Introduction

i.1The Absorption of the Miraculous Ascertainment of Peace provides a profound and detailed survey of how all the abilities, attainments, and other qualities of the bodhisattva’s path arise as the bodhisattva’s understanding and realization of what is meant by the Thus-Gone One unfold.

i.2Among the ten sūtras in this part of the Kangyur whose title includes the term samādhi (“absorption”), this text can be placed within an important subgroup in which a particular samādhi is described in considerable detail by means of a list of its component factors, attributes, or qualities. In these texts, the usual understanding of an “absorption” or samādhi as a meditative state of enhanced consciousness or concentration does not fully encompass the diverse range of attitudes, practices, skills, attainments and kinds of behavior outlined in these descriptions.

i.3As well as the description of the absorption itself, the text goes on to relate a far-reaching dialogue between the Buddha and Mañjuśrī on the relationship between the aspects of the path and the training in being free of concepts, a training that can be seen not only as the goal of the path but also as its very basis.

i.4The teaching of the sūtra takes place on Vulture Peak near Rājagṛha, the capital of the ancient Indian country of Magadha. On this particular occasion the Buddha Śākyamuni is surrounded by a large retinue of monks and bodhisattvas as well as divine beings, the king, and many householders. The extraordinary attainments of the bodhisattvas present are described in unusual detail (1.­19–1.­32).

i.5As a sign that the Buddha is about to teach, he first projects a light that pervades many millions of universes to attract an inconceivable number of additional bodhisattvas to his teaching. The bodhisattva Bhadrapāla, a well-known figure from other Great Vehicle discourses, then initiates the teaching by asking the Buddha to explain how bodhisattvas proceed toward awakening without regressing, how they train on the path, and how they finally awaken to buddhahood.

i.6The Buddha declares that there is one absorption that, when practiced, can accomplish all those goals. This absorption is known as the miraculous ascertainment of peace. He then proceeds to explain all its characteristics and qualities, setting out how this unique absorption embodies all the qualities of the Great Vehicle. The long list of qualities in this part of the text (1.­54–1.­82) contains many sequences that closely parallel parts of the well known list of the approximately three hundred qualities of the absorption in the first chapter of The King of Samādhis Sūtra (Samādhirāja, Toh 127). Groups of items in the two lists have almost identical wording, even though they are arranged in a different order relative to each other and are mixed, in the list belonging to this text, with additional groups of elements more characteristic of later Mahāyāna works. In addition, the list in this text includes, and concludes with, a close reproduction of almost all the one hundred components of the absorption described in the Śūraṃgama­samādhi­sūtra (Toh 132). The three lists describe different absorptions, of course, but it seems most unlikely that the list in this text arose independently of the lists in the earlier works. While there appears to be little matching with the list of one hundred and fifty items in the other text of this group, the Pratyutpanna­buddha­saṃmukhāvasthita­samādhi­sūtra (Toh 133), there may quite possibly be corresponding passages in other works. A full comparison of all these lists would be of great interest but remains to be done.

i.7Having presented the absorption in this very detailed way, the Buddha describes it as being the essence of the Great Vehicle, and explains that the way to put it into practice it is by transcending conceptuality (1.­83). He outlines an approach in which bodhisattvas examine the nature of the Thus-Gone One by investigating the five aggregates (1.­84–1.­106). Having discovered that the Thus-Gone One is nowhere to be found within the five aggregates yet is also not different from any of them, they then consider that while nothing inanimate, i.e. without the five aggregates, could be the Thus-Gone One, it nevertheless cannot be the five aggregates that awaken into buddhahood and teach the Dharma. Nor indeed is the suchness of buddhahood brought about by an identifiable precursor, cause, or indeed any other phenomena. The peace that is buddhahood is the non entertaining of any concepts, thoughts, or reflections regarding reality, and it is by training in the absorption of the miraculous ascertainment of peace that bodhisattvas will actualize that state.

i.8Next, Mañjuśrī expresses his amazement at the skillful means through which the buddhas can appear in the world even though they are beyond birth and death, and can make the Dharma heard even though they do not actually express even a single syllable (1.­107). The Buddha clarifies this seeming paradox by explaining that in fact thus-gone ones awaken in a perfect buddha realm, but use their skillful means to manifest an afflicted, degenerate realm in which they engage the minds of beings while remaining utterly beyond concepts themselves. In engaging different kinds of minds, they may also appear to teach different vehicles, even though in truth there is only one (1.­113). The Buddha provides several analogies to illustrate his points, and subsequently issues stern warnings against ever creating obstacles to the activity of bodhisattvas (1.­122–1.­126). Since bodhisattvas are the buddhas of the future, to obstruct their practices is effectively to work against the manifestation of a buddha.

i.9In the last part of the sūtra (from 1.­127), Mañjuśrī asks about the path traveled by practitioners of the absorption of the miraculous ascertainment of peace. The Buddha addresses this question in a vein similar to that of his earlier statements: just like the thus-gone ones, the path too must be understood to be beyond concepts. Following that path leads to the birth of wisdom and allows the bodhisattva to access all the qualities of awakening. He explains, from this viewpoint, how it is that being rid of all concepts about the true nature of things allows the four types of correct understanding, the six types of superknowledge, the thirty-seven factors of awakening, and the four transformative powers to develop (1.­136–1.­172). He summarizes some of the points he has made in a passage in verse, and gives yet another reminder of the devastating damage caused by criticizing or disparaging bodhisattvas, especially those who uphold and practice this absorption (1.­219–1.­222). As the Buddha draws his teaching to a close, the entire retinue rejoices in his words and makes offerings of gratitude.

i.10To date, no complete Sanskrit version of this sūtra has come to light, although a few short passages are preserved as quotations in Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya . The Sanskrit quoted in the Śikṣāsamuccaya generally corresponds fairly closely to the Tibetan, although there are minor variations. In the list of qualities of the absorption, the probable Sanskrit of the numerous passages that match the list in The King of Samādhis Sūtra (see i.­6 above) may also be surmised from the Sanskrit manuscripts of that text.

i.11The Absorption of the Miraculous Ascertainment of Peace was translated into Chinese by the famed translator Xuanzang (c. 602–64), who completed the translation in the last two years of his life. However, the Chinese translation corresponds only to the first part of the Tibetan text.

i.12The Tibetan translation of the sūtra, according to the colophon, was made by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla and the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé, who were all active in Tibet around the late eighth and early ninth centuries. This dating is also confirmed by the text’s inclusion in the Denkarma Catalogue of the early ninth century ᴄᴇ. In view of the differences between the Tibetan and Chinese texts (see above), of the change of interlocutor from Bhadrapāla to Mañjuśrī (at 1.­107), of the fact that segments of the listed components of the samādhi are closely related to those in other sūtras of this group (see i.­6 above), and of the anomalous interruption and then resumption of the list (at 1.­57), Skilton has suggested that the Tibetan text may be of composite origin. Nevertheless, the fact that citations from the later parts of the sūtra are found in the Śikṣāsamuccaya means that the sūtra must have been circulating in India in its full, longer form, as here, at the latest not very long after Xuanzang’s Chinese translation was made.

i.13This English translation is based on the Tibetan translation in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.