Toh 293The Mahāsūtra “The Crest Insignia” (2)

Summary

The Buddha instructs his monks on how to overcome their fears by recollecting the
qualities of the Buddha through a set of epithets. This is likened to how Śakra rallies
his celestial troops with the sight of his military crest insignia. The sūtra concludes
with verses summarizing the teaching and also recommending the recollection of the Dharma
and Saṅgha. This is the shorter of two Mahāsūtras with the same title and similar
themes.

Acknowledgements

This text was translated by Adam T. Miller. The translation was completed under the
patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. David Fiordalis
and John Canti edited the translation and the introduction, and Laura Goetz copyedited the
text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.

Introduction

The Mahāsūtra “The Crest Insignia” (2), which we
will refer to hereafter by its Sanskrit title, Dhvajāgrasūtra [2], is a short work in which the Buddha instructs his
monks at Śrāvastī on how to alleviate fear by recollecting the Buddha (and, in the
concluding verses, the Dharma and Saṅgha as well) and outlines the benefits and
efficacy of doing so.

The Dhvajāgrasūtra [2] has the same Sanskrit
title as the closely related Mahāsūtra that immediately precedes it in the Degé
Kangyur (The Crest Insignia (1), Toh 292, hereafter Dhvajāgrasūtra [1]). In Tibetan, the titles of these
two Mahāsūtras are differentiated by alternative translations of the word agra (as dam pa in the present text, Toh 293, and mchog in Toh 292), but we have translated
the title in the same way in both texts based on the identical Sanskrit title Dhvajāgra. The term dhvajāgra itself refers to a symbol or insignia that was
mounted at the end of a long pole, which was employed as a martial ensign on the
battlefield in ancient India.

In the prose portion of the sūtra, the Buddha advises his monks, should they
become afraid wherever they happen to be, to recollect him using a formula composed of
a set of epithets that describe his qualities, traditionally said to be nine in number
but with some differences between versions of the text. By recollecting him in this way, he assures
them, all their fears will be allayed. He intercalates his teaching in this prose
section with a story centered on Śakra and the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three
that illustrates and encourages this practice. When the gods of the Heaven of the
Thirty-Three are faced with the fearsome prospect of battle against the asuras, Śakra
tells them to recollect his crest insignia, or military ensign, and this, he says,
will alleviate their fear. If the gods trust Śakra and are indeed relieved of their
fear through engaging in the practice he advises, the Buddha continues, how much more
so should the monks likewise trust the Buddha and know that the practice he advises
will be efficacious, for he is superior to Śakra in all ways.

The work concludes with a modified reiteration of the teaching in verse. The
verse summary advises the recollection not solely of the Buddha but of the Dharma and
the Saṅgha as well. Recollecting the Three Jewels, leading as it does to the four
truths of the noble ones and hence knowledge of the path, and ultimately to nirvāṇa,
is the supreme refuge.

The inclusion of this work in the group of canonical texts known as the
Mahāsūtras (literally “Great Sūtras”) reflects its status in early Buddhism as a “text
recited for protection” (paritta in
Pali or rakṣā in Sanskrit). An extensive study
of this and the other Mahāsūtras has been published by Peter Skilling. The nine or ten texts that belong to
this collection have a long and complex history, and the recensions that are preserved
in Tibetan translation have many parallels in Buddhist literature as a whole.

Versions of the present sūtra are extant in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and
Tibetan. A Pali work with the title Dhajaggasutta is
found in the Sakkasamyutta in the first part of the
Samyutta Nikāya (11.3). A Sanskrit work with the title
Dhvajāgra(mahā)sūtra is known through manuscript
fragments found in Central Asia. There are two Chinese translations. One is a translation produced in
the mid-fifth century ce by Guṇabhadra as part of the
Samyuktāgama (Taishō 99, no. 981). Another is a
translation by Dharmanandi (曇摩難提) made as part of the
Ekottarāgama (Taishō 125, ch. 24.1) and edited by
Gautama Saṅghadeva in 397–98 ce. The Tibetan translation
was produced in the late eighth or early ninth century by Yeshé Dé, Jinamitra, and
Prajñāvarman. Along with the other eight Mahāsūtras likewise produced by this
translation team, it is listed in both the Denkarma and Phangthangma imperial catalogs
of translated texts.

According to Peter Skilling, the present work is “one of the most popular of
Buddhist sūtras” on account of its content—the recollection of the Buddha, or of
all Three Jewels, being a common theme throughout Buddhist literature—and its ritual
use. The work is quoted or otherwise referenced in a small handful of Buddhist
commentarial works: Buddhaghoṣa’s Sāratthappakāsinī,
for example, and Sthiramati’s Pañcaskandhaprakaraṇavaibhāṣya (Toh 4066). The well-known formula for recollecting the Buddha is found in a wide variety
of canonical texts and ritual works, including a short standalone scripture in the
Kangyur with the title Buddhānusmṛti (Toh 279), of unknown
origin but possibly derived in part from the two Dhvajāgrasūtras and their parallels.

The Dhvajāgrasūtra [2] had not been
translated into English until recently, when it appeared alongside Dhvajāgrasūtra [1] and the Pali Dhajaggasutta in Skilling 2024.

This translation was made from the version of the Tibetan text in the Degé
Kangyur, in consultation with the critical edition published by Skilling based on twelve Tibetan versions, including the Peking, Lithang,
Degé, and Narthang xylographs, the Stok palace manuscript, and two “independent
editions” from monasteries that “do not reproduce any other single
Kanjur, and do not have any significant descendants.” While there are quite a few differences between the
sources and parallel texts that Skilling compared in his comprehensive study of this
work, none of them much
affects the meaning of the translation presented here.

The Translation

The Mahāsūtra

The Crest Insignia (2)

Homage to the
Three Jewels.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī, in Jeta
Grove, the park of Anāthapiṇḍada. The Blessed One addressed the monks, saying, “Monks,
whether you stay in the wilderness, under a tree, or in an empty house, in the event
that you experience fear, trepidation, or terror, you should recollect me thus through
these epithets: ‘The Blessed One is a thus-gone one, a worthy
one, a perfectly awakened one, a learned and virtuous one, a well-gone one, a knower
of the world, an unsurpassed leader of those to be trained, a teacher of gods and
humans, an awakened one, and a blessed one.’

“Monks, previously, when a battle between the gods and the asuras was about to
break out, Śakra, the king of the gods, called out to the gods of the Heaven of the
Thirty-Three, saying, ‘If friends, when you go into the battle between the gods and
the asuras, you experience fear, trepidation, or terror, you should at that time
recall my crest insignia Vaijayanta. If at that time you recollect my crest insignia
Vaijayanta, whatever fear, trepidation, or terror you are experiencing will subside.’

“Monks, similarly, whether in the wilderness, under a tree, or in an empty
house, in the event that you experience fear, trepidation, or terror, you should
recollect me thus through these epithets: ‘The Blessed One is a
thus-gone one, a worthy one, a perfectly awakened one, a learned and virtuous one, a
well-gone one, a knower of the world, an unsurpassed leader of those to be trained, a
teacher of gods and humans, an awakened one, and a blessed one.’
Monks, if at that time you recollect me through these epithets, whatever fear,
trepidation, or terror you are experiencing will subside.

“Monks, Śakra, the lord of the gods, still has desire, hatred, and delusion,
and he is not liberated from birth, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering,
unhappiness, and disturbance. He also experiences fear, trepidation, alarm, and
cowardice. Several times has he experienced fear, trepidation, alarm, and cowardice.
Monks, the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three confidently regard the words of
Śakra, the lord of the gods—who still possesses desire, hatred, and delusion, who is
not liberated from birth, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, lamentation, suffering,
unhappiness, and disturbance, and who experiences fear, trepidation, alarm, and
cowardice—as something to be heard and obeyed. Considering that, given that I am a
thus-gone one, a worthy one, a perfectly awakened one—one who is without desire,
hatred, and delusion, one who is liberated from birth, old age, sickness, death,
sorrow, lamentation, suffering, unhappiness, and disturbance, and one who does not
experience fear, trepidation, alarm, or cowardice—these words of mine are worthy of
being heeded, of what they say to be put into practice, and of being propagated
accordingly.”

This is what the Blessed One said, and the Well-Gone One having spoken those
words, the Teacher continued:

“In the wilderness, under a tree,

Or in an empty house, monks,

You should recollect the Leader of the World, the Guide,

The Perfectly Awakened One.

“If you do not recollect the Leader of the World, the Guide,

the Perfectly Awakened One,

You should recollect the Dharma,

The best of what is free from desire.

“If you do not recollect the Dharma,

The best of what is free from desire,

You should recollect the Saṅgha,

That unsurpassable field of merit.

“If the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha

Are recollected in this way,

Then fear, trepidation, and terror

Will subside, monks.

Many are those, when frightened by terrors,

Who will go to seek refuge

In mountains and forests,

Or worship shrines in trees and groves.

“But no such place can be a principal refuge.

They are not the supreme refuge.

Going to such places for refuge

Will not liberate such people from all suffering.

“But for those who have gone for refuge

In the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha,

For them the truths of suffering, of the origin of suffering,

Of the complete cessation of suffering,

“And of the eightfold path of the noble ones

That leads to happiness and nirvāṇa—

These four truths of the noble ones

They will clearly see through their discernment.

“That is the principal refuge.

That is the supreme refuge.

If you rely on these for refuge,

You will be freed from all suffering.”

When the Blessed One had spoken these words, the monks were delighted and
praised what the Blessed One had said.

This completes the Mahāsūtra “The Crest
Insignia.”

Colophon

Translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and
Prajñāvarman, the senior editor-translator Bandé Yeshé Dé, and others.

Notes

Bibliography