Introduction

i.1Set in Śrāvastī in Jeta’s Grove where the Buddha Śākyamuni is accompanied by a large retinue of monks, bodhisattvas, and gods of the desire and form realms, The Fourfold Accomplishment revolves around a dialogue between the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī and a god named Śrībhadra. The text opens with the god Śrībhadra asking Mañjuśrī why he is still making offerings to the Buddha given his advanced spiritual progress. Mañjuśrī’s reply is that bodhisattvas should never be satisfied by the offerings they have made, and that as they make offerings they should focus on four purposes.

i.2This initial part of the sūtra is closely paralleled in another, shorter sūtra, Mañjuśrī’s Teaching (Mañjuśrīnirdeśa, Toh 177), in which the setting and opening dialogue are the same but the god is called Susīma instead of Śrībhadra, and the four purposes are phrased in a different way.

i.3In the ensuing exchange (not included in the shorter sūtra), Mañjuśrī delivers a teaching that he had previously given to Brahmā Śikhin called The Fourfold Accomplishment. This teaching presents the path and practice of a bodhisattva in forty-three topics, each of which is divided into four subtopics. The text takes on a distinctly mnemonic character in which the fourfold rubric might allow anyone reading or reciting the text to memorize a broad range of topics related to the practice of a bodhisattva. In addition to this mnemonic application, each brief list of four particular accomplishments invites broader commentary, and in this sense the text provides a readily accessible framework for teaching the bodhisattva path.

i.4After Mañjuśrī has delivered his teaching, Śrībhadra and his retinue scatter celestial flowers on the assembly as an offering. The Buddha then uses his magical powers to reveal a sky full of bodhisattvas seated upon lotuses, and Mañjuśrī explains to Śrībhadra that all of these bodhisattvas are a magical emanation, just like his celestial flower offering. This brings a smile to the Buddha’s lips, and the text introduces its next topic: why, exactly, do buddhas smile? The question, a recurring motif in sūtra literature, echoes in the refrains of a set of poetic verses that Śrībhadra recites before the Buddha, who then answers it by predicting the imminent awakening of the bodhisattvas gathered in the sky to hear the teaching.

i.5The sūtra then turns to a brief dialogue between the Buddha, the god Śrībhadra, and Śāriputra, in which Śāriputra doubts whether there could in fact be innumerable buddhafields and innumerable bodhisattvas who populate them. In his reply, the Buddha delivers a teaching on the vast cosmology of infinite buddhafields. The sūtra then concludes with two additional teachings from Mañjuśrī on thirty-five qualities that ripen bodhisattvas for awakening and ten types of pride that bodhisattvas should avoid.

i.6The Fourfold Accomplishment is listed in both the Denkarma and Pangthangma royal Tibetan catalogs of translated works, indicating that the first Tibetan translation of the text was completed by the early ninth century. Unfortunately there is no colophon to the Tibetan translation, so the text does not contain any indication as to who produced the Tibetan translation. The single Chinese translation of the text , which we did not consult for the present translation, was translated by Śikṣānanda between 695–700 ᴄᴇ. No Sanskrit versions of the text appear to have survived.

i.7This translation was completed based on the Tibetan translation of the text preserved in the Degé edition of the Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur and the Stok Palace Kangyur. Any points at which the translation employs variants from editions of the Kangyur other than the Degé have been noted throughout the translation.