The ''Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra'' (
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
: 大方等大集經,
pinyin: ''Dàfāng děng dà jí jīng'',
Japanese: ''Daijuku-kyō'' or ''Daishik-kyō'') is an anthology of
Mahayana Buddhist sutras.
The meaning in English is the ''Sutra of the Great Assembly'' or ''The Great Compilation.'' The
sutra
''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...
was translated into Chinese by
Dharmakṣema (धर्मक्षेम, transliterated 曇無讖 (), translated 竺法豐 (); 385–433 CE) was a Buddhist monk, originally from Magadha in India, who went to China after studying and teaching in Kashmir and Kucha. He had been residing in Du ...
, beginning in the year 414. The anthology consists of 17 sutras across 60 fascicles, but the only extant copy of the entire collection is found in
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, though individual sutras can be found in
Sanskrit and
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
.
Content
The Chinese edition of the ''Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra'' (
Taisho Tripitaka # 397) contains the following sutras:
# ''The Jewel Necklace Sūtra''
# ''The Dhāraṇiśvararāja Bodhisattva Sūtra''
# ''The Jewel Maiden Sūtra''
# ''The Animiṣa Bodhisattva Sūtra''
# ''The Sāgaramati Bodhisattva Sūtra / Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā''
# ''The Anupalambha Bodhisattva Sūtra''
# ''The Anabhilāpya Bodhisattva Sūtra''
# ''The
Ākāśagarbha Sūtra''
# ''Ratnaketudhāraṇī Sūtra''
# ''The Gaganacakṣus Sūtra / Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā''
# ''The Ratnacūḍa Sūtra''
# ''
Akṣayamatinirdeśa Sūtra
The ''Akṣayamatinirdeśa'' (Skt, Exposition of Akṣayamati, Tibetan: ''Blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa''; Chinese: ''Wujinyi pusa pin / Achamo pusa jing'', 無盡意菩薩品 / 阿差末菩薩經) is a Mahāyāna sūtra which teaches the ...
''
# ''The Sūryaguhya Sūtra''
# ''The Sūryagarbha Sūtra''
# ''The Candragarbha Sūtra''
# ''The Sumerugarbha Sūtra''
# ''Bodhisattvas of the Ten Directions Sūtra''
The ''Candragarbha Sutra'''s theory of the three eras
Sutra number 15 in the collection is particularly influential because it enumerates the notion of the
decline of the Dharma, or decline of the Buddha's teachings, dividing this into three eras, subdivided by 5 five-hundred periods of time:
* Former Day of the Law
** The first five hundred year period will be the "age of enlightenment"
** The second five hundred period will be the "age of meditation"
* Middle Day of the Law
** The third five hundred year period will be the "age of reading, reciting, and listening."
** The fourth five hundred year period will be the "age of building temples and stupas"
* Latter Day of the Law
** The fifth five hundred year period will be the "age of conflict," where “quarrels and disputes will arise among the adherents to my teachings, and the pure Law will become obscured and lost.”
The anthology also discusses the arising of the aspiration for Enlightenment, similar to the
Dasabhumika Sutra
The ''Ten Stages Sutra'' (Sanskrit: ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra''; ; ) also known as the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, is an early, influential Mahayana Buddhist scripture. The sutra also appears as the 26th chapter of the '' ''.Modern Buddhist studies schol ...
and the
Lotus Sutra.
References
Mahayana sutras
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