Ghanavyūha Sūtra
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The ''Ghanavyūha sūtra'' (
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
, ''Dense Array Sūtra'', Tibetan: phags pa rgyan stug po bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo''), also called the ''Mahāyāna Secret Adornment Sūtra'' ( Chinese: 大乘密嚴經, ''Dà chéng mì yán jīng'') is a
Mahāyāna Sūtra The Mahayana sutras are Buddhist texts that are accepted as wikt:canon, canonical and authentic Buddhist texts, ''buddhavacana'' in Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist sanghas. These include three types of sutras: Those spoken by the Buddha; those spoke ...
which is an important scriptural source for Indian
Yogācāra Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). ...
and tathāgatagarbha thought. The Sanskrit source text is no longer extant. The sutra survives in two Chinese translations, one ( Taishō no. 681) by the Indian translator Divākara (613-687) assisted by Fazang, and one by Vajrācārya
Amoghavajra Amoghavajra ( ; , 705–774) was a prolific translator who became one of the most politically powerful Buddhist monks in Chinese history and is acknowledged as one of the Patriarchs of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism and Shingon Buddhism. Life There ...
(Taishō no. 682).Hamar, Imre (2014).
The Buddhāvataṃ saka-sūtra and Its Chinese Interpretation: The Huayan Understanding of the Concepts of Ālayavijñāna and Tathāgatagarbha
'' p. 149 A Tibetan translation also survives as part of the
Kanjur The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a defined collection of sacred texts recognized by various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, comprising the Kangyur and the Tengyur. The ''Kangyur'' or ''Kanjur'' is Buddha's recorded teachings (or the 'Translation of t ...
(Derge Kanjur no. 110) and it is titled '''phags pa rgyan stug po bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo'' (Skt. ''Ārya ghanavyūha nāma mahāyāna sūtra'').Brunnholzl, Karl (2014). ''When the Clouds Part, The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra,'' pp. 38-41. Boston & London: Snow Lion.


Content

The sutra recounts a discourse between Śākyamuni Buddha and a bodhisattva named
Vajra The Vajra (, , ), is a legendary and ritualistic tool, symbolizing the properties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force). It is also described as a "ritual weapon". The use of the bell and vajra together as s ...
-garbha (whose name is a synonym for the Tathāgatagarbha) which takes place in the supreme buddhafield called Ghanavyūha (Dense Array or Secret Adornment)''.'' The themes of this discourse are similar to the themes found in the ''
Laṅkāvatāra sūtra The ''Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra'' (Sanskrit: लङ्कावतारसूत्रम्, "Discourse of the Descent into Laṅkā", , Chinese: 入楞伽經) is a prominent Mahayana Buddhist sūtra. It is also titled ''Laṅkāvatāraratnasūt ...
,'' and include: the Yogācāra three natures doctrine, the tathāgatagarbha (also called nirvāṇadhātu or dharmadhātu in this sutra), the
ālayavijñāna The Eight Consciousnesses (Skt. ''aṣṭa vijñānakāyāḥ'') are a classification developed in the tradition of the Yogacara, Yogācāra school of Mahayana Buddhism. They enumerate the five sense consciousnesses, supplemented by the mental ...
(storehouse consciousness), and the eternal nature of the
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
''.'' Just like the ''Laṅkāvatāra sūtra,'' the ''Ghanavyūha'' sutra presents teachings on the
emptiness Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation, nihilism, and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression (mood), depression, loneliness, anhedonia, wiktionary:despair, despair, or o ...
of all phenomena and also on how all phenomena arise from mind. According to the ''Ghanavyūha,'' the Tathagata (i.e. the Buddha, equated with nirvāṇadhātu and dharmadhātu) is unchanging, unable to be destroyed or extinguished, and is comparable to space (''
ākāśa Akasha (Sanskrit ' ) means aether in traditional Hindu cosmology. The term has also been adopted in Western occultism and spiritualism in the late 19th century CE. In many modern Indo-Aryan languages and Dravidian languages the corresponding w ...
''). The ''Ghanavyūha'' states that the Buddha is all pervasive and compares the Buddha's
omnipresence Omnipresence or ubiquity is the property of being present anywhere and everywhere. The term omnipresence is most often used in a religious context as an attribute of a deity or supreme being, while the term ubiquity is generally used to describ ...
to the moon's reflection which pervades all bodies of water. The ''Ghanavyūha'' also rejects the view that
nirvāṇa Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...
is a kind of annihilation or destruction (like a lamp which goes out), since buddha-nature is that which is unborn and undying. The ''Ghanavyūha'' says that Buddha's presence is always guiding sentient beings according to their needs through numerous skillful means (
upaya In Buddhism, upaya (Sanskrit: उपाय, , ''expedient means'', ''pedagogy'') is an aspect of guidance along the Buddhist paths to liberation where a conscious, voluntary action "is driven by an incomplete reasoning" about its direction. Up ...
).''Ghanavyūhasūtra'' (Dasheng Mi Yan Jing) 大乘密嚴經
Scroll 1, section 724c07 NTI Reader. The skillful means of the Buddhas include numerous magical transformations ( nirmanas). He may appear as a normal being in the world, as a
deva Deva may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Deva, List of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition monsters, an ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' 2nd edition monster * Deva, in the 2023 Indian film ''Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefir ...
, as
Vajrapani (Sanskrit; Pali: Vajirapāṇi, 'holder of the thunderbolt', lit. meaning, "Vajra in ishand") is one of the earliest-appearing bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism. The personification of Indra, the King of the Devas in the Hindu order, he is t ...
, or as
Mahesvara Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hinduism. Shiva is known as ''The Destroyer'' ...
.''Ghanavyūhasūtra'' (Dasheng Mi Yan Jing) 大乘密嚴經
Scroll 2, NTI Reader. The Buddha is compared to a gem which reflects many kinds of images and he is also compared to a sea captain who drives a ship.
Scroll 1, section 725a05 NTI Reader. The numerous transformations of the Buddha include all worlds, which are said to be contained in the Buddha's body. According to the ''Ghanavyūha,'' the Buddhas also teach numerous scriptures as skillful means, including non-Buddhist scriptures like the ''Arthaśāstra'' and the three
Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...
. Like the ''Laṅkāvatāra sūtra,'' the ''Ghanavyūha'' associates the doctrines of the storehouse consciousness and the tathāgatagarbha. It states that the storehouse consciousness has two aspects, a pure consciousness and a defiled consciousness. The pure part of the storehouse consciousness, the naturally luminous mind, is said to be a synonym for the tathāgatagarbha which is "luminous and always pure", while the defiled consciousness is what hides or conceals the pure aspect''.'' The relationship between buddha-nature and the storehouse consciousness is compared to that of rock and gold ore.">Gold_extraction.html" ;"title="gold in Gold extraction">gold ore. The ''Ghanavyūha'' uses the simile of the gold covered by rocks to explain this relationship:
O king, the mind is inconceivable, always being naturally luminous. It is the tathāgatagarbha, which abides like gold in rocks.
The sutra also states that even though the storehouse consciousness has a pure aspect, this is not seen until the consciousness is purified through Samadhi">samādhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...
. This is compared to how gold does not shine inside gold ore until it is cleansed of the surrounding rock. Another simile compares the pure consciousness to butter, which only appears when the milk is Churned buttermilk, churned. The ''Ghanavyūha'' also compares the tathāgatagarbha with the moon, which seems to wane and to arise from the perspective of ignorant beings, but the moon itself does not truly arise or wane''.'' The sutra also equates the tathāgatagarbha with the perfected nature (one of Yogācāra " three natures")''.'' According to the ''Ghanavyūha,'' the storehouse consciousness which abides in the body of sentient beings, is the cause of both the defiled things of samsara and of all pure phenomena, like the meditations of noble beings and the buddhafields''.'' Likewise, it is because of the pure stainless storehouse consciousness that bodhisattvas will become Buddhas''.'' Also like the ''Laṅkāvatāra,'' the ''Ghanavyūha'' states that the realization of the Buddha transcends all language and is free of all discriminating thought. The sutra also discusses the nature of Ghanavyūha, the supreme buddhafield. It states that through following virtuous teachers, hearing and contemplating the Dharma, and letting go of all concepts and cravings, one can be reborn there, achieve enlightenment, and manifest in countless ways to help all beings.


Influence

The sutra was known to Indian authors like Bhaviveka (c. 6th century), who saw it as one of the
Yogacara Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). ...
sutras which were not of definitive meaning, but were only provisional (neyartha). In
Chinese Buddhism Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, first=t, poj=Hàn-thoân Hu̍t-kàu, j=Hon3 Cyun4 Fat6 Gaau3, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese Buddhist canonJiang Wu, "The Chin ...
, the sutra was important to the
Huayan school The Huayan school of Buddhism (, Wade–Giles: ''Hua-Yen,'' "Flower Garland," from the Sanskrit "''Avataṃsaka''") is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty, Tang dynasty (618-907).Yü, Chün-fan ...
. The Huayan patriarch
Fazang Fazang (; 643–712) was a Sogdian- Chinese Buddhist scholar, translator, and religious leader of the Tang dynasty. He was the third patriarch of the Huayan school of East Asian Buddhism, a key figure at the Chinese Imperial Court, and an inf ...
wrote a commentary on it, the ''Dasheng miyan jing shu'' (大乘密嚴經疏, no. X368 in the supplement to the Taishō canon, ''Xu zang jing'' 續藏經 vol. 34). He also assisted in the first translation of the text into Chinese. According to Fazang's doctrinal classification system, the ''Ghanavyūha'' belongs to the highest class of scriptures, those related to "the dependent arising out of the tathāgatagarbha," a class of texts which also includes the ''Laṅkāvatāra'' and the ''
Awakening of Faith ''Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna'' (AF, , reconstructed Sanskrit title: ''*Mahāyāna-śraddhotpāda-śāstra'') is an influential Mahayana Buddhist treatise for East Asian Buddhism. Though traditionally attributed to the 2nd century CE ...
''. The Chan and Huayan patriarch
Zongmi Guifeng Zongmi () (780–1 February 841) was a Tang dynasty Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar who is considered a patriarch of both the Huayan school and Chan Buddhism. Zongmi wrote a number of works on several Mahayana Sutras, Chan and Huayan ...
also cites the ''Ghanavyūha'' along with the '' Avataṃsaka Sūtra,'' the ''Sutra of Perfected Enlightenment'' and the '' Śrīmālādevī'' as scriptures which expound the teaching of
sudden awakening Sudden awakening or Sudden enlightenment (), also known as subitism, is a Buddhist idea which holds that practitioners can achieve an instantaneous insight into ultimate reality (Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind). This awakening is describe ...
, which Zongmi saw as being equivalent to the highest form of Chan (
Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...
). The ''Ghanavyūha sūtra'' was also cited by the 8th century Chan monk Heshang Moheyan in defense of his "sudden awakening" doctrine. In
Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...
, the ''Ghanavyūha sūtra'' is classified as one of the "Tathāgatagarbha sūtras of definitive meaning" (''nges don snying po'i mdo'') and it is cited by Tibetan traditions which rely on these teachings, such as
Jonang The Jonang () is a school of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Its origins in Tibet can be traced to the early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje. It became widely known through the work of the popular 14th century figure Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. The J ...
,
Kagyu The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. ...
and
Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...
. The ''Ghanavyūha sūtra'' was an important source for the Jonang school and it was considered by
shentong ''Rangtong'' and ''shentong'' are two distinctive views on emptiness ( sunyata) and the two truths doctrine within Tibetan Buddhism. Rangtong (; "empty of self-nature") is a philosophical term in Tibetan Buddhism which is used by Tibetan defende ...
scholars like
Dolpopa Dölpopa Shérap Gyeltsen () (1292–1361),Newland (1992). p. 29 known simply as Dölpopa, was a Tibetan Buddhist master. Known as "The Buddha from Dölpo," a region in modern Nepal, he was the principal exponent of the shentong teachings, an ...
and
Taranatha Tāranātha (1575–1634) was a Lama of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is widely considered its most remarkable scholar and exponent. Taranatha was born in Tibet, supposedly on the birthday of Padmasambhava. His original name was Ku ...
as one of the "sutras of definitive meaning".Brunnhölzl, Karl (2015). ''When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra'', pp. 4-8. Shambhala Publications. Likewise, the sutra was cited by the
Jonang The Jonang () is a school of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Its origins in Tibet can be traced to the early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje. It became widely known through the work of the popular 14th century figure Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. The J ...
scholar Blo bzang mchog grub rgya mtsho (1880-1940) and by the Kagyu scholar
Jamgon Kongtrul Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé (, 1813–1899), also known as Jamgön Kongtrül the Great, was a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, poet, artist, physician, tertön and polymath. He is credited as one of the founders of the Rimé movement (non-sectarian ...
as a definitive sutra of the final dharma-wheel. It is also cited by the Nyingma scholar
Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe DorjeJoseph McClellan, "Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdrel Yeshe Dorje", ''Treasury of Lives'', February 2024 (, THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription, THL ''Düjom Jikdrel Yéshé Dorjé'') was known simply as Dudjom ...
. Scenes from the ''Ghanavyūha sūtra'' are depicted in cave shrine murals around
Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...
, indicating its importance for Central Asian Buddhism.Zhang, Zong, 'Buddhist Arts: A Survey of Sites, Paintings, and Iconography', in Lagerwey and Marsone (ed.) (2014). ''Modern Chinese Religion I'' (2 vols.): Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan (960-1368 AD), BRILL.


References


External links


An English translation by 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lankavatara Sutra Mahayana sutras Vaipulya sutras Yogacara Buddha-nature