Toh 162The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Questions of Śrīvasu”

Summary

The Buddha is approached by the young merchant Śrīvasu, who requests instruction on how to live his life as a novice
bodhisattva. The Buddha is pleased and offers some pithy advice regarding the bodhisattva path that encapsulates the main
altruistic aims and practices of the Great Vehicle. He states that foremost among the bodhisattva’s daily practices are taking
refuge in the Three Jewels, practicing the six perfections, and dedicating all resulting merit to the attainment of awakening for
oneself and others.

Acknowledgements

This sūtra was translated from Tibetan into English under the supervision of His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang by
Khenpo Konchok Tamphel and the Ratnaśrī Translation Group, Dehradun, India, 2013.

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

Introduction

In The Questions of Śrīvasu, the Buddha is approached by a young merchant named Śrīvasu,
who requests instruction on how to live his life as a novice bodhisattva. Delighted by this request, the Buddha offers some pithy
advice regarding the bodhisattva path that neatly summarizes the principal altruistic aims and practices of the Great Vehicle.
Beginning with venerating the Three Jewels and rejoicing in their awakened activities, the beginner bodhisattva is advised to
cultivate the mind of awakening, i.e., the resolve to attain awakening for the sake of all beings, which is the basis of all
Great Vehicle practice. With this altruistic outlook, the Buddha tells Śrīvasu, the aspiring bodhisattva should engage in all
the virtuous activities prescribed within the framework of the six perfections and other disciplines central to the Great
Vehicle. These cause all wholesome states of mind to blossom in the bodhisattva, and all negative thoughts to wither, bringing
the bodhisattva ever closer to the realization of awakening. At the conclusion of the teaching, we learn that the audience
has included a prince, the son of a certain King Sindhugiri of Darada, an ancient kingdom in the Gilgit region of larger Kashmir.
The prince, who is not named, is so moved by the teaching that he goes before the Buddha and expresses his aspiration to
attain awakening, while vowing to henceforth live by the principles that the Buddha has outlined.

The Questions of Śrīvasu belongs to the general sūtra section of the Kangyur, where it
forms part of an important subgenre of sūtras that have “question” (paripṛcchā) in their titles and that convey central Buddhist teachings within the format of a dialogue, usually
between a buddha and one or more interlocutors.

There is no extant Sanskrit version of this sūtra, but the Tibetan canonical translation is found in all Kangyurs. It was
included in the Denkarma and Phangthangma
inventories of Tibetan imperial translations, so we can establish that it was first translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan no
later than the early ninth century, as the Denkarma is usually dated to 812 ce. The present translation was
based mainly on Tibetan versions preserved in the Degé Kangyur and the Comparative Edition
(dpe bsdur ma) Kangyur, but certain amendments were made based on variant readings recorded in the
Stok Palace Kangyur version.

The Translation

The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra

The Questions of Śrīvasu

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was in the Ṛṣivadana in the Deer Park at Vārāṇasī, together with a
gathering of bodhisattvas and a great assembly of hearers, when a merchant son named Śrīvasu arrived from the city of
Vārāṇasī. He walked to where the Blessed One was, and after bowing his head at the Blessed One’s feet, offering prostrations,
and making three circumambulations, he sat to one side.

Then, with his hands folded, the merchant son Śrīvasu bowed in front of the Blessed One and asked, “Blessed One, how many thus-gone ones, worthy ones, fully awakened
ones have passed and gone?”

The Blessed One said, “Merchant son, innumerable and countless thus-gone ones, worthy ones, fully awakened ones have
passed and gone; that is, as many as there are grains of sand in the Ganges river.”

The merchant son Śrīvasu asked, “Blessed One, how many thus-gone ones, worthy ones, fully awakened ones will be born
and appear? How many thus-gone ones, worthy ones, fully awakened ones are alive and present now?”

The Blessed One said, “Merchant son, innumerable and countless thus-gone ones, worthy ones, fully awakened ones will
be born and appear; that is, as many as there are grains of sand in the Ganges river. Merchant son, innumerable and countless
thus-gone ones, worthy ones, fully awakened ones are alive and present now; that is, as many as there are grains of sand in
the Ganges river.”

When the Blessed One had spoken thus, the merchant son Śrīvasu asked him, “Blessed One, if a hundred people, a
thousand people, a hundred thousand people attained perfect awakening by having striven diligently in the past, then, Blessed
One, why would I not attain the same if I were to strive diligently? Since I have not yet understood, I request you, Blessed One,
to think of me with your kind heart and show me properly what novice bodhisattvas should do, what they should dwell upon, and
what they should practice.”

At this request, the Blessed One said to the merchant son Śrīvasu, “Excellent, merchant son, excellent. Your thought is beautiful and your eloquence virtuous.
Therefore, merchant son, listen carefully and keep this in your mind, as I tell you what novice bodhisattvas
should do, what they should dwell upon, and what they should practice.”

“Excellent, Blessed One,” said the merchant son Śrīvasu, and he listened to the Blessed One.

The Blessed One then said to him, “Merchant son, thinking with full attention, novice bodhisattvas should never give up venerating and
honoring the Three Jewels three times each day, turning their whole mind to that from the depth of their hearts and the very marrow of their
bones.

“Moreover, thinking with full attention, novice bodhisattvas should never give up their oath to take refuge in the
Three Jewels three times each day, turning their whole mind to that from the depth of their hearts and the very marrow of their bones.

“Moreover, merchant son, thinking with full attention, novice bodhisattvas should never give up praying three times
every day that all the world systems may never be without the Three Jewels, turning their whole mind to that from the depth of their hearts
and the very marrow of their bones. They should never give up praying three times that the Three Jewels may remain in all the world
systems for many eons. They should never give up praying three times that the Dharma may be taught to all sentient beings in all
world systems for many eons. They should never give up praying three times that all sentient beings in all world systems may
generate the mind of awakening within the Three Vehicles according to their ability, strength, and aspiration. They should
never give up praying three times that all their roots of virtue may swiftly and promptly
be completed so that all
sentient beings in all world systems may be liberated. They should
never give up praying three times that all sentient beings in all world systems may attain the three types of awakening. They
should never give up praying three times that all sentient beings in all world systems who have taken birth in the lower
realms may be rescued from the lower realms. They should never give up praying three times that all sentient beings in all
world systems may abandon all unwholesome actions. They should never give up praying three times that they may be rid of all fear,
suffering, unhappiness, and strife. They should never give up rejoicing three times in the roots of virtue of all the buddhas
of the past, present, and future, in those of all bodhisattvas, solitary buddhas, noble hearers and so forth, and in those of
all sentient beings.

“Also, merchant son, thinking with full attention, novice bodhisattvas should make the aspiration, three times every day, to attain perfect
awakening, turning their whole mind to it from the depth of their hearts and the very marrow of their bones. They
should never give up criticizing their own unwholesome actions, deploring and renouncing them, while desiring and taking up
all virtuous actions. They should never give up praying that, life after life, they may serve and attend to the Three Jewels,
engage in virtuous conduct that is totally pure, complete the collection of merit for perfect awakening, achieve all the
qualities of a buddha, turn the wheel of the Dharma, and teach
the Dharma for many eons.

“Also, merchant son, novice bodhisattvas should not harm their parents. They should not harm their children, wives,
male servants, female servants, laborers, employees, friends, ministers, relatives, or elders. Rather, they should always give
them whatever they wish for, as much as they possibly can.

“Also, merchant son, novice bodhisattvas should abide by the five precepts and practice in remaining firm and
steadfast in them. In case they are not able to practice all five precepts, they should practice four, three, two, or at least
one of them. If they cannot practice even one precept, but engage in this or that nonvirtuous action, they should only do so
when forced to for some reason, and should do so with a purpose, with a mind that is without craving and aggression,
with a mind that is not lax, careless,
and attached to what is pleasant. They should not engage in the ten nonvirtuous actions under the power of anger, under the
power of resentment, or under the power of taking joy or delight in them. When they are about to engage in them, they should
criticize and denounce them. While they are engaging in them, they should criticize and denounce them. When they have finished
engaging in them, they should criticize and denounce them, and they should confess them individually and renounce them.

“When they engage in any wholesome, virtuous action, they should do so with a fervent and powerful mind. Not remaining
content and satisfied, not being lax and careless, they should engage in the action unimpededly with a mind empowered by faith,
joy, sincerity, and delight. When they are about to engage in
such an action, they should then turn their whole mind to it from the depth of their hearts and the very marrow of
their bones and, thinking with full attention, completely dedicate it to unsurpassed and perfect awakening
in order to liberate all sentient beings, to free
them, to bring them relief, to help them pass beyond sorrow, to help them accomplish the state of omniscience, and to enable them to
attain all the qualities of a buddha.

“Turning their whole mind, from the depth of their hearts and the very marrow of their bones,
to all their virtuous actions of the past, present, and future, and thinking of them with full attention
they should bring them all together and rejoice in them. They should rejoice
with the most excellent rejoicing, with the best, the foremost, the highest, the very highest, sublime, and supreme rejoicing
that is unequaled, equal to the unequaled, equal to space, and equal to nirvāṇa. After rejoicing, they should offer that act
of virtue to the buddhas, bodhisattvas, solitary buddhas, and hearers and, having offered it, share it with all sentient
beings. Three times a day, they should make this dedication to unsurpassed and perfect awakening in order to liberate all sentient
beings, free them, bring them relief, help them pass beyond sorrow, help them accomplish all the qualities of a buddha, and
enable them to attain the state of omniscience.

“Even while enjoying various kinds of goods such as garments from Kāśī and incense of sandalwood and aloeswood, and
even while enjoying the five sense pleasures, while traveling,
or while engaging in any activity or pursuit, they should always solely and unceasingly remember their strong wish, devotion,
desire, and aspiration for unsurpassed and perfect awakening. They should contemplate and meditate on it and do so repeatedly.
By doing so, the intent on unwholesome, nonvirtuous actions becomes loosened, lessened, diminished, attenuated, and feeble, while
the intent on wholesome, virtuous actions becomes adamant, fervent, strong, firm, and great.

“When the intent on unwholesome, nonvirtuous actions becomes loosened, lessened, diminished, attenuated, feeble, and
nonexistent, and as the intent on wholesome actions that are roots of virtue becomes adamant, the intention to meet with
beings in the realms of existence does not wane. For they completely rid themselves of all harming, killing, binding, and violence,
and they apply themselves to removing, stopping, and quelling the forms of suffering that endless sentient beings in endless
world systems endlessly experience, having accumulated them since beginningless time. These are the suffering of birth, aging,
sickness, and death; the suffering of meeting with what is unpleasant and being separated from what is pleasant; the suffering
of not having what one wants; the suffering of gods, humans, asuras, animals, pretas, and hell beings; and the suffering of
attachment, aversion, and ignorance.

“Because they have a mind of loving kindness and a mind of great compassion, because they wear the great armor and
have set out in the Great Vehicle, and because they are devoted to the vast teachings of the Buddha and are ensuring that the
lineage of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha will not
be broken, their unwholesome, nonvirtuous actions decrease and diminish until they are fully attenuated, and their wholesome,
virtuous actions increase until they become boundless. Thus, their accumulation and cultivation of the bodhisattva intention
becomes perfectly complete, as it becomes firm and solid like a diamond.

“Thus, merchant son, in this life, in the next life, and for many lives thereafter, novice bodhisattvas gradually and
incrementally decrease and diminish their unwholesome, nonvirtuous actions until there are none; they increase their
wholesome, virtuous actions until these become boundless; and they accumulate and cultivate their bodhisattva intention. By
the ripening of their wholesome and virtuous actions, they will quickly attain unsurpassed and perfect awakening.”

Now at that time, from the country of Darada, the son of King Sindhugiri of Darada had come to Vārāṇasī to see the
Blessed One and to offer him his homage and veneration, and he was seated not far from the Blessed One. At this moment, the
son of King Sindhugiri rose from his seat, draped his upper robe over one shoulder, placed his right knee on the ground, and
with his hands folded bowed to the Blessed One and said, “You have spoken well, Blessed One! You have spoken well, Sugata!
Blessed One, when one makes the request for the mind of awakening, turning one’s whole mind to it from
the depth of one’s heart and the very marrow of one’s bones and thinking of it with full attention, then to the
extent that one makes the request and expresses it three
times, Blessed One, the accumulations that bring perfect
awakening will increase, grow, accumulate, and become incalculable. And if this bodhisattva intention becomes firm and solid
like a diamond when one accumulates, cultivates, and accomplishes it, how much more so will it when one exerts oneself even
more and never gives up striving!

“Blessed One, I too, turning my whole mind to it from the depth of my heart and the very marrow of my bones, and thinking
of it with full attention, I give rise to the aspiration for perfect awakening in order to liberate all sentient beings, free them, bring them relief, help them
completely pass beyond sorrow, help them accomplish all the qualities of a buddha, and enable them to attain the state of
omniscience. Over and over, hundreds of times, endlessly, I will make the aspiration for unsurpassed and perfect awakening so
that I may become a buddha who liberates sentient beings who have not crossed the ocean of saṃsāra, frees those who are not
free, brings relief to those who have no relief, and helps those who have not passed beyond all sorrow to completely pass
beyond all sorrow.”

Thereupon, following his lead, the merchant son Śrīvasu gave rise in just the same way to the aspiration
for unsurpassed and perfect awakening.

When the Blessed One had given this teaching, the merchant son Śrīvasu, the son of the king of Darada, the bodhisattvas,
the monks, and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas all rejoiced and praised what the Blessed One had said.

This concludes the noble Great Vehicle sūtra “The Questions of Śrīvasu.”

Colophon

Translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptors Surendrabodhi and Prajñāvarman, and the chief editor
and translator Bandé Yeshé Dé and others.

Notes

Bibliography

solitary buddha
rang sangs rgyas
རང་སངས་རྒྱས།
pratyekabuddha
One who, in their last birth in saṃsāra, attains the realization of the selflessness of the person
and a partial realization of the selflessness of phenomena, by observing the suchness of all that arises through
interdependence on their own, without relying on a teacher.

bodhisattva
byang chub sems dpa’
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།
bodhisattva
A being who is dedicated to the cultivation and fulfilment of the altruistic intention to attain
spiritual awakening, traversing the five bodhisattva paths and ten bodhisattva levels. Bodhisattvas purposely opt to
remain within saṃsāra to liberate all sentient beings, instead of simply seeking personal freedom from suffering.
Philosophically, they realize the two aspects of selflessness, namely, the nonexistence of any individuating principle
(self) in persons and phenomena.

asura
lha ma yin
ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
asura
One of the six classes of sentient beings. The asuras are engendered and dominated by envy,
ambition, and hostility and are metaphorically described as being incessantly embroiled in disputes with the gods
(deva). They are frequently portrayed in brahmanical mythology as
having a disruptive effect on cosmological and social harmony.

Prajñāvarman
pradz+nyA barma
པྲཛྙཱ་བརྨ།
Prajñāvarman
An Indian Bengali preceptor resident in Tibet during the late eighth and early ninth centuries.
Arriving in Tibet on an invitation from the Tibetan king, he assisted in the translation of numerous canonical
scriptures. He is also the author of a few philosophical commentaries contained in the Tengyur collection.

Ṛṣivadana
drang srong smra ba
དྲང་སྲོང་སྨྲ་བ།
Ṛṣivadana
A place in the Deer Park (Mṛgadāva) outside Vārāṇasī where the Buddha Śākyamuni first turned the wheel of
Dharma. The name, meaning “speech of ṛṣis (sages or seers),” may refer
to a story that in this same place during the time of the previous Buddha, Kāśyapa, five hundred seers
(in some versions pratyekabuddhas) uttered prophecies and attained nirvāṇa on hearing that the Buddha Śākyamuni
was to come. Also known as Ṛṣipatana.