The Sūtra of the King of Samādhis: Chapters I-IV

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

No abstract given. Here are the first relevant paragraphs:

The first paper in the volume contains a lengthy introduction to the Samādhirāja-sūtra and a translation of its first four chapters. This translation of the King of Samādhis is the result of an experiment in group translation, the members of the group consisting of faculty, visiting scholars, and advanced graduate students at the University of Michigan from 1982 to 1983. An effort was made throughout the introduction and translation to make the presentation of these materials accessible to the interested nonspecialist, while still maintaining rigorous scholarly standards. The introduction contains detailed bibliographic information about the sūtra, its classical versions and its modern editions, translations and studies. A text of capital importance for the Mahāyāna philosophical school called Mādhyamika, this sūtra is quoted extensively in śāstric literature. These quotations are documented in detail. Furthermore, an outline summary of the whole sūtra is given, chapter by chapter. It is hoped that the availability of some portions of the sūtra in English translation might prompt others to undertake translations of the remaining chapters in the near future.
For reasons explained in detail in Part I, the text taken as a basis for the translation is the version preserved in the Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts of Nepal. Since many Mahayana sūtras do not survive in their Indian-language originals, Tibetan and Chinese translations provide us with valuable textual materials for the study of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism. Even in cases like that of the King of Samādhis, for which we still possess a Sanskrit version, careful and judicious use of the Tibetan and Chinese translations can aid our reading of the text. It is important, however, for modern scholars to avoid creating their own new, conflated text of a sūtra. Often scholars will fail to adequately distinguish the various recensions of a given text, using translations not to shed light on one version but to actually rewrite the text. The study in Part I cautions against such a method, and shows in the notes to its translation one approach to the comparative use of classical translations of Indian Buddhist texts. (Gomez and Silk, preface, viii–ix)

Citation

Gomez, Luis O., and Jonathan A. Silk, eds. "The Sūtra of the King of Samādhis: Chapters I-IV." In Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle: Three Mahāyāna Buddhist Texts, translated by the Staff and Associates of the Collegiate Institute for the Study of Buddhist Literature, 1–88. Michigan Studies in Buddhist Literature. Ann Arbor: Collegiate Institute for the Study of Buddhist Literature and Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan, 1989.

Texts Translated

Matsunami, Seiren, ed. "Samadhiraja-sutra." Taishō Daigaku Kenkyū Kiyō. 60 (1975): 244-188. (Contains chapters 1–4)

Partial translation of

Sarvadharmasvabhāvasamatāvipañcitasamādhirājasūtra

This sūtra, much quoted in later Buddhist writings for its profound statements especially on the nature of emptiness, relates a long teaching given by the Buddha mainly in response to questions put by a young layman, Candraprabha. The samādhi that is the subject of the sūtra, in spite of its name, primarily consists of various aspects of conduct, motivation, and the understanding of emptiness; it is also a way of referring to the sūtra itself. The teaching given in the sūtra is the instruction to be dedicated to the possession and promulgation of the samādhi, and to the necessary conduct of a bodhisattva, which is exemplified by a number of accounts from the Buddha's previous lives. Most of the teaching takes place on Vulture Peak Mountain, with an interlude recounting the Buddha's invitation and visit to Candraprabha's home in Rājagṛha, where he continues to teach Candraprabha before returning to Vulture Peak Mountain. In one subsequent chapter the Buddha responds to a request by Ānanda, and the text concludes with a commitment by Ānanda to maintain this teaching in the future. (Source: 84000)

Text

Chapter or part of

Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle

Contains English translations of the first four chapters of the Samādhirājasūtra, the so-called Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā), and the Madhyamkālaṁkāra of Śāntarakṣita.

Book

Scholarship on

Sarvadharmasvabhāvasamatāvipañcitasamādhirājasūtra

This sūtra, much quoted in later Buddhist writings for its profound statements especially on the nature of emptiness, relates a long teaching given by the Buddha mainly in response to questions put by a young layman, Candraprabha. The samādhi that is the subject of the sūtra, in spite of its name, primarily consists of various aspects of conduct, motivation, and the understanding of emptiness; it is also a way of referring to the sūtra itself. The teaching given in the sūtra is the instruction to be dedicated to the possession and promulgation of the samādhi, and to the necessary conduct of a bodhisattva, which is exemplified by a number of accounts from the Buddha's previous lives. Most of the teaching takes place on Vulture Peak Mountain, with an interlude recounting the Buddha's invitation and visit to Candraprabha's home in Rājagṛha, where he continues to teach Candraprabha before returning to Vulture Peak Mountain. In one subsequent chapter the Buddha responds to a request by Ānanda, and the text concludes with a commitment by Ānanda to maintain this teaching in the future. (Source: 84000)

Text