Fortunate Aeon Sutra

Fortunate Aeon Sutra (Skt. Bhadrakalpikasūtra; Tib. བསྐལ་པ་བཟང་པོའི་མདོ་, Wyl. bskal pa bzang po’i mdo) — a Mahayana sutra taught by Buddha Shakyamuni in Vaishali. He is approached by the bodhisattva Pramodyaraja, who requests meditation instruction. The Buddha proceeds to give a teaching on a meditative absorption called 'Elucidating the Way of all Phenomena' and subsequently delivers an elaborate discourse on the six perfections. Pramodyaraja then learns that all the future buddhas of the Good Eon are now present in the Blessed One’s audience of bodhisattvas. Responding to Pramodyaraja’s request to reveal the names under which these present bodhisattvas will be known as buddhas in the future, the Buddha specifies these names and goes on to describe the circumstances surrounding their birth, awakening, and teaching in the world. In the sutra’s final section, we learn how each of these great bodhisattvas who are on the path to buddhahood first developed the mind of awakening.

Alternative Translations

• Good Eon Sutra (84000)

Text

The original Sanskrit text is now lost.

Early Translations

• Chinese translation by Dharmaraksa.
• Tibetan text: First translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan by Vidyakarasimha and Bandé Palyang. Translation revised in the 9th century by Kawa Paltsek. The text can be found in the Kangyur, in the General Sutra section, Toh. 94.

English Translations

• The Fortunate Aeon: How the Thousand Buddhas Became Enlightened (Tibetan Translation Series), 4 volume set (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1986).
• The Good Eon Sutra

Internal Links

• Fortunate Aeon

External Links

• Sutra of the Fortunate Eon—Tibetan text and Wylie transliteration at ACIP