Description
Three classics, each fascinating in its own right.
Taishō 243
Volume 8
The Sutra of the Vow of Fulfilling the Great Perpetual Enjoyment and Benefitting All Sentient Beings without Exception
This Taishō is based on an eighth-century version by Amoghavajra of the Prajñāpāramitānaya-sūtra, a literary work by an unknown seventh-century author. The text depicts an ideal being, Vajrasattva, in its universal drama and offers a pathway to transformation and salvation. This text, in its Japanese version, the Hannyarishukyō, has been extensively used in the Shingon tradition, and is still recited daily in that tradition.
Source
Skt. Adhyardhaśatikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra, translated by Amoghavajra into the Chinese as Daluo jingang bukong zhenshi sanmoye jing (大樂金剛不空眞實三麼耶經).
Translator(s): Taisen Miyata
Taishō 1300
Volume 21
The Mātaṅga Sutra
This Taishō is based on a fifth-Century Chinese version of the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna, part of the Divyāvadāna, a fourth-century collection of biographical narratives (avadāna). It presents the story of the caṇdāla girl Prakiti and her love for the monk, Ānanda. Typical of avadāna literature, the text presents the story as set in the present; a story set in the past, explaining the karmic background to present circumstances; and a final resolution in which the Buddha clarifies the links between people in the past and people in the present. The text also includes discussions of astronomical and astrological lore; various units of time, weights and measures; intercalcation; and physiognomy.
Source
Skt. Mātaṅgī-sūtra, translated by Zhu Lüyan and Zhi Qian into the Chinese as Modengqie jing (摩登伽經). 2 Fascicles.
Translator(s): Rolf W. Giebel
Taishō 1665
Volume 32
The Bodhicitta Śāstra
This Taishō is based on a text extant only in Chinese translation attributed to Nagārjuna but likely the composition of its translator into Chinese, Amoghavjra. This brief tantric text is one of the most important śāstras in the formulation of the Shingon school of Esoteric Buddhism, and served as Shingon founder Kukai’s model for the concept of human-buddha integration that leads to the rapid attainment of enlightenment.
Source
Ch. Jingangding yuqie zhongfa anouduoluo sanmiao sanputi xin lun (金剛頂瑜伽中發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心論).
Translator(s): Minoru Kiyota