The Noble Sūtra on Teaching the Eleven Perceptions

In the language of Tibet: phakpa düshé chuchik tenpé do
In the language of India: āryasaṃjñānaikādaśanirdeśasūtra
[In the English language: The Noble Sūtra Teaching the Eleven Perceptions]

Homage to the Three Jewels!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Grove of Twin Sāl-Trees in the vicinity of the Malla town of Kuśinagara. As the time came for his mahāparinirvāṇa, he addressed the monks:

“O monks, at the time of death, a monk should engender the eleven perceptions. What are these eleven? They are:

  1. The perception of non-attachment to this life
  2. The perception of love for all beings
  3. The perception of relinquishing all grudges
  4. The perception of confessing all debauched discipline
  5. The perception of genuinely taking all the vows of discipline
  6. The perception of lightness towards even major wrongdoing
  7. The perception of greatness towards even minor roots of virtue
  8. The perception of fearlessness towards the next world
  9. The perception of impermanence towards all conditioned things
  10. The perception of selflessness toward all phenomena
  11. The perception of understanding nirvana to be peace

As soon as the Blessed One had said this, all the monks rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One. This completes Teaching the Eleven Perceptions, the final testament of the Blessed One.

| Translated by Lhasey Lotsawa (trans. Lowell Cook, ed. Stefan Mang), 2020.

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Buddha Śākyamuni

Courtesy of Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa Foundation.

Title:

འདུ་ཤེས་བཅུ་གཅིག་བསྟན་པའི་མདོ།

'du shes bcu gcig bstan pa'i mdo

Teaching the Eleven Perceptions

Author:

Buddha Śākyamuni

Description:

In this sutra (Toh. 311) the Buddha teaches eleven perceptions to be cultivated at the time of death to the assembled monks as his final testament.