Notes

n.1The Pali canon emerged in written form around the first century ʙᴄᴇ. The oldest Chinese parallel for this text is included in the Ekottarikāgama (Taishō 125). It was translated into Chinese in 384 ᴄᴇ.

n.2For online links to all three Pali texts along with English translations, see the Bibliography.

n.3British Library, Hoernle 149.140.

n.4Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Pelliot Sanskrit: petit fragment 83. Pauly (1960, pp. 519–24) provides a transcription of the fragment and reproduces a passage from Speyer’s edition of the Avadānaśataka, which is supplemented with notes detailing variant readings of the fragment.

n.5Oriental Department of the State Library at Berlin, SHT 24f. See Waldschmidt (1965), pp. 16–17, n. 24.

n.6Türkische Turfan-Text VIII H. See von Gabain (1954), pp. 54–56.

n.7In the ninth story, there is no setting or conclusion given for The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme,” although it is referred to as a sūtra: bhagavān idaṃ sūtraṃ bhāṣate sma. In that version, the Buddha preaches the sūtra to brahmins and householders. See Speyer (1902–6), pp. 49–50. In the fifty-seventh story, only the setting is omitted, and the Buddha preaches it to monks, as found here in The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme.” See Speyer (1902–6), pp. 329–30.

n.8For a Sanskrit edition, see Vaidya (1959), p. 95, and for an English translation, see Rotman (2008), p. 268.

n.9The version that appears in the Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra, one of the Pañcarakṣā, suggests the teaching was considered to have a protective function. This would be in line with the Pañcarakṣā being seen as protective texts (Hartmann and Maue 1996, p. 149, n. 9).

n.10Ekottarikāgama 21.1 (di yi de 第一徳). An English translation of this text from Chinese by Thích Huyên-Vi, Sara Boin-Webb, and Bhikkhu Pāsādika is available at SuttaCentral with the title Highest Faith .

n.11See Bhikkhu Anālayo (2016), p. 1.

n.12See Bingenheimer (2011), p. 1.

n.13For further information, see Resources for Kanjur and Tenjur Studies at Universität Wein (last accessed 30 May 2023).

n.14Although the colophon is fragmentary, it begins as follows: agra­prajñapti­sūtrasyopadeśaḥ…, “instructions on The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme”…” See Waldschmidt (1965), p. 16.

n.15Speyer (1902–6) edited the Sanskrit text of the Avadānaśataka based on four different Nepalese manuscripts. Manuscript B in Nepalese script, dated to 1645, is the common source for the other three. Vaidya (1958) published another edition based on Speyer’s.

n.16Feer’s translation (1891) predates Speyer’s edition and is based on a single Nepalese manuscript.

n.17Naomi Appleton (2020) translates the first four sections of the Avadānaśataka.

n.18The version that is found in the Avadānaśataka (Avś), and in its Tibetan translation (Toh 343) begins with this sentence.

n.19Reading with Y, K, C, U and H: dge slong dag ’di gsum ni mchog tu gdags pa yin te, and Avś tisra imā bhikṣavo ’graprajñaptayaḥ. D here has the corrupt reading na in place of ni.

n.20The phrase “in this regard” (Tib. de la) is absent in Avś and in Toh 343.

n.21The words “with four legs” are absent in Avś, though present in Frgm and in Toh 343.

n.22This refers to the category of beings abiding in the fourth and highest level of the formless realm. These are either the gods that abide there or persons who have reached this state through meditative equipoise. This state is also referred to as the “peak of existence” (Skt. bhavāgra; Tib. srid rtse) and is situated at the apex of saṃsāra. The beings there do not experience perceptions and yet cannot be said to be without perceptions.

n.23The phrase “the arhat, the completely perfect Buddha” is absent in Frgm.

n.24Frgm reads instead iyaṃ prathamā agraprajñaptiḥ, “This is the first declaration as supreme.”

n.25Alternatively, this may be rendered “dispassion (i.e., being free of attachment) is the supreme Dharma.”

n.26The phrase “the arhat, the completely perfect Buddha” is absent in Avś and its Tibetan translation (Toh 343).