Notes

n.1Published in facsimile by Raghu Vira and Lokesh Chandra as Gilgit Buddhist Manuscripts. For this text, see Vira and Chandra (eds.), Part 7 (1974), pp. 1542–44.

n.2Mette 1981; Matsumura 1982.

n.3The Devatā Sūtra is the seventh sutra included in this manuscript.

n.4Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā 2010, vol. I.1, pp. 260–303.

n.5Tan Chung (ed.) 1994.

n.6Denkarma, folio 301.a; Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, p. 161.

n.7Phangthangma 2003, pp. 18, 22 (listed twice). 37 ślokas.

n.8The Shorter Devatā Sūtra (translated 2023).

n.9The Shorter Devatā Sūtra carries a colophon attributing the translation to Yeshé Dé, whereas this text does not. The way Butön lists them together in his History leaves an element of ambiguity, leading Herrmann-Pfandt to attribute the translation of both to Yeshé Dé. Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, p. 161; Butön, p. 919.

n.10Silk 2019, pp. 239–40.

n.11For an English translation of the Pali Devatāsutta , see Bhikkhu Bodhi 2012. Also SuttaCentral: (AN 9.19 / AN 6.69).

n.12See Pelliot tibétain 731: verses 1–2. Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā 2010, p. 271.

n.13Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā 2010, p. 261.

n.14The Sanskrit of the Potala Palace manuscript adds “together with a great assembly of one thousand two hundred and fifty monks.” Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā 2010, pp. 262–4. This is not found in the Gilgit Sanskrit manuscript.

n.15D: mi nyal tsam. Pelliot tibétain 732: nam nangs pa dang, Skt. atikrāntāyāṃ rātrau. Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā 2010, p. 267: “when the night was far gone”; also notes “in the 2nd or 3rd watch.”

n.16In the Stok Palace version, each verse of questions from the divine being (lha) is prefaced with the vocative phrase kye bcom ldan ’das (“O Blessed One”).

n.17The first verse in the Tibetan corresponds to the first verse in the Gilgit manuscript, and to the first verse in the Chinese (Taishō 592), but to the sixth verse in the Sanskrit Potala Palace manuscript. Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā 2010, pp. 267–73.

n.18Lit. “What is the hālāhala poison?” Hālāhala poison refers to a potent snake venom that connotes the most lethal of poisons.

n.19While the comparative construction is only implicit in the Degé Kangyur version, it is explicit in the alternative translation found in the Dunhuang manuscript Pelliot tibétain 732: mtshon kyi nang na rno ba gang/ dug gi […] pa gang/ mye’i nang na tsha ba gang/ mun pa’i nang na gnag pa gang.

n.20gang dag tshul khrims log lhung byas. Alternatively, “those who fall into perverse morality.”

n.21Here the Stok Palace ordering of verses and lines diverges from that of the Degé and Tshalpa-line Kangyurs. The Stok Palace version presents lines here which in the Degé recension come later: “What is a harmful disease?”; “Who is the enemy with hateful intent?”; and “What are the sufferings of hell?” All of these form part of later exchanges in the Degé recension. The Buddha’s responses in the next verse likewise diverge (with the Stok Palace version reading “Attachment is a harmful disease”; “Negative deeds are the enemy with hateful intent”; “The sufferings of hell are unbearable”). The Stok Palace version then continues with a series of exchanges, which are found later in the Degé version, as follows: exchange 8 (1.­29), followed by exchange 7, exchange 9, and exchange 11 (1.­25, 1.­33, and 1.­41, respectively), and finally an exchange without parallel in the Degé. S folios 292.a–293.a.

n.22Following D: mi bzod (“unbearable”); Y, Q: mi zad (“inexhaustible”).

n.23This set of questions and answers is not found in the Chinese (Taishō 592) but is found in Tibetan and in both Sanskrit witnesses (GBM and PP). See Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā 2010, pp. 288–89.

n.24Here “generosity” translates gtong ba (Skt. tyāga), which generally denotes “giving up,” “sacrifice” or “renunciation,” but can also mean “giving away,” or liberality and generosity in general. This however is to be distinguished from the bodhisattva perfection denoted by the term sbyin pa (Skt. dāna).

n.25Here following the Sanskrit (GBM and PP) puṇya, and Dunhuang manuscript Pelliot tibétain 732 (line 22 bsod nams), rather than the Degé Kangyur (and other Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line), which here read “ethical discipline” (tshul khrims). The Stok Palace Kangyur version has the alternative answer, “dharmatā” (chos nyid), S folio 293.a.

n.26This set of questions and answers is not found in the Chinese (Taishō 592) but is found in Tibetan and in both Sanskrit witnesses (GBM and PP). See Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā 2010, pp. 290–91.

n.27The Sanskrit Potala Palace manuscript (PP) here has two additional Sanskrit verses that are not included in the Gilgit manuscript (GBM), nor in the Tibetan or Chinese translations. Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā 2010, p. 298–99.

n.28Tib. ’jigs pa kun las ’das gyur cing, Skt. sarva­vairabhayātītaṃ tīrṇam. The Tibetan of The Shorter Devatā Sūtra (Toh 330) ends with a similar refrain but is translated dgra dang ’jigs pa kun ’das shing (“free from all enemies and fears”).