Skill in Means Sutra, Fa ch'eng/Chos grub version

Contents Introduction SUMMARY THE PLACE OF THE TEXT IN BUDDHIST LITERATURE TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS THE SKILL IN MEANS SŪTRA Part One: THE SKILL IN MEANS OF BODHISATTVAS The Setting The Question The Answer What is Moral Transgression for a Bodhisattva? The Bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Bodhisattva “King at the Head of the Masses” The Bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Story of Jyotis The Bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Story of Vimala Illustrations of Bodhisattva Gnosis The Bodhisattva and Sexuality Concluded: Priyaṁkara and Dakṣiṇottarā Mahākāśyapa’s Simile: The Wasteland and the City Part Two: THE SKILL IN MEANS OF ŚĀKYAMUNI Where is the Awakening in a Shaven Head? Why the Bodhisattva Continues to be Reborn Entering the Womb Birth Youth Departure from Home Austerities: “Where is the Awakening in a Shaven Head?” At the Site of Awakening Part Three: THE TEN KARMIC CONNECTIONS Statement of Principle Murder with Skill in Means: the Story of the Compassionate Ship’s Captain (1) The Thorn that “Resulted” (2) Taking Forbidden Medicine (3) Empty Alms-bowl (4) Cañcā’s Feigned Pregnancy (5) Death of the Wanderer Sundarikā (6) Eating Horse-feed (7) Backache (8) Headache (9) Scolding by Bharadvāja (10) Persecution by Devadatta INSTRUCTIONS ON THE TRANSMISSION OF THE SŪTRA OVATION INDIAN COLOPHON Name, Place and Text Index Bibliography Introduction SUMMARY The Skill in Means is a dramatic sutra. It presents previously unrecorded past-life tales, and reinterprets others. Several surprising incidents interrupt the teaching itself. As a primal source of Mahayana ethics, or bodhisattva vow, it goes against the grain of mainstream Buddhism of the period; it is consciously antinomian. There are love affairs both consummated and truncated. There is passion leading to death. The bodhisattva is likened to a prostitute. There is instantaneous sexchange. There is murder, justified. The sutra divides itself into two parts. In its entirety, it is entitled (by the Indian colophon) “ The Skill in Means Mahāyāna-sūtra”1. However, at a point about halfway, the sutra re-introduces itself thus: “Nevertheless, son of the family, listen well and attentively as I present an account of doctrine known as Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya-nāma-dharma-paryāya). I will teach you something of the inconceivable skill in means demonstrated by the Bodhisattva from the time of Buddha Dīpaṁkara.”2 The first half of the sutra, which I have subtitled Part One, discusses the skill in means of bodhisattvas in general. The setting is the Jeta Grove in the town of Śrāvastī. The audience is composed of monks and bodhisattvas. A bodhisattva named Jñānottara requests a teaching on “skill in means.” The Buddha's teaching goes as follows: First of all, the bodhisattva with skill in means is able to perform deeds that seem like miracles. For example, he can feed all sentient beings with a single morsel of food. By what power? By the power of great merit. And the merit comes from the exclusively bodhisattva practices of (1) aspiring to buddhahood (“omniscience”) and (2) dedicating the merit of the deed to that end. Further, his merit is compounded by appreciating the merit gained by others. The same exponential increase of merit comes from offerings made to the buddhas by himself and others, and likewise from taking upon himself the suffering of sentient beings. And by paying respect to one buddha, he is doing worship to them all, for they are all essentially the same; this also multiplies his efforts. These practices, exclusive to bodhisattvas raises them above others. These others are not named at this point, but we know who they are. What of the bodhisattva who is dull-witted? He need only master a single four-line stanza of the Buddha's teaching. And if the bodhisattva should be handicapped by poverty, he can offer a mere spoonful of food. In conjunction with the thought of awakening and dedication of merit, it still outclasses the generosity of others. Up to this point only the enhanced, Ratnakuta version has identified the common practitioners, those who lack the bodhisattva tools, as consisting of the auditors (śrāvaka) and the independent (pratyeka) buddhas. They are represented by Ānanda.3 They may be more esteemed than the bodhisattva, but whereas the buddhas evolve from bodhisattvas, and those common practitioners evolve from [the teachings of] buddhas, the bodhisattva is “chief”. So the bodhisattva lives among them, but denies that he is inferior in any way. Furthermore, the very deeds that keep one transmigrating in samsara, such as collecting the merit of generosity, enable the skilled bodhisattva to develop the qualities of buddhahood. So it is illustrated that an act of giving—even a small amount—can entail the practice of all six perfections. Then comes the most important discussion of the sutra, the one whose conclusions are cited at length in the Śikṣā-samuccaya (“Compendium of Trainings”) of Śantideva and by Tibetan commentators on greatervehicle ethics. “What is Moral Transgression for a Bodhisattva?” is the subtitle provided by the English translation. To begin with, the Buddha addresses transgressions of the common monastic vow. In this eventuality, the bodhisattva's response is something like, “Never mind the transgression, I don't want to escape this samsara anyway—certainly not in this very lifetime. I want to remain here until everyone is able to nirvanize.” With this attitude the bodhisattva is not at fault, at least as far as his bodhisattva vow is concerned. For him, defeat of the vow would come from adjusting his goals to those of auditors and independent buddhas. A dramatic incident intervenes at this point of the discussion. Ānanda reports to the Buddha that he has observed a certain bodhisattva, otherwise unknown in the literature, seated with a woman on a couch. Ānanda also, inter alia, questions the Buddha's omniscience for not knowing of this already. The bodhisattva in question responds by levitating into the sky, and Ānanda confesses his fault in imputing an act of uncelibacy.4 The Buddha explains that someone following the bodhisattva path and striving for omniscience, i.e. buddhahood, differs from someone following the auditors' vehicle. The latter will maintain calm (śamatha) by exhausting the outflows (āsrava); the former will go so far in the opposite direction as to enjoy a retinue of woman--in order to convert them. The bodhisattva thus qualified, this “son or daughter of the family”,5 is someone “not parted from the thought of omniscience”, “holy”, and in possession of faith, vigor, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom—the “five faculties (indriya) of a buddha” that supplant the common “five sensuous qualities (pancakāmaguṇa)” that he or she appears to be enjoying. Then the Buddha explains the situation. That woman has been the wife of the bodhisattva for many lifetimes. When she sees him now, she grows aroused and says something that threatens to consign her to a lower rebirth. Shortly after, she recovers herself and wishes he would sit with her so that she might generate the thought of awakening. The bodhisattva knows her mind and comes to her the next day. In his own mind, he performs a visualization meditation to counteract lust. Together they sing anti-desire verses to each other (an anti-love duet!) He instructs her in the wish for awakening, and departs. The Buddha predicts that because of that bodhisattva's good intention, his actions, far from being a transgression, have set that sister on the path. In her next lifetime she will have a male body. And in the distant future, he (the former sister) will become a buddha with his own buddha field. The bodhisattva (the former husband) explains that in the course of doing good for someone, a bodhisattva will gladly incur a transgression that will cause him to burn in hell. However, the Buddha observes that with “great compassion” (i.e., the compassion of a high-level bodhisattva), there is no transgression in the first place. And to illustrate, he tell the story of his own past life as the brahman youth Jyotis. In a previously unknown past-life (Jātaka) story, the Buddha was a forest-dwelling renunciate named Jyotis. Coming to the capital city one day, a female water-carrier threw herself at his feet, claiming she would die if she could not have him as her husband. He pulled himself away and fled, but compassion caused him to return and for her sake to agree to her demand, no matter that he would burn in hell for breaking his vow of austerity. He cohabits with her for twelve years. Then leaving the home life, he performs the “four stages of brahma” (brahma-vihāra) meditation, and when he dies he is reborn in the world of Brahmā for a very long time. The Buddha notes, “Something that sends other sentient beings to hell, sends the bodhisattva who is skilled in means to rebirth in the world of Brahmā.” There is a negative consequence, however. His spiritual progress is delayed by this very long life in a heavenly realm. Then the Buddha deals with the problem of false accusation of uncelibate conduct, such as Ānanda has made. He instances an incident from the present day, comparing it to another from a past life of the future buddha Maitreya. The Buddha then illustrates the skilled bodhisattva's relationship to sensuality with a number of analogies. To cite one (which is cited by the Śikṣā-samuccaya): The bodhisattva is like a courtesan who is “learned and proficient in the sixty-four arts [of love]”. She entertains her client with her body until she gets paid, and then leaves him without giving him another thought. The bodhisattva skilled in means likewise gives himself totally to sentient beings until they have developed stores of merit, and thereafter he ignores them, he retains no attachment. And (to cite one more analogy), the bee enjoys many flowers, but does not wish for them to be permanent. Then another incident interrupts the assembly at Śrāvastī. A bodhisattva named Priyaṁkara comes flying in. What happened? The Buddha narrates the incident to Ānanda. The handsome Priyaṁkara (“Exhilarating”) came into the city and begged alms at the house of a merchant. The daughter of the house brought food, but impassioned by his beauty, she sweat herself to death. The bodhisattva also had a thought of sexual arousal. But he was immediately mindful of it. With a correct dharma analysis, he dispelled it. And with that he arose into the air, circled the city, and landed in the Jeta Grove. Meanwhile, the girl is reborn a male god in the heaven of the Thirty-three, with a retinue of goddesses to serve him. He considers what has happened, and concludes, “If this be the reward for thoughts of lust, what would be my reward for doing prostrations and service with thoughts of faith to the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṃkara?” So he comes to the Jeta Grove bearing offerings, and recites a set of summary verses. He also dispels the anger of the girl's parents at their daughter's demise, and they likewise testify in verse. The Buddha explains the lesson to Ānanda in verse, and Ānanda restates it in prose. Mahākāśyapa then restates the lesson regarding bodhisattva great heroes, i.e. high-level bodhisattvas, emphasizing their distinction from “ auditor and independent-buddha qualities”. He then presents an elaborate simile by which to distinguish various sorts of personality: those who do not follow the path, those who follow the path in an inferior way, and the great bodhisattvas. But in reality, there is only “the way of the single vehicle.” With that, the first half of the sutra is concluded. The second half of the sutra, “the inconceivable skill in means demonstrated by the Bodhisattva from the time of Buddha Dīpaṁkara.”, is a “Life of the Buddha” including some of his past lives. The question, posed by Jñānottara, to which this Part Two is an answer, is, Why did the Buddha, as the brahman youth Jyotimāla, in the time of the Buddha Kāśyapa, make the statement, in regard to that buddha, “Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head? Awakening is very rare”? That question is addressed in Part Three, which explains, as a manifestation of skill in means, various incidents in the life of the Buddha that appear to be the consequences of bad karma. The overarching question posed at the beginning of Part Two, is why he, the bodhisattva, continues to be reborn. Some time after meeting the buddha Dīpaṁkara [when he first generated the thought of awakening], he obtained “conviction that phenomena are unarising”. At any time thereafter, be it one week or many ages, he could have “fully awakened” and become a buddha. On the other hand, he may, if he so chooses, “remain to the future end [of saṁsāra] indefatigably.” As a bodhisattva skilled in means, the latter is his choice. Unlike the auditor, he generates “great compassion” and continues his activity on behalf of sentient beings. For those reasons, the bodhisattva “demonstrates abiding in the womb.” But this is only a demonstration. Actually, “the bodhisattva great hero demonstrates all the deeds of changing lives, birth, leaving home, and austerities by means of emanations, all the while never moving from Tuṣita heaven. The bodhisattva demonstrates all of these with emanations.” Why does he send an emanation of himself to earth (“Jambu Continent”)? Because the gods can travel to earth to hear his teaching, but human beings cannot travel to heaven. In actuality he remains quite clean, not sullied by a womb. He must appear to be born from a womb lest he be taken for a god, some kind of demi-god, a local spirit or a magical creation. And he must demonstrate the path to awakening in a way that human beings can follow it. Similar explanations are given for his birth, youth, and departure from home. What of his practice of austerities for six years? The common explanation is that it was the karmic consequence of having disparaged the Buddha Kāśyapa, when the bodhisattva said: “To see a śramaṇa shave-pate? What is that to me?” The truth of the matter is that this was a device to bring his brahman companions into the presence of that Buddha. They were already bodhisattvas, but they had gone astray. A potter drags him, apparently unwillingly, to see the Buddha, and his companions follow. In any case, the bodhisattva, with his comprehension of emptiness, forms no conception of a buddha anyway. Furthermore, he practiced austerities to demonstrate the consequence of bad deeds, and also to show that austerities are fruitless. And thereafter he demonstrates taking food at the site of awakening, using a grass mat, and defeating the legion of Māra—whereas, as we already know, he could if he so desired “ nirvāṇize to full awakening” at any time. By these demonstrations, many gods and other supernatural beings are awed into submission. After the great awakening under the tree, he sits gazing at the tree unblinking for seven days. By this, higher deities of the Realm of Subtle Materiality are awed, for “they cannot find a basis for his thought.” And finally, he waits to teach the dharma until requested by Brahmā, because many beings regard Brahmā as higher, and Brahmā as their creator. The Buddha shows himself to be highest, to be chief, and those beings abandon Brahmā. The god Brahmā has no intention of making that request of the Buddha, but the Buddha impels him to do so. Part Three, entitled “The Ten Karmic Connections”6, addresses ten incidents during the teaching career of the Buddha that are apparently the fruition of past karma. But not really. First, as a general principle, it is pointed out that the bodhisattva could not become a buddha under the tree if he still possessed the slightest bit of unwholesomeness. He only demonstrates the residue of past karma as a propaedeutic device. The Buddha compares this to a teacher reciting the alphabet, a physician tasting medicine, and a wet nurse drinking medicine to purify her milk. In the first incident, the Buddha has a thorn impaled in his foot, an event difficult to believe, because “the Thus-Come-One has a body like vajra, an indestructible body.” This is putatively the result of murder committed in a past life. The bodhisattva in that lifetime was a ship's captain known as Great Compassionate. While at sea, he killed a robber whom he knew was about to murder all his passengers. In doing so, he saved the robber from a rebirth in hell, the bodhisattva being willing to bear that consequence himself. Furthermore, his explanation of of the thorn dissuades several potential murderers in the present. Second, the Buddha takes medicine of the utpala flower from the physician Jīvaka, whereas monks are permitted only the medicine of foul waste. Certain monks of the future will preserve their lives by following this example. Third, the Buddha fails on one occasion to procure food on his begging round, whereas he is “endowed with all merit.” This protects future monks from discouragement. This also discourages gods such as Māra who actively harass monks by inciting householders not to give alms food. Fourth is the feigned pregnancy of the brahman girl Cañcā. This will encourage monks who are falsely calumniated. Fifth, the Buddha knows who really killed the religieux Sundarikā and dumped the body in the Jeta Grove. And he knows that her fellow tīrthikas will be confuted by their own deed. Sixth, the Buddha and his monks are reduced to eating horse food during their rainy-season retreat, when a householder invites them but is unavoidably unable to provide other food. However, it happens that he knows these horses (and their groom) from a previous life. And the food turns out to be tasty and nutritious, despite the doubts expressed by Ānanda. Seventh, the Buddha details Kāśyapa to teach one day, because Kāśyapa has his own following. The Buddha's backache is only a pretext. Eighth, the Buddha does not really suffer from a headache. Complaining of it, he disarms the criticism that he does not care for his relatives and his dynasty, which has perished. Ninth, the Buddha endures abuse and insults by the brahman Bharadvāja so as to demonstrate “the power of forbearance.” Many gods and human beings are converted by this display, including the brahman himself. And tenth, being persecuted “from life to life” by Devadatta enables the bodhisattva to demonstrate giving, as Devadatta “begs for his children, wife, and sovereignty, his hands, feet, and eyes, his head and such things that are difficult to give and the gift of which create a store of merit.”7 And others see the bodhisattva maintain strict morality and show forbearance. Devadatta's attempts to assassinate the Buddha should not be regarded as the Buddha's past-deed obstacles, but rather as his skill in means. The teaching concludes with this summary: “Devadatta the ambitious is my teacher. All ten karmic connections should be regarded as the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means, rather than as the faults of obstacles caused by past deeds. How so? Sentient beings who waste the functioning of deeds and their maturation are introduced to the functioning and the maturation of deeds: the Thus-Come-One displays a karmic connection with skill in means to indicate that such and such is the maturation of such and such a deed. And hearing it, sentient beings can no longer be passive in the face of obstacles caused by unwholesome deeds, and the need to manufacture wholesome karma.” THE PLACE OF THE TEXT IN BUDDHIST LITERATURE This teaching is secret. As the Buddha explains at the end, this is not a fit teaching for those at the stage of auditors and independent buddhas, still less for foolish common persons. They have no need for it. This teaching is intended exclusively for bodhisattvas.8 For them, skill in means illumines all the practices just as a lamp at night illumines the other household appliances. Among those assembled, those who are fit vessels for this teaching hear it, and others do not. Ānanda asks for the title: “The Teaching of the Perfection of Skill in Means. The Select Chapter of the Skill in Means of All Buddhas.”9 The admonition to secrecy seems to be merely rhetorical. It suggests that bodhisattvas were distrusted by some of their fellows. Not that the individual bodhisattva should broadcast his status. But the auditors, represented by Ānanda, are not only listening to this teaching—they are persuaded and converted by it. Mahayanists, followers of the bodhisattva path, were not expelled from monasteries, as were tantric yogis, several centuries later, over the issues of sex and murder. The point, as commentators express it, is that the bodhisattva vow can supersede the prātimokṣa training followed by monastics, and it can even supersede lay vows. No code of ethics is absolute in its details; the overriding guideline is the welfare of others. This is one stream of early Mahayana followed in this sutra. The second stream is the nature of the Buddha. He is essentially transcendent of karmic conditions. The story of his development and attainment of buddhahood is merely illustrative; the obstacles that present themselves during his teaching career are likewise lessons for others. The Buddha himself is lokottara, world-transcendent or transcending the commonplace. This view of a buddha can be characterized as docetistic or ultramundanist. Undoubtedly it was present among buddhists immediately following his retirement into nirvana. In time, it crystallized into a proto-Mahayana school known as Lokottaravāda. The Skill in Means explains the Buddha's appearance in the world, whereas he is substantially world-transcendent, by the doctrine of skill in means. The sutra builds upon treatment of present and past buddhas in the life of the Buddha (and the life pattern of every buddha), found in the Mahāvastu, a proto-Mahayana text. The Buddha is not a god or other non-human being, he is the emanation (nirmita) of a high-level bodhisattva and a legitimate human being. The emanated birth of the bodhisattva—as described at section 76—is distinguished from the apparitional (aupapāduka), non-sexual birth of hell-beings, gods and ghosts. Nor is it a magician's illusion such as an elephant created from a block of wood. “Life of the Buddha” accounts are a part of Vinaya, not of Sūtra. The Mahāvastu presents itself as Vinaya. That is why the Skill in Means, Part Two, entitles itself an “account”, and not a sutra. It predates the sutra treatment of the Buddha's life in the Lalitavistara-sūtra. Doctrinal background to this sutra includes the system of six perfections and the emptiness doctrine of the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. The Skill in Means may be part of a Mahayana ur-sutra that includes the Perfection of Wisdom, specifically the Ratnaguṇasaṁcaya-gāthā. Despite the importance of the elder monk Kāśyapa, there is no visible awareness of the Kāśyapa Chapter (Kāśyapa-parivarta), an important early statement of emptiness doctrine. The practice background is prātimokṣa, understood as an ascetic or forest-dweller diet, “living on roots and fruit”, and the likewise limited training of the monastic vow. This sutra has only a tenuous grasp of Vinaya. The bodhisattva training is adaptable “skill in means”. The bodhisattva path begins with the thought of, or aspiration for full awakening, or buddhahood, or omniscience. The term “omniscience” (sarvajña), “all-knowing”, “knowing everything”, is meant literally, in the sense of knowing every little thing, and not in the sense of knowing the true empty nature of things (dharmatā).10 In this sutra the Buddha knows past lives; and he is expected to know the thoughts of others and events outside of a natural sensory range. The term “omniscience” is used frequently, in order to emphasize that the goal of the bodhisattva path is buddhahood. The sutra knows the past life Jātaka and Avadāna tales, though not necessarily the codified collections. The Pāli apadāna in particular contain a list similar to the ten karmic connections of this sutra. The avadāna understanding of those apparent karmic obstacles is corrected by the doctrine of skill in means. In one extended analogy skill in means is presented as a hermeneutic strategy. It explains why the Buddha taught different trainings to different classes of follower. This is the “single vehicle” theory that is the meaning of “skill in means” in the Lotus sutra. This sutra is an important source for the secondary (śāstra) literature. The Chapter on Ethics (śīla-patala) of the Bodhisattva-bhūmi) cites it, as does the Śikṣāsamuccaya. Tibetan texts on bodhisattva vow and Three Vows (sdom gsum) rely upon it for discussion of special circumstances and bottom lines. “For the bodhisattva,” concludes Asanga in the Chapter on Ethics, “no deed that comes from desire-attachment (kāma) is a fault. Loving others is the very duty of a bodhisattva.” The defiant tone of the sutra confirms what others have observed regarding the Mahayana in India in this early C.E. period. In India, up until the Gupta era, Mahayanists were few, marginal, shunned, falsely accused, starved of donations.11 But they produced a robust literature, much of it, like this sutra, mounting an aggressive defense, and much of it translated into Chinese in the third century C.E. by the Central Asian scholar Dharmarakṣa and his team. TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS The Skill in Means sutra does not survive in its original Indic language (Sanskrit, Prakrit, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit). Several passages survive in serviceable Sanskrit in the Śikṣā-samuccaya.12 The earliest version of the Skill in Means, or any reference to it, is the translation into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa published on August 4, 285 C.E. at either Tun-huang or Ch'ang-an. Dharmarakṣa was a Central Asian, possibly of the Yueh-chih people.13 The title is The Skill in Means Sutra, or The Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara.14 The first Tibetan translation, upon which this English translation is based, was done from the Dharmarakṣa translation. The Chinese to Tibetan translator was the prolific monk Wou Fa-ch'eng, or Fach'eng of the Wou clan, known in Tibet as 'Gos Chosgrub (Sanskrit “Dharmasiddha”).15 He lived in Tunhuang circa C.E. 755-849. His translations in the Tibetan canon are generally credited in the catalogues but not in text colophons. The Fa-ch'eng translation, entitled “The Noble Mahāyāna Scripture Entitled ‘Skill in Means’ (Ārya-Upāyakauśalya-nāma-mahāyānasūtra)”16, is not listed in the Ldan-dkar catalogue, so we take it to be later than C.E. 800. Fa-ch'eng mostly complies with the “new language” standard for translation as codified in the Mahāvyutpatti and the Sgra-sbyor-bam-po- gnyis-pa). That said, his translations are sometimes more felicitous. For example, he translates the proper name Jñānottara as ye shes bla; Ratnakuta translates it ye shes dam pa. For the purpose of this English translation, the Fach'eng text was edited from four editions: (1) Sde-dge, the Tshal-pa photo offset of a block print published by Karma Triyana Dharmacakra in New Delhi. Mdo Za 283b2-319a7. (2) Snar-thang, the block print in possession of Tibet House, New Delhi. Zha 60b4-104b7. (3) Peking, the block print photo-reduced by Otani University. Zhu 298b3-327a6. (4) Lhasa, the block print in possession of the Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath. Zha 60b4-84b7. (With thanks to the librarians of (2) and (4) for hospitality and assistance.) The second Tibetan translation, a chapter of the Ratnakūṭa collection, was made from a different (and later) Sanskrit text than that used by Dharmarakṣa. Little of importance is added, though it is considerably longer. Its accretions include explanatory additions and glossing of terms, as well as boilerplate terminology and expanded personal titles. Some of it seems like interlinear notes. Sometimes the commentatorial material is taken from later, parallel lives of the Buddha; see the notes to the translation. Sometimes it obscures the point. Important divergences are noted. Some felicitous expressions and clarifications have been incorporated in the English translation. This Tibetan Ratnakūṭa corresponds closely to the Ratnakūṭa of the Chinese canon. Why such repetition and excess verbiage in the Ratnakūṭa version? It is written and explained in language no longer well understood by much of its intended audience. There is no need for the English translation to retain this. Ratnakūṭa Tibetan was edited from three editions: Sde-dge, op cit Dkon-brtsegs Cha 30a1-70b7. (2) Snarthang, op cit Cha 79a6-139b7. (3) Peking, op cit 'I 4b650b5. The title, identical in the Chinese and Tibetan versions, is “From the noble, the great Ratnakūṭa doctrinal system of a hundred thousand chapters, Chapter Thirty-eight: The Noble Mahāyāna Scripture entitled ‘The Chapter of the Great Secret of All Buddhas, the Skill in Means, the Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara’ (Ārya-Sarvabuddhamahārahasya-UpāyakauśalyaJñānottarabodhisattvaparipṛcchā-parivarta-nāmamahāyānasūtra).”17 In the stand-alone Fa-ch'eng version of the Skill in Means, bodhisattvas are a minority of the sutra's audience. There are 84,000 monks and 16,000 bodhisattvas. The Ratnakuta version makes bodhisattvas the majority: the same 16,000, versus 8,000 monks. This translation was originally published in print form in 1994 by Motilal Banarsidass. This digital edition is not an update. The translation is improved around the margins, but there is no new research. It is a more accessible version, shorn of most of the scholarly apparatus, the detailed comparison of the versions, indepth analysis by way of introduction, and most of the annotation. The 1994 print publication may be available here: http://www.amazon.com/Skill-MeansUpayakausalya-Sutra/dp/8120809157/ref=sr_1_2? 2&keywords=skill+in+means+sutra. The blurb as reproduced at Google Books is recommended: http://books.google.com.ph/books/about/Skill_in_Means _Sutra.html?id=-Vu4E1xPJRIC&redir_esc=y The edited Tibetan text has not been digitized. If you have the right store of merit, you may be able to access an unedited block print online. A list of known Bka'-'gyur may be found on the right side of the home page of http://tibeto-logic.blogspot.com/. Part of the work of translation was done under sponsorship of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. Some transcription and editing of texts was done by the late Mr. Norbu Samphel of New Delhi. A draft translation of the Fa-ch'eng edition was done by Ms.Sylvia Waite of Vancouver, B.C. as a class project. THE SKILL IN MEANS SŪTRA Salutations to Buddhas and Bodhisatttvas! PART ONE THE SKILL IN MEANS OF BODHISATTVAS The Setting 1. Thus have I heard at one time. The Lord dwelt at Śrāvastī in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, together with the great community of monks consisting of eighty-four thousand monks. There were also sixteen thousand bodhisattvas, who were well known for supernatural knowledge, who had mastered the incantations, and whose eloquence had no hindrance.18 2. As the Lord emerged from seclusion, he was encircled by many hundreds of thousands in attendance. He prepared to teach the doctrine. The Question 3. At that time the bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara (“Higher Knowledge”) joined the circle and sat down. Then the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara rose from his seat, threw a robe over one shoulder, and placed his right knee to the ground. Bowing, palms joined, towards the Lord, he made this request: “If the Lord (bhagavān) should grant me the opportunity to ask a question to be answered, I would question the Lord Buddha upon a certain matter.” PAGE BREAK 24 The lord responded to the bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara: “Son of the family (kulaputra), ask the Thus-Come-One whatever question you desire, and I will gratify you with an answer to it.” 4. The bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara asked this of the Lord: “Venerable Lord, the bodhisattvas, the great heroes have something known as skill in means. What is that ‘skill in means’? 5. And the Lord spoke thus to the bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara: “Son of the family, well and good! Carry on, son of the family, and you will promote good for many people, well-being for many people, sympathy for the whole world, and welfare, benefit, well-being, and the knowledge of present and future bodhisattva great heroes for masses of divine human beings. You will fulfill all the qualities of buddhahood. You will promote the holy doctrine of the lord buddhas of the past, the future and the present. Son of the family, for you to think of questioning the Thus-Come-One on the skill in means of bodhisattvas— that, O son of the family, is well and good of you. “Let you therefore listen well, son of the family, and be attentive, and I will explain to you the skill in means of bodhisattvas, the great heroes. The Answer 6. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva, the great hero who is skilled in means can fill sentient beings with a single morsel of food. How can this be so? Son of the family: the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means, when he performs the mere act of giving a single morsel of food to an animal, performs that act of giving with an aspiration for omniscience, and he dedicates the store of merit to the fulfillment of the qualities of buddhahood by all sentient beings. “There are two reasons that it fills all sentient beings: the aspiration for omniscience and the skillfulness in dedication. 7. “Son of the family, the bodhisattva, the great hero who is skilled in means appreciates others’ stores of merit, and he dedicates the merit from that appreciation as well to all sentient beings. He performs an act of giving with the thought of omniscience, and PAGE BREAK 25 he outshines those who give without the thought of awakening; he outshines any great patrons; he outshines even any of the recipients.19 8. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva, the great hero who is skilled in means will present to all the buddhas any tree-grown flowers to be found in all directions that are unowned, and incense trees in all directions lightly borne by a breeze that do not belong to anyone, that are unowned. And the merit stored by this he dedicates to omniscience. “The bodhisattva who is skilled in means will also present to all the buddhas the fragrance, borne by a breeze, of any flowering trees, incense trees, flowers, flower garlands, incense, aromatic powders, and unguents to be found in all directions that belong to someone, that are owned. And the merit stored by this he dedicates to the fulfillment of omniscience by himself and all sentient beings.20 9. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva who is skilled in means appreciates the collective well-being experienced by sentient beings in the realm of the universe of all directions. He dedicates the appreciation to omniscience. “He exposes the collective feelings of suffering experienced by sentient beings in all directions. He fortifies himself thus: ‘May all the feelings of suffering of those sentient beings fall upon myself! May they be well!’ And he dedicates the merit stored by that as well to awakening. 10. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva, the great hero who is skilled in means, when he makes salutation and pays respect to a single Thus-Come-One, considers himself to be making salutation and paying respect to all the Thus-Come-Ones. He trains himself to think thus: “ ‘All buddhas the same element of dharma; they have the same morality, the same concentration, and the same wisdom;21 the same liberation and the same liberated intuitive-vision; the same knowledge and the same understanding.’ “Skilled in means, he pays respect to all buddhas in paying respect to one buddha; he mentally procures anything that would serve as an offering to the lord buddhas of infinity. 11. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva, the great hero who is skilled in means does not discount himself when he is dull-witted, but extols himself. Reciting but a single four-line stanza, he considers that the meaning of the stanza comprises the sense of all the Word of the Buddha. He practices recitation of the stanza and, without being discouraged, he makes the following resolve: “ ‘ I will expound this stanza in detail to masses of people in village, town, and market, in the countryside and in the capital.’ And he resolves: “ ‘ May all sentient beings who hear this four-line stanza of mine obtain the eloquence of a buddha (buddhapratibhānalabdha).’ “That store of merit outshines the boundless, incomparable erudition of any sentient being, and obtains the very eloquence of a buddha.22 12. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva who is skilled in means, in the rare instance when he is impoverished,23 performs the deeds of others at least to some extent. Without being discouraged, he takes PAGE BREAK 27 something as slight as a spoonful of food and presents it to a monastic or an ordinary person. “In giving it, he considers: ‘The Lord has said that gifts become great when given with great thoughts. I may have only a little something to give, but given with the aspiration for omniscience, it is measureless.’ 13. “He gives something as slight as a spoonful of food with that thought of omniscience, thinking, “ ‘ By this store of merit, that little spoonful of food accomplishes meritorious work that is essentially identical to giving, morality and meditational development.24 14. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva who is skilled in means may live together with the auditors and independent buddhas,25 but he is not pleased with them. If he should see that they are more highly esteemed than he, he draws two contrasts with himself. What are the two contrasts? He thinks: “‘First, the lord buddhas evolve from bodhisattvas, and the auditors and independent buddhas evolve from buddhas. When they are esteemed, I myself am being esteemed foremost: I am chief, and not they. Secondly, they are using my father’s accumulated wealth: Let me be neither pleased with, nor envious of them.’26 [15. “No one who resolutely generates the thought will be puffed-up even if he be esteemed by someone as a Thus-Come-One, nor will he be discouraged at not being esteemed. He will succeed in eliminating both affection and resentment—in effect, adopting evenmindedness towards all sentient beings. Son of the family, that also is the skill in means of the bodhisattva great hero.] 16. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva who is skilled in means fulfills all six perfections in giving a gift. How does he fulfill them? The bodhisattva who is skilled in means, when a beggar comes before him, suppresses stinginess: this is his perfection of giving. “He gives to those who have undertaken and keep a vow of ethics; he impels the immoral to be moral and gives them a gift: this is his perfection of morality.27 17. “Giving a gift with thoughts that are loving, benevolent, not agitated and absorbed: this is his perfection of patience. “He performs a welcoming salutation to those who are to eat and drink, whether they are persons who drink, lick, or otherwise consume;28 he makes effort, he serves with body and he serves with mind; he rises, he comes, and he goes: this is his perfection of vigor. “In any act of giving his thinking is one-pointed; his attitude is elated, happy and jubilant; he is free from mental wandering: this is his perfection of meditation. 29 18. “Giving a gift, his point of reference (pratisaraṇa) is the nature of things. He thinks: ‘Who gives this? Who eats it? Who will enjoy the karmic reward?’ He searches in that way, but cannot envisage any phenomenon that performs the act of giving, to whom something is given, or who will enjoy a karmic reward. This is his perfection of wisdom. “Son of the family, this is how the bodhisattva who is skilled in means fulfills all six perfections in giving a gift.” 19. Then the bodhisattva Jñānottara said this to the Lord: “Lord, such skill in means is amazing. The very giving by which other sentient beings are kept in saṁsāra enables the bodhisattva great hero to acquire the qualities of buddhahood.30 The Lord replied “That is how it is. Son of the family, what you said is so. The bodhisattva who is skilled in means accomplishes a great deal with just a little giving. With much giving, his accomplishment is measureless and incalculable.” What is Moral Transgression for a bodhisattva? 20. Then the Lord said to the bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara: “Son of the family: the bodhisattva who is skilled in means attenuates even a grave transgression with skill in means. How does he do so? “Son of the family: the bodhisattva who is skilled in means, on the rare occasion upon which a transgression befalls him, because he is under the influence of an unwholesome adviser, will consider the matter thus: “ ‘Let me not enter nirvāṇa with these aggregates in any case, lest I burn with anxiety.31 Instead, let me prepare myself to remain in saṁsāra until its future end, in order to bring sentient beings to maturity. Let me not be discouraged: As long as I continue to samsarize (as recompense for that transgression), I will bring sentient beings to maturity. Besides, I will be bound that it not recur.’ “Suppose, son of the family, that a bodhisattva who is a monastic should fall into all four seminal transgressions.32 If he removes them with this skill in means, I would call it no transgression on the part of the bodhisattva.” 21. Then the bodhisattva Jñānottara asked this of the Lord: “Lord, when is a bodhisattva possessed of transgression?” 22. The Lord replied to the Boddhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara: “Suppose, son of the family, that a bodhisattva were to train himself in the prātimokṣa training, subsisting on roots and fruit for a hundred thousand eons, patiently enduring the approbation as well as the scorn of all sentient beings.33 Yet, if he were to adjust himself to concerns associated with the stage of auditors and independent buddhas—that would be a seminal transgression of the utmost gravity for a bodhisattva. “By analogy, son of the family, if someone of the vehicle of the auditors incurs a seminal transgression, he loses the opportunity to enter nirvāṇa with those aggregates. In the same way, son of the family, so long as the bodhisattva fails to confess his fault and to eliminate auditor and independent buddha-like concerns, he loses the opportunity to enter nirvāṇa at the stage of a buddha.”34 The bodhisattva and Sexuality: The bodhisattva “King at the Head of the Masses” 23. Then the master Ānanda said to the Lord.35 “Lord, as I was making my round for alms, I saw the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses36 in a certain house, together with a woman on the same couch. The Lord has said, ‘When you see a transgression occur do not dissemble, but tell your fellow celibates or the ThusCome-One.37’ The Thus-Come-One is the teacher of all sentient beings; there is nothing not known to, not seen and realized by the Thus-Come-One—and that is why I relate this to the Lord.” PAGE BREAK 31 When master Ānanda had finished speaking, the great earth suddenly shook. 24. Then the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses levitated and sat in the atmosphere before the Lord at the height of a palm tree. Addressing Master Ānanda, he said: “Master Ānanda, what do you think of this? Can someone sit in the atmosphere while possessed of a subject of transgression?”38 Let master Ānanda ask the Thus-Come-One who is present before us now how one comes to be possessed of a subject of bodhisattva transgression.” Master Ānanda was disconcerted. Bowing his head to the feet of the Lord, he said to the Lord: “Lord, I disclose as an offence the offence I have committed in accusing such a standard-bearer of a fault.” 25. The Lord replied to master Ānanda: “Ānanda, do not conceive of a holy person, someone practicing the Greater Vehicle correctly, as being faulty. Ānanda, this is how you should understand it: A person of the vehicle of the auditors, in order to be absolutely peerless (in maintaining meditative calm), will seek uninterruptedly to exhaust the outflows. In the same way, Ānanda, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means, will seek uninterruptedly for omniscience, (even to the point of abiding among a holy retinue of woman and enjoying, playing with and taking pleasure in it.)39 “Why so? Ānanda, the bodhisattva, the great hero takes a retinue only to introduce it to the three jewels— the jewel of the buddha, the jewel of the doctrine and the jewel of the community. “Ānanda, if you should see a son of the family (or a daughter of the family)—someone of the bodhisattva vehicle—who, while not parted from the thought of omniscience, is enjoying, playing with and taking pleasure in the five sensuous qualities—then, Ānanda, you should understand that the holy person in question is endowed with five faculties like those of the Thus-ComeOne.40 26. “Now listen, Ānanda, to why the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses was sitting together with a woman on a couch. That woman, Ānanda, had been the wife of bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses for the past two hundred lives. Because of that tendency latent (anuśaya) from the past, she perceived the splendor and majesty (generated by the power of his past morality) of the son of the family, the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses. Defilement arose, and she uttered words that would take her to a lower rebirth.41 “Off in private, the thought arose in her mind, ‘If the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses were to sit with me on a couch, I also would generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening.’ 27. “Ānanda, the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses cognized that sister’s supposition with his mind. He let the night pass and then came to her house. “He thought about the earth-equivalency—the spiritual exercise of equating the internal and external elements of earth.42 He took that sister by the right hand, and they sat down in a couch. As soon as they had been seated, he spoke this stanza: ‘The Buddha does not praise desire; That is the range of the foolish. Eliminate craving for sense objects, And become the best of humanity—a buddha.’ 28. “Ānanda, then that sister was elated and jubilant. She rose from the couch and fell at the feet of the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses. Then she uttered these stanzas: ‘Desires censured by the Buddha, I will not seek hereafter; Abandoning thirst for sense-objects, I’ll become the best of humanity—a buddha. ‘The offensive thought I was thinking, PAGE BREAK 33 I hereby confess to you; For the welfare of 43 all living creatures, I generate the wish for awakening.’ 29. “Ānanda, the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses instructed that sister in supreme, right and full awakening with that skill in means. Then he rose from the couch and departed. “Ānanda, regard the distinction of his beneficent intentions! Ānanda, I make this prediction in regard to that sister: Upon transmigrating from here, she will exchange her woman’s body. After 9.9 million ‘incalculable’ eons, she will appear in the world as a Thus-Come-One, a Worthy, a fully perfected Buddha named Free From Obsession.44 “Ānanda, you may understand by this account how a bodhisattva takes a retinue without its becoming a subject of transgression.” 30. Then the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses descended from the atmosphere. He made a prostration to the Lord and said: “Lord, a bodhisattva maintains skill in means and great compassion. Venerable Lord, this is how I think of it: “Suppose that a transgression would befall a bodhisattva in the course of creating a store of merit for a particular sentient being, and the offence would cause him to burn in hell for a hundred thousand eons. The bodhisattva will incur the transgression—and the suffering of hell—enthusiastically, O venerable Lord, rather than relinquish the store of merit of a single sentient being.”45 31. The Lord gave a “Well done!” to the bodhisattva King as the Head of the Masses. “Well done, well done, holy personage. With such great compassion, a bodhisattva avoids any transgression. PAGE BREAK 34 The bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Story of Jyotis 32. “Son of the family, this I know for myself. Once upon a time, incalculably longer ago than an ‘incalculable’ eon, there was a brahman youth named Jyotis. He practiced celibacy in the forest for forty-two thousand years. When those forty-two thousand years had passed, he came to a capital named Surāṣṭra. As he entered the great city, the brahman youth’s fine figure, beauty, and attractiveness was noticed by a female watercarrier. She ran up to the youth and threw herself before him with her mind obsessed with lust.”46 33. “Son of the family, Jyotis the brahman youth then said to the woman, ‘Sister, what do you want?’ “She answered him, ‘Brahman youth, I seek you.’ “He said to her, ‘Sister, I am not eager for sensepleasures. I am celibate.’ “She said to him, ‘Brahman youth, if I cannot be with you, I will die.’ “Jyotis the brahman youth thought to himself, ‘It is not right for me to break my vow of austerity (vrata) today, after having kept celibacy for forty-two thousand years.’ He pulled himself forcibly away, rejecting the woman, and fled. He was seven steps away when compassion was born in him. He thought: “ ‘I may go to hell for breaking my vow of austerity. But I can bear to experience the pain of hell. Let this woman not die, but be happy.’ “Son of the family, Jyotis the brahman youth returned. Taking the woman by the right hand, he said, ‘Sister, arise. I will do whatever you desire.’47 34. “Jyotis the brahman youth lived the home life for twelve years before leaving it again to generate the four stations of brahma. When he died, he was immediately reborn in the world of Brahmā.”48 35. “Son of the family: At that time, in that life, I was none other than Jyotis the brahman youth. Do not view it otherwise. Yaśodharā was the female watercarrier.49 “Son of the family: Because I generated a thought that was endowed with great compassion but conjoined with transitory passion, birth-and-death was curtailed for ten thousand eons.50 PAGE BREAK 35 “Son of the family, take note: Something that sends other sentient beings to hell, sends the bodhisattva who is skilled in means to rebirth in the world of Brahmā.”51 The Bodhisattva and False Accusation: The Story of Vimala 36. “Son of the family: If the monks Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana had been skilled in means, the monk Kokālika would not have gone to hell. Why so?23 52 37. “Son of the family, this I know for myself. Once upon a time, during the promulgation of the Thus-GoneOne, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kakutsunda,53 there was a monk, named Vimala (‘Immaculate’) who dwelt in a remote cave. Not far from him lived five hundred rishis. During that period a mass of clouds arose unseasonably, and a great rain came to fall. A pair of women who were en route between villages entered Vimala’s cave seeking refuge from the rain. When they re-emerged from the cave, they were spied by the five hundred rishis. Seeing them, the five hundred rishis thought, in alarm: “ ‘Aha! This monk Vimala is lusting for wickedness. He is uncelibate.’ 38. “Then the monk Vimala, knowing in his mind the thinking of those five hundred rishis, levitated into the atmosphere to seven times the height of a palm tree. Seeing him sitting there, the rishis thought to themselves: “ ‘According to our theories, someone who is uncelibate cannot levitate and sit in the atmosphere.’ “Without further ado they made prostration with five limbs to the monk Vimala and confessed their fault to be a fault. “Son of the family: If the monk Vimala had not levitated in the atmosphere at that time, those five hundred rishis would have fallen physically into hell.54 39. “Son of the family, what do you think of this? At that time, in that life the present bodhisattva Maitreya was none other than the monk Vimala.55 Do not view it otherwise. PAGE BREAK 36 “Son of the family: You should understand by this account that if the monks Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana had levitated in the atmosphere, the monk Kokālika would not have gone to hell. Illustrations of bodhisattva Gnosis 40. “Son of the family: You should also understand, by the above account, that the gnosis of the bodhisattva who is skilled in means, whatever it turns towards, is beyond the range (viṣaya) of auditors and independent buddhas.56 41. “Sons of the family, he is like a courtesan who is learned and proficient in the sixty-four arts. Desiring money, she will yield and display her body to a man and will not withhold anything necessary until she has obtained money from him. And after she has obtained what she wants she will ignore him and reject him, not giving him another thought, and she will have no regard for him at all.57 “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means knows how to bring sentient beings to maturity with that skill in means. He takes pleasure in the stores of merit of sentient beings, and in doing so he withholds nothing and he adapts himself to sentient beings until he has displayed the yielding of his own body. When the time comes that he knows, ‘At last, these sentient beings have developed stores of merit, and there is nothing more that I can do for them,’ he proceeds to ignore them, leaving them without another thought.58 42. “Son of the family: he is like a bee (the creature of the animal class of rebirth). Although he smells and tastes all the flowers, the bee does not develop a craving for permanence in them. He does not try to steal the scent from them, or the leaves. “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means indulges himself in all manner of sensual pleasure and games without generating any craving for permanence in them. Nor does he wound himself or anyone else. “Son of the family, he is like a seed burned by fire: it does not lose its character (varṇa), even if it lacks the opportunity to sprout. Because he has cultivated the wisdom of emptiness, signlessness and wishlessness, he indulges himself in all manner of pleasures and games but does not possess himself of defilement that lead to great distress; nor does he lose the qualities of buddhahood.59 44. “Son of the family, he is like an expert fisherman. The fisherman puts an unbaited hook on a line and casts it into a great lake. He draws whatever he desires from the great lake, whenever he so desires. “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means will focus his thought firmly on omniscience, cultivating emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness and selflessness. He enters the great swamp of sense-desire but he will be reborn in the world of Brahmā, rejecting the realm of sense-desire, whenever he so desires, by guarding well the thought of omniscience. 45. “Son of the family, he is like a man possessing mantric spells (mantravidyādharaḥ puruṣo). The king may seize and bind him with a bond of five ropes, but he will go wherever he desires, whenever he so desires, cutting the bonds by once generating the force of the mantric spells. PAGE BREAK 38 “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means will take pleasure in the five kinds of sense-qualities; he will allow himself to be permeated by them. Yet, he will cut through all the bonds of sense-pleasures whenever he so desires and transmigrate to be reborn in the world of Brahmā by generating the force of the mantric spell of wisdom and by once guarding well the thought of omniscience.60 46. “Son of the family, he is like a seasoned warrior. Armed with sharp weapons concealed, he sets out to escort a company of travellers. Some sentient beings among them, being ignorant that he knows weaponry, pity the warrior, and they say: “ ‘ He has no bow nor any other weapon. He has no companions. He cannot defend this company of travellers. He cannot defend even himself: how can he defend the travellers and defeat a company of bandits? He will end in disaster.’ “Then the warrior goes into the wilderness. A band of robbers attacks. He ruthlessly arms himself with his weapons. Raising his weapons, he fires them at the bandits and slays them all. Then he puts his weapons away again. 47. “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva, the great hero ruthlessly wields his weapons of the perfection of wisdom in order to bring sentient beings to maturity. With skill in means, he indulges in pleasure and play with the five kinds of sense-desire. Some individuals see his physical faculties and lack faith in him. They pity him and say: “ ‘This person, living in a state of carelessness, cannot even save himself. How can he save all others and defeat Māra.’ “But the bodhisattva is possessed of skill in means and he can, whenever he so desires, slash all the nets of defilement with his sword of wisdom and betake himself to a purified buddha-field that is free from licentious women.” The Bodhisattva and Sexuality Concluded: Priyaṁkara and Dakṣiṇottarā 48. At that time—while that account was being given—a bodhisattva great hero named Priyaṁkara (“Exhilarating”) entered the great city of Śrāvastī for alms. While on his round for alms in the great city of Śrāvastī, he came to the house of a certain wealthy merchant. The merchant had a daughter in the flush of youth named Śrī Dakṣiṇottarā (“Superior Donations”) who was on the terrace atop the house. Hearing the call of a monk, she took up some food and brought it out to the bodhisattva Priyaṁkara. Then the maid Śrī Dakṣiṇottarā saw the bodhisattva Priyaṁkara. Immediately, she perceived features of his beauteous proportions and the sound of his voice. With her thoughts possessed by a sexual passion. With her thoughts burning with passion, her whole body burst into a sweat and while standing there, she died. 49. For his part, the bodhisattva Priyaṁkara also gave rise to clumsy discursiveness—a thought of sexual passion—upon seeing the maid Śrī Dakṣiṇottarā. At the same moment, however, he became mindful of it, thinking: “What is the phenomenon (dharma) of becoming attached? Does the eye become attached to an eye? The eye has no feeling; it is inactive, conditioned, a lump of flesh; being inherently empty, it is insensate. “Do ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind organ become attached?” He could find no phenomenon, inside or outside, that could become either attached or averse. Failing to find anything, his thought of desire-attachment was dispelled, analyzing the body, covered by skin and flesh, from head to foot. By correct mental analysis, he comprehended the non-arising of all phenomena and obtained conviction that phenomena are unarising. PAGE BREAK 40 With elation and jubilance at that, he was elevated into the atmosphere to the height of a palm tree. Seven times he circled the great city of Śrāvastī. Then he came from the sky to the Jeta Grove and came before the Lord. 50. The Lord saw the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṁkara coming from the atmosphere, unobstructed like a swan. And having seen him, he said to master Ānanda: “Ānanda, do you see the bodhisattva, the great hero Priyaṁkara coming from the atmosphere, unobstructed like a swan?” And the answer of Ānanda was, “I do see him, Lord.” The Lord said, “Ānanda: The bodhisattva Priyaṁkara has analyzed all phenomena in terms of desire-attachment, and in so doing he has tamed he legion of Māra and turned the wheel of the doctrine.” 51. When the maid Śrī Dakṣiṇottarā died, she transformed her woman’s body to obtain a male body and be reborn in paradise among the gods (deva) of the Thirty-three. As soon as she had been reborn, the twelveleagued palace made of the seven precious substances appeared for him. Fourteen thousand goddesses (apsaras) were born there to serve him.61 52. The thought occurred to him, “What have I done to be reborn here?” He thought: “I was the daughter of a merchant in the great city of Śrāvastī, and while there I gazed amorously upon the bodhisattva, the great hero Priyaṁkara. After dying with my mind possessed by lust, I transformed my woman’s body to obtain a male body here. I have become opulent beyond measure.”62 Then the male divinity (devaputra) thought: “If this be the reward for thoughts of lust, what would be my reward for doing prostrations and service to the bodhisattva Priyaṃkara?63 It is wrong for me to continue in a state of careless indulgence in sensual exhilaration and play. Instead, let me go before the Lord and the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṃkara.” 53. Then that divinity, with his five hundred attendants went before the Lord bearing celestial flowers, incense, garlands and unguents, with a golden effulgence lighting up the Jeta Grove with a great glow. He made offering to the Lord with the celestial flowers, incense, garlands and unguents, and he made prostration to the Lord. Then he made circumambulation of the Lord three times. Before the Lord, palms joined, he spoke these stanzas: 54. (1) “The buddhas, the best of men, are beyond conception, And seekers of high awakening are beyond conception; The doctrine of the Thus-Come-Ones is beyond conception, And the course of the renowned is beyond conception. (2) “Once I was a maid in Śrāvasti, A merchant’s daughter Dakṣiṇā by name Beautiful in the initial flush of youth, Fostered lovingly by my parents. (3) “An irreproachable son of the Buddha, Called Priyaṃkara of great might, While in Śrāvasti seeking alms. Came to the house of my father. (4) “When I heard his sweet, pleasing voice, I willingly took up food, And came before Priyaṃkara, Mighty son of the Thus-Come-One. (5) “My mind was aroused to see him, With clumsy desire-attachment; I thought, if I cannot have him as a desire, I may as well die, indifferent to my life. PAGE BREAK 42 (6) “I caught fire with clumsy passion, And could not speak a single word to him; Unable even to bestow the alms, Standing there I sweated right to death. (7) “At the very instant of my death, Lord, my woman’s body was abandoned; I was born in paradise by transmigration, And obtained this luminous body of a male. (8) “A place of peerless beauty then appeared, Pleasing to look at, made of precious things, Filled with fourteen thousand celestial females, The retinue of servants I obtained. (9) “Then the thought occurred to me: Of what is such wholesome maturation the reward? Remembering, this is what I thought: Such is the maturation of a thought of lust. (10) “By looking with a mind possessed of lust At Priyaṃkara the pleasing, the luminous, the wise, Such wholesome maturation is reward, Such majestic power have I. (11) “If this be the maturation of attachment, What would come of worshiping him? This is scarcely the stage of auditors and selfbuddhas, But leads one to a sugata sort of gnosis. (12) “Before this victor I hereby resolve To obtain the highest gnosis of a buddha: Coursing for eons as many as sands found in the Ganges, Let this my obligation never be renounced. (13) “Priyaṃkara my holy advisor I will worship, With offerings vast and sublime; I’ll make no offerings to any other guides Other than those who actively seek awakening. PAGE BREAK 43 (14) “May any woman who looks at me, With thoughts of desire-attachment, Transform her female body to obtain The confident form of a man, And take the highest course of awakening.” 55. (1) The maid’s parents, seeing that she has sweat herself to death, Thought that her life had been expelled By an ascetic with devil lore; They wept, and spoke ill of ascetics.64 (2) That male divinity, empowered by the Buddha, Went and spoke with the parents: “Be not angry with the ascetic, Lest you incur protracted suffering. (3) “Your daughter Dakṣiṇottarā who died, Has been reborn among the Thirty-three; She has transformed her woman’s body, Into that of a luminous deity, a male. (4) “Go now before the One Who is Well Gone, And confess your fault of thinking angry thoughts; Only in the buddhas, the best of humanity, Is there a place for beings to have recourse.” 56. (1) Properly exhorted by this confident one, Both parents set out the hear the Buddha’s word; With their household and a gathering of kinsmen, They came into the presence of the Śākya sage. (2) Prostrating to the feet of the best of men, They confessed the transgression of having an angry thought; They taking refuge in the Thus-Come-One, They asked this of the Sugata, the self-existent. PAGE BREAK 44 (3) “With how much should we make offering to the Guide, And with how much to the Doctrine and the Community? We beg your predication to the question, And will act according to what it is we hear.” (4) The Victor was aware of their predispositions, And the World-protector answered in this way: “Someone who wishes to do worship to all the buddhas, Should generate a firm thought for awakening.” (5) The girl’s father and her mother and their kinsmen, All of them no fewer than five hundred, Heard the promulgation of the man among men, And generated firm thoughts for awakening. 57. (1) Then the Victor spoke to good Ānanda, “Ānanda, listen now to what I shall explain: The course of the bodhisattva is beyond all thought, For skill in means as well as for its wisdom. (2) “Priyaṁkara has a continuing aspiration, That any woman who directs a look at him With passionate intent, will lose her female form To become a man and a truly exalted being. (3) “Ānanda, consider what good qualities it has: Some people generate passion and are reborn in hell, But when that passion is directed towards the heroes It results in masculinity in heaven.65 (4) “This divine male who now has done me worship, Undertaking high awakening out of respect, Will worship future buddhas by the millions, And become the victor Beautiful to see. PAGE BREAK 45 (5) “The five hundred who have begun the path to awakening, Will also rise to become the best of humanity; Who would not pay respect to the Worldprotector, Faith in whom produces inconceivable bliss? (6) “Women, numbered not one or two or three, But many hundred-thousand millions of billons, Will attach themselves to Priyaṁkara, And transmigrate to be reborn as men. (7) “Who could feel aversion towards the bodhisattvas; They are like the famous kings of healing: Even to the defiled they are givers of wellbeing, How much more to those who do them honor?”66 58. Then master Ānanda said to the Lord: “Lord, it is like this. Everyone who stands before Sumeru, the king of mountains, have the same color—the color of gold—regardless of whether they have thoughts of hatred, serenity, or attachment, or thoughts hindered in access to the doctrine. In the same way, Lord, all who stand before bodhisattvas, whether they have thoughts of hatred, serenity, or attachment, or thoughts hindered in access to the doctrine, all have thoughts of the same complexion—the complexion of omniscience. Venerable Lord, henceforth I will consider all bodhisattvas to be like the king of mountains.67 59. “Lord, it is like this. There is a great class of medicine known as Beautiful to See. Any sentient being stricken by any sort of illness is healed by seeing it. In the same way, venerable Lord, sentient beings who look at a bodhisattva, whether with thoughts of aversion or thoughts of attachment, are healed of their defilementillness of desire, aversion, and bewilderment.” The Lord said to master Ānanda: “Well and good, Ānanda. What you have said is true.” PAGE BREAK 46 Mahākāśyapa’s Simile: The Wasteland and the City 60. Then the master Great Kāśyapa (Mahākāśyapa) said to the Lord:68 “Lord, it is wonderful!. Well-gone One, it is most wonderful! Lord: bodhisattva great heroes abide in peaceful concentration (praśānta-samādhi) at the same time that they dwell in the realm of sense-desire (kāmadhātu) out of sympathy for sentient beings, abiding with phenomena that are empty, signless and wishless.69 Avoiding contact with auditor and independent-buddha qualities, they embody the thought of omniscience. “Lord, bodhisattva great heroes are like this: Dwelling in skill in means that is inconceivable, they course in form, sound, smell, taste, and touch—all of which are occasions for attachment—yet are not attached to them. “Lord, empower me to tell a certain simile to the bodhisattva great heroes. Well-gone One, empower me!” The Lord said, “Kāśyapa, be empowered.” 61. “Lord, suppose there were a wasteland, surrounded by a wall as high as the summit of existence, with several hundred of thousands of inhabitants and but a single gate. Not far from that vast wasteland lies a city that is prosperous, secure and well-provisioned, populous and convivial. The inhabitants of the great city do not grow old and die. The way to that great city is but a span in width; it falls off on either side to chasms of a hundred-thousand cubits. 62. “Once, someone appears in the middle of that vast wasteland who is thoroughly learned and straightforward. He is someone who seeks welfare, benefit, prosperity, and security for sentient beings. He calls out and proclaims in the vast wasteland: “ ‘O friends! Not far from this wasteland lies a great city. Those who enter it do not grow old and die. O sentient beings, now that you know of it, come with me. Come to that great city. I will be your guide.’ PAGE BREAK 47 63. “At that, sentient beings who are predisposed to inferiority and who aspire to self-development (niryāṇa) say: ‘Let us seek those teachings and directions70 without moving from here. We can develop the good qualities of being in that city while remaining here by ourselves.’ “Those sentient beings who are predisposed to greatness say, ‘We will go to the city as you do.’ “Those who are limited in merit listen to and hear his speech, but do not believe it. 64. “Then the wise person departs from the vast wasteland and he sees the way: he sees the very dangerous way that is but span in width, that falls off on either side to chasms of a hundred-thousand cubits. He walls the chasms on either side with boards and crawls across the way on hands and knees. He does not look to the right or the left, nor does he look back at assailants who shout from behind and try to frighten him, but he goes on his way. He only has eyes for the great city, and as he sees it, all his fear disappears. Reaching the great city, he accomplishes the welfare of measureless numbers of sentient beings. 65. Venerable Lord: here the ‘wasteland’ stands for the wilderness of saṁsāra. The ‘wall as high as the summit of existence’ stands for ignorance, craving and the false assumption of renewed existence.71 “The ‘several hundreds of thousands of inhabitants’ of the wasteland represent all foolish ordinary people. “The ‘single gate’ is to be interpreted as the way of the single vehicle. 72 66. “The wise person represents the bodhisattva, the great hero. “The sentient beings predisposed to inferiority who aspire to self development and wish to seek the good qualities of the city without moving from that place, are to be interpreted as auditors and independent buddhas. “Those who say, ‘We will go to the city as you do’ represent other bodhisattvas. “Those sentient who listen to and hear his speech but do not believe it, stand for heterodox tīrthikas. 67. “ ‘Departing from the vast wasteland’ should be interpreted as undertaking vigorous initiatives. PAGE BREAK 48 “The ‘way that is but a span in width’ represents the element of dharma (dharma-dhātu). The ‘chasm that falls off a hundred-thousand cubits on either side’ represents the stages of the auditors and independent buddhas. To ‘wall the chasms on either side with boards’ should be understood as vigor endowed with skill in means and he perfection of wisdom. “To ‘crawl across the way on hands and knees’ corresponds to winning measureless numbers of sentient beings with the four means of attraction. “ ‘Assailants who shout from behind and try to frighten him’ correspond to Māra and the divinities of Māra’s legion who ridicule and direct sarcasm towards bodhisattvas.73 “ ‘Not looking back’ stands for the perfection of patience and the generation of high resolve (adhyāśaya). ‘Not looking to the right or left’ signifies his dissatisfaction with the stage of the auditors and independent buddhas, and it signifies the stage of allknowing gnosis (sarvajña-jñāna). 68. “ ‘The great city’ stands for the city of omniscience. ‘He only has eyes for the great city’ stands for seeing the good qualities of buddhahood, reflecting upon the activities and the gnosis of buddhahood, and training oneself in the perfection of wisdom and in skill in means—and for the corresponding confidence and freedom from doubt of sentient beings. “ ‘Reaching the city, he accomplishes the welfare of measureless numbers of sentient beings,’: this stands for the Thus-Come-One. “Lord, the bodhisattva great heroes are endowed with gnosis. Lord, I make salutation to all bodhisattva great heroes.” 69. The Lord bestowed a “Well done!” upon master Mahākāśyapa: “Kāśyapa, well and good! Kāśyapa, with your telling of this simile twenty million living creatures, divine and human, have generated the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. Kāśyapa, bodhisattvas who are trained in skill in means are endowed with measureless good qualities. Kāśyapa, the bodhisattva will not perform a deed that would harm himself or someone else.” PART TWO THE SKILL IN MEANS OF ŚĀKYAMUNI Where is the Awakening in a Shaven Head? 70. The bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara said to the Lord: “Lord, in that case why during the promulgation of the Thus-Come-One Kāśyapa, did the bodhisattva, then bound by one more rebirth say: “ ‘To see a śramaṇa shave-pate? What is that to me? Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head? Awakening is very rare.’ “Lord, what was the purpose of saying this?74 71. The Lord made this answer to the bodhisattva Jñānottara: “Son of the family: Do not try to assess the tathāgatas and bodhisattvas. Why so? Son of the family: The bodhisattvas, are endowed with inconceivable skill in means and so these holy personages live in whatever way will serve to convert sentient beings. “Nevertheless, son of the family, listen well and attentively as I present an account of doctrine known as Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya-nāma-dharmaparyāya).75 I will teach you something of the inconceivable skill in means demonstrated by the bodhisattva from the time of the Buddha Dīpaṁkara.76 Why the Bodhisattva Continues to be Reborn 72. “Son of the family: From the time the bodhisattva has seen Buddha Dīpaṁkara, until he obtains conviction in the non-arising of phenomena, he is unerring, unboisterous, unforgetful.77 “Son of the family: Once the bodhisattva has obtained conviction that phenomena are unarising he may, should he so desire, obtain awakening in one week. He may obtain awakening after one hundred eons, in order to bring sentient beings to maturity. While continuing too renew his existence he may, by virtue of his wisdom, fully awaken whenever he pleases. On the other hand, he may remain to the future end [of saṁsāra] indefatigably. That is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. 73. “Son of the family: The bodhisattva settles into states of peaceful concentration just as the auditor does. The latter, however, becomes physically and mentally inactive, and considers that he himself has entered nirvāṇa, whereas the bodhisattva settles into peaceful concentrations without ceasing his efforts to win over sentient beings with the four means of attraction and to bring sentient beings to maturity by means of the six perfections. That is also the bodhisattva’s skill in means. Entering the Womb 74. “Son of the family: The bodhisattva could fully awaken to bodhi and turn the wheel of doctrine while abiding in Tuṣita heaven, if he so desired. But he thinks, ‘Human beings of Jambu Continent cannot mount to the palace of the gods to hear the doctrine, but gods are capable of descending to Jambu Continent.’ For that reason, the bodhisattva becomes a fully manifest buddha on Jambu Continent. That also is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. 75. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva could become a fully manifest buddha, if he so desired, at the very instant that he transmigrates from Tuṣita heaven, without entering the womb. In that case, however, some sentient beings would suspect that he might be [not human but] a god, a nāga, a yakṣa, a gandharva, a magical creation, or some local spirit. With such suspicion, they would not listen to doctrine. For these reasons the bodhisattva demonstrates abiding in the womb. That also is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. 78 76. “Son of the family, do not think that the bodhisattva enters a womb. There is no such thing as the bodhisattva entering a womb. “How so? There is a bodhisattva concentration called Immaculate (vimala-nāma-samādhi). The bodhisattva settles into it and then he reaches the site of awakening without moving from that state of concentration. The gods of Tuṣita heaven think that the bodhisattva has changed lives (pratisaṁdhau gata)79 because they no longer see him. But the bodhisattva, the great hero demonstrates all the deeds of birth, leaving home, and austerities by means of emanations, never moving from Tuṣita heaven. The bodhisattva demonstrates all of these with emanations.80 Why so? Son of the family, the bodhisattva is clean in his habits, so he no longer enters a womb. That also is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. 77. “Why does the bodhisattva change himself into a white bull elephant to demonstrate entry into his mother’s womb? The whiteness stands for innocence. The bodhisattva is the most distinguished of sentient beings; therefore he must demonstrate an entry into the womb different from that of any deity or other human being. That also is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. 78. “Why does the bodhisattva remain in his mother’s womb for ten months, rather than nine? Because some sentient beings would think, ‘Aha! This infant must have faculties that are incomplete, for he has not completed his time in the womb.’ To prevent such suspicions and to show that his time in the womb and his faculties are complete, the bodhisattva stays in the womb for ten months, rather than nine.81 That also is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. 79. “Why does the bodhisattva enter the womb (through his mother’s right side)? Some sentient beings would think, ‘The bodhisattva is not born from his parents’ embryo (arbuda); he is born apparitionally.’ He enters the womb (through his mother’s right side) in order to prevent them entertaining such a suspicion. “Mother Māyā as no scar after he enters, but during the confinement she experiences pleasure such that she has never felt before.82 Birth 80. “Why does the bodhisattva take birth in forest seclusion, and not in town? The bodhisattva has praised seclusion, enjoyed isolation, and lived cleanly for a long time. If he were to take birth at home, then the gods, nāgas and yakṣas would not come to make continual offerings of divine incense, powders and flowers. In addition, it delights (pramudita) the human beings of Kapilavastu.83 For these reasons the bodhisattva takes rebirth in forest seclusion, and not in town. 81. “Why does the bodhisattva’s mother give birth to him inclined upon a branch of the plakṣa tree curvaceously (pravijṛmbhamitā-sthitā)84 Some sentient beings would think, ‘Divine Mother Māyā feels pain like any other woman, giving birth to the bodhisattva.’ “To show those sentient beings the ease of the childbearing, she gives birth to the bodhisattva inclined upon a branch of the plakṣa tree curvaceously. 82. “Why does the bodhisattva emerge from the womb, with mindfulness and full awareness, through his mother’s right side, rather than emerging from her vagina or some other part of her body? The bodhisattva is best in the triple world for cleanliness of habits.85 Therefore, he must show his birth to be dissimilar to that of lesser sentient beings: He does not dwell in a vagina. That is why the bodhisattva emerges from the womb, with mindfulness and full awareness, through his mother’s right side. And after he has taken birth there is no wound or scar on her side. 83. “Why is the bodhisattva swaddled by Indra, ruler of the gods (śakro devendra) when he has taken birth, rather than by others who are human? That is because the bodhisattva’s store of wholesomeness is blazing, and Indra, ruler of the gods, has previously made the aspiration, ‘Let me swaddle the bodhisattva as soon as he takes birth.’ 84. “Why does the bodhisattva take seven steps unsupported when he has taken birth, rather than six or eight? The bodhisattva takes seven steps unsupported, rather than six or eight, because he must show wonderworking power (ṛddhi) and transformation (vikurvaṇa) never previously shown by anyone as a holy person, and because seven steps suffice to satisfy any sentient being, whereas six would not suffice and eight would be excessive. 85. “Why does the bodhisattva, when he has taken seven steps, enunciate: ‘I am senior in the world. I shall put an end to birth, old age, illness, and death.’ “This is because Brahmā and illustrious divinities are gathered and present in that assembly. Puffed up with pride, they think that they, and not the bodhisattva, are the highest, and they do not bow to the bodhisattva. Because they fail to bow to him, the bodhisattva thinks, ‘Brahmā, and these devaputras will be hapless and damaged for a long time.’ On that account the bodhisattva enunciates: ‘I am senior in the world. I am premier in the world. I shall put an end to birth, old age, and death.’ PAGE BREAK 56 “This universe system of a thousand million worlds resounds with the sound of that speech and some devaputras who are not yet gathered there also come because of hearing the sound. And then the brahmā gods and the devaputras cup their palms together and bow to the bodhisattva. “For these reasons the bodhisattva says: ‘I am senior in the world. I am premier in the world. I shall put an end to birth, old age, illness and death.’ 86. “Why does the bodhisattva give a great burst of laughter after taking birth? The bodhisattva has no licentious laughter or frivolity. Nevertheless, the bodhisattva thinks: ‘These sentient beings generated the thought of awakening concurrently with me. Since then I have attained awakening, but they remain stuck in dense saṁsāra because of their apathy. Alas! These sentient beings are failing to undertake vigorous initiatives in the path to omniscient liberation. If they bow to me now, they will henceforth undertake corresponding initiatives towards omniscience.’ “Motivated by great compassion in that way, the bodhisattva gives a great burst of laughter at the knowledge that both the deficient, careless sentient beings and he will have fulfilled their aspirations. 87. “Why is the bodhisattva bathed by Indra and Brahmā when he has taken birth, whereas he is immaculate? This is an act of worship on the part of Indra and Brahmā. The bodhisattva necessarily follows worldly custom. They must bathe him as soon as they see him take birth, although the bodhisattva is not dirty. PAGE BREAK 57 88. “Why does the bodhisattva return home when he has taken birth in forest seclusion, rather than proceeding to the site of awakening? So that he might perform the departure from home only after demonstrating the deeds of maturing his faculties, [dwelling in] the women’s quarters, and great enjoyment and dalliance there. Because he demonstrates renunciation of sovereignty over four continents, others will emulate him in rejecting great pleasure and dalliance in order to leave home for the religious life.86 “For those reasons the bodhisattva returns home when he has taken birth in forest seclusion. 89. “Why does Divine Māyā expire seven days after the bodhisattva has been born? Divine Māyā expires because her span of life is exhausted, but the bodhisattva is not at fault. While the bodhisattva is yet residing in Tuṣita heaven, he examines the life span of Divine Māyā with his pure divine eye, by which he knows that no more than ten months and one week remain in the life span of Divine Māyā. Only then does the bodhisattva pass from Tuṣita heaven to enter his mother’s womb. Therefore, son of the family, you may know by this account that Divine Māyā expires when her span of life is exhausted—the birth of the bodhisattva is not at fault. Youth “Why is the bodhisattva educated in the arts? Only because it is the way of the world. The bodhisattva needs no education from the outset in any science, song or dance, mantra, or spell, weaponry, jesting, entertainment or amusement, or in any philosophic views (darśana) found in the trichiliocosm.87 PAGE BREAK 58 91. “Why does the bodhisattva take a wife? The bodhisattva is not eager for sense-pleasure. “How so? The holy person is free from desireattachment during that time. Yet he simply must demonstrate taking a wife and retinue of female and male servants in his last lifetime, lest some sentient beings think, ‘The bodhisattva is not a holy man, but a type of natural eunuch. To prevent doubt on the part of those sentient beings, the bodhisattva demonstrates having a son, Rāhula. And to do this, he takes the Śākya maid Yaśodharā and the rest.88 92. “Some people may think that Rāhula is born from an embryo. Such is not the case. Why so? Rāhula is conceived apparitionally, transmigrating from among the gods: he is not born from the embryo of his parents. 93. The Śakya maid Yaśodarā is taken because of a previous resolve. She said, ‘From the time of Dīpaṁkara up through your last lifetime, I will be your wife.’ A promise made before a buddha is unbreakable, so he takes the Śākya maid Yaśodarā.89 PAGE BREAK 59 94. “Furthermore, the bodhisattva simply must demonstrate having retinues of wives and servants in his last lifetime. The Śākya maid Gopā, for one, sees the bodhisattva’s triumphant body, the triumph of offerings from heaven, and the triumph of departure from home life; and she cries, ‘Oh let me also come to have such qualities!’ And with that high resolve, she generates the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. Accordingly, the bodhisattva takes the Śākya maid Gopā in order to inspire her to generate a firm thought of awakening. 95. “Furthermore, some sentient beings who have the fault of sense-desire are attached to home business and incapable of renouncing it for the religious life. The bodhisattva great hero takes a retinue for their sake. “And they think: ‘He renounced a good wife in favour of the religious life. Why do we not also undertake the religious life (pravrajati)?’90 96. “Furthermore, while the bodhisattva took the bodhisattva course in the past, he brought to maturity some young women who did him service, and was a trusted friend to them. They made the resolve, ‘May we be your wives.’ Hence the bodhisattva takes them as his retinue, in order to bring their wholesome qualities to a great fruition. Forty-two thousand women from the women’s quarters he brings to the fruition of supreme, right and full awakening. The remainder he brings to a state where they are no longer subject to distress. PAGE BREAK 60 “Furthermore, some women who are afflicted by the great burning of sexual passion see the bodhisattva and immediately find themselves to be free from passion. 97. “Furthermore, the bodhisattva creates emanations like himself in size. Those creations enjoy, play and take pleasure with those women, who each think that they are playing and so forth with the bodhisattva. Rather, the bodhisattva great hero remains in the enjoyment and pleasure of meditative trance and concentration. “All of the bodhisattva’s indulgence in sensepleasure, from the time of Buddha Dīpaṁkara, should be regarded as the same as the indulgence in sense-pleasure by those emanations. Departure from Home “His servant Chandaka and horse Kaṇṭhaka should also be regarded as having made a previous resolve.91 98. “Why does the bodhisattva enter trance in the shade of a jambu tree? The bodhisattva converts sevenhundred million gods by staying there, and he shows his parents that he will leave home for the religious life. 92 99. “Why does the bodhisattva go to a park? To demonstrate old age, illness, and death. The bodhisattva does not want to hurt his relatives, but to let them know that he is to depart from home out of fear and trembling for old age, illness, and death.93 100. “Why does the bodhisattva depart at midnight, and not by day? To demonstrate to sentient beings that someone who wants good qualities will leave there, unquestioned, at midnight—for if he were to remain there his store of merit would not increase; and to demonstrate renunciation of the things that make for well-being, and the non-renunciation of good qualities. PAGE BREAK 61 101. “Why are the people put to sleep by the bodhisattva when he departs? To show that the gods are at fault—that the gods have put the people to sleep. Were his relatives and the people to generate harshness and anger toward the bodhisattva, they would be damaged, miserable, and deprived for a long time. But they believe that the bodhisattva, the great hero is not at fault, because the gods have opened the gate and carried him through the atmosphere. He puts them to sleep with the consideration that they will come to have faith in the bodhisattva. 102. “Why does the bodhisattva give his horse and ornaments into the hands of Chandaka? To demonstrate his contentment—and to show that the bodhisattva does not care for gold and silver; he undertakes the religious life disregarding all things. “Furthermore, the bodhisattva must inspire people of the future to imitate him: ‘Those who are to undertake the religious life during this promulgation should imitate me and enter the religious life based on the four usages of the nobles, disregarding all things.94 Someone who enters the religious life seeking a livelihood has failed at the outset to enter the religious life.’ 103. “Why does the bodhisattva cut his hair with a sword himself? No god, nāga, yakṣa, gandharva, human being, or kinnara95 in the trichiliocosm could bear to cut his hair, for no one outshines the splendor and glory of the bodhisattva. “In addition, cutting his hair himself eliminates the possibility that King Śuddhodana would become angry to hear it. Seeing that the bodhisattva himself has cut his hair he cannot demand, ‘Who has cut my son’s hair?’ He cannot execute or punish anyone.” PAGE BREAK 62 Austerities: “Where is the Awakening in a Shaven Head?” 104. “Son of the family, listen now to why the bodhisattva practices austerities for six years. The bodhisattva does not practice austerities in response to obstacles brought about by his past deeds (karmāvaraṇāparādha). The bodhisattva, being skilled in means, must necessarily demonstrate (uddeśayitavya) to sentient beings the functioning of their deeds.96 “Son of the family: During the promulgation of the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, the bodhisattva said: ‘Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head?’ “That speech should also be regarded as the bodhisattva’s skill in means; it should be regarded as speech with a hidden intention.97 105. “With what in mind did the bodhisattva speak those words? Son of the family: In that lifetime, there was a brahman youth named Jyotipāla. He had five childhood companions, sons of a well-to-do brahman clan, who had embarked upon the bodhisattva vehicle. They had forgotten the thought of awakening under the sway of an unwholesome advisor. Those five sons of the family had come to be observing brahmanical rites (tīrthika-vrata) instead of buddhist rites; they were applying themselves to brahmanical mantras;98 and they said, ‘We have awakening! We are buddhas!’ claiming to be the Teacher. “The brahman youth Jyotipāla was aware that those sons of the family were fit vessels. So he said among those tīrthikas: “ ‘ Where is the awakening in a shaven head? Awakening is very rare. Why should I go to see him?’ “Because the youth Jyotipāla said this among the tīrthikas—‘Where is the awakening in a shaven head? Awakening is very rare’—those five sons of the family were brought gradually to maturity. PAGE BREAK 63 106. “Son of the family, this is how it came about. At one time Jyotipāla was together with his five childhood companions in a certain place when the potter Ghaṭikāra arrived. The potter Ghaṭikāra spoke praise of the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, he said to the brahman youth Jyotipāla: “ ‘Jyotipāla come! Let us go before the Thus-ComeOne, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa.’ “Then the brahman youth Jyotipāla thought: ‘Alas, these brahman youth are not mature in their stores of merit. If I were to praise the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa and disparage the tīrthikas, these sons of the family would be skeptical and refuse to come before Buddha Kāśyapa.’ “Then the brahman youth Jyotipāla, while continuing to guard his original commitment, said—with skill in means that is the outcome of perfection-ofwisdom gnosis—99 “ ‘ To see a śramaṇa shave pate? What is that to me? Where is the awakening in a shaven head? Awakening is very rare.’ 107.“How is it skill in means that is the outcome of perfection-of-wisdom gnosis? The bodhisattva coursing in the perfection of wisdom does not conceive of awakening; he has no conception of a buddha, nor of a buddha’s gnosis. “He does not perceive a bodhisattva; he does not perceive bodhi inside; nor does he perceive bodhi outside; he does not perceive bodhi inside and outside. “Thinking, ‘Awakening (bodhi) is entirely empty,’ the youth Jyotipāla, not apprehending any phenomena, said, with skill in means: ‘Where is the awakening in a shaven head? Awakening is very rare.’ PAGE BREAK 64 108. “On a later occasion, the youth Jyotipāla was together with his five childhood companions on the bank of a pond, when (in order that the Buddha might have the opportunity to enforce discipline upon those five sons of the family) the potter Ghaṭikāra came there to the bank of the pond.100 He said to the brahman youth Jyotipāla: “ ‘Jyotipāla, come here! For lord buddhas to arise in the world is very rare. Come to see the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, to salute him, to do him honor.’ “The brahman youth Jyotipāla answered: ‘To see a śramaṇa shave-pate? What is that to me? Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head?’ “Whereas the brahman youth Jyotipāla refused to go to see the Thus-Come-One, to salute him, to do him honor, the potter Ghaṭikāra seized him by the chignon and led him to the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa. The five youth, having no impact on the potter Ghaṭikāra, also came before the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa. 101 “The five sons of the well-to-do brahman clan, who had been born into a household of wrong views, were greatly influenced. They thought: ‘The potter Ghaṭikāra is risking his life to drag the brahman youth Jyotipāla by the chignon to go before the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa to see, to salute and to do him honor in order to bring his wholesome qualities to fulfillment. He is to go before the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha kāśyapa. But what is a buddha like? What are the qualities of a buddha?’ PAGE BREAK 65 “As soon as they had seen the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, their wholesome roots from the past were stimulated and they regained their faith. “Finding their faith, they scolded the brahman youth Jyotipāla, saying, ‘Why did you not tell us in the first place that the Teacher has such good qualities?’ 110. “Then the five sons of the well-to-do brahman clan saw the glory and the majesty of the Thus-ComeOne, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, and they heard his eloquence; and hearing the sound of his brahmic voice resounding, they generated the thought of supreme, right and full awakening with a high resolve. “For his part, the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, realizing that the sons of the family had formed a high resolve, taught a doctrinal system of the bodhisattva collection known as the Incantation of the Irreversible Wheel, the Diamond Word, the Nonarising of All Phenomena,102 which was exactly sufficient to enable them to attain conviction that phenomena are unarising. 111. “Son of the family: I therefore confirm to you, with the gnosis of a buddha, that if the brahman youth Jyotipāla had praised the Thus-Come-One, the Buddha Kāśyapa, those sons of the family would have had no possibility or opportunity to go before the Thus-ComeOne, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa. 112. “Son of the family: That is why I spoke those words, ‘Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a shaven head?’— in order to bring those five bodhisattvas to maturity with skill in means that is the outcome of the perfection of wisdom. However, the bodhisattva has not the shadow of a doubt in the Buddha or in awakening. That also is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. 113. “I had to bring those five bodhisattvas to maturity, and I had to demonstrate the maturation of deeds to them. I came to practice austerities for six years as the maturation of the karma of having done so. The Thus-Come-One displays such karma in order to demonstrate the functioning of deeds to other sentient beings who, out of ignorance, might misperceive righteous śramaṇas and brahmans and speak harshly of them. If they should speak thus, whether knowingly or unknowingly, they would be hapless, damaged, miserable, and deprived for a long time. But the bodhisattva has no obstacle at all resulting from the deed. 114. “Furthermore, some sentient beings speak harshly of righteous śramaṇas and brahmans and then think, ‘ I have lost the opportunity for liberation,’ persisting in their regret and failing to make further effort. I spoke those words in order to dispel the doubts of those sentient beings, They think, ‘The bodhisattva great hero spoke words such as those when he was bound to one more birth only. And he still had the opportunity for liberation. How much more so must we, who are ignorant!’ So they confess their fault of evil karma and do not manufacture any more.103 115. “Furthermore, son of the family, I the bodhisattva do austerities for six years in order to convert tīrthikas; the cause is not an obstacle from past deeds. “How so? There are śramaṇas and brahmans who eat no food but single jujube berries, sesame seeds and grains of rice, supposing that they will be purified by it. To confute them, the bodhisattva shows that purification is impossible eating bad food, not relying on the path of the nobles. 116. “For those reasons the bodhisattva great hero says, ‘Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a shaven head?’ He practices austerities for six years with the functioning of karma in mind. “During those six years, the Bodhisattva causes five million, two hundred-thousand gods and heterodox rishis who are devoted to wretched practices to attain the goal of realizing gnosis—and he brings them to maturity with inferior practice. Son of the family: That also is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. At the Site of Awakening 117. “Why does the Bodhisattva go to the Awakening Tree after taking food and generating physical strength, rather than going while his body is emaciated and weak? The Bodhisattva could nirvāṇize to full awakening without eating, with his body emaciated and weak. Nevertheless, the Bodhisattva takes food out of pity (anukaṁpā) for people of the future who, being unskilled sentient beings, will not search for gnosis without eating, who cannot achieve gnosis while afflicted with hunger. “How so? Those who are comfortable can address the doctrine, not those who are suffering. The Bodhisattva, the great hero ate food in order to show sentient beings how to imitate him and be comfortable. 118. “Furthermore, the Bodhisattva demonstrates the attainment of awakening only after taking food so that the village girl Sujātā may fulfill the aids to awakening. Nevertheless the Bodhisattva is capable of subsisting for many hundreds of thousands of eons on the elation and jubilation of a single concentration. 104 119. “Why does the Bodhisattva beg for grass? Buddhas of the past enjoyed grass mats, they did not set store by cushions, so he is content with that. And the grass-cutter Swastika is enabled to fulfill the aids to awakening. I confirm that because he offers grass to the Bodhisattva, he will in future time become a Thus-ComeOne, a Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha named Viraja.105 120. “After sitting down before the Awakening Tree, why does the Bodhisattva not nirvāṇize to supreme, right and full awakening quickly, before the arrival of evil Māra? Son of the family, evil Māra would have no opportunity to come at all, did not the Bodhisattva create one, did not the Bodhisattva exhort him—it would be impossible. Although there are no grounds for it, son of the family, the Bodhisattva sits before the Awakening Tree and thinks: ‘Who is ruler of this universe system of a thousand million worlds (trisāhasra-mahāsāhasralokadhātu)?106 Under whose influence have these sentient beings come?’ “And he thinks, ‘It is evil Māra. They have come under his influence.’ 121. “Then the Bodhisattva thinks, ‘Let me combat him. Defeating him, I will have tamed all the realms of desire. The great circle of gods will be drawn in. The circle of Māra, the circle of yakṣas, the circle of demons, and the circle of nāgas will see the play of the bodhisattva, whereupon they will generate the thought of awakening and find faith. Anyone who hears or sees even a little will eventually come to nirvāṇa.’107 122. “Son of the family: Then the bodhisattva, seated before the Awakening Tree, emits a ray of light from the tuft of hair between his eyebrows. That light illuminates this trichiliocosm, eclipsing all of Māra’s abodes. From the light comes a voice that says: “ ‘This son of the Śākyas has departed from the home of the Śākya clan. He will nirvāṇize to full awakening, transcending the range of Māra. Countless sentient beings will also transcend his range, decreasing Māra’s faction. Go ahead and combat him!’ 123. “Son of the family: Upon hearing that, Māra is torn by fierce sorrow and anguish. Angered and horrible, he loses not a moment in mobilizing his armed host of four divisions and marching to the Awakening Tree. Māra’s army fills thirty-two square leagues. “Thereupon the Bodhisattva, the great hero, stationed in great love, defeats the legion of Māra with his hand that has evolved from precious merit.108 “Eight hundred and forty thousand millions (840,000,000) of gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, kinnaras and mahoraga serpents generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 124. “Why does the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the perfected Buddha, having attained awakening, then gaze for seven days at the king of trees, not breaking his sitting position and not blinking? Divinities living in the Realm of Suble Materiality whose course is calm see the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, remain in a cross-legged position and they are vastly elated, serene, and jubilant. Being elated, serene, and jubilant, they think: “ ‘Let us determine upon what the śramaṇa Guatama’s thought relies.’ “For seven days they investigate with their thought one-pointed, but they cannot find a basis for his thought. Then thirty-two thousand divinities generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening, thinking: “ ‘At a future day may we also, continuing to course in calm, come to gaze at the Awakening Tree in that way.’ “For those reasons the Thus-Come-Ones, the Worthies, the fully perfected Buddhas, having attained awakening, gaze for seven days at the king of trees, unmoving and unblinking. That also is the Thus-ComeOne’s skill in means.109 PAGE BREAK 69 125. “Why does the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha, after awakening has been attained, not teach doctrine until requested to do so by Brahmā, whereas he has inspired and invited incalculable, measureless numbers of sentient beings? “At this point, the Thus-Come-One considers: “ ‘Gods and human beings mostly serve Brahmā. They think, “We have been created (nirmita) by Brahmā. We are born from Brahmā. The world has no teacher besides Brahmā.’ ” “So at this point, the Thus-Come-One considers: ‘I will make Brahmā come. I will wait for him. With Brahmā doing salutation, gods and human beings who serve Brahmā will also do salutation. The Thus-ComeOne will teach doctrine with Brahmā making the request, but he will not teach unrequested, lest they be unsure as to whether to accept my doctrine.’ “So Brahmā is impelled by the Thus-Come-One himself to come before him to request him. Brahmā himself has not a single thought of making such a request of the Thus-Come-One. 126. “The Thus-Come-One makes Brahmā come so that sentient beings who serve Brahmā will abandon him. At the same time that Brahmā entreats the Thus-ComeOne to turn the wheel of doctrine, some six million, eight hundred-thousand110 Brahmā deities generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening, thinking: ‘He is the chief. He is the very highest.’ ” PART THREE THE TEN KARMIC CONNECTIONS Statement of principle 127. “Son of the family: The Thus-Come-One demonstrates ten karmic connections. These should be regarded as the skill in means; they also should be regarded as having a hidden meaning. 128. “Son of the family: If the bodhisattva had the slightest fraction of a hair’s tip worth of unwholesomeness, he would have no opportunity to go before the Awakening Tree. It would be impossible. “Son of the family: the Thus-Come-One is endowed with all wholesome qualities; he has eliminated all unwholesome qualities. The Thus-Come-One has no habit patterns at all that are yet to be eliminated. There is no possibility at all of fault stemming from an obstacle caused by past deeds (karma). Nevertheless, the ThusCome-One demonstrates karmic connections in order to demonstrate the maturation of deeds to certain sentient beings who waste the fruition of deeds, and to sentient beings who do not believe in karmic fruition. By showing them karmic connections in himself, the ThusCome-One raises the question: ‘If deeds come to fruition for me, the master of doctrine, why should they not come to fruition for yourselves?’ He shows them the maturation of karma, but the Thus-Come-One himself possesses not even the slightest obstacle caused by past deeds. 129. “Son of the family: By analogy, a teacher who is already educated in letters, numbers, and engraving will recite the alphabet, in the way that children call it out, in order to teach it to children. He is not ignorant of it, nor has he any obstacles caused by past deeds. In any case, children hear him and imitate what they hear, reciting the alphabet. “In the same way, son of the family, the ThusCome-One who is already purified of karmic obstacles to all doctrine, will expound it in whatever ways will cause other sentient beings to purify their deeds. And he will teach doctrine accordingly. 130. “Son of the family: By analogy, a physician who is educated in pacifying all varieties of illness, while he is free from illness himself, will taste strong medicine in front of sentient beings who are ill, whereby they will be freed from their illness. “In the same way, son of the family, the ThusCome-One111 is freed from all the varieties of illness; he has attained freedom from obstacles. Yet he displays karma saying, ‘This is the fruition of this or that.’ He displays illness thinking that sentient beings should fear and tremble and purify their deeds of body, speech and mind. 131. “Son of the family: By analogy, soon after the son of a rich man is born, his parents may give him a wet nurse. While the wet nurse is not ill, she will drink bitter medicine intending to purify her milk for that boy. “In the same way, Son of the family, the ThusCome-One, the father of all sentient beings, has no illness. Yet he sees sentient beings displaying the workings of karma, and he displays illness, saying, ‘I did such and such, and this is the maturation of its karma.’ The sentient beings are alarmed to hear , ‘Such and such a deed matures into this’ and they no longer manufacture evil karma. Son of the family, that also should be known as skill in means. PAGE BREAK 73 Murder with Skill in Means: the Story of the Compassionate Ship’s Captain 132. “Son of the family: Once upon a time there were five hundred merchants who set sail on the high seas in search of wealth. Among the company was a doer of dark deeds, a doer of evil deeds, a robber well-trained in the art of weaponry, who had come on board to attack them. “That deceitful person thought: ‘I will kill all these merchants, take all their possessions and go to Jambu Continent.’ 133. “At the same time, among the company on board was a captain named Great Compassionate. While Captain Great Compassionate slept on one occasion, the deities who dwelt in that ocean showed him this in a dream: “ ‘Among this ship’s company is a person named so and so, of such and such appearance—mischievous, a thief of others’ property. He is thinking, “I will kill all these merchants, take all their possessions and go to Jambu Continent.” To kill these merchants would create formidable evil karma for that person. Why so? These five hundred merchants are all progressing toward supreme, right and full awakening. If he should kill these bodhisattvas, the fault—the obstacle caused by the deed —would cause him to burn in the great hells for as long as it takes each one of these bodhisattvas to achieve supreme, right and full awakening, consecutively. Therefore, Captain, think of some means to prevent this person from murder’ 134. “Son of the family: Then the captain considered what means there might be to prevent that person from killing the five hundred merchants and going to the great hells. Seven days passed without wind. During those seven days he plunged deep into thought, not speaking to anyone. PAGE BREAK 74 “He thought, ‘There is no means but to kill him.’ “And he thought, ‘If I were to report this to the merchants, they would kill him with angry thoughts and all go to the hells themselves.’ “And he thought, ‘If I were to kill this person, I would burn in the hells for one hundred-thousand eons because of it. Yet I can bear it, so that this person not slay these five hundred merchants and develop evil karma.112 135. Son of the family: Accordingly, the captain Great Compassionate protected those merchants by deliberately slaying that robber with a spear, with great compassion and skill in means. 136. “In that life I was none other than the captain Great Compassionate. “Son of the family: For me, saṁsāra was curtailed for one hundred-thousand eons because of that skill in means and great compassion. And the robber died to be be reborn in a world of paradise. The five hundred merchants on board are the five hundred future buddhas of the Auspicious Eon (bhadra-kalpa). 137. “Son of the family, what do you think of this? Can curtailing birth and death for one hundred-thousand eons with the gnosis of skill in means be regarded as the bodhisattva’s obstacle caused by past deeds? Do not view it in that way.113 (1) The Thorn that “Resulted” 138. “The Thus-Come-One initiates sentient beings into the functioning of karma. The piercing of the foot of the Thus-Come-One by an acacia thorn should be regarded as the very power of the Buddha. How so? The Thus-Come-One has a body like vajra, an indestructible body. PAGE BREAK 75 “Nonetheless, son of the family, there are in this same great city of Śrāvastī twenty persons who are in their last lifetime and twenty persons who are enemies of those first twenty persons. The twenty persons who are enemies, each with his own dishonesty, give rise to the thought of going to the home of their particular enemy pretending to be friends and killing them. They do not say a word to each other. 139. “Son of the family: Then those twenty persons in their last lifetime and those twenty murderous persons come, by the power of the Buddha, to where the ThusCome-One is. 140. “Son of the family: Then the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha, in order to bring his influence to bear upon many other people at the same time, addresses the great Maudgalyāyana: “ ‘Maudgalyāyana: Today an acacia thorn will emerge from the earth. It will pierce the sole of the right foot of the Thus-Come-One.’ “Not long after Thus-Come-One has said this, a thorn of acacia measuring a span in length emerges from the earth. Then the elder, the great Maudgalyāyana makes this request of the Thus-Come-One: “ ‘ Lord, permit me to dispatch this acacia thorn to some other realm if the universe.’ “I reply to him, ‘Maudgalyāyana, you cannot.’ 141. “Son of the family: Then the elder, the great Maudgalyāyana seizes the thorn of acacia with all his might so that this trichilocosm heaves and shakes. But that thorn of acacia does not move even a fraction of the tip of a hair. “Son of the family: Then the Thus-Come-One ascends to the world of Brahmā, and the thorn of acacia goes to the world of Brahmā as well. Then the ThusCome-One descends from the world of Brahmā and sits on his seat, while the thorn of acacia remains in him. 114 He goes likewise to the middle of the ocean, and the thorn of acacia remains in him there. Then the ThusCome-One enters a cavern, and the thorn of acacia remains in him there. Then the Thus-Come-One sits on his seat, and the thorn of acacia remains as it was before. 142. “Then the Thus-Come-One grasps his right foot with his right hand. He steps on the tip of the acacia thorn pointed upward out of the earth, and the trichiliocosm shakes. 143. “Then the master Ānanda asks me, ‘Lord, what deed did the Thus-Come-One previously perform of which this is the fruition?’ “I answer him: ‘Ānanda, once when I had sailed off upon the ocean I killed a dishonest merchant with a spear. This is the residue of the fruition of that deed.’ Then the Lord utters this stanza: Not in the sky, not in the sea, Not in a mountain cavern— There is no place one can go To escape the effects of deeds. (Dharmapada 127) 144. “Son of the family: Then those twenty people who want to kill those twenty people think this: “ ‘Even the Thus-Come-One, the master of the doctrine, incurs a recompense. Is there any reason that we should not incur a recompense?’ “Upon that instant they disclose their offence before the Thus-Come-One: “ ‘Lord, we have also been about to commit a slaughter. Before the Lord we hereby disclose our offence.” 145. “Thereupon the Thus-Come-One teaches doctrine, beginning with karma, so that those forty persons realize gnosis, and thirty-two thousand other living creatures have their eyes opened to the dustless, immaculate doctrine, and exhaust their karma. For those reasons the Thus-Come-One has a thorn of acacia stick in his foot. That also is the skill in means of the Bodhisattva and the Thus-Come-One; it is not an obstacle caused by past deeds. (2) Taking Forbidden Medicine 146. “Why does the Thus-Come-One snuff the medicine of the utpala flower from the physician Jīvaka, whereas he is free of illness.115 “At a time not long after the prātimokṣa has been enacted, there will be five hundred monks dwelling in a certain forest who are in their last lifetime. Stricken by an illness that cannot be pacified by the remedy of foul waste, they will not seek other medicine because of their respect for the Thus-Come-One.116 “Son of the family, the Thus-Come-One considers: “ ‘What means is there for them to seek other medicine without my giving them permission? “Why so? If the Thus-Come-One were to give them permission, the usages of the nobles would decline in future times.117 147. Therefore the Thus-Come-One, with skill in means, takes the purgative of the utpala flower from the physician Jīvaka. “Then the divinities of the ‘Pure Abodes’ class will say to those monks: ‘Masters, do not let yourselves die— seek another medicine.’ “The monks will say: ‘We cannot supersede the rules of training established by the Thus-Come-One. We will not transgress the rules of training of the ThusCome-One even though we may die.’ “The divinities of the ‘Pure Abodes’ class will say to those monks: ‘The Thus-Come-One himself, the master of doctrine, sought medicine other than the medicine of foul waste. Why do you not consider seeking it? Masters: Let you seek other medicine!’ 148. “Then the monks will be freed from reluctance. They will other medicine and be freed from their illness. “Son of the family: Had the Thus-Come-One not sought other medicine, those monks would not seek other medicine either; they would lack any basis or opportunity to be freed from that illness and to attain arhatship. (3) Empty Alms-bowl 149. “Why does the Thus-Come-One, who is endowed with all merit, return from seeking alms in a village with his bowl as clean as it was when he went? 118 The Thus-Come-One has no obstacles caused by past deeds at all. Nevertheless, the Thus-Come-One must safeguard people of the future. “Among monks who go to village, market town, metropolis, and royal capital for alms, some will be small in merit and fail to receive alms. Then they will give a thought to the Thus-Come-One: “ ‘The Thus-Come-One himself, who has gathered the resource of merit, returned from seeking alms in a village with his bowl as clean as it was when he went. What can we expect with our small stores of merit? Let us not be upset at failing to receive alms.’ “Considering this eventuality, the Thus-Come-One returns from seeking alms in a village with his bowl as clean as it was when he went. 150. “Furthermore, some people say: ‘In any case, the brahmans and householders who fail to donate alms are possessed by evil Māra.’ Do not view it in that way. Why so? Māra is not capable of interfering with the alms of the Thus-Come-One. Quite the contrary: Māra inspired those brahmans and householders by the inspiration of the Thus-Come-One himself. The ThusCome-One has no obstacle caused by past deeds. He demonstrates skill in means in order to bring those sentient beings to maturity. “While the Thus-Come-One is fasting then, Māra and other gods of Māra’s class, and other gods as well, decide to assay whether the śramaṇa Gautama or his auditors are unhappy. They examine the thoughts of the Thus-Come-One and the community of auditors (śravaka-saṁgha). Day and night they examine the thoughts of the Thus-Come-One and community of auditors but they cannot see a single state of mind that is unhappy. They are just as they were before: neither haughty, nor downcast. 151. “Upon the instant, seventy thousand divinities find faith and bow to the Thus-Come-One. And the ThusCome-One teaches all of them the precise dharma that will make their dharma eyes pure, dustless, in regard to the dharmas. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means; it should not be understood as an obstacle caused by past deeds.119 (4) Cañcā’s Feigned Pregnancy 152. Why does the brahman girl Cañcā bind a wooden bowl to her belly and cast aspersions upon the Thus-Come-One, saying: ‘Śramaṇa, you have made me pregnant. Now keep me with food and clothing’?120 “The Thus-Come-One has no obstacle caused by past deeds. The Thus-Come-One might fling away the girl Cañcā to the distance of as many realms of the universe as the Ganges’ sands. But the Thus-Come-One displays the functioning of karma out of skill in means. “How so? During this very promulgation [of the dharma], it will happen that monastics are calumniated. They will be filled with disheartened. When aspersions are cast upon them, they will say: “ ‘The Thus-Come-One, who is endowed with all wholesome qualities, was himself subject to calumny. Why should we not be?’ “And they will immediately overcome the aspersions and practice celibacy that is perfectly pure and highly refined, not allowing it to fail. “The brahman girl Cañcā, permeated by evil karma, will go to hell as soon as she dies—as one would for calumniating the Thus-Come-One even in a dream. Assuredly, if the Thus-Come-One knew how to protect her, he would protect her. Why so? The Thus-Come-One will not abandon any sentient being. (5) Death of the Wanderer Sundarikā 154. “Why is the Thus-Come-One, who is allknowing, impassive to the wanderer Sundarikā, slain and thrown in a dump in the Jeta Grove? The Thus-ComeOne knew what was occurring, for he is endowed with unobstructed gnosis. The Thus-Come-One could certainly exercise power of a sort that would prevent the sword from penetrating the wanderer Sundarikā, and fling her elsewhere.121 But the Thus-Come-One knows that the wanderer Sundarikā must certainly die, because her span of life is exhausted. “And he knows that because of the incident the other tīrthikas will be quite confuted by their own misdeed. Whatever will result in fostering wholesome qualities is an exercise of power (adhiṣṭhāna) by the Thus-ComeOne—and that is the gnosis of the Buddha. 155. “The Thus-Come-One does not enter the city for one week. During that period he converts six-hundred million gods. When the week has passed, the four assemblies gather before the Lord,122 and the Lord teaches doctrine in ways that enable eighty–four thousand living beings to discover gnosis. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means. (6) Eating Horse-feed 156. “Why does the Thus-Come-One for three months eat barley horse-feed? “The Thus-Come-One is aware that the householder123 will request his presence and then fail to appreciate him. Yet he deliberately accedes. 157. “Why so? The Thus-Come-One, together with the monastic community, spends three months eating barley that is the feed of five hundred specific horses. All of those are progressing in the bodhisattva vehicle. They have each done service to a victor of the past and they have done evil deeds under the influence of an unwholesome adviser, because of which karma they have been reborn in the animal world. Among those five hundred horses is one horse who is a thoroughbred. He is known as the bodhisattva Sūryagarbha (Sun Essence). He has been reborn intentionally by virtue of a resolve. Bodhisattva Sūryagarbha has previously, when they were human beings, prompted all those five hundred horses to undertake awakening; now he is reborn there in order to bring them to freedom. Impelled by that thoroughbred horse, all the five hundred horses have come to recollect their previous lives and to evince the thought of awakening. 158. “Son of the family: That is why the ThusCome-One accedes, out of sympathy for those five hundred. Each of the five hundred horses offers half of his barely-feed to the five hundred monks there. The thoroughbred horse offers half of his to the Thus-ComeOne. The thoroughbred horse with a horse’s neigh prompts all the five hundred horses to confess their misdeeds and make salutation to the monastic community headed by the Buddha. 159. “Those three months pass and eventually the five hundred horses all pass on to be reborn among the gods of Tuṣita. And having become gods, they worship the Thus-Come-One, and the Thus-Come-One teaches them doctrine that will assure them of supreme, right and full awakening. “The one groom who had tamed and tended the five hundred horses is confirmed by the Thus-Come-One to become the independent buddha whose name is Tamed Mind (*Sudāntacitta). 160. “Son of the family: For all that, there is no human food unpalatable to the Thus-Come-One. Son of the family, even ingesting wood, clumps of earth, pebbles, and bricks: there would be no more excellent taste, nor better savor in this trichilocosm than that wood, clumps of earth, pebbles, and bricks. Why so? Because he is endowed with the most excellent taste as a mark of the superman. PAGE BREAK 83 Son of the family, you should therefore know by this incident that all the food of the Thus-Come-One is palatable. 161. “Son of the family: The elder Ānanda thinks in pity: ‘The Thus-Come-One has renounced the sovereignty of a universal monarch. Now he is eating barley.’ “The Thus-Come-One divines his thought and says: Ānanda, do you know the taste of this?’ handing him a barley corn. He marvels to eat it, and says to me: “ ‘Lord, I was born and raised in a king’s palace, yet Lord I have never before been granted the experience of such an excellent taste.’ “By virtue of being given it, the master Ānanda is happy and healthy eating nothing else for a week.124 162. “Son of the family: By this incident you should understand that the Thus-Come-One has no obstacle from past deeds whatsoever. Furthermore, this display of karmic connection serves as a lesson in doing what one has promised to do, [a lesson] to sentient beings who issue invitations to righteous śramaṇas but distractedly fail to honor them. “Son of the family, note the character of the ThusCome-One:125 Anyone requesting the presence of the Thus-Come-One is confirmed by the Thus-Come-One to be not liable to fall into the states of woe, even though he fails to show him honor. 163. “Son of the family: Furthermore, among the five hundred monks together with the Thus-Come-One, there are forty monks who course in desire-attachment and course in pretty features. If they were to eat palatable food during that period, their preoccupation with desireattachment would increase drastically. As it turns out, by eating bad food their obsession is attenuated and they all attain arhatship within one week subsequent to those three months. PAGE BREAK 84 (7) Backache 164. “Why does the Thus-Come-One declare: ‘Kāśyapa, my back is unwell. You explain the limbs of awakening’?126 “Son of the family: At that time, eight thousand divinities have been drawn into that assembly, established in the vehicle of the auditors. Kāśyapa has already prompted them again and again to generate faith in Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Community, and in the duty to act with vigilance; and they have already heard him tell of the limbs of awakening. That being the case, they would not take note of doctrine taught by anyone but Kāśyapa—not even if it were taught by a hundredthousand buddhas. So the Kāśyapa explains the division of the limbs of awakening in detail, and those eight thousand divinities realize gnosis. 165. “Furthermore, sentient beings who do not come to hear doctrine because they are in bad health will then think: “ ‘The Thus-Come-One himself, the master of doctrine, was freed from his illness by hearing an account of the limbs of awakening. Why should we not listen to doctrine?’ 166. “Son of the family: That is why the ThusCome-One says: ‘Kāśyapa, my back is unwell. You explain the limbs of awakening’—in order to influence those divinities, and to display respect for the doctrine for sentient beings who are ill.127 That also is the ThusCome-One’s skill in means, and not an obstacle caused by a past deed. (8) Headache 167. “Why does the Thus-Come-One, when the Śākyas are destroyed, say: ‘Ānanda, my head aches; I am unwell’? “Son of the family: Certain sentient beings are not aware that the Thus-Come-One has ended his relatives’ aggregate of suffering that is beginningless (anādi).128 When this occurs, they think: PAGE BREAK 85 “ ‘The Thus-Come-One does not wish benefit for his relatives, nor does he wish their welfare nor their well-being; he does not wish for their survival and happiness.’ “To guard against such thoughts on the part of those sentient beings, the Thus-Come-One says to the elder Ānanda: ‘Ānanda, my head aches; I am unwell.’ 168. “Son of the family: At the time that the ThusCome-One says to the elder Ānanda, ‘Ānanda, my head aches; I am unwell,’ three thousand annihilationist divinities and very many murderous sentient beings have been drawn in. The Thus-Come-One displays a karmic connection, saying that his head aches and as the residue of a murder, in order to initiate those annihilationist divinities and sentient beings to the course of karma (karma-patha).129 “In displaying that deed of speech, the Thus-ComeOne converts ten thousand living beings among the generations of gods and men. That also is the ThusCome-One’s skill in means, and not an obstacle caused by a past deed. (9) Scolding by Bharadvāja 169. “Why does the Thus-Come-One acquiesce to the insults of the brahman Bharadvāja, who scolds him with five hundred forms of abuse?130 “The Thus-Come-One could take the insulting Bharadvāja and fling him to some other place, or render him unable to utter a single word of abuse. However, many gods and human beings have been drawn into that assembly. They see the absence of discouragement or arrogance in the Thus-Come-One, his composed and benevolent disposition, his mind firm yet gentle and tender; and they see him generate the power of forbearance. Then four thousand living beings generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. With that goal in mind the Thus-Come-One makes himself impassive to the insults of the brahman Bharadvāja—but the Thus-Come-One has no obstacle caused by past deeds in any form. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means, and not caused by a past deed. (10) Persecution by Devadatta 170. “That is why the bodhisattva, the great hero is pursued by Devadatta from life to life: that also is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. “How so? Depending on Devadatta, I fulfilled the six perfections and accomplished the welfare of numberless sentient beings. By what account? Son of the family: Whenever sentient beings were well-off but ignorant of giving and receiving, then Devadatta would approach the bodhisattva and beg for his children, wife, and sovereignty, his hands, feet, and eyes, his head and such things that are difficult to give and the gift of which create a store of merit (kuśalamūla)131 for sentient beings. Undiscouraged, the bodhisattva would give these things, and numberless sentient beings would see this and be gladdened, they would devote themselves to giving and aspire to awakening, thinking, ‘Let us be the same way.’ 171. “Furthermore, sentient beings who wish to violate ethics would see the bodhisattva refuse to violate ethics and then hold to ethics themselves. Emulating the bodhisattva, when they were insulted, reproached, or struck, they would not be irritated but would themselves practice forbearance. In that way also he accomplishes the welfare of sentient beings. 172. “Occasions upon which Devadatta dispatches assassins, incites the elephant Dhanapāla, and authorizes the raising of a catapult to kill the Thus-Come-One, should also be regarded as the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means, rather than the fault of obstacles caused by past deeds.132 Why so? Dependent upon that skill in means, he accomplishes the welfare of numberless sentient beings. PAGE BREAK 87 173. “Son of the family: To summarize, Devadatta the ambitious is my teacher.133 All ten karmic connections should be regarded as the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means. Sentient beings who waste the functioning of deeds are introduced to the functioning and the maturation of deeds: with skill in means, the Thus-ComeOne displays a karmic connection to indicate that such and such is the maturation of such and such a deed. And hearing it, sentient beings can no longer be passive in the face of obstacles caused by unwholesome deeds and the need to manufacture wholesome karma. INSTRUCTIONS ON THE TRANSMISSION OF THE SŪTRA 174. “Son of the family: This explanation of the teaching of skill in means is to be kept secret. Do not teach it in the presence of inferior sentient beings whose store of merit is small. “Why so? This teaching is not the stage of the auditors and independent buddhas—what need to mention sentient beings whose store of merit is small? “Why so? They are untrained in this skill in means. They have no need for it. No one but a bodhisattva is a fit vessel for this teaching of skill in means; no one else is to be trained in this teaching. 175. “Son of the family: By analogy, in the darkest gloom of the night an oil lamp is lit, and all the household vessels are illuminated. In the same way, son of the family, if a bodhisattva hears and believes this teaching of skill in means, he will see all the practices of a buddha and will train sentient beings in them as well. “Son of the family, adhere to this and fathom it. The son or daughter of the family who is eager for awakening will travel a hundred-thousand leagues when it comes to his ears that this perfection of skill in means will PAGE BREAK 88 be taught somewhere. Why so? Hearing that teaching on skill in means, the bodhisattva will attain illumination and be freed of doubt and hesitation in regard to the qualities of the buddha.”134 176. Then everyone in the world among the four assemblies, including the gods, who were fit vessels, heard this system of doctrine. All who were not fit vessels did not have it enter their ears. While the system of doctrine was being presented, seventy-two thousand living beings generated the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. 177. Then master Ānanda asked the Lord: “Lord, what is the title of this system of doctrine? How should it be remembered?” The Lord answered: “Ānanda, remember this account of doctrine as the Teaching of the Perfection of Skill in Means. Remember it as the Select Chapter of the Skill in Means of All Buddhas.”135 OVATION 178. Thus spoke the Lord enraptured; and Ānanda, the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara, and the world including gods, human beings, asuras, and gandharvas, acclaimed the Lord’s promulgation.136 INDIAN COLOPHON The Skill in Means Mahāyāna-sūtra is completed.137 600 ślokas; 2 rolls.138 Name, Place and Text Index References in bold are to section numbers of the translation All persons are indexed, but only only terrestrial places, not heavens or hells. Titles or epithets are those given by the text Ānanda, monk; elder (sthavīra), master (āyuṣman) 23-29, 50, 57-59, 143, 161, 167168, 177-178 Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, in Śrāvastī 1 Avaivartikacakra-dhāraṇi-vajrapada-sarvadharmānutpāda-bodhisattvapiṭakadharmaparyāya, a teaching of Kāśyapa Buddha 110 ṭ Bharadvāja, brahman 169 Brahmā, god (deva) 85-87, 125-126 Buddha, Lord (bhagavān). Once referred to as śramaṇa 1 & foll Cañcā, brahman girl (māṇavikā) 152-153 Chandaka, servant (upasthāyaka) 97, 102 Dakṣiṇottarā, Śrī (“Superior Donations”), merchant’s daughter 48-49, 51, 55 Devadatta “the ambitious” (yaśas-kāma) 170-173 Dhanapāla, elephant 172 Dharmapada (cited but not named) 143 Dīpaṁkara, past buddha 72, 93, 97 Free From Obsession (niḥparyutthāna), future buddha 29 Ganges, river 54, 152 Gautama, śramaṇa, buddha 150 Ghaṭikāra, potter 106, 108 Gopā, Śākya maid, wife 94 Great Compassionate, bodhisattva, ship's captain 133-136 Indra, god (deva) 83, 87 Jambu Continent 74, 132-133 Jeta Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍada’s park 1, 49, 53, 154 Jñānottara, bodhisattva great hero (bodhisattva mahāsattva) 3 &foll Jyotipāla, bodhisattva, brahman youth (māṇavaka) 105-109, 111 Jyotis, bodhisattva, brahman youth (māṇavaka) 32-35 Kaṇṭhaka, horse 97 Kakutsunda, var. Krakucchanda, past buddha Kapilavastu, city 80 Kāśyapa, past buddha 104, 106, 108-111 Kāśyapa, Great (Mahākāśyapa), monk, master (āyuṣman) 60, 69, 164, 166 King at the Head of the Masses (*gaṇapramukharāja), bodhisattva 23-24, 26-31 Kokālika, monk 36, 39 Maitreya, present bodhisattva 39 Māra, god, evil 47, 50, 67, 120-123, 150 Maudgalyāyana, Great, monk, elder (sthavīra) 36, 39, 140-141 Māyā, Divine Mother 79, 81, 89 Priyaṁkara (“Exhilarating”) bodhisattva great hero (bodhisattva mahāsattva) 48-50, 52, 57 Rāhula, son 91-92 Śāriputra, monk 36, 39 Śrāvastī, great city 1, 48 Śuddhodana, King 102 Sujātā, village girl 118 Sundarikā, wanderer or renunciate (parivrājikā) 154 Surāṣṭra, capital city 32 Sūryagarbha (“Sun Essence”), bodhisattva, horse 157 Swastika, grass-cutter, future buddha 119 Vimala (‘Immaculate’), monk, past life of Maitreya 37-38 Viraja, future buddha 119 Yaśodharā, Śākya maid, wife 35, 91 Bibliography and Abbreviations AK = Abhidharmakośa. Translated by Louis de la Vallée Poussin, L'Abhidharmakośa de Vasubandhu. Six volumes and index. Paris: Geuthner, 1923-26 Apadāna = Therāpadāna. Edited by Mary E. Lilly. Pali Text Society, 1925 Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā. Translated by Edward Conze as The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and its Verse Summary. Bolinas, California: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973 Aśvaghoṣa, Buddhacarita. Chapters 1-14 edited and translated by E.H. Johnston. Lahore, 1936. Chapters 15-28 idem in Acta Orientalia 15 (1937) Bc = Aśvaghoṣa, Buddhacarita Bhadramāyā sutra = Bhadramāyākāravyākaraṇa. Edited and translated by Konstanty Régamey. Warsaw Society of Science and Letters: Publications of the Oriental Commission no. 3 (1938) Birnbaum, Raoul 1979. The Healing Buddha. Boulder: Shambhala CPD = A Critical Pāli Dictionary. Edited by Dines Anderson et al. Copenhagen 1924 et seq Dbh = Daśabhūmika-sūtra. Edited by Johannes Rahder in Le Muséon 39 (1926). Translated by Megamu Honda in Śaṭapiṭaka Series 74 E = Edgerton, Dictionary Edgerton, Franklin, 1953. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. Two volumes. New Haven: Yale University Press Fa = Fa-ch'eng/Dharmarakṣa translation of the Skill in Means Sutra Hob = Hōbōgirin. Edited by Sylvain Lévi et al. Tokyo: Maison Franco-Japonaise, 1931 et seq Jātaka. Edited by V. Fausboll. Six volumes. London 1877-1896. Translated by E.B. Cowell et al. Cambridge 1895-1907 Kāmasūtra. Vatsyāyana's Kāma Sūtra. Translated by S.C. Upadhyaya. Bombay: Taraporavela, 1961 Kāśyapa-parivarta. Edited by A. von Staël-Holstein. Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1926 Kp = Kāśyapa-parivarta Lalitavistara-sūtra. Edited by P.L. Vaidya. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute, 1958. See also S. Leffmann, edited. Two volumes. Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, 1902 Lamotte. See Mpps Lamotte 1976. See Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. Translated by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki. London: Routledge, 1932 Lotus sutra = Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra. Translated by Leon Hurvitz as Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976 Lv = Lalitavistara sutra Mahāvastu, edited by E. Senart. Three volumes. Paris 1882-1897. Translated by J.J. Jones. Pali Text Society, 1949-1956 Majjhima-nikāya. Three volumes. Edited by V. Trenckner and R. Chalmers. Pali Text Society, 1888-1899 Mhv = Mahāvyutpatti. Edited by Sakaki Ryōzaburō. Two volumes. Reprinted Tokyo: Suzuki Research Foundation, 1967 Mmk = Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa. Edited by Gaṇapati Śāstri. Two volumes. Trivandrum 1920-1925 Mpps = Mahāprajñāpāramitā-ṥāstra. Translated in part by Étienne Lamotte as Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse. Louvain: Institut Orientaliste, 1949 et seq Mv = Mahāvastu. Nk = Nidānakathā. Translated by T.W. Rhys-Davids as Buddhist Birth Stories. London: Trübner, 1880. Revised translation by C.A.F. Rhys-Davids. London: Routledge, 1925. Cited according to the 1880 translation O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger 1973. Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Śiva. London: Oxford University Press Paul, Diana 1979. Women in Buddhism. Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press Pedersen, K. Priscilla, “Notes on the Ratnakūṭa Collection” in Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 3:2 (1980) Prebish, Charles, 1975. Buddhist Monastic Discipline. Pennsylvania State University Press PW A = Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā PW Rg = Ratnaguṇa R Ch = Ratnakūṭa, Chinese translation of the Skill in Means-sūtra R Tib = Ratnakūṭa, Tibetan translation of the Skill in Means-sūtra Ratnaguṇasaṁcaya-gāthā. Edited by Akira Yuyama as Prajñā-pāramitā-ratnaguṇa-saṁcaya-gāthā. Cambridge University Press, 1976. Translated by Edward Conze in Aṣṭa. (It is the “verse summary”.) Saṁghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya. Edited by Raniero Gnoli. Serie Orientale Roma 44 (1977) Śāntideva, Sikṣā-samuccaya. Edited by P.L.Vaidya. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute, 1961. Edited by Cecil Bendall. St. Pétersbourg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1902. Translated by Cecil Bendall and W.H.D. Rouse. London, 1922 Sbhv = Saṁghabhedavastu Sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa. In Sonam Angdu, edited, Tibeto-Sanskrit Lexicographical Materials. Leh: Basgo Tongspon, 1973 SS = Sikṣā-samuccaya. See Śāntideva Śūraṁgama-samādhi sūtra. Edited by Étienne Lamotte. In Mélanges Chinois et Bouddhique 13 (1965) Tatz, Mark 1986. Asaṅga's Chapter on Ethics with the Commentary of Tsong-kha-pa, the Basic Path to Awakening: The Complete Bodhisattva. New York: Edwin Mellen Press ―― The Skill in Means Sūtra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1992, 1994 Thomas, E.J 1949. The Life of the Buddha as Legend and History. Third edition. London: Routledge Up, Upāya = Upāyakauśalya-sūtra Upāli sutra = Upāliparipṛcchā-sūtra. Edited and translated by Pierre Python. Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1973 Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra. Translated by Étienne Lamotte as L'Enseignement de Vimalakīrti. Bibliothèque du Muséon 51. Translated from the French by Sara Boin as The Teaching of Vimalakīrti. London: Pali Text Society, 1976 Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosācariya. Edited by Henry Clarke Warren, revised by Dharmananda Kosambi, 1950. Harvard Oriental Series 41. Translated by Ñaṇamoli as The Path of Purification. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1975 VM = Visuddhimagg 1 The version of this sutra included in the Ratnakūṭa collection is entitled “From the noble, the great Ratnakūṭa doctrine system of a hundred thousand chapters, Chapter Thirty-eight—the Great Secret of All Buddhas, the Skill in Means, the Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara.” 2 Ratnakuta: “ an account of doctrine known as the Introduction to the Perfection of Skill in Means.” Aside from this division in the middle, the divisions, subtitles and numbering are those of the present translator. 3 This sutra belongs to the party of Kāśyapa, not the party of Ānanda. 4 The assumption is that uncelibacy would vitiate the power needed to levitate. 5 The Ratnakuta version includes “daughter”. 6 “Karmic connections” (*karma-saṁtati). The list of ten in other texts varies. 7 But note: the Buddha does not grant Devadatta's desire in the present to inherit leadership of the order. 8 Ratnakuta: “for bodhisattva great heroes”, i.e. high-stage bodhisattvas. 9 Ratnakuta: “Teaching of the Perfection of Skill in Means. The Chapter on Skill in Means. The Teaching on Skill in Means, the Great Secret of All Buddhas.” 10 For a discussion of omniscience, and whether it is meant literally, see the notes by Lamotte to that epithet of the Buddha in the first volume of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra. 11 According to Gregory Schopen, epigraphy tells the tale: mainstream monks got all the donations. 12 The Sanskrit passages are cited in full in the 1994 print edition of the Skill in Means translation. References are to the P.L.Vaidya edition. Aside from these passages, most other Sanskrit names and terms in this translation are reconstructions. 13 See Daniel Boucher, “Dharmaraksa and the Transmission of Buddhism to China” in Asia Major Vol. 19, No. 1/2 (2006). Also: http://www.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/~asiamajor/pdf/2006ab/04 AM vol19 Boucher.pdf Acceessed 26-July-2020. Dharmarakṣa and his various teams were responsible for 154 translations over a forty-year period. These include the 25 thousand line Perfection of Wisdom, the Lotus, and the Lalitavistara. 14 In catalogues of the Chinese canon it is Korean 48 = Taisho 345, Nanjio 52. 15 Chos-grub has been studied by Demieville, Concile du Lhasa, and by Ueyama, Tonkō bukkyō no kenkyū (“Studies on Buddhism in Dunhuang”). 16 In Tibetan: 'phags pa thabs mkhas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo. 17 In Tibetan: 'phags pa sangs rgyas thams cad kyi gsang chen thabs la mkhas pa byang chub sems dpa' ye shes dam pas zhus pa'i le'u zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo. 18 Śrāvastī was the capital of Kośala under King Prasenajit; there the Buddha passed twenty-five of the forty rainy seasons of his teaching career. One among his residences there was the park purchased by the merchant Anāthapiṇḍada from Prince Jeta for the number of gold pieces required to cover its surface. “Well known for supernatural knowledge” (abhijñāta): wonder-working power, divine ear, divine eye, knowledge of others’ thoughts, and recollection of past lives. “Mastered the incantations” (dhāraṇī-pratilabdha): spells drawn from passages of scripture. “Eloquence. . .”: asaṅga-pratibhāna. 19 The Ratnakuta version notes that recipients might include awakened beings who nonetheless lack the bodhisatttva aspiration and do not dedicate merit, such as arhats and independent buddhas. 20 This last paragraph, regarding “owned” flowers, is found in Ratnakuta only. 21 This last set comprises the three trainings, “Element” or “realm” of dharma (dharma-dhātu): the cause of all the attributes of the nobles (āryadharma). See Kāśyapa-parivarta 80: “auditors evolve from the element of dharma”. Compare usage at section 67 following. 22 Ratnakuta: “‘ May all sentient beings who hear this four-line stanza of mine be assured of supreme, right and full awakening (anuttarasamyaksambodhiniyata).’ The store of merit thus acquired by skill in means will result in his becoming as erudite as any sentient being—including Ānanda—and obtaining the very eloquence of a buddha. That also is the skill in means of a bodhisattva great hero.” 23 Rarely would a bodhisattva be impoverished, because of his store of merit. 24 The principle is that generosity gives rise to future well-being, and especially wealth. Ratnakuta: “ By this store of merit of mine, may I and all sentient beings come to have the most excellent taste (a mark of the superhuman) and come to have a jewel in hand—like the Lord, the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the full and perfect Buddha Śākyamuni.” “Marks of a superman” (mahāpuruṣa-lakṣaṇa): thirty-two physical characteristics of someone destined to temporal or spiritual greatness (a Cakravartin or a Buddha). “Excellent taste” appears also at section 160 following. He enjoys most excellent taste receptacles. “Jewel in hand” (ratnapāṇi; or ratnahasta), is probably to be identified with the wish-granting jewel of a Cakravartin; in later sutras bodhisattva Ratnapāṇi is listed between Kṣitigarbha and Maitreya, which may indicate his identification with Śākyamuni. 25 Ratnakuta (Tibetan) interpolates here: “those of the auditors’ vehicle and those of the vehicle of independent buddhas”. This was perhaps an interlinear comment suggesting that the bodhisattva does not disdain individual colleagues, but only their attitudes. 26 The reasoning: To become a buddha, one must take the bodhisattva path, so “Buddhas evolve from bodhisattvas”. To become an arhat (whether śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha), one must hear the teachings of a buddha, so they “evolve from buddhas”. “I am foremost. . .” echoes the words of Śākyamuni as he enters his last existence; see section 85 following. The following section (no. 15) is absent from Ratnakuta (Chinese) as well as from Fa-ch'eng; it is again a later qualification to his dislike for auditors. 27 On the mutual inclusiveness of the six perfections, see Bhadramāyā 121, etc. For example, on giving: Failing to give, one will be reborn poor, one will steal, etc.; immorality thus arises from not giving. To give to someone who is poor, on the other hand, decreases the likelihood that he will steal, etc., thus fostering morality. 28 Here following Ratnakuta (Tibetan): He gives a warm welcome and energetic service even if the beneficiaries lack good manners and lick their hands and bowls— practices of some heterodox schools that are forbidden by the monastic code. Fa-ch'eng seems to miss the point, as does Ratnakuta (Chinese). 29 Fa (or Dharmarakṣa) seems to have misconstrued, taking saumanasya “happy” for āśvāsa “breathing” or “refreshed”, and avikṣepa “free from wandering” for agrahaṇa “not grasping”. All the terms found in Ratnakuta represent experiences in meditative trance (dhyāna), 30 Ordinary giving, not dedicated to the attainment of omniscience (buddhahood), brings the karmic reward of a good rebirth; it binds one still to saṃsāra. 31 lifetime.” “Aggregates.” (skandha). The sense is, “Let me not enter nirvāṅa with this organism—in this This section survives in Sanskrit in the Śikṣā-samuccaya (93:23-29). However, “lest I burn with anxiety” is not found in the Sanskrit. 32 Each of the four seminal transgressions (mūlāpatti) or “defeats” requires expulsion from the monastic community: uncelibacy, murder, theft, and false claim to spiritual attainments. 33 In this context, prātimokṣa refers not to rules codified for the monastic community, but to simplicity of lifestyle, to equanimity, and to restraint. This section is also cited in the Śikṣā-samuccaya (40:25-30). 34 A monastic who is defeated is “defrocked” for life, and it is popularly believed that he cannot win the goal during that lifetime. (Technically speaking, however, that is not the case.) In the same way, to adopt lesser-vehicle concerns, and thereby relinquish the greater-vehicle goal of reaching buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, is to violate the most fundamental element of the bodhisattva moral code and consequently cease to be a bodhisattva. On the other hand, such defeat does not last for a lifetime in the case of a bodhisattva; like the less serious monastic offences, it can be remedied by confession and reform. 35 The term of address “master” (āyuṣman) is only modestly respectful. The Buddha discouraged its use within the community; in later usage it signifies a monastic of a junior standing. Fa-ch'eng reads Nanda, half brother to the Buddha, but Ānanda is attested by a parallel passage of the Śikṣā-samuccaya (section 57 following). 36 King at the Head of the Masses: *gaṇapramukharāja. Fa-ch'eng/ Dharmarakṣa is apparently trying to render gaṇaprabhārāja: King of Much Light. 37 “Dissembling” or “concealment” (pratichādana) is a factor needed for a deed to become a defeat, but Ānanda is overzealous in presuming that failure to inform on his fellow monk would constitute a transgression. In cases of “indeterminate” (aniyata) sexual intimacy, evidence is to be brought by “a trustworthy laywoman” . 38 Ratnakuta:seven times the height of a palm tree. The ability to levitate is not a standard of purity set by vinaya, but a part of general yogic lore. 39 Parenthetical insertions in this paragraph are found in Ratnkuta only. 40 The five faculties (indriya) of a buddha are faith, vigor, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom: They are opposed to indulgence in the five sensuous qualities (pancakāmaguṇa). 41 Ratnakuta: “five hundred lives.” Ratnakuta (Tibetan): “Because of that clumsiness (ayoniśa)” Ratnakuta: “She found herself incapable (sic) of uttering the words that would take her to a lower rebirth.” 42 “Spiritual exercise”: literally, “dharma door (dharma-mukha). Matter is composed of four elements: earth, water, fire and air. In this discursive meditation, the earthy (i.e. solid) components of the (female, etc.) body are conceived as being the same as earth (soil, etc.). The aim is to counteract lust. 43 Ratnakuta (Tibetan) “as medicine for”. 44 Ratnakuta mentions her future buddha field. 45 This section is cited in the Śikṣā-samuccaya (93:20-23). 46 The phrase “I know this for myself” (abhijānāmi) points to the knowledge (abhijñā) of past lives. Jyotis is a brahman youth (māṇavaka). Ratnakuta elevates the woman from water-carrier to merchant’s daughter—inadvisably, for the lower her caste in relation to his, the more dramatic the effect of cohabiting with her. In the tale of the bodhisattva as Megha alluded to at section 93 following, Yaśodharā is a water carrier. Surāṣṭra is a speculative reconstruction. There Nārada—the bodhisattva in a past life—also fails in morality, according to the Jātaka story. 47 “Seven steps” may allude to the Indian ceremony of marriage; compare also notes to sections 49, 51 following. This section, from “seven steps” to the end, is cited in the Śikṣā-samuccaya (93:14-17). 48 “Four stations of Brahma” (brahma-vihāra): love, compassion, appreciation, and evenmindedness. Success in the (meditative) cultivation of these four brings rebirth as a brahma god, despite Jyotis’ previous uncelibate conduct, abrahmacarya. See section 35 following.This text does not distinguish brahman/brahma (neuter) from Brahmā (masculine). 49 following. Ratnakuta names the wife of Śākyamuni as “the Śākya maid Gopā”; see section 91 and note 50 Jyotis’ deed of mixed karma—lust and compassion—brings about the moderately positive result of rebirth on a high plane and temporary release from the process of rebirth; compare sections 136-37 and note following. Ratnakuta has mistranslated itvareṇa (or has read itareṇa), thereby reading “a little” instead of “transitory” passion. 51 This section, from “great compassion” to the end, is cited in the Śikṣā-samuccaya (93:17-19). 52 During the rainy season, Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana pass a night in a potter’s house in which a woman, unknown to them, is concealed. She dreams and has an impure discharge. Kokālika passes by the next morning. He notices the discharge and the two monks inside, and proclaims them to be impure, finally coming before the Buddha. Unlike Ānanda in the incident above, he refuses to recant. Thus he is guilty of a suspension offence. The next night he dies and falls into hell. The traditional accounts do not regard S. and M. as being at fault for failing to prove their innocence to K. In one version , M. descends into hell to try to save him. 53 Fa-ch'eng: Kakutsunda, Ratnakuta: Krakucchanda The two refer to the same Buddha, the third of six proceeding Śākamuni. 54 “Physically”: they would have fallen directly into hell without waiting to be reborn there. The ṛṣis mistakenly assumed the rainfall to be caused by an act of intercourse. 55 Maitreya, the Buddha to come after Śākyamuni, resides in Tuṣita heaven. 56 All acts of the high-stage bodhisattva are accompanied by gnosis (jñāna), unlike those of the auditor, etc. Gavāṁpati for example, re-chewed his food—as though it were a cud—even after attaining arhatship; “such an act is not accompanied by gnosis”. Ratnakuta: “beyond the stage (bhūmi).” 57 The sixty-four arts form part of kāma-śāstra: song, instrumental music, painting, self-adornment, etc. The Śikṣā-samuccaya cites this analogy (94:9-11). But this, cautions Śāntideva, is the practice of someone at the level of the six perfections, not of someone who has merely attained the stages. 58 Ratnakuta interjects that he does not enjoy it; it is merely a necessity. 59 Ratnakuta: “When a bodhisattva’s defilements have been burned by the perfection of wisdom of emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, and selflessness, he does not possess himself of defilement that leads to great distress, even if he should indulge himself in all manner of sensual pleasure; nor does he lose the character of buddhahood.” R thus expands the “three doors to deliverance” (vimokṣa-dvāra) by adding “selflessness” from the list of the “three marks of all conditioned things”. To paraphrase: The bodhisattva may indulge himself in sensual pleasures that would normally lead to a lower rebirth, if he has first purified them of defilement by comprehending their emptiness, etc. Compare Kāśyapaparivarta: “Poison cannot kill someone in possession of mantras and medicine, so . . . the poison of defilement cannot send a bodhisattva to a distressing rebirth when he possesses gnosis and skill in means.” The term varṇa in this context suggests the later usage of gotra “class” in the sense of “inherent qualities of potential buddhahood”. 60 This section is cited by Śikṣā-samuccaya ( 92:15-19). 61 The heaven of the Thirty-three [neighborhoods] (trāyastriṁśa) at the peak of Mount Sumeru is inhabited by the vedic equivalents of the gods of Mount Olympus. The seven precious substances are gold, silver, beryl, coral, pearl and crystal. 62 Fa-ch'eng: “I have obtained immeasurable wonder-working power (ṛddhi).” The correct Sanskrit is undoubtedly ṛddha, “opulence”; Ratnakuta (Chinese) makes the same error as Fa. 63 Compare this story from the Mahāvastu.: A poor woman offers a rag robe to the bodhisattva who is an ascetic. She is reborn in Trāyastriṁśa and wonders what her reward would have been if he had made use of the robe. Compare also the story of the village cow-girl Sujātā, who, according to the Mahāvastu. gives Śākyamuni food because of her lust for him, and is predicted as a consequence to independent buddhahood. 64 Had Dakṣiṇottarā attempted to seduce a Śaivite ascetic, she might have been cursed to sweat to death. 65 These last verses, beginning with “Priyaṁkara”, are cited in Śikṣā-samuccaya (94:3-6). 66 This verse is cited in Śikṣā-samuccaya (94:7-9). Fa-ch'eng/Dharmarakṣa reads kileśo as an ablative, so: “Even out of defilement they make a gift of well-being.” This may accord better with the comment that follows in Śikṣā-samuccaya (94:9): Where benefit for a sentient being is at issue, a “transgression” of desire-attachment is no transgression. Bhaiṣajyarāja (“king of healing”) is not here the name of a specific bodhisattva. The sense is, “No one hates a successful physician.” 67 Mount Sumeru has sides of gold, silver, lapis and crystal. Anything stationed facing the side of gold is tinged a golden color by the sun’s reflected light. (The southern side is lapis, hence our sky is blue.) 68 This Kāśyapa, called “great” to distinguish him from others with that name, is known for solitude and austere practice. 69 Ratnakuta again contaminates the three marks of all conditioned things with a forth item “and unconditioned”; compare sections 43, 44 above. 70 “Those directions (pradeśa)” is a pun for “geographic region” upon “teachings”. 71 “False assumption of renewed existence”: bhava-dṛṣṭi. Compare Perfection of Wisdom sutra, translated by Conze: “assumption of a self, a being, a living soul, a person, of becoming (bhava-dṛṣṭi), of not-becoming, of annihilation, of eternity, of individuality, etc.” But Ratnakuta reads “ignorance of craving for renewed existence (bhava-tṛṣṇā), interpreting the latter as one among the three cravings (for sense-pleasure, renewed existence and annihilation). 72 The sense is that there is, ultimately, only one vehicle—those of the auditors, etc., being merely provisional. 73 On Māra see section 120 following. The four means of attraction (saṁgrahavastu) are giving, kind words, helpfulness, and consistency of words and deeds. 74 The story of the brahman youth Jyotipāla will be treated at sections 104-16 following. Śramaṇas are non-brahmanical religieux, including Buddhists. In place of (the Buddha) Kāśyapa, Ratnakuta (Tibetan) names Dīpaṁkara. 75 Ratnakuta: “an account of doctrine known as the Introduction to the Perfection of Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya-pāramitā-avatārṇa-nāma-dharma-paryāya).” 76 Dīpaṁkara is the first Buddha of the Auspicious eon. In his presence the bodhisattva begins the path to buddhahood by generating the thought of awakening. That lifetime is again adduced at section 93 following. 77 Ratnakuta adds: “never faltering in concentration, unfailing in wisdom.” “Conviction. . .”: see the end of note 1 above. “Unerring” etc. are three (Ratnakuta: five) of the eight “special qualities of a buddha” (āveṇika-buddhadharma). Number 4 is slightly misquoted here. What stage is this in the bodhisattva’s career? The “special qualities of a buddha” here precede “conviction”, which is a bodhisattva attainment specific to the Mahāyāna. In the Perfection of Wisdom sutras “conviction” is characteristic of an irreversible (avaivartika) bodhisattva who is certain to achieve the next step, gnosis, The Sutra of the Ten Stages (Daśabhūmika) likewise places “conviction” at the seventh stage, adding that nirvāṇa has been achieved at Stage Six; the bodhisattva then declines to enter cessation but renews his exertions at Stage Seven, 78 Some early disciples did misapprehend that he is a god, etc., according to the Aṅguttara Nikaya. 79 Ratnakuta: The gods think that he has arisen from concentration (samādhyas vyutthita). 80 “Reaches the site of awakening” (bodhimaṇḍa-niṣīdana): a reference to the Awakening Tree; see sections 177ff following. “Emanation” is nirmāṇa-kāya. His birth is like the birth of gods, according to Lalita-vistara. In accounts older than the Skill in Means he descends in person, but “mindful and in full awareness” (as he emerges from the womb at section 82 following.) 81 The sūtras specify ten (lunar) months exactly—not a bit more or less, as with other gestations. Ratnakuta, following the description of the womb in the Lalitavistara, adds: “And while the Bodhisattva stays in this mother’s womb during those ten months, the gods return to see the Bodhisattva, to do him honor, and to serve him. While the Bodhisattva is dwelling in his mother’s womb, they behold the Bodhisattva’s enjoyment, a storied mansion arrayed with treasures that surpasses all enjoyments of the gods. Thereupon two million, four hundred-thousand divinities generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening.” 82 Here the emanational (nirmita) birth of the bodhisattva—as specified at section 76 above— is distinguished from the apparitional (aupapāduka), non-physical birth of hell-beings, gods and ghosts. According to the Mahāvastu, his mother’s side is not rent because “Buddhas manifest themselves with physical bodies made by mind.” The “right side” motif belongs originally to emergence from the womb. Fa-ch'eng is the earliest source to apply it to the bodhisattva's entry into the womb; this is followed by Lalita-vistara. 83 Ratnakuta: “In addition, the human beings of Kapilavastu would become conceited (matta) and intoxicated (pramatta)[if he were born in town].” 84 Ratnakuta: “not taking to bed (prasavāvasthita)?” But “curvaceously (pravijṛmbhamitā-sthitā)” is supported by parallel texts and artistic representations. Bareau notes the resemblance of her posture to depictions of sylvan yakṣiṇī. The plakṣa tree is ficus infectoria, the “waved-leaf fig”., A variant in other texts is the śala tree, shorea robusta. 85 “Cleanliness of habits” (suci-samācāra) refers primarily, of course, to celibacy. The triple world consists of the realms of sense-desire, attenuated materiality and non-materiality. 86 “Sovereignty over four continents (caturdvīpa): the mantle of a Cakravartin king who reigns over the four continents of human beings in a Mount Sumeru world-system 87 Ratnakuta gives more detail: “Why does the bodhisattva educate himself in writing and engraving; in science; in mathematics and counting; in swordsmanship, archery, gymnastics, and wrestling; in astrology; in pleasure and amusement?” Because he has been raised in the women's quarters, the bodhisattva especially needs to demonstrate, when he comes of age, the martial arts and political science. 88 For the name Rāhula, Fa-ch'eng has *Dhanadhara/Ṛṇadhara here and following. Ratnakuta names the chief queen as Gopā here and following. 89 Ratnakuta adds more detail to the past-life incident: “Before the Thus-Come-One Dīpaṁkara she said : ‘Brahman youth, be my husband up through your last lifetime, and I will be your wife.’ And the bodhisattva replied: ‘Sister, I am not eager for sensual pleasure. But let it be as you intend.’ Thus he promised, in return for the utpala.” Compare the story of Megha and Prakṛti in the Mahāvastu: The maid Prakṛti declines an offer by Megha to purchase five of her seven utpala (blue lotus flowers) in order to make an offering to Buddha Dīpaṁkara. Instead, she gives them gratis in return for his promise of marriage, promising in return not to hinder his bodhicitta. 90 Ratnakuta: “Furthermore, some sentient beings are saturated with the business of sense-pleasure, servants, wife, work, home and property, and incapable of relinquishing their possessions for the religious life.” 91 For Chandaka his “servant” (upasthāyaka), Ratnakuta (Tibetan) has “son of the Śākyas” (śākyaputra); but “servant” is the common term of reference for the bodhisattva’s groom. The age of the bodhisattva is 29. 92 This incident of early childhood is mentioned here, as the text indicates, because it prefigures the great departure later. The bodhisattva sits under a jambu (rose- apple) tree and falls into meditation, attaining the first trance. As the day wears on, the shade of the tree does not leave him. 93 During three visits to the park, the Bodhisattva is confronted in turn by the consequences of sickness, old age, and death. 94 The “usages of the nobles” (āryavaṁśa), or the customs of a renunciate, are: contentment with the clothing, alms and bedding of a renunciate and delight in the path to nirvāṇa. See also section 146 and note following. 95 So Fa-ch'eng: kinnara, creature half human and half horse. Ratnakuta: amanuṣya, a ghost or spirit. 96 Ratnakuta: “ ...he must necessarily alert (udvejayitavya) sentient beings to the functioning of their unwholesome deeds” 97 The six years of austerities undergone by Śākyamuni (which proved to be irrelevant to the attainment of awakening) were the karmic result of his denigration of Buddha Kāśyapa with those words. The Madhyama-āgama gives the full story; compare Majjhima-nikāya no. 81, vol. 2, The earliest interpretation of the six years of austerities— that they demonstrate a wrong way in order to point up the Middle Way— is adduced at sections 115-16 following. 98 Ratnakuta adds: “instead of Buddhist mantras.” 99 Sanskrit: prajñāpāramitā-jñāna-niśyadena upāyakauśalyena. His original commitment (pratijñā, dam bcas pa, yi dam) is the generation of the awakening thought. 100 In the Mahāvastu, Jyotipāla and Ghaṭikāra are found on the edge of a lotus pond. Jyotipāla is putting his long hair into a brahman’s chignon after an ablution when Ghaṭikāra seizes him by the chignon to go to see and show honor to (darśanāyopasaṁkramantaṁ paryupāsanāya) the Buddha. Is there need to point out the disrespect being shown to a brahman by the low-caste potter? 101 “Having no impact” comes from the Mahāvastu account, in which Jyotipāla resists and his companions attempt to help him. Ratnakuta misses this point. 102 Sanskrit: Avaivartikacakra-dhāraṇi-vajrapada-sarvadharmānutpāda-bodhisattvapiṭakadharmaparyāya. The Mahāvastu specifies only that the Buddha gave instruction “with a doctrinal discourse” (dhārmayā-kathayā), following bestowal upon Jyotipāla of refuge and lay precepts. Jyotipāla later becomes a monk (with a shaven pate!); still later, he resolves to become a buddha and receives confirmation that he will do so. 103 “Bound to one more birth only” (ekajāti-pratibaddha): a phrase used by Lalitavistara to describe the bodhisattva, in Tuṣita, being about to be reborn on earth. Here it refers to the life before Tuṣita. (Rebirth into Tuṣita heaven is the last birth proper, see section 76 above). 104 Fa-ch'eng like other early versions, does not provide Sujātā's name. 105 Viraja: “dustless”, free from passion. Fa-ch'eng reads “Vairocana”, doubtless an error. 106 Ratnakuta shrinks Māra's “realm of sense-desire” down to a single world-system with four continents: “Who is ruler of this realm of sense-desire consisting of four continents (caturdvīpa-kāmadhātu)?” Ownership of a single four-continent world is what he offers the bodhisattva, but that is not the limit of Māra's domain. 107 Ratnakuta: “For anyone else who sees, it will function as an intermediary cause for eventual nirvāṇa.’ 108 |”...with his hand” he calls upon the earth to witness his accumulation of merit over many lifetimes. Ratnakuta: “He strikes the great earth with his hand like the color of gold that has developed from precious wisdom.” 109 The plural in the last paragraph shows the parallelism of the careers of all buddhas. This plural is the idiom of the Mahāvastu. The gods are “Divinities living in the Realm of Subtle Materiality whose course is calm” (rūpāvacāra-praśāntacarya ). They reside above Māra’s realm of desire. 110 Ratnakuta (Tibetan) reads “sixty-eight thousand”. 111 Ratnakuta adds the epithet, “the great king of healing” (bhaiṣajyarāja), as in section 57 above. 112 In the analysis of this tale by the Bodhisattva-bhūmi, these elements must be present for an act of murder to be permissible: someone about to commit a deed of immediate karmic retribution, no other means to prevent it, the bodhisattva aware of the karmic consequence for himself, his own attitude not unwholesome but compassionate, and mastery of skill in means. 113 Although the bodhisattva is prepared to go to hell for his deed, and in fact says that he did so when relating this deed to his disciples in the Apadāna, it does not appear that he actually does so according to this account. “Saṁsāra was curtailed (parāṅmukha)”; compare section 35 and notes above. Like Jyotis in that story, he passed the time in the brahma realm. Can the bodhisattva take upon himself the maturation of another person's karma? In this case of course he can, since he himself performs the act of murder. But he does not actually go to hell, because the motivation for the deed is not unwholesome, it accords with his bodhisattva vow.. 114 The Ratnakuta mentions the divine abodes intermediate between earth and the Brahmā realm: those of the Four Great Kings, the Thirty-Three at the peak of Sumeru, the Yāma, the Tuṣita, the Nirmāṇarati, and the Paranirmita-vaśavartin. The following places, ocean and cavern, are found in Fa-ch'eng only. They come from the verse of the Dharmapada cited below. 115 The apparent illness may be gastroenteritis. Jīvaka compounds a purgative from thirty-two utpala, the blue lotus, which the Buddha snuffs (ghrāta). Jīvaka is physician to the court of Rājagṛha and the Buddhist community. According to the Apadāna: “I was a physician who purged a merchant’s son,/ For which deed I now have diarrhea.” Not receiving his fee from the merchant for previous consultations, the Bodhisattva in a past life damaged the son’s intestines with too strong a medicine. 116 Fa -ch'eng: “cannot be pacified” (asamitavya), Ratnakuta (Tibetan): “cannot remain alive” (ajīvitavya). According to the ceremonies of monastic ordination (though not in the text of Prātimokṣa), the medicine prescribed for general use by monastics is pūtimukta, “excrements”. 117 Evidently, the avoidance of sophisticated medicine is regarded by this sutra as one of the four “usages of the nobles” (āryavaṁśa), perhaps a version of the problematic fourth. More usually, it is fourth in another list, that of the four reliances (niśraya) of religious life (the first three: sleeping at the foot of a tree, begging one’s food, and wearing rags). The slippery slope concern is that waiving a rule for monks in this instance would precipitate a general decline in adherence to it in the future. 118 The Buddha’s failure to get alms in a brahman village is related in the Piṇḍasūtra. 119 Ratnakuta specifies the village: a “well-to-do”:(mahāśālin) brahman village. But this may be the proper name of the village. In older Sanskrit sources it is called Śālā; in Pali sources it is called Pañcasālā, “five sāla trees”. 120 Cañcā-māṇavikā is hired by brahmans to pretend to pass nights at the Jeta Grove for some months and then confront Śākyamuni, while he is engaged in lecturing, with an accusation of paternity, feigned with the aid of a wooden bowl under her dress. Only Ratnakuta specifies that she is brahman, and apparently pregnant. This incident is by some accounts a karmic recompense for having slandered religious figures in past lives. The bodhisattva went to hell for the deeds; this incident is a residue of the karma. 121 Sundarī/Sundarikā is a non-buddhist wanderer (parivrājikā) who is directed by her confessors to pretend to pass a night with the Buddha. Thereafter, they hire thugs to slay her and conceal her body in a rubbish pit nearby. For one week, until the assassins are discovered, the Buddhists are blamed for her death. 122 The four assemblies (catuṣ-pariṣad) are male and female monastics, and male and female householders. 123 Fa -ch'eng: “brahmans and householders”, but one person, in the Vinaya named Agnidatta, is responsible in the older accounts. The place is Vairambha, which Ratnakuta specifies. During the twelfth rainy season of the Buddha’s ministry, a brahman invites the monastic community but neglects to feed them; the countryside is in famine and the Buddha declines to beg. 124 The sutra is evidently aware of versions in which the gods enhance the nutritive value of the horse- feed. 125 Ratnakuta (Tibetan) adds: “among the Thus Come Ones”. This may be conflation, but compare the Jātaka account (no. 430, vol. 3): “Oh the contented character of Tathāgatas!” 126 Ratnakuta inserts, “while observing Uposatha day” (upavāsa-stha). This incident comes from the Śaikṣa-sūtra, in which the Buddha commands Ānanda to substitute for him and teach the seven limbs of awakening. The Buddha’s back is troubled by (the humor) wind, and the brahman Devahita cures it with a cold-water massage. The seven limbs of awakening (bodhyaṅga) are mindfulness, investigation into dharmas, vigor, joyous zest, tranquillity, concentration, and evenmindedness. 127 Ratnakuta adds: “But it is not the case that the body of the Thus-Come-One has illness. Why so? Son of the family: The Thus-Come-Ones, the Worthies, the fully perfected Buddhas are dharma-bodies, they do not have gross bodies composed of the elements.” The four elements (bhūta) are earth, air, fire and water. In the Mahāvastu , Māra taunts the Bodhisattva, “The śramaṇa Gautama has a gross body born from his parents; mine is a mind-made body”. 128 Ratnakuta: “up to the peak of existence (bhāvagra).” The Śākya dynasty ends when the bodhisattva Prince Siddhārtha, an only son, renounces home life. Later, during his teaching career, the Śākya people are massacred by Virūḍaka. Hearing the news, he complains of a headache. 129 Ratnakuta: “to the functioning of deeds (karma-kāraṇa).” Divinities (devaputra) are unlikely to be murderous, since the have attained the station by purified morality, but they may be misguided and believe in the annihilation of consciousness upon death (ucchedavāda), thereby denying the working of karma. “As a residue” (avaśeṣeṇa) : in the Apadāna and the Vinaya, the Buddha admits to having killed fish when he was a fisherman’s son. 130 Ratnakuta (Tibetan): “one hundred forms of abuse”. This incident is not part of the other lists of karmic connection. See Suttanipāta, sutta no. 7: A brahman of the Aggika-bharadvāja clan hails the Buddha, insulting him as shave-pate, śramaṇa, and outcaste. The Buddha converts him. Ratnakuta records the conversion, Fa-ch'eng does not. 131 Ratnakuta: “that create well-being (kuśala)” See for example Devadatta as the brahman Jūjaka in the Vessantara-jātaka. 132 Three incidents: (1) The assassins are sixteen archers of King Ajātaśatru. (2) The elephant Dhanapāla/Nālāgiri is maddened and set upon the Buddha by Devadatta. (3) Fa-ch'eng cites the version in which hired assassins use a catapult; Ratnakuta cites the version in which Devadatta himself looses a boulder from a hillside. The rock breaks apart before reaching him, but a fragment injures the foot of the Buddha and this is his “residue of karma”. 133 Devadatta’s ambition is to inherit leadership of the Buddhist community. Devadatta is conceptually linked to Ajātaśatru, who kills his father to accede to kingship. 134 “Attain illumination” (āloka-lābha) is a stage that follows attainment of belief or adherence (adhimukti), according to formulations of the bodhisattva path; those are the first two stages of the beginner’s stage of adherence (adimukticaryābhūmi). 135 Ratnakuta: “Ānanda, remember this account of doctrine as the Teaching of the Perfection of Skill in Means. Remember it as the Chapter on Skill in Means. Remember it as the Teaching on Skill in Means, the Great Secret of All Buddhas.” 136 According to Ratnakuta and most Chinese and Tibetan translators of this and similar texts, the audience is “enraptured” ((āttamanāḥ). Ratnakuta: “Thus spoke the Lord. Enraptured, the master Ānanda as well as the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara, those of the vehicles of the auditors and the independent buddhas as well as householder men and women progressing in the vehicle of the bodhisattvas, and the world including gods, human beings, asuras, and gandharavas, acclaimed the Lord’s promulgation.” However, the Sanskrit of similar texts supports the interpretation of Fa-ch'eng/Dharmarakṣa: it is the Buddha who is pleased, proud, enraptured. 137 Ratnakuta: “From the noble, the great Ratnakūṭa doctrinal system of a hundred thousand chapters, Chapter Thirty-eight—the Great Secret of All Buddhas, the Skill in Means, the Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara—is completed.” 138 Ratnakuta: “1230 ślokas.” There is no credit or attribution by way of colophon to the Fa-ch'eng translation, as is usual with early translations from Chinese. Ratnakuta: “Translated and edited by the Indian preceptors (upādhayāya) Dānaśīla and Karmavarman in collaboration with the editor-translator, the bande Ye-shes-sde, and subsequently revised and published in accordance with the ‘new language’ enactment.”