Notes

n.1The difference between these two titles is the presence or absence of the word “child” (khye’u). The first title, ’phags pa khye’u snang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pas bstan pa zhes bya ba’i chos kyi rnam grangs, is preserved in the Tshalpa (tshal pa) group Kangyur recensions, while the alternate title is generally found among the Thempangma (them spangs ma) recensions of the Kangyur. Mixed recensions show even distribution of the two titles between them.

n.2Halkias (2006), 60–63.

n.3Van Schaik and Dalton (2006), 63.

n.4Mayer and Cantwell (2008), 1.

n.5Lewis Lancaster, “K 381,” The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalog, http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/files/k0381.html#note-k0381-1.

n.6The Dunhuang MS (folio 1.b) reads “clear vision” (rnam par gzigs pa) instead of “wisdom vision of liberation” (rnam par grol ba’i ye shes gzigs pa).

n.7“As the Well-Gone One passed by” is omitted in the Dunhuang MS.

n.8In the Dunhuang MS (folios 3.b–4.a) this passage reads, “Everyone thought, ‘The Tathāgata is looking at me.’ Each of them thought, ‘I will offer alms and then will meet with the true result of giving alms.’ In short, nothing could compare in the slightest with the protector of human beings” (sems de re re yang / de bzhin gshegs pa ni bdag la gzigs so zhes sems/ so so nas bdag gi bsod snyoms phul te/ bsod snyoms kyi ’bras bu dang yang dag nyid phrad par bya’o snyam du sems te/ mdor na myi’i mgon po dang phyogs tsam du bsgrun du rung ba myed do).

n.9The Dunhuang MS (folio 5.a) reads, “This child, who has reached the culmination of all activity, is able to understand the meaning of my teachings” (khye’u de yang bya ba thams cad rdzogs pa legs par smra ba’i don shes par nus pa zhig ste).

n.10The Dunhuang MS (folio 5.a) reads, “and in order to delight beings.” (’gro ba mang po’i dga’ bskyed pa’i phyir).

n.11The Dunhuang MS (folio 5.a) omits this verse and the following two verses of the child’s response. The first verse the Buddha speaks is the one beginning “Evil actions performed in the past” below.

n.12This reading follows the variant chos as attested in the Choné, Lhasa, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Yongle versions of the Tibetan translation, instead of tshogs as attested in the Degé version.

n.13In the Dunhuang MS (folio 5.b), the child’s first response begins here with the line “Through the power of the Buddha,” here given at 1.­19.

n.14The Dunhuang MS (folio 5.b) reads, “I engage in alms rounds” (bsod snyoms spyad pa spyod pa yin).

n.15The Dunhuang MS (folio 5.b) reads, “Although he has fathomed the peace of cessation” (’gogs par zhi ba rab mkhyen te).

n.16In the Dunhuang MS (folio 6.a), the last two lines of this verse read, “One who teaches Dharma that is not Dharma / Is called a fool; are you a fraud?” (chos myin chos su bka’ stsal pa/ byis ba zhes te bslu lags sam).

n.17In what appears to be a case of scribal error, the Dunhuang MS (folios 6.a–6.b) repeats the preceding two verses before continuing with the sequence below.

n.18In the Dunhuang MS (folio 8.b) this verse reads, “All contrary actions / Arise from the natural state of things; / One who understands the way things are / Has neither faults nor qualities” (log pa’i las rnams thams cad ni/ de bzhin nyid las ’byung ba yin/ de bzhin nyid de rtog pa ni/ yon tan myed cing nyes pa myed).

n.19This reading follows the variant mthus yis as attested in the Choné, Lhasa, Lithang, Kangxi, and Narthang versions of the Tibetan translation, instead of mthu yin as attested in the Degé version.

n.20The Dunhuang MS (folio 10.a) reads, “Kauśika, you must also wear the ornamental clothes that bodhisattva mahāsattvas wear” (ke’u shi ka yang byang chub sems dpa’ sems dpa’ chen po rnams kyi gos rgyan gang yin pa de dag gyon cig).

n.21The Dunhuang MS (folio 11.a) reads, “delighting in acceptance” (bzod pa (em. bsod pa) la dga’ ba).

n.22The Dunhuang MS (folio 11.a) reads, “being firm in their commitments” (dam tshig la brtan pa).

n.23The Dunhuang MS (folio 11.a) reads, “for these bring highly-advanced cognition and concentration to perfection” (mngon par shes pa chen po (em. shen po) dang bsam gtan yongs su rdzogs pas bya ba’i phyir).

n.24The Dunhuang MS (folios 11.a–11.b) reads, “insight, the wisdom of liberation” (shes rab rnam par thar pa’i ye shes).

n.25“Without material interest” is absent in the Dunhuang MS (folio 11.b).

n.26The Dunhuang MS (folio 11.b) reads, “earnest engagement in the Dharma” (chos kyi nan tan).

n.27The Dunhuang MS (folio 11.b) reads, “was greatly pleased with the child and felt affection for him” (khye’u de la shin tu dga’ zhing sdug pa skyes nas).

n.28The Choné, Kangxi, Lithang, Narthang, and Yongle versions include an additional line here: “chapter and verse” (le’u dang tshigs su bcad pa). This makes little contextual sense, and so appears to be the remnant of an incomplete scribal emendation.

n.29In the Dunhuang MS (folio 15.a), this line of verse reads “In the supreme Saṅgha and the Buddha” (mang po’i mchog dang sangs rgyas la).

n.30Folio 17 of the Dunhuang MS appears to have been lost, thus the Tibetan text from this point to “The king of the state of Kośala” below is missing in that translation.

n.31The Dunhuang MS (folio 18.b) reads “hear” (thos) in place of “acquire” (thob) as attested in the other versions consulted. Thus this passage reads, “Bhagavān, if one attends and serves a spiritual master, one hears the virtuous Dharma. Through hearing the virtuous Dharma, one’s contemplations become virtuous. Once one’s contemplations are virtuous, one trains in virtue” (bcom ldan ’das dge ba’i bshes gnyen dang bsten bsdebs te bsnyen bkur bgyis na/ dge ba’i chos thos so/ dge ba’i chos thos pas bsam pa dge bar ’gyur ro/ bsam pa dge bar gyur pas dge bar sbyor bar ’gyur ro).

n.32The preceding two lines are absent in the Dunhuang MS (folio 18.b).

n.33The Dunhuang MS (folio 19.a) reads, “no companions” (grogs myed pa).

n.34The Dunhuang MS (folios 19.b–20.a) reads, “To see the Buddha not as a form, but as the Dharma; to see the Dharma not as one’s own, but as the freedom from desire; to see the Saṅgha not as a multitude, but as noncomposite; and purification of the eyes of insight” (gzugs las ni ma yin chos la sangs rgyas su blta ba dang / bdag las ni ma yin gyi/ ’dod chags dang bral ba chos su blta ba dang / mang ba las ni ma yin gyi/ ’dus ma byas pa las dge ’dun du blta ba dang / shes rab kyi spyan shin tu rnam par dag pa dang ’di yin no).

n.35The Choné, Lhasa, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Yongle versions of the Tibetan translation read the honorifc verb “to do/make” (mdzad pa), instead of “beautiful” (mdzes pa) found in the Degé version. The Dunhuang MS (folio 20.b) adds that the circle of light extends “an arm span” (’dom gang) around the Buddha.

n.36The Dunhuang MS (folio 21.a) reads, “The light of wisdom gathered by your intellect, your insight” (shes rab blo’i bsags pa’i ye shes ’od).

n.37The Dunhuang MS (folio 21.a) reads, “Possessing the power of acceptance as well as the ten powers” (bzad (em. mzad) pa’i stobs dang stobs bcu pa can mnga’ ba).

n.38The Dunhuang MS (folio 21.a) reads, “Your power is greater than the power of the best of humans” (myi mchog mthu bo che’i mthu mnga’ ba).

n.39In the Dunhuang MS (folio 21.b), this verse reads, “You turned the wheel of Dharma, performed miracles, / And spread the message of impermanence / To gods, humans, nāgas, and yakṣas. / Please explain your smile to me!” (chos kyi ’khor los btsud cing rdzu ’phrul dang / myi rtag sgra’i lha dang mi rnams dang / de bzhin klu dang gnod sbyin sgrags mdzad pa/ ’dzum pa mdzad pa de ni bdag la gsungs).

n.40This reading follows the Lhasa version of the translation in reading brnyes (“to discover”), instead mnyes (“to be pleased”) as preserved in the Degé and other consulted versions.

n.41The Dunhuang MS (folio 21.b) reads, “And you are supremely heroic and endowed with the best qualities” (dpa’ bo mnga’ mchog yon tan rab mnga’ ba).

n.42This reading follows the Choné, Dunhuang, Lhasa, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Yongle versions of the Tibetan translation in reading rnam par sbyong ba in place of rnam par spyod pa. This variant is repeated in all instances of “Fully Cleansed” that follow in this passage.

n.43Because the final folios of the Dunhuang MS are lost, its record of the text ends here.

n.44In the Thempangma recensions of the Tibetan translation, the name of the Indian paṇḍita is omitted. The colophon reads zhu chen gyi lo tsa+tsha ba ban de ye she sde la sogs pas bsgyur zhing zhus te gtan la phab pa’o (“The chief translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé and others translated, corrected, and finalized this text”).