Notes

n.1Degé Tengyur vol. 213 (dkar chag, shrI), F.432b–433a. The four great “pathbreaker” traditions of interpretation (shing rta chen po’i srol bzhi or shing rta’i srol ’byed bzhi) are: (1) the Ornament for the Clear Realizations and all the commentaries based on it, (2) the Madhyamaka “corpus based on reasoning” (dbu ma rig pa’i tshogs, i.e. Nāgārjuna’s writings categorized as the Yuktikāya and by extension the Madhyamaka treatises in general), (3) the two Bṛhaṭṭīka commentaries discussed here, and (4) Dignāga’s Prajñāpāramitā­saṃgraha­kārikā (Toh 3809, also known as the Piṇḍārtha­saṃgraha), said to be characterized by its thirty-two topics, and its subcommentary the Prajñāpāramitā­saṃgraha­kārikā­vivaraṇa (Toh 3810).

n.2Denkarma, folio 305.a.6; see also Herrmann-Pfandt, pp. 293-294, no. 515. Phangthangma 2003, p. 35. The only substantial difference in the titles, as with so many canonical texts, is that “noble” is added as an honorific in present editions of the Tibetan canon.

n.3Among modern writers, Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya (1997), Kazuo Kano and Xuezhu Li (2012, 2014), and Karl Brunnhölzl (2011b) use the title Bṛhaṭṭīkā.

n.4Abhisamayālaṅkārāloka (Toh 3791), Degé Tengyur vol. 85 F.2.a.

n.5Bhagavaty­āmnāyānusāriṇī­nāma­vyākhyā (bcom ldan ’das ma’i man ngag gi rjes su ’brang ba zhes bya ba’i rnam par bshad pa), Toh 3811.

n.6shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa ’bum pa rgya cher ’grel pa.

n.7’di yi gzhung ’grel gnod ’joms bya bar ’dod.

n.8One may understand the verse as follows: “Having reverently (gus par, ādārāt) bowed (phyag ’tshal te, namaskṛ) to the Mother of Victors (rgyal ba’i yum, jinajananī), the foremost perfection (pha rol phyin pa’i gtso, pāramitāgrā) in the form of wisdom (shes rab bdag nyid, prajñātmakā), I want to make (bya bar ’dod, cikīrṣitā) a Path (gzhung ’grel, paddhati) there on which the Thorns Have Been Trodden Down (gnod ’joms, marditakaṇṭakā) so the later scriptures (bla ma’i lung, uttarāgama) will be of benefit to me (bdag la phan pa’i phyir, ātmahitāya).” Alternative translation of the last part: “because the tradition of the gurus (bla ma’i lung, gurvāgama) has been of benefit to me (bdag la phan pa’i phyir, ātmahitāt).”

n.9In their translation of Tāranātha’s History, Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya (1997: p. 268) say, “Daṃstrāsena (mche ba’i sde) lived during the time of Devapāla [i.e. late eighth, early ninth century],” and in an additional note (1997: p. 417, n. 54) say he is the author of both Bṭ3 and Bṭ1 and that his “name occurs in various forms: ācārya Diṣṭasena, Daṃṣṭasena, Daṃṣṭasyana, etc.”

n.10See Skilling 2000 pp. 297–299.

n.11Abhisamayālaṅkārāloka (Toh 3791), Degé Tengyur vol. 85 F.2.a.

n.12Denkarma, folio 305.a, and Phangthangma 2003, p. 35 (for Bṭ3) and 54 (for Bṭ1); see also Herrmann-Pfandt, pp. 293-294, nos. 514 (Bṭ1) and 515 (Bṭ3).

n.13mngon rtogs rgyan gyi ’grel pa rnam ’byed, 294; 300.

n.14’grel bshad shes rab mchog gi rgyan, 1–2.

n.15bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi ’od, 24a3–4: ’bum nyi khri brgyad [sic] stong pa’i rgya cher bshad pa slob dpon dbyig gnyen gyis mdzad pa; 72a6–72b1: nyi khri gzhung ’grel dang… bod kyis rgya gar ba la kha ’phangs pa yod; 75a1: dpal lha btsan po khri srong lde btsan gyis ’bum gyi rgya cher ’grel pa. See also Schaeffer and Van der Kuijp, 2009, pp 154, 258, and 263 respectively.

n.1638b: “rgyal ba’i yum stong phrag brgya pa’i ’grel pa chen po slob dpon mche ba’i sdes mdzad par grags pa… rgyal ba’i yum stong phrag brgya pa dang/ nyi khri lnga stong pa dang/ khri brgyad stong pa rnams kyi gzhung gi ’grel pa slob dpon chen po dbyig gnyen gyis mdzad pa.”

n.17Butön History of Buddhism 156a7: “’di daM STa se nas byas zer ba mang mod kyi ’di ni dbyig gnyen gyi gzhung ’grel yin te thub pa dgongs rgyan la sogs par nyi khri gzhung ’grel las drangs pa’i tshig rnams der ji lta ba bzhin snang ba’i phyir dang / dbur yang / ’di yig gzhung ’grel gnod ’joms bya bar ’dod/ ces ’byung ba’i phyir ro.”

n.18Muni­matālaṃkāra, Degé Tengyur vol. 109 (dbu ma, a), 184a2–4 slob dpon dbyig gnyen gyis kyang gzhung ’grel du go cha chen po bgos pa zhes pa ni sems dang po bskyed pa nas bzung nas bsam pa rgya che bar bstan pa’o. The words cited and then glossed by Abhayākaragupta are found at khri brgyad 13.­2.

n.19Muni­matālaṃkāra, Degé Tengyur vol. 109 (dbu ma, a), 216a

n.20Kano and Li 2014, 130–31 [15–16] et passim.

n.21Bhagavaty­āmnāyānusāriṇī­nāma­vyākhyā (bcom ldan ’das ma’i man ngag gi rjes su ’brang ba zhes bya ba’i rnam par bshad pa), Toh 3811, 316b–317b.

n.22shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i don mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan gyi tshig le’ur byas pa’i ’grel pa mdo lugs ma, 2011 vol. 4, 2–3 rgyal ba byams pa’i dngos slob shing rta chen po slob dpon dbu ma pa dbyig gnyen gyi zhal snga nas kyang / ’bum pa dang / nyi khri lnga stong pa dang / khri brgyad stong pa ste /yum rgyas ’bring bsdus pa gsum gyi gzhung ’grel gnod ’joms; 20, mdo sde rgyan gyi ’grel par slob dpon dbu ma pa chen po dbyig gnyen.

n.23bzhed tshul rba rlabs kyi phreng ba, 167.3–168.3, spyir bshad pa dang / byed brag bstan bcos ’di ji ltar bkrol ba’i tshul gnyis las/ dang po la/ bod lnga rabs kyi dge ba’i bshes gnyen phal mo che ni/ dngos bstan stong nyid kyi rim pa gsal bar ston pa dbu ma rigs pa’i tshogs/ sbas don mngon rtogs kyi rim pa gsal bar ston pa mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan/ sgo gsum rnam grangs bcu gcig gi sgo nas yum gyi don ston pa gnod ’joms/ yang gtso bo’i don sum cu rtsa gnyis su brgyad stong pa’i don bsdus nas ston pa brgyad stong don bsdus te/ shing rta’i srol ’byed chen po bzhi yin zer to // chos rje thams cad mkhyen pas ni/ bzhi yin zhes smra ba ni mi ’thad de/ snga ma gnyis las srol ’byed gzhan min pa’i phyir zhes gsung / gsung ’di la brten nas gung TIk tu/ ’grel byed gzhan gnyis kyang de gnyis kyi rjes su ’brang ba’i phyir/ zhes bris pa ni rtsing po ste/ snga ma gnyis kyis dbu mar bkrol la/ phyi ma gnyis kyis sems tsam du bkrol ba’i phyir ro // ’di la bu ston rin po che na re/ stong phrag brgyad pa’i bshad pa bam po bdun cu rtsa brgyad pa ’di/ ’phang thang ka me dkar [emend chug to] chag tu khri srong lde btsan gyis byas par bris mod/ ’ching phu’i dkar chag dang / pho brang stong thang ldan dkar gyi dkar chag dang gnyis su/ rgya gar mar bshad pas dpa’ sdes mdzad pa yin no/ yum gsum ga’i gnod ’joms su grags pa bam po nyi shu rtsa bdun pa ’di la dpa’ bos byas par bris mod/ ’di ni dbyig gnyen gyis mdzad pa’i gzhung ’grel yin te/ thub dgongs su/ gzhung ’grel gyi lung drangs pa rnams ji lta ba bzhin ’dir snang ba’i phyir dang / ’di’i gzhung ’grel gnod ’joms bya bar ’dod/ ces brtoms par dam bca’ mdzad pa’i phyir/ ’di la yum gsum gnod ’joms su grags kyang / rgyas ’bring gnyis dang / khri brgyad stong pa’i bshad pa yin no zhes gsung.

n.24Nattier 1999; see also Yuyama 1992 and Harrison 2006, p. 144, n. 40. The passage is found at khri brgyad 39.­77, ’bum ta 58a6, and nyi khri 30.­65.

n.25In a note, Jens Braarvig (vol. 2, 587–89) cites the passage from Vasubandhu’s Akṣaya­mati­nirdeśa­ṭīkā, ’phags pa blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa rgya cher ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (mdo ’grel, ci), 268r4–269r3 and provides an excellent translation.

n.26Degé Tengyur dkar chag 432.a: ’di la kun mkhyen bus kha cig daM StrA se nas mdzad zer mod kyi/ slob dpon dbyig gnyen gyis mdzad pa’i gzhung gi ’grel par bzhed pa nyid ’thad par rtogs. Note also that this passage was not only present in the other seventeenth and eighteenth century Tengyurs but had been witnessed in the original, early Narthang (fourteenth century).

n.27For example, Tāranātha’s History notes the existence of an Abhidharma scholar named Vasubandhu, a contemporary of Līlāvajra during the Pāla period (Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya 1997: p. 271).

n.28For more detail and further references, see Ruegg 1969 La Théorie p. 325 et seq.; Hookham 1991 pp. 149–54; and Brunnhölzl 2010 pp. 692–4 n99.

n.29See outline of Bṭ3 in the appendix.

n.30See Peter Alan Roberts, trans., The Ten Bhumis Toh 44-31, (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021).

n.31See Peter Alan Roberts, trans., The White Lotus of the Good Dharma Toh 113, (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018).

n.32See Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Questions of Sāgaramati , Toh 152, (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020).

n.33khri brgyad 83.­1 and nyi khri 72.­1.

n.34Here “nature” renders the Skt svabhāva.

n.35David Fiordalis and Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Secrets of the Realized Ones , Toh 47 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023).

n.36These are the three questions at 19.­2 in the Eighteen Thousand and the first paragraph of chapter 11 in the Twenty-Five Thousand and One Hundred Thousand.

n.37See n.­1933.

n.38We first began translating Bṭ3, making notes of the differences with The Long Commentary on the One Hundred Thousand (Bṭ1), with the idea of possibly identifying an early Tibetan version of a Long Perfection of Wisdom scripture. We mistakenly thought that by carefully comparing the citations in Bṭ3 with the late Stefano Zacchetti’s Sanskrit edition of the beginning of a Long Perfection of Wisdom scripture, we would find a more authentic original version to translate. We came to realize that the Degé edition was as authentic as any other.

n.39The translators have inserted into the text here the notation bam po dang po (the “first bam po,” or bundle of pages equal to about 300 lines of original text), together with their own homage.

n.40Alternatively, bdag la phan pa’i phyir could be rendered “In order that the tradition of the gurus will be of benefit to me.”

n.41Alternatively, chos kyi tshogs renders dharmakāya (“dharma body”).

n.42Below, Bṭ3 4.­1184 cites the work from which this is an extract as de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba’i mdo (Tathāgata­guhyaka­sūtra) [Secrets of the Tathāgatas Sūtra]. This would appear to be Toh 47, de bzhin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa bstan pa (Tathāgatācintya­guhya­nirdeśa) [ The Secrets of the Realized Ones ]. This citation is found in the Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, ka), F.142.a–142.b.

n.43I have used “recite” in place of the Tib yang dag par sdud pa (“gather”) in order to convey the meaning of gīti in the Skt saṃgīti.

n.44Tathāgatācintya­guhya­nirdeśa, Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, ka), F.132.b–133.a.

n.45By design or accident, the subsequent few sentences in the Tathāgatācintya­guhya­nirdeśa, Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, ka), F.133.a, have been omitted from this citation: “They think, ‘We have comprehended the doctrine of the Tathāgata.’ In regard to that, furthermore, the Tathāgata is without thought construction and remains in a state of equanimity. Śāntamati, sounds are not produced from the Tathāgata’s teeth, lips, palate, or tongue and yet sounds sound forth.” bdag cag ni de bzhin gshegs pa’i chos bstan pa kun shes so snyam mo/ /de la yang de bzhin gshegs pa ni rnam par mi rtog cing btang snyoms su mdzad do// zhi ba’i blo gros/ de bzhin gshegs pa’i tshems dang / sgros dang / zhal gyi rkan dang / ljags dang / zhal gyi sgo nas sgra ’byung ba yang med la/ ’byung bar yang grag go.

n.46That is, in what, to them, appear different places and different periods of time.

n.47That is, he remains deep in meditation while yet pervading the scene with his benevolent presence.

n.48Again, chos kyi tshogs may be rendered dharmakāya (“dharma body”).

n.49Alternatively, this might be from ara (“spoke”) and han, where the spokes are the twelve links of dependent origination that constitute the beginning and end of suffering existence (Ñāṇamoli, VII,23).

n.50nyon mongs (kleśa) is rendered “affliction” and “afflictive emotion”; kun nas nyon mongs pa (saṃkliṣṭa) “defilement.” Both are from the root kliś, “to cause pain.” The categories taught by a tathāgata that together make up an exhaustive and complete explanation of suffering and the release from suffering are called dharmas . The list of good and bad dharmas starting with form is divided up into saṃkliṣṭa (“defilement”) and vyavadāna (“purification”). The defilement dharmas are here divided into four: karma, affliction, aggregates, and birth.

n.51These are the twelve links of dependent origination that constitute the beginning and end of suffering existence.

n.52Either “when feeling stops, craving and appropriation stop” is obvious, or else a line has dropped out of the text here.

n.53That is, volitional factors.

n.54That is, ignorance.

n.55That is, the five aggregates.

n.56That is, appropriation and existence.

n.57That is, the absence of volitional factors.

n.58That is, the absence of afflictions.

n.59That is, nirvāṇa.

n.60That is, the absence of aggregates.

n.61D bzhugs pa (perhaps a play on the similarity between the roots vaś (“to control”) and vas (“to dwell”)); K, N zhugs pa.

n.62If understood as a passive this should be rendered “they are controlled by wisdom.”

n.63The emendation of srid pa to sred pa is corroborated by Haribhadra (Wogihara 9.13).

n.64This is in the Tib translation of Ratnākaraśānti’s Sāratamā (Seton, Appendix II, 24.23) but not in Jaini (1972).

n.65Emend ’tshe to ’tsho.

n.66Mvy, s.v. shes pa brda sprod par byed pa, ājñāvyākāraṇa.

n.67They have gained one of the stages in the development of calm abiding and special insight.

n.68The same gloss is in both Haribhadra (Wogihara, 9.24) and Ratnākaraśānti (Seton, Appendix I, 34).

n.69The Abhidharmakośa 4.41–45 explains the nine fetters (samyojana).

n.70This translation is taken from MDPL 415, s.v. samyagājñāsuvimukta­citta. More literally yang dag par (samyak), “perfect”; (kun) shes pa (ājñā), “fully understand”; and sems (citta), “thought” or “mind.”

n.71Ratnākaraśānti’s Sāratamā, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, tha), 10b3 (cf. Seton, Appendix I, 36) takes cetovaśin as the mind through which there is mastery of all meditative stabilizations; sarvacetovaśin as a karmadhāriya compound, “all minds through which there is mastery of all meditative stabilizations”; paramapāram (dam pa’i pha rol, “the farther shore that is the farthest,” “perfection”) as their limit; and the i [in itā] as “gone”; hence paramapāramitā: “because they have gone and are in a state that has gone to the limit of mental mastery.”

n.72These are the four concentrations (dhyāna) and four formless absorptions (ārūpya­samāpatti), and the cessation of perception and feeling (saṃjñāvedayita­nirodha).

n.73Emend D sems can to K, N sems.

n.74The translation “object” for dmigs pa and “factor” for yan lag is taken from the Path of Purification (Ñāṇamoli, XII, 2–12).

n.75This is a summary of meditative states. The branches of the concentrations are given below (khri brgyad 16.­71), as well as the objects of the formless absorptions (khri brgyad 16.­76), and the siṃha­vijṛṃbhita and viṣkandaka meditative stabilizations (khri brgyad 3.­75, cf. n.­79). Abhidharmakośa 6.42a ff. Pruden (975 ff.) gives the non-Great Vehicle explanation of combination meditation. Abhi­samayālaṃkāra 5.22–23 (Amano, pp. 92–93) gives the Great Vehicle explanation. Sparham (2008–13, vol. 4, pp. 81–92) provides a detailed investigation of both. The word for “combination” here, spel ma (miśraka), renders ākīryate at Abhidharmakośa 6.42a.

n.76Emend D sems can to K, N sems.

n.77This division of bodhisattvas is also in Daśabalaśrīmitra’s Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛta­viniścaya, Degé Tengyur (dbu ma, ha), 166b7.

n.78These are the bodhisattvas on the niyata­caryābhūmi (“course of conduct level of those who are destined or certain [to be awakened]”) explained below (1.­98). Lamotte (Mppś English, III, p. 1230 n. 584) gives a number of references to its usage. In general, the niyata (“certain,” “of those who are destined”) level means assured of awakening, but etymologically it is also where the bodhisattva enters into the niyāma/nyāma (skyon med pa, literally “faultlessness”), “the fixed state of a bodhisattva”; MDPL “bodhisattva’s distinctive way of salvation.”

n.79The gzhi here probably renders ādhāra, as below as a dual ādhāraṇī (perhaps referencing wisdom and method), providing a creative explanation, a traditional etymology for dhāraṇī .

n.80There is a passage similar to this in Mañjuśrīkīrti’s Samādhi­rāja­sūtra­ṭīkā­kīrti­mālā, Degé Tengyur (mdo ’grel, nyi), 3b3 ff. Tāranātha (Chimpa and Chattopadhyaya, p. 268) says Mañjuśrīkīrti and Daṃṣṭrāsena were contemporaries during the time of Dharmapāla; Régamey (1990, p. 22) says Mañjuśrīkīrti embraces the trisvabhāva (“three natures”) doctrine, a doctrine evident in the Bṭ3.

n.81Here “purification” renders yongs su sbyong ba; MDPL, s.v. parikarma (“preparation”). The Ten Bhūmis systematically renders pariśodhana by yongs su sbyong ba.

n.82dran pa is sometimes, for example in “applications of mindfulness,” rendered “mindfulness.”

n.83Akṣaya­mati­nirdeśa (Braarvig, chapter 5 ff.) The title below (Bṭ3 4.­101) is blo gros mi zad pa’i mdo (Akṣaya­mati­sūtra). See Jens Braarvig and David Welsh, trans., The Teaching of Akṣayamati, Toh 175 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020). It is also called the Akṣaya­mati­paripṛcchā (“The Questions of Akṣayamati”).

n.84Gilgit 351.1–2 tatra katamāni dhāraṇīmukhāni yad utākṣarasamatā bhāṣyasamatā akṣaramukham akṣarapraveśaḥ. “What are the dhāraṇī doors, that is to say, the sameness of syllables, the sameness of spoken words, a syllable door, and a syllable entrance?” ’bum 9.­70 (Ghoṣa 1450); nyi khri 9.­44; khri brgyad 16.­98 differs slightly as does PSP 1-2:85; LSPW pp. 211–12. Cf. the explanation below (Bṭ3 4.­1034).

n.85Alternatively, byin gyis rlob pa’i shes pa de nyid… means “just [those letters] over which the sustaining power of the knowledge has been exerted are secret mantra dhāraṇī . ”

n.86Cf. the Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras (Mahā­yāna­sūtrālaṃkāra) 18.71–73, “Dhāraṇī is from result, habituation to listening, and also meditative stabilization. It is limited and big, and the big is of three sorts.”

n.87Emend D bstan to brtan. This elliptical statement is probably based on the Mahā­yāna­sūtrā­laṃkāra’s subdivision of dhāraṇīs contingent on small, middling, and big meditative stabilization.

n.88See Roberts 2021b, i.­38.

n.89Cf. Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Madhyānta­vibhāga) 2.14–16 (Obermiller 1932–33, p. 53; Sparham 2008–13, vol. 1, pp. 438–40).

n.90“Elaboration” (spros pa, prapañca) does not have a single meaning. Nāgārjuna’s Treatise on the Middle Way (Mūla­madhyamaka­kārikā) (de Jong edition), verse 18.5, is helpful: karma­kleśa­kṣayān mokṣaḥ karmakleśā vikalpataḥ / te prapañcāt prapañcas tu śūnyatāyāṃ nirudhyate: “Freedom is from the karma and afflictive emotion coming to an end; karma and afflictive emotion are from thought construction; that is from elaboration. As for elaboration, it is stopped in emptiness.”)

n.91The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­439 (Roberts 2021b); “The bodhisattva who has completed the path of the fifth bodhisattva bhūmi enters the sixth bodhisattva bhūmi. He enters it through the ten kinds of sameness of phenomena. What are these ten? He enters the sixth bhūmi through these ten kinds of sameness: (1) the sameness of all phenomena in being without features; (2) the sameness of all phenomena in being without characteristics; (3) the sameness of all phenomena in being without birth; (4) the sameness of all phenomena in being without production; (5) the sameness of all phenomena in being isolated; (6) the sameness of all phenomena in being primordially pure; (7) the sameness of all phenomena in being without elaboration; (8) the sameness of all phenomena being without adoption and without rejection; (9) the sameness of all phenomena in being like illusions, dreams, hallucinations, echoes, the moon on water, reflections, and apparitions; and (10) the sameness of all phenomena being without the duality of existence and nonexistence.” (see also Rahder, p. 46; Honda, p. 186.) This is explained in Vasubandhu’s Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis (Ārya­daśa­bhūmi­vyākhyāna) ’phags pa sa bcu pa’i rnam par bshad pa, 196a7 ff. The Level of a Bodhisattva (Bodhi­sattva­bhūmi) rnal ’byor spyod pa’i sa las byang chub sems dpa’i sa, 178a4 ff. has dngos po yod pa dang dngos po med pa gnyis su med pa for the tenth sameness. Sthiramati in his Explanation of the Commentary on the Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras (Sūtrālaṃkāra­vṛtti­bhāṣya), mdo sde rgyan gyi ’grel bshad, tsi, 249a7 ff. has chos thams cad dngos po yod pa dang dngos po med pa dang gnyi ga ma yin pa for the last of the ten, “[not] existent, nonexistent, [both, or neither].”

n.92That is, all are the same insofar as they are without causal signs that make them known.

n.93pariniṣpanna (“thoroughly established”) also has the sense of “the final outcome.” All phenomena, seen from the perspective of their final outcome, are the same insofar as they are not produced and have no origin.

n.94That is to say, all phenomena are the same insofar as they are isolated from, or do not have, a causal sign that makes them the object of afflictions like greed and so on, the actions motivated by those, or the birth that comes about because of those.

n.95Alternatively, “Those imaginaries are not in their intrinsic nature in the form of the two basic [dependent and thoroughly established] natures.”

n.96Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 205a2–206a4.

n.97Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 196a7 ff.

n.98Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 197a1–2: rjes su mthun pa zhes bya ba ni de ma thob bo zhes bya ba’i tshig gis na mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa’i sgo dang mthun pa ste. The point here is that at the sixth bodhisattva level the knowledge is not yet the forbearance for dharmas that are not produced, which is developed at the eighth level.

n.99See Mppś English, IV, 1486 ff. for a detailed explanation of the clairvoyances.

n.100Emend khyab to ’khyam (“[the wind] blowing here and there”)?

n.101This translation of gzugs thams cad lus kyi nang du zhugs pa is a conjecture. Alternatively, “swallowing anything of any size or shape,” “[become so big] all physical things end up inside the body.”

n.102On vaiḍūrya (bai ḍūrya), variously rendered as “beryl,” “lapis,” or “crystal,” see under entry “Crystal, rock” in Encyclopaedia Iranica.

n.103The order of epithets here follows khri brgyad 1.­2, and the le’u brgyad ma . This epithet (akṣaya­nirdeśa­pratisaṃvinnaya­pratividdhaiḥ mahābhijñāvikrīḍitair) is omitted from Z, nyi khri, and ’bum.

n.104gzung ba’i tshig dang ldan, ādeyavacana. This is also rendered in Tib as mnyan par ’os pa’i tshig dang ldan. Besides “acceptable speech” (LSPW), other translations (listed by Z) are “their words were gentle,” “were necessarily to be believed,” and “pleasing, agreeable speech.”

n.105Our author here does not give any explanation of akusīda (“not lazy”), which is not in khri brgyad but in nyi khri 1.­3 (ka 2a4–5): le lo med cing brtson ’grus brtsam pa.

n.106The perfection of morality is a defining second bodhisattva (Vimalā) level practice.

n.107The Level of a Bodhisattva, vihārapatala, 180a3 ff. reads: “In this seventh state they cause all distinct attributes of a buddha to come forth and complete the branches of awakening because this state incorporates the completion of the bodhisattva’s preparation deeds, and leads gradually into the purity of knowledge, clairvoyance, and deeds in the eighth state. Thus, this bodhisattva enters immediately after this state into the eighth purified state. This state is absolutely purified. Those seven, however, are mixed. [This seventh] is said to be unafflicted because it precedes the purified state, and they are said to have fallen into a mass of affliction because they have not reached it. Therefore, in this state all afflictions, lust and so on, are eliminated. You should know that [this seventh] is neither with affliction nor without affliction. But because it is not fully arisen, it is intent on buddha knowledge.” āsmin punaḥ saptame vihāre sarva­buddha­dharma­samutthāpanatayā bodhaṅgāni paripūryante bodhi­sattva­prāyogika-caryā­paripūri­saṁgrahādasya vihārasya jñānābhijñācaryā­viśuddhāṣṭama-vihārākramaṇācca| tathā hi sa bodhisattvo’sya vihārasyānantaramaṣṭamaṁ viśuddhaṁ vihāraṁ praviśati| sa ca vihāra ekāntaviśuddhaḥ | ime tu sapta vihārā vyāmiśrāḥ| viśuddha­vihāra­pūrvaṅgamatvādasaṁkliṣṭaḥ | tada­saṁprāptatvātsaṁkliṣṭa­caya­patitā vaktavyāḥ | tasmādasmin vihāre sarve rāgādipramukhāḥ kleśāḥ prahīyante| sa ca na saṁkleśo na niḥkleśo veditavyaḥ asamudācārād buddha­jñānābhilāṣāc ca. Cf. Sāgaramegha’s Commentary (Bodhi­sattva­bhūmi­vyākhyā) byang chub sems dpa’i sa’i rnam par bshad pa, 293a3 ff.

n.108Āryavimuktisena’s Commentary (Sparham 2006–12, vol. 1, p. 23 ff.) has an excellent explanation of “hypocrisy, fawning, hinting, and pressuring,” which are four ways monks pursue a wrong livelihood.

n.109khe (phala, lābha) means a profit, but shes kyi khe (jñāna?), which I have understood to mean “reputation(?),” is also the reading at khri brgyad 1.­2 (ka 2a3). However, PSP 1-1:1 apagata­jñātralābha­citta and Z (citing Vetter) jñātilābha (“profit for their kinsmen”) suggest shes should be emended to bshes (“friend”): “no thought of profit and gain for their kinsmen.” Cf. Mvy shes kyi khe ’dod pa for jñānakāma(?) and the more straightforward reading grags pa dang / khe dang bkur sti’i sems pa med pa (“without thoughts of fame, reputation, or respect”) at this point in ’bum, nyi khri, le’u brgyad ma, and Bṭ1.

n.110Emend zang zing med pa’i phyir sems kyis chos ston pa to zang zing med pa’i sems kyis chos ston pa (’bum ka 2a4, nyi khri ka 2a5, le’u brgyad ma ga 2b3, and Bṭ1); PSP 1-1:1 nirāmiṣa­dharma­deśakair.

n.111The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­608–1.­609 (Roberts 2021b); Rahder, 8 B–C; Honda, pp. 217–18.

n.112Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 219b1, says that the eighth level has seven deep stations. The first three are zab mo ring ba’i ye shes (because it is far from the earlier levels), tha mi dad pa (with the purity of all the levels above it), and without causal signs (because it is without subject-object duality). Emend dga’ ba to dka’ ba (The Ten Bhūmis, S [mdo sde, ga], 104b1).

n.113The four fearlessnesses (mi ’jigs pa, vaiśaradhya) are the confidence to make the declaration, “I am a buddha”; the declaration that “greed and so on are obstacles to awakening”; the confidence to explain “bodhisattvas go forth on the paths of all-knowledge and so on”; and the declaration, “the outflows are extinguished.”

n.114K ’dzem pa med pa.

n.115khri brgyad 1.­2 (ka 2a4), a literal rendering of PSP dharma­pravicaya­vibhakti­nirdeśa­kuśala. ’bum, nyi khri, and le’u brgyad ma have chos rab tu rtogs pas rnam par dbye zhing bstan pa la mkhas pa (“having realized it well, skillful in sorting out and teaching the Dharma”), which makes better sense. Missing here from the list of epithets are ’bum and nyi khri’s las dang nyon mongs ba dang/ phyir rgol ba rab tu bcom pa/ pha rol po’i rgol ba thams cad kyis zil gyis mi non pa/ nyan thos dang rang sangs rgyas thams cad kyis rtogs par dka’ ba.

n.116’chags pa is an alternative form, or misprint, for ’jags pa; bod rgya tshigs mdzod chen mo 683, s.v ’jags pa, 3 ’pho ’gyur med pa.

n.117Here rnam par dbye ba renders vibhakti. It means both “analysis” and “category.”

n.118The levels of those who are destined (nges pa’i sa, niyatabhūmi) locate the fourth of the five-part division of bodhisattvas given earlier (Bṭ3 1.­42).

n.119Z: “for innumerable kalpas, they had been carrying out they (sic) vows with energy”; LSPW: “who had formed their vows incalculable aeons ago”; Vetter, p. 71: “their vows well activated during innumerable Kalpas.”

n.120“Name and form” (nāmarūpa) is another way of saying “five aggregates.” The “form” aggregate is “form” and the other four aggregates are “name.” Therefore, “body of names” refers collectively to the four “name” aggregates.

n.121A “maturation” (vipāka) here is the result, that is to say, the life they otherwise would not take up because they have entered nirvāṇa.

n.122The maturation (vipāka) here is the ordinary forms of life they appear to be living.

n.123This is the fourth of the earlier (1.­42) five-part division of bodhisattvas.

n.124K, N.

n.125On the number asaṃkhyeya (“incalculable”) see Abhidharmakośa 3.93; asaṃkhyeya and other specific, extremely large numbers that have separate values and are not actually synonymous with “infinite” are left untranslated in contexts where the difference between them is a salient factor.

n.126Emend bsdu ba to bsu ba, corroborated by Bṭ1, na 11a7.

n.127Honda, p. 227 O, does not have the eleventh control, and indeed, it is likely not separate, but rather understood as qualifying all ten.

n.128The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­720–1.­721 (Roberts 2021b); Honda, pp. 244–45. ma ’dres pa (“unbroken”) renders asaṃbhinna. saṃbhinna­pralapa is “babbling on” or “having a loose mouth,” one of the ten unwholesome actions.

n.129Rahder, p. 9 Y asaṁkhyeya­śata­sahasrānugatenaiva svarāṅga-kauśalyena tāvad apramāṇānugatenaiva pratibhānavibhaktimukhena dharmaṁ deśayati; Honda, p. 248; cp. The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­723–1.­730 (Roberts 2021b).

n.130Z p. 249, n. 46, “assemblies [attended by] innumerable [people],” makes good sense; Vetter, p. 72, has “an endless assembly.”

n.131See previous notes n.­128 and n.­129.

n.132K.

n.133Reading K, N grang in place of D grags. The sense is that one will work for some, and another for others.

n.134Alternatively, “because some are driven by eight doubts.” The translators have used brtsal both as a form related to ’tshol, “to seek for” (Mvy vyavasāya, utkāśana), and as a form related to sel (Mvy paryudasta).

n.135Vetter and Z have sarva­sattva­citta­gati­sūkṣma­jñāna­caryādhimuktyavatāra­kuśala, “skilled in comprehending the states of mind, subtle knowledge, behavior, and attachment of all beings.”

n.136The sarva­sattva­citta­caritānugata means “subsequent realization of the minds and conduct of all beings” and dharma­dhātu­praveśa means “entry into the dharma-constituent,” (Rahder dharma­dhātu­vibhakti­praveśa; Honda, p. 259 10 B “entrance into the variety of the realm of ideas”).

n.137“Various” (nāna, sna tshogs) is part of the epithet in PSP and LSPW.

n.138This is not a literal translation. It utilizes Honda, p. 265 10 F; The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­819–1.­820 (Roberts 2021b); and Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 251a6 ff. to make the passage more accessible to the English-speaking reader.

n.139ye shes phra ba. The Ten Bhūmis 266a has phra ba la ’jug pa’i mkhyen pa, “knowledge that enters into the subtle”; Honda “knowledge entering into subtlety.”

n.140That is, in the Tuṣita heaven.

n.141That is, as Siddhārtha.

n.142The The Ten Bhūmis and Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis both have bltams pa. Its absence here in Bṭ3 is a copyist’s error.

n.143phra ba la ’jug pa’i mkhyen pa literally means “knowledge that enters into the subtle.” K, The Ten Bhūmis omit.

n.144That is, to live for eighty years.

n.145That is, by leaving relics to be enshrined in caityas.

n.146The two knowledges of the sarvasattvacittacaritānugata and dharmadhātupraveśa meditative stabilizations.

n.147Below it says, “that the Sūtra has described” (mdo las bshad pa’i stobs). The passage mirrors The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­650 (Roberts 2021b); Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 229a3; Rahder, p. 70; and Honda, pp. 28–29 8 P, though with significant differences. Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra, Degé Tengyur (dbu ma, a), 254b, and his Moonlight (Marmakaumudī), Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, da), 224b have almost exactly the same list, with reasons for each power. Both have yang dag par ’byor ba/yang dag par ’phel ba in place of mngon par shes pa (abhijñā) but give the same reason. Our author says there are ten powers even though he gives thirteen, adding ting nge ’dzin (samādhi), dbang po (indriya), and chos nyid ( dharmatā ) to The Ten Bhūmis list.

n.148This follows K, N sbyangs; D sa’i ye shes yongs su spyad pa’i phyir. Honda, p. 228, n. 86 renders mārgāvipravāsitatvāt as “because he does not part from the path,” but notes the different readings.

n.149The name means “endowed with the special consecration into the knowledge of omniscience.”

n.150This summarizes The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­811 ff. and 1.­795 (Roberts 2021b); Honda, p. 260 10 CD.

n.151This is a conjectural rendering of dar las chod pa tsam, “just a cut from the silk cloth.” If dar means “spread,” “just cut from the spreading.” Alternatively, it might mean “the mere being cut off [from anything that blocks omniscience] is greater than the increase [in anything that blocks it].”

n.152LSPW “skillful in teaching others the true character of reality.”

n.153The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­822 ff. (Roberts 2021b); Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 252a; Rahder p. 87, Honda p. 266 10 F.

n.154This is a literal translation. Rahder p. 87 F cintyācintya­loka­vijñeyāvijñeya; Honda p. 266 F “thinkable and unthinkable and cognizable and incognizable in the world.”

n.155K, N rnam pa thams cad mkhyen pa, “knowledge of all aspects.”

n.156LSPW “acquiring through their vows and their setting-out the endless harmonies of all the Buddha-fields”; Vetter “who had embraced the setting-out [in the Great Vehicle] by means of a vow [to contribute to] the marvellous arrangement of endless Buddhafields.”

n.157That is, a maturation as a tenth level bodhisattva.

n.158The ten powers (stobs, bala) are part of the list of purification dharmas (spelled out at khri brgyad 16.­81).

n.159The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­839–1.­848; Explanation of The Ten Bhūmis, 256a ff.; Rahder, pp. 90–91; Honda, pp. 270–71 10 I.

n.160D accidentally has this sentence twice.

n.161sems can gyi khams (The Ten Bhūmis, 270a7) is missing.

n.162Rahder has cittotpāde daśa­dikspharaṇam gacchati (sems bskyed pa re re la yang phyogs bcu khyab par ’gro ste). Honda renders this, “he goes to pervade the ten directions.” I think the idea is that the single production of the thought that begins the bodhisattva path is reduplicated an infinite number of times in the different directions; i.e., it is done for all, not just for one. With their production of the thought of awakening they make the ten directions vibrate.

n.163rlung gi dkyil ’khor; the “circle” of wind that underpins the unfolding of a new world system.

n.164That rides on the wind firmament, according to the traditional Buddhist cosmology referenced in this passage.

n.165Emend D ’jig to K ’jigs (uttrāsayati).

n.166This last sentence is slightly longer in Rahder’s edition.

n.167Edg, s.v. prajñapaya, “arrange” a seat; Jäschke s.v. shom, “prepare, arrange”; Z, citing Lamotte, says there is room for the interpretation “conjured up.”

n.168Bṭ1 “To teach that the Perfection of Wisdom is a unique discourse, to teach that it is rare, valuable, and worthy of worship and service, and to train the retinues.”

n.169gus par mdzad is a literal translation (tshig ’gyur) of ādṛ, which means both “to show respect” (as in ādāra) and “to focus the mind.”

n.170K, N don rnam pa gsum gyis, “three topics.”

n.171khri brgyad 1.­13; Z 371.3 punar yādṛśam bhagavataḥ prakṛtyātma­bhāvopadarśanaṃ tādṛśam iha trisāhasra­mahā­sāhasre lokadhātau upadarśayati sma. LSPW translates prakṛtyātma­bhāva as “his own natural body”; Z 267, n. 202 follows Lamotte’s translation “corps ordinaire,” which perfectly renders sku tha mal pa. The idea is that in his “ordinary” body as Śākyamuni he performs the following miracles.

n.172khri brgyad 1.­13.

n.173khri brgyad 1.­15. Z 372.8 has “Thereupon the Lord, seated on this very lion throne, again emitted light,” in place of “smiling.”

n.174This Tib is closer to, but not exactly the same as, nyi khri 1.­18. Here and elsewhere only the corresponding section in khri brgyad is noted.

n.175That is, through the remainder of the Introduction chapter, as the line that follows is the first line of the second chapter.

n.176Z 375; khri brgyad 2.­1.

n.177bkye is a future or result form of ’gyed (Bṭ1 dgyed), “to divide up, spread out.”

n.178A “creative explanation” (nirukti, nges tshig) derives a word not only in a strictly etymological way, but in a way that conveys the important points the speaker wants to convey.

n.179Abhidharmakośa 8.7–8, “In the first there are five branches (applied and sustained thought, joy, happiness, and meditative stabilization), in the second four (joy and so on, and serene confidence), in the third five (equanimity, recollection, introspection, happiness, and steadiness), and in the last four (neither happiness nor suffering, equanimity, recollection, and meditative stabilization).”

n.180Contra Mppś English, p. 350.

n.181The meaning is unclear. Bṭ1 na 17a6 says the first two of the four qualifications (“put, included, encompassed, and come to meet”) of the meditative stabilization convey that all meditative stabilizations are not different from the samādhirāja because they are nonconceptual and not moving, abiding as a one-pointed mind endowed with equanimity.

n.182It does so by saying that the light rays “pervaded the world systems in their entirety with a great illumination and lit them up,” and by saying that beings “saw that light” and were “touched by the illumination of those light rays.”

n.183The two types of work are illuminating world systems and helping beings.

n.184The corresponding passage here is, “Then the Lord, with the light from the natural splendor of a tathagata, pervaded the great billionfold world system with a great illumination.”

n.185The corresponding passage from the Sūtra (khri brgyad 1.­8) is, “Then the Lord, seated on that very lion throne, entered into the meditative stabilization called siṃhavikrīḍita . He enacted such a performance with his miraculous power that his performance of miraculous power shook the great billionfold world system in six ways: it shook, shook greatly, and shook violently; it quaked, quaked greatly, and quaked violently; it stirred, stirred greatly, and stirred violently; it became disturbed, greatly disturbed, and violently disturbed; it roared, roared greatly, and roared violently; and it resounded, resounded greatly, and resounded violently. At the edges it rose up and it sank down in the middle; in the middle it rose up and at the edges sank down. It became soft and oily, producing benefit and ease for all beings.”

n.186All the sūtras say six. I have retained the LSPW translations, based on Dutt, even if they do not quite fit Bṭ3’s glosses: kamp (g.yo), “shake”; cal (’gul), “stir”; vedh (ldeg), “quake.”

n.187As a gasp, for example.

n.188The author is playing on the meaning of udāna: “cries of delight” (ched du brjod pa, udāna); the upward-rising vital wind (rlung ched du ’byung ba, *udāna); caused to rise up (ched du ’byung ba, *udānayanti); and “cried out” (ched du brjod pa, udānayanti).

n.189That is, in the buddhafield.

n.190“Tīrthikas” renders mu stegs pa; khri brgyad “asura.”

n.191Both “ordinary” and “natural” render prakṛti.

n.192In the Mppś this is Chapter XV, Act XI.

n.193Alternatively, taking lhags as a verb of movement (Bṭ1 na 21b2 gshegs pa rnams), “take ‘at the very limit’ as the limit on account of those who travel to it.”

n.194In the English translation of khri brgyad, “stands, stays, and maintains” are abbreviated to “dwells and maintains.”

n.195This is the Degé reading; K omits ma: “because Ratnākara has passed into complete nirvāṇa.” The second part of the sentence literally says “he ‘stands’ on the life-faculty continuum.”

n.196LSPW, p. 42 “candidates to Buddhahood.”

n.197That is, why do they make offerings to and inquire about the health of other buddhas?

n.198That is, in the quality and integrity of beings.

n.199antaḥ/antara-kalpa. Edg, s.v. antara-kalpa, following la Vallée Poussin, says an antaḥkalpa makes up or defines a kalpa; it is not between two of them.

n.200That is, in which nothing can grow.

n.201K gos; D omits.

n.202The list of Tib words rendered into English as “respected” and so on is not consistent either here in Bṭ3 or in the different versions of the Sūtra. I have translated them consistently based on the assumption they render the same list of Skt verbs satkṛt, gurukṛt, mānaya, and pūjaya.

n.203Bṭ1 na 23a5 lists the conditions as clothing, merit from earlier good deeds, lodging, and medicine.

n.204This is the LSPW translation for laghūtthānatā rendered here by bskyod pa yang, and in Bṭ1 by zo mdog bde ba; D ’gres here is either an alternative spelling or mistake for the more usual bgres, “old age.”

n.205That is, the nine remaining directions from which bodhisattvas come to this world to see the Buddha Śākyamuni, as described in the remainder of the Sūtra’s first chapter.

n.206This translation takes brda phrad literally. Alternatively, “to understand what it is talking about” (brda sprod).

n.207This comes right after the Introduction chapter in khri brgyad. Our author includes it in his exposition of the Introduction chapter.

n.208Śāriputra, after all, is a śrāvaka, not a bodhisattva.

n.209Of reaching nirvāṇa.

n.210The welfare of all beings.

n.211The extract is either an abridgment or paraphrase of The White Lotus of the Good Dharma (Saddharma­puṇḍarika), Toh 113, 3.­29–3.­30 (Roberts 2018); Kern, 3.22.

n.212That is, from the start, either certain or not certain to reach awakening.

n.213Our author means that bodhisattvas in this lineage do not become worthy ones or pratyekabuddhas first; they have complete awakening in mind from the start, so it is not necessary to explain the different stages of attainment.

n.214The awakenings of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas.

n.215Our author means that, unable to realize that all attainments are equally qualified as ultimately illusory, first they attain a nirvāṇa and with that the realization that it is not ultimately existent. It is the stream enterer level because it is the first attainment that is seen (dṛś) to be ultimately nonexistent, and hence to be transcended.

n.216The Skt Tanū means “slimmed down” or “refined.”

n.217Like the venerable Śāriputra.

n.218Again, like Śāriputra.

n.219This level is equivalent to the Pratyekabuddha level, the eighth in the scheme of ten levels that culminates in the Buddha level.

n.220The Skt for this is found in Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (Kano and Li 2014, 130 [15]), te ca punarbhavāntara­grahaṇena bodhi­sattvacaryāṃ caranti | kathaṃ punarbhavaṃ gṛhṇanti | hetubalāt pratyayabalāc ca | tatra yā ’sāv aprahīṇa­kleśa­vāsanā sā pratyayaḥ | hetuḥ sāsrava­kuśala­mūla­hetukāni punarbhavagrāhakāṇy anāsravāṇi kuśalamūlāni.

n.221The Questions of Sāgaramati (Sāgara­mati­paripṛcchā), Toh 152, 10.­7–10.­9 (Dharmachakra 2020). Our author cites this same passage again in the conclusion (Bṭ3 6.­93), with slight changes. The Skt of the passage is found in Asaṅga’s Vyākhyā on Maitreya’s Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra (Johnston 1950, 1.84); and in Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (Kano and Li 2014, 130–131 [15–16]).

n.222Better is the reading below (6.­93): “in close contact with” (’dre, saṁśliṣyante) in place of “afflicted by” (nyon mongs pa, saṁkliṣyante) here.

n.223This follows K ’gre = D F.291.b4 ’dre; Skt “They connect (śleṣatayā, K) them to the three realms, but not because they afflict (kleṣatayā) their minds.” Here D khams gsum na nyon mongs pas, “They afflict (kśleṣatayā) the three realms.”

n.224Lion’s Roar of the Goddess Śrīmālā (Śrīmālā­devī­siṃha­nāda) ’phags pa lha mo dpal ’phreng gi seng ge’i sgra, Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, cha), 266a. The Skt of the passage is found in Asaṅga’s Vyākhyā on Maitreya’s Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra (Johnston 1950, 1.84).

n.225A “form of life” or “migration” (’gro ba, gati) is a state of rebirth while wandering in saṃsāra.

n.226Lion’s Roar of the Goddess Śrīmālā, 271b1. The Skt of the passage is found in Asaṅga’s Vyākhyā of Maitreya’s Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra (Johnston 1950, 1.67).

n.227The Ten Dharmas (Daśa­dharmaka­sūtra) ’phags pa chos bcu pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, (dkon brtsegs, kha), 287a1–287b4; cited in Jñānavajra’s Commentary (Ārya­laṅkāvatāra­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra­vṛtti­tathāgata-hṛdayālaṃkāra-nāma) on the The Sūtra on the Descent into Laṅkā (Laṅkāvatāra­sūtra) ’phags pa lang kar gshegs pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Degé Tengyur (mdo ’grel, pi), 123b5 ff.

n.228This response is missing from both the The Ten Dharmas and Jñānavajra’s Commentary.

n.229“Manifestation of a Bodhisattva’s Training,” or “Categorization of a Bodhisattva’s Training Chapter,” nyi khri 72.­63 and khri brgyad 83.­65. Below (Bṭ3 6.­84) glosses this same passage.

n.230This renders D skye ba ma mchis par ni bcom ldan ’das kyis nges par bka’ ma stsal to. There are many variants. Below 6.­89 (F.290.b) this line is cited in D as de’i skye ba lags pa ni bcom ldan ’das kyis bka’ ma stsal to, “The Lord has not said anything about that one’s rebirth.”

n.231yongs su gyur pa’o; khri brgyad ga 162b4–5 yongs su bsngos pa (“dedicated [to awakening]”); le’u brgyad ma ca 322b3 yongs su bsgyur pa. The Tib translators read nirmāṇa or nirmita and pariṇāmita in place of MQ p. 241, PSP 6-8: 157 nirvāṇa­pāragāminīm; LSPW “an unthinkable rebirth which allows him to advance to the beyond of Nirvana”; nyi khri 72.­64 (ga 353a2) bsam gyis mi khyab pa mya ngan las ’das par ’gyur pa, “becomes an inconceivable nirvāṇa.”

n.232khri brgyad 2.­3; ’bum 2.­3.

n.233khri brgyad 2.­4 has only “should cultivate… great love, and great compassion.”

n.234khri brgyad 2.­64; ’bum 2.­188 nye bar ston; LSPW pp. 35–37 “It is in such a spirit that a Bodhisattva, for the sake of maturing beings, lays hold of the five sense qualities.”

n.235khri brgyad 3.­1.

n.236khri brgyad 3.­20; Dutt 42.7 aṣṭāṅga-sanvāgatasya poṣadhasya; LSPW pp. 41–43 “Uposatha vows.” khri brgyad 3.­20 ff. omits the detailed list that includes “the four concentrations” found at nyi khri 2.­101, ’bum 2.­223–2.­225, LSPW pp. 41–45, and le’u brgyad ma ga 53a2 up to the sub-heading sgrub pa la gdams pa.

n.237khri brgyad 3.­21, ’bum 2.­226, nyi khri 2.­102, LSPW p. 45.

n.238khri brgyad 3.­54, nyi khri 2.­161, ’bum 2.­477, LSPW pp. 59–60.

n.239khri brgyad 6.­1, nyi khri 3.­1, ’bum 3.­1, LSPW pp. 98–99.

n.240khri brgyad 7.­1, nyi khri 4.­1, ’bum 4.­1, LSPW pp. 116–18 (LSPW pp. 107–19 abbreviates radically); Ghoṣa 473.

n.241khri brgyad 8.­1, nyi khri 5.­1, ’bum 5.­1, LSPW pp. 123–24.

n.242This reading sems dpa’ chen po is probably a mistake missed by an editor, but I have not emended it. K, nyi khri ka 178b5, ’bum ga 28a4, and LSPW p. 160 repeat byang chub sems dpa’. However khri brgyad ka 110a6–7, Tempangma ka 146b3 have byang chub sems dpa’ sems dpa’, and render padārtha by gzhi’i don (“basis in reality”), in place of the reading here tshig gi don (“meaning of the term”) corroborated by nyi khri ka 178b5 and ’bum ga 28a4, and LSPW p. 160.

n.243khri brgyad 22.­1, nyi khri 14.­1, ’bum 14.­2, LSPW p. 269.

n.244These are listed below 4.­678.

n.245Śāriputra and Subhūti.

n.246The first of the twenty-eight (or twenty-nine) questions is about the padārtha of the word “bodhisattva.” The translators of different versions rendered padārtha in two ways: tshig gi don (“meaning of the word”) and gzhi’i don (“basis in reality”). In tshig gi don dang mtshan nyid, take the tshig gi don to be referencing the first question and then take the remaining questions to be included in conventional “characteristic marks” (mtshan nyid) Alternatively, this could be rendered “a two-part discussion about the basis in reality and the characteristic marks in the brief statement.”

n.247The eleven have been set forth based on a parallel passage at Bṭ1, 24a7, that says there is one discourse to Śāriputra, five to Subhūti, two to Śatakratu, two to Maitreya, and one relating the story of Sadāprarudita and entrusting the Sūtra to Ānanda. The following are tentative approximate locations in khri brgyad. The identification of exactly which sections in the scriptures our author has in mind requires further investigation. The first three rounds are (1) khri brgyad 2.­1–3.­145; (2) khri brgyad 6.­1–21.­96, the intermediate teaching‍—the first chapter of the Aṣṭa (Wogihara pp. 21–128); and (3) khri brgyad chapter 22. The two rounds to Maitreya are (4) khri brgyad 33.­1 ff. and (9) khri brgyad 83.­1–83.­70. The final section is (11) khri brgyad 85.­1–87.­6. The other rounds to Subhūti and Śatakratu are hard to identify with certainty.

n.248K yongs su gtad.

n.249The line is from the Tathāgata­garbha­sūtra (de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying po’i mdo, Degé Kangyur [mdo sde, za], 248b.2), cited in the Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra­vyākhyā (theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma’i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa, Degé Tengyur, [sems tsam, phi], 112a.6–7) on the Mahā­yānottara­tantra­śāstra (Johnston 1950, 1.152): eṣā kulaputra dharmāṇāṁ dharmatā | utpādād vā tathāgatānām anutpādād vā sadaivaite sattvās tathāgatagarbhā iti. Zimmermann (2002) translates this as, “Sons of good family, the essential law ( dharmatā ) of the dharmas is this: whether or not tathāgatas appear in the world, all these sentient beings at all times contain a tathāgata ( tathāgata­garbha ).”

n.250Below our author calls the work from which this is an extract (also cited in a longer form below 5.­598) the Three Hundred (sum brgya pa, = Triśatikā ). This is a name for the Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā) (Tucci 1951). The citation here ( tathāgata iti subhūte bhūtatathatāyā etad adhivacanam; cp. Gilgit ms. Schopen edition, tathāgata iti subhūte tathatāyā etad adhivacanam translated by Harrison 2006, p. 152) is found at ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa, Degé Kangyur (sher phyin, sna tshogs, ka, 128b5–6). It is glossed in Vasubandhu’s Commentary (Ārya­bhagavatī­prajñā­pāramitā-vajracchedikā­saptārtha­ṭīkā) ’phags pa bcom ldan ’das ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa’i don bdun gyi rgya cher ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ma, 97b5–6).

n.251“Conventional” renders kun rdzob (saṃvṛti), “a cover up.”

n.252Emend pa’i to Bṭ1 26a3 pa.

n.253These characterizations of the understanding of ultimate reality (called the dharma-constituent) at higher and higher bodhisattva levels are set forth at Madhyānta­vibhāga 2.14–16.

n.254Emend rtog to Bṭ1 26a3 rtogs? If the D reading rtog is accepted, it means “surpassing thought construction.”

n.255Cp. Bṭ1 na 26a3 rnam par dag pa’i shas je che je cher gyur pas, “on account of the purified part located on level after level having become bigger and bigger.”

n.256Whitney (301c, p. 101) “by a pregnant construction, the locative is used to denote the place of rest or cessation of action or motion.” The Skt prajñā­pāramitāyāṃ yogaḥ karaṇīyaḥ puts the perfection of wisdom in the locative case (literally, “the effort is to be made in (or at) the perfection of wisdom.”) When you understand by the word prajñāpāramitā the result, a buddha’s knowledge of all aspects, take it as a dative of purpose.

n.257Bṭ3 rgyun du chud pa dang/ gus pa dang/ ’grus pa la sogs pas; Bṭ1 26b7 rgyun chad pa dang/ gus pa dang/ ’grub pa la sogs pas, “cutting the continuum, respecting, and accomplishment.”

n.258Vajracchedikā (Harrison and Watanabe, p. 113) sthātavyam… pratipattavyam… cittam pratigṛhītavyam, ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa rdo rje gcod pa, Degé Kangyur (sher phyin, sna tshogs, ka), 121b2–3. In his translation, Harrison (2006, p. 142) takes katham (ji ltar) as introducing freestanding questions rather than as comments on what the Lord has already taught in a Prajñāpāramitā scripture already known to the reader.

n.259nyi khri 2.­5, ’bum 2.­5; khri brgyad 2.­4 “should develop.”

n.260Vajracchedikā, cited just before in the brief teaching Bṭ3 3.­20.

n.261This understands rigs pa as nyāya. If rigs pa renders yukti this means, “It means ‘because of the logic of not taking a stand anywhere.’ ”

n.262“Practice through the force of habit” (yang dag par spyod pa, samudācāra), “the achieving” (sgrub pa, pratipatti).

n.263Mahā­yāna­saṃgraha, 3.7 (Chodron’s undated English translation of Lamotte 1938, p. 219), explains the four investigations (yongs su btsal ba, paryeṣaṇā) that are connected with the preparatory stage (prayoga) of the path before awakening. The first two investigations discover that the names for things and the things themselves are both just articulated in the mind; the third that there is no intrinsic nature or intrinsic identity to be found in the names and things, it is just labeled onto them; and finally that the particular features distinguishing the names and things are just labeled onto them too. The four comprehensions (yongs su shes pa, parijñāna; Chodron “knowledges”) are, in each case, coming to the realization of “representation only” (rnam par rig pa tsam, vijñapti­mātratā). In each case the comprehension is associated with a more and more refined meditative stabilization that finally merges into awakening or clear realization (mngon rtogs, abhisamaya).

n.264Golden pha 58a shes rab kyis yongs su sbyong bar byed pa; K, N shes rab kyis sbyong bar byed pa. D shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa yongs su sbyor bar byed pa, “When, after giving or after the giving of a gift, they investigate with the four ways of investigating and comprehend properly with the four comprehensions, they apply themselves to the perfection of wisdom.”

n.265This is explaining upādāya (phyir) in khri brgyad 2.­3: “because a gift, giver, or recipient are not apprehended.”

n.266Similar to khri brgyad 45.­11, nyi khri 35.­14, ’bum ta 55a1.

n.267This is the nyi khri and ’bum reading, and the reading below at khri brgyad 2.­30. Here khri brgyad has “there is no physical or mental effort expended.”

n.268rtsol ba, *vyavasāya. The idea is that a worthy one ends up in nirvāṇa because of a deficient path, but a bodhisattva models nirvāṇa intentionally.

n.269khri brgyad 54.­4, le’u brgyad ma ca 24b4, LSPW pp. 406–7.

n.270’bum 2.­4.

n.2714.­818–4.­886 explaining khri brgyad 16.­1–16.­25.

n.272Golden 62a5 thob.

n.273By saying bodhisattvas meditate on the emptiness meditative stabilization and so on, not on just emptiness and so on, the scripture indicates these three are being taught in the context of a bodhisattva’s practice.

n.274“And so on” includes, at khri brgyad 2.­4, the “four immeasurables, four formless absorptions, eight deliverances, nine serial absorptions,” and so on.

n.275’bum 2.­10; khri brgyad and nyi khri differ slightly.

n.276“Product,” rab tu skye ba (prabhava), is one of the four aspects of the truth of origination.

n.277This is a conjectural translation of kun mthun par mkhyen pa, perhaps an abbreviation of chos thams cad stong pa nyid du rjes su mthun par mkhyen pa, “the subsequent knowledge that all dharmas are in accord with emptiness” that occurs just below. It would then mean the knowledge that everything is in accord with the ultimate, which is to say, is ultimately the same. For a detailed investigation of the knowledges see Mppś English pp. 1200–18. In the basic scriptures, awakening knowledge is first of the suffering, origination, cessation, and path as it pertains to the world in which we find ourselves (the “desire realm”) and then subsequently as it pertains to the form and formless realms. Based on this kun mthun pa, “all in agreement,” would mean that the practitioner knows all three realms are “in agreement,” which is to say are the same as suffering, originating from affliction and karma and so on.

n.278Mppś English vol. 3, p. 1205, says this is knowledge that what has been extinguished will not arise again and is absent from a buddha.

n.279Lamotte (Mppś English vol. 3, p. 1204), in his otherwise exhaustive and masterly explanation of the knowledges, mistakenly explains paricaya/parijaya as only related to paracitta, “knowledge of the minds of others,” without fully explaining its use in the perfection of wisdom. Altruistic “mastery” is central to the perfection of wisdom.

n.2804.­41. It means they do not do so in the way taught in the fundamental scriptures.

n.281Emend rkyan to rkyen.

n.282khri brgyad 54.­4, with slight differences; cf. le’u brgyad ma ca 24b4, ŚsPN4 9817v8, LSPW pp. 406–7.

n.283Better is ŚsPN4 9817v8 that has evaṃ, “thus,” in place of eva (nyid du), “actual.”

n.284Lamotte (Mppś English vol. 3, pp. 1204 and 2018) suggests the reading yathābhūta in place of yathāruta but khri brgyad ka 12a sgra ji bzhin shes is corroborated by Z’s yathāvat. Our author understands the compound along the lines of “whatever the sound.” LSPW (reading yathāruta, sgra ji bzhin pa) “according to the letter.” sgra ji bzhin pa can also mean, depending on the context, “a statement taken at face value,” or “literally,” or even “a description in accord with the facts.”

n.285’bum 2.­14 (ka 41a3), khri brgyad 2.­4. The list of six is not in any of the extant versions of shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa stong phrag brgya pa. PSP 1-1:30, nyi khri 2.­5, Mppś, LSPW all omit.

n.286PSP 1-1:30 aṣṭau mahā­puruṣa­vitarkā(ḥ).

n.287AAVārt, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, kha) 6b6 ff. The rnam ’grel (vārttika) “subcommentary” here is taken to be Bhadanta Vimuktisena’s *arya­pañca­viṃśati-sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitopadeśa­śāstrābhisamayālaṃkāra­kārikā­vārttika; cf. Sparham 2008–13, vol. 1, p. 8.

n.288Edg, s.v. sattvāvāsa. Vasubandhu (Abhidharmakośa 3.6cd) says the seven bases of consciousness (vijñānasthiti), along with the bhavāgra and unconscious (asaṃjñin) states, are the nine. The seven are (1) the bases of humans and gods in the desire realm, (2) of certain classes of gods in the retinue of Brahmā, (3) of the gods in the second concentration, (4) of the gods in the third concentration, and (5–7) of the gods in the first three formless absorptions. Cf. Sattāvāsasutta, Aṅguttaranikāya 9.24.

n.289It is unclear whether our author intends that some versions of the scripture read āyāsa? (gnod) in place of āvāsa (gnas) or whether this is simply a creative explanation of the nine sattvāvāsa.

n.290’bum 2.­15. khri brgyad 2.­5, nyi khri 2.­6 “of a knower of all aspects.”

n.291The fourth statement, “who want to perfect the knowledge of the aspects of the thought activity of all beings,” and the fifth statement, “who want to destroy all residual impressions, connections, and afflictions,” come after “all-knowledge.”

n.292nyi khri 2.­62, khri brgyad 2.­50 (with slight differences); Z 384.

n.293nyi khri 2.­80, khri brgyad 2.­64, reading yon tan rnams nye bar ’dzin to; Dutt 37.12 upādadāti; Z 387; LSPW p. 37.

n.294Cf. Braavig, Tib text vol. i, p. 15; translation vol. ii, p. 242.

n.295Lamotte (Mppś English vol. 5, p. 2029, n. 399) cites the term sarva­vāsanānusandhi­kleśa­prahāṇa from the Skt and Tib to support his observation that bodhisattvas are called tathāgatas at the tenth level when they eliminate the residual impressions (vāsanā). They only eliminate affliction (kleśa) at the eighth level, when they obtain the forbearance for the nonproduction of all dharmas. He does not explain connection (anusaṃdhi) separately.

n.296Closest is khri brgyad ka 12b4 sems kyi spyod pa’i rnam par shes pa; cf. ’bum ka 41b6, nyi khri ka 28b6 sems dang/spyod pa dang/shes pa’i rnam par shes pa.

n.297khri brgyad 2.­9, Z 377–78.

n.298khri brgyad 2.­19, Z 379.

n.299khri brgyad 2.­30, Z 382.

n.300khri brgyad 2.­50, Z 384, LSPW pp. 31–33.

n.301Cf. below at 4.­483. skyon med pa nyid (niyāmatā/nyāmatā) by itself is rendered “flawlessness”; when together with byang chub sems dpa’ (bodhi­sattvanyāma), skyon med pa (niyāma/nyāma) is “the secure state” or “flawlessness” (of bodhisattvas); when together with “dharmas” (dharmaniyāmatā/nyāmatā), skyon med pa nyid is “certification” (of dharmas).

n.302The antecedent of “that” is the nyāma (“flawlessness”) in the word bodhi­sattvanyāma (“secure state of a bodhisattva”) understood as the tathāgata­garbha , here understood as the buddha nature found in all beings.

n.303This is from the Vajracchedikā cited earlier at 3.­4.

n.304Our author means that the attribute ( dharma ) qualifying all phenomena is their shared thoroughly established nature. This nature is certified as being the attribute in the state of perfect, complete awakening.

n.305To sum up, our author is explaining the compound bodhi­sattvanyāma not as the nyāma (“secure state” or “flawlessness”) of a bodhisattva but the nyāma that is bodhi and sattva.

n.306This is likely a citation from or a paraphrase of The Ten Bhūmis but I have not been able to identify a specific passage so I have rendered it here as a general statement.

n.307khri brgyad 2.­9 says, “Moreover, Śāriputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to thoroughly establish a buddha’s body should train in the perfection of wisdom. If they want to acquire the thirty-two marks and the eighty minor signs of a great person, they should train in the perfection of wisdom.”

n.308The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­652 (Roberts 2021b); (Rahder, VIII Q, p. 71) kumārety ucyate ’navadyatvāt.

n.309khri brgyad 2.­12: “Moreover, Śāriputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to establish all beings in a world as vast as the dharma-constituent and as far-reaching as the space element in the perfection of giving, and who want to establish them in the perfection of morality, the perfection of patience, the perfection of perseverance, the perfection of concentration, and the perfection of wisdom, should train in the perfection of wisdom.”

n.310blo gros mi zad pa’i mdo. This is The Teaching of Akṣayamati (Akṣaya­mati­nirdeśa, blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa, Toh 175; Braarvig 2018).

n.311The “I am my own master” is a refrain in collection 23 (ātmavarga) of the Udānavarga (Bernhard edition): ātmā tv ihātmano nāthaḥ; ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, tu), 21b7–22b1. The other two are similar to pāpakavarga 28; ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, 28b4–5; and prakirṇaka­varga 16.3 uttiṣṭhata vyāyam ata kurudhvaṃ dvīpam ātmanaḥ; ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, 15b6.

n.312khri brgyad ka 10.­63, LSPW pp. 158–60.

n.313khri brgyad 15.­11, LSPW pp. 189–91.

n.314“True dharmic nature eyes” (dharmatācakṣus, chos nyid kyi mig) are the eyes from the perspective of their ultimate attribute‍—nondual emptiness.

n.315This and below at 4.­541–4.­547 are important for understanding works discussing other-emptiness (gzhan stong) in fourteenth century Tibet.

n.316khri brgyad 10.­63.

n.317khri brgyad 14.­34.

n.318Golden pha 74b4 pas; D par.

n.319Here is a literal translation of this passage: “Like this, in someone who has seen the city of the gandharvas, an intellectually active awareness (blo) of the city is born. Then, afterward, when one has really explored and looked for just that city and does not see it, the intellectually active awareness of the city disappears (blo med par gyur). But it is not suitable to say, when intellectually active awareness of the empty is born, that there is some other, different entity‍—empty of the intellectually active awareness of the city‍—because intellectually active awareness of the empty was born in that one. Similarly, here as well, having seen a falsely imagined shape and so on as a shape, an intellectually active awareness of a dharma is born. Then, when a search has been made for it as it really is, because the knowledge of it as it really is does not see that dharma, it is simply that the intellectually active awareness of the dharma is not there and an intellectually active awareness of the empty is born. It is not suitable to say that because an intellectually active awareness of the empty is born there, there is some other, different dharma‍—‘the empty’‍—there.” Cited in Jagattalanivāsin’s Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī­nāma­vyākhyā, bcom ldan ’das ma’i man ngag gi rjes su brang ba zhes bya ba’i rnam par bshad pa, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ba), 286b3–6.

n.320K, N.

n.321Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ba), 285b5–7 is a different translation of the same passage.

n.322D has “attain clairvoyance.”

n.323sgyu ma’i sngags gis… mig bslus. I take lta ba bcings, “having mesmerized,” (Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī, 286a1) as a gloss, not a different translation.

n.324khri brgyad 20.­80.

n.325D “one talks of their ‘lack of an intrinsic nature.’ ”

n.326Emend di ltar to de ci ltar (Bhagavatyāmnāyānusāriṇī, 287b4).

n.327K, N kyis; D kyi. Alternatively, rang nyid kyi gzung ba med du zin may mean “it is itself already not a grasped-object.”

n.328N has “nominal” (btags) existence.

n.329khri brgyad 16.­97.

n.330khri brgyad 3.­130.

n.331This is a tentative translation of nag pa (citrā) grong (gṛha) du phyin pa dang / grong nas byung ba yang gcig. I understand grong to mean one of the stations or mansions through which the sun or moon, understood as a celestial body, passes.

n.332Udānavarga 1.19 dīrgho bālasya saṃsāraḥ; ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, tu), 2b4.

n.333Cited in Prajñāvarman’s Udāna­varga­vivaraṇa, ched du brjod pa’i tshoms kyi rnam par ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, thu), 115b1 on Udānavārga 3.12–13.

n.334Cp. khri brgyad 24.­65 “you cannot apprehend a prior limit.”

n.335Udānavarga, ched du brjod pa’i tshoms, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, tu), 25b7–28a2 differs slightly; Bernhard 1965 omits.

n.336Conze’s rendering of the distinctly Buddhist word anavakāra (Tib dor ba med pa) as “nonrepudiation” has been retained because of the -kāra ending, even though the explanation here suggests a better translation is “absence of the repudiated.”

n.337Prajñāvarman’s Udāna­varga­vivaraṇa, ched du brjod pa’i tshoms kyi rnam par ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, thu), 71b3 sangs rgyas thams cad ni mnyam par yi ge dang tshig gcig nges par mi ston te/ ’od srungs kyi gsung rab la phung po nyid yod par ston to. Alternatively, de bzhin gshegs pa ’od srungs kyi gsung rab may mean the scriptures of the Kāśyapīya subschool of the Sarvāstivādins. Cf. Pūrṇavardana’s Abhi­dharma­kośa­ṭīkā, chos mngon par chos kyi ’grel bshad mtshan nyid kyi rjes su ’brang ba, Degé Tengyur (mngon pa, cu), 170b rnam par ’drid pa lnga zhes bya ba ni phun po lnga zhes bya ba’i don te/ de bzhin gshegs pa ’od srungs kyi gsung rab las phung po la rnam par ’drid pa zhes bya ba ming btags pa yin no; Karashima 2015, p. 117.

n.338“Now” means during the time of the Tathāgata Śākyamuni.

n.339Golden pha 82b5, D mi rtag pa omit.

n.340“Attributes” renders chos ( dharma ).

n.341“Special attributes of a buddha” renders sangs rgyas kyi chos (buddhadharma ).

n.342“Things” renders chos ( dharma ).

n.343This means it is the ultimate attribute of those attribute possessors. The word chos ( dharma ) here has a number of overlapping meanings because any attribute ( dharma ) can be an attribute possessor (chos can, dharmin), but all attribute possessors can be understood as indivisible with their ultimate attribute and hence are called just things or phenomena or attributes ( dharma ). Put another way, everything can stand as a basis for an investigation that leads to its ultimate nature (=chos can), and this ultimate nature is in this sense its ultimate attribute (=chos).

n.344The explanations of the emptiness of dharmas and emptiness of marks here is similar to the analysis of marks (lakṣaṇa) in Nāgārjuna’s Mūla­madhyama­kakārikā chapter five.

n.345This, unlike the general characterizing mark “impermanent,” is a specific characterizing mark of the first of the five aggregates as distinct from the second aggregate, for example.

n.346khri brgyad 20.­76 et passim, where this is rendered “all dharmas are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature.”

n.347dngos po med pa’i ngo bo nyid, abhāvasvabhāva. The Skt compound consists of three parts: a, a negative prefix; bhava, “existent thing”; and svabhāva, “intrinsic nature.” In what follows the parts of the compound are treated in different ways. Usually I have rendered abhāva­svabhāva­śūnyatā as “the emptiness that is the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature,” but there are many different ways of breaking the compound, some of which are explained here.

n.348As a bahuvrihi, abhāvasvabhāva means: “all dharmas have nonexistence (abhāva) as their intrinsic nature (svabhāva).”

n.349I have rendered dngos po (bhāva) “existent thing” here for consistency, but as our author explains immediately after this statement, it means the things in ordinary life that deluded people mistakenly take to be truly real.

n.350I have rendered dngos po (bhāva) “existent thing” here for consistency, but as our author explains immediately after this statement, it means the things in ordinary life that deluded people mistakenly take to be truly real.

n.351This is a different way of dissolving the compound dngos po med pa’i ngo bo nyid, abhāvasvabhāva. If our author intends not a bahuvrīhi here, but a tatpuruṣa compound, he is saying it is called “the intrinsic nature that is not an existent thing,” that which has no existent thing for its intrinsic nature

n.352Śūnyatā­nāma­mahā­śūtra, mdo chen po stong pa nyid (mdo sde, sha), 250b1, cited in Vasubandhu’s Madhyānta­vibhāgabhāṣya (Nagao edition, 18.4–7) evaṃ yad yatra nāsti tat tena śūnyam iti yathābhūtaṃ samanupaśyati yat punar atrāvaśiṣṭaṃ bhavati tat sad ihāstīti yathābhūtaṃ prajānātīty; dbus dang mtha’ rnam par ’byed pa’i ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (sems tsam, bi), 2a2–3. Hopkins (1999, pp. 183–84 notes a and b) discusses the origin of the citation and supplies complete references to earlier Tib and modern interpretations of this passage. Here bcom ldan ’das supports the position that the citation is from a sūtra.

n.353This renders D shin tu rtogs pa ma yin. Golden pha 85a2 shin tu rtog pa yin, “is absolutely a thought construction.”

n.354khri brgyad 48.­94, 83.­61, and 54.­22; LSPW pp. 408–9, 476, 582.

n.355The Ten Bhūmis (Rahder, p. 87).

n.356These are included among the ten powers; cf. khri brgyad 16.­81.

n.357Z 312 n. 536 “interstitial dark place”; Edg, s.v. lokāntarikā, “world-interstitial-spheres.” It is noteworthy that lokāntarikā is not present in our author’s version of the Sūtra.

n.358The secrets of the body of a tathāgata are explained in the seventh chapter (sku’i gsang ba’i le’u) of the de bshin gshegs pa’i gsang ba bsam gyis mi khyab pa’i bstan pa (Tathāgatācintya­guhya­nirdeśa), Degé Kangyur (dkon brtsegs, ka), F.126.a–F.132.b.

n.359bskyed. kyer kyer / kye re, “upright”; skye, “become upright”; skyed, “make upright.”

n.360bzur, perfect form of ’dzur; cf. zur, the resultative form “on the side.”

n.361mjing pa bsgyur. Jāschke s.v. ’jing. There is a relation between gya gyu, “crooked”; ’gyur, “change”; sgyu, “deceit”; and sgyur, “change.” Lamotte and Conze take this as the meaning of “the elephant’s look” and connect it with the historical Buddha’s turning fully around to gaze on the world he is about to leave.

n.362Alternatively, ji ltar ’dug pa and ji ltar lta ba may mean “with their acts in perfect accord [with reality] and with eyes that see [all reality] just as it is.”

n.363khri brgyad 2.­55.

n.364khri brgyad 2.­63.

n.365The four ways of gathering a retinue are by means of: gifts (dāna), kind words (priyavacana), beneficial actions (arthacaryā/kriyā), and samānārthatā / samāna­sukha­duḥkhatā. Edg, s.v. samānārthatā renders the last “adopting of the same aims for himself which he preaches to others” and “having the same joys and sorrows.” It means practicing what you preach. Here it means adapting to the prevailing set of values.

n.366Lalitavistara. The Tib. translation here differs from rgya cher rol pa, Lhasa Kangyur 96 (mdo sde, kha), 115b6–116a5 (closest); Degé Kangyur (mdo sde, kha), 71b5–72a2. Cf. The Play in Full, 12.­3–12.­7 (Dharmachakra 2013).

n.367This renders ’chi (maraṇa); Kangyur ’thab mo (saraṇa): “conflict,” “violence.”

n.368’khrul ’khor (yantra); Kangyur dug gi lo ma (pātra).

n.369Kangyur ’dam dang lcag lcig khrod nas padma rnam par ’phel.

n.370amṛte; Kangyur ’chi med: “He leads trillions of beings to the deathless state.” aṃṛta means both “immortal” and “ambrosia, divine nectar.”

n.371Emend bsten to Kangyur bstan (darśita).

n.372It is noteworthy that this chapter title in khri brgyad is omitted from nyi khri 2.­82.

n.373khri brgyad 3.­2.

n.374K, N; D “the conceptualization of practice.”

n.375Alternatively, “therefore, that which is the emptiness that is a nonexistence does exist.”

n.376The punctuation at khri brgyad 3.­2 differs slightly.

n.377“It”‍—the statement‍—“does not have the fault” of saying bodhisattvas are absolutely existent.

n.378D. The translation based on K, N, and Golden pha 91b2 is “if they ultimately exist.” The idea is that if the ultimate emptiness is not just a name as a falsely imagined phenomena, all the other ordinary phenomena will not be either. D “if they ultimately do not exist.”

n.379D. The translation based on K, N, and Golden pha 92a5 is: “ ‘does not reside somewhere’ teaches that the illusion is marked as having form, because dharmas having form reside somewhere.”

n.380D rten cing ’brel ba’i chos; K, N rten cing rten pa’i chos; Golden pha 92b6 rten cing brten pa’i chos; khri brgyad ka 24a7 chos so so tha dad pa, prati­prati­dharma, “in the case of each of these different dharmas.” Kumārajīva’s translation of the corresponding section of the Śatasāhasrikā (translated Z 206, n. 45) is: “Designations are dharmas produced by the combination of causes and conditions.” LSPW pp. 38–39 “counter-dharma” (pp. 38–39, n. 5: “The passage may, however, be corrupt”). It may be that “those interdependent” was not in our author’s version of the Sūtra, but should be understood as an explanation of prati prati.

n.381These are the five aggregates onto which the bodhisattva is labeled.

n.382Cf. Edg, s.v. upaṇiśā, rendered in Tib by rgyu, “cause.” The idea is that the cause dictates the result, but it is impossible to describe a complex of causes big enough to give rise to this resultant perfection of wisdom.

n.383This is a conjectural rendering of shod dgod/god .

n.384This tautology in English is because our author is dissolving a Skt compound word into its component parts. The four are Jambu, Videha, Godānīya, and Kuru.

n.385This is the trisāhasra­mahā­sāhasra, Conze’s “trichiliocosm.”

n.386This wisdom is “detached from” or “isolated from” (vivikta) every possible defilement.

n.387Das, s.v. ’gre ba, is right to connect the word with peyāla (paryāya), a set of passages connected because they are explaining a single topic; Mvy has parivarta for ’gres pa.

n.388khri brgyad 3.­9.

n.389khri brgyad 3.­17.

n.390khri brgyad 3.­21.

n.391The word yuj includes within its range of meaning “yoking to,” “endeavoring at,” “joining with,” and “engaging in a correct practice of.”

n.392K, N “aggregates, sense fields, elements, truths, links of dependent origination, all dharmas, and the compounded and uncompounded.”

n.393This is not exactly the same as any of the extant versions of the Sūtra that all have med (“there is no”) in place of yang dag par rjes su ma mthong (“they do not see”); khri brgyad 3.­28.

n.394Mūla­madhyamaka­kārikā 1.1.

n.395Mūla­madhyamaka­kārikā 15.8; 16.8; 5.3.

n.396D yang gcig tu na; Golden pha 100b5 yang na, “alternatively.”

n.397One of the meanings of dharma is something that holds its own identity.

n.398khri brgyad 3.­23 lists the defining marks of each aggregate. Each dharma is a separate entity so if they were all to merge together like streams they would lose their identity, so it is not possible for them to have aggregated.

n.399Emend D ’khrul pa yod to Golden 101b2 ’khrul pa med.

n.400Alternatively, if a bahuvrihi compound, “they appear with emptiness as their mark.”

n.401This renders gzugs su yod pa as equivalent to gzugs su rung ba, the standard definition of rūpa (gzugs). Setting aside the various etymologies, Tib gzugs su yod pa, “that which occupies a place,” is a resultant form of ’dzugs.

n.402’dus nas shes is probably a different rendering of the same Skt rendered in khri brgyad 3.­23 (ka 29a) kun tu shes, explaining the saṃ in saṃjñā.

n.403K, N. D, where the editor has understood “spoken earlier” as the “emptiness” spoken earlier in the statement “form is itself emptiness, and emptiness is form,” and the “all aspects” as all phenomena understood from the perspective of their true dharmic nature, their ultimate attribute emptiness. The editor of Golden 102b6 reads kyi (“teaches all the aspects of emptiness spoken about earlier”), and understands the “earlier” to be a reference to the last section when our author said this passage in the Sūtra is broken down into four subsections.

n.404The eleven are the seven emptinesses (of aggregates, sense fields, elements, truths, dependent origination, all dharmas or dharmas taken as a totality, and compounded and uncompounded dharmas) together with the four (the intrinsic nature of each‍—form and so on separately‍—that cannot be apprehended, the intrinsic nature of them as a collection or confluence that cannot be apprehended, the defining mark of a particular dharma that cannot be apprehended, and the totality of dharmas that cannot be apprehended).

n.405“The endeavor” (yujyamāna, brtson pa); “engaged” (yukta, brtson).

n.406“Originating” (bhāva, ’byung ba); “perishing” (vibhāva, ’jigs pa).

n.407This is a conjectural translation of ’dres mar. Based on khri brgyad 3.­42–3.­43, it incorporates the four possibilities (practicing, not practicing, and so on), and practicing for the sake of the perfections and so on, up to the very limit of reality.

n.408khri brgyad 3.­29.

n.409This is the first of the three gateways to liberation.

n.410This emptiness is the emptiness of the emptiness meditative stabilization gateway.

n.411“Yogic practice” (yoga, rnal ’byor).

n.412“Cognitive dimension” renders rnam pa (ākāra).

n.413khri brgyad 3.­35 (ka 31a7) sbyor bar byed. The same yojaya (Ghoṣa 262, Dutt 57, and Z 398) is rendered variously into Tib by both sbyor and sbyor bar byed. Dorjé renders nyi khri 2.­129 (ka 52b) mi sbyor mi ’byed as “they neither associate with nor disassociate from physical forms.”

n.414Z follows Edg in rendering avatṝ (’jug) here as “comprehend.”

n.415“By way of apprehending consequences” renders las dang ’bras bu dmigs pa’i tshul gyis.

n.416A “maturation” means a form of life.

n.417’bum 2.­277, nyi khri 2.­132, Twenty-Five Thousand translation “owing to emptiness with respect to the sameness of the three times”) differ.

n.418khri brgyad 3.­40.

n.419The rest of the aggregates with origination and so on, and with pleasure, suffering, self, no self, calm, and not calm.

n.420’bum 2.­352, khri brgyad omit.

n.421A rnam par rtog pa (usually rendered “idea” or “conceptualization”) here means a “possibility” or “alternative.” The Tib versions of the Sūtra have all four conceptualizations of “practicing, not practicing, practicing and not practicing, and not practicing and not not practicing.” The last two are absent from the Skt versions.

n.422Cf. 2.­5.

n.423This renders de gnyis kyi las bstan to. Alternatively, this may just be a way of saying, like Bṭ1 na 64a6–7 phrad pa’am mi phrad pa zhes bya ba yang ’du ba dang ’bral ba’i rnam grangs tsam du zad do, “they are synonyms.”

n.424This means from the attainment of the forbearance for dharmas that are not produced and the matured perfections on the eighth level.

n.425khri brgyad 3.­53 (ka 37a1) bskyed; ’bum 2.­476 (ka 160a4); nyi khri 2.­160 (ka 61a5) skyed, “do not produce a miserly thought.”

n.426Maitreya lives in the Tuṣita heaven ready to be “reborn” as a Śākyamuni-like buddha.

n.427skyon med pa; rendered at khri brgyad 3.­72 “flawlessness.”

n.428viṣkandaka (thod rgal) (variously avaskandha, avaskandhaka, or as in Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa 8.73, vyutkrāntaka) means “leaping above”; see khri brgyad n.­79 at 3.­75 for an explanation, and khri brgyad 62.­54–62.­56 for the full account of this meditative stabilization.

n.429brtun is a perfective voluntary form of ’dun; cf. Jäschke, s.v. rtun, dun.

n.430bsdus is glossing sdom (saṃvara). Alternatively, even though it is not contextually appropriate, the author might intend that they have gathered (saṃgrah) a retinue through morality.

n.431khri brgyad 3.­97.

n.432K, N la bka’ stsal.

n.433At khri brgyad 3.­104 the statement, “Śāriputra, there are bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom cleansing the awakening path who are practicing the perfection of giving,” and so on, comes immediately before Śāriputra’s question.

n.434These are the ten powers (bala) of a tathāgata, khri brgyad 16.­81–16.­89.

n.435khri brgyad K, N ka 121–22; khri brgyad 3.­133 differs slightly; PSP 1-1: 101–2.

n.436Golden pa 112b6, citing khri brgyad 3.­127. D differs.

n.437Golden pa 113a3–4, citing khri brgyad 3.­134.

n.438khri brgyad 3.­134 ff. says that bodhisattvas inclined to generosity, morality, and so on practice each of the six perfections in turn, but their inclination to one does not preclude the practice of them all together.

n.439khri brgyad 3.­140.

n.440The eight are listed earlier at 1.­31 and are explained below 4.­833.

n.441This summarizes from khri brgyad 3.­146 up to the end of chapter 3 (3.­153‍—prophesy); up to the end of chapter 4 (4.­6‍—praise); up to the end of chapter 5 (5.­14‍—the diffusion of the light and so on); and up to Ghoṣa 322.

n.4422.­5. The last two are “the subdivisions of the endeavor, and the specific instruction for coming to an authoritative conclusion about this exposition.”

n.443Golden 104b1 emends D bus to bu. Śāriputra is being addressed by Subhūti. Śāriputra is not stating this as a fact.

n.444bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, s.v. stsol, says it is an archaic form of sel (past tense bsal); s.v. sel ba, 2 gives the example dmigs kyis bsal ba (“zero in on a particular”).

n.445Perhaps this means discourses “intended for oneself, intended for others, and given when the time is ripe.”

n.446In this section the following conventions are employed for compounds with the word prajñapti (rendered into Tib by forms of ’dogs): btags pa (prajñapti), “designation,” “designated”; in its basic meaning “something that makes something else known”; “label,” “labeled”; ming du btags pa (nāmaprajñapti), “name designation”; chos su btags pa (dharma­prajñapti), “dharma designation”; btags pa’i chos (prajñapti­dharma), “phenomenon that is a label”; tha snyad du gdags pa (vyavahṛ passive), “use conventionally”; and ming dang brda (nāma/saṃjñā-saṃketa), “name and conventional term,” and ming gi brda, “name that is a conventional term.”

n.447khri brgyad 6.­4.

n.448K, N; D “these dharmas are not dual.”

n.449btags pa. Golden 116a1–2 brtags pa’i/pas gdams pa, “instruction about what has been conceptualized.”

n.450khri brgyad 6.­34 “understand that it is a dharma designation that is a name and conventional term.” ’bum 3.­113 (ka 236b4), nyi khri 3.­75 (ka 99a1) have the preferable reading ming dang brdar bya ba’i chos su gdags pa rnams de ltar, “understand the conventional usage of dharmas that are names and conventional terms.”

n.451khri brgyad 6.­57.

n.452The other three questions at khri brgyad 6.­35 are: “or is the bodhisattva in form, or is form in the bodhisattva, or is the bodhisattva without form?”

n.453Ghoṣa 432, Gilgit 48r10, PSP 1-1:139, ’bum 3.­656, nyi khri 3.­142, and le’u brgyad ma ga 115b5. khri brgyad 6.­51 “when a being.”

n.454khri brgyad 6.­56.

n.455khri brgyad 6.­57, citing 6.­4 (ka 58a3), but without sems dpa’.

n.456khri brgyad 6.­62.

n.457Golden 116b3. D “not apprehending the elder Subhūti’s word.”

n.458khri brgyad 6.­67 with a slight difference.

n.459’bum 3.­744.

n.460khri brgyad 6.­68, citing 6.­4. It is noteworthy that here there is only bodhisattva (’bum 3.­4, nyi khri 3.­4) not bodhisattva great being .

n.461This exact citation is not in the other scriptures beginning from ’bum 3.­745, nyi khri 3.­180, PSP 1-1:145, or Ghoṣa 470. Closest is khri brgyad 6.­68.

n.462khri brgyad 6.­74.

n.463K, N phyis; D phyir.

n.464nyi khri 3.­28; khri brgyad 6.­23 “names that are conventional terms”; Gilgit 41v7, Kimura 1-1:114. prajñapti is rendered here in line with its basic meaning as a causal form of the root jñā. There is a sense of altruism in prajñapti, where all dharmas are what they are, to make known to others their lack of an intrinsic nature in order to liberate them. Alternatively (rendering prajñapti by “designation,” “designated”; Tib btags pa), “they should train in designation that is names and conventional terms, in designation that is advice, and in designation as the dharmas.”

n.465While giving advice they remain free from the two extremes.

n.466Both are the names and conventional terms that make things known, and advice that makes things known.

n.467khri brgyad 6.­29, “Because, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom do not mentally construct and do not conceptualize all those dharmas.”

n.468’bum 3.­104, nyi khri 3.­61.

n.469khri brgyad 6.­29, ’bum 3.­105, nyi khri 3.­61, Gilgit 44v2, PSP 1-1: 128; Ghoṣa 372 omits.

n.470khri brgyad 6.­29.

n.471D; K, N “that is the object of nonconceptualization.”

n.472Here tathatā (“suchness,” “reality”) has the sense of “the state that remains just as it is.”

n.473’bum 3.­124, nyi khri 3.­75. PSP 1-1, Ghoṣa, and Gilgit 44v8 nāmasāṃketikī dharmaprajñaptir, rendered in LSPW p. 106 “the concept of dharma as a word and conventional term.”

n.4744.­425. A threefold subset of conceptualizations is set out as falling within the province (1) of insight, (2) of the three gateways to liberation, and (3) of the perfect analytic understanding of the reality of dharmas.

n.475khri brgyad 6.­33.

n.476’bum 3.­125; nyi khri 3.­76: “You have said, Subhūti, that ‘The Lord says “bodhisattva” again and again.’ ”

n.477Golden 121a1–2 yongs su brtags pa; D yongs su btags pa “labeled,” “designated.”

n.478More exactly, “bodhisattvahood” (byang chub sems dpa’ nyid).

n.479khri brgyad 6.­69; 6.­5 has the same slightly abbreviated list.

n.480Golden 112a6, D delete de. This is a name for the Vaiśeṣikas.

n.481The sequence of questions and responses goes up to khri brgyad 6.­49.

n.482khri brgyad 6.­47.

n.483khri brgyad 6.­50.

n.484khri brgyad 6.­53.

n.485Cf. khri brgyad 6.­57, citing 6.­5. Here again, as at Bṭ3 4.­438, citing khri brgyad 6.­68 citing 6.­5, it is noteworthy that there is only bodhisattva (as at ’bum 3.­4, nyi khri 3.­4) not bodhisattva great being .

n.486khri brgyad 6.­67.

n.487The full sentence is: “Again, Subhūti, you say, ‘I do not see that‍—namely, the phenomenon bodhisattva.’ ” Cf. khri brgyad 6.­68, citing a passage similar to 6.­4 (that has ming gi chos in place of just chos); ’bum 3.­4; nyi khri 3.­4.

n.488khri brgyad 6.­68.

n.489Nothing else, no other state of consciousness, sees the state when, ultimately, nothing sees anything.

n.490Golden 125a1 tha dad par de.

n.491Alternatively, “You cannot designate (gdags) the uncompounded without the compounded.”

n.492khri brgyad 6.­68.

n.493In the list at khri brgyad 6.­5, there are sixteen, and here there are twelve. The other nine are “one who lives, an individual, a person, one born of Manu, a child of Manu, one who does, one who feels, one who knows, and one who sees.”

n.494These are the six consciousnesses, such as eye consciousness, that engage with their objects. The “foundation consciousness” is the ālayavijñāna, kun gzhi shes pa, literally “basis-of-all consciousness.”

n.495The “afflicted thinking mind” is the kliṣṭamanas, nyon yid, the seventh of the eighth consciousnesses.

n.496This is the fifth of the eight parts of the exposition (listed at 2.­5) of the statement (khri brgyad 2.­1), “Here, Śāriputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all dharmas in all forms should make an effort at the perfection of wisdom.”

n.497This is the seventh chapter, “Entry into Flawlessness,” khri brgyad 7.­1–7.­31.

n.498khri brgyad 7.­1.

n.499This should possibly be emended to “obtain the meditative stabilization gateways,” or, alternatively, it should be taken as a summary paraphrase of the whole section; cf. khri brgyad 7.­8, ’bum 4.­16–4.­18, nyi khri 4.­5–4.­6.

n.500K, N.

n.501This means they are included in the third of the four benefits listed just above, but for stylistic purposes explained later.

n.502“Big flaw” renders skyon chen po attested at ’bum ka 319b5, nyi khri ka 120a7. khri brgyad ka 71a1 skyon gyi spyi gtsug, and le’u brgyad ma ga 124b1 rtse mo’i skyon (“hardheadedness”), render Ghoṣa 486 bodhi­sattvasyāmaḥ or PSP 1-1: 150 bodhi­sattva­mūrdhāmaḥ more exactly; cf. Edg, s.v. mūdhāma, who comments on Ghoṣa’s reading, and Conze’s notes to LSPW pp. 119–21.

n.503This renders spyi bor gyur pa (mūrdhagata; usually rendered rtse mor gyur pa). Our author likely intends the second of the four divisions of the aids to knowledge that penetrates reality.

n.504khri brgyad, ’bum, and nyi khri omit mthun. mthun pa’i chos renders anudharma, a word specific to this context that means something is a proper practice, but it is not so from a bodhisattva’s perspective if it is polluted by a persistent negative attachment to it. Edg, s.v. undharma, cites Childers’ Pāli Dictionary, s.v. anudhammam, as an adverb meaning “in accordance with the dhamma.”

n.505This relates āma = skyon (“rawness,” “hardheadedness”) with āmana (“affection for something”) and hence with vikalpa (“mental construction”).

n.506This explains nyāma (skyon med pa) as niyā and āma; MDPL, s.v. nyāma, “way of salvation.”

n.507khri brgyad 7.­20.

n.508Correct D bden to ldan.

n.509khri brgyad 7.­23. Śāriputra is asking Subhūti the question.

n.510D; Golden 128b3 sems ma yin pa “with the mark of no thought.”

n.511This is the same at khri brgyad 7.­25. nyi khri 4.­19 “is then… your question… appropriate?” is better.

n.512This section begins the seventh of the eight subsections introduced earlier (2.­5).

n.513nges par ’byin pa, nairyāṇika, “cause going forth” (describing the true path) is derived from nges par ’byung ba, niryāṇa (describing the true cessation). Here nges par ’byung ba has the meaning of “going forth.” Below (4.­564) it has the additional meaning of a “definite emergence” or “escape,” and at 4.­1168 a yāna is understood as both a “going,” and a “vehicle,” and the great niryāṇa is equated with the Great Vehicle and has the meaning of “that from which going has gone.”

n.514Alternatively, thabs la sgrub pa may be rendered “progress in the method.” Below (4.­609) our author calls this section brtson par sgrub pa, “practice as perseverance,” and (4.­620) brtson pa’i sgrub pa “practice of perseverance,” with the practice of method as a subset.

n.515khri brgyad 8.­12 is closest but Subhūti, not the Lord, is speaking, and “will be near the knowledge of all aspects” is omitted.

n.516khri brgyad 8.­1.

n.517“Scripture that is authoritative about a specific instruction” (gtan la dbab pa’i bstan pa, upadeśa) is the twelfth of the twelve divisions of a buddha’s sacred speech (pravacana), an authoritative statement about a specific karmic result that has a specific karmic cause utterly hidden from any ordinary knowledge, usually a story in the Vinaya to explain particular occurrences that occasion instructions on a particular point of conduct; cf. Haribhadra (Wogihara, pp. 92–93) āgamapramāṇa (lung gi tshad ma), “valid cognition based on a scripture,” “authoritative scripture.”

n.518K, N gang zag gang la.

n.519“Uneasy” renders ’gyod pa (kaukṛtya); “done badly” (nyes par byas pa) is explaining the word based on the root kṛ (“to do”) and the suffix ku (“deviating,” “bad”).

n.520Golden 131b1 bzhag.

n.521The disgust is separate in the list in khri brgyad 8.­6; ’bum 5.­131; nyi khri 5.­10; PSP 1-1: 158, le’u brgyad ma ga 132b4 omit.

n.522PSP 1-2: 63 yā utpādād vā tathāgatānāṃ anutpādād vā sthitaivaiṣā dharmāṇāṃ dharmatā ; khri brgyad 62.­40.

n.523“Breaking through” (rab tu rtogs, prativyadh); alternatively, “awaken to” (rab tu rtogs, prabudh).

n.524K, N mtha’; D lam (“path”).

n.525The Skt anya is rendered “one thing” (gzhan, anya), “something else” (gzhan, anya), “unaltered (mi ’gyur pa, ananya) suchness,” and “does not change” (mi gyur pa, anyathā-).

n.526khri brgyad 8.­11.

n.527I understand our author to be interpreting the version of the Sūtra he is reading as having three sections, the first two of which comprise the first section. He understands the passage as saying that the aggregates and so on that are the basis for designating a bodhisattva cannot be said to be wholesome, and so on, by saying the words dream and so on. LSPW renders the three as: (1) “anything to correspond to the word ‘Bodhisattva,’ ” (2) “to what, then, could that word ‘Bodhisattva[’] refer?” and (3) “the reality corresponding to ‘Bodhisattva.’ ”

n.528’gres renders hāraka; MW, s.v. hāraka, “a kind of prose composition.”

n.529Golden 134b4 ming phung po; D ming dang phung po.

n.530khri brgyad 8.­11, ’bum 5.­189, nyi khri 5.­15 all have gang gis kyang, not gang yang.

n.531khri brgyad 8.­12.

n.532khri brgyad 8.­22.

n.533khri brgyad 8.­29.

n.534khri brgyad 8.­12. It is noteworthy that “will be near the knowledge of all aspects” is omitted here.

n.535’bum 5.­191, nyi khri 5.­18, and khri brgyad 8.­14. All differ slightly in unimportant details from the passage cited here.

n.536This, like the earlier passage (4.­111), is important for understanding the discussion of the other-emptiness (gzhan stong) doctrine in fourteenth century Tibet.

n.537K, N de bzhin nyid, D de nyid, “just that” (tad eva); also “true reality” ( tattva ).

n.538Here “true dharmic nature” means the true nature that is the ultimate attribute, emptiness, and the dharma that is the possessor of that attribute (=dharmin) as something that can be said of everything, including even emptiness itself.

n.539A “seed syllable” (yi ge’i ’bru, vyañjana) here means an acronym.

n.540khri brgyad 16.­99. “Unproduced from the very beginning” renders ādy-anutpannatvād.

n.541khri brgyad 8.­22.

n.542Golden 138a1; D chos nyid gnas, “the true nature of dharmas standing.”

n.543khri brgyad 8.­23.

n.544’bum 5.­230 (ka 378a3), nyi khri 5.­24 (ka 136a4) gzugs mi rtag pa nyid kyi stong pa nyid, “emptiness of the impermanence of form.”

n.545This exact wording is not found in khri brgyad 8.­23, nor in ’bum 5.­230 or nyi khri 5.­26.

n.546’bum 5.­230 and nyi khri 5.­26.

n.547khri brgyad 8.­28.

n.548“Enactment” renders abhisaṃskāra; Conze 1973a, s.v. anabhisaṃskāra, “put together, brought together.”

n.549nges par ’byung ba, niryāṇa. See n.­513 to “practices that cause going forth” at 4.­501.

n.550’jug means khri brgyad 8.­28 (ka 82a1) snyoms ’jug.

n.551khri brgyad 8.­31.

n.552khri brgyad 8.­31.

n.553khri brgyad 8.­33.

n.554khri brgyad 8.­33.

n.555Cp. khri brgyad 8.­36.

n.556Cf. khri brgyad 8.­39, which is similar. nyi khri 5.­58 “does not fully grasp even the very limit of reality.”

n.557khri brgyad 8.­36, Ghoṣa 615, Gilgit 284.2 parigrāhakaṃ nopalabdhā.

n.558le’u brgyad ma ga 145b4–5, reading slad du’o; cf. khri brgyad 8.­39.

n.559khri brgyad 8.­31.

n.560Golden 140a2 gis.

n.561Golden 140a2, K, N; D “the dharma in true dharmic nature.”

n.562The passage being explained is khri brgyad 8.­32–8.­32. The ultimate thoroughly established phenomenon is “known” by this meditative stabilization and in that sense is its dharma, which is to say it qualifies it as its attribute or quality.

n.563Golden 140b1, K, N: “The completion of what has been thoroughly cleansed by all the emptinesses when all dharmas are not apprehended is ‘the knowledge of all aspects.’ ”

n.564K, N; D: “because a causal sign is not an affliction.”

n.565A conceptual mind is defined by having a causal sign as its appearing object. Here, “these” is in reference to them both, like a dream consciousness and its object, as affliction.

n.566This translation is based on K, N … ma rtogs pa and D de la dad pa bskyed. Aṣṭa (Wogihara p. 51) adhimukta iti veditavyo nādhigata iti; Bṭ1 na, 113a4–5, says he had faith in the absence of causal signs but did not realize simultaneously that all dharmas are without causal signs, only each (form and so on) separately (kun du rgyu ba de sngon mtshan ma med par spyod pa la dad pas dad pa’i rjes su ’brang ba zhes bya/ chos thams cad cig car mtshan ma med par ni ma rtogs kyi/ gzugs la sogs pa re re nas mtshan ma med par rtogs pa’i phyir/ nyi tse ba’i ye shes kyis zhugs zhes bya’o).

n.567K, N: “because it was with a partial knowledge without causal signs.”

n.568khri brgyad 8.­36.

n.569khri brgyad 8.­36 (ka 84a1–3) lags pa in place of tshul gyis; cf. nyi khri 5.­54 (ka 142b3–5), which differs but has tshul gyis.

n.570D bzhin du yang is a mistake for gzhan du yang.

n.571Cf. khri brgyad 8.­37, nyi khri 5.­55. I have not emended the citation to correspond to the explanation given immediately below.

n.572The other editions are the same with minor variations. Cf. khri brgyad 8.­37: “any dharma with which he might know, or which he might know, or which he will come to know.”

n.573’bum 5.­442 (kha 34a6), nyi khri 5.­56, le’u brgyad ma ga 145b1, LSPW p. 135 “gone to a beyond which is no beyond.”

n.574K, N; D adds bar du zhes bya ba smos pa ni here, as well as at the end, suggesting a short passage has dropped out of the text at this point explaining “interim” as meaning until “prayers are completed, up to until the eighteen distinct attributes are completed.” This would then be followed by the nearly identical passage that follows, perhaps expanding on a different etymology for parāntarā.

n.575khri brgyad 8.­40–8.­54.

n.576In each case, at khri brgyad 8.­40, the “it” is “the perfection of wisdom.” “What is it for” renders ci zhig na, kena; LSPW “whereby.” “Why” can be an inquiry about both cause and result. Below our author glosses it with nges par ’byin pa (nairyāṇikā), “causes an escape”‍—either the escape itself (what it is for) or the practice that brings it about.

n.577khri brgyad 8.­40–8.­43.

n.578khri brgyad 8.­45.

n.579nyi khri 5.­76, khri brgyad 8.­48 has “form is separated from the defining mark of form.”

n.580khri brgyad 8.­51–8.­54.

n.581byed pa; Mvy 4 karaṇīya, 14 kāraka.

n.582D, Golden 143a1–2. khri brgyad 8.­40 (ka 85a4) de legs par mthong ba lags te, “they see it well”; nyi khri 5.­59 yang dag par mthong ba, “…perfectly.”

n.583khri brgyad 8.­43.

n.584khri brgyad, nyi khri omit “because of this one of many explanations.”

n.585khri brgyad 8.­50–8.­54.

n.586Emend shA ri bus to shA ri bu.

n.587Earlier (4.­501) our author calls this division “the practice of method.” Here (F.104.a) he calls this section brtson par sgrub pa, “practice as perseverance,” and (4.­620, F.105.a) brtson pa’i sgrub pa “practice of perseverance,” with the practice of method as a subset.

n.588khri brgyad 9.­1–9.­17.

n.589khri brgyad 9.­4.

n.590khri brgyad 9.­6–9.­10.

n.591“Possess” (gnas, adhisthā), “form a notion” (kun tu shes, saṃjñā), and “believe” (mos, adhimuc). In “mental error,” the “mind” (citta) is a basic awareness or bare thought; “perception” (’du shes, saṃjñā) is the discrimination or naming of the known; and “philosophical view” (dṛṣṭi) is a belief formed about what is known.

n.592Here “practice without apprehending” (mi dmigs par), as at nyi khri 6.­10 (ka 151b4–152a1), is rendering PSP 1-1: 182, Ghoṣa 824, Gilgit 291.7 nopaiti (na upa-i), literally “go near”; and LSPW “approaches.” khri brgyad 9.­15 (ka 90a3) renders it consistently by khas len (“assert”): “If, while practicing the perfection of wisdom they assert (khas len) any dharma, they are not practicing the perfection of wisdom.”

n.593khri brgyad 9.­12.

n.5944.­282–4.­285. They will be explained in more detail later (4.­541–4.­551).

n.595khri brgyad 9.­15 (ka 90a2–7) has khas len (“assert”) in place of dmigs.

n.596khri brgyad 9.­15; cp. nyi khri 6.­12.

n.597khri brgyad 9.­17.

n.598khri brgyad 9.­17; cf. PSP 1-1: 182, Ghoṣa 824, Gilgit 291.9.

n.599khri brgyad 9.­18–10.­68.

n.600khri brgyad 9.­18.

n.601khri brgyad 10.­1–10.­23.

n.602khri brgyad 10.­25–10.­68.

n.603Cf. nyi khri 6.­16, khri brgyad 9.­18. The sarva­dharmānutpāda is the first in the list of meditative stabilizations.

n.604Emend rtog to rtogs.

n.605khri brgyad 9.­25.

n.606’bum 6.­166, nyi khri 6.­22: “I am in meditative equipoise”; “I am entering into meditative equipoise”; “I will be in meditative equipoise”; and “the meditative equipoise will have happened” (mnyam par gzhag par gyur to).

n.607nyi khri 6.­26. The word saṃjñā (“notion,” “name,” and “discrimination,” “perception”) is rendered ’du shes here and in ’bum and nyi khri, and kun tu shes in khri brgyad 9.­29 (ka 93a7).

n.608nyi khri 6.­28; Gilgit 294.6 avidya­mānatvena.

n.609nyi khri 6.­30; cf. khri brgyad 9.­33.

n.610khri brgyad 9.­35.

n.611“All” means both self and dharmas.

n.612“Do not exist” (yod pa ma yin, na saṃvidyante).

n.613khri brgyad 9.­42; nyi khri 6.­36 de’i phyir med ces bya’o. Skt vid means both “know” and “exist.”

n.614bka’ stsal identifies what is said by the Lord.

n.615khri brgyad 9.­44.

n.616khri brgyad 9.­45.

n.617khri brgyad 9.­49.

n.618khri brgyad 9.­52.

n.619khri brgyad 9.­56–9.­59.

n.620khri brgyad 10.­1.

n.621khri brgyad 10.­2.

n.622khri brgyad 10.­9.

n.623khri brgyad 10.­12.

n.624khri brgyad 10.­13–10.­15.

n.625Cf. khri brgyad 10.­22, nyi khri 7.­17.

n.626khri brgyad 10.­24.

n.627Both khri brgyad ka 100b6 and nyi khri ka 162b3 omit the last part.

n.628khri brgyad 10.­26.

n.6294.­469.

n.630khri brgyad 10.­27.

n.631Cf. khri brgyad 10.­27–10.­30, nyi khri 7.­23-7.­24. Our author perhaps intends that even the analytic understanding, each explanation of which is preceded and followed by these two extracts, is included in the completion of the six perfections, which are explicitly explained from this point on.

n.632khri brgyad 10.­40.

n.633khri brgyad 10.­43–10.­48.

n.634khri brgyad 10.­49 (10.­50 “apprehend a perfection of wisdom while cultivating it, and falsely project it as the perfection of wisdom”), up to khri brgyad 10.­58.

n.635Our author is either following a different version of the Sūtra or this is a corrupt reading. khri brgyad 10.­58, “Lord, why does a bodhisattva great being fall into the clutches of a bad friend,” makes better sense.

n.636khri brgyad 10.­68.

n.637This is the last of the eight sections given earlier (2.­5), glossed (2.­14) as “the specific instruction for coming to an authoritative conclusion about this brief exposition in terms of the basis in reality and the characteristic marks.”

n.6382.­1, citing khri brgyad 2.­1.

n.639padārtha (“meaning of the words”) is explained more fully earlier in the notes n.­246 and n.­242 to 2.­14.

n.640khri brgyad 11.­1–20.­106. The wording of some of the questions does not exactly follow the later wording found in the Sūtra. Furthermore, the first two, and possibly even the first three, are grouped together as one question in the later explanation. The statements that are not obvious questions are to be understood as rhetorical questions, repeating the words of the Lord with an implicit “You mean to say, then, that…?”

n.6414.­1169; khri brgyad 19.­1.

n.642This and all the remaining questions and responses are at khri brgyad 20.­1–20.­106. First are the statements made by Subhūti (20.­8–20.­10) that are then queried by Śāriputra (20.­11), and then answered by Subhūti up to the end of the chapter (20.­106).

n.643Here it says there are twenty-eight questions, and later (6.­57) it references the last in the list as the twenty-eighth question. Later (4.­1247) it will say there is a list of twenty-nine questions. Below, the third question is introduced as the second, so the first two in the list are explained as just one question: “Why do you say bodhisattva great being?” Furthermore, because the response of Pūrṇa to why a bodhisattva is a great being incorporates the third in the list, our author incorporates it, in the body of his explanation, into a first, expanded question.

n.644khri brgyad 21.­1–21.­97.

n.645khri brgyad 11.­2 and nyi khri 8.­2 both differ slightly.

n.646A bodhi-sattva is an “awakening-being.”

n.647khri brgyad 11.­2.

n.648“Heroic being” is a literal rendering of the Tib sems dpa’, a translation that in turn renders the second half of the older word bodhisatva before its Sanskritization to bodhisattva . It is elsewhere rendered into English consistently as “[bodhi]sattva.”

n.649phung po lnga’i gzhi med do. Probably the author intends to say there is no bodhisattva over and above the aggregates, and in that sense they are not the basis.

n.650K, N. D byang chub sems dpa’.

n.651khri brgyad 11.­16.

n.652K, N. D: “Just as a basis for nirvāṇa and saṃsāra does not exist, similarly…”

n.653In the earlier list padārtha was rendered gzhi’i don, “a basis in reality for.”

n.654khri brgyad 11.­17 gzhi med; nyi khri 8.­19 gnas med.

n.655khri brgyad 11.­20 (ka 112b2) has rnam par byang ba med pa’i gzhi in place of med pa la gzhi.

n.656“Ultimate” renders don dam pa; in the list given earlier it’s don med pa (“unreal”).

n.657nyi khri 8.­26 (ka 183b7–184a1) gnas in place of gzhi; khri brgyad 11.­25 (ka 113a3) omits mtshan ma’i; the other examples are up to khri brgyad 11.­29.

n.658nyi khri 8.­29 (ka 184b5) gnas for gzhi; khri brgyad 11.­30 (ka 113b2) incorrectly adds mun pa’i, “a basis for darkness.”

n.659khri brgyad 11.­31–11.­32.

n.660khri brgyad 11.­33.

n.661D dpyod pa med pa (Golden 158b1 spyod pa med pa is wrong) is based on the root rūp, “to investigate”; khri brgyad 11.­33 (ka 113b6), nyi khri 8.­29 (ka 185a3) “formless” (gzugs med pa).

n.662nyi khri 8.­29 (185a4), le’u brgyad ma ga 181a5; khri brgyad 11.­33 (ka 113b7), ’bum 8.­74 (ga 60a7) omit chags pa; cf. Gilgit 310.10 asattāyām, Ghoṣa 1257 asaṅgatatāyām, PSP 1-2: 24 asaktatāyām asadbhūtatāyāṃ.

n.663khri brgyad 11.­50, likely a later “improvement” of an earlier reading like Ghoṣa 1263 akalpanāvikalpanātām upādāya. ’bum 8.­91 (ga 64b4) rtog pa myed cing / rnam par rtog pa myed pa; similarly, le’u brgyad ma ga 184a7.

n.664khri brgyad 11.­51.

n.665khri brgyad 11.­52–11.­72.

n.666khri brgyad 12.­3–12.­5.

n.667khri brgyad 12.­7–12.­19.

n.668If the text is emended to byang chub sems pa sems pa chen po zhes it would mean “this ‘bodhisattva great being’ is called a ‘great being.’ ”

n.669khri brgyad 13.­2–13.­35.

n.670khri brgyad 11.­54.

n.671“Many” (mang po) is a reading not attested either in khri brgyad ka 117a1 phal po che, or in nyi khri 8.­46 (ka 188b3) nges pa’i phul byed pa. Mvy 5075 gives phal po che as a translation of nicaya; Gilgit 313.8 niyatasya.

n.672Cf. nyi khri 8.­48, khri brgyad 11.­56.

n.673khri brgyad 11.­58.

n.674khri brgyad 11.­59.

n.675khri brgyad 11.­60.

n.676khri brgyad 11.­63–11.­72.

n.677khri brgyad 11.­63 “unbroken unity” is the LSPW rendering of asaṃbheda (dbyer med pa).

n.678khri brgyad 12.­3.

n.679Golden 161a4, khri brgyad 12.­5, nyi khri 8.­62.

n.680nyi khri 8.­73; cf. Ghoṣa 1292 acittatvāt tatrāpi citte ’sakta iti; referenced at khri brgyad 12.­16.

n.681khri brgyad 12.­9.

n.682khri brgyad 12.­9.

n.683“Venerable Subhūti, you said, ‘Even to that thought of all-knowing that is without outflows and does not belong they are unattached.’ ”

n.684nyi khri 8.­69; khri brgyad 12.­12 (ka 120b5) renders paryāpanna (“belong to”) khongs su gtogs pa.

n.685nyi khri 8.­73.

n.686khri brgyad 13.­2.

n.687khri brgyad 13.­4.

n.688nyi khri 8.­79 (ka 195a3), ’bum 8.­173 (ga 93a1) have de tsam gyis na, “to that extent,” in place of de phyir, “therefore”; khri brgyad 13.­5 (ka 122b4) omits this final statement.

n.689nyi khri 8.­80, ’bum 8.­174, Ghoṣa 1302; cf. khri brgyad 13.­6 ff.

n.690nyi khri 8.­120, khri brgyad 13.­35.

n.691Cf. le’u brgyad ma ga 190a5 yongs su bcad pas; khri brgyad 13.­5 (ka 122b2), nyi khri 8.­79 (ka 194b4) yongs su dpag pas.

n.692khri brgyad 13.­6.

n.693rang bzhin gyis (prākṛta) means when the perfection of giving is the focus in each of the six explanations.

n.694Cf. khri brgyad 13.­7.

n.695Cf. khri brgyad 13.­11.

n.696Cf. khri brgyad 11.­56, nyi khri 8.­86; ’bum 8.­169, Ghoṣa 1310 ayam… ṣaṭpāramitā­mahā­sannāhaḥ.

n.697Cf. nyi khri 8.­87.

n.698This is an brief summary of khri brgyad 13.­13–13.­34.

n.699Cf. 4.­678.

n.700khri brgyad 13.­36. Śāriputra asks the question.

n.701khri brgyad 13.­64.

n.702This is the first of the ten.

n.703The twelve are the three sets of concentrations, immeasurables, and absorptions.

n.704khri brgyad 13.­42. Below (4.­1300) our author says, “Names, designations, conventional terms and so on are ‘reasons’ [or ‘tokens’]; defining marks and behaviors are ‘signs.’ ” Both of these explain “attributes” (ākāra, rnam pa), the aspects of a particular thing that make up its identity. They pay attention to the attributes and so on of space because, like space, all the different meditative states are ultimately the same, without any intrinsic nature.

n.705khri brgyad 13.­42, nyi khri 8.­123.

n.706The difference between the first and the second is that in the first the twelve‍—the concentrations and so on‍—are the focus, and in the second the six perfections are. In both cases the giving, morality, and so on are in the form of an altruistically motivated meditation practice that accomplishes the different meditative states.

n.707khri brgyad 13.­50; cf. nyi khri 8.­131 (ka 203a4) that omits drug gi.

n.708khri brgyad 13.­51.

n.709khri brgyad 13.­52–13.­58.

n.710khri brgyad 13.­59, nyi khri 8.­139 shes, (“knowledge of”) the emptinesses.

n.711khri brgyad 13.­60.

n.712khri brgyad 13.­61. “Not without knowledge” explains “by way of not apprehending anything.”

n.713khri brgyad 13.­62.

n.714khri brgyad 13.­63.

n.715khri brgyad 13.­64.

n.716“Stand in” renders gnas. ’bum 8.­250 (ga 112b1), nyi khri 8.­145 (ka 205a3) gnas; khri brgyad 13.­65 (ka 130a2), ’bum 8.­251 (ga 112b3), nyi khri 8.­145 (ka 205a5) yang dag par gnas; PSP 1-2: 44, Ghoṣa 1329 samārūḍha; le’u brgyad ma ga 200a1 zhugs, ga 200a2 ’dzeg pa; Abhi­samayālaṃkāra 1.45d (Amano, p. 25) adhirohinī; mngon rtog rgyan, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ka), 4a6 ’dzegs.

n.717yang dag par gnas; PSP 1-2: 44 ārohati, Gilgit 321.1 samārohati, “mount up on.”

n.718khri brgyad 13.­66 (ka 130a3) yang dag par gnas: “bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom mount up on.”

n.719“They” means the nonconceptual perfections at the eighth bodhisattva level.

n.720khri brgyad 13.­67. Alternatively, “because of a disintegration of meditation” or “in order to cause a disintegration.” Ghoṣa 1331, PSP 1-2: 44 bhāvanāvibhāvanārthena; le’u brgyad ma ga 200b1 bsgom pa rnam par gzhig pa’i don du; ’bum 8.­253 (ga 113b1), nyi khri 8.­147 (ka 205b1) bsgom pa rnam par bsgom pa’i don du, “in order to develop a meditation”; LSPW p. 184 “a development in the sense of annihilation.” It is noteworthy that the translators of khri brgyad consistently render vibhāvanā by bsgom par rnam par ’jig pa, “a disintegration of meditation,” and at khri brgyad 51.­78 (kha 206b) by bshig pa, the past tense of ’jig pa; cf. Bṭ3 5.­1229 explaining khri brgyad 69.­42 ff. In general, bhāvanā is “meditation”; vibhava / vibhāva is a bahuvrihi (vigato bhāvo yasya), “devoid of existence”; vibhāvanā (rnam par ’jig pa), “disintegration of meditation”; and bhāva “existent thing,” all from root bhū, cognate with the English “be.”

n.721khri brgyad 13.­68–13.­70.

n.722khri brgyad 14.­1.

n.723Golden 167a2, cf. khri brgyad 14.­34 and 14.­40; D gnyis pa, “second.” Even though it is clear that the section of the text our author is explaining is khri brgyad 14.­1–14.­53, it is not clear whether the eleven sections are the nine and the two sections introduced by Subhūti’s two statements with “The way I understand,” or whether the section beginning 14.­34 should be understood as itself divided into eleven sections.

n.724khri brgyad 14.­2–14.­8.

n.725khri brgyad 14.­9–14.­26.

n.726khri brgyad 14.­27–14.­30.

n.727khri brgyad 14.­31–14.­33.

n.728khri brgyad 14.­34.

n.729khri brgyad 14.­34.

n.730khri brgyad 14.­35.

n.731khri brgyad 14.­37 and 14.­38; khri brgyad ka 139b3 gtan med in place of shin tu med.

n.732khri brgyad 14.­38.

n.733khri brgyad 14.­40.

n.734khri brgyad 14.­46 (ka 140b7) gzugs nyid med pa’i phyir; nyi khri 8.­202 (ka 217b1), le’u brgyad ma ga 214a2 gzugs med pa’i phyir. It is perhaps odd to write gzugs med nyid kyi phyir in Tib. The asattva here, like the sattva in sarve sattvāḥ and bodhisattva , means more than just a state of nonexistence; LSPW “nonbeingness.”

n.735khri brgyad 14.­44.

n.736This is the sixth of the twenty-eight or twenty-nine questions listed earlier (4.­678). The numbering here jumps to six, leaving out four and five, because the first three questions go together as 1a, 1b, and 1c, followed by 2 and then 3.

n.737This is in Pūrṇa’s explanation of a great being, khri brgyad 13.­2 ff.

n.738Subhūti’s five questions at khri brgyad 15.­1, are: “Lord, what is the Great Vehicle of bodhisattva great beings? Lord, to just what extent should bodhisattva great beings be known to have set out in the Great Vehicle? Where will the Great Vehicle have set out? Where will the Great Vehicle stand? Who will go forth in the Great Vehicle?” Below (Bṭ3 4.­1168–4.­1169) our author will say that the responses to them first explain the Great Vehicle in the context of setting out, and then, arising out of the response to the last question (khri brgyad 18.­36, “Who will go forth in the Great Vehicle?”) there is an explanation of the Great Vehicle in the context of the result, beginning with the statement (khri brgyad 19.­1), “Lord, you say this‍—‘Great Vehicle’‍—again and again. It surpasses the world with its gods, humans, and asuras and goes forth; that is why it is called a Great Vehicle.”

n.739“Effort” (pradhāna) should also be understood as incorporating the Tib spong ba (prahāṇa), “abandonment.”

n.740In the list in the khri brgyad, insofar as the next in the list of the twenty-one Great Vehicles is “the Great Vehicle of the ten powers,” the five absorptions are a general term including (1) the four immeasurables, (2) the four concentrations, (3) the four formless absorptions, (4) the eight deliverances, and (5) the nine successive absorption stations.

n.741Our author begins with an explanation of the second Great Vehicle because he has already explained the six perfections in response to the earlier question.

n.742The section begins from khri brgyad 15.­10 and goes up to 15.­34. The extract is from 15.­11.

n.743D dngos po, vastu (“real basis”); K, N mig gis dngos por med do, “they do not exist in actual fact (vastutaḥ) as eyes.” Alternatively, taking dngos po as rendering bhāva (“existent thing,” “real thing”) and dngos po med pa as rendering abhāva (“nonexistent thing,” “unreal thing”): “it means the nonexistence in eyes of eyes as a real thing.”

n.744Alternatively, “that nonexistence in eyes of eyes as a real thing (dngos po med pa nyid, abhāvatā) is their basic nature (prakṛti), their intrinsic nature (svabhāva).”

n.745khri brgyad 15.­17, explaining “the emptiness of ultimate reality.”

n.746K, N “ultimate nirvāṇa is empty of falsely imagined nirvāṇa.”

n.747K, N rtog pa dang bcas pa; D “The system (tshul, naya) of some in the Śrāvaka Vehicle who have realization (rtogs pa dang bcas pa) is not like that.” It does not make sense to understand rtog pa dang bcas pa as savitarka in the technical sense specific to the first concentration, as “The mode of some in the Śrāvaka Vehicle with applied thought is like that.”

n.748This is explaining the emptiness of the uncompounded.

n.749At khri brgyad 15.­20 (ka 144b7) “extreme” (mtha’, anta) is rendered “limit.”

n.750khri brgyad 15.­21.

n.751K, Golden 170b6 ma yin gyi; D yin gyi, “is posited.”

n.752Here “that which possesses an attribute” and “possessor of an attribute” render dharmin and “attribute” renders dharma . Every attribute can be a possessor of an attribute, and vice versa. Thus anything‍—for instance, a basic nature‍—can be qualified by an attribute. At such a time it is that which possesses an attribute. Or a basic nature can be the attribute of anything‍—for instance, a person. But when you say “basic nature” you have willy-nilly expressed something that as an attribute will be the ultimate reality of that thing, and in that sense cannot be said to be an attribute of it.

n.753khri brgyad 15.­24.

n.754Golden 171a5 gi; D gis.

n.755khri brgyad 15.­26: “Any past, future, or present dharma cannot be apprehended.”

n.756The same compound abhāva­svabhāva­śūnyatā (with the same Tib translation) is rendered “the emptiness that is the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature” at khri brgyad 15.­29. Our author’s interpretation requires this different translation.

n.757khri brgyad 15.­29.

n.758This explanation takes the initial negation prefix a- in the Skt. compound word abhāvasvabhāva as going with both bhāva (“existent thing”) and svabhāva (“intrinsic nature”) separately, giving bhāva (“existent thing”) and its negation abhāva (“nonexistent thing, nonexistence”), and svabhāva (“intrinsic nature”) and its negation parabhāva (“nature from something else”). It understands the compound to be teaching the emptiness of these four things.

n.759Alternatively, “ ‘Existent thing,’ bhāva, is a form derived (de las byung ba, tatpratyaya) [from the root bhū, cognate with English “be”].”

n.760śūra.

n.761khri brgyad 16.­1.

n.762“Application” (stressing the action rather than the object acted upon) and “foundation” (stressing the object of mindfulness) both render upasthāna. It is hard to see how “the foundation” (upasthāna) of mindfulness, in the sense of its object‍—the body, for example‍—could be the Great Vehicle.

n.763The la in bzhi la is a connective; it does not mark the object of mindfulness.

n.764The explanation of the Great Vehicle is khri brgyad 16.­2–16.­3; the six parts in accord with the śrāvaka system are khri brgyad 16.­4–16.­19. The six are given below at Bṭ3 4.­839.

n.765gzugs (rūpa) in this section is equivalent to the “form” in gzugs kyi phung po (rūpaskandha), that is, it is akin to “material.” It does not mean just the body as a shape (gzugs, rūpa).

n.766“Threefold” means as inner, outer, and both.

n.767“Element” (’byung ba, bhūta); cf. Mppś English, vol. 3, p. 965: “the five objects (viṣaya), color (rūpa), etc., are the outer body,” and “the four great elements (bhautikarūpa), etc., are the outer body.”

n.768This glosses the anu (“after, again”) in anupaśyin with anutarka.

n.769K, N: “He ‘is a viewer’ investigating and reflecting on an inner body as ‘the body.’ ”

n.770The five “obstructions” (sgrib pa, nīvaraṇa) are greed that causes you to act on the desire for sense gratification (kāmacchanda), malice (vyāpāda), drowsiness and dozing (sthyānamiddha), gross mental excitement and uneasiness (auddhatyakaukṛtya), and vicikitsā; cf. Abhidharmakośa 5.58d–59.

n.771’bum 9.­3.

n.772gardhanaiṣkramyāśrita­bhedena; cf. Abhi­dharma­kośa­bhāṣya on Abhidharmakośa 3.35 (Śastri, 489).

n.773khri brgyad 3.­129, gives the full list.

n.774This is explaining the mindfulness of dharmas; cf. khri brgyad 16.­3: “They dwell while viewing in dharmas outer feelings, mind, and outer dharmas, and dwell while viewing in dharmas inner and outer feelings, mind, and inner and outer dharmas by way of not apprehending anything, and without indulging in speculations to do with the body.”

n.775khri brgyad 16.­4.

n.776The “second” is the teaching from the viewpoint of being clearly conscious, khri brgyad 16.­5.

n.777’chos pa ’bum, ga 179a5; Jäschke, s.v. ’chos 2: “a secondary form of ’cha.”

n.778MW, s.v. prahara, an eighth of a day (about three hours).

n.779I have emended gsum to gsum pa, “third.” Alternatively, D, Golden 177a6 gsum (“three”) would be this viewpoint together with the fourth (constituents) and fifth (thirty-two unclean aspects) viewpoints our author touches on in passing below.

n.780khri brgyad 16.­6.

n.781khri brgyad 16.­8.

n.782khri brgyad 16.­9–16.­19.

n.783khri brgyad 16.­9–16.­19: “This body too is of such a quality…”

n.784Golden 178a1; khri brgyad 16.­10: “does not avoid having that as its natural state.”

n.785This section explains the nine unpleasantnesses, listed below, in connection with the nine perceptions of the stages in the decomposition of the body. They have been listed earlier in the Sūtra as the bloated corpse perception, and the cleaned-out-by-worms, putrid, bloodied, black-and-blue, savaged, torn-asunder, bare-bones, and burnt-bones perceptions (at khri brgyad 2.­4); or the perception of a bloated corpse, of it chopped in half, of it as putrid, the bloodied perception, and the black-and-blue, savaged, torn-asunder, bones, and burnt-bones perceptions (at khri brgyad 11.­36).

n.786khri brgyad 16.­13.

n.787When there is no longer any blood, flesh, or sinew left.

n.788khri brgyad 16.­17–16.­19.

n.789Alternatively, “There is an explanation of mindfulness to the body in thirteen parts: five viewing a body that has consciousness, and eight unpleasantnesses where there is no consciousness.” If translated like that I am unclear how our author arrives at a total of fifteen sections.

n.790This is the second of the sets of dharmas included in the thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening. spong ba (prahāṇa) should also be understood as “effort” (pradhāna).

n.791Tib spong ba renders prahāṇa.

n.792Tib ’jog pa (“put to work”), literally “place,” renders pradhāna, more usually rtsol ba “exertion, effort.” Alternatively, “because it places the goal before the mind” (praṇidhatte); cp. samādhi, a stability of mind.

n.793They generate “the desire not to produce wrong unwholesome dharmas not yet produced,” “the desire to abandon wrong unwholesome dharmas already produced,” “to desire to produce wholesome dharmas not yet produced,” and “the desire that wholesome dharmas already produced will remain, will increase, will not be forgotten, will not degenerate, and will be completed.”

n.794Ratnākaraśānti’s Śuddhamatī (dag ldan, Degé Tengyur [shes phyin, ta], 110a4–5) and Abhayākaragupta’s Marmakaumudī (gnad kyi zla ’od, Degé Tengyur [shes phyin, da], 57b3–4) have the same names for all four.

n.795Golden 178b6 tshegs.

n.796This is the third of the sets of dharmas included in the thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening.

n.797Here spong ba’i ’du byed (prahāṇa­saṃskāra), literally “abandonment effort,” means “volitional effort,” specifically the eight factors involved in the effort to eliminate the five faults that prevent calm abiding. Madhyānta­vibhāga 4.3–5 (see also the commentary on Mahā­yāna­sūtrālaṃkāra 18.53) says the five faults are laziness, forgetting the instructions, dullness and excitement, not trying, and trying; yearning, resolve (vyāyāma), faith, pliability, mindfulness, introspection, intention, and equanimity are the eight dharmas that counteract those five.

n.798khri brgyad 16.­22. This is the fourth of the sets of dharmas included in the thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening.

n.799The “preparation for reality” is the aid to knowledge that penetrates true reality, the “certainty.” The conditions governing it are the mental stability and insight taught as the four limbs of miraculous power.

n.800The five are the faith, perseverance, mindfulness, meditative stabilization, and wisdom powers.

n.801khri brgyad 16.­26–16.­30.

n.802It is difficult to conclusively determine the meaning of these explanations of the three gateways. Brunnhölzl (2011, p. 38) discusses them and Hong (2018, pp. 586–89) is a critique of Brunnhölzl.

n.803Cf. nyi khri 9.­26, khri brgyad 16.­27.

n.804Cf. khri brgyad 16.­29; nyi khri 9.­26: “ ‘all dharmas cannot be occasioned/created by karma’ so the stability of mind when not occasioning anything/creating karma is the wishlessness…” Cp. Brunnhölzl 2011, p. 38.

n.805Cf. khri brgyad 16.­32, nyi khri 9.­27.

n.806Emend D, Golden 183a3 byas pa srung ba can gyi sa to Mvy byas pa (b)srang ba’i sa, or (4.­1139) byas pa rtogs pa can gyi sa where in explaining the list at khri brgyad 17.­128 it says it is the level of the worthy one “who has done the work to be done.”

n.807Our author is saying the “knowledge of extinction” is the unobstructed path of seeing and this “knowledge of nonproduction” is the path of freedom.

n.808The dharma is the ultimate attribute, the nonproduction or emptiness that qualifies the subject.

n.809This is a gloss of “subsequent” realization (rjes su rtogs pa, anvaya) with “inference” (rjes su dpag pa, anumā).

n.810This translation is a conjecture. kha cig kho nar perhaps renders apare eva, that is, the speaker in contrast to pare (pha rol), “somebody else.” “Conventional” renders saṃvṛti/saṃvṛta, which means “totally covering” or “totally covered.”

n.811This is playing with the words paricaya (“familiarity”) and parijaya (“totally vanquishing”), and bhāvanā (“meditation”) and abhibhāva (“domination”).

n.812“The earlier one” may be the earlier knowledge of extinction, or it may be the paricaya (“familiarity”) just explained earlier than the parijaya (“totally vanquishing”), or it may be in reference to the earlier (4.­31) explanation of mastery when a bodhisattva knows but does not experience the result of stream enterer and so on.

n.813Both are the paths of seeing and meditation.

n.814khri brgyad 16.­51 ff.

n.815khri brgyad 16.­52–16.­53.

n.816Alternatively, “apprehends the eight worldly dharmas as being the same.” The idea is that the person is in a detached state where the laws no longer operate.

n.817khri brgyad 16.­54.

n.818kāma (“sense object”) means both the desire for the pleasure from the objects of the senses‍—color, smell and so on‍—and the objects of the senses themselves, the “bases.”

n.819The “desired aim” is śamatha (“calm abiding”). Here gnas ngan len (dauṣṭhūlya) does not mean the final basis of suffering, the last traces or residual impressions obstructing the attainment of the final goal of nirvāṇa or full awakening, but rather the defective states (gnas ngan len) removed by the absence of effort leading to a fully qualified śamatha. Cf. Vasubandhu’s Āryākṣaya­mati­nirdeśaṭīkā (’phags pa blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa rgya cher ’grel pa [mdo ’grel, ci], 150a).

n.820nye bar ’jog pa. This is also the term used for the fourth of the nine stages leading to śamatha.

n.821LC, s.v. mang tu gnas, questions the meaning of bahuvihāra. I have conjectured it means “stay at their post,” having in mind that a practitioner, balancing śamatha and vipaśyana, utilizes an insightful introspection to make sure the earlier attractions to the qualities of the lower concentrations do not arise.

n.822The four are pleasure, suffering, mental happiness, and mental unhappiness.

n.823khri brgyad 16.­59.

n.8244.­936–4.­941.

n.825khri brgyad 16.­71–16.­80.

n.826Our author’s presentation is a paraphrase of, and often a direct citation from, The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata (Toh 147, Tathāgata­mahā­karuṇā­nirdeśa­sūtra) 2.­258 ff. (Burchardi 2020), cited in the AAV (Sparham 2006–11, vol. 4, p. 80) by the name of the questioner, Dhāraṇīśvararāja. The same explanation is also in The Bodhisattva’s Scriptural Collection of the Heap of Jewels collection (byang chub sems dpa’i sde snod, Degé Kangyur [dkon brtsegs, ga], 11a ff.). Mppś English (vol. 3, p. 1239 ff.) lists earlier sources for the powers, including the Majjhimanikāya.

n.827skyon med pa, literally “flawlessness”; TMN 2.­258 (185a4) nges par gyur ba.

n.828Alternatively, “a wife who is competitive,” “nagging”? TMN omits.

n.829D; so too Golden 170b3. Possibly “not going to a good form of life is impossible” has accidentally been left out.

n.830rjes su mthun pa’i bzod pa, Mvy ānulomikī kṣānti.

n.831TMN 2.­259 says it is impossible that a girl, in that very body, can become an Indra and so on, but having transformed, it is possible. This may be no stronger than saying a man, in that very body, cannot become a mother, but having changed bodies can.

n.832The “eighth person” ( aṣṭamaka ) is the candidate for the result of stream enterer, the lowest of the eight goals: candidate for, and recipient of, the results of stream enterer, once-returner, non-returner, and worthy one.

n.833TMN 2.­264 (187a4) ’khrul pa dmigs pa, “mistake in what they apprehend.”

n.834TMN 2.­275 and khri brgyad 16.­83 differ slightly; similar to Ghoṣa 1446, PSP 1-2: 83, and khri brgyad 73.­67. Mppś English (pp. 1248–58) gives a detailed explanation.

n.835BPS 15a1 ma ’ongs pa’i dus na dge ba’i rgyu ’byin pa de, perhaps suggesting that right and wrong beget the habits of right and wrongdoing; TMN 2.­275 (187b5) gang ma ’ongs pa’i dus na dge ba’i rgyu las byung ba ’byin pa de, “issue arising from an unwholesome cause.”

n.836“A superior” (khyad par) and “an inferior” (dman pa) might be the status you have in the life in which the action is undertaken, or it might be an important person you are associated with in your life who can help or hurt you, or it might be something of great value that might make you rich or put you in jail; cf. Mppś English (p. 1250): “Sometimes the action that must necessarily be experienced depends (apekṣate) on the time (kāla), a person (pudgala), and the place (sthāna) in order to undergo its retribution. Thus, a person who is to enjoy happiness in the company of a noble cakravartin king awaits the moment when the noble cakravartin king appears in the world, and that is the moment when he attains his reward: therefore, he depends on the time. He depends also on an individual, on the occurrence of the noble cakravartin king, and finally, he depends on the place, i.e., the place where the noble cakravartin king is born.” BPS 15a1–5.

n.837In a position of power you hurt somebody, and in a later life are thrown in jail by the ruler.

n.838Cf. TMN 2.­276; BPS 15a7.

n.839TMN takes dhātu and adhimukti together in a single section and deals with adhimukti first. Mppś English (p. 1264) takes adhimukti (“aspiration”) as the fifth power and dhātu (“acquired disposition”) as the sixth.

n.840This may simply mean “the world with its various places and multiplicity of regions.” A dhātu (“constituent,” “element”) is a physical constituent of the world (the earth element and so on), one of the eighteen categories (the eye, color, eye-consciousness constituent, and so on), the basic character of a person, a region of the universe, or a relic of a buddha; cf. Edg, s.v. dhātu, who cites a verse from The Stem Array (Ganda­vyūha­sūtra) 484.15–16: sattvadhātu paripācayiṣase, lokaghātu pariśodhayiṣasi, jñānadhātum uttāpayiṣyase, āśayasya tava dhātu tādṛśaḥ. (See English translation of this verse in Roberts 2021a, The Stem Array 54.­132).

n.841The “disposition constituent” (lhag pa’i bsam pa’i khams, adhyāśayadhātu) is distinct from an “inherited disposition” (gnas, āśaya), dealt with below. This one is deposited and then drawn on. The richer the deposit (the stronger the disposition) the more it gives rise to its concordant result. Lamotte’s translation of Kumārajīva is helpful (Mppś English, pp. 1268–70): “By acquired disposition (dhātu) is meant an accumulated habitual pattern (ācitavāsanā). The characteristics (lakṣaṇa) arise from the dhātu. The aspiration (adhimukti) functions in accord with the dhātu. Sometimes the dhātu results from the adhimukti. Habitual patterns (vāsanā) and aspirations (adhimukti) realize the dhātu. Dhātu is the lofty resolution (adhyāśaya), adhimukti arises as a result of the conditions (pratītya­samutpanna). These are the differences between adhimukti and dhātu. … The Buddha knows that beings have such and such acquired dispositions (dhātu), such and such aspirations (adhimukti), and that they come from such and such a place (sthāna).”

n.842TMN 2.­291 (189b7) gang gis ’jig rten bsod nams kyi ’du byed sogs pa’i khams, “[the action] on account of which there is a deposit of the collection of volitional factors for making ordinary merit.”

n.843An “immovable” is an action (a strong meditation habit) that will bring its maturation result (a life in a higher realm) before any other action is allowed to mature.

n.844Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (thub pa’i dgongs pai rgyan Degé Tengyur [dbu ma, a], 277a6–7) khams sna tshogs pa ni bsod nams dang bsod nams ma yin pa dang mi g.yo ba la sogs pa bskyed pa’i bsam gtan no/ /mos pa sna tshogs pa la ’dir mos pa ni ’dod pa ste/ ’di ltar ’dod chags la gnas pa’i yang zhe sdang la ’dod pa dang/ zhe sdang la gnas pa’i ’dod chags la ’dod pa dang/ sbyor ba dman pa’i sbyor ba rgya chen po la dang/ sbyor ba rgya chen po’i sbyor ba dman pa la’o. The sense is, for instance, someone who is lazy by nature but quick to get angry, someone who is lecherous by nature but quick to form silly prejudices, someone who is arrogant by nature but quick to question him or herself. The place (gnas) is caused by karma, but in this life, in this place, the tendency of the person is toward a personality that easily gets angry, or a person whose basic nature is greedy and is easily swayed to anger.

n.845TMN 2.­309 (192b4) sems can thams cad kyi dbang po yongs su smin pa rnams… dbang po yongs su ma smin pa rnams, “faculties that have reached maturity and faculties that have not reached maturity.”

n.846This is a subdivision of the stream enterer.

n.847This is a subdivision of once-returner.

n.848TMN 2.­306 (192a2) sems can gang sbyin pa’i dbang po cen yin la de’ang tshul khrims la sbyor ba de la de bzhin gshegs pas dbang po mchog and mchog ma yin pa mkhyen pas sbyin pa’i gtam ston to. The sense is with this power a buddha knows, to use a modern example, a child with only the capacity to study fractions, as it were, who is studying algebra that is beyond his or her capacity. The teacher stops teaching algebra, and so on.

n.849Cf. TMN 2.­306.

n.850Ghoṣa 1446, PSP 1-2: 83 indriya­parāpara.

n.851I am unsure of the meaning. “Something indicating” renders mtshan ma; alternatively, “sex organs.”

n.852This summarizes TMN 2.­334.

n.853Golden 199a2.

n.854khri brgyad 15.­35–15.­144, 62.­52–62.­56.

n.855TMN 2.­377 ff.

n.856Here the gzhung (“scripture”) is probably the Dhāraṇīśvara­rāja, or The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata (Tathāgata­mahā­karuṇā­nirdeśa­sūtra).

n.857Alternatively, “their body hair does not bristle.” spu zing zhes byed (romaharṣa) can also mean the bristling of hairs because of great anxiety.

n.858Here a dharma means a teaching of a doctrine.

n.859khri brgyad 16.­95 has them in reverse order.

n.860Here dharma means the necessary qualifying attributes of a particular “meaning” in the sense of the basis (artha) that makes it what it is.

n.861Here dharma has the sense of a governing law; the “meaning” (artha) is its result in the sense of what it aims at.

n.862Alternatively, if taken as qualifying statements, drang dgos pa means “that require interpretation” and tshig lhur len pa means “where the words are the main thing.” Here “meanings” (artha) is in the sense of welfare, or those for whose sake something is being done.

n.863K, N skad gang yin pa; D sngags ’chang.

n.864MW, s.v. dvīpa, “island,” (citing Krishna Kanta Handiqui, Naishadhacarita of Srīharsha i.5, p. 1) says there are eighteen dvīpas that “include the upadvīpas”; Abhidharmakośa 3.53 ff. and Bhagavata­purāṇa 5.166 ff. give nine dvīpas and upadvīpas (different in each case).

n.865Law (1954, pp. 42–53) lists sixteen major countries (ṣoḍaśa­mahā­jana­pada, Pāli soḷasamahājanapada, places known from the early records of the Buddha’s life) as listed in the Aṅguttaranikāya (Uposathasutta, Bk. 3.71; Vitthatūposathasutta, Bk. 8.42); Ānandajoti Bhikkhu conveniently locates them (Aṅgā, Magadhā, Kāsī, Kosalā, Vajjī, Mallā, Cetī, Vaṃsā, Kurū, Pañcālā, Macchā, Sūrasenā, Assakā, Avantī, Gandhārā, and Kambojā) on a map of ancient Buddhist India.

n.866K, N; D “demonstration, making known, and causing mastery.”

n.867The passage in full is cited in Āryavimuktisena’s AAVN 65a4–65b4, AAV 126b3–127b1 (Sparham 2006–11, vol. 3, pp. 17–18); also Asvabhāva’s Mahā­yāna­saṃgrahopanibandhana (theg pa chen po bsdus pa’i bshad sbyar, Degé Tengyur [sems tsam, ri], 281a5–6).

n.868BPS 40a6–40b3, TMN 2.­426.

n.869Cf. TMN 2.­426 (205b2), BPS 40b1: dri yid du ’ong ba’i padma mngon par ’byung ste/ de la de bzhin gshegs pa’i zhabs ’jog go, “Wherever tathāgatas step down with their feet, fragrant lotuses spring up and the tathāgatas place their feet there.”

n.870This is paraphrasing TMN 2.­427, BPS 40b3–40b5.

n.871D tshig la yi ge log par ’byung ba; K, N tshig la mi dge log par ’byung ba, “swears?” But cf. AAV 126b7: nyon mongs pa’i rta gad chen po dgod pa dang/ so ’tshigs byed pa’am, steg pa’i tshul yang nye bar ston par byed de; AAVN 65a6: dantavidaṣṭakaṃ saṃdaṃṣṭatim upadarśayati, “makes a show of gnashing their teeth.”

n.872Paraphrasing TMN 2.­444.

n.873Paraphrasing TMN 2.­453–2.­476, BPS 42a7–44a6.

n.874Cf. TMN 2.­453, 2.­455; BPS 42b2.

n.875Emend bsnyel, Mvy saṃmoṣa (“have a lack of mindfulness”), Jäschke, s.v. bsnyel, “forget,” to TMN 2.­457 (208b7) mnyel, “fatigue”; BPS 42b6 ngal, “tiredness.”

n.876Alternatively, “Tathāgatas are also ‘not deficient in meditative stabilization (samādhi).’ In a meditative equipoise (samāhita) on the suchness of all beings and all dharmas, all dharmas are placed in an equal state (samādhīyate) through the suchness ( tathatā ) that is a sameness (samatā). Hence suchness is called meditative stabilization ”; cf. TMN 2.­464–2.­468; BPS 43a5–43b4.

n.877BPS 43b4–44a1.

n.878TMN 2.­477–2.­479; BPS 44a6–44b2.

n.879K, N don med par; D don dam par.

n.880The list of sixty (or, rather, sixty-four) in the The Secrets of the Realized Ones ( Tathāgata­guhyaka Sūtra , Toh 47) is given below (4.­1184). See also n.­948.

n.881Emend lngar to sngar.

n.882K, N rtswa is supported by TMN 213a3 and BPS ga 44a6; D has rtsa.

n.8831.­42–1.­53.

n.8841.­42–1.­53.

n.885D srid pa (bhava) is the tenth link of dependent origination, an intense attachment that causes rebirth. Alternatively, emend to sred pa, “clinging.”

n.886This is a conjectural translation. It is perhaps referencing a cessation of ordinary breath as a person enters into an ultimate, death-like state.

n.887Cf. chos kyi rnam pa mi dmigs pa’i phyir (Ratnākaraśānti’s Śuddhamati, dag ldan, Degé Tengyur [shes phyin, ta], 116a3).

n.888This is probably a gloss of khri brgyad 16.­99 (ka 166b6) zhi gnas mi dmigs pa’i phyir (“because calm abiding is unfindable”) that has dropped out of the text. Śuddhamati, dag ldan, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ta), 116a3 has zhi gnas med pa’i phyir ro (“because there is no calm abiding.”).

n.889Vasubandhu’s Abhi­dharma­kośa­bhāṣya on Abhidharmakośa 4.74 (Shastri, 689) cites “a sūtra” as the source for these sixteen. La Vallée Poussin (Pruden, vol. 2, p. 739, n. 338) cites the Dīrgha, Aṅguttara, and Majjhima Nikāyas. The context is the explanation of lies. Ignoble persons say of what they have or have not seen, and so on, that they have not or have seen it, and so on (eight ignoble uses of conventional designations), and noble persons says of each what is true (eight noble uses of conventional designations).

n.890’bum 9.­72 (ga 195b2); nyi khri 9.­45 (ka 246b1) chags, “attached”; LSPW pp. 213–14 “tied down.”

n.891khri brgyad 16.­104.

n.892This is the seventh of Subhūti’s twenty-eight questions at 4.­678.

n.893These are the five questions (khri brgyad 15.­1, cited in Bṭ3 n.­738): “Lord, what is the Great Vehicle of bodhisattva great beings? Lord, to just what extent should bodhisattva great beings be known to have set out in the Great Vehicle? Where will the Great Vehicle have set out? Where will the Great Vehicle stand? Who will go forth in the Great Vehicle?” Here the second question is framed, “How have bodhisattva great beings come to set out in the Great Vehicle?”

n.894khri brgyad 17.­1.

n.895khri brgyad 17.­13 ff.

n.896’bum 10.­16, le’u brgyad ma ga 239b3–4, PSP 1-2: 91; khri brgyad ka 171a2, nyi khri ka 250a4 omit.

n.897Cf. The Ten Bhūmis, 1.­109 (Roberts 2021b); Daśa­bhūmika­sūtra (Honda p. 136).

n.898Our author does not provide a gloss here for māna­stambhana­nirghātana (Ghoṣa, Gilgit), “destroy arrogant rigidity”; khri brgyad 17.­2 “purification of preventing being puffed up with pride.” Abhisamayālaṃkāra 1.50ab, PSP 1-2: 88, and LSPW p. 214 also omit this.

n.899From this point on our author does not provide a gloss for every purification.

n.900khri brgyad 17.­4 and 17.­35.

n.901Cf. khri brgyad 55.­21; Aṣṭa (Wogihara p. 780).

n.902This is an overly abbreviated version of khri brgyad 55.­22; Aṣṭa (Wogihara p. 780) says, “Bodhisattva great beings‍—that is, those in the bodhisattva great beings’ isolation‍—living in jungle, upland forest, and frontier retreats, truly live in isolation.”

n.903khri brgyad 17.­5 and 17.­41. The twelve ascetic practices are listed at khri brgyad 41.­6 et passim; Edg, s.v. dhūtaguṇa.

n.904khri brgyad 17.­42 explaining 17.­5 “not giving up training.”

n.905khri brgyad 17.­44 explaining 17.­5 “production of a thought associated with nirvāṇa.”

n.906The meaning of g.yo ba yongs su btang ba here is unclear to me.

n.907khri brgyad 17.­46, explaining 17.­5 “great beings’ unmixed mind” (āveṇikacitta?), probably a mistake for “uncowed mind” (avalīnacitta).

n.908khri brgyad 17.­77, explaining 17.­8 “settle down on the view that the Buddha should be resorted to.” The following are glossing passages down to khri brgyad 17.­90, explaining down to 17.­9: “realizing the way things are perfect.”

n.909K, N.

n.910khri brgyad 17.­93, explaining 17.­9 “the exposition of the one way things are.”

n.911khri brgyad 17.­95, explaining 17.­9 “reversing views.”

n.912khri brgyad 17.­99, explaining 17.­9 “calmed state of mind.”

n.913Earlier the list for the seventh level (khri brgyad 17.­9, ka 170a4–5) has “unobstructed knowledge” (shes pa thogs pa med pa) followed by “the attachment-free level” (rjes su ’chags pa’i sa ma yin pa); in the explanation (khri brgyad 17.­100) it asks the question, “What is unobstructed knowledge?” This is followed by “What is knowledge that does not enter into attachment?” (rjes su ’chags pa la mi ’jug pa’i shes pa gang). Cp. ’bum 10.­9 (ga 198b2), nyi khri 10.­8 (ga 249a6) byams pa’i skabs shes pa; Gilgit 354.7 anunayāvasarajñatā (“knowledge of opportunities for loving kindness”). Mvy skabs renders avasara; Abhi­samayālaṃkāra 1.65a sakti (“attachment” in a positive sense) is a gloss of anunaya (“loving kindness”).

n.914khri brgyad 17.­107, explaining 17.­10 “attend on the buddhas and properly contemplate the buddha bodies.”

n.915Vakkalisutta in Suttanikāya 3.119 (PTS edition, 119–20); also BPS kha 277a.

n.916Golden 212b4–5 sems. D sems can “purifying the field of beings‍—me and others. There is no buddhafield except the field of beings, because it is simply just a representation.” This is glossing khri brgyad 17.­110: “It is purifying the minds of all beings,” explaining 17.­10 “purification of a buddhafield.”

n.917khri brgyad 17.­112, explaining 17.­10 “constantly being absorbed in meditation”; samāpatti means both “completion” and “absorption.”

n.918khri brgyad 17.­117, explaining 17.­11.

n.919“Is done” renders kṛta; “knowledge” renders āvid.

n.920This renders kṛtāvin .

n.921This is the eighth of Subhūti’s twenty-eight questions (4.­678).

n.922This is the third of the five questions at khri brgyad 15.­1 that has gang la, “where,” in place of gang nas, “from where” here, cited in Bṭ3 n.­738.

n.923This is a creative etymology linking arūpin, “formless,” with (a)ruh (causal (a)ropaya/ropaṇa), “to raise up.” The author means this metaphorically: “they are not causing you to form a notion of anything.” The Tib translators have rendered this rather elegantly with gzugs, the future or nonperfect form of the voluntary (tha dad pa) root ’dzugs pa; also used as a nonvoluntary (tha mi dad pa) perfect form of the same verb, (cp. ’dzin / zin). The Tib verb has the sense of “plant,” as in “plant a flag.”

n.924This glosses a passage not found in the extant Skt or Tib versions of the Sūtra.

n.9254.­511–4.­521.

n.926khri brgyad 18.­12.

n.927Understand the word shog to be a form of zho, “yogurt, milk.”

n.928This is the ninth of Subhūti’s twenty-eight questions (4.­678) and the fourth of the five questions at khri brgyad 15.­1.

n.929khri brgyad 18.­35.

n.930khri brgyad 18.­36. This is the tenth of Subhūti’s twenty-eight questions (Bṭ3 4.­678) and the fifth of the five questions at khri brgyad 15.­1.

n.931Cf. khri brgyad 18.­38, nyi khri 10.­70, ’bum 10.­258, and Lhasa Kangyur (shes phyin, ’bum, ga 229b6–7), which omit “Lord,” framing it as a rhetorical question.”

n.932khri brgyad 18.­38, nyi khri 10.­70, ’bum 10.­258 all omit and start with chos kyi dbyings, “dharma-constituent.”

n.933khri brgyad 19.­1 ff. This is the eleventh of Subhūti’s twenty-eight questions (Bṭ3 4.­678) and goes together with the twelfth rhetorical question, “That vehicle is equal to space?” that our author introduces just below. Our author says it is the Great Vehicle as a result, following on from the earlier explanation (Bṭ3 4.­786 ff.) of the Great Vehicle as practice. The last of the five questions (khri brgyad 15.­1) leads into an explanation of the resultant Great Vehicle because it occasions the statement (khri brgyad 18.­36), “that vehicle, one who goes forth, that by which one goes forth, from where one goes forth, all those dharmas do not exist and are not apprehended.”

n.934Glossed in Śrījagattalanivāsin’s Āmnayānusāriṇī, man ngag gi rjes su brang ba Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ba), 49b7–50a1.

n.935Here a going is called a yāna (“going,” “vehicle”). The great niryāṇa (“going forth,” “that from which going has gone,” “definite emergence,” “escape”) is the mahāyāna (“great vehicle,” “great going”). Because it surpasses the three worlds and is a definite emergence, or escape (niryāṇa), from them all, that going forth (niryāṇa) is bigger, hence it is called a Great Vehicle. I have rendered niryāṇa as “going forth” and Mahāyāna as “Great Vehicle.” The translation terms are not intended to convey all the aspects of the Skt words, but, as with the Tib translations, are lexical markers for them.

n.936khri brgyad 19.­2 omits “Great.”

n.937Alternatively, de nyid may mean “its” greatness.

n.938K, N; D: “It teaches it is equal to space because it has a great amount of room; because its production, stopping, and so on do not exist; because it is not included in the three time periods; and because of a threefold cause.”

n.939What our author intends here is that Subhūti’s opening statement (khri brgyad 19.­1) is in three parts, and the remainder of the chapter spoken by the Lord (khri brgyad 19.­5–19.­111) is structured around the three parts of Subhūti’s statement that is further broken down into five subsections, each introduced by the Lord repeating what Subhūti said (khri brgyad 19.­9 ff., 19.­41 ff., 19.­64 ff., 19.­82 ff., and 19.­97 ff., up to 19.­111).

n.940This is just khri brgyad 19.­5–19.­8; ’bum 11.­5–11.­8.

n.941These five are in Subhūti’s opening statement (khri brgyad 19.­1–19.­4).

n.942khri brgyad 19.­10.

n.943This is spelled out explicitly later at khri brgyad 19.­17 ff. Cp. Ghoṣa, who edits this section consistently with an avagraha sign bhāvo ’bhaviy[=ṣ]yan, “not existent and not not existent.”

n.944Alternatively, ngo bo nyid med pa’i dngos po, “a thing without an intrinsic nature.”

n.945The “falling hairs” in “matted falling hairs” (skra shad ’dzing pa) are imaginary strands of hair that appear as if falling in front of the eyes of people with an eye disease.

n.946Our author presumably means not ultimately true, only conventionally so.

n.947Emend chos to chos nyid.

n.948Secrets of the Tathāgatas Sūtra, Degé Kangyur F.133.a–133.b; MSAvyT 182b2 ff.; AAV 83a5 ff. Note that the text of the sūtra itself mentions there being sixty-four qualities rather than sixty.

n.949Emend brtags to brtabs.

n.950Emend gnyen po to mnyen po, MSAvy (Lèvi, 80) snigdha (“soft, pliable”). In this same sentence nye bar ston is either a mistake, or derived from the rten/gtan/bsten verbal complex; MSAvy (Lèvi, p. 80) upasthambhikatva.

n.951“Modulated” renders valgu, “quality of strength” balaguṇa.

n.952Cf. Edg, s.v. aneḍa, “not injurious,” “presumed to represent Skt an-enas.” Here tshugs is a nonvoluntary form.

n.953MW, s.v. kalā, citing the bālarāmāyaṇa.

n.954Pensa (113) tadvyatikrame samyag niḥsaraṇopadaiśikatva; MSAvy (Lévi, p. 80) tadvyatikramasaṃpan niḥsaraṇopadeśakatva; AAV de las ’das na nges par ’byung ba’i thabs yang dag par ston par mdzad pa, “is the means of perfect renunciation” (=niḥsaraṇopāyopadeśika).

n.955MSAvy prītisukha­saṃjananī; TGN, K, N dga’ bde bskyed pa.

n.956ston par byed pa here and for the next quality render MSAvy darśikatva and then daiśikatva; Pensa daiśikatva both times.

n.957sgra gsang mtho ba, perhaps reading uccāra; MSAvy, Pensa udāratva; MSAvyT, AAV rgya che ba nyid, “expansive.”

n.958myur du (=kṣipra) ’gyur ba’i ngang tshul can; MSAvy, Pensa abhīkṣṇa­bhaṅgara; MSAvyT, AAV rno ba dang ’jigs pa, “sharp and reverberating.”

n.959gal bar bya ba ma yin pa from atisṛ (Mvy atisārinī = ’gal ba); MSAvy, Pensa anatikramaṇīya; MSAvyT, AAV ’da’ bar bya ba, “not something you want to go beyond.”

n.960D mi rtag is a wrong reading.

n.961’jigs pa med pa. MSAvyT, AAV bsnyengs pa dang bral (= bhayāpagata?); MSAvy, Pensa sāvadyāpagata, “nothing wrong in it to criticize.”

n.962This renders chub pa? Pensa sakalā; Mvy sakhilā (Edg, “smooth, soft”); MSAvy akhilā; MSAvyT thab dang bcas pa’i ched ni/ sems can rnams kyi de dag gi don thams cad sgrub par byed pa’i phyir ro; AAV sems can rnams kyi don de dag thams cad rdzogs par mdzad pa’i phyir tha ma med pa’o; Bṭ1 na 240b3 byang chub pa.

n.963MSAvy, Pensa āgamita­prayuktatvāt, “it is connected with what has come down in the tradition”; MSAvyT dus la bab par rab tu sbyor ba, “is connected with the appropriate occasion”; AAV thob pa’i dus su rab tu sbyor ba, “is connected with the time of attainment”; Bṭ1 na 240b5 ma ’ongs pa’i dus na de bzhin du mi ’gyur ba, “in the future similarly does not change.”

n.964MSAvy, Pensa acapalā, “not too quick, does not trip over itself.”

n.965MSAvy, Pensa sarva­laukikārtha­dṛṣṭānta­dharma­pariṇāmitvād; MSAvyT, AAV ’jig rten pa’i don thams cad dpe’i chos su bsgyur ba, “it turns all ordinary things into examples for Dharma”; Bṭ1 na 240b6 ’jig rten pa dang ’khor las ’das pa’i don dang dpe’i chos thams cad mchog dang ldan pa, “it is endowed with excellent ordinary and transcendental meaning and example dharmas.”

n.966Here the “Master” (slob dpon, ācārya) would have to be Asaṅga, not Vasubandhu, if Vasubandhu is indeed our author.

n.967The words cited from the Sūtra have not been explicitly identified, and numbers have been added for the ease of the English-speaking reader.

n.968“Constituent” renders khams (dhatu), referring to khri brgyad 19.­54: “there is no first production of the thought of awakening in space,” and so on.

n.969“The twos” are the sets of pairs or dualities at khri brgyad 19.­58: “does not have form, is not formless, does not show itself, does not not show itself, is not blocked, is not not blocked, is not united, is not separated.” Alternatively, out author perhaps understands these to be the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas and buddhas.

n.970The Summary of the Doctrine (chos kyi mdo) is: “All compounded phenomena are impermanent; all contaminated phenomena are suffering; all phenomena are without a self; nirvāṇa is peace”; alternatively, “All compounded things are impermanent, everything with outflows is suffering, all dharmas are selfless, and nirvāṇa is peace.” See The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (Sāgara­nāga­rāja­paripṛcchā). Cf. Ratnākaraśānti’s Śuddhamatī, dag ldan Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ta), 84a3–4: chos kyi mdo bzhi ni ’du byed thams cad mi rtag pa/ zag pa dang bcas pa’i chos thams cad ni sdug bsngal ba/ chos thams cad ni bdag med pa/ mya ngan las ’das pa ni zhi ba’o.

n.971This is referring to khri brgyad 19.­61: “is not isolated, is not not isolated, is not light, and is not dark.”

n.972nyi khri 11.­55, ’bum 11.­45; khri brgyad 19.­47 (ka 198a2) gnas pa dang ’bral ba.

n.973I have not emended gsum to gsum pa, even though this is referencing Subhūti’s third statement repeated by the Lord at khri brgyad 19.­64. The three are the statements about beings, space, and the Great Vehicle.

n.974Gilgit 378.6 takes all as plurals: “it is because the states of existence are states not existing (sattvāsattā) that spaces are states not existing”; LSPW “it is because of the nonbeingness [asattā] of beings [sattva].”

n.975khri brgyad 19.­69.

n.976The context is the infinite amount of room in the Great Vehicle for an infinite amount of beings.

n.977Golden 223a6; D adds “twenty-six.”

n.978The three are beings, space, and the Great Vehicle.

n.979This is a brief way of saying the dharma-constituent is put in place of suchness and connected with the three‍—beings, space, and Great Vehicle‍—and then with nonexistent, infinite, countless, and beyond measure.

n.980The thirteen synonyms are listed with the first of the three‍—a being‍—and then connected with the very limit of reality in place of suchness, and then with nonexistence and so on.

n.981This usage of bkol (a perfect form of ’khol) is noteworthy.

n.982’bum 11.­79–11.­90 (Ghoṣa p. 1570 ff.), and nyi khri 11.­81-11.­86 spell out the six outer sense fields (a form, a sound and so on) down to the twelve links of dependent origination perfections; khri brgyad omits.

n.983khri brgyad 19.­74.

n.984’bum 11.­97 (Ghoṣa p. 1581 ff.) spells out the noble truths and so on; khri brgyad omits.

n.985khri brgyad 19.­76.

n.986Cf. ’bum 11.­110, nyi khri 11.­96, khri brgyad 19.­82.

n.987See n.­939.

n.988K, N g.yo ba; D dbye ba, “undivided.”

n.989“Those” are the “basic nature,” “suchness,” “intrinsic nature,” and “mark” of each of the dharmas beginning with form that “do not come, go, or remain.” I have not indicated the words in the list that are directly cited from the Sūtra.

n.990This complete list of synonyms beginning with “suchness,” down to “the certification of dharmas,” is not in any of the extant versions of the Sūtra I have consulted.

n.991This is the last of the five statements (4.­1174, n.­941).

n.992Gilgit 382.12, Ghoṣa p. 1618, PSP 1-2: 130; khri brgyad stong pa omit.

n.993Here btsal is an archaism for sel, Mvy paryudasta.

n.994’bum 11.­136 ff. (Ghoṣa p. 1623), nyi khri 11.­122; khri brgyad 19.­106, Gilgit 383.14, PSP 1-2: 134 omit.

n.995khri brgyad 19.­112.

n.996The remainder of Subhūti’s twenty-eight questions ( 4.­678) and the responses are khri brgyad 20.­1–20.­106. First are the statements made by Subhūti (khri brgyad 20.­8–20.­10) that are then queried by Śāriputra (khri brgyad 20.­11), and then answered by Subhūti up to the end of the chapter (khri brgyad 20.­106).

n.997khri brgyad 20.­1.

n.998khri brgyad 6.­1.

n.999khri brgyad 20.­7, Ghoṣa p. 1642, Gilgit 385.13.

n.1000The ten statements (khri brgyad 20.­8–20.­10) are (1) “one does not assert a bodhisattva at the prior limit”; (2) one has to know the limitlessness of a bodhisattva through the limitlessness of form; (3) even such an idea as ‘form is a bodhisattva’ does not exist; (4) I, who thus do not see and do not find a bodhisattva great being as anyone at all in any way at all‍—to which bodhisattva great being will I give advice and instruction in which perfection of wisdom?; (5) you say ‘bodhisattva’ is just a word; (6) you say ‘self’ again and again, but it has absolutely not come into being; (7) given that all phenomena thus have no intrinsic nature, what is that form which has come into being?; (8) what has not come into being is not form; (9) Lord, you cannot apprehend those bodhisattva great beings who would practice for awakening other than those who have not come into being, so does what has not come into being give advice and instruction in a perfection of wisdom that has not come into being?; and (10) one should know when the mind of a bodhisattva given such instruction is not cowed.

n.1001nyi khri 12.­9 mi dmigs. Ghoṣa p. 1642, Gilgit 385.14 nopalabhyate; PSP 1-2: 137 nopaiti; khri brgyad 20.­8 (ka 211a3) khas len, “assert.”

n.1002D, K, N, Golden 228a4 all read “has come into being”; khri brgyad 20.­11, nyi khri 12.­10 “has not come into being.”

n.1003K, N, Golden 228b1; D “has come into being.”

n.1004Earlier (4.­679) it says there are twenty-eight questions.

n.1005This is the Lord’s reply (khri brgyad 20.­3) to Subhūti when Pūrṇa asks why, having been told to talk about the perfection of wisdom, Subhūti talks about the Great Vehicle.

n.1006These are Subhūti’s answers to Śāriputra, nyi khri 12.­12 ff. (consistently mi dmigs, “does not apprehend”), khri brgyad 20.­12 (ka 212b) ff. (khas mi len, “does not assert”).

n.1007nyi khri 12.­12.

n.1008“Does not come close to,” nye bar ’gro ba med do, is another rendering of nopaiti, rendered above by mi dmigs so (“does not apprehend”) and in khri brgyad by khas mi len (“does not assert”); LSPW pp. 244–46 “does not approach.” The closest to this is khri brgyad 20.­16 (ka 213a4–5).

n.1009Cf. khri brgyad 20.­26, which again has “assert” in place of “come close.”

n.1010khri brgyad 20.­32.

n.1011khri brgyad 20.­37.

n.1012khri brgyad 20.­44.

n.1013Śāriputra’s question was: “Why, Venerable Subhūti, do you say, ‘So Lord, I, who thus do not see and do not find a bodhisattva great being as anyone at all in any way at all‍—to which bodhisattva great being will I give advice and instruction in which perfection of wisdom?’ ”

n.1014khri brgyad 20.­55.

n.1015I understand our author to mean falsely imagined form “is” ultimate form because it is not different from it, because it is not there ultimately at all. Alternatively, if ultimate form is the name then it too is falsely imagined and hence not different.

n.1016“Repeat” renders bsgre par bya’o. A ’gre is a subsection of a longer connected passage. This is a voluntary, transitive (or causal) form of that.

n.1017khri brgyad 20.­61.

n.1018Golden 230b6; at khri brgyad 20.­73 ’dus pa has accidentally been left out.

n.1019Golden 231a2 nus par gyur pa’i stong pa nyid; D nus par ’gyur ba’i stong pa nyid; K, N nus par byung stong pa nyid.

n.1020khri brgyad 20.­77.

n.1021Pensa p. 60, tatrāsadartha ’nityārthaḥ; cf. khri brgyad 38.­1 (kha 86b1) ma mchis pa.

n.1022The Teaching of Akṣayamati (Akṣaya­mati­nirdeśa) blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa, Degé Kangyur (mdo sde, ma), 1.­327 (Braarvig and Welsh 2020), 168b.7 de la mi rtag pa’i don gang zhe na/ med pa’i don dang.

n.1023If yod pa las gyur pa renders sadbhūta it would mean “there is nothing truly real at all.”

n.1024nyi khri 12.­95; PSP 1-2: 150 yad anityaṃ so ’bhāvaḥ kṣayaś ca; LSPW pp. 252–54 “nonexistence and extinction.” khri brgyad 20.­79 “it is because that which is impermanent has come to an end, is a nonexistent thing.”

n.1025If the original compound is a bahuvrihi it would mean “suffering is called ‘what is on account of falsely imagined dharmas.’ ”

n.1026khri brgyad 20.­79 “suffering, selfless, calm, empty, signless, and wishless, … wholesome, not a basic immorality, without outflows, without afflictions, extraordinary, purified, and uncompounded.”

n.1027khri brgyad 20.­81.

n.1028khri brgyad 20.­84.

n.1029In place of ’dzin (“grasp”), khri brgyad 20.­92 (ka 224a3) has khas len (“assert”); nyi khri 12.­149 (ka 344a6) dmigs (“apprehend”). Gilgit 400.8–9 (na) upaiti.

n.1030K, N rim pa; D rigs pa, “logic.”

n.1031khri brgyad 20.­96, K, N; D “the nonproduction of form is form.”

n.1032If one leaves ngo bo nyid (svabhāva) untranslated, it means, simply, “the true nature of dharmas is not falsely imagined form.” I have rendered kun brtags pa’i gzugs kyi ngo bo nyid ma yin pa (na parikalpita­rūpa­svabhāva) literally to leave open the possibility that the author intends to say that the true nature of dharmas ( dharmatā ) does not have the falsely imagined (parikalpita) for its intrinsic nature, nor the falsely imagined the true nature of dharmas for its intrinsic nature.

n.1033khri brgyad 20.­100.

n.1034khri brgyad 20.­102.

n.1035Cited above 4.­1267.

n.1036khri brgyad 20.­102 ff. goes through categories of the thoroughly afflicted and purification dharmas but it does not explicitly include the “suchness, true nature of dharmas” category found at ’bum 12.­640–12.­640 and nyi khri 12.­202. However, both the longer versions omit the first “form… is impermanent” statement.

n.1037khri brgyad 20.­106.

n.1038khri brgyad 21.­1.

n.1039khri brgyad 20.­92, 20.­96, 20.­102, 20.­106.

n.1040rnam pa (ākāra) is rendered “aspect” in the earlier line, and here by “attribute.”

n.1041The perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) has gone far off (āram itā).

n.1042khri brgyad 21.­6 “it has gone far off from the aggregates, constituents, sense fields, and dependent origination… all defilement… the six forms of life… the perfection of giving… inner emptiness… the applications of mindfulness… the knowledge of all aspects.”

n.1043nyi khri 13.­6. “Gone to the other side” (pāram itā).

n.1044“Skillful means” thabs (upāya) is part of the creative etymology of upaparīkṣa. K, N rigs pas brtags, “researching through skillful means and reasoning.”

n.1045khri brgyad 21.­12.

n.1046skye ba med pa; K, N med pa, “does not exist.”

n.1047khri brgyad 21.­18.

n.10484.­488; also 4.­1143.

n.10494.­1293.

n.1050khri brgyad 21.­25.

n.10514.­1293.

n.10524.­679.

n.1053khri brgyad 21.­27.

n.1054K, N mngon par rdzogs par yod pa (“is there manifestly and completely”) is an unusual rendering of abhisamaya. A later editor of the canon failed to replace it with mngon par rtogs pa, the reading in the following gloss.

n.1055The other ten are (1) the five objects of the senses and (2) the five senses.

n.1056This means the eye faculty and so on are blocked from seeing forms and so on. Alternatively, if apratigha means “unobstructed,” it means the sense faculties are not obstructed from knowing their object in the way an inert material object is.

n.1057The section on nonproduction, including the objections and responses, is khri brgyad 21.­24–21.­32.

n.1058khri brgyad 21.­42.

n.1059nyi khri 13.­56, 13.­57; khri brgyad 21.­45 and 21.­47 differ slightly.

n.1060khri brgyad 21.­24–21.­32.

n.1061khri brgyad 21.­55.

n.1062khri brgyad 21.­62.

n.1063khri brgyad 21.­66. “Ordinary world” renders loka (“ordinary,” “world,” “person”). Generally, loka means both a world and a person, in the sense suggested by John Dunne’s “No man is an island, entire of itself.” The “ordinary” is the opposite of the “extraordinary,” that is, the path and the result. The ordinary is the location of a person, the five aggregates, conveyed by the standard Tib rendering of loka as ’jig rten, “perishing basis.”

n.1064The “forbearance” (kṣānti) can be the third division of the aids to knowledge that penetrates true reality (nirvedha­bhāgīya) or the “path of seeing” (prayogamārga). Here the context suggests a threefold division of the eighth bodhisattva level, or, alternatively, the last three bodhisattva levels.

n.1065khri brgyad 21.­62–21.­77. This is the explanation of each of the six perfections as ordinary and extraordinary based on whether the bodhisattvas apprehend or do not apprehend anything.

n.1066khri brgyad 21.­78.

n.1067This section is explaining the usage of laukikī, a secondary derivative (“worldly, to do with the world”) from loka (itself perhaps from a root like ruc, “to shine”). The explanation relates laukikī to loka by putting loka in each of the seven cases, nominative and so on. Each explanation should be understood as, for instance in the first of the seven, “[the aggregates are laukikī because it is] on account of them the loka is here. PSP 1-2:171 kena kāraṇena laukikī? loko yābhir bhavati, lokaṃ vā yābhir nivartayati, lokena vā yāḥ samāḥ, lokāya vā yābhir dīyate, lokād vā yābhir [na?] niḥsarati, lokasya vā yā bhavāya, loke vā bhavā yās tā laukikasyaḥ. “Why are they laukikī? They are called laukikī because they are those on account which the world (nominative) exists; or on account of which [afflictive emotion and karma] the world (accusative) is established; or which are the same as the world (instrumental); or on account of which [five sense objects] something is given to the world [of the six senses]; or on account of which, [the links of dependent origination and so on, they do not] escape from the world (ablative); or [ordinary beings] who are for the coming into existence of the world (genitive); or [beings] who come into being in the world (locative).”

n.1068This is a speculative translation based on the idea that ordinary beings procreate and increase in the world.

n.1069This section again puts loka in each of the seven cases, nominative and so on, and explains the usage of lokottara (“extraordinary, transcendental, supramundane”) a compound word composed of loka and uttara (“higher”). In most of the following explanations, however, the word uttara is derived not from uttara, but from uttṝ (“to escape”)‍—for instance, the first of the seven, “[the parts of noble eightfold path are lokottara because] on account of them the loka (“person”) (nominative) escapes.” PSP 1-2:171 tatra katamā lokottarā? loko yābhir uttarati, lokaṃ vā yābhir uttārayati, lokena vā yābhir uttāryate, ālokāya vā yā bhavati, lokād vā yābhir niḥsarati, lokasya vā yā uttaraṇāya, loke vā yā uttarās tā lokottarā iti: “There, what are the lokottaras? They are called lokottaras [because they are those] on account of which the world (nominative) escapes; or on account of which [compassion and wisdom] they free the world (accusative); or on account of which [compassion and wisdom], a world [=a person] (instrumental) causes an escape; or which are there for illumination (dative); or on account of which they escape the world (ablative); or who are for the emancipation of the world (genitive); or who are the emancipators in the world (locative).”

n.1070khri brgyad 21.­79. According to LC, sel bar byed pa renders nivartayati. le’u brgyad ma nga 5b7 gang dag ’jig rten sgrol ba yin, “they free the world.”

n.1071le’u brgyad ma nga 5b7 gang dag gis ’jig rten gyi rgal bar byed pa, “those which cause a crossing over the world.”

n.1072le’u brgyad ma nga 5b7–6a1 don du, “those that are not there for the purpose of the world” makes the dative clearer.

n.1073le’u brgyad ma nga 6a1 gang dag’jig rten gyi sgrol byed yin pa, “those who are the emancipators of the world”

n.1074Cf. khri brgyad 21.­86; nyi khri 13.­101.

n.1075Rongtön (rong ston shes bya kun khyab) in his sher phyin stong phrag brgya pa’i rnam ’grel, pp. 638–39, says this means that Subhūti is saying it is “excellent” because, as Śāriputra says, were bodhisattvas bodhisattvas just because they pay attention, then all beings would indeed be bodhisattvas. Subhūti says Śāriputra’s statement is open to logical objection because it could only be true when the words are taken too literally, so it forces the reader to think about what he is actually saying. To that extent what Śāriputra says has got at what he, Subhūti, means, namely that bodhisattvas have compassion for (“pay attention to”) all beings even while cultivating a state free from thought construction.

n.1076D; Golden 243b1 lta “those sorts of attentions.”

n.1077Cf. khri brgyad 21.­91, nyi khri 13.­113, Gilgit 415.11–12. The corresponding part of the Śata­sāhasrikā­prajñā­pāramitā (xiii F.144.a, cited and translated in LSPW folios 267-268, p. 201, n. 13) says explicitly this attention is a “compassionate” (mahā­karuṇā­manasīkāreṇa) state.

n.10782.­2.

n.1079K, N de bzhin gshegs pas. The reading in D, de bzhin gshegs pa, may intend, “In this tathāgata the perfection of wisdom is a threefold teaching: brief, middling, and detailed.”

n.1080khri brgyad 22.­2.

n.1081khri brgyad 22.­4 (ka 243b3) and nyi khri 14.­3 (kha 1b4) yang dag par skyon med pa, “flawlessness that is a perfect state.”

n.1082The fifteen are, in addition, attention to form as “a thorn, a misfortune, dependent, by its nature headed to destruction, shaky, brittle, a hazard, persecution, and a headache.”

n.1083These seven attentions (khri brgyad Tempangma ka 346b7) are attention to cessation as selfless, calm, isolated, emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, and a nonenactment. khri brgyad 22.­8 (ka 244a7) incorrectly has attention to impermanence and suffering (mi rtag pa dang / bsdug sngal ba) in a list of nine.

n.1084khri brgyad 22.­10 ff.

n.1085khri brgyad 22.­5.

n.1086Emend sngon po to sdong po.

n.1087“Absence of hazards” renders abhaya; alternatively, “freedom from fear,” because bhaya is “fear” in other contexts.

n.1088“Nagging demon” renders ’dre ba (piśāca); alternatively, “a mix-up.”

n.1089khri brgyad 22.­11, literally, “causing dharmas to join together with a dharma.” The three parts of the picture are (1) the state of mind committed to becoming fully awakened, (2) the state of mind closer to the goal because of the good that has been done motivated by the commitment, and (3) the state of mind when rededicating to the original commitment, turning over all the good that brings the goal of full awakening closer to full awakening.

n.1090Cf. khri brgyad 22.­13, khri brgyad 3.­129.

n.1091khri brgyad 22.­11.

n.1092Tib ’grogs suggests “accompany” or “befriend” or “associate with.”

n.1093khri brgyad 22.­11, nyi khri 14.­23 (kha 5a4).

n.1094This reading is not at khri brgyad 22.­13, ’bum 14.­76, or nyi khri 14.­25, which all have “the thought of dedication is no thought.”

n.1095This reading is from our author’s version of the Sūtra.

n.1096khri brgyad 22.­16.

n.1097khri brgyad 22.­28.

n.1098Both D and Golden 248a5–b1 have chos (“dharma”) and then chos nyid (“true nature of dharmas”) below. It is hard to know whether the first or the second reading is wrong, or, indeed, if both are correct. If the second, and chos nyid (“the true nature of dharmas”) is emended to chos (“dharma”), the word “mark” (mtshan nyid, *lakṣaṇa) here is used not in the sense of a general and specific mark of a form (impermanent, and suitable to be seen), but rather in the sense of a causal sign, the object aspect in a mental image, which gives rise to the perception of something, conveyed in Skt by the word followed by iti (“the idea of”). Alternatively, if the first chos (“dharma”) is emended to, or at least understood as, chos nyid (“the true nature of dharmas”), then the mark is in reference to a unifying ultimate nature, and the iti to the falsely imagined phenomenon.

n.1099khri brgyad 22.­28–22.­31.

n.1100khri brgyad 22.­33–22.­37.

n.1101khri brgyad 22.­38–22.­43.

n.1102khri brgyad 22.­44–22.­46.

n.1103khri brgyad 22.­46–22.­59.

n.1104khri brgyad 22.­50–22.­59.

n.1105khri brgyad 22.­58.

n.1106khri brgyad 22.­62.

n.1107khri brgyad 22.­71.

n.1108“Move” renders g.yo derived from iñj or miñj. The meaning is that conceptual thought cannot get at it.

n.1109khri brgyad 22.­73.

n.1110khri brgyad 22.­75: “Therefore, gods, those who want to be candidates for the result of stream enterer and those who want to realize the result of stream enterer cannot, without having resorted to this forbearance.”

n.1111khri brgyad 23.­1.

n.1112khri brgyad 23.­12.

n.1113Cf. khri brgyad 22.­8: “the cessation of volitional factors from the cessation of ignorance… the cessation of old age and death, pain, lamentation, suffering, mental anguish, and grief from the cessation of birth‍—thus the cessation of simply this great heap of suffering.”

n.1114The negation in the Tibetan here (ma, "not") may very well be a scribal error that should be deleted.

n.1115khri brgyad 23.­13.

n.1116khri brgyad 23.­14–23.­21.

n.1117khri brgyad 23.­22.

n.1118khri brgyad 23.­23.

n.1119khri brgyad 23.­25.

n.1120Cf. Śrījagattalanivāsin’s Āmnayānusāriṇī, man ngag gi rjes su brang ba, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ba), 68a4 “in order to teach the gods the sign that the light of transcendental knowledge has been generated” (lha’i bu rnams la ye shes kyi snang ba bskyed pa’i rtags bstan pa’i don du me tog gi mchod pa bstan par byed de).

n.1121khri brgyad 24.­2.

n.1122khri brgyad 24.­15.

n.1123khri brgyad 24.­20.

n.11245.­6, citing khri brgyad 22.­2.

n.1125khri brgyad 24.­21.

n.1126khri brgyad 24.­25.

n.1127khri brgyad 24.­26, nyi khri 16.­23.

n.1128khri brgyad 24.­27; ’bum 16.­58, nyi khri 16.­24 “does not see” in place of “does not train in.”

n.1129This is not found with exactly the same words in khri brgyad, ’bum, or nyi khri.

n.1130I have not emended “train in the knowledge of all aspects” to “train in the emptiness of the knowledge of all aspects” (PSP 2-3: 24 and ŚsPK II-3: 83–88) because this is the reading at khri brgyad 24.­29–24.­32. The abbreviation is too extreme. The idea is that training in the emptiness of any one dharma is training in the emptiness of any other. Therefore, to train in the emptiness of any one dharma is to train in any other different dharma, or in all dharmas.

n.1131khri brgyad 24.­34.

n.1132khri brgyad 24.­40.

n.1133khri brgyad 24.­43.

n.1134See 2.­4–2.­15.

n.1135khri brgyad 24.­45.

n.1136Here tathāgata means “knower of reality”‍—literally “gone” or “come thus”; tathatā means “reality”: literally, “suchness.”

n.1137khri brgyad 24.­50–24.­51.

n.1138khri brgyad 24.­55, answering Kauśika’s question, “Where should bodhisattva great beings look for the perfection of wisdom?”

n.1139khri brgyad 24.­58.

n.1140khri brgyad 24.­61.

n.1141khri brgyad 24.­63.

n.1142khri brgyad 24.­65.

n.1143khri brgyad 24.­67.

n.1144The first three are khri brgyad 24.­71–24.­81. The “body of dharmas” (dharmakāya) is called the “objective support”: cp. ŚsPK II-3: 213 “dharmas as objective support” (dharmālambanānantatayānanta­pāramiteyaṃ) and PSP 2-3: 33 “dharma constituent as objective support” (dharma­dhātvārambaṇānantatayānanta-pāramiteyaṃ), in the sense of being the objective support of the knowledge of all aspects‍—both are limitless. The third is the ultimate reality of the knowledge of all aspects and the dharmas it knows. The fourth begins from khri brgyad 24.­82.

n.1145Cf. khri brgyad 24.­87, nyi khri 16.­72.

n.1146khri brgyad 25.­2.

n.1147khri brgyad 25.­3.

n.1148This is the brahmin student who in the future would become Śākyamuni.

n.1149nyi khri 16.­80.

n.1150An alternative translation: “remains consistent with.”

n.1151I have capitalized “perfection of wisdom” as an aid to the reader, not because it refers exclusively to the book as distinct from its contents or internalization.

n.1152’bum 16.­250, nyi khri 16.­81, khri pa 16.­19 (nga 171b3). khri brgyad 25.­7 and le’u brgyad ma nga 40a5 is a better Tib translation, “will have made just the emptiness of form into a good sustainable position,” of ŚsPK II-3: 223, PSP 2-3: 36, and Gilgit 440.8 rūpaśūnyataiva svadhiṣṭhitā bhaviṣyati [Gilgit bhaviṣyaṇti?].

n.1153The children of a good family who are not hurt (“not infiltrated”) because they respect the Perfection of Wisdom and what it teaches.

n.1154khri brgyad 25.­17.

n.1155khri brgyad 25.­18 says gods will amass a greater store of merit from respecting and protecting bodhisattvas practicing and teaching the perfection of wisdom than from respecting and protecting all the other types of beings.

n.1156The others at khri brgyad 26.­1 are “perfect celebrity, a perfect life, a perfect retinue, perfect major signs, perfect radiance, perfect eyes, a perfect voice, perfect meditative concentration, and perfect dhāraṇī.”

n.1157’khrugs; dkrugs at khri brgyad 26.­7 (ka 277b5).

n.1158khri brgyad 26.­9 “There is a medicinal herb called maghī that gives relief from all poisons.”

n.1159khri brgyad 26.­10.

n.1160khri brgyad 26.­12.

n.1161khri brgyad 26.­34–26.­37.

n.1162khri brgyad 26.­39 ff.

n.1163This summarizes khri brgyad 27.­1–27.­39, chapter 27.

n.1164glags thod. thod is a non-agentive form of gtod.

n.1165khri brgyad 27.­11.

n.1166khri brgyad 27.­23 ff. The merit from the worship of the perfection of wisdom.

n.1167khri brgyad 27.­37.

n.1168khri brgyad 28.­5: “Kauśika, you should take up the perfection of wisdom. Kauśika, you should keep in mind, you should recite, you should master, and you should properly pay attention to the perfection of wisdom.”

n.1169khri brgyad 28.­8.

n.1170khri brgyad 28.­13 ff.

n.1171khri brgyad 28.­18 ff.

n.1172khri brgyad 29.­1 ff., chapter 29.

n.1173khri brgyad 29.­11.

n.1174khri brgyad 29.­14.

n.1175Cf. khri brgyad 29.­15, nyi khri 20.­13.

n.1176khri brgyad 30.­1 ff.

n.1177le’u brgyad ma nga 74a2.

n.1178Cf. khri brgyad 30.­5 (kha 2a5–2b2). The Tib translators evidently read anupādānayogena (rendered len pa med pa’i tshul gyis) in place of Gilgit 465.6, PSP 2-3: 78 anutpādayogena, rendered ’bum 21.­10 (ca 308b3), nyi khri 21.­5 (kha 90b3), le’u brgyad ma nga 74a6–7 m(y)i skye pa’i tshul gyis.

n.1179khri brgyad 30.­11 ff.

n.1180khri brgyad 30.­17 “Those gods will want to connect those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family with the confidence that gives a readiness to speak about the perfection of wisdom.”

n.1181khri brgyad 30.­23, PSP 2-3: 82 anācchedya.

n.1182khri brgyad 30.­30.

n.1183rgya chen po la mos pa. Closest is khri brgyad 30.­34 (kha 7b5–6) rgya cher mos pa: “The belief of those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family becomes stronger and stronger in line with the arrival there of those extremely powerful gods.” PSP 2-3: 85 udārādhimuktika; ’bum 21.­54 (ca 331a6), nyi khri 21.­37 (kha 98a7), le’u brgyad ma nga 80a5 mos pa rgya chen po. LSPW p. 243b “confirmed in their faith.”

n.1184Closest again is khri brgyad 30.­38 (kha 8b6) lus la gzi brjid bcug par. PSP 2-3: 86, Aṣṭa (Wogihara p. 262) kāyam ojaḥprakṣiptam; ’bum 21.­63 (ca 336b6), nyi khri 21.­42 (kha 99b2), le’u brgyad ma nga 81a6 mdangs dang ldan par ’gyur.

n.1185The four requirements are robes, alms, beds and seats, and medicines for sicknesses.

n.1186khri brgyad 31.­3 ff.

n.1187These are the establishment and removal, respectively, of dharmas of buddhas and ordinary persons; bodhisattvas and śrāvakas; those in training and for whom there is no more training; and the uncompounded and compounded.

n.1188khri brgyad 31.­7.

n.1189These are the discourses, melodious narrations, predictions, verses, summaries, introductions, accounts, birth stories, expanded texts, marvels, tales, and expositions.

n.1190khri brgyad 31.­18.

n.1191khri brgyad 31.­19.

n.1192khri brgyad 31.­32.

n.1193’bum 22.­52 (ca 360b3) and nyi khri 22.­39 (kha 110a3) have ye shes kyi sku (jñānakāya) here. khri brgyad 31.­35, and also khri brgyad S kha 79b2, PSP 2-3: 96 (dharmakāyena ca rūpakāyena ca draṣṭukāmena), and le’u brgyad ma nga 89b1 omit. The dharma body and form body are the result of the jñānasaṃbhāra (“knowledge accumulation” or “equipment”) and the puṇyasaṃbhāra (“merit accumulation” or “equipment”), respectively.

n.1194Golden 261b4 mtshan nyid.

n.1195khri brgyad 31.­42.

n.1196khri brgyad 31.­51.

n.1197khri brgyad 31.­55.

n.1198khri brgyad 31.­58.

n.1199Beginning at khri brgyad 32.­1, chapter 32.

n.1200khri brgyad 32.­4.

n.1201khri brgyad 32.­9 ff.

n.1202khri brgyad 32.­17, le’u brgyad ma, nga, 98b7; ’bum 23.­118 (cha 29b5), nyi khri 23.­29 (kha 123b3–4) gnyis la spyod pa yang ma yin/ mi gnyis pa la spyod pa yang ma yin pa’i blo, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “the mind, without engaging in duality and without engaging in nonduality.”

n.1203This is explaining properly paying attention to others.

n.1204khri brgyad 32.­18. This is introducing the explanation of the fourteen pairs.

n.1205This is paraphrasing Madhyānta­vibhāga 2.14–16, picking and choosing from the list of ten antidotes that counteract obstacles to the ten bodhisattva levels.

n.1206The sections are khri brgyad 32.­24–32.­39, 32.­40–32.­42, and the last two at 32.­43–32.­44; cf. ’bum 23.­368 ff. and PSP 2-3: 113.

n.1207khri brgyad 32.­45–32.­51.

n.1208Cf. nyi khri 23.­61 (kha 130a4–5).

n.1209This and the following sections summarize khri brgyad 32.­52–32.­74.

n.1210khri brgyad 32.­67–32.­68; ’bum 23.­458–23.­464, summarized nyi khri kha 23.­84-23.­85, le’u brgyad ma nga 108b7–109a7.

n.1211khri brgyad 32.­69 and 32.­74.

n.1212The admiration for, rejoicing in, and dedication to the perfection of wisdom in comparison to any other virtuous activity.

n.1213khri brgyad 33.­1, nyi khri 24.­1. The idea is that there is the thought of awakening (bodhicitta). Then there is rejoicing in the good works motivated by that thought and the wholesome roots planted by those good works, a rejoicing that gives energy to the motivating thought. Then there is the dedication of all the wholesome roots to awakening again‍—to the mindset the thought of awakening presupposes so that it grows stronger and stronger.

n.1214khri brgyad 33.­2–33.­4.

n.1215khri brgyad 33.­2: “aggregates of morality, aggregates of meditative stabilization, aggregates of wisdom, aggregates of liberation, and aggregates of knowledge and seeing of liberation.”

n.1216K, N.

n.1217khri brgyad 33.­4.

n.1218khri brgyad 33.­5.

n.1219khri brgyad 33.­6.

n.1220khri brgyad 33.­10.

n.1221khri brgyad 33.­11.

n.1222khri brgyad 33.­12. I have included some words left out of the citation to make it readable in English.

n.1223khri brgyad 33.­13 ff.

n.1224Cf. khri brgyad 33.­14, where “perception” (’du shes) is rendered “notion.” The Abhidharmakośa (cf. Abhidharmakośa 1.14c saṃjñā nimittodgrahaṇātmikā) defines saṃjñā (“perception,” “notion,” “discrimination,” “naming,” “idea”) as taking hold of or naming a causal sign, a mediating quasi-entity that allows consciousness to discriminate specific objects. The six may be (’bum 24.­22) “has no perception of a buddha, has no perception of śrāvakas, has no perception of wholesome roots, and has no perception of a thought doing the dedication.” The two perceptions of rejoicing and dedication are implicit. Alternatively, the six are derived from the six sense faculties‍—the perceptions that pop up based on the eye sense faculty and so on‍—eye perception, up to thinking mind perception. Alternatively (Śrāvakabhūmi, Degé Tengyur [mdo ’grel, sems tsam, dzi], 153a7–b1), they are “the two‍—the perception of signlessness and the perception of the absence of distraction in signlessness‍—and the perception of the absence of thought construction, and similarly, the perception of the absence of proliferation and the absence of disturbance in the absence of thought construction, the perception of calm, and the perception of the absence of sorrow, a stable mind, and pleasure in calm.” Alternatively (cf. Ten Thousand, khri pa 8.­38), “It entails absorption in the six aspects of perception (’du shes rnam pa drug) by engaging with all things as if they were an illusion.”

n.1225Cf. khri brgyad 33.­17.

n.1226Cf. nyi khri 24.­26; also ’bum 24.­21.

n.1227Cf. khri brgyad 33.­23–33.­24.

n.1228khri brgyad 33.­26–33.­34.

n.1229khri brgyad 33.­35–33.­38.

n.1230khri brgyad 33.­40.

n.1231nyi khri 24.­50; khri brgyad 33.­44 “untainted.”

n.1232khri brgyad 33.­43–33.­45.

n.1233khri brgyad 33.­50–33.­52.

n.1234The first section is khri brgyad 33.­53–33.­56, the second 33.­57.

n.1235The first section is khri brgyad 33.­53–33.­56, the second 33.­57.

n.1236khri brgyad 33.­59.

n.1237khri brgyad 33.­59. The Lord is speaking to Subhūti.

n.1238khri brgyad 33.­59.

n.1239This follows the order at nyi khri 24.­67.

n.1240khri brgyad 33.­61–33.­62.

n.1241khri brgyad 34.­1. The perfection of wisdom (1) makes things clear because of absolute purity; (2) makes you want to bow; (3) is bowed to by me (Subhūti and the Buddha); (4) is untainted by all three realms; (5) corrects visual distortions because of having eliminated all the darkness of afflictive emotion and views; (6) works as the highest of the dharmas on the side of awakening; (7) provides security because of having eliminated all hazards, terrors, and persecution; (8) gives light because then all beings easily appropriate the five eyes; (9) shows the ruts because beings caught in the ruts avoid the two edges; (10) works as the knowledge of all aspects because of having eliminated all residual impressions, connections, and afflictions; (11) is the mother of great bodhisattvas because she gives birth to all the buddhadharmas; (12) is unproduced and unceasing because of being empty of her own mark; (13) counteracts saṃsāra because she is not unmoved and not destroyed; (14) works as the protector of all unprotected beings because she is the giver of all dharma jewels; (15) works as the ten powers because she deals with those who are untamed; (16) works as repeating and thus turning the wheel of the Dharma; and (17) works to show the intrinsic nature of all dharmas because of the emptiness of the nonexistence of intrinsic nature.

n.1242This question by Śāriputra comes at the end of his seventeen statements praising the perfection of wisdom.

n.1243khri brgyad 22.­2 ff.

n.1244’jar is apparently a form of the modern colloquial honorific gcar, “to approach,” with honor to the place or person being approached. Bṭ1 pa 28a6–7 gus shing rim gro bya ba’i thabs ji lta bur bgyi, “how do you feel respect for and serve.”

n.1245khri brgyad 34.­4: “dedicate those wholesome roots of the past, future, and present lord buddhas, as many as there are, starting from when they first produced the thought, up to for as long as their good Dharma lasts…”

n.1246khri brgyad 34.­7.

n.1247khri brgyad 34.­9 (kha 54a2) “find and produce within themselves” renders mngon par sgrub (abhinirhṛ); LSPW “consummate.”

n.1248khri brgyad 34.­11.

n.1249khri brgyad 34.­17.

n.1250khri brgyad 29.­15: “Those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family who take up, up to properly pay attention to this perfection of wisdom will have attended on many buddhas and will have been looked after by spiritual friends. And why? Because the knowledge of all aspects issues forth from this‍—that is, the perfection of wisdom‍—and the perfection of wisdom issues forth from this, that is, the knowledge of all aspects. And why? Because the knowledge of all aspects is not one thing and the perfection of wisdom another. Therefore, the knowledge of all aspects and the perfection of wisdom are not two and cannot be divided into two; they have not been broken apart and have not been cut apart.”

n.1251khri brgyad 34.­22.

n.1252khri brgyad 34.­26.

n.1253khri brgyad 34.­28.

n.1254khri brgyad 34.­30

n.1255The perfection of wisdom.

n.1256khri brgyad 34.­36.

n.1257khri brgyad 34.­36. ’bum 25.­180 (cha 239b4), nyi khri 25.­31 (kha 168a1), le’u brgyad ma nga 134a1 render niṣyanda by dang mthun pa’i ’bras bu, “not a result in accord with the perfection of wisdom.”

n.1258Our author’s version of the Sūtra has the synonyms of “a being” at this point. Other versions omit.

n.1259khri brgyad 34.­46.

n.1260khri brgyad 35.­4 ff. This is misplaced here, probably early in the transmission of the text by a scribe. It should come after the following summary, not before it.

n.1261khri brgyad 35.­1–35.­22.

n.1262khri brgyad 35.­23.

n.1263khri brgyad 35.­26.

n.1264khri brgyad 35.­31.

n.1265khri brgyad 35.­36 ff., nyi khri 26.­38 ff., ’bum 26.­150 ff.

n.1266khri brgyad 35.­35: “Subhūti, it is hard for those who do not work hard, up to are without introspection to believe in this perfection of wisdom.”

n.1267’bum 26.­151 (cha 348b3) so so ma yin, also nyi khri 26.­57 (kha 182a2); khri brgyad 35.­37 (kha 64b5–6), S kha 147b1 tha mi dad de gcad du med.

n.1268khri brgyad 35.­38 ff., ’bum 26.­151 ff., nyi khri 26.­39 ff.

n.1269The two passages (khri brgyad 35.­37–35.­38, ’bum 26.­150–26.­164, nyi khri 26.­38-26.­39) are the one that includes the purity of the result and the one that leaves it out.

n.1270khri brgyad 35.­39, nyi khri 26.­40-26.­42. The passage is truly spelled out in full from ’bum 26.­165 to ’bum 26.­441!

n.1271khri brgyad 35.­41, nyi khri 26.­43-26.­49, ’bum 26.­442–26.­525.

n.1272nyi khri 26.­50, ’bum 26.­526; cf. khri brgyad 35.­42 ff.

n.1273Closest is nyi khri 26.­51. Our author’s version differs slightly. Cf. khri brgyad 35.­43, ’bum 26.­527.

n.1274This citation suggests our author is following a version giving even more detail. Cf. nyi khri 26.­55, and ’bum 26.­531, where the purity of each earlier dharma is the reason for the purity of the next in the series, ending with the purity of the knowledge of the path aspects being the reason for the purity of the knowledge of all aspects. khri brgyad 35.­43 is an abbreviation.

n.1275The collections are the collecting together of a form, the eyes, eye consciousness, eye contact, and pleasurable, suffering, and neither pleasurable nor suffering feelings that arise from the condition of contact with the eyes and so on.

n.1276Cf. nyi khri 26.­56, ’bum 26.­532. khri brgyad 35.­44 is an abbreviation.

n.1277Cf. nyi khri 26.­79, 26.­91, and ’bum 26.­861 (nya 101a5–7).

n.1278’bum 26.­862–26.­891; cf. khri brgyad 35.­45. The operative factor is the similarity with the purity of the knowledge of all aspects.

n.1279khri brgyad 35.­46–35.­47, ’bum 26.­892–26.­895.

n.1280khri brgyad 36.­1.

n.1281In the cyclic of existences, a stream of deaths and rebirths, death both precedes rebirth, and follows it.

n.1282nyi khri 27.­28 (kha 192a3–4); ’bum 27.­234 (nya 151b7), and khri brgyad 36.­31 (kha 69b1) have chos kyi dbyings gnas pa nyid (*dharma­dhātu­sthititā). PSP 2-3: 1562 dharmasthititā, le’u brgyad ma nga 147b2 ch[o]s gnas pa nyid.

n.1283“Assist” renders yongs su ’dzin (parigrah), “take hold of.” Cf. Aṣṭa (Wogihara p. 411) prajñāpāramitā na kaṃcid dharmaṃ na parigṛhṇāti na parityajati, glossed by Haribhara (Sparham 2006–11, vol. 2, p. 287) with pratipakṣa (“antidote”) and vipakṣa (“opposing side”) (the words in single quotation marks are words from the Eight Thousand): “ ‘neither gains’ an antidote that counteracts ‘nor abandons’ an opposing side ‘any dharma.’ ” Bṭ1 pa 44a3–7 says help and harm is irrelevant to the dharma-constituent, which has an unchangeable nature and is intrinsically complete. It says “the ultimate, nonconceptual perfection of wisdom is not an existent thing and is purity, therefore it does not conceive of any dharma at all and is not in its intrinsic nature something that apprehends a causal sign.” LSPW p. 282: “How is it that the purity of the perfection of wisdom does not take hold of any dharma? The Lord: Because the Dharma-element has been taken hold of.”

n.1284khri brgyad 36.­34 ff.

n.1285khri brgyad 36.­47; ’bum 27.­448, nyi khri 27.­43 omit.

n.1286khri brgyad 36.­48, ’bum 27.­451, nyi khri 27.­45.

n.1287khri brgyad 36.­57; cf. Abhi­samayālaṃkāra 3.1.

n.1288khri brgyad 36.­60.

n.1289khri brgyad 36.­60.

n.1290nyi khri 27.­63, ’bum 27.­666, le’u brgyad ma nga 151a5; cp. khri brgyad 36.­68: “Form does not perceive form.”

n.1291khri brgyad 36.­70.

n.1292khri brgyad 36.­72.

n.1293khri brgyad 36.­76.

n.12945.­279, explaining khri brgyad 35.­1, 35.­25, and 36.­1.

n.1295The first section (khri brgyad 37.­4) is “if one does not practice form, one practices the perfection of wisdom” and so on, and the second, “if one does not practice with the idea ‘form is permanent’ and so on, one practices the perfection of wisdom.”

n.1296khri brgyad 37.­11.

n.1297The statements (khri brgyad 37.­15, 37.­22, 37.­23, finishing 37.­32) all say that the perfection of wisdom is like space, or like a dream and so on, but is the origin of benefits.

n.1298khri brgyad 37.­34.

n.1299khri brgyad 37.­36.

n.1300khri brgyad 37.­39.

n.1301khri brgyad 37.­44.

n.1302khri brgyad 37.­49.

n.1303Cf. khri brgyad 37.­54, nyi khri 28.­60, ’bum 28.­392.

n.1304khri brgyad 37.­60.

n.1305khri brgyad 37.­63.

n.1306Cf. khri brgyad 37.­72 (kha 84b2) has thob par byed pa ma yin in place of sgrub pa’am; ’bum 28.­404 and nyi khri 28.­71 both omit sgrub pa. The “this perfection of wisdom” here is seyaṃ punaḥ, “And again, this,” at both PSP 2-3: 183 and Aṣṭa (Wogihara p. 441); le’u brgyd ma nga 166b7 rab ’byor yang shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa ’di ni chos gang yang mthong bar byed pa ma yin. Abhi­samayālaṃkāra 3.16 and the AAV (Sparham 2006–11 vol. 2, p. 63) relate the repetition of “[And again] this perfection of wisdom” with the first three of the Abhi­samayālaṃkāra’s eight chapters, respectively.

n.1307Emend brtag par bya to rtag par bya (PSP 2-3:180 śāśvatikā).

n.1308khri brgyad 37.­75, ’bum 28.­409, nyi khri 28.­73 omit “Subhūti.”

n.1309khri brgyad 37.­77.

n.1310nyi khri 28.­75, ’bum 28.­407; khri brgyad 37.­78 differs.

n.1311’bum 28.­413–28.­416 says of the six perfections, eighteen emptinesses, thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, and the twenty-five other dharmas that they are empty. The total of ninety-five is perhaps reached by taking each of the ten powers separately.

n.1312nyi khri 28.­80, ’bum 28.­417; cf. khri brgyad 37.­80.

n.1313Cf. khri brgyad 37.­80, nyi khri 28.­80, ’bum 28.­417.

n.1314khri brgyad 37.­80–37.­81.

n.1315Cp. khri brgyad 37.­80, nyi khri 28.­80, and ’bum 28.­417.

n.1316In the Sūtra (khri brgyad 38.­1–38.­95), Subhūti makes a brief statement and the Buddha gives a corroborating reason. In this first instance Subhūti says, “This perfection of wisdom is a nonexistent thing (alternatively, “not truly real”) (asat) and the Buddha says, “Because space is a nonexistent thing.” In the Abhi­samayālaṃkāra’s system this marks the beginning of the fourth chapter, the explanation of the practice (prayoga) proper, beginning with a listing of its one hundred and seventy-three ākāras (“aspects,” “cognitive-subjective states”). Our author only glosses those he feels need clarification.

n.1317This is in response to Subhūti’s rhetorical question (khri brgyad 38.­7), “Lord, this is a perfection without language?” I have not been able to identify the citation.

n.1318nāmarūpa (“name and form”) is the fourth of the twelve links of dependent origination.

n.1319khri brgyad 38.­10: “Lord, this perfection of wisdom is a perfection that is not stolen.”

n.1320khri brgyad 38.­15: “Lord, this perfection of wisdom is a perfection that does not change places.”

n.1321nyi khri 29.­17.

n.1322Golden 289a5. D: “Just as that human seen in a dream, who is an existent thing in a dream, cannot be apprehended and does not exist, so too all phenomena are there as nonexistent things.”

n.1323khri brgyad 38.­24. The separate statements by Subhūti and the Buddha are combined into a single statement in this and some of the following glosses.

n.1324At khri brgyad 38.­30, ’bum nya 343a7, and nyi khri 29.­29 this is the response to Subhūti’s, “Lord, this perfection of wisdom is a detached perfection.” Below Subhūti will say, “Lord, this perfection of wisdom is a calm perfection.”

n.1325“Not a means of measurement” or, alternatively, “immeasurable” renders tshad ma mchis pa (apramāṇa); it has the sense of “not a valid cognition” of something. “Fully arise” renders kun nas ldang ba (paryutthāna), which has a negative sense, like a rage that arises in somebody and totally takes them over.

n.1326“Something to be measured” renders gzhal bya (prameya).

n.1327Cited earlier 4.­1267.

n.1328This is the response to khri brgyad 38.­46, “Lord, this perfection of wisdom is a suffering perfection.”

n.1329This is partially supported by AAVN 63a2 śūnyatākāreṇa sarva-dharmānupalabdher iti, AAV ka 122b4, Sparham 2006–11 vol. 2, p. 63. khri brgyad kha 89b1, nyi khri kha 219b3, ’bum nya 344b2 omit.

n.1330These are the definitions of the form and feeling aggregates.

n.1331khri brgyad 38.­50–38.­68 goes through the entire list of emptinesses.

n.1332khri brgyad 38.­83–38.­87.

n.1333khri brgyad 38.­88.

n.1334At nyi khri 29.­86, ’bum nya 347b3 Subhūti says the “four fearlessnesses” are the perfection because “the knowledge of a knower of paths is not cowed.” khri brgyad 38.­89 says it is “a perfection that is fearlessness” because the knowledge of paths cannot be apprehended.

n.1335Golden 289a5. “Realized one” renders tathāgata , “reality” tathatā , and “thus” tathā. D: “This is a perfection that is the realized one, because what has been said by all the buddhas is indeed the realized one.” At nyi khri 29.­89, ’bum nya 347b7: “This perfection of wisdom is a perfection that is the realized one because it is the reality of all that has been said.” khri brgyad 38.­93: “Lord, this perfection of wisdom is a perfection that is suchness… because it is the suchness of all that has been said.” Note that the Sanskrit tathatā /Tibetan de bzhin nyid is generally rendered "suchness" throughout. See also 3.­4.

n.1336svayambhū, “self-originated” = “intrinsic”; abhibhū, “predominate.”

n.1337khri brgyad 39.­1–39.­7.

n.1338’bum nya 353a5–6, nyi khri 30.­6, le’u brgyad ma nga 177b4. I have rendered brtson par byed in line with khri brgyad 39.­8 (kha 95a1) rnal ’byor du byed pa yin no (PSP 4: 11 yogam āpadyate). LSPW pp. 301–2, “does not stand in form, etc. and in consequence makes no endeavor about form.”

n.1339Cf. khri brgyad 39.­10, nyi khri 30.­8, ’bum nya 361a5.

n.1340Here “stand on X” means, from a negative perspective, to keep on entertaining the idea of X as real, and from a positive perspective to have one’s feet solidly on the ground of reality. Even the second is ultimately negated.

n.1341nyi khri 30.­14, “It is because the depth of form is not form” and so on, up to “the depth of the knowledge of all aspects is not the knowledge of all aspects.” It does the same with “hard to fathom” (30.­16) and “immeasurable” (30.­18); ’bum nya 386a7 to ’bum ta 4b1 is the same but fills in all the details; khri brgyad 39.­11 ff. differs.

n.1342khri brgyad 39.­12–39.­43. The section goes up to ’bum ta 11a, and nyi khri 30.­37.

n.1343khri brgyad 39.­45–39.­47, ending “what marks dharmas as dharmas is irreversibility, vanity, hollowness, pointlessness, and fraudulence.”

n.1344khri brgyad 39.­48–39.­49.

n.1345khri brgyad 39.­52.

n.1346Cf. khri brgyad 39.­12. Here (Bṭ3 39.­53) Subhūti says, “Lord, the perfection of wisdom is deep because form is deep.”

n.1347khri brgyad 39.­55. The gloss explains the tatpuruṣa compound śuddharāśi.

n.1348khri brgyad 39.­57: “Lord, that such an exposition of this deep perfection of wisdom would not give rise to many hindrances would be amazing,”

n.1349khri brgyad 39.­58–39.­73 explains the hindrances and merit.

n.1350khri brgyad 39.­77, ’bum ta 58a6, nyi khri 30.­65 (kha 245b1) lnga brgya tha ma; Harrison (2006, p. 144, n. 40) “final five hundred years”; PSP 4: 29–30, le’u brgyad ma nga 193a1 ff. omit; Aṣṭa (Wogihara p. 487) saddharma­syāntardhānakāle. There are a number of ways to explain “last of the five hundreds,” one of which is that the Dharma lasts five thousand years, divided into ten periods of five hundred years (Nattier 1999, Yuyama 1992).

n.1351“Chapter” renders le’u. Skt parivarta means not only “chapter” but also a period of time. The literal translation of le’u (“chapter”) is retained here because it conveys the sense of “a chapter in our history,” and connects the history to scripture.

n.1352K, N; D rtags tsam ’jigs pa’i le’u “Fear of Mere Signs chapter”; Mañjuśrīkīrti’s Kīrtimālā commentary chos thams cad kyi rang bzhin mnyam pa nyid rnam par spros pa’i ting nge ’dzin gyi rgyal po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo’i ’grel pa grags pa’i phreng ba, Degé Tengyur (mdo ’grel, nyi), 116b2, has rtags tzam ’dzin pa’i (“Grasping Mere Signs”).

n.1353Braarvig (1993, vol. II, pp. 587–89) cites the passage from Vasubandhu’s Akṣaya­mati­nirdeśa­ṭīkā, ’phags pa blo gros mi zad pas bstan pa rgya cher ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (mdo ’grel, ci), 268a4–269a3, in a note and has an excellent translation. The entire passage in a slightly different wording is found in Mañjuśrīkīrti’s work cited in the previous note (mdo ’grel, nyi), 116a6–116b4.

n.1354Vasubandhu’s Akṣaya­mati­nirdeśa­ṭīkā.

n.1355I have included this paragraph (between the two asterisks) even though it is omitted from the Degé Tengyur. In K, N, and Golden 293b4–6 it reads de de ltar byas na de bzhin gshegs pa’i bstan pa gnas pa’i dus lo nyis stong lnga brgyar ’gyur te/ TI ka ’di dang gnyis ’gal bar snang ba/ shanta rak+Shi ta’i bsam pa ni/ dgra bcom pa’i le’u dang/ ting nge ’dzin gyi le’u’i bar la dam pa’i chos gnas so zhes bya bar bsam pa yin te/ ’chad pa’i lugs la ji skad ’chad/ la la ji skad du ’chad de/ spyir lo lnga stong mthun no. If this is part of our original text, it is clearly problematic to assert that our author is Vasubandhu.

n.1356khri brgyad 39.­62–39.­94.

n.1357khri brgyad 40.­2.

n.1358’bum ta 64a4, nyi khri 31.­6 (kha 250a7). steg is an old word for sgeg and rol.

n.1359The reading is uncertain, as our author makes clear. PSP 4: 35, Aṣṭa (Wogihara p. 500) anyonya­vijñāna­samaṅgino, le’u brgyad ma nga 197b6 phan tshun rnam par shes pa chags shing, “they feel an attraction for each other”; khri brgyad 40.­20 (kha 114a3) phan tshun sems ’thun par byed, “harmonize their thoughts with each other.” Haribhadra’s Illumination of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra, rgyan gyi snang ba, Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, cha), 194a6, cites this with the translation rnam par shes pa phan tshun dang ldan pas, which is to say, they both have the same attractive object in mind. Gilgit 486.12 anya­vyañjanasasaṅgo, ’bum ta 66a5–6 and nyi khri 31.­6 (kha 250b1) yi ge gzhan la chags shing tshig gi don myi /mi shes par, “attached to other readings while not knowing what the meaning is”; ŚsPN3 4518.10 anyo na vyañjana­samāṅganaḥ padārtham ajānā; Bṭ1 pa 87a4–5 explains that it means quibbling over the correct grammatical form in place of looking at the meaning; LSPW p. 316 “with their minds on other kinds of talk.”

n.1360The five are yawning, laughing, sneering, being distracted, and being attached to each other’s ideas (“harmonizing their minds”).

n.1361khri brgyad 40.­28; cf. ’bum ta 67b1–2, nyi khri 31.­12; LSPW p. 316 “have to take to (Birth-and-death).”

n.1362khri brgyad 40.­28.

n.1363khri brgyad 40.­44.

n.1364khri brgyad 40.­47.

n.1365khri brgyad 40.­48.

n.1366K, N mnyam du med pa, “without equal.”

n.1367The section goes up to khri brgyad 41.­53.

n.1368khri brgyad 42.­6; PSP 4: 58 anayā subhūte gambhīrayā prajñā­pāramitayā daśa­tathāgata­balāni janitāni.

n.1369khri brgyad 42.­5–43.­28.

n.1370khri brgyad 42.­12–?.

n.1371Cf. 5.­514 ff., explaining khri brgyad 43.­13. The words kṛtajñatā (byas pa bzo ba, or, alternatively, byas pa shes pa) and kṛtaveditā (byas pa tshor ba) usually mean “appreciation” and “gratitude.”

n.1372This is eight to eleven of the ways the perfection of wisdom reveals the world to bodhisattvas.

n.1373khri brgyad 42.­7.

n.1374khri brgyad kha 130a2–3 omits “ever exist or.”

n.1375’bum ta 113a2–3 ff.; cf. khri brgyad 42.­11, nyi khri 32.­73.

n.1376khri brgyad 42.­17.

n.1377This is responding to the question “how do the tathāgatas, worthy ones, perfectly complete buddhas know a greedy thought?”

n.1378Cf. khri brgyad 42.­15.

n.1379nyi khri 32.­82. khri brgyad 42.­18 reverses the statement.

n.1380Alternatively, “this one’s thought comes, another’s does not come.” In khyab par ’gro ba, the khyab pa may render Skt ā (“from all sides”), or else is alerting a reader to an a+ā sandhi. If so, khyab pa is being used (like rnam pa as a sign for vi-) in a mechanical translation (tshig ’gyur), not a translation conveying what the words mean (don ’gyur). khri brgyad 42.­19 (kha 132a5) sems ’ong ba ma yin / sems ’gro ba ma yin, and similarly, nyi khri 32.­85, ’bum ta 114b3–4 (“that a thought does not come, and that a thought does not go”), supported by ŚsPN3 4538r7, PSP 4: 61–62 nāgacchati na gacchati; Gilgit 506.1 anāgacchati tac cittaṃ na vigacchati.

n.1381khri brgyad 42.­20, nyi khri, and ’bum all omit the negation of “coming” and so on, and have mi gzigs.

n.1382“Has become” renders gyur pa (-gata). Whitney’s Sanskrit Grammar 1273c, 435: “gata… is used in a loose way… to express relation of various kinds.” The compound mahāgata (chen por gyur pa) just means “great.”

n.1383Cf. the slight difference from the translations at ’bum ta 115b2, nyi khri 32.­87, le’u brgyad ma nga 218b7; the forms of sthita at PSP 4: 62, ŚsPN3 4538r10, and Gilgit 506.9 all differ slightly; LSPW p. 330: “He does not review that it is, nor that it is not, nor does He review it as discontinuous, or as not discontinuous.”

n.1384“Basic element” renders dbyings (dhātu). Alternatively, “entire cosmos,” “vast expanse.”

n.1385This derives citta from root ci, “to gather.” gsags from gsog (K, N brtsags?) (the prefixed g in place of b is not attested in the bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo) means to get everything together, as in “accumulate the equipment,” tshogs gnyis bsags te rdzogs sangs rgyas, or to accumulate in the sense of possession: “The water drops all together form the ocean,” chu thigs bsogs na rgya mtshor ’gyur. Cf. Laṅkāvatāra­sūtra (Nanjio edition, p. 46) citteṇa cīyate karmam, (Suzuki translation, p. 158) “Karma is accumulated by thought.”

n.1386Our author cites the words (probably unmiñjita, nimiñjita, saṃmiñjita, and prasārita) as derived from miñj (“to say, to shine”), a derivation that fits the context well. The translators at khri brgyad kha 133b1 (lhag par g.yo ba, bral bar g.yo ba, bsdus par g.yo ba, rgyas pa), and, less obviously, in part at least, at ’bum ta 116b1, nyi khri kha 275b2, le’u brgyad ma nga 219b3 (’phro ba, ’du pa, bkram pa, bcum pa) understood some of the words as derived from iñj. The four categories are those under which the wrong views (khri brgyad 42.­24–42.­28) are explained. Cf. the sixty-two wrong views set forth in detail in the Brahma­jāla­sūtra (tshangs pa’i dra ba’i mdo).

n.1387khri brgyad 42.­24: “When the thoughts of beings that have moved excessively are freed from movement, have moved to abridge, and are expanded, arise, whichever of them arises they all arise based on form , or based on feeling, or based on perception, or based on volitional factors, or based on consciousness.”

n.1388This ’phro ba (from iñj) (if derived from miñj the translation is “been beamed out”) is an alternative translation of the first of the four categories (gsal ba, rendered “clear”).

n.1389khri brgyad 42.­29.

n.1390khri brgyad 43.­2.

n.1391These are perhaps the transformations (parāvṛtti) of the ālaya, kliṣṭamanas, and pravṛtti­vijñānas into the three bodies and a fundamental purity. Cf. the transformations in Ratnākaraśānti’s Prajñā­pāramitopadeśa , shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag, Degé Tengyur (sems tsam, hi), 141a7, and Khasamā­nāma­ṭīkā, nam mkha’ dang mnyam pa zhes bya ba’i rgya cher ’grel pa, Degé Tengyur (rgyud, wa), translated and explained by Seton (pp. 97–101).

n.1392This means the time of birth, the time of death, and the duration of a life in between.

n.1393’bum ta 121a6, nyi khri 33.­3. Gilgit 510.7 vigopayati, cf. Edg, s.v. avikopana, LSPW “alter.” khri brgyad 43.­3 (kha 136b5) ’khrug; le’u brgyad ma nga 223a4 dkrugs; PSP 4: 68 vikopayati, “disturb.”

n.1394’bum ta 121a7, nyi khri 33.­3.

n.1395Similar to khri brgyad 43.­3; cf. ’bum ta 121b1–2, nyi khri 33.­3, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “Therefore, as far as defining characteristics, absence of defining characteristics, both presence and absence of defining characteristics, and neither presence nor absence of defining characteristics are concerned, it is impossible for them to be known by anyone, for any of them to be known, or for them to know anything”; le’u brgyad ma nga, 223a5–6 … gang gis shes par bya ba’am/ gang shes par bya ba mi srid do (“to know or to be known”); Gilgit 510.8, ŚsPN3 4540v6 lakṣaṇaṃ cālakṣaṇaṃ ca lakṣaṇālakṣaṇaṃ ca tayor ubhayo[r] nāsti saṃbhavo yena prajānīyād yo vā prajānīyād (“something that might know or someone that might know”).

n.1396The perfection of wisdom is the subject.

n.1397chos gnas pa’i mtshan nyid is similar to the term chos gnas pa nyid (dharmasthititā): “the establishment of dharmas,” “the abiding of phenomena.”

n.1398The sense of tathāgata here, a synonym of the perfection of wisdom, is that all the doctrines have properly been included (tathā āgata) in it, or that it properly understands (tathā gata) all phenomena, or that all the doctrines that might be included in it do not ultimately exist (tathā a-āgata), or that all that might be properly understood is not ultimately understood (tathā a-gata) with the corresponding negative senses.

n.1399“Suchness” renders tathatā and “realized” renders gata.

n.1400K, N; D yang dag par rab tu mkhyen, “knows.”

n.1401khri brgyad 43.­2 ff.

n.1402nyi khri 33.­15, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “Subhūti, if you ask how the tathāgatas appreciate it and are thankful for it, it is, Subhūti, because the tathāgatas serve, respect, honor, worship, and protect that very vehicle by which the tathāgatas, arhats, completely awakened buddhas reach, and that very path by which they attain, consummate buddhahood in unsurpassed, complete enlightenment. In this sense, Subhūti, it should be recognized that the tathāgatas appreciate it and are thankful for it.” Cf. khri brgyad 43.­13. The words kṛtajñatā and kṛtaveditā usually mean “appreciation” or “one who has appreciation,” and “gratitude” or “one who feels gratitude,” but here the Tib literally renders them as “cognizant of what has been done” and “acknowledge what has been done.” ’bum ta 126a6–7, nyi khri kha 281b3 render kṛtajñatā by byas pa mkhyen pa and byas pa shes pa, and kṛtaveditā by byas pa dgongs pa and byas pa dran pa.

n.1403D: “Fully awakened as not done (akṛta) and not changed (avikṛta).”

n.1404Cf. khri brgyad 43.­14; ’bum ta 126b6–7 sangs rgyas kyi ye shes byas pa med pa/ chos thams cad la ’jug pa med pa’i brdas ’jug ste, “the unmade transcendental knowledge engages with all dharmas through the convention of not engaging;” nyi khri 33.­17, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “symbolically engage with the uncreated wisdom, which does not engage with anything.”

n.1405Alternatively, “the Tathāgata does not have appreciation.”

n.1406khri brgyad 43.­16 “not producers and not revealers”; nyi khri 33.­18, ’bum ta 127a1 “not knowers and not seers.”

n.1407K, N; here and in the following D has ma mthong, “it is not seen.”

n.1408Literally “I.” The Lord is speaking.

n.1409khri brgyad 43.­25: “Furthermore, Subhūti, the perfection of wisdom reveals to the tathāgatas that the world is inconceivable.”

n.1410In place of “does not appear,” khri brgyad 43.­37 (kha 142a3–4) shes par byar med pa’i phyir ro, “not something to be known”; nyi khri 33.­48 (kha 286b5) mnyam pa dang mi mnyam pa mi dmigs so, Twenty-Five Thousand: “with regard to physical forms, why can that which is inconceivable, inestimable, unappraisable, and equal to the unequaled not be apprehended”; PSP 4: 76 rūpaṃ hi subhūte acintyam atulyam aprameyam asaṃkhyeyam asamasaman na prajñāyate, “…does not make itself known”; le’u brgyad ma nga 230ba2 shes su ma mchis pa lags, “cannot be known.”

n.1411khri brgyad 43.­37.

n.1412khri brgyad 43.­37.

n.1413Earlier nyi khri 33.­35 (kha 285a3), and here 34.­1 (288a7–b1) don chen po slad du (Twenty-Five Thousand: “is established for a great purpose”); khri brgyad 43.­29 (kha 141a3) mdzad pa chen pos, 44.­1 (143b7) bgyid pa chen pos is the corresponding reading (“is made available through the tremendous work”).

n.1414khri brgyad 44.­3.

n.1415khri brgyad 44.­7: “Subhūti, I too do not see that form which you might hold on to and might settle down on, or which itself holds on and settles down. Subhūti, I too do not see… up to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.”

n.1416khri brgyad 44.­10, K, N; D has spros pa, “enthusiasm.” prahāna, “abandonment,” also means pradhāna (=spros pa), “effort.”

n.1417khri brgyad 44.­13.

n.1418khri brgyad 44.­23.

n.1419khri brgyad 45.­1–45.­9.

n.1420khri brgyad 45.­10–45.­18. Subhūti asks, “How is it, Lord, that those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family who have set out in the Bodhisattva Vehicle have not been assisted by the perfection of wisdom and have not been assisted by skillful means and even fall to the śrāvaka level and the pratyekabuddha level?” Our author, based on the Lord’s long reply, construes the question from both the conventional and ultimate perspectives.

n.1421Cf. khri brgyad 45.­14 (kha 154a3), ’bum ta 255a7, nyi khri 35.­14 (kha 301b2–5), le’u brgyad ma nga 242b5: “The perfection (pāramitā, pha rol tu phyin pa) of giving has gone to the farthest limit (āram itā, pha mthar phyin/ring du song).” Our author, or at least his Tibetan translators, perhaps understood a-āraṃ / apāraṃ.

n.1422Cf. le’u brgyad ma nga 242b6–7 de ltar yin yang gang zag byang chub sems dpa’i theg pa pa des tshu rol yang mi shes/ pha rol yang mi shes te; LSPW p. 347: “and he knows neither the not-beyond nor the Beyond.” khri brgyad 45.­17 (kha 154b5), pha mtha’ yang shes/ pha rol yang shes, “knows the farthest limit and knows the farther shore.”

n.1423The immediately preceding citation ends the section. It begins at khri brgyad 45.­10 and goes up to 45.­17; nyi khri 35.­13 up to 35.­20.

n.1424khri brgyad 46.­1.

n.1425PSP 4: 94, ŚsPN3 4594 mā … rūpataḥ parāmrākṣīḥ / parāmṛkṣaḥ. Cf. khri brgyad 46.­3 (kha 155b1), nyi khri 36.­2 (kha 305a2) rtog par ma byed, “should not form an idea.”

n.1426khri brgyad 46.­4.

n.1427khri brgyad 46.­5.

n.1428nyi khri 36.­7 (kha 307a5); khri brgyad 46.­6 (kha 156b5) skyob.

n.1429khri brgyad 46.­7–46.­45.

n.1430Emend ’dres to ’dren.

n.1431khri brgyad 46.­12.

n.1432khri brgyad 46.­13. The Sūtra explains parāyana (“finally ally”) with pāra (“farther shore”).

n.1433Emend rtog to rtogs.

n.1434D rigs pa; K, N rig pa.

n.1435khri brgyad kha 159a7 nam mkha’i tshul can (ākāśagatika); ’bum ta 311a1, nyi khri kha 314a4 ngang tshul can; LSPW p. 353 “situated in space”; Ten Thousand, khri pa 22.­23 “have the modality of space.” This explains “support” (rten), that in turn renders gati, the last of the nine words describing the “doers of the difficult.” The author here takes it as the “eighty-five” places (ecosystems), but it is more often understood as a form of life, or as life itself as continual movement.

n.1436khri brgyad 46.­30.

n.1437nyi khri 36.­29; khri brgyad 46.­30 (kha 160a3) mu med pa.

n.1438’bum ta 330b5 ’dod chags rnam par bstal bas dben pa’i rang bzhin du ’gyur ro; khri brgyad, kha 162a2 ’dod chags bsal bas; nyi khri kha 318a6, le’u brgyad ma nga 256a7 rnam par bsal bas; Jäschke, s.v. stsol ba, points out that bstal ba is “sometimes incorr. for bsal-ba (sel-ba).” PSP 4: 106, ŚsPN3 4616r6 rāga­vinaya­vivikta­svabhāvās; LSPW p. 356 “isolated from (the need for the) disciplining of greed.”

n.1439khri brgyad 47.­10.

n.1440khri brgyad 47.­13.

n.1441Cf. n.­720 on bhāvanā and vibhāvanā.

n.1442“Irreversible from progress toward awakening” renders phyir mi ldog pa. khri brgyad, 47.­20: “Subhūti, you should look closely at a bodhisattva great being irreversible from this deep perfection of wisdom.” Cp. nyi khri 37.­29, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “bodhisattva great beings who are irreversible should investigate this profound perfection of wisdom to determine, Subhūti, if bodhisattva great beings are without attachment to this profound perfection of wisdom.”

n.1443Golden 307a2, nyi khri 37.­36; khri brgyad 47.­24 (kha 165b1) rnam par spyad is a different spelling of rnam par dpyad.

n.1444Golden 307a6, nyi khri 37.­38; khri brgyad 47.­28 (kha 166a1) rnam par dpyod.

n.1445Golden 307b3; D rnam pa thams cad mkhyen pa nyid kyang gcig go, “and the knowledge of all aspects are one,” is a mistake.

n.1446khri brgyad 48.­1 ff.

n.1447khri brgyad 48.­4, PSP 4: 117 dvayasamudācāro.

n.1448khri brgyad 48.­10 ff.

n.1449Emend rnam par byed to rnam par ’byed, “explain”?

n.1450Golden 308a6 and D have, “Construe them all in the same way. That suchness of form has not come and has not gone. Similarly…” The citation here differs considerably from other versions and suggests our author was looking at a scripture even longer than ’bum. Cf. khri brgyad 48.­15; ’bum tha 29b4–5; nyi khri 38.­21; khri pa 23.­32–23.­33.

n.1451khri brgyad 48.­16.

n.1452khri brgyad 48.­17.

n.1453K, N omit this paragraph.

n.1454khri brgyad 48.­19.

n.1455khri brgyad 48.­19: “Therefore, since [the suchness] is not something else, even though the elder Subhūti takes after the Tathāgata he does not take after him in anything.”

n.1456khri brgyad 48.­20; cf. nyi khri 38.­28, ’bum tha 30b.

n.1457The “dharma of form” is the ultimate attribute of form. Our author’s version of the Sūtra differs.

n.1458khri brgyad 48.­23. Cf. ’bum tha 40a6–7, nyi khri 38.­35, both of which omit yang dag pa (bhūta) (“perfect,” “true”).

n.1459See n.­250 to 3.­4 from the Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā). where this same passage was cited in Harrison’s translation: “ ‘Realized one,’ Subhūti, is a term for perfect reality.”

n.1460khri brgyad 48.­24.

n.14611.­163–1.­165.

n.1462Here dharmatā means both “the actual way things are” and the doctrine as a teaching articulating the way things actually are.

n.1463Cf. Śrījagattalanivāsin’s Āmnayānusāriṇī, man ngag rjes ’brang Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ba), 212a2–5; Ratnākaraśānti’s Sarotamā (Jaini pp. 204–5).

n.1464Emend mugs to mu gas; mugs would mean “fogged up.”

n.1465khri brgyad 48.­26 rjes su skyes (“take after”) renders anujan, literally “born after.”

n.1466Cf. 4.­511–4.­521.

n.1467The word dharma here means the ultimate attribute of any dharmin (“attribute-possessor”), its emptiness.

n.1468The meaning is the “dharma body” dharmakāya=dharmatākāya, “the body of the true natures of the attributes [of a buddha].” The word dharma here means “attribute” or “good quality.” The “constituent” is a cause in the sense that the elements that constitute a body are the cause of it.

n.1469This, in slightly differing forms, is a recurring statement, as at PSP 2-3: 184 utpādād vā tathāgatānām anutpādād vā tathāgatānāṃ sthitaivaiṣā dharmāṇāṃ dharmatā dharmadhātur dharmasthititā dharmaniyāmatā.

n.1470nges pa renders niyata (“secure,” “definite,” and here “restriction”), and by extension niyāmatā/nyāmatā, Tib skyon med pa nyid, “flawlessness.” When skyon med pa is together with byang chub sems dpa’ (bodhisattvanyāma), skyon med pa (niyāma/nyāma) is rendered “secure state (of bodhisattvas)”; when together with dharmas ( dharma(tā)niyāmatā/nyāmatā), skyon med pa nyid is rendered “certification (of dharmas),” (LSPW “established order of dharmas”). The picture is further complicated by deriving nyāmatā (skyon med pa nyid, “flawlessness”) from ni plus āma (“uncookedness,” “rawness”), rendered skyon (“flaw”) and āmana, (sred pa, “craving,” “affection”).

n.1471Literally, “the flawlessness in respect to them.”

n.1472khri brgyad 22.­4, explained earlier (Bṭ3 5.­9). Note that here zhugs (from avakram), “entered into,” could have a negative sense: “step down from”; cf. ’bum 14.­3 (nga 284b1), le’u brgyad ma nga 9a6, and nyi khri 14.­3: “Those who have stepped down from the flawlessness that is a perfect state [are incapable of producing the thought of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening].”

n.14734.­482–4.­483.

n.1474“Both” are the “form” and “the suchness of form” in the passage just cited.

n.1475K, N; D “because ‘suchness of form’ is the term used.”

n.1476khri brgyad 48.­33.

n.1477khri brgyad 48.­33–48.­40.

n.1478khri brgyad 48.­41.

n.1479This is the family of bodhisattvas spoken of in the previous paragraph: “Śāriputra, here you should know that when bodhisattva great beings, starting from the production of the first thought, are inseparable from the thought of the knowledge of all aspects…”

n.1480khri brgyad 48.­45.

n.1481nyi khri 38.­68; khri brgyad 48.­46 (kha 175b2) sla in place of mi dka’.

n.1482Golden 314b2.

n.1483khri brgyad 48.­47.

n.1484khri brgyad 48.­48–48.­61.

n.1485khri brgyad 48.­62; LSPW pp. 371–72: “When one adopts the method of considering dharmas in their ultimate reality, which Subhuti the elder uses in his exposition.”

n.1486khri brgyad 48.­64.

n.14875.­576–5.­598.

n.1488khri brgyad 48.­74.

n.1489khri brgyad 48.­75.

n.1490khri brgyad 48.­99, nyi khri 38.­110: “That is how bodhisattva great beings should train in the perfection of wisdom and skillful means. Training like that, standing like that, their form will be without obscuration.”

n.1491Bṭ1 pa 160b2–7: “It teaches that they gain the obscuration-free knowledge of all dharmas, form and so on. Why? Because they did not seize form in the past. This teaches the reason why obscuration is absent relative to all dharmas. They have seen that all dharmas were nonexistent things in the past and hence have not seized on an existent thing or a causal sign. That is why obscuration is absent. That is the meaning. What is the reason for that? ‘Even that absence of seizing form is not form,’ up to ‘… knowledge of all aspects.’ That absence of seizing all dharmas, form and so on, is not an absence of seizing something that exists, because ultimately all dharmas are empty of an intrinsic nature, therefore the dharmas, form and so on, are not existent things and hence are not seized.”

n.1492At khri brgyad 48.­30 it says, “Sixty bodhisattvas lacking in what is necessary stopped appropriating anything and their minds were freed from contamination.” This leads to an exchange between Śāriputra and the Lord (48.­31–48.­33) and a discussion in which śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas feature. “Why, Lord, even though they have similarly cultivated just those dharmas‍—emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness‍—did those separated from skillful means actualize the very limit of reality and become śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, while those other bodhisattvas, Lord, will, thanks to skillful means, by cultivating just those dharmas‍—emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness‍—fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening?” This leads to Subhūti (48.­46) saying it is not hard to awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. Śāriputra (48.­47) says this leads to an absurdity: “If bodhisattva great beings do not believe that dharmas are like space, but still it is easy to fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, full awakening would not be hard, and bodhisattvas, as many of them as there are sand particles in the Gaṅgā River, would not turn back from unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.”

n.1493The three types are with the śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva dispositions.

n.1494khri brgyad 49.­1–50.­43.

n.1495khri brgyad 49.­11. K, N omit.

n.1496The five are desire for sense gratification, malice, drowsiness and dozing, gross mental excitement and uneasiness, and doubt, where the pair drowsiness and dozing are counted as one, as are the pair gross mental excitement and uneasiness.

n.1497The seven bad proclivities (anuśaya) according to Abhidharmakośa 5.1–2 are attachment (rāga), of which there are two based on the desire realm and two upper realms, anger (pratigha), pride (māna), ignorance (avidyā), view (dṛṣṭi), and doubt (vicikitsā).

n.1498khri brgyad 49.­29.

n.1499khri brgyad 49.­30–49.­31.

n.1500khri brgyad 49.­32.

n.1501khri brgyad 49.­35: They have gained the forbearance because they have entered “into the secure state of a bodhisattva.”

n.1502khri brgyad 50.­4: “Lord, do you call an irreversible bodhisattva great being ‘irreversible,’ or do you call a bodhisattva who turns back ‘irreversible’?”

n.1503khri brgyad 50.­11. The four are: “They personally practice the perfection of giving, and they inspire others to practice the perfection of giving, speak in praise of practicing the perfection of giving, and speak in praise of others practicing the perfection of giving as well, welcoming it.”

n.1504khri brgyad 50.­12: “without oppressing anyone by unleashing the oppression that causes others mental distress.”

n.1505This supports the reading at khri brgyad 50.­13. ’bum tha 137a3, nyi khri 40.­12 (kha 366a4–5) have lag na rdo rje’i rigs rnams, “Vajrapāṇi families”; khri pa 31.­47 (nga 361b4) rdo rje’i rigs lnga brgya, “five hundred Vajra families.”

n.1506khri brgyad 50.­19–50.­29.

n.1507khri brgyad 50.­30–50.­34.

n.1508khri brgyad 50.­35.

n.1509Our author (or the translator) reads nominative plurals, as at PSP 1: 141 hi tās tathatā yā. Cp. khri brgyad 49.­2 de bzhin nyid las de dag, where the translator reads an ablative (tathatāyā): “have no doubt at all that they are not each separate from suchness”; cp. nyi khri 39.­2, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “they are not in the slightest consumed by doubt, thinking that the real nature is individual, dual, or neither.”

n.1510The different noble persons, from śrāvakas to buddhas, are ultimately “suchness, unchanging, undifferentiated, not two, and not divided.” The sign that the bodhisattvas are irreversible is their understanding that does not reify a “suchness” over and above each of their individual suchnesses. Their suchnesses are both unique to each of them separately and yet make them ultimately the same.

n.1511khri brgyad 49.­4.

n.1512khri brgyad 49.­7.

n.1513khri brgyad 50.­5: “Subhūti, irreversible bodhisattvas are said to ‘turn back,’ and bodhisattvas who turn back are said to be ‘irreversible.’ ”

n.1514khri brgyad 51.­3; nyi khri 41.­3, ’bum tha 145b: “please reveal the profound states…”

n.1515PSP 4: 193 kathaṃ bhagavan bodhisattvo mahāsattvaḥ śūnyatāyāṃ sthitaḥ śūnyatāṃ na sākṣātkaroti; ’bum tha 199b4, nyi khri ga 7b3 mngon sum du m(y)i bgyid pa lags; ŚsPN4 9817v7 kathaṃ bhagavan bodhisattvo mahāsattvaḥ śūnyatāyāṃ sthitaḥ śūnyatāṃ sākṣātkaroti; LSPW p. 406 “how then does [he] who has stood in emptiness, realize emptiness?”

n.15161. Is it the emptiness of the perfection of wisdom that practices the perfection of wisdom? 2. Can you apprehend any dharma other than the perfection of wisdom that is practicing the perfection of wisdom? 3. Does the perfection of wisdom practice the perfection of wisdom? 4. Does emptiness practice emptiness? 5. Does something other than emptiness practice emptiness? 6. Does form and so on practice the perfection of wisdom? 7. Do the six perfections and so on practice the perfection of wisdom? 8. Is it the emptiness of form and so on that practices the perfection of wisdom? 9. Is it the emptiness of the four fearlessnesses that practices the perfection of wisdom? 10. If those dharmas do not practice the perfection of wisdom, how does a bodhisattva great being practice when one practices the perfection of wisdom?

n.1517This is placed later by Haribhadra at PSP 5: 44.

n.1518K, N; D adds here, and below, “and by way of being delighted by” (dga’i ba’i tshul gyis), probably an accidental addition by a block-cutter.

n.1519In Haribhadra’s version (PSP 5: 50, le’u brgyad ma, ca, 74a7) this is located in a different part of the Sūtra.

n.1520K, N yon tan la in place of rje su ’brel ba (anuśaṃsā in place of anubandha); ’bum da 132b3, nyi khri ga 119a7 just sems kyi rgyun ma chad pa dang / ma bral bar spyad par bgyi. PSP 5: 111 kiṃ punar bhagavaṃś cittāntarānām avakāśan dadatā prajñāpāramitāyāṃ caritavyam; le’u brgyad ma ca 133b1 sems gzhan gyi go skabs mi ’byed par, “not giving an occasion for other thoughts.”

n.1521The four questions are: “How will (1) suchness, how will (2) the very limit of reality, how will (3) the dharma-constituent, and how will (4) the self element, up to the person element, reach the knowledge of all aspects?” Alternatively, it intends these four questions: “Will they reach the knowledge of all aspects (1) having meditated, (2) without having meditated, (3) having meditated when they meditated and without having meditated when they did not meditate, or (4) without having meditated and without having not meditated?”

n.1522Noteworthy here is the omission of the question, “Lord, how will one train in, up to the knowledge of all aspects, without taking anything away and without adding anything?”

n.1523khri brgyad, K, N, ’bum da 152a7, nyi khri 53.­128.

n.1524This question perhaps includes a second rhetorical question, PSP 5: 120: “Well then, Lord, the tathāgatas stood in miraculous powers in a succession / (GilgitC 142) in error”? Alternatively, the absence of the second question here suggests that the rhetorical question at PSP 5: 120 is an unsupported addition to the Sūtra.

n.1525’bum da 175a4, ŚsPN4 9965v10. khri brgyad 63.­193, PSP 5: 126 have “Before reaching the knowledge of all aspects, is there an uncompounded elimination of afflictions?”

n.1526This question in four parts is placed in a different order here and below (5.­1148) than in the presently extant versions of the Sūtra. The four questions are: “Do they actualize the very limit of reality (1) having stood on the path, (2) having stood on what is not the path, (3) having stood on both the path and what is not the path, or (4) having stood on neither the path nor what is not the path? And, have they “stopped appropriating anything and become freed in their hearts from outflows having stood on a path?” and so on (four alternatives).

n.1527khri brgyad 63.­201: “Lord, how will a later limit be designated?”

n.1528don dang tshul gyis (PSP 2-3:149 arthataś ca nayataś), absent from other versions. The translation is from LSPW.

n.1529The three questions are: “Does a dual dharma reach a nondual dharma? Does a nondual dharma reach a nondual dharma? Does a nondual dharma reach a dual dharma?”

n.1530khri brgyad 65.­12: “Lord, if they do not practice the perfection of giving in a dualistic way, and similarly, up to do not practice the knowledge of all aspects in a dualistic way, how will the bodhisattva great beings, starting from the production of the first thought, grow and flourish on wholesome roots, and how will they grow and flourish on wholesome roots up to the production of the last thought?”

n.1531The four questions are: (1) “Can a nonexistent thing fully awaken to an existent thing, (2) can an existent thing fully awaken to a nonexistent thing, (3) can a nonexistent thing fully awaken to a nonexistent thing, and (4) and an existent thing fully awaken to an existent thing?”

n.1532K, N. Emend D bdag gi to dag gis? (PSP 5: 154, GilgitC 183, ŚsPN4/2 3r4 jānīyāma). Cf. khri brgyad 69.­23; ’bum da 257a7–b2: “Given that it would be impossible for a bodhisattva great being to enter into the fixed state of a bodhisattva and reach the knowledge of all aspects, how, Lord, am I to understand a bodhisattva great being entering into the fixed state of a bodhisattva having completed all paths, and having entered into the fixed state of a bodhisattva reaching the knowledge of all aspects and eliminating all residual impression connections?” le’u brgyad ma ca 173b4 lam de snyed ma thob par rnam pa thams cad mkhyen pa nyid thob bar ji ltar mi ’gyur lags, “How, if one does not attain all the paths, as many as there are, would one not not attain the knowledge of all aspects?” The psychological dimension of “complete” (a path) includes (1) unbroken bodhicitta, (2) knowing that paths ultimately go nowhere, (3) knowing a path has temporary value for the beings attracted to it, and (4) knowledge of each path after having learned and practiced it.

n.1533’bum da 265b3.

n.1534Earlier khri brgyad 69.­43, in response to the question, “Lord, how is the disintegration of meditation on all dharmas meditation on the perfection of wisdom?” “The Lord said, ‘The disintegration of meditation on form is meditation on the perfection of wisdom.’ ” Cf. ’bum da 272b7.

n.1535’bum da 294a3.

n.1536This question is ungrammatical. The order of the questions here is problematic.

n.1537’bum da 295a1.

n.1538nyi khri 59.­8.

n.1539This formulation of the question makes better sense than the version at khri brgyad 71.­5, which begins, “If in the absence of an apprehended object there is no attainment, there is no clear realization, and there is no unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening…” LSPW p. 508, n. 3, says, “The last clause of this sentence puzzles me, and the translation is only approximately right.”

n.1540nyi khri 60.­15.

n.1541’bum da 345a4.

n.1542nyi khri 61.­1; cf. khri brgyad 72.­1.

n.1543The complete question is: “Lord, what is the difference between these two types of patience: the forbearance for dharmas that are not produced of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and the forbearance for dharmas of bodhisattva great beings?”

n.1544khri brgyad 72.­27. This derives nyāma (PSP niyāma) (“fixed state”) from āma (“hardheadedness”) (Conze “rawness,” Twenty-Five Thousand “immaturity”). The Tib translators render āma with skyon (“flaw”) and nyāma with skyon med (“flawlessness”).

n.1545’bum na 38b7; cf. khri brgyad 73.­23. This question is not in fact asked by Subhūti but is one of a series of rhetorical questions posed by the Lord in response to Subhūti.

n.1546’bum na 41b3–4; cf. khri brgyad 73.­35, “Well then, Lord, is there a distinction to be made between a bodhisattva great being and a tathāgata?”

n.1547khri brgyad 73.­111: “Lord, when one has become habituated to the path does the result appear and does one attain the result?” ’bum na 86a3, nyi khri 62.­99: “Lord, when one has become habituated to the path does one attain the result or does one not attain the result?” le’u brgyad ma ca 251a3 bcom ldan ’das ci lags/ lam bsgoms pas ’bras bu ’thob pa’am/ ’bras bu ’thob par bgyi pa ma mchis sam: “Lord, when one has become habituated to the path does one attain or does one cause the result to be attained?”

n.1548Emend both D rigs su tshar bcad and K, N rigs su bcad to ris su bcad? khri brgyad 73.­113 (ga 87a1) tshar bcad pa’i tshul kyis, “by curbing.” Cf. below Bṭ3 5.­1376 (F.272a7) char bcad pa’i tshul gyis. khri brgyad ga 86a7 gal te ’dus byas kyi khams sam/ ’dus ma byas kyi khams la tshar bcad pas. LSPW pp. 538–39: “without having cut off the share of either the conditioned or the unconditioned element.” Gilgit 628.4–5 na ca bhāgacchedena saṃskṛtadhātau asaṃskṛtadhātau vā vyavasthānam; AAVN 103b6 phala­bhāgacchedābhāva­praśnena; ’bum na 86a5–6, nyi khri 62.­100 (ga 245b1), le’u brgyad ma ca 251a5–6 ’dus byas kyi khams sam/ ’dus ma byas kyi khams ris su bcad cing; khri pa nga 337b ’dus byas kyi khams la’am/ ’dus ma byas kyi khams la tshar bcad pa’i tshul kyis, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “eradicating (bhāgacchedena, tshar gcad pas).”

n.1549’bum na 97a2. Gilgit 631.14 yathā kathaṃ punar. khri brgyad 74.­31, corroborated by PSP 6-8: 80: “Lord, how do bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom train in the five appropriating aggregates?”

n.1550’bum a 123b5–7 is: “Lord, if the very limit of reality limit is thus not one thing and the limit of beings is not another, well then, does the very limit of reality rest at the very limit of reality? Lord, if the very limit of reality rests at the very limit of reality, an intrinsic nature will rest in intrinsic nature. Lord, given that an intrinsic nature does not rest in intrinsic nature, how, Lord, is a bodhisattva great being practicing the perfection of wisdom going to establish the limit of beings at the very limit of reality?” At khri brgyad 75.­3, the beginning of the question differs, “Lord, if the very limit of reality is also the limit of beings…?” The remainder of the question is the same.

n.1551khri brgyad 75.­5. The part left out is: “establish beings at the very limit of reality without complicating the very limit of reality?”

n.1552khri brgyad 75.­18. The part left out is: “and if in the emptiness of a basic nature a being is not apprehended, nor are a dharma and a path apprehended, Lord, how will bodhisattva great beings stand in the knowledge of all aspects?”

n.1553’bum na 191a6–7.

n.1554K, N.

n.1555khri brgyad 75.­40; nyi khri 64.­50, ’bum na 191a4 sems dpa’ chen po’i byang chub, “If a bodhisattva great being’s awakening is not practiced…”

n.1556nyi khri 64.­50: “Lord, if a bodhisattva great being’s awakening is not practiced by taking anything up or not taking anything up, is not a practice of form, up to is not a practice of the knowledge of all aspects, well then, Lord, how will a bodhisattva great being practice the six perfections… practice the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha?” This is followed by the question “how will one complete the ten bodhisattva levels?” khri brgyad 75.­40, does not demarcate the two separate questions, twenty-two and twenty-three.

n.1557The five questions are: (1) do they reach awakening on that path that has been produced, (2) on that path that has not been produced, (3) on that path that has not been produced when it is not produced and is produced when it is produced, or (4) on that path that has neither been produced nor not produced, and (5) how do they reach awakening?

n.1558Emend D des shes to nges zhes.

n.1559’bum na 309a5, nyi khri 67.­6 (ga 305b7), le’u brgyad ma ca 302b2 de ltar nges pa, “a bodhisattva destined like that”; khri brgyad 78.­10, “a bodhisattva great being with such wholesome roots.”

n.1560The question is put in the mouth of the Lord at khri brgyad 78.­17, and also at ’bum na 310a2–3 and nyi khri 67.­10.

n.1561The question as it is found here is closest to a paraphrase of ’bum na 334b, nyi khri 67.­58 (ga 314a7), le’u brgyad ma ca 309b4–5: bcom ldan ’das byang chub sems dpa’i sems dpa’ chen po lam gyi yan lag yongs su rdzogs par bgyis shing / bla na myed pa yang dag par rdzogs pa’i byang chub tu mngon par rdzogs par ’tshang rgya bar ’gyur ba’i lam de dag gang lags. “Lord, what are the paths, when the branches of those paths have been completed, through which a bodhisattva great being will fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening?” The question at khri brgyad 78.­51, is: “Lord, what are the branches of the bodhisattva great beings’ awakening, having completed which the bodhisattva great beings will fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening?”

n.1562The question at khri brgyad 81.­23, is: “Lord, if in the sameness of all dharmas ‘this is an ordinary person, this is a stream enterer,’ up to ‘this is a pratyekabuddha, this is a bodhisattva,’ up to ‘this is a tathāgata, worthy one, perfectly complete buddha’ all cannot be apprehended, in that case would foolish ordinary people, faith-followers and dharma-followers, stream enterers, once-returners, non-returners, worthy ones, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and even tathāgatas, worthy ones, perfectly complete buddhas not have specific features?”

n.1563khri brgyad 82.­3. I have supplied the referent “emptiness” from the context.

n.1564khri brgyad 82.­10. The part left out is: “and those other dharmas‍—the result of stream enterer, result of once-returner, result of non-returner, and state of a worthy one‍—also magical creations? And are those other dharmas‍—the Pratyekabuddha level, the Buddha level, and the elimination of all residual impressions, connections, and afflictions‍—are those dharmas…”

n.1565nyi khri 41.­5; khri brgyad 51.­7 zab pa.

n.1566khri brgyad 51.­12–51.­16.

n.1567The wholesome roots of an irreversible bodhisattva are so vast that an immense amount of them would be left over even after using them to fill up that many world systems.

n.1568khri brgyad 51.­22.

n.1569khri brgyad 51.­23.

n.1570khri brgyad 51.­32. This is Subhūti’s fourth question.

n.1571khri brgyad 51.­33.

n.1572khri brgyad 51.­34. This is Subhūti’s fifth question.

n.1573nyi khri 41.­33; Gilgit 575.12–13 asaṃkhyeyam api [emend to iti] subhūte yat saṃkhyām nopeti saṃskṛte vā dhātā ca [delete ca] asaṃskrte vā dhatau.

n.1574nyi khri 41.­35; cf. khri brgyad 51.­39. This is the response to Subhūti’s sixth question.

n.1575khri brgyad 51.­43. The “great compassion” is part of the extract according to le’u brgyad ma ca 6a2 thugs rje chen po’i rgyu mthun gyis bstan pa; cf. Abhi­samayālaṃkāra 4.55c (Wogihara p. 710) kṛpāniṣyandabhūtās te.

n.1576khri brgyad 51.­46. This is Subhūti’s eighth question.

n.1577khri brgyad 51.­48.

n.1578This is Subhūti’s tenth question.

n.1579Literally, “by way of the accumulation of residual impressions left by volitional factors.”

n.1580K, N omit.

n.1581khri brgyad 51.­61.

n.1582This is a paraphrase of khri brgyad 51.­61–51.­65.

n.1583Śrījagattalanivāsin’s Āmnayānusāriṇī, man ngag gi rjes su brang ba Degé Tengyur (shes phyin, ba), 231a–b provides helpful glosses for this part of the text.

n.1584Perhaps emend chos can ma yin to chos can yin, “that which has been produced is subject to stopping.”

n.1585nyi khri 41.­60; khri brgyad 51.­67 omits yang.

n.1586Golden 335a3, citing nyi khri 41.­66, khri brgyad 51.­73.

n.1587khri brgyad 51.­80.

n.1588The two elders, Śāriputra and Subhūti, discussed how a bodhisattva, for the sake of those who benefit from such a model, models the meditations on emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness that deliver a śrāvaka to nirvāṇa, while employing the skillful means to avoid actually entering nirvāṇa.

n.1589Cf. khri brgyad 52.­10: “ordinary beings, having made each separate one into a causal sign”; nyi khri 42.­8, ’bum tha 182b5 omit “ordinary beings” and “each separate one.”

n.1590khri brgyad 52.­22–52.­53.

n.1591Golden 339b3 thams cad la don yod pa, “are not all fully answered.” The bodhisattvas make the prayers that are vows to complete the six perfections and purify a buddhafield as explained at length at this point in the Sūtra.

n.1592Emend lus to lung. khri brgyad 53.­1–53.­11.

n.1593Earlier (5.­661), it said “the sixteenth question is, ‘How do bodhisattva great beings fully master emptiness?’ ” The question has not been repeated here.

n.1594Cf. khri brgyad 54.­2.

n.1595Cf. khri brgyad 54.­2; nyi khri 44.­2.

n.1596khri brgyad 54.­2: “Because they are well trained in phenomena that are empty of their own marks, so they see that all those phenomena‍—an actualizer, something to be actualized, and something through which there is actualization‍—are not joined and are not disjoined.”

n.1597A “cessation” (nirodha, ’gog pa) is a nirvāṇa.

n.1598In the absence of the Skt it is hard to be certain of the meaning of rang bzhin gyi sems (*prakṛtacitta) (“mind in its ordinary state”). Alternatively, “a thought of the intrinsic nature.”

n.1599khri brgyad 54.­7–54.­11.

n.1600Read bar ma dor in place of par ma dor.

n.1601Cf. nyi khri 44.­13, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “I should release all these sentient beings who maintain inauthentic doctrines”; khri brgyad 54.­13: “these beings who are deceived because they perceive nonexistent phenomena as existing.”

n.1602khri brgyad 54.­14–54.­15.

n.1603khri brgyad 54.­16.

n.1604khri brgyad 54.­17.

n.1605khri brgyad 54.­18.

n.1606khri brgyad 54.­19.

n.1607khri brgyad 54.­22: “Subhūti, you should ask bodhisattva great beings thus practicing mastery of those thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, ‘How do bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening cultivate the perfection of wisdom?’ ”

n.1608This renders rab tu rtogs pa literally, “realized well”; cf. khri brgyad 54.­22 (kha 224b1), nyi khri 44.­24 (ga 13b6) rab tu ’byed, “sort out,” “distinguish.”

n.1609This means through the lack of skillful means that leads a bodhisattva to say to another bodhisattva that it is necessary to reject a śrāvaka’s meditation on emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessnes.

n.1610Cf. khri brgyad 54.­25; nyi khri 44.­28, ’bum tha 212a1.

n.1611I have translated this without emendation even though it is a repetition.

n.1612khri brgyad 55.­1–55.­32.

n.1613khri brgyad 55.­34. This is the response to Subhūti’s eighteenth question, “Lord, what is the mark of the perfection of wisdom?”

n.1614khri brgyad 55.­9 ff. The “and so on” brings in the impediment to the perfection of wisdom posed by the false projection of superiority over other bodhisattvas because of living in physical isolation, engaging in austerities, and mistaking Māra for a spiritual friend.

n.1615N, K, Golden 343a2; D: “it is not the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature.”

n.1616khri brgyad 55.­44.

n.1617khri brgyad 55.­45–55.­52.

n.1618khri brgyad 55.­53. This is Subhūti’s twentieth question.

n.1619This is Subhūti’s twenty-first question.

n.1620This is Subhūti’s twenty-second question.

n.1621khri brgyad 55.­70.

n.1622khri brgyad 55.­72. This is Subhūti’s twenty-third question.

n.1623This statement by “Śatakratu, head of the gods” (khri brgyad 56.­1) brings to an end an exchange between Subhūti and the Buddha that begins (khri brgyad 51.­3) where Subhūti makes the request, “would that you might also well expound those deep places standing in which bodhisattva great beings practicing the six perfections complete… the knowledge of all aspects.”

n.1624This is a general characterization of khri brgyad 56.­1–58.­4: glorification (56.­1), good qualities (ends 56.­8), Śatakratu and Ānanda (ends 56.­10), the description of Māra and the work of Māra (56.­11), the description of what happens because of that work (56.­26), how one should behave in the presence of persons in the Bodhisattva Vehicle (56.­31), sameness (57.­1), ending, detachment, and cessation (57.­3), the benefits of training (57.­7), surpassing nonbeings (57.­21), the Śatakratu passage (58.­1), and the immeasurable merit (58.­4).

n.1625Here sems can ma yin pa rnams means those for whom life is not the perfect moment for the practice of the perfection of wisdom‍—those without “the perfect human rebirth.”

n.1626khri brgyad 58.­5.

n.1627khri brgyad 58.­8. I have added the word “awakening” based on the following gloss.

n.1628Based on the fact that there has been a transformation of the basis, awakening will not be in that thought, which is to say, awakening will not be the same as the state of mind during the first moment of bodhicitta. Ultimately, they are not different, so it will not be in another moment of bodhicitta, which is to say awakening will not be other than the state of mind during the first moment of bodhicitta.

n.1629This is the response to Subhūti’s twenty-eighth question (nyi khri 48.­10), “Lord, in what way will a thought that is like an illusion fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening?” Its presence here perhaps buttresses the argument that Haribhadra changed the order of his version (PSP 5: 37, le’u brgyad ma ca 63a7).

n.1630“Extremely isolated” means totally isolated from the aspirations of śrāvakas or from its own hypothetical intrinsic nature.

n.1631Unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.

n.1632khri brgyad kha 254a2 rnam par gzhig pa; cf. nyi khri ga 48a5 rnam par bsgom pa.

n.1633Here “it” means a dharma that is cultivated or eliminated.

n.1634Cf. khri brgyad 58.­14; nyi khri 48.­14.

n.1635khri brgyad 58.­14. This is Subhūti’s twenty-ninth question.

n.1636The section specifically dealing with the absence of vikalpa (“conceptualization,” “thought construction”) is khri brgyad 58.­18–58.­29. Cf. nyi khri 48.­19, PSP 5: 37, le’u brgyad ma ca 63a7 ff.

n.1637khri brgyad 58.­31. This is not said by the Lord, but is an exchange between Subhūti and Śāriputra.

n.1638I have added “It is right to bow down to those bodhisattva great beings,” which comes at the beginning of the sentence at khri brgyad 59.­3.

n.1639khri brgyad 59.­4. The first aspect is just as space is isolated, utterly other than the material objects within it, so too is a being in their inner absolute nature utterly other than the falsely imagined being the person projects. The second aspect is as follows: to buckle on armor to fight the hard fight is to do what is difficult, but seeing the space-like emptiness of all things is the armor that makes the difficult practice of the six perfections, which is done in order to bring about the welfare of infinite beings, doable. Third, just as beings are empty and isolated, like space, so are all the dharmas that locate them.

n.1640khri brgyad 59.­4–59.­20.

n.1641nyi khri 49.­29, le’u brgyad ma ca 69b4–5, and in a slightly different translation khri brgyad 59.­20. This is Subhūti’s thirty-first question.

n.1642This reading, a good one not attested in the present versions of the Sūtra, does not support Conze’s conjecture (GilgitC, 265 n. 10) that GilgitC 66 tathāgata­nirmito (le’u brgyad ma ca 70a2 gang de bzhin gshegs pa’i sprul pa) is a corruption of Aṣṭa (Wogihara p. 858, Mitra p. 453) tathatā­vinirmukto nānyaḥ kaścid dharmam upalabhyate; cf. ŚsPN4 9869v10.

n.1643khri brgyad 59.­23–61.­7.

n.1644khri brgyad 60.­38.

n.1645khri brgyad 61.­4.

n.1646This is in response to the question, “Lord, how are bodhisattva great beings to accomplish the perfection of wisdom?” The response is that everything is akṣaya (“inexhaustible,” a word similar in sound to ākāśa, “space”), so all dharmas are indivisible as thoroughly established phenomena, so seeing them as dharmas, and seeing them as the inexhaustible ultimate reality of things, produces wisdom.

n.1647I am unsure exactly which part of the Sūtra our author is referring to, whether it includes the section of dependent origination or whether it begins from khri brgyad 61.­9 and goes up to 61.­30. Just below our author will reference “each of the six perfections being connected one with the other,” a section that perhaps begins at 61.­13.

n.1648khri brgyad 62.­43.

n.1649This omits the analogy of the sun and moon.

n.1650The six perfections are khri brgyad 61.­13–62.­56; skillful means and the account of the completion of the accumulations, the illustrations, and the six perfections go up to 63.­25.

n.1651khri brgyad 63.­26.

n.1652khri brgyad 63.­29.

n.1653khri brgyad 63.­38.

n.1654khri brgyad 63.­40.

n.1655khri brgyad 63.­46.

n.1656khri brgyad 63.­51: “All phenomena are without attachment and have not been taken hold of”; nyi khri 53.­41 (ga 104b5) med pa (asattāḥ in place of GilgitC 120, note c asaktāḥ): “All phenomena do not exist and have not been taken hold of.”

n.1657khri brgyad 63.­53: “ ‘Subhūti,’ replied the Lord, ‘here bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom do not settle down on form.’ ”

n.1658khri brgyad 63.­55.

n.1659khri brgyad 63.­60.

n.1660khri brgyad 63.­64.

n.1661The nine kun tu sbyor ba/ kun sbyor (samyojana) were given earlier at 1.­36. “Conjoin” renders samyuj, “fetter” renders samyojana.

n.1662Literally this says, “I will stand in a maturation of charming aggregates and so on.”

n.1663khri brgyad 63.­66–63.­72; “the ocean is the door of all rivers.”

n.1664khri brgyad 63.­75.

n.1665khri brgyad 63.­82.

n.1666khri brgyad 63.­85; “limit,” “summit,” “edge” (mtha’) render koṭi.

n.1667khri brgyad 63.­97.

n.1668lam gyi rgyun bcad pa is probably an archaic translation (based on the original meaning of the root śrambh) that escaped the eye of an editor. Mvy attests rgyun bcad pa as rendering pratiprasrabdha (PSP 5: 110). Cf. GilgitC 134 prasrabdhi­mārga­kuśalo; khri brgyad kha 303a7–b1, le’u brgyad ma ca 132a3 shin tu sbyang ba; ’bum da 125b6, nyi khri ga 118a5 rab tu sbyang ba, “skilled in the path with pliancy,” which is to say, a path that has incorporated calm abiding (śamatha).

n.1669khri brgyad 63.­101.

n.1670PSP 5: 110 ākāśa­śūnyatā­bhāvanayā prajñāpāramitā bhāvayitavyā. GilgitC 135, nyi khri 53.­96, LSPW pp. 468–69 differ.

n.1671“These” are the practice of, the accomplishment of, and the meditation on the perfection of wisdom.

n.1672D gal; Golden 357b3, K, N gal te, “because of worrying about whether they have been disturbed by the passage propounding a duality.”

n.1673This is in response to the question, “Well then, Lord, how will they reach the knowledge of all aspects?”

n.1674Cf. khri brgyad 63.­126 (ga 3b4), which has gzhig pa in place of rnam par gzhig pa; nyi khri ga 121b2 bsgom pa’am rnam par bsgom pa.

n.1675The gloss suggests the translators understood gzhig pa (vibhāvana) here, at least, as a future form of ’jig, “to destroy,” not as “investigate.”

n.1676khri brgyad 63.­129.

n.1677khri brgyad 63.­131. This is Subhūti’s ninety-ninth question.

n.1678Bṭ1 pa 245a5: “Even though bodhisattvas beginning the work are not able to complete the ultimate practice of not apprehending all dharmas, they should train to the extent they are able.”

n.1679This is the reading at ’bum da 152a7, nyi khri 53.­128, Bṭ1 pa 245b3, GilgitC 139, ŚsPN4 9956r8 and PSP 5: 116. An alternative translation: “Lord, does apprehending not apprehend or does the absence of apprehending not apprehend?” khri brgyad 63.­137 differs.

n.1680khri brgyad 63.­138.

n.1681khri brgyad 63.­138. Alternative translation: “the sameness of providing a basis for apprehending and not providing a basis for apprehending is the absence of a basis for apprehending.”

n.1682To paraphrase Bṭ1 pa 245b3–6: Someone thinks that when bodhisattvas do not apprehend something it means there is something intrinsically real left as an object when not apprehending occurs. With that in mind the person asks if the object is something real that can be apprehended or something real that cannot be apprehended. The Lord responds that it is neither of those two.

n.1683khri brgyad 63.­140.

n.1684Golden 355b4.

n.16855.­515, explaining khri brgyad 43.­14.

n.1686khri brgyad 63.­150.

n.1687I have added some words from khri brgyad 63.­152 to make the citation readable in English.

n.1688khri brgyad 63.­158.

n.1689khri brgyad 63.­163: “Subhūti, the true nature of dharmas on account of which the tathāgata has become worthy of the offerings of the world with its gods and humans is just that true nature of dharmas on account of which the magical creation has become worthy of the offerings of the world with its gods and humans.”

n.1690The tathāgatas.

n.1691khri brgyad 63.­167.

n.1692khri brgyad 63.­170.

n.1693khri brgyad 63.­175.

n.1694Abhidharmakośa 6.26 ff. (Pruden, vol. 3, p. 945).

n.1695The three marks in this context are emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, being the present, past, and future form of things.

n.1696These are the first two of ten antidotes that counteract obstacles to the ten bodhisattva levels given in the Madhyānta­vibhāga 2.14–16 cited earlier (5.­194). The remaining ones are the outflow’s tip sense, ungraspable sense, undifferentiated continuums sense, being-neither-defiled-nor-pure sense, nondiverse sense, (and the four sovereignties:) sovereignty over nonconceptuality and purification of the buddhafield, sovereignty over knowledge, and sovereignty over action.

n.1697khri brgyad 63.­190.

n.1698khri brgyad 63.­192.

n.1699nyi khri 53.­180, khri brgyad 63.­196 omit “voices.”

n.1700This is referring to accounts of a handsome worthy one gazing at himself in a mirror because of the force of habit, Maudgalyāyana’s hopping while walking because of the force of habit from his physical movements as a monkey in earlier lives, and Pilindavatsa’s use of a word for a low caste woman when addressing his apology to the goddess Gaṅgā, because of the force of habit from the language he used as an upper caste person in earlier lives. Mppś English (vol. 1, p. 114). Bailey (p. 199) says Pilindavatsa used the derogatory name for the goddess Gaṅgā when the river had swept away a monastery on its banks.

n.1701This is Subhūti’s one hundred and twenty-sixth question (5.­773). At khri brgyad 63.­180–63.­189; PSP 5: 124–26; GilgitC 147–48; ’bum da 173b–174b; nyi khri 53.­165–53.­173; and le’u brgyad ma ca 144a7–145a it comes earlier in the explanation of the differences between the three knowledges.

n.1702khri brgyad 63.­197.

n.1703Harrison (p. 145, n. 44) says that by rendering asaṃskṛta­prabhāvitā “distinguished by the power they derive from the unconditioned” he has “tried to represent more than one of its possible meanings.”

n.1704The order of this and the next three citations does not exactly follow the order in khri brgyad 63.­200.

n.17054.­134–4.­136.

n.1706khri brgyad 63.­205. “Perfection” renders paramita; “perfect” (more literally, “ultimate superiority”) renders paramapārami. Cf. GilgitC 151 parama­pāramiprāptaiṣā subhūte prajñāpāramitā sarvadharmāṇām; ’bum da 176a6, nyi khri ga 132b5, le’u brgyad ma ca 147a1 shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa ’di ni pha rol du phyin pa’i dam pa thob pa; ŚsPN4 9966r9 paramapāramitās teṣām subhūte prajñāpāramitā sarvadharmāṇām; PSP 5: 127 parama­pāramitaiṣā subhūte sarvadharmāṇām agamanārthena prajñāpāramitety ucyate.

n.1707The point here is that pāramitā, for an Indian writer, is first understood as derived from parama (“ultimate,” “supreme”), in a secondary form pārama (“ultimacy,” “supremacy”) in the feminine gender (pārami). The -tā ending works as a suffix turning the word (in this case somewhat redundantly) into an abstract noun. For their own reasons, while aware of this more obvious derivation, translators into Tibetan rendered pāramitā as pha rol tu phyin pa, following a creative explanation (nirukti) deriving the word from pāram (neuter gender) (“the other side”), a word related to para (“better,” “beyond,” “other,” etc.) and i (“to go”) with the same -tā ending as a suffix, turning the word into an abstract noun. I have not translated the Tibetan words literally here because it would not convey what the author intended. Readers should also be aware that creative explanations are also derived from pāraya, from pṛ, “to cause to pass”; and from pṝ, “to cause to fill.” I do not think the Sūtra or our author has these roots in mind here, but I am not certain.

n.1708I have not identified the work on grammar our author is citing here. “A suffix that makes an abstract noun” renders bhāvapratyaya. “Water-element fluidity” (abdhātu­dravatva) is in reference to the defining characteristic of the water element. “Received tradition” renders Tib lung (āgama).

n.1709Cf. khri brgyad 63.­208. “Gone into” (chud) renders antargata, explaining pāram ita.

n.1710The “knowledges” here are the knowledges of śrāvakas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas.

n.1711Golden 362a3–5, citing khri brgyad 63.­210, with slight differences. D (F.257.b2–4) has the three forms of the homophone spyod (“a practitioner” and so on) both in the citation from the Sūtra and in the gloss.

n.1712“Māra and the Māra class of gods” and so on.

n.1713khri brgyad 63.­211. “Reality” and “good” both render the same word don (artha).

n.1714nyi khri 53.­188. khri brgyad 63.­211 adds “the meaning of knowledge of things as they really are” for a total of twelve.

n.1715K, N, Golden 362b2; D adds “that has been taught before.”

n.1716khri brgyad 63.­215.

n.1717This translation is based on Golden 363a1 na in place of D no, and D don dam in place of Golden ston tam.

n.1718“Nondual intrinsic nature” means an intrinsic nature that precludes two different things; “dual intrinsic nature” means an intrinsic nature that allows two different things.

n.1719khri brgyad 64.­1.

n.1720The tathāgatas are those who have gone (gata) to suchness ( tathatā ) (understand “go” as in a phrase like “go to pieces” not in a phrase like “go to another country”); de bzhin nyid ( tathatā ) (“the state of being the way things are”).

n.1721’bum da 187b1–2, nyi khri 54.­6, le’u brgyad ma ca 151b2–3. The tathāgatas here are “realized ones” (the root gam, “go,” is understood in its secondary meaning of “understand”). khri brgyad 64.­9: “Standing in this suchness, bodhisattva great beings gain the knowledge of all aspects, therefore it is called suchness .”

n.1722khri brgyad 64.­10–64.­19.

n.1723byang chub sems dpa’ zhugs par gyur pa. I have not emended this reading because there is a very old idea that “a bodhisattva” is a single buddha, like Śākyamuni, in his life before awakening, but unless it is emended to byang chub zhugs par gyur pa it contextually does not make sense. The mistake, if it is one, goes back a long way, leading to the need for our author’s gloss here. PSP 5: 135, and GilgitC 161 sacet subhūte ye trisāhasra­mahā­sāhasre lokadhātau sattvās te sarve bodhi­sattva­pratipannakā bhaveyus, teṣāṃ yat puṇyaṃ tat tathāgata­syārhataḥ samyaksaṃbuddhasya śatatamīm api kalān nopaiti. Conze translates the mistake (LSPW p. 481: “if they had all entered on a Bodhisattva’s special way of salvation, then their merit would be infinitesimal compared with that of a Bodhisattva great being”) and says in note 10, “I do not understand this sentence.” The correct reading is ’bum da 191b6, nyi khri 54.­23, khri brgyad 64.­19: “Subhūti, even if all the beings included in the great billion world systems were to have entered into the secure state of a bodhisattva their merit would not approach even, up to a hundred thousand one hundred millionth part of the merit of bodhisattva great beings who are candidates for awakening.” A “candidate for awakening” is in the last birth before awakening.

n.1724khri brgyad 64.­23.

n.1725khri brgyad 64.­26.

n.1726Cf. khri brgyad 64.­26: “Subhūti, in this way all phenomena are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature.” Our author is breaking the compound abhāvasvabhāva (rendered “the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature”) to mean “the intrinsic nature of a nonexistent thing.”

n.1727khri brgyad 64.­31. This is Subhūti’s one hundred and forty-third question.

n.1728Cf. khri brgyad 64.­32, nyi khri 54.­37.

n.1729khri brgyad 65.­6. The word bhūtārtha (“true reality”) sounds like the word buddha. This is the response to Subhūti’s one hundred and forty-sixth question.

n.1730Based on our author’s own comment below I have emended D yang dag pa’i don to yang dang pa’i chos (khri brgyad 65.­6, ga 21a3).

n.1731Cf. khri brgyad 65.­7 (ga 21a6) byang chub kyi don ni yang dag pa’i don no, “awakening means true reality.” The compounds bodhyartha and bhūtārtha have a similar sound. PSP 5: 140 and GilgitC 169 have abheda (“the undivided reality”) in place of bhūta, as at ’bum da 213b5 and nyi khri 55.­5 (ga 145b4) dbyer med pa.

n.1732khri brgyad 65.­12. This citation is part of an introduction to the following section that explains skillful means as not apprehending anything.

n.1733khri brgyad 66.­2.

n.1734khri brgyad 65.­10 This is Subhūti’s one hundred and forty-ninth question.

n.1735Emend rnam par ’phel bar ’gyur to rnam par’phel bar mi ’gyur (khri brgyad 65.­13, ga 22b2). Golden folio 367 is missing.

n.1736khri brgyad 69.­6.

n.1737khri brgyad 66.­1–69.­7.

n.1738nyi khri 58.­11, khri brgyad 69.­8–69.­11 present the alternatives in a different order. Alternatively, “nothing that makes them known.”

n.1739khri brgyad 69.­14.

n.1740khri brgyad 69.­18.

n.1741Cf. khri brgyad 69.­24.

n.1742Cf. 4.­31–4.­52; also 4.­905–4.­906, 5.­1009.

n.1743khri brgyad 69.­27.

n.1744khri brgyad 69.­30. This is Subhūti’s one hundred and sixty-second question, “Lord, if those dharmas‍—the dharmas on the side of awakening and the awakening‍—are not conjoined and not disjoined… how, Lord, will the dharmas on the side of awakening be those that bring about awakening?”

n.1745Here “this” stands for the passage (khri brgyad 69.­27–69.­29) explaining that the dharmas on the side of awakening and so on are the perfection of wisdom.

n.1746Cf. khri brgyad 69.­32.

n.1747Tib ’dul ba, “tamed, taming.” Alternatively, based on Skt vi-nī (“separate”), “in its nature it is separate from attachment and so on, and, when practiced, is marked by remaining separated.”

n.1748Cf. khri brgyad 69.­34, nyi khri 58.­42, ’bum da 261b3.

n.1749khri brgyad 69.­42. Cf. Bṭ3 n.­720; also 5.­566.

n.1750khri brgyad 69.­46.

n.1751khri brgyad 69.­47.

n.1752khri brgyad 69.­50.

n.1753If this is a citation from our author’s version of the Sūtra I have not been able to locate it in the versions I have consulted. “A maturation” (rnam par smin pa) renders vipāka, specifically the new form of life from conception to death as a result of earlier karma. In this context I take it to mean a life taken for the sake of others.

n.1754nyi khri 59.­8.

n.1755khri brgyad 70.­9. This is Subhūti’s one hundred and seventy-fourth question, “Lord, if all phenomena are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature, how did the Tathāgata fully awaken to all the phenomena that are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature, and, having fully awakened to them, gain control over the range of all phenomena?”

n.1756These are listed below (5.­1259–5.­1269); also Edg, s.v. vaśitā 2, citing the Mvy, gives the ten controls (dbang, vaśita) (Edg calls them “masteries”) as control over life (āyus), thought (citta), human requirements (pariṣkāra), dharma , miraculous power (ṛddhi), birth (janma/utpatti), belief (adhimukti), prayer (praṇidhāna), action ( karma ), and knowledge (jñāna).

n.1757khri brgyad 70.­11. This is Subhūti’s one hundred and seventy-fifth question.

n.1758khri brgyad 70.­12.

n.1759khri brgyad 70.­19 and khri brgyad 70.­18. Generally speaking, “the first production of the thought” marks the beginning of a bodhisattva’s path, or else it marks the path when the bodhisattva first awakens (the so-called “path of seeing”). Here our author is talking about bodhisattvas when they have become irreversible from progress toward full awakening. Alternatively, these two are statements in general, and are not meant as citations from the Sūtra.

n.1760khri brgyad 70.­44–70.­45. This is the question in response to Subhūti’s one hundred and seventy-seventh rhetorical question, “Lord, if all phenomena are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature, well then, there is no form, up to there is no consciousness; there are no aggregates, there are no constituents, and there are no sense fields; there are no applications of mindfulness, and similarly, up to there is no knowledge of all aspects; there is no Buddha, there is no Dharma, and there is no Saṅgha; there is no path, there is no result, there is no defilement, there is no purification, there is no attainment, and there is no clear realization; and similarly, up to there are no phenomena, any of them?”

n.1761Cf. khri brgyad 70.­17–70.­43 for the addition of this gloss to “all phenomena” in this context.

n.1762Our author is explaining the two parts, abhāva and svabhāva in the Skt compound “nonexistence of an intrinsic nature” (abhāvasvabhāva, dngos po med pa’i ngo bo nyid). See 4.­158–4.­161 and notes, and 4.­809–4.­812 and notes. Our author is saying that if you take the entire compound as meaning “nonexistent” then you annihilate phenomena completely. If you take it as a dvandva meaning phenomena are nonexistent things and are intrinsic natures, then the former would be nonexistent and the latter existent (at the extremes of “there-is-not” and “there-is”); therefore, the compound means phenomena are not at the two extremes.

n.1763khri brgyad 71.­4. This is the response to Subhūti’s one hundred and seventy-ninth question.

n.1764This is the reading in K, N, and Golden 369b5. D differs. It says, “If it had said ‘attainment is without an apprehended object, and clear realization does not apprehend an object’ there would be something to be attained and a clear realization to be had, so there is an apprehended object. Therefore it teaches that just the apprehended object is spoken of as ‘attainment… clear realization,’ and ‘unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.’ ”

n.1765nyi khri 60.­5; khri brgyad 71.­5 has five clairvoyances.

n.1766khri brgyad 70.­14–71.­10.

n.1767khri brgyad 71.­11 (ga 47b4–5) with yongs su ’dzin pa, “incorporate,” in place of “complete.” At 5.­833 Subhūti’s one hundred and eighty-third question is the same as at nyi khri 60.­11. Twenty-Five Thousand renders yongs su ’dzin pa “acquire.”

n.1768khri brgyad 71.­12: “they are informed by nothing other than the perfection of wisdom.”

n.1769khri brgyad 71.­13: “Lord, how, informed by the perfection of wisdom, does a bodhisattva great being incorporate the six perfections in a single thought?”

n.1770Cf. khri brgyad 71.­17 ff., ’bum da 349b1–5 ff., nyi khri 60.­26 ff., and le’u brgyad ma ca 204b4 ff. This may be a summary of the section rather than an actual citation from a version of the Sūtra no longer available to us.

n.1771khri brgyad 71.­21.

n.1772khri brgyad 71.­21–71.­43 is the perfections arisen from maturation; 72.­1–72.­39 is the teaching about the knowledge of the mark of all dharmas, answering the question of how dharmas that have no mark can be different.

n.1773khri brgyad 73.­1 is Subhūti’s one hundred and ninety-fourth question, “Lord, how, when all dharmas are like a dream, are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature, and are empty of their own marks can you present these as wholesome and these as unwholesome, these as ordinary and these as extraordinary… and these for making manifest unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening?” khri brgyad 73.­2–73.­4 is the response; 73.­5 ff. is the amazing and marvelous teaching; 73.­24: “How, Subhūti, do bodhisattva great beings gather a retinue with gifts? … by a twofold way of giving material gifts and the gift of Dharma”; 73.­27 “the gift of Dharma is these two: the ordinary and extraordinary”; 73.­28–73.­37 the ordinary gift of Dharma, the qualities of śrāvakas and so on, as well as the qualities of bodhisattvas not fully informed by a buddha’s wisdom and compassion; and 73.­38–73.­94 extraordinary qualities “shared in common with foolish ordinary people.” These are all the list of qualities looked at from the side of conventional reality. Abhi­samayālaṃkāra 8.7–40 connects them with the two form bodies of a buddha. They overlap with the activities of the emanation bodies.

n.1774khri brgyad 73.­61.

n.1775PSP 6-8: 59, AAVN 102b2–3 (Sparham 2006–11, vol. 4, p. 79).

n.1776khri brgyad 73.­80.

n.1777khri brgyad 73.­89 has “tathāgata” in place of “great being;” nyi khri 62.­76 has both “tathāgata” and “great being.”

n.1778Cf. khri brgyad 73.­91 (ga 78b1). g.yog ’khor (“being in the circle of servants”) for parivāra conveys more clearly the intended meaning.

n.1779MW, s.v. śaṅka, also gives the name śaṅkana.

n.1780In general, these are all symbols of royalty, but exactly what the symbols are is contested, or at least they change over time and in different geographical locations or religious traditions. “Lakṣmī’s calf,” the śrīvatsa (dpal be’u), is perhaps the endless knot; the svastika (bkra shis ), “may it be well,” is of course not the Nazi version of the symbol but the one placed flat. Mvy sdong ris [’khyil ba] (= g.yung drung ’khyil ba?) renders vardhamāna. I have understood it provisionally to be the same as the nandyāvarta symbol, probably a w-shaped symbol, cf. Bhattacarya 2000 and Johnston 1932 who say A.K. Coomaraswamy says vardhamāna is “a lidded jar… to hold powder”; Johnston himself says “its primary sense is the name of a particular lucky pattern.” Johnston thinks the vardhamāna pattern is what Coomaraswamy says is an early śrīvasta pattern.

n.1781The reading is uncertain. K, N mtshan gyi ’khor bsgyur de dag nyid. D mtshan gyis ’khor lo de dag nyid. If the reading is mtshan gyis ’khor de dag nyid, it means, “Because the accompanying ones are included with the major sign.”

n.1782Emend ste to lte.

n.1783This is a conjectural translation. Cf. Mvy skabs phyin pa as a translation of mṛṣṭa, “touched.” The idea is perhaps that a buddha glides along just above the surface while lesser beings have to “touch down,” as it were.

n.1784jālaka (“connecting webbing”).

n.1785This suggests something like a force-field, so stuff cannot fall through, even though it does not constitute a block. The idea is that nobody falls through the safety net. Cf. Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (thub pa’i dgons rgyan Degé Tengyur [dbu ma, ’a], 286a4–5) sor mo’i tshigs dang po nas brtsams pa’i sor mo’i bar la seng seng po med na yang sor gdub la sogs pa’i rgyan gzhug tu rung ba’i sor mo can no.

n.1786The eight retinues (four human and four divine) “known in the Pāli suttas as the aṭṭha parisā” (Bucknell 20) are kṣatriya (army), brāhmaṇa (priest), gṛhapati (business), śramaṇa (mendicant), Cāturmahārājakāyika gods, Trayastriṃśa gods, Māras, and Brahmās.

n.1787Banerjea (1930), citing Rhys Davids (1910, p. 14, n. 5) “there is no ‘webbing’ between fingers and toes, but that these are set in right lines, like the meshes of a net,” gives the Pāli commentary: jalahatthapado ti na cammena patibaddha angulantaro. Ediso hi phanahatthako purisadosena upahato pabbajjam pi na labhati. Mahapurisassa pana catasso hatthanguliyo panca pi padanguliyo ekappamana honti, tasam pana ekappamanatta jalalakkhanam annamannam pativijjhitva titthanti, ath’assa hatthapada sukusalena vaddhakina yojitajalavata-panasadisa honti, tena vuttam jalahatthapado ti. He says the hands are certainly not shaped like the hood of a cobra because a person with such hands would not even be accepted into the order. The four fingers and five toes are aligned. They are like a lattice-work window put together (yojitajalavatapanasadisa) by a skilled carpenter.

n.1788Mvy says gzhon sha chags renders taruṇa. I am unsure what word our author is glossing.

n.1789The khams bdun are probably, of the eighteen constituents (dhātu, khams), the six consciousnesses (from eye consciousness constituent to thinking-mind consciousness constituent) and the thinking-mind constituent.

n.1790Rhys Davids (1910, p. 14, n. 3) “If the foot of a ‘Great Man’ be measured in four parts, two are taken up by the sole and toes, one is under the leg, and one is the heel projecting rearward.”

n.1791D adds “[to] the front and back and any side.”

n.1792This translation is based on tshig mdzod chen mo, s.v. rkyen ’bab, explained as skabs dang ’tsham par ’byung ba.

n.1793In place of ci bder *yathāsūkham (the translation “freely” is from Valby, s.v. ci bder), K, N have ci bden, “whatever is true.”

n.1794This is a conjectural translation of zhabs kyi gong bas mtho ba. If gong ba means gong bu, read “higher up relative to the mass of the foot.”

n.1795tshig mdzod chen mo says rlo ba is an archaism for ’phyang ba, “hang down.”

n.1796MW, s.v. vitasti, says 12 aṅgulas equal about nine inches.

n.1797Rhys Davids: “Hence the Buddhas only wash as an example to their followers.”

n.1798D slar btang na is supported by Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (thub pa’i dgongs rgyan, Degé Tengyur [dbu ma, ’a], 286b3).

n.1799skyu ru ra (ābalaka), emblic myrobalan.

n.1800K, N gus par ma byas pa; khri brgyad 73.­91 (ga 79a3) mgu bar byas pa.

n.1801K, N shas rgyas pas yangs shing; D sha rgyas pas spangs; Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (thub pa’i dgongs rgyan, Degé Tengyur [dbu ma, ’a], 286b5) rgyas pa yangs pa sha rgyas pa’i brang can nyid kyi phyir dang.

n.1802This explanation certainly makes excellent sense, but it is not found elsewhere. PSP 6-8: 62 kāñcana­paṭṭasuvimṛṣṭo. MW, s.v paṭṭa, “a slab”; khri brgyad 73.­90 (ga 78a2) gser gyi glegs ma, “a highly polished golden door panel.”

n.1803These are sweet, salty, sour (like a lemon), bitter like the bitter gourd (Hindi karela), astringent (like an unripe banana), and pungent (like chili).

n.1804Szántō (18.iv.2017), ms. 5r5–5v1: mahā­puruṣāṇāṃ hi sapta rasāharaṇī sahasrāṇi grīvāyām ūrdhvamukhāni pravarttante sarve pi rasā mukhai prakṣiptā amṛtarasatulyā bhavati.

n.1805Here karman means the way the habit formed by doing an earlier action again and again. It translates out as an experience experienced at the highest stage of physical development. The pūrvakarma (“earlier karma”) is forming the habit by doing the action again and again earlier.

n.1806This derives the nya gro in nyagrodha (“an Indian fig tree”) from ny-añc, “bend down,” in the sense of beneath something, here the lower part of the body; and the ro dha from ruh (“grow up”), here the upper part of the body. The parimaṇḍala (“a build,” an encompassing measurement) means that they are equal in size. Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (thub pa’i dgongs rgyan, Degé Tengyur [dbu ma, ’a], 287a1) n+yag ni dma’ ba ste sku smad do, ro dha ni sku stod do is better. Thus, nya gro intends just the ny-ag from ny-añc (“to bend down”); ro dha is like a past passive participle from ruh (“to grow up”). It is referencing the fact that the Indian fig tree (a banyan tree) sends out secondary roots from its branches that then take root and grow.

n.1807dbu ze’u ka bcings pa. This is a conjectural translation of ze’u ka as “turban.” ze is a word for rngog ma (a “mane”) and a ze’u ka is perhaps a diminutive. Jäschke, s.v. ze, cites ze ka from Czoma di Korosi’s Dictionary as meaning a “hump.” Rhys Davids (1910, p. 16, n. 4): “This expression, says the Cy., refers to the fullness either of the forehead or of the cranium. In either case the rounded highly-developed appearance is meant, giving to the unadorned head the decorative dignified effect of a crested turban, and the smooth symmetry of a water-bubble.” Edg, s.v. uṣṇīṣa , “having a head the size and shape of which makes it seem turbanned.”

n.1808K, N omit sha mkhregs shing, “muscled.”

n.1809Abhayākaragupta’s Muni­matālaṃkāra (thub pa’i dgongs rgyan, Degé Tengyur [dbu ma, ’a], 287a5–6).

n.1810khri brgyad 73.­93 ff.

n.1811This is explaining “minor sign” by breaking up the parts of anuvyañjana into anu (“subsequent”) plus vi and añj (“to beautify”) or añc (“to make clear”) vi añc (“to expand on”). Muni­matālaṃkāra (thub pa’i dgongs rgyan, Degé Tengyur [dbu ma, ’a], 287a6–7) mtshan ’di rnams rjes su gsal par byed pa’am mtshan dang rjes su mthun par gsal bar byed pa’am/ skyes bu chen por rab tu gsal bar byed ces pa’am/ rjes su mthun par mdzes par byed ces pa dpe byad bzang po brgyad cu rnams te.

n.1812’bum na 52a5, nyi khri 62.­79 (ga 237a3), le’u brgyad ma ca 244a2. khri brgyad 73.­93 (ga 79b7) ma chags pa’i thugs mnga’ bas, “have minds free from attachment to all conditioned things.”

n.1813khri brgyad 73.­95. See also n.­1814..

n.1814“Kind words” is the second of the four ways of gathering an assembly‍—giving gifts, kind words, beneficial actions, and consistency between words and deeds. This harkens back to the statement at 73.­22: “Subhūti, here, looking down with my buddha eye on as many world systems as there are sand particles in the Gaṅgā River in the eastern direction I have seen bodhisattva great beings gathering humans with the four ways of gathering a retinue. What are the four? The ways of gathering are by giving gifts, kind words, beneficial actions, and consistency between words and deeds.” The first, “giving gifts,” comprises all the practices (dharmas) down to the minor signs ending at 73.­94.

n.1815Cf. khri brgyad 73.­96, nyi khri 62.­82.

n.1816Cf. nyi khri 62.­83. “With those same six perfections, by consistency between words and deeds, they gather beings into a retinue.” Here it says “later ones” (plural) because “with those same six perfections” goes with “skill in letters” ( dhāraṇī ) as well.

n.1817Cf. khri brgyad 73.­97 (ga 82b5). “Syllable accomplishment” (yi ge mngon par sgrub pa, akṣarābhinirhāra) is explained earlier (4.­554 explaining khri brgyad 8.­22).

n.1818At khri brgyad 16.­99 the 42 letters (“the arapacana syllabary”) are each given a meaning.

n.1819K, N, Golden 378b6.

n.1820ldan pa renders -gata, cf. Whitney’s Sanskrit Grammar 1273c, p. 435.

n.1821khri brgyad 73.­97. However, PSP 6-8: 68, ŚsPN4/2 0087r1, Gilgit 625.5 dvācatvāriṃśad; ’bum na 56a1, nyi khri 62.­84, le’u brgyad ma ca 247a4 bzhi bcu rtsa gnyis, have the “forty-two” letters in the arapacana alphabet.

n.1822khri brgyad 73.­97 (reading chos de, “that Dharma” or “that doctrine,” in place of “all dharmas”). Cp. ŚsPN4/2 87r4, Gilgit 625.8 na cākśarākāra­nirmuktaḥ subhūte sarvadharmaḥ; ’bum na 56a6, nyi khri ga 241a, le’u brgyad ma ca 248b1 chos ston kyang / chos de yi ge’i rnam pa dang bral ba yang ma yin te; LSPW pp. 536–37: “And yet that Dharma is not quite free from the mode of letters!”; khri pa 29.­61 (nga 333b5) yi ge dang yi ge med pa la ma g/rtogs pa’i chos gang yang med do, Ten Thousand translation: “There is no doctrine at all that is not included in the syllables and the absence of syllables.”

n.1823khri brgyad 73.­98 ff. This is Subhūti’s one hundred and ninety-ninth question, “Lord, if, because of the emptinesses of what transcends limits and no beginning and no end, a being absolutely cannot be apprehended, a dharma also cannot be apprehended, and a dharma’s intrinsic nature cannot be apprehended, well then, Lord, how do bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom arisen from maturation… teach the Dharma to beings?”

n.1824khri brgyad 73.­100.

n.18255.­1065.

n.1826khri brgyad 73.­102.

n.1827Alternatively, taking the construction as a bahuvrīhi, “it does not have the form that is a falsely imagined thing as its intrinsic nature.” Brunnhölzl (2011, pp. 42–43) renders this: “ ‘the lack of bondage and the lack of liberation’ refer to the state of the perfect [nature], which is not the nature of imaginary form.”

n.1828khri brgyad 73.­104. PSP 6-8: 70, ŚsPN4/2 93r5, ’bum na 71a2, nyi khri ga 243b4, le’u brgyad ma ca 249b5, khri pa nga 336a1–2 all have a reading similar to LSPW pp. 537–38: “Because one cannot apprehend of them an own-being in which they could be established. For the nonexistent does not stand in the nonexistent, own-being does not stand in own-being, other-being does not stand in other-being.”

n.1829Here gzhan dag (“others”) means the rest in the list, starting from “form” given at khri brgyad 73.­103: “ ‘form is empty,’ up to by way of not apprehending ‘consciousness is empty,’ up to by way of not apprehending ‘compounded and uncompounded dharmas are empty.’ ”

n.1830khri brgyad 73.­104, ’bum na 71a5; PSP 6-8: 70 has anubaddha in place of anubuddha.

n.1831khri brgyad 73.­111. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and first question.

n.1832’bum na 86a4–5.

n.1833char bcad pa’i tshul gyis, bhāgacchedena. This is the reply to Subhūti’s two hundred and second question that reads “by curbing”; cf. 5.­853.

n.1834I have added the last part of khri brgyad 73.­114 to make the citation readable in English.

n.1835’bum na 88b4.

n.1836khri brgyad 74.­9.

n.1837This is summarizing khri brgyad 74.­10–74.­13. “They”‍—the bodhisattvas‍—do see “beings to be liberated from hell, or the animal world” and so on as like a dream and an illusion, but the beings do not know “they,” the hells and so on, do not ultimately exist, so “their”‍—the bodhisattvas’‍—power is causing “them”‍—the beings‍—to understand.

n.1838khri brgyad 74.­13. This is the response to Subhūti’s two hundred and seventh question.

n.1839khri brgyad 74.­16. This relates nāman (“name”) with the root nam (“to bow”) and the derivative nimna (“incline to”). The idea is that they get up onto the roof of the ultimate on the ladder of the conventional. The context is as follows: Subhūti asks who exactly are the nonexistent beings that bodhisattvas heroically work to liberate. The Lord says (74.­16) a “name” and says, “Subhūti, these‍—namely ‘name’ and ‘causal sign’‍—are names plucked out of thin air,” and so with all dharmas “they are made-up name designations,” followed by this statement. nyi khri 63.­14, ’bum na 92b3–4 differ.

n.1840This is a conjectural translation. I have not understood this line.

n.1841khri brgyad 74.­25. This is the response to Subhūti’s two hundred and eleventh question.

n.1842khri brgyad 74.­46. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and thirteenth question, “Lord, if bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom are aware in that way of those dharmas that are different from each other, well then, Lord, does that not complicate the dharma-constituent?”

n.1843I have not been able to identify the version of the Sūtra from which this and the following are extracted. Cf. ’bum na 100a2–3, khri brgyad 74.­49: “All dharmas are the dharma-constituent”; and Subhūti’s two hundred and fifteenth question (khri brgyad 74.­51), “How should bodhisattva great beings train in the perfection of wisdom?” and so on.

n.1844khri brgyad 74.­52. This is part of the long response at khri brgyad 74.­52–74.­55.

n.1845khri brgyad 74.­55.

n.1846khri brgyad 75.­2. If the ultimate nature that is pure from the beginning and nirvāṇa, and the ultimate nature of beings caught in saṃsāra based on falsely imagined things conjured out of thin air, is the same ultimate nature, how can you talk about beings in saṃsāra getting to nirvāṇa?

n.1847khri brgyad 75.­5.

n.1848khri brgyad 75.­6–75.­17.

n.1849khri brgyad 75.­18.

n.1850khri brgyad 75.­20.

n.1851khri brgyad 75.­21.

n.1852khri brgyad 75.­21.

n.1853D and Golden 385b6 both read yul na ni gnas (alternative translation: “it is there as an object”). If emended to ni mi based on the reading at khri brgyad 75.­21 (ga 104a6), it would mean “it does not occupy a location,” which is certainly easier to understand.

n.18544.­205, 4.­737, 5.­949.

n.1855Cf. khri brgyad 75.­21: “In regard to all dharmas, there is no establishment and there is no destruction.” Our author’s gloss supports the better reading at khri brgyad K ’jug (“and not established after having set out”). The Tib renderings of Skt sthā (gnas) and prasthā (’jug) should be understood having in mind Tib forms of prior-state and resultant nonvolitional verbs (Tournadre 2010).

n.1856Cf. khri brgyad 75.­21 (reading K, etc., ’jug in place of D ’jig, “destroyed”). “Having stood there, bodhisattva great beings stand in unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, but do not see any dharma established at all after having set out.”

n.1857khri brgyad 75.­23.

n.1858Cf. khri brgyad 75.­23 (ga 105a4) ma yin pa, “not having thought construction as cause.”

n.1859This is connecting paramārtha (“ultimate”) with pāramitā (“perfection”). Just below (khri brgyad 75.­24): “Therefore, bodhisattva great beings, having stood in the perfection that is the emptiness of a basic nature…”

n.1860khri brgyad 75.­24.

n.1861Cf. ’bum na 146a4, nyi khri 64.­35, khri brgyad 75.­25.

n.1862khri brgyad 75.­27.

n.1863khri brgyad 75.­28.

n.1864khri brgyad 75.­31.

n.1865Cf. khri brgyad 75.­33. This part is an explanation of khri brgyad 75.­32–75.­48, although our author’s version of the Sūtra differs. He is saying, in essence, that the Sūtra is saying that bodhisattvas treat the constituents of themselves as bodhisattvas, their form aggregate and so on, the same as the constituents of themselves in an awakened state. Both are the same from the perspective of the emptiness of a basic nature that is not different from the different dharmas.

n.1866khri brgyad 75.­34.

n.1867khri brgyad 75.­42.

n.1868khri brgyad 75.­43.

n.1869khri brgyad 76.­2.

n.1870nyi khri 65.­9; cf. khri brgyad 76.­3.

n.1871khri brgyad 76.­5.

n.1872khri brgyad 76.­7–76.­10.

n.1873khri brgyad 76.­9.

n.1874khri brgyad 76.­19; cf. nyi khri 65.­29.

n.1875“The fault is that a bodhisattva and tathāgata ‘would have been there before and would not be there later.’ There would also be the fault that the five forms of life in the stream of cyclic existence would have been something that really existed before and would be something that really does not exist later,” and so on.

n.1876khri brgyad 76.­23. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and twenty-fourth question.

n.1877khri brgyad 76.­24–76.­51 is the explanation of the six perfections; 77.­1–77.­2 is the explanation of the path; 77.­3–77.­8 is the explanation of the training in all dharmas; and 77.­9–77.­12 is the explanation of no location. “Close reading” renders rjes su bsnyags pa (Jäschke says it is a colloquial form of snyeg; Mvy samanubandh), literally “to hasten after.”

n.1878khri brgyad 77.­13. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and twenty-ninth question.

n.1879“Do not occasion anything” means that they have not accumulated the karma that would give rise to the production, or they have removed the accompanying conditions that would make the karma ripen.

n.1880khri brgyad 77.­15. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and thirtieth question.

n.1881khri brgyad 77.­25–77.­42.

n.1882khri brgyad 78.­1. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and thirty-fifth question.

n.1883khri brgyad 78.­11.

n.1884Cf. khri brgyad 78.­16, ’bum na 310a2.

n.1885Golden 389b6. D omits zag pa.

n.1886khri brgyad 78.­27. The full response to Subhūti’s two hundred and forty-third question, “Lord, standing in those bright dharmas, do bodhisattva great beings utilize such skillful means but still are not affected by those actions?” is, “Endowed with those skillful means, they work for the welfare of beings… but they have no contact with them at all.”

n.1887The “contact of existence” (srid pa’i reg pa) is one of the twelve links of dependent origination. It is the basis for the link of feeling (tshor ba) of pleasure and so on that gives rise to the three levels of craving‍—the links of craving, appropriation, and existence (sred pa, len pa, and srid pa) where the last “existence” (srid pa) is the strongest craving for the future form of life.

n.1888khri brgyad 78.­29.

n.1889khri brgyad 78.­34.

n.1890khri brgyad 78.­51.

n.1891khri brgyad 78.­35–78.­50 clairvoyances; 78.­51–78.­55 branches; 79.­1–79.­11 persons. Then the question is at 79.­12: “Lord, if all phenomena are empty of their own marks, well then, how do bodhisattva great beings… free beings from the five forms of life in saṃsāra?” The response is 79.­13. That “security is close by” (bde ba bsten, *kṣemāsannībhūtam) is in the sense of the Three Jewels being present as a refuge.

n.1892khri brgyad 79.­14. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and fifty-third question.

n.1893khri brgyad 79.­15.

n.1894’bum na 348b3 gtogs, PSP 6-8: 144–45 paryāpannāṃ (cf. Edg, s.v. paryāpanna); nyi khri ga 319b1, khri brgyad D ga 138a7–b1 rtogs, but K, N gtogs.

n.1895Alternatively, “One’s own aggregates are ‘included in the truths’ and [those] of others ‘are not included in the truths’ ”; or, alternatively, a person’s personal makeup (the aggregates) are relevant to a discussion of the four noble truths, the outer world, but the usual world out there a person understands him or herself to be living in is not.

n.1896Our author’s version of the Sūtra differs from le’u brgyad ma ca 313b4–5, ’bum na 349b2–3, nyi khri 68.­19, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “they see these phenomena without apprehending anything at all”; from khri brgyad 79.­20: “Subhūti, there is no dharma the limit of which bodhisattva great beings do not see. When they do not see any dharma they then do not apprehend it”; and from PSP 6-8: 144 na so dharmo yasyāntaṃ paśyati, tathā ca paśyati yathā na kañcid dharmam upalabhate: “They do not see that dharma of which there is a limit. They see in a way that they do not apprehend any dharma at all.”

n.1897khri brgyad 79.­20.

n.1898khri brgyad 79.­21.

n.1899khri brgyad 54.­2–54.­25, explained at Bṭ3 5.­1002-5.­1027.

n.1900khri brgyad 79.­24.

n.1901khri brgyad 80.­2, LSPW p. 632, “untutored.” PSP 6-8: 158, le’u brgyad ma ca 313b7–314a1, nyi khri 69.­3, ’bum na 351a3 omit.

n.1902This is the response to Subhūti’s two hundred and fifty-sixth question (khri brgyad 80.­1): “Lord, if all dharmas are in their nature not real things, if they have not been made by buddhas… why in these dharmas is there a distinction made between them,” and so on, where it says (80.­2 ff.), “Subhūti, whereas in a dharma that is not real there is no karma, there is no action, and there is no result, unlettered, foolish, ordinary people uneducated about the noble dharmas do not know that dharmas are in their nature unreal things and because of a thought that has arisen on account of error, accumulate a variety of karma.”

n.1903khri brgyad 80.­2.

n.1904nyi khri 69.­5; cf. khri brgyad 80.­3.

n.1905D thos pa; K, N, Golden 391a5 thog pa?=thogs pa, “impediment?”

n.1906Cf. nyi khri 69.­10; khri brgyad 80.­7. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and fifty-seventh question. Bṭ3 5.­909 omits “that was or is” (byung ba’am/ ’byung).

n.1907khri brgyad 80.­8–80.­36.

n.1908khri brgyad 81.­5. This rhetorical question is referencing the immediately preceding paragraph (khri brgyad 81.­4).

n.1909Golden 391b3, citing khri brgyad 81.­8.

n.1910D rgyun; K, N, Golden 391b5 rgyur: “and when they cause a purification of the foundation they become the cause of the path.”

n.1911khri brgyad 81.­10.

n.1912khri brgyad 81.­17. I have not adjusted the slightly problematic order in which our author deals with the statements in the Sūtra but have translated them in the order they are found. The exchange at khri brgyad 81.­13 ff. and ’bum na 375a ff. begins with the Lord saying: “Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom with skillful means do not personally settle down on any dharma at all, and also establish all beings in nonsettling as well, but as an ordinary convention, not ultimately.” Then Subhūti asks, “Lord, is the dharma a tathāgata has fully awakened to, fully awakened to as an ordinary convention or as an ultimate?” After this the Lord says that one dharma cannot awaken to another; it would be happening within a dualism that the awakened state excludes. Subhūti then asks if it happens nondualistically, and the Lord says it is within “sameness” (the absence of both). Subhūti then asks what sameness is and the Lord says it is inexpressible, and then says it is not even within the range of tathāgatas.

n.1913nyi khri 70.­17; cf. khri brgyad 81.­19.

n.1914Cf. khri brgyad 81.­19. This may be an extract from a different version of the Sūtra. I have taken it as a summary of the passage.

n.1915khri brgyad 81.­14: “Is the dharma a tathāgata has fully awakened to, fully awakened to as an ordinary convention or as an ultimate?”

n.1916khri brgyad 81.­18.

n.1917“Just that” renders de nyid (eva). Alternatively, “true reality” ( tattva ). Closest is khri brgyad 81.­19 (ga 146b7) de ni ’dir but it omits nyid as do ’bum na 375b4, nyi khri ga 333b3, Gilgit 671.11, ŚsPN4/2 0213r10, and PSP 6-8: 169.

n.1918Alternatively, “The sameness of dharmas that are nonexistent things in their intrinsic nature is in its intrinsic nature a nonexistent thing, because even the conceptualization of it as an existent thing has been eliminated.”

n.1919khri brgyad 81.­29, ’bum na 379b5, nyi khri 70.­27.

n.1920khri brgyad 81.­36, ’bum na 389b5. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and sixty-ninth question.

n.1921Cf. PSP 6-8: 176, khri brgyad 82.­2. This is the response to Subhūti’s two hundred and seventieth question. nyi khri 71.­2, le’u brgyad ma ca 340a1–2, ’bum na 390a6–7: “That which is emptiness does not do and does not not do anything at all to anything.” ŚsPN4/2 219r2 ya śūnyatā na sā kasyacit kiṃcit karoti.

n.1922Lhasa Kangyur (shes phyin, bum, na), 470a3 de bzhin gshegs pa’i khyu mchog gi mthur mi ’gyur ro. Degé Kangyur (shes phyin, bum, a), 395a, ends abruptly. According to LC, khyu mchog gi mthu is the translation of vṛṣabha in the Daśa­bhūmika­sūtra; cf Edg, s.v. vṛṣabhitā. PSP 6-8: 176 neyaṃ tathāgatasya vṛṣabhitā bhavet.

n.1923rnam par rig par bya ba tsam. Alternatively, “just something one becomes aware of.”

n.1924K, N, Golden 393b4 mi dgos; D mi dmigs, “they would not apprehend.”

n.1925Cf. khri brgyad 82.­3, nyi khri 71.­3, Lhasa ’bum na 470a4.

n.1926K, N, Golden 393b5 ’du shes pa, supported by ŚsPN4/2 22r10 sarvasaṃjñābhiḥ śūnyaḥ. D ’du byed pa, “it is empty of any volitional factor.”

n.1927Golden 393b6, citing nyi khri 71.­3.

n.1928Lhasa ’bum na 470a7 rnam par bcab par mdzad, nyi khri 71.­4, Twenty-Five Thousand translation: “why is this point concealed when it is said, ‘This is emptiness. That is a phantom emanation’?”; PSP 6-8: 178, Gilgit 674.12 vinigūhita. khri brgyad 82.­5 (ga 151a5) rnam par sprul pa zhig (Mvy vikurvita) yod snyam’am, “Is there a contortion into ‘this is a magical creation; this is an emptiness’?” Conze (LSPW p.593: “is the difference… mysteriously concealed?”) observes that the reading is hard to determine with confidence.

n.1929The four (khri brgyad 82.­9) are “some are magically created by śrāvakas, … pratyekabuddhas, … bodhisattvas, … tathāgatas.”

n.1930khri brgyad 82.­10.

n.1931khri brgyad 82.­13. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and seventy-sixth rhetorical question: “according to what you have said, Lord, that ‘not moving from emptiness and not stained by duality either there is no dharma at all that is not emptiness,’ then even that which has the dharma of not coaxing you into believing it is true, nirvāṇa, is magically created?”

n.1932khri brgyad 82.­15. This is Subhūti’s two hundred and seventy-seventh and last question.

n.1933As this statement makes clear, the Maitreya Chapter was not included in the version of the Hundred Thousand that our author was following. In fact, among the long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras as they were brought to Tibet, it may only have been included in the Twenty-Five Thousand (in which it is chapter 72) and the Eighteen Thousand (in which it is chapter 83). In both sūtras its title, as given in the chapter colophon, is “Categorization of a Bodhisattva’s Training.” The traditional explanation is that this particular chapter, along with the three other final chapters recounting the narrative of Sadāprarudita, were held back by the nāgas when Nāgārjuna brought the text of the Hundred Thousand from their realm to the human world. While the versions of the Hundred Thousand in the Degé Kangyur and in most Kangyurs of both Tshalpa and Themphangma lineages thus do not include it, it is present in the versions in the Narthang and Lhasa Kangyurs, following a tradition (mentioned in the Degé Kangyur dkar chag F.117.a) of completing the text by adding these chapters from the other long sūtras.

n.1934The difference between ming (nāman) and ming du brjod pa (nāmadheya) is a variable of context: ming is used as the freestanding word for something (the ontological status of which is to be determined), ming du brjod pa when you are saying that word is being used for, or designating, something. Neither prejudges the status of the “content,” although, as our author says at the outset, saying things are nāmamātra is a way of teaching emptiness.

n.1935What this means is that it is not exactly the same as the name.

n.1936This translation is based on parts of two readings: D ming med pa’i dngos po tsam ’ba’ zhig ma mthong bas ’di ni gzugs yin no zhes mi rig par mi ’gyur ro, and K, N ming med par dngos po tsam ’ba’ zhig mthong bas ’di ni gzugs yin no zhes ming rig par mi ’gyur ro.

n.1937This renders de’i ngo bo nyid ma yin du zin na, in the sense of “if the word does not have some intrinsic connection with what it refers to.”

n.1938Either you would know what the word means from just saying a name without being told what it refers to, or else just from seeing what it is for you would know what it is called even without being told the name.

n.1939K, N ngo bo nyi du mar ’gyur; D ngo bo nyid du de las gzhan par ’gyur, “as an entity become something other than that.”

n.1940Our author takes a word for a generality (for example, “aggregate”) to be related to a basis that is the causal sign of a compounded phenomenon in the same way that a particular (for example, “form” aggregate) is.

n.1941LSPW p. 645, folios 578–79: “Is then form, etc. actually apprehended by way of an own-being (as a result of taking hold of) that entity which is the sign of something conditioned and on account of which there takes place the name, notion, concept and conventional expression, ‘this is form’, etc.”

n.1942The subject here is form , feeling, and so on.

n.1943“Is the basis that is the causal sign of a compounded phenomenon when form is… working as a subsequent conventional designation for form, form, the form entity, or is it simply merely designated?”

n.1944The subject here is Maitreya.

n.1945Our author is saying that the name does not actually articulate exactly what the thing is, like calling a soldier “lion heart.” It does not get to the actual heart of what something is‍—the true dharmic nature of something.

n.1946D ming dang; K, N ming las logs shig na.

n.1947khri brgyad 83.­26.

n.1948dngos po can render either vastu (“basis”) or bhāva (“real thing”).

n.1949He means “serves as the foundation of the name.”

n.1950khri brgyad 83.­27, Lhasa ’bum na 478a6 brjod du med pa’i dbyings dang ’brel pa’i shes rab kyi spyod pa la gnas pa, “abiding in the practice of wisdom connected with the inexpressible element”; MQ (236) yathā te nirabhilapyadhātau prajñāpracāro bhavati. upalabhase tvaṃ tasmin samaye saṃskāranimittaṃ vastu yatra idam āgantukaṃ nāmadheyaṃ prakṣiptam; LSPW p. 646, folio 579: “when your wisdom becomes united with the inexpressible realm.”

n.1951D; K, N: “when thoroughly purified wisdom takes up the inexpressible element.”

n.1952To teach the flaws in the position that it‍—the basis‍—is just that‍—the inexpressible element .

n.1953To teach the flaws in the position that it‍—the inexpressible element ‍—is other than the basis.

n.1954The ultimate is not just the basis, and is not quite other than the basis.

n.1955This reading is corroborated by khri brgyad 83.­31 and Lhasa ’bum na 479a6–7. The rang dbang in rang dbang nyid dam yod pa nyid is perhaps incorporating a gloss from an oral tradition. The explanation below explains the reading at nyi khri 72.­31 (ga 347b5), rang dbang du yod pa nyid dam/ med pa nyid du ’gyur pa, “has no independent existence or nonexistence”; MQ (p. 237), PSP 6-8: 150 na… tasya saṃskāranimittasya vastunaḥ kācid vidyamānatā vāvidyamānatā vā.

n.1956khri brgyad 83.­31.

n.1957khri brgyad 83.­32. The “it” is “that basis that is a causal sign of a compounded phenomenon that has been thus designated by these‍—namely, the names form , feeling , perception , volitional factors , consciousness , up to buddhadharmas plucked out of thin air.”

n.1958MQ (39, 238) yā Maitreya tasmin samskāranimitte vastuni rūpam iti nāma­samjna­samketa­prajnapti­vyavahāran niśritya rūpasvabhāvatayā parikalpanā-idam parikalpitam rūpam; cf. Brunnhöltzl (2011, p. 11).

n.1959Brunnhöltzl (2011, p. 26) renders this passage: “The notion and designation ‘form’ with regard to the cause of that convention‍—a conditioned entity that, based on a convention, is designated as having the nature of form‍—is the meaning of ‘this is falsely imagined form.’ ”

n.1960Griffiths (1990, p. 93): “Every mental event has (or, perhaps better, is) a particular way of appearing to its subject. This is its ākāra, its ‘mode of appearance’.” Griffith’s “phenomenological content of a mental event” nicely conveys what is meant by the three natures or entities that are “aspects” or “modes of appearance” of a phenomenon.

n.1961D. K, N read rnam par shes pa chos rnams su phyin ci log tu snang, “the mode of consciousness erroneously appearing as the dharmas.”

n.1962“Real thing” renders dngos (bhāva). If it renders vastu the translation should be “in the form of a basis.” Brunnhöltz (2011, p. 27): “what arises and appears in the mind as the aspect of an entity.”

n.1963D. K, N blo rnam par brtags pa’i rnam pa ma gtogs, “except for the intellectually active state of mind that is the conceptualized mode of appearance.”

n.1964Golden 403a3 kun tu g.yengs ba’i; D kun tu g.yongs ba’i?

n.1965Cf. Brunnhöltzl: “Through apprehending it based on this conception (being grounded in the nature of the mere aspect of what is mentally conceived), the aspect of being distracted about what is connected with [mental] expressivity [by mistaking it] as having the character of an entity is called ‘expression.’ What appears to the mind as having the character of an entity based on this aspect of ‘being grounded in the nature of the aspect of what is mentally conceived’ is the meaning of ‘conceived form.’ ”

n.1966This renders D rnam par mi rtog pa’i, “nonconceptual.” Golden 403b1 (rnam par brtags pa) says, “When it has become separated from that conceptualized phenomenon, just that mode of appearance in an intellectually active state of mind‍—a falsely imagined phenomenon described before, a mode of appearance suited, as the expressed and expression mode of appearance, to name and designation‍—then that mode of appearance established, in itself, in an inexpressible form as an absence of conceptualization is “the true dharmic nature of form.” ”

n.1967This renders rūpaṇā, the definition of rūpa (“form”).

n.1968Our author is glossing the pra of prabhāvita (“category”; LSPW p. 581 “derived from”) with the sva of svabhāva (“intrinsic nature”).

n.1969khri brgyad 83.­41.

n.1970Cf. khri brgyad 21.­21 (Śāriputra then asked, “Venerable Subhūti, why do you say, ‘Anything called form is counted as not two’?”); ’bum 12.­654 (nga 169b4), nyi khri ka 353b7 gang yang gzugs zhes bgyi pa ’di ni gnyis su ma mchis shing nyam pa ma mchis pa’i chos kyi grangs su bgyis ba’o.

n.1971Earlier (2.­14, 4.­677) and here it says there are twenty-eight questions, but the list adds up to twenty-nine and 4.­1247 says there is a list of twenty-nine questions. Take nyi shu rtsa brgyad to mean nyi shu rtsa brgyad pa.

n.1972khri brgyad 83.­43.

n.1973khri brgyad 83.­45.

n.1974The form that is materially real.

n.1975khri brgyad 83.­49 has “Is that true dharmic nature of form that is just that true dharmic nature of form, form?”

n.1976khri brgyad 83.­52.

n.19774.­52, 5.­1009–5.­1021.

n.1978The order of these statements is reversed in khri brgyad 83.­57–83.­58, which makes more sense.

n.1979Emend da to nga.

n.1980khri brgyad 83.­62, MQ 241 avikalpanāyā; nyi khri ga 352a7–b1 mi rtog pa la mtshan nyid thams cad (avikalpanāyāṃ?), a locative, is easier to understand than a genitive absolute.

n.1981khri brgyad ga 162a6 gcig tu nges par gtan du, *ekāntātyantikī in place of MQ (p. 241) ekāṃśeṇaikāṃśikī, “partially in part”; cf. nyi khri ga 352b3 phyogs gcig pa’am/ shin tu, “in part or absolutely” (*ekāṃśeṇaikāntikī); LSPW “absolute assurance.”

n.1982This is cited earlier (1.­229). The reading sprul pa dang yongs su bsngos pa is corroborated by khri brgyad ga 162b4 sprul pa dang yongs su bsngos pa and le’u brgyad ma ca 322b3 sprul pa dang yongs su bsgyur pa. The Tib translators read nirmāṇa or nirmita and pariṇāmita in place of MQ p. 241 nirvāṇa and pāragāminīm; nyi khri ga 353a2 bsam gyis mi khyab pa mya ngan las ’das par ’gyur pa, “becomes an inconceivable nirvāṇa.” PSP 6-8: 157 api tv acintyān nirvāṇa­pāragāminīm arhato ’py upapattiṃ prajñāpayām, “the birth of a worthy one that gives passage to an inconceivable nirvāṇa is taught too”; LSPW: “an unthinkable rebirth which allows him to advance to the beyond of Nirvana.”

n.1983This is from The Questions of Sāgaramati (Sāgara­mati­paripṛcchā), Toh 152, 10.­7–10.­8 (Dharmachakra 2020) cited earlier at Bṭ3 1.­213–1.­216.

n.1984Earlier 1.­213 nyon mongs pa (saṁkliṣyante), “afflicted by.”

n.1985Earlier 1.­214 nyon mongs pa (saṁkliṣyante), “afflicted by.”

n.1986Earlier 1.­214 nyon mongs pa (saṁkliṣyante), “afflicted by.”

n.1987D reads phyogs in place of tshogs, “not complete the [dharmas on] the side of awakening.”

n.1988This is the Daśa­dharmaka­sūtra cited earlier 1.­223–1.­226.