Introduction

i.1The Seer Vyāsa’s Questions is the last of the forty-nine sūtras in the Heap of Jewels (Skt. Ratnakūṭa; Tib. dkon brtsegs) section of the Degé Kangyur. The interlocutor in this text is the great seer Vyāsa, a non-Buddhist mendicant whose name literally means “compiler.” The name Vyāsa is given to a number of figures in Hindu traditions, the best known of whom bears the epithet Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana and is credited with arranging the Vedas into four collections as well as compiling various texts of the Brahmanical traditions. The Mahābhārata depicts him as an authoritative teacher, a model brahmin who has gained omniscience through asceticism. The Vyāsa who acts as interlocutor in this sūtra, however, appears to be another great seer by the same name, and not the Vyāsa credited with compiling the Vedas and systematizing a broad swath of Brahmanical literature.

i.2In this sūtra, Vyāsa, with a large group of his mendicant followers, approaches the Buddha and poses several questions about the karmic results of giving. The key points taught in this sūtra come in the form of the Buddha’s detailed answers regarding the merit and karmic results of giving, and the distinction between pure and impure giving. These are followed by a passage that describes, at considerable length, the life in three different levels of the god realms that is experienced as the fruit of powerful acts of giving, and explains the signs received by the gods in those three different realms of their own impending death and subsequent human rebirth.

i.3The sūtra is no longer extant in Sanskrit, but in addition to the Tibetan translation, two Chinese translations of this sūtra are preserved in the Taishō Tripiṭaka. Taishō 310(49), translated by Bodhiruci (d. 727), bears the title Meeting with the Seer Vyāsa (Guang bo xianren hui 廣博仙人會). Taishō 354, translated by Prajñāruci in 542, bears the title Sūtra of the Questions of Vyāsa (Piyesuo wen jing 毘耶娑問經) and includes a translator’s introduction. The Tibetan translators’ colophon to this work notes that it was translated and edited by the Indian masters Jinamitra and Dānaśīla together with the chief editor and translator Bandé Yeshé Dé. The Tibetan translation would therefore have been completed during the late eighth or early ninth centuries, a dating that is also confirmed by the text’s inclusion in the Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) and Phangthangma (’phang thang ma) imperial catalogs.

i.4Though not a famous scripture, the sūtra is mentioned in a few Indian commentaries: Its title appears in a list of Mahāyāna sūtras in the Nandi­mitrāvadāna. The Bhāvanākrama­sūtra­samuccaya cites the passage where Vyāsa takes refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha (1.­88). The Mahā­sūtra­samuccaya of Atiśa cites a long passage explaining topics including the karmic fruition of giving, the five kinds of giving, pure giving, the five supreme gifts, and the merit of others who encourage and delight in pure giving (1.­35–1.­43). In addition, this sūtra was occasionally quoted by Tibetan authors. For example, the passage on thirty-two kinds of impure giving was summarized by Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182–1251) in his treatise Clarifying the Sage’s Intent.

i.5This translation was prepared from the Degé block print in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace manuscript. Occasional reference was also made to the two Chinese translations.