Introduction

i.1The Array of Virtues of Mañjuśrī’s Buddha Realm is a sūtra that belongs to the Heap of Jewels (Skt. Ratnakūṭa; Tib. dkon brtsegs) section of the Kangyur. The sūtra begins in the city of Rājagṛha. This city was formerly the capital city of the kingdom of Magadha, which was located in the present-day Indian state of Bihar. There, we are told, the Buddha Śākyamuni is residing, surrounded by an enormous assembly of monks, bodhisattvas, and various divine beings. During the course of the sūtra, the Buddha teaches in response to the queries of a variety of Dharma seekers, including King Ajātaśatru, the ruler of Magadha. Later in the sūtra, the Buddha returns to Vulture Peak Mountain and teaches based on questions posed by several of his senior disciples, such as Śāriputra and Maitreya. Before beginning, the Buddha also inspires bodhisattvas living in various other buddha realms to come to this world to hear his teachings. Once these bodhisattvas have gathered, the bodhisattva Maitreya poses a series of questions pertaining to bodhisattva practice, the development of buddha realms, and the attainment of awakening. In response, the Buddha Śākyamuni identifies many qualities that bodhisattvas must develop to ensure the successful manifestation of their future buddha realms, as well as the benefits of those qualities for the bodhisattvas themselves. In the process, the Buddha explains how the extent of the qualities in a buddha realm is determined by the scope of a bodhisattva’s mind set on awakening and by aspirations. Many bodhisattvas are inspired by this and pledge to develop buddha realms abundant with such qualities.

i.2The second half of the sūtra centers around Mañjuśrī’s career as a bodhisattva and his future buddha realm. Here the Buddha describes Mañjuśrī’s past lives and reveals details about his future attainment of awakening as the Buddha Samantadarśin and the features of his buddha realm. Throughout these teachings on Mañjuśrī’s spiritual qualities and awakened activity, Mañjuśrī himself emphatically denies the existence of such achievements by reference to the nonexistence of all phenomena, including his spiritual journey, and even his own nonexistence. The depictions of his bodhisattva career and the resulting buddha realm in a distant future are thus placed explicitly within the Great Vehicle teachings on emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. These teachings inspire the bodhisattva assembly to manifest similar buddha realms. The Buddha then reveals that there are four bodhisattvas, currently living in other realms, who can rival Mañjuśrī’s bodhisattva conduct. These four bodhisattvas arrive at Vulture Peak Mountain, after which their visit evolves into a shared explication among many bodhisattvas on what is known as the Dharma teaching on the single principle. This is a theme that also appears in other Great Vehicle sūtras as a synonym for sameness or suchness. Finally, as is customary in sūtra literature, the events conclude with many beings achieving significant spiritual attainments.

i.3The Sanskrit original of this text is unfortunately no longer extant; however, the text was translated into Chinese no less than three times over a period of more than four centuries. The first of the Chinese translations was produced in 290 ᴄᴇ by the monk Dharmarakṣa (c. 233–310 ᴄᴇ). One of the most prolific early translators of Buddhism in China, Dharmarakṣa completed more than 150 translations of canonical scriptures during his life. With this Chinese translation, we thus have a terminus ante quem for the composition of this sūtra, allowing it to be placed in the early period of the Great Vehicle literature in India. The second translation was produced by another well-known translator, the Khotanese monk Śikṣānanda (652–710 ᴄᴇ), around four centuries later, in approximately 700 ᴄᴇ. The third Chinese translation was produced by Amoghavajra (705–74 ᴄᴇ), the master of esoteric Buddhism whose origins are unknown and who spent the majority of his adult life in China. Śikṣānanda’s translation became part of the Heap of Jewels collection, while the other two Chinese translations appear individually in the Chinese canon. Recently, long excerpts of the sūtra have also been translated into English from the Chinese and published under the title “The Prediction of Mañjuśrī’s Attainment of Enlightenment.”

i.4The Tibetan translation was produced along with the other texts in the Heap of Jewels collection. The translators are listed as the Indian scholars Śīlendrabodhi and Jinamitra along with the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé, who all lived during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. Therefore, the Tibetan translation that we have rendered into English here would have been completed during the early translation period, which is also attested by the text’s inclusion in the early ninth-century Denkarma (Tib. ldan dkar ma) inventory of translations into Tibetan. In Tibet, the sūtra also appears to have enjoyed a certain popularity among philosophical commentators, as its verses are often quoted in commentarial literature, mostly on the importance of forming aspirations for spiritual accomplishment. This English translation from the Tibetan has been produced based on the Degé block print, with reference to the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma).