The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra: The Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sutra

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

Taishō 418

Volume 13

The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra: The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra derives its name from the pratyutpannabuddhasaṃmukhāvasthita-samādhi, the spiritual state in which by mental concentration one is able to see buddhas appearing before one’s very eyes. This sūtra describes the techniques involved and gives Amitāyus, who resides in the western paradise of Sukhāvatī, as an example of a buddha who might appear in such a manner.

One of the oldest Mahāyāna sūtras, this is the earliest reference to Amitāyus among all the sūtras. It can thus be regarded as a forerunner of the Pure Land Sūtras.

Source Skt. Pratyutpannabuddhasaṃmukhāvasthita-samādhi-sūtra. Translated into the Chinese by Lokakṣema as Banzhou sanmei jing (般舟三昧經). 3 Fascicles.

Taishō 642 Volume 15

The Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sutra: The Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sutra expounds the essentials of meditative practice. When asked by the bodhisattva Dṛḍhamati, the Buddha replies that the śūraṅgama-samādhi ("Samādhi of the Heroic March") is foremost among all methods of spiritual training, embracing within it all other methods of practice, and he then goes on to describe it in detail, explaining its powers and how to go about practicing this method. Viewed historically, the thought presented in this sūtra anticipates such works as the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra, and the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, and it is considered to have been composed around the start of the Common Era.

Source Skt. Śūraṅgamasamādhi-sūtra. Translated into the Chinese by Kumārajīva as Shoulengyan sanmei jing (首楞嚴三昧經). 2 fascicles.

(Source: BDK America)

Citation

Harrison, Paul, and John R. McRae, trans. The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra: The Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sutra. BDK English Tripiṭaka Series 25, nos. 2–3. Berkeley, CA: BDK America, 1998.

Publisher Link

https://bdkamerica.org/product/the-pratyutpanna-samadhi-sutra-and-the-surangama-samadhi-sutra/

Table of contents

A Message on the Publication of the English Tripiṭaka
- NUMATA Yehanv

Editorial Foreword
- MAYEDA Sengakuvii

Publisher's Foreword
- Kenneth K. Inadaix

The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra
- Translator’s Introduction3
- Fascicle One
  - Chapter I. Questions11
  - Chapter II. Practice19
  - Chapter III. The Four Things27
  - Chapter IV. Similes31

- Fascicle Two
  - Chapter V. Nonattachment39
  - Chapter VI. The Four Classes45
  - Chapter VII. The Prediction53
  - Chapter VIII. Protection63
  - Chapter IX. Kṣemarāja Buddha69

- Fascicle Three
  - Chapter X. The Invitation to the Buddha75
  - Chapter XI. Formlessness85
  - Chapter XII. The Eighteen Exclusives and the Ten Powers89
  - Chapter XIII. Encouragement91
  - Chapter XIV. Siṃhamati Buddha95
  - Chapter XV. Satyanāma Buddha101
  - Chapter XVI. The Seal of the Buddha105
- Notes107

The Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sutra
- Translator’s Introduction111
- Fascicle One117
- Fascicle Two157
Glossary199
Bibliography207
Index209
A List of the Volumes of the BDK English Tripiṭaka (First Series)223

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Full translation of

Śūraṅgamasamādhisūtra [आर्यशूरङ्गमसमाधिनाममहायानसूत्र]. 'phags pa dpa' bar 'gro ba'i ting nge 'dzin ces bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་དཔའ་བར་འགྲོ་བའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Samādhi of Valiant Progress (84000)]. Translated by Śākyaprabha, Ratnarakṣita, Kumārajīva. Kangyur, RKTSK 132 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=132&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra [or Śūraṅgamasamādhisūtra]. (T. Dpa' bar 'gro ba'i ting nge 'dzin gyi mdo; C. Shoulengyan sanmei jing; J. Shuryōgon zanmaikyō; K. Sunǔngǒm sammae kyǒng). In Sanskrit, "Sūtra on the Heroic-March Concentration," an early Mahāyāna sūtra that explains how the mind becomes free and unimpeded like the "march" (gama) of a "hero" (śūra), who "walks alone, fearlessly, like a lion." (This translated sūtra should be distinguished from the *Śūraṃgamasūtra, a Chinese apocryphal scripture of similar name, which dates from the early eighth century.) The Śūraṃgamasamādhi as taught in this sūtra not only enables bodhisattvas quickly to attain complete, perfect enlightenment (anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi), but also ensures that even śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and arhats are put on the right path leading to buddhahood. In addition, the Śūraṃgamasamādhi also permits enlightened beings to manifest themselves in any variety of forms in order to teach sentient beings. The sūtra also includes descriptions of the world systems of many other buddhas (buddhakṣetra), including Abhirati, the buddha-land of Akṣobhya. Although some fragments of the Sanskrit recension of the Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra have survived, the full sūtra is extant only in an early-fifth-century translation attributed to the eminent Kuchean translator Kumārajīva, in two rolls, and in an early-ninth-century Tibetan translation. (Source: "Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 873. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27)