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དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གསང་བ།

The Secrets of the Realized Ones
Chapter 2: The Secret of the Bodhisattva’s Speech

Tathāgataguhya

འཕགས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་གསང་བ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

’phags pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of the Mysteries and Secrets of the Realized Ones”

Āryatathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśanāmamahāyānasūtra

Toh 47

Degé Kangyur, vol. 39 (dkon brtsegs, ka), folios 100.a.–203.a

First published 2023

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Summary

s.1

In this sūtra, the narrative largely revolves around the figures of Vajrapāṇi, the yakṣa lord and constant companion of the Buddha, and the Buddha himself. In the first half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi gives a series of teachings on the mysteries or secrets of the body, speech, and mind of bodhisattvas and the realized ones. In the second half of the sūtra, Vajrapāṇi describes several events in the Buddha’s life: his practice of severe asceticism, his approach to the seat of awakening, his defeat of Māra, his awakening, and his turning of the wheel of Dharma. Following this, the Buddha gives a prediction of Vajrapāṇi’s future awakening as a buddha and travels to Vajrapāṇi’s abode for a meal. Interspersed throughout the sūtra are sermons, dialogues, and marvelous tales exploring a large number of topics and featuring an extensive cast of characters, including several narratives about past lives of Vajrapāṇi, Brahmā Sahāṃpati, and the Buddha himself. The sūtra concludes with the performance of two long dhāraṇīs, one by Vajrapāṇi and one by the Buddha, for the protection and preservation of the Dharma.

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Acknowledgements

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Translated by David Fiordalis and the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. A first draft was made from the Tibetan by Timothy Hinkle with the assistance of Tulku Tenzin Rigsang and others. David Fiordalis thoroughly revised the translation with close reference to the extant Sanskrit manuscript, as well as the Tibetan translation. Fiordalis also wrote the summary, introduction, annotations, and most of the glossary entries. Fiordalis would like to acknowledge Paul Harrison, who furnished him with his own digital images of the Sanskrit manuscript, and Péter-Dániel Szántó, who generously made his transcription of the manuscript available for readers.

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The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Rory Lindsay and Nathaniel Rich edited the translation and the introduction, and Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.

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The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Jane and Leo Tong Chen, and their family.

Introduction

i.1

The Secrets of the Realized Ones (Tathāgataguhya) can be called, without exaggeration, a great work of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature. It deserves to be considered a work of literature in the narrower sense of a form of verbal expression of enduring artistic merit, a work of the creative imagination that may elicit pleasure, wonder, and many other responses from an audience, and not simply in the broader sense of literature as a body of written (or oral) works in general. In that narrower sense, it is comparable to better known works of Mahāyāna Buddhist literature, such as The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, Toh 176), the literary merits of which are already well established, and The Play in Full (Lalitavistara, Toh 95), which deserves more recognition in this regard.1 Both of these latter works would seem to bear a close relationship to The Secrets of the Realized Ones in other respects as well, and it to them.

Synopsis of the Sūtra

The Title of the Sūtra

Later Reception History and Modern Scholarship

Source Texts and Classical Translations

The Translation

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra
The Teaching of the Mysteries and Secrets of the Realized Ones

Chapter 1: On Saumya

[F.100.a] [B1]

1.1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying at Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha together with a great monastic assembly of forty-two thousand monks, as well as eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas of great courage, who were well known on account of their fame, a great many of whom had come from other buddha domains. All of them had attained the state of acceptance.32 They could not be turned back. They were limited to only one more life. They had acquired a powerful memory and the formulas that support it. They had acquired states of meditative concentration. Their inspired eloquence was without impediment. They were adept at traveling to limitless buddha domains throughout the ten directions. They had made child’s play of the forms of knowledge including the supernormal faculties.33 They were undefeated in argument by any and all proponents of rival doctrines. They had vanquished their adversaries and Māra in all his forms.34

Chapter 2: The Secret of the Bodhisattva’s Speech

2.1

[B2] Once again, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, spoke to the bodhisattva Śāntamati: “Śāntamati, what is the secret of the Bodhisattva’s speech and the purity of his verbal action? Śāntamati, the succession of the bodhisattvas’ rebirths continues for precisely so long as beings continue to be reborn, and for as long as they continue to be reborn, these bodhisattvas make use of language. The knowledge and vision of the bodhisattvas penetrates without impediment beings’ use of language in all the ways they express linguistic utterances, verbal expressions, explanations, conventions, speeches, descriptions of reality, signs, actions, and happiness and suffering. Their knowledge and vision even penetrate the languages used by worms, mosquitoes, flies, bees, and moths. [F.111.a] Since their knowledge and expression of language enables them to relieve the bodies and minds of beings, such verbal expressions emerge from the mouths of those bodhisattvas who know and use language. This is in accordance with the nature of things. In this respect, it should be said:

2.2

“Just as there is no end to beings,

The succession of rebirths is immeasurable.

Even if one were to speak of it for a hundred eons, there would be no end.

One should thus say that these things are inconceivable.

2.3

“The Great One’s words are faultless,

His teachings truly vast as mind and thought.

Like space, they do not increase or decrease.

Yet, one should still speak in metaphors.

2.4

“Śāntamati, the speech of bodhisattvas is expressed in the brahmās’ voices, the śakras’ voices, and in the voices of the lokapālas. It is expressed in the voices of the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas. It is expressed in the voices of all beings. It satisfies the wishes of all beings. About this, it should be said:

2.5

“The irreproachable words of the great ones

Are without increase or decrease, like space.

Such teachings are vast as mind and thought.

Listen earnestly to those who speak them.

2.6

“Engaging in compassion, along with love,

Joy, and equanimity as well,

Will take one even beyond Brahmā, it is said.

With such well-spoken words, one satisfies Brahmā.

2.7

“Whatever pleasing music of Śakra there may be

Is surpassed by the splendor of such sayings.

Immeasurable divisions of phenomena arise

From the production of these musical melodies.

2.8

“This speech is supreme; more marvelous

Than the songs of the kinnaras,

It does not inflame sensual desire.

Such speech becomes whatever people enjoy.

2.9

“Many are the divine songs and instrumental music

Found pleasing in the realm of desire.

Yet, virtuous words that bestow the meaning of the Dharma‍—

Such words can satisfy completely.

2.10

“Upon hearing the words [F.111.b] of the Guide of Men,

Sensual desire is quelled, and so, too, is hatred.

Ignorant deception and prideful arrogance are allayed.

One determines the meanings, and doubts vanish.

2.11

“By hearing the words of the Best of Men,

Gods in the realm of form, wherever they are,

Find their minds satisfied.

Saying, ‘A buddha has appeared in the world,’ they seek awakening.

2.12

“The sound of the music made by

Powerful nāgas, gandharvas, and mahoragas

Resounds with an ocean of virtuous qualities

And creates profound delight in all.

2.13

“Though there are infinite sounds and languages

In each of the different directions of this world,

It is by speaking in any of these languages

And by hearing them that people attain freedom.

2.14

“The gods upon the earth and equally the gods in the sky

Are enmeshed in sounds and languages.

Thus, bodhisattvas also employ these languages,

But their words convey the truth with certainty.

2.15

“The swan, crane, cuckoo,

Peacock, parrot, partridge,

Myna bird, and wild goose‍—

Bodhisattvas satisfy them in their respective tongues.

2.16

“The tiger, lion, bear, monkey,

Leopard, cat, deer, elephant, rhinoceros,

Horse, dog, pig, and owl‍—

Bodhisattvas satisfy them in their respective tongues.

2.17

“In order to inspire, restrain, and help

Any being with four legs, two legs,

Many legs, and likewise none at all,

They employ all their languages and calls.

2.18

“Their voices accord with the languages of everyone:

All beings in the three worlds,

Whether of the highest, middling, or lowest forms,

Including the realms of hell beings, Yama, animals, humans, and gods.

2.19

“Although they do whatever is needed,

They do not form thoughts, ideas, or concepts.

They are without attributes, attachments, and bonds.

Settled in meditative equipoise, their minds do not go astray.

2.20

“If they want, those with pure minds,

Without making any effort or grasping anything,

Can use their voice to bring understanding

To countless realms as numerous as grains of sand in the Ganges.

2.21

“When all the māras in the cosmos of a billion worlds

Hear the horrifying voices of the bodhisattvas, [F.112.a]

They and their wives immediately become terrified,

Place their palms together out of respect, and bow.

2.22

“Any beings who wish to propound a rival doctrine,

And who are overwhelmed by pride and bow to no one,

Will place their palms together out of respect and bow

When they hear these brilliant words.

2.23

“When the deaf, dumb, mute,

And those who stammer and stutter

Hear this excellent speech,

They will express most attractive sounds.

2.24

“Those tormented and harassed by the afflictions,

Who are engulfed in a hundred regrets over past faults,

Will have their regrets allayed and be appeased

When they hear these virtuous words.

2.25

“When beings hear the words

Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha, and impermanence,

They will begin cultivating generosity, learning, moral conduct,

Patience, heroic effort, meditation, and intelligence.

2.26

“One could not exhaustively describe the qualities

Of those who have attained the pristine speech of the buddhas,

Who possess infinite expressions and boundless knowledge,

Even if one spoke about them for many thousands of eons.

2.27

“Śāntamati, the speech of bodhisattvas does not contain any sense of lust; aversion; delusion; affliction;68 impediment; obstruction; vulgarity; foulness; callousness; abusiveness; incompleteness; harshness; attachment; anger; carelessness; animosity; contradictory words; words influenced by the various afflictions; fickleness; flattery; arrogance; haughtiness; impatience; inappropriate speech; desirous speech; words praising physical appearance; aggrandizement; contrivance; overly relaxed speech; intent to shock; exhausting speech; speech resulting from an impairment of their faculties, from diminished vitality, or from a diminished mind; disingenuousness; deficiency; opacity; coarseness; rejecting others; contradicting others; causing distress; [F.112.b] unproductiveness; scolding others; annoying others; causing oneself or others pain; inappropriate use of words; inappropriate choice of words; insincere words; irrational words; illogical words; vicious words; inauthentic words; false speech; unjust words; quarrelsome speech; harmful speech; inopportune speech; verbosity; bad grammar;69 hypocrisy; obsequiousness; speech intended to gain profit; ineffective demonstration; deceiving the eye; confusing the mind; expressing doubt; laconic expression; words that cause trauma and disgust; words of scornful disregard; boastful words about one’s own point of view; words that suppress the points of view of others; words that demonstrate an obsession with self-praise; words that demonstrate resistance to the praise of others;70 drunken speech; scornful words; excessive boasting to others; words that do not say what is needed; counterproductive words; leaking secrets; not guarding one’s words; using words that are condemned by the wise; condemning the noble ones; attacking another with abuse;71 public displays of praise; describing the faults of others at inopportune moments; twisting the knife; broadcasting the faults of others; words that fail to keep one’s promises;72 speech expounding upon the objects of one’s pride;73 speech that contradicts the workings of karma; or speech in which one fails to avoid using words that do not accord with reality.

2.28

“Śāntamati, the expression of the bodhisattvas’ speech is infused with the knowledge of the supernormal faculties, and because it results from the ripening of merit, it accords with the truth. [F.113.a] Whatever they say is just exactly so. Suppose a bodhisattva were to pass by or sit under a tree and somebody were to ask, ‘Excuse me, sir, how many leaves does this tree have?’ Without looking at the tree and without counting the leaves, the bodhisattva would then be able to say exactly how many leaves there were without overestimating or underestimating the number.

2.29

“Also, if one were to ask, ‘How many hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions, hundreds of billions, trillions, quadrillions, quintillions, sextillions, septillions, octillions, nonillions, decillions, undecillions, and duodecillions of grains of sand are there in the Ganges?’74 then, without looking or counting, the bodhisattva’s speech could declare exactly how many grains of sand there are. He knows the grains of sand to be this precise number by using the knowledge of the realized ones. Śāntamati, only the realized ones can directly perceive this. It is not directly perceptible to gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, marutas, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, disciples, or solitary buddhas.

2.30

“Śāntamati, you can understand this through the following teaching: At one point in the past, Śāntamati, there was a sage named Light and a brahmin named Śyāmaka. At that time, there was a tree called the Excellent King of Banyan Trees, which was covered by many branches and leaves. The crown of the tree was several miles in circumference and the sage, Light, dwelled beneath that tree. While he was dwelling there, [F.113.b] he used the power of his supernormal faculties to count the leaves on the branches of the Excellent King of Banyan Trees for twelve years and seven days until he came to a realization of that knowledge. At a certain point the brahmin, Śyāmaka, had been out seeking alms in the village, and because it was midday he went beneath that banyan tree to take his meal. He came before the sage, Light, and was truly delighted to see him. Sitting together, they spoke of many topics about which they were passionate. Then, the sage, Light, said to the brahmin Śyāmaka, ‘Excuse me, brahmin, but do you think there are any humans in this world of beings who have the ability to count, directly perceive, or know the number of leaves on this Excellent King of Banyan Trees?’

2.31

“ ‘Yes, revered one, there is.’

“ ‘Brahmin, who would that be?’ asked the sage.

“The brahmin replied, ‘Revered one, I can count them.’

“ ‘Well, count them, then, brahmin!’ said the sage.

“Immediately, without having to look at the tree or count the leaves, the brahmin knew how many leaves there were. He then spoke in verse, saying:

2.32

“ ‘There are six hundred septillion,

Sixteen sextillion,

Thirteen quintillion,

Ninety-six quadrillion,

2.33

“ ‘Three hundred and ninety trillion,

Thirty billion,

Eight hundred

And ninety-two million.

2.34

“ ‘I, the true brahmin, know this.’

Hearing this, Light said to Śyāmaka,

‘Best of brahmins, you have spoken truly.

Excellent, excellent. This is true.

2.35

“ ‘For twelve full years and seven days

Have I, through supernormal faculties, counted these leaves.

Lord, you have known them in an instant.

Without looking or counting,

2.36

“ ‘You realized instantaneously

How many leaves there are.

Has this knowledge been taught to you by a god? [F.114.a]

Brahmin, please explain this to me.’

2.37

“ Śyāmaka replied, ‘Listen, revered one, this is not taught by gods, but by men. I follow true words and live according to their meaning. It is possible that the sky could exhaust itself and fall to pieces, but it is impossible for me ever to speak falsely.’

“Then Vajrapāṇi said:

2.38

“Light was the great one, Śāriputra,

And the brahmin, Śyāmaka, was Śākyasiṃha.

Such is the speech of those who possess an ocean of virtues.

It is endowed with the Dharma and its meaning, which rests on the truth.

2.39

“Śāntamati, so far as the purity of the speech of the bodhisattvas is concerned, this is the secret of the speech of the bodhisattvas. This is merely a brief demonstration of the purity of their speech. If one were to go further than that, an exhaustive explanation of the purity of the bodhisattvas’ speech would have no limit or endpoint.”

2.40

This was the second chapter, “The Secret of the Bodhisattva’s Speech.”

Chapter 3: The Secret of the Bodhisattva’s Mind

3.1

Once again, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, spoke to the bodhisattva Śāntamati: “Now, Śāntamati, what is the secret of a bodhisattva’s mind and the purity of his mental action?

3.2

“Śāntamati, bodhisattvas undertake their work by means of knowledge, not by taking pride in it. Also, they undertake their work with knowledge without weakening any of the supernormal faculties. They manifest all sorts of actions while making child’s play of the supernormal faculties. They have attained the great mastery that is the mastery of the supernormal faculties. The supernormal faculties they possess are an aspect of knowledge because they are connected with the supreme knowledge of all aspects. The supernormal faculties they possess are an aspect of wisdom because they provide a direct vision of all things. The supernormal faculties they possess have the aspect of inexhaustibility because they conform with everything. Because all forms do not have a form, the supernormal faculties they possess can see all forms. [F.114.b] Because the sounds of the past are the same as the sounds of the future, the supernormal faculties they possess can comprehend all sounds. The supernormal faculties they possess perceive the thoughts of all beings, because they can perceive and thoroughly investigate the true nature of mind. The supernormal faculties they possess can recollect limitless eons, because they do not place any limits on the past or the future. The supernormal faculties they possess can produce every kind of wondrous transformation with their superhuman powers because they have the defining characteristic of being unconditioned. The supernormal faculties they possess conform to the cessation of the defilements, because they perceive the moment and they never miss the moment. The supernormal faculties they possess are conducive to the forms of penetrating insight that are fixed upon what is transcendent and noble. The supernormal faculties they possess are difficult for the disciples and solitary buddhas to understand. The supernormal faculties they possess have profound meaning and defeat their adversaries, Māra in all his forms. The supernormal faculties they possess produce the essence of awakening and are the most supreme form of awakening, which brings about a perfect realization of all the qualities of a buddha. The supernormal faculties they possess are consistent with the turning of the wheel of Dharma. The supernormal faculties they possess can tame all beings. The supernormal faculties they possess secure empowering authority because they have mastery over all things.

Chapter 4: The Coming of Resounding Musical Sound

4.1

Then the Blessed One spoke to the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati, saying, “Do you hear the voice issuing from the sounds of the cymbals and musical instruments?”

4.2

“Blessed One, I hear it! Whose power is causing the voice to issue from them?”

“Śāntamati,” replied the Blessed One, “in the world called Meghavatī resides the blessed realized one Melodious King of Clouds. In his presence resides the bodhisattva of great courage Resounding Musical Sound, who has now arrived here in this Sahā world to see me; to honor, worship, and serve me; and to hear the Dharma. He has also come to hear the Dharma that is being taught by Vajrapāṇi and to see the bodhisattvas of great courage who have gathered here from throughout the ten directions. Although his body is invisible, Śāntamati, the bodhisattva Resounding Musical Sound is there in the space above us. In order to pay homage to me and this teaching of the Dharma, he has rained these flowers down upon us. He is playing the music of the cymbals and instruments and it is his voice that we are hearing.”

Chapter 5: The Past-Life Story of Dhṛtarāṣṭra

5.1

At that point, a certain bodhisattva from the assembly wondered, “How did the Lord of the Guhyakas grow these roots of virtue? How long has he served the Blessed Buddha? What sort of vow did he make by means of which he has come to possess such inspired eloquence?”

5.2

With his own mind, the Blessed One knew the thoughts in the mind of that bodhisattva, and so he addressed the bodhisattva Śāntamati: “Once upon a time, Śāntamati, in a past eon, going back an incalculable eon, going back more than an incalculable eon, going back a limitless, inconceivable, and measureless span of time, there was an eon called Lovely Illumination. At that time, in a world called Full Array, there appeared a realized one, a worthy one, [F.118.a] a perfectly awakened one, one perfected in knowledge and conduct, a sublime one, a knower of the world, an unsurpassable trainer of those ready to be trained, a teacher of gods and humans, a blessed buddha, whose name was King Arrangement of Manifold Precious Virtues Without End.

Chapter 6: The Path of Awakening

6.1

“Śāntamati, bodhisattvas of great courage who also wish to awaken to unsurpassable and perfect awakening should follow the example of these great beings in this regard. They should undertake the core practices intent upon the path to awakening and not place their focus on words. And what is this path to awakening?

6.2

“It eliminates anger toward all beings by cultivating a mind that is suffused with love. On it one strives to accomplish the perfections. One develops the methods of drawing others to oneself. One achieves the four dwellings of Brahmā. One strives to acquire the constitutive factors of awakening. One acquires and refines the supernormal faculties. One becomes a master of skill in means. One who accomplishes all these things gathers a supply of all the virtuous qualities. This is called the path of awakening.

Chapter 7: The Secret of the Realized One’s Body

7.1

At that point, the bodhisattva Śāntamati asked Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, “Lord of the Guhyakas, what are the secrets of the realized ones? Please use your inspired eloquence to describe, at least partially, the secrets of the realized ones.” [F.126.b]

7.2

Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, answered the bodhisattva Śāntamati, “Listen, noble son, as I teach through the majestic power and empowering authority of the Buddha. Śāntamati, the secrets of the realized ones are threefold. What are these three? They are the secret of body, the secret of speech, and the secret of mind.

Chapter 8: The Teaching of the Mystery and Secret of the Realized One’s Speech

8.1

Once again, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, spoke to the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati: “Śāntamati, what is the secret of the speech and the purity of the verbal action of the Realized One? During the period of time, Śāntamati, from the night when the Realized One awakens to unsurpassable and perfect awakening until the night when, having relinquished his life force, a realized one passes into complete cessation, the Realized One has not articulated and will not pronounce even a single syllable.106 [F.133.a] What is the cause of this? It is because, Śāntamati, a realized one is in a continuous state of meditative concentration. The realized one does not breathe in or breathe out. He does not begin any thought process or continue any thought process, and no speech emerges from what does not begin or continue any thought process. So, a realized one does not begin any thought process or continue any thought process or form any idea. He does not form any concept. He does not speak anything, he does not articulate anything, he does not pronounce anything; and yet, beings have the thought, ‘The Realized One is speaking.’

Chapter 9: The Secret of the Realized One’s Mind

9.1

Once more Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, spoke to the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati: “In this regard, Śāntamati, what is the secret of the mind of the realized ones and the purity of their mental action? Śāntamati, let me draw an analogy: Those beings who have been reborn among the classes of gods in the formless realm remain focused upon a single object of consciousness for eighty-four thousand eons. They do not change the object of their consciousness to a different object of consciousness so long as their concentration lasts until the time they die and acquire another rebirth in accordance with their accumulation of karma. In precisely the same way, Śāntamati, a realized one has a mind that is not fixed on anything, in such a way that from the night when the bodhisattva awakens to unsurpassable and perfect awakening until the night when the Realized One passes into complete cessation, the state of cessation that is free of any remaining thing, during the intervening time there is no modification of the Realized One’s mind; no mental activity; no mental examination; no forgetfulness of mind;143 no mental alteration;144 no measurement of mind; no excitement of mind;145 no mental conflict;146 no mental avoidance;147 no mental distraction; no mental elation; no mental depression; no mental protection; no movement of mind; no excessive joyfulness in the mind; no mental disturbance;148 no malice in the mind; no vacillation of mind; no special comprehension of mind; no mental stimulation; no mental pressure; no application of mind; no wandering of the mind; no formation of ideas in the mind; no mental conceptualization; no mental imagination; no calming state of mind, no deep mental insight; [F.144.b] no consciousness that chases after thoughts; no dwelling on one’s own thoughts; no mental perception of the thoughts of others; no support from the mind for the eye; no support from the mind for the intellect, the physical body, the tongue, nose, or ear; no support from the mind for visual forms; no support from the mind for thoughts, tactile sensations, tastes, smells, or sounds; no support from the mind for mental objects; no place in the mind for mental appearances; no mind that is without a place; no internal place for the mind; and no external place for the mind. He also has a mind that does not engage with things, a mind that does not engage with knowledge,149 and also a mind that is not perceived as being past, present, or future.

10.

Chapter 10: Celebrating the Virtues of Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas

10.1

Venerable Śāriputra then spoke to the Blessed One: “Throughout the ten directions, Blessed One, bodhisattvas of this Fortunate Eon are leading the holy life in the presence of blessed buddhas. Is there a Lord of the Guhyakas standing behind all these bodhisattvas?”

10.2

The Blessed One responded, “Enough, Śāriputra, such activity is inconceivable. The world including its gods would fall into confusion about the conduct of the bodhisattvas. Nevertheless, Śāriputra, those who have faith will be embraced by [F.146.a] companions in what is good and will not worry about this subject at all.”

11.

Chapter 11: The Exalted Nature of the Severe Ascetic Practices: The Method of Acquiring Food to Bring Beings to Maturity

11.1

The bodhisattva Śāntamati then requested Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, “Please use your inspired eloquence, Lord of the Guhyakas, to shine light on those occurrences that were the causes of wonders, beginning with a description of the splendid array of the Bodhisattva’s severe ascetic practices, his arrival at the seat of awakening, his defeat of Māra, and his turning of the wheel of Dharma, all of which you have witnessed.”

12.

Chapter 12: The Journey to the Seat of Awakening

12.1

“As soon as the Bodhisattva had washed his body and strength had returned to his body after he had eaten the food, he went to the seat of awakening. An earth-dwelling deity nearby there, named Subhūma, addressed all the earth-dwelling deities, saying:

12.2

“ ‘An earth bearer, unwavering and unshakeable,

Without craving and devoid of enmity,

The Bodhisattva is approaching that tree.

I will decorate the surface of the fertile ground.’

13.

Chapter 13: The Taming of the Māras

13.1

“Just as soon as the Bodhisattva took his seat upon the lion’s seat, Śāntamati, a ray of light issued from the tuft of hair between his eyebrows. This light is called challenging Māra, [F.154.a] and it reached a billion māras throughout the cosmos of a billion worlds and touched each of them in their respective abodes, which immediately gave them goose bumps. When they realized that their abodes were being consumed by the light and made dim in comparison, they thought to themselves, ‘What is the cause of this? For what reason have these abodes seemingly been made dim? Could it not be that a bodhisattva is seated on the seat of awakening and is awakening to unsurpassable, perfect awakening?’ Looking down, they saw that the Bodhisattva was seated at the seat of awakening.

14.

Chapter 14: The Turning of the Wheel of Dharma

14.1

“Indeed, Śāntamati, some gods and humans thought that the conquest of the māras had immeasurable differences in this way, while some thought that Māra was not approaching in any way at all.191 Some thought the Bodhisattva was seated upon a mat of grass, while some saw the Bodhisattva seated upon a lion’s seat resting on a splendid arrangement of lotus flowers made of jewels. Some saw the Bodhisattva situated upon the surface of the earth, while some saw the Bodhisattva seated upon a lion’s seat situated in the vault of the sky. Some saw the tree of awakening as the king of trees, the sacred fig tree; some saw it as the divine Pārijāta tree; some saw it as the divine Kovidāra grove.192 Some saw the tree of awakening as entirely made of jewels. Some gods and humans saw the tree of awakening as being equal in height to a palm tree, and they saw the lion’s seat as equal to half the height of a palm tree. Some saw the tree of awakening as being equal in height to seven palm trees, and they saw the lion’s seat to be equal in height to three and a half palm trees. Some saw the tree of awakening to be eighty-four thousand leagues in height and the lion’s seat to be forty-two thousand leagues in height.

15.

Chapter 15: The Bases of Cognition

15.1

Now Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, said to the Blessed One, “I hope, Blessed One, that I have not made any false statements about the Realized One in this teaching. Indeed, I hope that what I have said aligns with the teaching of the realized ones. Blessed One, the teaching of the realized ones is deep; Blessed One, the secret of the realized ones is profound. It runs counter to the whole world. The understanding of the minds of the realized ones, Blessed One, is truly difficult to grasp. What I have taught, Blessed One, is whatever knowledge of the realized ones has been established in my body and comes out in that way. It is not due to my own personal effort.”

16.

Chapter 16: The Prediction for Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas

16.1

At that point, some the bodhisattvas in the assembly had the thought, “When will Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, awaken to unsurpassable and perfect awakening and become a perfect buddha? What will his buddha realm be called? What will be his name when he attains awakening? [F.166.a] What will his assembly of bodhisattvas be like?”

17.

Chapter 17: Articulating Nonduality

17.1

At that point, the bodhisattva Śāntamati said this to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas: “The Realized One has made a prediction for you, Lord of the Guhyakas.”

Vajrapāṇi responded, “The prediction made for me, noble son, is one that has the nature of a dream.”

17.2

“What have you been predicted to obtain?”

“The prediction I have obtained, noble son, is for what does not obtain.”

18.

Chapter 18: Enjoying a Meal After Going to Aḍagavatī

18.1

Now, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was satisfied, overjoyed, pleased, and glad. He felt both delight and cheerfulness of mind at having received the prediction of the fulfillment of his intention. So he said to the Blessed One, “Would you please show compassion for me, Blessed One, and come with these bodhisattvas and great disciples to the capital city of Aḍagavatī in my abode of guhyakas and stay there for seven days? The reason, Blessed One, is that there are many different types of beings, such as yakṣas, kumbhāṇḍas, rākṣasas, piśācas, gandharvas, and mahoragas, dwelling in the capital city of Aḍagavatī. Seeing the Blessed One and hearing the Dharma will be to their benefit, prosperity, bliss, and aims for a long time, and from then on they will abstain from thoughts that are sullied by wickedness and anger. For the Four Great Kings and their assemblies, too, [F.171.a] it will be to their benefit, prosperity, bliss, and aims for a long time.”

19.

Chapter 19: The Protectors of the World

19.1

Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then asked [F.175.b] the Blessed One to teach the Dharma: “Please give a teaching that will introduce the guiding principles of the Dharma in such a way that those beings who have not yet conceived the aspiration for awakening will conceive the aspiration for awakening, and become firmly established in the state of being unable to be turned back from unsurpassable and perfect awakening, and so that it will be to the benefit, prosperity, bliss, and aims of this assembly of yakṣas, rākṣasas, pretas, piśācas, gandharvas, guhyakas, and mahoragas for a long time, and so that by this distinction they will rise to a state of distinction and will not give up any part of it.”

20.

Chapter 20: Going and Coming

20.1

At that point, the Blessed One had the thought, “I should make it so that the words of a mantra are heard in this assembly, the articulation of which ensures the well-being of the entire assembly and ensures the long-term availability of the awakening of the realized ones, too.”

20.2

The Blessed One then spoke to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas: “Lord of the Guhyakas, do you remember the words of the mantra that were spoken by me in the abode of the nāga king Apalāla, which I recalled as I was at the supreme point of the seat of awakening and spoke again for the well-being and benefit of the world?”

21.

Chapter 21: On Śūrabala

21.1

At that point, the Blessed One remained at the hill, Vulture Peak, together with the bodhisattvas and great disciples. The Blessed One rested in the afternoon and then he got up and taught the Dharma. Then the sixty thousand inhabitants of the great city of Rājagṛha, including King Ajātaśatru and his household, came to know that the Blessed One had returned. So in the afternoon they took flowers, incense, garlands, and scented oils, left the great city of Rājagṛha and came to the hill, Vulture Peak, and into the presence of the Blessed One. They bowed their heads at the Blessed One’s feet and sat to one side. As they were sitting to one side, King Ajātaśatru spoke to the Blessed One.

22.

Chapter 22: The Explanation of Ajātaśatru’s Questions

22.1

At that point, it occurred to King Ajātaśatru, “The vajra that Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, is holding in his right hand must be heavy, because if it is light, why is Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, said to possess incredibly great strength?”

22.2

Then, knowing with his own mind the train of thought of King Ajātaśatru, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, said to him, “It is, indeed, heavy, Great King, and it is light.”

23.

Chapter 23: On Bhadrarāja

23.1

At that point, the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati, said this to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas: “When the Blessed One creates magically created forms of himself, Lord of the Guhyakas, do you create magically created forms of yourself, too?”

23.2

Vajrapāṇi responded, “I am an eyewitness to what comes directly before the eyes of the Blessed One, Śāntamati, and therefore, even if the Realized One were to create magically created forms of the Realized One equal in number to the grains of sand in the Ganges River, then precisely that many magically created forms of me would accompany them, taking a variety of forms and making child’s play in a variety of ways. This, Śāntamati, is a natural consequence of the purification of my motivation in the past.”

24.

Chapter 24: The Inexhaustible Nature of the Analogies in Praise of the Virtues of Powerful Memory and the Formulas That Support It

24.1

The bodhisattva Śāntamati then asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, what kind of powerful mnemonic formula is the one called accessing the aspects of the Dharma?”

24.2

“Śāntamati,” the Blessed One answered, “accessing the aspects of the Dharma is the knowledge that accesses the imperishable in syllables.287 Śāntamati, all things have the syllable ā as their point of entry.288 All things have the syllable ā as their gateway; they are created from the syllable ā; they reach their end in the syllable ā. The syllable ā does the action in verbal action, [F.195.b] but the syllable ā does not know; it does not ascertain, and yet it is the point of entry to all things. This is why the powerful mnemonic formula is called accessing the aspects of the Dharma.

25.

Chapter 25: Entrusting the True Dharma

25.1

Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, empower this formulation of the Dharma so that it may be circulated in the latter time.”311

25.2

The Blessed One replied, “Lord of the Guhyakas, do you remember the words that protect the form of the Dharma,312 which were heard by me in the presence of the realized one Ratnacandra, so that I would take possession of the true Dharma?”

Colophon

c.1

Translated, edited, corrected according to the revised terminology, and finalized by the Indian scholars Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Munivarman, along with the chief editor and translator monk, Bandé Yeshé Dé.

Notes

n.1

For example, Étienne Lamotte once called the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa “perhaps the crown jewel of the Buddhist literature of the Great Vehicle,” in L’Enseignment de Vimalakīrti (Lamotte 1987, p. v), while more recently Jonathan Silk has made a softer claim, describing it as “one of the most radiant stars in the firmament of Mahāyāna sūtra literature,” on the back cover of Vimalakīrtinirdeśa: The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Gómez and Harrison 2022). On the appreciation (or lack thereof) of the Lalitavistara as a literary work, see Silk 2022, especially pp. 285 and following. We would also like to acknowledge here our indebtedness to Gómez and Harrison’s translation of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa. We have used many of their translation choices of terms and phrases in this translation, as well as their explanations for our glossary.

n.2

For the Sanskrit text of these passages, see Study Group on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature 2005, which also includes the Tibetan and Chinese translations. For a translation from Tibetan of the above passages, see Robert A. F. Thurman, trans., The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, Toh 176, 6.13 and 4.1 (2017).

n.3

The relevant passages are noted in the body of the translation. For the Sanskrit editions of these works, see the following: Lévi 1907; La Vallée Poussin 1903; and Tucci 1971; and for a translation of the final work, which is not extant in Sanskrit, see Gareth Sparham, trans., The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines, Toh 3808 (2022).

n.4

The relevant passages are cited in the body of the translation. For the former, a partial Sanskrit manuscript has recently been identified in Tibet, on which see Wang et al., 2020. A complete translation of it was made from Tibetan into English by Bhikkhu Pāsādika and published serially in the journal Linh-Son publication d’études bouddhiques, beginning with “The Sūtrasamuccaya – An English Translation from the Tibetan Version of the Sanskrit Original (I).” For the latter, the classical Sanskrit edition is Cecil Bendall’s Çikshāsamuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhistic Teaching; it has also been translated into English on two occasions: Cecil Bendall’s and W. H. D. Rouse’s Śikṣā Samuccaya (1922) and Charles Goodman’s The Training Anthology of Śāntideva (2016).

n.5

The relevant passages are cited in the body of the translation. Sanskrit edition: Bunyiu Nanjio, The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (1923); English translation: Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, The Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text (1932).

n.6

The relevant passages are cited in the body of the translation. It is also possible that the Tathāgataguhya reworks the passages as they are found in the Bodhisattvapiṭaka, or that both texts share a common source or sources. Parts of both passages are also quoted in the Śikṣāsamuccaya and Sūtrasamuccaya, and there they are explicitly attributed to the Tathāgataguhya. A Sanskrit edition of the Bodhisattvapiṭaka will be published in Liland et al. (forthcoming).

n.7

The relevant passages are cited in the body of the translation. For the list of citations of the sūtra in this text, see Lamotte 1970, p. 1638, n. 1. On the question of authorship and the nature of this important work, see Zacchetti 2021.

n.8

For a recent approach to the study of Buddhist literature as a form of literature, see Shaw 2021. A classic in the field of literary studies of the Bible is Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative (2011).

n.32

“Acceptance” (bzod pa, kṣānti) likely refers here to anutpattikadharmakṣānti, “acceptance of the fact that things do not arise,” which is said to constitute a definitive understanding of the emptiness of all phenomena. Possibly the same expression is used to describe Vimalakīrti in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, section 2.1, the Sanskrit for which reads pratilabdhakṣāntika. The Tibetan translation here and there is identical: bzod pa thob pa.

n.33

The Tibetan translation reads mngon par shes pa’i ye shes gyis rnam par rtsen pa, which we understand to be translating a Sanskrit compound similar to abhijñājñānavikrīḍita.

n.34

The Tibetan translation here is identical to what is also found in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, section 1.3, for which the underlying Sanskrit is likely nihatamārapratyarthika. The Tibetan renders this compound as a dvandva, “x and y,” whereas one could interpret it differently to say that the adversaries actually are Māra in all his forms. The idea behind the translation of “Māra in all his forms” is that Buddhist literature generally recognizes several types of Māra. See, for instance, the entry on Māra in Buswell and Lopez, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.

n.68

The Śikṣāsamuccaya quotes the sūtra from the beginning of this sentence up to and including this word, and then it selectively includes several more terms from this long list of attributes of the realized one’s speech. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126.

n.69

On the suspicion (perhaps wrong) that the Tibetan here, lung bstan pa la thogs pa, may be rendering the phrase kṣunavyākaraṇā, found in the passage quoted in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126. See also Edgerton’s entries on kṣuṇa and kṣūna.

n.70

The previous four phrases are quoted in a passage in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126.

n.71

Reading brlang following the Narthang and Zhol editions of Kangyur. Pedurma p. 320, n. 20.

n.72

This phrase, kha ’og tu lus ’khrus par mi byed pa’i tshigs, appears to correspond to the phrase pratijñottāraṇavacanā in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126. See also Edgerton’s entry on uttāraṇa, which discusses this phrase.

n.73

This phrase, mngon pa’i nga rgyal gyi brda sprod pa’i tshig, appears to correspond to the phrase ābhimānikavyākaraṇavacanā in the quotation in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. For the Sanskrit, see Bendall 1902, p. 126.

n.74

The last several words in this list are hard to discern as specific numbers and have therefore been given as a list increasing by powers of three.

n.106

This sentence is quoted, but without explicit reference to the Tathāgataguhya, and placed in the voice of the Buddha in a passage in the Lankāvatāra Sūtra, for which see Nanjio, pp. 142–43 and 240, for the Sanskrit, and the English translation by Suzuki, pp. 123–24 and 207. This passage is also quoted twice in Candrakīrti’s Prasannapadā, where it is explicitly said to come from the Tathāgataguhya Sūtra. The first citation is in the commentary on chapter 18, verse 7 of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā; the second citation is in the commentary on chapter 25, verse 24, the last verse in the chapter on the analysis of nirvāṇa. For the Sanskrit text, see La Vallée Poussin 1903, pp. 366–67 and 539–40. There are slight differences between the sentence as it is quoted in the Prasannapadā and the passage as found in the Sanskrit manuscript and the Tibetan translation of this sūtra, but after quoting this sentence, Candrakīrti appears to continue to cite or paraphrase this sūtra. In neither case, however, does there seem to be an exact equivalency to what is found in the extant Sanskrit manuscript or the Tibetan translation. In this respect, it would be interesting to compare the Prasannapadā with the earlier Chinese translation of the sūtra. After the first quotation of the sentence above, Candrakīrti says, “How, then, is the teaching of the Dharma taught by the Blessed One to all the various kinds of folk who are ready to the trained, beginning with gods (sura), asuras, humans (nara), kinnaras, siddhas, vidyādharas, and uragas (i.e., nāgas)? With the mere utterance of speech for a single moment, [a speech that is] a great light, reddish like the sun in autumn, a light that removes the darkness from the minds of those beings (tatajjanamanastamoharaṇī), opens the manifold thickets of the lotuses of their intellects, dries up the oceans and rivers of old age and death, and surpasses the magnitude of the light rays from the seven suns of the fiery conflagration [at the end] of the eon.” Then follows the quotation of the three metaphors in verse from this sūtra for which the references are given when they occur. What follows the second quotation by Candrakīrti of the sentence above is the following: “Moreover, all beings, whose aspirations and constituent elements vary, understand the speech that comes from the Realized One variously in accordance with their level of dedication. And each and every one of them has the thought, ‘The Blessed One is teaching this Dharma to us; we are hearing the Realized One’s teaching of the Dharma.’ In this regard, the Realized One does not form an idea; he does not form a concept. For, indeed, Śāntamati, the Realized One is devoid of all vain imaginings or lingering traces of the web of thoughts and concepts.” This second passage seems quite similar to parts of the passage that follows this one in the main text and part of a passage found a few paragraphs further below in the sūtra. After what was just translated, the second quotation in the Prasannapadā continues with a verse and several more lines that pursue a similar theme, at the end of which Candrakīrti says, “All of this has been explained at length in ‘The Chapter on the Secret of the Speech of the Realized One’ (tathāgatavāgguhyaparivarta).” The main statement above is also quoted at the beginning of The Long Explanation of the Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand Lines‍—see section 1.81.8‍—where again the quotation appears to differ slightly from the passage as found in the extant Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra.

n.143

Following the Sanskrit manuscript, which reads cittavismṛti. This phrase seems to be absent from the Tibetan translation, as the next Tibetan phrase reads thugs la ’gyur ba mi mnga’, which looks like a translation of the Sanskrit phrase cittapariṇāma or “alteration of mind,” which is absent in the Sanskrit manuscript.

n.144

This phrase is added from the Tibetan translation. It seems to be absent from the Sanskrit manuscript, as stated in the previous note.

n.145

Following the Sanskrit manuscript, which reads cittasaṃharṣanaṃ. This phrase seems to be absent from the Tibetan translation, as the next phrase reads thugs la ’grug pa or thugs la ’grul pa, “mental conflict” or “mental confusion.”

n.146

This phrase is added from the Tibetan translation. It seems to be absent from the Sanskrit manuscript, as stated in the previous note.

n.147

This phrase, thugs la sel ba mi mnga’, is added from the Tibetan translation. It seems to be absent from the Sanskrit manuscript.

n.148

Following the Tibetan rnam par ’khrug pa, which suggests emending the Sanskrit manuscript to vikopana from its present reading, vilokana.

n.149

This phrase follows the Tibetan. It is lacking in the Sanskrit manuscript.

n.191

The Sanskrit manuscript here reads kecid sarveṇa sarvaṃ māraṃ nopasaṃkrāmantam iti saṃjāṃte [sic], and the Tibetan translation seems to reflect this reading: kha cig gis ni bdud yongs thams cad du ma ’ongs par shes so. The Tibetan interprets the verb form upasaṃkrāmanta in the common sense of “approaching” or “arriving,” and it is used several times in this way previously in this sūtra. However, as Edgerton notes in his entry on the term upasaṃkramati, the same verb can be used in the sense of “violently attack,” and thus it is possible to see a play on words here or simply to translate it as follows: “some thought that Māra was not assaulting him in any way at all.”

n.192

Following the Sanskrit, which reads kecit pārijātaṃ kecit kovidāraṃ, seemingly suggesting that there is a distinction to be made between the two. The Tibetan translation reads kha cig gis ni byang chub kyi shing yongs ’du sa brtol du mthong ngo, which suggests that the translators understood pārijāta and kovidāra to be referring to a single tree, perhaps a huge banyan tree with multiple trunks forming a single canopy. See Edgerton’s entries on pāriyātra and kovidāra for explanation and disambiguation.

n.287

There are several layers of punning that occur in this paragraph. The first point is simply to note that the term rendered here and below as “accessing,” anupraveśa in Sanskrit and translated into Tibetan as rjes su ’jug pa, has the primary sense of entering, and the strong secondary meaning here of understanding. Both meanings are implied here simultaneously. Secondly, in this sentence there seems to be a play on the word akṣara, first in the meaning of what is “imperishable” or “unchangeable” (that is, nirvāṇa), and secondly in the sense of “a syllable” or a written character of a syllabary, what an English speaker would call a letter of the alphabet. This pun seems to have been missed by the Tibetan translation, which translates both uses of the term with yi ge (“syllable”), and thus the Tibetan could be translated as “the knowledge that accesses the syllables in the syllables.”

n.288

There is a pun here on the word ākāra, which can mean both “aspect,” as it does in the name of this dhāraṇī, and “the syllable ā.” The Tibetan translation also picks up on this pun and translates here accordingly, a shes bya ba. There is also the play again on the two meanings of the word dharma, “teaching” and “thing.” Also, we alternated the translation of anupraveśa here with “point of entry.”

n.311

Following the Sanskrit manuscript here, and translating the verb pracaret as “may be circulated,” as it was translated in a similar context earlier. The Tibetan translation of spyod pa is closer to “may be practiced.” The Tibetan translation here also has the slightly more elaborate expression in the second half of the sentence, similar to what was seen earlier in both Sanskrit and Tibetan, and may be translated as “…so that it may be practiced (spyod pa) in Jambudvīpa in the latter time, that is, in the final five-hundred-year period of the Dharma.”

n.312

On the translation of gupti here as “form” in the phrase “words that protect the form of the Dharma” (dharmaguptyārakṣaṇapada), see Edgerton’s entry on the term gupti. The Tibetan translation of this term is sba ba (“hiding” or “place of concealment”), which reflects the ordinary meaning of the term in Sanskrit.

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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.

g.1

a feeling of remorse

khrel yod pa

ཁྲེལ་ཡོད་པ།

apatrāpya

g.2

a sense of shame

ngo tsha shes pa

ངོ་ཚ་ཤེས་པ།

hrī

g.3

Abhiratī

mngon par dga’ ba

མངོན་པར་དགའ་བ།

abhirati
abhiratī

g.7

acceptance

bzod pa

བཟོད་པ།

kṣānti

g.8

acceptance of the fact that things do not arise

mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa

མི་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཆོས་ལ་བཟོད་པ།

anutpattikadharmakṣānti

The third and final stage of the three levels of intellectual receptivity or acceptance (kṣānti) of the Dharma. Tantamount to an acceptance of the emptiness of all things, the fact that they do not arise or cease as substantial or essentially real phenomena. It follows from the second level of acceptance, which brings one into conformity with the Dharma (ānulomikadharmakṣānti), which is in turn preceded by a first stage of acceptance in which one follows the voice (ghoṣānugā kṣānti) of the teacher of the Dharma. This is a distinctive but related use of the term kṣānti, which is also translated in this sūtra as “patience,” when it refers to the perfection (pāramitā) and virtue of patience more generally.

g.10

accumulation

tshogs

ཚོགས།

saṃbhāra

g.11

Aḍagavatī

lcang lo can

ལྕང་ལོ་ཅན།

aḍagavatī

The name of the capital city in the abode of Vajrapāṇi, as attested in the Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra. The manuscript of the sūtra contains the variant spelling Abhagavatī, which could be a spelling error, though it occurs multiple times in the manuscript. The spelling of the name can vary in other texts, too, as the same term is attested for Alakāvatī, Aḍakavatī, and Aṭakāvatī in other sources. Its precise relationship to Alakāvatī, the capital of Vaiśravaṇa, as given in the Mahābhārata, is not entirely clear.

g.14

Ajātaśatru

ma skyes dgra

མ་སྐྱེས་དགྲ།

ajātaśatru

g.29

Apalāla

sog ma med

སོག་མ་མེད།

apalāla

g.32

ascetic

dge sbyong

དགེ་སྦྱོང་།

śramaṇa

g.33

aspiration for awakening

byang chub kyi sems

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས།

bodhicitta

g.34

asura

lha ma yin

ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།

asura

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).

g.44

bodhisattva of great courage

byang chub sems dpa’ chen po

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།

bodhisattvo mahāsattvaḥ

g.46

brahmā

tshangs pa

ཚངས་པ།

brahmā

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A high-ranking deity presiding over a divine world; he is also considered to be the lord of the Sahā world (our universe). Though not considered a creator god in Buddhism, Brahmā occupies an important place as one of two gods (the other being Indra/Śakra) said to have first exhorted the Buddha Śākyamuni to teach the Dharma. The particular heavens found in the form realm over which Brahmā rules are often some of the most sought-after realms of higher rebirth in Buddhist literature. Since there are many universes or world systems, there are also multiple Brahmās presiding over them. His most frequent epithets are “Lord of the Sahā World” (sahāṃpati) and Great Brahmā (mahābrahman).

g.47

Brahmā Śikhin

tshangs pa gtsug phud can

ཚངས་པ་གཙུག་ཕུད་ཅན།

brahmā śikhī

g.55

celibacy

tshangs par spyod pa

ཚངས་པར་སྤྱོད་པ།

brahmacarya

g.56

cessation

mya ngan las ’das pa

མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།

nirvāṇa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Sanskrit, the term nirvāṇa literally means “extinguishment” and the Tibetan mya ngan las ’das pa literally means “gone beyond sorrow.” As a general term, it refers to the cessation of all suffering, afflicted mental states (kleśa), and causal processes (karman) that lead to rebirth and suffering in cyclic existence, as well as to the state in which all such rebirth and suffering has permanently ceased.

More specifically, three main types of nirvāṇa are identified. (1) The first type of nirvāṇa, called nirvāṇa with remainder (sopadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), is the state in which arhats or buddhas have attained awakening but are still dependent on the conditioned aggregates until their lifespan is exhausted. (2) At the end of life, given that there are no more causes for rebirth, these aggregates cease and no new aggregates arise. What occurs then is called nirvāṇa without remainder ( anupadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), which refers to the unconditioned element (dhātu) of nirvāṇa in which there is no remainder of the aggregates. (3) The Mahāyāna teachings distinguish the final nirvāṇa of buddhas from that of arhats, the nirvāṇa of arhats not being considered ultimate. The buddhas attain what is called nonabiding nirvāṇa (apratiṣṭhitanirvāṇa), which transcends the extremes of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, i.e., existence and peace. This is the nirvāṇa that is the goal of the Mahāyāna path.

In this text:

This has also been rendered as “nirvāṇa.”

g.57

chastity

tshangs par spyod pa

ཚངས་པར་སྤྱོད་པ།

brahmacarya

g.58

child’s play

rnam par ’phrul pa

རྣམ་པར་འཕྲུལ་པ།

vikrīḍita

g.59

companion in the good

dge ba’i bshes gnyen

དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན།

kalyāṇamitra

g.60

complete cessation

yongs su mya ngan las ’das pa
yongs su mya ngan las ’da’ ba

ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།
ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདའ་བ།

parinirvāṇa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

This refers to what occurs at the end of an arhat’s or a buddha’s life. When nirvāṇa is attained at awakening, whether as an arhat or buddha, all suffering, afflicted mental states (kleśa), and causal processes (karman) that lead to rebirth and suffering in cyclic existence have ceased, but due to previously accumulated karma, the aggregates of that life remain and must still exhaust themselves. It is only at the end of life that these cease, and since no new aggregates arise, the arhat or buddha is said to attain parinirvāṇa, meaning “complete” or “final” nirvāṇa. This is synonymous with the attainment of nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣanirvāṇa).

According to the Mahāyāna view of a single vehicle (ekayāna), the arhat’s parinirvāṇa at death, despite being so called, is not final. The arhat must still enter the bodhisattva path and reach buddhahood (see Unraveling the Intent, Toh 106, 7.14.) On the other hand, the parinirvāṇa of a buddha, ultimately speaking, should be understood as a display manifested for the benefit of beings; see The Teaching on the Extraordinary Transformation That Is the Miracle of Attaining the Buddha’s Powers (Toh 186), 1.32.

The term parinirvāṇa is also associated specifically with the passing away of the Buddha Śākyamuni, in Kuśinagara, in northern India.

g.61

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.62

conducive to the forms of penetrating insight

nges par ’byed pa’i cha dang ’thun pa

ངེས་པར་འབྱེད་པའི་ཆ་དང་འཐུན་པ།

nirvedhabhāgīya

g.63

confidence

’jigs pa med pa
mi ’jigs pa

འཇིགས་པ་མེད་པ།
མི་འཇིགས་པ།

vaiśaradya

g.66

constitutive factors of awakening

byang chub kyi yan lag

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག

bodhyaṅga

g.67

cosmos of a billion worlds

stong gsum gyi stong chen po’i ’jig rten gyi khams

སྟོང་གསུམ་གྱི་སྟོང་ཆེན་པོའི་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས།

trisāhasramahāsāhasralokadhātu

Sometimes rendered “trichiliocosm,” this term refers to a container (dhātu) of worlds (loka) numbering one thousand to the third power, which equals one billion. It is sometimes contrasted with smaller groups of worlds translated herein as “a galaxy of a thousand worlds” and “a galaxy of a hundred thousand worlds.” While in English, the cosmos refers to the entire universe of many billions of galaxies, in present usage following Buddhist cosmology, it may represent only one of many universes.

g.75

desire realm

’dod pa’i khams

འདོད་པའི་ཁམས།

kāmadhātu

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Buddhist cosmology, this is our own realm, the lowest and most coarse of the three realms of saṃsāra. It is called this because beings here are characterized by their strong longing for and attachment to the pleasures of the senses. The desire realm includes hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, asuras, and the lowest six heavens of the gods‍—from the Heaven of the Four Great Kings (cāturmahārājika) up to the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations (paranirmitavaśavartin). Located above the desire realm is the form realm (rūpadhātu) and the formless realm (ārūpyadhātu).

g.78

dhāraṇī

gzungs

གཟུངས།

dhāraṇī

From the Sanskrit verb dhṛ (“to hold”), the term refers to the ability to hold or retain the Buddha’s teachings in the memory, and the specific mnemonic formulas or aids to doing so, which also distill the teachings into shorter utterances. From there the term also carries a strong sense that such formulas or devices, when spoken or rehearsed in the mind, have extraordinary power to effect change in the world and in oneself.

g.84

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

yul ’khor srung

ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་།

dhṛtarāṣṭra

g.87

discernment

shes rab

ཤེས་རབ།

prajñā

g.88

disciple

nyan thos

ཉན་ཐོས།

śrāvaka

A term for the Buddha’s followers, those who heard his teachings and were responsible for preserving and spreading them. The term derives from the verb śru (“to hear”), and can thus mean “one who hears,” but it is also closely connected to the senses of “learning” (śravaṇa) and of “causing (something) to be heard” (śrāvaṇa). In these ways, the term has some similarities in the meaning and usage to the English word disciple, which derives from a Latin verb that means to learn. The term śrāvaka is used in some Buddhist texts, such as this sūtra, as distinct from and sometimes in opposition to the “solitary buddha” (pratyekabuddha) and the bodhisattva.

g.90

divine eyesight

lha’i mig

ལྷའི་མིག

divyacakṣus

g.91

divine hearing

lha’i rna ba

ལྷའི་རྣ་བ།

divyaśrotra

g.94

element

khams

ཁམས།

dhātu

Eighteen collections of similar elements or factors of experience, under which all compounded and uncompounded things may be included: the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, plus their objects: visible forms, sounds, smells, flavors, tangible things, and mental phenomena, plus the six elements of consciousness that arises from the interaction of each of the preceding twelve. They constitute one system of categorizing the constituent parts of sentient experience.

g.95

empowering authority

byin gyi rlabs

བྱིན་གྱི་རླབས།

adhiṣṭhāna

A challenging term that derives from a Sanskrit verb that can mean to authorize or empower as well as to stand over, depend on, or serve as a basis for something. As a noun, it can refer to one’s determination or resolve that something be the case, and the object of one’s resolution. Its noun and verb forms are also used in this and other sūtras to convey a sense of extraordinary mastery and power, a kind of superhuman willpower to make things happen.

g.100

Excellent King

bzang po’i rgyal po

བཟང་པོའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

g.106

form realm

gzugs kyi khams

གཟུགས་ཀྱི་ཁམས།

rūpadhātu

g.107

formless realm

gzugs med pa’i khams

གཟུགས་མེད་པའི་ཁམས།

ārūpyadhātu
arūpadhātu

The highest of the three realms of saṃsāra, characterized by the fact that the beings reborn there dwell in deep states of meditation. It is divided in four levels according to each of the four formless meditations (ārūpyāvacaradhyāna), namely, the Sphere of Infinite Space (Ākāśānantyāyatana), the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness (Vijñānānantyāyatana), the Sphere of Nothingness (Akiñcanyāyatana), and the Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-perception (Naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana).

g.109

four dwellings of Brahmā

tshangs pa’i gnas pa bzhi

ཚངས་པའི་གནས་པ་བཞི།

caturbrahmavihāra

g.110

Four Great Kings

rgyal chen bzhi

རྒྱལ་ཆེན་བཞི།

cāturmahārāja

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Four gods who live on the lower slopes (fourth level) of Mount Meru in the eponymous Heaven of the Four Great Kings (Cāturmahārājika, rgyal chen bzhi’i ris) and guard the four cardinal directions. Each is the leader of a nonhuman class of beings living in his realm. They are Dhṛtarāṣṭra, ruling the gandharvas in the east; Virūḍhaka, ruling over the kumbhāṇḍas in the south; Virūpākṣa, ruling the nāgas in the west; and Vaiśravaṇa (also known as Kubera) ruling the yakṣas in the north. Also referred to as Guardians of the World or World Protectors (lokapāla, ’jig rten skyong ba).

g.113

Full Array

rnam par brgyan pa

རྣམ་པར་བརྒྱན་པ།

g.117

gandharva

dri za

དྲི་ཟ།

gandharva

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of generally benevolent nonhuman beings who inhabit the skies, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds, and more specifically to dwell on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru, where they are ruled by the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. They are most renowned as celestial musicians who serve the gods. In the Abhidharma, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by sentient beings during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances (gandha) in the desire realm, hence the Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”

g.119

garuḍa

nam mkha’ lding

ནམ་མཁའ་ལྡིང་།

garuḍa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Indian mythology, the garuḍa is an eagle-like bird that is regarded as the king of all birds, normally depicted with a sharp, owl-like beak, often holding a snake, and with large and powerful wings. They are traditionally enemies of the nāgas. In the Vedas, they are said to have brought nectar from the heavens to earth. Garuḍa can also be used as a proper name for a king of such creatures.

g.121

Great Brahmā, sovereign of this Sahā world

tshangs pa chen po mi mjed kyi bdag po

ཚངས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་མི་མཇེད་ཀྱི་བདག་པོ།

mahābrahmā sahāṃpatiḥ

The brahmā deity who is sometimes called Sahāṃpati, “sovereign of this Sahā world.” This is the name given to the great brahmā deity described in this sūtra as the lord (īśvara) of the cosmos of a billion worlds. The name attested in the Sanskrit manuscript. Also called Great Brahmā (mahābrahmā) or even simply Brahmā in this sūtra and elsewhere, as well as vaśavartin, the “powerful one.” In this sūtra, he also seems to be identified with Brahmā Śikhin, but at the same time Brahmā should be distinguished from the class of brahmā deities who dwell in the Brahmā heavens over which Great Brahmā is also lord.

g.125

guhyaka

gsang ba pa

གསང་བ་པ།

guhyaka

A class of nonhuman beings, similar to yakṣas and perhaps synonymous with them in some contexts. They are closely associated with Kubera or Vaiśravaṇa, the lokapāla and god of wealth who is one of the Four Great Kings, but they also have a strong association with Vajrapāṇi, especially in this sūtra. Guhyakas are sometimes considered the guardians of Vaiśravaṇa’s treasure, or even hidden treasures in general, such as veins of gold and other lodes of precious substances concealed or hidden (guhya) beneath the ground. In this way, the terms guhyaka (“divine guardian of hidden treasure”), and guhya (“secret” or “hidden treasure”), play off each other throughout this sūtra.

g.137

Heaven of Brahmā’s Assembly

tshangs ris

ཚངས་རིས།

brahmakāyika

g.148

Heaven of the Four Great Kings

rgyal chen bzhi’i ris

རྒྱལ་ཆེན་བཞིའི་རིས།

caturmahārājika

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the heavens of Buddhist cosmology, lowest among the six heavens of the desire realm (kāmadhātu, ’dod khams). Dwelling place of the Four Great Kings (caturmahārāja, rgyal chen bzhi), traditionally located on a terrace of Sumeru, just below the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Each cardinal direction is ruled by one of the Four Great Kings and inhabited by a different class of nonhuman beings as their subjects: in the east, Dhṛtarāṣṭra rules the gandharvas; in the south, Virūḍhaka rules the kumbhāṇḍas; in the west, Virūpākṣa rules the nāgas; and in the north, Vaiśravaṇa rules the yakṣas.

g.149

Heaven of the Thirty-Three

sum cu rtsa gsum

སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གསུམ།

trāyastriṃśa

g.150

Heaven of Those Who Possess the Power to Transform Others’ Delight into Their Own

gzhan ’phrul dbang byed

གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད།

paranirmitavaśavartin

g.154

heroic effort

brtson
brtson ’grus

བརྩོན།
བརྩོན་འགྲུས།

vīrya

g.155

holy life

tshangs par spyad pa spyod pa
tshangs par spyod pa

ཚངས་པར་སྤྱད་པ་སྤྱོད་པ།
ཚངས་པར་སྤྱོད་པ།

brahmacarya

g.156

incalculable eon

bskal pa grangs med pa

བསྐལ་པ་གྲངས་མེད་པ།

asaṃkhyeyakalpa

The name of a certain kind of kalpa that literally means “incalculable.” The number of years in this kalpa differs in the various sūtras that give it a number. Also, twenty intermediate kalpas are said to be one incalculable kalpa, and four incalculable kalpas are one great kalpa. In light of that, those four incalculable kalpas represent the kalpas of the creation, presence, destruction, and absence of a world. Buddhas are often described as appearing in a second “incalculable” kalpa.

g.157

inconceivable

bsam gyis mi khyab pa

བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ།

acintya

g.160

inspired eloquence

spobs pa

སྤོབས་པ།

pratibhāna

g.166

Jambudvīpa

’dzam bu’i gling

འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་།

jambudvīpa

The southern continent in a four-continent world, and the location where this sūtra assumes its implied audience lives in the narrative present of the work. According to Buddhist cosmology, this continent is shaped somewhat like an isosceles trapezoid with a wide top side and a very narrow bottom side, a shape that is not too dissimilar from that of the Indian subcontinent. It takes its name from the jambu fruit, which is often translated “rose apple”.

g.180

King Arrangement of Manifold Precious Virtues Without End

yon tan mtha’ yas rin chen sna tshogs bkod pa’i rgyal po

ཡོན་ཏན་མཐའ་ཡས་རིན་ཆེན་སྣ་ཚོགས་བཀོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

g.181

kinnara

mi’am ci

མིའམ་ཅི།

kinnara

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings that resemble humans to the degree that their very name‍—which means “is that human?”‍—suggests some confusion as to their divine status. Kinnaras are mythological beings found in both Buddhist and Brahmanical literature, where they are portrayed as creatures half human, half animal. They are often depicted as highly skilled celestial musicians.

g.182

knowledge

ye shes

ཡེ་ཤེས།

jñāna

g.185

kumbhāṇḍa

grul bum

གྲུལ་བུམ།

kumbhāṇḍa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of dwarf beings subordinate to Virūḍhaka, one of the Four Great Kings, associated with the southern direction. The name uses a play on the word aṇḍa, which means “egg” but is also a euphemism for a testicle. Thus, they are often depicted as having testicles as big as pots (from kumbha, or “pot”).

g.187

Kusumottama

me tog dam pa

མེ་ཏོག་དམ་པ།

kusumottama

g.189

league

dpag tshad

དཔག་ཚད།

yojana

g.192

Light

snang ba

སྣང་བ།

g.193

limited to only one more life

skye ba gcig gis thogs pa

སྐྱེ་བ་གཅིག་གིས་ཐོགས་པ།

ekajātipratibaddha

g.194

lokapāla

’jig rten skyong ba

འཇིག་རྟེན་སྐྱོང་བ།

lokapāla

g.196

Lovely Illumination

bskal pa mdzes pa

བསྐལ་པ་མཛེས་པ།

g.198

magically created form

sprul pa

སྤྲུལ་པ།

nirmita

g.201

mahoraga

lto ’phye chen po

ལྟོ་འཕྱེ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahoraga

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally “great serpents,” mahoragas are supernatural beings depicted as large, subterranean beings with human torsos and heads and the lower bodies of serpents. Their movements are said to cause earthquakes, and they make up a class of subterranean geomantic spirits whose movement through the seasons and months of the year is deemed significant for construction projects.

g.203

majestic power

sangs rgyas kyi mthu

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་མཐུ།

anubhāva

g.208

Māra

bdud

བདུད།

māra

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Māra, literally “death” or “maker of death,” is the name of the deva who tried to prevent the Buddha from achieving awakening, the name given to the class of beings he leads, and also an impersonal term for the destructive forces that keep beings imprisoned in saṃsāra:

(1) As a deva, Māra is said to be the principal deity in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations (paranirmitavaśavartin), the highest paradise in the desire realm. He famously attempted to prevent the Buddha’s awakening under the Bodhi tree‍—see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.1‍—and later sought many times to thwart the Buddha’s activity. In the sūtras, he often also creates obstacles to the progress of śrāvakas and bodhisattvas. (2) The devas ruled over by Māra are collectively called mārakāyika or mārakāyikadevatā, the “deities of Māra’s family or class.” In general, these māras too do not wish any being to escape from saṃsāra, but can also change their ways and even end up developing faith in the Buddha, as exemplified by Sārthavāha; see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.14 and 21.43. (3) The term māra can also be understood as personifying four defects that prevent awakening, called (i) the divine māra (devaputramāra), which is the distraction of pleasures; (ii) the māra of Death (mṛtyumāra), which is having one’s life interrupted; (iii) the māra of the aggregates (skandhamāra), which is identifying with the five aggregates; and (iv) the māra of the afflictions (kleśamāra), which is being under the sway of the negative emotions of desire, hatred, and ignorance.

g.210

marks of a great person

skyes bu chen po’i mtshan

སྐྱེས་བུ་ཆེན་པོའི་མཚན།

mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇa

g.212

maruta

rlung lha

རླུང་ལྷ།

maruta

g.217

meditation

bsam gtan

བསམ་གཏན།

dhyāna

g.218

Meghavatī

sprin ldan

སྤྲིན་ལྡན།

meghavatī

g.219

Melodious King of Clouds

sprin dbyangs rgyal po

སྤྲིན་དབྱངས་རྒྱལ་པོ།

g.222

motivation

bsam pa

བསམ་པ།

āśaya

g.223

Mount Meru

ri rab

རི་རབ།

sumeru

g.225

mystery

bsam gyis mi khyab pa

བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ།

acintya

Derived from a verb that means “to think,” this term can be used as a noun or an adjective to describe something that cannot be conceived or understood. In that sense, the term overlaps with the sense of the English word mystery. The term is often found in this sūtra in close association with the term guhya (“secret”), and also used as an adjective in combination with dharma (“thing” or “quality”). Rendered that way, it can also be used in the sense of an inconceivably large number of things.

g.226

nāga

ཀླུ།

nāga

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings who live in subterranean aquatic environments, where they guard wealth and sometimes also teachings. Nāgas are associated with serpents and have a snakelike appearance. In Buddhist art and in written accounts, they are regularly portrayed as half human and half snake, and they are also said to have the ability to change into human form. Some nāgas are Dharma protectors, but they can also bring retribution if they are disturbed. They may likewise fight one another, wage war, and destroy the lands of others by causing lightning, hail, and flooding.

g.235

nirvāṇa

mya ngan las ’das pa

མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།

nirvāṇa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In this text:

This has also been rendered as “cessation.”

g.238

noble son

rigs kyi bu

རིགས་ཀྱི་བུ།

kulaputra

g.241

palm tree

shing ta la

ཤིང་ཏ་ལ།

tāla

g.246

patience

bzod pa

བཟོད་པ།

kṣānti

g.249

piśāca

sha za

ཤ་ཟ།

piśāca

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings that, like several other classes of nonhuman beings, take spontaneous birth. Ranking below rākṣasas, they are less powerful and more akin to pretas. They are said to dwell in impure and perilous places, where they feed on impure things, including flesh. This could account for the name piśāca, which possibly derives from √piś, to carve or chop meat, as reflected also in the Tibetan sha za, “meat eater.” They are often described as having an unpleasant appearance, and at times they appear with animal bodies. Some possess the ability to enter the dead bodies of humans, thereby becoming so-called vetāla, to touch whom is fatal.

g.252

powerful memory and the formulas that support it

gzungs

གཟུངས།

dhāraṇī

g.258

prediction

lung bstan pa

ལུང་བསྟན་པ།

vyākaraṇa

g.259

preta

yi dags

ཡི་དགས།

preta

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, into which beings are born as the karmic fruition of past miserliness. As the term in Sanskrit means “the departed,” they are analogous to the ancestral spirits of Vedic tradition, the pitṛs, who starve without the offerings of descendants. It is also commonly translated as “hungry ghost” or “starving spirit,” as in the Chinese 餓鬼 e gui.

They are sometimes said to reside in the realm of Yama, but are also frequently described as roaming charnel grounds and other inhospitable or frightening places along with piśācas and other such beings. They are particularly known to suffer from great hunger and thirst and the inability to acquire sustenance.

g.261

protectors of the world

’jig rten skyong ba

འཇིག་རྟེན་སྐྱོང་བ།

lokapāla

g.265

Rājagṛha

rgyal po’i khab

རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁབ།

rājagṛha

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The ancient capital of Magadha prior to its relocation to Pāṭaliputra during the Mauryan dynasty, Rājagṛha is one of the most important locations in Buddhist history. The literature tells us that the Buddha and his saṅgha spent a considerable amount of time in residence in and around Rājagṛha‍—in nearby places, such as the Vulture Peak Mountain (Gṛdhrakūṭaparvata), a major site of the Mahāyāna sūtras, and the Bamboo Grove (Veṇuvana)‍—enjoying the patronage of King Bimbisāra and then of his son King Ajātaśatru. Rājagṛha is also remembered as the location where the first Buddhist monastic council was held after the Buddha Śākyamuni passed into parinirvāṇa. Now known as Rajgir and located in the modern Indian state of Bihar.

g.266

rākṣasa

srin po

སྲིན་པོ།

rākṣasa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings that are often, but certainly not always, considered demonic in the Buddhist tradition. They are often depicted as flesh-eating monsters who haunt frightening places and are ugly and evil-natured with a yearning for human flesh, and who additionally have miraculous powers, such as being able to change their appearance.

g.269

Ratnacandra

rin chen zla ba

རིན་ཆེན་ཟླ་བ།

ratnacandra

g.274

realized one

de bzhin gshegs pa

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ།

tathāgata

A common epithet of the buddhas, translated into Tibetan as “the one gone thus,” from which one gets the translation “thus-gone one.” The term has a sense of literal movement, of having “gone” or “come” somewhere, but it also carries the sense of having “realized” something, in both senses of having understood it and made it real. In some traditional explanations of the term, the adverb tathā (“thus” or “in that way”) is therefore connected to tathatā (“the way things are”).

g.278

Resounding Musical Sound

sgra dbyangs bsgrags pa

སྒྲ་དབྱངས་བསྒྲགས་པ།

g.279

revered one

btsun pa

བཙུན་པ།

bhadanta

g.281

Roca

mos pa

མོས་པ།

roca

g.285

Sahā

mi mjed

མི་མཇེད།

sahā

A name for the “world” or perhaps “galaxy” or “world system,” more literally, “the container of worlds” (lokadhātu), that forms the extent of the Buddha Śākyamuni’s domain. Its name suggests that it is a world in which beings experience suffering. It could also be described as the extent of the world over which Great Brahmā is said to be the lord and sovereign god (Sahāṃpati). Opinions vary over the precise extent of Sahā, and its expanse seems to have extended over time. For the purposes of this sūtra, it is sometimes equated with “the cosmos of a billion worlds.” More generally, it can also be conceived as the world in which the implied target audience of the sūtra can locate themselves, the place where we are located.

g.286

Śakra

brgya byin

བརྒྱ་བྱིན།

śakra

g.287

Śākyasiṃha

shAkya seng ge

ཤཱཀྱ་སེང་གེ

śākyasiṃha

g.293

saṃsāra

’khor ba

འཁོར་བ།

saṃsāra

g.294

Śāntamati

zhi ba’i blo gros

ཞི་བའི་བློ་གྲོས།

śāntamati

g.296

Śāriputra

shA ri’i bu

ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ།

śāriputra

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the principal śrāvaka disciples of the Buddha, he was renowned for his discipline and for having been praised by the Buddha as foremost of the wise (often paired with Maudgalyāyana, who was praised as foremost in the capacity for miraculous powers). His father, Tiṣya, to honor Śāriputra’s mother, Śārikā, named him Śāradvatīputra, or, in its contracted form, Śāriputra, meaning “Śārikā’s Son.”

g.303

seat of awakening

byang chub kyi snying po

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ།

bodhimaṇḍa

g.304

secret

gsang ba

གསང་བ།

guhya

g.305

self-assurance

’jigs pa med pa
mi ’jigs pa

འཇིགས་པ་མེད་པ།
མི་འཇིགས་པ།

vaiśaradya

g.313

solitary buddha

rang sangs rgyas

རང་སངས་རྒྱས།

pratyekabuddha

A category of awakened being (buddha) who is variously described as having attained awakening but not then teaching the Dharma to others, and as attaining awakening without relying on a teacher. In this way, the solitary buddha is sometimes contrasted with the “disciple” (śrāvaka) and the “perfect, fully awakened buddha” (saṃyaksambuddha), as well as with the bodhisattava who aspires to become a fully awakened buddha.

g.322

Subhūma

bzangs

བཟངས།

subhūma

g.327

supernormal faculties

mngon par shes pa
mngon shes

མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ།
མངོན་ཤེས།

abhijñā

Derived from a verb that has the sense of direct knowing, this term refers to a number of types of extraordinary knowledge and powers, grouped as five or six. When stated to be five, they include the first five of the list that follows: (1) various superhuman powers (ṛddhi); (2) the ability to know others’ minds; (3) extraordinary powers of hearing, or the divine ear; (4) extraordinary powers of sight, or the divine eye; (5) the ability to remember one’s past lives, and (6) the knowledge that the defilements have been destroyed and it is one’s last lifetime. When the fifth is not specified, then oftentimes the sixth or all six types are implied. The last three of the list are the same as the three types of knowledge (vidyā), and are tantamount to the description of the awakening experience in some presentations.

g.329

supply

tshogs

ཚོགས།

saṃbhāra

g.339

Śyāmaka

sngo sangs

སྔོ་སངས།

śyāmaka

g.344

the way things are

de bzhin nyid

དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད།

tathatā

g.348

transcendent

’jig rten las ’das pa

འཇིག་རྟེན་ལས་འདས་པ།

lokottara

g.350

true nature

chos nyid

ཆོས་ཉིད།

dharmatā

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The real nature, true quality, or condition of things. Throughout Buddhist discourse this term is used in two distinct ways. In one, it designates the relative nature that is either the essential characteristic of a specific phenomenon, such as the heat of fire and the moisture of water, or the defining feature of a specific term or category. The other very important and widespread way it is used is to designate the ultimate nature of all phenomena, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms and is often synonymous with emptiness or the absence of intrinsic existence.

g.351

tuft of hair

mdzod spu

མཛོད་སྤུ།

ūrṇa

g.353

unable to be turned back

phyir mi ldog pa

ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པ།

avaivartika

A description of a bodhisattva who has reached a particular stage along the path to becoming a buddha at which the bodhisattva is certain of doing so. Different Buddhist works place this stage at different points along the path. According to some works, it is a highly advanced stage that is connected with having received a prediction of future buddhahood. Modern scholars have also sometimes connected it to the acceptance of the fact that things do not arise, but it is also connected with other attainments.

g.362

Vaijayanta Palace

rnam rgyal khang

རྣམ་རྒྱལ་ཁང་།

vaijayanta

g.364

Vaiśravaṇa

rnam thos kyi bu

རྣམ་ཐོས་ཀྱི་བུ།

vaiśravaṇa

g.365

vajra

rdo rje

རྡོ་རྗེ།

vajra

g.367

Vajrapāṇi

lag na rdo rje

ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།

vajrapāṇi

A yakṣa and the protagonist of this sūtra who is counted among the bodhisattvas in attendance at the beginning of the sūtra and called the lord of the guhyakas (guhyakādhipati) throughout the work. He gives various teachings, receives a prediction of his future awakening as a buddha, and is the subject of various past life stories to explain his current responsibilities and attributes; he also hosts the Buddha Śākyamuni at his home for a meal. See the introduction for a discussion of his place in Buddhist literature.

g.380

Virūḍhaka

’phags skyes po

འཕགས་སྐྱེས་པོ།

virūḍhaka

g.381

Virūpākṣa

mig mi bzang

མིག་མི་བཟང་།

virūpākṣa

g.385

Vulture Peak

bya rgod kyi phung po

བྱ་རྒོད་ཀྱི་ཕུང་པོ།

gṛdhrakūṭa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Gṛdhrakūṭa, literally Vulture Peak, was a hill located in the kingdom of Magadha, in the vicinity of the ancient city of Rājagṛha (modern-day Rajgir, in the state of Bihar, India), where the Buddha bestowed many sūtras, especially the Great Vehicle teachings, such as the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras. It continues to be a sacred pilgrimage site for Buddhists to this day.

g.388

well known on account of their fame

mngon par shes pa mngon par shes pa

མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ་མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ།

abhijñānābhijñāta

g.389

wheel-turning king

khor los sgyur ba’i rgyal po

ཁོར་ལོས་སྒྱུར་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

cakravartin

g.390

wisdom

shes rab

ཤེས་རབ།

prajñā

g.391

wondrous transformation with superhuman powers

rdzu ’phrul dang rnam par ’phrul pa

རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་དང་རྣམ་པར་འཕྲུལ་པ།

ṛddhivikurvaṇa

g.392

world

’jig rten
’jig rten gyi khams

འཇིག་རྟེན།
འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས།

loka
lokadhātu

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term lokadhātu refers to a single four continent world-system illumined by a sun and moon, with a Mount Meru at its center and an encircling ring of mountains at its periphery, and with the various god realms above, thus including the desire, form, and formless realms.

The term can also refer to groups of such world-systems in multiples of thousands. A universe of one thousand such world-systems is called a chiliocosm (sāhasralokadhātu, stong gi ’jig rten gyi khams); one thousand such chiliocosms is called a dichiliocosm (dvisāhasralokadhātu, stong gnyis kyi ’jig rten gyi khams); and one thousand such dichiliocosms is called a trichiliocosm (trisāhasralokadhātu, stong gsum gyi 'jig rten gyi khams). A trichiliocosm is the largest universe described in Buddhist cosmology.

In this text:

In this translation, the term “world” is generally used as a translation for both loka (“world”) and lokadhātu (which could also be rendered “galaxy” or “universe,” or more literally, a “container of worlds”), except in the case of the phrases “cosmos of a billion worlds” (trisāhasramahāsāhasralokadhātu), “galaxy of a thousand worlds” and “galaxy of a hundred thousand worlds,” since the English word “world” is flexible and can refer to both the earth and the universe more generally.

g.394

worthy one

dgra bcom pa

དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།

arhat

In this sūtra, used only as an epithet of the buddhas, and traditionally used as an epithet for someone who has achieved awakening and thereby is worthy (arh). The Tibetan translation derives from one of the traditional Buddhist etymologies of the term, and could be translated “one who has destroyed (hata) one’s enemies” (ari), the enemies here referring to the afflictions of lust, hatred, ignorance, and so forth.

g.396

yakṣa

gnod sbyin

གནོད་སྦྱིན།

yakṣa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings who inhabit forests, mountainous areas, and other natural spaces, or serve as guardians of villages and towns, and may be propitiated for health, wealth, protection, and other boons, or controlled through magic. According to tradition, their homeland is in the north, where they live under the rule of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa.

Several members of this class have been deified as gods of wealth (these include the just-mentioned Vaiśravaṇa) or as bodhisattva generals of yakṣa armies, and have entered the Buddhist pantheon in a variety of forms, including, in tantric Buddhism, those of wrathful deities.

g.397

Yama

gshin rje

གཤིན་རྗེ།

yama

The Secrets of the Realized Ones Chapter 2: The Secret of the Bodhisattva’s Speech

Toh 47

Imprint

Text Body

The Secrets of the Realized Ones
Chapter 2: The Secret of the Bodhisattva’s Speech