Introduction
i.1Advice to a King (2), which carries the alternative colophon title Advice to Udayana, King of Vatsa, is a concise and poetic discourse on the futility of anger and warfare, and on the liberating power of realizing the truth of emptiness—that all persons and all things lack any enduring self.
i.1《勸誡國王經》(第二部)，又名《勸誡跋蹉國王優陀延經》，是一部簡潔而富有詩意的論述，闡述了瞋恨與戰爭的無謂性，以及證悟空性的解脫力量——一切人與萬物都不具有任何恆久的我。
i.2This is one of three sūtras (Toh 214, 215, and 221) included in Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line under the identical title The Mahāyāna Sūtra “Advice to a King.” The present sūtra (Toh 215) consists of advice given to Udayana, the king of Vatsa. The sūtra that immediately precedes it in the Degé Kangyur (Toh 214), consists of advice to Bimbisāra, the king of Magadha. Finally, a longer sūtra in the next volume of the Degé Kangyur (Toh 221) presents advice to King Prasenajit, the king of Kośala.
i.2這是包含在札巴甘珠爾中的三部經典（陶號214、215和221）之一，在甘珠爾中均採用相同的標題《大乘經 〈勸王經〉》。本經（陶號215）包含給優陀延（跋蹉國王）的勸告。在德格甘珠爾中緊接其前的經典（陶號214）包含給頻毘娑羅（摩揭陀國王）的勸告。最後，德格甘珠爾下一冊中的較長經典（陶號221）呈現給波斯匿國王（憍薩羅國王）的勸告。
i.3Only the third of these three (Toh 221) is attested in either Sanskrit or Chinese, while both Advice to King Bimbisāra (Toh 214) and the present text Advice to King Udayana of Vatsa (Toh 215) have no known Sanskrit or Chinese witnesses and exist only in Tibetan. In their colophons, both of these sūtras are attributed to the translators Dānaśīla and Bandé Yeshé Dé, who were active during the height of Tibetan imperial patronage of Buddhism in the late eighth and early ninth centuries ᴄᴇ. However, neither of the two texts is mentioned in the Phangthangma or Denkarma imperial-period catalogs, nor are they mentioned in Chomden Raldri’s late thirteenth-century survey of translated texts. Adding further to the uncertainty of their provenance, neither text is found in any Kangyurs of the Thempangma recensional line.
i.3這三部經中，只有第三部（陶號221）在梵語或漢文文獻中有記載，而《勸誡頻毘娑羅王經》（陶號214）和現在的《勸誡優陀延跋蹉王經》（陶號215）都沒有已知的梵語或漢文版本，僅存在於藏語文獻中。在這兩部經的尾文中，都將翻譯者歸為達那尸羅和班智達耶舍德，他們活躍於西元八、九世紀之交西藏帝國扶持佛教的鼎盛時期。然而，這兩部經文都沒有出現在彭當瑪或殿迦瑪帝國時期的經目中，也未在十三世紀末法尊編纂的翻譯文獻調查中被提及。進一步增加了它們來源的不確定性，這兩部經文都沒有出現在任何札巴系統的甘珠爾版本中。
i.4Advice to Udayana, King of Vatsa features a short dialogue between the Buddha Śākyamuni and King Udayana, framed by a short story of the king’s conversion. King Udayana was a contemporary of the Buddha and king of Vatsa, one of the sixteen “great kingdoms” (mahājanapada) of ancient northern India, the capital of which was at Kauśāmbī.
i.4《勸誡優陀延王經》講述釋迦牟尼佛與跋蹉國王優陀延之間的一段簡短對話，並以國王的皈依故事作為框架。優陀延國王是佛陀的同時代人，統治著跋蹉國，這是古代北印度十六大國之一，其首都位於憍賞彌。
i.5This king (also known as Udayin or in Pali as Udena) is well known in Buddhist literature, and in Sanskrit literature more broadly where he is found as the romantic hero of many legends and dramas, including two plays attributed to Bhāsa, one of the earliest Indian playwrights. A story of this king’s conversion to the teachings of the Buddha by the monk Piṇḍolabhāradvāja is told in a similar form in The Hundred Deeds (Toh 340) and in the Pali Saṃyutta Nikāya. He and his two chief wives also feature as the main characters in the frame story of King Udayana of Vatsa’s Questions (Toh 73), which is included in the Heap of Jewels (Ratnakūṭa) collection. Stories about him are also found in the Discipline (Vinaya) section of the Tibetan Kangyur, and in the extracanonical Divyāvadāna collection of stories. Narratives about King Udayana are also found in Chinese Buddhist texts, including one story, also told by Xuanzang in the travelogue of his journey to India, which attributes to him the commissioning of the first-ever image of the Buddha.
i.5這位國王（也稱為優陀延或巴利文的烏德那）在佛教文獻中享有盛名，在更廣泛的梵語文獻中也是如此，他在許多傳說和戲劇中以浪漫英雄的身份出現，包括兩部歸功於婆娑的戲劇，他是最早的印度劇作家之一。這位國王被僧侶賓頭盧跋羅惰闍皈依佛教教法的故事，在《百業經》（陶號340）和巴利文《相應部》中以類似的形式記載。他和他的兩位首席妃子也是《優陀延王之問》（陶號73）的框架故事中的主要人物，該經典被收錄在《寶積》合集中。關於他的故事也出現在藏文甘珠爾的《律藏》部分和非正統的《天竺譚經》故事合集中。關於優陀延國王的敘述也出現在中文佛教文本中，包括玄奘在其印度之旅的遊記中講述的一個故事，該故事將第一尊佛陀造像的委託歸功於他。
i.6The sūtra translated here tells a different tale of King Udayana’s conversion that is not, to our knowledge, found in other sources. Here, the Buddha encounters King Udayana while the latter is embarking on a military expedition to subdue a neighboring city. Initially, the king is angered by the inauspicious appearance of a mendicant at such a time, and he tries to kill the Buddha with an arrow. But the arrow balks, spins in the sky, and a voice then rings out with a verse on the dangers of anger, whereupon the king becomes respectful toward the Buddha and a dialogue ensues. Other stories about King Udayana, including the sūtra mentioned above, King Udayana of Vatsa’s Questions (Toh 73), feature him shooting arrows that are thwarted from reaching their intended target.
i.6本經講述了優陀延王皈依佛教的另一個故事，據我們所知，其他經典中並未出現這個故事。在本經中，佛陀遇見優陀延王時，王正準備出兵遠征，想要征服一座鄰近的城市。起初，國王對苦行僧在這個不吉利的時刻出現感到憤怒，並試圖用箭射殺佛陀。但箭突然失效，在空中打轉，隨後傳來一個聲音，誦出一首關於瞋恨危害的偈文。聞後，國王對佛陀生起恭敬心，隨之展開了一場對話。其他關於優陀延王的故事，包括上述經典《跋蹉國優陀延王所問經》（陶號73），也都提到他射出的箭遭到阻擋，無法到達預定的目標。
i.7After the king pays homage, the Buddha first queries the king’s proclivity for warfare, informing him that all his conflicts are futile since they only lead to suffering in this life and lower rebirths in the next. He then explains that worldly enemies are trifling when compared to the greater enemy, namely the affliction of perceiving a self, which is the root of saṃsāra. When the king asks how this great enemy can be countered, the Buddha uses a military analogy to present the practice of the six perfections. This, he says, will enable the king to fell the great enemy of perceiving a self with the “arrow of nonself.” When the king asks what the Buddha means by “nonself” in this context, the Buddha replies with a condensed teaching regarding persons and indeed all phenomena as having no self, after which the king embraces his teaching.
i.7國王頂禮後，佛陀首先詢問國王對戰爭的傾向，告知他所有的衝突都是徒勞的，因為它們只會導致今生的痛苦和來世的下一生投生到低劣的地界。之後，他解釋了世俗的敵人相對於更大的敵人來說微不足道，即煩惱中我執的心態，這是輪迴的根源。當國王詢問如何對抗這個大敵時，佛陀用軍事比喻來闡述六波羅蜜的修行。他說，這將使國王能夠用「無我之箭」擊倒我執這個大敵。當國王詢問佛陀在此語境中「無我」的含義時，佛陀以凝練的教導回應，說明人及所有現象皆無我，之後國王接受了他的教導。
i.8Two prior English translations of the sūtra have been published. An early, loose translation was published in 1973 by Thubten Kalzang Rinpoche et al., and a richly annotated and fine translation by Peter Skilling was published in 2021. This English translation was made from the Tibetan as found in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with variants recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma).
i.8本經已有兩個先前發表的英文翻譯。一個早期的意譯版本由圖騰·卡爾贊仁波切等人在1973年發表，一個註釋豐富且譯文精良的版本由彼得·斯基林在2021年發表。本英文翻譯係根據德格甘珠爾中的藏文版本製作，並參考對勘本中記載的異文。