Mahāyāna

Mahāparinirvāṇa
Sūtra

The Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra

(महाप र नवाण सू , traditional Chinese: ⼤般
涅槃經; pinyin: Dàbānnièpán-jīng;
Japanese: Daihatsunehan-gyō, Tibetan:
ང་འདས་ ི ་མད་ོ [1]) or Nirvana Sutra is a
Tathāgatagarbha sūtra of Mahāyāna
Buddhism.[note 1] Its precise date of origin
is uncertain, but its early form may have
developed in or by the second century CE.
The original Sanskrit text is not extant
except for a small number of fragments,
but it survives in Chinese and Tibetan
translation. It was translated into Chinese
twice from two apparently substantially
different source texts, with the 421 CE
translation of Dharmakṣema being about
four times longer than the 416 translation
of Faxian. The two versions also differ in
their teachings on Buddha-nature:
Dharmakṣema's indicates all sentient
beings have the potential to attain
Buddhahood, but Faxian's states some will
never attain Buddhahood. Ultimately,
Dharmakṣema's version was far more
popular in East Asia and his version of the
text had a strong impact on East Asian
Buddhism.[2] this sutra is not a context in
Digha Nikaya's The Mahaparinibbana sutta
of the Hinayanists (Theravada).

A Sui dynasty manuscript of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra

History

Versions …
The text of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra in
the original Sanskrit has survived only in a
number of fragments, which were
discovered in Central Asia, Afghanistan
and Japan. It exists in Chinese and
Tibetan versions of varying lengths. There
are four extant versions of the sūtra, each
translated from various Sanskrit
editions:[3]

1. The "six fascicle text",[note 2] the

translation into Chinese by Faxian
and Buddhabhadra, translated during
the Jin dynasty (265–420) between
416 and 418, containing six fascicles,
 which is the shortest and earliest
version;
2. The "northern text", with 40
fascicles,[note 3] translated by
Dharmakṣema between 421 and 430
in the Northern Liang kingdom,
containing forty fascicles. This
version was also translated into
Classical Tibetan from the Chinese.
3. The "southern text",[note 4] with 36
fascicles, in approximately 453 by
Huiguan and Huiyan during the Liu
Song dynasty, integrated and
amended the translations of Faxian
 and Dharmakṣema into a single
edition of thirty-six fascicles;
4. The Tibetan version (c790CE) by
Jinamitra, Jñānagarbha, and
Devacandra;

According to Hodge, some other versions

have also existed:[3]

a secondary Chinese version of

Dharmakṣema's translation, completed
in 453 CE. This was produced "by
polishing the style and adding new
section headings";[3]
Chinese catalogues of translations
mention two other Chinese translations,
 slightly earlier than Faxian, which are no
longer extant.[3]

Origins and development …

According to Shimoda Masahiro, the

authors of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra were
leaders and advocates of stupa-worship.
The term buddhadhātu originally referred
to śarīra or physical relics of the Buddha.
The authors of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra
used the teachings of the Tathāgatagarbha
Sūtra to reshape the worship of the śarīra
into worship of the inner Buddha as a
principle of salvation: the Buddha-nature.
"Buddhadhātu" came to be used in place
of tathagatagarbha, referring to a concrete
entity existing inside the person.[4] Sasaki,
in a review of Shimoda, conveys a key
premise of Shimoda's work, namely, that
the origins of Mahayana Buddhism and
the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra are entwined.[5]

The Indian version of the Mahāparinirvāṇa

Sūtra underwent a number of stages in its
composition. Masahiro Shimoda discerns
two versions:[5]

1. a short proto-Nirvāṇa Sūtra, which

was, he argues, probably not
distinctively Mahāyāna, but quasi-
Mahāsāṃghika in origin and would
date to 100 CE, if not even earlier;
 2. an expanded version of this core text
was then developed and would have
comprised chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7
of the Faxian and Tibetan versions,
though it is believed that in their
present state there is a degree of
editorial addition in them from the
later phases of development.

The sutra was further developed in China

by the Chinese translator Dharmakṣema in
the fifth century CE, who added a thirty
extra fascicles to the original core
text.[6]:124–5[7]

Dating …
Cave complex associated with the Mahāsāṃghika
sect. Karla Caves, Mahārāṣtra, India

Scholars believe that the compilation of

the core portion (corresponding to the
Faxian and Tibetan translations) must
have occurred at an early date, during or
prior to the 2nd century CE, based internal
evidence and on Chinese canonical
catalogs.[6][8]
Using textual evidence in the Mahāyāna
Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and related texts,
Stephen Hodge estimates a compilation
period between 100 CE and 220 CE for the
Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. Hodge
summarizes his findings as follows:[9]

[T]here are strong grounds

based on textual evidence that
the MPNS (Mahāyāna
Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra), or a
major portion of it, together
with related texts were compiled
in the Deccan during the second
half of the 2nd century CE, in a
 Mahāsāṃghika environment,
probably in one of their centres
along the western coastal region
such as Karli, or perhaps,
though less likely, the
Amaravatī-Dhanyakaṭaka
region.

Place of origin and Indian

dissemination
…

The history of the text is extremely

complex, but the consensus view is that
the core portion of this sutra[note 5] was
compiled in the Indian subcontinent,
possibly in Andhra, South India.[10][11][12][9]
The language used in the sūtra and related
texts seems to indicate a region in
southern India during the time of the
Śātavāhana dynasty. The Śātavāhana
rulers gave rich patronage to Buddhism,
and were involved with the development of
the cave temples at Karla and Ajaṇṭā, and
also with the Great Stūpa at Amarāvati.
During this time, the Śātavāhana dynasty
also maintained extensive links with the
Kuṣāṇa Empire.[9]

According to Stephen Hodge, internal

textual evidence in the Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra,
Mahābherihāraka Parivarta Sūtra, and the
Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra indicates that these
texts were first circulated in South India
and they then gradually propagated up to
the northwest, with Kashmir being the
other major center. The Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra
gives a more detailed account by
mentioning the points of distribution as
including South India, the Vindhya Range,
Bharuch, and Kashmir.[9]

Translations …

China …

Earliest translations

According to early Chinese sutra

catalogues such as the Lidai Sanbao ji ( 歷
代三寶紀), a part of the core portion of the
sutra was translated previously into
Chinese by Dharmarakṣa (fl. c260-280),
though this version is now lost.[6]:124

Faxian

Though the translation of the "six fascicle"

version is conventionally ascribed to
Faxian ( 法顯), this attribution is probably
inaccurate. According to Faxian's own
account, the manuscript copy forming the
basis of the six juan Chinese version was
obtained by him in Pāṭaliputra from the
house of a layman known as Kālasena,
during his travels in India. The earliest
surviving Chinese sutra catalogue,
Sengyou's Chu Sanzang Jiji ( 出三藏記集),
which was written less than 100 years
after the date of this translation, makes no
mention of Faxian. Instead it states that
the translation was done by Buddhabhadra
and his assistant Baoyun ( 寶雲), quoting
earlier catalogues to corroborate this
attribution. The idea that Faxian was
involved in the translation only emerges in
later catalogues, compiled several hundred
years after the event.[13]

Zhimeng

Chinese canonical records also mention

that a now lost translation was made by
the Chinese monk Zhimeng who studied in
India from 404-424 CE. According to
Zhimeng's own account, he also obtained
his manuscript from the same layman in
Pataliputra as Faxian did some years
earlier.[6][14]:231

Dharmakṣema

The translation done by Dharmakṣema

from 421 CE onwards may for a large part
be based on a non-Indian text.[15]

The first ten fascicles may be based on a

birch-bark manuscript of the
Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra from North-
Western India that Dharmakṣema brought
with him, which he used for the initial
translation work of his version. This
version corresponds overall in content to
the "six fascicle" version and the Tibetan
version.[16]:157[17][6]:104

Dharmakṣema's translation of the

Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra extends
for a further thirty fascicles, beyond the
first ten fascicles of this sutra. Many
scholars doubt if these thirty fascicles are
based on an Indian Sanskrit text. The chief
reasons for this skepticism are
these:[18]:12–13

no traces of an extended Sanskrit text

has ever been found, while Sanskrit
manuscript fragments of twenty four
separate pages distributed right across
the core portion of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-
sūtra have been found over the past
hundred years in various parts of
Asia;[18]:12–13
no quotations are known from this latter
portion in any Indian commentaries or
sutra anthologies;[15]
no other translator in China or Tibet ever
found Sanskrit copies of this portion.[15]
In addition, these doubts correspond
with an account from the Chinese monk-
translator Yijing,[note 6] who mentions
that he searched for a copy of the
 enlarged Mahaparinirvāṇa-sūtra through
all that time, but only found manuscripts
corresponding to the core portion of this
work.[6]

For these reasons, textual scholars

generally regard the authenticity of the
latter portion as dubious. It may have been
a local Central Asian composition at best,
or else written by Dharmakṣema himself,
who had both the ability and the motive for
doing so.[6]:124–5[7] On the strength of their
investigations, certain specialist scholars
have formulated and expressed a theory in
which they suggest that this latter portion
of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra translated by
Dharmakṣema may not represent a
definitive source, for scholars, for the
history of the development, in India, of the
Buddha-nature concept and related
doctrines.[18][19]

English translations …

Yamamoto, Kosho, trans. (1973-1975).

The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, 3
Volumes, Karinbunko, Ube City,
Japan.[note 7]
Blum, Mark, trans. (2013). The Nirvana
Sutra: Volume 1 (of a projected 4),
Berkeley, Calif. : BDK America (distr.:
 Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press).
ISBN 978-1-886439-46-7.
Kato, Yasunari, trans. (2014).
Daihatsunehankyou Vol.2: Mahayana
Mahaparinirvana Sutra Vol.2,
CreateSpace Independent Publishing
Platform. ISBN 9781499284355
Yamamoto & Page, Dr. Tony, trans.
(2015). Nirvana Sutra: A Translation of
Dharmakshema's Northern version,
CreateSpace Independent Publishing
Platform. ISBN 978-1517631727

Teachings
According to Sallie B. King, the sutra does
not represent a major innovation, and is
rather unsystematic,[21] which made it "a
fruitful one for later students and
commentators, who were obliged to create
their own order and bring it to the text".[21]
According to King, its most important
innovation is the linking of the term
buddhadhātu[note 8] with
tathagatagarbha.[21] The "nature of the
Buddha" is presented as a timeless,
eternal "Self", which is akin to the
tathagatagarbha, the innate possibility in
every sentient being to attain Buddha-hood
and manifest this timeless Buddha-
nature.[22] "[I]t is obvious that the
Mahaparinirvana Sutra does not consider
it impossible for a Buddhist to affirm an
atman provided it is clear what the correct
understanding of this concept is, and
indeed the sutra clearly sees certain
advantages in doing so."[23]

The Mahāyāna
Mahāparinirvāṅa Sūtra,
especially influential in East
Asian Buddhist thought, goes so
far as to speak of it as our true
self (ātman). Its precise
metaphysical and ontological
status is, however, open to
 interpretation in the terms of
different Mahāyāna
philosophical schools; for the
Madhyamikas it must be empty
of its own existence like
everything else; for the
Yogacarins, following the
Laṅkāvatāra, it can be identified
with store consciousness, as the
receptacle of the seeds of
awakening.[24]

Context …
The Nirvana Sutra is an eschatological
text.[9] Its core was written in India in a
time which was perceived as the age in
which the Buddha-dharma would perish,
and all the Mahayana sutras disappear.
The sutra responds to this awaited end
with the proclamation of the
tathagatagarbha, the innate Buddhahood
present in all man:[9]

[T]he tathâgata-garbha doctrine

was promoted precisely as a
means to save as many people
as possible in a short time. Put
simply, this doctrine teaches
that Buddhahood already lies
within all beings as an innate
spiritual nature. This spiritual
nature is concealed by
ignorance and multitudes of
afflictive factors – the kleśas –
and needs to be awakened and
revealed. The presence of this
nature implies that all beings, in
theory, may awaken to
Buddhahood quite rapidly, if
only they would recognize the
presence of that nature within
themselves. The role of the
MPNS itself is not only to inform
people about this innate
spiritual nature, but also to act
as a trigger which engenders the
necessary willingness in people
to uncover their inherent
Buddhahood, provided they
listen to the sûtra with open-
mindedness, faith and
confidence in its veracity [...] the
MPNS itself claims to have a
salvific role due to its own
numinous power as the last
 teachings of the Buddha before
his parinirvâna.[9]

The existence of the tathagatagarbha

must be taken on faith:

Essentially the Buddha asks his

audience to accept the existence
of buddha-nature
[tathagatagarbha] on faith [...]
the importance of faith in the
teachings of the Nirvana Sutra
as a whole must not be
overlooked.[25]
Buddhadhātu …

A central focus of the Nirvana Sutra is the

Buddha-nature,[note 8] "the nature of the
Buddha", that which constitutes a
Buddha.[22] According to Sally King, the
sutra speaks about Buddha-nature in so
many different ways, that Chinese
scholars created a list of types of Buddha-
nature that could be found in the text.[21]

Buddha-nature, "true Self" and

Emptiness …

The buddhadhātu is described as a true

self, due to its eternal nature.[26] It is what
remains when "non-Self" is discarded:
 What the Buddha says here is
that he spoke thus to meet the
occasion. But now the thought is
established [of non-Self], he
means to say what is true,
which is about the inner content
of nirvana itself [...] If there is no
more any non-Self, what there
exists must be the Self.'[27]

According to Dharmakṣema's extended

version of the sutra, this "true Self" is
eternal, unchanging, blissful, pure, inviolate
and deathless:
 ... if the non-eternal is made
away with [in Nirvana], what
there remains must be the
Eternal; if there is no more any
sorrow, what there remains
must be Bliss; if there is no more
any non-Self, what exists there
must be the Self; if there is no
longer anything that is impure,
what there is must be the
Pure.[27]

Paul Williams notes:

 Nevertheless the sutra as it
stands is quite clear that while
[...] we can speak of [the
tathagatagharba] as Self,
actually it is not at all a Self,
and those who have such Self-
notions cannot perceive the
tathagatagarbha and thus
become enlightened.[28][23]

Williams also comments:

One thing anyway is clear. The

Mahaparinirvana Sutra teaches
a really existing, permanent
element (Tibetan: yang dag
khams) in sentient beings. It is
this element which enables
sentient beings to become
Buddhas. It is beyond egoistic
self-grasping – indeed the very
opposite of self-grasping – but it
otherwise fulfils several of the
requirements of a Self in the
Indian tradition. Whether this is
called the Real, True,
Transcendental Self or not is as
such immaterial, but what is
historically interesting is that
 this sutra in particular
(although joined by some other
Tathagatagarbha sutras) is
prepared to use the word ‘Self’
(atman) for this element.
However one looks at it, the
Mahaparinirvana Sutra is quite
self-consciously modifying or
criticizing the not-Self traditions
of Buddhism ...[29]

Mark Blum speaks both of the fictitious

discursive self and the real Self of the
Buddha-nature. Commenting both on the
non-Self and Emptiness teachings of the
Nirvana Sutra, he states:

For the Nirvana Sutra, nonself is

treated like another negative
expression of truth, emptiness.
That is, nonself is a very
important doctrine to be
expounded when the listener is
attached to his or her notion of
selfhood or personality, because
it deconstructs that object of
attachment, revealing its nature
as a fantasy. Emptiness likewise
performs the function of
deconstructing attachments to
notions of identity in things or
ideas. But both are merely tools,
or upaya (skillful means) and
not final truths in and of
themselves. Regarding
emptiness, we find a strong
assertion of the sacred nature of
nonemptiness ... [and] although
the discursive, evaluating self is
fiction, there does exist a
genuine self and that, according
to the sutra, is precisely the
buddha-nature.[30]
Eternal Buddha …

Mark Blum stresses the fact that the

Buddha in this sutra is presented, on the
eve of his Great Nirvana, as one who is not
subject to the processes of birth and
death, but abides undying forever:

He [the Buddha] makes it clear

that while he will disappear
from their [i.e. beings'] sight, he
is not going to die, because in
fact he was never born in the
first place. In other words,
buddhas are not created
 phenomena and therefore have
no beginning and no end.[31]

The Buddha is presented as (an) eternal

Being, transcending normal human
limitations:

What is the Tathagata

[Buddha]? [...] He is one who is
eternal and unchanging. He is
beyond the human notion of "is"
or "is-not". He is Thusness
[tathata], which is both
phenomenon and noumenon,
put together. Here, the carnal
notion of man is sublimated and
explained from the
macrocosmic standpoint of
existence of all and all. And this
Dharmakaya is at once Wisdom
and Emancipation [moksha]. In
this ontological enlargement of
the concept of existence of the
Buddha Body [buddhakaya], this
sutra and, consequently,
Mahayana, differs from the
Buddha of Primitive
Buddhism.[32]
Kosho Yamamoto gives a series of
equations:

Thus, there comes about the

equation of: Buddha Body =
Dharmakaya = eternal body =
eternal Buddha = Eternity.[32]

Tathagatagarbha …

The Buddha-nature is equated with the

Tathagatagarbha. According to Sally King,
the term tathāgatagarbha may be
understood in two ways:[33]
 1. "embryonic tathāgata", the incipient
Buddha, the cause of the Tathāgata,
2. "womb of the tathāgata", the fruit of
Tathāgata.

The Chinese translated the term tathāgata

in its meaning as "womb", c.q. "fruit". It
was translated as Chinese: 如來藏; pinyin:
rúlái zàng,[33] "tathāgata storehouse" [34]
"Buddha-matrix", or "Buddha embryo", the
innate possibility of every sentient being to
attain awakening[21] in every sentient
being. According to Mark Blum,
Dharmaksema translates tathāgatagārbha
as Chinese: 如來密藏; pinyin: rúlái mìzàng
or simply mìzàng,[25] "tathagata's hidden
treasury". He notes that the two major
Chinese versions of the sutra don't use the
literal Chinese term for embryo or womb,
but speak of the "wondrous interior
treasure-house of the Buddha" found in all
beings. "We never see a word that
specifically means embryo or womb used
for garbha in either Chinese translation of
this sutra."[25]

This "hidden treasury" is present in all

sentient beings: "[the Buddha] expounds
the doctrine that this quality [of the hidden
interior, wondrous treasury] is not only
common to buddhas but to all living
beings as well."[25] The Buddha-nature is
always present, in all times and in all
beings. According to Liu, this does not
mean that sentient beings are at present
endowed with the qualities of a Buddha,
but that they will have those qualities in
the future.[22] It is obscured from worldly
vision by the screening effect of tenacious
negative mental afflictions within each
being. Once these negative mental states
have been eliminated, however, the
buddhadhātu is said to shine forth
unimpededly and can then be consciously
"entered into", and therewith deathless
Nirvana attained:[35]
 [T]he tathagatagarbha is none
but Thusness or the Buddha
Nature, and is the originally
untainted pure mind which lies
overspread by, and exists in, the
mind of greed and anger of all
beings. This bespeaks a Buddha
Body that exists in a state of
bondage.[36]

Icchantikas …

Despite the fact that the Buddha-nature is

innate in all sentient beings, there is a
class of people who are excluded from
salvation, the Icchantikas, "extremists":[9]

[A]ny person, no matter whether

they are a monk, a nun, a lay-
man or lay-woman, who rejects
this sûtra with abusive words,
and does not even ask for
forgiveness afterwards, has
entered the icchantika path.[9]

The longer versions of the Nirvana Sutra

additionally give expression to the new
claim (not found in the shorter Chinese
and Tibetan versions) that, because of the
Buddha-dhatu, absolutely all beings
without exception, even icchantikas (the
most incorrigible and spiritually base of
beings), will eventually attain liberation
and become Buddhas.[37][38]

The Nirvana Sutra in

Mahayana Schools
In the introduction to his translation of the
Nirvana Sutra (Chinese: ⼤般涅盘经;
Jyutping: da4ban1Nie4pan2jing1), Mark
Blum speaks of the tremendous
importance of this sutra for East-Asian
Buddhism:
It would be difficult to overstate
the impact of [the] Nirvana
Sutra in East Asian Buddhism.
Not only did it inspire numerous
commentaries on the sutra itself
in China, Korea, and Japan, it is
cited extensively in the works of
untold numbers of Buddhist
writers and frequently appears
in 'secular' literature as well [...]
the very idea of Chan
[Buddhism] without the concept
of buddha-nature is
unthinkable.[2]
There is one story in the Nirvana Sutra
about a blind man feeling an elephant
(Chinese: 盲⼈摸象; Jyutping:
maang4yaan4mok3cheung6). The elephant
in this tale symbolizes the "Buddha
nature". A group of blind men reach touch
a different part of the elephant—one feels
the tusk and thinks it is a carrot, another
mistakes the elephant's belly for an urn,
and so on. The king seeks that
Shakyamuni illuminate their limited
perception (symbolized by blindness in the
parable) that permits only partial truths.[39]

Nichiren Buddhism …
In Nichiren Buddhism the Nirvana Sutra,
with the Lotus Sutra, make up what Tiantai
called the Fifth of the Five Periods of
Teaching.[40] The Nirvana Sutra is seen as
inferior to the Lotus Sutra however, based
on the passage in Nichiren´s writings that
reads:

When this sutra was preached . .

. the prediction had already
been made in the Lotus Sutra
that the eight thousand voice-
hearers would attain
Buddhahood, a prediction that
was like a great harvest. Thus,
 the autumn harvest was over
and the crop had been stored
away for winter [when the
Nirvana Sutra was expounded],
and there was nothing left for it
[but a few gleanings]."[41]

Shin Buddhism …

The Nirvana Sutra is among the most

important sources and influences on
Shinran's magnum opus, Kyogyoshinsho,
which is the foundational text of the
Japanese Jōdo Shinshū Pure Land School.
Shinran relies on crucial passages from
the Nirvana Sutra for the more theoretical
elaboration of the meaning of shinjin. The
Nirvana Sutra and the Pure Land Sutras are
quoted extensively in the Kyogyoshinsho.

See also
Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa
Ātman (Buddhism)
Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen
Faith in Buddhism
God in Buddhism
Kulayarāja Tantra
Parinirvana
Mahāyāna sūtras
Nirvana (Buddhism)
 Shinjō Itō, founder of the Shinnyo-en school
of Buddhism
Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra
Buddha-nature
Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra

Notes
1. It shares its title with another well-known
Buddhist scripture, the Mahaparinibbana
Sutta of the Pāli Canon, but is quite
different in form and content. It is therefore
generally referred to by its full Sanskrit title,
Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, or more
commonly simply the Nirvāṇa Sūtra.
2. T 376.12.853-899
3. T 374.12.365c-603c
4. T 375.12.605-852
5. Corresponding to the Tibetan translation,
the six juan Chinese translation attributed
to Faxian, and the first ten juan of the
Dharmakṣema Chinese translation.
6. In his account of Eminent Monks who Went
West in Search of the Dharma, ⼤唐西域求
法⾼僧傳 T2066. He travelled widely
through India and parts of Southeast Asia
over a 25-year period.
7. Qualified by Stephen Hodge as a "sadly
unreliable, though pioneering, attempt".[20]
8. Buddha-dhatu ( 佛性), Buddha element, or
Buddha principle; also "the nature of the
Buddha", that what constitutes a
Buddha.[22]
References
1. "myang 'das kyi mdo" . Dharma Dictionary.
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28. see Ruegg 1989a: 21-6
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Mahaparinirvana Sutra. The text & its
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Further reading
Blum, Mark (2003). Nirvana Sutra, in:
Buswell, Robert E. ed., Encyclopedia of
Buddhism, New York: Macmillan
Reference Lib., pp. 605–606
Bongard-Levin, G.M (1986). New
Sanskrit fragments of the Mahāyāna
Mahāparinivāṇa-sūtra: Central Asian
manuscript collection, The International
Institute for Buddhist Studies.
Ito, Shinjo (2009). Shinjo: Reflections,
Somerset Hall Press.
Lai, Whalen (1982). Sinitic speculations
on buddha-nature: The Nirvaana school
(420-589), Philosophy East and West 32
(2),  135-149
Radich, Michael (2015). The
Mahāparinivāṇa-mahasūtra and the
 Emergence of Tathagatagarba Doctrine ,
Hamburg Buddhist Studies Vol. 5,
Hamburg University Press
Yuyama, Akira (1981). Sanskrit
fragments of the Mahāyāna
Mahāparinivāṇa-sūtra: Koyasan
manuscript, The Reiyukai Library.

External links
Tony Page's Nirvana Sutra website
Revised translation of the
Mahaparinirvana Sutra
permanent dead link] Digital Dictionary
of Buddhism (log in with userID "guest")
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