Introduction

i.1In the middle of the night at Kūṭāgāraśālā, the monastery in the great forest grove near Vaiśālī, the Buddha is seated cross-legged, engaged in a progression of the four concentrations‍—proceeding through them forward and then backward‍—at the end of which he enters a meditative absorption which makes his whole body radiant. Far away in the brahmā heavens of the form realm, the great god Brahmā sees the Buddha’s radiance and leaves his heaven in order to ask him a question. Arriving there in an instant, he politely rouses the Buddha from his absorption with gentle verses of praise and then proceeds to ask his question. The arrival of Brahmā is especially noteworthy, considering that according to Buddhist literature, it was Brahmā who first beseeched the reluctant Buddha to teach, just after the latter had gained awakening.

i.2Brahmā’s question on this occasion is simple: how many dharmas, or qualities, do bodhisattvas need in order to quickly reach the complete awakening of a buddha? The Bhagavān’s reply is surprising: one needs only one dharma and that dharma is mindfulness of the body.

i.3Mindfulness of the body is the first of the four applications of mindfulness recognized throughout Buddhist literature‍—mindfulness concerning the body, mindfulness concerning feelings, mindfulness concerning the mind, and mindfulness concerning the nature of phenomena. In this discourse, it is the first of these that takes precedence, though mindfulness concerning the mind and mindfulness concerning phenomena are also addressed sequentially.

i.4First, he speaks of mindfulness of the body in terms of being present and aware in undertaking daily activities like sitting, walking, lying down, and so on. He then explains mindfulness in terms of reflection on the transience and essencelessness of the physical body, which is prone to disease and illness, and will ultimately be reduced to something disgusting. Such reflection loosens attachment to the physical body, and being without attachment to the physical body and its trappings means living a materially simple life.

i.5This leads to a presentation of mindfulness in terms of avoiding unvirtuous or unwholesome activities. In particular, these are the first three precepts: not killing, not taking what is not given, and avoiding lust. This section on maintaining a strict discipline is, however, softened by the proviso that the body also needs to be nurtured, since without a body a bodhisattva is unable to make use of the opportunities that this life affords.

i.6The Buddha then explains how the six perfections may be used as antidotes to counter the mind’s natural tendencies toward negative mental states. The tendency to miserliness is countered by generosity, the tendency toward immorality by discipline, the tendency toward ill will by forbearance, the tendency toward indolence by effort, the tendency to distraction by concentration, and the tendency to incorrect understanding by wisdom. Particular attention is paid to the final two. The instruction on concentration, for example, includes a condensed account of how bodhisattvas use meditation focused on an object to stabilize the mind, and once it is stable, proceed to looking for the mind, and to objectless meditative equipoise. A further contemplation is offered in which one examines letters and words as a way of seeing the “hollowness” of phenomena, and through this, of experiencing all conditioned phenomena as dreamlike. In the scheme of the four applications of mindfulness, these reflections would correspond to the third and fourth applications of mindfulness concerning the mind and phenomena, respectively.

i.7The instruction concerning wisdom also includes a contemplation in which the elements that make up our bodies‍—earth, water, fire, and wind‍—are analyzed as being the same as the elements that are external to our bodies, as a way of reducing attachment to our own physicality.

i.8The Buddha then summarizes the teachings he has given to Brahmā in a short series of verses. These verses recapitulate three of the four applications of mindfulness that have already been covered: mindfulness concerning the body, concerning the mind, and concerning phenomena. The text does not seem to reference the application of mindfulness concerning feelings.

i.9The next morning, when the Buddha recounts his encounter with Brahmā to the assembly of monks, Ānanda requests that he repeat the teaching for them, which he does. When Ānanda asks for the name of the discourse, the Buddha gives three possible names: Brahmā’s Question, The Teaching on the Applications of Mindfulness, and The Teaching on Heedfulness.

i.10Brahmā’s Question was translated into Tibetan by the Indian preceptor Jinamitra and the Tibetan translator Bandé Yeshé Dé in the late eighth or the early ninth century. The translation is attested in both of the extant early ninth-century imperial catalogs of translated texts‍—the Phangthangma and the Denkarma. The Sanskrit original seems to have been lost. The sūtra does not appear to have been translated into Chinese and is not included in the Chinese Buddhist canon. A Mongolian translation from Tibetan is found in the Mongolian Kangyur. An English translation by Peter Skilling is included in his anthology of translations, Questioning the Buddha, published in 2021. No modern academic treatments have been identified.

i.11The sūtra does not appear to have been widely cited in canonical commentarial works. Although there are numerous references in Tengyur works to “The Sūtra of Brahmā’s Questions” (Tib. tshangs pas zhus pa’i mdo), including in Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya , these citations do not appear to relate to the present text. Some of the citations refer to other Kangyur texts with similar titles, such as The Questions of Brahmadatta (Toh 159), or The Questions of Brahmaviśeṣacintin (Toh 160), while others may be either misattributions or may relate to alternative pre-canonical versions of the current text that are no longer extant.

i.12The central topic of the sutra, the applications of mindfulness, is treated in a number of Kangyur texts in terms that have considerable overlap with the present text, such as, for example, parts of the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras. There are also a number of Pali suttas that address the subject of mindfulness of the body.

i.13This English translation was made from the Tibetan text as found in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), the Stok Palace Kangyur, and Peter Skilling’s English translation.