This is a translation of the first of four volumes of the Mahayana version of the Mahaparinirva?a-sutra, one of the most revered and influential Buddhist texts in East Asia. It is based on the Chinese translation by the Indian monk Dharmak?ema (385-433) from a Sanskrit text of which only fragments remain. Not to be confused with an early Buddhist sutra of the same name, the Nirvana Sutra (as it is called in East Asian Buddhism) is most famous for its doctrine of the "buddha-nature" as universally present in all living beings. However, the text is also well known for its teachings on...