Bhavasaṅkrāntisūtra

Bhavasaṅkrāntisūtra (T. སྲིད་པ་འཕོ་བའི་མདོ་), "The Sūtra on Transmigration Through Existences," is an early Mahayana sutra that explains how transmigration between lives occurs in conformity with the view of not-self (anatman).

The Kīrtimukha Translation Group states:

The Sūtra on Transmigration Through Existences (Bhavasaṅkrāntisūtra) is set in the Kalandakanivāpa, at the Veṇuvana near Rājagṛha, where King Śreṇya Bimbisāra of Magadha approaches the Buddha and asks him how, given the doctrine that formations are empty, an action that has long ceased can appear before the mind at the moment of death. The Buddha presents the analogy of a beautiful woman in a dream; the sleeping person dreams of cavorting with her, and even after waking foolishly longs to find her. The analogy illustrates how a karmic deed of the distant past, which arose from perception and ensuing afflictive emotions and then ceased, manifests in the mind of someone on the verge of death. The Buddha goes on to explain the transition from the final moment of one life to the first moment of the next, according to the ripening of that karmic deed, without any phenomena actually being transferred. Thus, in this sūtra, the Buddha provides a fundamental explanation for how transmigration between lives occurs in conformity with the view that there is no self—as an immutable, incomposite entity—that goes from this life to the next. The Buddha concludes with a set of seven verses that do not summarize his prose teachings or even mention transmigration at all, but rather offer a succinct teaching on emptiness, focusing in particular on the two truths and the fictitious nature of all nominal designations.

Translations

English translations include:

• Kīrtimukha Translation Group (2023), The Sūtra on Transmigration Through Existences , 84000 Reading Room

For information on additional English translations, as well as Tibetan and Chinese translations, see the above text.