The Avalokini Sutra

The Avalokini Sutra (Skt. Avalokinīsūtra; Tib. སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ཀྱི་མདོ།, Wyl. spyan ras gzigs kyi mdo) takes place in the city of Rajagriha, where the Shakyamuni Buddha teaches on the benefits that result from honouring the stupas of awakened beings. The major part of this teaching consists in the Buddha detailing the many positive rewards obtained by those who worship the buddhas’ stupas with offerings, such as flowers, incense, and lamps.

Shantideva’s Shikshasamucchaya includes eighty-five verses matching those of the Avalokini Sutra although they do not appear in the sequence in which they are found in the sutra’s two hundred and seventy-five verses.

Text

Many verses from the Avalokini Sutra are preserved in Sanskrit.

Tibetan Translation

The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 195. The colophon of the Tibetan text mentions that it was translated by the Indian scholars Jinamitra and Danashila, along with the chief editor-translator Yeshé Dé, which places the sutra temporally in the early ninth-century.

• English translation: The Avalokinī Sūtra