Published Translations
For quick and easy access, this list gathers into a single page the texts completed and published so far, as well as showing which sections of the Kangyur they are found in.
| Publications: 362 | Total Pages: 34,343 |
All Published Translations
The Chapter on Going Forth
རབ་ཏུ་འབྱུང་བའི་གཞི། · rab tu ’byung ba’i gzhi
Pravrajyāvastu
Summary
“The Chapter on Going Forth” is the first of seventeen chapters in The Chapters on Monastic Discipline, a four-volume work that outlines the statutes and procedures that govern life in a Buddhist monastic community. This first chapter traces the development of the rite by which postulants were admitted into the monastic order, from the Buddha Śākyamuni’s informal invitation to “Come, monk,” to the more elaborate “Present Day Rite.” Along the way, the posts of preceptor and instructor are introduced, their responsibilities defined, and a dichotomy between elders and immature novices described. While the heart of the chapter is a transcript of the “Present Day Rite,” the text is interwoven with numerous narrative asides, depicting the spiritual ferment of the north Indian region of Magadha during the Buddha’s lifetime, the follies of untrained and unsupervised apprentices, and the need for a formal system of tutelage.
Title variants
- “The Chapter on Going Forth” from The Chapters on Monastic Discipline
- Vinayavastu Pravrajyāvastu
- འདུལ་བ་གཞི་ལས། རབ་ཏུ་འབྱུང་བའི་གཞི།
- ’dul ba gzhi las/ rab tu ’byung ba’i gzhi
- 《 律儀根本 》 之《出家根本》
Tibetan translation:
- Palgyi Lhünpo
- Sarvajñādeva
- Vidyākaraprabha
- Dharmākara
- Paltsek
The Chapter on Medicines
སྨན་གྱི་གཞི། · sman gyi gzhi
Bhaiṣajyavastu
Summary
The Bhaiṣajyavastu, “The Chapter on Medicines,” is a part of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the corpus of monastic law of one of the most influential Buddhist schools in India. This chapter deals with monastic regulations about medicines. At the same time, it also includes various elements not restricted to such rules: stories of the Buddha and his disciples, a lengthy story of the Buddha’s journey for the purpose of quelling an epidemic and converting a nāga, a number of stories of the Buddha’s former lives narrated by the Buddha himself, and a series of verses recited by the Buddha and his disciples about their former lives. Thus, this chapter preserves not only interesting information about medical knowledge shared by ancient Indian Buddhist monastics but also an abundance of Buddhist narrative literature.
Title variants
- “The Chapter on Medicines” from The Chapters on Monastic Discipline
- Vinayavastuni Bhaiṣajyavastu
- ’dul ba gzhi las/ sman gyi gzhi
- འདུལ་བ་གཞི་ལས། སྨན་གྱི་གཞི།
- 藥事
- 《 律儀根本 》 之《藥本事》
Tibetan translation:
- Palgyi Lhünpo
- Sarvajñādeva
- Vidyākaraprabha
- Dharmākara
- Paltsek
The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines
ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་བརྒྱ་པ། · shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa
Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
Summary
The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines is the longest of all the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras and fills no fewer than twelve volumes of the Degé Kangyur. Like the other two long sūtras, it is a detailed record of the teaching on the perfection of wisdom that the Buddha Śākyamuni gave on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, setting out all aspects of the path to enlightenment that bodhisattvas must know and put into practice, yet without taking them as having even the slightest true existence. Each point is emphasized by the exhaustive way that, in this version of the teaching, the Buddha repeats each of his many profound statements for every one of the items in the sets of dharmas that comprise deluded experience, the path, and the qualities of enlightenment.
The provisional version published here currently contains only the first thirteen chapters of the sūtra. Subsequent batches of chapters will be added as their translation and editing is completed.
Title variants
- The Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines
- Āryaśatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
- འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་བརྒྱ་པ།
- ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa
- 《般若波羅蜜多十萬頌》
The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines
ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་ཉི་ཤུ་ལྔ་པ། · shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa
Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
Summary
The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines is among the most important scriptures underlying both the “vast” and the “profound” approaches to Buddhist thought and practice. Known as the “middle-length” version, being the second longest of the three long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras, it fills three volumes of the Kangyur. Like the two other long sūtras, it records the major teaching on the perfection of wisdom given by the Buddha Śākyamuni on Vulture Peak, detailing all aspects of the path to enlightenment while at the same time emphasizing how bodhisattvas must put them into practice without taking them—or any aspects of enlightenment itself—as having even the slightest true existence.
Title variants
- The Noble Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines
- Āryapañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
- འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་ཉི་ཤུ་ལྔ་པ།
- ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa
- ཉི་ཁྲི།
- nyi khri
- yum bar ma
- sher phyin stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa/
- sher phyin nyi khri lnga stong/
- 《般若波羅密多二萬五千頌》
The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines
ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ཁྲི་བརྒྱད་སྟོང་པ། · sher phyin khri brgyad stong pa
Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
Summary
The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines is one version of the Long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras that developed in South and South-Central Asia in tandem with the Eight Thousand version, probably during the first five hundred years of the Common Era. It contains many of the passages in the oldest extant Long Perfection of Wisdom text (the Gilgit manuscript in Sanskrit), and is similar in structure to the other versions of the Long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras (the One Hundred Thousand and Twenty-Five Thousand) in Tibetan in the Kangyur. While setting forth the sacred fundamental doctrines of Buddhist practice with veneration, it simultaneously exhorts the reader to reject them as an object of attachment, its recurring message being that all dharmas without exception lack any intrinsic nature.
The sūtra can be divided loosely into three parts: an introductory section that sets the scene, a long central section, and three concluding chapters that consist of two important summaries of the long central section. The first of these (chapter 84) is in verse and also circulates as a separate work called The Verse Summary of the Jewel Qualities (Toh 13). The second summary is in the form of the story of Sadāprarudita and his guru Dharmodgata (chapters 85 and 86), after which the text concludes with the Buddha entrusting the work to his close companion Ānanda.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines”
- Āryāṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ཁྲི་བརྒྱད་སྟོང་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa khri brgyad stong pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《般若波羅蜜多一萬八千頌》（大正藏：《大般若波羅蜜多經第三會》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines
ཤེས་ཕྱིན་ཁྲི་པ། · shes phyin khri pa
Daśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
Summary
While dwelling at Vulture Peak near Rājagṛha, the Buddha sets in motion the sūtras that are the most extensive of all—the sūtras on the Prajñāpāramitā, or “Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom.” Committed to writing around the start of the first millennium, these sūtras were expanded and contracted in the centuries that followed, eventually amounting to twenty-three volumes in the Tibetan Kangyur. Among them, The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines is a compact and coherent restatement of the longer versions, uniquely extant in Tibetan translation, without specific commentaries, and rarely studied. While the structure generally follows that of the longer versions, chapters 1–2 conveniently summarize all three hundred and sixty-seven categories of phenomena, causal and fruitional attributes which the sūtra examines in the light of wisdom or discriminative awareness. Chapter 31 and the final chapter 33 conclude with an appraisal of irreversible bodhisattvas, the pitfalls of rejecting this teaching, and the blessings that accrue from committing it to writing.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines”
- Āryadaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ཁྲི་པ་ཤེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa khri pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《般若波羅密多萬頌》
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Perfection of Wisdom “Kauśika”
ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ཀཽ་ཤི་ཀ · sher phyin kau shi ka
Kauśikaprajñāpāramitā
Summary
The Perfection of Wisdom “Kauśika” is a condensed prajñāpāramitā sūtra in which the Buddha summarizes the various meanings of the perfection of wisdom. In particular, the Buddha equates the characteristics of the perfection of wisdom with the characteristics of all phenomena, the five aggregates, the five elements, and the ten perfections. In this way, the sūtra places particular emphasis on the nonduality of conventional phenomena and emptiness.
Title variants
- The Noble Perfection of Wisdom “Kauśika”
- āryakauśikaprajñāpāramitā
- འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ཀཽ་ཤི་ཀ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།
- ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa kau shi ka zhes bya ba
- 佛說帝釋般若波羅蜜多心經
The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed Mother
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་མ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོ། · bcom ldan ’das ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i snying po
Bhagavatīprajñāpāramitāhṛdaya
Summary
In this famous scripture, known popularly as The Heart Sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni inspires his senior monk Śāriputra to request instructions from the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara on the way to practice the perfection of wisdom. Avalokiteśvara then describes how an aspiring practitioner of the perfection of wisdom must first understand how all phenomena lack an intrinsic nature, which amounts to the realization of emptiness. Next, Avalokiteśvara reveals a brief mantra that the practitioner can recite as a method for engendering this understanding experientially. Following Avalokiteśvara’s teaching, the Buddha offers his endorsement and confirms that this is the foremost way to practice the perfection of wisdom.
Title variants
- The Heart of the Illustrious Perfection of Wisdom
- The Heart Sūtra
- The Essence of the Perfection of Wisdom
- shes rab kyi snying po
- 《薄伽梵母般若波羅蜜多心經》（大正藏：《佛說聖佛母般若波羅蜜多經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Vimalamitra
- Rinchen Dé
- Gelo
- Namkha
The Sūryagarbha Perfection of Wisdom
ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ། · sher phyin nyi ma’i snying po
Sūryagarbhaprajñāpāramitā
Summary
The Sūryagarbha Perfection of Wisdom is a condensed prajñāpāramitā sūtra in the form of a dialogue between the Buddha and the bodhisattva Sūryaprabhāsa, who asks the Buddha how bodhisattvas skilled in means should train themselves in the perfection of wisdom. In response, the Buddha explains that a bodhisattva should train in a meditative stability called the sun or the sun skilled in means, elaborating upon the qualities of this meditative stability using the analogy of the sun in terms of seven qualities. He then further describes the training of the bodhisattva in the perfection of wisdom as training concerning the true nature of all phenomena, which is characterized in familiar terms found in the long prajñāpāramitā sūtras. It is also described in terms of the various designations for ultimate truth. Finally, the Buddha enumerates the characteristics of the one who trains in the perfection of wisdom, ending with a verse of instruction.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Sūryagarbha Perfection of Wisdom”
- Āryaprajñāpāramitāsūryagarbhamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa nyi ma’i snying po theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Candragarbha Perfection of Wisdom
ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ཟླ་བའི་སྙིང་པོ། · sher phyin zla ba’i snying po
Candragarbhaprajñāpāramitā
Summary
The Candragarbha Perfection of Wisdom is a condensed prajñāpāramitā sūtra that takes the form of a dialogue between the Buddha and the bodhisattva Candragarbha. In response to Candragarbha’s question about how bodhisattvas should train themselves in the perfection of wisdom, the Buddha declares that the perfection of wisdom lies in the understanding that all phenomena are devoid of entities, using the analogy of the moon to clarify the meaning of this declaration. Candragarbha then asks the Buddha how many kinds of perfection of wisdom exist for bodhisattvas. The Buddha answers by describing two types of perfection of wisdom, “contaminated” and “uncontaminated,” and he elucidates the nature of the perfection of wisdom with reference to the ultimate nature of all phenomena. At the end of this discourse, the Buddha presents a mantra of the perfection of wisdom, followed by a summary verse.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Candragarbha Perfection of Wisdom”
- Āryacandragarbhaprajñāpāramitāmahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཟླ་བའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa zla ba’i snying po shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Samantabhadra Perfection of Wisdom
ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ། · sher phyin kun tu bzang po
Samantabhadraprajñāpāramitā
Summary
In a retreat place in Magadha, the Buddha Śākyamuni and the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, surrounded by many bodhisattvas, perform miracles in a meditative absorption. The bodhisattva Samantabhadra asks the Buddha to distinguish between two levels of the perfection of wisdom. In response, the Buddha gives definitions of these two levels. This sūtra is one of the short prajñāpāramitā sūtras, and it belongs especially to the category related to the five bodhisattvas: Sūryagarbha, Candragarbha, Samantabhadra, Vajrapāṇi, and Vajraketu. Despite its brevity, it echoes other sūtras that feature the figure of Samantabhadra and the distinguishing of two types of wisdom.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa kun tu bzang po theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Samantabhadra Perfection of Wisdom”
- Āryaprajñāpāramitāsamantabhadramahāyānasūtra
- shes rab kun bzang gi mdo
- ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa kun tu bzang po’i mdo
The Benefits of the Five Precepts
བསླབ་པ་ལྔའི་ཕན་ཡོན། · bslab pa lnga’i phan yon
Pañcaśikṣānuśaṃsa
Summary
In the first of the two parts of The Benefits of the Five Precepts, a man and woman who have been married since they were very young and have never been unfaithful to each other ask the Buddha how they can remain together in future lives. The Buddha replies that this is possible for couples such as them who are equal in faith, ethical discipline, generosity, and wisdom, and who practice the Dharma together. In the second, longer part of the sūtra, the Buddha gives a teaching on the five precepts, by which one renounces the five negative deeds—killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, speaking falsehoods, and consuming intoxicants. The sufferings in various hells that are the consequence of those five negative deeds are described, as are the benefits experienced by those who renounce them.
Title variants
- The Sūtra on the Benefits of the Five Precepts
- Pañcaśikṣānuśaṃsasūtra
- བསླབ་པ་ལྔའི་ཕན་ཡོན་གྱི་མདོ།
- bslab pa lnga’i phan yon gyi mdo
- The Sūtra That Teaches the Benefits of the Five Disciplines
- ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ལྔའི་ཕན་ཡོན་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།
- tshul khrims lnga’i phan yon bstan pa’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Nyima Gyaltsen Palsangpo
- Ānandaśrī
The Sūtra of the Sun
ཉི་མའི་མདོ། · nyi ma’i mdo
Sūryasūtra
Summary
The Sūtra of the Sun is a short discourse providing a Buddhist account of a solar eclipse. On one occasion while the Buddha is residing in Śrāvastī, the sun is seized by Rāhu, lord of the asuras, which causes an eclipse. The god of the sun asks the Buddha for refuge, after which the Buddha urges Rāhu to release the sun. When questioned by Vemacitra, another lord of the asuras, Rāhu explains that if he had not let the sun go, his head would have split into seven pieces. This sūtra enjoys some popularity today and appears in Tibetan collections of mantras and texts for protection.
The Sūtra of the Moon (1)
ཟླ་བའི་མདོ། · zla ba’i mdo
Candrasūtra
Summary
The Sūtra of the Moon (1) is a short discourse providing a Buddhist account of a lunar eclipse. On one occasion while the Buddha is residing in Śrāvastī, the moon is seized by Rāhu, lord of the asuras, which causes an eclipse. The god of the moon asks the Buddha for refuge, after which the Buddha urges Rāhu to release the moon. When questioned by Vemacitra, another lord of the asuras, Rāhu explains that if he had not let the moon go, his head would have split into seven pieces. This sūtra enjoys some popularity today and appears in Tibetan collections of mantras and texts for protection.
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
- ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ལས་ས་བཅུ་པའི་ལེའུ།
- shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba las sa bcu pa’i le’u
- āryabodhisattvadaśabhūmika
- ’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’i sa bcu
- 《華嚴經 》之《十地品》
Tibetan translation:
- Yeshé Dé
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
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
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Dwellings of Bodhisattvas
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་གནས། · byang chub sems dpa’i gnas
Summary
The Dwellings of Bodhisattvas is the thirty-eighth of the forty-five chapters in The Ornaments of the Buddhas. As the title indicates, the focus of this chapter is the locations of bodhisattvas. It enumerates twenty-three dwelling places, giving the names of the bodhisattvas who reside in the first nine while omitting the names of those who reside in the remaining fourteen.
Title variants
- shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba las byang chub sems pa’i gnas kyi le’u ste sum cu brgyad pa
- ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ལས་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་པའི་གནས་ཀྱི་ལེའུ་སྟེ་སུམ་ཅུ་བརྒྱད་པ།
- “The Dwellings of Bodhisattvas,” Chapter 38 of the Extensive Sūtra “The Ornaments of the Buddhas”
- 《華嚴經 》之《菩薩住處品》
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》
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Vairocanarakṣita
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
- Jinamitra
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 Secrets of the Realized Ones
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གསང་བ། · de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba
Tathāgataguhya
Summary
In this sūtra, the narrative largely revolves around the figures of Vajrapāṇi, the yakṣa lord and constant companion of the Buddha, and the Buddha himself. In the first half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi gives a series of teachings on the mysteries or secrets of the body, speech, and mind of bodhisattvas and the realized ones. In the second half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi describes several events in the Buddha’s life: his practice of severe asceticism, his approach to the seat of awakening, his defeat of Māra, his awakening, and his turning of the wheel of Dharma. Following this, the Buddha gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening as a buddha and travels to Vajrapāṇi’s abode for a meal. Interspersed throughout the sūtra are sermons, dialogues, and marvelous tales exploring a large number of topics and featuring an extensive cast of characters, including several narratives about past lives of Vajrapāṇi, Brahmā Sahāṃpati, and the Buddha himself. The sūtra concludes with the performance of two long dhāraṇīs, one by Vajrapāṇi and one by the Buddha, for the protection and preservation of the Dharma.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of the Mysteries and Secrets of the Realized Ones”
- Āryatathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གསང་བ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’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
- 《如來之秘密》（大正藏：《大寶積經密跡金剛力士會第三》）
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 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 Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡེ་སྣོད། · byang chub sems dpa’i sde snod
Bodhisatvapiṭaka
Summary
In The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva, the Buddha describes in detail the views and practices that are to be followed by the bodhisatva, the ideal Mahāyāna practitioner. Through his interactions with human and nonhuman interlocutors, and through stories of various past buddhas, we are led step by step through the topics of renunciation, the mind of awakening, the four immeasurables, and the six perfections. Among the many accounts of past buddhas included in the sūtra, we find the story of the prophecy made by the Buddha Dīpaṅkara to the brahmin Megha about his future attainment of awakening as the Buddha Śākyamuni.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva”
- Āryabodhisatvapiṭakanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡེ་སྣོད་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེགས་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’i sde snod ces bya ba thegs 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 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 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 Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist
སྒྱུ་མ་མཁན་བཟང་པོ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ། · sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa
Bhadramāyākāravyākaraṇa
Summary
While the Buddha Śākyamuni is residing at Vulture Peak Mountain, in the nearby city of Rājagṛha the accomplished illusionist Bhadra hatches a scheme to humiliate the Buddha and disprove his omniscience in order to win over the people of Magadha. The failure of Bhadra’s plan, in which he conjures the illusion of a resplendent courtyard that, to his dismay, cannot be undone, culminates in a series of surreal and magnificent visions that convince Bhadra of the superiority of the Buddha’s powers. This sūtra presents a colorful and often humorous narrative and contains teachings on illusion, emptiness, and the distinction between the illusionist’s mundane abilities and the Buddha’s miraculous display. The Buddha also teaches Bhadra forty-three sets of four qualities that together constitute the bodhisattva path.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist”
- Āryabhadramāyākāravyākaraṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་སྒྱུ་མ་མཁན་བཟང་པོ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Bhadramāyākāravyākaraṇasūtra
- sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa’i mdo/
- 《幻師仁賢授記經》(大正藏:《大寶積經授幻師跋陀羅記會第二十一》
Tibetan translation:
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 Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, 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 Park. 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
King Udayana of Vatsa’s Questions
བད་སའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་འཆར་བྱེད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · bad sa’i rgyal po ’char byed kyis zhus pa
Udayanavatsarājaparipṛcchā
Summary
Manipulated into a murderous rage by the jealous Queen Anupamā, King Udayana launches a barrage of arrows at Queen Śyāmāvatī. King Udayana is terrified when Queen Śyāmāvatī pays homage to the Buddha, cultivates loving kindness, and the arrows are repelled. Awestruck by such a spectacle and inspired by Queen Śyāmāvatī’s words of praise for the Buddha, King Udayana approaches the Buddha and requests a teaching on the inadequacies of women. The Buddha tells King Udayana that he must first understand his own faults and proceeds to deliver a discourse on the four faults of men, such as attachment to sense pleasures and failure to take care of elderly parents. The teaching is delivered with a plethora of analogies and striking imagery to turn the mind away from sensual desires. The work concludes with King Udayana giving up his weapons and going for refuge in the Three Jewels, filled with love for all beings.
Title variants
- The Noble Episode “King Udayana of Vatsa’s Questions”
- Āryaudayanavatsarājaparipṛcchānāmaparivarta
- འཕགས་པ་བད་སའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་འཆར་བྱེད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ལེའུ།
- ’phags pa bad sa’i rgyal po ’char byed kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba’i le’u
- The Questions of King Udayana of Vatsa
- The Sūtra of King Udayana of Vatsa’s Questions
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Questions of Gaṅgottarā
གང་གཱའི་མཆོག་གིས་ཞུས་པ། · gang gA’i mchog gis zhus pa
Gaṅgottaraparipṛcchā
Summary
In The Questions of Gaṅgottarā, a laywoman named Gaṅgottarā leaves her home in the city of Śrāvastī and visits the Buddha Śākyamuni in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park. The Buddha asks her from where she has come, sparking a dialogue on the true nature of things. Among other things, they discuss the fact that, from the perspective of ultimate truth, all things, including Gaṅgottarā herself, are like magical creations, and thus no one comes or goes or pursues nirvāṇa. After their dialogue, the Buddha smiles. When Ānanda asks him why, he explains that a thousand tathāgatas of the past have already taught this discourse at this same location to a thousand different laywomen, all named Gaṅgottarā; and that through it they have all achieved nirvāṇa. The sūtra concludes with a brief explanation of the reasons why the present laywoman named Gaṅgottarā received this teaching and how it should be remembered in the future.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Questions of Gaṅgottarā”
- Āryagaṅgottaraparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་གང་གཱའི་མཆོག་གིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa gang gA’i mchog gis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
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
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 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, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, 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 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
The Good Eon
བསྐལ་པ་བཟང་པོ། · bskal pa bzang po
Bhadrakalpika
Summary
While resting in a park outside the city of Vaiśālī, the Buddha is approached by the bodhisattva Prāmodyarāja, who requests meditation instruction. The Buddha proceeds to give a teaching on a meditative absorption called elucidating the way of all phenomena and subsequently delivers an elaborate discourse on the six perfections. Prāmodyarāja then learns that all the future buddhas of the Good Eon are now present in the Blessed One’s audience of bodhisattvas. Responding to Prāmodyarāja’s request to reveal the names under which these present bodhisattvas will be known as buddhas in the future, the Buddha first lists these names, and then goes on to describe the circumstances surrounding their birth, awakening, and teaching in the world. In the sūtra’s final section, we learn how each of these great bodhisattvas who are on the path to buddhahood first developed the mind of awakening.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Good Eon”
- Āryabhadrakalpikanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བསྐལ་པ་བཟང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa bskal pa bzang po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《賢劫經》（大正藏：《賢劫經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Vidyākarasiṁha
- Palgyi Yang
- Paltsek
The Play in Full
རྒྱ་ཆེར་རོལ་པ། · rgya cher rol pa
Lalitavistara
Summary
The Play in Full tells the story of how the Buddha manifested in this world and attained awakening, as perceived from the perspective of the Great Vehicle. The sūtra, which is structured in twenty-seven chapters, first presents the events surrounding the Buddha’s birth, childhood, and adolescence in the royal palace of his father, king of the Śākya nation. It then recounts his escape from the palace and the years of hardship he faced in his quest for spiritual awakening. Finally the sūtra reveals his complete victory over the demon Māra, his attainment of awakening under the Bodhi tree, his first turning of the wheel of Dharma, and the formation of the very early saṅgha.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Play in Full”
- Āryalalitavistaranāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa rgya cher rol pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་རོལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《廣大遊戲經》 (方廣大莊嚴經)
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Munivarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī
འཇམ་དཔལ་རྣམ་པར་རོལ་པ། · ’jam dpal rnam par rol pa
Mañjuśrīvikrīḍita
Summary
The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī presents a series of profound teachings within a rich narrative structure involving a beautiful courtesan’s daughter, Suvarṇottamaprabhāśrī. A banker’s son has purchased her favors, but while they are riding together toward a pleasure garden the girl’s attention is captivated instead by the radiantly attractive Mañjuśrī, who gives her instructions related to the meaning of the mind set on awakening. She then expresses her new understanding in a dialogue with Mañjuśrī, in the presence of King Ajātaśatru, his retinue, and the citizens of Rājagṛha. Meanwhile the banker’s son, with the help of Mañjuśrī and Śakra, experiences his own realization and receives teaching from the Buddha himself. The sūtra deals with well-known Mahāyāna themes, but places special emphasis on the emptiness and sameness of all phenomena.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī”
- Āryamañjuśrīvikrīḍitanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་རྣམ་པར་རོལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal rnam par rol pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Chapter on Mañjuśrī’s Magical Display
འཇམ་དཔལ་རྣམ་པར་འཕྲུལ་པའི་ལེའུ། · ’jam dpal rnam par ’phrul pa’i le’u
Mañjuśrīvikurvāṇaparivarta
Summary
In The Chapter on Mañjuśrī’s Magical Display, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī answers a series of questions posed by the god Great Light concerning the appropriate conduct for bodhisattvas and the potential pitfalls and obstacles presented to bodhisattvas by Māra. Midway through the sūtra, the demon Māra himself appears and, after being captured and converted by Mañjuśrī, he begins to teach the Buddha’s Dharma to the audience. After revealing that Māra was never truly bound by anything other than his own perception, Mañjuśrī resumes his teaching for the remainder of the sūtra.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Chapter on Mañjuśrī’s Magical Display”
- Āryamañjuśrīvikurvāṇaparivartanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal rnam par ’phrul pa’i le’u zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་རྣམ་པར་འཕྲུལ་པའི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Precious Discourse on the Blessed One’s Extensive Wisdom That Leads to Infinite Certainty
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱས་པའི་མདོ་སྡེ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་མཐར་ཕྱིན་པ། · bcom ldan ’das kyi ye shes rgyas pa’i mdo sde rin po che mtha’ yas pa mthar phyin pa
Niṣṭhāgatabhagavajjñānavaipulyasūtraratnānanta
Summary
The Buddha’s disciple, the monk Pūrṇa, oversees the construction of a temple dedicated to the Buddha in a distant southern city. When the master builder suggests that the building may be used by others in the Buddha’s absence, Pūrṇa argues that no one but an omniscient buddha may rightly take up residence there. Enumerating the kinds of knowledge that are unique to a buddha’s perfect awakening, Pūrṇa then delivers a lengthy exposition that also relates each of these qualities to the knowledge of the four truths. Following Pūrṇa’s teaching, the master builder invites the Buddha and his followers from afar to the inauguration of the newly built structure. They arrive, flying through the sky. After the inauguration, the Buddha flies with his monks to the shores of Lake Anavatapta, where he receives the worship of numerous nāga kings, teaches and inspires them, and predicts their awakening. At Maudgalyāyana’s request, the Buddha then recounts each of the specific events in his past lives that ultimately led to the unfolding of each of his particular kinds of knowledge.
This long sūtra thus serves as a detailed guide to the different aspects of the Buddha’s awakened wisdom, particularly those that, in many accounts of the qualities of buddhahood, are known as the ten powers or strengths.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Precious Discourse on the Blessed One’s Extensive Wisdom That Leads to Infinite Certainty”
- Āryaniṣṭhāgatabhagavajjñānavaipulyasūtraratnānantanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa bcom ldan ’das kyi ye shes rgyas pa’i mdo sde rin po che mtha’ yas pa mthar phyin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱས་པའི་མདོ་སྡེ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་མཐར་ཕྱིན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《薄伽梵智慧顯現無盡經藏》
Tibetan translation:
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Nyingpo
The Ornament of the Light of Awareness That Enters the Domain of All Buddhas
སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྣང་བའི་རྒྱན། · sangs rgyas thams cad kyi yul la ’jug pa’i ye shes snang ba’i rgyan
Sarvabuddhaviṣayāvatārajñānālokālaṃkāra
Summary
The main topic of this sūtra is an explanation of how the Buddha and all things share the very same empty nature. Through a set of similes, the sūtra shows how an illusion-like Buddha may dispense appropriate teachings to sentient beings in accordance with their propensities. His activities are effortless since his realization is free from concepts. Thus, the Tathāgata’s nonconceptual awareness results in great compassion beyond any reference point.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྣང་བའི་རྒྱན་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas thams cad kyi yul la ’jug pa’i ye shes snang ba’i rgyan zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Ornament of the Light of Awareness That Enters the Domain of All Buddhas”
- Āryasarvabuddhaviṣayāvatārajñānālokālaṃkāranāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
Upholding the Roots of Virtue
དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་ཡོངས་སུ་འཛིན་པ། · dge ba’i rtsa ba yongs su ’dzin pa
Kuśalamūlasaṃparigraha
Summary
This sūtra, one of the longest scriptures in the General Sūtra section of the Kangyur, outlines the path of the Great Vehicle as it is journeyed by bodhisattvas in pursuit of awakening. The teaching, which is delivered by the Buddha Śākyamuni to a host of bodhisattvas from faraway worlds as well as a selection of his closest hearer students, such as Śāradvatīputra and Ānanda, elucidates in particular the practice of engendering and strengthening the mind of awakening, as well as the practice of bodhisattva conduct for the sake of all other beings.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Upholding the Roots of Virtue”
- Āryakuśalamūlasamparigrahanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa dge ba’i rtsa ba yongs su ’dzin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་ཡོངས་སུ་འཛིན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Kuśalamūlasamparigrahasūtra
- 《總持善根經》 (佛說華手經)
- dge ba’i rtsa ba yongs su ’dzin pa
Tibetan translation:
- Leki Dé
- Prajñāvarman
- Jñānagarbha
- Yeshé Dé
The Teaching by the Child Inconceivable Radiance
ཁྱེའུ་སྣང་བ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པས་བསྟན་པ། · khye’u snang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pas bstan pa
Acintyaprabhāsanirdeśa
Summary
This sūtra is a story in which the spiritual realization of the child Inconceivable Radiance is revealed through a dialogue with the Buddha Śākyamuni. The Buddha furthermore recounts events from the child’s past lives to illustrate how actions committed in one life will determine one’s future circumstances. The teaching concludes with the Buddha prophesying how the child Inconceivable Radiance will eventually fully awaken in the future.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ཁྱེའུ་སྣང་བ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པས་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
- ’phags pa khye’u snang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pas bstan pa zhes bya ba’i chos kyi rnam grangs
- The Noble Account of Dharma “The Teaching by the Child Inconceivable Radiance”
- Āryācintyaprabhāsanirdeśanāmadharmaparyāya
Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་བརྗོད་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས། · sangs rgyas kyi zhing gi yon tan brjod pa’i chos kyi rnam grangs
Buddhakṣetraguṇoktadharmaparyāya
Summary
While the Buddha is staying in the kingdom of Magadha with an immense assembly of bodhisattvas, the bodhisattva Acintyaprabharāja gives a teaching on the relativity of time between 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 Noble Dharma Discourse: Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields
- Āryatathāgatānām buddhakṣetraguṇoktadharmaparyāya
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་བརྗོད་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa rnams kyi sangs rgyas kyi zhing gi yon tan brjod pa’i chos kyi rnam grangs
- Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvananāmamahāyānasūtra
- 《說如來佛剎功德經》（大正藏：《佛說較量一切佛剎功德經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé
Unraveling the Intent
དགོངས་པ་ངེས་འགྲེལ། · dgongs pa nges ’grel
Saṃdhinirmocana
Summary
In Unraveling the Intent, the Buddha gives a systematic overview of his three great cycles of teachings, which he refers to in this text as the “three Dharma wheels” (tridharmacakra). In the process of delineating the meaning of these doctrines, the Buddha unravels several difficult points regarding the ultimate and relative truths, the nature of reality, and the contemplative methods conducive to the attainment of complete and perfect awakening, and he also explains what his intent was when he imparted teachings belonging to each of the three Dharma wheels. In unambiguous terms, the third wheel is proclaimed to be of definitive meaning. Through a series of dialogues with hearers and bodhisattvas, the Buddha thus offers a complete and systematic teaching on the Great Vehicle, which he refers to here as the Single Vehicle.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Unraveling the Intent”
- Āryasaṃdhinirmocananāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa dgongs pa nges par ’grel pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra
- 《解深密經》
- dgongs pa nges par ’grel pa
Gayāśīrṣa Hill
ག་ཡཱ་མགོའི་རི། · ga yA mgo’i ri
Gayāśīrṣa
Summary
Gayāśīrṣa Hill is a pithy Buddhist scripture that describes various aspects of the Mahāyāna Buddhist path. Set on Gayāśīrṣa, the hill near Bodhgayā from which its title is derived, the sūtra presents its teaching in the form of the Buddha’s inward examination, a conversation between the Buddha and the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, and dialogues between Mañjuśrī and three interlocutors—two gods and a bodhisattva. It provides a sustained but concise treatment of the progress toward awakening, the stages of aspiration for complete awakening, method and wisdom as the two broad principles of the bodhisattva path, and various classifications of bodhisattva practices. Multiple translations, commentaries, and citations of passages from Gayāśīrṣa Hill attest to its wide influence in the Mahāyāna Buddhist communities of India, China, and Tibet.
Title variants
- ’phags pa ga yA mgo’i ri zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ག་ཡཱ་མགོའི་རི་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Gayāśīrṣa Hill”
- Āryagayāśīrṣanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The White Lotus of Compassion
སྙིང་རྗེ་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ། · snying rje pad ma dkar po
Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka
Summary
The Buddha Śākyamuni recounts one of his most significant previous lives, when he was a court priest to a king and made a detailed prayer to become a buddha, also causing the king and his princes, his own sons and disciples, and others to make their own prayers to become buddhas too. This is revealed to be not only the major event that is the origin of buddhas and bodhisattvas such as Amitābha, Akṣobhya, Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, and the thousand buddhas of our eon, but also the source and reason for Śākyamuni’s unsurpassed activity as a buddha.
The “white lotus of compassion” in the title of this sūtra refers to Śākyamuni himself, emphasizing his superiority over all other buddhas, like a fragrant, healing white lotus among a bed of ordinary flowers. Śākyamuni chose to be reborn in an impure realm during a degenerate age, and therefore his compassion was greater than that of other buddhas.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The White Lotus of Compassion”
- Karuṇāpuṇḍarīkanāmamahāyānasūtra
- སྙིང་རྗེ་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- snying rje pad ma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《悲白蓮經》（大正藏：悲華經）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Prajñāvarman
- Bendé Yeshé Dé
The White Lotus of the Good Dharma
དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ། · dam pa’i chos pad ma dkar po
Saddharmapuṇḍarīka
Summary
The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, popularly known as the Lotus Sūtra, is taught by Buddha Śākyamuni on Vulture Peak to an audience that includes bodhisattvas from countless realms, as well as bodhisattvas who emerge from under the ground, from the space below this world. Buddha Prabhūtaratna, who has long since passed into nirvāṇa, appears within a floating stūpa to hear the sūtra, and Śākyamuni enters the stūpa and sits beside him. The Lotus Sūtra is celebrated, particularly in East Asia, for its presentation of crucial elements of the Mahāyāna tradition, such as the doctrine that there is only one yāna, or “vehicle”; the distinction between expedient and definite teachings; and the notion that the Buddha’s life, enlightenment, and parinirvāṇa were simply manifestations of his transcendent buddhahood, while he continues to teach eternally. A recurring theme in the sūtra is its own significance in teaching these points during past and future eons, with many passages in which the Buddha and bodhisattvas such as Samantabhadra describe the great benefits that come from devotion to it, the history of its past devotees, and how it is the Buddha’s ultimate teaching, supreme over all other sūtras.
Title variants
- The Mahāyāna Sūtra “The White Lotus of the Good Dharma”
- Saddharmapuṇḍarīkanāmamahāyānasūtra
- དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- dam pa’i chos pad ma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《妙法蓮華經》
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé De
The King of the Array of All Dharma Qualities
ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་བཀོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ། · chos thams cad kyi yon tan bkod pa’i rgyal po
Sarvadharmaguṇavyūharāja
Summary
The events recounted in The King of the Array of All Dharma Qualities take place outside Rājagṛha, where the Buddha is residing in the Bamboo Grove together with a great assembly of monks, bodhisattvas, and other human and non-human beings. At the request of the bodhisattvas Vajrapāṇi and Avalokiteśvara, the Buddha teaches his audience on a selection of brief but disparate topics belonging to the general Mahāyāna tradition: how to search for a spiritual friend and live in solitude, the benefits of venerating Avalokiteśvara’s name, the obstacles that Māra may create for practitioners, and warnings on how easy it is to lose one’s determination to be free from saṃsāra. The sūtra also includes two dhāraṇīs that the Buddha and Vajrapāṇi teach in turn, along with details of their benefits and Vajrapāṇi’s ritual recitation instructions. Throughout the text, the Buddha repeatedly insists on the importance and benefits of venerating and propagating this teaching as well as those who teach it.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The King of the Array of All Dharma Qualities”
- Āryasarvadharmaguṇavyūharājanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡོན་ཏན་བཀོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa chos thams cad kyi yon tan bkod pa’i rgyal po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Sarvadharmaguṇavyūharājasūtra
- chos kyi yon tan bkod pa’i rgyal po’i mdo
The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī
བདེ་བ་ཅན་གྱི་བཀོད་པ། · bde ba can gyi bkod pa
Sukhāvatīvyūha
Summary
In Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, the Buddha Śākyamuni, surrounded by a large audience, presents to his disciple Śāriputra a detailed description of the realm of Sukhāvatī, a delightful, enlightened abode, free of suffering. Its inhabitants are described as mature beings in an environment where everything enhances their spiritual inclinations. The principal buddha of Sukhāvatī is addressed as Amitāyus (Limitless Life) as well as Amitābha (Limitless Light).
The Buddha Śākyamuni further explains how virtuous people who focus single-mindedly on the Buddha Amitābha will obtain a rebirth in Sukhāvatī in their next life, and he urges all to develop faith in this teaching. In support, he cites the similar way in which the various buddhas of the six directions exhort their followers to develop confidence in this teaching on Sukhāvatī.
The sūtra ends with a short dialogue between Śāriputra and the Buddha Śākyamuni that highlights the difficulty of enlightened activity in a degenerate age.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī”
- Āryasukhāvatīvyūhanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa bde ba can gyi bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་བདེ་བ་ཅན་གྱི་བཀོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The “shorter” Sukhāvatīvyūha (cf. the “longer,” Toh 49)
Tibetan translation:
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé (ye shes sde)
The Basket’s Display
ཟ་མ་ཏོག་བཀོད་པ། · za ma tog bkod pa
Kāraṇḍavyūha
Summary
The Basket’s Display (Kāraṇḍavyūha) is the source of the most prevalent mantra of Tibetan Buddhism: oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ. It marks a significant stage in the growing importance of Avalokiteśvara within Indian Buddhism in the early centuries of the first millennium. In a series of narratives within narratives, the sūtra describes Avalokiteśvara’s activities in various realms and the realms contained within the pores of his skin. It culminates in a description of the extreme rarity of his mantra, which, on the Buddha’s instructions, Bodhisattva Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin obtains from someone in Vārāṇasī who has broken his monastic vows. This sūtra provided a basis and source of quotations for the teachings and practices of the eleventh-century Maṇi Kabum, which itself served as a foundation for the rich tradition of Tibetan Avalokiteśvara practice.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Basket’s Display”
- Āryakāraṇḍavyūhanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཟ་མ་ཏོག་བཀོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa za ma tog bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《大乘莊嚴寶王經》
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé
Infinite Jewels
རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཐའ། · rin po che’i mtha’
Ratnakoṭi
Summary
While residing at Vulture Peak Mountain with a large community of monks, the Buddha is visited by the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The sūtra unfolds as a series of exchanges between the Buddha, Mañjuśrī, and the monk Śāriputra, elucidating a profound vision of reality as undifferentiated, nondual, and all-pervasive.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Infinite Jewels”
- Āryaratnakoṭināmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa rin po che’i mtha’ zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཐའ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ratnakoṭisūtra
- 《寶邊經》（大正藏：《入法界體性經》；《佛說寶積三昧文殊師利菩薩問法身經》）
- rin po che’i mtha’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
- Prajñāvarman
The Sūtra on Wisdom at the Hour of Death
འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མདོ། · ’da’ ka ye shes kyi mdo
Atyayajñānasūtra
Summary
While the Buddha is residing in the Akaniṣṭha realm, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha asks him how a bodhisattva should view the mind at the point of dying. The Buddha replies that when death comes a bodhisattva should develop the wisdom at the hour of death. He explains that a bodhisattva should cultivate a clear understanding of the nonexistence of entities, great compassion, nonapprehension, nonattachment, and a clear understanding that, since wisdom is the realization of one’s own mind, the Buddha should not be sought elsewhere. After these points have been repeated in verse form, the assembly praises the Buddha’s words, concluding the sūtra.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa ’da’ ka ye shes zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Wisdom at the Hour of Death”
- Āryātyayajñānanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Unknown
The Jewel Mine
དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས། · dkon mchog ’byung gnas
Ratnākara
Summary
In this sūtra the Buddha Śākyamuni recounts how the thus-gone Sarvārthasiddha purified the buddha realms in his domain. In his explanation, the Buddha Śākyamuni emphasizes the view of the Great Vehicle, which he explains as the fundamental basis for all bodhisattvas who aspire to attain liberation. The attendant topics taught by the Buddha are the six perfections of generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and wisdom. The Buddha explains each of these six perfections in three distinct ways as he recounts the past lives of the buddha Sarvārthasiddha. First, he describes how Sarvārthasiddha learned the practices that purify buddha realms, namely the six perfections. Next, he explains how to seal these six virtuous practices with the correct view so that they become perfections. Finally, he recounts how Sarvārthasiddha, as a bodhisattva, received instructions for enhancing the potency of the perfections.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Jewel Mine”
- Āryaratnākaranāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa dkon mchog ’byung gnas zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《信力入印法門經》
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Gold Sūtra
གསེར་གྱི་མདོ། · gser gyi mdo
Suvarṇasūtra
Summary
In this very brief sūtra, Venerable Ānanda asks the Buddha about the nature of the mind of awakening, the aspiration to attain the awakening of a buddha for the benefit of all beings. The Buddha explains that the mind of awakening is like gold because it is pure. He also teaches the analogy that just as a smith shapes gold into various forms, yet the nature of the gold itself does not change, so too the mind of awakening manifests in various unique ways, yet the nature of the mind of awakening itself does not change.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Gold Sūtra”
- Āryasuvarṇasūtranāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་གསེར་གྱི་མདོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa gser gyi mdo zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《黃金經》（圓滿法藏：《聖金經大乘經》）
Like Gold Dust
གསེར་གྱི་བྱེ་མ་ལྟ་བུ། · gser gyi bye ma lta bu
Suvarṇavālukopamā
Summary
This sūtra presents a short dialogue between Ānanda and the Buddha on the theme of limitlessness. In response to Ānanda’s persistent inquiries, the Buddha uses analogies to illustrate both the limitlessness of the miraculous abilities acquired by realized beings, and the limitless multiplicity of the world systems in which bodhisattvas and buddhas are to be found.
The Buddha then concludes his teaching with a further analogy—referenced in the sūtra’s title—to illustrate that although buddhas and bodhisattvas are innumerable, it is nevertheless extremely rare and precious to find a buddha within any given world system, or to find bodhisattvas who engage sincerely in bodhisattva conduct. To encounter such beings, he says, is as rare as finding a single grain of gold dust among all the sands of the ocean, or all the sands of the mighty river Gaṅgā.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Like Gold Dust”
- Āryasuvarṇavālukopamānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་གསེར་གྱི་བྱེ་མ་ལྟ་བུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa gser gyi bye ma lta bu zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Prajñāvarman
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The King of Samādhis Sūtra
ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མདོ། · ting nge ’dzin gyi rgyal po’i mdo
Samādhirājasūtra
Summary
This sūtra, much quoted in later Buddhist writings for its profound statements especially on the nature of emptiness, relates a long teaching given by the Buddha mainly in response to questions put by a young layman, Candraprabha. The samādhi that is the subject of the sūtra, in spite of its name, primarily consists of various aspects of conduct, motivation, and the understanding of emptiness; it is also a way of referring to the sūtra itself. The teaching given in the sūtra is the instruction to be dedicated to the possession and promulgation of the samādhi, and to the necessary conduct of a bodhisattva, which is exemplified by a number of accounts from the Buddha’s previous lives. Most of the teaching takes place on Vulture Peak Mountain, with an interlude recounting the Buddha’s invitation and visit to Candraprabha’s home in Rājagṛha, where he continues to teach Candraprabha before returning to Vulture Peak Mountain. In one subsequent chapter the Buddha responds to a request by Ānanda, and the text concludes with a commitment by Ānanda to maintain this teaching in the future.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The King of Samādhis, the Revealed Equality of the Nature of All Phenomena”
- Āryasarvadharmasvabhāvasamatāvipañcitasamādhirājanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་མཉམ་པ་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་སྤྲོས་པ་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa chos thams cad kyi rang bzhin mnyam pa nyid rnam par spros pa ting nge ’dzin gyi rgyal po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《三摩地王經》
Tibetan translation:
- Śrīlendrabodhi
- Lotsawa Bandé Dharmatāśīla
Appearing Differently to All While Not Departing from Emptiness, the Essence of the True Nature of Things
ཆོས་ཉིད་རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ལས་མི་གཡོ་བར་ཐ་དད་པར་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་སྣང་བ། · chos nyid rang gi ngo bo stong pa nyid las mi g.yo bar tha dad par thams cad la snang ba
Dharmatāsvabhāvaśūnyatācalapratisarvāloka
Summary
This short philosophical discourse opens with the Buddha described as unmoving from the true nature of things. Although at this time he has no thought of teaching the Dharma, different members of the audience nevertheless believe that they have heard a teaching. On the basis of their differing perceptions, five distinct philosophical views concerning the true nature of things come to be held by different members of the audience. When Mañjuśrī, who is also in the audience, becomes aware that they are harboring these different understandings, he asks the Buddha why such different views have arisen, whether they are equally valid, and whether such differences will be a matter of dispute in the future. The Buddha replies that different understandings arise because of the different inclinations and aptitudes of people; that of the five views only the fifth is fully in accord with the experiential domain of all buddhas; and he predicts that in the future such differences in understanding will be argued about for a very long time. Mañjuśrī then asks one final question: if these differing views all have a single basis, what is that basis? The Buddha’s answer is that although all experience is based on the aggregates, the constituents, and the sense fields, even these things must not be reified if one is to reach unsurpassed, complete, and perfect awakening.
Title variants
- The Noble Sūtra Appearing Differently to All While Not Departing from Emptiness, the Essence of the True Nature of Things
- Āryadharmatāsvabhāvaśūnyatācalapratisarvālokasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཉིད་རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ལས་མི་གཡོ་བར་ཐ་དད་པར་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་སྣང་བའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa chos nyid rang gi ngo bo stong pa nyid las mi g.yo bar tha dad par thams cad la snang ba’i mdo
- The Sūtra on All Things Appearing Differently While Not Departing from the Essence of the True Nature of Things
- The Noble Mahāyana Sūtra “All Things Appearing Differently While Not Departing from the Essence of the True Nature of Things”
- ’phags pa chos nyid rang gi ngo bo nyid las mi g.yo bar tha dad par thams cad snang ba zhes bya theg pa chen po’i mdo
- chos nyid rang gi ngo bo nyid las mi g.yo bar tha dad par thams cad snang ba’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
- Dānaśīla
The Absorption of the Miraculous Ascertainment of Peace
རབ་ཏུ་ཞི་བ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་ཆོ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན། · rab tu zhi ba rnam par nges pa’i cho ’phrul gyi ting nge ’dzin
Praśāntaviniścayaprātihāryasamādhi
Summary
In this sūtra the Buddha Śākyamuni teaches how bodhisattvas proceed to awakening, without ever regressing, by relying on an absorption known as the miraculous ascertainment of peace. He lists the very numerous features of this absorption, describes how to train in it, and explains how through this training bodhisattvas develop all the qualities of buddhahood. The “peace” of the absorption comes from the relinquishment of misconceptions and indeed of all concepts whatsoever, and the sūtra provides a profound and detailed survey of how all the abilities, attainments, and other qualities of the bodhisattva’s path arise as the bodhisattva’s understanding and realization of what is meant by the Thus-Gone One unfold.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Absorption of the Miraculous Ascertainment of Peace”
- Āryapraśāntaviniścayaprātihāryanāmasamādhimahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa rab tu zhi ba rnam par nges pa’i cho ’phrul gyi ting nge ’dzin zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་རབ་ཏུ་ཞི་བ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་ཆོ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Āryapraśāntaviniścayaprātihāryanāmasamādhināmamahāyānasūtra
- 《寂照神變三摩地經》
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé
The Illusory Absorption
སྒྱུ་མ་ལྟ་བུའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན། · sgyu ma lta bu’i ting nge ’dzin
Māyopamasamādhi
Summary
In this sūtra Buddha Śākyamuni explains how to attain the absorption known as “the illusory absorption,” a meditative state so powerful that it enables awakening to be attained very quickly. He also teaches that this absorption has been mastered particularly well by two bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, who live in Sukhāvatī, the distant realm of Buddha Amitābha. Buddha Śākyamuni summons these two bodhisattvas to this world and, when they arrive, recounts the story of how they first engendered the mind of awakening. Finally the Buddha reveals the circumstances surrounding the future awakening of Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སྒྱུ་མ་ལྟ་བུའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sgyu ma lta bu’i ting nge ’dzin ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Illusory Absorption”
- Āryamāyopamasamadhināmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Absorption of the Thus-Gone One’s Wisdom Seal
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན། · de bzhin gshegs pa’i ye shes kyi phyag rgya’i ting nge ’dzin
Tathāgatajñānamudrāsamādhi
Summary
In The Absorption of the Thus-Gone One’s Wisdom Seal, a vast number of bodhisattvas request the Buddha Śākyamuni to teach them about his state of meditative absorption. In his responses to various interlocutors, including the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī and Maitreya, the Buddha expounds on this profound state, exhorting them to accomplish it themselves. The sūtra also describes the qualities of bodhisattvas and their stages of development.
Title variants
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i ye shes kyi phyag rgya’i ting nge ’dzin ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Āryatathāgatajñānamudrāsamādhināmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Absorption of the Thus-Gone One’s Wisdom Seal”
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Munivarman
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé
The Absorption That Encapsulates All Merit
བསོད་ནམས་ཐམས་ཅད་བསྡུས་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན། · bsod nams thams cad bsdus pa’i ting nge ’dzin
Sarvapuṇyasamuccayasamādhi
Summary
The Absorption That Encapsulates All Merit tells the story of Vimalatejā, a strongman renowned for his physical prowess, who visits the Buddha in order to compare abilities and prove that he is the mightier of the two. He receives an unexpected, humbling riposte in the form of a teaching by the Buddha on the inconceivable magnitude of the powers of awakened beings, going well beyond mere physical strength. The discussions that then unfold—largely between the Buddha, Vimalatejā, and the bodhisattva Nārāyaṇa—touch on topics including the importance of creating merit, the centrality of learning and insight, and the question of whether renunciation entails monasticism. Above all, however, Vimalatejā is led to see that the entirety of the Great Vehicle path hinges on the practice that forms the name of the sūtra, which is nothing other than the mind of awakening (bodhicitta).
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་བསོད་ནམས་ཐམས་ཅད་བསྡུས་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa bsod nams thams cad bsdus pa’i ting nge ’dzin ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Absorption That Encapsulates All Merit”
- Āryasarvapuṇyasamuccayasamādhināmamahāyānasūtra
- 集一切福德三昧經
Tibetan translation:
- Prajñāvarma
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Four Boys’ Absorption
ཁྱེའུ་བཞིའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན། · khye’u bzhi’i ting nge ’dzin
Caturdārakasamādhi
Summary
The Four Boys’ Absorption narrates the Buddha Śākyamuni’s passing away (or parinirvāṇa) in the Yamakaśāla Grove near Kuśinagara. Ānanda has a portentous dream that is confirmed by the Buddha to be an indication that he will soon die. Widespread panic spreads through the various realms of this world system, and as gods and other beings converge on the forest grove near Kuśinagara, tragic scenes of mourning ensue. Then, when the Buddha lies down, the narrative suddenly shifts to recount how four bodhisattvas from distant buddha fields in the four directions are reborn as four infants in prominent households in the major cities of the Gangetic Plain, announce their intention to see the Buddha Śākyamuni, and with expansive entourages proceed to the forest grove in the country of the Mallas where the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa will take place. Their appearance is marked by various miracles, whereupon the Buddha explains their arrival and consoles his grieving followers with teachings on the limitless numbers of buddhas. He confers responsibility on his attendant Ānanda and his son Rāhula, and then manifests a variety of spectacular miracles. Toward the end of the sūtra, while still appearing to lie upon the lion couch, the Buddha visits the various hells and some god realms, where he sets countless beings on the path to awakening. The text culminates in his final passing.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Four Boys’ Absorption”
- Āryacaturdārakasamādhināmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཁྱེའུ་བཞིའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa khye’u bzhi’i ting nge ’dzin zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《四童子三昧經》
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Prajñāvarman
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī
རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཏོག་གི་གཟུངས། · rin po che tog gi gzungs
Ratnaketudhāraṇī
Summary
The Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī is one of the core texts of the Mahāsannipāta collection of Mahāyāna sūtras that dates back to the formative period of Mahāyāna Buddhism, from the first to the third century ᴄᴇ. Its rich and varied narratives, probably redacted from at least two independent works, recount significant events from the lives, past and present, of the Buddha Śākyamuni and some of his main followers and opponents, both human and nonhuman. At the center of these narratives is the climactic episode from the Buddha’s life when Māra, the personification of spiritual death, sets out to destroy the Buddha and his Dharma. The mythic confrontation between these paragons of light and darkness, and the Buddha’s eventual victory, are related in vivid detail. The main narratives are interwoven with Dharma instructions and interspersed with miraculous events. The text also exemplifies two distinctive sūtra genres, “prophecies” (vyākaraṇa) and “incantations” (dhāraṇī), as it includes, respectively, prophecies of the future attainment of buddhahood by some of the Buddha’s followers and the potent phrases that embody the Buddha’s teachings and are meant to ensure their survival and the thriving of its practitioners.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī” from the Great Collection
- Āryamahāsannipātaratnaketudhāraṇīnāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa ’dus pa chen po rin po che tog gi gzungs shes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་འདུས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཏོག་གི་གཟུངས་ཤེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《大集寶幢陀羅尼經 》 (大正藏：寳星陀羅尼經)
Tibetan translation:
- Śilendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Dhāraṇī of the Vajra Quintessence
རྡོ་རྗེ་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས། · rdo rje snying po’i gzungs
Vajramaṇḍadhāraṇī
Summary
In The Dhāraṇī of the Vajra Quintessence, the bodhisattva of wisdom Mañjuśrī asks the Buddha to propound a teaching on the highest wisdom that questions foundational Buddhist concepts and categories from an ultimate standpoint without denying their conventional efficacy. The Buddha begins by teaching, in a paradoxical tone that defines the entire discourse, that although there is neither awakening nor buddha qualities, bodhisattvas nonetheless aspire for buddhahood. This is followed by a lengthy series of similar paradoxes that examine basic Buddhist distinctions between the worlds of buddhas and sentient beings while pointing to the common ground underlying them. One key doctrinal point is that the qualities of ordinary people are neither distinct from, nor to be conflated with, the qualities of buddhas. When asked why this is so, the Buddha explains that the dhāraṇī of the vajra quintessence is nonconceptual and immanent in all things, from emotional defilements up to the realization of buddhahood. Since all phenomena are equally empty of intrinsic essence, they are already intrinsically pure and beyond bondage or liberation.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Dhāraṇī of the Vajra Quintessence”
- Āryavajramaṇḍanāmadhāraṇīmahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa rdo rje snying po’i gzungs zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Vajramaṇḍanāmadhāraṇīsūtra
- rdo rje’i snying po’i gzungs kyi mdo
- 《金剛心髓陀羅尼經》 (大正藏：《金剛場陀羅尼經》)
Tibetan translation:
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates
སྒོ་དྲུག་པའི་གཟུངས། · sgo drug pa’i gzungs
Ṣaṇmukhīdhāraṇī
Summary
While the Buddha is abiding in the space above the Śuddhāvāsa realm with a retinue of bodhisattvas, he urges them to uphold The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates and presents these gates as six aspirations that vanquish the causes of saṃsāric experience. He then presents the dhāraṇī itself to his listeners and instructs them to recite it three times each day and three times each night. Finally, he indicates the benefits that come from this practice, and the assembly praises the Buddha’s words. This is followed by a short dedication marking the conclusion of the text.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates
- Āryaṣaṇmukhīnāmadhāraṇī
- ’phags pa sgo drug pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- འཕགས་པ་སྒོ་དྲུག་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- 《六門陀羅尼》（大正藏：《六門陀羅尼經》）
The Dhāraṇī “Entering into Nonconceptuality”
རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་པར་འཇུག་པའི་གཟུངས། · rnam par mi rtog par ’jug pa’i gzungs
Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī “Entering into Nonconceptuality” is a short Mahāyāna sūtra that came to be particularly influential in Yogācāra circles. The central theme of the sūtra is the attainment of the nonconceptual realm, reached through the practice of relinquishing all conceptual signs by not directing the mind toward them. The sūtra presents the progressive stages through which bodhisattvas can abandon increasingly subtle conceptual signs and eliminate the erroneous ideas that lead to the objectification of phenomena.
Title variants
- ’phags pa rnam par mi rtog par ’jug pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- Āryāvikalpapraveśanāmadhāraṇī
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “Entering into Nonconceptuality”
- rnam par mi rtog par ’jug pa’i gzungs
- འཕགས་པ་རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་པར་འཇུག་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇī
Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle
ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་དད་པ་རབ་ཏུ་སྒོམ་པ། · theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa
Mahāyānaprasādaprabhāvana
Summary
In Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle, the Buddha Śākyamuni gives a discourse on the nature of trust (dad pa, prasāda) according to the Great Vehicle. The teaching is requested by a bodhisattva known as Great Skillful Trust, who requests the Buddha to answer four questions concerning the nature of trust in the Great Vehicle: (1) What are the characteristics of trust? (2) How is trust developed? (3) What are the different types of trust? (4) What are the benefits of having trust? Over the course of the sūtra, the Buddha answers all four questions, each in a separate chapter.
Title variants
- ’phags pa theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryamahāyānaprasādaprabhāvananāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle”
- འཕགས་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་དད་པ་རབ་ཏུ་སྒོམ་པ་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Tibetan translation:
- Yeshé Dé
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch
དཀོན་མཆོག་ཏ་ལ་ལའི་གཟུངས། · dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs
Ratnolkādhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch starts with a profound conversation between the Buddha and the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī on the nature of the dharmadhātu, buddhahood, and emptiness. The bodhisattva Dharmamati then enters the meditative absorption called the infinite application of the bodhisattva’s jewel torch and, at the behest of the millions of buddhas who have blessed him, emerges from it to teach how bodhisattvas arise from the presence of a tathāgata and progress to the state of omniscience. Following Dharmamati’s detailed exposition of the “ten categories” or progressive stages of a bodhisattva, the Buddha briefly teaches the mantra of the dhāraṇī and then, for most of the remainder of the text, encourages bodhisattvas in a long versified passage in which he recounts teachings by a bodhisattva called Bhadraśrī on the qualities of bodhisattvas and buddhas. Some verses from this passage on the virtues of faith have been widely quoted in both India and Tibet.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch”
- Āryaratnolkānāmadhāraṇīmahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་དཀོན་མཆོག་ཏ་ལ་ལའི་གཟུངས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Ratnolkadhāraṇīsūtra
- dkon mchog sgron ma’i mdo
- 《寶燈明陀羅尼》（大正藏：《大方廣總持寶光明經》）
- dkon mchog sgron me’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་ངེས་པར་བསྟན་པ། · de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying rje chen po nges par bstan pa/
Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśa
Summary
The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata opens with the Buddha presiding over a large congregation of disciples at Vulture Peak. Entering a special state of meditative absorption, he magically displays a pavilion in the sky, attracting a vast audience of divine and human Dharma followers. At the request of the bodhisattva Dhāraṇīśvararāja, the Buddha gives a discourse on the qualities of bodhisattvas, which are specified as bodhisattva ornaments, illuminations, compassion, and activities. He also teaches about the compassionate awakening of tathāgatas and the scope of a tathāgata’s activities. At the request of a bodhisattva named Siṃhaketu, Dhāraṇīśvararāja then gives a discourse on eight dhāraṇīs, following which the Buddha explains the sources and functions of a dhāraṇī known as the jewel lamp. As the text concludes, various deities and Dharma protectors praise the sūtra’s qualities and vow to preserve and protect it in the future, and the Buddha entrusts the sūtra and its propagation to Dhāraṇīśvararāja. The sūtra is a particularly rich source of detail on the qualities of bodhisattvas and buddhas.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata”
- Āryatathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying rje chen po nges par bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་ངེས་པར་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Questions of Dhāraṇīśvararāja
- The Sūtra of Dhāraṇīśvararāja
- Dhāraṇīśvararājasūtra
- Dhāraṇīśvararājaparipṛcchā
- dbang phyug rgyal pos zhus pa
- 《如來大悲經 》（大正藏：大哀經）
- gzungs kyi rgyal po’i mdo
- gzungs kyi dbang phyug rgyal po’i mdo
- དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་ངེས་པར་བསྟན་པ།
Tibetan translation:
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Question of Maitreya (3)
བྱམས་པས་ཞུས་པ། · byams pas zhus pa
Maitreyaparipṛcchā
Summary
The bodhisattva Maitreya approaches the Buddha on Vulture Peak Mountain and asks him to explain the karmic results of teaching the Dharma. The Buddha responds by comparing the merit gained by a person who makes an unfathomably enormous material offering to the buddhas, to the merit gained by another person who teaches a single verse of Dharma, declaring that the merit of the latter is far superior.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Question of Maitreya”
- Āryamaitreyaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- 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
- Maitriparipṛcchāsūtra
- Āryamaitriparipṛcchanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 《彌勒所問經 （3）》（大正藏：《彌勒菩薩所問本願經》）
The Inquiry of Avalokiteśvara on the Seven Qualities
སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག་གིས་ཞུས་པ་ཆོས་བདུན་པ། · spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug gis zhus pa chos bdun pa
Avalokiteśvaraparipṛcchāsaptadharmaka
Summary
This brief sūtra is introduced with the Buddha residing on Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, together with a great monastic assembly of 1,250 monks and a multitude of bodhisattva mahāsattvas. The Buddha is approached and asked by the bodhisattva mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara about the qualities that should be cultivated by a bodhisattva who has just generated the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening. The Buddha briefly expounds seven qualities that should be practiced by such a bodhisattva, emphasizing mental purity and cognitive detachment from conceptuality.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག་གིས་ཞུས་པ་ཆོས་བདུན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug gis zhus pa chos bdun pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Inquiry of Avalokiteśvara on the Seven Qualities”
- Āryāvalokiteśvaraparipṛcchāsaptadharmakanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna
- Gewai Lodrö
The Questions of Pratibhānamati
སྤོབས་པའི་བློ་གྲོས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · spobs pa’i blo gros kyis zhus pa
Pratibhānamatiparipṛcchā
Summary
The subject matter of this sūtra is indicated by the alternative title suggested by the Buddha himself in its conclusion: The Teaching That Clarifies Karma. In the opening section, the merchant Pratibhānamati, concerned about the state of society and what will become of the saṅgha in times to come, requests the Buddha Śākyamuni for a teaching that offers moral guidance to future beings. With the Buddha’s encouragement, he asks what actions lead to rebirth in ten different human and non-human states. The Buddha answers with descriptions of the actions associated with each of these states and the effects they will bring. Pratibhānamati then invites the Buddha to his home in Śrāvastī. Two beggars arrive there, and on account of their opposing aspirations and conduct in the presence of the Buddha and retinue, one soon becomes a king while the other is killed in an accident. The sūtra concludes as the Buddha, invited to the newly anointed king’s land, explains the karmic reasons for his unexpected fortune.
Title variants
- ’phags pa spobs pa’i blo gros kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryapratibhānamatiparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་སྤོབས་པའི་བློ་གྲོས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Tibetan translation:
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Questions of Sāgaramati
བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ། · blo gros rgya mtshos zhus pa
Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā
Summary
Heralded by a miraculous flood, the celestial bodhisattva Sāgaramati arrives in Rājagṛha to engage in a Dharma discussion with Buddha Śākyamuni. He discusses an absorption called “The Pristine and Immaculate Seal” and many other subjects relevant to bodhisattvas who are in the process of developing the mind of awakening and practicing the bodhisattva path. The sūtra strongly advises that bodhisattvas not shy away from the afflictive emotions of beings—no matter how unpleasant they may be—and that insight into these emotions is critical for a bodhisattva’s compassionate activity. The sūtra deals with the preeminence of wisdom and non-grasping on the path. In the end, as a teaching on how to deal with māras, the sūtra illuminates the many pitfalls possible on the path of the Great Vehicle.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Sāgaramati”
- Āryasāgaramatiparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa blo gros rgya mtshos zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra
- blo gros rgya mtshos zhus pa’i mdo
- 《海意菩薩所問淨印法門經》
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Buddhaprabha
- ye shes sde
The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (1)
ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ། · klu’i rgyal po rgya mtshos zhus pa
Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā
Summary
The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara begins with a miracle that portends the coming of the Nāga King Sāgara to Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha. The nāga king engages in a lengthy dialogue with the Buddha on various topics pertaining to the distinction between relative and ultimate reality, all of which emphasize the primacy of insight into emptiness. The Buddha thereafter journeys to King Sāgara’s palace in the ocean and reveals details of the king’s past lives in order to introduce the inexhaustible casket dhāraṇī. In the nāga king’s palace in the ocean, he gives teachings on various topics and acts as peacemaker, addressing the ongoing conflicts between the gods and asuras and between the nāgas and garuḍas. Upon returning to Vulture Peak, the Buddha engages in dialogue with King Ajātaśatru and provides Nāga King Sāgara’s prophecy.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara”
- Āryasāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa klu’i rgyal po rgya mtshos zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 海龍王所問經（1）(大正藏：佛說海龍王經)
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (2)
ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ། · klu’i rgyal po rgya mtshos zhus pa
Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā
Summary
The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara presents a discourse given by the Buddha Śākyamuni on the importance of considering the effects caused by actions. At the start of his teaching, the Buddha remarks how the variety of forms that exist, and in fact all phenomena, come about as the result of virtuous and nonvirtuous actions. By understanding this law of cause and effect and by taking great care to engage in virtue, one will avoid rebirth in the lower realms and enter the path to perfect awakening. In the rest of his discourse he explains in great detail the advantages of engaging in each of the ten virtues and the problems associated with not engaging in them.
Title variants
- ’phags pa klu’i rgyal po rgya mtshos zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara”
- Āryasāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Danasila
- Munivarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (3)
ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ། · klu’i rgyal po rgya mtshos zhus pa
Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā
Summary
In this very short sūtra, the Buddha explains to a nāga king and an assembly of monks that reciting the four aphorisms of the Dharma is equivalent to recitation of all of the 84,000 articles of the Dharma. He urges them to make diligent efforts to engage in understanding the four aphorisms (also called the four seals), which are the defining philosophical tenets of the Buddhist doctrine: (1) all compounded phenomena are impermanent; (2) all contaminated phenomena are suffering; (3) all phenomena are without self; (4) nirvāṇa is peace.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa klu’i rgyal po rgya mtshos zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara”
- Āryasāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchānāmamahāyanasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Questions of the Nāga King Anavatapta
ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་མ་དྲོས་པས་ཞུས་པ། · klu’i rgyal po ma dros pas zhus pa
Anavataptanāgarājaparipṛcchā
Summary
The Questions of the Nāga King Anavatapta is a discourse that provides guidance on core features of the bodhisattva path, including the perfections, mindfulness, and meditation, with a strong orientation toward emptiness as the inexpressible ultimate nature. As the Buddha is teaching at Vulture Peak Mountain near Rājagṛha, a nāga king named Anavatapta approaches, questions him on these topics, and receives instruction on them. He then invites the Buddha to his home at Anavatapta, the legendary lake from which the four rivers of Jambudvīpa flow. After flying there with an enormous entourage, the Buddha resumes his teachings. The assembly is joined by Mañjuśrī and thousands of other bodhisattvas, and there ensues a debate on the relative merits of the hearer path and the bodhisattva path. At the culmination of the sūtra, the Buddha prophesies Anavatapta’s future awakening, and the nāga king and his entire family take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of the Nāga King Anavatapta”
- Āryānavataptanāgarājaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་མ་དྲོས་པས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa klu’i rgyal po ma dros pas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《阿耨達龍王所問經》 (大正藏：佛說弘道廣顯三昧經)
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé
- Gönlingma
The Questions of the Kinnara King Druma
མི་འམ་ཅིའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་སྡོང་པོས་ཞུས་པ། · mi ’am ci’i rgyal po sdong pos zhus pa
Drumakinnararājaparipṛcchā
Summary
The Questions of the Kinnara King Druma, initiated by the questions of the bodhisattva Divyamauli, consists of a series of teachings by the kinnara king Druma, given within a rich narrative framework in which music plays a central role in teaching the Dharma. This sūtra presents a variety of well-known Great Vehicle Buddhist themes, but special attention is given to the six bodhisattva perfections and the perfection of skillful means, as well as to the doctrine of emptiness that is discussed throughout the text.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of the Kinnara King Druma”
- Āryadrumakinnararājaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་མི་འམ་ཅིའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་སྡོང་པོས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa mi ’am ci’i rgyal po sdong pos zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《大樹緊那羅王所問經》
Tibetan translation:
- dpal gyi lhun po
- dpal brtsegs
The Questions of Brahmadatta
ཚངས་པས་བྱིན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · tshangs pas byin gyis zhus pa
Brahmadattaparipṛcchā
Summary
The Questions of Brahmadatta begins with the bodhisattva Amoghadarśin departing from Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha is residing. Together with more than five hundred bodhisattvas, he travels to the region of Pañcāla, where King Brahmadatta requests Amoghadarśin to impart teachings to him and his citizens. The bodhisattva discusses the attributes and correct practices of a king who is a protector of the Dharma. The king requests that the bodhisattva remain in his kingdom to observe the summer vows in retreat. Sixty wicked monks already residing there treat Amoghadarśin poorly, and after three months he leaves Pañcāla and returns to the Jeta’s Grove.
King Brahmadatta later goes to see the Buddha, who explains to the king how the wicked monks behaved and the negative consequences of such actions. The Buddha then goes on to explain what a monk and others who wish to attain awakening should strive for, namely, to rid themselves of pride, anger, and jealousy. Upon hearing these instructions, King Brahmadatta expels the sixty wicked monks from his kingdom. Many beings then generate the mind of awakening, and King Brahmadatta is irreversibly set on the path of complete awakening. The Buddha smiles and radiates multicolored lights throughout the whole world. Finally, the king apologizes to Amoghadarśin and the bodhisattva forgives him.
Title variants
- ’phags pa tshangs pas byin gyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ཚངས་པས་བྱིན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Āryabrahmadattaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Questions of Brahmadatta”
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Questions of Brahmaviśeṣacintin
ཚངས་པ་ཁྱད་པར་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · tshangs pa khyad par sems kyis zhus pa
Brahmaviśeṣacintiparipṛcchā
Summary
In this sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni and a number of the bodhisattvas, elders, and gods in his assembly engage in a lively exchange clarifying many key points of the Dharma from the perspective of the Mahāyāna, including the four truths, the origin of saṃsāra, and the identity of the buddhas, while praising the qualities of the paragons of the Mahāyāna, the bodhisattvas.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Brahmaviśeṣacintin”
- Āryabrahmaviśeṣacintiparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa tshangs pa khyad par sems kyis zhus pa zhes bya theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ཚངས་པ་ཁྱད་པར་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《梵勝心所問經 》 (大正藏：勝思惟梵天所問經)
Tibetan translation:
- Śākyaprabha
- Dharmapāla
- Jinamitra
- Dharmatāśīla
- Devendrarakṣita
- Kumārarakṣita
The Questions of Śrīvasu
དཔལ་དབྱིག་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · dpal dbyig gyis zhus pa
Śrīvasuparipṛcchā
Summary
The Buddha is approached by the young merchant Śrīvasu, who requests instruction on how to live his life as a novice bodhisattva. The Buddha is pleased and offers some pithy advice regarding the bodhisattva path that encapsulates the main altruistic aims and practices of the Great Vehicle. He states that foremost among the bodhisattva’s daily practices are taking refuge in the Three Jewels, practicing the six perfections, and dedicating all resulting merit to the attainment of awakening for oneself and others.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Śrīvasu”
- Śrīvasuparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa dpal dbyig gyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་དཔལ་དབྱིག་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《吉祥世所問經》
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Prajñāvarman
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Questions of Ratnajālin
རིན་ཆེན་དྲ་བ་ཅན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · rin chen dra ba can gyis zhus pa
Ratnajāliparipṛcchā
Summary
Prompted by a dream, the young Licchavi boy Ratnajālin invites the Buddha to the city of Vaiśālī. When the Buddha arrives Ratnajālin asks whether there are other buddhas whose names, when heard, bring benefit to bodhisattvas. The Buddha replies that there are, and he proceeds to describe the power of the names of buddhas in the four cardinal directions as well as above and below. Once Ratnajālin has understood the teaching on the power of the names of these thus-gone ones, the Buddha provides encouragement for the future propagation of this discourse.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་རིན་ཆེན་དྲ་བ་ཅན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa rin chen dra ba can gyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Ratnajālin”
- Āryaratnajāliparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- t. t. Jñānagarbha
- ye shes snying po
- r. dpal brtsegs
The Questions of Ratnacandra
རིན་ཆེན་ཟླ་བས་ཞུས་པ། · rin chen zla bas zhus pa
Ratnacandraparipṛcchā
Summary
The Questions of Ratnacandra is a sūtra in which Ratnacandra, a prince from the country of Magadha, requests the Buddha Śākyamuni to reveal the names of the ten buddhas who dwell in the ten directions. Prince Ratnacandra has been told that hearing the names of these ten buddhas ensures that one will attain awakening at some point in the future. The Buddha confirms this and discloses their names, as well as details of their respective buddha realms, such as the names of these realms and their many unique qualities.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་རིན་ཆེན་ཟླ་བས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa rin chen zla bas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryaratnacandraparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Ratnacandra”
- rin chen zla bas zhus pa’i mdo
- Ratnacandraparipṛcchā
Tibetan translation:
- t. Viśuddhasiṃha
- dge ba dpal
- r. Vidyākarasiṃha
- Devacandra
The Question of Kṣemaṅkara
བདེ་བྱེད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · bde byed kyis zhus pa
Kṣemaṅkaraparipṛcchā
Summary
The Question of Kṣemaṅkara contains a teaching given by Buddha Śākyamuni to the Śākya youth Kṣemaṅkara, in response to a question he poses about the qualities of bodhisattvas and how to develop such qualities. The Buddha teaches him about bodhisattvas’ qualities, first in prose and later reiterated in verse, and then equates the teaching of this sūtra with the perfection of insight, stating that even if one practices the first five perfections for many eons, one will not make much progress without knowing what is taught in this sūtra.
Title variants
- ’phags pa bde byed kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་བདེ་བྱེད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Āryakṣemaṅkaraparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Question of Kṣemaṅkara”
- bde byed kyis zhus pa’i mdo/
- Kṣemaṅkaraparipṛcchāsutra
Tibetan translation:
- Prajñāvarman
- ye shes sde
The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (2)
ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ། · yul ’khor skyong gis zhus pa
Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā
Summary
The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (2), so called to distinguish it from a longer work with the same title (Toh 62), is a short Great Vehicle sūtra in which the Buddha describes the monks who will bring about the decline of the Dharma.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (2)”
- 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
Tibetan translation:
- t. jinamitra
- ye shes sde
The Questions of Śrīmatī the Brahmin Woman
བྲམ་ཟེ་མོ་དཔལ་ལྡན་མས་ཞུས་པ། · bram ze mo dpal ldan mas zhus pa
Śrīmatībrāhmaṇīparipṛcchā
Summary
During an alms round in Vārāṇasī, the Buddha Śākyamuni encounters a brahmin woman by the name of Śrīmatī. Inspired by the Buddha’s majestic and graceful presence, Śrīmatī inquires about the teaching he gave at nearby Deer Park. In response, the Buddha reprises the teaching on how the twelve links of dependent origination lead to suffering and how their cessation leads to the end of suffering. Śrīmatī then asks about the nature of ignorance, the first of the twelve links. The Buddha offers a profound response and raises the distinction between ultimate truth and conventional teaching. At this, Śrīmatī makes the aspiration that she too may turn the many wheels of Dharma just as the Buddha has done. The Buddha then smiles and prophesies her eventual awakening. The sūtra concludes with the Buddha describing Śrīmatī’s virtuous deeds in past lives, in which she had venerated each of the six previous buddhas.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Questions of Śrīmatī the Brahmin Woman”
- Āryaśrīmatībrāhmaṇīparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བྲམ་ཟེ་མོ་དཔལ་ལྡན་མས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa bram ze mo dpal ldan mas zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Prajñāvarman
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Questions of an Old Lady
བགྲེས་མོས་ཞུས་པ། · bgres mos zhus pa
Mahallikāparipṛcchā
Summary
This sūtra contains teachings given by the Buddha to a 120-year-old woman in the city of Vaiśalī. Upon meeting the Buddha, she asks him questions concerning the four stages of life, the aggregates, the elements, and the faculties. In response, the Buddha gives her a profound teaching on emptiness, using beautifully crafted examples to illustrate his point.
After hearing these teachings her doubts are dispelled and she is freed from clinging to the perception of a self. Ānanda asks the Buddha why he has given such profound teachings to this woman. The Buddha reveals that the woman has been his mother five hundred times in previous lifetimes and that he had generated the root of virtue for her to become enlightened. Because of her own strong aspirations, after dying, she would be born in the buddhafield of Sukhāvatī, and after sixty-eight thousand eons she would finally become the buddha Bodhyaṅgapuṣpakara.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་བགྲེས་མོས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa bgres mos zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Questions of an Old Lady”
- Āryamahallikāparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé
The Question of Mañjuśrī
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་དྲིས་པ། · ’jam dpal gyis dris pa
Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā
Summary
The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī approaches the Buddha and asks about the extent of the merit represented by the Buddha’s “Dharma conch,” which here seems to mean the Buddha’s voice. The Buddha proceeds to illustrate the vastness of this merit by means of a cosmic multiplication—sequentially compounding the merit of all beings in a certain realm if they each possessed the merit of a cakravartin, a brahmā god, a bodhisattva, and so forth, each having more merit than the previous one. The expansion continues through a list of the eighty designs marking the body of a buddha and the thirty-two signs of a great being, which, multiplied inconceivably, are said to be equal in merit to the Dharma conch. The Buddha then explains how the voice, body, and light of the Buddha are made known throughout countless realms and take on numberless manifestations to tame beings.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Question of Mañjuśrī”
- Āryamañjuśrīparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་དྲིས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyis dris pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Dharmaśaṅkhasūtra
- 《文殊師利所問經》（大正藏：《佛說妙吉祥菩薩所問大乘法螺經》、《大乘百福相經》）
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyis zhus pa’i mdo
Questions on Selflessness
བདག་མེད་པ་དྲིས་པ། · bdag med pa dris pa
Nairātmyaparipṛcchā
Summary
Questions on Selflessness consists of a dialogue between a group of followers of the Mahāyāna tradition and a group of tīrthikas, who pose several questions on the doctrine of selflessness. In the exchange that follows, the Mahāyāna proponents elucidate this and other key Buddhist doctrines, such as the distinction between relative and ultimate reality, the origin of suffering, the emptiness and illusoriness of all phenomena, and the path to awakening.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Questions on Selflessness”
- Āryanairātmyaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བདག་མེད་པ་དྲིས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa bdag med pa dris pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《問無我經》（大正藏：《尼乾子問無我義經》）
Tibetan translation:
- t. kamalagupta
- rin chen bzang po
The Inquiry of Lokadhara
འཇིག་རྟེན་འཛིན་གྱིས་ཡོངས་སུ་དྲིས་པ། · ’jig rten ’dzin gyis yongs su dris pa
Lokadharaparipṛcchā
Summary
In The Inquiry of Lokadhara, the bodhisattva Lokadhara asks the Buddha to explain the proper way for bodhisattvas to discern the characteristics of phenomena and employ that knowledge to attain awakening. In reply, the Buddha teaches at length how to understand the lack of inherent existence of phenomena. As part of the teaching, the Buddha explains in detail the nonexistence of the aggregates, the elements, the sense sources, dependently originated phenomena, the four applications of mindfulness, the five powers, the eightfold path of the noble ones, and mundane and transcendent phenomena, as well as conditioned and unconditioned phenomena.
Title variants
- The Noble Sūtra “The Inquiry of Lokadhara”
- Āryalokadharaparipṛcchānāmasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་འཇིག་རྟེན་འཛིན་གྱིས་ཡོངས་སུ་དྲིས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa ’jig rten ’dzin gyis yongs su dris pa zhes bya ba’i mdo
- 《持世所問經》 (大正藏：持世經)
The Teaching of Akṣayamati
བློ་གྲོས་མི་ཟད་པས་བསྟན་པ། · blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa
Akṣayamatinirdeśa
Summary
The bodhisatva? Akṣayamati arrives in our world from the buddha field of the buddha Samantabhadra. In response to Śāriputra’s questions, Akṣayamati gives a discourse on the subject of imperishability. In all, Akṣayamati explains that there are eighty different aspects of the Dharma that are imperishable. When he has given this explanation, the Buddha praises it and declares it worthy of being spread by the countless bodhisatvas gathered there to listen.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Akṣayamati”
- Āryākṣayamatinirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བློ་གྲོས་མི་ཟད་པས་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《無盡意所說經》 (大正藏：大方等大集經第十二無盡意菩薩品)
Tibetan translation:
- Dharmatāśila
The Teaching of Vimalakīrti
དྲི་མེད་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ། · dri med grags pas bstan pa
Vimalakīrtinirdeśa
Summary
While the Buddha is teaching outside the city of Vaiśālī, a notable householder in the city—the great bodhisattva Vimalakīrti—apparently falls sick. The Buddha asks his disciple and bodhisattva disciples to call on Vimalakīrti, but each of them relates previous encounters that have rendered them reluctant to face his penetrating scrutiny of their attitudes and activities. Only Mañjuśrī has the courage to pay him a visit, and in the conversations that ensue between Vimalakīrti, Mañjuśrī, and several other interlocutors, Vimalakīrti sets out an uncompromising and profound view of the Buddha’s teaching and the bodhisattva path, illustrated by various miraculous displays. Its masterful narrative structure, dramatic and sometimes humorous dialogue, and highly evolved presentation of teachings have made this sūtra one of the favorites of Mahāyāna literature.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པར་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Vimalakīrti”
- Āryavimalakīrtinirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Chönyi Tsultrim
Mañjuśrī’s Teaching
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་བསྟན་པ། · ’jam dpal gyis bstan pa
Mañjuśrīnirdeśa
Summary
The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī approaches the Buddha, who is teaching the Dharma in Śrāvastī, and offers him the shade of a jeweled parasol. The god Susīma, who is in the audience, asks Mañjuśrī whether he is satisfied with his offering, to which Mañjuśrī replies that those who seek enlightenment should never be content with making offerings to the Buddha. Susīma then asks what purpose one should keep in mind when making offerings to the Buddha. In response, Mañjuśrī lists a set of four purposes.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Mañjuśrī’s Teaching”
- Āryamañjuśrīnirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyis bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《文殊師利所說經》（大正藏：《大乘四法經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Teaching on the Aids to Enlightenment
བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྱོགས་བསྟན་པ། · byang chub kyi phyogs bstan pa
Bodhipakṣanirdeśa
Summary
In response to a series of queries from Mañjuśrī, Buddha Śākyamuni first exposes the error that prevents sentient beings in general from transcending saṃsāra, and then focuses more particularly on errors that result from understanding the four truths of the noble ones based on conceptual notions of phenomena. He then goes on to explain how someone wishing to attain liberation should skillfully view the following five sets of qualities: (1) the four truths, (2) the four applications of mindfulness, (3) the eightfold path, (4) the five faculties, and (5) the seven branches of enlightenment.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྱོགས་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa byang chub kyi phyogs bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryabodhipakṣanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching on the Aids to Enlightenment”
- 佛說大乘善見變化文殊師利問法經
Tibetan translation:
- t. jinamitra
- jnanasidhi
- ye shes sde
Teaching the Relative and Ultimate Truths
ཀུན་རྫོབ་དང་དོན་དམ་པའི་བདེན་པ་བསྟན་པ། · kun rdzob dang don dam pa’i bden pa bstan pa
Saṃvṛtiparamārthasatyanirdeśa
Summary
In Teaching the Relative and Ultimate Truths, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī is summoned by Buddha Śākyamuni from a faraway buddha realm to teach in a way that demolishes all dualistic experience. As Mañjuśrī begins to teach, the main message of the sūtra unfolds as an explanation of the two truths. The general theme of Mañjuśrī’s discourse is centered on the particular circumstances in Ratnaketu’s buddha realm, but the message is equally applicable to the experiences of beings here in this world.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ཀུན་རྫོབ་དང་དོན་དམ་པའི་བདེན་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa kun rdzob dang don dam pa’i bden pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Teaching the Relative and Ultimate Truths”
- Āryasaṃvṛtiparamārthasatyanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Śākyaprabha
- Jinamitra
- Dharmatāśīla
Teaching How All Phenomena Are without Origin
ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་འབྱུང་བ་མེད་པར་བསྟན་པ། · chos thams cad ’byung ba med par bstan pa
Sarvadharmāpravṛttinirdeśa
Summary
While the Buddha is residing on Vulture Peak Mountain, the bodhisattva Siṃhavikrāntagāmin asks him a series of questions about emptiness and the nondual view in which the dichotomy between subject and object has been left behind. The Buddha responds with a discourse in verse identifying the nature of phenomena as the single principle of emptiness. Later, he teaches the bodhisattva about the dangers of judging the behavior of other bodhisattvas, and the dangers of making any imputations about phenomena at all—explaining that both stem from ill-founded preconceptions that are transcended with spiritual awakening. In an ensuing discussion with Mañjuśrī, the Buddha further connects many standard Buddhist concepts and categories to the nondual view that all phenomena are unborn and without intrinsic nature. Lastly, a god is instructed in the knowledge that overcomes the duality of various opposites, and Mañjuśrī concludes the sūtra by revealing the circumstances of his time as a beginning bodhisattva.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Teaching How All Phenomena Are without Origin”
- Āryasarvadharmāpravṛttinirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་འབྱུང་བ་མེད་པར་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa chos thams cad ’byung ba med par bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《一切法無生經》（大正藏：《佛說諸法本無經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Bandé Rinchen Tso
Teaching the Five Perfections
ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ལྔ་བསྟན་པ། · pha rol tu phyin pa lnga bstan pa
Pañcapāramitānirdeśa
Summary
Teaching the Five Perfections is a compilation of five short sūtras that each present the practice of one of the five perfections in which bodhisattvas train on the path of the Great Vehicle: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, and concentration. These five perfections embody the skillful methods of the bodhisattva path, and, as these sūtras show, they should always be combined with an understanding of the state of omniscience, the sixth perfection of insight that is supposed to permeate the practice of the first five perfections. The teachings are delivered by the Buddha as well as two of his close disciples, Śāradvatīputra and Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra, who both teach the five perfections inspired by the Buddha’s blessing.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Teaching the Five Perfections”
- Āryapañcapāramitānirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ལྔ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa pha rol tu phyin pa lnga bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Pañcapāramitānirdeśasūtra
- 《五波羅蜜多經》（大正藏：《大般若波羅蜜多經第十一分至第十五分》）
- phar phyin lnga bstan pa’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Perfection of Generosity
སྦྱིན་པའི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ། · sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa
Dānapāramitā
Summary
In this sūtra a bodhisattva asks the Buddha how bodhisattvas should exert themselves after having given rise to the mind set on awakening. The Buddha replies by describing the ten virtuous actions and the motivation that bodhisattvas should engender when they engage in those practices. Next, after explaining how they should exert themselves in the ten perfections, the Buddha presents a detailed explanation of the perfection of generosity, focusing on the compassionate motivation that bodhisattvas cultivate while practicing it. A particular feature of this sūtra is how it details the significance of making different kinds of offering, in terms of the spiritual attainments, qualities of awakening, and other benefits that will result.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སྦྱིན་པའི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Perfection of Generosity”
- Āryadānapāramitānāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa bstan pa
- sangs rgyas kyi chos thams cad kyi rgyan dang / spud pa dang / lhab lhub bkod pa
Tibetan translation:
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
Teaching the Benefits of Generosity
སྦྱིན་པའི་ཕན་ཡོན་བསྟན་པ། · sbyin pa’i phan yon bstan pa
Dānānuśaṃsānirdeśa
Summary
This short discourse was taught to an audience of monks in Śrāvastī, in the Jetavana. The Buddha details thirty-seven ways in which the wise give gifts, how those gifts are properly given, and the positive results that ripen from giving such gifts. The Buddha makes clear that the result that ripens is similar to the gift that was given or the manner in which the gift was given.
Title variants
- The Noble “Teaching the Benefits of Generosity”
- Āryadānānuśaṃsānirdeśa
- འཕགས་པ་སྦྱིན་པའི་ཕན་ཡོན་བསྟན་པ།
- ’phags pa sbyin pa’i phan yon bstan pa
- 《布施利益經》（大正藏：《佛說布施經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
Teaching the Practice of a Bodhisattva
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་བསྟན་པ། · byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa bstan pa
Bodhisattvacaryānirdeśa
Summary
This sūtra takes place in the city of Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni and his retinue of monks have gone to gather alms. When the Buddha enters Vaiśālī a number of miracles occur in the city, and these draw the attention of a three-year-old boy named Ratnadatta. As the child encounters the Buddha, a dialogue ensues with the monks Maudgalyāyana and Śāriputra and the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, in which the boy delivers a teaching on the practice of bodhisattvas and a critique of those who fail to take up such practices.
Title variants
- bodhisattvacaryānirdeśasūtra
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Teaching the Practice of a Bodhisattva”
- ’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa bstan pa shes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryabodhisattvacaryānirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཤེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
Introduction to the Domain of the Inconceivable Qualities and Wisdom of the Tathāgatas
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི་ཡུལ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་བསྟན་པ། · de bzhin gshegs pa’i yon tan dang ye shes bsam gyis mi khyab pa’i yul la ’jug pa bstan pa
Tathāgataguṇajñānācintyaviṣayāvatāranirdeśa
Summary
In the Introduction to the Domain of the Inconceivable Qualities and Wisdom of the Tathāgatas, the bodhisattva Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin expounds at length on how the awakened activity of the buddhas spontaneously unfolds in a limitless variety of ways to benefit beings, in all their diversity, throughout the universe. He also describes the inestimable benefits a bodhisattva derives from following a virtuous spiritual friend.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Introduction to the Domain of the Inconceivable Qualities and Wisdom of the Tathāgatas”
- Āryatathāgataguṇajñānācintyaviṣayāvatāranirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i yon tan dang ye shes bsam gyis mi khyab pa’i yul la ’jug pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི་ཡུལ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《大方廣入如來智德不思議經》
Tibetan translation:
- Jñānagarbha
- Yeshé Dé
The Teaching on the Extraordinary Transformation That Is the Miracle of Attaining the Buddha’s Powers
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྟོབས་སྐྱེད་པའི་ཆོ་འཕྲུལ་རྣམ་པར་འཕྲུལ་པ་བསྟན་པ། · sangs rgyas kyi stobs skyed pa’i cho ’phrul rnam par ’phrul pa bstan pa
Buddhabalādhānaprātihāryavikurvāṇanirdeśa
Summary
In this sūtra, the Buddha displays supernatural powers three times. First, he magically transports his entire audience and retinue to Vārāṇasī. Secondly, having incited Avalokiteśvara and Vajrapāṇi to use their own miraculous powers to gather there all the beings who must be led to awakening, he makes the whole world appear as a pure realm like Sukhāvatī. He explains that a tathāgata’s various powers are like a doctor’s skills, and teaches, with Mañjuśrī’s help in a series of dialogues with other protagonists, on how the tathāgatas manifest to beings, displaying his supernatural powers a third time by making many other buddhas appear all around him. The meaning of the Tathāgata’s miracles are gradually disclosed to the audience, as well as some other essential points including the merit to be gained by honoring the teachings.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྟོབས་སྐྱེད་པའི་ཆོ་འཕྲུལ་རྣམ་པར་འཕྲུལ་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi stobs skyed pa’i cho ’phrul rnam par ’phrul pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Sūtra of the Great Vehicle “The Teaching on the Extraordinary Transformation That Is the Miracle of Attaining the Buddha’s Powers”
- Āryabuddhabalādhānaprātihāryavikurvāṇanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Unknown
The Prediction for Brahmaśrī
ཚངས་པའི་དཔལ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ། · tshangs pa’i dpal lung bstan pa
Brahmaśrīvyākaraṇa
Summary
The Prediction for Brahmaśrī features a brief encounter between the Buddha, out on his daily alms round, and a group of children playing on the outskirts of Śrāvastī. A boy named Brahmaśrī offers the Buddha the pavilion he has made of sand or dirt. The Blessed One accepts it and transforms it into one made of precious metals and jewels. Seeing this wonder, Brahmaśrī makes a vow to become a buddha himself in the future. This prompts the Buddha to smile and predict Brahmaśrī’s future awakening.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ཚངས་པའི་དཔལ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa tshangs pa’i dpal lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Prediction for Brahmaśrī”
- Āryabrahmaśrīvyākaraṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
The Prophecy Concerning Strīvivarta
བུད་མེད་འགྱུར་བ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ། · bud med ’gyur ba lung bstan pa
Strīvivartavyākaraṇa
Summary
In this sūtra, Subhūti, one of the Buddha’s close disciples, enters into a discussion with several individuals in the course of his alms rounds. His primary interlocutor is a laywoman who reveals herself to be a bodhisattva great being named Strīvivarta; her teachings are profound and challenging, consistently pointing in the direction of ultimate truth. The sūtra culminates in the Buddha prophesying Strīvivarta’s future awakening.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Prophecy Concerning Strīvivarta”
- Āryastrīvivartavyākaraṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བུད་མེད་འགྱུར་བ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa bud med ’gyur ba lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《轉女身受記經》（大正藏：《樂瓔珞莊嚴方便品經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Prajñāvarman
The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī
བདེ་ལྡན་མ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ། · bde ldan ma lung bstan pa
Kṣemavatīvyākaraṇa
Summary
On their morning alms round, the Buddha and Maitreya meet Queen Kṣemavatī who is bedecked in all her royal jewelry. When the Buddha asks her about the source of such fine jewelry, referring to it metaphorically as fruit, Queen Kṣemavatī explains that her worldly position is the fruit of the tree of her previous good deeds. The remainder of the sūtra describes how one’s good actions can eventually lead to buddhahood, and it concludes with a prophecy of the queen’s future awakening.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī”
- Āryakṣemavatīvyākaraṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa bde ldan ma lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་བདེ་ལྡན་མ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 差摩婆帝授記經
The Prophecy of Śrī Mahādevī
ལྷ་མོ་ཆེན་མོ་དཔལ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ། · lha mo chen mo dpal lung bstan pa
Śrīmahādevīvyākaraṇa
Summary
This sūtra recounts an event that took place in the buddha realm of Sukhāvatī. The discourse commences with the Buddha Śākyamuni relating to the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara the benefits of reciting the various names of Śrī Mahādevī. The Buddha describes how Śrī Mahādevī acquired virtue and other spiritual accomplishments through the practice of venerating numerous tathāgatas and gives an account of the prophecy in which her future enlightenment was foretold by all the buddhas she venerated. The Buddha then lists the one hundred and eight blessed names of Śrī Mahādevī to be recited by the faithful. The sūtra ends with the Buddha Śākyamuni giving a dhāraṇī and a brief explanation on the benefits of reciting the names of Śrī Mahādevī, namely the eradication of all negative circumstances and the accumulation of merit and happiness.
Title variants
- The Noble Prophecy of Śrī Mahādevī
- Āryaśrīmahādevīvyākaraṇa
- འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་ཆེན་མོ་དཔལ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ།
- ’phags pa lha mo chen mo dpal lung bstan pa
Tibetan translation:
- Unknown
The Sūtra of the Inquiry of Jayamati
རྒྱལ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ། · rgyal ba’i blo gros kyis zhus pa’i mdo
Jayamatiparipṛcchāsūtra
Summary
The sūtra is introduced with the Buddha residing in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Wood, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, together with a great assembly of monks and a great multitude of bodhisatvas. The Buddha then addresses the bodhisatva Jayamati, instructs him on nineteen moral prescriptions, and indicates the corresponding effects of practicing these prescriptions when they are cultivated.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་རྒྱལ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེ་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa rgyal ba’i blo gros kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Inquiry of Jayamati”
- Āryajayamatiparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Unknown
The Avalokinī Sūtra
སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ཀྱི་མདོ། · spyan ras gzigs kyi mdo
Avalokinīsūtra
Summary
The Avalokinī Sūtra takes place in the city of Rājagṛha, where the Buddha teaches on the benefits that result from honoring the stūpas of awakened beings. The major part of this teaching consists in the Buddha detailing the many positive rewards obtained by those who worship the buddhas’ stūpas with offerings, such as flowers, incense, and lamps.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra: Avalokinī
- Āryāvalokinīnāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa spyan ras gzigs zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《觀見經》
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé
The Dwelling Place of Mañjuśrī
འཇམ་དཔལ་གནས་པ། · ’jam dpal gnas pa
Mañjuśrīvihāra
Summary
The Dwelling Place of Mañjuśrī first presents a dialogue between Mañjuśrī and Śāriputra regarding the activity of “dwelling” (vihāra) during meditation, the nature of dharmas, and the “true nature” (tathatā). This opens into a conversation between Mañjuśrī and a large gathering of monks whereby Mañjuśrī corrects the monks’ misinterpretations. Mañjuśrī then instructs Śāriputra on the enduring and indestructible nature of the realm of sentient beings and the realm of reality. Finally, the power of Mañjuśrī’s teaching is explained and reiterated by the Buddha.
Title variants
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gnas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གནས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Dwelling Place of Mañjuśrī”
- Āryamañjuśrīvihāranāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Nectar of Speech
བདུད་རྩི་བརྗོད་པ། · bdud rtsi brjod pa
Amṛtavyāharaṇa
Summary
In this sūtra, in answer to a question put by Maitreya, the Buddha Śākyamuni teaches five qualities that bodhisattvas should have in order to live a long life free of obstacles and attain awakening quickly: (1) giving the Dharma; (2) giving freedom from fear; (3) practicing great loving kindness, great compassion, great joy, and great equanimity; (4) repairing dilapidated stūpas; and (5) causing all beings to aspire to the mind of awakening. Maitreya praises the benefits of this teaching and vows to teach it himself in future degenerate times. Both Maitreya and the Buddha emphasize the positive effects on beings and the environment that upholding, preserving, and teaching The Nectar of Speech will bring about.
Title variants
- ’phags pa bdud rtsi brjod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་བདུད་རྩི་བརྗོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Nectar of Speech”
- Āryāmṛtavyāharaṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- Ambrosial Speech
- Amṛtavyāharaṇa
Maitreya’s Setting Out
བྱམས་པ་འཇུག་པ། · byams pa ’jug pa
Maitreyaprasthāna
Summary
In Maitreya’s Setting Out, the Buddha Śākyamuni first narrates events from a past life of the bodhisattva Maitreya in which he was born as a king and for the first time gave rise to the mind set on awakening. Later, the Buddha recounts another past life of Maitreya—this time as a monk—and explains why he is known today as the bodhisattva Maitreya. These two narratives are interspersed with a series of Dharma teachings emphasizing the unborn nature of phenomena and the need to develop the view that transcends all reference points.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Maitreya’s Setting Out”
- Āryamaitreyaprasthānanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa byams pa ’jug pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པ་འཇུག་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- maitreyaprasthānasūtra
- 《彌勒發趣經》
Tibetan translation:
- Yeshé Dé
- Prajñāvarman
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
The Sūtra on Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy
བྱམས་པ་དགའ་ལྡན་གནམ་དུ་སྐྱེ་བ་བླངས་པའི་མདོ། · byams pa dga’ ldan gnam du skye ba blangs pa’i mdo
Summary
This discourse takes place during the early evening in Śrāvastī and features the Buddha and his retinue. Among them are Maitreya (then known as Ajita) and Upāli, who asks about Ajita’s future awakening as Maitreya. The Buddha answers that he will be reborn in the Heaven of Joy. He proceeds to describe its wondrous qualities and the causes of being reborn there. At the conclusion of the discourse, all those present in the retinue rejoice and make aspirations to be reborn in the Heaven of Joy.
Title variants
- The Noble Sūtra “The Bodhisattva Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy”
- ’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’ byams pa dga’ ldan gnam du skye ba blangs pa’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་བྱམས་པ་དགའ་ལྡན་གནམ་དུ་སྐྱེ་བ་བླངས་པའི་མདོ།
- 《彌勒菩薩兜率天受生經》 （大藏經：《佛說觀彌勒菩薩上生兜率天經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Pabtong
- Sherab Sengé
The Seal of Engagement in Awakening the Power of Faith
དད་པའི་སྟོབས་བསྐྱེད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ། · dad pa’i stobs bskyed pa la ’jug pa’i phyag rgya
Śraddhābalādhānāvatāramudrā
Summary
The Seal of Engagement in Awakening the Power of Faith is made up of two lengthy orations—one by the Buddha, and one by the bodhisattva Samantabhadra—delivered in response to questions by the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The Buddha’s teaching consists of numerous sets of five principles related to bodhisattva practice, each item of which is subsequently defined. These come together to teach Mañjuśrī how bodhisattvas can be inspired and thereby prepare themselves for the first bodhisattva level. In the latter part of the sūtra Samantabhadra teaches on the topic of buddha activity with a rich account of the expansive ways in which buddhas act to benefit beings.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Seal of Engagement in Awakening the Power of Faith”
- Āryaśraddhābalādhānāvatāramudrānāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa dad pa’i stobs bskyed pa la ’jug pa’i phyag rgya zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་དད་པའི་སྟོབས་བསྐྱེད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《信力入印法門經》
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
Evaluating Whether Progress is Certain or Uncertain
ངེས་པ་དང་མ་ངེས་པར་འགྲོ་བའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ལ་འཇུག་པ། · nges pa dang ma nges par ’gro ba’i phyag rgya la ’jug pa
Niyatāniyatagatimudrāvatāra
Summary
In this sūtra, Mañjuśrī asks the Buddha about the factors that make it either certain or not certain that a bodhisattva will attain unsurpassable, perfect awakening. In response, the Buddha describes five ways in which bodhisattvas may or may not make progress on the path. As an analogy for different ways of making progress, he compares five different ways of traveling a very great distance: using a cattle cart, using an elephant chariot, using the moon and sun, using the magical power of the śrāvakas, and using the magical power of the Tathāgata.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Evaluating Whether Progress is Certain or Uncertain”
- Niyatāniyatagatimudrāvatāranāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ངེས་པ་དང་མ་ངེས་པར་འགྲོ་བའི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa nges pa dang ma nges par ’gro ba’i phyag rgya la ’jug pa zhes bya ba’i theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Evaluating Whether the Bodhisattvas’ Progress Is Certain or Uncertain
- Āryaniyatāniyatagatimudrāvatāranāmamahāyānasūtra
- byang chub sems dpa’ rnams kyi nges pa dang ma nges par ’gro ba’i phyag rgya la ’jug pa
Tibetan translation:
- Prajñāvarma
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Seal of Dharma
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ། · chos kyi phyag rgya
Dharmamudrā
Summary
In this short sūtra, the Buddha addresses the nature of monastic ordination according to the perspective of the Great Vehicle and how going forth from the life of a householder can be said to have the qualities of being noble and supramundane. Following the Buddha’s teaching, the two prominent monks Śāriputra and Subhūti engage in a brief discussion on this same topic.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Seal of Dharma”
- Āryadharmamudrānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa chos kyi phyag rgya zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《聖法印契經》
Tibetan translation:
- Bandé Lui Wangpo
- Lhai Dawa
The City Beggar Woman
གྲོང་ཁྱེར་གྱིས་འཚོ་བ། · grong khyer gyis ’tsho ba
Nagarāvalambikā
Summary
This short Mahāyāna sūtra tells of a beggar woman from the city of Śrāvastī whose modest offering of a lamp at Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, is contrasted with the lavish offering of lamps being made at the same time by Prasenajit, who was the king of Kośala and a major benefactor of the Buddha Śākyamuni and his community. While King Prasenajit’s extravagant donations fill a thousand large lamps with oil and burn so bright that a wide area around the monastery is illuminated, the beggar woman has only a tiny amount of oil with which to make her modest offering. As she lights the lamp, she does so with the sincere prayer that she too may one day achieve enlightenment and become a teacher of the Dharma, just like the Buddha. Her small lamp burns bright through the night and cannot be extinguished, no matter what Maudgalyāyana does as he tries to douse it. When the beggar woman returns the next day and sees her lamp still burning, she is filled with joy, whereupon the Buddha gives one of his magnificent smiles that lights up the cosmos. Asked by Ānanda to divulge the reason for his smile, the Buddha prophesies the almswoman’s fortuitous future rebirths and her eventual awakening as a buddha. He then reprises the whole tale in a series of verses.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The City Beggar Woman”
- Āryanagarāvalambikānāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་གྱིས་འཚོ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa grong khyer gyis ’tsho ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Jñānagarbha
- Bandé Lui Wangpo
- Vidyākarasiṃha
- Bandé Devacandra
Pure Sustenance of Food
ཟས་ཀྱི་འཚོ་བ་རྣམ་པར་དག་པ། · zas kyi ’tsho ba rnam par dag pa
Summary
While the Buddha is staying at the Bamboo Grove with a diverse retinue, the monk Maudgalyāyana asks him about some unusual beings he saw during an alms round. The Buddha informs Maudgalyāyana that these beings are starving spirits. The Buddha gives a discourse explaining how these starving spirits were once humans yet committed misdeeds related to food that led them to their current dismal state. The misdeeds connected with food described by the Buddha present a picture of food-related prohibitions for the monastic saṅgha, such as failing to eat only a single meal a day, improperly partaking of meals, carrying away leftovers, and other forms of abusing food offerings. Food-related ethics are also given for lay people, mainly concerning how to prepare food for the saṅgha in a hygienic manner.
Title variants
- The Mahāyāna Sūtra “Pure Sustenance of Food”
- ཟས་ཀྱི་འཚོ་བ་རྣམ་པར་དག་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- zas kyi ’tsho ba rnam par dag pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Strength of the Elephant
གླང་པོའི་རྩལ། · glang po’i rtsal
Hastikakṣya
Summary
This sūtra contains a Dharma discourse on the profound insight into the emptiness of all phenomena, also known as transcendent insight. Following a short teaching in verse by Śāriputra, the Buddha delivers the primary discourse at the behest of Ānanda and Mañjuśrī amid a vast assembly of monks, bodhisattvas, and lay devotees. He specifically addresses hearers and so-called “outcast bodhisattvas” who have not realized transcendent insight and who thus remain attached to phenomenal appearances. Responding to a series of questions posed by Mañjuśrī and Śāriputra, the Buddha explains that all phenomena are as empty as space, with nothing to be either affirmed or rejected. Yet that very emptiness is what makes everything possible, including the bodhisattvas’ altruistic activities.
Title variants
- glang po’i rtsal zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- གླང་པོའི་རྩལ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Hastikakṣyanāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Strength of the Elephant”
The Great Rumble
སྒྲ་ཆེན་པོ། · sgra chen po
Mahāraṇa
Summary
The Buddha’s disciple Ānanda is on an alms round in Śrāvastī when he notices an immaculate palace. He wonders whether it would be more meritorious to offer such a palace to the monastic community or to enshrine a relic of the Buddha within a small stūpa. He poses this question to the Buddha who describes how the merit of the latter far exceeds any other offerings one could make. The reason the Buddha cites for this is the immense qualities that the buddhas possess.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Great Rumble”
- Āryamahāraṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་སྒྲ་ཆེན་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sgra chen po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Viśuddhasiṃha
- Gewa Pal
- Vidyākarasiṃha
- Devacandra
The Rice Seedling
སཱ་ལུའི་ལྗང་པ། · sA lu’i ljang pa
Śālistamba
Summary
In this sūtra, at the request of venerable Śāriputra, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya elucidates a very brief teaching on dependent arising that the Buddha had given earlier that day while gazing at a rice seedling. The text discusses outer and inner causation and its conditions, describes in detail the twelvefold cycle by which inner dependent arising gives rise to successive lives, and explains how understanding the very nature of that process can lead to freedom from it.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སཱ་ལུའི་ལྗང་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sA lu’i ljang pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Rice Seedling”
- Āryaśālistambanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
Teaching the Fundamental Exposition and Detailed Analysis of Dependent Arising
རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ་དང་པོ་དང་རྣམ་པར་དབྱེ་བ་བསྟན་པ། · rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba dang po dang rnam par dbye ba bstan pa
Pratītyasamutpādādivibhaṅganirdeśa
Summary
In the Jeta’s Grove outside Śrāvastī, monks have gathered to listen to the Buddha as he presents the foundational doctrine of dependent arising. The Buddha first gives the definition of dependent arising and then teaches the twelve factors that form the causal chain of existence in saṃsāra as well as the defining characteristics of these twelve factors.
Title variants
- rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba dang po dang rnam par dbye ba bstan pa zhes bya ba’i mdo
- རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ་དང་པོ་དང་རྣམ་པར་དབྱེ་བ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- Pratītyasamutpādādivibhaṅganirdeśanāmasūtra
- The Sūtra “Teaching the Fundamental Exposition and Detailed Analysis of Dependent Arising”
The Sūtra on Dependent Arising
རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བའི་མདོ། · rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba’i mdo
Pratītyasamutpādasūtra
Summary
While the Buddha is residing in the Realm of the Thirty-Three Gods with a retinue of deities, great hearers, and bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara asks the Buddha how beings can gain merit from building a stūpa. The Buddha responds by stating the Buddhist creed on dependent arising:
The Buddha then explains that this dependent arising is the dharmakāya, and that whoever sees dependent arising sees the Buddha. He concludes the sūtra by saying that one should place these verses inside stūpas to attain the merit of Brahmā.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on Dependent Arising
- Āryapratītyasamutpādanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
Advice to a King (1)
རྒྱལ་པོ་ལ་གདམས་པ། · rgyal po la gdams pa
Rājadeśa
Summary
Discerning that the time is right to train King Bimbisāra, the Buddha Śākyamuni goes to Magadha, along with his entourage. The king is hostile at first but when his attack on the Buddha is thwarted and a verse on impermanence is heard, he becomes respectful. In the discourse that ensues, the Buddha tells the king that it is good to be disillusioned with the world because saṃsāra is impermanence and suffering. He then elaborates with a teaching on impermanence followed by a teaching on suffering. When the king asks where, if saṃsāra is so full of suffering, well-being is to be found, the Buddha responds with a short exposition on nirvāṇa as the cessation of all suffering and the cause for supreme happiness. Moved by his words, the king decides that he will renounce worldly concerns and seek nirvāṇa. The Buddha praises the king and concludes the teaching with the potent refrain, “When one is attached, that is saṃsāra. When one is not attached, that is nirvāṇa.”
Title variants
- The Mahāyāna Sūtra “Advice to a King” (1): Advice to King Bimbisāra
- Rājadeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- རྒྱལ་པོ་ལ་གདམ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- rgyal po la gdam pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
Advice to a King (2)
རྒྱལ་པོ་ལ་གདམས་པ། · rgyal po la gdams pa
Rājadeśa
Summary
While giving teachings at Vārāṇasī, the Buddha Śākyamuni discerns that the time is right to train King Udayana of Vatsa. When he meets the king, who at the time is embarking on a military expedition, the king flies into a rage and tries to kill the Buddha with an arrow. However, the arrow circles in the sky, and a voice proclaims a verse on the dangers of anger and warfare. Hearing this verse, the king pays homage to the Buddha, who explains that an enemy far greater than worldly opponents is the affliction of perceiving a self, which binds one to saṃsāra. He uses a military analogy to explain how this great enemy can be controlled by the combined arsenal of the six perfections and slayed by the arrow of nonself. When the king asks what is meant by “nonself,” the Buddha replies in a series of verses that constitute a succinct teaching on all persons and all things being without a self.
Title variants
- The Mahāyāna Sūtra “Advice to a King” (2): Advice to Udayana, King of Vatsa
- Rājadeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- རྒྱལ་པོ་ལ་གདམས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- rgyal po la gdams pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
Eliminating Ajātaśatru’s Remorse
མ་སྐྱེས་དགྲའི་འགྱོད་པ་བསལ་བ། · ma skyes dgra’i ’gyod pa bsal ba
Ajātaśatrukaukṛtyavinodana
Summary
Eliminating Ajātaśatru’s Remorse narrates how the teachings of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī help King Ajātaśatru overcome the severe negative action of having killed his father, King Bimbisāra. Through instruction, pointed questioning, and a display of miracles, Mañjuśrī and his retinue of bodhisattvas show King Ajātaśatru that the remorse he feels for his crime is in fact unreal, just as all phenomena are unreal. The sūtra thus demonstrates Mañjuśrī’s superiority in wisdom and the profound purification that comes from realizing emptiness.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Eliminating Ajātaśatru’s Remorse”
- Āryājātaśatrukaukṛtyavinodananāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་མ་སྐྱེས་དགྲའི་འགྱོད་པ་བསལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa ma skyes dgra’i ’gyod pa bsal ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《阿闍世懺悔經》 (大正藏：文殊支利普照三昧經)
Tibetan translation:
- Ācārya Mañjuśrīgarbha
- Ratnarakṣita
The Śrīgupta Sūtra
དཔལ་སྦས་ཀྱི་མདོ། · dpal sbas kyi mdo
Śrīguptasūtra
Summary
The Śrīgupta Sūtra tells the story of a plot against the life of Śākyamuni Buddha. At his guru’s instigation, a wealthy young Jain named Śrīgupta invites the Buddha to the midday meal at his house in Rājagṛha, where he has secretly prepared a fire trap and a poisoned meal. The Buddha is aware of these plans, but instead of simply avoiding the trap he accepts the invitation and uses the occasion to demonstrate his invulnerability to such harms, due to his realization and the power of his past deeds. He tells three stories from his previous lives as a pheasant chick, a hare, and the peacock king Suvarṇāvabhāsa—lives in which he similarly overcame fire and poison. After Śrīgupta’s attempts fail, Śākyamuni recounts yet another of his former lives in which Śrīgupta, this time as a brahmin teacher, similarly attempted to trap him in a pit of fire. Ashamed of his actions, Śrīgupta apologizes for his mistakes, takes refuge, and receives the vows of a lay devotee in the Buddha’s community.
Title variants
- The Noble Śrīgupta Sūtra
- Āryaśrīguptanāmasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་དཔལ་སྦས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa dpal sbas zhes bya ba’i mdo
- 《吉祥護經》（大正藏：《佛說德護長者經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé De
Purification of Karmic Obscurations
ལས་ཀྱི་སྒྲིབ་པ་རྣམ་པར་དག་པ། · las kyi sgrib pa rnam par dag pa
Karmāvaraṇaviśuddhi
Summary
The Buddha is residing at Āmrapālī’s Grove in Vaiśālī when Mañjuśrī brings before him the monk Stainless Light, who had been seduced by a prostitute and feels strong remorse for having violated his vows. After the monk confesses his wrongdoing, the Buddha explains the lack of inherent nature of all phenomena and the luminous nature of mind, and the monk Stainless Light gives rise to the mind of enlightenment. At Mañjuśrī’s request, the Buddha then explains how bodhisattvas purify obscurations by generating an altruistic mind and realizing the empty nature of all phenomena. He asks Mañjuśrī about his own attainment of patient forbearance in seeing all phenomena as nonarising, and recounts the tale of the monk Vīradatta, who, many eons in the past, had engaged in a sexual affair with a girl and even killed a jealous rival before feeling strong remorse. Despite these negative actions, once the empty, nonexistent nature of all phenomena had been explained to him by the bodhisattva Liberator from Fear, he was able to generate bodhicitta and attain patient forbearance in seeing all phenomena as nonarising. The Buddha explains that even a person who had enjoyed pleasures and murdered someone would be able to attain patient forbearance in seeing all phenomena as nonarising through practicing this sūtra, which he calls “the Dharma mirror of all phenomena.”
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ལས་ཀྱི་སྒྲིབ་པ་རྣམ་པར་དག་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa las kyi sgrib pa rnam par dag pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Purification of Karmic Obscurations”
- Āryakarmāvaraṇaviśuddhināmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྡེ་སྣོད་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་འཆལ་པ་ཚར་གཅོད་པ། · sangs rgyas kyi sde snod tshul khrims ’chal pa tshar gcod pa
Buddhapiṭakaduḥśīlanigraha
Summary
When Śāriputra voices amazement at how the Buddha uses words to point out the inexpressible ways in which nothing has true existence, the Buddha responds with an uncompromising teaching on how the lack of true existence and the absence of a self are indeed not simply philosophical views but the very cornerstone of the Dharma. To have understood, realized, and applied them fully is the main quality by which someone may be considered a member of the saṅgha and authorized to teach others and to receive offerings. Those who persist in perceiving anything—even elements of the path and its results—as having any kind of true existence are committing the most serious of all violations of discipline (śīla), and since they fail to follow the Buddha’s core teaching in this way they should not even be considered his followers. The Buddha’s dialogue with Śāriputra continues on the consequences of monks’ violating their discipline more broadly, and he gives several prophecies about the future decline of the Dharma that will be caused by the misbehavior of such monks.
Title variants
- The Great Vehicle Discourse “The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline”
- Buddhapiṭakaduḥśīlanigrahanāmamahāyānasūtra
- སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྡེ་སྣོད་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་འཆལ་པ་ཚར་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- sangs rgyas kyi sde snod tshul khrims ’chal pa tshar gcod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Buddha’s Collected Teachings
- Building the Foundation
- Exegesis of the Discourses
- Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline
- Exegesis of the Dharma
- tshul khrims ’chal ba tshar bcod pa
- gzhi brtsams pa
- sangs rgyas kyi sde snod
- chos la rab tu rnam par ’byed pa
- mdo sde rab tu rnam par ’byed pa
- 佛藏斷除敗壞戒律經 （大正藏：《佛藏經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Dharmaśrīprabha
- Palgyi Lhünpo
Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels
གསུམ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་འགྲོ་བ། · gsum la skyabs su ’gro ba
Triśaraṇagamana
Summary
In Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels, the venerable Śāriputra wonders how much merit accrues to someone who takes refuge in the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. He therefore seeks out the Buddha Śākyamuni and requests a teaching on this topic. The Buddha proceeds to describe how even vast offerings, performed in miraculous ways, would not constitute a fraction of the merit gained by someone who takes refuge in the Three Jewels.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་གསུམ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་འགྲོ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa gsum la skyabs su ’gro ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels”
- Āryatriśaraṇagamananāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Sarvajñādeva
- Paltsek
The Sūtra on Transmigration Through Existences
སྲིད་པ་འཕོ་བའི་མདོ། · srid pa ’pho ba’i mdo
Bhavasaṅkrāntisūtra
Summary
King Śreṇya Bimbisāra of Magadha approaches the Buddha and asks him how a past action can appear before the mind at the moment of death. The Buddha presents the analogy of a sleeping person who dreams of a beautiful woman and on waking foolishly longs to find her. He cites this as an example of how an action of the distant past, which has arisen from perception and subsequent afflictive emotions and then ceased, appears to the mind on the brink of death. The Buddha goes on to explain how one transitions from the final moment of one life to the first moment of the next, according to the ripening of those actions, without any phenomena actually being transferred from one life to another. The Buddha concludes with a set of seven verses that offer a succinct teaching on emptiness, focusing on the two truths and the fictitious nature of names.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Transmigration Through Existences”
- Āryabhavasaṅkrāntināmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa srid pa ’pho ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་སྲིད་པ་འཕོ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《流轉諸有經》（大正藏：《佛說大乘流轉諸有經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Yeshé Dé
Discussions of Thus-Gone Ones
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་བགྲོ་བ། · de bzhin gshegs pa bgro ba
Tathāgatasaṅgīti
Summary
Discussions of Thus-Gone Ones begins in the Jeta’s Grove as the Buddha Śākyamuni emerges from a three-month-long meditative absorption. It is revealed that while he was absorbed in this meditative state, he was actually having conversations with many other buddhas across many worlds, discussing the essential nature of all phenomena. The bulk of the text, then, consists of the Buddha Śākyamuni relaying these conversations and responding to the questions of various audience members. From these exchanges we learn that all things, ranging from ordinary flowers up to the awakening of the buddhas themselves, share a nonconceptual, ineffable basis.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Discussions of Thus-Gone Ones”
- Āryatathāgatasaṅgītināmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་བགྲོ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa bgro ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《如來議論經》
Tibetan translation:
- Jñānagarbha
- Palgyi Yang
- Paltsek
The Jewel Cloud
དཀོན་མཆོག་སྤྲིན། · dkon mchog sprin
Ratnamegha
Summary
On Gayāśīrṣa Hill, Buddha Śākyamuni is visited by a great gathering of bodhisattvas who have traveled miraculously there from a distant world, to venerate him as one who has vowed to liberate beings in a world much more afflicted than their own. The visiting bodhisattvas are led by Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin, who asks the Buddha a series of searching questions. In response, the Buddha gives a detailed and systematic account of the practices, qualities, and nature of bodhisattvas, the stages of their path, their realization, and their activities. Many of the topics are structured into sets of ten aspects, expounded with reasoned explanations and illustrated with parables and analogies. This sūtra is said to have been one of the very first scriptures translated into Tibetan. Its doctrinal richness, profundity, and clarity are justly celebrated, and some of its key statements on meditation, the realization of emptiness, and the fundamental nature of the mind have been widely quoted in the Indian treatises and Tibetan commentarial literature.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Jewel Cloud”
- Āryaratnameghanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa dkon mchog sprin ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་དཀོན་མཆོག་སྤྲིན་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- 《寶雲經》 （大正藏：佛說除蓋障菩薩所問經）
Tibetan translation:
- Rinchen Tso
- Chönyi Tsultrim
The Great Cloud (1)
སྤྲིན་ཆེན་པོ། · sprin chen po
Mahāmegha
Summary
The Great Cloud features a long dialogue between the Buddha Śākyamuni and a bodhisattva named Great Cloud Essence, who are periodically joined by various additional interlocutors from the vast audience of human and divine beings who have assembled to hear the Buddha’s teaching. The topics of their conversation are diverse and wide-ranging, but a central theme is the vast conduct of bodhisattvas, which is illustrated through the enumeration of the various meditative states and liberative techniques that bodhisattvas must master in order to minister to all sentient beings. This is followed by a conversation with the brahmin Kauṇḍinya concerning the Buddha’s cousin Devadatta, who is revealed to be a bodhisattva displaying the highest level of skillful means. Kauṇḍinya then inquires about the possibility of obtaining a relic from the Buddha, and another member of the audience responds with an explanation of how truly rare it is for a buddha relic to appear within the world. Finally, the discourse ends with the Buddha delivering a series of detailed prophecies describing the principal interlocutor’s future attainment of buddhahood, and he further explains the benefits and powers that can be obtained through the practice of this sūtra itself.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Great Cloud”
- Āryamahāmeghanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་སྤྲིན་ཆེན་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sprin chen po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 大雲經
- （大正藏：大方等無想經）
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Great Cloud (2)
སྤྲིན་ཆེན་པོ། · sprin chen po
Mahāmegha
Summary
This brief discourse is identified more precisely in its colophon as a supplementary chapter from The Great Cloud on “the array of winds that bring down rainfall.” It describes a visit from the Buddha Śākyamuni to the realm of the nāgas. The assembly of nāgas pays homage to the Buddha with a grand panoply of magically emanated offerings, and their king asks him to explain how the nāgas can eliminate their own suffering and aid sentient beings by causing timely rain to fall. The Buddha, in response, extols the benefits of loving-kindness and then teaches them a dhāraṇī that when accompanied by the recitation of a host of buddha names will dispel the nāgas’ suffering and cause crops to grow. At the nāga king’s request, the Buddha then teaches another long dhāraṇī that will cause rain to fall during times of drought. The discourse concludes with instructions for constructing an altar and holding a ritual rainmaking service.
Title variants
- ’phags pa sprin chen po theg pa chen po’i mdo las char dbab pa rlung gi dkyil ’khor gyi le’u zhes bya ba drug cu rtsa bzhi pa cho ga dang bcas pa
- འཕགས་པ་སྤྲིན་ཆེན་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་ལས་ཆར་དབབ་པ་རླུང་གི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་དྲུག་ཅུ་རྩ་བཞི་པ་ཆོ་ག་དང་བཅས་པ།
- From the Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Great Cloud,” the Sixty-Fourth Chapter “The Array of Winds That Send Down Rainfall” Together with Its Ritual Manual [colophon title]
- Āryamahāmegha
Tibetan translation:
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Jinamitra
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Dharma Council
ཆོས་ཡང་དག་པར་སྡུད་པ། · chos yang dag par sdud pa
Dharmasaṅgīti
Summary
The Dharma Council is a Great Vehicle sūtra in which the path of a bodhisattva is taught initially by the Buddha, but principally by a host of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas. Among them, the bodhisattva Nirārambha takes center stage, delivering long discourses and engaging in dialogues and debates on the key points of Great Vehicle Buddhism. Following Nirārambha’s example, a number of the Buddha’s disciples express their own understanding of the path, and they win praise and confirmation from the Buddha for their eloquent expositions of the Dharma. As a Great Vehicle sūtra, The Dharma Council is grounded in the themes of emptiness, nonconceptuality, and skillful compassionate conduct; from these doctrinal touchstones spring a profound and wide-ranging presentation of the Dharma.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Dharma Council”
- Āryadharmasaṅgītināmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཡང་དག་པར་སྡུད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa chos yang dag par sdud pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《法集經》 （大正藏：佛說法集經）
Tibetan translation:
- Mañjuśrīgarbha
- Vijayaśīla
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Wheel of Meditative Concentration
ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་འཁོར་ལོ། · ting nge ’dzin gyi ’khor lo
Samādhicakra
Summary
While dwelling on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, the Buddha is absorbed in the meditative concentration called wheel of meditative concentration. In response to a series of questions posed by the Buddha, Mañjuśrī explains the nature of ultimate reality. Pleased with his replies, the Buddha praises Mañjuśrī for being skilled in expressing the meaning of the profound Dharma.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Wheel of Meditative Concentration”
- Āryasamādhicakranāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa ting nge ’dzin gyi ’khor lo zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Proper Dharma Conduct
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཚུལ། · chos kyi tshul
Dharmanaya
Summary
Proper Dharma Conduct takes place in the Jeta’s Grove at Śrāvastī. Knowing that many bodhisattvas are wondering about proper Dharma conduct, the Buddha Śākyamuni gives a teaching on this topic to a great number of bodhisattvas. The teaching follows a format in which the Buddha first makes a short cryptic statement that seems to go against the conventions of proper behavior for bodhisattvas. The bodhisattvas then inquire as to the meaning of this statement, and the Buddha proceeds to explain how to interpret the initial statement in order to decipher the underlying meaning. Because of his teaching, many gods and bodhisattvas are able to make great progress on the path.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཚུལ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa chos kyi tshul zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Proper Dharma Conduct”
- Āryadharmanayanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Sections of Dharma
ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཕུང་པོ། · chos kyi phung po
Dharmaskandha
Summary
In this sūtra some of Buddha Śākyamuni’s senior disciples request a teaching on the nature of “the sections of Dharma.” The Buddha responds by first delivering a teaching on the absence of birth with regard to phenomena, as an antidote to the poison of desire. On that basis, the Buddha then presents a longer explanation of the repulsiveness of the human body, and of the female body in particular.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཕུང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa chos kyi phung po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Sections of Dharma”
- Āryadharmaskandhanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
Victory of the Ultimate Dharma
དོན་དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱིས་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ། · don dam pa’i chos kyis rnam par rgyal ba
Paramārthadharmavijaya
Summary
Victory of the Ultimate Dharma presents the Buddha’s answers to questions posed by a non-Buddhist seer named Ulka concerning the origin of life, the end of the universe, and the nature of the soul. These questions are posed following a miraculous display by the Buddha, in which countless living beings are emitted from the Buddha in the form of rays of light. Although this miraculous display awes the bodhisattvas and gods who are present, Ulka is not swayed by these powers, arguing that non-Buddhist gods such as Nārāyaṇa and Maheśvara are also able to perform such feats. In answering his questions, the Buddha articulates core teachings of Buddhism such as impermanence, karma, and emptiness.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Victory of the Ultimate Dharma”
- Āryaparamārthadharmavijayanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་དོན་དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa don dam pa’i chos kyi rnam par rgyal ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Paramārthadharmavijayasūtra
- don dam pa’i chos kyi rnam par rgyal ba’i mdo
- 《第一義法勝經》
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
Distinguishing Phenomena and What Is Meaningful
ཆོས་དང་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ། · chos dang don rnam par ’byed pa
Dharmārthavibhaṅga
Summary
There are two main themes in Distinguishing Phenomena and What Is Meaningful. One is in the narrative structure: The Buddha Śākyamuni tells how, countless eons ago, in a world called Flower Origin, a buddha named Arisen from Flowers gave instructions to a royal family, and prophesied the awakening of the prince Ratnākara. Arisen from Flowers, the Buddha Śākyamuni then relates, has since become the buddha Amitābha, and the prince Ratnākara the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. The other theme is doctrinal, and lies in the content of the teaching given by Arisen from Flowers: it explains the four mistakes made by ordinary beings in the way they perceive the five aggregates, and how bodhisattvas teach them how to clear away these misconceptions, so that they may be free of the sufferings that result.
Title variants
- ’phags pa chos dang don rnam par ’byed pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryadharmārthavibhaṅganāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་དང་དོན་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Distinguishing Phenomena and What Is Meaningful”
- don dang chos rnam par ’byed pa
- Dharmārthavibhaṅga
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Danaśila
- Yeshé Dé
The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སོ་སོར་ཐར་པ་ཆོས་བཞི་སྒྲུབ་པ། · byang chub sems dpa’i so sor thar pa chos bzhi sgrub pa
Bodhisattvaprātimokṣacatuṣkanirhāra
Summary
In The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa, Venerable Śāriputra requests the Buddha Śākyamuni to explain the conduct of bodhisattvas. The Buddha responds by describing how bodhisattvas train in many practices and in the cultivation of many qualities, here presented in sets of four, related to generosity and diligence in particular, and more broadly to their attitude, conduct, learning, insight, and teaching. In this way bodhisattvas swiftly progress along the path to buddhahood.
Title variants
- The Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa”
- Bodhisattvaprātimokṣacatuṣkanirhāranāmamahāyānasūtra
- བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སོ་སོར་ཐར་པ་ཆོས་བཞི་སྒྲུབ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- byang chub sems dpa’i so sor thar pa chos bzhi sgrub pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《圓滿四種品質：菩薩的波羅提木叉（別解脫律儀）》
Tibetan translation:
- Dīpaṅkaraśrījñāna
- Śākya Lodrö
- Gewé Lodrö
The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors
ཆོས་བཞི་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ། · chos bzhi bstan pa’i mdo
Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra
Summary
While Buddha Śākyamuni is residing in the Sudharmā assembly hall in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, he explains to the great bodhisattva Maitreya four factors that make it possible to overcome the effects of any negative deeds one has committed. These four are: the action of repentance, which involves feeling remorse; antidotal action, which is to practice virtue as a remedy to non-virtue; the power of restraint, which involves vowing not to repeat a negative act; and the power of support, which means taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, and never forsaking the mind of awakening. The Buddha concludes by recommending that bodhisattvas regularly recite this sūtra and reflect on its meaning as an antidote to any further wrongdoing.
Title variants
- ’phags pa chos bzhi bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryacaturdharmanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་བཞི་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Teaching the Four Factors”
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
The Four Factors
ཆོས་བཞི་པ། · chos bzhi pa
Caturdharmaka
Summary
In this short sūtra the Buddha explains that throughout one’s life there are four beliefs one should not hold: (1) that there is pleasure to be found among women, (2) or at the royal court; (3) that happiness can be ensured by depending on health and attractiveness, (4) or on wealth and material possessions.
Title variants
- The Sūtra on the Four Factors
- Caturdharmakasūtra
- ཆོས་བཞི་པའི་མདོ།
- chos bzhi pa’i mdo
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors
འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་བཞི་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། · ’phags pa chos bzhi pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
Āryacaturdharmakanāmamahāyānasūtra
Summary
While residing in the Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, the Buddha explains to an assembly of monks and bodhisattvas four factors of the path that bodhisattvas must not abandon even at the cost of their lives: (1) the thought of awakening, (2) the spiritual friend, (3) tolerance and lenience (which are here counted as one), and (4) dwelling in the wilderness. The sūtra concludes with two verses in which the Buddha restates the four factors and asserts that those who do not relinquish them will attain complete awakening.
The Fourfold Accomplishment
བཞི་པ་སྒྲུབ་པ། · bzhi pa sgrub pa
Catuṣkanirhāra
Summary
The Fourfold Accomplishment revolves around a dialogue between the god Śrībhadra and the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī that takes place in Jeta’s Grove at Śrāvastī. At Śrībhadra’s request, Mañjuśrī recalls a teaching that he previously gave to Brahmā Śikhin on the practices of a bodhisattva. The teaching takes the form of a sequence of topics, each of which has four components.
Title variants
- ’phags pa bzhi pa sgrub pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryacatuṣkanirhāranāmamahāyānasūtra
- bzhi pa sgrub pa’i mdo
- Catuṣkanirhārasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བཞི་པ་སྒྲུབ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
The Sūtra of Dharmaketu
ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་གྱི་མདོ། · chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyi mdo
Dharmaketusūtra
Summary
While the Buddha Śākyamuni is staying in Śrāvastī, a bodhisattva named Dharmaketu asks him what qualities a bodhisattva must possess in order to reach awakening quickly. In response, the Buddha enumerates the ten most important qualities for bodhisattvas to cultivate.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra of Dharmaketu
- Āryadharmaketumahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་གྱི་མདོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའོ།
- ’phags pa chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyi mdo theg pa chen po’o
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Dharmaketudhvaja’s Question”
- The Mahāyāna Sūtra “Dharmaketu’s Question”
- The Noble Sūtra of Dharmaketu
- Dharmaketu’s Question
- Āryadharmaketudhvajaparipṛcchānāmamahāyānasūtra
- chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyis zhus pa
- ’phag pa chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Quintessence of the Sun
ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ། · nyi ma’i snying po
Sūryagarbha
Summary
The Quintessence of the Sun is a long and heterogeneous sūtra in eleven chapters. At the Veṇuvana in the Kalandakanivāpa on the outskirts of Rājagṛha, the Buddha Śākyamuni first explains to a great assembly the severe consequences of stealing what has been offered to monks and the importance of protecting those who abide by the Dharma. The next section tells of bodhisattvas sent from buddha realms in the four directions to bring various dhāraṇīs as a way of protecting and benefitting this world. While explaining those dhāraṇīs, the Buddha Śākyamuni presents various meditations on repulsiveness and instructions on the empty nature of phenomena. On the basis of another long narrative involving Māra and groups of nāgas, detailed teachings on astrology are also introduced, as are a number of additional dhāraṇīs and a list of sacred locations blessed by the presence of holy beings.
Title variants
- The Noble Very Extensive Sūtra “The Quintessence of the Sun”
- Āryasūryagarbhanāmamahāvaipulyasūtra
- ’phags pa shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i sde nyi ma’i snying po zhes bya ba’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྡེ་ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- The Very Extensive Sūtra ’The Quintessence of the Sun’
- 《大方廣日藏經》(大正藏：大乘大方等日藏經)
Tibetan translation:
- Bandé Zangkyong
- Bandé Kawa Paltsek
The Basket Without Words, The Illuminator’s Matrix
ཡི་གེ་མེད་པའི་ཟ་མ་ཏོག་རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ། · yi ge med pa’i za ma tog rnam par snang mdzad kyi snying po
Anakṣarakaraṇḍakavairocanagarbha
Summary
The Basket Without Words, The Illuminator’s Matrix unfolds in Rājagṛha on Vulture Peak, where the Buddha is dwelling with a great assembly. The bodhisattva Viśeṣacintin requests the Buddha to give a teaching on two words and asks him to explain one factor that bodhisattvas should abandon, one quality that encompasses all the foundations of the training when safeguarded by bodhisattvas, and one phenomenon to which thus-gone ones truly and perfectly awaken. The Buddha responds by listing the afflictions that bodhisattvas abandon. Next, he advises bodhisattvas not to do to others what they themselves do not desire. Then, he teaches that there is no phenomenon to which thus-gone ones truly and perfectly awaken, and that thus-gone ones comprehend that all phenomena are free from going and coming, causes and conditions, death and birth, acceptance and rejection, and decrease and increase. At the conclusion of the sūtra, members of the assembly promise to propagate this teaching, and the Buddha explains the benefits of doing so.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Basket Without Words, The Illuminator’s Matrix”
- Āryānakṣarakaraṇḍakavairocanagarbhanāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa yi ge med pa’i za ma tog rnam par snang mdzad kyi snying po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་ཡི་གེ་མེད་པའི་ཟ་མ་ཏོག་རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Munivarman
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Ākāśagarbha Sūtra
ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོ། · nam mkha’i snying po’i mdo
Ākāśagarbhasūtra
Summary
While the Buddha is dwelling on Khalatika Mountain with his retinue, an amazing display of light appears, brought about by the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha’s liberating activities. As he joins the gathering, Ākāśagarbha manifests another extraordinary display, and the Buddha, praising his inconceivable accomplishments and activities, explains how to invoke his blessings. He sets out the fundamental transgressions of rulers, ministers, śrāvakas, and beginner bodhisattvas, and, after explaining in detail how to conduct the rituals of purification, encourages those who have committed such transgressions to turn to Ākāśagarbha. When people pray to Ākāśagarbha, Ākāśagarbha adapts his manifestations to suit their needs, appearing to them while they are awake, in their dreams, or at the time of their death. In this way, Ākāśagarbha gradually leads them all along the path, helping them to purify their negative deeds, relieve their sufferings, fulfill their wishes, and eventually attain perfect enlightenment.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa nam mkha’i snying po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Ākāśagarbha Sūtra
- Āryākāśagarbhanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Śākyaprabha
- Ratnarakṣita
The Acceptance That Tames Beings with the Sky-Colored Method of Perfect Conduct
ཡང་དག་པར་སྤྱོད་པའི་ཚུལ་ནམ་མཁའི་མདོག་གིས་འདུལ་བའི་བཟོད་པ། · yang dag par spyod pa’i tshul nam mkha’i mdog gis ’dul ba’i bzod pa
Samyagācāravṛttagaganavarṇavinayakṣānti
Summary
In The Acceptance That Tames Beings with the Sky-Colored Method of Perfect Conduct, the Buddha Śākyamuni and several bodhisattvas deliver a series of teachings focusing on the relationship between the understanding of emptiness and the conduct of a bodhisattva, especially the perfection of acceptance or patience. The text describes the implications of the view that all inner and outer formations—that is, all phenomena made up of the five aggregates—are empty. It also provides detailed descriptions of the ascetic practices of non-Buddhists and insists on the importance for bodhisattvas of being reborn in buddha realms inundated with the five impurities for the sake of the beings living there, and of practicing in such realms to fulfill the highest goals of the bodhisattva path.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Acceptance That Tames Beings with the Sky-Colored Method of Perfect Conduct”
- Āryasamyagācāravṛttagaganavarṇavinayakṣāntināmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཡང་དག་པར་སྤྱོད་པའི་ཚུལ་ནམ་མཁའི་མདོག་གིས་འདུལ་བའི་བཟོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa yang dag par spyod pa’i tshul nam mkha’i mdog gis ’dul ba’i bzod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《正行理趣虛空色調伏忍辱經》
Bouquet of Flowers
མེ་ཏོག་གི་ཚོགས། · me tog gi tshogs
Kusumasañcaya
Summary
Bouquet of Flowers is a Great Vehicle sūtra in which the Buddha describes a vast array of wondrous, far-off world systems each inhabited by buddhas who teach the Dharma there. Hearing those buddhas’ names, the Buddha teaches, brings a wide range of benefits, all of which are ultimately directed toward attaining unexcelled, perfect and complete awakening. In this sūtra, the Buddha’s main interlocutor is Śāriputra, but he also interacts with Ajita and Mahākāśyapa.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Bouquet of Flowers”
- འཕགས་པ་མེ་ཏོག་གི་ཚོགས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa me tog gi tshogs zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Kusumasaṃcaya
- Āryakusumasañcayanāmamahāyānasūtra
- 《華聚經》（大正藏：《佛說稱揚諸佛功德經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jñānasiddhi
- Dharmatāśīla
Calling Witness with a Hundred Prostrations
དཔང་སྐོང་ཕྱག་བརྒྱ་པ། · dpang skong phyag brgya pa
Summary
Calling Witness with a Hundred Prostrations is widely known as the first sūtra to arrive in Tibet, long before Tibet became a Buddhist nation, during the reign of the Tibetan king Lha Thothori Nyentsen. Written to be recited for personal practice, it opens with one hundred and eight prostrations and praises to the many buddhas of the ten directions and three times, to the twelve categories of scripture contained in the Tripiṭaka, to the bodhisattvas of the ten directions, and to the arhat disciples of the Buddha. After making offerings to them, confessing and purifying nonvirtue, and making the aspiration to perform virtuous actions in every life, the text includes recitations of the vows of refuge in the Three Jewels, and of generating the thought of enlightenment. The text concludes with a passage rejoicing in the virtues of the holy ones, a request for the buddhas to bestow a prophecy to achieve enlightenment, and the aspiration to pass from this life in a state of pure Dharma.
Title variants
- དཔང་སྐོང་ཕྱག་བརྒྱ་པ།
- dpang skong phyag brgya pa
Tibetan translation:
- Thönmi Sambhoṭa
The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable
བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མདོ། · bsam gyis mi khyab pa'i rgyal po'i mdo
Acintyarājasūtra
Summary
While the Buddha is staying in the kingdom of Magadha with an assembly of countless bodhisattvas, the bodhisattva King of the Inconceivable gives a teaching on the relativity of time between 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 Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra "The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable"
- འཕགས་པ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མདོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa bsam gyis mi khyab pa’i rgyal po’i mdo zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Āryācintyarājasūtranāmamahāyānasūtra
- 《不可思議王經》
Dispelling the Darkness of the Ten Directions
ཕྱོགས་བཅུའི་མུན་པ་རྣམ་པར་སེལ་བ། · phyogs bcu’i mun pa rnam par sel ba
Daśadigandhakāravidhvaṃsana
Summary
As the Buddha approaches Kapilavastu, he is met by the Śākya youth Shining Countenance setting out from the city in his chariot. Shining Countenance requests the Buddha to teach him a rite of protection from harm, and the Buddha describes ten buddhas, each dwelling in a distant world system in one of the ten directions. When departing from the city in one of the directions, he explains, keeping the respective buddha in mind will ensure freedom from fear and harm while traveling and success in the journey’s purpose. After receiving this teaching, Shining Countenance and the others in the assembly are able to see those ten buddhas and their realms directly before them, and the Buddha prophesies their eventual awakening. The Buddha further explains that to read, teach, write down, and keep this sūtra will bring protection to all; it is consequently often chanted at the beginning of undertakings, especially travel, to overcome obstacles and bring success.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Dispelling the Darkness of the Ten Directions”
- Āryadaśadigandhakāravidhvaṃsananāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཕྱོགས་བཅུའི་མུན་པ་རྣམ་པར་སེལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa phyogs bcu’i mun pa rnam par sel ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 佛説滅十方冥經
Tibetan translation:
- Viśuddhasiṃha
- Bandé Tsang Devendrarakṣita
- Bandé Lui Gyaltsen
The Seven Buddhas
སངས་རྒྱས་བདུན་པ། · sangs rgyas bdun pa
Saptabuddhaka
Summary
The Seven Buddhas opens with the Buddha Śākyamuni residing in an alpine forest on Mount Kailāsa with a saṅgha of monks and bodhisattvas. The Buddha notices that a monk in the forest has been possessed by a spirit, which prompts the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha to request that the Buddha teach a spell to cure diseases and exorcise demonic spirits. The Buddha then emanates as the set of “seven successive buddhas,” each of whom transmits a dhāraṇī to Ākāśagarbha. Each of the seven buddhas then provides ritual instructions for using the dhāraṇī.
Title variants
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas bdun pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་བདུན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Seven Buddhas”
- Āryasaptabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra
The Eight Buddhas
སངས་རྒྱས་བརྒྱད་པ། · sangs rgyas brgyad pa
Aṣṭabuddhaka
Summary
While the Buddha is dwelling together with a great saṅgha of monks in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, the whole universe suddenly begins to shake. The sounds of innumerable cymbals are heard without their being played, and flowers fall, covering the entire Jeta’s Grove. The world becomes filled with golden light and golden lotuses appear, each lotus supporting a lion throne upon which appears the shining form of a buddha. Venerable Śāriputra arises from his seat, pays homage, and asks the Buddha about the causes and conditions for these thus-gone ones to appear. The Buddha then proceeds to describe in detail these buddhas, as well as their various realms and how beings can take birth in them.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་བརྒྱད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas brgyad pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Eight Buddhas”
- Āryāṣṭabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra
The Twelve Buddhas
སངས་རྒྱས་བཅུ་གཉིས་པ། · sangs rgyas bcu gnyis pa
Dvādaśabuddhaka
Summary
The Twelve Buddhas opens at Rājagṛha with a dialogue between the Buddha Śākyamuni and the bodhisattva Maitreya about the eastern buddhafield of a buddha whose abbreviated name is King of Jewels. This buddha prophesies that when he passes into complete nirvāṇa, the bodhisattva Incomparable will take his place as a buddha whose abbreviated name is Victory Banner King. Śākyamuni then provides the names of the remaining ten tathāgatas, locating them in the ten directions surrounding Victory Banner King’s buddhafield Full of Pearls. After listing the full set of names of these twelve buddhas and their directional relationship to Victory Banner King, the Buddha Śākyamuni provides an accompanying mantra-dhāraṇī and closes with a set of thirty-seven verses outlining the benefits of remembering the names of these buddhas.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་བཅུ་གཉིས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas bcu gnyis pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Twelve Buddhas”
- Āryadvādaśabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
Not Forsaking the Buddha
སངས་རྒྱས་མི་སྤང་བ། · sangs rgyas mi spang ba
Buddhākṣepaṇa
Summary
This discourse takes place while the Buddha Śākyamuni is on Vulture Peak Mountain with a large community of monks, along with numerous bodhisattvas. Ten of the bodhisattvas present in the retinue have become discouraged after failing to attain dhāraṇī despite exerting themselves for seven years. The bodhisattva Undaunted therefore requests the Buddha to bestow upon them an instruction that will enable them to generate wisdom. In response, the Buddha reveals the cause of their inability to attain dhāraṇī—a specific negative act they performed in the past—and he goes on to explain the importance of respecting Dharma teachers and reveal how these ten bodhisattvas can purify their karmic obscurations.
Title variants
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas mi spang ba zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་མི་སྤང་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Āryabuddhākṣepaṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Not Forsaking the Buddha”
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
The Eight Auspicious Ones
བཀྲ་ཤིས་བརྒྱད་པ། · bkra shis brgyad pa
Maṅgalāṣṭaka
Summary
While the Buddha is dwelling in Vaiśālī at Āmrapālī’s grove, a Licchavi youth named Superior Skill requests him to reveal those buddhas presently dwelling in fulfillment of their former aspirations, such that venerating them and remembering their names can dispel fear and harm. The Buddha responds by listing the names of eight buddhas and the names of their buddha realms. He instructs Superior Skill to remember these buddhas’ names and to contemplate them regularly to develop their good qualities himself and ensure success before beginning any activity. After Superior Skill departs, Śakra, lord of the gods, declares that he has taken up this practice as well. The Buddha exhorts Śakra to proclaim this discourse before engaging in battles with the asuras to ensure his victory, and then enumerates the good qualities of those who proclaim this discourse.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Eight Auspicious Ones”
- Āryamaṅgalāṣṭakanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བརྒྱད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa bkra shis brgyad pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 《八吉祥經》 （大正藏：《佛說八部佛名經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Sūtra on the Threefold Training
བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་གྱི་མདོ། · bslab pa gsum gyi mdo
Śikṣātrayasūtra
Summary
In The Sūtra on the Threefold Training, Buddha Śākyamuni briefly introduces the three elements or stages of the path, widely known as “the three trainings,” one by one in a specific order: discipline, meditative concentration, and wisdom. He teaches that training progressively in them constitutes the gradual path to awakening.
Title variants
- བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་གྱི་མདོ།
- bslab pa gsum gyi mdo
The Sūtra on the Three Bodies
སྐུ་གསུམ་པའི་མདོ། · sku gsum pa’i mdo
Trikāyasūtra
Summary
As the title suggests, this sūtra describes the three bodies of the Buddha. While the Buddha is dwelling on Vulture Peak in Rājgṛha, the Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha asks whether the Tathāgata has a body, to which the Buddha replies that the Tathāgata has three bodies: a dharmakāya, a saṃbhogakāya, and a nirmāṇakāya. The Buddha goes on to describe what constitutes these three bodies and their associated meaning. The Buddha explains that the dharmakāya is like space, the saṃbhogakāya is like clouds, and the nirmāṇakāya is like rain. At the end of the Buddha’s elucidation, Kṣitigarbha expresses jubilation, and the Buddha declares that whoever upholds this Dharma teaching will obtain immeasurable merit.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སྐུ་གསུམ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa sku gsum zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Three Bodies”
- Āryatrikāyanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Unknown
The Dedication “Fulfilling All Aspirations”
བསམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་སུ་རྫོགས་པའི་ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ། · bsam pa thams cad yongs su rdzogs pa’i yongs su bsngo ba
Summary
This text is a prayer of dedication, and is meant to be recited. Its structure partly reflects the liturgy of “seven branches” or “seven limbs,” a set of practices that serves as the basic structure of many Mahāyāna Buddhist prayers and rituals. In this instance, however, the text consists of two sections: the first is a detailed prayer of confession, and the second a prayer of rejoicing, requesting that the wheel of the Dharma be turned, beseeching the buddhas not to pass into nirvāṇa, and extensively dedicating the merit.
Title variants
- ’phags pa bsam pa thams cad yongs su rdzogs par byed pa zhes bya ba’i yongs su bsngo ba
- The Noble Dedication “Fulfilling All Aspirations”
- འཕགས་པ་བསམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་སུ་རྫོགས་པར་བྱེད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ།
The Dedication “Protecting All Beings”
འགྲོ་བ་ཡོངས་སུ་སྐྱོབ་པར་བྱེད་པའི་ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ། · ’gro ba yongs su skyob par byed pa’i yongs su bsngo ba
Summary
This text is a prayer of dedication that strongly resonates with the later Tibetan literature of mind training (blo sbyong). In addition to the classic element of dedication of merit to all beings, a substantial part of the text comprises a passage that enumerates the many faults, shortcomings, and afflictions that burden sentient beings, as well as the many possible attainments that they consequently may not have realized, and culminates in the wish that everything negative that would otherwise ripen for sentient beings may ripen instead for the reciter, so that all sentient beings may thus be liberated and purified.
Title variants
- ’phags pa ’gro ba thams cad yongs su skyob par byed pa zhes bya ba’i yongs su bsngo ba
- འཕགས་པ་འགྲོ་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་སུ་སྐྱོབ་པར་བྱེད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ།
- The Noble Dedication “Protecting All Beings”
The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma
དམ་པའི་ཆོས་དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་གཞག་པ། · dam pa’i chos dran pa nye bar gzhag pa
Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna
Summary
While on the way to Rājagṛha to collect alms, a group of newly ordained monks are approached by some non-Buddhists, who suggest that their doctrine is identical to that of the Buddha, since everyone agrees that misdeeds of body, speech, and mind are to be given up. The monks do not know how to reply, and when they later return to the brahmin town of Nālati, where the Buddha is residing, Śāradvatīputra therefore encourages them to seek clarification from the Blessed One himself. In response to the monks’ request, the Buddha delivers a comprehensive discourse on the effects of virtuous and unvirtuous actions, explaining these matters from the perspective of an adept practitioner of his teachings, who sees and understands all this through a process of personal discovery. As the teaching progresses, the Buddha presents an epic tour of the realm of desire—from the Hell of Ultimate Torment to the Heaven Free from Strife—all the while introducing the specific human actions and attitudes that cause the experience of such worlds and outlining the ways to remedy and transcend them. In the final section of the sūtra, which is presented as an individual scripture on its own, the focus is on mindfulness of the body and the ripening of karmic actions that is experienced among humans in particular.
Title variants
- The Noble Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma
- Āryasaddharmasmṛtyupasthāna
- ’phags pa dam pa’i chos dran pa nye bar gzhag pa
- འཕགས་པ་དམ་པའི་ཆོས་དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་གཞག་པ།
- dam chos dran pa nyer bzhag
- 《正法念處經》
Tibetan translation:
- Tsultrim Gyaltsen
- Shang Buchikpa
- Sherap Ö
Multitude of Constituents
ཁམས་མང་པོ་པ། · khams mang po pa
Bahudhātuka
Summary
In this short discourse, also found in a similar form in the Pali canon, the Buddha gives a teaching to Ānanda in which he confirms the suggestion that all negative experiences arise from being foolish, not from being learned, and goes on to summarize for Ānanda what distinguishes a learned person from a foolish one. The learned person, he says, is learned in the constituents, in the sense fields, in dependent origination, and in knowing what is possible and impossible. He then elaborates briefly on each.
Title variants
- The Sūtra “Multitude of Constituents”
- ཁམས་མང་པོ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- khams mang po pa zhes bya ba’i mdo
- Bahudhātukasūtra
- Dhātubahutākasūtra
- ཁམས་མང་པོ་པའི་མདོ།
- khams mang po pa’i mdo
The Gaṇḍī Sūtra
གཎ་ཌཱིའི་མདོ། · gaN DI’i mdo
Gaṇḍīsūtra
Summary
While the Buddha is dwelling in the Bamboo Grove monastery near Rājagṛha, together with a thousand monks and a host of bodhisattvas, King Prasenajit arises from his seat, bows at the Buddha’s feet, and asks him how to uphold the Dharma in his kingdom during times of conflict. In reply the Buddha instructs the king about the gaṇḍī, a wooden ritual instrument, and tells him how the sound of this instrument, used for Dharma practice in a temple or monastery, quells conflict and strife for all who hear it. He describes how to make, consecrate, and sound the gaṇḍī. He explains that the gaṇḍī symbolizes the Perfection of Insight and describes in detail the many benefits it confers.
The Sūtra on Reliance upon a Virtuous Spiritual Friend
དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་བསྟེན་པའི་མདོ། · dge ba’i bshes gnyen bsten pa’i mdo
Kalyāṇamitrasevanasūtra
Summary
Just prior to his passing away, the Buddha Śākyamuni reminds his disciples of the importance of living with a qualified spiritual teacher. Ānanda, the Blessed One’s attendant, attempts to confirm his teacher’s statement, saying that a virtuous spiritual friend is indeed half of one’s spiritual life. Correcting his disciple’s understanding, the Buddha explains that a qualified guide is the whole of, rather than half of, the holy life, and that by relying upon a spiritual friend beings will be released from birth and attain liberation from all types of suffering.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་བསྟེན་པའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa dge ba’i bshes gnyen bsten pa’i mdo
- The Noble Sūtra on Reliance upon a Virtuous Spiritual Friend
- Āryakalyāṇamitrasevanasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Paṇḍita Dharmākara
- Lotsāwa Zangkyong (bzang skyong)
What Mendicants Hold Most Dear
དགེ་སློང་ལ་རབ་ཏུ་གཅེས་པ་། · dge slong la rab tu gces pa
Bhikṣuprareju
Summary
What Mendicants Hold Most Dear contains the Buddha’s answer to a question by Upāli, the Buddha’s foremost disciple in knowledge and mastery of the Vinaya. Upāli asks the Buddha to teach about the nature, types, and obligations of mendicants and about the meaning of this term. For the benefit of the assembled mendicants and mendicants in general, the Buddha explains that their nature is restraint, their obligations consist of disciplined conduct, and their types are the genuine mendicants who abide by disciplined conduct and those who are not genuine and thus do not so abide. When one of the Buddha’s answers given in similes seems obscure, he offers further clarification upon Upāli’s request. The Buddha explains the advantages of maintaining disciplined conduct, thus urging the mendicants to treasure it, and he warns against disregarding it while wearing the mendicant’s robes.
Title variants
- The Sūtra on What Mendicants Hold Most Dear
- Bhikṣuprarejusūtra
- དགེ་སློང་ལ་རབ་ཏུ་གཅེས་པའི་མདོ།
- dge slong la rab tu gces pa’i mdo
- bhikṣupriyasūtranāma
- Bhikṣupriya
The Sūtra on Having Moral Discipline
ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཡང་དག་པར་ལྡན་པའི་མདོ། · tshul khrims yang dag par ldan pa’i mdo
Śīlasaṃyuktasūtra
Summary
At Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, the Buddha teaches his saṅgha about the benefits of having moral discipline and the importance of guarding it. It is difficult, he says, to obtain a human life and encounter the teachings of a buddha, let alone to then take monastic vows and maintain moral discipline. But unlike just losing that one human life, which comes and then inevitably is gone, the consequences of failing in moral discipline are grave and experienced over billions of lifetimes. The Buddha continues in verse, praising moral discipline and its necessity as a foundation for engaging in the Dharma and attaining nirvāṇa. He concludes his discourse with a reflection on the folly of pursuing fleeting worldly enjoyments.
Title variants
- tshul khrims yang dag ldan pa’i mdo/
- 《戒正具經》
The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme”
མཆོག་ཏུ་གདགས་པའི་མདོ། · mchog tu gdags pa’i mdo
Agraprajñaptisūtra
Summary
In The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme”, the Buddha, while spending the rainy season at the Bamboo Grove in Rājagṛha, teaches his saṅgha of śrāvakas that the Buddha is supreme among all beings, the Dharma of being free of attachment is supreme among all dharmas, and the Saṅgha is supreme among all communities and groups. Those who have faith in these three will be reborn as supreme among gods or humans.
The Limits of Life
ཚེའི་མཐའ། · tshe’i mtha’
Āyuḥparyanta
Summary
The Sūtra on the Limits of Life presents a detailed and systematic account of the lifespans of different beings that inhabit the universe, progressing from the lower to the higher realms of existence as outlined in early Buddhist cosmology. The Buddha describes the lifespans of beings in terms of the relationship or proportion between the lifespans of the devas of the form realm and the lifespans in the eight major hot hells, the latter being significantly longer than the former.
Title variants
- The Sūtra on the Limits of Life
- Āyuḥparyantasūtra
- ཚེའི་མཐའི་མདོ།
- tshe’i mtha’i mdo
- 《壽命終經》（大正藏：《佛說較量壽命經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Viśuddhasiṃha
- Gewé Pal
- Bandé Paltsek
- Vidyākarasiṃha
Questions Regarding Death and Transmigration
ཚེ་འཕོ་བ་ཇི་ལྟར་འགྱུར་བ་ཞུས་པ། · tshe ’pho ba ji ltar ’gyur ba zhus pa
Āyuṣpattiyathākāraparipṛcchā
Summary
Questions Regarding Death and Transmigration contains explanations of Buddhist views on the nature of life and death, and a number of philosophical arguments against non-Buddhist conceptions, notably some based broadly on the Vedas. The sūtra is set in the town of Kapilavastu at the time of the funeral of a young man of the Śākya clan. King Śuddhodana wonders about the validity of the ritual offerings being made for the deceased by the family and asks the Buddha seven questions about current beliefs on death and the afterlife. The Buddha answers each of the questions in turn. After two interlocutors interrupt to test the Buddha’s omniscience, the discourse continues to present the Buddhist account of death and rebirth using a set of eight analogies, each of which complements the others in a detailed explanation.
Title variants
- ཚེ་འཕོ་བ་ཇི་ལྟར་འགྱུར་བ་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
- tshe ’pho ba ji ltar ’gyur ba zhus pa’i mdo
- The Sūtra of Questions Regarding Death and Transmigration
- Āyuṣpattiyathākāraparipṛcchāsūtra
- འཆི་འཕོ་བ་ཇི་ལྟར་འགྱུར་བ་བསྟན་པ།
- འཆི་འཕོ་བ་ཇི་ལྟར་འགྱུར་བ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ།
- ’chi ’pho ba ji ltar ’gyur ba’i bstan pa
- ’chi ’pho ba ji ltar ’gyur ba’i lung bstan pa
The Sūtra on Impermanence (1)
མི་རྟག་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་མདོ། · mi rtag pa nyid kyi mdo
Anityatāsūtra
Summary
In this brief sūtra, the Buddha reminds his followers of one of the principal characteristics of saṃsāric existence: the reality of impermanence. The four things cherished most in this world, the Buddha says—namely, good health, youth, prosperity, and life—are all impermanent. He closes his teaching with a verse, asking how beings, afflicted as they are by impermanence, can take delight in anything desirable, and indirectly urging his disciples to practice the path of liberation.
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Zhang Yeshé Dé
The Sūtra on Impermanence (2)
མི་རྟག་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་མདོ། · mi rtag pa nyid kyi mdo
Anityatāsūtra
Summary
The Sūtra on Impermanence (Anityatāsūtra) is a short discourse on the impermanence of conditioned states. The Buddha explains that it does not matter what one’s social status is, whether one is born in a heaven, or even if one has realized awakening and is an arhat, a pratyekabuddha, or a buddha. All that lives will eventually die. He concludes with a series of verses on impermanence exhorting the audience to understand that happiness is to bring conditioned states to rest.
Teaching the Eleven Thoughts
འདུ་ཤེས་བཅུ་གཅིག་བསྟན་པ། · ’du shes bcu gcig bstan pa
Saṃjñānaikadaśanirdeśa
Summary
Teaching the Eleven Thoughts takes place just before the Buddha attains parinirvāṇa, when he bequeaths his final testament to the assembled monks in the form of a brief discourse on eleven thoughts toward which the mind should be directed at the moment of death. He exhorts his listeners to develop nonattachment, love, freedom from resentment, a sense of moral responsibility, a proper perspective on virtue and vice, courage in the face of the next life, a perception of impermanence and the lack of self, and the knowledge that nirvāṇa is peace.
Title variants
- The Noble Sūtra “Teaching the Eleven Thoughts”
- Āryasaṃjñānaikadaśanirdeśasūtra
- ’phags pa ’du shes bcu gcig bstan pa’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་འདུ་ཤེས་བཅུ་གཅིག་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།
The Mahāsūtra “On Entering the City of Vaiśālī”
ཡངས་པའི་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་དུ་འཇུག་པའི་མདོ་ཆེན་པོ། · yangs pa’i grong khyer du ’jug pa’i mdo chen po
Vaiśālīpraveśamahāsūtra
Summary
Invited to visit the city of Vaiśālī, which has been ravaged by a terrible epidemic, the Buddha instructs Ānanda to stand at the city’s gate and recite a proclamation, a long mantra, and some verses that powerfully evoke spiritual well-being. Ānanda does so, and the epidemic comes to an end. One of the mahāsūtras related to the literature of the Vinaya, this text, like other accounts of the incident, has traditionally been recited during times of personal or collective illness, bereavement, and other difficulties.
Title variants
- ’phags pa yangs pa’i grong khyer du ’jug pa’i mdo chen po
- འཕགས་པ་ཡངས་པའི་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་དུ་འཇུག་པའི་མདོ་ཆེན་པོ།
- The Noble Mahāsūtra “On Entering the City of Vaiśālī”
- Āryavaiśālīpraveśamahāsūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
Auspicious Night
མཚན་མོ་བཟང་པོ། · mtshan mo bzang po
Bhadrakarātrī
Summary
In Auspicious Night, the deity Candana appears before a monk in Rājagṛha and asks if he knows of the Buddha’s teaching called Auspicious Night. Since the monk has never heard of it, the deity encourages the monk to ask the Buddha himself, who is staying nearby. At the monk’s request, the Buddha teaches him how to continuously remain in a contemplative state by following these guidelines: do not follow after the past, do not be anxious about the future, and do not be led astray or become distracted by presently arisen states. The Buddha then teaches several mantras and incantations for the welfare of all sentient beings and explains the apotropaic and salvific benefits of the instructions.
Title variants
- Āryabhadrakarātrīnāmasūtra
- ’phags pa mtshan mo bzang po zhes bya ba’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་མཚན་མོ་བཟང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- bhadrakarātrīsūtra
- mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo/
- 《善夜經》（大正藏：《善夜經》）
Entry into the Gloomy Forest
མུན་གྱི་ནགས་ཚལ་གྱི་སྒོ། · mun gyi nags tshal gyi sgo
Tamovanamukha
Summary
Entry into the Gloomy Forest tells the story of the eminent brahmin Pradarśa, who is converted to Buddhism upon receiving teachings from the Buddha and goes on to establish a Buddhist community in the Gloomy Forest. The text describes the exceptional circumstances of Pradarśa’s birth, his going forth as a monk, and the miraculous founding of the monastic community in the Gloomy Forest. This is followed by the Buddha’s account of the deeds and aspirations undertaken by Pradarśa in his previous lives that have resulted in the auspicious circumstances of his present life.
Title variants
- The Sūtra “Entry into the Gloomy Forest”
- Tamovanamukhanāmasūtra
- mun gyi nags tshal gyi sgo zhes bya ba’i mdo
- མུན་གྱི་ནགས་ཚལ་གྱི་སྒོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- 《闇苑門經》
The Father and Mother Sūtra
ཕ་མའི་མདོ། · pha ma’i mdo
Pitṛmātṛsūtra
Summary
This short discourse was taught to an audience of monks in Jetavana in Śrāvastī. In it, the Buddha explains, by means of similes, the importance of venerating and attending to one’s father and mother. The Buddha concludes by stating that those who venerate their father and mother are wise, for in this life they will not be disparaged, and in the next life they will be reborn in the higher realms.
Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings
དོན་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ། · don rnam par nges pa
Arthaviniścaya
Summary
The sūtra Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings begins with an introductory section, offering the context of the teachings. An explanation of twenty-seven topics is then presented by the Buddha, starting with the five aggregates and ending with the eighty minor marks of a great person. The Buddha then concludes by exhorting the bhikṣus to meditate in solitude and avoid negligence.
Title variants
- The Dharma Instruction “Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings”
- Arthaviniścayanāmadharmaparyāya
- དོན་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
- don rnam par nges pa zhes bya ba’i chos kyi rnam grangs
- 《義決定經》（大正藏：《佛說法乘義決定經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Prajñāvarman
- Yeshé Dé
Describing the Benefits of Producing Representations of the Thus-Gone One
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གཟུགས་བརྙན་བཞག་པའི་ཕན་ཡོན་ཡང་དག་པར་བརྗོད་པ། · de bzhin gshegs pa’i gzugs brnyan bzhag pa’i phan yon yang dag par brjod pa
Tathāgatapratibimbapratiṣṭhānuśaṃsasaṃvarṇana
Summary
In this sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni tells a group of monks how they should respond when asked about the karmic benefits accrued by patrons who create representations of the Buddha. He explains five kinds of benefits that such virtuous deeds bring.
Title variants
- The Noble Dharma Discourse “Describing the Benefits of Producing Representations of the Thus-Gone One”
- Āryatathāgatapratibimbapratiṣṭhānuśaṃsasaṃvarṇananāmadharmaparyāya
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gzugs brnyan bzhag pa’i phan yon yang dag par brjod pa zhes bya ba’i chos kyi rnam grangs
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གཟུགས་བརྙན་བཞག་པའི་ཕན་ཡོན་ཡང་དག་པར་བརྗོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
- 《留如來影像利益正說法門經》
The Verses of Nāga King Drum
ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྔ་སྒྲའི་ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ། · klu’i rgyal po rnga sgra’i tshigs su bcad pa
Nāgarājabherīgāthā
Summary
The Verses of Nāga King Drum contains the Buddha’s narration of a tale from one of his past lives as the nāga king Drum. While traveling with his younger brother Tambour, they come under verbal attack by another nāga named Drumbeat. Tambour’s anger at their mistreatment and desire for retaliation prompts Drum to counsel Tambour on the virtues of patience and nonviolence in the face of aggression and abusiveness. Through a series of didactic aphorisms, he advises his brother to meet disrespect and persecution with serenity, patience, compassion, and insight, in order to accomplish what is best for oneself and others. The Buddha now recounts King Drum’s wise counsel as a helpful instruction for his own followers.
Tibetan translation:
- unknown
The Sūtra of Nanda’s Going Forth
དགའ་བོ་རབ་ཏུ་བྱུང་བའི་མདོ། · dga’ bo rab tu byung ba’i mdo
Nandapravrajyāsūtra
Summary
In this sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni, accompanied by Ānanda, visits the house of Nanda during his stay in Banyan Grove near Kapilavastu. A discourse ensues in which the Buddha explains to Nanda the importance and benefits of going forth as a monk. Nanda expresses hesitation about going forth, so the Buddha explains by means of analogies how fortunate Nanda is to have obtained an auspicious human birth, to have met the Buddha, and to have the opportunity to become a monk. Nanda is deeply impressed by the Buddha’s teaching and decides to renounce worldly life and go forth.
Tibetan translation:
- Tsang Devendrarakṣita
- Dharmākara
The Devatā Sūtra
ལྷའི་མདོ། · lha’i mdo
Devatāsūtra
Summary
A radiant divine being appears before the Buddha shortly before dawn and asks a series of questions, in the form of riddles, about how best to live a good life. The Buddha’s responses constitute a concise and direct teaching on some of the core orientations and values of Buddhism, touching on the three poisons, the virtues of body, speech, and mind, and providing wisdom for daily life.
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra
ལྷའི་མདོ་ཉུང་ངུ། · lha’i mdo nyung ngu
Alpadevatāsūtra
Summary
While staying in Śrāvastī, the Buddha is approached by an unnamed “divine being,” who inquires as to what behavior merits rebirth in the higher realms. In response, the Buddha explains, in a series of concise and powerful verses, that abandoning each of the ten nonvirtues—killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, telling lies, slander, harsh words, idle talk, covetousness, ill will, and wrong views—and embracing their opposites, the ten virtues, will lead to rebirth in the higher realms.
Tibetan translation:
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Sūtra of the Moon (2)
ཟླ་བའི་མདོ། · zla ba’i mdo
Candrasūtra
Summary
The Sūtra of the Moon (2) is a short text that presents a Buddhist description of a lunar eclipse. On one occasion, while the Buddha is residing in Campā, the moon is covered by Rāhu, lord of the asuras, which causes an eclipse. The god of the moon asks the Buddha for refuge, after which the Buddha urges Rāhu to release the moon. Seeing this, Bali, another lord of the asuras, asks Rāhu why he did so. Rāhu explains that if he had not released the moon, his head would have split into seven pieces. Thereafter, Bali utters a verse praising the emergence of buddhas. Besides being included in the Kangyur, in the Chinese Āgamas, and the Pali Nikāyas, The Sūtra of the Moon (2) was included in collections of texts recited for protection.
The Sūtra of Vasiṣṭha
གནས་འཇོག་གི་མདོ། · gnas ’jog gi mdo
Summary
While residing in Nyagrodha Park in Kapilavastu, the Buddha meets an emaciated, long-haired brahmin named Vasiṣṭha. When the Buddha asks Vasiṣṭha why he looks this way, Vasiṣṭha explains that it is because he is observing a month-long fast. The Buddha then asks him if he maintains the eightfold observance of the noble ones, prompting an exchange between the two about what the eightfold observance entails and how much merit is to be gained by maintaining it. After outlining the eightfold observance, the Buddha tells Vasiṣṭha that there is far more merit to be had in maintaining it, even just once, than there is to be gained by making offerings. At the end of the sūtra, Vasiṣṭha takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, and he pledges to maintain the eightfold observance and practice generosity in tandem.
Title variants
- The Noble “Sūtra of Vasiṣṭha”
- ’phags pa gnas ’jog gi mdo zhes bya ba
- འཕགས་པ་གནས་འཇོག་གི་མདོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།
Tibetan translation:
- Sarvajñādeva
- Bandé Paltsek
The Sūtra on the Ringing Staff
འཁར་གསིལ་གྱི་མདོ། · ’khar gsil gyi mdo
Summary
In this short sūtra, the Buddha first instructs the monks to carry the ringing staff and then provides a brief introduction to its significance. In response to Venerable Mahākāśyapa’s queries, the Buddha gives a more detailed explanation of the attributes of the staff and the benefits that can be derived from holding it. In the course of his exposition, he also elucidates the rich symbolism of its parts, such as the four prongs and the twelve rings. Finally, the Buddha explains that while the ringing staff is carried by all buddhas of the past, present, and future, the number of prongs on the staff might vary.
Title variants
- ’phags pa ’khar gsil gyi mdo
- འཕགས་པ་འཁར་གསིལ་གྱི་མདོ།
- The Noble Sūtra on the Ringing Staff
The Rite for the Protocols Associated with Carrying the Ringing Staff
འཁར་གསིལ་འཆང་བའི་ཀུན་སྤྱོད་པའི་ཆོ་ག · ’khar gsil ’chang ba’i kun spyod pa’i cho ga
Summary
The Rite for the Protocols Associated with Carrying the Ringing Staff is a short text that deals with the practical matters relating to the use of the mendicant’s staff known in Sanskrit as a khakkhara, or “rattling staff.” It begins with a simple ritual during which a Buddhist monk ceremoniously takes up the ringing staff in front of his monastic teacher. The text then provides a list of twenty-five rules governing the proper use of the staff. The rules stipulate how a Buddhist monk should or should not handle it in his daily life, especially when he goes on alms rounds and when he travels.
The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma
ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་མདོ། · chos kyi ’khor lo’i mdo
Dharmacakrasūtra
Summary
The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dharma contains the Buddha’s teaching to his five former spiritual companions on the four truths that he had discovered as part of his awakening: (1) suffering, (2) the origin of suffering, (3) the cessation of suffering, and (4) the path leading to the cessation of suffering. According to all the Buddhist traditions, this is the first teaching the Buddha gave to explain his awakened insight to others.
Title variants
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་མདོ།
- chos kyi ’khor lo’i mdo
The Exposition of Karma
ལས་རྣམ་པ་འབྱེད་པ། · las rnam pa ’byed pa
Karmavibhaṅga
Summary
In The Exposition of Karma, the Buddha presents to the brahmin youth Śuka Taudeyaputra a discourse on the workings of karma. This is enlivened by many examples drawn from the rich heritage of Buddhist narrative literature, providing a detailed analysis of how deeds lead to specific consequences in the future. For the Buddhist, this treatise answers many questions pertaining to moral causation, examining specific life situations and their underlying karmic causes and emphasizing the key role that intention plays in the Buddhist ethic of responsibility.
Title variants
- 《業分別》(大正藏:《佛為首迦長者說業報差別經》)
Transformation of Karma
ལས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་འགྱུར་བ། · las kyi rnam par ’gyur ba
Karmavibhaṅga
Summary
In Transformation of Karma the Buddha is staying in Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, where he is visited by the brahmin youth Śuka, who asks the Blessed One to explain the reason why living beings appear so diversely. The Buddha answers Śuka’s question with a discourse on various categories of actions as well as rebirth and the actions leading to it. The discourse presents fifty-one categories of actions, followed by explanations of the negative consequences of transgressing the five precepts observed by all Buddhists, the advantages gained through caitya worship, and the meritorious results of specific acts of generosity.
Title variants
- las kyi rnam par ’gyur ba zhes bya ba’i chos kyi gzhung/ bam po gcig go
- The Dharma Scripture “Transformation of Karma” in one fascicle
- Karmavibhaṅganāmadharmagrantha
- las rnam par ’gyur ba chos kyi gzhung /
- Karmavibhaṅgadharmagrantha
- ལས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་འགྱུར་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གཞུང་། བམ་པོ་གཅིག་གོ།
The Hundred Deeds
ལས་བརྒྱ་པ། · las brgya pa
Karmaśataka
Summary
The sūtra The Hundred Deeds, whose title could also be translated as The Hundred Karmas, is a collection of stories known as avadāna—a narrative genre widely represented in the Sanskrit Buddhist literature and its derivatives—comprising more than 120 individual texts. It includes narratives of Buddha Śākyamuni’s notable deeds and foundational teachings, the stories of other well-known Buddhist figures, and a variety of other tales featuring people from all walks of ancient Indian life and beings from all six realms of existence. The texts sometimes include stretches of verse. In the majority of the stories the Buddha’s purpose in recounting the past lives of one or more individuals is to make definitive statements about the karmic ripening of actions across multiple lifetimes, and the sūtra is perhaps the best known of the many works in the Kangyur on this theme.
Title variants
- las brgya tham pa
- ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ།
- 《百業經》
The Questions of Dīrghanakha the Wandering Mendicant
ཀུན་ཏུ་རྒྱུ་བ་སེན་རིངས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ། · kun tu rgyu ba sen rings kyis zhus pa
Dīrghanakhaparivrājakaparipṛcchā
Summary
As the Buddha teaches the Dharma to the fourfold saṅgha on Vulture Peak Mountain, the brahmin and wandering mendicant Dīrghanakha approaches and questions the Buddha about his doctrine concerning the incontrovertible relationship between karma and its effects in the world. He then poses a series of ten questions regarding the karmic causes of certain attributes of the Buddha, from his vajra body to the raised uṣṇīṣa on his crown. The Buddha responds to each question with the cause for each attribute, roughly summing up the eight poṣadha vows and the ways he observed them in the past. Dīrghanakha drops his staff and bows to the Buddha, pledging to take refuge in the Three Jewels and maintain the eight poṣadha vows.
Title variants
- The Sūtra “The Questions of Dīrghanakha the Wandering Mendicant”
- Dīrghanakhaparivrājakaparipṛcchānāmasūtra
- kun tu rgyu ba sen rings kyis zhus pa zhes bya ba’i mdo
- ཀུན་ཏུ་རྒྱུ་བ་སེན་རིངས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- Dīrghanakhaparipṛcchāsūtra
- Dīrghanakhaparivrājakaparipṛcchāsūtra
- kun tu rgyu ba sen rings kyis zhus pa’i mdo/
- 《梵誌長爪所問經》（大正藏：《長爪梵誌請問經》）
The Sūtra of Jñānaka
ཤེས་ལྡན་གྱི་མདོ། · shes ldan gyi mdo
Jñānakasūtra
Summary
In the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, a god has reached the end of his life. He foresees his rebirth as a pig and calls out to the Buddha to save him. The Buddha prompts him to seek refuge in the Three Jewels and, as a result, the god finds himself reborn into a wealthy family in Vaiśālī. In this life as a child named Jñānaka, he encounters the Buddha once more and invites him and his monks for a midday meal. The Buddha prophesies to Ānanda that the meritorious offering made by Jñānaka will eventually lead the child to awaken as the buddha known as King of Foremost Knowing.
Title variants
- The Noble Sūtra of Jñānaka: An Exemplary Tale of the Buddha
- Āryajñānakasūtrabuddhāvadāna
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi rtogs pa brjod pa shes ldan gyi mdo
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པ་ཤེས་ལྡན་གྱི་མདོ།
Tibetan translation:
- Vidyākarasiṃha
- Sarvajñādeva
- Paltsek
The Exemplary Tale About a Sow
ཕག་མོའི་རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པ། · phag mo’i rtogs pa brjod pa
Sūkarikāvadāna
Summary
In The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, the Buddha recounts the earlier events surrounding a god in Trāyastriṃśa heaven who foresaw that he would be reborn as a pig in Rājagṛha. At the encouragement of Śakra, this god, in the final moments of agony before his death, took refuge in the Three Jewels and thereby attained rebirth in the even higher Tuṣita heaven. The story thus illustrates the liberative power of taking refuge in the Three Jewels, as befittingly expressed in the concluding verses of this short avadāna.
Title variants
- The Sūtra “The Exemplary Tale About a Sow”
- Sūkarikāvadānanāmasūtra
- phag mo’i rtogs pa brjod pa zhes bya ba’i mdo
- ཕག་མོའི་རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- 《牝豚本生經》（大正藏：《佛說嗟韈曩法天子受三歸依獲免惡道經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Yeshé Dé
The Exemplary Tale of Sumāgadhā
མ་ག་དྷཱ་བཟང་མོའི་རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པ། · ma ga d+hA bzang mo’i rtogs pa brjod pa
Sumāgadhāvadāna
Summary
The Exemplary Tale of Sumāgadhā opens at Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha is staying. At the time, Anāthapiṇḍada’s daughter Sumāgadhā is married off to Vṛṣabhadatta, the son of a nirgrantha merchant in the distant city of Puṇḍravardhana. After arriving at the home of her in-laws, Sumāgadhā is repulsed and disheartened on encountering the nirgrantha mendicants. When her mother-in-law asks why she seems despondent, Sumāgadhā tells her about the Buddha. At her mother-in-law’s request, she invites the Buddha and the saṅgha of monks for a meal, and she does so by preparing an offering and calling out from the rooftop. When Ānanda inquires about this invitation, the Buddha announces that all monks with miraculous powers must take a tally stick and travel to Puṇḍravardhana. As the śrāvakas arrive with their miraculous displays, Sumāgadhā relates a brief story about each of them. Finally, the Buddha arrives and converts the people of Puṇḍravardhana with his own miraculous display. When the monks ask how Sumāgadhā’s marriage has benefited so many beings, the Buddha relates the story of her past life as the princess Kāñcanamālā during the time of the Buddha Kāśyapa and, in turn, Kāñcanamālā’s past life as the virtuous wife of a farmer, explaining that she has performed buddha activity in the past and continues to do so. This sūtra also contains the popular account of the ten dreams of King Kṛkin, which are interpreted by the Buddha as foretelling the future decline of the Dharma.
Tibetan translation:
- Dharmaśrībhadra
- Tsültrim Yönten
- Rinchen Sangpo
The Exemplary Tale of Puṇyabala
བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱི་སྟོབས་ཀྱི་རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པ། · bsod nams kyi stobs kyi rtogs pa brjod pa
Puṇyabalāvadāna
Summary
In Śrāvastī, at Prince Jeta’s Grove, several elder monks in the Buddha’s assembly cannot agree on which human quality is most valuable and beneficial: beauty, diligence, artistry, or insight. They ask the Buddha, who replies that merit, which gives rise to all the qualities they have noted, is of most benefit to beings. To illustrate this point, he tells the story of a past life in which he was born as Puṇyabala, with four older brothers who were each named after their most prized quality: Rūpabala, Vīryavanta, Śilpavanta, and Prajñāvanta. In an ensuing contest to determine which quality produces the best outcomes in real life, Puṇyabala wins, and through his merit is granted dominion over much of the world. The Buddha then goes on to tell the story of his even earlier lifetime as Dyūtajaya, during which he developed the intention to attain buddhahood through the accumulation of merit.
Title variants
- 《福力譬喻經》（大正藏：《佛說福力太子因緣經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Devacandra
The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena
དཔལ་གྱི་སྡེའི་རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པ། · dpal gyi sde’i rtogs pa brjod pa
Śrīsenāvadāna
Summary
In this discourse, the Buddha Śākyamuni describes his past life as King Śrīsena of Ariṣṭa, a bodhisattva renowned for his unstinting generosity and spiritual resolve. In that life, a sage orders his disciple to ask King Śrīsena for his beautiful wife, Jayaprabhā. Out of compassion, King Śrīsena gives his wife to the disciple. Śakra, lord of the gods, then claims that King Śrīsena is also able to give away his own body. The other gods have doubts about this, so to prove his point, Śakra disguises himself as an old brahmin whose lower body has been eaten by a tiger, and then asks King Śrīsena to gift him his own lower body. With altruistic motivation, King Śrīsena agrees to the request and orders carpenters to saw him in half. He offers the bottom half to the brahmin, whose body is magically made whole again. King Śrīsena claims he has felt no regrets and by the power of his words, his own body is restored. During this ordeal, Śakra has kept the king alive and carefully monitored his reactions. Observing nothing but pure altruism, Śakra then confirms that the king is a true bodhisattva who is capable of the highest acts of generosity. With this past life story, the Buddha illustrates the kinds of personal sacrifice a bodhisattva will make to attain awakening, even when these go against the protestations of those closest to him.
Title variants
- 《吉祥軍譬喻經》
Tibetan translation:
- Dharmaśrībhadra
- Sherab Lekpa
- Rinchen Zangpo
Teaching the Causes and Results of Good and Ill
ལེགས་ཉེས་ཀྱི་རྒྱུ་དང་འབྲས་བུ་བསྟན་པ། · legs nyes kyi rgyu dang ’bras bu bstan pa
Summary
Teaching the Causes and Results of Good and Ill describes karmic cause and effect. The discussion begins with Ānanda, who asks the Buddha why beings—particularly human beings—undergo such a wide range of experiences. The Buddha replies that one’s past actions, whether good or ill, bring about a variety of positive and negative experiences. To this effect, he offers numerous vivid examples in which results in this current lifetime parallel actions from a past life. Emphasis is placed on the object of one’s actions, such as the Saṅgha or the Three Jewels. The discourse concludes with the Buddha describing the benefits associated with the sūtra and listing its alternative titles, while the surrounding audience reaps a host of miraculous benefits.
Title variants
- The Sūtra “Teaching the Causes and Results of Good and Ill”
- ལེགས་ཉེས་ཀྱི་རྒྱུ་དང་འབྲས་བུ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།
- legs nyes kyi rgyu dang ’bras bu bstan pa’i mdo
- ’phags pa legs nyes kyi rgyu dang ’bras bu bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- 善惡因果經
Tibetan translation:
- Chödrup
Teaching the Ripening of Virtuous and Nonvirtuous Actions
དགེ་བ་དང་མི་དགེ་བའི་ལས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་སྨིན་པ་བསྟན་པ། · dge ba dang mi dge ba’i las kyi rnam par smin pa bstan pa
Summary
Teaching the Ripening of Virtuous and Nonvirtuous Actions begins with Nanda asking the Buddha why beings living in this world experience different ranges of conditions. This leads the Buddha to explain how all experiences are brought about by the ripening of a variety of virtuous and nonvirtuous actions. The results of nonvirtuous actions are detailed first, prompting Nanda to ask about people, such as benefactors, who, conversely, are committed to performing virtuous actions. The Buddha’s discourse then details the workings of karma by making use of a plethora of examples before concluding with a description of virtuous actions and the benefits they bring.
Title variants
- The Sūtra “Teaching the Ripening of Virtuous and Nonvirtuous Actions”
- དགེ་བ་དང་མི་དགེ་བའི་ལས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་སྨིན་པ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།
- dge ba dang mi dge ba’i las kyi rnam par smin pa bstan pa’i mdo
- 善惡因果經
The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga
གླང་རུ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ། · glang ru lung bstan pa
Gośṛṅgavyākaraṇa
Summary
In this scripture the Buddha Śākyamuni travels miraculously from Rājagṛha with a large retinue of bodhisattvas, hearers, gods, and other beings to the Central Asian region of Khotan, which in this discourse has not yet been established as a kingdom but is covered by a great lake. Once there, the Buddha foretells how this will be the site of a future land called Virtue, which will contain a blessed stūpa called Gomasalaganda. The Buddha proceeds to explain to his retinue the excellent qualities of this land, foretelling many future events, and instructing his disciples how to guard and protect the land for the sake of beings at that time. At the end of his teaching, the Buddha asks the hearer Śāriputra and the divine king Vaiśravaṇa to drain the lake, thus diverting the water and rendering the land ready for future habitation.
Title variants
- ’phags pa glang ru lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་གླང་རུ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- Āryagośṛṅgavyākaraṇanāmamahāyānasūtra
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga”
Summary of Empowerment
དབང་མདོར་བསྟན་པ། · dbang mdor bstan pa
Sekoddeśa
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Summary of Empowerment is considered to be the only extant portion of the root text of the Kālacakratantra. According to the Buddhist tantric tradition, the Sekkodeśa was transmitted by the Buddha in his emanation as Kālacakra, to Sucandra, the first king of Śambhala. The text’s 174 verses cover a wide range of topics. After a short introduction to the eleven empowerments that constitute a gradual purification of the aggregates, body, speech, mind, and wisdom, the treatise turns to the so-called “sixfold yoga.” It begins by teaching meditation on emptiness via the contemplation of various signs, such as smoke or fireflies. Following the description of the control of winds and drops within the body’s channels and cakras, along with the signs of death and methods of cheating death, the text goes on to describe the three mudrās—karmamudrā, jñānamudrā, and mahāmudrā. After a concise criticism of cause and effect, the text concludes by describing six kinds of supernatural beings closely related to the Kālacakratantra, along with their respective families.
Title variants
- [Note: a section of the (lost) Kālacakra Mūlatantra]
Emergence from Sampuṭa
ཡང་དག་པར་སྦྱོར་བ། · yang dag par sbyor ba
Sampuṭodbhavaḥ
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The tantra Emergence from Sampuṭa is an all-inclusive compendium of Buddhist theory and practice as taught in the two higher divisions of the Yoga class of tantras, the “higher” (uttara) and the “highest” (niruttara), or, following the popular Tibetan classification, the Father and the Mother tantras. Dating probably to the end of the tenth century, the bulk of the tantra consists of a variety of earlier material, stretching back in time and in the doxographical hierarchy to the Guhyasamāja, a text traditionally regarded as the first tantra in the Father group. Drawing from about sixteen well-known and important works, including the most seminal of the Father and Mother tantras, it serves as a digest of this entire group, treating virtually every aspect of advanced tantric theory and practice. It has thus always occupied a prominent position among canonical works of its class, remaining to this day a rich source of quotations for Tibetan exegetes.
Title variants
- The Foundation of All Tantras, the Great Sovereign Compendium “Emergence from Sampuṭa”
- Saṃpuṭodbhavasarvatantranidānamahākalparājaḥ
- ཡང་དག་པར་སྦྱོར་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱུད་ཆེན་པོ།
- yang dag par sbyor ba zhes bya ba’i rgyud chen po
- 《大續「正相合」》
Tibetan translation:
The Glorious King of Tantras That Resolves All Secrets
དཔལ་གསང་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་གཅོད་པའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ། · dpal gsang ba thams cad gcod pa’i rgyud kyi rgyal po
Śrīguhyasarvacchindatantrarāja
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
As its title suggests, this tantra is specifically concerned with the proper interpretation, or “resolution,” of the highly esoteric or “secret” imagery and practices associated with deity yoga in both its development and completion stages as described in the Yoginītantra class of tantras. The work is organized according to a dialogue between the Buddha and Vajragarbha—the lead interlocutor throughout many of the Yoginītantras—and the Buddha’s responses give particular attention to the specifications of the subtle body completion-stage yoga involving manipulations of the body’s subtle energy channels, winds, and fluids in conjunction with either a real or imagined consort. The tantra sets its interpretation of these common Yoginītantra themes and imagery within the wider context of the four initiations prevalent in this class of tantras. In resolving the secrets connected with each initiation, the text elaborates the different levels of meaning connected with each initiation’s contemplative practices.
Title variants
- གསང་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་གཅོད་པའི་རྒྱུད།
- gsang ba thams cad gcod pa’i rgyud
- The Tantra That Resolves All Secrets
- Guhyasarvacchindatantra
Tibetan translation:
- Gayādhara
- Śākya Yeshé
Equal to the Sky
ནམ་མཁའ་དང་མཉམ་པ། · nam mkha’ dang mnyam pa
Khasama
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
Equal to the Sky belongs to a series of texts known as the rali tantras, which are primarily associated with the Cakrasaṃvara system but incorporate themes that are also prominent in the Hevajra and Kālacakra systems. The tantra presents a discourse in which the Buddha addresses three types of ḍākinī, explains their true natures, and correlates them with the practitioner’s physical and subtle body. A primary concern of this text is to explain advanced yogic practices performed during the completion stage (Skt. utpannakrama/niṣpannakrama; Tib. rdzogs rim) in the Yoginī Tantras, but it also treats a wide range of topics including astrology, sacred geography, and tantric hermeneutics. The result is a text which, while very dense and quite difficult to engage with, rewards the reader by bringing together an astonishingly vast range of topics concerning both the theory and practice of Buddhist tantra.
Title variants
- The Glorious King of Tantras “Equal to the Sky”
- Śrīkhasamatantrarāja
- dpal nam mkha’ dang mnyam pa’i rgyud kyi rgyal po
- དཔལ་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་མཉམ་པའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- khasamatantra
- dpal nam mkha’ dang mnyam pa’i rgyud kyi rgyal po zhes bya ba/
- nam mkha’ dang mnyam pa’i rgyud/
Tibetan translation:
- Drokmi Lotsāwa Śākya Yeshe
- Gayādhara
The Mahāmāyā Tantra
སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་ཆེན་མོའི་རྒྱུད། · sgyu ’phrul chen mo’i rgyud
Mahāmāyātantra
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Mahāmāyātantra, named after its principal deity Mahāmāyā, is a tantra of the Yoginītantra class in which Mahāmāyā presides over a maṇḍala populated primarily by yoginīs and ḍākinīs. The practitioner engages the antinomian power of these beings through a threefold system of yoga involving the visualization of the maṇḍala deities, the recitation of their mantras, and the direct experience of absolute reality. As well as practices involving the manipulation of the body’s subtle energies, the Mahāmāyātantra incorporates the transgressive practices that are the hallmark of the earlier tantric systems such as the Guhyasamājatantra, specifically the ingestion of sexual fluids and other polluting substances. The tantra promises the grace of Mahāmāyā in the form of mundane and transcendent spiritual attainments to those who approach it with diligence and devotion.
Title variants
- དཔལ་སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་ཆེན་མོའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- dpal sgyu ’phrul chen mo’i rgyud kyi rgyal po
- The King of Tantras, the Glorious Mahāmāyā
- Śrīmahāmāyātantrarājanāma
Tibetan translation:
- Jinavara
- Gö Lhetsé
The Tantra of Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa
ཁྲོ་བོ་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད། · khro bo chen po’i rgyud
Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantram
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
Written around the tenth or the eleventh century ᴄᴇ, in the late Mantrayāna period, The Tantra of Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa represents the flowering of the Yoginītantra genre. The tantra offers instructions on how to attain the wisdom state of Buddha Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa through the practice of the four joys. The tantra covers a range of practices and philosophical perspectives of late tantric Buddhism, including the development stage, the completion stage, the use of mantras, and a number of magical rites and rituals. The text is quite unique with its tribute to and apotheosis of women and, in this regard, probably has few parallels anywhere else in world literature. It is written in the spirit of great sincerity and devotion, and it is this very spirit that mitigates, and at the same time empowers, the text’s stark imagery and sometimes shocking practices. This text certainly calls for an open mind.
Title variants
- དཔལ་གཏུམ་པོ་ཁྲོ་བོ་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་དཔའ་བོ་གཅིག་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།
- dpal gtum po khro bo chen po’i rgyud kyi rgyal po dpa’ bo gcig pa zhes bya ba
- The Glorious Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa Tantra “The Sole Hero”
- Ekallavīrākhyaśrīcaṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantram
- 大忿怒續
Tibetan translation:
- Trakpa Gyaltsen
The Practice Manual of Noble Tārā Kurukullā
འཕགས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མ་ཀུ་རུ་ཀུལླེའི་རྟོག་པ། · ’phags ma sgrol ma ku ru kul+le’i rtog pa
Āryatārākurukullākalpa
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Practice Manual of Noble Tārā Kurukullā is the most comprehensive single work on the female Buddhist deity Kurukullā. It is also the only canonical scripture to focus on this deity. The text’s importance is therefore commensurate with the importance of the goddess herself, who is the chief Buddhist deity of magnetizing, in particular the magnetizing which takes the form of enthrallment.
The text is a treasury of ritual practices connected with enthrallment and similar magical acts—practices which range from formal sādhana to traditional homa ritual, and to magical methods involving herbs, minerals, etc. The text’s varied contents are presented as a multi-layered blend of the apotropaic and the soteriological, as well as the practical and the philosophical, where these complementary opposites combine together into a genuinely spiritual Buddhist work.
Title variants
- The Practice Manual of Kurukullā
- Kurukullākalpa
- ཀུ་རུ་ཀུལླེའི་རྟོག་པ།
- ku ru kul+le’i rtog pa
Tibetan translation:
- Kṛṣnapaṇḍita
- tshul khrims rgyal ba
Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage
སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་གཅིག་གིས་བསྟོད་པ། · sgrol ma la phyag ’tshal nyi shu rtsa gcig gis bstod pa
Namastāraikaviṃśatistotra
Summary
Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage is a liturgy that consists of twenty-seven verses of praise and reverence dedicated to the deity Tārā. The first twenty-one verses are at once a series of homages to the twenty-one forms of Tārā and a poetic description of her physical features, postures, and qualities. The remaining six verses describe how and when the praise should be recited and the benefits of its recitation.
Title variants
- sgrol ma la phyag ’tshal nyi shu rtsa gcig gis bstod pa phan yon dang bcas pa
- སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་གཅིག་གིས་བསྟོད་པ་ཕན་ཡོན་དང་བཅས་པ།
- Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage and Their Benefits
- Namastāraikaviṃśatistotraguṇahitasahita
- Tārānamaskāraikaviṃśatistotra
Tibetan translation:
- Nyen Lotsawa Darma Drak
The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ་གོས་སྔོན་པོ་ཅན་གྱི་རྒྱུད། · bcom ldan ’das phyag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi rgyud
Bhagavannīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇitantra
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
In the Kangyur and Tengyur collections there are more than forty titles centered on the form of Vajrapāṇi known as the “Blue-Clad One,” a measure of this figure’s great popularity in both India and Tibet. This text, The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi, is a scripture that belongs to the Conduct tantra (Caryātantra) class, the third of the four categories used by the Tibetans to organize their tantric canon. It introduces the practice of Blue-Clad Vajrapāṇi, while also providing the practitioner with a number of rituals directed at suppressing, subduing, or eliminating ritual targets.
Title variants
- བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ་གོས་སྔོན་པོ་ཅན་གྱི་རྒྱུད་ཅེས་བྱ་བ།
- bcom ldan ’das phyag na rdo rje gos sngon po can gyi rgyud ces bya ba
- The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi
- Bhagavannīlāmbaradharavajrapāṇitantranāma
Tibetan translation:
- Celu
- Phakpa Sherab
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Seven Thus-Gone Ones
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་བདུན་གྱི་སྔོན་གྱི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་རྒྱས་པ། · de bzhin gshegs pa bdun gyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa
Saptatathāgatapūrvapraṇidhānaviśeṣavistāra
Summary
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Seven Thus-Gone Ones opens in Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with a saṅgha of eight thousand monks, thirty-six thousand bodhisattvas, and a large gathering of gods, spirit beings, and humans. As Śākyamuni concludes his teaching, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī rises from his seat and requests that the Buddha give a Dharma teaching that will benefit all the human and nonhuman beings who are present in the assembly. Specifically, he asks Śākyamuni to teach them about the previous aspirations of seven buddhas, their buddhafields, and the benefits that those buddhas can bring to beings who live in the final five hundred years, when the holy Dharma is on the verge of disappearing. Śākyamuni agrees to this request and proceeds to give a detailed account of the previous aspirations of those seven buddhas to benefit beings who are veiled by karmic obscurations, tormented by illnesses, and plagued by mental anguish and suffering.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Discourse “The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Seven Thus-Gone Ones”
- Āryasaptatathāgatapūrvapraṇidhānaviśeṣavistāranāma mahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་བདུན་གྱི་སྔོན་གྱི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་རྒྱས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa bdun gyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- The Vows of the Twelve Great Yakṣa Generals
- The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Seven Thus-Gone, Worthy, and Perfect Buddhas
- Purifying All Karmic Obscurations and Fulfilling All Hopes
- The Bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi’s Vow
- saptatathāgatapūrvapraṇidhānaviśeṣavistārasūtra
- 《七如來本願經》（大正藏：《藥師琉璃光七佛本願功德經》）
- de bzhin gshegs pa bdun gyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa'i mdo/
- de bzhin gshegs pa dgra bcom pa yang dag par rdzogs pa’i sangs rgyas bdun gyi sngon gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa
- las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong re ba thams cad yongs su skong ba
- byang chub sems dpa’ lag na rdo rjes dam bcas pa
- gnod sbyin gyi sde dpon chen po bcu gnyis kyis dam bcas pa
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་སྨན་གྱི་བླ་བཻ་ཌུརྱའི་འོད་གྱི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་རྒྱས་པ། · bcom ldan ’das sman gyi bla bai Dur+ya’i ’od gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa
Bhagavānbhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhasya pūrvapraṇidhānaviśeṣavistāra
Summary
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha centers on the figure commonly known as the Medicine Buddha. The text opens in Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with a large retinue of human and divine beings. The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī asks Śākyamuni to teach the names and previous aspirations of the buddhas, along with the benefit that buddhas can bring during future times when the Dharma has nearly disappeared. The Buddha gives a teaching on the name and previous aspirations of the Buddha Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha, and then details the benefits that arise from hearing and retaining this buddha’s name.
Title variants
- The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha”
- Āryabhagavānbhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhasya pūrvapraṇidhānaviśeṣavistāranāmamahāyānasūtra
- ’phags pa bcom ldan ’das sman gyi bla bai Dur+ya’i ’od gyi smon lam gyi khyad par rgyas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་སྨན་གྱི་བླ་བཻ་ཌུརྱའི་འོད་གྱི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་རྒྱས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Shorter Medicine Buddha Sūtra
- 《藥師琉璃光如來本願功德經》
- sman mdo chung ba/
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
A Mantra for Incanting Medicines When Administering Them
སྨན་གཏོང་བའི་ཚེ་སྨན་ལ་སྔགས་ཀྱི་གདབ་པ། · sman gtong ba’i tshe sman la sngags kyi gdab pa
Summary
A Mantra for Incanting Medicines When Administering Them is a short work that pays homage to the Three Jewels and the Medicine Buddha, and provides a mantra to be used for incanting medicines.
The Dhāraṇī for Secret Relics
གསང་བ་རིང་བསྲེལ་གྱི་གཟུངས། · gsang ba ring bsrel gyi gzungs
Guhyadhātudhāraṇī
Summary
On his way to honor a brahmin’s invitation for a midday meal, the Buddha comes across an old stūpa that resembles a rubbish heap. Subsequently, while in conversation with Vajrapāṇi, the Buddha reveals that the stūpa contains the doctrinal synopsis for a dhāraṇī that embodies the essence of the blessings of innumerable buddhas. He also explains that the stūpa is, in fact, made of precious materials and that its lowly appearance is merely due to the lack of beings’ merit. The Buddha then extols the merit that results from copying, reading, and worshiping this scripture, and he enumerates the benefits that arise from placing it in stūpas and buddha images. When he pronounces the actual dhāraṇī, the derelict old stūpa is restored to its former glory.
Title variants
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi byin gyis brlabs kyi snying po gsang ba ring bsrel gyi za ma tog ces bya ba’i gzungs theg pa chen po’i mdo
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ་གསང་བ་རིང་བསྲེལ་གྱི་ཟ་མ་ཏོག་ཅེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra, the Dhāraṇī “The Receptacle of Secret Relics, Quintessence of the Blessings of All the Thus-Gone Ones”
- Āryasarvatathāgatādhiṣṭhānahṛdayaguhyadhātukaraṇḍanāmadhāraṇīmahāyānasūtra
- Sarvatathāgatādhiṣṭhānahṛdayaguhyadhātukaraṇḍanāmadhāraṇīsūtra
The Dhāraṇī “One Hundred Thousand Ornaments of the Essence of Awakening”
བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོའི་རྒྱན་འབུམ་གྱི་གཟུངས། · byang chub kyi snying po’i rgyan ’bum gyi gzungs
Bodhigarbhālaṅkāralakṣadhāraṇī
Summary
This short text presents a set of mantras that, when placed inside a stūpa, multiply the merit of having built one stūpa by one hundred thousand. These dhāraṇīs are specifically said to be of benefit to future generations whose merit will be weak.
The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas
སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་དང་ལྡན་པའི་གཟུངས། · sangs rgyas thams cad kyi yan lag dang ldan pa’i gzungs
Sarvabuddhāṅgavatīdhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas details a brief exchange between the Buddha and the four guardian kings of the world, that is, the four divine beings who rule over the cardinal directions in the Indian Buddhist tradition. Pursuant to a description of the fears that plague mankind, the Buddha declares that he will provide remedies for them. Invoking the presence of numberless buddhas in the limitless world systems described in Buddhist cosmology, the Buddha and the four kings provide several mantras of varying lengths meant for daily recitation, with the stated benefits not only of averting all manner of calamities—untimely death, illness, and injury chief among them—but of attracting the attention and blessings of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and ensuring good health and benefit for the practitioner and all beings.
Title variants
- 《諸佛支具陀羅尼》（大正藏：《諸佛集會陀羅尼經》）
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “Endowed with the Attributes of All the Buddhas”
- Āryasarvabuddhāṅgavatīnāmadhāraṇī
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas thams cad kyi yan lag dang ldan pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་དང་ལྡན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Discourse of the Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
སངས་རྒྱས་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས། · sangs rgyas snying po’i gzungs kyi chos kyi rnam grangs
Buddhahṛdayadhāraṇīdharmaparyāya
Summary
The Discourse of the Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is a short work in which the Buddha Śākyamuni, addressing an immense gathering of bodhisattvas, teaches two dhāraṇīs to be recited as a complement to the practice of recollecting the Buddha, and then explains the beneficial results of reciting them. The significance of the teaching is marked by miraculous signs, and by the gods offering flowers and ornaments. The text also provides a set of correspondences between the eight ornaments offered by the gods and eight qualities that ornament bodhisattvas.
Title variants
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs kyi chos kyi rnam grangs
- The Noble Discourse of the Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
- Āryabuddhahṛdayanāmadhāraṇīdharmaparyāya
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས། · sangs rgyas kyi snying po’i gzungs
Buddhahṛdayadhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is structured as a dialogue between the Buddha and a retinue of gods from the Śuddhāvāsa realm. The dialogue revolves around the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa and the role that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa can play in continuing to guide beings in his absence until the next tathāgata appears in the world. The Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence is then introduced as the specific instruction that the gods of Śuddhāvāsa should preserve and propagate after Śākyamuni has departed. The Buddha then provides a list of benefits that members of the saṅgha can accrue by reciting this dhāraṇī.
Title variants
- ’phags pa sangs rgyas kyi snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- Āryabuddhahṛdayanāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Buddha’s Essence
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Jñānolka
ཡེ་ཤེས་ཏ་ལ་ལའི་གཟུངས། · ye shes ta la la’i gzungs
Jñānolkadhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Jñānolka opens with a description of a group of four tathāgatas and four bodhisattvas, who are seated in the celestial palace of the Sun and the Moon. The deities of the Sun and Moon return to their celestial palace from elsewhere and, seeing these tathāgatas and bodhisattvas, both wonder whether they might obtain a dhāraṇī that would allow them to dispel the darkness and shine a light upon all beings. The tathāgatas, perceiving the thoughts of the Sun and Moon, provide them with the first dhāraṇī in the text. The bodhisattva Samantabhadra then provides a second dhāraṇī and instructs the deities of the Sun and Moon to use it to free beings who are bound for rebirth in the lower realms—even those who have been born in the darkest depths of the Avīci hell.
Title variants
- ’phags pa ye shes ta la la zhes bya’i gzungs ’gro ba thams cad yongs su sbyong ba
- Āryajñānolkanāmadhāraṇīsarvagatipariśodhanī
- The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Tathāgata Jñānolka that Purifies All Rebirths
- འཕགས་པ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཏ་ལ་ལ་ཞེས་བྱའི་གཟུངས་འགྲོ་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་སུ་སྦྱོང་བ།
The Dhāraṇī of Agrapradīpa
སྒྲོན་མ་མཆོག་གི་གཟུངས། · sgron ma mchog gi gzungs
Agrapradīpadhāraṇī
Summary
The Noble King of Spells, the Dhāraṇī of Agrapradīpa presents six distinct dhāraṇī formulas that can be used for protection from threatening forces and illness, to facilitate the path to awakening, and to bring the practitioner into harmony with other beings. As the Buddha Śākyamuni resides at Jeta’s Grove near the city of Śrāvastī, he is visited by two bodhisattvas sent as emissaries by the Buddha Agrapradīpa, who resides in a distant buddhafield named Infinite Flowers. These bodhisattvas present the first of the six dhāraṇīs as an offering to Śākyamuni from Agrapradīpa. Inspired by their example, additional dhāraṇīs are then presented: one each by Maitreya and Mañjuśrī, two by Śākyamuni himself, and a final formula recited by the Four Great Kings. After the presentation of each dhāraṇī, the Buddha tells Ānanda of the rarity of such dhāraṇīs and describes the benefits that accrue from their recitation.
Title variants
- The Noble King of Spells, the Dhāraṇī of Agrapradīpa
- Āryāgrapradīpadhāraṇīvidyārāja
- ’phags pa rig sngags kyi rgyal po sgron ma mchog gi gzungs
- འཕགས་པ་རིག་སྔགས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་སྒྲོན་མ་མཆོག་གི་གཟུངས།
- Agrapradīpadhāraṇīvidyā
The Dhāraṇī “Surūpa”
སུ་རཱུ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས། · su rU pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
Surūpānāmadhāraṇī
Summary
This text consists of a short dhāraṇī followed by its application, a food offering made to the pretas (hungry spirits). The text says that by the power of the spell, the offering will be made manifold and there will be many future benefits for the person performing the rite.
Title variants
- 佛說妙色陀羅尼經
- gzugs legs zhes bya ba’i gzungs
The Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་རྩ་བའི་རྒྱུད། · ’jam dpal gyi rtsa ba’i rgyud
Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa
Summary
The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa is the largest and most important single text devoted to Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva of wisdom. A revealed scripture, it is, by its own classification, both a Mahāyāna sūtra and a Mantrayāna kalpa (manual of rites). Because of its ritual content, it was later classified as a Kriyā tantra and assigned, based on the hierarchy of its deities, to the Tathāgata subdivision of this class. The Sanskrit text as we know it today was probably compiled throughout the eighth century ᴄᴇ and several centuries thereafter. What makes this text special is that, unlike most other Kriyā tantras, it not only describes the ritual procedures, but also explains them in terms of general Buddhist philosophy, Mahāyāna ethics, and the esoteric principles of the early Mantrayāna (later called Vajrayāna), with an emphasis on their soteriological aims.
Title variants
- The Noble Root Manual of the Rites of Mañjuśrī
- Āryamañjuśrīmūlakalpa
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi rtsa ba’i rgyud
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་རྩ་བའི་རྒྱུད།
- The Root Tantra of Mañjuśrī
- Mañjuśrīmūlatantra
- Āryamañjuśriyamūlakalpa
- Āryamañjuśrīmūlatantra
- ’jam dpal rtsa rgyud
- 《大方廣菩薩文殊師利根本儀軌經》
Tibetan translation:
- Kumārakalaśa
- Śākya Lodrö
The Tantra of Siddhaikavīra
དཔའ་བོ་གཅིག་པུ་གྲུབ་པའི་རྒྱུད། · dpa’ bo gcig pu grub pa’i rgyud
Siddhaikavīratantram
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Tantra of Siddhaikavīra is a tantra of ritual and magic. It is a relatively short text extant in numerous Sanskrit manuscripts and in Tibetan translation. Although its precise date is difficult to establish, it is arguably the first text to introduce into the Buddhist pantheon the deity Siddhaikavīra—a white, two-armed form of Mañjuśrī. The tantra is primarily structured around fifty-five mantras, which are collectively introduced by a statement promising all mundane and supramundane attainments, including the ten bodhisattva levels, to a devotee who employs the Siddhaikavīra and, presumably, other Mañjuśrī mantras. Such a devotee is said to become a wish-fulfilling gem, constantly engaged in benefitting beings. Most of the mantras have their own section that includes a description of the rituals for which the mantra is prescribed and a brief description of their effects. This being a tantra of the Kriyā class, the overwhelming majority of its mantras are meant for use in rites of prosperity and wellbeing.
Title variants
- དཔའ་བོ་གཅིག་པུ་གྲུབ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།
- dpa’ bo gcig pu grub pa zhes bya ba’i rgyud kyi rgyal po chen po
- The Great Sovereign Tantra of Siddhaikavīra
- Siddhaikavīramahātantrarājaḥ
Tibetan translation:
- Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna
- Géwai Lodrö
- Tsultrim Gyalwa
Spoken by Mañjuśrī Himself
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་ཞལ་ནས་གསུངས་པ། · ’jam dpal gyi zhal nas gsungs pa
Mañjuśrīsvākhyāta
Summary
Spoken by Mañjuśrī Himself provides an incantatory practice taught by Mañjuśrī. The dhāraṇī has two sections: the first extols Mañjuśrī as a tathāgata, an arhat, and a perfectly awakened buddha, and the second invokes a bhagavatī who is praised as an illuminator and supplicated for protection.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “Spoken by Mañjuśrī Himself”
- Āryamañjuśrīsvākhyātanāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་ཞལ་ནས་གསུངས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi zhal nas gsungs pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
Tibetan translation:
- Jñānagarbha
- Bandé Lui Wangpo
- Viśuddhasiṃha
- Bandé Devacandra
Mañjuśrī’s Sworn Oath
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་དམོད་བཙུགས་པ། · ’jam dpal gyis dmod btsugs pa
Summary
Mañjuśrī’s Sworn Oath provides instruction in an incantatory practice focused on Mañjuśrī, in the form of a vidyā that Mañjuśrī himself pronounces. The vidyā unfolds in a series of forceful imperatives suggestive of battle, conquest, and celebration, and after enunciating it, Mañjuśrī explains that its recitation will lead to virtuosity in the memorization of scriptural verses. The benefits of recitation are then enumerated in more detail, relative to the number of times it is recited and whether the recitation is accompanied by ritual performance. As indicated by the title, Mañjuśrī then swears an oath to assure the vidyā’s efficacy, pledging to take on the karmic burden of the five misdeeds with immediate retribution should its promised benefits fail to ensue.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “Mañjuśrī’s Sworn Oath”
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་དམོད་བཙུགས་པའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyis dmod btsugs pa’i gzungs
Mañjuśrī’s Promise
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་དམ་བཅས་པ། · ’jam dpal gyis dam bcas pa
Summary
Mañjuśrī’s Promise begins without preamble with a Sanskrit praise text in the form of a dhāraṇī that resembles other traditional encomiums that exult in the purity, grace, and triumph of bodhisattvas. The scripture then enumerates the benefits accrued by a single recitation of this dhāraṇī, which include the purification of evil deeds accumulated over eons, and the many rewards for its extensive recitation, namely erudition, exceptional powers of memorization, and finally the sight of the body of Mañjuśrī himself.
Title variants
- The Dhāraṇī “Mañjuśrī’s Promise”
- འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་དམ་བཅས་པའི་གཟུངས།
- ’jam dpal gyis dam bcas pa’i gzungs
The Epithets of Mañjuśrī
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་མཚན། · ’jam dpal gyi mtshan
Summary
The Epithets of Mañjuśrī is a concise scripture consisting of a salutation to Mañjuśrī that highlights the qualities of his speech, a thirty-six-syllable Sanskrit dhāraṇī, and a one-sentence statement of the benefit accrued by twenty-one recitations thereof.
Title variants
- The Noble Epithets of Mañjuśrī
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi mtshan
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་མཚན།
The Noble Lord Mañjuśrī’s Dḥāraṇī for Increasing Insight and Intelligence
རྗེ་བཙུན་འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་ཤེས་རབ་དང་བློ་འཕེལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས། · rje btsun ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi shes rab dang blo ’phel ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs
Mañjuśrībhaṭṭārakasya prajñābuddhivardhana
Summary
Mañjuśrī’s Increasing of Insight and Intelligence is a short dhāraṇī scripture centered on the figure of Mañjuśrī. It opens with a salutation to the Three Jewels, followed by the Sanskrit dhāraṇī proper, and concludes with an enumeration of the benefits accrued by its memorization. These include the swift attainment of intelligence, a melodious voice, and a beautiful appearance. It also extols physical contact with the material text, which is said to enable recollection of one’s former lives. The scripture concludes with a brief statement of the benefits accrued by extensive recitation, which culminate in beholding the very face of Mañjuśrī.
The Procedure for Mañjuśrī’s Single-Syllable Mantra
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་སྔགས་ཡི་གེ་འབྲུ་གཅིག་པའི་ཆོ་ག། · ’jam dpal gyi yi ge ’bru gcig pa’i gzungs
Summary
The Procedure for Mañjuśrī's Single-Syllable Mantra is a pithy text extolling an exceedingly secret and potent single-syllable mantra. Following a note regarding its universal efficacy, the remaining portion of the text outlines ritual applications for the remediation of specific ailments through the consecration of common items as sacral implements in rites of healing.
Title variants
- The Noble Procedure for Mañjuśrī’s Single-Syllable Mantra
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་སྔགས་ཡི་གེ་འབྲུ་གཅིག་པའི་ཆོ་ག།
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi sngags yi ge ’bru gcig pa’i cho ga
The Blessed One’s Praise of Sharp Mañjuśrī
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱིས་འཇམ་དཔལ་རྣོན་པོ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ། · bcom ldan ’das kyis ’jam dpal rnon po la bstod pa
Summary
The Blessed One’s Praise of Sharp Mañjuśrī is a praise in twelve verses that describes in detail the physiognomy, ornamentation, vestments, and general splendor of Mañjuśrī’s various manifestations as a bodhisattva and as a tathāgata.
Title variants
- The Blessed One’s Praise of Sharp Mañjuśrī
- bcom ldan ’das kyis ’jam dpal rnon po la bstod pa
- བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱིས་འཇམ་དཔལ་རྣོན་པོ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ།
The Eight Maidens’ Praise of Mañjuśrī, Lord of Speech
འཇམ་དཔལ་ངག་གི་དབང་ཕྱུག་ལ་བུ་མོ་བརྒྱད་ཀྱིས་བསྟོད་པ། · ’jam dpal ngag gi dbang phyug la bu mo brgyad kyis bstod pa
Summary
This scripture is a praise to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The eight maidens indicated by the title may be inferred as each speaking a different verse, together providing a range of perspectives.
The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (1)
གསེར་འོད་དམ་པའི་མདོ། · gser ’od dam pa’i mdo
Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra
Summary
The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light has held great importance in Buddhism for its instructions on the purification of karma. In particular, much of the sūtra is specifically addressed to monarchs and thus has been significant for rulers—not only in India but also in China, Japan, Mongolia, and elsewhere—who wished to ensure the well-being of their nations through such purification. Reciting and internalizing this sūtra is understood to be efficacious for personal purification and also for the welfare of a state and the world.
In this sūtra, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu has a dream in which a prayer of confession emanates from a shining golden drum. He relates the prayer to the Buddha, and a number of deities then vow to protect it and its adherents. The ruler’s devotion to the sūtra is emphasized as important if the nation is to benefit. Toward the end of the sūtra are two well-known narratives of the Buddha’s previous lives: the account of the physician Jalavāhana, who saves and blesses numerous fish, and that of Prince Mahāsattva, who gives his body to a hungry tigress and her cubs.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Supremely Victorious King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light”
- འཕགས་པ་གསེར་འོད་དམ་པ་མཆོག་ཏུ་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བའི་མདོ་སྡེའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa gser ’od dam pa mchog tu rnam par rgyal ba’i mdo sde’i rgyal po theg pa chen po’i mdo
- ’phags pa gser ’od dam pa mchog tu rnam par rgyal ba’i mdo sde’i rgyal po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo/
- gser ’od mchog tu rnam par rgyal ba’i mdo/
- tā shin kyin kwang myutsa’i shin wang kyin
- 金光明經
- 《金光明最勝王經》
Tibetan translation:
- Chödrup
Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm
སྟོང་ཆེན་མོ་རབ་ཏུ་འཇོམས་པ། · stong chen mo rab tu ’joms pa
Mahāsāhasrapramardanī
Summary
Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, popular for centuries as an important facet of Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhism’s traditional approach to personal and communal misfortunes of all kinds. Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm primarily addresses illnesses caused by spirit entities thought to devour the vitality of humans and animals. The text describes them as belonging to four different subspecies, presided over by the four great kings, guardians of the world, who hold sovereignty over the spirit beings in the four cardinal directions. The text also includes ritual prescriptions for the monastic community to purify its consumption of alms tainted by the “five impure foods.” This refers generally to alms that contain meat, the consumption of which is expressly prohibited for successful implementation of the Pañcarakṣā’s dhāraṇī incantations.
Title variants
- སྟོང་ཆེན་མོ་རབ་ཏུ་འཇོམས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།
- stong chen mo rab tu ’joms pa zhes bya ba’i mdo
- The Sūtra “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm”
- Mahāsāhasrapramardanīnāmasūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
- Surendrabodhi
- Jñānasiddhi
- Śākyaprabha
The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen
རིག་སྔགས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་མོ་རྨ་བྱ་ཆེན་མོ། · rig sngags kyi rgyal mo rma bya chen mo
Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī
Summary
The Queen of Incantations: The Great Peahen is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection and has been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. Although its incantations (vidyā) are framed specifically to counteract the deadly effects of poisonous snakebites, it also aims to address the entire range of possible human ailments and diseases contracted through the interference of animals, nonhuman beings, and humoral and environmental imbalances, along with a range of other misfortunes, such as sorcery, losing one’s way, robbery, natural disaster, and criminal punishment, to name but a few. In the text the Buddha Śākyamuni advocates for the invocation of a number of deities within the pantheon of Indian gods and goddesses, including numerous local deities who dwell throughout the subcontinent. He stipulates that just “upholding” or intoning these names along with the mantra formula that accompanies each grouping will hasten the deities to the service of saṅgha members administering to the pragmatic medical needs of their own and surrounding communities.
Title variants
- 《明咒王大孔雀妃》（大正藏：《佛母大金曜孔雀明王經》）
The Great Amulet
སོ་སོར་འབྲང་བ་ཆེན་མོ། · so sor ’brang ba chen mo
Mahāpratisarā
Summary
The Noble Queen of Incantations: The Great Amulet, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, has been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. As its title suggests, The Great Amulet prescribes the use of amulets into which the incantation is physically incorporated. These devices are then worn around the neck or arm, attached to flags, interred in stūpas and funeral pyres, or otherwise used anywhere their presence is deemed beneficial. Wearing or encountering the incantation promises a range of effects, including the prevention and healing of illness, the conception and birth of male offspring, and control over the world of nonhuman spirit entities. The text also protects against consequences of negative deeds, delivering evildoers from negative rebirths and ensuring their place among the gods. The promise of augmenting merit even extends in one passage to an increase of mindfulness and liberation from saṃsāra.
Title variants
- The Noble Queen of Incantations: The Great Amulet
- Āryamahāpratisarāvidyārājñī
- འཕགས་པ་རིག་པའི་རྒྱལ་མོ་སོ་སོར་འབྲང་བ་ཆེན་མོ།
- ’phags pa rig pa’i rgyal mo so sor ’brang ba chen mo
- 《明咒妃大隨求母》（大正藏：《普遍光明清淨熾盛如意寶印心無能勝大明王大隨求陀羅尼經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
- Shönu Pal
- Chak Lotsāwa
Great Cool Grove
བསིལ་བའི་ཚལ་ཆེན་པོ། · bsil ba’i tshal chen po
Mahāśītavanīsūtra
Summary
The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove, one of five texts that constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, has been among the most popular texts used for pragmatic purposes throughout the Mahāyāna Buddhist world. This sūtra promises protection for the Buddha’s “four communities”—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen—against a range of illnesses and obstacles originating from the hosts of spirit entities who reside in remote wilderness retreats. The text centers specifically on threats of illness posed by the capricious spirit world of “nonhumans,” known collectively as grahas or bhūtas, who feed off the vitality, flesh, and blood of members of the Buddhist spiritual community engaging in spiritual practice at those remote hermitages. The sūtra is proclaimed by the Four Great Kings, each of whom reigns over a host of bhūtas, with the goal of quelling the hostile forces who assail those diligently practicing the Buddha’s teachings. Also included are ritual prescriptions for properly performing the sūtra and descriptions of the many benefits that ensue.
Title variants
- The Sūtra of Great Cool Grove
- བསིལ་བའི་ཚལ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- bsil ba’i tshal chen po’i mdo
Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra
གསང་སྔགས་ཆེན་པོ་རྗེས་སུ་འཛིན་པ། · gsang sngags chen po rjes su ’dzin pa
Mahāmantrānudhāriṇī
Summary
Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra is one of five texts that together constitute the Pañcarakṣā scriptural collection, popular for centuries as an important facet of Mahāyāna-Vajrayāna Buddhism’s traditional approach to personal and communal misfortunes of all kinds. It addresses a range of human ailments, as well as misfortunes such as robbery, natural disaster, and criminal punishment, thought to be brought on especially through the animosity of non-human spirit entities. The sūtra stipulates the invocation of these spirit entities, which it separates into hierarchically ordered groups and thus renders subordinate to the command of the Buddha and members of his saṅgha. The Buddha stipulates that just “upholding” or intoning their names and the mantra formula for each will quell the violent interventions of non-human entities and even hasten them to provide for the pragmatic needs of the saṅgha and its surrounding communities.
Title variants
- གསང་སྔགས་ཆེན་པོ་རྗེས་སུ་འཛིན་པའི་མདོ།
- gsang sngags chen po rjes su ’dzin pa’i mdo
- The Sūtra “Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra”
- Mahāmantrānudhāriṇīsūtra
Tibetan translation:
- Śīlendrabodhi
- Jñānasiddhi
- Śākyaprabha
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī
འོད་ཟེར་ཅན་གྱི་གཟུངས། · ’od zer can gyi gzungs
Mārīcīdhāraṇī
Summary
The Mārīcī Dhāraṇī opens at Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni introduces a saṅgha of monks and bodhisattvas to the goddess Mārīcī by listing her unique qualities and powers. The Buddha then teaches the saṅgha six dhāraṇī mantras related to the goddess Mārīcī.
Title variants
- The Noble Mārīcī Dhāraṇī
- Āryamārīcīnāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་མ་འོད་ཟེར་ཅན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags ma ’od zer can zhes bya ba’i gzungs
Tibetan translation:
- Amoghavajra
- Bari Rinchen Drakpa
The King of Ritual Manuals from the Tantra of Māyā Mārīcī’s Arising
སྒྱུ་མའི་འོད་ཟེར་ཅན་འབྱུང་བའི་རྒྱུད་ལས་ཕྱུང་བའི་རྟོག་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ། · sgyu ma’i ’od zer can ’byung ba’i rgyud las phyung ba’i rtog pa’i rgyal po
Māyāmārīcījātatantrād uddhṛtakalparāja
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The King of Ritual Manuals from the Tantra of Māyā Mārīcī’s Arising contains instructions for the visualization and ritual propitiation of the goddess Mārīcī. The text covers rites for protecting oneself from perilous situations, rites for increasing wealth and intelligence, elaborate battlefield magic rites, and rites for protecting livestock from predators.
The Maṇḍala Rites of Noble Mārīcī
འཕགས་མ་འོད་ཟེར་ཅན་གྱི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱི་ཆོ་ག · ’phags ma ’od zer can gyi dkyil ’khor gyi cho ga
Āryamārīcīmaṇḍalavidhi
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Maṇḍala Rites of Noble Mārīcī contains a collection of elaborate instructions for the visualization and depiction of a number of maṇḍalas and forms of the goddess Mārīcī and her retinue of vidyā goddesses.
Title variants
- The Maṇḍala Rites of Noble Mārīcī: A Ritual Manual Consisting of Seven Hundred Essential Lines from the Twelve-Thousand Line Tantra of Mārīcī’s Arising
- Āryamārīcīmaṇḍalavidhi mārīcījātadvādaśasahasrād uddhṛtakalpahṛdayasaptaśatanāma
- འཕགས་མ་འོད་ཟེར་ཅན་གྱི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གྱི་ཆོ་ག་འོད་ཟེར་ཅན་འབྱུང་བའི་རྒྱུད་སྟོང་ཕྲག་བཅུ་གཉིས་པ་ལས་ཕྱུང་བའི་རྟོག་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་བདུན་བརྒྱ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།
- ’phags ma ’od zer can gyi dkyil ’khor gyi cho ga ’od zer can ’byung ba’i rgyud stong phrag bcu gnyis pa las phyung ba’i rtog pa’i snying po bdun brgya pa zhes bya ba
- The Seven Hundred Line Ritual Manual of Mārīcī, the Supreme Essence from ‘The Twelve Thousand Line Tantra of Mārīcī’s Arising
- rgyud stong phrag bcu gnyis pa las mchog tu yang snying por gyur pa’i ’od zer can gyi rtog pa brgya phrag bdun pa phyung ba/
Sitātapatrā Born from the Uṣṇīṣa of All Tathāgatas
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གཙུག་ཏོར་ནས་བྱུང་བ་གདུགས་དཀར་པོ་ཅན། · de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor nas byung ba gdugs dkar po can
Sarvatathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatrā
Summary
This text presents a spell (vidyā) featuring the female deity Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess), which issues from the uṣṇīṣa of the Buddha Śākyamuni as he rests in samādhi among the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. The text details a litany of dangers, illness, and threats and provides spell formulas that can be recited to avert them. Sitātapatrā and her spell have enjoyed a long history and sustained popularity as a source of security against illness and misfortune, and her spell is widely used in contemporary Buddhist communities to this day.
Title variants
- The Noble Invincible Great Queen of Spells for Averting Called “Sitātapatrā Born from the Uṣṇīṣa of All Tathāgatas”
- Āryasarvatathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatrānāmāparājitapratyaṅgirāmahāvidyārājñī
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གཙུག་ཏོར་ནས་བྱུང་བ་གདུགས་དཀར་པོ་ཅན་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་གཞན་གྱིས་མི་ཐུབ་མ་ཕྱིར་ཟློག་པའི་རིག་སྔགས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་མོ་ཆེན་མོ།
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor nas byung ba gdugs dkar po can zhes bya ba gzhan gyis mi thub ma phyir zlog pa’i rig sngags kyi rgyal mo chen mo
- The Spell of Uṣṇīṣasitātapatrā
- Uṣṇīṣasitātapatrāparājitapratyaṅgirāmahāvidyārājñī
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor nas byung ba gdugs dkar po can zhes bya ba gzhan gyis mi thub pa phyir bzlog pa’i rig sngags kyi rgyal mo chen mo/
- gtsug tor gdugs dkar gzhan gyi rig sngags
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor nas byung ba’i gdugs dkar po can zhes bya ba gzhan gyis mi thub ma phyir zlog pa’i rig sngags kyi rgyal mo chen mo
- 佛頂大白傘蓋陀羅尼經
The Supreme Accomplishment of Invincible Averting, Sitātapatrā Born from the Uṣṇīṣa of the Tathāgata
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གཙུག་ཏོར་ནས་བྱུང་བའི་གདུགས་དཀར་པོ་ཅན་གཞན་གྱིས་མི་ཐུབ་པ་ཕྱིར་ཟློག་པ་ཆེན་མོ་མཆོག་ཏུ་གྲུབ་པ། · de bzhin gshegs pa’i gtsug tor nas byung ba’i gdugs dkar po can gzhan gyis mi thub pa phyir zlog pa chen mo mchog tu grub pa
Tathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatrāparājitamahāpratyaṅgiraparamasiddha
Summary
This text presents a spell (vidyā) featuring the female deity Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess), which issues from the uṣṇīṣa of the Buddha Śākyamuni as he rests in samādhi among the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. The text details a litany of dangers, illness, and threats and provides a spell formula that can be recited to avert them. Sitātapatrā and her spell have enjoyed a long history and sustained popularity as a source of security against illness and misfortune, and her spell is widely used in contemporary Buddhist communities to this day.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Supreme Accomplishment of Invincible Averting, Sitātapatrā Born from the Uṣṇīṣa of the Tathāgata”
- Āryatathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatrāparājitamahāpratyaṅgiraparamasiddhanāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གཙུག་ཏོར་ནས་བྱུང་བའི་གདུགས་དཀར་པོ་ཅན་གཞན་གྱིས་མི་ཐུབ་པ་ཕྱིར་ཟློག་པ་ཆེན་མོ་མཆོག་ཏུ་གྲུབ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gtsug tor nas byung ba’i gdugs dkar po can gzhan gyis mi thub pa phyir zlog pa chen mo mchog tu grub pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- tathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatrāparājitamahāpratyaṅgirāparamasiddhānāmadhāraṇī
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gtsug tor nas byung ba’i gdugs dkar po can gzhan gyis mi thub pa phyir bzlog pa chen mo mchog tu grub pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs/
- gdugs dkar gzhan gyis mi thub pa phyir bzlog pa chen mo mchog tu grub pa’i gzungs
Tibetan translation:
- Parahitabhadra
- Zu Gador
The Invincible Sitātapatrā (1)
གདུགས་དཀར་གཞན་གྱིས་མི་ཐུབ་པ། · gdugs dkar gzhan gyis mi thub pa
Sitātapatrāparājitā
Summary
This text presents a dhāraṇī featuring the female deity Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess) that provides a magical means to avert a litany of dangers, illness, and threats. Sitātapatrā and her spell have enjoyed a long history and sustained popularity as a source of security against illness and misfortune, and her spell is widely used in contemporary Buddhist communities to this day.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Invincible Sitātapatrā Born from the Uṣṇīṣa of the Tathāgata”
- Āryatathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatre aparājitānāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གཙུག་ཏོར་ནས་བྱུང་བའི་གདུགས་དཀར་པོ་ཅན་གཞན་གྱིས་མི་ཐུབ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gtsug tor nas byung ba’i gdugs dkar po can gzhan gyis mi thub pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- The Dhāraṇī of Sitātapatrā
- Āryatathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatrāparājitānāmadhāraṇī
- uṣṇīṣasitātapatrāparājitādhāraṇī
- gdugs dkar gyi gzungs/
- ’phags ma de bzhin gshegs pa’i gtsug tor nas byung ba’i gdugs dkar po can gzhan gyis mi thub pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs/
- gdugs dkar gzhan gyis mi thub pa’i gzungs
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gtsug tor nas byung ba’i gdugs dkar po can gzhan gyis mi thub pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs/
- 佛說大白傘蓋總持陀羅尼經
The Invincible Sitātapatrā (2)
གདུགས་དཀར་གཞན་གྱིས་མི་ཐུབ་པ། · gdugs dkar gzhan gyis mi thub pa
Sitātapatrāparājitā
Summary
This text presents a dhāraṇī featuring the female deity Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess), which issues from the uṣṇīṣa of the Buddha Śākyamuni as he rests in samādhi among the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. The text details a litany of dangers, illness, and threats and provides a spell formula that can be recited to avert them. Sitātapatrā and her spell have enjoyed a long history and sustained popularity as a source of security against illness and misfortune, and her spell is widely used in contemporary Buddhist communities to this day.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Invincible Sitātapatrā Born from the Uṣṇīṣa of the Tathāgata”
- Āryatathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatrānāmaparājitānāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གཙུག་ཏོར་ནས་བྱུང་བའི་གདུགས་དཀར་པོ་ཅན་གཞན་གྱིས་མི་ཐུབ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gtsug tor nas byung ba’i gdugs dkar po can gzhan gyis mi thub pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- āryatathāgatoṣṇīṣasitātapatrānāmāparājitādhāraṇī
- 佛說大白傘蓋總持陀羅尼經
The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual (1)
གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་གྱི་གཟུངས་རྟོག་པ་དང་བཅས་པ། · gtsug tor rnam rgyal gyi gzungs rtog pa dang bcas pa
Uṣṇīṣavijayādhāraṇīkalpasahitā
Summary
The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a number of short rites for its recitation.
Title variants
- Crown Victory of All Tathāgatas: The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual
- Sarvatathāgatoṣṇīṣavijayānāmadhāraṇīkalpasahitā
- དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས་རྟོག་པ་དང་བཅས་པ།
- de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor rnam par rgyal ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs rtog pa dang bcas pa
- 佛說一切如來烏瑟膩沙最勝總持經
Tibetan translation:
- Dharmasena
- Bari
The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual (2)
གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་གྱི་གཟུངས་རྟོག་པ་དང་བཅས་པ། · gtsug tor rnam rgyal gyi gzungs rtog pa dang bcas pa
Uṣṇīṣavijayādhāraṇīkalpasahitā
Summary
The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a number of short rites for its recitation.
Title variants
- Crown Victory of All Tathāgatas: The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual
- Sarvatathāgatauṣṇīṣavijayānāmadhāraṇīkalpasahitā
- དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས་རྟོག་པ་དང་བཅས་པ།
- de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor rnam par rgyal ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs rtog pa dang bcas pa
- 佛說一切如來烏瑟膩沙最勝總持經
- de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor rnam par rgyal ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs rtog pa dang bcas pa/
The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual (3)
གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་གྱི་གཟུངས་རྟོག་པ་དང་བཅས་པ། · gtsug tor rnam rgyal gyi gzungs rtog pa dang bcas pa
Uṣṇīṣavijayādhāraṇīkalpasahitā
Summary
The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a short rite for its recitation.
Title variants
- Crown Victory of All Tathāgatas: The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī with Its Ritual Manual
- Sarvatathāgatauṣṇīṣavijayānāmadhāraṇīkalpasahitā
- དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས་རྟོག་པ་དང་བཅས་པ།
- de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor rnam par rgyal ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs rtog pa dang bcas pa
- 佛說一切如來烏瑟膩沙最勝總持經
- de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor rnam par rgyal ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs rtog pa dang bcas pa/
The Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī
གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བའི་གཟུངས། · gtsug tor rnam par rgyal ba’i gzungs
Uṣṇīṣavijayādhāraṇī
Summary
The Noble Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī That Purifies All Lower Rebirths opens with an account of the god Supratiṣṭhita, who seeks the god Śakra’s advice after learning of his own impending death and rebirth in the lower realms. Realizing that the Tathāgata is the only true refuge from lower rebirth, Śakra goes to the Buddha, who explains to him the benefits of the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī and a number of rituals related to it that can liberate Supratiṣṭhita and all beings from rebirth in the lower realms.
Title variants
- The Noble Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī That Purifies All Lower Rebirths
- Āryasarvadurgatipariśodhaniuṣṇīṣavijayānāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་ངན་འགྲོ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཡོངས་སུ་སྦྱོང་བ་གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa ngan ’gro thams cad yongs su sbyong ba gtsug tor rnam par rgyal ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- sarvadurgatipariśodhany uṣṇīṣavijayānāmadhāraṇī
- 《頂髻勝陀羅尼》（大正藏：《最勝佛頂陀羅尼經》）
- ’phags pa ngan ’gro thams cad yongs su sbyong ba gtsug tor rnam par rgyal ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs/
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
A Ritual Manual for the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī
གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་གྱི་གཟུངས་རྟོག། · gtsug tor rnam rgyal gyi gzungs rtog
Uṣṇīṣavijayādhāraṇīkalpa
Summary
A Ritual Manual for the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī is a short work in which the Buddha Amitāyus teaches the uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with its benefits and a number of short rites for its recitation.
Title variants
- Crown Victory of All Tathāgatas: A Ritual Manual for the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Dhāraṇī
- Sarvatathāgatauṣṇīṣavijayānāmadhāraṇīkalpa
- de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gtsug tor rnam par rgyal ma’i gzungs zhes bya ba’i rtog pa
- དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གཙུག་ཏོར་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་མའི་གཟུངས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྟོག་པ།
- 《頂髻勝陀羅尼儀軌》（大正藏：《佛說一切如來烏瑟膩沙最勝總持經》）
Tibetan translation:
- Lotsāwa Neten Palkyi Nyima Gyaltsen Sangpo
- Ne’u Khenpo
The Dhāraṇī for a Caitya
མཆོད་རྟེན་གྱི་གཟུངས། · mchod rten gyi gzungs
Caityadhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī for a Caitya is a short manual on the ritual preparation for and casting of small caityas from clay. The ritual has three main parts: a description of the general transformative power of the dhāraṇī, the preparation rituals for the ground and clay, and rituals for the consecration of the cast images. The main dhāraṇī, with the name vimaloṣṇīṣa, “stainless uṣṇīṣa,” was widely used in central and northeast Asian Buddhism, especially in the context of purification, consecration, and inauguration rituals.
Title variants
- ཤེས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཐར་ཕྱིན་པར་གྲུབ་པའི་མཆོད་རྟེན་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- shes pa thams cad mthar phyin par grub pa’i mchod rten zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- The Dhāraṇī for a Caitya Perfectly Constructed with Complete Knowledge
- Sarvaprajñāntapāramitāsiddhacaityadhāraṇī
- sarvaprajñāntapāramitāsiddhacaityanāmadhāraṇī
- The Vimaloṣṇīṣa Dhāraṇī
- The Stainless Uṣṇīṣa Dhāraṇī
The Dhāraṇī of Vajrabhairava
རྡོ་རྗེ་འཇིགས་བྱེད་ཀྱི་གཟུངས། · rdo rje ’jigs byed kyi gzungs
Vajrabhairavadhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of Vajrabhairava is a short text presenting both a series of “vajra statements” (Tib. rdo rje tshig), which it calls the “essence of all vidyā and mantra,” and a dhāraṇī, followed by instructions for the dhāraṇī's associated rites. These include rites for countering and repelling enemies, subjugating nāgas and preventing hail, curing illness, and even protecting liquor from spoilage.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī of Vajrabhairava
- Āryavajrabhairavadhāraṇīnāma
- འཕགས་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་འཇིགས་བྱེད་ཀྱི་གཟུངས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།
- ’phags pa rdo rje ’jigs byed kyi gzungs zhes bya ba
Tibetan translation:
- Amoghavajra
- Kyo Öjung
One Hundred and Eight Names of Youthful Mañjuśrī Accompanied by His Dhāraṇī-Mantra
འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་འགྱུར་པའི་མཚན་བརྒྱ་རྩ་བརྒྱད་པ་གཟུངས་སྔགས་དང་བཅས་པ། · ’jam dpal gzhon nur ’gyur pa’i mtshan brgya rtsa brgyad pa gzungs sngags dang bcas pa
Mañjuśrīkumārabhūtāṣṭottaraśatakanāmadhāraṇīmantrasahita
Summary
One Hundred and Eight Names in Praise of Youthful Mañjuśrī Accompanied by His Dhāraṇī-Mantra is a text notably combining two genres of Buddhist literature: the dhāraṇī and the stotra or praise text. As a praise text, it may be further categorized within the subgenre of praises of one hundred and eight names. The text opens with homage and praise to the buddhas of the ten directions and two brief praises to Mañjuśrī. Then Mañjuśrī himself articulates a Sanskrit dhāraṇī, which precipitates miracles and prompts the assembled gods to praise him by way of reciting a litany of his hundred and eight names. Upon its conclusion, Mañjuśrī expresses his pleasure, whereupon the Tathāgata expounds the dhāraṇī’s benefits, blesses the gods who spoke the hundred and eight names in praise, and lastly explains in considerable detail the practice of the praise’s recitation and the benefits thereof.
Title variants
- The Noble One Hundred and Eight Names of Youthful Mañjuśrī Accompanied by His Dhāraṇī-Mantra
- Āryamañjuśrīkumārabhūtāṣṭottaraśatakanāmadhāraṇīmantrasahita
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པའི་མཚན་བརྒྱ་རྩ་བརྒྱད་པ་གཟུངས་སྔགས་དང་བཅས་པ།
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gzhon nur gyur pa’i mtshan brgya rtsa brgyad pa gzungs sngags dang bcas pa
One Hundred and Eight Names of Mañjuśrī
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་མཚན་བརྒྱ་རྩ་བརྒྱད་པ། · ’jam dpal gyi mtshan brgya rtsa brgyad pa
Mañjuśrīnāmāṣṭaśataka
Summary
One Hundred and Eight Names of Mañjuśrī belongs to a class of texts praising a select deity through a series of one hundred and eight names, each conveying a distinctive feature of the deity’s appearance, realization, or activity as supreme teacher. The present text includes a brief mantra and concludes with a brief description of the benefits of retaining, reciting, and recollecting the names throughout one’s life, especially at the time of death.
Title variants
- The Noble One Hundred and Eight Names of Mañjuśrī
- Āryamañjuśrīnāmāṣṭaśataka
- འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་མཚན་བརྒྱ་རྩ་བརྒྱད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།
- ’phags pa ’jam dpal gyi mtshan brgya rtsa brgyad pa zhes bya ba
- Āryamañjuśrīnāmāṣṭaśatakam
The Dhāraṇī of Refuge for the Preta Flaming Mouth
ཡི་དགས་ཁ་ནས་མེ་འབར་སྐྱབས་པའི་གཟུངས། · yi dags kha nas me ’bar skyabs pa’i gzungs
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of Refuge for the Preta Flaming Mouth recounts the nocturnal encounter of the monk Nanda with a gruesome preta (“hungry ghost”) who predicts his imminent death. After recounting his experience to the Buddha, he is taught a dhāraṇī and an associated food offering ritual to allay the sufferings of pretas and avert his prophesied fate.
Title variants
- The Dhāraṇī “Giving Refuge to the Preta Flaming Mouth”
- ཡི་དགས་ཁ་ནས་མེ་འབར་བ་ལ་སྐྱབས་མཛད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- yi dags kha nas me ’bar ba la skyabs mdzad pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- yi dags kha nas me 'bar ba la skyabs mdzad pa'i gzungs
- ཡི་དགས་ཁ་ནས་མེ་འབར་བ་ལ་སྐྱབས་མཛད་པའི་གཟུངས།
The Bali Ritual to Relieve the Female Preta Flaming Mouth
ཡི་དགས་མོ་ཁ་འབར་མ་དབུགས་དབྱུང་བའི་གཏོར་མའི་ཆོ་ག · yi dags mo kha ’bar ma dbugs dbyung ba’i gtor ma’i cho ga
Summary
This short text narrates Ānanda’s nocturnal encounter in the Banyan Grove in Kapilavastu with a gruesome female preta, or “hungry ghost,” with a burning mouth. The ghost tells Ānanda that he will die imminently and be reborn in the realm of the pretas unless he satisfies innumerable pretas with offerings of food the following morning. Terrified, Ānanda goes quickly to the Buddha and asks for advice. The Buddha then teaches Ānanda a dhāraṇī and an associated food offering ritual that together will satisfy innumerable ghosts and will cause offerings to the Three Jewels to multiply. The Buddha then instructs Ānanda to memorize and widely propagate this practice.
Title variants
- yi dags kha ’bar dbugs dbyung gtor chog
- The Oblation Ritual which Comforts Female Ghosts whose Mouths are Aflame
- yi dags mo kha ’bar ma dbyugs dbyung ba’i gtor ma’i cho ga
- yi dags kha ’bar dbyugs dbyung gtor cho ga
The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati
ཚོགས་ཀྱི་བདག་པོའི་སྙིང་པོ། · tshogs kyi bdag po’i snying po
Gaṇapatihṛdaya
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Buddha teaches The Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati to Ānanda at Vulture Peak. He recites the mantra, then gives a brief account of the protective benefits accrued by its daily recitation.
Title variants
- The Noble Heart Mantra of Gaṇapati
- Āryagaṇapatihṛdaya
- འཕགས་པ་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་བདག་པོའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- ’phags pa tshogs kyi bdag po’i snying po
The Tantra of Great Gaṇapati
ཚོགས་ཀྱི་བདག་པོ་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད། · tshogs kyi bdag po chen po’i rgyud
Mahāgaṇapatitantra
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Tantra of Great Gaṇapati is a work in fifteen chapters that detail offering rites, mantra recitation practices, and meditation practices for propitiating various forms of the elephant-headed deity Gaṇapati.
Tibetan translation:
- Dīpaṁkaraśrījñāna
- Gyalwé Jungné
The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla
དཔལ་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད། · dpal nag po chen po’i rgyud
Śrīmahākālatantra
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Tantra of Glorious Mahākāla opens with Hayagrīva summoning Mahākāla from his abode in the palace called Joyous, located in a sandalwood grove in the great southeastern charnel ground, Aṭṭahāsa. This prompts the great king Virūpakṣa to request that Hayagrīva teach the rites and practices related to Mahākāla. Hayagrīva then delivers a series of instructions on the propitiation and worship of Mahākāla and rituals for destroying the enemies of the Buddhist teachings.
Tibetan translation:
- Amoghavajra
- Phurbu Ö
The Dhāraṇī of Glorious Mahākāla
དཔལ་དཔལ་མགོན་པོ་ནག་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས། · dpal mgon po nag po’i gzungs
Śrīmahākālanāmadhāraṇī
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of Glorious Mahākāla opens at the Vajra Seat under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgayā shortly after the Buddha Śākyamuni has defeated Māra and his demonic horde and attained awakening. As Śākyamuni sits under the Bodhi tree, Mahākāla approaches him, prostrates at his feet, sits to one side, and offers to give him a vidyā, or “spell,” as a gift. Mahākāla then pronounces his vidyā and tells Śākyamuni that it can be used to prevent diseases and ward off potentially harmful spirit beings. The text then concludes with Mahākāla’s promise to Śākyamuni to act as a guardian of temples and maṇḍalas and to protect the Three Jewels.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī of Glorious Mahākāla
- Āryaśrīmahākālanāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་དཔལ་མགོན་པོ་ནག་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa dpal mgon po nag po zhes bya ba’i gzungs
The Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses
ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོའི་གཟུངས་རིམས་ནད་ཐམས་ཅད་ལས་ཐར་བྱེད། · nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar byed
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses is a short work that contains a Mahākāla dhāraṇī recitation practice for removing illness from various parts of the body. The dhāraṇī progresses through a list of body parts, invoking Mahākāla to free each region from illness and disease.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahākāla Dhāraṇī: A Cure for All Diseases and Illnesses
- འཕགས་པ་ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོའི་གཟུངས་རིམས་ནད་ཐམས་ཅད་ལས་ཐར་བར་བྱེད་པ།
- ’phags pa nag po chen po’i gzungs rims nad thams cad las thar bar byed pa
Tibetan translation:
- Prajñāvarman
- Bande Yeshé Dé
The Dhāraṇī of Devī Mahākālī
ལྷ་མོ་ནག་མོ་ཆེན་མོའི་གཟུངས། · lha mo nag mo chen mo’i gzungs
Devīmahākālīnāmadhāraṇī
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of Devī Mahākālī opens at the Bodhi tree in Bodhgayā shortly after the Buddha Śākyamuni has attained perfect awakening. As Śākyamuni sits at the base of the Bodhi tree, Devī Mahākālī circumambulates him three times and offers a vidyā, or “spell,” in homage at the Blessed One’s feet. Śākyamuni then expresses his wish that Mahākālī’s vidyā be used to bind all beings from the highest heaven down through the lowest hell of the desire realms.
Title variants
- mahākālīdhāraṇī
- nag mo chen mo’i gzungs/
The Essence of Aparimitāyus
ཚེ་དཔག་མེད་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ། · tshe dpag med kyi snying po
Summary
This extremely brief text provides a mantra of the Buddha Aparimitāyus, thus seeming to confirm its existence as a mantra on its own as well as being part of the dhāraṇī contained in the most widely used version of The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra.
Title variants
- ’phags pa tshe dpag med kyi snying po
- tshe dpag med kyi yang snying
The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra (1)
ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་མདོ། · tshe dang ye shes dpag tu med pa’i mdo
Aparimitāyurjñānasūtra
Summary
The Buddha, while at the Jetavana in Śrāvastī, tells Mañjuśrī of a buddha realm far above the world, in which lives the Buddha Aparimitāyurjñāna. He states that those who recite, write, hear, and so on, the praise of this buddha, or make offerings to this text, will have numerous benefits, including a long life and a good rebirth. As vast numbers of buddhas recite it, the mantra, or dhāraṇī, of this buddha is repeated numerous times. This is the best known of the two versions of this sūtra in the Kangyur.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra of Aparimitāyurjñāna
- Āryāparimitāyurjñānanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa tshe dang ye shes dpag tu med pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Aparimitāyurjñānamahāyānasūtra
- ཚེ་གཟུངས།
- ཚེ་མདོ།
- tshe gzungs
- tshe mdo
Tibetan translation:
- Patsap Nyima Drak [?]
The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra (2)
ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་མདོ། · tshe dang ye shes dpag tu med pa’i mdo
Aparimitāyurjñānasūtra
Summary
The Buddha, while at the Jetavana in Śrāvastī, tells Mañjuśrī of a buddha realm far above the world, in which lives the Buddha Aparimitāyurjñāna. He states that those who recite, write, hear, and so on, the praise of this buddha, or make offerings to this text, will have numerous benefits, including a long life and a good rebirth. As vast numbers of buddhas recite it, the mantra, or dhāraṇī, of this buddha is repeated numerous times. This is the lesser known of the two versions of this sūtra in the Kangyur, but possibly represents the earlier translation.
Title variants
- The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra of Aparimitāyurjñāna
- Āryāparimitāyurjñānanāmamahāyānasūtra
- འཕགས་པ་ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
- ’phags pa tshe dang ye shes dpag tu med pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
- Aparimitāyurjñānamahāyānasūtra
- āryāparimitāyurjñānanāmamahāyānasūtra
Tibetan translation:
The Dhāraṇī “Essence of Immeasurable Longevity and Wisdom”
ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས། · tshe dang ye shes dpag tu med pa’i snying po’i gzungs
Aparimitāyurjñānahṛdayadhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī “Essence of Immeasurable Longevity and Wisdom” opens at a pool by the Ganges, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with five hundred monks and a great saṅgha of bodhisattvas. The Buddha begins with a short set of verses on the Buddha Aparimitāyus, who dwells in the realm of Sukhāvatī, telling the gathering that anyone who recites Aparimitāyus’ name will be reborn in that buddha’s realm. He then provides a unique description of Sukhāvatī, followed by instructions for two practices, related to the text’s dhāraṇī, that can grant rebirth in Sukhāvatī in the next life.
Title variants
- ’phags pa tshe dang ye shes dpag tu med pa’i snying po zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- Āryāparimitāyurjñānahṛdayanāmadhāraṇī
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “Essence of Immeasurable Longevity and Wisdom”
- འཕགས་པ་ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- 阿彌陀鼓音聲王陀羅尼經
- ’chi med rnga sgra’i rgyal po’i mdo
- ’chi med rnga sgra’i rgyal po’i gzungs
- rnga sgra’i rgyal po’i mdo
- The Sūtra [or Dhāraṇī] of [Amṛta-]Dundubhisvara-rāja
- འཆི་མེད་རྔ་སྒྲའི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མདོ།
- འཆི་མེད་རྔ་སྒྲའི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་གཟུངས།
- རྔ་སྒྲའི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མདོ།
The Dhāraṇī Praising the Qualities of the Immeasurable One
ཡོན་ཏན་བསྔགས་པ་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་གཟུངས། · yon tan bsngags pa dpag tu med pa’i gzungs
Aparimitaguṇānuśāṁsadhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī that Praises the Qualities of the Immeasurable One contains a short dhāraṇī mantra praising the tathāgata Amitābha and brief instructions on the benefits that result from its recitation.
Title variants
- ’phags pa yon tan bsngags pa dpag tu med pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- འཕགས་པ་ཡོན་ཏན་བསྔགས་པ་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- Āryāparimitaguṇānuśāṁsanāmadhāraṇī
- Noble Dhāraṇī Praising the Qualities of the Immeasurable One
The Sovereign Ritual of Amoghapāśa
དོན་ཡོད་པའི་ཞགས་པའི་ཆོ་ག་ཞིབ་མོའི་རྒྱལ་པོ། · don yod pa’i zhags pa’i cho ga zhib mo’i rgyal po
Amoghapāśakalparāja
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Amoghapāśakalparāja is an early Kriyātantra of the lotus family. Historically, it is the main and largest compendium and manual of rites dedicated to Amoghapāśa, one of Avalokiteśvara’s principal emanations, who is named after and distinguished by his “unfailing noose” (amoghapāśa). The text is primarily soteriological, with an emphasis on the general Mahāyāna values of compassion and loving kindness for all beings. It offers many interesting insights into early Buddhist ritual and the development of its terminology.
Title variants
- The Noble Sovereign Ritual of Amoghapāśa
- Āryāmoghapāśakalparāja
- འཕགས་པ་དོན་ཡོད་པའི་ཞགས་པའི་ཆོ་ག་ཞིབ་མོའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- ’phags pa don yod pa’i zhags pa’i cho ga zhib mo’i rgyal po
- Amoghapāśakalpa
- 《不空羂索神變真言經》
- don yod zhags pa’i cho ga zhib mo’i rgyal po
Tibetan translation:
- Chödrak Pel Sangpo
- Rinchen Drup
The Dhāraṇī “The Mother of Avalokiteśvara”
སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ཡུམ་གི་གཟུངས། · spyan ras gzigs yum gyi gzungs
Avalokiteśvaramātādhāraṇī
Summary
In this short sūtra, the bodhisattva Samantabhadra asks the Buddha to reveal The Mother of Avalokiteśvara, a powerful dhāraṇī that helps practitioners progress on the path to awakening. The Buddha grants his request and relates how he had himself received the dhāraṇī. Samantabhadra then speaks the dhāraṇī, after which the Buddha states its benefits.
Title variants
- ’phags pa spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug gi yum zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- Āryāvalokiteśvaramātānāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག་གི་ཡུམ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Mother of Avalokiteśvara”
Tibetan translation:
- Jinamitra
- Dānaśīla
- Bandé Yeshé De
The Tantra on the Origin of All Rites of Tārā, Mother of All the Tathāgatas
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡུམ་སྒྲོལ་མ་ལས་སྣ་ཚོགས་འབྱུང་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱུད། · de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi yum sgrol ma las sna tshogs ’byung ba zhes bya ba’i rgyud
Sarvatathāgatamātṛtārāviśvakarmabhavatantranāma
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
In this scripture of the Action Tantra genre, the Buddha gives instructions to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī on the rituals and mantras associated with the goddess Tārā. The tantra includes a description of Tārā, a nine-deity maṇḍala and related initiations, and a litany of ritual practices associated with the four activities.
Title variants
- The Tantra on the Origin of All Rites of Blessed Lady Tārā
- bcom ldan ’das ma sgrol ma’i rgyud las sna tshogs bstan pa
- བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མའི་རྒྱུད་ལས་སྣ་ཚོགས་བསྟན་པ།
Tibetan translation:
- Chökyi Sangpo
- Dharmaśrīmitra
The Hundred and Eight Names of the Goddess Tārā
ལྷ་མོ་སྒྲོལ་མའི་མཚན་བརྒྱ་རྩ་བརྒྱད་པ། · lha mo sgrol ma’i mtshan brgya rtsa brgyad pa
Tārādevīnāmāṣṭaśataka
Summary
In this sūtra, the goddess Tārā recites a dhāraṇī before an assembly of gods, asuras, and spirits of various types, which brings them peace and stills their speech. The assembled beings then sing praise for Tārā in the form of one hundred and eight epithets of the goddess. Tārā gives a pithy teaching on the importance of seeking liberation and on the right attitude needed for this endeavor. Finally, the goddess gives encouragement and extols the power of the dhāraṇī.
Title variants
- The Hundred and Eight Names of the Goddess Tārā with a Lovely Face
- ལྷ་མོ་སྒྲོལ་མ་ཞལ་བཟང་བའི་མིང་བརྒྱ་རྩ་བརྒྱད་པ།
- lha mo sgrol ma zhal bzang ba’i ming brgya rtsa brgyad pa
- lha mo sgrol ma’i mtshan brgya rtsa brgyad pa zhes bya ba
The Dhāraṇī of Tārā
སྒྲོལ་མའི་གཟུངས། · sgrol ma’i gzungs
Tārādhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of Tārā is a short dhāraṇī that invokes the goddess Tārā, seeking her intervention in the face of obstacles and negative forces.
Title variants
- འཕགས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags ma sgrol ma’i gzungs
- The Noble Dhāraṇī of Tārā
- Āryatārādhāraṇī
The Dhāraṇī “Tārā’s Own Promise”
སྒྲོལ་མ་རང་གིས་དམ་བཅས་པའི་གཟུངས། · sgrol ma rang gis dam bcas pa’i gzungs
Tārāsvapratijñādhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī “Tārā’s Own Promise” is a short dhāraṇī invoking the goddess Tārā.
Title variants
- འཕགས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མ་རང་གིས་དམ་བཅས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags ma sgrol ma rang gis dam bcas pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “Tārā’s Own Promise”
- Āryatārāsvapratijñānāmadhāraṇī
Tārā Who Protects from the Eight Dangers
སྒྲོལ་མ་འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད་ལས་སྐྱོབ་པ། · sgrol ma ’jigs pa brgyad las skyob pa
*Tārāṣṭaghoratāraṇī
Summary
In this sūtra, the goddess Tārā warns the gods of the desire realm about the miseries of saṃsāra and offers a pithy Dharma teaching to free them from harm. Tārā begins by vividly portraying the various kinds of suffering endured by beings in each of the six realms of saṃsāra and then points out the futility of reciting mantras without maintaining pure conduct. She goes on to encourage the listeners to engage in virtue, which puts an end to saṃsāra, and she bestows on them a dhāraṇī that will help them to achieve this goal, a praise of her qualities, and a request for her divine protection that they should recite. Finally, she enjoins the audience to read and practice the teaching and share it with others.
Title variants
- ’phags ma sgrol ma ’jigs pa brgyad las skyob pa’i mdo
- The Noble Sūtra “Tārā Who Protects from the Eight Dangers”
- *Āryatārāṣṭaghoratāraṇīsūtra
- འཕགས་མ་སྒྲོལ་མ་འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད་ལས་སྐྱོབ་པའི་མདོ།
The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī
རི་ཁྲོད་ལོ་མ་གྱོན་མའི་གཟུངས། · ri khrod lo ma gyon ma’i gzungs
Parṇaśavarīdhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī is a short dhāraṇī dedicated to the piśācī Parṇaśavarī, who is renowned in Buddhist lore for her power to cure disease, avert epidemics, pacify strife, and otherwise protect those who recite her dhāraṇī from any obstacles they may face.
Title variants
- འཕགས་མ་རི་ཁྲོད་ལོ་མ་གྱོན་མ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags ma ri khrod lo ma gyon ma zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- The Noble Dhāraṇī of Parṇaśavarī
- Āryaparṇaśavarīnāmadhāraṇī
- ri khrod lo ma gyon ma’i gzungs/
- parṇaśabarīdhāraṇī
- ’phags ma ri khrod lo ma gyon pa’i gzungs/
- āryaparṇaśabaridhāraṇī
In Praise of the Glorious Goddess Sarasvatī
དཔལ་ལྷ་མོ་སྒྲ་དབྱངས་ལ་བསྟོད་པ། · dpal lha mo sgra dbyangs la bstod pa
Summary
In Praise of the Glorious Goddess Sarasvatī presents a series of lyrical verses in praise of the deity Sarasvatī, the patron goddess of spoken and written eloquence. With evocative imagery and inspiring language, the praise pays tribute to Sarasvatī’s unimpeded speech, memory, and knowledge, and to her physical majesty and compassionate nature. The praise includes petitions requesting Sarasvatī to grant the devotee a level of eloquence and learning equal to that of the goddess herself. In the tradition of the Great Vehicle, the praise aligns the attainments of eloquent speech, strong memory, and great learning with the intention to use them for the benefit of other beings.
Title variants
- dpal lha mo sgra dbyangs la bstod pa
- དཔལ་ལྷ་མོ་སྒྲ་དབྱངས་ལ་བསྟོད་པ།
The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations”
ལས་ཀྱི་སྒྲིབ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་རྣམ་པར་སྦྱོང་བའི་གཟུངས། · las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong ba’i gzungs
Sarvakarmāvaraṇaviśodhanīnāmadhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations” is a relatively brief text consisting of a short dhāraṇī and a passage about its applications and benefits. Most applications have to do with death and funerary rituals, as the text provides many methods to aid the departed toward a favorable rebirth.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “Purifying All Karmic Obscurations”
- Āryasarvakarmāvaraṇaviśodhanīnāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་ལས་ཀྱི་སྒྲིབ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་རྣམ་པར་སྦྱོང་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa las kyi sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sbyong ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- las sgrib pa rnam par sel ba
- ལས་སྒྲིབ་པ་རྣམ་པར་སེལ་བ།
The Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra
འབྱུང་པོ་འདུལ་བའི་རྒྱུད། · ’byung po ’dul ba’i rgyud
Bhūtaḍāmaratantram
Summary
The Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra is a Buddhist esoteric manual on magic and exorcism. The instructions on ritual practices that constitute its main subject matter are intended to give the practitioner mastery over worldly divinities and spirits. Since the ultimate controller of such beings is Vajrapāṇi in his form of Bhūtaḍāmara, the “Tamer of Spirits,” it is Vajrapāṇi himself who delivers this tantra in response to a request from Śiva. Notwithstanding this esoteric origin, this tantra was compiled anonymously around the seventh or eighth century ᴄᴇ, introducing for the first time the cult of its titular deity. Apart from a few short ritual manuals (sādhana), this tantra remains the only major work dedicated solely to Bhūtaḍāmara.
Title variants
- འབྱུང་པོ་འདུལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།
- ’byung po ’dul ba zhes bya ba’i rgyud kyi rgyal po chen po
- The Great Sovereign Bhūtaḍāmara Tantra
- Bhūtaḍāmaramahātantrarājaḥ
- bhūtaḍāmaramahātantrarājanāma
Tibetan translation:
- Buddhākaravarma
- Chökyi Sherab
Vajra Conqueror
རྡོ་རྗེ་རྣམ་པར་འཇོམས་པ། · rdo rje rnam par ’joms pa
Vajravidāraṇa
Summary
In this concise text, Vajrapāṇi, through the power and blessings of the Buddha and all bodhisattvas, proclaims a series of powerful dhāraṇī-mantras. The text concludes with verses on the benefits of the dhāraṇī and a simple ablution ritual.
Title variants
- The Dhāraṇī “Vajra Conqueror”
- Vajravidāraṇānāmadhāraṇī
- རྡོ་རྗེ་རྣམ་པར་འཇོམས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- rdo rje rnam par ’joms pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- rdo rjes rnam par ’joms pa zhes bya ba’i gzungs
- 《金剛摧破陀羅尼》（大藏經：《佛說壞相金剛陀羅尼經》）
The Tantra of Subāhu’s Questions
དཔུང་བཟང་གིས་ཞུས་པའི་རྒྱུད། · dpung bzang gis zhus pa’i rgyud
Subāhuparipṛcchātantra
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Tantra of Subāhu’s Questions is a Kriyātantra scripture that presents a series of practices and rites that can be employed in diverse Buddhist ritual contexts, rather than for a specific deity or maṇḍala. The tantra records a conversation between the Buddhist deity Vajrapāṇi and the layman Subāhu, whose questions prompt Vajrapāṇi to share a wealth of instructions on ritual practices primarily intended to bring about the accomplishment of worldly goals. The rites described in The Tantra of Subāhu’s Questions address concerns about health, spirit possession, the accumulation of wealth and prosperity, and warding off destabilizing and obstructing forces. Special attention is given to rites for animating corpses and using spirits and spirit mediums for divination purposes. Despite the generally worldly applications for the rites explained to Subāhu, Vajrapāṇi is careful to establish the Mahāyāna orientation that must frame them: the quest for complete liberation guided by ethical discipline, insight into the faults of saṃsāra, and the motivation to alleviate the suffering of other beings and assist them in reaching awakening.
Title variants
- The Noble Tantra “Subāhu’s Questions”
- Āryasubāhuparipṛcchānāmatantra
- ’phags pa dpung bzang gis zhus pa zhes bya ba’i rgyud
- འཕགས་པ་དཔུང་བཟང་གིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱུད།
- Not to be confused with the sūtra Subāhuparipṛccha (lag bzangs kyis zhus pa), Toh 70.
The Aspiration Prayer from “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm”
སྟོང་ཆེན་མོ་རབ་ཏུ་འཇོམས་པའི་སྨོན་ལམ། · stong chen mo rab tu ’joms pa’i smon lam
Summary
This short text contains a set of verses spoken by the Buddha as he put an end to the epidemic of Vaiśālī, extracted from one of the two main accounts of that episode. The verses call for well-being, especially by invoking the qualities of the Three Jewels and a range of realized beings and eminent gods. The text comprises two passages from the parent work, and of these the first and longest corresponds closely to a well-known Pali text, the Ratana-sutta, widely recited for protection and blessings.
Title variants
- སྟོང་ཆེན་མོ་རབ་ཏུ་འཇོམས་པ་ལས་གསུངས་པའི་སྨོན་ལམ།
- stong chen mo rab tu ’joms pa las gsungs pa’i smon lam
- The Aspiration Prayer from the Words Spoken in “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm”
The Threefold Invocation Ritual
སྤྱན་འདྲེན་རྒྱུད་གསུམ་པ། · spyan ’dren rgyud gsum pa
Summary
The Threefold Invocation Ritual invokes all the deities of the threefold world that have “entered the path of compassion” and are “held by the hook of the vidyāmantra” to gather, pay heed to the person reciting this text (or the person for whom it is recited), and bear witness to the proclamation of that person’s commitment to the Buddhist teachings. A profound aspiration to practice ten aspects of a bodhisattva’s activity is then followed by a dedication and a prayer for the teachings.
The Threefold Ritual
རྒྱུད་གསུམ་པ། · rgyud gsum pa
Summary
The Threefold Ritual contains a short liturgy for invoking the pantheon of worldly deities, inviting these beings to seize the rare opportunity to listen to the Dharma, and proclaiming the aspiration that all the worldly beings that have gathered to hear the Dharma receive their share of the merit one has generated.
[Untitled Dhāraṇī of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas]
Summary
This short untitled text teaches a dhāraṇī and a rite for its practice.
The Dhāraṇī of Āvaraṇaviṣkambhin
སྒྲིབ་པ་རྣམ་པར་སེལ་བའི་གཟུངས། · sgrib pa rnam par sel ba’i gzungs
Āvaraṇaviṣkambhidhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of Āvaraṇaviṣkambhin presents two short dhāraṇīs that purify evil deeds, ease the dying process, and bring about birth in the heavenly realms.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī of Āvaraṇaviṣkambhin
- Āryāvaraṇaviṣkambhināmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་སྒྲིབ་པ་རྣམ་པར་སེལ་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa sgrib pa rnam par sel ba zhes bya ba’i gzungs
The Dhāraṇī of Vajrapāṇi, the Yakṣa Lord
ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ་གནོད་སྦྱིན་གྱི་བདག་པོའི་གཟུངས། · phyag na rdo rje gnod sbyin gyi bdag po’i gzungs
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of Vajrapāṇi, the Yakṣa Lord is a short work that teaches a vidyāmantra of Vajrakumāra, which is said to repel and avert illness, as well as other malevolent actions perpetrated by a variety of spirits and enemies, and to grant protection to the individual who recites or wears it.
A Mantra for Incanting Medicines, Extracted from “Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm”
སྟོང་ཆེན་མོ་ནས་ཕྱུང་བ་སྨན་ལ་སྔགས་ཀྱི་གདབ་པ། · stong chen mo nas phyung ba sman la sngags kyi gdab pa
Summary
This text consists of a short mantra for incanting medicines that has been extracted from Destroyer of the Great Trichiliocosm (Toh 558).?
The Dhāraṇī of the Supreme Stem Ornament
སྡོང་པོ་རྒྱན་གྱི་མཆོག་གི་གཟུངས། · sdong po rgyan gyi mchog gi gzungs
Gaṇyālaṃkārāgradhāraṇī
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of the Supreme Stem Ornament is a short work that includes several prayers for protection, each of which is followed by an essence-mantra.
Title variants
- The Noble Dhāraṇī “The Supreme Stem Ornament”
- Āryagaṇyālaṃkārāgranāmadhāraṇī
- འཕགས་པ་སྡོང་པོ་རྒྱན་གྱི་མཆོག་ཅེས་བྱ་བའི་གཟུངས།
- ’phags pa sdong po rgyan gyi mchog ces bya ba’i gzungs
Praising the Lady Who Rules Disease
ནད་ཀྱི་བདག་མོ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ། · nad kyi bdag mo la bstod pa
Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra.
Practitioners who are not sure if they should read translations in this section are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage.
The responsibility for reading these texts or sharing them with others—and hence the consequences—lies in the hands of readers.
Summary
Praising the Lady Who Rules Disease, or, as it is alternatively titled, Eight Verses Praising Śrīdevī Mahākālī, is a short praise to the Dharma protector Śrīdevī Mahākālī. The text is included in the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs section of the Degé Kangyur as well as in the Tantra section of the Degé Tengyur.
Title variants
- Eight Verses Praising Śrīdevī Mahākālī
- Śrīmahākālīdevīstotrāṣṭaka
- དཔལ་ལྷ་མོ་ནག་མོ་ཆེན་མོ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ་བརྒྱད་པ།
- dpal lha mo nag mo chen mo la bstod pa brgyad pa
- Śrīmahākālīdevīstotrāṣṭakanāma
- དཔལ་ལྷ་མོ་ནག་མོ་ཆེན་མོ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ་བརྒྱད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ།
- dpal lha mo nag mo chen mo la bstod pa brgyad pa zhes bya ba
In Praise of the Goddess Revatī
ལྷ་མོ་ནམ་གྲུ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ། · lha mo nam gru la bstod pa
Summary
In Praise of the Goddess Revatī includes a short praise to the goddess Revatī along with a dhāraṇī extracted from The Great Tantra of Supreme Knowledge (Toh 746). The praise itself is just a few lines long and addresses Revatī’s characteristics—her body is said to be made of gems and precious substances—and her familial lineage.
The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines
འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་འབུམ་པ་དང་། ཉི་ཁྲི་ལྔ་སྟོང་པ་དང་། ཁྲི་བརྒྱད་སྟོང་པའི་རྒྱ་ཆེར་བཤད་པ། · ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa ’bum pa dang / nyi khri lnga stong pa dang / khri brgyad stong pa rgya cher bshad pa
*Āryaśatasāhasrikāpañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitābṛhaṭṭīkā
Summary
The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines is a detailed explanation of the Long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras, presenting a structural framework for them that is relatively easy to understand in comparison to most other commentaries based on Maitreya-Asaṅga’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations. After a detailed, word-by-word explanation of the introductory chapter common to all three sūtras, it explains the structure they also all share in terms of the three approaches or “gateways”—brief, intermediate, and detailed—ending with an explanation of the passage known as the “Maitreya chapter” found only in the Eighteen Thousand Line and Twenty-Five Thousand Line sūtras. It goes by many different titles, and its authorship has never been conclusively determined, some Tibetans believing it to be by Vasubandhu, and others that it is by Daṃṣṭrāsena.
Title variants
- Well-Trodden Path
- The Long Explanation
- [Commentary on] All Three Mothers [Scriptures That Is a] Destroyer of Harms / Long [Commentary That Is a] Destroyer of Harms [c.f. Toh 3807]
- Commentary on the Scripture
- Paddhati
- Bṛhaṭṭīkā
- gzhung ’grel
- ཡུམ་གསུམ་གནོད་འཇོམས། གནོད་འཇོམས་ཆེ་བ།
- yum gsum gnod ’joms/ gnod ’joms che ba
Tibetan translation:
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
An Explanation of The Noble Sūtra on the Four Factors
འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་བཞི་པའི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ། · ’phags pa chos bzhi pa’i rnam par bshad pa
*Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyāna
Summary
This short commentary, ascribed to Vasubandhu, explains The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors (Āryacaturdharmakanāmamahāyānasūtra, Toh 251), a discourse on a set of four factors of the path of a bodhisattva: the thought of awakening, the spiritual friend, the twin qualities of tolerance and lenience, and dwelling in the forest. The commentary proposes various reasons for the sūtra’s composition and explains why it refers to bodhisattvas as followers of the Great Vehicle. It also specifies the four factors, which obstructive elements these factors overcome, which beneficial elements they support, and why śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are not called bodhisattvas.
The Third Well-Spoken Branch: An Exact Account of How All the Victorious One’s Teachings Extant Today in the Land of Snow Mountains Were Put into Print
གསུམ་པ་རྒྱལ་བའི་གསུང་རབ་གངས་རིའི་ཁྲོད་དུ་དེང་སང་ཇི་ཙམ་སྣང་བ་པར་དུ་བསྒྲུབས་པའི་བྱུང་བ་དངོས་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པའི་ཡལ་འདབ། · gsum pa rgyal ba’i gsung rab gangs ri’i khrod du deng sang ji tsam snang ba par du bsgrubs pa’i byung ba dngos legs par bshad pa’i yal ’dab
Summary
This is the third chapter of the Degé Kangyur Catalog, which describes the publication history of the Degé Kangyur. Authored by the Degé Kangyur’s main editor, Situ Paṇchen Chökyi Jungné, at the conclusion of the five-year project in 1733, it is a document rich in historical detail. First it covers the history of the Degé region and the royal family of Degé. Then it offers extensive praise for the qualities of Tenpa Tsering, the king of Degé and throne holder of Lhundrup Teng Monastery, who was the project’s main sponsor. After that is an erudite history of previous collections of translated Buddhist scriptures in Tibet since the time of the earliest translations during the Tibetan imperial period, and finally it describes the editorial process and practical challenges involved in producing a xylograph Kangyur of such quality.
Title variants
- gsum pa rgyal ba’i gsung rab gangs ri’i khrod du deng sang ji tsam snang ba par du bsgrubs pa’i byung ba dngos legs par bshad pa’i yal ’dab/ sde dge’i bka’ ’gyur dkar chag
- གསུམ་པ་རྒྱལ་བའི་གསུང་རབ་གངས་རིའི་ཁྲོད་དུ་དེང་སང་ཇི་ཙམ་སྣང་བ་པར་དུ་བསྒྲུབས་པའི་བྱུང་བ་དངོས་ལེགས་པར་བཤད་པའི་ཡལ་འདབ། སྡེ་དགེའི་བཀའ་འགྱུར་དཀར་ཆག
- The Third Well-Spoken Branch: An Exact Account of How All the Victorious One’s Teachings Extant Today in the Land of Snow Mountains Were Put into Print
- Chapter 3 of the Catalog of the Degé Kangyur
- Degé Kangyur Catalog
- 德格版甘珠爾經文目錄：第三章 有關耆那（佛陀）之教法的出版歷史的解釋