Toh 251The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors

Summary

While residing in the Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, the Buddha
explains to an assembly of monks and bodhisattvas four
factors of the path that bodhisattvas must not abandon even
at the cost of their lives: (1) the thought of awakening,
(2) the spiritual friend, (3) tolerance and lenience (which
are here counted as one), and (4) dwelling in the
wilderness. The sūtra concludes with two verses in which the
Buddha restates the four factors and asserts that those who
do not relinquish them will attain complete awakening.

Acknowledgements

The translation was completed by Adam Pearcey under the
patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of
the Buddha and edited by the 84000 editorial team.

Introduction

In the present sūtra, dharma is a flexible term
used to refer to a specific set or category of four
important components or factors of the path that a
bodhisattva, someone who aspires to achieve the
perfect awakening of a buddha, should not abandon
under any circumstances. These four factors are (1)
the thought of awakening, (2) the spiritual friend or
companion and guide in virtue, (3)
tolerance and lenience,
considered here as a pair, and (4) dwelling in the
wilderness, that
is, in a place suitably removed from the social
world of the town so as to enable spiritual
practice.

The text concludes with two stanzas, also spoken
by the Buddha, that summarize the sūtra’s message
and explain the benefit of maintaining the four
factors. These verses present the factors in a
slightly different sequence, with tolerance and
lenience preceding the factor of the spiritual
friend. They also exhort the wise bodhisattva to be
as fearless as a lion, “the king of beasts,” while
dwelling in the wilderness.

The Chinese Tripiṭaka contains two translations
of the sūtra (Taishō 772 & Taishō 773 ), both by Divākara and dated
to 680 ce and 681 ce. The sūtra and commentaries also
appear in several manuscripts of the Dunhuang
collection. Among those manuscripts is an annotated
translation of the sūtra (IOL Tib J 69) that
identifies the translators as Surendrabodhi and
Yeshe Dé. This manuscript is significant not only
because of the annotations to the translation itself
but also because the Kangyur versions lack a
translator’s colophon (’
gyur byang). The sūtra is listed in
both the Denkarma and Phangthangma catalogs of translated
works, indicating that the first Tibetan translation
of the text was complete by the early ninth
century.

There is a short commentary on this sūtra attributed to
Vasubandhu and preserved in Tibetan in the Tengyur,
(*Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyāna, ’phags pa chos bzhi pa’i rnam
par bshad pa, Toh 3990), which we have also translated,
as well as a slightly longer commentary on this
commentary, attributed to Jñānadatta (: *Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyānaṭīkā,
’phags pa chos bzhi pa’i rgya cher bshad pa’i rgya cher ’grel
pa, Toh 3990a).

A French translation of the sūtra by Léon Feer
was first published in 1866 (and reprinted in
1883). Peter Skilling has included a fine
English translation along with some helpful notes
under the title “Four Dharmas Never to Be Abandoned”
in his recent collection Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of
Twenty-Five Sutras.

The Translation

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on

The Four Factors

Homage to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas!

“Let the wise conceive the thought of perfect
awakening,

And not cast aside the thought of
omniscience;

Let them maintain the strength of tolerance and
lenience,

And never forsake the spiritual friend.

“If the wise, like the king of beasts, abandon
fear,

Always remain dwelling in the wilderness,

And constantly maintain these factors,

They will conquer the māras and attain
awakening.”

When the Blessed One had said this, the monks
and bodhisattvas, together with the entire assembly,
rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Texts

Western Language Sources and

Translations