The Teaching on the Inconceivable Scope of a Buddha

This sutra, The Teaching on the Inconceivable Scope of a Buddha (Skt.Acintyabuddhaviṣayanirdeśa; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་བསྟན་པ།, Wyl. sangs rgyas kyi yul bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa), takes place during an assembly in Shravasti, when the Buddha requests the bodhisattva Manjushri to give a teaching on the scope of a buddha, which refers to the perceptual range of the awakened state. Manjushri obliges by stating that in the awakened state ordinary perception and cognition are transcended, so the scope of buddha is beyond conception. A discourse ensues in which the Buddha and Manjushri converse about the “sameness of all phenomena,” and how the scope of a buddha, or the true nature of all phenomena, may be found in the afflictions themselves. The disciple Subhuti then engages Manjushri on the subject of how a bodhisattva can both cultivate this awakening and still remain involved in the world. The god Shribhadra then joins the discussion and invites Manjushri to visit the Heaven of Joy. Instead of going, Manjushri magically manifests the Heaven of Joy there and then. All are amazed and the Buddha praises his power to create miraculous manifestations.

In the second half of the sutra, Mara, who is present in that assembly in disguise, asks for further proof of Manjushri’s powers to create manifestations. Overawed by Manjushri’s further miraculous displays, Mara reveals a formula that offers protection from the disturbances caused by his kind. Manjushri then agrees to go to the Heaven of Joy. There, he teaches the gods about the bodhisattva path, and gives a full account of all thirty-seven factors that lead to awakening. When Shribhadra asks Manjushri about a distant world called Light of All Good Qualities, Manjushri miraculously illuminates this distant buddha field and its buddha, Samantabhadra, to the great delight of all the bodhisattvas in both worlds.

Text

The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the Heap of Jewels section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 79

• English translation: The Teaching on the Inconceivable Scope of a Buddha