The Stem Array
Surendrābhā
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 1.0.30 (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
Surendrābhā
Sudhana went to the paradise of the lord of Trāyastriṃśa and approached the deva maiden Surendrābhā, the daughter of the deva Smṛtimat. He bowed his head to the feet of the deva maiden Surendrābhā, circumambulated the deva maiden Surendrābhā many hundreds of thousands of times, keeping her to his right, and then stood before the deva maiden Surendrābhā with his palms together in homage and said, “Āryā, goddess, 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. Āryā, I have heard that you give instruction and teachings to bodhisattvas! I pray that you explain to me how bodhisattvas should train in bodhisattva conduct and how they should practice it!”
When he had said that, the deva maiden Surendrābhā said to Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, “Noble one, I have attained the bodhisattva liberation called the display of pure, unimpeded memory.
“Noble one, I remember a kalpa called Utpala in which I served as many tathāgatas as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River. [F.272.a] When they set forth, I protected them, made offerings to them, and gave them parks to enjoy.
“I know when those buddha bhagavats were bodhisattvas, were within the bodies of their mothers, were born, took their first seven steps, roared the lion’s roar, were youths, were within their harems, set forth into homelessness, attained the enlightenment of buddhahood, turned the wheel of the Dharma, and displayed all the miraculous manifestations of a buddha, and when they ripened and guided beings, throughout all those times, from their first development of the aspiration for enlightenment until their final Dharma teaching. I remember that, recollect that, grasp that, retain that, reflect upon that, and follow that.
“There was a kalpa called Subhūti, in which I served as many tathāgatas as there are grains of sand in ten Ganges Rivers.
“There was a kalpa called Subhaga, in which I served as many tathāgatas as there are atoms in a buddha realm.
“There was a kalpa called Anilambha, in which I served eighty-four hundred thousand quintillion tathāgatas.
“There was a kalpa called Suprabha, in which I served as many tathāgatas as there are atoms in Jambudvīpa.
“There was a kalpa called Atulaprabha, in which I served as many tathāgatas as there are grains of sand in twenty Ganges Rivers.
“There was a kalpa called Uttaptaśrī, in which I served as many tathāgatas as there are grains of sand in one Ganges River. [F.272.b]
“There was a kalpa called Sūryodaya, in which I served as many tathāgatas as there are grains of sand in eighty Ganges Rivers.
“There was a kalpa called Jayaṃgama, in which I served as many tathāgatas as there are grains of sand in sixty Ganges Rivers.
“There was a kalpa called Sucandra, in which I served as many tathāgatas as there are grains of sand in seventy Ganges Rivers.
“Noble one, in that way, I remember never being apart from the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddhas throughout kalpas as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges River. I heard from all those tathāgatas this bodhisattva liberation called the display of pure, unimpeded memory. I heard it and retained it. I comprehended whatever they said. I have constantly, always remained within this liberation. Through this bodhisattva liberation called the display of pure, unimpeded memory, I remember those tathāgatas from the time they attained the level of a bodhisattva until the time their Dharma ceased to exist. I recollect that, grasp that, retain that, reflect upon that, and follow that.
“Noble one, I know only this bodhisattva liberation called the display of pure, unimpeded memory. How could I know or describe the qualities of the bodhisattvas who are free from the blindness of darkness, who have risen out of saṃsāra, who are free of obscurations, who aspire not to be asleep, who are free of apathy and idleness, whose body formations are purified, who continuously understand the nature of all phenomena, [F.273.a] and who have realized the pure ten strengths?
“Depart, noble one. In the great city of Kapilavastu resides a teacher of children by the name of Viśvāmitra. Go to him and ask him, ‘How should a bodhisattva train in and practice bodhisattva conduct?’ ”
Then Sudhana, the head merchant’s son, filled with joy, delighted, elated, pleased, and happy, bowed his head to the feet of the deva maiden Surendrābhā. He circumambulated the deva maiden Surendrābhā many hundreds of thousands of times, keeping her to his right, and, looking back at her again and again, departed from the deva maiden Surendrābhā.
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.