Ghanavyūhasūtra

Ghanavyūhasūtra (T. 'phags pa rgyan stug po bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo; C. Dà chéng mì yán jīng 大乘密嚴經), or "Sutra of the Dense Array," is a Mahayana sutra associated with the Yogacara school. Within the Mahayana, this text is counted among the three most significant Yogacara sutras, the others being the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra. Similar to the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, this text mainly discusses Yogācāra themes such as the three natures and the related threefold lack of nature.

The Tsadra editors state:

Only extant in Chinese and Tibetan translations, this sūtra, which is centered around Buddha Śākyamuni's visit to the pure land of the Buddha Vairocana, is an important source for the Yogācāra notions of the three natures, tathāgatagarbha, and the ālayavijñāna. These latter two terms are often treated as synonyms in the text, especially in their pure form, while in its impure form the ālayavijñāna is designated as the source from which all ordinary phenomena emerge.

Further reading

• Tsadra editors (2023), Ghanavyūhasūtra, Buddha Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative