འཕགས་པ་ནམ་མཁའ་སྙང་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.48

intro.48

The Ākāśa­garbha­sūtra can be understood as a devotional Mahāyāna text, devotion being a skillful means on the path to awakening in Buddhism. The text was eminently important in China and Japan, where the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha became a major figure of veneration, and in the Tibetan tradition, where it served as a primary source for the list of bodhisattva transgressions. The sūtra predates the emergence of the tantric Buddhist movement in India, but nevertheless contains certain elements that gained in importance and were further developed in Vajrayāna Buddhism.