text Treasure of Quotations and Logic. Therefore virtuous thoughts and actions are highly encouraged during this time.

“This is the best and most exciting time, whatever practice or virtue we do, the merit is increased 100 million times. So please especially do recitations of the Arya Sangatasutra as much as you can, when you can.

http://www.fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice/sanghatasutra.asp

The Sanghata Sutra is a direct record of a teaching that was given by
Buddha Shakyamuni on Vulture's Peak in Rajagriha. This discourse of
the Buddha, like all Mahayana sutras, was memorized by his disciples
and later written down in Sanskrit. However, the Sanghata Sutra is
unique in that it is a teaching that the Buddha himself had heard from
a previous Buddha, and it is also unique in the scope of the effects it
has on those who recite it.

The Sanghata Sutra is one of a special set of sutras called
dharma-paryayas, or 'transformative teachings' that function to
transform those who hear or recite them in particular ways. One very
powerful benefit is that at the time of death, any person who has
recited the Sanghata Sutra will have visions of Buddhas who will come
to comfort them during the death process. A further benefit is that
wherever the Sanghata Sutra is established, the Buddhas are always
present, as explained in the text itself. As such, the recitation can
bestow a powerful blessing on the place where it is recited.

In general, the recitation of Mahayana sutras is one of the six virtuous
practices specifically recommended for purification, and the recitation
of this sutra in particular has far-reaching karmic consequences that
last for many lifetimes, as the Sanghata Sutra itself explains in detail.
Within the sutra, the Buddha provides numerous descriptions of the
ways in which the sutra works on those who recite it to clear away
their seeds of suffering, and to assure their future happiness all the
way up enlightenment. The sutra also includes some forceful teachings
on death and impermanence, including a teaching on the physical and
mental processes that occur at the time of death.

http://www.fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice/pdf/LZR_Losar_prayer_0207.pdf

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'Probably I don’t need to tell you what the text says about how much merit you collect each time you hear this sutra. Each time you hear it, how much merit do you collect? First of all, one buddha has completed the merit of wisdom and the merit of virtue – there is nothing more to collect…and then how many buddhas? The number of buddhas equaling the number of sands of grain in the Ganga River times twelve. And these sand grains are not ordinary grains of sand. It is explained in the teachings, in the great enlightened Pabongkha Rinpoche’s notes, that these grains are made of extremely subtle atoms. There are seven kinds of subtle atoms, water atoms, earth atoms, and so forth. These sand grains are much, much finer than what we usually think.

In addition to that, when it comes to talking about the benefits of bodhichitta, or the benefits of the Arya Sanghata Sutra, the Ganga does not refer to the Indian River Ganges. It refers to the Pacific Ocean. Now, that many numbers of buddhas times twelve. The merit of just one set of buddhas equaling the number of sand grains in the River Ganga, even just one set – how much merit that is…is beyond words, unimaginable. Even just the merit that one buddha has collected is beyond words. So, now, beyond that, the merit that you collect every time you hear the Arya Sanghata Sutra is equal to twelve times the merit of the number of buddhas as there are sand grains in the River Ganga.

So, that is just by hearing it. This means that anyone hearing it - animals, frogs, birds, so no question about pets like your beautiful cat, your darling cat, even spirits – collects that much merit. Can you imagine? It is like an impossible thing in the life that happens. When those animals, your cat and other animals, hear you recite Buddha’s teachings, it definitely makes them to receive higher rebirth and to meet Dharma.''

Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche

http://www.fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/advice/pdf/BensofSanghatastraapr06.pdf