Suvarṇavālukopamā

Suvarṇavālukopamā (T. gser gyi bye ma lta bu གསེར་གྱི་བྱེ་མ་ལྟ་བུ།), or "Like Gold Dust," is a Mahayana sutra found in the Tibetan canon.

The Sakya Pandita Translation Team states:

This sūtra presents a short dialogue between Ānanda and the Buddha on the theme of limitlessness. In response to Ānanda’s persistent inquiries, the Buddha uses analogies to illustrate both the limitlessness of the miraculous abilities acquired by realized beings, and the limitless multiplicity of the world systems in which bodhisattvas and buddhas are to be found.

The Buddha then concludes his teaching with a further analogy‍—referenced in the sūtra’s title‍—to illustrate that although buddhas and bodhisattvas are innumerable, it is nevertheless extremely rare and precious to find a buddha within any given world system, or to find bodhisattvas who engage sincerely in bodhisattva conduct. To encounter such beings, he says, is as rare as finding a single grain of gold dust among all the sands of the ocean, or all the sands of the mighty river Gaṅgā.

Text

The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra Section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 126

English translation

• Sakya Pandita Translation Team (2024), Like Gold Dust , 84000 Reading Room