Introduction

i.1The Sūryagarbha Perfection of Wisdom is a condensed prajñāpāramitā sūtra in the form of a dialogue between the Buddha and the bodhisattva Sūryaprabhāsa, who asks the Buddha how bodhisattvas skilled in means should train themselves in the perfection of wisdom. In response, the Buddha explains that a bodhisattva should train in a meditative stability called the sun or the sun skilled in means . When Sūryaprabhāsa asks how this meditative stability should be cultivated, the Buddha elaborates upon the qualities of the meditative stability using the analogy of the sun in terms of seven of its qualities. He then further describes the training of the bodhisattva in the perfection of wisdom as training with respect to the true nature of all phenomena. This is characterized in familiar terms found in the long prajñāpāramitā sūtras, such as the lack of inherent existence, signlessness, the absence of contamination, and emptiness. It is also described in terms of the various designations for ultimate truth, such as reality (dharmatā)), the realm of phenomena (dharmadhātu), the real nature (tathatā), the very limit of reality (bhūtakoṭi), and so forth. Finally, the Buddha enumerates the characteristics of the one who trains in the perfection of wisdom, ending with a verse of instruction.

i.2The Sūryagarbha Perfection of Wisdom is one of five short prajñāpāramitā sūtras that are each named for the bodhisattva who is the Buddha’s interlocutor. Curiously in the case of the present sūtra, the bodhisattva who is the Buddha’s interlocutor is not actually named Sūryagarbha, but rather Sūryaprabhāsa (Tib. nyi ma rab tu snang ba). It may be the case that the sūtra is named for the bodhisattva Sūryagarbha known as one of the bodhisattvas present in the assembly in each of the long prajñāpāramitā sūtras‍—The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines (Toh 8), The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines (Toh 9), The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines (Toh 10), and The Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines (Toh 11). The discrepancy presents something of a mystery, and the fact that the meditative stability that the Buddha teaches is also called the sun (Skt. sūrya, Tib. nyi ma) begs the question as to whether the title of the sūtra might refer to the meditative stability as well as to the sūtra’s interlocutor.

i.3The Sūryagarbha Perfection of Wisdom has no colophon, and it is not found in either of the Tibetan imperial catalogs. There is no surviving Sanskrit witness, and it does not appear that the sūtra was ever translated into Chinese and included in the Chinese canon. There also do not appear to be any references to or citations of the sūtra in the commentarial literature of India or Tibet. Unfortunately, then, there is nothing that can be said about the sūtra’s provenance or about its transmission and translation in Tibet. It was translated into English with the other condensed prajñāpāramitā sūtras by Edward Conze, who assumes that it dates from the “Tantric period,” after 750 ᴄᴇ. A contemporary translation into Chinese was published by the Kumarajiva Project in 2020. The present translation is based on the version found in the Degé Kangyur, with reference to the variants recorded in the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) and to the version found in the Stok Palace Kangyur.