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ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ།

The Quintessence of the Sun
Acknowledgements

Sūryagarbha

འཕགས་པ་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྡེ་ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ།

’phags pa shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i sde nyi ma’i snying po zhes bya ba’i mdo

The Noble Very Extensive Sūtra “The Quintessence of the Sun”

Āryasūryagarbhanāmamahāvaipulyasūtra

Toh 257

Degé Kangyur, vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 91.b–245.b

Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

First published 2022
Current version v 1.0.6 (2023)
Generated by 84000 Reading Room v2.17.7

84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone.

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co.

Summary

s.1

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.

ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.1

This text was translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. Benjamin Collet-Cassart translated the text from Tibetan into English and wrote the introduction. Andreas Doctor compared the draft translation with the original Tibetan and edited the text.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

The generous sponsorship of Jamyang Sun and Manju Sun, which helped make the work on this translation possible, is most gratefully acknowledged.

Introduction

i.1

The Quintessence of the Sun, which belongs to the General Sūtra section of the Kangyur, is a long and heterogeneous sūtra containing 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.

The Translation

The Noble Very Extensive Sūtra

The Quintessence of the Sun

Chapter One

Protection of the Sacred Dharma

[B1] [F.91.b]

1.1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in the Veṇuvana at the Kalandakanivāpa near Rājagṛha, surrounded and attended by an innumerable, limitless, and indescribable number of bodhisattva great beings who had arrived from countless other buddha realms of the ten directions. He was also surrounded and attended by an innumerable, limitless, and indescribable number of great hearers who had gathered there from different buddha realms of the ten directions. In the same way, an innumerable, limitless, and indescribable number of other beings who had arrived there from the various buddha realms of the ten directions‍—Śakra, Lord Brahmā, the rulers of the gods, the rulers of the nāgas, the rulers of the yakṣas, the rulers of the gandharvas, the rulers of the asuras, the rulers of the garuḍas, the rulers of the kinnaras, and the rulers of the mahoragas‍—filled all the pathways on the ground and in the sky throughout the entire buddha realm of Sahā. There also arrived an innumerable and limitless number of different gods from the desire and form realms, of nāgas, yakṣas, and rākṣasas, and of asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas. Sitting in silence, they looked up at the Blessed One as he revealed how bodhisattva conduct quickly brings perfection and manifests like space and as he gave teachings on the mindfulness of breathing, which is the gateway to immortality, and the sublime states. [F.92.a] They filled all the pathways on the ground and in the sky throughout the entire buddha realm of Sahā.

Chapter Two

The Messengers

2.1

When the Blessed One had begun this discourse with King Bimbisāra on how to protect all those monks who abide by the Dharma, in the eastern direction, beyond countless buddha realms as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges, there was a world called Absence of Torment, where the thus-gone, worthy, perfect Buddha Campaka Color was residing, thriving, living well, and teaching the Dharma. In that buddha realm, the bodhisattva great being named Quintessence of the Sun’s Energy was sitting in the assembly of the blessed thus-gone Campaka Color in order to listen to the Dharma. At one point, as the bodhisattva great being Quintessence of the Sun’s Energy looked upward, he saw in the sky above that innumerable and countless bodhisattva great beings were departing from the east and proceeding toward the west. When he looked toward the west where those bodhisattva great beings were going, he saw a brilliant light. At that moment, he bowed down with his palms joined together in the direction of the Buddha Campaka Color and asked, “Respected Blessed One, I have seen in the sky above that innumerable and countless bodhisattva great beings are departing from the east and proceeding toward the west. I have also seen a brilliant light in the western direction. Why is this so?” [F.107.b]

Chapter Three

The Dhāraṇī Mantras

3.1

When King Bimbisāra saw the unprecedented sight of innumerable and limitless numbers of mahābrahmās, Śakras, Nārāyaṇas, and universal monarchs ruling over the four continents, he was utterly amazed. He stood up and went close to them. Next, together with their retinues, the bodhisattva great beings‍—the four messengers of the buddhas‍—sat down and bowed with their palms joined together in the direction of the thus-gone Śākyamuni. [F.137.a] The bodhisattva great being Quintessence of the Sun’s Energy then tossed garlands of campaka flowers in the direction of the thus-gone Śākyamuni and uttered these verses:

Chapter Four

The Purification of Karmic Actions

4.1

The Blessed One then said to the four messengers and the other bodhisattva great beings, “Noble sons, abide in this buddha realm by your individual virtues!”

4.2

So, together with their retinues, those bodhisattva great beings sat cross-legged in their respective places. Then, those beings who had thoroughly cultivated the absorption of the dhāraṇī of acceptance entered into their respective states of absorption. From the bodies of some of those beings dwelling in equipoise radiated lights like the light emitted by oil lamps. From the bodies of some others radiated lights like the light emitted by trillions of suns and moons.

Chapter Five

The Protection

5.1

Then, together with their respective retinues, all the rulers of the gods, the rulers of the nāgas, the rulers of the yakṣas, the rulers of the asuras, the rulers of the garuḍas, the rulers of the kinnaras, the rulers of the mahoragas, the rulers of the pretas, the rulers of the piśācas, and the rulers of the pūtanas bowed with their palms joined together in the direction of the Blessed One and said, “Respected Blessed One, in all the places where monks, nuns, male and female lay practitioners, or faithful sons or daughters of noble family observe this initial practice of repulsiveness up to the absorption of cessation while contemplating the virtuous factors that have just been described, we shall regard them‍—up to the faithful daughters of noble family‍—together with their retinues as the teachers of their own respective classes. [F.178.b] We shall serve all of them through body, speech, and mind, and we shall ensure that they never lack Dharma robes, alms, bedding, medicine, and requisites. We shall liberate them from the fifteen unsettling dangers. What are those fifteen?54 We shall liberate them from the unsettling dangers related to the body. We shall liberate them from dirt, sticks, weapons, poison, stones, hostile beings, abusive beings, and faithless beings. We shall liberate them from disturbances in the elements. We shall protect those who serve them with offerings of delicious food and beverages, medicine, and requisites. We shall protect all such righteous sponsors, relatives, and benefactors from the unsettling dangers caused by diseases, enemies, bhūtas, and foes. We shall protect them from the unsettling dangers caused by poison, kings, civil war, invasion, and famine. Those are the fifteen unsettling dangers.

Chapter Six

6.1

At that time, [F.183.a] King Bimbisāra, who felt joyful and exhilarated, exclaimed, “Respected Blessed One, this buddha realm of Sahā is filled with bodhisattva great beings who exert themselves in concentration, and it is bathed in a brilliant light that has never been seen or heard of before. This is amazing! Respected Well-Gone One, this is truly amazing! Still, besides this buddha realm and its outer mountain range, nothing else whatsoever appears. Respected Blessed One, if this entire buddha realm of Sahā is perceived due to the light of those bodhisattva great beings, what would the light emitted by the thus-gone ones who have entered into absorption be like? Might we be able to perceive the arrays of qualities of other buddha realms through the light emitted by the Thus-Gone One?”

Chapter Seven

The Presentation of the Conjunctions of the Lunar Mansions

7.1

When the evil Māra saw all these thus-gone ones and retinues in their respective palaces present within the body of the Thus-Gone One, he became extremely unhappy. Dirt emerged from his entire body, and he began to weep out of distress. He started to run to and fro, to leave only to reappear, and to jump up, run and race around, gape, laugh, sigh, lick his mouth, close his eyes, stretch and contract his arms, [F.188.a] rest his head in his hands, and rub his throat and breast. When they saw this, all the sentient beings residing in the abode of Māra were unsettled. They became displeased and unhappy. One māra leader named Celestial Tree questioned the evil Māra with these verses:

Chapter Eight

8.1

Sāgara then said:

8.2

“You remember past lives

Based on the placement of the lunar mansions in the sky.

Wise one, leader of the three realms,

Clear-minded one, glorious being,

8.3

“As an example of your love and compassion,

And in accordance with your affection for everyone,

Please liberate all the nāgas from this place!

Your discipline and observances

8.4

“Are unmatched in the three realms.

You bring satisfaction to all the nāgas.

You are the master of all sages, [F.212.b]

And you are worthy to be worshiped by the humans.

Chapter Nine

The Recollection of the Buddha

9.1

When the evil Māra saw that all the nāgas had taken refuge in the Blessed One, [F.215.a] he became exceedingly distressed and scared, and his body began to shake like the leaves of a jujube tree. Sweating, he raised his two hands and lamented:

9.2

“The nāgas have gone for refuge.

All beings have become deluded

And placed on the path of immortality.

Look at this endless deceit!”

9.3

The daughter of Māra named Free of Darkness said:

10.

Chapter Ten

The Travel to Mount Sumeru

10.1

Then, the Blessed One said to the bodhisattva great being Jyotīrasa, “Noble son, tell me the message of that group of nāgas.”

With a mind devoid of afflictions, Jyotīrasa replied, “Blessed One, it is time for you to come! Blessed One, please perform your deeds!”

10.2

The Blessed One replied, “Noble son, [F.220.a] it is time for the Thus-Gone One to reveal the inconceivable teaching on the nāgas’ karmic action‍—the teaching of purification.”

11.

Chapter Eleven

The Going for Refuge of the Nāgas

11.1

While showering rains of flowers, precious gems, and Dharma robes, playing instruments and drums, and singing melodious songs, all the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, and asuras present there departed from the summit of Mount Sumeru together with the Blessed One. Attended by his saṅgha of hearers and surrounded by his saṅgha of bodhisattvas, the Blessed One then took a seat on the cushions that had been prepared for him at the center of the sacred site of wise sages. To worship the Blessed One, all the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, asuras, and kinnaras showered rains of various ornaments, powders, flowers, and precious gems from the sky. The nāgas also offered the Blessed One different kinds of flowers, perfumes, precious gems, silken clothes, fine fabrics, Dharma robes, and ornaments. They circumambulated him three times, prostrated to his feet, and sat in front of him to listen to the Dharma. The nāga king Sāgara then asked, “Respected Blessed One, what are the deeds through which sentient beings are born as nāgas?”

12.

Conclusion

12.1

Then the elder Ājñātakauṇḍinya said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, please bless the nāgas! Please make this Dharma teaching, which involves the conduct of teaching about the inconceivable karmic action, blaze for a long time!”

12.2

The Blessed One said, “As long as the great stūpas in this four-continent world still contain beings who diligently engage in practice, this Dharma teaching will continue to be practiced on the four continents. What are those great stūpas? Here in Jambudvīpa, many past buddhas, bodhisattvas, solitary buddhas, and hearers have continuously resided at this stūpa‍—the sacred site of wise sages called Complete Support‍—and they will continue to reside here in the future. The perfect buddhas of the past have entrusted this sacred site of wise sages called Complete Support to Varuṇa, to ensure that the great teachings remain for a long time. I also entrust it to him. He will joyfully ripen those persons who abide by the Dharma and diligently engage in practice. He will also protect those donors and benefactors who strive to serve those who abide by the Dharma.”

Colophon

c.1

This was translated by the Indian preceptors Sarvajñadeva, Vidyākaraprabha, and Dharmākara and the translator Bandé Zangkyong. It was then edited and finalized by the translator-editor Bandé Kawa Paltsek.

Notes

n.1

Hoernle 1916, pp. 121–25.

n.2

Peter Alan Roberts, trans., The King of Samādhis Sūtra, Toh 127 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018).

n.3

See Mahamegha Translation Team, trans. The Great Cloud (1), Toh 232.

n.4

Denkarma, folio 297.b; note that the title in the Denkarma is ’phags pa ’dus pa chen po’i sde nyi ma’i snying po The Denkarma is dated to c. 812 ᴄᴇ. In this catalog, The Quintessence of the Sun is included among the “Miscellaneous Mahāyāna Sūtras” (theg pa chen po’i mdo sde sna tshogs) with a length of thirteen sections (bam po). See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, p. 46, no. 81.

n.5

Ed. Bhikkhu Pāsādika 1989, pp. 79–82.

n.6

Cutler 2002, pp. 231–32 and 253.

n.7

Lévi 1905, pp. 256–58; Lévi 1904, pp. 546–47 and 565.

n.8

Kotyk 2017, pp. 58–64; Mak 2015, pp. 64–66.

n.54

Based on the following section of the text, it is unclear what those fifteen dangers are.

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

nyi ma’i snying po (Sūryagarbha). Toh 257, Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 91.b–245.b.

nyi ma’i snying po. 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. 66, pp. 262–616.

nyi ma’i snying po. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 63 (mdo sde, na), folios 161.b–394.b.

glang ru lung bstan pa (Gośṛṅgavyākaraṇa). Toh 357, Degé Kangyur vol. 76 (mdo sde, aH), folios 220.b–232.a. English translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2021. [Full citation listed in secondary sources]

zla ba’i snying po (Candragarbha). Toh 356, Degé Kangyur vol. 76 (mdo sde, aH), folios 216.a–229.b.

snying rje pad+ma dkar po (Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka). Toh 112, Degé Kangyur vol. 50 (mdo sde, cha), folios 129.a–297.b.

ting nge ’dzin gyi rgyal po (Samādhirāja). Toh 127, Degé Kangyur vol. 55 (mdo sde, da), folios 1.b–170.b. English translation in Roberts 2018. [Full citation listed in secondary sources]

sprin chen po (Mahāmegha). Toh 232, Degé Kangyur vol. 64 (mdo sde, wa), folios 113.a–214.b. English translation in Mahamegha Translation Team 2022. [Full citation listed in secondary sources]

blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa (Akṣayamatinirdeśa). Toh 175, Degé Kangyur vol. 60 (mdo sde, ma), folios 79.a–174.b. English translation in Braarvig and Welsh 2020. [Full citation listed in secondary sources]

Nāgārjuna. mdo kun las btus pa (Sūtrasamuccaya). Toh 3934, Degé Tengyur vol. 110 (dbu ma, ki), folios 148.b–215.a. See also Bhikkhu Pāsādika 1989.

Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.

Chomden Rikpai Raltri (bcom ldan rig pa’i ral gri). bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi ’od. In bka’ gdams gsung ’bum phyogs bsgrigs thengs gsum pa, 1:191–266. Chengdu: si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2009. BDRC W1PD153536.

Chinese Sources

Rizang fen 日藏分. Taishō 397-14. (Translation of the Sūryagarbhasūtra by Narendrayaśas [Naliantiyeshe 那連提耶舍]).

Secondary Sources

Bhikkhu Pāsādika, ed. Nāgārjuna’s Sūtrasamuccaya: A Critical Edition of the Mdo kun las btus pa. Fontes Tibetici Havnienses 2. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1989.

Braarvig, Jens. Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra. Vol. 2, The Tradition of Imperishability in Buddhist Thought. Oslo: Solum Forlag, 1993.

Braarvig, Jens, and David Welsh, trans. The Teaching of Akṣayamati (Akṣayamatinirdeśa, Toh 175). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020.

Cutler, Joshua W. C., ed. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Vol. 3. Translated by The Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2002.

Demiéville, Paul. Choix d’études bouddhiques. Leiden: Brill, 1973.

Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga (Gośṛṅgavyākaraṇa, Toh 357). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.

Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.

Hoernle, A. F. Rudolph. Manuscript Remains of Buddhist Literature Found in Eastern Turkestan. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1916.

Kotyk, Jeffrey Theodore. “Buddhist Astrology and Astral Magic in the Tang Dynasty.” PhD diss., Leiden University, 2017.

Lévi, Sylvain (1904). “Notes chinoises sur l’Inde: IV. Le pays de Kharoṣṭra et l’écriture kharoṣṭrī.” Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient 4 (1904): 543–79.

‍—‍—‍—(1905). “Notes chinoises sur l’Inde: V. Quelques documents sur le bouddhisme indien dans l’Asie centrale (première partie).” Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient 5 (1905): 253–305.

Mahamegha Translation Team (2022), trans. The Great Cloud (1) (Mahāmegha, Toh 232). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018.

Mak, Bill M. “Indian Jyotiṣa through the Lens of Chinese Buddhist Canon.” Journal of Oriental Studies 48, no. 1 (June 2015): 1–19.

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Glossary

g.1

Absence of Heat

ma dros pa

མ་དྲོས་པ།

g.2

Absence of marks

mtshan ma med pa

མཚན་མ་མེད་པ།

animitta

g.3

Absence of Torment

yongs su gdung ba med pa

ཡོངས་སུ་གདུང་བ་མེད་པ།

g.5

Absorption

ting nge ’dzin

ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།

samādhi

g.11

Ājñātakauṇḍinya

kun shes kau Di n+ya

ཀུན་ཤེས་ཀཽ་ཌི་ནྱ།

Ājñātakauṇḍinya

g.18

Asura

lha ma yin

ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).

g.24

Bhūta

’byung po

འབྱུང་པོ།

bhūta

g.25

Bimbisāra

gzugs can snying po

གཟུགས་ཅན་སྙིང་པོ།

Bimbisāra

g.32

Brahmā

tshangs pa

ཚངས་པ།

Brahmā

g.37

Buddha realm

sangs rgyas kyi zhing

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་།

buddhakṣetra

g.38

Campaka Color

tsam pa ka’i mdog

ཙམ་པ་ཀའི་མདོག

g.40

Celestial Tree

nam mkha’i shing

ནམ་མཁའི་ཤིང་།

g.45

Complete Support

kun rten

ཀུན་རྟེན།

g.47

Concentration

bsam gtan

བསམ་གཏན།

dhyāna

g.49

Dharmākara

d+harmA ka ra

དྷརྨཱ་ཀ་ར།

Dharmākara

Butön includes the Kashmiri abbot Dharmākara in his list of ninety-three paṇḍitas invited to Tibet to assist in the translation of the Buddhist scriptures. Tāranātha dates Dharmākara to the rule of *Vanapāla, son of Dharmapāla. With Paltsek, he translated two of Kalyāṇamitra’s works on Vinaya, the Vinayapraśnakārikā (’dul ba dri ba’i tshig le’ur byas pa, Toh 4134) and the Vinayapraśnaṭīkā (’dul ba dri ba rgya cher ’grel pa, Toh 4135).

g.59

Element

khams

ཁམས།

dhātu

g.65

Equipoise

mnyam par bzhag pa
mnyam par gzhag pa

མཉམ་པར་བཞག་པ།
མཉམ་པར་གཞག་པ།

samāhita
samāpatti

g.90

Free of Darkness

mun bral

མུན་བྲལ།

g.95

Gandharva

dri za

དྲི་ཟ།

gandharva

g.96

Ganges

gang gA

གང་གཱ།

Gaṅgā

g.97

Garuḍa

nam mkha’ lding

ནམ་མཁའ་ལྡིང་།

garuḍa

g.137

Jambudvīpa

’dzam bu’i gling

འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་།

Jambudvīpa

g.138

Jyotīrasa

skar ma la dga’ ba

སྐར་མ་ལ་དགའ་བ།

Jyotīrasa

g.139

Kalandakanivāpa

ka lan da ka gnas

ཀ་ལན་ད་ཀ་གནས།

Kalandakanivāpa

g.148

Kawa Paltsek

dpal brtsegs

དཔལ་བརྩེགས།

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Paltsek (eighth to early ninth century), from the village of Kawa north of Lhasa, was one of Tibet’s preeminent translators. He was one of the first seven Tibetans to be ordained by Śāntarakṣita and is counted as one of Guru Rinpoche’s twenty-five close disciples. In a famous verse by Ngok Lotsawa Loden Sherab, Kawa Paltsek is named along with Chokro Lui Gyaltsen and Zhang (or Nanam) Yeshé Dé as part of a group of translators whose skills were surpassed only by Vairotsana.

He translated works from a wide variety of genres, including sūtra, śāstra, vinaya, and tantra, and was an author himself. Paltsek was also one of the most important editors of the early period, one of nine translators installed by Trisong Detsen (r. 755–797/800) to supervise the translation of the Tripiṭaka and help catalog translated works for the first two of three imperial catalogs, the Denkarma (ldan kar ma) and the Samye Chimpuma (bsam yas mchims phu ma). In the colophons of his works, he is often known as Paltsek Rakṣita (rak+Shi ta).

g.151

Kinnara

mi ’am ci

མི་འམ་ཅི།

kinnara

g.167

Mahābrahmā

tshangs pa chen po

ཚངས་པ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahābrahmā

g.171

Mahoraga

lto ’phye chen po

ལྟོ་འཕྱེ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahoraga

g.176

Māra

bdud

བདུད།

māra

g.177

Māra

bdud

བདུད།

Māra

g.183

Mount Sumeru

ri rab

རི་རབ།

Sumeru

g.189

Nāga

ཀླུ།

nāga

g.192

Nārāyaṇa

sred med kyi bu

སྲེད་མེད་ཀྱི་བུ།

Nārāyaṇa

g.201

Piśāca

sha za

ཤ་ཟ།

piśāca

g.203

Preta

yi dgas

ཡི་དགས།

preta

g.210

Pūtana

srul po

སྲུལ་པོ།

pūtana

g.211

Quintessence of the Sun’s Energy

nyi ma’i shugs kyi snying po

ཉི་མའི་ཤུགས་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ།

g.213

Rājagṛha

rgyal po’i khab

རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁབ།

Rājagṛha

g.214

Rākṣasa

srin po

སྲིན་པོ།

rākṣasa

g.222

Sāgara

rgya mtsho

རྒྱ་མཚོ།

Sāgara

g.223

Sage

drang srong

དྲང་སྲོང་།

ṛṣi

g.224

Sahā

mi mjed

མི་མཇེད།

Sahā

g.225

Śakra

brgya byin

བརྒྱ་བྱིན།

Śakra

g.227

Śākyamuni

shAkya thub pa

ཤཱཀྱ་ཐུབ་པ།

Śākyamuni

g.239

Solitary buddha

rang sangs rgyas

རང་སངས་རྒྱས།

pratyekabuddha

g.254

Sublime states

tshangs pa’i gnas

ཚངས་པའི་གནས།

brahmavihāra

g.271

Three realms

srid pa gsum
srid pa gsum po
khams gsum
khams gsum pa

སྲིད་པ་གསུམ།
སྲིད་པ་གསུམ་པོ།
ཁམས་གསུམ།
ཁམས་གསུམ་པ།

tribhava
tridhātu

g.279

Universal monarch

’khor los sgyur ba
’khor los sgyur ba’i rgyal po

འཁོར་ལོས་སྒྱུར་བ།
འཁོར་ལོས་སྒྱུར་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

cakravartin

g.289

Varuṇa

chu lha

ཆུ་ལྷ།

Varuṇa

g.293

Veṇuvana

’od ma’i tshal

འོད་མའི་ཚལ།

Veṇuvana

g.298

Vidyākaraprabha

bid+yA ka ra pra b+ha

བིདྱཱ་ཀ་ར་པྲ་བྷ།

Vidyākaraprabha

According to Nyangral Nyima Öser’s history, Ralpachen invited the Indian abbot Vidyākaraprabha to Tibet along with Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, and Dānaśīla in the first part of the ninth century. Vidyākaraprabha was the author of the Madhyamakanayasārasamāsaprakaraṇa, a work in the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka school pioneered by Śāntarakṣita, translated into Tibetan with Paltsek under the name dbu ma’i lugs kyi snying po mdor bsdus pa’i rab tu byed pa (Toh 3893). He worked with Paltsek on numerous other translations on topics as diverse as the Sphuṭārthā commentary to the Abhisamayālaṅkāra, an extract from the Vimuktimārga, and the early Vidyottamamahātantra.

g.302

Well-gone one

bde bar gshegs pa

བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་པ།

sugata

g.304

Worthy one

dgra bcom pa

དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།

arhat

g.305

Yakṣa

gnod sbyin

གནོད་སྦྱིན།

yakṣa

g.307

Zangkyong

bzang skyong

བཟང་སྐྱོང་།

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The Quintessence of the Sun Acknowledgements

Toh 257

The Quintessence of the Sun
Acknowledgements