Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa


The Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa, “Neither Increase nor Decrease Sūtra,” is a short Mahayana text belonging to the tathagatagarbha class of sutras.

History

The scripture is only extant in the Chinese translation produced by Bodhiruci in 525. Quotations from the sutra in the Ratnagotravibhāga demonstrate that it was composed before 400 CE.
An English translation and analysis of the Anunatvapurnatvanirdesaparivarta was published by Jonathan Silk in 2015.

Teachings

Nirvana

It presents a teaching, delivered in this text by the Buddha to Sariputra, that nirvana is not utter vacuity or the cessation of being, but is the realm of the tathagatagarbha, the unfabricated, utterly pure and everlasting essence of all creatures and beings.
According to Grosnick, in this sutra:

Tathagatagarbha

The Buddha links the tathagatagarbha to the spotless immaculacy of the "dharmakaya" and "dharmadhatu" and states:
This sutra is notable for its doctrinal closeness, regarding the tathagatagarbha, to the "Srimaladevisimhanada Sutra".