The Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra (Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

; ) is an ancient collection of Mahāyāna

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

 Buddhist sūtra

Mahayana sutras

Mahāyāna sutras are a broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that are accepted as canonical by the various traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism. These are largely preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the Tibetan Buddhist canon, and in extant Sanskrit manuscripts...

s.

Overview

The Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra contains 49 texts of varying length, which are termed "assemblies" by tradition. This text was translated into Chinese by Bodhiruci

Bodhiruci

Bodhiruci was a Buddhist monk and esoteric master from North India . He became very active as a teacher following his arrival in Loyang, China in 508 ....

 in the 8th century, between 707 and 713 CE (Taishō Tripiṭaka 310). This collection includes the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sutra

Infinite Life Sutra

The Infinite Life Sūtra, or Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra is a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra, and the primary text of Pure Land Buddhism. It is the longest of the three major texts of Pure Land Buddhism...

, the Akṣobhyavyūha Sūtra, a long text called the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, and others. The Ratnakūṭa collection totals 49 Mahāyāna sūtras, divided into 120 fascicles in the Chinese translation. Garma C.C. Chang, who has translated a number of sūtras from the Mahāratnakūṭa from Chinese into English, summarizes the breadth and variety of texts contained in this collection:

History

According to the Theravādin

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

 Nikāyasaṅgraha, the Ratnakūṭa Sūtra was composed by the "Andhakas", meaning the Mahāsāṃghika

Mahasamghika

The ' , literally the "Great Saṃgha", was one of the early Buddhist schools in ancient India.The origins of the sect of Buddhism are still extremely uncertain, and the subject of debate among scholars. One reason for the interest in the origins of the school is that their Vinaya recension appears...

 Caitika

Caitika

The Caitika was an early Buddhist school, and was a sub-sect of the Mahāsāṃghika school. They were also known as the Caityaka sect. The Caitikas proliferated throughout the mountains of southern India, from which it derives its name....

schools of the Āndhra region.

Further reading

• Garma C.C. Chang (tr). A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras: Selections from the Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra. 1983. ISBN 978-0271034287