Sandhinirmocana Sutra
The Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra (Sanskrit) or Noble Sūtra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets is a Mahāyāna Buddhist text and the most important sutra of the Yogācāra school.
[1][2][3] It contains explanations of key Yogācāra concepts such as the basal-consciousness (ālayavijñāna), the doctrine of appearance-only (vijñaptimātra) and the "three own natures" (trisvabhāva).
Étienne Lamotte considered this sutra "the link between the Prajñāpāramitā literature and the Yogācāra Vijñānavāda school".
[4] This sūtra was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese four times, the most complete and reliable of which is typically considered to be that of Xuanzang.
[5] The title has been variously translated as: Like many early Mahāyāna sūtras, precise dating for the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra is difficult to achieve.
[6] Other scholars believe that the apparently fragmentary nature of the early versions of the scripture may represent piecemeal attempts at translation, rather than a composite origin for the text itself.
[10] During these dialogues, the Buddha attempts to clarify disputed meanings present in scriptures of the early Mahāyāna and the early Buddhist schools; thus, the title of the sūtra, which promises to expound a teaching that is "completely explicit" and requires no interpretation in order to be understood.
This ultimate meaning cannot be seen through concepts and language, since all things are empty of any inherent essence (svabhāva) and words and ideas are provisional.
However these inventions have no absolute existence, they are like the creations of a magician, which only appear to be dualistic, but actually lead to a non-dual transcendent reality.
[13] This ultimate meaning is described by the Buddha as follows:The sphere that is internally realized without descriptions cannot be spoken and severs expressions.
[16] The Buddha also states that "only it is eternal and permanent," and also this ultimate meaning "is of one universal taste," is undifferentiated and is present in all compounded things.
These are described as follows:The pattern of clinging to what is entirely imagined refers to the establishing of names and symbols for all things and the distinguishing of their essences, whereby they come to be expressed in language.
[21]As Keenan notes, "the basic interdependent (paratantra) nature of consciousness is explained as evolving toward illusory verbal imagining (parikalpita), but yet capable of being converted (āśraya-parivṛtti) to the full perfection of awakening (pariniṣpanna).
[24] Thus, these "three no-essences" are said to correspond to the three natures:[24] The Buddha then explains that understanding this teaching is important because "sentient beings superimpose the pattern of imaginative clinging over that of other-dependency and full perfection", and this leads to rebirth and wandering in saṃsāra.
[25] However, by attending to this teaching and giving rise to "a wisdom not permeated by language," sentient beings are able to destroy this pattern of imaginative clinging.
[26] Those beings that do not understand this teaching however might instead cling to the "view of nihilism and the nonexistence of all marks," and so they "negate all three characteristic patterns.
[10] The Sūtra affirms that the earlier "turnings of the wheel of Dharma"—the teachings of the Śrāvaka Vehicle (Śrāvakayāna) and the emptiness (śūnyatā) doctrine found in the Prajñaparamita sutras—are authentic, but require interpretation if they are not to contradict each other.
In this chapter, the Buddha teaches Maitreya that a bodhisattva's support for meditation is "the conventional exposition of the doctrine and the commitment not to cast off full, supreme awakening.
"[31] Śamatha according to this sutra is the continuous focusing of the mind, while vipaśyanā is the understanding of the true nature of things, which refers to the suchness (tathatā) and emptiness explained in the previous chapters.
[32] In śamatha-vipaśyanā meditation, bodhisattvas focus on four kinds of support (ālambana):[33] This chapter also contains the teaching that all things are vijñaptimātra.
[36] The Buddha is then asked by Maitreya how one cultivates meditation by abandoning various mental images (or 'signs').
"[38] Furthermore, mental cultivation entails the letting go of ten progressively subtler "difficult to abandon" images (nimittas) which are abandoned through different meditations on emptiness:[33][39] The Buddha also states that in the practice of meditation, bodhisattvas "gradually refine their thoughts as one refines gold until they realize supreme awakening.
Chapter Seven describes the progressive "bodhisattva stages"(bhūmis) and the perfections or transcendent practices (pāramitās).
[48] There is also a large Chinese commentary by Woncheuk, a Korean student of Xuanzang which cites many sources with differing opinions.
[49] Large sections of the original Chinese have been lost, and the only complete edition that survives is in the Tibetan canon.
