co.

Table of Contents

s.

Summary

s.­1

The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines is a detailed explanation of the Long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras, presenting a structural framework for them that is relatively easy to understand in comparison to most other commentaries based on Maitreya-Asaṅga’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations. After a detailed, word-by-word explanation of the introductory chapter common to all three sūtras, it explains the structure they also all share in terms of the three approaches or “gateways”‍—brief, intermediate, and detailed‍—ending with an explanation of the passage known as the “Maitreya chapter” found only in the Eighteen Thousand Line and Twenty-Five Thousand Line sūtras. It goes by many different titles, and its authorship has never been conclusively determined, some Tibetans believing it to be by Vasubandhu, and others that it is by Daṃṣṭrāsena.

ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

This commentary was translated by Gareth Sparham under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

The Translator’s Acknowledgments

ac.­2

I thank the late Gene Smith, who initially encouraged me to undertake this work, and I thank all of those at 84000‍—Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, the sponsors, and the scholars, translators, editors, and technicians‍—and all the other indispensable people whose work has made this translation possible.

I thank all the faculty and graduate students in the Group in Buddhist Studies at Berkeley, and Jan Nattier, whose seminars on the Perfection of Wisdom were particularly helpful. At an early stage, Paul Harrison and Ulrich Pagel arranged for me to see a copy of an unpublished Sanskrit manuscript of a sūtra cited in Bṭ3. I thank them for that assistance.

I also take this opportunity to thank the abbot of Drepung Gomang monastery, Losang Gyaltsen, and the retired director of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, Kalsang Damdul, for listening to some of my questions and giving learned and insightful responses.

Finally, I acknowledge the kindness of my mother, Ann Sparham, who recently passed away in her one hundredth year, and my wife Janet Seding.

Acknowledgement of Sponsorhip

ac.­3

We gratefully acknowledge the generous sponsorship of Kelvin Lee, Doris Lim, Chang Chen Hsien, Lim Cheng Cheng, Ng Ah Chon and family, Lee Hoi Lang and family, the late Lee Tiang Chuan, and the late Chang Koo Cheng. Their support has helped make the work on this translation possible.

The Translation
The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines
c.

Colophon

c.­1

Revised and finalized by the Indian preceptor Surendrabodhi and the chief editor-translator monk Yeshé Dé.

ab.

Abbreviations

AAV Āryavimuktisena (’phags pa rnam grol sde). ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan gyi tshig le’ur byas pa’i ’grel pa (Ārya­pañca­viṃśati­sāhasrikā­prajñā-pāramitopadeśa­śāstrābhisamayālaṃkāra­kārikā­vārttika). Toh 3787, Degé Tengyur vol. 80 (shes phyin, ka), folios 14b–212a.
AAVN Āryavimuktisena. Abhi­samayālamkāra­vrtti (mistakenly titled Abhi­samayālaṅkāra­vyākhyā). Nepal German Manuscript Preservation Project A 37/9, National Archives Kathmandu Accession Number 5/55. The numbers follow the page numbering of my own undated, unpublished transliteration of the part of the manuscript not included in Pensa 1967.
AAVārt Bhadanta Vimuktisena (btsun pa grol sde). ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan gyi tshig le’ur byas pa’i rnam par ’grel pa (*Ārya­pañca­viṃśati­sāhasrikā­prajñā-pāramitopadeśa­śāstrābhisamayālaṃkāra­kārikā­vārttika). Toh 3788, Degé Tengyur vol. 81 (shes phyin, kha), folios 1b–181a.
AAtib shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan zhes bya ba tshig le’le’urur byas pa (Abhi­samayālaṃkāra-nāma-prajñā­pāramitopadeśa­śāstra­kārikā) [Ornament for the Clear Realizations]. Toh 3786, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ka), folios 1b–13a.
Abhisamayālaṃkāra Abhi­samayālaṃkāra-nāma-prajñā­pāramitopadeśa­śāstra. Numbering of the verses as in Unrai Wogihara edition. Abhisamayālaṃkārālokā Prajñāpāramitā Vyākhyā: The Work of Haribhadra. Tokyo: The Toyo Bunko, 1932–5; reprint ed., Tokyo: Sankibo Buddhist Book Store, 1973.
Amano Amano, Koei H. Abhisamayālaṃkāra-kārikā-śāstra-vivṛti: Haribhadra’s Commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra-kārikā-śāstra edited for the first time from a Sanskrit Manuscript. Kyoto: Heirakuji Shoten, 2000.
Aṣṭa Aṣṭa­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā. Page numbers are Wogihara (1973) that includes the edition of Mitra (1888).
BPS ’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’i sde snod ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Ārya­bodhi­sattva­piṭaka­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra) [The Bodhisattva’s Scriptural Collection]. Toh 56, Degé Kangyur vols. 40–41 (dkon brtsegs, kha, ga), folios 255b1–294a7, 1b1–205b1.
Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo Zhang, Yisun, ed. Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo. Pe-cing: Mi rigs dpe skrun khang 2000.
Buddhaśrī shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa sdud pa’i tshig su byas pa’i dka’ ’grel (Prajñā­pāramitā­saṃcaya­gāthā­pañjikā). Toh 3798, Degé Tengyur vol. 87 (shes phyin, nya), folios 116a–189b.
Bṭ1 Anonymous/Daṃṣṭrāsena. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa ’bum gyi rgya cher ’grel (Śata­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā­bṛhaṭṭīkā) [Bṛhaṭṭīkā]. Toh 3807, Degé Tengyur vols. 91–92 (shes phyin, na, pa).
Bṭ3 Vasubandhu/Daṃṣṭrāsena. ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa ’bum dang / nyi khri lnga sgong pa dang / khri brgyad stong pa rgya cher bshad pa (Ārya­śata­sāhasrikā­pañca­viṃśati­sāhasrikāṣṭā­daśa-sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitābṭhaṭṭīkā) [Bṛhaṭṭīkā]. Degé Tengyur vol. 93 (shes phyin, pha), folios 1b–292b.
C Choné (co ne) Kangyur and Tengyur.
D Degé (sde dge) Kangyur and Tengyur.
DMDic Dan Martin Dictionary. Part of The Tibetan to English Translation Tool, version 3.3.0, compiled by Andrés Montano Pellegrini. Available from https://www.bdrc.io/blog/2020/12/21/dan-martins-tibetan-histories/.
Edg Edgerton, Franklin. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary. New Haven, 1953.
Eight Thousand Conze, Edward. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its Verse Summary. Bolinas, Calif.: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973.
GRETIL Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages.
Ghoṣa Ghoṣa, Pratāpachandra, ed. Śata­sāhasrikā Prajñā­pāramitā. Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta, 1902–14.
Gilgit Gilgit Buddhist Manuscripts (revised and enlarged compact facsimile edition). Vol. 1. by Raghu Vira and Lokesh Chandra. Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica Series No. 150. Delhi 110007: Sri Satguru Publications, a division of Indian Books Center, 1995.
GilgitC Conze, Edward, ed. and trans. The Gilgit Manuscript of the Aṣṭādaśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā: Chapters 55 to 70 Corresponding to the 5th Abhisamaya. Roma: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1962.
Golden snar thang gser bri ma. Golden Tengyur/Ganden Tengyur. Produced between 1731 and 1741 by Polhane Sonam Tobgyal for the Qing court, published in Tianjing 1988. BDRC W23702.
H Lhasa (zhol) Kangyur and Tengyur
Haribhadra (Amano) Abhi­samayālaṃkāra­kārikā­śāstra­vivṛti. Amano edition.
Haribhadra (Wogihara) Abhi­samayālaṃkārālokā Prajñā­pāramitā­vyākhyā. Wogihara edition.
LC Candra, Lokesh. Tibetan Sanskrit Dictionary. Śata-piṭaka Series Indo-Asian Literature, Vol. 3. International Academy of Indian Culture (1959–61) third reprint edition 2001.
LSPW Conze, Edward. The Large Sutra on Perfection Wisdom. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1975. First paperback printing, 1984.
MDPL Conze, Edward. Materials for a Dictionary of the Prajñāpāramitā Literature. Tokyo: Suzuki Research Foundation, 1973.
MQ Conze, Edward and Shotaro Iida. “ ‘Maitreya’s Questions’ in the Prajñāpāramitā.” In Mélanges d’India a la Mémoire de Louis Renou, 229–42. Paris: Éditions E. de Boccard, 1968.
MSAvy Asaṅga / Vasubandhu. Sūtrālaṃkāra­vyākhyā.
MSAvyT Asaṅga / Vasubandhu. mdo sde’i rgyan gyi bshad pa (Sūtrālaṃkāra­vyākhyā). Toh 4026, Degé Tengyur vol. 225 (sems tsam, phi), folios 129b–260a.
MW Monier-Williams, Monier. A Sanskrit-English dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899.
Mppś Lamotte, Étienne. Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñā-pāramitā-śāstra). Vol. I and II: Bibliothèque du Muséon, 18. Louvain: Institut Orientaliste, 1949; reprinted 1967. Vol III, IV and V: Publications de l’Institut Orientaliste de Louvain, 2, 12 and 24. Louvain: Institut Orientaliste, 1970, 1976 and 1980.
Mppś English Gelongma Karma Migme Chodron. The Treatise on the Great Virtue of Wisdom of Nāgārjuna. Gampo Abbey Nova Scotia, 2001. English translation of Étienne Lamotte (1949–80).
Mvy Mahāvyutpatti (bye brag tu rtogs par byed pa chen po. Toh. 4346, Degé Tengyur vol. 306 (bstan bcos sna tshogs, co), folios 1b-131a.
N Narthang (snar thang) Kangyur and Tengyur.
NAK National Archives Kathmandu.
NGMPP Nepal German Manuscript Preservation Project.
PSP Pañca­viṃśati­sāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā. Edited by Takayasu Kimura. Tokyo: Sankibo Busshorin 2007–9 (1-1, 1-2), 1986 (2-3), 1990 (4), 1992 (5), 2006 (6-8). Available online (input by Klaus Wille, Göttingen) at GRETIL.
RecA Skt and Tib editions of Recension A in Yuyama 1976.
RecAs Sanskrit Recension A in Yuyama 1976.
RecAt Tibetan Recension A in Yuyama 1976.
Rgs Ratna­guṇa­saṃcaya­gāthā.
S Stok Palace (stog pho brang bris ma) Kangyur.
Skt Sanskrit.
Subodhinī Attributed to Haribhadra. bcom ldan ’das yon tan rin po che sdud pa’i tshig su byas pa’i dka’ ’grel shes bya ba (Bhagavadratna­guṇa­saṃcaya­gāthā-pañjikā­nāma) [A Commentary on the Difficult Points of the “Verses that Summarize the Perfection of Wisdom”]. Toh 3792, Degé Tengyur vol. 86 (shes phyin, ja), folios 1b–78a.
TGN de bshin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa’i bstan pa (Tathāgatācintya­guhyaka­nirdeśa) [“Explanation of the Inconceivable Secrets of the Tathāgatas”]. Toh 47, Degé Kangyur vol. 39 (dkon brtsegs, ka), folios 100a7–203a.
TMN de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying po chen po nges par bstan pa (Tathāgata­mahā­karuṇā­nirdeśa­sūtra) [“The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata”]. Toh 147, Degé Kangyur vol. 57 (mdo sde, pa), folios 42a1–242b7. English translation in Burchardi 2020.
Tempangma bka’ ’gyur rgyal rtse’i them spang ma. The Gyaltse Tempangma manuscript of the Kangyur preserved at National Library of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Tib Tibetan.
Toh Tōhoku Imperial University A Complete Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons. (bkaḥ-ḥgyur and bstan-ḥgyur). Edited by Ui, Hakuju; Suzuki, Munetada; Kanakura, Yenshō; and Taka, Tōkan. Tohoku Imperial University, Sendai, 1934.
Vetter Vetter, Tilmann. “Compounds in the Prologue of the Pañca­viṃśati­sāhasrikā,” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, Band XXXVII, 1993: 45–92.
Wogihara Wogihara, Unrai. Abhisamayālaṃkārālokā Prajñāpāramitā Vyākhyā: The Work of Haribhadra. Tokyo: The Toyo Bunko, 1932–5; reprint ed., Tokyo: Sankibo Buddhist Book Store, 1973.
Z Zacchetti, Stefano. In Praise of the Light. Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica, Vol. 8. The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology. Tokyo: Soka University, 2005.
brgyad stong pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa bryad stong pa (Aṣṭa­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā) [“Eight Thousand”]. Toh 12, Degé Kangyur vol. 33 (shes phyin, brgyad stong pa, ka), folios 1a–286a.
khri brgyad shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa khri brgyad stong pa (Aṣṭā­daśa­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā) [“Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines”]. Toh 10, Degé Kangyur vols. 29–31 (shes phyin, khri brgyad, ka, kha, and in ga folios 1b–206a). English translation in Sparham 2022.
khri pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa khri pa (Daśa­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā) [“Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines”]. Toh 11, Degé Kangyur vols. 31–32 (shes phyin, khri brgyad, ga folios 1b–91a (second repetition of numbering), and in shes phyin, khrid pa, nga, folios 92b-397a). English translation in Dorje 2018.
le’u brgyad ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa (Pañca­viṃśati­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā) [Haribhadra’s “Eight Chapters”]. Toh 3790, vols. 82–84 (shes phyin, ga, nga, ca). Citations are from the 1976–79 Karmapae chodhey gyalwae sungrab partun khang edition, first the Tib. vol. letter in italics, followed by the folio and line number.
nyi khri shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa (Pañca­viṃśati­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā) [Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines]. Toh 9, Degé Kangyur vols. 26–28 (shes phyin, nyi khri, ka–ga). Citations are from the 1976–79 Karmapae chodhey gyalwae sungrab partun khang edition. English Translation in Padmakara 2023.
rgyan snang Haribhadra. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa’i bshad pa mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan gyi snang ba, (Aṣṭa­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā-vyākhyānābhi­samayālaṃkārālokā) [“Illumination of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra”]. Toh 3791, Degé Tengyur vol. 85 (shes phyin, cha), folios 1b–341a.
sa bcu pa sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba las, sa bcu’i le’u ste, sum cu rtsa gcig pa’o (sa bcu pa’i mdo) (Daśa­bhūmika­sūtra) [“The Ten Bhūmis”]. Toh 44-31, Degé Kangyur vol. 36 (phal chen, kha), folios 166.a–283.a. English translation in Roberts 2021.
snying po mchog Ratnākaraśānti. ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa’i dka’ ’grel snying po mchog. (Sāratamā) [“Quintessence”]. Toh 3803, Degé Tengyur vol. 89 (shes phyin, tha), folios 1b–230a.
ŚsPK Śata­sāhasrikā­prajña­paramitā. Edited by Takayasu Kimura. Tokyo: Sankibo Busshorin 2009 (II-1), 2010 (II-2, II-3), 2014 (II-4). Available online (input by Klaus Wille, Göttingen) at GRETIL.
ŚsPN3 Śata­sāhasrikā­prajña­paramitā NGMPP A 115/3, NAK Accession Number 3/632. Numbering of the scanned pages.
ŚsPN4 Śata­sāhasrikā­prajña­paramitā NGMPP B 91/3, NAK Accession Number 3/633. Numbering of the scanned pages.
ŚsPN4/2 Śata­sāhasrikā­prajña­paramitā NGMPP B 91/3, NAK Accession Number 3/633 (part two). Numbering of the scanned pages.
’bum shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa (Śata­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā) [Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines]. Toh 8, Degé Kangyur vols. 14–25 (shes phyin, ’bum, ka–a). Citations are from the 1976–79 Karmapae chodhey gyalwae sungrab partun khang edition, first the Tib. vol. letter in italics, followed by the folio and line number.
n.

Notes

n.­1
Degé Tengyur vol. 213 (dkar chag, shrI), F.432b–433a. The four great “pathbreaker” traditions of interpretation (shing rta chen po’i srol bzhi or shing rta’i srol ’byed bzhi) are: (1) the Ornament for the Clear Realizations and all the commentaries based on it, (2) the Madhyamaka “corpus based on reasoning” (dbu ma rig pa’i tshogs, i.e. Nāgārjuna’s writings categorized as the Yuktikāya and by extension the Madhyamaka treatises in general), (3) the two Bṛhaṭṭīka commentaries discussed here, and (4) Dignāga’s Prajñāpāramitā­saṃgraha­kārikā (Toh 3809, also known as the Piṇḍārtha­saṃgraha), said to be characterized by its thirty-two topics, and its subcommentary the Prajñāpāramitā­saṃgraha­kārikā­vivaraṇa (Toh 3810).
n.­2
Denkarma, folio 305.a.6; see also Herrmann-Pfandt, pp. 293-294, no. 515. Phangthangma 2003, p. 35. The only substantial difference in the titles, as with so many canonical texts, is that “noble” is added as an honorific in present editions of the Tibetan canon.
n.­3
Among modern writers, Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya (1997), Kazuo Kano and Xuezhu Li (2012, 2014), and Karl Brunnhölzl (2011b) use the title Bṛhaṭṭīkā.
n.­4
Abhisamayālaṅkārāloka (Toh 3791), Degé Tengyur vol. 85 F.2.a.
n.­5
Bhagavaty­āmnāyānusāriṇī­nāma­vyākhyā (bcom ldan ’das ma’i man ngag gi rjes su ’brang ba zhes bya ba’i rnam par bshad pa), Toh 3811.
n.­6
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa ’bum pa rgya cher ’grel pa.
n.­7
’di yi gzhung ’grel gnod ’joms bya bar ’dod.
n.­8
One may understand the verse as follows: “Having reverently (gus par, ādārāt) bowed (phyag ’tshal te, namaskṛ) to the Mother of Victors (rgyal ba’i yum, jinajananī), the foremost perfection (pha rol phyin pa’i gtso, pāramitāgrā) in the form of wisdom (shes rab bdag nyid, prajñātmakā), I want to make (bya bar ’dod, cikīrṣitā) a Path (gzhung ’grel, paddhati) there on which the Thorns Have Been Trodden Down (gnod ’joms, marditakaṇṭakā) so the later scriptures (bla ma’i lung, uttarāgama) will be of benefit to me (bdag la phan pa’i phyir, ātmahitāya).” Alternative translation of the last part: “because the tradition of the gurus (bla ma’i lung, gurvāgama) has been of benefit to me (bdag la phan pa’i phyir, ātmahitāt).”
n.­9
In their translation of Tāranātha’s History, Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya (1997: p. 268) say, “Daṃstrāsena (mche ba’i sde) lived during the time of Devapāla [i.e. late eighth, early ninth century],” and in an additional note (1997: p. 417, n. 54) say he is the author of both Bṭ3 and Bṭ1 and that his “name occurs in various forms: ācārya Diṣṭasena, Daṃṣṭasena, Daṃṣṭasyana, etc.”
n.­10
See Skilling 2000 pp. 297–299.
n.­11
Abhisamayālaṅkārāloka (Toh 3791), Degé Tengyur vol. 85 F.2.a.
n.­12
Denkarma, folio 305.a, and Phangthangma 2003, p. 35 (for Bṭ3) and 54 (for Bṭ1); see also Herrmann-Pfandt, pp. 293-294, nos. 514 (Bṭ1) and 515 (Bṭ3).
n.­13
mngon rtogs rgyan gyi ’grel pa rnam ’byed, 294; 300.
n.­14
’grel bshad shes rab mchog gi rgyan, 1–2.
n.­15
bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi ’od, 24a3–4: ’bum nyi khri brgyad [sic] stong pa’i rgya cher bshad pa slob dpon dbyig gnyen gyis mdzad pa; 72a6–72b1: nyi khri gzhung ’grel dang… bod kyis rgya gar ba la kha ’phangs pa yod; 75a1: dpal lha btsan po khri srong lde btsan gyis ’bum gyi rgya cher ’grel pa. See also Schaeffer and Van der Kuijp, 2009, pp 154, 258, and 263 respectively.
n.­16
38b: “rgyal ba’i yum stong phrag brgya pa’i ’grel pa chen po slob dpon mche ba’i sdes mdzad par grags pa… rgyal ba’i yum stong phrag brgya pa dang/ nyi khri lnga stong pa dang/ khri brgyad stong pa rnams kyi gzhung gi ’grel pa slob dpon chen po dbyig gnyen gyis mdzad pa.”
n.­17
Butön History of Buddhism 156a7: “’di daM STa se nas byas zer ba mang mod kyi ’di ni dbyig gnyen gyi gzhung ’grel yin te thub pa dgongs rgyan la sogs par nyi khri gzhung ’grel las drangs pa’i tshig rnams der ji lta ba bzhin snang ba’i phyir dang / dbur yang / ’di yig gzhung ’grel gnod ’joms bya bar ’dod/ ces ’byung ba’i phyir ro.”
n.­18
Muni­matālaṃkāra, Degé Tengyur vol. 109 (dbu ma, a), 184a2–4 slob dpon dbyig gnyen gyis kyang gzhung ’grel du go cha chen po bgos pa zhes pa ni sems dang po bskyed pa nas bzung nas bsam pa rgya che bar bstan pa’o. The words cited and then glossed by Abhayākaragupta are found at khri brgyad 13.­2.
n.­19
Muni­matālaṃkāra, Degé Tengyur vol. 109 (dbu ma, a), 216a
n.­20
Kano and Li 2014, 130–31 [15–16] et passim.
n.­21
Bhagavaty­āmnāyānusāriṇī­nāma­vyākhyā (bcom ldan ’das ma’i man ngag gi rjes su ’brang ba zhes bya ba’i rnam par bshad pa), Toh 3811, 316b–317b.
n.­22
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i don mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan gyi tshig le’ur byas pa’i ’grel pa mdo lugs ma, 2011 vol. 4, 2–3 rgyal ba byams pa’i dngos slob shing rta chen po slob dpon dbu ma pa dbyig gnyen gyi zhal snga nas kyang / ’bum pa dang / nyi khri lnga stong pa dang / khri brgyad stong pa ste /yum rgyas ’bring bsdus pa gsum gyi gzhung ’grel gnod ’joms; 20, mdo sde rgyan gyi ’grel par slob dpon dbu ma pa chen po dbyig gnyen.
n.­23
bzhed tshul rba rlabs kyi phreng ba, 167.3–168.3, spyir bshad pa dang / byed brag bstan bcos ’di ji ltar bkrol ba’i tshul gnyis las/ dang po la/ bod lnga rabs kyi dge ba’i bshes gnyen phal mo che ni/ dngos bstan stong nyid kyi rim pa gsal bar ston pa dbu ma rigs pa’i tshogs/ sbas don mngon rtogs kyi rim pa gsal bar ston pa mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan/ sgo gsum rnam grangs bcu gcig gi sgo nas yum gyi don ston pa gnod ’joms/ yang gtso bo’i don sum cu rtsa gnyis su brgyad stong pa’i don bsdus nas ston pa brgyad stong don bsdus te/ shing rta’i srol ’byed chen po bzhi yin zer to // chos rje thams cad mkhyen pas ni/ bzhi yin zhes smra ba ni mi ’thad de/ snga ma gnyis las srol ’byed gzhan min pa’i phyir zhes gsung / gsung ’di la brten nas gung TIk tu/ ’grel byed gzhan gnyis kyang de gnyis kyi rjes su ’brang ba’i phyir/ zhes bris pa ni rtsing po ste/ snga ma gnyis kyis dbu mar bkrol la/ phyi ma gnyis kyis sems tsam du bkrol ba’i phyir ro // ’di la bu ston rin po che na re/ stong phrag brgyad pa’i bshad pa bam po bdun cu rtsa brgyad pa ’di/ ’phang thang ka me dkar [emend chug to] chag tu khri srong lde btsan gyis byas par bris mod/ ’ching phu’i dkar chag dang / pho brang stong thang ldan dkar gyi dkar chag dang gnyis su/ rgya gar mar bshad pas dpa’ sdes mdzad pa yin no/ yum gsum ga’i gnod ’joms su grags pa bam po nyi shu rtsa bdun pa ’di la dpa’ bos byas par bris mod/ ’di ni dbyig gnyen gyis mdzad pa’i gzhung ’grel yin te/ thub dgongs su/ gzhung ’grel gyi lung drangs pa rnams ji lta ba bzhin ’dir snang ba’i phyir dang / ’di’i gzhung ’grel gnod ’joms bya bar ’dod/ ces brtoms par dam bca’ mdzad pa’i phyir/ ’di la yum gsum gnod ’joms su grags kyang / rgyas ’bring gnyis dang / khri brgyad stong pa’i bshad pa yin no zhes gsung.
n.­24
Nattier 1999; see also Yuyama 1992 and Harrison 2006, p. 144, n. 40. The passage is found at khri brgyad 39.­77, ’bum ta 58a6, and nyi khri 30.­65.
n.­25
In a note, Jens Braarvig (vol. 2, 587–89) cites the passage from Vasubandhu’s Akṣaya­mati­nirdeśa­ṭīkā, ’phags pa blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa rgya cher ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (mdo ’grel, ci), 268r4–269r3 and provides an excellent translation.
n.­26
Degé Tengyur dkar chag 432.a: ’di la kun mkhyen bus kha cig daM StrA se nas mdzad zer mod kyi/ slob dpon dbyig gnyen gyis mdzad pa’i gzhung gi ’grel par bzhed pa nyid ’thad par rtogs. Note also that this passage was not only present in the other seventeenth and eighteenth century Tengyurs but had been witnessed in the original, early Narthang (fourteenth century).
n.­27
For example, Tāranātha’s History notes the existence of an Abhidharma scholar named Vasubandhu, a contemporary of Līlāvajra during the Pāla period (Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya 1997: p. 271).
n.­28
For more detail and further references, see Ruegg 1969 La Théorie p. 325 et seq.; Hookham 1991 pp. 149–54; and Brunnhölzl 2010 pp. 692–4 n99.
n.­29
See outline of Bṭ3 in the appendix.
n.­30
See Peter Alan Roberts, trans., The Ten Bhumis Toh 44-31, (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021).
n.­31
See Peter Alan Roberts, trans., The White Lotus of the Good Dharma Toh 113, (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018).
n.­32
See Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Questions of Sāgaramati, Toh 152, (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020).
n.­33
khri brgyad 83.­1 and nyi khri 72.­1.
n.­34
Here “nature” renders the Skt svabhāva.
n.­35
These are the three questions at 19.­2 in the Eighteen Thousand and the first paragraph of chapter 11 in the Twenty-Five Thousand and One Hundred Thousand.
n.­37
We first began translating Bṭ3, making notes of the differences with The Long Commentary on the One Hundred Thousand (Bṭ1), with the idea of possibly identifying an early Tibetan version of a Long Perfection of Wisdom scripture. We mistakenly thought that by carefully comparing the citations in Bṭ3 with the late Stefano Zacchetti’s Sanskrit edition of the beginning of a Long Perfection of Wisdom scripture, we would find a more authentic original version to translate. We came to realize that the Degé edition was as authentic as any other.
n.­38
The translators have inserted into the text here the notation bam po dang po (the “first bam po,” or bundle of pages equal to about 300 lines of original text), together with their own homage.
n.­39
Alternatively, bdag la phan pa’i phyir could be rendered “In order that the tradition of the gurus will be of benefit to me.”
n.­40
Alternatively, chos kyi tshogs renders dharmakāya (“dharma body”).
n.­41
Below, Bṭ3 4.­1184 cites the work from which this is an extract as de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba’i mdo (Tathāgata­guhyaka­sūtra) [Secrets of the Tathāgatas Sūtra]. This would appear to be Toh 47, de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa (Tathāgatācintya­guhya­nirdeśa) [Explanation of the Inconceivable Secrets of the Tathāgatas]. This citation is found in the Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, ka), F.142.a–142.b.
n.­42
I have used “recite” in place of the Tib yang dag par sdud pa (“gather”) in order to convey the meaning of gīti in the Skt saṃgīti.
n.­43
Tathāgatācintya­guhya­nirdeśa, Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, ka), F.132.b–133.a.
n.­44
By design or accident, the subsequent few sentences in the Tathāgatācintya­guhya­nirdeśa, Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, ka), F.133.a, have been omitted from this citation: “They think, ‘We have comprehended the doctrine of the Tathāgata.’ In regard to that, furthermore, the Tathāgata is without thought construction and remains in a state of equanimity. Śāntamati, sounds are not produced from the Tathāgata’s teeth, lips, palate, or tongue and yet sounds sound forth.” bdag cag ni de bzhin gshegs pa’i chos bstan pa kun shes so snyam mo/ /de la yang de bzhin gshegs pa ni rnam par mi rtog cing btang snyoms su mdzad do// zhi ba’i blo gros/ de bzhin gshegs pa’i tshems dang / sgros dang / zhal gyi rkan dang / ljags dang / zhal gyi sgo nas sgra ’byung ba yang med la/ ’byung bar yang grag go.
n.­45
That is, in what, to them, appear different places and different periods of time.
n.­46
That is, he remains deep in meditation while yet pervading the scene with his benevolent presence.
n.­47
Again, chos kyi tshogs may be rendered dharmakāya (“dharma body”).
n.­48
Alternatively, this might be from ara (“spoke”) and han, where the spokes are the twelve links of dependent origination that constitute the beginning and end of suffering existence (Ñāṇamoli, VII,23).
n.­49
nyon mongs (kleśa) is rendered “affliction” and “afflictive emotion”; kun nas nyon mongs pa (saṃkliṣṭa) “defilement.” Both are from the root kliś, “to cause pain.” The categories taught by a tathāgata that together make up an exhaustive and complete explanation of suffering and the release from suffering are called dharmas. The list of good and bad dharmas starting with form is divided up into saṃkliṣṭa (“defilement”) and vyavadāna (“purification”). The defilement dharmas are here divided into four: karma, affliction, aggregates, and birth.
n.­50
These are the twelve links of dependent origination that constitute the beginning and end of suffering existence.
n.­51
Either “when feeling stops, craving and appropriation stop” is obvious, or else a line has dropped out of the text here.
n.­52
That is, volitional factors.
n.­53
That is, ignorance.
n.­54
That is, the five aggregates.
n.­55
That is, appropriation and existence.
n.­56
That is, the absence of volitional factors.
n.­57
That is, the absence of afflictions.
n.­58
That is, nirvāṇa.
n.­59
That is, the absence of aggregates.
n.­60
D bzhugs pa (perhaps a play on the similarity between the roots vaś (“to control”) and vas (“to dwell”)); K, N zhugs pa.
n.­61
If understood as a passive this should be rendered “they are controlled by wisdom.”
n.­62
The emendation of srid pa to sred pa is corroborated by Haribhadra (Wogihara 9.13).
n.­63
This is in the Tib translation of Ratnākaraśānti’s Sāratamā (Seton, Appendix II, 24.23) but not in Jaini (1972).
n.­64
Emend ’tshe to ’tsho.
n.­65
Mvy, s.v. shes pa brda sprod par byed pa, ājñāvyākāraṇa.
n.­66
They have gained one of the stages in the development of calm abiding and special insight.
n.­67
The same gloss is in both Haribhadra (Wogihara, 9.24) and Ratnākaraśānti (Seton, Appendix I, 34).
n.­68
The Abhidharmakośa 4.41–45 explains the nine fetters (samyojana).
n.­69
This translation is taken from MDPL 415, s.v. samyagājñāsuvimukta­citta. More literally yang dag par (samyak), “perfect”; (kun) shes pa (ājñā), “fully understand”; and sems (citta), “thought” or “mind.”
n.­70
Ratnākaraśānti’s Sāratamā, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, tha), 10b3 (cf. Seton, Appendix I, 36) takes cetovaśin as the mind through which there is mastery of all meditative stabilizations; sarvacetovaśin as a karmadhāriya compound, “all minds through which there is mastery of all meditative stabilizations”; paramapāram (dam pa’i pha rol, “the farther shore that is the farthest,” “perfection”) as their limit; and the i [in itā] as “gone”; hence paramapāramitā: “because they have gone and are in a state that has gone to the limit of mental mastery.”
n.­71
These are the four concentrations (dhyāna) and four formless absorptions (ārūpya­samāpatti), and the cessation of perception and feeling (saṃjñāvedayita­nirodha).
n.­72
Emend D sems can to K, N sems.
n.­73
The translation “object” for dmigs pa and “factor” for yan lag is taken from the Path of Purification (Ñāṇamoli, XII, 2–12).
n.­74
This is a summary of meditative states. The branches of the concentrations are given below (khri brgyad 16.­71), as well as the objects of the formless absorptions (khri brgyad 16.­76), and the siṃha­vijṛṃbhita and viṣkandaka meditative stabilizations (khri brgyad 3.­75, cf. n.­76). Abhidharmakośa 6.42a ff. Pruden (975 ff.) gives the non-Great Vehicle explanation of combination meditation. Abhi­samayālaṃkāra 5.22–23 (Amano, pp. 92–93) gives the Great Vehicle explanation. Sparham (2008–13, vol. 4, pp. 81–92) provides a detailed investigation of both. The word for “combination” here, spel ma (miśraka), renders ākīryate at Abhidharmakośa 6.42a.
n.­75
Emend D sems can to K, N sems.
n.­76
This division of bodhisattvas is also in Daśabalaśrīmitra’s Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛta­viniścaya, Degé Tengyur (dbu ma, ha), 166b7.
n.­77
These are the bodhisattvas on the niyata­caryābhūmi (“course of conduct level of those who are destined or certain [to be awakened]”) explained below (1.­98). Lamotte (Mppś English:III, p. 1230 n. 584) gives a number of references to its usage. In general, the niyata (“certain,” “of those who are destined”) level means assured of awakening, but etymologically it is also where the bodhisattva enters into the niyāma/nyāma (skyon med pa, literally “faultlessness”), “the fixed state of a bodhisattva”; MDPL “bodhisattva’s distinctive way of salvation.”
n.­78
The gzhi here probably renders ādhāra, as below as a dual ādhāraṇī (perhaps referencing wisdom and method), providing a creative explanation, a traditional etymology for dhāraṇī.
n.­79
There is a passage similar to this in Mañjuśrīkīrti’s Samādhi­rāja­sūtra­ṭīkā­kīrti­mālā, Degé Tengyur (mdo ’grel, nyi), 3b3 ff. Tāranātha (Chimpa and Chattopadhyaya, p. 268) says Mañjuśrīkīrti and Daṃṣṭrāsena were contemporaries during the time of Dharmapāla; Régamey (1990, p. 22) says Mañjuśrīkīrti embraces the trisvabhāva (“three natures”) doctrine, a doctrine evident in the Bṭ3.
n.­80
Here “purification” renders yongs su sbyong ba; MDPL, s.v. parikarma (“preparation”). The Ten Bhūmis systematically renders pariśodhana by yongs su sbyong ba.
n.­81
dran pa is sometimes, for example in “applications of mindfulness,” rendered “mindfulness.”
n.­82
Akṣaya­mati­nirdeśa (Braarvig, chapter 5 ff.) The title below (Bṭ3 4.­101) is blo gros mi zad pa’i mdo (Akṣaya­mati­sūtra). See Jens Braarvig and David Welsh, trans., The Teaching of Akṣayamati, Toh 175 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020). It is also called the Akṣaya­mati­paripṛcchā (“The Questions of Akṣayamati”).
n.­83
Gilgit 351.1–2 tatra katamāni dhāraṇīmukhāni yad utākṣarasamatā bhāṣyasamatā akṣaramukham akṣarapraveśaḥ. “What are the dhāraṇī doors, that is to say, the sameness of syllables, the sameness of spoken words, a syllable door, and a syllable entrance?” ’bum ga 194a5 (Ghoṣa 1450); nyi khri 9.­44; khri brgyad 16.­98 differs slightly as does PSP 1-2:85; LSPW pp. 211–12. Cf. the explanation below (Bṭ3 4.­1034).
n.­84
Alternatively, byin gyis rlob pa’i shes pa de nyid… means “just [those letters] over which the sustaining power of the knowledge has been exerted are secret mantra dhāraṇī. ”
n.­85
Cf. the Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras (Mahā­yāna­sūtrālaṃkāra) 18.71–73, “Dhāraṇī is from result, habituation to listening, and also meditative stabilization. It is limited and big, and the big is of three sorts.”
n.­86
Emend D bstan to brtan. This elliptical statement is probably based on the Mahā­yāna­sūtrā­laṃkāra’s subdivision of dhāraṇīs contingent on small, middling, and big meditative stabilization.
n.­87
See Roberts 2021b, i.­38.
n.­88
Cf. Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Madhyānta­vibhāga) 2.14–16 (Obermiller 1932–33, p. 53; Sparham 2008–13, vol. 1, pp. 438–40).
n.­89
“Elaboration” (spros pa, prapañca) does not have a single meaning. Nāgārjuna’s Treatise on the Middle Way (Mūla­madhyamaka­kārikā) (de Jong edition), verse 18.5, is helpful: karma­kleśa­kṣayān mokṣaḥ karmakleśā vikalpataḥ / te prapañcāt prapañcas tu śūnyatāyāṃ nirudhyate: “Freedom is from the karma and afflictive emotion coming to an end; karma and afflictive emotion are from thought construction; that is from elaboration. As for elaboration, it is stopped in emptiness.”)
n.­90
The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­439 (Roberts 2021b); “The bodhisattva who has completed the path of the fifth bodhisattva bhūmi enters the sixth bodhisattva bhūmi. He enters it through the ten kinds of sameness of phenomena. What are these ten? He enters the sixth bhūmi through these ten kinds of sameness: (1) the sameness of all phenomena in being without features; (2) the sameness of all phenomena in being without characteristics; (3) the sameness of all phenomena in being without birth; (4) the sameness of all phenomena in being without production; (5) the sameness of all phenomena in being isolated; (6) the sameness of all phenomena in being primordially pure; (7) the sameness of all phenomena in being without elaboration; (8) the sameness of all phenomena being without adoption and without rejection; (9) the sameness of all phenomena in being like illusions, dreams, hallucinations, echoes, the moon on water, reflections, and apparitions; and (10) the sameness of all phenomena being without the duality of existence and nonexistence.” (see also Rahder, p. 46; Honda, p. 186.) This is explained in Vasubandhu’s Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis (Ārya­daśa­bhūmi­vyākhyāna) ’phags pa sa bcu pa’i rnam par bshad pa, 196a7 ff. The Level of a Bodhisattva (Bodhi­sattva­bhūmi) rnal ’byor spyod pa’i sa las byang chub sems dpa’i sa, 178a4 ff. has dngos po yod pa dang dngos po med pa gnyis su med pa for the tenth sameness. Sthiramati in his Explanation of the Commentary on the Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras (Sūtrālaṃkāra­vṛtti­bhāṣya), mdo sde rgyan gyi ’grel bshad, tsi, 249a7 ff. has chos thams cad dngos po yod pa dang dngos po med pa dang gnyi ga ma yin pa for the last of the ten, “[not] existent, nonexistent, [both, or neither].”
n.­91
That is, all are the same insofar as they are without causal signs that make them known.
n.­92
pariniṣpanna (“thoroughly established”) also has the sense of “the final outcome.” All phenomena, seen from the perspective of their final outcome, are the same insofar as they are not produced and have no origin.
n.­93
That is to say, all phenomena are the same insofar as they are isolated from, or do not have, a causal sign that makes them the object of afflictions like greed and so on, the actions motivated by those, or the birth that comes about because of those.
n.­94
Alternatively, “Those imaginaries are not in their intrinsic nature in the form of the two basic [dependent and thoroughly established] natures.”
n.­95
Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 205a2–206a4.
n.­96
Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 196a7 ff.
n.­97
Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 197a1–2: rjes su mthun pa zhes bya ba ni de ma thob bo zhes bya ba’i tshig gis na mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa’i sgo dang mthun pa ste. The point here is that at the sixth bodhisattva level the knowledge is not yet the forbearance for dharmas that are not produced, which is developed at the eighth level.
n.­98
See Mppś English, IV, 1486 ff. for a detailed explanation of the clairvoyances.
n.­99
Emend khyab to ’khyam (“[the wind] blowing here and there”)?
n.­100
This translation of gzugs thams cad lus kyi nang du zhugs pa is a conjecture. Alternatively, “swallowing anything of any size or shape,” “[become so big] all physical things end up inside the body.”
n.­101
On vaiḍūrya (bai ḍūrya), variously rendered as “beryl,” “lapis,” or “crystal,” see under entry “Crystal, rock” in Encyclopaedia Iranica.
n.­102
The order of epithets here follows khri brgyad 1.­2, and the le’u brgyad ma. This epithet (akṣaya­nirdeśa­pratisaṃvinnaya­pratividdhaiḥ mahābhijñāvikrīḍitair) is omitted from Z, nyi khri, and ’bum.
n.­103
gzung ba’i tshig dang ldan, ādeyavacana. This is also rendered in Tib as mnyan par ’os pa’i tshig dang ldan. Besides “acceptable speech” (LSPW), other translations (listed by Z) are “their words were gentle,” “were necessarily to be believed,” and “pleasing, agreeable speech.”
n.­104
Our author here does not give any explanation of akusīda (“not lazy”), which is not in khri brgyad but in nyi khri 1.­3 (ka 2a4–5): le lo med cing brtson ’grus brtsam pa.
n.­105
The perfection of morality is a defining second bodhisattva (Vimalā) level practice.
n.­106
The Level of a Bodhisattva, vihārapatala, 180a3 ff. reads: “In this seventh state they cause all distinct attributes of a buddha to come forth and complete the branches of awakening because this state incorporates the completion of the bodhisattva’s preparation deeds, and leads gradually into the purity of knowledge, clairvoyance, and deeds in the eighth state. Thus, this bodhisattva enters immediately after this state into the eighth purified state. This state is absolutely purified. Those seven, however, are mixed. [This seventh] is said to be unafflicted because it precedes the purified state, and they are said to have fallen into a mass of affliction because they have not reached it. Therefore, in this state all afflictions, lust and so on, are eliminated. You should know that [this seventh] is neither with affliction nor without affliction. But because it is not fully arisen, it is intent on buddha knowledge.” āsmin punaḥ saptame vihāre sarva­buddha­dharma­samutthāpanatayā bodhaṅgāni paripūryante bodhi­sattva­prāyogika-caryā­paripūri­saṁgrahādasya vihārasya jñānābhijñācaryā­viśuddhāṣṭama-vihārākramaṇācca| tathā hi sa bodhisattvo’sya vihārasyānantaramaṣṭamaṁ viśuddhaṁ vihāraṁ praviśati| sa ca vihāra ekāntaviśuddhaḥ | ime tu sapta vihārā vyāmiśrāḥ| viśuddha­vihāra­pūrvaṅgamatvādasaṁkliṣṭaḥ | tada­saṁprāptatvātsaṁkliṣṭa­caya­patitā vaktavyāḥ | tasmādasmin vihāre sarve rāgādipramukhāḥ kleśāḥ prahīyante| sa ca na saṁkleśo na niḥkleśo veditavyaḥ asamudācārād buddha­jñānābhilāṣāc ca. Cf. Sāgaramegha’s Commentary (Bodhi­sattva­bhūmi­vyākhyā) byang chub sems dpa’i sa’i rnam par bshad pa, 293a3 ff.
n.­107
Āryavimuktisena’s Commentary (Sparham 2006–12, vol. 1, p. 23 ff.) has an excellent explanation of “hypocrisy, fawning, hinting, and pressuring,” which are four ways monks pursue a wrong livelihood.
n.­108
khe (phala, lābha) means a profit, but shes kyi khe (jñāna?), which I have understood to mean “reputation(?),” is also the reading at khri brgyad 1.­2 (ka 2a3). However, PSP 1-1:1 apagata­jñātralābha­citta and Z (citing Vetter) jñātilābha (“profit for their kinsmen”) suggest shes should be emended to bshes (“friend”): “no thought of profit and gain for their kinsmen.” Cf. Mvy shes kyi khe ’dod pa for jñānakāma(?) and the more straightforward reading grags pa dang / khe dang bkur sti’i sems pa med pa (“without thoughts of fame, reputation, or respect”) at this point in ’bum, nyi khri, le’u brgyad ma, and Bṭ1.
n.­109
Emend zang zing med pa’i phyir sems kyis chos ston pa to zang zing med pa’i sems kyis chos ston pa (’bum ka 2a4, nyi khri ka 2a5, le’u brgyad ma ga 2b3, and Bṭ1); PSP 1-1:1 nirāmiṣa­dharma­deśakair.
n.­110
The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­608–1.­609 (Roberts 2021b); Rahder, 8 B–C; Honda, pp. 217–18.
n.­111
Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 219b1, says that the eighth level has seven deep stations. The first three are zab mo ring ba’i ye shes (because it is far from the earlier levels), tha mi dad pa (with the purity of all the levels above it), and without causal signs (because it is without subject-object duality). Emend dga’ ba to dka’ ba (The Ten Bhūmis, S [mdo sde, ga], 104b1).
n.­112
The four fearlessnesses (mi ’jigs pa, vaiśaradhya) are the confidence to make the declaration, “I am a buddha”; the declaration that “greed and so on are obstacles to awakening”; the confidence to explain “bodhisattvas go forth on the paths of all-knowledge and so on”; and the declaration, “the outflows are extinguished.”
n.­113
K ’dzem pa med pa.
n.­114
khri brgyad 1.­2 (ka 2a4), a literal rendering of PSP dharma­pravicaya­vibhakti­nirdeśa­kuśala. ’bum, nyi khri, and le’u brgyad ma have chos rab tu rtogs pas rnam par dbye zhing bstan pa la mkhas pa (“having realized it well, skillful in sorting out and teaching the Dharma”), which makes better sense. Missing here from the list of epithets are ’bum and nyi khri’s las dang nyon mongs ba dang/ phyir rgol ba rab tu bcom pa/ pha rol po’i rgol ba thams cad kyis zil gyis mi non pa/ nyan thos dang rang sangs rgyas thams cad kyis rtogs par dka’ ba.
n.­115
’chags pa is an alternative form, or misprint, for ’jags pa; bod rgya tshigs mdzod chen mo 683, s.v ’jags pa, 3 ’pho ’gyur med pa.
n.­116
Here rnam par dbye ba renders vibhakti. It means both “analysis” and “category.”
n.­117
The levels of those who are destined (nges pa’i sa, niyatabhūmi) locate the fourth of the five-part division of bodhisattvas given earlier (Bṭ3 1.­42).
n.­118
Z: “for innumerable kalpas, they had been carrying out they (sic) vows with energy”; LSPW: “who had formed their vows incalculable aeons ago”; Vetter, p. 71: “their vows well activated during innumerable Kalpas.”
n.­119
“Name and form” (nāmarūpa) is another way of saying “five aggregates.” The “form” aggregate is “form” and the other four aggregates are “name.” Therefore, “body of names” refers collectively to the four “name” aggregates.
n.­120
A “maturation” (vipāka) here is the result, that is to say, the life they otherwise would not take up because they have entered nirvāṇa.
n.­121
The maturation (vipāka) here is the ordinary forms of life they appear to be living.
n.­122
This is the fourth of the earlier (1.­42) five-part division of bodhisattvas.
n.­123
K, N.
n.­124
On the number asaṃkhyeya (“incalculable”) see Abhidharmakośa 3.93; asaṃkhyeya and other specific, extremely large numbers that have separate values and are not actually synonymous with “infinite” are left untranslated in contexts where the difference between them is a salient factor.
n.­125
Emend bsdu ba to bsu ba, corroborated by Bṭ1, na 11a7.
n.­126
Honda, p. 227 O, does not have the eleventh control, and indeed, it is likely not separate, but rather understood as qualifying all ten.
n.­127
The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­720–1.­721 (Roberts 2021b); Honda, pp. 244–45. ma ’dres pa (“unbroken”) renders asaṃbhinna. saṃbhinna­pralapa is “babbling on” or “having a loose mouth,” one of the ten unwholesome actions.
n.­128
Rahder, p. 9 Y asaṁkhyeya­śata­sahasrānugatenaiva svarāṅga-kauśalyena tāvad apramāṇānugatenaiva pratibhānavibhaktimukhena dharmaṁ deśayati; Honda, p. 248; cp. The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­723–1.­730 (Roberts 2021b).
n.­129
Z p. 249, n. 46, “assemblies [attended by] innumerable [people],” makes good sense; Vetter, p. 72, has “an endless assembly.”
n.­130
See previous notes n.­127 and n.­128.
n.­131
K.
n.­132
Reading K, N grang in place of D grags. The sense is that one will work for some, and another for others.
n.­133
Alternatively, “because some are driven by eight doubts.” The translators have used brtsal both as a form related to ’tshol, “to seek for” (Mvy vyavasāya, utkāśana), and as a form related to sel (Mvy paryudasta).
n.­134
Vetter and Z have sarva­sattva­citta­gati­sūkṣma­jñāna­caryādhimuktyavatāra­kuśala, “skilled in comprehending the states of mind, subtle knowledge, behavior, and attachment of all beings.”
n.­135
The sarva­sattva­citta­caritānugata means “subsequent realization of the minds and conduct of all beings” and dharma­dhātu­praveśa means “entry into the dharma-constituent,” (Rahder dharma­dhātu­vibhakti­praveśa; Honda, p. 259 10 B “entrance into the variety of the realm of ideas”).
n.­136
“Various” (nāna, sna tshogs) is part of the epithet in PSP and LSPW.
n.­137
This is not a literal translation. It utilizes Honda, p. 265 10 F; The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­819–1.­820 (Roberts 2021b); and Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 251a6 ff. to make the passage more accessible to the English-speaking reader.
n.­138
ye shes phra ba. The Ten Bhūmis 266a has phra ba la ’jug pa’i mkhyen pa, “knowledge that enters into the subtle”; Honda “knowledge entering into subtlety.”
n.­139
That is, in the Tuṣita heaven.
n.­140
That is, as Siddhārtha.
n.­141
The The Ten Bhūmis and Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis both have bltams pa. Its absence here in Bṭ3 is a copyist’s error.
n.­142
phra ba la ’jug pa’i mkhyen pa literally means “knowledge that enters into the subtle.” K, The Ten Bhūmis omit.
n.­143
That is, to live for eighty years.
n.­144
That is, by leaving relics to be enshrined in caityas.
n.­145
The two knowledges of the sarvasattvacittacaritānugata and dharmadhātupraveśa meditative stabilizations.
n.­146
Below it says, “that the Sūtra has described” (mdo las bshad pa’i stobs). The passage mirrors The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­650 (Roberts 2021b); Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 229a3; Rahder, p. 70; and Honda, pp. 28–29 8 P, though with significant differences. Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra, Degé Tengyur (dbu ma, a), 254b, and his Moonlight (Marmakaumudī), Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, da), 224b have almost exactly the same list, with reasons for each power. Both have yang dag par ’byor ba/yang dag par ’phel ba in place of mngon par shes pa (abhijñā) but give the same reason. Our author says there are ten powers even though he gives thirteen, adding ting nge ’dzin (samādhi), dbang po (indriya), and chos nyid (dharmatā) to The Ten Bhūmis list.
n.­147
This follows K, N sbyangs; D sa’i ye shes yongs su spyad pa’i phyir. Honda, p. 228, n. 86 renders mārgāvipravāsitatvāt as “because he does not part from the path,” but notes the different readings.
n.­148
The name means “endowed with the special consecration into the knowledge of omniscience.”
n.­149
This summarizes The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­811 ff. and 1.­795 (Roberts 2021b); Honda, p. 260 10 CD.
n.­150
This is a conjectural rendering of dar las chod pa tsam, “just a cut from the silk cloth.” If dar means “spread,” “just cut from the spreading.” Alternatively, it might mean “the mere being cut off [from anything that blocks omniscience] is greater than the increase [in anything that blocks it].”
n.­151
LSPW “skillful in teaching others the true character of reality.”
n.­152
The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­822 ff. (Roberts 2021b); Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 252a; Rahder p. 87, Honda p. 266 10 F.
n.­153
This is a literal translation. Rahder p. 87 F cintyācintya­loka­vijñeyāvijñeya; Honda p. 266 F “thinkable and unthinkable and cognizable and incognizable in the world.”
n.­154
K, N rnam pa thams cad mkhyen pa, “knowledge of all aspects.”
n.­155
LSPW “acquiring through their vows and their setting-out the endless harmonies of all the Buddha-fields”; Vetter “who had embraced the setting-out [in the Great Vehicle] by means of a vow [to contribute to] the marvellous arrangement of endless Buddhafields.”
n.­156
That is, a maturation as a tenth level bodhisattva.
n.­157
The ten powers (stobs, bala) are part of the list of purification dharmas (spelled out at khri brgyad 16.­81).
n.­158
The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­839–1.­848; Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 256a ff.; Rahder, pp. 90–91; Honda, pp. 270–71 10 I.
n.­159
D accidentally has this sentence twice.
n.­160
sems can gyi khams (The Ten Bhūmis, 270a7) is missing.
n.­161
Rahder has cittotpāde daśa­dikspharaṇam gacchati (sems bskyed pa re re la yang phyogs bcu khyab par ’gro ste). Honda renders this, “he goes to pervade the ten directions.” I think the idea is that the single production of the thought that begins the bodhisattva path is reduplicated an infinite number of times in the different directions; i.e., it is done for all, not just for one. With their production of the thought of awakening they make the ten directions vibrate.
n.­162
rlung gi dkyil ’khor; the “circle” of wind that underpins the unfolding of a new world system.
n.­163
That rides on the wind firmament, according to the traditional Buddhist cosmology referenced in this passage.
n.­164
Emend D ’jig to K ’jigs (uttrāsayati).
n.­165
This last sentence is slightly longer in Rahder’s edition.
n.­166
Edg, s.v. prajñapaya, “arrange” a seat; Jäschke s.v. shom, “prepare, arrange”; Z, citing Lamotte, says there is room for the interpretation “conjured up.”
n.­167
Bṭ1 “To teach that the Perfection of Wisdom is a unique discourse, to teach that it is rare, valuable, and worthy of worship and service, and to train the retinues.”
n.­168
gus par mdzad is a literal translation (tshig ’gyur) of ādṛ, which means both “to show respect” (as in ādāra) and “to focus the mind.”
n.­169
K, N don rnam pa gsum gyis, “three topics.”
n.­170
khri brgyad 1.­13; Z 371.3 punar yādṛśam bhagavataḥ prakṛtyātma­bhāvopadarśanaṃ tādṛśam iha trisāhasra­mahā­sāhasre lokadhātau upadarśayati sma. LSPW translates prakṛtyātma­bhāva as “his own natural body”; Z 267, n. 202 follows Lamotte’s translation “corps ordinaire,” which perfectly renders sku tha mal pa. The idea is that in his “ordinary” body as Śākyamuni he performs the following miracles.
n.­171
khri brgyad 1.­13.
n.­172
khri brgyad 1.­15. Z 372.8 has “Thereupon the Lord, seated on this very lion throne, again emitted light,” in place of “smiling.”
n.­173
This Tib is closer to, but not exactly the same as, nyi khri 1.­18. Here and elsewhere only the corresponding section in khri brgyad is noted.
n.­174
That is, through the remainder of the Introduction chapter, as the line that follows is the first line of the second chapter.
n.­175
Z 375; khri brgyad 2.­1.
n.­176
bkye is a future or result form of ’gyed (Bṭ1 dgyed), “to divide up, spread out.”
n.­177
A “creative explanation” (nirukti, nges tshig) derives a word not only in a strictly etymological way, but in a way that conveys the important points the speaker wants to convey.
n.­178
Abhidharmakośa 8.7–8, “In the first there are five branches (applied and sustained thought, joy, happiness, and meditative stabilization), in the second four (joy and so on, and serene confidence), in the third five (equanimity, recollection, introspection, happiness, and steadiness), and in the last four (neither happiness nor suffering, equanimity, recollection, and meditative stabilization).”
n.­179
Contra Mppś English, p. 350.
n.­180
The meaning is unclear. Bṭ1 na 17a6 says the first two of the four qualifications (“put, included, encompassed, and come to meet”) of the meditative stabilization convey that all meditative stabilizations are not different from the samādhirāja because they are nonconceptual and not moving, abiding as a one-pointed mind endowed with equanimity.
n.­181
It does so by saying that the light rays “pervaded the world systems in their entirety with a great illumination and lit them up,” and by saying that beings “saw that light” and were “touched by the illumination of those light rays.”
n.­182
The two types of work are illuminating world systems and helping beings.
n.­183
The corresponding passage here is, “Then the Lord, with the light from the natural splendor of a tathagata, pervaded the great billionfold world system with a great illumination.”
n.­184
The corresponding passage from the Sūtra (khri brgyad 1.­8) is, “Then the Lord, seated on that very lion throne, entered into the meditative stabilization called siṃhavikrīḍita. He enacted such a performance with his miraculous power that his performance of miraculous power shook the great billionfold world system in six ways: it shook, shook greatly, and shook violently; it quaked, quaked greatly, and quaked violently; it stirred, stirred greatly, and stirred violently; it became disturbed, greatly disturbed, and violently disturbed; it roared, roared greatly, and roared violently; and it resounded, resounded greatly, and resounded violently. At the edges it rose up and it sank down in the middle; in the middle it rose up and at the edges sank down. It became soft and oily, producing benefit and ease for all beings.”
n.­185
All the sūtras say six. I have retained the LSPW translations, based on Dutt, even if they do not quite fit Bṭ3’s glosses: kamp (g.yo), “shake”; cal (’gul), “stir”; vedh (ldeg), “quake.”
n.­186
As a gasp, for example.
n.­187
The author is playing on the meaning of udāna: “cries of delight” (ched du brjod pa, udāna); the upward-rising vital wind (rlung ched du ’byung ba, *udāna); caused to rise up (ched du ’byung ba, *udānayanti); and “cried out” (ched du brjod pa, udānayanti).
n.­188
That is, in the buddhafield.
n.­189
“Tīrthikas” renders mu stegs pa; khri brgyad “asura.”
n.­190
Both “ordinary” and “natural” render prakṛti.
n.­191
In the Mppś this is Chapter XV, Act XI.
n.­192
Alternatively, taking lhags as a verb of movement (Bṭ1 na 21b2 gshegs pa rnams), “take ‘at the very limit’ as the limit on account of those who travel to it.”
n.­193
In the English translation of khri brgyad, “stands, stays, and maintains” are abbreviated to “dwells and maintains.”
n.­194
This is the Degé reading; K omits ma: “because Ratnākara has passed into complete nirvāṇa.” The second part of the sentence literally says “he ‘stands’ on the life-faculty continuum.”
n.­195
LSPW, p. 42 “candidates to Buddhahood.”
n.­196
That is, why do they make offerings to and inquire about the health of other buddhas?
n.­197
That is, in the quality and integrity of beings.
n.­198
antaḥ/antara-kalpa. Edg, s.v. antara-kalpa, following la Vallée Poussin, says an antaḥkalpa makes up or defines a kalpa; it is not between two of them.
n.­199
That is, in which nothing can grow.
n.­200
K gos; D omits.
n.­201
The list of Tib words rendered into English as “respected” and so on is not consistent either here in Bṭ3 or in the different versions of the Sūtra. I have translated them consistently based on the assumption they render the same list of Skt verbs satkṛt, gurukṛt, mānaya, and pūjaya.
n.­202
Bṭ1 na 23a5 lists the conditions as clothing, merit from earlier good deeds, lodging, and medicine.
n.­203
This is the LSPW translation for laghūtthānatā rendered here by bskyod pa yang, and in Bṭ1 by zo mdog bde ba; D ’gres here is either an alternative spelling or mistake for the more usual bgres, “old age.”
n.­204
That is, the nine remaining directions from which bodhisattvas come to this world to see the Buddha Śākyamuni, as described in the remainder of the Sūtra’s first chapter.
n.­205
This translation takes brda phrad literally. Alternatively, “to understand what it is talking about” (brda sprod).
n.­206
This comes right after the Introduction chapter in khri brgyad. Our author includes it in his exposition of the Introduction chapter.
n.­207
Śāriputra, after all, is a śrāvaka, not a bodhisattva.
n.­208
Of reaching nirvāṇa.
n.­209
The welfare of all beings.
n.­210
The extract is either an abridgment or paraphrase of The White Lotus of the Good Dharma (Saddharma­puṇḍarika), Toh 113, 3.­29–3.­30 (Roberts 2018); Kern, 3.22.
n.­211
That is, from the start, either certain or not certain to reach awakening.
n.­212
Our author means that bodhisattvas in this lineage do not become worthy ones or pratyekabuddhas first; they have complete awakening in mind from the start, so it is not necessary to explain the different stages of attainment.
n.­213
The awakenings of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas.
n.­214
Our author means that, unable to realize that all attainments are equally qualified as ultimately illusory, first they attain a nirvāṇa and with that the realization that it is not ultimately existent. It is the stream enterer level because it is the first attainment that is seen (dṛś) to be ultimately nonexistent, and hence to be transcended.
n.­215
The Skt Tanū means “slimmed down” or “refined.”
n.­216
Like the venerable Śāriputra.
n.­217
Again, like Śāriputra.
n.­218
This level is equivalent to the Pratyekabuddha level, the eighth in the scheme of ten levels that culminates in the Buddha level.
n.­219
The Skt for this is found in Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (Kano and Li 2014, 130 [15]), te ca punarbhavāntara­grahaṇena bodhi­sattvacaryāṃ caranti | kathaṃ punarbhavaṃ gṛhṇanti | hetubalāt pratyayabalāc ca | tatra yā ’sāv aprahīṇa­kleśa­vāsanā sā pratyayaḥ | hetuḥ sāsrava­kuśala­mūla­hetukāni punarbhavagrāhakāṇy anāsravāṇi kuśalamūlāni.
n.­220
The Questions of Sāgaramati (Sāgara­mati­paripṛcchā), Toh 152, 10.­7–10.­9 (Dharmachakra 2020). Our author cites this same passage again in the conclusion (Bṭ3 6.­93), with slight changes. The Skt of the passage is found in Asaṅga’s Vyākhyā on Maitreya’s Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra (Johnston 1950, 1.84); and in Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (Kano and Li 2014, 130–131 [15–16]).
n.­221
Better is the reading below (6.­93): “in close contact with” (’dre, saṁśliṣyante) in place of “afflicted by” (nyon mongs pa, saṁkliṣyante) here.
n.­222
This follows K ’gre = D F.291.b4 ’dre; Skt “They connect (śleṣatayā, K) them to the three realms, but not because they afflict (kleṣatayā) their minds.” Here D khams gsum na nyon mongs pas, “They afflict (kśleṣatayā) the three realms.”
n.­223
Lion’s Roar of the Goddess Śrīmālā (Śrīmālā­devī­siṃha­nāda) ’phags pa lha mo dpal ’phreng gi seng ge’i sgra, Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, cha), 266a. The Skt of the passage is found in Asaṅga’s Vyākhyā on Maitreya’s Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra (Johnston 1950, 1.84).
n.­224
A “form of life” or “migration” (’gro ba, gati) is a state of rebirth while wandering in saṃsāra.
n.­225
Lion’s Roar of the Goddess Śrīmālā, 271b1. The Skt of the passage is found in Asaṅga’s Vyākhyā of Maitreya’s Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra (Johnston 1950, 1.67).
n.­226
The Ten Dharmas (Daśa­dharmaka­sūtra) ’phags pa chos bcu pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, (dkon brtsegs, kha), 287a1–287b4; cited in Jñānavajra’s Commentary (Ārya­laṅkāvatāra­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra­vṛtti­tathāgata-hṛdayālaṃkāra-nāma) on the The Sūtra on the Descent into Laṅkā (Laṅkāvatāra­sūtra) ’phags pa lang kar gshegs pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Degé Tengyur (mdo ’grel, pi), 123b5 ff.
n.­227
This response is missing from both the The Ten Dharmas and Jñānavajra’s Commentary.
n.­228
“Manifestation of a Bodhisattva’s Training,” or “Categorization of a Bodhisattva’s Training Chapter,” nyi khri 72.­63 and khri brgyad 83.­65. Below (Bṭ3 6.­84) glosses this same passage.
n.­229
This renders D skye ba ma mchis par ni bcom ldan ’das kyis nges par bka’ ma stsal to. There are many variants. Below 6.­89 (F.290.b) this line is cited in D as de’i skye ba lags pa ni bcom ldan ’das kyis bka’ ma stsal to, “The Lord has not said anything about that one’s rebirth.”
n.­230
yongs su gyur pa’o; khri brgyad ga 162b4–5 yongs su bsngos pa (“dedicated [to awakening]”); le’u brgyad ma ca 322b3 yongs su bsgyur pa. The Tib translators read nirmāṇa or nirmita and pariṇāmita in place of MQ p. 241, PSP 6-8: 157 nirvāṇa­pāragāminīm; LSPW “an unthinkable rebirth which allows him to advance to the beyond of Nirvana”; nyi khri 72.­64 (ga 353a2) bsam gyis mi khyab pa mya ngan las ’das par ’gyur pa, “becomes an inconceivable nirvāṇa.”
n.­231
khri brgyad 2.­3; ’bum ka 36a4.
n.­232
khri brgyad 2.­4 has only “should cultivate… great love, and great compassion.”
n.­233
khri brgyad 2.­64; ’bum ka 73a6 nye bar ston; LSPW pp. 35–37 “It is in such a spirit that a Bodhisattva, for the sake of maturing beings, lays hold of the five sense qualities.”
n.­234
khri brgyad 3.­1.
n.­235
khri brgyad 3.­20; Dutt 42.7 aṣṭāṅga-sanvāgatasya poṣadhasya; LSPW pp. 41–43 “Uposatha vows.” khri brgyad 3.­20 ff. omits the detailed list that includes “the four concentrations” found at nyi khri 2.­101, ’bum ka 82ab–84, LSPW pp. 41–45, and le’u brgyad ma ga 53a2 up to the sub-heading sgrub pa la gdams pa.
n.­236
khri brgyad 3.­21, ’bum ka 84b2, nyi khri 2.­102, LSPW p. 45.
n.­237
khri brgyad 3.­54, nyi khri 2.­161, ’bum ka 160a7, LSPW pp. 59–60.
n.­238
khri brgyad 6.­1, nyi khri 3.­1, ’bum ka 198b1, LSPW pp. 98–99.
n.­239
Our text reads la, but Dutt 1934, p. 98, line 6 suggests the genitive.
n.­240
khri brgyad 7.­1, nyi khri 4.­1, ’bum ka 310b5, LSPW pp. 116–18 (LSPW pp. 107–19 abbreviates radically); Ghoṣa 473.
n.­241
khri brgyad 8.­1, nyi khri 5.­1, ’bum ka 460b4, LSPW pp. 123–24.
n.­242
This reading sems dpa’ chen po is probably a mistake missed by an editor, but I have not emended it. K, nyi khri ka 178b5, ’bum ga 28a4, and LSPW p. 160 repeat byang chub sems dpa’. However khri brgyad ka 110a6–7, Tempangma ka 146b3 have byang chub sems dpa’ sems dpa’, and render padārtha by gzhi’i don (“basis in reality”), in place of the reading here tshig gi don (“meaning of the term”) corroborated by nyi khri ka 178b5 and ’bum ga 28a4, and LSPW p. 160.
n.­243
khri brgyad 22.­1, nyi khri 14.­1, ’bum nga 284a2, LSPW p. 269.
n.­244
These are listed below 4.­678.
n.­246
The first of the twenty-eight (or twenty-nine) questions is about the padārtha of the word “bodhisattva.” The translators of different versions rendered padārtha in two ways: tshig gi don (“meaning of the word”) and gzhi’i don (“basis in reality”). In tshig gi don dang mtshan nyid, take the tshig gi don to be referencing the first question and then take the remaining questions to be included in conventional “characteristic marks” (mtshan nyid) Alternatively, this could be rendered “a two-part discussion about the basis in reality and the characteristic marks in the brief statement.”
n.­247
The eleven have been set forth based on a parallel passage at Bṭ1, 24a7, that says there is one discourse to Śāriputra, five to Subhūti, two to Śatakratu, two to Maitreya, and one relating the story of Sadāprarudita and entrusting the Sūtra to Ānanda. The following are tentative approximate locations in khri brgyad. The identification of exactly which sections in the scriptures our author has in mind requires further investigation. The first three rounds are (1) khri brgyad 2.­1–3.­145; (2) khri brgyad 6.­1–21.­96, the intermediate teaching‍—the first chapter of the Aṣṭa (Wogihara pp. 21–128); and (3) khri brgyad chapter 22. The two rounds to Maitreya are (4) khri brgyad 33.­1 ff. and (9) khri brgyad 83.­1–83.­70. The final section is (11) khri brgyad 85.­1–87.­6. The other rounds to Subhūti and Śatakratu are hard to identify with certainty.
n.­248
K yongs su gtad.
n.­249
The line is from the Tathāgata­garbha­sūtra (de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying po’i mdo, Degé Kangyur [mdo sde, za], 248b.2), cited in the Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra­vyākhyā (theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma’i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa, Degé Tengyur, [sems tsam, phi], 112a.6–7) on the Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra (Johnston 1950, 1.152): eṣā kulaputra dharmāṇāṁ dharmatā | utpādād vā tathāgatānām anutpādād vā sadaivaite sattvās tathāgatagarbhā iti. Zimmermann (2002) translates this as, “Sons of good family, the essential law (dharmatā) of the dharmas is this: whether or not tathāgatas appear in the world, all these sentient beings at all times contain a tathāgata (tathāgata­garbha).”
n.­250
Below our author calls the work from which this is an extract (also cited in a longer form below 5.­598) the Three Hundred (sum brgya pa, = Triśatikā). This is a name for the Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā) (Tucci 1951). The citation here (tathāgata iti subhūte bhūtatathatāyā etad adhivacanam; cp. Gilgit ms. Schopen edition, tathāgata iti subhūte tathatāyā etad adhivacanam translated by Harrison 2006, p. 152) is found at ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa, Degé Kangyur (sher phyin, sna tshogs, ka, 128b5–6). It is glossed in Vasubandhu’s Commentary (Ārya­bhagavatī­prajñā­pāramitā-vajracchedikā­saptārtha­ṭīkā) ’phags pa bcom ldan ’das ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa’i don bdun gyi rgya cher ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ma, 97b5–6).
n.­251
“Conventional” renders kun rdzob (saṃvṛti), “a cover up.”
n.­252
Emend pa’i to Bṭ1 26a3 pa.
n.­253
These characterizations of the understanding of ultimate reality (called the dharma-constituent) at higher and higher bodhisattva levels are set forth at Madhyānta­vibhāga 2.14–16.
n.­254
Emend rtog to Bṭ1 26a3 rtogs? If the D reading rtog is accepted, it means “surpassing thought construction.”
n.­255
Cp. Bṭ1 na 26a3 rnam par dag pa’i shas je che je cher gyur pas, “on account of the purified part located on level after level having become bigger and bigger.”
n.­256
Whitney (301c, p. 101) “by a pregnant construction, the locative is used to denote the place of rest or cessation of action or motion.” The Skt prajñā­pāramitāyāṃ yogaḥ karaṇīyaḥ puts the perfection of wisdom in the locative case (literally, “the effort is to be made in (or at) the perfection of wisdom.”) When you understand by the word prajñāpāramitā the result, a buddha’s knowledge of all aspects, take it as a dative of purpose.
n.­257
Bṭ3 rgyun du chud pa dang/ gus pa dang/ ’grus pa la sogs pas; Bṭ1 26b7 rgyun chad pa dang/ gus pa dang/ ’grub pa la sogs pas, “cutting the continuum, respecting, and accomplishment.”
n.­258
Vajracchedikā (Harrison and Watanabe, p. 113) sthātavyam… pratipattavyam… cittam pratigṛhītavyam, ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa, Degé Kangyur (sher phyin, sna tshogs, ka), 121b2–3. In his translation, Harrison (2006, p. 142) takes katham (ji ltar) as introducing freestanding questions rather than as comments on what the Lord has already taught in a Prajñāpāramitā scripture already known to the reader.
n.­259
nyi khri 2.­5, ’bum ka 37a6–7; khri brgyad 2.­4 “should develop.”
n.­260
Vajracchedikā, cited just before in the brief teaching Bṭ3 3.­20.
n.­261
This understands rigs pa as nyāya. If rigs pa renders yukti this means, “It means ‘because of the logic of not taking a stand anywhere.’ ”
n.­262
“Practice through the force of habit” (yang dag par spyod pa, samudācāra), “the achieving” (sgrub pa, pratipatti).
n.­263
Mahā­yāna­saṃgraha, 3.7 (Chodron’s undated English translation of Lamotte 1938, p. 219), explains the four investigations (yongs su btsal ba, paryeṣaṇā) that are connected with the preparatory stage (prayoga) of the path before awakening. The first two investigations discover that the names for things and the things themselves are both just articulated in the mind; the third that there is no intrinsic nature or intrinsic identity to be found in the names and things, it is just labeled onto them; and finally that the particular features distinguishing the names and things are just labeled onto them too. The four comprehensions (yongs su shes pa, parijñāna; Chodron “knowledges”) are, in each case, coming to the realization of “representation only” (rnam par rig pa tsam, vijñapti­mātratā). In each case the comprehension is associated with a more and more refined meditative stabilization that finally merges into awakening or clear realization (mngon rtogs, abhisamaya).
n.­264
Golden pha 58a shes rab kyis yongs su sbyong bar byed pa; K, N shes rab kyis sbyong bar byed pa. D shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa yongs su sbyor bar byed pa, “When, after giving or after the giving of a gift, they investigate with the four ways of investigating and comprehend properly with the four comprehensions, they apply themselves to the perfection of wisdom.”
n.­265
This is explaining upādāya (phyir) in khri brgyad 2.­3: “because a gift, giver, or recipient are not apprehended.”
n.­266
Similar to khri brgyad 45.­11, nyi khri 35.­14, ’bum ta 55a1.
n.­267
This is the nyi khri and ’bum reading, and the reading below at khri brgyad 2.­30. Here khri brgyad has “there is no physical or mental effort expended.”
n.­268
rtsol ba, *vyavasāya. The idea is that a worthy one ends up in nirvāṇa because of a deficient path, but a bodhisattva models nirvāṇa intentionally.
n.­269
khri brgyad 54.­4, le’u brgyad ma ca 24b4, LSPW pp. 406–7.
n.­270
’bum ka 36b6.
n.­271
4.­818–4.­886 explaining khri brgyad 16.­1–16.­25.
n.­272
Golden 62a5 thob.
n.­273
By saying bodhisattvas meditate on the emptiness meditative stabilization and so on, not on just emptiness and so on, the scripture indicates these three are being taught in the context of a bodhisattva’s practice.
n.­274
“And so on” includes, at khri brgyad 2.­4, the “four immeasurables, four formless absorptions, eight deliverances, nine serial absorptions,” and so on.
n.­275
’bum ka 39a5; khri brgyad and nyi khri differ slightly.
n.­276
“Product,” rab tu skye ba (prabhava), is one of the four aspects of the truth of origination.
n.­277
This is a conjectural translation of kun mthun par mkhyen pa, perhaps an abbreviation of chos thams cad stong pa nyid du rjes su mthun par mkhyen pa, “the subsequent knowledge that all dharmas are in accord with emptiness” that occurs just below. It would then mean the knowledge that everything is in accord with the ultimate, which is to say, is ultimately the same. For a detailed investigation of the knowledges see Mppś English pp. 1200–18. In the basic scriptures, awakening knowledge is first of the suffering, origination, cessation, and path as it pertains to the world in which we find ourselves (the “desire realm”) and then subsequently as it pertains to the form and formless realms. Based on this kun mthun pa, “all in agreement,” would mean that the practitioner knows all three realms are “in agreement,” which is to say are the same as suffering, originating from affliction and karma and so on.
n.­278
Mppś English vol. 3, p. 1205, says this is knowledge that what has been extinguished will not arise again and is absent from a buddha.
n.­279
Lamotte (Mppś English vol. 3, p. 1204), in his otherwise exhaustive and masterly explanation of the knowledges, mistakenly explains paricaya/parijaya as only related to paracitta, “knowledge of the minds of others,” without fully explaining its use in the perfection of wisdom. Altruistic “mastery” is central to the perfection of wisdom.
n.­280
4.­41. It means they do not do so in the way taught in the fundamental scriptures.
n.­281
Emend rkyan to rkyen.
n.­282
khri brgyad 54.­4, with slight differences; cf. le’u brgyad ma ca 24b4, ŚsPN4 9817v8, LSPW pp. 406–7.
n.­283
Better is ŚsPN4 9817v8 that has evaṃ, “thus,” in place of eva (nyid du), “actual.”
n.­284
Lamotte (Mppś English vol. 3, pp. 1204 and 2018) suggests the reading yathābhūta in place of yathāruta but khri brgyad ka 12a sgra ji bzhin shes is corroborated by Z’s yathāvat. Our author understands the compound along the lines of “whatever the sound.” LSPW (reading yathāruta, sgra ji bzhin pa) “according to the letter.” sgra ji bzhin pa can also mean, depending on the context, “a statement taken at face value,” or “literally,” or even “a description in accord with the facts.”
n.­285
’bum ka 41a3, khri brgyad 2.­4. The list of six is not in any of the extant versions of shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa. PSP 1-1:30, nyi khri 2.­5, Mppś, LSPW all omit.
n.­286
PSP 1-1:30 aṣṭau mahā­puruṣa­vitarkā(ḥ).
n.­287
AAVārt, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, kha) 6b6 ff. The rnam ’grel (vārttika) “subcommentary” here is taken to be Bhadanta Vimuktisena’s *arya­pañca­viṃśati-sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitopadeśa­śāstrābhisamayālaṃkāra­kārikā­vārttika; cf. Sparham 2008–13, vol. 1, p. 8.
n.­288
Edg, s.v. sattvāvāsa. Vasubandhu (Abhidharmakośa 3.6cd) says the seven bases of consciousness (vijñānasthiti), along with the bhavāgra and unconscious (asaṃjñin) states, are the nine. The seven are (1) the bases of humans and gods in the desire realm, (2) of certain classes of gods in the retinue of Brahmā, (3) of the gods in the second concentration, (4) of the gods in the third concentration, and (5–7) of the gods in the first three formless absorptions. Cf. Sattāvāsasutta, Aṅguttaranikāya 9.24.
n.­289
It is unclear whether our author intends that some versions of the scripture read āyāsa? (gnod) in place of āvāsa (gnas) or whether this is simply a creative explanation of the nine sattvāvāsa.
n.­290
’bum ka 41b4. khri brgyad 2.­5, nyi khri 2.­6 “of a knower of all aspects.”
n.­291
The fourth statement, “who want to perfect the knowledge of the aspects of the thought activity of all beings,” and the fifth statement, “who want to destroy all residual impressions, connections, and afflictions,” come after “all-knowledge.”
n.­292
nyi khri 2.­62, khri brgyad 2.­50 (with slight differences); Z 384.
n.­293
nyi khri 2.­80, khri brgyad 2.­64, reading yon tan rnams nye bar ’dzin to; Dutt 37.12 upādadāti; Z 387; LSPW p. 37.
n.­294
Cf. Braavig, Tib text vol. i, p. 15; translation vol. ii, p. 242.
n.­295
Lamotte (Mppś English vol. 5, p. 2029, n. 399) cites the term sarva­vāsanānusandhi­kleśa­prahāṇa from the Skt and Tib to support his observation that bodhisattvas are called tathāgatas at the tenth level when they eliminate the residual impressions (vāsanā). They only eliminate affliction (kleśa) at the eighth level, when they obtain the forbearance for the nonproduction of all dharmas. He does not explain connection (anusaṃdhi) separately.
n.­296
Closest is khri brgyad ka 12b4 sems kyi spyod pa’i rnam par shes pa; cf. ’bum ka 41b6, nyi khri ka 28b6 sems dang/spyod pa dang/shes pa’i rnam par shes pa.
n.­297
khri brgyad 2.­9, Z 377–78.
n.­298
khri brgyad 2.­19, Z 379.
n.­299
khri brgyad 2.­30, Z 382.
n.­300
khri brgyad 2.­50, Z 384, LSPW pp. 31–33.
n.­301
Cf. below at 4.­483. skyon med pa nyid (niyāmatā/nyāmatā) by itself is rendered “flawlessness”; when together with byang chub sems dpa’ (bodhi­sattvanyāma), skyon med pa (niyāma/nyāma) is “the secure state” or “flawlessness” (of bodhisattvas); when together with “dharmas” (dharmaniyāmatā/nyāmatā), skyon med pa nyid is “certification” (of dharmas).
n.­302
The antecedent of “that” is the nyāma (“flawlessness”) in the word bodhi­sattvanyāma (“secure state of a bodhisattva”) understood as the tathāgata­garbha, here understood as the buddha nature found in all beings.
n.­303
This is from the Vajracchedikā cited earlier at 3.­4.
n.­304
Our author means that the attribute (dharma) qualifying all phenomena is their shared thoroughly established nature. This nature is certified as being the attribute in the state of perfect, complete awakening.
n.­305
To sum up, our author is explaining the compound bodhi­sattvanyāma not as the nyāma (“secure state” or “flawlessness”) of a bodhisattva but the nyāma that is bodhi and sattva.
n.­306
This is likely a citation from or a paraphrase of The Ten Bhūmis but I have not been able to identify a specific passage so I have rendered it here as a general statement.
n.­307
khri brgyad 2.­9 says, “Moreover, Śāriputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to thoroughly establish a buddha’s body should train in the perfection of wisdom. If they want to acquire the thirty-two marks and the eighty minor signs of a great person, they should train in the perfection of wisdom.”
n.­308
The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­652 (Roberts 2021b); (Rahder, VIII Q, p. 71) kumārety ucyate ’navadyatvāt.
n.­309
khri brgyad 2.­12: “Moreover, Śāriputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to establish all beings in a world as vast as the dharma-constituent and as far-reaching as the space element in the perfection of giving, and who want to establish them in the perfection of morality, the perfection of patience, the perfection of perseverance, the perfection of concentration, and the perfection of wisdom, should train in the perfection of wisdom.”
n.­310
blo gros mi zad pa’i mdo. This is The Teaching of Akṣayamati (Akṣaya­mati­nirdeśa, blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa, Toh 175; Braarvig 2018).
n.­311
The “I am my own master” is a refrain in collection 23 (ātmavarga) of the Udānavarga (Bernhard edition): ātmā tv ihātmano nāthaḥ; ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, tu), 21b7–22b1. The other two are similar to pāpakavarga 28; ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, 28b4–5; and prakirṇaka­varga 16.3 uttiṣṭhata vyāyam ata kurudhvaṃ dvīpam ātmanaḥ; ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, 15b6.
n.­312
khri brgyad ka 10.­63, LSPW pp. 158–60.
n.­313
khri brgyad 15.­11, LSPW pp. 189–91.
n.­314
“True dharmic nature eyes” (dharmatācakṣus, chos nyid kyi mig) are the eyes from the perspective of their ultimate attribute‍—nondual emptiness.
n.­315
This and below at 4.­541–4.­547 are important for understanding works discussing other-emptiness (gzhan stong) in fourteenth century Tibet.
n.­316
khri brgyad 10.­63.
n.­317
khri brgyad 14.­34.
n.­318
Golden pha 74b4 pas; D par.
n.­319
Here is a literal translation of this passage: “Like this, in someone who has seen the city of the gandharvas, an intellectually active awareness (blo) of the city is born. Then, afterward, when one has really explored and looked for just that city and does not see it, the intellectually active awareness of the city disappears (blo med par gyur). But it is not suitable to say, when intellectually active awareness of the empty is born, that there is some other, different entity‍—empty of the intellectually active awareness of the city‍—because intellectually active awareness of the empty was born in that one. Similarly, here as well, having seen a falsely imagined shape and so on as a shape, an intellectually active awareness of a dharma is born. Then, when a search has been made for it as it really is, because the knowledge of it as it really is does not see that dharma, it is simply that the intellectually active awareness of the dharma is not there and an intellectually active awareness of the empty is born. It is not suitable to say that because an intellectually active awareness of the empty is born there, there is some other, different dharma‍—‘the empty’‍—there.” Cited in Jagattalanivāsin’s Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī­nāma­vyākhyā, bcom ldan ’das ma’i man ngag gi rjes su brang ba zhes bya ba’i rnam par bshad pa, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ba), 286b3–6.
n.­320
K, N.
n.­321
Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ba), 285b5–7 is a different translation of the same passage.
n.­322
D has “attain clairvoyance.”
n.­323
sgyu ma’i sngags gis… mig bslus. I take lta ba bcings, “having mesmerized,” (Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī, 286a1) as a gloss, not a different translation.
n.­324
khri brgyad 20.­80.
n.­325
D “one talks of their ‘lack of an intrinsic nature.’ ”
n.­326
Emend di ltar to de ci ltar (Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī, 287b4).
n.­327
K, N kyis; D kyi. Alternatively, rang nyid kyi gzung ba med du zin may mean “it is itself already not a grasped-object.”
n.­328
N has “nominal” (btags) existence.
n.­329
khri brgyad 16.­97.
n.­330
khri brgyad 3.­130.
n.­331
This is a tentative translation of nag pa (citrā) grong (gṛha) du phyin pa dang / grong nas byung ba yang gcig. I understand grong to mean one of the stations or mansions through which the sun or moon, understood as a celestial body, passes.
n.­332
Udānavarga 1.19 dīrgho bālasya saṃsāraḥ; ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, tu), 2b4.
n.­333
Cited in Prajñāvarman’s Udāna­varga­vivaraṇa, ched du brjod pa’i tshoms kyi rnam par ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, thu), 115b1 on Udānavārga 3.12–13.
n.­334
Cp. khri brgyad 24.­65 “you cannot apprehend a prior limit.”
n.­335
Udānavarga, ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, tu), 25b7–28a2 differs slightly; Bernhard 1965 omits.
n.­336
Conze’s rendering of the distinctly Buddhist word anavakāra (Tib dor ba med pa) as “nonrepudiation” has been retained because of the -kāra ending, even though the explanation here suggests a better translation is “absence of the repudiated.”
n.­337
Prajñāvarman’s Udāna­varga­vivaraṇa, ched du brjod pa’i tshoms kyi rnam par ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, thu), 71b3 sangs rgyas thams cad ni mnyam par yi ge dang tshig gcig nges par mi ston te/ ’od srungs kyi gsung rab la phung po nyid yod par ston to. Alternatively, de bzhin gshegs pa ’od srungs kyi gsung rab may mean the scriptures of the Kāśyapīya subschool of the Sarvāstivādins. Cf. Pūrṇavardana’s Abhi­dharma­kośa­ṭīkā, chos mngon par chos kyi ’grel bshad mtshan nyid kyi rjes su ’brang ba, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, cu), 170b rnam par ’drid pa lnga zhes bya ba ni phun po lnga zhes bya ba’i don te/ de bzhin gshegs pa ’od srungs kyi gsung rab las phung po la rnam par ’drid pa zhes bya ba ming btags pa yin no; Karashima 2015, p. 117.
n.­338
“Now” means during the time of the Tathāgata Śākyamuni.
n.­339
Golden pha 82b5, D mi rtag pa omit.
n.­340
“Attributes” renders chos (dharma).
n.­341
“Special attributes of a buddha” renders sangs rgyas kyi chos (buddhadharma).
n.­342
“Things” renders chos (dharma).
n.­343
This means it is the ultimate attribute of those attribute possessors. The word chos (dharma) here has a number of overlapping meanings because any attribute (dharma) can be an attribute possessor (chos can, dharmin), but all attribute possessors can be understood as indivisible with their ultimate attribute and hence are called just things or phenomena or attributes (dharma). Put another way, everything can stand as a basis for an investigation that leads to its ultimate nature (=chos can), and this ultimate nature is in this sense its ultimate attribute (=chos).
n.­344
The explanations of the emptiness of dharmas and emptiness of marks here is similar to the analysis of marks (lakṣaṇa) in Nāgārjuna’s Mūla­madhyama­kakārikā chapter five.
n.­345
This, unlike the general characterizing mark “impermanent,” is a specific characterizing mark of the first of the five aggregates as distinct from the second aggregate, for example.
n.­346
khri brgyad 20.­76 et passim, where this is rendered “all dharmas are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature.”
n.­347
dngos po med pa’i ngo bo nyid, abhāvasvabhāva. The Skt compound consists of three parts: a, a negative prefix; bhava, “existent thing”; and svabhāva, “intrinsic nature.” In what follows the parts of the compound are treated in different ways. Usually I have rendered abhāva­svabhāva­śūnyatā as “the emptiness that is the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature,” but there are many different ways of breaking the compound, some of which are explained here.
n.­348
As a bahuvrihi, abhāvasvabhāva means: “all dharmas have nonexistence (abhāva) as their intrinsic nature (svabhāva).”
n.­349
I have rendered dngos po (bhāva) “existent thing” here for consistency, but as our author explains immediately after this statement, it means the things in ordinary life that deluded people mistakenly take to be truly real.
n.­350
I have rendered dngos po (bhāva) “existent thing” here for consistency, but as our author explains immediately after this statement, it means the things in ordinary life that deluded people mistakenly take to be truly real.
n.­351
This is a different way of dissolving the compound dngos po med pa’i ngo bo nyid, abhāvasvabhāva. If our author intends not a bahuvrīhi here, but a tatpuruṣa compound, he is saying it is called “the intrinsic nature that is not an existent thing,” that which has no existent thing for its intrinsic nature
n.­352
Śūnyatā­nāma­mahā­śūtra, mdo chen po stong pa nyid (mdo sde, sha), 250b1, cited in Vasubandhu’s Madhyānta­vibhāgabhāṣya (Nagao edition, 18.4–7) evaṃ yad yatra nāsti tat tena śūnyam iti yathābhūtaṃ samanupaśyati yat punar atrāvaśiṣṭaṃ bhavati tat sad ihāstīti yathābhūtaṃ prajānātīty; dbus dang mtha’ rnam par ’byed pa’i ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (sems tsam, bi), 2a2–3. Hopkins (1999, pp. 183–84 notes a and b) discusses the origin of the citation and supplies complete references to earlier Tib and modern interpretations of this passage. Here bcom ldan ’das supports the position that the citation is from a sūtra.
n.­353
This renders D shin tu rtogs pa ma yin. Golden pha 85a2 shin tu rtog pa yin, “is absolutely a thought construction.”
n.­354
khri brgyad 48.­94, 83.­61, and 54.­22; LSPW pp. 408–9, 476, 582.
n.­355
The Ten Bhūmis (Rahder, p. 87).
n.­356
These are included among the ten powers; cf. khri brgyad 16.­81.
n.­357
Z 312 n. 536 “interstitial dark place”; Edg, s.v. lokāntarikā, “world-interstitial-spheres.” It is noteworthy that lokāntarikā is not present in our author’s version of the Sūtra.
n.­358
The secrets of the body of a tathāgata are explained in the seventh chapter (sku’i gsang ba’i le’u) of the de bshin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa’i bstan pa (Tathāgatācintya­guhya­nirdeśa), Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, ka), 126a–132b.
n.­359
bskyed. kyer kyer / kye re, “upright”; skye, “become upright”; skyed, “make upright.”
n.­360
bzur, perfect form of ’dzur; cf. zur, the resultative form “on the side.”
n.­361
mjing pa bsgyur. Jāschke s.v. ’jing. There is a relation between gya gyu, “crooked”; ’gyur, “change”; sgyu, “deceit”; and sgyur, “change.” Lamotte and Conze take this as the meaning of “the elephant’s look” and connect it with the historical Buddha’s turning fully around to gaze on the world he is about to leave.
n.­362
Alternatively, ji ltar ’dug pa and ji ltar lta ba may mean “with their acts in perfect accord [with reality] and with eyes that see [all reality] just as it is.”
n.­363
khri brgyad 2.­55.
n.­364
khri brgyad 2.­63.
n.­365
The four ways of gathering a retinue are by means of: gifts (dāna), kind words (priyavacana), beneficial actions (arthacaryā/kriyā), and samānārthatā / samāna­sukha­duḥkhatā. Edg, s.v. samānārthatā renders the last “adopting of the same aims for himself which he preaches to others” and “having the same joys and sorrows.” It means practicing what you preach. Here it means adapting to the prevailing set of values.
n.­366
Lalitavistara. The Tib. translation here differs from rgya cher rol pa, Lhasa Kangyur 96 (mdo sde, kha), 115b6–116a5 (closest); Degé Kangyur (mdo sde, kha), 71b5–72a2. Cf. The Play in Full, 12.­3–12.­7 (Dharmachakra 2013).
n.­367
This renders ’chi (maraṇa); Kangyur ’thab mo (saraṇa): “conflict,” “violence.”
n.­368
’khrul ’khor (yantra); Kangyur dug gi lo ma (pātra).
n.­369
Kangyur ’dam dang lcag lcig khrod nas padma rnam par ’phel.
n.­370
amṛte; Kangyur ’chi med: “He leads trillions of beings to the deathless state.” aṃṛta means both “immortal” and “ambrosia, divine nectar.”
n.­371
Emend bsten to Kangyur bstan (darśita).
n.­372
It is noteworthy that this chapter title in khri brgyad is omitted from nyi khri 2.­82.
n.­373
khri brgyad 3.­2.
n.­374
K, N; D “the conceptualization of practice.”
n.­375
Alternatively, “therefore, that which is the emptiness that is a nonexistence does exist.”
n.­376
The punctuation at khri brgyad 3.­2 differs slightly.
n.­377
“It”‍—the statement‍—“does not have the fault” of saying bodhisattvas are absolutely existent.
n.­378
D. The translation based on K, N, and Golden pha 91b2 is “if they ultimately exist.” The idea is that if the ultimate emptiness is not just a name as a falsely imagined phenomena, all the other ordinary phenomena will not be either. D “if they ultimately do not exist.”
n.­379
D. The translation based on K, N, and Golden pha 92a5 is: “ ‘does not reside somewhere’ teaches that the illusion is marked as having form, because dharmas having form reside somewhere.”
n.­380
D rten cing ’brel ba’i chos; K, N rten cing rten pa’i chos; Golden pha 92b6 rten cing brten pa’i chos; khri brgyad ka 24a7 chos so so tha dad pa, prati­prati­dharma, “in the case of each of these different dharmas.” Kumārajīva’s translation of the corresponding section of the Śatasāhasrikā (translated Z 206, n. 45) is: “Designations are dharmas produced by the combination of causes and conditions.” LSPW pp. 38–39 “counter-dharma” (pp. 38–39, n. 5: “The passage may, however, be corrupt”). It may be that “those interdependent” was not in our author’s version of the Sūtra, but should be understood as an explanation of prati prati.
n.­381
These are the five aggregates onto which the bodhisattva is labeled.
n.­382
Cf. Edg, s.v. upaṇiśā, rendered in Tib by rgyu, “cause.” The idea is that the cause dictates the result, but it is impossible to describe a complex of causes big enough to give rise to this resultant perfection of wisdom.
n.­383
This is a conjectural rendering of shod dgod/god.
n.­384
This tautology in English is because our author is dissolving a Skt compound word into its component parts. The four are Jambu, Videha, Godānīya, and Kuru.
n.­385
This is the trisāhasra­mahā­sāhasra, Conze’s “trichiliocosm.”
n.­386
This wisdom is “detached from” or “isolated from” (vivikta) every possible defilement.
n.­387
Das, s.v. ’gre ba, is right to connect the word with peyāla (paryāya), a set of passages connected because they are explaining a single topic; Mvy has parivarta for ’gres pa.
n.­388
khri brgyad 3.­9.
n.­389
khri brgyad 3.­17.
n.­390
khri brgyad 3.­21.
n.­391
The word yuj includes within its range of meaning “yoking to,” “endeavoring at,” “joining with,” and “engaging in a correct practice of.”
n.­392
K, N “aggregates, sense fields, elements, truths, links of dependent origination, all dharmas, and the compounded and uncompounded.”
n.­393
This is not exactly the same as any of the extant versions of the Sūtra that all have med (“there is no”) in place of yang dag par rjes su ma mthong (“they do not see”); khri brgyad 3.­28.
n.­394
Mūla­madhyamaka­kārikā 1.1.
n.­395
Mūla­madhyamaka­kārikā 15.8; 16.8; 5.3.
n.­396
D yang gcig tu na; Golden pha 100b5 yang na, “alternatively.”
n.­397
One of the meanings of dharma is something that holds its own identity.
n.­398
khri brgyad 3.­23 lists the defining marks of each aggregate. Each dharma is a separate entity so if they were all to merge together like streams they would lose their identity, so it is not possible for them to have aggregated.
n.­399
Emend D ’khrul pa yod to Golden 101b2 ’khrul pa med.
n.­400
Alternatively, if a bahuvrihi compound, “they appear with emptiness as their mark.”
n.­401
This renders gzugs su yod pa as equivalent to gzugs su rung ba, the standard definition of rūpa (gzugs). Setting aside the various etymologies, Tib gzugs su yod pa, “that which occupies a place,” is a resultant form of ’dzugs.
n.­402
’dus nas shes is probably a different rendering of the same Skt rendered in khri brgyad 3.­23 (ka 29a) kun tu shes, explaining the saṃ in saṃjñā.
n.­403
K, N. D, where the editor has understood “spoken earlier” as the “emptiness” spoken earlier in the statement “form is itself emptiness, and emptiness is form,” and the “all aspects” as all phenomena understood from the perspective of their true dharmic nature, their ultimate attribute emptiness. The editor of Golden 102b6 reads kyi (“teaches all the aspects of emptiness spoken about earlier”), and understands the “earlier” to be a reference to the last section when our author said this passage in the Sūtra is broken down into four subsections.
n.­404
The eleven are the seven emptinesses (of aggregates, sense fields, elements, truths, dependent origination, all dharmas or dharmas taken as a totality, and compounded and uncompounded dharmas) together with the four (the intrinsic nature of each‍—form and so on separately‍—that cannot be apprehended, the intrinsic nature of them as a collection or confluence that cannot be apprehended, the defining mark of a particular dharma that cannot be apprehended, and the totality of dharmas that cannot be apprehended).
n.­405
“The endeavor” (yujyamāna, brtson pa); “engaged” (yukta, brtson).
n.­406
“Originating” (bhāva, ’byung ba); “perishing” (vibhāva, ’jigs pa).
n.­407
This is a conjectural translation of ’dres mar. Based on khri brgyad 3.­42–3.­43, it incorporates the four possibilities (practicing, not practicing, and so on), and practicing for the sake of the perfections and so on, up to the very limit of reality.
n.­408
khri brgyad 3.­29.
n.­409
This is the first of the three gateways to liberation.
n.­410
This emptiness is the emptiness of the emptiness meditative stabilization gateway.
n.­411
“Yogic practice” (yoga, rnal ’byor).
n.­412
“Cognitive dimension” renders rnam pa (ākāra).
n.­413
khri brgyad 3.­35 (ka 31a7) sbyor bar byed. The same yojaya (Ghoṣa 262, Dutt 57, and Z 398) is rendered variously into Tib by both sbyor and sbyor bar byed. Dorjé renders nyi khri 2.­129 (ka 52b) mi sbyor mi ’byed as “they neither associate with nor disassociate from physical forms.”
n.­414
Z follows Edg in rendering avatṝ (’jug) here as “comprehend.”
n.­415
“By way of apprehending consequences” renders las dang ’bras bu dmigs pa’i tshul gyis.
n.­416
A “maturation” means a form of life.
n.­417
’bum ka 104a5, nyi khri 2.­132 (ka 53a6), Twenty-Five Thousand translation “owing to emptiness with respect to the sameness of the three times”) differ.
n.­418
khri brgyad 3.­40.
n.­419
The rest of the aggregates with origination and so on, and with pleasure, suffering, self, no self, calm, and not calm.
n.­420
’bum ka 120a1, khri brgyad omit.
n.­421
A rnam par rtog pa (usually rendered “idea” or “conceptualization”) here means a “possibility” or “alternative.” The Tib versions of the Sūtra have all four conceptualizations of “practicing, not practicing, practicing and not practicing, and not practicing and not not practicing.” The last two are absent from the Skt versions.
n.­422
Cf. 2.­5.
n.­423
This renders de gnyis kyi las bstan to. Alternatively, this may just be a way of saying, like Bṭ1 na 64a6–7 phrad pa’am mi phrad pa zhes bya ba yang ’du ba dang ’bral ba’i rnam grangs tsam du zad do, “they are synonyms.”
n.­424
This means from the attainment of the forbearance for dharmas that are not produced and the matured perfections on the eighth level.
n.­425
khri brgyad 3.­53 (ka 37a1) bskyed; ’bum ka 160a4; nyi khri 2.­160 (ka 61a5) skyed, “do not produce a miserly thought.”
n.­426
Maitreya lives in the Tuṣita heaven ready to be “reborn” as a Śākyamuni-like buddha.
n.­427
skyon med pa; rendered at khri brgyad 3.­72 “flawlessness.”
n.­428
viṣkandaka (thod rgal) (variously avaskandha, avaskandhaka, or as in Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa 8.73, vyutkrāntaka) means “leaping above”; see khri brgyad n.­76 at 3.­75 for an explanation, and khri brgyad 62.­54–62.­56 for the full account of this meditative stabilization.
n.­429
brtun is a perfective voluntary form of ’dun; cf. Jäschke, s.v. rtun, dun.
n.­430
bsdus is glossing sdom (saṃvara). Alternatively, even though it is not contextually appropriate, the author might intend that they have gathered (saṃgrah) a retinue through morality.
n.­431
khri brgyad 3.­97.
n.­432
K, N la bka’ stsal.
n.­433
At khri brgyad 3.­104 the statement, “Śāriputra, there are bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom cleansing the awakening path who are practicing the perfection of giving,” and so on, comes immediately before Śāriputra’s question.
n.­434
These are the ten powers (bala) of a tathāgata, khri brgyad 16.­81–16.­89.
n.­435
khri brgyad K, N ka 121–22; khri brgyad 3.­133 differs slightly; PSP 1-1: 101–2.
n.­436
Golden pa 112b6, citing khri brgyad 3.­127. D differs.
n.­437
Golden pa 113a3–4, citing khri brgyad 3.­134.
n.­438
khri brgyad 3.­134 ff. says that bodhisattvas inclined to generosity, morality, and so on practice each of the six perfections in turn, but their inclination to one does not preclude the practice of them all together.
n.­439
khri brgyad 3.­140.
n.­440
The eight are listed earlier at 1.­31 and are explained below 4.­833.
n.­441
This summarizes from khri brgyad 3.­146 up to the end of chapter 3 (3.­153‍—prophesy); up to the end of chapter 4 (4.­6‍—praise); up to the end of chapter 5 (5.­14‍—the diffusion of the light and so on); and up to Ghoṣa 322.
n.­442
2.­5. The last two are “the subdivisions of the endeavor, and the specific instruction for coming to an authoritative conclusion about this exposition.”
n.­443
Golden 104b1 emends D bus to bu. Śāriputra is being addressed by Subhūti. Śāriputra is not stating this as a fact.
n.­444
bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, s.v. stsol, says it is an archaic form of sel (past tense bsal); s.v. sel ba, 2 gives the example dmigs kyis bsal ba (“zero in on a particular”).
n.­445
Perhaps this means discourses “intended for oneself, intended for others, and given when the time is ripe.”
n.­446
In this section the following conventions are employed for compounds with the word prajñapti (rendered into Tib by forms of ’dogs): btags pa (prajñapti), “designation,” “designated”; in its basic meaning “something that makes something else known”; “label,” “labeled”; ming du btags pa (nāmaprajñapti), “name designation”; chos su btags pa (dharma­prajñapti), “dharma designation”; btags pa’i chos (prajñapti­dharma), “phenomenon that is a label”; tha snyad du gdags pa (vyavahṛ passive), “use conventionally”; and ming dang brda (nāma/saṃjñā-saṃketa), “name and conventional term,” and ming gi brda, “name that is a conventional term.”
n.­447
khri brgyad 6.­4.
n.­448
K, N; D “these dharmas are not dual.”
n.­449
btags pa. Golden 116a1–2 brtags pa’i/pas gdams pa, “instruction about what has been conceptualized.”
n.­450
khri brgyad 6.­34 “understand that it is a dharma designation that is a name and conventional term.” ’bum ka 236b4, nyi khri 3.­75 (ka 99a1) have the preferable reading ming dang brdar bya ba’i chos su gdags pa rnams de ltar, “understand the conventional usage of dharmas that are names and conventional terms.”
n.­451
khri brgyad 6.­57.
n.­452
The other three questions at khri brgyad 6.­35 are: “or is the bodhisattva in form, or is form in the bodhisattva, or is the bodhisattva without form?”
n.­453
Ghoṣa 432, Gilgit 48r10, PSP 1-1:139, ’bum ka 280b3, nyi khri 3.­142, and le’u brgyad ma ga 115b5. khri brgyad 6.­51 “when a being.”
n.­454
khri brgyad 6.­56.
n.­455
khri brgyad 6.­57, citing 6.­4 (ka 58a3), but without sems dpa’.
n.­456
khri brgyad 6.­62.
n.­457
Golden 116b3. D “not apprehending the elder Subhūti’s word.”
n.­458
khri brgyad 6.­67 with a slight difference.
n.­459
’bum ka 308a5.
n.­460
khri brgyad 6.­68, citing 6.­4. It is noteworthy that here there is only bodhisattva (’bum ka 199a2, nyi khri 3.­4) not bodhisattva great being.
n.­461
This exact citation is not in the other scriptures beginning from ’bum ka 308a5-6, nyi khri 3.­180, PSP 1-1:145, or Ghoṣa 470. Closest is khri brgyad 6.­68.
n.­462
khri brgyad 6.­74.
n.­463
K, N phyis; D phyir.
n.­464
nyi khri 3.­28; khri brgyad 6.­23 “names that are conventional terms”; Gilgit 41v7, Kimura 1-1:114. prajñapti is rendered here in line with its basic meaning as a causal form of the root jñā. There is a sense of altruism in prajñapti, where all dharmas are what they are, to make known to others their lack of an intrinsic nature in order to liberate them. Alternatively (rendering prajñapti by “designation,” “designated”; Tib btags pa), “they should train in designation that is names and conventional terms, in designation that is advice, and in designation as the dharmas.”
n.­465
While giving advice they remain free from the two extremes.
n.­466
Both are the names and conventional terms that make things known, and advice that makes things known.
n.­467
khri brgyad 6.­29, “Because, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom do not mentally construct and do not conceptualize all those dharmas.”
n.­468
’bum ka 229b7, nyi khri 3.­60.
n.­469
khri brgyad 6.­29, ’bum ka 230a1, nyi khri 3.­61, Gilgit 44v2, PSP 1-1: 128; Ghoṣa 372 omits.
n.­470
khri brgyad 6.­29.
n.­471
D; K, N “that is the object of nonconceptualization.”
n.­472
Here tathatā (“suchness,” “reality”) has the sense of “the state that remains just as it is.”
n.­473
’bum ka 236a4, nyi khri 3.­75. PSP 1-1, Ghoṣa, and Gilgit 44v8 nāmasāṃketikī dharmaprajñaptir, rendered in LSPW p. 106 “the concept of dharma as a word and conventional term.”
n.­474
4.­425. A threefold subset of conceptualizations is set out as falling within the province (1) of insight, (2) of the three gateways to liberation, and (3) of the perfect analytic understanding of the reality of dharmas.
n.­475
khri brgyad 6.­33.
n.­476
’bum ka 239a5–6; nyi khri 3.­76: “You have said, Subhūti, that ‘The Lord says “bodhisattva” again and again.’ ”
n.­477
Golden 121a1–2 yongs su brtags pa; D yongs su btags pa “labeled,” “designated.”
n.­478
More exactly, “bodhisattvahood” (byang chub sems dpa’ nyid).
n.­479
khri brgyad 6.­69; 6.­5 has the same slightly abbreviated list.
n.­480
Golden 112a6, D delete de. This is a name for the Vaiśeṣikas.
n.­481
The sequence of questions and responses goes up to khri brgyad 6.­49.
n.­482
khri brgyad 6.­47.
n.­483
khri brgyad 6.­50.
n.­484
khri brgyad 6.­53.
n.­485
Cf. khri brgyad 6.­57, citing 6.­5. Here again, as at Bṭ3 4.­438, citing khri brgyad 6.­68 citing 6.­5, it is noteworthy that there is only bodhisattva (as at ’bum ka 199a2, nyi khri 3.­4) not bodhisattva great being.
n.­486
khri brgyad 6.­67.
n.­487
The full sentence is: “Again, Subhūti, you say, ‘I do not see that‍—namely, the phenomenon bodhisattva.’ ” Cf. khri brgyad 6.­68, citing a passage similar to 6.­4 (that has ming gi chos in place of just chos); ’bum ka 199a2; nyi khri 3.­4.
n.­488
khri brgyad 6.­68.
n.­489
Nothing else, no other state of consciousness, sees the state when, ultimately, nothing sees anything.
n.­490
Golden 125a1 tha dad par de.
n.­491
Alternatively, “You cannot designate (gdags) the uncompounded without the compounded.”
n.­492
khri brgyad 6.­68.
n.­493
In the list at khri brgyad 6.­5, there are sixteen, and here there are twelve. The other nine are “one who lives, an individual, a person, one born of Manu, a child of Manu, one who does, one who feels, one who knows, and one who sees.”
n.­494
These are the six consciousnesses, such as eye consciousness, that engage with their objects. The “foundation consciousness” is the ālayavijñāna, kun gzhi shes pa, literally “basis-of-all consciousness.”
n.­495
The “afflicted thinking mind” is the kliṣṭamanas, nyon yid, the seventh of the eighth consciousnesses.
n.­496
This is the fifth of the eight parts of the exposition (listed at 2.­5) of the statement (khri brgyad 2.­1), “Here, Śāriputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all dharmas in all forms should make an effort at the perfection of wisdom.”
n.­497
This is the seventh chapter, “Entry into Flawlessness,” khri brgyad 7.­1–7.­31.
n.­498
khri brgyad 7.­1.
n.­499
This should possibly be emended to “obtain the meditative stabilization gateways,” or, alternatively, it should be taken as a summary paraphrase of the whole section; cf. khri brgyad 7.­8, ’bum ka 317a3–319b2, nyi khri 4.­5 (ka 119a2–120a5).
n.­500
K, N.
n.­501
This means they are included in the third of the four benefits listed just above, but for stylistic purposes explained later.
n.­502
“Big flaw” renders skyon chen po attested at ’bum ka 319b5, nyi khri ka 120a7. khri brgyad ka 71a1 skyon gyi spyi gtsug, and le’u brgyad ma ga 124b1 rtse mo’i skyon (“hardheadedness”), render Ghoṣa 486 bodhi­sattvasyāmaḥ or PSP 1-1: 150 bodhi­sattva­mūrdhāmaḥ more exactly; cf. Edg, s.v. mūdhāma, who comments on Ghoṣa’s reading, and Conze’s notes to LSPW pp. 119–21.
n.­503
This renders spyi bor gyur pa (mūrdhagata; usually rendered rtse mor gyur pa). Our author likely intends the second of the four divisions of the aids to knowledge that penetrates reality.
n.­504
khri brgyad, ’bum, and nyi khri omit mthun. mthun pa’i chos renders anudharma, a word specific to this context that means something is a proper practice, but it is not so from a bodhisattva’s perspective if it is polluted by a persistent negative attachment to it. Edg, s.v. undharma, cites Childers’ Pāli Dictionary, s.v. anudhammam, as an adverb meaning “in accordance with the dhamma.”
n.­505
This relates āma = skyon (“rawness,” “hardheadedness”) with āmana (“affection for something”) and hence with vikalpa (“mental construction”).
n.­506
This explains nyāma (skyon med pa) as niyā and āma; MDPL, s.v. nyāma, “way of salvation.”
n.­507
khri brgyad 7.­20.
n.­508
Correct D bden to ldan.
n.­509
khri brgyad 7.­23. Śāriputra is asking Subhūti the question.
n.­510
D; Golden 128b3 sems ma yin pa “with the mark of no thought.”
n.­511
This is the same at khri brgyad 7.­25. nyi khri 4.­18 “is then… your question… appropriate?” is better.
n.­512
This section begins the seventh of the eight subsections introduced earlier (