The Kangyur
General Sūtra Section
མདོ་སྡེ།
The principal collection of 266 sūtras, varied in length, subject, interlocutors and origins.
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Chapter
549
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Precious Discourse on the Blessed One’s Extensive Wisdom That Leads to Infinite Certainty
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Niṣṭhāgatabhagavajjñānavaipulyasūtraratnānanta
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[No Tibetan title]
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་ཀྱི་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱས་པའི་མདོ་སྡེ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཐའ་ཡས་པ་མཐར་ཕྱིན་པ།
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The Buddha’s disciple, the monk Pūrṇa, oversees the construction of a temple dedicated to the Buddha in a distant southern city. When the master builder suggests that the building may be used by others in the Buddha’s absence, Pūrṇa argues that no one but an omniscient buddha may rightly take up residence there.
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Chapter
678
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《賢劫經》(大正藏:《賢劫經》)
[No Sanskrit title]
Bhadrakalpika
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[No Tibetan title]
བསྐལ་པ་བཟང་པོ།
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世尊於毗舍離城外的林間安坐,喜王菩薩上前請求禪定之法。世尊隨即教導「了諸法本三昧」,繼而詳細開演六度。佛告喜王菩薩,今此會中有菩薩大士,得此定意諸度無極,未來於此賢劫成最正覺,一千如來中除四如來也。應喜王菩薩之請,世尊詠說賢劫千佛名號,一一講說諸佛在此世間出生、悟道與說法的因緣。在本經的最後一品中,世尊講述了當來成佛的此諸菩薩大士初發道意之本末。
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Chapter
50
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī
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Mañjuśrīvikrīḍita
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[No Tibetan title]
འཇམ་དཔལ་རྣམ་པར་རོལ་པ།
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The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī presents a series of profound teachings within a rich narrative structure involving a beautiful courtesan’s daughter, Suvarṇottamaprabhāśrī. A banker’s son has purchased her favors, but while they are riding together toward a pleasure garden the girl’s attention is captivated instead by the radiantly attractive Mañjuśrī, who gives her instructions related to the meaning of the mind set on awakening. She then expresses her new understanding in a dialogue with Mañjuśrī, in the presence of King Ajātaśatru, his retinue, and the citizens of Rājagṛha.
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Chapter
431
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Play in Full
[No Sanskrit title]
Lalitavistara
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[No Tibetan title]
རྒྱ་ཆེར་རོལ་པ།
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The Play in Full tells the story of how the Buddha manifested in this world and attained awakening, as perceived from the perspective of the Great Vehicle. The sūtra, which is structured in twenty-seven chapters, first presents the events surrounding the Buddha’s birth, childhood, and adolescence in the royal palace of his father, king of the Śākya nation. It then recounts his escape from the palace and the years of hardship he faced in his quest for spiritual awakening. Finally the sūtra reveals his complete victory over the demon Māra, his attainment of awakening under the Bodhi tree, his first turning of the wheel of Dharma, and the formation of the very early saṅgha.
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General Sūtra Section
The Dharma Discourse on the Eight Maṇḍalas
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Maṇḍalāṣṭakasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་བརྒྱད་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས་ཀྱི་མདོ།
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General Sūtra Section
The Condensed Sūtra, a Dharma Discourse
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Saṃghāṭasūtradharmaparyāya
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[No Tibetan title]
ཟུང་གི་མདོའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
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In Progress
Chapter
109
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Discourses
General Sūtra Section
Unraveling the Intent
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Saṃdhinirmocana
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[No Tibetan title]
དགོངས་པ་ངེས་འགྲེལ།
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In Unraveling the Intent, the Buddha gives a systematic overview of his three great cycles of teachings, which he refers to in this text as the “three Dharma wheels” (tridharmacakra). In the process of delineating the meaning of these doctrines, the Buddha unravels several difficult points regarding the ultimate and relative truths, the nature of reality, and the contemplative methods conducive to the attainment of complete and perfect awakening, and he also explains what his intent was when he imparted teachings belonging to each of the three Dharma wheels. In unambiguous terms, the third wheel is proclaimed to be of definitive meaning. Through a series of dialogues with hearers and bodhisattvas, the Buddha thus offers a complete and systematic teaching on the Great Vehicle, which he refers to here as the Single Vehicle.
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Chapter
451
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
Upholding the Roots of Virtue
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Kuśalamūlasaṃparigraha
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[No Tibetan title]
དགེ་བའི་རྩ་བ་ཡོངས་སུ་འཛིན་པ།
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This sūtra, one of the longest scriptures in the General Sūtra section of the Kangyur, outlines the path of the Great Vehicle as it is journeyed by bodhisattvas in pursuit of awakening. The teaching, which is delivered by the Buddha Śākyamuni to a host of bodhisattvas from faraway worlds as well as a selection of his closest hearer students, such as Śāradvatīputra and Ānanda, elucidates in particular the practice of engendering and strengthening the mind of awakening, as well as the practice of bodhisattva conduct for the sake of all other beings.
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Chapter
59
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Ornament of the Light of Awareness That Enters the Domain of All Buddhas
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Sarvabuddhaviṣayāvatārajñānālokālaṃkāra
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[No Tibetan title]
སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྣང་བའི་རྒྱན།
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The main topic of this sūtra is an explanation of how the Buddha and all things share the very same empty nature. Through a set of similes, the sūtra shows how an illusion-like Buddha may dispense appropriate teachings to sentient beings in accordance with their propensities.
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3
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Kangyur
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General Sūtra Section
《說如來佛剎功德經》(大正藏:《佛說較量一切佛剎功德經》)
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Buddhakṣetraguṇoktadharmaparyāya
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[No Tibetan title]
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་གི་ཡོན་ཏན་བརྗོད་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
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一時,佛在摩揭陀國與無量菩薩俱。爾時,不思議光王菩薩為眾演說不同佛剎之間時間的相對性。他提到十一個佛剎,其中此娑婆世界一劫,為西方極樂世界無量壽佛剎一日一夜,而西方極樂世界一劫,為妙喜世界阿閦佛剎一日一夜。如是次第,乃至過百萬阿僧祇世界,最後世界一劫,為蓮花吉祥世界賢吉祥佛剎一日一夜。
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General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra on the Descent into Laṅka
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Laṅkāvatārasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་མདོ།
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In Progress
Chapter
32
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Chapter on Mañjuśrī’s Magical Display
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Mañjuśrīvikurvāṇaparivarta
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[No Tibetan title]
འཇམ་དཔལ་རྣམ་པར་འཕྲུལ་པའི་ལེའུ།
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In The Chapter on Mañjuśrī’s Magical Display, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī answers a series of questions posed by the god Great Light concerning the appropriate conduct for bodhisattvas and the potential pitfalls and obstacles presented to bodhisattvas by Māra. Midway through the sūtra, the demon Māra himself appears and, after being captured and converted by Mañjuśrī, he begins to teach the Buddha’s Dharma to the audience. After revealing that Māra was never truly bound by anything other than his own perception, Mañjuśrī resumes his teaching for the remainder of the sūtra.
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General Sūtra Section
The Quintessence of the Speech of All the Buddhas, a Chapter from the Descent into Laṅka Sutra
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[no Sanskrit title]
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[No Tibetan title]
ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་མདོ་ལས་སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་གསུང་གི་སྙིང་པོའི་ལེའུ།
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In Progress
Chapter
96
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Basket’s Display
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Kāraṇḍavyūha
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[No Tibetan title]
ཟ་མ་ཏོག་བཀོད་པ།
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The Basket’s Display (Kāraṇḍavyūha) is the source of the most prevalent mantra of Tibetan Buddhism: oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ. It marks a significant stage in the growing importance of Avalokiteśvara within Indian Buddhism in the early centuries of the first millennium. In a series of narratives within narratives, the sūtra describes Avalokiteśvara’s activities in various realms and the realms contained within the pores of his skin. It culminates in a description of the extreme rarity of his mantra, which, on the Buddha’s instructions, Bodhisattva Sarvanīvaraṇaviṣkambhin obtains from someone in Vārāṇasī who has broken his monastic vows. This sūtra provided a basis and source of quotations for the teachings and practices of the eleventh-century Maṇi Kabum, which itself served as a foundation for the rich tradition of Tibetan Avalokiteśvara practice.
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Chapter
335
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《悲華經》(大正藏:《悲華經》)
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Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka
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[No Tibetan title]
སྙིང་རྗེ་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ།
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此經講述釋迦牟尼佛回憶起自己過去世的其中一世:當時身為國師的他發願要成佛,此舉令國王和王子、國師自己的兒子和弟子們以及其他人都深受啟發,眾人皆發願要成佛。此事即為阿彌陀佛、不動佛、觀世音菩薩、文殊師利菩薩以及賢劫千佛等諸佛菩薩之殊勝緣起,同時也成為釋迦牟尼佛殊勝佛行事業的緣由。 這部經經題中的“慈悲白蓮”指的是釋迦牟尼佛,並強調他的殊勝之處——釋迦牟尼佛就像衆花中那朵妙香芬芳、療癒他人的高潔蓮花。他選擇投生於末法時期的五濁惡世之中,其悲心遠比其他諸佛更為廣大。
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General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra of the Dense Array
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Ghanavyūhasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
རྒྱན་སྟུག་པོ་བཀོད་པའི་མདོ།
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22
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General Sūtra Section
The Teaching by the Child Inconceivable Radiance
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Acintyaprabhāsanirdeśa
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[No Tibetan title]
ཁྱེའུ་སྣང་བ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པས་བསྟན་པ།
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This sūtra is a story in which the spiritual realization of the child Inconceivable Radiance is revealed through a dialogue with the Buddha Śākyamuni. The Buddha furthermore recounts events from the child’s past lives to illustrate how actions committed in one life will determine one’s future circumstances. The teaching concludes with the Buddha prophesying how the child Inconceivable Radiance will eventually fully awaken in the future.
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General Sūtra Section
The White Lotus of Great Compassion
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Mahākaruṇāpuṇḍarīkasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་པདྨ་དཀར་པོའི་མདོ།
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In Progress
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15
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General Sūtra Section
《迦耶山頭經》(大正藏:《佛說象頭精舍經》)
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Gayāśīrṣa
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[No Tibetan title]
ག་ཡཱ་མགོའི་རི།
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這是一部描述大乘法道不同面向的精要佛經。經名得自於開示發生的地點,即菩提伽耶附近的迦耶山。經中依次記敘了佛陀的內觀,佛陀與文殊師利菩薩的對話,以及文殊師利與三位提問者——兩位天人和一位菩薩——之間的對答,由此簡要而持續地解說了證悟的漸進過程、四種發菩提心的階段、菩薩道的方便與智慧兩大原則,以及菩薩行的種種分類。《迦耶山頭經》有多種譯本、釋論,其中的段落被大量引用,可見其對於印度和漢藏兩地大乘佛教界的廣泛影響。
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Chapter
359
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The White Lotus of the Good Dharma
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Saddharmapuṇḍarīka
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[No Tibetan title]
དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ།
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The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, popularly known as the Lotus Sūtra, is taught by Buddha Śākyamuni on Vulture Peak to an audience that includes bodhisattvas from countless realms, as well as bodhisattvas who emerge from under the ground, from the space below this world. Buddha Prabhūtaratna, who has long since passed into nirvāṇa, appears within a floating stūpa to hear the sūtra, and Śākyamuni enters the stūpa and sits beside him.
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General Sūtra Section
Words of the Dharma, 'The Treasury of the Buddhas'
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(possibly translated from Chinese)
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[No Tibetan title]
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་མཛོད་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཡིག
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General Sūtra Section
The Basket of the [Three] Jewels
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Ratnakāraṇḍasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
དཀོན་མཆོག་གི་ཟ་མ་ཏོག་ཡི་མདོ།
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In Progress
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General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra of the Great Parinirvāṇa
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Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པའི་མདོ།
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2
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General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra on Wisdom at the Hour of Death
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Atyayajñānasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མདོ།
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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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Chapter
10
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General Sūtra Section
The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī
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Sukhāvatīvyūha
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[No Tibetan title]
བདེ་བ་ཅན་གྱི་བཀོད་པ།
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In the Jeta Grove of Śrāvastī, the Buddha Śākyamuni, surrounded by a large audience, presents to his disciple Śāriputra a detailed description of the realm of Sukhāvatī, a delightful, enlightened abode, free of suffering. Its inhabitants are described as mature beings in an environment where everything enhances their spiritual inclinations. The principal buddha of Sukhāvatī is addressed as Amitāyus (Limitless Life) as well as Amitābha (Limitless Light).
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General Sūtra Section
The Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Great Parinirvāṇa
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Mahāparinirvāṇamahāyānasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
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16
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General Sūtra Section
《寶邊經》(大正藏:《入法界體性經》;《佛說寶積三昧文殊師利菩薩問法身經》)
[No Sanskrit title]
Ratnakoṭi
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[No Tibetan title]
རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་མཐའ།
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一時,世尊在靈鷲山中,與眾多大比丘俱。文殊師利菩薩來詣佛所。世尊與文殊師利及長老舍利弗之間展開一場對話,闡明不可別異、無二、周遍一切的法界甚深實相。
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General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra of the Great Parinirvāṇa
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[No Tibetan title]
ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
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In Progress
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General Sūtra Section
The Words of the Dharma on the Vajra Samādhi
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(possibly translated from Chinese)
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[No Tibetan title]
རྡོ་རྗེ་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཡི་གེ་
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In Progress
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160
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General Sūtra Section
The Jewel Mine
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Ratnākara
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[No Tibetan title]
དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས།
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In this sūtra the Buddha Śākyamuni recounts how the thus-gone Sarvārthasiddha purified the buddha realms in his domain. In his explanation, the Buddha Śākyamuni emphasizes the view of the Great Vehicle, which he explains as the fundamental basis for all bodhisattvas who aspire to attain liberation. The attendant topics taught by the Buddha are the six perfections of generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and wisdom. The Buddha explains each of these six perfections in three distinct ways as he recounts the past lives of the buddha Sarvārthasiddha. First, he describes how Sarvārthasiddha learned the practices that purify buddha realms, namely the six perfections. Next, he explains how to seal these six virtuous practices with the correct view so that they become perfections. Finally, he recounts how Sarvārthasiddha, as a bodhisattva, received instructions for enhancing the potency of the perfections.
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Chapter
1
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General Sūtra Section
《黃金經》
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Suvarṇasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
གསེར་གྱི་མདོ།
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在此短篇經文中,阿難尊者請佛陀講解菩提心之本質。世尊告阿難,菩提心的本質如黃金般純淨。如同金匠能將黃金塑造成各種形狀卻不改變黃金的本質,菩提心即使以不同方式呈現也始終本質不變。
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Chapter
7
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
Like Gold Dust
[No Sanskrit title]
Suvarṇavālukopamā
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[No Tibetan title]
གསེར་གྱི་བྱེ་མ་ལྟ་བུ།
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This sūtra presents a short dialogue between Ānanda and the Buddha on the theme of limitlessness. In response to Ānanda’s persistent inquiries, the Buddha uses analogies to illustrate both the limitlessness of the miraculous abilities acquired by realized beings, and the limitless multiplicity of the world systems in which bodhisattvas and buddhas are to be found. The Buddha then concludes his teaching with a further analogy—referenced in the sūtra’s title—to illustrate that although buddhas and bodhisattvas are innumerable, it is nevertheless extremely rare and precious to find a buddha within any given world system, or to find bodhisattvas who engage sincerely in bodhisattva conduct. To encounter such beings, he says, is as rare as finding a single grain of gold dust among all the sands of the ocean, or all the sands of the mighty river Gaṅgā.
Published
Chapter
47
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Absorption of the Thus-Gone One’s Wisdom Seal
[No Sanskrit title]
Tathāgatajñānamudrāsamādhi
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[No Tibetan title]
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
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In The Absorption of the Thus-Gone One’s Wisdom Seal, a vast number of bodhisattvas request the Buddha Śākyamuni to teach them about his state of meditative absorption. In his responses to various interlocutors, including the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī and Maitreya, the Buddha expounds on this profound state, exhorting them to accomplish it themselves. The sūtra also describes the qualities of bodhisattvas and their stages of development.
Published
Chapter
339
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The King of Samādhis Sūtra
[No Sanskrit title]
Samādhirājasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མདོ།
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This sūtra, much quoted in later Buddhist writings for its profound statements especially on the nature of emptiness, relates a long teaching given by the Buddha mainly in response to questions put by a young layman, Candraprabha. The samādhi that is the subject of the sūtra, in spite of its name, primarily consists of various aspects of conduct, motivation, and the understanding of emptiness; it is also a way of referring to the sūtra itself. The teaching given in the sūtra is the instruction to be dedicated to the possession and promulgation of the samādhi, and to the necessary conduct of a bodhisattva, which is exemplified by a number of accounts from the Buddha’s previous lives. Most of the teaching takes place on Vulture Peak Mountain, with an interlude recounting the Buddha’s invitation and visit to Candraprabha’s home in Rājagṛha, where he continues to teach Candraprabha before returning to Vulture Peak Mountain. In one subsequent chapter the Buddha responds to a request by Ānanda, and the text concludes with a commitment by Ānanda to maintain this teaching in the future.
Published
Chapter
Pages
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General Sūtra Section
《法性自性空不动照种种一切经》
[No Sanskrit title]
Dharmatāsvabhāvaśūnyatācalapratisarvāloka
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[No Tibetan title]
ཆོས་ཉིད་རང་གི་ངོ་བོ་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ལས་མི་གཡོ་བར་ཐ་དད་པར་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་སྣང་བ།
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这部义理深邃的佛经篇幅简短,开篇描述佛陀住于法性无有动摇,彼时虽无说法之念,与会大众却都认为自己已听闻教法。然而,基于各人不同的感知,他们对于法性产生了五种不同的见地。文殊师利菩萨知晓众人各有其不同之见解,便问世尊:不同的见地何以产生,此诸见地是否同等成立,见地之歧异是否会引发后世之争。世尊答道,各人习性与禀赋不同,因而会产生不同见地;五种见地之中,唯有第五种完全契合于诸佛之行境。世尊预言,见解之差异将会在后世中引起长久争论。文殊师利的最后一个问题是:若此不同见地皆依于同一基础,那么这个基础是什么?佛陀答言,蕴、界、处是一切体验的基础,然而志求无上正等觉者,即便是蕴、界、处,亦不可执以为实。
In Progress
Chapter
73
Pages
Kangyur
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General Sūtra Section
The Absorption of the Miraculous Ascertainment of Peace
[No Sanskrit title]
Praśāntaviniścayaprātihāryasamādhi
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[No Tibetan title]
རབ་ཏུ་ཞི་བ་རྣམ་པར་ངེས་པའི་ཆོ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
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In this sūtra the Buddha Śākyamuni teaches how bodhisattvas proceed to awakening, without ever regressing, by relying on an absorption known as the miraculous ascertainment of peace. He lists the very numerous features of this absorption, describes how to train in it, and explains how through this training bodhisattvas develop all the qualities of buddhahood. The “peace” of the absorption comes from the relinquishment of misconceptions and indeed of all concepts whatsoever, and the sūtra provides a profound and detailed survey of how all the abilities, attainments, and other qualities of the bodhisattva’s path arise as the bodhisattva’s understanding and realization of what is meant by the Thus-Gone One unfold.
Published
Chapter
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra on the Samādhi of Valiant Progress
[No Sanskrit title]
Śūraṅgamasamādhisūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
དཔའ་བར་འགྲོ་བའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་མདོ།
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In Progress
Chapter
41
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Illusory Absorption
[No Sanskrit title]
Māyopamasamādhi
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[No Tibetan title]
སྒྱུ་མ་ལྟ་བུའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
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In this sūtra Buddha Śākyamuni explains how to attain the absorption known as “the illusory absorption,” a meditative state so powerful that it enables awakening to be attained very quickly. He also teaches that this absorption has been mastered particularly well by two bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta, who live in Sukhāvatī, the distant realm of Buddha Amitābha. Buddha Śākyamuni summons these two bodhisattvas to this world and, when they arrive, recounts the story of how they first engendered the mind of awakening. Finally the Buddha reveals the circumstances surrounding the future awakening of Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta.
Published
Chapter
Pages
Kangyur
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General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra on the Samādhi in which the Buddhas of the Present All Stand Before One
[No Sanskrit title]
Pratyutpannabuddhasaṃmukhāvasthitasamādhisūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ད་ལྟར་གྱི་སངས་རྒྱས་མངོན་སུམ་དུ་བཞུགས་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་མདོ།
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In Progress
Chapter
103
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Absorption That Encapsulates All Merit
[No Sanskrit title]
Sarvapuṇyasamuccayasamādhi
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[No Tibetan title]
བསོད་ནམས་ཐམས་ཅད་བསྡུས་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
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The Absorption That Encapsulates All Merit tells the story of Vimalatejā, a strongman renowned for his physical prowess, who visits the Buddha in order to compare abilities and prove that he is the mightier of the two. He receives an unexpected, humbling riposte in the form of a teaching by the Buddha on the inconceivable magnitude of the powers of awakened beings, going well beyond mere physical strength. The discussions that then unfold—largely between the Buddha, Vimalatejā, and the bodhisattva Nārāyaṇa—touch on topics including the importance of creating merit, the centrality of learning and insight, and the question of whether renunciation entails monasticism. Above all, however, Vimalatejā is led to see that the entirety of the Great Vehicle path hinges on the practice that forms the name of the sūtra, which is nothing other than the mind of awakening (bodhicitta).
Published
Chapter
70
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Four Boys’ Absorption
[No Sanskrit title]
Caturdārakasamādhi
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[No Tibetan title]
ཁྱེའུ་བཞིའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
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The Four Boys’ Absorption narrates the Buddha Śākyamuni’s passing away (or parinirvāṇa) in the Yamakaśāla Grove near Kuśinagara. Ānanda has a portentous dream that is confirmed by the Buddha to be an indication that he will soon die. Widespread panic spreads through the various realms of this world system, and as gods and other beings converge on the forest grove near Kuśinagara, tragic scenes of mourning ensue. Then, when the Buddha lies down, the narrative suddenly shifts to recount how four bodhisattvas from distant buddha fields in the four directions are reborn as four infants in prominent households in the major cities of the Gangetic Plain, announce their intention to see the Buddha Śākyamuni, and with expansive entourages proceed to the forest grove in the country of the Mallas where the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa will take place. Their appearance is marked by various miracles, whereupon the Buddha explains their arrival and consoles his grieving followers with teachings on the limitless numbers of buddhas. He confers responsibility on his attendant Ānanda and his son Rāhula, and then manifests a variety of spectacular miracles. Toward the end of the sūtra, while still appearing to lie upon the lion couch, the Buddha visits the various hells and some god realms, where he sets countless beings on the path to awakening. The text culminates in his final passing.
Published
Chapter
24
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《金剛心髓陀羅尼經》 [大正藏:《金剛場陀羅尼經》]
[No Sanskrit title]
Vajramaṇḍadhāraṇī
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[No Tibetan title]
རྡོ་རྗེ་སྙིང་པོའི་གཟུངས།
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在本經中,大智文殊師利菩薩祈請世尊說最上乘智慧之法,對於佛法中的基本概念與分類,不否認其「世俗有」而揭示其「勝義空」。佛陀遂以一種看似悖謬的方式進行教導。首先宣說:無正覺,亦無佛之功德,然而菩薩欲得佛果。繼而以類似方式,連續舉出佛法與凡夫法的諸多差別,卻又同時指出兩者本性相同。由此點出本經之一大要旨:凡夫法不離諸佛法,亦不在諸佛法。何以故?金剛場陀羅尼中,無有分別,法爾如是。自貪嗔癡至證悟佛果,一切諸法悉皆平等,空無自性,本來清凈,無縛無解。
Published
Chapter
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Supreme Samādhi
[No Sanskrit title]
Samādhyagrottama
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[No Tibetan title]
ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་མཆོག་དམ་པ།
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In Progress
Chapter
181
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī
[No Sanskrit title]
Ratnaketudhāraṇī
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[No Tibetan title]
རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཏོག་གི་གཟུངས།
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The Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī is one of the core texts of the Mahāsannipāta collection of Mahāyāna sūtras that dates back to the formative period of Mahāyāna Buddhism, from the first to the third century ce. Its rich and varied narratives, probably redacted from at least two independent works, recount significant events from the lives, past and present, of the Buddha Śākyamuni and some of his main followers and opponents, both human and nonhuman. At the center of these narratives is the climactic episode from the Buddha’s life when Māra, the personification of spiritual death, sets out to destroy the Buddha and his Dharma. The mythic confrontation between these paragons of light and darkness, and the Buddha’s eventual victory, are related in vivid detail. The main narratives are interwoven with Dharma instructions and interspersed with miraculous events. The text also exemplifies two distinctive sūtra genres, “prophecies” (vyākaraṇa) and “incantations” (dhāraṇī), as it includes, respectively, prophecies of the future attainment of buddhahood by some of the Buddha’s followers and the potent phrases that embody the Buddha’s teachings and are meant to ensure their survival and the thriving of its practitioners.
Published
Chapter
229
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of Sāgaramati
[No Sanskrit title]
Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ།
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Heralded by a miraculous flood, the celestial bodhisattva Sāgaramati arrives in Rājagṛha to engage in a Dharma discussion with Buddha Śākyamuni. He discusses an absorption called “The Pristine and Immaculate Seal” and many other subjects relevant to bodhisattvas who are in the process of developing the mind of awakening and practicing the bodhisattva path. The sūtra strongly advises that bodhisattvas not shy away from the afflictive emotions of beings—no matter how unpleasant they may be—and that insight into these emotions is critical for a bodhisattva’s compassionate activity.
Published
Chapter
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra of the Questions of Gaganagañja
[No Sanskrit title]
Gaganagañjaparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ནམ་མཁའི་མཛོད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
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The Sūtra of the Questions of Gaganagañja (Gaganagañjaparipṛcchāsūtra, Toh 148) is an important canonical work centering on the bodhisattva Gaganagañja’s inquiries to the Buddha, his display of seven miracles, and dialogue between various figures about core Mahāyāna principles. The sūtra covers topics such as the bodhisattva path, bodhicitta, concentration, buddha activity, wisdom (jñāna), as well as predictions about the future enlightenment of disciples. Throughout the discourse, the sky (gagana) is used as the central metaphor for emptiness (śūnyatā) and nonduality (advaya) to describe the nature of reality.
In Progress
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Pages
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General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra Teaching the Miracles in the Domain of Skillful Means that the Bodhisattvas Have at their Disposition
[No Sanskrit title]
Bodhisattvagocaropāyaviṣayavikurvitanirdeśasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
བྱང་སེམས་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་ཐབས་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་ལ་རྣམ་འཕྲུལ་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།
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In Progress
Chapter
56
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle
[No Sanskrit title]
Mahāyānaprasādaprabhāvana
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[No Tibetan title]
ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་དད་པ་རབ་ཏུ་སྒོམ་པ།
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In Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle, the Buddha Śākyamuni gives a discourse on the nature of trust (dad pa, prasāda) according to the Great Vehicle. The teaching is requested by a bodhisattva known as Great Skillful Trust, who requests the Buddha to answer four questions concerning the nature of trust in the Great Vehicle: (1) What are the characteristics of trust? (2) How is trust developed? (3) What are the different types of trust? (4) What are the benefits of having trust? Over the course of the sūtra, the Buddha answers all four questions, each in a separate chapter.
Published
Chapter
2
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《彌勒所問經 (3)》(大正藏:《彌勒菩薩所問本願經》)
[No Sanskrit title]
Maitreyaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
བྱམས་པས་ཞུས་པ།
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靈鷲山上,彌勒菩薩參見佛陀,請佛宣講說法之業果。佛陀答言,若有一人向諸佛作廣大無量的財物供養,而另一人僅講授一偈佛法,後者所獲福德遠遠勝於前者。
Published
Chapter
202
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata
[No Sanskrit title]
Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśa
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[No Tibetan title]
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་ངེས་པར་བསྟན་པ།
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The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata opens with the Buddha presiding over a large congregation of disciples at Vulture Peak. Entering a special state of meditative absorption, he magically displays a pavilion in the sky, attracting a vast audience of divine and human Dharma followers. At the request of the bodhisattva Dhāraṇīśvararāja, the Buddha gives a discourse on the qualities of bodhisattvas, which are specified as bodhisattva ornaments, illuminations, compassion, and activities.
Published
Chapter
11
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Dhāraṇī “Entering into Nonconceptuality”
[No Sanskrit title]
Avikalpapraveśadhāraṇī
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[No Tibetan title]
རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་པར་འཇུག་པའི་གཟུངས།
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The Dhāraṇī “Entering into Nonconceptuality” is a short Mahāyāna sūtra that came to be particularly influential in Yogācāra circles. The central theme of the sūtra is the attainment of the nonconceptual realm, reached through the practice of relinquishing all conceptual signs by not directing the mind toward them. The sūtra presents the progressive stages through which bodhisattvas can abandon increasingly subtle conceptual signs and eliminate the erroneous ideas that lead to the objectification of phenomena.
Published
Chapter
2
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Inquiry of Avalokiteśvara on the Seven Qualities
[No Sanskrit title]
Avalokiteśvaraparipṛcchāsaptadharmaka
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[No Tibetan title]
སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག་གིས་ཞུས་པ་ཆོས་བདུན་པ།
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This brief sūtra is introduced with the Buddha residing on Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, together with a great monastic assembly of 1,250 monks and a multitude of bodhisattva mahāsattvas. The Buddha is approached and asked by the bodhisattva mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara about the qualities that should be cultivated by a bodhisattva who has just generated the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening.
Published
Chapter
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra of the Questions of Brahmā
[No Sanskrit title]
Brahmaparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ཚངས་པས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
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In Progress
Chapter
15
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (2)
[No Sanskrit title]
Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ།
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The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara presents a discourse given by the Buddha Śākyamuni on the importance of considering the effects caused by actions. At the start of his teaching, the Buddha remarks how the variety of forms that exist, and in fact all phenomena, come about as the result of virtuous and nonvirtuous actions. By understanding this law of cause and effect and by taking great care to engage in virtue, one will avoid rebirth in the lower realms and enter the path to perfect awakening. In the rest of his discourse he explains in great detail the advantages of engaging in each of the ten virtues and the problems associated with not engaging in them.
Published
Chapter
165
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
海龍王所問經(1)[大正藏:佛說海龍王經]
[No Sanskrit title]
Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ།
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經文開篇記敘了一個瑞相,預示海龍王即將來到王舍城靈鷲山見佛。在海龍王與佛陀的長篇對話中,佛陀就區分相對實相與究竟實相的諸多問題作出開示,一再強調建立空性智慧最為重要。隨後,佛陀應邀前往海中龍宮,為龍王詳說其前世,由此開演無盡之藏總持門。佛在龍宮不僅就諸多主題給予教授,還調解了天人與阿修羅之間、龍族與金翅鳥之間的長期爭端。而後佛陀返回靈鷲山,與阿闍世王交談,並對海龍王作出授記。
Published
Chapter
96
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《阿那婆达多龙王所问经》(大正藏:佛说弘道广显三昧经)
[No Sanskrit title]
Anavataptanāgarājaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་མ་དྲོས་པས་ཞུས་པ།
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《阿那婆达多龙王所问经》讲述六度、正念和禅定等菩萨道的核心法教,并侧重讲解菩萨道究竟本质——超越语言的空性。佛陀在王舍城附近的灵鹫山说法时,有位名为阿那婆达多的龙王来到佛所,就上述主题提问,佛陀则给予开示。随后,龙王邀请佛陀前往位于阿那婆达多的住处。龙王的住处是一个带有传奇色彩的湖泊,为南瞻部洲四大河流的源头。佛陀于是与无数随侍飞往此地,并继续宣说法教。文殊师利等数以千计的菩萨参加了集会,他们在会上就声闻道与菩萨道的功德展开了辩论。经文的最后,佛陀授记龙王将于未来获得证悟,龙王与其眷属也都皈依了三宝。
Published
Chapter
25
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of Brahmadatta
[No Sanskrit title]
Brahmadattaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཚངས་པས་བྱིན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
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The Questions of Brahmadatta begins with the bodhisattva Amoghadarśin departing from the Jeta Grove of Śrāvastī, where the Buddha is residing. Together with more than five hundred bodhisattvas, he travels to the region of Pañcāla, where King Brahmadatta requests Amoghadarśin to impart teachings to him and his citizens. The bodhisattva discusses the attributes and correct practices of a king who is a protector of the Dharma. The king requests that the bodhisattva remain in his kingdom to observe the summer vows in retreat. Sixty wicked monks already residing there treat Amoghadarśin poorly, and after three months he leaves Pañcāla and returns to the Jeta Grove.King Brahmadatta later goes to see the Buddha, who explains to the king how the wicked monks behaved and the negative consequences of such actions. The Buddha then goes on to explain what a monk and others who wish to attain awakening should strive for, namely, to rid themselves of pride, anger, and jealousy. Upon hearing these instructions, King Brahmadatta expels the sixty wicked monks from his kingdom. Many beings then generate the mind of awakening, and King Brahmadatta is irreversibly set on the path of complete awakening. The Buddha smiles and radiates multicolored lights throughout the whole world. Finally, the king apologizes to Amoghadarśin and the bodhisattva forgives him.
Published
Chapter
131
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of the Kinnara King Druma
[No Sanskrit title]
Drumakinnararājaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
མི་འམ་ཅིའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་སྡོང་པོས་ཞུས་པ།
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The Questions of the Kinnara King Druma, initiated by the questions of the bodhisattva Divyamauli, consists of a series of teachings by the kinnara king Druma, given within a rich narrative framework in which music plays a central role in teaching the Dharma. This sūtra presents a variety of well-known Great Vehicle Buddhist themes, but special attention is given to the six bodhisattva perfections and the perfection of skillful means, as well as to the doctrine of emptiness that is discussed throughout the text.
Published
Chapter
2
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (3)
[No Sanskrit title]
Sāgaranāgarājaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ།
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In this very short sūtra, the Buddha explains to a nāga king and an assembly of monks that reciting the four aphorisms of the Dharma is equivalent to recitation of all of the 84,000 articles of the Dharma. He urges them to make diligent efforts to engage in understanding the four aphorisms (also called the four seals), which are the defining philosophical tenets of the Buddhist doctrine: (1) all compounded phenomena are impermanent; (2) all contaminated phenomena are suffering; (3) all phenomena are without self; (4) nirvāṇa is peace.
Published
Chapter
16
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of Ratnacandra
[No Sanskrit title]
Ratnacandraparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
རིན་ཆེན་ཟླ་བས་ཞུས་པ།
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The Questions of Ratnacandra is a sūtra in which Ratnacandra, a prince from the country of Magadha, requests the Buddha Śākyamuni to reveal the names of the ten buddhas who dwell in the ten directions. Prince Ratnacandra has been told that hearing the names of these ten buddhas ensures that one will attain awakening at some point in the future. The Buddha confirms this and discloses their names, as well as details of their respective buddha realms, such as the names of these realms and their many unique qualities.
Published
Chapter
156
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《梵勝心所問經》(大正藏:勝思惟梵天所問經)
[No Sanskrit title]
Brahmaviśeṣacintiparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཚངས་པ་ཁྱད་པར་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
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此經中,釋迦牟尼佛與菩薩、長者、天神眾探討大乘的基本義理,包括四聖諦、輪迴之因以及諸佛的特徵。同時,佛陀讚賞菩薩的功德,將菩薩喻為行大乘道者之典範。
Published
Chapter
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra of the Questions of Devaputra Suvikrāntacinta
[No Sanskrit title]
Suvikrāntacintadevaputraparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ལྷའི་བུ་རབ་རྩལ་སེམས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
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In Progress
Chapter
Pages
Kangyur
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General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra of the Questions of Vikurvāṇarāja
[No Sanskrit title]
Vikurvāṇarājaparipṛcchāsūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
རྣམ་འཕྲུལ་རྒྱལ་པོས་ཞུས་པའི་མདོ།
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In Progress
Chapter
9
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Question of Kṣemaṅkara
[No Sanskrit title]
Kṣemaṅkaraparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
བདེ་བྱེད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
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The Question of Kṣemaṅkara contains a teaching given by Buddha Śākyamuni to the Śākya youth Kṣemaṅkara, in response to a question he poses about the qualities of bodhisattvas and how to develop such qualities. The Buddha teaches him about bodhisattvas’ qualities, first in prose and later reiterated in verse, and then equates the teaching of this sūtra with the perfection of insight, stating that even if one practices the first five perfections for many eons, one will not make much progress without knowing what is taught in this sūtra.
Published
Chapter
9
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《吉祥世所問經》
[No Sanskrit title]
Śrīvasuparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
དཔལ་དབྱིག་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
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年輕商人吉祥世向佛陀請問:初地菩薩應如何於日常中行菩薩道?佛陀聞其所問甚是歡喜,即为其宣講大乘菩薩道之利他發心與修持。世尊並進而解釋菩薩日常修持,應以皈依三寶、修行六度以及迴向功德與自他之證悟為主。
Published
Chapter
32
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of Ratnajālin
[No Sanskrit title]
Ratnajāliparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
རིན་ཆེན་དྲ་བ་ཅན་གྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
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Prompted by a dream, the young Licchavi boy Ratnajālin invites the Buddha to the city of Vaiśālī. When the Buddha arrives Ratnajālin asks whether there are other buddhas whose names, when heard, bring benefit to bodhisattvas. The Buddha replies that there are, and he proceeds to describe the power of the names of buddhas in the four cardinal directions as well as above and below. Once Ratnajālin has understood the teaching on the power of the names of these thus-gone ones, the Buddha provides encouragement for the future propagation of this discourse.
Published
Chapter
8
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《持國所問經(2)》
[No Sanskrit title]
Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ།
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為了和另一部篇幅較長的同名佛經(Toh62)有所區別,本經另名為《持國所問經(2)》。在這部簡短的大乘佛經中,佛陀應持國所問而為廣大僧眾解說哪一類的比丘將導致佛法衰微。
Published
Chapter
5
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《問無我經》(大正藏:《尼乾子問無我義經》)
[No Sanskrit title]
Nairātmyaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
བདག་མེད་པ་དྲིས་པ།
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此經為大乘行者與外道之間的對話,以「無我」為主要議題。大乘行者為外道詳盡闡釋諸多佛教理念,如無我、世俗諦與勝義諦、苦因、空性、諸法無相以及證悟之道。
Published
Chapter
8
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《文殊師利所問經》(大正藏:《佛說妙吉祥菩薩所問大乘法螺經》、《大乘百福相經》)
[No Sanskrit title]
Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་དྲིས་པ།
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文殊師利菩薩請教世尊,何等福德而能成就如來妙法螺音?世尊以類比倍增的方式說明此福德之廣大。假使四大洲一切眾生皆悉成就轉輪聖王之福德,三千大千世界一切眾生皆悉成就梵王之福德,盡虛空一切眾生皆悉成就菩薩之福德,後者之福聚無量倍於前者。更勝於此的是佛身八十種好與三十二大丈夫相之福德,然而如上所說所有福德之不可思議倍數,才等於如來法螺之福德。世尊繼而闡釋,如來螺音、身相與光明何以普聞、普照於無量無邊世界,現種種相以教化眾生。
Published
Chapter
8
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of an Old Lady
[No Sanskrit title]
Mahallikāparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
བགྲེས་མོས་ཞུས་པ།
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This sūtra contains teachings given by the Buddha to a 120-year-old woman in the city of Vaiśalī. Upon meeting the Buddha, she asks him questions concerning the four stages of life, the aggregates, the elements, and the faculties. In response, the Buddha gives her a profound teaching on emptiness, using beautifully crafted examples to illustrate his point. After hearing these teachings her doubts are dispelled and she is freed from clinging to the perception of a self.
Published
Chapter
26
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of Pratibhānamati
[No Sanskrit title]
Pratibhānamatiparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
སྤོབས་པའི་བློ་གྲོས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
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The subject matter of this sūtra is indicated by the alternative title suggested by the Buddha himself in its conclusion: The Teaching That Clarifies Karma. In the opening section, the merchant Pratibhānamati, concerned about the state of society and what will become of the saṅgha in times to come, requests the Buddha Śākyamuni for a teaching that offers moral guidance to future beings. With the Buddha’s encouragement, he asks what actions lead to rebirth in ten different human and non-human states. The Buddha answers with descriptions of the actions associated with each of these states and the effects they will bring. Pratibhānamati then invites the Buddha to his home in Śrāvastī. Two beggars arrive there, and on account of their opposing aspirations and conduct in the presence of the Buddha and retinue, one soon becomes a king while the other is killed in an accident. The sūtra concludes as the Buddha, invited to the newly anointed king’s land, explains the karmic reasons for his unexpected fortune.
Published
Chapter
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of Vimalaprabha
[No Sanskrit title]
Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
དྲི་མེད་འོད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ།
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In Progress
Chapter
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
Instruction on the Mahāyāna
[No Sanskrit title]
Mahāyānopadeśasūtra
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[No Tibetan title]
ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མན་ངག་
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In Progress
Chapter
7
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Questions of Śrīmatī the Brahmin Woman
[No Sanskrit title]
Śrīmatībrāhmaṇīparipṛcchā
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[No Tibetan title]
བྲམ་ཟེ་མོ་དཔལ་ལྡན་མས་ཞུས་པ།
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During an alms round in Vārāṇasī, the Buddha Śākyamuni encounters a brahmin woman by the name of Śrīmatī. Inspired by the Buddha’s majestic and graceful presence, Śrīmatī inquires about the teaching he gave at nearby Deer Park. In response, the Buddha reprises the teaching on how the twelve links of dependent origination lead to suffering and how their cessation leads to the end of suffering. Śrīmatī then asks about the nature of ignorance, the first of the twelve links. The Buddha offers a profound response and raises the distinction between ultimate truth and conventional teaching. At this, Śrīmatī makes the aspiration that she too may turn the many wheels of Dharma just as the Buddha has done. The Buddha then smiles and prophesies her eventual awakening. The sūtra concludes with the Buddha describing Śrīmatī’s virtuous deeds in past lives, in which she had venerated each of the six previous buddhas.
Published
Chapter
2
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《文殊師利所說經》(大正藏:《大乘四法經》)
[No Sanskrit title]
Mañjuśrīnirdeśa
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[No Tibetan title]
འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་བསྟན་པ།
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佛陀在舍衛城為眾說法,爾時文殊師利菩薩持一寶蓋覆如來上。天人善勝在此會中,問文殊師利於此供養是否滿足。文殊師利答言,志求菩提者供養如來未曾厭足。善勝復問,應為何故供養如來,文殊答之以四事。
Published
Chapter
192
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Teaching of Akṣayamati
[No Sanskrit title]
Akṣayamatinirdeśa
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[No Tibetan title]
བློ་གྲོས་མི་ཟད་པས་བསྟན་པ།
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The bodhisatva We prefer to follow the mainstream Buddhist Sanskrit usage of manuscripts and inscriptions by spelling “bodhisatva” with a single rather than a double “t,” the latter being a convention of modern editors. See Gouriswar Bhattacharya, “How to Justify the Spelling of the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Term Bodhisatva?” in From Turfan to Ajanta: Festschrift for Dieter Schlingloff on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday, ed. Eli Franco and Monika Zin (Rupandehi: Lumbini International Research Institute, 2010), 2:35–50. Note that this is also the spelling used in Gāndhārī, as well as in Khotanese, in Tibetan lexicography, and in old Thai documents. Akṣayamati arrives in our world from the buddha field of the buddha Samantabhadra. In response to Śāriputra’s questions, Akṣayamati gives a discourse on the subject of imperishability. In all, Akṣayamati explains that there are eighty different aspects of the Dharma that are imperishable. When he has given this explanation, the Buddha praises it and declares it worthy of being spread by the countless bodhisatvas gathered there to listen.
Published
Chapter
59
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《一切法無生經》(大正藏:《佛說諸法本無經》)
[No Sanskrit title]
Sarvadharmāpravṛttinirdeśa
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[No Tibetan title]
ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་འབྱུང་བ་མེད་པར་བསྟན་པ།
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此經中,師子遊步菩薩於靈鷲山上祈請世尊講解空性與無二。佛陀應其所問而以偈頌宣說諸法本空之義理。世尊亦告誡諸菩薩不應批判其他菩薩的行為,也不應執著於任何法相,此二者均因妄想邪見而生。佛陀隨之在與文殊菩薩的對話中講述許多佛教義理以及法相之無生與無本。最後,世尊為一天神開示能克服二元對立的見解,由文殊師利菩薩揭示其初行菩薩道的因緣為此經總結。
Published
Chapter
130
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Teaching of Vimalakīrti
[No Sanskrit title]
Vimalakīrtinirdeśa
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[No Tibetan title]
དྲི་མེད་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ།
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While the Buddha is teaching outside the city of Vaiśālī, a notable householder in the city—the great bodhisattva Vimalakīrti—apparently falls sick. The Buddha asks his disciple and bodhisattva disciples to call on Vimalakīrti, but each of them relates previous encounters that have rendered them reluctant to face his penetrating scrutiny of their attitudes and activities. Only Mañjuśrī has the courage to pay him a visit, and in the conversations that ensue between Vimalakīrti, Mañjuśrī, and several other interlocutors, Vimalakīrti sets out an uncompromising and profound view of the Buddha’s teaching and the bodhisattva path, illustrated by various miraculous displays. Its masterful narrative structure, dramatic and sometimes humorous dialogue, and highly evolved presentation of teachings have made this sūtra one of the favorites of Mahāyāna literature.
Published
Chapter
151
Pages
Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
《五波羅蜜多經》(大正藏:《大般若波羅蜜多經第十一分至第十五分》)
[No Sanskrit title]
Pañcapāramitānirdeśa
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[No Tibetan title]
ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ལྔ་བསྟན་པ།
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此經由五部短篇經文組成,分別是有關大乘菩薩應修持的五種波羅蜜:佈施、持戒、忍辱、精進與禪定。這五度充分體現出菩薩道的善巧方便,但需要與第六度般若波羅蜜的遍知境界相結合。經中的教法由佛陀及其兩位親近弟子舍利弗與富婁那彌多羅尼子演說。