Sal
Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia is now 14 years old
Our Encyclopedia recently received a wonderful opportunity for a major renewal on its 14th birthday . After many years of growing our Encyclopedia had become bit slow and sometimes even decided not to answer when people knocked on the door.
A very big thank you and blessings to Dmytro Rudiy (rudiy.nl) for his great work in upgrading the server, website and all of the infrastructure and helping make TBE fast and reliable again for everyone!
We kindly ask our readers to help us cover the cost of this important upgrade and also help with the ongoing costs of keeping the Encyclopedia alive and freely available.
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Every little donation helps and every one is deeply appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM 🙏🙏🙏
May blessings shower down on all of yous 🙏🙏🙏
Sal is the modern English and Hindi name for the tree called sāla in the Buddhist scriptures. The sal is a common north Indian tree having the botanical name Shorea robusta. It is described as being a huge tree with dark-green leaves, a straight trunk and beautiful to see (A.III,44; Ja.V,251). Sal Flowers are of an orange-yellow color and have a pleasant perfume. The Buddha passed away at Kusinārā while lying between two sal trees, which spontaneously burst into blossom, even though it was not the flowering season, and then sprinkled their petals over him out of reverence for him. The Buddha took this opportunity to make a very important point: ‘These sal trees have blossomed out of season and sprinkled their petals over me out of reverence. But the Monk or the nun, the lay man or lay woman who lives by the Dhamma and perfectly fulfils it, it is they who honour me with the highest reverence.’ (D.II,137-8).
