Discover Our Latest Translations

At Mount Potalaka, the bodhisattva Lord of the World asks the Buddha about the true meaning of full ordination as a monk, to which the Buddha responds that it requires transcending dualism. After Maitreya seeks clarification, the Lord of the World gives a discourse on ultimate truth, earning the Buddha's approval and prompting further teachings on the nature of phenomena.

The Chapter on the Rains sets out the Rite of Pledging to Settle for the Rains, in which monastics pledge to remain at a single site for the duration of the summer rains, concluding with cases where leaving incurs no offense. This is the third of the “Three Rites,” considered crucial for ensuring the integrity of monastics living at officially demarcated sites.

The Rite of Lifting Restrictions is a ritual held at the end of the rains retreat where monks invite peers to speak of any unconfessed offenses, ensuring collective purity before dispersing. This is the second of the “Three Rites,” along with the Rites of Restoration (Toh 1-2) and Settling for the Rains (Toh 1-4). The regular observance of the “Three Rites” at an officially demarcated monastic site is considered a crucial component in ensuring the integrity of the monastics living there and nearby.

The second chapter of The Chapters on Monastic Discipline describes the Buddha’s instructions for observing the upavasatha (or poṣadha) holiday, including a seated yoga practice, the construction of meditation residences, and the restoration rite where monks gather for recitation and atonement. Together with The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions and The Chapter on the Rains, it forms the "Three Rites" essential to monastic community life.

The Inquiry of the Girl Sumati features an eight-year-old girl named Sumati, “Keen Intellect,” who asks the Buddha Śākyamuni a series of questions about what is necessary to gain a variety of positive outcomes, like a beautiful body and an auspicious, peaceful death. The Buddha replies by expounding a series of sets of four dharmas that a bodhisattva can cultivate to produce these outcomes. Sumati then promises to put them all into practice exactly as he has taught them. Her confidence prompts Maudgalyāyana and Mañjuśrī to question her motives and understanding. She responds with several acts of truth that confirm her aspiration to achieve awakening as a buddha and result in several wonders, including a great earthquake. Sumati’s dialogue with Mañjuśrī explores the nature of reality and the reality of gender, among other topics, and leads Sumati to transform herself into a man and confirm the conditions of her future awakening as a buddha. The Buddha then himself confirms not only her future awakening but also that of several monks in the audience.

In this short text, the Buddha instructs monks on the correct timings for sounding the gaṇḍī during each of the twelve months of the year. The timings are given based on the use of a solar clock.

During an assembly in Śrāvastī, the Buddha requests the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī to give a teaching on the scope of a buddha, which refers to the perceptual range of the awakened state. Mañjuśrī obliges by stating that in the awakened state ordinary perception and cognition are transcended, so the scope of buddha is beyond conception. A discourse ensues in which the Buddha and Mañjuśrī converse about the “sameness of all phenomena,” and how the scope of a buddha, or the true nature of all phenomena, may be found in the afflictions themselves. The disciple Subhūti then engages Mañjuśrī on the subject of how a bodhisattva can both cultivate this awakening and still remain involved in the world. The god Śribhadra then joins the discussion and invites Mañjuśrī to visit the Heaven of Joy. Instead of going, Mañjuśrī magically manifests the Heaven of Joy there and then. All are amazed and the Buddha praises his power to create miraculous manifestations.

The Dhāraṇī “Maitreya’s Pledge” is a short dhāraṇī centered on Maitreya, the bodhisattva who will, as alluded to in this text, awaken as the next buddha in our world. Its dhāraṇī consists of a root mantra, heart mantra, and auxiliary heart mantra and is followed by Maitreya’s vow to benefit beings. The benefits of the dhāraṇī range from receiving prophecies for awakening to acquiring one’s desired material enjoyments. Since these benefits also extend to animals, the text advocates reciting its dhāraṇī so that animals may hear it as well.

The Yaśovatī Dhāraṇī is a collection of six dhāraṇīs that can be recited to cure and protect oneself from various illnesses, the influence of demonic beings, and, in one case, to revive the recently deceased.

The Yaśovatī Dhāraṇī is a collection of six dhāraṇīs that can be recited to cure and protect oneself from various illnesses, the influence of demonic beings, and, in one case, to revive the recently deceased.

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.

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.

The Buddha instructs his monks on how to overcome their fears by recollecting the qualities of the Buddha through a set of epithets. This is likened to how Śakra rallies his celestial troops with the sight of his military crest insignia. The sūtra concludes with verses summarizing the teaching and also recommending the recollection of the Dharma and Saṅgha. This is the shorter of two Mahāsūtras with the same title and similar themes.

A group of merchants from Vaiśālī, preparing to travel to Takṣaśilā, learn that the Buddha is staying nearby at the Kūṭāgāraśālā and offer the Buddha and his monks a midday meal. The Buddha teaches them how to overcome the fears of the wilderness by recollecting the Buddha, Dharma, or Saṅgha, comparing it to how the military crest insignias of Śakra, Īśāna, and Varuṇa respectively embolden the devas in their battles against the asuras. The sūtra concludes with the Buddha offering the merchants verses of benediction for a safe journey. This is the longer of two Mahāsūtras with the same title and similar themes but addressed to different audiences.

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.