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Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra-kārikā (Verses on the Ornament of theMahāyāna Sūtras) is a major work ofBuddhist philosophy attributed toMaitreya-nātha which is said to have transmitted it toAsanga (ca. 320 to ca. 390 CE).[1] TheMahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra, written in verse, presents theMahayana path from theYogacara perspective. It comprises twenty-two chapters with a total of 800 verses and shows considerable similarity in arrangement and content to theBodhisattvabhūmiśāstra, although the interesting first chapter proving the validity and authenticity of Mahāyāna is unique to this work. Associated with it is a prose commentary (bhāṣya) byVasubandhu and several sub-commentaries bySthiramati and others; the portions by Maitreya-nātha and Vasubandhu both survive inSanskrit as well asTibetan,Chinese, andMongolian translations.
According to Richard K. Payne, theMahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra is structured as follows:
The text is organized into five unequal parts, and it is the progress of topics through these five that constitutes the author’s discursive intent. The first step is to convince readers of the text that theMahāyāna teachings are valid, that they are buddhadharma (Part One: Chapters 1 and 2). Next, the intent is to convince readers of the superiority of the Mahāyāna, so as to instill enthusiasm for it (Part Two: Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6). The authors explain the meaning of the key concepts as part of the intellectual grounding of the Mahāyāna (Part Three: chapters 7, 8 and 9). Then the result of practice, the goal of perfected full awakening, is described (Part Four: Chapter 10). And finally, the path of practice is described in full (Part Five: Chapters 11 through 21).[1]
The Mahayanasutralamkara has been translated into English three times.
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