36 Sūtras and Tantras

Here are listed the sūtra and tantra sources for buddha-nature teachings commonly referred to in traditional texts. For more on the details of these sources, see Karl Brunnhölzl's Translator's Introduction in When the Clouds Part.

The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines

འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་བརྒྱད་སྟོང་པ།

Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā

This sūtra takes the form of a series of dialogues between the Buddha Śākyamuni, Subhūti, Śāriputra, and others such as Indra, the king of gods, and a Goddess of the Ganges, and as well as setting out the teachings on emptiness as such it describes the path and practices that a bodhisattva should take to integrate this understanding of phenomena and finally realize it. A special feature of this particular sūtra are the inspirational narratives of Sadāprarudita and his quest for the teachings on the Perfection of Wisdom from the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata, contained in the final three chapters. (Source: 84000)

Higher Knowledge Sūtra

ཆོས་མངོན་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Abhidharmamahāyānasūtra

This text is a lost Yogācāra sūtra. It is preserved only in a few quotes in other Yogācāra texts.

The Discourse for Aṅgulimāla

འཕགས་པ་སོར་མོའི་ཕྲེང་བ་ལ་ཕན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Aṅgulimālīyasūtra

The Mahāyāna version of this sūtra, like the earlier Pali sutta of the same name, recounts a sorted tale of jealousy and revenge that spirals out of control, in which a once promising disciple is set on the path to become a vicious murderer in search of a thousand victims in order to create a garland strung with their severed fingers. That is, of course, until he encounters the final victim needed to complete his task, the Buddha. (You can read the story here). The Mahāyāna version is routinely included among the lists of so-called tathāgatagarbha sūtras, the reason likely being the extensive discussion the protagonist has with Mañjuśrī on the proper view of emptiness. The position presented in the text has been taken by some to be an early precursor to the view of other-emptiness.

The Discourse on Neither Increase nor Decrease

Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta

One of the sūtra sources cited in the Ratnagotravibhāga, especially in relation to the fourth and sixth of the seven vajra topics discussed therein—namely, the teachings on the element, which in this case is a synonym for buddha-nature, and the teachings on the qualities. Though much of it is quoted in the Ratnagotravibhāga, the full text is only extant in a single Chinese translation.

Sūtra on Wisdom at Death

འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Atyayajñānasūtra

While the Buddha is residing in the Akaniṣṭha realm, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha asks him how to consider the mind of a bodhisattva who is about to die. The Buddha replies that when death comes a bodhisattva should develop the wisdom of the hour of death. He explains that a bodhisattva should cultivate a clear understanding of the non-existence of entities, great compassion, non-apprehension, non-attachment, and a clear understanding that, since wisdom is the realization of one’s own mind, the Buddha should not be sought elsewhere. After these points have been repeated in verse form, the assembly praises the Buddha’s words, concluding the sūtra. (Source: 84000 Reading Room)

The Tantra of Great Graceful Auspiciousness

བཀྲ་ཤིས་མཛེས་ལྡན་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད།

Bkra shis mdzes ldan chen po'i rgyud

One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra explains the different manners in which empirical experiences appear from the ground reality or luminous awareness, also called the youthful vase body.

Scripture of the Garland of Buddhas

སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra

One of the longest works in the entire Buddhist canon, the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra is widely considered to be a compilation of independent scriptures, which was expanded upon over the course of time. It was extremely influential in East Asia, where it was preserved in an eighty-scroll recension. The Tibetan translation of this work fills four volumes in the Derge Kangyur. Though only two sections—namely, the Gaṇḍavyūhasūtra and the Daśabhūmikasūtra—have survived in Sanskrit, both of which have also circulated as independent works.

Questions of Dhāraṇīśvararāja Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་ངེས་པར་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Dhāraṇīśvararājasūtra

Also known as The Sūtra Teaching the Great Compassion of the Tathāgatas (Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśasūtra), this lengthy sūtra is stated to be the primary source for the Ratnagotravibhāga since it touches upon all seven vajra topics discussed in the treatise.

Bodhisattva Dṛḍhādhyāśaya Chapter

འཕགས་པ་ལྷག་པའི་བསམ་པ་བརྟན་པའི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Dṛḍhādhyāśayaparivarta

One of the sūtra sources for the Ratnagotravibhāga, especially for the first three of the seven vajra topics discussed therein—namely, the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha.

Brahmā's Net Sūtra

ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱ་མོ་སངས་རྒྱས་རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད་ཀྱིས་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སེམས་ཀྱི་གནས་བཤད་པ་ལེའུ་བཅུ་པ།

Fanwang jing

Fanwang jing. (J. Bonmōkyō; K Pǔmmang kyǒng). In Chinese, "Brahmā's Net Sūtra," the scripture is often cited

Questions of Gaganagañja Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་ནམ་མཁའ་མཛོད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Gaganagañjaparipṛcchāsūtra

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. (Source: 84000)

Sūtra in the Heavily Adorned (Realm)

འཕགས་པ་རྒྱན་སྟུག་པོ་བཀོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Ghanavyūhasūtra

Only extant in Chinese and Tibetan translations, this sūtra, which is centered around Buddha Śākyamuni's visit to the pure land of the Buddha Vairocana, is an important source for the Yogācāra notions of the three natures, tathāgatagarbha and the ālayavijñāna. These latter two terms are often treated as synonyms in the text, especially in their pure form, while in its impure form the ālayavijñāna is designated as the source from which all ordinary phenomena emerge.

Hevajra Tantra

ཀྱེའི་རྡོ་རྗེའི་རྒྱུད།

Hevajra Tantra

The Hevajratantra is the most important scripture of the yoginītantra class. Shortly after its appearance around 900 CE in East India, it engendered - or promoted in a codified form - a widespread and influential cult of its eponymous deity and his retinue; its teachings became of such authority that there were hardly any esoteric Buddhist authors who could afford to ignore them. While the text continued the antinomian tradition set out in the Guhyasamājatantra and

Adamantine Absorption Scripture

རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཡི་གེ།

Jingang sanmei jing

This text, also known as the *Vajrasamādhisūtra, is a Korean apocryphon, meaning an indigenous scripture that claimed to be a translation of an Indic original. It was composed at the end of the seventh century and continues to have widespread appeal across Asia as a source for buddha-nature and original enlightenment teachings. It belongs to the genre of "samādhi sūtra" in that it offers contemplative techniques designed to lead to enlightenment. The scripture reveals influences of early Chan and the Chinese Yogācāra tradition of Paramārtha, containing an extensive discussion of "immaculate consciousness" (amalavijñāna), the ninth consciousness which unites saṃsāra and nirvāṇa in a "single taste." The great Korean scholiast Wǒnhyo (617–686, 體用) wrote the most famous commentary, in which he outlined six successive steps for realizing original enlightenment. It is translated in Buswell, The Formation of Ch'an Ideology in China and Korea, 1989.

The Excellent Abridged Wheel of Time Tantra

དཔལ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་བསྡུས་པའི་རྒྱུད།

Kālacakratantra

The Kālacakratantra is an early eleventh-century esoteric treatise belonging to the class of unexcelled yoga-tantras (anuttara-yoga-tantra). To the best of our knowledge, it was the last anuttara-yoga-tantra to appear in India.
According to the Kālacakra tradition, the extant version of the Kālacakratantra is an abridged version of the larger original tantra, called the Paramādibuddha, that was taught by the Buddha Śākyamuni to Sucandra, the king of Śambhala and an emanation of Vajrapāṇi, in the Dhānyakaṭaka stūpa, a notable center of Mahāyāna in the vicinity of the present-day village of Amarāvatī in Andhra Pradesh. Upon receiving instruction on the Paramādibuddhatantra and returning to Śambhala, King Sucandra wrote it down and propagated it throughout his kingdom. His six successors continued to maintain the inherited tradition, and the eighth king of Śambhala, Mañjuśrī Yaśas, composed the abridged version of the Parāmadibuddhatantra, which is handed down to us as the Sovereign Abridged Kālacakratantra (Laghukālacakratantrarāja). It is traditionally taught that it is composed of 1,030 verses written in the sradgharā meter. However, various Sanskrit manuscripts and editions of the Laghukālacakratantra contain a somewhat larger number of verses, ranging from 1,037 to 1,047 verses. The term an “abridged tantra” (laghu-tantra) has a specific meaning in Indian Buddhist tantric tradition. Its traditional interpretation is given in Naḍapādas (Nāropā) Sekoddeśaṭīkā, which states that in every yoga, yoginī, and other types of tantras, the concise, general explanations (uddeśa) and specific explanations (nirdeśa) make up a tantric discourse (tantra-saṃgīti), and that discourse, which is an exposition (uddeśana) there, is an entire abridged tantra.
The tradition tells us that Mañjuśrī Yaśas's successor Puṇḍarīka, who was an emanation of Avalokiteśvara, composed a large commentary on the Kālacakratantra, called the Stainless Light (Vimalaprabhā), which became the most authoritative commentary on the Kālacakratantra and served as the basis for all subsequent commentarial literature of that literary corpus. The place of the Vimalaprabhā in the Kālacakra literary corpus is of great importance, for in many instances, without the Vimalaprabhā, it would be practically impossible to understand not only the broader implications of the Kālacakratantra' cryptic verses and often grammatically corrupt sentences but their basic meanings. It has been said that the Kālacakratantra is explicit with regard to the tantric teachings that are often only implied in the other anuttara-yoga-tantras, but this explicitness is actually far more characteristic of the Vimalaprabhā than of the Kālacakratantra itself. (Source: Wallace, Vesna A. The Inner Kālacakratantra: A Buddhist Tantric View of the Individual. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001: pp. 2-3.)

The Tantra of Mirror of Samantabhadra’s Heart

ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་མེ་ལོང་གི་རྒྱུད།

Kun tu bzang po thugs kyi me long gi rgyud

One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra explains how the myriad phenomenological world arises from luminosity or Buddha-Nature.

The Play in Full

འཕགས་པ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་རོལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Lalitavistarasūtra

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. (Source: 84000)

Descent into Laṅka Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Laṅkāvatārasūtra

An important Mahāyāna sūtra that was highly influential in East Asia as well as in Nepal, where a manuscript was discovered that remains the only extant Sanskrit recension of this text. It is notable for its inclusion of many doctrinal features that would come to be associated with the Yogācāra philosophy of Mind-Only (Cittamātra), such as the ālayavijñāna, or store-house consciousness, that acts as a repository for the seeds of karmic actions. It also includes several lengthy discussions of tathāgatagarbha and, though it is never actually referenced in the Uttaratantra, it is often listed among the so-called tathāgatagarbha sūtras. While its lack of mention in the Uttaratantra has been interpreted by scholars as evidence that the sūtra postdates the treatise, it should be noted that the ways in which the tathāgatagarbha is discussed in the sūtra is often at odds with its presentation in the Uttaratantra.

Great Drum Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་རྔ་བོ་ཆེ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Mahābherīsūtra

One of the so-called tathāgatagarbha sūtras that features teachings on buddha-nature. In this text buddha-nature is possessed by all sentient beings and is described as luminous and pure. It is also attributed characteristics, such as being permanent, eternal, everlasting, peaceful, and a self, that echo the four perfect qualities (guṇapāramitās) often ascribed to the dharmakāya when it is treated as a synonym for buddha-nature. It also connects tathāgatagarbha to the notion of a single vehicle and asserts the definitive nature of the buddha-nature teachings in general and within this sūtra in particular.

Great Cloud Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་སྤྲིན་ཆེན་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Mahāmeghasūtra

Mahāmeghasūtra. (T. Sprin chen po'i mdo; C. Dafangdeng wuxiang jing/Dayun jing; J. Daihōdō musōkyō/Daiungyō; K. Taebangdǔng musang kyǒng/Taeun kyǒng 大方等無想經/大雲經). In Sanskrit, the "Great Cloud Sūtra"; it is also known in China as the Dafangdeng wuxiang jing. The Mahāmeghasūtra contains the teachings given by the Buddha to the bodhisattva "Great Cloud Secret Storehouse" (C. Dayunmizang) on the inconceivable means of attaining liberation, samādhi, and the power of dhāraṇīs. The Buddha also declares that tathāgatas remain forever present in the dharma and the saṃgha despite having entered parinirvāṇa and that they are always endowed with the four qualities of nirvāṇa mentioned in the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, namely, permanence, bliss, purity, and selfhood (see guṇapāramitā). The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra's influence on the Mahāmeghasūtra can also be witnessed in the story of the goddess "Pure Light" (C. Jingguang). Having heard the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra in her past life, the goddess is told by the Buddha that she will be reborn as a universal monarch (cakravartin). The sūtra is often cited for its prophecy of the advent of Nāgārjuna, as well as for its injunctions against meat-eating. It was also recited in order to induce rain. In China, commentators on the Mahāmeghasūtra identified the newly enthroned Empress Wu Zetian as the reincarnation of the goddess, seeking thereby to legitimize her rule. As Emperor Gaozong (r. 649–683) of the Tang dynasty suffered from increasingly ill health, his ambitious and pious wife Empress Wu took over the imperial administration. After her husband's death she exiled the legitimate heir Zhongzong (r. 683–684, 703–710) and usurped the throne. One of the many measures she took to gain the support of the people was the publication and circulation of the Mahāmeghasūtra. Two translations by Zhu Fonian and Dharmakṣema were available at the time. Wu Zetian also ordered the establishment of monasteries called Dayunsi ("Great Cloud Monastery") in every prefecture of the empire. (Source: "Mahāmeghasūtra." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 500. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Great Nirvāṇa Mahāyāna Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra

The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra is one of the main scriptural sources for buddha-nature in China and Tibet. Set around the time of Buddha's passing or Mahāparinirvāṇa, the sūtra contains teachings on buddha-nature equating it with the dharmakāya—that is, the complete enlightenment of a buddha. It also asserts that all sentient beings possess this nature as the buddhadhātu, or buddha-element, which thus acts as a cause, seed, or potential for all beings to attain enlightenment. Furthermore, the sūtra includes some salient features related to this concept, such as the single vehicle and the notion that the dharmakāya is endowed with the four pāramitās of permanence, bliss, purity, and a self.

The Secret Tantra of the Great Union of the Sun and Moon

ཉི་མ་དང་ཟླ་བ་ཁ་སྦྱོར་བ་ཆེན་པོ་གསང་བའི་རྒྱུད།

Nyi ma dang zla ba kha sbyor ba chen po gsang ba'i rgyud

One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra discusses the dissolution of human body at the time of death and the various funerary practices in detail.

Questions of Ratnacūḍa Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་གཙུག་ན་རིན་པོ་ཆེས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra

Part of the Ratnakūṭa collection of sūtras, the Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra is quoted briefly in the Ratnagotravibhāga without mentioning it by name.

Sūtra of Quintessential Instructions on the Great Vehicle

འཕགས་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མན་ངག་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Ratnadārikāsūtra

An important sūtra source for the Uttaratantra in its discussion of the third of the seven topics (buddha) in which the qualities of awakening are listed.

The Tantra of Mirror of Vajrasattva’s Heart

རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ་སྙིང་གི་མེ་ལོང་གི་རྒྱུད།

Rdo rje sems dpa' snying gi me long gi rgyud

One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra explains how Buddha-Nature abides at the heart of a person, in the midst of five coloured lights, like 'a vase body' along with the peaceful deities, from which pristine wisdom shines forth to the crown where the wrathful deities abide.

The Great Tantra of Self-Arising Awareness

རིག་པ་རང་ཤར་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད།

Rig pa rang shar chen po'i rgyud

One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra discusses luminosity and awareness.

White Lotus of the Excellent Doctrine Sūtra

དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra

Commonly referred to as the Lotus Sūtra, this text is extremely popular in East Asia, where it is considered to be the "final" teaching of the Buddha. Especially in Japan, reverence for this text has put it at the center of numerous Buddhist movements, including many modern, so-called new religions. The esteemed status of this scripture is epitomized in the Nichiren school's sole practice of merely paying homage to its title with the prayer "Namu myōhō renge kyō".

Questions of Sāgaramati Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra

This sūtra details the story of the bodhisattva Sāgaramati and his questioning of the Buddha. A couple of the Buddha's responses to the bodhisattva are quoted at length in the Ratnagotravibhāga, which explain how bodhisattvas utilize the afflictions to anchor them to saṃsāra in order to benefit sentient beings. However, since the afflictions are merely adventitious, these bodhisattvas are not affected by them and they are, likewise, able to mature sentient beings who can also be cleansed of these adventitious afflictions to reveal the innate purity of the mind.

Mahāyāna Sūtra which Decisively Reveals the Intention

འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra

A crucial source text for the Yogācāra school and many of its central tenets, including the theories of consciousness-only, all-ground consciousness (Skt. ālayavijñāna; Tib. kun gzhi rnam par shes pa), and the three natures. It is also noteworthy for its discussion of the relationship between the two truths (Ch.3), the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma (Ch.7), and meditation (Ch.8). Furthermore, it is commonly included in the Tibetan lists of sūtras that teach buddha-nature and/or the definitive meaning.

The Ornament of the Light of Awareness that Enters the Domain of All Buddhas

འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྣང་བའི་རྒྱན་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Sarvabuddhaviśayāvatārajñānālokālaṃkārasūtra

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. His activities are effortless since his realization is free from concepts. Thus, the Tathāgata’s non-conceptual awareness results in great compassion beyond any reference point. (Summary from 84000 Reading Room)

Concise Presentation of Initiation

དབང་མདོར་བསྟན་པ།

Sekoddeśa

This is the first tantric text in the Kangyur canon related to the Kālacakra cycle. It is a summary of the third chapter of the longer Kālacakra tantra dealing with the ritual of initiation or empowerment. The Kālacakra teachings presents a unique set of seven initiations to conduct the ordinary/childlike initiate (བྱིས་པ་འཇུག་པའི་དབང་བདུན་) and then the four main initiations of the vase, secret, wisdom and word, which are also divided into two sets of the conventional and superior types. The Kālacakra cycle is considered to be very explicit in revealing the luminous nature of the mind through these initiatory rituals and tantric methods employing bodily energy and fluids.

The Great Tantra of Penetrating Sound

སྒྲ་ཐལ་འགྱུར་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད།

Sgra thal 'gyur chen po'i rgyud

One of the seventeen tantras belonging to the Unsurpassable Secret Cycle (ཡང་གསང་བླ་མེད་ཀྱི་སྐོར་) or Seminal Heart (སྙིང་ཐིག་) series of the Secret Instruction Class (མན་ངག་སྡེ་) of Dzogchen teachings, this was considered to have been passed down from Vimalamitra in the 8th century although modern scholars consider this be a Tibetan composition of later period. The tantra has six chapters and discusses awareness and luminosity.

Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Śrīmālādevīsūtra

One of the more prominent sūtra sources for the Ratnagotravibhāga, this text tells of the story of Śrīmālādevī taking up the Buddhist path at the behest of her royal parents based on a prophecy of the Buddha. It includes mention of important concepts related to the teachings on buddha-nature, such as the single vehicle and the four perfections, or transcendent characteristics, of the dharmakāya. It also mentions the notion that buddha-nature, which is equated with mind's luminous nature, is empty of adventitious stains but not empty of its limitless inseparable qualities. In his commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga, Asaṅga quotes this sūtra more than any other source text. In particular, it is considered a source for the fifth of the seven vajra topics, enlightenment.

Tathāgata Essence Sūtra

འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Tathāgatagarbhasūtra

The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra (TGS) is a relatively short text that represents the starting point of a number of works in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism centering around the idea that all living beings have the buddha-nature. The genesis of the term tathāgatagarbha (in Tibetan de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po, in Chinese rulai zang 如來藏, the key term of this strand of Buddhism and the title of the sūtra), can be observed in the textual history of the TGS. (Zimmermann, A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra, p. 7)

Sūtra Showing the Realm of the Inconceivable Qualities and Wisdom of the Tathāgatas

འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི་ཡུལ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Tathāgataguṇajñānācintyaviṣayāvatāranirdeśa

One of the sūtra sources for the Ratnagotravibhāga, especially in terms of the last of the seven vajra topics discussed therein—namely, the activities.

The Diamond Sūtra; The Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra called The Diamond Cutter

འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གཅོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra

One of the most revered and recited scriptures of the perfection of wisdom genre (prajñāpāramitāsūtras), perhaps second only to the Heart Sūtra, both of which became especially popular in the East Asian Buddhist traditions. It is a crucial source for Mahāyāna tenets of selflessness and the emptiness of phenomena, and its discourse is framed as an explanation of how to enter into the vehicle of the bodhisattvas by developing and sustaining their enlightened perspective.

Sutras

36 Sūtras and Tantras

The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines འཕགས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་བརྒྱད་སྟོང་པ། Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā

Higher Knowledge Sūtra ཆོས་མངོན་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Abhidharmamahāyānasūtra

The Discourse for Aṅgulimāla འཕགས་པ་སོར་མོའི་ཕྲེང་བ་ལ་ཕན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Aṅgulimālīyasūtra

The Discourse on Neither Increase nor Decrease Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśaparivarta

Sūtra on Wisdom at Death འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Atyayajñānasūtra

The Tantra of Great Graceful Auspiciousness བཀྲ་ཤིས་མཛེས་ལྡན་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད། Bkra shis mdzes ldan chen po'i rgyud

Scripture of the Garland of Buddhas སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra

Bodhisattva Dṛḍhādhyāśaya Chapter འཕགས་པ་ལྷག་པའི་བསམ་པ་བརྟན་པའི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Dṛḍhādhyāśayaparivarta

Questions of Gaganagañja Sūtra འཕགས་པ་ནམ་མཁའ་མཛོད་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Gaganagañjaparipṛcchāsūtra

Sūtra in the Heavily Adorned (Realm) འཕགས་པ་རྒྱན་སྟུག་པོ་བཀོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Ghanavyūhasūtra

Hevajra Tantra ཀྱེའི་རྡོ་རྗེའི་རྒྱུད། Hevajra Tantra

Adamantine Absorption Scripture རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཡི་གེ། Jingang sanmei jing

The Excellent Abridged Wheel of Time Tantra དཔལ་དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་བསྡུས་པའི་རྒྱུད། Kālacakratantra

The Tantra of Mirror of Samantabhadra’s Heart ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་མེ་ལོང་གི་རྒྱུད། Kun tu bzang po thugs kyi me long gi rgyud

The Play in Full འཕགས་པ་རྒྱ་ཆེར་རོལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Lalitavistarasūtra

Descent into Laṅka Sūtra འཕགས་པ་ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Laṅkāvatārasūtra

Great Drum Sūtra འཕགས་པ་རྔ་བོ་ཆེ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལེའུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Mahābherīsūtra

Great Cloud Sūtra འཕགས་པ་སྤྲིན་ཆེན་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Mahāmeghasūtra

Great Nirvāṇa Mahāyāna Sūtra འཕགས་པ་ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra

The Secret Tantra of the Great Union of the Sun and Moon ཉི་མ་དང་ཟླ་བ་ཁ་སྦྱོར་བ་ཆེན་པོ་གསང་བའི་རྒྱུད། Nyi ma dang zla ba kha sbyor ba chen po gsang ba'i rgyud

Questions of Ratnacūḍa Sūtra འཕགས་པ་གཙུག་ན་རིན་པོ་ཆེས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra

Sūtra of Quintessential Instructions on the Great Vehicle འཕགས་པ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མན་ངག་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Ratnadārikāsūtra

The Tantra of Mirror of Vajrasattva’s Heart རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ་སྙིང་གི་མེ་ལོང་གི་རྒྱུད། Rdo rje sems dpa' snying gi me long gi rgyud

The Great Tantra of Self-Arising Awareness རིག་པ་རང་ཤར་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད། Rig pa rang shar chen po'i rgyud

White Lotus of the Excellent Doctrine Sūtra དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra

Questions of Sāgaramati Sūtra འཕགས་པ་བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra

Mahāyāna Sūtra which Decisively Reveals the Intention འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra

Concise Presentation of Initiation དབང་མདོར་བསྟན་པ། Sekoddeśa

The Great Tantra of Penetrating Sound སྒྲ་ཐལ་འགྱུར་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད། Sgra thal 'gyur chen po'i rgyud

Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī Sūtra འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Śrīmālādevīsūtra

Tathāgata Essence Sūtra འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ། Tathāgatagarbhasūtra