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: 12 | Total Pages: 51 |
Published Translations Filtered by: Sūtras for Beginners
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 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 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”
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
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 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 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 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)
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 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