co.

Table of Contents

s.

Summary

s.­1

In The Sūtra on the Threefold Training, Buddha Śākyamuni briefly introduces the three elements or stages of the path, widely known as “the three trainings,” one by one in a specific order: discipline, meditative concentration, and wisdom. He teaches that training progressively in them constitutes the gradual path to awakening.

ac.

Acknowledgments

ac.­1

This text was translated from the Tibetan, with comparison to Sanskrit, Chinese, and Pali editions, introduced, and edited by the Dharmasāgara Translation Group: Raktrul Ngawang Kunga Rinpoche, Rebecca Hufen, Shanshan Jia, Jason Sanche, and Arne Schelling.

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

i.

Introduction

i.­1

The Sūtra on the Threefold Training is, in essence, a brief outline of the core teachings of Buddha Śākyamuni, which he gave while traveling toward Kuśinagara in the last year before his parinirvāṇa. It was given to a large audience of fully ordained monks in a grove to the north of Kuṭigrāmaka, a village in the ancient Indian country of Vṛji, which extended from the north bank of the Ganges opposite Pāṭaliputra up to the Madhesh regions of what is currently southern Nepal. The sūtra’s condensed teaching represents the three stages of the gradual Buddhist path to enlightenment and emphasizes how the trainings are undertaken in progression. The first training, discipline, is taught as the basis for the second training, meditative concentration, which in turn is a prerequisite to wisdom, the third training.

i.­2

There appear to be several parallels or versions of this text. In its Tibetan translation it is preserved not only as an independent sūtra, but also in the form of short passages in two long vinaya texts, the Bhaiṣajyavastu (sixth chapter of the Vinayavastu)1 and the Vinayakṣudrakavastu.2 It is also found as a passage in the non-Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, of which so far only incomplete Sanskrit manuscripts are extant, although a Sanskrit version has been reconstructed by Ernst Waldschmidt (1951). With some variant readings, the same passage appears, too, in the still extant Pali Mahāparinibbāna Sutta. Translations of it in Chinese can be found as part of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and passages in some vinaya texts.3

i.­3

A number of studies and translations of the aforementioned texts in Western languages have been carried out, for example those by Waldschmidt (1951) and Rhys Davids (1951). However, there have hitherto been no translations, as far as we know, of the independent sūtra.

i.­4

In this translation of the sūtra from the Tibetan Kangyur, the text is introduced with the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, proceeding with the homage and then the general opening formula of “Thus have I heard at one time.” Naturally, in the other versions in which this text is embedded as part of a larger work, these introductory statements and the concluding sentence are not included. Besides this, there are a few variant readings in the Tibetan, Sanskrit, Pali, and especially in the Chinese. Since most of them do not alter the meaning significantly, we have chosen to note only the most important variants.

Text Body

The Sūtra on the Threefold Training
1.

The Translation

[F.55.b]


1.­1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.


1.­2

Thus did I hear at one time. As the Bhagavān was wandering in the land of Vṛji, he arrived at the village of Kuṭigrāmaka and settled to the north of that village in a grove of sāl trees,4 [F.56.a] with a great saṅgha of bhikṣus. Thereupon the Bhagavān taught the following to the bhikṣus:

1.­3

“This, bhikṣus, is discipline.5 This is meditative concentration. This is wisdom. Bhikṣus, training in discipline will lead one to abide for a long time in meditative concentration. Training in meditative concentration will lead one to gain wisdom. By training in wisdom, one’s mind will be completely liberated from desire, anger, and ignorance. In this way, having a completely liberated mind, a noble śrāvaka will perfectly know: ‘My defilements6 have ceased. I have lived the sublime life. What was to be done has been done. From here onward, I will not know any further existence.’ ”

1.­4

After the Bhagavān had thus spoken, the bhikṣus rejoiced and praised the Bhagavān’s words.


1.­5

This completes “The Sūtra on the Threefold Training.”

n.

Notes

n.­1
Bhaiṣajyavastu, Degé Kangyur vol. 2, F.36b–37a. See translation in Yao (2021), 3.203–205.
n.­2
Vinayakṣudrakavastu, Degé Kangyur vol. 11, F.239a–239b. See also Jamspal et al. (forthcoming).
n.­3
1. Taishō No. 1 長阿含經; 2. Taishō No. 5 佛般泥洹經; 3. Taishō No. 6 般泥洹經; 4. Taishō 1451 根本說一切有部毘奈耶雜事; 5. Taishō No. 1448 根本說一切有部毘奈耶藥事; 6. Taishō No. 1421 彌沙塞部和醯五分律.
n.­4
The Tibetan versions in the Vinayavastu and Vinayakṣudrakavastu, as well as the Sanskrit and Chinese versions in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, here instead have śiṃśapā (Tib. shing sha pa), which refers to the Indian rosewood tree (Dalbergia sissoo).
n.­5
All versions except that in the Vinayakṣudrakavastu have a plural here, thus referring to a set of ethical-moral rules. With “discipline” being a well established translation for the Sanskrit śīla and the Tibetan tshul khrims, and the plural “disciplines” being rather misleading in English, we have kept the singular form, though in the sense of a mass noun.
n.­6
The Vinayakṣudrakavastu and Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra instead read “My births (Skt. jāti; Tib. skye ba) have ceased,” which is another commonly found statement made by an arhat, as taught in other discourses.
b.

Bibliography

Tibetan texts

bslab pa gsum gyi mdo. Toh 282, Degé Kangyur, vol. 68 (mdo sde, ya), folios 55b–56a.

bslab pa gsum gyi 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. 68, pp. 165–166.

sman gyi gzhi (Bhaiṣajyavastu), chapter 6 of ’dul ba gzhi (Vinayavastu), Toh 1. Degé Kangyur, vol. 1 (’dul ba, ka), folio 277b– vol.3 (’dul ba, ga), folio 50a. Translated in Yao (2021).

’dul ba phran tshegs kyi gzhi (Vinayakṣudrakavastu), Toh 6. Degé Kangyur, vol. 10 (’dul ba, tha), folio 1a– vol. 11 (’dul ba, da), folio 333a. Translated in Jamspal et al. (forthcoming).

Other works

Jamspal, L., and Fischer, K., trans. The Finer Points of Discipline‌ (Vinayakṣurakavastu, Toh 6). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha (forthcoming).

Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F. and Thomas W. Dialogues of the Buddha: Translated from the Pali of the Dîgha Nikâya. Third Edition. Published for the Pali Text Society. London: Luzac, 1951.

Waldschmidt, Ernst. “Das Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra: Text in Sanskrit und Tibetisch, verglichen mit dem Pali nebst einer Übersetzung der chinesischen Entsprechung im Vinaya der Mūlasarvāstivādins auf Grund von Turfan-Handschriften,” in Abhandlungen der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Klasse für Sprachen, Literatur und Kunst. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1951, vol. 2, pp. 101–303.

Yao, Fumi, trans. The Chapter on Medicines (Bhaiṣajyavastu, Toh 1-6). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.

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

bhikṣu

  • dge slong
  • དགེ་སློང་།
  • bhikṣu

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term bhikṣu, often translated as “monk,” refers to the highest among the eight types of prātimokṣa vows that make one part of the Buddhist assembly. The Sanskrit term literally means “beggar” or “mendicant,” referring to the fact that Buddhist monks and nuns‍—like other ascetics of the time‍—subsisted on alms (bhikṣā) begged from the laity.

In the Tibetan tradition, which follows the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, a monk follows 253 rules as part of his moral discipline. A nun (bhikṣuṇī; dge slong ma) follows 364 rules. A novice monk (śrāmaṇera; dge tshul) or nun (śrāmaṇerikā; dge tshul ma) follows thirty-six rules of moral discipline (although in other vinaya traditions novices typically follow only ten).

g.­2

discipline

  • tshul khrims
  • ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།
  • śīla

A mind set on abandoning the undisciplined conduct of body, speech, and mind.

g.­3

Kuṭigrāmaka

  • spyil bu can
  • སྤྱིལ་བུ་ཅན།
  • kuṭigrāmaka

A settlement / village in the country of Vṛji. According to a commentary on the Mahāvaṃsa, the Vaṃsatthappakāsinī, it is one gāvuta (about two miles) away from the river Ganges.

g.­4

meditative concentration

  • ting nge ’dzin
  • ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
  • 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.

g.­5

sāl tree

  • shing sa la
  • ཤིང་ས་ལ།
  • sāla

Usually identified as Shorea robusta, known as the kind of tree under which the Buddha was born and passed away.

g.­6

śrāvaka

  • nyan thos
  • ཉན་ཐོས།
  • śrāvaka

Primarily referring to those disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain the state of an arhat by seeking self liberation. It is usually defined as “those who hear the teaching from the Buddha and make it heard to others.”

g.­7

Vṛji

  • spong byed
  • སྤོང་བྱེད།
  • vṛji

One of the sixteen principal mahājanapadas (great countries) of ancient India, and a confederacy of eight or nine clans. It extended from the north bank of the Ganges opposite Pāṭaliputra up to the Madhesh regions of present southern Nepal.

g.­8

wisdom

  • shes rab
  • ཤེས་རབ།
  • prajñā

A mind that sees the ultimate truth directly.

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84000. The Sūtra on the Threefold Training (Śikṣātrayasūtra, bslab pa gsum gyi mdo, Toh 282). Translated by Dharmasagara Translation Group. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024. https://84000.co/translation/toh282.Copy
84000. The Sūtra on the Threefold Training (Śikṣātrayasūtra, bslab pa gsum gyi mdo, Toh 282). Translated by Dharmasagara Translation Group, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024, 84000.co/translation/toh282.Copy
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