Notes

n.1See Buswell 2014, p. 652.

n.2Mount Potalaka is the setting for the Avalokiteśvara chapter in The Stem Array (Gaṇḍavyūha, ch. 45 of the Buddhāvataṃ­saka, Toh 44), 30.­1. It is also the setting of The Sūtra on the Samādhi in which the Buddhas of the Present All Stand Before One (Pratyutpanna­buddha­saṃmukhāvasthita­samādhi­sūtra, Toh 133). In both these texts, the Tibetan for Mount Potalaka is ri gru ’dzin rather than the transliterated form used in the present text. As far as we are aware these are the only sūtras set in this location, although it also figures in tantras and dhāraṇī texts related to Avalokiteśvara.

n.3The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline , (Buddha­piṭaka­duḥśīla­nigraha, Toh 220).

n.4The Episode of Dṛḍhādhyāśaya , (Dṛḍhādhyāśaya­parivarta, Toh 220).

n.5On the other hand, the colophon in some Kangyurs states the opposite: that it was not established according to the new terminology (see n.­24). On the royal decree in the early ninth century to standardize the terminology used in translations of Buddhist texts, according to which many older translations from Chinese, in particular, were re-edited, see R. A. Stein (trans. McKeown) 2010.

n.6Silk 2019, p. 239.

n.7法海經 (Taishō 34, CBETA).

n.8Denkarma, folio 299.b: ’phags pa chos kyi rgya mtsho. It is worth observing that, unlike this listing, the title of the present sūtra has no ’phags pa prefix and does not include the connective kyi. It is also worth observing that the Denkarma listing is not found in the section of the catalog for texts translated from Chinese.

n.9Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, p. 114.

n.10Phangthangma 2003, p. 25: ’phags pa chos kyi rgya mtsho’i gzungs. This clearly refers to The Noble Dhāraṇī “Ocean of Dharma” (’phags pa chos kyi rgya mtsho zhes bya ba’i gzungs, Ārya­dharma­sāgara­nāma­dhāraṇī, Toh 654), a text with no overlap with the current sūtra. The colophon to Toh 654 states that it was translated by Surendrabodhi, Prajñāvarman, and Bandé Yeshé Dé, clearly indicating an imperial-era translation.

n.11Butön, chos ’byung (fol. 152.a): chos kyi rgya mtsho. It is clear that Butön was referring to this text here as it is listed alongside the texts that precede and follow it (Toh 254 and Toh 256) in Tshalpa-line Kangyurs and its colophon states it is “translated from Chinese.”

n.12Many Kangyurs appear to have a missing passage here, as the Buddha’s invitation to Lord of the World to question him runs without a break (S and Z), with the word ces inserted but no punctuation (C), or with punctuation (J, K, N), straight into the second phrase of his answer starting ’dod pa la rtog cing… (“you will understand desire”), thus omitting Lord of the World’s question entirely. Only D, H, and U include the question and the beginning of the answer.

n.13Translation tentative. D: yang dag pa ma yin pa la brtags pas [var. pa] grangs med par yang ’khor bar ’gyur. Another interpretation would take pa (from S and Z) instead of pas and read this as brtags pa yid la ’khor or sems la ’khor, “think,” and hence translate “countless thoughts examining the unreal will occur.”

n.14Tib. ’gro ba tha dad pa’i chos rnams. This unusual turn of phrase, which is unique to this text in the entire Kangyur, appears to refer to the experiences of saṃsāra in general.

n.15Tib. rigs pas grol ba ste. Although on the face of it this could be read as “liberated by reasoning,” in this context it is likely a reference to the pair of qualities often found as the defining criteria of proper members of the saṅgha, expressed most commonly in later literature as “knowledge and freedom” (rig pa dang grol ba). Here, in place of rig pa, we find rigs pa, as is also the case in some chapters of another sūtra on similar themes, The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline (Toh 220); in both texts the sense of rigs pa seems to be more broadly “connectedness” or “coherence” rather than “reasoning” or “logic.” On the alternative pairs of terms rigs pa dang grol ba, rigs pa dang grol ba, and ldan pa dang grol ba, see The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline (Toh 220), n.­1.

n.16Translation tentative. D and S: khams dang / skye mched kyi lha rnams ma yin pa spro ba dam par byed pas. C, J, K, Y, and N: skye mched rnams.

n.17Following S, pha wang (bat) instead of D, pha bong (boulder).

n.18Tib. sems can kyi khams. The translation of this section remains tentative. In the underlying Sanskrit, there appears to have been play between the parallel Sanskrit terms sattvadhātu and dharmadhātu, which is lost in the Tibetan translations of those terms as sems can gyi khams and chos dbyings, respectively.

n.19Translation tentative. D and other Kangyurs read: zhi ba dang nye bar zhi ba rnams mi dmigs pa’i dge slong la brtags pa ste/ spyod pa rnams kyang brtags pa’o/ log pa la rnam pa mang du rtog pa’i dge slong spyod pa ni ma brtags pa’o. S and Z read: zhi ba dang nye bar zhi ba’i rnams mi dmigs pa’i dge slong la brtags pa ste/ spyod pa’i rnams kyang brtags pa’o/ log pa la rnam pa mang du rtog pa’i dge slong spyod pa ni ma brtags pa’o.

n.20Reading ’jigs rten pa thams cad, as attested elsewhere in the sūtra, instead of ’jig rten thams cad.

n.21Reading zhig from K and Y instead of zhing.

n.22Reading ’gro ba instead of ngan ’gro, based on context.

n.23Translation tentative. Tib. chos ’di dag la dmigs pa rnams kyis ni don dam par ’dzin gyi ’phags pa’i rnams ni mi dmigs so.

n.24S and Z, along with other peripheral Kangyurs of the Themphangma line, read the opposite: “not established according to the new terminology” (skad gsar chad kyis gtan la ma phab pa’o). C, N, J, and K do not have this colophon at all.