Toh 324The Four Stanzas
Pāli / Sanskrit:Caturgāthā
Summary The Four Stanzas consists of six verses in total. It is a praise to the Buddha, to the places associated with his presence, and to stūpas. The praise itself comprises the first four verses, hence the text’s title. The last two verses explain the origin of the text and the benefits that accrue from its recitation.
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Summary
The Four Stanzas consists of six verses in total. It
is a praise to the Buddha, to the places associated with his presence, and to stūpas. The
praise itself comprises the first four verses, hence the text’s title. The last two verses
explain the origin of the text and the benefits that accrue from its recitation.
Acknowledgements
This text was translated by the Pema Yeshé Dé Translation Team. Giuliano Proença
translated the text from Tibetan into English and prepared the introduction, the glossary,
and the notes.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000:
Translating the Words of the Buddha. Andreas Doctor edited the translation and the
introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the
digital publication process.
Introduction
The Four Stanzas consists of six verses and is a praise to the Buddha, to the places
associated with his presence, and to stūpas. The praise itself comprises the first four
verses, hence the text’s title. The last two verses explain the origin of the text and
the benefits that accrue from its recitation.
The Sanskrit text of The Four Stanzas is extant
in several manuscripts from Nepal. Gergely Hidas edited one of these manuscripts as part
of his edition of two dhāraṇī collections. Kazuo Kano has also published a critical
edition of the Sanskrit text of The Four Stanzas, together with a Japanese
translation. The initial stanza in the extant Sanskrit versions differs from the Tibetan
translation found in The Four Stanzas, but the Tibetan
translation of the first verse in Jetāri’s Bodhicittotpādasamādānavidhi (Toh 3968) aligns perfectly with the Sanskrit.
The earliest quotation of The Four Stanzas can be found in
the Tibetan translation of Bhāviveka’s Tarkajvālā (Toh
3856), composed during the sixth century.
This was followed by several quotations in other works.
Kano concludes that The Four Stanzas was part of
a set of five texts used for recitation in India, which also included The Dhāraṇī of the Six Gates (Toh 141, 526, 916),
The Two Stanza Dhāraṇī (Toh 143, 611, 918),
The Single Stanza (Toh 323), and The Prayer of Good Conduct (Toh 1095, 4377).
Initially, these five texts circulated individually. However, they had become popular in
India as a set by the time of Advayavajra or Ratnākaraśānti (eleventh century) and were
later incorporated into the dhāraṇī collections of Nepal.
The Four Stanzas is found in the Sūtra section in
all Kangyurs of the Tshalpa, Thempangma, and mixed lines, as well as in independent
Kangyurs such as the Phukdrak manuscript and the Langdo collection. It is also included
in some collections from Western Tibet. It is not
known who translated The Four Stanzas into Tibetan, for
neither the colophons nor Tibetan historical works mention the translators.
The Tibetan scholar Tāranātha (1575–1634) composed a commentary on The Four Stanzas as well as sequential commentaries on three of
the other five texts in the above-mentioned set, corroborating Kano’s view that these
texts were seen as related. The importance of The
Four Stanzas and the other texts in the set for recitation is evident, for in
Tibet they are included in extracts from sūtra and tantra (gces btus), collected liturgical texts (chos spyod), collections of mantras and
dhāraṇīs for recitation, and collections of sādhanas. They are also sometimes mentioned
as texts for recitation in preliminary practices.
This English translation is based on the Degé print and on Kano’s Sanskrit
edition, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe
bsdur ma), as well as the Phukdrak and the Stok Palace manuscripts. The most
significant variants are mentioned in the notes.
The Translation
The Four Stanzas
Homage to the Three Jewels!
I pay homage to all victorious ones,
Those celebrated perfect buddhas,
And to their bodies
That possess the thirty-two supreme marks.
Where the perfect buddhas were born,
Where they reached awakening,
Where they turned the wheel of peace,
Where they passed into parinirvāṇa, free from defilement,
Where those sugatas
sat,
Where they walked and stood,
And where they slept like lions—
To all those places I bow.
I also bow to all stūpas,
With and without relics,
Above, in between, below,
And in the cardinal and intermediate directions.
These stanzas were uttered
By the victorious one Difficult to Follow,
The best of humans,
Who dwells in the northeastern direction.
Those who praise the tathāgatas
With these four stanzas
Will not go to the lower realms
For a thousand lifetimes.
Thus ends “The Four Stanzas.”
Notes
Bibliography
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