Toh 322Verses for Prasenajit

Summary

In Verses for Prasenajit, the Buddha
proclaims the benefits of constructing, beautifying, maintaining, and worshiping
the stūpas and images of awakened beings who have passed away.

Acknowledgements

This text was translated by Elizabeth Angowski, who also wrote the
introduction and annotated the translation.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. David Fiordalis edited the
introduction, translation, and annotations, and supplied additional information
by consulting the Sanskrit manuscript held at the Cambridge University Library.
Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital
publication process.

Introduction

Verses for Prasenajit is a text that
belongs to the General Sūtra section of the Kangyur. Its title refers to
King Prasenajit, who is said to have ruled over the country of Kośala during
the time of the Buddha. At the outset of the text, King Prasenajit asks the
Buddha Śākyamuni, in verse, how it is that people can secure happiness in
future lifetimes by making offerings to awakened beings after they have
passed away. The Buddha responds in verse on the benefits of constructing,
beautifying, maintaining, and worshiping at the stūpas and images of such
beings. Near the end of the sūtra, the Buddha also
devotes three stanzas to the benefits of donating to the saṅgha, noting that
those who give bedding as well as fine food and drink to renunciants will
one day enjoy such finery in kind.

Verses for Prasenajit primarily
highlights the mundane rewards a person can expect to receive as a result of
venerating the stūpas and images of awakened beings. Prominent examples
include great physical beauty and strength, political power, esteem, and
abundant resources, like elegant garments and ornate, comfortable homes. In
fact, reading Verses for Prasenajit, one is
struck by just how many of the benefits of stūpa and image worship relate to
physical attractiveness and corporeal ease. Although several lines do speak
to the attainment of virtue or liberation, most pertain to material
gains.

This is not to say that Verses for
Prasenajit advocates a focus on securing beauty and comfort
above all else, however. Rather, it seems to underscore the idea that stūpa
and image worship can benefit everyone, regardless of an individual’s
current situation or ultimate goals. We see this idea conveyed especially in
stanzas that treat the attainment of mundane rewards and progress along the
spiritual path as outcomes of the same act of veneration. For example, if
people put on a crown (or bind a turban) at a stūpa, they will obtain
fortune and liberation. Similarly, someone who sweeps up around
a stūpa can expect to become beautiful and free from the flaws
of craving. In short, deeds that result in auspicious rebirths might
simultaneously lead one farther down the path to awakening. Or, as Vincent
Tournier puts it, worldly boons can serve as “markers of one’s progress
toward Awakening.”

As its stanzas progress, Verses for
Prasenajit casts a wide net over its imagined audience. Although
the Buddha is ostensibly addressing Prasenajit, a king who might be inclined
to sponsor the wholesale construction of a stūpa, his words conjure up a
world in which many people, not just wealthy monarchs, interact with sacred
sites and images. Certain people might not be able to fund a stūpa’s
construction entirely, but perhaps they could support the construction of
the spire, for example. Still others might not have the resources to offer
things like bells and parasols, but they could help keep a stūpa and its
grounds clean. At one point, the Buddha tells Prasenajit that those who
offer “whatever special offerings they have and can afford…will attain
unsurpassable awakening,” encapsulating the idea that stūpa veneration can
be realized in many ways by people of various inclinations and means.

Verses for Prasenajit lacks a colophon,
and thus the translator remains unknown. The inclusion of the text’s title
in the Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) and
Phangthangma (’phang thang ma) catalogs of
Tibetan translations of the imperial era, however, suggests that it was
translated sometime during the late eighth or early ninth century.

In terms of historical significance, recent evidence suggests that a
version of Verses for Prasenajit was a source
for donative inscriptions at Ajaṇṭā, the complex of Buddhist vihāras and
cave monuments constructed in central India from the second century bce through to the sixth century ce. Echoed in Ajaṇṭā’s tenth and twenty-second
caves is a stanza that appears seventh within the Tibetan Verses
for Prasenajit, namely:

“Those who produce an image of the Victor here,

They will possess beauty, charm, and good qualities.

Their senses restrained, brilliant as the sun,

They will become beautiful for all the world to behold.”

Together with Āryaśūra’s Jātakamālā, then, Verses for
Prasenajit seems to be one of only two known works that serve as
a source for the Ajaṇṭā inscriptions.

Non-Tibetan sources for Verses for
Prasenajit include two Sanskrit fragments from Gilgit and two
complete Sanskrit manuscripts, one housed in the Potala and the other held
at the Cambridge University Library. The Potala manuscript, which bears the
title Prasenajitparipṛcchāsūtra (The Sūtra of Prasenajit’s Question) rather than
Prasenajidgāthā (Verses for Prasenajit), has been edited and collated with the
Gilgit fragments by Bhikṣuṇī Vinītā (Vinita Tseng) within A Unique Collection of Twenty Sūtras in a Sanskrit
Manuscript from the Potala (2010). Ven. Vinītā notes that
the collection as a whole lacks a colophon, perhaps because only the first
forty-four leaves are preserved, and she states that there is insufficient
evidence to date it, save to say that because it quotes The Sūtra on the Descent into Laṅkā (Laṅkāvatārasūtra, Toh 107),
the collection appears to be later than that text. However,
Jonathan Silk, in a review of Ven. Vinītā’s work, speculates that the
manuscript could be from the thirteenth century.

By comparison, the
Cambridge manuscript has so far received less scholarly attention
since the time of its acquisition. Like the Potala manuscript, however, it is also a
collection of texts of which two are complete in the extant fragment: this
text, which bears the title The Question of
Prasenajit (Prasenajitparipṛcchā), and also a complete version of The Verses on Circumambulation (Pradakṣiṇāgāthā). For a further discussion of
the latter, see the translation of Toh 321.
The Potala’s Sanskrit manuscript version of the text includes thirty-three
stanzas, whereas the Cambridge manuscript version has thirty-five. The
latter includes all of those stanzas found in the former and has them in
almost the same order, albeit with some variations of terminology and
phrasing, plus two additional stanzas. One of these additional stanzas is
also found in one of the Gilgit manuscripts, but neither of them seems to be
in the Tibetan translation. The Tibetan version, by contrast, has a total of
fifty-nine stanzas. The Tibetan further differs from the Potala
and Cambridge Sanskrit manuscripts in that it exhibits a greater variation
in the sequencing of the stanzas it has in common with those manuscripts.
Therefore, it seems likely that the basis for the Tibetan translation
stemmed from a different version of the work.

Ven. Vinītā’s A Unique Collection
contains the first and only edition and English translation of a Sanskrit
version of the text. In tandem with her edition and translation of the
Potala manuscript, she includes a transcription and edition of the Gilgit
fragments and of the Tibetan translation based on five witnesses, including
the Degé, Gondhla, Peking, and Stok Palace versions. Ven. Gyalten Lekden
published an online English translation of the Tibetan in 2019. Otherwise, no other
complete translations of Verses for Prasenajit
have been published in any European language.

This translation is based primarily on the Degé Kangyur, the
Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), and the
Stok Palace Kangyur. Other Kangyurs were also consulted, as were Ven.
Vinītā’s Sanskrit and Tibetan editions as well as the Sanskrit manuscript
held at the Cambridge University Library. The most significant findings from
this comparative work are cited in the notes.

The Translation

##
Verses for Prasenajit

Homage to the Three Jewels.

After setting aside his parasol, crown,

Fly whisk, sword, and bejeweled shoes,

And joining his palms and bowing properly,

King Prasenajit asked the Protector of the World a question:

“How, O supreme mind, do people
attain happiness in other lives,

By making offerings to the thus-gone ones,

Who, intent on helping and compassionate by nature,

Have entered nirvāṇa?”

Since the Blessed One, a lion among men,

Has the eye of direct perception on all things, past and
future,

He provided these answers to Prasenajit’s question,

In the presence of Ānandabhadra:

“How, by worshiping the victors,

Do people, in other lives,

Obtain the various rewards they desire?

Listen, O King, to the answer to your question!

“However many particles make up stūpas and images of the Blessed One,

As numerous as those shall be the kingdoms assuredly attained,

In heaven and on earth,

By people who construct them.

“Having experienced all the supreme levels of perfect

Meditative absorption of the form and formless realms,

Ultimately, they will obtain the state of buddhahood,

Which is free from the suffering of birth, old age, and so on.

“Those who produce an image of the Victor here,

They will possess beauty, charm, and good qualities.

Their senses restrained, brilliant as the sun,

They will become beautiful for all the world to behold.

“Those who produce an image of the Sugata,

Their bodies will be unblemished,

Soft, and wide—like the calyx of a lotus—

Free from fear, disease, sorrow, and pain.

“Someone who produces an image of the Protector of the World

Will not be born a slave or a servant;

They will not become a beggar or an outcast,

And their sense faculties, moreover, will not be deficient.

“People who build a stūpa of the Lord of Sages

Will be utterly unafflicted, their entire body strong,

With superior resources and many jewel treasuries.

They will also be able to defeat throngs of enemies.

“By offering the central pillar within a stūpa of the Victor,

They will accomplish the Dharma and what accords with it,

And they will possess supreme morality, learning, and forbearance.

In every world, they will accomplish all their goals.

“By offering the tiered parasol spire,

They will be reborn among gods and humans,

And like Nārāyaṇa’s body, their entire body will be strong.

They will become someone with qualities that command respect.

“By coating a stūpa of the Lord of Sages with whitewash,

They will have a long life in the worlds of gods and humans,

Their body and mind will be freed from disease and distress,

And they will be constantly happy and wealthy.

“After causing a stūpa of the Lord of Sages

To be covered with resplendent strips of gold and silver,

People in other, different existences

Will have bodies that are firm and luminous as well as radiant and
beautiful.

“Whoever, with a faithful mind,

Offers a canopy to a stūpa or statue,

Will rule, entirely and unhindered, as the sole victor

Over the earth, boundless as the shores of the ocean.

“By joyfully setting up

Many kinds of broad parasols at stūpas of the Sugata,

In worlds of gods and humans they will become like parasols,

Just like lords of gods and lords of humans.

“People who hang various beautiful banners

On reliquaries that have become pure sources of merit

Will come to possess power

And become objects of worship in the three realms.

“By putting a crown on a stūpa of the Sugata,

They will obtain the fortune of the lord of humans and the fortune of the
lord of gods;

And then, having experienced supreme bliss,

They will obtain the special crown of liberation.

“By offering bells to stūpas of the Victor,

They will have compelling speech and great fame,

The pleasant, melodious voice of Brahmā, and recall of previous
lives,

And they will obtain various adornments.

“Whichever wise person, with a faithful mind,

Hangs a garland at a stūpa of the Sugata,

That meritorious person will, over their head,

Wear many precious golden garlands.

“Those who drape ornaments on stūpas of the Teacher

Will go about the world adorned

With multistranded necklaces, collar necklaces,

Bracelets, and the finest armlets.

“Those who smear earth and cow dung

On a stūpa of the Sugata

Will be happy and born among gods and humans,

With bodies that are beautiful, utterly pure, and flawless.

“By sweeping around a stūpa of the Lord of Sages,

They will be very pleasant to see, beautiful to the eye,

With a fine countenance, lotus-hued,

And free from the flaws of craving.

“Whoever smears a stūpa of the Sugata

With oil mixed with the best fragrances

Will be worshiped with incense,

And their body, anointed with sandalwood, will be like the rays of the
sun.

“Whoever washes a stūpa of the Lord of Sages

With scented water, clean and clear,

Will have an unblemished body, free of pain,

With a soft complexion, free of sorrow.

“One who beautifies, with various paints,

The shrines at a stūpa of the Buddha

Will become enveloped in

All the various qualities of the Sugata.

“Those who, in the springtime,

settle all the dust around a stūpa with clean water,

For them, women will joyfully wave away dust

With golden-handled fans.

“Whoever, for the sake of the Three Jewels,

Creates a mandala that delights the noble ones

Will have hands and feet with webbed fingers and toes,

And every limb, too, will be flawless.

“Whoever offers flowers to the Three Jewels,

Along with freshly grown fruit,

Will, as they transmigrate among beings,

Obtain every supreme taste and possess indominable might.

“Whoever venerates a statue of the Victor here

With vast garlands and cascades of flowers

Will, among the worlds of gods and humans,

Be well dressed in various, attractive garments.

“Those who offer fragrances at stūpas of the Buddha,

With infusions of many and various types of incense,

As well as agarwood incense,

Will have their entire body perfumed.

“Whoever joyfully donates yak-tail fans

To a stūpa of the Sugata,

That eminent one will also be fanned significantly

By the joyful mind, the yak-tail fan, that is the compassion of the
victors.

“Whoever offers to the omniscient one a delightful mirror,

Totally stainless, like the full moon,

Will, amid their series of rebirths,

Be suitable to gaze at by gods and men.

“Those who offer to the stūpa of the Sugata

Whatever special offerings they have and can afford,

Accordingly will attain unsurpassable awakening,

Which is stainless and devoid of sorrow.

“Whoever pays homage to stūpas or statues of the Buddha,

Respectfully bowing their heads,

Will, among gods and humans,

Occupy a place of greater and greater esteem.

“Those who, with devotion, circumambulate

Stūpas or statues of the Sage

Will have their enemies bow to them in future lives

And they will become a fine vessel, full of virtues.

“Those who, with joyful devotion,

Perform physical activities

At stūpas and statues of the Unsurpassed One

Will have abundant riches in every lifetime.

“By offering musical sounds to a stūpa of the Victor,

They will have perfect eloquence, profound and coherent—

With charming words, complete with the five attributes,

The sound of their voices will fill the world.

“Whoever extols the reliquary of the Victor

Will hear the sounds of flutes and singing,

As well as pleasant, charming sounds,

And will obtain correct discernment.

“People who suitably
cover the head of the World’s Superior

With grass or bricks,

Or inspire others to do so—either way,

They will be like a refuge for all beings.

“People who construct a temple to the Victor

Will, as they transmigrate among beings,

Obtain a splendorous home like the abode of the lord of gods

And happiness across all seasons of the year.

“In the higher realms, states that are the result of excellent karma,

Like Constant Happiness, where one is happy for an eon,

They will frolic, lack sorrow,

And finally obtain a state of peace.

“Whoever erects a main gate to the Sage—

A beautiful archway like the bend of a rainbow—

Will, in other lives, obtain mansions

With doors completely decorated.

“Whichever people who, out of devotion

And in order to protect the teacher’s reliquary,

Establish a moat and a gate,

Their enemies in other lives will not be able to rend them from their
glorious qualities.

“Whoever mends cracks in old stūpas,

Not acting on another’s behalf

But of their own accord,

Will become adorned with a fine body and the best qualities.

“By clearing away wilted flowers from a stūpa of the Victor,

Without being impassioned by desire or becoming hostile in anger,

Without being deluded in ignorance or becoming engrossed in wrong
views,

People will become very joyful and happy.

“Whoever offers elephants bedecked with hanging bells

And chariots harnessed to tamed horses

To the Teacher and the community of noble ones

Will obtain the unsurpassed Great Vehicle.

“Those beings who offer sparkling, choice gems

To the Protector of the World

Will obtain the seven precious jewels

And the precious, pure factors of awakening.

“By offering clothing to a stūpa of the Victor,

While wearing the clothes of modesty—by this meritorious act

They will be joyful, endowed with all virtues, unselfish,

As well as smooth skinned and golden hued.

“By offering a butter lamp at a stūpa of the Incomparable One,

They will have eyes like fully blossomed blue lotuses,

Clear, attractive, elongated, and beautiful,

And they will have the unblemished divine eye.

“Whoever offers rows of butter lamps at a
stūpa

Will have attractive eyes like fully developed lotus buds,

Elongated and sapphire hued,

Worthy of men’s and women’s admiration.

“At night, those who sit, palms joined, before the Great Sage

And offer wicks for butter lamps according to their means

Will gain rewards in other lives,

And obtain a body with the luster of a large gem.

“If, when butter lamps offered to the Victor die out,

Joyful minds become delighted at this

And revive the wicks,

They will also surely obtain fivefold vision.

“Some people, those with virtuous minds,

Rejoice in the deeds done by others at a stūpa of the Victor,

And even though such deeds are not done by them,

In essence it is as if they also perform those deeds.

“Whoever joyfully gives bedding and seats

To those who come from morally disciplined communities,

Such a person, while cycling through the realms of existence,

Will obtain a lion’s throne and the best of
seats.

“Those who give to the saṅgha

Fine food fitting for a renunciant

Will, amid the wilderness of cyclic existence,

Obtain food rich in color, taste, and so on.

“Those who give to the saṅgha

Ample drink fitting for a renunciant

Will, amid the wilderness of cyclic existence,

Obtain drink rich in color, taste, and so on.

“Those who practice the excellent way of the holy Dharma,

Having heard it proclaimed by the World’s Teacher,

Will swiftly cross the ocean of existence

Amid the most frightening waves of afflictive emotions.

“O King, since all these virtuous deeds

Ripen into various worldly pleasures,

Then the fruit that is the sublime awakening of the buddhas

Will be just as easy to attain.”

Then, after the king, radiant with joy, circumambulated the sage and
the saṅgha and bowed down his head at the feet of the Lord of Sages, he
departed the Jeta Grove.

“Verses for Prasenajit” is
complete.

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

Sanskrit Sources

Other Sources