Kangyur — General Sūtras – page 3

Toh 173: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Questions on Selflessness”

Summary Questions on Selflessness consists of a dialogue between a group of followers of the Mahāyāna tradition and a group of tīrthikas, who pose several questions on the doctrine of selflessness. In the exchange that follows, the Mahāyāna proponents elucidate this and other key Buddhist doctrines, such as the distinction between relative and ultimate reality, the origin of suffering, the emptiness and illusoriness of all phenomena, and the path to awakening.

Toh 174: The Noble Sūtra “The Inquiry of Lokadhara”

Summary In The Inquiry of Lokadhara , the bodhisattva Lokadhara asks the Buddha to explain the proper way for bodhisattvas to discern the characteristics of phenomena and employ that knowledge to attain awakening. In reply, the Buddha teaches at length how to understand the lack of inherent existence of phenomena. As part of the teaching, the Buddha explains in detail the nonexistence of the aggregates, the elements, the sense sources, dependently originated phenomena, the four applications of mindfulness, the five powers, the eightfold path of the noble ones, and mundane and transcendent phenomena, as well as conditioned and unconditioned phenomena.

Toh 175: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Akṣayamati”

Summary 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.

Toh 176: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Vimalakīrti”

Summary 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.

Toh 177: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Mañjuśrī’s Teaching”

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas! Homage absent in Sanskrit.

Toh 178: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching on the Aids to Enlightenment”

Summary In response to a series of queries from Mañjuśrī, Buddha Śākyamuni first exposes the error that prevents sentient beings in general from transcending saṃsāra, and then focuses more particularly on errors that result from understanding the four truths of the noble ones based on conceptual notions of phenomena. He then goes on to explain how someone wishing to attain liberation should skillfully view the following five sets of qualities: (1) the four truths, (2) the four applications of mindfulness, (3) the eightfold path, (4) the five faculties, and (5) the seven branches of enlightenment.

Toh 179: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Teaching the Relative and Ultimate Truths”

Summary In Teaching the Relative and Ultimate Truths , the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī is summoned by Buddha Śākyamuni from a faraway buddha realm to teach in a way that demolishes all dualistic experience. As Mañjuśrī begins to teach, the main message of the sūtra unfolds as an explanation of the two truths. The general theme of Mañjuśrī’s discourse is centered on the particular circumstances in Ratnaketu’s buddha realm, but the message is equally applicable to the experiences of beings here in this world.

Toh 180: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Teaching How All Phenomena Are without Origin”

Summary While the Buddha is residing on Vulture Peak Mountain, the bodhisattva Siṃha­vikrānta­gāmin asks him a series of questions about emptiness and the nondual view in which the dichotomy between subject and object has been left behind. The Buddha responds with a discourse in verse identifying the nature of phenomena as the single principle of emptiness. Later, he teaches the bodhisattva about the dangers of judging the behavior of other bodhisattvas, and the dangers of making any imputations about phenomena at all—explaining that both stem from ill-founded preconceptions that are transcended with spiritual awakening. In an ensuing discussion with Mañjuśrī, the Buddha further connects many standard Buddhist concepts and categories to the nondual view that all phenomena are unborn and without intrinsic nature. Lastly, a god is instructed in the knowledge that overcomes the duality of various opposites, and Mañjuśrī concludes the sūtra by revealing the circumstances of his time as a beginning bodhisattva.

Toh 181: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Teaching the Five Perfections”

Summary Teaching the Five Perfections is a compilation of five short sūtras that each present the practice of one of the five perfections in which bodhisattvas train on the path of the Great Vehicle: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, and concentration. These five perfections embody the skillful methods of the bodhisattva path, and, as these sūtras show, they should always be combined with an understanding of the state of omniscience, the sixth perfection of insight that is supposed to permeate the practice of the first five perfections. The teachings are delivered by the Buddha as well as two of his close disciples, Śāradvatīputra and Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra, who both teach the five perfections inspired by the Buddha’s blessing.

Toh 182: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Perfection of Generosity”

Summary In this sūtra a bodhisattva asks the Buddha how bodhisattvas should exert themselves after having given rise to the mind set on awakening. The Buddha replies by describing the ten virtuous actions and the motivation that bodhisattvas should engender when they engage in those practices. Next, after explaining how they should exert themselves in the ten perfections, the Buddha presents a detailed explanation of the perfection of generosity, focusing on the compassionate motivation that bodhisattvas cultivate while practicing it. A particular feature of this sūtra is how it details the significance of making different kinds of offering, in terms of the spiritual attainments, qualities of awakening, and other benefits that will result.

Toh 183: The Noble “Teaching the Benefits of Generosity”

Summary This short discourse was taught to an audience of monks in Śrāvastī, in the Jetavana. The Buddha details thirty-seven ways in which the wise give gifts, how those gifts are properly given, and the positive results that ripen from giving such gifts. The Buddha makes clear that the result that ripens is similar to the gift that was given or the manner in which the gift was given.

Toh 184: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Teaching the Practice of a Bodhisattva”

Summary This sūtra takes place in the city of Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni and his retinue of monks have gone to gather alms. When the Buddha enters Vaiśālī a number of miracles occur in the city, and these draw the attention of a three-year-old boy named Ratnadatta. As the child encounters the Buddha, a dialogue ensues with the monks Maudgalyā­yana and Śāriputra and the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, in which the boy delivers a teaching on the practice of bodhisattvas and a critique of those who fail to take up such practices.

Toh 185: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Introduction to the Domain of the Inconceivable Qualities and Wisdom of the Tathāgatas”

Summary In the Introduction to the Domain of the Inconceivable Qualities and Wisdom of the Tathāgatas , the bodhisattva Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin expounds at length on how the awakened activity of the buddhas spontaneously unfolds in a limitless variety of ways to benefit beings, in all their diversity, throughout the universe. He also describes the inestimable benefits a bodhisattva derives from following a virtuous spiritual friend.

Toh 186: The Noble Sūtra of the Great Vehicle “The Teaching on the Extraordinary Transformation That Is the Miracle of Attaining the Buddha’s Powers”

Summary In this sūtra, the Buddha displays supernatural powers three times. First, he magically transports his entire audience and retinue to Vārāṇasī. Secondly, having incited Avalokiteśvara and Vajrapāṇi to use their own miraculous powers to gather there all the beings who must be led to awakening, he makes the whole world appear as a pure realm like Sukhāvatī. He explains that a tathāgata’s various powers are like a doctor’s skills, and teaches, with Mañjuśrī’s help in a series of dialogues with other protagonists, on how the tathāgatas manifest to beings, displaying his supernatural powers a third time by making many other buddhas appear all around him. The meaning of the Tathāgata’s miracles are gradually disclosed to the audience, as well as some other essential points including the merit to be gained by honoring the teachings.

Toh 187: The Teaching on the Inconceivable Properties of the Buddhas

Toh 188: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Prophecy of Dīpaṅkara”

Summary In The Prophecy of Dīpaṅkara , the Buddha narrates the famous story of how, in a former life as a brahmin ascetic many eons ago, he first received the prophecy of his future awakening. This story of the young brahmin ascetic Megha’s encounter with the former Buddha Dīpaṅkara is here told to illustrate for Ānanda the importance of not being complacent about one’s roots of virtue.

Toh 189: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Prediction for Brahmaśrī”

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Toh 190: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Prophecy Concerning Strīvivarta”

Summary In this sūtra, Subhūti, one of the Buddha’s close disciples, enters into a discussion with several individuals in the course of his alms rounds. His primary interlocutor is a laywoman who reveals herself to be a bodhisattva great being named Strīvivarta; her teachings are profound and challenging, consistently pointing in the direction of ultimate truth. The sūtra culminates in the Buddha prophesying Strīvivarta’s future awakening.

Toh 191: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Prophecy of the Girl Candrottarā”

Summary In Vaiśālī, a daughter is born to the wealthy Licchavī couple Vimalakīrti and his beautiful wife, Vimalā. All around the city, men are besotted with the idea of marrying her. To defuse the situation, the girl promises to go out into the city after seven days and choose a husband. Before this she takes the eight-branched purification vows, whereupon a lotus with an emanation of a thus-gone one seated upon it miraculously appears in her hand. The emanation tells her about the Buddha Śākyamuni, and she resolves to meet him. When she leaves the house on the seventh day, she is mobbed by a crowd of would-be suitors. She evades them by rising into the air, and from there delivers a teaching on the futility of lust and desire. She then calls upon the crowd of men to join her in going to meet the Buddha. On the way, they meet Śāriputra and other elders. The elders question her and are impressed by the profundity and eloquence of her answers. When she arrives in the presence of the Buddha himself, numerous bodhisattvas ask her further questions. The Buddha is delighted by her answers, and after she makes the aspiration to seek awakening for the benefit of all beings, he smiles. When Ānanda asks what his smile means, the Buddha predicts her future awakening.

Toh 191: The Sūtra of the Prophecy Concening the Girl Candrottarā

Toh 192: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī”

Summary On their morning alms round, the Buddha and Maitreya meet Queen Kṣemavatī who is bedecked in all her royal jewelry. When the Buddha asks her about the source of such fine jewelry, referring to it metaphorically as fruit, Queen Kṣemavatī explains that her worldly position is the fruit of the tree of her previous good deeds. The remainder of the sūtra describes how one’s good actions can eventually lead to buddhahood, and it concludes with a prophecy of the queen’s future awakening.

Toh 193: The Noble Prophecy of Śrī Mahādevī

Summary This sūtra recounts an event that took place in the buddha realm of Sukhāvatī. The discourse commences with the Buddha Śākyamuni relating to the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara the benefits of reciting the various names of Śrī Mahādevī. The Buddha describes how Śrī Mahādevī acquired virtue and other spiritual accomplishments through the practice of venerating numerous tathāgatas and gives an account of the prophecy in which her future enlightenment was foretold by all the buddhas she venerated. The Buddha then lists the one hundred and eight blessed names of Śrī Mahādevī to be recited by the faithful. The sūtra ends with the Buddha Śākyamuni giving a dhāraṇī and a brief explanation on the benefits of reciting the names of Śrī Mahādevī, namely the eradication of all negative circumstances and the accumulation of merit and happiness.

Toh 194: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Inquiry of Jayamati”

Summary The sūtra is introduced with the Buddha residing in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Wood, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, together with a great assembly of monks and a great multitude of bodhisatvas. The Buddha then addresses the bodhisatva Jayamati, instructs him on nineteen moral prescriptions, and indicates the corresponding effects of practicing these prescriptions when they are cultivated.

Toh 195: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra: Avalokinī

Summary The Avalokinī Sūtra takes place in the city of Rājagṛha, where the Buddha teaches on the benefits that result from honoring the stūpas of awakened beings. The major part of this teaching consists in the Buddha detailing the many positive rewards obtained by those who worship the buddhas’ stūpas with offerings, such as flowers, incense, and lamps.

Toh 196: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Dwelling Place of Mañjuśrī”

Summary The Dwelling Place of Mañjuśrī first presents a dialogue between Mañjuśrī and Śāriputra regarding the activity of “dwelling” ( vihāra ) during meditation, the nature of dharmas, and the “true nature” ( tathatā ). This opens into a conversation between Mañjuśrī and a large gathering of monks whereby Mañjuśrī corrects the monks’ misinterpretations. Mañjuśrī then instructs Śāriputra on the enduring and indestructible nature of the realm of sentient beings and the realm of reality. Finally, the power of Mañjuśrī’s teaching is explained and reiterated by the Buddha.

Toh 197: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Nectar of Speech”

Summary In this sūtra, in answer to a question put by Maitreya, the Buddha Śākyamuni teaches five qualities that bodhisattvas should have in order to live a long life free of obstacles and attain awakening quickly: (1) giving the Dharma; (2) giving freedom from fear; (3) practicing great loving kindness, great compassion, great joy, and great equanimity; (4) repairing dilapidated stūpas; and (5) causing all beings to aspire to the mind of awakening. Maitreya praises the benefits of this teaching and vows to teach it himself in future degenerate times. Both Maitreya and the Buddha emphasize the positive effects on beings and the environment that upholding, preserving, and teaching The Nectar of Speech will bring about.

Toh 198: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Maitreya’s Setting Out”

Summary In Maitreya’s Setting Out , the Buddha Śākyamuni first narrates events from a past life of the bodhisattva Maitreya in which he was born as a king and for the first time gave rise to the mind set on awakening. Later, the Buddha recounts another past life of Maitreya—this time as a monk—and explains why he is known today as the bodhisattva Maitreya. These two narratives are interspersed with a series of Dharma teachings emphasizing the unborn nature of phenomena and the need to develop the view that transcends all reference points.

Toh 199: The Noble Sūtra “The Bodhisattva Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy”

Summary This discourse takes place during the early evening in Śrāvastī and features the Buddha and his retinue. Among them are Maitreya (then known as Ajita) and Upāli, who asks about Ajita’s future awakening as Maitreya. The Buddha answers that he will be reborn in the Heaven of Joy. He proceeds to describe its wondrous qualities and the causes of being reborn there. At the conclusion of the discourse, all those present in the retinue rejoice and make aspirations to be reborn in the Heaven of Joy.

Toh 200: The Sūtra on Concordance with the World

Toh 201: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Seal of Engagement in Awakening the Power of Faith”

Summary The Seal of Engagement in Awakening the Power of Faith is made up of two lengthy orations—one by the Buddha, and one by the bodhisattva Samantabhadra—delivered in response to questions by the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. The Buddha’s teaching consists of numerous sets of five principles related to bodhisattva practice, each item of which is subsequently defined. These come together to teach Mañjuśrī how bodhisattvas can be inspired and thereby prepare themselves for the first bodhisattva level. In the latter part of the sūtra Samantabhadra teaches on the topic of buddha activity with a rich account of the expansive ways in which buddhas act to benefit beings.

Toh 202: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Evaluating Whether Progress is Certain or Uncertain”

Toh 203: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Seal of Dharma”

Summary In this short sūtra, the Buddha addresses the nature of monastic ordination according to the perspective of the Great Vehicle and how going forth from the life of a householder can be said to have the qualities of being noble and supramundane. Following the Buddha’s teaching, the two prominent monks Śāriputra and Subhūti engage in a brief discussion on this same topic.

Toh 204: The Sūtra on Offering Lamps

Toh 205: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The City Beggar Woman”

Summary This short Mahāyāna sūtra tells of a beggar woman from the city of Śrāvastī whose modest offering of a lamp at Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, is contrasted with the lavish offering of lamps being made at the same time by Prasenajit, who was the king of Kośala and a major benefactor of the Buddha Śākyamuni and his community. While King Prasenajit’s extravagant donations fill a thousand large lamps with oil and burn so bright that a wide area around the monastery is illuminated, the beggar woman has only a tiny amount of oil with which to make her modest offering. As she lights the lamp, she does so with the sincere prayer that she too may one day achieve enlightenment and become a teacher of the Dharma, just like the Buddha. Her small lamp burns bright through the night and cannot be extinguished, no matter what Maudgalyāyana does as he tries to douse it. When the beggar woman returns the next day and sees her lamp still burning, she is filled with joy, whereupon the Buddha gives one of his magnificent smiles that lights up the cosmos. Asked by Ānanda to divulge the reason for his smile, the Buddha prophesies the almswoman’s fortuitous future rebirths and her eventual awakening as a buddha. He then reprises the whole tale in a series of verses.

Toh 206: The Mahāyāna Sūtra “Pure Sustenance of Food”

Summary While the Buddha is staying at the Bamboo Grove with a diverse retinue, the monk Maudgalyāyana asks him about some unusual beings he saw during an alms round. The Buddha informs Maudgalyāyana that these beings are starving spirits. The Buddha gives a discourse explaining how these starving spirits were once humans yet committed misdeeds related to food that led them to their current dismal state. The misdeeds connected with food described by the Buddha present a picture of food-related prohibitions for the monastic saṅgha, such as failing to eat only a single meal a day, improperly partaking of meals, carrying away leftovers, and other forms of abusing food offerings. Food-related ethics are also given for lay people, mainly concerning how to prepare food for the saṅgha in a hygienic manner.

Toh 207: The Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Strength of the Elephant”

Summary This sūtra contains a Dharma discourse on the profound insight into the emptiness of all phenomena, also known as transcendent insight. Following a short teaching in verse by Śāriputra, the Buddha delivers the primary discourse at the behest of Ānanda and Mañjuśrī amid a vast assembly of monks, bodhisattvas, and lay devotees. He specifically addresses hearers and so-called “outcast bodhisattvas” who have not realized transcendent insight and who thus remain attached to phenomenal appearances. Responding to a series of questions posed by Mañjuśrī and Śāriputra, the Buddha explains that all phenomena are as empty as space, with nothing to be either affirmed or rejected. Yet that very emptiness is what makes everything possible, including the bodhisattvas’ altruistic activities.

Toh 208: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Great Rumble”

Summary The Buddha’s disciple Ānanda is on an alms round in Śrāvastī when he notices an immaculate palace. He wonders whether it would be more meritorious to offer such a palace to the monastic community or to enshrine a relic of the Buddha within a small stūpa. He poses this question to the Buddha who describes how the merit of the latter far exceeds any other offerings one could make. The reason the Buddha cites for this is the immense qualities that the buddhas possess.

Toh 209: The Sūtra Proclaiming the Lion’s Roar

Toh 210: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Rice Seedling”

Summary In this sūtra, at the request of venerable Śāriputra, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya elucidates a very brief teaching on dependent arising that the Buddha had given earlier that day while gazing at a rice seedling. The text discusses outer and inner causation and its conditions, describes in detail the twelvefold cycle by which inner dependent arising gives rise to successive lives, and explains how understanding the very nature of that process can lead to freedom from it.

Toh 211: The Sūtra “Teaching the Fundamental Exposition and Detailed Analysis of Dependent Arising”

Summary In the Jeta’s Grove outside Śrāvastī, monks have gathered to listen to the Buddha as he presents the foundational doctrine of dependent arising. The Buddha first gives the definition of dependent arising and then teaches the twelve factors that form the causal chain of existence in saṃsāra as well as the defining characteristics of these twelve factors.

Toh 212: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on Dependent Arising

Summary While the Buddha is residing in the Realm of the Thirty-Three Gods with a retinue of deities, great hearers, and bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara asks the Buddha how beings can gain merit from building a stūpa. The Buddha responds by stating the Buddhist creed on dependent arising: All phenomena that arise from causes, The Tathāgata has taught their cause, And that which is their cessation, Thus has proclaimed the Great Renunciant. The Buddha then explains that this dependent arising is the dharmakāya, and that whoever sees dependent arising sees the Buddha. He concludes the sūtra by saying that one should place these verses inside stūpas to attain the merit of Brahmā.

Toh 213: The Sūtra for the Benefit of Aṅgulimāla

Toh 214: The Mahāyāna Sūtra “Advice to a King” (1): Advice to King Bimbisāra

Summary Discerning that the time is right to train King Bimbisāra, the Buddha Śākyamuni goes to Magadha, along with his entourage. The king is hostile at first but when his attack on the Buddha is thwarted and a verse on impermanence is heard, he becomes respectful. In the discourse that ensues, the Buddha tells the king that it is good to be disillusioned with the world because saṃsāra is impermanence and suffering. He then elaborates with a teaching on impermanence followed by a teaching on suffering. When the king asks where, if saṃsāra is so full of suffering, well-being is to be found, the Buddha responds with a short exposition on nirvāṇa as the cessation of all suffering and the cause for supreme happiness. Moved by his words, the king decides that he will renounce worldly concerns and seek nirvāṇa. The Buddha praises the king and concludes the teaching with the potent refrain, “When one is attached, that is saṃsāra. When one is not attached, that is nirvāṇa.”

Toh 215: The Mahāyāna Sūtra “Advice to a King” (2): Advice to Udayana, King of Vatsa

Summary While giving teachings at Vārāṇasī, the Buddha Śākyamuni discerns that the time is right to train King Udayana of Vatsa. When he meets the king, who at the time is embarking on a military expedition, the king flies into a rage and tries to kill the Buddha with an arrow. However, the arrow circles in the sky, and a voice proclaims a verse on the dangers of anger and warfare. Hearing this verse, the king pays homage to the Buddha, who explains that an enemy far greater than worldly opponents is the affliction of perceiving a self, which binds one to saṃsāra. He uses a military analogy to explain how this great enemy can be controlled by the combined arsenal of the six perfections and slayed by the arrow of nonself. When the king asks what is meant by “nonself,” the Buddha replies in a series of verses that constitute a succinct teaching on all persons and all things being without a self.

Toh 216: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Eliminating Ajātaśatru’s Remorse”

文殊菩薩在一次與其二十五位弟子的對談後，幻化成釋迦牟尼佛，讓菩薩弟子們能與佛陀討論法教。隨後佛陀便召喚文殊到身邊，並在給予須菩提教法的同時，也給文殊機會展現其無上的智慧。接著，阿闍世王拜見佛陀，為自己所造的惡業表示懺悔之心。佛陀讓阿闍世王邀請文殊前來接受佈施，而在邀請文殊的過程中，他們進行了很長的一段對話。在去探訪阿闍世王之前，文殊通夜給予他的菩薩弟子們關於陀羅尼、菩薩行本質以及不退轉之智慧輪的開示。

Toh 217: The Noble Śrīgupta Sūtra

Summary The Śrīgupta Sūtra tells the story of a plot against the life of Śākyamuni Buddha. At his guru’s instigation, a wealthy young Jain named Śrīgupta invites the Buddha to the midday meal at his house in Rājagṛha, where he has secretly prepared a fire trap and a poisoned meal. The Buddha is aware of these plans, but instead of simply avoiding the trap he accepts the invitation and uses the occasion to demonstrate his invulnerability to such harms, due to his realization and the power of his past deeds. He tells three stories from his previous lives as a pheasant chick, a hare, and the peacock king Suvarṇāvabhāsa—lives in which he similarly overcame fire and poison. After Śrīgupta’s attempts fail, Śākyamuni recounts yet another of his former lives in which Śrīgupta, this time as a brahmin teacher, similarly attempted to trap him in a pit of fire. Ashamed of his actions, Śrīgupta apologizes for his mistakes, takes refuge, and receives the vows of a lay devotee in the Buddha’s community.

Toh 218: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Purification of Karmic Obscurations”

Summary The Buddha is residing at Āmrapālī’s Grove in Vaiśālī when Mañjuśrī brings before him the monk Stainless Light, who had been seduced by a prostitute and feels strong remorse for having violated his vows. After the monk confesses his wrongdoing, the Buddha explains the lack of inherent nature of all phenomena and the luminous nature of mind, and the monk Stainless Light gives rise to the mind of enlightenment. At Mañjuśrī’s request, the Buddha then explains how bodhisattvas purify obscurations by generating an altruistic mind and realizing the empty nature of all phenomena. He asks Mañjuśrī about his own attainment of patient forbearance in seeing all phenomena as nonarising, and recounts the tale of the monk Vīradatta, who, many eons in the past, had engaged in a sexual affair with a girl and even killed a jealous rival before feeling strong remorse. Despite these negative actions, once the empty, nonexistent nature of all phenomena had been explained to him by the bodhisattva Liberator from Fear, he was able to generate bodhicitta and attain patient forbearance in seeing all phenomena as nonarising. The Buddha explains that even a person who had enjoyed pleasures and murdered someone would be able to attain patient forbearance in seeing all phenomena as nonarising through practicing this sūtra, which he calls “the Dharma mirror of all phenomena.”

Toh 219: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Putting an End to Karmic Obscurations”

Summary The Buddha teaches how to become free of karmic obscurations and accomplish aspirations through a recitation that should be done three times during the day and three times at night. In that recitation one confesses one’s bad actions, rejoices in the good actions of others, and requests the buddhas to teach the Dharma and to not pass into nirvāṇa.

Toh 220: The Great Vehicle Discourse “The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline”

Summary In the Deer Park in Vārānasī, an extended dialogue unfolds between Buddha Śākyamuni and his disciple Śāriputra on the faults and unwanted consequences associated with the corrupted discipline of monks, and on the ways to apply oneself to the authentic Dharma. While discussing a variety of topics related to monastic conduct, the Buddha gives several prophecies about the future decline of the Dharma caused by the behavior of immoral monks. Throughout the sūtra, great emphasis is placed on the realization of the nature of emptiness and the view that does not dwell on any phenomenon.

Toh 221: The Sūtra of Advice to the King

Toh 222: The Sūtra of the Chapter on [Tib:] the Great Drum [Skt:] the Bearer of the Great Drum

Toh 223: The Sūtra of the Chapter on the Thirty-Three

Toh 224: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Episode of Dṛḍhādhyāśaya”

Summary The bodhisattva Dṛḍhādhyāśaya sets out for alms one morning in the city of Rājagṛha. Catching sight there of a merchant’s beautiful daughter, he is overcome with attraction. Unable to quell his feelings, he rushes out of town with an empty begging bowl—but finds himself being pursued by a replica of the merchant’s daughter emanated by the Buddha. Distressed, the bodhisattva inquires about the nature of these events to the Blessed One, who then gives a discourse on nonduality by focusing on the erroneous manner in which certain bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, laymen, and laywomen take the path as a means of escape. At its conclusion, eight great śrāvakas each praise the discourse as engendering their own foremost quality in others.

Toh 224: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Episode of Dṛḍhādhyāśaya”

Summary The bodhisattva Dṛḍhādhyāśaya sets out for alms one morning in the city of Rājagṛha. Catching sight there of a merchant’s beautiful daughter, he is overcome with attraction. Unable to quell his feelings, he rushes out of town with an empty begging bowl—but finds himself being pursued by a replica of the merchant’s daughter emanated by the Buddha. Distressed, the bodhisattva inquires about the nature of these events to the Blessed One, who then gives a discourse on nonduality by focusing on the erroneous manner in which certain bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, laymen, and laywomen take the path as a means of escape. At its conclusion, eight great śrāvakas each praise the discourse as engendering their own foremost quality in others.

Toh 225: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels”

Summary In Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels , the venerable Śāriputra wonders how much merit accrues to someone who takes refuge in the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. He therefore seeks out the Buddha Śākyamuni and requests a teaching on this topic. The Buddha proceeds to describe how even vast offerings, performed in miraculous ways, would not constitute a fraction of the merit gained by someone who takes refuge in the Three Jewels.

Toh 226: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Transmigration Through Existences”

Summary King Śreṇya Bimbisāra of Magadha approaches the Buddha and asks him how a past action can appear before the mind at the moment of death. The Buddha presents the analogy of a sleeping person who dreams of a beautiful woman and on waking foolishly longs to find her. He cites this as an example of how an action of the distant past, which has arisen from perception and subsequent afflictive emotions and then ceased, appears to the mind on the brink of death. The Buddha goes on to explain how one transitions from the final moment of one life to the first moment of the next, according to the ripening of those actions, without any phenomena actually being transferred from one life to another. The Buddha concludes with a set of seven verses that offer a succinct teaching on emptiness, focusing on the two truths and the fictitious nature of names.

Toh 227: The Sūtra Gathering All Fragments

Toh 228: The Sūtra on the the Buddha’s Deliberations

In this sutra, the Buddha decides to enter a strict three-month retreat to remedy a suddenly worsening degeneration in the world, which has caused sentient beings to lose interest in hearing and practicing the Dharma. They have even lost all reverence and respect for the Buddha himself. While the Buddha is in retreat, he uses his clairvoyant powers to convene with countless other buddhas whose realms are facing similar troubles. Together, they decide to recite in unison the profound Dharma of the Great Vehicle, and after the three months have passed the situation in the world has been restored through their recital. Once again, beings have faith and interest in the Dharma. The teaching that was delivered together by all the many buddhas is finally entrusted by the Buddha to his disciples for future generations to study and draw inspiration from. One interesting historical fact about this sutra is that the earliest existing Chinese Buddhist manuscript is a copy of this text, dated to the end of the 3rd century and discovered in the early 20th century in excavations at Turfan.

Toh 229: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Discussions of Thus-Gone Ones”

Summary Discussions of Thus-Gone Ones begins in the Jeta’s Grove as the Buddha Śākyamuni emerges from a three-month-long meditative absorption. It is revealed that while he was absorbed in this meditative state, he was actually having conversations with many other buddhas across many worlds, discussing the essential nature of all phenomena. The bulk of the text, then, consists of the Buddha Śākyamuni relaying these conversations and responding to the questions of various audience members. From these exchanges we learn that all things, ranging from ordinary flowers up to the awakening of the buddhas themselves, share a nonconceptual, ineffable basis.

Toh 230: The Sūtra on the Splendid Commitments of the Tathāgatas

Toh 231: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Jewel Cloud”

Summary On Gayāśīrṣa Hill, Buddha Śākyamuni is visited by a great gathering of bodhisattvas who have traveled miraculously there from a distant world, to venerate him as one who has vowed to liberate beings in a world much more afflicted than their own. The visiting bodhisattvas are led by Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin, who asks the Buddha a series of searching questions. In response, the Buddha gives a detailed and systematic account of the practices, qualities, and nature of bodhisattvas, the stages of their path, their realization, and their activities. Many of the topics are structured into sets of ten aspects, expounded with reasoned explanations and illustrated with parables and analogies. This sūtra is said to have been one of the very first scriptures translated into Tibetan. Its doctrinal richness, profundity, and clarity are justly celebrated, and some of its key statements on meditation, the realization of emptiness, and the fundamental nature of the mind have been widely quoted in the Indian treatises and Tibetan commentarial literature.

Toh 232: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Great Cloud”

在《大雲經》中，佛陀度化眾生的事業與功德被比喻為雲雨一般籠罩一切。佛陀宣說此經時有許多龍族在場，而因為雨水與龍族之間的密切關係，自古以來這部經典在旱災時常用來作為祈請佛陀加持降雨之用。

Toh 233: The Chapter from the Great Cloud Sūtra on the Great Playful Festival of the Oceanic Gathering of the Bodhisattvas of the Ten Directions

在《大雲經》中，佛陀度化眾生的事業與功德被比喻為雲雨一般籠罩一切。佛陀宣說此經時有許多龍族在場，而因為雨水與龍族之間的密切關係，自古以來這部經典在旱災時常用來作為祈請佛陀加持降雨之用。

Toh 234: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Essence of All the Nāgas, The Great Cloud Chapter on the Array of Winds”

Toh 235: From the Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Great Cloud,” the Sixty-Fourth Chapter “The Array of Winds That Send Down Rainfall” Together with Its Ritual Manual [colophon title]

Summary This brief discourse is identified more precisely in its colophon as a supplementary chapter from The Great Cloud on “the array of winds that bring down rainfall.” It describes a visit from the Buddha Śākyamuni to the realm of the nāgas. The assembly of nāgas pays homage to the Buddha with a grand panoply of magically emanated offerings, and their king asks him to explain how the nāgas can eliminate their own suffering and aid sentient beings by causing timely rain to fall. The Buddha, in response, extols the benefits of loving-kindness and then teaches them a dhāraṇī that when accompanied by the recitation of a host of buddha names will dispel the nāgas’ suffering and cause crops to grow. At the nāga king’s request, the Buddha then teaches another long dhāraṇī that will cause rain to fall during times of drought. The discourse concludes with instructions for constructing an altar and holding a ritual rainmaking service.

Toh 236: The Tenth Chapter from Amongst the Ten Thousand Chapters of the Sūtra on the Heroic Way

Toh 237: A Minor Chapter on Demons

Toh 238: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Dharma Council”

Summary The Dharma Council is a Great Vehicle sūtra in which the path of a bodhisattva is taught initially by the Buddha, but principally by a host of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas. Among them, the bodhisattva Nirārambha takes center stage, delivering long discourses and engaging in dialogues and debates on the key points of Great Vehicle Buddhism. Following Nirārambha’s example, a number of the Buddha’s disciples express their own understanding of the path, and they win praise and confirmation from the Buddha for their eloquent expositions of the Dharma. As a Great Vehicle sūtra, The Dharma Council is grounded in the themes of emptiness, nonconceptuality, and skillful compassionate conduct; from these doctrinal touchstones spring a profound and wide-ranging presentation of the Dharma.

Toh 239: The Sūtra of the Ten Wheels of Kṣitigarbha

Toh 240: The Sūtra of the Wheel of No Reversions

Toh 241: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Wheel of Meditative Concentration”

Summary While dwelling on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, the Buddha is absorbed in the meditative concentration called wheel of meditative concentration . In response to a series of questions posed by the Buddha, Mañjuśrī explains the nature of ultimate reality. Pleased with his replies, the Buddha praises Mañjuśrī for being skilled in expressing the meaning of the profound Dharma.

Toh 242: The Sūtra of the Wheel of Dedication

Toh 243: The Sūtra of the King of the True Dharma

Toh 244: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Proper Dharma Conduct”

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Toh 245: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Sections of Dharma”

Summary In this sūtra some of Buddha Śākyamuni’s senior disciples request a teaching on the nature of “the sections of Dharma.” The Buddha responds by first delivering a teaching on the absence of birth with regard to phenomena, as an antidote to the poison of desire. On that basis, the Buddha then presents a longer explanation of the repulsiveness of the human body, and of the female body in particular.

Toh 246: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Victory of the Ultimate Dharma”

Summary Victory of the Ultimate Dharma presents the Buddha’s answers to questions posed by a non-Buddhist seer named Ulka concerning the origin of life, the end of the universe, and the nature of the soul. These questions are posed following a miraculous display by the Buddha, in which countless living beings are emitted from the Buddha in the form of rays of light. Although this miraculous display awes the bodhisattvas and gods who are present, Ulka is not swayed by these powers, arguing that non-Buddhist gods such as Nārāyaṇa and Maheśvara are also able to perform such feats. In answering his questions, the Buddha articulates core teachings of Buddhism such as impermanence, karma, and emptiness.

Toh 247: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Distinguishing Phenomena and What Is Meaningful”

Summary There are two main themes in Distinguishing Phenomena and What Is Meaningful . One is in the narrative structure: The Buddha Śākyamuni tells how, countless eons ago, in a world called Flower Origin, a buddha named Arisen from Flowers gave instructions to a royal family, and prophesied the awakening of the prince Ratnākara. Arisen from Flowers, the Buddha Śākyamuni then relates, has since become the buddha Amitābha, and the prince Ratnākara the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. The other theme is doctrinal, and lies in the content of the teaching given by Arisen from Flowers: it explains the four mistakes made by ordinary beings in the way they perceive the five aggregates, and how bodhisattvas teach them how to clear away these misconceptions, so that they may be free of the sufferings that result.

Toh 248: The Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa”

Summary In The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa , Venerable Śāriputra requests the Buddha Śākyamuni to explain the conduct of bodhisattvas. The Buddha responds by describing how bodhisattvas train in many practices and in the cultivation of many qualities, here presented in sets of four, related to generosity and diligence in particular, and more broadly to their attitude, conduct, learning, insight, and teaching. In this way bodhisattvas swiftly progress along the path to buddhahood.

Toh 249: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Teaching the Four Factors”

Summary While Buddha Śākyamuni is residing in the Sudharmā assembly hall in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, he explains to the great bodhisattva Maitreya four factors that make it possible to overcome the effects of any negative deeds one has committed. These four are: the action of repentance, which involves feeling remorse; antidotal action, which is to practice virtue as a remedy to non-virtue; the power of restraint, which involves vowing not to repeat a negative act; and the power of support, which means taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, and never forsaking the mind of awakening. The Buddha concludes by recommending that bodhisattvas regularly recite this sūtra and reflect on its meaning as an antidote to any further wrongdoing.

Toh 250: The Sūtra on the Four Factors

Summary In this short sūtra the Buddha explains that throughout one’s life there are four beliefs one should not hold: (1) that there is pleasure to be found among women, (2) or at the royal court; (3) that happiness can be ensured by depending on health and attractiveness, (4) or on wealth and material possessions.

Toh 251: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors

Summary While residing in the Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, the Buddha explains to an assembly of monks and bodhisattvas four factors of the path that bodhisattvas must not abandon even at the cost of their lives: (1) the thought of awakening, (2) the spiritual friend, (3) tolerance and lenience (which are here counted as one), and (4) dwelling in the wilderness. The sūtra concludes with two verses in which the Buddha restates the four factors and asserts that those who do not relinquish them will attain complete awakening.

Toh 252: The Fourfold Accomplishment

Summary The Fourfold Accomplishment revolves around a dialogue between the god Śrībhadra and the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī that takes place in Jeta’s Grove at Śrāvastī. At Śrībhadra’s request, Mañjuśrī recalls a teaching that he previously gave to Brahmā Śikhin on the practices of a bodhisattva. The teaching takes the form of a sequence of topics, each of which has four components.

Toh 253: The Sūtra on the Threefold Teaching

Toh 254: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra of Dharmaketu

Summary While the Buddha Śākyamuni is staying in Śrāvastī, a bodhisattva named Dharmaketu asks him what qualities a bodhisattva must possess in order to reach awakening quickly. In response, the Buddha enumerates the ten most important qualities for bodhisattvas to cultivate.

Toh 256: The Seal of the Dharma

Toh 257: The Noble Very Extensive Sūtra “The Quintessence of the Sun”

Summary The Quintessence of the Sun is a long and heterogeneous sūtra in eleven chapters. At the Veṇuvana in the Kalandakanivāpa on the outskirts of Rājagṛha, the Buddha Śākyamuni first explains to a great assembly the severe consequences of stealing what has been offered to monks and the importance of protecting those who abide by the Dharma. The next section tells of bodhisattvas sent from buddha realms in the four directions to bring various dhāraṇīs as a way of protecting and benefitting this world. While explaining those dhāraṇīs, the Buddha Śākyamuni presents various meditations on repulsiveness and instructions on the empty nature of phenomena. On the basis of another long narrative involving Māra and groups of nāgas, detailed teachings on astrology are also introduced, as are a number of additional dhāraṇīs and a list of sacred locations blessed by the presence of holy beings.

Toh 258: The Sūtra on the Tathāgata Essence

Toh 259: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Basket Without Words, The Illuminator’s Matrix”

Summary The Basket Without Words, The Illuminator’s Matrix unfolds in Rājagṛha on Vulture Peak, where the Buddha is dwelling with a great assembly. The bodhisattva Viśeṣacintin requests the Buddha to give a teaching on two words and asks him to explain one factor that bodhisattvas should abandon, one quality that encompasses all the foundations of the training when safeguarded by bodhisattvas, and one phenomenon to which thus-gone ones truly and perfectly awaken. The Buddha responds by listing the afflictions that bodhisattvas abandon. Next, he advises bodhisattvas not to do to others what they themselves do not desire. Then, he teaches that there is no phenomenon to which thus-gone ones truly and perfectly awaken, and that thus-gone ones comprehend that all phenomena are free from going and coming, causes and conditions, death and birth, acceptance and rejection, and decrease and increase. At the conclusion of the sūtra, members of the assembly promise to propagate this teaching, and the Buddha explains the benefits of doing so.

Toh 260: The Noble Mahāyāna Ākāśa­garbha Sūtra

Summary While the Buddha is dwelling on Khalatika Mountain with his retinue, an amazing display of light appears, brought about by the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha’s liberating activities. As he joins the gathering, Ākāśagarbha manifests another extraordinary display, and the Buddha, praising his inconceivable accomplishments and activities, explains how to invoke his blessings. He sets out the fundamental transgressions of rulers, ministers, śrāvakas, and beginner bodhisattvas, and, after explaining in detail how to conduct the rituals of purification, encourages those who have committed such transgressions to turn to Ākāśagarbha. When people pray to Ākāśagarbha, Ākāśagarbha adapts his manifestations to suit their needs, appearing to them while they are awake, in their dreams, or at the time of their death. In this way, Ākāśagarbha gradually leads them all along the path, helping them to purify their negative deeds, relieve their sufferings, fulfill their wishes, and eventually attain perfect enlightenment.

Toh 261: The Sūtra on Skill in Means

Toh 262: The Five Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty-Three Names of the Buddha

Toh 263: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Acceptance That Tames Beings with the Sky-Colored Method of Perfect Conduct”

Summary The Acceptance that Tames Beings with the Sky-blue Method of Perfect Conduct is a long sūtra divided into eleven chapters in which the Buddha and several bodhisattvas deliver a series of teachings focusing on the view of emptiness and the bodhisattva conduct, in order to convert beings to the Great Vehicle. The text reveals the view of the sky-like nature of all inner and outer formations while providing detailed descriptions of the practices of non-Buddhists, and insisting on the importance for bodhisattvas to be reborn and practice in impure realms rife with the five degenerations in order to awaken to buddhahood.

Toh 264: The Sūtra on Liberation

Toh 265: The Minor Chapters on the Rituals of Homage and the Clearing away of Remorse in the Noble Sūtra of the Great Realization

Toh 266: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Bouquet of Flowers”

Summary Bouquet of Flowers is a Great Vehicle sūtra in which the Buddha describes a vast array of wondrous, far-off world systems each inhabited by buddhas who teach the Dharma there. Hearing those buddhas’ names, the Buddha teaches, brings a wide range of benefits, all of which are ultimately directed toward attaining unexcelled, perfect and complete awakening. In this sūtra, the Buddha’s main interlocutor is Śāriputra, but he also interacts with Ajita and Mahākāśyapa.

Toh 267: Translated by the Sakya Pandita Translation Group (Tsechen Kunchab Ling Division) under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen Reverend Dr. Chodrung-ma Kunga Chodron Michael Engle v 1.35.16 2024 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone. This work is provided under the protection of a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution - Non-commercial - No-derivatives) 3.0 copyright. It may be copied or printed for fair use, but only with full attribution, and not for commercial advantage or personal compensation. For full details, see the Creative Commons license. 2011-11-28 Toh 267 Degé Kangyur, vol. 68 (mdo sde, ya), folios 1.b–5.b Thönmi Sambhoṭa Note added retrospectively based on publication date Note added retrospectively based on publication date v 1.33 2019 v 1.34 2019 Publication statement updated A few small edits and parenthetical terms removed from text and placed in glossary. v 1.35.2 Numerous edits in the main text, notes, and glossary, checked and approved by JC Auto (TEI migration 2.0.0) Auto (TEI migration 2.1.5) 1.35.6 updated quote style in PDFs Auto (update-contributors) Auto (script-increment-version-published) Numerous fixes throughout all sections, as part of review of early published texts. Auto (script-increment-version-published) Auto (remove-tid-from-back-list-items) TEI migrated to 2.19.0 reapplied capital letters in Wylie and covert to TibUni-glossary Added a note and biblio ref van Schaik 2018. updated typo in g.53 Tibetan Summary Calling Witness with a Hundred Prostrations

Summary Calling Witness with a Hundred Prostrations is widely known as the first sūtra to arrive in Tibet, long before Tibet became a Buddhist nation, during the reign of the Tibetan king Lha Thothori Nyentsen. Written to be recited for personal practice, it opens with one hundred and eight prostrations and praises to the many buddhas of the ten directions and three times, to the twelve categories of scripture contained in the Tripiṭaka, to the bodhisattvas of the ten directions, and to the arhat disciples of the Buddha. After making offerings to them, confessing and purifying nonvirtue, and making the aspiration to perform virtuous actions in every life, the text includes recitations of the vows of refuge in the Three Jewels, and of generating the thought of enlightenment. The text concludes with a passage rejoicing in the virtues of the holy ones, a request for the buddhas to bestow a prophecy to achieve enlightenment, and the aspiration to pass from this life in a state of pure Dharma.

Toh 268: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra "The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable"

Summary While the Buddha is staying in the kingdom of Magadha with an assembly of countless bodhisattvas, the bodhisattva King of the Inconceivable gives a teaching on the relativity of time between different buddhafields. Eleven buddhafields are enumerated, with an eon in the first being equivalent to a day in the following buddhafield, where an eon is, in turn, the equivalent of a day in the next, and so forth.

Toh 269: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Dispelling the Darkness of the Ten Directions”

Summary As the Buddha approaches Kapilavastu, he is met by the Śākya youth Shining Countenance setting out from the city in his chariot. Shining Countenance requests the Buddha to teach him a rite of protection from harm, and the Buddha describes ten buddhas, each dwelling in a distant world system in one of the ten directions. When departing from the city in one of the directions, he explains, keeping the respective buddha in mind will ensure freedom from fear and harm while traveling and success in the journey’s purpose. After receiving this teaching, Shining Countenance and the others in the assembly are able to see those ten buddhas and their realms directly before them, and the Buddha prophesies their eventual awakening. The Buddha further explains that to read, teach, write down, and keep this sūtra will bring protection to all; it is consequently often chanted at the beginning of undertakings, especially travel, to overcome obstacles and bring success.

Toh 270: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Seven Buddhas”

Summary The Seven Buddhas opens with the Buddha Śākyamuni residing in an alpine forest on Mount Kailāsa with a saṅgha of monks and bodhisattvas. The Buddha notices that a monk in the forest has been possessed by a spirit, which prompts the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha to request that the Buddha teach a spell to cure diseases and exorcise demonic spirits. The Buddha then emanates as the set of “seven successive buddhas,” each of whom transmits a dhāraṇī to Ākāśagarbha. Each of the seven buddhas then provides ritual instructions for using the dhāraṇī.

Toh 271: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Eight Buddhas”

Summary While the Buddha is dwelling together with a great saṅgha of monks in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, the whole universe suddenly begins to shake. The sounds of innumerable cymbals are heard without their being played, and flowers fall, covering the entire Jeta’s Grove. The world becomes filled with golden light and golden lotuses appear, each lotus supporting a lion throne upon which appears the shining form of a buddha. Venerable Śāriputra arises from his seat, pays homage, and asks the Buddha about the causes and conditions for these thus-gone ones to appear. The Buddha then proceeds to describe in detail these buddhas, as well as their various realms and how beings can take birth in them.