King of Samadhi Sutra
The King of Samadhi Sutra (Skt. Samādhirāja Sūtra; Tib. ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མདོ་, ting ngé dzin gyi gyalpö do, Wyl. ting nge 'dzin gyi rgyal po'i mdo) aka the Moon Lamp Sutra (Skt. Candrapradīpa Sūtra; Tib. ཟླ་བ་སྒྲོན་མེའི་མདོ་, dawa drönmé do, Wyl. zla ba sgron me'i mdo) (Toh. 127) is a famous mahayana sutra that is frequently cited in Madhyamika treatises, as well as teachings on Mahamudra.
Tibetan Texts
- This sutra can be found in the Kangyur (Derge edition), Volume 55, folios 1r. to 170v., where the full Tibetan title is: (Wyl.) 'phags pa chos thams cad kyi rang bzhin mnyam pa nyid rnam par spros pa ting nge 'dzin gyi rgyal po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo/
Sanskrit title: arya-sarvadharmasvbhavasamatavipancitasamadhirja-namamahayanasutra
The translators from Sanskrit to Tibetan were: (Wyl.) rgya gar gyi mkhan po shI len dra bo d+hi dang / zhu chen gyi lo tsA ba ban+de d+harma tA shI la
Translations
- 'The Sūtra of the King of Samādhis: Chapters I-IV' in Luis O. Gómez and Jonathan A. Silk (ed.s), Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle: Three Mahāyāna Buddhist Texts
- Konstanty Régamey, Philosophy in the Samādhirājasūtra, Motilal Banarsidass (Delhi 1990), reprint of 1938 Warsaw edition. (Includes Sanskrit, Tibetan and English versions of chapters 8, 19 and 22)
Famous Quotations
སེམས་ནི་རྒྱ་ཆེན་མཆོག་ཏུ་རབ་བསྐྱེད་དེ། །
འགྲོ་བ་འདི་དག་མ་ལུས་སངས་རྒྱས་རྒྱུ། །
The essence of the sugatas pervades all beings.
Generate the most vast and sublime of intentions,
For each and every being has the cause of awakening—
There is not a single sentient being who lacks this potential.
འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་ཀུན་ཏུ་མཛེས་པ་སྟེ། །
དམིགས་པ་དེ་ལ་གང་གི་སེམས་འཇོག་པ། །
His pure body is the colour of gold,
Beautiful is the Protector of the World.
Whoever visualizes him like this,
Practises the meditation of the bodhisattvas.
གཙང་དང་མི་གཙང་འདི་ཡང་མཐའ་ཡིན་སྟེ། །
དེ་ཕྱིར་གཉིས་ཀའི་མཐའ་ནི་རབ་སྤངས་ནས། །
Existence and non-existence are extremes,
Purity and impurity are extremes as well,
Thus, having relinquished both extremes,
The wise do not dwell even in the middle.
བུ་ཕོ་བྱུང་ཞིང་ཤི་བ་དེ་མཐོང་ན། །
བྱུང་ནས་དགའ་ཞིང་ཤི་ནས་མི་དགའ་ལྟར། །
If, in her dream, a young girl
Has a baby boy who later dies,
She feels joy at first, then grief—
Know all things to be like this.
རྟ་དང་གླང་པོ་ཤིང་རྟ་སྣ་ཚོགས་བྱས། །
དེ་ལ་ཇི་ལྟར་སྣང་བ་གང་ཡང་མེད། །
Just as a magician makes illusions
Of horses, oxen, carts and other things,
Nothing whatsoever is as it appears—
Know all things to be like this.
Further Reading
- Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, King of Samadhi. Rangjung Yeshe Publications
- Skilton, Andrew. Samādhirājasūtra, contained in: Jens Braarvig, Paul Harrison, Jens-Uwe Hartmann, Kazunobu Matsuda, Lore Sander, ed., Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection, Volume II (Hermes Academic Publishing (Oslo 2002), pp. 97-178.
- Skilton, Andrew. 'Dating the Samādhirāja Sūtra ' in Journal of Indian Philosophy, Volume 27, Number 6, 635-652
