Selections from the Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra

The Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra can be likened unto an ancient repository of forty-nine texts of Mahāyāna Buddhist Sūtras. As such it is also known in its abbreviated title, the Ratnakūṭa Sūtra, or a heap containing some precious jewels of the Mahāyāna. There are indeed some great Dharma-Jewels contained within it. Our primary resource that houses excellent translations of these texts is A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras: Selections from the Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra, Translated from the Chinese by The Buddhist Association of the United States—Garma C.C. Chang, General Editor. As it states in the introduction:

We have found this work to contain a broad coverage of various subjects. The topics discussed range from the monastic precepts (Vinaya) to intuitive wisdom (prajñā), from good deportment to the manifestation of the Tathāgata’s light, from illusion (māyā) and ingenuity (upāya)) to the nature of consciousness and the Pure Land practice. It can perhaps be called a small encyclopedia of Mahāyāna Buddhism, which should be useful to general readers as well as to scholars.

We shall be exploring several of these starting in January, beginning with the classic The True Lion’s Roar of Queen Śrīmālā—perhaps the most quintessential sūtra highlighting themes found within the Tathāgatagarbha school; indeed it is indelibly linked with our recent series, The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, as it served as a source for both it and the Lankavatara Sutra.

I can think of no better way to kick-off 2015 than delving into these precious jewels, touching upon such themes as Emptiness, Consciousness, the Pure Land and the very supernal nature of the Tathāgata’s Light.

Novus Annus!