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  • Toh 65
སྒྱུ་མ་མཁན་བཟང་པོ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ།

The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist

Bhadra­māyākāravyākaraṇa
འཕགས་པ་སྒྱུ་མ་མཁན་བཟང་པོ་ལུང་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
’phags pa sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist”
Ārya­bhadramāyākāra­vyākaraṇa­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra

Toh 65

Degé Kangyur, vol. 43 (dkon brtsegs, ca), folios 17.b–36.a

ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛɪʙᴇᴛᴀɴ ʙʏ
  • Jinamitra
  • Prajñāvarman
  • Bandé Yeshé Dé

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co.

Table of Contents

ti. Title
im. Imprint
co. Contents
s. Summary
ac. Acknowledgements
i. Introduction
tr. The Translation
+ 2 sections- 2 sections
1. The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist
c. Colophon
ab. Abbreviations
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
+ 3 sections- 3 sections
· Tibetan Texts
· Chinese Texts
· References and Secondary Literature
g. Glossary

s.

Summary

s.­1

While the Buddha Śākyamuni is residing at Vulture Peak Mountain, in the nearby city of Rājagṛha the accomplished illusionist Bhadra hatches a scheme to humiliate the Buddha and disprove his omniscience in order to win over the people of Magadha. The failure of Bhadra’s plan, in which he conjures the illusion of a resplendent courtyard that, to his dismay, cannot be undone, culminates in a series of surreal and magnificent visions that convince Bhadra of the superiority of the Buddha’s powers. This sūtra presents a colorful and often humorous narrative and contains teachings on illusion, emptiness, and the distinction between the illusionist’s mundane abilities and the Buddha’s miraculous display. The Buddha also teaches Bhadra forty-three sets of four qualities that together constitute the bodhisattva path.


ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

This sūtra was translated by the Kīrtimukha Translation Group. Celso Wilkinson, Lopon Damchoe Wangmo, and Laura Goetz produced the translation from the Tibetan. We are very grateful to William Giddings who provided us with a comparative translation from the Chinese as well as consultation regarding several difficult points.

ac.­2

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. George FitzHerbert edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.



i.

Introduction

i.­1

The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist contains a colorful and often humorous narrative. Shades of this narrative, in which a powerful magician attempts to humiliate the Buddha Śākyamuni and winds up the fool, are also found in the Pali Buddhist tradition, and the appeal of this particular story as Buddhism spread through Central Asia is apparent in its loose retelling in Khotanese literature. Its central theme is the Buddha’s miraculous powers, here compared to the lesser powers of an illusionist named Bhadra. The sūtra is an emblematic example of adbhutadharma, or “account of miraculous events,” one of the nine or twelve classic categories of the Pali and Sanskrit sūtras.1 The latter portion of the text, in which the Buddha prophesies Bhadra’s future awakening, exemplifies the genre of vyākaraṇa, or “prophecy,” as expressed in the sūtra’s title.

i.­2

The sūtra opens at Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, where the Buddha is residing with his saṅgha of monks and bodhisattvas. Down in the city, the accomplished illusionist Bhadra hatches a plan to test and humiliate the Buddha in order to win over the people of Magadha. Bhadra approaches the Buddha and offers to host him for the midday meal the following day. His plan is to expose the Buddha, since if the Buddha does not know his malicious intentions, it will prove the Buddha’s lack of omniscience. Over the course of the night, Bhadra conjures up the illusion of a resplendent courtyard filled with food and drink and servants. Just then, the Four Great Kings appear and ask for permission to create a second courtyard in which to offer a meal to the Buddha, and then Śakra and his host of gods ask if they may create a third. Bhadra grants them permission but begins to grow apprehensive. Then, when he tries to unravel his illusory display, he cannot. Śakra explains that since even a tiny offering to a buddha will inevitably lead to nirvāṇa, Bhadra’s offering cannot be withdrawn.

i.­3

In the morning, the Buddha and his retinue proceed as planned to the reception in the city, whereupon Bhadra, seeing how the Buddha is revered by the gods, feels remorse for his initial devious intentions. Through the Buddha’s power, Bhadra, Śakra, and the Four Great Kings each simultaneously perceive the Buddha seated at their own conjured courtyards. Bhadra, defeated, bows to the Buddha and confesses his intentions, and the assembly partakes of the illusory feast.

i.­4

The Buddha then conjures a series of visions in order to train Bhadra, beginning with three householders who show him how the Buddha can be in many places at once. The visions increase in intensity until Bhadra sees nothing but the Buddha everywhere he looks, at which point he attains samādhi. Bhadra again repents and asks the Buddha a series of questions, to which the Buddha responds with a teaching on illusion and emptiness.

i.­5

Later, Bhadra again visits the Buddha at Vulture Peak Mountain and requests that he explain the bodhisattva path. The Buddha responds with a teaching in which he enumerates forty-three sets of four qualities that characterize the path of bodhisattvas.2 The Buddha then smiles, and when Ānanda asks why, he responds with a prophecy about Bhadra’s future awakening. Bhadra then takes refuge in the Buddha, proclaiming that the Buddha teaches the Dharma while undifferentiated from suchness (Skt. tathatā, Tib. de bzhin nyid). When questioned by Ānanda, Bhadra elaborates on his statement in riddle-like language. Ānanda replies that while Bhadra once bewildered others with his illusions, now he bewilders them with his wisdom. Bhadra counters that the Buddha himself is also a bewilderer‍—he teaches that there is no self, but does so using terminology like “sentient beings,” and he does not perceive birth and death, yet still he speaks of it.

i.­6

Bhadra then requests to go forth as a monk, and the Buddha instructs Maitreya to perform the ceremony. The sūtra concludes with the Buddha giving Bhadra the prophecy, referenced in the sūtra’s title, regarding his future full awakening.


i.­7

“Illusion” in this sūtra translates the Sanskrit māyā (Tib. sgyu ma) and refers, literally or by analogy, to a magical illusion, which is insubstantial by nature but appears before the eyes due to the magical abilities of a magician or illusionist. The term māyā also carries the connotation of “deceit,” “trickery,” or “deception”; for instance, it is listed as one of over fifty mental events (Skt. caitta, Tib. sems byung) in both the Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika and Yogācāra systems of Abhidharma, where it refers to the volition to deceive or manipulate others or to fraudulently boast about one’s spiritual attainment.

i.­8

A māyākāra (literally “illusion maker”) is akin to a street magician who performs a spectacle of magic tricks before a crowd in order to turn a profit or boost their own influence and reputation. In the context of Buddhist literature, however, these magic tricks are more than just sleight of hand: the illusionist creates incredible magical spectacles of elephants, thrones, marvelous pavilions, and so forth that, while insubstantial in nature, visually appear before the eyes of its spectators, who are thus deceived into taking these conjurations as real and solid things. In truth, however, these appearances, like a hologram or a projection of light, have no tangible substance. While the illusions of an illusionist are considered real magic, that is to say, they are created from supernatural abilities acquired through meditative concentration or other spiritual disciplines, such magical abilities are considered a sort of mundane, worldly magic, particularly in comparison to the abilities resulting from genuine spiritual attainment, and even more so to the realization of an arhat or a buddha.

i.­9

Such magical illusion is often referred to in early Buddhist sources as a metaphor for the illusory or insubstantial and momentary nature of phenomena. Phenomena are described as being like illusions, which initially appear to be solid and real but under close scrutiny and examination are impermanent, dependent, and transient. From the perspective of the Mahāyāna, they lack an inherent nature (Skt. niḥsvabhāva, Tib. rang bzhin med pa). Like magical illusions, phenomena lack any substantiality beyond the spectacle. Within the Mahāyāna, “illusion” was regularly included in conventional lists of eight or ten similes for how phenomena lack an inherent nature.

i.­10

While illusionists are frequently mentioned in this context throughout the Kangyur, The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist is unique in that the illusionist is the central figure and interlocutor of the entire sūtra. The story is set up to accomplish two things regarding the theme of magical illusion: one, it establishes the superiority of the Buddha’s miraculous power over the limited and mundane magic of Bhadra the illusionist, and two, it retains and elaborates upon the metaphorical understanding whereby all phenomena are considered to be magical illusions.

i.­11

In this sūtra, as elsewhere, the term illusion carries a pejorative connotation. Even though Bhadra is said to have great powers, his power of illusion is only ever referred to using the term māyā (Tib. sgyu ma) or the term nirmita/nirmāna (Tib. sprul pa, “conjuration”), while the Buddha’s supernatural power is usually referred to as prātihārya (Tib. cho ’phrul, “miraculous display”). However, at one point in the sūtra, when Maudgalyāyana attempts to warn him of Bhadra’s trickery, the Buddha responds by comparing his own power to that of Bhadra, using the same word, māyā, for both, yet he explains that while Bhadra’s power of illusion is “limited” (phyogs gcig pa), his own is “pure” (yang dag pa). Since the Buddha has fully and completely realized the insubstantial nature of all phenomena and the truth that phenomena are primordially unborn, his power to create illusions, which are in this way no different from ordinary perceived reality, is unlimited.

i.­12

At the climax of the story, the inspired and newly converted Bhadra gives a short discourse on the ultimate nature of phenomena using the convoluted language that has characterized his speech at various points throughout the text. When Ānanda teases Bhadra for the bewildering language with which he expresses the Dharma, he audaciously turns the accusation back onto the Buddha himself, referring to the Buddha as the “great bewilderer.” He justifies this by pointing out that while teaching selflessness, the Buddha speaks using terms like “sentient beings,” and while denying the birth and death of all phenomena, he nevertheless often refers to birth and death. This is an important summation of the narrative, which once again returns to its theme of juxtaposing Bhadra’s mundane powers of illusion with the miraculous displays of the Buddha. In some ways, the Buddha’s powers bewilder his followers, too, such as when he creates emanations of himself earlier in the narrative to simultaneously receive offerings from Bhadra, Śakra, and the Four Great Kings. From the ultimate view, the Buddha’s teachings may appear deceptive, because he teaches using conventional terminology for phenomena. This, however, is a form of skillful means, since he knows that all phenomena ultimately lack inherent nature.

i.­13

So, although Bhadra’s initial use of powers of illusion to deceive, trick, and swindle people is presented here with a conventional negative connotation, the power to deceive through illusion is not necessarily considered in a negative light in this discourse. Rather, illusion serves as an instructive symbol that illustrates the relative and insubstantial nature of phenomena. The Buddha’s miraculous displays, while being at one level no different from the illusionist’s conjurations, do not have the same negative connotations, because they are always done with an intention to inspire and teach. In this way, conjuring illusions is an example of skillful means. Such illusions illustrate the true nature of reality; their source is not mundane sorcery but a quality of awakening, demonstrating the realization of suchness as the true nature of reality.


i.­14

The theme of conversion via the display of supernatural power is often encountered in Buddhist literature.3 The narrative of this sūtra echoes a similar story in the Pali canon: the episode of Sirigutta and Garahadinna attributed to Buddhaghosa in his commentary on the Dhammapada.4 There, as in The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist, the Buddha knowingly walks into a trap set by the non-Buddhist ascetic Garahadinna (in revenge for being victim to the same trap set by the Buddhist Sirigutta), although in this case the trap is not a magical illusion but a simple trench filled with live coals thinly disguised by the mats that Garahadinna expects the Buddha to sit on. When the Buddha sits down, however, the mats and coals become lotus flowers on which the Buddha and his saṅgha take their seats.

i.­15

A Khotanese version of the Bhadra story contained within an untitled collection of Buddhist texts (date uncertain) has been translated into English by Ronald Emmerick.5 This version contains a narrative loosely parallel to that found in the Tibetan, although it paraphrases or leaves out most of the doctrinal elements.

i.­16

The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist is quoted several times in the Tengyur. In two cases, one or more of the sets of four qualities of bodhisattvas are cited,6 and in the case of Jñānavajra’s commentary on the Sūtra on the Descent into Laṅkā (Toh 107), the superiority of the Buddha’s miraculous power is addressed.7

i.­17

According to the colophon, The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist was translated into Tibetan by the Indian scholars Jinamitra and Prajñāvarman and the Tibetan Yeshé Dé, which dates the translation to the late eighth or early ninth century. This is confirmed by its inclusion in the imperial catalogs: the Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) lists it under the Heap of Jewels (Ratnakūṭa) and under the category of four hundred and thirty śloka or one bampo; in the Phangthangma (’phang thang ma) it is not listed as a Heap of Jewels text but in another section of texts all containing one and a half bampos (bam po phyed dang gnyis). This is not unusual, as there are only nine texts listed under the Heap of Jewels in this catalog.8

i.­18

While there is no extant Sanskrit original, there are two translations found in the Chinese Tripiṭaka. The earlier Chinese version was made by Dharmarakṣa (竺法護) in the third or fourth century ᴄᴇ (Taishō 324), the other by Bodhiruci (菩提流志; Taishō 310), along with many of the other texts in the Heap of Jewels collection, between 706 and 713 ᴄᴇ.9 Bodhiruci’s later version is much shorter, omitting most of the sets of four found in Dharmarakṣa’s translation and in the Tibetan.

i.­19

An English translation of the Tibetan text was published in 1938 by Konstantin Régamey, who included a complete edition of the Tibetan with reference to the Chinese translations. An abridged translation of Bodhiruci’s Chinese by C. C. Garma Chang is included in A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras (1983). An anonymous translation from the Chinese, also of Bodhiruci’s translation, can be found online.10

i.­20

This English translation follows the Degé Kangyur wherever possible. When a variant reading has been preferred, this is explained in an endnote. In addition to the two Chinese translations, the Tibetan of the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), the Gondhla collection (thirteenth–fourteenth centuries), and the Stok Palace Kangyur have also been consulted.


Text Body

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra
The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist

1.

The Translation

[F.17.b]


1.­1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!


Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling at Vulture Peak Mountain near Rājagṛha together with a saṅgha of 1,250 monks and five thousand renowned bodhisattva mahāsattvas‍—renowned for having attained the superknowledges, the retentions, the miraculous power of magical display, and acceptance that phenomena are unborn‍—such as the bodhisattva mahāsattva Siṃha, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Siṃhamati, [F.18.a] the bodhisattva mahāsattva Fine Sandalwood, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Sārathi, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mahāsārathi, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Prabhāśrī, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Radiant, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Endowed with Brilliant Light and Having a Melodious Voice, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Prabhāvyūha, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Clear Mind, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Essence of Beings, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Disciplined Charioteer of Beings, all the bodhisattva mahāsattvas of the Fortunate Eon, such as Maitreya, and other bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta and so forth.

1.­2

Śakra, ruler of the gods, was also there with them. Brahmā, the lord of this world Endurance, was there, too, as were the Four Great Kings. Many gods, nāgas, yakṣas, asuras, garuḍas, gandharvas, kinnaras, and mahoragas also surrounded them.

1.­3

While the Blessed One was residing near the great city of Rājagṛha, kings, chief ministers, brahmins, householders, and people of the villages and countryside all paid respect, venerated, served, and made offerings to him. The Blessed One received robes, food, bedding, seats, and medicines to cure the sick. Extensive verses of praise further elevated the Blessed One’s fame and reputation.

1.­4

Thus the tathāgata, arhat, complete and perfect Buddha accomplished in knowledge and conduct, the Sugata, the knower of the world, [F.18.b] the unsurpassed guide who tames beings, the teacher of gods and humans, the Blessed Buddha‍—the all-knowing and all-seeing one‍—knew all and saw all and was endowed with the ten strengths of a tathāgata, the four fearlessnesses of a tathāgata, and the four correct discernments. He was endowed with the eighteen unique qualities of the buddhas, great loving-kindness, and great compassion. He was endowed with the unfailing buddha eye and the five eyes, and he had also gained miraculous powers: the miraculous power of foretelling, the miraculous power of instruction, and the miraculous power of magical display.11

1.­5

If he wished, he could suspend this trichiliocosm‍—including its cities, towns, lands, beings, and Mount Merus, encompassing everything up to the edges of the oceans and including the abodes of the gods, the horizons and depths, and the grasses, trees, and mountains‍—on the tip of a hair in space for an eon or even longer than an eon.

1.­6

At that time, an illusionist named Bhadra lived in the city of Rājagṛha. He was highly versed in the treatises and secret mantra, a master of knowledge and craft, highly accomplished, successful, and famous. He was known as the greatest of all the illusionists and disciples of illusionists in Magadha, and by dint of his fame, he enthralled, bewildered, and deceived all the throngs of people in Magadha and converted them to his spectacular ways, except for those who had seen the truth, had faith, and followed the Dharma‍—the lay devotees, men and women. Through his illusions, he became powerful in the craft of bewilderment and acquired tremendous profits, respect, and verses of praise. [F.19.a]

1.­7

Bhadra the illusionist heard that the fame, renown, and verses of the Blessed One were superior and that he was known as the tathāgata, arhat, complete and perfect Buddha accomplished in knowledge and conduct, the Sugata, the knower of the world, the unsurpassed guide who tames beings, the teacher of gods and humans, the Blessed Buddha, the all-knowing and all-seeing one who knows all and sees all, who is endowed with the ten strengths of a tathāgata, the four fearlessnesses of a tathāgata, and the four correct discernments and who is endowed with the eighteen unique qualities of the buddhas, with great loving-kindness and great compassion, and with the unfailing buddha eye and the five eyes, and as one who has gained miraculous powers: the miraculous power of foretelling, the miraculous power of instruction, and the miraculous power of magical display. If he wished, he could suspend this trichiliocosm‍—including its cities, towns, lands, beings, and Mount Merus, encompassing everything up to the edges of the oceans and including the abodes of the gods, the horizons and depths, and the grasses, trees, and mountains‍—on the tip of a hair in space for an eon or for even longer than an eon.

1.­8

When he heard this, he thought, “I have enthralled all the people of the land of Magadha, bewildered them, deceived them, and converted them to my spectacular ways. All the brahmins and great householders delight in my name. The tathāgata, the arhat, the complete and perfect Buddha is the only one I have yet to put to the test. Since I have not yet bewildered and deceived him, I must go immediately to the tathāgata, the arhat, the complete and perfect Buddha.12 [F.19.b] When I get there, I will put him to the test. If they see that I am able to bewilder and deceive him, all of Magadha will follow me alone, and I will be bolstered with even greater profits and respect.”

1.­9

Then Bhadra the illusionist, impelled by his previous roots of virtue and by the power of the Buddha, left the city of Rājagṛha and went to where the Blessed One was at Vulture Peak Mountain. Upon arrival, Bhadra the illusionist saw the Tathāgata, shining with light brighter than a trillion suns, with a face more immaculate than a trillion moons, with a body well proportioned like the king of banyan trees,13 with an ūrṇā as clearly apparent as the sparkling of a stainless jewel,14 with lotus eyes as lustrous as a blue utpala in bloom,15 and with an uṣṇīṣa whose top could not be seen even by Brahmā,16 teaching the Dharma amid his retinue in a melodious voice endowed with the sixty qualities.17 Seeing this, seeing such a bodily form and hearing such awakened speech, Bhadra’s mind was calmed. Nonetheless, he thought, “I must test him at once, to find out for sure whether he is all-knowing and all-seeing or not.”

1.­10

Then Bhadra the illusionist, bowing to the feet of the Blessed One and thinking to test him, said, “Please come tomorrow for the midday meal.” At the same time, he was also thinking, “Does he know my intentions or not? If he does know, then he will not come. But if he does not know, he will come.”18

1.­11

Knowing this, the Blessed One, for the sake of taming Bhadra the illusionist, and for the sake of taming the masses of the city of Rājagṛha, gave his assent to Bhadra the illusionist by remaining silent along with his saṅgha of monks.

1.­12

Bhadra the illusionist thought, “Since my intention is to harm him [F.20.a] and yet he has agreed, he must be neither all-knowing nor all-seeing.” Then Bhadra the illusionist bowed to the feet of the Blessed One and departed from his presence.

1.­13

Then Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana said to the Blessed One, “The illusionist Bhadra is going to harm this saṅgha of monks using his basket of illusions.”19

1.­14

The Blessed One replied, “Maudgalyāyana, do not worry! I have been engaging in correct conduct since long ago, and being a tathāgata, I know the proper time.20 Not even the whole world with its gods can harm a tathāgata.

1.­15

“Indeed, Maudgalyāyana, desire is what causes harm, anger is what causes harm, and ignorance is what causes harm. Since these, along with any latent tendencies, have been completely exhausted and forsaken by a tathāgata, who realizes that phenomena are primordially unborn,21 even the whole world with its gods cannot harm a tathāgata.

1.­16

“Furthermore Maudgalyāyana, since the power of illusion of Bhadra the illusionist is limited, it is impure, while the power of illusion of a tathāgata is pure, since he is completely and manifestly awakened to all phenomena being like illusions.22

1.­17

“Maudgalyāyana, even if all those multitudes designated as belonging to the realm of beings were to possess powers of illusion like that of Bhadra the illusionist, this would not even come close to a hundredth of a tathāgata’s power of illusion; nor would it even come close to a thousandth, nor a trillionth. Nor would any such calculation, fraction, enumeration, or simile come close.

1.­18

“Maudgalyāyana, what do you think? Is Bhadra the illusionist [F.20.b] able to display this great trichiliocosm in its entirety, fully adorned with all its features?”

“No, he is not,” replied Maudgalyāyana.

1.­19

The Blessed One continued, “If a tathāgata so wishes, he can display all the world systems as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges, fully adorned, on the mere tip of a hair. But even this would not show the full extent of a tathāgata’s power of illusion. Maudgalyāyana, in the ten directions there are the following maṇḍalas of wind:23 the wind called scattering;24 the wind called cutting asunder, which cuts the trichiliocosm asunder and, having cut it asunder, destroys it; the wind called dispersing and scattering, which moves about in the middle of the world; the wind called all-settling, which moves about at the summit of existence; the wind called destroying, which utterly destroys even Mount Meru, the king of mountains, let alone ordinary mountains; the wind called blazing, which arises during the conflagration of an eon and whose flames blaze all the way up to the Brahmā realms; the wind called consummating, which pacifies the fire at the eon’s conflagration; the wind called delighting, which completely covers the trichiliocosm with a lattice of clouds; the wind called sprinkling with water, which causes rain to descend during the conflagration of an eon; and the wind called completely drying, which completely dries that which has been destroyed by water.

1.­20

“Maudgalyāyana, beginning with these maṇḍalas of wind, I could teach the Dharma for an eon or even longer than an eon, for there is no end to the Dharma taught by a tathāgata, beginning from the explanation of these maṇḍalas of wind.

1.­21

“Maudgalyāyana, [F.21.a] what do you think? Would the illusionist Bhadra be able to remain in those maṇḍalas of wind?”

“No, he would not,” replied Maudgalyāyana.

1.­22

The Blessed One continued, “Maudgalyāyana, I would be able to abide inside all those maṇḍalas of wind, all the while performing the four normal activities. If the Tathāgata so wishes, he could make all those winds enter a single mustard seed, and still the mustard seed would not be destroyed. Indeed, he could let all the activities of all those winds be displayed inside the mustard seed, and yet they would neither collide with one another nor decrease.

“Maudgalyāyana, there is nothing like the nature of my power of illusion. Indeed, it is limitless.”

1.­23

Venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana and the entire assembly were amazed. They bowed their heads to the feet of the Blessed One and said together with one voice, “Blessed One, we are indeed fortunate! As the teacher possesses such superior magical power, such renown for being superior in might, and such superior power, we are indeed fortunate! Blessed One, those who hear of this miraculous display of the Tathāgata will be inspired. And being inspired, they will develop the mind intent on complete and perfect awakening, so they, too, will obtain excellent fortune!”


1.­24

Then Bhadra the illusionist went to the great city of Rājagṛha, and that very night, in the sector of the great city of Rājagṛha where all the city’s refuse and unclean things were discarded, he conjured up a great reception courtyard adorned with silken streamers, parasols, victory banners, and raised silk flags. He conjured the ground so that it was as even as the palm of a hand, strewn with flowers, fragrant with excellent incense, and adorned with a canopy above. [F.21.b]

1.­25

Within that courtyard, he also conjured eight thousand25 exquisite trees replete with flowers and fruits. In front of all the exquisite trees he conjured lion thrones covered with many kinds of cotton cloth and adorned with all kinds of precious silk flags. He conjured four exquisite trees replete with flowers and fruits to both the left and right of each lion throne. He conjured fine dishes endowed with a hundred flavors for the Blessed One and the saṅgha of monks to enjoy. He also conjured five hundred attendants, all dressed in white and bedecked with all kinds of accoutrements.

1.­26

As soon as Bhadra the illusionist had conjured up this banquet, the Four Great Kings, emanating as large bodies, came instantaneously to the illusionist Bhadra’s courtyard array and said to him, “Bhadra, you have invited the Tathāgata for tomorrow’s midday meal, and you have conjured such a courtyard for the Tathāgata to enjoy. You have done very well!

1.­27

“Bhadra, please grant us permission to also make offerings to the Tathāgata, by displaying a second modest courtyard like this for the Blessed One to enjoy, to accompany yours!”

1.­28

Bhadra the illusionist was utterly amazed and granted permission to the Four Great Kings, who then conjured a similar courtyard array for the Blessed One to enjoy.

1.­29

Then Śakra, ruler of the gods, arrived together with thirty thousand gods at Bhadra’s courtyard array and said to him, “Bhadra, you have invited the Tathāgata for tomorrow’s midday meal, and [F.22.a] you have conjured such a courtyard array for the Tathāgata to enjoy. You have done well! Bhadra, please grant us permission to also make offerings to the Tathāgata, by displaying a second modest courtyard like this for the Blessed One to enjoy, to accompany yours!”

1.­30

Bhadra the illusionist, utterly amazed, granted permission to Śakra, ruler of the gods, whereupon Śakra, ruler of the gods, conjured an especially magnificent courtyard for the Blessed One to enjoy‍—larger even than the Vaijayanta Palace, the residence of the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three with the Pārijāta tree of paradise‍—a courtyard that eclipsed those of Bhadra the illusionist and the Four Great Kings.

1.­31

Then Bhadra the illusionist thought, “If even gods such as these gather with such enthusiasm to make offerings and serve the Blessed One, he must be no ordinary being. It would not be appropriate to harm such an exalted being! Without a doubt, I must dispel my creation!”

1.­32

Then Bhadra the illusionist attempted to dispel his conjurations and make them disappear. Invoking the power of all his secret mantras and vidyā mantras, he tried26 to get rid of them and make them disappear, but the fine dishes, the attendants, the courtyard, and the lion thrones all remained, appearing just as they had before. He was not able to dispel them, even with all his secret mantras and vidyā mantras. Completely amazed, he thought, “Up until now I could create illusions at will and make them vanish at will, but now I am unable to dispel this array made for the Tathāgata.” [F.22.b]

1.­33

Then Śakra, ruler of the gods, knowing fully what Bhadra the illusionist was thinking, said to him, “Bhadra, just as you are unable to dispel what you have created for the Tathāgata, so it is, Bhadra, for those who are able to generate even a few thoughts of the Tathāgata‍—their thoughts do not go away but remain a causal factor right up until their final nirvāṇa.”

1.­34

Bhadra the illusionist was utterly delighted, and rejoicing, he became thoroughly overjoyed and blissful. So, that night passed with him urging the Blessed One to come for the midday meal, beseeching him, “Blessed One, when the midday meal in the middle of the day has arrived, please do kindly come for the midday meal!”27


1.­35

Early the next morning, the Blessed One donned his lower and upper robes, took up his offering bowl, gathered the saṅgha of monks, and, leading the saṅgha of monks, went to the great city of Rājagṛha, to the site of Bhadra the illusionist’s great courtyard. He then manifested a magical display such that Bhadra the illusionist was convinced that “the Tathāgata is seated at the array I have conjured,” the Four Great Kings were convinced that “the Tathāgata is seated at the array we have conjured,” and Śakra, ruler of the gods, was convinced that “the Tathāgata is seated at the array I have conjured.”

1.­36

In the great city of Rājagṛha, word spread to others‍—non-Buddhists, carakas, parivrājakas, brahmins, and householders. Amazed, they rushed to the courtyard thinking, “Today the renunciant Gautama will be put to the test!” [F.23.a]

1.­37

The faithful living in the great city of Rājagṛha‍—monks and nuns, laymen and laywomen‍—likewise rushed to the gathered assembly thinking, “Today we will listen to the Tathāgata’s words,28 and we will also see a great miraculous display.”

1.­38

Then Bhadra the illusionist, truly overcoming his pride, haughtiness, and arrogance, bowed his head to the feet of the Blessed One and said, “Blessed One, I confess my wrongdoing‍—I invited the Tathāgata to come here with severely harmful intent. But then, Blessed One, I thought that it would be wrong to deceive such an exalted being by conjuring fine dishes, servants, lion thrones, and this courtyard. Realizing that this should not be done, I tried to dispel them but was unable to do so. Even by invoking the full force of all my secret mantras and vidyā mantras, I could not make them go away. It was no use, and all these fine dishes, servants, lion thrones, and courtyard arrangements remained just as they were.”

1.­39

The Blessed One then said to Bhadra the illusionist, “Bhadra, the amenities and enjoyments of all beings are also like this, illusory conjurations of karma.29 Bhadra, this saṅgha of monks is also like this, an illusory conjuration of the Dharma. Bhadra, I, too, am also like this, an illusory conjuration of wisdom. Bhadra, this entire trichiliocosm is also like this, the illusory conjuration of various manifest formations. Indeed Bhadra, all phenomena are like this, the illusory conjurations of masses of conditions.

1.­40

“Nevertheless, Bhadra, [F.23.b] when you know the time is right, you may offer these dishes and drinks, delectables and nectars,30 however they have been conjured.”

1.­41

Then the servants conjured by Bhadra and the Four Great Kings and Śakra, ruler of the gods, along with his retinue, satisfied the Blessed One and the saṅgha of monks with the conjured dishes and drinks, delectables, and nectars.

Then the elder Mahākāśyapa spoke the following verse:

1.­42
“As is the gift,
So is the recipient.
Arriving at the true nature of both as just so,
May the offering be perfectly purified.”31

Mahāmaudgalyāyana said:

1.­43
“As for the seating arrangements
And those who are seated,32
There is no distinction to be found; they are the same.
Thus the virtue of this offering is unsurpassed.”

Śāriputra said:

1.­44
“As the mind of the one who serves,
So is the mind of the one who receives.
With this way of giving,
May the offering be swiftly purified!”

Subhūti said:

1.­45
“The gift was given without a giver
And received without a receiver.
Thus, whosoever has come here
Purifies the offering.”

Ānanda said:

1.­46
“These gifts, as endless as the sky,
Are enjoyed by inconceivably numerous beings.
But it is their liberation of mind and body
That is the greatest pure offering in all the worlds.”

The bodhisattva Pinnacle of Light said:

1.­47
“Like the array conjured up
By Bhadra the illusionist,
So are all material things,
But the foolish do not realize this.”

The bodhisattva Prabhāvyūha said:

1.­48
“Like these seats and trees,
So are all manifold phenomena conjured,
Like mind’s illusion‍—empty.
There is not the slightest difference.”

The bodhisattva Siṃha said:

1.­49
“So long as the lion’s roar is not heard,
The jackals howl in the forest.
But hearing the lion’s roar,
They flee in the ten directions.
1.­50
“Similarly, so long as Bhadra the illusionist [F.24.a]
Did not see the Tathāgata,
He proclaimed among the non-Buddhists,
‘I am superior to the Victorious One!’
1.­51
“Bhadra, the Tathāgata’s illusion
Shows what illusion really is.
Should this illusion be taught to its full extent,
Even Māra could not fathom its depths.”33

The bodhisattva Siṃhamati said:

1.­52
“These fine dishes are conjurations,
As are these attendants offering service;
Even the ones enjoying it are conjurations.
Thus the virtue of this gift is unsurpassed.”

The bodhisattva Maitreya said:

1.­53
“A flame fed with ghee and sesame oil
Flares and swells ever more fiercely.
Just so, by means of Bhadra’s power of illusion,
The Buddha’s power of illusion is definitively taught.”

Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta said:

1.­54
“Just as what was here before,
Like what he created, does not exist,
All phenomena, from the very beginning,
Have always been the same.”
1.­55

Then the Blessed One, using his powers to thoroughly tame Bhadra the illusionist, conjured a householder, who came into the courtyard and asked Bhadra the illusionist, “Bhadra, what are you doing?”

“I am offering the midday meal to the renunciant Gautama,” Bhadra replied.

“Forget it, Bhadra! Do not say that! The Tathāgata, with his saṅgha of monks, is receiving the midday meal at King Ajātaśatru’s court.”

Then, through the power of the Buddha, Bhadra the illusionist saw the Tathāgata, with the saṅgha of monks, receiving the midday meal at King Ajātaśatru’s court.

1.­56

The Blessed One then conjured a second householder, who came into the courtyard and asked Bhadra the illusionist, “Bhadra, what are you doing?”

“I am offering the midday meal to the renunciant Gautama,” Bhadra replied.

“Forget it! Do not say that! The Tathāgata, with his saṅgha of monks, is on the parivrājaka street collecting alms.” [F.24.b]

Then, through the power of the Buddha, Bhadra the illusionist saw the Tathāgata, with the saṅgha of monks, collecting alms on the parivrājaka street.

1.­57

The Blessed One then conjured another householder, who came into the courtyard and asked Bhadra the illusionist, “Bhadra, what are you doing?”

“I am offering the midday meal to the renunciant Gautama,” Bhadra replied.

“Bhadra, forget it! Do not say that! The Tathāgata is in the physician’s grove teaching the Dharma to the fourfold retinue.”

Then, through the power of the Buddha, Bhadra the illusionist saw the Tathāgata in the physician’s grove teaching the Dharma to the fourfold retinue.

1.­58

Śakra, ruler of the gods, then approached Bhadra the illusionist and asked, “Bhadra, what are you doing?”

“I am offering the midday meal to the renunciant Gautama,” Bhadra replied.

“Bhadra, forget it! Do not say that! The Tathāgata is in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, in front of the Pārijāta tree, teaching the Dharma to the gods of the Thirty-Three.”

Then Bhadra also saw the Tathāgata in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, teaching the Dharma in front of the Pārijāta tree.

1.­59

Then on all the leaves and all the flowers on every tree that Bhadra the illusionist had conjured, Bhadra the illusionist saw the Tathāgata, adorned with the marks of a great being and encircled by the saṅgha of monks. On each of the lion thrones that he had conjured and on the lion thrones that the Four Great Kings had conjured, he saw the Tathāgata, adorned with the marks of a great being and encircled by the saṅgha of monks. Everywhere in the great city of Rājagṛha, in every building, house, and palace, on every path and road, [F.25.a] he saw the Tathāgata, adorned with the marks of a great being.

1.­60

And in front of every tathāgata, arhat, complete and perfect Buddha, Bhadra the illusionist saw himself bowing and confessing his faults, and wherever else Bhadra the illusionist looked, in every corner of his field of vision, he saw nothing but the Tathāgata. He was utterly delighted and, rejoicing, became overjoyed and blissful.

1.­61

Through that very feeling of joy and bliss, he attained the samādhi called recollecting the Buddha.34 As soon as he emerged from that samādhi, he joined his palms together and, seated before the Blessed One, spoke these verses:

1.­62
“I have been won over by the Tathāgata’s magical display,
By which, if he wished, he could create
A hundred thousand buddha emanations,
Or as many as the grains of sand in the Ganges.
1.­63
“I once thought that I was unequaled in Jambudvīpa
In the level of my skill in illusions,
But today, seeing this magical display of the Victorious One,
My power does not approach a fraction of it.
1.­64
“Looking with my eye of flesh,
Everywhere I see the form of the Victorious One adorned with the marks.
I beseech the king of Dharma‍—
Please tell me, which is the real Victorious One?
1.­65
“By offering to which will the offering be best?
Which will lead to the greater result?
Holding to which will accord with awakening?
Please tell me with your all-seeing vision!
1.­66
“Today I confess my wrongdoing
Of putting the guardian of the world to the test.
Those who do not show humility before the supreme being‍—
Such beings forsake the bliss of the Victorious One.
1.­67
“O gods, Śakra, Brahmā,
And all who are assembled here, please listen to me!
In order to completely liberate all beings,
I engender the mind of awakening. [F.25.b]
1.­68
“Treating all beings as my guests,
I will satisfy them with blissful nectar.
I will awaken those beings obstructed by sleep
With the perfected power of insight.
1.­69
“Who, upon seeing such a magical display
And witnessing the Sugata’s delightful words and wisdom
And his supreme conduct of nonattachment,35
Would not engender in mind the pure cause for awakening?
1.­70
“Please explain to me the path to awakening
As practiced by those who know the mind of awakening.
What is the practice of bodhisattvas
To which that of śrāvakas cannot be compared?
1.­71
“What are the good qualities of practicing its rites?36
What are the devotions of those who wish to hear the teachings?
What is the conduct of these graceful37 bodhisattvas?
Tell me, to still my doubts!
1.­72
“How do they accustom themselves to seeking learning?
How do they first fix this learning in their hearts
Then teach it lucidly to others?
How may all creatures come to have faith in the Dharma?
1.­73
“How do they become disinterested in profit
And remain unattached to worldly concerns?
How do they become and remain grateful and helpful
And inseparable from beings?
1.­74
“On what friends do they rely, and how do they rely on them?
How do they shun bad companions?
How do they meet with the buddhas?
And having seen them, how do they make offerings?
1.­75
“How do they respect the pure trainings,
And how do they commit to their trainings?
How does their discipline become perfectly pure,
And how do they obtain perfectly pure samādhi?
1.­76
“How do they adhere to what is proper
And reject what is improper?
How do they maintain a resolute will
And avoid being caught by the demonic fetters of affliction?
1.­77
“How do the faithful apply their minds to the ultimate
Yet not abandon beings in their thoughts?
How do they bring beings to maturity
While being heroic and without desiring exorbitant wealth?
1.­78
“How do they engage in conduct for the sake of beings,38 [F.26.a]
Abiding in skillful means and loving compassion?
How do they perfect the superknowledges?
How do recollection and intellect become pure?
1.­79
“Those with correct discernment, retention, and tolerance
Who never turn away from their aspirations and pure conduct,
Who are wise to the profound and skilled in the ultimate truth‍—
How do they accomplish all their aspirations?
1.­80
“How are they in accord
With awakening and the sublime perfections,
Never turning back from bodhisattva conduct
Always oriented toward omniscience and awakening?
1.­81
“O omniscient one, who perfectly knows the truth, O ocean of insight,
Source of wisdom, please teach this to me!
Blessed One, please teach me these benefits,
And I will earnestly practice from the bottom of my heart!”
1.­82

The Blessed One responded to Bhadra the illusionist with these verses:

1.­83
“One who recognizes all phenomena as conjurations
Can conjure ten billion buddhas;
Those conjurations may go to millions of buddhafields
And free millions of beings.
1.­84
“Just as you, Bhadra, display from formlessness
An infinite variety of forms
That are unborn, unceasing, 
And without coming, going, and abiding,
1.­85
“In the same way, Bhadra, the foremost among beings, the Victorious One,
Conjures his own aggregates along with his assembled saṅgha,
Which are unborn and unceasing;39
Such is the magical display of the inconceivable buddhas.
1.­86
“In the same way that a person deceived by an illusion
Sees elephants, chariots, calvary, and infantry40
Although these are not constituted and have no substance,
They are seen by the mistaken mind.
1.­87
“Similarly, buddhas are without form, color, and shape,
And they exhibit neither activity nor behavior.
The view of the transitory collection does not arise,
And there is no notion of a buddha as a ‘buddha.’
1.­88
“Buddhas cannot be discerned by their physical form or marks,
Their ages or lineages, or by their voices.
Their mind cannot be explained, [F.26.b]
Nor their consciousness ascertained by intellect.
1.­89
“Blessed buddhas, who are the true nature itself,
Are empty of the three times; their marks are unborn.
Eternally liberated from the illusory,
Their phenomenality41 cannot be distinguished or calculated.
1.­90
“Whatever buddhas arise, their true nature has no arising.
Their aggregates do not exist, and their constituents do not arise;
Their phenomenality abides without fluctuating and without depending42 on anything.
They do not even abide as figments of the five eyes.
1.­91
“If someone thinks, ‘I have seen the Buddha,’
They have never really seen the Buddha.
Seeing the unseen guide
Is like seeing a bird’s trail in the sky.
1.­92
“Bhadra, the buddhas you saw just now‍—
Know that they are all one and the same.
I and the others are all the same,
Like the sameness one sees when gazing at the sky.
1.­93
“Their samādhi and insight43 are undifferentiated,
Their liberation is undifferentiated,
And their vision of liberating wisdom, their strengths,
And all the qualities of the victorious ones are undifferentiated.
1.­94
“From the position of emptiness, they abide undifferentiated.
All of them abide in the true nature without attachment.
They are all liberated from the illusory
And appear without origin.
1.­95
“Bhadra, if you make an offering to one of the victorious ones,
That offering will have been made to all the buddhas of the ten directions.
There has never been any difference
Between their true expanse and my own.
1.­96
“All of them purify gifts by accepting them;
Offering to any of them yields the greatest result.
They have all found the same pure true nature;
In this way there is no distinction between buddhas.
1.­97
“Since I will tell you who is the real Victorious One,
Examine and contemplate44 the way of Dharma
With a single-pointed mind and closely applied mindfulness.
Listen to me well, with a precisely focused mind!
1.­98
“Bhadra, all of them are unproduced and unreal;
Only the mistaken see them as real.
If the essence of things were truly real,
Then all such things would not pass away.
1.­99
“Therefore, they are wholly unborn and unreal, [F.27.a]
And being unborn, they neither abide nor pass away.
So, though when unexamined they seem to be entities,
When one looks thoroughly there is no abiding.
1.­100
“Just as you, Bhadra, see the victorious ones,
And just as you see these conjurations in all directions,
So should you regard the five aggregates,
The vast aggregates on which the foolish45 rely.
1.­101
“All phenomena are without intrinsic nature,
And beings are without the marks of a buddha.
Those who desire marks where there are none
Are a long way from buddhahood.
1.­102
“Phenomena are nonexistent and arise due to conceptuality.
Know also that they are insubstantial and dependent.
They are without doing and beyond a doer.
By giving names, emptiness is taught.
1.­103
“Those who know there are no causes or effectuating conditions
Also know that phenomena are free of attachment.
If they know that phenomena are free of desire and attachment,
They see the Buddha with the eye of complete purity.”
1.­104

When that teaching in verse had been given, Bhadra the illusionist attained the lesser acceptance that accords with certainty46 in the Dharma; five thousand beings engendered the mind of unsurpassed complete and perfect awakening, which until then had never occurred to them; and two hundred bodhisattvas obtained acceptance that phenomena are unborn. Then the Blessed One partook of the conjured food, and in order to fully purify Bhadra’s gift, he spoke this verse:

1.­105
“Just as no discursive distinction is made between the giver,
The receiver, and what is given,
May this equal act of generosity
Be fully perfected for Bhadra!”
1.­106

Then Venerable Ānanda said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, please grant your blessing that this courtyard, just as it is ornamented now, remains without disappearing or fading away for seven days.” The Blessed One then gave his blessing that the courtyard would remain, just as it was, [F.27.b] and not disappear or vanish for a full seven days. Then the Blessed One rose from his seat and departed along with the saṅgha of monks.

1.­107

Later, when the Blessed One had arisen from his meditative composure and was seated in order to teach the Dharma, monks, bodhisattvas, gods, nāgas, yakṣas, and gandharvas approached the Blessed One to hear the Dharma. Bhadra the illusionist also came before the Blessed One, bowed to his feet, and respectfully circumambulated him three times. With proper honors he sat down to one side with his palms together. Thus seated to one side, Bhadra the illusionist said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, please explain the path of the bodhisattvas, such that anyone who enters the path of bodhisattvas proceeds to the seat of awakening.”

1.­108

The Blessed One replied to Bhadra the illusionist, “Bhadra, listen well and keep this in mind. I will explain.”

Bhadra the illusionist replied, “Very well!” and listened as the Blessed One explained.

1.­109

“Bhadra, these four constitute the path of the bodhisattvas, such that anyone who enters the path of bodhisattvas will proceed to the seat of awakening. What are the four? Not abandoning the mind of omniscience, not forsaking beings, being insatiable in seeking out all roots of virtue, and endeavoring to be diligent in protecting the holy Dharma. Bhadra, these four [F.28.a] constitute the path of bodhisattvas, such that anyone who enters the path of bodhisattvas will proceed to the seat of awakening.

1.­110

“Bhadra, these four constitute the completely pure conduct of bodhisattvas. What are the four? Purity of the three vows, purity of intention,47 purity of knowledge, and purity of birth. These are the four.

1.­111

“Bhadra, these four constitute the bodhisattva qualities that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas cannot fathom. What are the four? Emerging from concentration,48 mental discernment, great compassion for beings, and inspired speech in diverse languages. These are the four.

1.­112

“Bhadra, these four constitute the superior conduct of bodhisattvas. What are the four? Staying in remote places, not taking delight in distraction, being kind to beings when staying in such places, and knowing that all conditioned factors neither come from nor go anywhere. These are the four.

1.­113

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have these four qualities, they may be considered objects of great praise and respect. What are the four? Bodhisattvas not being concerned with their own bodies or lives, always being joyful in spirit, abandoning pride and haughtiness, and accomplishing what they have said they will do. These are the four.

1.­114

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have these four qualities, their conduct is perfect. What are the four? Knowing the proper time and knowing the right measure, solitude, and authenticity. These are the four.

1.­115

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have these four qualities, they are without doubt. What are the four? Overcoming regret wherever it arises,49 venerating those with great erudition and insight, [F.28.b] thinking about the meaning of what has been learned, and not talking about the faults of others‍—being kind in discussions and not emphasizing faults. These are the four.

1.­116

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas are seen to have these four beneficial qualities, they are sought after for their learning. What are the four? Developing insight in oneself and others, removing doubts that come from all directions, grasping the holy Dharma, and never tiring of praising the buddhas. These are the four.

1.­117

“Bhadra, these four are the essences of the bodhisattvas’ vast learning. What are the four? Being learned, they know the Dharma in detail; this is an essence. Being learned, they refrain from what should not be done; this is an essence. Being learned, they teach others; this is an essence. And being learned, they focus on the ultimate liberation and awakening of blessed buddhas; this is an essence. These are the four.

1.­118

“Bhadra, these four are the benefits for bodhisattvas who teach the Dharma. What are the four? Enjoying a meal after working; receiving robes, alms, bedding, seats, and medicines to cure the sick; weakening the power of opponents; and being attended upon and protected by gods who favor the Dharma, so that they are invulnerable to Māra. Bhadra, these four are the benefits for the bodhisattvas who teach the Dharma.

1.­119

“If bodhisattvas have these four qualities, when they teach the Dharma to others their words will be worth hearing. What are the four? Having few desires, a sense of contentment, and a good and gentle nature and accomplishing their own spiritual practice. [F.29.a] These are the four.

1.­120

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have these four qualities, they teach the Dharma while avoiding profiting from their knowledge and without concern for material things. What are the four? Dispelling50 the fear of saṃsāra, taking no interest in worldly goods or distractions, looking out for others, and abiding by the noble lineage. These are the four.

1.­121

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have these four qualities, they are grateful and thankful for what they receive and are of benefit in return. What are the four? Encouraging others toward awakening, not allowing former deeds to go to waste, treating others with the kindness one gives oneself, and aspiring to the skill of a holy being. These are the four.

1.­122

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have these four qualities, they will be inseparable friends to beings. What are the four? Putting on the armor of the strength of acceptance, having no hope for the slightest benefit in return, not forsaking great compassion, and not giving up on those who have entered erroneous ways. Bodhisattvas with these four qualities will be inseparable friends to beings.

1.­123

“Bhadra, these four are the friends upon whom bodhisattvas should rely. What are the four? Perfect application, perfect intention, perfect conduct, and doing that which reveals this awakening to others. These are the four.

1.­124

“Bhadra, these four should be known as nonvirtuous companions for bodhisattvas. What are the four? Teachers of the Lesser Vehicle; those who divert those inclined toward the mind of awakening; those who, when relied upon, cause nonvirtuous qualities to increase; and those who cause virtuous qualities to decrease. [F.29.b] These are the four.

1.­125

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have these four qualities, they will meet with blessed buddhas. What are the four? Single-pointed mindfulness, proclaiming again and again the praises of the blessed buddhas, completely pure discipline, and making aspirations with superior motivation. These are the four.

1.­126

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas see51 these four benefits, they will take delight in acts of offering to the tathāgatas. What are the four? That offerings are made to the supreme object of offering; that when they are seen making offerings, other beings make offerings in the same way; that when offerings to the tathāgatas are made in the right way, the mind of awakening becomes stable; and that when a great being with the thirty-two marks is seen directly, roots of virtue are accumulated. Bhadra, when bodhisattvas see these four benefits, they will delight in making offerings to the tathāgatas.

1.­127

“Likewise, Bhadra, when bodhisattvas see these four objectives, they will be diligent in their training. What are the four? Passing beyond bad rebirths, achieving happy rebirths, respecting the tathāgatas, and completely fulfilling aspirations. These are the four.

1.­128

“Bhadra, these four are the trainings of bodhisattvas. What are the four? Never relinquishing the mind of awakening, being equanimous toward all beings, fully pursuing the perfections, and not being afraid to listen52 to the immeasurable Buddhadharma. Bhadra, these four are the trainings of bodhisattvas.

1.­129

“Bhadra, these four are the perfectly pure trainings of bodhisattvas. What are the four? Not doing what should not be done, [F.30.a] having faith in emptiness, not abandoning the awakening of the buddhas, and completely vanquishing views along with their latent tendencies. Bhadra, those four are the completely pure trainings of bodhisattvas.

1.­130

“Bhadra, these four are the four aspects of the samādhi of bodhisattvas. What are the four? Being without distraction, remaining in solitude, having an untroubled mind, and relying53 on the roots of virtue. Bhadra, these four are the aspects of the samādhi of bodhisattvas.

1.­131

“Bhadra, these four are the proper modes of engagement of bodhisattvas. What are the four? Actualizing the mind of awakening once the roots of virtues have been produced, being without obscuration when entering complete absorption, being familiar with the gateways to liberation, and not entering into fixity.54 Bhadra, these four are the proper modes of engagement of bodhisattvas.

1.­132

“Bhadra, these four are the improper mindsets of bodhisattvas that should be rejected. What are the four? Being afraid of the horrors of saṃsāra, being uninterested in yogic activities, being uninterested in the intended meaning of the teachings, and not accumulating roots of virtue. Bhadra, these four are the improper mindsets that should be rejected.

1.­133

“Bhadra, these four are the resolutions of bodhisattvas. What are the four? The first resolution is the thought, ‘Even for the sake of a single being, I will cycle in saṃsāra until the end of the final eon.’ The second resolution is the thought, ‘I will teach the Dharma in order to know the thoughts of all beings, pacify their afflictions, and know the superior and inferior faculties.’ The third resolution is the thought, [F.30.b] ‘May I, having relinquished all nonvirtuous qualities and become endowed with all virtuous qualities, reach the seat of awakening and, having defeated the hordes of Māra, fully awaken to unsurpassed, complete and perfect buddhahood.’ The fourth resolution is the thought, ‘Having understood the entire trichiliocosm in a single moment,55 may I teach the Dharma.’ Bhadra, these four are the resolutions of bodhisattvas.

1.­134

“Bhadra, these four qualities of bodhisattvas subdue Māra. What are the four? Discerning every phenomenon as being like an illusion, having proper engagement, not conceptualizing phenomena, and not abiding in any characteristics. Bhadra, these four are the qualities of bodhisattvas that subdue Māra.

1.­135

“Bhadra, these four are the truths to be contemplated for bodhisattvas. What are the four? There are no persons; phenomena arise in dependence; no phenomenon whatsoever arises without a cause; and phenomena that arise in dependence are unborn and insubstantial, and on account of awakening they are inexhaustible. Bhadra, these four are the truths to be contemplated by bodhisattvas.

1.­136

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they do not abandon beings. What are the four? Not abandoning previous aspirations, enduring weariness, not concerning themselves with their own body and life, and employing the means of attracting disciples. These are the four.

1.­137

“Bhadra, these four are the bodhisattvas’ four ripening acts. What are the four? Giving material goods, giving Dharma teachings for the sake of ripening others, regularly giving reminders by encouraging others, and, [F.31.a] by giving up their own happiness, revealing the roots of virtue in others and causing them to ripen. Bhadra, these four are the bodhisattvas’ four ripening acts.

1.­138

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they are not afraid to gather disciples who have not yet been gathered. What are the four? Being inclined to even the slightest root of virtue; taking delight in always and unceasingly benefiting others; being perfectly generous, restrained, and gentle; and disregarding all profit, veneration, and praise. These are the four.

1.­139

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they engage in proper conduct.56 What are the four? The attainment of the superknowledges, the attainment of wisdom, engaging in the immeasurable great samādhi, and being fully liberated without contamination by meditating on emptiness supreme in all aspects. These are the four.

1.­140

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they will know that they are skillful in means. What are the four? Knowing that all thoughts lead to the mind of awakening‍—even afflicted thoughts are sufficient, not to mention virtuous thoughts; viewing all beings as the very vessels of Dharma; holding the view, by understanding essencelessness, that all phenomena are definitely erroneous; and meditating with a perception that does not fixate on any meditative absorptions when seeking liberation. When bodhisattvas have these four qualities, they will know they are skilled in means.

1.­141

“Bhadra, these four are bodhisattvas’ meditations on loving-kindness. What are the four? Meditating on loving-kindness thinking ‘May I protect all beings,’ meditating on loving-kindness thinking ‘May I liberate all beings,’ [F.31.b] meditating on loving-kindness thinking ‘May I inspire all beings,’ and meditating on loving-kindness thinking ‘May I lead all beings completely beyond suffering.’ Bhadra, these are the bodhisattvas’ meditations on loving-kindness.

1.­142

“Bhadra, these four are the compassions of bodhisattvas. What are the four? The compassion of putting those born in lower realms onto the path to higher realms, the compassion of joining those with bad karma to virtuous qualities, the compassion of leading those inclined toward the Lesser Vehicle to correctly practice the Greater Vehicle, and, fourth, the compassion of thinking ‘May I lead all beings completely beyond suffering!’ These are the four.

1.­143

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they will obtain the superknowledges. What are the four? Lightness of body and mind, discerning the illusory nature, cultivating a mind of respect and service toward all beings, and, with calm abiding having become single pointed, being without distraction.

1.­144

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they will obtain the correct discernments. What are the four? Relying on the meaning and not on the words, relying on the Dharma and not on persons, knowing all phenomena to be without identity and to be language and words that are inexhaustible, and teaching without attachment or obstruction.57 These are the four.

1.­145

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they obtain retention. What are the four? Not being satisfied even though they have learned a great deal, honoring and respecting those of great learning in accordance with the Dharma, always striving to teach the Dharma to others, and engaging with the teachings in accordance with the Tathāgata’s intentions in order to definitively determine the meaning of all its words and letters.

1.­146

“Bhadra, [F.32.a] when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they will obtain acceptance. What are the four? Faith, irreversibility, accumulation, and indefatigability. These are the four.

1.­147

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they will acquire inspired speech. What are the four? Not contradicting the explanations of other proponents of the Dharma, listening to the teachings of other proponents of Dharma with respect and commendation, being without conceit despite one’s learning, and not deprecating those of lesser learning. These are the four.

1.­148

“Bhadra, these four are the bodhisattvas’ transformations. What are the four? The transformation of desire, anger, and ignorance, the transformation from a śrāvaka, the transformation from a pratyekabuddha, and the transformation of perceptions into Dharmic roots of virtue. These are the four.

1.­149

“Bhadra, these four qualities are bodhisattvas’ engagement with profound meaning. What are the four? Understanding dependent arising, understanding the intent of the teachings, understanding the nature of identity, and likewise understanding that, from the perspective of emptiness, all these phenomena have the same meaning. These four are bodhisattvas’ engagement with profound meaning.

1.­150

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they will realize their aspirations. What are the four? Observing perfect discipline and training, purifying karmic obscurations, being without deceit, and mastering their minds to generate roots of virtue. With these four, the aspirations of bodhisattvas will be realized.

1.­151

“Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have four qualities, they will be exalted and will gain the quality of irreversibility through all the perfections. What are the four? By being skilled in means, [F.32.b] subsuming all the perfections within a single perfection; by being skilled in means, knowing all beings by realizing the nature of a single being; by being skilled in means, knowing the purity of other phenomena by realizing the purity of a single phenomenon; and, since all is the true nature, being devoted to all buddhas through a single buddha. Bhadra, when bodhisattvas have these four qualities, they will be exalted and will gain the quality of irreversibility through all the perfections.”

1.­152

When the Blessed one had explained these sets of four accomplishments, Bhadra the illusionist attained the acceptance that phenomena are unborn. He was utterly delighted and, rejoicing, became overjoyed and blissful. He was so extremely happy that he rose into the sky to the height of seven palm trees.

1.­153

Then, the Blessed One smiled. And from his smile radiated countless incalculable rays of light that, after suffusing all the buddhafields with light, returned once again and descended into the crown of the Blessed One’s head.

1.­154

Venerable Ānanda then rose from his seat. Folding his Dharma robe over one shoulder, he placed his right knee on the ground, bowed in the direction of the Blessed One with his palms pressed together, and said, “As the honorable Blessed Tathāgata does not smile without a reason or condition, what was the reason for your smile? What was the condition?” Then he spoke these verses:

1.­155
“O source of wisdom renowned for your measureless splendor and insight,
Renowned in the three worlds as having perfected the qualities,
Self-arisen Victor, why have you shown us this smile?
May the lord among humans please answer me that. [F.33.a]
1.­156
“However many migrating beings there are in all directions,
You know the mental activities of them all‍—
Those of low and high, and finally of middling capacity.
For what purpose did you show me that smile?
1.­157
“The voices of the gods and those who likewise blaze with fire,58
The voices of kinnaras, humans, Śakra, asuras,
Garuḍas, uragas, and Brahmā, and all other sounds‍—
How can they compare to even a portion of the Buddha’s immaculate voice?
1.­158
“The shining of the brilliant sun, the glittering of jewels,
The light of Śakra and Brahmā‍—whatever light there is to be found‍—
Compared to the Buddha’s suffusing radiance,
Those lights do not shine at all.
1.­159
“In this buddhafield you obtained the profound Dharma.
Knowing emptiness, selflessness, and that for beings no individual person exists,
You have fully abandoned the two extremes of existence and nonexistence,
And you know well that the three times are like the moon’s reflection on water.
1.­160
“Who here and now has a mind inclined toward the supreme vehicle?
Who belongs to the Buddha’s lineage and the lineage of the Dharma?
Who propagates the flourishing of the Three Jewels?
Please explain well the reason for your smile!
1.­161
“If the meaning of the Victorious One’s teaching is intended for śrāvakas,
Then the rays of light from the Sugata’s smile descend back into his knees;
If taught for the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle, they descend into his shoulders;
And if taught for the Buddha Vehicle, they descend into the crown of his head.
1.­162
“Since the hundred thousand rays of light emitted by you
Descended into the crown of the Well-Gone One,
There is no doubt, O beneficent god of gods, O benefactor,
That this is a prophecy for the Buddha Vehicle.”
1.­163

Then the Blessed One asked Venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda, do you see Bhadra, this son of noble family?”

“Blessed One, I see him,” replied Ānanda.

1.­164

“Ānanda, ninety-two thousand eons from now in the eon Excellent Manifestation, [F.33.b] in the world system Great Array, Bhadra, this son of noble family, will appear in the world as a tathāgata, arhat, complete and perfect buddha named Vikurvāṇarāja.

1.­165

“Ānanda, the tathāgata, arhat, complete and perfect Buddha Vikurvāṇarāja’s world system called Great Array will be rich, vast, happy, abundant with good harvests, pleasant, and filled with many people and beings. It will be flat and even like the palm of the hand, soft to the touch like kācilindika cloth, adorned with flowering trees, resounding with the music of various instruments, and made fragrant with various kinds of incense; it will continually, without cease, be filled with raised parasols, victory banners, and flags.

1.­166

“Ānanda, just as the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three enjoy food and drinks merely by thinking of them, so will the people there enjoy and savor such enjoyments.

“Ānanda, at that time, the world system Great Array will constantly manifest all this array, and thus it will be called the world system Great Array.

“Ānanda, all beings born in that buddhafield will be inclined toward greatness, and they will enter properly into the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna) and nothing else.

“Ānanda, the Tathāgata Vikurvāṇarāja will live for ten thousand years, and after his final nirvāṇa, his holy Dharma will remain for ten million years.

1.­167

“Ānanda, at that time when the Tathāgata Vikurvāṇarāja is about to pass into his final nirvāṇa, he will give the bodhisattva Resounding Voice a prophecy: ‘After me, the tathāgata, arhat, complete and perfect buddha known as All-Pervasive Lord will appear in the world.’ Having given the prophecy to bodhisattva [F.34.a] Resounding Voice, he will pass into final nirvāṇa.”

1.­168

Then Bhadra the son of noble family descended from the air and, bowing his head to the feet of the Blessed One, said these words to him: “Blessed One, henceforth I take refuge in the many trillions of tathāgata, arhat, complete and perfect buddhas and in the Dharma and the Saṅgha of monks. And I will proclaim the suchness of the Tathāgata just as the Tathāgata teaches it by means of the suchness of the Tathāgata, which does not deviate from suchness, the suchness that is indivisible, the suchness free of any imperfection, the nonconceptual suchness, the unborn suchness, the uncompounded suchness.”59

1.­169

Then Venerable Ānanda asked Bhadra the son of noble family, “Bhadra, have you already attained the true nature of a tathāgata? How else would you speak of suchness as the Tathāgata does?”

1.­170

“Ānanda,” Bhadra replied, “all phenomena have attained the true nature of the Tathāgata. Why? Because, Ānanda, the Tathāgata has realized suchness as indivisibility. I, too, am included in that which is indivisible with suchness, and just as I am included, so, too, are all beings included, and just as all beings are included, so, too, are all phenomena included. Thus, honorable Ānanda, the true nature of the Tathāgata is not something that can be divided in two.

1.­171

“Honorable Ānanda, nonduality is itself not something to be cognized or comprehended. Why? Because the knowledge of knowing notions is the wisdom of a buddha.”60

1.­172

Then Venerable Ānanda said to the Blessed One, [F.34.b] “Blessed One, Bhadra the son of noble family bewilders the entire world with its gods. While previously he bewildered it with the nature of illusions, now he bewilders it with insight and wisdom. Why is this so? Because his inspired speech on insight and wisdom is like this.”

1.­173

Then the Blessed One asked Bhadra the illusionist, “Bhadra, is it true that you bewilder this entire world with its gods?”

“Indeed, just as the Blessed One bewilders, so do I bewilder. How so? Although there is no self, the Blessed One teaches the Dharma using the conventional term beings. Although there are no living beings or persons, he teaches the Dharma using the term person. Therefore, he is a great bewilderer. The Tathāgata rests at the seat of awakening, seeing no phenomenon whatsoever‍—no transference at death, no transmigration, and no birth‍—yet he teaches the Dharma of transference at death, transmigration, and birth. In this way, the Blessed One appears in any place, for the world with its gods, as the Tathāgata proclaiming the truth.”

1.­174

Then the Blessed One gave his approval to Bhadra the illusionist, saying, “Well done, son of noble family, well done, well done! It is just as you have said. Although there is no self, I teach the Dharma using the conventional term beings. Although there are no living beings or persons, I teach the Dharma using the term person. Therefore, this is a great bewilderment. The Tathāgata rests at the seat of awakening, seeing no phenomenon whatsoever‍—no transference at death, no transmigration, and no birth‍—yet [F.35.a] he teaches the Dharma of transference at death, transmigration, and birth. In this sense, there is no such thing as final nirvāṇa, nor is there any Dharma taught in order to attain final nirvāṇa.”61

Then Bhadra the son of noble family requested the Blessed One that he might go forth.

The Blessed One instructed the bodhisattva Maitreya, “Maitreya, send forth Bhadra the son of noble family.”

1.­175

Then Maitreya sent forth and fully ordained Bhadra the son of noble family, and when he had completed the ordination, he62 said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, bodhisattvas do not go forth by means of outward appearances, signs, and procedures. Why, Blessed One? Because bodhisattvas are not attached to any of these outer attributes, yet they remain in the three realms in order to mature beings. This is the going forth of bodhisattvas.”

1.­176

And at that time, when this teaching had been explained, five thousand beings generated the mind intent on complete and perfect awakening. The minds of two hundred monks were freed from defilements without further appropriation.

1.­177

Then Venerable Ānanda asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, what is the name of this Dharma discourse? By what name should it be remembered?”

The Blessed One said, “Remember it as The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist, or remember it as The Complete Emergence of Awakening in Stages.

1.­178

“Ānanda, bodhisattvas who wish to look upon the Tathāgata and enact buddha activity for the sake of beings should remember this Dharma discourse. They should bear it in mind, recite it aloud, and teach it to others. Why? Because, Ānanda, those who remember it, bear it in mind, [F.35.b] recite it aloud, and teach it to others will see the Tathāgata, and thus will they enact buddha activity for the sake of beings.

1.­179

“Therefore, Ānanda, for the happiness of many beings, out of heartfelt love for the world, and for the welfare, benefit, and happiness of gods and humans, remember this Dharma discourse! Bear it in mind, recite it, and master it perfectly.

1.­180

“Ānanda, the Dharma through which awakening completely emerges is that of the Mahāyāna, and it is from the Mahāyāna that this Dharma is taught. Therefore, this Dharma discourse is called The Complete Emergence of Awakening.

1.­181

“Ānanda, you should take interest in this. You should understand it. The Tathāgata will be in the bodies of those who compile this Dharma discourse into a book and keep it on their bodies, not to mention those who have learned it and then established themselves in suchness.”

1.­182

Then Bhadra the son of noble family said to the Blessed One, “The Blessed One’s Dharma discourse should also be called Instigating the Roots of Previous Virtue. Why? Because, Blessed One, after hearing this Dharma discourse, all the roots of virtue that I had accumulated previously have become manifest.”

1.­183

After the Blessed One had given this teaching, Bhadra the son of noble family, Venerable Ānanda, that whole assembly, and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas praised the words of the Blessed One.

1.­184

Among the hundred thousand chapters of the Dharma discourse of The Noble Great Heap of Jewels, this completes the twenty-first chapter called “The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist.” [F.36.a]


c.

Colophon

c.­1

Translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Prajñāvarman along with the chief editor-translator Bandé Yeshé Dé.


ab.

Abbreviations

C Choné (co ne) Kangyur
D Degé (sde dge) Kangyur
F Phukdrak (phug brag) Kangyur
Go. Gondhla Collection
H Lhasa (zhol) Kangyur
J Lithang (li thang) Kangyur
K Peking (pe cin) or “Kangxi” Kangyur
N Narthang (snar thang) Kangyur
S Stok Palace (stog pho brang bris ma) Kangyur
Taishō 310 7th–8th century Chinese translation by Bodhiruci (菩提流志)
Taishō 324 3rd–4th century Chinese translation by Dharmarakṣa (竺法護)
U Urga (ku re) Kangyur
Y Yongle (g.yung lo) Kangyur

n.

Notes

n.­1
There are many examples of this genre in the Tibetan canon, perhaps the most famous being the stories of the “twin miracle” (yama­kaprātihārya) and the “great miracle” (mahāprātihārya), both of which are represented in the Tibetan Kangyur within the compiled text of the Vinayakṣudra­kavastu (Toh 6). We would also direct readers interested in this subject to The Teaching on the Extraordinary Transformation That Is the Miracle of Attaining the Buddha’s Powers (Toh 186), particularly the introduction to the English translation, which discusses the topic of the supernatural powers and, at i.­10, provides a list of sūtras in which miraculous display (cho ’phrul) play an important role. See Buddhavacana Translation Group 2016b.
n.­2
Six other Mahāyāna sūtras (Toh 184, Toh 248, Toh 249, Toh 250, Toh 251, and Toh 252) discuss “accomplishing four factors” (chos bzhi sgrub pa or bzhi pa sgrub pa), containing lists of fourfold sets, but the presentation is not consistent across these texts, nor are any of them consistent with the list of four factors presented here. It is interesting to note that Toh 252 also contains forty-three sets of four as in this sūtra.
n.­3
Fiordalis (2008) gives a detailed analysis of the term prātihārya (“miraculous power”) and how its eventual three-part categorization relates to the conversion process of many of the Buddha’s disciples. In the Khotanese version of this sūtra, the Buddha is said to ultimately convert Bhadra with the miraculous power of instruction rather than the miraculous power of magical display, as in the Tibetan and Chinese, because he is too intelligent for the latter. This echoes Vasubandhu’s discussion of the superiority of the miraculous power of instructions in his Abhi­dharma­kośabhāṣya (Toh 4090), although he does acknowledge its effectiveness for drawing possible converts (Fiordalis [2008], pp. 31–57, 62–86, and 180–81).
n.­4
Dhamma­padaṭṭhakathā; see Burlingame 1921, p. 92. See also “Dhammapada Verses 58 and 59: Garahadinna Vatthu,” tipitaka.net, accessed June 19, 2021. For a comparison between the story of Sirigutta and Garahadinna and the story of Bhadra, see Fiordalis 2008, pp. 178–79.
n.­5
Emmerick 1968, pp. 10–51.
n.­6
The first occurs in Nāgārjuna’s Sūtrasamuccaya (Toh 3934, folio 198.a), which quotes the twenty-seventh set of four at 1.­135 and which is in turn included in Ratnākaraśānti’s commentary, the Sūtra­samuccaya­bhāṣya­ratnālokālaṅkāra (Toh 3935, folio 315.b). The second is the Pravacana­ratnā­khyānaśākyavaṁ­śāvalī (Toh 4357, folio 285.b), an early treatise by the Tibetan scholar Paltsek (dpal brtsegs), who quotes many of the sets of four, beginning with the first set at 1.­109.
n.­7
Ārya­laṅkāvatāra­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra­vṛttitathāgata­hṛdayālaṁkāra­nāma (Toh 4019, folio 56.a).
n.­8
Denkarma, 296.a.3. See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 27-28, no. 45.
n.­9
Buswell and Lopez 2013, p. 133.
n.­10
Lapis Lazuli Texts, “Mahāratnakūṭa: 21. Bhadra the Magician,” accessed April 2, 2024.
n.­11
These are the three types of miraculous power (trividha­prātihārya, cho ’phrul rnam pa gsum).
n.­12
In both Chinese versions Bhadra does not refer to the Buddha here with this epithet but rather refers to him less honorably as “the renunciant Gautama” (瞿曇沙門).
n.­13
This refers to one of the thirty-two marks of a great being that appear on the body of a buddha or cakravartin king. Having a body “well proportioned like a banyan tree” (chu zheng gap pa) or as the Sanskrit (nyagrodha­pari­maṇḍala) describes “[a body whose limbs form] a perfect circle like a banyan tree [when extended].” This is listed as the twentieth of the thirty-two marks in the Mahāvyutpatti.
n.­14
This corresponds to the one of the thirty-two marks of a great being. Having an “ūrṇā hair between the eyebrows” (urṇākeśa) is listed as the fourth of the thirty-two marks in the Mahāvyutpatti.
n.­15
This resembles one of the thirty-two marks of a great being. Having “dark blue eyes with eyelashes like a cow” ( abhi­nīlanetra­gopakṣmā) is listed as the fifth of the thirty-two marks in the Mahāvyutpatti.
n.­16
This corresponds to the first of the thirty-two marks of a great being. Having “a protrusion on the crown of the head” (uṣṇīṣa­śiraskatā) is listed as the first of the thirty-two marks in the Mahāvyutpatti. Additionally, it is said of this mark of a great being that his crown protuberance extends infinitely into space, so not even Brahmā can see the end of it.
n.­17
Taishō 324: “a voice with eight qualities” (八部音). “Eight” corresponds to the mark of a great being found in the list of thirty-two marks in the Dīghanikāya II, 18. Taishō 310 agrees here with the Tibetan in listing “sixty” qualities. In the Mahāvyutpatti, the “voice of Brahmā” (brahmasvara) is listed as the thirteenth of the thirty-two marks.
n.­18
This anecdote about whether the Buddha will discern the trap as proof of his omniscience is a prominent theme that also appears in the Khotanese version of the story and in the narrative of Sirigutta and Garahadinna found in the Dhammapada (see Introduction i.­14). However, this sentence is omitted in Taishō 310.
n.­19
Tib. sgyu ma’i za ma tog gis, i.e. Bhadra’s accumulated collection of magical powers of illusion. Since the term “basket” does not appear in the Chinese or anywhere else in the Tibetan source, it is possible that the Tibetan is misreading māyākaraṇḍena (“with his basket of illusions”) for māyākaraṇḍena (“performing his illusions”).
n.­20
Tib. dus mkhyen (*kālajñā), he is a “knower of the time.” This implies that the Buddha in his omniscience knows it is the opportune time to accept Bhadra’s invitation.
n.­21
Taishō 324: 不起法忍 (“acceptance that phenomena are unborn,” Skt. anutpattika­dharma­kṣanti). Here kṣanti (“acceptance”) is expected but is omitted in Taishō 310 and the Tibetan.
n.­22
There is an interesting anecdote here in the Khotanese version of the narrative, in which Aniruddha takes the place of Maudgalyāyana as the interlocutor raising warnings about Bhadra’s intentions. Aniruddha then asks the Buddha to show them up and break their pride by means of the Buddha’s miraculous power of magical display. The Buddha declines and instead gives a brief explication of his three types of miraculous power: The miraculous power of magical display is useful for impressing those of lesser intelligence, but Bhadra, who is highly intelligent and shows potential, will only be impressed by the Buddha’s instruction, referring to the most profound miraculous power of instruction. For a translation of this passage, see Emmerick 1968, p. 23. See also Fiordalis 2008 for an analysis of the three miraculous powers and their role in the process of conversion (pp. 31–38 and 71–86) in addition to their representation in The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist (pp. 180–81).
n.­23
Tib. rlung gi dkyil ’khor. Here the term maṇḍala is used to delimit a particular instantiation of an amorphous or boundless abstraction like the wind element. Each of the winds then named is referred to as a “maṇḍala of wind,” which in the context of this list of named winds we have translated simply as “wind.”
n.­24
rnam par ’thor byed ces bya ba. This strong, sharp, gusty wind is called vairambha in Sanskrit and verambha in Pali. Its many mentions in Buddhist literature are discussed by Skilling 2021, pp. 304–8.
n.­25
Go., K, Y, and S read brgya stong (“a hundred thousand”).
n.­26
Reading L and C: brtsal, rather than D: brgal.
n.­27
bcom ldan ’das gdugs tshod lags pa’i dus dang tshod la bab na da gdugs tshod la bab par dgongs su gsol. Bhadra’s language here and elsewhere (see n.­60 and n.­61) is humorously circuitous and elaborate. In the Tibetan this is represented in the repetitions of the syllables gdugs, dus, tshod, and babs. We have attempted to represent some of this comical wordplay through alliteration and maintaining repetitions when it does not interfere with the meaning and coherence of the text.
n.­28
D: bgam pa; Go.: mga’ ma; K and Y: dga’i ba. We have assumed here that bgam pa (“evaluation”) is likely a corruption of bka’ ba (“words”). Although bgam pa is conceivable here, it makes less sense coming from the voice of the faithful. The other Kangyur recensions are nonsensical, and bka’ ba is corroborated by the parallel Chinese in Taishō 310, which has 師子吼 (siṃhanāda, “lion’s roar,” i.e., the Buddha’s teachings). This reading is also in agreement with Régamey 1990, p. 69, n. 181.
n.­29
D: yang ’di lta ste/ las kyi sgyu mas sprul pa yin no. As discussed in the introduction (i.8), one of the key objectives of this teaching is to demonstrate illusion (Skt. māyā, Tib. sgyu ma) as a simile for the ephemerality or lack of inherent nature of all phenomena. The phrase ’di lta ste (Skt. tadyathā), “like this,” could also be translated as “thus,” in which case these examples would not be presented as similes but would imply that the phenomena taken here as examples are illusions, though such a reading could still be taken as metaphorical.
n.­30
D: bldag pa dag. Literally, food to be licked without the use of a utensil, which could imply a soup, powdered food, etc. We have chosen to translate the term as “nectar” since it is uncertain what type of food the Sanskrit source may have referred to, but it is presumed to be another sort of delectable food or drink.
n.­31
Taishō 310 helps clarify the meaning here: “Food is illusory. Recipients, too, are illusions. When a giver comprehends their equality, his giving may be called pure” (知食是幻化 受者亦復然 了此平等時 乃名為淨施).
n.­32
Taishō 310: “Seats are illusory. Those seated upon them, too, are illusions” (知座是幻化 坐者亦復然).
n.­33
D: tshad mar gyur p gsungs nas ni/ /de la bdud kyi gting mi dpogs. In the Tibetan, it is not entirely clear how the third line of verse connects to the fourth. This translation has been emended in corroboration with the Chinese. Taishō 310: 如來所成就 幻術無窮盡 一切諸天魔 莫能知邊際 (“The illusion of the Tathāgata is inexhaustible; all the gods and māras are unable to know its bounds”).
n.­34
The name of this samādhi is translated from Taishō 310 (念佛三昧) and Taishō 324 (佛意三昧). The Tibetan reads dad pa rjes su dran pa’i ting nge ’dzin (“the samādhi called recollecting faith”). The Chinese better fits the context here, and it is possible that the Tibetan contains a misreading of buddha for sraddhā.
n.­35
Tib. ye shes dang / chags pa med pa’i spyod. Here the Chinese reads “unimpeded wisdom”: Taishō 310, 無礙智; Taishō 324, 慧無礙.
n.­36
C, Go., and J omit this first line of this verse.
n.­37
D: des pa. We have interpreted the Tibetan as des pa (peśala) rather than nges pa as reported in the Pedurma edition (p. 66) for D, as the character cannot be distinguished with certainty from the Degé scans. des pa matches the context and is corroborated by S and Taishō 310.
n.­38
“For the sake of” is corroborated by Taishō 324: 人 而不捨行 (“the conduct that does not forsake people”).
n.­39
For the third line of this verse we are following Taishō 310: 亦無有生滅. The Tibetan de dang ye shes med par mi ’gyur de is obscure (“they do not become without wisdom”). It is possible the Tibetan translators mistook the Skt. ajāta for ajñāna.
n.­40
The second line of this verse is translated from the Chinese, Taishō 310: 現象馬軍陣 and Taishō 324: 現有象馬. The Tibetan sems pa yong min de la nga rgyal med is obscure.
n.­41
“Phenomenality” is translated from Go., K, Y, and S, which add chos su, extending the line beyond the meter. This is omitted in D and the other Kangyur recensions, but we have chosen to include it as it clarifies the meaning and is corroborated by the Chinese.
n.­42
Translated from Go., H, N, S, and Y: rten; D reads ston, and K reads rton.
n.­43
Both Chinese sources add 戒 (Skt. śila, “discipline”), which along with samādhi and insight completes the set of the three trainings (Skt. śikṣātraya); additionally, “liberation” (Skt. vimukti) and “vision of liberating of wisdom” (Skt. vimukti­jñānadarśana), which appear in the following two lines of the verse, complete the set of five undefiled aggregates (Skt. pañcānāsrava­skandha).
n.­44
Translated from K, H, N, and Y: rtogs la. D reads rtogs pa, and Go. omits.
n.­45
For the word “foolish,” we have interpreted the Tibetan term stobs (“strength”) as a misreading of the Sanskrit bāla (meaning “immature” or “childish”) as bala. This is corroborated by the Chinese, Taishō 310: 凡夫 (“worldly people”) and Taishō 324: 愚癡 (“foolish”).
n.­46
Translated from C, H, J, K, N, S, and Y: rtog; D reads rtogs.
n.­47
D: gnas yong su dag pa. We have interpreted the Tibetan gnas (“dwelling” or “basis”) to be a misreading of the Skt. āśaya as āśraya. Although āśraya­pari­śuddhi could be applicable here and the term does appear in other contexts (cf. The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines, 73.­64, “thoroughly purified basis”), āśaya (“intention”) makes more sense in the context here and is corroborated by Taishō 310: 意樂.
n.­48
D: bsam gtan zlog pa. Translation tentative. In correlation to Taishō 310, 修習禪定而不隨生, this seems to refer to practicing the concentrations without being reborn in the form and formless realms.
n.­49
D: ’gyod pa kun nas ldang ba gnon pa; Taishō 310: 者於惡作事應預防護 (“preventing regretful misdeeds”).
n.­50
D: skyed; H and N: bskyed. We have interpreted (b)skyed (“create/generate”) to be an error for skrod (“dispel”); as Régamey suggests, it could be a misreading of samudghāṭa for samudgata (1990, p. 91, n. 436). This reading is supported by the Chinese and the later context found in this text at 1.­132.
n.­51
Following K and Y: byang chub sems dpas, rather than D: byang chub sems dpa’.
n.­52
Following D: mnyan pa. H, K, N, S, and Y have mnyam pa, which would read “they do not fear the equal, immeasurable Buddhadharma.” Neither of the Chinese sources corroborate this variant.
n.­53
Translated from C, J, K, and Y: rton. D reads ston (“teaching”).
n.­54
“Fixity” (nges pa, niyata, sometimes translated as “certainty”) most likely refers to the “fixity of the ultimate” (yang dag pa nyid du nges pa, samyaktvaniyata), which is the predestination for entering the personal nirvāṇa sought in the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha vehicles. This is corroborated by the Chinese of Taishō 310, which for this item reads 曾不求證二乘涅槃 (“never seeking to realize the nirvāṇa of the two vehicles”).
n.­55
D: skad cig gcig gis (Skt. *ekakṣaṇa). Taishō 310 reads 以一梵音 (“with a single Brahmā voice”; Skt. *ekabrahma­svareṇa): “With a single Brahmā voice, I will teach the essence of the Dharma to the innumerable beings of the trichiliocosm” (三千大千世界無量衆生。以一梵音演諸法要。).
n.­56
sems can gyi spyod pa. We have taken the Tibetan to be a misreading of the Sanskrit samyakcaryā as sattvacaryā. This is corroborated by both the Chinese sources. It is also possible that an original Sanskrit sattvacaryā read as “conduct of goodness” and the Tibetan translators instead interpreted this as “conduct of beings.”
n.­57
D: chos thams cad bdag med pa’i tshig dang yi ge mi zad par shes nas chags pa med cing thogs pa med par ston pas ston par byed pa. This is an unusual wording for the third and fourth correct discernments (pratisaṃvid), although the meaning is still in accord with the typical definition found in other sources. See glossary entry for “four correct discernments.”
n.­58
Translation tentative: lha dang de bzhin zhugs ’bar sgra ni.
n.­59
Here as well as earlier (n.­27), Bhadra exhibits some wordplay in the rhythmic repetition of de zhin nyid and de bzhin gshegs pa, which would correspond to tathatā and tathāgata in the underlying Sanskrit. For the purpose of comprehensibility, we have kept these terms distinct and have made use of pronouns to make the sentence terse. However, an alternative translation that attempts to represent these phonetic repetitions by translating these terms “thusness” and “Thus-Gone One” respectively would read, “And I will proclaim the thusness of the Thus-Gone One just as the Thus-Gone One teaches thusness by means of the thusness of the Thus-Gone One, which does not deviate from thusness, the thusness that is indivisible, the thusness free of any imperfection, the nonconceptual thusness, the unborn thusness, and the uncompounded thusness.”
n.­60
Here there is another instance of Bhadra’s wordplay, with repeated conjugates of the verbal root √jñā (shes): saṃjñā (’du shes), parijñā (yongs su shes pa), and jñāna (ye shes).
n.­61
This is implied to be in the absolute sense; Taishō 310 indicates this point more explicitly: “Although there is no Dharma that may be called nirvāṇa, in order to bring others to realize the Dharma that attains nirvāṇa, he teaches nirvāṇa” (亦無少法名爲涅槃。 然爲證得涅槃法故説於涅槃。).
n.­62
It is unclear whether the speaker is Maitreya or Bhadra here.

b.

Bibliography

Tibetan Texts

sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa (Bhadra­māyākāravyākaraṇa). Toh 65, Degé Kangyur vol. 43 (dkon brtsegs, ca), folios 17.b.–36.a.

sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 43, pp. 47–99.

sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa (Bhadra­māyākāravyākaraṇa). Stok Palace Kangyur, vol. 39 (dkon brtsegs, ca), folios 73.a.–100.b.

sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa (Bhadra­māyākāravyākaraṇa). Go 08,02, Gondhla Collection vol. 8 (ca), folios 16.b–32.a.

chos bzhi pa (Caturdharmaka). Toh 250, Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 59.b–60.b.

chos bzhi pa (Caturdharmaka). Toh 251, Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 60.b–61.a.

chos bzhi bstan pa (Caturdharma­nirdeśa). Toh 249, Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 59.a–59.b. English translation in Pearcey 2019.

de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsan ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa (Tathāgata­cintyaguhya­nirdeśa). Toh 47, Degé Kangyur vol. 39 (dkon brtsegs, ka), folios 100.a–203.a.

rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba (Pratītya­samutpāda). Toh 212, Degé Kangyur vol. 62 (mdo sde, tsha), folios 125.a–125.b. English translation in Buddhavacana Translation Group 2016a.

rnam ’phrul rgyal pos zhus pa (Vikurvāṇa­rāja­pari­pṛcchā). Toh 167, Degé Kangyur vol. 59 (mdo sde, ba), folios 175.b–219.b.

byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa bstan pa (Bodhisattva­caryā­nirdeśa). Toh 184, Degé Kangyur vol. 61 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 96.b–105.b. English translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2020.

byang sems sor thar chos bzhi sgrub pa (Bodhisattva­pratimokṣa­catuṣka­nirhāra). Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 46.b–59.a. English translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2024.

bzhi pa sgrub pa (Catuṣkanihāra). Toh 252, Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 61.a–69.b. English translation in Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2021.

sangs rgyas kyi stobs skyed pa’i cho ’phrul rnam par ’phrul pa bstan pa (Buddha­balādhāna­prātihāryavikurvāṇa­nirdeśa). Toh 186, Degé Kangyur vol. 61 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 143.b–158.a. English translation in Buddhavacana Translation Group 2016b.

Asaṅga. rnal ’byor spyod pa’i sa las byang chub sems dpa’i sa (Yogācāryabhūmau bodhisattva­bhūmi). Toh 4037, Degé Tengyur vol. 129 (sems tsam, wi), folios 1.a–213.a.

Daśabalaśrīmitra. dus byas dang ’dus ma byas rnam par nges pa (Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛta­viniścaya). Toh 3897, Degé Tengyur vol. 108 (dbu ma, ha), folios 109.a–317.a.

Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.

Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.

Jñānavajra. 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 (Ārya­laṅkāvatāra­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra­vṛtti­tathāgata­hṛdayālaṁkāra­nāma). Toh 4019, Degé Tengyur vol. 122 (mdo ’grel, pi), folios 1.a–310.a.

Nāgārjuna. mdo kun las btus pa (Sūtrasamuccaya). Toh 3934, Degé Tengyur vol. 110 (dbu ma, ki), folios 148.b–215.a.

Paltsek (dpal brtsegs). gsung rab rin po che’i gtam rgyud dang shAkya’i rabs rgyud (Pravacana­ratnākhyāna­śākyavaṁśāvalī). Toh 4357, Degé Tengyur vol. 204 (bstan bcos sna tshogs, co), folios 239.a–377.a.

Ratnākaraśānti. mdo kun las btus pa’i bshad pa rin po che snang ba’i rgyan (Sūtra­samuccayabhāṣya­ratnālokālaṅkāra). Toh 3935, Degé Tengyur vol. 110 (dbu ma, ki), folios 215.a–334.a.

Vasubandhu. chos mngon pa’i mdzod kyi bshad pa (Abhi­dharma­kośabhāṣya). Toh 4090, Degé Kangyur vol. 140 (mngon pa, ku), folios 26.b–258.a; vol. 141 (mngon pa, khu), folios 1.b–95.a.

Chinese Texts

Da baoji jing, shou huan shi ba tuo luo ji hui 大寶積經, 授幻師跋陀羅記會 (Bhadramāyākāra­vyākaraṇa), Taishō 310 (CBETA; SAT).

Fo shuo huan shi renxian 佛説幻士仁賢 (Bhadramāyākāra­vyākaraṇa). Taishō 324 (CBETA; SAT).

References and Secondary Literature

Buddhavacana Translation Group, trans. (2016a). The Sūtra on Dependent Arising (Pratītya­samutpāda­sūtra, Toh 212). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016.

Buddhavacana Translation Group, trans. (2016b). The Teaching on the Extraordinary Transformation That Is the Miracle of Attaining the Buddha’s Powers (Buddha­balādhāna­prātihāryavikurvāṇa­nirdeśa, Toh 186). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016.

Burlingame, Eugene Watson, trans. Buddhist Legends. Part 2. Harvard Oriental Series 29. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.

Buswell, Robert E., Jr., and Donald S. Lopez, Jr., eds. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.

Chang, Garma C. C., ed. A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras: Selections from the Mahāratnakūta Sūtra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1983.

Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. (2020). Teaching the Practice of a Bodhisattva (Bodhisattva­caryānirdeśa, Toh 184). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020.

Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. (2021). The Fourfold Accomplishment (Catuṣkanihāra, Toh 252). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.

Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. (2024). The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa (Bodhisattva­prātimokṣa­catuṣkanirhāra, Toh 248). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.

Emmerick, R. E., ed. and trans. The Book of Zambasta: A Khotanese Poem on Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.

Fiordalis, David. “Miracles and Superhuman Powers in South Asian Buddhist Literature.” PhD diss., University of Michigan, 2008.

Lapis Lazuli Texts. “Mahāratnakūṭa: 21. Bhadra the Magician.” Accessed April 2, 2024.

Pearcey, Adam, trans. The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors (Catur­dharmanirdeśa­sūtra, Toh 249). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2019.

Pearcey, Adam, trans. (2023a). The Four Factors (Catur­dharmaka­­sūtra, Toh 250). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023.

Pearcey, Adam, trans. (2023b). The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors (Ārya­catur­dharmaka­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra, Toh 251). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023.

Régamey, Konstanty. The Bhadramāyākāravyākaraṇa. First Indian edition. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990.

Skilling, Peter. Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras. Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2021.


g.

Glossary

Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language

AS

Attested in source text

This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.

AO

Attested in other text

This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.

AD

Attested in dictionary

This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.

AA

Approximate attestation

The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested in dictionaries or other manuscripts.

RP

Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.

RS

Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.

SU

Source unspecified

This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.

g.­1

acceptance that phenomena are unborn

Wylie:
  • mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa
Tibetan:
  • མི་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཆོས་ལ་བཟོད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • anutpattikadharma­kṣānti AD

An attainment of effortless insight into emptiness‍—the realization that all phenomena are unborn (anutpāda) and empty of intrinsic nature (niḥsvabhāva). This acceptance supports bodhisattvas on the arduous path of returning through innumerable rounds of rebirth in order to benefit beings without being tempted by the goal of personal liberation. This attainment only occurs on the bodhisattva levels and is variously said to occur on the first and eighth bodhisattva levels.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­104
  • 1.­152
  • n.­21
g.­2

aggregate

Wylie:
  • phung po
Tibetan:
  • ཕུང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • skandha AD

The five aggregates that make up phenomenal existence are form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. On the individual level the five aggregates refer to the basis onto which the mistaken idea of a self is projected.

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­85
  • 1.­90
  • 1.­100
  • n.­43
  • g.­79
  • g.­81
  • g.­119
g.­3

Ajātaśatru

Wylie:
  • ma skyes dgra
Tibetan:
  • མ་སྐྱེས་དགྲ།
Sanskrit:
  • ajātaśatru AD

King of Magadha and son of King Bimbisāra. When he was a prince, he became friends with the Buddha Śākyamuni’s cousin Devadatta, who convinced him to have his father killed and become king instead. After his father’s death, he was tormented with guilt and regret, converted to Buddhism, and supported the compilation of the Buddha’s teachings during the First Council.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­55
g.­4

All-Pervasive Lord

Wylie:
  • kun gyi khyab bdag
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་གྱི་ཁྱབ་བདག
Sanskrit:
  • —

A buddha prophesied to appear in the future. This prophecy will be given to the bodhisattva Resounding Voice by the future buddha Vikurvāṇarāja.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­167
g.­5

Ānanda

Wylie:
  • kun dga’ bo
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།
Sanskrit:
  • ānanda AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A major śrāvaka disciple and personal attendant of the Buddha Śākyamuni during the last twenty-five years of his life. He was a cousin of the Buddha (according to the Mahāvastu, he was a son of Śuklodana, one of the brothers of King Śuddhodana, which means he was a brother of Devadatta; other sources say he was a son of Amṛtodana, another brother of King Śuddhodana, which means he would have been a brother of Aniruddha).

Ānanda, having always been in the Buddha’s presence, is said to have memorized all the teachings he heard and is celebrated for having recited all the Buddha’s teachings by memory at the first council of the Buddhist saṅgha, thus preserving the teachings after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa. The phrase “Thus did I hear at one time,” found at the beginning of the sūtras, usually stands for his recitation of the teachings. He became a patriarch after the passing of Mahākāśyapa.

Located in 20 passages in the translation:

  • i.­5
  • i.­12
  • 1.­45
  • 1.­106
  • 1.­154
  • 1.­163-167
  • 1.­169-172
  • 1.­177-181
  • 1.­183
g.­6

arhat

Wylie:
  • dgra bcom pa
Tibetan:
  • དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • arhat AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

According to Buddhist tradition, one who is worthy of worship (pūjām arhati), or one who has conquered the enemies, the mental afflictions (kleśa-ari-hata-vat), and reached liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. It is the fourth and highest of the four fruits attainable by śrāvakas. Also used as an epithet of the Buddha.

Located in 12 passages in the translation:

  • i.­8
  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7-8
  • 1.­60
  • 1.­164-165
  • 1.­167-168
  • g.­58
  • g.­101
  • g.­104
g.­7

asura

Wylie:
  • lha ma yin
Tibetan:
  • ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
Sanskrit:
  • asura AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­157
  • 1.­183
  • g.­77
g.­8

Bandé Yeshé Dé

Wylie:
  • ban de ye shes sde
Tibetan:
  • བན་དེ་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།
Sanskrit:
  • —

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era, only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam) clan.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • c.­1
g.­9

Bhadra

Wylie:
  • bzang po
Tibetan:
  • བཟང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • bhadra AD

Known as “Bhadra the illusionist,” he was a powerful magician of Rājagṛha whose attempts to fool the Buddha go awry in The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist.

Located in 128 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1-6
  • i.­10-13
  • i.­15
  • 1.­6-7
  • 1.­9-13
  • 1.­16-18
  • 1.­21
  • 1.­24
  • 1.­26-35
  • 1.­38-41
  • 1.­47
  • 1.­50-51
  • 1.­53
  • 1.­55-60
  • 1.­82
  • 1.­84-85
  • 1.­92
  • 1.­95
  • 1.­98
  • 1.­100
  • 1.­104-105
  • 1.­107-118
  • 1.­120-152
  • 1.­163-164
  • 1.­168-170
  • 1.­172-175
  • 1.­182-183
  • n.­3-4
  • n.­12
  • n.­19-20
  • n.­22
  • n.­27
  • n.­59-60
  • n.­62
  • g.­20
  • g.­44
  • g.­46
  • g.­109
  • g.­120
g.­10

blessed one

Wylie:
  • bcom ldan ’das
Tibetan:
  • བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
Sanskrit:
  • bhagavat AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Buddhist literature, this is an epithet applied to buddhas, most often to Śākyamuni. The Sanskrit term generally means “possessing fortune,” but in specifically Buddhist contexts it implies that a buddha is in possession of six auspicious qualities (bhaga) associated with complete awakening. The Tibetan term‍—where bcom is said to refer to “subduing” the four māras, ldan to “possessing” the great qualities of buddhahood, and ’das to “going beyond” saṃsāra and nirvāṇa‍—possibly reflects the commentarial tradition where the Sanskrit bhagavat is interpreted, in addition, as “one who destroys the four māras.” This is achieved either by reading bhagavat as bhagnavat (“one who broke”), or by tracing the word bhaga to the root √bhañj (“to break”).

Located in 45 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­3
  • 1.­7
  • 1.­9-14
  • 1.­19
  • 1.­22-23
  • 1.­25
  • 1.­27-31
  • 1.­34-35
  • 1.­38-39
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­55-57
  • 1.­61
  • 1.­81-82
  • 1.­104
  • 1.­106-108
  • 1.­152-154
  • 1.­163
  • 1.­168
  • 1.­172-175
  • 1.­177
  • 1.­182-183
g.­11

Brahmā

Wylie:
  • tshangs pa
Tibetan:
  • ཚངས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • brahmā AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A high-ranking deity presiding over a divine world; he is also considered to be the lord of the Sahā world (our universe). Though not considered a creator god in Buddhism, Brahmā occupies an important place as one of two gods (the other being Indra/Śakra) said to have first exhorted the Buddha Śākyamuni to teach the Dharma. The particular heavens found in the form realm over which Brahmā rules are often some of the most sought-after realms of higher rebirth in Buddhist literature. Since there are many universes or world systems, there are also multiple Brahmās presiding over them. His most frequent epithets are “Lord of the Sahā World” (sahāṃpati) and Great Brahmā (mahābrahman).

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­9
  • 1.­67
  • 1.­157-158
  • n.­16-17
  • n.­55
g.­12

Brahmā realms

Wylie:
  • tshangs pa’i ’jig rten
Tibetan:
  • ཚངས་པའི་འཇིག་རྟེན།
Sanskrit:
  • brahmāloka AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A collective name for the first three heavens of the form realm, which correspond to the first concentration (dhyāna): Brahmakāyika, Brahmapurohita, and Mahābrahmā (also called Brahmapārṣadya). These are ruled over by the god Brahmā. According to some sources, it can also be a general reference to all the heavens in the form realm and formless realm. (Provisional 84000 definition. New definition forthcoming.)

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­19
g.­13

buddha eye

Wylie:
  • sangs rgyas kyi spyan
Tibetan:
  • སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་སྤྱན།
Sanskrit:
  • buddhacakṣus AD

The omniscience seeing both how things are ultimately and how they manifest in their variety. The buddha eye is also included in the “five eyes.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
  • g.­31
g.­14

Buddha Vehicle

Wylie:
  • sangs rgyas theg pa
Tibetan:
  • སངས་རྒྱས་ཐེག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • buddhayāna AD

The way to full awakening, equivalent to the Mahāyāna or Great Vehicle.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­161-162
g.­15

calm abiding

Wylie:
  • zhi gnas
Tibetan:
  • ཞི་གནས།
Sanskrit:
  • śamatha AD

Refers to a calm state without thought, or the meditative practice of calming the mind to rest free from the disturbance of thought. One of the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation, the other being transcendent insight (Skt. vipaśyanā, Tib. lhag mthong).

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­143
g.­16

caraka

Wylie:
  • spyod pa
Tibetan:
  • སྤྱོད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • caraka AD

Literally “wanderer,” refers to a religious mendicant; in Buddhist texts this term is often paired with parivrājaka in stock lists of followers of non-Buddhist ascetic traditions. In some cases, Tibetan sources will give this term as a translation of mīmāṃsaka, a member of the Mīmāṃsā school. However, this is likely a confusion with the similarly spelled dpyod pa ba, which correctly translates the Sanskrit meaning of mīmāṃsaka as “examiner” or “investigator.”

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­36
g.­17

Clear Mind

Wylie:
  • blo gsal
Tibetan:
  • བློ་གསལ།
Sanskrit:
  • paṭubuddhi RS

A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­18

complete and perfect buddha

Wylie:
  • yang dag par rdzogs pa’i sangs rgyas
Tibetan:
  • ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས།
Sanskrit:
  • samyak­saṃbuddha AD

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7-8
  • 1.­60
  • 1.­164-165
  • 1.­167-168
g.­19

concentration

Wylie:
  • bsam gtan
Tibetan:
  • བསམ་གཏན།
Sanskrit:
  • dhyāna AD

Designates both the mental state of deep concentration and the meditative practices leading to it. These states are characterized by a gradual withdrawal of consciousness from external sense data. Two broad distinctions are made: rūpāvacara­dhyāna, or the meditative concentration associated with the form realm, and ārūpyāvacara­dhyāna, or the meditative concentration associated with the formless or immaterial realm. Each of the two dhyānas is subdivided into four stages. This kind of mental concentration by itself does not lead to lasting insight, but it is generally regarded as a prerequisite‍—a state of mental concentration from which it is possible to cultivate insight, destroy the mental afflictions, and attain liberation. Fixation on dhyāna by itself can be said to lead to rebirth in the form or formless realm.

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • i.­8
  • 1.­111
  • n.­48
  • g.­56
  • g.­70
  • g.­80
  • g.­101
  • g.­104
  • g.­106
g.­20

conjuration

Wylie:
  • sprul pa
Tibetan:
  • སྤྲུལ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • nirmita AD
  • nirmāṇa AD

In reference to buddhas and bodhisattvas, nirmāṇa refers to the miraculous power of the buddhas, and bodhisattvas at a certain stage of spiritual development, to project emanations in order to develop and teach beings. In The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist, the same term is used both for the Buddha’s emanations and the conjurations that Bhadra magically creates through his power of illusion. While the sūtra makes a qualitative distinction between the two (see 1.­16), it is uncertain whether the same Sanskrit term underlies the Tibetan term sprul pa.

Located in 31 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2-4
  • i.­8
  • i.­11
  • i.­13
  • 1.­24-26
  • 1.­28-30
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­38-41
  • 1.­47-48
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­55-57
  • 1.­59
  • 1.­83
  • 1.­85
  • 1.­100
  • 1.­104
  • g.­25
g.­21

constituents

Wylie:
  • khams
Tibetan:
  • ཁམས།
Sanskrit:
  • dhātu AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In the context of Buddhist philosophy, one way to describe experience in terms of eighteen elements (eye, form, and eye consciousness; ear, sound, and ear consciousness; nose, smell, and nose consciousness; tongue, taste, and tongue consciousness; body, touch, and body consciousness; and mind, mental phenomena, and mind consciousness).

This also refers to the elements of the world, which can be enumerated as four, five, or six. The four elements are earth, water, fire, and air. A fifth, space, is often added, and the sixth is consciousness.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­90
  • g.­106
g.­22

correct discernment

Wylie:
  • so so yang dag par rig pa
Tibetan:
  • སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་པར་རིག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • pratisaṃvid AD

See “four correct discernments.”

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­79
  • 1.­144
  • n.­57
  • g.­33
g.­23

Disciplined Charioteer of Beings

Wylie:
  • sems can kha lo sgyur ba dul ba dang ldan pa
Tibetan:
  • སེམས་ཅན་ཁ་ལོ་སྒྱུར་བ་དུལ་བ་དང་ལྡན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • sattva­sārathisvinayavān RS

A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­24

eighteen unique qualities of the buddhas

Wylie:
  • sangs rgyas kyi chos ma ’dres pa bcwa brgyad
Tibetan:
  • སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་མ་འདྲེས་པ་བཅྭ་བརྒྱད།
Sanskrit:
  • aṣṭādaśāveṇika­buddha­dharma AD

These are eighteen unique qualities possessed by a buddha. They are “unique” in the sense that they are only possessed by buddhas and not by any other type of being. There are slight variations in the wording and order of the eighteen items found among various sources. For three canonical works that list the eighteen, see The Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines (Toh 11) at 2.8, The Jewel Cloud (Toh 231) at 1.249, and Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings (Toh 317) at 1.96.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Eighteen special features of a buddha’s behavior, realization, activity, and wisdom that are not shared by other beings. They are generally listed as: (1) he never makes a mistake, (2) he is never boisterous, (3) he never forgets, (4) his concentration never falters, (5) he has no notion of distinctness, (6) his equanimity is not due to lack of consideration, (7) his motivation never falters, (8) his endeavor never fails, (9) his mindfulness never falters, (10) he never abandons his concentration, (11) his insight (prajñā) never decreases, (12) his liberation never fails, (13) all his physical actions are preceded and followed by wisdom (jñāna), (14) all his verbal actions are preceded and followed by wisdom, (15) all his mental actions are preceded and followed by wisdom, (16) his wisdom and vision perceive the past without attachment or hindrance, (17) his wisdom and vision perceive the future without attachment or hindrance, and (18) his wisdom and vision perceive the present without attachment or hindrance.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
g.­25

emanation

Wylie:
  • sprul pa
Tibetan:
  • སྤྲུལ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • nirmāṇa AD

See “conjuration.”

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­12
  • 1.­62
  • g.­20
  • g.­70
g.­26

Endowed with Brilliant Light and Having a Melodious Voice

Wylie:
  • gzi brjid dang ldan zhing nga ro snyan
Tibetan:
  • གཟི་བརྗིད་དང་ལྡན་ཞིང་ང་རོ་སྙན།
Sanskrit:
  • prabhāteja­prīyasvara RS

A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­27

Endurance

Wylie:
  • mi mjed
Tibetan:
  • མི་མཇེད།
Sanskrit:
  • sahā AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The name for our world system, the universe of a thousand million worlds, or trichiliocosm, in which the four-continent world is located. Each trichiliocosm is ruled by a god Brahmā; thus, in this context, he bears the title of Sahāṃpati, Lord of Sahā. The world system of Sahā, or Sahālokadhātu, is also described as the buddhafield of the Buddha Śākyamuni where he teaches the Dharma to beings.

The name Sahā possibly derives from the Sanskrit √sah, “to bear, endure, or withstand.” It is often interpreted as alluding to the inhabitants of this world being able to endure the suffering they encounter. The Tibetan translation, mi mjed, follows along the same lines. It literally means “not painful,” in the sense that beings here are able to bear the suffering they experience.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­2
g.­28

Essence of Beings

Wylie:
  • sems can gyi snying po
Tibetan:
  • སེམས་ཅན་གྱི་སྙིང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • sattvasāra RS

A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­29

final nirvāṇa

Wylie:
  • yongs su mya ngan las ’das pa
Tibetan:
  • ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • parinirvāṇa AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

This refers to what occurs at the end of an arhat’s or a buddha’s life. When nirvāṇa is attained at awakening, whether as an arhat or buddha, all suffering, afflicted mental states (kleśa), and causal processes (karman) that lead to rebirth and suffering in cyclic existence have ceased, but due to previously accumulated karma, the aggregates of that life remain and must still exhaust themselves. It is only at the end of life that these cease, and since no new aggregates arise, the arhat or buddha is said to attain parinirvāṇa, meaning “complete” or “final” nirvāṇa. This is synonymous with the attainment of nirvāṇa without remainder (anupadhiśeṣanirvāṇa).

According to the Mahāyāna view of a single vehicle (ekayāna), the arhat’s parinirvāṇa at death, despite being so called, is not final. The arhat must still enter the bodhisattva path and reach buddhahood (see Unraveling the Intent, Toh 106, 7.14.) On the other hand, the parinirvāṇa of a buddha, ultimately speaking, should be understood as a display manifested for the benefit of beings; see The Teaching on the Extraordinary Transformation That Is the Miracle of Attaining the Buddha’s Powers (Toh 186), 1.32.

The term parinirvāṇa is also associated specifically with the passing away of the Buddha Śākyamuni, in Kuśinagara, in northern India.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­33
  • 1.­166-167
  • 1.­174
g.­30

Fine Sandalwood

Wylie:
  • tsan dan bzang po
Tibetan:
  • ཙན་དན་བཟང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • sucandana RS

A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­31

five eyes

Wylie:
  • spyan lnga
Tibetan:
  • སྤྱན་ལྔ།
Sanskrit:
  • pañcacakṣu AD

The five eyes are as follows: (1) the eye of flesh, (2) the divine eye, (3) the eye of insight (prajñā), (4) the Dharma eye, and (5) the buddha eye.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
  • 1.­90
  • g.­13
g.­32

Fortunate Eon

Wylie:
  • bskal pa bzang po
Tibetan:
  • བསྐལ་པ་བཟང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • bhadrakalpa AD

The name of our current eon, so-called because one thousand buddhas are prophesied to appear in succession during this time, Śākyamuni being the fourth and Maitreya the fifth.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­33

four correct discernments

Wylie:
  • so so yang dag par rig pa bzhi
Tibetan:
  • སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་པར་རིག་པ་བཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • catuḥprati­saṃvid AD

Four aspects by which a bodhisattva or tathāgata makes correct discernment without making a mistake or confusing one phenomenon with another. The four are listed as (1) the correct discernment of meaning, (2) the correct discernment of Dharma, (3) the correct discernment of etymology or language (nirukti), and (4) the correct discernment of eloquence. See The Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines (Toh 11, 2.­6). They are also sometimes referred to as the four correct discernments of a tathāgata (tathāgatha­catuḥ­pratisaṃvid), which is the same set of four but refers specifically to the discernments of a tathāgata as opposed to those similarly possessed by bodhisattvas.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
  • n.­57
  • g.­22
g.­34

four fearlessnesses

Wylie:
  • mi ’jigs pa bzhi
Tibetan:
  • མི་འཇིགས་པ་བཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • caturvaiśāradya AD
  • caturabhaya AD

The four fearlessnesses (abhaya) or confidences (vaiśāradya) are assertions that a tathāgata makes with irrefutable certainty: that of being (1) awakened and knowing all phenomena, (2) knowing the exhaustion of all defilements, (3) correctly identifying all obstacles to liberation, and (4) revealing/actualizing the path that leads to liberation.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
g.­35

Four Great Kings

Wylie:
  • rgyal po chen po bzhi
Tibetan:
  • རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་བཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • caturmahārāja AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Four gods who live on the lower slopes (fourth level) of Mount Meru in the eponymous Heaven of the Four Great Kings (Cāturmahā­rājika, rgyal chen bzhi’i ris) and guard the four cardinal directions. Each is the leader of a nonhuman class of beings living in his realm. They are Dhṛtarāṣṭra, ruling the gandharvas in the east; Virūḍhaka, ruling over the kumbhāṇḍas in the south; Virūpākṣa, ruling the nāgas in the west; and Vaiśravaṇa (also known as Kubera) ruling the yakṣas in the north. Also referred to as Guardians of the World or World Protectors (lokapāla, ’jig rten skyong ba).

Located in 11 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2-3
  • i.­12
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­28
  • 1.­30
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­59
  • g.­45
g.­36

four normal activities

Wylie:
  • spyod lam bzhi
Tibetan:
  • སྤྱོད་ལམ་བཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • caturīryāpatha AD

Refers to the four basic bodily activities: walking or going (caṅkrama/gamana), sitting or staying (niṣīdana/niṣadana), lying down (śayyā/śayana), and standing (sthāna/sthita).

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­22
g.­37

fourfold retinue

Wylie:
  • ’khor bzhi
Tibetan:
  • འཁོར་བཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • catuḥpariṣad AD

This denotes the assemblies of fully ordained monks and nuns, along with laymen and laywomen.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­57
g.­38

gandharva

Wylie:
  • dri za
Tibetan:
  • དྲི་ཟ།
Sanskrit:
  • gandharva AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of generally benevolent nonhuman beings who inhabit the skies, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds, and more specifically to dwell on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru, where they are ruled by the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. They are most renowned as celestial musicians who serve the gods. In the Abhidharma, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by sentient beings during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances (gandha) in the desire realm, hence the Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­107
  • 1.­183
g.­39

Ganges

Wylie:
  • gang gA’i klung
Tibetan:
  • གང་གཱའི་ཀླུང་།
Sanskrit:
  • gaṅgānadī AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Gaṅgā, or Ganges in English, is considered to be the most sacred river of India, particularly within the Hindu tradition. It starts in the Himalayas, flows through the northern plains of India, bathing the holy city of Vārāṇasī, and meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal, in Bangladesh. In the sūtras, however, this river is mostly mentioned not for its sacredness but for its abundant sands‍—noticeable still today on its many sandy banks and at its delta‍—which serve as a common metaphor for infinitely large numbers.

According to Buddhist cosmology, as explained in the Abhidharmakośa, it is one of the four rivers that flow from Lake Anavatapta and cross the southern continent of Jambudvīpa‍—the known human world or more specifically the Indian subcontinent.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­19
  • 1.­62
g.­40

garuḍa

Wylie:
  • nam mkha’ lding
Tibetan:
  • ནམ་མཁའ་ལྡིང་།
Sanskrit:
  • garuḍa AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Indian mythology, the garuḍa is an eagle-like bird that is regarded as the king of all birds, normally depicted with a sharp, owl-like beak, often holding a snake, and with large and powerful wings. They are traditionally enemies of the nāgas. In the Vedas, they are said to have brought nectar from the heavens to earth. Garuḍa can also be used as a proper name for a king of such creatures.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­157
g.­41

Gautama

Wylie:
  • gau ta ma
Tibetan:
  • གཽ་ཏ་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • gautama AD

Siddhārtha Gautama is the name of the Buddha Śākyamuni used prior to his awakening, and it is the name used by those who were not his followers. Gautama is his family name and means “Descendant of Gotama,” Gotama meaning “Excellent Cow.”

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­36
  • 1.­55-58
  • n.­12
g.­42

go forth

Wylie:
  • rab tu ’byung ba
Tibetan:
  • རབ་ཏུ་འབྱུང་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • pra√vraj AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Sanskrit pravrajyā literally means “going forth,” with the sense of leaving the life of a householder and embracing the life of a renunciant. When the term is applied more technically, it refers to the act of becoming a male novice (śrāmaṇera; dge tshul) or female novice (śrāmaṇerikā; dge tshul ma), this being a first stage leading to full ordination.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6
  • 1.­174-175
  • g.­58
g.­43

god

Wylie:
  • lha
Tibetan:
  • ལྷ།
Sanskrit:
  • deva

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who attend and celebrate the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni and other buddhas and bodhisattvas. In Buddhist cosmology the devas occupy the highest of the five or six “destinies” (gati) of saṃsāra among which beings take rebirth. The devas reside in the devalokas, “heavens” that traditionally number between twenty-six and twenty-eight and are divided between the desire realm (kāmadhātu), form realm (rūpadhātu), and formless realm (ārūpyadhātu). A being attains rebirth among the devas either through meritorious deeds (in the desire realm) or the attainment of subtle meditative states (in the form and formless realms). While rebirth among the devas is considered favorable, it is ultimately a transitory state from which beings will fall when the conditions that lead to rebirth there are exhausted. Thus, rebirth in the god realms is regarded as a diversion from the spiritual path.

Located in 29 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2-3
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­4-5
  • 1.­7
  • 1.­14-15
  • 1.­29-31
  • 1.­33
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­58
  • 1.­67
  • 1.­107
  • 1.­118
  • 1.­157
  • 1.­162
  • 1.­166
  • 1.­172-173
  • 1.­179
  • 1.­183
  • n.­33
  • g.­45
  • g.­77
  • g.­116
g.­44

Great Array

Wylie:
  • bkod pa chen po
Tibetan:
  • བཀོད་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāvyūha AD

The world system in which Bhadra is prophesied to appear as a tathāgata in the future.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­164-166
  • g.­90
  • g.­120
g.­45

Heaven of the Thirty-Three

Wylie:
  • sum cu rtsa gsum pa
Tibetan:
  • སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གསུམ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • trayastriṃśa AD

One of the heavens of Buddhist cosmology. Counted among the six heavens of the desire realm, it is traditionally located atop Mount Meru, just above the terrace of the abodes of the Four Great Kings. It is reigned over by Śakra and thirty-two other gods.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­30
  • 1.­58
  • 1.­166
  • g.­77
  • g.­116
g.­46

illusion

Wylie:
  • sgyu ma
Tibetan:
  • སྒྱུ་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • māyā AD

A magical illusion created by a conjurer or illusionist, or the power to create such an illusion. In the context of Buddhist literature, this is not considered to be a sleight of hand or visual trick but the actual appearance of something, such as an elephant or palace, created by magical means. Although this sort of magical illusion appears, it is unreal in the sense that there is no substantial basis for it beyond its magical appearance. In the Mahāyāna in particular, this sort of illusion (māyā created by magical means) is given as one example of how phenomena are empty and yet vividly appear; it is included in several lists of analogies for phenomena’s illusory nature.The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist uniquely describes the Buddha’s miraculous powers in comparison to the powers of Bhadra the illusionist, also describing the Buddha’s power with the term māyā; however, it is declared (1.­16) that the Buddha’s māyā is superior to Bhadra’s, which is limited and incomplete.Also translated as “power of illusion.”

Located in 38 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2-5
  • i.­7-14
  • 1.­6
  • 1.­13
  • 1.­16-17
  • 1.­19
  • 1.­22
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­39
  • 1.­48
  • 1.­51
  • 1.­53
  • 1.­63
  • 1.­86
  • 1.­89
  • 1.­94
  • 1.­134
  • 1.­143
  • 1.­172
  • n.­19
  • n.­29
  • n.­31-33
  • g.­20
  • g.­47
g.­47

illusionist

Wylie:
  • sgyu mkhan
Tibetan:
  • སྒྱུ་མཁན།
Sanskrit:
  • māyākāra AD

A conjurer, sorcerer, or magician who has the ability to create illusions. See Introduction i.­8.

Located in 46 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1-2
  • i.­7-8
  • i.­10
  • i.­13
  • 1.­6-7
  • 1.­9-13
  • 1.­16-18
  • 1.­21
  • 1.­24
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­28
  • 1.­30-35
  • 1.­38-39
  • 1.­47
  • 1.­50
  • 1.­55-60
  • 1.­82
  • 1.­104
  • 1.­107-108
  • 1.­152
  • 1.­173-174
  • g.­9
  • g.­46
g.­48

insight

Wylie:
  • shes rab
Tibetan:
  • ཤེས་རབ།
Sanskrit:
  • prajñā AD

As the sixth of the six perfections, it refers to the profound understanding of the emptiness of all phenomena, the realization of ultimate reality‍. In other translations it is sometimes rendered as “wisdom”; however, we have reserved this latter term for the translation of jñāna. In other contexts it refers to the mental factor responsible for ascertaining the specific qualities of a given object, or whether it should be taken up or rejected.

Located in 11 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­68
  • 1.­81
  • 1.­93
  • 1.­115-116
  • 1.­155
  • 1.­172
  • n.­43
  • g.­19
  • g.­31
  • g.­80
g.­49

inspired speech

Wylie:
  • spobs pa
Tibetan:
  • སྤོབས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • pratibhāna AD

The quality of intelligence, inspiration, and confident knowledge that allows one to teach and talk in the most appropriate way, even for very long stretches of time.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­111
  • 1.­147
  • 1.­172
g.­50

Jambudvīpa

Wylie:
  • ’dzam bu’i gling
Tibetan:
  • འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་།
Sanskrit:
  • jambudvīpa AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The name of the southern continent in Buddhist cosmology, which can signify either the known human world, or more specifically the Indian subcontinent, literally “the jambu island/continent.” Jambu is the name used for a range of plum-like fruits from trees belonging to the genus Szygium, particularly Szygium jambos and Szygium cumini, and it has commonly been rendered “rose apple,” although “black plum” may be a less misleading term. Among various explanations given for the continent being so named, one (in the Abhidharmakośa) is that a jambu tree grows in its northern mountains beside Lake Anavatapta, mythically considered the source of the four great rivers of India, and that the continent is therefore named from the tree or the fruit. Jambudvīpa has the Vajrāsana at its center and is the only continent upon which buddhas attain awakening.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­63
g.­51

Jinamitra

Wylie:
  • dzi na mi tra
Tibetan:
  • ཛི་ན་མི་ཏྲ།
Sanskrit:
  • jinamitra

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Jinamitra was invited to Tibet during the reign of King Tri Songdetsen (khri srong lde btsan, r. 742–98 ᴄᴇ) and was involved with the translation of nearly two hundred texts, continuing into the reign of King Ralpachen (ral pa can, r. 815–38 ᴄᴇ). He was one of the small group of paṇḍitas responsible for the Mahāvyutpatti Sanskrit–Tibetan dictionary.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­17
  • c.­1
g.­52

kācilindika

Wylie:
  • ka tsa lin di
Tibetan:
  • ཀ་ཙ་ལིན་དི།
Sanskrit:
  • kācilindika AD
  • kācalindika AD

An epithet for softness, usually applied to cloth, probably in reference, directly or metaphorically, to the down of the kācilindika bird.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­165
g.­53

kinnara

Wylie:
  • mi’am ci
Tibetan:
  • མིའམ་ཅི།
Sanskrit:
  • kinnara AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings that resemble humans to the degree that their very name‍—which means “is that human?”‍—suggests some confusion as to their divine status. Kinnaras are mythological beings found in both Buddhist and Brahmanical literature, where they are portrayed as creatures half human, half animal. They are often depicted as highly skilled celestial musicians.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­157
g.­54

Magadha

Wylie:
  • ma ga d+ha
Tibetan:
  • མ་ག་དྷ།
Sanskrit:
  • magadha AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

An ancient Indian kingdom that lay to the south of the Ganges River in what today is the state of Bihar. Magadha was the largest of the sixteen “great states” (mahājanapada) that flourished between the sixth and third centuries ʙᴄᴇ in northern India. During the life of the Buddha Śākyamuni, it was ruled by King Bimbisāra and later by Bimbisāra's son, Ajātaśatru. Its capital was initially Rājagṛha (modern-day Rajgir) but was later moved to Pāṭaliputra (modern-day Patna). Over the centuries, with the expansion of the Magadha’s might, it became the capital of the vast Mauryan empire and seat of the great King Aśoka.

This region is home to many of the most important Buddhist sites, including Bodh Gayā, where the Buddha attained awakening; Vulture Peak (Gṛdhra­kūṭa), where the Buddha bestowed many well-known Mahāyāna sūtras; and the Buddhist university of Nālandā that flourished between the fifth and twelfth centuries ᴄᴇ, among many others.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • 1.­6
  • 1.­8
  • g.­3
g.­55

magical display

Wylie:
  • rdzu ’phrul
Tibetan:
  • རྫུ་འཕྲུལ།
Sanskrit:
  • ṛddhi AD

See “magical power.”

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­35
  • 1.­62-63
  • 1.­69
  • 1.­85
  • g.­56
  • g.­58
  • g.­104
g.­56

magical power

Wylie:
  • rdzu ’phrul
Tibetan:
  • རྫུ་འཕྲུལ།
Sanskrit:
  • ṛddhi AD

Various magical abilities developed as the byproduct of meditative concentration (dhyāna). These are closely related to the superknowledges (abhijñā), although knowledge of ṛddhi is listed as one of the five mundane superknowledges, in which case it specifically refers to the magical display of physical marvels such as walking on water, flying, bilocating, and so forth, while the other four refer to psychic abilities. See also “superknowledge.”

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­23
  • n.­19
  • g.­55
  • g.­58
  • g.­70
  • g.­73
g.­57

Mahākāśyapa

Wylie:
  • ’od srung chen po
Tibetan:
  • འོད་སྲུང་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahākāśyapa AD

One of the Buddha Śākyamuni’s principal pupils, he is also referred to as Kāśyapa. Mahākāśyapa became the Buddha’s successor after his passing, and according to Pali sources he called and presided over the first Buddhist council to counter a schism started by Subhadra (Pali: Subhadda). Mahākāśyapa is considered foremost among the Buddha’s disciples in terms of his observance of ascetic practices (dhūtaguṇa). Mahākāśyapa is an interlocutor in many Mahāyāna sūtras. Pali: Mahākassapa

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­41
g.­58

Mahāmaudgalyāyana

Wylie:
  • maud gal gyi bu chen po
Tibetan:
  • མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahā­maudgalyāyana AD

One of the two chief śrāvaka disciples of the Buddha Śākyamuni, along with Śāriputra. He is also referred to as Maudgalyāyana. According to Pāli sources Mahāmaudgalyāyana and Śāriputra were both older than the Buddha and childhood friends. They together renounced the world and became mendicants, spending much of their life searching for a teacher until Śāriputra encountered the Buddha’s disciple Aśvajit and heard the famous ye dharmā verse (see The Sūtra on Dependent Arising, Toh 212, i.­2). Śāriputra immediately attained the path of a stream enterer (srota-āpanna), and when he repeated the verse to Maudgalyāyana the latter attained it as well. The two soon went forth in the Buddha’s teachings, becoming arhats and the two chief disciples of the Buddha. Mahāmaudgalyāyana is considered foremost among the Buddha’s disciples in terms of his ability in magical powers (ṛddhi), and there are many accounts describing his magical displays such as flying and creating multiple forms of himself. Maudgalyāyana is an interlocutor in many Mahāyāna sūtras. Pali: Mahāmoggallāna

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­13
  • 1.­23
  • 1.­42
  • g.­66
g.­59

Mahāsārathi

Wylie:
  • kha lo sgyur ba chen po
Tibetan:
  • ཁ་ལོ་སྒྱུར་བ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāsārathi AD

“Great Charioteer.” A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­60

Mahāyāna

Wylie:
  • theg pa chen po
Tibetan:
  • ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahāyāna AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

When the Buddhist teachings are classified according to their power to lead beings to an awakened state, a distinction is made between the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle (Hīnayāna), which emphasizes the individual’s own freedom from cyclic existence as the primary motivation and goal, and those of the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna), which emphasizes altruism and has the liberation of all sentient beings as the principal objective. As the term “Great Vehicle” implies, the path followed by bodhisattvas is analogous to a large carriage that can transport a vast number of people to liberation, as compared to a smaller vehicle for the individual practitioner.

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • i.­9
  • 1.­166
  • 1.­180
  • n.­2
  • g.­14
  • g.­46
  • g.­57
  • g.­58
  • g.­101
g.­61

mahoraga

Wylie:
  • lto ’phye chen po
Tibetan:
  • ལྟོ་འཕྱེ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • mahoraga AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally “great serpents,” mahoragas are supernatural beings depicted as large, subterranean beings with human torsos and heads and the lower bodies of serpents. Their movements are said to cause earthquakes, and they make up a class of subterranean geomantic spirits whose movement through the seasons and months of the year is deemed significant for construction projects.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­2
g.­62

Maitreya

Wylie:
  • byams pa
Tibetan:
  • བྱམས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • maitreya AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The bodhisattva Maitreya is an important figure in many Buddhist traditions, where he is unanimously regarded as the buddha of the future era. He is said to currently reside in the heaven of Tuṣita, as Śākyamuni’s regent, where he awaits the proper time to take his final rebirth and become the fifth buddha in the Fortunate Eon, reestablishing the Dharma in this world after the teachings of the current buddha have disappeared. Within the Mahāyāna sūtras, Maitreya is elevated to the same status as other central bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara, and his name appears frequently in sūtras, either as the Buddha’s interlocutor or as a teacher of the Dharma. Maitreya literally means “Loving One.” He is also known as Ajita, meaning “Invincible.”

For more information on Maitreya, see, for example, the introduction to Maitreya’s Setting Out (Toh 198).

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­174-175
  • n.­62
  • g.­32
g.­63

maṇḍala of wind

Wylie:
  • rlung gi dkyil ’khor
Tibetan:
  • རླུང་གི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར།
Sanskrit:
  • vāyumaṇḍala AD

Literally, a wheel or disk of wind. This term is found in Buddhist cosmology, where a world system is built on top of various layers, one of which is a vāyumaṇḍala, or a cosmic disk of wind; however, in The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist, the term is used to describe the ten winds that will contribute to the conflagration and destruction of the trichiliocosm at the end of an eon. Also translated as “wind.”

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­19-22
  • n.­23-24
g.­64

Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta

Wylie:
  • ’jam dpal gzhon nur gyur pa
Tibetan:
  • འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • mañjuśrī­kumārabhūta AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­53
g.­65

Māra

Wylie:
  • bdud
Tibetan:
  • བདུད།
Sanskrit:
  • māra AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Māra, literally “death” or “maker of death,” is the name of the deva who tried to prevent the Buddha from achieving awakening, the name given to the class of beings he leads, and also an impersonal term for the destructive forces that keep beings imprisoned in saṃsāra:

(1) As a deva, Māra is said to be the principal deity in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations (paranirmitavaśavartin), the highest paradise in the desire realm. He famously attempted to prevent the Buddha’s awakening under the Bodhi tree‍—see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.1‍—and later sought many times to thwart the Buddha’s activity. In the sūtras, he often also creates obstacles to the progress of śrāvakas and bodhisattvas. (2) The devas ruled over by Māra are collectively called mārakāyika or mārakāyikadevatā, the “deities of Māra’s family or class.” In general, these māras too do not wish any being to escape from saṃsāra, but can also change their ways and even end up developing faith in the Buddha, as exemplified by Sārthavāha; see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.14 and 21.43. (3) The term māra can also be understood as personifying four defects that prevent awakening, called (i) the divine māra (devaputra­māra), which is the distraction of pleasures; (ii) the māra of Death (mṛtyumāra), which is having one’s life interrupted; (iii) the māra of the aggregates (skandhamāra), which is identifying with the five aggregates; and (iv) the māra of the afflictions (kleśamāra), which is being under the sway of the negative emotions of desire, hatred, and ignorance.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­51
  • 1.­118
  • 1.­133-134
  • n.­33
g.­66

Maudgalyāyana

Wylie:
  • maud gal gyi bu
Tibetan:
  • མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ།
Sanskrit:
  • maudgalyāyana AD

Shortened form of Mahāmaudgalyāyana.

Located in 12 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • 1.­14-22
  • n.­22
  • g.­58
g.­67

means of attracting disciples

Wylie:
  • bsdu ba’i dngos po
Tibetan:
  • བསྡུ་བའི་དངོས་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃgrahavastu AD

The four methods of attracting disciples are generosity (Tib. sbyin pa, Skt. dāna), pleasant speech (Tib. snyan par smra ba, Skt. priyavādita), helpfulness (Tib. don spyod pa, Skt. arthacaryā), and acting in a way that accords with the teachings (Tib. don ’thun pa, Skt. samānārthatā).

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­136
g.­68

mind of awakening

Wylie:
  • byang chub kyi sems
Tibetan:
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས།
Sanskrit:
  • bodhicitta AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In the general Mahāyāna teachings the mind of awakening (bodhicitta) is the intention to attain the complete awakening of a perfect buddha for the sake of all beings. On the level of absolute truth, the mind of awakening is the realization of the awakened state itself.

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­67
  • 1.­70
  • 1.­124
  • 1.­126
  • 1.­128
  • 1.­131
  • 1.­140
g.­69

miraculous display

Wylie:
  • cho ’phrul
Tibetan:
  • ཆོ་འཕྲུལ།
Sanskrit:
  • prātihārya AD

See “miraculous power.”

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­11-13
  • 1.­23
  • 1.­37
  • n.­1
  • g.­70
g.­70

miraculous power

Wylie:
  • cho ’phrul
Tibetan:
  • ཆོ་འཕྲུལ།
Sanskrit:
  • prātihārya AD

A miraculous or wondrous power attributed to buddhas or, occasionally, other spiritually advanced beings. Generally these are miraculous displays for the purpose of benefiting beings or impressing them in such a way as to inspire faith and devotion. In this way, prātihārya is distinguished from ṛddhi (translated here as “magical power”), which is a more general term for magical or psychic powers typically obtained through meditative concentration (dhyāna). (Ṛddhi is also a subtype of prātihārya.) Although in many cases the Buddha dissuades monks from using miraculous powers to impress disciples or lay followers, he nonetheless exhibits them himself in many narratives. The two most well known of such events from the Buddha’s life were said to occur at Śrāvastī: the “twin miracle” (yama­kaprātihārya) where he simultaneously emanated fire and water from his body, and the “great miracle” (mahāprātihārya) in which the Buddha, while seated on a lotus, emanated multiple forms of himself in the sky‍—quite similar to his emanation of multiple Buddhas found in The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist (1.­59). A buddha’s miraculous powers for the purpose of benefitting beings are classified in three categories: (1) the miraculous power of magical display, (2) the miraculous power of foretelling, and (3) the miraculous power of instruction. These three are respectively associated with and considered to be aspects of the buddha’s body, speech, and mind. This term is translated elsewhere as “miraculous display.”

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­1
  • i.­10
  • i.­16
  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
  • n.­3
  • n.­11
  • n.­22
  • g.­20
  • g.­46
  • g.­69
  • g.­71
  • g.­72
  • g.­73
g.­71

miraculous power of foretelling

Wylie:
  • kun rjod pa’i cho ’phrul
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་རྗོད་པའི་ཆོ་འཕྲུལ།
Sanskrit:
  • ādeśanāprāti­hārya AD

Second of the three miraculous powers. Since a buddha knows the minds of all beings, he knows just what to say in order to teach them. The Sanskrit ādeśanā means to “point out” or “foretell,” which he does through knowing the minds of beings, while the corresponding Tibetan term kun brjod pa (“all speaking” or “elocution”) highlights that the buddha’s speech is miraculous because he can teach the Dharma in any language.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
  • g.­70
g.­72

miraculous power of instruction

Wylie:
  • rjes su bstan pa’i cho ’phrul
Tibetan:
  • རྗེས་སུ་བསྟན་པའི་ཆོ་འཕྲུལ།
Sanskrit:
  • anuśāsanī­prātihārya AD

Third of the three miraculous powers. A buddha’s miraculous power of instruction, which is an aspect of a buddha’s mind. A buddha knows his disciples’ afflictions and so is able to instruct them appropriately.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
  • n.­3
  • n.­22
  • g.­70
g.­73

miraculous power of magical display

Wylie:
  • rdzu ’phrul gyi cho ’phrul
Tibetan:
  • རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་ཆོ་འཕྲུལ།
Sanskrit:
  • ṛddhiprāti­hārya AD

First of the three miraculous powers. A buddha’s miraculous power to display magical powers (ṛddhi) in order to inspire or convert beings to the Dharma. In regard to the triad of body, speech, and mind, this miraculous power is associated with a buddha’s body and so is usually conveyed through miracles done with the body such as flying through the air, multiplying into many bodies, projecting fire and water from the body simultaneously, and so forth. However, ṛddhi refers generally to any magical or supernatural power (such as psychic abilities). See also the entry for “magical power.”

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
  • n.­3
  • n.­22
  • g.­70
g.­74

Mount Meru

Wylie:
  • ri rab
Tibetan:
  • རི་རབ།
Sanskrit:
  • meru AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

According to ancient Buddhist cosmology, this is the great mountain forming the axis of the universe. At its summit is Sudarśana, home of Śakra and his thirty-two gods, and on its flanks live the asuras. The mount has four sides facing the cardinal directions, each of which is made of a different precious stone. Surrounding it are several mountain ranges and the great ocean where the four principal island continents lie: in the south, Jambudvīpa (our world); in the west, Godānīya; in the north, Uttarakuru; and in the east, Pūrvavideha. Above it are the abodes of the desire realm gods. It is variously referred to as Meru, Mount Meru, Sumeru, and Mount Sumeru.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­5
  • 1.­7
  • 1.­19
  • g.­45
  • g.­77
g.­75

nāga

Wylie:
  • klu
Tibetan:
  • ཀླུ།
Sanskrit:
  • nāga AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings who live in subterranean aquatic environments, where they guard wealth and sometimes also teachings. Nāgas are associated with serpents and have a snakelike appearance. In Buddhist art and in written accounts, they are regularly portrayed as half human and half snake, and they are also said to have the ability to change into human form. Some nāgas are Dharma protectors, but they can also bring retribution if they are disturbed. They may likewise fight one another, wage war, and destroy the lands of others by causing lightning, hail, and flooding.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­107
  • g.­113
g.­76

non-Buddhists

Wylie:
  • mu stegs can
Tibetan:
  • མུ་སྟེགས་ཅན།
Sanskrit:
  • tīrthika AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Those of other religious or philosophical orders, contemporary with the early Buddhist order, including Jains, Jaṭilas, Ājīvikas, and Cārvākas. Tīrthika (“forder”) literally translates as “one belonging to or associated with (possessive suffix –ika) stairs for landing or for descent into a river,” or “a bathing place,” or “a place of pilgrimage on the banks of sacred streams” (Monier-Williams). The term may have originally referred to temple priests at river crossings or fords where travelers propitiated a deity before crossing. The Sanskrit term seems to have undergone metonymic transfer in referring to those able to ford the turbulent river of saṃsāra (as in the Jain tīrthaṅkaras, “ford makers”), and it came to be used in Buddhist sources to refer to teachers of rival religious traditions. The Sanskrit term is closely rendered by the Tibetan mu stegs pa: “those on the steps (stegs pa) at the edge (mu).”

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­36
  • 1.­50
g.­77

Pārijāta tree

Wylie:
  • yongs ’du
  • yongs ’du sa brtol ba
Tibetan:
  • ཡོངས་འདུ།
  • ཡོངས་འདུ་ས་བརྟོལ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • pārijāta AD
  • pāriyātraka AD

A wish-fulfilling tree that is sometimes associated with the coral tree (māndārava). There are many references to such trees, but the most famous is the one in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three enjoyed by the gods. It is rooted in Mount Meru and is a source of envy for the asuras, since they can only see its base, and the cittapātali tree that grows in their own realm pales in comparison.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­30
  • 1.­58
g.­78

parivrājaka

Wylie:
  • kun tu rgyu
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་ཏུ་རྒྱུ།
Sanskrit:
  • parivrājaka AD

A specific order of mendicants, or a general term for homeless religious mendicants who, literally, “roam around.” In Buddhist usage the term can refer to non-Buddhist peripatetic ascetics including Jains and others.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­36
  • 1.­56
  • g.­16
g.­79

perception

Wylie:
  • ’du shes
Tibetan:
  • འདུ་ཤེས།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃjñā AD

The term saṃjñā is used in an ordinary sense in Sanskrit to mean “notion,” “sign,” “conception,” or “clear understanding.” It is also used more specifically in Buddhist scholastic contexts for “the aggregate of perceptions” (saṃjñāskandha). In this presentation, as the third of the five aggregates, it refers to the mental function of differentiating and identifying objects according to their qualities. Thus it does not refer to the perceptions of the senses but to the conceptual notions or labels that are ascribed to sense perceptions before they may be conceived by the rational mind. In this sense, they are not really concepts or thoughts either, but rather the fundamental units ascribed to phenomena by the dualistic mind in order to form conceptual thoughts about them.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­140
  • 1.­148
  • g.­2
g.­80

perfections

Wylie:
  • pha rol phyin
  • pha rol tu phyin pa
Tibetan:
  • ཕ་རོལ་ཕྱིན།
  • ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • pāramitā AD

The trainings of the bodhisattva path. Most commonly listed as six: generosity, moral conduct, patience, diligence, concentration, and insight.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­80
  • 1.­128
  • 1.­151
  • g.­48
g.­81

person

Wylie:
  • gang zag
Tibetan:
  • གང་ཟག
Sanskrit:
  • pudgala AD

The provisional designation of a “person,” which, depending on differing opinions, is associated with one or more of the five aggregates. While all Buddhist schools reject the view of an autonomous self (ātman), most use the conventional designation of the “person” as a provisional way to discuss the identity of individual beings. The Tibetan etymology of the term gang zag (“full with outflow”) refers to the understanding that the individual person is full of qualities and/or afflictions but also flowing out, that is, eventually succumbing to impermanence and death‍—in essence, not an awakened being.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­135
  • 1.­144
  • 1.­159
  • 1.­173-174
g.­82

Pinnacle of Light

Wylie:
  • ’od tog
Tibetan:
  • འོད་ཏོག
Sanskrit:
  • prabhāketu RS

A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­46
g.­83

Prabhāśrī

Wylie:
  • ’od dpal
Tibetan:
  • འོད་དཔལ།
Sanskrit:
  • prabhāśrī AD

“Glorious Light.” A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­84

Prabhāvyūha

Wylie:
  • ’od bkod pa
Tibetan:
  • འོད་བཀོད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • prabhāvyūha AD

“Light Array.” A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­47
g.­85

Prajñāvarman

Wylie:
  • pradz+nya barma
Tibetan:
  • པྲཛྙ་བརྨ།
Sanskrit:
  • prajñāvarman

An Indian Bengali paṇḍita resident in Tibet during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. Arriving in Tibet on an invitation from the Tibetan king, he assisted in the translation of numerous canonical scriptures. He is also the author of a few philosophical commentaries contained in the Tibetan Tengyur (bstan ’gyur) collection.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­17
  • c.­1
g.­86

pratyekabuddha

Wylie:
  • rang sangs rgyas
Tibetan:
  • རང་སངས་རྒྱས།
Sanskrit:
  • pratyekabuddha AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally, “buddha for oneself” or “solitary realizer.” Someone who, in his or her last life, attains awakening entirely through their own contemplation, without relying on a teacher. Unlike the awakening of a fully realized buddha (samyaksambuddha), the accomplishment of a pratyeka­buddha is not regarded as final or ultimate. They attain realization of the nature of dependent origination, the selflessness of the person, and a partial realization of the selflessness of phenomena, by observing the suchness of all that arises through interdependence. This is the result of progress in previous lives but, unlike a buddha, they do not have the necessary merit, compassion or motivation to teach others. They are named as “rhinoceros-like” (khaḍgaviṣāṇakalpa) for their preference for staying in solitude or as “congregators” (vargacārin) when their preference is to stay among peers.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­111
  • 1.­148
  • g.­87
g.­87

Pratyekabuddha Vehicle

Wylie:
  • rkyen gyi theg pa
Tibetan:
  • རྐྱེན་གྱི་ཐེག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • pratyayayāna AD

Literally “vehicle of conditions,” refers to the path of pratyekabuddhas.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­161
  • n.­54
g.­88

Radiant

Wylie:
  • ’od byed
Tibetan:
  • འོད་བྱེད།
Sanskrit:
  • prabhākara RS

A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­89

Rājagṛha

Wylie:
  • rgyal po’i khab
Tibetan:
  • རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁབ།
Sanskrit:
  • rājagṛha AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The ancient capital of Magadha prior to its relocation to Pāṭaliputra during the Mauryan dynasty, Rājagṛha is one of the most important locations in Buddhist history. The literature tells us that the Buddha and his saṅgha spent a considerable amount of time in residence in and around Rājagṛha‍—in nearby places, such as the Vulture Peak Mountain (Gṛdhrakūṭaparvata), a major site of the Mahāyāna sūtras, and the Bamboo Grove (Veṇuvana)‍—enjoying the patronage of King Bimbisāra and then of his son King Ajātaśatru. Rājagṛha is also remembered as the location where the first Buddhist monastic council was held after the Buddha Śākyamuni passed into parinirvāṇa. Now known as Rajgir and located in the modern Indian state of Bihar.

Located in 13 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­3
  • 1.­6
  • 1.­9
  • 1.­11
  • 1.­24
  • 1.­35-37
  • 1.­59
  • g.­9
g.­90

Resounding Voice

Wylie:
  • sgra rnam par grags pa
Tibetan:
  • སྒྲ་རྣམ་པར་གྲགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vighuṣṭaśabda RS

The bodhisattva who will be prophesied to become the Buddha All Pervasive Lord. This prophecy will be given to him by the future buddha Vikurvāṇarāja in the world system called Great Array.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­167
  • g.­4
g.­91

retention

Wylie:
  • gzungs
Tibetan:
  • གཟུངས།
Sanskrit:
  • dhāraṇī AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings‍—an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula‍—that distills and “holds” essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote texts that contain such formulas.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­79
  • 1.­145
g.­92

Śakra

Wylie:
  • brgya byin
Tibetan:
  • བརྒྱ་བྱིན།
Sanskrit:
  • śakra AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The lord of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three (trāyastriṃśa). Alternatively known as Indra, the deity that is called “lord of the gods” dwells on the summit of Mount Sumeru and wields the thunderbolt. The Tibetan translation brgya byin (meaning “one hundred sacrifices”) is based on an etymology that śakra is an abbreviation of śata-kratu, one who has performed a hundred sacrifices. Each world with a central Sumeru has a Śakra. Also known by other names such as Kauśika, Devendra, and Śacipati.

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2-3
  • i.­12
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­29-30
  • 1.­33
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­58
  • 1.­67
  • 1.­157-158
  • g.­45
g.­93

samādhi

Wylie:
  • ting nge ’dzin
Tibetan:
  • ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
Sanskrit:
  • samādhi AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In a general sense, samādhi can describe a number of different meditative states. In the Mahāyāna literature, in particular in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, we find extensive lists of different samādhis, numbering over one hundred.

In a more restricted sense, and when understood as a mental state, samādhi is defined as the one-pointedness of the mind (cittaikāgratā), the ability to remain on the same object over long periods of time. The Drajor Bamponyipa (sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa) commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti explains the term samādhi as referring to the instrument through which mind and mental states “get collected,” i.e., it is by the force of samādhi that the continuum of mind and mental states becomes collected on a single point of reference without getting distracted.

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • 1.­61
  • 1.­75
  • 1.­93
  • 1.­130
  • 1.­139
  • n.­34
  • n.­43
  • g.­106
g.­94

Sārathi

Wylie:
  • kha lo sgyur ba
Tibetan:
  • ཁ་ལོ་སྒྱུར་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • sārathi AD

“Charioteer.” A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­1
g.­95

Śāriputra

Wylie:
  • shA ri’i bu
Tibetan:
  • ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ།
Sanskrit:
  • śāriputra AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the principal śrāvaka disciples of the Buddha, he was renowned for his discipline and for having been praised by the Buddha as foremost of the wise (often paired with Maudgalyā­yana, who was praised as foremost in the capacity for miraculous powers). His father, Tiṣya, to honor Śāriputra’s mother, Śārikā, named him Śāradvatīputra, or, in its contracted form, Śāriputra, meaning “Śārikā’s Son.”

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­43
  • g.­58
g.­96

seat of awakening

Wylie:
  • byang chub kyi snying po
Tibetan:
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • bodhimaṇḍa AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The place where the Buddha Śākyamuni achieved awakening and where every buddha will manifest the attainment of buddhahood. In our world this is understood to be located under the Bodhi tree, the Vajrāsana, in present-day Bodhgaya, India. It can also refer to the state of awakening itself.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­107
  • 1.­109
  • 1.­133
  • 1.­173-174
g.­97

send forth

Wylie:
  • rab tu phyung
Tibetan:
  • རབ་ཏུ་ཕྱུང་།
Sanskrit:
  • —

To perform the ceremony whereby someone becomes a monk or nun.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­174
g.­98

Siṃha

Wylie:
  • seng ge
Tibetan:
  • སེང་གེ
Sanskrit:
  • siṃha AD

“Lion.” A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­48
g.­99

Siṃhamati

Wylie:
  • seng ge blo gros
  • seng ge’i blo gros
Tibetan:
  • སེང་གེ་བློ་གྲོས།
  • སེང་གེའི་བློ་གྲོས།
Sanskrit:
  • siṃhamati AD

“Lion Intelligence.” A bodhisattva in the Buddha’s retinue.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­51
g.­100

śrāvaka

Wylie:
  • nyan thos
Tibetan:
  • ཉན་ཐོས།
Sanskrit:
  • śrāvaka AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Sanskrit term śrāvaka, and the Tibetan nyan thos, both derived from the verb “to hear,” are usually defined as “those who hear the teaching from the Buddha and make it heard to others.” Primarily this refers to those disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain the state of an arhat seeking their own liberation and nirvāṇa. They are the practitioners of the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma on the four noble truths, who realize the suffering inherent in saṃsāra and focus on understanding that there is no independent self. By conquering afflicted mental states (kleśa), they liberate themselves, attaining first the stage of stream enterers at the path of seeing, followed by the stage of once-returners who will be reborn only one more time, and then the stage of non-returners who will no longer be reborn into the desire realm. The final goal is to become an arhat. These four stages are also known as the “four results of spiritual practice.”

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­70
  • 1.­111
  • 1.­148
  • 1.­161
  • n.­54
  • g.­58
g.­101

Subhūti

Wylie:
  • rab ’byor
Tibetan:
  • རབ་འབྱོར།
Sanskrit:
  • subhūti AD

One of the Buddha Śākyamuni’s principal pupils and a close relative of the Buddha’s famous patron Anāthapiṇḍada. According to the Pali tradition, Subhūti is considered foremost among the Buddha’s disciples for dwelling peacefully in isolated places (Pali: dakkhiṇeyyānaṃ) and being a worthy recipient of gifts (Pali: araṇa­vihārīnaṃ aggo). He is said to have become an arhat through meditative concentration on loving-kindness (Skt. maitrīdhyāna, Pali: mettajhāna). On his alms rounds, Subhūti would cultivate loving-kindness for every household he visited, and thereby he bestowed the conditions for the highest possible merit for his donors. In the Mahāyāna tradition, he is particularly known to be one of the primary interlocutors in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras and is sometimes referred to as the foremost among the Buddha’s disciples for understanding emptiness, although as we see by his verse given in The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist he still retains his association with gift giving and generosity. Pali: Subhūti

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­44
g.­102

suchness

Wylie:
  • de bzhin nyid
Tibetan:
  • དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • tathatā AD

The quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms. This is the ultimate nature, as opposed to the way they appear to unawakened beings.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • i.­5
  • i.­13
  • 1.­168-170
  • 1.­181
g.­103

sugata

Wylie:
  • bde bar gshegs pa
Tibetan:
  • བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • sugata AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the standard epithets of the buddhas. A recurrent explanation offers three different meanings for su- that are meant to show the special qualities of “accomplishment of one’s own purpose” (svārthasampad) for a complete buddha. Thus, the Sugata is “well” gone, as in the expression su-rūpa (“having a good form”); he is gone “in a way that he shall not come back,” as in the expression su-naṣṭa-jvara (“a fever that has utterly gone”); and he has gone “without any remainder” as in the expression su-pūrṇa-ghaṭa (“a pot that is completely full”). According to Buddhaghoṣa, the term means that the way the Buddha went (Skt. gata) is good (Skt. su) and where he went (Skt. gata) is good (Skt. su).

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
  • 1.­69
  • 1.­161
g.­104

superknowledge

Wylie:
  • mngon par shes pa
Tibetan:
  • མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • abhijñā AD

Supernormal knowledge or psychic abilities acquired as a byproduct of meditative concentration (dhyāna). These are typically classified in a set of five or six: (1) clairvoyance (divyacakṣus, “the divine eye”), (2) clairaudience (divyaśrotra, “the divine ear”), (3) knowledge of the minds of others (paracittājñāna), (4) remembrance of past lives (pūrvanivāsānu­smṛti), (5) the ability to perform magical display (ṛddhividhi), and (6) the knowledge of the destruction of all mental defilements (āsravakṣaya). The first five are considered mundane or worldly and can be attained to some extent by non-Buddhist yogis as well as Buddhist arhats and bodhisattvas. The sixth is considered to be supramundane and can be attained only by Buddhist yogis.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­1
  • 1.­78
  • 1.­139
  • 1.­143
  • g.­56
g.­105

tathāgata

Wylie:
  • de bzhin gshegs pa
Tibetan:
  • དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • tathāgata AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A frequently used synonym for buddha. According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata, literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata, “one who has thus come.” Gata, though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Tatha­(tā), often rendered as “suchness” or “thusness,” is the quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms. Therefore, this epithet is interpreted in different ways, but in general it implies one who has departed in the wake of the buddhas of the past, or one who has manifested the supreme awakening dependent on the reality that does not abide in the two extremes of existence and quiescence. It is also often used as a specific epithet of the Buddha Śākyamuni.

Located in 50 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7-9
  • 1.­14-17
  • 1.­19-20
  • 1.­22-23
  • 1.­26-27
  • 1.­29
  • 1.­32-33
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­37-38
  • 1.­50-51
  • 1.­55-60
  • 1.­62
  • 1.­126-127
  • 1.­145
  • 1.­154
  • 1.­164-170
  • 1.­173-174
  • 1.­178
  • 1.­181
  • n.­33
  • n.­59
  • g.­33
  • g.­34
  • g.­44
  • g.­106
g.­106

ten strengths of a tathāgata

Wylie:
  • de bzhin gshegs pa’i stobs bcu
Tibetan:
  • དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྟོབས་བཅུ།
Sanskrit:
  • daśatathāgata­bala AD

Ten strengths possessed by a tathāgata: (1) the strength of knowing what is possible and what is impossible (sthānāsthāna); (2) the strength of knowing the maturation of actions (karma); (3) the strength of knowing the various constituents; (4) the strength of knowing the various inclinations of beings; (5) the strength of knowing whether beings’ faculties are superior or inferior; (6) the strength of knowing every path of travel; (7) the strength of knowing all the completely purified and totally afflicted aspects of entering the absorption of complete liberation (dhyānavimokṣha), meditative concentration (samādhi), and equipoise (samāpatti); (8) the strength of knowing the recollection of former abodes; (9) the strength of knowing the death, transference, and birth of beings; and (10) the strength of knowing the exhaustion of defilements.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­7
g.­107

three times

Wylie:
  • dus gsum
Tibetan:
  • དུས་གསུམ།
Sanskrit:
  • trikāla AD

The past, present, and future.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­89
  • 1.­107
  • 1.­159
g.­108

three vows

Wylie:
  • sdom pa gsum
Tibetan:
  • སྡོམ་པ་གསུམ།
Sanskrit:
  • trisaṃvara AD

There are two common sets of three vows. The first is the pratimokṣa, bodhicitta, and mantra vows, and this schema was perhaps most famously promoted in Tibet by the thirteenth-century Tibetan polymath Sakya Paṇḍita. The second set, which is likely the set of three vows referred to here, consists of (1) the pratimokṣa vows (Tib. so thar gyi sdom pa) of the desire realm, (2) the dhyāna vows (Tib. sam gtan gyi sdom pa) of the form realm, and (3) the uncontaminated vows (Tib. zag med kyi sdom pa) maintained by those who have transcended the three realms and are at the level of a noble being.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­110
g.­109

treatise

Wylie:
  • bstan bcos
Tibetan:
  • བསྟན་བཅོས།
Sanskrit:
  • śāstra AD

May refer to a specific genre or style of scholastic Sanskritic literature, or simply to scholastic literature in general. In Buddhist traditions the term śāstra usually signifies a text that was composed by an ordinary human author, as opposed to a text first spoken, composed, or revealed by an awakened being. While the term is often used in reference to the Buddhist commentarial canon, or the Tengyur, the heretical treatises known by Bhadra in The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist would certainly not be Buddhist ones.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­6
  • n.­6
g.­110

trichiliocosm

Wylie:
  • stong gsum gyi stong chen po’i ’jig rten gyi khams
Tibetan:
  • སྟོང་གསུམ་གྱི་སྟོང་ཆེན་པོའི་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས།
Sanskrit:
  • trisāhasra­mahāsāhasraloka­dhātu AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The largest universe described in Buddhist cosmology. This term, in Abhidharma cosmology, refers to 1,000³ world systems, i.e., 1,000 “dichiliocosms” or “two thousand great thousand world realms” (dvi­sāhasra­mahā­sāhasra­lokadhātu), which are in turn made up of 1,000 first-order world systems, each with its own Mount Sumeru, continents, sun and moon, etc.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­5
  • 1.­7
  • 1.­18-19
  • 1.­39
  • 1.­133
  • n.­55
  • g.­63
g.­111

true expanse

Wylie:
  • chos dbyings
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་དབྱིངས།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmadhātu AD

Things as they truly are, with nothing imputed upon them through dualistic thinking.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­95
g.­112

true nature

Wylie:
  • chos nyid
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmatā AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The real nature, true quality, or condition of things. Throughout Buddhist discourse this term is used in two distinct ways. In one, it designates the relative nature that is either the essential characteristic of a specific phenomenon, such as the heat of fire and the moisture of water, or the defining feature of a specific term or category. The other very important and widespread way it is used is to designate the ultimate nature of all phenomena, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms and is often synonymous with emptiness or the absence of intrinsic existence.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­22
  • 1.­96
  • 1.­151
  • 1.­172
g.­113

uraga

Wylie:
  • lto ’phye
Tibetan:
  • ལྟོ་འཕྱེ།
Sanskrit:
  • uraga AD

Snake, serpent, or reptile. Literally, ones that “crawl on the belly,” sometimes an epithet of nāgas.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­157
g.­114

ūrṇā hair

Wylie:
  • mdzod spu
Tibetan:
  • མཛོད་སྤུ།
Sanskrit:
  • ūrṇā AD
  • ūrṇākośa AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the thirty-two marks of a great being. It consists of a soft, long, fine, coiled white hair between the eyebrows capable of emitting an intense bright light. Literally, the Sanskrit ūrṇā means “wool hair,” and kośa means “treasure.”

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­9
  • n.­14
g.­115

uṣṇīṣa

Wylie:
  • spyi gtsug
Tibetan:
  • སྤྱི་གཙུག
Sanskrit:
  • uṣṇīṣa AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the thirty-two signs, or major marks, of a great being. In its simplest form it is a pointed shape of the head like a turban (the Sanskrit term, uṣṇīṣa, in fact means “turban”), or more elaborately a dome-shaped extension. The extension is described as having various extraordinary attributes such as emitting and absorbing rays of light or reaching an immense height.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­9
g.­116

Vaijayanta Palace

Wylie:
  • khang bzangs rnam par rgyal ba
Tibetan:
  • ཁང་བཟངས་རྣམ་པར་རྒྱལ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • vijayanta prāsāda AD

The palace or meeting hall of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­30
g.­117

victorious one

Wylie:
  • rgyal ba
Tibetan:
  • རྒྱལ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • jina AD

One of the common epithets applied to a buddha.

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­50
  • 1.­63-64
  • 1.­66
  • 1.­85
  • 1.­93
  • 1.­95
  • 1.­97
  • 1.­100
  • 1.­161
g.­118

vidyā mantra

Wylie:
  • rig sngags
Tibetan:
  • རིག་སྔགས།
Sanskrit:
  • vidyāmantra AD

A mantra or sacred utterance for producing vidyā, which means “knowledge” or “insight.” The term vidyā has a wide range of meaning, but in this context, it may refer to a magic spell made for the purpose of attaining either worldly or transcendent benefits.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­32
  • 1.­38
g.­119

view of the transitory collection

Wylie:
  • ’jig tshogs lta ba
Tibetan:
  • འཇིག་ཚོགས་ལྟ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • satkāyadṛṣṭi AD

The view that perceives the transitory collection of the five aggregates as the basis for the self or that which belongs to a self. The Tibetan literally means “the view of the destructible accumulation,” and the Sanskrit means “seeing (dṛṣṭi) the body (kāya) as real (sat),” (i.e., the view that holds the body to be truly existent). Some sources classify twenty types of satkāyadṛṣṭī by delineating for each of the five aggregates the false notion that (1) the self is the same as the aggregates, (2) the self is contained in the aggregates, (3) the self is different from the aggregates, or (4) the self possesses the aggregates.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­87
g.­120

Vikurvāṇarāja

Wylie:
  • rnam par ’phrul pa’i rgyal po
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་འཕྲུལ་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • vikurvāṇarāja AD

The buddha that Bhadra is prophesied to become in a future life in the world system called Great Array. Coincidently, there is a sūtra in the Kangyur called The Questions of Vikurvāṇarāja (Toh 167), but there is not likely to be any connection with the Vikurvāṇarāja prophesied here.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­164-167
  • g.­4
  • g.­90
g.­121

voice endowed with the sixty qualities

Wylie:
  • gsung dbyangs yan lag drug cu dang ldan
Tibetan:
  • གསུང་དབྱངས་ཡན་ལག་དྲུག་ཅུ་དང་ལྡན།
Sanskrit:
  • —

There are slightly varying lists of the sixty qualities or aspects of the buddha’s voice. Often an additional four are added, extending the list to sixty-four. One such canonical source for the list can be found in the Tathāgatācintya­guhya­nirdeśa­sūtra (Toh 47), 8.­3. This list is further elaborated by Daśabalaśrīmitra in the Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛta­viniścaya (Toh 3897), folio 306.a.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 1.­9
g.­122

Vulture Peak Mountain

Wylie:
  • bya rgod kyi phung po’i ri
Tibetan:
  • བྱ་རྒོད་ཀྱི་ཕུང་པོའི་རི།
Sanskrit:
  • gṛdhrakūṭaparvata AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Gṛdhra­kūṭa, literally Vulture Peak, was a hill located in the kingdom of Magadha, in the vicinity of the ancient city of Rājagṛha (modern-day Rajgir, in the state of Bihar, India), where the Buddha bestowed many sūtras, especially the Great Vehicle teachings, such as the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras. It continues to be a sacred pilgrimage site for Buddhists to this day.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • i.­5
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­9
g.­123

wisdom

Wylie:
  • ye shes
Tibetan:
  • ཡེ་ཤེས།
Sanskrit:
  • jñāna AD

Although the Sanskrit term jñāna can refer to knowledge in a general sense, it is often used in Buddhist texts to refer to the mode of awareness of a realized being. In contrast to ordinary knowledge, which mistakenly perceives phenomena as real entities having real properties, wisdom perceives the emptiness of phenomena, that is, their lack of intrinsic essence.

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­5
  • 1.­39
  • 1.­69
  • 1.­81
  • 1.­93
  • 1.­139
  • 1.­155
  • 1.­171-172
  • n.­35
  • n.­39
  • n.­43
  • n.­60
  • g.­48
g.­124

world system

Wylie:
  • ’jig rten gyi khams
Tibetan:
  • འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས།
Sanskrit:
  • lokadhātu AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term lokadhātu refers to a single four continent world-system illumined by a sun and moon, with a Mount Meru at its center and an encircling ring of mountains at its periphery, and with the various god realms above, thus including the desire, form, and formless realms.

The term can also refer to groups of such world-systems in multiples of thousands. A universe of one thousand such world-systems is called a chiliocosm (sāhasra­loka­dhātu, stong gi ’jig rten gyi khams); one thousand such chiliocosms is called a dichiliocosm (dvisāhasralokadhātu, stong gnyis kyi ’jig rten gyi khams); and one thousand such dichiliocosms is called a trichiliocosm (trisāhasra­loka­dhātu, stong gsum gyi 'jig rten gyi khams). A trichiliocosm is the largest universe described in Buddhist cosmology.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­19
  • 1.­164-166
  • g.­44
  • g.­63
  • g.­90
  • g.­120
g.­125

yakṣa

Wylie:
  • gnod sbyin
Tibetan:
  • གནོད་སྦྱིན།
Sanskrit:
  • yakṣa AD

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings who inhabit forests, mountainous areas, and other natural spaces, or serve as guardians of villages and towns, and may be propitiated for health, wealth, protection, and other boons, or controlled through magic. According to tradition, their homeland is in the north, where they live under the rule of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa.

Several members of this class have been deified as gods of wealth (these include the just-mentioned Vaiśravaṇa) or as bodhisattva generals of yakṣa armies, and have entered the Buddhist pantheon in a variety of forms, including, in tantric Buddhism, those of wrathful deities.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­107
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    84000. The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist (Bhadra­māyākāravyākaraṇa, sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa, Toh 65). Translated by Kīrtimukha Translation Group. Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025. https://84000.co/translation/toh65.Copy
    84000. The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist (Bhadra­māyākāravyākaraṇa, sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa, Toh 65). Translated by Kīrtimukha Translation Group, online publication, 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025, 84000.co/translation/toh65.Copy
    84000. (2025) The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist (Bhadra­māyākāravyākaraṇa, sgyu ma mkhan bzang po lung bstan pa, Toh 65). (Kīrtimukha Translation Group, Trans.). Online publication. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh65.Copy

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