Notes

n.1See Karma Gyaltsen Ling Translation Group, trans., The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā (Toh 84), 2021.

n.2See UCSB Buddhist Studies Translation Group, trans., Aśokadattā’s Prophecy , Toh 76 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024).

n.3See Subhashita Translation Group, trans., The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī , (Toh 192) 2022.

n.4See Dharmasāgara Translation Group, trans., The Inquiry of the Girl Sumati (Toh 74), 2023.

n.5See 84000 Translation Team, trans., The Questions of Gaṅgottarā (Toh 75), 2024.

n.6See Sakya Pandita Translation Group (International Buddhist Academy Division), trans., The Questions of an Old Lady (Toh 171), 2011.

n.7See Jens Erland Braarvig, trans., The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī (Toh 96), 2020.

n.8See Annie Bien, trans., The Prophecy of the Girl Candrottarā (Toh 191), 2025.

n.9On the two Chinese translations, see Schuster 1984, p. 46, note 36. As noted by Schuster (p. 39), the Taishō canon contains an additional three texts with the name Strīvivarta in their title (Taishō 562–64). These three translations are all related (though with some variations) but do not share any content with Taishō 565 and 566. Instead, the protagonist in Taishō 562–64 is a bodhisattva girl, not yet born, who engages in a conversation with the Buddha while still in her mother’s womb. Later in the sūtra the girl is born and subsequently changes into a male bodhisattva in pursuit of awakening. The Tibetan Kangyur does not contain a version of Taishō 562–64.

n.10The Denkarma catalog is dated to c. 812 ᴄᴇ. See Denkarma, 298.a.6. See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, 78, no. 143.

n.11Translation of these two last sentences is tentative. Degé reads: la lar ni snga ma bkad pa tsam / la lar ni bkad zin pa tsam. Stok palace reads: la lar ni snga ma bkod pa tsam / la lar ni bkod zin pa tsam.

n.12Translation of this sentence is tentative. All witnesses read nam chung ’khor/khor.

n.13Translated based on Choné, Lhasa, Lithang, Narthang, Kangxi, Yongle, and Stok Palace, which all omit ma before mchis.

n.14Here, “individual being” translates the Tibetan srog, which can also mean “life force,” “vitality,” or “soul.”

n.15Translation of this verse is tentative.