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आर्यतथागताचिन्त्यगुह्यनिर्देशनाममहायानसूत्र
Tathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśasūtra
འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གསང་བ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo
The Teaching on the Unfathomable Secrets of the Tathāgatas (84000)
Text
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Description
In this sūtra, the narrative largely revolves around the figures of Vajrapāṇi, the yakṣa lord and constant companion of the Buddha, and the Buddha himself. In the first half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi gives a series of teachings on the mysteries or secrets of the body, speech, and mind of bodhisattvas and the realized ones. In the second half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi describes several events in the Buddha’s life: his practice of severe asceticism, his approach to the seat of awakening, his defeat of Māra, his awakening, and his turning of the wheel of Dharma. Following this, the Buddha gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening as a buddha and travels to Vajrapāṇi’s abode for a meal. Interspersed throughout the sūtra are sermons, dialogues, and marvelous tales exploring a large number of topics and featuring an extensive cast of characters, including several narratives about past lives of Vajrapāṇi, Brahmā Sahāṃpati, and the Buddha himself. The sūtra concludes with the performance of two long dhāraṇīs, one by Vajrapāṇi and one by the Buddha, for the protection and preservation of the Dharma. (Source: 84000)
Quoted in the aligned translations
Reference
Tathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśasūtra [आर्यतथागताचिन्त्यगुह्यनिर्देशनाममहायानसूत्र]. 'phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa'i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གསང་བ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Teaching on the Unfathomable Secrets of the Tathāgatas (84000)]. Translated by Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, Munivarman, Ye shes sde, Dharmarakṣa. Kangyur, RKTSK 47 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=47&typ=1.
Interconnections
1 Interviews
Over ten years in translation, a complete English rendering of the great Mahāyāna sūtra, The Secrets of the Realized Ones (Tathāgataguhya), was published by 84000 in 2023. In his introduction to the text, Dr. David Fiordalis, 84000 research editor and the text's translator, said the sūtra can be called, without exaggeration, "a great work of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature." But its artful prose, entertaining narrative, and compelling characters should not diminish its doctrinal importance as a series of teachings on the nature of the Buddha, given by the key protagonist Vajrapāṇi in descriptions of the Buddha's body, speech, and mind.
Now that it is fully available in English and freely accessible for a wide audience, our wish is that this profound text will benefit all beings by deepening our understanding of the Buddha's nature and the Mahāyāna Buddhist teachings. Recently, we talked with David about The Secrets of the Realized Ones. Below, he shares his experience translating the text, highlights key passages, and offers suggestions on how to read the text and truly absorb its meaning.
1 A topic of
Over ten years in translation, a complete English rendering of the great Mahāyāna sūtra, The Secrets of the Realized Ones (Tathāgataguhya), was published by 84000 in 2023. In his introduction to the text, Dr. David Fiordalis, 84000 research editor and the text's translator, said the sūtra can be called, without exaggeration, "a great work of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature." But its artful prose, entertaining narrative, and compelling characters should not diminish its doctrinal importance as a series of teachings on the nature of the Buddha, given by the key protagonist Vajrapāṇi in descriptions of the Buddha's body, speech, and mind.
Now that it is fully available in English and freely accessible for a wide audience, our wish is that this profound text will benefit all beings by deepening our understanding of the Buddha's nature and the Mahāyāna Buddhist teachings. Recently, we talked with David about The Secrets of the Realized Ones. Below, he shares his experience translating the text, highlights key passages, and offers suggestions on how to read the text and truly absorb its meaning.
