Notes

n.1Denkarma F.299.b; see also Herrmann-Pfandt, p. 119. Phangthangma 2003, p. 18.

n.2Ziziphus mauritiana. Tib. rgya shug; Skt. badara.

n.3Here and in the next two paragraphs we see the use of iti peyālam, the deliberate scribal practice of omitting repetitive material previously given in full in the same text.

n.4The karmic implications of killing a person with high spiritual accomplishment are considered heavier than those of patricide alone would be.

n.5The phrase “eight portions of the relics” (Tib. sku gdung gi brgyad cha) appears to describe the apportioning of the Buddha Śākyamuni’s relics after his passing. As described in The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, Śākyamuni’s relics were divided among eight kings who each lay claim to them after the parinirvāṇā of the Buddha (For a translation of the Pali version, see Walshe 1995, pp. 275–77). To satisfy them, Mahāmaudgalyāyana divided the relics into eight portions so that the kings could enshrine them in their own lands. Because this would have happened after the Buddha’s passing, and because Ajātaśatru’s death is believed to post-date the Buddha's parinirvāṇā, the passage here is taken as prophetic.