DESCRIPTION
The Samantamukhaparivarta, ‘The Universal Gateway’, is the 10th sutra in the Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra collection. It is a deceptively brief sutra, that is just as complex as the better known Heart Sutra. The sutra consists of a series of short poems recited by the Buddha that describe entry into different samādhis (‘meditative absorptions’) by observing various characteristics of reality, such as sights, sounds, scents, and flavors, to the very characteristics of being and non-being. Weaving together multiple elements of Mahāyana Buddhism, this course explores cosmology, the concept of samādhi, as well as the teaching of Emptiness, which is the underlying theme of the Buddha’s poems. The course is a deep dive into this contemplative and beautiful sutra full of big ideas, presented as a thousand-petalled lotus flower made of the seven treasures.
Reading
The Universal Gateway Sūtra (LUSB Standardized Ed.)
The Exposition on the Universal Gateway (84000.read translation)
The Universal Dharma-Door to the Inconceivable, translated from the Chinese by Garma Chang C. C in A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003) p.134-148.
Additional Reading
Pederson, K. Priscilla (1980). "Notes on the Ratnakūṭa Collection" in Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 3 (2), p. 60-66
https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/download/8521/2428/
Dhammadinnā (2014). “‘Mahāratnakūṭa’ Scriptures in Khotan: A quotation from the Samantamukhaparivarta in the Book of Zambasta.” ARIRIABS 17, p. 337–348.
SYLLABUS
Session 1 - Introduction to the Universal Gateway Session 2 - Characteristics of the Six Sense ObjectsSession 3 - Human CharacteristicsSession 4 - Non-Human Characteristics Session 5 - Three Poisons, and Good and BadSession 6 - The Conditioned and Unconditioned