Toh 4329Untitled

Exposition of the Prajnaparamita Sutra (Toh 4329) -- Northern Transmission Mahayana Tradition

Background

This sutra belongs to the Prajnaparamita Sutra collection, one of the scriptural masterpieces of Mahayana Buddhism, especially treasured in the Northern Transmission tradition. Prajnaparamita means "Prajnaparamita Wisdom" -- a kind of transcendent wisdom that goes beyond all concepts and distinctions. This collection was compiled in the later period of Indian Buddhism, when the thought of Madhyamaka (sunyata -- emptiness) and Buddha-nature had reached mature development.

The Northern Transmission canon, especially in the Tibetan tradition, holds the Prajnaparamita sutras in very high regard. They are regarded as a core part of the Dharma, because they teach the direct path to awakening through understanding the qualities of "selflessness" (anatman) and the "absence of true self-nature" in all dharmas. This sutra was translated into Tibetan early on and became a doctrinal foundation for Tibetan Buddhist schools, from Nyingma to Gelug.

Main Content

Although the title is not clearly recorded, Prajnaparamita sutras generally present a sacred setting in which the Buddha or a bodhisattva (or the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara) teaches Dharma to an assembly regarding the nature of Prajnaparamita Wisdom. The primary content revolves around three core points:

First, Prajnaparamita is not ordinary knowledge, but a wisdom that goes beyond language, concepts, and dualistic thought. It is "nondual" wisdom (advaya) -- without division between subject and object, self and other, emptiness and existence. The principal means of practice is profound contemplation of the empty and unreal nature of all dharmas (sunyata).

Second, the sutra emphasizes that Prajnaparamita arises from the depths of the practice of the Six Perfections (the Six Paramitas).