Sāgaramati paripṛcchā

Sāgaramati-paripṛcchā (T. blo gros rgya mtshos zhus pa བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱ་མཚོས་ཞུས་པ།; C. 海意菩薩所問淨印法門經). "The Questions of Sagaramati". A Mahayana sutra that presents a conversion between Buddha Śākyamuni and the bodhisatta Sāgaramati.

The Dharmachakra Translation Committee states:

The conversation between the Buddha Śākyamuni and Sāgaramati in Rājagṛha touches on many issues of the bodhisattva path. They converse about the adversities that bodhisattvas must face, the preeminence of wisdom, how māras are to be defeated, the necessity of understanding the afflictive emotions of sentient beings, the importance of diligence, the commonalities between all phenomena and buddhahood, the nature of the Dharma, and the importance of dedication. Much of the dialogue presupposes a duality between agents and objects, but at times Mañjuśrī and other exalted beings challenge this and articulate the teachings in the light of the wisdom of nonduality.

This sutra is found in both Tibetan and Chinese canons.

Tathāgatagarbha theme

This sutra is counted among a group of sutras associated with tathāgatagarbha.

A couple of the Buddha's responses to the bodhisattva are quoted at length in the Ratnagotravibhāga, which explain how bodhisattvas utilize the afflictions to anchor them to saṃsāra in order to benefit sentient beings. However, since the afflictions are merely adventitious, these bodhisattvas are not affected by them and they are, likewise, able to mature sentient beings who can also be cleansed of these adventitious afflictions to reveal the innate purity of the mind.

Text

In India

The Dharmachakra Translation Committee states:

The sūtra enjoyed considerable popularity in India, as we find it quoted in such prominent scriptures as the Sūtrasamuccaya attributed to Nāgārjuna (ca. second century ᴄᴇ) and Asaṅga’s (ca. fourth century ᴄᴇ) commentary (vyākya) on the Ratnagotravibhāga, and extensively in Śāntideva’s (ca. eighth century) Śikṣāsamuccaya. Given these testimonies to a wide circulation of The Questions of Sāgaramati in India, it seems fair to conclude that the sūtra occupied a significant position within the otherwise extensive corpus of the Great Vehicle tradition in India. Unfortunately, apart from the above-mentioned shorter quotations, the sūtra is no longer extant in Sanskrit.

Chinese translations

The Dharmachakra Translation Committee states:

Outside India, this sūtra was first translated into Chinese sometime between 414 and 426 by the Indian monk Dharmakṣema (385–433) as the fifth text in the Mahāsaṃnipāta (Daji, 大集) collection, Taishō 397; another Chinese translation made centuries later, Taishō 400 produced between 1024–1027, testifies to the longevity of the sūtra’s popularity in East Asia. The sūtra is also quoted in inscriptions found as far as the Kedah province in Malaysia dated to the fifth to seventh centuries ᴄᴇ.

Tibetan translation

The Dharmachakra Translation Committee states:

In Tibet, the sūtra was translated by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Buddhaprabha, together with the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé. It is included in the Denkarma (ldan dkar ma), confirming that it was translated into Tibetan by the early ninth century.5 Over the following centuries Tibetan commentators sustained the interest shown in this scripture by their Indian predecessors, frequently citing the sūtra in support of their various positions.

The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Kangyur, Toh 152.

English translation

• The Questions of Sagaramati, 84000 Collection