Introduction

i.1The Jewel Cloud is a very rich and closely packed Mahāyāna sūtra. Evidence of its authority in India can be found in many philosophical commentaries; for example, it is cited three times in the Sūtrasamuccaya (Toh 3934), which is attributed to Nāgārjuna, and repeatedly throughout Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya (Toh 3940). Citations and references, sometimes at central junctures, are also found in the works of authors such as Bhāviveka (circa 500–78), Candrakīrti (seventh century), Śāntarakṣita (725–88), and Kamalaśīla (eighth century). It is no surprise, therefore, that throughout the centuries The Jewel Cloud has remained an important scriptural source for authors from all schools of view and meditation found in Tibet. Although the Sanskrit of many passages is preserved in the excerpts cited in the Indian śāstra literature, The Jewel Cloud as a whole is unfortunately no longer extant in Sanskrit. Four versions of the sūtra are, however, available in Chinese translation: Taishō 658, translated by Mandrasena in 503 ᴄᴇ; Taishō 659, translated by Maṇḍalasena and Saṅghabhara in the sixth century; Taishō 660, translated by Dharmaruci in 693 ᴄᴇ; and Taishō 489, translated by Dharmarakṣa and Weijing in 1019–23 ᴄᴇ.

i.2In several traditional Tibetan histories, The Jewel Cloud is said to have been among the first few sūtras translated into Tibetan, using the new script devised by Tönmi Sambhoṭa during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo (circa 617–50). Some accounts add that the sūtra formed part of the collection of scriptures that Tönmi Sambhoṭa carried with him upon his return to Tibet as gifts for the king from his Indian patron. However, if a seventh century translation of this text did indeed exist, it has not survived as such, and has either been lost or must be assumed to have formed the basis of the revised version we have today, produced during the principal “early” translation period some two centuries later.

i.3This surviving version of the The Jewel Cloud in Tibetan translation can be dated to the late eighth or early ninth century by the translators and editors mentioned in its colophon. However, the identity of the translators and their exact role are recorded with some differences between the colophons of the available recensions. In Kangyurs of the Tshalpa (tshal pa) group (such as the Degé), the translators are listed as Rinchen Tso and Chönyi Tsultrim, while Kangyurs of the Thempangma (them spangs ma) line, instead of Rinchen Tso, name “the great editor and Lotsawa, Bandé Vairocanarakṣita.” Moreover, whereas the colophons of the Tshalpa group state that the translators “translated, edited, and finalized” the sūtra, the Thempangma witnesses only mention that they “edited, finalized, and revised” the translation. Some ambiguity therefore remains as to whether the translators were merely editing a preexisting translation according to the new lexicon that was being implemented at the time, or whether they produced an entirely new translation. Given that this was a time when many older translations were revised‍—and the prominent role Rinchen Tso and Chönyi Tsultrim are said to have played in the revision process, discussed in the two paragraphs below‍—we concur with Cristina Scherrer-Schaub (2002) that the former hypothesis seems the most likely.

i.4As the great text translation project of the early period evolved, this sūtra’s dense, systematically arranged enumerations of doctrinal topics clearly made it an important work of reference. Scherrer-Schaub and, more extensively, Ulrich Pagel (2007) have shown how it was most likely a major lexical source for the Mahāvyutpatti, a ninth century dictionary of Sanskrit-Tibetan Buddhist terminology. For several sets of qualities and names listed in the sūtra’s introduction (1.­3 to 1.­4) most of the items appear in the Mahāvyutpatti almost precisely in the same sequence. Several other lists, too, of dhāraṇīs, samādhis, etc., in The Jewel Cloud correspond nearly verbatim with lists in the Mahāvyutpatti, without any other potential sources being identifiable.

i.5It is significant here that both Rinchen Tso and Chönyi Tsultrim are recorded as being influential contributors to the terminological revision that culminated in the third imperial decree, in the year 814 ᴄᴇ, and these translators’ work on The Jewel Cloud‍—whether it was being translated for the first time or, more likely, an earlier translation was being revised‍—is explicitly stated to have coincided with the preparation of a companion text to the Mahāvyutpatti known as the Drajor Bampo Nyipa (sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa, or Madhyavyutpatti). This was the manual of translation techniques and charter of officially sanctioned practice promulgated at the time, and in its introduction both figures are listed by their Sanskrit names, Ratnarakṣita and Dharmatāśīla, along with the honorific title of “Tibetan preceptors” (bod kyi mkhan po).

i.6The sūtra’s rich doctrinal content is woven into a narrative structure that opens with Buddha Śākyamuni on Gayā­śīrṣa Hill in Gayā, presiding over a great gathering of monks, bodhisattvas, gods, and other nonhuman beings. The Buddha radiates a miraculous light that illuminates the universes in the ten directions. In an extremely distant universe, the bodhisattva followers of the buddha Padma­netra notice this light. When the great bodhisattva Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin asks his teacher about it, Buddha Padma­netra explains its origins, and Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin is so touched by Buddha Śākyamuni’s compassionate acceptance of the barbaric and ungrateful beings who inhabit that realm that he asks permission to travel there, to see Buddha Śākyamuni and offer him his worship.

i.7Having obtained Padma­netra’s blessing for the visit, Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin leads a great gathering of bodhisattvas on the journey to Śākyamuni’s realm and Gayā­śīrṣa Hill at Gayā. In worship of Śākyamuni, the bodhisattvas emanate an infinite cloud of miraculous offerings. Likewise, to alleviate the suffering of the beings born in the universe within which Śākyamuni resides, the bodhisattvas send forth a vast array of emanated beings and objects. Through these emanations, they heal sentient beings and transform their environment.

i.8Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin then asks Buddha Śākyamuni a long series of questions, all of which are concerned with the nature, qualities, and activities of bodhisattvas. The main part of the sūtra consists of Śākyamuni’s detailed replies to these questions, interspersed with supportive dialogues between Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin and the Buddha. The carefully structured enumeration of subjects is a particular feature of this sūtra. Starting with the ten perfections, over one hundred topics are explained in detail, many of them subdivided into groups of ten subtopics, and some branching out into many more. The sixth of ten topics within a section on how bodhisattvas are similar to the wind, for example, includes a long series of further lists of the qualities of bodhisattvas, and then of the qualities of thus-gone ones, too‍—all within the analogy of how the activity of bodhisattvas creates a whole “universe” of positive qualities in the same way that the element wind is instrumental in creating the physical universe. Despite this latter mention of the qualities of thus-gone ones (and another passage on their greatness, 1.­539–1.­557, within the section on abundant faith), the large majority of these topics focus firmly on the bodhisattva path in all its ramifications, the predominant theme of Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bin’s questions. Indeed, the Buddha’s replies follow Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin’s initial questions so closely that the paragraphs containing those questions (1.­57–1.­62) provide a concise and useful table of contents of the themes treated in the sūtra.

i.9In the course of the Buddha’s explanations, many beings are profoundly affected by his teaching, and we hear of their attainment of varying degrees of liberation and accomplishment. As Śākyamuni’s teaching concludes, miraculous signs appear and innumerable beings express their admiration and joy for the teaching. The goddess A­martyā, whose home is Gayā­śīrṣa Hill, also comes forth to circumambulate the Buddha in homage. Śākyamuni takes the occasion to explain to certain disbelieving members of the gathering how the goddess, despite her seemingly ordinary female form, in fact possesses perfect buddha qualities.

i.10In reply to Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin, the Buddha next explains about the sūtra’s powers and blessing, describing it as the mother of all Dharma teachings and the Vinaya of the bodhisattvas. The Buddha also offers guidelines for the teaching and study of the sūtra, and the god Śakra promises to serve and protect those who commit themselves to its teaching. At Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin’s request, Śākyamuni provides the sūtra with four distinct names. As the great gathering rejoices, the sūtra concludes.

i.11In the course of Śākyamuni’s explanations to Sarva­nīvaraṇa­viṣkam­bhin there emerge certain statements that have become particularly absorbed into Tibetan Dharma literature and discourse in general. One such classic maxim is The Jewel Cloud’s definition of Buddhist meditation in terms of śamatha and vipaśyanā (1.­526): “Tranquility is one-pointed mind. Special insight is to discern phenomena as they actually are.” This passage, as well as The Jewel Cloud’s description of the stages of the realization of emptiness (1.­524), had already been cited by the Indian master Kamalaśīla, who relied on The Jewel Cloud to support his account of a gradual path for which careful reflection and the accumulation of vast merit are indispensable. Later, in his Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path, Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa (1357–1419) refers to both The Jewel Cloud and Kamalaśīla in his own discussion of the relationship between tranquility and special insight, thus warning against a pursuit of nonconceptual meditation at the expense of scholarly learning.

i.12Yet the sūtra is also celebrated among the Tibetan exponents of “extrinsic emptiness” (gzhan stong), an interpretational current that Tsongkhapa and many others have ardently sought to refute. Thus, for example, Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye (1813–99) includes The Jewel Cloud in a list of ten particularly profound sūtras in his commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāga. While the term tathāgatagarba does not occur in the sūtra, The Jewel Cloud indeed teaches that the true nature of things is pure, sublime, indestructible, and everlasting (1.­389).

i.13Testifying to the richness and diversity of the sūtra’s themes, we may also note another short but equally oft-cited passage: “The mind precedes all phenomena, so knowledge of the mind leads to knowledge of all phenomena” (1.­476). Hence, with this declaration, The Jewel Cloud is also frequently invoked in approaches that, rather than subscribing to an elaborate process of combined scriptural learning and rational inquiry, teach awakening through directly recognizing the mind’s fundamental nature. With its detailed descriptions of the bodhisattvas’ intentions and activities, The Jewel Cloud addresses a rich spectrum of topics, such as ethics, metaphysics, soteriology, and more.

i.14In producing this translation, we have based our work on the Degé xylograph, while also consulting the Comparative Edition of the Kangyur and the Stok Palace manuscript. Interestingly, our comparison of the various sources has shown that the Degé and Stok Palace Kangyurs often align, even when other Tshalpa Kangyurs offer different (and sometimes better) readings. We also occasionally compared these sources to the available Dunhuang fragments of The Jewel Cloud. As for the Sanskrit sources, we made use of the passages contained in Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya and the available entries in the Mahāvyutpatti. Due to constraints on resources and our linguistic limitations we did not, however, make use of all the citations found in the Indian śāstra literature or the four Chinese translations. It is our hope that future research on this seminal sūtra may incorporate these sources to a greater degree than has been done here. Such research is certain to further inform our understanding of the historical circumstances surrounding the Tibetan efforts of the imperial period to translate Buddhist texts in general, and the fascinating history of The Jewel Cloud in particular.