Introduction

i.1While the Buddha is residing on Vulture Peak Mountain near Rājagṛha with a large group of monks, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī comes to see him. The bodhisattva inquires about the meditative absorption from which the Buddha has just arisen, and the Buddha responds that the absorption is known as infinite jewels. The sūtra then unfolds as a dialogue between the Buddha and Mañjuśrī on the nature and significance of the absorption, with an additional series of exchanges on this topic with the Buddha’s eminent monk-disciple Śāriputra.

i.2Because the text conveys a profound view of reality, it is fitting that the Buddha's primary interlocutor is the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, who epitomizes wisdom in the Great Vehicle tradition. The perspective of profound wisdom is elucidated through the exploration of a pair of key terms: limit of reality (Skt. bhūtakoṭi) and realm of phenomena (dharmadhātu). These terms are meant to indicate the way things are on the level of ultimate reality, and in this sūtra they are treated as synonyms.

i.3The term “limit of reality” appears in a number of sūtras, and frequently in the Perfection of Wisdom literature. It stands for ultimate truth and, therefore, is synonymous with reality (dharmatā) and suchness (tathatā). While this appears to be the main significance of the term, it can also refer to the awakened experience of the ultimate, or even to the quiescent state of a worthy one (arhat) to be avoided by bodhisattvas who vow to remain in cyclic existence as long as suffering beings remain. In the present sūtra, the equation between the ultimate and the limit of reality is repeatedly confirmed. In the final exchange concerning this term, we are told that it is not actually a limit, per se. In general, a limit must be localizable, but since the limit of reality transcends location, it is not truly a limit in the ordinary sense of the word.

i.4The discussion regarding the realm of phenomena focuses on the fact that distinctions and designations are mere imputations having no ultimate, independent existence. According to this sūtra, in the context of the realm of phenomena, one cannot speak meaningfully of the traits of ordinary beings as distinct from those of buddhas, or of distinct psycho-physical aggregates that make up persons, or of defilements or heinous acts that can be isolated and identified. Instead, the realm of phenomena is described as nondual, and notions of birth, death, transmigration, pollution, and purification are moot. Thus, it is mainly by way of commentary on the terms limit of reality and realm of phenomena that the sūtra seeks to convey the profound nature of the ultimate. The discourse ends with a praise of these teachings and a description of the benefits that result from engaging with them.

i.5A key challenge of translation is that frequently there does not exist a single term in the target language that embodies the range of meaning of a particular term in the source language. Such is the case with the Sanskrit koṭi, which appears both in the title, Ratnakoṭi, and in bhūtakoṭi, the limit of reality. Koṭi can mean limit, end, apex, point, highest point, eminence, or excellence. It can also refer to the number ten million. Thus, the title of our sūtra could be translated in a number of ways. We have chosen “Infinite Jewels” for two reasons. The first is to be found in the Buddha’s own explanation of the title of this sūtra, which refers to a particular meditative absorption entered by the Buddha. When Mañjuśrī asks why the absorption is so named, the Buddha likens it to an unblemished jewel. When such a jewel is placed on an even surface, there appear untold millions of other “jewels” surrounding it (presumably due to light refracting in the facets of the jewel). Secondly, the Mahāvyutpatti, the seminal list of Sanskrit–Tibetan terminological equivalents, renders ratnakoṭir nāma samādhiḥ as rin chen mtha’ yas zhes bya ba’i ting nge ’dzin, “the meditative absorption called infinite jewels.”

i.6While there is no known Sanskrit manuscript of this sūtra, it does exist in Chinese and Tibetan translations. There are two Chinese translations: 入法界體性經 (Ru fajie tixing jing, Taishō 355) and 寶積三昧文殊師利菩薩問法身經 (Baoji sanmei wenshushili pusa wen fashen jing, Taishō 356). The former (Taishō 355) was produced by the Gandhāran monk Jñānagupta (523–c. 600 ᴄᴇ) sometime in the late sixth century ᴄᴇ during his stay in the Chinese capital of Chang’an. The latter translation (Taishō 356) is a much earlier work attributed to the translator An Shigao (second century ᴄᴇ). However, Karashima has argued that An Shigao might not be the translator of this sūtra and has instead proposed that the translation may have been done by another early translator, the Gandhāran monk Lokakṣema (147–? ᴄᴇ). In any case, it seems certain that the sūtra was already in circulation in China by the second century ᴄᴇ, which makes it a very early sūtra within the literary corpus of the Great Vehicle.

i.7According to the colophon of the Tibetan translation, Infinite Jewels was translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman and the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé, and thus can be dated to the early ninth century ᴄᴇ, a dating that is also attested by the text’s inclusion in the early ninth-century Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) inventory of translations into Tibetan. The present translation was prepared based on the Tibetan translation in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma).