The Gold Sūtra
Acknowledgements

Toh 125
Degé Kangyur, vol. 54 (mdo sde, tha), folio 239.a
Translated by the Sakya Pandita Translation Group
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2021
Current version v 1.1.7 (2023)
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Table of Contents
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.
Acknowledgements
This sūtra was translated from Tibetan into English by Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen and Chodrungma Kunga Chodron. It was then edited and introduced by the 84000 editorial team.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Introduction
The Gold Sūtra presents a very brief but meaningful teaching on the mind of awakening, the aspiration to attain the unsurpassed and perfect awakening of a buddha for the benefit of all beings. It consists of the Buddha’s answer to a single question posed by Venerable Ānanda about how the mind of awakening should be viewed. The Buddha declares that the mind of awakening is like gold because it is pure, and he gives the analogy that just as a smith may shape gold into various forms, yet the nature of the gold itself does not change, so too the mind of awakening appears with various unique attributes, yet the nature of the mind of awakening itself does not change. The Buddha then proclaims a single four-line verse that succinctly articulates the nature of the mind of awakening and the way to practice it.
As far as we can tell, no Sanskrit or Chinese version of The Gold Sūtra exists. As there is no colophon at the end of the sūtra, we have no information on when or by whom it was translated into Tibetan. The sūtra is not listed in either of the two inventories of translations completed during the early, imperial period, and it appears to be found only in Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line of transmission. There is a recent English translation of the sūtra, along with helpful notes, in Peter Skilling’s 2021 anthology Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras.1
The present translation is based on the version in the Degé (sde dge) Kangyur, with reference to the Comparative Edition (dpe sdur ma).
The Translation
Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Jetavana, in the Park of Anāthapiṇḍada. At that time the venerable Ānanda asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, how should the mind of awakening be viewed?”
The Blessed One replied, “Venerable Ānanda, the mind of awakening should be viewed as being in nature like gold. Just as gold is pure by nature, so the mind of awakening is pure by nature. Just as a smith shapes gold into a multiplicity of forms, yet the nature of the gold does not change, although the mind of awakening may appear to have a variety of unique attributes, ultimately these never waver from the mind of awakening. Therefore, its nature does not change.”
Then the Blessed One proclaimed the following verse:
The Blessed One spoke thus, and Venerable Ānanda, the entire retinue, and the world together with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised what the Blessed One had said.
This completes the noble Great Vehicle sūtra “The Gold Sūtra.”
Bibliography
gser gyi mdo (Suvarṇasūtra). Toh 125, Degé Kangyur vol. 54 (mdo sde, tha), folio 239.a.
gser gyi mdo. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 54, 758–59.
Skilling, Peter. Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras. Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2021.
Glossary
Types of attestation for Sanskrit names and terms
Attested in source text
This term is attested in the Sanskrit manuscript used as a source for this translation.
Attested in other text
This term is attested in other Sanskrit manuscripts of the Kangyur or Tengyur.
Attested in dictionary
This term is attested in Tibetan-Sanskrit dictionaries.
Approximate attestation
The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names where Tibetan-Sanskrit relationship is attested in dictionaries or other manuscripts.
Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.
Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.
Source Unspecified
This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.
Ānanda
- kun dga’ bo
- ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།
- ānanda
Anāthapiṇḍada
- mgon med zas sbyin
- མགོན་མེད་ཟས་སྦྱིན།
- anāthapiṇḍada
asura
- lha ma yin
- ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
- asura
blessed one
- bcom ldan ’das
- བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
- bhagavat
gandharva
- dri za
- དྲི་ཟ།
- gandharva
Jetavana
- rgyal bu rgyal byed kyi tshal
- རྒྱལ་བུ་རྒྱལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཚལ།
- jetavana
mind of awakening
- byang chub kyi sems
- བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས།
- bodhicitta