In The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, the Buddha recounts the earlier events surrounding a god in Trāyastriṃśa heaven who foresaw that he would be reborn as a pig in Rājagṛha. At the encouragement of Śakra, this god, in the final moments of agony before his death, took refuge in the Three Jewels and thereby attained rebirth in the even higher Tuṣita heaven. The story thus illustrates the liberative power of taking refuge in the Three Jewels, as befittingly expressed in the concluding verses of this short avadāna.
Translated by the Bodhinidhi Translation Group. The Tibetan text was translated into English and compared with the Sanskrit and Chinese versions by Thomas Cruijsen. Khenpo Chowang checked the translation with the Tibetan.
The translator would like to thank the staff at the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, for generously providing access to their precious library collections.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The Exemplary Tale About a Sow belongs to a genre of the Buddha’s teaching known as avadāna, “exemplary tale,” which consist of narratives aimed at illustrating the workings of karma and instilling the principles of generosity and virtuous conduct. In this case, the story is about a god who succeeds in averting a particularly wretched state of rebirth by taking refuge in the Three Jewels.
It is one of the few separate avadāna texts in the Kangyur. For the most part, texts of this type are found scattered throughout the vast Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya or grouped together in the didactic anthologies of the Avadānaśataka and the Karmaśataka.1 This avadāna, however, occurs by itself and this is probably due to the esteem in which it was held when it was translated into Tibetan around the turn of the ninth century
One of the likely reasons for its renown was that Śāntideva (late seventh–early eighth century
- ye buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ yānti na te gacchanti durgatiṃ /
- prahāya mānuṣān kāyān divyān kāyāṃ labhanti te //
- Those who take refuge in the Buddha
- Do not go to an unfortunate state;
- Leaving behind the human body,
- They obtain a divine body.
It is the only avadāna that Śāntideva refers to in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, which is largely comprised of textual citations of Mahāyāna sūtras, and its mention must have carried significant weight. It was not long after Śāntideva had passed away that the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé, who was responsible for the translation of the Śikṣāsamuccaya, also undertook the translation of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, together with the Kashmiri scholar-monk Jinamitra. This prolific lotsawa also included a short summary of the story in his mnemonic treatise on the Bhadracarīpraṇidhāna called bzang spyod kyi ’grel pa bzhi’i don bsdus nas brjed byang,4 and the avadāna is further mentioned by Paltsek, another important Tibetan translator at the time, in his treatise called gsung rab rin po che’i gtam rgyud dang shakya’i rabs rgyud.5 It seems, in fact, that Yeshé Dé’s summary is derived from the synopsis of this avadāna in the Bhadracarīpraṇidhānarājaṭīkā,6 a commentary by the Indian master Bhadrapaṇa that was translated into Tibetan by Jñānagarbha and Paltsek during the same period. In this commentary, Bhadrapaṇa, who also lived in the eighth century, similarly refers to The Exemplary Tale About a Sow to illustrate “the power of support,” as Śāntideva does in the Śikṣāsamuccaya.
In the centuries that followed, this avadāna continued to be well known in the Buddhist world. The Chinese translation that has come down to us was made in the Song capital Bianliang sometime between 982 and 1001
While these citations of the first verse, all with explicit reference to the title and story of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, can be attributed to the lasting influence of Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya, the verse itself appears to derive its authority from elsewhere. In the Mahāsamāja Sūtra, one of the old Mahāsūtras of the Sarvāstivāda tradition, it is a god of the Brahmā group who exclaims this verse after congregating with deities from all ten directions at the forest in Kapilavastu when the Buddha was giving the monks a teaching on nirvāṇa there.11 In a somewhat different wording, the same verse is voiced by a god from Śuddhāvāsa heaven in the Mahāsamaya Sutta, which is the Pali counterpart to the Mahāsamāja Sūtra and likewise an important text that was recited for protective purposes over the centuries.12 These attestations of the verse are considerably older than the first citation from The Exemplary Tale About a Sow by Śāntideva in the eighth century
This can also be seen in the fact that the first three verses of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, one for each of the Three Jewels, occur independently, outside the setting of this avadāna, on a single paper leaf found among the Sanskrit manuscript remains at Turfan, in modern-day Xinjiang province, which tend to date to the fifth to sixth centuries
The same could be said for the other three verses in The Exemplary Tale About a Sow. Although the extant Sanskrit version in the Divyāvadāna (one of the important collections of avadānas preserved in Nepalese manuscripts) does not contain these three verses,16 they are found in both the Tibetan and the Chinese translations and therefore must have been present in other Sanskrit versions of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow that circulated at the time these translations were made. These verses again have an even earlier attestation, since they occur together in the chapter on mindfulness in the Udānavarga, the Sarvāstivāda collection of the Buddha’s sayings that forms the Sanskrit counterpart to the Pali Dhammapada.17 The first of these verses reads:
- lābhas teṣām manuṣyāṇāṃ ye buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gatāḥ /
- yeṣāṃ divā ca rātrau ca nityam buddhagatā smṛtiḥ //
- There is great gain for those people
- Who have taken refuge in the Buddha,
- Who call to mind the Buddha
- At all times, day and night.
That these verses in the Udānavarga were held in high regard is clear from the fact that they are cited by none other than Vasubandhu at the beginning of his Gāthāsaṅgraha,18 the short anthology of twenty-one verses that he compiled before he turned to the Mahāyāna. Vasubandhu lived in the fourth to fifth century
The English translation of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow that is offered here is based on the Tibetan translation by the Kashmiri paṇḍita Jinamitra and the Tibetan lotsawa Yeshe Dé from the end of the eighth century or the beginning of the ninth century, at the time of the first transmission (snga dar) of the Dharma to Tibet. We have based our translation on the text found in the Degé Kangyur, for which we have used the modern Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), in which variant readings of several other Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line are also recorded. We have also checked the Stok Palace manuscript for variant readings in the Thempangma line of textual transmission. The few such variants were found to be minor and orthographical in nature, without any implication for the meaning of the text.
In addition to the Tibetan text, we have also consulted the Sanskrit version of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow that is found in the Divyāvadāna,19 which shows a number of differences, some of which derive from it belonging to a different line of textual transmission that has continued in the Kathmandu Valley until modern times. Some differences in the Tibetan translation, however, can be ascribed to a certain translation choice by Jinamitra and Yeshé Dé or an omission in the underlying Sanskrit, especially in those cases where the renderings of the Chinese translation are in agreement with the extant Sanskrit version. In one instance, we have adopted a phrase that is present in both the Divyāvadāna Sanskrit version and the Chinese translation, because it makes the narrative more complete. All these differences, including the significant variants in the Chinese translation by Dharmadeva,20 have been noted in the endnotes.
Finally, a note about the title of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow: Usually, avadānas involve a narration of a person’s actions that took place in a distant past, to which only the Buddha, in his omniscience, has access, as is the case in the Buddha’s own past life stories known as jātakas. The title, in those cases, refers to that previous existence of the person in question. In this case, however, the narrated events occurred in a more recent past, not long before they are here recounted by the Buddha to a gathering of monks at Śrāvastī, and the title points not to the lifetime that once was, but to the future life that would have been if it had not been for the Three Jewels.
[F.289.b]Homage to the Three Jewels!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in Śrāvastī, in Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park.21
The Blessed One then addressed the monks: “Monks, there are five portents that appear to a god who is due to pass away. What are those five? His previously untarnished clothes become tarnished, his previously unwithered flower garlands become withered, sweat appears from both armpits, a foul odor emerges from his body, and a god who is due to pass away finds no satisfaction in his seat.22
“Now, monks, a certain god who was due to pass away was writhing about on the ground, beating his chest,23 as he cried and wailed pitifully, ‘Ah Mandākinī River! Ah lake!24 Ah pool! Ah Caitraratha Grove! Ah Pāruṣyaka Grove! Ah Nandana Grove! Ah Miśrakā Grove!25 Ah Pāriyātraka!26 Ah lovely one!27 Ah Pāṇḍukambala Rock!28 Ah assembly hall of the gods! Ah Sudarśana!’29
“Śakra, lord of the gods,30 saw that god violently writhing about on the ground and wailing pitifully. Seeing this, he then approached the god and asked him, ‘My friend, why are you violently writhing about on the ground and wailing pitifully,[F.290.a] “Ah Mandākinī River! Ah lake! Ah pool! Ah Caitraratha Grove! Ah Pāruṣyaka Grove! Ah Nandana Grove! Ah Miśrakā Grove! Ah Pāriyātraka! Ah lovely one! Ah Pāṇḍukambala Rock! Ah assembly hall of the gods! Ah Sudarśana!”?’
“At this,31 the god said to Śakra, lord of the gods, ‘Kauśika, I will be bereft of heavenly bliss, as seven days from now I will be reborn in the womb of a sow in the city of Rājagṛha.32 I will then have to feed on excrement and urine for many years. That is why I am like this.’33
“Śakra, lord of the gods, out of compassion then said to that god,34 ‘Come, my friend. Take refuge in the Buddha, the most excellent of human beings. Take refuge in the Dharma, the most excellent of dispassions. Take refuge in the Saṅgha, the most excellent of communities.’
“The god said,35 ‘Friend,36 I take refuge in the Buddha, the most excellent of human beings. I take refuge in the Dharma, the most excellent of dispassions. I take refuge in the Saṅgha, the most excellent of communities.’
“Having embraced the Three Refuges, the god then passed away, his time spent, and he was reborn among the Tuṣita gods.37
“Then Śakra, lord of the gods, looked whether the god had been reborn in the womb of a sow, but he had not been reborn there. He looked whether the god had been reborn among hell beings or among animals, but he had not been reborn there either.38 For it is in the nature of things that gods can know and see what is below them, but not what is above them.39
“Puzzled,40 Śakra, lord of the gods, then went to the Blessed One. Having approached him, he prostrated at the Blessed One’s feet and sat down to one side. Once seated, Śakra, lord of the gods, said to the Blessed One:
“ ‘Lord,41 I saw a certain god who was due to pass away,[F.290.b] and he was writhing about in fear42 and wailing pitifully, “Ah Mandākinī River! Ah lake! Ah pool! Ah Caitraratha Grove! Ah Pāruṣyaka Grove! Ah Nandana Grove! Ah Miśrakā Grove! Ah Pāriyātraka! Ah lovely one! Ah Pāṇḍukambala Rock! Ah assembly hall of the gods! Ah Sudarśana!” I went to him and said, “My friend, why are you beating your chest and crying, lamenting, and wailing?”43 He said, “44I will be bereft of heavenly bliss, as seven days from now I will be born in the womb of a sow in the city of Rājagṛha. I will then have to feed on excrement and urine for many years. That is why I am like this.” I said to him,45 “Come, my friend. Take refuge in the Buddha, the most excellent of human beings. Take refuge in the Dharma, the most excellent of dispassions. Take refuge in the Saṅgha, the most excellent of communities.” Terrified of being born in the womb of an animal and terrified of dying,46 that god then said, “Friend,47 I take refuge in the Buddha, the most excellent of human beings. I take refuge in the Dharma, the most excellent of dispassions. I take refuge in the Saṅgha, the most excellent of communities.” Having embraced the Three Refuges, that god then passed away, his time spent. Lord, where was he reborn?’
“The Blessed One replied, ‘Kauśika, that god was reborn among the Tuṣita gods, and all his heavenly desires are fulfilled.’48
“Then Śakra, lord of the gods, was glad and content. Being delighted, joy and happiness arose, and Indra, glad at heart, on that occasion spoke these verses:
“Thereupon, in approval of Śakra, lord of the gods, the Blessed One spoke the verses,51 ‘So it is, Kauśika, so it is:
“Then, rejoicing in what the Blessed One had spoken, Śakra, lord of the gods, prostrated at the Blessed One’s feet, circumambulated the Blessed One three times with folded hands, and disappeared right there.”
This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, the monks rejoiced at what the Blessed One had spoken.53
This concludes the sūtra called “The Exemplary Tale About a Sow.”
Translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Jinamitra and the chief editor and translator, Venerable Yeshé Dé.
In The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, the Buddha recounts the earlier events surrounding a god in Trāyastriṃśa heaven who foresaw that he would be reborn as a pig in Rājagṛha. At the encouragement of Śakra, this god, in the final moments of agony before his death, took refuge in the Three Jewels and thereby attained rebirth in the even higher Tuṣita heaven. The story thus illustrates the liberative power of taking refuge in the Three Jewels, as befittingly expressed in the concluding verses of this short avadāna.
Translated by the Bodhinidhi Translation Group. The Tibetan text was translated into English and compared with the Sanskrit and Chinese versions by Thomas Cruijsen. Khenpo Chowang checked the translation with the Tibetan.
The translator would like to thank the staff at the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok, for generously providing access to their precious library collections.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The Exemplary Tale About a Sow belongs to a genre of the Buddha’s teaching known as avadāna, “exemplary tale,” which consist of narratives aimed at illustrating the workings of karma and instilling the principles of generosity and virtuous conduct. In this case, the story is about a god who succeeds in averting a particularly wretched state of rebirth by taking refuge in the Three Jewels.
It is one of the few separate avadāna texts in the Kangyur. For the most part, texts of this type are found scattered throughout the vast Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya or grouped together in the didactic anthologies of the Avadānaśataka and the Karmaśataka.1 This avadāna, however, occurs by itself and this is probably due to the esteem in which it was held when it was translated into Tibetan around the turn of the ninth century
One of the likely reasons for its renown was that Śāntideva (late seventh–early eighth century
- ye buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ yānti na te gacchanti durgatiṃ /
- prahāya mānuṣān kāyān divyān kāyāṃ labhanti te //
- Those who take refuge in the Buddha
- Do not go to an unfortunate state;
- Leaving behind the human body,
- They obtain a divine body.
It is the only avadāna that Śāntideva refers to in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, which is largely comprised of textual citations of Mahāyāna sūtras, and its mention must have carried significant weight. It was not long after Śāntideva had passed away that the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé, who was responsible for the translation of the Śikṣāsamuccaya, also undertook the translation of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, together with the Kashmiri scholar-monk Jinamitra. This prolific lotsawa also included a short summary of the story in his mnemonic treatise on the Bhadracarīpraṇidhāna called bzang spyod kyi ’grel pa bzhi’i don bsdus nas brjed byang,4 and the avadāna is further mentioned by Paltsek, another important Tibetan translator at the time, in his treatise called gsung rab rin po che’i gtam rgyud dang shakya’i rabs rgyud.5 It seems, in fact, that Yeshé Dé’s summary is derived from the synopsis of this avadāna in the Bhadracarīpraṇidhānarājaṭīkā,6 a commentary by the Indian master Bhadrapaṇa that was translated into Tibetan by Jñānagarbha and Paltsek during the same period. In this commentary, Bhadrapaṇa, who also lived in the eighth century, similarly refers to The Exemplary Tale About a Sow to illustrate “the power of support,” as Śāntideva does in the Śikṣāsamuccaya.
In the centuries that followed, this avadāna continued to be well known in the Buddhist world. The Chinese translation that has come down to us was made in the Song capital Bianliang sometime between 982 and 1001
While these citations of the first verse, all with explicit reference to the title and story of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, can be attributed to the lasting influence of Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya, the verse itself appears to derive its authority from elsewhere. In the Mahāsamāja Sūtra, one of the old Mahāsūtras of the Sarvāstivāda tradition, it is a god of the Brahmā group who exclaims this verse after congregating with deities from all ten directions at the forest in Kapilavastu when the Buddha was giving the monks a teaching on nirvāṇa there.11 In a somewhat different wording, the same verse is voiced by a god from Śuddhāvāsa heaven in the Mahāsamaya Sutta, which is the Pali counterpart to the Mahāsamāja Sūtra and likewise an important text that was recited for protective purposes over the centuries.12 These attestations of the verse are considerably older than the first citation from The Exemplary Tale About a Sow by Śāntideva in the eighth century
This can also be seen in the fact that the first three verses of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow, one for each of the Three Jewels, occur independently, outside the setting of this avadāna, on a single paper leaf found among the Sanskrit manuscript remains at Turfan, in modern-day Xinjiang province, which tend to date to the fifth to sixth centuries
The same could be said for the other three verses in The Exemplary Tale About a Sow. Although the extant Sanskrit version in the Divyāvadāna (one of the important collections of avadānas preserved in Nepalese manuscripts) does not contain these three verses,16 they are found in both the Tibetan and the Chinese translations and therefore must have been present in other Sanskrit versions of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow that circulated at the time these translations were made. These verses again have an even earlier attestation, since they occur together in the chapter on mindfulness in the Udānavarga, the Sarvāstivāda collection of the Buddha’s sayings that forms the Sanskrit counterpart to the Pali Dhammapada.17 The first of these verses reads:
- lābhas teṣām manuṣyāṇāṃ ye buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gatāḥ /
- yeṣāṃ divā ca rātrau ca nityam buddhagatā smṛtiḥ //
- There is great gain for those people
- Who have taken refuge in the Buddha,
- Who call to mind the Buddha
- At all times, day and night.
That these verses in the Udānavarga were held in high regard is clear from the fact that they are cited by none other than Vasubandhu at the beginning of his Gāthāsaṅgraha,18 the short anthology of twenty-one verses that he compiled before he turned to the Mahāyāna. Vasubandhu lived in the fourth to fifth century
The English translation of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow that is offered here is based on the Tibetan translation by the Kashmiri paṇḍita Jinamitra and the Tibetan lotsawa Yeshe Dé from the end of the eighth century or the beginning of the ninth century, at the time of the first transmission (snga dar) of the Dharma to Tibet. We have based our translation on the text found in the Degé Kangyur, for which we have used the modern Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), in which variant readings of several other Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line are also recorded. We have also checked the Stok Palace manuscript for variant readings in the Thempangma line of textual transmission. The few such variants were found to be minor and orthographical in nature, without any implication for the meaning of the text.
In addition to the Tibetan text, we have also consulted the Sanskrit version of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow that is found in the Divyāvadāna,19 which shows a number of differences, some of which derive from it belonging to a different line of textual transmission that has continued in the Kathmandu Valley until modern times. Some differences in the Tibetan translation, however, can be ascribed to a certain translation choice by Jinamitra and Yeshé Dé or an omission in the underlying Sanskrit, especially in those cases where the renderings of the Chinese translation are in agreement with the extant Sanskrit version. In one instance, we have adopted a phrase that is present in both the Divyāvadāna Sanskrit version and the Chinese translation, because it makes the narrative more complete. All these differences, including the significant variants in the Chinese translation by Dharmadeva,20 have been noted in the endnotes.
Finally, a note about the title of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow: Usually, avadānas involve a narration of a person’s actions that took place in a distant past, to which only the Buddha, in his omniscience, has access, as is the case in the Buddha’s own past life stories known as jātakas. The title, in those cases, refers to that previous existence of the person in question. In this case, however, the narrated events occurred in a more recent past, not long before they are here recounted by the Buddha to a gathering of monks at Śrāvastī, and the title points not to the lifetime that once was, but to the future life that would have been if it had not been for the Three Jewels.
[F.289.b]Homage to the Three Jewels!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in Śrāvastī, in Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park.21
The Blessed One then addressed the monks: “Monks, there are five portents that appear to a god who is due to pass away. What are those five? His previously untarnished clothes become tarnished, his previously unwithered flower garlands become withered, sweat appears from both armpits, a foul odor emerges from his body, and a god who is due to pass away finds no satisfaction in his seat.22
“Now, monks, a certain god who was due to pass away was writhing about on the ground, beating his chest,23 as he cried and wailed pitifully, ‘Ah Mandākinī River! Ah lake!24 Ah pool! Ah Caitraratha Grove! Ah Pāruṣyaka Grove! Ah Nandana Grove! Ah Miśrakā Grove!25 Ah Pāriyātraka!26 Ah lovely one!27 Ah Pāṇḍukambala Rock!28 Ah assembly hall of the gods! Ah Sudarśana!’29
“Śakra, lord of the gods,30 saw that god violently writhing about on the ground and wailing pitifully. Seeing this, he then approached the god and asked him, ‘My friend, why are you violently writhing about on the ground and wailing pitifully,[F.290.a] “Ah Mandākinī River! Ah lake! Ah pool! Ah Caitraratha Grove! Ah Pāruṣyaka Grove! Ah Nandana Grove! Ah Miśrakā Grove! Ah Pāriyātraka! Ah lovely one! Ah Pāṇḍukambala Rock! Ah assembly hall of the gods! Ah Sudarśana!”?’
“At this,31 the god said to Śakra, lord of the gods, ‘Kauśika, I will be bereft of heavenly bliss, as seven days from now I will be reborn in the womb of a sow in the city of Rājagṛha.32 I will then have to feed on excrement and urine for many years. That is why I am like this.’33
“Śakra, lord of the gods, out of compassion then said to that god,34 ‘Come, my friend. Take refuge in the Buddha, the most excellent of human beings. Take refuge in the Dharma, the most excellent of dispassions. Take refuge in the Saṅgha, the most excellent of communities.’
“The god said,35 ‘Friend,36 I take refuge in the Buddha, the most excellent of human beings. I take refuge in the Dharma, the most excellent of dispassions. I take refuge in the Saṅgha, the most excellent of communities.’
“Having embraced the Three Refuges, the god then passed away, his time spent, and he was reborn among the Tuṣita gods.37
“Then Śakra, lord of the gods, looked whether the god had been reborn in the womb of a sow, but he had not been reborn there. He looked whether the god had been reborn among hell beings or among animals, but he had not been reborn there either.38 For it is in the nature of things that gods can know and see what is below them, but not what is above them.39
“Puzzled,40 Śakra, lord of the gods, then went to the Blessed One. Having approached him, he prostrated at the Blessed One’s feet and sat down to one side. Once seated, Śakra, lord of the gods, said to the Blessed One:
“ ‘Lord,41 I saw a certain god who was due to pass away,[F.290.b] and he was writhing about in fear42 and wailing pitifully, “Ah Mandākinī River! Ah lake! Ah pool! Ah Caitraratha Grove! Ah Pāruṣyaka Grove! Ah Nandana Grove! Ah Miśrakā Grove! Ah Pāriyātraka! Ah lovely one! Ah Pāṇḍukambala Rock! Ah assembly hall of the gods! Ah Sudarśana!” I went to him and said, “My friend, why are you beating your chest and crying, lamenting, and wailing?”43 He said, “44I will be bereft of heavenly bliss, as seven days from now I will be born in the womb of a sow in the city of Rājagṛha. I will then have to feed on excrement and urine for many years. That is why I am like this.” I said to him,45 “Come, my friend. Take refuge in the Buddha, the most excellent of human beings. Take refuge in the Dharma, the most excellent of dispassions. Take refuge in the Saṅgha, the most excellent of communities.” Terrified of being born in the womb of an animal and terrified of dying,46 that god then said, “Friend,47 I take refuge in the Buddha, the most excellent of human beings. I take refuge in the Dharma, the most excellent of dispassions. I take refuge in the Saṅgha, the most excellent of communities.” Having embraced the Three Refuges, that god then passed away, his time spent. Lord, where was he reborn?’
“The Blessed One replied, ‘Kauśika, that god was reborn among the Tuṣita gods, and all his heavenly desires are fulfilled.’48
“Then Śakra, lord of the gods, was glad and content. Being delighted, joy and happiness arose, and Indra, glad at heart, on that occasion spoke these verses:
“Thereupon, in approval of Śakra, lord of the gods, the Blessed One spoke the verses,51 ‘So it is, Kauśika, so it is:
“Then, rejoicing in what the Blessed One had spoken, Śakra, lord of the gods, prostrated at the Blessed One’s feet, circumambulated the Blessed One three times with folded hands, and disappeared right there.”
This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, the monks rejoiced at what the Blessed One had spoken.53
This concludes the sūtra called “The Exemplary Tale About a Sow.”
Translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Jinamitra and the chief editor and translator, Venerable Yeshé Dé.
For the latter, see Lozang Jamspal and Kaia Fischer, trans., The Hundred Deeds, Toh 340 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020).
See Adam Pearcey, trans., The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors, Toh 249 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020), 1.4.
Abhisamayālaṅkāranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstravṛttidurbodhālokanāmaṭīkā (Toh 3794), folio 243.b.
Waldschmidt (1989): 152; Skilling (2010): 392; Toh 653, folio 138.a; Toh 1062, folio 206.b. The Tibetan translation of this sūtra is also attributed to Yeshé Dé, this time in collaboration with both Jinamitra and Prajñāvarman. The Chinese translation (Taishō I 19, vol. 1, 258a8–259c1) was again done by Dharmadeva in 990
This sutta is found in the important Pali collection of paritta texts, the Catubhāṇavāra (Piyadassi Thera [1975]: 70–81), and it is among the few Pali texts that were translated into Tibetan by the Sri Lankan scholar-monk Ānandaśrī and the Tibetan translator Nyima Gyaltsen in the first half of the fourteenth century (Toh 34). The Pali verse in the Mahāsamayasutta (DN II 332) and the shorter Samayasutta (SN I 37) reads as follows:
Jāt I 97, where this set of three verses is followed by five other verses from the Dhammapada (Dhp vv. 188–92) on the power of taking refuge.
The first half of the first verse is found in yet another setting in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya (in the Bhikṣuṇīprātimokṣasūtra (Toh 4, folio 190.b). Note that in the case of The Exemplary Tale About a Sow the second half of these verses does not directly fit the context, since it describes the upward movement from a human existence to a godly one, not from one godly existence to another.
Bernhard (1965): 216; Toh 326, folio 222.a. As such, this set of verses is not attested in the Dhammapada collection, but the second half of these verses appears to stem from the second half of the following verses in the Udānavarga (chapter 15, vv. 12–15), which do have direct parallels in the Dhammapada (Dhp vv. 296–99).
Toh 4102, folio 223.a. See Gāthāsaṅgrahaśāstrārtha (Toh 4103), folio 225.a, for Vasubandhu’s commentary on these verses. These texts were translated by Dharmākāra and Yeshé Nyingpo, but they were later revised by Paltsek.
Cowell and Neil (1886): 193–96. For the Sanskrit version as preserved in the Divyāvadāna collection, one may consult the English translation by Andy Rotman (2008), as well as two older translations, one in French by Léon Feer (1883: 293–95) and one in English by James Ware (1928).
The Sanskrit text as preserved in the Divyāvadāna collection does not have this introduction (nidāna) which states the location of the teaching. It also lacks the following sentence that describes the Buddha addressing the monks, and it immediately begins, without the vocative “Monks,” with the listing of the five portents as being “in the nature of things” (dharmatā). Dharmadeva’s Chinese translation does contain the nidāna component in which the location is set at Śrāvastī, but like the Sanskrit, it lacks the following narrative phrase, which makes it seem as though it is the narrator, the venerable Ānanda, who lists the five portents and who relates the events and the subsequent dialogue between Śakra and the Buddha.
We have followed the list as it is given in the Tibetan. In the Sanskrit and Chinese versions, the portent of a bad smell precedes that of sweat. In the related Pali text on the five portents, the Pañcapubbanimittasutta (Iti 76), the fourth portent is that his body becomes lackluster (kāye dubbaṇṇiyam okkamati), and this portent is also mentioned in the Chinese as the first in the list here. The Chinese translation, however, omits the sign of not finding satisfaction in one’s seat, which is vividly described at the start of the following narration.
This must be referring to the lake called Manda at the foot of Mount Meru, from which the Mandākinī River flows. The Chinese translation lacks an equivalent for the Sanskrit puṣkiriṇī and the Tibetan rdzing.
The Tibetan sdug pa could be a rendering of the Sanskrit priya or kānta. The extant Sanskrit, however, lacks any equivalent here. The Chinese translation mentions 妓女 (“courtesans”) after 天眾 (“the assembly of the gods”), so perhaps the Tibetan sdug pa (“lovely one”) refers to the heavenly nymphs (apsaras) in Trāyastriṃśa heaven.
The Chinese translation adds 常所侍衛, 今相捨離 (“What was always cherished must now be left behind”).
In the Chinese version it is a fellow god who first witnesses this scene and who, pained by the sight, then informs Indra about it.
The Chinese version first describes how the god got up, arranged his clothes, and folded his hands in reverence to Indra.
The Sanskrit reads slightly differently: “After enjoying heavenly bliss (divyaṃ sukham anubhūya), seven days from now I will be reborn in the city of Rājagṛha in the womb of a sow.” The Chinese translation lacks any phrase about the god’s heavenly bliss.
The Sanskrit lacks this last sentence, but the Chinese translation reads 我觀此苦, 是故愁憂 (“I see this suffering, therefore I am in distress”).
The Tibetan lacks this entire narrative sentence. We have supplied it here from the extant Sanskrit version for the sake of the narrative. The Chinese version also contains this sentence, including the phrase “out of compassion” (kāruṇyatayā).
In the extant Sanskrit, as well as the Chinese translation, the god is here described as “terrified of being born in the womb of an animal and terrified of dying” (tiryagyonyupapattibhayabhīto maraṇabhayabhītaś ca), which in the Tibetan is stated only later in the narrative, when Śakra recounts this dialogue to the Buddha.
Where the Tibetan has grogs po (“friend”), both the Sanskrit and the Chinese have the more formal “Kauśika.”
The Chinese version does not have this disclosure of the god’s rebirth here, which obviously raises the narrative suspense in what follows.
The extant Sanskrit is more elaborate in listing the places where Śakra could not find the god: after he had looked among animals and hungry ghosts, Śakra also failed to see him among humans, among the groups of the four great heavenly kings of the cardinal directions, and among the Trāyastriṃśa gods. The Chinese version reads like the Sanskrit, except that it does not mention hell beings.
In the Sanskrit and Chinese versions this sentence is placed at the beginning of this passage, before describing Indra’s search for the god. The statement comes with the implication that, in contrast to the Buddha whose vision extends to all realms, gods have only a limited vision, yet often deem themselves as standing at the apex of the world.
We have followed the Tibetan rendering the tsom skyes nas, but the Sanskrit kutūhalajāto can also be translated as “Having become curious.” In the Chinese translation this has been rendered as 心生疑慮 (“His mind gave rise to doubt”), which is similar to the Tibetan interpretation.
The Sanskrit here reads bhadanta (“Venerable Sir”), the standard form of address for a monk, but both the Tibetan and the Chinese have renderings of the vocative bhagavan (“Lord”).
We have followed the reading in the Comparative Edition here (dogs la), but Stok Palace reads “on the ground” (dog sa la).
The extant Sanskrit adds sammoham āpadyase (“[Why] have [you] fallen into bewilderment?”), but this phrase is absent in both the Tibetan and the Chinese.
The Sanskrit here adds the vocative “Kauśika.” The Chinese translation lacks any form of address.
As in the earlier dialogue, the Tibetan translation here again lacks a narrative phrase to indicate that it is Indra who says the following. We have therefore adopted the phrase as found in the extant Sanskrit. The Chinese version adds that he said this “with a heart full of compassion” (心極悲愍).
The Sanskrit version lacks this mention of the god’s fear here, even though it mentions it in the actual dialogue earlier in the narration. In the Chinese translation it is mentioned in both places.
Also, here the Sanskrit has the vocative “Kauśika” instead of “Friend.” The Chinese lacks any form of address.
The Sanskrit reads: “It is among the gods of Tuṣita, Kauśika, whose heavenly desires are all fulfilled. There, that god enjoys himself, having taken the Three Refuges here” (tuṣitā nāma kauśika devāḥ sarvakāmasamṛddhayaḥ / tatrāsau modate devo gatveha śaraṇatrayam). The second sentence does not have an equivalent in the Tibetan and Chinese translations, but it seems that at some stage it was interpreted as applying to Indra, which then led to the expanded description of Indra’s gladness, as seen in the following sentence in both the Tibetan and the Chinese.
This is the verse that is cited by Śāntideva in his Śikṣāsamuccaya (Toh 3940) (Bendall 1897: 177.11). The citation has the variant reading labhanti te whereas the Sanskrit text in the Divyāvadāna collection has the singular upāsate which, incidentally, is also the verb in the parallel verse in the Mahāsamāja Sūtra (Waldschmidt 1989: 152; the Tibetan rendering in Toh 653, folio 138.a and Toh 1062, folio 206.b also lacks the plural pronoun). It is the plural labhanti te which underlies the Tibetan de dag . . . thob par ’gyur here, so the Tibetan translation must be based on a Sanskrit text that was closer to what was known by Śāntideva.
The extant Sanskrit does not contain the last three verses, but they are present in both the Tibetan and the Chinese translation. The Tibetan translators have here translated the Sanskrit lābha as rnyed pa che, “great gain,” which we have followed, since it brings out the right connotation, but in the parallel verse in the Udānavarga (Toh 326, folio 222.a) and in Vasubandhu’s Gāthāsaṃgraha (Toh 4102, folio 223.a) this is simply rendered as rnyed pa yin (“there is gain”). The Chinese translation here also has no equivalent for the Tibetan che (“great”).
The Sanskrit reads, “Thereupon, approving of what Śakra, lord of the gods, had spoken (śakrasya devānām indrasya bhāṣitam anusaṃvarṇayan), the Blessed One said, ‘So it is, Kauśika, so it is. . . .’ ” The Chinese does not mention the Buddha’s approval, because it has rendered the first part of the Sanskrit as 爾時帝釋天主, 說伽陀已 (“When Śakra, lord of the gods, had spoken the verses”).
In the Chinese translation, these three verses are condensed into one verse, followed by three other verses spoken by the Buddha:
And then a concluding verse:
The Sanskrit text in the Divyāvadāna collection (as edited by Cowell and Neil [1886]) lacks this standard sūtra ending, just as it also lacked a beginning. The Chinese does contain such an ending, but it runs differently, having apparently combined it with the preceding passage about Indra leaving: “This is what the Blessed One said. The assembly of monks, Śakra, and so forth—the entire gathering—were elated. In veneration they paid homage and withdrew.”
One of the three unfortunate rebirths, above that of hell beings and hungry ghosts.
The assembly place where the thirty-three gods of Trāyastriṃśa heaven gather, which is located to the southwest of the city of Sudarśana and which is known as Sudharmā (“Good Dharma”).
An epithet of the Buddha. This English rendering of the Sanskrit bhagavat should be understood not in the sense of having been blessed by a higher being but in the wider sense of the word “blessed” (pronounced “blessèd”): the state of enjoying felicity and receiving reverence.
One of the four heavenly groves outside the city of Sudarśana on Mount Meru. It owes its name to the fact that it was constructed by the king of the gandharvas, Citraratha (“He Who Has a Brightly-Colored Chariot”), for Kubera, king of yakṣas and god of wealth.
The Sanskrit cyavana can also have the specific connotation of “dropping” to a lower state of rebirth upon passing away.
One of the twelve types of the Buddha’s teaching (dvādaśāṅga). In this sense, the Sanskrit word avadāna means “exceptional feat” or “magnificent deed,” but in the context of the twelve types of buddhavacana the term came to refer to the narrative accounts of such deeds.
Literally “son of gods” or “divine scion,” the Sanskrit devaputra is often simply used as a synonym for “god” (deva), with -putra indicating that it involves a male member of this category of beings. But the term can have the added connotation of a being of divine origin who, due to a heroic feat, is able to enjoy long-lasting bliss in heaven.
One of the three unfortunate rebirths, below that of hungry ghosts and animals.
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.
A Kashmiri scholar-monk who worked on many translations at Samyé, Tibet, upon the invitation of the Tibetan king Tri Ralpachen (ca. 806–38).
“One who belongs to the Kuśika lineage.” An epithet of the god Śakra, also known as Indra, the king of the gods in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven. In the Ṛgveda, Indra is addressed by the epithet Kauśika, with the implication that he is associated with the descendants of the Kuśika lineage (gotra) as their aiding deity. In later epic and Purāṇic texts, we find the story that Indra took birth as Gādhi Kauśika, the son of Kuśika and one of the Vedic poet-seers, after the Puru king Kuśika had performed austerities for one thousand years to obtain a son equal to Indra who could not be killed by others. In the Pāli Kusajātaka (Jāt V 141–45), the Buddha, in one of his former bodhisattva lives as a Trāyastriṃśa god, takes birth as the future king Kusa upon the request of Indra, who wishes to help the childless king of the Mallas, Okkaka, and his chief queen Sīlavatī. This story is also referred to by Nāgasena in the Milindapañha.
An epithet of the Buddha. This English rendering of the Sanskrit bhagavat (in its vocative form bhagavan) makes for a more concise expression of reverence when the Buddha is addressed in person.
The river that flows from the lake Manda at the foot of Mount Meru in Trāyastriṃśa heaven.
“Mixed Grove.” One of the four heavenly groves outside the city of Sudarśana on Mount Meru.
“Grove of Delight.” One of the four heavenly groves outside the city of Sudarśana on Mount Meru. It owes its name to the fact that anyone who enters it becomes joyous and happy, as it offers all sorts of sense pleasures.
Indra’s colossal throne underneath the Pāriyātraka tree in Heaven of the Thirty-Three (Trāyastriṃśa), which is made of a whitish stone and therefore resembles a “whitish woolen blanket” (pāṇdukambala).
The immense wish-fulling tree that stands to the northeast of the city of Sudarśana in Trāyastriṃśa heaven.
“Rough Grove.” One of the four heavenly groves outside the city of Sudarśana on Mount Meru. It owes its name to the fact that anyone who enters it becomes rough and violent and when the gods go there before battle they become donned with armor and weapons according to their needs.
The capital city of the ancient kingdom of Magadha from where King Bimbisāra and then his son Ajātaśatru ruled. It was located within the bowl of seven hills at present-day Rajgir in Bihar.
“Mighty One.” Another name for the god Indra, the king of the gods in Trāyastriṃśa heaven. It is derived from the Sanskrit root śak- (“to be able”).
The capital city of the kingdom of Kośala which was ruled over by King Prasenajit, one of the Buddha’s devoted patron kings. It is located on the banks of the Rāpti river in northern India, not far west from Kapilavastu and Lumbinī. The Buddha spent many rainy-season retreats there, especially in the later years of his life.
“Beautiful to See.” The golden city of the gods of Trāyastriṃśa heaven at the summit of Mount Meru.
The three refuges of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha.
The heaven “of the thirty-three gods” at the summit of Mount Meru. This is the second lowest heaven in the realm of sense pleasure (kāmadhātu), above the heaven of the Four Great Kings.
The heaven of “the contented.” This is the fourth heaven in the realm of sense pleasure (kāmadhātu), above the Yāma heaven. While not the highest heaven, it is considered the best heaven to be reborn in, since bodhisattvas reside and teach there before their final birth when they become buddhas. It is presently the abode of the bodhisattva Maitreya, who received the crown for this heaven from the bodhisattva Śvetaketu when the latter decided to take birth in the Śākya family in order to become the Buddha Śākyamuni, as described in The Play in Full (Toh 95).
Rebirth in one of the three lower states of existence, namely, the hell realm, the realm of hungry ghosts, or the animal realm.
A prolific Tibetan translator-editor who worked on many translations at Samyé, Tibet, during the reigns of the Tibetan kings Tri Songdetsen (ca. 742–800), Tri Desongtsen (r. 800–815), and Tri Ralpachen (ca. 806–838)
phag mo’i rtogs pa brjod pa (Sūkarikāvadāna. Toh 345, Degé Kangyur vol. 75 (mdo sde, aM), folios 289.b–291.a.
phag mo’i rtogs pa brjod pa. 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), 2006–9, vol. 75, pp. 790–96.
’phag mo’i rtogs pa brjod pa zhes bya ba’i mdo. Stok Palace Kangyur, vol. 75 (mdo sde, sa), folios 31.a–33.b.
dge slong ma’i so sor thar pa (Bhikṣuṇīprātimokṣa). Toh 4, Degé Kangyur vol. 9 (’dul ba, ta), folios 1.a–25.a.
rgya cher rol pa (Lalitavistara). Toh 95, Degé Kangyur vol. 46 (mdo sde, kha), folios 1.b–216.b. English translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2013.
ched du brjod pa’i tshoms (Udānavarga). Toh 326, Degé Kangyur vol. 72 (mdo sde, sa), folios 209.a–253.a.
chos bzhi bstan pa’i mdo (Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra). Toh 249, Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 59.a–59.b. English translation in Pearcey 2019.
mdo chen po ’dus pa chen po’i mdo (Mahāsamājasūtramahāsūtra). Toh 653, Degé Kangyur vol. 91 (rgyud, ba), folios 137.a–146.a; Toh 1062, Degé Kangyur vol. 101 (gzungs, waM), folios 205.b–215.b.
las brgya pa (Karmaśataka). Toh 340, Degé Kangyur vol. 73 (mdo sde, ha), folios 1.b–309.a; vol. 74 (mdo sde, a), folios 1.b–128.b. English translation in Jamspal and Fischer 2020.
Bhadrapaṇa. bzang po’i smon lam gyi rgyal po’i rgya cher ’grel pa (Bhadracaryāpraṇidhānarājaṭīkā). , Degé Tengyur vol. 117 (mdo ’grel, nyi), folios 234.a–252.b.
Kawa Paltsek. gsung rab rin po che’i gtam rgyud dang shAkya’i rabs rgyud (Pravacanaratnākhyānaśākyavaṁśāvalī). Toh 4357, Degé Tengyur vol. 204 (bstan bcos sna tshogs, co), folios 239.a–377.a.
Prajñākaramati. byang chub kyi spyod pa la’jug pa’i dka’ ’grel (Bodhicaryāvatarapañjika). Toh 3872, Degé Tengyur vol. 105 (mdo ’grel, la), folios 41.b–288.a.
Śāntideva. byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa la ’jug pa (Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra). Toh 3871, Degé Tengyur vol. 105 (mdo ’grel, la), folios 1.b–40.b.
Śāntideva. bslab pa kun las btus pa (Śikṣāsamuccaya). Toh 3940, Degé Tengyur vol. 111 (dbu ma, khi), folios 3.a–194.b.
Suvarṇadvīpa Dharmakīrti. shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan zhes bya ba’i ’grel pa rtogs par dka’ ba’i snang ba zhes bya ba’i ’grel bshad (Abhisamayālaṅkāranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstravṛttidurbodhālokanāmaṭīkā). Toh 3794, Degé Tengyur vol. 86 (sher phyin, ja), folios 140.b–254.a.
Vasubandhu. bstan bcos tshigs su bcad pa bsdus pa (Gāthāsaṅgrahaśāstra). Toh 4102, Degé Tengyur vol. 149 (mngon pa, thu), folios 223.a–224.a.
Vasubandhu. tshigs su bcad pa’i don bsdus pa zhes bya ba’i bstan bcos (Gāthāsaṅgrahaśāstrārtha). Toh 4103, Degé Tengyur vol. 149 (mngon pa, thu), folios 224.a–261.a.
Yeshé Dé. bzang spyod kyi ’grel pa bzhi’i don bsdus nas brjed byang du byas pa (Bhadracaryācatuṣṭīkāpiṇḍārthābhismaraṇa). Toh 4359, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (bstan bcos sna tshogs, jo), folios 184.a–213.b.
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