Prince Shōtoku's Commentary on the Śrīmālā Sutra

🤓 Admin Zone 🛠️ hidden to non-admins

view on research edit on research Add an excerpt Add a bilingual page Add full text subpage

Prince Shōtoku's Commentary on the Śrīmālā Sutra

Book

LibraryBooksBibliography PDF Link

Please note that many items in our library are simply pages that represent a detailed library catalog entry and citation of someone else's work, presentation, or performance. Read our General Disclaimer for more information. You can find more information about this item on the publisher website.

Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

Taishō 2185

Volume 56

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

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

Citation

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

Publisher Link

http://www.bdkamerica.org/book/prince-shōtokus-commentary-śrīmālā-sūtra

Table of contents

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

• Editorial Foreword, MAYEDA Sengakuvii

• Publisher's Foreword, John R. McRaeix

• Translator's Introduction, Mark W. Dennisxiii

• Conventions for the Translationxix

• Prince Shōtoku's Commentary on the Śrīmālā Sutra

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

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

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

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

• Notes135

• Glossary137

• Bibliography151

• Index157

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

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Full translation of

Shōmangyō gisho [勝鬘經義疏]. [Commentary on the Meaning of the Śrīmālāsūtra]. Chinese Canon.勝鬘經義疏

Classical WorksAbout this item

Shōmangyō gisho (勝鬘經義疏; T 2185), attributed to Prince Shōtoku (574–622), is a commentary in Chinese on the Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra. It is the first of the "Commentaries on Three Sūtras" (Sangyō gisho) traditionally ascribed to Shōtoku, alongside those on the Lotus and Vimalakīrti sūtras. According to the Nihon shoki, Shōtoku lectured on the sūtra for Empress Suiko, and the commentary is traditionally regarded as the earliest written work by a Japanese author. Its attribution to Shōtoku has been questioned by modern scholars. An English translation by Mark W. Dennis was published in the BDK English Tripiṭaka series (2011).

1 Related

Śrīmāladevīsiṃhanādasūtra [श्रीमालदेवीसिंहनादसूत्र]. 'phags pa lha mo dpal phreng gi seng ge'i sgra zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī (84000)]. Translated by Bodhiruci, Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Guṇabhadra. Kangyur, RKTSK 92 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=92&typ=1.འཕགས་པ་ལྷ་མོ་དཔལ་ཕྲེང་གི་སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Classical WorksAbout this item

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.

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtras'

Shōmangyō gisho [勝鬘經義疏]. [Commentary on the Meaning of the Śrīmālāsūtra]. Chinese Canon.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Shōmangyō gisho'

Shōmangyō gisho [勝鬘經義疏]. [Commentary on the Meaning of the Śrīmālāsūtra]. Chinese Canon.

Go to the page with the definition of '勝鬘經義疏'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Tathāgatagarbha'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Ekayāna - The notion that ultimately there is only one vehicle, or means, of achieving enlightenment. Skt एकयान  Tib ཐེག་པ་གཅིག་པ་  Ch 一乘  

Go to the page with the definition of 'single vehicle'

Pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt पारमिता  Tib ཕར་ཕྱིན།;ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།  Ch 波羅蜜  

Go to the page with the definition of 'perfections'

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  

Go to the page with the definition of 'dharmakāya'

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 प्रभास्वरता  Tib འོད་གསལ་  Ch 光明  

Go to the page with the definition of 'luminous'

Āgantukamala - Mental stains that are not inherent to the nature of the mind but are temporarily present as the residue of past actions or habitual tendencies. It is sometimes iterated as adventitious defilements (Skt. āgantukakleśa, Tib. glo bur gyi nyon mongs), which references the fickle and temporary nature of disturbing emotions that lack an ultimately established basis for existence. Skt आगन्तुकमल  Tib གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'adventitious stains'

Vajrapada - Literally, vajra-footing, or base. In the context of the Ratnagotravibhāga, this is the name given to the seven subjects that are addressed in the treatise. These seven are the buddha, dharma, saṅgha, the element (dhātu), enlightenment (bodhi), enlightened qualities (guṇa), and enlightened activities (karman). Skt वज्रपद  Tib རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'vajra topics'