Rgya mtsho'i sde

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PeopleRgya mtsho'i sde


རྒྱ་མཚོའི་སྡེ
Gyatso De(b. 11th century - )
Buddhist Digital Resource Center

There appear to have been two men by the name of Gyatso De whose work survives in the Tibetan canon. The first was a collaborator with Wangpabzhun (wang phab zhun/zhwun) and Gewai Lodro (dge ba'i blos gros) on the translation from Chinese of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (D119). They likely worked from the earliest Chinese version (T374), translated around 421–432 by Dharmakṣema in the northern kingdom of Beiliang 北涼. Gewai Lodro seems to have lived in the eleventh century, judging by his many collaborations with Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna (982-1055?), Jānaśrībhadra and other men who lived in that century.

This Gyatso De should not be confused with a man named Sonam Gyatso De who was a frequent translator for Vanaratna (1384–1468).
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Library Items

Text
Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra
There are three translations in the Tibetan canon under this name:
  1. Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (RKTSK 119)
  2. Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (RKTSK 120)
  3. Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (RKTSK 121)


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.

It may be noted that there are three different texts with similar titles in the Chinese and Tibetan canons. Of the three Tibetan texts with Mahāparinirvāṇa in their title, a short one (Derge Kangyur, No. 121) called Āryamahāparinirvāṇasūtra contains prophecies of events in the centuries after the Buddha's Mahāparinirvāṇa but has nothing on buddha-nature. Thus, this is not the Mahāparinirvāṇāsūtra which is considered as a Tathāgatagarbhasūtra. The two which deal with buddha-nature are Mahāyānasūtras and contain detailed accounts of the final teachings of the Buddha. The first sūtra, the longer one covering two volumes of Derge Kangyur (mdo sde Nya and Ta) is a translation from Chinese, while the second one is a translation from Sanskrit. They appear to be two different recensions of the same original sūtra as they have similar titles and overlapping content. However, the one translated from Chinese is much longer and also contains information on the events after the Buddha entered Mahāparinirvāṇa.
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