Ratnarāśisūtra

Ratnarāśisūtra (T. rin po che'i phung po'i mdo རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ཕུང་པོའི་མདོ།). "The Mass of Jewels". A text from the Ratnakuta Sutra, which is included in both the Chinese and Tibetan canons.

In response to inquiries from Mahākāśyapa, the Buddha teaches that mendicants and monks are not defined by external factors, but rather by their own internal qualities. The Buddha describes corrupt practitioners with nine analogies, from the outcaste-like mendicant to the bandit-like monk. The Buddha’s discourse also addresses the particular vocations monks may take up and the attitudes and practices associated with them. These include the supervisor monk, the hermit monk, the alms-collector monk, and the refuse-rag-wearing monk.

Further reading

• Jonathan Silk (1994). The Origins and Early History of the Mahāratnakūţa Tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism, With a Study of the Ratnarāśisūtra and Related Materials. Phd thesis. University of Michigan.