The Sutra of Explaining the Profound Secret

The Sutra of Explaining the Profound Secret provides the theoretical foundations of Yogacara Buddhism with Sakyamuni Buddha's teachings on mind consciousness, the ultimate meanings of knowledge, the selflessness of the names and concepts, the natures of existent beings, the yoga path of samatha and vipasyana, the ten stages of bodhisattva and the ten paramitas, and the exquisite and superior things the Thus-Comers have fulfilled. This sutra serves as the cornerstone for building the Buddhist epistemology, philosophy of the mind, and the pedagogy for bodhisattva education, and contributes to the establishment of the status of Yogacara school in the great-vehicle Buddhism.

About the Author

Naichen Chen (1941–) earned a PhD in philosophy of education at the University of Florida. He has served as a professor of philosophy, Buddhism, and education at universities in Taiwan and the United States. He also has served as the president of National Hua Lien Teachers College in Taiwan and the University of the West (formerly Hsi Lai University) in Los Angeles. He has authored essays and books on education, religion, and philosophy in both Chinese and English. He translated Master Xuanzang’s Da Bo Re Bo Luo Mi Duo Jing into English, titled The Great Prajna Paramita Sutra (in thirty volumes), of which five volumes have been published so far since 2017.