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Revision as of 18:56, 15 January 2025


Selected Bibliography & Resources


This is the most complete bibliography of academic and related references on the concept of buddha-nature and the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra and its commentaries. On this page you can find secondary sources first, followed by multimedia citations with links and then primary source citations with links to relevant recension information and online resources in each available language.


812 Citations

Academic Sources (582)[edit]

Multimedia Sources (422)

Sutra Sources (36)

Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines, like other sūtras on the Perfection of Wisdom, deal with the topic of emptiness and the understanding of the ultimate truth or the way things are. Modern scholars date the sūtra roughly to 2nd and 1st century BC and consider it to be the earliest sūtra on which other sūtras on the Perfection of Wisdom are based while its adherents claim the sūtra to be a part of the words of the Buddha. It is believed taken to the subterranean world and brought back to the human world by Nāgārjuna. It is sometimes known as the Condensed Mother (ཡུམ་བསྡུས་པ་), the term mother referring to the Perfection of Wisdom, which give rise to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. It is said to be the condensed version of the long version in hundred thousand lines and the middle version in twenty-five thousand lines. Having spread across Asia and beyond and translated into many languages, it is one of the most common books to be found in the Buddhist Himalayas. The sūtras 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. In the final chapters, the sūtra contains the inspirational narratives of Sadāprarudita and his quest for the teachings on the Perfection of Wisdom from the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata. The sūtra is also one of the earliest Mahāyāna sources proclaiming the luminous nature of the mind.
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.
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.
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.
Abhidharmamahāyānasūtra
This text is a lost Yogācāra sūtra. It is preserved only in a few quotes in other Yogācāra texts.
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.
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.
Kǔmgang sammae kyǒng
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.
Fanwang jing
Fanwang jing. (J. Bonmōkyō; K Pǔmmang kyǒng 梵網經). In Chinese, "Brahmā's Net Sūtra," the scripture is often cited by its reconstructed, but unattested, Sanskrit title, the *Brahmajālasūtra. This scripture is reputed to have been translated by KumārajIva in 406, but it is most likely an indigenous Chinese scripture (see apocrypha) composed during the middle of the fifth century. The Fanwang jing, in its current recension in two rolls, purports to be the tenth chapter of a much longer, 120-roll scripture tided the Bodhisattvaśīlasūtra, which is otherwise unknown. The first roll provides a description of the buddha Vairocana and the ten different stages of the bodhisattva path. Because subsequent Chinese indigenous scriptures that were closely related to the Fanwang jing, such as the Pusa yinluo penye jing, provided more systematic presentations of these soteriological models, this first roll was not widely studied and was typically omitted in commentaries on the scripture. Far more important to the tradition is the second roll, which is primarily concerned with the "bodhisattva precepts" (bodhisattvaśīla); this roll has often circulated independently as Pusajie jing (*Bodhisattvaśīlasūtra) "The Book of the Bodhisattva Precepts"). This roll provides a list of ten major and forty-eight minor Mahāyāna precepts that come to be known as the "Fanwang Precepts," which became a popular alternative to the 250 monastic precepts of the Dharmaguptaka vinaya (also known as the Sifen Lü). Unlike the majority of rules found in other non-Mahāyāna vinaya codes, the bodhisattva precepts are directed not only at ordained monks and nuns, but also may be taken by laymen and laywomen. The Fanwang jing correlates the precepts with Confucian virtues such as filial piety and obedience, as well as with one's buddha-nature (foxing). Numerous commentaries on this text were composed, and those written by Fazang, Mingkuang (fl. 800 CE), and the Korean monk T'aehyǒn (d.u.) were most influential. As the primary scriptural source in East Asia for the bodhisattva precepts, the Fanwang jing was tremendously influential in subsequent developments in Buddhist morality and institutions throughout the region. In Japan, for example, the Tendaishū monk Saichō (767-822) disparaged the prātimokṣa precepts of the traditional vinaya as being the precepts of hInayāna adherents, and rejected them in favor of having all monastics take instead the Mahāyāna precepts of the Fanwang jing. In Korea, all monastics and laypeople accept the bodhisattva precepts deriving from the Fanwang jing, but for monks and nuns these are still seen as complementary to their main monastic vows. (Source: "Fanwang jing." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 295. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
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.
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.
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)
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)
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.
RKTSK 417
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 the Sarvabuddhasamāyogaḍākinījālaśaṃvara, it also introduced a number of innovations - most importantly the doctrine of the four blisses - and it is noted for skillfully blending the world of tantric ritual practice and non-esoteric Mahāyāna doctrine. Compared to the other emblematic yoginītantra, the Herukābhidhāna, the Hevajratantra can be said to contain much more theological and philosophical material, showing a confident grounding in the Buddhist world. (Source: Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism: Literature and Languages, edited by Jonathan A. Silk, Oskar von Hinüber, and Vincent Eltschinger, 334. Leiden: Brill, 2015.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra
Part of the Ratnakūṭa collection of sūtras, the Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchāsūtra is quoted briefly in the Ratnagotravibhāga without mentioning it by name.
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)
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.
Dhāraṇīśvararājasūtra
Also known as Questions of Dhāraṇīśvararāja Sūtras (Dhāraṇīśvararājasūtra), 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.
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.)
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. (Source: 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.)
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.
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".
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.
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.
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. Also known as Dṛḍhādhyāśayaparivarta, the main protagonist is Bodhisattva Dṛḍhādhyāśaya, who sees a beautiful girl on his alms round. He is attracted to the girl and tries to meditate on ugliness but fails and thus runs away to the mountains. The Buddha sees this, manifest as the beautiful girl, and chases him to say: "I should be relinquished in your mind. What use is giving up with your body. Dṛḍha! Running away physically cannot help you abandon attachment." Having said this, she jumps off a cliff and Dṛḍha reports to the Buddha who reminds him that the Buddha does not teach physical escape in order to eliminate attachment, hatred and ignorance.

Commentary Sources (167)

Rgyud bla ma'i spyi don
ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་སྐྱབས་མཆོག་དཔལ་བཟང་ (Lo tsA ba skyabs mchog dpal bzang)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i zin bris tI kA
སྟག་ལུང་ཆོས་རྗེ་ (Stag lung chos rje)
De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa zhis bya ba'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel pa don gsal lung gi 'od zer
གློ་བོ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཤེས་རབ་རིན་ཆེན་ (Glo bo lo tsA ba shes rab rin chen)
Lta ba mdor bsdus pa
Nāropa
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i zin bris byams mgon gyi dgongs pa phyin ci ma log pa
གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan)
Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa Ti ka nyi 'od gsal ba
ལྷོ་བྲག་པ་དྷརྨ་སེངྒེ་ (Lho brag dar ma seng ge)
Rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel mchan
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i dka' gnad kyi mtha' dpyad mun sel
Rgyud bla ma'i sa bcad mtshungs med legs bshad
ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་སྐྱབས་མཆོག་དཔལ་བཟང་ (Lo tsA ba skyabs mchog dpal bzang)
Fo xing lun
Rgyud bla rong ston 'grel pa'i kha skong
ཀུན་དགའ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་ (Kun dga' rnam rgyal, Trungpa, 4th)
Rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos gsal byed
ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་སྐྱབས་མཆོག་དཔལ་བཟང་།? (Lo tsA ba skyabs mchog dpal bzang)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos zhes bya ba'i mchan 'grel gyi mchan bu
ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Tshul khrims rgyal mtshan, Gyeltsen, Tsultrim)
Bde gshegs snying po'i skor zin bris
Tsul
Rgyud bla ma'i gsal byed bsam mi khyab pa'i yi ge
ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་སྐྱབས་མཆོག་དཔལ་བཟང་།? (Lo tsA ba skyabs mchog dpal bzang)
Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā
ཐོགས་མེད་ (Asaṅga)
Dasheng qixin lun
Aśvaghoṣa
Theg pa chen po'i bstan bcos rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa
བོ་དོང་པཎ་ཆེན་ཕྱོགས་ལས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་ (Bo dong paN chen phyogs las rnam rgyal)
Bde gshegs snying po gsal ba'i rgyan
བུ་སྟོན་རིན་ཆེན་གྲུབ་ (Bu ston rin chen grub)
Stong thun gnad kyi zin thun
བོད་སྤྲུལ་མདོ་སྔགས་བསྟན་པའི་ཉི་མ་ (Bod sprul mdo sngags bstan pa'i nyi ma)
Madhyamakāvatāra
ཟླ་བ་གྲགས་པ་ (Candrakīrti)
Pradīpoddyotana-nāma-ṭīkā
ཟླ་བ་གྲགས་པ་ (Candrakīrti)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don
ཕྱྭ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་ (Phywa pa chos kyi seng+ge)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi tshig dang don gyi cha rgya cher bsnyad pa phra ba'i don gsal ba
ཕྱྭ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སེངྒེ་ (Phywa pa chos kyi seng+ge)
Byams pa dang 'brel chos kyi byung tshul
བཅོམ་ལྡན་རིག་པའི་རལ་གྲི་ (Bcom ldan rig pa'i ral gri)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma rgyan gyi me tog
བཅོམ་ལྡན་རིག་པའི་རལ་གྲི་ (Bcom ldan rig pa'i ral gri)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i don gyi snying po gsal byed kyi snang ba chen po
ཅོ་ནེ་གྲགས་པ་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་ (Co ne grags pa bshad sgrub)
Mdo rgyud rin po che'i mdzod
ཆོས་དབྱིངས་སྟོབས་ལྡན་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Chos dbyings stobs ldan rdo rje)
Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel ba rin po che'i snang ba
དོན་གྲུབ་རིན་ཆེན་ (Don grub rin chen)
Dam pa'i chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i 'grel chen snang mdzad ye shes sgron me
རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤེས་རབ་ (Rdo rje shes rab)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel pa byams mgon dgyes pa'i mchod sprin
བྲག་དཀར་བློ་བཟང་དཔལ་ལྡན་བསྟན་འཛིན་སྙན་གྲགས་ (Brag dkar blo bzang dpal ldan bstan 'dzin snyan grags)
Rang stong dang gzhan stong gi khyad par cung zad brjod pa tshul gnyis rnam gsal lung rigs sgron me
བྲག་དཀར་བློ་བཟང་དཔལ་ལྡན་བསྟན་འཛིན་སྙན་གྲགས་ (Brag dkar blo bzang dpal ldan bstan 'dzin snyan grags)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi bsdus pa'i don
འགྲོ་མགོན་ཆོས་རྒྱལ་འཕགས་པ་ ('gro mgon chos rgyal 'phags pa)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel ba gsal ba nyi ma'i snying po
བདུད་མོ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འོད་ཟེར་ (Bdud mo bkra shis 'od zer)
Bde gshegs snying po la bstod pa dad gus kyi gter chen po
དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Dol po pa)
Bka' bsdu bzhi pa'i don bstan rtsis chen po
དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Dol po pa)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs bshad nyi ma'i 'od zer
དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Dol po pa)
Bde gshegs snying po'i bkra shis
དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Dol po pa)
Chos dbyings du ma ro gcig bde gshegs snying po'i yon tan can gyi mdo sde
དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Dol po pa)
Ri chos nges don rgya mtsho zhes bya ba mthar thug thun mong ma yin pa'i man ngag
དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Dol po pa)
Dpon byang ba'i phyag tu phul ba'i chos kyi shan 'byed
དོལ་པོ་པ་ཤེས་རབ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Dol po pa)
Shōbōgenzō
Dōgen
Dbu ma gzhan stong smra ba'i srol legs par phye ba'i sgron me
མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Karmapa, 8th)
Chos dang chos ma yin par rnam par 'byed pa'i gtam chen po zab mor nang don 'khrul par ngo sprod par byed pa grub mtha'i spyi ching
མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Karmapa, 8th)
Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i kar TIka chen mo
མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Karmapa, 8th)
Dbu ma la 'jug pa'i rnam bshad dpal ldan dus gsum mkhyen pa'i zhal lung dwags brgyud grub pa'i shing rta
མི་བསྐྱོད་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Karmapa, 8th)
De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel
མཁའ་ཁྱབ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Karmapa, 15th)
Dam chos yid bzhin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che'i rgyan
སྒམ་པོ་པ་ (Sgam po pa)
Rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi rnam bshad bde gshegs snying po'i mdzes rgyan
དགའ་ལྡན་ཁྲི་པ་བློ་གྲོས་བརྟན་པ་ (Dga' ldan khri pa blo gros brtan pa)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad don dam rnam nges bsdus pa'i snying po'i snying po
དགེ་འདུན་འོད་ཟེར་ (Dge 'dun 'od zer)
Nges don dbu ma chen po'i tshul rnam par nges pa'i gtam bde gshegs snying po'i rgyan
དགེ་རྩེ་མ་ཧཱ་པཎྡི་ཏ་ཚེ་དབང་མཆོག་གྲུབ་ (Dge rtse ma hA paN+Di ta tshe dbang mchog grub)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i TIk+ka de nyid snang ba
གྷ་རུང་པ་ལྷའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Gha rung pa lha'i rgyal mtshan)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa nges don gsal bar byed pa'i 'od zer
ཐོགས་མེད་བཟང་པོ་ (Thogs med bzang po)
Mdo sde rgyan dang rgyud bla ma spyod 'jug rnams kyi 'grel TIk+ka gi dbu zhabs kyi tshigs bcad
ཐོགས་མེད་བཟང་པོ་ (Thogs med bzang po)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i ṭīkka
རྒྱལ་ཚབ་རྗེ་དར་མ་རིན་ཆེན་ (Rgyal tshab rje dar ma rin chen)
Deb ther sngon po
འགོས་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་དཔལ་ ('gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long
འགོས་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་དཔལ་ ('gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal)
Shes bya kun la khyab pa'i mdzod
འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་ ('jam mgon kong sprul)
De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos kyi rnam 'grel rang byung dgongs gsal
འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་ ('jam mgon kong sprul)
Phyir mi ldog pa seng ge'i nga ro
འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་ ('jam mgon kong sprul)
Gzhan stong dbu ma chen po'i lta khrid rdo rje zla ba dri ma med pa'i 'od zer
འཇམ་མགོན་ཀོང་སྤྲུལ་ ('jam mgon kong sprul)
Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rnam gzhag snying por dril ba
འཇམ་དབྱངས་མཁྱེན་བརྩེའི་དབང་པོ་ ('jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse'i dbang po)
De bzhin gshegs pa snying po'i don rgya bod kyi mkhas pa'i bzhed srol ma 'dres par gsal bar byed pa'i zla gzhon
བྱང་རྩེ་མཁན་ཟུར་བསོད་ནམས་ཀུན་དགའ་ (Byang rtse mkhan zur bsod nams kun dga')
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par bshad pa rin chen sgron me
དགེ་འདུན་རིན་ཆེན་ (Rinchen, Gendun)
Rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don rin chen sgron me
རྗེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Rje ye shes rgya mtsho)
Yon tan rin po che'i mdzod dga' ba'i char
འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ་ ('jigs med gling pa)
Phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan rtogs pa'i mgur
འབྲི་གུང་སྐྱོབ་པ་འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་ ('bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po)
Chos kyi 'khor lo legs par gtan la phab pa theg pa chen po'i tshul 'ong ges zhus pa
འབྲི་གུང་སྐྱོབ་པ་འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་ ('bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po)
Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa
འབྲི་གུང་སྐྱོབ་པ་འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་,འབྲི་གུང་སྤྱན་སྔ་ཤེས་རབ་འབྱུང་གནས་ ('bri gung spyan snga shes rab 'byung gnas)
Tathāgatahṛdayālaṃkāra
Jñānavajra
Vimalaprabhā
རིགས་ལྡན་པདྨ་དཀར་པོ་ (Kalkī Śrī Puṇḍarīka)
Rgyud bla ma'i bsdus don rton pa bzhi ldan mkhas pa dga' byed
ཀརྨ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གཞོན་ནུ་ (Karma dkon mchog gzhon nu)
Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa rton pa bzhi ldan mkhas pa dga' byed
ཀརྨ་དཀོན་མཆོག་གཞོན་ནུ་ (Karma dkon mchog gzhon nu)
Zab lam khrid kyi man ngag 'phrad tshad rang grol
མཁན་པོ་གང་ཤར་དབང་པོ་ (Mkhan po gang shar)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos zhes bya ba'i mchan 'grel
གཞན་ཕན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་ (Gzhan phan chos kyi snang ba)
Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa'i rnam bshad zin bris dbu phyogs legs pa
ཀུན་དགའ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Kun dga' ye shes rgya mtsho)
Sde snod bcud bsdus man ngag gi snying po
སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ (Skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims)
Chos nyid kyi lam khrid
སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ (Skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims)
'da' ka ye shes kyi 'chi kha ma'i man ngag
སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ (Skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims)
Ye shes kyi 'jog sa
སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ (Skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims)
'od gsal snying po'i don
སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ (Skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims)
Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i gdams pa
སྐྱོ་སྟོན་སྨོན་ལམ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ (Skyo ston smon lam tshul khrims)
Mnyam med dwags po'i chos bzhir grags pa'i gzhung gi 'grel pa snying po gsal ba'i rgyan
ལ་ཡག་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་དངོས་གྲུབ་ (La yag pa byang chub dngos grub)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel
བློ་བཟང་དཔལ་ལྡན་བསྟན་འཛིན་ཡར་རྒྱས་ (Blo bzang dpal ldan bstan 'dzin yar rgyas)
Rdzogs pa chen po sems nyid ngal gso'i 'grel pa shing rta chen po
ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་ (Klong chen pa)
Yid bzhin mdzod kyi 'grel pa pad+ma dkar po
ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་ (Klong chen pa)
Grub mtha' mdzod
ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་ (Klong chen pa)
Chos dbyings rin po che'i mdzod kyi 'grel pa lung gi gter mdzod
Klong chen pa
Dharmadharmatāvibhāga
བྱམས་པ་ (Maitreya)
Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārakārikā
བྱམས་པ་ (Maitreya)
Abhisamayālaṃkāra
བྱམས་པ་ (Maitreya)
Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
བྱམས་པ་,ཐོགས་མེད་ (Maitreya)
Madhyāntavibhāga
བྱམས་པ་ (Maitreya)
Tattvadaśaka
Maitrīpa
Rgyud bla ma'i tshig don rnam par 'grel pa
མར་པ་དོ་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་ (Mar pa do pa chos kyi dbang phyug)
Sdom pa gsum rnam par nges pa'i 'grel pa legs bshad ngo mtshar dpag bsam gyi snye ma
སྨིན་གླིང་ལོ་ཆེན་དྷརྨ་ཤྲཱི་ (Smin gling lo chen d+harma shrI)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi bshad pa nges don nor bu'i mdzod
མི་ཉག་བླ་མ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Mi nyag bla ma ye shes rdo rje)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel mi pham zhal lung
མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Mi pham rgya mtsho)
Gzhan stong khas len seng ge'i nga ro
མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Mi pham rgya mtsho)
Chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa'i 'grel pa ye shes snang ba rnam 'byed
མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Mi pham rgya mtsho)
Bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng+ge'i nga ro
མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Mi pham rgya mtsho)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi tshig 'grel thub bstan yar rgyas
དམུ་དགེ་བསམ་གཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Dmu dge bsam gtan rgya mtsho)
Phyi nang grub mtha'i rnam bzhag gi bsdus don blo gsal yid kyi rgyan bzang
ངག་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་གྲགས་པ་ (Ngag dbang blo gros grags pa)
Gzhan stong chen mo
ངག་དབང་བློ་གྲོས་གྲགས་པ་ (Ngag dbang blo gros grags pa)
Kun mkhyen jo nang pa chen po'i dgongs pa gzhan stong dbu ma'i tshul legs pa bshad mthar 'dzin gdung 'phrog
ངག་དབང་ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Ngag dbang tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho)
Kun mkhyen jo nang pa'i bzhes dgongs dbu tshad kyi gzhung spyi dang gung bsgrigs te spyod pa'i spyi don rab gsal snang ba
ངག་དབང་ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Ngag dbang tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho)
Kun mkhyen chen pos mdzad pa'i grub mtha'i rnam bzhag don gsal gyi 'grel ba phyogs lhung mun sel
ངག་དབང་ཚོགས་གཉིས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Ngag dbang tshogs gnyis rgya mtsho)
Theg chen rgyud bla ma'i don bsdus pa
རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་ (Rngog blo ldan shes rab)
Springs yig bdud rtsi'i thig le
རྔོག་བློ་ལྡན་ཤེས་རབ་ (Rngog blo ldan shes rab)
Dharmadhātustava
ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ (Nāgārjuna)
Rājopadeśadarśanamālā (RKTST 2725)
Pad+ma 'byung gnas
RKTST 2725
Pad+ma 'byung gnas
Theg pa chen po'i bstan bcos rgyud bla ma'i sa bcad
དཔལ་སྤྲུལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ (Dpal sprul rin po che)
Rgyud bla ma'i dka' 'grel gnad kyi zla 'od
པཎ་ཆེན་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་ (PaN chen bsod nams grags pa)
Rgyud bla ma'i don bsdus bde gshegs snying po'i don gsal
རེད་མདའ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་བློ་གྲོས་ (Red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros)
Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i nges don gsal bar byed pa rin po che'i sgron ma
རེད་མདའ་བ་གཞོན་ནུ་བློ་གྲོས་ (Red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros)
Kun tu bzang po'i smon lam stobs po che
རིག་འཛིན་རྒོད་ཀྱི་ལྡེམ་འཕྲུ་ཅན་ (Rig 'dzin rgod kyi ldem 'phru can)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs par bshad pa
རོང་སྟོན་ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་རིག་ (Rong ston shes bya kun rig)
Rgyud bla ma'i sgom rim mi pham dgongs don
རོང་སྟོན་ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་རིག་ (Rong ston shes bya kun rig)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi rnam par bshad pa nges don rab gsal snang ba
ས་བཟང་མ་ཏི་པཎ་ཆེན་བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Sa bzang ma ti paN chen blo gros rgyal mtshan)
Mahāyānottaratantraśāstropadeśa
ས་ཛ་ན་ (Sajjana)
Sdom gsum rab dbye
ས་སྐྱ་པཎྜི་ཏ་ (Sa skya paN+Di ta)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi nges don gsal bar byed pa'i rin po che'i gron me
གསང་ཕུ་བ་བློ་གྲོས་མཚུངས་མེད་ (Gsang phu ba blo gros mtshungs med)
Chen po gzhan stong gi lta ba dang 'brel ba'i phyag rgya chen po'i smon lam gyi rnam bshad nges don dbyings kyi rol mo
སངས་རྒྱས་མཉན་པ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ (Sangye Nyenpa, 10th)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi mchan 'grel legs bshad thogs med zhal lung
དཀོན་མཆོག་བསྟན་འཛིན་འཕྲིན་ལས་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་ (Drikung Chetsang, 7th)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa dgongs pa nges gsal
བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Bsod nams rgyal mtshan)
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bsdus pa'i don
བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ (Bsod nams rgyal mtshan)
Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel pa mdo dang sbyar ba nges pa'i don gyi snang ba
རྟ་ནག་རིན་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་ (Rta nag rin chen ye shes)
Dam pa'i chos dgongs pa gcig pa'i rnam bshad lung don gsal byed legs bshad nyi ma'i snang ba
ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་ (Drikung Chungtsang, 1st)
Phyag rgya chen po'i man ngag gi bshad sbyar rgyal ba'i gan mdzod
པདྨ་དཀར་པོ་ (Drukchen, 4th, Drukchen, 4th (pad+ma dkar po))
Zab mo nang don
རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Karmapa, 3rd)
De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po bstan pa'i bstan bcos
རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Karmapa, 3rd)
Nges don phyag rgya chen po'i smon lam
རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Karmapa, 3rd)
De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po gtan la dbab pa'i bstan bcos mchan can
རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་,དཀོན་མཆོག་ཡན་ལག་ (Shamarpa, 5th)
Dbu ma chos dbyings bstod pa'i rnam par bshad pa
རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ (Karmapa, 3rd)
Bka' yang dag pa'i tshad ma zhes bya ba mkha' 'gro ma'i man ngag
Tilopa
Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel ba rigs khams bde gshegs snying po'i me long
ཁྲོ་རུ་ཚེ་རྣམ་ (Khro ru tshe rnam)
Bar do spyi'i don thams cad rnam pa gsal bar byed pa dran pa'i me long
རྩེ་ལེ་སྣ་ཚོགས་རང་གྲོལ་ (Rtse le sna tshogs rang grol)
Nges don gyi lta sgom nyams su len tshul ji lta bar ston pa rdo rje'i mdo 'dzin
རྩེ་ལེ་སྣ་ཚོགས་རང་གྲོལ་ (Rtse le sna tshogs rang grol)
Gzhan stong lta khrid
བཙན་ཁ་བོ་ཆེ་ (Btsan kha bo che)
Lam rim chen mo
ཙོང་ཁ་པ་ (Tsong kha pa)
Drang nges legs bshad snying po
ཙོང་ཁ་པ་ (Tsong kha pa)
Dbu ma la 'jug pa'i rnam bshad dgongs pa rab gsal
ཙོང་ཁ་པ་ (Tsong kha pa)
Legs bshad gser phreng
ཙོང་ཁ་པ་ (Tsong kha pa)
'phags ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i dka' 'grel 'gran zla med pa'i rgyal po tshig le'ur byas pa
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་ (TA ra nA tha)
Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i mdo rnam par bshad pa sngon med legs bshad
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་ (TA ra nA tha)
Dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos bskor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་ (TA ra nA tha)
Gzhan stong snying po
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་ (TA ra nA tha)
Zab mo gzhan stong dbu ma'i brgyud 'debs
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་ (TA ra nA tha)
Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa'i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་ (TA ra nA tha)
Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་ (TA ra nA tha)
Sher snying gi tshig 'grel
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་ (TA ra nA tha)
Gzhan stong dbu ma'i rgyan gyi lung sbyor
ཏཱ་ར་ནཱ་ཐ་ (TA ra nA tha)
Mahāyānottaratantraśāstraṭippaṇī
Vairocanarakṣita
'phags pa dgongs pa zab mo nges par 'grel pa'i mdo rgya cher 'grel pa
ཝན་ཚིག་ (Wǒnch'ǔk)
Theg chen bstan pa'i snying po'i 'grel pa nyi ma'i 'od zer
ཡོངས་འཛིན་ཨ་དབྱངས་ཐུབ་བསྟན་ (Yongs 'dzin a dbyangs thub bstan)
De bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po'i mdo'i 'grel pa snying po rab gsal
ཞང་སྟོན་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་ (Zhang ston bsod nams grags pa)
Rgyud bla ma'i 'grel bka' 'khor lo tha ma'i gsal byed
ཞང་སྟོན་བསོད་ནམས་གྲགས་པ་ (Zhang ston bsod nams grags pa)
Chos dbyings rnam par nges pa'i gter sgo brgya 'byed
ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་ (ShAkya mchog ldan)
Sangs rgyas kyi snying po'i rnam bshad mdo rgyud snying po
ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་ (ShAkya mchog ldan)
Lung rigs gnyis kyis phyag rgya chen po'i bzhed tshul la 'khrul pa sel ba'i bstan bcos zung 'jug gru chen
ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་ (ShAkya mchog ldan)
Dbu ma'i byung tshul rnam par bshad pa'i gtam yid bzhin lhun po zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos
ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་ (ShAkya mchog ldan)
Phyag rgya chen po'i shan 'byed ces bya ba'i bstan bcos
ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་ (ShAkya mchog ldan)
Phyag rgya chen po gsal bar byed pa'i bstan bcos tshangs pa'i 'khor los gzhan blo'i dregs pa nyams byed
ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་ (ShAkya mchog ldan)
Chos kyi dbyings su bstod pa zhes bya ba'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa chos kyi dbyings rnam par nges pa
ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་ (ShAkya mchog ldan)
Dpal gsang ba 'dus pa'i rnam bshad rin po che'i gter mdzod bdun pa
ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་ (ShAkya mchog ldan)
Rgyud bla ma'i rnam bshad sngon med nyi ma sogs chos tshan bzhi
ཤཱཀྱ་མཆོག་ལྡན་ (ShAkya mchog ldan)

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Ratnagotravibhāga'

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Ratnagotravibhāga'

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Ratnagotravibhāga'

Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

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Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

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SUNY - State University of New York

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IsMEO - Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente

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dhātu - A fundamental component or essential constituent. Skt. धातु Tib. ཁམས་ Ch. 界

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dhātu - A fundamental component or essential constituent. Skt. धातु Tib. ཁམས་ Ch. 界

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Uttaratantra'

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Uttaratantra'

Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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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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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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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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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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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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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib. ས་སྐྱ་

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Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt. महामुद्रा Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།

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Taishō - Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō, Chinese Tripiṭaka

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tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

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tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

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kleśa - Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind. Skt. क्लेश Tib. ཉོན་མོངས་ Ch. 煩惱

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kleśa - Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind. Skt. क्लेश Tib. ཉོན་མོངས་ Ch. 煩惱

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śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt. श्रावक Tib. ཉན་ཐོས། Ch. 聲聞

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śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt. श्रावक Tib. ཉན་ཐོས། Ch. 聲聞

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kun gzhi - Although it is commonly used as an abbreviation of ālayavijñāna (kun gzhi'i rnam shes), in later Tibetan traditions, particularly that of the Kagyu and the Nyingma, it came to denote an ultimate or pure basis of mind, as opposed to the ordinary, deluded consciousness represented by the ālayavijñāna. Alternatively, in the Jonang tradition, this pure version is referred to as ālaya-wisdom (kun gzhi'i ye shes). Skt. आलय Tib. ཀུན་གཞི་

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ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt. आलयविज्ञान Tib. ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch. 阿賴耶識,藏識

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ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt. आलयविज्ञान Tib. ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch. 阿賴耶識,藏識

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An important sūtra source for the Ratnagotravibhāga, particularly for its discussion of the nine examples that illustrate how all sentient beings possess buddha-nature.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

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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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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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tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

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tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

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nītārtha - Refers to a teaching that is literally true. Skt. नीतार्थ Tib. ངེས་དོན་

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

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tathatā - Suchness itself, absolute reality, or thusness, as in the ultimate state of being of phenomena. Skt. तथता Tib. དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་

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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

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Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

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Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

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IATS - International Association for Tibetan Studies

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Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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Nyingma - The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century. Tib. རྙིང་མ་

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Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།

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"This sūtra became an important scriptural source for the discussion of buddha-nature in China and is famous for associating the term buddhadhātu with tathāgatagarbha.

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dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt. धर्मकाय Tib. ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch. 法身

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dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt. धर्मकाय Tib. ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch. 法身

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Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

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Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

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Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།

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gzhi - The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu. Tib. གཞི་

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pratītyasamutpāda - The notion that all phenomena arise in dependence on causes and conditions. Skt. प्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद Tib. རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ་,རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ Ch. 緣起

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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sugatagarbha - Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources. Skt. सुगतगर्भ Tib. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་

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dhātu - A fundamental component or essential constituent. Skt. धातु Tib. ཁམས་ Ch. 界

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dhātu - A fundamental component or essential constituent. Skt. धातु Tib. ཁམས་ Ch. 界

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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt. बोधिचित्त Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། Ch. 菩提心

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bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt. बोधिचित्त Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། Ch. 菩提心

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ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

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rang stong - The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena. Tib. རང་སྟོང་

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Prajñāpāramitā - A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. Skt. प्रज्ञापारमिता Tib. ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་,ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ Ch. 般若波羅蜜多

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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Kālacakra - Can refer to either the Kālacakra Tantra and its derivative texts or to the systematic tantric tradition based on these texts, as well as the deity Kālacakra upon which the associated practices are centered. Skt. कालचक्र Tib. དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ། Ch. 時輪

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Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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bodhi - Enlightenment or awakening. In Tibetan it is translated as "purified" (byang) and "perfected" (chub), which corresponds to Siddhartha Gautama's achievement of purifying all obscurations and perfecting or attaining all qualities associated with a buddha. Skt. बोधि Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་ Ch. 菩提,悟,覺

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prabhāsvaracitta - The luminous aspect of mind that is often contrasted with its empty aspect. It is often used figuratively to reference the cognizant, or knowing, aspect of mind and sometimes more literally as the natural luminosity of mind and luminous wisdom that is experienced in meditation. Skt. प्रभास्वरचित्त Tib. འོད་གསལ་གྱི་སེམས་ Ch. 光明心

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RGV - Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

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trisvabhāva - According to the Yogācāra school, all phenomena can be divided into three natures or characteristics: the imaginary nature (parikalpitasvabhāva), the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva), and the perfect or absolute nature (pariniṣpannasvabhāva). Skt. त्रिस्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་གསུམ་

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Geluk - The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་

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Geluk - The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་

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Geluk - The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་

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Geluk - The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་

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Prajñāpāramitā - A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. Skt. प्रज्ञापारमिता Tib. ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་,ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ Ch. 般若波羅蜜多

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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ātman - Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena. Skt. आत्मन् Tib. བདག་ Ch. 我,灵魂

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guṇapāramitā - In the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra it is explained that the dharmakāya of a buddha possesses the four perfect qualities of purity, bliss, permanence, and self. Skt. गुणपारमिता Tib. ཡོན་ཏན་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ Ch. 功德波羅蜜

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dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt. धर्मकाय Tib. ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch. 法身

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dharmakāya - "Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself. Skt. धर्मकाय Tib. ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch. 法身

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trisvabhāva - According to the Yogācāra school, all phenomena can be divided into three natures or characteristics: the imaginary nature (parikalpitasvabhāva), the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva), and the perfect or absolute nature (pariniṣpannasvabhāva). Skt. त्रिस्वभाव Tib. རང་བཞིན་གསུམ་

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ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt. आलयविज्ञान Tib. ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch. 阿賴耶識,藏識

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ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt. आलयविज्ञान Tib. ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch. 阿賴耶識,藏識

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amalavijñāna - The ninth consciousness, the immaculate pure mind. Ch. 啊摩羅識,無垢識

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amalavijñāna - The ninth consciousness, the immaculate pure mind. Ch. 啊摩羅識,無垢識

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

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vinaya - Vinaya refers to the corpus of Buddhist teachings on moral discipline and precepts and is one of the three canonical sets of teachings alongside Sūtra and Abhidharma. It also refers to the monastic tradition which has been passed down since the Buddha's time until our time. Skt. विनय Tib. འདུལ་བ། Ch. 毘奈耶

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buddhadhātu - A synonym for tathāgatagarbha widely used throughout the East Asian Buddhist traditions, as found in its translations as the Chinese term fó xìng and Japanese term busshō. Skt. बुद्धधातु Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཁམས་ Ch. 佛性

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bīja - A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth. Skt. बीज Tib. ས་བོན་ Ch. 無漏種

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anātman - The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity. Skt. अनात्मन् Tib. བདག་མེད་པ་ Ch. 无我

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TGS - Tathāgatagarbhasūtra

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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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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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bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt. बोधिचित्त Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། Ch. 菩提心

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bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt. बोधिचित्त Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། Ch. 菩提心

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śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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advaya - Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two. Skt. अद्वय Tib. གཉིས་མེད་ Ch. 不二

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advaya - Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two. Skt. अद्वय Tib. གཉིས་མེད་ Ch. 不二

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt. श्रावक Tib. ཉན་ཐོས། Ch. 聲聞

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śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt. श्रावक Tib. ཉན་ཐོས། Ch. 聲聞

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

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ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt. आलयविज्ञान Tib. ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch. 阿賴耶識,藏識

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ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt. आलयविज्ञान Tib. ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch. 阿賴耶識,藏識

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kun gzhi - Although it is commonly used as an abbreviation of ālayavijñāna (kun gzhi'i rnam shes), in later Tibetan traditions, particularly that of the Kagyu and the Nyingma, it came to denote an ultimate or pure basis of mind, as opposed to the ordinary, deluded consciousness represented by the ālayavijñāna. Alternatively, in the Jonang tradition, this pure version is referred to as ālaya-wisdom (kun gzhi'i ye shes). Skt. आलय Tib. ཀུན་གཞི་

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nītārtha - Refers to a teaching that is literally true. Skt. नीतार्थ Tib. ངེས་དོན་

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guṇapāramitā - In the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra it is explained that the dharmakāya of a buddha possesses the four perfect qualities of purity, bliss, permanence, and self. Skt. गुणपारमिता Tib. ཡོན་ཏན་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ Ch. 功德波羅蜜

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Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

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Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt. चित्तमात्र Tib. སེམས་ཙམ་

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kleśa - Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind. Skt. क्लेश Tib. ཉོན་མོངས་ Ch. 煩惱

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kleśa - Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind. Skt. क्लेश Tib. ཉོན་མོངས་ Ch. 煩惱

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avidyā - Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors. Skt. अविद्या Tib. མ་རིག་པ་ Ch. 無明

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