The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines is the longest of all the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras and fills no fewer than twelve volumes of the Degé Kangyur. Like the other two long sūtras, it is a detailed record of the teaching on the perfection of wisdom that the Buddha Śākyamuni gave on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, setting out all aspects of the path to enlightenment that bodhisattvas must know and put into practice, yet without taking them as having even the slightest true existence. Each point is emphasized by the exhaustive way that, in this version of the teaching, the Buddha repeats each of his many profound statements for every one of the items in the sets of dharmas that comprise deluded experience, the path, and the qualities of enlightenment.
The provisional version published here currently contains the first twenty-eight of the seventy-two chapters of the sūtra, and represents a little under eight of the twelve volumes. Subsequent batches of chapters will be added as their translation and editing is completed.
The text was translated by Gareth Sparham, partly based on the translation of The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines by the late Gyurme Dorje and the Padmakara Translation Group. Geshe Lobsang Gyaltsen, 80th Abbot of Drepung Gomang monastery, and Geshe Kalsang Damdul, former Director of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, kindly provided learned advice.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Nathaniel Rich and John Canti edited the translation. John Canti wrote the provisional introduction and Nathaniel Rich edited it. Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text. Celso Wilkinson, André Rodrigues, and Sameer Dhingra were in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of those who offered leadership gifts to inaugurate our campaign, The Perfection of Wisdom for All. In chronological order of contributions received, these include:
Yan Xiu, Yan Li, Li Yifeng, and Wang Issa; Thirty, Twenty, Jamyang Sun, and Manju Sun; Anonymous; Ye Kong and family, Chen Hua, and Yizhen Kong; Wang Jing and family; Joseph Tse, Patricia Tse, and family; Zhou Tianyu, Chen Yiqin, Zhou Xun, Zhuo Yue, Chen Kun, Sheng Ye, and family, Zhao Xuan, Huang Feng, Lei Xia, Kamay Kan, Huang Xuan, Liu Xin Qi, Le Fei, Li Cui Zhi, Wang Shu Chang, Li Su Fang, Feng Bo Wen, Wang Zi Wen, Ye Wei Wei, Guo Wan Huai, and Zhang Nan; Ang Wei Khai and Ang Chui Jin; Jube, Sharma, Leo, Tong, Mike, Ming, Caiping, Lekka, Shanti, Nian Zu, Zi Yi, Dorje, Guang Zu, Kunga, and Zi Chao; Anonymous, Anonymous; An Zhang, Hannah Zhang, Lucas Zhang, and Aiden Zhang; Jinglan Chi and family; Anonymous; Dakki; Kelvin Lee and Doris Lim.
We also acknowledge and express our deep gratitude to the 6,145 donors who supported the translation and publication of this text through contributions made throughout the campaign period.
The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines is the longest of the three so-called “long” Perfection of Wisdom, or Prajñāpāramitā, sūtras.1 Indeed, not only is it the very longest of all Buddhist texts, but it is among the longest single works of literature in any language or culture. In the Degé Kangyur it fills twelve volumes, and comprises fourteen percent of the whole collection by number of pages.
With an evident similarity in structure, order, and content to the other two long Prajñāpāramitā sūtras (in twenty-five thousand and eighteen thousand lines), it is a detailed record—in fact the most detailed extant record—of what is traditionally said to have been a single teaching2 on the perfection of wisdom that the Buddha Śākyamuni gave on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, setting out all aspects of the path to enlightenment that bodhisattvas must know and put into practice, yet without taking them as having even the slightest true existence.
Traditional histories include all six “mother” versions of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras3 among the complete records of this single episode of teaching, and some even enumerate still longer versions not propagated in the human realm, such as a sūtra for the gods in ten million lines, and one for the gandharvas in one billion lines. Indeed, the present sūtra in one hundred thousand lines is itself said to have been retrieved from the nāga realm by Nāgārjuna.4
The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines therefore has a unique status among scriptures in the Tibetan canon. Its vast length, and its many extended sequences of repeated formulations modulated by changes to a single term alone, make it difficult to study as a doctrinal textbook, but it is revered as the fullest possible expression of the Buddha’s definitive teachings on the nature of phenomena, the path, and the awakened state. To read it, recite it aloud, or even to be in the physical presence of its volumes is seen as having a powerful force and blessing.
Yet its importance is more than just symbolic. Although the shorter forms of the Perfection of Wisdom teachings are—relatively, at least—easier to study, The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines remains the scripture that most fully embodies the Buddha’s pronouncements on this all-important theme, and the uncompromising detail of its statements makes their meaning unmistakably clear.
The sūtra exists in the three principal languages of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan, with the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts being most closely aligned. The Tibetan translation was made in several successive stages in the early, imperial translation period of the late eighth and early ninth century, and traditional histories document in some detail the translators, manuscripts, sponsors, and locations of the early translations.
It is analyzed and explained by Indian scholars in several commentaries that were also translated into Tibetan. Little specific, detailed attention has been paid to it by Western authors, and until now it has not been translated in full into English or any other Western language.
This introduction focuses mostly on the history, source texts, and features of The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines in particular. Readers will find more information and references regarding the Prajñāpāramitā literature in general, its different texts, the long sūtras as a group sharing essentially the same structure and content, their history and evolution, and the protagonists and their doctrinal statements, in the introductions to The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines and The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines,5 as well as in the description of the Degé Kangyur’s Perfection of Wisdom section.6
From a historical perspective, a group of “long Prajñāpāramitā sūtras,” including texts that exist variably in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan, appears to have been one distinctive genre that took form from the early Prakrit literature on the perfection of wisdom that first appeared in writing in the first centuries
The earliest surviving manuscript that can be identified as a “long” (Mahāprajñāpāramitā) version is another birch-bark scroll, this one found along with a large number of other texts in Gilgit in 1931. It is in Sanskrit and can be dated by details of its script to the sixth or seventh century ᴄᴇ.9 Although it was thought at first by Edward Conze10 to be a hybrid consisting of parts of The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines and parts of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines, it is now taken as one among the many coexisting versions of the “long” sūtra series.11 As the most complete of the Gilgit Prajñāpāramitā manuscripts, it is a very important source; the others are incomplete fragments. Another, similar Sanskrit manuscript of a generic “long” version was found in Dunhuang.12
It is important to bear in mind that the naming of the different versions by the number of lines13 they contain is likely to have been a later development, applied as a means of classifying the profusion of circulating texts of different lengths. It was already in use by the time these texts were first translated into Tibetan in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, but it is not a feature of the oldest Chinese translations. The earliest evidence of this nomenclature appears to be in the Chinese literature, in the record of a lecture by the sixth-century translator Bodhiruci,14 and its widespread adoption in the centuries that followed may have served to limit further profusion and even reduce the variety of different texts by fixing their number. Those texts in different languages that can be seen as belonging to the “long” sūtra group (as distinct from the mid-length Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and the many short versions, each of which followed their own evolutionary path), differentiated as they are by greater or lesser degrees of expansion of the lists of dharmas, show complex patterns of textual proximity that do not necessarily follow the numerical denominations that were retrospectively applied to them. Indeed, these numerical titles may obscure rather than clarify the recensional affinities.15
With that important reservation, there are three recensions within the overall group of “long” Perfection of Wisdom sūtras that can nevertheless justifiably be labeled The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines:
a seventh-century Chinese translation;
the present late eighth- or early ninth-century Tibetan translation; and
the version preserved in Sanskrit in the form of several Nepalese manuscripts, none of which are more than a few centuries old.
The Tibetan and Sanskrit recensions are quite similar to each other, while the Chinese differs from both in a number of respects.
The Chinese translation was made by Xuanzang in the mid-seventh century from the massive collection of material he had brought from his travels in India. It takes the form of the first of the sixteen sections or “assemblies” that represent historically independent texts and make up the voluminous compilation of perfection of wisdom works he translated as The Large Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra (Taishō 220).16
Just how the extant Sanskrit and Tibetan versions differ compared to this single comparable Chinese translation has not been fully documented, but the differences are not to be ignored. The Sanskrit original from which Xuanzang translated this section is said to have been 132,600 ślokas in length, and thus possibly even longer than the Sanskrit texts that were translated into Tibetan and have also survived in the Nepalese tradition. Moreover, the sections of Xuanzang’s compilation, despite being explicitly differentiated, are presented together as in some sense comprising a single work, and it is thought that this arrangement was not Xuanzang’s own invention but may have been a feature of his Sanskrit source texts.
Nevertheless, it is practical, and a close approximation, to consider the first section as identifiable with the texts known in Sanskrit and Tibetan as The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines.
The second and third sections of Xuanzang’s Chinese translation correspond in similar respects to the Twenty-Five Thousand Line and Eighteen Thousand Line sūtras as found in both Sanskrit and Tibetan (for the Twenty-Five Thousand Line) and in Tibetan alone (for the Eighteen Thousand Line). It is also significant that the first and second sections, despite their differences in the degree of compression, are strikingly similar to each other in language, content, and order, but less closely related to the third. The same pattern of similarities and differences exists between the Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Line sūtras in Tibetan and (for the first two) Sanskrit.
A final point to be made concerning the Chinese translation is that the relatively late appearance in China of this equivalent of the Hundred Thousand, the longest of the long sūtras, almost five centuries after the first translation of the equivalent of the Eight Thousand and four centuries after the first appearance of the equivalent of the Twenty-Five Thousand, provides supporting evidence for the notion that—for the long sūtras—a process of expansion from shorter to longer versions, rather than contraction from longer to shorter, may provide the better account of their evolution.17
Early Gāndhārī and Sanskrit manuscripts of generic Prajñāpāramitā sūtras are mentioned above (1.9–10). Specifically of this Hundred Thousand Line version of the long sūtras, however, no Sanskrit manuscript has survived that can be dated as early as the Chinese and Tibetan translations. But there are Nepalese Sanskrit manuscripts of more recent date that, from their content, must be closely related to the Sanskrit original from which the Tibetan translation was made. Some of them may even be copied descendants of a Sanskrit manuscript in the temple of Phamthing that Tibetan histories say was consulted by Ngok Loden Sherab in the eleventh century to correct the earlier Tibetan translation (see below).
Nepalese manuscripts of varying dates are presently to be found not only in Nepal but also in Kolkata, Cambridge, New Delhi, Paris, and Tokyo. A critical edition of the first twelve chapters was published in three installments by Ghoṣa between 1902 and 1914, and more recently has been extended by Kimura in four further volumes, published between 2009 and 2014.
The Sanskrit manuscripts of the Hundred Thousand and Twenty-Five Thousand resemble each other closely in terms of language, terminology, content, and order, as is the case with their Tibetan translations, and like them differ mainly in the degree of expansion of the different groups of dharmas. The Sanskrit of the Hundred Thousand matches the Tibetan translation in content closely.18
For anyone interested in how the early Tibetan translations of canonical works in general were carried out, it is a disappointing fact that much of the detailed information about the process was either not recorded or has been lost. However, in the case of The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines—thanks to the unique status of this monumental scripture—traditional historical accounts include far more detail of the successive versions that led to the Tibetan translation preserved in the Kangyurs we have today than is the case for any other work.
A succession of Tibetan translations were made from Sanskrit in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. There are specific terms for these imperial-period manuscript versions of the Hundred Thousand: Labum (bla ’bum) and Lagyur (bla ’gyur), meaning, respectively, a Hundred Thousand (Tibetan ’bum), or a translation (’gyur), that is commissioned or owned by one who is “foremost” or “paramount” (bla), i.e., the emperor.19
As a terse summary in his list of canonical translations, Butön’s fourteenth-century History of the Dharma states that “it is well known that there were six versions attributed to the translators Nyang Khampa Gocha,20 Vairotsana, Che Khyidruk, Zhang Yeshe Dé, and others.”21 Other accounts mention only four versions, while being in broad agreement on the rough outline of how the Tibetan translations evolved over time.
Much fuller details than Butön sets out are provided by other histories, including a historical survey that opens the commentary on this text by the great prajñāpāramitā commentator Rongtönpa (rong ston shes bya kun rig, 1367–1449);22 the lineage records of Minling Terchen Gyurmé Dorjé (smin gling gter chen ’gyur med rdo rje, 1646–1714); a survey of the prajñāpāramitā literature in a commentary to the Heart Sūtra by Alaksha Tendar (a lag sha bstan dar, 1758–1839); and an account in the encyclopedic Treasury of Knowledge by Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé (kong sprul blo gros mtha’ yas, 1813–99).23 The catalog of the Degé Kangyur,24 and particularly the historical section of the detailed Narthang Kangyur catalog, written by the fifth Olkha Lelung Jedrung, Lobsang Trinlé (’ol kha / dga’ sle lung blo bzang ’phrin las, 1697–1740),25 are also very informative. Rongtönpa’s work is the earliest of these histories and most of the others may have drawn from it, or perhaps from other even earlier accounts. The information to be gleaned from these different works is not always consistent, and sometimes conflicting. Here is a tentative synopsis:
• The earliest translation was one made by Khampa Gocha, who had been sent with offerings of gold to India by King Tri Songdetsen26 to bring back the sūtra; his four-part27 translation was called The Translation from Memory (thugs ’gyur) because Khampa Gocha had memorized the text while in India—some accounts say he had attained the dhāraṇī of perfect recall—and only wrote the Tibetan translation when he was back in Tibet. The king, as an offering of merit to the queen who had died, had a copy of that translation written in ink made from his own blood,28 using goat’s milk as a binder; this version was therefore called The Red Manuscript (reg zig dmar po) or The Red Goat Manuscript (ra gzigs dmar po) and also had four parts. In later times it was taken to Lhasa and is said to have been housed in the brick caitya near the Trulnang temple. It is not clear whether the above names and descriptions refer to a single manuscript or to two different ones of the same translation, but in any case this version, abridged and condensed as it is into four volumes, is also called The Short Imperial Translation (bla ’gyur chung ngu).
• Since the king did not have full confidence in The Translation from Memory, he commissioned Nyang Indrawaro and Wé Mañjuśrī to seek out the text in India and translate it. This they did, and their translation was written using ink made from indigo and the king’s singed hair, with goat’s milk binder. This manuscript was therefore called The Blue Manuscript (reg zig sngon po) or The Blue Goat Manuscript (ra gzigs sngon po); it was also called The Authorized Hundred Thousand (bca’ ’bum), and because the translators’ needs were met through a levy collected from the people, it was known as The Levy Hundred Thousand (dpya ’bum) as well. It too is said to have consisted of four parts, and because they were not held together with cloth bands but had iron fasteners it was also called The Iron Fasteners (lcags thur can). It is said to have been kept at Samyé.
• Later, Pagor Vairotsana, at the instigation of Mutik Tsenpo (also known as Senalek), compared the Sanskrit text with the translation in The Iron Fasteners, revised it, and filled out the abridgements of the earlier version by adding the missing repetitions and lengthening some lines. He wrote out a new six-volume manuscript, which was called The Medium-Length Imperial Translation (bla ’gyur ’bring po). According to Rongtönpa, it was also known as The Snowy One Promised by the King (rgyal po’i thugs dam par kha ba can), from the name of (or on) the binding boards, and both Rongtönpa and the Narthang catalog add, too, that it was called The Bats (pha wang can) because there was a bats’ nest near the place in Samyé where it was kept. Kongtrul says that it was still in Samyé Chimphu in his time (i.e., the mid-nineteenth century). Other authors, including Situ Panchen in the Degé catalog and Kongtrul, say that this is the version called The Deerskin Case Hundred Thousand (’bum sha sgro can), and the Narthang catalog explains in some detail how all the fascicles came to be stored as scrolls in a deerskin. However, the Narthang catalog says that the same name was also applied, for similar reasons, to the next revision; this may explain the apparent inconsistencies between authors in regard to this particular moniker.
• Later still, in the reign of Mutik Tsenpo’s son Tri Ralpachen, in the period when a number of Indian scholars were working with Tibetan translators in Tibet on the translation and revision of many texts and the great language revision edicts were drawn up, Surendrabodhi, Kawa Paltsek, Chokro Lui Gyaltsen, and others made an extensive revision of the translation in six parts (according to Rongtönpa) or sixteen (according to the Narthang catalog, Tendar, and Kongtrul), which was called The Long Imperial Translation (bla ’gyur chen mo). Rongtönpa calls this version The Deerskin Case Hundred Thousand (’bum sha sgro can) rather than the preceding one but, as mentioned above, the Narthang catalog explains how both versions were kept in deerskin wrappers and the name can therefore refer to either one or the other.
• At a point in this sequence that remains to be determined and is not mentioned in any of these accounts, but lies probably in the late eighth or early ninth century period, as many as eight copies of the whole text were made by scribes in Dunhuang. They were probably commissioned by or on the behalf of one of the kings (probably Tri Ralpachen). Pages from these copies, as well as rejected pages subsequently used for writing practice, make up a large proportion (along with manuscripts of The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra29) of the manuscripts found in Dunhuang.30
• The Narthang catalog then summarizes the six early manuscripts, and gives them yet more monikers:
“At that time, since to produce a great Mother (i.e., a Hundred Thousand) was possible only for the king and not for his subjects, only these six were made:31
(1) Tri Detsuk’s Monochrome Imperial Hundred Thousand (khri sde gtsug gi bla ’bum skya bo);
(2) Senalek Jingyön’s Innermost Hundred Thousand (mjing yon gyi sbug ’bum);
(3) Lhasé Tsangma’s Demarcated32 Hundred Thousand (gtsang ma’i bye ’bum);
(4) Ralpachen’s Six-Volume Hundred Thousand (ral pa can gyi drug ’bum);
(5) Prince Namdé’s33 Red-Faced Version (gnam lde lha’i zhal dmar can); and
(6) Darma’s Yellow-Paper Version (dar ma’i shog ser can).”34
• At this point in the story there seems to have been a proliferation of further Hundred Thousands produced as copies of one or another of these six, perhaps resulting from a royal prerogative on sponsoring them coming to an end. Rongtönpa provides a detailed list of seventeen named Hundred Thousands and the places they were kept,35 including the earliest ones he had already described, culminating in one made by Chang Dorjé Tsultrim (lcang / cang rdo rje tshul khrims)36 of Ru Tsam (ru ’tshams), who produced the seventeenth from a detailed comparison of the other sixteen. Rongtönpa goes on to classify the seventeen into groups according to the short, medium-length, or long Labum from which they were copied.37 The Narthang catalog has less detail but correspondingly mentions nineteen Hundred Thousands, including those of the subsequent period that could be produced not just by the kings but by subjects. It also points to the importance of the same significant figure, Chang Dorjé Tsultrim, who soon afterward compared all nineteen and made a “highly corrected version.”38 Proliferating from that version, the catalog says, about sixty copies were made, and indeed Rongtönpa proceeds to list a large number of these and their locations to a total of sixty-five.39
• In the later translation period, in the late eleventh century, Ngok Lotsāwa, according to the Degé catalog and others, having consulted the Indian manuscripts to be found in Tibet and the Iron Fasteners translation, revised and corrected the above-mentioned Long Imperial Translation by comparing it against a Sanskrit manuscript in the Phamthing temple in Pharping, Nepal. These catalog accounts also mention that the corrections included the addition of the names of three meditative stabilities that had been missing in earlier versions.40 It is Ngok’s revised translation that, according to most Kangyur catalogs, is preserved in the Kangyur. However, although Rongtönpa places Ngok’s version in fifth and last place among the most significant, major translations,41 it is difficult to be entirely certain where to place it in time relative to the other revisions and simple copies that he also details, mentioned above.42
• The Narthang catalog, indeed, seems to place less importance on Ngok’s revisions and mentions his version only in passing. Rather, it attributes the final establishment of a fully correct version, a “later descendant of the Imperial Hundred Thousands” (bla ’bum gyi bu phyi), to a Yarlung Jowo Chöjé (yar klung jo bo chos rje).43 The catalog also gives more extensive detail than any other of the differences between versions and the corrections made to establish the definitive version, including the varying numbers of meditative stabilities but also some of the sections and passages that had been missed in earlier manuscripts.
The translation preserved in most Kangyurs is thus the result of this long process of evolution. It is commonly divided into twelve volumes, but the Narthang catalog mentions other numbers of volumes into which different manuscripts were divided, and Rongtönpa, saying that there was even one version in thirty volumes, sets out schemes with the details of which bampo (fascicles) were included in which volume for several different volume arrangements: twelve (as in the Degé and many other Kangyurs), fourteen (as in the Berlin and Qianlong Kangyurs), and sixteen (as in the Choné, Phukdrak, Lithang, London, Stok Palace, Ulaanbaatar, and some of the peripheral Kangyurs).44
The Degé catalog, describing the translation as being the eleventh-century one that resulted from Ngok Lotsāwa’s revision of previous Tibetan translations against the Sanskrit manuscript of Phamthing, also specifies that the text has seventy-two chapters. It mentions the traditional legend according to which the four final chapters that conclude the Twenty-Five Thousand Line sūtra—the questions of Maitreya, the story of Sadāprarudita and Dharmodgata, and the entrusting of the text—are missing from the Hundred Thousand because when Nāgārjuna brought the sūtra from the realm of the nāgas, the nāga king had withheld those four chapters to ensure that Nāgārjuna would return. There is, the catalog says, a tradition of appending those four chapters, copied from the other sūtras. Although the Degé Kangyur does not follow that tradition, the Narthang, Lhasa, Namgyal, Hemis, and Shey Kangyurs do, and thus have seventy-five or seventy-six chapters.
The text in the Degé Kangyur is comprised of 301 bampo (fascicles), with between twenty-two and twenty-seven in each volume. The bampo numbers begin again with each volume, unlike most other Kangyurs where they are numbered consecutively throughout the text. Kangyurs in which the extra final chapters have been added have three more bampo, bringing their total to 304.
The Tibetan text in the Degé Kangyur, interestingly, preserves the old orthography of a subscript ya, “ma yata” (ma ya btags), i.e., the subscript ya under the letter ma in certain words, and of the “dadrak” (da drag), i.e., da as a second suffix in certain words ending in na, ra, or la. Spellings such as myi and myed for mi and med, rkyend for rkyen, tshuld for tshul, and smyind for smin are widespread, although in the first volume particularly some of these archaic spellings have been inconsistently revised. In most other Kangyurs these spellings are absent, but the Urga, Namgyal Collection, and Gondlha Kangyurs have also preserved them. Indeed, in the Namgyal Collection version of the sūtra, these archaic features are considerably less revised and spellings such as pha rold tu phyind pa (“the perfection of wisdom”) and rab ’byord (“Subhūti”) are preserved.
Given the complex process by which many translators contributed to the extant translation, it is perhaps not surprising that in the Degé and in the majority of other Kangyurs, there is no translators’ colophon. In some Kangyurs, however, the text does have a colophon, and these fall into two groups:
• The Narthang and Lhasa Kangyurs both have a colophon naming “the Indian upādhyāyas Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, the chief editor and lotsāwa Bandé Yeshé Dé, and others” as responsible for the translation, editing, and establishment of the text. Note that these two Kangyurs are among the few that add the final four chapters from the Twenty-Five Thousand instead of ending it with the seventy-second chapter, as mentioned above; yet the Namgyal and Shey Kangyurs, which also have the added chapters, have no colophon.45
• The Stok Palace Kangyur and the Bhutanese Kangyurs of mostly Themphangma affiliation—Chizhi, Dongkarla, Neyphug, Phajoding Ogmin, and Tashiyangtse—have a quite different colophon, in which no translators are mentioned but reference is made to some of the earlier translations. A tentative rendering of this colophon would be:
“This is the golden Hundred Thousand called Not Mixed with Wrongs in twelve sections, and is based on the corrected, limit-defining Black Hundred Thousand of Gyan-gong, which itself had resulted from being proofed and edited sixteen times after being compared against the early limit-defining, abridged manuscripts in Samyé and Lhasa, and so forth, and which, since the great lotsāwa, the omniscient Butön Rinchen Drup, had confirmed it as the prototype, was used as master copy for the Hundred Thousand produced by the great scholar Rinchen Gyaltsen.”46
This sūtra is structured in almost exactly the same way as The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines (Toh 9), with the same chapter sequence and divisions, and in Tibetan the same terminology and phraseology, to the extent that it would be difficult not to conclude that the Tibetan translations of both were produced by the same translators. Indeed, the Sanskrit source texts of the two sūtras must have been very similar, too—as far as can be judged, for the Sanskrit of the Twenty-Five Thousand matches not the Kangyur “many-chapter” version, Toh 9, but the Tengyur “eight-chapter” version, Toh 3790.47
The Hundred Thousand and Twenty-Five Thousand are far more similar to each other in language and chapter structure than they are to the third of the long Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, the Eighteen Thousand (Toh 10), which has considerably more chapter divisions and different phraseology. Nevertheless, all three sūtras follow an almost identical sequence of themes, interlocutors, and doctrinal statements.
The Hundred Thousand as preserved in most Kangyurs, however, has only seventy-two chapters as compared to the seventy-six of the Twenty-Five Thousand. This is because the final four chapters of the latter, comprising the questions of Maitreya, the story of Sadāprarudita and Dharmodgata, and the entrusting of the sūtra, are not present in this text. As noted above, they are traditionally seen as “missing” because the nāgas withheld them from Nāgārjuna as he was leaving to take the sūtra back with him to the human realm. The story of Sadāprarudita and Dharmodgata is indeed present not only in the Twenty-Five Thousand but also in the Eighteen Thousand and Eight Thousand Line sūtras, so it is not unreasonable to see it as “missing.” On the other hand, the chapter on the questions of Maitreya is only present in the Twenty-Five Thousand and Eighteen Thousand, and has been seen by some commentators as possibly a later addition, with evidence of a somewhat different doctrinal foundation.48
Apart from these differences at the very end of the text, all the other chapter breaks here in the Hundred Thousand correspond precisely to those in the Twenty-Five Thousand, except that chapter 57 in the Twenty-Five Thousand corresponds to two chapters, 57 and 58, here in the Hundred Thousand. The chapter numbering thereafter, across the two sūtras, is consequently offset by one, so that the final chapter 72, here in the Hundred Thousand, corresponds to chapter 71 in the Twenty-Five Thousand.
Most of the seventy-two chapters have no specific chapter titles, but ten do have titles, and these are all identical to those of the corresponding chapters in the Twenty-Five Thousand. However, two chapters that have titles in the Twenty-Five Thousand (26 and 27) do not have titles in the Hundred Thousand.49
Apart from these relatively minor structural discrepancies, the most striking differences between the three long sūtras are, of course, in length. This is almost entirely due not to any thematic differences—even fine-grained ones—but to the different degree to which each doctrinal statement is unpacked. In all three texts the Buddha, or one of his interlocutors, makes statements about groups of phenomena (dharmas) that may be constituents of the deluded perceptions of beings in saṃsāra, elements of the path, or features of the awakening to which the path leads. Depending on whether each statement is repeated only for a category of such dharmas, for subgroups of dharmas within that category, or in full for each individual dharma in every group, the three sūtras are characterized, respectively, by relatively small, somewhat larger, or extremely large numbers of repetitions. The substance of the statements themselves, and their order, are the same in all three texts.
The majority of Indian Prajñāpāramitā commentaries are concerned either with interpreting the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras in the light of Asaṅga-Maitreya’s Abhisamayālaṃkāra, or with explaining that somewhat cryptic and condensed treatise itself. Indeed, the six “mother” sūtras are so called because they all contain all eight main topics, or abhisamayas (“clear realizations”), forming the principal structure of the treatise, that important and influential key to the Prajñāpāramitā texts that, at some point after it first appeared in the fourth century, came to dominate their study.
The version of the long sūtras closest to the original but hypothetical sūtra explained to Asaṅga by Maitreya is probably the Twenty-Five Thousand, but (as pointed out above) in the fourth century the long sūtras had probably not yet crystallized into the stable, length-denominated versions we have inherited today. Commentaries based on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra at first focused on the Twenty-Five Thousand, even though the close correspondence of the Hundred Thousand to the Twenty-Five Thousand means that the insights of those commentaries could also, mostly,50 be applied to the Hundred Thousand.
Nevertheless, a commentary eventually was written that focused on applying the Abhisamayālaṃkāra to the Hundred Thousand as well as to the other two long sūtras. It is The Teaching on the Eight Clear Realizations as the Common Meaning of the Sūtras in One Hundred Thousand Lines, Twenty-Five Thousand Lines, and Eight Thousand Lines (Prajñāpāramitāmātṛkāśatasāhasrikābṛhacchāsanapañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāmadhyaśāsanāṣṭādaśasāhasrikālaghuśāsanāṣṭasamānārthaśāsana, Toh 3789), attributed to the eleventh-century scholar Smṛtijñānakīrti, who spent the last part of his life in Tibet.51 This commentary, however, is not held in high regard, has not been much used, and may possibly not even be Smṛtijñānakīrti’s work.
Later, another commentary was written that focused entirely on interpreting the Hundred Thousand in terms of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. It is An Explanation of The One Hundred Thousand Lines (stong phrag brgya pa’i rnam par bshad pa, Toh 3802), attributed to the Kashmiri scholar Dharmaśrī, who was invited to Western Tibet by the tenth-century king Lha Lama Yeshe Ö. However, this commentary, too, may be incorrectly attributed and is also not well considered.
While the meaning, structure, and many other details of the Hundred Thousand can of course be elucidated through study of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra and its general commentaries, the unreliable status of these two particular commentarial works has made them an unsuitable way of using the Abhisamayālaṃkāra as the key to this particular, longest version of all of the sūtras.
A quite different approach to the study of the Hundred Thousand is taken by the two commentaries known under a variety of titles and monikers, including the “long explanations” (bṛhaṭṭīkā, rgya cher bshad pa) and “destroyers of harm” (gnod ’joms).52 Neither makes reference to the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.
The first of the two, probably written earlier, comments on and explains all three of the long sūtras, while the second concentrates only on the Hundred Thousand.
The first is The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines (Toh 3808), attributed variously to Vasubandhu (fourth century) and Daṃṣṭrāsena (late eighth or early ninth century).53
The second is The Long Commentary on The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines (Toh 3807), also often attributed to Daṃṣṭrāsena but without certainty. It was possibly written in Tibet, and may be the commentary on the Hundred Thousand referred to in some early inventories as written by (or under the supervision of) Tri Songdetsen.54
Both these commentaries divide the sūtra into its main divisions by means of two structural principles: the “three approaches” or “gateways” (sgo gsum), and the “eleven discourses” or “formulations” (rnam grangs bcu gcig). More will be said about these below. But as well as providing these helpful structural principles, both commentaries explain the meaning and importance of each text passage by passage in considerable detail, and in ways that are relatively easy to understand compared with the more opaque explanations based on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.
Although there was an early translation of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, from what little we can surmise it seems that in the early, imperial period the study of the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras was mainly influenced by the Bṛhaṭṭīkā approach. The full impact of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra came later through the Kadampa masters in the lineage of Atiśa and Rinchen Zangpo, and particularly after the founding of the monastery of Sangpu Ne’utok (gsang phu ne’u thog) with Ngok Loden Sherab’s new translation of the text in the eleventh century. The two main traditions of Prajñāpāramitā studies were founded by Ngok’s two main disciples. One started with Dré Sherab Bar (’bre shes rab ’bar) and passed through Ar Changchub Yeshé (ar byang chub ye shes), Butön, Rinchen Namgyal (rin chen rnam rgyal), and Yaktön Sangyé Pal (g.yag bston sangs rgyas dpal) to the great commentator and scholar Rongtönpa. The other started with Drolungpa Lodrö Jungné (gro lung pa blo gros ’byung gnas) and passed through Chapa Chökyi Sengé (phya pa chos kyi seng ge).55
The Abhisamayālaṃkāra has remained the central pillar of Prajñāpāramitā scholasticism in Tibet, and of the many commentaries and treatises written on the literature by scholars from both these lineages and their successors down to the present day, the large majority focused on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. Even when one of the sūtras provided the focus of such works, it was almost always either the Twenty-Five Thousand or the Eight Thousand.
There are nevertheless three notable commentaries centered on the Hundred Thousand: one by Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan) in the fourteenth century;56 the one (mentioned above) by Rongtönpa in the fifteenth century; and one by Karma Chakmé (kar ma chags med) in the seventeenth century.
Few Western scholars have explored the Prajñāpāramitā literature. The Russian scholar Eugène Obermiller (1901–35) was one of the first to edit and translate Sanskrit and Tibetan Prajñāpāramitā texts, but had a tragically short life beset by a severe handicap.
The great pioneer of the Prajñāpāramitā literature in the West was the Anglo-German scholar Edward Conze (1904–79), and he has been the only translator (until now) courageous enough to tackle the sheer immensity of this sūtra, from the Sanskrit of which—partly, as he used as his sources the two other long sūtras, too—he produced The Large Sūtra on Perfect Wisdom in 1975. Rather than a full translation, it is a one-volume abridgement of the content of the three long sūtras, structured using the more numerous chapter breaks and titles of the Eighteen Thousand, and arranged (indeed sometimes rearranged) according to the divisions and subdivisions drawn from the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, which are found as headings and subheadings throughout the translation.
Conze had forthright views on most topics, and his perspective on the Prajñāpāramitā literature was one that overwhelmingly emphasized the doctrinal content over its literary qualities. In his preface to another of his translations, that of the Eight Thousand, he says:
“A literal, word by word translation of the Prajñāpāramitā is tiresome to read, and practically unintelligible to anyone who does not have the Sanskrit original before him. If ever there was a case where the letter kills the spirit, it is here. The Sūtra itself was meant to be memorized, the translation is meant to be read. Lengthy repetitions, stereotyped phrases, and the piling up of synonyms were of great assistance to memory, but they irritate and distract the modern reader, and obscure from him the meaning of the text.”
Whether one agrees with this view or not, the result is that his combined translation of the long sūtras forms a useful and practical guide to the content of these works, yet is far from representing in English the full range of qualities that are to be found in the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts themselves.
The outstanding work of the late Stefano Zacchetti, mainly from Chinese and Sanskrit sources, certainly deserves mention. A recent set of volumes by Karl Brunnhölzl has also been a welcome addition to the available material in English, providing a wealth of detailed information and translated commentaries, mostly centered on works related to the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. Our own translator Gareth Sparham, a decade before embarking on his recent work for 84000 on the sūtras themselves, published an important four-volume translation of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra with the commentaries of Haribhadra and Vimuktisena.
The sūtra opens with the setting of the context for the Buddha’s teaching of the Prajñāpāramitā. He is on Vulture Peak near Rājagṛha, surrounded by a gathering of arhat monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, and countless bodhisattvas, of whom thirty-seven are named at this point. After a sequence of meditative stabilities and miraculous displays in which he emanates lights that allay the sufferings of beings in world systems throughout the trichiliocosm and make visible the buddhas teaching in the buddhafields in the ten directions, buddhas and bodhisattvas in each of those buddhafields become aware that a teaching is about to take place, and amid further miraculous displays the bodhisattvas arrive in this world with their offerings to attend the teachings. The main subject matter, the teachings that the Buddha then gives, unfolds as the rest of the text from the beginning of the second chapter.
At a first reading and without exegetical guidance, the sūtra’s very extensive presentation of its subject matter may seem somewhat disorganized and unstructured. There are nevertheless several much-studied ways of understanding how the teaching can be classified into different sections and topics. What follows is an extremely abbreviated outline of three such ways among those mentioned in the commentaries: the “three approaches” (or “gateways”); the “eleven discourses”; and the Abhisamayālaṃkāra’s eight principal topics or “clear realizations” and their seventy subtopics.
The three approaches (sgo gsum) are the brief, intermediate, and detailed teachings, destined respectively for those whose faculties allow them to understand terse, middling, or extensive explanations:57
(1) The brief teaching comes at the start of chapter 2, and consists only of the Buddha’s statement:
“Here, Śāradvatīputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all phenomena in all their aspects should persevere in the perfection of wisdom.” (2.1)
(2) The intermediate teaching follows immediately and continues through the discussions between Śāriputra, Subhūti, and the Buddha to the end of chapter 13. The Buddha responds to Śāriputra’s question about what the brief teaching means in terms of the four topics into which it can be subdivided: what a bodhisattva great being is, what it is to fully awaken to all phenomena in all their aspects, what persevering means, and what the perfection of wisdom is. Four practices are taught (armor-like, engagement, accumulation, and deliverance), and then, in some detail, eight aspects related to the “persevering.” The last of these eight is a discussion, starting with chapter 8, that arrives at an authoritative conclusion, including twenty-eight or twenty-nine questions, further dialogue between Subhūti and Śāriputra, and in chapters 11, 12, and 13 a long discussion of the Great Vehicle, its attributes, and its results. This entire intermediate teaching is sometimes referred to as “the chapter of Subhūti,” which is also the chapter title that the Twenty-Five Thousand gives to the last chapter in this section, the thirteenth. That chapter title may be intended to cover the entire group of chapters 3 through 12, too, though note that a chapter title is missing from chapter 13 in the Hundred Thousand. The intermediate teaching corresponds to the first chapter of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines,58 is centered on all-aspect omniscience, and by teaching nonconceptual perfection of wisdom focuses on ultimate truth.
(3) The detailed teaching is covered by most of the rest of the text, from chapter 14 to the end of chapter 71. It contains a long series of points to be explained and is divided into two parts: (a) The first part begins with the questions put to Subhūti by Śakra, lord of the gods. The first ten of its chapters, 14 through 23, in which Śakra figures prominently, are probably intended to be covered by the title “Śakra” given in the chapter colophon of chapter 23, and among many important points they explain are how a bodhisattva’s knowledge encompasses that of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and the benefits, protections, and vast merit conferred by appreciating, honoring, and knowing the perfection of wisdom. Subsequent chapters cover a range of topics, from the dedication of merit, in chapter 24, up to how a bodhisattva’s progress to awakening becomes irreversible, in chapter 40. (b) The second part comprises the discussions prompted by Subhūti’s two hundred and seventy-seven questions, which start in chapter 41 and end in chapter 71. It is centered on knowledge of the paths, and in teaching both conceptual and nonconceptual perfection of wisdom it explains both relative and ultimate truths.
The eleven formulations (rnam grangs bcu gcig) are mentioned in several commentaries detailing the interlocutor concerned, but are not explicitly correlated with particular locations in the texts. Following the mentions in the two bṛhaṭṭīkā commentaries (Toh 3807 and 3808) and Sparham,59 we may speculatively identify some of them in the present text as follows:
(1) to Śāriputra, from the beginning of chapter 2 as far as 2.622;
(2) by Subhūti, the rest of chapter 2 to the end of chapter 13;
(3) to Śakra, chapter 14, but possibly including several subsequent chapters as well;
(4) to Subhūti, difficult to identify;
(5) to Maitreya, the first part of chapter 24;
(6) to Subhūti, perhaps the rest of chapter 24 from 24.47;
(7) to Śakra, perhaps chapter 25 to 25.139;
(8) to Subhūti, perhaps starting in chapter 25 at 25.140, but very likely chapters 41 to 71;
(9) to Maitreya, chapter 72;
(10) to Subhūti, again difficult to identify with any certainty; and
(11) the narrative of Sadāprarudita and Dharmodgata and entrustment of the sūtra to Ānanda, chapters 73 to 76. As noted above, these chapters are not found in the Hundred Thousand, except in the versions found in the Narthang, Lhasa, Namgyal, Hemis, and Shey Kangyurs, where they are appended.
The eight topics and seventy points of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra cannot be mapped with complete precision to the content of the Hundred Thousand. Nevertheless, included in the following list of the eight principal topics and their subdivision into seventy points is an approximate matching of the eight topics themselves to the content of the chapters of this sūtra, based on how the equivalent passages of the Sanskrit text can be identified in the Tibetan of the Kangyur version of the Twenty-Five Thousand (Toh 9).60 The seventy points of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra are more difficult to match with the present text, and indeed many of them are not even mentioned in the sūtra; some, however, can be discerned—not always in the same order as in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.
(1) All-aspect omniscience (sarvākārajñatā, rnam pa thams cad mkhyen pa nyid) is covered in chapters 2 to 13. Its ten topics are (i) setting of the mind on awakening; (ii) the instructions concerning its application within the Great Vehicle; (iii) the four aspects of becoming established on the path of preparation, comprising warmth, peak, acceptance, and supremacy; (iv) the naturally present affinity with the spiritual family, which is the basis for attaining the Great Vehicle; (v) the referents through which the Great Vehicle is attained; (vi) the goals attained through the Great Vehicle; (vii) the armor-like practice; (viii) practice through engagement; (ix) practice through the provisions of merit and wisdom; and (x) practice of definitive deliverance. The reason all-aspect omniscience—which refers to the omniscient, awakened understanding of a fully enlightened buddha—is placed as the first of the eight clear realizations is that bodhisattvas must understand it before practicing it, and as the fruitional body taught in detail in the last part of the sūtra, this all-aspect omniscience is the very goal or object of bodhicitta, the mind set on full awakening. To practice the perfection of wisdom one must aim at the fullest awakening of buddhahood and not any of the lesser degrees of realization, such as those of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.
(2) Knowledge of the aspects of the path (mārgajñatā, lam gyi rnam pa shes pa nyid) is covered in chapters 14 to 27. This refers to the understanding, progressively developed by bodhisattvas, of the paths to be followed by all types of beings. This therefore includes the paths of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas as well as the various levels and aspects of the path that is followed by bodhisattvas on the Great Vehicle itself. Its eleven topics are (i) essential aspects for understanding the path; (ii) knowledge of the aspects of the path which is that of the śrāvakas; (iii) knowledge of the aspects of the path which is that of the pratyekabuddhas; (iv) the beneficial path of insight, which accords with the Great Vehicle; (v) the functions of the path of cultivation; (vi) the aspirational path of cultivation; (vii) the path of cultivation resulting in eulogy, exhortation, and praise; (viii) the path of cultivation resulting in dedication; (ix) the path of cultivation resulting in sympathetic rejoicing; (x) the path of cultivation resulting in attainment; and (xi) the path of meditation resulting in purity.
(3) Knowledge of all the dharmas (sarvajñatā, thams cad shes pa nyid) is covered in chapter 28. The point established and emphasized in this section—although it is also a key theme throughout the perfection of wisdom sūtras—is that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas (in particular, but also bodhisattvas in training), in order to overcome ordinary, deluded perceptions, make use of powerful notions including the identification of all the dharmas of defilement and purification that they discern as such. However, these are themselves all constructs and notions that, from the perspective of the perfection of wisdom, can represent a range of attachments, from gross to very subtle. Its nine topics are (i) the basic understanding that wisdom leads to not remaining in cyclic existence; (ii) the basic understanding that compassion leads to not remaining in nirvāṇa; (iii) the basic understanding that lack of skillful means leads to distance from the perfection of wisdom; (iv) the basic understanding that skillful means lead to proximity to it; (v) the basic understanding of the discordant factors associated with the fixation of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas; (vi) the remedial factors countering those fixations; (vii) training in the aforementioned basic understandings; (viii) training in the sameness of those basic understandings; and (ix) the path of insight which integrates these basic understandings.
(4) Clear realization of all aspects (sarvākārābhisambodha, rnam kun mngon rdzogs rtogs pa) is covered in chapters 29 to 44. Its eleven topics are (i) the aspects of the three kinds of knowledge (1–3 above); (ii) training in those aspects; (iii) the qualities acquired through those trainings; (iv) the defects to be eliminated during training; (v) the defining characteristics of training; (vii) the path of accumulations in accord with liberation; (vii) the path of preparation in accord with the four degrees of penetration (1.iii above); (viii) the signs of irreversibility in bodhisattva trainees; (ix) training in the sameness of cyclic existence and nirvāṇa; (x) the training associated with the pure realms; and (xi) training in skillful means for the sake of others.
(5) Culminating clear realization (mūrdhābhisamaya, rtse mor phyin pa’i mngon rtogs) is covered in chapters 45 through to the first few paragraphs of chapter 60. Its eight topics are (i) the culminating training of warmth on the path of preparation; (ii) the culminating training in the peak on the path of preparation; (iii) the culminating training in acceptance on the path of preparation; (iv) the culminating training in supremacy on the path of preparation; (v) the culminating training on the path of insight; (vi) the culminating training on the path of cultivation; (vii) the culminating uninterrupted training on the path of cultivation, comprising the vajra-like meditative stability; and (viii) the mistaken notions that are to be eliminated.
(6) Serial clear realization (ānupūrvābhisamaya, mthar gyis pa’i mngon rtogs) is covered by most of chapter 60, from after the first few paragraphs, through to the first few paragraphs of chapter 61. Its thirteen topics are (i–vi) the serial trainings in the six perfections of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, and wisdom; (vii–xii) the serial training in the six mindfulnesses of the spiritual teacher, the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, ethical discipline, and generosity; and (xiii) the serial training in the realization that phenomena are without essential nature.
[V14][F.1.b]Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, with a large monastic gathering comprising some five thousand monks. All of them were arhats who had attained the cessation of contaminants, free of afflicted mental states, fully controlled, their minds thoroughly liberated, their wisdom well liberated, thoroughbreds, mighty elephants, their tasks accomplished, their work completed, their burdens relinquished, their own objectives fulfilled, the fetters binding them to the rebirth process completely severed, their minds thoroughly liberated through perfect instruction,76 supreme in their perfection of all mental powers, with the exception of just one person—the venerable Ānanda, a trainee who had entered the stream. Also present were some five hundred nuns—Yaśodharā and Mahāprajāpatī and so on—[F.2.a] and a great many laymen and laywomen, all of whom had seen the Dharma.
There, too, were innumerable, countless bodhisattva great beings, all of whom had attained the dhāraṇīs and attained the meditative stabilities, acting in accord with emptiness, their perceptual range being one of signlessness, their aspirations free from deliberation. They had attained forbearance for the sameness of all phenomena, possessed inspired eloquence that was unimpeded, had comprehended the inexhaustible teachings according to their exact knowledge, and used miraculous displays through their great extrasensory powers.77 With their extrasensory powers never failing, and with engaging speech, without indolence but with perseverance, without regard for their bodies or their lives, their conduct unpretentious,78 without fawning, and without thoughts of ulterior fame, profit, or respect, free from self-interest they taught the Dharma. They had realized and integrated the sublime acceptance of the profound dharmas,79 had acquired the great fearlessnesses, were without discouragement, and they had gone completely beyond all the works of Māra. Having interrupted the continuity of karmic obscurations, they had overcome karma, the afflicted mental states, and hostile forces,80 and in the face of all challenges had remained undefeated. They were difficult for all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas to understand,81 and through their realization were skilled in analyzing and teaching the Dharma. They had energetically applied themselves to their aspirations over countless eons. Smiling and speaking first in welcome, their faces without frowns of anger,[F.2.b] with their sweet, gentle words they were skilled in addressing others in melodic verse. As their inspired eloquence flowed uninterrupted, they possessed the fearlessness that overwhelmed endless assemblies. They were skilled in emancipation by means of the transcendental knowledge from having taught for endless tens of millions of eons.82 They had comprehended that all phenomena are like an illusion, a mirage, a reflection of the moon in water, a dream, an echo, an optical aberration, empty space, a castle in the sky, a reflection,83 and a magical display. Without discouragement, they were skilled in comprehending the mental attitudes, subtle knowledge,84 conduct, and interests of all beings. Their attitude toward all beings was free of any animosity, and their tolerance was immense. They were skilled in the transcendental knowledge that brings the sameness of all phenomena to be understood, and because they were possessed of profound reality their depth was hard to estimate. They had fully attained power over their own minds, and they had entirely attained power over all phenomena. They were liberated from all karma, afflicted mental states, and obscurations of view. They were skilled in teaching in dependence on the audience,85 and had engaged in all the inexhaustible modes of dependent origination, were free from all views, latent impulses, and obsessions, and had abandoned all fetters. They were skilled in bringing peace from all actions and afflicted mental states,86 skilled in the transcendental knowledge that brings realization of the truth, constantly and uninterruptedly considering all phenomena to resemble an echo, fearless in their measureless teachings of the ways of the Dharma,87 and skilled in bringing forth comprehension of the true nature itself.88 Their progress was governed by their aspirational vow to establish infinite buddhafields. Constantly and uninterruptedly they actualized the meditative stability of recollecting the buddhas[F.3.a] who reside in countless world systems; they were skilled in going everywhere buddhas arise89 and skilled in requesting an inestimable number of buddhas to teach.90 They were skilled in bringing about peace from the afflicted mental states that are generated through the diverse false views of beings, and skilled in bringing forth realization of the transcendental knowledge that revels in the miraculous production of a hundred thousand meditative stabilities.91 Every one of them had qualities of which a full description would be incomplete even if infinite eons were spent on it.
Among them were the following: the bodhisattva great being Bhadrapāla, the bodhisattva great being Ratnākara, the bodhisattva great being Ratnagarbha, the bodhisattva great being Ratnadatta, the bodhisattva great being Susārthavāha,92 the bodhisattva great being Naradatta, the bodhisattva great being Guhagupta, the bodhisattva great being Varuṇadeva, the bodhisattva great being Indradatta, the bodhisattva great being Bhadrabala,93 the bodhisattva great being Uttaramati,94 the bodhisattva great being Viśeṣamati, the bodhisattva great being Vardhamānamati, the bodhisattva great being Anantamati, the bodhisattva great being Amoghadarśin, the bodhisattva great being Anāvaraṇamati, the bodhisattva great being Susaṃprasthita, the bodhisattva great being Suvikrāntavikrāmin,95 the bodhisattva great being Anantavīrya, the bodhisattva great being Nityodyukta,[F.3.b] the bodhisattva great being Nityaprayukta, the bodhisattva great being Anikṣiptadhura, the bodhisattva great being Sūryagarbha, the bodhisattva great being Candragarbha, the bodhisattva great being Anupamamati,96 the bodhisattva great being Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva great being Mahāsthāmaprāpta, the bodhisattva great being Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta, the bodhisattva great being Mārabalapramardin, the bodhisattva great being Vajramati, the bodhisattva great being Ratnamudrāhasta, the bodhisattva great being Nityotkṣiptahasta, the bodhisattva great being Mahākaruṇācintin, the bodhisattva great being Mahāvyūha, the bodhisattva great being Vyūharāja,97 the bodhisattva great being Merukūṭa, the bodhisattva great being Maitreya, and many hundreds of thousands of one hundred million billion others as well.
At that time, the Blessed One himself arranged his seat, the lion throne, and sat upright with his legs crossed, directing his mindfulness.98 Seated there, he was absorbed in the meditative stability called king of meditative stabilities, in which all meditative stabilities are gathered, comprehended, pursued, and subsumed.
The Blessed One, mindful and with full awareness,[F.4.a] then arose from that meditative stability and observed this buddhafield with divine clairvoyance.99 Seeing in this manner, he sent out light from his entire body. Sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of the two thousand-spoked wheels that were imprinted on the soles of his feet. Sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of the ten toes of his two feet. Sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two ankles, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two shins, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two knees, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two thighs, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two hips, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from his navel, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of the two sides of his ribs, and sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from the śrīvatsa at his heart, which is one of the major marks of a great person. Sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light also issued from each of his ten fingers, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two arms, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two shoulders, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from his neck, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his four incisors, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his forty teeth, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two eyes, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two ears, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued[F.4.b] from each of his two nostrils, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from the hair ringlet between his eyebrows, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from his uṣṇīṣa, and sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from his mouth.
All of those sets of sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light permeated all the world systems in the great billionfold world system with a great brightness. The world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. All the beings who beheld the light and who were touched by that light became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.
Then again, the Blessed One caused light rays to be diffused from all his pores,[F.5.a] and that light again permeated this great billionfold world system with a great brightness. The world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. All the beings who beheld that light and who were touched by that light became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.
Then again, with the natural light of the tathāgatas the Blessed One caused this great billionfold world system to be permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the northern direction,[F.5.b] numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. All the beings who beheld that light and who were touched by that light became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.
Then the Blessed One extended his tongue from his mouth. Covering this entire great billionfold world system with his tongue, he smiled, and from his tongue issued forth many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of variegated rays of light. On all those rays of light, in their entirety, appeared manifold lotus flowers, fashioned of diverse gemstones, shining like gold, with a thousand petals, diverse, beautiful to behold, captivating, brilliant, scented, soft, and blissful to the touch like kācalindika. On these lotuses, furthermore, were seated many embodied tathāgatas, and the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there[F.6.a] the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. And they departed for the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand[F.6.b] of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. All the beings who heard those teachings became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.
Then, while seated on the lion throne, the Blessed One became absorbed in the meditative stability of the buddhas called the lion’s play and manifested his miraculous abilities. By manifesting those miraculous abilities, he caused this great billionfold world system to shake in six ways. That is to say, it shook, shuddered, and juddered;101 it rocked, reeled, and tottered; it quivered, careened, and convulsed; it trembled, throbbed, and quaked; it rumbled, roared, and thundered; and it faltered, lurched, and staggered. As its eastern sides reared up its western sides plunged down; as its western sides reared up its eastern sides plunged down; as its southern sides reared up its northern sides plunged down; as its northern sides reared up its southern sides plunged down; as its edges reared up its centers plunged down; and as its centers reared up its edges plunged down. Then, slowly and gradually, it settled down,102 producing benefit and happiness for all beings.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in this great billionfold world system, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations,103 as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives,[F.7.a] they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for where there were blessed ones, and on arriving there paid homage to the blessed ones.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided,[F.7.b] and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats,[F.8.a] perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease[F.8.b] departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives.[F.9.a] Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there[F.9.b] were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time, in this great billionfold world system, the beings who were blind, as many as there were, saw sights with their eyes. The deaf heard sounds with their ears. The insane came to their senses. Those who were agitated attained a state of mind without agitation. Those without clothing obtained clothing. The poor obtained wealth. The hungry obtained food. The thirsty obtained drink. Those struck with illness were healed. Those with physical disabilities and with imperfect sense faculties were restored to full perfection of the body and sense faculties, and flourished. The weary were refreshed. Those who had not forsaken nonvirtuous deeds of body, speech, and mind, or nonvirtuous livelihoods, gave up their nonvirtuous deeds of body, speech, and mind, and nonvirtuous livelihoods. All beings too became even-minded toward all other beings, considering one another as just like their father, mother, brother, sister, partner, close relative, or friend. All beings too acquired the path of the ten virtuous actions, and they maintained the practice of chastity[F.10.a] and purity, without the stench of immorality and without the notion of nonvirtue. At that time all beings possessed happiness such that it resembled, by comparison, the happiness experienced by monks absorbed in the third meditative concentration. They possessed all such happiness. At that time all beings possessed wisdom such that they knew, “Excellent is generosity! Excellent is discipline! Excellent is restraint! Excellent is truth! Excellent is carefulness! Excellent is loving kindness! Excellent is compassion! Excellent is nonviolence with respect to all living creatures!” And at that time the blessed buddhas in other buddhafields cried out cries of delight: “Ah! It is wonderful that these beings are possessed of wisdom such that they know, ‘Excellent is generosity! Excellent is discipline! Excellent is peace! Excellent is restraint! Excellent is truth! Excellent is carefulness! Excellent is loving kindness! Excellent is compassion! Excellent is the practice of chastity! Excellent is nonviolence with respect to all living creatures!’ ”104
At that time the Blessed One, seated on this very lion throne, resembled, as an analogy, the unobscured sun in the clear expanse of space, or the disk of the full moon. He outshone the great billionfold world system with its Sumerus and encircling mountain ranges, with its god realms, with its Indra realms, with its Vaśavartin realms, with its classes of gods and asuras, with its Brahmās, and with its Śuddhāvāsas. He was adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. And while the Blessed One remained seated, outshining this great billionfold world system,[F.10.b] being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining, he similarly outshone the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory,[F.11.a] sparkling, gleaming, and shining. And similarly, he outshone the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining.
To illustrate, just as Sumeru, king of mountains, stands outshining all other dark mountains, adorned, sparkling, gleaming, and shining; just as, to illustrate, the disk of the moon stands outshining all the stars, adorned, sparkling, gleaming, and shining; and just as, to illustrate, the disk of the sun stands outshining all other lights, adorned, sparkling, gleaming, and shining, so too the Blessed One stood outshining the worlds of the ten directions with their gods, Indras, Brahmās, and Śuddhāvāsa realms, adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining.
Then again, the Blessed One showed, in this great billionfold world system, his original body, just as it is.105 All the gods, as many as there are, of the Śuddhāvāsas, the Ābhāsvara106 and Brahmakāyika, and the Paranirmitavaśavartin, Nirmāṇarati, Tuṣita, Yāma, Trayastriṃśa, and Cāturmahārājika realms saw the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha seated on the lion throne. They were pleased. They were delighted. They were contented and overjoyed, giving rise to such delight and contentment that they took many divine flowers, divine garlands, divine incenses,[F.11.b] divine unguents, divine powders, and divine perfumes; divine blue lotuses, day lotuses, red lotuses, white lotuses, water lilies, and saugandhaka lilies; divine kesara flowers and tamāla leaves; divine robes, divine ornaments, divine parasols, divine victory banners, and divine flags, and set out for the place where the Blessed One was seated. Going there, they sprinkled, scattered, and showered down upon107 the Blessed One those flowers, garlands, incenses, unguents, powders, and perfumes; blue lotuses, day lotuses, red lotuses, white lotuses, water lilies, and saugandhaka lilies; kesara flowers and tamāla leaves; robes, ornaments, divine parasols, victory banners, and flags of the gods. Those human beings who were disciplined and suitable recipients of the teachings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, also brought manifold flowers, ones that grow in water and grow on the plains, and they set out for the place where the Blessed One was seated. Going there, they offered these to the Blessed One.
Through the sustaining power of the Blessed One, all those flowers, garlands, incenses, unguents, powders, and so on, and the robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags immediately formed a towering mansion of flowers and so on, as large as the great billionfold world system, in the sky above the head of the Blessed One. From that towering mansion, many tassels made of divine flowers and silk were suspended, draped, and floated in the air.108 This whole great billionfold world system[F.12.a] was exquisitely adorned by these tassels made of flowers and silk, and it was exquisitely adorned, too, by the golden light of the Blessed One, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. And just like this great billionfold world system, so too the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. And the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One.[F.12.b]
There, the human beings of the Jambudvīpas, beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
And just as the human beings of the Jambudvīpas had that thought, in the same manner, the human beings of the Godānīyas in the west, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The human beings of the Videhas in the east, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The human beings of the Kurus in the north, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Cāturmahārājika realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Trayastriṃśa realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Yāma realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Tuṣita realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking,[F.13.a] “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Nirmāṇarati realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Paranirmitavaśavartin realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Brahmakāyika realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Brahmapurohita realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Brahmapārṣadya realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Mahābrahmā realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Ābha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Parīttābha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata,[F.13.b] looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Apramāṇābha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Ābhāsvara realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Śubha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Parīttaśubha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Apramāṇaśubha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Śubhakṛtsna realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Vṛhat109 realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Parīttavṛha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably,[F.14.a] thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Apramāṇavṛha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Vṛhatphala realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Avṛha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Atapa realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Sudṛśa realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Sudarśana realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Akaniṣṭha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”[F.14.b]
Similarly, all the human beings and all the gods in the thousandfold world system, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” All the human beings and all the gods in the millionfold world system, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” All the human beings and all the gods in the great billionfold world system, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
Then again, while seated on that lion throne, the Blessed One sent forth light, and again that light illuminated this great billionfold world system. It also illuminated the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction,[F.15.a] numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. And it also illuminated the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld[F.15.b] in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni,[F.16.a] residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One,[F.16.b] the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems in the direction the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One,[F.17.a] the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the eastern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Ratnavatī.[F.17.b] There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Ratnākara resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Samantaraśmi who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the western direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi[F.18.a] said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes110 who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Ratnākara, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, gave the bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”111
Then the bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi received from the Blessed One,[F.18.b] the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the eastern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he set out for the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”[F.19.a]
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the southern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Sarvaśokāpagata. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Aśokaśrī resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Vigataśoka who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth,[F.19.b] and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the northern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him,[F.20.a] and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Aśokaśrī, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, gave the bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping[F.20.b] all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the southern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he set out for the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine[F.21.a] that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the western direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Upaśāntā. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Ratnārcis resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Cāritramati who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”[F.21.b]
The bodhisattva great being Cāritramati having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the eastern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Cāritramati said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Ratnārcis, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, gave the bodhisattva great being Cāritramati a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family,[F.22.a] strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Cāritramati received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the eastern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he arrived at the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Cāritramati then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat,[F.22.b] perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the northern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Jayā. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called[F.23.a] Jayendra resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Jayadatta who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Jayadatta having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra,[F.23.b] replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the southern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Jayadatta said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Jayendra, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, gave the bodhisattva great being Jayadatta a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Jayadatta received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many[F.24.a] hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the northern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he arrived at the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Jayadatta then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where[F.24.b] the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the intermediate northeastern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Samādhyalaṅkṛta. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Samādhihastyuttaraśrī resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Vijayavikrāmin who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat,[F.25.a] perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the intermediate southwestern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all[F.25.b] the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, gave the bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the intermediate northeastern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders,[F.26.a] robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he arrived at the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma[F.26.b] also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the intermediate southeastern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Bodhimaṇḍalālaṃkārasurucitā. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Padmottaraśrī resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Padmahasta who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Padmahasta having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, completely perfect[F.27.a] Buddha Padmottaraśrī, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the intermediate northwestern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Padmahasta said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Padmottaraśrī, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, gave the bodhisattva great being Padmahasta a thousand lotus flowers,[F.27.b] made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Padmahasta received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the northern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he arrived at the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side,[F.28.a] the bodhisattva great being Padmahasta then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into all the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni,[F.28.b] through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the intermediate southwestern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Vigatarajaḥsañcayā. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Sūryaprabhāsa who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Sūryaprabhāsa having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the intermediate northeastern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata,[F.29.a] arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Sūryaprabhāsa said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines is the longest of all the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras and fills no fewer than twelve volumes of the Degé Kangyur. Like the other two long sūtras, it is a detailed record of the teaching on the perfection of wisdom that the Buddha Śākyamuni gave on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, setting out all aspects of the path to enlightenment that bodhisattvas must know and put into practice, yet without taking them as having even the slightest true existence. Each point is emphasized by the exhaustive way that, in this version of the teaching, the Buddha repeats each of his many profound statements for every one of the items in the sets of dharmas that comprise deluded experience, the path, and the qualities of enlightenment.
The provisional version published here currently contains the first twenty-eight of the seventy-two chapters of the sūtra, and represents a little under eight of the twelve volumes. Subsequent batches of chapters will be added as their translation and editing is completed.
The text was translated by Gareth Sparham, partly based on the translation of The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines by the late Gyurme Dorje and the Padmakara Translation Group. Geshe Lobsang Gyaltsen, 80th Abbot of Drepung Gomang monastery, and Geshe Kalsang Damdul, former Director of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, kindly provided learned advice.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Nathaniel Rich and John Canti edited the translation. John Canti wrote the provisional introduction and Nathaniel Rich edited it. Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text. Celso Wilkinson, André Rodrigues, and Sameer Dhingra were in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of those who offered leadership gifts to inaugurate our campaign, The Perfection of Wisdom for All. In chronological order of contributions received, these include:
Yan Xiu, Yan Li, Li Yifeng, and Wang Issa; Thirty, Twenty, Jamyang Sun, and Manju Sun; Anonymous; Ye Kong and family, Chen Hua, and Yizhen Kong; Wang Jing and family; Joseph Tse, Patricia Tse, and family; Zhou Tianyu, Chen Yiqin, Zhou Xun, Zhuo Yue, Chen Kun, Sheng Ye, and family, Zhao Xuan, Huang Feng, Lei Xia, Kamay Kan, Huang Xuan, Liu Xin Qi, Le Fei, Li Cui Zhi, Wang Shu Chang, Li Su Fang, Feng Bo Wen, Wang Zi Wen, Ye Wei Wei, Guo Wan Huai, and Zhang Nan; Ang Wei Khai and Ang Chui Jin; Jube, Sharma, Leo, Tong, Mike, Ming, Caiping, Lekka, Shanti, Nian Zu, Zi Yi, Dorje, Guang Zu, Kunga, and Zi Chao; Anonymous, Anonymous; An Zhang, Hannah Zhang, Lucas Zhang, and Aiden Zhang; Jinglan Chi and family; Anonymous; Dakki; Kelvin Lee and Doris Lim.
We also acknowledge and express our deep gratitude to the 6,145 donors who supported the translation and publication of this text through contributions made throughout the campaign period.
The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines is the longest of the three so-called “long” Perfection of Wisdom, or Prajñāpāramitā, sūtras.1 Indeed, not only is it the very longest of all Buddhist texts, but it is among the longest single works of literature in any language or culture. In the Degé Kangyur it fills twelve volumes, and comprises fourteen percent of the whole collection by number of pages.
With an evident similarity in structure, order, and content to the other two long Prajñāpāramitā sūtras (in twenty-five thousand and eighteen thousand lines), it is a detailed record—in fact the most detailed extant record—of what is traditionally said to have been a single teaching2 on the perfection of wisdom that the Buddha Śākyamuni gave on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, setting out all aspects of the path to enlightenment that bodhisattvas must know and put into practice, yet without taking them as having even the slightest true existence.
Traditional histories include all six “mother” versions of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras3 among the complete records of this single episode of teaching, and some even enumerate still longer versions not propagated in the human realm, such as a sūtra for the gods in ten million lines, and one for the gandharvas in one billion lines. Indeed, the present sūtra in one hundred thousand lines is itself said to have been retrieved from the nāga realm by Nāgārjuna.4
The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines therefore has a unique status among scriptures in the Tibetan canon. Its vast length, and its many extended sequences of repeated formulations modulated by changes to a single term alone, make it difficult to study as a doctrinal textbook, but it is revered as the fullest possible expression of the Buddha’s definitive teachings on the nature of phenomena, the path, and the awakened state. To read it, recite it aloud, or even to be in the physical presence of its volumes is seen as having a powerful force and blessing.
Yet its importance is more than just symbolic. Although the shorter forms of the Perfection of Wisdom teachings are—relatively, at least—easier to study, The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines remains the scripture that most fully embodies the Buddha’s pronouncements on this all-important theme, and the uncompromising detail of its statements makes their meaning unmistakably clear.
The sūtra exists in the three principal languages of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan, with the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts being most closely aligned. The Tibetan translation was made in several successive stages in the early, imperial translation period of the late eighth and early ninth century, and traditional histories document in some detail the translators, manuscripts, sponsors, and locations of the early translations.
It is analyzed and explained by Indian scholars in several commentaries that were also translated into Tibetan. Little specific, detailed attention has been paid to it by Western authors, and until now it has not been translated in full into English or any other Western language.
This introduction focuses mostly on the history, source texts, and features of The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines in particular. Readers will find more information and references regarding the Prajñāpāramitā literature in general, its different texts, the long sūtras as a group sharing essentially the same structure and content, their history and evolution, and the protagonists and their doctrinal statements, in the introductions to The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines and The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines,5 as well as in the description of the Degé Kangyur’s Perfection of Wisdom section.6
From a historical perspective, a group of “long Prajñāpāramitā sūtras,” including texts that exist variably in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan, appears to have been one distinctive genre that took form from the early Prakrit literature on the perfection of wisdom that first appeared in writing in the first centuries
The earliest surviving manuscript that can be identified as a “long” (Mahāprajñāpāramitā) version is another birch-bark scroll, this one found along with a large number of other texts in Gilgit in 1931. It is in Sanskrit and can be dated by details of its script to the sixth or seventh century ᴄᴇ.9 Although it was thought at first by Edward Conze10 to be a hybrid consisting of parts of The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines and parts of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines, it is now taken as one among the many coexisting versions of the “long” sūtra series.11 As the most complete of the Gilgit Prajñāpāramitā manuscripts, it is a very important source; the others are incomplete fragments. Another, similar Sanskrit manuscript of a generic “long” version was found in Dunhuang.12
It is important to bear in mind that the naming of the different versions by the number of lines13 they contain is likely to have been a later development, applied as a means of classifying the profusion of circulating texts of different lengths. It was already in use by the time these texts were first translated into Tibetan in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, but it is not a feature of the oldest Chinese translations. The earliest evidence of this nomenclature appears to be in the Chinese literature, in the record of a lecture by the sixth-century translator Bodhiruci,14 and its widespread adoption in the centuries that followed may have served to limit further profusion and even reduce the variety of different texts by fixing their number. Those texts in different languages that can be seen as belonging to the “long” sūtra group (as distinct from the mid-length Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and the many short versions, each of which followed their own evolutionary path), differentiated as they are by greater or lesser degrees of expansion of the lists of dharmas, show complex patterns of textual proximity that do not necessarily follow the numerical denominations that were retrospectively applied to them. Indeed, these numerical titles may obscure rather than clarify the recensional affinities.15
With that important reservation, there are three recensions within the overall group of “long” Perfection of Wisdom sūtras that can nevertheless justifiably be labeled The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines:
a seventh-century Chinese translation;
the present late eighth- or early ninth-century Tibetan translation; and
the version preserved in Sanskrit in the form of several Nepalese manuscripts, none of which are more than a few centuries old.
The Tibetan and Sanskrit recensions are quite similar to each other, while the Chinese differs from both in a number of respects.
The Chinese translation was made by Xuanzang in the mid-seventh century from the massive collection of material he had brought from his travels in India. It takes the form of the first of the sixteen sections or “assemblies” that represent historically independent texts and make up the voluminous compilation of perfection of wisdom works he translated as The Large Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra (Taishō 220).16
Just how the extant Sanskrit and Tibetan versions differ compared to this single comparable Chinese translation has not been fully documented, but the differences are not to be ignored. The Sanskrit original from which Xuanzang translated this section is said to have been 132,600 ślokas in length, and thus possibly even longer than the Sanskrit texts that were translated into Tibetan and have also survived in the Nepalese tradition. Moreover, the sections of Xuanzang’s compilation, despite being explicitly differentiated, are presented together as in some sense comprising a single work, and it is thought that this arrangement was not Xuanzang’s own invention but may have been a feature of his Sanskrit source texts.
Nevertheless, it is practical, and a close approximation, to consider the first section as identifiable with the texts known in Sanskrit and Tibetan as The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines.
The second and third sections of Xuanzang’s Chinese translation correspond in similar respects to the Twenty-Five Thousand Line and Eighteen Thousand Line sūtras as found in both Sanskrit and Tibetan (for the Twenty-Five Thousand Line) and in Tibetan alone (for the Eighteen Thousand Line). It is also significant that the first and second sections, despite their differences in the degree of compression, are strikingly similar to each other in language, content, and order, but less closely related to the third. The same pattern of similarities and differences exists between the Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Line sūtras in Tibetan and (for the first two) Sanskrit.
A final point to be made concerning the Chinese translation is that the relatively late appearance in China of this equivalent of the Hundred Thousand, the longest of the long sūtras, almost five centuries after the first translation of the equivalent of the Eight Thousand and four centuries after the first appearance of the equivalent of the Twenty-Five Thousand, provides supporting evidence for the notion that—for the long sūtras—a process of expansion from shorter to longer versions, rather than contraction from longer to shorter, may provide the better account of their evolution.17
Early Gāndhārī and Sanskrit manuscripts of generic Prajñāpāramitā sūtras are mentioned above (1.9–10). Specifically of this Hundred Thousand Line version of the long sūtras, however, no Sanskrit manuscript has survived that can be dated as early as the Chinese and Tibetan translations. But there are Nepalese Sanskrit manuscripts of more recent date that, from their content, must be closely related to the Sanskrit original from which the Tibetan translation was made. Some of them may even be copied descendants of a Sanskrit manuscript in the temple of Phamthing that Tibetan histories say was consulted by Ngok Loden Sherab in the eleventh century to correct the earlier Tibetan translation (see below).
Nepalese manuscripts of varying dates are presently to be found not only in Nepal but also in Kolkata, Cambridge, New Delhi, Paris, and Tokyo. A critical edition of the first twelve chapters was published in three installments by Ghoṣa between 1902 and 1914, and more recently has been extended by Kimura in four further volumes, published between 2009 and 2014.
The Sanskrit manuscripts of the Hundred Thousand and Twenty-Five Thousand resemble each other closely in terms of language, terminology, content, and order, as is the case with their Tibetan translations, and like them differ mainly in the degree of expansion of the different groups of dharmas. The Sanskrit of the Hundred Thousand matches the Tibetan translation in content closely.18
For anyone interested in how the early Tibetan translations of canonical works in general were carried out, it is a disappointing fact that much of the detailed information about the process was either not recorded or has been lost. However, in the case of The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines—thanks to the unique status of this monumental scripture—traditional historical accounts include far more detail of the successive versions that led to the Tibetan translation preserved in the Kangyurs we have today than is the case for any other work.
A succession of Tibetan translations were made from Sanskrit in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. There are specific terms for these imperial-period manuscript versions of the Hundred Thousand: Labum (bla ’bum) and Lagyur (bla ’gyur), meaning, respectively, a Hundred Thousand (Tibetan ’bum), or a translation (’gyur), that is commissioned or owned by one who is “foremost” or “paramount” (bla), i.e., the emperor.19
As a terse summary in his list of canonical translations, Butön’s fourteenth-century History of the Dharma states that “it is well known that there were six versions attributed to the translators Nyang Khampa Gocha,20 Vairotsana, Che Khyidruk, Zhang Yeshe Dé, and others.”21 Other accounts mention only four versions, while being in broad agreement on the rough outline of how the Tibetan translations evolved over time.
Much fuller details than Butön sets out are provided by other histories, including a historical survey that opens the commentary on this text by the great prajñāpāramitā commentator Rongtönpa (rong ston shes bya kun rig, 1367–1449);22 the lineage records of Minling Terchen Gyurmé Dorjé (smin gling gter chen ’gyur med rdo rje, 1646–1714); a survey of the prajñāpāramitā literature in a commentary to the Heart Sūtra by Alaksha Tendar (a lag sha bstan dar, 1758–1839); and an account in the encyclopedic Treasury of Knowledge by Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé (kong sprul blo gros mtha’ yas, 1813–99).23 The catalog of the Degé Kangyur,24 and particularly the historical section of the detailed Narthang Kangyur catalog, written by the fifth Olkha Lelung Jedrung, Lobsang Trinlé (’ol kha / dga’ sle lung blo bzang ’phrin las, 1697–1740),25 are also very informative. Rongtönpa’s work is the earliest of these histories and most of the others may have drawn from it, or perhaps from other even earlier accounts. The information to be gleaned from these different works is not always consistent, and sometimes conflicting. Here is a tentative synopsis:
• The earliest translation was one made by Khampa Gocha, who had been sent with offerings of gold to India by King Tri Songdetsen26 to bring back the sūtra; his four-part27 translation was called The Translation from Memory (thugs ’gyur) because Khampa Gocha had memorized the text while in India—some accounts say he had attained the dhāraṇī of perfect recall—and only wrote the Tibetan translation when he was back in Tibet. The king, as an offering of merit to the queen who had died, had a copy of that translation written in ink made from his own blood,28 using goat’s milk as a binder; this version was therefore called The Red Manuscript (reg zig dmar po) or The Red Goat Manuscript (ra gzigs dmar po) and also had four parts. In later times it was taken to Lhasa and is said to have been housed in the brick caitya near the Trulnang temple. It is not clear whether the above names and descriptions refer to a single manuscript or to two different ones of the same translation, but in any case this version, abridged and condensed as it is into four volumes, is also called The Short Imperial Translation (bla ’gyur chung ngu).
• Since the king did not have full confidence in The Translation from Memory, he commissioned Nyang Indrawaro and Wé Mañjuśrī to seek out the text in India and translate it. This they did, and their translation was written using ink made from indigo and the king’s singed hair, with goat’s milk binder. This manuscript was therefore called The Blue Manuscript (reg zig sngon po) or The Blue Goat Manuscript (ra gzigs sngon po); it was also called The Authorized Hundred Thousand (bca’ ’bum), and because the translators’ needs were met through a levy collected from the people, it was known as The Levy Hundred Thousand (dpya ’bum) as well. It too is said to have consisted of four parts, and because they were not held together with cloth bands but had iron fasteners it was also called The Iron Fasteners (lcags thur can). It is said to have been kept at Samyé.
• Later, Pagor Vairotsana, at the instigation of Mutik Tsenpo (also known as Senalek), compared the Sanskrit text with the translation in The Iron Fasteners, revised it, and filled out the abridgements of the earlier version by adding the missing repetitions and lengthening some lines. He wrote out a new six-volume manuscript, which was called The Medium-Length Imperial Translation (bla ’gyur ’bring po). According to Rongtönpa, it was also known as The Snowy One Promised by the King (rgyal po’i thugs dam par kha ba can), from the name of (or on) the binding boards, and both Rongtönpa and the Narthang catalog add, too, that it was called The Bats (pha wang can) because there was a bats’ nest near the place in Samyé where it was kept. Kongtrul says that it was still in Samyé Chimphu in his time (i.e., the mid-nineteenth century). Other authors, including Situ Panchen in the Degé catalog and Kongtrul, say that this is the version called The Deerskin Case Hundred Thousand (’bum sha sgro can), and the Narthang catalog explains in some detail how all the fascicles came to be stored as scrolls in a deerskin. However, the Narthang catalog says that the same name was also applied, for similar reasons, to the next revision; this may explain the apparent inconsistencies between authors in regard to this particular moniker.
• Later still, in the reign of Mutik Tsenpo’s son Tri Ralpachen, in the period when a number of Indian scholars were working with Tibetan translators in Tibet on the translation and revision of many texts and the great language revision edicts were drawn up, Surendrabodhi, Kawa Paltsek, Chokro Lui Gyaltsen, and others made an extensive revision of the translation in six parts (according to Rongtönpa) or sixteen (according to the Narthang catalog, Tendar, and Kongtrul), which was called The Long Imperial Translation (bla ’gyur chen mo). Rongtönpa calls this version The Deerskin Case Hundred Thousand (’bum sha sgro can) rather than the preceding one but, as mentioned above, the Narthang catalog explains how both versions were kept in deerskin wrappers and the name can therefore refer to either one or the other.
• At a point in this sequence that remains to be determined and is not mentioned in any of these accounts, but lies probably in the late eighth or early ninth century period, as many as eight copies of the whole text were made by scribes in Dunhuang. They were probably commissioned by or on the behalf of one of the kings (probably Tri Ralpachen). Pages from these copies, as well as rejected pages subsequently used for writing practice, make up a large proportion (along with manuscripts of The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra29) of the manuscripts found in Dunhuang.30
• The Narthang catalog then summarizes the six early manuscripts, and gives them yet more monikers:
“At that time, since to produce a great Mother (i.e., a Hundred Thousand) was possible only for the king and not for his subjects, only these six were made:31
(1) Tri Detsuk’s Monochrome Imperial Hundred Thousand (khri sde gtsug gi bla ’bum skya bo);
(2) Senalek Jingyön’s Innermost Hundred Thousand (mjing yon gyi sbug ’bum);
(3) Lhasé Tsangma’s Demarcated32 Hundred Thousand (gtsang ma’i bye ’bum);
(4) Ralpachen’s Six-Volume Hundred Thousand (ral pa can gyi drug ’bum);
(5) Prince Namdé’s33 Red-Faced Version (gnam lde lha’i zhal dmar can); and
(6) Darma’s Yellow-Paper Version (dar ma’i shog ser can).”34
• At this point in the story there seems to have been a proliferation of further Hundred Thousands produced as copies of one or another of these six, perhaps resulting from a royal prerogative on sponsoring them coming to an end. Rongtönpa provides a detailed list of seventeen named Hundred Thousands and the places they were kept,35 including the earliest ones he had already described, culminating in one made by Chang Dorjé Tsultrim (lcang / cang rdo rje tshul khrims)36 of Ru Tsam (ru ’tshams), who produced the seventeenth from a detailed comparison of the other sixteen. Rongtönpa goes on to classify the seventeen into groups according to the short, medium-length, or long Labum from which they were copied.37 The Narthang catalog has less detail but correspondingly mentions nineteen Hundred Thousands, including those of the subsequent period that could be produced not just by the kings but by subjects. It also points to the importance of the same significant figure, Chang Dorjé Tsultrim, who soon afterward compared all nineteen and made a “highly corrected version.”38 Proliferating from that version, the catalog says, about sixty copies were made, and indeed Rongtönpa proceeds to list a large number of these and their locations to a total of sixty-five.39
• In the later translation period, in the late eleventh century, Ngok Lotsāwa, according to the Degé catalog and others, having consulted the Indian manuscripts to be found in Tibet and the Iron Fasteners translation, revised and corrected the above-mentioned Long Imperial Translation by comparing it against a Sanskrit manuscript in the Phamthing temple in Pharping, Nepal. These catalog accounts also mention that the corrections included the addition of the names of three meditative stabilities that had been missing in earlier versions.40 It is Ngok’s revised translation that, according to most Kangyur catalogs, is preserved in the Kangyur. However, although Rongtönpa places Ngok’s version in fifth and last place among the most significant, major translations,41 it is difficult to be entirely certain where to place it in time relative to the other revisions and simple copies that he also details, mentioned above.42
• The Narthang catalog, indeed, seems to place less importance on Ngok’s revisions and mentions his version only in passing. Rather, it attributes the final establishment of a fully correct version, a “later descendant of the Imperial Hundred Thousands” (bla ’bum gyi bu phyi), to a Yarlung Jowo Chöjé (yar klung jo bo chos rje).43 The catalog also gives more extensive detail than any other of the differences between versions and the corrections made to establish the definitive version, including the varying numbers of meditative stabilities but also some of the sections and passages that had been missed in earlier manuscripts.
The translation preserved in most Kangyurs is thus the result of this long process of evolution. It is commonly divided into twelve volumes, but the Narthang catalog mentions other numbers of volumes into which different manuscripts were divided, and Rongtönpa, saying that there was even one version in thirty volumes, sets out schemes with the details of which bampo (fascicles) were included in which volume for several different volume arrangements: twelve (as in the Degé and many other Kangyurs), fourteen (as in the Berlin and Qianlong Kangyurs), and sixteen (as in the Choné, Phukdrak, Lithang, London, Stok Palace, Ulaanbaatar, and some of the peripheral Kangyurs).44
The Degé catalog, describing the translation as being the eleventh-century one that resulted from Ngok Lotsāwa’s revision of previous Tibetan translations against the Sanskrit manuscript of Phamthing, also specifies that the text has seventy-two chapters. It mentions the traditional legend according to which the four final chapters that conclude the Twenty-Five Thousand Line sūtra—the questions of Maitreya, the story of Sadāprarudita and Dharmodgata, and the entrusting of the text—are missing from the Hundred Thousand because when Nāgārjuna brought the sūtra from the realm of the nāgas, the nāga king had withheld those four chapters to ensure that Nāgārjuna would return. There is, the catalog says, a tradition of appending those four chapters, copied from the other sūtras. Although the Degé Kangyur does not follow that tradition, the Narthang, Lhasa, Namgyal, Hemis, and Shey Kangyurs do, and thus have seventy-five or seventy-six chapters.
The text in the Degé Kangyur is comprised of 301 bampo (fascicles), with between twenty-two and twenty-seven in each volume. The bampo numbers begin again with each volume, unlike most other Kangyurs where they are numbered consecutively throughout the text. Kangyurs in which the extra final chapters have been added have three more bampo, bringing their total to 304.
The Tibetan text in the Degé Kangyur, interestingly, preserves the old orthography of a subscript ya, “ma yata” (ma ya btags), i.e., the subscript ya under the letter ma in certain words, and of the “dadrak” (da drag), i.e., da as a second suffix in certain words ending in na, ra, or la. Spellings such as myi and myed for mi and med, rkyend for rkyen, tshuld for tshul, and smyind for smin are widespread, although in the first volume particularly some of these archaic spellings have been inconsistently revised. In most other Kangyurs these spellings are absent, but the Urga, Namgyal Collection, and Gondlha Kangyurs have also preserved them. Indeed, in the Namgyal Collection version of the sūtra, these archaic features are considerably less revised and spellings such as pha rold tu phyind pa (“the perfection of wisdom”) and rab ’byord (“Subhūti”) are preserved.
Given the complex process by which many translators contributed to the extant translation, it is perhaps not surprising that in the Degé and in the majority of other Kangyurs, there is no translators’ colophon. In some Kangyurs, however, the text does have a colophon, and these fall into two groups:
• The Narthang and Lhasa Kangyurs both have a colophon naming “the Indian upādhyāyas Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, the chief editor and lotsāwa Bandé Yeshé Dé, and others” as responsible for the translation, editing, and establishment of the text. Note that these two Kangyurs are among the few that add the final four chapters from the Twenty-Five Thousand instead of ending it with the seventy-second chapter, as mentioned above; yet the Namgyal and Shey Kangyurs, which also have the added chapters, have no colophon.45
• The Stok Palace Kangyur and the Bhutanese Kangyurs of mostly Themphangma affiliation—Chizhi, Dongkarla, Neyphug, Phajoding Ogmin, and Tashiyangtse—have a quite different colophon, in which no translators are mentioned but reference is made to some of the earlier translations. A tentative rendering of this colophon would be:
“This is the golden Hundred Thousand called Not Mixed with Wrongs in twelve sections, and is based on the corrected, limit-defining Black Hundred Thousand of Gyan-gong, which itself had resulted from being proofed and edited sixteen times after being compared against the early limit-defining, abridged manuscripts in Samyé and Lhasa, and so forth, and which, since the great lotsāwa, the omniscient Butön Rinchen Drup, had confirmed it as the prototype, was used as master copy for the Hundred Thousand produced by the great scholar Rinchen Gyaltsen.”46
This sūtra is structured in almost exactly the same way as The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines (Toh 9), with the same chapter sequence and divisions, and in Tibetan the same terminology and phraseology, to the extent that it would be difficult not to conclude that the Tibetan translations of both were produced by the same translators. Indeed, the Sanskrit source texts of the two sūtras must have been very similar, too—as far as can be judged, for the Sanskrit of the Twenty-Five Thousand matches not the Kangyur “many-chapter” version, Toh 9, but the Tengyur “eight-chapter” version, Toh 3790.47
The Hundred Thousand and Twenty-Five Thousand are far more similar to each other in language and chapter structure than they are to the third of the long Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, the Eighteen Thousand (Toh 10), which has considerably more chapter divisions and different phraseology. Nevertheless, all three sūtras follow an almost identical sequence of themes, interlocutors, and doctrinal statements.
The Hundred Thousand as preserved in most Kangyurs, however, has only seventy-two chapters as compared to the seventy-six of the Twenty-Five Thousand. This is because the final four chapters of the latter, comprising the questions of Maitreya, the story of Sadāprarudita and Dharmodgata, and the entrusting of the sūtra, are not present in this text. As noted above, they are traditionally seen as “missing” because the nāgas withheld them from Nāgārjuna as he was leaving to take the sūtra back with him to the human realm. The story of Sadāprarudita and Dharmodgata is indeed present not only in the Twenty-Five Thousand but also in the Eighteen Thousand and Eight Thousand Line sūtras, so it is not unreasonable to see it as “missing.” On the other hand, the chapter on the questions of Maitreya is only present in the Twenty-Five Thousand and Eighteen Thousand, and has been seen by some commentators as possibly a later addition, with evidence of a somewhat different doctrinal foundation.48
Apart from these differences at the very end of the text, all the other chapter breaks here in the Hundred Thousand correspond precisely to those in the Twenty-Five Thousand, except that chapter 57 in the Twenty-Five Thousand corresponds to two chapters, 57 and 58, here in the Hundred Thousand. The chapter numbering thereafter, across the two sūtras, is consequently offset by one, so that the final chapter 72, here in the Hundred Thousand, corresponds to chapter 71 in the Twenty-Five Thousand.
Most of the seventy-two chapters have no specific chapter titles, but ten do have titles, and these are all identical to those of the corresponding chapters in the Twenty-Five Thousand. However, two chapters that have titles in the Twenty-Five Thousand (26 and 27) do not have titles in the Hundred Thousand.49
Apart from these relatively minor structural discrepancies, the most striking differences between the three long sūtras are, of course, in length. This is almost entirely due not to any thematic differences—even fine-grained ones—but to the different degree to which each doctrinal statement is unpacked. In all three texts the Buddha, or one of his interlocutors, makes statements about groups of phenomena (dharmas) that may be constituents of the deluded perceptions of beings in saṃsāra, elements of the path, or features of the awakening to which the path leads. Depending on whether each statement is repeated only for a category of such dharmas, for subgroups of dharmas within that category, or in full for each individual dharma in every group, the three sūtras are characterized, respectively, by relatively small, somewhat larger, or extremely large numbers of repetitions. The substance of the statements themselves, and their order, are the same in all three texts.
The majority of Indian Prajñāpāramitā commentaries are concerned either with interpreting the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras in the light of Asaṅga-Maitreya’s Abhisamayālaṃkāra, or with explaining that somewhat cryptic and condensed treatise itself. Indeed, the six “mother” sūtras are so called because they all contain all eight main topics, or abhisamayas (“clear realizations”), forming the principal structure of the treatise, that important and influential key to the Prajñāpāramitā texts that, at some point after it first appeared in the fourth century, came to dominate their study.
The version of the long sūtras closest to the original but hypothetical sūtra explained to Asaṅga by Maitreya is probably the Twenty-Five Thousand, but (as pointed out above) in the fourth century the long sūtras had probably not yet crystallized into the stable, length-denominated versions we have inherited today. Commentaries based on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra at first focused on the Twenty-Five Thousand, even though the close correspondence of the Hundred Thousand to the Twenty-Five Thousand means that the insights of those commentaries could also, mostly,50 be applied to the Hundred Thousand.
Nevertheless, a commentary eventually was written that focused on applying the Abhisamayālaṃkāra to the Hundred Thousand as well as to the other two long sūtras. It is The Teaching on the Eight Clear Realizations as the Common Meaning of the Sūtras in One Hundred Thousand Lines, Twenty-Five Thousand Lines, and Eight Thousand Lines (Prajñāpāramitāmātṛkāśatasāhasrikābṛhacchāsanapañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāmadhyaśāsanāṣṭādaśasāhasrikālaghuśāsanāṣṭasamānārthaśāsana, Toh 3789), attributed to the eleventh-century scholar Smṛtijñānakīrti, who spent the last part of his life in Tibet.51 This commentary, however, is not held in high regard, has not been much used, and may possibly not even be Smṛtijñānakīrti’s work.
Later, another commentary was written that focused entirely on interpreting the Hundred Thousand in terms of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. It is An Explanation of The One Hundred Thousand Lines (stong phrag brgya pa’i rnam par bshad pa, Toh 3802), attributed to the Kashmiri scholar Dharmaśrī, who was invited to Western Tibet by the tenth-century king Lha Lama Yeshe Ö. However, this commentary, too, may be incorrectly attributed and is also not well considered.
While the meaning, structure, and many other details of the Hundred Thousand can of course be elucidated through study of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra and its general commentaries, the unreliable status of these two particular commentarial works has made them an unsuitable way of using the Abhisamayālaṃkāra as the key to this particular, longest version of all of the sūtras.
A quite different approach to the study of the Hundred Thousand is taken by the two commentaries known under a variety of titles and monikers, including the “long explanations” (bṛhaṭṭīkā, rgya cher bshad pa) and “destroyers of harm” (gnod ’joms).52 Neither makes reference to the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.
The first of the two, probably written earlier, comments on and explains all three of the long sūtras, while the second concentrates only on the Hundred Thousand.
The first is The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines (Toh 3808), attributed variously to Vasubandhu (fourth century) and Daṃṣṭrāsena (late eighth or early ninth century).53
The second is The Long Commentary on The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines (Toh 3807), also often attributed to Daṃṣṭrāsena but without certainty. It was possibly written in Tibet, and may be the commentary on the Hundred Thousand referred to in some early inventories as written by (or under the supervision of) Tri Songdetsen.54
Both these commentaries divide the sūtra into its main divisions by means of two structural principles: the “three approaches” or “gateways” (sgo gsum), and the “eleven discourses” or “formulations” (rnam grangs bcu gcig). More will be said about these below. But as well as providing these helpful structural principles, both commentaries explain the meaning and importance of each text passage by passage in considerable detail, and in ways that are relatively easy to understand compared with the more opaque explanations based on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.
Although there was an early translation of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, from what little we can surmise it seems that in the early, imperial period the study of the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras was mainly influenced by the Bṛhaṭṭīkā approach. The full impact of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra came later through the Kadampa masters in the lineage of Atiśa and Rinchen Zangpo, and particularly after the founding of the monastery of Sangpu Ne’utok (gsang phu ne’u thog) with Ngok Loden Sherab’s new translation of the text in the eleventh century. The two main traditions of Prajñāpāramitā studies were founded by Ngok’s two main disciples. One started with Dré Sherab Bar (’bre shes rab ’bar) and passed through Ar Changchub Yeshé (ar byang chub ye shes), Butön, Rinchen Namgyal (rin chen rnam rgyal), and Yaktön Sangyé Pal (g.yag bston sangs rgyas dpal) to the great commentator and scholar Rongtönpa. The other started with Drolungpa Lodrö Jungné (gro lung pa blo gros ’byung gnas) and passed through Chapa Chökyi Sengé (phya pa chos kyi seng ge).55
The Abhisamayālaṃkāra has remained the central pillar of Prajñāpāramitā scholasticism in Tibet, and of the many commentaries and treatises written on the literature by scholars from both these lineages and their successors down to the present day, the large majority focused on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. Even when one of the sūtras provided the focus of such works, it was almost always either the Twenty-Five Thousand or the Eight Thousand.
There are nevertheless three notable commentaries centered on the Hundred Thousand: one by Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan) in the fourteenth century;56 the one (mentioned above) by Rongtönpa in the fifteenth century; and one by Karma Chakmé (kar ma chags med) in the seventeenth century.
Few Western scholars have explored the Prajñāpāramitā literature. The Russian scholar Eugène Obermiller (1901–35) was one of the first to edit and translate Sanskrit and Tibetan Prajñāpāramitā texts, but had a tragically short life beset by a severe handicap.
The great pioneer of the Prajñāpāramitā literature in the West was the Anglo-German scholar Edward Conze (1904–79), and he has been the only translator (until now) courageous enough to tackle the sheer immensity of this sūtra, from the Sanskrit of which—partly, as he used as his sources the two other long sūtras, too—he produced The Large Sūtra on Perfect Wisdom in 1975. Rather than a full translation, it is a one-volume abridgement of the content of the three long sūtras, structured using the more numerous chapter breaks and titles of the Eighteen Thousand, and arranged (indeed sometimes rearranged) according to the divisions and subdivisions drawn from the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, which are found as headings and subheadings throughout the translation.
Conze had forthright views on most topics, and his perspective on the Prajñāpāramitā literature was one that overwhelmingly emphasized the doctrinal content over its literary qualities. In his preface to another of his translations, that of the Eight Thousand, he says:
“A literal, word by word translation of the Prajñāpāramitā is tiresome to read, and practically unintelligible to anyone who does not have the Sanskrit original before him. If ever there was a case where the letter kills the spirit, it is here. The Sūtra itself was meant to be memorized, the translation is meant to be read. Lengthy repetitions, stereotyped phrases, and the piling up of synonyms were of great assistance to memory, but they irritate and distract the modern reader, and obscure from him the meaning of the text.”
Whether one agrees with this view or not, the result is that his combined translation of the long sūtras forms a useful and practical guide to the content of these works, yet is far from representing in English the full range of qualities that are to be found in the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts themselves.
The outstanding work of the late Stefano Zacchetti, mainly from Chinese and Sanskrit sources, certainly deserves mention. A recent set of volumes by Karl Brunnhölzl has also been a welcome addition to the available material in English, providing a wealth of detailed information and translated commentaries, mostly centered on works related to the Abhisamayālaṃkāra. Our own translator Gareth Sparham, a decade before embarking on his recent work for 84000 on the sūtras themselves, published an important four-volume translation of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra with the commentaries of Haribhadra and Vimuktisena.
The sūtra opens with the setting of the context for the Buddha’s teaching of the Prajñāpāramitā. He is on Vulture Peak near Rājagṛha, surrounded by a gathering of arhat monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, and countless bodhisattvas, of whom thirty-seven are named at this point. After a sequence of meditative stabilities and miraculous displays in which he emanates lights that allay the sufferings of beings in world systems throughout the trichiliocosm and make visible the buddhas teaching in the buddhafields in the ten directions, buddhas and bodhisattvas in each of those buddhafields become aware that a teaching is about to take place, and amid further miraculous displays the bodhisattvas arrive in this world with their offerings to attend the teachings. The main subject matter, the teachings that the Buddha then gives, unfolds as the rest of the text from the beginning of the second chapter.
At a first reading and without exegetical guidance, the sūtra’s very extensive presentation of its subject matter may seem somewhat disorganized and unstructured. There are nevertheless several much-studied ways of understanding how the teaching can be classified into different sections and topics. What follows is an extremely abbreviated outline of three such ways among those mentioned in the commentaries: the “three approaches” (or “gateways”); the “eleven discourses”; and the Abhisamayālaṃkāra’s eight principal topics or “clear realizations” and their seventy subtopics.
The three approaches (sgo gsum) are the brief, intermediate, and detailed teachings, destined respectively for those whose faculties allow them to understand terse, middling, or extensive explanations:57
(1) The brief teaching comes at the start of chapter 2, and consists only of the Buddha’s statement:
“Here, Śāradvatīputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all phenomena in all their aspects should persevere in the perfection of wisdom.” (2.1)
(2) The intermediate teaching follows immediately and continues through the discussions between Śāriputra, Subhūti, and the Buddha to the end of chapter 13. The Buddha responds to Śāriputra’s question about what the brief teaching means in terms of the four topics into which it can be subdivided: what a bodhisattva great being is, what it is to fully awaken to all phenomena in all their aspects, what persevering means, and what the perfection of wisdom is. Four practices are taught (armor-like, engagement, accumulation, and deliverance), and then, in some detail, eight aspects related to the “persevering.” The last of these eight is a discussion, starting with chapter 8, that arrives at an authoritative conclusion, including twenty-eight or twenty-nine questions, further dialogue between Subhūti and Śāriputra, and in chapters 11, 12, and 13 a long discussion of the Great Vehicle, its attributes, and its results. This entire intermediate teaching is sometimes referred to as “the chapter of Subhūti,” which is also the chapter title that the Twenty-Five Thousand gives to the last chapter in this section, the thirteenth. That chapter title may be intended to cover the entire group of chapters 3 through 12, too, though note that a chapter title is missing from chapter 13 in the Hundred Thousand. The intermediate teaching corresponds to the first chapter of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines,58 is centered on all-aspect omniscience, and by teaching nonconceptual perfection of wisdom focuses on ultimate truth.
(3) The detailed teaching is covered by most of the rest of the text, from chapter 14 to the end of chapter 71. It contains a long series of points to be explained and is divided into two parts: (a) The first part begins with the questions put to Subhūti by Śakra, lord of the gods. The first ten of its chapters, 14 through 23, in which Śakra figures prominently, are probably intended to be covered by the title “Śakra” given in the chapter colophon of chapter 23, and among many important points they explain are how a bodhisattva’s knowledge encompasses that of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and the benefits, protections, and vast merit conferred by appreciating, honoring, and knowing the perfection of wisdom. Subsequent chapters cover a range of topics, from the dedication of merit, in chapter 24, up to how a bodhisattva’s progress to awakening becomes irreversible, in chapter 40. (b) The second part comprises the discussions prompted by Subhūti’s two hundred and seventy-seven questions, which start in chapter 41 and end in chapter 71. It is centered on knowledge of the paths, and in teaching both conceptual and nonconceptual perfection of wisdom it explains both relative and ultimate truths.
The eleven formulations (rnam grangs bcu gcig) are mentioned in several commentaries detailing the interlocutor concerned, but are not explicitly correlated with particular locations in the texts. Following the mentions in the two bṛhaṭṭīkā commentaries (Toh 3807 and 3808) and Sparham,59 we may speculatively identify some of them in the present text as follows:
(1) to Śāriputra, from the beginning of chapter 2 as far as 2.622;
(2) by Subhūti, the rest of chapter 2 to the end of chapter 13;
(3) to Śakra, chapter 14, but possibly including several subsequent chapters as well;
(4) to Subhūti, difficult to identify;
(5) to Maitreya, the first part of chapter 24;
(6) to Subhūti, perhaps the rest of chapter 24 from 24.47;
(7) to Śakra, perhaps chapter 25 to 25.139;
(8) to Subhūti, perhaps starting in chapter 25 at 25.140, but very likely chapters 41 to 71;
(9) to Maitreya, chapter 72;
(10) to Subhūti, again difficult to identify with any certainty; and
(11) the narrative of Sadāprarudita and Dharmodgata and entrustment of the sūtra to Ānanda, chapters 73 to 76. As noted above, these chapters are not found in the Hundred Thousand, except in the versions found in the Narthang, Lhasa, Namgyal, Hemis, and Shey Kangyurs, where they are appended.
The eight topics and seventy points of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra cannot be mapped with complete precision to the content of the Hundred Thousand. Nevertheless, included in the following list of the eight principal topics and their subdivision into seventy points is an approximate matching of the eight topics themselves to the content of the chapters of this sūtra, based on how the equivalent passages of the Sanskrit text can be identified in the Tibetan of the Kangyur version of the Twenty-Five Thousand (Toh 9).60 The seventy points of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra are more difficult to match with the present text, and indeed many of them are not even mentioned in the sūtra; some, however, can be discerned—not always in the same order as in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.
(1) All-aspect omniscience (sarvākārajñatā, rnam pa thams cad mkhyen pa nyid) is covered in chapters 2 to 13. Its ten topics are (i) setting of the mind on awakening; (ii) the instructions concerning its application within the Great Vehicle; (iii) the four aspects of becoming established on the path of preparation, comprising warmth, peak, acceptance, and supremacy; (iv) the naturally present affinity with the spiritual family, which is the basis for attaining the Great Vehicle; (v) the referents through which the Great Vehicle is attained; (vi) the goals attained through the Great Vehicle; (vii) the armor-like practice; (viii) practice through engagement; (ix) practice through the provisions of merit and wisdom; and (x) practice of definitive deliverance. The reason all-aspect omniscience—which refers to the omniscient, awakened understanding of a fully enlightened buddha—is placed as the first of the eight clear realizations is that bodhisattvas must understand it before practicing it, and as the fruitional body taught in detail in the last part of the sūtra, this all-aspect omniscience is the very goal or object of bodhicitta, the mind set on full awakening. To practice the perfection of wisdom one must aim at the fullest awakening of buddhahood and not any of the lesser degrees of realization, such as those of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.
(2) Knowledge of the aspects of the path (mārgajñatā, lam gyi rnam pa shes pa nyid) is covered in chapters 14 to 27. This refers to the understanding, progressively developed by bodhisattvas, of the paths to be followed by all types of beings. This therefore includes the paths of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas as well as the various levels and aspects of the path that is followed by bodhisattvas on the Great Vehicle itself. Its eleven topics are (i) essential aspects for understanding the path; (ii) knowledge of the aspects of the path which is that of the śrāvakas; (iii) knowledge of the aspects of the path which is that of the pratyekabuddhas; (iv) the beneficial path of insight, which accords with the Great Vehicle; (v) the functions of the path of cultivation; (vi) the aspirational path of cultivation; (vii) the path of cultivation resulting in eulogy, exhortation, and praise; (viii) the path of cultivation resulting in dedication; (ix) the path of cultivation resulting in sympathetic rejoicing; (x) the path of cultivation resulting in attainment; and (xi) the path of meditation resulting in purity.
(3) Knowledge of all the dharmas (sarvajñatā, thams cad shes pa nyid) is covered in chapter 28. The point established and emphasized in this section—although it is also a key theme throughout the perfection of wisdom sūtras—is that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas (in particular, but also bodhisattvas in training), in order to overcome ordinary, deluded perceptions, make use of powerful notions including the identification of all the dharmas of defilement and purification that they discern as such. However, these are themselves all constructs and notions that, from the perspective of the perfection of wisdom, can represent a range of attachments, from gross to very subtle. Its nine topics are (i) the basic understanding that wisdom leads to not remaining in cyclic existence; (ii) the basic understanding that compassion leads to not remaining in nirvāṇa; (iii) the basic understanding that lack of skillful means leads to distance from the perfection of wisdom; (iv) the basic understanding that skillful means lead to proximity to it; (v) the basic understanding of the discordant factors associated with the fixation of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas; (vi) the remedial factors countering those fixations; (vii) training in the aforementioned basic understandings; (viii) training in the sameness of those basic understandings; and (ix) the path of insight which integrates these basic understandings.
(4) Clear realization of all aspects (sarvākārābhisambodha, rnam kun mngon rdzogs rtogs pa) is covered in chapters 29 to 44. Its eleven topics are (i) the aspects of the three kinds of knowledge (1–3 above); (ii) training in those aspects; (iii) the qualities acquired through those trainings; (iv) the defects to be eliminated during training; (v) the defining characteristics of training; (vii) the path of accumulations in accord with liberation; (vii) the path of preparation in accord with the four degrees of penetration (1.iii above); (viii) the signs of irreversibility in bodhisattva trainees; (ix) training in the sameness of cyclic existence and nirvāṇa; (x) the training associated with the pure realms; and (xi) training in skillful means for the sake of others.
(5) Culminating clear realization (mūrdhābhisamaya, rtse mor phyin pa’i mngon rtogs) is covered in chapters 45 through to the first few paragraphs of chapter 60. Its eight topics are (i) the culminating training of warmth on the path of preparation; (ii) the culminating training in the peak on the path of preparation; (iii) the culminating training in acceptance on the path of preparation; (iv) the culminating training in supremacy on the path of preparation; (v) the culminating training on the path of insight; (vi) the culminating training on the path of cultivation; (vii) the culminating uninterrupted training on the path of cultivation, comprising the vajra-like meditative stability; and (viii) the mistaken notions that are to be eliminated.
(6) Serial clear realization (ānupūrvābhisamaya, mthar gyis pa’i mngon rtogs) is covered by most of chapter 60, from after the first few paragraphs, through to the first few paragraphs of chapter 61. Its thirteen topics are (i–vi) the serial trainings in the six perfections of generosity, ethical discipline, tolerance, perseverance, meditative concentration, and wisdom; (vii–xii) the serial training in the six mindfulnesses of the spiritual teacher, the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, ethical discipline, and generosity; and (xiii) the serial training in the realization that phenomena are without essential nature.
[V14][F.1.b]Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing on Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, with a large monastic gathering comprising some five thousand monks. All of them were arhats who had attained the cessation of contaminants, free of afflicted mental states, fully controlled, their minds thoroughly liberated, their wisdom well liberated, thoroughbreds, mighty elephants, their tasks accomplished, their work completed, their burdens relinquished, their own objectives fulfilled, the fetters binding them to the rebirth process completely severed, their minds thoroughly liberated through perfect instruction,76 supreme in their perfection of all mental powers, with the exception of just one person—the venerable Ānanda, a trainee who had entered the stream. Also present were some five hundred nuns—Yaśodharā and Mahāprajāpatī and so on—[F.2.a] and a great many laymen and laywomen, all of whom had seen the Dharma.
There, too, were innumerable, countless bodhisattva great beings, all of whom had attained the dhāraṇīs and attained the meditative stabilities, acting in accord with emptiness, their perceptual range being one of signlessness, their aspirations free from deliberation. They had attained forbearance for the sameness of all phenomena, possessed inspired eloquence that was unimpeded, had comprehended the inexhaustible teachings according to their exact knowledge, and used miraculous displays through their great extrasensory powers.77 With their extrasensory powers never failing, and with engaging speech, without indolence but with perseverance, without regard for their bodies or their lives, their conduct unpretentious,78 without fawning, and without thoughts of ulterior fame, profit, or respect, free from self-interest they taught the Dharma. They had realized and integrated the sublime acceptance of the profound dharmas,79 had acquired the great fearlessnesses, were without discouragement, and they had gone completely beyond all the works of Māra. Having interrupted the continuity of karmic obscurations, they had overcome karma, the afflicted mental states, and hostile forces,80 and in the face of all challenges had remained undefeated. They were difficult for all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas to understand,81 and through their realization were skilled in analyzing and teaching the Dharma. They had energetically applied themselves to their aspirations over countless eons. Smiling and speaking first in welcome, their faces without frowns of anger,[F.2.b] with their sweet, gentle words they were skilled in addressing others in melodic verse. As their inspired eloquence flowed uninterrupted, they possessed the fearlessness that overwhelmed endless assemblies. They were skilled in emancipation by means of the transcendental knowledge from having taught for endless tens of millions of eons.82 They had comprehended that all phenomena are like an illusion, a mirage, a reflection of the moon in water, a dream, an echo, an optical aberration, empty space, a castle in the sky, a reflection,83 and a magical display. Without discouragement, they were skilled in comprehending the mental attitudes, subtle knowledge,84 conduct, and interests of all beings. Their attitude toward all beings was free of any animosity, and their tolerance was immense. They were skilled in the transcendental knowledge that brings the sameness of all phenomena to be understood, and because they were possessed of profound reality their depth was hard to estimate. They had fully attained power over their own minds, and they had entirely attained power over all phenomena. They were liberated from all karma, afflicted mental states, and obscurations of view. They were skilled in teaching in dependence on the audience,85 and had engaged in all the inexhaustible modes of dependent origination, were free from all views, latent impulses, and obsessions, and had abandoned all fetters. They were skilled in bringing peace from all actions and afflicted mental states,86 skilled in the transcendental knowledge that brings realization of the truth, constantly and uninterruptedly considering all phenomena to resemble an echo, fearless in their measureless teachings of the ways of the Dharma,87 and skilled in bringing forth comprehension of the true nature itself.88 Their progress was governed by their aspirational vow to establish infinite buddhafields. Constantly and uninterruptedly they actualized the meditative stability of recollecting the buddhas[F.3.a] who reside in countless world systems; they were skilled in going everywhere buddhas arise89 and skilled in requesting an inestimable number of buddhas to teach.90 They were skilled in bringing about peace from the afflicted mental states that are generated through the diverse false views of beings, and skilled in bringing forth realization of the transcendental knowledge that revels in the miraculous production of a hundred thousand meditative stabilities.91 Every one of them had qualities of which a full description would be incomplete even if infinite eons were spent on it.
Among them were the following: the bodhisattva great being Bhadrapāla, the bodhisattva great being Ratnākara, the bodhisattva great being Ratnagarbha, the bodhisattva great being Ratnadatta, the bodhisattva great being Susārthavāha,92 the bodhisattva great being Naradatta, the bodhisattva great being Guhagupta, the bodhisattva great being Varuṇadeva, the bodhisattva great being Indradatta, the bodhisattva great being Bhadrabala,93 the bodhisattva great being Uttaramati,94 the bodhisattva great being Viśeṣamati, the bodhisattva great being Vardhamānamati, the bodhisattva great being Anantamati, the bodhisattva great being Amoghadarśin, the bodhisattva great being Anāvaraṇamati, the bodhisattva great being Susaṃprasthita, the bodhisattva great being Suvikrāntavikrāmin,95 the bodhisattva great being Anantavīrya, the bodhisattva great being Nityodyukta,[F.3.b] the bodhisattva great being Nityaprayukta, the bodhisattva great being Anikṣiptadhura, the bodhisattva great being Sūryagarbha, the bodhisattva great being Candragarbha, the bodhisattva great being Anupamamati,96 the bodhisattva great being Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva great being Mahāsthāmaprāpta, the bodhisattva great being Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta, the bodhisattva great being Mārabalapramardin, the bodhisattva great being Vajramati, the bodhisattva great being Ratnamudrāhasta, the bodhisattva great being Nityotkṣiptahasta, the bodhisattva great being Mahākaruṇācintin, the bodhisattva great being Mahāvyūha, the bodhisattva great being Vyūharāja,97 the bodhisattva great being Merukūṭa, the bodhisattva great being Maitreya, and many hundreds of thousands of one hundred million billion others as well.
At that time, the Blessed One himself arranged his seat, the lion throne, and sat upright with his legs crossed, directing his mindfulness.98 Seated there, he was absorbed in the meditative stability called king of meditative stabilities, in which all meditative stabilities are gathered, comprehended, pursued, and subsumed.
The Blessed One, mindful and with full awareness,[F.4.a] then arose from that meditative stability and observed this buddhafield with divine clairvoyance.99 Seeing in this manner, he sent out light from his entire body. Sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of the two thousand-spoked wheels that were imprinted on the soles of his feet. Sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of the ten toes of his two feet. Sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two ankles, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two shins, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two knees, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two thighs, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two hips, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from his navel, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of the two sides of his ribs, and sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from the śrīvatsa at his heart, which is one of the major marks of a great person. Sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light also issued from each of his ten fingers, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two arms, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two shoulders, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from his neck, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his four incisors, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his forty teeth, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two eyes, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from each of his two ears, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued[F.4.b] from each of his two nostrils, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from the hair ringlet between his eyebrows, sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from his uṣṇīṣa, and sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light issued from his mouth.
All of those sets of sixty hundred thousand ten million billions of rays of light permeated all the world systems in the great billionfold world system with a great brightness. The world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. All the beings who beheld the light and who were touched by that light became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.
Then again, the Blessed One caused light rays to be diffused from all his pores,[F.5.a] and that light again permeated this great billionfold world system with a great brightness. The world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. All the beings who beheld that light and who were touched by that light became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.
Then again, with the natural light of the tathāgatas the Blessed One caused this great billionfold world system to be permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the northern direction,[F.5.b] numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. The world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were permeated with a great brightness. All the beings who beheld that light and who were touched by that light became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.
Then the Blessed One extended his tongue from his mouth. Covering this entire great billionfold world system with his tongue, he smiled, and from his tongue issued forth many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of variegated rays of light. On all those rays of light, in their entirety, appeared manifold lotus flowers, fashioned of diverse gemstones, shining like gold, with a thousand petals, diverse, beautiful to behold, captivating, brilliant, scented, soft, and blissful to the touch like kācalindika. On these lotuses, furthermore, were seated many embodied tathāgatas, and the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there[F.6.a] the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. They departed for the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. And they departed for the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand[F.6.b] of the river Gaṅgā, and on arriving there the Dharma teaching they taught was this very Dharma teaching concerning the six perfections. All the beings who heard those teachings became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.
Then, while seated on the lion throne, the Blessed One became absorbed in the meditative stability of the buddhas called the lion’s play and manifested his miraculous abilities. By manifesting those miraculous abilities, he caused this great billionfold world system to shake in six ways. That is to say, it shook, shuddered, and juddered;101 it rocked, reeled, and tottered; it quivered, careened, and convulsed; it trembled, throbbed, and quaked; it rumbled, roared, and thundered; and it faltered, lurched, and staggered. As its eastern sides reared up its western sides plunged down; as its western sides reared up its eastern sides plunged down; as its southern sides reared up its northern sides plunged down; as its northern sides reared up its southern sides plunged down; as its edges reared up its centers plunged down; and as its centers reared up its edges plunged down. Then, slowly and gradually, it settled down,102 producing benefit and happiness for all beings.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in this great billionfold world system, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations,103 as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives,[F.7.a] they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for where there were blessed ones, and on arriving there paid homage to the blessed ones.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided,[F.7.b] and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats,[F.8.a] perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease[F.8.b] departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives.[F.9.a] Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time—at that moment, minute, and second—in the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, the hells, the animal realms, the world of Yama, the states that lack freedom, the lower realms, the terrible forms of life, and the degenerations, as many as there are, were all interrupted. All of the beings there[F.9.b] were then reborn equal in fortune to human beings; they were reborn equal in fortune to the gods of the Cāturmahārājika realm, or the gods of the Trayastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, or Paranirmitavaśavartin realms. Then those gods and those human beings joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease recollected their former lives. Having recollected those lives, they then joyfully, with serene confidence, and with ease departed for the respective buddhafields where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided, and on arriving there paid homage at their feet. Placing their hands together, they bowed toward those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas.
Then, at that time, in this great billionfold world system, the beings who were blind, as many as there were, saw sights with their eyes. The deaf heard sounds with their ears. The insane came to their senses. Those who were agitated attained a state of mind without agitation. Those without clothing obtained clothing. The poor obtained wealth. The hungry obtained food. The thirsty obtained drink. Those struck with illness were healed. Those with physical disabilities and with imperfect sense faculties were restored to full perfection of the body and sense faculties, and flourished. The weary were refreshed. Those who had not forsaken nonvirtuous deeds of body, speech, and mind, or nonvirtuous livelihoods, gave up their nonvirtuous deeds of body, speech, and mind, and nonvirtuous livelihoods. All beings too became even-minded toward all other beings, considering one another as just like their father, mother, brother, sister, partner, close relative, or friend. All beings too acquired the path of the ten virtuous actions, and they maintained the practice of chastity[F.10.a] and purity, without the stench of immorality and without the notion of nonvirtue. At that time all beings possessed happiness such that it resembled, by comparison, the happiness experienced by monks absorbed in the third meditative concentration. They possessed all such happiness. At that time all beings possessed wisdom such that they knew, “Excellent is generosity! Excellent is discipline! Excellent is restraint! Excellent is truth! Excellent is carefulness! Excellent is loving kindness! Excellent is compassion! Excellent is nonviolence with respect to all living creatures!” And at that time the blessed buddhas in other buddhafields cried out cries of delight: “Ah! It is wonderful that these beings are possessed of wisdom such that they know, ‘Excellent is generosity! Excellent is discipline! Excellent is peace! Excellent is restraint! Excellent is truth! Excellent is carefulness! Excellent is loving kindness! Excellent is compassion! Excellent is the practice of chastity! Excellent is nonviolence with respect to all living creatures!’ ”104
At that time the Blessed One, seated on this very lion throne, resembled, as an analogy, the unobscured sun in the clear expanse of space, or the disk of the full moon. He outshone the great billionfold world system with its Sumerus and encircling mountain ranges, with its god realms, with its Indra realms, with its Vaśavartin realms, with its classes of gods and asuras, with its Brahmās, and with its Śuddhāvāsas. He was adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. And while the Blessed One remained seated, outshining this great billionfold world system,[F.10.b] being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining, he similarly outshone the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. Similarly, he outshone the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory,[F.11.a] sparkling, gleaming, and shining. And similarly, he outshone the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, being adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining.
To illustrate, just as Sumeru, king of mountains, stands outshining all other dark mountains, adorned, sparkling, gleaming, and shining; just as, to illustrate, the disk of the moon stands outshining all the stars, adorned, sparkling, gleaming, and shining; and just as, to illustrate, the disk of the sun stands outshining all other lights, adorned, sparkling, gleaming, and shining, so too the Blessed One stood outshining the worlds of the ten directions with their gods, Indras, Brahmās, and Śuddhāvāsa realms, adorned with light, a lustrous complexion, splendor, and glory, sparkling, gleaming, and shining.
Then again, the Blessed One showed, in this great billionfold world system, his original body, just as it is.105 All the gods, as many as there are, of the Śuddhāvāsas, the Ābhāsvara106 and Brahmakāyika, and the Paranirmitavaśavartin, Nirmāṇarati, Tuṣita, Yāma, Trayastriṃśa, and Cāturmahārājika realms saw the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha seated on the lion throne. They were pleased. They were delighted. They were contented and overjoyed, giving rise to such delight and contentment that they took many divine flowers, divine garlands, divine incenses,[F.11.b] divine unguents, divine powders, and divine perfumes; divine blue lotuses, day lotuses, red lotuses, white lotuses, water lilies, and saugandhaka lilies; divine kesara flowers and tamāla leaves; divine robes, divine ornaments, divine parasols, divine victory banners, and divine flags, and set out for the place where the Blessed One was seated. Going there, they sprinkled, scattered, and showered down upon107 the Blessed One those flowers, garlands, incenses, unguents, powders, and perfumes; blue lotuses, day lotuses, red lotuses, white lotuses, water lilies, and saugandhaka lilies; kesara flowers and tamāla leaves; robes, ornaments, divine parasols, victory banners, and flags of the gods. Those human beings who were disciplined and suitable recipients of the teachings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, also brought manifold flowers, ones that grow in water and grow on the plains, and they set out for the place where the Blessed One was seated. Going there, they offered these to the Blessed One.
Through the sustaining power of the Blessed One, all those flowers, garlands, incenses, unguents, powders, and so on, and the robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags immediately formed a towering mansion of flowers and so on, as large as the great billionfold world system, in the sky above the head of the Blessed One. From that towering mansion, many tassels made of divine flowers and silk were suspended, draped, and floated in the air.108 This whole great billionfold world system[F.12.a] was exquisitely adorned by these tassels made of flowers and silk, and it was exquisitely adorned, too, by the golden light of the Blessed One, sparkling, gleaming, and shining. And just like this great billionfold world system, so too the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. The world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One. And the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, were also pervaded and illuminated by that light of the Blessed One.[F.12.b]
There, the human beings of the Jambudvīpas, beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
And just as the human beings of the Jambudvīpas had that thought, in the same manner, the human beings of the Godānīyas in the west, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The human beings of the Videhas in the east, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The human beings of the Kurus in the north, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Cāturmahārājika realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Trayastriṃśa realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Yāma realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Tuṣita realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking,[F.13.a] “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Nirmāṇarati realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Paranirmitavaśavartin realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Brahmakāyika realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Brahmapurohita realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Brahmapārṣadya realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Mahābrahmā realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Ābha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Parīttābha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata,[F.13.b] looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Apramāṇābha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Ābhāsvara realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Śubha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Parīttaśubha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Apramāṇaśubha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Śubhakṛtsna realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Vṛhat109 realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Parīttavṛha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably,[F.14.a] thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Apramāṇavṛha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Vṛhatphala realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
The gods of the Avṛha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Atapa realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Sudṛśa realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Sudarśana realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” The gods of the Akaniṣṭha realms, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”[F.14.b]
Similarly, all the human beings and all the gods in the thousandfold world system, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” All the human beings and all the gods in the millionfold world system, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.” All the human beings and all the gods in the great billionfold world system, on beholding the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, thinking, “The Tathāgata is seated before us, teaching the Dharma.”
Then again, while seated on that lion throne, the Blessed One sent forth light, and again that light illuminated this great billionfold world system. It also illuminated the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction,[F.15.a] numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. It also illuminated the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā. And it also illuminated the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld[F.15.b] in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni,[F.16.a] residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One,[F.16.b] the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the intermediate southwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems of the intermediate northwestern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems in the direction of the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems in the direction the nadir, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One,[F.17.a] the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Through that light all beings, as many as there were in this great billionfold world system, beheld the many tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas of the world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, along with their communities of śrāvakas and their assemblies of bodhisattvas. And in these world systems in the direction of the zenith, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, those beings dwelling there, as many as there were, also beheld in this great billionfold world system the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, residing together with the community of monks and the assembly of bodhisattvas.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the eastern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Ratnavatī.[F.17.b] There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Ratnākara resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Samantaraśmi who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the western direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi[F.18.a] said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes110 who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Ratnākara, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, gave the bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”111
Then the bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi received from the Blessed One,[F.18.b] the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the eastern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he set out for the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Samantaraśmi then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnākara, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”[F.19.a]
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the eastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the southern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Sarvaśokāpagata. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Aśokaśrī resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Vigataśoka who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth,[F.19.b] and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the northern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him,[F.20.a] and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Aśokaśrī, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, gave the bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping[F.20.b] all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the southern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he set out for the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Vigataśoka then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Aśokaśrī, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the southern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine[F.21.a] that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the western direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Upaśāntā. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Ratnārcis resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Cāritramati who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”[F.21.b]
The bodhisattva great being Cāritramati having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the eastern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Cāritramati said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Ratnārcis, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, gave the bodhisattva great being Cāritramati a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family,[F.22.a] strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Cāritramati received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the eastern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he arrived at the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Cāritramati then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat,[F.22.b] perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Ratnārcis, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the western direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the northern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Jayā. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called[F.23.a] Jayendra resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Jayadatta who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Jayadatta having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra,[F.23.b] replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the southern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Jayadatta said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Jayendra, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, gave the bodhisattva great being Jayadatta a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Jayadatta received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many[F.24.a] hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the northern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he arrived at the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Jayadatta then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Jayendra, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the northern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where[F.24.b] the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the intermediate northeastern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Samādhyalaṅkṛta. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Samādhihastyuttaraśrī resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Vijayavikrāmin who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat,[F.25.a] perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the intermediate southwestern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all[F.25.b] the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, gave the bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin a thousand lotus flowers, made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the intermediate northeastern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders,[F.26.a] robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he arrived at the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side, the bodhisattva great being Vijayavikrāmin then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Samādhihastyuttaraśrī, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into the world systems of the intermediate northeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered all those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma[F.26.b] also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the intermediate southeastern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Bodhimaṇḍalālaṃkārasurucitā. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Padmottaraśrī resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Padmahasta who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Padmahasta having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, completely perfect[F.27.a] Buddha Padmottaraśrī, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the intermediate northwestern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Padmahasta said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
The Blessed One, the Tathāgata Padmottaraśrī, then replied, “Go then to that world system of Patient Endurance, child of a good family, if you think it is timely.”
Then the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, gave the bodhisattva great being Padmahasta a thousand lotus flowers,[F.27.b] made of diverse jewels, golden in color, each with a thousand petals, and instructed him, “Child of a good family, strew these over the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, and inquire of the Blessed One in my words, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ Child of a good family, you should conduct yourself with care in that buddhafield. If you ask why, it is because bodhisattva great beings who are born in that world system are hard to satisfy. So, beware of harm there.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Padmahasta received from the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, those golden thousand-petaled lotuses. Accompanied by many hundreds of thousands of tens of millions of billions of bodhisattvas in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women, he vanished from that buddhafield. After serving, respecting, honoring, and worshiping all the blessed lord buddhas residing and maintaining themselves in the northern direction, as many as there were, with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, unguents, powders, robes, ornaments, parasols, victory banners, and flags, through the bodhisattvas’ great miraculous ability and the bodhisattvas’ great power he arrived at the place where the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni resided.
Arriving there, he bowed his head toward the feet of the Blessed One and took a place to one side. Having taken a place to one side,[F.28.a] the bodhisattva great being Padmahasta then addressed the Blessed One as follows: “The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, has inquired of the Blessed One, ‘I trust you are free from sickness, free from all harms, in good spirits, have your physical strength, and are comfortable and well?’ And the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Padmottaraśrī, has sent these golden-colored, thousand-petaled lotuses as an offering to you, Blessed Lord.”
The Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, took those lotuses and scattered them into all the world systems of the intermediate southeastern direction, numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, where the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly complete buddhas resided. Then those lotuses fully covered those world systems, and upon those lotuses many bodies of the tathāgatas were seated, teaching the doctrine that takes these very six perfections as its point of departure. All the beings who heard that teaching of the Dharma also became assured of reaching unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. And those bodhisattva great beings in the form of householders, those gone forth, young men, and young women also served, respected, honored, and worshiped the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni,[F.28.b] through the roots of their respective virtuous actions.
Now then, beyond all the world systems in the intermediate southwestern direction, more numerous than the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is the world system called Vigatarajaḥsañcayā. There the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha called Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī resides and maintains himself, teaching this very perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Now then, in that world system there was a bodhisattva great being named Sūryaprabhāsa who, on beholding that great light, the great trembling of the earth, and the body of the Tathāgata, looked upon him insatiably, and set out for the place where the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī, was residing. Going there, he inquired of the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī, “Blessed Lord, what are the causes and what are the conditions for such a great light to manifest in the world, for the earth to tremble in this manner, and for the body of a tathāgata, such as this, to be present?”
The bodhisattva great being Sūryaprabhāsa having thus inquired, the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī, replied to him, “Child of a good family, in the intermediate northeastern direction, beyond world systems numerous as the grains of sand of the river Gaṅgā, there is a world system called Patient Endurance. There a tathāgata,[F.29.a] arhat, perfectly complete buddha named Śākyamuni resides and maintains himself at present. He is teaching the perfection of wisdom to bodhisattva great beings. Such is his power.”
Then the bodhisattva great being Sūryaprabhāsa said to the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsottamaśrī, “Blessed Lord, I too will go to that world system of Patient Endurance to behold the Blessed One, the tathāgata, arhat, perfectly complete buddha Śākyamuni, to pay homage and respect to him, and also to see all those bodhisattva great beings, most of whom are crown princes who have acquired the dhāraṇīs and exact knowledges, and have mastered all the meditative stabilities and absorptions.”
It is also known by the shortened name The Hundred Thousand (Tib ’bum). It should be noted that the customary honorific “Noble” (’phags pa, corresponding to Skt ārya) is not appended to the title, nor to the colophon or chapter colophons, in any Kangyurs; nor is the text called a “sūtra” or “Mahāyāna sūtra.”
Evidence mentioned in the traditional histories for the same teaching to have been recorded in sūtras of different length is that the interlocutors are the same, and that all versions contain the same prophecy made about Gaṅgadevī, related in chapter 43 of the present text. See Butön, folios 73.b–74.a.
The six “mother” Prajñāpāramitā sūtras (yum drug), so called because they implicitly include all eight topics of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, are the five long sūtras (in one hundred thousand, twenty-five thousand, eighteen thousand, ten thousand, and eight thousand lines, Toh 8–12), along with the Verse Summary (Ratnaguṇasaṅcayagāthā, Toh 13), which is said to have been taught subsequently in the Magadha dialect.
See The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines (Toh 9) introduction, and The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines (Toh 10) introduction.
This hypothesis, favored by most modern scholars as well as by traditional Nepalese exegetes, is also supported by the fact that one of the seven Chinese translations of the Eight Thousand, the Dao xing jing (道行經), or Dao xing banruo jing (道行般若經; Taishō 224), was the earliest ever of the Prajñāpāramitā texts to be translated (by Lokakṣema and others in 179
See von Hinüber 2014 and Zacchetti 2015, p. 187. Critical editions of parts of the manuscript have been published by Conze (1962 and 1974), Zacchetti (2005), and Choong (2006).
Since the longer texts are prose works, “line” (śloka) in this context is simply a unit of measure of thirty-two syllables, rather than implying a verse couplet as in some other contexts.
According to Zacchetti (2015, p. 176), the mentions come in a list of Prajñāpāramitā scriptures at the beginning of the Jin’gang xian lun (金剛仙論, Taishō 1512).
This point was emphasized by Zacchetti (2005, pp. 42–50), and is further discussed in Zacchetti 2015, pp. 185–87.
More so than the Sanskrit of the Twenty-Five Thousand matches the Tibetan of the Kangyur version, for the case of the Twenty-Five Thousand is complicated by the existence of two different versions in Tibetan, one in the Kangyur (Toh 9) and the other in the Tengyur (Toh 3790); the Sanskrit matches the “eight-chapter” Tengyur version most closely. For more detail, see the introduction to The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines (Toh 9), i.35–i.39.
See Martin 2012. The blog posts of Dan Martin (Yerushalmi) on the topic of these early, imperial period translations have been most helpful in our explorations of it. Note that the word bla, which has many possible connotations, could also be understood as meaning “early” or “primary.” In Ngawang Zangpo 2010, bla ’bum is rendered “Master Copy.”
Although given the clan name Nyang (nyang) in Butön’s History, in the Padma Kathang (pad+ma bka’ thang, a fourteenth-century treasure text revealed by Orgyen Lingpa), and in a number of later works, other early texts say he was of the Lang (rlangs or sometimes glang) family. Alaksha Tendar mentions both clan names (folio 5.b). Khampa Gocha was among the earliest ordained Tibetan monks (but not one of the “seven men who were tested”). He is also sometimes referred to as Lang Khampa Lotsāwa, and may (according to Amyé Shab) be the same person as Lang Sugata Gocha (rlangs su ga ta go cha) or Lang Déwarshekpa Gocha Sungpa (rlangs bde bar gshegs pa go cha bsrungs pa); see van der Kuijp 2013, pp. 178–79.
Rongtönpa, folios 3.a–3.b; Minling Terchen, folio 198.a; Alaksha Tendar, folios 5.b–6.b; Kongtrul, p. 227.
Narthang dkar chag rgyas pa, folio 24.a et seq., or Pedurma vol. 106, pp. 113–18 (the latter being considerably easier to read). See bibliography entry under Olkha Lelung Lobsang Trinlé.
The Narthang catalog agrees on folio 24.a, but the summarized list of six manuscripts on folio 25.a (see below) suggests that the first translation was made in the reign of Tridé Tsuktsen, Tri Songdetsen’s father.
The Tibetan word dum bu, literally “piece” or “portion,” is used in these descriptions, and although it may denote volumes, the meaning may be some other physical division into parts.
According to most accounts, although Rongtönpa’s (folio 3.a) could be read as referring rather to the queen’s blood being used. The Tibetan mtshal (meaning “vermilion,” or just “red”) added to khrag (“blood”) most likely serves simply as an honorific, or denotes red ink made with blood, or might even imply that vermilion was added to blood to make red ink.
The translations of these often-cryptic names are tentative. They are made on the assumption that each starts with a king’s name or moniker.
Presumed to be Namdé Ösung (gnam sde ’od srungs), a son of Langdarma; for details see Dungkar’s dictionary, p. 1217.
Narthang catalog, folio 25.a. The mention here of a “Darma” sponsoring the production of a Hundred Thousand, if it refers to Langdarma, is one among other pieces of historical evidence suggesting that Langdarma may not have been as hostile to Buddhism as the widespread traditional account relates.
We have so far been unable to identify this person further, or the period in which he lived; his revised version seems to be anterior to Ngok’s revision, but the chronology needs further investigation.
Rongtönpa had already said earlier (folio 3.a) that there were many copies of even the first, shortest translation to be found in Central Tibet. Indeed, Martin 2012 reports on the finding in Drepung by the contemporary Tibetan scholar Kawa Sherab Sangpo of one such “red manuscript” four-volume set.
Degé Kangyur dkar chag, F.117.a. The stabilities mentioned in the dkar chag are (1) shes rab sgron ma, (2) snang ba gsal ba, and (3) zla ba’i sgron me.
Rongtönpa, folios 3.b–4.a. One clue that the seventeen versions he mentions belong to the imperial period and precede Ngok’s revision is that the tenth was produced by Lhalung Palgyi Dorjé (lha lung dpal gyi rdo rje), presumably the same as the well-known ninth-century figure said to have assassinated Langdarma (see Treasury of Lives).
Narthang catalog, folio 25.a.7. From the sequence of the passage concerned it would seem that this version must have appeared before the time of the thirteenth-century Chomden Rikpai Raltri (bcom ldan rig pa’i ral gri, 1227–1305). The best known Yarlung Jowo is Shākya Rinchen Dé, fifteenth-century author notably of a history, but not known for his work on the editing or production of Kangyurs. He is therefore probably not the person referred to here, nor is it likely to be the famous Yarlung Lotsāwa Drakpa Gyaltsen (1242–1346). Another Yarlungpa is mentioned as a Narthang scholar who may have been responsible for an early Tengyur or its catalog. See Schaeffer and van der Kuijp 2009, p. 36, and Almogi 2021, pp. 177–78.
Neither of the two copies of the Hemis Kangyur, the fifth of the Kangyurs that add the extra chapters, is complete enough at the end of the final volume to show whether or not there was a colophon.
’di ni bsam yas dang lha sa’i rig zing mtshams mi ’da’ la sogs pa la gtugs nas/ zhus dag lan bcu drug byas pa’i rgyan gong gi ’bum nag mtshams mi ’da’ la phyi mo byas nas/ dag par gtugs pa’i ’bum sdig ma ’dres zhes bya ba’i gser ’bum bcu gnyis dum/ lo tsa ba chen po thams cad mkhyen pa bu ston rin chen grub kyi thugs dam la phyi mo bgyis nas/ mkhas chen rin chen rgyal mtshan pas bzhengs pa la ma phyi bgyis pa’o. In Tibetan literature overall, such a large number of figures with the name Rinchen Gyaltsen are recorded that it would be difficult to identify this one with certainty. However, if the moniker “great scholar” is taken as a specific one, there was a fifteenth-century scholar at Sangphu referred to as mkhas dbang rin chen rgyal mtshan.
In the Twenty-Five Thousand, ch. 26 has the title “The Hells,” and ch. 27 “The Purity of All the Dharmas.”
This commentary has been translated and published by 84000, and will be linked to the present text. See The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines (Toh 3808), 2022; details of its authorship attribution, etc., can be found in the introduction.
This commentary (Toh 3807) is currently being translated by 84000 and, when ready, will be linked to the present text. For its authorship attribution, see as follows: Denkarma folio 5.a; see also Hermann-Pfandt 514. Phangthangma, p. 54; see also Kawagoe 767. Chomden Rikpai Raltri, folio 70.b.3; see also Schaeffer and van der Kuijp 2009, p. 263. Butön, folio 156.a.
For details of these Tibetan lineages of Prajñāpāramitā study, see Kongtrul, pp. 227–28, translated in Stein and Zangpo 2013, pp. 258–60; see also Brunnhölzl 2010, vol. 1, pp. 43–46.
Dölpopa explicitly emphasized the importance, in his opinion, of the Bṛhaṭṭīkā commentarial tradition over that of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.
The three approaches provide much of the framework for the commentary on the three long sūtras, The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines (Toh 3808). A very brief summary is given here but for more details see Sparham (2022b), i.46. The term “three approaches” is also applied in other commentaries, e.g., Haribhadra’s Abhisamayālaṃkārāloka (Toh 3791), to the sūtras being of three different lengths; see Brunnhölzl (2010), vol. 1 p. 35.
Kimura’s Sanskrit edition is divided into eight sections corresponding to the eight topics, as is the Tibetan “eight-chapter” Tengyur version.
It should be noted that only the three long sūtras start with the Buddha’s statement to Śāriputra and the subsequent teaching to him (and in the Ten Thousand, Toh 11, the same material prompted by an initial question from Śāriputra). In contrast, in the Eight Thousand, Toh 12, the Buddha’s request to Subhūti is the initial passage and the briefer equivalent of the Śāriputra chapter only comes afterward.
The distinction is found in Pali in the Aṅguttaranikāya (AN 1.89) and in Sanskrit and Tibetan in several Mahāyāna sūtras, including the Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra (Toh 132, Degé Kangyur vol. 55, mdo sde, da, F.305.b). Detailed accounts of how Śāriputra became a disciple of the Buddha are to be found in The Chapter on Going Forth (Toh 1-1) and The Ratnaketu Dhāranī (Toh 138). Interestingly, The Chapter on Going Forth (1.399) adds a “foremost” distinction that we have not identified elsewhere, that of being foremost among those with great pratibhāna (“confidence” or “inspired eloquence”).
The second of these distinctions is mentioned in the present sūtra (4.52, 6.174). Both distinctions are found in Pali in the Aṅguttaranikāya (AN 1.201–2) and in Sanskrit and Tibetan in several Mahāyāna sūtras, including the Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra (Toh 132, Degé Kangyur vol. 55, mdo sde, da, F.305.b). The first of the two is dakṣineyānām agryaḥ in Sanskrit, and the second usually araṇavihāriṇām agryaḥ, rendered in Tibetan (Mvy 6366) as nyon mongs pa med par gnas pa rnams kyi mchog, “foremost among those dwelling free of afflicted mental states,” but also sometimes araṇyavihāriṇām agryaḥ, interpreted as “dwelling in seclusion.”
The Majjhimanikāya (MN 139) mentions his dwelling in nonconflict at the end of an explanation of that topic. He and his nephew Saddha are mentioned in the Aṅguttaranikāya (AN 11.14); and his meditation is commended by the Buddha in the Udāna (Ud 6.7). The Theragāthā (1.1) contains a verse on him that is said to refer to his practicing in retreat in Rājagṛha, and the prose legend associated with it in Dhammapāla’s commentary, the Paramatthadīpani (see Rhys Davids 1913, pp. 1–6), states that he was the younger brother of the benefactor Anāthapiṇḍada, that he was inspired to go forth during the dedication of the Jetavana presented to the Buddha by his brother, and that he attained the state of arhat through the practice of loving kindness. The legend also includes the story of how King Bimbisāra promised him a hermitage but then forgot to build it, causing a drought since the gods did not want to let him suffer in the open as he meditated.
The story is in the Vinayakṣudrakavastu (Toh 6, Degé Kangyur vol. 11, ’dul ba, da, F.92.a), and relates the story of Subhūti remaining in meditative seclusion in Rājagṛha instead of coming to greet the Buddha in Sāṃkāśya on his descent from Trāyastrimśa. The narrative is reproduced in the Dazhidu lun 137a (see Lamotte 2001, pp. 208, et seq.) and is also mentioned in Lamotte 1962, p. 155, n.27; it appears in abridged form in Tāranātha’s biography of the Buddha compiled from Vinaya sources. On MSV works in Chinese, see previous note n.66.
For examples, see The Ratnaketu Dhāraṇī (Toh 138, 3.66); The Dharma Council (Dharmasaṅgīti, Toh 238, 1.399); The Acceptance That Tames Beings with the Sky-Colored Method of Perfect Conduct (Toh 263, 7.37); and especially chapter 4 of Unraveling the Intent (Toh 106), in which Subhūti discusses with the Buddha the ultimate single nature common to all dharmas. But see also n.72.
As in The Prophecy Concerning Strīvivarta (Toh 190), most of which comprises a discussion between the bodhisattva Strīvivarta and Subhūti, drawing on the latter’s two characterizations as a worthy recipient of offerings and a specialist in the profound; and in Subhūti’s reasons for not wishing to call on Vimalakīrti in chapter 3 of The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Toh 176), drawing on his role as a recipient of offerings.
The stories in Pali commentaries (and alluded to in some Kangyur texts, too) that outline Subhūti’s other distinction, of being “foremost among those worthy of receiving offerings,” relate that when on his alms round he would stop outside each house and meditate deeply and at length on loving kindness for the householder before receiving any donation of food. This other detail, according to which—even in a quite different area than his unceasing pursuit of emptiness and the ultimate view—it is again apparent that he is uncompromisingly ready to take the Buddha’s teachings to their utmost limits, nicely rounds out what we can glean of his personal character.
See Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, the Blessed Mother (Toh 21), 2022.
bka’ yang dag pas, here and in the Twenty-Five Thousand, is one Tibetan rendering in the canonical texts of the Skt. samyagājñā, the other being the more widespread yang dag pa’i shes pas (“by perfect understanding”), as in the equivalent phrase in the Eighteen Thousand, 1.2 and as recommended in Mahāvyutpatti 1087. See also The Jewel Cloud (Toh 231), 1.2 and n.21. Vetter, p. 67, n. 53, says it “deviates from the translation” of it as a verb (kun shes pa, “fully understand”).
Bṭ1: “It means thus, in the order explained above, those who possess the inspired eloquence that was unimpeded are simply in possession of the good quality of being extremely skillful at the ‘inexhaustible’ many types of means for teaching the doctrine to beings.” Vetter, p. 29, n. 66, says “one would rather expect a kṣaya belonging to pratisaṃvid,” suggesting as an alternative translation “had comprehended the teaching, the inexhaustible mode of the detailed and thorough knowledges.”
Edgerton s.v. kuhana: “hypocrisy, specifically display of behavior designed to stimulate laymen to give gifts.”
“Realized and integrated” renders rtogs pa khong du chud pa. Cp. Kimura, 1–1:1, gambhīradharmakṣāntipāraṅgatair; Ghoṣa, Gilgit gaṃbhīradharmakṣāntiparamagatiṃ gatair, “gone to the furthest state that is a forbearance for the profound ultimate attribute.”
By contrast, Bṭ1 renders this compound “they had overcome karma and afflicted mental states so they had overcome the hostile forces” and says it “means they had eliminated the enemy—karma and afflicted mental states.”
Bṭ1: “ ‘Difficult for all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas to understand’ teaches that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas cannot understand the knowledge, aspiration, and range of practice of those bodhisattvas.” So too Vetter, p. 70.
The correct reading is uncertain. Kimura, 1–1:1 anantakalpakoṭīniḥsaraṇakuśalair; Gilgit 1v2–3 (Zacchetti, p. 366; Vetter, p. 72), anantakalpa(ko)[ṭī]nirdeśajñānanirḥsaraṇakuśalair; Ghoṣa p. 4 anantakalpakoṭinirdeśajñātibhiḥ saraṇyākuśalair? Edg s.v. niḥsaraṇa, citing Mvy 853, which cites this same passage (like Kimura) only with niḥsaraṇa (as in Bṭ3, 20a4 (1.110), nges par ’byung ba), suggests ye shes kyi (not ye shes kyis) might go with ’byung ba; cp. yid ’byung ba (nirvid) (“disgust,” “renunciation”) in the sense of a mental emancipation from something otherwise believed to be real and a problem. Bṭ1, p. 650, also has kyi ’byung (“of”) and, like Bṭ3, says the ’byung ba here rendered “emancipation” means just that the bodhisattvas “have finished with and gone beyond” eons of teaching and working for beings, so, because of their practice of perseverance, at this level are effortless.
Here and in the Twenty-Five Thousand, D reads shes pa phra ba, whereas the Ten Thousand has phra ba mkhyen pa. The Long Explanation (Toh 3808 1.123) here lists various aspects of this “subtle knowledge” or “knowledge that engages in subtlety” (which it renders as ye shes phra ba) with regard to conduct and so forth.
Gilgit (Zacchetti, p. 367) and Ghoṣa, p. 5, pratītyanirdeśakuśalair; Vetter: “skilled in teaching dependent on the audience.” The brten pa rtogs pa is a don ’gyur. Emend Urga bden pa to brten pa. Bṭ1 glosses bden pa (emend to brten pa) rtogs pa with gzhan gyis rtogs par bya ba’i phyir bstan pa.
Gilgit, Ghoṣa omit. Bṭ1 glosses it with “…stopping those actions and afflicted mental states of self and others through skillful means.”
Bṭ1: “They do not ultimately view such scriptural doctrine as an existing thing, but conventionally, on account of their skill in the ‘ways of the doctrine,’ the various forms of teaching the levels and perfections and dharmas on the side of awakening and so on, they are fearless and are not scared, whatever the audience, when they differentiate and teach those doctrines.”
This renders Gilgit yathātmyāvatāraṇākuśalaiḥ. Bṭ1 says this “teaches the skill in entry into the range of the knowledge of the tathāgatas. The range of the knowledge of the tathāgatas, furthermore, is twofold: the correct comprehension of the ultimate nature of things and the correct comprehension of the conventional nature of things. As for the correct comprehension of the ultimate nature, ultimately all phenomena are simply just the true nature, beyond causal signs and ideas. As for the correct comprehension of the conventional nature, it is the unsurpassed conduct of the blessed buddhas—bringing beings to maturity, purifying a buddhafield, and so on. That is the meaning of being skilled in bringing about correct comprehension of the range of the tathāgatas.”
Ghoṣa, p. 6, sarvabuddhotpādopasaṃkramaṇakuśalair; Bṭ1, p. 660: “This is teaching that having traveled to whichever world system in which the buddhas appear, they are skilled in worshiping and serving them.”
Ghoṣa, p. 6, aparimitabuddhādhyeṣaṇakuśalair; Bṭ1, p. 660: “This means that having gone into the presence of all those blessed lord buddhas, as many as there are, maintaining themselves in innumerable, immeasurable world systems, they request them to turn the wheel of the Dharma, and request those thinking to enter into final nirvāṇa to stay for a long time.”
Bṭ1, p. 661: “This teaches that they possess the result from having completed the meditative stabilities that are the cause of the extrasensory powers. It means they are skilled, through the power of having earlier meditated on many types of meditative stabilities, at reveling in the various types of miraculous powers and working in various ways for the welfare of beings.”
Ghoṣa, p. 6, and Kimura, 1–1:1, Sārthavāha. This is also the form found in the Twenty-Five Thousand.
This name is not attested, except perhaps in Gilgit, 1v11, where the illegible letter that Zacchetti, p. 367, n. 6, renders as pā (following Ghoṣa’s bhadrapāla) may in fact be ba.
Here and in the following the names have been rendered as ending in -mati in accord with the Tib blo gros, not as expected with the Skt possessive ending -matin.
dgongs pa is honorific for dran pa; cf. Bṭ1, p. 662, dran pa mngon du gzhag pa bstan pa’i phyir.
See also “immaturity” and n.272.
Seventeenth of the eighty minor signs.
A meditative stability.
Thirteenth of the thirty-two major marks.
Thirty-fifth of the eighty minor signs.
Fifth of the sixteen god realms of form that correspond to the four meditative concentrations, meaning “Radiance.”
Eighth of the sixteen god realms of form that correspond to the four meditative concentrations, meaning “Inner Radiance.” See also n.89.
Lit. “cannot be measured.” An incredibly large number, higher than aparyanta.
Name that the hundred billion trillion beings in this assembly will bear when they become buddhas.
The buddhafield of Akṣobhya.
A meditative stability.
A meditative stability.
A synonym for emptiness, and the realm of phenomena (dharmadhātu).
Alslo rendered as “abiding nature of phenomena.”
A meditative stability.
A meditative stability.
A meditative stability.
Twenty-third of the eighty minor signs.
The Sanskrit literally means “attainment,” and is used to refer specifically to meditative attainment and to particular meditative states. The Tibetan translators interpreted it as sama-āpatti, which suggests the idea of “equal” or “level”; however, they also parsed it as sam-āpatti, in which case it would have the sense of “concentration” or “absorption,” much like samādhi, but with the added sense of “attainment.”
Also rendered here as “meditative absorption.”
Sixth of the twelve ascetic practices.
The bodhisattvas’ realization that all phenomena are unproduced and empty. It sustains them on the difficult path of benefiting all beings so that they do not succumb to the goal of personal liberation. Different sources link this realization to the first or eighth bodhisattva level (bhūmi).
Seventh of the twelve branches of the scriptures.
A meditative stability.
Lit. “inconceivable.” An incredibly large number, higher than asaṃkhya.
See “five acquisitive aggregates.”
See “afflicted mental state.”
The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by various psychological defilements, which destroy the mind’s peace and composure and lead to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, acting as causes for continued existence in saṃsāra. Included among them are the primary afflictions of desire (rāga), anger (dveṣa), and ignorance (avidyā). It is said that there are eighty-four thousand of these negative mental qualities, for which the eighty-four thousand categories of the Buddha’s teachings serve as the antidote.
Kleśa is also commonly translated as “negative emotions,” “disturbing emotions,” and so on. The Pāli kilesa, Middle Indic kileśa, and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit kleśa all primarily mean “stain” or “defilement.” The translation “affliction” is a secondary development that derives from the more general (non-Buddhist) classical understanding of √kliś (“to harm,“ “to afflict”). Both meanings are noted by Buddhist commentators.
The mundane process of rebirth within saṃsāra, impelled by the propensities of past actions. See also The Precious Discourse on the Blessed One’s Extensive Wisdom That Leads to Infinite Certainty (Toh 99), 3.162, and n.106.
See “five aggregates.”
First of the five undefiled aggregates.
Fourth of the five undefiled aggregates.
Second of the five undefiled aggregates.
Fifth of the five undefiled aggregates.
Third of the five undefiled aggregates.
Twelfth of the twelve links of dependent origination.
Fourth of the five obscurations.
Lit. “Highest.”
The eighth and highest level of the Realm of Form (rūpadhātu), the last of the five pure abodes (śuddhāvāsa); it is only accessible as the result of specific states of dhyāna. According to some texts this is where non-returners (anāgāmin) dwell in their last lives. In other texts it is the realm of the enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya) and is a buddhafield associated with the Buddha Vairocana; it is accessible only to bodhisattvas on the tenth level.
The translation of his name in this sūtra differs from the usual translations, which are either mi ’khrugs pa, mi skyod pa, or mi bskyod pa
Lit. “Not Disturbed” or “Immovable One.” The buddha in the eastern realm of Abhirati. A well-known buddha in Mahāyāna, regarded in the higher tantras as the head of one of the five buddha families, the vajra family in the east.
Thirteenth of the eighteen distinct qualities of the buddhas.
Fifteenth of the eighteen distinct qualities of the buddhas.
Fourteenth of the eighteen distinct qualities of the buddhas.
This key term in the Prajñāpāramitā literature refers to the omniscience of a buddha, and is not to be confused with the “knowledge of the aspects of the path” of bodhisattvas, or with the knowledge of all the dharmas (thams cad shes pa, lit. “omniscience”) of śrāvakas. The “all-aspect” (sarvākāra) part of the term refers to the different aspects that it comprises, and is explained in two ways in The Long Explanation (Toh 3808, 4.78–4.80). One way identifies the “aspects” as being qualities such as nonarising and unproduced, unceasing, primordially at peace, naturally in nirvāṇa, without intrinsic nature, emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, etc. The other way identifies them as being the collections of the wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral, and the collection of those destined for error and those of uncertain destiny. All-aspect omniscience is also the first of the eight progressive stages of clear realization.
Name of a bodhisattva.
Eighth of the thirty-two major marks.
Lit. “inexpressible.” An incredibly large number, higher than abhāṣya.
Lit. “inexpressibly inexpressible.” An incredibly large number, higher than anabhilāpya.
Second of the seven branches of enlightenment.
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa (Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā) [The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines]. Toh 8, Degé Kangyur vols. 14–25: (’bum, ka), folios 1.b–394.a; (’bum, kha), folios 1.b–402.a; (’bum, ga), folios 1.b–394.a; (’bum, nga), folios 1.b–381.a; (’bum, ca), folios 1.b–395.a; (’bum, cha), folios 1.b–382.a; (’bum, ja), folios 1.b–398.a; (’bum, nya), folios 1.b–399.a; (’bum, ta), folios 1.b–384.a; (’bum, tha), folios 1.b–387.a; (’bum, da), folios 1.b–411.a; and (’bum, a), folios 1.b–395.a.
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa (Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā) [The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines]. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vols. 14–25.
Śatasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā [The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines]. Sanskrit texts based on Ghoṣa, Pratāpacandra, Çatasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā: A Theological and Philosophical Discourse of Buddha With His Disciples in A Hundred Thousand Stanzas. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1902–14 (chapters 1–12); and on Kimura, Takayasu, Śatasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā, II/1–4, 4 vols. Tokyo: Sankibo Busshorin, 2009–14. Available as e-texts, Part I and Part II, on Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (GRETIL).
The Larger Prajñāpāramitā. Sanskrit edition (mostly according to the Gilgit manuscript GBM 175–675, folios 1–27) from Zacchetti, Stefano (2005). In Praise of the Light: A Critical Synoptic Edition with an Annotated Translation of Chapters 1-3 of Dharmarakṣa’s Guang zan jing, Being the Earliest Chinese Translation of the Larger Prajñāpāramitā. Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica, Vol. 8. The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology. Tokyo: Soka University, 2005. Available as e-text on Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (GRETIL).
The Larger Prajñāpāramitā. Sanskrit edition (Gilgit manuscript folios 202.a.5–205.a.12, GBM 571.5–577.12) from Yoke Meei Choong, Zum Problem der Leerheit (śūnyatā) in der Prajñāpāramitā, Frankfurt: Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe 27, Bd. 97, 2006, pp. 109–33. Available as e-text on Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (GRETIL).
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa (Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā) [The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines]. Toh 9, Degé Kangyur vols. 26–28 (shes phyin, nyi khri, ka–a), folios ka.1.b–ga.381.a.
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa (Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā) [The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines]. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vols. 26–28.
shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag nyi shu lnga pa (Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā) [The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines, the “eight-chapter” (le’u brgyad ma) Tengyur version]. Toh 3790, Degé Tengyur vols. 82–84 (shes phyin, ga–ca), folios ga.1.b–ca.342.a.
Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā [The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines]. Sanskrit text based on the edition by Takayasu Kimura. Tokyo: Sankibo Busshorin 2007–9 (1–1, 1–2), 1986 (2–3), 1990 (4), 1992 (5), 2006 (6–8). Available as e-text on Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (GRETIL). Page references: {Ki.}
Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā [The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines]. Dutt, Nalinaksha. Calcutta Oriental Series 28. London: Luzac, 1934. Reprint edition, Sri Satguru Publications, 1986. Available as e-text on Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (GRETIL). Page references: {Dt.nn}
Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā [The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines]. Sanskrit text of the Anurādhapura fragment, based on the edition by Oskar von Hinüber, “Sieben Goldblätter einer Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā aus Anurādhapura,” in Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Phil.-Hist.Kl. 1983, pp. 189–207. Available as e-text on Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (GRETIL).
Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā [The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines]. Sanskrit text based on the edition by P. L. Vaidya, in Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, vol. 4. Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute, 1960. Available as e-text on Göttingen Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (GRETIL).
Daṃṣṭrasena. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa ’bum pa rgya cher ’grel pa (Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitābṛhaṭṭīkā) [“An Extensive Commentary on The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines”], Toh 3807, Degé Tengyur vols. 91–92. Also in Tengyur Pedurma (TPD) (bstan ’gyur [dpe bsdur ma]), [Comparative Edition of the Tengyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 120 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 1994–2008, vol. 54 (TPD 54), pp. 627–1439, and vol. 55, pp. 2–550.
Denkarma (ldan dkar ma; pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
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Butön (bu ston rin chen grub). bde bar gshegs pa’i bstan pa’i gsal byed chos kyi ’byung gnas gsung rab rin po che’i mdzod. In gsung ’bum/_rin chen grub/ zhol par ma/ ldi lir bskyar par brgyab pa/ [The Collected Works of Bu-ston: Edited by Lokesh Chandra from the Collections of Raghu Vira], vol. 24, pp. 633–1056. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71.
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