The name, the setting and the listeners
«Di giáo» means a teaching left behind; the full title means the sūtra in which the Buddha, about to enter final nirvāṇa, sums up his admonitions. A note in the Sắc Tu Bá Trượng Thanh Quy (scroll 8, in the library) says the sūtra is a single scroll, translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva (Cưu-ma-la-thập) under the Later Qin, and is also called Di Kinh or Phật Di Giáo Kinh.
The opening lines tell that in his first turning of the Dharma wheel the Buddha brought Venerable Ājñāta Kauṇḍinya to liberation, and in his last teaching Venerable Subhadra. About to pass away, he lay between two sāla trees; it was midnight and everything was still. Nearly the whole sūtra is the Buddha instructing the monks; only once does Venerable Anuruddha (A-nậu-lâu-đà) speak to him.
Structure: preface, main teaching, transmission
The second translation divides the sūtra into 21 headed sections, following the three parts of the traditional sūtra outline: the preface, the main teaching (Chánh tông) and the transmission (Lưu thông), the parting charge that keeps the teaching alive. The sections run from keeping the precepts, taming the mind, food and sleep, anger and pride, through eight virtues, to the call to make one's own effort, the ending of doubt and the farewell.
The main teachings
After the Buddha's passing the monks are to revere the precepts (the Prātimokṣa) like light found in darkness or treasure found by the poor, and to regard them as their teacher, as if the Buddha were still in the world; on the precepts rest concentration and wisdom. Next comes restraint of the five senses, like a cowherd with a stick who keeps the cattle out of other people's crops, and restraint of the mind, master of the senses: the mind is like a man hurrying with a jar of honey, eyes on the honey, who does not see the pit, like a mad elephant without chains, like a monkey leaping through the trees.
Food is to be taken like medicine, only to keep the body from hunger and thirst, like a bee that takes nectar without harming the flower's colour or scent. Practise diligently by day, recite the sūtras at midnight to stay awake, and do not let sleep waste a whole life. Even if your body is harmed, guard the mind against anger, for patience is a virtue that neither precepts nor austerities can equal. Monastics should rub their own heads and remember that they have given up ornaments and live by the alms bowl, and so put pride away.
The eight virtues: with few desires the heart is calm and unafraid; with contentment one is at ease even lying on the ground — the discontented are rich yet poor, the contented poor yet rich; one who loves crowds is like a great tree with so many birds that its branches break; diligence is a small stream that, flowing on, wears through stone; mindfulness is armour in battle; concentration is a dyke that holds the water of wisdom; wisdom is a sturdy boat across the sea of birth, ageing, sickness and death, a lamp in the dark night; and the last is giving up idle talk that scatters the mind.
At the end the Buddha likens himself to a physician who knows the illness and gives the medicine, and to a skilled guide; whether the medicine is taken and the road travelled is up to the listener. He asks three times; no one still doubts the Four Truths, and Venerable Anuruddha says that the moon may grow hot and the sun cold, but the Four Truths the Buddha taught cannot be otherwise. The farewell reminds them that what comes together comes apart; as long as his disciples carry on the practice, the Tathāgata's Dharma body endures.
How the two translations differ
The first has no headings, closes each virtue with a line that names it (Thiểu Dục, Tri Túc…), and translates names by their meaning: Liễu Bổn Tế for Ājñāta Kauṇḍinya, Thiện Hiền for Subhadra, Vô Diệt for Anuruddha. The second uses the familiar transliterated names and heads each section. In places the wording differs clearly: the last virtue is «no idle speculation» (Không Hí Luận) in the first and «no joking talk» (Không nói đùa) in the second.
Do not confuse it with the Phật Thuyết Lược Giáo Giới Kinh (佛說略教誡經), also in the library: a different short sūtra, taught at Śrāvastī, about those who go forth but do not practise.
Reading at home, and the related Pāli discourses
Beginners can read the second translation first to see the structure, then reread one section a day. To read aloud, press «Chant» and the text scrolls while a wooden fish keeps the beat. The library has no Chinese text, Sino-Vietnamese transliteration, PDF or recording yet.
The Pāli Canon has no discourse of this name, but it has two close relatives. The Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (Long Discourses 16) follows the Buddha's last journey to Kusinārā: he says the Dhamma and the Discipline will be the teacher, three times he asks the monks whether anyone has doubts, and his last words urge diligence. In the Numerical Discourses (AN 8.30) Venerable Anuruddha reflects on seven thoughts of a great man and the Buddha adds the eighth; the eight match this sūtra's eight virtues, even in their order.
