ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་དད་པ་རབ་ཏུ་སྒོམ་པ།
Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle
Mahāyānaprasādaprabhāvana
འཕགས་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་དད་པ་རབ་ཏུ་སྒོམ་པ་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
’phags pa theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle”
Āryamahāyānaprasādaprabhāvananāmamahāyānasūtra

Toh 144
Degé Kangyur, vol. 57 (mdo sde, pa), folios 6.b–34.a.
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
First published 2020
Current version v 1.0.9 (2021)
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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.
Acknowledgements
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the guidance of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Andreas Doctor, who also wrote the introduction. Thomas Doctor, Catherine Dalton, and Ryan Damron subsequently compared the draft translation with the original Tibetan and edited it.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Colophon
It was clarified, written down, and finalized by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla, the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé, and others.
Notes
Bibliography
’phags pa theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryamahāyānaprasādaprabhāvananāmamahāyānasūtra). Toh 144, Degé Kangyur vol. 57 (mdo sde, pa), folios 6.b–34.a.
’phags pa theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i 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), 2006–2009, vol. 57, pp. 20–85.
’phags pa theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. Stok no. 228, Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 74 (mdo sde, ’a), folios 58.b–98.a.
dkar chag ’phang thang ma. Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Asaṅga. Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching (Philosophy). Translated by Walpola Rahula and Sara Boin-Webb. Fremont, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 2001.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan [/ lhan] dkar gyi chos ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
Skilling, Peter. “Vasubandhu and the Vyākhyāyukti Literature.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 23, no. 2 (2000): 297–350.
Glossary
Absence of characteristics
- mtshan ma med pa
- མཚན་མ་མེད་པ།
- animitta
One of the three gateways to liberation along with emptiness and absence of wishes.
Absence of wishes
- smon pa med pa
- སྨོན་པ་མེད་པ།
- apraṇihita
One of the three gateways to liberation along with emptiness and absence of characteristics.
Acting with Trust
- dad pas rab du ’jug pa
- དད་པས་རབ་དུ་འཇུག་པ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Aggregates
- phung po
- ཕུང་པོ།
- skandha
The fivefold basic grouping of the components out of which the world and the personal self are formed.
Always Following Trust
- rtag tu dad pa’i rjes ’brang
- རྟག་ཏུ་དད་པའི་རྗེས་འབྲང་།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Ānanda
- kun dga’ bo
- ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།
- Ānanda
Attendant of the Buddha and the one who is said to have memorized the sūtras.
Asura
- lha ma yin
- ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
- asura
The traditional adversaries of the devas (gods) who are frequently portrayed in brahmanical mythology as having a disruptive effect on cosmological and social harmony.
Brahmā
- tshangs pa
- ཚངས་པ།
- Brahmā
A high-ranking deity presiding over a divine world where other beings consider him the creator; he is also considered to be the “Lord of the Sahā world” (our universe).
Clear Trust
- dad pa gsal
- དད་པ་གསལ།
- —
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Concentration
- bsam gtan
- བསམ་གཏན།
- dhyāna
One of the six perfections.
Destroying Doubt regarding Trust
- dad pa la yid gnyis rnam par ’jom pa
- དད་པ་ལ་ཡིད་གཉིས་རྣམ་པར་འཇོམ་པ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Dharma body
- chos kyi sku
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ།
- dharmakāya
One of three “bodies” manifested by the buddhas.
Diligence
- brtson ’grus
- བརྩོན་འགྲུས།
- vīrya
One of the six perfections.
Discipline
- tshul khrims
- ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།
- śīla
One of the six perfections.
Emptiness
- stong pa nyid
- སྟོང་པ་ཉིད།
- śūnyatā
One of the three gateways to liberation along with absence of characteristics and absence of wishes.
Establishing Trust
- dad pa rab tu ’jog byed
- དད་པ་རབ་ཏུ་འཇོག་བྱེད།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Even Trust
- dad pa mnyam
- དད་པ་མཉམ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Factors of awakening
- byang chub kyi phyogs kyi chos
- བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་ཆོས།
- bodhipakṣadharma
The set of practices that lead to awakening, traditionally listed as thirty-seven.
Five types of beings
- ’gro ba lnga
- འགྲོ་བ་ལྔ་།
- pañcagati
These comprise the gods and humans of the higher realms within saṃsāra, along with the animals, hungry spirits, and hell beings of the lower realms.
Four Great Kings
- rgyal po chen po bzhi
- རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་བཞི།
- Caturmahārāja
The powerful nonhuman guardian kings of the four quarters—Virūḍhaka, Virūpākṣa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and Vaiśravaṇa—who rule, respectively, over kumbhāṇḍas in the south, nāgas in the west, gandharvas in the east, and yakṣas in the north.
Four states of concentration
- bsam gtan bzhi
- བསམ་གཏན་བཞི།
- caturdhyāna
The four levels of meditative absorption of form realm beings.
Fully Settled in Trust
- dad pa rab gnas
- དད་པ་རབ་གནས།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Gandharva
- dri za
- དྲི་ཟ།
- gandharva
Lower class of divine beings said to dwell in the east, under the jurisdiction of the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Capable of flight, they are often described as “celestial musicians.”
Garuḍa
- nam mkha’ lding
- ནམ་མཁའ་ལྡིང་།
- garuḍa
Lower class of divine beings described as eagle-type birds with gigantic wingspans. They are traditionally enemies of the nāgas. In the Vedas, they are said to have brought nectar from the heavens to earth.
Generosity
- sbyin pa
- སྦྱིན་པ།
- dāna
One of the six perfections.
Genuinely Entering Trust
- dad pa la yang dag par zhugs
- དད་པ་ལ་ཡང་དག་པར་ཞུགས།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Great Skillful Trust
- dad pa thabs chen
- དད་པ་ཐབས་ཆེན།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Great Trust
- dad pa chen po
- དད་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Heaven of Delighting in Emanations
- ’phrul dga’
- འཕྲུལ་དགའ།
- Nirmāṇarati
The fifth of the six heavens of the desire realm.
Heaven of Joy
- dga’ ldan
- དགའ་ལྡན།
- Tuṣita
The fourth of the six heavens of the desire realm. In Buddhist thought it is where all future buddhas dwell prior to their awakening.
Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations
- gzhan ’phrul dbang byed pa
- གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད་པ།
- Paranirmitavaśavartin
The sixth and highest of the six heavens of the desire realm.
Heaven of the Thirty-Three
- sum cu rtsa gsum
- སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གསུམ།
- Trāyastriṃśa
The second heaven of the desire realm located above Mount Meru and reigned over by Indra and thirty-two other gods.
Hungry spirit
- yi dags
- ཡི་དགས།
- preta
A class of beings who, in the Buddhist tradition, are particularly known to suffer from hunger and thirst and the inability to acquire sustenance.
Immutable Trust
- dad pa mi g.yo
- དད་པ་མི་གཡོ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Increasing Trust
- dad pa rnam par ’phel byed
- དད་པ་རྣམ་པར་འཕེལ་བྱེད།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Insight
- lhag mthong
- ལྷག་མཐོང་།
- vipaśyanā
One of the two primary forms of meditation in Buddhism, the other being tranquility.
Investigating Trust
- dad pa rab tshol
- དད་པ་རབ་ཚོལ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Kāśyapa
- ’od srung
- འོད་སྲུང་།
- Kāśyapa
A previous buddha, the third of this current eon.
Kinnara
- mi’am ci
- མིའམ་ཅི།
- kinnara
A class of semidivine beings that resemble humans to the degree that their very name—which means “Is that a human?”—suggests some confusion as to their divine status.
Knowledge
- shes rab
- ཤེས་རབ།
- prajñā
One of the six perfections.
Leading towards Trust
- dad par ’jug byed
- དད་པར་འཇུག་བྱེད།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Level of devoted engagement
- mos pa spyod pa’i sa
- མོས་པ་སྤྱོད་པའི་ས།
- adhimukticaryābhūmi
An early stage in a bodhisattva’s career during which they have developed a degree of conviction that is not yet informed by direct experience. The level of devoted engagement is said to comprise the first two of the five paths, those of accumulation and preparation, which lead up to the path of seeing. This level is also presented as the second of seven spiritual levels in the Bodhisattvabhūmi, which follows the initial level of the spiritual potential (gotrabhūmi).
Limit of reality
- yang dag pa’i mtha’
- ཡང་དག་པའི་མཐའ།
- bhūtakoṭi
A synonym for ultimate truth and a way of describing the attainment of perfection as the culmination of the spiritual path.
Mahākāśyapa
- ’od srung chen po
- འོད་སྲུང་ཆེན་པོ།
- Mahākāśyapa
One of the principal students of the Buddha.
Mahoraga
- lto ’phye chen po
- ལྟོ་འཕྱེ་ཆེན་པོ།
- mahoraga
A class of nonhuman, snake-like beings.
Māra
- bdud
- བདུད།
- Māra
The demon opposing the Buddha’s teaching; in the plural (“māras”) it denotes all such nonhuman beings.
Nāga
- klu
- ཀླུ།
- nāga
A semidivine class of beings who live in subterranean aquatic environments and who are known to hoard wealth and esoteric teachings. They are associated with snakes and serpents.
Patience
- bzod pa
- བཟོད་པ།
- kṣānti
One of the six perfections.
Peak of existence
- srid pa’i rtse mo
- སྲིད་པའི་རྩེ་མོ།
- bhavāgra
Refers to the realm of neither notion nor no notion, since it is the highest level in saṃsāra.
Perfection
- pha rol tu phyin pa
- ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།
- pāramitā
The trainings of the bodhisattvas, typically understood as the six trainings in generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and knowledge.
Rājagṛha
- rgyal po’i khab
- རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁབ།
- Rājagṛha
The ancient capital of Magadha; the site where many Great Vehicle sūtras take place.
Realm of neither notion nor no notion
- ’du shes med ’du shes med min
- འདུ་ཤེས་མེད་འདུ་ཤེས་མེད་མིན།
- naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñā
The highest of the four formless realms, so termed because conceptions there are weak but not entirely absent.
Realm of phenomena
- chos kyi dbyings
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས།
- dharmadhātu
The “sphere of dharmas,” a synonym for the nature of things.
Searching for the Vessel of Trust
- dad pa’i snod yongs su tshol
- དད་པའི་སྣོད་ཡོངས་སུ་ཚོལ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Seven precious substances
- rin po che sna bdun
- རིན་པོ་ཆེ་སྣ་བདུན།
- saptaratna
The list of seven precious materials varies. They can be gold, silver, turquoise, coral, pearl, emerald, and sapphire; or they may be ruby, sapphire, beryl, emerald, diamond, pearls, and coral.
Stainless Trust
- dad pa dri ma med pa
- དད་པ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Suchness
- de bzhin nyid
- དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད།
- tathatā
The quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms.
Teaching Trust
- dad pa ston pa
- དད་པ་སྟོན་པ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Training in Trust
- dad pa rnam par sbyong
- དད་པ་རྣམ་པར་སྦྱོང་།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Tranquility
- zhi gnas
- ཞི་གནས།
- śamatha
One of the two primary forms of meditation in Buddhism, the other being insight.
Undiminished Trust
- dad pa ma nyams
- དད་པ་མ་ཉམས།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
Unwavering Trust
- dad pa mi sgul ba
- དད་པ་མི་སྒུལ་བ།
A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.
View that a person is real
- ’jig tshogs la lta ba
- འཇིག་ཚོགས་ལ་ལྟ་བ།
- satkāyadṛṣṭi
The Tibetan is literally “the view of the destructible collection,” and the Sanskrit is “the view of the existing body.” Both refer to a view that identifies the existence of a self in relation to the five aggregates.
Vipaśyin
- rnam par gzigs
- རྣམ་པར་གཟིགས།
- Vipaśyin
A buddha of a previous eon.
Vulture Peak Mountain
- bya rgod kyi phung po’i ri
- བྱ་རྒོད་ཀྱི་ཕུང་པོའི་རི།
- Gṛdhrakūṭaparvata
The mountain, near to the city of Rājagṛha, where many Great Vehicle teachings were delivered by the Buddha Śākyamuni.
Yakṣa
- gnod sbyin
- གནོད་སྦྱིན།
- yakṣa
A class of supernatural beings said to dwell in the north, under the jurisdiction of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa. Although they are generally portrayed as benevolent, the Tibetan translation means “harm giver,” as they are also capable of causing harm.
Yāma Heaven
- mtshe ma
- མཚེ་མ།
- Yāma
The third of the six heavens of the desire realm. Also known as the Heaven Free from Strife (Tib. ’thab bral).