The Twelve Buddhas

The sutra The Twelve Buddhas (Skt. Dvādaśabuddhaka; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་བཅུ་གཉིས་པ།, Wyl. sangs rgyas bcu gnyis pa) opens at Rajagriha with a dialogue between the Buddha Shakyamuni and the bodhisattva Maitreya about the eastern buddhafield of a buddha whose abbreviated name is King of Jewels. This buddha prophesies that when he passes into complete nirvana, the bodhisattva Incomparable will take his place as a buddha whose abbreviated name is Victory Banner King. Shakyamuni then provides the names of the remaining ten tathagatas, locating them in the ten directions surrounding Victory Banner King’s buddhafield Full of Pearls. After listing the full set of names of these twelve buddhas and their directional relationship to Victory Banner King, the Buddha Shakyamuni provides an accompanying mantra-dharani and closes with a set of thirty-seven verses outlining the benefits of remembering the names of these buddhas.

There are three versions of text with this title that are included in the General Sūtra Section, Toh 273, the Action Tantra Collection, Toh 511, and the Compendium of Incantations, Toh 853 of the Dergé Kangyur.

Text

The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Kangyur, Toh 273

• English translation: The Twelve Buddhas