Toh 653The Mahāsūtra, the Sūtra of the Great Assembly

An Explanation of the Great Assembly Sūtra (Mahāsamājasūtra)

Background

The Great Assembly Sūtra (Mahāsamājasūtra) is an important work in the Mahāyāna Northern Transmission tradition, preserved in the Kangyur (the collection of sūtras) under the number Toh 653. The title "Great Assembly" (Mahāsamāja) implies a great gathering of the Buddha with the assemblies, in which the Buddha Dharma is transmitted before a vast congregation including bodhisattvas, arhats, deities, and other beings.

According to the Northern Tibetan tradition, this sūtra belongs to the class of long sūtras and is regarded as part of the Buddha’s extended teaching at various places of Dharma benefit. The setting occurs in a sacred environment, where the Buddha Dharma is taught not only to the fourfold assembly of disciples (bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās), but also to the entire realm of the dharmadhātu. This reflects a distinctive feature of Northern Tibetan Mahāyāna: the Dharma is regarded as extending beyond the boundaries of human beings and the world, reaching extraordinary beings as well.

Main Contents

The specific contents of this sūtra have not yet been fully translated into Vietnamese. However, based on the general context of the Northern Tibetan Mahāyāna tradition, the Great Assembly Sūtra commonly presents principal teachings:

First, this sūtra likely expounded the nature of the Buddha’s Dharma Body (Dharmakāya) and the immeasurable dimensions of the Buddha Dharma. In the Northern Tibetan tradition, the Dharma Body is regarded as the absolute basis of all phenomena, transcending concepts and words.

Second, this sūtra may have emphasized the bodhisattva path (Bodhisattvayāna), the path of practice directed toward the perfection of buddhahood through compassion, wisdom, and the arising of bodhicitta. This is the core of the Mahāyāna, emphasizing that all sentient beings possess buddha nature and have the capacity to become Buddhas.