Introduction
i.1The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme” is a short discourse set in the Bamboo Grove at Rājagṛha, in which the Buddha teaches that the Three Jewels are supreme: the Buddha is supreme among all beings, the Dharma of being free of attachment is supreme among all dharmas, and the Saṅgha is supreme among all communities and groups. In this way, the sūtra presents a declaration of faith in the Three Jewels. The Buddha also states that the reward of being well disposed toward the Three Jewels is rebirth as a supreme god or human.
i.1《宣說最勝經》是一部短篇論述，設定在王舍城的竹園，其中佛陀教導三寶是最勝的：佛陀在一切眾生中最勝，不貪欲的法在一切法中最勝，僧伽在一切社群和團體中最勝。經文以此方式呈現對三寶的信心宣言。佛陀也說明對三寶信樂的福報是轉生為最勝的天神或人類。
i.2Little is known about the history of The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme” as an independent text in India, but the existence of similar texts in the Pali and Chinese canons testifies to its antiquity. The closest Pali parallel is the Aggappasādasutta (Iti 90), while the Aggappasādasutta (AN 4.34) and the Cundīsutta (AN 5.32) are also closely related. In the Aggappasādasutta (Iti 90), the Three Jewels are taught to be supreme, using similar language, and they are said therein to be the objects of the supreme kinds of confidence, faith, or favorable disposition.
i.2《最勝宣說經》作為一部獨立文本在印度的歷史鮮為人知，但相似文本存在於巴利語和漢語的佛經集中，證明了其古老的由來。最接近的巴利語對應文本是《增支部》中的《最勝歡喜經》（Iti 90），而《增支部》中的《最勝歡喜經》（AN 4.34）和《純陀經》（AN 5.32）也與之密切相關。在《增支部》的《最勝歡喜經》（Iti 90）中，三寶被教導為最勝，使用了相似的語言，並且據稱其中三寶是最勝信樂、信心或善意之心的對象。
i.3The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme” may have had a significant status in early Buddhist Central Asia, since we find Sanskrit fragments of the sūtra and its commentaries in a variety of manuscripts unearthed in present-day Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. In addition to an unpublished fragment in the Hoernle Collection, a fragment in the Pelliot Collection was published by Bernard Pauly.. The Turfan Collection also holds two fragments from commentaries on the sūtra: a Sanskrit fragment partially edited by Ernst Waldschmidt that includes the colophon, and an Old Turkish and Sanskrit bilingual fragment containing the beginning of a commentary on the sūtra.
i.3《宣說至上義經》在早期佛教中亞可能具有重要地位，因為我們在今日中國新疆維吾爾自治區出土的各種手稿中發現了該經的梵文殘片及其註疏。除了霍恩勒收藏中未出版的殘片外，伯利埃特收藏中的一個殘片已由伯納德·保利出版。吐魯番收藏還保存了該經註疏的兩個殘片：一份由恩斯特·瓦爾德施密特部分編輯的梵文殘片，其中包含了尾記，以及一份包含該經註疏開篇的古突厥文與梵文雙語殘片。
i.4A version of this teaching is also found in the Avadānaśataka, a Sanskrit anthology of avadānas, where this teaching appears almost in its entirety in two different passages (stories 9 and 57). The Tibetan translation of the Avadānaśataka is included in the Kangyur (Toh 343) and the wording in these passages is almost identical to the present sūtra. Moreover, an abridged form of this teaching is also contained in the Divyāvadāna as well as in the Great Upholder of the Secret Mantra (Toh 563, 1.45–1.47).
i.4這個教法的一個版本也見於《百業經》，這是一部梵文本生譚選集，其中這個教法幾乎完全出現在兩個不同的段落中（故事9和57）。《百業經》的藏文翻譯被收入《大藏經》（編號343），這些段落中的用詞與現在這部經幾乎完全相同。此外，這個教法的簡略形式也包含在《天譜》以及《大密保護者》（編號563，1.45–1.47）中。
i.5Several versions of The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme” are extant in the Chinese Tripitaka: the closest version is found as part of the Ekottarikāgama (Zeng yi a han jing 增壹阿含經, Taishō 125). The Chinese translation of the Ekottarikāgama was, for the most part, completed by Zhu Fonian (竺佛念) in 384 ᴄᴇ. However, the discourse in this text has a different setting, and unlike Toh 305, it is presented by means of similes and in verse. The other versions of this teaching in the Chinese canon are three sūtras (nos. 902–904) in the Saṃyuktāgama (Za a han jing 雜阿含經, Taishō 99), which likewise teach that the Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha are supreme. The Saṃyuktāgama was translated into Chinese between 435 and 443 ᴄᴇ by Guṇabhadra (394–468) and Baoyun 寶雲 (376–449) in Jiankang (today’s Nanjing).
i.5在中文大藏經中存在著《宣說至高經》的多個版本：最接近的版本見於《增壹阿含經》（增壹阿含經，大正藏125）之中。《增壹阿含經》的中文翻譯大部分由竺佛念在西元384年完成。然而，該文本中的開示有不同的背景，並且與《宣說至高經》（Toh 305）不同，它是通過比喻和韻文的方式呈現的。在中文藏經中的其他此教法版本是《雜阿含經》（雜阿含經，大正藏99）中的三部經文（編號902-904），它們同樣教導佛陀、法和僧伽是至高的。《雜阿含經》於西元435至443年間由求那跋陀羅（394-468）和寶雲（376-449）在建康（今日的南京）翻譯為中文。
i.6The translators of The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme” into Tibetan remain unidentified and the sūtra is not listed in any catalogs of the Tibetan imperial period. However, the striking similarity between the Tibetan of the sūtra and the version that appears in the Tibetan translation of the Avadānaśataka (Toh 343) suggests that these translations were unlikely to have been made independently of one another. The colophon of the Tibetan translation of the Avadānaśataka (Toh 343) states that it was translated by the scholars Jinamitra and Devacandra who were active in Tibet in the early ninth century. By extension therefore, the Tibetan translation of the The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme” can perhaps also tentatively be dated to the early ninth century.
i.6《宣說為最勝經》的藏文譯者身份不詳，該經也未被列入任何藏地帝王時期的目錄中。然而，該經的藏文與出現在《百業經》藏文譯本（Toh 343）中的版本之間存在驚人的相似性，這表明這些譯文不太可能是彼此獨立進行的。《百業經》藏文譯本（Toh 343）的跋文記載，該譯本由在九世紀初活躍於西藏的學者智友和德慧翻譯。由此推斷，《宣說為最勝經》的藏文譯本也可以初步推定為成書於九世紀初。
i.7The sūtra is only found as an independent text in the Sūtra section of Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line, the Lhasa and Narthang Kangyurs, and in the Tholing Collection from Western Tibet. The Tibetan title of the text is the same in all Kangyurs included in the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma), mchog tu gdags pa’i mdo, while the Tholing Collection has ’phags pa mchog tu gdags pa’i mdo. Versions such as the Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Choné, do not present the name of the text at the beginning. The Sanskrit title of the sūtra is missing in all versions. Nevertheless, the colophon of the abovementioned fragmentary Sanskrit commentary clearly refers to the sūtra using the title Agraprajñaptisūtra.
i.7這部經典作為獨立的文本，只在擦巴版系統的大藏經、拉薩版大藏經和納塘版大藏經的經部，以及西藏托林版大藏經中出現。該文本的藏文標題在《對照版》（藏文：dpe bsdur ma）所收錄的所有大藏經中都相同，為「mchog tu gdags pa'i mdo」，而托林版大藏經則為「'phags pa mchog tu gdags pa'i mdo」。永樂版、理塘版、康熙版、納塘版和楚內版等版本在文本開頭都沒有標題。所有版本中都缺少該經的梵文標題。然而，上述殘缺梵文註釋的末尾明確以「Agraprajñaptisūtra」（最勝決定經）為標題來指稱這部經典。
i.8This English translation is based on the Degé Kangyur print of Toh 305, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and Pauly’s edition of the Sanskrit fragment. We also compared the Tibetan text line by line with the corresponding passages in the Avadānaśataka in both Sanskrit and Tibetan. The translators also consulted Léon Feer’s early French translation of the Avadānaśataka and Naomi Appleton’s more recent partial English translation of the same.
i.8本英文翻譯以德格版大藏經《德格版第305號經典》為基礎，參考了《德格版大藏經》和保利版梵文片段而成。我們還逐行將藏文文本與《百業經》的相應段落進行了比對，包括梵文和藏文版本。翻譯者還查閱了萊昂·費爾關於《百業經》的早期法文翻譯和娜奧米·蘋果頓最近完成的英文部分翻譯。