Ornaments of the Buddhas
Presented as a single, long sūtra, although many of its 45 chapters are independent works (Toh 44).
Texts: 45 | Published: 3 | In Progress: 9 | Not Begun: 33 |
The Sūtra of the Ornaments of the Buddhas
This very long work in 45 chapters fills no less than four volumes of the Degé Kangyur. In its current form, it is presented as a single extensive sūtra (vaipulyasūtra), but it probably evolved as an encyclopedic coalescence of shorter works, many of which circulated independently and are still seen as texts in their own right. The whole work is classified by Tibetan editors as belonging to the Buddha’s third turning of the wheel of Dharma.
The early 9th century Tibetan translation is of similar size and content to the late 7th century Chinese translation by Śikṣānanda, both being larger than the earlier Chinese translation by Buddhabhadra (early 5th century). Chinese translations of individual works that were later incorporated into the Buddhāvataṃsaka were made even earlier (late 2nd to early 4th century), and may provide evidence of the gradual evolution of the Buddhāvataṃsaka from its component parts. No version in any Indic language has survived, and Indian treatises only quote some of its component texts rather than the whole work by the name Buddhāvataṃsaka.
Tibetan historical tradition, however, as recounted by Tāranātha and mentioned briefly in the Degé Kangyur catalogue, tells us that in India the collection not only existed but was originally a great deal larger, with one hundred chapters (according to the Kangyur catalogue) or one thousand (Tāranātha), but is now incomplete because an arson attack on the library at Nālandā reduced it to only thirty-eight surviving chapters. The date of this event, said to have been responsible for the decimation of many other scriptures, too (including much of the Ratnakūṭa), is placed some time before the lives of Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, along with accounts of other calamitous episodes during a period of political turbulence and unstable patronage for Buddhist institutions in India.
The Buddhāvataṃsaka was studied far more extensively in China than in Tibet, generating an extensive corpus of commentarial literature, and a whole school of Chinese Buddhism, the Huayan, is based on it. Although held in great esteem in Tibet, it was very little studied as a whole, and only a few of the later chapters were widely known and quoted. It was translated into Tibetan in its entirety by Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, and Yeshé Dé, almost certainly from a Sanskrit original. The Tibetan translation contains two chapters, 11 and 32, not found in any of the Chinese translations.
According to Chinese tradition with its several versions, the whole work is divided into 34 or 39 chapters, grouped into eight or nine “assemblies” according to the places and occasions where the teachings they relate took place.
The way the text is divided into chapters is different in the Tibetan version. Several of the Kangyur catalogues mention the first 29 chapters as constituting the Buddhāvataṃsaka proper, and add various alternative titles for the work such as sangs rgyas smag chad (the buddhas’ absence of darkness), smad chad or rmad gcad (universal containment, the latter being the form used in the first line of each fascicle), as well as snyan gyi gong rgyan (ornaments for the ears) and padma’i rgyan (lotus ornaments). Following both of the surviving early text inventories, the Phangthangma and Denkarma, they then name a selection of the later chapters, leaving ambiguous their status as texts independent of the Buddhāvataṃsaka itself or part of it. The text itself gives its component parts none of the trappings of independent texts, such as Sanskrit titles or the usual opening phrases. However, as some of the later chapters are known to have circulated independently in India as well as in China and Tibet, it is reasonable to speak of the Buddhāvataṃsaka as a “family” of texts even if little is known of how and why they came to be grouped together in this way.
There are nevertheless some shared features. Most of the narrative elements of the texts (with the exception of the Gaṇḍavyūha) take place in the few weeks following the Buddha’s awakening. As tradition holds that he did not teach during this time but remained silently in meditation, the teachings set out in the texts are given by Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and other bodhisattvas. Another common feature is the view that all buddhas and bodhisattvas, wherever they may manifest, are emanations of the Buddha Vairocana.
Some of the chapters with known independent status are as follows:
The Gocarapariśuddha (chapter 16) may be the same work as a sūtra with this name cited in several Indian treatises. It is listed as a separate text of the Buddhāvataṃsaka in the Mahāvyutpatti, and a work in the Tengyur (Toh 3965) summarizes its contents.
The Vajradhvajapariṇāma (chapter 30) is listed as a separate text of the Buddhāvataṃsaka in the Denkarma catalogue and is probably the Vajradhvajasūtra mentioned by Śāntideva in the Bodhicaryāvatāra (VII.46). It contains its own set of ten chapters.
The Daśabhūmika (chapter 31) is known to have circulated as an independent work in India, and has survived as a complete Sanskrit manuscript in Nepal. It is found in Kangyurs of the Themphangma tradition and independent Kangyurs as a separate sūtra, as well as a chapter of the Buddhāvataṃsaka, the two Tibetan translations in such cases being different ones. It figures in its own right in the Mahāvyutpatti.
A Sanskrit text of the Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana (chapter 37) has recently been discovered, with a colophon in Sanskrit describing the sūtra as from the Buddhāvataṃsaka; it also exists as two independent Tibetan translations, Toh 104 and Toh 268.
The Buddhadharmācintyanirdeśa (chapter 39) is also found in the General Sūtra section of the Kangyur with the same title as an independent work (Toh 187) that appears to be a close but not identical translation of the same original.
The Samantabhadracāryanirdeśa (chapter 42) is listed as a separate text of the Buddhāvataṃsaka in the Denkarma catalogue.
The Tathāgatotpattisambhavanirdeśa (chapter 43) is also listed as a separate text of the Buddhāvataṃsaka in the Phangthangma and Denkarma catalogues and figures in its own right in the Mahāvyutpatti. It is quoted in several Indian treatises.
The Lokottaraparivarta (chapter 44) is listed as a separate text of the Buddhāvataṃsaka in the Phangthangma and Denkarma catalogues, and figures in its own right in the Mahāvyutpatti.
Approximately the last third of the Buddāvataṃsaka is taken up by the Gaṇḍavyūha (chapter 45), one of the best known texts of the family. It is also listed as a separate text in the Denkarma catalogue, figures in its own right in the Mahāvyutpatti, and is quoted in numerous Indian treatises. It has also survived as a complete Sanskrit manuscript in Nepal. Its story narrating the youth Sudhana's spiritual quest and meetings with fifty-two teachers is depicted in detail in the stone carvings of Borobudur in central Java.
The Bhadracaryāpraṇidhāna, the dedication “Prayer of Good Action” recited widely in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, forms the conclusion of chapter 45. It is also found on its own in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 1095).
Other works that may be considered members of the Buddhāvataṃsaka “family,” but are found elsewhere in most Kangyurs, include the Ratnolkādhāraṇī (Toh 145 and 847), passages of which are found in chapters 17 and 20, and which is listed as belonging to the Buddhāvataṃsaka in the Phangthangma catalogue and in the Mahāvyutpatti; the Tathāgataguṇajñānācintyaviṣayāvatāranirdeśa (Toh 185); the Buddhadharmācintyanirdeśa (Toh 187), which is an independent version of chapter 39, has the same title, and is close but not identical; and the Śraddhābalādhānāvatāramudrā (Toh 201).
For further details, see:
Skilling, Peter, and Saerji, “The Circulation of the Buddhāvataṃsaka in India” in ARIRIAB, vol. 16, 193-216 (March 2013).
Nattier, Jan, “The Proto-History of the Buddhāvataṃsaka: the Pusa benye jing and the Dousha jing,” in ARIRIAB vol. 7, 323-360 (March 2005).
Hamar, Imre, “The History of the Buddhāvataṃsaka-Sūtra: Shorter and Larger Texts.” In: Hamar, Imre (ed.), Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism (Asiatische Forschungen Vol. 151), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp.159-161 (2007).
Tāranātha, dam pa’i chos rin po che ’phags pa’i yul du ji ltar dar ba’i tshul gsal bar ston pa dgos ’dod kun ’byung (rgya gar chos ’byung from Degé xylographs), Tezu, A.P., India: Tibetan Nyingma Monastery (1974), ff. 47a-48b. Translation in Chimpa, L. et al. (trans.), Tāranātha's History of Buddhism in India, Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press (1981), pp. 140-143.
Chapter 1: The Ornaments of All the Lords of the World
འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་དབང་པོ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་རྒྱན་གྱི་ཚུལ་ལེའུ། · 'jig rten gyi dbang po thams cad kyi rgyan gyi tshul le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《一切世主莊嚴品》
Chapter 2: The Tathāgata
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ལེའུ། · de bzhin gshegs pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《佛陀品》
Chapter 3: Samantabhadra's Miraculous Samādhi
ཀུན་བཟང་ཏིང་འཛིན་རྣམ་འཕྲུལ་ལེའུ། · kun bzang ting 'dzin rnam 'phrul le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 普賢三昧幻化品/普賢三昧品
Chapter 4: The Teaching on the Ocean of Realms of the World
འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · 'jig rten gyi khams rgya mtsho bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 世界海品/世界成就品
Chapter 5: The Flower Ornament Fundamental Essence Realm
འཇིག་རྟེན་ཁམས་གཞི་སྙིང་མེ་ཏོག་གི་བརྒྱན་ལེའུ། · 'jig rten khams gzhi snying me tog gi brgyan le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 世界華藏莊嚴品/華藏世界品
Chapter 6: The Teaching on the Ornaments of the World's Periphery
འཇིག་རྟེན་འཁོར་ཡུག་རྒྱན་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · 'jig rten 'khor yug rgyan bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 世界边境莊嚴品
Chapter 7: The Teaching on the Ornaments of the Underlying Ground of the Ocean of the World's Realms
འཇིག་རྟེན་ཁམས་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་ས་གཞི་རྒྱན་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · 'jig rten khams rgya mtsho'i sa gzhi rgyan bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 世界海地莊嚴品
Chapter 8: The Teaching on Remaining in the Continuity of the Field
ཞིང་གི་རྒྱུད་གནས་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · zhing gi rgyud gnas bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 住剎土續品
Chapter 9: The Teaching on the Continuous Array of the World's Realms
འཇིག་རྟེན་ཁམས་རྒྱུད་རྣམ་འགོད་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · 'jig rten khams rgyud rnam 'god bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 世界續安立品
Chapter 10: Vairocana
རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད་ལེའུ། · rnam par snang mdzad le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 盧舍那佛品/毘盧遮那品
Chapter 11: The Universal Interpenetration of the Tathāgatas
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་རྨད་གཅད་ལེའུ། · de bzhin gshegs pa rmad gcad le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 如來真實義品/如來名號品
Chapter 12: The Buddha
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ལེའུ། · sangs rgyas kyi le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 佛陀品
Chapter 13: The Truths of the Noble Ones
འཕགས་པ་བདེན་པའི་ལེའུ། · 'phags pa bden pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《聖諦品》
Chapter 14: The Awakening Through the Tathāgata's Rays of Light
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་འོད་ཟེར་ལས་རྣམ་པར་སངས་རྒྱས་པ་ལེའུ། · de bzhin gshegs pa'i 'od zer las rnam par sangs rgyas pa le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《如來光明正等覺品》
Chapter 15: The Illumination of the Bodhisattva's Questions
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔས་དྲིས་པ་སྣང་བ་ལེའུ། · byang chub sems dpas dris pa snang ba le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《菩薩所問顯明品》
Chapter 16: Purification of the Sphere of Activity
སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་ཡོངས་སུ་དག་པའི་ལེའུ། · spyod yul yongs su dag pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《行境清淨品》
Chapter 17: Bhadraśrī
བཟང་པོའི་དཔལ་གྱི་ལེའུ། · bzang po'i dpal gyi le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《賢吉祥品》
Chapter 18: The Tathāgata Ascends to the Peak of Mount Meru
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་རི་རབ་རྩེར་གཤེགས་ལེའུ། · de bzhin gshegs pa ri rab rtser gshegs le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 如來昇須彌山頂品/佛昇須彌頂品/昇須彌山頂品
Chapter 19: The Verses of the Assembly of Bodhisattvas
བྱང་སེམས་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་ཚིགས་བཅད་ལེའུ། · byang sems tshogs kyi tshigs bcad le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 菩薩雲集說偈品/菩薩雲集妙勝殿上說偈品/須彌頂上偈讚品
Chapter 20: The Ten Categories of Bodhisattvas
བྱང་སེམས་རྣམ་དགོད་བཅུ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · byang sems rnam dgod bcu bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 菩薩十住品/十住品
Chapter 21: Pure Conduct
ཚང་པར་སྤྱོད་པའི་ལེའུ། · tshang par spyod pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 梵行品
Chapter 22: The Merit of First Developing the Mind Set on Enlightenment
བྱང་སེམས་དང་པོ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བསོད་ནམས་ཕུང་པོ་ལེའུ། · byang sems dang po bskyed pa'i bsod nams phung po le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 初發心功德品
Chapter 23: Illumination of the Dharma
ཆོས་སྣང་བའི་ལེའུ། · chos snang ba'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 明法品
Chapter 24: The Emanation in Suyama
རབ་མཚེ་མའི་གནས་ན་རྣམ་འཕྲུལ་ལེའུ། · rab mtshe ma'i gnas na rnam 'phrul le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 夜摩天宮幻化品/佛昇夜摩天宮自在品/昇夜摩天宮品
Chapter 25: The Verses of the Gathering of Bodhisattvas in Suyama
རབ་མཚེ་མའི་གནས་སུ་བྱང་སེམས་འདུས་པ་ཚིག་བཅད་ལེའུ། · rab mtshe ma'i gnas su byang sems 'dus pa tshig bcad le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 夜摩天宮菩薩說偈品/夜摩宮中偈讚品
Chapter 26: The Teaching on the Bodhisattva's Practice
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 菩薩行品/功德華聚菩薩十行品/十行品
Chapter 27: The Teaching on the Ten Inexhaustible Treasures
གཏེར་མི་ཟད་པ་བཅུ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · gter mi zad pa bcu bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 菩薩十無盡藏品/十無盡藏品
Chapter 28: The Ornament after the Tathāgata's Departure
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་བཞུད་གཤེགས་བཞུགས་རྒྱན་ལེའུ། · de bzhin gshegs pa bzhud gshegs bzhugs rgyan le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 如來出發莊嚴品/如來昇兜率天宮一切寶殿品/昇兜率天宮品
Chapter 29: The Gathering of Bodhisattvas in Tuṣita
དགའ་ལྡན་གནས་སུ་བྱང་སེམས་འདུས་པའི་ལེའུ། · dga' ldan gnas su byang sems 'dus pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 兜率天宮菩薩雲集品/兜率天宮菩薩雲集讚佛品/兜率宮中偈讚品
Chapter 30: Vajradhvaja's Dedication
རྡོ་རྗེ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ཡོངས་བསྔོའི་ལེའུ། · rdo rje rgyal mtshan yongs bsngo'i le'u/
vajradhvajapariṇāma
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- [Note: This chapter contains 10 subchapters]
- 《華嚴經 》之《金剛幢迴向品》
- byang chub sems dpa' rdo rje rgyal mtshan gyis yongs su bsngo ba'i le'u/
The Ten Bhūmis
ས་བཅུ་པ། · sa bcu pa
Daśabhūmika
Summary
After his attainment of buddhahood, the Buddha Śākyamuni is present in many locations simultaneously. The Ten Bhūmis takes place two weeks after his enlightenment, while he is sitting silently in meditation in the central palace in the highest paradise of the desire realm. Countless bodhisattvas have assembled there. Through the power of the Buddha, the bodhisattva Vajragarbha enters samādhi and is blessed by countless buddhas, also named Vajragarbha, to give a Dharma teaching to the bodhisattvas. In response to the questions of the bodhisattva Vimukticandra, Vajragarbha describes successively the ten bhūmis of a bodhisattva. Countless bodhisattvas arrive and report that this same event is occurring simultaneously in the highest paradises of all other worlds. The Buddha is pleased by Vajragarbha’s teaching.
Title variants
- The Ten Bhūmis Chapter from the Mahāvaipulya Sūtra “A Multitude of Buddhas”
- Buddhāvataṃsakanāmamahāvaipulyasūtrāt daśabhūmikaḥ paṭalaḥ
- shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba las sa bcu pa’i le’u
- ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ལས་ས་བཅུ་པའི་ལེའུ།
- āryabodhisattvadaśabhūmika
- 《華嚴經 》之《十地品》
- ’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’i sa bcu
Chapter 32: The Teaching of Samantabhadra
ཀུན་བཟང་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · kun bzang bstan pa'i le'u/
samantabhadracāryanirdeśa
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《普賢品》
- 'phags pa kun tu bzang po'i spyod pa bstan pa/
Chapter 33: The Ten Samādhis
ཏིང་འཛིན་བཅུའི་ལེའུ། · ting 'dzin bcu'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《十定品》
Chapter 34: The Superknowledges
མངོན་ཤེས་ལེའུ། · mngon shes le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《十明品》
Chapter 35: The Acceptances
བཟོད་པའི་ལེའུ། · bzod pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《十忍品》
Chapter 36: The Teaching on the Reckoning from the Questions of Sovereign Mind
སེམས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དྲིས་ནས་གྲངས་ལ་འཇུག་པ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · sems kyi rgyal po dris nas grangs la 'jug pa bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《心王菩薩問阿僧祇品》
The Chapter on the Scale of Life
ཚེའི་ཚད་ཀྱི་ལེའུ། · tshe’i tshad kyi le’u
Summary
The bodhisattva King of Mind gives a teaching to an assembly of bodhisattvas on the relativity of time among different buddhafields. Eleven buddhafields are enumerated, with an eon in the first being equivalent to a day in the following buddhafield, where an eon is, in turn, the equivalent of a day in the next, and so forth.
Title variants
- “The Scale of Life,” Chapter 37 of the Extensive Sūtra “The Ornaments of the Buddhas”
- ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ལས་ཚེའི་ཚད་ཀྱི་ལེའུ་སྟེ་སུམ་ཅུ་བདུན་པ།
- shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba las tshe’i tshad kyi le’u ste sum cu bdun pa
- 《華嚴經 》之《壽量品》
- tshe tshad le’u
Chapter 38: The Dwellings of Bodhisattvas
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་གནས་ཀྱི་ལེའུ། · byang chub sems dpa'i gnas kyi le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《菩薩住處品》
Chapter 39: The Teaching on the Inconceivability of the Buddhadharma
སང་རྒྱས་ཆོས་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · sang rgyas chos bsam mi khyab bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- [Note: see Toh 187, which is close but not identical.]
- 《華嚴經 》之《佛不思議法品》
Chapter 40: The Teaching on the Tathāgata's Ocean of Major Physical Marks
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྐུ་མཚན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · de bzhin gshegs pa'i sku mtshan rgya mtsho bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《如來相海品》
Chapter 41: The Teaching on the Minor Marks and Light Rays
དཔེ་བྱད་འོད་ཟེར་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · dpe byad 'od zer bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《如來隨好光明功德品》
Chapter 42: The Teaching on Samantabhadra's Practice
ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་སྤྱོད་པ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · kun tu bzang po'i spyod pa bstan pa'i le'u/
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 《華嚴經 》之《 普賢菩薩行品》
Chapter 43: The Teaching on the Emergence of the Tathāgata
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་སྐྱེ་འབྱུང་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · de bzhin gshegs pa skye 'byung bstan pa'i le'u/
tathāgatotpattisambhavanirdeśa
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- The Teaching on the Emergence of the Tathāgata
- 《華嚴經 》之《指示如來現生經》
Chapter 44: Transcendence of the World
འཇིག་རྟེན་ལས་འདས་པའི་ལེའུ། · 'jig rten las 'das pa'i le'u/
lokottaraparivarta
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 離世間品
The Stem Array
སྡོང་པོས་བརྒྱན་པ། · sdong pos brgyan pa
Gaṇḍavyūha
Summary
In this lengthy final chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, while the Buddha Śākyamuni is in meditation in Śrāvastī, Mañjuśrī leaves for South India, where he meets the young layman Sudhana and instructs him to go to a certain kalyāṇamitra or “good friend,” who then directs Sudhana to another such friend. In this way, Sudhana successively meets and receives teachings from fifty male and female, child and adult, human and divine, and monastic and lay kalyāṇamitras, including night goddesses surrounding the Buddha and the Buddha’s wife and mother. The final three in the succession of kalyāṇamitras are the three bodhisattvas Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra’s recitation of the Samantabhadracaryāpraṇidhāna (“The Prayer for Completely Good Conduct”) concludes the sūtra.
Title variants
- “The Stem Array” Chapter from the Mahāvaipulya Sūtra “A Multitude of Buddhas”
- Buddhāvataṃsakanāmamahāvaipulyasūtrāt gaṇḍavyūhasūtraḥ paṭalaḥ
- ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ལས་སྡོང་པོས་བརྒྱན་པའི་ལེའུ་སྟེ་བཞི་བཅུ་རྩ་ལྔ་པའོ།
- shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba las sdong pos brgyan pa’i le’u ste bzhi bcu rtsa lnga pa’o
- ’phags pa sdong po bkod pa’i mdo
- 入法界品
- 《華嚴經 》之《入法界品》