The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva
Chapter 2: The Yakṣa Kimbhīra
Toh 56
Degé Kangyur, vol. 40 (dkon brtsegs, kha), folios 225.b–294.a; vol. 41 (dkon brtsegs, ga), folios 1.b–205.b
- Surendrabodhi, Śīlendra, Dharmatāśīla
Imprint
Translated by The Norwegian Institute of Palaeography and Historical Philology
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2023
Current version v 1.0.4 (2024)
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Table of Contents
Summary
In The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva, the Buddha describes in detail the views and practices that are to be followed by the bodhisatva, the ideal Mahāyāna practitioner. Through his interactions with human and nonhuman interlocutors, and through stories of various past buddhas, we are led step by step through the topics of renunciation, the mind of awakening, the four immeasurables, and the six perfections. Among the many accounts of past buddhas included in the sūtra, we find the story of the prophecy made by the Buddha Dīpaṅkara to the brahmin Megha about his future attainment of awakening as the Buddha Śākyamuni.
Acknowledgements
Translation by Prof. Jens Braarvig, Fredrik Liland, and David Welsh. Jens Braarvig directed the translation process and checked the translation against the Sanskrit and Tibetan. Fredrik Liland prepared the Sanskrit and Tibetan editions, translated chapters 1–9 and 11, and prepared the introduction and glossary. David Welsh prepared and translated chapter 10 and was responsible for editing the English. The translators would like to express their gratitude to all those who contributed in various ways to the translation process.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. The 84000 translation team edited the translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.
The translation of this text has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Chang Tai Kwang.
Text Body
The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva
Chapter 2: The Yakṣa Kimbhīra
After the Lord had left the five hundred householders in a balanced state of mind on his way to the city, he entered the great city of Rājagṛha with perfect grace.
One of the city deities of Rājagṛha was a yakṣa named Kimbhīra. He thought to himself, “In this world, it is extremely rare to encounter anyone who is such a worthy recipient of offerings. We should make offerings to the Lord.”
The yakṣa Kimbhīra then presented the Lord with offerings that looked exquisite, smelled exquisite, tasted exquisite, and felt exquisite, and because of his empathy for Kimbhīra, the Lord accepted his offerings. When Kimbhīra had given his offerings to the Lord, cheers of “Wonderful!” arose from a great crowd of sixty-eight thousand yakṣas surrounding Kimbhīra in the sky.
Kimbhīra then addressed his followers: “As we have now made offerings to the Tathāgata, you should also present offerings to the community of mendicants. This will benefit you, help you, and bring you long-lasting happiness.”
The yakṣas then presented the community of mendicants with offerings, and the mendicants accepted the offerings because of their empathy for the yakṣas.
After he had entered the great city of Rājagṛha and received offerings, the Lord left the city. The Lord was accompanied by many thousands of gods, many thousands of nāgas, many thousands of yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, and many thousands of human and nonhuman beings,21 and [F.276.b] many hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions of beings. After he left the city, the Lord went to a large, spacious clearing and sat down on the seat prepared for him. Kimbhīra worshiped the Lord by sprinkling, overspreading, and showering the Lord with heavenly mandārava flowers, blue, pink, red, and white lotus flowers, and heavenly sandalwood powder. When he had sprinkled, overspread, and showered him with these offerings, he stood in front of him with his hands joined in reverence. The Lord perceived Kimbhīra’s state of mind [MS.14.a] and that of the rest of the large group of yakṣas, and he smiled.
It is in the nature of the buddhas, the lords, that when they smile, multicolored, variegated light issues from their mouths. This light is blue, yellow, red, white, crimson, crystal, and silver, and it spreads throughout the world, outshining the radiance of the sun and the moon. It travels from the beings of hell all the way up to the world of the brahmā gods, rising and then returning again, circling the lord clockwise seven times. Some parts of it then dissolve into the crown of the lord’s head, some into his shoulders, and some into his knees. It is in the nature of the buddhas, the lords, that when they make predictions for the beings of hell, this light dissolves into the soles of their feet. When they make predictions for the beings of the animal realm, the light dissolves into their back. When they make predictions for the beings of the spirit world governed by Yama, the light dissolves into their front. [F.277.a] When they make predictions for human beings, the light dissolves into their left side. When they make predictions for the gods, the light dissolves into their right side. When they make predictions for śrāvakas, the light dissolves into their knees. When they make predictions for pratyekabuddhas, the light dissolves into their shoulders. When the buddhas, the lords, make predictions that bodhisatvas will attain unsurpassed perfect awakening, the light dissolves into the crown of their head.
The venerable Ānanda saw the Lord smile, and so he placed his robe over one shoulder, knelt down on his right knee, joined his hands in reverence, and addressed the Lord in verse:
Śaila, the son of the yakṣa Kimbhīra, then thought to himself, “The Lord will ascend Vulture’s Peak, the king of mountains. I must create a vast, meritorious root of virtue in the presence of the Lord.”
The yakṣa Śaila, Kimbhīra’s son, then addressed his companions: “Friends, listen! The Lord is traveling from the great city of Rājagṛha toward Vulture’s Peak, the king of mountains.24 Friends! You should make an effort to worship the Lord according to your strength and capability.”
Kimbhīra’s son Śaila, together with his companions, then cleared the path between the great city of Rājagṛha and Vulture’s Peak, the king of mountains, clearing it of rocks, pebbles, roots, and thorns. He made it as spotless as a mirror, and when the whole path was cleared, he sprinkled it with scented water. He then covered the path completely with fabric and scattered flowers to the height of a man. He adorned the path with parasols, banners, and flags, and along its length he burned fragrant incense in exquisite containers. In the space above the path he strung silken streamers, and he filled the air with the tones and sounds of all kinds of instruments. Along the path he spread blue, pink, red, and white lotus flowers to the breadth of an arrow’s shot. [F.279.a] He placed golden tiles on the path and laid out a golden lattice of the seven precious substances.
Then, having prepared the path in this fashion, the yakṣa Śaila, Kimbhīra’s son, displayed a material body, which pleased, excited, and delighted the crowd. When he had brought joy to the crowd and put them in good spirits, he approached the Lord in a joyful state of mind, in a happy state of mind, in a gentle state of mind, in a faithful state of mind, in an untroubled state of mind, and in a delighted state of mind, his mind drawn to the Buddha, his mind drawn to the Dharma, his mind drawn to the Saṅgha, and his mind not wavering from awakening, undisturbed, and not indifferent to awakening, with a mind esteemed in all the three worlds, with a loving mind, a compassionate mind, a joyous mind, and a mind of equanimity for all sentient beings, with a mind that was a fitting vessel for all the Buddha’s teachings, a firm mind, a stable mind, an undivided mind, a nondecaying mind, and with an attitude that did not fall to the level of śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas but had the motivation to attain all the stages of the bodhisatva path. He approached the Lord and saluted him by bowing the head to his feet, circumambulated him three times clockwise, and then stood to one side. Standing there, the yakṣa Śaila, Kimbhīra’s son, joined his hands and addressed the Lord in verse:
The Lord was then surrounded and honored by many thousands of gods, by many thousands of yakṣas and rākṣasas, by many thousands of gandharvas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, by many thousands of human and nonhuman beings, and by many hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions of beings. By the tremendous power of the buddhas, by the tremendous magical abilities of the buddhas, by the tremendous miraculous abilities of the buddhas, by the tremendous transformative abilities of the buddhas, and by the tremendous splendor of buddhas, he emitted rays of light. The earth shook, flowers rained down, a hundred thousand million billion musical instruments resounded. He placed his feet down on lotus flowers the size of cart wheels, and on the path that had been prepared by the yakṣa Śaila, Kimbhīra’s son, he made his way to Vulture’s Peak, the king of mountains.
When he arrived there, he said to the venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda! Prepare a seat for the Tathāgata, a seat of the Dharma, a choice seat, an excellent seat, a seat that will be celebrated throughout the three worlds, a seat for the Buddha. The Tathāgata will take his seat there and present a sūtra that is praised as being of benefit to all sentient beings. It is called The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva, and its natural result is the path of the bodhisatva. He will present this sūtra of the Tathāgata to address and to eliminate the doubts of all sentient beings, to eliminate any doubts that sentient beings may have, to help a great many beings, to delight a great many beings, out of compassion for the world, to benefit, to help, and to delight gods and men.”
The venerable Ānanda prepared the [F.280.b] Lord’s seat, and six hundred eighty million gods each made an offering of cloth to the Tathāgata, placing it on his seat. The Lord then sat down on the seat that had been prepared for him. When he had sat down, the Lord spoke these verses to the gods:
Then, beings from the threefold thousand great thousand worlds gathered. Realizing the great opportunity they now had to hear the Dharma, they all bowed. Then, motivated by compassion, they sat down and listened attentively to the teaching.
The Lord then addressed the venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana: “Maudgalyāyana, focus your attention on the assembled mendicants. Find out who is not here and have those who are far away appear here.” [F.281.a]
At that time, the venerable Mahākāśyapa was staying on the southern slopes of Himavat, the king of mountains. The venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana concentrated his attention, and when he had done so he traveled by means of his magical powers to the place where the venerable Mahākāśyapa was staying. When he arrived there, he said this to the venerable Mahākāśyapa: “Brother Mahākāśyapa! The Lord is teaching the Dharma to an assembly of the whole world, with its gods, with its māras, with its brahmā gods, with its ascetics and brahmins, and with its gods, human beings, and asuras. Come with me, Brother Mahākāśyapa! The Lord has urged you to come, saying, ‘Let there be no hindrances to our Dharma activity!’ ”
When the venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana had spoken, the venerable Mahākāśyapa replied to him: “Go on ahead, Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana. I will follow after you when you have left.”
The venerable Mahākāśyapa then magically transported himself to Vulture’s Peak, the king of mountains, accompanied by a fourfold entourage. When he arrived there, he saluted the Lord by bowing the head to his feet and sat down in the audience not too far from the Lord.
The venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana traveled to the place where the Lord was by means of his own magical powers,26 and he saw the venerable Mahākāśyapa there, already seated in the audience to one side, not too far from the Lord. When he saw him, he said, [MS.16.b] “You are indeed blessed with swiftness, Brother Mahākāśyapa, as with your magical powers you can travel from your dwelling place and arrive as quickly as this [F.281.b] and be seated in the audience not too far from the Lord.”
When this had been said, the venerable Mahākāśyapa replied to the venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana: “The Lord has said that you, Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana, are the foremost when it comes to magical powers, so why even speak of my magical powers of transformation in this connection?”
Abbreviations
| Akṣ | Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra (Braarvig 1996) |
|---|---|
| Chi | Chinese; see Dh and Xu. |
| D | Degé Kangyur |
| Dh | Chinese translation of the Bodhisatvapiṭaka by Dharmarakṣa 法護 法護 (2) (1018–58 ᴄᴇ), Foshuo dashengpusacangzhengfajing 佛說大乘菩薩藏正法經, in Taishō 316. |
| MS | Sanskrit manuscript of the Bodhisatvapiṭaka (Liland et al., forthcoming). |
| Q | Peking 1737 (Qianlong) Kangyur. |
| Skt | Sanskrit; see MS. |
| Taishō | Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō 大正新修大藏經, Tokyo 1926–34. |
| Tib | Tibetan translation of the Bodhisatvapiṭaka by Surendrabodhi, Śīlendrabodhi, and Dharmatāśīla (9th century ᴄᴇ), ’phags pa byang chub sems dpa’i sde snod ces bya ba thegs chen po’i mdo. |
| Xu | Chinese translation of the Bodhisatvapiṭaka by Xuanzang 玄奘 (645 ᴄᴇ), da pu sa cang jing 大菩薩藏經, in Taishō 310(12). |
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