Ākāśagarbhasūtra

Ākāśagarbhasūtra (T. nam mkha'i snying po'i mdo ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོ་) — a Mahayana sutra in which the Buddha explains how to invoke the blessings of Akashagarbha, one of the 'eight great bodhisattvas', for purification and guidance on the path.

The Sakya Pandita Translation Group states:

The sūtra is widely known in the Tibetan Buddhist community, at least by name. This stems from the fact that it is mentioned in Śāntideva’s celebrated and widely studied Bodhicaryāvatāra (Tib. byang chub sems pa’i spyod pa la ’jug pa). In the fifth chapter on “Guarding Alertness,” Śāntideva advises the reader to study the sūtras, beginning with the Ākāśagarbhasūtra, in order to learn about the training.

The role of Ākāśagarbha

The Sakya Pandita Translation Group states:

Ākāśagarbha features among the so-called Eight Close Sons of the Buddha, who are regarded as the principal bodhisattvas in the Buddha’s retinue, the other seven being Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, Vajrapāṇi, Kṣitigarbha, Sarva­nivaraṇa­viṣkambhin, Maitreya, and Samantabhadra. Each bodhisattva fulfills a particular role for the benefit of beings, Ākāśagarbha’s being that of helping them to purify themselves from the results of their negative actions.

Text

The original text was translated into Tibetan by the Indian abbot Shakyaprabha and the monk Ratnaraksita. It can be found in:

• the General Sutra Section of the Kangyur, Toh 260
• ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོ། Degé Kangyur

The Sakya Pandita Translation Group states:

In his work on Ākāśagarbha in China and Japan (unfortunately unfinished), M. W. de Visser gives a comprehensive list of texts related to this bodhisattva. The first among them to appear in Chinese was the Sūtra on the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha, translated by Buddhayaśas between 403 and 413 ᴄᴇ. This is the earliest version of the text we have, for the Sanskrit is no longer extant.

The Chinese version of this text differs significantly from the Tibetan translation found in the Kangyur. Although the basic content of both texts is the same, their structures are very different and the Chinese contains numerous passages not found in the Tibetan, and vice versa. It is justifiable, therefore, to speak of two different versions of the Ākāśa­garbha­sūtra.

The Tibetan text was prepared by the Indian paṇḍita Śākyaprabha and the Tibetan Bandé Ratnarakṣita, probably in the 9th century ᴄᴇ.8 But even though the Kangyur contains only one Ākāśa­garbha­sūtra, we do have alternative translations of some of its passages. The Śikṣāsamuccaya by Śāntideva, of which the Sanskrit has survived as well as its translation into Tibetan, quotes extensively from the sūtra.

Translation

• Sakya Pandita Translation Group (2022), The Ākāśagarbha Sūtra, 84000 Reading Room