Toh 249The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Teaching the Four Factors”

Summary

While Buddha Śākyamuni is residing in the Sudharmā assembly hall in the
Heaven of the Thirty-Three, he explains to the great bodhisattva Maitreya four
factors that make it possible to overcome the effects of any negative deeds one
has committed. These four are: the action of repentance, which involves feeling
remorse; antidotal action, which is to practice virtue as a remedy to
non-virtue; the power of restraint, which involves vowing not to repeat a
negative act; and the power of support, which means taking refuge in the Buddha,
Dharma, and Saṅgha, and never forsaking the mind of awakening. The Buddha
concludes by recommending that bodhisattvas regularly recite this sūtra and
reflect on its meaning as an antidote to any further wrongdoing.

Acknowledgements

Translated by Adam Pearcey, with the assistance of Alak Zenkar Rinpoche.
An earlier draft of this translation was published on Lotsawa House in 2013.

The present updated version was then completed in 2017 under the
patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

The The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors (Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra, Toh 249) is the
first of three short sūtras with similar titles, all referring to sets of
four dharmas or factors, elements that contribute to accomplishing
the goal of the path. In many Kangyurs (predominantly those of Tshalpa origin, including the Degé Kangyur),
these sūtras are found grouped together.

Of the other sūtras in this set, The Four Factors
(Caturdharmakasūtra, Toh 250)
identifies four beliefs that a wise son of a good family should not accept
as true, while The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four
Factors (Āryacaturdharmakanāmamahāyānasūtra,
Toh 251) identifies
four factors of the path which bodhisattvas must not abandon under any
circumstance. Two further works, The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities:
The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa (Toh 248)
and The Fourfold Accomplishment (Toh 252) also concern themselves with various “sets
of four” (catuṣka, bzhi pa), thereby forming a group of five
sūtras in the Degé Kangyur that lay out key elements of the practice of the
path in discrete sets of four factors.

In The Sūtra Teaching the Four
Factors, translated here, the factors relate to the practice of
confession (even though no equivalent of that word occurs in the sūtra
itself) and the purification of misdeeds or negative, harmful actions
(pāpa). The Bodhyāpattideśanāvṛtti (Commentary on the Confession of Bodhisattva
Downfalls), for example, which is attributed to Nāgārjuna, cites
the sūtra and elaborates on the four powers (stobs bzhi), as the four factors came to be known,
despite the fact that only the final two are labeled “power” (stobs; bala) in the sūtra itself. Bhāviveka’s
Tarkajvālā, too, refers to the sūtra in
support of the view that even the very gravest of negative actions can be
purified. And chapter
eight of Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya (Compendium of Training), on the purification of
misdeeds (pāpaśodhana;
sdig pa sbyong ba), not
only quotes from the Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra, but even takes the four factors as
its central theme.

Tibetan authors, too, make it clear that the four powers are the key
elements of confessional practice (bshags pa). In his famous Ornament of
Precious Liberation (dwags po thar
rgyan), Gampopa Sönam Rinchen (sgam
po pa bsod nams rin chen, 1079–1153) relates the powers to
episodes in the lives of the Buddha’s contemporaries Nanda, Aṅgulimāla,
Ajātaśatru, and Udayana, in order to demonstrate the necessity of each
factor. Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa (tsong kha pa
blo bzang grags pa, 1357–1419) draws on both the Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra itself and
Śāntideva’s discussion in the Śikṣāsamuccaya to explain the powers in some detail in his
magnum opus, the Lamrim Chenmo. It is also common to
find reference to the four powers in Tibetan purificatory rites and
commentaries on them. There are slight variations in the
spelling of the names and the sequence of these powers, and not all Tibetan
works cite the Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra
as their source, but the derivation is clear enough.

At least two Sanskrit editions of the Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra exist today. One is a manuscript from a collection held in the Potala
library in Lhasa, which recently became available in a critical
edition. It exhibits several variations from the versions in the
Tibetan canon, most notably in its inclusion, near the end, of a four-line
verse that it attributes to the Buddha himself:

“Even minor transgressions prove the downfall of the foolish,

Whereas even serious transgressions do not affect the wise.

A lump of iron, though small, sinks in water;

But even a great mass of iron, when made into a vessel, floats.”

Some other minor differences are also noted below.

Recently, Peter Skilling has included a fine translation of the
sūtra from the Tibetan along with some helpful notes in his 2021 collection,
Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five
Sutras.

The following translation was made primarily on the basis of the
Degé block print and the Comparative Edition (dpe
bsdur ma), although it follows the Peking Yongle and Kangxi
recensions on one significant point, for reasons that are explained in a
note. Otherwise, since the various Tibetan canonical versions vary among
themselves only slightly in matters of orthography, such instances have not
been specified here.

The Translation

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra Entitled

Teaching the Four Factors

Homage to all
the buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the
Sudharmā assembly hall in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, together with a
great gathering of five hundred monks, and very many bodhisattva
mahāsattvas, including Maitreya and Mañjuśrī.

At that time the Blessed One said to the bodhisattva mahāsattva
Maitreya, “O
Maitreya, bodhisattva mahāsattva, if you possess four factors, the misdeeds
you have committed and accumulated will be overcome.

“What are these four? The action of repentance, antidotal action,
the power of restraint, and the power of support.

“The action of repentance is to feel intense remorse for any
non-virtuous action you have committed.

“Antidotal action is to put great effort into virtuous actions once
you have committed a non-virtuous action.

“The power of restraint is to make a pledge and thereby refrain from
any similar action.

“The power of support is to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and
Saṅgha, and not to forsake the mind of awakening. By relying on such
powerful forces, you will be immune to misdeeds.

“O Maitreya, bodhisattva mahāsattva, if you possess these four
factors, you will overcome any misdeeds that you have committed and
accumulated. The bodhisattva mahāsattva should continually read this sūtra,
recite it aloud, and reflect and meditate on it, doing so many times.
Through this, the effects of negative conduct will not come about.”

Once the Blessed One had said this, the whole assembly, including
the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya, the monks, the bodhisattvas, and the
ranks of the gods, such as Śakra, were overjoyed and full of praise for what
the Blessed One had taught.

This concludes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra entitled “Teaching the Four Factors.”

Colophon

Translated, edited, and corrected by the Indian preceptor
Surendrabodhi and the principal editor and translator Bandé Yeshé Dé.

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Texts

Western Language Sources and Translations

Yeshé Dé

ye shes sde
ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།