The Basket without Words, The Illuminator’s Matrix

This sutra, The Basket without Words, The Illuminator’s Matrix (Skt. Anakṣarakaraṇḍakavairocanagarbha; Tib. ཡི་གེ་མེད་པའི་ཟ་མ་ཏོག་རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ།, Wyl. yi ge med pa’i za ma tog rnam par snang mdzad kyi snying po) unfolds in Rajagriha on Vulture’s Peak, where the Buddha Shakyamuni is dwelling with a great assembly. The bodhisattva Visheshachintin requests the Buddha to give a teaching on two words and asks him to explain one factor that bodhisattvas should abandon, one quality that encompasses all the foundations of the training when safeguarded by bodhisattvas, and one phenomenon to which thus-gone ones truly and perfectly awaken. The Buddha responds by listing the afflictions that bodhisattvas abandon. Next, he advises bodhisattvas not to do to others what they themselves do not desire. Then, he teaches that there is no phenomenon to which thus-gone ones truly and perfectly awaken, and that thus-gone ones comprehend that all phenomena are free from going and coming, causes and conditions, death and birth, acceptance and rejection, and decrease and increase. At the conclusion of the sūtra, members of the assembly promise to propagate this teaching, and the Buddha explains the benefits of doing so. .

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The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 259

• English translation: The Basket without Words, The Illuminator’s Matrix