Toh 254The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra of Dharmaketu

Summary

While the Buddha Śākyamuni is staying in Śrāvastī, a bodhisattva named
Dharmaketu asks him what qualities a bodhisattva must possess in order to
reach awakening quickly. In response, the Buddha enumerates the ten most
important qualities for bodhisattvas to cultivate.

Acknowledgements

This text was translated and introduced by Bhikṣuṇī Thubten Damcho and
team. Bhikṣuṇī Thubten Damcho translated the text and Norbu Samphel reviewed the
translation.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. George FitzHerbert edited the
translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. André
Rodrigues was in charge of the digital publication process.

Introduction

The Sūtra of Dharmaketu, also known as
Dharmaketu’s Question, is among the shortest sūtras in the Kangyur. While the
Buddha Śākyamuni is staying at Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park in Śrāvastī, a
bodhisattva named Dharmaketu asks him what qualities a bodhisattva
requires to achieve full awakening. In his response, the Buddha enumerates
ten key qualities that must be cultivated.

As noted by Peter Skilling, three of
these qualities—bodhicitta, never forsaking spiritual mentors, and dwelling
in seclusion—overlap with those also enjoined in The
Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors (Caturdharmakasūtra, Toh 251,

–

). An additional three qualities—meditative concentration,
ethical conduct, and joyous effort—are among the six perfections that
constitute the core of the bodhisattva path. The remaining four factors are
faith, compassion, being learned in the Buddha’s teachings, and seeking out
the oral instructions of masters.

No Sanskrit version of this sūtra is to our knowledge extant, and it
does not appear to have been translated into Chinese. The translators of the
text into Tibetan are unknown since none of the Tibetan versions carry a
colophon. It is not listed in the Phangthangma or Denkarma catalogs of
Tibetan imperial period translations, nor in Chomden Rikpai Raltri’s survey
of translated texts compiled in the late thirteenth century. It is, however,
listed in Butön Rinchen Drup’s catalog compiled in 1322. The sūtra is preserved in both
the Tshalpa and Thempangma lineage Kangyurs, although under slightly
different titles.

A recent English translation, based on the Peking Kangyur edition,
has been published by Peter Skilling (2021). As noted by Skilling in his
introduction, the bodhisattva Dharmaketu does not play a prominent role in
Buddhist literature, although he is mentioned as a member of the audience in
a number of discourses.

This translation is based on the Tibetan as found in the
Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur.
Where alternative readings have been preferred over the Degé version, that
has been recorded in the notes.

The Translation

The Noble Mahāyāna

Sūtra of Dharmaketu

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī, in Prince
Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park. At that time, a bodhisattva
named Dharmaketu who was present in his retinue rose from his seat and addressed
this question to the Blessed One: “Blessed One, which are the qualities that
bodhisattvas must possess to become unsurpassed, perfect, and completely
awakened buddhas quickly?”

The Blessed One replied, “Noble child, there are ten qualities that
bodhisattvas should possess to become unsurpassed, perfect, and completely
awakened buddhas quickly. What are those ten? They are as follows:

“The bodhisattvas have faith.

They have bodhicitta.

They do not forsake their spiritual mentors.

They dwell in seclusion and abandon worldly distractions.

They seek out the oral instructions of gurus and preceptors.

They have compassion.

They are learned in many teachings.

They have meditative concentration.

They have ethical conduct.

Through unparalleled joyous effort, they accomplish every one of their aims.”

The Blessed One spoke these words, and the bodhisattva
Dharmaketu and all those
in that retinue praised what the Blessed One had said.

This concludes the noble “Sūtra of Dharmaketu.”

Notes

Bibliography

Source Text

Other Sources

seek out the oral instructions of gurus and preceptors
seeking out the oral instruction
bla ma dang mkhan po’i gdams ngag yongs su btsal ba
བླ་མ་དང་མཁན་པོའི་གདམས་ངག་ཡོངས་སུ་བཙལ་བ།

Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park
rgyal bu rgyal byed kyi tshal mgon med zas sbyin gyi kun dga’ ra ba
རྒྱལ་བུ་རྒྱལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཚལ་མགོན་མེད་ཟས་སྦྱིན་གྱི་ཀུན་དགའ་ར་བ།
jetavanam anāthapiṇḍadasyārāmaḥ