Toh 150The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Inquiry of Avalokiteśvara on the Seven Qualities”
Pāli / Sanskrit:Avalokiteśvaraparipṛcchāsaptadharmaka
Summary This brief sūtra is introduced with the Buddha residing on Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, together with a great monastic assembly of 1,250 monks and a multitude of bodhisattva mahāsattvas. The Buddha is approached and asked by the bodhisattva mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara about the qualities that should be cultivated by a bodhisattva who has just generated the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening. The Buddha briefly expounds seven qualities that should be practiced by such a bodhisattva, emphasizing mental purity and cognitive detachment from conceptuality.
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Summary
This brief sūtra is introduced with the Buddha residing on Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, together with a
great monastic assembly of 1,250 monks and a multitude of bodhisattva mahāsattvas. The Buddha is approached and asked by
the bodhisattva mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara about the qualities that should be cultivated by a bodhisattva who has just
generated the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening. The Buddha briefly expounds seven qualities that should be
practiced by such a bodhisattva, emphasizing mental purity and cognitive detachment from conceptuality.
Acknowledgements
Translation by the University of Calgary Buddhist Studies Team. The sūtra was introduced and translated by James
B. Apple.
This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the
Buddha.
Introduction
The Inquiry of Avalokiteśvara on the Seven Qualities
is a brief sūtra describing seven qualities that should be
cultivated by a bodhisattva immediately upon generating the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening. The mind of
awakening is the intention or resolution to attain full and complete buddhahood for the benefit of oneself and all
sentient beings.
The structure of the sūtra is in three parts: the opening formula that gives the time, place, and Buddha’s
retinue when the discourse was taught; the prescription of seven dharmas to be cultivated; and a formulaic
conclusion.
The Buddha delivers his teaching in response to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara’s inquiry. What is
unusual in the formulaic inquiry phrases of this sūtra is that Avalokiteśvara places his right knee in the center of
a lotus flower; in most sūtras that follow such a pattern, the questioner places their knee on the ground. This
implicitly demonstrates the reverence in which Avalokiteśvara was held by the compilers or transmitters of this
sūtra. The Buddha prescribes seven qualities or dharmas that one should cultivate after producing the mind of
awakening. They emphasize mental purity and cognitive detachment from conceptuality. These prescriptions are
straightforward and easy to understand according to the overview of the sūtra by Pekar Sangpo (pad dkar bzang po, see bibliography).
The Inquiry of Avalokiteśvara on the Seven Qualities was initially translated into
Tibetan from an Indian language, most likely Sanskrit, by Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna (982–1054) and the Tibetan monk
Gewai Lodrö.
The translation took place in all probability at the monastery of Tholing in West Tibet, where the rulers of
Ngari (mnga’ ris) first officially welcomed Atiśa and where Gewai
Lodrö was active. Gewai Lodrö
collaborated with the great Kaśmīri scholar Subhūtiśrī(śānti) in Tholing before working with Atiśa.
Atiśa and Gewai Lodrö worked together on several translations found in editions of the Tengyur, including the verses
of the Bodhipathapradīpa (Toh 3947) and the Cittotpādasaṃvaravidhikrama (Toh 3969), and two texts found in most
Kangyurs, the Gaṇḍisamayasūtra (Toh 299) and the Siddhaikavīramahātantrarāja (Toh 544, Degé 541).
Atiśa makes explicit reference to this sūtra in his Bodhimārgapradīpapañjikā
, Cittotpādasaṃvaravidhikrama
, and Ratnakaraṇḍodghāṭanāmamadhyamakopadeśa (Toh 3930, English translation Apple 2010, pp. 142–43). In the
Bodhimārgapradīpapañjikā this sūtra is mentioned in the sections discussing
the mind of awakening (Sherburne 2000, p. 101), the monastic life (Sherburne 2000, p. 127), and the supersensory
knowledges (Sherburne 2000, p. 209). The Cittotpādasaṃvaravidhikrama also
advocates the practice of this sūtra’s prescriptions for a bodhisattva who wishes to attain supersensory knowledge
quickly (Sherburne 2000, pp. 540–41).
The present translation from Tibetan is based upon a critical edition of ten Kangyur exemplars. A detailed
philological analysis of the extant editions of this sūtra indicates that the oldest copies of this sūtra are
preserved among Western Kangyur collections such as the Gondhla Collection, Hemis Kangyur, and Phudrak (phug brag) Kangyur.
The Translation
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra
The Inquiry of Avalokiteśvara on the Seven Qualities
Homage to the Bhagavān Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavān was dwelling in Rājagṛha on Vulture Peak Mountain together with a great monastic assembly of 1,250
monks and a multitude of bodhisattva mahāsattvas. At that time, the bodhisattva mahāsattva
Noble Avalokiteśvara rose from his seat, arranged his upper robe on one shoulder, and placed his right knee in the
center of a lotus flower.
Joining his hands in devotion toward the Bhagavān, he asked him, “Bhagavān, in how many qualities should a
bodhisattva train, just after generating the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening?”
The Bhagavān replied to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Noble Avalokiteśvara’s inquiry with the following
words:
“Kulaputra, bodhisattvas should train in seven qualities just after generating the altruistic mind set on
attaining awakening. What are the seven? They are as follows:
“(1) One should not have sexual enjoyment even in thought, not to mention joining together the two
sexual organs.
“(2) One should not take up with a nonvirtuous friend even in dreams.
“(3) With a mind free like a bird, one should be completely without grasping.
“(4) With mastery in skill and wisdom, one should be without pride and reified conceptions of ‘I.’
“(5) One should abandon conceptions of existence and nonexistence and be firm in the emancipation
(vimokṣa) of emptiness.
“(6) One should not take delight in saṃsāra through an inauthentic conceptual understanding, saṃsāra
being like a magical illusion or dream.
“(7) And one should refrain from deprecating the law of cause and effect.
“Kulaputra, a bodhisattva who has just generated the altruistic mind set on attaining awakening should train in these seven qualities.”
When the Bhagavān had spoken, the bodhisattva Noble Avalokiteśvara, along
with the monks and bodhisattvas, rejoiced and praised highly what had been proclaimed by the Bhagavān.
This completes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra, “The Inquiry of Avalokiteśvara on the
Seven Qualities.”
Colophon
Translated and edited by the Indian preceptor Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna and the translator monk Gewai Lodrö.
Notes
Abbreviations
MsK
Manuscript Kangyur
PK
Printed Kangyur
D
Degé (sde dge) PK
F
Phug brag MsK
Go
Gondhla Collection MsK
He
Hemis MsK
J
Lithang PK
Q
Peking Qianlong PK
L
London MsK
S
Stok Palace MsK
Z
Shey Palace MsK
Bibliography
Tibetan Kangyur Editions
Other References
Gewai Lodrö
dge ba’i blo gros
དགེ་བའི་བློ་གྲོས།
Subhūtiśrī
subhūtiśrī
Tholing
tho ling
ཐོ་ལིང་།
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