The Kangyur

Heap of Jewels

དཀོན་བརྩེགས།

Ratnakūṭa

Forty-nine selected sūtras (Toh 45–93) on a range of themes, compiled as a separate collection also found in the Chinese Tripiṭaka.

Toh
45
-
93
Overview
No items found.
Toh
45
Chapter
88
Pages
Kangyur
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Heap of Jewels
The Chapter Explaining the Three Vows
[No Sanskrit title]
Trisaṃvaranirdeśaparivartasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
སྡོམ་པ་གསུམ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ།
By:
Toh
46
Chapter
109
Pages
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Heap of Jewels
The Chapter Teaching the Purification of Boundless Gateways
[No Sanskrit title]
Ananta­mukhapariśo­dhana­nirdeśaparivarta
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[No Tibetan title]
སྒོ་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་རྣམ་པར་སྦྱོང་བ་བསྟན་པའི་ལེའུ།
The Chapter Teaching the Purification of Boundless Gateways consists of an extended discourse presented by the Buddha to his bodhisattva disciple Anantavyūha. The instruction consists of a so-called dhāraṇī gateway, a teaching that involves a series of dhāraṇī spells, which are interspersed throughout. The teaching is generally concerned with well-known Mahāyāna Buddhist themes, ranging from the lack of inherent identity to the qualities of complete awakening, but these topics are here presented within a larger exegesis on the meaning of the dhāraṇī gateway.
By:
Toh
47
Chapter
207
Pages
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Heap of Jewels
The Secrets of the Realized Ones
[No Sanskrit title]
Tathāgataguhya
|
[No Tibetan title]
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གསང་བ།
In this sūtra, the narrative largely revolves around the figures of Vajrapāṇi, the yakṣa lord and constant companion of the Buddha, and the Buddha himself. In the first half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi gives a series of teachings on the mysteries or secrets of the body, speech, and mind of bodhisattvas and the realized ones. In the second half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi describes several events in the Buddha’s life: his practice of severe asceticism, his approach to the seat of awakening, his defeat of Māra, his awakening, and his turning of the wheel of Dharma. Following this, the Buddha gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening as a buddha and travels to Vajrapāṇi’s abode for a meal. Interspersed throughout the sūtra are sermons, dialogues, and marvelous tales exploring a large number of topics and featuring an extensive cast of characters, including several narratives about past lives of Vajrapāṇi, Brahmā Sahāṃpati, and the Buddha himself. The sūtra concludes with the performance of two long dhāraṇīs, one by Vajrapāṇi and one by the Buddha, for the protection and preservation of the Dharma.
By:
Toh
48
Chapter
68
Pages
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Heap of Jewels
The Teaching on Dreams
[No Sanskrit title]
Svapnanirdeśa
|
[No Tibetan title]
རྨི་ལམ་བསྟན་པ།
The Teaching on Dreams records the Buddha’s description of one hundred and eight signs that may appear to bodhisattvas in their dreams. These signs indicate not only that those individuals are bodhisattvas, but also the range of bhūmis on which those bodhisattvas potentially reside, what obstacles they face, and what means they can use to overcome them. Many descriptions of the individual signs also include variations on the main sign that further specify the bodhisattvas’ status. This sūtra offers a rare, detailed discourse on dream signs and their relation to the bodhisattva path, making it a uniquely important source on bodhisattva practice in Mahāyāna literature.
By:
Toh
49
Chapter
66
Pages
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Heap of Jewels
The Array of Amitābha
[No Sanskrit title]
Amitābhavyūhasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
འོད་དཔག་མེད་ཀྱི་བཀོད་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
50
Chapter
138
Pages
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The Array of the Tathāgata Akṣobhya
[No Sanskrit title]
Akṣobhyatathāgatasya vyūhasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
མི་འཁྲུགས་པའི་བཀོད་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
51
Chapter
140
Pages
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The Teaching of the Armor Array
[No Sanskrit title]
Varma­vyūha­nirdeśa
|
[No Tibetan title]
གོ་ཆའི་བཀོད་པ་བསྟན་པ།
The Teaching of the Armor Array describes a dialog between the Buddha Śākyamuni and the bodhisattva Anantamati. The sūtra is primarily concerned with the great armor, a quality related to the perfection of insight. As such, it is no conventional sort of armor. Rather, donning it involves giving up all grasping at phenomena, and engaging diligently on the path, with insight into the nature of phenomena. The Buddha and Anantamati also discuss the nature of the Great Vehicle and the great path, all the while emphasizing their emptiness and lack of marks.
By:
Toh
52
Chapter
48
Pages
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The Teaching on the Indivisible Nature of the Realm of Phenomena
[No Sanskrit title]
Dharmadhātu­prakṛtyasambheda­nirdeśa
|
[No Tibetan title]
ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་དབྱེར་མེད་པ་བསྟན་པ།
While the Buddha is in the Jeta Grove, he asks Mañjuśrī to teach on the nature of reality. Mañjuśrī’s account upsets some of the monks present in the gathering, who subsequently leave. Nevertheless, by means of an emanation, Mañjuśrī skillfully teaches the distraught monks, who return to the Jeta Grove to express their gratitude. The monks explain that their obstacle has been a conceited sense of attainment, of which they are now free. At the request of the god Ratnavara, Mañjuśrī then teaches on nonduality and the nature of the bodhisattva. Next, the Buddha prophesies the future awakening of Ratnavara and other bodhisattvas present in the gathering. However, the prophecies cause Pāpīyān, king of the māras, to appear with his army. In a dramatic course of events, Mañjuśrī uses his transformative power on both Pāpīyān and the Buddha’s pious attendant, Śāradvatīputra, forcing both of them to appear in the form of the Buddha himself. He then makes Pāpīyān and Śāradvatīputra teach the profound Dharma with the perfect mastery of buddhahood. Numerous bodhisattvas appear from the four directions, pledging to practice and uphold the sūtra’s teaching. The Buddha grants his blessing for the continuous transmission of the sūtra among bodhisattvas in the future.
By:
Toh
53
Chapter
42
Pages
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The Ten Dharmas
[No Sanskrit title]
Daśadharmakasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ཆོས་བཅུ་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
54
Chapter
22
Pages
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The Exposition on the Universal Gateway
[No Sanskrit title]
Samanta­mukha­parivarta
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[No Tibetan title]
ཀུན་ནས་སྒོའི་ལེའུ།
In The Exposition on the Universal Gateway, the bodhisattva Amalagarbha arrives in this world from a distant pure land to request teachings from the buddha Śākyamuni. The Buddha proceeds to explain to all assembled bodhisattvas, monks, and lay devotees the manner in which the five aggregates are equal to meditative absorption. He also explains how the various classes of beings and all other phenomena are absorption as well. In conclusion, he lists the names of various absorptions and the benefits one obtains upon attaining these states.
By:
Toh
55
Chapter
121
Pages
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The Teaching on the Effulgence of Light
[No Sanskrit title]
Raśmisamanta­mukta­nirdeśa
|
[No Tibetan title]
འོད་ཟེར་ཀུན་དུ་བཀྱེ་བ་བསྟན་པ།
Initiated by the questions of the bodhisattva Candraprabhakumārabhūta, The Teaching on the Effulgence of Light consists of a series of teachings related to the lights emitted by awakened beings as manifestations of their spiritual achievements. Amid the display of his miraculous powers, the Buddha describes the specific qualities with which each of those lights is associated, and he repeatedly emphasizes the fact that such lights are a natural expression of the insight into the emptiness of all phenomena. The sūtra is also concerned with general themes such as the qualities required by followers of the Great Vehicle and the practice of generosity.
By:
Toh
56
Chapter
489
Pages
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The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva
[No Sanskrit title]
Bodhisatva­piṭaka
|
[No Tibetan title]
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡེ་སྣོད།
In The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva, the Buddha describes in detail the views and practices that are to be followed by the bodhisatva, the ideal Mahāyāna practitioner. Through his interactions with human and nonhuman interlocutors, and through stories of various past buddhas, we are led step by step through the topics of renunciation, the mind of awakening, the four immeasurables, and the six perfections. Among the many accounts of past buddhas included in the sūtra, we find the story of the prophecy made by the Buddha Dīpaṅkara to the brahmin Megha about his future attainment of awakening as the Buddha Śākyamuni.
By:
Toh
57
Chapter
63
Pages
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The Teaching to Nanda on Entering the Womb
[No Sanskrit title]
Nandagarbhāvakrāntinirdeśa
|
[No Tibetan title]
དགའ་བོ་མངལ་དུ་འཇུག་པ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
58
Chapter
23
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The Teaching to the Venerable Nanda on Entry into the Womb
[No Sanskrit title]
Āyuṣmannanda­garbhāvakrānti­nirdeśa
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[No Tibetan title]
ཚེ་དང་ལྡན་པ་དགའ་བོ་ལ་མངལ་དུ་འཇུག་པ་བསྟན་པ།
In The Teaching to Venerable Nanda on Entry into the Womb, the Buddha gives a detailed account to his half-brother Nanda of the thirty-eight weeks of human gestation. The sūtra explains conception in terms of how the antarābhava (the being in the state between death in one life and birth in the next) enters the womb, and details the physical composition of the embryo, the suffering of the newborn being, and the miseries experienced over the course of a lifetime. Including as it does the most comprehensive ancient Indian account of gestation, it was an important source for embryology in Tibetan medicine.
By:
Toh
59
Chapter
98
Pages
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The Array of Virtues of Mañjuśrī’s Buddha Realm
[No Sanskrit title]
Mañjuśrī­buddha­kṣetra­guṇa­vyūha
|
[No Tibetan title]
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་བཀོད་པ།
In this sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni explains the connection between the bodhisattvas’ aspirations and the virtues of their future buddha realms. He describes the various qualities that help bodhisattvas bring their aspirations to fulfillment. After bodhisattvas arrive from all directions to hear his teachings on the virtues of the buddha realms, the Buddha Śākyamuni recounts the story of how Mañjuśrī first engendered the mind set on awakening. Finally, the Buddha reveals the extraordinary nature of Mañjuśrī’s bodhisattva aspirations, and how they will contribute to the exceptional qualities of his future buddha realm.
By:
Toh
60
Chapter
334
Pages
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Heap of Jewels
The Meeting of Father and Son
[No Sanskrit title]
Pitāputrasamāgamasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ཡབ་སྲས་མཇལ་བའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
61
Chapter
118
Pages
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The Questions of Pūrṇa
[No Sanskrit title]
Pūrṇaparipṛcchā
|
[No Tibetan title]
གང་པོས་ཞུས་པ།
In Veṇuvana, outside Rājagṛha, Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra asks the Buddha about the conduct of bodhisattvas practicing on the path to awakening. The Buddha replies by describing the attitudes that bodhisattvas must possess as well as their benefits. Then, at the request of Maudgalyāyana, the Buddha recounts several of his past lives in which he himself practiced bodhisattva conduct. At the end of the teaching, the Buddha instructs the assembly about how to deal with specific objections to his teachings that outsiders might raise after he himself has passed into nirvāṇa.
By:
Toh
62
Chapter
61
Pages
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The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1)
[No Sanskrit title]
Rāṣṭrapāla­paripṛcchā
|
[No Tibetan title]
ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ།
The newly ordained monk Rāṣṭrapāla questions the Buddha about the proper conduct of a bodhisattva. The Buddha proceeds to explain its features in detail, giving as examples his own conduct in his multiple past lives. He tells the story of his past life as prince Puṇyaraśmi, who abandoned pleasure, a kingdom, and riches to follow the bodhisattva path to enlightenment for the sake of sentient beings.
By:
Toh
63
Chapter
62
Pages
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Heap of Jewels
The Sūtra of Ugra's Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Ugraparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
དྲག་ཤུལ་ཅན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
64
Chapter
33
Pages
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The Sūtra of Vidyutprāpta's Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Vidyutprāptaparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
གློག་ཐོབ་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
65
Chapter
38
Pages
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The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist
[No Sanskrit title]
Bhadra­māyākāravyākaraṇa
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[No Tibetan title]
སྒྱུ་མ་མཁན་བཟང་པོ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ།
While the Buddha Śākyamuni is residing at Vulture Peak Mountain, in the nearby city of Rājagṛha the accomplished illusionist Bhadra hatches a scheme to humiliate the Buddha and disprove his omniscience in order to win over the people of Magadha. The failure of Bhadra’s plan, in which he conjures the illusion of a resplendent courtyard that, to his dismay, cannot be undone, culminates in a series of surreal and magnificent visions that convince Bhadra of the superiority of the Buddha’s powers. This sūtra presents a colorful and often humorous narrative and contains teachings on illusion, emptiness, and the distinction between the illusionist’s mundane abilities and the Buddha’s miraculous display.
By:
Toh
66
Chapter
64
Pages
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The Teaching of the Great Magical Display
[No Sanskrit title]
Mahāpratihāryopadeśasūtra
|
[No Tibetan title]
ཆོ་འཕྲུལ་ཆེན་པོ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
67
Chapter
94
Pages
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The Great Lion’s Roar of Maitreya
[No Sanskrit title]
Maitreya­mahā­siṃhanāda
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[No Tibetan title]
བྱམས་པའི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཆེན་པོ།
In this sūtra, Mahākāśyapa poses a series of questions to the Buddha about proper monastic conduct and practice, which the Buddha answers at length. Mahākāśyapa then requests the Buddha to remain in the world in order to safeguard the Dharma, but when the Buddha initially predicts that Mahākāśyapa himself will do so in the future, Mahākāśyapa insists that for the Dharma to remain for long, it must be entrusted to a bodhisattva rather than a śrāvaka. The Buddha then anoints Maitreya and entrusts him with the responsibility of protecting the Dharma in the future. There follows a teaching from the Buddha about those in the future who will falsely claim to be bodhisattvas and about the proper conduct and practice of bodhisattvas, as well as a description from Maitreya of his own practice of the bodhisattva path. When Mahākāśyapa asks the Buddha about those in the future who will be “sham bodhisattvas,” the Buddha offers a series of teachings on the mistaken and blameworthy practice of commercializing the worship of relics, stūpas, and images and seeking to make a living thereby, contrasting this with a monastic’s proper practice of ascetic conduct and meditative inquiry. In addition to the Buddha’s criticism, this sūtra is notable for its memorable analogies, past life narratives, and emphasis on the ascetic practice of the forest-dwelling monastic.
By:
Toh
68
Chapter
33
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Determining the Vinaya: Upāli’s Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Vinaya­viniścayopāli­paripṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
འདུལ་བ་རྣམ་པར་གཏན་ལ་དབབ་པ་ཉེ་བར་འཁོར་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
Determining the Vinaya: Upāli’s Questions is a sūtra focused on the relationship between and integration of the prātimokṣa vows of monastic discipline and the conduct of a bodhisattva who follows the Mahāyāna tradition. The sūtra’s two main interlocutors, Śāriputra and Upāli, query the Buddha about the relationship between these two levels of commitments, eliciting a teaching on the different orientations held by the followers of different Buddhist vehicles and how their different views affect the application of their vows. Determining the Vinaya is a particularly valuable sūtra for its inclusion of a unique form of the confessional “Three Sections” rite, making it one of the few extant canonical sources to describe it at length.
By:
Toh
69
Chapter
45
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Inspiring Determination
[No Sanskrit title]
Adhyāśayasaṃcodana
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[No Tibetan title]
ལྷག་བསམ་སྐུལ་བ།
Inspiring Determination is directed at reforming the conduct of sixty bodhisattvas who have lost their sense of purpose and confidence in their ability to practice the Dharma. The bodhisattva Maitreya leads them to seek counsel from the Buddha, who explains the causes these bodhisattvas created in former lives that resulted in their current circumstance. They make a commitment to change their ways, which pleases the Buddha, and this leads him to engage in a dialog with the bodhisattva Maitreya on how bodhisattvas, including those in the future age of final degeneration, the final half-millennium, should avoid faults and uphold conduct that accords with the Dharma.
By:
Toh
70
Chapter
54
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The Sūtra of the Question of Subāhu
[No Sanskrit title]
Subāhu­pari­pṛcchā­sūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ལག་བཟངས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
In this scripture Śākyamuni Buddha describes how a bodhisattva should ideally train in the six perfections. In the Veṇuvana near Rājagṛha, the Buddha teaches this sūtra in response to a single question put to him by the bodhisattva Subāhu: what are the qualities a bodhisattva should have in order to progress to perfect awakening? The Buddha responds by first listing the six perfections of generosity, ethical discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and insight, and then expounding in greater detail on each perfection in turn.
By:
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71
Chapter
26
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Surata’s Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Surataparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
དེས་པས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
Surata’s Questions follows Surata, a seemingly poor vagabond endowed with a wealth of ethical virtue. The juxtaposition of Surata’s poverty with the abundance of his moral merits forms a central theme of the sūtra. After being tested by the god Śakra, Surata finds a precious gem that he decides to give to the poorest person in the city. The narrative’s irony ensues when Surata decides that King Prasenajit should receive the gem, since his ethical depravity vitiates his material wealth. The shock of Surata’s decision occasions a valuable lesson on true wealth lying in moral integrity, to which the Buddha himself attests upon his arrival midway through the sūtra. The sūtra concludes with King Prasenajit’s recognition of the error of his ways and the Buddha’s prophecy of Surata’s coming awakening.
By:
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72
Chapter
22
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The Questions of the Householder Vīradatta
[No Sanskrit title]
Vīradatta­gṛhapati­paripṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཁྱིམ་བདག་དཔས་བྱིན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
While the Buddha is residing in Anāthapiṇḍada’s pleasure garden in Śrāvastī with a great assembly of monks, elsewhere in Śrāvastī the eminent householder Vīradatta hosts a meeting with five hundred householders to discuss certain questions regarding the practice of the Great Vehicle. Hoping to resolve these questions, Vīradatta and the householders decide to approach the Buddha in Anāthapiṇḍada’s pleasure garden. There the Buddha explains how bodhisattvas should engender the spirit of great compassion while not being attached to the body or to enjoyments, and he then instructs the householders on how bodhisattvas should examine the impermanence and impurity of the body. This prose teaching is followed by a set of verses that reiterate how the body is impure and impermanent and that elucidate the process of karma and its effects. As a result of this teaching, Vīradatta and the five hundred householders attain the acceptance that phenomena are unborn. They then proclaim, in a well-known series of verses, the merits of aspiring for the awakening to buddhahood. The Buddha smiles, predicting that Vīradatta and the five hundred householders will attain spiritual awakening. The sūtra concludes with the Buddha telling Ānanda about the name of this Dharma discourse.
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73
Chapter
23
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King Udayana of Vatsa’s Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Udayanavatsa­rājapari­pṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
བད་སའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་འཆར་བྱེད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
Manipulated into a murderous rage by the jealous Queen Anupamā, King Udayana launches a barrage of arrows at Queen Śyāmāvatī. King Udayana is terrified when Queen Śyāmāvatī pays homage to the Buddha, cultivates loving kindness, and the arrows are repelled. Awestruck by such a spectacle and inspired by Queen Śyāmāvatī’s words of praise for the Buddha, King Udayana approaches the Buddha and requests a teaching on the inadequacies of women. The Buddha tells King Udayana that he must first understand his own faults and proceeds to deliver a discourse on the four faults of men, such as attachment to sense pleasures and failure to take care of elderly parents. The teaching is delivered with a plethora of analogies and striking imagery to turn the mind away from sensual desires. The work concludes with King Udayana giving up his weapons and going for refuge in the Three Jewels, filled with love for all beings.
By:
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74
Chapter
13
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The Inquiry of the Girl Sumati
[No Sanskrit title]
Sumatidārikā­pari­pṛcchā­sūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
བུ་མོ་བློ་གྲོས་བཟང་མོས་ཞུས་པ།
By:
Toh
75
Chapter
8
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Questions of Gaṅgottarā
[No Sanskrit title]
Gaṅgottara­pari­pṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
གང་གཱའི་མཆོག་གིས་ཞུས་པ།
In The Questions of Gaṅgottarā, a laywoman named Gaṅgottarā leaves her home in the city of Śrāvastī and visits the Buddha Śākyamuni in Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park. The Buddha asks her from where she has come, sparking a dialogue on the true nature of things. Among other things, they discuss the fact that, from the perspective of ultimate truth, all things, including Gaṅgottarā herself, are like magical creations, and thus no one comes or goes or pursues nirvāṇa.
By:
Toh
76
Chapter
31
Pages
Kangyur
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Heap of Jewels
Aśokadattā’s Prophecy
[No Sanskrit title]
Aśoka­dattāvyākaraṇa
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[No Tibetan title]
མྱ་ངན་མེད་ཀྱིས་བྱིན་པ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ།
In this Mahāyāna sūtra, a group of the Buddha’s most eminent śrāvaka disciples are collecting alms in the city of Rājagṛha when they arrive at the palace of King Ajātaśatru. There, the king’s daughter Aśokadattā, who is seated on an ornate throne, neither rises from her seat to greet them nor pays them any form of respect. Outraged by her rudeness, the king chastises her. The girl is unrepentant, and in a series of elegant verses she explains to her father the superiority of the bodhisattva path, which renders such obeisance to śrāvakas inappropriate. The eminent śrāvaka disciples then engage the girl in debate, but each in turn is silenced by the eloquence and confidence of her replies, by which she deconstructs their questions based on her knowledge of the emptiness of all phenomena. Having thus impressed them, she descends from her throne and serves them humbly with food and drink. They then all go together to Vulture Peak, where the Buddha prophecies her future full awakening.
By:
Toh
77
Chapter
42
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Sūtra of Vimaladatta's Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Vimaladattaparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
དྲི་མ་མེད་ཀྱིས་བྱིན་པས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
78
Chapter
11
Pages
Kangyur
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Heap of Jewels
The Questions of Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita
[No Sanskrit title]
Guṇa­ratna­saṅkusumita­paripṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་ཆེན་མེ་ཏོག་ཀུན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པས་ཞུས་པ།
In The Questions of Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita, the sūtra’s interlocutor, Guṇaratnasaṅkusumita, asks the Buddha Śākyamuni whether there might be other buddhas in other realms whose names carry the power to produce awakening. The Buddha responds that there are, in fact, buddhas whose names are so efficacious that simply by remembering them, the disciple will be awakened. The Buddha then names the buddhas of the ten directions, their worlds and eons, and the specific effects that knowing each of their names will have on disciples with faith.
By:
Toh
79
Chapter
37
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Teaching on the Inconceivable Scope of a Buddha
[No Sanskrit title]
Acintya­buddha­viṣaya­nirdeśa
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[No Tibetan title]
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་བསྟན་པ།
By:
Toh
80
Chapter
101
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Sūtra of the Devaputra Susthitamati's Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Susthitamatidevaputra­paripṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ལྷའི་བུ་བློ་གྲོས་རབ་གནས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
81
Chapter
6
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
Siṃha’s Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Siṃha­pari­pṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
སེང་གེས་ཞུས་པ།
At the opening of this sūtra, King Ajātaśatru’s son Siṃha and his five hundred attendants approach the Buddha, who is on Vulture Peak. After paying homage and offering golden parasols, Siṃha asks the Buddha a series of questions about the conduct of bodhisattvas. The Buddha answers each of Siṃha’s questions with a series of verses describing the various karmic causes that result in the qualities and attributes of bodhisattvas. Afterward, when Siṃha and his attendants promise to train in this teaching, the Buddha smiles, causing the three-thousandfold world system to quake. When the bodhisattva Ajita asks the Buddha why he smiled, the Buddha explains that Siṃha and all of his companions will become buddhas and establish buddhafields similar to that of Amitābha.
By:
Toh
82
Chapter
82
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Sūtra of the Chapter of the Bodhisattva Jñānottara's Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Jñānottarabodhisattva­paripṛcchāparivartasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
བྱང་སེམས་ཡེ་ཤེས་དམ་པས་ཞུས་པའི་ལེའུ།
By:
Toh
83
Chapter
48
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant
[No Sanskrit title]
Bhadra­pāla­śreṣṭhi­paripṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཚོང་དཔོན་བཟང་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ།
In The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant, the Buddha’s principal interlocutor is a wealthy merchant who asks him to explain what consciousness is, and what happens to it when one dies and is reborn. In his characterization of consciousness, the Buddha relies heavily on the use of analogies drawn from nature. The sūtra also reflects common cultural beliefs of ancient India, such as spirit possession. In addition, it presents graphic and vividly contrasting descriptions of rebirth in the realms of the gods for those who have lived meritorious lives and in the realms of hell for those who lack merit.
By:
Toh
84
Chapter
20
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā
[No Sanskrit title]
Dārikāvimalaśraddhāparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
བུ་མོ་རྣམ་དག་དད་པས་ཞུས་པ།
Vimalaśraddhā, the daughter of King Prasenajit, comes to see the Buddha in Jetavana, together with a retinue of five hundred women. She pays homage to the Buddha and asks him to explain the conduct of bodhisattvas. The Buddha responds by presenting twelve sets of eight qualities that bodhisattvas should cultivate. Vimalaśraddhā and her five hundred companions, having developed the mind set on awakening, join the ranks of the bodhisattvas, and the Buddha prophesies her future attainment of awakening.
By:
Toh
85
Chapter
25
Pages
Kangyur
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Heap of Jewels
The Question of Maitreya (1)
[No Sanskrit title]
Maitreya­paripṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
བྱམས་པས་ཞུས་པ།
In The Question of Maitreya, the bodhisattva Maitreya asks the Buddha what qualities a bodhisattva needs to attain enlightenment quickly. The Buddha outlines several sets of qualities, foremost among them the altruistic intention of perfect bodhicitta. The Buddha then recounts to Ānanda how, in a former life, Maitreya revered a previous Buddha and, wishing to become just like him, at once realized that all phenomena are unproduced. Ānanda asks why Maitreya did not become a buddha sooner, and in answer the Buddha compares Maitreya’s bodhisattva career with his own, listing further sets of qualities that differentiate them and recounting examples of the hardships he himself faced in previous lives. Maitreya, on the other hand, has followed the easy bodhisattva vehicle using its skillful means, such as the seven branch practice and the training in the six perfections; the aspirations he thus made are set out in the famous “Prayer of Maitreya” for which this sūtra is perhaps best known. The Buddha declares that Maitreya will become enlightened when sentient beings have fewer negative emotions, in contrast to the ignorant and turbulent beings he himself vowed to help.
By:
Toh
86
Chapter
6
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Question of Maitreya (2) on the Eight Qualities
[No Sanskrit title]
Maitreya­paripṛcchā­dharmāṣṭa
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[No Tibetan title]
བྱམས་པས་ཆོས་བརྒྱད་ཞུས་པ།
In The Question of Maitreya on the Eight Qualities, Maitreya asks the Buddha what qualities bodhisattvas need in order to be sure of completing the path to buddhahood. In response, the Buddha briefly lists eight qualities. Starting with the excellent intention to become enlightened, they include loving kindness, as well as realization of the perfection of wisdom, which the Buddha explains in terms of reflection on the twelve links of dependent origination.
By:
Toh
87
Chapter
65
Pages
Kangyur
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Heap of Jewels
The Discourse for Kāśyapa
[No Sanskrit title]
Kāśyapaparivartasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
འོད་སྲུངས་ཀྱི་ལེའུ།
By:
Toh
88
Chapter
48
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Mass of Jewels
[No Sanskrit title]
Ratnarāśisūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ཕུང་པོའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
89
Chapter
15
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Sūtra of Akṣayamati's Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Akṣayamatiparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
བློ་གྲོས་མི་ཟད་པས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
90
Chapter
55
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Perfection of Wisdom in Seven Hundred Lines
[No Sanskrit title]
Saptaśatikāprajñāpāramitā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཤེར་ཕྱིན་བདུན་བརྒྱ་པ།
By:
Toh
91
Chapter
90
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Sūtra of Ratnacūḍa's Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
གཙུག་ན་རིན་པོ་ཆེས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
92
Chapter
46
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī
[No Sanskrit title]
Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲའི་མདོ།
By:
Toh
93
Chapter
43
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Seer Vyāsa’s Questions
[No Sanskrit title]
Ṛṣivyāsa­paripṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
དྲང་སྲོང་རྒྱས་པས་ཞུས་པ།
In The Seer Vyāsa’s Questions, a great seer named Vyāsa, a non-Buddhist mendicant, approaches the Buddha with a large group of followers to inquire about the karmic results of giving. Some of the key points taught in this sūtra are such karmic results and the distinction between pure and impure giving. A final long passage describes the life in the god realms that is experienced as the fruit of particular acts of giving, and it explains the signs received by gods of their own impending death and subsequent human birth.
By: