Notes

n.1See Braarvig 1994 for a more detailed exploration of Teaching the Practice of a Bodhisattva as a Mahāyāna critique, and its place among other texts that employ a young child as its main protagonist.

n.2Braarvig (1994), p. 125. The Tibetan translation of this title is mdo kun las btus pa (“Compendium of Sūtras”), Toh 3934, Degé Tengyur vol. 110 (dbu ma, ki), folios 148.b–215.a.

n.3The Denkarma inventory is dated to ca. 812 ᴄᴇ. In this inventory, The Practice of a Bodhisattva is included among the Miscellaneous Sūtras (mdo sde sna tshogs) less than one section (bam po) long. See Denkarma, f. 299.a.3. See also Herrmann-Pfandt (2008), p. 98, no. 181.

n.4dkar chag ’phang thang ma, p. 15.

n.5Lewis R. Lancaster, “K 532,” The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue, accessed October 19, 2018, http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/files/k0532.html.

n.6Lewis R. Lancaster, “K 1227,” The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue, accessed October 19, 2018, http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/files/k1227.html.

n.7The Sanskrit names of the bodhisattvas in this list are taken from Braarvig (1994), 126.

n.8The translation follows the reading ’od ni shel dag zla ba yi found in Y, J, K, N, C, H, and S. D and T read ’od ni shel dang zla ba yi.

n.9These are the tops of each hand, foot, and shoulder and the back of his neck.

n.10This translation follows the variant ’di dang reported in Y, J, K, N, H, and S. D reads ’di dag.

n.11The meaning of this verse is a bit obscure, but it is likely a reference to the role that maintaining the pratimokṣa vows of a fully ordained monastic plays in the purification of gifts that are offered to the saṅgha and the resulting merit that accrues to the donor. Here Ratnadatta is challenging Maudgalyā­yana’s ability to perform one of the primary soteriological functions that the monastic saṅgha can perform for the lay donors who are their support by suggesting that Maudgalyā­yana is unable to purify the gifts given in support of the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha because his understanding of the process of making offerings is tainted by apprehending/referentiality.

n.12chos dang / chos ma yin pa; Skt.: dharmādharma. This phrase is translated here according to its more generalized connotations of what is right (dharma) and what is wrong (adharma), but might also be taken in a more exclusively Buddhist context to signify what is and is not accepted as “Dharma,” or the “fundamental truth” that the Buddha taught.

n.13Here Ratnadatta likely refers to the known set of twelve links of causality that begin with ignorance.

n.14Five other Mahāyāna sūtras (Toh 248; Toh 249; Toh 250; Toh 251; and Toh 252) discuss “Accomplishing the four factors” (chos bzhi sgrub pa or bzhi pa sgrub pa) but the presentation here is not consistent across these texts, nor are any of them consistent with the four factors presented here.

n.15The translation follows the reading bton from the L, T, and S. D reads ston.

n.16D and S insert bdag cag here (i.e., “my prophecy”), which Braarvig’s edition does not do. C and N do not insert bdag cag. We have followed C, N, and Braarvig’s edition here. See Braarvig (1994), p. 154.

n.17Sanskrit reconstruction of this name from Braarvig (1994), p. 138.