The Vajrasamadhi-sutra (lit. sutra

Sutra

Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...

 of the vajra samadhi) is one of the supreme teachings given by Vairocana-shakyamuni Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...

. Over the centuries the 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...

 manuscript

Manuscript

A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

 of the Vajrasamadhi-sutra has vanished and today, many scholars deny that the sutra was spoken by the Buddha, believing it to have been the work of a Korean monk. (Vide Robert E. Buswell, "Cultivating Original Enlightenment: Wonhyo's Exposition of the 'Vajrasamadhi-Sutra', U. of Hawaii Press, 2007; as well as Buswell's, "The Formation of Ch'an Ideology in China and Korea: The 'Vajrasamadhi-Sutra', a Buddhist Apocryphon," Princeton U. Press, 1989).

In the Vajrasamadhi-sutra, the Buddha lectures to an assembly of bodhisattva

Bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

s, shravakas, arhats and all the various classes of beings which exist in the universe, on the subtlest doctrines concerning existence, nonexistence and perfect enlightenment

Bodhi

Bodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English with the word "enlightenment", but which means awakened. In Buddhism it is the knowledge possessed by a Buddha into the nature of things...

. The overall tone of the sutra is of repentance in order to purify karma

Karma

Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....

 and become a perfect buddha. The leading intercolutors in the sutra are shravaka ananda, bodhisattva kshitigarbha, arhat shariputra and the bodhisattva cittaraja (mind-king).

External links

• The Vajrasamadhi Sutra, English translation
• Korean Buddhism
  Korean Buddhism
  Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what it sees as inconsistencies in Mahayana Buddhism. Early Korean monks believed that the traditions they received from foreign countries were internally inconsistent. To address this, they developed a new...