Toh 104The Noble Dharma Discourse: Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields

Summary

While the Buddha is staying in the kingdom of Magadha with an immense assembly of bodhisattvas, the bodhisattva Acintyaprabharāja gives a teaching on the relativity of time between different buddhafields. Eleven buddhafields are enumerated,
with an eon in the first being equivalent to a day in the following buddhafield, where an eon is, in turn, the equivalent of a day
in the next, and so forth.

Acknowledgements

Translated, edited, and finalized by the Subhashita Translation Group. The translation was produced by Lowell Cook, who also
wrote the introduction. Benjamin Ewing checked the translation against the Tibetan and edited the text and introduction.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

The sūtra Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields takes place in the
kingdom of Magadha where the Buddha is dwelling amid an incalculable assembly of bodhisattvas. Among the bodhisattvas is the
sūtra’s primary speaker, Acintyaprabharāja, who offers a discourse on the relativity of time between buddhafields. He
enumerates eleven buddhafields, with an eon in the first being equivalent to a day in the following buddhafield, where an eon
is, in turn, the equivalent of a day in the next, and so forth. The sūtra thus presents a hierarchy of buddhafields that
begins with our world and culminates with the paramount buddhafield, Padmaśrī. This language of incredibly vast scales of time has the
effect of testing the limits of human conception, thereby demonstrating that the qualities of the buddhas and their
buddhafields are beyond quantification or conceptualization. Acintyaprabharāja concludes his discourse by presenting
the benefits of engaging with this sūtra, foremost of which is being visited by buddhas from an infinite number of buddhafields at the
moment of death.

Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields is nearly identical to
“The Chapter on the Scale of Life,” the thirty-seventh chapter of the Ornaments of the Buddhas (Toh 44, Skt. Buddhāvataṃsaka),
and The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable (Toh 268). Of the three texts, Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields is the most
elaborate in that it includes an introductory narrative (Skt. nidāna) and a conclusion whereas
“The Chapter on the Scale of Life” does not, and it explicitly names the buddhafields and their buddhas while The Sūtra of King
of the Inconceivable gives only the names of the buddhas.

Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields is not mentioned in either
the Denkarma (Tib. ldan/lhan dkar ma) or Phangthangma (Tib. ’phang
thang ma) catalogs, the two extant indexes of translations from the Imperial Period (629–841 ce). Despite this, the Tibetan translation might be roughly dated between the late eighth to the early ninth century
based on its colophon, which states that it was translated by the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé alongside the Indian preceptors
Jinamitra and Dānaśīla. It is worth noting, however, that the colophon that contains the names of the Indian and Tibetan translators is not found in any of the Thempangma (them spangs ma) Kangyurs.

There is an extant Sanskrit witness for Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’
Buddhafields with the nearly identical title Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvananāma-mahāyānasūtra (The Mahāyāna Sūtra: Proclaiming the
Qualities of the Infinite Buddhafields).

This sūtra is the seventeenth in a manuscript collection of twenty sūtras that is presently held in Lhasa at the
Potala Palace. The full manuscript, which was scribed by a single hand, is missing the final colophon that would have provided
key information on the date and provenance of the collection, making it impossible to say when, where, or by whom the Sanskrit
manuscript was compiled. In terms of content, the Sanskrit witness and Tibetan translation align closely, with only a handful of
variants that have been noted below. The Sanskrit witness is particularly noteworthy for stating in its colophon that it
belongs to “the extensive collection, Ornaments of the Buddhas,” making it one of the few Sanskrit
sources to attest to the possible existence of an Ornaments of the Buddhas collection in
India. The Tibetan translation of Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’
Buddhafields does not explicitly identify itself as part of an Ornaments of the
Buddhas collection as the Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana does, suggesting that
the former arrived in Tibet as an independently circulating sūtra that was not recognized as a part of the Ornaments of the Buddhas collection as it was transmitted to Tibet. Because both “The Chapter on the Scale of Life”
of the Ornaments of
the Buddhas and The Sūtra of King of the Inconceivable are nearly
identical in content to Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields, the Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana serves as an important Sanskrit resource for studying those
texts as well.

The translation offered here is based on the version found in the Degé Kangyur in close comparison with the Sanskrit
text of the Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana. Additionally, the variant readings recorded in
the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyurs were also consulted,
and “The Chapter on the Scale of Life” and The Sūtra of the Inconceivable King informed this translation. A Chinese
translation of the sūtra was produced by Faxian (337–ca. 422) and is included in the Chinese canon (Taishō 290 Jiao liang yi qie fo cha gong de
較量一切佛刹功德). An English translation of the Anantabuddhakṣetraguṇodbhāvana has been published in Vinītā 2010 alongside a critical edition of the Sanskrit
text and transcription of the Tibetan and Chinese translations.

The Translation

The Noble Dharma Discourse

Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling at the seat of awakening,
in a Dharma hermitage in the land of Magadha, where he was seated upon a lion throne in
the center of a lotus, inlaid with jewels and vajras. He was accompanied by a great bodhisattva assembly of as many
bodhisattva great beings as there are atoms throughout tens of trillions of indescribable buddhafields.

Present within that assembly of bodhisattvas was a bodhisattva great being by the name of Acintyaprabharāja. Through
the power of the Buddha, the bodhisattva great being Acintyaprabharāja rose from his seat and addressed the group of
bodhisattvas: “O children of the Victorious One, an eon in this
Sahā world is but a single day in the realm of Sukhāvatī, the buddhafield of the blessed Thus-Gone One Amitābha.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in Sukhāvatī is but a single day in the realm of Abhirati, the buddhafield
of the blessed Thus-Gone One Akṣobhya.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in the realm of Abhirati is but a single day in the realm of
Kaṣāyadhvajā, the buddhafield of the blessed Thus-Gone One
Vajrasārapramardin.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in the realm of Kaṣāyadhvajā is but a single day in the realm of
Avaivartikacakranirghoṣā, the buddhafield of the blessed Thus-Gone One Suniścitapadmaphullitagātra.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in the realm of Avaivartikacakranirghoṣā is but a single day in the realm
of Virajā, the buddhafield of the blessed Thus-Gone One Dharmadhvaja.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in the realm of Virajā is but a single day in the realm of Pradīpā, the
buddhafield of the blessed Thus-Gone One Siṃha.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in the realm of Pradīpā is but a single day in the realm of Suprabhā, the
buddhafield of the blessed Thus-Gone One Vairocana.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in the realm of Suprabhā is but a single day in the realm of Duratikramā,
the buddhafield of the blessed Thus-Gone Dharmaraśmiprajvalitagātra.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in the realm of Duratikramā is but a single day in the realm of Vyūhā, the buddhafield of the blessed Thus-Gone One
Sarvābhijñāmatirāja.

“O children of the Victorious One, an eon in the realm of Vyūhā is but a single day in the realm of
Ādarśamaṇḍalacakranirghoṣā, the buddhafield of the blessed Thus-Gone One Candrabuddhi.

“O children of the Victorious One, continuing with this system of examining and calculating realms, after a
distance equal to the total atoms in one million buddhafields we arrive at the equivalent of a single day in the
realm of Padmaśrī, the buddhafield of the blessed, thus-gone, worthy, and completely perfect Buddha Bhadraśrī. This is a land
where the bodhisattvas who follow the conduct of Samantabhadra make special preparations for the bodhisattva levels.

“O children of the Victorious One, if any son or daughter of noble family holds, memorizes, recites, masters, or teaches in detail to others
this Dharma discourse, Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’ Buddhafields, then blessed buddhas from infinite oceans of limitless
buddhafields throughout the ten directions will be seated before them at the time of their death. They will recollect their
lifetimes until they fully awaken to unsurpassed and completely perfect buddhahood.”

This was spoken with joy by the bodhisattva great being Acintyaprabharāja with the authorization of the thus-gone,
worthy, completely perfect Buddha. The entire assembly of bodhisattva great beings praised what he had taught.

This completes the noble Dharma discourse “Expounding the Qualities of the Thus-Gone Ones’
Buddhafields.”

Colophon

This was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla and the senior
translator-editor, the venerable monk Yeshé Dé.

Notes

Bibliography

Suniścitapadmaphullitagātra
suniścitapadmaphullitagātra
shin tu rnam par gdon mi za bar pad mo rab tu rgyas pa’i sku
ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣམ་པར་གདོན་མི་ཟ་བར་པད་མོ་རབ་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་སྐུ།