Notes

n.1Denkarma, folio 296.a (’phags pa byams pa seng ge’i sgra). See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 28–29; Phangthangma 2003, p. 5 (’phags pa byams pa’i seng ge sgra). The Phangthangma dates to the ninth century but likely postdates the Denkarma.

n.2Schopen 2005. The same source also provides a useful summary of the relatively limited modern academic scholarship on the present sūtra. It might also be noted that Schopen suggests that the fact that the sūtra never uses the term Mahāyāna but only Bodhisattva­yāna (“vehicle of the bodhisattvas”) might indicate a relatively early date for this sūtra’s first appearance vis-à-vis the spread of Mahāyāna traditions in India.

n.3Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Avalokinī Sūtra (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021).

n.484000 Translation Team, trans., The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024).

n.5Alexander Csoma de Kőrös Translation Group, trans., Describing the Benefits of Producing Representations of the Thus-Gone One (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021).

n.6Karen Liljenberg, trans., The Question of Maitreya (1) (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016).

n.7Karen Liljenberg, trans., The Question of Maitreya (2) on the Eight Qualities (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016).

n.8Kīrtimukha Translation Group, trans., The Question of Maitreya (3) (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021).

n.9Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., Maitreya’s Setting Out (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021).

n.10Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Sūtra on Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021).

n.11There are two versions of this narrative found in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. The first is found in The Chapter on Medicines (Bhaiṣajyavastu, Toh 1-6, Bhaiṣajyavastu Translation Team, trans. [84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021], 3.172–3.174) of The Chapters on Monastic Discipline (Vinayavastu). The second is found in The Finer Points of Discipline (Vinaya­kṣudraka­vastu, Toh 6), folio 317.b. For an English translation of another version of this narrative found in the Divyāvadāna, an anthology of narratives that is almost certainly related to the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, see Rotman 2008, p. 126.

n.12Schopen 2005.

n.13Literally, “How do they practice yoga (rnal ’byor du bgyi)?”

n.14The Tibetan here is kun tu bstan pa.

n.15The Tibetan here is bdag la ’bras bu ma thob pa kho nar ’chi ba’i dus byed par ’gyur ba gang yin pa’i gnas de lta bu yang yod la. This passage presents some challenges to interpretation that we have so far not satisfactorily resolved.

n.16Here “Buddhadharma” renders the Tibetan sangs rgyas kyi chos, which might also be read to mean “a buddha’s qualities.”

n.17Here “precepts” renders the Tibetan bsdam pa’i gnas.

n.18The Tibetan here is dpe.

n.19Translation tentative. The Tibetan here is ’od srung de lta bas na gang stong gi ’jig rten gyi khams kyi sems can thams cad kyi bde ba’i yo byad thams cad ’phrogs par spro ba de ni sdig can gyi ’dod pa de lta bu des dad pas byin pa yongs su longs spyod par byed de/ ’od srung ngas ni sdig pa can gyi ’dod pa de las gzhan pa rab tu byung ba’i chos shin tu tha chad cig shos gzhan ma mthong ngo. The sense appears to be that such behavior of one gone forth is more despicable than stealing everything from every being in a thousandfold universe.

n.20Translation tentative. The Tibetan here is dge slong dag nga ni cher na phung po’i lhag ma dang bcas pa’i mya ngan las ’das pa yang rung ste/ skad cig tsam skye ba la yang bsngags pa mi brjod do.

n.21The Tibetan here is rnal ’byor spyod pa (“the practice of yoga”).

n.22There is an interesting resonance here with the famous episode recorded in the Nikāyas/Āgamas in which Ānanda failed to request the Buddha to remain for an eon or longer. For the version of this episode in Pali, see Dīgha Nikāya 16 and Aṅguttara Nikāya 8.70.

n.23The Tibetan here is phrag pa’am/spyi bo la (“on my shoulders and the top of my head”), indicating a posture of supplication.

n.24Translation tentative. The Tibetan here is bcom ldan ’das bdag gling chen po bzhi pa’i ’jig rten gyi khams grong dang / grong khyer dang / grong rdal dang bcas pa/ brag dang / ri bo’i zom dang bcas pa/ rgya mtsho dang / chu klung dang / nags tshal dang bcas pa ’di bskal pa’am/ bskal pa las lhag par phrag pa’am/ spyi bo la ’tshal bar ni spro lags kyi/ bcom ldan ’das bdag skyes bu dam pa ma lags pa de dag gi log par smra ba’i sug las de dag nyan par ni mi spro lags so.

n.25Here and in the previous instance, we follow the reading dge slong ma che ge mo found in Yongle, Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok.

n.26Adopting the reading le lan in the Stok, Narthang, and Lhasa Kangyurs in place of the Degé reading la lan.

n.27We take the Degé reading here to be don shes par bya ba’i phyir, which also appears to be the reading in Stok.

n.28That is, they should not turn up one after the other.

n.29The Tibetan here is sangs rgyas lugs.

n.30The Tibetan here is chu srin ’dzin khri, which refers specifically to a giant sea monster.

n.31This refers to the well-known confessional rite practiced in order to purify transgressions of the precepts by those who have undertaken the bodhisattva’s discipline. For more on this practice and its canonical sources, see the introduction to Ascertaining the Vinaya: Upāli’s Questions (Vinaya­viniścayopāli­pari­pṛcchā, Toh 68), UCSB Buddhist Studies Translation Group, trans. (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021), i.5.

n.32The “minor act of nonvirtue,” presumably.

n.33Our translation of the phrases cha khyer and, below, cha blangs is tentative. cha khyer occurs in The Testament of Ba (sba bzhed), in the king’s instruction to invite Śāntarakṣita to Tibet, as cha khyer la shog cig, which Wangdu and Diemberger (2000), p. 43, translate as “bring me the [positive] reply.” The phrase does not otherwise appear to occur in the Kangyur.

n.34Here we follow the Yongle and Kangxi reading of brtson pa. The Degé reading is rtsom pa.

n.35Most editions other than Degé omit the phrase “with faith” (dad pas) here.

n.36Literally “should stay a hundred leagues away from” (las dpag tshad brgyar ’byol bar bya).

n.37Here we follow the Yongle/Kangxi reading lag du song ba.

n.38These are the first three. The fourth is described in the next two sentences.

n.39Literally, “two tongued” (lce gnyis).

n.40The Tibetan here is sangs rgyas kyi chos, which could also be read to mean “the Buddha’s qualities.”

n.41The Tibetan here is lus kyi tshul ’chos pa.

n.42The Tibetan here is bdun bdun.

n.43The Tibetan here is ’khrul ’khor gyi srad bu. Translation tentative.

n.44Perhaps the sense here is that the monk can move the earth and so forth, but he cannot move the two boys, even as they are standing on the earth.

n.45That is, they gave that much and created that much virtue in each instant, one after the other, for as many eons as there are grains of sand in the Ganges.

n.46The Tibetan here is sangs rgyas kyi gnas pa bla na med pas gnas pa ’thob par ’gyur ba. Translation tentative.

n.47Yongle, Kangxi, Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok Palace here have the reading stong la mi gnas (“to not abide in emptiness”), as opposed to Degé’s gtong la mi gnas.

n.48Yongle, Kangxi, and Stok Palace read shes here, whereas Degé reads zhes.

n.49The Tibetan here is bla na med pa yang dag par rdzogs pa’i byang chub tu sems bskyed cing sems kyi rang bzhin gyis byang chub kyi rang bzhin rjes su rtogs par yang bgyid lags te.

n.50The Tibetan here is ’o na tshul khrims dang / ting nge ’dzin dang / shes rab dang / rnam par grol ba dang / rnam par grol ba’i ye shes mthong ba dag nyid mchod pa’i ’os yin gyi/ sku gdung dag ni mchod par ’os par mi ’gyur ma yin nam.

n.51We take the reading ’dri bar ’gyur here to be an error for ’bri bar ’gyur.

n.52The Tibetan here is bdud rtsi, which renders the Sanskrit amṛta, literally “deathless.”

n.53Here, too, we read ’dri ba as a mistake for ’bri ba. The latter reading is found in Narthang.

n.54Here we follow the reading found in Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok, ’di las, in preference to ’di la in Degé.