Notes

n.1The Tibetan tradition recognizes three categories of the Buddha’s words: (1) oral teachings (Tib. zhal nas gsungs pa); (2) imparted with blessings (Tib. byin gyis brlabs pa); and (3) imparted with permission (Tib. rjes su gnang ba).

n.2It is not without parallel, however. See, for example, The Sūtra on Reliance upon a Virtuous Spiritual‌ Friend (Kalyāṇa­mitra­sevana­sūtra, Toh 300).

n.3And also in The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata (Tathāgata­mahā­karuṇā­nirdeśa, Toh 147). For a discussion of these dhāraṇīs see Pagel 2007, 169–72, 174.

n.4See Buddhavacana Translation Group, trans., Unraveling the Intent , Toh 106 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha).

n.5See Jens Braarvig and David Welsh, University of Oslo, trans., The Teaching of Akṣayamati , Toh 175 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha).

n.6Norwegian Institute of Palaeography and Historical Philology, trans., The Collected Teachings on the Bodhisatva , Toh 56 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023).

n.7See Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Jewel Cloud , Toh 231 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha).

n.8For detailed references, see Skilton 2002, 57.

n.9Pāsādika 1989, 14.11–15.12.

n.10Toh 4025, 75.a.7–b.1; cf. Johnston 1950, p. 3.7–9.

n.11For a summary of the contingencies surrounding the dating of the Sūtrasamuccaya, see Skilling and Saerji 2013, 203, n. 51.

n.12See Skilling and Saerji 2013.

n.13The reference to the Samanta­bhadra­caryā­praṇidhāna occurs at 1.­11.

n.14This work forms the final part of the Gaṇḍa­vyūha­sūtra , one of the Buddhāvataṃsaka works. See glossary, “ Samanta­bhadra­caryā­praṇidhāna ,” for further details.

n.15The Denkarma catalogue is dated to c. 812 ᴄᴇ. Denkarma, 297.b.6. See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, p. 70, no. 126.

n.16See Karashima 2017.

n.17See Lewis R. Lancaster, The Korean Buddhist Canon (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979).

n.18We follow nag po, the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma, rather than nag pa found in Degé Pharphud.

n.19We think the Tibetan here, gcig tu snang ba’i mar me, literally “sole shining lamp” is probably a slight misreading of Sanskrit ekalokapradīpa, “sole lamp of the world.”

n.20We follow ’jug par zhugs, the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma, rather than ’jug pa found in Degé Pharphud.

n.21We follow thob par spyod pa, the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma, rather than thob par sbyong ba found in Degé Pharphud.

n.22We follow spyod pa, the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma, rather than sbyong ba found in Degé Pharphud.

n.23We follow gzungs ( dhāraṇī), the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma, rather than gzugs (rūpa) found in Degé Pharphud.

n.24The expression “and his retinue” is used here to translate la sogs pa (Skt. ādi, “starting with”).

n.25We follow mi dang mi ma yin pa in line with all the other versions in the comparative Pedurma Kangyur, rather than mi dang ma yin pa found in Degé Pharphud.

n.26This translation of gnas dang bcas is tentative. The sites on or surrounding the mountains are perhaps analogous to the retinues of the previous figures.

n.27We follow ’khor, a variant found in the comparative Pedurma, rather than ’or found in Degé Pharphud.

n.28We follow rgyun du, a variant found in the comparative Pedurma, rather than the problematic rgyan du found in Degé Pharphud.

n.29Provisionally inserted to maintain the parallel.

n.30We follow spyod lam, a variant found in the comparative Pedurma, rather than smon lam found in Degé Pharphud. See also the same phrase on F.111.b.

n.31We follow stong pa, the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma, rather than stod pa found in Degé Pharphud.

n.32The term “bodhisattvas” is added here for the sake of clarity.

n.33We follow sla’i/sla yi, the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma, rather than bla’i found in Degé Pharphud.

n.34We follow ’dor, the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma, rather than ’don found in Degé Pharphud. Note that ’dor ba occurs below as well.

n.35We follow the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma that omits la here.

n.36We follow the dominant variant in the comparative Pedurma that omits dbang bskur bas here.

n.37The sense of the passage steng g.yogs med cing gzhi phyal ba’i rgyud is unclear. The two terms steng g.yogs med (“without upper garment”) and gzhi phyal ba (“empty plains”) are used to refer to different types of worldly realms (lokadhātu) in several other texts including Vasubandhu’s Daśa­bhūmi­vyākhyāna.

n.38We emend ’dang bar byed pa to dang bar byed pa in line with its occurrence in the subsequent explanation of the analogy.

n.39We have given a literal translation of this phrase (lha yongs su gtong bar ’gyur ro), but its precise meaning in this context is not clear to us.

n.40We follow gi, the dominant variant found in the comparative Pedurma, rather than gis found in Degé Pharphud.

n.41We have not been able to identify this particular narrative (Skt. avadāna).

n.42A kind of wood; according to Monier-Williams, Skt. siṃhakesara is Mimusops elengi.

n.43It is difficult to visualize what is described in this line, which we have translated literally from the Tibetan.