The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (2)
Chapter 16: The Great Goddess Śrī
Toh 556
Degé Kangyur, vol. 89 (rgyud ’bum, pa), folios 151.b–273.a
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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.
Acknowledgements
This text was translated by Peter Alan Roberts, who translated the text from Tibetan into English and wrote the introduction. Ling Lung Chen and Wang Chipan were consultants for the Chinese versions of the sūtra. Emily Bower was the project manager and editor. Tracy Davis was the initial copyeditor. 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. Rory Lindsay edited the translation and the introduction, and Xiaolong Diao, Ting Lee Ling, and H. S. Sum Cheuk Shing checked the translation against the Chinese sources. Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text, and Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of E E, May-E, Minda, and Chung-Da Ho.
Text Body
The Lord King of Sūtras, The Sublime Golden Light
Chapter 16: The Great Goddess Śrī
Then the great goddess Śrī said to the Bhagavat, “Venerable Bhagavat, I, the great goddess Śrī, will also, in whatever way, bring a perfection of requisites to those dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣus so that they will gain freedom from deprivation; will have a resolute371 mind; will day and night have happiness of mind; will learn, understand, and correctly recite all the different words and letters in this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light so that, for the sake of those beings who have planted good roots with hundreds of thousands of buddhas, this Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light [F.239.a] will remain for a long time in Jambudvīpa and will not disappear, and so that beings will experience the happiness of devas and humans for many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of eons, and so that there will be no famine and instead excellent harvests. Beings will become happy through being endowed with every kind of happiness. They will be in the company of tathāgatas, and in some future time they will attain the highest, most complete enlightenment of buddhahood. This will end all the suffering in the hells, in the lives of animals, and in the world of Yama. Robes, food, bedding, medicine while ill, requisites, and other necessities will be brought to those dharmabhāṇaka bhikṣus.
“I,372 the great goddess Śrī, developed good roots with the tathāgata arhat samyaksaṃbuddha Ratnakusumaguṇasāgaravaiḍūryakanakagirisuvarṇakāñcanaprabhāsaśrī. In the present, wherever I direct my mind, wherever I look, wherever I go, many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of beings become happy; they become endowed with every kind of happiness. They do not lack food, drink, wealth, grain, cowries, gold, jewels, pearls, beryl, conchs, crystals, coral, silver, unwrought gold, or other requisites. [F.239.b] Those beings are endowed with all requisites.373 Through the power of the great goddess Śrī, they make offerings to that tathāgata. They make offerings of perfumes, flowers, and incense.374 They recite the name ‘the great goddess Śrī’375 three times, and offer him perfume, incense, and flowers.376 They also offer him a variety of flavors, and then their great accumulations of grain increase. It is said concerning this:
“I, the great goddess Śrī, will direct my mind toward those beings who say the name of The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light and I will create a great splendor for them.”
Then the Bhagavat congratulated the great goddess Śrī, saying, “It is excellent, excellent that you, goddess, through remembering your past actions make offerings to the tathāgata to benefit countless beings, bring them the benefit of happiness, and possess the inexhaustible merit from spreading this sūtra.”
This concludes “The Great Goddess Śrī,” the sixteenth chapter of “The Lord King of Sūtras, the Sublime Golden Light.”
Bibliography
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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.