Introduction

i.1The Marvelous Dharma Discourse is a short Mahāyāna sūtra concerned with the merit resulting from making stūpas. The sūtra takes place in the Bamboo Grove near Rājagṛha, where the Buddha Śākyamuni regularly stayed and gave teachings. The text begins when Ānanda, while on an alms round in the city of Rājagṛha, notices a fine palace and wonders whether the merit accrued by offering such a palace to the saṅgha in the four directions would exceed the merit produced from constructing a miniature stūpa the size of a small fruit for the veneration of a buddha. Resolving to ask the Buddha about this, he returns to the Bamboo Grove and asks his question. The Buddha replies that the merit accrued by creating even a very small stūpa for the veneration of a perfect buddha is far greater than the merit accrued by any form of offering made to all stream enterers, once-returners, non-returners, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and the saṅgha in the four directions.

i.1《妙法論述》是一部短篇大乘經，討論建造塔所產生的福德。經文在佛陀釋迦牟尼經常居住和說法的王舍城附近的竹林中展開。經文開始時，阿難在王舍城托缽化緣時，注意到一座精美的宮殿，他思考向四方僧伽供奉這樣一座宮殿所積累的福德，是否會超過為了禮敬佛陀而建造一個像小水果般大小的微小塔所產生的福德。阿難決定向佛陀請教此事，他回到竹林並提出了自己的疑問。佛陀答覆說，為禮敬一位圓滿的佛陀而建造任何一個非常小的塔所積累的福德，遠遠超過向四方的須陀洹、斯陀含、阿那含、阿羅漢、辟支佛和僧伽進行任何形式供養所積累的福德。

i.2The Marvelous Dharma Discourse is found in the General Sūtra section of the Kangyur. Its colophon states that it was translated by the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé and the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, who were regular collaborators in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. The text is also included in the Denkarma catalog, dated to 812 ᴄᴇ, while in the Phangthangma inventory there are two texts listed with this name, one among the short Mahāyana sūtras and one among the Hīnayāna discourses.

i.2《妙法論述》收錄在甘珠爾的一般經部中。其文末記載表明，該經由譯者編輯班智達耶喜德和印度經師智友、蘇倫傳波地共同翻譯，他們是八世紀末至九世紀初的常規合作者。該文本也收錄在丹噶目錄中，該目錄的年代為公元812年，而在彭當目錄的名單中，有兩部以該名稱記載的文本，一部列在大乘經部，一部列在小乘論述中。

i.3Three Sanskrit manuscripts of the text have so far been identified in the Gilgit collection, and all three have been published in facsimile in Gilgit Buddhist Manuscripts. Yael Bentor has published an edition and translation from Sanskrit, as well as a comparison of redactional differences between the manuscripts.

i.3到目前為止，在吉爾吉特文獻集中已經發現了三份梵文手稿，這三份手稿都已經以影印本的形式在《吉爾吉特佛教手稿》中出版。耶爾·本托爾出版了梵文版本的校注本和翻譯，以及對手稿之間編纂差異的比較研究。

i.4Two translations of this sūtra are available in Chinese. The first (Taishō 688) was produced by an unknown translator sometime during the late Han dynasty (25–220 ᴄᴇ). The second (Taishō 689) was translated by Xuanzang in 649 ᴄᴇ. According to Bentor, these two Chinese versions, which are supposed to be translations of The Marvelous Dharma Discourse, are in fact closer to the Sanskrit text of The Great Rumble (Toh 208).

i.4現存有兩個中文譯本的這部經文。第一個譯本（大正688）由一位未知的譯者在漢代晚期（西元25–220年）某個時間翻譯而成。第二個譯本（大正689）由玄奘在西元649年翻譯。根據班托爾的研究，這兩個中文版本雖然據稱是《妙法論述》的譯本，但實際上更接近於梵文本《大音聲》（藏經號208）的文本。

i.5The basis for this translation was the Degé version in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the version included in the Stok Palace Kangyur. Bentor’s edition and translation of the Sanskrit were also consulted, and all significant differences between the Tibetan and the Sanskrit are mentioned in the notes to this translation.

i.5本翻譯以德格版本為基礎，並參照了對勘本以及斯托克宮藏文大藏經中的版本。同時也參考了班托爾對梵文的版本編訂和翻譯，藏文和梵文之間所有重要的差異都在本翻譯的註釋中加以說明。