The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (1)
Chapter 1: The Introduction
Toh 555
Degé Kangyur, vol. 89 (rgyud ’bum, pa), folios 19.a–151.a
- Chödrup
Imprint
Translated by Peter Alan Roberts and team
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2023
Current version v 1.2.3 (2024)
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Table of Contents
Summary
The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light has held great importance in Buddhism for its instructions on the purification of karma. In particular, much of the sūtra is specifically addressed to monarchs and thus has been significant for rulers—not only in India but also in China, Japan, Mongolia, and elsewhere—who wished to ensure the well-being of their nations through such purification. Reciting and internalizing this sūtra is understood to be efficacious for personal purification and also for the welfare of a state and the world.
In this sūtra, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu has a dream in which a prayer of confession emanates from a shining golden drum. He relates the prayer to the Buddha, and a number of deities then vow to protect it and its adherents. The ruler’s devotion to the sūtra is emphasized as important if the nation is to benefit. Toward the end of the sūtra are two well-known narratives of the Buddha’s previous lives: the account of the physician Jalavāhana, who saves and blesses numerous fish, and that of Prince Mahāsattva, who gives his body to a hungry tigress and her cubs.
This is the longest version of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light preserved in the Kangyur. It comprises thirty-one chapters and was translated into Tibetan primarily from Yijing’s Chinese translation in the early ninth century.
Acknowledgements
This sūtra was translated into English by Peter Alan Roberts. Ling Lung Chen, Wang Chipan, Xiaolong Diao, Ting Lee Ling, and H. S. Sum Cheuk Shing were consultants for the Chinese versions of the sūtra. Emily Bower was the project manager and editor. Tracy Davis was the copyeditor. With thanks to Michael Radich for sharing his research on the sūtra.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Zhang Da Da.
Text Body
The Sublime Golden Light, the Supremely Victorious King of Sūtras
Chapter 1: The Introduction
I pay homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time.26 The Bhagavat was within the profound, completely pure realm of the Dharma that is the field of activity of all the buddhas, dwelling at Vulture Peak Mountain27 at Rājagṛha together with a saṅgha of ten thousand times ninety-eight thousand great bhikṣus who were all without exception arhats, all of whom were purified28 like the king of elephants, all of whose defilements had ceased, all of whom were without kleśas, all of whom had liberated minds, all of whom had completely liberated wisdom, all of whom had done what had to be done, all of whom had put down their burden, all of whom had attained the goal,29 all of whom had ended engagement with existence, all of whom had attained supreme sublime power,30 all of whom maintained pure correct conduct, all of whom were adorned by skill in method and wisdom, all of whom possessed the eight liberations, and all of whom had reached the farther shore.
Their names were Venerable Ājñātakauṇḍinya, Venerable Aśvajit, Venerable Vāṣpa, Venerable Mahānāman, Venerable Bhadrika, Venerable Mahākāśyapa, Venerable Uruvilvakāśyapa, Venerable Gayākāśyapa, Venerable Nadīkāśyapa, Venerable Śāriputra, Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana, and so on, who were all, apart from Venerable Ānanda,31 a great saṅgha of śrāvakas, who had arisen from their afternoon samādhi and come into the presence of the Bhagavat, bowed down their heads to the feet of the Bhagavat, circumambulated him three times, keeping him to their right, and then sat to one side. [F.20.a]32
A quintillion33 bodhisattvas mahāsattvas had also gathered there. They all had great, brilliant, powerful might, like the great king of the nāgas; had great fame; had nobility;34 had pure generosity and correct conduct; gave pure offerings and service; had for countless kalpas practiced patience, diligence, and meditation that transcended all;35 remained perfectly in mindfulness; had opened the door to wisdom; delighted in yoga, methods, and powers; possessed the higher cognitions and the power of mental retention; possessed unceasing eloquence; had eliminated all kleśas; had cut through the bondage of the kleśas; would soon possess omniscient wisdom; had defeated Māra and Māra’s armies; beat the drum of the Dharma; defeated all tīrthikas and brought them to correct thought; turned the wheel of the Dharma; liberated devas and humans; accomplished the adornment of the buddha realms in the ten directions; benefited beings in the six existences; always had a mind of great love and great compassion;36 had great invincible strength; went to all buddha realms and made offerings; did not pass into nirvāṇa; had made the great prayer37 of unceasing commitment until the end of all future kalpas; had developed pure, very profound causes in the presence of many buddhas; had attained quiescence with regard to the birthlessness of the phenomena of the three times; had transcended the field of activity of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas; were skilled in engaging in benefiting the world; [F.20.b] taught extensively the array of the Dharma taught with implied meanings by the great teachers; were skilled in the profound, pure characteristics of emptiness; and had completely eliminated doubts.
Among them were those named the bodhisattva Turning Wheel of Unobscured Dharma, the bodhisattva Wheel of Dharma Thoroughly Encircling Mind Generation, the bodhisattva Nityodyukta, the bodhisattva Aparikheda, the bodhisattva Maitreya, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara,38 the bodhisattva Dharaṇeśvararāja, the bodhisattva Fearless Ornament King, the bodhisattva King of Mount Sumeru, the bodhisattva Profound Ocean King,39 the bodhisattva Ratnadhvaja,40 the bodhisattva Great Precious Victory Banner,41 the bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha, the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha, the bodhisattva Precious Hand Blessing, the bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi, the bodhisattva Ratibala, the bodhisattva Dharmabala,42 the bodhisattva Great Brilliant Ornament, the bodhisattva Great Golden Radiance Ornament, the bodhisattva Viśuddhaśīla, the bodhisattva Always Concentrated, the bodhisattva Viśuddhaprajñā,43 the bodhisattva Ascetic Effort,44 the bodhisattva Sky-Like Thought, the bodhisattva Great Prayer Completely Unending, the bodhisattva Giving Medicine, the bodhisattva Dispeller of the Affliction’s Disease, the bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja, the bodhisattva Noble Joy,45 [F.21.a] the bodhisattva Previously Prophesized Attainment, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Pure Light, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Dharma Protector,46 the bodhisattva Great Cloud Renowned Joy, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Limitless Renown,47 the bodhisattva Great Cloud Lion’s Roar, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Expounder Great King’s Sound, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Good Fortune, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Precious Qualities,48 the bodhisattva Great Cloud Solar Essence, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Moon’s Essence, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Star Light, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Fire Light, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Lightning Flash, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Thunder, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Wisdom Rain Thoroughly Equal,49 the bodhisattva King of Great Cloud’s Rain Thoroughly Purified, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Flower Tree King, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Sweet Scent of Blue Lotus, the bodhisattva Precious Cloud Sandalwood Body Completely Cool, the bodhisattva Great Cloud Eradicating Darkness, and the bodhisattva Great Cloud Eradicating Deceptive Views. That entourage of bodhisattvas mahāsattvas50 had in the afternoon arisen from their individual afternoon samādhis and come into the presence of the Bhagavat, bowed down their heads to the feet of the Bhagavat, circumambulated him three times, keeping him to their right, and then sat to one side.
Also gathered there were eight hundred thousand times a hundred thousand51 Licchavī youths. Among them were those named Kumāra Lion’s Radiance, Kumāra Siṃhamati, Kumāra Dharmadatta, Kumāra Power Bestower, Kumāra Mahāprabha, Kumāra Great Glorious One, Kumāra Protected by the Buddha, Kumāra Protected by the Dharma, [F.21.b] Kumāra Protected by the Saṅgha, Kumāra Protected by Vajras, Kumāra Protected by the Sky, Kumāra Sky Uttering Sound, Kumāra Ratnagarbha, and Kumāra Essence of Supreme Auspiciousness. They were supreme among all those youths residing in the highest enlightenment, each having found faith in the Mahāyāna. In the afternoon they had come into the presence of the Bhagavat, bowed down their heads to the feet of the Bhagavat, circumambulated him three times, keeping him to their right, and sat to one side.
Also gathered there were 42,000 devas. The chief among these devas were named Deva Priyadarśana, Deva Pramudita, Deva Sūryaprabha, Deva Moon’s Uṣṇīṣa, Deva Spatial Intellect Completely Pure, Deva Abandoned Affliction, and Deva Maṅgala. They had made the prayer of great commitment to protect the Mahāyāna Dharma, and all those lineage holders who prevented the Dharma from ceasing52 in the afternoon had come into the presence of the Bhagavat, bowed down their heads to the feet of the Bhagavat, circumambulated him three times, keeping him to their right, and then sat to one side.
Also gathered there were 28,000 nāga kings. The chief among these nāga kings were named Nāga King Padma, Nāga King Elapatra, Nāga King Mahābala, Nāga King Mahāghoṣa, Nāga King Small Waves, Nāga King Holder of Water’s Cause, Nāga King Golden Face, and Nāga King Wish-Fulfilling. [F.22.a] They delighted in protecting, holding, and receiving the Mahāyāna Dharma; they aspired to, rejoiced in, and protected and sustained very profound contemplation. In the afternoon they had come into the presence of the Bhagavat, bowed down their heads to the feet of the Bhagavat, circumambulated him three times, keeping him to their right, and then sat to one side.
Also gathered there were an entourage of 36,000 yakṣas. The principal ones among them, led by King Virūpākṣa,53 were Yakṣa Amra, Yakṣa Holder of Amra, Yakṣa Lotus Radiance, Yakṣa Lotus Face, Yakṣa Bhṛkuti, Yakṣa Frightful Direct Teacher, Yakṣa Bhūmikampa, and Yakṣa Swallower of Foods, all of whom were the chief among those yakṣas. They had developed a mind of faith in the Dharma of the Tathāgata; they had developed an unflagging motivation to protect and guard the Dharma. In the afternoon they had come into the presence of the Bhagavat, bowed down their heads to the feet of the Bhagavat, circumambulated him three times, keeping him to their right, and then sat to one side.
Also gathered there was an entourage of 49,000 garuḍas. The principal one among them was the garuḍa king Gandhahastiprabhāvarāja. There was also an entourage of gandharvas; an entourage of asuras; an entourage of kinnaras; an entourage of kumbhāṇḍas;54 an entourage of mahoragas; the devas of mountains, forests, rivers, and seas; ṛṣis and the kings of all great lands; the royal courts, queens,55 attendants, boys, girls, devas, and other people [F.22.b] who had developed faith, and so on—all had gathered together and arrived there, and all had the commitment to read, recite, possess, keep, write out, and promulgate, maintain, and protect this unsurpassable Mahāyāna Dharma. In the afternoon they had come into the presence of the Bhagavat, bowed down their heads to the feet of the Bhagavat, circumambulated him three times, keeping him to their right, and then sat to one side.
In that way, all those śrāvakas, bodhisattvas, devas, humans, nāgas, yakṣas, and so on had gathered, each having developed the motivation to venerate and serve; with palms together in homage and with unblinking56 eyes, they gazed without wavering upon the Bhagavat and aspired to hear the Dharma.
Then the Bhagavat, during that afternoon, arose from samādhi, looked upon the assembly of followers, and recited these verses:
This concludes “The Introduction,” the first chapter of “The Supremely Victorious King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.”
Bibliography
Primary Sources in Tibetan and Chinese
gser ’od dam pa’ i mdo. Toh 555, Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud ’bum, pa), folios 19.a–151a.
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gser ’od dam pa mdo sde’i dbang po’i rgyal po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtrendrarājanāmamahāyānasūtra). Toh 557, Degé Kangyur vol. 90 (rgyud ’bum, pha), folios 1.a–62.a. English translation The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (3) 2024.
Hebu jin guangming 合部金光明經. Taishō 664 (CBETA, SAT). (Translation of Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra by Bao Gui 寶貴).
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Other References in Tibetan
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Ngawang Lobsang Choden (nga dbang blo bzang chos ldan). ’phags pa gser ’od dam pa mdo sde’i dbang po’i rgyal po’i ’don thabs cho ga (A Rite That is a Method for Reciting the Noble Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light), s.n. s.l. n.d.
Pema Karpo (pad ma dkar po). gser ’od dam pa nas gsungs pa’i bshags pa. In The Collected Works of Kun-mkhyen padma dkar po, vol. 9 (ta), pp. 519–24. Darjeeling: kargyu sungrab nyamso khang, 1973–74.
Other References in English and Other Languages
Bagchi, S., ed. Suvarṇaprabhāsasūtram. Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute, 1967. Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon.
Banerjee, Radha. Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra. London: British Library, 2006. http://idp.bl.uk/downloads/GoldenLight.pdf.
Buswell Jr., Robert E., and Donald Lopez Jr. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press, 2014.
Di, Guan. “The Sanskrit Fragments Preserved in Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Peking University.” Annual Report of the Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University for the Academic Year 2013, vol. XVII (Tokyo Soka University, 2014): 109–18.
Lewis, Todd T. “Contributions to the Study of Popular Buddhism: The Newar Buddhist Festival of Guṃlā Dharma.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 16, no. 2 (Winter 1993): 309–54.
Nanjio Bunyiu, Idzumi Hokei. The Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra: A Mahāyāna Text Called “The Golden Splendour.” Kyoto: The Eastern Buddhist Society, 1931.
Nobel, Johannes (1937). Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra. Das Goldglanz-Sūtra: ein Sanskrit text des Mahāyāna-Buddhismus. Nach den Handschriften und mit Hilfe der tibetischen und chinesischen Übertragungen, Leipzig: Harrassowitz.
_______(1944). Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra. Das Goldglanz-Sūtra: ein Sanskrit text des Mahāyāna-Buddhismus. Die Tibetischen Überstzungen mit einem Wörterbuch. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
_______(1944, 1950). Suvarṇabhāsottamasūtra. Das Goldglanz-Sūtra: ein Sanskrit text des Mahāyāna-Buddhismus. Die Tibetischen Überstzungen mit einem Wörterbuch. 2 vols. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Radich, Michael (2014). “On the Sources, Style and Authorship of Chapters of the Synoptic Suvarṇaprabhasa-sūtra T644 Ascribed to Paramārtha (Part 1).” Annual Report of the Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University for the Academic Year 2013, vol. XVII: 207–44. Tokyo Soka University.
______ (2016). “Tibetan Evidence for the Sources of Chapters of the Synoptic Suvarṇa-prabhāsottama-sūtra T 664 A Ascribed to Paramārtha.” Buddhist Studies Review 32.2 (2015): 245–70. Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishing.
Tanaka, Kimiaki. An Illustrated History of the Mandala From Its Genesis to the Kālacakratantra. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2018.
Tyomkin, E. N. “Unique Sanskrit Fragments of ‘The Sūtra of Golden Light’ in the Manuscript Collection of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies.” In Manuscripta Orientalia vol. 1, no. 1 (July 1995): 29–38. St. Petersburg: Russian Academy of Sciences.
Yuyama, Akira. “The Golden Light in Central Asia.” In Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University for the Academic Year 2003 (Tokyo: Soka University, 2004) 3–32.
Translations
Emmerick, R. E. The Sūtra of Golden Light. Oxford: The Pali Text Society, 2004.
Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Sutra of Golden Light, 21-Chapter.
Nobel, Johannes. Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra, Das Goldglanz-Sutra, ein Sanskrittext des Mahayana Buddhismus. I-Tsing’s chinesische Version und ihre Übersetzung. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1958.