Heap of Jewels
Forty-nine selected sūtras on a range of themes, compiled as a separate collection also found in the Chinese Tripiṭaka (Toh 45-93).
| Texts: 49 | Published: 22 | In Progress: 26 | Not Begun: 1 |
Texts in this Section
The Chapter Explaining the Three Vows
སྡོམ་པ་གསུམ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · sdom pa gsum bstan pa'i le'u/
trisaṃvaranirdeśaparivartasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryatrisaṃvaranirdeśaparivartanāmamāhayānasūtra
- 《三律儀品》(大正藏：大寶積經三律儀會第一)
- 'phags pa sdom pa gsum bstan pa'i le'u zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Chapter Teaching the Purification of Boundless Gateways
སྒོ་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་རྣམ་པར་སྦྱོང་བ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ། · sgo mtha’ yas pa rnam par sbyong ba bstan pa’i le’u
Anantamukhapariśodhananirdeśaparivarta
Summary
The Chapter Teaching the Purification of Boundless Gateways consists of an extended discourse presented by the Buddha to his bodhisattva disciple Anantavyūha. The instruction consists of a so-called dhāraṇī gateway, a teaching that involves a series of dhāraṇī spells, which are interspersed throughout. The teaching is generally concerned with well-known Mahāyāna Buddhist themes, ranging from the lack of inherent identity to the qualities of complete awakening, but these topics are here presented within a larger exegesis on the meaning of the dhāraṇī gateway.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Chapter Teaching the Purification of Boundless Gateways”
- Āryānantamukhapariśodhananirdeśaparivartanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa sgo mtha’ yas pa rnam par sbyong ba bstan pa’i le’u zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་སྒོ་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་རྣམ་པར་སྦྱོང་བ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Āryānantamukhaviśodhananirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- Anantamukhaviśodhananirdeśa
- Anantamukhaviśodhananirdeśasūtra
- 《淨化無量門經》（大正藏：《大寳積經無邊莊嚴會》）
Tibetan translation:
- Kawa Paltsek (under the name Paltsek Rakṣita)
- Surendrabodhi
The Teaching on the Unfathomable Secrets of the Tathāgatas
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གསང་བ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ། · de bzhin gshegs pa'i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa'i mdo/
tathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśasūtra
Summary
Teaching the Unfathomable Secrets of the Tathāgatas is a fascinating third turning mahayāna sūtra extracted from the larger Ratnakūṭa sūtra that explores a diversity of topics across 24 chapters and an epilogue.
Both the Buddha and Vajrapāṇi teach, discussing the secrets of the body, speech, and mind of the bodhisattvas and the buddhas, nonduality, the relationship of the nature of mind to the qualities of buddhas and bodhisattvas, and other subjects. It follows a consistently nondual perspective — identifying that while an awakened being may seem to be engaged in a conceptual or dualistic action, they never leave the scope of nonconceptual wisdom. It reveals the extraordinary freedom that awakened beings have in their acting in the world.
Title variants
- āryatathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- tathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśa
- 'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- 《如來不可思議秘密經》（大正藏：《大寶積經密迹金剛力士會第三》）
The Discourse on Dreams
རྨི་ལམ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ། · rmi lam bstan pa'i mdo/
svapnanirdeśasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryasvapnanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 《說夢經》（大正藏：《大寶積經淨居天子會第四》）
- 'phags pa rmi lam bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Array of Amitābha
འོད་དཔག་མེད་ཀྱི་བཀོད་པའི་མདོ། · 'od dpag med kyi bkod pa'i mdo/
amitābhavyūhasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- The “longer” Sukhāvatīvyūha (cf Toh 115, the “shorter”)
- āryāmitābhavyūhanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa 'od dpag med kyi bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- bde ba can gyi zhing bkod pa'i bstan pa
- 《無量光莊嚴經》（大正藏：《大寶積經無量壽如來會第五》）
The Array of the Tathāgata Akṣobhya
མི་འཁྲུགས་པའི་བཀོད་པའི་མདོ། · mi 'khrugs pa'i bkod pa'i mdo/
akṣobhyatathāgatasya vyūhasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryākṣobhyatathāgatasya vyūhanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 《不動如來莊嚴經》（大正藏：《大寶積經不動如來會第六》）
- 'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa mi 'khrugs pa'i bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Teaching of the Armor Array
གོ་ཆའི་བཀོད་པ་བསྟན་པ། · go cha’i bkod pa bstan pa
Varmavyūhanirdeśa
Summary
The Teaching of the Armor Array describes a dialog between the Buddha Śākyamuni and the bodhisattva Anantamati. The sūtra is primarily concerned with the great armor, a quality related to the perfection of insight. As such, it is no conventional sort of armor. Rather, donning it involves giving up all grasping at phenomena, and engaging diligently on the path, with insight into the nature of phenomena. The Buddha and Anantamati also discuss the nature of the Great Vehicle and the great path, all the while emphasizing their emptiness and lack of marks.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Teaching of the Armor Array”
- Āryavarmavyūhanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་གོ་ཆའི་བཀོད་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa go cha’i bkod pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《被甲莊嚴經》（大正藏：《大寶積經被甲莊嚴會第七》）
Tibetan translation:
- Gö Chödrup
The Teaching on the Indivisible Nature of the Realm of Phenomena
ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་དབྱེར་མེད་པ་བསྟན་པ། · chos dbyings rang bzhin dbyer med bstan pa’i mdo
Dharmadhātuprakṛtyasambhedanirdeśa
Summary
While the Buddha is in the Jeta Grove, he asks Mañjuśrī to teach on the nature of reality. Mañjuśrī’s account upsets some of the monks present in the gathering, who subsequently leave. Nevertheless, by means of an emanation, Mañjuśrī skillfully teaches the distraught monks, who return to the Jeta Grove to express their gratitude. The monks explain that their obstacle has been a conceited sense of attainment, of which they are now free. At the request of the god Ratnavara, Mañjuśrī then teaches on nonduality and the nature of the bodhisattva. Next, the Buddha prophesies the future awakening of Ratnavara and other bodhisattvas present in the gathering. However, the prophecies cause Pāpīyān, king of the māras, to appear with his army. In a dramatic course of events, Mañjuśrī uses his transformative power on both Pāpīyān and the Buddha’s pious attendant, Śāradvatīputra, forcing both of them to appear in the form of the Buddha himself. He then makes Pāpīyān and Śāradvatīputra teach the profound Dharma with the perfect mastery of buddhahood. Numerous bodhisattvas appear from the four directions, pledging to practice and uphold the sūtra’s teaching. The Buddha grants his blessing for the continuous transmission of the sūtra among bodhisattvas in the future.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་དབྱེར་མེད་པ་བསྟན་པཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa chos kyi dbyings kyi rang bzhin dbyer med pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching on the Indivisible Nature of the Realm of Phenomena”
- Āryadharmadhātuprakṛtyasambhedanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Ten Dharmas
ཆོས་བཅུ་པའི་མདོ། · chos bcu pa'i mdo/
daśadharmakasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryadaśadharmakanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa chos bcu pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Exposition on the Universal Gateway
ཀུན་ནས་སྒོའི་ལེའུ། · kun nas sgo’i le’u
Samantamukhaparivarta
Summary
In The Exposition on the Universal Gateway, the bodhisattva Amalagarbha arrives in this world from a distant pure land to request teachings from the buddha Śākyamuni. The Buddha proceeds to explain to all assembled bodhisattvas, monks, and lay devotees the manner in which the five aggregates are equal to meditative absorption. He also explains how the various classes of beings and all other phenomena are absorption as well. In conclusion, he lists the names of various absorptions and the benefits one obtains upon attaining these states.
Title variants
- ’phags pa kun nas sgo’i le’u zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ཀུན་ནས་སྒོའི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Exposition on the Universal Gateway”
- Āryasamantamukhaparivartanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Teaching on the Effulgence of Light
འོད་ཟེར་ཀུན་དུ་བཀྱེ་བ་བསྟན་པ། · ’od zer kun du bkye ba bstan pa
Raśmisamantamuktanirdeśa
Summary
Initiated by the questions of the bodhisattva Candraprabhakumārabhūta, The Teaching on the Effulgence of Light consists of a series of teachings related to the lights emitted by awakened beings as manifestations of their spiritual achievements. Amid the display of his miraculous powers, the Buddha describes the specific qualities with which each of those lights is associated, and he repeatedly emphasizes the fact that such lights are a natural expression of the insight into the emptiness of all phenomena. The sūtra is also concerned with general themes such as the qualities required by followers of the Great Vehicle and the practice of generosity.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Teaching on the Effulgence of Light”
- Āryaraśmisamantamuktanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་འོད་ཟེར་ཀུན་དུ་བཀྱེ་བ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa ’od zer kun du bkye ba bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《光明徧放經》（大正藏：《大寶積經出現光明會第十一》）
The Bodhisattva’s Scriptural Collection
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡེ་སྣོད་ཀྱི་མདོ། · byang chub sems dpa'i sde snod kyi mdo/
bodhisattvapiṭakasūtra
Summary
An important sūtra from the Ratnakuta (“Heap of Jewels”) collection that sets out in detail the stages and practices of the path of the Bodhisattva vehicle. It contains extensive explanations on key Mahāyāna practices, including the Four Immeasurable Thoughts, Six Perfections, and more.
Title variants
- āryabodhisattvapiṭakanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa byang chub sems dpa'i sde snod ces bya ba thegs pa chen po'i mdo
- 《菩薩藏經》（大正藏：《大寶積經菩薩藏會第十二》）
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi, Śīlendra, Dharmatāśīla
The Teaching to Nanda on Entering the Womb
དགའ་བོ་མངལ་དུ་འཇུག་པ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ། · dga' bo mngal du 'jug pa bstan pa'i mdo/
nandagarbhāvakrāntinirdeśa
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryanandagarbhāvakrāntinirdeśa
- 'phags pa dga' bo mngal du 'jug pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- 《為阿難說處胎經》（大正藏：《大寶積經佛說入胎藏會第十四》）
The Teaching to Venerable Nanda on Entry into the Womb
ཚེ་དང་ལྡན་པ་དགའ་བོ་ལ་མངལ་དུ་འཇུག་པ་བསྟན་པ། · tshe dang ldan pa dga’ bo la mngal du ’jug pa bstan pa
Āyuṣmannandagarbhāvakrāntinirdeśa
Summary
In The Teaching to Venerable Nanda on Entry into the Womb, the Buddha gives a detailed account to his half-brother Nanda of the thirty-eight weeks of human gestation. The sūtra explains conception in terms of how the antarābhava (the being in the state between death in one life and birth in the next) enters the womb, and details the physical composition of the embryo, the suffering of the newborn being, and the miseries experienced over the course of a lifetime. Including as it does the most comprehensive ancient Indian account of gestation, it was an important source for embryology in Tibetan medicine.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Teaching to Venerable Nanda on Entry into the Womb”
- Āryāyuṣmannandagarbhāvakrāntinirdeśa
- འཕགས་པ་ཚེ་དང་ལྡན་པ་དགའ་བོ་ལ་མངལ་དུ་འཇུག་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa tshe dang ldan pa dga’ bo la mngal du ’jug pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《為長老難陀說入胎經》（大正藏：《大寶積經佛為阿難說處胎會第十三》）
The Array of Virtues of Mañjuśrī’s Buddha Realm
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་བཀོད་པ། · ’jam dpal gyi sangs rgyas kyi zhing gi yon tan bkod pa
Mañjuśrībuddhakṣetraguṇavyūha
Summary
In this sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni explains the connection between the bodhisattvas’ aspirations and the virtues of their future buddha realms. He describes the various qualities that help bodhisattvas bring their aspirations to fulfillment. After bodhisattvas arrive from all directions to hear his teachings on the virtues of the buddha realms, the Buddha Śākyamuni recounts the story of how Mañjuśrī first engendered the mind set on awakening. Finally, the Buddha reveals the extraordinary nature of Mañjuśrī’s bodhisattva aspirations, and how they will contribute to the exceptional qualities of his future buddha realm.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Array of Virtues of Mañjuśrī’s Buddha Realm”
- Āryamañjuśrībuddhakṣetraguṇavyūhanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi sangs rgyas kyi zhing gi yon tan bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་བཀོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《文殊佛剎功德莊嚴經》（大正藏：《大寶積經文殊師利授記會第十五》）
The Meeting of Father and Son
ཡབ་སྲས་མཇལ་བའི་མདོ། · yab sras mjal ba'i mdo/
pitāputrasamāgamasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryapitāputrasamāgamanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 《父子會遇經》
- 'phags pa yab sras mjal ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Questions of Pūrṇa
གང་པོས་ཞུས་པ། · gang pos zhus pa
Pūrṇaparipṛcchā
Summary
In Veṇuvana, outside Rājagṛha, Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra asks the Buddha about the conduct of bodhisattvas practicing on the path to awakening. The Buddha replies by describing the attitudes that bodhisattvas must possess as well as their benefits. Then, at the request of Maudgalyāyana, the Buddha recounts several of his past lives in which he himself practiced bodhisattva conduct. At the end of the teaching, the Buddha instructs the assembly about how to deal with specific objections to his teachings that outsiders might raise after he himself has passed into nirvāṇa.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Pūrṇa”
- Āryapūrṇaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa gang pos zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་གང་གང་པོས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《富樓那所問經》 (大正藏：大寶積經富樓那會第十七)
Tibetan translation:
The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1)
ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ། · yul ’khor skyong gis zhus pa
Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā
Summary
The newly ordained monk Rāṣṭrapāla questions the Buddha about the proper conduct of a bodhisattva. The Buddha proceeds to explain its features in detail, giving as examples his own conduct in his multiple past lives. He tells the story of his past life as prince Puṇyaraśmi, who abandoned pleasure, a kingdom, and riches to follow the bodhisattva path to enlightenment for the sake of sentient beings.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1)”
- Āryarāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa yul ’khor skyong gis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《護國所問經》（大正藏：《大寶積經護國菩薩會第十八》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Munivarman
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Sūtra of Ugra's Questions
དྲག་ཤུལ་ཅན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · drag shul can gyis zhus pa'i mdo/
ugraparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryagṛhapatyugraparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa khyim bdag drag shul can gyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- 《郁伽長者所問經》（大正藏：《大寶積經郁伽長者會第十九》）
The Sūtra of Vidyutprāpta's Questions
གློག་ཐོབ་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · glog thob kyis zhus pa'i mdo/
vidyutprāptaparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryavidyutprāptaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa glog thob kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- 《電得所問經》（大正藏：《大寶積經無盡伏藏會第二十》）
The Prophecy for the Magician Bhadra
སྒྱུ་མ་མཁན་བཟང་པོ་ལུང་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ། · sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa'i mdo/
bhadramāyākaravyākaraṇasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryabhadramāyākaravyākaraṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Teaching of the Great Magical Display
ཆོ་འཕྲུལ་ཆེན་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ། · cho 'phrul chen po bstan pa'i mdo/
mahāpratihāryopadeśasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryamahāpratihāryopadeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa cho 'phrul chen po bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- 《說大神變經》（大正藏：《大寶積經大神變會第二十二》）
The Great Lion’s Roar of Maitreya
བྱམས་པའི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཆེན་པོ། · byams pa’i seng ge’i sgra chen po
Maitreyamahāsiṃhanāda
Summary
In this sūtra, Mahākāśyapa poses a series of questions to the Buddha about proper monastic conduct and practice, which the Buddha answers at length. Mahākāśyapa then requests the Buddha to remain in the world in order to safeguard the Dharma, but when the Buddha initially predicts that Mahākāśyapa himself will do so in the future, Mahākāśyapa insists that for the Dharma to remain for long, it must be entrusted to a bodhisattva rather than a śrāvaka. The Buddha then anoints Maitreya and entrusts him with the responsibility of protecting the Dharma in the future. There follows a teaching from the Buddha about those in the future who will falsely claim to be bodhisattvas and about the proper conduct and practice of bodhisattvas, as well as a description from Maitreya of his own practice of the bodhisattva path. When Mahākāśyapa asks the Buddha about those in the future who will be “sham bodhisattvas,” the Buddha offers a series of teachings on the mistaken and blameworthy practice of commercializing the worship of relics, stūpas, and images and seeking to make a living thereby, contrasting this with a monastic’s proper practice of ascetic conduct and meditative inquiry. In addition to the Buddha’s criticism, this sūtra is notable for its memorable analogies, past life narratives, and emphasis on the ascetic practice of the forest-dwelling monastic.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Great Lion’s Roar of Maitreya”
- Āryamaitreyamahāsiṃhanādanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པའི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཆེན་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa byams pa’i seng ge’i sgra chen po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《彌勒大獅子吼經》(大正藏：大寶積經摩訶迦葉會第二十三)
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Prajñāvarman
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
Determining the Vinaya: Upāli’s Questions
འདུལ་བ་རྣམ་པར་གཏན་ལ་དབབ་པ་ཉེ་བར་འཁོར་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · ’dul ba rnam par gtan la dbab pa nye bar ’khor gyis zhus pa
Vinayaviniścayopāliparipṛcchā
Summary
Determining the Vinaya: Upāli’s Questions is a sūtra focused on the relationship between and integration of the prātimokṣa vows of monastic discipline and the conduct of a bodhisattva who follows the Mahāyāna tradition. The sūtra’s two main interlocutors, Śāriputra and Upāli, query the Buddha about the relationship between these two levels of commitments, eliciting a teaching on the different orientations held by the followers of different Buddhist vehicles and how their different views affect the application of their vows. Determining the Vinaya is a particularly valuable sūtra for its inclusion of a unique form of the confessional “Three Sections” rite, making it one of the few extant canonical sources to describe it at length.
Title variants
- ’phags pa ’dul ba rnam par gtan la dbab pa nye bar ’khor gyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryavinayaviniścayopāliparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་འདུལ་བ་རྣམ་པར་གཏན་ལ་དབབ་པ་ཉེ་བར་འཁོར་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Determining the Vinaya: Upāli’s Questions”
- Conquering All Beings
- sems can thams cad yang dag par 'joms pa
Inspiring Determination
ལྷག་བསམ་སྐུལ་བ། · lhag bsam skul ba
Adhyāśayasaṃcodana
Summary
Inspiring Determination is directed at reforming the conduct of sixty bodhisattvas who have lost their sense of purpose and confidence in their ability to practice the Dharma. The bodhisattva Maitreya leads them to seek counsel from the Buddha, who explains the causes these bodhisattvas created in former lives that resulted in their current circumstance. They make a commitment to change their ways, which pleases the Buddha, and this leads him to engage in a dialog with the bodhisattva Maitreya on how bodhisattvas, including those in the future age of final degeneration, the final half-millennium, should avoid faults and uphold conduct that accords with the Dharma.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Inspiring Determination”
- Āryādhyāśayasaṃcodananāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa lhag pa’i bsam pa bskul ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ལྷག་པའི་བསམ་པ་བསྐུལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《增上意樂促進經》（大正藏：《大寶積經發勝志樂會第二十五》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Sūtra of the Question of Subāhu
ལག་བཟངས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · lag bzangs kyis zhus pa’i mdo
Subāhuparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
In this scripture Śākyamuni Buddha describes how a bodhisattva should ideally train in the six perfections. In the Veṇuvana near Rājagṛha, the Buddha teaches this sūtra in response to a single question put to him by the bodhisattva Subāhu: what are the qualities a bodhisattva should have in order to progress to perfect awakening? The Buddha responds by first listing the six perfections of generosity, ethical discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and insight, and then expounding in greater detail on each perfection in turn.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ལག་བཟངས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa lag bzangs kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Question of Subāhu”
- Āryasubāhuparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé
Surata’s Questions
དེས་པས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · des pas zhus pa’i mdo
Surataparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
Surata’s Questions follows Surata, a seemingly poor vagabond endowed with a wealth of ethical virtue. The juxtaposition of Surata’s poverty with the abundance of his moral merits forms a central theme of the sūtra. After being tested by the god Śakra, Surata finds a precious gem that he decides to give to the poorest person in the city. The narrative’s irony ensues when Surata decides that King Prasenajit should receive the gem, since his ethical depravity vitiates his material wealth. The shock of Surata’s decision occasions a valuable lesson on true wealth lying in moral integrity, to which the Buddha himself attests upon his arrival midway through the sūtra. The sūtra concludes with King Prasenajit’s recognition of the error of his ways and the Buddha’s prophecy of Surata’s coming awakening.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Surata’s Questions”
- Āryasurataparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་དེས་པས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa des pas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《善順所問經》（大正藏：《大寶積經善順菩薩會第二十七》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Questions of the Householder Vīradatta
ཁྱིམ་བདག་དཔས་བྱིན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · khyim bdag dpas byin gyis zhus pa
Vīradattagṛhapatiparipṛcchā
Summary
While the Buddha is residing in Anāthapiṇḍada’s pleasure garden in Śrāvastī with a great assembly of monks, elsewhere in Śrāvastī the eminent householder Vīradatta hosts a meeting with five hundred householders to discuss certain questions regarding the practice of the Great Vehicle. Hoping to resolve these questions, Vīradatta and the householders decide to approach the Buddha in Anāthapiṇḍada’s pleasure garden. There the Buddha explains how bodhisattvas should engender the spirit of great compassion while not being attached to the body or to enjoyments, and he then instructs the householders on how bodhisattvas should examine the impermanence and impurity of the body. This prose teaching is followed by a set of verses that reiterate how the body is impure and impermanent and that elucidate the process of karma and its effects. As a result of this teaching, Vīradatta and the five hundred householders attain the acceptance that phenomena are unborn. They then proclaim, in a well-known series of verses, the merits of aspiring for the awakening to buddhahood. The Buddha smiles, predicting that Vīradatta and the five hundred householders will attain spiritual awakening. The sūtra concludes with the Buddha telling Ānanda about the name of this Dharma discourse.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Questions of the Householder Vīradatta”
- Āryavīradattagṛhapatiparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa khyim bdag dpas byin gyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ཁྱིམ་བདག་དཔས་བྱིན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- vīradattaparipṛcchāsūtra
- dpal sbyin gyis zhus pa’i mdo (zhol)
- dpa’ byin gyis zhus pa
- dpal byin gyis zhus pa’i mdo (snar thang)
- dpa’ sbyin gyis zhus pa (stog pho brang)
- dpas byin gyis zhus pa’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Sūtra of the Questions of Udayana, King of Vatsa
བད་སའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་འཆར་བྱེད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་ལེའུ། · bad sa'i rgyal po 'char byed kyis zhus pa'i le'u/
udayanavatsarājaparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryodayanavatsarājaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa bad sa'i rgyal po 'char byed kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba'i le'u
The Sūtra of the Girl Sumati's Questions
བུ་མོ་བློ་གྲོས་བཟང་མོས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · bu mo blo gros bzang mos zhus pa'i mdo/
sumatidārikāparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 'phags pa bu mo blo gros bzang mos zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- āryasumatidārikāparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
The Sūtra of Gaṅgottara's Questions
གང་གཱའི་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · gang gA'i zhus pa'i mdo/
gaṅgottaraparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryagaṅgottaraparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa gang gA'i mchog gis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Sūtra of Aśokadatta's Prophecy
མྱ་ངན་མེད་ཀྱིས་བྱིན་པ་ལུང་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ། · mya ngan med kyis byin pa lung bstan pa'i mdo/
aśokadattavyākaraṇasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryāśokadattavyākaraṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ārya aśokadattavyākaraṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa mya ngan med kyis byin pa lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Sūtra of Vimaladatta's Questions
དྲི་མ་མེད་ཀྱིས་བྱིན་པས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · dri ma med kyis byin pas zhus pa'i mdo/
vimaladattaparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 'phags pa dri ma med kyis byin pas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- āryavimaladattaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
The Questions of Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita
ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་ཆེན་མེ་ཏོག་ཀུན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པས་ཞུས་པ། · yon tan rin chen me tog kun tu rgyas pas zhus pa
Guṇaratnasaṅkusumitaparipṛcchā
Summary
In The Questions of Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita, the sūtra’s interlocutor, Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita, asks the Buddha Śākyamuni whether there might be other buddhas in other realms whose names carry the power to produce awakening. The Buddha responds that there are, in fact, buddhas whose names are so efficacious that simply by remembering them, the disciple will be awakened. The Buddha then names the buddhas of the ten directions, their worlds and eons, and the specific effects that knowing each of their names will have on disciples with faith.
Title variants
- ’phags pa yon tan rin chen me tog kun tu rgyas pas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་ཆེན་མེ་ཏོག་ཀུན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Āryaguṇaratnasaṅkusumitaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita”
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Sūtra Teaching the Unfathomable Sphere of a Buddha
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ། · sangs rgyas kyi yul bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa'i mdo/
acintyabuddhaviṣayanirdeśasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryācintyabuddhaviṣayanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa sangs rgyas kyi yul bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Sūtra of the Devaputra Susthitamati's Questions
ལྷའི་བུ་བློ་གྲོས་རབ་གནས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · lha'i bu blo gros rab gnas kyis zhus pa'i mdo/
susthitamatidevaputraparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryasusthitamatidevaputraparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa lha'i bu blo gros rab gnas kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
Siṃha’s Questions
སེང་གེས་ཞུས་པ། · seng ges zhus pa
Siṃhaparipṛcchā
Summary
At the opening of this sūtra, King Ajātaśatru’s son Siṃha and his five hundred attendants approach the Buddha, who is on Vulture Peak. After paying homage and offering golden parasols, Siṃha asks the Buddha a series of questions about the conduct of bodhisattvas. The Buddha answers each of Siṃha’s questions with a series of verses describing the various karmic causes that result in the qualities and attributes of bodhisattvas. Afterward, when Siṃha and his attendants promise to train in this teaching, the Buddha smiles, causing the three-thousandfold world system to quake. When the bodhisattva Ajita asks the Buddha why he smiled, the Buddha explains that Siṃha and all of his companions will become buddhas and establish buddhafields similar to that of Amitābha.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Siṃha’s Questions”
- Āryasiṃhaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa seng ges zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་སེང་གེས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 佛説太子刷護經
- གྱལ་བུ་སེང་གེས་ཞུས་པ།
- 大寶積經, 阿闍世王子會
- gyal bu seng ges zhus pa
Tibetan translation:
- Dānaśīla
- Munivarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Sūtra of the Chapter of the Bodhisattva Jñānottara's Questions
བྱང་སེམས་ཡེ་ཤེས་དམ་པས་ཞུས་པའི་ལེའུ། · byang sems ye shes dam pas zhus pa'i le'u/
jñānottarabodhisattvaparipṛcchāparivartasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- The Chapter of the Bodhisattva Jñānottara's Questions
- jñānottarabodhisattvaparipṛcchāparivarta
- āryasarvabuddhamahārahasyopāyakośalyajñānottarabodhisattvaparipṛcchāparivartanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa sangs rgyas thams cad kyi gsang chen thabs la mkhas pa/ byang chub sems dpa' ye shes dam pas zhus pa'i le'u zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- 《智勝菩薩所問品》(大正藏：大寶積經大乘方便會第三十八)
The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant
ཚོང་དཔོན་བཟང་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ། · tshong dpon bzang skyong gis zhus pa
Bhadrapālaśreṣṭhiparipṛcchā
Summary
In The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant, the Buddha’s principal interlocutor is a wealthy merchant who asks him to explain what consciousness is, and what happens to it when one dies and is reborn. In his characterization of consciousness, the Buddha relies heavily on the use of analogies drawn from nature. The sūtra also reflects common cultural beliefs of ancient India, such as spirit possession. In addition, it presents graphic and vividly contrasting descriptions of rebirth in the realms of the gods for those who have lived meritorious lives and in the realms of hell for those who lack merit.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant”
- Āryabhadrapālaśreṣṭhiparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཚོང་དཔོན་བཟང་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa tshong dpon bzang skyong gis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- rnam par shes pa 'pho ba'i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā
བུ་མོ་རྣམ་དག་དད་པས་ཞུས་པ། · bu mo rnam dag dad pas zhus pa
Dārikāvimalaśraddhāparipṛcchā
Summary
Vimalaśraddhā, the daughter of King Prasenajit, comes to see the Buddha in Jetavana, together with a retinue of five hundred women. She pays homage to the Buddha and asks him to explain the conduct of bodhisattvas. The Buddha responds by presenting twelve sets of eight qualities that bodhisattvas should cultivate. Vimalaśraddhā and her five hundred companions, having developed the mind set on awakening, join the ranks of the bodhisattvas, and the Buddha prophesies her future attainment of awakening.
Title variants
- 淨信童女會
- bu mo rnam dag dang bas zhus pa’i mdo
- dārikāvimalaśraddhāparipṛcchāsūtra
- ’phags pa bu mo rnam dag dad pas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryadārikāvimalaśraddhāparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā”
- འཕགས་པ་བུ་མོ་རྣམ་དག་དད་པས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Tibetan translation:
- Gö Chödrup
The Question of Maitreya (1)
བྱམས་པས་ཞུས་པ། · byams pas zhus pa
Maitreyaparipṛcchā
Summary
In The Question of Maitreya, the bodhisattva Maitreya asks the Buddha what qualities a bodhisattva needs to attain enlightenment quickly. The Buddha outlines several sets of qualities, foremost among them the altruistic intention of perfect bodhicitta. The Buddha then recounts to Ānanda how, in a former life, Maitreya revered a previous Buddha and, wishing to become just like him, at once realized that all phenomena are unproduced. Ānanda asks why Maitreya did not become a buddha sooner, and in answer the Buddha compares Maitreya’s bodhisattva career with his own, listing further sets of qualities that differentiate them and recounting examples of the hardships he himself faced in previous lives. Maitreya, on the other hand, has followed the easy bodhisattva vehicle using its skillful means, such as the seven branch practice and the training in the six perfections; the aspirations he thus made are set out in the famous “Prayer of Maitreya” for which this sūtra is perhaps best known. The Buddha declares that Maitreya will become enlightened when sentient beings have fewer negative emotions, in contrast to the ignorant and turbulent beings he himself vowed to help.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa byams pas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Question of Maitreya”
- Āryamaitreyaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Question of Maitreya (2) on the Eight Qualities
བྱམས་པས་ཆོས་བརྒྱད་ཞུས་པ། · byams pas chos brgyad zhus pa
Maitreyaparipṛcchādharmāṣṭa
Summary
In The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities, Maitreya asks the Buddha what qualities bodhisattvas need in order to be sure of completing the path to buddhahood. In response, the Buddha briefly lists eight qualities. Starting with the excellent intention to become enlightened, they include loving kindness, as well as realization of the perfection of wisdom, which the Buddha explains in terms of reflection on the twelve links of dependent origination.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པས་ཆོས་བརྒྱད་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa byams pas chos brgyad zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities”
- Āryamaitreyaparipṛcchādharmāṣṭanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Danaśila
- Yeshé Dé
The Discourse for Kāśyapa
འོད་སྲུངས་ཀྱི་ལེའུ། · 'od srungs kyi le'u/
kāśyapaparivartasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- [Note: this work, in its own right, was known as the <i>Ratnakūṭasūtra</i> in several Indian treatises, e.g. Mahāyānasūtralaṃkāra and Śikṣāsamuccaya.]
- āryakāśyapaparivartanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa 'od srungs kyi le'u zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Mass of Jewels
རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ཕུང་པོའི་མདོ། · rin po che'i phung po'i mdo/
ratnarāśisūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryaratnarāśināmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa rin po che'i phung po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Sūtra of Akṣayamati's Questions
བློ་གྲོས་མི་ཟད་པས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · blo gros mi zad pas zhus pa'i mdo/
akṣayamatiparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 'phags pa blo gros mi zad pas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- āryākṣayamatiparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
The Perfection of Wisdom in Seven Hundred Lines
ཤེར་ཕྱིན་བདུན་བརྒྱ་པ། · sher phyin bdun brgya pa/
saptaśatikāprajñāpāramitā
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryasaptaśatikānāmaprajñāpāramitāmahāyānasūtra
- 《般若波羅密多七百頌》
- 'phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa bdun brgya pa zhes bya ba theg pa che po'i mdo
The Sūtra of Ratnacūḍa's Questions
གཙུག་ན་རིན་པོ་ཆེས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · gtsug na rin po ches zhus pa'i mdo/
ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- āryaratnacūḍaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- 'phags pa gtsug na rin po ches zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- 《寶髻所問經》(大正藏：大寶積經寶髻菩薩會)
The Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī
ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲའི་མདོ། · lha mo dpal phreng gi seng ge'i sgra'i mdo/
śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra
Summary
No summary is currently available.
Title variants
- 'phags pa lha mo dpal phreng gi seng ge'i sgra zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
- āryaśrīmālādevīsiṃhanādanāmamahāyānasūtra
The Seer Vyāsa’s Questions
དྲང་སྲོང་རྒྱས་པས་ཞུས་པ། · drang srong rgyas pas zhus pa
Ṛṣivyāsaparipṛcchā
Summary
In The Seer Vyāsa’s Questions, a great seer named Vyāsa, a non-Buddhist mendicant, approaches the Buddha with a large group of followers to inquire about the karmic results of giving. Some of the key points taught in this sūtra are such karmic results and the distinction between pure and impure giving. A final long passage describes the life in the god realms that is experienced as the fruit of particular acts of giving, and it explains the signs received by gods of their own impending death and subsequent human birth.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Seer Vyāsa’s Questions”
- Āryaṛṣivyāsaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa drang srong rgyas pas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་དྲང་སྲོང་རྒྱས་པས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé