[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Buddhist Sanskrit literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit) › [Mahāyāna sūtras](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra) › [Sūtras of the Great Collection](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata) › [Sūryagarbha](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata.suryagarbha) › [འཕགས་པ་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྡེ་ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata.suryagarbha*bo) › [The Quintessence of the Sun](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata.suryagarbha*bo~en-84000) › intro.7 # འཕགས་པ་ཤན་ཏ་རྒྱས་པ་ཆན་པའ་སྡ་ཉ་མའ་སྙང་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད intro.7 The Quintessence of the Sun intro.7 - **Language:** English ### [intro.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata.suryagarbha*bo~en-84000.intro.7) There is some evidence suggesting that this sūtra, or at least parts of it, may have been composed in Central Asia.¹⁵ Its last chapter contains a list of twenty sacred sites blessed by the presence of holy beings. Less than half of the sites mentioned in this chapter are located in India, and many are Central Asian. This geographical list clearly reflects the propagation of Buddhism from India to China along the route of the pilgrims. The sacred location given the most attention in this text is situated in the land of Khaṣa, another name for the site of what would become the city-state of Khotan, which existed during the first millennium ce. According to Lévi, The Quintessence of the Sun is one of the sūtras most intimately connected with that region, and he holds the view that Khotan was one of the most active centers for the compilation of Mahāyāna literature, especially of sūtras destined for China.¹⁶ This passage of the text, which begins at , relates the story of a specific site in Khaṣa called Gomasālagandha, and is a condensed version of the narrative of the sūtra The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga ¹⁷ containing some of the same people and names. Other passages mentioning the same story are found in another work belonging to the Mahāsannipāta, the Candragarbhaparipṛcchā.¹⁸ This latter work is represented in the Kangyur only by an excerpt () which does not seem to include such passages. - [Previous: intro.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata.suryagarbha*bo~en-84000.intro.6) - [Next: intro.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata.suryagarbha*bo~en-84000.intro.8) - [Up: intro](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata.suryagarbha*bo~en-84000.intro) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata.suryagarbha*bo~en-84000.intro.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.mahasamnipata.suryagarbha*bo~en-84000.intro.7) · Pramāṇa