Notes

n.1Palgyi Yang was one of the first Tibetan monks (the sad mi mi bdun, “seven men who were tested”) and worked on translations of only a few other texts in addition to this one. His other translations include the text immediately preceding this text in the Degé Kangyur, which has the quite similar title Buddhasaṅgīti (Toh 228, see Dharmachakra Translation Committee, Discussions of Buddhas , forthcoming), and the celebrated Bhadrakalpika (Toh 94, see Dharmachakra Translation Committee, The Good Eon, 2022). The Indian master Jñānagarbha mentioned here is one of several paṇḍitas of that name mentioned in Kangyur colophons, but was probably the only one active in the early translation period.

n.2The Denkarma catalog is dated to c. 812 ᴄᴇ. In this catalog, Discussions of Thus-Gone Ones is included among the Miscellaneous Sūtras (mdo sde sna tshogs) that are less than ten sections (bam po) long. See Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, p. 69, no. 124.

n.3Chökyi Drakpa 1995, p. 133.

n.4Likewise, within modern scholarship, it appears that this sūtra has not been studied in detail. We have only come across a few brief references to this text in Lugli 2010.

n.5This reading is based on Y, J, K, and C, where bdag is omitted.

n.6Based on the absence of a basis known as “baseless” renders the Tibetan gnas med pa zhes bya ba’i gnas med pa la gnas.

n.7The translation of this reply by Mañjuśrī is tentative.

n.8Translated based on S: kyis. D: kyi.

n.9Reading with the omission of na (in de na) as in Y, J, K, N, C, and H.

n.10Reading dengs from H and S in place of deng.

n.11Reading bzang from H in place of bzangs.

n.12Translated based on S: bden pa. D: dben pa.

n.13Reading ’ dis from Y, J, K, N, and C in place of di.

n.14Reading shog from K, C, and S in place of sheg.

n.15The translation of this paragraph up to this point is tentative.

n.16White and black actions here refer to virtuous and nonvirtuous deeds respectively.

n.17Translated based on S: zad pa med pa. D: zag pa med pa.

n.18Translation tentative. Tibetan: ba sbu’i khung bu ’khor lnga pa.

n.19Translation tentative. Tibetan: de nyid ’ong ba la’ang sangs rgyas bcom ldan ’das rnams chos nye bar sgrub par mdzad do.

n.20Reading ’ phyas from S in place of phyas.

n.21Here the text reads “the Sahā world system.” We have assumed that “Sahā” is an error and omitted it from the translation.

n.22Omitting ma based on Y, J, K, N, C, and H.

n.23Reading btsal ba from Y, J, K, N, C, H, and S in place of ’tshal ba.

n.24Reading rig par from Y, J, K, N, and H in place of blta bar.

n.25Here and below, “truly see” refers to the fact that the objects are not truly existent.

n.26Reading rgyal ba from Y, K, and S in place of rgyal ba’i.

n.27Reading lhang nger from H and S in place of lha nger.

n.28Reading thob from Y, J, K, N, C, H, and S in place of thos.

n.29Translation tentative. Tibetan: phyi dus ngan ’gro chen po ste