Toh 122The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Wisdom at the Hour of Death”

Summary

While the Buddha is residing in the Akaniṣṭha realm, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha asks him how a bodhisattva should view the
mind at the point of dying. The Buddha replies that when death comes a bodhisattva should develop the wisdom at the
hour of death. He explains that a bodhisattva should cultivate a clear understanding of the nonexistence of entities, great
compassion, nonapprehension, nonattachment, and a clear understanding that, since wisdom is the realization of one’s own mind,
the Buddha should not be sought elsewhere. After these points have been repeated in verse form, the assembly praises the Buddha’s
words, concluding the sūtra.

Acknowledgments

Translated into English by Tom Tillemans’ class in the University of Vienna’s program of Buddhist Translation Studies in
2014. The introduction was written by Casey Kemp and Tom Tillemans.

This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

This sūtra, brief though it is, addresses central Mahāyāna concepts in relation to practices to be carried out at the
hour of death. When the Buddha is asked how the mind should be viewed when a bodhisattva is at the point of dying, he
replies by giving pith instructions on the nature of phenomena and the mind, and instructs that a bodhisattva should
accordingly engender specific clear understandings. The Buddha points out that all phenomena are pure, subsumed within the
mind of enlightenment, and naturally luminous. Entities are impermanent, and the realization of mind is wisdom. Consequently,
a bodhisattva should arouse a clear understanding that no entities truly exist, a clear understanding of great compassion, a
clear understanding of nonapprehension, a clear understanding of nonattachment, and a clear understanding that the Buddha
should not be sought anywhere other than in one’s own mind. Although he refers to these instructions as the wisdom at the hour of
death, the implication is that these teachings can be cultivated and realized throughout a bodhisattva’s lifetime in order to
prepare for death and attain liberation.

The Sanskrit title of the sūtra is found transcribed in all Kangyurs as Ārya-ātajñāna-nāmamahāyānasūtra. This transcription, however, appears to have been truncated; as Sanskrit, it is
not readily comprehensible, and certainly not equivalent to the Tibetan ’da’ ka ye shes.
Another version of the Sanskrit title occasionally given is Atijñānasūtra, which, although certainly understandable, yields
a meaning quite different from that of the Tibetan. The more likely Sanskrit phrase that would capture ’da’ ka ye shes is atyayajñāna (“wisdom at the time of
passing away”), and this has been proposed as a revision of the Sanskrit title in several modern catalogs.

There is no extant Sanskrit text to our knowledge, although it is clear that there was such an original at one time—the
Tibetan colophon to Śāntideva’s commentary mentions that the Indian abbot Dharmarāja collaborated with Pakpa Sherab (’phags pa shes rab) in the translation of the commentarial text. The sūtra translation
preserved in the Kangyur, however, has no colophon with the usual mention of the Tibetan translators and Indian paṇḍits, and
was most likely made not from the Sanskrit but from an earlier Chinese translation, as the early ninth-century Denkarma
(ldan dkar ma) catalog explicitly includes the Atyayajñāna in a list of sūtras translated into Tibetan from Chinese. Its inclusion in the Denkarma allows it to
be dated to the first decades of the ninth century at the latest, and possibly earlier if it was indeed known to King Trisong
Detsen (see below). The putative Chinese version, however, does not seem to have survived and the sūtra does not seem to
figure in the Chinese canon.

There are two commentaries on this text written by Indian authors in the Degé Tengyur, one attributed to Śāntideva (ca.
eighth century) and the other to Prajñāsamudra (dates unknown). There are also six known Tibetan commentaries, four of which were written by seventeenth- to
nineteenth-century Gelukpa (dge lugs pa) scholars, the longest and most detailed being
one by the seventh Dalai Lama, Kalsang Gyatso. Our
translation mainly follows the commentary of Prajñāsamudra and, to a lesser degree, that of Choné Drakpa Shedrub (co ne grags pa bshad sgrub, 1675–1748).

The Atyayajñāna is included in lists of sūtras known as the Five Royal Sūtras and Ten
Royal Sūtras, two sets of profound, relatively short, and pithy works traditionally said to have been translated on Padmasambhava’s recommendation and used for daily practice by the
eighth-century Tibetan king Trisong Detsen (khri srong lde btsan). Their use is said to have
contributed (along with other practices) to the king’s life being extended by thirteen years beyond the limit predicted by
astrological reckoning. The texts recounting this incident list the applications or uses of each of these texts; in the case
of the Atyayajñāna, this is meditation or cultivation (sgom
pa). In the same accounts the sūtra is described as being of definitive meaning. Another Tibetan tradition explains that the Five Royal Sūtras each present the condensed,
essentialized meaning of five of the major canonical texts, all much longer, known as the Five Sets of One Hundred
Thousand. From this viewpoint, the Atyayajñāna represents the essence of the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (Toh 119–120). Yet another, more prosaic explanation sometimes found for the epithet
“royal” being applied to these works is simply that each of them, compared to other works on similar themes, is of paramount
importance.

The Atyayajñāna is considered particularly important in several Tibetan Buddhist
traditions, including Dzogchen (rdzogs chen) and Mahāmudrā. Roger Jackson
points out that it seems to be the only sūtra from the Kangyur that is included in indigenous Tibetan lists of Indian
canonical texts on Mahāmudrā. As a search of the Buddhist Digital Resource Center
data reveals, the Atyayajñāna is quoted by well-known Tibetan authors of all schools—including Gampopa
(sgam po pa, 1079–1153), Sakya Paṇḍita (sa skya paN+Di ta,
1182–1251), Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (rang byung rdo rje, 1284–1339), Longchen Rabjampa
(klong chen rab ’byams pa, 1308–64), Shākya Chogden (shAkya mchog
ldan, 1428–1507), Drukpa Padma Karpo (’brug pa pad+ma dkar
po, 1527–92), Tāranātha (tA ra nA tha, 1575–1634), and the Fifth Dalai Lama,
Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso (ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1617–82). The most frequent
excerpt quoted is from the final verses on the mind (1.14):

Since the mind is the cause for the arising of wisdom,

Do not look for the Buddha elsewhere.

Unsurprisingly, this brief yet well-known sūtra has been translated into English a number of times. Several
translations can be found on the internet, including a translation by Ruth Sonam and at least one anonymous version. Published
translations include those by Roger Jackson (2009), Sherab Raldri (2010), Tony Duff (2011), and Erick Tsiknopoulos (2019). A
translation of the sūtra together with translations of Prajñāsamudra’s and Śāntideva’s commentaries has been published online
by Samye Translations (formerly Lhasey Lotsawa, 2015). We hope that our translation will contribute to readers’ appreciation of this
remarkable and justly celebrated work.

The Translation

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra

Wisdom at the Hour of Death

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in the palace of the king of the gods in the Akaniṣṭha
realm, and was teaching the Dharma to the entire assembly there.

The bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha paid homage to the Blessed One and asked, “Blessed One, how
is the mind to be viewed for a bodhisattva at the point of dying?”

The Blessed One replied, “Ākāśagarbha, a bodhisattva, when the time comes to die, should cultivate wisdom at the hour
of death. Wisdom at the hour of death is as follows:

“All phenomena are naturally pure. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding that there are no entities.

“All phenomena are subsumed within the mind of enlightenment. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding of
great compassion.

“All phenomena are naturally luminous. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding of nonapprehension.

“All entities are impermanent. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding of nonattachment to anything
whatsoever.

“When one realizes mind, this is wisdom. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding of not seeking the Buddha
elsewhere.”

The Blessed One then spoke the following verses:

“Since all phenomena are naturally pure,

One should cultivate the clear understanding that there are no entities.

“Since all phenomena
are connected with the enlightened mind,

One should cultivate the clear understanding of great compassion.

“Since all phenomena are naturally luminous,

One should cultivate the clear understanding of nonapprehension.

“Since all entities are impermanent,

One should cultivate the clear understanding of nonattachment.

“Since the mind is the cause for the arising of wisdom,

Do not look for the Buddha elsewhere.”

After the Blessed One had spoken, the whole assembly,
including the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha and others, were overjoyed and full of praise for the Buddha’s words.

This concludes The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Wisdom at the Hour of Death.”

Notes

Bibliography

Works in Tibetan

Works in Western languages

Five Royal Sūtras

rgyal po mdo lnga
རྒྱལ་པོ་མདོ་ལྔ།

Ten Royal Sūtras

rgyal po mdo bcu
རྒྱལ་པོ་མདོ་བཅུ།

Five Sets of One Hundred Thousand

subsumed

’dus pa
འདུས་པ།

nonapprehension