The Stem Array
Ananyagāmin
Toh 44-45
Degé Kangyur, vol. 37 (phal chen, ga), folios 274.b–396.a; vol. 38 (phal chen, a), folios 1.b–363.a
- Surendrabodhi
- Vairocanarakṣita
- Bandé Yeshé Dé
- Jinamitra
Imprint
Translated by Peter Alan Roberts
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2021
Current version v 1.0.29 (2024)
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84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone.
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Table of Contents
Summary
In this lengthy final chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, while the Buddha Śākyamuni is in meditation in Śrāvastī, Mañjuśrī leaves for South India, where he meets the young layman Sudhana and instructs him to go to a certain kalyāṇamitra or “good friend,” who then directs Sudhana to another such friend. In this way, Sudhana successively meets and receives teachings from fifty male and female, child and adult, human and divine, and monastic and lay kalyāṇamitras, including night goddesses surrounding the Buddha and the Buddha’s wife and mother. The final three in the succession of kalyāṇamitras are the three bodhisattvas Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra’s recitation of the Samantabhadracaryāpraṇidhāna (“The Prayer for Completely Good Conduct”) concludes the sūtra.
Acknowledgements
Translated by Peter Alan Roberts and edited by Emily Bower, who was also the project manager. Ling Lung Chen was consultant for the Chinese, and Tracy Davis copyedited the final draft. The translator would like to thank Patrick Carré and Douglas Osto, who have both spent decades studying and translating this sūtra, for their advice and help.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The generous sponsorship of Richard and Carol Weingarten; of Jamyang Sun, Manju Chandra Sun and Siqi Sun; and of an anonymous donor, which helped make the work on this translation possible, is most gratefully acknowledged.
Text Body
Chapter 45: The Stem Array
Ananyagāmin
Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, his mind having acquired Avalokiteśvara’s verses of wisdom,1267 had not had enough of gazing on the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, but so as not to disobey his instruction, Sudhana went to where the bodhisattva Ananyagāmin was.
He bowed his head to the feet of the bodhisattva Ananyagāmin. Then he stood before him and, with his hands placed together in homage, said, “Ārya, I have developed the aspiration for the highest, complete enlightenment, but I do not know how bodhisattvas should train in bodhisattva conduct and in what way they should practice it.
“Ārya, I have heard that you give instruction and teachings to bodhisattvas! Explain to me how bodhisattvas should train in bodhisattva conduct and how they should practice it!”
Then the bodhisattva Ananyagāmin said, “Noble one, I have attained the bodhisattva liberation called the arising of every gateway.”1268
Sudhana asked, “Ārya, at the feet of which tathāgata did you attain the bodhisattva liberation called the arising of every gateway? How far from here is that world realm? How long did it take to come from that world realm?”
The bodhisattva Ananyagāmin said, “Noble one, this is something that is difficult to comprehend for beings such as the śramaṇas and brahmins in this world with its devas, humans, and asuras. It is the power of the bodhisattvas, the irreversible diligence of the bodhisattvas, and the unsurpassable conduct of the bodhisattvas.
“Noble one, those who are not in the care of a kalyāṇamitra, who are not regarded by the buddhas, who have not accumulated the roots of merit, who do not have a pure motivation, who have not attained the faculties of a bodhisattva, and who do not have the eyes of wisdom [F.74.b] will not be able to hear of it, grasp it, believe in it, or comprehend it.”
Sudhana said, “Tell it to me, for I am apprehended1269 by the buddhas and in the care of kalyāṇamitras, and I have faith and aspiration!”
The bodhisattva Ananyagāmin said, “Noble one, I have come from a world realm in the eastern direction that is called Śrīgarbhavatī, the buddha realm of the Tathāgata Samantaśrīsaṃbhava. I obtained the bodhisattva liberation called the arising of every gateway at the feet of the Tathāgata Samantaśrīsaṃbhava.
“Noble one, as many kalpas as there are atoms in an anabhilāpyānabhilāpya of buddha realms passed while I came from the world realm Śrīgarbhavatī.
“With each development of an aspiration, I took as many steps as there are atoms in an anabhilāpyānabhilāpya of buddha realms. With each step, I passed as many buddha realms as there are atoms in an anabhilāpyānabhilāpya of buddha realms. There was a tathāgata in each of those buddha realms, and I perceived all those buddha bhagavats. To all those tathāgatas I made offerings that were authorized by the tathāgatas and were unsurpassable, composed of the mind, and sealed by the noncomposite nature of phenomena and gave rise to joy in bodhisattvas.
“I saw in those world realms an ocean of beings, and I perceived the ocean of all their minds. I knew the wheels of all their faculties, and I manifested physical bodies in accord with their aspirations, proclaimed the words of the Dharma, radiated a halo of light, brought them the gift of various necessities, and empowered my own body, [F.75.a] so that I could continuously be engaged in ripening and guiding them.
“In the same way that I came from the east, I came from the south, from the west, from the north, from the northeast, from the southeast, from the southwest, from the northwest, from below, and from above.
“Noble one, I know only the bodhisattva liberation called the arising of every gateway. How could I know the conduct or describe the qualities of bodhisattvas who face in all directions; who have a scope of wisdom that is without division; who distribute their bodies throughout the realm of phenomena; who act in accord with the thoughts and aspirations of all beings; who pervade all realms with their bodies; who act in conformance with all phenomena; who have arrived at the equality of the three times; who have bodies that are equal to the range of phenomena in every direction; who illuminate every range of worlds of beings; who have no conceptualization of the range of tathāgatas; who enter all regions without impediment; and who dwell in the state that has no location?
“Depart, noble one. In this southern region, there is a city named Dvāravatī. There dwells the deity by the name of Mahādeva. Go to him and ask him, ‘How should a bodhisattva train in bodhisattva conduct? How should a bodhisattva practice it?’ ”
Then Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, bowed his head to the feet of the bodhisattva Ananyagāmin, circumambulated the bodhisattva Ananyagāmin many hundreds of thousands of times, keeping him to his right, and, looking back again and again, departed from the bodhisattva Ananyagāmin. [F.75.b]
Colophon
This was translated and revised by the Indian upādhyāyas Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi and by the chief editor Lotsawa Bandé Yeshé Dé and others.2232
Tibetan Editor’s Colophon
A Multitude of Buddhas is the marvelous essence of the final, ultimate, definitive wheel from among the three wheels of the Sugata’s teaching. It has many other titles, such as The Mahāvaipulya Basket, The Earring, The Lotus Adornment, and so on.
It has seven sections:2233 A Multitude of Tathāgatas,2234 The Vajra Banner Dedication,2235 The Teaching of the Ten Bhūmis,2236 The Teaching of Completely Good Conduct,2237 [F.362.b] The Teaching of the Birth and Appearance of the Tathāgatas,2238 The Transcendence of the World,2239 and Stem Array.2240 These are subdivided into forty-five chapters.
According to Butön Rinpoché and others, it contains thirty-nine thousand and thirty verses, a hundred and thirty fascicles, and an additional thirty verses. In the Tshalpa Kangyur edition there are a hundred and fifteen fascicles, the Denkarma edition has a hundred and twenty-seven fascicles,2241 and present-day editions have various numbers of fascicles.2242
This sūtra was first received from Ārya Nāgārjuna by Paṇḍita Buddhabhadra and Paṇḍita Śikṣānanda (652–710), and they both translated it into Chinese. It is taught that Surendrabodhi and Vairocanarakṣita became principal editors for a Chinese translation.
As for the lineage of the text, there is the lineage from China: The perfect Buddha, Ārya Mañjuśrī, Lord Nāgārjuna, the two paṇḍitas mentioned above, and Heshang Tushun. Then the lineage continued through others until Üpa Sangyé Bum received it from Heshang Gying-ju. Then that lineage was passed on through Lotsawa Chokden and has continued up to the present time.
The lineage from India is as follows:
It was passed from Nāgārjuna to Āryadeva, and then Mañjuśrīkīrti, and so on, until Bari Lotsawa received it from Vajrāsana. It is taught that the lineage then continued through Chim Tsöndrü Sengé, the great Sakya Lord,2243 and so on.
However, I have not seen any other text or history of a translation made by any other lotsawa or paṇḍita other than those listed in the colophon to this translation into Tibetan.
The king of Jangsa Tham2244 had a complete Kangyur made that was based on the Tshalpa Kangyur. At the present time this is known as the Lithang Tshalpa Kangyur (1609–14). I considered this to be a reliable source and so have made it the basis for this edition. However, it has many omissions, accretions, and misspellings, and therefore I have at this time corrected it by seeking out many older editions.
There are variant Indian texts and conflicting translations, and I have not been able to ascertain from them a definitive single meaning or correct words. Nevertheless, this text is nothing but a valid edition.
There are varying translations of terms that have been left unrevised, as there is no contradiction in meaning. For example, it has rgyan instead of bkod pa;2245 ’byam klas instead of rab ’byams;2246 so so yang dag par rig pa instead of tha dad pa yang dag par shes pa;2247 thugs for dgongs pa;2248 [F.363.a] nyin mtshan dang zla ba yar kham mar kham dang instead of nyin mtshan dang yud du yan man dang;2249 and tha snyad instead of rnam par dpyod pa.2250
Sanskrit words have many cases and tenses, so that although the Tibetan lotsawas and paṇḍitas, who had the eyes of the Dharma, translated their meaning, their tenses, cases, and so on are difficult to discern. Those are the majority of the examples of uncertainty, and there are also a few other kinds, but they are nevertheless in accord with Tibetan grammar.
In most texts there are many archaic words, so that the meaning of the translation is not clear, but there is a consistency when those words are all in archaic Tibetan. However, there appears to have occurred in later times a strong adulteration of the text so that there is a mixture of archaic and modern forms. There are also unreliable placements of the shad mark that differentiates clauses, but all these have been left as they are because these faults are few and minor. Therefore, this revision has been diligently edited without becoming analogous to knocking down the ancient megaliths of the southern regions.
May this remain for the entire kalpa within the circle of the Cakravāla Mountains, as bright as the sun and moon, as the glory of the merit of nonsectarian beings and the precious teaching of the Buddha.
This was printed in the water tiger year called dge byed (1722),2251 in the presence of Tenpa Tsering (1678–1738), the divine Dharma king who rules in accordance with the Dharma, who has the vast, superior wealth of the ten good actions, and who is a bodhisattva as a ruler of humans and the source of happiness in the four regions of greater Tibet.
This was written by the attendant Gelong Tashi Wangchuk, who in the process of revision was commanded to become its supervisor.
Ye dharmahetuprabhavā hetun teṣān tathāgato hy avadat. Teṣāñ ca yo nirodha evaṃ vādī mahāśramanaḥ.