The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (2)
Introduction
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.
This is the second-longest version of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light preserved in the Kangyur. It comprises twenty-nine chapters and was translated into Tibetan primarily from Sanskrit.
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.
Introduction
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 it 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. It is understood to be efficacious for personal purification and beneficial for the welfare of a state and of the world.
The work translated here is the twenty-nine-chapter version (hereafter referenced as Toh 556) of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light. There are also the twenty-one-chapter (hereafter referenced as Toh 557)1 and thirty-one-chapter (hereafter referenced as Toh 555)2 versions. Both Toh 556 and Toh 557 were translated into Tibetan from Sanskrit, so almost the entirety of Toh 557 is present in an identical translation in Toh 556.
This sūtra’s principal chapter is the fourth, which describes the lay bodhisattva Ruciraketu having a dream in which he sees a brightly shining golden drum. When a brahmin beats the drum, Ruciraketu hears in the drumbeats a hundred-verse prayer, and he subsequently recites that prayer to the Buddha.
Most of the following chapters are concerned with encouraging the recitation of this prayer and of the sūtra itself. They describe how various divine beings in this world revere the sūtra and promise to protect it and its adherents. These include the Four Mahārājas; Dṛḍhā, who is the goddess of the earth; Sarasvatī, the goddess of wisdom, learning, and music; Śrī, the goddess of good fortune; and the yakṣa general Saṃjñeya.
This sūtra emphasizes its importance for kings. It states that if they honor the reciters of this sūtra and arrange for its recitation and teaching, then their reign and their kingdom will prosper. They will avoid such calamities as invasion, famine, and so on. The sūtra also warns that if they fail to show such devotion, there will be disastrous results for both them and their kingdoms. Chapter 20 is dedicated to the subject of how to be a good king.
There are also chapters that deal with doctrine. Chapter 2 presents the view that a buddha never dies and so never passes into nirvāṇa. Therefore, there is no body and no physical relics of his body after his cremation, and so the Dharma never ceases to be taught. The passing of a buddha and the extinction of the Dharma are solely illusory manifestations, skillful methods to inspire beings to practice and to provide them with relics as objects for their devotion. The longer versions of the sūtra also contain chapter 3 (not present in Toh 557), which describes the nature of the three bodies, and chapter 6, which describes the ten bodhisattva bhūmis (also not present in Toh 557). Chapters 9 and 10 teach the view of emptiness.
Toward the end, there are two narratives that describe previous lives of the Buddha. Chapters 24 and 25 describe the physician Jalavāhana, who, as a result of performing Dharma recitations while standing in a lake, ensured the rebirth of ten thousand fish into the paradise of Trāyastriṃśa. In the preceding chapter, these same ten thousand devas receive the prophecy of their buddhahood. When the goddess of the Bodhi tree objects that they have not accomplished the necessary bodhisattva conduct in past lives to receive such a prophecy, the Buddha explains that this was unnecessary because they had devotion to this Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light.
The other past-life narrative, which is given in chapter 26, is one of the most famous in Buddhist literature—that of the prince who gives his body to a hungry tigress and her cubs. An interesting feature of the story in this sūtra is that much of the narrative is dedicated to an evocative description of the intense grief of parents who have lost their child, emphasizing the sorrow that the prince’s action has brought them.
Tantric Rituals
As with other late Mahāyāna sūtras in which there is an emphasis on ritual, this text is classified in the Kangyur as a tantra, specifically as a Kriyā tantra, a class of tantras in which there is an emphasis on external ritual. The sūtra contains a description of how such rituals should be performed, and there are also passages that include lists of ingredients to place in a bath, along with mantras to recite while bathing, in order to achieve purification. Toh 556 and Toh 555 also supply a number of dhāraṇīs to be recited in order to gain specific results.
One can also see that the seed of the later maṇḍalas of the five buddha families is in this sūtra, for in chapters 2 and 3, buddhas of the four directions appear to a layman who has a visionary dream. They include Akṣobhya from the east and Amitābha from the west, both buddhas and their realms already established in the Buddhist tradition with specific sūtras dedicated to them. There also appear the buddhas Ratnaketu from the south and Dundubhisvara from the north, who in later tantras are usually named Ratnasaṃbhava and Amoghasiddhi. In this sūtra, the central buddha in terms of these directions would be Śākyamuni himself. In the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra he is referred to as Vairocana, as the Buddha Vairocana is the buddha who manifests as all the buddhas throughout this trichiliocosm.
The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light in India
A version of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light existed in India by the early fifth century ᴄᴇ, when it was translated into Chinese by Dharmakṣema (385–433) in 420, in a form that corresponds to the fragments of its translation into old Khotanese. The author of Precious Lamp of the Middle Way3 mentions that The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light contains profound teachings in the section on the absence of relics, this passage being within the chapter on the lifespan of the Buddha. The sūtra’s significance in later Indian Buddhism is evident from the three tantras4 and ten commentaries5 that specify that it should be the text recited in one of the four directions when performing a maṇḍala rite. There are also five other texts in the Tengyur that emphasize the importance and status of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light and its recitation,6 including Śāntideva’s eighth-century Compendium of Training in which he provides two extracts from the sūtra that should be recited. There are also two recitation texts composed of extracts from the sūtra.7
In addition to its importance for rites and recitations, the text is quoted on doctrinal points in Indian commentaries. Passages indicating that the Buddha never dies, leaves no relics, and that the Dharma never ceases are quoted in six texts,8 two of which9 cite the delightful verse that describes the impossibility of there being buddha relics, stating that there will be a buddha relic only when a ladder to the moon is built from rabbit horns.
The descriptions of buddha nature and the nature of the bodies of a buddha, which are only in Toh 555 and Toh 556, are quoted in two texts in the Tengyur, one written in Tibetan and one translated from Sanskrit by Rinchen Sangpo,10 although nothing is known about the author.
In Newar Buddhism, this sūtra became and remains one of the nine principal sūtras called “the nine Dharmas,”11 which are considered to be the most important lengthy sūtras to be recited and offered to.
Sanskrit manuscripts of this sūtra survived as fragments discovered in Chinese Central Asia (Xinjiang) and as entire texts in Nepal, where the title is Suvarṇabhāsottama, with bhāsa being a synonym for prabhāsa, both meaning “light.”
The Sanskrit text of the sūtra was first edited in 1898, in Calcutta, India, by S. C. Das and S. C. Shastri. That was followed by the edition by B. Nanjio and H. Idzumi in Japan in 1931, and by the edition by Johannes Nobel (1887–1960) in 1937. This translation refers to the 1967 S. Bagchi edition.
The Sūtra outside India
The widespread popularity of this sūtra outside India is also evident from its translation not only into Tibetan and Chinese but also from Sanskrit into Khotanese; from Chinese into Tibetan, Sogdian, Uighur, Tangut, and Manchu; and from Tibetan into Mongolian. Its importance continues in recent times, with new translations directly from Sanskrit into Mongolian, Oirat, and Japanese.
There are three surviving translations of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light in Chinese. The earliest of these was translated by Dharmakṣema (385–433). He was an Indian who came to China in 414, living first in Dunhuang. Then in 420 he went to Guzang, the capital of Northern Liang, one of the sixteen independent states of that time, situated in what is now the Gansu region in China’s northwest. There he studied Chinese and engaged in translation under the patronage of Juqu Mengxun (368–433), the ruler of Northern Liang. He also had the reputation of being “a master of spells.” As a result of that reputation, Juqu Mengxun, toward the end of his reign, became afraid that Dharmakṣema might be used against him by his adversaries and so he had him assassinated.12 Nobel believed that the Sanskrit in its present form is not earlier than the mid-fifth century and that Dharmakṣema translated from an earlier version. This opinion appears to be supported by the Sanskrit manuscript fragments discovered in Khotan.13
The second surviving translation into Chinese is that by Bao Gui in 597. It is an amalgam of earlier translations that no longer exist and four chapters that were translated by Paramārtha (499–569). As there is no surviving Sanskrit for the additional chapters in the Chinese and Tibetan, Michael Radich has examined the evidence as to whether they are Indian or Chinese in origin.
The third translation was by Yijing (635–713), which was published in 703. Because of its clarity and writing style, this version became popular in China and was itself translated into Tibetan in the early ninth century. Yijing’s translation, compared to the Sanskrit and the Tibetan translation from Sanskrit, is freer, to the extent that Emmerick has stated it could not be used to reconstruct the original Sanskrit.14 Yijing spent thirty years in India and Sumatra and returned to China in 695. He brought with him four hundred Sanskrit texts, including The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light, and spent the first decade of the seventh century translating them.15
The Mogao caves of Dunhuang, which were sealed in the eleventh century, contained a great number of manuscripts of the sūtra, particularly those of Yijing’s translation into Chinese. The sūtra became popular for its teachings on freeing oneself from the effects of bad karma. For example, Yijing’s Chinese translation (and the Uighur and Tangut versions derived from it) has a preface that states how the sūtra saved Zhang Judao, ruler of Tangut, from going to hell because he had slaughtered cattle for a big feast. This narrative is illustrated in a twelfth-century Tangut woodcut that is preserved in St. Petersburg.16
The sūtra was of particular importance to monarchs, and starting in seventh-century Japan, the ritual of reciting this sūtra was considered important to perform for the benefit of the state.
The Sūtra in Tibet
Toh 557 does not list its translators in the colophon. Toh 556 (the version translated here) was produced by Jinamitra, Śilendrabodhi, and Yeshé Dé in the early ninth century. Almost the entirety of Toh 557 is present word for word in Toh 556, so they either incorporated an earlier translation or extracted the shorter version from the longer.
By contrast, Toh 555 is a translation made by Gö Chödrup of Yijing’s Chinese version in the early ninth century. The Tibetan is clearer and more readable than in the other two versions, perhaps because it is less constrained by conforming to the Sanskrit, but also because the Chinese was a freer translation from the Sanskrit, which was done purposely to enhance its readability.
There are some Tibetan texts included in the Tengyur that were authored by Tibetan translators active in the early ninth century. The translator Kawa Paltsek quotes from the passages describing the Dharma body and the Buddha not leaving any relics because he has no body with bones and blood.17 Yeshé Dé wrote a text that has a number of references to this sūtra’s teaching on the three bodies of a buddha, buddha nature, and the description of the bhūmis.18
Dīpaṁkaraśrījñāna, also known as Atiśa, whose pupils founded the influential Kadampa tradition in Tibet, is the author of three of the texts in the Tengyur that refer to this sūtra, including his most famous work, A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, which contains an encouragement to use the sūtra’s prayer both for purification and as a dedication prayer.
The commentary in the Tengyur that quotes from the sūtra more than any other—twenty times in all—is the translation by Gö Chödrup of An Extensive Commentary on the Sūtra that Elucidates the Profound Intention by the Korean monk Wŏnch’ŭk19 (613–96), who had migrated to China. This commentary by Wŏnch’ŭk in Tibetan translation became a particular influence on the thought of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelukpa school.20 The sūtra has been quoted by great masters in all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism and extracts from it were published in Tibet as numerous standalone texts—not only the confession prayer but also other chapters, such as the treatise on kingship. Its continuing significance is indicated by Pema Karpo (1527–92), the hierarch of the Drukpa Kagyü school, composing a confession prayer extracted from The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light at the request of Döndrup Dorjé, the ruler of Shigatsé.
An example of the way the sūtra was recited in Tibet is found in a version compiled by Ngawang Lobsang Chöden (1642–1714), the second Changkya Rinpoché.
Comparing the Versions
Toh 556 and Toh 557 were both translated into Tibetan from Sanskrit. Chapter 4 in Toh 556 is the equivalent of chapters 3 and 4 in Toh 557; chapters 9 and 10 in Toh 556 are the equivalent of chapter 6 in Toh 557; and chapters 11 and 12 in Toh 556 are the equivalent of chapter 12 in Toh 557. There are seven additional chapters in Toh 556 that are not found in Toh 557: chapters 3, 5, 6, 13, 14, 17, and 28.
Chapter 5 is almost entirely composed of the contents of Putting an End to Karmic Obscurations (Toh 219), differing only in its introduction and conclusion. Toh 556’s chapter 5 is identical in its translation to the sūtra as it appears in the Kangyur. Even where there are some minor differences between this chapter 5 and the sūtra in the Degé Kangyur versions, those discrepancies do not exist in earlier Kangyurs. The translators of Putting an End to Karmic Obscurations were Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Yeshé Dé, and their translation appears to have been incorporated into the translation of this twenty-nine-chapter Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light. Chapter 6 primarily comprises The Sūtra of Akṣayamati’s Questions (Toh 89), without the introductory setting and with additional verses and an extra conclusion. That sūtra was translated by Silendrabodhi and Yeshé Dé, and their translation has been incorporated word-for-word into this translation of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light by Jinamitra, Nalendrabodhi, and Yeshé Dé.
Only the Sanskrit that is equivalent to Toh 557 survives. It divides the equivalent of chapter 10 in the Tibetan version into two, separating the homage to buddhas and bodhisattvas into its own small chapter. However, its final chapter is divided into two in the Tibetan, resulting in both having twenty-one chapters. There is no surviving Sanskrit for additional passages within the chapters or for the seven additional chapters in Toh 556.
Toh 556 appears to preserve passages that were lost from Toh 557. For example, chapter 12 in Toh 557, “The King’s Treatise,” begins abruptly: “At that time…,” having evidently lost the introductory narrative—present in the equivalent chapter (chapter 20) in Toh 556—that sets the action in a distant past.
Toh 555 was translated into Tibetan from Chinese.21 The source text was Yijing’s seventh-century translation from Sanskrit into Chinese, and therefore the translation differs throughout, even though the content is essentially the same. There are many passages that are actually shorter versions of those in the translations from Sanskrit. Its greater length compared to Toh 556 is primarily due to the addition of chapters 29 and 30.
Translations into Western Languages
In 1958, Nobel published a German translation based on Yijing’s Chinese text. In 1970, Ronald Emmerick produced an English translation of the Sanskrit. In 2007, Zopa Rinpoche’s FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) produced a translation of Toh 557.
Detailed Summary of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light
Chapter 1: The Introduction
The Buddha is on Vulture Peak Mountain at Rājagṛha with a great assembly of bhikṣus, bodhisattvas, and deities. He states that he will teach a sūtra that will free beings from various worldly sufferings through its being recited and listened to.
Chapter 2: The Teaching of the Lifespan of the Tathāgata
In the town of Rājagṛha, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu wonders why the Buddha has only an eighty-year lifespan if he has no bad karma. His house miraculously transforms, and the buddhas of the four directions appear and tell him that the Buddha’s lifespan is, in fact, inconceivably long. Ruciraketu goes to Vulture Peak and tells the Buddha what occurred. The buddhas of the four directions appear on Vulture Peak and request the Buddha to teach The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light. The Buddha states that he continues to teach on Vulture Peak and only appears to pass into nirvāṇa.
The Kauṇḍinya brahmin Vyākaraṇa asks to be given a relic when the Buddha passes away so that he might make offerings to it. A young man says to the Kauṇḍinya brahmin that the Buddha will not pass away and there will never be relics. The Kauṇḍinya brahmin states that he knew this but made his request so that this truth would be revealed, and that the appearance of passing away and leaving relics is simply a skillful method to benefit beings.
Ruciraketu then asks why it is taught that buddhas pass away and leave relics. The Buddha states that this is a teaching with an implied meaning, and he then teaches on four sets of the true nirvāṇa’s ten qualities.
Then the four buddhas vanish, and Ruciraketu returns to his seat in the assembly.
Chapter 3: The Differentiation of the Three Bodies
This chapter is not included in Toh 557. In response to a question from the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha, the Buddha describes the three bodies—the Dharma body, enjoyment body, and emanation body—that complete buddhahood comprises. The emanation body is the manifestation of various kinds of bodies of individuals in accordance with the various situations of beings. The enjoyment body is the manifestation of perfect bodies that teach the ultimate truth to bodhisattvas. Neither of these bodies, however, has ultimate reality, whereas the Dharma body is the ultimate, featureless, true nature that is the basis of the other two bodies, which appear spontaneously without thought and can be described as having both permanent and impermanent qualities. The Buddha gives various analogies to describe them. He also describes the progress to buddhahood through the ten bhūmis and the ten perfections.
Then Ākāśagarbha and others in the assembly describe four benefits that come to a land where The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light is taught.
Chapter 4: The Confession in a Dream
This chapter corresponds to chapters 3 and 4 in Toh 557.
In his home in Rājagṛha, the bodhisattva Ruciraketu dreams of a brahmin beating a golden drum from which come a number of verses that he is able to remember. He goes to the Buddha on Vulture Peak to repeat those verses to him.
He begins by describing the dream in verse and then repeats the verses he heard, which begin with a prayer for the verses to benefit all beings. Then there are verses for the confession of past bad actions followed by a praise of the Buddha, a prayer that beings be freed from suffering, and finally the dedication of merit so that the reciter will attain enlightenment.
Chapter 5: The End of the Continuum of Creating Karma
This chapter is absent in Toh 557, and it is primarily composed of a word-for-word repetition, apart from the introduction and conclusion, of Putting an End to Karmic Obscurations (Toh 219). Light rays radiate from the Buddha, bringing happiness to all beings in the lower existences. On seeing that light, Śakra and other deities come to the Buddha. When the deities are gathered, the Buddha’s principal human disciple, Śāriputra, asks the Buddha how to confess their previous bad actions. The Buddha gives a recitation that should be done three times over the course of the day and three times at night in order for the deities to free themselves of karmic obscuration and to attain whatever is aspired to—from rebirth in a good human family or various paradises to the attainment of ultimate wisdom. The Buddha explains that they should also recite the words of rejoicing in the good actions of others, requesting the buddhas in all worlds to teach the Dharma, and requesting them to not pass away. The Buddha states that this creates greater merit than any other kind of Dharma practice and that they should recite a dedication of their merit to the enlightenment of all beings.
Then the assembly promises to promulgate this sūtra, and Śakra states that this sūtra can bring an end to the obscurations of karma. In response, the Buddha describes a buddha in the distant past named Great Mass of Light and a woman named Gaṅgadevī who received this very teaching from Great Mass of Light. Through her dedication to it, she was subsequently always reborn as a man until she became a buddha by the name of Ratnārci. Ratnārci teaches in a realm a vast distance away in the east, in the present time. Any woman who hears the name of this buddha will no longer be reborn as a woman.
The Buddha then describes the four benefits to a king, the four benefits to his ministers, the four benefits to mendicants, and the four benefits to brahmins that result from this sūtra being taught in their land.
Chapter 6: The Purification of the Bhūmis
This chapter is absent in Toh 557. It is The Sūtra of Akṣayamati’s Questions (Toh 89) but without the introduction and with additional verses. The list of dhāraṇīs, of which only the names are given in that sūtra, are given in full in The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light together with their benefits. Also, Brahmā is added as an interlocutor, and there is an extra conclusion following the one given in The Sūtra of Akṣayamati’s Questions. In Toh 555, the corresponding chapter is called “The Dhāraṇīs of Complete Purification.”
In this chapter, Akṣayamati asks the Buddha what is meant by the term bodhicitta, “the enlightenment mind,” because the mind is not said to be an object of perception in enlightenment.
The Buddha states that there is no reality to such designations but there are the ten stages of the development of bodhicitta through the ten perfections. The Buddha then describes ten qualities that each of these perfections possesses, and he describes what is meant by the term perfection.
He then describes the omens that precede each of the ten bhūmis, the reason for the names of each of those bhūmis, the two kinds of ignorance that obscure each of the ten bhūmis, the perfection attained on each bhūmi, and the samādhi that causes the development of each of the ten developments of bodhicitta.
The Buddha next gives the dhāraṇī mantra that is obtained on each bhūmi and explains what it protects against.
Then the bodhisattva Unobstructed Appearance of the Light of a Lion’s Ornament praises in verse the ultimate nature and relative activity of the Buddha.
After this, the great king of Brahmā devas praises The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light, and the Buddha states that only those with great merit can hear it and that those who hear it will obtain the dhāraṇīs and gain the ultimate result. The assembly promises to gather where this sūtra is taught and to aid its teacher.
Chapter 7: A Praise of All the Realms of the Past, Future, and Present Samyaksaṃbuddhas
This is the equivalent of chapter 5 in Toh 557. The Buddha repeats to a goddess a praise of the buddhas in thirty-seven verses, made by a king in the distant past who has now been reborn as that goddess.
Chapter 8: The Dhāraṇī Called Golden
This chapter is absent in Toh 557.
The Buddha tells the bodhisattva Sukhavihāra that in order to make offerings to the buddhas of the past, present, and future, one should have the dhāraṇī called golden. Its practitioner should first perform a specific recitation of homage to certain buddhas and bodhisattvas. Then the dhāraṇī, which is the mother of all buddhas, will fulfill all wishes and will bring protection. Fifteen days of practice in isolation should accomplish one’s wishes; otherwise, one should continue until one’s wishes are fulfilled.
Chapter 9: Emptiness
This is the equivalent of chapter 6 in Toh 557.
The Buddha recites verses that describe emptiness, which, he states, he has taught extensively in other sūtras. He describes how he has practiced the path for a long time and that it is impossible to calculate his wisdom.
Chapter 10: Fulfilling Wishes on the Basis of Emptiness
This chapter is absent in Toh 557.
The goddess Ratnārcī asks the Buddha about the equanimity of bodhisattva conduct. The Buddha teaches that the dharmadhātu, or Dharma realm, is beyond the extremes of existence and nonexistence. He explains that the five skandhas are neither separate from nor one with the Dharma realm, otherwise everyone would already be enlightened or never be able to attain enlightenment. Therefore, bodhisattva conduct does not eliminate the relative and is never apart from the ultimate.
Then Brahmā asks Ratnārcī how she could possibly accomplish this. She states that if she can do so, then all beings will become golden, and there will be a divine rain of flowers and divine music. This instantly occurs, and Ratnārcī’s body transforms, becoming identical to that of Brahmā. Ratnārcī describes to Brahmā how to practice bodhisattva conduct while knowing it has no reality, like a magical illusion.
Following this, the Buddha tells Brahmā to practice as Ratnārcī has. Brahmā and his entourage bow down to the now male bodhisattva Ratnārcī. The Buddha prophesies that in the future Ratnārcī will be a buddha named Essence of Illustrious Precious Radiance.
Five hundred thousand bhikṣus in the assembly attain an irreversible state, and the Buddha prophesies that in the distant future they will all become buddhas at the same time, all having the name King Array of Pure Prayers.
The Buddha then tells Brahmā of the great power of The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light, and also that he himself had practiced and taught it in his previous lives, and that if it vanishes so will all other sūtras.
Chapter 11: The Four Mahārājas Look Upon Devas and Humans
This and the following chapter are the equivalent of chapter 7 in Toh 557.
The Four Mahārājas, the protectors of the world, describe the sūtra as overcoming all calamities and how it benefits them through its being taught. They describe themselves as protectors of the world and promise that they will protect whoever teaches and recites this sūtra and will dispel problems for the king of that country and its population.
Chapter 12: The Four Mahārājas Protecting the Land
The Four Mahārājas and the Buddha describe the miraculous events that occur in the paradises when a king engages in the ritual of venerating the sūtra, and how all buddhas will congratulate him and prophesy his buddhahood. The Mahārājas describe how a king who wishes his realm to prosper and be happy should be devoted to the sūtra, and then they praise the Buddha in verse, and the Buddha praises the sūtra in verse.
Chapter 13: The Dhāraṇī of Nonattachment
This chapter is absent in Toh 557.
The Buddha says to the bhikṣu Śāradvatīputra that the unbounded dhāraṇī is like a mother to bodhisattvas and is practiced by them all. It has no location in any phenomenon or time and is without origination, but its possession leads to the highest enlightenment. The chapter states that offering to the dhāraṇī is the same as offering to a buddha. At Śāradvatīputra’s request, the Buddha recites the dhāraṇī. He describes its great benefit and its alternate name as the dhāraṇī of nonattachment and states that it is the mother of all tathāgatas.
Chapter 14: The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel Dhāraṇī
This chapter is absent in Toh 557.
The Buddha teaches Ānanda the names of lightning in the four principal directions. Those who know the names and write them down will be safe from lightning.
The Buddha then recites a Dravidian mantra. Avalokiteśvara recites another Dravidian mantra that protects from premature death. Vajrapāṇi recites a dhāraṇī and promises to protect those who write it out. Brahmā then recites a mantra that will protect from premature death and end bad karma. Śakra recites a dhāraṇī called hurled-down vajra flames for freedom from danger and death. Then the Four Mahārājas recite a mantra that will protect from danger and death. Nāga kings recite the dhāraṇī called the wish-fulfilling jewel (which gives this chapter its name), which prevents all kinds of misfortune, and they recite another mantra that safeguards against poisons. The Buddha congratulates them all, and everyone praises him.
Chapter 15: The Goddess Sarasvatī
The goddess Sarasvatī promises to aid those who recite the sūtra with wisdom and skills. She gives the recipe for a cleansing liquid and a mantra that will prevent misfortune.
Then the Buddha praises her and teaches beneficial mantras. There then occurs a passage not included in Toh 557, in which Sarasvatī recites verses describing how to perform a ritual for the fulfillment of wishes. Then the Kauṇḍinya brahmin praises Sarasvatī in two sets of verses, the first of which is absent in Toh 557. In another passage absent in Toh 557, the Kauṇḍinya brahmin teaches a supplication to Sarasvatī for the purpose of attaining wisdom and eloquence, and the chapter concludes with the Buddha congratulating the Kauṇḍinya brahmin and Sarasvatī.
Chapter 16: The Great Goddess Śrī
The goddess Śrī promises to aid those who recite the sūtra and its preservation so that beings will have good fortune. She states that she had been a follower of the Buddha Ratnakusumaguṇasāgaravaiḍūryakanakagirisuvarṇakāñcanaprabhāsaśrī and that she brings good fortune to beings wherever she goes and inspires them to make offerings to that buddha. She dwells in a palace in the paradise of Alakāvati and says that offerings should be made to her and to that buddha. This chapter is equivalent to most of chapter 9 on Śrī in Toh 557, with the last part here made into a separate chapter.
Chapter 17: The Increase of Wealth by the Great Goddess Śrī
Chapter 18: Dṛḍhā, the Goddess of the Earth
This chapter does not have the homage to a series of buddhas and bodhisattvas that begins the equivalent chapter (chapter 10) in Toh 557. Dṛḍhā, the goddess of the earth, promises the Buddha that she will go wherever The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light is taught, and with her head she will support the feet of the dharmabhāṇaka. Having heard the sūtra, she will make the earth fertile and make what is grown in it nutritious and life-enhancing, and the population will increase. She states that if someone who has heard the sūtra returns home and repeats even a line of verse from it, that home will prosper. The Buddha states that anyone who has listened to even one line of the sūtra, or makes offerings to it, will be reborn in a paradise after death, enjoy happiness for countless eons, and eventually attain buddhahood. Toh 557 concludes at this point. Here in Toh 556, the chapter continues with Dṛḍhā teaching mantras and rites to invoke her protection.
Chapter 19: Saṃjñeya, the Lord of Yakṣas
The yakṣa general Saṃjñeya promises to protect and defend whoever recites the sūtra. He describes his realization and wisdom and promises to endow the teachers of the sūtra with eloquence and physical health. He states that those who hear it will enjoy happiness in paradises for countless eons and eventually attain buddhahood. Toh 557 concludes at this point. Here in Toh 556, the chapter continues with Saṃjñeya teaching mantras and rites to invoke his protection, and the Buddha commends him for it.
Chapter 20: The King’s Treatise: The Commitment of the Lord of Devas
This chapter begins with an introduction that is missing from Toh 557. Dṛḍhā, the goddess of the earth, requests the Buddha to teach a treatise on kingship. The Buddha tells her that in the past there was a king named Balendraketu who told his son Ruciraketu that he had received a treatise on kingship called The Commitment of the Lord of Devas from his own father, King Pinnacle of Lords. For twenty thousand years he had ruled following this treatise.
King Balendraketu then teaches, as in Toh 557, the treatise in verse on kingship called The Commitment of the Lord of Devas. The treatise explains why a king is called a deva even though he is a human: it is because he is a deva sent to the human world to govern it. A king should therefore fulfill that duty, particularly by punishing the wicked. If he does not do so, calamities of all kinds will befall him and his kingdom. A righteous king will cause all kinds of good fortune to occur.
Chapter 21: Susaṃbhava
In this chapter, which is entirely in verse, the Buddha recounts a previous life as a cakravartin by the name of Susaṃbhava, who lived while the teaching of a buddha named Ratnaśikhin was still present. In a dream, he saw the dharmabhāṇaka Ratnoccaya teaching The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light. He then sought out that dharmabhāṇaka and requested him to teach the sūtra, arranging a throne and making many offerings to him. At the conclusion of the teaching, Susaṃbhava, through his possession of a wish-fulfilling jewel, caused a rain of jewels and necessities to fall on the four continents he ruled, and he made an offering of it all to the Three Jewels. Śākyamuni states that he was Susaṃbhava at that time, and that Ratnoccaya became the Buddha Akṣobhya. He states that it is through the merit of hearing the sūtra that he has been a cakravartin king and a lord of devas countless times and has finally attained enlightenment.
Chapter 22: The Protection Given by Yakṣas
The Buddha instructs the goddess Śrī, first in prose and then in verse, on how someone should teach the sūtra and how someone should listen to it, and the benefits that will accrue from such activities. He adds that the throne upon which the sūtra has been recited will subsequently become the setting for various miraculous manifestations. The devas will praise those who teach and listen to the Dharma. In particular, the yakṣas will give their protection, as will nāgas, asuras, Hārītī and her sons, and the various goddesses, including Sarasvatī, Śrī, and the goddesses of the earth, harvests, and trees. This will bring bountiful harvests and a plenitude of fruits and flowers. Sūrya, the sun god, will also be pleased and will bring wonderful light to the world.
Chapter 23: The Prophecy to Ten Thousand Devas
The goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā asks the Buddha about what merit had been accrued by the ten thousand devas from Trāyastriṃśa who came to hear the teaching on hearing the prophecies given to three people.
She describes the prophecy of the bodhisattva Ruciraketu becoming the Buddha Suvarṇaratnākaracchatrakūṭa in the distant future and how his son Rūpyaketu will become the Buddha Suvarṇajambudhvajakāñcanābha. After him, the other son Rūpyaprabha will be the Buddha Essence of the Radiance of a Hundred Golden Lights. The goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā then states that Jvalanāntaratejorāja and the other ten thousand Trāyastriṃśa devas have not in their past lives had such great bodhisattva conduct as those three, and yet the Buddha has prophesied their becoming buddhas. The Buddha explains that they gained the necessary merit simply through hearing and believing in The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light. In a future time, all ten thousand will attain buddhahood in the same world, and each one will have the name Prasannavadanotpalagandhakūṭa.
Chapter 24: Ending All Illness
The Buddha tells the goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā that in a distant past, when the Dharma of a buddha named Ratnaśikhin had disappeared, there was a virtuous king named Sureśvaraprabha. At that time, a head merchant by the name of Jaṭiṃdhara had a son by the name of Jalavāhana, who learns medicine from him and is able to cure the many illnesses prevalent in the kingdom.
Chapter 25: The Story of the Fish Guided by Jalavāhana
The Buddha tells the goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā that Jalavāhana had a wife, Jalāmbujagarbhā, and two sons, Jalāmbara and Jalagarbha. He and his sons went into the wilderness where they discovered a lake that was drying up, and the ten thousand fish in it were in danger of dying. A tree goddess appeared who told Jalavāhana that he should save the fish, so he constructed a shade made from branches for the fish. Then he went to King Sureśvaraprabha and obtained twenty elephants from him, and he used them to carry water to replenish the lake. He then sent his son Jalāmbara home to obtain as much food as possible, and he used that to feed the fish. Finally, he waded into the lake and recited the Dharma of dependent origination and the name of the Buddha Ratnaśikhin. At another time, he became intoxicated with alcohol and fell asleep. The ten thousand fish had died, and because of Jalavāhana’s recitation, they had been reborn in the Trāyastriṃśa paradise. They came to the sleeping Jalavāhana and made offerings of many pearls and caused flowers to rain on his home, upon the lake, and other places in the kingdom. The king summoned Jalavāhana, who believed these omens occurred because of the death of the fish. His son Jalāmbara went to the lake and saw that they had all died. The Buddha states that he was Jalavāhana; his father, Śuddhodana, was Jaṭiṃdhara, Jalavāhana’s father; his sons Rāhula and Ānanda were Jalāmbara and Jalagarbha, Jalavāhana’s sons; his wife Gopā was Jalāmbujagarbhā, Jalavāhana’s wife; his father-in-law, Daṇḍapāṇi, was the king; and the ten thousand devas from Trāyastriṃśa were the ten thousand fish. In Toh 557 the tree goddess is identified as being a previous life of the goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā.
Chapter 26: The Gift of the Body to a Tigress
The Buddha gives the goddess an account of when he went to the land of Pañcāla with a thousand bhikṣus. He asked Ānanda to prepare a seat at a particular spot, and when he stamped the ground with his foot, a stūpa emerged. Inside were golden caskets containing bones. The Buddha tells the bhikṣus to pay homage to them, because these bones are from one of his previous lives, and it was through the sacrifice of his life that he was able to attain buddhahood. He relates that in the past, King Mahāratha had three sons, Mahāpraṇāda, Mahādeva, and Mahāsattva. The three princes wandered into a forest and saw a tigress that had given birth to five cubs but was starving and might soon eat her cubs. Mahāsattva decided to give his body to the tigress, and therefore, as they were leaving the forest, he told his brothers he would follow them later and turned back. He then cut his throat in front of the tigress and fell before her. The other two princes searched for their younger brother and discovered he had been eaten. The queen had nightmares and was distressed, thinking that something had happened to her sons. Therefore, the king and queen went in search of their sons and found the two princes, who told them of Mahāsattva’s death. In great distress, they went to his remains and placed them in the stūpa. The Buddha states that he was Mahāsattva. The story is then retold in verse, in which it is also stated that the Buddha’s father, Śuddhodana, was the king; his mother, Māya, was the queen; the two other princes were Maitreya and Mañjuśrī; the tigress was his stepmother, Mahāprajāpatī; and the tiger cubs were his first five bhikṣus.
Chapter 27: Praise by All Bodhisattvas
Hundreds of thousands of bodhisattvas go to the Buddha Suvarṇaratnākaracchatrakūṭa and praise him in verse.
Chapter 28: Praise of All Tathāgatas
The bodhisattva Ruciraketu comes before the Buddha Śākyamuni and praises him in verse.
Chapter 29: The Conclusion
The goddess Bodhisattvasamuccayā praises the Buddha Śākyamuni in verse. The Buddha rises from his seat and says, “Well done!” and the multitudes of beings rejoice and praise his words.
Text Body
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.