A Multitude of Buddhas

Overview

This celebrated Mahāyāna scripture, the Buddhāvataṃsaka, with its own characteristic perspective on the nature of the buddhas and their teachings, is presented as a single, very long sūtra (Toh 44), although many of its component texts or “chapters” have also been seen as independent works.

The forty-five chapters of which it is composed fill no less than four volumes of the Degé Kangyur. In its Tibetan translation, as well as in the two complete Chinese translations, it is presented as a single work described as a “greatly extensive sūtra” (mahāvaipūlyasūtra, shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo). It may, however, have evolved as an encyclopedic coalescence of shorter works, many of which are known to have circulated independently in India; some were first translated into Chinese as independent sūtras. In Tibet, some of them are still seen as texts in their own right despite being treated formally as “chapters” of the larger work.

Nevertheless, as described below, all the “chapters” are closely related in their theme, style, terminology, and structure, and there is a degree of coherence to the way they are placed in order. A common feature is the view that all buddhas and bodhisattvas, wherever they may manifest, are emanations of the Buddha Vairocana. There are good reasons to think of these component parts of the whole as belonging to a “Buddhāvataṃsaka family”¹ of texts, a notion that can be extended to cover some additional standalone sūtras and alternative Tibetan translations that are found elsewhere in the Kangyur and share the same general themes and perspectives.

Most of the narrative elements take place in the few weeks following the Buddha’s awakening. Tradition holds that he did not teach during this time, and in the account in this body of texts, too, as the Buddha remains silently in meditation he inspires the teachings that are mostly delivered by Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and other bodhisattvas. Approximately the last third of the Buddāvataṃsaka is taken up by The Stem Array (Gaṇḍavyūha, chapter 45), one of the best-known texts of the family. Its story narrating the youth Sudhana’s spiritual quest and meetings with fifty-two teachers is depicted in detail in the stone carvings of Borobudur in central Java. It concludes with the dedication “Prayer of Good Action” (Bhadra­caryāpraṇidhāna) recited widely in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

The Buddhāvataṃsaka has been highly influential in East Asian Buddhism as the foundational scripture of the Huayan tradition in China (Kegon in Japan, Hwaeom in Korea, Hoa Nghiêm in Vietnam). In Tibet, although less studied, it was greatly respected as representing the full flowering of Mahāyāna thought. The whole work is classified by Tibetan editors as belonging to the Buddha’s third turning of the wheel of Dharma.

The Tibetan translation, made from Sanskrit, has some unique features compared to the Chinese versions of the text.

Narrative and Themes

The events that form the narrative framework of the text mostly take place (with the exception of the Gaṇḍavyūha) in the weeks that follow the Buddha’s awakening. He sits in silence under the Bodhi tree, and in other locations successively or simultaneously: the Trāyastriṃśa realm on the summit of Sumeru, Yāma and Tuṣita high above Sumeru, and Para­nirmita­vaśa­vartin, the highest level of the realm of desire.

In the period following the Buddha’s awakening as it is described in other, more biographical accounts, he remains alone, has not yet started to teach, and is still reflecting on how to communicate the profound and ultimately ineffable nature of the awakening he has discovered. Here, however, there is no sense in which his activity has been paused. Throughout the text, while he remains in meditation and does not himself speak, the nature of his awakening is explored and depicted against a backdrop of highly visual descriptions of the vast assemblies of bodhisattvas, gods, and other nonhuman beings who gather to witness and celebrate it, of the miraculous displays of lights and powers that he manifests through his samādhis, and of the whole vast cosmos itself in which each particle contains entire world systems and every detail manifests as an expression of enlightened activity. Everything that appears or is taught happens through his power.

The teachings that radiate from his presence, setting out the path to awakening, its nature and practice, and the culminating result of the qualities and activity of a tathāgata, are all expressed not by the Buddha himself but by the great bodhisattvas such as Samantabhadra, Mañjuśrī, and Vajragarbha, often prompted by questions put by other bodhisattvas. And just as the universe itself is described from the perspective of awakening, so too the teachings and explanations given by these great bodhisattvas—and even the questions that elicit them—are all the very expression of the Buddha’s awakened wisdom. Indeed, it is the awakening of the primordial Buddha Vairocana that the Buddha Śākyamuni has made manifest, and it is also due to Vairocana’s all-pervading presence that all bodhisattvas have found their way to the path to awakening.

Lofty though their perspective may be, the teachings are directed at guiding those who aspire to attain awakening, and the text is structured, despite its literary profusion, with a clearly didactic intent. Points are made clear and memorable with analogies and metaphors. In most of the chapters, passages of prose are followed by a recapitulation in verse. A recurring theme is that of the various ways in which the path can be seen as divided into sequential stages, and sets of ten—whether of stages, items, analogies, or categories—are among several recognizable features.² The doctrinally rich presentations set out in the successive chapters are complemented in the final great section of The Stem Array (Gaṇḍavyūha), a rich narrative in which the understanding of the young layman Sudhana gradually unfolds as he encounters, one after the other, fifty-two different kinds of teachers, male and female, child and adult, human and divine, monastic and lay, and learns of their attainments. The whole work concludes with the widely known aspiration and dedication composed by the last of Sudhana’s teachers, Samantabhadra, the “Prayer of Good Action” (Bhadra­caryāpraṇidhāna).

History, Transmission, and Texts

The Component Works in India and China

The earliest signs of the existence of at least some of the individual works that were later integrated into the Buddhāvataṃsaka come in the form of the dates recorded of their translation into Chinese, starting in the second century CE and continuing during the third and fourth centuries, made by Central Asian translators such as Lokakṣema, Zhiqian, Dharmarakṣa, and Faxian.

Citations and mentions in Indian treatises provide further evidence that some of these individual works circulated widely in Buddhist India from at least the fourth century. Authors who cite one or more of them include Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Sthiramati, Śāntideva, Kamalaśīla, and Buddhaguhya. Possibly even earlier, but with far less certainty than these other mentions, are citations in the Sūtrasamuccaya, with its problematic attribution to Nāgārjuna.

The evidence from Sanskrit manuscripts is sparse. In the Nepalese Buddhist tradition, among the Buddhāvataṃsaka family of texts only the Daśabhūmika and Gaṇḍavyūha (chapters 31 and 45 in the Tibetan version of the whole sūtra) have been preserved in Sanskrit manuscripts, the oldest dating to the eleventh century CE, but both texts have been transmitted as independent works without reference to the Buddhāvataṃsaka as a whole. Some fragments in the Hoernle collection in London from Sanskrit manuscripts in Southern Turkestan Brāhmī, dating perhaps to the sixth century or later, have been identified as belonging to Buddhāvataṃsaka texts but, again, the fragments that are extant do not refer to the Buddhāvataṃsaka as such.³

However, one of a set of so far undated Sanskrit manuscripts from the Potala in Lhasa, of which editions and notes were published in 2010,⁴ is that of the Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana (chapter 37 in the Tibetan version of the whole sūtra, but also extant as two different Tibetan translations in the General Sūtra section of the Kangyur, Toh 104 and Toh 268), and the colophon to this Sanskrit manuscript is of particular interest as it specifies that the text belongs to “the extensive basket (vaipūlyapiṭaka), the Buddhāvataṃsaka.” It is thus the only clear sign in any Indic text that the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra, as such, was a collection recognized in India, and was not an East Asian innovation.⁵

The Buddhāvataṃsaka as a Collection

It is significant that in the colophon to the Sanskrit manuscript just mentioned, the Buddhāvataṃsaka is referred to as a collection or “basket” (piṭaka). This same term also comes up in a work translated into Chinese by the Indian monk Paramārtha (who calls the Buddhāvataṃsaka a bodhisattvapiṭaka), and in a Dunhuang manuscript of the Daśabhūmika in Tibetan.⁶ As noted below, it is also used in reference to the Buddhāvataṃsaka in Butön’s inventory and in several of the Kangyur catalogs, and as a term describing a particular grouping of chapters (12–27) within the work as a whole.

When, how, and where the individual members of the Buddhāvataṃsaka “family” of texts came to be seen as a piṭaka and eventually as a single “extensive sūtra” (mahāvaipulyasūtra) with that single title remains unknown.

In contrast to the paucity of early textual evidence, both Chinese and Tibetan historical traditions, in different ways, sustain the emic perception that the component parts have always formed a whole.

Chinese tradition relates that the original teachings, in the form of a vast Buddhāvaṃsakasūtra corpus in three versions, were preserved and guarded by the nāgas in their realm. The longest version was almost infinitely long. Nāgārjuna, after visiting the nāgas, was able to bring to the human world only the shortest of the three versions, which had 100,000 ślokas divided into forty-eight chapters.⁷ The legend closely resembles the story preserved in Indian and Tibetan sources of Nāgārjuna’s retrieval of the Prajñāpāramitā corpus, but the biography of Nāgārjuna on which this Chinese tradition is based does not seem to have been known in India, and the parallel narrative in Indo-Tibetan histories has survived only with regard to the Prajñāpāramitā.

Tibetan historical tradition—as recounted in Khepa De’u’s thirteenth century History, briefly by Butön, in more detail by by Tāranātha, and referred to in several of the Kangyur catalogs including that of the Degé Kangyur—also tells us that in India the Buddhāvataṃsaka existed as a collection and that it was originally a great deal larger, with one hundred chapters (according to the Kangyur catalog) or one thousand (Tāranātha), but gives a different account of why it is now incomplete. This narrative attributes the loss of most of a much longer version to an arson attack on the library at Nālandā, that reduced it to only thirty-eight surviving chapters. The date of this event, said to have been responsible for the decimation of many other scriptures, too (including much of the Ratnakūṭa), is placed sometime before the lives of Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, along with accounts of two other calamitous episodes during a period of political turbulence and unstable patronage for Buddhist institutions in India.⁸ The allusions to this story in the Kangyur catalogs that make this mention are included there to explain why their entries use the phrase “as much as is extant” (ci snyed pa); the same phrase is seen as part of the explicit (concluding statement) of the whole sūtra.⁹

Be that as it may—and with the important exception of the colophon to the Potala manuscript mentioned above—the earliest direct evidence we have of the Buddhāvataṃsaka being seen as a whole rather than simply as its individual component parts is in the form of the Chinese translations that present it as a single large work:

• The earliest of these was the translation by Buddhabhadra, a North Indian monk of the Sarvāstivāda school, trained in Kashmir. This is the Dafang guang fo huayan jing (大方廣佛華嚴經, Taishō 278) in 60 fascicles, with thirty-four chapters, and was completed in 421 CE.
• The second to appear was the translation made under the Empress Wu by the famous Khotanese translator Śikṣānanda, with the same title (Dafang Guang Fo Huayan Jing, 大方廣佛華嚴經, Taishō 279) but in 80 fascicles and with thirty-nine chapters. It was made between 695 and 704 CE, and has remained the most popular Chinese translation.
• A third, 40 fascicle Huayan Jing translation made by Prajña and completed in 798 (Taisho 293) actually contains only the Gaṇḍavyūha, but in a longer version than is to be found in the 60 and 80 fascicle translations.

Both of the complete Chinese translations were made from manuscripts brought from Khotan, leading to some speculation that the Buddhāvataṃsaka might have been composed there or elsewhere in Central Asia rather than in India. However, there is enough evidence of the work’s circulation in India to conclude that it must have had an Indian origin.¹⁰

The Buddhāvataṃsaka was studied far more extensively in China than it ever was in Tibet, generating an extensive corpus of commentarial literature. On it is based a whole school of Chinese Buddhism, the Huayan, and it has also had a profound influence on Chan Buddhism.

In summary, the several earlier translations of individual component works known to have been made into Chinese, and possibly some into Tibetan, were later superseded by the only three full recensions of the whole Buddhāvataṃsaka that we have today: the two complete Chinese translations (Buddhabhadra’s fifth century 60-fascicle version and Śikṣānanda’s eighth century 80 fascicle one), and the ninth century Tibetan translation. Each successive recension added more material, but their content is, very broadly, similar. Some of the principal differences between them are noted below.

Differences Between Versions

According to Chinese tradition with its several versions, the whole work is divided into thirty-four or thirty-nine chapters, grouped into eight or nine “assemblies” according to the places and occasions where the teachings they recount took place. Although these divisions could be discerned in the Tibetan translation, traditionally they have not been, and the way the Tibetan chapters are grouped (see below) is different.  

Overall, the early ninth century Tibetan translation is of similar size and content to the late seventh century Chinese translation by Śikṣānanda, both being larger than the early fifth century Chinese translation by Buddhabhadra.

However, neither Buddhabhadra’s translation, nor Śikṣānanda’s, contain what constitutes the last section of the final Gaṇḍavyūha chapter in the Tibetan translation—the Bhadracārī­praṇidhāna (Tib. bzang spyod smon lam). This is despite the fact that the Bhadracārī­praṇidhāna had been translated by Buddhabhadra as a separate work, and was later translated twice more in the eighth century, first by Amoghavajra and then by Prajñā. Indeed the Gaṇḍavyūha reached its longest extent in Prajñā’s eighth century, 40 fascicle translation, which included the Bhadracārī­praṇidhāna as well as some new material.

The Tibetan translation also contains two chapters, 11 and 32, not found in any of the complete Chinese translations, although a Chinese translation by Śikṣānanda matching the second exists as an independent sūtra, Taishō 298.

In other words, we see a gradual augmentation and lengthening of the corpus over time, probably reflecting new versions of the Sanskrit texts reaching China (perhaps via Central Asia) and Tibet, and perhaps also the incorporation of texts that earlier had some level of independent existence—like the Bhadracārī-praṇidhāna, which in China at least seems to be the last section to have been added.

Transmission and Translation in Tibet

It is possible that Tibetans first encountered some of the major canonical collections, including the Buddhāvataṃsaka, through Chinese translations. There are a few intriguing mentions of there having been an early Tibetan translation of the Buddhāvataṃsaka made from the Chinese, although that possibility is backed up by little substantial evidence.¹¹

The Tibetan Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra that is found in the Kangyurs available today is presented as a single large sūtra (mahāvaipūlyasūtra). It is almost certainly based on one or more Sanskrit manuscripts, and was translated in the early translation period; what is known of the translators is discussed below. However, signs that the work as a whole represents some degree of compilation and includes texts that once circulated independently remain evident in Tibetan sources, and it is not clear exactly when it began to be taken as a single work. Even after that had happened, some texts that belong to the Buddhāvataṃsaka family, but are not included in the large sūtra, are placed in Kangyurs today in the General Sūtra section, along with a few alternative Tibetan translations of texts that are included (both kinds of standalone works are listed below).

If indeed some of the component texts of the Buddhāvataṃsaka reached Tibet as individual works before the complete compilation, we know little about where they might have come from. There are transmission lineage records indicating that Tibetans received transmissions of the Buddhāvataṃsaka as a complete mahāvaipulya or piṭaka from Chinese lineages (the two Chinese translators Buddhabhadra and Śikṣānanda are named in these Tibetan records) as well as from Indian ones,¹² but if these lineage records shed some light on how particular Tibetans received transmission, they do not necessarily tell us how the texts themselves first came to Tibet. Whether this might have been through Khotan or Dunhuang, or via geographically more direct routes taken by lotsāwas and paṇḍitas, remains speculative. As mentioned below, the mdo sde snyan gyi gong rgyan preserved only in some Themphangma Kangyurs might possibly have come from Bruzha (the area of Gilgit and Hunza).

In the two surviving early text inventories, the Phangthangma and Denkarma (both dating to the early ninth century), the Buddhāvataṃsaka seems to be understood to be a category or class of texts (akin to the Prajñāpāramitā or the Ratnakūṭa) rather than treated as a single work, and both inventories list several items in that category.

The Phangthangma inventory¹³ lists five texts that are included in the “noble extensive great Buddhāvataṃsaka sūtra section” (’phags pa shin tu rgyas pa chen po sangs rgyas phal po che’i mdo sde), giving for each the numbers of fascicles(bam po) and ślokas (not reproduced here): ‍

• ’phags pa shin tu rgyas pa’i mdo sangs rgyas phal po che (*Āryabuddhāvatamsakavaipūlyasūtra)
• ’phags pa ’jig rten las ’das pa’i le’u (*Āryalokottaraparivarta)
• ’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’i sa bcu (*Āryabodhisattvadaśabhūmika)
• ’phags pa dkon mchog ta la la (*Āryaratnolkā)
• de bzhin gshegs pa skye ba ’byung ba bstan pa (*Tathāgatotpattisambhavanirdeśa)

The Denkarma inventory¹⁴ is more ambiguous, starting with the statement that the “noble extensive great section, the Buddhāvataṃsaka” (’phags pa shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i sde sangs rgyas phal po che) includes forty-five chapters in 130 fascicles and 39,030 ślokas. It then goes on to list seven component texts (again, each with their length in fascicles and ślokas): ‍

• de bzhin gshegs pa phal po che le’u (*Tathāgatāvataṃsaka­parivarta)
• byang chub sems dpa’ rdo rje rgyal mtshan gyis yongs su bsngo ba’i le’u (*Bodhisattva­vajradhvaja­pariṇāma­parivarta)
• ‍’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’i sa bcu bstan pa (*Ārya­bodhisattva­daśa­bhūmika­nirdeśa)
• ‍’phags pa kun tu bzang po’i spyod pa’i bstan pa (*Ārya­samanta­bhadra­carya­nirdeśa)
• ‍’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa skye ba ’byung ba bstan pa (*Ārya­tathāgatotpatti­sambhava­nirdeśa)
• ‍’phags pa ’jig rten las ’das pa’i le’u (*Ārya­lokottara­parivarta)
• ‍’phags pa sdong po bkod pa’i mdo (*Ārya­gaṇḍa­vyūha­sūtra)

The fact that both ninth century inventories add to their lists the lengths of the individual texts in fascicles (bam po) and in ślokas reinforces the impression that at this period the texts were still considered independent works.

This impression is further reinforced by the fact that in the ninth century Mahāvyutpatti, a list of 104 texts (under the heading dam pa’i chos kyi ming, “names of the sublime Dharma”) includes, scattered throughout the list without any evident grouping together of these titles, not only the title Buddhāvataṃsakam (sangs rgyas phal po che) but also six individual titles that correspond to the component texts in the two inventories mentioned above.

From Chomden Rikpai Raldri’s survey of canonical texts¹⁵ compiled at Narthang three and a half centuries later (c. 1270 CE), it might seem that the forty-five chapters of the whole extensive sūtra as it is found today had by then been grouped into one (da lta sde gcig tu byas pa la le’u bzhi bcu rtsa lnga), although several interpretations of the word sde are possible. Rikpai Raldri mentions by name only the first chapter and the three last, without adding their lengths, and presumably if the other chapters were still being seen as independent texts he would have listed them. He states that the dkon mchog ta la la (the Ratnolkā, on which see below, also mentioned in the Phangthangma) should belong in the middle of the whole, but has been wrongly placed elsewhere as a dhāraṇī. He also points out that the various different locations and times in which the narratives of different sections are set suggest that the work is a compilation of many sūtras. To conclude, he alludes to the story of the loss in early times of parts of the text. This, he says, accounts for the apparent breaks in the text, and is the reason why the explicit (closing statement) of the sūtra says “... as much as there is, is here concluded (ci snyed pa rdzogs so).”

However, Butön in his History (1322 CE), gives much the same list as the Denkarma, and again lists the length of the component texts by fascicle and śloka as if they were independent works. He mentions the same description as used in the Sanskrit text from the Potala, discussed above, of the component works forming an “extensive collection” or piṭaka (shin tu rgyas pa’i sde snod).¹⁶

Of the various Kangyur catalogs (dkar chag), most start by distinguishing the first twenty-nine chapters as a group; some explain that these first twenty-nine chapters constitute what was originally known in the Denkarma and other inventories as the Buddhāvataṃsaka, and that the remaining chapters are known under that name by association. The Narthang catalog lists the individual chapter names even within this first group as part of its detailed volume-by-volume contents list, but the other catalogs name individually (if at all) only the subsequent chapters (30–45). Some catalogs (Degé, Urga, and Lhasa) follow Chomden Rikpai Raldri in alluding to the notion that the extant components of the Buddhāvataṃsaka are incomplete because of the destruction by fire of the library at Nālandā, as mentioned above.

The extant Tibetan text itself gives most of its component parts none of the trappings of independent sūtras, such as their own Sanskrit titles or the usual opening phrases, although there are introductory passages at the beginning of some chapters that place the setting of what follows in place and time in a way comparable to the introductory passage (nidāna) of many sūtras. By comparison, the Nepalese Sanskrit texts of the Daśabhūmika and Gaṇḍavyūha (chapters 31 and 45 in the Tibetan), preserved as independent works, both start with the classic “Thus did I hear ...,” as indeed do the equivalent chapters of Sikṣānanda’s Chinese translation. Unsurprisingly, this is also the case in an independent recension of the Daśabhūmika (a different Tibetan translation) that, as mentioned below, is found in the Kangyurs of the Themphangma line.

The Title, its Meanings, and Alternative Titles

Just as it took time for the Buddhāvataṃsaka to evolve, first from a set of closely related but independent texts into a collection, and then into a single large work, it seems to have taken time too—at least in Tibet—for a stable title to become widely used for the whole work. Traces of alternative titles remain in the text itself, as well as in the inventories and other works. Some of these may have been used for individual components of the collection, and some extended to the whole.

The text as preserved in most Kangyurs (but not all) opens with the Sanskrit title Ārya-buddhāvataṃsaka-nāma-mahāvaipulyasūtra, and (in all Kangyurs) the Tibetan title ’phags pa sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo, both of which we have rendered in English as The Noble Great Extensive Sūtra ‘A Multitude of Buddhas.’

The Sanskrit title Buddhāvataṃsaka has been interpreted in various different ways. As well as A Multitude of Buddhas, other possible English renderings would be Ornament(s) of the Buddhas, The Buddha’s Garland, and Garland of Buddhas. Its titles in both Chinese and Tibetan show signs suggesting that several interpretations have been considered.

In Classical Sanskrit, avataṃsa describes a garland, or an ornament in the form of a ring or circle. For example, karṇāvataṃsa means “earring,” and kusumāvataṃsa a “flower garland.” This is the interpretation followed by Thomas Cleary when he translates from the Chinese Huayan to call the Avataṃsaka “The Flower Ornament Scripture.”¹⁷

However, in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, the idea of a garland or connected set of items is extended and generalized, so that avataṃsaka means “a great number,” “a multitude,” or “a collection,” and this interpretation is the one chosen by the Tibetan translators in the most widespread Tibetan rendering of the Sanskrit buddhāvataṃsaka as sangs rgyas phal po che (“A Multitude of Buddhas”). The Tibetan phal po che is also used elsewhere in the Kangyur to render other Sanskrit terms meaning “multitude,” such as nicaya and (in some contexts) mahat.

The word avataṃsaka is not very common, and even less so as a compound with buddha, so it is particularly significant that buddhāvataṃsaka is the term used in the Mūlasarvāstivāda narrative of the Buddha’s second main miraculous display in Śrāvasti to describe how he multiplied his bodily form to create a vast array of buddhas all the way up to the top of the god realms, a miraculous ability unique to buddhas—and clearly relevant to some of the main themes of the Buddhāvataṃsaka.¹⁸

The traces of other Tibetan titles that remain in some versions of the text and in the catalogs may record earlier ways of understanding the Sanskrit term buddhāvataṃsaka, or are perhaps based on interpretations via the Chinese:

• In the texts of the Lithang, Peking Qianlong, Degé and Urga Kangyurs (and in the Newark Bathang manuscript), although the main initial title is as above, the beginning of each subsequent fascicle bears an alternative title, sangs rgyas rmad ga cad ces bya ba shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo. In the Phukdrak Kangyur this alternative title is found at the start of two of the seventy fascicles, while the rest instead have sangs rgyas phal po che. In the Cone Kangyur, the (former) alternative title is used instead at the end of each fascicle. The alternative title  uses the obscure word rmad ga cad in place of phal po che.
• Butön had mentioned four monikers by which the Buddhāvataṃsaka was known: shin tu rgyas pa’i sde snod (“very extensive basket, or piṭaka”); snyan gyi gong rgyan (“ear ornament”); pad+ma’i rgyan (“lotus ornament”); and shin tu rgyas pa’i mdo (“very extensive sūtra”). This statement of his is cited verbatim in the Yongle catalog.
• The Degé and Urga catalogs both mention two alternatives, “the archaic term rma ga chad” and snyan gyi gong rgyan (“ear ornament”).
• The Lhasa catalog mentions three of Butön’s four monikers: snyan gyi gong rgyan, pad+ma’i rgyan, and shin tu rgyas pa’i mdo. It also mentions the same archaic term as the Degé and Urga catalogs, sangs rgyas rma ga chad, and adds that the term is also found spelled rmag chad and smad chad.
• The Narthang catalog cites Butön’s History and other works as stating that “snyan gyi gong rgyan and other names were early synonyms for the title of the phal chen (Avataṃsaka).”

The meaning and origin of the archaic form rma ga chad and its variant spellings is not clear. The several, relatively recent Tibetan lexical works that include it as an entry seem to refer only to its use as a name for the Buddhāvataṃsaka, and it may be misleading to read them as implying that it actually means “ear ornament” (snyan gyi gong rgyan) rather than simply recording its use as an alternative name for the text known by that name.¹⁹

The teaching given by Samantabhadra in Chapter 44 follows his immersion in a samādhi that is called sangs rgyas phal po che in all Kangyurs except for the Bathang manuscript, in which it is called sangs rgyas rmad ga cad.²⁰ In combination with a reasonable interpretation of the differences between Kangyurs in the fascicle titles mentioned above, such that the archaic term rmad ga cad was at some point revised (in some Kangyurs) to phal po che, it appears that rmad ga cad and its variants may be more likely to have the same meaning as phal po che (“multitude”) than snyan gyi gong rgyan (“ear ornament”).

Interestingly, the use of snyan gyi gong rgyan (“ear ornament”) as a moniker for Buddhāvataṃsaka texts, even if superseded in the majority of canonical recensions of the larger work, is preserved in a text found in some Themphangma Kangyurs, including the Stok Palace, London (Shelkar), Shey, and Ulaanbaatar Kangyurs, as well as some of the Bhutanese manuscript Kangyurs. It appears to be an independent Tibetan translation corresponding to chapters 9 and 10 in the complete Tibetan Buddhāvataṃsaka, and has the initial title mdo sde snyan gyi gong rgyan (“The Ear Ornament Sūtrānta”), as well as a colophon title suggesting that it was also known as sangs rgyas kyi snyan gyi gong rgyan (“The Buddhas’ Ear Ornament”). It was translated by the lotsāwa Chetsan Kyé (ce btsan skyes), a ninth century translator from Bruzha (Gilgit-Hunza-Baltistan) who is known to have translated other texts from the Bruzha (Burushaski) language.

The Translators

Modern scholars writing about the Buddhāvataṃsaka tend either to accept that it was translated by the Indian paṇḍitas Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, and the Tibetan chief editor Yeshé Dé, or to report that attribution as a view held by Tibetan tradition.²¹

However, a completely clear and consistent attribution of the Tibetan translation cannot be made from the colophons of the versions extant in different Kangyurs. In many Kangyurs (including the Lithang, Qianlong, Cone, and London) the text has no translators’ colophon at all. In a substantial number of others (including the Narthang, Lhasa, Stok Palace, Toyo Bunko, and Ulaanbaatar) a brief colophon states that “the lotsāwa Vairocanarakṣita acted as chief editor and established [the text].” However, the colophons in the Degé, Ragya, and Urga Kangyurs say that the work was “translated, edited, and established by the Indian upādhyāyas Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, the chief editor and lotsāwa Bandé Yeshé Dé, and others.” The Degé colophon is supplemented by a detailed appendix written by the eighteenth century Degé editor, discussed below.

Butön’s inventory states only that “Vairocanarakṣita acted as chief editor,” using the same phrase as in those colophons that mention Vairocanarakṣita, but without adding that he established the text.

The Kangyur catalogs are divided on the matter. The Narthang catalog says that the text was translated by the paṇḍita Surendrabodhi and the great lotsāwa Vairocanarakṣita; the Yongle catalog says that the paṇḍita Surendrabodhi and the great lotsāwa Vairocanarakṣita edited and established the text; others (Cone, Peking Kangxi, and the briefest of the two Lhasa catalogs) say that the translators were Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, and Yeshé Dé; and the Degé, Urga, and the expanded Lhasa catalogs say that the text was translated by the Indian upādhyāyas Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, and the lotsāwa Bandé Yeshé Dé, and was edited and established by Lochen Vairotsana.

The identity of the “Vairocanarakṣita” in these various mentions is presumably the early Tibetan translator Pagor Vairotsana. There are two later Vairocanarakṣitas, both Indian paṇḍitas, of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, respectively; not being Tibetans, they would not be described in colophons and catalogs as lotsāwa or Lochen. A complication worth noting here is that the eleventh century Indian Vairocanarakṣita is mentioned in lineage records as participating in the lineage through which Tibetans in the later period receive the transmission of the Buddhāvataṃsaka teachings.

Assuming that “Vairocanarakṣita” does indeed refer to the early lotsāwa Vairotsana, a potential inconsistency arises if Vairotsana and Surendrabodhi are understood to have worked together, since it is thought that Surendrabodhi only came to Tibet in the reign of King Tride Songtsen (also known as Senalek, who reigned c. 800–815), by which time Vairotsana would no longer have been alive. The mention of the two names Surendrabodhi and Vairocanarakṣita together in some of the catalogs is, presumably, related to mentions of the same two names in lineage records, which in turn is taken up by Tashi Wangchuk’s editorial note (see below).

Another puzzle is that The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch (dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs, Ratnolkā­dhāraṇī, Toh 145 and 847, see below), which contains all of Chapters 17 and 20 of the Buddhāvataṃsaka (along with some other material) is said in its own colophon to have been translated by Surendrabodhi and Yeshé Dé, yet is a rather different Tibetan translation. It seems unlikely that these two translators, working on the same passages in two different texts, would not have produced more similar translations—although conceivably the differences may be due to modifications made separately by later editors.  

‍

The Eighteenth Century Editorial Note by the Degé Scholar, Tashi Wangchuk

Unique to the Degé version of the Buddhāvataṃsaka is an informative editorial note,²² filling a little more than two folio sides and following the colophon at the very end of the last volume. According to its own colophon, it was written in 1722 by one Tashi Wangchuk, a monk scholar appointed by the Degé King Tenpa Tsering to edit the text that was (a decade or so later) published as part of the Degé Kangyur. Tashi Wangchuk is also the author of the Degé Kangyur’s colophon to The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines (Toh 9), and appears have been a key figure in the editing and production of the Degé xylographs, at least of these very extensive and important works. However, it must be said that the dating of both this editorial note of Tashi Wangchuk’s, and of his colophon to The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines, to 1722—seven years before Situ Panchen himself says he began the preparation of the Degé Kangyur—poses some important historical questions.

Tashi Wangchuk is mentioned in Situ Panchen’s account of the preparations for the production of the Degé Kangyur, in the Degé catalog, as having edited a version of the Kangyur by comparing a number of reliable old recensions of canonical works.²³

A full, annotated translation of his editorial note on the Buddhāvataṃsaka can be seen at the end of the final chapter, The Stem Array (Gaṇḍavyūha, chapter 45), c.2–15. The points it makes are as follows.

• Tashi Wangchuk begins (c.2) by placing the Buddhāvataṃsaka in the category of the Buddha’s definitive teachings belonging to the third and final turning of the wheel of Dharma, and mentions some of the older alternative titles we have already discussed above.
• He then (c.3) lists seven named sections of the work into which its forty-five chapters are grouped. These groupings and their names, apart from some abbreviation, closely match the eight titles listed in the ninth century Denkarma inventory (see above), which are also those set out by Butön in his History. We have reproduced the groups and their names in “Contents of this Kangyur Section” below.
• This is followed (c.4) by a brief discussion of the various numbers of fascicles (bam po) recorded in the inventories.²⁴
• He then reproduces (c.5–7) statements from transmission records detailing how lineages of transmission through both China and India came to Tibetans—in this case the translators and scholars related to Narthang and the beginnings of the Sakya tradition (Üpa Sangye Bum, Lotsāwa Chokden, Bari Lotsāwa). Interestingly, the Chinese transmisson lineage includes both the translators who produced the Chinese translations, Buddhabhadra and Śikṣānanda.
• He also states that “Surendrabodhi and Vairocana­rakṣita are said to have acted as chief editors for a Chinese translation,” a notion that is surprising on several counts. Not only are these two scholars known only to have worked from Indic texts, but also (as mentioned above) they were probably not active at the same period. However, it is clear that Tashi Wangchuk is here citing transmission records written in earlier centuries rather than giving his own opinion, and he ends this part of his note (c.8) by writing “However, I have not seen any histories or texts that recount translation work done by lotsāwas or paṇḍitas other than those listed in the colophon here” (by which he means Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, and Yeshe De).
• Tashi Wangchuk then (c.9) turns to his methodology. He has taken the Jangsatham (Lithang) Kangyur as his basis but has edited its multiple “omissions, accretions, and misspellings” by seeking out the most reliable and frequent readings in a number of other, reliable old manuscripts—but, he implies, with an unsatisfactory level of certanty in selecting between multiple variants on a very detailed level, despite the overall meaning being consistent. He provides (c.10) a list of the terms he has not emended because they present no contradiction in meaning. He also (c.11) explains the most constant problem he has faced in the task, which stems from the inconsistent mixture of archaic and revised-language terms in all the versions he has consulted.
• There is a puzzle that deserves to be noted here. Since Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, and Yeshe De, to whom this translation is often attributed, were all involved in the lexical standardization of the early ninth century, it seems unlikely that a translation made by them would contain so many archaic expressions and spellings.
• Finally (c.12–15), Tashi Wangchuk dedicates his work, and in a colophon praises King Tenpa Tsering, dates the composition of his note, and names himself as its author, ending with the auspicious yedharma formula.

This editorial note is particularly vauable in providing rare details of the editorial process implemented, and the sources used, by scholars like Tashi Wangchuk, tasked with producing improved versions of canonical texts as part of the prestigious production of a new Kangyur.  

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The Parts of the Buddhāvataṃsaka

The Contents of this Kangyur Section

The list of chapters here is divided into the seven principal sections or groups of chapters that are distinguished in the earliest Tibetan sources starting with the Denkarma inventory, repeated by Butön and later authors, and listed as well as in the majority of Kangyur catalogs. The Tibetan titles of the forty-five chapters listed here are taken from the chapter colophons of the Degé Kangyur. The English renderings of still unpublished chapters should be considered provisional.

‍Chapters 1–29 are considered by the Degé Catalog to form a distinct group of chapters that, the catalog states, form a section that is said in the Denkarma and other inventories to be called phal po che (“the multitude”). The Catalog does not list the individual names of these chapters. The same name seems to be given by Butön. This group of chapters can therefore be presumed to correspond to the Denkarma’s de bzhin gshegs pa phal po che le’u (“the section on the multitude of tathāgatas,” *Tathāgatāvataṃsakaparivarta), which is also how it is named in Tashi Wangchuk’s editorial note.

The sixteenth century scholar Pekar Zangpo, in his detailed survey of the Kangyur sūtras,²⁵ divides most of this large group of chapters into two named sections (from which he omits the last two, chapters 28 and 29). For the first eleven chapters, he uses the name de bzhin gshegs pa rmad ga chad, which is a variant of the name the text gives for the eleventh chapter; for the possible interpretations of this name (which might include “the tathāgatas’ ear ornaments”), see above.

• Chapter 1: The Coming as Ornaments of All the Lords of the Worlds (’jig rten gyi dbang po thams cad kyi rgyan gyi tshul rab tu byung ba, Toh 44-1)
• Chapter 2: The Tathāgata (de bzhin gshegs pa, Toh 44-2)
• Chapter 3: Samantabhadra’s Samādhi and the Coming of Miracles (kun tu bzang po’i ting nge ’dzin dang rnam par ’phrul pa rab tu byung ba, Toh 44-3)
• Chapter 4: The Full Revelation and Formation of the Ocean of Worlds (’jig rten gyi khams rgya mtsho shin tu bstan pa’i phyogs gsal bar bya ba yang dag par bsgrubs pa, Toh 44-4)
• Chapter 5: The Flower Ornament Fundamental Essence Realm (’jig rten gyi khams rgya mtsho gzhi dang snying po me tog gi rgyan gyis brgyan pa’i yon tan rgya mtsho dag pas snang ba, Toh 44-5)
• Chapter 6: The Teaching on the Ornaments of the World’s Periphery (’jig rten gyi khams rgya mtsho’i khor yug gi rgyan rgya mtsho shin tu bstan pa, Toh 44-6)
• Chapter 7: The Teaching on the Ornaments of the Underlying Ground of the Ocean of the World’s Realms (’jig rten gyi khams rgya mtsho’i sa’i gzhi’i rgyan shin tu bstan pa, Toh 44-7)
• Chapter 8: The Teaching on Remaining in the Continuity of the Field (zhing gi rgyud kyi gnas shin tu bstan pa, Toh 44-8)
• Chapter 9: The Teaching on the Continuous Array of the World’s Realms (’jig rten gyi khams kyi rgyud rnam par dgod pa shin tu bstan pa, Toh 44-9)
• Chapter 10: Vairocana (rnam par snang mdzad, Toh 44-10)
  — an independent and different recension corresponding to Chapters 9 and 10 is found in the Themphagma Kangyurs with the title mdo sde snyan gyi gong rgyan (see above and below)
• Chapter 11: The Universal Interpenetration of the Tathāgatas (de bzhin gshegs pa rmad ga cad,²⁶ Toh 44-11)
  — this chapter is not found in any of the Chinese versions

Pekar Zangpo names most of the second half of this first group of chapters, chapters 12–27, byang chub sems dpa’i sde snod (“the bodhisattva basket,” *Bodhisattva­piṭaka).

• Chapter 12: The Detailed Teaching on the Names of the Buddha (sangs rgyas kyi mtshan shin tu bstan pa, Toh 44-12)
• Chapter 13: The Truths of the Noble Ones (’phags pa bden pa, Toh 44-13)
• Chapter 14: The Awakening Through the Tathāgata’s Rays of Light (de bzhin gshegs pa’i ‘od zer las rnam par sangs rgyas, Toh 44-14)
• Chapter 15: The Illumination of the Bodhisattva’s Questions (byang chub sems dpas dris pa snang ba, Toh 44-15
• Chapter 16: Purification of the Sphere of Activity (spyod yul yongs su dag pa, Toh 44-16)
  — this chapter may be the same work as a sūtra with this name (the Gocarapariśuddha) cited in several Indian treatises; a work in the Tengyur (Toh 3965) summarizes its contents.
• Chapter 17: Bhadraśrī (bzang po’i dpal, Toh 44-17)
  — the entire content of this chapter (and of Chapter 20), as an alternative translation, is included in the dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs (Toh 145, see below)
• Chapter 18: The Tathāgata Ascends to the Peak of Mount Meru (de bzhin gshegs pa ri rab kyi rtse mor gshegs pa, Toh 44-18)
• Chapter 19: The Verses of the Assembly of Bodhisattvas (byang chub sems dpa’i tshogs kyi tshigs su bcad pa, Toh 44-19)
• Chapter 20: The Ten Categories of Bodhisattvas (byang chub sems dpa’i rnam par dgod pa bcu bstan pa, Toh 44-20)
  — the entire content of this chapter (and of Chapter 17), as an alternative translation, is also included in the dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs (Toh 145, see below)
• Chapter 21: Pure Conduct (tshang par spyod pa, Toh 44-21)
• Chapter 22: The Verses on the Signs of the Merit of a Bodhisattva First Developing the Mind Set on Enlightenment (byang chub sems dpa’ sems dang po bskyed pa’i bsod nams kyi phung po’i dpe yang dag par bsags pa tshigs bcad pa, Toh 44-22)
• Chapter 23: Illumination of the Dharma (chos snang ba, Toh 44-23)
• Chapter 24: The Emanation in Suyama (rab mtshe ma’i gnas na rnam par ‘phrul ba, Toh 44-24)
• Chapter 25: The Verses of the Gathering of Bodhisattvas in Suyama (rab mtshe ma’i gnas su byang chub sems dpa’i ’dus pas tshigs su bcad pa bstan pa, Toh 44-25)
• Chapter 26: The Teaching on the Bodhisattva’s Practice (byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa bstan pa, Toh 44-26)
• Chapter 27: The Teaching on the Ten Inexhaustible Treasures (gter mi zad pa bcu bstan pa, Toh 44-27)

The last two chapters in the Degé Catalog’s phal po che group are considered by Pekar Zangpo to be included (along with Chapter 30) in his third section, which he names rdo rje rgyal mtshan gyi bsngo ba (“Vajradhvaja’s dedications,” *Vajradhvaja­­pariṇāma). This is the same name as Tashi Wangchuk uses for the second of his seven groups.

• Chapter 28: The Ornament after the Tathāgata’s Departure (de bzhin gshegs pa dga’ ldan du bzhud pa dang gshegs pa dang bzhugs pa’i rgyan ces bya ba, Toh 44-28)
• Chapter 29: The Gathering of Bodhisattvas in Tuṣita (de bzhin gshegs pa dga’ ldan du bzhud pa dang gshegs pa dang bzhugs pa’i rgyan, Toh 44-29)

Chapter 30 is considered by the Degé Catalog to represent a section on its own called rdo rje rgyal mtshan gyi le’u (“the Vajradhvaja chapter,” *Vajradhvaja­parivarta), but as just mentioned Pekar Zangpo includes chapters 28 and 29 as well under a similar name. Whichever grouping one takes, this section presumably corresponds to the Denkarma’s byang chub sems dpa’ rdo rje rgyal mtshan gyis yongs su bsngo ba’i le’u (“the chapter on the bodhisattva Vajradhvaja’s dedications,” *Bodhisattva­vajradhvaja­pariṇāma­parivarta). Tashi Wangchuk uses the same name but does not state whether he includes all three chapters 28–30 or only 30.

• Chapter 30: Vajradhvaja’s Dedications (rdo rje rgyal mtshan gyi yongs su bsngo ba, Toh 44-30)
  — this chapter may be the same work as a sūtra so named that is cited in several Indian treatises and is probably the Vajradhvajasūtra mentioned by Śāntideva in the Bodhicaryāvatāra (VII.46). A work in the Tengyur (Toh 3965) summarizes its contents.

Chapter 31, as all the catalogs and inventories agree, should be treated as a subdivision on its own, and is also known to have circulated as an independent work; its Sanskrit equivalent the Daśabhūmikasūtra is so seen in the Newar tradition of Nepalese Buddhism. The Denkarma gives it the full title ’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’i sa bcu bstan pa (“The noble teaching on the ten bodhisattva bhūmis,” *Ārya­bodhisattva­daśa­bhūmika­nirdeśa); Pekar Zangpo calls it mdo sde sa bcu pa (“the sūtra section of the ten bhūmis”); and Tashi Wangchuk calls it sa bcu bstan pa (“the teaching on the ten bhūmis”).

• Chapter 31: The Ten Bhūmis (sa bcu, Toh 44-31)
  — a different recension of this chapter (i.e. a different Tibetan translation) is also found as an independent work with its own title and colophon in Thempangma Kangyurs (Stok Palace S38, Ulaanbaatar V85, London Shelkar L14, Shey Z69), in the Phukdrak Kangyur (F349), and in one of the Dunhuang manuscripts (no. 82).²⁷

Chapters 32–42 are considered by the Degé Catalog to form a group called kun tu bzang po’i spyod pa’i le’u (“the section on Samantabhadra’s practice,” *Samanta­bhadra­carya). The group of chapters presumably corresponds to the Denkarma’s ’phags pa kun tu bzang po’i spyod pa’i bstan pa (“the noble teaching on Samantabhadra’s practice,” *Ārya­samanta­bhadra­carya­nirdeśa) and Butön’s kun tu bzang po’i spyod pa’i bstan pa; both of these names match the name of the last chapter in the group. Pekar Zangpo takes the same set of chapters as a group and uses the name kun tu bzang po’i spyod pa.

• Chapter 32: The Teaching by Samantabhadra (kun tu bzang pos bstan pa, Toh 44-32)
  — this chapter is not found in any of the complete Chinese versions but was translated as an independent work²⁸ by Śikṣānanda
• Chapter 33: The Ten Samādhis (ting nge ’dzin bcu, Toh 44-33)
• Chapter 34: The Superknowledges (mngon par shes pa, Toh 44-34)
• Chapter 35: The Acceptances (bzod pa, Toh 44-35)
• Chapter 36: The Teaching on Numbers Following the Questions of Sovereign Mind (sems kyis rgyal pos dris nas grangs la ’jug pa bstan pa, Toh 44-36)
• Chapter 37: The Scale of Life (tshe’i tshad, Toh 44-37)
  — the Sanskrit text discovered in the Potala with its significant mention of being part of the Buddhāvataṃsaka is mentioned above; there are also two independent Tibetan translations in the General Sūtra section, Toh 104 and Toh 268.
• Chapter 38: The Dwellings of Bodhisattvas (byang chub sems dpa’i gnas, Toh 44-38)
• Chapter 39: The Teaching on the Inconceivable Qualities of the Buddhas (sangs rgyas kyi chos bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa, Toh 44-39)
  — an independent, close but not identical Tibetan translation is also found in the General Sūtra section, Toh 187, with the same title (Buddha­dharmācintya­nirdeśa).
• Chapter 40: The Teaching on the Ocean of Marks of Greatness on the Tathāgata’s Body (de bzhin gshegs pa’i sku’i mtshan rgya mtsho bstan pa, Toh 44-40)
• Chapter 41: The Teaching on the Light Rays of the Minor Signs of Excellence (dpe byad bzang po’i ’od zer bstan pa, Toh 44-41)
• Chapter 42: The Teaching on Samantabhadra’s Practice (kun tu bzang po’i spyod pa bstan pa, Toh 44-42)

Chapter 43 is listed on its own in the Denkarma, and by Chomden Rikpai Raldri, Butön, and Pekar Zangpo, all using the same title as the chapter‘s own colophon (de bzhin gshegs pa skye ba ’bung ba bstan pa, *Tathāgatotpattisambhavanirdeśa).

• Chapter 43: The Teaching on the Arising and Emergence of the Tathāgata (de bzhin gshegs pa skye ba ’bung ba bstan pa, Toh 44-43)

Chapter 44 is also listed on its own in the Denkarma, and by Chomden Rikpai Raldri, Butön, and Pekar Zangpo, all using the same title as the chapter’s own colophon (’jig rten las ’das pa, *Lokottaraparivarta).

• Chapter 44: Transcendence of the World (’jig rten las ’das pa, Toh 44-44)

Chapter 45 is also listed on its own in the Denkarma, which uses the title sdong po bkod pa (*Gaṇḍavyūha), as does Pekar Zangpo; this is the form of the title most used in later Tibetan treatises to cite the text. Chomden Rikpai Raldri and Butön instead use the same title as the chapter’s own colophon, sdong pos brgyan pa. In Tashi Wangchuk’s editorial note (see above) he mentions (c.10) that throughout the Buddhāvataṃsaka rgyan (usually meaning “ornament” or “adornment”) and bkod pa (“array,” “display”) are used as synonyms, presumably for the Sanskrit vyūha. The concluding section of the chapter with its long verse aspiration, the Bhadracārī­praṇidhāna (bzang spyod smon lam) is perhaps the most widely known of all Buddhāvataṃsaka texts.

• Chapter 45: The Stem Array (sdong pos brgyan pa, *Gaṇḍavyūha, Toh 44-45)
  — the concluding Bhadracārī­praṇidhāna (bzang spyod smon lam) is also found in the Kangyur as one of the aspirations at the end of the Compendium of Dhāraṇīs (Toh 1095)

Other Kangyur Works Belonging to the Buddhāvataṃsaka “Family”

Several works that may be considered members of the Buddhāvataṃsaka “family,” but are found elsewhere in most Kangyurs, include:

• The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch (dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs, Ratnolkā­dhāraṇī, Toh 145 and 847), which contains all of Chapters 17 and 20 along with some other material not found in the Buddhāvataṃsaka itself. It is listed as belonging to the Buddhāvataṃsaka in the Phangthangma catalog, in the Mahāvyutpatti, and in Chomden Rikpai Raldri’s survey.
• Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone One’s Buddhafields (sangs rgyas kyi zhing gi yon tan brjod pa’i chos kyi rnam grangs, Buddha­kṣetraguṇokta­dharma­paryāya, Toh 104) is one of two independent translations of Chapter 37, The Scale of Life.
• The Sūtra of the King of the Inconceivable (bsam gyis mi khyab pa’i rgyal po’i mdo, Acintyarājasūtra, Toh 268) is another of two independent translations of Chapter 37, The Scale of Life.
• The Teaching on the Inconceivable Qualities of the Buddhas (sangs rgyas kyi chos kyi bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa, Buddha­dharmācintya­nirdeśa, Toh 187), is an independent version, close but not identical, of chapter 39, which has the same title.
• The Ten Bhūmis (’phags pa sa bcu pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Ārya­daśa­bhūmika­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra) in a recension that differs from Chapter 30 is found as an independent work with this title of its own, and a colophon, in the Thempangma Kangyurs (Stok Palace S38, Ulaanbaatar V85, London Shelkar L14, Shey Z69), in the Phukdrak Kangyur (F349), and in one of the Dunhuang manuscripts (no. 82).
• The Bhadra­caryāpraṇidhāna, the dedication “Prayer of Good Action” recited widely in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, as well as forming the conclusion of chapter 45, is also found on its own in the Dhāraṇī section of the Kangyur (Toh 1095).
• A text with the title mdo sde snyan gyi gong rgyan (“The Ear Ornament Sūtrānta”), as mentioned above, is found in some Themphangma Kangyurs, including the Stok Palace, London (Shelkar), Shey, and Ulaanbaatar Kangyurs, as well as some of the Bhutanese manuscript Kangyurs. It appears to be an independent Tibetan translation corresponding to chapters 9 and 10.
• Introduction to the Domain of the Inconceivable Qualities and Wisdom of the Tathāgatas (de bzhin gshegs pa’i yon tan dang ye shes bsam gyis mi khyab pa’i yul la ’jug pa bstan pa, Tathāgata­guṇa­jñānācintya­viṣayāvatāra­nirdeśa, Toh 185) is an independent sūtra in the General Sūtra section that, although its content does not coincide with any identifiable part of the Buddhāvataṃsaka itself, has a strong enough thematic relationship for it to be considered part of the Buddhāvataṃsaka  “family.”²⁹
• The Seal of Engagement in Awakening the Power of Faith (dad pa’i stobs bskyed pa la ’jug pa’i phyag rgya, Śraddhā­balādhānāvatāra­mudrā, Toh 201) is another independent sūtra in the General Sūtra section without direct parallels but thought to be part of the Buddhāvataṃsaka “family.” The affinities are not only thematic.  Three passages from it are cited in the Sūtrasamuccaya under the name Buddhāvataṃsaka, while other passages are cited under its own title.³⁰ Its sixth century Chinese translation by Dharmaruci (Hsin li ju yin fa men ching, 信力入印法門經, Taishō 305) is grouped with the Buddhāvataṃsaka scriptures.

Bibliography

This bibliography does not include details of the Buddhāvataṃsaka source texts themselves, nor 84000’s published translations of them; these are all listed and linked in “Contents of this Kangyur Section” above.

84000. The Third Well-Spoken Branch: An Exact Account of How All the Victorious One’s Teachings Extant Today in the Land of Snow Mountains Were Put into Print (Chapter 3 of the Degé Kangyur Catalog, Toh 4568). Translated by the Subhāṣita Translation Group. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.

84000. The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines (Pañca­viṃśati­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā, Toh 9). Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023.

Appleton, Naomi. Many Buddhas, One Buddha: A Study and Translation of Avadānaśataka 1–40. Sheffeld and Bristol: Equinox, 2020.

Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). chos ’byung (bde bar gshegs pa’i bstan pa’i gsal byed chos kyi ’byung gnas gsung rab rin po che’i gter mdzod). In The Collected Works of Bu-Ston, vol. 24 (ya), folios 1.b–212.a (pp. 633–1055). New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71. BDRC W22106.

Chimpa, Lama, and Alaka Chattopadhyaya (trs.), Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (ed.). Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1981.

Chomden Rigpai Raltri (bcom ldan rig pa’i ral gri). bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi ’od. In gsung ’bum [Collected Works], vol. 1 (ka), pp. 96–257. Lhasa: khams sprul bsod nams don grub, 2006. BDRC W00EGS1017426.

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

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