The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata: Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśa (Burchardi, A.)
The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata opens with the Buddha presiding over a large congregation of disciples at Vulture Peak. Entering a special state of meditative absorption (samādhi), he magically displays a pavilion in the sky, attracting a vast audience of divine and human Dharma followers. At the request of the bodhisattva Dhāraṇīśvararāja, the Buddha gives a discourse on the qualities of bodhisattvas, which are specified as bodhisattva ornaments, illuminations, compassion, and activities. He also teaches about the compassionate awakening of tathāgatas and the scope of a tathāgata’s activities. At the request of a bodhisattva named Siṃhaketu, Dhāraṇīśvararāja then gives a discourse on eight dhāraṇīs, following which the Buddha explains the sources and functions of a dhāraṇī known as the jewel lamp. As the text concludes, various deities and Dharma protectors praise the sūtra’s qualities and vow to preserve and protect it in the future, and the Buddha entrusts the sūtra and its propagation to Dhāraṇīśvararāja. (Source: 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha)
Citation | Burchardi, Anne, trans. The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata (Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśa). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2022. https://read.84000.co/translation/toh147.html. |
---|---|