MUKESH SINGH at 08:13, 1 February 2026

2026-02-01T08:13:47Z

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{{Italic title}}
{{short description|Sutra in Mahāyāna Buddhism}}
[[File:Buddhist stele with the Thousand Buddha motif, Northern Wei dynasty, early 6th century AD, probably 521 AD, sandstone with traces of paint, view 2 - Arthur M. Sackler Gallery - DSC05202.jpg|thumb|Buddhist stele with the Thousand Buddha motif, [[Northern Wei]] dynasty, 521 CE. The motif of a "thousand buddhas" (or 10,000) is a common one in Mahayana Buddhism.]]

The '''''Bhadrakalpikasūtra''''' (Full [[Sanskrit]]: '''''Āryabhadrakalpikanāmamahāyānasūtra''''', {{bo|w=’phags pa bskal pa bzang po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo}}, ''The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Good Eon”'') is a [[Mahayana sutras|Mahāyāna sutra]] which discusses the names and deeds of over one thousand Buddhas of this "Fortunate Aeon" (''bhadra [[Kalpa (time)|kalpa]]'').<ref>“One Thousand Buddhas from Gandhara: the Bhadrakalpikasutra and its place in Gandhari literature,” Stefan Baums, 44th Annual South Asian Conference of the Pacific Northwest, March 4–6, 2010.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Dharmachakra Translation Committee |date=2022 |title=The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra "The Good Eon" (Introduction) |url=https://read.84000.co/translation/toh94.html |access-date=2023-07-30 |website=84000 Translating The Words of The Buddha |language=en}}</ref> Most of the Buddhas in this sutra are future Buddhas, thus the sutra provides a future Buddhological long history of our world system.<ref name=":1" />

The sutra contains 24 chapters and dates to around 200-250 CE.<ref>The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, By Robert E. Buswell Jr., Donald S. Lopez Jr., Princeton University Press, 2013 p. 106</ref> The sutra is the first sutra in the [[Kangyur]]'s general sutra section and is one of the longest sutras translated into [[Tibetic languages|Tibetan]].<ref name=":0" /> Other parallel versions of the sutra are available in [[Middle Chinese]], [[Middle Mongol]], and the [[Saka language]] in variants that differ slightly as to the number of Buddhas. For example, the Khotanese version has one thousand and five Buddhas.<ref>{{iranica|bhadrakalpikasutra-the-name-of-a-buddhist-mahayanist-text}}</ref>

In 2017, United States Representative [[Colleen Hanabusa]] was sworn in on an English-translated copy of the ''Bhadrakalpikasūtra''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/hawaii-s-colleen-hanabusa-makes-bittersweet-return-congress-n699676|title = Hawaii's Colleen Hanabusa makes a 'bittersweet' return to Congress| website=[[NBC News]] | date=26 December 2016 }}</ref>

==History and background==
[[File:Wanfo Dong (10,000 Buddha Cave) (10148753886).jpg|thumb|A wall of Buddhas at the Thousand Buddha Mountain (千佛山; pinyin: Qiān Fó Shān), southeast of [[Jinan]], the capital of [[Shandong]].]]

[[File:Dunhuang Cave 16.jpg|thumb| Photo showing [[Dunhuang]] Cave 16 and the manuscripts piled up for [[Aurel Stein]] near the entrance to Cave 17, the “library cave” at the [[Mogao Caves]]]]

The original Indic text is now lost, though fragments in [[Gandhari language|Gandhari]] and [[Sanskrit]] do survive.<ref name=":1">Skilling, Peter (2010). Note On the Bhadrakalpika-sūtra. 創価大学国際仏教学高等研究所年報=Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University=ソウカダイガクコクサイブッキョウガクコウトウケンキュウジョネンポウ. pp. 195 - 230</ref> One early Chinese translation of the ''Bhadrakalpikasūtra'' was done by [[Dharmarakṣa]], a native of [[Dunhuang]], between third and fourth centuries. However, according to Peter Skilling, this version is incomplete.<ref name=":1" /> That the thousand Buddha motif was popular in the Dunhuang region is evidenced by the "Thousand-Buddha Cave", which are world-renowned grottoes at [[Dunhuang]]. Various lists of thousand Buddhas have also been found in Khotanese sources, verifying the importance of this narrative theme for the Buddhist Iranian [[Kingdom of Khotan]].<ref name=":1" /> [[Ajanta Caves|Ajanta Cave]] no. II also includes epigraphic evidence for the idea of the one thousand Buddhas.<ref name=":1" />

The Indian Vidyākarasiṃha and the Tibetan Dpal-dbyans translated the text into [[Old Tibetan]] in the 8th century, during the early translation era.<ref>Dr. Shailendra K. Verma, "Emergence and Evolution of the Buddha Image (From its inception to 8th century A.D.)" a doctoral thesis. At http://www.exoticindiaart.com/product/TK70/</ref>

The theme of the "good eon" (Skt.: ''bhadrakalpa,'' Pali: ''bhaddakappa)'' is found in earlier sources, such as the ''Mahāvadāna sũtra'' (Pali: [[Dīgha Nikāya|DN]] 14, ''Mahāpadāna sutta'') sutra, in which [[the Buddha]] states. "In this very Fortunate Eon, four truly and fully Awakened Ones arise in the world: [[Kakusandha|Krakasunda]], [[Kanakamuni]], [[Kāśyapa]], and myself, Śākyamuni, at present. This is the nature of things."<ref name=":1" />

According to Skilling, the idea that one thousand Buddhas will arise in this good eon "circulated in the north and northwest of the Indian subcontinent by the beginning of the [[Common Era|Christian era]], if not earlier."<ref name=":1" /> The idea of one thousand Buddhas is also mentioned in the ''[[Mahāvastu]]''.<ref name=":1" /> Various schools had different ideas about this. Some held that just five Buddhas will arise in this eon, others that five hundred Buddhas will arise, which seems to have been common in some [[Sarvāstivāda]] circles, and others held that one thousand Buddhas will arise. Numerous Mahayana sutras mention the idea of one thousand Buddhas in this good eon, including the ''[[Lotus Sutra]]'', the ''[[Vimalakirti Sutra]]'', and the ''[[Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sūtra]]''.<ref name=":1" />

== Overview ==
The ''Bhadrakalpikasūtra'' depicts the names and circumstances of the one thousand and four (1004) Buddhas of this current eon. The frame narrative states that sutra was taught by [[The Buddha|Shakyamuni Buddha]] in [[Vaishali (ancient city)|Vaiśālī]] on the request of [[Bodhisattva]] Prāmodyarāja.<ref>The Fortunate Aeon: How the Thousand Buddhas Became True Perfect Enlightened (Tibetan Translation Series), 4 volume set (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1986).</ref> In the frame narrative, the Buddha states that far in the past, a monarch (which was a past life of the [[Akshobhya|Akṣobhya Buddha]]) helped a Dharma teacher who was the [[Amitābha|Amitābha Buddha]]. As a result of the good merit of this, the monarch and his thousand sons spend eighty eons serving over three billion (3,000,000,000) Buddhas.<ref name=":0" />

The sutra then presents a long teaching by Shakyamuni Buddha on the [[Pāramitā|six perfections]].<ref name=":0" /> This long section on the six perfections contains around one hundred past life stories ( [[Jataka tales|jātakas]], pūrvayogas, [[Avadana|avadānas]]) which illustrate the practice of the perfections.<ref>Skilling, Peter; Saerji. [https://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/en/search/search_detail.jsp?seq=627807 Jātakas in the Bhadrakalpika-sūtra: A provisional inventory(1).] 創価大学国際仏教学高等研究所年報 Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University (ソウカダイガクコクサイブッキョウガクコウトウケンキュウジョネンポウ). 2019, pp. 125 - 169</ref>

After this teaching the Buddha proceeds to enumerate the names of all the 1004 Buddhas in this current eon in a set of verses. The list of thousand plus (the numbers varies in the different versions) Buddhas starts with [[Kakusandha Buddha|Krakucchanda]], [[Koṇāgamana Buddha|Kanakamuni]], [[Kassapa Buddha|Kasyapa]], Shakyamuni, and [[Maitreya]] and ends with Rochasimhakhya ("Roca, the One Called Lion").<ref>The Fortunate Aeon: How the Thousand Buddhas Became Enlightened, p. 1733</ref>

Following this enumeration is the most extensive part of the entire sutra, which contains extensive accounts of the details of each Buddha in mixed prose and verse. This includes their birthplaces, families, physical appearance, their sangha, chief disciples, lifespans, length of their teaching career and their relics.<ref name=":0" />

The sutra then contains a third listing of the thousand plus Buddhas. This third enumeration (all in verse) explains the past life circumstances which lead each of the Buddhas to give rise to [[bodhicitta]] (the compassionate resolve aimed at awakening).<ref name=":0" />

The sutra closes with a story about all the thousand Buddhas and how they were all sons of a king (who was a past life of Amitāyus) and with another story about a universal emperor (a previous life of the [[Dipankara|Dīpaṅkara Buddha]]).<ref name=":0" />

== See also ==
* [[Mahayana sutras]]
* ''[[Heart Sutra]]''
* ''[[Samantabhadra Meditation Sutra]]''

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikisourcelang|zh|賢劫經}}
* [http://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/data/840923226 Tripiṭaka. Sūtrapiṭaka. Bhadrakalpikasūtra.]
* [http://whav.aussereurop.univie.ac.at/ic/1836/?page=2 Tabo skor lam: inner walls On the inner walls of the ambulatory the sequence of the Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpikasūtra continues] [[Tabo Monastery]]
* [https://read.84000.co/translation/toh94.html An English translation by 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha]

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{{buddhist-text-stub}}{{Buddhas in Buddhist Literature}}
[[Category:Mahayana sutras]]
[[Category:Vaipulya sutras]]

Bhadrakalpika Sūtra - Revision history

MUKESH SINGH at 08:13, 1 February 2026