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The White Lotus of the Good Dharma
The Parable

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དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ།
The White Lotus of the Good Dharma
Saddharma­puṇḍarīka
དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
dam pa’i chos pad ma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Mahāyāna Sūtra “The White Lotus of the Good Dharma”
Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra
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Toh 113

Degé Kangyur, vol. 51 (mdo sde, ja), folios 1.b–180.b.

Translated by Peter Alan Roberts
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

First published 2018
Current version v 1.14.13 (2021)
Generated by 84000 Reading Room v2.1.37

84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone.

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co.

Table of Contents

ti.Title
im.Imprint
co.Contents
s.Summary
ac.Acknowledgements
pf.Preface
i.Introduction
+ 9 sections- 9 sections
·Introduction
·The Lotus Sūtra in India
·The Sūtra in China and Beyond
·The Sūtra in Tibet
·Translations into Western Languages
·This Translation
·Translation of the Title
·Translation of Specific Terms
·Detailed Summary of “The White Lotus of the Good Dharma”
tr.The White Lotus of the Good Dharma
+ 27 chapters- 27 chapters
1.The Introduction
2.Skill in Methods
3.The Parable
4.The Aspiration
5.Herbs
6.The Prophecies to the Śrāvakas
7.The Past
8.The Prophecy to the Five Hundred Bhikṣus
9.The Prophecies to Ānanda, Rāhula, and Two Thousand Bhikṣus
10.The Dharmabhāṇakas
11.The Appearance of the Stūpa
12.Resolutions
13.Dwelling in Happiness
14.The Bodhisattvas Emerging Out of the Ground
15.The Lifespan of the Tathāgata
16.The Extent of the Merit
17.Teaching the Merit of Rejoicing
18.The Benefits of the Purity of the Six Āyatanas
19.Sadāparibhūta
20.The Tathāgata’s Miracles
21.Dhāraṇīs
22.The Past of Bhaiṣajyarāja
23.Gadgadasvara
24.Facing Everywhere: The Teaching of the Miracles of Avalokiteśvara
25.The Past of King Śubhavyūha
26.Samantabhadra’s Encouragement
27.The Entrusting
c.Colophon
n.Notes
b.Bibliography
+ 7 sections- 7 sections
·Tibetan Editions of the Sūtra
·Sanskrit Editions of the Sūtra
·Translations of the Sūtra
·Other Kangyur Texts
·Tengyur Texts
·Secondary Tibetan Sources
·Secondary Non-Tibetan Sources
g.Glossary

s.

Summary

s.­1

The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, popularly known as the Lotus Sūtra, is taught by Buddha Śākyamuni on Vulture Peak to an audience that includes bodhisattvas from countless realms, as well as bodhisattvas who emerge out from the ground from the space below this world. Buddha Prabhūtaratna, who has long since passed into nirvāṇa, appears within a floating stūpa to hear the sūtra, and Śākyamuni enters the stūpa and sits beside him. The Lotus Sūtra is celebrated, particularly in East Asia, for its presentation of crucial elements of the Mahāyāna tradition, such as the doctrine that there is only one yāna, or “vehicle”; the distinction between expedient and definite teachings; and the notion that the Buddha’s life, enlightenment, and parinirvāṇa were simply manifestations of his transcendent buddhahood, while he continues to teach eternally. A recurring theme in the sūtra is its own significance in teaching these points during past and future eons, with many passages in which the Buddha and bodhisattvas such as Samantabhadra describe the great benefits that come from devotion to it, the history of its past devotees, and how it is the Buddha’s ultimate teaching, supreme over all other sūtras.


ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

The White Lotus of the Good Dharma Sūtra was translated from Tibetan with reference to the Sanskrit by Peter Alan Roberts. Ling Lung Chen was the consultant for the Chinese versions. Emily Bower was the project manager and editor. Ben Gleason was the proofreader.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.


ac.­2

The generous sponsorship of May & George Gu, which helped make the work on this translation possible, is most gratefully acknowledged.


pf.

Preface

by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche
pf.­1

If we try to imagine 2,500 years ago, atop a small mountain in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, in the heat of the subcontinental sun, an audience—that included 1,200 bhikṣus, 2,000 bhikṣus-in-training, and 6,000 bhikṣunīs—gathering around Buddha Śākyamuni, we might have some difficulty. It is difficult to imagine historical places to which we have never been. It is also difficult to imagine such a large group of people fitting comfortably on a small mountain. And even more difficult to imagine it if one has been recently to the actual place, in the Indian state of Bihar, where all of this supposedly took place.


i.

Introduction

Introduction

i.­1

The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, popularly known as the Lotus Sūtra, not only contains one of the fullest expressions of the transcendent nature of the Buddha, but also, through its successive descriptions of astonishing events and its vivid parables, is imbued with a distinctive literary power of its own. The sūtra inspired a devoted following in India, but it is above all in east Asia that it has been particularly popular. There it has been the impetus for a range of exquisite artistic and architectural forms, and indeed, whole traditions of study and practice that thrive to this day. An extensive body of literature, too—both scholarly and popular—is based upon the sūtra.1

The Lotus Sūtra in India

The Sūtra in China and Beyond

The Sūtra in Tibet

Translations into Western Languages

This Translation

Translation of the Title

Translation of Specific Terms

Detailed Summary of “The White Lotus of the Good Dharma”


The Translation
The Mahāyāna Sūtra
The White Lotus of the Good Dharma

1.
Chapter 1

The Introduction

1.­1

[B1] [F.1.b] Homage to the buddhas and the bodhisattvas.


1.­2

Thus have I heard at one time.56 The Bhagavān was dwelling on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha together with a great saṅgha of twelve hundred bhikṣus,57 all of whom were solely arhats whose defilements had ceased; who were without kleśas; who had mastered themselves; who had liberated minds; who had completely liberated wisdom; who were noble beings;58 who were great elephants;59 who had done what had to be done; who had accomplished what had to be accomplished; who had put down their burden; who had reached their goals; who had ended engagement with existence; and who had liberated their minds through true knowledge, had perfectly attained all the powers of the mind, were renowned for their higher knowledge,60 [F.2.a] and were mahāśrāvakas.


2.
Chapter 2

Skill in Methods

2.­1

Then the Bhagavān mindfully and knowingly arose from that samādhi. Having arisen from it, he addressed Brother Śāriputra.99

“Śāriputra, the wisdom of the buddhas, which is profound, difficult to see, and difficult to understand, has been realized by the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas. It is difficult for all śrāvakas and pratyeka­buddhas to know. Why is that? Śāriputra, the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas have served many hundred thousand quintillions of buddhas; they have practiced for the highest, complete enlightenment with many hundred thousand quintillions of buddhas; they have followed them for a long time; they have been diligent; [F.13.a] they have obtained marvelous, amazing Dharma; and they know the Dharma that is difficult to know.


3.
Chapter 3

The Parable

3.­1

Then at that time, Śāriputra felt contented, delighted, elated, and joyful. With happiness and gladness he bowed with palms together toward the Bhagavān. Facing the Bhagavān, gazing solely upon the Bhagavān, he said to the Bhagavān, “Bhagavān, I am astonished and amazed. I am overjoyed to have heard this kind of speech from the Bhagavān.

3.­2

“Why is that? Bhagavān, it is because I have never heard this kind of Dharma from the Bhagavān. When I saw other bodhisattvas and heard the names of the buddhas that those bodhisattvas will become in the future, and yet, still had not heard this kind of Dharma teaching from the Bhagavān, I imagined that I was deprived of that kind of vision of the tathāgatas’ wisdom,169 and was extremely grieved and extremely distressed. [F.25.a]

“Bhagavān, whenever I went to stay alone in mountains, caves, forests, groves, river banks, or the foot of trees, and many other places for my daytime rest, I thought, ‘Everyone enters the nature of the Dharma equally, but we are being liberated by the Bhagavān through the Hīnayāna.’

3.­3

“At that time I thought, ‘The fault is ours, the fault is not the Bhagavān’s.’ Why is that? If we had stayed170 when the Bhagavān was teaching the excellent Dharma, commencing with the highest, complete enlightenment, then, Bhagavān, we also would have been liberated in that Dharma. Also, Bhagavān, when the bodhisattvas were not present, we did not understand the Bhagavān’s teaching that had an implied meaning. We immediately heard, retained,171 meditated on, contemplated, and focused upon the first Dharma teaching given by the Tathāgata. Bhagavān, I have reprimanded myself for that day and night.

3.­4

“Bhagavān, I have heard from the Bhagavān this marvelous Dharma that I have never heard before. Bhagavān, today I have attained nirvāṇa. Bhagavān, today I have become calmed.172 Bhagavān, today I have attained complete nirvāṇa. Bhagavān, today I have attained arhathood. Bhagavān, today I have become the Bhagavān’s principal son, born from his heart and mouth, born from the Dharma, emanated from the Dharma, descended from the Dharma, and created from the Dharma. [F.25.b] Today I have become freed from sorrow.”

3.­5

Then at that time Brother Śāriputra addressed these verses to the Bhagavān:

“Great Guide, I am astonished.
I am content on hearing these words.
From now on, I will never have doubts.
I am ripened in this supreme yāna. {1}
3.­6
“The teaching of the Sugata is marvelous.
It clears away the doubts and misery of beings.
My defilements have ceased and there is no misery.
Hearing your speech has dispelled everything. {2}
3.­7
“Sitting and walking during the day
In forests, in groves, and under trees,
Dwelling in mountains and in caves
I contemplated with these thoughts: {3}
3.­8
“ ‘Alas! I have been deceived by bad thoughts
Of the equal accessibility of the Dharma teachings, free of defilements.
I will not be teaching in future times
That which is the highest Dharma in the three realms. {4}
3.­9
“ ‘Alas!173 I was deluded about the equal accessibility of the dharmas.
I am deprived of the thirty-two signs.
I am deprived of the shining color of gold.
I am devoid of all the strengths and the liberations. {5}
3.­10
“ ‘Alas! I am deceived, and deprived also
Of the full eighty supreme,
Excellent features of a great muni,
And the unique eighteen qualities.’ {6}
3.­11
“Having seen you who compassionately benefits the world,
I went to sit alone in the day’s time of rest.
I considered, ‘Alas! I have gone astray
From inconceivable, unobstructed wisdom!’ {7}
3.­12
“Protector, in that way throughout day and night
I contemplated this over and over,
Thinking I shall ask the Bhagavān,
‘Have I strayed or have I not?’ {8}
3.­13
“This is how I was thinking, Lord of Jinas,
All the time, throughout day and night.
I saw many other bodhisattvas
Being praised by the Guide of the World. {9}
3.­14
“I heard this Dharma of the Buddha
That was taught with a hidden meaning.
The Jina taught at the Bodhimaṇḍa
An inconceivable, subtle, immaculate wisdom. {10} [F.26.a]
3.­15
“I was in the past attached to views.
I was an esteemed tīrthika mendicant.
Then the Lord, knowing my thoughts,
Taught me nirvāṇa174 to free me from those views. {11}
3.­16
“After I was liberated from all those views
I realized the emptiness of phenomena.
Therefore I believed I had attained nirvāṇa,175
But this was not what is called nirvāṇa. {12}
3.­17
“When one becomes a buddha, the highest being,
Humans, maruts, yakṣas, and rākṣasas come before you,
And you possess a body with the thirty-two signs.
That is when there is the attainment of nirvāṇa without remainder. {13}
3.­18
“I have dispelled all my pride,
Heard your words, and today I have attained nirvāṇa.
You prophesied my supreme enlightenment
In front of the world and its devas. {14}
3.­19
“When I first heard the words of the Guide
I experienced a powerful terror
That this might be the wicked Māra
Manifesting on this earth in the appearance of a buddha. {15}
3.­20
“When you taught through a quintillion
Causes, reasons, and parables, establishing
Buddhahood’s highest enlightenment,
Hearing that I had no doubt in the Dharma, {16}
3.­21
“At that time you taught how ten billion jinas
Of the past who had passed into nirvāṇa
Were established in skillful methods
And they also in that way taught the Dharma; {17}
3.­22
“That many future buddhas who will be in the world,
And the present ones who have seen the ultimate truth,
Will be teaching and in that way are teaching
The Dharma through hundreds of skillful methods. {18}
3.­23
“And you taught the nature of your own conduct,
Beginning with when you renounced your home,
And the way you realized the wheel of the Dharma,
And the way that you established the teaching of the Dharma. {19}
3.­24
“And then I knew that you were not Māra,
But a lord of the world teaching correct conduct.
That is not found in the activity of the māras
And that had been the doubt in my mind. {20}
3.­25
“When the gentle, profound, melodious
Speech of the Buddha filled me with joy,
All my uncertainties were dispelled
And in wisdom I remained free of doubt. {21} [F.26.b]
3.­26
“Without doubt I shall become a tathāgata
And the world and its devas will come before me.
Through words with an implied meaning, many bodhisattvas
Have been inspired toward the enlightenment of buddhahood.” {22}
3.­27

In response to these words from Brother Śāriputra, the Bhagavān said to him, “Śāriputra, before the world and its devas, with its Māra and Brahmā, its mendicants and brahmins, I declare to you, and reveal to you, Śāriputra, in the presence of twenty hundred thousand quintillion buddhas, that I have ripened176 you for complete enlightenment.

“Śāriputra, you have been my follower for a long time.177 Śāriputra, it is through the bodhisattva instructions and the great secret of the bodhisattvas that you have appeared here within my teaching.

3.­28

“Śāriputra, you do not remember your past conduct, prayers, bodhisattva instructions, and great bodhisattva secret, formed through your firm bodhisattva resolve. You have thus thought, ‘I have attained nirvāṇa.’

“Śāriputra, I wish to make you remember and understand your past conduct, prayers, and wisdom. So I will teach to the śrāvakas this great, extensive sūtra, the Dharma teaching of The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, which is an instruction for bodhisattvas, and is possessed by all the buddhas.

3.­29

“Śāriputra, in this way in the future, during countless, innumerable, incalculable eons, you will be the holder of the Dharma of many hundred thousand quintillions of tathāgatas, make all kinds of offerings to them, and perfectly complete these practices of the bodhisattva, and then you will appear in the world as the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha, the one with perfect wisdom and conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the unsurpassable guide who tames beings, the teacher of gods and humans, the buddha, the bhagavān named Padmaprabha.

3.­30

“Śāriputra, at that time, the bhagavān tathāgata Padmaprabha will have a realm named Virajā, [F.27.a] which will be level, delightful, good, beautiful, pure, prosperous, wealthy, peaceful, with an abundance of food,178 and filled with many humans and maruts. The ground will be beryl, divided eightfold like a checkerboard by golden cords,179 and within each square there will be jewel trees, which will always be adorned by flowers and fruits made of the seven precious materials.

3.­31

“Śāriputra, the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Padmaprabha will teach the Dharma beginning with the three yānas. Moreover, Śāriputra, although that tathāgata will not appear during an eon of degeneration, he will nevertheless teach the Dharma in accordance with his previous prayers.

“Śāriputra, the name of that eon will be Adorned by Great Jewels. Śāriputra, why do you think that eon will be called Adorned by Great Jewels? Śāriputra, in that realm the bodhisattvas will be called great jewels (mahāratna), and at that time, in that era, in the realm Virajā there will appear so many bodhisattvas that they will be countless, incalculable, innumerable; only a tathāgata will be able to count them. That is why that eon will be called Adorned by Great Jewels.

3.­32

“Śāriputra, at that time the bodhisattvas180 in that buddha realm will be stepping upon jewel lotuses when they walk. Those bodhisattvas will not be novices, but will have practiced the roots of merit for a long time, practiced celibacy with many hundreds of thousands of buddhas,181 been praised by the tathāgatas, been dedicated to the wisdom of buddhahood, given rise to the development of the great higher knowledges, become skilled in all the ways of the Dharma, and will be kind and mindful.

3.­33

“Śāriputra, that buddha realm will be filled by that kind of bodhisattva. [F.27.b]

“Śāriputra, the lifespan of Tathāgata Padmaprabha will be twelve intermediate eons, not counting his youth. The lifespan of the beings there will be eight intermediate eons.

3.­34

“Śāriputra, when those twelve intermediate eons have passed, Tathāgata Padmaprabha will say, ‘Bhikṣus, this bodhisattva mahāsattva named Dhṛtiparipūrṇa will be next to attain the highest, complete enlightenment of buddhahood and will appear in the world as the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha, the one with perfect wisdom and conduct, the sugata, the knower of the world, the unsurpassable guide who tames beings, the teacher of gods and humans, the buddha, the bhagavān named Padma­vṛṣabha­vikrāmin.’ After he gives to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Dhṛtiparipūrṇa the prophecy of his highest, complete enlightenment, he will then pass into nirvāṇa.

3.­35

“Śāriputra, the buddha realm of Tathāgata Padma­vṛṣabha­vikrāmin will have the same appearance as that of Padmaprabha.

“Śāriputra, after Tathāgata Padmaprabha passes into nirvāṇa the Dharma will remain for thirty-two intermediate eons, and then the outer form of the Dharma will remain for another thirty-two intermediate eons.”

3.­36

Thereupon the Bhagavān spoke these verses:

“In a future time you, Śārisuta,
Will become a jina, a tathāgata,
The all-seeing Padmaprabha,
Who will guide ten billion beings. {23}
3.­37
“You will honor many millions of buddhas,
You will accomplish powerful conduct,
You will develop the ten strengths,
And you will reach the supreme, highest enlightenment. {24}
3.­38
“After countless, incalculable eons
There will be the eon Many Jewels.
There will be a world named Virajā
That will be the pure realm of that supreme human. {25}
3.­39
“The ground will be covered with beryl [F.28.a]
And it will be adorned by cords of gold.
Present there will be hundreds of trees made of jewels
That are beautiful and adorned by flowers and fruits. {26}
3.­40
“There will be many mindful bodhisattvas there
Who are skilled in the accomplishment of perfect conduct.
Those who will be born into that realm
Will have trained in conduct with hundreds of buddhas. {27}
3.­41
“That jina in his final lifetime,
When he has passed beyond the time of his youth,
Will forsake desires, leave the worldly life,
And will attain the highest, complete enlightenment. {28}
3.­42
“The lifespan of that jina
Will be the same as twelve intermediate eons.
The lifespan of humans in that world
Will be eight intermediate eons. {29}
3.­43
“When that jina has passed into nirvāṇa
The Dharma will remain during the time
Of thirty-two intermediate eons in their entirety
In order to benefit the world and its devas. {30}
3.­44
“The Dharma will cease but its outer form
Will remain for a futher thirty-two intermediate eons.
The relics of that protector’s body will multiply
And the humans and maruts will continually honor them. {31}
3.­45
“That you will thus become a bhagavān,
Śārisuta, you should be delighted.
That is what you will become:
An unsurpassable supreme human.” {32}
3.­46

Then the fourfold assembly of bhikṣus, bhikṣunīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās, as well as devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, and nonhumans, having heard directly from the Bhagavān this prophecy of Brother Śāriputra’s highest, complete enlightenment, were contented, delighted, elated, and joyful. With happiness and gladness they presented the Bhagavān’s body with their own clothing. Śakra, the lord of devas, and Brahmā, the lord of Sahā, and another trillion devas also presented the Bhagavān’s body with divine clothing. They scattered divine coral tree and great coral tree flowers. [F.28.b] They waved182 divine cloths in the sky above him. They played a hundred thousand divine musical instruments and beat drums in the sky. A great rain of flowers fell and they proclaimed, “The Bhagavān previously turned the wheel of Dharma in the Ṛṣipatana deer forest183 in the land of Vārāṇasī, and on this day the Bhagavān has turned the highest Dharma wheel.”

3.­47

At that time those devas recited these verses:

“Unequaled individual, great hero,
In the land of Vārāṇasī
You turned the Dharma wheel
Of the arising and cessation of the skandhas. {33}
3.­48
“There took place the first turning
And here, Guide, this is the second.
You have taught today, Leader,
That which is difficult to believe. {34}
3.­49
“We have heard many dharmas
In the presence of the world’s lord,
But we have never before
Heard a dharma of this kind. {35}
3.­50
“Great hero, we are overjoyed by
The great rishi’s words with implied meaning.
Just as in the prophecy
To the fearless Ārya184 Śāriputra, {36}
3.­51
“May we also in that way become
Unsurpassable buddhas in the world,
And through words with implied meaning
Teach buddhahood’s highest enlightenment. {37}
3.­52
“Whatever good we do
In this or in other worlds,
And through pleasing the Buddha,
May we aspire for enlightenment.” {38}
3.­53

Then Brother Śāriputra said to the Bhagavān, “Bhagavān, I have directly heard from the Bhagavān the prophecy of my attaining the highest, complete enlightenment. Bhagavān, I have no doubt. I am free of uncertainty.

“Bhagavān, these one thousand two hundred who have gained self-control were previously established as students by the Bhagavān, and were instructed thus, were taught thus: ‘Bhikṣus, the ultimate conclusion of the discipline of the Dharma is the transcendence of birth, aging, sickness, and death,185 the goal of nirvāṇa, being absorbed in nirvāṇa.’ [F.29.a] Bhagavān, these bhikṣus, both those training and trained, have renounced the view of self, the view of production, the view of destruction, and all views. All of these two thousand186 śrāvakas of the Bhagavān think, ‘I reside on the level of nirvāṇa.’

3.­54

“Having heard from the Bhagavān this kind of Dharma, which they have never heard before, they are puzzled. Bhagavān, so that the fourfold assembly will be without doubt, and without uncertainty, and so that these bhikṣus will have their worries dispelled, I beseech the Bhagavān to teach them well.”

The Bhagavān said to Brother Śāriputra, “Śāriputra, knowing the different aspirations and different thoughts and natures of beings, a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly enlightened buddha teaches the Dharma through various accomplishments, causes, reasons, parables, supports, definitions, and skillful methods in this way. Commencing with the highest, complete enlightenment, through all the teaching of the Dharma he inspires them to enter into this very Bodhisattva­yāna. Have I not already taught you this earlier?

3.­55

“However, Śāriputra, in order to teach that meaning extensively I shall teach you parables. Why is that? Some wise individuals will understand through parables the meaning of what has been said.

“As a parable, Śāriputra, in a village, a town, a market town, a district, a region, a country, or a capital, there was a householder who was old, an elder, advanced in years, aged, and was rich, wealthy, and had many possessions. His home was tall and extensive. It had been built a long time ago and had deteriorated. A hundred, two hundred, three, four, or five hundred people lived in it. It had only one entranceway. It was roofed with hay. Its terrace was crumbling. [F.29.b] The bases of its pillars were rotten. The walls and doors were disintegrating. A great fire started suddenly throughout the house from all sides. The man had many sons—five, ten, or twenty—and the man came out from the house. Śāriputra, the man then saw the great fire burning everywhere throughout his house. He was frightened and dismayed. He thought, ‘I have not been touched, I have not been burned by this great fire. I was able to quickly escape from the burning house through the door. But my sons, who are young, who are children, are engaged in enjoying themselves playing games inside the burning house. They are not aware that the house is burning, they have not understood it, do not know it, have not realized it, and so they will be burned in this great fire, and will experience great suffering. But they are not dismayed at the thought of being touched by that great fire, they do not think of that suffering, and do not think of escaping from the house.’

3.­56

“Śāriputra, the man was very strong and had very strong arms. He thought, ‘I am strong and I have strong arms. I shall gather all the children together and carry them on my hips out from the house.’ Then he thought, ‘The house has only one door and that door is narrow. These young ones don’t stay still, are always running around, so I won’t be able to bring them out, and there will be the disaster of their agony in the great fire. So I should call out to them.’

3.­57

“Then he called out to the children, ‘There is a massive fire burning the house! Everything inside is going to be burned in this great fire! You will suffer disastrously! Children, come here! Come out!’

“The man gave that command wishing to help them, but the children, not knowing what ‘burning’ meant were not dismayed, not frightened, and not terrified. [F.30.a] They did not think about it and did not come out, but ran and scampered around here and there, repeatedly looking out at their father. Why was that? They were like that because they were children.

3.­58

“Then the man thought, ‘A great fire is burning this house. My children and I are going to be afflicted disastrously by this great fire. But if I use a skillful method I will be able to bring the children out of the house.’

“The man knew what his children thought. He understood that they would wish for many different kinds of amusements, and many different kinds of things: a variety of delightful, desirable, pleasing, beautiful, and charming and pleasant things, which would be difficult to find.

3.­59

“Then the man, knowing their thoughts, called to the children, ‘Those toys that you delight in and marvel at, and that you are unhappy not to have obtained, which have many different colors and shapes, such as an ox-drawn cart, a goat-drawn cart, and a deer-drawn cart, which you think are delightful, desirable, pleasing, beautiful, charming, and pleasant, those I have placed outside at the entrance door of the house outside so that you can play with them. So come, run outside, and I will give each of you whatever you want. So come quickly for that reason!’

3.­60

“Those children, hearing that and the names of those things that they wished for, that they longed for, which they thought delightful, desirable, pleasing, beautiful, charming, and pleasant, in order to play with those things, quickly and zealously ran out from the burning house with great speed, calling out to each other, ‘Who will be first? Who will be first of all?’ And as one body they quickly came running out of the burning house.

3.­61

“Then the man saw that they had come out safe and well, and were no longer in danger. Then they came to the village square, in the open air. He was delighted and joyful. He was free of sorrow, untroubled187 and unafraid. [F.30.b]

“Then the children went to their father and said, ‘Father, give to us the various kinds of toys for playing with, such as an ox-drawn cart, a goat-drawn cart, and a deer-drawn cart.’

3.­62

“Then, Śāriputra, the man gave all his sons carts drawn by powerful oxen that were as fast as the wind. The carts were made of the seven precious materials. They had seats. They had strings of small bells attached. They were high and stable. They were adorned with marvelous, amazing jewels. They were beautified by strings of jewels. They were decorated with flower garlands. They had cotton-filled cushions covered with calico and silk, and red backrests on both sides. Yoked to them were dazzling white oxen that were swift and that were held by many men. They had banners. He gave to each of his children an ox-drawn cart that was as fast as the wind.

3.­63

“Śāriputra, what was the reason for that? The man was rich, wealthy, and had many treasuries. He thought, ‘There is no reason why I should give inferior188 carts to my children. Why is that? All these children are my sons. All of them are dear and precious to me. If I have such great carts, I should treat them all equally, and not unequally. I have many treasuries, so not to speak of my own sons alone, I should give all beings this kind of great cart.’ Then at that time those children, astonished and amazed, climbed onto those great carts.

“Śāriputra, what do you think? In that way, the man first promised three carts to those children, but afterward gave them all such great carts,189 magnificent carts. Does that mean that the man would be a liar?” [F.31.a]

3.­64

“No, Bhagavān, he would not be,” answered Śāriputra. “Sugata, it is not like that. The man through employing that skillful method brought those children out from the burning house in order to save their lives. That would not be a reason for his being a liar. Why is that? Bhagavān, it was only through saving their own bodies that they could obtain all those toys, and, Bhagavān, the man did not give just one cart to his children. Therefore, Bhagavān, the man was not a liar. Why is that? Bhagavān, first the man thought, ‘Using a skillful method I shall save the children from immense suffering.’ Because of that approach, the man would not be a liar. That man had many treasuries and he thought of his children with affection, and wished to delight them. Not to speak of just giving them a great cart, he gave each one a cart with the same colors. Therefore, Bhagavān, the man would not be a liar.”

3.­65

When he had said that, the Bhagavān commended Śāriputra, “Excellent, excellent, Śāriputra! It is so, Śāriputra! It is exactly as you have said! In that same way a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly enlightened buddha saves from all dangers, all violence, troubles, harm, suffering, unhappiness, the darkness of ignorance, the obscuration of the dark of blindness, and being in bondage.

3.­66

“A tathāgata has wisdom, strengths, fearlessnesses, and the unique qualities of a buddha. He has great power through miraculous powers. He is a father to the world. He has reached the perfection of the supreme wisdom of skill in great methods. [F.31.b] He has great compassion. He has an untiring mind. He wishes to benefit. He is compassionate. He appears in the three realms that are like a house with a ruined upper story and roof burning with a great mass of suffering, and he liberates from desire, anger, and ignorance those beings who undergo birth, aging, illness, death, misery, wailing, suffering, unhappiness, the darkness of ignorance, the obscuration of the dark of blindness, and being in bondage, in order to bring them to the highest, complete enlightenment.

3.­67

“As soon as he appears he sees the beings who are being burned, roasted, pained, and tormented by birth, aging, illness, death, misery, wailing, suffering, and unhappiness. For the sake of pleasures, with their desire as the cause and basis, they experience many forms of suffering. In this lifetime their grasping is the basis for experiencing in their next life many kinds of sufferings in the hells, as animals, and in the realm of Yama.

3.­68

“The devas and humans experience the suffering of being poor, encountering what is unpleasant, and being separated from what is pleasant. While circling within a great mass of suffering, they take pleasure in amusements, are not afraid, are not terrified, and cannot be made to be terrified; they do not understand, are not aware, are not troubled, and do not wish to leave.

“They amuse themselves in the three realms, which are like a burning house, running back and forth. Even though they are afflicted by that great mass of suffering, they do not see it or identify it as suffering.

3.­69

“This, Śāriputra, is how a tathāgata sees: I am the father of these beings. I will liberate these beings from this mass of suffering. I shall give to these beings the inconceivable, incalculable bliss of the wisdom of buddhahood, which they will delight in, enjoy, take pleasure in, and amuse themselves with. [F.32.a]

“This, Śāriputra, is how a tathāgata sees: it is said I have the strength of wisdom, the strength of miraculous powers, but if I had no method and instructed these beings to attain a tathāgata’s wisdom, strengths, and fearlessnesses, those beings would not become liberated through those dharmas. Why is that? Those beings are attached to the five sensory pleasures, and delight in the three realms. They would not become liberated from birth, aging, illness, death, misery, wailing, suffering, unhappiness, and disturbance. They would not escape from the three realms, which are like a house with a dilapidated roof and rafters that are on fire, and in which they will be burned, roasted, pained, and tormented. So how could they enjoy the wisdom of buddhahood?

3.­70

“Śāriputra, the man with strong arms did not use the strength of his arms but used a skillful method to bring his children out from the burning house, and afterward gave them magnificent great carts. In the same way, Śāriputra, a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly enlightened buddha has the wisdom, strengths, and fearlessnesses of a tathāgata, but instead of using the tathāgata’s wisdom, strengths, and fearlessnesses, through the wisdom of skill in methods he teaches three yānas in order to free beings from the three realms, which are like a dilapidated house with its roof and rafters on fire. He guides beings through the three yānas, which are the Śrāvakayāna, the Pratyeka­buddha­yāna, and the Bodhisattva­yāna.

3.­71

“He says to them, ‘Do not take pleasure in the forms, sounds, smells, [F.32.b] tastes, and physical sensations of the three realms, which are like a house on fire. Through taking pleasure in these three realms and through craving for the five sensory pleasures, you will be burned, roasted, pained, and tormented. This is how one escapes from the three realms: obtain the three yānas—the Śrāvakayāna, Pratyeka­buddha­yāna, and Bodhisattva­yāna. This I promise you. I shall give you these three yānas. Dedicate yourself to them in order to escape from the three realms. Beings! These yānas are those of the āryas, they are praised by the āryas, and they bring great joy. Perfectly amuse yourself with them, enjoy them, and delight in them. Experience great joy through the powers, the strengths, the aspects of enlightenment, the dhyānas, the liberations, the samādhis, and the samāpattis. You will become possessed of perfect happiness of mind.

3.­72

“Śāriputra, those beings who are wise will believe in the Tathāgata, the father of the world. Having that belief they will be dedicated to the teachings of the Tathāgata. Some beings long to follow the way of listening190 to what is spoken. They are dedicated to the teachings of the Tathāgata in order to realize the four truths of the āryas as the cause of attaining nirvāṇa for themselves. They are called those who long for the Śrāvakayāna and they escape from the three realms. They are like the children in the parable who come out of the burning house because of their longing for a deer-drawn cart.

“There are others who long for wisdom, self-control, and tranquility without having a teacher. They are dedicated to the teachings of the Tathāgata in order to realize causes and conditions191 as the cause of attaining nirvāṇa for themselves. [F.33.a] They are called those who long for the Pratyeka­buddha­yāna and they escape from the three realms. They are like the children in the parable who come out of the burning house because of their longing for a goat-drawn cart.

3.­73

“Some beings long for omniscient buddhahood, for the wisdom of buddhahood, for self-arising wisdom, for wisdom without a teacher. They are dedicated to the teachings of the Tathāgata in order to benefit many beings, for the happiness of many beings, and—through great compassion for the world—for the sake of, the benefit of, and the happiness of devas, humans, and ordinary beings, as the cause for all beings attaining nirvāṇa, and in order to realize the wisdom, strengths, and fearlessnesses of a tathāgata. They are called those who long for the Mahāyāna and they escape from the three realms. That is why they are called bodhisattva mahāsattvas. They are like the children in the parable who come out of the burning house because of their longing for an ox-drawn cart.

3.­74

“Śāriputra, in the parable the man sees that he has brought the children out from the burning house, and that they are happy, fortunate, and saved. He knows that he is very wealthy, and so he gives each of the children an identical magnificent cart.

“Śāriputra, in that way the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the perfectly enlightened Buddha sees many millions of beings liberated from the three realms, which are filled with danger, fear, terror, and calamity. These beings come out through the doorway of the tathāgatas’ teachings, and are freed from danger, fear, terror, and calamity and attain the bliss of nirvāṇa.

3.­75

“Śāriputra, at the time when he becomes a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly enlightened buddha, he knows that he possesses many treasuries of wisdom, strengths, and fearlessnesses, [F.33.b] he sees all beings as his children, and therefore brings all of them to complete nirvāṇa through the Buddhayāna. He does not teach any being to attain nirvāṇa for themselves. He brings all those beings to nirvāṇa through the great nirvāṇa, the tathāgatas’ nirvāṇa.

“Śāriputra, the Tathāgata gives to those beings that are liberated from the three realms the enjoyable, delightful dhyānas, liberations, samādhis, samāpattis, and the supreme bliss192 of the āryas. All of these are of the same kind.193

“Śāriputra, it is like the man who promised three kinds of carts to his children and then gave each of them an identical great cart. He gave them all carts that were better than any other, that were made of the seven precious materials, adorned by all adornments, of the same color, and magnificent. Therefore he was not a liar.

3.­76

“In the same way, Śāriputra, the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the perfectly enlightened Buddha, with this skill in methods, first teaches194 three yānas, and afterward brings beings to nirvāṇa through a single yāna. Therefore he is not a liar. Why is that? Śāriputra, the Tathāgata possesses many treasuries of wisdom, strengths, and fearlessnesses and he has the power to teach all beings the Dharma of omniscient wisdom.

“Śāriputra, it should be known that it is through this teaching, through the accomplishment of the wisdom of various skillful methods, that the Tathāgata teaches the single Mahāyāna.”

3.­77

Then the Bhagavān at that time recited these verses: [F.34.a]

“A man possesses a house
That is large, decaying, and dilapidated,
Its terrace crumbling,
The bases of its pillars rotten, {39}
3.­78
And the windows and pavilions bent out of shape.
The reeds and plaster of the walls are falling apart,
The old, decayed balconies have collapsed,
And the straw roof is disintegrating and falling. {40}
3.­79
“No fewer than five hundred beings
Are living inside
In numerous narrow rooms,
Filled with excrement, and disgusting. {41}
3.­80
“The rafters have all fallen apart,
The walls’ reeds and panels have fallen apart,
And ten million vultures live inside,
And similarly pigeons and owls. {42}
3.­81
“There are vicious poisonous snakes
With virulent great poison everywhere.
Various kinds of scorpions and rats
And malevolent creatures live in there. {43}
3.­82
“There are many nonhumans everywhere
And it is fouled by feces and urine.
There are venomous insects, fireflies, and ants,
And dogs and jackals are howling. {44}
3.­83
“Dreadful hyenas are there
Devouring human corpses.
Many dogs and jackals are also there,
Coming out and staring at them. {45}
3.­84
“They are always weak and hungry,
Devouring here and there.
They are fighting and yowling.
That is the kind of terrifying house it is. {46}
3.­85
“Extremely ferocious yakṣas live there
Who are gnawing on human corpses.
Everywhere in every place there live
Centipedes, snakes, and vicious creatures. {47}
3.­86
“They make their nests everywhere
As dwellings for their offspring.
The numerous yakṣas devour
Those that are placed here and there. {48}
3.­87
“When the yakṣas are engorged,
Having ferociously eaten other beings, [F.34.b]
Their bodies nourished by the flesh of other beings,
They begin to fight violently. {49}
3.­88
“Dreadful, ferocious kumbhāṇḍas
Live there in that ruined abode,
Some a hand-span tall, some a cubit,
And some two cubits, wandering around. {50}
3.­89
“They seize the legs of dogs
And hold them, backs to the ground,
And squeeze their throats, menacing them
And delighting in injuring them. {51}
3.­90
“There are black, naked, thin,
Great pretas that have lived there long,
Extremely hungry, searching for food,
Here and there crying in pain and weeping. {52}
3.­91
“Some have a needle-sized mouth and some an ox’s head.
Some are the size of humans and some the size of dogs.
Their hair is in disarray and they wail,
Tormented by their craving for food. {53}
3.­92
“The yakṣas, piśācas, and pretas
Are brutes searching for food,
Looking in all four directions,
Always looking in through windows. {54}
3.­93
“The house is terrifying in that way.
It is huge, tall, and very weakened,
Dilapidated and almost a ruin,
And it is owned by a single person. {55}
3.­94
“That man has come out of his house
When the dwelling catches on fire,
Suddenly everywhere in all four directions,
With thousands of flames rising up. {56}
3.­95
“The bamboo and wood195 are burned by fire
And they make a terrifying, powerful sound.
The pillars and the wall panels are also burning
And the yakṣas and pretas are emitting cries. {57}
3.­96
“The many hundreds of vultures are burned,
The kumbhāṇḍas run around with burned faces,
And the many hundreds of snakes that are there
Scream and wail as they are being burned. {58}
3.­97
“The numerous piśācas are running around
And those without merit196 are burned by the fire.
Their teeth bite into each other
And they scatter their blood as they are being burned. {59}
3.­98
“The hyenas, their time to die having come, [F.35.a]
Are eating beings and eating each other.
The awful smell of burning vomit197
Spreads through the four directions of the world. {60}
3.­99
“The kumbhāṇḍas are eating
The fleeing centipedes.
The pretas run around with burning hair,
Tormented by hunger and thirst.198 {61}
3.­100
“That kind of terrifying residence
Is being burned by thousands of flames.
The man who is the owner of that house
Is gazing upon it, standing at the door. {62}
3.­101
He hears his sons who are inside,
Their minds fixed upon their games.
The children continue to be unaware
As they play, intoxicated by their games. {63}
3.­102
“Hearing them he quickly enters
In order to rescue his sons,199 thinking,
‘I shall not let my children, all these boys,
Be quickly burned and annihilated.’ {64}
3.­103
“He tells them of the evils of the house:
‘Oh noble sons, this suffering is terrible.
Many kinds of beings are experiencing in this fire
Great sufferings, one after the other. {65}
3.­104
“ ‘Many ferocious yakṣas, venomous snakes,
Kumbhāṇḍas, and pretas are living here.
Packs of hyenas, dogs, and jackals,
And also vultures are here seeking food. {66}
3.­105
“ ‘There are many like that living in here.
Even without fire, it would be completely terrifying.
There is nothing here but this kind of suffering
And all around us a fire is burning.’ {67}
3.­106
“He thus encourages those with child’s minds to leave.
But the children are intoxicated by their games.
They do not think about what their father has said
And neither do they pay it any attention. {68}
3.­107
“Then at that time the man thinks,
‘I am suffering in thinking of my sons,
I shall not allow this fire to burn them
So that I am without sons and lineage.’200 {69}
3.­108
“Then at that time he thinks of a method:
‘These children have a great longing for toys, [F.35.b]
But they do not have any toys in there to enjoy.
Such is the foolishness of these children. {70}
3.­109
“He calls to them, ‘Listen, children!
I have three different kinds of carts,
To which are yoked excellent goats, oxen, or deer,
And which are large, tall, and perfectly adorned. {71}
3.­110
“ ‘They are outside the house.
Run outside and use them!
I have had them made for you.
Go out and you will be delighted!’ {72}
3.­111
“The children, hearing201 of these kinds of carts,
Become eager and make haste.202
And at that very moment they all run out
And stand in the open air, freed from suffering. {73}
3.­112
“When the man sees his children have come out
He goes to the square in the center of town.
There he sits on a lion throne and says to them,
‘Oh, today I have been made perfectly happy.203 {74}
3.­113
“ ‘I have saved with difficulty these who were in distress.
My beloved sons, these twenty children of mine,
They were in a dreadful, awful house
That was filled with many terrifying beings. {75}
3.­114
“ ‘It was burning, filled with a thousand flames,
And they were delighting in their games.
I have today saved them all
And therefore today I am perfectly happy.’ {76}
3.­115
“Seeing their father sitting happily
The children come to him and say,
‘Give us that which you have described—
Those three delightful carts! {77}
3.­116
“ ‘You said to us in the house,
“I will give you three kinds of carts.”
Even if you do not have all these
The time has now come for you to give them.’ {78}
3.­117
“That man has the power204 of treasuries
Of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls,
And a great deal of money205 and slaves.
And he has identical carts made for them. {79}
3.­118
“They are excellent ox-drawn carts made of jewels,
With railings and strings of little bells,
Adorned with parasols and banners,
And covered with a network of pearls and jewels. {80}
3.­119
“They are hung all over, here and there,
With garlands made of golden flowers.
They are covered with excellent cloth [F.36.a]
And spread over with the best white calico. {81}
3.­120
“Those carts are spread with the best cotton
And likewise with the softest silks.
They are covered with excellent rugs
Decorated with geese,206 that are worth billions.207 {82}
3.­121
“White, well-fed, strong oxen,
Of great size and beauty,
Are yoked to those precious carts
And are held by many people. {83}
3.­122
“This kind of excellent, superior cart
Is what the man gives to all his children,
And they feel delight and joy,
And amuse themselves going in every direction. {84}
3.­123
“In that way, Śārisuta, I am a great rishi.
I am the protector and the father of beings.
All of these beings are my sons,
Children attached to pleasures in the three realms. {85}
3.­124
“The three realms are like that house
Dreadful and filled with suffering.
It is entirely burning everywhere
With hundreds of births, old age, and illness. {86}
3.­125
“I am liberated from the three realms and at peace.
I reside in the forests and remain in solitude.
These three realms are my possession
And those who are burning within it are my sons. {87}
3.­126
“Knowing that I am their protector,
I teach them of the distress that is in there.
All these children, they do not listen to me,
Because their minds are fixated upon pleasures. {88}
3.­127
“I employ skillful methods
And teach them three yānas.
I teach them a method so that by knowing the many evils
In the three realms they may escape from them. {89}
3.­128
“Those sons who have relied upon me have gained
Great power, the six higher knowledges, and the three insights,
And have become the pratyeka­buddhas
And irreversible bodhisattvas who are here. {90}
3.­129
“To those who are like my sons, at this time
I teach this single Buddhayāna, O wise ones,
Through the best of parables.
Follow it, and you will all become jinas. {91} [F.36.b]
3.­130
“The wisdom of the buddhas, the supreme humans,
Is superior and beautiful,
Unique in all these worlds,
And a magnificent form that is worthy of homage. {92}
3.­131
“The strengths, the dhyānas, and likewise the liberations,
And numerous millions of samādhis,
They are the most excellent cart,208
Which the Buddha’s sons continually enjoy. {93}
3.­132
“They spend nights enjoying it,
And days, half-months, and months,
And likewise years and intermediate eons.
They spend ten billion eons doing so. {94}
3.­133
“It is this excellent cart made of jewels
That goes from here to the Bodhimaṇḍa,
Which the Sugata’s śrāvakas listen to
And which many bodhisattvas enjoy. {95}
3.­134
“Tiṣya, you should know this today:
You may search in all ten directions,
But there is no second yāna whatsoever
Other than as a skillful method of the superior beings. {96}
3.­135
“I am your father and you are my sons.
I have saved you from the suffering
Of being burned for many millions of eons
Within the terrifying three realms. {97}
3.­136
“I have thus taught you nirvāṇa.
You are freed from the suffering of saṃsāra,
But you have still not attained nirvāṇa.
You need to seek the yāna of buddhahood. {98}
3.­137
“You bodhisattvas who are gathered here,
Listen to my way to buddhahood.
Through this many bodhisattvas are trained.
This is the skillful method of the jinas. {99}
3.­138
“When beings take delight
In the lower, inferior yāna,209
At that time the Guide of the World teaches nothing
Other than the ārya’s truth of suffering. {100}
3.­139
“There are those with foolish minds
Who, being ignorant, do not see the source of suffering.
To them I teach the path that craving
Is the origin of the arising of suffering. {101}
3.­140
“The cessation of craving210 is perpetual nonattachment.211
This truth of cessation is my third truth. [F.37.a]
Humans are liberated by that and by nothing else;
It is through meditation on the path that they are liberated. {102}
3.­141
“From what, Śārisuta, are they liberated?
They are liberated from fixation on the unreal,
But they are still not liberated from everything.
The guides state that they have not attained nirvāṇa. {103}
3.­142
“Why do I say that this is not liberation?
Because this supreme, highest enlightenment is not attained.
I was born in this world in order to bring happiness.
That is the wish that I, the King of Dharma, have. {104}
3.­143
“This, Śāriputra, is my Dharma seal
That I teach today, at this later time.
You should teach this in every direction
In order to benefit the world and its devas. {105}
3.­144
“If, when you teach it, there are beings
Who say the words ‘This makes me rejoice’
And place this sūtra upon their head,
You should hold such people to be irreversible. {106}
3.­145
“The ones who have faith in this sūtra
Have seen the tathāgatas of the past.
And they are those who have honored them
And heard from them this kind of Dharma. {107}
3.­146
“The ones who have faith in this teaching of mine
Have seen me and have seen you,
Have seen this entire bhikṣu saṅgha of mine
And have seen all of these bodhisattvas. {108}
3.­147
“I have taught with great higher knowledge
This sūtra, which would bewilder foolish beings.
It is not within the scope of the śrāvakas,
And is not in the course of the pratyeka­buddhas. {109}
3.­148
“Śāriputra, if you have no aspiration for this,
What could be said for the other śrāvakas of mine?212
These follow because they have faith in me,
Without having knowledge through their own wisdom. {110}
3.­149
“You should not teach this to those who are proud,
Who are arrogant, and who are unsuitable.
The foolish are constantly intoxicated by desires.
Ignorant, they will reject the Dharma that is taught. {111}
3.­150
“They will reject this skillful method of mine,
This way of the buddhas that is always in the world.
They will frown and then reject this yāna.
Listen to what is the dreadful ripening of their karma. {112} [F.37.b]
3.­151
“Whether I am present or have passed into nirvāṇa,
When they have rejected a sūtra such as this
Or speak harshly to the bhikṣus,
This is the result that ripens for them; listen to me! {113}
3.­152
“When they die and depart from the human world
They will remain in Avīci for an entire eon.
And then for many intermediate eons
Those fools will die and fall into that place. {114}
3.­153
“When they die and depart from the hells
Then they will be reborn as animals.
They will become weak dogs and jackals,
And become playthings for others. {115}
3.­154
“Having contempt for my supreme enlightenment,
They will be black in color,
Have spots, sores, and itching,
Lose their body hair, and be very weak. {116}
3.­155
“They will always be abhorred among beings;
They will howl as they are hit by clods and stones.
Here and there they will be terrified by sticks;
Hungry and thirsty, they will be emaciated. {117}
3.­156
“Those with foolish minds who reject the way of the Buddha
Will become camels or donkeys
Who only think thoughts about food,
Carry loads, and are beaten by sticks and whips.213 {118}
3.­157
“Those fools will then become jackals,
Loathsome, one-eyed, and maimed,
Tormented by the village children
Who throw stones and clods at them. {119}
3.­158
“Then when those with foolish minds pass away
They will become creatures of great length,
Measuring five hundred yojanas,
And they will be stupid and dull, rolling back and forth. {120}
3.­159
“Having rejected this kind of sūtra
They will be legless, moving on their stomachs.
They will be eaten by many millions of creatures
And will experience extremely dreadful sensations. {121}
3.­160
“They who have no faith in my sūtra,
Whenever they obtain a human existence,
They will be maimed214 and crippled,
Humpbacked, one-eyed, stupid, and inferior. {122}
3.­161
“Those who have no faith in this enlightenment of the buddhas
Will encounter antipathy in this world.
A rotten smell will come from their mouths
And they will be possessed by yakṣas that enter their bodies.215 {123} [F.38.a]
3.­162
“They will be poor, menial workers.
They will always be powerless servants of others.
They will have many illnesses and harms216
And will live in the world without any protector. {124}
3.­163
“The one that they serve
Will not wish to pay them.
Even if paid, it will soon be lost.
Such will be the result of their bad karma. {125}
3.­164
“Any medicine that they obtain,
Even if given by an expert in its preparation,
Will only cause their illness to increase
And they will never be free of their sickness. {126}
3.­165
“Others will steal from them.
There will be disorder, riots, and strife.
Others will take away their wealth,
And they fall into this through their bad karma. {127}
3.­166
“The ones who reject my way to buddhahood
Will live in inopportune existences.
They will not see the appearance of a world protector,
A king who is the lord of men, teaching in this world. {128}
3.­167
“Such fools will not hear the Dharma;
They will be deaf and without thought.
Rejecting this kind of enlightenment,
They will never find peace. {129}
3.­168
“As the result of the bad karma of rejecting this sūtra
They will be paralyzed and crippled
For many thousand trillions of eons,
As numerous as the sand grains in the Ganges. {130}
3.­169
“Their gardens will be the hells.
Their homes will be the lower realms.
And they will always be in the form of
A donkey, pig, jackal, or dog.217 {131}
3.­170
“Even if they become a human,
At that time their adornments will be
Being blind, deaf, and stupid,
Always poor, and a servant to others. {132}
3.­171
“Illness will be their clothing:
There will be quintillions of sores on their bodies,
And likewise abscesses, itching, and pustules,
And likewise leprosy, white leprosy, and a rotten smell. {133}
3.­172
“They will have a strong belief in a self
And the strength of their anger will be great. [F.38.b]
Their desires will be very powerful
And they will take pleasure in the vaginas of animals. {134}
3.­173
“Śārisuta, if I were from today to describe
For an entire eon the harm that comes
To those who reject this sūtra,
I could not finish describing that harm. {135}
3.­174
“Śārisuta, I have truly taught to you
This very meaning that I see.
You should not teach such a sūtra as this
In the presence of foolish beings. {136}
3.­175
“You should teach this ultimate truth
To those who are learned,218 have heard much Dharma,
And who have mindfulness, are wise, have knowledge,
And are set upon supreme enlightenment. {137}
3.­176
“You should proclaim this ultimate truth
To those who have seen many millions of buddhas,
Who have developed immeasurable merit,
And have a stable, higher motivation. {138}
3.­177
“You should teach this sūtra directly
To those who are diligent and always kind,
Who for a long time have meditated on kindness,
And who have no concern for body or life. {139}
3.­178
“Proclaim this excellent sūtra to those
Who are considerate and respectful to each other,
Who do not rely on fools,
And are happy in mountain caves. {140}
3.­179
“Teach this sūtra
To those children of the buddhas
Whom you see serving kalyāṇamitras,
And who have given up sinful friends. {141}
3.­180
“Recite this sūtra in the presence
Of those children of the buddhas whom you see
To have unimpaired conduct, who are like precious jewels,
And have a vast possession of sūtras. {142}
3.­181
“Recite this sūtra in the presence
Of those who are without anger and always honest,
Who have compassion for all beings,
And are respectful in the presence of the Sugata. {143}
3.­182
“Give the teaching of this sūtra
To those who teach the Dharma in the center of an assembly,
Without impediment, their minds focused,
And who use quintillions of parables, {144}
3.­183
“And to those who with hands in homage upon their head
Are searching for the state of omniscience, [F.39.a]
Who travel in all the ten directions
Seeking a bhikṣu who has the excellent teaching. {145}
3.­184
“You should teach this supreme sūtra
To those who possess extensive sūtras,
Who do not long for anything else,
And do not retain even one verse from anywhere else. {146}
3.­185
“Just as when someone possesses a relic of the Tathāgata,
People go in search of it,
In that way they go in search of this sūtra
And, finding it, place it on the crown of their head. {147}
3.­186
“They never think about other sūtras,
Other worldly treatises that are
In that way the realm of fools.
You should reject them and teach this! {148}
3.­187
“Śāriputra, I could teach for a whole eon
The many thousand million features of those
Who are set upon the supreme, highest enlightenment;
It is in their presence that you should teach this sūtra.” {149}
3.­188

This concludes “The Parable,” the third chapter of the Dharma teaching of “The White Lotus of the Good Dharma.” [B4]


4.
Chapter 4

The Aspiration

4.­1

Then Brother Subhūti, Brother Mahākātyāyana, Mahākāśyapa, and Mahā­maudgalyāyana, having heard from the Bhagavān this kind of Dharma that they had never heard before, and having heard directly from the Bhagavān the prophecy of Brother Śāriputra’s attainment of the highest, supreme enlightenment, were amazed, astonished, and overjoyed.

At that time they rose from their seats, approached the Bhagavān, uncovered one shoulder, knelt on their right knees, and with palms together in homage to the Bhagavān, looking directly at the Bhagavān, they inclined their bodies, they bowed their bodies, they bowed well, bowed perfectly.


5.
Chapter 5

Herbs

5.­1

Then the Bhagavān said to Brother Mahākāśyapa and the other great sthaviras, “Excellent! Excellent, Kāśyapa! It is excellent, Kāśyapa, that you have praised the true qualities of the Tathāgata. Kāśyapa, those are qualities of the Tathāgata. There are immeasurably and innumerably more than those. It would not be easy to enumerate them entirely even in countless eons.


6.
Chapter 6

The Prophecies to the Śrāvakas

6.­1

When the Bhagavān had finished reciting those verses, he announced to the complete saṅgha of bhikṣus, “Oh bhikṣus! I declare to you,278 I make it known to you, that this śrāvaka bhikṣu of mine, Kāśyapa, will serve three hundred billion buddhas, will venerate them, honor them, make offerings to them, praise them, and respect them.279 He will hold the Dharma of those buddha bhagavāns. [F.55.a] In his last life, in an eon named Mahāvyūha, in a world named Avabhāsaprāptā, he will appear in the world as the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha, the one with perfect wisdom and conduct,280 the sugata, the one who knows the world, the unsurpassable guide who tames beings, the teacher of devas and humans, the buddha, the bhagavān named Raśmiprabhāsa. His lifespan will be twelve intermediate eons. His Dharma will remain for twenty intermediate eons, and the outer form of his Dharma will remain for a further twenty intermediate eons. His buddha realm will be pure and clean, without stones, pebbles, or gravel, without chasms or cliffs, without drains or cesspools.281 It will be flat, pleasant, beautiful, delightful, made of beryl, adorned by jewel trees, divided eightfold like a checkerboard by golden cords,282 and filled with flowers. There will be many hundred thousands of bodhisattvas there. There will be countless hundred thousand quintillions of śrāvakas there. The evil Māra and his followers will not appear there. Even if Māra and Māra’s followers were to appear there they would become dedicated to maintaining the Dharma taught by the bhagavān tathāgata Raśmiprabhāsa.”


7.
Chapter 7

The Past

7.­1

“Bhikṣus, in the past, in a time gone by, beyond and even further beyond the most countless, innumerable, incalculable, unquantifiable, inconceivable asaṃkhyeya eons ago, at that time, in that era, in an eon named Mahārūpa, in a world named Saṃbhavā, there appeared in that world the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha, the one with perfect wisdom and conduct, the sugata, the one who knows the world, the unsurpassable guide who tames beings, the teacher of devas and humans, the buddha, the bhagavān named Mahābhijñā­jñānābhi­bhū.


8.
Chapter 8

The Prophecy to the Five Hundred Bhikṣus

8.­1

Brother Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇī­putra, having heard directly from the Bhagavān about this wisdom insight into skillful methods, about the teachings with implied meaning, and having heard the prophecies made to the great śrāvakas, and having heard of the connections with the past, and having heard of the preeminence of the Bhagavān, was astonished and amazed, without worldly concerns, and filled with delight and joy. Then with great delight and joy and great reverence for the Dharma, he rose from his seat, bowed down to the feet of the Bhagavān, [F.75.b] and thought, “Bhagavān, it is wonderful! Sugata, it is wonderful! The tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas accomplish that which is extremely difficult—they teach the Dharma to beings according to the different concerns of the world, through many wisdom insights into skillful methods, and they liberate330 beings attached to this and that.331 Bhagavān, what are we able to do? The Tathāgata is the one who knows our aspirations and our past.”


9.
Chapter 9

The Prophecies to Ānanda, Rāhula, and Two Thousand Bhikṣus

9.­1

At that time, Brother Ānanda thought, “May I obtain a prophecy like these!” Thinking that, contemplating it, and wishing for it, he rose from his seat and bowed down to the Bhagavān’s feet. Brother Rāhula also, thinking, contemplating, and wishing for the same thing, bowed down to the Bhagavān’s feet, and they said, “Bhagavān, may we have such an opportunity! Sugata, may we have such an opportunity! Bhagavān, you are our father, our progenitor, our refuge, our support, and our protector. Bhagavān, we are honored by the world with its devas, humans, and asuras as the sons of the Bhagavān, the attendants of the Bhagavān, and the keepers of the Dharma treasure of the Bhagavān. Therefore, Bhagavān, it would be fitting if the Bhagavān were quickly to give us the prophecy of our attainment of the highest, complete enlightenment.”


10.
Chapter 10

The Dharmabhāṇakas

10.­1

Then the Bhagavān said to the bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja and eighty thousand other bodhisattvas, “Bhaiṣajyarāja, do you see this assembly’s numerous devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans and nonhumans, bhikṣus and bhikṣunīs, upāsakas and upāsikās, and followers of the Śrāvakayāna and the Bodhisattva­yāna who have heard this Dharma teaching directly from the Tathāgata?” [F.84.a]


11.
Chapter 11

The Appearance of the Stūpa

11.­1

Then a stūpa made of the seven precious materials arose from the center of the assembly, directly in front of the Bhagavān. It was five hundred yojanas tall and of a corresponding circumference. Having risen up, it remained suspended in the air, bright and beautiful, adorned with five thousand encircling railings358 covered in flowers, and beautified by many thousands of toraṇas, hung with thousands of sacred flags and banners of victory, [F.89.a] hung with thousands of strings of jewels, hung with thousands of streamers and bells, and emitting the aroma of bay leaves and sandalwood. That aroma spread throughout the entire all-containing world. Its crowning parasol reached as high as the palaces in the paradises of the Four Mahārājas. It was made of the seven precious materials, which are gold, silver, beryl, white coral, emerald, red pearl, and chrysoberyl. At the stūpa, devas of the Trāyastriṃśa paradise scattered coral tree and great coral tree flowers on the precious stūpa, bestrewing it with them, and covering it with them.


12.
Chapter 12

Resolutions

12.­1

Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva Bhaiṣajyarāja and the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mahāpratibhāna, together with a following of two hundred thousand bodhisattvas, facing the Bhagavān, said, “Bhagavān, have no concern over this matter. Bhagavān, we will teach, we will expound this Dharma teaching to beings after the nirvāṇa of the Tathāgata.

“Bhagavān, in that time beings will be wicked, have few roots of merit, be arrogant, be devoted to gain and honor, engage in roots of demerit, be difficult to guide, have no interest, and be filled with disinterest, but, Bhagavān, we will demonstrate the power of patience and in that time we will teach this sūtra, we will uphold it, we will expound it, we will write it out, we will honor it, we will venerate it, and we will make offerings to it. Bhagavān, we will cast aside body and life and teach this sūtra. Therefore, Bhagavān, have no concern.”


13.
Chapter 13

Dwelling in Happiness

13.­1

Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta said to the Bhagavān, “Bhagavān, what these bodhisattva mahāsattvas are resolved to do because of their reverence for the Bhagavān is a difficult task, extremely difficult. Bhagavān, how should these bodhisattva mahāsattvas expound this Dharma teaching in the later times, in a later era?”

The Bhagavān said to Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta, “Mañjuśrī, bodhisattva mahāsattvas should expound this Dharma teaching in the later times, in a later era, by maintaining four qualities. What are these four?


14.
Chapter 14

The Bodhisattvas Emerging Out of the Ground

14.­1

Then the bodhisattvas who had arrived from other world realms, who were as numerous as the grains of sand in eight Ganges Rivers, stood up in the circle of the assembly, bowed to the Bhagavān with hands together in homage, and said these words:

“Bhagavān, if the Bhagavān will permit us, [F.111.a] after the Tathāgata has passed into nirvāṇa, we too will teach this Dharma teaching in the Sahā world realm. We will read it, write it, and make offerings to it. We shall be dedicated to this Dharma teaching. Bhagavān, teach well this Dharma teaching to us.”


15.
Chapter 15

The Lifespan of the Tathāgata

15.­1

Then the Bhagavān said to the complete assembly of bodhisattvas, “Noble ones, have faith and certainty in the true words that I, the Tathāgata, will speak.”

The Bhagavān said a second time, and a third time, to those bodhisattvas, “Noble ones, have faith and certainty in the true words that I, the Tathāgata, will speak. Noble ones, have faith and certainty in the true words that I, the Tathāgata, will speak.”


16.
Chapter 16

The Extent of the Merit

16.­1

When the teaching of the Tathāgata’s lifespan was taught it benefited innumerable, countless beings. The Bhagavān said at that time to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya, “Ajita, when the Dharma teaching that teaches the Tathāgata’s lifespan was given, a hundred thousand quintillion bodhisattvas, as numerous as the grains of sand in sixty-eight Ganges Rivers, developed receptivity to the birthlessness of phenomena.


17.
Chapter 17

Teaching the Merit of Rejoicing

17.­1

Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya asked the Bhagavān, [F.129.a] “Bhagavān, if a noble man or noble woman rejoices after hearing this Dharma teaching explained, how much merit, Bhagavān, does that noble man or noble woman create?” And at that time the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya also addressed to him this verse:

17.­2
“After the nirvāṇa of the great Hero,
How much merit will there be
For someone who listens to this kind of sūtra,
And having heard it, rejoices?” {1}

18.
Chapter 18

The Benefits of the Purity of the Six Āyatanas

18.­1

Then the Bhagavān said to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Satata­samitābhiyukta, “If any noble man or noble woman possesses, reads, teaches, or asks questions about this Dharma teaching, that noble man or noble woman will gain eight hundred qualities of the eyes, will gain twelve hundred qualities of the nose, will gain eight hundred qualities of the ears, will gain twelve hundred qualities of the tongue, will gain eight hundred qualities of the body, and will gain twelve hundred qualities of mind.


19.
Chapter 19

Sadāparibhūta

19.­1

Then the Bhagavān said to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mahā­sthāma­prāpta, “Mahā­sthāma­prāpta, you should know that this Dharma teaching is like this: Whoever rejects this Dharma teaching, and scolds, rebukes, and speaks crudely489 and harshly to the bhikṣus, [F.139.b] bhikṣunīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās who possess such a sūtra as this, will experience the undesirable result ripening from that, which is that they will be unable to speak words. Whoever possesses such a sūtra as this, reads it, studies it, teaches it, and teaches it extensively to others will have the desirable result ripening from that, which is, as I have said before, that they will attain purified eyes, nose, ears, tongue, body, and mind.


20.
Chapter 20

The Tathāgata’s Miracles

20.­1

Then those hundreds of millions of quintillions of bodhisattvas who had emerged from out of the ground, as numerous as the atoms in a world realm, placed their hands together in homage and said to the Bhagavān, “Bhagavān, we will teach this Dharma teaching in all the buddha realms where the Tathāgata has passed into nirvāṇa, and in the buddha realms where the Bhagavān will pass into nirvāṇa.


21.
Chapter 21

Dhāraṇīs

21.­1

498Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva Bhaiṣajyarāja rose from his seat, removed his upper robe from one shoulder, knelt on his right knee, [F.147.a] and with his hands together in homage bowed toward the Bhagavān and said to the Bhagavān, “Bhagavān, how much merit will a noble man or noble woman generate by carrying this Dharma teaching The White Lotus of the Good Dharma on their body or making a text of it?”


22.
Chapter 22

The Past of Bhaiṣajyarāja

22.­1

Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva Nakṣatra­rāja­saṃkusumitābhi­jña said to the Bhagavān, “Bhagavān, through what cause is the bodhisattva mahāsattva Bhaiṣajyarāja active in this Sahā world realm? Bhagavān, he must have undergone many hundred thousands of quintillions of hardships. I request the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the perfectly enlightened Buddha to speak of just a fraction of what the bodhisattva mahāsattva Bhaiṣajyarāja has practiced, so that those who have heard the Bhagavān—the devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans and nonhumans, and the bodhisattva mahāsattvas who have arrived here from other world realms and these great śrāvakas—will all be pleased, delighted, and happy.”


23.
Chapter 23

Gadgadasvara

23.­1

Then at that time the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Śākyamuni emitted light from the ūrṇā hair between his eyebrows, which was a sign of a great being. That light shone throughout hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddha realms in the east, which were as numerous as the grains of sand in eighteen Ganges Rivers. Beyond those hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddha realms, which were as numerous as the grains of sand in eighteen Ganges Rivers, there was the world realm named Vairocana­raśmi­prati­maṇḍitā, in which there lived, was present, and remained the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha named Kamala­dala­vimala­nakṣatra­rāja­saṃkusumitābhi­jña. He was accompanied and revered by an immeasurably great saṅgha of bodhisattvas. Then the ray of light emitted by the bhagavān tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Śākyamuni from his ūrṇā hair shone at that time throughout the world realm Vairocana­raśmi­prati­maṇḍitā.


24.
Chapter 24

Facing Everywhere: The Teaching of the Miracles of Avalokiteśvara

24.­1

596Then the bodhisattva mahāsattva Akṣayamati rose from his seat, removed his upper robe from one shoulder, knelt on his right knee, and with his hands together in homage bowed toward the Bhagavān and asked the Bhagavān, “Bhagavān, why is the bodhisattva mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara called Avalokiteśvara?” [F.164.b]


25.
Chapter 25

The Past of King Śubhavyūha

25.­1

Then the Bhagavān said to the all-inclusive assembly of bodhisattvas, “Noble ones, in the past, in a time gone by, countless eons ago, at that time, in that era, in an eon named Priyadarśana, in a world named Vairocana­raśmi­prati­maṇḍitā, there appeared in that world the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha, the one with perfect wisdom and conduct, the sugata, the one who knows the world’s beings, the unsurpassable guide who tamed beings, the teacher of devas and humans, the buddha, the bhagavān named Jala­dhara­garjita­ghoṣa­susvarana­kṣatra­rāja­saṃkusumitābhi­jña­.


26.
Chapter 26

Samantabhadra’s Encouragement

26.­1

The bodhisattva mahāsattva Samantabhadra, leading a following of countless bodhisattva mahāsattvas, and leading a following of countless devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, humans, and nonhumans, came from the east, and the realms shook, a rain of lotuses fell, and a hundred thousand quintillion musical instruments played. With the great power of a bodhisattva, with the great manifestations of a bodhisattva, with the great miraculous power of a bodhisattva, with the great majesty636 of a bodhisattva, with the great brilliant magnificence of a bodhisattva, with the great way637 of a bodhisattva, with the great miracles of a bodhisattva, and with the great miraculous manifestation of leading a following638 of devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, and nonhumans—it was with such an inconceivable miraculous manifestation that the bodhisattva mahāsattva Samantabhadra came to this Sahā world realm.


27.
Chapter 27

The Entrusting

27.­1

Then the bhagavān, the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Śākyamuni [F.179.b] rose from his Dharma seat and manifested the miracle of his right hand taking hold of the right hands of those in the entire gathering of bodhisattvas. At that time he said, “Noble ones, this highest, complete enlightenment that I accomplished after a hundred thousand quintillion asaṃkhyeya eons I place in your hands: I entrust it to you, I present it to you, and I pass it on to you. Noble ones, you should do whatever will make it extensively widespread.”


c.

Colophon

c.­1

Translated, revised, and finalized by the Indian Upādhyāya Surendrabodhi and the chief editor Lotsawa Bandé Nanam Yeshé Dé.


n.

Notes

n.­1
See Jamieson (2002) for a list of the numerous scholarly works.
n.­2
Karashima (2015).
n.­3
Dessein (2009): 36–37.
n.­4
Zhongxin (1997).
n.­5
Karashima (2001).
n.­6
Karashima (2001): 212.
n.­7
Lopez (2016): 21.
n.­8
Deeg (1999).
n.­9
Groner and Stone (2014): 5.
n.­10
For an English translation of this important text, see Tiantai Lotus Texts (2013).
n.­11
Lopez (2016): 28.
n.­12
Nāgārjuna: folios 148b, 187a, 188b.
n.­13
Maitreya-Asaṅga: folio 64b; verse 2.58.
n.­14
Asaṅga: folio 119b.
n.­15
Vasubandhu: folio 187b.
n.­16
Candrakīrti, dbu ma la ’jug pa’i bshad pa (Madhyamakāvatāra­bhāṣya): folio 345b.
n.­17
Candrakīrti, dbu ma la ’jug pa’i bshad pa (Madhyamakāvatāra­bhāṣya): folio 222a.
n.­18
Śāntideva: folios 56b and 190a.
n.­19
Kamalaśīla: folio 91b.
n.­20
Dharmamitra: folio 21a.
n.­21
Dharmamitra: folio 36b.
n.­22
Dharmamitra: folio 65b.
n.­23
Jānavajra: folios 33a, 119b, 122b, 123b.
n.­24
Daṃṣṭrāsena (ascr.): folio 34a.
n.­25
Abhayākaragupta: folios 148a and 179b.
n.­26
Saitsalak: folios 175b–302a.
n.­27
Lopez (2016): 28–9.
n.­28
Schoening (1996): 119.
n.­29
Wantsik: folios Ti 1a–Di 175a.
n.­30
von Hinüber (2012): 52–67. Also von Hinüber (online lecture 2010).
n.­31
von Hinüber (2012): 1.
n.­32
The other eight are the Lalitavistara (The Play in Full, Toh 95), Prajñāpāramitā (The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses), Daśabhūmika (The Ten Bhūmis, which became a chapter within the Avatamsaka Sūtra), Gaṇḍhavyūha (Array of a Stem, according to the Tibetan translation, which is the last chapter of the Avatamsaka Sūtra), Laṅkāvatāra (The Entry into Laṅka), Samādhirāja (King of Samādhis, Toh 127), Su­varṇa­prabhāsa (The Golden Light), and the Tathāgata­guhyaka (The Secret of the Tathāgatas, better known as the Guhya­samāja Tantra).
n.­33
Lopez (2016): 43.
n.­34
Boucher (2006): 24.
n.­35
Boucher (2006): 14.
n.­36
Lopez (2016): 44.
n.­37
Yuyama (1970): 65–9.
n.­38
Lopez (2016): 44–5.
n.­39
Zengwen (2000): 21.
n.­40
Yuyama (1970): 69.
n.­41
Lopez (2016): 47.
n.­42
Lopez (2016): 47–60.
n.­43
Lopez (2016): 61.
n.­44
Lopez (2016): 78.
n.­45
Lopez (2016): 78–81.
n.­46
Lopez (2016): 83.
n.­47
Lopez (2016): 84–90.
n.­48
Lopez (2016): 105–8.
n.­49
Lopez (2016): 189.
n.­50
Lopez (2016): 193–96, 200–204.
n.­51
Lopez (2016): 204.
n.­52
Lopez (2016): 116–22.
n.­53
For discussion about the background and influence of Burnouf’s translation, see Lopez (2016): 122–67.
n.­54
Lopez (2016): 169.
n.­55
Yuyama (1970): 67.
n.­56
There have been two ways to interpret this traditional beginning of a sūtra, with such Indian masters as Kamalaśīla claiming that both are equally correct. The alternative interpretation is “Thus have I heard: at one time, the Bhagavān…,” and so on. The various arguments, both traditional and modern, for either side are given by Brian Galloway in “Thus have I heard: At one time…,” Indo-Iranian Journal 34, no. 2 (April 1991): 87–104.
n.­57
This figure is from the Sanskrit. The Tibetan in all Kangyurs has twelve thousand, as do the Chinese translations by Kumārajīva (T.262, early fifth century) and by Jñānagupta and Dharmagupta (T.264, early seventh century). The Chinese translation by Dharmarakṣa (T.263, late third century), however, has 1,200 like the Sanskrit, while the other early Chinese translation, which is anonymous, has 42,000 (大比丘眾四萬二千人俱).
n.­58
Sanskrit ājāneya; Tibetan cang shes. Ājāneya was incorrectly defined as meaning “all-knowing” and was translated therefore into Tibetan as cang shes (“all-knowing”). The term ājāneya was primarily used for thoroughbred horses, but was also applied to people in a laudatory sense.
n.­59
This term probably has its origins in being a translation into Sanskrit from the Middle Indic mahānāga, the Sanskrit equivalent of which should have been mahānagna, which has the meaning of “a great champion, a man of distinction and nobility.”
n.­60
According to the BHS abhi­jñatābhijña­ta, where the same word is repeated with different meanings. The Tibetan translates both identically in most Kangyurs as mngon par shes pa mngon par shes pa, and in others such as Degé and Lhasa as mngon par shes pas mngon par shes pa.
n.­61
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: Mahānanda.
n.­62
According to the Sanskrit, Yongle, Lithang, Narthang, Choné, Lhasa, and Stok Palace Kangyurs. The Degé and Comparative Edition have mes byin (“given by fire”) in error for mis byin (“given by men”).
n.­63
According to the Tibetan (literally “hundred thousand ten millions”). The Sanskrit omits the koṭī (“ten million”).
n.­64
The Sanskrit has additionally “divine flowers” and “great flowers.”
n.­65
The Sanskrit is simply pratyekayāna.
n.­66
Literally “a thousand ten-millions” or “tens of billions.”
n.­67
From the Sanskrit śaṅkhaśilā, though the meaning is uncertain. The Tibetan is man shel, which appears to indicate a form of crystal.
n.­68
According to the Sanskrit, which accords with the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Choné Kangyurs. The Degé and Stok Palace read: “supreme yāna” (theg mchog).
n.­69
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: putrī (“daughters”).
n.­70
From the Sanskrit upalakṣayanti and the Stok Palace nye bar rtog par byed. The Degé and all other versions recorded in the Comparative Edition read: nye bar rtogs par byed.
n.­71
From the Sanskrit sabalaṃ savāhanaṃ. The Tibetan translates the words as “with their strength and steeds.”
n.­72
According to the Tibetan; “aggressive” is absent from the Sanskrit.
n.­73
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “And similarly toward abuse, criticism, and threats.”
n.­74
According to the Sanskrit mūlya. The Tibetan has ri (“mountain”) in error for rin (“value”).
n.­75
According to the Tibetan, presumably translating from anya. The Sanskrit has bhūya (“many”).
n.­76
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “and the constant sound of a multitude of bells.”
n.­77
According to the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné Kangyurs: sol. The Degé and Stok Palace read: rtsol.
n.­78
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “Dispel our curiosity, son of the Buddha!”
n.­79
According to the Tibetan. In the Sanskrit, the second half of this verse is the first half of verse 52, and vice versa.
n.­80
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit here repeats the first half of verse 49. The equivalent Sanskrit for these lines forms the second half of verse 53.
n.­81
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur, cung, which accords with the Sanskrit alpa. The Degé and all other witnesses recorded in the Comparative Edition read: chud.
n.­82
Sanskrit: bherī. There is a variety of kettledrums and the bherī is described as a conical or bowl-shaped kettledrum, with an upper surface that is beaten with sticks.
n.­83
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan appears to have translated pratibhāti as the noun spobs pa.
n.­84
It becomes evident that this is another name for Varaprabha.
n.­85
In the verse the Sanskrit is candrasya sūryasya pradīpa (“The lamp of the sun [and] of the moon”).
n.­86
Sanskrit: “many bodhisattvas in the highest wisdom of buddhahood.”
n.­87
According to the Sanskrit, where vināyakānāṃ is clearly plural. Otherwise, one would assume from the Tibetan that this is referring to Śākyamuni’s light ray, as it preserves the order of the Sanskrit so so’i zhing du rnam par ’dren pa yi instead of rnam par ’dren pa yi so so’i zhing du.
n.­88
This is a synonym for Candra­sūrya­pradīpa, presumably used to match the meter of the verse.
n.­89
According to the Sanskrit saṃsthapayitvā, literally translated into Tibetan as kun bkod, which would be “completely established or arranged,” the primary meaning of the Sanskrit word.
n.­90
According to the Sanskrit. There appears to be an error in the Tibetan, which reads “my enlightenment.”
n.­91
According to the Tibetan and Chinese. The Sanskrit has Vimalāgranetra (“Stainless Highest Eyes”) instead of Vimalāṅganetra (“Stainless Limbs and Eyes”). This is synonymous with Vimalanetra.
n.­92
Nirvāṇa means the state of being extinguished, and often in this sūtra, as here, is the past passive participle of the verb “to extinguish”: parinirvṛta. It has here been translated into English as “extinguished” to make intelligible the reference to a flame.
n.­93
According to the Sanskrit śāsane. The Tibetan has bskal pa (kalpa, “eon”) instead.
n.­94
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur, mang pos mchod, which accords with the Sanskrit saṃghapūjita. The Degé and other Kangyurs recorded in the Comparative Edition instead read mang po’i mchog.
n.­95
According to the Tibetan and Chinese. The Sanskrit has tenākuśalena (“through that not-good karma”).
n.­96
The Tibetan ’dren mar is an alternative form of ’dres mar, “mixed,” as it reflects the Sanskrit kalmāṣabhūtena (“mixed,” “alloyed,” or “spotted”).
n.­97
According to Tibetan. Sanskrit: “He will attain the highest, supreme enlightenment.”
n.­98
According to the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, Choné, Lhasa, and Stok Palace Kangyurs: gzhis. The Degé has bzhis (“through four”).
n.­99
According to the Sanskrit. Tibetan: Śāridvataputra.
n.­100
This begins a section that plays with the multiple interlinked valences of the term “dharma” (chos) as “teaching” or “doctrine” (Dharma), which describes the “reality” (dharma) of all “phenomena” (dharmas), the “trainings” (dharmas) necessary to awakened to that reality, and the awakened “qualities” (dharmas) of one who has so awakened. The sense in this particular instance is of course the awakened “qualities” of a thus-gone one. We leave “dharma(s)” (chos) untranslated throughout this section in an attempt to not overly constrain the term’s multiple entendre.
n.­101
According to the Sanskrit compound, while the Tibetan lists “strength” as a distinct unit in the list, resulting in it being mentioned twice.
n.­102
According to the Sanskrit tathāgatasya. The Tibetan translates as de bzhin gshegs pa nyid la, which would more likely render the Sanskrit tathāgatatve; this was perhaps the reading reflected in the Sanskrit manuscript used by the Tibetan translators. The most obvious English translation of tathāgatatve would be, “in tathagātahood,” or “in tathagātaness,” but the term might also involve an idiomatic use of the abstract tva (see Speijer, Sanskrit Syntax, p. 184 #238), in which case the phrase would be rendered: “The tathāgatas should teach the dharmas as tathāgathas.” “As” here would have the sense of “having the status of / in the role of.”
n.­103
According to the Tibetan mkhyen. The Sanskrit has pratyakṣo ’parokṣaḥ (“directly perceived”).
n.­104
“Dharmas” here and throughout the rest of this passage most likely signals awakened “qualities” and “phenomena” in general.
n.­105
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “Enough, Śāriputra!”
n.­106
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “Highest of jinas.”
n.­107
See n.­105.
n.­108
According to the Tibetan. “Parables” is not present in the Sanskrit.
n.­109
According to the Tibetan, translating from taddharma. The Sanskrit has saddharma.
n.­110
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has pas instead of pa’i.
n.­111
See n.­108.
n.­112
The Sanskrit also has “according to the various aspirations, natures, and thoughts of beings.”
n.­113
See n.­108.
n.­114
The Sanskrit also has “according to the various aspirations, natures, and thoughts of beings.”
n.­115
See n.­108.
n.­116
See n.­114.
n.­117
See n.­108.
n.­118
See n.­114.
n.­119
According to the Sanskrit saṃksobha. The Tibetan appears to have ’khrul pa in error for ’khrug pa.
n.­120
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has: “when many beings are bewildered and have few roots of merit.”
n.­121
According to the Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Choné Kangyurs: ’chad, and the Sanskrit deśakāḥ. The Degé has the scribal corruption ’chang (“hold”).
n.­122
According to the BHS avakalpayata. The Tibetan translates as rtogs (“realize”).
n.­123
The Tibetan translates chidra as “torn,” which is one of the other meanings of the word.
n.­124
According to the Tibetan, which is a conceivable rendering of the Classical Sanskrit understanding of the verse and better accords with the sense of the corresponding prose passage above. The Sanskrit reads: apaśyanta imaṃ doṣaṃ chidra­śikṣā­samanvitāḥ / vraṇāṃśca pari­rakṣantaḥ pra­krāntā bāla­buddhayaḥ //. The BHS understanding of this verse would be: “They have impaired training / And do not see this wrong of theirs; / They maintain their flaws, / Have foolish understanding, and have departed.”
n.­125
According to the Sanskrit nāyakāḥ, which is usually translated into Tibetan as ’dren pa, but here as skyobs pa (“refuge,” “protector”).
n.­126
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “all beings.”
n.­127
Literally, sūtra. However, in terms of the classification of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, sūtra refers to the prose passages within the sūtras.
n.­128
According to the Sanskrit balābala (literally, “strength and nonstrength”). Tibetan: mthus dang stobs (“power and strength”).
n.­129
Literally, “sons of the buddhas”: sangs rgyas sras; buddhaputrāḥ.
n.­130
According to the BHS vyakta. The Tibetan translates in accordance with the classical Sanskrit meaning as gsal ba (“clear”), which appears to be less appropriate in this context.
n.­131
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “my highest teaching.”
n.­132
According to the Sanskrit: yathā ca paśyāmi yathā ca cintaye yathā ca saṃ­kalpa mamāsi pūrvam / pari­pūrṇametat pra­ṇidhānu mahyaṃ buddhā ca bodhiṃ ca pra­kāśayāmi //. The Tibetan, however, might very well also make sense in the context. It reads as follows: “Just as I see and just as I thought / And just as I resolved in the past, / My aspirations have been fulfilled, / But having awakened to awakening, I have not taught it” (/ji ltar mthong zhing ji ltar bsams pa dang/ /nga yis sngon chad ji ltar brnags pa de/ /nga yi smon lam de dag yongs rdzogs te/ /byang chub sangs rgyas nas ni ma bstan/).
n.­133
According to Sanskrit bhrameyuḥ, which could also mean “become dizzy.” The Tibetan translates as “become insane.”
n.­134
Literally, buddhaputras.
n.­135
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur mang, which accords with the Sanskrit [a]neke. The other Tibetan versions consulted appear to have a corruption of mang to ngam.
n.­136
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan translates as “piled up from earth and bricks.”
n.­137
This and the previous verse were quoted by Śāntideva in his A Compendium of Trainings (bslab pa kun las btus pa; Śikṣāsamuccaya), 56b. The Tibetan translation had Yeshé Dé as chief editor and therefore used the verses from his committee’s translation of the Lotus Sūtra.
n.­138
According to the Sanskrit pustakarman. The Tibetan interprets it as “modeled from clay” (’jib) even though clay (mṛttika; sa) already appears in the list.
n.­139
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: paṭaha drums. The paṭaha is a cylindrical drum hung from the body and usually played standing up, beating it with drumsticks.
n.­140
A conical or bowl kettledrum, also called a nagada. The upper surface is beaten with sticks; often in pairs, one larger than the other.
n.­141
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “Those who play and cause others to play music / with the pleasing sounds of bherī drums, conches, and paṭaha drums, / making music and beating drums / as an offering to the perfectly enlightened ones” (See Vaidya ed.: vādyā ca vādāpita yehi tatra bheryo ’tha śaṅkhāḥ paṭahāḥ sughoṣakāḥ / nirnāditā dundubhayaśca yehi pūjā­vidhānāya varāgra­bodhinām //).
n.­142
A kettledrum played horizontally, with the hands. It is wider in the middle, with the skin at both ends. One drumhead is smaller than the other. It is a South Indian drum, and maintains the rhythm in Karnataka music.
n.­143
According to the Tibetan rgyud gcig. The Sanskrit for this should be ekatantri. The ekatantri was a popular single-stringed instrument that was made of a long bamboo tube and a gourd resonator. Notes were formed by sliding a short bamboo or wooden rod along the string. However, the text of the sūtra has tunava, which the Mahāvyutpatti states is rgyud gcig, but Sanskrit dictionaries define it as a flute or a drum.
n.­144
According to the Sanskrit ekotsava, which could be interpreted as “solely joyful,” or “solely for festivity.” The Tibetan did not translate it but rendered it as e ko na. Therefore, the Tibetan was using a manuscript that appears to have had ekonnaḍa, which is a variant of ekotsava.
n.­145
According to the Tibetan lcags kyi sil khrol. The Sanskrit jhallarī at present refers to the stringed instrument from South India named jhallari. Burnouf translated as “cymbals of iron.”
n.­146
This refers to the jaltarang, an ancient Indian musical instrument that consists of a semicircle of metal bowls, each with a different quantity of water within them, that are struck with sticks. The Sanskrit here is jalamaṇḍaka, and the Tibetan is chu la brdabs.
n.­147
According to the Sanskrit vikṣipta and the context. It could also mean “distraught,” and the Tibetan ’khrug pa could mean “disturbed.” The Tibetan translates vikṣipta as g.yengs pa (“distracted”) two verses further on.
n.­148
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur and the Sanskrit. Other Tibetan versions consulted have the plural dag.
n.­149
Literally “in tathagātahood” or “in tathagātaness.” Sanskrit: tathāgatatve; Tibetan: de bzhin gshegs pa nyid. It is also possible that tathāgatatve here is an idiomatic use of the abstract tva (see Speijer, Sanskrit Syntax, p. 184 #238): “They will teach the Dharma as a tathāgatha.” “As” here has the sense of “having the status of / in the role of.”
n.­150
Some, but not all translations from the Chinese have here a verse about the insubstantiality of phenomena and buddhahood through dependent origination.
n.­151
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit and Chinese have: “the supreme enlightenment.”
n.­152
According to the Sanskrit and mkhas pa in the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Choné Kangyurs. The Degé has mkhas pas.
n.­153
According to the Sanskrit adhimukta and the Tibetan translation of the same word as smos pa in the next verse. In this verse most Kangyurs have shin tu dag pa (“extreme purity”) and in the Degé it is shin tu dad pa (“strong faith”), which appears to be the intended translation.
n.­154
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has ’dren pa’i instead of ’dren pa, which appears to be an early scribal error.
n.­155
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan omits “fools,” and translates camarī as “yak’s tail,” whereas it is the female for yak (camara). The yak’s tail is more commonly the vṛddhi form cāmara. The Chinese also translates as “yak’s tail.” The explanation in that case is that it is referring to the yak and its relationship to its tail.
n.­156
According to the Sanskrit, which is in the singular. The Tibetan is in the plural.
n.­157
The Chinese appears to add “walking around,” which is derived from the next verse.
n.­158
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has phan tshun ’chag cing gnas.
n.­159
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan and Chinese drop “Īśvara” even though he appears earlier in the sūtra along with the four world guardians and Maheśvara. Both names are elsewhere usually synonymous with Śiva, which may be why it was omitted at this point.
n.­160
According to the Tibetan don. The Sanskrit has Dharma. The Chinese has no object.
n.­161
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan transposes “excellent” to the end of the verse.
n.­162
According to the Sanskrit and Tibetan. The Chinese has “supreme Dharma.”
n.­163
According to the Sanskrit adhimukta. The Tibetan translates as dad pa (“faith”). The Chinese translates as “aspiration for inferior Dharma.”
n.­164
According to the Sanskrit, and in agreement with the Chinese. The Tibetan appears to have translated this as, “They will not have faith in the buddhas.”
n.­165
According to the Sanskrit tāyina, and most Kangyurs. The Degé and Comparative Edition have spyod in error for skyob. In the Chinese the following lines are presented as the Buddha’s thoughts to himself, including the second part of verse 24.
n.­166
According to the Tibetan. There is no clear indication in the Sanskrit where the speech of the Buddha to the other buddhas ends.
n.­167
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has yis in error for yi.
n.­168
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “numerous ten thousand millions.”
n.­169
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “deprived of the scope of wisdom of the tathāgatas, and of the vision of their wisdom.”
n.­170
According to bsdad in the Yongle, Lithang, Choné, Kangxi, and Narthang Kangyurs. The Degé and the Comparative Edition have bsnyad.
n.­171
The Sanskrit also has dharita (“upheld,” “maintained”).
n.­172
From the BHS śītabhūta. The Tibetan translates literally as “become cool.” Absent from the Online Digital Sanskrit Canon.
n.­173
According to the Sanskrit. Absent from the Tibetan, even though it is a repeating line.
n.­174
The Sanskrit here uses the synonym nirvṛti.
n.­175
The Sanskrit here is nirvṛta.
n.­176
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur byas, which accords with the Sanskrit and Chinese. The Degé and other witnesses recorded in the Comparative Edition appear to translate the verb in the future tense: bya.
n.­177
The Chinese translates the Sanskrit phrase dīrgharātra over-literally as “long night.”
n.­178
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan is literally “with good harvests.”
n.­179
According to the Sanskrit aṣṭapada, which apparently has the meaning of “eight sections” (vertically and horizontally), like a checkerboard or chessboard, the game of chess having originated in its earliest form in the first centuries of the first millennium in India, where board games were very popular. Therefore this appears to be a specific reference to the eight-by-eight squares gameboard, and has been translated by Tsugunari and Akira as “like a chessboard,” or by Kern as “like a checker board.” Other English translations of the Chinese have interpreted this as “eight intersecting roads.”
n.­180
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. The Tibetan has interpreted bhūyasa to mean “most of.”
n.­181
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. The Tibetan appears to be based on a corrupt text: “practiced celibacy for many hundreds of thousands of years.”
n.­182
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. Tibetan: “dressed.”
n.­183
Commonly referred to as the Deer Park, though the Sanskrit mṛgadāva and the Tibetan ri dwags nags mean “deer forest.”
n.­184
According to the Tibetan, and Vaidya, Wogihara, Burnouf, and Kern, who follow the Nepalese Sanskrit manuscript tradition. The Central Asian fragments have adya instead of ārya. The Middle Indic form of both words was ajja, and the difference between the two manuscript traditions reflects a different choice in the Sanskritization of the Middle Indic. If ajja meant adya, the verse would read: “Great hero, we are overjoyed by / The great rishi’s words with implied meaning. / Just as in the prophecy / Today to the fearless Śāriputra…” “Fearless” translates the BHS meaning of viśārada.
n.­185
According to the Tibetan and Chinese. The Sanskrit has “and sorrow.”
n.­186
Earlier, the number of śrāvakas was said to be one thousand two hundred. This discrepancy is in both the Tibetan and Sanskrit.
n.­187
According to one of the BHS meanings of vigata-nivāraṇa (also nīvaraṇa). The Tibetan translates according to the more common Sanskrit meaning, “free of obscuration.”
n.­188
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “other carts.”
n.­189
The Sanskrit that “great cart” is translated from is mahāyāna, which in the context of Buddhist teachings is translated as “the great way” or “the great vehicle.” In translation this wordplay is lost.
n.­190
The word “listening” in Sanskrit, śrava (Tibetan: thos), is used here as this passage is describing the śrāvakas (nyan thos), literally “listeners.”
n.­191
The Sanskrit for “conditions” is pratyaya. This is explaining the reason for the term pratyeka­buddha, which is defined in other texts as “buddhahood through [contemplation of] dependent or conditional [origination]”; this is also the Chinese translation of this term. Therefore, in the original Middle Indic language of the sūtra, pratyaya and pratyeka (meaning “solitary”) may well have been homonyms, and the discrepancy here is a result of the Sanskritization of the original Middle Indic.
n.­192
According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan has a scribal error in all Kangyurs consulted of bden (“truth”) for bde ba (“bliss”).
n.­193
There is a play on words in the Sanskrit that is lost in translation. Varṇa has many meanings, such as “class,” “kind,” and “caste,” but is also used for “color” in this parable.
n.­194
There is a play on words in the Sanskrit that is lost in translation. Upadarśayitva can be both “he promised,” as in the parable, and “he taught,” as in the explanation of the meaning.
n.­195
According to the Tibetan. The word for “bamboo” can also be interpreted to mean “rafter” or “beam.”
n.­196
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit and Chinese: “those with weak merit.”
n.­197
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “burning excrement.” The Chinese does not specify what is burning.
n.­198
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “Are burned by hunger and heat.”
n.­199
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. The Tibetan gives the impression that he is just thinking of doing that.
n.­200
According to the Tibetan, which may have misunderstood the Sanskrit grammar: “Of what use were my sons if I become without sons?”
n.­201
According to one meaning of the Sanskrit niśāmya. The Tibetan translates as “knowing.”
n.­202
According to the Sanskrit and the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, Choné, and Lhasa Kangyurs. The Degé and the Comparative Edition have rangs (“rejoiced”) instead of rings.
n.­203
There is a play on words in the Sanskrit that is lost in translation. Nirvṛta can mean both “being happy, at peace, etc.,” and also “to have attained nirvāṇa.”
n.­204
According to the Sanskrit, Degé, and Comparative Edition. Most Kangyurs have gter instead of mthu.
n.­205
The Sanskrit has “gold coins” and the Tibetan has “cowries,” both of which were used as currency.
n.­206
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “herons and geese.”
n.­207
It is assumed that the reader will know this refers to silver coins, the raupya, which is the origin of the present-day word rupee, which was itself tied to the value of silver until the end of the nineteenth century.
n.­208
The wordplay of the Sanskrit (the Sanskrit for cart is yāna) is lost in translation.
n.­209
According to the Tibetan, which may have been translating from a corrupt manuscript that had yāneṣu instead of kāmeṣu. The Sanskrit and Chinese all have “inferior desires.”
n.­210
According to the Sanskrit and the Yongle, Kangxi, Narthang, and Lhasa Kangyurs. The others consulted have srid pa (“existence,” “becoming”).
n.­211
According to the Hybrid Sanskrit aniśrita, which could also be translated as “emancipation.” The Tibetan translates as “not dwelling.”
n.­212
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit does not have the negative. The Chinese interprets this as saying that both Śāriputra and the other śrāvakas can only be devotees of this sūtra through aspiration and not from direct knowledge.
n.­213
According to the Sanskrit kaśadaṇḍa. The Tibetan appears to have translated from a text that read śatadaṇda (“a hundred sticks”).
n.­214
According to the BHS kuṇṭhaka. The Tibetan translates as “black.”
n.­215
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. The Tibetan appears to have misinterpreted this line, translating yakṣagraha as “yakṣas and demons” instead of “possessed by yakṣas,” so that the Tibetan reads: “And their bodies will be harmed by yakṣas and demons.”
n.­216
According to the Tibetan, which appears to be a rather free translation of the Sanskrit: “They will have many kinds of pain / miseries.”
n.­217
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. “Dog” is absent from the Tibetan translation.
n.­218
According to BHS vyakta. Translated into Tibetan according to the classical meaning as gsal (“clear”), as in the Degé, but in most Kangyurs it is corrupted to btsal (“seeking”).
n.­219
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: tato vayaṃ bhagavan bhagavato dharmaṃ deśayamānasya śūnyatānimittāpraṇihitaṃ sarvamāviṣkurmaḥ |. The Sanskrit might be rendered as: “Therefore, Bhagavān, we did not perceive any of the emptiness, absence of attributes, and absence of aspiration in the Dharma teaching of the Bhagavān, and we did not wish for the display of the buddha realms, the play of bodhisattvas, or the play of tathāgatas that were in these dharmas of the Buddha.”
n.­220
In this intriguing statement the syntax of both the Tibetan and the Sanskrit make it clear that—surprising though it may be—the śrāvaka disciples are the subject of the first clause and that it is indeed they who taught the bodhisattvas. In Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation, the equivalent sentence is interpreted in a less unexpected way. The Tibetan in all Kangyurs has the verb lung bstan pa both for the Sanskrit ava­vadita in this sentence, as well as for the Sanskrit vyākaraṇa in the sentence that follows. The Tibetan verb can have the meaning “prophesy,” as it does in the second sentence, but it primarily means “explain” or “elucidate.” Conversely, however, the meaning of ava­vadita does not include “prophesy” (unlike vyākaraṇa, which does). For another, similar statement, see 4.­29 below; see also 8.9-10.
n.­221
According to the Sanskrit amārgita. The Degé and Comparative Edition have bslangs (“taken up”) and most other Kangyurs have bslabs (“trained”).
n.­222
According to the Sanskrit vaiṣṭiko vā gṛhyeya.
n.­223
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has “continuous fear.”
n.­224
According to the BHS pratyabhi­jānīyāt. The Tibetan translates as “astonished.”
n.­225
According to Tibetan. Sanskrit: “should not be beaten, killed, and destroyed.”
n.­226
According to Sanskrit mūrchita. The Tibetan translates as “crazy.”
n.­227
Literally, “Hey, you, man.”
n.­228
According to the Sanskrit dur­varṇāvalpaujaskau. The Tibetan translates as “bad color and bad luster,” the word for “caste” and “color” being the same in Sanskrit. Ojas can mean “impressive appearance” as well as “luster” or “splendor.”
n.­229
The Sanskrit has “a double daily wage.”
n.­230
In this passage, this repeated phrase means literally “Oh, man!”
n.­231
The Sanskrit saktu specifies that it is a coarse ground meal.
n.­232
According to the Sanskrit syntax and a BHS meaning of udāra, this might mean “crude,” instead of “heightened.” The Tibetan translates according to the classical meaning of “lofty” or “vast” (rgya cher), which is also reflected in the corresponding verse below.
n.­233
The Sanskrit has in addition na saṃbhinatti that Burnouf translates as “did not mix with us” and Kern translates similarly, although “did not abandon us” is also a possible meaning.
n.­234
According to the Sanskrit syntax. The Tibetan breaks this up into two sentences.
n.­235
According to the Tibetan and Chinese. The Vaidya Sanskrit has kāṅkṣāṃ kuryuḥ su­dur­medhāstato bhraṣṭā bhrameyu te: “One with very poor intelligence would have doubts; Having gone astray, he would wander.”
n.­236
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan omits “much” and “silver.”
n.­237
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan omits “conch.”
n.­238
According to the Sanskrit vallabha (vallabhu in the sūtra’s BHS).
n.­239
According to the Sanskrit. Tibetan: “because of having power over many needs.”
n.­240
According to the Sanskrit śarana, which could also be translated as “shelter,” “home,” or as translated in the Tibetan, as “house,” but there appears to be a deliberate wordplay here.
n.­241
The Sanskrit adds “dark-skinned.”
n.­242
According to the BHS pratisāmayet = pratiśāmayet, which could also mean “arrange” (cf. the Pali paṭisāmeti). Translated into Tibetan as sbed pa, which could be interpreted as “conceal, hide.”
n.­243
According to Sanskrit kutumba, more literally “household,” “care of the family,” and so on. The Tibetan has “slaves and servants.”
n.­244
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has “path to supreme enlightenment.”
n.­245
Here there is a wordplay in Sanskrit, as the Sanskrit for “we shall proclaim” is saṃśrāvayiṣyam. The Tibetan has attempted to reflect that by translating śrāvaka in this verse as sgrogs pa (“proclaimers”) instead of the usual nyan thos (“listeners,” i.e., “disciples”).
n.­246
Here there is a wordplay in the Sanskrit, as the Sanskrit for “be worthy” is arhāmahe. The Tibetan has attempted to reflect that by translating arhat in this verse as ’os pa (“worthy ones”), a more literal translation of arhat than the usual dgra bcom pa (“enemy defeaters”).
n.­247
According to the Sanskrit vimala. The Tibetan has “great.”
n.­248
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. The Tibetan has “through a hundred thousand,” omitting “causes,” perhaps from a corrupt Sanskrit text that had śatasahasrehi instead of hetusahasrehi.
n.­249
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur, and the Sanskrit and Chinese. The other Tibetan versions consulted have kyi in error for kyis (genitive instead of instrumental) after “Tathāgata,” so that it reads as “the conduct of the Tathāgata.”
n.­250
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur rigs, and the Sanskrit yukti. The other Tibetan versions consulted have rig in error for rigs.
n.­251
According to the Tibetan. The BHS has “shoots, tender stalks, branches, leaves, foliage.”
n.­252
According to the Sanskrit and most Kangyurs consulted. The Degé and the Comparative Edition have spobs (“eloquence,” “confidence”) instead of stobs.
n.­253
In Sanskrit, martya means literally “mortals.”
n.­254
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur sman, and the Sanskrit oṣadhī. The other Tibetan versions consulted have dman (“inferior”) in error for sman (“herb”).
n.­255
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has nirukti (“definitions”).
n.­256
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has dharmatā (“the nature of the Dharma”).
n.­257
According to the Sanskrit niṣpādayī and the Yongle and Kangxi Kangyurs bsten. The Degé has bstan (“teach”).
n.­258
In the Chinese version the chapter concludes at this point.
n.­259
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has “born” instead of “superfluous,” which appears to be a corruption.
n.­260
According to the BHS samudāgamāya. The Tibetan translates as sdud, which could be interpreted as “gathering together.”
n.­261
According to the Sanskrit, and the Lhasa and Stok Palace Kangyurs. Other Kangyurs consulted have zhi (“pacified”) in error for bzhi (“four”).
n.­262
Sarva­varṇa­rasa­sthānānugatā.
n.­263
Sarva­vyādhi­pramocanī.
n.­264
Sarva­viṣa­vināśanī.
n.­265
Yathā­sthāna­sthita­sukha­pradā.
n.­266
According to the Tibetan and in agreement with Burnouf. The Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit and Kern have “six.”
n.­267
The Comparative Edition has des in error for nges; the Stok Palace Kangyur has nges and the Sanskrit has niścita (online Vaidya: niṃścita).
n.­268
According to the Sanskrit vihīna. The Tibetan has btul (“subdued”).
n.­269
The second half of this verse does not appear in Tibetan: “Through hundreds of skillful methods / He constantly teaches the Dharma to beings” (See Vaidya ed., tenopāyaśatair­nityaṃ dharmaṃ deśeti prāṇinām //).
n.­270
Sarva­varṇa­rasa­sthānā. In the prose it has a longer form of the name: Sarva­varṇa­rasa­sthānānugatā.
n.­271
According to the Sanskrit mahā and the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné Kangyurs. The Degé and Comparative Edition have tshe in error for che.
n.­272
According to the Tibetan, which appears to be a free translation of avartmanaḥ (“to repeat,” “to continue with”).
n.­273
According to the Sanskrit sarvavid. Absent from the Tibetan.
n.­274
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit is in the singular.
n.­275
Only half of this verse appears to have been translated into Tibetan, thereby altering the meaning. In comparison, the Sanskrit has: “I then teach to them, / ‘This is not what is called nirvāṇa; / It is through understanding the entire Dharma / that immortal nirvāṇa is attained’ ” (see Vaidya, ed.: tāmeva tatra prakāśemi naitannirvāṇa­mucyate / sarva­dharmāvabodhāttu nirvāṇaṃ prāpyate ’mṛtam //).
n.­276
The Sanskrit has this as a six-line verse instead of the usual four lines.
n.­277
The Tibetan has the first half only of the Sanskrit verse, the second half of which is: “And all the imperfect and the immaculate, / which are peace, and are equal to space” (Vaidya, ed.: sāsravānāsravāḥ śāntāḥ sarve gagana­saṃnibhāḥ).
n.­278
According to the BHS ārocayāmi. The Tibetan mos par bya could be interpreted as “make you aspire.”
n.­279
According to the Sanskrit. The last two activities are absent from the Tibetan, but when this passage is repeated further on in this chapter they are included in the Tibetan, and so there appears to be an unintended omission here.
n.­280
According to the commentary this refers to the eightfold path, with wisdom being the right view and conduct being the other seven aspects of the path.
n.­281
According to the BHS gūtholigalla. The Tibetan translates obscurely as sme ba (“spots”).
n.­282
See n.­179.
n.­283
According to the Sanskrit bhikṣavaḥ. The Tibetan could be interpreted as meaning “this bhikṣu.”
n.­284
According to the commentary, this refers to the eightfold path, with wisdom being the right view and conduct being the other seven aspects of the path.
n.­285
According to the BHS gūtholigalla. The Tibetan translates obscurely as sme ba (“spots”).
n.­286
According to the BHS ārocayāmi. The Tibetan mos par bya could be interpreted as “make you aspire.”
n.­287
See n.­286.
n.­288
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has the plural here.
n.­289
Only four students are given prophecies in this chapter, the fifth presumably being Śāriputra, whose prophecy was given in chapter 3. The Chinese interprets this as “five hundred.”
n.­290
According to the Sanskrit. “Second” is absent from the Tibetan.
n.­291
See n.­290.
n.­292
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese.”Weeping” is absent from the Tibetan.
n.­293
According to the Sanskrit āryaka, which the Tibetan (and Burnouf and Kern from the Sanskrit) translates by its alternative meaning, “noble.” The Chinese translates as “grandfather,” which appears to be the intended meaning here, and explains why the sons are called “princes.”
n.­294
According to the Sanskrit and the Yongle, Kangxi, Choné, and Stok Palace Kangyurs. The Degé and the Comparative Edition are missing part of the sentence.
n.­295
The narrative is somewhat obscure at this point. It is evident later in the passage that the Brahmās have gathered in one place, and they also live in palaces that fly, and therefore this may mean that they have gathered together through each having come there in their own home.
n.­296
The Degé Kangyur’s 62b is an accidental printing of 142b and therefore this page is missing in that edition.
n.­297
This phrase is an interpolation to make the meaning clearer. For “airborne palace” (Vimāna), see glossary.
n.­298
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “five quintillion” (five hundred thousand times ten million).
n.­299
See n.­295.
n.­300
The last line of this four-line verse is absent from the Tibetan. According to the Sanskrit (adhimātraṃ yaśasvinaḥ), the last two lines would be, “Today our airborne palaces are beautified / with exceptional splendor.”
n.­301
See n.­297.
n.­302
According to the Sanskrit jīvaloka and the Stok Palace Kangyur ’tsho ba’i ’jig rten. Instead of ’tsho ba, the Degé and most Kangyurs have tshol ba; Choné has tshor ba, and Yongle has tshong ba.
n.­303
According to the Sanskrit. The Chinese appears to have translated the number as a hundred and eighty, as does Burnouf, because of the tricky syntax of this verse: “it has been a hundred and eighty eons since the world has had a buddha.” The Tibetan, even with the above variant reading in the Stok Palace Kangyur, appears corrupt: “A full hundred eons in this world of beings / Has been equal to eighty buddhas.”
n.­304
According to the Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit. The Tibetan, and the Burnouf translation from a Hodgson manuscript, have “eighty hundred thousand.”
n.­305
According to the BHS leṇa. The Tibetan translates as gnas.
n.­306
See n.­295.
n.­307
See n.­297.
n.­308
See n.­295.
n.­309
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has here translated parisphuṭa as “pervaded.”
n.­310
See n.­297.
n.­311
According to the Tibetan.
n.­312
According to the Tibetan.
n.­313
The Tibetan has interpreted this as “having doubts” and the sixteen mendicants were grouped with the śrāvakas. The question is whether vicikitsa is actually avicikitsa, which in this BHS may simply have the a elided and implied. Dharmarakṣa’s translation into Chinese has “without doubt”; Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation has “having doubt.” Burnouf translates from the Sanskrit as “having doubt,” while Kern translates as “without doubt.” In terms of the logic of the narrative it is here translated as “without doubt.”
n.­314
Sanskrit: bodhi­sattva mahā­sattva.
n.­315
According to the Sanskrit gatiṃgata. The Tibetan repeats this in what appear to be two alternate translations.
n.­316
There is a wordplay here, as the word for “relief from misery” is nirvāṇa.
n.­317
According to one meaning of the Sanskrit śīti. The Tibetan translates as “cool.”
n.­318
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan translation appears to interpret this as the Jina “sorrowing.”
n.­319
According to the Sanskrit deva manuṣyā and the Lhasa, Narthang, and Stok Palace Kangyurs. Other Kangyurs consulted have lha min (asuras) in error for lha mi (“devas and humans”).
n.­320
The Sanskrit has the synonym bhujaga (“serpent”).
n.­321
According to the Sanskrit, and the Stok Palace and Yongle Kangyurs. Other Kangyurs consulted have bzhi (“four”) in error for ba’i.
n.­322
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “All became mendicants.”
n.­323
According to the Tibetan and Burnouf and, presumably, from jāta. The Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit and Kern have “supreme among all jinas.”
n.­324
According to the Sanskrit caritva. The Tibetan has spyan (“eyes”) in error for spyad.
n.­325
According to the Sanskrit vyakta. The Tibetan translates as another of its meanings: “bright.”
n.­326
According to the Tibetan dpa’. Sanskrit: dhīra (“wise”).
n.­327
According to the Sanskrit samānayitvā. The Tibetan translates as “honored them,” a possible alternate meaning.
n.­328
According to the Sanskrit and almost all Kangyurs consulted. The Degé has deng (“today”) instead of nga (“I”).
n.­329
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. The Tibetan has “realization of suffering,” as does apparently the Hodgson manuscript as Burnouf and Kern translate in that way.
n.­330
According to the Sanskrit pramocayanti and, in part, the Stok Palace Kangyur ’grol ba. The other Tibetan versions consulted have ’grel ba; a Tibetan translation of the causative Sanskrit verb form would more likely be sgrol ba.
n.­331
The syntax is according to the Sanskrit; the Tibetan reverses the order of the sentences.
n.­332
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has ngas in error for nga’i.
n.­333
According to the Sanskrit. Tibetan: “I am the last.”
n.­334
According to the Yongle, Kangxi, and Choné Kangyurs ’doms. The Comparative Edition and Degé have ’dems.
n.­335
According to the Sanskrit kṛtya and the Yongle and Kangxi Kangyurs bya. Other Kangyurs consulted have bye (“ten million”).
n.­336
Sanskrit: “Will be pure and practitioners of celibacy.”
n.­337
According to the Sanskrit sadhu, and legs in all Kangyurs consulted except the Degé and Stok Palace, which have len.
n.­338
The Sanskrit uses the synonym marut, in its BHS form marū.
n.­339
The Sanskrit has “After me, today.”
n.­340
yi du ’ong ba’i sgra mngon par bsgrags pa (“The Resounding of Beautiful Sounds”).
n.­341
According to the BHS ārocayāmi. The Tibetan translates as mos pa.
n.­342
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur (brgyad stong), Kern’s Sanskrit, and the Chinese. Vaidya’s Sanskrit and Burnouf have “a thousand”; other Tibetan Kangyurs consulted have “a hundred thousand,” brgya stong, probably a scribal error for brgyad stong.
n.­343
According to the Tibetan and Burnouf, and Kern’s translation of the Sanskrit kaḥ punarvādaḥ śrāvakāṇām. The Chinese translates as “Why is it told to the śrāvakas?”
n.­344
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur and the Sanskrit. The other Tibetan versions consulted have me tog (“flower”) in error for tog (“crest adornment”).
n.­345
In the Sanskrit, for the meter of the verse the compound name is broken into its constituents: ratnasya ketū.
n.­346
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “obtains it.”
n.­347
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan omits one number (“equaling ten million”), presumably for reasons of brevity in the verse.
n.­348
In these last two lines, “dharmabhāṇaka” and “merit” are implied but not actually stated. The Tibetan adds “merit.” The Chinese adds “dharmabhāṇaka.”
n.­349
The Chinese interprets this passage differently as the description of someone who has made offerings to the dharmabhāṇakas for the lesser number of eighty million eons. The Chinese also has another verse here, which is in prose in the present Sanskrit and Tibetan.
n.­350
According to the Sanskrit ārocayāmi te bhaiṣajya­rāja, prati­vedayāmi te. The Tibetan appears to have “you must aspire to and understand!” The first of those verbs has been regularly mistranslated as mos pa based on its meaning in Classical Sanskrit instead of BHS.
n.­351
According to the Tibetan and apparently Burnouf’s Sanskrit. The Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit have ādhyātmika (“spiritual”) and not abhijña, and Kern translates accordingly.
n.­352
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has “that place should be honored as if it was a stūpa,” which does not fit with what precedes and follows.
n.­353
According to the Sanskrit mukhaṃ. The Tibetan has ngo bo (“essence,” “nature”) in error for ngo.
n.­354
According to the Sanskrit singular. The Tibetan has the plural.
n.­355
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has, “The wise one, unafraid, speaks [it]” (abhīto bhāṣi paṇḍitaḥ).
n.­356
According to the BHS and Pali. Could also be “swords.” The Tibetan has the more specific “short spear,” which is a possible meaning, but seems too specific in this context.
n.­357
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “And the assembly also the same.”
n.­358
According to the Sanskrit vedikā. The Tibetan translates as stegs bu, “platforms,” Burnouf as “balconies,” and Kern as “terraces.” However, vedikā here refers to the railings in which the toraṇas, or “gateways,” are set. While the vedikās do serve as railings for elevated platforms, which serve as circumambulatory walkways, they also encircle the stūpa on the surrounding flat ground.
n.­359
The following passage spoken by the stūpa is only found in certain Tibetan versions. It is absent from the Sanskrit and Chinese. Among the Kangyurs consulted, it is absent from the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné Kangyurs, but it is found in the Degé (and therefore the Comparative Edition), Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok Palace editions. This translation is based primarily on the Degé / Comparative Edition version and therefore includes this passage.
n.­360
According to ’dul ba in the Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok Palace Kangyurs. The Degé / Comparative Edition has ’dus ba (“gathered”).
n.­361
Among the Kangyurs consulted, the conclusion of the passage is found only in the Degé, Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok Palace editions.
n.­362
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “hundred of thousands of quintillions.”
n.­363
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. The Tibetan appears to have misinterpreted the first sentence as a prayer also and added the verb “to pray” within the sentence, which is understandable because it follows the statement that the Buddha made a prayer, but the verbs in this sentence are in the past tense. The Tibetan by necessity of its interpretation translates them as being in the future, even though this contradicts the other narratives in the sūtra where bodhisattvas do not previously know about the existence of this sūtra: “In the past when I was practicing bodhisattva conduct, I prayed, ‘May the highest, complete enlightenment not arise while I have not heard the instruction to bodhisattvas, the Dharma teaching, The White Lotus of the Good Dharma. May I attain the highest, complete enlightenment after I have heard this Dharma teaching, The White Lotus of the Good Dharma.’ ”
n.­364
From the BHS meaning of adhiṣṭhāna, translated into Tibetan as byin gyis brlabs, which is usually translated into English as “blessing.” The following passage is clearly in the optative and is the prayer made by the Buddha.
n.­365
Literally, “through the power of the Bhagavān.”
n.­366
From the BHS guruka. The Tibetan translates as lci ba (“heavy”) here in the sense of “weighty,” “important.”
n.­367
According to the Sanskrit, literally “self [and] second, self [and] third.” The Tibetan reads as “self and two or self and three.”
n.­368
See n.­179.
n.­369
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur rim bzhin; the Degé and other Kangyurs consulted have ri bzhin. The Sanskrit and Chinese have “corresponding size.”
n.­370
According to the Sanskrit pṛthivīpradeśa, which the Tibetan translates simply as phyogs, which could be interpreted to mean “direction.”
n.­371
According to the Sanskrit and the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, Choné, and Stok Palace Kangyurs yongs su dag pa. The Lhasa and Degé / Comparative Edition have yongs su gang ba (“completely filled”).
n.­372
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “The Bhagavān Tathāgata offers this, wishing for the precious stūpa to be opened.”
n.­373
According to the Tibetan bskams and the Sanskrit pariśuṣka. Kern translates from the Sanskrit as “emaciated.” However, Burnouf, having first translated as desséchés (“dessicated”), corrected himself on seeing another Sanskrit manuscript with pariśuddha (“perfectly pure”), and the Chinese translation was evidently from such a version. However, the eighth-century Gilgit rock drawings depicting Śākyamuni, Prabhūtaratna, and the stūpa clearly show Prabhūtaratna to have a withered body, and therefore must have been based on a text that had pariśuṣka, while in Chinese depictions, Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna have identical bodies.
n.­374
The Sanskrit adds “in the middle of the assembly.”
n.­375
According to the Sanskrit dṛṣṭvā and the Yongle and Kangxi Kangyurs mthong. Other Kangyurs consulted have thos (“heard”).
n.­376
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan conjoins “together with the Tathāgata” with the following sentence.
n.­377
According to the Tibetan, apparently translating from mūrchita. Others have interpreted mūrchita to mean “intoxicates” (Burnouf and Kern) or “brings joy” (Chinese), which is another of its meanings.
n.­378
In this verse in the Sanskrit, Prabhūtaratna’s name is given an extra syllable: Prabhūtaratana.
n.­379
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “teach for a moment.”
n.­380
According to the Sanskrit adahyanta and the Chinese translation. Tibetan: “a load of straw while it is burning.”
n.­381
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “five higher knowledges.”
n.­382
According to the Sanskrit priyaṃ, the Chinese, and dga’ in the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Choné Kangyurs. The Degé, Lhasa, and Stok Palace have dka’ (“difficulty”). The Central Asian version has mama instead of mahat so that the line would read, “Brings pleasure to me and the lords of the world.”
n.­383
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “Guide / leader of humans.”
n.­384
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit could be interpreted as being by the bed and holding his feet, as in Burnouf and Kern. The Chinese interprets it as meaning he offered his own body as the bed.
n.­385
According to the BHS ārocayāmi. The Tibetan mos par bya could be interpreted as “make you aspire.”
n.­386
The Sanskrit has the longer series of epithets more common in prophecies.
n.­387
According to the Tibetan, Chinese, two Hodgson Sanskrit manuscripts, and Kern. The Vaidya and Wogihara have “sixty hundred” and Burnouf translated from a manuscript that read “sixty hundred,” i.e., “six thousand,” although he admits that sixty is already “suffisamment merveilleux” (“marvelous enough”).
n.­388
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has in addition, “have no uncertainty.”
n.­389
Earlier in this chapter it was said to be in the east.
n.­390
According to the Sanskrit sattva and sems can in the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Choné Kangyurs. The Degé, Lhasa, and Stok Palace have sems (“mind”).
n.­391
According to the Tibetan and Burnouf. Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit, and Kern: “who is named a wise one because of his wisdom.”
n.­392
According to the Sanskrit niścitaṃ, and the Degé nges. The Comparative Edition has des.
n.­393
According to the Tibetan and the Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit. Burnouf translated from śuddham śuddhaṃ (“pure, pure”) instead of puṇyaṃ puṇyaṃ.
n.­394
According to the Tibetan. In the Sanskrit and Chinese it is a question: “Why are you standing…?”
n.­395
According to the Sanskrit: ārocayāmi te bhaiṣajya­rāja, prati­vedayāmi te. The Tibetan appears to have, “you must aspire to and understand!” The first of those verbs has been regularly mistranslated as mos pa based on its meaning in Classical Sanskrit instead of BHS.
n.­396
Kern and Burnouf: “eight hundred thousand.” Vaidya and Wogihara: “eighty hundred thousand quintillion.” Chinese: “eighty quintillion.”
n.­397
According to the Sanskrit suduṣkara. The Degé and Comparative Edition have dga’ (“joy”) in error for dka’ (“difficult”).
n.­398
The Sanskrit is in the BHS form: tīrthya.
n.­399
According to the Tibetan sil khrol byed pa. The Sanskrit jhalla has the meaning of “prize-fighter,” i.e., “boxer.” The Chinese translates as “boxer.”
n.­400
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has in addition “does not delight in.”
n.­401
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit also has śauṇḍa (“drunks”). Burnouf: “liquor-sellers”; Kern: “jugglers.” There appears to be no obvious parallel in the Chinese.
n.­402
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has the non-gender-specific dge bsnyen rnams instead of dge bsnyen ma.
n.­403
According to the BHS tā, while the Tibetan is not gender specific.
n.­404
According to one meaning of kauśalya. The Tibetan translates as mkhas (“wise”).
n.­405
According to the Sanskrit aurabhrika. The Tibetan translates as shan pa (“slaughterer”).
n.­406
See n.­399.
n.­407
According to the Sanskrit jātātha (jāta + atha). Translated into Tibetan as yang dag nyid, presumably from a corruption in a Sanskrit manuscript.
n.­408
According to the BHS manyana (which also occurs elsewhere in the form manyanā). The Tibetan has translated it according to its alternative meaning of “pride,” which does not appear to fit the context here.
n.­409
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur gtong and the Sanskrit vijahati. The Degé and other Kangyurs consulted have mthong (“see”) in error for btong (“relinquish,” “give up,” and so on).
n.­410
According to the Sanskrit tṛtīyena dharmeṇa. The Tibetan translates as “these three qualities.”
n.­411
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur yang dag par bgro ba and the Sanskrit saṃgīti. The Degé and other Kangyurs consulted have yang dag par ’gro ba (“going correctly”).
n.­412
According to all Kangyurs consulted except for Stok Palace. Stok accords with the Sanskrit in not having the negative, but instead having “beings who are dedicated…” The translations from Sanskrit of Burnouf and Kern follow suit. The Chinese has “beings who are not bodhisattvas.”
n.­413
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. This chapter is primarily describing at length the four qualities referred to at the beginning of the chapter. Tibetan: “four qualities.”
n.­414
According to the Sanskrit. “Anklets” is absent from the Tibetan.
n.­415
Elephant riders, cavalry, charioteers, and infantry.
n.­416
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “attracting / seducing them with nirvāṇa.”
n.­417
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “the last of his possessions.”
n.­418
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur mtha’o and the Sanskrit paścima. The Degé / Comparative Edition and other Kangyurs consulted instead have mthu’o.
n.­419
According to the Tibetan and Chinese. The Sanskrit and the translations of Burnouf and Kern do not have the negative.
n.­420
According to the Tibetan. In the Sanskrit the bodhisattva teaches them and therefore this is in the form of a wish: “Having heard the Dharma may they not denounce it!”
n.­421
Literally “tathāgatahood.”
n.­422
According to the Sanskrit upāneṣyi. Tibetan: khyod la sbyin (“will give to you”), which does not match the preceding thought that is not being directly addressed to those he is not teaching.
n.­423
This is equivalent to units of currency in ancient India.
n.­424
According to the BHS vihanyamānān. The Tibetan ’tshe ba’i sems could be interpreted as “violent minds.” Burnouf translates as “les êtres qui combatant” (“the beings who are battling”) to conform with the parable. Kern has “how creatures are in trouble.”
n.­425
According to the Sanskrit and the Mahāvyutpatti. Here the Tibetan is stobs (“strength”), which is also used in the next verse to translate bala (“strength”). The Sanskrit parākrama is translated by Burnouf according to another of its meanings: l’heroïsme (“heroism”), in accordance with the parable, as it is by Kern. The Chinese translation is too free to be relevant. According to the Mahāvyutpatti, parākrama should be translated as pha rol gnon pa (“the subjugation of others”), pha rol brtul po (“weakening others”), or dpa’ ba (“heroism”).
n.­426
In the context of ancient India this would have been a reference to lower castes rather than to other races.
n.­427
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur, the Sanskrit, and the Chinese. The other Tibetan versions consulted have lha mi or lha mis (in the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné Kangyurs) in error for lha min.
n.­428
According to the BHS ābādha, translated into Tibetan as gnod (“harm”).
n.­429
According to the Tibetan, Chinese, Burnouf, and Kern. The Vaidya and Wogihara also have “and the level of the pratyeka­buddhas.”
n.­430
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur sems can and the Sanskrit sattva. The Degé and other Tibetan versions consulted have just sems (“mind”) instead of sems can (“beings”).
n.­431
According to the Tibetan; the Sanskrit includes more verbs.
n.­432
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur gang gi and the Sanskrit kasya. The Degé and the other Tibetan versions consulted have gis instead of gi.
n.­433
According to the Tibetan. The BHS niropadhe means to be free of upadhi, which means “substratum” or “basis (of continued existence or rebirth)” and therefore can be synonymous with skandhas, but also with kleśas.
n.­434
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur and the Sanskrit. The Degé and other Kangyurs consulted have “of the ten directions” (phyogs bcu’i), modifying “other worlds.”
n.­435
According to the Sanskrit parākrama. The Tibetan translates as “subjugation of adversaries.”
n.­436
From the BHS ananyatha. The Tibetan translates literally as gzhan ma yin pa (“not other”).
n.­437
From the BHS ananyatha. The Tibetan translates literally as gzhan du gsung ma yin (“not spoken as other”).
n.­438
According to the Sanskrit prakāśayiṣye, which is in the future tense. The Tibetan is curiously in the past, presumably a scribal error of byas for bya.
n.­439
According to the BHS ārocayāmi te ajita, prati­vedayāmi, which the Tibetan appears to translate as “aspire and comprehend.”
n.­440
According to the BHS pariṇamitāḥ. The Tibetan translates as yongs su bsngos (“dedicated”).
n.­441
Although the text literally states, “in the town of Gayā,” this must mean in the district of Gayā. The place called Uruvilvā (Pali Uruvelā) probably included the village now called Bodhgaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment, and possibly extended to include parts of the area that is now the actual town of Gayā some kilometers to the north.
n.­442
According to the Sanskrit parākrama. The Tibetan translates as “subjugation of adversaries.”
n.­443
According to the Sanskrit parisaṃstutā and bstod in the Lithang, Choné, Lhasa, and Stok Palace Kangyurs. Other Kangyurs consulted have bstong.
n.­444
According to the Tibetan ting nge ’dzin, and the Burnouf meditation. The Vaidya and Wogihara have adhiṣṭhāna instead of samādhi, and Kern translates adhiṣṭhāna as “strong resolve.” Kumārajīva’s Chinese appears to be too dissimilar to know what he was translating from.
n.­445
According to the Tibetan. Absent from the Sanskrit.
n.­446
The Sanskrit has here “for a hundred thousand quintillion eons.”
n.­447
According to the BHS ārocayāmi te ajita, prati­vedayāmi, which the Tibetan appears to translate as “aspire and comprehend.”
n.­448
This passage has been translated in various ways from the Chinese. The Sanskrit is clearly in the third person, but presumably the Buddha is talking about himself.
n.­449
According to the Sanskrit syntax; in the Tibetan the verb comes after the description of the nature of the three realms.
n.­450
BHS: kilīkṛta-saṃjñā. According to Edgerton kilīkṛta means “joyous,” but in this instance is an error for kiṇīkṛta (“callous”), which would mean that they have grown callous. However, Burnouf translates as “ils s’imagineraient qu’il n’y a là rien que d’aisé à recontrer” (“they will imagine that he will be nothing other than easy to meet”), and Kern has: “fancy that all is child’s play.” The Tibetan has slebs par ’dzin pa (Degé), sleb par ’dzin pa (Stok Palace), or slabs par ’dzin pa (Lithang and Choné) for kilīkṛta, which may be scribal errors for sla bar ’dzin pa (“hold as easy,” “believe to be easy”).
n.­451
According to the Tibetan, Burnouf, Kern, Vaidya Sanskrit, and Wogihara Sanskrit: “Tathāgata Arhat Samyaksambuddha.”
n.­452
According to the Sanskrit sukuśala and the Tibetan shin tu byang ba in the Yongle, Narthang, Urga, Lhasa, and Stok Palace Kangyurs. Others consulted have shin tu byung ba.
n.­453
According to the BHS samādapemī. Translated into the Tibetan as bzung (“held”).
n.­454
According to the Tibetan, Burnouf, and Kern. The Vaidya and Wogihara have kāma (“desires”) instead of kāya (“bodies”).
n.­455
According to the Tibetan, and the Chinese is similar. The Vaidya Sanskrit, Burnouf, and Kern have, “I do not leave Vulture Peak for other millions of other dwellings (literally: “seats and beds”).”
n.­456
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur shin tu ’jigs pa and the Sanskrit subhairava. Other Kangyurs consulted have ’jig (“destroyed”) in error for ’jigs.
n.­457
According to the Tibetan.
n.­458
According to the Sanskrit and Tibetan. The number is absent from Kumārajīva’s Chinese.
n.­459
According to the Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit, and Kern. Literally “two thousand,” apparently meaning “thousand squared” or “thousand times a thousand.” The number is absent from the Tibetan, Burnouf (translating from a Hodgson manuscript), and Kumārajīva’s Chinese. In this context of an ever-increasing number it appears to be an accidental omission that occurred in a later Sanskrit manuscript.
n.­460
Alternatively this may be referring to the dhāraṇīs that are mnemonic phrases.
n.­461
According to the Chinese, Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit, and Kern. Literally “three thousand,” apparently meaning “thousand tripled,” as it is interpreted in the Sarvāstivāda tradition. In the Chinese Tiantai School it was taken as literally meaning “three thousand.” The Tibetan and Burnouf (translating from a Hodgson manuscript) have only “thousand.” In this context of an ever-increasing number it appears to be an accidental omission that occurred in a later Sanskrit manuscript.
n.­462
This is a synonym for “the two thousand” or “thousand squared” world realm.
n.­463
This is a synonym for “the thousand” world realm, which contains a thousand worlds.
n.­464
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur byang chub dam pa, which partially reflects the Sanskrit vara­bodhi­cittam. The other Tibetan versions consulted appear to be in error with byang chub sems dpa’ (“bodhisattva”).
n.­465
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “are not afraid of it.”
n.­466
According to the Sanskrit dehin (literally, “having a body”) and the lus can of the Narthang, Urga, Lhasa, and Stok Palace Kangyurs. The Degé and other Kangyurs consulted have lus chen (“great bodies”).
n.­467
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan division of the sentences runs counter to the intended meaning.
n.­468
According to the Sanskrit, and the Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Choné Kangyurs. Others have sgra (“sound”) instead of rnga (“drum”).
n.­469
Jāti is also used to refer to nutmeg, although here that meaning does not appear to fit the context.
n.­470
According to the Sanskrit, and the Yongle, Kangxi, and Stok Palace Kangyurs de bzhin. Other Kangyurs consulted have bde bzhin (“blissfully”).
n.­471
Literally buddhaputra (“son of the Buddha”).
n.­472
According to the BHS ārocayāmi. The Tibetan mos par bya could be interpreted as “make you aspire.”
n.­473
According to the Tibetan and Burnouf. The Vaidya has goyana and Wogihara has gopana.
n.­474
According to the Sanskrit khaṇḍa. Most Kangyurs consulted have the obscure ngo le. The Degé / Comparative Edition and Stok Palace have sngo ba (literally, “blue,” but with the meaning of “blackened,” which has already appeared earlier in this list).
n.­475
According to the Tibetan, Burnouf, and Kern. The Vaidya and Wogihara have dharma instead of karma.
n.­476
According to the Sanskrit grāma, which is translated into Tibetan by its more usual meaning of “village” or “town.”
n.­477
According to the Sanskrit śaila, translated into Tibetan by its more usual meaning of “rocks.”
n.­478
According to the Tibetan and Burnouf, presumably from yaśa. The Chinese, Vaidya, and Wogihara have “forests (khaṇḍa),” as in “mountains, forests, and oceans.”
n.­479
According to the Sanskrit yaṃ yaṃ. The Degé and other Kangyurs recorded in the Comparative Edition have su dang su (“by whomever”); the Stok Palace has instead su.
n.­480
According to the Sanskrit and the Choné glu’i. The other Kangyurs consulted have klu’i or klu yi, thereby meaning “songs of the nāgas.”
n.­481
According to the Tibetan and Burnouf. Kern interprets this as referring only to women; the Chinese refers to “devas.”
n.­482
According to the Sanskrit ṛddhibala. The Tibetan translates as just “power” (mthu stobs), which, according to the Mahāvyutpatti, is the translation for prabhāva.
n.­483
According to the Sanskrit abhiprāya. The Tibetan bsam pa could have been understood to mean “thoughts.”
n.­484
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. The Tibetan appears to have accidentally omitted “male and female mahoragas” from the list.
n.­485
According to the Sanskrit arcanām. Translated into Tibetan as gsol ba.
n.­486
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese. “Towns” is missing in the Tibetan.
n.­487
According to the Sanskrit abhimukhaṃ, which could also mean “facing.” The Tibetan translates as gzigs (“seeing”), which could be interpreted as the act of the Tathāgata.
n.­488
According to the Tibetan (phyis pa literally means “wiped” but also “cleaned”) and the Chinese. Sanskrit: “the surface of a mirror.”
n.­489
According to the Tibetan tshogs par mi dbyung ba (“unfit for a gathering”), which will have been a translation of asabhya. The Sanskrit has asatya (“falsely”), which appears to have been the source of the Chinese translation.
n.­490
This description of the teachings to the śrāvakas and bodhisattvas is a repeat of passages such as 1.­74 and 1.­78, although the Tibetan has, while maintaining the same meaning, translated it differently.
n.­491
According to the Tibetan dkrigs and its definition in Butön’s (bu ston rin chen grub) Collected Works (bde bar gshegs pa’i bstan pa’i gsal byed chos kyi ’byung gnas gsung rab rin po che’i mdzod, in The Collected Works of Bu-ston, edited by Lokesh Chandra from the collections of Raghu Vira, 28 volumes, Zhol bka’ ’gyur par khang edition, New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71), vol. 24, pp. 726–7. All subsequent references to Butön’s system of calculation are drawn from this passage. The BHS equivalent is viṃvara or bimbara. The Vaidya and Wogihara editions have viṃśati (“twenty”) as do Kern and Burnouf, but it is absent from the Chinese.
n.­492
See n.­485.
n.­493
See n.­485.
n.­494
According to the Tibetan and Sanskrit. The paragraph on Vi­śiṣṭa­cāritra is absent from the Chinese.
n.­495
According to the Sanskrit civara. The list repeats, but the Tibetan translates first as na bza’ (“clothing” in general) and as chos gos (literally “Dharma robes”) in the repetition.
n.­496
According to the Sanskrit dharmatā. The Tibetan has chos ni in error for chos nyid.
n.­497
According to the Tibetan and Burnouf. Vaidya and Wogihara: “and the secret knowledge of the supreme beings.”
n.­498
In the Chinese translation this chapter is later, following the chapter on Avalokiteśvara.
n.­499
According to the Sanskrit ārocayāmi te bhaiṣajyarāja, prativedayāmi te. The Tibetan appears to have “you must aspire to and understand!” The first of those verbs has been regularly mistranslated as mos pa based on its meaning in Classical Sanskrit instead of BHS.
n.­500
According to the Tibetan. “It is thus” in Sanskrit is the introduction to the dhāraṇī-mantra and not a part of it.
n.­501
Yongle and Kangxi: mene. Absent from Stok Palace. Burnouf: anye manye arau parau amane.
n.­502
Stok Palace: manane.
n.­503
Yongle: cidte.
n.­504
Yongle: cari.
n.­505
Chinese, Vaidya, Wogihara, and Kern: same.
n.­506
Yongle, Narthang: śameyitābi śante. Lhasa: śameyitābhi śante. Kangxi, Choné: śamayihābi śānte. Lithang: śamayitābi santé. Vaidya and Wogihara: samitā viśānte. Burnouf: śamitā viśante. Stok Palace: śameśami tābi śānte. Kern: samitāvi santé.
n.­507
Stok Palace: mukate.
n.­508
Kangxi and Yongle: mugtemagta. Stok Palace: mu gatatame.
n.­509
According to the Sanskrit. Tibetan: aviśame.
n.­510
Burnouf: same avisamasame. Vaidya and Wogihara: same aviṣame samasame.
n.­511
According to the Sanskrit. Degé: akṣiṇi. Yongle: agkṣiṇi. Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, Choné, Urga, and Lhasa: akṣaṇo.
n.­512
Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné: śānta.
n.­513
Vaidya and Wogihara: samite. Kern: sanī. Yongle: śamiṅ. Stok Palace: śamidhi. Kangxi: śamito. Choné: śamiti.
n.­514
Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, Choné, and Lhasa: dhāriṇī. Urga: dhārini. Stok Palace: dhariṇi.
n.­515
Stok Palace: patyavekṣaṇi. Yongle and Kangxi: pradyavekṣaṇi.
n.­516
According to the Tibetan. Burnouf: dhiru viviru. Vaidya and Wogihara: nidhiru. Kern: nidhini.
n.­517
Vaidya and Tibetan separate (except for Choné, Yongle, and Kangxi) abhyantarani viṣṭe. Kern: abhyantaranivisiṣte. Yongle: abhyantaraniviṣṭa. Lithang: abhyanta raniviṣṭe. Kangxi: abhyantarāṇiśiṣṭe abhyantārśiṣṭe. Narthang and Lhasa: abhyanta raniviṣṭe abhyantaraniviṣṭi. Choné: abhyantaraniviṣṭe abhyantaranviṣṭa. Stok Palace: abhyantarani vaṣṭe.
n.­518
Burnouf: abhyantarapāriśuddhi utkule mutkule. Kern: (abhyantara­pāriśuddhi is absent) utkule mutkule. Stok Palace: atyantavariśhima utkule mutakule. Kangxi and Choné: adyantaberiśuddhi (with be having an anomalous subscribed a-chung). Narthang and Lhasa: atyantaipāriśuddhi.
n.­519
Yongle, Narthang, and Lhasa: udkule. Absent in Vaidya. Burnouf and Kern: utkule. Stok Palace: ma utkule. Wogihara and Kyoto: mutkule. Others: udkulo.
n.­520
Burnouf: mukule. Kern, Lhasa, and Narthang: mutkule. Stok Palace: mutagule. Others: mudkule.
n.­521
Vaidya and Wogihara: araḍe. Kern: asaḍe. Lhasa, Lithang, and Kangxi: arte.
n.­522
Tibetan, Vaidya, Wogihara, and Kern: paraḍe. Stok Palace and Lhasa: paraṭe. Lithang and Kangxi: marate.
n.­523
Stok Palace, Kangxi, and Lithang: śukākṣi. Yongle: śukrakṣī. Lhasa: śrukākṣī.
n.­524
Burnouf: buddhivilokite.
n.­525
Burnouf: dharma­parīkṣite pratyavekṣaṇi.
n.­526
Urga: saṃgha­nerghoṣaṇi. Narthang and Lhasa: saṃgha­nirghoṣaṇī. Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné: saṃgha­niraghoṣaṇī. Degé: saṃgha­niraghoṣaṇi.
n.­527
Vaidya and Wogihara: nirghoṇi. Burnouf: nirghoṣaṇi. Kern: nirghoṣaṇī. Absent from Stok Palace. Narthang and Lhasa: nirghoṣaṇī. Degé and Yongle: niraghoṣaṇi. Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné: niraghoṣaṇī.
n.­528
Burnouf: bhayaviśodhani. Kern, Lithang, Choné, Narthang, and Lhasa: bhayābhaya­viśodhanī. Stok Palace: baya abhaya­śodhani. Yongle: bāyabāya­śodhani.
n.­529
Yongle: mandra. Lithang and Lhasa: mantra. Kangxi: manadre.
n.­530
Stok Palace: mantrekṣayate. Degé: mantrā kṣaytre. Yongle: mandra kṣayete. Lithang and Choné: mantrā kṣayate. Kangxi: manadra kṣayete. Narthang and Lhasa: manantrā kṣayate.
n.­531
Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Lhasa, Narthang, and Choné: rutakauśale. Stok Palace: rudrakauśalye. Burnouf: rutakauśalya. Degé: rudrakauśalye. Kern: rutakauśalye. Vaidya: rute ruta­kauśalye.
n.­532
Absent from Burnouf. Yongle: akṣaya. Narthang and Lhasa: akṣa e.
n.­533
Burnouf: akṣayavanatā. Kern: akṣayavanatāya. Vaidya and Wogihara: akṣayavanatāye. Stok Palace: akṣaya vanātāyā. Yongle: akṣayava tānatāya. Lithang: akṣavarahāyā. Kangxi: akṣa vara tānatāya. Narthang and Lhasa: akṣāvanatāyā. Choné: akṣavartāyā. Degé: akṣā vanatāyā.
n.­534
Burnouf: vakkulavaloka. Kern: vakule valoḍa. Vaidya: vakkule valoḍra. Lithang, Choné, and Degé: palo. Yongle and Kangxi: vakule valorā. Kangxi: vakule valorā.
n.­535
Burnouf: amanyatāye. Kern: amanyatāya. Vaidya: amanyanatāye svāhā. Degé and Stok Palace: amanyanatāya. Lithang, Narthang, and Choné: amanyanatāyā.
n.­536
Burnouf and Kern: “sixty-two.”
n.­537
Tibetan: “we.”
n.­538
See n.­500.
n.­539
Kyoto: jrale mahājrale. Stok Palace: jvale mahājāle.
n.­540
Vaidya and Wogihara: ukke tukke mukke. Yongle: ugge mugke. Stok Palace: ukake mugge.
n.­541
Burnouf, Lithang, and Narthang: ate. Yongle: aḍi.
n.­542
Burnouf, Lithang, and Narthang: atāvati. Kyoto: aḍavati. Stok Palace: aḍevati. Yongle: aḍavati.
n.­543
Kern: tritye trityāvati. Lithang and Narthang: nṛṭyo nṛtāvati. Kyoto: nṛtyavati. Stok Palace: nīḍye nīḍye (with an anomalous subscribed a-chung) vati. Yongle: triṭrye treṭyavati.
n.­544
Kern and Stok Palace: itini. Yongle and Kangxi: idṭini.
n.­545
According to the Vaidya, Wogihara, and Burnouf. Kern: vitini. Yongle: vidṭini. Degé, Lithang, Narthang, and Lhasa: viṭṭi. Choné: viḍḍi. Absent from Stok Palace.
n.­546
Kern: kitini. Stok Palace: ciṭininri. Yongle: cidṭini. Kangxi: cidaṭini.
n.­547
Absent from the Burnouf. Kern: tritti. Vaidya: nṛtyani. Absent from Stok Palace. Yongle and Kangxi: kudṭini. Kyoto, Degé, Lithang, Lhasa, Choné, and Narthang: nṛṭaṭini.
n.­548
Kern: trityāvati. Kyoto and Degé: nṛtatūvati. Stok Palace: nriṭyavati. Yongle and Kangxi: kudṭavati. Lithang and Choné: nṛṭaṭāpati. Lhasa and Narthang: nṛṭṭāvati.
n.­549
See n.­500.
n.­550
Yongle and Peking: adṭe. Narthang and Burnouf: aṭṭa. Stok Palace: adaṭe.
n.­551
Yongle: vadṭe nadṭe. Kangxi: vadṭe nadke. Burnouf: haṭṭe naṭṭe. Stok Palace: nadaṭe.
n.­552
Vaidya, Wogihara, and Kern: vanaṭṭe. Burnouf: vanaṭe. Stok Palace: nunate. Yongle and Kangxi: nanadaṭya. Narthang and Degé: tanaṭṭe.
n.­553
Vaidya, Wogihara, Burnouf, and Kern: anaḍe. Stok Palace: anado. Yongle and Kangxi: anaḍo. Narthang and Degé: anaṭe.
n.­554
Vaidya, Wogihara, Burnouf, and Kern: nāḍi. Stok Palace: naḍi. Yongle and Kangxi: naḍi. Narthang and Degé: nāti.
n.­555
Vaidya, Wogihara, Burnouf, and Kern: kunaḍi. Stok Palace: kunati. Yongle and Kangxi: kunaḍi. Narthang and Degé: kunāti.
n.­556
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has gandharvas (dri za) instead of kumbhāṇḍas (grul bum), even though Virūḍhaka is traditionally the leader of the kumbhāṇḍas.
n.­557
See n.­500.
n.­558
Yongle and Kangxi: ne gane. Lithang: no gano. Choné, Narthang, and Lhasa: ṇo gaṇo. Gaṇe is absent from Stok Palace.
n.­559
Yongle and Kangxi: gori. Stok Palace: gaurī.
n.­560
According to the Burnouf. Degé, Lhasa, Yongle, and Kangxi: gandhari. Lithang, Narthang, Vaidya, and Kern: gandhāri. Stok Palace: gandharī.
n.­561
According to the Burnouf. Degé, Kangxi, Yongle, and Lhasa: caṇḍali. Vaidya, Wogihara, Lithang, Choné, and Narthang: caṇḍāli. Kern: kaṇḍāli. Stok Palace: caṇḍalī.
n.­562
According to the Burnouf, Kern, Lithang, Wogihara, and Vaidya. Degé, Kangxi, Yongle, and Stok Palace: mataṅgi. Narthang: ātiṅga. Lhasa: matiṅga.
n.­563
Kangxi, Yongle, Lithang, and Choné: pukakasi. Stok Palace: bukusī.
n.­564
According to the Burnouf and Vaidya. Degé, Kern, and Stok Palace: saṅkule. Kangxi and Yongle: sisadku. Lithang, Choné, Narthang, and Lhasa: kule.
n.­565
Burnouf: vrūlasisi. Vaidya and Wogihara: vrūśali sisi. Degé: vruśalī. Kern: vruśali. Kangxi and Yongle: vrusala. Lithang, Narthang, and Lhasa: vruhi. Choné: pruhi. Stok Palace: vruśale (with an anomalous subscribed a-chung under le).
n.­566
See n.­500.
n.­567
Yongle and Kangxi: iteme iteme iteme iteme iteme.
n.­568
Stok Palace: rusahe.
n.­569
Stok Palace: rusahe.
n.­570
According to the Burnouf, Kern, Wogihara, and Vaidya. Kangxi, Yongle, and Stok Palace: stahe stahe stahe stahe stahe. Degé and other Tibetan versions consulted: haste haste haste haste haste.
n.­571
Absent from Kangxi, Yongle, and Stok Palace.
n.­572
Vaidya and Wogihara: “omāraka, ostāraka.” Burnouf: “utsāraka, autsāraka.”
n.­573
This presumably refers to the cluster of around eight leaves that open at the top of the stem of a basil plant. Here mañjari (translated obscurely into Tibetan as dog) refers to these, rather than the vertical line of tiny flowers that is produced. Kern interprets as the lodhra tree (Symplocos racemosa).
n.­574
According to the Sanskrit saṃkrama. The Tibetan appears to translate according to its more common meaning of “walk.”
n.­575
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “one karṣa of which is the value of the entire Sahā world realm.” Chinese: “six karṣa of which is the value of the entire Sahā world realm.”
n.­576
According to svakam adhi­ṣṭhānam akarot. The Tibetan byin rlabs could be interpreted as “blessing” as is its usual use. Bunrouf translates as “bless,” and Kern and the Chinese as “resolve,” as does Edgerton in discussing this passage. Alternative translations would be “empowers himself,” or “blesses himself.”
n.­577
According to the Sanskrit aśītibhir gāthā­koṭī­nayuta­śata­sahasraiḥ. The Tibetan appears to transfer “eighty times” to the last number in the list.
n.­578
BHS: kaṅkara. Tibetan: gtams pa. According to Butön this is “a thousand million million,” i.e., “a thousand trillion.”
n.­579
BHS: vivara.Variations include viṃvara, vimbara, bimbara, vivana, viśvara, visvara, and vipatha. The Tibetan can be yal yol, bsnyad yas, or in this Tibetan translation dkrigs pa, although the Mahāvyutpatti translates kaṅkara. A vivara or bimbara is a hundred kaṅkaras or vice versa. Here it appears to be a hundred kaṅkaras as we have three numbers of increasing value. Here the value appears to be “a hundred thousand million million,” i.e., “a hundred thousand trillion,” which is the value given in Butön’s collected works.
n.­580
BHS: akṣobhya. Tibetan: mi ’khrugs pa. A hundred vivaras, which is the preceding number and therefore equal to ten million million million, in other words ten quintillion. As in Butön’s collected works, mi ’khrugs pa is equivalent to ten quintillion.
n.­581
According to the Sanskrit. Absent in the Tibetan.
n.­582
The gender changes as the woman is reborn as a male in Sukhāvatī.
n.­583
According to the Sanskrit apkṛṭsna, and the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Choné Kangyurs. The others consulted have chub pa’i in error for chu’i (“of water”) and here the Tibetan zad pa is used in its meaning of “completion” rather than “exhaustion.”
n.­584
According to the BHS gūthoḍilla. Not a Sanskrit word. Most Tibetan versions consulted have, perhaps euphemistically, ’jim ngan (“bad mud”). Stok Palace: ’jig ngan.
n.­585
The Sanskrit at this point has, “I will do as the Tathāgata has commanded.” Absent in the Tibetan and Chinese.
n.­586
The Tibetan is unclear here. Kiṃśuka (“flame of the forest”), which in Sanskrit literally means “what parrot,” seems to have been translated literally into Tibetan as ne tso’am ci (which would literally mean, “parrot or what”). “Lotus” (padma) is repeated here in the Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit, while garbha is missing, and there is a corruption of varṇa. It seems it should have been garbha­kiṃśuka­varṇāni instead of padma­kiṃśukarvaṇāni, which Kern and Burnouf translate as “the color of lotuses and kiṃśuka flowers.” The Chinese translates as “calyxes of a gem named kiṃśuka.”
n.­587
The Sanskrit is in the optative case. Tibetan does not distinguish between future and optative. Also the Sanskrit and Chinese are plural, “we,” as is the verb. The Tibetan appears to be in the singular.
n.­588
The Tibetan is mtshan, the same as for the signs (lakṣaṇa) of a great being, but the Sanskrit here is liṅga.
n.­589
According to the Chinese and Sanskrit. The analogy of the moons is absent in the Vaidya, Wogihara, Burnouf, and Kern.
n.­590
Literally it is, “Do you have little harm, little distress?” Also “in good health” translates the Sanskrit laghūtthānatā. The Tibetan translates obscurely as bskyod pa, rendering the meaning of “being in movement.”
n.­591
According to the Tibetan and Burnouf. The Vaidya and Wogihara have “Bhagavān, Tathāgata, Arhat, perfectly enlightened Buddha.”
n.­592
According to the Tibetan and Chinese. The Sanskrit mentions “countless innumerable asaṃkhyeya eons ago.”
n.­593
According to the Tibetan. The Vaidya and Wogihara have śrī (“splendor”), translated by Burnouf and Kern as “beauty.” Translations from Chinese: “supernatural power,” “divine power,” “transcendent power,” and so on.
n.­594
According to the Tibetan and Chinese. The Vaidya and Wogihara have “Rudra” (another of Śiva’s names) instead, and earlier in the list. Burnouf translates this as “Śiva.”
n.­595
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan here has only mchog.
n.­596
“Facing everywhere” in the chapter title is translated according to the Sanskrit samantamukha, which has also became an epithet for the many-faced forms of Avalokiteśvara. The Tibetan translates as kun nas sgo (taking the alternative meaning of “door” from mukha) which could be literally translated as “doors on all sides.” However, in the Mahāvyutpatti we find samanta-spharaṇa-mukha translated as bzhin kun tu khyab pa (“face that pervades everywhere”). Other translations have included “all-sided one” and “all-sidedness.” Burnouf translates as “Celui dont la face regarde de tous les côtés,” correcting his earlier translation based on a misreading of samantamukha as samantasukha (“complete bliss”). The meaning, however translated, refers to Avalokiteśvara regarding all beings.
n.­597
According to the Sanskrit. “And possess his name” is absent in the Tibetan.
n.­598
According to the Tibetan and Sanskrit. The list of forms he assumes is longer in the Chinese.
n.­599
Sanskrit: “The Bhagavān recited these verses.” The Chinese has Akṣayamati reciting the verses.
n.­600
This has been translated into Tibetan, and by Burnouf and Kern, as someone named Citradhvaja (who does not occur elsewhere in this or any other sūtra) asking Akṣayamati the question. The following verses are then Akṣayamati’s answers to Citradhvaja. This is in contradiction to the preceding prose passage. In the presently available Sanskrit neither citradhvaja nor akṣayamati is in the accusative case, but presumably akṣayamati was in the accusative case in the version used by the Tibetan translators, Burnouf, and Kern. In the Chinese the first verse describes Akṣayamati asking the Buddha the question and the following verses are the Buddha’s reply, as in the preceding prose. Therefore it appears that the later translations are the result of a scribal corruption in the Sanskrit. The Tibetan translation reads thus: “Citradhvaja asked Akṣayamati / about the cause of that meaning: / ‘Jinaputra, what is the reason / that [he] is called Avalokiteśvara?’ ” And in the next Tibetan verse Akṣayamati is giving Citradhvaja the answer.
n.­601
In the Middle Indic verse it is Akṣayomatī.
n.­602
According to the preceding prose. In the second verse in the available Sanskrit citradhvaja (“multicolored banner”), praṇidhīsāgara (“ocean of prayer”), and akṣayamati are all in the nominative case and therefore could not be the object of the speech, but must be the one who is speaking. The Tibetan translates as Akṣayamati speaking to a Citradhvaja. The Chinese translation has citradhvaja, or a similar term, translated as an epithet of the Buddha and “gazing into directions” and “ocean of prayers” as descriptions of Avalokiteśvara. The Tibetan version is: “Then he looked into the directions / and the ocean of prayers, Akṣayamati, / said these words to Citradhvaja.”
n.­603
The object is not mentioned; “this” is interpolated as this presumably refers back to the previous verse (as translated by Burnouf; Kern adds no object). The Chinese has interpolated Avalokiteśvara.
n.­604
According to the BHS sāgaradurgi. The Degé Kangyur has “ocean and desert” (rgya mtsho dang ni mya ngam). The Kangxi and Choné Kangyurs have “anguish” (mya ngan) instead of “desert” (mya ngam). The Stok Palace has “bad men” (mi ngan) instead of “desert” (mya ngam). The Vaidya and Wogihara have “thrown into” (pātayet) instead of “crossing.”
n.­605
According to the Sanskrit and Chinese; omitted in the Tibetan.
n.­606
According to all Kangyurs consulted except Stok Palace, which reads “kings of waters” (chu yi rgyal po rnams). The Sanskrit has “in the king of waters” (jalarāje) meaning “ocean,” although Burnouf interpreted this as referring to Avalokiteśvara.
n.­607
Literally “those with poisonous eyes,” which is a euphemism for “snakes.”
n.­608
According to the Tibetan.
n.­609
The Sanskrit gambhīra can mean “deep” or “profound,” but also “a deep sound.” Inexplicably, the Tibetan here is bzang po’i (“good”), although this may well be a scribal corruption of zab po’i (“deep”).
n.­610
The Sanskrit is vilokiyā, and the verb is translated into Tibetan as spyan ras gzigs.
n.­611
According to the Stok Palace Kangyur gshin rjes bsgo ba and the Sanskrit yamasya śāsane. The Degé and all Kangyurs recorded in the Comparative Edition read gshin rjes bskor ba, “surrounded by yamas.”
n.­612
At this point in the Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit and Burnouf there is the line, “Then Akṣamati (Akṣayamati) recited these verses of praise,” which is also absent from the Chinese.
n.­613
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “knowledge and wisdom.”
n.­614
According to the Tibetan and Chinese. Sanskrit: “pure.”
n.­615
According to the Tibetan and Burnouf. Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit: “The renowned compassion, good qualities, and kindness.”
n.­616
Sanskrit: “The wicked host of enemies will be pacified.”
n.­617
The Sanskrit is jala­dhara­garjita (“roar of the water holders,” i.e., clouds)
n.­618
This is the final verse in the Chinese translation.
n.­619
Sanskrit: “all suffering, fear, and misery.”
n.­620
Sanskrit: “I bow down to Avalokiteśvara.”
n.­621
Sanskrit: “Lokeśvara.”
n.­622
According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “Amitābha.”
n.­623
See n.­622.
n.­624
Literally “equal to the unequaled.”
n.­625
According to the Sanskrit śubha and the Kangxi dpal. Other Kangyurs consulted have dpa’ (“heroic”).
n.­626
According to one of the meanings of the Sanskrit prasāda. Tibetan translates as dad pa, which normally means “faith.”
n.­627
According to the Tibetan. Māra and Brahmā are absent from the Sanskrit and Chinese.
n.­628
According to Yongle, Lithang, Choné, Urga, Stok Palace, and Kangxi Kangyurs. The Degé, Lhasa, and Narthang have yul (“land”).
n.­629
According to the Tibetan. In the Chinese, Vimalanetra is said to be practicing, and Vimalagarbha thinking.
n.­630
According to the Sanskrit. In the Tibetan “the king’s people” has become part of the following sentence, perhaps through scribal corruption as it is evidently anomalous.
n.­631
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan separates “retinue” by itself in the list.
n.­632
The Sanskrit has only bimbā. The Tibetan incorrectly interpolated “flower.” This is a standard description of lips in Indian literature.
n.­633
According to the Tibetan and the Vaidya and Wogihara Sanskrit. The Burnouf and Kern have the king not wishing to leave the Buddha’s presence because of his possession of good qualities. It is absent from the Chinese.
n.­634
Although there is no indication, other than the content, it appears that from this point Śākyamuni has concluded repeating the words of the past buddha, and is directly addressing his present audience.
n.­635
The Sanskrit has bodhi­sattva mahā­sattvas.
n.­636
According to the Sanskrit. “Great” is absent from the Tibetan. The Sanskrit mahata bodhi­sattva­māhātmyena manages to keep the two similar words apart.
n.­637
According to the Sanskrit mahatā bodhi­sattvayānena. The Tibetan could be interpreted to mean specifically the mahāyāna.
n.­638
“leading a following” is absent from the Tibetan.
n.­639
Sanskrit: “However, this…”
n.­640
“The limit of reality, and the essence of phenomena” is absent from the Sanskrit.
n.­641
According to the BHS nityarāśi, translated into Tibetan as nges pa’i phung po. This refers to three groups or classifications of individuals: those with false views, the undetermined, and the determined.
n.­642
See n.­500.
n.­643
According to the Sanskrit and the Yongle Kangyur. The Lithang and Choné have sudaṇḍā. Lhasa: sudaṇḍa. Narthang: sudaṇtra. Kangxi: sudaṇḍē (with an anomalous subscribed a-chung). Other Kangyurs consulted have sudaṇḍe.
n.­644
According to the Vaidya, Wogihara, and Kern. Burnouf: daṇdayati. Degé: daṇḍavati. Kangxi: daṇdāvati. Choné: daṇa dāvati. Narthang: daṇtravati. Urga: daṇatāvati.
n.­645
According to the Sanskrit and most Kangyurs consulted. Narthang: daṇtravartani.
n.­646
According to the Sanskrit and most Kangyurs consulted. Yongle: daṇḍakuśali. Lithang and Kangxi: daṇḍakuśala.
n.­647
Burnouf: daṇḍa­sudhāri sudhāri. Kern: daṇḍa­sudhāri dhāri. Lhasa and Narthang: daṇḍā­sudhāri. Kangxi: daṇḍāsudhari. Yongle: daṇḍasudhari. Urga: sudhāraparti.
n.­648
Burnouf: sudhāryati. Yongle: sudharapati.
n.­649
Kangxi: buddhāpaśyane. Degé and Urga: buddhapaśyani.
n.­650
Yongle: dharaṇi. Vaidya and Wogihara: sarvadhāraṇi.
n.­651
Yongle: avartani.
n.­652
According to the Sanskrit. Degé and most Kangyurs consulted: āvartani. Yongle: avartani. Kangxi: māvartani.
n.­653
According to the Sanskrit. Tibetan: saṅgha­parīkṣite. Yongle: saṅgaparīkite. Choné and Urga: saṅgha­parīkṣiti.
n.­654
According to the Vaidya, Wogihara, and Kern. Yongle: saṅgha­nirgasadani. Burnouf: saṃgha­nighātane. Degé: saṅgha­nirghasate. Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, Choné, and Lhasa: saṅgha­nirgasate.
n.­655
Yongle: dhamaparikṣite. Choné and Urga: dharma­parīkṣiti.
n.­656
Vaidya, Wogihara, and Kern: sarva­sattva­ruta­kauśalyānugate. Burnouf: sarva­ruta­kauśalyānugate. Degé: sarva­satva­ruhekauśalye kauśalyānugate. Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, Choné, and Lhasa: sarva­satva­ruta­kauśalya kauśalyānugate. Yongle: sarva­satva­ruta­kauśalya kauśalyānagate.
n.­657
Degé: siṅhavikrīḍite. Urga: siṅhavigrīḍiti.
n.­658
Urga: anuvarti.
n.­659
According to the Vaidya, Wogihara, and Burnouf. Tibetan: vartali.
n.­660
anuvarte vartani vartāli svāhā is absent from the Kern.
n.­661
According to the Sanskrit; “who write out this sūtra and who uphold it” is absent from the Tibetan.
n.­662
According to the Sanskrit, bherī­mātreṇa mukuṭena te deva­putrāstāsām­apsarasāṃ madhye sthāsyanti, which accords with the Chinese. The Tibetan should be emended to read: lha’i bu de dag rnga po che tsam gyi cod pan can lha’i bu mo de dag gi nang na gnas par ’gyur ro/. The Stok Palace Kangyur starts with the nearly correct lha’i bu dag rna po che tsam gyis cod pan dang, but in the second section of the passage has the incorrect lha’i bu de dag gi nang na.... The Degé and other Tibetan versions consulted start with the incorrect lha’i bu mo de dag, but follow with the correct lha’i bu mo de dag gi nang na....
n.­663
According to the Tibetan. Sanskrit: “should be honored.”
n.­664
The Sanskrit adds “for the happiness of many beings, and for the sake of a great multitude of beings.”
n.­665
According to the Sanskrit īrṣya; absent in the Tibetan.
n.­666
The Sanskrit kalicakra is literally “wheel of fighting.” The Tibetan has ’thab mo (“fighting”) and appears to have omitted “the wheel.”
n.­667
This refers to what is usually called “the three doorways to liberation”: emptiness, the absence of aspiration, and the absence of attributes.

b.

Bibliography

Tibetan Editions of the Sūtra

dam chos padma dkar po’i mdo (Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­sūtra) [The White Lotus of the Good Dharma]. Toh 113, Degé Kangyur, 103 vols. New Delhi: Karmapae Chodhey Gyalwae Sungrab Patrun Khang, 1976–79, vol. 51 (mdo sde, ja), folios 1a–180b.

———. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–2009, vol. 51 (mdo sde, ja), pp. 3–427.

———. Choné Kangyur (co ne bka’ ’gyur). 108 vols. Choné: co ne par khang, 1926, vol. 31 (mdo sde, ja), folios 1–212b.

———. Lhasa Kangyur (lha sa bka’ ’gyur). 100 vols. Lhasa: zhol bka’ ’gyur par khang, 1934, vol. 53 (mdo sde, ja), folios 1b–285b.

———. Narthang Kangyur (snar thang bka’ ’gyur). 102 vols. Narthang: snar thang par khang, eighteenth century, vol. 53 (mdo sde, ja), folios 1b–281b.

———. Stok Palace Kangyur (stog pho brang bris ma bka’ ’gyur). 109 vols. Leh: smad rtsis shes rig dpe mdzod, 1975–80. vol. 67 (mdo sde, ma), folios 1a–270b.

———. Urga Kangyur (ur ga bka’ ’gyur). New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1990–94. vol. 51 (mdo sde, ja), folios 1a–180b.

Khangkar, Tsultrim Kelsang (ed.) bod gyur dam pa’i chos padma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo: Tibetan Translation of Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra. Nyin bod nang rig deb grangs (Japanese and Tibetan Buddhist Culture Series) XI. Kyoto: Tibetan Buddhist Culture Association, 2009.

Sanskrit Editions of the Sūtra

Zhongxin, Jiang. Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Fragments from the Lüshun Museum Collection. Tokyo: Sōka Gakkai, 1997.

Vaidya, P. L. Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­sūtra. Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1960.

Watanabe, Shōkō. Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Manuscripts Found in Gilgit. Tokyo: Reiyukai, 1972–75.

Wogihara, Unrai and Tsuchida, Chikao. Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtram: Romanized and Revised Text of the Bibliotheca Buddhica publication by consulting a Sanskrit Ms. & Tibetan and Chinese translations. Tōkyō: Seigo-Kenkyūkai, 1934–35.

Translations of the Sūtra

Borsig, Margareta von. Lotos-Sutra: Das Große Erleuchtungsbuch des Buddhismus. Freiburg: Herder, 2003.

Burnouf, Eugene. Le lotus de la bonne loi. Paris: L’imprimerie Nationale, 1852.

Hurvitz, Leon. Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976.

Katō, Bunnō. “The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law.” In The Threefold Lotus Sutra, translated by Bunnō Katō, Yoshirō Tamura, and Kōjirō Miyasaka, with revisions by W. E. Soothill, Wilhelm Schiffer, and Pier P. Del Campana, 18–213. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill and Kosei, 1993.

Kern, H. Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka or the Lotus of the Good Law. Sacred Books of the East XXII. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884.

Kubo, Tsugunari and Akira Yuyama. The Lotus Sutra. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research (revised second edition), 2007.

Montgomery, Daniel B. The Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Tokyo: Nichiren Shu Headquarters, 1991.

Murano, Senchū. The Lotus Sutra: Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma. Hayward, CA: Nichiren Buddhist International Center, 1974.

Reeves, Gene. The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2008.

Soothill, W.E. The Lotus of the Wonderful Law, or The Lotus Gospel. Richmond: Curzon Press, 1987.

Watson, Burton. The Lotus Sutra. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

Other Kangyur Texts

rgya cher rol pa’i mdo (Lalita­vistara­sūtra, Toh 95. Degé Kangyur vol. 46 (mdo sde, kha), folios 1b–216b. English translation: The Play in Full. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2013.

ting nge ’dzin gyi rgyal po’i mdo (Samādhi­rāja­sūtra), Toh 127, Degé Kangyur vol. 55 (mdo sde, da), folios 1a–175b. English translation: The King of Samādhis Sūtra. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018.

de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi gsang ba’i mdo (Tathāgata­ghuyaka­sūtra) [The Secret of the Tathāgatas Sūtra]. Toh 443, Degé Kangyur vol. 81 (rgyud, ca), folios 90a–157b.

phal po che’i mdo (Avataṁsaka­sūtra) [A Multitude of Buddhas Sūtra]. Toh 44, Degé Kangyur vols. 35–38 (phal chen, ka–a), folios ka 1a–nga 363a.

lang kar gshegs pa’i mdo (Laṅkā­vatāra­sūtra) [The Entry into Laṅka Sutra]. Toh 107, Degé Kangyur vol. 49 (mdo sde, ca), folios 56a–191b.

shes rab pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa (Aṣṭa­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā) [The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses]. Toh 12, Degé Kangyur vol. 33 (brgyad stong pa, ka), folios 1b–286a.

sa bcu pa’i mdo (Daśa­bhūmika­sūtra) [The Sūtra of the Ten Bhūmis]. Chapter 31, in Toh 44, Degé Kangyur vol. 36 (phal chen, kha), folios 166a–283a.

gser ’od dam pa’i mdo (Su­varṇa­prabhā­sūtra) [The Golden Light Sūtra]. Toh 556, Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud, pa), folios 151b–273a.

Tengyur Texts

Abhayākaragupta. thub pa’i dgongs pa’i rgyan (Muni­matālaṁkāra). Toh 3903, Degé Tengyur vol. 210 (dbu ma, a), folios 73b–293a.

Asaṅga. theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma’i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa (Mahāyānottara­tantra­śāstra­vyākhyā). Toh 4025, Degé Tengyur vol. 225 (sems tsam, phi), folios 74b–129a.

Candrakīrti. dbu ma la ’jug pa’i bshad pa (Madhyamakāvatāra­bhāṣya). Toh 3862, Degé Tengyur vol. 204 (dbu ma, ’a), folios 220b–348a.

———. byang chub sems dpa’i rnal ’byor spyod pa bzhi brgya pa’i ’grel pa (Bodhi­sattva­yoga­caryā­catuḥ­śataka­ṭīkā) Toh 3865, Degé Tengyur vol. 205 (dbu ma, ya), folios 30b–239a.

Daṃṣṭrāsena, Vasubandhu, or neither. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa ’bum pa dang nyi khri lnga stong pa dang khri brgyad stong pa’i rgya cher bshad pa (Śata­sāhasrikā­pañca­viṁśati­sāhasrika­ṣṭāda­śasāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā­bṛhaṭṭīkā). Toh 3808, Degé Tengyur vol. 93 (sher phyin, pha), folios 1a–292b. English translation: Sparham, Gareth. The Long Explanation of the One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, forthcoming.

Dharmamitra. tshig rab tu gsal ba (Prasphuṭapadā). Toh 3796, Degé Tengyur vol. 87 (sher phyin, nya), folios 1a–110a.

Jānavajra. de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying po’i rgyan (Tathāgata­hṛdayālaṁkāra). Toh 4019, Degé Tengyur vol. 224 (mdo ’grel, pi), folios 1a–310a.

Kamalaśīla. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa bdun brgya pa rgya cher bshad pa (Sapta­śatikā­prajñā­pāramitā­ṭīkā). Toh 3815, Degé Tengyur vol. 95 (sher phyin, ma), folios 89a–178a.

Maitreya-Asaṅga. theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma’i bstan bcos (Mahāyānottara­tantra­śāstra) [A Mahāyāna Treatise on the Supreme Continuum]. Toh 4024, Degé Tengyur vol. 225 (sems tsam, phi), folios 54b–73a.

Nāgārjuna. mdo kun las btus pa (Sūtrasamuccaya). Toh 3934, Degé Tengyur vol. 212 (dbu ma, ki), folios 148b–215a.

Saitsalak (sa’i rtsa lag, Kuiji, Pṛthivībandhu). dam pa’i chos padma dkar po’i ’grel pa. Toh 4017, Degé Tengyur, vol. 120 (mdo ’grel, di), folios 175b–302a.

———. dam pa’i chos padma dkar po’i ’grel pa. bstan ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Tengyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 120 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 1994–2008, vol. 69 (mdo sde, di, vol. 135), pp. 476–826.

Śāntideva. bslab pa kun las btus pa (Śikṣāsamuccaya). Toh 3940, Degé Tengyur vol. 111 (dbu ma, khi), folios 3a–194b.

Vasubandhu. theg pa chen po bsdus pa’i ’grel pa (Mahā­yāna­saṁgraha­bhāṣya). Toh 4050, Degé Tengyur vol. 225 (sems tsam, yi), folios 121b–190a.

Wantsik (wan tshig, Yuan Tso). dgongs pa zab mo nges par ’grel pa (Gambhīra­saṁdhi­nirmocana­sūtra­ṭīkā). Toh 4016, Degé Tengyur vols. 220–22 (mdo ’grel, ti–ti), folios ti 1a–di 175a.

Secondary Tibetan Sources

Lodrö Gyaltsen (blo gros rgyal mtshan). dam chos pad dkar gyi tshig don la gzhan gyi log par rtog pa dgag pa. In Sa skya bka’ ’bum vol. 15, Kathmandu: Sachen International, 2006, folios 469–485.

Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). bde bar gshegs pa’i bstan pa’i gsal byed chos kyi ’byung gnas gsung rab rin po che’i mdzod. In The Collected Works of Bu-ston. Edited by Lokesh Chandra from the collections of Raghu Vira. 28 volumes. Zhol bka’ ’gyur par khang edition. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71, 633–1056.

Changkya Rölpai Dorjé (lcang skya rol pa’i rdo rje). dam chos pad ma dkar po’i kha byang. In lcang skya rol pa’i rdo rje’i gsung ’bum, vol. 5 (ca), Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2003, folios 525–532.

Pekar Zangpo (pad dkar bzang po). ’phags pa dam chos padma dkar po’i mdo. In mdo sde spyi’i rnam bzhag, Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2006, pp. 187–189.

Secondary Non-Tibetan Sources

Abbott, Terry Rae. “Vasubandhu’s Commentary on the Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­sūtra: A Study of its History and Significance.” PhD diss., University of California at Berkeley, 1985.

Boucher, Daniel. “Dharmarakṣa and the Transmission of Buddhism to China.” Asia Major 19 (2006): 13–37.

Deeg, Max. “The Saṅgha of Devadatta: Fiction and History of a Heresy in the Buddhist Tradition.” Journal of the International College for Advanced Buddhist Studies (March 31, 1999): 195–230.

Dessein, Bart. “The Mahāsāṃghikas and the Origins of Mahāyāna Buddhism: Evidence Provided in the *Abhi­dharma­mahā­vibhāṣa­śāstra.” The Eastern Buddhist 40, no. 1 (2009): 25–61.

Galloway, Brian. “Thus have I heard: At one time….” Indo-Iranian Journal 34, no. 2 (April 1991): 87–104.

Groner, Paul and Jacqueline I. Stone. “Editors’ Introduction: The Lotus Sutra in Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies vol. 41, no. 1 (2014): 1–23.

Hanh, Thich Nhat. Peaceful Action, Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 2008.

Heirman, Ann. “Yijing’s View on the Bhikṣunīs’ Standard Robes.” Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal 21 (2008): 145–158.

Hinüber, Oskar von. “A Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra Manuscript from Khotan: The Gift of a Pious Khotanese Family.” Journal of Oriental Studies 24 (2014): 134–156.

———. “The Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra at Gilgit: Manuscripts, Worshippers, and Artists.” Journal of Oriental Studies22 (2012): 52–67.

———. Bronzes of the Ancient Kingdom of Gilgit and Royal Patronage in Early North-Western India and Pakistan. Online lecture: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2010).

Jamieson, R. C. “Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from Cambridge University Library (Add. 1682 and Add. 1683).” Journal of Oriental Studies 12, no. 6 (2002): 165–173.

Jeffus, Ryusho. Lotus Sutra Practice Guide: 35-Day Practice Outline. Charlotte, NC: Myosho-ji, 2012.

Karashima, Seishi. “Who Composed the Mahāyāna Scriptures?—the Mahāsāṃghikas and Vaitulya Scriptures.” ARIRIAB XVIII (2015): 113–162.

———. “Some Features of the Language of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra.” Indo-Iranian Journal 44 (2001): 207–230.

Kim, Young-ho. Tao-sheng’s Commentary on the Lotus Sūtra: A Study and Translation. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990.

Lancaster, L. R. The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue.

Laufer, Berthold. “Sanskrit Karketana.” Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique 22 (1922): 43–46.

Lopez Jr., Donald S. The Lotus Sutra: A Biography. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016.

Miller, Robert, et al. The Chapter on Going Forth (Toh 1, ch. 1). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018.

Mookerji, Radha Kumud. Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1989.

Reeves, Gene. The Stories of the Lotus Sutra. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2010.

Schoening, Jeffrey. “Translated Sutra Commentaries in Tibet.” In Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, edited by José Cabezón and Roger Jackson, 111–124. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1996.

Silk, Jonathan Alan. “The Yogācāra Bhikṣu.” In Beiju: Buddhist Studies in Honor of Professor Gadjin M. Nagao, edited by J. Silk, 256–314. Studies in the Buddhist Traditions 3. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.

Suguro, Shinjō. Introduction to the Lotus Sutra. Fremont, CA: Jain Publishing Company, 1998.

Tanabe, George J. and Willa Jane Tanabe. The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989.

Teiser, Stephen F. and Jacqueline I. Stone. Readings of the Lotus Sūtra. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.

Tiantai Lotus Texts. BDK English Tripiṭaka Series. Berkeley, CA: Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai America, 2013, 93–149.

Tola, Fernando and Carmen Dragonetti. Buddhist Positiveness: Studies on the Lotus Sūtra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2009.

Winder, Marianne. “Vaidurya.” Studies on Indian Medical History (1987): 85–94.

Yuyama, Akira. A Bibliography of the Sanskrit Texts of the “Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra.” Canberra: Faculty of Asian Studies in Association with Australian National University Press, 1970.

Zengwen, Yang. “Saddharmapundarikasutra in Chinese History and its Significance in the 21st Centry.” Journal of Oriental Studies vol. 10 (2000): 10–20.

Zhongxin, Jiang. Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Fragments from the Lüshun Museum Collection (Tokyo: Sōka Gakkai, 1997).


g.

Glossary

g.­1

Ābhāsvara

  • ’od gsal
  • འོད་གསལ།
  • Ābhāsvara

The highest of the three paradises that are the second dhyāna paradises in the form realm.


2 passages contain this term

  • 18.­19
  • 18.­54
g.­2

Abhi­jñā­jñānābhi­bhū

  • mngon shes ye shes zil gnon
  • མངོན་ཤེས་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཟིལ་གནོན།
  • Abhi­jñā­jñānābhi­bhū

A shorter form of the name of Buddha Mahābhijñā­jñānābhi­bhū.


2 passages contain this term

  • 7.­6
  • 7.­141
g.­3

Abhijñaprāpta

  • mngon par shes thob
  • མངོན་པར་ཤེས་ཐོབ།
  • Abhijñaprāpta

A short form of Sāgara­vara­dhara­buddhi­vikrīḍitābhijña, the name that Ānanda will have when he is a buddha.


1 passage contains this term

  • 9.­8
g.­4

Abhirati

  • mngon par dga’ ba
  • མངོན་པར་དགའ་བ།
  • Abhirati

The realm of Buddha Akṣobhya in the east.


2 passages contain this term

  • 7.­126
  • g.­21
g.­5

Abhyudgatarāja

  • mngon ’phags rgyal po
  • མངོན་འཕགས་རྒྱལ་པོ།
  • Abhyudgatarāja

An eon in the future.


1 passage contains this term

  • 25.­30
g.­6

Absence of aspiration

  • smon pa med pa
  • སྨོན་པ་མེད་པ།
  • apraṇihita

The absence of any conceptual goal that one is focused upon achieving, knowing that all composite phenomena create suffering. One of the three doorways to liberation.


4 passages contain this term

  • 4.­3
  • 5.­72
  • n.­219
  • n.­667
g.­7

Absence of attributes

  • mtshan ma med pa
  • མཚན་མ་མེད་པ།
  • animitta

The absence of the conceptual identification of perceptions. Knowing that the true nature has no attributes, such as color, shape, etc. One of the three doorways to liberation.


5 passages contain this term

  • 4.­3
  • 5.­72
  • 5.­105
  • n.­219
  • n.­667
g.­8

Acalā

  • me
  • མེ།
  • Acalā

A rākṣasī known only from this sūtra.


1 passage contains this term

  • 21.­17
g.­9

Ācārya

  • slob dpon
  • སློབ་དཔོན།
  • ācārya

A spiritual teacher, meaning one who knows the conduct or practice (caryā) to be performed. It can also be a title for a scholar, though that is not the context in this sūtra.


1 passage contains this term

  • 18.­96
g.­10

Accounts of miracles

  • rmad byung
  • རྨད་བྱུང་།
  • adbhuta

One of the nine aspects of the Dharma according to this sūtra. More commonly there are said to be twelve that include these nine.


1 passage contains this term

  • 2.­72
g.­11

Adhi­mātra­kāruṇika

  • rab tu snying rje can
  • རབ་ཏུ་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཅན།
  • Adhi­mātra­kāruṇika

A Mahābrahmā in the southeast.


1 passage contains this term

  • 7.­54
g.­12

Adorned by Great Jewels

  • rin po che chen pos brgyan pa
  • རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཆེན་པོས་བརྒྱན་པ།
  • Mahā­ratna­prati­maṇḍita

The name of the eon in which Śāriputra will become a buddha.


1 passage contains this term

  • 3.­31
g.­13

Agarwood

  • a ga ru
  • ཨ་ག་རུ།
  • agaru

The resinous heartwood of the Aquilaria and Gyirnops evergreen trees in India and southeast Asia.


6 passages contain this term

  • 2.­107
  • 16.­8
  • 16.­18
  • 18.­27
  • 18.­32
  • 22.­7
g.­14

Airborne palace

  • gzhal med khang
  • གཞལ་མེད་ཁང་།
  • vimāna

Vimāna, translated here as “airborne palace,” can mean a divine chariot or palace, or a combination of the two, as in this translation. These flying palaces of the deities are well known in Indian mythology. Burnouf translates as “chariots”; Kern has “aerial cars.”


43 passages contain this term

  • 7.­34
  • 7.­35
  • 7.­38
  • 7.­41
  • 7.­42
  • 7.­43
  • 7.­45
  • 7.­46
  • 7.­52
  • 7.­53
  • 7.­55
  • 7.­56
  • 7.­60
  • 7.­61
  • 7.­62
  • 7.­70
  • 7.­71
  • 7.­72
  • 7.­74
  • 7.­75
  • 7.­76
  • 7.­78
  • 7.­84
  • 7.­85
  • 7.­86
  • 7.­89
  • 7.­90
  • 7.­91
  • 7.­100
  • 7.­147
  • 7.­148
  • 7.­149
  • 7.­152
  • 8.­5
  • 8.­35
  • 15.­29
  • 17.­13
  • 18.­49
  • 18.­53
  • 18.­82
  • n.­297
  • n.­300
  • g.­14
g.­15

Ajātaśatru

  • ma skyes dgra
  • མ་སྐྱེས་དགྲ།
  • Ajātaśatru

A king of Magadha, the son of King Bimbisāra and Queen Vaidehī. He reigned during the last ten years of the Buddha’s life and about twenty years after. He overthrew his father and through invasion expanded the kingdom of Magadha. According to the Buddhist tradition he was murdered by his own son Udayabhadra.


2 passages contain this term

  • 1.­8
  • g.­444
g.­16

Ajita

  • ma pham pa
  • མ་ཕམ་པ།
  • Ajita

The other name of Maitreya, the bodhisattva who became Śākyamuni’s regent and is prophesied to be the next buddha, the fifth buddha in the fortunate eon. In early Buddhism he appears as the human disciple Maitreya Tiṣya, sent to pay his respects by his teacher. The Buddha gives him the gift of a robe and prophesies he will be the next buddha, while his companion Ajita will be the next cakravartin. As a bodhisattva in the Mahāyāna he has both these names.


40 passages contain this term

  • 1.­77
  • 1.­79
  • 1.­80
  • 1.­82
  • 1.­83
  • 1.­85
  • 1.­86
  • 1.­88
  • 14.­49
  • 14.­55
  • 14.­56
  • 16.­1
  • 16.­25
  • 16.­26
  • 16.­27
  • 16.­48
  • 16.­49
  • 16.­50
  • 16.­51
  • 16.­52
  • 16.­53
  • 16.­54
  • 16.­55
  • 16.­56
  • 16.­59
  • 16.­60
  • 16.­61
  • 17.­3
  • 17.­4
  • 17.­5
  • 17.­6
  • 17.­7
  • 17.­8
  • 17.­10
  • 17.­11
  • 17.­12
  • 17.­13
  • 17.­15
  • 17.­16
  • g.­235
g.­17

Ājñāta­kauṇḍinya

  • kun shes kauN+di n+ya
  • ཀུན་ཤེས་ཀཽཎྡི་ནྱ།
  • Ājñāta­kauṇḍinya

See “Kauṇḍinya.”


4 passages contain this term

  • 1.­3
  • 2.­26
  • 8.­50
  • g.­182
g.­18

Akaniṣṭha

  • ’og min
  • འོག་མིན།
  • Akaniṣṭha

The highest of the seventeen paradises in the form realm. Within the form realm is the highest of the eight paradises of the fourth dhyāna. Within the fourth dhyāna is the highest of the five Śuddhāvāsika (“pure abode”) paradises.


1 passage contains this term

  • 18.­19
g.­19

Ākāśa­pratiṣṭhita

  • nam mkha’ la gnas pa
  • ནམ་མཁའ་ལ་གནས་པ།
  • Ākāśa­pratiṣṭhita

A buddha in the southern direction.


1 passage contains this term

  • 7.­127
g.­20

Akṣayamati

  • blo gros mi zad pa
  • བློ་གྲོས་མི་ཟད་པ།
  • Akṣayamati

A bodhisattva present at the sūtra’s teaching.


16 passages contain this term

  • i.­62
  • 1.­4
  • 24.­1
  • 24.­2
  • 24.­9
  • 24.­11
  • 24.­12
  • 24.­14
  • 24.­15
  • 24.­16
  • 24.­18
  • 24.­19
  • n.­599
  • n.­600
  • n.­602
  • n.­612
g.­21

Akṣobhya

  • mi ’khrugs pa
  • མི་འཁྲུགས་པ།
  • Akṣobhya

The buddha in the eastern realm of Abhirati. A well-known buddha in early Mahāyāna who became the head of one of the five buddha families, the eastern vajra family, in the higher tantras.


3 passages contain this term

  • 7.­126
  • n.­580
  • g.­4
g.­22

Amitābha

  • snang ba mtha’ yas
  • སྣང་བ་མཐའ་ཡས།
  • Amitābha

More commonly known as Amitāyus in the sūtras, he is the buddha of the western realm of Sukhāvatī. Rebirth in that realm has been an important goal since early Mahāyāna.


6 passages contain this term

  • i.­62
  • 24.­46
  • n.­622
  • g.­23
  • g.­49
  • g.­402
g.­23

Amitāyus

  • tshe dpag med
  • ཚེ་དཔག་མེད།
  • Amitāyus

The Buddha in the western realm of Sukhāvatī. Later and presently better known by his alternative name Amitābha. Not to be confused with the buddha of long life, Aparimitāyus, whose name has been incorrectly back-translated into Sanskrit as Amitāyus also.


6 passages contain this term

  • 7.­128
  • 22.­35
  • 24.­47
  • 24.­49
  • g.­22
  • g.­402
g.­24

Amoghadarśin

  • mthong ba don yod
  • མཐོང་བ་དོན་ཡོད།
  • Amoghadarśin

One of “the sixteen excellent men.”


1 passage contains this term

  • 1.­4
g.­25

Amrita

  • bdud rtsi
  • བདུད་རྩི།
  • amṛta

The divine nectar that prevents death, often used metaphorically for the Dharma.


2 passages contain this term

  • 6.­13
  • 9.­32
g.­26

Anābhibhū

  • zil gnon
  • ཟིལ་གནོན།
  • Anābhibhū

Short form of Mahābhijñā­jñānābhi­bhū.


1 passage contains this term

  • 7.­144
g.­27

Ānanda

  • kun dga’ bo
  • ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།
  • Ānanda

Buddha Sākyamuni’s cousin, who was his attendant for the last twenty years of his life. He was the subject of criticism and opposition from the monastic community after the Buddha’s passing, but eventually succeeded to the position of the patriarch of Buddhism in India after the passing of the first patriarch, Mahākāśyapa.


20 passages contain this term

  • i.­47
  • 1.­3
  • 9.­1
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­5
  • 9.­6
  • 9.­7
  • 9.­13
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­15
  • 9.­24
  • 9.­25
  • 9.­26
  • 9.­34
  • g.­3
  • g.­31
  • g.­32
  • g.­246
  • g.­343
  • g.­344
g.­28

Anantacāritra

  • spyod pa mtha’ yas
  • སྤྱོད་པ་མཐའ་ཡས།
  • Anantacāritra

One of the four principal bodhisattvas that emerged from the ground at the time of the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra.


2 passages contain this term

  • i.­52
  • 14.­9
g.­29

Anantamati

  • mtha’ yas blo gros
  • མཐའ་ཡས་བློ་གྲོས།
  • Anantamati

A prince in the distant past.


1 passage contains this term

  • 1.­79
g.­30

Anantavikrāmiṇ

  • mtha’ yas gnon
  • མཐའ་ཡས་གནོན།
  • Anantavikrāmiṇ

A bodhisattva present at the sūtra’s teaching.


1 passage contains this term

  • 1.­4
g.­31

An­avanāmita­vaijayantī

  • ma bsnyal ba’i rgyal mtshan
  • མ་བསྙལ་བའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན།
  • An­avanāmita­vaijayantī

The realm of Ānanda when he becomes a buddha as given in the prose. (An­avana­tā Dhvaja­vaijayantī in the verse.)


2 passages contain this term

  • 9.­5
  • g.­32
g.­32

An­avana­tā Dhvaja­vaijayantī

  • ma bsnyal rgyal mtshan rgyal ba’i ba dan
  • མ་བསྙལ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་རྒྱལ་བའི་བ་དན།
  • An­avana­tā Dhvaja­vaijayantī

The realm of Ānanda when he becomes a buddha, as given in the verse. (An­avanāmita­vaijayantī in the prose.)


2 passages contain this term

  • 9.­8
  • g.­31
g.­33

Anavatapta

  • ma dros pa
  • མ་དྲོས་པ།
  • Anavatapta

The nāga king who is said to dwell in Lake Mansarovar near Kailash.


1 passage contains this term

  • 1.­6
g.­34

Anikṣiptadhura

  • brtson pa mi gtong ba
  • བརྩོན་པ་མི་གཏོང་བ།
  • Anikṣiptadhura

A bodhisattva present at the sūtra’s teaching.


1 passage contains this term

  • 1.­4
g.­35

Aniruddha

  • ma ’gags pa
  • མ་འགགས་པ།
  • Aniruddha

The Buddha’s cousin, and one of his ten principal pupils. Renowned for his clairvoyance.


2 passages contain this term

  • 1.­3
  • 8.­31
g.­36

Anupamamati

  • dpe med blo gros
  • དཔེ་མེད་བློ་གྲོས།
  • Anupamamati

One of “the sixteen excellent men.”


1 passage contains this term

  • 1.­4
g.­37

Apasmāraka

  • brjed byed
  • བརྗེད་བྱེད།
  • apasmāraka

A spirit that causes epilepsy.


1 passage contains this term

  • 21.­19
g.­38

Apsara

  • lha mo
  • ལྷ་མོ།
  • apsaras

Popular figures in Indian culture, they are said to be goddesses of the clouds and water.


1 passage contains this term

  • 1.­98
g.­39

Arhat

  • dgra bcom pa
  • དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།
  • arhat

Used as both as an epithet of the Buddha and the final accomplishment of early Buddhism, or the Hīnayāna.


213 passages contain this term

  • i.­11
  • i.­46
  • i.­55
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­13
  • 1.­71
  • 1.­72
  • 1.­76
  • 1.­77
  • 1.­79
  • 1.­80
  • 1.­84
  • 1.­85
  • 1.­86
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­2
  • 2.­3
  • 2.­26
  • 2.­51
  • 2.­53
  • 2.­54
  • 2.­55
  • 2.­56
  • 2.­57
  • 2.­58
  • 2.­59
  • 2.­61
  • 2.­62
  • 2.­63
  • 2.­64
  • 2.­153
  • 3.­4
  • 3.­29
  • 3.­31
  • 3.­34
  • 3.­54
  • 3.­65
  • 3.­70
  • 3.­74
  • 3.­75
  • 3.­76
  • 4.­86
  • 5.­2
  • 5.­5
  • 5.­6
  • 5.­8
  • 5.­11
  • 5.­50
  • 5.­57
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­12
  • 6.­19
  • 6.­28
  • 6.­34
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­13
  • 7.­17
  • 7.­19
  • 7.­28
  • 7.­32
  • 7.­42
  • 7.­47
  • 7.­60
  • 7.­66
  • 7.­75
  • 7.­79
  • 7.­90