The Sūtra on Having Moral Discipline
Toh 303
Degé Kangyur, vol. 72 (mdo sde, pa), folios 127.a–127.b
Imprint
Translated by the Kīrtimukha Translation Group
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2021
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Table of Contents
Summary
At Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, the Buddha teaches his saṅgha about the benefits of having moral discipline and the importance of guarding it. It is difficult, he says, to obtain a human life and encounter the teachings of a buddha, let alone to then take monastic vows and maintain moral discipline. But unlike just losing that one human life, which comes and then inevitably is gone, the consequences of failing in moral discipline are grave and experienced over billions of lifetimes. The Buddha continues in verse, praising moral discipline and its necessity as a foundation for engaging in the Dharma and attaining nirvāṇa. He concludes his discourse with a reflection on the folly of pursuing fleeting worldly enjoyments.
Acknowledgements
This sūtra was translated by the Kīrtimukha Translation Group. Celso Wilkinson, Laura Goetz, and L.S. Summer translated the text from the Tibetan and Sanskrit. William Giddings provided comparisons to the Chinese versions of the text.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Introduction
The Sūtra on Having Moral Discipline is set in Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha teaches his saṅgha of monks about the benefits of having moral discipline and the importance of guarding it. It is difficult, he says, to obtain a human life and encounter the teachings of a buddha, let alone to then take monastic vows and maintain moral discipline. But unlike just losing that one human life, which comes and then inevitably is gone, the consequences of failing in moral discipline are grave and experienced over billions of lifetimes. The Buddha continues in verse, praising moral discipline and its necessity as a foundation for engaging in the Dharma and attaining nirvāṇa. His teaching concludes with a reflection on the folly of pursuing fleeting worldly enjoyments.
It is noteworthy that this is not designated a Mahāyāna sūtra1 and does not address any explicitly Mahāyāna subjects. The Buddha is only in the presence of monks, and he only instructs them on how to attain nirvāṇa and the higher realms, rather than buddhahood. As the Buddha is addressing the monastic congregation, it can be assumed that the topic of moral discipline here pertains to maintaining the vows of a fully ordained monk, and indeed he refers to taking monastic vows as if it were a given for his audience.
In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, this sūtra is included in liturgical texts used in connection with the practice of the Vinaya. It is also cited and quoted in texts related to the Vinaya, and several topical outlines (sa bcad) of the sūtra were composed by Tibetan authors. Additionally, there are Tibetan commentaries on the sūtra itself, two of which we have consulted for this translation: one by the Rimé master Thupten Chökyi Drakpa (thub bstan chos kyi grags pa, 1823–1905) and one by the Geluk master Losang Palden Tenzin Nyendrak (blo bzang dpal ldan bstan ’dzin snyan grags, 1866–1928). This sūtra is also, though less commonly, called The Sūtra Praising Moral Discipline (tshul khrims rab bsngags kyi mdo).2
No information is given in the colophon as to the translator or editor of the Tibetan, nor is this sūtra found in any of the Tibetan imperial catalogs. In all, we know little about the history of the Tibetan translation.
There was no known Sanskrit original of Having Moral Discipline available until recently, when a manuscript containing a collection of twenty sūtras was found in the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā published a critical edition and English translation of this collection in the series Sanskrit Texts from the Autonomous Region (2010). Unfortunately, due to the inaccessibility of the manuscript collection and because it is missing a final colophon, its origin and date are currently unknown.3 There seems to be a thematic connection among these twenty sūtras: Vinītā notes that moral discipline (śīla) is a recurrent theme in the manuscript,4 and we also can identify themes of karmic cause and effect and the hierarchy of merit.
There are many details of the Tibetan versions that vary significantly from the Sanskrit manuscript, although the overall content is virtually the same. In the Sanskrit, the verses begin at the very start of the Buddha’s teaching (1.3), whereas in the Tibetan the verse structure begins later (1.6). Where the verses do begin in the Tibetan, there are some differences in the grouping of lines, and at times the Sanskrit is wordier or contains entirely different content, although not enough to significantly alter the meaning of the sūtra. We have attempted to group the lines of verse into stanzas by theme rather than into regular quatrains, and though this results in a few stanzas with an irregular number of lines, it matches with the Sanskrit at enough points to seem like a reasonable choice.
There is one Chinese translation (Taishō 1497) by Dānapāla (施護, b.?–d. 1017 ᴄᴇ). The Chinese translation is simply called Śīlasūtra (The Sūtra on Moral Discipline). This may be of interest as there are many texts called Sīlasutta in the Pali canon, but as far as we can tell none are similar enough in content for a clear relationship to be established. The Chinese text shows a significant degree of variation in the finer details as compared to both the Sanskrit and the Tibetan, but it shares the same basic structure and does not depart from the content found in the other texts.
There are several other English translations of this sūtra available, which we have consulted for our translation. One by Thubten Kalzang Rinpoche, Bhikkhu Nagasena, and Bhikkhu Khantipalo was made in 1973 and published by the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives; another was made in 1985 by the Nālandā Translation Committee as part of The Rites of Poṣadha, the translation of a liturgical text incorporating the sūtra by the fourteenth Karmapa, Thekchok Dorje (theg mchog rdo rje).5
We have based our translation primarily on the Degé edition of the Tibetan Kangyur, but we also consulted the Sanskrit, Chinese, and other Kangyur editions in the case of questionable terms or passages to establish the most plausible and accurate readings of the text. Citations of the Sanskrit in the notes are given using Vinītā’s emendations of the handwritten Potala manuscript. Any instance where we have diverged from the Degé has been noted, and any significant differences found in the various versions of the sūtra are recorded and explained in the notes.
Text Body
The Translation
Homage to the Omniscient One!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in Śrāvastī, in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, together with a great saṅgha of 1,250 monks.
At that time, the Blessed One said to the monks, “Monks,6 since your consciousness will fade, your life force will cease, and the formations of life are certain to be destroyed, should you not practice with diligence and steadfast determination?
“This human life is extremely difficult to find. Thus, having obtained it, and having used it to find the Victor’s teachings and to go forth in them, if you are deceived by those who are opposed to the meaning of liberation, it is sure that you will suffer.
“Monks, it is easy to be separated from the life force and succumb to death, but the degeneration of moral discipline is not the same. Why is that?7 When you are separated from the life force, that particular lifetime comes to an end. But with the degeneration and destruction of moral discipline, for ten million lives you will be separated from your kin, abandon well-being, and experience downfalls.8
This concludes “The Sūtra on Having Moral Discipline.”
Abbreviations
C | Choné (co ne) Kangyur |
---|---|
Chinese | Tenth–eleventh century Chinese translation (Taishō 1497) by Dānapāla (施護) |
D | Degé (sde dge) Kangyur |
J | Lithang (’jang sa tham) Kangyur |
K | Peking (pe cin) Kangxi Kangyur |
Kʏ | Peking Yongle (g.yung lo) Kangyur |
N | Narthang (snar thang) Kangyur |
S | Stok Palace (stog pho brang bris ma) Kangyur |
Sanskrit | Sanskrit manuscript found in the Potala Palace (see i.5) |
Notes
Bibliography
Primary Source Texts
tshul khrims yang dag par ldan pa’i mdo (Śīlasaṃyuktasūtra). Toh 303, Degé Kangyur vol. 72 (mdo sde, pa), folios 127.a–127.b.
tshul khrims yang dag par ldan pa’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. 72, pp. 343–45.
tshul khrims yang dag par ldan pa’i mdo (Śīlasaṃyuktasūtra). Stok 209, Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 73 (mdo sde, za), folios 5.a.–6.b.
chos bzhi pa’i mdo (Caturdharmaka). Toh 250, Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 59.b–60.a. English translation in Pearcey 2023.
Vinītā, Bhikṣunī, ed. and trans. A Unique Collection of Twenty Sūtras in a Sanskrit Manuscript from the Potala. Sanskrit Texts from the Tibetan Autonomous Region 7/1. Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House; Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2010.
Dānapāla, trans. 佛説大乘戒經 (fo shuo da cheng jie jing; Chinese translation of The Sūtra on Having Moral Discipline), Taishō 1497.
Secondary Literature
Losang Palden Tenzin Nyendrak. tshul khrims yang dag par ldan pa’i mdo’i ’grel pa nyon mongs gdung sel. N.p.: n.p., n.d. BDRC W1CZ889.
Jamgön Kongtrül. shes bya kun khyab mdzod. 4 vols. Delhi: Shechen Publications, 1997. English translation in Kalu Rinpoché Translation Group, trans. and ed. Buddhist Ethics. The Treasury of Knowledge 5. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1998.
Nalanda Translation Committee, trans. The Rites of Poshadha. 3rd ed. Halifax: Nālandā Translation Committee, 2001.
Pearcey, Adam. trans. The Four Factors (Toh 250). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023.
Thupten Chökyi Drakpa. tshul khrims yang dag par ldan pa’i mdo’i tshig don legs par bshad pa chos kyi gaN+Da’i sgra dbyangs. Gangtok: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1983. BDRC W15663.
“tshul khrims rab bsngags kyi mdo.” In The Collected Works (gsuṅ ’bum) of H.H. Eighth Rgyal-dbaṅ ’Brug-chen of the Northern ’Brug-pa, Kun-gzigs-chos-kyi-snaṅ-ba (1768–1822), 1:1071–74. Mandi: Zigar Brukpa Kargyud Institute, 1985.
Silk, Jonathan A. “Review Article: Buddhist Sūtras in Sanskrit from the Potala.” Indo-Iranian Journal 56 (2013): 61–87.
Thekchok Dorje (theg mchog rdo rje). “gso sbyong gi cho ga.” In karma pa sku phreng rim byon gyi gsung ’bum phyogs bsgrigs, 94:7–92. Lhasa: dpal brtsegs bod yig dpe rnying zhib ’jug khang, 2013. BDRC W3PD1288.
Thubten Kalzang Rinpoche, Bhikkhu Nagasena, and Bhikkhu Khantipalo, trans. “Silasamyukta-Sutra.” In Three Discourses of the Buddha. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, 1973.
Glossary
Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language
Attested in source text
This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.
Attested in other text
This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.
Attested in dictionary
This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.
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.
Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.
Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.
Source unspecified
This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.
determination
- brtson ’grus
- བརྩོན་འགྲུས།
- vīrya
formations
- ’du byed
- འདུ་བྱེད།
- saṃskāra
go forth
- rab tu byung ba
- རབ་ཏུ་བྱུང་བ།
- pravrajyā
life force
- srog
- སྲོག
- jīvita
monk
- dge slong
- དགེ་སློང་།
- bhikṣu
moral discipline
- tshul khrims
- ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།
- śīla
nāga
- klu
- ཀླུ།
- nāga
Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park
- rgyal bu rgyal byed kyi tshal mgon med zas sbyin gyi kun dga’ ra ba
- རྒྱལ་བུ་རྒྱལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཚལ་མགོན་མེད་ཟས་སྦྱིན་གྱི་ཀུན་དགའ་ར་བ།
- jetavanam anāthapiṇḍadasyārāmaḥ AO
Śrāvastī
- mnyan du yod pa
- མཉན་དུ་ཡོད་པ།
- śrāvastī