Introduction
i.1While the Buddha is dwelling in the Bamboo Grove monastery near Rājagṛha, together with a thousand monks and a host of bodhisattvas, King Prasenajit rises from his seat, bows at the feet of the Buddha, and asks him how to uphold the Dharma in his kingdom during times of conflict. In reply the Buddha instructs the king about the gaṇḍī, a wooden beam that is ritually struck to produce sound, and tells him how the sound of this instrument, used for Dharma practice in a temple or monastery, quells conflict and strife for all who hear it. He then describes how to make, consecrate, and sound the gaṇḍī. He explains that the gaṇḍī symbolizes the Perfection of Insight and describes in detail the many benefits it confers.
i.1佛陀住在王舍城附近的竹園寺院裡，與一千名比丘和許多菩薩在一起。波斯匿王從座位上起身，在佛陀的腳下禮拜，問他在衝突時期如何在自己的王國裡護持法。佛陀回答國王，為他講授犍槌，這是一根木製的梁，通過儀式敲擊來發出聲音。他告訴國王，這件樂器在寺院或修行處中用於法的修習時，發出的聲音能夠平息所有聽到它的人的衝突和紛爭。他隨後詳細描述了如何製作、祝聖和敲擊犍槌。他解釋說犍槌象徵般若波羅蜜，並詳細闡述了它所帶來的許多利益。
i.2The gaṇḍī, sometimes misleadingly translated into English as “gong,” refers to a wooden beam cut from specific trees to particular proportions. From as early as the first century ᴄᴇ down to the present day, it has been widely used in Buddhist monasteries as an instrument for summoning monks to assembly. To hear its sound is said to quell all disruptive thoughts, dispel obstacles, and pacify all conflicts and negative forces. The role of the gaṇḍī in Buddhist monastic life appears to have been quite varied, extending to both nontantric and tantric forms of ritualism and daily life. As an example of its diverse functions in the day-to-day monastic itinerary, the Vinayavastu classifies five different types or uses of the gaṇḍī: the gaṇḍī for assembling monks, the gaṇḍī for meetings, the gaṇḍī for death ceremonies, the gaṇḍī for renunciation, and the gaṇḍī for emergencies.
i.2犍槌，有時被誤譯為英文的「鑼」，指的是從特定樹木切割下來、按特定比例製作的木梁。從早至西元一世紀以來直到今天，它在佛教寺院中被廣泛用作召集僧侶集合的樂器。據說聽到它的聲音可以平息所有散亂的思想、消除障礙，並化解一切衝突和負面力量。犍槌在佛教僧團生活中的作用相當多樣化，既涵蓋非密咒形式的儀式，也涵蓋密咒形式的儀式和日常生活。舉例來說，在日常僧團行程中它的多種功能體現於《毗奈耶事》對犍槌的五種不同類型或用途的分類：召集僧侶的犍槌、舉行會議的犍槌、舉辦追悼儀式的犍槌、出家受戒的犍槌，以及應急情況下的犍槌。
i.3There is to our knowledge no extant Sanskrit or Chinese version of The Gaṇḍī Sūtra. According to the colophon to the Tibetan translations, it was translated into Tibetan by Dharmaśrībhadra and Tsültrim Yönten and subsequently edited by Rinchen Zangpo, which dates the Tibetan translation included in the Kangyur to the early eleventh century ᴄᴇ. The text is, however, also recorded in the Denkarma catalog of the Tibetan imperial translations, so it appears that it was first translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan by an unknown translator no later than the early ninth century, as the Denkarma is dated to 812 ᴄᴇ. It is not recorded in the Phangthangma catalog of Tibetan imperial translations.
i.3據我們所知，《犍槌經》沒有現存的梵文或漢文版本。根據藏文翻譯的後記，該經由法髻賢和律成功德譯成藏文，隨後由寶賢編訂，這使得收入甘珠爾中的藏文翻譯可以追溯到十一世紀初。不過，該經文也被記錄在藏帝國翻譯的丹噶目錄中，這表明它最晚在九世紀初就已由一位不知名的譯者從梵文譯成藏文，因為丹噶目錄的成書時間是公元八一二年。該經在藏帝國翻譯的邦唐瑪目錄中沒有被記錄。
i.4This English translation was prepared based on the Tibetan translation in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.
i.4本英文譯本係以德格甘珠爾所收藏的藏文譯本為基礎，並參考對勘本（藏文：dpe bsdur ma）及斯托克宮甘珠爾而編譯。