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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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In The Marvelous Dharma Discourse Ānanda asks the Buddha about the relative merit accrued by huge offerings made to revered beings as compared to the merit accrued by making even a miniature stūpa for the veneration of a buddha who has passed into parinirvāṇa. The Buddha replies that the merit accrued by creating even a tiny stūpa the size of a small fruit for the veneration of a buddha is greater than that accrued by offering the entire world, or even the universe and its palaces, to all stream enterers, once-returners, non-returners, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and the saṅgha in the four directions.

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.

In response to a question from Śāriputra, the Buddha extols the benefits that result from the practice of circumambulating shrines, that is, walking around them while keeping them on the right-hand side. Such benefits include being reborn in beautiful and healthy bodies with intelligent minds and virtuous qualities, in fortunate and privileged circumstances, and in various heavenly realms. Ultimately, the Buddha says, such practice may even result in the achievement of different types of awakening.

In Verses for Prasenajit, the Buddha proclaims the benefits of constructing, beautifying, maintaining, and worshiping the stūpas and images of awakened beings who have passed away.

The Single Stanza is a praise to the Buddha in one verse. It states that there is no ascetic equal to the Buddha, neither among the gods nor in the ordinary world.

The Four Stanzas consists of six verses in total. It is a praise to the Buddha, to the places associated with his presence, and to stūpas. The praise itself comprises the first four verses, hence the text’s title. The last two verses explain the origin of the text and the benefits that accrue from its recitation.

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.

While staying in Śrāvastī, the Buddha gives a short teaching on five ways in which gifts are given and discusses the karmic results of giving them.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

While staying at the Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, the Buddha describes the negative consequences of breaking the five basic precepts to the layman Nandika and five hundred other lay practitioners. This sūtra is often mentioned and quoted in traditional Buddhist works, mostly concerning the consequences of inebriation by alcohol.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In The Past Endeavor of Kanakavarṇa the Buddha Śākyamuni illustrates the power of generosity by narrating a distant past life as a magnanimous king named Kanakavarṇa, who ruled over the entire continent of Jambudvīpa. While faced with a devastating famine, this bodhisattva king decided to offer the last bit of food left in Jambudvīpa‍—which had been kept especially for him‍—to a pratyekabuddha who had come to his palace begging for alms. As a result of King Kanakavarṇa’s selfless gift, the whole continent was miraculously showered with all possible foods and goods, and the people of Jambudvīpa were saved. In addition to this immediate fruit of the king’s meritorious deed, a further fruit of the king’s good deed is implied when the Buddha discloses King Kanakavarṇa’s identity at the end of the story. The king’s generosity would reach full karmic fruition in his perfect awakening in a future life as the Buddha Śākyamuni.

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.

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.

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.

The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa begins with the dramatic story of an outcaste girl named Prakṛti, who falls in love with the venerable Ānanda but is subsequently led by the Buddha to liberation and arhathood. In order to explain these events to the upper-caste community of Śrāvastī, the Buddha narrates the story of a learned outcaste king, Triśaṅku, who sought to marry his son, Śārdūlakarṇa, to the daughter of an eminent brahmin named Puṣkarasārin. In this story, the outcaste king advances various arguments against the notion of caste and displays at length his brahmanical‍—mostly astrological‍—learning from past lives. When the brahmin’s pride is finally overcome, he grants his daughter’s hand in marriage. At the end of his narration, the Buddha reveals that he was the outcaste king at that time, and that Prakṛti and Ānanda were the brahmin maiden and the outcaste prince, thus showing that caste designations have little meaning in the light of karma and merit across multiple lives.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This short tantra, The Fearsome Vajra of Destruction, presents a dialogue between the bodhisattva Vajragarbha and the Blessed One, in which the latter gives detailed explanations of the meanings of the terms that constitute the tantra’s title. The majority of the tantra deals with elucidations of the various aspects of the word vajra, which center on a vajra’s quality of indestructibility and its ability to crush and destroy dualistic concepts.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Glorious Sovereign Tantra of Mahākāla consists of a dialogue between Mahākāla and the Goddess on a broad range of topics including the consecration rites, deity generation practices, and rituals for attaining various siddhis associated with the deity Mahākāla. The opening section of the tantra focuses on topics related to the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras (yoganiruttara­tantra, bla na med pa’i rgyud kyi rnal ’byor), such as how one generates the deity, how the consecration rites are performed, and how the advanced practitioner manipulates the vital winds of the subtle body to attain perfect spontaneous union as Mahākāla. The conversation then turns to ritual instructions for the attainment of siddhis as it integrates mastery of the two-stage union practices associated with the Unexcelled Yoga Tantras with those rituals more commonly associated with the Action Tantras (kriyātantra, bya ba’i rgyud) and Conduct Tantras (caryātantra, spyod pa’i rgyud).

The Dhāraṇī “Dream Visions” presents a dhāraṇī and a short ritual for producing visions in dreams.

The Tantra of Black Yamāri features the three-faced, six-armed black form of the tantric deity Yamāri, as well as the maṇḍalas of several ancillary maṇḍala deities associated with him, all of which can be employed for a diverse array pacifying, enriching, enthralling, and hostile rites. The tantra describes the stages of initiation and practice for these deities and provides extensive details on the preparation of their maṇḍalas, associated ritual implements, and specific magical diagrams (yantra) that can be employed for various ritual goals.

The Myth Chapter concisely relates the story of Vajrabhairava’s subjugation of Yama and his entourage. The text describes how Vajrabhairava crushes the city of Yama and forces its inhabitants to surrender. He then binds them under oath and empowers them to serve as protectors of his teachings. The text also presents the root mantra of Vajrabhairava, which encapsulates the essential life force of Yama and his followers.

This short ritual work belonging to the tantric cycle of the deity Vajrabhairava presents a vidyāmantra and series of rites that use ingredients derived from a musk shrew.

The Noble Dhāraṇī of the Eight Goddesses is a teaching that was given by the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī on a set of dhāraṇīs that corresponds to an eight-goddess maṇḍala. The text consists of material extracted from the work that precedes it in the Degé Kangyur, the Vajra­pāṇyabhiṣeka.

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.

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.

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.

The Vaiḍūryaprabha Dhāraṇī contains a short dhāraṇī given by the Seven Thus-Gone Ones that can be recited to purify karmic obscurations, cure illnesses, and prevent all manner of unnatural deaths and harmful circumstances.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The text comprises a teaching given by the Buddha Śākyamuni to the bodhisattva Siṃhavikrīḍita in response to his question: what kind of merit does one gain by worshiping the Tathāgata? The Buddha addresses the question by stating that the merits of the awakened ones are limitless, thus any merit accrued by worshiping them, whether face to face or in the form of a caitya, is also limitless. What truly matters is the worshiper’s mental attitude. He then continues by teaching a dhāraṇī accompanied by a short practice and describes its benefits.

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.

This brief dhāraṇī text presents a translation and transliteration of the well-known Sanskrit ye dharma formula, the essence of the Buddha’s teachings on dependent arising. The text also describes several benefits of reciting this dhāraṇī, including the purification of negative actions.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This short dhāraṇī contains the essence mantra of Śākyamuni. After a formulaic homage to the Buddha Śākyamuni, his essence mantra is presented followed by a description of the benefits of its recitation.

The Dhāraṇī “The Essence of Vairocana”, which pays homage to the Three Jewels, the Buddha Vairocana, and the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha, contains the dhāraṇī of Vairocana or Ākāśagarbha. It lists the following benefits for one who recites it: protection from weapons, fire, water, poison, poisoned food and drink, hostile magic, kings, thieves, epidemics, pain, contagions, and so forth, and the attainment of the samādhi called stainless light.

Recollecting the Name of Moonlight contains the dhāraṇī of the Buddha Moonlight. The benefits of recollecting the Buddha Moonlight’s name every morning after rising are that one will remember all one’s lives of the past forty thousand kalpas, one will not fall into the lower realms after death, and one will attain the attributes of awakening.

Recollecting the Common Essence of the Tathāgatas includes a short dhāraṇī and a brief statement on the benefit of its recitation for the purpose of purifying karmic obscurations.

Recollecting the Names of the Buddha Ratnaśikhin includes a short dhāraṇī and the brief statement that if it is recited at the time of death, one will avoid lower rebirth and be reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.

The Dhāraṇī “Cloud of Offerings” includes a short dhāraṇī along with its rite. The dhāraṇī is used to make extensive offerings to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Its recitation purifies evil and brings virtue to the reciter, such that he or she will be protected and, at the time of death, will take rebirth in Sukhāvatī.

The Dhāraṇī of the Polished Gem includes a short dhāraṇī and instructions to polish a gemstone while reciting the dhāraṇī, and to imagine that this results in a rain of offering substances, which the reciter should then offer.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

This is the longest version of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light preserved in the Kangyur. It comprises thirty-one chapters and was translated into Tibetan primarily from Yijing’s Chinese translation in the early ninth century.

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.

This is the second-longest version of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light preserved in the Kangyur. It comprises twenty-nine chapters and was translated into Tibetan primarily from Sanskrit.

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.

This is the shortest version of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light preserved in the Kangyur. It comprises twenty-one chapters, was translated into Tibetan primarily from Sanskrit, and is the only version for which a complete Sanskrit manuscript survives.

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.