Notes

n.1For an exploration of how unusual it may be in a text from a fundamental layer of Buddhist literature to thus emphasize the training in wisdom, see Sharygin 2024.

n.2Skilling 2012, pp. 63–88. For more on the Mahāsūtras, see the 84000 Knowledge Base article Mahāsūtras.

n.3See 1.­83–1.­84.The term used in the Tibetan here is bar sdom (Skt. antaroddāna) or “intervening summary.” Such summaries are typically found in vinaya and abhidharma texts, as well as in the longer āgamas. Three other Mahāsūtras contain antaroddāna type summaries, attesting to these works’ close relationship with the Mūlasarvastivāda vinaya and āgama literature. See Skilling 2012, pp. 90–92 and 231.

n.4Skilling’s detailed study of various features of the text includes (Skilling 2012, pp. 242–245) an analysis of the analogies and their parallels elsewhere in the canonical literature.

n.584000. The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma , Toh 287 (2021).

n.6Skilling has provided a chart of these sources for quick reference. See Skilling 2012, p. 228.

n.7Skilling 2012, p. 233.

n.8The complete Sanskrit witness of the Māyājālasūtra mentioned here was not available at the time this English translation was published, and so was not consulted here. For more on this version, see Sharygin 2024 and Sharygin forthcoming.

n.9Skilling 2012, p. 234.

n.10Vasubandhu, rnam par bshad pa’i rigs pa (Vyākhyāyukti), Toh 4061, Degé Tengyur vol. 238 (sems tsam, shi), folios 29.a–134.b. Skilling provides the folio number for this citation of Vasubandhu in the Qianlong Peking Tengyur as Q5562, vol. 113 (sems tsam, si), folios 126.b.1–126.b.2. See Skilling 2012, p. 228.

n.11Guṇamati, rnam par bshad pa’i rigs pa’i bshad pa (Vyākhyāyukti­ṭīkā), Toh 4069, Degé Tengyur vol. 239 (sems tsam, si), folios 139.b–301.a. Skilling provides the folio numbers for this citation of Gunamati in the Qianlong Peking Tengyur as Q5570, vol. 114 (sems tsam, i), folios 155.b–156.a.

n.12Skilling 2012, p. 106.

n.13Skilling 2012 pp. 228–29.

n.14Skilling 2012 p. 251.

n.15The Buddha is referring to the three trainings (Tib. bslab pa gsum, Skt. trīṇi śikṣāṇi). The list of three trainings that appears in the Mahāvyutpatti matches the list as it appears in this text and across a broad range of Sanskrit and Pali Buddhist sources.

n.16Tib. mig gis rnam par shes par bya ba’i gzugs btang snyoms kyi gnas lta bu dag la ni so sor brtags pa ma yin/ so sor rtags pa ma yin pa’i btang snyoms su gnas par ’gyur te.

n.17Tib. tshogs kyi mdud pa. Skilling notes that this term translates the Sanskrit kāyagrantha, a technical term used for a set of four bonds that appears frequently throughout this text, but that unfortunately does not receive a thorough enough treatment in Sanskrit Buddhist literature to provide the proper context for its interpretation. Skilling defers to the following insightful comments from Nārada Mahā Thera on the presentation of the kāyagranthas in the Theravāda tradition: “Ganthas are those that bind mind with body or the present body with bodies of future existences. Here the term kāya is used in the sense of mass or body‍—both mental and physical.” See Skilling 2012, pp. 240–41. Nārada Mahā Thera’s interpretation of the term has been adopted here, and it appears to agree with the interpretation of a similar group of four in Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche’s Gateway to Knowledge (see Pema Kunsang 2000 and the next note).

n.18These correspond to the four “bonds that bind our bodies” (lus kyis mdud pa), according to Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche (see Pema Kunsang 2000, p. 130).

n.19“Thoughtlessly indifferent” renders the Tibetan so sor brtags pa ma yin pa’i btang snyoms.

n.20These are the “four misconceptions” (Skt. caturviparyāsa; Tib. phyin ci log pa bzhi): mistaking impermanence for permanence, mistaking suffering for happiness, mistaking impurity for purity, and mistaking the absence of a self for a self.

n.21“Speak highly of them” renders the Tibetan mngon par brjod par bya ba.

n.22D, U, S na ba dang; Y, K, J, N, C, H omit. This translation follows the reading in the Degé, Stok Palace, and Urga Kangyurs.

n.23D mngon par shes par byas nas; Y, K, S mngon par zhen par byas nas. This translation follows the reading in the Yongle, Peking, and Stok Palace Kangyurs.

n.24D, S gzhan ni don med pa’o zhes. This variant is found in all of the Tibetan witnesses consulted for this translation.

n.25D gzhan ni don med pa’o zhes; S gzhan ni brdzun pa’o zhes. This translation follows the reading in the Stok Palace Kangyur.

n.26See i.­4 and n.­3.