Victory of the Ultimate Dharma

The sutra, Victory of the Ultimate Dharma (Skt. Paramārthadharmavijaya; Tib. དོན་དམ་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱིས་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ།, Wyl. don dam pa’i chos kyi rnam par rgyal ba) presents the Buddha’s answers to questions posed by a non-Buddhist seer named Ulka concerning the origin of life, the end of the universe, and the nature of the soul. These questions are posed following a miraculous display by the Buddha, in which countless living beings are emitted from the Buddha in the form of rays of light. Although this miraculous display awes the bodhisattvas and gods who are present, Ulka is not swayed by these powers, arguing that non-Buddhist gods such as Narayana and Maheshvara are also able to perform such feats. In answering his questions, the Buddha articulates core teachings of Buddhism such as impermanence, karma, and emptiness.

Text

There appears to be no surviving Sanskrit edition of this sutra, but there are two translations of the text in the Chinese canon.

Tibetan Translation

The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 246. The colophon states that it was translated by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Danashila together with the Tibetan editor-translator Yeshé Dé.

• English translation: Victory of the Ultimate Dharma