SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The Anantamukhanirharadharapi Sutra is a Mahayana text which contains Tantric doctrine. The sutra now exists in its complete form in Tibetan and Chinese translations. Besides, Sanskrit and Khotanese fragments of the sutra are available. Jnanagarbha, an Indian scholar of probably the eighth century belonging to the Yogacara-Madhyamika School, composed a kari-ka and tika on this sutra, which now only exist in their Tibetan translation. The aim of the present thesis is to bring to light these texts and reveal the doctrine contained in them. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part is an introduction. After introductory remarks with critical notes have been made on the various texts and manuscripts of the sutra in chapter 1, the contents of the various texts of the sutra are compared in chapter 2. Then, Jnanagarbha's life, school of thought, and works are discussed in chapter 3, and in chapter 4 the salient features of his doctrine as seen in the tika are clarified in their relationships with general Buddhist ideologies. The second part is a translation of the Tibetan texts. In accordance with Jnanagarbha's division, the sutra is divided into nineteen chapters. In the translation, each chapter of the sutra is followed by the corresponding part of the tika. Important words and ideas are explained and necessary references are supplied in the footnote. The third part is an edition of the Tibetan texts, which are arranged so as to correspond to the translation. Variants in different editions are given in the footnote. The appendix contains a synopsis of the tika and supplementary tables and notes.