Notes

n.1Vasubandhu is thought to have flourished in the fourth or fifth century ᴄᴇ, but many of the details of his life are unclear. For attempts to reconcile the various biographical sources, see Anacker (1984), pp. 7–28, Pereira and Tiso (1987), Skilling (2000), and Gold (2015) pp. 1–21.

n.2Pearcey, Adam. trans., The Sūtra on the Four Factors , Toh 251 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023).

n.3That commentary, titled ’phags pa chos bzhi pa’i rnam par bshad pa’i rgya cher ’grel pa, is the only text attributed to Jñānadatta (ye shes byin) within the Tengyur. However, another text by an author of that name can be found among the Dunhuang documents: ’phags pa sgo drug pa’i gzungs kyi rnam par bshad pa rgya cher ’grel pa (IOL Tib J 430).

n.4Jñānadatta begins his commentary by noting that the sūtra has already been commented on by “scholars” (mkhas pa dag)‍—the plural particle here might even indicate the Sanskrit dual and thus signify two scholars. In any case, Jñānadatta’s words suggest the existence of at least one other commentary on the sūtra that is no longer extant.

n.5Jñānadatta does cite two lines from these verses in his sub-commentary: mkhas ’dir chos ’di dag la rtag gnas na | bdud rnams bcom ste byang chub ’tshang rgya’o ||.

n.6See Denkarma F.306.b.1. See also Herrmann-Pfandt (2008), pp. 315–17. Vasubandhu’s text is no. 557.

n.7In his commentary, Jñānadatta elaborates further on this point and says that the two serve as an antidote to wishing harm on others.

n.8In commenting on this, Jñānadatta cites a passage from the Bodhisattva­bhūmi that offers a number of different epithets: “Bodhisattva, great being, intelligent one, supreme in brilliance, heir of the victors, conqueror, supporter of victory, scion of the victorious, mighty one, marvelous one, leader, one of great renown, compassionate one, possessor of great merit, lord, and similarly, the righteous one.” (byang chub sems dpa’ sems dpa’ che | blo dang ldan pa gsal ba’i mchog | rgyal sras rgyal ba nyid dang ni | rgyal gzhi rgyal ba’i myu gu dang | rtsal dang ldan pa ngo mtshar ba | ded dpon grags pa chen po dang | thugs rje ldan dang bsod nams che | dbang phyug de bzhin chos can no ||). See Engle (2016), pp. 490–91.

n.9“Light-maker” (snang byed in Tibetan, or bhāskara in Sanskrit) is a common name for the sun. Jñānadatta gives the counterexample of a firefly (srin bu me khyer) as a lesser source of illumination.