Ten and Five Royal Sūtras
Explore the essential Ten and Five Sutras, foundational texts that encapsulate core Buddhist teachings. These scriptures provide concise and powerful insights into fundamental principles and practices within Buddhism.
Toh
21
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Toh 21 / 531
4
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Kangyur
Discourses
Perfection of Wisdom
The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed Mother
Bhagavatīprajñāpāramitāhṛdaya
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བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་མ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་སྙིང་པོ།
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.
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Toh
68
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33
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
Determining the Vinaya: Upāli’s Questions
Vinayaviniścayopāliparipṛcchā
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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.
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Toh
122
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2
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra on Wisdom at the Hour of Death
Atyayajñānasūtra
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འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མདོ།
While the Buddha is residing in the Akaniṣṭha realm, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha asks him how a bodhisattva should view the mind at the point of dying. The Buddha replies that when death comes a bodhisattva should develop the wisdom at the hour of death. He explains that a bodhisattva should cultivate a clear understanding of the nonexistence of entities, great compassion, nonapprehension, nonattachment, and a clear understanding that, since wisdom is the realization of one’s own mind, the Buddha should not be sought elsewhere.
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Toh
590
Chapter
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16
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
Sitātapatrā Born from the Uṣṇīṣa of All Tathāgatas
Amṛtakuṇḍalyai namaḥ
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དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གཙུག་ཏོར་ནས་བྱུང་བ་གདུགས་དཀར་པོ་ཅན།
This text presents a spell (vidyā) featuring the female deity Sitātapatrā (White Umbrella Goddess), which issues from the uṣṇīṣa of the Buddha Śākyamuni as he rests in samādhi among the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. The text details a litany of dangers, illness, and threats and provides spell formulas that can be recited to avert them. Sitātapatrā and her spell have enjoyed a long history and sustained popularity as a source of security against illness and misfortune, and her spell is widely used in contemporary Buddhist communities to this day.
Published
Toh
675
Chapter
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10
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra (2)
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ཚེ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པའི་མདོ།
The Buddha, while at the Jetavana monastery in Śrāvastī, tells Mañjuśrī of a buddha realm far above the world, in which lives the Buddha Aparimitāyurjñāna. He states that those who recite, write, hear, and so on, the praise of this buddha, or make offerings to this text, will have numerous benefits, including a long life and a good rebirth. As vast numbers of buddhas recite it, the mantra, or dhāraṇī, of this buddha is repeated numerous times. This is the lesser known of the two versions of this sūtra in the Kangyur, but possibly represents the earlier translation.
Published
Toh
750
Chapter
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3
Pages
Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
Vajra Conqueror
Kṣemavatīvyākaraṇa
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རྡོ་རྗེ་རྣམ་པར་འཇོམས་པ།
In this concise text, Vajrapāṇi, through the power and blessings of the Buddha and all bodhisattvas, proclaims a series of powerful dhāraṇī-mantras. The text concludes with verses on the benefits of the dhāraṇī and a simple ablution ritual.
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