In The Questions of Vimalaprabhā the Buddha Śākyamuni prophesies the emergence of the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan one hundred years after his parinirvāṇa, and the flourishing of Buddhism there. He also predicts that it will in the future be ransacked by an invasion of Sumpa and Tibetan (“Red Face”) armies. This prophecy is given to a goddess named Vimalaprabhā, who is king Ajātaśatru’s daughter, and her brother prince Vajrasena. These two are entrusted with being the guardians of Khotan in the future, who will save its thriving Buddhist culture from calamity at its time of need. Many buddhas, gods, and bodhisattvas, including in particular the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, also promise to assist them in saving Khotan from destruction, and numerous dhāraṇīs for the protection of the country are bestowed. This Khotanese text appears to combine various scriptures in one, as it embeds ritual instructions, past life stories, prophecies, and tantric elements into a narrative sūtra frame.
This sūtra was translated into English from the Tibetan by Bruno Galasek-Hul with Lama Kunga Thartse Rinpoche (Evam Choden Buddhist Center Kensington, Berkeley, California) as the consulting lama.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. George FitzHerbert edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Huizi Zuo and family.
The Questions of Vimalaprabhā, despite its ordinary-sounding title, is anything but an ordinary sūtra. It belongs to a small group of works in the Kangyur and Tengyur that hail from the silk road Buddhist kingdom of Khotan, whose primary concern is the fate of that once-thriving Buddhist land. The oasis city of Khotan, corresponding to the modern-day Hotan in the prefecture of the same name in the Xinjiang region to the northwest of Tibet between the Kunlun mountains and the Taklamakan desert, was home to a flourishing Buddhist culture for many centuries and played a key role in the transmission of Buddhism to both China and Tibet, particularly in the seventh and eighth centuries
The main content of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is an elaborate and complex prophecy about Khotan’s historical vicissitudes as a prosperous center of Buddhism that would become a pawn in the great power politics between (pre-Buddhist) imperial Tibet, Tang China, and various Central Asian confederacies known in Tibetan as Sumpa and Azha. The invasions of the Sumpas and then the “Red Faces” (as the pre-Buddhist Tibetans are referred to) described in the prophecy may reflect the turbulent period of Khotanese history between the invasion of the Western Turks in the mid-seventh century, the first Tibetan invasion in around 665
The frame narrative of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is an assembly at Vulture Peak during the time of the historical Buddha, at which the Buddha prophesies the emergence of Khotan as a thriving Buddhist country and entrusts its protection to various gods (particularly Vaiśravaṇa), bodhisattvas (particularly Avalokiteśvara), and buddhas. As the text proceeds, ever more detailed prophecies are given concerning the future threat to this Buddhist kingdom in the wake of invasions by Sumpas and “Red Faces” (Tibetans), the marauding of groups of “wild men” (Tib. mi rgod, translated as “marauders”), and the looming danger of the “two great armies” of China and Tibet clashing in the region. Amidst detailed and often vivid, albeit fragmentary, prophecies, the main theme of the text is the identification of the cast of characters who will save Khotan’s Buddhist culture from complete destruction at this time of crisis. Most important among these is a daughter of the king of Skardo (possibly corresponding to the modern Skardu, capital of Baltistan, in the Gilgit-Hunza region of today’s northern Pakistan). She, together with her brother, will save the area from further conflict by first raising a ransom payment from the Gold Country to pay off the invaders, and then initiating marriage alliance with China. In the narrative of the sūtra, this sister and brother duo are in fact the future incarnations of Vimalaprabhā (after whom the text is named) and Vajrasena, the daughter and son respectively of king Ajātaśatru, who are in the assembly at Vulture Peak and vow to take responsibility for protecting Khotan in their future lives. The sūtra takes great care to reveal these and other protagonists’ karmic relationships with each other and with the country of Khotan in an intricate pattern of embedded avadāna stories that explain their actions and identities in past, present, and future lives. Throughout, the sūtra is also interspersed with a great number of dhāraṇīs and ritual instructions that are to be used in the protection of the Buddhist kingdom.
Though of great interest for the cultural history of Khotanese Buddhism, and the relations between Buddhist Khotan and imperial Tibet, The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is in places literarily obtuse. Certain themes and character introductions are repeated in ways that suggest different iterations of the narrative covering similar ground may have been spliced together. For example, there are multiple (and occasionally contradictory) explanations of who will become whom in future rebirths. Also, the way that the narrative frequently shifts between the assembly at Vulture Peak and the future events in Khotan, without clear tense demarcation, along with its repeated interjections of dhāraṇīs and ritual instructions, creates an unstable and sometimes uncertain narrative voice. Stylistically, the text reflects a variety of genres of Buddhist canonical literature, embracing elements of avadāna, sūtra, dhāraṇī, and tantra. As it moves stylistically between being a protective manual for ritual defense, a complex karmic narrative concerning the fate of Khotan, and a sūtra discourse delivered by the Buddha Śākyamuni at Vulture Peak, these purposes are not always smoothly integrated.
The text has attracted the interest of many Tibetan scholars over the centuries. Its presentation of Khotan as a Buddhist country under the special protection of particular gods and bodhisattvas, especially Avalokiteśvara, in many ways presages the later development of Tibetan mytho-poetic tropes concerning the Buddhist destiny of Tibet and its own ritual defense.
The Questions of Vimalaprabhā opens with an assembly of gods, nāgas, and humans at Vulture Peak, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is teaching the Candragarbha Sūtra,5 a key text for the prophecies concerning the eventual decline of Buddhism. While assigning the lands of Jambudvīpa to different gods and buddhas for their protection, he calls upon Vaiśravaṇa and others to be protectors of the future Buddhist kingdom of Khotan (1.4-1.7). This will be established one hundred years after his own parinirvāṇa and will flourish materially and spiritually as an emblem or symbol (Tib. phyag mtshan) of the Buddha Śākyamuni’s continued presence in the world.
When Vaiśravaṇa requests assistance in this task, (1.9-1.18) the Buddha sends light rays to innumerable buddhafields calling upon distant tathāgatas to help. The tathāgatas respond by promising to assist in the defense of Khotan by sending light rays, bodhisattvas, and dhāraṇīs (1.28-1.35). The Buddha then teaches a dhāraṇī that will summon the gods of this Sahā world and gives instructions for how it is to be ritually deployed at times of impending danger from invading armies (1.38).
The tathāgatas, the light rays, and the dhāraṇīs are then all enumerated by name (1.42-1.56). It is stated that these protective names were brought to Khotan by the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, who also taught that, during times of danger from war or disease, the names and the dhāraṇīs should be written down and affixed to the city gates, military banners, and elsewhere for the protection of the land. The bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara also gives rousing rejoinders to the bodhisattvas to ensure that their commitment to the protection of Khotan is firm (1.62-1.65) .
At this point the main protagonist of the sūtra, Vimalaprabhā, is introduced (2.1). She is a bodhisattva in a distant world system who comes to the Sahā world to hear The White Lotus of the Good Dharma from the Buddha Śākyamuni. To hear it, she is reborn as the daughter of king Ajātaśatru and is present in the assembly along with her brother, the prince Vajrasena. She volunteers to take rebirth as a woman in Khotan and makes the aspiration to protect the land both for the sake of beings and for the sake of the survival of the Dharma there. On hearing her aspiration, many gods and others in the audience too are inspired and likewise pledge to assist with the protection of Khotan.
In one of several indications of the likely composite nature of this text, the narrative then starts to come in and out of verse (2.6), as other members in the assembly, such as the King of Oḍḍiyāna (Tib. U rgyan), the king of Kaspara (Kashmir) and his wife, and Vimalaprabhā’s various brothers and sisters, all take turns promising to likewise take rebirth in Khotan and its neighboring regions of Skardo and the Gold Country, to support Vimalaprabhā in her mission. Of particular importance is Vimalaprabhā’s youngest brother Vajrasena, who declares that he has been her brother in many successive lives in the past, including when she was Husha, the mythical rākṣasī (Tib. srin mo) who was the progenitor of the people of Gold Country. He pledges to be her brother in the future too, when they will be the son and daughter of the king of Skardo who will save Khotan from destruction after its invasion by the Red Faces.
After her younger brother’s aspiration, there is an interlude in the narrative, in which the Buddha himself miraculously disappears from Vulture Peak and reappears in the place where the future Khotan will be located, echoing the narrative of his miraculous appearance there to bless the land in The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga (Gośṛṅgavyākaraṇa, Toh 357). There, further dhāraṇīs are taught for the protection of Khotan (3.1).
The narrative then returns to the assembly (4.1), where it is the turn of Ajātaśatru’s city governor and one of Vimalaprabhā’s ladies-in-waiting to promise their assistance to Vimalaprabhā in the future when Khotan is under threat.
In this way, the entire cast of characters surrounding Firm Resolve—the future incarnation of Vimalaprabhā at the time of the invasions of Khotan—are recognized as incarnations of those who had formerly made commitments to help in the presence of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
The Buddha then prophesies what will take place when Khotan is invaded and plundered, and a war between the “two great armies” (Tibetan and Chinese) is imminent, and instructions are given to Vimalaprabhā and her brother Vajrasena about what they must do to avert further destruction.
The buddhas again send light rays and affirm their commitments to Khotan and Vimalaprabhā in their hour of need, and further dhāraṇīs (5.1) are taught. Of particular significance for the defense of the realm and success in battle is the strength of horse dhāraṇī taught by Brahmā and the other gods. This is accompanied by instructions for an elaborate ritual of war defense, prominently invoking Avalokiteśvara, that is to be performed in conjunction with the recitation of this dhāraṇī. Further dhāraṇīs and ritual instructions for warding off danger at times of war are also taught by the Buddha, by the bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, and others, and by Brahmā and the other gods.
Further characters in the assembly then step forward to request or offer help to Vimalaprabhā and, each time, a variety of further dhāraṇīs are taught for the future protection of Khotan (6.1).
The second half of the sūtra (7.1) continues with further iterations of these same themes, each time providing ever greater detail about the events that will unfold in Khotan when the Sumpas and Red Faces invade, and about what Vimalaprabhā and Vajrasena in their future incarnations must do to avoid the annihilation of the kingdom. These detailed prophecies are also interlaced with frequent digressions into past life stories to explain the karmic debts and boons of its protagonists. These include Vimalaprabhā’s past life as the rākṣasī Husha (7.17-7.23), progenitor of the people of Gold Country, and stories concerning the origins of the Badak and Balang Sumpas. They also include allusions to narratives found elsewhere in the Buddhist canonical literature, such as allusions to the brothers Benevolence and Evildoer (as featured in the Sūtra of the Wise and Foolish), to the Buddha’s past life as the brahmin Samudrareṇu (as featured in The White Lotus of Compassion), and to the invasion of the Śākya kingdom by the army of Virūḍhaka during the Buddha’s lifetime.
Although seen through the smoky glass of prophecy, and in sometimes confusing iterations, The Questions of Vimalaprabhā provides many vivid flashes of the flourishing Buddhist kingdom of Khotan and its neighboring areas, the great tumult caused by the invasions of the Sumpas and the Red Faces, and the fragmentary tale of the devout princess of Skardo who saves the kingdom from further warfare by raising a ransom from the Gold Country, and ensures her brother’s succession to the throne of both Khotan and Skardo as Armor of Victory (Skt. *Vijayavarman).
Being a prophecy, the events described in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā cannot be regarded as history.6 Nevertheless, the correspondences between its setting and the little we know about the history of Khotan between the first Tibetan invasion in around 665
Evidence within the text itself suggests that the version of the Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā that we have today in the Kangyur is composite in nature and likely contains layers of editorial accretion, possibly over extended periods of time. It is generally believed to have been compiled or authored in Khotan itself.7 It may have been composed close to the time of the events in the mid-seventh century that it appears to prophetically describe,8 though a later date, once those events had already passed into folklore, is equally possible.9 We can be sure that some version of the text was translated into Tibetan no later than the early ninth century, because it is recorded in both the Phangthangma and Denkarma imperial catalogs of translated texts, albeit with variable titles.10 In the absence of any colophon to any version of the Tibetan text we now have, the original language from which it was translated, whether Sanskrit or Khotanese,11 and by whom, remains unclear. F. W. Thomas, in his pioneering study and translation of the text (1935), leaned toward Sanskrit.12 However, Chomden Rikpai Raltri, who was a key figure in the early compilation of the Kangyur at the end of the thirteenth century, listed Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā (with yet another variant title)13 as being among more than twenty texts that were “translated from Khotan [ese] by the Khotanese scholar Surendrakaraprabha and others and the senior editor-translator monk Namkha and others.”14 Unfortunately, we currently have no further information about these translators. Until a thorough linguistic analysis of the text can be conducted or other evidence comes to light, the original language of its composition will remain uncertain. It also seems possible that at least some parts of the text are Tibetan editorial additions.15
No extant Khotanese, Sanskrit, Pāli, or Chinese versions of the sūtra have been identified. Apart from a reference to it in The Prophecy Concerning Khotan,16 it is not mentioned in any other Kangyur or Tengyur texts.
Versions of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā preserved in Tshalpa lineage Kangyurs all end simply with the formula, “This concludes the Mahāyāna sūtra called The Questions of Vimalaprabhā.” However, in some Thempangma lineage Kangyurs there is the further statement, as follows:
“Though this sūtra The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is authentic and can be trusted, many appear to disagree and consider it as many books [in one].”17
Indeed, other versions may have circulated and may continue to exist. In Tibetan sources one sometimes encounters Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā, or some variant thereof, evoked as containing a prophecy of Tibet’s own conversion to Buddhism. Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364), for example, using what seems to be another variant of the title, The Prophecy of the Goddess Vimalaprabhā18 mentions in his monumental History of Buddhism (chos ’byung) that it contains the following prophecy (trans. Obermiller):
“2500 years after I have passed away into Nirvāṇa, the Highest Doctrine will become spread in the country of the red-faced (people).”19
However, we have not found this statement in any version of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā now preserved in the Kangyur. In a similar vein, the Vimalaprabhapariprccha [sic] is cited in Hidden Teachings of Tibet, a modern work by the twentieth-century Tibetan teacher Tulku Thondup, as stating that “The Buddha entrusted Tibet to Avalokitesvara…[and] the Buddha instructed Avalokiteśvara to discipline, serve and preach Dharma in Tibet at the appropriate future time.”20 However, though Avalokiteśvara certainly plays an important role in the Kangyur version of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā, it is as a protector of Khotan (Tib. li yul), not of Tibet, and we have been unable to identify any passage containing this prediction for Tibet.
Describing Tibetans in general, and pre-Buddhist Tibetans in particular, as “red-faced ones” (gdong dmar can) would become a very common trope in Tibetan literature and especially in narratives of Tibet’s conversion to Buddhism.21 The Questions of Vimalaprabhā constitutes an early attestation of the epithet. While today “red-faced ones” is often taken as referring in general to the ruddy complexions of Tibetan highlanders, the origins of the epithet may lie more specifically in the custom of imperial-period Tibetan soldiers coloring their faces with red dye. Butön confirms that in the Prophecy of the Goddess Vimalaprabhā “the country of the red-faced ones” (gdong dmar can gyi yul) refers to Tibet (Tib. bod) but also mentions in passing that the Testimony of Ba considered it to refer to China.22 However in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā, the Chinese (rgya) and the Red Faces (gdong dmar) are clearly rivals and opponents in the imminent battle over Khotan, so the latter clearly refers to the Tibetans.23
There was considerable interest in the early history of Khotan among western scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for a brief summary of which see the introduction to The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga (Toh 357, i.13). In 1935, F. W. Thomas published a complete English translation of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā from the Tibetan text as found in the Narthang edition of the Kangyur (with variant readings recorded from the manuscript Kangyur kept at the British Museum in London).24 Thomas’ pioneering translation, though incomplete (the dhāraṇī sections were omitted), is impressive for the time, and his accompanying study contains a wealth of interesting detail, especially concerning the many personal names and ethnonyms the sūtra contains. However, Thomas’ interest in the text was in his own words “mainly in the historical, local and sociological particulars”25 and this gives the work a decidedly historico-geographic slant. His main concern was to find correspondences between the personal and place names presented in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā and other diverse sources on the history of the wider region. For example, he speculated that the king of Skardo called Mighty Armor (which he reconstructed in Sanskrit as *Īśvaravarman) might correspond to the eighth-century
Interesting as such speculations may be, our own approach in translating The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is rather different. Rather than as a mine for historical, geographical, and political information, we take it as a rich Buddhist literary work likely composed by Khotanese Buddhists who were steeped in Buddhist culture and literature, which provides a rare window onto the lost world of Khotan’s flourishing Buddhism and indeed its folklore. We have tried to make our translation as intelligible as possible, and in doing so have found that the narrative, though convoluted, is for the most part internally consistent.
That said, the text does present many challenges for a translator. The shifting and unclear treatment of tenses in the Tibetan, with extensive use of a perfective (past) tense to describe future prophesied events, and sometimes with different tense readings in different Kangyur recensions, can make it hard to keep track of the location, narrator, and timeline of the events being described—whether they relate to past lives, the present setting in the assembly at Vulture Peak, or the future in Khotan. The cast of characters and their often similar names and roles posed another challenge, as it can be difficult to keep track of the characters’ various identities, actions, and relationships through the three times. In particular the (similar) names of the various kings of Skardo and Khotan can be confusing. Though it is thought that the Buddhist kings of Khotan were known by Sanskrit names, we decided to render their names throughout in English, as most of them are not clearly attested in other sources.28 We have however retained Thomas’ Sanskrit reconstructions in the glossary. The text of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā contains many other personal names and place names that are difficult or impossible to identify with any degree of certainty.29 The Tibetan term gser (kyi) rigs—which would correspond the Sanskrit suvarṇagotra—is of particular interest and has been the subject of considerable scholarly speculation (see glossary entry for Gold Country). Here we have translated it as the “Gold Clan.”30
Another term of interest in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is the Buddha calling the kingdom of Khotan his phyag mtshan, literally “hand-sign.” In other contexts, this term often refers to the implements—weapons or other symbolic accoutrements—that (tantric) deities hold in their hands, such as the lotus flower in Avalokiteśvara’s hand, for example, or the vajra in Vajrapāṇi’s hand. Thomas offers a very literal translation as “sign manual,” which is an archaic English expression for a signature, specifically a monarch’s signature on an official document. Understood as the sign, symbol, or emblem of the Buddha and all the buddhas, the term conveys the idea that Khotan, as a thriving Buddhist kingdom, represented the continued presence of the Buddha and his teachings in the world, which carried his personal seal of approval. We have translated the term as symbol.
Probably the most important of the numerous dhāraṇīs taught in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is the dhāraṇī we have called the strength of a horse. Thomas translated the Tibetan name (rta gnas lit. “stable”) quite literally as “horse-stall.”31 However, in light of the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa references included when the dhāraṇī is introduced, we have tentatively interpreted it as an attempt to translate the Sanskrit aśvatthāman. Aśvatthāman is the name of an important character in the Indian epic Mahābhārata, where he is portrayed as a fearsome young Kaurava warrior who, after losing the last great battle, went into the Pāṇḍava camp at night and committed a massacre. He stamped Dhṛṣṭadyumna, who had mortally wounded his father, to death, which is perhaps what inspired his name, as aśvatthāman can literally mean “having the strength of a horse.” We know that the Mahābhārata was known and popular in Buddhist Khotan.32
The Questions of Vimalaprabhā contains many names of buddhas, light rays, and dhāraṇīs, for which we have been unable to find parallels or other attestations in the canonical literature. F. W. Thomas mostly tried to reconstruct such names in Sanskrit. Our policy however, in the absence of actual Sanskrit attestations, has been to translate them as best as possible into English. We have, however, included many of Thomas’ Sanskrit reconstructions in the glossary, and marked them with an *asterisk.
Among the many features of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā that make it remarkable is that its main protagonist is a woman. Although in several passages female rebirth is disparaged as an unfortunate state, Vimalaprabhā’s central role in safeguarding the Buddhism of Khotan and her role in a past life as the progenitor of the Gold Clan, indicate the prominence that female bodhisattvas may have had in Khotanese culture. Toward the end of the Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā, the protagonist herself even declares:
“To liberate sentient beings, I have taken rebirth as a woman in many trying circumstances—as queen, king’s daughter, ordinary woman, prostitute, wretch, and beggar. Thus, I benefitted those born as women and brought about liberation for women.”
Many Kangyurs, such as the London (Shelkar), Stok Palace MS, Ulaanbaatar, and Shey preserve a copy of this sūtra in both the sūtra (mdo sde) and tantra (rgyud) sections of their Kangyurs.33 The main source for our English translation was the version preserved in the Degé Kangyur (D). We also consulted the Stok Palace manuscript edition Kangyur (S) and the variants listed in the Pedurma comparative edition (A). We also referred frequently to Thomas’ English translation. For the dhāraṇīs, we have mostly preserved the Degé Kangyur’s reading of the syllables. In places, however, where transcription idiosyncrasies are clear, we have reconstructed the Sanskrit words. For instance, we have emended the Tibetan transcription in dra dad ta to indradatta, and we have rendered the Tibetan ba as va when found in mantras and dhāraṇīs. In two instances we have had to supply syllables from the Stok manuscript Kangyur because the Degé print was illegible.
Milestone breaks marked by three asterisks (***) have been added to the English translation for the ease of the reader. These do not correspond to any marked breaks in the Tibetan text.
While the Buddha, the Blessed One, was teaching the sūtra called Candragarbha,34 he entrusted all the countries of Jambudvīpa one by one to the protectors.
Therefore, the Blessed One, while remaining at Vulture Peak Mountain, sent forth light rays to gather all the gods. As soon as he thought of them, all the kings of the gods together with their retinues appeared seated before the Blessed One. The Blessed One then summoned the great king Vaiśravaṇa and the yakṣa lord Sañjaya and said to them, “Great kings, act in accordance with the Dharma I have taught, and honor it. One hundred years after my parinirvāṇa, a country called Khotan will appear. I entrust this land to you for its protection.
Then the king Vaiśravaṇa said to the Blessed One:45
Thereupon the Blessed One spoke again:55
Thus spoke the Supreme Victor57 to the gods. Then the Blessed One entered meditative absorption in the samādhi called radiant splendor and a light beam called form of the tathāgata radiated from between his eyebrows. From this light beam radiated innumerable, infinite other light rays that traveled to every buddhafield, and wherever in those buddhafields a blessed buddha resided, a voice echoed, inquiring, “The god of gods, the Buddha, the Blessed One Śākyamuni inquires: Are you free from sickness and in good health?”[F.212.b] And the voice said further, “For the sake of awakening I have practiced austerities over many eons. For the sake of gathering the true Dharma, I have sacrificed innumerable bodies and given many gifts. I have endured a great deal of suffering not experienced by other bodhisattvas. It is through that, that I have attained unsurpassed, completely perfect enlightenment. Now that the time of my parinirvāṇa has come, I entrust all countries of the entire Jambudvīpa to guardian deities for their protection.
“Gods, when a hundred years have passed since my nirvāṇa, a country called Khotan will rise to prosperity. For the sake of its discipline, the buddhas of the Fortunate Eon and bodhisattvas must be summoned to protect it, without discussion.58 The sons of the victors of the Fortunate Eon will take rebirth in the cities that surround Khotan, like an eye.59 They will engage in good bodhisattva conduct to mature sentient beings and make them listen to the Dharma. Buddhas, grant me your consideration! When I taught the best of sūtras, the great Quintessence of the Sun,60 overwhelmed61 by compassion you bestowed dhāraṇīs and light rays to ensure the protection of the country.62 Bestow them [now] as you did then! Bestow them, supreme victors, from every buddhafield for the people of this land, so that the teachings will be protected. Bestow them joyfully for me!” When the Lion of the Śākyas, the Protector, sent forth his light rays, they traveled to every buddhafield and then returned.63
As soon as they did, the blessed buddhas residing in all the buddhafields in turn sent forth light rays so that the teachings of the Blessed One Śākyamuni, who had requested the protection of Khotan,[F.213.a] would remain for a long time. Also bestowing dhāraṇīs, they spoke as follows: “We shall pronounce the names of each of the blessed buddhas who have sent forth these light rays and have entrusted bodhisattvas with dhāraṇīs. We will also pronounce the names of the bodhisattvas.64
Then the Buddha, the Blessed One, entered meditative absorption in the samādhi called lion’s gait while retaining in mind every facet of his bodhisattva practice, from his initial setting of the mind on enlightenment right up to its culmination at the seat of enlightenment, and his appreciation for the Dharma.[F.214.a] He then entrusted the country to them, for its own benefit and for that of the gods and others, telling them, “You should also recite this dhāraṇī, which invokes Brahmā and his divinities, and all the gods:
namo brahmaṇe | namaḥ sarva devānān | tadyathā | brahmaṇa indre | devatā pratiṣṭhate | aśvasthāne | vara indre | svapar pare | harakṣi mama indre | san tathā smara vara hare| ambhakumbhaka krī grī shrī | alaṃkāra | sarvadevagrāma svāhā |
“With this dhāraṇī, gods and humans will secure victory, and their enemies will be unable to harm them. They will gain dominion over all rulers. Whoever becomes the sovereign of Khotan will think this: ‘This country, Khotan, filled with people, bustling with crowds,67 rich in resources and bounteous harvests,68 is the most excellent of all countries. No other armies will be able to invade it.’ At any such time [they attempt to], the ruler should encourage monks and nuns and laymen and laywomen and the entire populace of the country—those in wilderness retreats, those in the monastic groves of the saṅgha, and those in cities, in market towns, in the countryside, and in royal palaces—to recite the words of the mantra dhāraṇīs69 that have been taught earlier, to retain them, and to internalize them. The monks and nuns, the laymen and laywomen, and the people living in the country should be provisioned with flour, garments, parasols, victory banners, silken banners, food, and a variety of drinks. They should be venerated and honored with various acts of offering and served with all provisions. If this is done, then the land of Khotan will avoid all harm. No army of any rival king will be able to destroy Khotan under such a king.”
Again,[F.214.b] from the buddhafields in the ten directions, the blessed buddhas each bestowed their individual names, light rays, and the mantra words of their dhāraṇīs. The Blessed One Śākyamuni then entrusted Khotan, abode of all bodhisattvas of the Fortunate Eon and symbol of all the blessed buddhas of the Fortunate Eon, along with the Gomasalagandha stūpa, abode of the great ṛṣi sages, to Śakra, Brahmā and the thirty-two kings of gods, to the Four Great Kings, to the god Sañjaya and others, to the twenty-eight great yakṣa commanders, to the bodhisattva Vimalaprabhā and the twenty thousand bodhisattvas of the Gomasalagandha stūpa, and to the nāga king Demon Pride and his eighteen thousand nāgas. He did so in order that the saṅghas of monks and nuns would be maintained, protected, and remain unharmed and free from schisms, and so that the Buddha’s teachings, after their establishment in the kingdom of Khotan, would remain there for a long time.
Heeding the command of those blessed buddhas who, with their hearts overwhelmed by compassion, had bestowed on beings with their great aspiration their names, light rays, and mantra words of the dhāraṇīs, Śakra, Brahmā and the thirty-two kings of gods, the Four Great Kings, the nāga kings, Vimalaprabhā, the other bodhisattvas, and all their retinues, with palms joined together in reverence, accepted the kingdom of Khotan and the Gomasalagandha stūpa, abode of great ṛṣi sages, in order to safeguard the Buddha’s teachings.
And, in order to protect the land, they also accepted the names of the buddhas, the light rays,[F.215.a] and the mantra words of the dhāraṇīs. Also, those light rays were absorbed and remained in the body of light70 of the bodhisattva Vimalaprabhā.
Homage to the tathāgata Well Established in Moral Discipline.71 Homage to the tathāgata Peaceful Play. Homage to the tathāgata Śāntirāja. Homage to the tathāgata Śāntottara. Homage to the tathāgata Rooted in Space. Homage to the tathāgata Remover of Weapons. Homage to the tathāgata Hundred Eyes. Homage to the tathāgata Excellent Light Rays. Homage to the tathāgata Powerful Appearance. Homage to the tathāgata Sunlike Appearance.
These are the light rays of the buddhas: the light ray called mighty victory banner; the light ray called leaf of amṛta; the light ray called calming; the light ray called leafless; the light ray called ka; the light ray called fire; the light ray called abiding; the light ray called motionless; the light ray called moving and motionless; the light ray called unimpeded giving; the light ray called pleasant; the light ray called unhindered; the light ray called ten million victory banners removing epidemics; the light ray called imperturbable abode; the light ray called beryl; the light ray called falling on the city the light ray called disc-shaped glow; the light ray called heroic ray; the light ray called formed like a vajra; the light ray called ray of merit; the light ray called ray of samādhi; the light ray called fire tongues; the light ray called all illuminating; the light ray called enlightenment factor; the light ray called light of śamatha; the light ray called limitless; the light ray called jewel light; the light ray called gem of heroes; the light ray called moonlight; the light ray called sunlight; the light ray called awareness trajectory; the light ray called shining jewel; the light ray called Indra’s victory banner; the light ray called light of the world; the light ray called compassionate appearance; the light ray called victory; the light ray called light of wisdom; the light ray called fire; the light ray called lamp of the world; the light ray called alleviator of eye diseases; the light ray called supreme victor; the light ray called shaped like the earth; the light ray called great light; the light ray called kokara; the light ray called making the shape ཨ; the light ray called jaccharya;72 the light ray called heroic victory banner that instils courage; the light ray called splendor; the light ray called boundless light; the light ray called unmovable; the light ray called banner of intelligence; the light ray called exalted mission; the light ray called truthful; the light ray called satisfying; the light ray called sound producing; the light ray called illuminating; the light ray called vajra-like intelligence; the light ray called empty appearance; the light ray called captivator; the light ray called queen of courage; the light ray called flash; the light ray called going to the heavens; the light ray called peaceful aspect; the light ray called pinnacle of peace; the light ray called victory banner of samādhi; the light ray called pinnacle of joy; the light ray called reedlike;[F.216.a] the light ray called light of the eyes; the light ray called nāga born; the light ray called light of the river; the light ray called form of a man; the light ray called flaming; the light ray called fire; the light ray called light of the lotus; the light ray called form of the senses; the light ray called like an inquiry; the light ray called undulation; the light ray called settled in the senses; the light ray called tremor; the light ray called displaying earth’s victory banner; the light ray called pinnacle of truth; the light ray called illuminator; the light ray called form of arrangement; the light ray called reliant on the senses; the light ray called pleasing the mind; the light ray called beautiful; the light ray called form of a forehead; the light ray called nicely glowing; the light ray called inquiring; the light ray called sun disk; [589] the light ray called ambience; the light ray called river of wisdom; the light ray called victorious intelligence; the light ray called expansion; the light ray called light of truth; the light ray called form of a buddha; the light ray called uṣṇīṣa; the light ray called vajra ensign; the light ray called abiding in vajra; the light ray called victory banner of merit; the light ray called tip of the tongue; and the light ray called soothing the mind. These are the light rays of the buddhas.
tadyathā | lokahāra | śuddhā ka ru sthiti puṣya va | ka ru le svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called that which causes evil to be forsaken.
tadyathā | śuddhamati | ad tsam bhe vu lo tsa re | a tra ma te | curakare pu svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called the compassion that creates happiness.
tadyathā | indra | indre | va dre | va de vi phu re svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called adamantine intelligence.[F.216.b]
tadyathā | ṭha ke va ke | jājambhe | bhrama jvare svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called lotus tamer.
tadyathā | śura | ra re be a lo ke | kośa gāre svāhā |
This dhāranī is called opener.73
tadyathā | cale vitathā | anyonya | prajñākāre svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called nonengagement.
tadyathā | jijire| hāra hāle | le le prajñākāre svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called unobstructed.
tadyathā | vajre śrīkare | sara sara | ajñā mā jñe | na ri re kī | nari | sang ngi jñākāre phu svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called unassailable by others.
tadyathā | a pu rī vi va re | sa da re | ma kha ka re svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called abiding in truth.
tadyathā | jyoti jyoti| vajre a | akṣamantra be | pra ga ā be | vajri mā va | ka ka su re svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called the mighty queen of dhāraṇīs. It will pacify hostile armies and perfect the accumulation of virtue.
tadyathā | diśā kare | stha kā rai | indravate | va prā tai sa prā u sthā te svāhā |
This dhāraṇī prevents famine and eradicates poverty. It will achieve any favor that one wishes to obtain. If one recites this dhāraṇī twenty times, eight times a day—four times during the day and four times at night—for twenty-one days, one will find treasures and other riches buried underground.
tadyathā | oṁ he mo he jambhāya | ma śa mantra kā | da ma kā re la bhā kā re | vikāre sa di jñākāre | da ka di a dhā ka | praśamana phu a ka na pra ma ne phu svāhā |
This dhāraṇī alleviates all illnesses and saves one from rebirth as a woman. It particularly alleviates all female ailments. There is no need for taking any vows and it may be recited, three times a day, in whatever way one wishes. A woman who suffers from a vaginal infection should recite it daily—seven recitations of it at seven times during the day.
tadyathā | ka ka | kośa phu mama | ra ra ra ra | sta re phu | sa ka re phu svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is given to prevent injuries and eliminate all kinds of suffering. No specific commitment is necessary.[F.217.a]
These dhāraṇīs, taught by the blessed buddhas whose names were stated earlier,74 are none other than those that supported the Blessed One Śākyamuni during his own practice of bodhisattva conduct. In order to benefit many beings in this kingdom of Khotan, symbol of the Blessed One Śākyamuni, and the Sahā world, those buddhas and bodhisattvas of the Fortunate Eon [committed to] taking birth [there] and requested the aforementioned blessed buddhas to bestow these dhāraṇīs and awakened light rays, as well as the names of the buddhas, in order to ensure that the Blessed One Śākyamuni’s kingdom of Khotan would persist for a long time.
When the heirs of the Buddha made the request, the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara, in order to benefit all beings, to protect the kingdom of Khotan, and to ensure that the teaching would persist there for a long time, received these gifts from the blessed buddhas and came bearing them here. And many bodhisattvas abiding in the various buddhafields also took rebirth here to ensure that this land, prophesied by the Buddha, would not be destroyed, and that the teachings would persist here for a long time.
At any such time that the country faces danger, these names of the buddhas, the dhāraṇīs, and the names of the light rays, as taught earlier, should be written down and affixed to the gates of the city. They should be written on the banners of the troops,75 and people should be assigned to recite them and bear them aloft. In this way, the danger76 from hostile armies and famines will be averted, the karma of the people will be cleansed, virtuous actions will be accomplished, and beings will receive benefits in accordance with their wishes. Furthermore, beings will be protected from diseases.[F.217.b]
Even those with very heavy negative karma should recite the names of the buddhas, the dhāraṇīs, and the names of the light rays for a period of twenty-one days while recollecting the buddhas of the ten directions. When the names of the buddhas, the dhāraṇīs, and the names of the light rays are recited at three intervals in front of a stūpa containing relics or a statue of the Buddha, one will quickly succeed in whatever virtuous action one wishes to achieve, and light rays will remain above one.77
Furthermore, whenever a hostile army approaches, they should be recited or read aloud for the duration of seven days. No matter what harm or disease one wishes to avert, one should recite them or read them aloud. When one is unable to read them aloud, one should intone them seven times onto a string, tie a knot in it, and wear it. Then one will be free from all kinds of harm. No foreign army will be able to conquer a city in which these names of the buddhas, the dhāraṇīs, and the names of the light rays are written down and affixed to its gates. If they are recited constantly, it is unnecessary to abstain from meat, and unnecessary to give up other things.
Then to the sons of noble family who had gone forth as renunciants in the footsteps of the Buddha who, on thinking about this, had become anxious, the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara said, “Sons, do not be anxious! It is for your benefit that in the country there will be many monastic groves of the saṅgha, fragrant sanctuaries and so on erected by Dharma kings, and stūpas containing relics. For as long as the teachings of the Buddha, the Blessed One, remain in the country, no hostile king will be able to destroy it. It is like this: In the attractive [city] called Ngarden, the city with the hog as its ensign,78 and in the Old City—these three—so long as the Buddha’s teachings exist, offerings continue to be made to the entire saṅgha,[F.218.a] and for as long as the buddha stūpa at Kapila79 remains, they will not fall into ruin.”
Then the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara called on all the sons of the victors and commanded them thus: “Listen, friends! Bodhisattvas and gods who protect this country must not abandon it when a king who is ignorant of the Dharma tries to destroy it! Those who do not heed the Buddha’s commands and abandon the country at its time of danger80 will be prevented from attaining unsurpassed, completely perfect enlightenment for many eons.” He then taught the following dhāraṇī:
tadyathā | kāle | akāle | nikśrame bha praveśā | ākāli krame | anikśrame | apraveśā| paresa me parisamiti | sa sa se | a sa sa se | sa ku te | va ru re | pa ru re | a ga me | a sa ma mo te | siddhe siddhāya | namo vairocanāya svāhā | pha ḍa ḍe ṇe sva te | ā sā te | su man ne | sa ru ste | siddhe | siddhāya | svāhā |
Then the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara appealed to those who were to be81 rulers of Khotan: “This is your legacy. To sacrifice one’s body and one’s life for the Three Jewels, as you have done, is the work of the heirs of the Buddha. You have done well. At such a time as the country is82 under threat83 from a great enemy, this sūtra should be read aloud, should be worn,84 and should be venerated. If you do this, Sahapati too will assist in neutralizing all threats. In order to protect the country, this sūtra should be written down in accordance with ritual injunctions and kept in the king’s palace. Also, copies should be affixed to the outer walls of the king’s palace, and in the same way to the city gates, at main thoroughfares and paths, at market squares and junctions,85 and to the houses of prominent householders. When it is widely read, taught,[F.218.b] or memorized, the country will be freed from epidemics and harm.”
When the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara had spoken these words, the gods residing in the sky let fall a rain of divine flowers, sounded their divine cymbals, and beat their large divine drums. Then all the bodhisattvas, gods, and nāga kings said with one voice, “When the dhāraṇīs, light rays, and names of the buddhas have arrived in that country, we too will come in the future, just as we came in the past, into the presence of the Blessed One Śākyamuni. And in order to protect the country we will bestow the dhāraṇīs on the king.”
***
At that time, a bodhisattva residing in female form in the world system called Adorned by Vairocana’s Light Rays made the following aspiration in the presence of the tathāgata Fully Blossomed Flower of Clairvoyance, King of the Constellation of the Immaculate Lotus Petal: “Come what may, I must go to the Sahā world, the buddhafield of the Blessed One Śākyamuni, and there I must listen to the Dharma discourse called The White Lotus of the Good Dharma from the Blessed One.86 May I thereby bring benefit and joy to all beings and free them from disease!” After she had made this aspiration, she died and transmigrated from that buddhafield and was reborn in the palace of King Ajātaśatru as the daughter of his principal queen and given the name Vimalaprabhā.
That same Vimalaprabhā, daughter of King Ajātaśatru, had joined that assembly and was seated there among them. She said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, I request that one hundred years after your parinirvāṇa, by your command, I will be entrusted with the task of protecting Khotan. At such a time as the blessed buddhas send forth those light rays mentioned earlier, may those light rays remain above me and may I too, in a female form, obtain the dhāraṇī through which all dhāraṇīs are realized. And at such a time as there is great danger for Khotan, may I be considered by the blessed buddhas as the one who will protect the country and ensure the preservation of the teachings for a long time. May they also teach me skillful means. May the gods too grant their oaths. May I appear there too in the form of an ordinary woman like any other human woman. May the light rays of the buddhas remain above me. May I87 obtain the dhāraṇīs so as to liberate from suffering those who face oppression, who are struck by disease and who have fallen into misery. At such a time as the great kings go to war with one another, at such a time as the Red Faces88 plunder89 the districts of Khotan, may I take rebirth there as a woman. May I uphold the Mahāyāna sūtra The White Lotus of the Good Dharma exactly as it has been taught by the blessed buddhas. May I realize the dhāraṇīs in this sūtra. May I also realize the samādhi understanding all sounds, so as to be able to tame all sentient beings. May I bring benefit to all sentient beings with the Dharma discourse The White Lotus of the Good Dharma. May I make offerings and give the gift of Dharma to all the gods that are guardian deities of Khotan. And may this Mahāyāna sūtra, The White Lotus of the Good Dharma,[F.219.b] and all the gods who have received and rely90 upon it come under my control.”
Then the guardian deity Vaiśravaṇa, the rākṣasī Lamkonti with all the rākṣasīs and their female friends, and Hārītī together with her children, having heard the words of the Blessed One and the goddess91 Vimalaprabhā, rose from their seats, and with their palms joined made this supplication: “At such a time as this goddess takes rebirth in Khotan, we too will act at that time as guardians in order to provide assistance, and we will remember that the Mahāyāna sūtra The White Lotus of the Good Dharma and the regions of Khotan have been entrusted by the Buddha, the Blessed One, and accepted by you.”
At that time, the thirty-two kings of gods, having heard the oaths of the goddess, spoke thus: “At such a time as this goddess takes rebirth in order to protect Khotan, we too, together with our retinues, shall protect the country and lend our assistance so that its intended destiny shall be fulfilled.”
Thereupon the goddess Vimalaprabhā rose from her seat, placed her upper robe over one shoulder, knelt with her right knee on the ground, and, with palms joined,92 addressed the Blessed One directly. In the presence of the Blessed One, she made this aspiration: “Blessed One, may I cherish every sentient being like an only child. May I do whatever it takes to complete every task. May I be steadfast in body, firm in mind, and may I bring benefit to sentient beings. May I fulfill their wishes and may my heart be fully engaged for the sake of the country. May the sūtra The White Lotus of the Good Dharma benefit sentient beings and may I accomplish samādhi.”
When the goddess spoke thus in the presence of the Blessed One, a rain of divine flowers fell on the Blessed One and[F.220.a] on the goddess Vimalaprabhā.
“At such a time as the Sumpas and the Azha invade Khotan, [though due to] the deeds I have done in the past during Virūḍhaka’s war on the land of the Śākyas the goddess Vimalaprabhā will be greatly aggrieved, at that time, I will be her father. When she is mourning for me,109 and obtains the dhāraṇīs for the first time, may she liberate me, too, from all my suffering.”
In The Questions of Vimalaprabhā the Buddha Śākyamuni prophesies the emergence of the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan one hundred years after his parinirvāṇa, and the flourishing of Buddhism there. He also predicts that it will in the future be ransacked by an invasion of Sumpa and Tibetan (“Red Face”) armies. This prophecy is given to a goddess named Vimalaprabhā, who is king Ajātaśatru’s daughter, and her brother prince Vajrasena. These two are entrusted with being the guardians of Khotan in the future, who will save its thriving Buddhist culture from calamity at its time of need. Many buddhas, gods, and bodhisattvas, including in particular the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, also promise to assist them in saving Khotan from destruction, and numerous dhāraṇīs for the protection of the country are bestowed. This Khotanese text appears to combine various scriptures in one, as it embeds ritual instructions, past life stories, prophecies, and tantric elements into a narrative sūtra frame.
This sūtra was translated into English from the Tibetan by Bruno Galasek-Hul with Lama Kunga Thartse Rinpoche (Evam Choden Buddhist Center Kensington, Berkeley, California) as the consulting lama.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. George FitzHerbert edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Huizi Zuo and family.
The Questions of Vimalaprabhā, despite its ordinary-sounding title, is anything but an ordinary sūtra. It belongs to a small group of works in the Kangyur and Tengyur that hail from the silk road Buddhist kingdom of Khotan, whose primary concern is the fate of that once-thriving Buddhist land. The oasis city of Khotan, corresponding to the modern-day Hotan in the prefecture of the same name in the Xinjiang region to the northwest of Tibet between the Kunlun mountains and the Taklamakan desert, was home to a flourishing Buddhist culture for many centuries and played a key role in the transmission of Buddhism to both China and Tibet, particularly in the seventh and eighth centuries
The main content of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is an elaborate and complex prophecy about Khotan’s historical vicissitudes as a prosperous center of Buddhism that would become a pawn in the great power politics between (pre-Buddhist) imperial Tibet, Tang China, and various Central Asian confederacies known in Tibetan as Sumpa and Azha. The invasions of the Sumpas and then the “Red Faces” (as the pre-Buddhist Tibetans are referred to) described in the prophecy may reflect the turbulent period of Khotanese history between the invasion of the Western Turks in the mid-seventh century, the first Tibetan invasion in around 665
The frame narrative of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is an assembly at Vulture Peak during the time of the historical Buddha, at which the Buddha prophesies the emergence of Khotan as a thriving Buddhist country and entrusts its protection to various gods (particularly Vaiśravaṇa), bodhisattvas (particularly Avalokiteśvara), and buddhas. As the text proceeds, ever more detailed prophecies are given concerning the future threat to this Buddhist kingdom in the wake of invasions by Sumpas and “Red Faces” (Tibetans), the marauding of groups of “wild men” (Tib. mi rgod, translated as “marauders”), and the looming danger of the “two great armies” of China and Tibet clashing in the region. Amidst detailed and often vivid, albeit fragmentary, prophecies, the main theme of the text is the identification of the cast of characters who will save Khotan’s Buddhist culture from complete destruction at this time of crisis. Most important among these is a daughter of the king of Skardo (possibly corresponding to the modern Skardu, capital of Baltistan, in the Gilgit-Hunza region of today’s northern Pakistan). She, together with her brother, will save the area from further conflict by first raising a ransom payment from the Gold Country to pay off the invaders, and then initiating marriage alliance with China. In the narrative of the sūtra, this sister and brother duo are in fact the future incarnations of Vimalaprabhā (after whom the text is named) and Vajrasena, the daughter and son respectively of king Ajātaśatru, who are in the assembly at Vulture Peak and vow to take responsibility for protecting Khotan in their future lives. The sūtra takes great care to reveal these and other protagonists’ karmic relationships with each other and with the country of Khotan in an intricate pattern of embedded avadāna stories that explain their actions and identities in past, present, and future lives. Throughout, the sūtra is also interspersed with a great number of dhāraṇīs and ritual instructions that are to be used in the protection of the Buddhist kingdom.
Though of great interest for the cultural history of Khotanese Buddhism, and the relations between Buddhist Khotan and imperial Tibet, The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is in places literarily obtuse. Certain themes and character introductions are repeated in ways that suggest different iterations of the narrative covering similar ground may have been spliced together. For example, there are multiple (and occasionally contradictory) explanations of who will become whom in future rebirths. Also, the way that the narrative frequently shifts between the assembly at Vulture Peak and the future events in Khotan, without clear tense demarcation, along with its repeated interjections of dhāraṇīs and ritual instructions, creates an unstable and sometimes uncertain narrative voice. Stylistically, the text reflects a variety of genres of Buddhist canonical literature, embracing elements of avadāna, sūtra, dhāraṇī, and tantra. As it moves stylistically between being a protective manual for ritual defense, a complex karmic narrative concerning the fate of Khotan, and a sūtra discourse delivered by the Buddha Śākyamuni at Vulture Peak, these purposes are not always smoothly integrated.
The text has attracted the interest of many Tibetan scholars over the centuries. Its presentation of Khotan as a Buddhist country under the special protection of particular gods and bodhisattvas, especially Avalokiteśvara, in many ways presages the later development of Tibetan mytho-poetic tropes concerning the Buddhist destiny of Tibet and its own ritual defense.
The Questions of Vimalaprabhā opens with an assembly of gods, nāgas, and humans at Vulture Peak, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is teaching the Candragarbha Sūtra,5 a key text for the prophecies concerning the eventual decline of Buddhism. While assigning the lands of Jambudvīpa to different gods and buddhas for their protection, he calls upon Vaiśravaṇa and others to be protectors of the future Buddhist kingdom of Khotan (1.4-1.7). This will be established one hundred years after his own parinirvāṇa and will flourish materially and spiritually as an emblem or symbol (Tib. phyag mtshan) of the Buddha Śākyamuni’s continued presence in the world.
When Vaiśravaṇa requests assistance in this task, (1.9-1.18) the Buddha sends light rays to innumerable buddhafields calling upon distant tathāgatas to help. The tathāgatas respond by promising to assist in the defense of Khotan by sending light rays, bodhisattvas, and dhāraṇīs (1.28-1.35). The Buddha then teaches a dhāraṇī that will summon the gods of this Sahā world and gives instructions for how it is to be ritually deployed at times of impending danger from invading armies (1.38).
The tathāgatas, the light rays, and the dhāraṇīs are then all enumerated by name (1.42-1.56). It is stated that these protective names were brought to Khotan by the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, who also taught that, during times of danger from war or disease, the names and the dhāraṇīs should be written down and affixed to the city gates, military banners, and elsewhere for the protection of the land. The bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara also gives rousing rejoinders to the bodhisattvas to ensure that their commitment to the protection of Khotan is firm (1.62-1.65) .
At this point the main protagonist of the sūtra, Vimalaprabhā, is introduced (2.1). She is a bodhisattva in a distant world system who comes to the Sahā world to hear The White Lotus of the Good Dharma from the Buddha Śākyamuni. To hear it, she is reborn as the daughter of king Ajātaśatru and is present in the assembly along with her brother, the prince Vajrasena. She volunteers to take rebirth as a woman in Khotan and makes the aspiration to protect the land both for the sake of beings and for the sake of the survival of the Dharma there. On hearing her aspiration, many gods and others in the audience too are inspired and likewise pledge to assist with the protection of Khotan.
In one of several indications of the likely composite nature of this text, the narrative then starts to come in and out of verse (2.6), as other members in the assembly, such as the King of Oḍḍiyāna (Tib. U rgyan), the king of Kaspara (Kashmir) and his wife, and Vimalaprabhā’s various brothers and sisters, all take turns promising to likewise take rebirth in Khotan and its neighboring regions of Skardo and the Gold Country, to support Vimalaprabhā in her mission. Of particular importance is Vimalaprabhā’s youngest brother Vajrasena, who declares that he has been her brother in many successive lives in the past, including when she was Husha, the mythical rākṣasī (Tib. srin mo) who was the progenitor of the people of Gold Country. He pledges to be her brother in the future too, when they will be the son and daughter of the king of Skardo who will save Khotan from destruction after its invasion by the Red Faces.
After her younger brother’s aspiration, there is an interlude in the narrative, in which the Buddha himself miraculously disappears from Vulture Peak and reappears in the place where the future Khotan will be located, echoing the narrative of his miraculous appearance there to bless the land in The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga (Gośṛṅgavyākaraṇa, Toh 357). There, further dhāraṇīs are taught for the protection of Khotan (3.1).
The narrative then returns to the assembly (4.1), where it is the turn of Ajātaśatru’s city governor and one of Vimalaprabhā’s ladies-in-waiting to promise their assistance to Vimalaprabhā in the future when Khotan is under threat.
In this way, the entire cast of characters surrounding Firm Resolve—the future incarnation of Vimalaprabhā at the time of the invasions of Khotan—are recognized as incarnations of those who had formerly made commitments to help in the presence of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
The Buddha then prophesies what will take place when Khotan is invaded and plundered, and a war between the “two great armies” (Tibetan and Chinese) is imminent, and instructions are given to Vimalaprabhā and her brother Vajrasena about what they must do to avert further destruction.
The buddhas again send light rays and affirm their commitments to Khotan and Vimalaprabhā in their hour of need, and further dhāraṇīs (5.1) are taught. Of particular significance for the defense of the realm and success in battle is the strength of horse dhāraṇī taught by Brahmā and the other gods. This is accompanied by instructions for an elaborate ritual of war defense, prominently invoking Avalokiteśvara, that is to be performed in conjunction with the recitation of this dhāraṇī. Further dhāraṇīs and ritual instructions for warding off danger at times of war are also taught by the Buddha, by the bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, and others, and by Brahmā and the other gods.
Further characters in the assembly then step forward to request or offer help to Vimalaprabhā and, each time, a variety of further dhāraṇīs are taught for the future protection of Khotan (6.1).
The second half of the sūtra (7.1) continues with further iterations of these same themes, each time providing ever greater detail about the events that will unfold in Khotan when the Sumpas and Red Faces invade, and about what Vimalaprabhā and Vajrasena in their future incarnations must do to avoid the annihilation of the kingdom. These detailed prophecies are also interlaced with frequent digressions into past life stories to explain the karmic debts and boons of its protagonists. These include Vimalaprabhā’s past life as the rākṣasī Husha (7.17-7.23), progenitor of the people of Gold Country, and stories concerning the origins of the Badak and Balang Sumpas. They also include allusions to narratives found elsewhere in the Buddhist canonical literature, such as allusions to the brothers Benevolence and Evildoer (as featured in the Sūtra of the Wise and Foolish), to the Buddha’s past life as the brahmin Samudrareṇu (as featured in The White Lotus of Compassion), and to the invasion of the Śākya kingdom by the army of Virūḍhaka during the Buddha’s lifetime.
Although seen through the smoky glass of prophecy, and in sometimes confusing iterations, The Questions of Vimalaprabhā provides many vivid flashes of the flourishing Buddhist kingdom of Khotan and its neighboring areas, the great tumult caused by the invasions of the Sumpas and the Red Faces, and the fragmentary tale of the devout princess of Skardo who saves the kingdom from further warfare by raising a ransom from the Gold Country, and ensures her brother’s succession to the throne of both Khotan and Skardo as Armor of Victory (Skt. *Vijayavarman).
Being a prophecy, the events described in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā cannot be regarded as history.6 Nevertheless, the correspondences between its setting and the little we know about the history of Khotan between the first Tibetan invasion in around 665
Evidence within the text itself suggests that the version of the Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā that we have today in the Kangyur is composite in nature and likely contains layers of editorial accretion, possibly over extended periods of time. It is generally believed to have been compiled or authored in Khotan itself.7 It may have been composed close to the time of the events in the mid-seventh century that it appears to prophetically describe,8 though a later date, once those events had already passed into folklore, is equally possible.9 We can be sure that some version of the text was translated into Tibetan no later than the early ninth century, because it is recorded in both the Phangthangma and Denkarma imperial catalogs of translated texts, albeit with variable titles.10 In the absence of any colophon to any version of the Tibetan text we now have, the original language from which it was translated, whether Sanskrit or Khotanese,11 and by whom, remains unclear. F. W. Thomas, in his pioneering study and translation of the text (1935), leaned toward Sanskrit.12 However, Chomden Rikpai Raltri, who was a key figure in the early compilation of the Kangyur at the end of the thirteenth century, listed Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā (with yet another variant title)13 as being among more than twenty texts that were “translated from Khotan [ese] by the Khotanese scholar Surendrakaraprabha and others and the senior editor-translator monk Namkha and others.”14 Unfortunately, we currently have no further information about these translators. Until a thorough linguistic analysis of the text can be conducted or other evidence comes to light, the original language of its composition will remain uncertain. It also seems possible that at least some parts of the text are Tibetan editorial additions.15
No extant Khotanese, Sanskrit, Pāli, or Chinese versions of the sūtra have been identified. Apart from a reference to it in The Prophecy Concerning Khotan,16 it is not mentioned in any other Kangyur or Tengyur texts.
Versions of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā preserved in Tshalpa lineage Kangyurs all end simply with the formula, “This concludes the Mahāyāna sūtra called The Questions of Vimalaprabhā.” However, in some Thempangma lineage Kangyurs there is the further statement, as follows:
“Though this sūtra The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is authentic and can be trusted, many appear to disagree and consider it as many books [in one].”17
Indeed, other versions may have circulated and may continue to exist. In Tibetan sources one sometimes encounters Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā, or some variant thereof, evoked as containing a prophecy of Tibet’s own conversion to Buddhism. Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub, 1290–1364), for example, using what seems to be another variant of the title, The Prophecy of the Goddess Vimalaprabhā18 mentions in his monumental History of Buddhism (chos ’byung) that it contains the following prophecy (trans. Obermiller):
“2500 years after I have passed away into Nirvāṇa, the Highest Doctrine will become spread in the country of the red-faced (people).”19
However, we have not found this statement in any version of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā now preserved in the Kangyur. In a similar vein, the Vimalaprabhapariprccha [sic] is cited in Hidden Teachings of Tibet, a modern work by the twentieth-century Tibetan teacher Tulku Thondup, as stating that “The Buddha entrusted Tibet to Avalokitesvara…[and] the Buddha instructed Avalokiteśvara to discipline, serve and preach Dharma in Tibet at the appropriate future time.”20 However, though Avalokiteśvara certainly plays an important role in the Kangyur version of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā, it is as a protector of Khotan (Tib. li yul), not of Tibet, and we have been unable to identify any passage containing this prediction for Tibet.
Describing Tibetans in general, and pre-Buddhist Tibetans in particular, as “red-faced ones” (gdong dmar can) would become a very common trope in Tibetan literature and especially in narratives of Tibet’s conversion to Buddhism.21 The Questions of Vimalaprabhā constitutes an early attestation of the epithet. While today “red-faced ones” is often taken as referring in general to the ruddy complexions of Tibetan highlanders, the origins of the epithet may lie more specifically in the custom of imperial-period Tibetan soldiers coloring their faces with red dye. Butön confirms that in the Prophecy of the Goddess Vimalaprabhā “the country of the red-faced ones” (gdong dmar can gyi yul) refers to Tibet (Tib. bod) but also mentions in passing that the Testimony of Ba considered it to refer to China.22 However in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā, the Chinese (rgya) and the Red Faces (gdong dmar) are clearly rivals and opponents in the imminent battle over Khotan, so the latter clearly refers to the Tibetans.23
There was considerable interest in the early history of Khotan among western scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for a brief summary of which see the introduction to The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga (Toh 357, i.13). In 1935, F. W. Thomas published a complete English translation of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā from the Tibetan text as found in the Narthang edition of the Kangyur (with variant readings recorded from the manuscript Kangyur kept at the British Museum in London).24 Thomas’ pioneering translation, though incomplete (the dhāraṇī sections were omitted), is impressive for the time, and his accompanying study contains a wealth of interesting detail, especially concerning the many personal names and ethnonyms the sūtra contains. However, Thomas’ interest in the text was in his own words “mainly in the historical, local and sociological particulars”25 and this gives the work a decidedly historico-geographic slant. His main concern was to find correspondences between the personal and place names presented in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā and other diverse sources on the history of the wider region. For example, he speculated that the king of Skardo called Mighty Armor (which he reconstructed in Sanskrit as *Īśvaravarman) might correspond to the eighth-century
Interesting as such speculations may be, our own approach in translating The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is rather different. Rather than as a mine for historical, geographical, and political information, we take it as a rich Buddhist literary work likely composed by Khotanese Buddhists who were steeped in Buddhist culture and literature, which provides a rare window onto the lost world of Khotan’s flourishing Buddhism and indeed its folklore. We have tried to make our translation as intelligible as possible, and in doing so have found that the narrative, though convoluted, is for the most part internally consistent.
That said, the text does present many challenges for a translator. The shifting and unclear treatment of tenses in the Tibetan, with extensive use of a perfective (past) tense to describe future prophesied events, and sometimes with different tense readings in different Kangyur recensions, can make it hard to keep track of the location, narrator, and timeline of the events being described—whether they relate to past lives, the present setting in the assembly at Vulture Peak, or the future in Khotan. The cast of characters and their often similar names and roles posed another challenge, as it can be difficult to keep track of the characters’ various identities, actions, and relationships through the three times. In particular the (similar) names of the various kings of Skardo and Khotan can be confusing. Though it is thought that the Buddhist kings of Khotan were known by Sanskrit names, we decided to render their names throughout in English, as most of them are not clearly attested in other sources.28 We have however retained Thomas’ Sanskrit reconstructions in the glossary. The text of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā contains many other personal names and place names that are difficult or impossible to identify with any degree of certainty.29 The Tibetan term gser (kyi) rigs—which would correspond the Sanskrit suvarṇagotra—is of particular interest and has been the subject of considerable scholarly speculation (see glossary entry for Gold Country). Here we have translated it as the “Gold Clan.”30
Another term of interest in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is the Buddha calling the kingdom of Khotan his phyag mtshan, literally “hand-sign.” In other contexts, this term often refers to the implements—weapons or other symbolic accoutrements—that (tantric) deities hold in their hands, such as the lotus flower in Avalokiteśvara’s hand, for example, or the vajra in Vajrapāṇi’s hand. Thomas offers a very literal translation as “sign manual,” which is an archaic English expression for a signature, specifically a monarch’s signature on an official document. Understood as the sign, symbol, or emblem of the Buddha and all the buddhas, the term conveys the idea that Khotan, as a thriving Buddhist kingdom, represented the continued presence of the Buddha and his teachings in the world, which carried his personal seal of approval. We have translated the term as symbol.
Probably the most important of the numerous dhāraṇīs taught in The Questions of Vimalaprabhā is the dhāraṇī we have called the strength of a horse. Thomas translated the Tibetan name (rta gnas lit. “stable”) quite literally as “horse-stall.”31 However, in light of the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa references included when the dhāraṇī is introduced, we have tentatively interpreted it as an attempt to translate the Sanskrit aśvatthāman. Aśvatthāman is the name of an important character in the Indian epic Mahābhārata, where he is portrayed as a fearsome young Kaurava warrior who, after losing the last great battle, went into the Pāṇḍava camp at night and committed a massacre. He stamped Dhṛṣṭadyumna, who had mortally wounded his father, to death, which is perhaps what inspired his name, as aśvatthāman can literally mean “having the strength of a horse.” We know that the Mahābhārata was known and popular in Buddhist Khotan.32
The Questions of Vimalaprabhā contains many names of buddhas, light rays, and dhāraṇīs, for which we have been unable to find parallels or other attestations in the canonical literature. F. W. Thomas mostly tried to reconstruct such names in Sanskrit. Our policy however, in the absence of actual Sanskrit attestations, has been to translate them as best as possible into English. We have, however, included many of Thomas’ Sanskrit reconstructions in the glossary, and marked them with an *asterisk.
Among the many features of The Questions of Vimalaprabhā that make it remarkable is that its main protagonist is a woman. Although in several passages female rebirth is disparaged as an unfortunate state, Vimalaprabhā’s central role in safeguarding the Buddhism of Khotan and her role in a past life as the progenitor of the Gold Clan, indicate the prominence that female bodhisattvas may have had in Khotanese culture. Toward the end of the Vimalaprabhaparipṛcchā, the protagonist herself even declares:
“To liberate sentient beings, I have taken rebirth as a woman in many trying circumstances—as queen, king’s daughter, ordinary woman, prostitute, wretch, and beggar. Thus, I benefitted those born as women and brought about liberation for women.”
Many Kangyurs, such as the London (Shelkar), Stok Palace MS, Ulaanbaatar, and Shey preserve a copy of this sūtra in both the sūtra (mdo sde) and tantra (rgyud) sections of their Kangyurs.33 The main source for our English translation was the version preserved in the Degé Kangyur (D). We also consulted the Stok Palace manuscript edition Kangyur (S) and the variants listed in the Pedurma comparative edition (A). We also referred frequently to Thomas’ English translation. For the dhāraṇīs, we have mostly preserved the Degé Kangyur’s reading of the syllables. In places, however, where transcription idiosyncrasies are clear, we have reconstructed the Sanskrit words. For instance, we have emended the Tibetan transcription in dra dad ta to indradatta, and we have rendered the Tibetan ba as va when found in mantras and dhāraṇīs. In two instances we have had to supply syllables from the Stok manuscript Kangyur because the Degé print was illegible.
Milestone breaks marked by three asterisks (***) have been added to the English translation for the ease of the reader. These do not correspond to any marked breaks in the Tibetan text.
While the Buddha, the Blessed One, was teaching the sūtra called Candragarbha,34 he entrusted all the countries of Jambudvīpa one by one to the protectors.
Therefore, the Blessed One, while remaining at Vulture Peak Mountain, sent forth light rays to gather all the gods. As soon as he thought of them, all the kings of the gods together with their retinues appeared seated before the Blessed One. The Blessed One then summoned the great king Vaiśravaṇa and the yakṣa lord Sañjaya and said to them, “Great kings, act in accordance with the Dharma I have taught, and honor it. One hundred years after my parinirvāṇa, a country called Khotan will appear. I entrust this land to you for its protection.
Then the king Vaiśravaṇa said to the Blessed One:45
Thereupon the Blessed One spoke again:55
Thus spoke the Supreme Victor57 to the gods. Then the Blessed One entered meditative absorption in the samādhi called radiant splendor and a light beam called form of the tathāgata radiated from between his eyebrows. From this light beam radiated innumerable, infinite other light rays that traveled to every buddhafield, and wherever in those buddhafields a blessed buddha resided, a voice echoed, inquiring, “The god of gods, the Buddha, the Blessed One Śākyamuni inquires: Are you free from sickness and in good health?”[F.212.b] And the voice said further, “For the sake of awakening I have practiced austerities over many eons. For the sake of gathering the true Dharma, I have sacrificed innumerable bodies and given many gifts. I have endured a great deal of suffering not experienced by other bodhisattvas. It is through that, that I have attained unsurpassed, completely perfect enlightenment. Now that the time of my parinirvāṇa has come, I entrust all countries of the entire Jambudvīpa to guardian deities for their protection.
“Gods, when a hundred years have passed since my nirvāṇa, a country called Khotan will rise to prosperity. For the sake of its discipline, the buddhas of the Fortunate Eon and bodhisattvas must be summoned to protect it, without discussion.58 The sons of the victors of the Fortunate Eon will take rebirth in the cities that surround Khotan, like an eye.59 They will engage in good bodhisattva conduct to mature sentient beings and make them listen to the Dharma. Buddhas, grant me your consideration! When I taught the best of sūtras, the great Quintessence of the Sun,60 overwhelmed61 by compassion you bestowed dhāraṇīs and light rays to ensure the protection of the country.62 Bestow them [now] as you did then! Bestow them, supreme victors, from every buddhafield for the people of this land, so that the teachings will be protected. Bestow them joyfully for me!” When the Lion of the Śākyas, the Protector, sent forth his light rays, they traveled to every buddhafield and then returned.63
As soon as they did, the blessed buddhas residing in all the buddhafields in turn sent forth light rays so that the teachings of the Blessed One Śākyamuni, who had requested the protection of Khotan,[F.213.a] would remain for a long time. Also bestowing dhāraṇīs, they spoke as follows: “We shall pronounce the names of each of the blessed buddhas who have sent forth these light rays and have entrusted bodhisattvas with dhāraṇīs. We will also pronounce the names of the bodhisattvas.64
Then the Buddha, the Blessed One, entered meditative absorption in the samādhi called lion’s gait while retaining in mind every facet of his bodhisattva practice, from his initial setting of the mind on enlightenment right up to its culmination at the seat of enlightenment, and his appreciation for the Dharma.[F.214.a] He then entrusted the country to them, for its own benefit and for that of the gods and others, telling them, “You should also recite this dhāraṇī, which invokes Brahmā and his divinities, and all the gods:
namo brahmaṇe | namaḥ sarva devānān | tadyathā | brahmaṇa indre | devatā pratiṣṭhate | aśvasthāne | vara indre | svapar pare | harakṣi mama indre | san tathā smara vara hare| ambhakumbhaka krī grī shrī | alaṃkāra | sarvadevagrāma svāhā |
“With this dhāraṇī, gods and humans will secure victory, and their enemies will be unable to harm them. They will gain dominion over all rulers. Whoever becomes the sovereign of Khotan will think this: ‘This country, Khotan, filled with people, bustling with crowds,67 rich in resources and bounteous harvests,68 is the most excellent of all countries. No other armies will be able to invade it.’ At any such time [they attempt to], the ruler should encourage monks and nuns and laymen and laywomen and the entire populace of the country—those in wilderness retreats, those in the monastic groves of the saṅgha, and those in cities, in market towns, in the countryside, and in royal palaces—to recite the words of the mantra dhāraṇīs69 that have been taught earlier, to retain them, and to internalize them. The monks and nuns, the laymen and laywomen, and the people living in the country should be provisioned with flour, garments, parasols, victory banners, silken banners, food, and a variety of drinks. They should be venerated and honored with various acts of offering and served with all provisions. If this is done, then the land of Khotan will avoid all harm. No army of any rival king will be able to destroy Khotan under such a king.”
Again,[F.214.b] from the buddhafields in the ten directions, the blessed buddhas each bestowed their individual names, light rays, and the mantra words of their dhāraṇīs. The Blessed One Śākyamuni then entrusted Khotan, abode of all bodhisattvas of the Fortunate Eon and symbol of all the blessed buddhas of the Fortunate Eon, along with the Gomasalagandha stūpa, abode of the great ṛṣi sages, to Śakra, Brahmā and the thirty-two kings of gods, to the Four Great Kings, to the god Sañjaya and others, to the twenty-eight great yakṣa commanders, to the bodhisattva Vimalaprabhā and the twenty thousand bodhisattvas of the Gomasalagandha stūpa, and to the nāga king Demon Pride and his eighteen thousand nāgas. He did so in order that the saṅghas of monks and nuns would be maintained, protected, and remain unharmed and free from schisms, and so that the Buddha’s teachings, after their establishment in the kingdom of Khotan, would remain there for a long time.
Heeding the command of those blessed buddhas who, with their hearts overwhelmed by compassion, had bestowed on beings with their great aspiration their names, light rays, and mantra words of the dhāraṇīs, Śakra, Brahmā and the thirty-two kings of gods, the Four Great Kings, the nāga kings, Vimalaprabhā, the other bodhisattvas, and all their retinues, with palms joined together in reverence, accepted the kingdom of Khotan and the Gomasalagandha stūpa, abode of great ṛṣi sages, in order to safeguard the Buddha’s teachings.
And, in order to protect the land, they also accepted the names of the buddhas, the light rays,[F.215.a] and the mantra words of the dhāraṇīs. Also, those light rays were absorbed and remained in the body of light70 of the bodhisattva Vimalaprabhā.
Homage to the tathāgata Well Established in Moral Discipline.71 Homage to the tathāgata Peaceful Play. Homage to the tathāgata Śāntirāja. Homage to the tathāgata Śāntottara. Homage to the tathāgata Rooted in Space. Homage to the tathāgata Remover of Weapons. Homage to the tathāgata Hundred Eyes. Homage to the tathāgata Excellent Light Rays. Homage to the tathāgata Powerful Appearance. Homage to the tathāgata Sunlike Appearance.
These are the light rays of the buddhas: the light ray called mighty victory banner; the light ray called leaf of amṛta; the light ray called calming; the light ray called leafless; the light ray called ka; the light ray called fire; the light ray called abiding; the light ray called motionless; the light ray called moving and motionless; the light ray called unimpeded giving; the light ray called pleasant; the light ray called unhindered; the light ray called ten million victory banners removing epidemics; the light ray called imperturbable abode; the light ray called beryl; the light ray called falling on the city the light ray called disc-shaped glow; the light ray called heroic ray; the light ray called formed like a vajra; the light ray called ray of merit; the light ray called ray of samādhi; the light ray called fire tongues; the light ray called all illuminating; the light ray called enlightenment factor; the light ray called light of śamatha; the light ray called limitless; the light ray called jewel light; the light ray called gem of heroes; the light ray called moonlight; the light ray called sunlight; the light ray called awareness trajectory; the light ray called shining jewel; the light ray called Indra’s victory banner; the light ray called light of the world; the light ray called compassionate appearance; the light ray called victory; the light ray called light of wisdom; the light ray called fire; the light ray called lamp of the world; the light ray called alleviator of eye diseases; the light ray called supreme victor; the light ray called shaped like the earth; the light ray called great light; the light ray called kokara; the light ray called making the shape ཨ; the light ray called jaccharya;72 the light ray called heroic victory banner that instils courage; the light ray called splendor; the light ray called boundless light; the light ray called unmovable; the light ray called banner of intelligence; the light ray called exalted mission; the light ray called truthful; the light ray called satisfying; the light ray called sound producing; the light ray called illuminating; the light ray called vajra-like intelligence; the light ray called empty appearance; the light ray called captivator; the light ray called queen of courage; the light ray called flash; the light ray called going to the heavens; the light ray called peaceful aspect; the light ray called pinnacle of peace; the light ray called victory banner of samādhi; the light ray called pinnacle of joy; the light ray called reedlike;[F.216.a] the light ray called light of the eyes; the light ray called nāga born; the light ray called light of the river; the light ray called form of a man; the light ray called flaming; the light ray called fire; the light ray called light of the lotus; the light ray called form of the senses; the light ray called like an inquiry; the light ray called undulation; the light ray called settled in the senses; the light ray called tremor; the light ray called displaying earth’s victory banner; the light ray called pinnacle of truth; the light ray called illuminator; the light ray called form of arrangement; the light ray called reliant on the senses; the light ray called pleasing the mind; the light ray called beautiful; the light ray called form of a forehead; the light ray called nicely glowing; the light ray called inquiring; the light ray called sun disk; [589] the light ray called ambience; the light ray called river of wisdom; the light ray called victorious intelligence; the light ray called expansion; the light ray called light of truth; the light ray called form of a buddha; the light ray called uṣṇīṣa; the light ray called vajra ensign; the light ray called abiding in vajra; the light ray called victory banner of merit; the light ray called tip of the tongue; and the light ray called soothing the mind. These are the light rays of the buddhas.
tadyathā | lokahāra | śuddhā ka ru sthiti puṣya va | ka ru le svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called that which causes evil to be forsaken.
tadyathā | śuddhamati | ad tsam bhe vu lo tsa re | a tra ma te | curakare pu svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called the compassion that creates happiness.
tadyathā | indra | indre | va dre | va de vi phu re svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called adamantine intelligence.[F.216.b]
tadyathā | ṭha ke va ke | jājambhe | bhrama jvare svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called lotus tamer.
tadyathā | śura | ra re be a lo ke | kośa gāre svāhā |
This dhāranī is called opener.73
tadyathā | cale vitathā | anyonya | prajñākāre svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called nonengagement.
tadyathā | jijire| hāra hāle | le le prajñākāre svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called unobstructed.
tadyathā | vajre śrīkare | sara sara | ajñā mā jñe | na ri re kī | nari | sang ngi jñākāre phu svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called unassailable by others.
tadyathā | a pu rī vi va re | sa da re | ma kha ka re svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called abiding in truth.
tadyathā | jyoti jyoti| vajre a | akṣamantra be | pra ga ā be | vajri mā va | ka ka su re svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is called the mighty queen of dhāraṇīs. It will pacify hostile armies and perfect the accumulation of virtue.
tadyathā | diśā kare | stha kā rai | indravate | va prā tai sa prā u sthā te svāhā |
This dhāraṇī prevents famine and eradicates poverty. It will achieve any favor that one wishes to obtain. If one recites this dhāraṇī twenty times, eight times a day—four times during the day and four times at night—for twenty-one days, one will find treasures and other riches buried underground.
tadyathā | oṁ he mo he jambhāya | ma śa mantra kā | da ma kā re la bhā kā re | vikāre sa di jñākāre | da ka di a dhā ka | praśamana phu a ka na pra ma ne phu svāhā |
This dhāraṇī alleviates all illnesses and saves one from rebirth as a woman. It particularly alleviates all female ailments. There is no need for taking any vows and it may be recited, three times a day, in whatever way one wishes. A woman who suffers from a vaginal infection should recite it daily—seven recitations of it at seven times during the day.
tadyathā | ka ka | kośa phu mama | ra ra ra ra | sta re phu | sa ka re phu svāhā |
This dhāraṇī is given to prevent injuries and eliminate all kinds of suffering. No specific commitment is necessary.[F.217.a]
These dhāraṇīs, taught by the blessed buddhas whose names were stated earlier,74 are none other than those that supported the Blessed One Śākyamuni during his own practice of bodhisattva conduct. In order to benefit many beings in this kingdom of Khotan, symbol of the Blessed One Śākyamuni, and the Sahā world, those buddhas and bodhisattvas of the Fortunate Eon [committed to] taking birth [there] and requested the aforementioned blessed buddhas to bestow these dhāraṇīs and awakened light rays, as well as the names of the buddhas, in order to ensure that the Blessed One Śākyamuni’s kingdom of Khotan would persist for a long time.
When the heirs of the Buddha made the request, the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara, in order to benefit all beings, to protect the kingdom of Khotan, and to ensure that the teaching would persist there for a long time, received these gifts from the blessed buddhas and came bearing them here. And many bodhisattvas abiding in the various buddhafields also took rebirth here to ensure that this land, prophesied by the Buddha, would not be destroyed, and that the teachings would persist here for a long time.
At any such time that the country faces danger, these names of the buddhas, the dhāraṇīs, and the names of the light rays, as taught earlier, should be written down and affixed to the gates of the city. They should be written on the banners of the troops,75 and people should be assigned to recite them and bear them aloft. In this way, the danger76 from hostile armies and famines will be averted, the karma of the people will be cleansed, virtuous actions will be accomplished, and beings will receive benefits in accordance with their wishes. Furthermore, beings will be protected from diseases.[F.217.b]
Even those with very heavy negative karma should recite the names of the buddhas, the dhāraṇīs, and the names of the light rays for a period of twenty-one days while recollecting the buddhas of the ten directions. When the names of the buddhas, the dhāraṇīs, and the names of the light rays are recited at three intervals in front of a stūpa containing relics or a statue of the Buddha, one will quickly succeed in whatever virtuous action one wishes to achieve, and light rays will remain above one.77
Furthermore, whenever a hostile army approaches, they should be recited or read aloud for the duration of seven days. No matter what harm or disease one wishes to avert, one should recite them or read them aloud. When one is unable to read them aloud, one should intone them seven times onto a string, tie a knot in it, and wear it. Then one will be free from all kinds of harm. No foreign army will be able to conquer a city in which these names of the buddhas, the dhāraṇīs, and the names of the light rays are written down and affixed to its gates. If they are recited constantly, it is unnecessary to abstain from meat, and unnecessary to give up other things.
Then to the sons of noble family who had gone forth as renunciants in the footsteps of the Buddha who, on thinking about this, had become anxious, the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara said, “Sons, do not be anxious! It is for your benefit that in the country there will be many monastic groves of the saṅgha, fragrant sanctuaries and so on erected by Dharma kings, and stūpas containing relics. For as long as the teachings of the Buddha, the Blessed One, remain in the country, no hostile king will be able to destroy it. It is like this: In the attractive [city] called Ngarden, the city with the hog as its ensign,78 and in the Old City—these three—so long as the Buddha’s teachings exist, offerings continue to be made to the entire saṅgha,[F.218.a] and for as long as the buddha stūpa at Kapila79 remains, they will not fall into ruin.”
Then the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara called on all the sons of the victors and commanded them thus: “Listen, friends! Bodhisattvas and gods who protect this country must not abandon it when a king who is ignorant of the Dharma tries to destroy it! Those who do not heed the Buddha’s commands and abandon the country at its time of danger80 will be prevented from attaining unsurpassed, completely perfect enlightenment for many eons.” He then taught the following dhāraṇī:
tadyathā | kāle | akāle | nikśrame bha praveśā | ākāli krame | anikśrame | apraveśā| paresa me parisamiti | sa sa se | a sa sa se | sa ku te | va ru re | pa ru re | a ga me | a sa ma mo te | siddhe siddhāya | namo vairocanāya svāhā | pha ḍa ḍe ṇe sva te | ā sā te | su man ne | sa ru ste | siddhe | siddhāya | svāhā |
Then the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara appealed to those who were to be81 rulers of Khotan: “This is your legacy. To sacrifice one’s body and one’s life for the Three Jewels, as you have done, is the work of the heirs of the Buddha. You have done well. At such a time as the country is82 under threat83 from a great enemy, this sūtra should be read aloud, should be worn,84 and should be venerated. If you do this, Sahapati too will assist in neutralizing all threats. In order to protect the country, this sūtra should be written down in accordance with ritual injunctions and kept in the king’s palace. Also, copies should be affixed to the outer walls of the king’s palace, and in the same way to the city gates, at main thoroughfares and paths, at market squares and junctions,85 and to the houses of prominent householders. When it is widely read, taught,[F.218.b] or memorized, the country will be freed from epidemics and harm.”
When the bodhisattva noble Avalokiteśvara had spoken these words, the gods residing in the sky let fall a rain of divine flowers, sounded their divine cymbals, and beat their large divine drums. Then all the bodhisattvas, gods, and nāga kings said with one voice, “When the dhāraṇīs, light rays, and names of the buddhas have arrived in that country, we too will come in the future, just as we came in the past, into the presence of the Blessed One Śākyamuni. And in order to protect the country we will bestow the dhāraṇīs on the king.”
***
At that time, a bodhisattva residing in female form in the world system called Adorned by Vairocana’s Light Rays made the following aspiration in the presence of the tathāgata Fully Blossomed Flower of Clairvoyance, King of the Constellation of the Immaculate Lotus Petal: “Come what may, I must go to the Sahā world, the buddhafield of the Blessed One Śākyamuni, and there I must listen to the Dharma discourse called The White Lotus of the Good Dharma from the Blessed One.86 May I thereby bring benefit and joy to all beings and free them from disease!” After she had made this aspiration, she died and transmigrated from that buddhafield and was reborn in the palace of King Ajātaśatru as the daughter of his principal queen and given the name Vimalaprabhā.
That same Vimalaprabhā, daughter of King Ajātaśatru, had joined that assembly and was seated there among them. She said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, I request that one hundred years after your parinirvāṇa, by your command, I will be entrusted with the task of protecting Khotan. At such a time as the blessed buddhas send forth those light rays mentioned earlier, may those light rays remain above me and may I too, in a female form, obtain the dhāraṇī through which all dhāraṇīs are realized. And at such a time as there is great danger for Khotan, may I be considered by the blessed buddhas as the one who will protect the country and ensure the preservation of the teachings for a long time. May they also teach me skillful means. May the gods too grant their oaths. May I appear there too in the form of an ordinary woman like any other human woman. May the light rays of the buddhas remain above me. May I87 obtain the dhāraṇīs so as to liberate from suffering those who face oppression, who are struck by disease and who have fallen into misery. At such a time as the great kings go to war with one another, at such a time as the Red Faces88 plunder89 the districts of Khotan, may I take rebirth there as a woman. May I uphold the Mahāyāna sūtra The White Lotus of the Good Dharma exactly as it has been taught by the blessed buddhas. May I realize the dhāraṇīs in this sūtra. May I also realize the samādhi understanding all sounds, so as to be able to tame all sentient beings. May I bring benefit to all sentient beings with the Dharma discourse The White Lotus of the Good Dharma. May I make offerings and give the gift of Dharma to all the gods that are guardian deities of Khotan. And may this Mahāyāna sūtra, The White Lotus of the Good Dharma,[F.219.b] and all the gods who have received and rely90 upon it come under my control.”
Then the guardian deity Vaiśravaṇa, the rākṣasī Lamkonti with all the rākṣasīs and their female friends, and Hārītī together with her children, having heard the words of the Blessed One and the goddess91 Vimalaprabhā, rose from their seats, and with their palms joined made this supplication: “At such a time as this goddess takes rebirth in Khotan, we too will act at that time as guardians in order to provide assistance, and we will remember that the Mahāyāna sūtra The White Lotus of the Good Dharma and the regions of Khotan have been entrusted by the Buddha, the Blessed One, and accepted by you.”
At that time, the thirty-two kings of gods, having heard the oaths of the goddess, spoke thus: “At such a time as this goddess takes rebirth in order to protect Khotan, we too, together with our retinues, shall protect the country and lend our assistance so that its intended destiny shall be fulfilled.”
Thereupon the goddess Vimalaprabhā rose from her seat, placed her upper robe over one shoulder, knelt with her right knee on the ground, and, with palms joined,92 addressed the Blessed One directly. In the presence of the Blessed One, she made this aspiration: “Blessed One, may I cherish every sentient being like an only child. May I do whatever it takes to complete every task. May I be steadfast in body, firm in mind, and may I bring benefit to sentient beings. May I fulfill their wishes and may my heart be fully engaged for the sake of the country. May the sūtra The White Lotus of the Good Dharma benefit sentient beings and may I accomplish samādhi.”
When the goddess spoke thus in the presence of the Blessed One, a rain of divine flowers fell on the Blessed One and[F.220.a] on the goddess Vimalaprabhā.
“At such a time as the Sumpas and the Azha invade Khotan, [though due to] the deeds I have done in the past during Virūḍhaka’s war on the land of the Śākyas the goddess Vimalaprabhā will be greatly aggrieved, at that time, I will be her father. When she is mourning for me,109 and obtains the dhāraṇīs for the first time, may she liberate me, too, from all my suffering.”
On the history and significance of Khotan as a Buddhist Kingdom, see the Knowledge Base article on Khotan and the Khotanese. See also Canti 2022 and Kumamoto 2009.
For a list and summary of this group of Khotanese texts, including related materials that have survived among the Dunhuang manuscripts but are not included in the Kangyur, See Van Schaik 2016, pp. 62–4, Appendix I.
To this list of texts centrally concerned with the fate of Khotan that were included in the Tibetan canons of translated texts (Kangyur and Tengyur), one could also add the Suvarnaprabhāśa (Golden Light) sūtras, which, as stated by van Schaik (2016, p. 47), were “particularly influential, informing the notion of Khotan as a Buddhist realm under the protection of bodhisattvas and divine kings.” For a thorough study of Khotanese versions of these, see Skjærvø 2004a.
Questions of Candragarbha Toh 356. See the glossary entry for the “sūtra called Candragarbha.”
Zeisler states, “The text is, quite apparently, an amalgamation of various fragments of similar prophecies, not all of them referring to exactly the same situation. The historical information given, if historical at all, is hopelessly in disorder and partly contradictory.” (Zeisler 2010, p. 420).
The text itself refers to Khotan a number of times as “here” (Tib. ’dir). Zeisler confidently states that it was “written and compiled not by Tibetan but by Khotanese authors” (Zeisler 2010, p. 420).
van Schaik 2016, p. 50. Zeisler 2010, p. 420: “the main historical situation hinted to in the text seems to be located around the first Tibetan occupation of Khotan in 665/670.” Thomas dated it to “three or more years before the time (A.D. 746) when the Pamir-Gilgit expedition of the Chinese was expected, but had not yet been realized.” (Thomas 1935, p. 170).
The emphasis in the text on the Gold Country whose wealth essentially saves Khotan from destruction, may be relevant as an etiological myth for the moniker Gold Country being applied to the kingdom of Khotan itself. A number of documents in late Khotanese recovered from the library caves at Dunhuang appear to refer to Khotan itself as the “Golden Country” (ysarnai bāḍa). For references, see Dragoni 2023, p. 291.
The Phangthangma lists a text called lha mo dri ma med pa’i ’od kyis zhus pa’i lung bstan pa / Prophecy of Goddess Vimalaprabhā’s Questions. The Denkarma (F.297.b) lists a text in six bampos (the Kangyur version has only four bampos) called lha mo dri ma med pa’i ’od kyis zhus pa/ Questions of the Goddess Vimalaprabhā. Observing these differences, Herrmann-Pfandt (2008, p. 61) suggested they may refer to different versions. The title found in the Denkarma (lha mo dri ma med pa’i ’od kyis zhus pa) is the name by which the text is often referred to by later Tibetan scholars such as Amye Zhab (’jam mgon a mes zhabs), Gorampa (go rams pa bsod nams seng ge) and others.
Khotanese was a Middle Iranian form of the Indo-European language family that developed from the vernacular of the region and, written in Brāhmī script, was used in Khotan for Buddhist texts from the sixth century
F. W. Thomas tentatively suggested that it was originally composed in Sanskrit: “The question of the original language may, therefore, be left undecided, although the Sanskrit would have the best claim.” (Thomas 1935, p. 140).
Chomden Rikpai Raltri lists it as ma skyes dgra’i bu mo dri ma med pa’i ’od kyis zhus pa / Questions of Ajātaśatru’s daughter Vimalaprabhā. In Bcom ldan rig pa’i ral gri, bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi ’od (“Light of the Sun Beautifying the Spread of the Buddhadharma”). In his gsung ’bum folios 28.a–28.b. Also, in Schaeffer and van der Kuijp 2009, p. 161.
Tib. li las bsgyur ba ni li’i mkhan po su ren tra ka ra pra bha la sogs pa dang/ zhu chen gyi lo tsha ba dge slong nam mkha’ la sogs pas bsgyur ro (Schaeffer and van der Kuijp 2009, p. 161).
For example, the etymological explanation of the name “Badak” (if denoting Badakshan, as Thomas believed) with the story of a cattle-owner (Tib. ba bdag) would suggest Tibetan authorship.
Translation tentative for Tib. lha mo dri ma med pa’i ’od kyis zhus pa’i mdo ’di shin tu dag par yod pas yid ches kyi gnas so / gzhan ’khrugs chad yod pa mang bar snang ste glegs bam mang du bltas so. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 81 (mdo sde, a), folio 311.a.
Tib. dngos la gnod byed lha mo dri ma med pa’i ’od lung bstan par, nga yongs su mya ngan las ’das nas lo nyis stong lnga brgya na gdong dmar can gyi yul du dam pa’i chos rgyas par ’gyur ro zhes sogs dang. Butön chos ’byung F.92.a. Obermiller 1931, p. 105. Sam van Schaik, however, attributes this quote to one of the earliest surviving Tibetan historiographical works by the Sakya hierarch Sonam Tsemo (bsod nams rtse mo 1142–82). See van Schaik 2016, p. 48, where he also mentions the unknown provenance of this quote.
For an excellent survey of the theme of pre-Buddhist Tibetans as “Red-Faced Barbarians,” which includes a discussion of the Questions of Vimalaprabhā, see Van Schaik 2016.
Tib. rba [sic] bzhed nas gdong dmar gyi yul rgya bshad do. Butön, chos ’byung folio 93.b. However, we have been unable to locate the relevant passage in the Testimony of Ba (sba bzhed).
F.257.b: “At the time at which the Red Faces and the Chinese go to war with each other…” (gang gi tshe gdong dmar dang rgya ’thab par ’gyur ba de’i tshe).
This identification, which seems merited, was however rejected as “mere speculation” in a recent report about explorations of Baltistan. See Schuh et al., “Baltistan” in The Tibet Encyclopaedia.
For a translation of Xuanzang’s travel journal, see Beal 1957–58. F. W. Thomas brings a wealth of references to bear in support of these and other conjectures. See his Introduction to the “Inquiry of Vimalaprabhā,” Thomas 1935, pp. 139–78.
Khotanese kings named Glory of Victory (Tib. rnam par rgyal ba’i grags pa, Skt. *Vijayakīrti) and Force of Victory (Tib. rnam par rgyal ba’i rtsal, *Vijayavikrama) are mentioned in The Prophecy Concerning Khotan (Toh 4202), though their ordering there is inconsistent with how they are presented here (see Hill 1988). On the basis of their listing in the (Tibetan language) The Prophecy Concerning Khotan, scholars often take these Sanskrit names as attested (see, for example, Zhang Zhan 2013), but since we have not seen any actual Sanskrit attestation, we have chosen to translate all the kings’ names into English.
This was a major concern of Thomas’ work (See Thomas 1935). For a more recent discussion of many place names found in the text, focused, like Thomas, on Baltistan in particular, see Zeisler 2010, pp. 419–32.
Thomas 1935, p. 205 and passim. Thomas also suggested the Skt. reconstruction aśva-mandrā for Tib. rta gnas.
This refers to The Questions of Candragarbha, Toh 356, an influential teaching on the future decline of Buddhism in five 500-year periods after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa. On the importance of this sūtra in Asian Buddhism, and its particular influence in Khotan, see Nattier 1991, pp. 170-204.
Tib. gyur literally “has become” or “became” (past tense). Here, as at many other points through this text, the Tibetan perfective register, when applied to future events, may be interpreted as a future perfective “will have become.”
Following D, S: nga yi byams pa’i sa; Y, K, C, J, N read nga yi byams pa yis “through my kindness.”
All witnesses that we have consulted read ’dul bar ’gyur “will be tamed.” We are here following Thomas’ suggestion that this should be corrected to ’du bar ’gyur, “will assemble.” Thomas 1935, p. 180, note 3.
Tib. chos kyi rgyal po’i chos rten. The equivalent Sanskrit term dharmarājika stūpa is usually reserved for the great stūpa of Takṣaśilā, capital of the ancient kingdom of Gandhāra, which according to tradition was erected by the emperor Aśoka. According to The Prophecy Concerning Khotan (Toh 4202), the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan was also established by Aśoka, and here this term is clearly applied to the Gomasalagandha stūpa, which is believed to have been located on Khotan’s Gośṛṅga or Gomati hill. See Thomas 1935, p. 7.
This refers to the “ox-horn” hill also known in Sanskrit as Gośṛṅga or Gośīrṣa. Thomas 1935, p. 6.
Translation tentative. Tib. ’dren pa sangs rgyas rnams kyi bka’/ gcig tu rung ba ma lags te, literally “The command of the buddhas / Is not fitting.” Thomas remarks in a note, “The verse omits the main idea, ‘to be questioned.’ ” (Thomas 1935, p. 180).
Following D: lha yis bor ba’i yul dag tu. That is to say, after the Buddha’s death. Q, N, C: lha yi ’khor; J: lha’i ’khor (“in the realms of the gods”).
Following D: gtad pa mnod par bgyi. S: nod par; J, N, K, Y: mnon par; C: btang ba mnon par gyi.
Following D, S: brgya gsum dag. C, H, J, N, K, Y: brgya bcu gsum (“thirteen hundred”). Thomas 1935, p. 181. “one hundred and thirteen.”
The story of two brothers named Gedon (Benevolence) and Digdon (Evildoer) is told in The Sūtra of the Wise and Foolish. F. W. Thomas reconstructed their Sanskrit names as Kalyāṇaṃkara and Pāpaṃkara respectively. Schiefner (1906, p. 279) reconstructed them as Kṣemaṃkara and Pāpaṃkara respectively. However, the Tibetan version of The Sūtra of the Wise and Foolish is known to be a translation from Chinese, so their original Sanskrit names are not attested. For further references, see Thomas 1935, p. 143 and p. 181, note 2.
Following D, S: lha yi skyed mos tshal; C, H, J, N, K, Y: lha yis skyed [J, N bskyed] mos tshal. This likely renders Nandanavana, the “Grove of Delight,” the name of one of the four heavenly groves outside the city of Sudarśana on Mount Meru. Anyone who enters this grove will enjoy all sorts of sense pleasures.
Following D: rgyal ba dam pa mchog gis; S: rgyal ba dam pa lha mchog gis, “the holy victor, the supreme god.”
This verse is cryptic and the translation is tentative. Tib. bskal pa bzang po’i sangs rgyas dang// byang chub sems dpa’ skyobs rnams kyi// ’dul ba’i phyir ni chad kyu [Y, K: skyu] ste// rtog ge pa dang bral ba yin. Thomas translates as follows: “The Buddhas of the Good Aeon and the Bodhi-sattva protectors having been pledged to the disciplining [of it], there can be no hesitation.” (Thomas 1935, p. 182).
In The Quintessence of the Sun (Sūryagarbha, Toh 257), dhāraṇīs are bestowed for King Bimbisāra, king of Magadha.
This section, giving the names of the tathāgatas, their light rays and their attendant bodhisattvas, is omitted from Thomas’ 1935 translation.
D. skye bo dang/ mi dang/ mi mang pos. Y, K, S, omit mi dang, which indeed seems pleonastic.
D. gzungs kyi gsang sngags kyi tshig rnams. Y, K, S, read gsang sngags kyi tshig rnams kyi tshigs rnams (“the words of the secret mantra words”), which may be a case of dittography.
Tib. ’od kyi lus. It is unclear what the “body of light” refers to in this context. In Mahāyāna Buddhist literature more broadly, following the Bodhisattvabhūmi, a body of light (Sanskrit: prabhākāya) is enumerated along with several other “bodies” of a tathāgata following complete enlightenment, such as the dharmakāya, jñāyakāya, etc.
This section with the names of the buddhas and their dhāraṇīs is omitted from Thomas’ translation.
D. dzadtsharaya; S. dzatstsharya. This likely is a Tibetan transliteration of a Prakrit word, but we were unable to determine its meaning.
Tib. dmag gi ru mtshon la bris, perhaps “inscribed on the weapons (swords) of the soldiers.”
Here and passim, D and S read ’jigs pa (“fear”), while H, J, and N read ’jig pa (“destruction”). We have translated as “danger.”
The Tibetan phrase ’od zer bdag gi/ de’i steng du gnas pa used repeatedly in this text, is unusual. In the Kangyur, a similar phrase is also found in The Detailed Ritual Manual of the Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Toh 690 F.68.a, line 4): “from the ten directions, the buddhas, the blessed ones, sent forth thousands upon thousands of light rays above myself...” (phyogs bcu nas sangs rgyas bcom ldan ’das thams cad kyis ’od zer stong stong bdag gi steng du bkye nas).
Tib. gyur (lit. “had become”—past tense). The tense register in this sūtra often has to be inferred from the context.
Tib. bzhi mdo dang sum mdo. lit. “where four [roads] meet and where three meet.” Crossroads would often indicate market squares and “junctions” (“where three meet”), but could also be understood as confluences of rivers. Both would typically have been public places where goods were traded.
Following Y, K, H, N, S, which have an additional bdag gis that is absent from the Degé recension.
Henceforth Vimalaprabhā is repeatedly referred to with the epithet lha mo (Skt. devi), literally “goddess.” This is in keeping with the description of her arrival from a distant buddhafield. In the context of her status as the king’s daughter, the term could also be interpreted as a simple honorific, like “Lady” or “Princess.”
This is a stock description in both Pāli and Sanskrit Buddhist literature, describing how monastics address the Buddha. The Skt. version is uttarāsaṅgam ekāṃsaṃ kṛtvā dakṣiṇaṃ jānumaṇḍalaṃ pṛthivyāṃ pratiṣṭhāpya añjalīkṛtya.
Thomas (1935, p. 19): “When the men of that Gold Race; And the Skar-rdo realm beloved; In the fealty of Li; Shall a golden tribute send.”
Following D, S: hu shar gyur pa; Y, K, C, J, N read du shar; Thomas (1935, 191, note 2): ngu sar. This alludes to the rākṣasī Husha, whose mythical story is narrated later in the sūtra.
Thomas identifies this ruler of Oddiyāna with Uttarasena who is mentioned in Xuanzang’s travelog. Thomas, 1935, p. 192, n. 1.
Tib. skar rdo’i yul dag. We interpret the plural (dag) here to refer to the two countries mentioned together in the preceding verses, i.e., Skardo and the Gold Clan. Thomas suggested this refers to the future king Force of Victory (Vijaya-Vikrama), Thomas 1935, p. 192.
Name of a tathāgata.
Also “acceptance of the nature of nonarising” (
These are five grave negative deeds which, due to their severity, lead to immediate downfall, with no intermediate period, into the Avīci hell at death. Usually five are enumerated: killing one’s mother, father, or an arhat; causing dissension in the order of monks (the saṅgha); and deliberately causing a tathāgata’s blood to be spilt.
The name of the buddhafield of the tathāgata Fully Blossomed Flower of Clairvoyance, King of the Constellation of the Immaculate Lotus-Petal. This buddhafield and this tathāgata are also mentioned in Chapter 23 of
Name of a samādhi.
A resinous wood recovered from trees of the genus
The Vedic deity of fire. The name can also mean fire, particularly the sacrificial fire.
Son of king Bimbisāra, ruler of Magadha at the time of the Buddha, who committed patricide, usurped his father’s throne, and entered into a conspiracy with Devadatta to take over the Saṅgha. He later repented and became an important lay disciple and supporter of the Buddha.
An important bodhisattva, his name means “essence of space.” He is one of the “eight great close sons” (
Name of a tathāgata. Literally, “the Unperturbed One,” or “the Unshakeable One.” The buddha of the eastern buddhafield of Abhiratī. Another Tibetan translation of his name is
Name of one of the marauders (Tib.
A medicinal herb. The plant has been identified as alfalfa (
Name of a tathāgata in the past from whom Vimalaprabhā received her prophecy of future enlightenment. See
Name of a dhāraṇī. Also, the name of a ghee or oil infusion prepared as a medicine. Also, the name of a light ray.
Name of a tathāgata.
Name of a tathāgata.
Lit. “Limitless Light.” The buddha presiding over the western buddha realm of Sukhāvatī.
The buddha who presides over the western buddhafield Sukhāvatī, more commonly known as Amitābha. In this context, this is unlikely to refer to Aparimitāyus or Aparimitāyurjñāna, the buddha associated with longevity and longevity rituals.
A nāga king. For the sūtra narrating the conversion of this nāga king see
According to Hindu mythology, Arjuna was son of Indra and Kuntī and the third of the Pāṇḍava princes. He is Lord Kṛṣṇa’s main interlocutor in the Bhagavadgītā which narrates how he fought against and prevailed over his brothers, the Kauravas.
Armor of Victory or Vijayavarman is the king of Skardo who, with the help of Firm Resolve is to pay the ransom for Khotan and become its king in the wake of the invasions of the Sumpa and Red Faces. He is the future incarnation of the prince Vajrasena, Vimalaprabhā’s brother. In an internal contradiction in the prophecy, he is also described as Vajrasena’s son. He succeeds Mighty Armor (Īśvaravarman) as the king of Skardo.
A medicinal plant.
Usually appears in the idiomatic expression
A central tenet of the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna) is generating and upholding bodhicitta, the earnest intention to attain enlightenment not just for oneself, but for the benefit of all sentient beings. Two aspects are commonly distinguished in Mahāyāna liturgy: conventional bodhicitta (Skt.
A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).
Name of caitya or stūpa in Khotan. See note to the translation.
One of the twelve classes of Buddhist scripture (
One of the eight principal bodhisattvas (Skt.
Name of a people. Also known as Tuyuhun, the Azha had first established a dynastic kingdom around Qinghai lake in the third century ce which rapidly expanded thereafter into a vast empire. See Beckwith 1987, p. 17: “[a] powerful empire of the nomadic Mongolic-speaking people of northern origin known as the Togon or ‘Aźa in Tibetan.” According to Beckwith (ibid., 22), the state of the Azha was effectively destroyed by the Chinese by 635 ce.
Name of a yakṣa in the entourage of the yakṣa king Vaiśravaṇa. Āzula is another incarnation of the prince Vajrasena, Vimalaprabhā’s brother.
One branch of the Sumpa people (see also Balangpa Sumpa and Sumpa) identified by Thomas as Huna/Hephalite heirs and descendants of the ancient central Asian confederacies of the Xiong-nu. Thomas identified the Badak Sumpas with the Badakshan region of the Pamir mountains (modern Tajikistan) north-west of Khotan. In this text, the name Badak is etymologized with a past life story about a wronged “owner of cattle” (Tib.
One branch of the Sumpa people (see also Badak Sumpa and Sumpa) identified by Thomas as Huna/Hephalite heirs and descendants of the ancient central Asian confederacies of the Xiong-nu. Both “Badak” and “Balang” are likely loanwords or Tibetan transliterations that have been given Tibetan etymologies in the
A fragrant gum resin extracted from the tree
One of the two brothers Benevolence and Evildoer, whose story is told in
Name of a bodhisattva. His name means “King of Medicine.”
The former king of Magadha and father of Ajātaśatru.
A substance used for burnt offerings and incense.
Vimalaprabhā’s bodhisattva name. Could also be interpreted as “Word of Mind.”
A common epithet of the historical Buddha and of buddhas in general. The Sanskrit word
Name of a dhāraṇī.
Name of a wandering mendicant in a past life story explaining the origins of the Badak Sumpas.
The tree at Vajrāsana beneath which Śākyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment and beneath which also all buddhas of the Fortunate Eon will manifest buddhahood.
A being who is dedicated to the cultivation and fulfilment of the altruistic intention to attain manifestly perfect buddhahood, traversing the five bodhisattva paths and ten bodhisattva levels. Bodhisattvas purposely opt to remain within saṃsāra to liberate all sentient beings, instead of simply seeking personal freedom from suffering. Philosophically, they realize the two aspects of selflessness with respect to afflicted mental states and the nature of all phenomena. The term is here capitalized when the Buddha is referred to as a bodhisattva before his enlightenment.
The practices of a bodhisattva, especially the six perfections.
The term can be understood to mean “great courageous one” or "great hero,” or (from the Sanskrit) simply “great being,” and is almost always found as an epithet of “bodhisattva.” The qualification “great” in this term, according to the majority of canonical definitions, focuses on the generic greatness common to all bodhisattvas, i.e., the greatness implicit in the bodhisattva vow itself in terms of outlook, aspiration, number of beings to be benefited, potential or eventual accomplishments, and so forth. In this sense the mahā- is closer in its connotations to the mahā- in “Mahāyāna” than to the mahā- in “mahāsiddha.” While individual bodhisattvas described as mahāsattva may in many cases also be “great” in terms of their level of realization, this is largely coincidental, and in the canonical texts the epithet is not restricted to bodhisattvas at any particular point in their career. Indeed, in a few cases even bodhisattvas whose path has taken a wrong direction are still described as bodhisattva mahāsattva.
Later commentarial writings do nevertheless define the term—variably—in terms of bodhisattvas having attained a particular level (bhūmi) or realization. The most common qualifying criteria mentioned are attaining the path of seeing, attaining irreversibility (according to its various definitions), or attaining the seventh bhūmi.
Level of the realization of a bodhisattva; according to the general Mahāyāna, there are ten bodhisattva levels.
The creator god of Hindu mythology, who receives teachings from the Buddha and becomes one of the main protectors of the Buddha’s teachings. Also known as Sahampati, Lord of the Sahā world. Presides over the brahmā heavens.
A king in the past in the story explaining the origin of the Badak Sumpas. Many kings of Vārāṇasī bear this name in Buddhist literature.
Name of a samādhi.
A shrine or reliquary dedicated to the worship of a past buddha.
Denkarma (
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub).
Chomden Rigpai Raltri (bcom ldan rig pa’i ral gri).
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A The Comparative Kangyur (dpe bsdur ma)
Apte Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary
BGT Zhang, Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo
BHSD Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary
C Choné
D Degé (phar phud)
H Lhasa (Zhol)
J Lithang
K Peking (Kangxi)
Mvy = Sakaki = Mahāvyutpatti with sGra sbyor bam po gnyis pa (Gb). Online at: University of Oslo, Det humanistiske facultet: Bibliotheka Polyglotta, Thesaurus Literaturae Buddhicae (TLB), Mahāvyutpatti with sGra sbyor bam po gñis pa. Electronic version at: http://www2.hf.uio.no/common/apps/permlink/permlink.php?app=polyglotta&context=volume&uid=df48f72e-af99-11df-b371-001cc4df1abe, accessed August 1, 2022.
N Narthang
S Stok Palace MS
Skt. Sanskrit
TSD Lokesh Chandra, Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary. 12 vols., New Delhi, 1958–1961
Tib. Tibetan
U Urga
WTS Wörterbuch der Tibetischen Schriftsprache (Dictionary of the Tibetan Written Language)
Y Peking (Yongle) 1410
cf. compare with
