The Shorter Devatā Sūtra
Colophon
Toh 330
Degé Kangyur, vol. 72 (mdo sde, sa), folios 258.b–259.b
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
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Translated by the Pema Yeshé Dé Translation Team
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2023
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Table of Contents
Summary
While staying in Śrāvastī, the Buddha is approached by an unnamed “divine being,” who inquires as to what behavior merits rebirth in the higher realms. In response, the Buddha explains, in a series of concise and powerful verses, that abandoning each of the ten nonvirtues—killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, telling lies, slander, harsh words, idle talk, covetousness, ill will, and wrong views—and embracing their opposites, the ten virtues, will lead to rebirth in the higher realms.
Acknowledgements
The sūtra was translated by Giuliano Proença, who also prepared the introduction, the glossary, and the notes. The English translation and ancillary materials were proofread by Daniela Espíndola. Thanks to Karin Kerb for making otherwise unavailable bibliographical material accessible to us.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. George FitzHerbert edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
Introduction
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra (Skt. Alpadevatāsūtra, Tib. lha’i mdo nyung ngu) is a brief sūtra in which the Buddha, while staying in Śrāvasti, is approached by an unnamed divine being (Skt. devatā, Tib. lha), who inquires about what behavior merits rebirth in the higher realms. The Buddha replies with a series of simple and powerful verses in which he states that those who relinquish the ten nonvirtues of body, speech, and mind—killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, telling lies, slander, harsh words, idle talk, covetousness, ill will, and wrong views—and embrace their opposites, the ten virtues, here called “the tenfold path of the good Dharma”, will be reborn in the higher realms.
A Sanskrit manuscript fragment of the Alpadevatāsūtra, covering only the initial part of the sūtra, is found among the Gilgit Buddhist manuscripts discovered in 1931.1 This fragment is written in the proto-Śāradā script that was in use from the seventh century ᴄᴇ and is mostly found in non-Mahāyāna texts. It is believed that the Gilgit manuscripts were written during the Palola Ṣāhi Dynasty (sixth to eighth century ᴄᴇ). In this manuscript, as in the Tshalpa Kangyurs, The Shorter Devatā Sūtra appears immediately after The Devatā Sūtra (Toh 329), which is slightly longer and shares the general framing narrative and the theme of rebirth in higher realms but is otherwise distinct. Both texts have been published in a number of modern Sanskrit editions, all based on the Gilgit manuscript.2 As compared to the Tibetan, the Sanskrit fragment of the Alpadevatāsūtra has a slightly longer prose introduction, specifying that the devatā who came before the Buddha was beautiful and arrived at night. Otherwise, the three extant Sanskrit stanzas that open the dialogue are very close to the first three verses in the Tibetan translation.
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra is extant in two Chinese translations, both of which are found in the Saṃyuktāgama, and are probably based on a Sanskrit text from the (Mūla)sarvāstivāda school. These are sūtra no. 1299 of the Saṃyuktāgama (Za a han jing 雜阿含經, Taishō 99), which was translated by Guṇabhadra during the Song (宋) between 435–443 ᴄᴇ in Jiankang (today’s Nanjing);3 and sūtra no. 297 of what is known as the Alternative Saṃyuktāgama (Bie yi za a han jing 別譯雜阿含經, Taishō 100), which was translated earlier during the Three Qin (三秦) period, probably between 385–431 ᴄᴇ, by an unknown translator in the Gansu corridor.4 While the Sanskrit and Tibetan correspond in their parsing of the opening three verses, the second Sanskrit verse is instead found as a short prose passage in Taishō 99. However, the opening narrative in both Chinese translations aligns more closely with the Sanskrit than the Tibetan translation.
A colophon in Kangyurs of the Tshalpa lineage as well as the Narthang and Lhasa Kangyurs states that the sūtra was translated into Tibetan by the master translator Bandé Yeshé Dé, suggesting a translation from a Sanskrit source. The sūtra is listed among “Hīnayāna” (Tib. theg pa chung ngu) sūtras in the Denkarma imperial catalog,5 as well as in the Phangthangma catalog,6 confirming that it was translated no later than the early ninth century ᴄᴇ.
Although no copy of The Shorter Devatā Sūtra is found among the manuscripts recovered from the cave library at Dunhuang, we know that the teaching on the ten virtues (Tib. dge ba bcu) had considerable prominence in the Tibetan imperial period, when it was established as a public code of ethics that would lay the foundation for Tibetan law (khrims) for centuries to come.7
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra has been the object of Western scholarly attention since the end of the nineteenth century, when a full French translation from the Tibetan was published by Léon Feer in his Extraits du Kandjour,8 together with a short introduction on the subject of the ten virtues. Most modern scholarly attention on the sūtra has been concerned with the Gilgit manuscript. Adelheid Mette published a Sanskrit edition of the fragmentary Shorter Devatā Sūtra along with The Devatā Sūtra (Toh 329), in which the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts are compared, and a partial German translation from the Tibetan is presented. Soon after that publication, Hisashi Matsumura published further Sanskrit editions of the same texts in two separate articles, also based on the facsimile edition of the Gilgit manuscripts, and improving on Mette’s editions.9 The second of these articles (Matsumura 1983) presents The Shorter Devatā Sūtra with the Sanskrit and Chinese (Taishō 99) texts placed side by side, and in those portions of the text where the Sanskrit is not extant, with the Tibetan and Chinese side by side. Differences are highlighted and references are also made to some textual parallels identified by Fumio Enomoto, such as two corresponding verses in the Gāndhārī Dharmapada.10
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra is found in the General Sūtra (mdo sde) section in all Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line, the mixed line, Hemis I, and in the independent Kangyurs, such as the Phukdrak, Langdo, and Namgyal. It is also included in some collections from Western Tibet, such as Tholing and Gondhla. However, it is missing from the Kangyurs of the Thempangma lineage.
The Tibetan title, in all editions, is lha’i mdo nyung gu, but the various Kangyurs offer three variants on its Sanskrit title. In most Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line, the title is Alpadevatāsūtra, while the Qianlong and Kangxi have Albalbadevatasūtra and Alpalbadevatasūtra (sic for Alpālpadevatāsūtra) respectively, meaning The Very Short Devatā Sūtra. The Yongle, Hemis I, and independent Kangyurs have Svalpadevatāsūtra, also meaning The Shorter Devatā Sūtra.
This translation is based on the Tibetan as found in the General Sūtra (mdo sde) section of the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the variants recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), and other editions such as the Phukdrak, Hemis I, and Gondhla. All significant variations have been recorded in the notes. Matsumura’s annotated edition of the Sanskrit fragment among the Gilgit manuscripts as well as the parallel verses of the Gāndhārī Dharmapada have also been consulted, and where differences with the Tibetan are apparent this has also been recorded in the notes. Léon Feer’s French translation, and Adelheid Mette’s partial German translation were also consulted.
The Translation
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying at Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park at Śrāvastī, [F.259.a] when a divine being11 approached the Blessed One, paid homage by bowing its head to the feet of the Blessed One, and sat down to one side.12 Thereupon the divine being asked the Blessed One:13
After the Blessed One had spoken thus, the divine being rejoiced and praised what the Blessed One had said.
Thus concludes “The Shorter Devatā Sūtra.”
Colophon
Translated, edited, and finalized by the senior editor and translator Bandé Yeshé Dé.
Notes
Bibliography
Tibetan
lha’i mdo nyung ngu. (Alpadevatāsūtra). Toh 330, Degé Kangyur vol. 72 (mdo sde, sa), folios 258.b–259.b.
lha’i mdo nyung ngu. 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), 2006-9, vol. 72, pp. 739–42.
lha’i mdo nyung ngu. Gondhla Collection vol. 25, folios 83.b–84.a.
lha’i mdo nyung ngu. Hemis I MS Kangyur vol. 78 (mdo, ngi), folios 109.b–111.a.
lha’i mdo nyung ngu. Phukdrak MS Kangyur vol. 70 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 119.a–120.a.
lha’i mdo (Devatāsūtra). Toh 329, Degé Kangyur vol. 72 (mdo sde, sa), folios 257.a–258.b.
gsang sngags chen po rjes su ’dzin pa’i mdo (Mahāmantrānudhāriṇīsūtra) [Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra]. Toh 563, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud ’bum, pha), folios 150.b–156.a. English translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee (2016).
Phangthangma (dkar chag ’phang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Ngawang Losang Gyatso (ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho). gsung ’bum ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho [Collected Works of Ngawang Losang Gyatso]. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang, 2009, vol. 8, pp. 471–72.
Sanskrit
Braarvig, Jens, ed. “Mahāvyutpatti with sGrasbyor bam po gñis pa.” Bibliotheca Polyglotta, University of Oslo.
Matsumura, Hisashi (1982). “Devatāsūtra と Alpadevatāsūtra.” Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku Bukkyōgaku Kenkyū) vol. 30, no. 2 (1982): 54–60.
———(1983). “ギルギット 写本備忘録.” (“Notes on the Gilgit Manuscripts”). Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (=Indogaku Bukkyōgaku Kenkyū) vol. 31, no. 2 (1983): 856–852.
Mette, Adelheid. “Zwei kleine Fragmente aus Gilgit.” Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 7 (1981): 133–51.
Vira, Raghu and Lokesh Chandra, eds. Gilgit Buddhist Manuscripts (Facsimile Edition), 10 parts. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture. Śata-Piṭaka Series 10, 1959–74. Part 7 (1974).
Chinese
Za a han jing 雜阿含經 (Saṃyuktāgama), Taishō 99.
Bie yi za a han jing 別譯雜阿含經 (Alternative Saṃyuktāgama), Taishō 100.
Related Texts
Western Languages
Bingenheimer, Marcus. Studies in Āgama Literature with Special Reference to the Shorter Chinese Saṃyuktāgama. Taipei: Xinwenfeng, 2011.
Choong, Mun-keat. “A comparison of the Pāli and Chinese versions of the Devatā Saṃyutta and Devaputta Saṃyutta, collections of early Buddhist discourses on devatās ‘gods’ and devaputras ‘sons of gods.’ ” Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 1 (2011): 60–88.
Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra (Mahāmantrānudhāriṇīsūtra, Toh 563). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016.
Enomoto, Fumio. “雑阿含 1299 経と 1329 経をめぐって.” Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (=Indogaku Bukkyōgaku Kenkyū) 30, no. 2 (1982): 79–85.
Feer, Léon. (1881): “Analyse du Kandjour: recueil des livres sacrés du Tibet par Alexandre Csoma de Körös.” In Annales du Musée Guimet 2: 131–577.
———(1883). Fragments extraits du Kandjour. Annales du Musée Guimet 5. Paris.
Van Schaik, Sam. The Spirit of Tibetan Buddhism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
Yoshimura, Shyuki. The denkar-ma: an oldest catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons with introductory notes. Kyoto: Ryukoku University, 1950.
Glossary
Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language
Attested in source text
This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.
Attested in other text
This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.
Attested in dictionary
This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.
Approximate attestation
The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested in dictionaries or other manuscripts.
Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.
Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.
Source unspecified
This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.
Anāthapiṇḍada
- mgon med zas sbyin
- མགོན་མེད་ཟས་སྦྱིན།
- anāthapiṇḍada
Bandé Yeshé Dé
- ban de ye shes sde
- བན་དེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།
- —
bodhisattva
- byang chub sems dpa’
- བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།
- bodhisattva
brāhmaṇa
- bram ze
- བྲམ་ཟེ།
- brāhmaṇa
buddha
- sangs rgyas
- སངས་རྒྱས།
- buddha
correct view
- yang dag lta ba
- ཡང་དག་ལྟ་བ།
- samyagdṛṣṭi
faith
- dad pa
- དད་པ།
- śraddhā
good Dharma
- dkar po’i chos
- དཀར་པོའི་ཆོས།
- śukladharma
harsh words
- tshig rtsub
- ཚིག་རྩུབ།
- pāruṣya
idle talk
- kyal pa’i tshig
- ཀྱལ་པའི་ཚིག
- saṃbhinnapralāpa
ill will
- gnod par sems pa
- གནོད་པར་སེམས་པ།
- vyāpāda
Jetavana
- rgyal bu rgyal byed kyi tshal
- རྒྱལ་བུ་རྒྱལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཚལ།
- jetavana
karma
- las
- ལས།
- karman
nirvāṇa
- mya ngan las ’das pa
- mya ngan ’das pa
- མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།
- མྱ་ངན་འདས་པ།
- nirvāṇa
ripening of karma
- las kyi rnam par smin pa
- ལས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པར་སྨིན་པ།
- karmavipāka
sexual misconduct
- log par g.yem pa
- ལོག་པར་གཡེམ་པ།
- kāmamithyācāra
slander
- phra ma’i tshig
- ཕྲ་མའི་ཚིག
- paiśunya
Śrāvastī
- mnyan yod
- མཉན་ཡོད།
- śrāvastī
taking what is not given
- ma byin len
- མ་བྱིན་ལེན།
- adattādāna
telling lies
- brdzun gyi tshig smra ba
- བརྫུན་གྱི་ཚིག་སྨྲ་བ།
- mṛṣāvāda
ten nonvirtues
- mi dge ba bcu
- མི་དགེ་བ་བཅུ།
- daśākuśala
ten virtues
- dge ba bcu
- དགེ་བ་བཅུ།
- daśakuśala
tenfold path of the good Dharma
- dkar po’i chos kyi lam bcu
- དཀར་པོའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ལམ་བཅུ།
- —