The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (1)
Chapter 15: The Great Goddess Sarasvatī
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 15: The Great Goddess Sarasvatī
868 Then, within that great assembly, the great goddess Sarasvatī rose from her seat, bowed down her head to the Bhagavat’s feet, and said to the Bhagavat, “Bhagavat, if a dharmabhāṇaka correctly teaches this Supremely Victorious King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light, I will increase his wisdom and inspire poetic eloquence. If the dharmabhāṇaka preceptor omits a letter, a syllable, or the meaning of a word, [F.103.b] I will cause him to remember everything and have excellent comprehension and bestow upon him unimpeded, total possession of the power of mental retention.
“Moreover, any being who has developed good roots with many hundreds of thousands of buddhas and holds this Supremely Victorious King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light will greatly promulgate it in this Jambudvīpa so that it will not soon vanish. Then countless beings, through hearing this sūtra, will all quickly attain869 eloquence and inconceivable great wisdom, will become learned in various treatises and skills, and will quickly depart from saṃsāra and attain the highest, most complete enlightenment of buddhahood. It will cause them to have in their lifetime an increased lifespan and a perfection of the necessities for life.870
“Bhagavat, for the sake of those Dharma preceptors who hold the sūtra and the other beings who aspire to listen to this sūtra, I wish to teach the practice of cleansing by applying mantras to medicines. It will dispel and bring to an end for them any malevolent planets or bad signs that appear; conflict with the planets and constellation of one’s birth; the suffering of illness; fighting, quarreling, and war; nightmares; demons, obstacle makers, and conjured spirits; poisons and contaminations;871 spells, vetālas, and so on; and all obscurations from bad karma and the creation of obstacles. Therefore, those who are wise should practice the rite of cleansing in this way:872
tadyathā | sukṛte878 kṛtakamalanīlajinakarate879 haṃkarāte880 indrajali881 śakaddre vaśaddre882 avartakasike883 nakutra kukavilakavimalamati śīlamati884 sandhidhudhumamavati śiśiri satyasthite885 svāhā |886
“After washing, the washing water and whatever food and drink have been offered within the maṇḍala should be cast into a river or a pond. Collect everything else.
“Having washed in that way, you should put on clean clothes, come out of the maṇḍala, and enter a clean dwelling. The mantra practitioner, in order to bestow a vast commitment, must completely eliminate various bad actions and continually practice various good actions and develop great compassion for beings. Through those causes and conditions, one will attain an immeasurable ripening of wish-fulfilling merit. Also, there is a prayer in verse:900
tadyathā | śame viṣame901 svāhā | sagaṭe vigaṭe902 svāhā | sukhatinate svāhā |903 sāgarasaṃbhūtāya904 svāhā | skandhamatāya905 svāhā | nīlakaṇṭhāya svāhā | [F.105.a] aparājitavīryāya906 svāhā | himavatsaṃbhūtāya907 svāhā | animilavaktrāya svāhā |908 namo bhagavate brāhmaṇe svāhā |909 namaḥ sarasvatyai devyai910 svāhā |911 sidhyantu912 mantrapadā daṃ913 svāhā |914 bharato vicita915 brahmānumanyatu916 svāhā |917
Then918 the great goddess Sarasvatī bowed down to the Bhagavat’s feet and said to the Bhagavat, “Bhagavat, any bhikṣu, bhikṣuṇī, upāsaka, or upāsikā who acquires, possesses, reads, recites, writes out, and practices919 the teaching of this sublime king of sūtras, and wherever that bhikṣu or bhikṣuṇī dwells—a town, a town’s environs, a wilderness, a mountain, or a forest—for their sake I and my entourage will come to them as a divine entourage,920 will guard and defend them, and will dispel the suffering of illness, the falling of shooting stars, bad omens, diseases, fighting, and quarreling. I will put an end to being arrested by the king’s law, bad dreams, harm from malicious spirits, and all conjured spirits.921
“The followers and the audiences of individuals, such as bhikṣus, who possess the sūtra will be benefited so that they will quickly transcend the great ocean of saṃsāra and progress irreversibly toward enlightenment.”
The Bhagavat, having listened to her words, then praised the great goddess Sarasvatī, saying, “It is excellent, excellent that you, goddess, in order to benefit and make happy countless, endless beings, have taught those vidyāmantras, the washing in perfumed water, and the maṇḍala rite that possess inconceivable ripened results.” [F.105.b]
Then he said, “You should protect this sublime, supreme king of sūtras so that it does not soon vanish but will be widely present.”
The great goddess Sarasvatī then bowed down her head to the Bhagavat’s feet and sat upon her own seat.
Then the brahmin of the Kauṇḍinya family, the Dharma master Vyākaraṇa, through the power of the Bhagavat’s blessing, praised Sarasvatī in front of the great assembly:922
syād yathedaṃ |924 mure cire avaje avajavate925 higule926 migule927 pigalavati928 maguśe929 marici930 samati931 daśamati agrima gritara932 citara933 capati934 cicirī935 śirimiri mandhi demakhi936 marici937 praṇaye938 lokajyeṣṭhe939 lokapriye940 siddhiprite941 vimamukhi śucikharī942 apratihate943 apratehatabuddhe944 namuci namuci945 mahādevī946 pratigṛhnanamaskaraṃ947 [say your name] mama buddhi viśduddhi bhagavadtyaṃ bevayaṃ sparasatya karade keyūre keyūramati hilimili apayame mahādeve buddhasatyana dharmasatya saṃghasatyena indrasatyena varuṇasatyena yeloke stayasatyena teśamastyena sattivadcanini avahayami mahādevem hilimili hilimili vicidato [say your name] [F.106.a] mama buddhi namo bhavati mahādeve sarasatya sidhyanti mantrapadāni svāhā |948
Then the great goddess Sarasvatī, having taught this dhāraṇī mantra, said to the brahmin, “O great being, it is excellent, excellent that for the sake of beings you provide wonderful eloquence, jewels, miracles, and wisdom,949 bringing a vast benefit to all, and that you wish to bring them quickly to enlightenment. Know that and possess this rite.”
The Kauṇḍinya brahmin, on hearing those words taught, was then joyous, delighted, and amazed,960 and so he said to that great assembly, “Oh, all of you, this great assembly of devas and humans, know this! Today, on the basis of relative phenomena, I am going to recite a praise to the great goddess Sarasvatī. Listen!”961
The Bhagavat said to the brahmin, “It is excellent, excellent that you, in order to benefit and bring happiness to beings, have recited this praise to the goddess and prayed for her blessing so that immeasurable merit will be obtained.”981 [F.109.a] [B8]
Then the Kauṇḍinya brahmin, having thus, as shown above, extolled the great goddess Sarasvatī with words of praise and words of eulogy, said to the great assembly, “If you wish to pray to the goddess Sarasvatī so that you will be blessed by her compassion, so that in this life you will have a swift, unimpeded mind, great wisdom, and skill in words; attain vast wisdom; communicate with elaborate speech; and accomplish the adornment of words as you wish without impediment, then single-mindedly and reverentially pray in this way:
“ ‘The community of bodhisattvas, the śrāvakas, the pratyekabuddhas, all āryas, and the buddhas of the past, future, and present in the ten directions have accomplished words of truth; according to their powers they have spoken valid words of truth, they have spoken infallible words, they have constantly spoken words of truth for countless millions of great eons, and I rejoice in and pay homage to982 all who possess valid words of truth.
“ ‘I reverently pay homage to the one who, because he does not speak untrue words, has a long, vast tongue that emerges and completely covers his face, then Jambudvīpa, the four continents, the worlds in the chiliocosm, the dichiliocosm, the trichiliocosm, and all the countless world realms in the ten directions, covering everything and dispelling all affliction from the defilements.
“ ‘Having reverently paid homage to all buddhas who possess that sign of the tongue, I, [say your name], pray to possess all excellent eloquence and single-mindedly direct983 my life to it. [F.109.b]
“ ‘I reverently pay homage to the sublime eloquence of the buddhas; the sublime eloquence of the bodhisattvas; the sublime eloquence of the pratyekabuddha āryas; the sublime eloquence of the four results of the four entries; the supreme eloquence of the words of the truths of the noble ones;984 the sublime eloquence of the devarṣis; the sublime eloquence of the ṛṣis in Brahmā’s entourage; the sublime eloquence of Mahādeva and Umā; the sublime eloquence of the worthy devas;985 the supreme eloquence of King Manasi; the sublime eloquence of the wish-fulfilling goddess;986 the sublime eloquence of the Four Mahārājas; the supreme eloquence of the consecrated devas; the supreme eloquence of the Vajra Lord of Secrets; the sublime eloquence of the deity Viṣṇu; the sublime eloquence of the goddess Vima; the sublime eloquence of the goddess of Viṣṇu; the sublime eloquence of the goddess Bhadrā; the sublime eloquence of Śiramara;987 the sublime eloquence of the words of Hari; the sublime eloquence of the mothers and great mothers; the sublime eloquence of Haritama; the sublime eloquence of the yakṣas; and the eloquence of the jinas in the ten directions.988
The great goddess Sarasvatī, having heard the brahmin’s prayer, said, “O great being, well done! Any man or woman who practices that rite as previously described, based upon that mantra and that praise through mantra, and goes for refuge with veneration to the Three Jewels and remains in single-pointed mindfulness, whatever they accomplish,996 none of it will be a waste. Moreover, if they possess, read, and recite this extremely wonderful Sublime Golden Light, [F.111.a] then all their aspirations will yield fruit, and they will be quickly accomplished, unless they do not have one-pointed minds.”
The brahmin was overjoyed and delighted, and with his palms together placed them on the crown of his head.
Then the Bhagavat said to the great goddess Sarasvatī, “Noble goddess, it is excellent, excellent that you protect and guard those who widely promulgate and correctly possess this sublime king of sūtras, and that in order to benefit all beings and so that they may attain happiness, you have taught that kind of Dharma, bestowed inconceivable eloquence, enabled them to attain measureless merit, and enabled those who have developed the aspiration to quickly become immersed in the attainment of enlightenment.”
This concludes “The Great Goddess Sarasvatī,” the fifteenth 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.
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Yeshe Dé (ye shes sde). lang kar gshegs pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo’i ’grel pa de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying po’i rgyan (Laṅkāvatāranāmamahāyānasūtravṛttitathāgatahṛdayālaṃkāra), Toh 4019, Degé Tengyur vol. 224 (mdo ’grel, pi), folios 1.a–310.a.
Other References in Tibetan
Kalzang Dolma. (skal bzang sgrol ma). lo tsA ba ’gos chos grub dang khong gi ’gyur rtsom mdo mdzangs blun gyi lo tsA’i thabs rtsal skor la dpyad pa. In krung go’i bod kyi shes rig, vol. 77, pp. 31–53. Beijing: krung go’i bod kyi shes rig dus deb khang, 2007.
Lotsawa Gö Chödrup (lo tsā ba ’gos chos grub). In gangs ljongs skad gnyis smra ba du ma’i ’gyur byang blo gsal dga’ skyed, pp. 17–18. Xining: kan lho bod rigs rang skyong khul rtsom sgyur cu’u, 1983.
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.