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Prince Shōtoku's Commentary on the Śrīmālā Sutra

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Taishō 2185
Volume 56

This work is a commentary on the Śrīmālā-sūtra (Taisho No.16), and is considered to be the earliest of the "Commentaries on Three Sūtras" (Jp. San-gyō-gi-sho) composed by Prince Shōtoku. The Nihon-shoki ("Chronicles of Japan") records that Prince Shōtoku gave a discourse on the Śrīmālā-sūtra for Empress Suiko. It is considered that Prince Shōtoku chose this particular sūtra as the subject of his discourse to the Empress probably because the protagonist of the Śrīmālā-sūtra is a woman, Śrīmālā, and Empress Suiko was the first Empress in Japanese history. The present work was then put together in book-form in Chinese at a later date. Be that as it may, there is no changing the fact that this was the first written work composed by a Japanese.

Source
Jp. Shōmangyō gisho (勝鬘經義疏), attributed to Prince Shōtoku. 1 fascicle. (Source: BDK America)

Citation	Dennis, Mark W., trans. Prince Shōtoku's Commentary on the Śrīmālā Sutra. BDK English Tripiṭaka Series. Moraga, CA: BDK America, 2011. https://bdkamerica.org/product/prince-shotokus-commentary-on-the-srimala-sutra/.

Contents

• A Message on the Publication of the English Tripiṭaka, NUMATA Yehanv

• Editorial Foreword, MAYEDA Sengakuvii

• Publisher's Foreword, John R. McRaeix

• Translator's Introduction, Mark W. Dennisxiii

• Conventions for the Translationxix

• Prince Shōtoku's Commentary on the Śrīmālā Sutra

• Introduction
  • The Contents of the Sutra3
  • The Title of the Sutra3
  • The Three Divisions of Buddhist Sutras4

• Part I. Commentary on the Introductory Teaching
  • The General Introduction7
  • The Specific Introduction9

• Part II. Commentary on the Main Teaching
  • Chapter One: Praising the True Merits of the Tathāgata13
  • Chapter Two: The Ten Main Ordination Vows21
  • Chapter Three: The Three Great Vows29
  • Chapters Four and Five: "Other-Practice"30
  • Chapter Four: Embracing the True Dharma31
  • Divisions of Chapter Four32
  • Chapter Five: The One Vehicle51
  • Part Two of the Sutra's Main Teaching93
  • The General Explanation94
  • Chapter Six: The Unlimited Noble Truths94
  • Chapter Seven: The Tathāgatagarbha97
  • Chapter Eight: The Dharma Body107
  • Chapter Nine: The Concealed Truth: The Meaning of Emptiness109
  • The Specific Explanation111
  • Chapter Ten: The One Noble Truth112
  • Chapter Eleven: The One Refuge115
  • Chapter Twelve: The Distorted Truths117
  • Chapter Thirteen: The Intrinsically Pure121
  • Chapter Fourteen: The True Children of the Tathāgata128

• Part III. The Propagation of the Teaching 
  • Propagation of the Teaching 1: The Buddha Returns to Śrāvastī131
  • Propagation of the Teaching 2: Transmitting the Sutra131
  • Propagation of the Teaching 3: The Sixteen Names for the Sutra132

• Notes135

• Glossary137

• Bibliography151

• Index157

• A List of the Volumes of the BDK English Tripiṭaka (First Series)167

Taishō - Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō, Chinese Tripiṭaka

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sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

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tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

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