Notes

n.1Sánchez 2011, p. 28.

n.2Hidas 2015, p. 130.

n.3Complete and fragmentary, as PT 77, PT 414, PT 415, PT 416, IOL Tib J 426, IOL Tib J 427, and IOL Tib J 432.

n.4Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 916 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 916, n.­4, for details.

n.5In the Toh 526 version of the text there is a slight discrepancy in the folio numbering between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings of the Degé Kangyur. Although the discrepancy is irrelevant here, further details concerning this may be found in n.­5 of the Toh 526 version of this text.

n.6In the Skt. edition we find oṁ namo buddhāya (“oṁ homage to the Buddha”), while S, PT, NT, and HT read sangs rgyas dang byang chub sems dpa’ thams cad la phyag ’tshal lo (“Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas”). According to the instructions regarding Tripiṭaka translations decreed to the translators by the king Tri Ralpachen, a translators’ homage made to Mañjuśrī was supposed to be a mark of Abhidharma texts, while homage to the Buddha and homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas were deemed appropriate for Vinaya and Sūtra texts, respectively.

n.7We have followed the Tib. reading. The Skt. reads “decorated with various jewels, among which the seven kinds of jewels were arranged.” For the critically edited Skt. text, see Mimaki 1977b, p. 10.

n.8We follow the Tib. ’gro ba thams cad la phan pa dang bde ba’i phyir. The Skt. reads sarva­jagaddhitārthaṃ (“for the benefit of the whole world”).

n.9Translated based on the Skt. saṃsāre saṃsarato and S, PT ’khor ba na ’khor ba’i tshe. All witnesses in A have ’khor ba nas ’khor ba’i skye gnas gzhan dag tu (“from saṃsāra to other saṃsāric rebirths”).

n.10The sūtra versions in D (Toh 141) and N, K, H, and C all read yongs su shes par byed par spyod par gyur cig, whereas the tantra and dhāraṇī versions in D (Toh 526 and 916) and the other Kangyurs read simply yongs su spyod par gyur cig. The extant Sanskrit versions do not include any equivalent to the phrase yongs su shes par byed par (“to bring about thorough understanding”).

n.11PT 77 adds las kyi sgribs pa and S adds las kyi sgrib pa (“karmic obscurations”). The phrase in the Skt. is pāpa­karmākuśalamūlaṃ karmāvaraṇaṃ (“misdeeds, roots of nonvirtue, karmic obscurations”).

n.12The Skt. reads me mārakarmāṇi. All witnesses included in A have bdag gis bdud kyi las gang ci byas pa de yongs su shes pas, except for NT and HT. NT, HT, and S read bdag la bdud kyi las gang dag yod pa de dag yongs su shes pas. Although versions of this phrase could be interpreted as speaking of one’s own “demonic actions,” the commentary attributed to Vasubandhu suggests that the obstacle to be overcome here is rather actions done to one (and influences exerted on one) by others. However, Tāranātha’s commentary (p. 355), while confirming that for experienced practitioners “demonic actions” may be interpreted as applying mainly to others, lists them as including such things as procrastination, laziness, rowdiness, belittling others’ virtuous actions, disliking perfections, slandering bodhisattvas, favoring false views, getting distracted while in meditation, turning away from and diminishing virtuous actions, and having incompatible attitudes after engaging in them‍—all tendencies that less-than-perfect practitioners could potentially interpret as applying to themselves.

n.13The Sanskrit text reads sarvasattvānām (“for all sentient beings”) and omits the equivalent for “fruit.” NT, S, and PT omit thams cad (“all”).

n.14PT 77 reads gang bdag gi rnam par grol ba de sems can thams cad kyi rnam par grol bar ’gyur cig (“may my liberation be the liberation of all sentient beings”). It is closer to the Skt. yā ca me vimuktiḥ sā bhavatu sarva­sattva­vimokṣāya (“may my liberation be for the liberation of all sentient beings”).

n.15Most of the versions in the Sūtra sections of Tshalpa Kangyurs do not specify that this aspiration to remain neither in saṃsāra nor nirvāṇa is made for oneself, but here we have followed K and Y in the Sūtra section, all witnesses in A for Toh 916 and Toh 526, and S and PT 415, which read ’khor ba dang mya ngan las ’das pa la bdag gnas par ma gyur cig. The Skt. has mā ca me bhūt saṃsāre nirvāṇe pratiṣṭhitatā, with the same meaning.

n.16The Skt. reads dhanavati.

n.17Following Skt. and PT; D and other Kangyurs read sarvārtha­praśamane, which would mean “O remover of everything that is valuable.”

n.18Following Skt., K, S, and Y in the Tantra section; D and other Kangyurs read vākaviśodhani.

n.19Skt., S, NT, HT, and PT 415 omit this passage on the recollection of former lives.

n.20Following the Skt. which has kṣipram (“swiftly”), translated in S, NT, HT, and PT as myur du.

n.21The Skt. reads, “If anyone, son or daughter of a good family, recites this dhāraṇī of the six gates three times each night and three times each day, then, having abandoned all karma, they will quickly reach the supreme state of perfect awakening.” For the critically edited Skt. text, see Mimaki 1977b, p. 10.

n.22Instead of “assembly of bodhisattvas,” the Skt. reads bodhisattvā mahāsattvā, and S, NT, HT, and PT 415 read byang chub sems dpa’ sems dpa’ chen po (“bodhisattvas mahāsattvas”).

n.23This passage is missing in the Sanskrit. In PT 415, S, D (Toh 916), and D (Toh 526) following “the assembly of bodhisattvas,” it instead reads gnas gtsang ma’i ris kyi lha’i bu de dag (“the gods of Śuddhāvāsa”).

n.24The Skt. reads, “When the delighted Bhagavān had thus spoken, the bodhisattva mahāsattvas rejoiced in what the Blessed One had taught.” For the critically edited Skt. text, see Mimaki 1977b, p. 10. Commentators and translators have disagreed over whether the adjective ravi (“delighted”) here applies to the Bhagavān, to the bodhisattvas (as in the Chinese translations), or to both (as in the Tibetan translations that have dgyes for the Bhagavān and yi(d) rang(s) for the assembly). On this delicate issue, see Mimaki 1977b, p. 13, n. 9.

n.25“May there be benefit for all beings.” Only D (Toh 141) has this and the following auspicious sayings in Sanskrit.

n.26For the translation of these verses, see the Buddhavacana Translation Group, trans., The Sūtra on Dependent Arising (Toh 212), 2016, 1.5.

n.27“May it be auspicious.”