Notes

n.1See for example Deshung Rinpoche 2003 and Kilty 2010. Four verses taken directly from Kumārajīva’s translation have also been incorporated into a Chan text dating from the fifth century (Greene 2012, 582).

n.2In his article on the Vyākhyāyukti, Peter Verhagen cites Vasubandhu to the effect that a “Pūrṇasūtra” was lost or at least incompletely transmitted by his time (Verhagen 2005, 590). Peter Skilling lists The Questions of Pūrṇa in a series of discourses mentioning tathāgata caityas (Skilling 2016, p.31). Ulrich Pagel mentions the sūtra in a few lists in two articles, once in a list of texts that include mention of dhāraṇī (Pagel 2007, 164, 167) and another time in a list of texts that give a sixfold typology of “skill” (Pagel 2012, 337).

n.3The few minor differences between them can be easily explained by the separate transmission histories of each text. Less likely, the similarity could theoretically also be due to both translations having relied on a nearly identical Sanskrit source text.

n.4For instance, lha ’dre (“gods and spirits”) and byams sdang (“love/attachment and aversion”).

n.5The Denkarma and Phangthangma catalogs both have separate sections for texts translated from Chinese, but that potential distinguishing feature seems to have been overridden as a classification for this text by its belonging to the section of works included in the The Heap of Jewels collection.

n.6Those mentioned in the Kangyur include: (1) Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra, the interlocutor in the present text; he is mentioned in many sūtras including The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Toh 176); (2) the Pūrṇa who was one of the second group of five monks ordained by the Buddha, the “five friends” (nye lnga sde), all Vārāṇasī merchants’ sons, headed by Yaśas; (3) the Pūrṇa of The Exemplary Tale of Pūrṇa (Pūrṇāvadāna, found in Tibetan in The Chapter on Medicines , ch. 6 of the Vinayavastu, Toh 1), son of a wealthy Aparāntaka merchant and his slave girl, a successful maritime expedition leader before going forth as a monk, and almost certainly also the protagonist in The Precious Discourse on the Blessed One’s Extensive Wisdom That Leads to Infinite Certainty (Toh 99); (4) an older Pūrṇa, the “Elder Pūrṇa from Kuṇḍopadāna,” who is also mentioned in The Exemplary Tale of Pūrṇa as one of the monks in the Buddha’s airborne entourage; (5) a very rich and generous brahmin called Pūrṇa from the Mountains of the South who invites the Buddha and receives a prediction of enlightenment, but is not ordained; he is the subject of the first story in The Hundred Exemplary Tales, Beginning with That of Pūrṇa (Pūrṇapramukhāvadānaśataka, Toh 343); and (6) the sickly and short-lived Pūrṇa of Śrāvasti, attendant of Aniruddha, who became an arhat just before he died and is the subject of one of the stories in the first chapter of The Hundred Deeds (Karmaśataka, Toh 340).

n.7Here we have emended the Tibetan ’jigs pa (“fear”) to ’jig pa (“perish,” “decay”) to reflect the Chinese translation: 具足不壞信 (“Filled with incorruptible faith”).

n.8Stok Palace reads: ye shes dang mthong ba (“wisdom and vision”).

n.9Here, we have preferred the Narthang, Kangxi, Yongle, Lhasa, and Stok Palace editions: rtog. Degé reads: rtogs.

n.10A related metaphor appears in the Narthang edition: de phyir mang thos btsal bar bya/ btsal nas chu bzhin gnas bya ste/ chos dbyings sangs rgyas rjes dran na/ mang du thos pa de las skye. (“Therefore, one should pursue erudition and then remain like water. When one recollects the expanse of phenomena and the Buddha, erudition is born from that.”)

n.11Translated based on the Narthang, Kangxi, Yongle, and Lhasa editions (gzugs), and the Chinese translation (形色). Degé reads: gzungs.

n.12The Chinese translation reads: 菩薩不隨言 知皆是虚誑 知諸法空故 但求於善語 (“Bodhisattvas do not follow the words;/ They know they are all deceptive./ But to understand that all phenomena are empty,/ They still pursue virtuous statements”).

n.13Translated based on the Narthang, Kangxi, Yongle, Lithang, Choné, Lhasa, and Stok Palace editions (’jigs), and the Chinese translation (畏). Degé reads: ’jig.

n.14The Chinese translation reads: 眞妙法 (“authentic sublime Dharma”).

n.15Translated based on the Narthang, Kangxi, Lithang, Choné, and Stok Palace editions (’jigs), and the Chinese translation (畏). Degé reads: ’jig.

n.16The Lithang, Kangxi, and Choné editions read: dben (“void”).

n.17Translated based on the Narthang (nang zhes bya ba ni dngos po ’di gnyis ’du byed pa yang mi bden zhing slu bar byed pa yin) and Lhasa (nang zhes bya ba’i dngos po ’di gnyis ’du byed pa yang mi bden zhing slu bar byed pa yin) editions. Degé reads: nang zhes bya bas dngos po ’di gnyis ’du byed pa yang mi bden zhing slu bar byed pa yin (“since they are said to be inner, those two categories of phenomena are conditioned, untrue, and deceptive”). The Chinese translation reads: 内名爲二 。此事虚誑 (“Inner is said to be twofold. These things are false and deceptive”).

n.18The word dharma (Tib. chos) in this text denotes and shifts between multiple interconnected senses, such as “phenomena,” “teachings,” “qualities,” “reality,” and “trainings on the path.”

n.19Here we have emended mngon thob ’phags, as found in the different Tibetan editions, to mngon mtho ’phags, in accordance with the Chinese translation (轉高增).

n.20We have been unable to identify the types of cloth mentioned in this list, apart from kāśīkā cloth, which is the name of fabric produced in Kāśī (Vārāṇasī). Perhaps the others are also names of fabrics from cities known for their production of fine fabrics.

n.21Translated based on the Kangxi, Yongle, and Stok Palace editions: ’grul. Degé reads: ’drul.

n.22Translated based on the Stok Palace edition (smra dka’) and the Chinese translation: 難與語 (“difficulty with words”). Degé reads: smra dga’ (“fond of talking”).

n.23Here we have emended Degé’s lam log can (“following wrong paths”) to ma log can, in accordance with the Chinese translation: 無反復, (“not to return something”), since the general pattern throughout these verses is to have terms with similar meanings next to each other. Different variants for this line are found in the Tibetan editions: byas pa mi gzo lam log can (Degé, Choné), bya dka’ mi bzod le lo can (Stok Palace), byas pa mi gzo snyams log can (Lhasa), bya dga’ myi bzod leb log can (Yongle), byas pa mi bzod lam log can (Kangxi), and byas pa mi bzo lim log can (Narthang).

n.24Here, we have preferred the Narthang, Kangxi, Yongle, Lhasa, and Chinese versions, all of which, unlike the Degé version, negate the verb “to cultivate.”

n.25The Comparative Edition wrongly has smas pa here instead of smras pa, archaic for “wounded,” as it appears in the Degé edition.

n.26Translated based on the Kangxi and Yongle editions (sems), and the Chinese translation (思). Degé reads: bzod (“patience”).

n.27Translated based on the Kangxi (mi byed) and Yongle (myi byed) editions, and the Chinese translation (不作). Degé reads: bzod byed (“I will remain patient”).

n.28Translated based on the Stok Palace edition (gal te ngan pas lan byas na) and the Chinese translation (若還以惡報). Degé reads: gal te ngan pa’i las byas na (“If I commit negative actions”).

n.29Translated based on the Narthang, Kangxi, Yongle, and Lhasa editions: ’dod pa mang ba. Degé reads: ’dod pa med pa.

n.30Meaning “leader.”

n.31Here we have emended dga’ zhing (“joyfully”), as found in the different Tibetan editions, to ’ga’ zhig, in accordance with the Chinese translation (若有人: “if there were someone…”). The Tibetan could be the result of a two-stage scribal error: first, an accidental error transforming ’ga’ to dga’, based on the appearance of dga’ in the previous verse; then, a deliberate “correction” of zhig to zhing, to “make sense” of dga’.

n.32Translated based on the Narthang and Lhasa editions (lha ’dre) and the Chinese translation (天神). Degé reads: lha klu (“gods and nāgas”). Most instances of lha ’dre in Tibetan Kangyur discourses appear in texts translated from Chinese.

n.33Translated based on the Narthang, Kangxi, Yongle, Lithang, Choné, and Lhasa editions: yon tan ldan. Degé reads: yon tan bden.

n.34Tibetan: g.yo dang mi g.yo sems can; Chinese: 動不動衆生. This most likely refers to beings in the desire realm (Skt. kāmadhātu) constantly “moving/shifting” throughout saṃsāra, and beings in the two higher realms of form (Skt. rūpadhātu) and formlessness (Skt. arūpadhātu) “unmoving/unshifting” throughout saṃsāra in the same manner, respectively. Cf. Soothill’s entry for the similar 動不動法: “The mutable and the immutable, the changing and the unchanging, the kāmadhātu or realms of metempsychosis and the two higher realms, rūpadhātu and arūpadhātu.”

n.35The Chinese translation, as it appears in the Taishō, has this as a rhetorical question: (世尊以何思 何行擧下足: “With what intent or behavior/ Does the Blessed One lift and place down his feet?”).

n.36These refer to the three divisions of time pertaining to the longevity of the Dharma on earth after the passing of the Buddha. During the first period, the Dharma is upheld properly; during the intermediate period, only a semblance of the Dharma remains; and during the final period, the Dharma declines until it vanishes.

n.37This follows the Chinese 轉法輪經. The Tibetan Stok Palace version has chos kyi ’khor lo’i mdo sde, whereas the Degé version has the rather redundant chos kyi ’khor lo yongs su bskor ba’i ’khor lo. This title is probably a reference to the Dharmacakrapravartanasūtra (Toh 31) and/or the Dharmacakrasūtra (Toh 337), each of which contains what is considered the first teaching delivered by the Buddha.

n.38The Tibetan only very partially reflects the Chinese here: 梨師山鹿園; literally: ṛṣi (梨師) mountain (山) deer (鹿) park (園).

n.39The term nam mkha’i sa mtshams, the “edge of space” or “boundary of space,” is only found elsewhere in the Kangyur as an impossibility describing the tenth kind of acceptance (in chapter 35 of the Buddhavataṃsaka, Toh 44, Degé Kangyur vol. 36, F.383.b), and could conceivably be a reference to the ineffability of the Bodhisattva Collection, although that does not fit the syntax. It is also possible that “the edge of space” here is a reference to the sacred geography of Vārāṇasī, which is said to consist of an environment of five concentric rings associated with the elements (fire, water, wind, earth, and space). Since the Deer Park in Sarnath would be at the outer edge of that geographic map, it would hence be “at the edge of space.” The subsequent reference to Veṇuvana (near Rājagṛha) would then seem to imply that the term applies to everything outside of Vārāṇasī. Thanks to Paul Hackett for making this suggestion to us.

n.40The four attitudes are not clearly listed in the text. However, based on the following accounts of the Buddha’s past lives as a bodhisattva, the four seem to be love, compassion, generosity, and patience.

n.41As this passage seems corrupt in Tibetan (Degé reads: mod gal ngas ni ’di lta bu’i smon lam dang brtson ’grus chen po bskyed nas blo dang ldan pa ’di lta ste/ sangs rgyas dang/ de’i nyan thos dag la ’di ltar rigs pa’i tshul dri ba’i rgyu dang rkyen yod par gyur na sdug bsngal dang du blangs nas sems can rnams sems can dmyal ba las thar bar byed pas mod gal mkhas pa dag gis thos par gyur na nga’i mang du thos pa’i bsngags pa brjod), we have translated it based on the Chinese: 目連。 我發如是大願。精進諮問有智。所謂佛及弟子。可有如是道理因縁代受苦惱。令諸衆生出地獄不。目連。智者聞已。但爲我讃説多聞。.

n.42Translated based on the Narthang, Kangxi, Yongle, and Stok Palace editions (lha ’dre) and the Chinese translation (天鬼神). Degé reads: lha klu (“gods and nāgas”).

n.43Translated based on Stok Palace edition: nyes pa’i ’du shes skyed pa byed. Degé reads: nyes pa’i ’du shes skyed pa med (“He has not perceived me as an evil person”). The Chinese translation reads: 而不能使以我為親 (“However, I could not make him consider me a friend”).

n.44The Chinese translation reads: 骨髓 (“marrow”). This might be related to what Devadatta cries as he is about to enter the Hell of Ceaseless Torment.

n.45Stok Palace alternatively reads: sems can rnams kyi sems (“the minds of sentient beings”).

n.46The Chinese translation reads: 倍 (“twice as much as”).

n.47Translated based on the Stok Palace edition: ngas chos de thos nas/ sems rtse gcig tu ’khor rnams nyan thos dang rang sangs rgyas kyi ’bras bu yongs su gnyer ba la gzud pa’i phyir ’dun par gyur pa kho nar zad do. Degé reads: ngas chos de bstan pas nga’i ’khor rnams las sems rtse gcig tu nyan thos dang rang sangs rgyas kyi ’bras bu yongs su gnyer ba dag gzud pa’i phyir ’dun par gyur pa kho nar zad do (“By delivering this teaching, my only motivation has been to look after those among my retinue who one-pointedly pursue the fruition of the hearers and solitary buddhas”).

n.48We are unsure what the twofold abode (Tibetan: gnas gnyis) refers to. It might perhaps refer to the form realm (Tibetan: gzugs kyi khams, Sanskrit: rūpadhātu) and the formless realm (Tibetan: gzugs med pa’i khams, Sanskrit: arūpadhātu).