འཕགས་པ་བྲམ་ཟ་མ་དཔལ་ལྡན་མས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.2

intro.2

The Questions of Śrīmatī the Brahmin Woman presents a dialogue between the Buddha Śākyamuni and a brahmin woman called Śrīmatī whom he encounters while collecting alms in the city of Vārāṇasī. Inspired by the Buddha’s graceful presence, Śrīmatī asks him about the teachings he gave at nearby Deer Park. In response, the Buddha relates his teaching on the twelve links of dependent origination and how the cessation of suffering can be brought about by putting an end to ignorance, the first of the twelve links. This teaching is found in very similar wording in many sūtras, but the present sūtra is notable in setting the discourse soon after the first sermon and in nearby Vārāṇasī.¹ Moreover, in this Mahāyāna sūtra, the teaching on the twelve links is combined, in response to Śrīmatī’s questions on the nature and ontological status of ignorance, with a discourse on emptiness that touches on the distinction between ultimate and conventional truth. The sūtra further describes the teachings given by the Buddha in terms of the different ways in which the wheel of Dharma can be characterized.