Notes

n.1The 84000 Knowledge Base article on the Heap of Jewels (Skt. Ratnakūṭa) collection may be accessed here.

n.2It is possible that this discontinuity indicates an amalgamation of two originally independent works featuring Mañjuśrī, but it is impossible to know for sure.

n.3A text by the same name is cited in Daśabalaśrīmitra’s (ca. 1100–70 ᴄᴇ) An Analysis of the Conditioned and the Unconditioned (Saṃskṛtā­saṃskṛtaviniścaya), but the passage cited there, though it relates to a discourse involving Mañjuśrī and a figure addressed as “divine being” (devaputra), is not found in the version of The Teaching on the Inconceivable Scope of a Buddha in the Tibetan Kangyur. Daśabalaśrīmitra’s text (Toh 3897, folio 281.a) cites from it as saying, “What are the four noble truths? Divine being, whoever sees all composite phenomena as intrinsically unborn completely understands suffering. Whoever sees that all phenomena are ultimately undestroyed abandons the source of suffering. Whoever sees that all phenomena are completely beyond suffering realizes the cessation of suffering. Whoever sees that all phenomena are completely empty cultivates the path to liberation. This is because all phenomena are without an intrinsic nature. Their intrinsic nature is only the emptiness of the aspects of the four noble truths.” However, this passage is not found in the Kangyur version of The Teaching on the Inconceivable Scope of a Buddha. A passage at folio 273.a-b relates to the similar theme of the four noble truths, but it does not match.

n.4While Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Yeshé Dé are all credited with translating and editing numerous texts in the Heap of Jewels collection, only one other text in the collection also involved Munivarman, namely The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (1) (Toh 62).

n.5Denkarma, folio 296.a–b; Herrman-Pfandt 2008, p. 34.

n.6A partial English translation of Bodhiruci’s Chinese version has been published as “The Demonstration of the Inconceivable State of Buddhahood” in Chang, Garma et al. 1983, pp. 27–36.

n.7These are the three doors to liberation: emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness.

n.8A similar passage is found in the Udānavarga compiled by Dharmatrāta (Toh 4099, folio 25.b). This text is the Sanskrit equivalent of the famed Pali Dhammapada, though there are considerable differences between the two.

n.9Following the Degé reading, don du gnyer. In the Narthang, Beijing, Lhasa, and Stok Palace editions, the verb is negated: don du ma gnyer, don du mi gnyer (“do not strive”).

n.10The plantain tree is a common metaphor in Buddhist literature. Because the plantain tree has a hollow trunk and bears fruit once before dying, it is often a metaphor for insubstantiality.

n.11The Tibetan text appears to be corrupt here. D, S read phung po lnga ni rkyen la rag lus pa’o// gang dag rkyen la rag lus pa de dag rag lus pa med pa’o// gang dag rag lus pa med pa de dag bdag po med pa’o. We have chosen to omit rag lus pa med pa’o// gang dag rag lus pa med pa de dag from the translation.

n.12Tib. nam mkha la lag pa dang mtshungs. A hand moving in space is encountered in the canonical literature as a simile for the unobstructed. See, for example, Upholding the Roots of Virtue (Toh 101, 1.­33).

n.13Tib. chos kyi dbyings kyang dbyings med pa ste/ gang dbyings med pa de mig gi khams med do. Another way to render this, to reflect the multivalence of the underlying Sanskrit, would be, “But in the dharmadhātu there is no dhātu. To be without dhātu is to be without the dhātu of the eye…” etc. The text then goes on to enumerate the many dhātus or “constituents” of experience. So in our translation, reflecting the Tibetan, “expanse,” “constituents,” and “elements” all correspond to the same underlying Sanskrit term, dhātu. This multivalent term, analogous in some ways to the uses of the term dharma, was translated into Tibetan as dbyings (“expanse” or “space”) in the specific context of the term dharmadhātu , while in every other context it was translated into Tibetan as khams (“realm,” “constituent,” or “element”).

n.14While the Degé and Stok Palace editions have rjes su rtogs pa med pa’i tshul, the Lhasa and Narthang editions have rjes su rtogs pa’i tshul “by means of discrimination.” We have opted for the former.

n.15The idea that Maitreya will have three gatherings of śrāvaka disciples is found in The Prophecy of Maitreya (’phags pa byams pa lung bstan pa), a rare text only found in the Peking, Narthang, and Lhasa xylograph editions, and the Hemis I and Phukdrak manuscript Kangyurs. Its colophon says it was translated into Tibetan with the help of the Kashmiri pandit Jinamitra, but it is atypical of other sūtras in its style and verse. The Prophecy of Maitreya describes the three groups as having different attainments. The first group “cuts cyclic existence,” the second is “free of the bonds of the afflictions,” and the third has “the freedom of peace” (’phags pa byams pa lung bstan pa, 494.b). Three groups of śrāvaka disciples are also predicted to be future buddhas in The Account of the Previous Lives of the Buddha (skyes pa rabs kyi gleng gzhi, Toh 32, folios 203.b, 210.a, and 210.b).

n.16Following S, N, H: dpral. D: ’phral.

n.17sthitvā?

n.18aglam (=agram)?

n.19ābhu me bhu bhu me?

n.20miśle (=miśre)?

n.21paśya me?

n.22suṣṭhu?

n.23anavanatam sthitvā?

n.24apagata? udgata? uparigata?

n.25A tentative translation of this dhāraṇī may be the following: “O Stainless One! O You Without Stain! Staying at the front (agalam=agaram=agram?), you conquer the enemy that has never been conquered. O victorious one! You focus on what is true. O Peaceful One! Be close to me, be, be for me! O Steadfast One! akhe makhe khakhe! O Manifold One (misile=miśire=miśre)! O Immovable One! phulate phula phule! Watch over me! Support me assiduously! Remaining without bowing down, you have accomplished your purpose. O Vairocana, accomplished in fortitude. You are the teacher of the sacred Dharma and the upholder of this sūtra. You are like the sun that has emerged from behind the clouds (abhra), svāhā!”

n.26This ends the traditional list of the five higher perceptions.

n.27These first four enumerate the four noble truths.

n.28Tib. tshigs su bcad pa med pa’i ’jigs pa, literally “fear of there being no verses,” here interpreted as eulogies.

n.29Following S: shes rab kyi snang ba rather than D: shes rab kyis snang ba.

n.30This translation is tentative. Tib. dbang po drug la rten par mi byed cing sems can thams cad kyi dbang po yongs su smin par bya ba’i phyir shes pa yang gtong la.

n.31Following Y, N: bzhes so. D, S: gzhes so.

n.32Wheels on the soles of the feet is one of the thirty-two marks of a great being.

n.33Following D, S, and others: rigs pa. N, H: rig pa (“awareness”).