The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch starts with a profound conversation between the Buddha and the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī on the nature of the dharmadhātu, buddhahood, and emptiness. The bodhisattva Dharmamati then enters the meditative absorption called the infinite application of the bodhisattva’s jewel torch and, at the behest of the millions of buddhas who have blessed him, emerges from it to teach how bodhisattvas arise from the presence of a tathāgata and progress to the state of omniscience. Following Dharmamati’s detailed exposition of the “ten categories” or progressive stages of a bodhisattva, the Buddha briefly teaches the mantra of the dhāraṇī and then, for most of the remainder of the text, encourages bodhisattvas in a long versified passage in which he recounts teachings by a bodhisattva called Bhadraśrī on the qualities of bodhisattvas and buddhas. Some verses from this passage on the virtues of faith have been widely quoted in both India and Tibet.
Translated by David Jackson and edited by the 84000 editorial team. The introduction, also by the 84000 editorial team, expands on an original version by David Jackson. The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The generous sponsorship of Make and Wang Xiao Juan (馬珂和王曉娟), which helped make the work on this translation possible, is most gratefully acknowledged.
In this profound Mahāyāna sūtra, The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch, the Buddha Śākyamuni explains, with the help of the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and Dharmamati, how bodhisattvas progress toward awakening.
Although seen as a sūtra in its own right, it is closely connected to the family of texts belonging to the Avataṃsakasūtra, two chapters of which it shares. As its title suggests, it can also be seen as a dhāraṇī, or as a sūtra about a dhāraṇī.
Substantial passages were quoted by Śāntideva in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, and these extracts are now the only remnants of the Sanskrit text. The Tibetan translation, by the Indian master Surendrabodhi and the chief-editor translator the monk Yeshé Dé, dates to the early, imperial translation period, and its verses on faith later had a wide impact in Tibetan works. The Chinese translation, by Fatian, dates to the late tenth century and is classified as an Avataṃsaka text.
The setting of the text is the Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha. Its audience is a great gathering of highly accomplished monks and bodhisattvas, headed by Samantabhadra who, as the initial interlocutor, asks the Buddha how dharmadhātu should be understood. A brief but profound exchange follows.
Mañjuśrī then appears and requests the Buddha to teach the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch (1.11). The Buddha insists that Mañjuśrī should request Samantabhadra to teach it instead, and Samantabhadra’s dialog with Mañjuśrī starts with the meaning of buddha. A brief interlude follows (1.40–1.54) in which Śāriputra (here Śāradvatīputra) compares his own understanding unfavorably with Mañjuśrī’s vast wisdom, and professes his inability and unwillingness to debate with him; similar brief conversations between Śāriputra and Mañjuśrī recur at several points in the text.
The bodhisattva Dharmamati then makes his appearance (1.55) and enters the meditative absorption called the infinite application of the bodhisattva’s jewel torch. Blessed and encouraged by millions of buddhas to summon the eloquence to teach, Dharmamati sets out the ten categories of bodhisattva (1.59–1.84) in the long passage that follows. A number of wonders then occur, after which Dharmamati summarizes the ten categories in verse (1.88–1.178).
The Buddha, in response to several ensuing requests to teach, briefly teaches the mantra of the dhāraṇī (1.213) and comments on its meaning. At Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī’s request, he then explains the benefits that hearing this sūtra will have for future disciples (1.228–1.256). Here several stark warnings are given to future hearers (mainly future monks) who might one day criticize or reject this sūtra.
The final main section of the sūtra is a very long passage (twenty folios in the Degé edition) of versified encouragement for bodhisattvas, introduced by a prologue featuring Ānanda. The main versified part (2.20–2.397) is spoken by the Buddha as a narrative that introduces, relates, and concludes teachings given by the bodhisattva Bhadraśrī on the good qualities and modes of conduct of the bodhisattva. Bhadraśrī first eulogizes the thought of awakening (bodhicitta) and then a few verses later praises faith in a well-known passage, parts of which were quoted by Śāntideva (see below) and subsequently by many Tibetan authors. Bhadraśrī then describes many of the other qualities of bodhisattvas and their ability to manifest miraculously in different ways, including the astounding visual and other sensory content of their meditative absorptions, the many kinds of miraculous rays of light with which they bring benefit to the world and beings, and comparisons with the powerful magical displays of the ordinary gods such as Indra and the king of the nāgas.1
At the end of the teaching, its importance and future benefits are expressed by Subhūti and others, and Ānanda promises to retain it.
Although it is found in the Kangyur among other Mahāyāna sūtras in the General Sūtra section (as Tōh 145 in the Degé Kangyur) and is listed as belonging to that general category in the Denkarma inventory of translated texts2 (as well as to the Dhāraṇī section, see below), the sūtra also belongs to the family of texts related to the Avataṃsakasūtra (phal po che, “A Multitude of Buddhas,” Toh 44). Indeed, in the other imperial period inventory, the roughly contemporary Phangthangma, it is listed under the heading of “the works included in the group of sūtras of the noble, great, very extensive Buddhāvataṃsaka.”3
The prominent role of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra; the centrality of the dharmadhātu; the vast numbers of buddhas who gather and the mention of the Buddha Vairocana in the pivotal passage about the absorption and blessing of Dharmamati; the tenfold division and subdivision of the categories of bodhisattva; the repeated vocative “O sons of the victors”;4 and many other features of this work, above all the central theme of how bodhisattvas first emerge in the presence of a tathāgata and progressively develop access to the buddha qualities, culminating in their regency and consecration, are all strongly reminiscent of the Avataṃsaka.
Two long passages in the text represent two complete chapters of the Avataṃsakasūtra.5 In terms of content they are close to being exact matches, although the translations in Tibetan are different. The long passage recounting Dharmamati’s absorption and his ensuing revelations in both prose and verse (from 1.55 to 1.178) is almost identical to the whole of chapter 20 of the Tibetan Avataṃsakasūtra, “The Ten Categories of Bodhisattvas” (chapter 15 of the Chinese),6 while almost the entirety of the final verse section recounting the teachings by Bhadraśrī (from 2.27 to 2.397 near the conclusion of the text) matches the whole of chapter 17 of the Tibetan Avataṃsakasūtra, “Bhadraśrī” (chapter 12 of the Chinese).7
The Chinese translation of this text, Taishō 299,8 made by Fatian almost a hundred years later than the Tibetan, in the year 983, is also classified as a sūtra of the Avataṃsaka family. It is placed in the Taishō in the Huayan volume, volume 10, along with the Avataṃsakasūtra itself and the other standalone texts related to it.9
The text is classified not only as a sūtra, but also as a dhāraṇī, and in those Kangyurs that have an additional Dhāraṇī section it is duplicated there (as Tōhoku no. 8471010 in the Degé Kangyur). Indeed, the title itself includes the word dhāraṇī, and the teaching requested of the Buddha is referred to as “the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch.”
The term dhāraṇī is derived from the Sanskrit root √dhṛ (“to hold” or “to maintain”), and among its wide range of meanings most are closely related to the retaining—in the mind, in memory, in words, or in writing—of a particular teaching, realization, or approach to awakening. Perhaps the two most widespread senses in which the term is used are when it refers to a mantra-like formula that “encodes” its meaning without necessarily expressing it in comprehensible speech, or when it describes the highly developed capacity of advanced practitioners to memorize and accurately retain a set of detailed and profound instructions. But as well as signifying the means by which such meanings or sets of instructions are retained (i.e., what holds them), it can also designate a specific meaning or instruction itself (i.e., what is held).
Furthermore, by extension from these senses of the term, a text that either contains a (mantra-like) dhāraṇī, or is about a dhāraṇī in any of these senses, may itself be referred to as a dhāraṇī. This is the basis for the term dhāraṇī having also come to designate a whole scriptural genre of Mahāyāna texts—well represented in the Kangyur, which contains some two hundred fifty texts in that category. However, as a genre it is both quite diverse in its composition and shares most of the texts it contains with other genres. It is often not entirely clear whether any one text is labeled a dhāraṇī because the text itself is a dhāraṇī, contains a dhāraṇī, or is about a dhāraṇī.
For all these reasons, each text placed in this genre deserves its own analysis of what makes it “a dhāraṇī.” In the case of the present text, mentions are made throughout to a “dhāraṇī of the jewel torch,” but it is difficult to determine whether they all have the same reference, or whether they variously refer to a particular realization of bodhisattvas, to a teaching on that realization, or to the text itself.
In the first chapter, there are four separate occasions on which the dhāraṇī seems to be taught. Although the corresponding mentions could conceivably all be understood as referring to one and the same instance of the dhāraṇī, three of the four occasions end with a statement that the dhāraṇī has now been taught, in the past tense. In the first of the four instances, the exchange between Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and the Buddha (starting at 1.11) is termed an explanation of the dhāraṇī in the initial request. In the second instance, Dharmamati’s long teaching on the ten levels of bodhisattvas is also described as a dhāraṇī immediately afterward by Samantabhadra (1.179). The third instance is a dialog between Mañjuśrī and Śāriputra (starting at 1.196) in response to the latter’s request for an explanation of the dhāraṇī, which is lauded as a teaching on that dhāraṇī afterward (1.205). The fourth instance is when yet another request is made to the Buddha, this time by Samantabhadra, to teach the dhāraṇī (1.211); the Buddha teaches what is described as a mantra, and in the discussions that follow it is made clear that the meaning it carries is that of the ineffable ultimate nature of reality.11
Along with dhāraṇīs, a number of sūtras mention gateways (Skt. mukha, Tib. sgo), meditative absorptions (Skt. samādhi, Tib. ting nge ’dzin), and liberations (Skt. vimokṣa, Tib. rnam par thar pa) as different kinds of qualities attained by bodhisattvas. That some of the mentions of the dhāraṇī in this sūtra fall into the category of such attained qualities is suggested by the first of the four instances instance here being also termed an “access” or gateway (1.34), and by the second instance being described as arising from the gnosis that Dharmamati has attained while immersed in a meditative absorption called “the infinite application of the jewel torch.”12 Nevertheless, this second instance, the long teaching on the ten levels of bodhisattvas, is clearly also seen as a teaching, in the sense of presenting specific doctrinal content. The third instance is heralded by Śāriputra’s announcement that a sūtra is to be taught, yet what happens turns out to be a short and somewhat cryptic dialog equating explanation with emptiness, and demonstrating how neither can be taught. Only the fourth instance, the mantra, can be reasonably clearly placed in the category of dhāraṇīs that are encoding formulae, and the meaning that the mantra can be assumed to express is linked to the first and third instances in the teaching by Samantabhadra that follows it, on how the dhāraṇī should be “retained” and cultivated as a teaching on thatness, the ultimate (Skt. tathatā, Tib. de bzhin nyid).
Most of the subsequent mentions of the dhāraṇī as such, in what remains of the first chapter and at the beginning of the second (it is not mentioned at all in the long verse section), are made in the context of its future holders and of its past history, intermingled with descriptions of it as a Dharma discourse. In other words, as a teaching—but also, in the kind of internal self-reference that is a common feature of many Mahāyāna sūtras, designating this very text itself.
The frequent mentions in this text of the “dhāraṇī of the jewel torch” are therefore quite varied in terms of the sense in which the term is being used. We have made no attempt to use capitalization or punctuation to distinguish those that may refer to the text itself, to a teaching, to the mantra, or to a realization.
Neither of the two long sections that appear as chapters in the Avataṃsakasūtra make any mention of a dhāraṇī. None of the excerpts in Sanskrit quoted by Śāntideva (see below) include passages where the dhāraṇī is mentioned in the Tibetan text, but the title Śāntideva uses to introduce his citations does include the designation dhāraṇī.
The Sanskrit title transliterated in the Tibetan text, Ratnolkādhāraṇī in its short form, is the same as the title that appears in the Sanskrit manuscripts of the Śikṣāsamuccaya (see below). The Sanskrit ulkā can mean a fiery phenomena in the sky, i.e., a meteor, and also a firebrand or torch.
Of the title in Tibetan, however, there are several different renderings. In all Kangyurs, the title is dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs, incorporating the unusual, archaic word ta la la, meaning “lamp” or “torch.” In some of the twenty or so Tengyur treatises that quote the text (including the Tibetan translation of the Śikṣāsamuccaya), the ta la la title is used, even if in some cases the word gzungs (dhāraṇī) is dropped or replaced by the word mdo (sūtra). In others, however, the title is rendered in various forms that use, instead of ta la la, the more usual Tibetan term for “lamp” or “torch,” sgron ma or sgron me.13 Probably as a consequence, later Tibetan authors of indigenous works (see below) use sometimes one version of the title, sometimes the other, and only some authors who use the sgron ma variants seem to be aware that the canonical work they are quoting is in the Kangyur under a different title.
The sūtra is quoted a little over twenty times in treatises in the Tengyur, notably by Atiśa, Vimalamitra, and Śāntideva, but also by lesser known authors. As noted above, both the dkon mchog ta la la and dkon mchog sgron ma forms of the title can be found, and there are considerable minor variations. Most, but not all, of the quotations are from the long verse section of the second chapter.
The most extensive extracts appear in Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya (Training Anthology), and indeed the sūtra appears to have been among Śāntideva’s favorite texts, as he quotes from it more than from any other work. His text contains two short extracts, one longer passage, and one very extensive section of the verses from the second chapter that makes up more than half of one of his chapters.14 The Śikṣāsamuccaya has survived in Sanskrit, as well as in its Tibetan translation in the Tengyur, and its Sanskrit text thus contains the only known remnants of the sūtra in Sanskrit.
The sūtra is listed in the Mahāvyutpatti as one of the hundred or so Dharma texts that were presumably best known at the time,15 and is frequently quoted by Tibetan authors of all the main traditions. The passages on the importance of faith are the most commonly quoted, and for some authors it is the scriptural source for there being—variously—three, four, or six kinds of faith.16 Other parts of both chapters are also cited.
Identifying quotes from the sūtra is made more difficult by the variety of titles used.17 In the case of several authors, including Chomden Rikpa Raltri (bcom ldan rig pa ral dri, thirteenth century), Longchen Rabjampa (klong chen rab ’byams pa, fourteenth century), and many of the early Sakya scholars, quotes using both the dkon mchog sgron ma and the dkon mchog ta la la forms of the title can be found in the same work, suggesting that in some cases they may have been consulting treatises or other sources that used these different titles as well as the canonical text itself without always recognizing that both titles designate the same sūtra. Shākya Chokden (shA kya mchog ldan, fifteenth century) specifically mentions the identity of both titles.
This translation is based principally on the Degé block print and the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur. Yeshé Dé’s early-ninth-century translation contains a few archaic words that have survived subsequent editing, including the ta la la in the title, mentioned above. A few other noteworthy archaic spellings, recorded in the notes, are byin as a verb of the Buddha’s speech (see 1.31); dbung, “center” (see 1.84);18 and the spelling nod pa for mnod pa (prahaṇam, “to receive”).19 In a few passages we have suggested a change in the text reading in an endnote, often in consultation with the Stok Palace version.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling on the Vulture Peak of Rājagṛha, seated together with a great gathering of fully ordained monks, all of whom had perfected virtuous[F.4.a] qualities, roared mighty lion’s roars as great teachers, and were expert in seeking an immeasurable accumulation of gnosis, in all more than a thousand fully ordained monks.
A great gathering of bodhisattvas was also assembled there, including the bodhisattva great being Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva great being Ratnamudrāhasta, the bodhisattva great being Nityodyukta, the bodhisattva great being Ornamented by Good Qualities, the bodhisattva great being Announcing Merits, the bodhisattva great being Mahāmati, the bodhisattva great being Array of Good Qualities,[F.34.b] the bodhisattva great being Vajra Intelligence, the bodhisattva great being Vajragarbha, the bodhisattva great being Light of a Vajra, the bodhisattva great being Weapon of a Vajra, the bodhisattva great being Adamantine Vajra, the bodhisattva great being Dhāraṇīdhara, the bodhisattva great being Dhāraṇīmati, the bodhisattva great being Seeing All Purposes, the bodhisattva great being Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva great being Mahāsthāmaprāpta, the bodhisattva great being Dṛḍhamati, the bodhisattva great being Vajrapāṇi, the bodhisattva great being Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta, the bodhisattva great being Avoiding Evil Destinies, the bodhisattva great being Overcoming All Sorrow and Darkness,[F.4.b] the bodhisattva great being Suvikrāntavikrāmin, the bodhisattva great being Not Taking or Rejecting, the bodhisattva great being Essence of Sandalwood, the bodhisattva great being Sāgaramati, the bodhisattva great being Durabhisambhava, the bodhisattva great being Arising Joy, the bodhisattva great being Intelligence of Conduct, the bodhisattva great being Pratibhākūṭa, the bodhisattva great being Essence of Speed, and the bodhisattva great being Maitreya.
Those and other bodhisattva great beings all dwelled in inconceivable emancipation, had left everything behind20 through the meditative absorption heroic progress,[F.35.a] had unimpeded melodic voices, and were skilled in holding sway over limitless buddha realms. They all dwelled in fearlessness, were devoid of attachment and anger, possessed pleasant-sounding voices, were not attached to the three realms of existence, possessed undivided retinues of attendants, were arisen from omniscience, and possessed limitless meditative absorptions and meditative attainments. They all fulfilled every hope, experienced the perfection of discriminating wisdom, were inclined toward meaningful goals in their bodily, verbal, and mental deeds, were intent on omniscience, were blessed to have limitless21 meditative absorptions and conduct, had attained fearlessness, had emptiness as their sphere of experience,22 and dwelled in the absence of phenomenal marks.
The bodhisattva great being Samantabhadra, who was seated as part of that assembly, bowing with his head to the feet of the Blessed One,[F.5.a] said, “Blessed One, how should we understand dharmadhātu?”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, dharmadhātu is to be understood as the absence of entities. Son of a good family, you should understand dharmadhātu as follows: as space-like, as without conceptual elaborations, as unelaborated, as without accepting, as without rejecting, as the absence of entities, and as foundationless.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra asked, “Blessed One, does dharmadhātu arise?”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, dharmadhātu has no arising. Son of a good family, dharmadhātu is inconceivable. You should understand it as the absence of entities: entities are in no way expressible, nor can they be shown in any way.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra asked, “Blessed One, how many aspects does awakening have?”[F.35.b]
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, the aspects of awakening are measureless; they cannot be shown to have a fixed measure.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra asked, “Blessed One, can dharmadhātu be conceptualized?”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, dharmadhātu is nonconceptual.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra asked, “If dharmadhātu is nonconceptual, how could it be that spiritually immature ordinary people would think of it?”
The Blessed One answered, “All spiritually immature ordinary people have arisen from thinking, conceptualizing, and imagining.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “Blessed One, the awakening of the tathāgatas[F.5.b] is profound.”
The Blessed One said, “So it is. As you say, son of a good family. Moreover, the fact that all phenomena are without conceptual elaborations is what is called awakening.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta, who had already arrived at that assembly and was already seated, bowed his head to the Blessed One’s feet and addressed him with these words: “I request that the Blessed One explain the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch.”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, ask the bodhisattva Samantabhadra. He possesses eloquent confidence that is unhindered with respect to all dharmas.23 He will teach it to you.”
Then Mañjuśrī seated himself directly facing the Blessed One with palms joined in supplication and said, “Why cannot the Blessed One himself, who is omniscient and all-seeing, explain it?”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, where there is a bodhisattva who possesses such excellent qualities, there the tathāgatas remain in indifference.”[F.36.a]
Mañjuśrī said, “Blessed One, tathāgatas do not remain in indifference.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, I am not abandoning the realm of sentient beings. Nevertheless, the teaching of the bodhisattvas is an immeasurable and inconceivable teaching.”
Then Mañjuśrī repeated, “I request the Blessed One to explain the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch.”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, ask the bodhisattva Samantabhadra![F.6.a] He will teach it to you. Why? Because that sublime man remains in the accumulation of gnosis.”
Mañjuśrī said, “If it is the Tathāgata’s intention that I do so, I will request it from that sublime man.”
The Blessed One said, “Mañjuśrī, if you have attained as many meditative absorptions as there are atoms, what need is there for you to request it from the Tathāgata? Son of a good family, you possess fortunate endowments regarding all the qualities of a buddha.”
Mañjuśrī said, “Blessed One, all the qualities of a buddha that I have relied on, cultivated, and enhanced should be understood as the power of the person of the Tathāgata.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, excellent, excellent! You have spoken well. But I request you, Mañjuśrī, to ask the bodhisattva Samantabhadra to teach.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta said to the Blessed One, “This bodhisattva Samantabhadra teaches the exceedingly profound. He has mastered the Mahāyāna.”[F.36.b]
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, you, too, are a king whose might extends over all dharmas;24 do not address me. You also possess the inconceivable meditative absorption of abiding in emptiness.”
So Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta respectfully paid homage to the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, pressing the ten fingers of his hands together and saying to him, “O son of the victors, if you grant me the occasion, I would like to ask you a few words.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said,[F.6.b] “Son of a good family, if you know the right time to have come, ask!”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta asked the bodhisattva great being Samantabhadra, “O son of the victors, what is the basic meaning behind calling the Buddha ‘Buddha’?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “O son of the victors, the basic meaning of buddha is groundlessness.25 The basic meaning of buddha is the absence of entities. The basic meaning of buddha is inconceivability. The basic meaning of buddha is to be equal to the unequaled.26 The basic meaning of buddha is the absence of conceptual elaborations. The basic meaning of buddha is unelaborated. The basic meaning of buddha is the absence of accepting. The basic meaning of buddha is the absence of rejecting. The basic meaning of buddha is space-like. The basic meaning of buddha is ineffability. Son of a good family, such is the nature of the qualities of a buddha.”
Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, but if all phenomena are without conceptual elaborations, how can you teach ‘qualities of a buddha’?”27
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “O son of the victors, such a ‘teaching’ is unteachable.”
Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, if it is unteachable, what is taught?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “Mañjuśrī, that which is the unteachable is taught through designation.”[F.37.a]
Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, what does one designate through designation?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “Mañjuśrī, through designation one designates neither entities nor the absence of entities.”
Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, if one does not designate entities through designation and does not designate the absence of entities either, then how could the Three Vehicles[F.7.a] ever be taught?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “Mañjuśrī, do not be attached to the dharmadhātu, which is free of attachment! Why not? Mañjuśrī, it is because the Tathāgata taught that all phenomena are the absence of entities. Why are they the absence of entities? It is because the five aggregates are not apprehended.”28
Mañjuśrī asked, “Is awakening something with conceptual elaborations? Or is it something that is without conceptual elaborations?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra replied, “Son of a good family, awakening is neither something with conceptual elaborations, nor is it something that is without conceptual elaborations. Thus, awakening exists neither in terms of having elaborations nor as being devoid of elaborations; it is indivisible into two.”
Then the Blessed One said29 to the bodhisattva great being Samantabhadra, “Son of a good family, this inconceivable teaching is excellent, excellent! Yet, through the teaching of this discourse, the world with its gods will become confused.”
Mañjuśrī said, “Blessed One, to teach the Dharma in this way is not best suited to its being understood.”
The Blessed One replied, “Son of a good family, just as you say, it is not.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, are all phenomena designated by this type of designation?”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, just as you say, they are.”[F.37.b]
Then the bodhisattva Samantabhadra said to the Blessed One, “This pure access to the Dharma30 is difficult to appreciate!”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, just as you say, it is.”
Then the bodhisattva Sāgaramati said to the Blessed One:[F.7.b] “This pure access to the Dharma that was taught by the bodhisattva Samantabhadra was well expressed.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, just as you say, it was. Moreover, son of a good family, this is the natural result31 of all phenomena. It is a great rain of the Dharma.”
Then a brahmin who was like a great śāla tree32 and who dwelled in sameness said, “Blessed One, awakening is inconceivable sameness. No letters or words are perceived in it.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, it is so; in the dharmadhātu no words are perceived, nor are any sense objects perceived.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, what is the natural result of emptiness? What is its aspect? What is its sign? What is its phenomenal mark?”
The Blessed One said, “Mañjuśrī, emptiness is inexpressible and ineffable. That which partakes of its inexpressible nature is what is called emptiness. Emptiness is without letters, and thus it is called emptiness. Emptiness is ineffable, and hence it is called emptiness. Son of a good family, all phenomena are empty of their own essential nature.”
Then the venerable Śāradvatīputra said to the Blessed One: “Blessed One, look at the magical displays of the bodhisattvas who dwell in the inconceivable reality.”
The Blessed One said:[F.38.a] “Venerable Śāradvatīputra, the knowledge of a bodhisattva who has generated the thought of awakening for the first time is sublime, while the knowledge of an arhat is not like that. Why not? It is because the arhat remains far removed from the qualities of a buddha,[F.8.a] while the bodhisattva will become a blessed buddha.”
The bodhisattva great being Sarvadharmeśvara then said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, according to my understanding of the sense of what the Blessed One has taught, the śrāvaka has simply not obtained the qualities of a śrāvaka.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, it is not that the śrāvaka has not obtained the qualities of a śrāvaka, but rather, how could śrāvakas answer questions together with bodhisattvas or have the power and potency to bring about a transformation of their conduct?”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, if the Tathāgata taught that this Śāradvatīputra was foremost among disciples possessing discriminating wisdom, what did that teaching reveal?”
The Blessed One said, “Mañjuśrī, what I taught was without teaching.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta said to the elder Śāradvatīputra, “Elder, did you obtain the qualities of a śrāvaka?”
He answered, “No, I did not.”
Mañjuśrī said, “In that case, are you an ordinary person?”
“No.”
“So, are you a trainee?”
“No.”
“Are you foremost among those who possess discriminating wisdom?”
“No.”
Mañjuśrī said, “Honorable Śāradvatīputra, if you are neither an ordinary person nor a trainee, nor foremost among those possessing discriminating wisdom, that can only mean you are someone who adheres to a heretical view.”33[F.38.b]
Śāradvatīputra said, “Son of a good family, I am not going to debate with you, a sublime person whose profound depth is as unfathomable as the ocean.”[F.8.b]
Mañjuśrī said, “Honorable Śāradvatīputra, do not say that! You are the most prominent of the older generation.”
The elder said, “The fact of my age will not itself achieve anything, nor will it lead to realization. To make it better understood, son of a good family, I will give you an analogy. Consider how with a small diamond even a great boulder may be destroyed. Likewise, the discriminating wisdom that you have in a single pore of your body is more than a sentient being like myself has in all the particles of my body put together. Son of a good family, to make it understood, I will use another analogy for you. It is like, for instance, how a powerful man can, with just a small iron hook, tame a huge frightful elephant. Son of good family, likewise, you possess power. I am weak. How can I debate with a great elephant like this?”
Then the elder Śāradvatīputra said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, it is like this: if a blind man cannot follow after someone or see a city, how would he manage to go from house to house? That would be impossible. Similarly, I see myself as blind in the presence of great elephants like these. The qualities of a buddha are that vast. I am not a suitable vessel for the qualities of a buddha. Now there is nothing for me to do.”
The Blessed One said, “Śāradvatīputra, do not talk like that! Consider, for example, that however many sentient beings may be touched by light from a tathāgata, all will obtain the qualities of a buddha. Likewise, Śāradvatīputra, you will be a recipient of limitless and inconceivable meditative absorptions.”[F.9.a][F.39.a]
When the Blessed One explained this Dharma discourse, ninety-two thousand among the gods and humans gained a clear understanding of the Dharma.
It was at this point34 that the bodhisattva Dharmamati entered the bodhisattva’s meditative absorption called the infinite application of the jewel torch.35 No sooner had the bodhisattva Dharmamati entered that meditative absorption than, from the world systems in each of the ten directions that exceed in number the atoms of ten thousand buddhafields, blessed buddhas numbering as many as the atoms of ten thousand buddhafields showed their faces. Those blessed buddhas all had but one and the very same name: Vajra Quintessence.
As though they were in just one place despite issuing from the ten directions, those blessed buddhas said to him, “Dharmamati, that you have entered the bodhisattva’s meditative absorption of the infinite application in this way is excellent, excellent! Son of a good family, it is like this. Through the previous aspirations and previous blessings of this blessed tathāgata Vairocana himself, and reinforced by your own roots of virtue, all we buddhas from the ten directions, numbering as many as the atoms of ten thousand buddhafields and each one with the same name, bless you, so that you may teach all Dharma teachings, purify the gnosis of buddhahood, increase the gnosis of buddhahood, enter into the dharmadhātu, liberate the realms of sentient beings, enter and penetrate unbound gnosis, engage with gnosis, speak all languages, enter into omniscient gnosis, become unobstructed with respect to all phenomena, and engage in teaching the Dharma through knowing all three times.[F.9.b][F.39.b] Through the strength and blessing of the Buddha, expound the Dharma with inspired speech, beginning with the ten categories of the bodhisattva!”36
Then those blessed buddhas caused that blessed bodhisattva Dharmamati to attain the light of unimpeded gnosis, with a very nature that was free of obstruction, free of interruption, and not forgetful; a gnosis free from differentiation, with a very nature that was morally blameless, inviolable, dauntless, inalienable; and excellent speech. Why so? Because he had thus obtained the very nature of that absorption.
Then those blessed buddhas extended their right hands and touched37 the head of the bodhisattva Dharmamati. As soon as those blessed buddhas had touched the bodhisattva Dharmamati, he rose from that absorption and said to the bodhisattvas, “O sons of the victors, this family of bodhisattvas is as follows: it is vast owing to the boundlessness of the dharmadhātu and of the element of space. O sons of the victors, the bodhisattva great beings were born into the family of past blessed buddhas, future blessed buddhas, and present blessed buddhas.”
Then those bodhisattvas said to the bodhisattva Dharmamati, “O son of the victors, who are those bodhisattva great beings who were born into the family of the past, future, and present[F.10.a] blessed buddhas? Tell me what thought they came from. O son38 of the victors, explain what those ten categories of bodhisattvas are!”[F.40.a]
The bodhisattva Dharmamati said to those bodhisattvas, “O sons of the victors, ten categories of bodhisattvas were taught, are taught, and will be taught by buddhas of the past, present, and future. What are those ten? They are: (1) bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening, (2) beginners, (3) those who engage in yogic practice, (4) those who have taken rebirth, (5) those who have perfected application, (6) those who have perfected intention, (7) those who are irreversible, (8) those who are still youths,39 (9) those who are regents, and (10) those who have been consecrated. O sons of the victors, those ten categories of bodhisattvas were taught, are taught, and will be taught by buddhas of the past, present, and future.
(1) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening? O sons of the victors, these bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening will, as soon as they see the blessed buddhas, see an excellent or beautiful form with a completely excellent and brilliant complexion,40 miracles of magical displays, miracles of mind reading,41[F.10.b] or miracles of insightful admonition,42 or see suffering sentient beings, or hear the praises of the Tathāgata, such that they will long for all-knowing gnosis and from the very beginning generate the intention to attain the highest insuperable awakening. And as soon as that very first intention to attain awakening is generated, those beings will have taken up ten things that are difficult to approach. What are those ten?[F.40.b] They are: (1) the knowledge of what is possible and impossible,43 (2) the knowledge of deeds44 that occur in the past, present, and future and qualities that were obtained, (3) the knowledge of everywhere that paths lead, (4) the knowledge of the numerous and varied constituents of beings, (5) the knowledge of numerous spiritual inclinations and liberations, (6) the knowledge of the superior and inferior faculties, (7) the knowledge of the meditative concentrations, emancipations, absorptions, and meditative attainments in their defiled and purified forms and their arising,45 (8) the knowledge that remembers previous lives, (9) the knowledge of the divine eye, and (10) the knowledge of the exhaustion of defilements. Thus, they will have taken up those ten things that are difficult to approach. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening.
“O sons of the victors, these bodhisattva great beings who have generated the initial thought of awakening should worship the Buddha and apply the requisites for a bodhisattva’s happiness. Concerning that, they should provide explanations on becoming the lord of the world, acting sublimely, not being outshone, meeting with an immeasurable number of buddhas, engaging in yogic practice in the absorption of complete pacification, turning back the wheel of saṃsāra, setting in motion the wheel of the holy Dharma, and protecting suffering sentient beings.[F.11.a] Why so? It is because upon generating the thought of awakening, they apply themselves for the most part to all the qualities of a buddha, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening.
(2) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of beginner bodhisattvas? O sons of the victors, these beginner bodhisattvas have from the start generated ten aspects of mind. What are the ten aspects?[F.41.a] They are: (1) a mind that brings benefit, (2) a mind that brings happiness, (3) a mind of kindness, (4) a mind that is flexible, (5) a mind that feels sadness, (6) a mind that intends to help, (7) a mind that aims at protecting everyone, (8) a mind of equality, (9) a mind of becoming a teacher, (10) and a mind of becoming a great teacher. They have generated these ten aspects of mind. O sons of the victors, such are beginner bodhisattvas.46
“O sons of the victors, such beginner bodhisattvas should apply themselves to receiving instructions on scriptures and recitation. After becoming learned, they should devote themselves to retiring into solitude. Having retired into solitude, they should devote themselves to pleasing their spiritual teachers. Having pleased their teachers, they should devote themselves to delighting in following their instructions. Having followed their instructions with delight, they should devote themselves to awareness of temporality.47 Having become aware of temporality, they should devote themselves to fearlessness. Having become fearless, they should devote themselves to knowing the meaning. Having become knowledgeable in the meaning, they should devote themselves to following the Dharma. Having become a follower of Dharma, they should apply themselves to the nature of non-confusion.48 Having become free of confusion, they should apply themselves to formulating the Dharma.[F.11.b] Why so? Because upon first generating the thought of awakening, for the most part they apply themselves with diligence to all the teachings of the Buddha, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of beginner bodhisattvas.
(3) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice? O sons of the victors, concerning this,49 bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice will understand entities by means of ten aspects of apprehending. What are those ten? They are: (1) understanding all phenomena to be impermanent, (2) understanding all phenomena to be suffering, (3) to be without a self, (4) to be empty, (5) to be immovable, (6) to be without increase,[F.41.b] (7) to be without any situation, (8) to be nonconceptual, (9) to be effortless, and (10) not to be produced. These bodhisattvas should understand those ten aspects, but since they are followers of the Dharma, they practice neither application nor non-application. O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice.
“O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice should apply themselves to investigating the constitution50 of sentient beings. They should apply themselves to investigating the dharmadhātu. They should apply themselves to investigating the world realm. They should apply themselves to investigating the element of earth. They should apply themselves to investigating the elements of water, fire, air, and space, and the form and formless realms.51 Why is that? It is because for the most part they have direct insight that operates regarding all phenomena, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice.[F.12.a]
(4) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth are born as exalted in sacred scripture52 thanks to ten purifiers. What are those ten? They are: (1) Not turning back from ultimate reality, (2) accomplishing what will become the highest undivided faith in the Buddha, (3) contemplating the Dharma, (4) investigating sentient beings, (5) investigating the pure lands, (6) investigating the world, (7) investigating deeds, (8) investigating karmic consequences, (9) investigating saṃsāra, and (10) investigating nirvāṇa. Bodhisattvas will take rebirth as exalted in sacred scripture thanks to those ten purifiers. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth.
“O sons of the victors, these bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth should apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the dharmas of all past buddhas,[F.42.a] apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the dharmas of all future buddhas, and apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the dharmas of all present buddhas. They should apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the dharmas of all buddhas.
“They should apply themselves to the investigation that correctly establishes the dharmas of past buddhas, apply themselves to the investigation that correctly establishes the dharmas of future buddhas, and apply themselves to the investigation that correctly establishes the dharmas of present buddhas. They should apply themselves to the investigation that correctly establishes the dharmas of all buddhas.
“They should apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the perfection of the qualities of past buddhas,53[F.12.b] apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the perfection of the qualities of future buddhas, and apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the perfection of the dharmas of present buddhas. They should apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the perfection of the dharmas of all buddhas.
“Why is that? It is because for the most part they understand the sameness of the three times, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth.
(5) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have perfected application? O sons of the victors, these bodhisattvas who have perfected application will perform whatever virtuous deeds they may undertake (1) for the sake of protecting all sentient beings, (2) with the desire to benefit all sentient beings, (3) with the resolve to make all sentient beings happy, (4) with kindness toward all sentient beings, (5) in order to liberate all sentient beings, (6) in order that all sentient beings avoid harm,[F.42.b] (7) in order to guide all sentient beings, (8) in order that all sentient beings have faith, (9) in order to train all sentient beings, and (10) in order to cause all sentient beings to enter perfect nirvāṇa. O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who have perfected application.
“O sons of the victors, to those bodhisattvas who have perfected application ten topics ought to be expounded. What are they? They are (1) that sentient beings are boundless, (2) that sentient beings are inestimable, (3) that sentient beings are innumerable, (4) that sentient beings are inconceivable, (5) that sentient beings are incomparable,[F.13.a] (6) that sentient beings are immeasurable, (7) that sentient beings are empty, (8) that sentient beings are immovable, (9) that sentient beings are nonexistent, and (10) that sentient beings have no intrinsic nature. Why is that? It is because for the most part they settle their minds in non-attachment, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have perfected application.
(6) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have perfected intention? O sons of the victors, these bodhisattvas who have perfected intention, if they learn ten factors, will be decisively intent on the qualities of a Buddha. What are those ten? They are: (1) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches in praise of or not in praise of a buddha, (2) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches in praise of or not in praise of the Dharma, (3) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches in praise of or not in praise of bodhisattvas, (4) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches in praise of or not in praise of the conduct of bodhisattvas, (5) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the realm of sentient beings is small or vast in scope,[F.43.a] (6) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the realm of sentient beings is defiled or not, (7) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the realm of sentient beings is easy or difficult to train, (8) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the dharmadhātu is small or vast in scope, (9) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the world realms perish or do not perish, and (10) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the dharmadhātu exists or does not exist.[F.13.b] O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who have perfected intention.
“O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who have perfected intention will be taught ten things that conform with phenomena. What are those ten? They should be taught that all phenomena: (1) are the very absence of phenomenal marks, (2) are without defining marks, (3) are not entities, (4) are nonexistent, (5) are deceptive, (6) are disengaged, (7) are essenceless, (8) are like illusions, (9) are like dreams, and (10) are without conceptual thought. Why is that? It is because since they are thus inalienable they possess for the most part the quality of increasing their excellent intention, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have perfected intention.
(7) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who are irreversible? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who are irreversible will not turn back from their progress toward the qualities of a buddha if they learn ten objectives. What are those ten? They are: (1) to progress irreversibly toward qualities of a buddha whether one hears that a buddha exists or does not exist, (2) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the Dharma exists or does not exist, (3) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that bodhisattvas exist or do not exist,[F.43.b] (4) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the conduct of bodhisattvas exists or does not exist, (5) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that in bodhisattva conduct a bodhisattva leaves everything behind or does not leave everything behind, (6) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the tathāgatas have passed away or have not passed away,[F.14.a] (7) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the tathāgatas have come into the world or not, (8) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the tathāgatas have presently appeared or not, (9) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the gnosis of the Buddha is exhausted or is not exhausted, and (10) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the three times have the same defining mark or that they have dissimilar defining marks. O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who are irreversible.
“O sons of the victors, to those bodhisattvas who are irreversible, ten continuities of phenomena should be explained. What are those ten? They are: (1) explaining all phenomena as the same and different in nature, (2) as multiple and single in nature, (3) as meanings attributed to words, (4) as words attributed to meanings, (5) as the absence of entities attributed through entities, (6) as entities attributed through the absence of entities, (7) as the absence of phenomenal marks attributed through phenomenal marks, (8) as phenomenal marks attributed through the absence of phenomenal marks, (9) as the absence of defining marks attributed through defining marks, and (10) as defining marks attributed through the absence of defining marks. Why is that? It is because they have, for the most part, left everything behind as do those who have brought their expertise in all phenomena to fruition, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who are irreversible.
(8) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who are still youths? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who are still youths possess ten understandings of the Dharma. What are those ten?[F.44.a] They are: (1) knowing bodily deeds together with their karmic results, (2) knowing verbal deeds together with their karmic results,[F.14.b] (3) knowing mental deeds together with their karmic results, (4) knowing how to obtain a new birth merely by generating the thought of doing so, (5) knowing the thoughts of other sentient beings and people and understanding their inclinations, (6) knowing the different realms of sentient beings, (7) knowing the different desire realms, (8) knowing the different form realms, (9) knowing the different formless realms, and (10) swiftly gaining clairvoyance for the sake of beings present in different time periods. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who are still youths.
“O sons of the victors, to bodhisattvas who are still youths should be taught ten ways of perfecting the Dharma. What are those ten? They are being correctly shown how to (1) comprehend buddhafields, (2) shake buddhafields, (3) bless buddhafields, (4) investigate buddhafields, (5) journey to buddhafields, (6) journey to countless world realms, (7) ask countless questions, (8) fully achieve a mental body, (9) have measureless translations of words and languages, and (10) accomplish countless buddhafields by generating the thought of doing so. Why is that? It is because for the most part they apply themselves to expertise in perfecting things, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who are still youths.
(9) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who are regents? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who are regents are expert in ten factors to be understood. What are those ten? They are:[F.15.a] (1) expertise in understanding the births of sentient beings, (2) expertise in understanding the flux of the defilements,[F.44.b] (3) expertise in understanding the connections of latent tendencies, (4) expertise in understanding the engagement in the object domains, (5) expertise in understanding ultimate reality, (6) expertise in understanding experiences, (7) expertise in understanding the sphere of the world, (8) expertise in understanding the past and the future, (9) expertise in understanding the present, and (10) expertise in understanding the investigation of the relative truth.54 O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who are regents.
“O sons of the victors, to these bodhisattvas who are regents should be taught ten things. What are those ten? They consist in being correctly taught: (1) the expertise concerning the royal palace,55 (2) the modes of conduct in the royal palace, (3) the entering of the royal palace, (4) the investigation of the royal palace, (5) the consecration as a Dharma king, (6) the blessings as a Dharma king, (7) the punishment of the opponents of a Dharma king, (8) the abode of a Dharma king, (9) and the orders of a Dharma king.56 Why is that? It is because for the most part their minds engage in realization without obscurations regarding all phenomena, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who are regents.
(10) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have received consecration? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who have received consecration possess ten realizations of knowledge. What are those ten?[F.15.b] They consist in: (1) many ways of making innumerable spheres of the world shake, (2) many ways of blessing innumerable spheres of the world, (3) many ways of passing beyond innumerable spheres of the world with a single thought, (4) many ways of purifying innumerable spheres of the world,[F.45.a] (5) many ways of making innumerable sentient beings known with a single thought, (6) many ways of viewing innumerable spheres of the world, (7) expertise in investigating the mental activity of innumerable sentient beings with a single thought, (8) expertise in making understood the faculties of innumerable sentient beings with a single thought, (9) expertise in disciplining innumerable sentient beings, and (10) expertise in introducing innumerable sentient beings to the mind of omniscience.
“O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas on the level of regent and below cannot know the bodily deeds of bodhisattvas who have received consecration. Nor can they understand their verbal deeds, mental deeds, magical power, or magical vision. Neither do they know how to see what is in past times, nor can they know their karmic conditioning. They do not know how they see with the mind, nor can they know their objects of mind or the sphere of their experience of gnosis. O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who have received consecration.
“O sons of the victors, to bodhisattvas who have received consecration will be taught ten things by the blessed buddhas. What are these ten? They are: (1) knowing the three times, (2) knowing the Buddhadharma, (3) knowing that the dharmadhātu is indivisible, (4) knowing that the dharmadhātu is without limit and without center,57 (5) knowing how to suffuse all the spheres of the world,[F.16.a] (6) knowing how to illuminate all the spheres of the world, (7) knowing how to bless all the spheres of the world, (8) thorough knowledge of all sentient beings, (9) clairvoyant knowledge of all phenomena, and (10) the infinite gnosis of the Buddha.[F.45.b] Why is that? Because for the most part they apply their minds to knowing everything. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have received consecration.”
Immediately after the bodhisattva Dharmamati explained the ten bodhisattva categories of bodhisattva great beings through the power of the Buddha,world realms numbering as many as the atoms in ten thousand buddhafields shook in every direction. They shook strongly and shook violently. They quaked, quaked strongly, and quaked violently. They trembled, trembled strongly, and trembled violently. They were disturbed, strongly disturbed, and violently disturbed. They shuddered, shuddered strongly, and shuddered violently. And they were agitated, strongly agitated, and violently agitated.58
By the power of the Buddha and through the attainment of the ultimate nature, a shower of divine flowers poured down from the clouds. From the clouds, there also fell showers of divine incense, of divine fragrance, of divine incense powder, of divine flower garlands, of divine textiles, of divine jewels, of divine lotuses, of divine necklaces, and of divine ornaments. Divine cymbals sounded without being played, divine light shone forth, and divine cheers sounded forth.
In this world with its four continents, and in all world realms, this Dharma teaching pervaded everywhere without omission or repetition, just as in the dwelling place of the king of gods on Mount Meru.[F.16.b] And by these very words, this same meaning was taught.[F.46.a] Through the power of the Buddha, as many bodhisattvas as there are atoms in ten thousand buddhafields arrived from beyond as many world realms as there are atoms in ten thousand buddhafields. Filling up space throughout the ten directions, they said, “O son of the victors, it is excellent, excellent that you are teaching the true nature of bodhisattvas. O son of the victors, we, too, are all named Dharmamati. We have come here from world realms called Dharmamegha, from the presence of tathāgatas who are all named Dharmamatibhadra. By the blessing-power of the Buddha, this Dharma instruction occurred for all of them; within an audience such as this, the same sense is being expressed by these very words, with nothing added or left out. O son of the victors, we have come under your power, and by the power of the Buddha we all came to this world sphere. And just as we came to this world sphere, so too as many bodhisattvas as there are atoms in ten thousand buddhafields went to the residences of the lords of gods at the peak of Mount Sumeru of all the four-continent worlds in every world sphere throughout the ten directions.”[B2]
Then, by the power of the Buddha, the bodhisattva Dharmamati looked in the ten directions and, after seeing the fully-equipped retinue and the dharmadhātu, spoke these verses:
The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch starts with a profound conversation between the Buddha and the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī on the nature of the dharmadhātu, buddhahood, and emptiness. The bodhisattva Dharmamati then enters the meditative absorption called the infinite application of the bodhisattva’s jewel torch and, at the behest of the millions of buddhas who have blessed him, emerges from it to teach how bodhisattvas arise from the presence of a tathāgata and progress to the state of omniscience. Following Dharmamati’s detailed exposition of the “ten categories” or progressive stages of a bodhisattva, the Buddha briefly teaches the mantra of the dhāraṇī and then, for most of the remainder of the text, encourages bodhisattvas in a long versified passage in which he recounts teachings by a bodhisattva called Bhadraśrī on the qualities of bodhisattvas and buddhas. Some verses from this passage on the virtues of faith have been widely quoted in both India and Tibet.
Translated by David Jackson and edited by the 84000 editorial team. The introduction, also by the 84000 editorial team, expands on an original version by David Jackson. The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The generous sponsorship of Make and Wang Xiao Juan (馬珂和王曉娟), which helped make the work on this translation possible, is most gratefully acknowledged.
In this profound Mahāyāna sūtra, The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch, the Buddha Śākyamuni explains, with the help of the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and Dharmamati, how bodhisattvas progress toward awakening.
Although seen as a sūtra in its own right, it is closely connected to the family of texts belonging to the Avataṃsakasūtra, two chapters of which it shares. As its title suggests, it can also be seen as a dhāraṇī, or as a sūtra about a dhāraṇī.
Substantial passages were quoted by Śāntideva in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, and these extracts are now the only remnants of the Sanskrit text. The Tibetan translation, by the Indian master Surendrabodhi and the chief-editor translator the monk Yeshé Dé, dates to the early, imperial translation period, and its verses on faith later had a wide impact in Tibetan works. The Chinese translation, by Fatian, dates to the late tenth century and is classified as an Avataṃsaka text.
The setting of the text is the Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha. Its audience is a great gathering of highly accomplished monks and bodhisattvas, headed by Samantabhadra who, as the initial interlocutor, asks the Buddha how dharmadhātu should be understood. A brief but profound exchange follows.
Mañjuśrī then appears and requests the Buddha to teach the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch (1.11). The Buddha insists that Mañjuśrī should request Samantabhadra to teach it instead, and Samantabhadra’s dialog with Mañjuśrī starts with the meaning of buddha. A brief interlude follows (1.40–1.54) in which Śāriputra (here Śāradvatīputra) compares his own understanding unfavorably with Mañjuśrī’s vast wisdom, and professes his inability and unwillingness to debate with him; similar brief conversations between Śāriputra and Mañjuśrī recur at several points in the text.
The bodhisattva Dharmamati then makes his appearance (1.55) and enters the meditative absorption called the infinite application of the bodhisattva’s jewel torch. Blessed and encouraged by millions of buddhas to summon the eloquence to teach, Dharmamati sets out the ten categories of bodhisattva (1.59–1.84) in the long passage that follows. A number of wonders then occur, after which Dharmamati summarizes the ten categories in verse (1.88–1.178).
The Buddha, in response to several ensuing requests to teach, briefly teaches the mantra of the dhāraṇī (1.213) and comments on its meaning. At Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī’s request, he then explains the benefits that hearing this sūtra will have for future disciples (1.228–1.256). Here several stark warnings are given to future hearers (mainly future monks) who might one day criticize or reject this sūtra.
The final main section of the sūtra is a very long passage (twenty folios in the Degé edition) of versified encouragement for bodhisattvas, introduced by a prologue featuring Ānanda. The main versified part (2.20–2.397) is spoken by the Buddha as a narrative that introduces, relates, and concludes teachings given by the bodhisattva Bhadraśrī on the good qualities and modes of conduct of the bodhisattva. Bhadraśrī first eulogizes the thought of awakening (bodhicitta) and then a few verses later praises faith in a well-known passage, parts of which were quoted by Śāntideva (see below) and subsequently by many Tibetan authors. Bhadraśrī then describes many of the other qualities of bodhisattvas and their ability to manifest miraculously in different ways, including the astounding visual and other sensory content of their meditative absorptions, the many kinds of miraculous rays of light with which they bring benefit to the world and beings, and comparisons with the powerful magical displays of the ordinary gods such as Indra and the king of the nāgas.1
At the end of the teaching, its importance and future benefits are expressed by Subhūti and others, and Ānanda promises to retain it.
Although it is found in the Kangyur among other Mahāyāna sūtras in the General Sūtra section (as Tōh 145 in the Degé Kangyur) and is listed as belonging to that general category in the Denkarma inventory of translated texts2 (as well as to the Dhāraṇī section, see below), the sūtra also belongs to the family of texts related to the Avataṃsakasūtra (phal po che, “A Multitude of Buddhas,” Toh 44). Indeed, in the other imperial period inventory, the roughly contemporary Phangthangma, it is listed under the heading of “the works included in the group of sūtras of the noble, great, very extensive Buddhāvataṃsaka.”3
The prominent role of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra; the centrality of the dharmadhātu; the vast numbers of buddhas who gather and the mention of the Buddha Vairocana in the pivotal passage about the absorption and blessing of Dharmamati; the tenfold division and subdivision of the categories of bodhisattva; the repeated vocative “O sons of the victors”;4 and many other features of this work, above all the central theme of how bodhisattvas first emerge in the presence of a tathāgata and progressively develop access to the buddha qualities, culminating in their regency and consecration, are all strongly reminiscent of the Avataṃsaka.
Two long passages in the text represent two complete chapters of the Avataṃsakasūtra.5 In terms of content they are close to being exact matches, although the translations in Tibetan are different. The long passage recounting Dharmamati’s absorption and his ensuing revelations in both prose and verse (from 1.55 to 1.178) is almost identical to the whole of chapter 20 of the Tibetan Avataṃsakasūtra, “The Ten Categories of Bodhisattvas” (chapter 15 of the Chinese),6 while almost the entirety of the final verse section recounting the teachings by Bhadraśrī (from 2.27 to 2.397 near the conclusion of the text) matches the whole of chapter 17 of the Tibetan Avataṃsakasūtra, “Bhadraśrī” (chapter 12 of the Chinese).7
The Chinese translation of this text, Taishō 299,8 made by Fatian almost a hundred years later than the Tibetan, in the year 983, is also classified as a sūtra of the Avataṃsaka family. It is placed in the Taishō in the Huayan volume, volume 10, along with the Avataṃsakasūtra itself and the other standalone texts related to it.9
The text is classified not only as a sūtra, but also as a dhāraṇī, and in those Kangyurs that have an additional Dhāraṇī section it is duplicated there (as Tōhoku no. 8471010 in the Degé Kangyur). Indeed, the title itself includes the word dhāraṇī, and the teaching requested of the Buddha is referred to as “the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch.”
The term dhāraṇī is derived from the Sanskrit root √dhṛ (“to hold” or “to maintain”), and among its wide range of meanings most are closely related to the retaining—in the mind, in memory, in words, or in writing—of a particular teaching, realization, or approach to awakening. Perhaps the two most widespread senses in which the term is used are when it refers to a mantra-like formula that “encodes” its meaning without necessarily expressing it in comprehensible speech, or when it describes the highly developed capacity of advanced practitioners to memorize and accurately retain a set of detailed and profound instructions. But as well as signifying the means by which such meanings or sets of instructions are retained (i.e., what holds them), it can also designate a specific meaning or instruction itself (i.e., what is held).
Furthermore, by extension from these senses of the term, a text that either contains a (mantra-like) dhāraṇī, or is about a dhāraṇī in any of these senses, may itself be referred to as a dhāraṇī. This is the basis for the term dhāraṇī having also come to designate a whole scriptural genre of Mahāyāna texts—well represented in the Kangyur, which contains some two hundred fifty texts in that category. However, as a genre it is both quite diverse in its composition and shares most of the texts it contains with other genres. It is often not entirely clear whether any one text is labeled a dhāraṇī because the text itself is a dhāraṇī, contains a dhāraṇī, or is about a dhāraṇī.
For all these reasons, each text placed in this genre deserves its own analysis of what makes it “a dhāraṇī.” In the case of the present text, mentions are made throughout to a “dhāraṇī of the jewel torch,” but it is difficult to determine whether they all have the same reference, or whether they variously refer to a particular realization of bodhisattvas, to a teaching on that realization, or to the text itself.
In the first chapter, there are four separate occasions on which the dhāraṇī seems to be taught. Although the corresponding mentions could conceivably all be understood as referring to one and the same instance of the dhāraṇī, three of the four occasions end with a statement that the dhāraṇī has now been taught, in the past tense. In the first of the four instances, the exchange between Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and the Buddha (starting at 1.11) is termed an explanation of the dhāraṇī in the initial request. In the second instance, Dharmamati’s long teaching on the ten levels of bodhisattvas is also described as a dhāraṇī immediately afterward by Samantabhadra (1.179). The third instance is a dialog between Mañjuśrī and Śāriputra (starting at 1.196) in response to the latter’s request for an explanation of the dhāraṇī, which is lauded as a teaching on that dhāraṇī afterward (1.205). The fourth instance is when yet another request is made to the Buddha, this time by Samantabhadra, to teach the dhāraṇī (1.211); the Buddha teaches what is described as a mantra, and in the discussions that follow it is made clear that the meaning it carries is that of the ineffable ultimate nature of reality.11
Along with dhāraṇīs, a number of sūtras mention gateways (Skt. mukha, Tib. sgo), meditative absorptions (Skt. samādhi, Tib. ting nge ’dzin), and liberations (Skt. vimokṣa, Tib. rnam par thar pa) as different kinds of qualities attained by bodhisattvas. That some of the mentions of the dhāraṇī in this sūtra fall into the category of such attained qualities is suggested by the first of the four instances instance here being also termed an “access” or gateway (1.34), and by the second instance being described as arising from the gnosis that Dharmamati has attained while immersed in a meditative absorption called “the infinite application of the jewel torch.”12 Nevertheless, this second instance, the long teaching on the ten levels of bodhisattvas, is clearly also seen as a teaching, in the sense of presenting specific doctrinal content. The third instance is heralded by Śāriputra’s announcement that a sūtra is to be taught, yet what happens turns out to be a short and somewhat cryptic dialog equating explanation with emptiness, and demonstrating how neither can be taught. Only the fourth instance, the mantra, can be reasonably clearly placed in the category of dhāraṇīs that are encoding formulae, and the meaning that the mantra can be assumed to express is linked to the first and third instances in the teaching by Samantabhadra that follows it, on how the dhāraṇī should be “retained” and cultivated as a teaching on thatness, the ultimate (Skt. tathatā, Tib. de bzhin nyid).
Most of the subsequent mentions of the dhāraṇī as such, in what remains of the first chapter and at the beginning of the second (it is not mentioned at all in the long verse section), are made in the context of its future holders and of its past history, intermingled with descriptions of it as a Dharma discourse. In other words, as a teaching—but also, in the kind of internal self-reference that is a common feature of many Mahāyāna sūtras, designating this very text itself.
The frequent mentions in this text of the “dhāraṇī of the jewel torch” are therefore quite varied in terms of the sense in which the term is being used. We have made no attempt to use capitalization or punctuation to distinguish those that may refer to the text itself, to a teaching, to the mantra, or to a realization.
Neither of the two long sections that appear as chapters in the Avataṃsakasūtra make any mention of a dhāraṇī. None of the excerpts in Sanskrit quoted by Śāntideva (see below) include passages where the dhāraṇī is mentioned in the Tibetan text, but the title Śāntideva uses to introduce his citations does include the designation dhāraṇī.
The Sanskrit title transliterated in the Tibetan text, Ratnolkādhāraṇī in its short form, is the same as the title that appears in the Sanskrit manuscripts of the Śikṣāsamuccaya (see below). The Sanskrit ulkā can mean a fiery phenomena in the sky, i.e., a meteor, and also a firebrand or torch.
Of the title in Tibetan, however, there are several different renderings. In all Kangyurs, the title is dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs, incorporating the unusual, archaic word ta la la, meaning “lamp” or “torch.” In some of the twenty or so Tengyur treatises that quote the text (including the Tibetan translation of the Śikṣāsamuccaya), the ta la la title is used, even if in some cases the word gzungs (dhāraṇī) is dropped or replaced by the word mdo (sūtra). In others, however, the title is rendered in various forms that use, instead of ta la la, the more usual Tibetan term for “lamp” or “torch,” sgron ma or sgron me.13 Probably as a consequence, later Tibetan authors of indigenous works (see below) use sometimes one version of the title, sometimes the other, and only some authors who use the sgron ma variants seem to be aware that the canonical work they are quoting is in the Kangyur under a different title.
The sūtra is quoted a little over twenty times in treatises in the Tengyur, notably by Atiśa, Vimalamitra, and Śāntideva, but also by lesser known authors. As noted above, both the dkon mchog ta la la and dkon mchog sgron ma forms of the title can be found, and there are considerable minor variations. Most, but not all, of the quotations are from the long verse section of the second chapter.
The most extensive extracts appear in Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya (Training Anthology), and indeed the sūtra appears to have been among Śāntideva’s favorite texts, as he quotes from it more than from any other work. His text contains two short extracts, one longer passage, and one very extensive section of the verses from the second chapter that makes up more than half of one of his chapters.14 The Śikṣāsamuccaya has survived in Sanskrit, as well as in its Tibetan translation in the Tengyur, and its Sanskrit text thus contains the only known remnants of the sūtra in Sanskrit.
The sūtra is listed in the Mahāvyutpatti as one of the hundred or so Dharma texts that were presumably best known at the time,15 and is frequently quoted by Tibetan authors of all the main traditions. The passages on the importance of faith are the most commonly quoted, and for some authors it is the scriptural source for there being—variously—three, four, or six kinds of faith.16 Other parts of both chapters are also cited.
Identifying quotes from the sūtra is made more difficult by the variety of titles used.17 In the case of several authors, including Chomden Rikpa Raltri (bcom ldan rig pa ral dri, thirteenth century), Longchen Rabjampa (klong chen rab ’byams pa, fourteenth century), and many of the early Sakya scholars, quotes using both the dkon mchog sgron ma and the dkon mchog ta la la forms of the title can be found in the same work, suggesting that in some cases they may have been consulting treatises or other sources that used these different titles as well as the canonical text itself without always recognizing that both titles designate the same sūtra. Shākya Chokden (shA kya mchog ldan, fifteenth century) specifically mentions the identity of both titles.
This translation is based principally on the Degé block print and the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur. Yeshé Dé’s early-ninth-century translation contains a few archaic words that have survived subsequent editing, including the ta la la in the title, mentioned above. A few other noteworthy archaic spellings, recorded in the notes, are byin as a verb of the Buddha’s speech (see 1.31); dbung, “center” (see 1.84);18 and the spelling nod pa for mnod pa (prahaṇam, “to receive”).19 In a few passages we have suggested a change in the text reading in an endnote, often in consultation with the Stok Palace version.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling on the Vulture Peak of Rājagṛha, seated together with a great gathering of fully ordained monks, all of whom had perfected virtuous[F.4.a] qualities, roared mighty lion’s roars as great teachers, and were expert in seeking an immeasurable accumulation of gnosis, in all more than a thousand fully ordained monks.
A great gathering of bodhisattvas was also assembled there, including the bodhisattva great being Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva great being Ratnamudrāhasta, the bodhisattva great being Nityodyukta, the bodhisattva great being Ornamented by Good Qualities, the bodhisattva great being Announcing Merits, the bodhisattva great being Mahāmati, the bodhisattva great being Array of Good Qualities,[F.34.b] the bodhisattva great being Vajra Intelligence, the bodhisattva great being Vajragarbha, the bodhisattva great being Light of a Vajra, the bodhisattva great being Weapon of a Vajra, the bodhisattva great being Adamantine Vajra, the bodhisattva great being Dhāraṇīdhara, the bodhisattva great being Dhāraṇīmati, the bodhisattva great being Seeing All Purposes, the bodhisattva great being Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva great being Mahāsthāmaprāpta, the bodhisattva great being Dṛḍhamati, the bodhisattva great being Vajrapāṇi, the bodhisattva great being Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta, the bodhisattva great being Avoiding Evil Destinies, the bodhisattva great being Overcoming All Sorrow and Darkness,[F.4.b] the bodhisattva great being Suvikrāntavikrāmin, the bodhisattva great being Not Taking or Rejecting, the bodhisattva great being Essence of Sandalwood, the bodhisattva great being Sāgaramati, the bodhisattva great being Durabhisambhava, the bodhisattva great being Arising Joy, the bodhisattva great being Intelligence of Conduct, the bodhisattva great being Pratibhākūṭa, the bodhisattva great being Essence of Speed, and the bodhisattva great being Maitreya.
Those and other bodhisattva great beings all dwelled in inconceivable emancipation, had left everything behind20 through the meditative absorption heroic progress,[F.35.a] had unimpeded melodic voices, and were skilled in holding sway over limitless buddha realms. They all dwelled in fearlessness, were devoid of attachment and anger, possessed pleasant-sounding voices, were not attached to the three realms of existence, possessed undivided retinues of attendants, were arisen from omniscience, and possessed limitless meditative absorptions and meditative attainments. They all fulfilled every hope, experienced the perfection of discriminating wisdom, were inclined toward meaningful goals in their bodily, verbal, and mental deeds, were intent on omniscience, were blessed to have limitless21 meditative absorptions and conduct, had attained fearlessness, had emptiness as their sphere of experience,22 and dwelled in the absence of phenomenal marks.
The bodhisattva great being Samantabhadra, who was seated as part of that assembly, bowing with his head to the feet of the Blessed One,[F.5.a] said, “Blessed One, how should we understand dharmadhātu?”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, dharmadhātu is to be understood as the absence of entities. Son of a good family, you should understand dharmadhātu as follows: as space-like, as without conceptual elaborations, as unelaborated, as without accepting, as without rejecting, as the absence of entities, and as foundationless.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra asked, “Blessed One, does dharmadhātu arise?”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, dharmadhātu has no arising. Son of a good family, dharmadhātu is inconceivable. You should understand it as the absence of entities: entities are in no way expressible, nor can they be shown in any way.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra asked, “Blessed One, how many aspects does awakening have?”[F.35.b]
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, the aspects of awakening are measureless; they cannot be shown to have a fixed measure.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra asked, “Blessed One, can dharmadhātu be conceptualized?”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, dharmadhātu is nonconceptual.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra asked, “If dharmadhātu is nonconceptual, how could it be that spiritually immature ordinary people would think of it?”
The Blessed One answered, “All spiritually immature ordinary people have arisen from thinking, conceptualizing, and imagining.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “Blessed One, the awakening of the tathāgatas[F.5.b] is profound.”
The Blessed One said, “So it is. As you say, son of a good family. Moreover, the fact that all phenomena are without conceptual elaborations is what is called awakening.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta, who had already arrived at that assembly and was already seated, bowed his head to the Blessed One’s feet and addressed him with these words: “I request that the Blessed One explain the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch.”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, ask the bodhisattva Samantabhadra. He possesses eloquent confidence that is unhindered with respect to all dharmas.23 He will teach it to you.”
Then Mañjuśrī seated himself directly facing the Blessed One with palms joined in supplication and said, “Why cannot the Blessed One himself, who is omniscient and all-seeing, explain it?”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, where there is a bodhisattva who possesses such excellent qualities, there the tathāgatas remain in indifference.”[F.36.a]
Mañjuśrī said, “Blessed One, tathāgatas do not remain in indifference.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, I am not abandoning the realm of sentient beings. Nevertheless, the teaching of the bodhisattvas is an immeasurable and inconceivable teaching.”
Then Mañjuśrī repeated, “I request the Blessed One to explain the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch.”
The Blessed One answered, “Son of a good family, ask the bodhisattva Samantabhadra![F.6.a] He will teach it to you. Why? Because that sublime man remains in the accumulation of gnosis.”
Mañjuśrī said, “If it is the Tathāgata’s intention that I do so, I will request it from that sublime man.”
The Blessed One said, “Mañjuśrī, if you have attained as many meditative absorptions as there are atoms, what need is there for you to request it from the Tathāgata? Son of a good family, you possess fortunate endowments regarding all the qualities of a buddha.”
Mañjuśrī said, “Blessed One, all the qualities of a buddha that I have relied on, cultivated, and enhanced should be understood as the power of the person of the Tathāgata.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, excellent, excellent! You have spoken well. But I request you, Mañjuśrī, to ask the bodhisattva Samantabhadra to teach.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta said to the Blessed One, “This bodhisattva Samantabhadra teaches the exceedingly profound. He has mastered the Mahāyāna.”[F.36.b]
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, you, too, are a king whose might extends over all dharmas;24 do not address me. You also possess the inconceivable meditative absorption of abiding in emptiness.”
So Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta respectfully paid homage to the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, pressing the ten fingers of his hands together and saying to him, “O son of the victors, if you grant me the occasion, I would like to ask you a few words.”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said,[F.6.b] “Son of a good family, if you know the right time to have come, ask!”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta asked the bodhisattva great being Samantabhadra, “O son of the victors, what is the basic meaning behind calling the Buddha ‘Buddha’?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “O son of the victors, the basic meaning of buddha is groundlessness.25 The basic meaning of buddha is the absence of entities. The basic meaning of buddha is inconceivability. The basic meaning of buddha is to be equal to the unequaled.26 The basic meaning of buddha is the absence of conceptual elaborations. The basic meaning of buddha is unelaborated. The basic meaning of buddha is the absence of accepting. The basic meaning of buddha is the absence of rejecting. The basic meaning of buddha is space-like. The basic meaning of buddha is ineffability. Son of a good family, such is the nature of the qualities of a buddha.”
Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, but if all phenomena are without conceptual elaborations, how can you teach ‘qualities of a buddha’?”27
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “O son of the victors, such a ‘teaching’ is unteachable.”
Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, if it is unteachable, what is taught?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “Mañjuśrī, that which is the unteachable is taught through designation.”[F.37.a]
Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, what does one designate through designation?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “Mañjuśrī, through designation one designates neither entities nor the absence of entities.”
Mañjuśrī said, “O son of the victors, if one does not designate entities through designation and does not designate the absence of entities either, then how could the Three Vehicles[F.7.a] ever be taught?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra said, “Mañjuśrī, do not be attached to the dharmadhātu, which is free of attachment! Why not? Mañjuśrī, it is because the Tathāgata taught that all phenomena are the absence of entities. Why are they the absence of entities? It is because the five aggregates are not apprehended.”28
Mañjuśrī asked, “Is awakening something with conceptual elaborations? Or is it something that is without conceptual elaborations?”
The bodhisattva Samantabhadra replied, “Son of a good family, awakening is neither something with conceptual elaborations, nor is it something that is without conceptual elaborations. Thus, awakening exists neither in terms of having elaborations nor as being devoid of elaborations; it is indivisible into two.”
Then the Blessed One said29 to the bodhisattva great being Samantabhadra, “Son of a good family, this inconceivable teaching is excellent, excellent! Yet, through the teaching of this discourse, the world with its gods will become confused.”
Mañjuśrī said, “Blessed One, to teach the Dharma in this way is not best suited to its being understood.”
The Blessed One replied, “Son of a good family, just as you say, it is not.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, are all phenomena designated by this type of designation?”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, just as you say, they are.”[F.37.b]
Then the bodhisattva Samantabhadra said to the Blessed One, “This pure access to the Dharma30 is difficult to appreciate!”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, just as you say, it is.”
Then the bodhisattva Sāgaramati said to the Blessed One:[F.7.b] “This pure access to the Dharma that was taught by the bodhisattva Samantabhadra was well expressed.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, just as you say, it was. Moreover, son of a good family, this is the natural result31 of all phenomena. It is a great rain of the Dharma.”
Then a brahmin who was like a great śāla tree32 and who dwelled in sameness said, “Blessed One, awakening is inconceivable sameness. No letters or words are perceived in it.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, it is so; in the dharmadhātu no words are perceived, nor are any sense objects perceived.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, what is the natural result of emptiness? What is its aspect? What is its sign? What is its phenomenal mark?”
The Blessed One said, “Mañjuśrī, emptiness is inexpressible and ineffable. That which partakes of its inexpressible nature is what is called emptiness. Emptiness is without letters, and thus it is called emptiness. Emptiness is ineffable, and hence it is called emptiness. Son of a good family, all phenomena are empty of their own essential nature.”
Then the venerable Śāradvatīputra said to the Blessed One: “Blessed One, look at the magical displays of the bodhisattvas who dwell in the inconceivable reality.”
The Blessed One said:[F.38.a] “Venerable Śāradvatīputra, the knowledge of a bodhisattva who has generated the thought of awakening for the first time is sublime, while the knowledge of an arhat is not like that. Why not? It is because the arhat remains far removed from the qualities of a buddha,[F.8.a] while the bodhisattva will become a blessed buddha.”
The bodhisattva great being Sarvadharmeśvara then said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, according to my understanding of the sense of what the Blessed One has taught, the śrāvaka has simply not obtained the qualities of a śrāvaka.”
The Blessed One said, “Son of a good family, it is not that the śrāvaka has not obtained the qualities of a śrāvaka, but rather, how could śrāvakas answer questions together with bodhisattvas or have the power and potency to bring about a transformation of their conduct?”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, if the Tathāgata taught that this Śāradvatīputra was foremost among disciples possessing discriminating wisdom, what did that teaching reveal?”
The Blessed One said, “Mañjuśrī, what I taught was without teaching.”
Then Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta said to the elder Śāradvatīputra, “Elder, did you obtain the qualities of a śrāvaka?”
He answered, “No, I did not.”
Mañjuśrī said, “In that case, are you an ordinary person?”
“No.”
“So, are you a trainee?”
“No.”
“Are you foremost among those who possess discriminating wisdom?”
“No.”
Mañjuśrī said, “Honorable Śāradvatīputra, if you are neither an ordinary person nor a trainee, nor foremost among those possessing discriminating wisdom, that can only mean you are someone who adheres to a heretical view.”33[F.38.b]
Śāradvatīputra said, “Son of a good family, I am not going to debate with you, a sublime person whose profound depth is as unfathomable as the ocean.”[F.8.b]
Mañjuśrī said, “Honorable Śāradvatīputra, do not say that! You are the most prominent of the older generation.”
The elder said, “The fact of my age will not itself achieve anything, nor will it lead to realization. To make it better understood, son of a good family, I will give you an analogy. Consider how with a small diamond even a great boulder may be destroyed. Likewise, the discriminating wisdom that you have in a single pore of your body is more than a sentient being like myself has in all the particles of my body put together. Son of a good family, to make it understood, I will use another analogy for you. It is like, for instance, how a powerful man can, with just a small iron hook, tame a huge frightful elephant. Son of good family, likewise, you possess power. I am weak. How can I debate with a great elephant like this?”
Then the elder Śāradvatīputra said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, it is like this: if a blind man cannot follow after someone or see a city, how would he manage to go from house to house? That would be impossible. Similarly, I see myself as blind in the presence of great elephants like these. The qualities of a buddha are that vast. I am not a suitable vessel for the qualities of a buddha. Now there is nothing for me to do.”
The Blessed One said, “Śāradvatīputra, do not talk like that! Consider, for example, that however many sentient beings may be touched by light from a tathāgata, all will obtain the qualities of a buddha. Likewise, Śāradvatīputra, you will be a recipient of limitless and inconceivable meditative absorptions.”[F.9.a][F.39.a]
When the Blessed One explained this Dharma discourse, ninety-two thousand among the gods and humans gained a clear understanding of the Dharma.
It was at this point34 that the bodhisattva Dharmamati entered the bodhisattva’s meditative absorption called the infinite application of the jewel torch.35 No sooner had the bodhisattva Dharmamati entered that meditative absorption than, from the world systems in each of the ten directions that exceed in number the atoms of ten thousand buddhafields, blessed buddhas numbering as many as the atoms of ten thousand buddhafields showed their faces. Those blessed buddhas all had but one and the very same name: Vajra Quintessence.
As though they were in just one place despite issuing from the ten directions, those blessed buddhas said to him, “Dharmamati, that you have entered the bodhisattva’s meditative absorption of the infinite application in this way is excellent, excellent! Son of a good family, it is like this. Through the previous aspirations and previous blessings of this blessed tathāgata Vairocana himself, and reinforced by your own roots of virtue, all we buddhas from the ten directions, numbering as many as the atoms of ten thousand buddhafields and each one with the same name, bless you, so that you may teach all Dharma teachings, purify the gnosis of buddhahood, increase the gnosis of buddhahood, enter into the dharmadhātu, liberate the realms of sentient beings, enter and penetrate unbound gnosis, engage with gnosis, speak all languages, enter into omniscient gnosis, become unobstructed with respect to all phenomena, and engage in teaching the Dharma through knowing all three times.[F.9.b][F.39.b] Through the strength and blessing of the Buddha, expound the Dharma with inspired speech, beginning with the ten categories of the bodhisattva!”36
Then those blessed buddhas caused that blessed bodhisattva Dharmamati to attain the light of unimpeded gnosis, with a very nature that was free of obstruction, free of interruption, and not forgetful; a gnosis free from differentiation, with a very nature that was morally blameless, inviolable, dauntless, inalienable; and excellent speech. Why so? Because he had thus obtained the very nature of that absorption.
Then those blessed buddhas extended their right hands and touched37 the head of the bodhisattva Dharmamati. As soon as those blessed buddhas had touched the bodhisattva Dharmamati, he rose from that absorption and said to the bodhisattvas, “O sons of the victors, this family of bodhisattvas is as follows: it is vast owing to the boundlessness of the dharmadhātu and of the element of space. O sons of the victors, the bodhisattva great beings were born into the family of past blessed buddhas, future blessed buddhas, and present blessed buddhas.”
Then those bodhisattvas said to the bodhisattva Dharmamati, “O son of the victors, who are those bodhisattva great beings who were born into the family of the past, future, and present[F.10.a] blessed buddhas? Tell me what thought they came from. O son38 of the victors, explain what those ten categories of bodhisattvas are!”[F.40.a]
The bodhisattva Dharmamati said to those bodhisattvas, “O sons of the victors, ten categories of bodhisattvas were taught, are taught, and will be taught by buddhas of the past, present, and future. What are those ten? They are: (1) bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening, (2) beginners, (3) those who engage in yogic practice, (4) those who have taken rebirth, (5) those who have perfected application, (6) those who have perfected intention, (7) those who are irreversible, (8) those who are still youths,39 (9) those who are regents, and (10) those who have been consecrated. O sons of the victors, those ten categories of bodhisattvas were taught, are taught, and will be taught by buddhas of the past, present, and future.
(1) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening? O sons of the victors, these bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening will, as soon as they see the blessed buddhas, see an excellent or beautiful form with a completely excellent and brilliant complexion,40 miracles of magical displays, miracles of mind reading,41[F.10.b] or miracles of insightful admonition,42 or see suffering sentient beings, or hear the praises of the Tathāgata, such that they will long for all-knowing gnosis and from the very beginning generate the intention to attain the highest insuperable awakening. And as soon as that very first intention to attain awakening is generated, those beings will have taken up ten things that are difficult to approach. What are those ten?[F.40.b] They are: (1) the knowledge of what is possible and impossible,43 (2) the knowledge of deeds44 that occur in the past, present, and future and qualities that were obtained, (3) the knowledge of everywhere that paths lead, (4) the knowledge of the numerous and varied constituents of beings, (5) the knowledge of numerous spiritual inclinations and liberations, (6) the knowledge of the superior and inferior faculties, (7) the knowledge of the meditative concentrations, emancipations, absorptions, and meditative attainments in their defiled and purified forms and their arising,45 (8) the knowledge that remembers previous lives, (9) the knowledge of the divine eye, and (10) the knowledge of the exhaustion of defilements. Thus, they will have taken up those ten things that are difficult to approach. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening.
“O sons of the victors, these bodhisattva great beings who have generated the initial thought of awakening should worship the Buddha and apply the requisites for a bodhisattva’s happiness. Concerning that, they should provide explanations on becoming the lord of the world, acting sublimely, not being outshone, meeting with an immeasurable number of buddhas, engaging in yogic practice in the absorption of complete pacification, turning back the wheel of saṃsāra, setting in motion the wheel of the holy Dharma, and protecting suffering sentient beings.[F.11.a] Why so? It is because upon generating the thought of awakening, they apply themselves for the most part to all the qualities of a buddha, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have generated the initial thought of awakening.
(2) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of beginner bodhisattvas? O sons of the victors, these beginner bodhisattvas have from the start generated ten aspects of mind. What are the ten aspects?[F.41.a] They are: (1) a mind that brings benefit, (2) a mind that brings happiness, (3) a mind of kindness, (4) a mind that is flexible, (5) a mind that feels sadness, (6) a mind that intends to help, (7) a mind that aims at protecting everyone, (8) a mind of equality, (9) a mind of becoming a teacher, (10) and a mind of becoming a great teacher. They have generated these ten aspects of mind. O sons of the victors, such are beginner bodhisattvas.46
“O sons of the victors, such beginner bodhisattvas should apply themselves to receiving instructions on scriptures and recitation. After becoming learned, they should devote themselves to retiring into solitude. Having retired into solitude, they should devote themselves to pleasing their spiritual teachers. Having pleased their teachers, they should devote themselves to delighting in following their instructions. Having followed their instructions with delight, they should devote themselves to awareness of temporality.47 Having become aware of temporality, they should devote themselves to fearlessness. Having become fearless, they should devote themselves to knowing the meaning. Having become knowledgeable in the meaning, they should devote themselves to following the Dharma. Having become a follower of Dharma, they should apply themselves to the nature of non-confusion.48 Having become free of confusion, they should apply themselves to formulating the Dharma.[F.11.b] Why so? Because upon first generating the thought of awakening, for the most part they apply themselves with diligence to all the teachings of the Buddha, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of beginner bodhisattvas.
(3) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice? O sons of the victors, concerning this,49 bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice will understand entities by means of ten aspects of apprehending. What are those ten? They are: (1) understanding all phenomena to be impermanent, (2) understanding all phenomena to be suffering, (3) to be without a self, (4) to be empty, (5) to be immovable, (6) to be without increase,[F.41.b] (7) to be without any situation, (8) to be nonconceptual, (9) to be effortless, and (10) not to be produced. These bodhisattvas should understand those ten aspects, but since they are followers of the Dharma, they practice neither application nor non-application. O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice.
“O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice should apply themselves to investigating the constitution50 of sentient beings. They should apply themselves to investigating the dharmadhātu. They should apply themselves to investigating the world realm. They should apply themselves to investigating the element of earth. They should apply themselves to investigating the elements of water, fire, air, and space, and the form and formless realms.51 Why is that? It is because for the most part they have direct insight that operates regarding all phenomena, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who engage in yogic practice.[F.12.a]
(4) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth are born as exalted in sacred scripture52 thanks to ten purifiers. What are those ten? They are: (1) Not turning back from ultimate reality, (2) accomplishing what will become the highest undivided faith in the Buddha, (3) contemplating the Dharma, (4) investigating sentient beings, (5) investigating the pure lands, (6) investigating the world, (7) investigating deeds, (8) investigating karmic consequences, (9) investigating saṃsāra, and (10) investigating nirvāṇa. Bodhisattvas will take rebirth as exalted in sacred scripture thanks to those ten purifiers. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth.
“O sons of the victors, these bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth should apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the dharmas of all past buddhas,[F.42.a] apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the dharmas of all future buddhas, and apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the dharmas of all present buddhas. They should apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the dharmas of all buddhas.
“They should apply themselves to the investigation that correctly establishes the dharmas of past buddhas, apply themselves to the investigation that correctly establishes the dharmas of future buddhas, and apply themselves to the investigation that correctly establishes the dharmas of present buddhas. They should apply themselves to the investigation that correctly establishes the dharmas of all buddhas.
“They should apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the perfection of the qualities of past buddhas,53[F.12.b] apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the perfection of the qualities of future buddhas, and apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the perfection of the dharmas of present buddhas. They should apply themselves to investigating the sameness of the perfection of the dharmas of all buddhas.
“Why is that? It is because for the most part they understand the sameness of the three times, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have taken rebirth.
(5) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have perfected application? O sons of the victors, these bodhisattvas who have perfected application will perform whatever virtuous deeds they may undertake (1) for the sake of protecting all sentient beings, (2) with the desire to benefit all sentient beings, (3) with the resolve to make all sentient beings happy, (4) with kindness toward all sentient beings, (5) in order to liberate all sentient beings, (6) in order that all sentient beings avoid harm,[F.42.b] (7) in order to guide all sentient beings, (8) in order that all sentient beings have faith, (9) in order to train all sentient beings, and (10) in order to cause all sentient beings to enter perfect nirvāṇa. O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who have perfected application.
“O sons of the victors, to those bodhisattvas who have perfected application ten topics ought to be expounded. What are they? They are (1) that sentient beings are boundless, (2) that sentient beings are inestimable, (3) that sentient beings are innumerable, (4) that sentient beings are inconceivable, (5) that sentient beings are incomparable,[F.13.a] (6) that sentient beings are immeasurable, (7) that sentient beings are empty, (8) that sentient beings are immovable, (9) that sentient beings are nonexistent, and (10) that sentient beings have no intrinsic nature. Why is that? It is because for the most part they settle their minds in non-attachment, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have perfected application.
(6) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have perfected intention? O sons of the victors, these bodhisattvas who have perfected intention, if they learn ten factors, will be decisively intent on the qualities of a Buddha. What are those ten? They are: (1) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches in praise of or not in praise of a buddha, (2) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches in praise of or not in praise of the Dharma, (3) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches in praise of or not in praise of bodhisattvas, (4) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches in praise of or not in praise of the conduct of bodhisattvas, (5) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the realm of sentient beings is small or vast in scope,[F.43.a] (6) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the realm of sentient beings is defiled or not, (7) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the realm of sentient beings is easy or difficult to train, (8) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the dharmadhātu is small or vast in scope, (9) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the world realms perish or do not perish, and (10) their resolve will be set on the qualities of a buddha regardless of whether someone teaches that the dharmadhātu exists or does not exist.[F.13.b] O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who have perfected intention.
“O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who have perfected intention will be taught ten things that conform with phenomena. What are those ten? They should be taught that all phenomena: (1) are the very absence of phenomenal marks, (2) are without defining marks, (3) are not entities, (4) are nonexistent, (5) are deceptive, (6) are disengaged, (7) are essenceless, (8) are like illusions, (9) are like dreams, and (10) are without conceptual thought. Why is that? It is because since they are thus inalienable they possess for the most part the quality of increasing their excellent intention, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have perfected intention.
(7) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who are irreversible? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who are irreversible will not turn back from their progress toward the qualities of a buddha if they learn ten objectives. What are those ten? They are: (1) to progress irreversibly toward qualities of a buddha whether one hears that a buddha exists or does not exist, (2) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the Dharma exists or does not exist, (3) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that bodhisattvas exist or do not exist,[F.43.b] (4) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the conduct of bodhisattvas exists or does not exist, (5) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that in bodhisattva conduct a bodhisattva leaves everything behind or does not leave everything behind, (6) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the tathāgatas have passed away or have not passed away,[F.14.a] (7) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the tathāgatas have come into the world or not, (8) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the tathāgatas have presently appeared or not, (9) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the gnosis of the Buddha is exhausted or is not exhausted, and (10) to progress irreversibly whether one hears that the three times have the same defining mark or that they have dissimilar defining marks. O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who are irreversible.
“O sons of the victors, to those bodhisattvas who are irreversible, ten continuities of phenomena should be explained. What are those ten? They are: (1) explaining all phenomena as the same and different in nature, (2) as multiple and single in nature, (3) as meanings attributed to words, (4) as words attributed to meanings, (5) as the absence of entities attributed through entities, (6) as entities attributed through the absence of entities, (7) as the absence of phenomenal marks attributed through phenomenal marks, (8) as phenomenal marks attributed through the absence of phenomenal marks, (9) as the absence of defining marks attributed through defining marks, and (10) as defining marks attributed through the absence of defining marks. Why is that? It is because they have, for the most part, left everything behind as do those who have brought their expertise in all phenomena to fruition, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who are irreversible.
(8) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who are still youths? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who are still youths possess ten understandings of the Dharma. What are those ten?[F.44.a] They are: (1) knowing bodily deeds together with their karmic results, (2) knowing verbal deeds together with their karmic results,[F.14.b] (3) knowing mental deeds together with their karmic results, (4) knowing how to obtain a new birth merely by generating the thought of doing so, (5) knowing the thoughts of other sentient beings and people and understanding their inclinations, (6) knowing the different realms of sentient beings, (7) knowing the different desire realms, (8) knowing the different form realms, (9) knowing the different formless realms, and (10) swiftly gaining clairvoyance for the sake of beings present in different time periods. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who are still youths.
“O sons of the victors, to bodhisattvas who are still youths should be taught ten ways of perfecting the Dharma. What are those ten? They are being correctly shown how to (1) comprehend buddhafields, (2) shake buddhafields, (3) bless buddhafields, (4) investigate buddhafields, (5) journey to buddhafields, (6) journey to countless world realms, (7) ask countless questions, (8) fully achieve a mental body, (9) have measureless translations of words and languages, and (10) accomplish countless buddhafields by generating the thought of doing so. Why is that? It is because for the most part they apply themselves to expertise in perfecting things, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who are still youths.
(9) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who are regents? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who are regents are expert in ten factors to be understood. What are those ten? They are:[F.15.a] (1) expertise in understanding the births of sentient beings, (2) expertise in understanding the flux of the defilements,[F.44.b] (3) expertise in understanding the connections of latent tendencies, (4) expertise in understanding the engagement in the object domains, (5) expertise in understanding ultimate reality, (6) expertise in understanding experiences, (7) expertise in understanding the sphere of the world, (8) expertise in understanding the past and the future, (9) expertise in understanding the present, and (10) expertise in understanding the investigation of the relative truth.54 O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who are regents.
“O sons of the victors, to these bodhisattvas who are regents should be taught ten things. What are those ten? They consist in being correctly taught: (1) the expertise concerning the royal palace,55 (2) the modes of conduct in the royal palace, (3) the entering of the royal palace, (4) the investigation of the royal palace, (5) the consecration as a Dharma king, (6) the blessings as a Dharma king, (7) the punishment of the opponents of a Dharma king, (8) the abode of a Dharma king, (9) and the orders of a Dharma king.56 Why is that? It is because for the most part their minds engage in realization without obscurations regarding all phenomena, and those subjects of learning acquired previously are mastered with their own application and without recourse to dependence on others. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who are regents.
(10) “O sons of the victors, what is the category of bodhisattvas who have received consecration? O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas who have received consecration possess ten realizations of knowledge. What are those ten?[F.15.b] They consist in: (1) many ways of making innumerable spheres of the world shake, (2) many ways of blessing innumerable spheres of the world, (3) many ways of passing beyond innumerable spheres of the world with a single thought, (4) many ways of purifying innumerable spheres of the world,[F.45.a] (5) many ways of making innumerable sentient beings known with a single thought, (6) many ways of viewing innumerable spheres of the world, (7) expertise in investigating the mental activity of innumerable sentient beings with a single thought, (8) expertise in making understood the faculties of innumerable sentient beings with a single thought, (9) expertise in disciplining innumerable sentient beings, and (10) expertise in introducing innumerable sentient beings to the mind of omniscience.
“O sons of the victors, bodhisattvas on the level of regent and below cannot know the bodily deeds of bodhisattvas who have received consecration. Nor can they understand their verbal deeds, mental deeds, magical power, or magical vision. Neither do they know how to see what is in past times, nor can they know their karmic conditioning. They do not know how they see with the mind, nor can they know their objects of mind or the sphere of their experience of gnosis. O sons of the victors, such are bodhisattvas who have received consecration.
“O sons of the victors, to bodhisattvas who have received consecration will be taught ten things by the blessed buddhas. What are these ten? They are: (1) knowing the three times, (2) knowing the Buddhadharma, (3) knowing that the dharmadhātu is indivisible, (4) knowing that the dharmadhātu is without limit and without center,57 (5) knowing how to suffuse all the spheres of the world,[F.16.a] (6) knowing how to illuminate all the spheres of the world, (7) knowing how to bless all the spheres of the world, (8) thorough knowledge of all sentient beings, (9) clairvoyant knowledge of all phenomena, and (10) the infinite gnosis of the Buddha.[F.45.b] Why is that? Because for the most part they apply their minds to knowing everything. O sons of the victors, such is the category of bodhisattvas who have received consecration.”
Immediately after the bodhisattva Dharmamati explained the ten bodhisattva categories of bodhisattva great beings through the power of the Buddha,world realms numbering as many as the atoms in ten thousand buddhafields shook in every direction. They shook strongly and shook violently. They quaked, quaked strongly, and quaked violently. They trembled, trembled strongly, and trembled violently. They were disturbed, strongly disturbed, and violently disturbed. They shuddered, shuddered strongly, and shuddered violently. And they were agitated, strongly agitated, and violently agitated.58
By the power of the Buddha and through the attainment of the ultimate nature, a shower of divine flowers poured down from the clouds. From the clouds, there also fell showers of divine incense, of divine fragrance, of divine incense powder, of divine flower garlands, of divine textiles, of divine jewels, of divine lotuses, of divine necklaces, and of divine ornaments. Divine cymbals sounded without being played, divine light shone forth, and divine cheers sounded forth.
In this world with its four continents, and in all world realms, this Dharma teaching pervaded everywhere without omission or repetition, just as in the dwelling place of the king of gods on Mount Meru.[F.16.b] And by these very words, this same meaning was taught.[F.46.a] Through the power of the Buddha, as many bodhisattvas as there are atoms in ten thousand buddhafields arrived from beyond as many world realms as there are atoms in ten thousand buddhafields. Filling up space throughout the ten directions, they said, “O son of the victors, it is excellent, excellent that you are teaching the true nature of bodhisattvas. O son of the victors, we, too, are all named Dharmamati. We have come here from world realms called Dharmamegha, from the presence of tathāgatas who are all named Dharmamatibhadra. By the blessing-power of the Buddha, this Dharma instruction occurred for all of them; within an audience such as this, the same sense is being expressed by these very words, with nothing added or left out. O son of the victors, we have come under your power, and by the power of the Buddha we all came to this world sphere. And just as we came to this world sphere, so too as many bodhisattvas as there are atoms in ten thousand buddhafields went to the residences of the lords of gods at the peak of Mount Sumeru of all the four-continent worlds in every world sphere throughout the ten directions.”[B2]
Then, by the power of the Buddha, the bodhisattva Dharmamati looked in the ten directions and, after seeing the fully-equipped retinue and the dharmadhātu, spoke these verses:
It is from this section that the long passage of some two hundred and thirty stanzas making up much of the eighteenth chapter of the Śikṣāsamuccaya is quoted, constituting the longest quotation of any scripture in Śāntideva’s text; see below.
See Phangthangma (F.2) p. 5. The other texts in the Phangthangma list, apart from the 105 bam po Buddhāvataṃsaka itself, are the Lokottaraparivarta (ch. 44 in the Degé version of Toh 44), the Daśabhūmika (ch. 31), and the Tathāgatotpattisambhavanirdeśa (ch. 43).
See the entry for Volume 10 of the Taishō at ntireader.org, and the entry K 1095 in The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue. The Chinese text was not considered essential for producing this translation.
The present text (Toh 847), and all those contained in the same volume (gzungs ’dus, e), are listed as being located in volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 101. This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimalaprabhānāmakālacakratantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the present volume, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation.
The four instances here come close to covering, between them, the four types of dhāraṇī set out in the commentarial literature, notably the Bodhisattvabhūmi: the dhāraṇī (1) of Dharma (dharmadhāraṇī, chos kyi gzungs), sometimes also called dhāraṇī of words (tshig gi gzungs); (2) of meaning (arthadhāraṇī, don gyi gzungs); (3) of mantras (mantradhāraṇī, gsang sngags kyi gzungs); and (4) to attain the bodhisattvas’ acceptance (bodhisattvakṣāntidhāraṇī, byang chub sems dpa’ bzod pa ’thob par byed pa’i gzungs), i.e., acceptance of the non-arising of phenomena. See Negi 1993–2005, vol. 6, p. 2318. For more on dhāraṇī, their different types, their history, and their place in the literature, see Braarvig 1985, Buswell and Lopez 2013, Davidson 2009 and 2014, Gyatso 1992, and McBride 2005.
Eight examples of this kind of dhāraṇī are explained at length and very clearly in the Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśa (Toh 147) at F.218.b et seq., (for translation see Burchardi 2020, The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata, 2.524–2.604). Interestingly the same text mentions, a little later at F.231.b (see idem 2.614–2.652), another dhāraṇī called “the Jewel Lamp” for which the Tibetan in this case is rin chen sgron ma, but which among other possibilities could have been, as here, the Sanskrit ratnolkā.
In the Mahāvyutpatti, the three different Tibetan terms given under Skt. ulkā (Mvy. 6899) are skar ma (“star”), sgron ma, and ta la la in a list of 97 general terms, while the title Ratnolkā (without any text-type ending) is listed as dkon mchog ta la la (Mvy. 1375) in a list of 105 saddharma titles. The equivalence of ta la la to sgron ma is mentioned in the li shi’i gur khang, a fifteenth century glossary of archaic terms and their later renderings by Kyok Lotsāwa Ngawang Rinchen Tashi (skyogs lo tsA ba ngag dbang rin chen bkra shis), although he appears to have misspelt it tal la.
Of the four quotations from this work in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, the first, describing the virtues of faith, comprises verses 2.37–2.61 followed almost immediately by the second, verses 2.387 and 2.391; these excerpts appear in the first chapter (on the perfection of giving), see Bendall’s 1902 Sanskrit edition pp. 2–5; for translations see also Bendall and Rouse (1922) pp. 3–5 and Goodman 2016, pp. 3–5. The third quotation, a brief one comprising the paragraph 1.63 on the second category of bodhisattva, appears in the seventh chapter (on protection), see Bendall (1902) p. 153; for translations see Bendall and Rouse p. 152 and Goodman p. 153. The fourth, a very long quotation (and perhaps the longest of all quotations in the Śikṣāsamuccaya), comprises verses 2.123–2.323 and then selected verses culminating in 2.355 and appears in the eighteenth chapter (on the recollection of the Three Jewels), see Bendall (1902) pp. 327–47; for translations see Bendall and Rouse pp. 291–306 and Goodman pp. 304–322.
See Mahāvyutpatti no. 1375, in section 65, saddharmanāmāni; it lists 105 items, mostly names of sūtras but also some vinaya texts, as well as category terms.
See, for example, the fifteenth chapter of Longchen Rabjampa’s yid bzhin rin po che’i mdzod, which first enumerates these three, four, and six kinds of faith, and then explains the six using quotations from 2.37 onward (the same passage that Śāntideva cites, see n.104). The six kinds of faith are: (1) yearning faith (’dod pa’i dad pa), (2) inspired faith (mos pa’i dad pa), (3) respectful faith (gus pa’i dad pa), (4) clear faith (dang ba’i dad pa), (5) confident faith (yid ches pa’i dad pa), and (6) faith from conviction in the profound teachings (chos zab mo nges par sems pa’i dad pa).
Titles used include the canonical dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs, dkon mchog ta la la’i mdo, erroneous renderings such as dkon mchog ta la, and a range of secondary variants using the dkon mchog sgron ma form.
The word is found neither in Goldstein or Inagaki. Negi says it is a synonym of dbus, and also notes the similar (rare) verb dbung ba (=khro ba).
Tib. nges par byung ba; Skt. niṣkrānta. The Comparative Edition notes that the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné read nges par ’byung ba (p. 207).
Tib. tshad med par. The Comparative Edition notes that the Narthang and Lhasa editions read tshad med pas, which seems preferable (p. 207). The Stok Palace version also reads tshad med pas (F.149.b.6).
Tib. stong pa nyid spyod yul ba. The Comparative Edition observes that the Narthang and Lhasa editions read stong pa nyid kyi spyod yul ba (p. 207). The Stok Palace also reads stong pa nyid kyi spyod yul ba (F.149.b.6).
Here “all dharmas” (Tib. chos thams cad; Skt. sarvadharma) denotes both teachings and matters taught.
Tib. gzhi med pa’i don. The Stok Palace version reads med pa’i don “the meaning of nonexistence” (F.152.a.3).
Note that Tib. mi mnyam pa dang mnyam pa; Skt. asamasama means, according to Inagaki, “equal to the unequaled.” According to Edgerton, it means “unequalled,” lit. “having no equal like him.”
Note that the Stok Palace version has zhes instead of shes (F.152.a.7), which we follow here.
Tib. dmigs pa med pa. The Comparative Edition notes that the Narthang and Lhasa editions read mi dmigs pa (p. 208). The Stok Palace version also reads mi dmigs pa (F.152.a.5).
Tib. rgyu mthun pa. The Comparative Edition follows the Degé and others by including rgyu ’thun pa, though the more common spelling rgyu mthun pa is reflected in the Kangxi, Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok Palace versions. See Comparative Edition, p. 208; Stok Palace, F.153.b.1.
Tib. sā la. The Comparative Edition notes that the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné read sa la (p. 208). The Stok Palace version reads sā la (F.153.b.1).
Here we have the very rare term: Tib. dmigs pa can; Skt. aupalambhika, which refers to someone with a heretical view according to Edgerton.
The passage from here down to and including 1.178 (see n.81) is paralleled as chapter 20 of the Tibetan Avataṃsaka, “The Ten Categories of Bodhisattvas” starting in the Degé Avataṃsaka in volume 35 (phal po che, ka) on folio 245.a.1. The Tibetan translations of these two versions are not the same but the content matches closely, except for the names of the meditative absorption (see next note). In the Chinese Avataṃsaka the equivalent is chapter 15.
In the Chinese Avataṃsaka this meditative absorption is called “of infinite techniques of bodhisattvas,” and in the Tibetan Avataṃsaka “the bodhisattva’s meditative absorption called ‘infinite refining’” (byang chub sems dpa’i ting nge dzin sbyong ba mtha’ yas pa zhes bya ba).
Tib. byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa bcu. The term rnam par gzhag pa probably renders Skt. vyavasthāna, which can also mean “differentiation” (see Edgerton) i.e., “classification,” and by association, “category” and the “distinctive features” of each category. Hence, here it is “the ten categories of the bodhisattva.”
Tib. gzhon nur gyur pa. Skt. Kumārabhūta according to Edgerton, “while still a youth/remaining a youth.”
Tib. kha dog bzang po rgyas pa’am/ rgya che ba’am/ gzi brjid che ba’am. Here we read rgyas pa, rgya che ba, and gzi brjid che ba as modifiers of kha dog bzang po. Compare, in the Tibetan Avataṃsaka, mdzad pa dang bzang ba dang / myig tu ’ong ba dang / kha dag rgyas pa dang.
I.e., miracles of insightful admonition effecting destruction of one’s vices. Tib. rjes su bstan pa’i cho ’phrul, Skt. anuśāseniprātihārya, as explained in Edgerton.
The Comparative Edition notes that the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné versions omit las dang (pp. 208–209).
Tib. ldang ba. The Comparative Edition notes that the Narthang and Lhasa versions here read ldan pa (p. 209). The Stok Palace version also reads ldan pa (F.157.b.4).
Lit. “knowing time” (Tib. dus shes pa; Skt. kālajña). Edgerton refers only to the entry for sarvakālajña, which means knowing past, present, and future, but that is too early in the training here.
Tib. brjed pa med pa, lit. “without forgetfulness,” but probably rendering Skt. asammoṣa; see Edgerton. Indeed the next sentence begins with Tib. rmongs pa med pa as its synonym.
The Comparative Edition notes that the Narthang and Lhasa versions omit ’di la (p. 209). The Stok Palace version also omits ’di la (F.158.b.7).
Here the word khams could be understood in several ways: as the realms inhabited by beings, as the constituent elements of which beings are made up, as the various propensities of beings, or possibly of the “constituent” or “element” (the buddha-nature) present in them. It has here been rendered as “constitution” to avoid what might be a mistaken choice of interpretation.
Note that our rendering here is tentative since the expression gsung rab ’phags par skyes pa is unknown.
Here and in the next few phrases we should either add du or understand mnyam pa nyid du, “as sameness.”
The Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok Palace versions all have “expertise in understanding the three times” as item 8, “expertise in understanding the relative truth” as item 9, and “expertise in understanding ultimate truth” for item 10. This is important to note, given that the appearance of “exprtise in understanding” (mkhas pa yin) after all three statements suggests that they form a single item in the list, and thus we should prefer the Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok Palace readings. See Comparative Edition, p. 209; Stok Palace, F.163.b.1–3.
In the term rgyal po’i pho brang ’khor, the entire expression (including ’khor) means “royal palace.”
In all editions consulted, only nine things that bodhisattvas who are regents are to be taught are listed.
Note that Negi gives dbung (“center”) as a normal synonym of dbus, but it and the verb dbung ba are both archaic spellings. Also, the Comparative Edition indicates that the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Choné, and Lhasa editions all read dbus (p. 210). Interestingly, the Stok Palace edition preserves the archaic spelling dbung (F.164.b.5), suggesting that it is a reading from the Thempangma recension.
This passage consists of repeated verbs with changes in prefixes, which we choose to reflect with adverbial modifiers in the English.
bsnyen dka’ in such contexts usually means “difficult to approach” in the sense of being dazzling or overpowering, but here an alternative interpretation might be that it refers rather to the marks of having attained the “ten things that are difficult to approach” (bsnyen par dka’ ba’i gnas bcu) listed in the equivalent prose passage above, at 1.61.
The phrase byang chub don du brtan pa sems ’jog byed (“They set their thought firmly on the goal of awakening”) is repeated in many of the verses, although most of these lines in the Stok Palace version read byang chub don du bstan pa sems ’jog byed (“They set their thought on the teachings for the sake of awakening”). See Stok Palace F.166.a.3 for the first occurrence. The reading bstan pa (“teaching”) appears only a couple of times in the present General Sūtra version in the editions consulted in the Comparative Edition (p. 210), but the equivalent lines in the Tibetan Avataṃsaka also vary somewhat between several variants with either brtan pa or bstan pa (Degé Kangyur vol. phal po che, ka, F.253.a et seq.. These verses refer back to the prose description of bodhisattvas of the first category above (at 1.61) and the “firmly” (brtan pa) variant seems the better fit.
This stanza does not seem to exist in the Chinese Avataṃsaka. It is not entirely clear whether it refers to places, or to what is possible and impossible; but the latter, given the order of the items in 1.61, seems considerably more likely. In the Tibetan Avataṃsaka the equivalent stanza (Degé Kangyur, vol. 35, phal po che, ka, F.253.a.3) reads: khams gsum kun na gnas ni ’di dag yin/ /gnas myin rang bzhin dag kyang ’di yin zhes/ /ma nor dngos po khong du chud bya’i phyir/ /brtan pa byang chub don du sems bskyed do.
A detailed account of the cosmological eons (Skt. kalpa) is found in the Abhidharmakośa ch. III, stanzas 89–102.
In the Tibetan Avataṃsaka version (Degé Kangyur vol. 35, phal po che, ka, F.254.a.6) the meaning of the equivalent stanza is clearer and probably justifies translating the second skad cig here in line 2 as “in a single voice.” That version is: sems can kun gyi sgra skad ji snyed pa/ dbyangs gcig brjod pas ji ltar brjod bya bar/ sgra yi rang bzhin khong du chud bya’i phyir/ brtan pa byang chub don du sems bsgyur ro. However, in that version the object of the understanding is “sound” or “language” (sgra) instead of “peace,” as here.
There are a number of different ways in which this stanza could be interpreted. In the Tibetan Avataṃsaka version (Degé Kangyur vol. 35, phal po che, ka, F.254.b.5–6) the equivalent stanza supports the probability that the buddhas mentioned here are those in the buddha realms of all directions: de ltar byang chub don du bskyed byed pa/ phyogs bcu’i sangs rgyas brjod du med pa kun/ mchod par bya la yongs su bskul bar bya/ ’di ni phyir mi ldog gi gdams ngag go. Note also that these verses, down as far as 1.132, still refer to the first of the ten categories of bodhisattva, and the recurring description in the final line in this group of seven stanzas, “those who do not turn back” (mi ldog rnams), is not quite the same as that of the “irreversible” (phyir mi ldog pa’i) bodhisattvas, the seventh category.
The Degé Kangyur here reads yon tan kun ldan de bzhin gshegs pa yi/ tshe nyid ’di na …, while the Stok Palace, Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi and Choné Kangyurs all read che instead of tshe. The latter reading is more likely as well as closer to the equivalent stanza in the Tibetan Avataṃsaka version (Degé Kangyur vol. 35, phal po che, ka, F.255.a.2): de bzhin gshegs pa yon tan kun ldan pa/ ’jig rten mgon po bdag nyid che ba kun.
Here we should read rtog par as rtogs par, even though all the versions consulted for this translation read rtog par. See Comparative Edition, p. 129; Stok Palace, F.169.b.4–5.
As in 1.66, here the word khams could be understood in several ways: as the realms inhabited by beings, as the constituent elements of which beings are made up, as the various propensities of beings, or possibly of the “constituent” or “element” (the buddha-nature) present in them. It has here been rendered as “constitution” to avoid what might be a mistaken choice of interpretation.
“Incomparable” (Tib. mtshungs med) and “inconceivable” (Tib. bsam yas) appear in reverse order here vis-à-vis the corresponding prose list found earlier in the text.
Note that for the last term “nonexistent nature” (Tib. med pa’i rang bzhin) the original list above has two terms: med pa nyid and rang bzhin med pa.
Here the subject is the sixth class of bodhisattva, namely, bodhisattvas who have perfected intention.
Tib. ’chags pa. The Comparative Edition notes that the Yongle, Kangxi, and Lhasa versions here read chags pa (p. 211). The Stok Palace version reads ’chags pa (F.170.b.6). In Negi, ’chags par has several meanings, though in this context it means the opposite of destruction.
In comparison with the corresponding prose list given earlier in the text, the attributes missing here are “nonexistent” (med pa nyid), “essenceless” (ngo bo nyid med pa), and “without conceptual thought” (rnam par rtog pa med pa nyid). Note that the prose list includes “dream-like” (rmi lam lta bu nyid) while the verse list includes “like visual distortions” (mig yor ’dra ba).
The Degé and the Comparative Edition based on it read don dam here, which clearly does not refer to the ultimate (Skt. paramārtha). That the dam signifies “or” is suggested by the Comparative Edition’s variant readings of don tam in the Yongle and the Kangxi. The Stok Palace version (F.171.a.4) has don dang (“meaning and”), a reading that best matches the corresponding prose passage that appears earlier in the text and is repeated here.
Here we should follow the Stok Palace version’s rtogs (F.171.a.6) rather than rtog, which is witnessed in the Degé and other versions consulted in the Comparative Edition.
Tib. grangs med; Skt. asaṃkhyeya (“incalculable”) refers to the system of incalculable world systems presented in Avataṃsaka cosmology. The term “world systems” is here added for context.
Tib. tshang ’byin, an archaic form of tshar phyin/mthar phyin (“to go to the end,” “to conclude,” or “to finalize”). The Comparative Edition notes that the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné versions read tshar ’byin (p. 211). The Stok Palace version also reads tshar ’byin (F.171.b.5).
Note that here the versions consulted all agree that the Blessed One “assented” (Tib. gnang ba mdzad), which is a stock phrase in such contexts, although in the lines that immediately follow the Blessed One seems not to have assented yet, or at least not to have been perceived to have done so. It may be that he has here granted his permission for the teaching to be given by others, or that he is waiting for Śāriputra to make the request, too.
The Comparative Edition notes that this line (Tib. chos ’dod pa rnams dang / chos ’dod pa ma yin pa’i gang zag rnams kyang ’dus par gyur to/) is missing from the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné versions (p. 211). The Stok Palace version includes this line.
The Comparative Edition indicates that the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné editions omit this line (i.e., btsun pa shar a dva ti’i bu gal te stong pa nyid tshig med pa yin na/ ci zhig bshad par bya/).
Tib. a la la chos. The Comparative Edition notes that the Yongle version does not repeat a la la chos a third time.
The Comparative Edition (p. 212) notes that the Lhasa version omits bcom ldan ’das kyis (“by the Blessed One”). The Stok Palace version also omits this (F.179.b.7).
Tib. rab tu ’bar ba, which is not in Negi as a hell. The Comparative Edition notes that the Narthang and Lhasa editions read rab tu ’bar (p. 212). The Stok Palace version also reads rab tu ’bar (F.180.b.5).
Tib. reg dka’ ba. Not in Negi as a hell. The Comparative Edition notes that the Narthang and Lhasa editions read reg dka’ (p. 212). The Stok Palace version also reads reg dka’ (F.180.b.6).
Tib. spri’u gdong (should be emended to spre’u gdong). Not in Negi. The Comparative Edition observes that the Yongle and Kangxi versions read spyi’u gtong (p. 212).
Tib. rtag tu rab ’bar. Not in Negi. The Comparative edition notes that the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné versions read rtag tu ’bar (p. 212).
Tib. shin tu gnod ’joms. Not in Negi as a hell. The Comparative Edition records that the Narthang and Lhasa editions read shin tu gnod ’byung (p. 212). The Stok Palace version also reads shin tu gnod ’byung (F.180.b.7).
Note that rigs kyi bu (“son of a good family”) occurs twice in this sentence but is only translated once.
The Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra (za ma tog bkod pa, Toh 116) is one of the primary Mahāyāna sūtras associated with Avalokiteśvara. It was first translated into Tibetan during the Imperial Period and is the earliest textual source for the mantra oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ. See Roberts and Bower, The Basket’s Display.
Also translated here as “without conceptual elaborations.”
A religious mendicant of the Indian sect founded by Gosāla Maṅkhaliputra.
The highest of all the form realm (rūpadhātu) worlds. The world of devas “equal in rank” (literally “having no one as the youngest”).
Lit. “Nectar Intelligence.”
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.
Lit. “Unobstructed.” One of the ten great śrāvaka disciples, famed for his meditative prowess and superknowledges. He was the Buddha's cousin—a son of Amṛtodana, one of the brothers of King Śuddhodana—and is often mentioned along with his two brothers Bhadrika and Mahānāma. Some sources also include Ānanda among his brothers.
dmigs (pa) translates a number of Sanskrit terms, including ālambana, upalabdhi, and ālambate. These terms commonly refer to the apprehending of a subject, an object, and the relationships that exist between them. The term may also be translated as “referentiality,” meaning a system based on the existence of referent objects, referent subjects, and the referential relationships that exist between them. As part of their doctrine of “threefold nonapprehending/nonreferentiality” (’khor gsum mi dmigs pa), Mahāyāna Buddhists famously assert that all three categories of apprehending lack substantiality.
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.
A term for realized beings in Buddhism. Also translated here as “noble one.”
The dome-shaped assembly hall where Indra teaches the Dharma located on the southwest side of Mount Meru.
One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.
Negi gives the Skt. apāyajaha for ngan song spong ’joms pa, where it refers to the name of a bodhisattva.
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”).
Translation tentative.
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).
Refers to the fourfold practice of love, compassion, joy, and impartiality.
A general term for non-Buddhist religious mendicants, often occurring together with parivrājaka and nirgrantha in stock lists of followers of non-Buddhist movements.
’phags pa dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs (Ratnolkānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 145, Degé Kangyur vol. 57 (mdo sde, pa), folios 34.a–82.a.
’phags pa dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs (Ratnolkānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 847, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folios 3.b–54.b.
’phags pa dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs. 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), 2006–2009, vol. 57, pp. 94–207.
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Bendall, Cecil, and W.H.D. Rouse, trans. Śikṣā-Samuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhist Doctrine Compiled by Śāntideva Chiefly from Earlier Mahāyāna Sūtras. First edition in Indian Texts Series, London: John Murray, 1922. Reprinted New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971 and 1981.
Braarvig, Jens. “Dhāraṇī and Pratibhāna: Memory and Eloquence of the Bodhisattvas.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 8, no. 1 (1985): 17–30.
Burchardi, Anne, trans. The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata (Toh 147, Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśasūtra). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020.
Buswell, Robert E. and Donald S. Lopez, eds. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.
Davidson, Ronald M. “Studies in Dhāraṇī Literature I: Revisiting the Meaning of the Term Dhāraṇī.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 37 (2009): 97–147.
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