Introduction

i.1In The Questions of Śrīvasu, the Buddha is approached by a young merchant named Śrīvasu, who requests instruction on how to live his life as a novice bodhisattva. Delighted by this request, the Buddha offers some pithy advice regarding the bodhisattva path that neatly summarizes the principal altruistic aims and practices of the Great Vehicle. Beginning with venerating the Three Jewels and rejoicing in their awakened activities, the beginner bodhisattva is advised to cultivate the mind of awakening, i.e., the resolve to attain awakening for the sake of all beings, which is the basis of all Great Vehicle practice. With this altruistic outlook, the Buddha tells Śrīvasu, the aspiring bodhisattva should engage in all the virtuous activities prescribed within the framework of the six perfections and other disciplines central to the Great Vehicle. These cause all wholesome states of mind to blossom in the bodhisattva, and all negative thoughts to wither, bringing the bodhisattva ever closer to the realization of awakening. At the conclusion of the teaching, we learn that the audience has included a prince, the son of a certain King Sindhugiri of Darada, an ancient kingdom in the Gilgit region of larger Kashmir. The prince, who is not named, is so moved by the teaching that he goes before the Buddha and expresses his aspiration to attain awakening, while vowing to henceforth live by the principles that the Buddha has outlined.

i.1《吉祥世所問經》中，佛陀接見了一位名叫吉祥世的年輕商人，他請求佛陀教導他如何作為初學菩薩來生活。佛陀對這個請求感到歡喜，提供了一些關於菩薩道的精妙建議，簡潔地總結了大乘的主要利他目標和實踐。初學菩薩首先應當尊敬三寶並為其覺悟的事業感到歡喜，而後應當培養菩提心，即為了眾生的利益而誓願成就覺悟的決心，這是所有大乘修行的基礎。懷著這種利他的精神，佛陀告訴吉祥世，發心的菩薩應當在六度以及其他大乘的核心紀律框架內參與所有善良的活動。這些行為會使菩薩心中所有善良的心態盛放，所有負面的思想枯萎，使菩薩越來越接近覺悟的實現。在教法的結尾，我們得知聽眾中包括了一位王子，他是來自陀羅鼠多古代王國的某位信度山王的兒子。陀羅鼠多位於較大喀什米爾地區的吉爾吉特地帶。這位未被命名的王子被教法深深打動，走到佛陀面前表達了他成就覺悟的願望，並發誓從此後將按照佛陀所闡述的原則來生活。

i.2The Questions of Śrīvasu belongs to the general sūtra section of the Kangyur, where it forms part of an important subgenre of sūtras that have “question” (paripṛcchā) in their titles and that convey central Buddhist teachings within the format of a dialogue, usually between a buddha and one or more interlocutors.

i.2《吉祥世所問經》屬於甘珠爾的通常經部，構成了一個重要的經典子類別，這些經典在標題中含有「所問」(paripṛcchā)，並以對話的形式傳達佛教的中心教義，通常是在佛陀與一位或多位對話者之間進行的。

i.3There is no extant Sanskrit version of this sūtra, but the Tibetan canonical translation is found in all Kangyurs. It was included in the Denkarma and Phangthangma inventories of Tibetan imperial translations, so we can establish that it was first translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan no later than the early ninth century, as the Denkarma is usually dated to 812 ᴄᴇ. The present translation was based mainly on Tibetan versions preserved in the Degé Kangyur and the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) Kangyur, but certain amendments were made based on variant readings recorded in the Stok Palace Kangyur version.

i.3這部經典沒有現存的梵文版本，但藏文正規譯本見於所有甘珠爾版本中。它被收錄在丹噶目錄和芳塘目錄這兩份藏族帝國譯經目錄中，因此我們可以確定它最晚在九世紀早期就已從梵文譯成藏文，因為丹噶目錄通常被認為成書於公元812年。本譯文主要依據德格甘珠爾和對校版（dpe bsdur ma）甘珠爾中保存的藏文版本，但根據斯托克王宮甘珠爾版本中記錄的異文進行了某些修訂。