DESCRIPTION

The Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra (The Great Pinnacle of Jewels) is a collection of Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras containing 49 texts, termed "assemblies" in Chinese (會). The texts seem to have been collected over a number of centuries, and their varying subject matter suggests historical transitions between major eras of Buddhist thought. According to the Nikāyasaṅgraha (a Theravādin text), the Ratnakūṭa Sūtra was composed by the "Andhakas", meaning the Mahāsāṃghika schools of the Āndhra region.

Many, if not all, of the sutras in the Mahāratnakūṭa collection have a history of being circulated independently. Part of the collection was brought to China by Bodhiruci in the 8th century, where he translated some of the texts, and included others which had been previously translated into Chinese.

PART ONE: AMITĀBHA’S PURE LAND

In the early suttas of the Āgamas / Nikāyas, the Buddha often recalls ancient past life events to Ānanda. These are sometimes called itivṛttaka, literally “thus it has happened.” Translated as "fables," "parables," "ancient narratives," "narratives of former events," etc. In the early ‘strata’ of Mahāyāna Buddhist sutras this tradition is then

PART TWO: THE MAHĀRATNAKŪTA SŪTRA

PART THREE: ONCE UPON A FUTURE TIME

SUGGESTED READING

3️⃣ K. Priscilla Pedersen, “Notes on the Ratnakūṭa Collection” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1980, pp. 60-66