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Table of Contents

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Summary

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In Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle, the Buddha Śākyamuni gives a discourse on the nature of trust (dad pa, prasāda) according to the Great Vehicle. The teaching is requested by a bodhisattva known as Great Skillful Trust, who requests the Buddha to answer four questions concerning the nature of trust in the Great Vehicle: (1) What are the characteristics of trust? (2) How is trust developed? (3) What are the different types of trust? (4) What are the benefits of having trust? Over the course of the sūtra, the Buddha answers all four questions, each in a separate chapter.

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Acknowledgements

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Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the guidance of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. The translation was produced by Andreas Doctor, who also wrote the introduction. Thomas Doctor, Catherine Dalton, and Ryan Damron subsequently compared the draft translation with the original Tibetan and edited it.

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The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Text Body

The Translation
The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra
Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle
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Colophon

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It was clarified, written down, and finalized by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla, the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé, and others.

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Notes

n.­1
For an English translation, see Asaṅga (2001), pp. 190–92.
n.­2
On Butön’s claim, see below n.­3. A search for plausible variants of the sūtra title in the Kangyur and Tengyur collections resulted in only a single quotation (using the modified title dad pa rab tu bsgom pa’i mdo): Dharmamitra quotes the work in his Abhisamayālaṃkāra­kārikā­prajñā­pāramitopadeśa­śāstra­ṭīkā D 3796: vol. 87, folios 96.a7–96.b1.
n.­3
The only mention of this sūtra in English that we are aware of is a brief discussion found in Skilling (2000), pp. 323–24. Here, Skilling also mentions that “Kazunobu Matsuda has written (in Japanese) about the sūtra with reference to the Abhidharma­samuccaya and Vyākhyāyukti in his ‘On the two unknown Sūtras adopted by the Yogācāra School, based on a passage found in the writings of Bu ston and Blo gros rgyal mtshan,’ in Zuihō Yamaguchi (ed.): Buddhism and Society in Tibet, Tokyo 1986, pp. 269–89.” Unfortunately, we have been unable to consult Matsuda’s article for our work on this translation.
n.­4
Denkarma, 298.a.4. See also Herrmann-Pfandt (2008), pp. 75–76.
n.­5
Phangthangma (2003), p. 11.
n.­6
The phrase “trust in the Great Vehicle that allows them to accomplish the Great Vehicle,” which occurs repeatedly in this text, translates the Tibetan theg pa chen po’i phyir theg pa chen po la dad pa. This is a rather obscure expression that is difficult to understand conclusively without Sanskrit attestation. Therefore, our rendering of this phrase should be seen as somewhat tentative. The key term to understanding this phrase is the Tibetan term phyir, which typically means “because of,” “on account of,” or “for the sake of.” We have here understood this term to indicate that trust in the Great Vehicle is the factor that enables bodhisattvas to become successful in its practices. Significantly, in support of this interpretation, we also find a single occurrence in the Degé block print (folio 9.b.7) where the term phyir is replaced by slad du. This helps us narrow down the meaning as slad du has a narrower semantic range that normally is translated “for the sake of” or “on account of.” In this way we have arrived at our somewhat interpretive translation, which we nevertheless believe carries the intended meaning of this odd phrase.
n.­7
We have edited the text here to exclude what appears to be an instance of dittography. We have omitted the second occurrence of the line bdag la phan pa gtso bor byed pas sangs rgyas la dad pa skyed.
n.­8
A similar, though not identical, list of twenty-eight wrong views that bodhisattvas may fall into is found in the Abhidharma­samuccaya (Asaṅga 2001). See also the introduction.
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Bibliography

’phags pa theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Ārya­mahā­yāna­prasāda­prabhāvana­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra). Toh 144, Degé Kangyur vol. 57 (mdo sde, pa), folios 6.b–34.a.

’phags pa theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. 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. 57, pp. 20–85.

’phags pa theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa ces bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. Stok no. 228, Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 74 (mdo sde, ’a), folios 58.b–98.a.

dkar chag ’phang thang ma. Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.

Asaṅga. Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching (Philosophy). Translated by Walpola Rahula and Sara Boin-Webb. Fremont, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 2001.

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

Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.

Skilling, Peter. “Vasubandhu and the Vyākhyāyukti Literature.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 23, no. 2 (2000): 297–350.

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84000. Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle (Mahā­yāna­prasāda­prabhāvana, theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa, Toh 144). Translated by Dharmachakra Translation Committee. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023. https://84000.co/translation/toh144/UT22084-057-003-end-notes.Copy
84000. Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle (Mahā­yāna­prasāda­prabhāvana, theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa, Toh 144). Translated by Dharmachakra Translation Committee, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023, 84000.co/translation/toh144/UT22084-057-003-end-notes.Copy
84000. (2023) Cultivating Trust in the Great Vehicle (Mahā­yāna­prasāda­prabhāvana, theg pa chen po la dad pa rab tu sgom pa, Toh 144). (Dharmachakra Translation Committee, Trans.). Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh144/UT22084-057-003-end-notes.Copy
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