Introduction

i.1The City Beggar Woman is a short Mahāyāna sūtra that tells of a poor woman in Śrāvastī who lights an oil lamp in veneration of the Buddha Śākyamuni, makes a vow to become a buddha in the future, and then receives a prophecy of her future buddhahood from the Buddha. As Peter Skilling notes in the introduction to his translation of this sūtra, there are at least two other iterations of this story found elsewhere in the Tibetan Kangyur. One is in The Chapter on Medicines in the Vinayavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, and the other is chapter 37 of The Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish . The version in the Tibetan Vinaya also has a close parallel preserved in Sanskrit in the Divyāvadāna. Skilling also notes that the story was among those selected for illustration in Ming dynasty woodcuts of events from the Buddha’s life and in other Chinese artworks.

i.2The different versions of the story all tell of a pauper woman who is “dependent on the city for her livelihood” (Skt. nagarāvalambikā). In all versions, this woman lights an oil lamp at Prince Jeta’s Grove that cannot be extinguished due to her great determination of mind in vowing to become a buddha. While sharing this basic plot and some other narrative details, such as a disciple trying to douse the lamp with the edge of his robe, the different versions diverge in various ways. For instance, in the Vinaya and Divyāvadāna versions, it is Ānanda who tries to extinguish the lamp, while in this sūtra, and the version found in The Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish, it is Maudgalyāyana.

i.3The framing of the story is also diverse across the different iterations. While the Vinaya and Divyāvadāna versions present it as the last of several episodes in a series, in The Sūtra of the Wise and the Foolish it is followed by a past life story. The patterns of convergence and divergence between the different iterations, in these and other ways, are therefore somewhat complicated.

i.4Here the story is presented as a standalone Mahāyāna sūtra in which (like the Vinaya and Divyāvadāna versions) the beggar woman’s humble but sincere offering is contrasted with the extravagant and ostentatious offerings of King Prasenajit.

i.5The standalone sūtra does not appear to have been translated into Chinese, and no extant Sanskrit for it has been identified. It was translated into Tibetan during the height of the Tibetan imperial patronage of Buddhism (snga dar) in the late eighth or early ninth century and is listed in both the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs. Its colophon states that it was translated by Jñānagarbha and Lui Wangpo, and edited by Vidyākarasiṃha and Devacandra, all of whom were active in Tibet in the early ninth century. It is one of four texts in the Kangyur credited to this particular translation and editorial team, the other three all being dhāraṇī texts (Toh 545/892, Toh 546/893, and Toh 718/1037).

i.6This English translation was made from the Tibetan as found in the Degé Kangyur, with reference to the variant readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), and the Stok Palace Kangyur. Peter Skilling’s English translation was also consulted.