The Confession of Downfalls

The Confession of Downfalls

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

The Confession of Downfalls contains translations along with extensive commentaries to the two main sutra and tantra practices of mental purification in Tibetan Buddhism, the Sutra of Three Heaps and the visualization and mantra recitation of Vajrasattva.

The commentaries include excerpts from a śāstra by the Indian master Nāgārjuna to the Sūtra of Three Heaps and both practices are supplemented by verbally transmitted commentaries from the Tibetan lamas Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Geshe Rabten, Tubten Zopa Rinpoche, and Gegen Kyentse. (Source Accessed Feb 23, 2026)

Citation

Beresford, Brian C., trans. and ed. The Confession of Downfalls: The Confession Sūtra and Vajrasattva Practice. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1993.

Texts Translated

1. Nāgārjuna: bodhyāpattideśanā-vṛtti (byang chub ltung ba bshags pa'i 'grel pa). In bstan 'gyur (sde dge), Vol. 116: 365-374. Delhi: delhi karmapae choedhey, gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985. Columbia AIBS. From text: This commentary has been translated from the Narthang edition of the Tän gyur (bstan 'gyur), sūtra section, volume ji fol. 209b to 220b in the collection of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
2. ārya-triskandhaka-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra (Phung po gsum pa'i mdo). (D 284) mdo sde, ya 57a3-77a3 (vol. 68). Delhi: delhi karmapae chodhey gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1976-1979. Columbia AIBS ACIP
3. Oral commentary on An Explanation of the Practice of the 'Sūtra of Three Heaps' by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey & Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.
4. Oral commentary on The Adamantine-Minded Warrior by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Geshe Rabten & Gegen Khyentse.
5. Annotations by Geshe Rabten on dpal 'khor lo sdom pa'i dag pa gsum gyi rnal 'byor. See in dge lugs pa'i chos spyod phyogs bsgrigs. Xining: mtsho sngon mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1995.

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Translation of

 

Triskandhakasūtraའཕགས་པ་ཕུང་པོ་གསུམ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ

The Three Heap Sūtra (Skt. Trīskhandhadharmasūtra; Wyl. phung po gsum pa'i mdo) is a Mahāyāna confession sutra with homage to the thirty-five buddhas of confession, confession, and dedication. The sūtra is used in the purification of transgressions and downfalls of the bodhisattva vows. The General Confession prayer is used in the purification of transgressions of the prātimokṣa, bodhisattva vows, and the commitments of the Vajrayāna. The Three Heap Sūtra and General Confession can be recited on their own or combined. (Source Accessed Feb 26, 2026)

Text

Other editions

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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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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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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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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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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Vajrayāna - The esoteric Buddhist tradition which developed as a syncretic system involving deity worship, use of mantras, physical energy, and mystical practices. It is also known as the mantra tradition and the tantric school as a result of being based on texts known as tantras. Skt वज्रयान  Tib རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ།  Ch 金剛乘  

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