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སྦྱིན་པའི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།

The Perfection of Generosity

Dānapāramitā

འཕགས་པ་སྦྱིན་པའི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo

The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Perfection of Generosity”

Āryadānapāramitānāmamahāyānasūtra

Toh 182

Degé Kangyur, vol. 61 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 77.a–95.b.

Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

First published 2019
Current version v 1.18.15 (2021)
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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.

Summary

s.1

In this sūtra a bodhisattva asks the Buddha how bodhisattvas should exert themselves after having given rise to the mind set on awakening. The Buddha replies by describing the ten virtuous actions and the motivation that bodhisattvas should engender when they engage in those practices. Next, after explaining how they should exert themselves in the ten perfections, the Buddha presents a detailed explanation of the perfection of generosity, focusing on the compassionate motivation that bodhisattvas cultivate while practicing it. A particular feature of this sūtra is how it details the significance of making different kinds of offering, in terms of the spiritual attainments, qualities of awakening, and other benefits that will result.

ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.1

This text was translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the guidance of Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. Benjamin Collet-Cassart translated the text from Tibetan into English and wrote the introduction. Andreas Doctor compared the draft translation with the original Tibetan and edited the text. Anders Bjornback and Alex Yiannopoulos also assisted this project by sharing their draft translation of the first section of this sūtra with the other translators.

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

Introduction

i.1

The Perfection of Generosity belongs to the general sūtra section of the Tibetan Kangyur. It does not appear to have been translated into Chinese, and we have not come across any mention of its title in Indian commentarial works. It does not seem, therefore, to have had a particularly influential role in Buddhist India. Until recently, it had also not attracted notable attention in modern scholarship. In 2014, however, Jason McCombs included a full translation of The Perfection of Generosity, along with an introduction to the text, in his doctoral dissertation.1

The Translation

The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra

The Perfection of Generosity

[How Bodhisattvas Exert Themselves in the Ten Virtuous Actions]

[F.77.a]

1.1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

1.2

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One, in order to benefit his kinsmen and the local people, was residing in the parks of King Śuddhodhana in the city of Kapilavastu, parks adorned with many hundreds of thousands of trees of different types, such as sāla, palmyra, tamāla, karṇikāra, juniper, walnut, kharjūra, śipan, nīpa, mango, pear, āmalakī, wood apple, pomegranate, elephant apple, plantain, banyan fig, goolar fig, myrobalan, aśvattha, vārśika, nutmeg, dhanuṣkarī, rosewood, magnolia, aśoka, taraṇi, pāṭalā, śiriṣa, and arjun trees. The parks were beautified by cascading streams, waterfalls, lakes, pools, ponds, and springs of fragrant water filled with purple, pink, red, and white lotus flowers. There one could hear the calls of geese, peacocks, cranes, ducks, cuckoos, ospreys, parrots, grouse, pheasants, partridges, nightingales, and wild ducks. Countless honeybees buzzed in the air. The water in the parks possessed eight special qualities6 and was limpid, flavorful, cool, pristine, and pure. The grass was green, soft and tender, and as pleasing to the touch as silk, wool, cotton, raw silk, kācilindika cloth, and linen. Those fine parks were beautiful, clean, and free of any stones, pebbles, gravel, dirt, mud, or refuse. They were also home to various wild animals, such as śarabha, spotted deer, monkeys, cats, brown bears, rabbits, black bears, [F.77.b] hyenas, and a number of different birds. Hundreds of thousands of other beings were also present, such as gods and goddesses of the night, guardians of the world, Varuṇa, Śiva, Yama, Virūḍhaka, Kubera, Śakra, Virūpākṣa, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra, as well as asuras, garuḍas, gandharvas, kinnaras, and mahoragas.

[How Bodhisattvas Exert Themselves in the Ten Perfections]

2.1

“Furthermore, noble son, [F.84.a] after having first given rise to the mind set on awakening, bodhisattva great beings should exert themselves in the ten perfections. What are those ten? They are the perfections of generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, insight, skillful means, aspiration, power, and wisdom. Noble son, how do bodhisattva great beings exert themselves in those ten perfections? Noble son, bodhisattva great beings practice generosity, observe discipline, cultivate patience, engender diligence, rest in concentration, cause insight to blaze, become skilled in means, form aspiration prayers, apply the powers, and embrace wisdom.

Colophon

c.1

This was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman, the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé, and others.

ab.

Abbreviations

C	Coné (co ne) Kangyur
D	Degé (sde dge) Kangyur
H	Lhasa (zhol) Kangyur
J	Lithang (’jang sa tham) Kangyur
K	Peking (pe cin) Kangxi Kangyur
K_Y	Peking Yongle (g.yung lo) Kangyur
N	Narthang (snar thang) Kangyur
S	Stok Palace (stog pho brang) Manuscript Kangyur

Notes

n.1

McCombs (2014), pp. 88–183. His thesis also includes an edited version of the full Tibetan text. Although McCombs’ study and translation of this sūtra only became available to us after we had completed our translation, we subsequently compared our translation to his and as a result were able to improve our rendering in several instances.

n.2

See McCombs, “Mahāyāna and the Gift,” 94–95.

n.3

See Denkarma, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), F.298.a.5–6; also Lalou (1953), p. 322, n. 142. In the Denkarma, the sūtra is listed with the title ’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa bstan pa.

n.4

That text (Toh 183, Tib. sbyin pa’i phan yon bstan pa, Skt. Dānānuśaṃsā) is a short, two-page text that presents (like the present sūtra but with notable differences) the benefits associated with the practice of generosity by listing the karmic ripening generated by different types of offering. In the Stok Palace edition and other witnesses of the Thenpangma (them spangs ma) line of Kangyur collections, these two texts are cataloged disjointly, and this title is translated as sbyin pa’i legs pa, rather than sbyin pa’i phan yon bstan pa.

n.5

In particular, Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra (Toh 175) and Bodhisattvapiṭakasūtra (Toh 56). See McCombs, “Mahāyāna and the Gift,” 98–99.

n.6

The eight qualities of the best kind of water (a set frequently mentioned in the literature) are that it is cool, sweet, light, soft, clear, clean, pure, not upsetting to the stomach, and not irritatating to the throat.

n.7

At this point the list of bodhisattvas continues and the names increase in length considerably. Although the text is clear that the following lines of this paragraph are indeed to be treated as a list of personal names, their meaning is somewhat unclear, and it is not evident precisely where individual names begin and end. Our rendering of the remainder of the bodhisattva names included in this section should therefore be viewed as tentative.

n.8

S has no shad between those two elements, and mngon par shes pa is repeated in what follows: de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi yul la ’jug pa shes pa la mkhas pa mngon par shes pa / mngon par shes pa dpa’ bar ’gro ba’i ting nge ’dzin gyi mtha’i sgo bsgrub pa’i gzungs thob pa.

n.9

S reads: zla ba ma.

n.10

We have been unable to identify this tree (Tib. u thi ka).

n.11

It seems that “emerald” is repeated twice in this list under different names (Tib. rdo’i snying po and ma rgad).

n.12

The translation here is based on S, which treats these as separate items: kha dog bzang po / rgyas pa / mchog dang ldan pa. D reads: kha dog bzang po / rgyas pa mchog dang ldan pa.

n.13

The abandonments of killing and wrong views are, respectively, the first and the last of the ten virtuous actions.

n.14

This chapter colophon appears to provide an alternative title for the sūtra. See also i.5.

n.15

Translated based on S. D reads: sbyor ba.

n.16

Tentative translation (Tib. sgrib pa thams cad gtan spong ba’ ’phags pa dang / lha’i tshangs pa’i gnas de bzhin gshegs pa’i gzims mal dang / ’phangs sbyin pa’i tshigs bla dags yin gyis).

n.17

K_Y, K, and S read: bstan. J and N read: stan.

n.18

Following K_Y, J, K, N, C, and H: dka’. D reads dga’.

n.19

The Buddha’s crown protuberance (Skt. uṣṇīṣa) is described in canonical sources as being invisible, either because the light it emanates is brighter than the light of the sun, or because there is no one above the Buddha, and therefore no one can look down on him.

n.20

Following K_Y, K, N, C, and H: gsung. D reads gsang.

Bibliography

’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryadānapāramitāsūtra). Toh 182, Degé Kangyur vol. 61 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 77.a–95.b.

’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. 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. 61, pp. 203–247.

’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryadānapāramitāsūtra). S 222, Stok Palace Manuscript Kangyur vol. 73 (mdo sde, za), folios 240.b–266.b.

’phags pa sbyin pa’i phan yon bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryadānānuśaṃsānirdeśasūtra). Toh 183, Degé Kangyur vol. 61 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 95.b–96.b.

Denkarma (ldan dkar ma), pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag. Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur, vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), F.294.b–310.a.

Dayal, Har. The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. 1932. Reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970.

Lalou, Marcelle. “Les textes bouddhiques au temps du roi Khri-sroṅ-lde-bcan.” Journal asiatique 241 (1953): 313–52.

McCombs, Jason Matthew. “Mahāyāna and the Gift: Theories and Practices.” PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2014.

Rotman, Andy. Divine Stories: Divyāvadāna, Part I. Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2008.

Yao, Fumi, trans. The Chapter on Medicines (Bhaiṣajyavastu, Toh 1-6). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.

Glossary

g.1

Ājñātakauṇḍinya

kun shes kauN+di n+ya

ཀུན་ཤེས་ཀཽཎྡི་ནྱ།

Ājñātakauṇḍinya

One of the five ascetics who later became the first five disciples of the Buddha.

g.2

Ākāśagarbha

nam mkha’ snying po

ནམ་མཁའ་སྙིང་པོ།

Ākāśagarbha

One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.

g.3

Ānanda

kun dga’ bo

ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།

Ānanda

The Buddha’s cousin and principal attendant.

g.4

Anavatapta

ma dros pa

མ་དྲོས་པ།

Anavatapta

A king of the nāgas.

g.5

Applications of mindfulness

dran pa nye bar gzhag pa

དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་གཞག་པ།

smṛtyupasthāna

Four contemplations on: the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening.

g.6

Aspiration

smon lam

སྨོན་ལམ།

praṇidhāna

One of the ten perfections.

g.7

Avalokiteśvara

spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug

སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག

Avalokiteśvara

One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.

g.8

Bakkula

ba ku la

བ་ཀུ་ལ།

Bakkula

An arhat disciple of the Buddha and one of the sixteen elders.

g.9

Bali

stobs can

སྟོབས་ཅན།

Bali

A ruler of the asuras.

g.10

Bases of miraculous power

rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa

རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་རྐང་པ།

ṛddhipāda

Determination, discernment, diligence, and absorption. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening.

g.11

Bhadrika

bzang ldan

བཟང་ལྡན།

Bhadrika

One of the first five disciples of the Buddha.

g.12

Bhairavī

’jigs byed ma

འཇིགས་བྱེད་མ།

Bhairavī

Fierce and terrifying Hindu goddess identified as the consort of Bhairava.

g.13

Bhaiṣajyarāja

sman gyi rgyal po

སྨན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Bhaiṣajyarāja

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.14

Bhaiṣajyasamudgata

sman yang dag ’phags

སྨན་ཡང་དག་འཕགས།

Bhaiṣajyasamudgata

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.15

Bharadvāja

bha ra dva dza

བྷ་ར་དབ༹་ཛ།

Bharadvāja

One of the disciples of the Buddha. One of the first ten to be ordained.

g.16

Bhūta

’byung po

འབྱུང་པོ།

bhūta

A general term for spirit, ghost, or demon.

g.17

Brahmā

tshangs pa

ཚངས་པ།

Brahmā

The lord of the Sahā world.

g.18

Branches of awakening

byang chub kyi yan lag

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག

bodhyaṅga

Recollection, analysis of the dharmas, diligence, joy, pliancy, absorption, equanimity. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening.

g.19

Candra

zla ba

ཟླ་བ།

Candra

Lunar deity in Hindu mythology.

g.20

Candraprabha

zla ’od

ཟླ་འོད།

Candraprabha

One of the bodhisattva great beings. He is also the principal interlocutor of The King of Samādhis Sūtra.

g.21

Concentration

bsam gtan

བསམ་གཏན།

dhyāna

One of the six or ten perfections.

g.22

Crown Jewel of the Lord of Men Resembling a Sublime Lion Sporting and Roaring in Mountain Caves, Peaks, Clefts, Valleys, and Meadows

ri’i phug dang zom dang ri sul dang gseb dang sman ljongs na seng ge’i mchog rnam par bsgyings shing nga ro rnam par sgrogs pa lta bu’i mi’i dbang po’i gtsug gi nor bu

རིའི་ཕུག་དང་ཟོམ་དང་རི་སུལ་དང་གསེབ་དང་སྨན་ལྗོངས་ན་སེང་གེའི་མཆོག་རྣམ་པར་བསྒྱིངས་ཤིང་ང་རོ་རྣམ་པར་སྒྲོགས་པ་ལྟ་བུའི་མིའི་དབང་པོའི་གཙུག་གི་ནོར་བུ།

Bodhisattva great being, interlocutor of the Buddha in The Perfection of Generosity.

g.23

Cūḍāpanthaka

lam phran bstan

ལམ་ཕྲན་བསྟན།

Cūḍāpanthaka

One of the disciples of the Buddha.

g.24

Determined Effort

spro ba brtan pa

སྤྲོ་བ་བརྟན་པ།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.25

Devamukuṭa

lha’i cod pan

ལྷའི་ཅོད་པན།

Devamukuṭa

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.26

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

yul ’khor srung

ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་།

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

One of the four great kings.

g.27

Diligence

brtson ’grus

བརྩོན་འགྲུས།

vīrya

One of the six or ten perfections.

g.28

Discipline

tshul khrims

ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།

śīla

One of the six or ten perfections.

g.29

Dṛḍhamati

blo gros brtan

བློ་གྲོས་བརྟན།

Dṛḍhamati

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.30

Dṛḍhavikrama

mthu rtsal brtan

མཐུ་རྩལ་བརྟན།

Dṛḍhavikrama

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.31

Dṛḍhavīrya

brtson ’grus brtan

བརྩོན་འགྲུས་བརྟན།

Dṛḍhavīrya

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.32

Druma

ljon pa

ལྗོན་པ།

Druma

A king of the kinnaras.

g.33

Equal and Evenly Set Teeth White Like Silver, Conch Shells, the Moon, a White Lotus, and Milk

so mnyam zhing thags bzang la dkar ba dngul dang dung dang zla ba dang ku mud dang ’o ma ltar dkar ba

སོ་མཉམ་ཞིང་ཐགས་བཟང་ལ་དཀར་བ་དངུལ་དང་དུང་དང་ཟླ་བ་དང་ཀུ་མུད་དང་འོ་མ་ལྟར་དཀར་བ།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.34

Female Spear Holder

mdung thogs ma

མདུང་ཐོགས་མ།

A Hindu goddess, unidentified. McCombs (p. 128) suggests that the Sanskrit name for this goddess might be Śūlinī (one of the names for Durgā) or Śaktidhārī.

g.35

Gavāṃpati

ba lang bdag

བ་ལང་བདག

Gavāṃpati

One of the disciples of the Buddha. One of the first ten to be ordained.

g.36

Generosity

sbyin pa

སྦྱིན་པ།

dāna

The first of the six or ten perfections, often explained as the essential starting point and training for the practice of the others.

g.37

Hair in a Topknot Shining Dark Like Bees, Ink, Peacocks, and Nightingales

bung ba dang snag sa dang rma bya dang ’jon mo dang mugs gsal ral pa’i thor tshugs can

བུང་བ་དང་སྣག་ས་དང་རྨ་བྱ་དང་འཇོན་མོ་དང་མུགས་གསལ་རལ་པའི་ཐོར་ཚུགས་ཅན།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.38

Hārītī

’phrog ma

འཕྲོག་མ།

Hārītī

A female yakṣa, previously an eater of children but tamed and converted by the Buddha and seen as a protectress. Consort of Pāñcika.

g.39

Hell of Endless Torment

mtshams med

མཚམས་མེད།

avīci

The most severe among the eight hot hell realms. It is characterized as endless not only in terms of the torment undergone there, but also because of the ceaseless chain of actions and effects experienced, the long lifespan of its denizens, and their being so intensely crowded together that there is no physical space between them.

g.40

Insight

shes rab

ཤེས་རབ།

prajñā

One of the six or ten perfections.

g.41

Jālinīprabha

dra ba can gyi ’od

དྲ་བ་ཅན་གྱི་འོད།

Jālinīprabha

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.42

Jambudvīpa

’dzam bu’i gling

འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་།

Jambudvīpa

The continent (dvīpa) on which we live, shaped like a jambū fruit or rose-apple according to ancient South Asian cosmology.

g.43

Kācilindika

ka tsa lin di ka

ཀ་ཙ་ལིན་དི་ཀ།

kācilindika
kācalindika

An epithet for softness, usually applied to cloth, and probably in reference, directly or metaphorically, to the down of the kācilindika bird. See Lamotte, Etienne. La Concentration de la Marche Héroïque. Bruxelles: Peeters (1975), p. 261, n. 321. The Mahāvyutpatti includes the term using the variant spelling kācalindika.

g.44

Kamaladalavimalanakṣatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña

pad ma’i ’dab ma ltar dri ma med pa rgyu skar rgyal po mngon par shes pa’i me tog shin tu rgyas pa

པད་མའི་འདབ་མ་ལྟར་དྲི་མ་མེད་པ་རྒྱུ་སྐར་རྒྱལ་པོ་མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པའི་མེ་ཏོག་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ།

Kamaladalavimalanakṣatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.45

Kapilavastu

ser skya’i gnas

སེར་སྐྱའི་གནས།

Kapilavastu

The capital city of the Śākya kingdom, where the Buddha grew up.

g.46

Kapphiṇa

ka pi na

ཀ་པི་ན།

Kapphiṇa

One of the disciples of the Buddha.

g.47

King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue

dge ba dri ma med pa rnam dag rin chen zla ’od rgyal po

དགེ་བ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པ་རྣམ་དག་རིན་ཆེན་ཟླ་འོད་རྒྱལ་པོ།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.48

Kubera

lus ngan po

ལུས་ངན་པོ།

Kubera

One of the four great kings, also known as Vaiśravaṇa.

g.49

Kuṇāla

ku na la

ཀུ་ན་ལ།

kuṇāla

Bird with beautiful eyes that lives on Mount Sumeru.

g.50

Mahākauṣṭhila

gsus po che

གསུས་པོ་ཆེ།

Mahākauṣṭhila

One of the disciples of the Buddha.

g.51

Mahākāya

lus chen

ལུས་ཆེན།

Mahākāya

A ruler of the garuḍas.

g.52

Mahāmaudgalyāyana

maud gal gyi bu chen po

མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahāmaudgalyāyana

One of the two closest disciples of the Buddha, known for his miraculous abilities.

g.53

Mahāśrīdevī

dpal gyi lha mo chen mo

དཔལ་གྱི་ལྷ་མོ་ཆེན་མོ།

Mahāśrīdevī

Epithet of Lakṣmī, Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity and consort of Viṣṇu.

g.54

Mahāsthāmaprāpta

mthu chen thob

མཐུ་ཆེན་ཐོབ།

Mahāsthāmaprāpta

Bodhisattva great being who represents the power of wisdom.

g.55

Mahātejas

gzi chen

གཟི་ཆེན།

Mahātejas

A ruler of the garuḍas.

g.56

Maheśvara

dbang phyug chen po

དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་པོ།

Maheśvara

Epithet of Śiva.

g.57

Mahotsāha

spro ba che ba

སྤྲོ་བ་ཆེ་བ།

Mahotsāha

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.58

Maitreya

byams pa

བྱམས་པ།

Maitreya

One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.

g.59

Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta

’jam dpal gzhon nur gyur pa

འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ།

Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta

One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.

g.60

Māra

bdud

བདུད།

Māra

Personification of everything that functions as a hindrance to awakening.

g.61

Moonlike Body

lus zla ba

ལུས་ཟླ་བ།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.62

Mount Sumeru

ri rab

རི་རབ།

Sumeru

Center of the universe according to Buddhist and Hindu cosmology.

g.63

Nanda

dga’ bo

དགའ་བོ།

Nanda

The Buddha’s half-brother and disciple.

g.64

Pañcaśikha

zur phud lnga pa

ཟུར་ཕུད་ལྔ་པ།

Pañcaśikha

An eminent gandharva.

g.65

Pāñcika

lngas rtsen

ལྔས་རྩེན།

Pāñcika

A leader of the yakṣas.

g.66

Patience

bzod pa

བཟོད་པ།

kṣānti

One of the six or ten perfections.

g.67

Piśāca

sha za

ཤ་ཟ།

piśāca

A class of demons. Literally “flesh eaters.”

g.68

Power

stobs

སྟོབས།

bala

One of the ten perfections.

g.69

Powers

dbang po

དབང་པོ།

indriya

Faith, diligence, mindfulness, absorption, and knowledge. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening.

g.70

Prajñāvarman

pra dz+nyA bar ma

པྲ་ཛྙཱ་བར་མ།

Prajñāvarman

A Bengali paṇḍita resident in Tibet during the late eighth/early ninth centuries. Arriving in Tibet at the invitation of the Tibetan king, he assisted in the translation of numerous canonical scriptures. He is also the author of a few philosophical commentaries included in the Tibetan Tengyur (bstan ’gyur) collection.

g.71

Prāmodyarāja

mchog tu dga’ ba’i rgyal po

མཆོག་ཏུ་དགའ་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Prāmodyarāja

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.72

Pūrṇa

gang po

གང་པོ།

Pūrṇa

At least five different disciples of the Buddha in the canonical texts have this name, but the Pūrṇa in this text is likely to be the eminent disciple of the Buddha from Kapilavastu, nephew of Ājñātakauṇḍinya who ordained him, and described as the foremost disciple in explaining the doctrine.

g.73

Rāhu

sgra gcan

སྒྲ་གཅན།

Rāhu

A ruler of the asuras.

g.74

Rāhula

sgra gcan zin

སྒྲ་གཅན་ཟིན།

Rāhula

The Buddha’s son and disciple.

g.75

Ratnacūḍa

rin chen gtsug phud

རིན་ཆེན་གཙུག་ཕུད།

Ratnacūḍa

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.76

Ratnagarbha

rin chen snying po

རིན་ཆེན་སྙིང་པོ།

Ratnagarbha

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.77

Ratnajālin

rin chen dra ba can

རིན་ཆེན་དྲ་བ་ཅན།

Ratnajālin

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.78

Ratnamukuṭa

rin chen cod pan

རིན་ཆེན་ཅོད་པན།

Ratnamukuṭa

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.79

Ratnapāṇi

lag na rin chen

ལག་ན་རིན་ཆེན།

Ratnapāṇi

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.80

Ratnaprabha

rin chen ’od

རིན་ཆེན་འོད།

Ratnaprabha

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.81

Ratnasiṃha

rin chen seng ge

རིན་ཆེན་སེང་གེ

Ratnasiṃha

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.82

Resembling the Karṇikāra Tree, the Mango Tree, and the Blooming Burflower Tree

dong ka’i shing dang sa ha ka ra dang me tog ’byung ba’i ka dam pa lta bu

དོང་ཀའི་ཤིང་དང་ས་ཧ་ཀ་ར་དང་མེ་ཏོག་འབྱུང་བའི་ཀ་དམ་པ་ལྟ་བུ།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.83

Rising Sun

nyi ma’i ’char ka

ཉི་མའི་འཆར་ཀ

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.84

Sacrificial post

mchod sdong

མཆོད་སྡོང་།

yūpa

A post set up as a marker to which offerings may be presented. Described in the Maitreyāvadāna (“The Story of Maitreya”), which in the Kangyur is found within the Bhaiṣajyavastu (in Vinayavastu, Toh 1, Degé Kangyur vol. kha, folios 29a-32b), see Yao (2021), 3.139 (the term is translated as “divine pillar”); a matching passage from the Divyāvadāna is translated in Rotman (2008), pp. 121–24.

g.85

Sāgara

rgya mtsho

རྒྱ་མཚོ།

Sāgara

A king of the nāgas.

g.86

Sahā world

mi mjed

མི་མཇེད།

Sahā

Indian Buddhist name for the universe in which we live. It means “endurance,” as beings there have to endure suffering.

g.87

Śakra

brgya byin

བརྒྱ་བྱིན།

Śakra

The lord of the gods.

g.88

Samantabhadra

kun tu bzang po

ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ།

Samantabhadra

One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.

g.89

Śaṅkhinī

dung can ma

དུང་ཅན་མ།

Śaṅkhinī

A Hindu goddess.

g.90

Śarabha

ldang sko ska

ལྡང་སྐོ་སྐ།

śarabha

Mythical eight-legged lion.

g.91

Śāradvatīputra

sha ra dva ti’i bu

ཤ་ར་དབ༹་ཏིའི་བུ།

Śāradvatīputra

One of the two closest disciples of the Buddha, known for his pure observance of discipline.

g.92

Sarasvatī

dbyangs can ma

དབྱངས་ཅན་མ།

Sarasvatī

Hindu goddess of art and wisdom, consort of Brahmā.

g.93

Seven precious things

rin chen sna bdun

རིན་ཆེན་སྣ་བདུན།

saptaratna

The seven precious things comprise the seven precious metals and stones, namely, gold, silver, turquoise, coral, pearl, emerald, and sapphire. More generally‌, they may also comprise the symbols of royal dominion, namely, the wheel, gem, queen, minister, elephant, general, and horse.

g.94

Śiva

zhi ba

ཞི་བ།

Śiva

One of the main Hindu gods.

g.95

Skillful means

thabs

ཐབས།

upāya

One of the ten perfections.

g.96

Slender, Supple, Firm, Fine, and Smooth Limbs Youthful Like Flowers and with Copper-Colored Nails

rka lag phra zhing mnyen la gzhon sha chags shing sra ba la ’jam zhing me tog ltar shin tu gzhon la rka lag gi sen mo zangs kyi mdog ’dra ba

རྐ་ལག་ཕྲ་ཞིང་མཉེན་ལ་གཞོན་ཤ་ཆགས་ཤིང་སྲ་བ་ལ་འཇམ་ཞིང་མེ་ཏོག་ལྟར་ཤིན་ཏུ་གཞོན་ལ་རྐ་ལག་གི་སེན་མོ་ཟངས་ཀྱི་མདོག་འདྲ་བ།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.97

Smiling Face That Brightly Shines Like the Moon and a Lotus Flower

pad ma dang zla ba ltar bzhin ’dzum zhing brjid la mdangs gsal ba

པད་མ་དང་ཟླ་བ་ལྟར་བཞིན་འཛུམ་ཞིང་བརྗིད་ལ་མདངས་གསལ་བ།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.98

Stable Strength

mthu brtan

མཐུ་བརྟན།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.99

Strengths

stobs

སྟོབས།

bala

Faith, diligence, mindfulness, absorption, and knowledge. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening. Although the qualities referred to are the same as the powers, they are termed strengths due to their greater strength.

g.100

Subhūti

rab ’byor

རབ་འབྱོར།

Subhūti

One of the closest disciples of the Buddha.

g.101

Śuddhodhana

zas gtsang

ཟས་གཙང་།

Śuddhodhana

King of Kapilavastu and father of the Buddha.

g.102

Sūryaprabha

nyi ’od

ཉི་འོད།

Sūryaprabha

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.103

Suśubha

rab tu bzang po

རབ་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ།

Suśubha

One of the disciples of the Buddha.

g.104

Tongue Wide as the Leaves of Palm and Plantain Trees and Resembling a Copper Plate

lce chu shing gi lo ma dang ta la’i ’dab ma ltar yangs shing zangs kyi glegs ma lta bu

ལྕེ་ཆུ་ཤིང་གི་ལོ་མ་དང་ཏ་ལའི་འདབ་མ་ལྟར་ཡངས་ཤིང་ཟངས་ཀྱི་གླེགས་མ་ལྟ་བུ།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.105

Top Ornament of Precious Qualities with Magnificent Sapphire-Like Eyes

rin po che mthon ka ltar mig shin tu mdzes pa yon tan rin po che’i tog

རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཐོན་ཀ་ལྟར་མིག་ཤིན་ཏུ་མཛེས་པ་ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ཏོག

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.106

True exertions

yang dag par spong ba

ཡང་དག་པར་སྤོང་བ།

samyakprahāṇa

Relinquishing negative acts in the present and future and enhancing positive acts in the present and future. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening. The term is often translated “true relinquishments,” which is the literal meaning of both the Sanskrit and Tibetan, but does not fit the third and fourth; Dayal, p. 102 ff. suggests the use of “effort” (samyakpradhāna) instead of lit. “abandonment” (samyakprahāna).

g.107

Umā

dka’ zlog ma

དཀའ་ཟློག་མ།

Umā

Epithet of Pārvatī, consort of Śiva.

g.108

Upananda

nye dga’ bo

ཉེ་དགའ་བོ།

Upananda

One of the disciples of the Buddha.

g.109

Vaiśravaṇa

rnam thos kyi bu

རྣམ་ཐོས་ཀྱི་བུ།

Vaiśravaṇa

One of the four great kings, also known as Kubera.

g.110

Vajrapāṇi

lag na rdo rje

ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།

Vajrapāṇi

A leader of the yakṣas.

g.111

Varuṇa

chu lha

ཆུ་ལྷ།

Varuṇa

One of the guardian deities.

g.112

Virūḍhaka

’phags skyes po

འཕགས་སྐྱེས་པོ།

Virūḍhaka

One of the four great kings.

g.113

Virūpākṣa

mig mi bzang

མིག་མི་བཟང་།

Virūpākṣa

One of the four great kings.

g.114

Voice as Delightful as the Songs of Cuckoos, Parrots, Grouse, Pheasants, and Kalaviṅka Birds

khu byug dang ne tso dang ri skegs dang ku na la dang ka la ping ka skad ’byin pa lta bur yid du ’ong ba’i nga ro’i gdangs nges par sgrogs pa

ཁུ་བྱུག་དང་ནེ་ཙོ་དང་རི་སྐེགས་དང་ཀུ་ན་ལ་དང་ཀ་ལ་པིང་ཀ་སྐད་འབྱིན་པ་ལྟ་བུར་ཡིད་དུ་འོང་བའི་ང་རོའི་གདངས་ངེས་པར་སྒྲོགས་པ།

One of the bodhisattva great beings.

g.115

Wisdom

ye shes

ཡེ་ཤེས།

jñāna

One of the ten perfections.

g.116

Yama

gshin rje

གཤིན་རྗེ།

Yama

The lord of death.

g.117

Yellow-Robed

ser mo

སེར་མོ།

A Hindu goddess, unidentified. McCombs (p. 128) suggests that the Sanskrit name for this goddess might be Pītā or Vāruṇī.

g.118

Yeshé Dé

ye shes sde

ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།

A prolific Tibetan translator active during the late eighth and early ninth centuries.

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The Perfection of Generosity

Toh 182

Ājñātakauṇḍinya

Ākāśagarbha

Ānanda

Anavatapta

Applications of mindfulness

Aspiration

Avalokiteśvara

Bakkula

Bali

Bases of miraculous power

Bhadrika

Bhairavī

Bhaiṣajyarāja

Bhaiṣajyasamudgata

Bharadvāja

Bhūta

Brahmā

Branches of awakening

Candra

Candraprabha

Concentration

Crown Jewel of the Lord of Men Resembling a Sublime Lion Sporting and Roaring in Mountain Caves, Peaks, Clefts, Valleys, and Meadows

Cūḍāpanthaka

Determined Effort

Devamukuṭa

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Diligence

Discipline

Dṛḍhamati

Dṛḍhavikrama

Dṛḍhavīrya

Druma

Equal and Evenly Set Teeth White Like Silver, Conch Shells, the Moon, a White Lotus, and Milk

Female Spear Holder

Gavāṃpati

Generosity

Hair in a Topknot Shining Dark Like Bees, Ink, Peacocks, and Nightingales

Hārītī

Hell of Endless Torment

Insight

Jālinīprabha

Jambudvīpa

Kācilindika

Kamala­dala­vimala­nakṣatra­rāja­saṃkusumitā­bhijña

Kapilavastu

Kapphiṇa

King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue

Kubera

Kuṇāla

Mahākauṣṭhila

Mahākāya

Mahāmaudgalyāyana

Mahāśrīdevī

Mahāsthāmaprāpta

Mahātejas

Maheśvara

Mahotsāha

Maitreya

Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta

Māra

Moonlike Body

Mount Sumeru

Nanda

Pañcaśikha

Pāñcika

Patience

Piśāca

Power

Powers

Kamaladalavimalanakṣatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña