Mahāvairocana-sūtra
Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia is now 14 years old
Our Encyclopedia recently received a wonderful opportunity for a major renewal on its 14th birthday . After many years of growing our Encyclopedia had become bit slow and sometimes even decided not to answer when people knocked on the door.
A very big thank you and blessings to Dmytro Rudiy (rudiy.nl) for his great work in upgrading the server, website and all of the infrastructure and helping make TBE fast and reliable again for everyone!
We kindly ask our readers to help us cover the cost of this important upgrade and also help with the ongoing costs of keeping the Encyclopedia alive and freely available.
or card
Every little donation helps and every one is deeply appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM 🙏🙏🙏
May blessings shower down on all of yous 🙏🙏🙏
Mahavairochana Sutra
大日経 (Skt; Chin Ta-jih-ching; Jpn Dainichi-kyo )
A Chinese translation of a Sanskrit text made in 725 by Shanwuwei (Skt Shubhakarasimha) with his disciple I-hsing's assistance. The Sanskrit text is unknown. It is generally supposed that the Sanskrit text dates from the seventh century.
A Tibetan translation also exists. This sutra and the Diamond Crown Sutra formed the two fundamental scriptures of the True Word ( Jpn Shingon) school.
Tendai Esotericism added the Susiddhikara Sutra to these, forming its three principal scriptures.
These became known as the three True Word sutras, following the model of the Pure Land ( Jodo) school, which had designated three Pure Land sutras.
The Mahavairochana Sutra and the Diamond Crown Sutra respectively describe the Womb Realm and the Diamond Realm of Esoteric Buddhism.
In the Mahavairochana Sutra, Mahavairochana Buddha explains, in a dialogue with Vajrasattva, the way of obtaining the Buddha wisdom.
He defines the aspiration for enlightenment as the cause, great compassion as the foundation, and skillful means as the way to realize that wisdom.
The sutra teaches that to observe the true nature of one's mind is to obtain the Buddha wisdom. It also describes rituals and various aspects of practice, such as mudra (hand gesture), mantra (magical formula), and mandala.
There are several commentaries on the text, including The Annotations on the Mahavairochana Sutra, which is I-hsing's record of Shanwuwei's lectures on the sutra, and The Commentary on the Meaning of the Mahavairochana Sutra, a revision by Chih-yen and Wen-ku of The Annotations on the Mahavairochana Sutra.
In Japan, True Word Esotericism adopts the former text, and Tendai Esotericism, the latter.