''Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra-kārikā'' (Verses on the Ornament of the

Mahāyāna Sūtras The Mahāyāna sūtras are a broad genre of Buddhist scriptures (''sūtra'') that are accepted as canonical and as ''buddhavacana'' ("Buddha word") in Mahāyāna Buddhism. They are largely preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the Tibet ...

) is a major work of

Buddhist philosophy Buddhist philosophy refers to the philosophical investigations and systems of inquiry that developed among various schools of Buddhism in India following the parinirvana of The Buddha and later spread throughout Asia. The Buddhist path combin ...

attributed to

Maitreya-nātha Maitreya-nātha (c. 270–350 CE) is a name whose use was pioneered by Buddhist scholars Erich Frauwallner, Giuseppe Tucci, and Hakuju Ui to distinguish one of the three founders of the Yogacara school of Buddhist philosophy, along with Asanga ...

which is said to have transmitted it to

Asanga Asaṅga (, ; Romaji: ''Mujaku'') (fl. 4th century C.E.) was "one of the most important spiritual figures" of Mahayana Buddhism and the "founder of the Yogachara school".Engle, Artemus (translator), Asanga, ''The Bodhisattva Path to Unsurpasse ...

(ca. 320 to ca. 390 CE).Payne, Richard K
Review of ''A Feast of the Nectar of the Supreme Vehicle: An Explanation of the Ornament of the Mahāyāna Sūtra, Maitreya’s Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra with a Commentary by Jamgön Mipham.''
Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN 1710-8268 https://thecjbs.org/ Number 16, 2021. The ''Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra'', written in verse, presents the

Mahayana ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...

path from the

Yogacara Yogachara ( sa, योगाचार, IAST: '; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through ...

perspective. It comprises twenty-two chapters with a total of 800 verses and shows considerable similarity in arrangement and content to the '' Bodhisattvabhūmiśāstra'', although the interesting first chapter proving the validity and authenticity of Mahāyāna is unique to this work. Associated with it is a prose commentary (''

bhāṣya Bhashya () is a "commentary" or "exposition" of any primary or secondary text in ancient or medieval Indian literature. Common in Sanskrit literature, ''Bhashya'' is also found in other Indian languages. Bhashya are found in various fields, ranging ...

'') by

Vasubandhu Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Buddhist monk and scholar from ''Puruṣapura'' in ancient India, modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary ...

and several sub-commentaries by

Sthiramati Sthiramati (Sanskrit; Chinese:安慧; Tibetan: ''blo gros brtan pa'') or Sāramati was a 6th-century Indian Buddhist scholar-monk. Sthiramati was a contemporary of Dharmapala based primarily in Valābhi university (present-day Gujarat), althoug ...

and others; the portions by Maitreya-nātha and Vasubandhu both survive in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

as well as

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 diale ...

, Chinese, and Mongolian translations.

Overview

According to Richard K. Payne, the ''Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra'' is structured as follows:

The text is organized into five unequal parts, and it is the progress of topics through these five that constitutes the author’s discursive intent. The first step is to convince readers of the text that the
Mahāyāna ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...
teachings are valid, that they are buddhadharma (Part One: Chapters 1 and 2). Next, the intent is to convince readers of the superiority of the Mahāyāna, so as to instill enthusiasm for it (Part Two: Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6). The authors explain the meaning of the key concepts as part of the intellectual grounding of the Mahāyāna (Part Three: chapters 7, 8 and 9). Then the result of practice, the goal of perfected full awakening, is described (Part Four: Chapter 10). And finally, the path of practice is described in full (Part Five: Chapters 11 through 21).

In English translation

The Mahayanasutralamkara has been translated into English three times. # In 2004 as ''Universal Vehicle Discourse Literature'' by Lobsang Jamspal, Robert Thurman and the American Institute of Buddhist Studies translation committee. # In 2014 as ''The Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sutras'' by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, in particular Thomas Doctor. This includes the Tibetan

Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and trans ...

scholar Mipham Rinpoche's commentary as well as Khenpo Shenga's annotations. # In 2018 as ''The Feast of the Nectar of the Supreme Vehicles'' by the Padmakara Translation Group. It includes the commentary of Mipham Rinpoche as well as extensive footnotes.''A Feast of the Nectar of the Supreme Vehicle: An Explanation of the Ornament of the Mahayana Sutras'' by the Padmakara Translation Group. Shambhala Publications. Boulder: 2018:

References

Bibliography

* Sylvain Lévi, transl. (1911)
Mahāyāna-Sūtrālaṃkāra : exposé de la doctrine du Grand Véhicule selon le système Yogācāra / Asaṅga
Éd. et trad. d'après un manuscrit rapporté du Népal - Tome 2: Traduction, introduction, index. - Paris : Librairie Honoré Champion * {{cite book, editor1-last=Buswell, editor1-first=Robert Jr, editor2-last=Lopez, editor2-first=Donald S. Jr., editor1-link=Robert Buswell Jr., editor2-link=Donald S. Lopez, Jr., title=Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra), date=2013, publisher=Princeton University Press, pages=514–515, location=Princeton, NJ, isbn=9780691157863

External links

Multilingual edition of Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra in the Bibliotheca Polyglotta
Mahayana sutras Yogacara shastras