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ཟ་མ་ཏོག་བཀོད་པ།

The Basket’s Display
Introduction

Kāraṇḍa­vyūha
འཕགས་པ་ཟ་མ་ཏོག་བཀོད་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
’phags pa za ma tog bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Basket’s Display”
Ārya­kāraṇḍa­vyūha­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra

Toh 116

Degé Kangyur, vol. 51 (mdo sde, pa), folios 200.a–247.b

ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛɪʙᴇᴛᴀɴ ʙʏ
  • Jinamitra
  • Dānaśīla
  • Yeshé Dé

Imprint

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Translated by Peter Alan Roberts with Tulku Yeshi
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

First published 2013

Current version v 2.47.38 (2025)

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co.

Table of Contents

ti. Title
im. Imprint
co. Contents
s. Summary
ac. Acknowledgments
i. Introduction
+ 10 sections- 10 sections
· The sūtra in India and its translations
· Avalokiteśvara
· The Kāraṇḍavyūha in Tibetan Buddhism
· Translation of the title
· Oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ
· Difficulties inherent in the ‌sūtra
· Problems arising from the Tibetan translation
· The translation into English
· Summary of the text
· Outline of the sūtra
tr. The Translation
+ 2 chapters- 2 chapters
1. Part One
2. Part Two
c. Colophon
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
+ 2 sections- 2 sections
· Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese texts
· Secondary literature
g. Glossary

s.

Summary

s.­1

The Basket’s Display (Kāraṇḍavyūha) is the source of the most prevalent mantra of Tibetan Buddhism: oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ. It marks a significant stage in the growing importance of Avalokiteśvara within Indian Buddhism in the early centuries of the first millennium. In a series of narratives within narratives, the sūtra describes Avalokiteśvara’s activities in various realms and the realms contained within the pores of his skin. It culminates in a description of the extreme rarity of his mantra, which, on the Buddha’s instructions, Bodhisattva Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin obtains from someone in Vārāṇasī who has broken his monastic vows. This sūtra provided a basis and source of quotations for the teachings and practices of the eleventh-century Maṇi Kabum, which itself served as a foundation for the rich tradition of Tibetan Avalokiteśvara practice.


ac.

Acknowledgments

ac.­1

The sūtra was translated from the Tibetan and Sanskrit by Peter Alan Roberts. Tulku Yeshi of the Sakya Monastery, Seattle, was the consulting lama who reviewed the translation. The project manager and editor was Emily Bower, and the proofreader was Ben Gleason. Thanks to William Tuladhar-Douglas and Charles Manson for their assistance in obtaining Sanskrit manuscripts, and to Richard Gombrich and Sanjukta Gupta for their elucidations.

This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.


ac.­2

The generous sponsorship of Tony Leung Chiu Wai and family for work on this sūtra is gratefully acknowledged.


i.

Introduction

i.­1

The Kāraṇḍavyūha is an early Mantrayāna sūtra that is the source of the mantra oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ. The sūtra is thus of particular importance, as this mantra now holds a central role in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, especially throughout the lay population. This sūtra also records Avalokiteśvara’s transformation into the principal figure of the Buddhist pantheon, greater than all other buddhas, let alone bodhisattvas. In this sūtra, Avalokiteśvara is a resident of Sukhavātī and acts as a messenger and gift bearer for Amitābha, even though he is also described as superior to all buddhas and therefore paradoxically has both a subservient and dominant status.

The sūtra in India and its translations

i.­2

The appearance in writing of the Kāraṇḍavyūha probably dates to around the fifth century ᴄᴇ. In terms of place, the text indicates familiarity with the cesspits of Vārāṇasī, and assumes the reader’s knowledge of Candradvīpa, the southern part of Bengal where the Ganges Delta is situated. In the Tibetan version, the merchants who wish to sail to Laṅka ask whether the winds are blowing toward the land of the Greeks. This appears to locate their port of departure on the northwest coast of India. In terms of time, the text is located within a culture where the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas had a dominant place in Indian culture, particularly the Skandha Pūraṇa, probably during the Gupta period of the third to fifth century.

i.­3

The earliest surviving manuscript is comprised of fragmentary pages from two manuscripts discovered within a Gilgit stūpa in the 1940s. It was written in a hybrid of Middle Indic and Sanskrit, now called Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, which was frequently used in sūtras. Adhelheid Mette, who has published these fragments, suggests that it was composed in the fourth or fifth century;1 the script in which it is written had fallen out of use by the early seventh century, and the fragments show variations between the two manuscripts that are the result of the texts having gone through generations of copying. Other existing Sanskrit manuscripts (see below) date from a century or more later than the ninth century Tibetan translation.

i.­4

According to Lokesh Chandra,2 in 270 ᴄᴇ Dharmarakṣa of Dunhuang translated the Kāraṇḍavyūha into Chinese. Then, between 435 and 443 ᴄᴇ, Guṇabhadra translated it into Chinese again. However, this is a case of misidentification. The sūtra they translated was the Ratna­karaṇḍa­vyūha. The Kāraṇḍavyūha itself was not translated into Chinese until 983 ᴄᴇ, considerably later than the Tibetan translation; the translator was T’ien Hsi-tsai.

The sūtra also exists in a later, longer, and more polished form, entirely in verse and incorporating passages from such texts as Śantideva’s Bodhi­sattva­caryāvatāra, which has great importance within Nepalese Buddhism. Dating to the fifteenth century, it is one of the last Sanskrit Buddhist sūtras. It has not been translated into Tibetan.

Avalokiteśvara

i.­5

Avalokiteśvara is noticeable by his absence in early sūtras where Mañjuśrī figures prominently. In the Sukhāvatīvyūha or The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī,3 which describes the realm of Amitāyus, the buddha who later became known by the name Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara has yet to appear. He makes his first prominent appearance in the longer Sukhāvatīvyūha4 in which he stands beside Amitāyus as one of his two principal bodhisattva attendants. The other bodhisattva is Mahāsthāmaprāpta, and in a number of subsequent sūtras they are included as a pair in the introductory description of the assembly of those who are listening to the teaching. In one of the Kāraṇḍavyūha’s internal contradictions, both Mahāsthāmaprāpta and Avalokiteśvara are listed as being in the audience awaiting Avalokiteśvara’s appearance.

i.­6

Each bodhisattva later had a chapter dedicated to him in the White Lotus of Compassion Sūtra,5 but while Avalokiteśvara reached preeminence over all buddhas in the Kāraṇḍa­vyūha, Mahāsthāmaprāpta declined in importance. In the Tibetan tradition, even in the Sukhāvatīvyūha, he has become conflated with Vajrapāṇi. At the time of the composition of the Kāraṇḍavyūha, Vajrapāṇi, who in earlier Buddhism was a powerful yakṣa, appears as one of the gathered bodhisattvas, which is indicative of sūtras that contain mantras. However, this is a recent development, as one of Avalokiteśvara’s qualities given in the sūtra is that he terrifies Vajrapāṇi! Vajrapāṇi would soon join Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara to form the principal trinity of bodhisattvas in the early tantra tradition.

i.­7

The Kāraṇḍavyūha does not mention Avalokiteśvara’s abode in this world on the Potalaka Mountain, which was a later feature that first appeared in South Indian Buddhism. The origin of the popular four-armed version of Avalokiteśvara appears within the sūtra as the goddess who is the embodiment of the six-syllable mantra, referred to throughout as a vidyā (which is a feminine noun) or often as the queen of mahāvidyās. Many forms of Avalokiteśvara appeared in India, such as the thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara included in fasting practice, and in the eleventh century there appeared the higher tantra form named Jinasāgara, a red, four-armed Avalokiteśvara in union with a consort. This practice was introduced into Tibet in the beginning of the twelfth century.

i.­8

Eventually Avalokiteśvara practices spread throughout the Buddhist world. There are still ancient Avalokiteśvara statues even in Śrī Laṅka, though the figure is identified as Śiva in Tamil areas and as Maitreya in Buddhist temples. Avalokiteśvara was prominent in China for centuries before the Kāraṇḍavyūha was translated into Chinese. In particular Avalokiteśvara became a dominant figure in Chinese Buddhism as Kuan Yin (or Guanyin in Pinyin), transforming into a female bodhisattva, a process described by Chün-Fang Yü in Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara, as the result of focusing on his incarnation as the Princess Miao-chan.6

The Kāraṇḍavyūha in Tibetan Buddhism

i.­9

The Pillar Testament (Tib. bka’ chems ka khol ma) from the eleventh or twelfth century states that the Kāraṇḍavyūha was one of the texts that descended from the sky in a casket onto the palace roof of the fifth-century ruler of the Yarlung Valley, Lhathothori Nyentsen (Tib. lha tho tho ri gnyan btsan), and that during the reign of his descendant Songtsen Gampo (Tib. srong btsan sgam po), who became the king of most of the Tibetan plateau and introduced Buddhism to Tibet, it was translated by Thönmi Sambhota, the inventor of the Tibetan alphabet.7 In the thirteenth century Nelpa Paṇḍita, rejecting this legend, stated that the casket was brought by a paṇḍita on his way to China.8 However, he only records the maṇi mantra as being within the casket, which happens to be called a za ma tog or “a solid and precious casket” (rinchen za ma tog) and not a reed basket. Nevertheless, this is probably why this sūtra became associated with the legend.

i.­10

The earliest and only translation of the sūtra appears to be the one presently in the canon. All of the versions of the Kangyur except one have a colophon ascribing the translation of the Kāraṇḍavyūha to Yeshé Dé and the Indian upādhyāyas Dānaśīla and Jinamitra, who collaborated with each other on the majority of their translations. The Narthang Kangyur (snar thang bka’ ’gyur) is alone in attributing the translation to Śākyaprabha and Ratnarakṣita.

i.­11

Nanam Yeshé Dé (sna nam ye shes sde) was a Tibetan who became the principal translator in the translation program set up under the royal auspices of King Trisong Detsen (khri srong lde btsan, r. 742–798 ᴄᴇ). The translation work took place in a building dedicated to the translation program. It was situated within the circular compound of Samye (bsam yas) Monastery. Yeshé Dé’s name is in the colophon of no fewer than 347 texts in the Kangyur and Tengyur, three of which are his own original works in Tibetan. Jinamitra was invited to Tibet during the reign of Trisong Detsen, and 234 texts name him as Yeshé Dé’s co-translator. Dānaśīla, also known as Mālava, was invited to Tibet from Kashmir during the reign of Ralpachen (ral pa can, r. 815–838 ᴄᴇ) and was involved with the translation of around 165 texts. He was also the author of seven texts, five of which he helped translate. He was still active in Tibet during the reign of King Langdarma (glang dar ma, r. 838–841 ᴄᴇ).

i.­12

Jinamitra and Dānaśīla were also two of the four or five Indian paṇḍitas who played principal roles in the completion of the Mahāvyuttpati, the Sanskrit-Tibetan concordance that was intended to regulate the translation of Sanskrit texts into Tibetan. Work on this dictionary began during the reigns of Trisong Detsen and Senaleg (sad na legs, r. 800–815 ᴄᴇ), but it was completed in the reign of Ralpachen. The catalog for the Tangtong Denkar Palace (pho brang thang stong ldan dkar) collection, which was compiled in 824 ᴄᴇ, lists the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

i.­13

There is at least one instance in the Kāraṇḍavyūha where the translation does not accord with the Mahāvyuttpati. In describing the twenty peaks of the mountain that is the belief in the existence of an individual self in relation to the skandhas (“aggregates”), the peaks are described as samudgata, which the Mahāvyuttpati translates as “high” (Tib. mtho ba). In the Kāraṇḍavyūha, however, it is translated as “arisen” (Tib. byung ba). Unless the translators changed their minds, this would appear to identify the translation as having taken place before the Mahāvyuttpati was completed. Therefore we can say that the translation was certainly made during the decade between 815 and 824 ᴄᴇ, and presumably in the earlier part of that decade, around 820 ᴄᴇ or earlier. Neither Yeshé Dé nor Jinamitra are specified to have lived beyond the end of Ralpachen’s reign in 824 ᴄᴇ. Yeshé Dé’s remains are said to be interred within a stūpa on Hepori Hill next to Samye Monastery, where he worked on so many translations.

i.­14

A later translation or revision of the Tibetan version was never made. However, the Kāraṇḍavyūha served as the basis for the eleventh-century Maṇi Kabum (A Hundred Thousand Teachings on the Maṇi Mantra; Tib. ma Ni bka’ ’bum), which was attributed to Songtsen Gampo, although the extracts from the sūtra that it includes are clearly derived from the early ninth-century translation. The Maṇi Kabum was a highly influential work in propagating the practice of Avalokiteśvara, known in Tibetan as Chenrezi (spyan ras gzigs), the repetition of the maṇi mantra, and the identification of Songtsen Gampo as an emanation of Avalokiteśvara; it has had a much greater impact on Tibetan culture than the sūtra upon which it is based.

Translation of the title

i.­15

The title of the sūtra is somewhat ambiguous. A karaṇḍa is usually a basket made of reeds. The karaṇḍa is frequently portrayed in the background of portraits of Indian siddhas as a large pot-bellied basket with a lid, containing collections of scriptures. These siddhas are also portrayed making the hand gesture representing the basket, the karaṇḍamudrā (“basket gesture”). There is even a layperson’s hairstyle named karaṇḍa­makuṭa (“basket crest”), where the hair is arranged on top of the head in the shape of a tall, rounded basket with a lid.

Another word for basket is piṭaka, which forms the basis of the most common metaphor for the Buddha’s teachings, “the three baskets” or tripiṭaka, which contain the Vinaya, Sūtra, and the Abhidharma or its predecessor the Mātṛkā. However, there are many instances in Tibetan literature where za ma tog, the translation of karaṇḍa, means something more solid and smaller than a pot-bellied reed basket, as in the precious casket (rin chen za ma tog) in the legend of the Kāraṇḍavyūha’s appearance to King Lhathothori. The name of the earlier Ratna­karaṇḍa­sūtra could at first seem to mean “precious casket,” but the contents of that sūtra validate the Tibetan translation as The Basket of the [Three] Jewels (dkon mchog gi za ma tog).9 There are also instances in the Sanskrit where the word karaṇḍa is apparently used for something more solid than a reed basket. There is a dhāraṇī in the tantra section of the Kangyur that has in its title the phrase dhātukaraṇḍa (Tib. ring bsrel gyi za ma tog), which means “the casket of relics,” or “reliquary.”10

i.­16

The Kāraṇḍavyūha is spelled with a long initial a in all existing Sanskrit manuscripts, while every Tibetan edition has a short initial vowel. The long vowel is more likely to be lost than added, as errors generally replace the uncommon with the common. The enhanced vowel is used in Sanskrit to denote affiliation, origin, and ancestry. In the case of kāraṇḍa, the word usually means “ducks”; they live among the river reeds that are used to make baskets. Here kāraṇḍa may be signifying that this sūtra has its origin in the basket that contains the description of Avalokiteśvara’s qualities. A basket or casket is normally spelled without the long vowel: karaṇḍa.

There are also titles in the Tengyur that contain the word ratna­karaṇḍa (without the long vowel) where it means “a casket that is made of a precious material,” even though that meaning is not necessarily evident in Tibetan because of the syntax of the titles in question.11

i.­17

Therefore, after hesitating between “basket” and “casket” and wishing there was one word for both (or at least a word for a lidded, pot-bellied reed basket), we chose “basket” as the better translation, primarily because of the way karaṇḍa is used in the sūtra itself. This term occurs only within the description of the Avīci hell. The Vaidya edition has visphurad ratnakaraṇḍavat, which means “raging [flame] like a precious casket,” but this appears to be a corruption, with the Cambridge manuscript having visphurantaṃ karaṇḍavat, and the Tibetan not having the equivalent of ratna (“precious”). If karaṇḍa is being used here to describe the shape of the flame, then it is referring to the distinctive shape of the reed basket, wider at its middle. This shape is still associated with za ma tog in contemporary Tibetan, and it is also compared with the shape of an egg.

i.­18

Vyūha has a wide range of meanings, but is based on the idea of things being set out or displayed, and was therefore translated into Tibetan as bkod pa. The word can also mean “description” or “explanation” and even “chapter.” The sūtra is therefore a display from a basket, or the presentation of its contents.

The later Nepalese version of the sūtra has a longer title, Guṇa­kāraṇḍa­vyūha, which could be translated as A Display from the Basket of Qualities, the “qualities” being those of Avalokiteśvara. Both versions of the sūtra are dedicated primarily to a description of Avalokiteśvara’s qualities, which are stated to be greater than that of any buddha. The use of vyūha in the title is also evocative of the earlier Gaṇḍavyūha, which forms the last chapter of the Avataṃsaka, where gaṇḍa means “supreme” or “best.” The influence of the contents of that chapter is also discernible in this sūtra.

Oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ

i.­19

The Kāraṇḍavyūha’s principal content is the introduction of the oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ mantra and the descriptions of its inconceivable benefits. These are also the most quoted sections of the sūtra. However, it contains no instructions on the qualities and benefits of each syllable, of the kind that subsequently became widespread in Tibetan Buddhism. It also gives no explanation of the meaning of the mantra as a whole, a meaning that has been understood in various ways. Donald Lopez has given an account of various interpretations of the mantra in the West in his Prisoners of Shangri-la.12

i.­20

Alexander Studholme, in his The Origins of Oṁ Maṇipadme Hūṃ, describes how the sūtra was composed within the context of familiarity with, and under the influence of, Purāṇic literature, in particular the Skandapurāṇa. In this sūtra, Avalokiteśvara has taken on various attributes and characteristics of Śiva, to the extent that one passage could be misread as describing Avalokiteśvara to be the creator of the universe. Even so, he is still being described as the creator of its deities, including Śiva and Viṣṇu. In particular, Avalokiteśvara’s mantra is evidence of the influence of Śiva’s five-syllable mantra, oṁ namaḥ śivāya (“Oṁ‍—Homage to Śiva!”), which is found in the Skandapurāṇa together with a description of the benefits of its recitation.

i.­21

In classical Sanskrit grammar, padme would be the locative case, which has led to the interpretation of oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ as “jewel in the lotus.” However, mantras are typically given in the vocative or dative case, usually with the name of a deity being invoked. Padme is in fact the vocative for padma, this being Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. In classical Sanskrit, the e-ending vocative form is only used for feminine nouns.13 P.C. Verhagen has translated one of the few native Tibetan texts to be found in the Tengyur, a grammar text that uses this very mantra to explain the e-ending vocative form for masculine nouns.14 This vocative form of masculine nouns is a characteristic of the Magadhi, or northeastern Middle Indic, dialect. However, this form appears to have been much more widespread, extending as far as Sanskrit loan words in the Tocharian language of Central Asia.15 Maṇipadma is therefore a compound and is a name for Avalokiteśvara meaning “Jewel Lotus.”

Difficulties inherent in the ‌sūtra

i.­22

The sūtra itself is rarely read in Tibet, other than in the annual ritual chanting of the Kangyur, and as mentioned above it has been eclipsed by the eleventh-century Maṇi Kabum. There is no evidence of it having had any significant impact on religious life in Tibet in the preceding centuries. In spite of the eventual importance of the oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ mantra, the sūtra is still primarily known only through select quotations. One reason for this is that very little of the teaching and meditation practice of the Maṇi Kabum is to be found in the sūtra.

i.­23

Another reason is the difficulty involved in reading the sūtra due to its structure of narratives within narratives. After a buddha is initially introduced, he is subsequently only referred to as “Bhagavat,” and it is easy for readers to lose track of which level of the narrative they are reading. Although the speakers’ names were not repeated in the original, we have added them in here for clarity. We have not marked these insertions with square brackets, again for the sake of readability.

i.­24

Another problem with the sūtra is that although it is a compilation of narratives, the sūtra does not always use its source material in a skillful manner. The Sanskrit original itself does not compare well with the clarity and style of writing found in other sūtras. There are abrupt transitions, inconsistency in the use of pronouns, and the contents of one part of the narrative appear to be in contradiction with those of another. For example, the Buddha tells the tale of the merchants being rescued from the land of the rākṣasīs in the first person, but there are sporadic lapses into what must have been the original third person of the narrative. The asura king Bali’s account of his downfall likewise transitions from a first- to a third-person account. In common with many other Mahāyāna sūtras but perhaps more frequently than most of them, the Kāraṇḍavyūha refers to itself within its own narrative as a sūtra that is being taught, requested, or longed for, but appears to describe itself as being comprised of verses, almost as if the Kāraṇḍavyūha is a different sūtra that is simply being referred to in this sūtra.

i.­25

The sūtra assumes that the reader is familiar with the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, the two great epics of Indian literature, and the story of Viṣṇu’s avatar as a dwarf deceiving Bali, the lord of the asuras. Tibetan readers, however, would be unfamiliar with personages referred to in passing in the text, such as Śukra, who is both the deity of the planet Venus and counselor for the king of the asuras. Viṣṇu is usually referred to as Nārāyaṇa in the sūtra, but in the passage where he rescues the Pāṇḍavas and other kṣatriyas of Mahābhārata fame, he is referred to as Daśarathaputra (“son of Daśaratha”), which is actually the name of Rāma, another of Viṣṇu’s avatars. This may be because the story of the dwarf avatar also appears in the Rāmāyaṇa when it is told to Rāma, that is, Daśarathaputra.

i.­26

The sūtra also includes a variation of a well-known jātaka tale in which the Buddha as a horse saves merchants from the island of the rākṣasīs,16 which has been retold with variations many times in Buddhist literature. Here it is retold with Avalokiteśvara as the horse and the Buddha as the head merchant who is being rescued. However, this too implies an unexplained internal contradiction: the sūtra had earlier narrated how Avalokiteśvara, in the form of a handsome man, had converted all the rākṣasīs from their cannibalistic ways to become devotees of Buddhism.

Problems arising from the Tibetan translation

i.­27

The Tibetan translation occasionally transliterates the Sanskrit rather than attempting to find a Tibetan equivalent, particularly when it comes to fauna and flora‍—even the Sanskrit word for “wolf” is simply transliterated as tarakṣa. There are also instances of obscure translations of words that do not agree with the Mahāvyuttpati.

i.­28

In some passages, we relied more on the Sanskrit than we had originally anticipated because there is evidence that the manuscript from which the Tibetan translation was made had suffered from scribal corruption, as revealed by the surviving Sanskrit and confirmed by the English translation of the Chinese. For example, when describing the maṇḍala as adṛṣṭa (“not seen”), this was corrupted to aṣṭa (“eight”); a mountain made of padmarāga (“ruby”) was corrupted to padmarakta, which was translated as “red lotuses” (pad ma dmar po); and in the middle of the Buddha’s describing Avalokiteśvara’s qualities, ayaṃ (“this”) was corrupted to ahaṃ (“me”) so that the Buddha seems to be describing himself.

i.­29

There are also omissions of sentences in the Tibetan (whether as the result of omission in the original Sanskrit manuscript or later copies of the Tibetan) that affect the narrative or meaning. The omissions are particularly evident when there are lists of qualities or meditations that are more easily left out in the process of copying manuscripts. On the other hand, there are also instances of members of lists that are preserved in the Tibetan but omitted in the available Sanskrit texts.

i.­30

The most egregious flaw in both the Tibetan and Chinese translations, and one which has already attracted scholarly attention, occurred on rendering the obscure term ratikara, which literally means “that which creates joy,” and is also the name of one of the apsarases that are in the audience for this sūtra. The later Nepalese version used instead dvīpa, the common word for “lamp,” but both the Chinese and Tibetan translators, even with the assistance of Sanskrit scholars, were understandably stumped by this odd word, particularly as the ratikara laughs and speaks. Both Yeshé Dé and T’ien Hsi-tsai chose to make it refer to the rākṣasī wife speaking in her sleep, as she is the only other person in the room and is the merchant’s paramour. This entailed interpolating the word “sleeping” into the translation. However, the result makes little narrative sense, whereas the unlikely meaning of lamp, which we therefore preferred (see 2.­7), does make narrative sense.

The translation into English

i.­31

Our aim was to make the most readable, accurate, and coherent version of the sūtra as it is preserved in the Tibetan translation. The Degé edition and the version in the critical edition of the Kangyur were therefore our principal sources.

Sanskrit manuscripts do not necessarily reflect the original form of a text, even though they are in the original language, because they may have their own accretion of omissions and additions that have occurred in the centuries following the time a Tibetan or Chinese translation was made. There has not yet been a critical edition from all available Sanskrit manuscripts, but we consulted three Sanskrit editions, the most important being a palm-leaf manuscript from the Cambridge University Library, which was written in the beginning of the second millennium before the development of the Devanāgarī script. It is notable for being closer to the Tibetan. Of easier access but less representative of the original text are the Sāmaśrami edition of 1872 and the 1962 Vaidya edition that is based closely on Sāmaśrami. The Sāmaśrami is available on the Online Sanskrit Texts Project of the Theosophical Network, and the Vaidya is openly available on the internet. To complete the translation of some difficult passages, we also referred to the Gilgit manuscript fragments, though they were not readily accessible. Silfung Chen’s online English translation from the Chinese proved interesting in its correspondences with these editions.

i.­32

Nevertheless, as noted above, there were a number of points where we relied on the Sanskrit to fill in missing elements, words, members of a list, and sometimes whole sentences, although it is possible that some of the latter may have been later additions to improve the flow and clarity of the sūtra’s sometimes clumsy narrative. Where our translation favors the Sanskrit over the Tibetan, annotations indicate that this is the case.

An important objective was readability, so the syntax does not necessarily reflect that of the Tibetan or Sanskrit versions. For example, an active construction may be used instead of a passive construction found in the original. The inconsistencies of first and third person have been resolved, and, as noted above, names are repeated when otherwise the reader might lose track of who is speaking or to whom the text is referring. Hopefully this will make reading the sūtra in English far less challenging than attempting to do so in Tibetan or Sanskrit. Readers will find the variant readings in Tibetan and Sanskrit in the notes if they wish.

Summary of the text

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Buddha Śākyamuni is at Jetavana Monastery with many disciples. Lights shine upon the monastery and miraculously transform it. The bodhisattva Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin asks the Buddha where the lights came from. The Buddha explains that they came from Avalokiteśvara, who had just visited the Avīci hell and the city of the pretas, and then describes those visits.

Then Buddha Śākyamuni recounts being a merchant at the time of Buddha Vipaśyin and how he heard him describe how various deities, including Śiva and Viṣṇu, were created from Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Buddha Śākyamuni then recounts being Bodhisattva Dānaśūra at the time of Buddha Śikhin and how light rays shone from Buddha Śikhin. In response to questioning by Bodhisattva Ratnapāṇi, Śikhin says that the lights and other omens are a sign of the approach of Avalokiteśvara, who then arrives from Sukhāvatī with an offering of lotuses from Buddha Amitābha.

After Avalokiteśvara’s departure, Śikhin describes to Ratnapāṇi how Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit is inconceivable by using a series of analogies. Then he describes how Avalokiteśvara teaches this very sūtra to the asuras in the form of an asura.


i.­34

Buddha Śākyamuni then states that he was a rishi (ṛṣi) at the time of Buddha Viśvabhū. Before repeating what Viśvabhū taught, Śākyamuni relates how Avalokiteśvara taught upside-down beings in the realm of gold and four-legged beings in the land of silver. There then follows a long description of Avalokiteśvara’s visit to the asuras in the land of iron. Avalokiteśvara teaches the asuras the inconceivable merit that comes from making offerings to a buddha. Bali, the king of the asuras, tells Avalokiteśvara that he had in the past made an offering to the wrong recipient. He had imprisoned all the kṣatriyas, but Viṣṇu secretly freed them and came to him in the form of a dwarf asking for two steps of land. Bali offered him three, but Viṣṇu took on his divine form and covered the whole world in two steps. He then banished Bali to the underworld where he now dwells for having failed to fulfill his promise.

Avalokiteśvara then describes to him the suffering in hells that awaits those who have not made offerings to the Buddha.

Avalokiteśvara then radiates light rays to where Viśvabhū and his pupils are residing in Jetavana Monastery. Bodhisattva Gaganagañja asks Viśvabhū where the lights came from. Viśvabhū states that the lights are a sign that Avalokiteśvara is coming. However, Avalokiteśvara first goes to a land of darkness to teach the yakṣas and rākṣasas about the merit that comes from this sūtra.

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Avalokiteśvara then goes to the Śuddhāvāsa realms, where in the form of a brahmin he begs from a poor deva. The deva goes into his empty palace to give him whatever he has, but finds it full of jewels and food that he then offers to the brahmin. Avalokiteśvara in the form of the brahmin tells the deva that he is a bodhisattva from Jetavana Monastery.

Avalokiteśvara then descends to Siṃhala Island, the land of the rākṣasīs, in the form of a handsome man. He agrees to be their husband if they follow his instructions, which they do, giving up killing.

Avalokiteśvara then travels to Vārāṇasī, where in the form of a bee he buzzes the prayer of homage to the Three Jewels to the insects in a large cesspit, liberating them.

Avalokiteśvara then goes to Magadhā, where starving beings have been eating each other for twenty years, and he causes a rain of food to fall. One of the people, a man who is hundreds of thousands of years old, realizes that only Avalokiteśvara could have caused this miracle, and tells the others of the benefits of making offerings to him.

Avalokiteśvara then goes to Buddha Viśvabhū. Bodhisattva Gaganagañja meets him, Viśvabhū teaches the six perfections, and the audience disperses. This is the end of part one.


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Part two begins with Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin asking for teachings from Buddha Śākyamuni, who lists the samādhis that Avalokiteśvara possesses.

Then Buddha Śākyamuni recounts being a head merchant who became stranded on Siṃhala Island with other merchants. Each of them goes to live with a rākṣasī. One night, a talking lamp warns the head merchant that the women are all rākṣasīs. As proof, the lamp directs him to an iron fortress where other merchants are being kept prisoner and then eaten. Then the lamp tells him of Bālāha,17 a miraculous horse on which the merchants can escape. As they flee upon the horse, all the other merchants look back, fall off the horse, and are eaten by the rākṣasīs, while the head merchant reaches home safely. Buddha Śākyamuni states that Avalokiteśvara was the horse.

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Buddha Śākyamuni then begins a description of two pores on Avalokiteśvara’s body and their inhabitants.

Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin, to the Buddha’s approval, describes the benefits that come from this sūtra.

Buddha Śākyamuni describes another pore and explains to Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin that the pores are immaterial and cannot be seen even by buddhas.


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Buddha Śākyamuni describes two more pores, saying that those who remember Avalokiteśvara’s name, meaning the six-syllable mahāvidyā, will be reborn in them, but that no one, not even the buddhas, know this mantra.


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After Buddha Śākyamuni describes more benefits that come from the mantra, Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin declares his intention to obtain it.

Buddha Śākyamuni recounts his own fruitless search for it until, after meeting trillions of buddhas, he finally met Buddha Ratnottama who directed him to Buddha Padmottama. Padmottama describes the incalculable benefits that come from saying the mantra once and then describes his own long fruitless search for the mantra until he came to Buddha Amitābha, who instructed Avalokiteśvara to give the mantra to Padmottama. Avalokiteśvara does so through a maṇḍala made of precious stones and gives the instructions on how to make the maṇḍala.


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Buddha Śākyamuni follows this narrative with a description of how incalculable the benefits are from even one syllable of the mantra.

He then tells Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin that he can only obtain it from an unnamed dharmabhāṇaka who has lost his monastic vows and lives in Vārāṇasī. Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin goes to him in a huge procession of people and offerings.

The dharmabhāṇaka describes the benefits of the mantra and, at the urging of Avalokiteśvara, who appears in the sky, gives the mantra to Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin, who returns to Buddha Śākyamuni. Seventy million buddhas recite the mantra of the goddess known as both Cundi and Cundā.

Buddha Śākyamuni then describes five more of Avalokiteśvara’s pores.


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Buddha Śākyamuni then describes the oceans that come from Avalokiteśvara’s big toe, and says there are no more pores but those ten. Then omens of Avalokiteśvara’s arrival appear. He leaves Sukhāvatī and comes to Buddha Śākyamuni and offers him lotuses from Buddha Amitābha.

Buddha Śākyamuni then directs Maheśvara and Umādevī to receive the prophecies of their future buddhahood from Avalokiteśvara.

Buddha Śākyamuni then gives a teaching on the incalculability of Avalokiteśvara’s merit and listing the samādhis he has.

Then Buddha Śākyamuni recounts when he was with Buddha Krakucchanda and saw Samantabhadra and Avalokiteśvara both practicing various samādhis. Krakucchanda declares that not even the buddhas have Avalokiteśvara’s samādhis.


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Buddha Śākyamuni then describes the benefits that come from this sūtra, and Avalokiteśvara departs.

Then Ānanda requests teachings on monastic conduct. Buddha Śākyamuni prophesies how there will be monks who do not maintain their conduct in the future and who should be expelled. He describes the tortures in hell and other rebirths that await laypeople who misuse the property of the saṅgha.

Ānanda departs and the sūtra concludes.


Outline of the sūtra

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This outline is intended as a guide to the complicated narrative levels of the sūtra.

I. Sūtra narrative: Buddha Śākyamuni is in the Jetavana Monastery when lights appear, transforming the monastery’s appearance. Bodhisattva Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin questions Buddha Śākyamuni about this, and the Buddha states that the cause of the lights is Avalokiteśvara visiting Avīci hell and then the city of the pretas.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Avalokiteśvara appears in the Avīci hell and liberates beings. As a result, Yama’s creatures go to Yama and describe Avalokiteśvara’s arrival. Yama goes to Avalokiteśvara and praises him.

II. Sūtra narrative: Buddha Śākyamuni responds to a question from Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin about whether Avalokiteśvara has left the hell.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Avalokiteśvara leaves the hells, visits the city of the pretas, and liberates them from their suffering. This very sūtra sounds in their realm.

III. Sūtra narrative: Buddha Śākyamuni says that he remembers being a merchant listening to Buddha Vipaśyin.18

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Buddha Vipaśyin describes the activities of Avalokiteśvara in the past.

A. Buddha Vipaśyin’s narrative: Avalokiteśvara emanates such deities as Maheśvara (Śiva), and Avalokiteśvara gives a prophecy to Śiva about the future rise of Śaivism, and how this will not bring liberation.

IV. Sūtra narrative: Buddha Śākyamuni tells Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin about his memories of being a bodhisattva named Dānaśūra when Buddha Śikhin taught about Avalokiteśvara.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Lights radiate from Buddha Śikhin, prompting Bodhisattva Ratnapāṇi to question Buddha Śikhin. Signs appear as omens of the coming of Avalokiteśvara from Sukhāvatī. Avalokiteśvara arrives and tells Buddha Śikhin he has been liberating hell beings and pretas, and then Avalokiteśvara departs. In response to a question from bodhisattva Ratnapāṇi, Buddha Śikhin describes Avalokiteśvara’s qualities.

A. Buddha Śikhin’s narrative: Buddha Śikhin gives analogies for the inconceivability of Avalokiteśvara’s accumulation of merit. He describes his various manifestations as a guide for beings and his visit to the asuras where he teaches them the benefit of this very sūtra (even though the sūtra is itself the description of these events).

V. Sūtra narrative: The story of Buddha Śikhin teaching Ratnapāṇi ends abruptly. Buddha Śākyamuni then describes his memory of being a rishi with Buddha Viśvabhū when he taught on Avalokiteśvara.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Buddha Viśvabhū begins a description of what Avalokiteśvara has been doing.

A. Buddha Viśvabhū’s narrative: There is a brief description of how Avalokiteśvara visits adhomukha (“head-down”) beings in the realm of gold and four-legged beings in the realm of silver. There then follows a lengthy episode in the land of iron where he meets Bali, the king of asuras, who tells him how he came to be in the underworld.

i. Bali’s narrative: Bali explains how he imprisoned many kṣatriyas, including the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas of Mahābhārata fame, and how Nārāyaṇa rescued them. Then he describes how he followed the tradition of a king making a vast offering from his wealth and granting the requests of anyone who came. Viṣṇu comes as a brahmin dwarf requesting the amount of land that he can cover in two footsteps. Bali offers him three footsteps’ worth. Viṣṇu takes on a gigantic form, encompasses the world in two steps, and then banishes the asuras to the underworld.

B. Buddha Viśvabhū’s narrative: Avalokiteśvara teaches Bali and the asuras, primarily describing the tortures by Yama’s guardians in hell. Then he takes his leave, saying he has to go to Jetavana Monastery. (Although this is the time of Viśvabhū, not Śākyamuni, here Viśvabhū’s own reported narrative transforms with no clear dividing line into Śākyamuni’s narrative about Viśvabhū.)

2. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Avalokiteśvara radiates light rays to Viśvabhū in Jetavana Monastery. The appearance of the light rays prompts the bodhisattva Gaganagañja to ask Viśvabhū a question as to their source.

A. Buddha Viśvabhū’s narrative resumed:

Avalokiteśvara leaves the realm of the asuras. (Although he had previously said Avalokiteśvara was leaving for Jetavana, Viśvabhū now says that he is going to Tamondhakāra, a realm of darkness inhabited by yakṣas and rākṣasas, where he teaches them analogies concerning the merit of knowing this very sūtra.)

Avalokiteśvara leaves that realm for the Śuddhāvāsa realms, where he appears in the form of a brahmin who begs from an impoverished deity. The poor deity goes into his empty palace to look for something to give the brahmin and discovers his pots miraculously filled with jewels.

Avalokiteśvara then goes to the island of Siṃhala, which is inhabited by rākṣasīs, where he appears as a handsome man. They all become his wives, follow the Dharma, and attain liberation.

Avalokiteśvara goes to Vārāṇasī, where he takes on the form of a bee and flies over a huge cesspool in the city. His buzzing is actually the sound of the Namo buddhāya prayer, and it liberates all the insects living in the cesspool.

Avalokiteśvara then goes to Magadhā, where people in the wilderness are eating each other for lack of food. He causes a miraculous rain of food and drink to fall. An old man among them describes the source of this miracle.

i. Old man’s narrative: The old man gives a description of Avalokiteśvara’s qualities.

3. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative:

(Here Viśvabhū’s own narrative transforms, with no clear dividing line, into Śākyamuni’s narrative about Viśvabhū.) Avalokiteśvara goes into the sky and thinks that it has been a long time since he has been to see Buddha Viśvabhū, so he decides to go to Jetavana.

Avalokiteśvara arrives in Jetavana to see Buddha Viśvabhū. There is a brief mention of Viśvabhū teaching the six perfections and then everyone leaves, concluding part one of the sūtra.

VI. Sūtra narrative: Buddha Śākyamuni responds to Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin’s request for teachings on Avalokiteśvara by first giving a list of Avalokiteśvara’s samādhis.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: An account of when Śākyamuni was the leader of five hundred merchants who became stranded on the island of the rākṣasīs, and how he alone escaped on Avalokiteśvara in the form of a horse.

VII. Sūtra narrative: Śākyamuni says he will describe Avalokiteśvara’s ten pores and their inhabitants and landscapes.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Śākyamuni describes the first and second of Avalokiteśvara’s pores:

(1) The pore Suvarṇa, where gandharvas dedicated to the Dharma live.

(2) The pore Kṛṣṇa, where rishis and gandharvas live who play music that teaches birds and animals, who then remember the name of this very sūtra.

VIII. Sūtra narrative: Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin describes the benefits of possessing and writing the sūtra to Buddha Śākyamuni’s approval.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Buddha Śākyamuni describes the third of Avalokiteśvara’s pores:

(3) The pore Ratnakuṇḍala, where female gandharvas live who remember the name of Avalokiteśvara.

IX. Sūtra narrative: Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin wishes to go to the pores but Buddha Śākyamuni describes how Samantabhadra failed to find the pores in twelve years of searching. Buddha Śākyamuni describes how Avalokiteśvara has a subtle form that even he cannot perceive, and that Avalokiteśvara has eleven heads, a hundred thousand arms, and a trillion eyes. Buddha Śākyamuni laughs and tells Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin that it is not yet time for Avalokiteśvara to come, and then returns to the description of the ten pores.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: He describes the fourth and fifth of Avalokiteśvara’s pores:

(4) The pore Amṛtabindu, where devas live on the bhūmis and gandharvas live on mountains of gold and silver.

(5) The pore Vajramukha, where kinnaras live who contemplate the six perfections and human suffering and remember Avalokiteśvara’s name.

X. Sūtra narrative: Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin asks where he can find the six-syllable mahāvidyā. Buddha Śākyamuni tells him that the buddhas have spent sixteen eons looking for the mahāvidyā but failed to find it. He gives a description of the benefits gained by those who do possess, repeat, and wear it. Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin says he will use his own skin, bone, and blood to write it down if he can obtain it.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Śākyamuni describes how in a previous life he searched through many realms and met trillions of buddhas but failed to find the mahāvidyā. Then Buddha Ratnottama sends him to see Buddha Padmottama, and Śākyamuni tells of his search.

A. Buddha Padmottama’s narrative: This is a description of the merit gained by repeating the mahāvidyā and a story of how, in the past, Padmottama searched for the mantra through many realms and met many buddhas but did not find it. Padmottama comes to Amitābha and tells him of his search. Amitābha tells Avalokiteśvara to give the mahāvidyā to Padmottama. Avalokiteśvara describes to Padmottama how to make the maṇḍala of the mahāvidyā so that he may in the future give the mahāvidyā to others.

In response to Amitābha’s questions, Avalokiteśvara describes how to give the mahāvidyā if one cannot make such a maṇḍala.

Avalokiteśvara gives the mahāvidyā to Padmottama, who returns to his realm.

XI. Sūtra narrative: The sūtra does not state specifically that Padmottama gives the mahāvidyā to Buddha Śākyamuni, and Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin does not ask the Buddha for it but asks where he can go to find it. Buddha Śākyamuni describes the dharmabhāṇaka in Vārāṇasī who possesses the mahāvidyā.

Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin goes to Vārāṇasī with a great procession of people and offerings, praises the dharmabhāṇaka, and asks for the mahāvidyā. The dharmabhāṇaka describes the qualities of the mahāvidyā, wrong paths, and the devotion of even Prajñāpāramitā to the mahāvidyā.

Avalokiteśvara appears in the sky and tells the dharmabhāṇaka several times to give the mahāvidyā to Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin.

The dharmabhāṇaka does not create a maṇḍala, as was described by Avalokiteśvara, but simply recites the mahāvidyā to Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin. Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin returns to the Jetavana grove and tells Buddha Śākyamuni that he has received the mahāvidyā.

Trillions of buddhas recite the dhāraṇī of the goddess Cundi: oṁ cale cule cunde svāhā. No explanation for this dhāraṇī is given, so the reader is assumed to be familiar with it.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: Abruptly, without any transition, the description of the last five of Avalokiteśvara’s pores continues from where it had previously been left off.

(6) The pore Sūryaprabha, where bodhisattvas dwell. They can see Avalokiteśvara and the seven buddhas when they remember the mahāvidyā.

(7) The pore Indrarāja, where irreversible bodhisattvas live.

(8) The pore Mahoṣadī, where bodhisattvas who have just developed bodhicitta live, and gandharvas live on mountains.

(9) The pore Cittarāja, where pratyekabuddhas live.

(10) The pore Dhvajarāja, where buddhas live who teach the six perfections to the humans of Jambudvīpa.

XII. Sūtra narrative: Buddha Śākyamuni, in response to Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin’s question, says there are no more pores than those ten, but that beyond the last pore, the four oceans come from Avalokiteśvara’s big toe.

He states that Avalokiteśvara is coming to give prophecies to Śiva (Maheśvara) and Umādevī about their eventual buddhahood. Avalokiteśvara arrives with a gift of lotus flowers from Amitābha. Maheśvara asks the Buddha for a prophecy, and he is sent to Avalokiteśvara who prophesies his buddhahood and then does the same for Umādevī. Buddha Śākyamuni, in response to Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin’s question, describes the qualities of Avalokiteśvara.

1. Buddha Śākyamuni’s narrative: He gives a description of the inconceivability of Avalokiteśvara’s merit and a list of Avalokiteśvara’s samādhis, which differs from that given earlier.
Śākyamuni describes his memory of being Bodhisattva Dānaśūra at the time of Buddha Krakucchanda. He sees Samantabhadra with Avalokiteśvara. They each enter different states of samādhis, and Buddha Krakucchanda emphasizes Avalokiteśvara’s superiority.

XIII. Sūtra narrative: Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin asks for this very sūtra to be taught (although it is near its conclusion), and the Buddha describes the benefits of the sūtra. Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin sits silently.

Avalokiteśvara and all the other various kinds of beings assembled leave.

In an abrupt change of content, Ānanda asks Śākyamuni Buddha about monastic training. Śākyamuni condemns bhikṣus with incorrect conduct, saying they should be banished from the community. He prophesies how in three hundred years people will use the property and possessions of the saṅgha or monastery, and describes the sufferings they will endure, such as in the hells.

Ānanda leaves, and again the various classes of beings are said to leave (though they had already done so earlier), and the entire world rejoices in the Buddha’s words.


Text Body

The Translation
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra
The Basket’s Display

1.

Part One

[F.200.a]


1.­1

Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavat was staying, with a great saṅgha of 1,250 bhikṣus and a multitude of bodhisattvas, in Śrāvastī, in Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park.

Eight hundred million19 bodhisattva mahāsattvas had gathered there, such as Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Vajramati, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Jñānadarśana, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Vajrasena, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Guhyagupta,20 Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Ākaśagarbha, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Sūryagarbha, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Anikṣiptadhura, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Ratnapāṇi, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Samantabhadra, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Sarvaśūra, [F.200.b] Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Bhaiṣajyasena, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Vajrapāṇi, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Sāgaramati, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Dharmadhara, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Pṛthivīvaralocana, Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Āśvāsahasta, and Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Maitreya.


2.

Part Two

2.­1

Bodhisattva Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin then said to the Bhagavat, “Bhagavat, I request that you teach what samādhis Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara has previously remained in.”

2.­2

The Bhagavat said, “Noble son, they are as follows: the samādhi named Creation, the samādhi named Illumination, the samādhi named Sublime Vajra, the samādhi named Sunlight, the samādhi named Dispersal, the samādhi named Armlet, the samādhi named Supreme Vajra Victory Banner, the samādhi named Ornament, the samādhi named King of Arrays, the samādhi named Seeing the Ten Directions, the samādhi named The Supreme Illumination of the Wish-fulfilling Jewel,153 the samādhi named Dharma Holder,154 the samādhi named Descending into the Ocean,155 the samādhi named Totally Stable,156 the samādhi named Giving Joy,157 the samādhi named Vajra Victory Banner,158 the samādhi named Viewing All Worlds,159 the samādhi named Completely Present,160 [F.222.a] the samādhi named Truly Bowing Down, the samādhi named Coiled at the Crown, the samādhi named Supreme Illumination by the Moon,161 the samādhi named Many Attendants, the samādhi named Divine Bright Earrings,162 the samādhi named Lamp of the Eon,163 the samādhi named Manifesting Miracles, the samādhi named Supreme Lotus, the samādhi named King’s Power,164 the samādhi named Extinguishing Avīci, the samādhi named Blazing, the samādhi named Divine Circle,165 the samādhi named Drop of Amṛta, the samādhi named Circle of Light, the samādhi named Immersion in the Ocean, the samādhi named Door of the Celestial Palace, the samādhi named Cuckoo’s Song, the samādhi named Scent of the Blue Lotus, the samādhi named Mounted, the samādhi named Vajra Armor, the samādhi named Elephant’s Delight, the samādhi named Lion’s Play, the samādhi named Unsurpassable, the samādhi named Subduing, the samādhi named Moon on High, the samādhi named Shining, the samādhi named Hundred Light Rays, the samādhi named Sprinkling, the samādhi named Brightening, the samādhi named Beautiful Appearance, the samādhi named Summoning the Asuras, the samādhi named Meditation, the samādhi named Summoning Nirvāṇa, the samādhi named Great Lamp,166 the samādhi named Liberation of Sensation,167 the samādhi named King of Lamps,168 the samādhi named Creating the Supreme State,169 the samādhi named Creating Indestructibility,170 the samādhi named Facing the Deities,171 the samādhi named Creating Union, the samādhi named Teaching Ultimate Truth, the samādhi named Lightning, the samādhi named Array of Names,172 the samādhi named Gaping Lion, the samādhi named Face of Arcturus,173 [F.222.b] the samādhi named Approaching, the samādhi named Flash of Intelligence,174 the samādhi named Increasing Power of Mindfulness, the samādhi named Aspiration, the samādhi named Carriage of Victory, and the samādhi named Teaching the Path.


c.

Colophon

c.­1

Translated and revised by the Indian upādhyāyas Jinamitra and Dānaśīla, and by Bandé Yeshé Dé, the translator and chief editor.


n.

Notes

n.­1
Mette (2005).
n.­2
Chandra (1999).
n.­3
Ārya­sukhāvatī­vyūha­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra (Toh 115), see Sakya Pandita Translation Group (2012).
n.­4
Toh 49 in the Heap of Jewels section, with the formal title Amitābha­vyūha­sūtra (The Sūtra of the Array of Amitābha).
n.­5
Karuṇā­puṇḍarīka (Toh 112), see Roberts.
n.­6
Yü (2000), 293–350.
n.­7
Pillar Testament (1989), 95–6, 108.
n.­8
Uebach (1987, 7a).
n.­9
See The Basket of the Jewels Sūtra, Toh 117.
n.­10
Toh 507, see bibliography under The Dhāraṇī Named The Relic Casket.
n.­11
See bibliography, under Dīpaṃkarajñāna and Śūra.
n.­12
Lopez (1998), 114–34.
n.­13
Martin (1987), 1.
n.­14
Verhagen (1990), 133–138.
n.­15
Cohen (2002), 67–68.
n.­16
See sman gyi gzhi (Bhaiṣajya­vastu), chapter 6 of the ’dul ba gzhi (Toh 1); ’dul ba rnam par ’byed pa (Toh 3); and Rouse (1895), 127.
n.­17
This is a Sanskritization of the name Valāhassa, which means “cloud horse.” The version of the story in the Vinaya­vāstu was translated into Tibetan as rta’i rgyal po sprin gyi shugs can, “the king of horses who has the power of the clouds.”
n.­18
In the tradition that enumerates Śākyamuni as the seventh buddha, Vipaśyin is the first. The sūtra will introduce successively each buddha in order up to the fifth.
n.­19
According to the Sanskrit, aśīti-koṭyo, literally, “eighty ten millions.” Tibetan: bye ba (“ten million”), “eighty” being omitted.
n.­20
According to the Sanskrit; the Tibetan has sbas corrupted to sban.
n.­153
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan translates as “Supreme Eyes of the Wish-fulfilling Jewel.”
n.­154
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has “Dharma King.”
n.­155
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan omits “the samādhi named Descending into the Ocean.”
n.­156
According to the Tibetan (shin tu gnas pa), Cambridge, and Sāmaśrami (supratiṣṭha).
n.­157
According to the Tibetan (dga’ ba sbyin par byed pa) and the Cambridge (priyaṃdada).
n.­158
According to the Tibetan (rdo rje rgyal mtshan), Cambridge, and Sāmaśrami (vajradhvaja).
n.­159
According to the Tibetan (’jig rten thams cad la rnam par lta ba), Cambridge, and Sāmaśrami (sarvva­loka­dhātu­vyavalokana).
n.­160
According to the Tibetan (ma lus ’ongs ba) and Sāmaśrami (kṛtsangata).
n.­161
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan translates as “Supreme Eyes of the Moon.”
n.­162
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has “Divine Eyes” (from a corruption of rocana to locana).
n.­163
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan translates as “The Continent of the Eon,” from the alternative meaning of dvīpa that here means “lamp.”
n.­164
According to the Tibetan. Omitted in the Sanskrit.
n.­165
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has “Divine Earrings.”
n.­166
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan translates as “The Great Continent,” from the alternative meaning of dvīpa that here means “lamp.”
n.­167
According to the Tibetan. Omitted in the Sanskrit.
n.­168
According to the Sanskrit. Omitted in the Tibetan.
n.­169
According to the Sanskrit. Omitted in the Tibetan.
n.­170
According to the Sanskrit. Omitted in the Tibetan.
n.­171
According to the Sanskrit. Omitted in the Tibetan.
n.­172
According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan has “Array of Nāgas” (klu bkod pa), from a corruption of nāmavyuha to nāgavyuha.
n.­173
Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern sky.
n.­174
According to the Sanskrit. Omitted in the Tibetan.

b.

Bibliography

Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese texts

’phags pa za ma tog bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Ārya­karaṇḍa­vyūha­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra. Toh. 116, Degé Kangyur vol. 51 (mdo sde, ja), folios 200a–247b.

’phags pa za ma tog bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Ārya­karaṇḍa­vyūha­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–2009, vol. 51, pp 529-640.

“Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra.” In Mahā­yāna-Sūtra-Saṃgraha. Edited by P. L. Vaidya, 258–308. Darbhanga: Mathila Institute, 1961.

“Kāraṇḍavyūha: mahāyānasūtra.” Edited by Satyavrata Sāmaśrami. Calcutta: Hindu Commentator: a Monthly Sanskrit Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1872.

Kāraṇḍa­vyūha Sūtra. Sanskrit manuscript, Cambridge University Library, UK. 126.7 (12).

Chandra, Lokesh. Kāraṇḍa-Vyūha-Sūtra: or the Supernal Virtues of Avalokiteśvara; Sanskrit Text of the Metrical Version, Edited for the First time from Original Manuscripts. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 1999.


’dul ba gzhi, Vinayavāstu. Toh. 1, Degé Kangyur, vols. 1–4 (’dul ba, ka – nga).

’dul ba rnam par ’byed pa, Vinaya­vibhaṅga. Toh. 3, Degé Kangyur, vols. 5–8 (’dul ba, ca – nya).

’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa brgyad stong pa, Āryāṣṭa­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā [Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines]. Toh. 12, Degé Kangyur, vol. 33 (sher phyin brgyad stong, ka), folios 1b–286a.

bcom ldan ’das ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i snying po, Bhagavatī­prajñā­pāramitā­hṛdaya [Heart Sūtra]. Toh. 21, Degé Kangyur, vol. 34 (sher phyin sna tshogs, ka), folios 144b–146a.

sangs rgyas phal po che zhes bya ba shin tu rgyas pa chen po’i mdo, Buddhāvataṃsaka­sūtra. Toh. 44, Degé Kangyur, vols. 35-38 (phal chen, ka - a).

dam pa’i chos pad ma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra [Lotus Sūtra]. Toh. 113, Degé Kangyur, vol. 51 (mdo sde, ja), folios 1b–180b.

’phags pa bde ba can gyi bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Ārya­sukhāvatī­vyūha­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra. Toh. 115, Degé Kangyur vol. 51 (mdo sde, pa), folios 195b-200b [trans. Sakya Pandita Translation Group (2012), see below].

’phags pa dkon mchog gi za ma tog ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Ārya­ratna­karaṇḍa­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra [The Basket of the Jewels Sūtra]. Toh. 117, Degé Kangyur, vol.51 (mdo sde, ja), folios 248a–290a.

’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi byin gyis rlabs kyi snying po gsang ba ring bsrel gyi za ma tog ces bya ba’i gzungs (Ārya­sarva­tathāgatā­dhiṣṭhāna­hṛdaya­guhya­dhātu­karaṇḍa­nāma­dhāraṇī) [The Dhāraṇī Named The Relic Casket that is the Secret Essence of the Blessings of all the Tathāgatas]. Toh. 507, Degé Kangyur, vol. 88 (rgyud ’bum, na), folios 1b–7b.

’phags pa lha mo skul byed ma zhes bya ba’i gzungs, Cunde­devī­nāma­dhāraṇī [The Dhāraṇī Named Goddess Cunde]. Toh. 613, Degé Kangyur, vol.91 (rgyud, ba), folios 46b–47a; Toh. 989, Degé Kangyur, vol. 102 (gzungs, waṃ), folios 143a–143b. English translation The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā 2024.

’phags pa lha mo bskul byed ma zhes bya ba’i gzungs, Ārya­cuṇḍa­devī­nāma­dhāraṇī [Goddess Cuṇḍa’s Dhāraṇī]. Toh. 989, Degé Kangyur, vol. 102 (gzungs ’dus, waṃ), folios 143a–143b. English translation The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā 2024.

sgra’i rnam par dbye ba bstan pa. Peking number 5838, Peking Tengyur, vol. 144 (ngo mtshar bstan bcos, ngo) folios 54a–64a.

Ma ṇi bka’ ’bum: A Collection of Rediscovered Teachings Focusing upon the Tutelary Deity Avalokiteśvara (Mahākaruṇika). Delhi: Trayang and Jamyang Samten, 1975.

bka’ chems ka khol ma [The Pillar Testament]. Gansu, China: kan su’i mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1989.

Dīpaṃkarajñāna. dbu ma’i man ngag rin po che’i za ma tog kha phye ba zhes bya ba, Ratna­karaṇḍodghāṭa­nāma­madhyamakopadeśa [The Madhyamaka Instructions entitled Opening the Precious Casket]. Toh. 3930, Degé Tengyur (dbu ma, ki), folios 96b1–116b7.

The Dhāraṇī of Cundī, the mother of seventy million buddhas, Sapta­kotī­buddha­mātṛ­cundī­dhāraṇī. Taisho 1077.

Śūra. legs par bshad pa rin po che za ma tog lta bu’i gtam, Subhāṣita­ratna­karaṇḍaka­kathā [A Talk: A Precious Casket of Eloquence]. Toh. 4168, Degé Tengyur, vol. 172 (spring yig, ge), folios 178a–189b.

Vasudeo, Ganesh, trans. and ed. Skanda Purāṇa. Tagare, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1994.

Secondary literature

84000. The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā (Cundādevī­dhāraṇī, lha mo skul byed ma’i gzungs, Toh 613). Translated by Adam C. Krug. Online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.

84000. The Dhāraṇī of the Goddess Cundā (Cundādevī­dhāraṇī, lha mo skul byed ma’i gzungs, Toh 989). Translated by Adam C. Krug. Online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.

84000. The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī (Sukhāvatī­vyūha, bde ba can gyi bkod pa, Toh 115). Translated by Sakya Pandita Translation Group. Online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2011.

84000. The White Lotus of Compassion (Karuṇā­puṇḍarīka, snying rje pad ma dkar po, Toh 112). Translated by Peter Alan Roberts. Online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023.

Appleton, Naomi. “The Story of the Horse King and the Merchant Siṃhala in Buddhist Texts.” In Buddhist Studies Review, Journal of the UK Association of Buddhist Studies 23, no. 2 (2006): 187–201.

Cohen, Signe. “On the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit/Middle Indic Ending “-e” as a ‘Magadhism.’” In Acta Orientalia Vol. 63 (2002): 67–70.

Edgerton, Franklin. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary (2 vols). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953.

Imaeda, Yoshiro. “Note préliminaire sur la formule oṁ maṇi padme hūṁ dans les manuscrits tibétains de Touen-houang.” In Contributions aux études sur Touen-Houang, edited by Michel Soymié, 71–76. Geneva/Paris: Librairie Droz, 1979.

Kapstein, Matthew (1992). “Remarks on the mani bka ’bum and the Cult of Avalokitesvara in Tibet.” In Tibetan Buddhism, Reason and Revelation, edited by Steven Goodman and Ronald Davidson, 79–93. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.

Kapstein, Matthew (1997). “The Royal Way of Supreme Compassion.” In Religions of Tibet in Practice, edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.

Kapstein, Matthew (2002). The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion, Contestation, and Memory. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Lienhard, Siegfried and Oskar von Hinüber, trans. Avalokiteshvara in the Wick of the Nightlamp 93 {395} – 104 {406}. Kleine Schriften. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007.

Lopez, Donald S. Prisoners of Shangri-la: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Martin, Dan. “On the Origin and Significance of the Prayer Wheel According to Two Nineteenth-century Sources.” Journal of the Tibet Society, Vol. 7 (1987).

Mette, Adelheid. Die Gilgit-Fragmente des Kārandavyūha. Swisttal, Germany: Indica et Tibetica Verlag, 2005.

Nariman, J. K. Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, (1912) 1992.

Régamey, Constantin. Le pseudo-hapax ratikara et la lampe qui rit dans le ‘sūtra des ogresses’ bouddhique. Asiastische Studien/Etudes Asiatiques 18–19 (1965): 175ff.

Rhaldi, Sherab. “Ye-Shes sDe: Tibetan Scholar and Saint.” In Bulletin of Tibetology, vol. 38 (2002): 20–36.

Rhys Davids, T.W. and William Stede, eds. The Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary. London: Pali Text Society, 1979.

Rouse, W.H.D., trans. “Valāhassa-jātaka.” In The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births. Pali Text Society Number 196, Vol. 2 (1895): 127.

Schopen, Gregory. Figments and Fragments of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India: More Collected Papers. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005.

Studholme, Alexander. The Origins of Oṁ Maṇipadme Hūṃ: A Study of the Kāraṇḍavyūha. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.

Uebach, Helga. Nel-pa Paṇḍita’s Chronik Me-tog Phreṅ-wa: Handschrift der Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Tibetischer Text in Faksimile, Transkription und Übersetzung. Munich: Kommission für Zentralasiatische Studien, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1987.

Van Schaik, Sam. “The Tibetan Avalokiteśvara Cult in the Tenth Century: Evidence from the Dunhuang Manuscripts.” In Tibetan Buddhist Literature and Praxis (Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the IATS, 2003, Volume 4), edited by Ronald M. Davidson and Christian Wedemeyer, 55–72. Leiden: EJ Brill, 2006.

Varāhamihira. The Bṛhat-Samhitā or Complete System of Natural Astrology, trans. Hendrik Kern. London: Trubner & Co., 1869.

Verhagen, P.C. “The Mantra ‘Oṁ maṇi-padme hūṁ’ in an Early Tibetan Grammatical Treatise.” In The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 13, Number 2 (1990): 133–38.

Yü, Chün-fang. Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.


g.

Glossary

Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language

AS

Attested in source text

This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.

AO

Attested in other text

This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.

AD

Attested in dictionary

This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.

AA

Approximate attestation

The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested in dictionaries or other manuscripts.

RP

Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.

RS

Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.

SU

Source unspecified

This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.

g.­1

adbhutadharma

Wylie:
  • chos rmad du byung ba
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་རྨད་དུ་བྱུང་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • adbhutadharma

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means descriptions of miracles.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­2

Āditya

Wylie:
  • nyi ma
Tibetan:
  • ཉི་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • āditya

In the Vedas, the name originally meant “child of Aditi” so that in some texts it refers to a group of deities. However, in the Kāraṇḍavyūha it has the later meaning of being synonymous with Surya, the deity of the sun. It was translated into Tibetan simply as the common word for sun.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­22
  • 1.­35
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­71
  • n.­21
g.­3

affliction

Wylie:
  • nyon mongs
Tibetan:
  • ཉོན་མོངས།
Sanskrit:
  • kleśa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by various psychological defilements, which destroy the mind’s peace and composure and lead to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, acting as causes for continued existence in saṃsāra. Included among them are the primary afflictions of desire (rāga), anger (dveṣa), and ignorance (avidyā). It is said that there are eighty-four thousand of these negative mental qualities, for which the eighty-four thousand categories of the Buddha’s teachings serve as the antidote.

Kleśa is also commonly translated as “negative emotions,” “disturbing emotions,” and so on. The Pāli kilesa, Middle Indic kileśa, and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit kleśa all primarily mean “stain” or “defilement.” The translation “affliction” is a secondary development that derives from the more general (non-Buddhist) classical understanding of √kliś (“to harm,“ “to afflict”). Both meanings are noted by Buddhist commentators.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­16
  • 2.­39
  • 2.­68
  • 2.­82
g.­4

aggregate

Wylie:
  • phung po
Tibetan:
  • ཕུང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • skandha

The constituents that make up a being’s existence: form, sensations, identifications, mental activities, and consciousnesses.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­13
  • 1.­19
  • 1.­83
  • n.­89
  • g.­143
g.­7

amṛta

Wylie:
  • bdud rtsi
Tibetan:
  • བདུད་རྩི།
Sanskrit:
  • amṛta

The divine nectar that prevents death.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­48
  • 2.­2
  • 2.­60
  • 2.­67
  • n.­218
g.­8

Amṛtabindu

Wylie:
  • bdud rtsi
Tibetan:
  • བདུད་རྩི།
Sanskrit:
  • amṛtabindu

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­28
g.­9

Ānanda

Wylie:
  • kun dga’ bo
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།
Sanskrit:
  • ānanda

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A major śrāvaka disciple and personal attendant of the Buddha Śākyamuni during the last twenty-five years of his life. He was a cousin of the Buddha (according to the Mahāvastu, he was a son of Śuklodana, one of the brothers of King Śuddhodana, which means he was a brother of Devadatta; other sources say he was a son of Amṛtodana, another brother of King Śuddhodana, which means he would have been a brother of Aniruddha).

Ānanda, having always been in the Buddha’s presence, is said to have memorized all the teachings he heard and is celebrated for having recited all the Buddha’s teachings by memory at the first council of the Buddhist saṅgha, thus preserving the teachings after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa. The phrase “Thus did I hear at one time,” found at the beginning of the sūtras, usually stands for his recitation of the teachings. He became a patriarch after the passing of Mahākāśyapa.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • i.­42-43
  • 2.­110
  • 2.­113
  • 2.­117
  • 2.­120
g.­11

apsaras

Wylie:
  • lha mo
Tibetan:
  • ལྷ་མོ།
Sanskrit:
  • apsaras

The “apsarases” are popular figures in Indian culture, they are said to be goddesses of the clouds and water and to be wives of the gandharvas. However, in the Kāraṇḍavyūha, they are presented as the female equivalent of the devas. Therefore the Tibetan has translated them as if the word were devī (“goddess’’).

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­30
  • 1.­6
  • 2.­22
  • n.­38
g.­12

arhat

Wylie:
  • dgra bcom pa
Tibetan:
  • དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • arhat

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

According to Buddhist tradition, one who is worthy of worship (pūjām arhati), or one who has conquered the enemies, the mental afflictions (kleśa-ari-hata-vat), and reached liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. It is the fourth and highest of the four fruits attainable by śrāvakas. Also used as an epithet of the Buddha.

Located in 33 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­21
  • 1.­25
  • 1.­31-33
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­39
  • 1.­45
  • 1.­61
  • 1.­73
  • 2.­35
  • 2.­41
  • 2.­51
  • 2.­56-60
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­72
  • 2.­77-78
  • 2.­94
  • 2.­96
  • 2.­100
  • 2.­102
  • 2.­107
  • n.­141
  • g.­21
  • g.­37
  • g.­104
  • g.­105
  • g.­145
g.­13

asura

Wylie:
  • lha ma yin
Tibetan:
  • ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
Sanskrit:
  • asura

The asuras are the enemies of the devas, fighting with them for supremacy.

Located in 31 passages in the translation:

  • i.­24-25
  • i.­33-34
  • i.­43
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­36-37
  • 1.­42
  • 1.­45
  • 1.­48
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­54
  • 1.­57-58
  • 1.­61
  • 1.­67-69
  • 1.­88
  • 2.­2
  • 2.­21
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­87
  • 2.­110
  • 2.­120
  • n.­102
  • n.­107
  • g.­17
  • g.­150
  • g.­172
g.­14

avadāna

Wylie:
  • rtogs pa brjod pa
Tibetan:
  • རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • avadāna

As one of the twelve aspects of Dharma, it means stories of previous lives of beings.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­15

Avalokiteśvara

Wylie:
  • spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug
Tibetan:
  • སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག
Sanskrit:
  • avalokiteśvara

First appeared as a bodhisattva beside Amitābha in the Sukhāvativyūha. The name has been variously interpreted. “The lord of Avalokita,” Avalokita has been interpreted as “seeing,” although, as a past passive participle, it is literally “lord of what has been seen.” One of the principal sūtras in the Mahāsamghika tradition was the Avalokita Sūtra, which has not been translated into Tibetan, in which the word is a synonym for enlightenment, as it is “that which has been seen” by the buddhas. In the early tantras, he was one of the lords of the three families, as the embodiment of the compassion of the buddhas. The Potalaka Mountain in South India became important in Southern Indian Buddhism as his residence in this world, but Potalaka does not feature in the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

Located in 136 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • i.­5-8
  • i.­14
  • i.­16
  • i.­18
  • i.­20-21
  • i.­26
  • i.­28
  • i.­33-43
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­12-23
  • 1.­25-42
  • 1.­44-45
  • 1.­48
  • 1.­60-62
  • 1.­67-69
  • 1.­74
  • 1.­76-77
  • 1.­83-90
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­3
  • 2.­17
  • 2.­22
  • 2.­25-27
  • 2.­34-35
  • 2.­49
  • 2.­51-52
  • 2.­56-59
  • 2.­75
  • 2.­81
  • 2.­87-106
  • 2.­110
  • n.­74
  • n.­78
  • n.­104
  • n.­326
  • g.­8
  • g.­25
  • g.­27
  • g.­35
  • g.­50
  • g.­66
  • g.­78
  • g.­106
  • g.­119
  • g.­129
  • g.­133
  • g.­139
  • g.­149
  • g.­152
  • g.­154
  • g.­163
  • g.­173
  • g.­175
g.­16

Avīci

Wylie:
  • bstir med
  • mnar med
Tibetan:
  • བསྟིར་མེད།
  • མནར་མེད།
Sanskrit:
  • avīci

The lowest hell, translated in two different ways within the sūtra and in the Mahāvyutpatti concordance, although mnar med became the standard form.

Located in 21 passages in the translation:

  • i.­17
  • i.­33
  • i.­43
  • 1.­10
  • 1.­12-16
  • 1.­18
  • 1.­29
  • 1.­60
  • 1.­86
  • 2.­2
  • 2.­84
  • 2.­90
  • 2.­101
  • 2.­105
  • n.­74
  • n.­76
  • n.­124
g.­17

Bali

Wylie:
  • gtor ma
Tibetan:
  • གཏོར་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • bali

Bali wrested control of the world from the devas, establishing a period of peace and prosperity with no caste distinction. Indra requested Viṣṇu to use his wiles so that the devas could gain the world back from him. He appeared as a dwarf asking for two steps of ground, was offered three, and then traversed the world in two steps. Bali, keeping faithful to his promise, accepted the banishment of the asuras into the underworld. A great festival is held in Bali’s honor annually in South India. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha, he abuses his power by imprisoning the kṣatriyas, so that Viṣṇu has cause to banish him to the underworld.

Located in 18 passages in the translation:

  • i.­24-25
  • i.­34
  • i.­43
  • 1.­42
  • 1.­44
  • 1.­48
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­61-62
  • 1.­67-69
  • n.­104
  • n.­106
  • n.­115
  • n.­121
  • g.­109
g.­18

bhagavat

Wylie:
  • bcom ldan ’das
Tibetan:
  • བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
Sanskrit:
  • bhagavat

“One who has bhaga,” which has many diverse meanings including “good fortune,” “happiness,” and “majesty.” In the Buddhist context, it means one who has the good fortune of attaining enlightenment. The Tibetan translation has three syllables defined to mean “one who has conquered (the maras), possesses (the qualities of enlightenment), and has transcended (saṃsāra, or both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa).

Located in 75 passages in the translation:

  • i.­23
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­12-14
  • 1.­17-18
  • 1.­20-23
  • 1.­25-31
  • 1.­33
  • 1.­35-39
  • 1.­44
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­55
  • 1.­59
  • 1.­61
  • 1.­67
  • 1.­69
  • 1.­88-89
  • 1.­91
  • 2.­1-2
  • 2.­20-24
  • 2.­26-27
  • 2.­35-36
  • 2.­38-42
  • 2.­50
  • 2.­52
  • 2.­56
  • 2.­60
  • 2.­62
  • 2.­64
  • 2.­72
  • 2.­78
  • 2.­88-94
  • 2.­96-98
  • 2.­102
  • 2.­107
  • 2.­110-113
  • 2.­120
g.­19

bhūmi

Wylie:
  • sa
Tibetan:
  • ས།
Sanskrit:
  • bhūmi

A level of enlightenment, usually referring to the ten levels of the enlightened bodhisattvas.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 1.­47
  • 2.­28
  • 2.­48
  • 2.­64
  • n.­250
g.­21

bodhisattva

Wylie:
  • byang chub sems dpa’
Tibetan:
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།
Sanskrit:
  • bodhisattva

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A being who is dedicated to the cultivation and fulfilment of the altruistic intention to attain perfect buddhahood, traversing the ten bodhisattva levels (daśabhūmi, sa bcu). Bodhisattvas purposely opt to remain within cyclic existence in order to liberate all sentient beings, instead of simply seeking personal freedom from suffering. In terms of the view, they realize both the selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenomena.

Located in 137 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • i.­5-6
  • i.­8
  • i.­33-35
  • i.­43
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­12-22
  • 1.­25-37
  • 1.­39-42
  • 1.­44-45
  • 1.­47-48
  • 1.­60-62
  • 1.­67-69
  • 1.­74
  • 1.­76
  • 1.­79
  • 1.­83-85
  • 1.­87-91
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­3-4
  • 2.­17
  • 2.­20
  • 2.­22-29
  • 2.­34-38
  • 2.­42
  • 2.­48-49
  • 2.­51-53
  • 2.­55-60
  • 2.­62
  • 2.­64-65
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­72
  • 2.­74-75
  • 2.­77
  • 2.­80-84
  • 2.­87-96
  • 2.­98-106
  • 2.­109-110
  • n.­74
  • n.­205
  • n.­207
  • n.­211
  • g.­15
  • g.­19
  • g.­40
  • g.­52
  • g.­72
  • g.­120
  • g.­129
  • g.­133
  • g.­160
  • g.­175
g.­22

Brahmā

Wylie:
  • tshangs pa
Tibetan:
  • ཚངས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • brahmā

The personification of the universal force of Brahman, who became a higher deity than Indra, the supreme deity of the early Vedas.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­22
  • 1.­35
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­71
  • g.­49
g.­23

brahmin

Wylie:
  • bram ze
Tibetan:
  • བྲམ་ཟེ།
Sanskrit:
  • brāhmaṇa

A member of the priestly class or caste from the four social divisions of India.

Located in 12 passages in the translation:

  • i.­35
  • i.­43
  • 1.­50
  • 1.­53-54
  • 1.­56
  • 1.­77-81
  • n.­85
g.­26

Candradvīpa

Wylie:
  • zla ba’i gling
Tibetan:
  • ཟླ་བའི་གླིང་།
Sanskrit:
  • candradvīpa

A well-known site of pilgrimage in Bengal. Candradvīpa was a prosperous kingdom with Buddhist sites, located on what is now the south coast of Bangladesh, centered on the Barisal district.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • 1.­53
g.­27

Cittarāja

Wylie:
  • sna tshogs kyi rgyal po
Tibetan:
  • སྣ་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • cittarāja

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­85
  • n.­306
g.­29

Daśarathaputra

Wylie:
  • shing rta bcu pa’i bu
Tibetan:
  • ཤིང་རྟ་བཅུ་པའི་བུ།
Sanskrit:
  • daśarathaputra

“The son of Daśaratha” is actually Rāma. At the point in the Kāraṇḍavyūha where Nārāyaṇa, really Viṣṇu, rescues the kṣatriyas, he is inexplicably called by this name, which may reference a Rāma story. Rāma came to be viewed as one of the ten incarnations of Nārāyaṇa.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­25
  • 1.­51-52
g.­30

deva

Wylie:
  • lha
Tibetan:
  • ལྷ།
Sanskrit:
  • deva

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who attend and celebrate the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni and other buddhas and bodhisattvas. In Buddhist cosmology the devas occupy the highest of the five or six “destinies” (gati) of saṃsāra among which beings take rebirth. The devas reside in the devalokas, “heavens” that traditionally number between twenty-six and twenty-eight and are divided between the desire realm (kāmadhātu), form realm (rūpadhātu), and formless realm (ārūpyadhātu). A being attains rebirth among the devas either through meritorious deeds (in the desire realm) or the attainment of subtle meditative states (in the form and formless realms). While rebirth among the devas is considered favorable, it is ultimately a transitory state from which beings will fall when the conditions that lead to rebirth there are exhausted. Thus, rebirth in the god realms is regarded as a diversion from the spiritual path.

Located in 35 passages in the translation:

  • i.­35
  • i.­43
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­16
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­31
  • 1.­39
  • 1.­45
  • 1.­61
  • 1.­67
  • 1.­77-81
  • 1.­88
  • 2.­21-22
  • 2.­28
  • 2.­36
  • 2.­58
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­70-71
  • 2.­87
  • 2.­93-94
  • 2.­110
  • 2.­120
  • n.­21
  • g.­11
  • g.­13
  • g.­17
  • g.­49
  • g.­126
g.­31

dhāraṇī

Wylie:
  • gzungs
Tibetan:
  • གཟུངས།
Sanskrit:
  • dhāraṇī

An alternative name for vidyā (knowledge) and synonymous with mantra.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­15
  • i.­43
  • 2.­79
  • n.­299
g.­32

dharmabhāṇaka

Wylie:
  • chos smra ba
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་སྨྲ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmabhāṇaka

In early Buddhism a section of the Saṅgha would be bhāṇakas, who, particularly before the teachings were written down and were transmitted solely orally, were the key factor in the preservation of the teachings. Various groups of bhāṇakas specialized in memorizing and reciting a certain set of sūtras or vinaya.

Located in 15 passages in the translation:

  • i.­40
  • i.­43
  • 1.­19
  • 2.­62-66
  • 2.­68-70
  • 2.­72
  • 2.­75
  • 2.­77-78
g.­35

Dhvajarāja

Wylie:
  • rdo rje rgyal mtshan
Tibetan:
  • རྡོ་རྗེ་རྒྱལ་མཚན།
Sanskrit:
  • dhvajarāja

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­86
g.­40

Gaganagañja

Wylie:
  • nam mkha’ mdzod
Tibetan:
  • ནམ་མཁའ་མཛོད།
Sanskrit:
  • gaganagañja

In the Kāraṇḍavyūha it is the name of both a bodhisattva and a samādhi. In this sūtra the bodhisattva is a pupil of Buddha Viśvabhū, but he is also portrayed in other sūtras receiving teaching from Śākyamuni, and is one of the sixteen bodhisattvas in the Vairocana maṇḍala.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­34-35
  • i.­43
  • 1.­67
  • 1.­69
  • 1.­88-90
g.­41

gandharva

Wylie:
  • dri za
Tibetan:
  • དྲི་ཟ།
Sanskrit:
  • gandharva

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of generally benevolent nonhuman beings who inhabit the skies, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds, and more specifically to dwell on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru, where they are ruled by the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. They are most renowned as celestial musicians who serve the gods. In the Abhidharma, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by sentient beings during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances (gandha) in the desire realm, hence the Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”

Located in 16 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 1.­4
  • 1.­8
  • 1.­16
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­88
  • 2.­17
  • 2.­19
  • 2.­21-22
  • 2.­28
  • 2.­83
  • 2.­110
  • 2.­120
  • n.­361
  • g.­11
g.­44

gāthā

Wylie:
  • tshigs su bcad pa
Tibetan:
  • ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • gāthā

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means those teachings given in verse.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­45

geya

Wylie:
  • dbyangs kyis bsnyad pa
Tibetan:
  • དབྱངས་ཀྱིས་བསྙད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • geya

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means the repletion of prose passages in verse form.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­49

Indra

Wylie:
  • dbang po
Tibetan:
  • དབང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • indra

The lord of the devas, the principal deity in the Vedas. Indra and Brahmā were the two most important deities in the Buddha’s lifetime, and were later eclipsed by the increasing importance of Śiva and Viṣṇu.

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­104
  • n.­71
  • n.­80
  • n.­287
  • n.­356
  • g.­17
  • g.­22
  • g.­126
  • g.­159
  • g.­171
g.­50

Indrarāja

Wylie:
  • dbang po’i rgyal po
Tibetan:
  • དབང་པོའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • indrarāja

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­82
g.­52

itivṛttaka

Wylie:
  • ’di lta bu ’das pa
Tibetan:
  • འདི་ལྟ་བུ་འདས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • itivṛttaka

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means accounts of the lives of past buddhas and bodhisattvas.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­54

Jambudvīpa

Wylie:
  • ’dzam bu gling
Tibetan:
  • འཛམ་བུ་གླིང་།
Sanskrit:
  • jambudvīpa

The name of the southern continent in Buddhist cosmology, which can mean the known world of humans or more specifically the Indian subcontinent. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha, Sri Laṅka is described as being separate from Jambudvīpa. A gigantic miraculous rose-apple tree at the source of the great Indian rivers is said to give the continent its name.

Located in 15 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 1.­19
  • 1.­36
  • 1.­64
  • 1.­82
  • 2.­9
  • 2.­13
  • 2.­16
  • 2.­19
  • 2.­44-45
  • 2.­87
  • 2.­117
  • n.­176
  • n.­314
g.­55

jātaka

Wylie:
  • skyes pa’i rabs
Tibetan:
  • སྐྱེས་པའི་རབས།
Sanskrit:
  • jātaka

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means accounts of the Buddha’s previous lifetimes.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­26
  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­56

Jetavana

Wylie:
  • dze ta’i tshal
Tibetan:
  • ཛེ་ཏའི་ཚལ།
Sanskrit:
  • jetavana

See “Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park.”

Located in 16 passages in the translation:

  • i.­33-35
  • i.­43
  • 1.­10-11
  • 1.­67-68
  • 1.­78
  • 1.­88
  • 2.­78
  • 2.­87
  • 2.­89-91
  • n.­129
g.­57

Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park

Wylie:
  • dze ta'i tshal mgon med pa la zas sbyin pa'i kun dga’ ra ba
Tibetan:
  • ཛེ་ཏའི་ཚལ་མགོན་མེད་པ་ལ་ཟས་སྦྱིན་པའི་ཀུན་དགའ་ར་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • jetavanam anāthapiṇḍadasyārāmaḥ AO

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the first Buddhist monasteries, located in a park outside Śrāvastī, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kośala in northern India. This park was originally owned by Prince Jeta, hence the name Jetavana, meaning Jeta’s grove. The wealthy merchant Anāthapiṇḍada, wishing to offer it to the Buddha, sought to buy it from him, but the prince, not wishing to sell, said he would only do so if Anāthapiṇḍada covered the entire property with gold coins. Anāthapiṇḍada agreed, and managed to cover all of the park except the entrance, hence the name Anāthapiṇḍadasyārāmaḥ, meaning Anāthapiṇḍada’s park. The place is usually referred to in the sūtras as “Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park,” and according to the Saṃghabhedavastu the Buddha used Prince Jeta’s name in first place because that was Prince Jeta’s own unspoken wish while Anāthapiṇḍada was offering the park. Inspired by the occasion and the Buddha’s use of his name, Prince Jeta then offered the rest of the property and had an entrance gate built. The Buddha specifically instructed those who recite the sūtras to use Prince Jeta’s name in first place to commemorate the mutual effort of both benefactors.

Anāthapiṇḍada built residences for the monks, to house them during the monsoon season, thus creating the first Buddhist monastery. It was one of the Buddha’s main residences, where he spent around nineteen rainy season retreats, and it was therefore the setting for many of the Buddha’s discourses and events. According to the travel accounts of Chinese monks, it was still in use as a Buddhist monastery in the early fifth century ᴄᴇ, but by the sixth century it had been reduced to ruins.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • g.­56
g.­62

Kaurava

Wylie:
  • ko’u ra pa
Tibetan:
  • ཀོའུ་ར་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • kaurava

The hundred sons of King Dhṛtarāśtra, who were the enemies of their cousins, the Pāṇḍava brothers. Their family name means they are the descendants of the ancient King Kur (as were the Pāṇḍava brothers). Their battle is the central theme of the Mahābhārata, India’s greatest epic.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 1.­51
  • 1.­58
  • n.­114
  • g.­109
g.­64

kinnara

Wylie:
  • mi’am ci
Tibetan:
  • མིའམ་ཅི།
Sanskrit:
  • kinnara
  • kiṃnara

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings that resemble humans to the degree that their very name‍—which means “is that human?”‍—suggests some confusion as to their divine status. Kinnaras are mythological beings found in both Buddhist and Brahmanical literature, where they are portrayed as creatures half human, half animal. They are often depicted as highly skilled celestial musicians.

Located in 16 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 1.­5
  • 1.­9
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­88
  • 2.­21
  • 2.­30-31
  • 2.­33-34
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­87
  • 2.­110
  • 2.­120
  • n.­26
  • g.­134
g.­65

Krakucchanda

Wylie:
  • log par dad sel
Tibetan:
  • ལོག་པར་དད་སེལ།
Sanskrit:
  • krakucchanda

The fourth of the seven buddhas, with Śākyamuni as the seventh. Also the first of the buddhas in this eon, with Śākyamuni as the fourth. The Tibetan translation in the Kāraṇḍavyūha is “elimination of incorrect faith,” and this is found in the Mahāvyutpatti, whereas the later standard Tibetan translation is ’khor ba ’jig or “destruction of saṃsara.” It is a Sanskritization of the middle-Indic name Kakusaṃdha. Kaku may mean summit and saṃdha is the inner or hidden meaning.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­41
  • i.­43
  • 2.­102
  • 2.­106
g.­66

Kṛṣṇa

Wylie:
  • nag po
Tibetan:
  • ནག་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • kṛṣṇa

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­18
  • 2.­22
g.­67

kṣatriya

Wylie:
  • rgyal rigs
Tibetan:
  • རྒྱལ་རིགས།
Sanskrit:
  • kṣatriya

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The ruling caste in the traditional four-caste hierarchy of India, associated with warriors, the aristocracy, and kings.

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • i.­25
  • i.­34
  • i.­43
  • 1.­50-52
  • n.­114
  • g.­17
  • g.­29
g.­72

mahāsattva

Wylie:
  • sems dpa’ chen po
Tibetan:
  • སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāsattva

An epithet for an accomplished bodhisattva.

Located in 85 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­12-18
  • 1.­20-22
  • 1.­25-37
  • 1.­39-42
  • 1.­44
  • 1.­48
  • 1.­60-62
  • 1.­67-69
  • 1.­74
  • 1.­76
  • 1.­83-85
  • 1.­87-90
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­3
  • 2.­17
  • 2.­22-23
  • 2.­25-27
  • 2.­34-35
  • 2.­49
  • 2.­51
  • 2.­56-59
  • 2.­65
  • 2.­75
  • 2.­77
  • 2.­81
  • 2.­87-96
  • 2.­98-101
  • 2.­103-106
  • 2.­110
  • n.­72
g.­74

mahāvidyā

Wylie:
  • rig sngags chen mo
Tibetan:
  • རིག་སྔགས་ཆེན་མོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāvidyā
  • mahāvidyāmantra

Vidyā is synonymous with mantra.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­7
  • i.­43
  • 2.­53-54
  • 2.­62
  • 2.­74
  • 2.­77
  • g.­133
g.­75

Mahāyāna

Wylie:
  • theg pa chen po
Tibetan:
  • ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāyāna

Literally the Sanskrit means “great way,” but in Buddhism this has developed the meaning of great vehicle, and so is translated literally into Tibetan as “great carrier.”

Located in 22 passages in the translation:

  • i.­24
  • 1.­19
  • 1.­36-37
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­71-75
  • 1.­91
  • 2.­19-21
  • 2.­29
  • 2.­55
  • 2.­72
  • 2.­107-109
  • 2.­121
  • n.­211
g.­76

Maheśvara

Wylie:
  • dbang phyug chen po
Tibetan:
  • དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • maheśvara

A name for Śiva.

Located in 18 passages in the translation:

  • i.­41
  • i.­43
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­15-16
  • 1.­22-23
  • 1.­35
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­71
  • 2.­87
  • 2.­89
  • 2.­93-94
  • 2.­96
  • n.­21
  • n.­326
  • g.­162
g.­79

maṇḍala

Wylie:
  • dkyil ’khor
Tibetan:
  • དཀྱིལ་འཁོར།
Sanskrit:
  • maṇḍala

In the higher tantras this is usually a diagram representing the details of the visualization of a deity and its palace and retinue. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha it is a simpler representation of a few deities, made of precious powders.

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­28
  • i.­39
  • i.­43
  • 2.­52-56
  • n.­255-258
  • g.­40
  • g.­120
g.­81

monastery

Wylie:
  • gtsug lag khang
Tibetan:
  • གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་།
Sanskrit:
  • vihāra

Originally a place where the wandering “viharin” monks would stay during the monsoon only, they later developed into permanent domiciles for monks.

Located in 21 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • i.­13
  • i.­33-35
  • i.­43
  • 1.­10-11
  • 1.­27
  • 1.­67-68
  • 1.­78
  • 1.­88
  • 2.­78
  • 2.­87
  • 2.­89-91
  • 2.­112-113
  • n.­129
g.­99

nāga

Wylie:
  • klu
Tibetan:
  • ཀླུ།
Sanskrit:
  • nāga

In India, this was the cobra deity, which in Tibet was equated with water spirits and in China with dragons, neither country having cobras.

Located in 21 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­3
  • 1.­7
  • 1.­16
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­46
  • 1.­67
  • 1.­88
  • 2.­21
  • 2.­36
  • 2.­44
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­87
  • 2.­108
  • 2.­110
  • 2.­120
  • n.­23
  • n.­36
  • n.­38
  • n.­172
  • g.­134
g.­100

Nārāyaṇa

Wylie:
  • mthu bo che
Tibetan:
  • མཐུ་བོ་ཆེ།
Sanskrit:
  • nārāyaṇa

An alternate name for Viṣṇu. The Sanskrit is variously interpreted, including as “dwelling in water,” but is most obviously “the path of human beings.”

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­25
  • i.­43
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­15
  • 1.­22
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­55
  • 1.­57-58
  • 2.­87
  • n.­21
  • n.­113
  • g.­29
g.­101

Nelpa Paṇḍita

Wylie:
  • nel pa pandi ta
Tibetan:
  • ནེལ་པ་པནདི་ཏ།
Sanskrit:
  • nelpa paṇḍita

A 13th century Tibetan historian. Personal name: Drakpa Mönlam Lodrö (grags pa smon lam blo gros).

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • i.­9
g.­102

nidāna

Wylie:
  • gleng gzhi
Tibetan:
  • གླེང་གཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • nidāna

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means the introductions to teachings.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­103

nirvāṇa

Wylie:
  • mya ngan las ’das pa
Tibetan:
  • མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • nirvāṇa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Sanskrit, the term nirvāṇa literally means “extinguishment” and the Tibetan mya ngan las ’das pa literally means “gone beyond sorrow.” As a general term, it refers to the cessation of all suffering, afflicted mental states (kleśa), and causal processes (karman) that lead to rebirth and suffering in cyclic existence, as well as to the state in which all such rebirth and suffering has permanently ceased.

More specifically, three main types of nirvāṇa are identified. (1) The first type of nirvāṇa, called nirvāṇa with remainder (sopadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), is the state in which arhats or buddhas have attained awakening but are still dependent on the conditioned aggregates until their lifespan is exhausted. (2) At the end of life, given that there are no more causes for rebirth, these aggregates cease and no new aggregates arise. What occurs then is called nirvāṇa without remainder ( anupadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), which refers to the unconditioned element (dhātu) of nirvāṇa in which there is no remainder of the aggregates. (3) The Mahāyāna teachings distinguish the final nirvāṇa of buddhas from that of arhats, the nirvāṇa of arhats not being considered ultimate. The buddhas attain what is called nonabiding nirvāṇa (apratiṣṭhitanirvāṇa), which transcends the extremes of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, i.e., existence and peace. This is the nirvāṇa that is the goal of the Mahāyāna path.

Located in 19 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­16
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­37
  • 1.­40
  • 1.­86
  • 2.­2
  • 2.­24
  • 2.­29-30
  • 2.­33-34
  • 2.­39
  • 2.­81-82
  • 2.­95
  • 2.­97
  • 2.­101
  • 2.­113
  • g.­18
g.­106

Padmottama

Wylie:
  • pad ma dam pa
Tibetan:
  • པད་མ་དམ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • padmottama

The buddha who receives the six-syllable mantra from Avalokiteśvara.

Located in 13 passages in the translation:

  • i.­39
  • i.­43
  • 2.­41-43
  • 2.­51
  • 2.­57-59
  • n.­235
  • n.­263
  • n.­266
  • g.­121
g.­109

Pāṇḍava

Wylie:
  • pan da pa
Tibetan:
  • པན་ད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • pāṇḍava

Five brothers who were the sons of Paṇḍu. The most famous was Arjuna (of Bhagavadgīta fame); the other four were Yudhiṣṭhira, Nakula, Sahadeva, and Bhīmasena. The story of the Pāṇḍava brothers and their battle with their cousins, the Kauravas, is the subject of the Mahābhārata, India’s greatest epic. In the sūtra, Bali imprisons the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas together.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • i.­25
  • i.­43
  • 1.­50
  • 1.­58
  • n.­114
  • g.­62
g.­110

paṇḍita

Wylie:
  • mkhas pa
Tibetan:
  • མཁས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • paṇḍita

An official title for a learned scholar in India.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­9
  • i.­12
  • 1.­35
  • g.­165
g.­113

Prajñāpāramitā

Wylie:
  • shes rab pha rol tu phyin pa
Tibetan:
  • ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • prajñāpāramitā

The Kāraṇḍavyūha is referring to the goddess who is the personification of the perfection of wisdom, and is in the feminine case. However, the Tibetan has the male ending -pa, instead of the female ending -ma, which is presently normally used for the goddess, but does not appear in the Mahāvyutpatti Sanskrit-Tibetan concordance.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­72
g.­114

pratyekabuddha

Wylie:
  • rang sangs rgyas
Tibetan:
  • རང་སངས་རྒྱས།
Sanskrit:
  • pratyekabuddha

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally, “buddha for oneself” or “solitary realizer.” Someone who, in his or her last life, attains awakening entirely through their own contemplation, without relying on a teacher. Unlike the awakening of a fully realized buddha (samyaksambuddha), the accomplishment of a pratyeka­buddha is not regarded as final or ultimate. They attain realization of the nature of dependent origination, the selflessness of the person, and a partial realization of the selflessness of phenomena, by observing the suchness of all that arises through interdependence. This is the result of progress in previous lives but, unlike a buddha, they do not have the necessary merit, compassion or motivation to teach others. They are named as “rhinoceros-like” (khaḍgaviṣāṇakalpa) for their preference for staying in solitude or as “congregators” (vargacārin) when their preference is to stay among peers.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 1.­19
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­35
  • 2.­85
g.­116

rākṣasa

Wylie:
  • srin po
Tibetan:
  • སྲིན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • rākṣasa

A race of physical beings who are ugly, evil-natured, and have a yearning for human flesh, but who also have miraculous powers, such as being able to change their appearance, as in the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­34
  • i.­43
  • 1.­15-16
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­69-70
  • 1.­74
  • 1.­76
  • 2.­58
  • n.­178
  • g.­117
  • g.­123
  • g.­136
g.­117

rākṣasī

Wylie:
  • srin mo
Tibetan:
  • སྲིན་མོ།
Sanskrit:
  • rākṣasī

A female rākṣasa.

Located in 22 passages in the translation:

  • i.­24
  • i.­26
  • i.­30
  • i.­35-36
  • i.­43
  • 1.­81-82
  • 2.­4-13
  • 2.­15
  • n.­176
  • n.­193
  • g.­118
g.­119

Ratnakuṇḍala

Wylie:
  • rin po che’i rna cha
Tibetan:
  • རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རྣ་ཆ།
Sanskrit:
  • ratnakuṇḍala

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­22
g.­120

Ratnapāṇi

Wylie:
  • lag na rin po che
Tibetan:
  • ལག་ན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།
Sanskrit:
  • ratnapāṇi

In the Kāraṇḍavyūha he is, as well as being listed as present at Buddha Śākyamuni’s teachings, the one who is described in Śākyamuni’s memories as the bodhisattva who questions Buddha Vipaśyin. He is the principal bodhisattva being addressed by Śākyamuni in chapter 35 of the Avatamsaka Sūtra. In the early tantras he is one of the sixteen bodhisattvas in the dharmadhātu maṇḍala. In the higher tantras he is associated with the ratna family of Buddha Ratnasambhava.

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • i.­33
  • i.­43
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­27-28
  • 1.­30
  • 1.­33
  • 1.­35-37
g.­121

Ratnottama

Wylie:
  • dmar po’i mchog
Tibetan:
  • དམར་པོའི་མཆོག
Sanskrit:
  • ratnottama

This Buddha who sends the previous life of Śākyamuni to Buddha Padmottama. However, the Tibetan had dmar po’i mchog, “supreme red,” which would have been a translation of Raktottama, evidently a mistake for Ratnottama, which would have been translated as nor bu’i mchog or rin chen mchog.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­39
  • i.­43
  • 2.­41
g.­128

samādhi

Wylie:
  • ting nge ’dzin
Tibetan:
  • ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
Sanskrit:
  • samādhi

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In a general sense, samādhi can describe a number of different meditative states. In the Mahāyāna literature, in particular in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, we find extensive lists of different samādhis, numbering over one hundred.

In a more restricted sense, and when understood as a mental state, samādhi is defined as the one-pointedness of the mind (cittaikāgratā), the ability to remain on the same object over long periods of time. The Drajor Bamponyipa (sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa) commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti explains the term samādhi as referring to the instrument through which mind and mental states “get collected,” i.e., it is by the force of samādhi that the continuum of mind and mental states becomes collected on a single point of reference without getting distracted.

Located in 20 passages in the translation:

  • i.­36
  • i.­41
  • i.­43
  • 1.­16
  • 2.­1-3
  • 2.­61
  • 2.­70
  • 2.­76
  • 2.­101-105
  • n.­155
  • n.­268
  • n.­338
  • g.­40
  • g.­130
g.­129

Samantabhadra

Wylie:
  • kun tu bzang po
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • samantabhadra

One of the eight principal bodhisattvas, he figures strongly in the Gaṇḍavyūha (the final chapter of the Avataṃsaka­sūtra) and in the Lotus Sūtra. His prominence in these sūtras is the reason why emphasis is placed on Avalokiteśvara’s superiority over him. (Not to be confused with the buddha in the Nyingma tradition.)

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • i.­41
  • i.­43
  • 1.­1
  • 2.­23
  • 2.­25
  • 2.­102-106
g.­131

saṃsāra

Wylie:
  • ’khor ba
Tibetan:
  • འཁོར་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃsāra

An unending series of unenlightened existences.

Located in 22 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­34-35
  • 1.­44
  • 1.­75
  • 1.­86
  • 2.­17
  • 2.­19
  • 2.­21
  • 2.­29
  • 2.­33-34
  • 2.­39
  • 2.­57
  • 2.­67-70
  • 2.­82
  • 2.­109
  • n.­199
  • g.­18
  • g.­103
g.­133

Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkambhin

Wylie:
  • sgrib pa thams cad rnam par sel ba
Tibetan:
  • སྒྲིབ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་རྣམ་པར་སེལ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • sarva­nīvaraṇavi­ṣkambhin

One of the eight great bodhisattvas. In particular, he has an important role in the Lotus Sūtra, in which Buddha Śākyamuni sends him to Vārāṇasī to see Avalokiteśvara. This is paralleled in the Kāraṇḍavyūha, in which he is sent to Vārāṇasī to obtain Avalokitesvara’s mahāvidyā.

Located in 55 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­33
  • i.­36-37
  • i.­39-40
  • i.­43
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­12-13
  • 1.­17
  • 1.­20-22
  • 1.­25-26
  • 1.­38-39
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­17
  • 2.­20-24
  • 2.­26-29
  • 2.­35
  • 2.­39
  • 2.­41
  • 2.­60
  • 2.­62
  • 2.­64-66
  • 2.­69
  • 2.­72
  • 2.­75-78
  • 2.­86
  • 2.­88-90
  • 2.­96-99
  • 2.­101-102
  • 2.­107
  • 2.­110
g.­135

Śikhin

Wylie:
  • gtsug ldan
Tibetan:
  • གཙུག་ལྡན།
Sanskrit:
  • śikhin

The second of the seven buddhas, with Śākyamuni as the seventh. The Tibetan translation could also be read as “one with a crown protuberance.”

Located in 13 passages in the translation:

  • i.­33
  • i.­43
  • 1.­25-31
  • 1.­33
  • 1.­35-37
g.­136

Siṃhala

Wylie:
  • sing gha la
Tibetan:
  • སིང་གྷ་ལ།
Sanskrit:
  • siṃhala

Sri Laṅka, formerly Ceylon. The Rāmāyaṇa epic specified that Laṅka is inhabited by rākṣasas. Siṃhala was the name by which Laṅka was referred to in the Mahābhārata. The indigenous Buddhist population and their language is still called Singhalese.

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­35-36
  • i.­43
  • 1.­81
  • 1.­83
  • 2.­4
  • 2.­7
  • 2.­9
  • 2.­11-15
  • n.­176
g.­139

six-syllable mahāvidyā

Wylie:
  • yi ge drug pa’i rig pa chen po
Tibetan:
  • ཡི་གེ་དྲུག་པའི་རིག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • ṣaḍakṣarī mahāvidyā

Oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ. This appears to be a vocative call to Avalokiteśvara under the name of Maṇipadma (see Introduction, i.­21). Ṣadakṣarī (q.v.) is also the name of the four-armed goddess who personifies the mantra.

Located in 29 passages in the translation:

  • i.­38
  • i.­43
  • 1.­61
  • 2.­35-51
  • 2.­60-63
  • 2.­68
  • 2.­81
  • g.­140
  • g.­141
  • g.­142
g.­140

six-syllable mantra

Wylie:
  • yi ge drug pa
Tibetan:
  • ཡི་གེ་དྲུག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • ṣaḍakṣarī

Ṣadakṣarī (q.v.) is also the name of the four-armed goddess who personifies the mantra. See “six-syllable mahāvidyā.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­7
  • g.­106
  • g.­124
g.­143

skandha

Wylie:
  • phung po
Tibetan:
  • ཕུང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • skandha

See “aggregates.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­13
  • n.­89
g.­144

Śrāvastī

Wylie:
  • mnyan du yod pa
Tibetan:
  • མཉན་དུ་ཡོད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • śrāvastī

The capital of Kośala, a kingdom in what is now Uttar Pradesh, where Buddha Śākyamuni spent most of his life. There are differing explanations for the name, including that it was founded by King Śrāvasta or that it was named after a rishi, Sāvattha, who lived there.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­146

stūpa

Wylie:
  • mchod rten
Tibetan:
  • མཆོད་རྟེན།
Sanskrit:
  • stūpa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Tibetan translates both stūpa and caitya with the same word, mchod rten, meaning “basis” or “recipient” of “offerings” or “veneration.” Pali: cetiya.

A caitya, although often synonymous with stūpa, can also refer to any site, sanctuary or shrine that is made for veneration, and may or may not contain relics.

A stūpa, literally “heap” or “mound,” is a mounded or circular structure usually containing relics of the Buddha or the masters of the past. It is considered to be a sacred object representing the awakened mind of a buddha, but the symbolism of the stūpa is complex, and its design varies throughout the Buddhist world. Stūpas continue to be erected today as objects of veneration and merit making.

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • i.­3
  • i.­13
  • 1.­19
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­65
  • 1.­73
  • 1.­76
  • 2.­37
  • 2.­60
  • 2.­107
g.­147

Śuddhāvāsa realms

Wylie:
  • gnas gtsang ma
Tibetan:
  • གནས་གཙང་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • śuddhāvāsa

A form-realm paradise that is never destroyed during the cycles of the destruction and creation of the universe.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­35
  • i.­43
  • 1.­77
g.­149

Sukhāvatī

Wylie:
  • bde ba can
Tibetan:
  • བདེ་བ་ཅན།
Sanskrit:
  • sukhāvatī

The realm of Buddha Amitābha, described in the Sukhāvatī­vyuha Sūtra, where Avalokiteśvara first appears in the sūtras.

Located in 12 passages in the translation:

  • i.­33
  • i.­41
  • i.­43
  • 1.­19
  • 1.­27
  • 1.­34
  • 1.­37
  • 1.­60
  • 1.­83
  • 2.­25
  • 2.­91
  • 2.­109
g.­150

Śukra

Wylie:
  • pa bsangs
Tibetan:
  • པ་བསངས།
Sanskrit:
  • śukra

Śukra is both the planet Venus and the guru of the asuras. In the Vaiśnavite literature, he loses an eye from his encounter with the dwarf incarnation of Viṣṇu. The Sanskrit also means “bright.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­25
  • 1.­55-56
g.­152

Sūryaprabha

Wylie:
  • nyi ma’i ’od
Tibetan:
  • ཉི་མའི་འོད།
Sanskrit:
  • sūryaprabha

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­80
g.­153

sūtra

Wylie:
  • mdo
Tibetan:
  • མདོ།
Sanskrit:
  • sūtra

Generally used for pithy statements, rules, and aphorisms, for the Buddha’s non-tantric teachings in general, and as one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means “teaching given in prose.”

Located in 72 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • i.­3-7
  • i.­9-10
  • i.­14-20
  • i.­22-26
  • i.­30-34
  • i.­37
  • i.­42-43
  • 1.­19
  • 1.­36-37
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­71-75
  • 1.­91
  • 2.­19-21
  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • 2.­107-109
  • 2.­121
  • n.­18
  • n.­104
  • n.­129
  • n.­287-288
  • n.­297
  • n.­299
  • n.­326
  • n.­328
  • g.­6
  • g.­15
  • g.­16
  • g.­32
  • g.­40
  • g.­71
  • g.­109
  • g.­115
  • g.­129
  • g.­133
  • g.­134
  • g.­149
  • g.­160
  • g.­175
  • g.­185
g.­154

Suvarṇa

Wylie:
  • gser
Tibetan:
  • གསེར།
Sanskrit:
  • suvarṇa

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­17-18
g.­155

Tamondhakāra

Wylie:
  • mun pa mun nag
Tibetan:
  • མུན་པ་མུན་ནག
Sanskrit:
  • tamondhakāra

A region where the sun and moon do not shine.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 1.­69
  • 1.­73
  • 1.­76
g.­158

Thönmi Sambhota

Wylie:
  • thon mi sam bho ta
Tibetan:
  • ཐོན་མི་སམ་བྷོ་ཏ།
Sanskrit:
  • thönmi sambhota

First recorded in medieval Tibetan literature as a seventh-century minister of the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo, he is credited with the invention of the Tibetan alphabet and the composition of two much-studied grammar texts.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • i.­9
g.­160

twelve wheels of the Dharma

Wylie:
  • chos kyi ’khor lo rnam pa bcu gnyis
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་རྣམ་པ་བཅུ་གཉིས།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmacakra

The classification of all aspects of Buddha’s teachings into twelve types: sūtra, geya, vyākaraṇa, gāthā, udāna, nidāna, avadāna, itivṛttaka, jātaka, vaipulya, adbhutadharma, and upadeśa (see individual terms).

Respectively, the sūtras, literally “threads,” does not mean entire texts as in the general meaning of sūtra but the prose passages within texts; the geyas are the verse versions of preceding prose passages; the vyākaraṇas are prophecies; the gāthās are stand-alone verses; the udānas are teachings not given in response to a request; the nidānas are the introductory sections; the avadānas are accounts of the previous lives of individuals who were alive at the time of the Buddha; the itivṛttakas are biographies of buddhas and bodhisattvas in the past; the jātakas are the Buddha’s accounts of his own previous lifetimes; the vaipulyas are teachings that expand upon a certain subject; the adbhutadharmas are descriptions of miracles; and the upadeśas are explanations of terms and categories.

Located in 13 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­69
  • n.­291
  • g.­1
  • g.­14
  • g.­44
  • g.­45
  • g.­52
  • g.­55
  • g.­102
  • g.­161
  • g.­164
  • g.­169
  • g.­188
g.­161

udāna

Wylie:
  • ched du brjod pa
Tibetan:
  • ཆེད་དུ་བརྗོད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • udāna

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means teachings that were not given in response to a request.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­162

Umādevī

Wylie:
  • lha mo u ma
Tibetan:
  • ལྷ་མོ་ཨུ་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • umādevī

Umādevī is also known as Pārvatī. The name is of obscure origin, but can mean “splendor,” “tranquility,” or “light.” She is the consort of Śiva, also known as Maheśvara, and believed to be the rebirth of Sīta, his previous consort.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­41
  • i.­43
  • 2.­95-96
  • g.­163
g.­164

upadeśa

Wylie:
  • gtan phab
Tibetan:
  • གཏན་ཕབ།
Sanskrit:
  • upadeśa

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means the explanation of details in the teachings and is synonymous with Abhidharma.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­165

upādhyāya

Wylie:
  • mkhan po
Tibetan:
  • མཁན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • upādhyāya

A personal preceptor and teacher. In Tibet, it has also come to mean a learned scholar, the equivalent of a paṇḍita, but that is not the intended meaning in the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10
  • 1.­55
  • 2.­77
  • c.­1
  • n.­295
g.­169

vaipulya

Wylie:
  • shin tu rgyas pa
Tibetan:
  • ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vaipulya

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means an extensive teaching on a subject.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­171

vajra

Wylie:
  • rdo rje
Tibetan:
  • རྡོ་རྗེ།
Sanskrit:
  • vajra

The word vajra refers to the “thunderbolt,” the indestructible and irresistible weapon that first appears in Indian literature in the hand of the Vedic deity Indra. As a symbol of indestructibility and great power it is used in the Kāraṇḍavyūha to describe the qualities of the maṇi mantra.

Located in 13 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­18
  • 2.­2
  • 2.­37
  • 2.­61
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­70
  • 2.­101
  • 2.­103
  • 2.­119
  • n.­221
  • n.­224
  • n.­338
  • g.­175
g.­173

Vajramukha

Wylie:
  • rdo rje’i sgo
Tibetan:
  • རྡོ་རྗེའི་སྒོ།
Sanskrit:
  • vajramukha

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 2.­30
  • n.­300
g.­175

Vajrapāṇi

Wylie:
  • phyag na rdo rje
Tibetan:
  • ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
Sanskrit:
  • vajrapāṇi

He first appears in Buddhist literature as the yakṣa bodyguard of the Buddha, ready at times to shatter a person’s head into a hundred pieces with his vajra if he speaks inappropriately to the Buddha. His identity as a bodhisattva did not take place until the rise of the Mantrayāna in such sūtras as the Kāraṇḍavyūha. However, although listed (paradoxically along with Avalokiteśvara) as being in the assembly that hears the teaching of this sūtra, in the sūtra itself he is grouped with the worldly spirits that Avalokiteśvara frightens.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­16
g.­176

Vārāṇasī

Wylie:
  • khor mor ’jigs
Tibetan:
  • ཁོར་མོར་འཇིགས།
Sanskrit:
  • vārāṇasī

Also known as Benares, the oldest city of northeast India in the Gangetic plain. It was once the capital of its own small kingdom and was known by various names. It was an important religious center, as well as a major city in India, even during the time of the Buddha. The name may derive from being where the Varuna and Assi rivers flow into the Ganges.

Located in 13 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • i.­35
  • i.­40
  • i.­43
  • 1.­83
  • 2.­62
  • 2.­66-67
  • 2.­113
  • n.­365
  • g.­61
  • g.­133
g.­184

Vipaśyin

Wylie:
  • lhag mthong
Tibetan:
  • ལྷག་མཐོང་།
Sanskrit:
  • vipaśyin

The first of the seven buddhas, with Śākyamuni as the seventh.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • i.­33
  • i.­43
  • 1.­21
  • 1.­24
  • n.­18
  • g.­120
g.­185

Viṣṇu

Wylie:
  • khyab ’jug
Tibetan:
  • ཁྱབ་འཇུག
Sanskrit:
  • viṣṇu

One of the central gods in the Hindu pantheon today. He had not yet risen to an important status during the Buddha’s lifetime and only developed his own significant following in the early years of the common era. Vaishnavism developed the theory of ten emanations, or avatars, the ninth being the Buddha. His emanation as a dwarf plays an important role in this sūtra. The Sanskrit etymology of the name is uncertain, but it was already in use in the Vedas, where he is a minor deity, and has been glossed as “one who enters (everywhere).”

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­20
  • i.­25
  • i.­33-34
  • i.­43
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­71
  • n.­113
  • g.­17
  • g.­29
  • g.­43
  • g.­49
  • g.­100
  • g.­150
g.­186

Viśvabhū

Wylie:
  • thams cad skyob pa
Tibetan:
  • ཐམས་ཅད་སྐྱོབ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • viśvabhū

The third of the seven buddhas, with Śākyamuni as the seventh (in some texts his name is rendered kun skyobs in Tibetan).

Located in 12 passages in the translation:

  • i.­34-35
  • i.­43
  • 1.­39
  • 1.­67
  • 1.­69
  • 1.­79
  • 1.­88-89
  • 1.­91
  • n.­129
  • g.­40
g.­188

vyākaraṇa

Wylie:
  • lung bstan pa
Tibetan:
  • ལུང་བསྟན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vyākaraṇa

Prophecies. This is also specifically one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­72
  • 2.­85
  • g.­160
g.­190

yakṣa

Wylie:
  • gnod sbyin
Tibetan:
  • གནོད་སྦྱིན།
Sanskrit:
  • yakṣa

A class of supernatural beings, often represented as the attendants of the god of wealth, but the term is also applied to spirits. Although they are generally portrayed as benevolent, the Tibetan translation means “harm giver,” as they are also capable of causing harm.

Located in 20 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6
  • i.­34
  • i.­43
  • 1.­16
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­67
  • 1.­69-70
  • 1.­74
  • 1.­76
  • 1.­88
  • 2.­21
  • 2.­36
  • 2.­58
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­87
  • 2.­110
  • 2.­120
  • g.­175
g.­191

Yama

Wylie:
  • gshin rje rgyal po
Tibetan:
  • གཤིན་རྗེ་རྒྱལ་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • yama
  • dharmarāja yamarāja
  • yamarāja
  • dharmarāja yama

The lord of death, who judges the dead and rules over the hells.

Located in 12 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 1.­14-16
  • 1.­64-66
  • 2.­67
  • 2.­71
  • 2.­116-117
  • n.­74
g.­192

Yarlung Valley

Wylie:
  • yar lung
Tibetan:
  • ཡར་ལུང་།
Sanskrit:
  • —

A valley in South Tibet.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • i.­9
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    84000. The Basket’s Display (Kāraṇḍa­vyūha, za ma tog bkod pa, Toh 116). Translated by Peter Alan Roberts and team. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025. https://84000.co/translation/toh116/UT22084-051-004-introduction.Copy
    84000. The Basket’s Display (Kāraṇḍa­vyūha, za ma tog bkod pa, Toh 116). Translated by Peter Alan Roberts and team, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025, 84000.co/translation/toh116/UT22084-051-004-introduction.Copy
    84000. (2025) The Basket’s Display (Kāraṇḍa­vyūha, za ma tog bkod pa, Toh 116). (Peter Alan Roberts and team, Trans.). Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh116/UT22084-051-004-introduction.Copy

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