Kangyur — General Sūtras

Toh 1-1: “The Chapter on Going Forth” from The Chapters on Monastic Discipline

Summary “The Chapter on Going Forth” is the first of seventeen chapters in The Chapters on Monastic Discipline , a four-volume work that outlines the statutes and procedures that govern life in a Buddhist monastic community. This first chapter traces the development of the rite by which postulants were admitted into the monastic order, from the Buddha Śākyamuni’s informal invitation to “Come, monk,” to the more elaborate “Present Day Rite.” Along the way, the posts of preceptor and instructor are introduced, their responsibilities defined, and a dichotomy between elders and immature novices described. While the heart of the chapter is a transcript of the “Present Day Rite,” the text is interwoven with numerous narrative asides, depicting the spiritual ferment of the north Indian region of Magadha during the Buddha’s lifetime, the follies of untrained and unsupervised apprentices, and the need for a formal system of tutelage.

Toh 1-2: “The Chapter on the Restoration Rite” from The Chapters on Monastic Discipline

Summary The Chapter on the Restoration Rite is the second of The Chapters on Monastic Discipline ’s seventeen chapters. In it, the Buddha describes a seated yoga, formal protocols, and a rite of restoration that can be observed on the upavasatha (or poṣadha ) holiday. After explaining how monks should practice seated yoga, the Buddha consents first to the building of small clusters of meditation residences and later to gradually larger settlements that come to include multistoried meditation halls with scented shrine rooms and rooftop verandas. This chapter also explains how all monks at a monastery must gather fortnightly in the hall or in a place that has been specially demarcated for such purposes within the monastery site’s larger boundary. There, they observe the poṣadha or “restoration rite” by listening to The Prātimokṣa Sūtra recitation and making the appropriate amends for their offenses. The present chapter together with The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions and The Chapter on the Rains present the “Three Rites” that are considered central to monastic common living: the Rite of Restoration, the Rite of Lifting Restrictions, and the Rite of Pledging to Settle for the Rains. The regular observance of the “Three Rites” at an officially demarcated monastic site is considered a crucial component in ensuring the integrity of the monastics living there and nearby.

Toh 1-3: The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions” from The Chapters on Monastic Discipline

A global summary Here, in place of the usual Tibetan translation spyi sdom , or “global summary,” the Tibetan reads bsdus pa’i sdom , or “inclusive summary.” The Sanskrit for this is not extant but bsdus pa’i sdom is presumably an alternative Tibetan translation of the Skt. piṇḍoddāna , or “global summary.” of The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions : The extant Sanskrit fragments do not begin until (F.225.b). See the Table of Concordance (p. 49) in Chung 1998. The root text cited by Kalyāṇamitra in his commentary diverges at several points from the extant Tibetan versions cited in the Comparative Edition ( dpe bsdur ma ). There are several cases in which Kalyāṇamitra’s citations expand on what is found in the extant Tibetan texts and a few instances in which the order of sentences differs. These differences may indicate that the translation of Kalyāṇamitra’s commentary was not revised. See, e.g., F.223.a. Another possibility is that the translation and/or composition of Kalyāṇamitra’s commentary may never have been finished; such variants are relatively rare in his comments on The Chapter on Going Forth and The Chapter on the Restoration Rite , and the commentary comes to an abrupt end in this, the third chapter.

Toh 1-4: “The Chapter on the Rains” from The Chapters on Monastic Discipline

Summary The Chapter on the Rains is the fourth of The Chapters on Monastic Discipline ’s seventeen chapters. It sets out the Rite of Pledging to Settle for the Rains, in which monastics pledge to remain at a single site for the duration of the varṣā or summer rains. It concludes with a lengthy presentation of cases in which a monastic incurs no offense for interrupting the rains by prematurely leaving a site. This is the third of the “Three Rites,” along with the Rite of Restoration and the Rite of Lifting Restrictions, which are set out in The Chapter on the Restoration Rite and The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions respectively. The regular observance of the “Three Rites” at an officially demarcated monastic site is considered a crucial component in ensuring the integrity of the monastics living there and nearby.

Toh 1-5: Chapter 5: On Leather

Summary This text discusses the use of hides by members of the Buddhist monastic community for various occasions. It begins with a lengthy narrative on the life story of Śroṇa Koṭikarṇa, whose wandering in the realms of the hungry ghosts eventually led him to become an ordained Buddhist monk. Regulations on the matter of hides were first discussed when Śroṇa Koṭikarṇa, on behalf of his master Mahākātyāyana, asked the Blessed One five questions concerning the special circumstances in the region of Aśmāparāntaka. More rules were established to regulate the use of shoes and the materials that could be use to make shoes, rugs, sitting mats, as well as rules that regulate the use of tall and wide bed, issues concerning river-crossing, bathing, and the storage of tools for repairing shoes.

Toh 1-6: “The Chapter on Medicines” from The Chapters on Monastic Discipline

Summary Discusses the medicines allowed to monastics, such as ghee, oil, honey, and molasses; what monastics should not consume, such as human flesh; and related subjects such as how medicine should be stored, under what circumstances monastics are allowed to cook for themselves, and how to respond to a hostile doctor. --> The Bhaiṣajyavastu , “The Chapter on Medicines,” is a part of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, the corpus of monastic law of one of the most influential Buddhist schools in India. This chapter deals with monastic regulations about medicines. At the same time, it also includes various elements not restricted to such rules: stories of the Buddha and his disciples, a lengthy story of the Buddha’s journey for the purpose of quelling an epidemic and converting a nāga, a number of stories of the Buddha’s former lives narrated by the Buddha himself, and a series of verses recited by the Buddha and his disciples about their former lives. Thus, this chapter preserves not only interesting information about medical knowledge shared by ancient Indian Buddhist monastics but also an abundance of Buddhist narrative literature.

Toh 1-7: Chapter 7: On the Robes

Toh 1-8: Chapter 8: On Turning Cloth into Robes

Toh 1-9: Chapter 9: On the Monks of Kauśāmbī

Toh 1-10: Chapter 10: On Formal Acts

Toh 1-11: Chapter 11: On a Group of Troublesome Monks

Toh 1-12: Chapter 12: On Types of Person

Toh 1-13: Chapter 13: On Penitents

Toh 1-14: Chapter 14: On Suspending the Restoration Rites

Toh 1-15: Chapter 15: On Shelter

Toh 1-16: Chapter 16: On Disputes

Toh 1-17: Chapter 17: On Schisms in the Saṅgha

Toh 2: The Prātimokṣa Sūtra

Toh 3: Detailed Explanations of Discipline

Toh 4: The Bhikṣuṇīs’ Prātimokṣa Sūtra

Toh 5: Detailed Explanations on Nuns’ Discipline

Toh 6: Finer Points of Discipline

Toh 7: Preeminent Account of Discipline

Toh 7a: Preeminent Account of Discipline

Toh 31: The Sūtra of Turning the Wheel of Dharma

Toh 32: Account of the Previous Lives of the Buddha

Toh 33: Sūtra of Āṭānāṭīya

Toh 34: Sūtra of the Great Assembly

Toh 35: Sūtra on Maitreya

Toh 36: Sūtra on the Meditation on Loving Kindness

Toh 37: The Sūtra on the Benefits of the Five Precepts

Summary In the first of the two parts of The Benefits of the Five Precepts , a man and woman who have been married since they were very young and have never been unfaithful to each other ask the Buddha how they can remain together in future lives. The Buddha replies that this is possible for couples such as them who are equal in faith, ethical discipline, generosity, and wisdom, and who practice the Dharma together. In the second, longer part of the sūtra, the Buddha gives a teaching on the five precepts, by which one renounces the five negative deeds—killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, speaking falsehoods, and consuming intoxicants. The sufferings in various hells that are the consequence of those five negative deeds are described, as are the benefits experienced by those who renounce them.

Toh 38: The Sūtra of Giriyānanda

Toh 39: Sūtra of the Taming of the Nāga King Nandopananda

Toh 40: The Mahākāśyapa Sūtra

Toh 41: The Sūtra of the Sun

Summary The Sūtra of the Sun is a short discourse providing a Buddhist account of a solar eclipse. On one occasion while the Buddha is residing in Śrāvastī, the sun is seized by Rāhu, lord of the asuras, which causes an eclipse. The god of the sun asks the Buddha for refuge, after which the Buddha urges Rāhu to release the sun. When questioned by Vemacitra, another lord of the asuras, Rāhu explains that if he had not let the sun go, his head would have split into seven pieces. This sūtra enjoys some popularity today and appears in Tibetan collections of mantras and texts for protection.

Toh 42: The Sūtra of the Moon (1)

Summary The Sūtra of the Moon (1) is a short discourse providing a Buddhist account of a lunar eclipse. On one occasion while the Buddha is residing in Śrāvastī, the moon is seized by Rāhu, lord of the asuras, which causes an eclipse. The god of the moon asks the Buddha for refuge, after which the Buddha urges Rāhu to release the moon. When questioned by Vemacitra, another lord of the asuras, Rāhu explains that if he had not let the moon go, his head would have split into seven pieces. This sūtra enjoys some popularity today and appears in Tibetan collections of mantras and texts for protection.

Toh 43: The Sūtra of Great Fortune

Toh 44-1: Chapter 1: The Ornaments of All the Lords of the World

Toh 44-2: Chapter 2: The Tathāgata

Toh 44-3: Chapter 3: Samantabhadra's Miraculous Samādhi

Toh 44-4: Chapter 4: The Teaching on the Ocean of Realms of the World

Toh 44-6: Chapter 6: The Teaching on the Ornaments of the World's Periphery

Toh 44-7: Chapter 7: The Teaching on the Ornaments of the Underlying Ground of the Ocean of the World's Realms

Toh 44-8: Chapter 8: The Teaching on Remaining in the Continuity of the Field

Toh 44-9: Chapter 9: The Teaching on the Continuous Array of the World's Realms

Toh 44-10: Chapter 10: Vairocana

Toh 44-11: Chapter 11: The Universal Interpenetration of the Tathāgatas

Toh 44-12: Chapter 12: The Buddha

Toh 44-13: Chapter 13: The Truths of the Noble Ones

Toh 44-14: Chapter 14: The Awakening Through the Tathāgata's Rays of Light

Toh 44-15: Chapter 15: The Illumination of the Bodhisattva's Questions

Toh 44-16: Chapter 16: Purification of the Sphere of Activity

Toh 44-17: Chapter 17: Bhadraśrī

Toh 44-18: Chapter 18: The Tathāgata Ascends to the Peak of Mount Meru

Toh 44-19: Chapter 19: The Verses of the Assembly of Bodhisattvas

Toh 44-20: Chapter 20: The Ten Categories of Bodhisattvas

Toh 44-21: Chapter 21: Pure Conduct

Toh 44-22: Chapter 22: The Merit of First Developing the Mind Set on Enlightenment

Toh 44-23: Chapter 23: Illumination of the Dharma

Toh 44-24: Chapter 24: The Emanation in Suyama

Toh 44-25: Chapter 25: The Verses of the Gathering of Bodhisattvas in Suyama

Toh 44-26: Chapter 26: The Teaching on the Bodhisattva's Practice

Toh 44-27: Chapter 27: The Teaching on the Ten Inexhaustible Treasures

Toh 44-28: Chapter 28: The Ornament after the Tathāgata's Departure

Toh 44-29: Chapter 29: The Gathering of Bodhisattvas in Tuṣita

Toh 44-30: Chapter 30: Vajradhvaja's Dedication

Toh 44-31: The Ten Bhūmis Chapter from the Mahāvaipulya Sūtra “A Multitude of Buddhas”

Summary After his attainment of buddhahood, the Buddha Śākyamuni is present in many locations simultaneously. The Ten Bhūmis takes place two weeks after his enlightenment, while he is sitting silently in meditation in the central palace in the highest paradise of the desire realm. Countless bodhisattvas have assembled there. Through the power of the Buddha, the bodhisattva Vajra­garbha enters samādhi and is blessed by countless buddhas, also named Vajra­garbha, to give a Dharma teaching to the bodhisattvas. In response to the questions of the bodhisattva Vimukti­candra, Vajra­garbha describes successively the ten bhūmis of a bodhisattva. Countless bodhisattvas arrive and report that this same event is occurring simultaneously in the highest paradises of all other worlds. The Buddha is pleased by Vajra­garbha’s teaching.

Toh 44-32: Chapter 32: The Teaching of Samantabhadra

Toh 44-33: Chapter 33: The Ten Samādhis

Toh 44-34: Chapter 34: The Superknowledges

Toh 44-35: Chapter 35: The Acceptances

Toh 44-36: Chapter 36: The Teaching on the Reckoning from the Questions of Sovereign Mind

Toh 44-37: “The Scale of Life,” Chapter 37 of the Extensive Sūtra “The Ornaments of the Buddhas”

Summary The bodhisattva King of Mind gives a teaching to an assembly of bodhisattvas on the relativity of time among 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 44-38: “The Dwellings of Bodhisattvas,” Chapter 38 of the Extensive Sūtra “The Ornaments of the Buddhas”

Summary The Dwellings of Bodhisattvas is the thirty-eighth of the forty-five chapters in The Ornaments of the Buddhas . As the title indicates, the focus of this chapter is the locations of bodhisattvas. It enumerates twenty-three dwelling places, giving the names of the bodhisattvas who reside in the first nine while omitting the names of those who reside in the remaining fourteen.

Toh 44-39: Chapter 39: The Teaching on the Inconceivability of the Buddhadharma

Toh 44-40: Chapter 40: The Teaching on the Tathāgata's Ocean of Major Physical Marks

Toh 44-41: Chapter 41: The Teaching on the Minor Marks and Light Rays

Toh 44-42: Chapter 42: The Teaching on Samantabhadra's Practice

Toh 44-43: Chapter 43: The Teaching on the Emergence of the Tathāgata

Toh 44-44: Chapter 44: Transcendence of the World

Toh 44-45: “The Stem Array” Chapter from the Mahāvaipulya Sūtra “A Multitude of Buddhas”

Summary In this lengthy final chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra , while the Buddha Śākyamuni is in meditation in Śrāvastī, Mañjuśrī leaves for South India, where he meets the young layman Sudhana and instructs him to go to a certain kalyāṇamitra or “good friend,” who then directs Sudhana to another such friend. In this way, Sudhana successively meets and receives teachings from fifty male and female, child and adult, human and divine, and monastic and lay kalyāṇamitras, including night goddesses surrounding the Buddha and the Buddha’s wife and mother. The final three in the succession of kalyāṇamitras are the three bodhisattvas Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Samanta­bhadra. Samanta­bhadra’s recitation of the Samanta­bhadra­caryā­praṇidhāna (“The Prayer for Completely Good Conduct”) concludes the sūtra.

Toh 44-45: “The Stem Array” Chapter from the Mahāvaipulya Sūtra “A Multitude of Buddhas”

Summary In this lengthy final chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra , while the Buddha Śākyamuni is in meditation in Śrāvastī, Mañjuśrī leaves for South India, where he meets the young layman Sudhana and instructs him to go to a certain kalyāṇamitra or “good friend,” who then directs Sudhana to another such friend. In this way, Sudhana successively meets and receives teachings from fifty male and female, child and adult, human and divine, and monastic and lay kalyāṇamitras, including night goddesses surrounding the Buddha and the Buddha’s wife and mother. The final three in the succession of kalyāṇamitras are the three bodhisattvas Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Samanta­bhadra. Samanta­bhadra’s recitation of the Samanta­bhadra­caryā­praṇidhāna (“The Prayer for Completely Good Conduct”) concludes the sūtra.

Toh 45: The Chapter Explaining the Three Vows

Toh 46: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Chapter Teaching the Purification of Boundless Gateways”

Summary The Chapter Teaching the Purification of Boundless Gateways consists of an extended discourse presented by the Buddha to his bodhisattva disciple Anantavyūha. The instruction consists of a so-called dhāraṇī gateway , a teaching that involves a series of dhāraṇī spells, which are interspersed throughout. The teaching is generally concerned with well-known Mahāyāna Buddhist themes, ranging from the lack of inherent identity to the qualities of complete awakening, but these topics are here presented within a larger exegesis on the meaning of the dhāraṇī gateway.

Toh 47: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of the Mysteries and Secrets of the Realized Ones”

Teaching the Unfathomable Secrets of the Tathāgatas is a fascinating third turning mahayāna sūtra extracted from the larger Ratnakūṭa sūtra that explores a diversity of topics across 24 chapters and an epilogue. Both the Buddha and Vajrapāṇi teach, discussing the secrets of the body, speech, and mind of the bodhisattvas and the buddhas, nonduality, the relationship of the nature of mind to the qualities of buddhas and bodhisattvas, and other subjects. It follows a consistently nondual perspective — identifying that while an awakened being may seem to be engaged in a conceptual or dualistic action, they never leave the scope of nonconceptual wisdom. It reveals the extraordinary freedom that awakened beings have in their acting in the world.

Toh 48: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching on Dreams”

Summary The Teaching on Dreams records the Buddha’s description of one hundred and eight signs that may appear to bodhisattvas in their dreams. These signs indicate not only that those individuals are bodhisattvas, but also the range of bhūmis on which those bodhisattvas potentially reside, what obstacles they face, and what means they can use to overcome them. Many descriptions of the individual signs also include variations on the main sign that further specify the bodhisattvas’ status. This sūtra offers a rare, detailed discourse on dream signs and their relation to the bodhisattva path, making it a uniquely important source on bodhisattva practice in Mahāyāna literature.

Toh 49: The Array of Amitābha

Toh 50: The Array of the Tathāgata Akṣobhya

Toh 51: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Teaching of the Armor Array”

Summary The Teaching of the Armor Array describes a dialog between the Buddha Śākyamuni and the bodhisattva Anantamati. The sūtra is primarily concerned with the great armor , a quality related to the perfection of insight. As such, it is no conventional sort of armor. Rather, donning it involves giving up all grasping at phenomena, and engaging diligently on the path, with insight into the nature of phenomena. The Buddha and Anantamati also discuss the nature of the Great Vehicle and the great path , all the while emphasizing their emptiness and lack of marks.

Toh 52: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching on the Indivisible Nature of the Realm of Phenomena”

Summary While the Buddha is in the Jeta Grove, he asks Mañjuśrī to teach on the nature of reality. Mañjuśrī’s account upsets some of the monks present in the gathering, who subsequently leave. Nevertheless, by means of an emanation, Mañjuśrī skillfully teaches the distraught monks, who return to the Jeta Grove to express their gratitude. The monks explain that their obstacle has been a conceited sense of attainment, of which they are now free. At the request of the god Ratnavara, Mañjuśrī then teaches on nonduality and the nature of the bodhisattva. Next, the Buddha prophesies the future awakening of Ratnavara and other bodhisattvas present in the gathering. However, the prophecies cause Pāpīyān, king of the māras, to appear with his army. In a dramatic course of events, Mañjuśrī uses his transformative power on both Pāpīyān and the Buddha’s pious attendant, Śāradvatīputra, forcing both of them to appear in the form of the Buddha himself. He then makes Pāpīyān and Śāradvatīputra teach the profound Dharma with the perfect mastery of buddhahood. Numerous bodhisattvas appear from the four directions, pledging to practice and uphold the sūtra’s teaching. The Buddha grants his blessing for the continuous transmission of the sūtra among bodhisattvas in the future.

Toh 53: The Ten Dharmas

Toh 54: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Exposition on the Universal Gateway”

Summary In The Exposition on the Universal Gateway , the bodhisattva Amalagarbha arrives in this world from a distant pure land to request teachings from the buddha Śākyamuni. The Buddha proceeds to explain to all assembled bodhisattvas, monks, and lay devotees the manner in which the five aggregates are equal to meditative absorption. He also explains how the various classes of beings and all other phenomena are absorption as well. In conclusion, he lists the names of various absorptions and the benefits one obtains upon attaining these states.

Toh 55: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Teaching on the Effulgence of Light”

Summary Initiated by the questions of the bodhisattva Candraprabhakumārabhūta, The Teaching on the Effulgence of Light consists of a series of teachings related to the lights emitted by awakened beings as manifestations of their spiritual achievements. Amid the display of his miraculous powers, the Buddha describes the specific qualities with which each of those lights is associated, and he repeatedly emphasizes the fact that such lights are a natural expression of the insight into the emptiness of all phenomena. The sūtra is also concerned with general themes such as the qualities required by followers of the Great Vehicle and the practice of generosity.

Toh 56: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva”

An important sūtra from the Ratnakuta (“Heap of Jewels”) collection that sets out in detail the stages and practices of the path of the Bodhisattva vehicle. It contains extensive explanations on key Mahāyāna practices, including the Four Immeasurable Thoughts, Six Perfections, and more.

Toh 57: The Teaching to Nanda on Entering the Womb

Toh 57: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching to Nanda on Dwelling in the Womb”

Summary In the context of one of the most famous stories in all of Buddhist literature—the story of the Buddha’s half-brother Nanda— The Teaching to the Venerable Nanda on Dwelling in the Womb offers the Buddha’s detailed account of the thirty-eight weeks of human gestation. The Buddha gives this teaching to Nanda after taking him to visit other realms, as the final method to break Nanda of his infatuation with his beautiful wife and settle him in the monastic life and its result. The sūtra explains conception in terms of how the antarābhava (the being in the state between death in one life and birth in the next) enters the womb, and it details the physical composition of the embryo, the suffering of the newborn being, and the miseries experienced over the course of a lifetime. After the concluding verses, there is also an account of Nanda’s past lives. Including as it does the most comprehensive ancient Indian account of gestation, this sūtra was an important source for embryology in Tibetan medicine.

Toh 58: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Teaching to Venerable Nanda on Entry into the Womb”

Summary In The Teaching to the Venerable Nanda on Entry into the Womb , the Buddha gives a detailed account to his half-brother Nanda of the thirty-eight weeks of human gestation. The sūtra explains conception in terms of how the antarābhava (the being in the state between death in one life and birth in the next) enters the womb, and details the physical composition of the embryo, the suffering of the newborn being, and the miseries experienced over the course of a lifetime. Including as it does the most comprehensive ancient Indian account of gestation, it was an important source for embryology in Tibetan medicine.

Toh 59: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Array of Virtues of Mañjuśrī’s Buddha Realm”

Summary In this sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni explains the connection between the bodhisattvas’ aspirations and the virtues of their future buddha realms. He describes the various qualities that help bodhisattvas bring their aspirations to fulfillment. After bodhisattvas arrive from all directions to hear his teachings on the virtues of the buddha realms, the Buddha Śākyamuni recounts the story of how Mañjuśrī first engendered the mind set on awakening. Finally, the Buddha reveals the extraordinary nature of Mañjuśrī’s bodhisattva aspirations, and how they will contribute to the exceptional qualities of his future buddha realm.

Toh 60: The Meeting of Father and Son

Toh 61: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Pūrṇa”

Summary In Veṇuvana, outside Rājagṛha, Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra asks the Buddha about the conduct of bodhisattvas practicing on the path to awakening. The Buddha replies by describing the attitudes that bodhisattvas must possess as well as their benefits. Then, at the request of Maudgalyāyana, the Buddha recounts several of his past lives in which he himself practiced bodhisattva conduct. At the end of the teaching, the Buddha instructs the assembly about how to deal with specific objections to his teachings that outsiders might raise after he himself has passed into nirvāṇa.