Kangyur — General Sūtras – page 4

Toh 272: The Sūtra of the Ten Buddhas

Toh 273: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Twelve Buddhas”

Summary The Twelve Buddhas opens at Rājagṛha with a dialogue between the Buddha Śākyamuni and the bodhisattva Maitreya about the eastern buddhafield of a buddha whose abbreviated name is King of Jewels. This buddha prophesies that when he passes into complete nirvāṇa, the bodhisattva Incomparable will take his place as a buddha whose abbreviated name is Victory Banner King. Śākyamuni then provides the names of the remaining ten tathāgatas, locating them in the ten directions surrounding Victory Banner King’s buddhafield Full of Pearls. After listing the full set of names of these twelve buddhas and their directional relationship to Victory Banner King, the Buddha Śākyamuni provides an accompanying mantra-dhāraṇī and closes with a set of thirty-seven verses outlining the benefits of remembering the names of these buddhas.

Toh 274: The Sūtra of the Crown Ornament of the Buddhas

Toh 275: The Sūtra on Buddhahood

Toh 276: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Not Forsaking the Buddha”

Summary This discourse takes place while the Buddha Śākyamuni is on Vulture Peak Mountain with a large community of monks, along with numerous bodhisattvas. Ten of the bodhisattvas present in the retinue have become discouraged after failing to attain dhāraṇī despite exerting themselves for seven years. The bodhisattva Undaunted therefore requests the Buddha to bestow upon them an instruction that will enable them to generate wisdom. In response, the Buddha reveals the cause of their inability to attain dhāraṇī—a specific negative act they performed in the past—and he goes on to explain the importance of respecting Dharma teachers and reveal how these ten bodhisattvas can purify their karmic obscurations.

Toh 277: The Sūtra of the Eight Maṇḍalas

Toh 278: The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Eight Auspicious Ones”

Summary While the Buddha is dwelling in Vaiśālī at Āmrapālī’s grove, a Licchavi youth named Superior Skill requests him to reveal those buddhas presently dwelling in fulfillment of their former aspirations, such that venerating them and remembering their names can dispel fear and harm. The Buddha responds by listing the names of eight buddhas and the names of their buddha realms. He instructs Superior Skill to remember these buddhas’ names and to contemplate them regularly to develop their good qualities himself and ensure success before beginning any activity. After Superior Skill departs, Śakra, lord of the gods, declares that he has taken up this practice as well. The Buddha exhorts Śakra to proclaim this discourse before engaging in battles with the asuras to ensure his victory, and then enumerates the good qualities of those who proclaim this discourse.

Toh 279: Being Mindful of the Buddha

Toh 280: Being Mindful of the Dharma

Toh 281: Being Mindful of the Community

Toh 282: Translated by the Dharmasāgara Translation Group under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Raktrul Ngawang Kunga Rinpoche Rebecca Hufen Shanshan Jia Jason Sanche Arne Schelling Celso Wilkinson Rebecca Hufen v 1.12.10 2021 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone. This work is provided under the protection of a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution - Non-commercial - No-derivatives) 3.0 copyright. It may be copied or printed for fair use, but only with full attribution, and not for commercial advantage or personal compensation. For full details, see the Creative Commons license. 2018-01-21 Toh 282 Degé Kangyur, vol. 68 (mdo sde, ya), folios 55.b–56.a 09/02/2023 19:51:57 v 1.12 2019 Publication statement updated Automated version increment Added line to acknowledgement edited acknowledgement Auto (TEI migration 2.0.0) Updated pending links Auto (TEI migration 2.1.5) activated pending links to 1-6 Auto (script-increment-version-published) Auto (remove-tid-from-back-list-items) Contents Summary Acknowledgments Introduction The Translation The Sūtra on the Threefold Training Notes Bibliography Summary In The Sūtra on the Threefold Training

Summary In The Sūtra on the Threefold Training , Buddha Śākyamuni briefly introduces the three elements or stages of the path, widely known as “the three trainings,” one by one in a specific order: discipline, meditative concentration, and wisdom. He teaches that training progressively in them constitutes the gradual path to awakening.

Toh 283: The Noble ‌Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Three Bodies”

Summary As the title suggests, this sūtra describes the three bodies of the Buddha. While the Buddha is dwelling on Vulture Peak in Rājgṛha, the Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha asks whether the Tathāgata has a body, to which the Buddha replies that the Tathāgata has three bodies: a dharmakāya, a saṃbhogakāya, and a nirmāṇakāya. The Buddha goes on to describe what constitutes these three bodies and their associated meaning. The Buddha explains that the dharmakāya is like space, the saṃbhogakāya is like clouds, and the nirmāṇakāya is like rain. At the end of the Buddha’s elucidation, Kṣitigarbha expresses jubilation, and the Buddha declares that whoever upholds this Dharma teaching will obtain immeasurable merit.

Toh 284: The Sūtra of the Three Heaps

Toh 285: The Noble Dedication “Fulfilling All Aspirations”

Summary This text is a prayer of dedication, and is meant to be recited. Its structure partly reflects the liturgy of “seven branches” or “seven limbs,” a set of practices that serves as the basic structure of many Mahāyāna Buddhist prayers and rituals. In this instance, however, the text consists of two sections: the first is a detailed prayer of confession, and the second a prayer of rejoicing, requesting that the wheel of the Dharma be turned, beseeching the buddhas not to pass into nirvāṇa, and extensively dedicating the merit.

Toh 286: The Noble Dedication “Protecting All Beings”

Summary This text is a prayer of dedication that strongly resonates with the later Tibetan literature of mind training ( blo sbyong ). In addition to the classic element of dedication of merit to all beings, a substantial part of the text comprises a passage that enumerates the many faults, shortcomings, and afflictions that burden sentient beings, as well as the many possible attainments that they consequently may not have realized, and culminates in the wish that everything negative that would otherwise ripen for sentient beings may ripen instead for the reciter, so that all sentient beings may thus be liberated and purified.

Toh 287: The Noble Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma

Summary While on the way to Rājagṛha to collect alms, a group of newly ordained monks are approached by some non-Buddhists, who suggest that their doctrine is identical to that of the Buddha, since everyone agrees that misdeeds of body, speech, and mind are to be given up. The monks do not know how to reply, and when they later return to the brahmin town of Nālati, where the Buddha is residing, Śāradvatīputra therefore encourages them to seek clarification from the Blessed One himself. In response to the monks’ request, the Buddha delivers a comprehensive discourse on the effects of virtuous and unvirtuous actions, explaining these matters from the perspective of an adept practitioner of his teachings, who sees and understands all this through a process of personal discovery. As the teaching progresses, the Buddha presents an epic tour of the realm of desire—from the Hell of Ultimate Torment to the Heaven Free from Strife—all the while introducing the specific human actions and attitudes that cause the experience of such worlds and outlining the ways to remedy and transcend them. In the final section of the sūtra, which is presented as an individual scripture on its own, the focus is on mindfulness of the body and the ripening of karmic actions that is experienced among humans in particular.

Toh 288: The Mahāsūtra “Illusion’s Net”

Summary The Mahāsūtra “Illusion’s Net” is a discourse taught by the Buddha Śākyamuni to an assembly of monks in Śrāvastī. The Buddha starts by mentioning the three trainings, in discipline, contemplation, and wisdom, and emphasizes the paramount importance of the training in wisdom, which brings to perfection the other two trainings too. He goes on to describe how we should train in wisdom by examining the futility and folly of our emotional reactions to what we perceive. Discussing each of the five sense perceptions and mental perception in succession, the Buddha describes how ordinary sensory and mental perceptions are deluded, and how getting caught up in the bonds of that delusion traps us in pain and regret. His systematic descriptions of the different perceptions are supplemented by individual analogies, illustrating the “net of illusion” to which the title refers.

Toh 289: The Great Sūtra of Bimbisāra’s Going Out to Meet [the Buddha]

Toh 290: The Great Sūtra on Emptiness

Toh 291: The Great Sūtra on Great Emptiness

Toh 292: The Mahāsūtra “The Crest Insignia” (1)

Summary A group of merchants from Vaiśālī, preparing to travel to Takṣaśilā, learn that the Buddha is staying nearby at the Kūṭāgāraśālā and offer the Buddha and his monks a midday meal. The Buddha teaches them how to overcome the fears of the wilderness by recollecting the Buddha, Dharma, or Saṅgha, comparing it to how the military crest insignias of Śakra, Īśāna, and Varuṇa respectively embolden the devas in their battles against the asuras. The sūtra concludes with the Buddha offering the merchants verses of benediction for a safe journey. This is the longer of two Mahāsūtras with the same title and similar themes but adressed to different audiences.

Toh 293: The 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.

Toh 294: The Mahāsūtra on the Five and Three [Views]

Toh 295: The Sūtra of Throwing Stones

Toh 296: The Sūtra on Examples of Youth

Toh 297: The Sūtra “Multitude of Constituents”

Summary In this short discourse, also found in a similar form in the Pali canon, the Buddha gives a teaching to Ānanda in which he confirms the suggestion that all negative experiences arise from being foolish, not from being learned, and goes on to summarize for Ānanda what distinguishes a learned person from a foolish one. The learned person, he says, is learned in the constituents, in the sense fields, in dependent origination, and in knowing what is possible and impossible. He then elaborates briefly on each.

Toh 298: Translated by Annie Bien under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha Annie Bien Yeshe Hegan Charles Hastings David Higgins Ryan Damron Laura Goetz Dr. John Canti Robert Thurman Paul Hackett Geshe Dorji Damdul Robert Beer Annie Bien Leslie Kriesel v 1.1.15 2021 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone. This work is provided under the protection of a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution - Non-commercial - No-derivatives) 3.0 copyright. It may be copied or printed for fair use, but only with full attribution, and not for commercial advantage or personal compensation. For full details, see the Creative Commons license. An early mistake in the assigning of UT numbers within the 84000 project means that these ids diverge slightly from the standard logic. 2020-04-03 Toh 298 Degé Kangyur, vol. 71 (mdo sde, sha), folios 301.b–303.b 28/07/2023 12:32:59 Automated version increment 2.d 2.g 2.e 2.c 2.a v 1.0 2 final proofing Finalized, first published version. Finalized, first published version. Note added retrospectively based on date of status '1' Changed terminology of 2 gloss terms. Added line to acknowledgement Auto (TEI migration 2.0.0) Updated pending links Moved translation title from titleHon to titleMain Auto (TEI migration 2.1.5) "abbot" to "preceptor" in colophon and related Auto (update-contributors) Auto (update-contributors) Auto (update-contributors) Auto (script-increment-version-published) Auto (script-increment-version-published) Auto (remove-tid-from-back-list-items) Updated "Blissful One" to "Well-Gone One" Summary While the Buddha is dwelling in the Bamboo Grove monastery near Rājagṛha, together with a thousand monks and a host of bodhisattvas, King Prasenajit arises from his seat, bows at the Buddha’s feet, and asks him how to uphold the Dharma in his kingdom during times of conflict. In reply the Buddha instructs the king about the gaṇḍī, a wooden ritual instrument, and tells him how the sound of this instrument, used for Dharma practice in a temple or monastery, quells conflict and strife for all who hear it. He describes how to make, consecrate, and sound the gaṇḍī. He explains that the gaṇḍī symbolizes the Perfection of Insight and describes in detail the many benefits it confers. Acknowledgements This translation was produced by Annie Bien with the assistance of Dr. Robert Thurman, Dr. Paul Hackett, Geshe Dorji Damdul, and Robert Beer. The translator is also thankful to Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, Leslie Kriesel, Anming Karrer-Bien, Tarini Mehta, and Ven. Yeshe Choedup for their advice. The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. Introduction While the Buddha is dwelling in the Bamboo Grove monastery near Rājagṛha, together with a thousand monks and a host of bodhisattvas, King Prasenajit rises from his seat, bows at the feet of the Buddha, and asks him how to uphold the Dharma in his kingdom during times of conflict. In reply the Buddha instructs the king about the gaṇḍī, For historical and ethnographical details concerning the gaṇḍī and its wide-ranging usage in Buddhist monasteries, see Helffer (1983), Hu-von Hinüber (1991), and Sobkovyak (2015). a wooden beam that is ritually struck to produce sound, In The Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary

Summary While the Buddha is dwelling in the Bamboo Grove monastery near Rājagṛha, together with a thousand monks and a host of bodhisattvas, King Prasenajit arises from his seat, bows at the Buddha’s feet, and asks him how to uphold the Dharma in his kingdom during times of conflict. In reply the Buddha instructs the king about the gaṇḍī, a wooden ritual instrument, and tells him how the sound of this instrument, used for Dharma practice in a temple or monastery, quells conflict and strife for all who hear it. He describes how to make, consecrate, and sound the gaṇḍī. He explains that the gaṇḍī symbolizes the Perfection of Insight and describes in detail the many benefits it confers.

Toh 299: The Sūtra on Timings for the Gaṇḍī

Summary In this short text, the Buddha instructs monks on the correct timings for sounding the gaṇḍī during each of the twelve months of the year. The timings are given based on the use of a solar clock.

Toh 300: The Noble Sūtra on Reliance upon a Virtuous Spiritual Friend

Summary Just prior to his passing away, the Buddha Śākyamuni reminds his disciples of the importance of living with a qualified spiritual teacher. Ānanda, the Blessed One’s attendant, attempts to confirm his teacher’s statement, saying that a virtuous spiritual friend is indeed half of one’s spiritual life. Correcting his disciple’s understanding, the Buddha explains that a qualified guide is the whole of, rather than half of, the holy life, and that by relying upon a spiritual friend beings will be released from birth and attain liberation from all types of suffering.

Toh 301: The Sūtra on Going Forth

Toh 303: The Sūtra on Having Moral Discipline

Summary At Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, the Buddha teaches his saṅgha about the benefits of having moral discipline and the importance of guarding it. It is difficult, he says, to obtain a human life and encounter the teachings of a buddha, let alone to then take monastic vows and maintain moral discipline. But unlike just losing that one human life, which comes and then inevitably is gone, the consequences of failing in moral discipline are grave and experienced over billions of lifetimes. The Buddha continues in verse, praising moral discipline and its necessity as a foundation for engaging in the Dharma and attaining nirvāṇa. He concludes his discourse with a reflection on the folly of pursuing fleeting worldly enjoyments.

Toh 304: The Sūtra Examining the Virtuous and Non-Virtuous Effects of the Collection of Five Downfalls

Toh 305: The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme”

Summary In The Sūtra “Declaring What Is Supreme” , the Buddha, while spending the rainy season at the Bamboo Grove in Rājagṛha, teaches his saṅgha of śrāvakas that the Buddha is supreme among all beings, the Dharma of being free of attachment is supreme among all dharmas, and the Saṅgha is supreme among all communities and groups. Those who have faith in these three will be reborn as supreme among gods or humans.

Toh 306: Teaching on the Practice of the Austerities, from "The Path of Liberation"

Toh 307: The Sūtra on the Limits of Life

Summary The Sūtra on the Limits of Life presents a detailed and systematic account of the lifespans of different beings that inhabit the universe, progressing from the lower to the higher realms of existence as outlined in early Buddhist cosmology. The Buddha describes the lifespans of beings in terms of the relationship or proportion between the lifespans of the devas of the form realm and the lifespans in the eight major hot hells, the latter being significantly longer than the former.

Toh 308: The Sūtra of Questions Regarding Death and Transmigration

Summary Questions Regarding Death and Transmigration contains explanations of Buddhist views on the nature of life and death, and a number of philosophical arguments against non-Buddhist conceptions, notably some based broadly on the Vedas. The sūtra is set in the town of Kapilavastu at the time of the funeral of a young man of the Śākya clan. King Śuddhodana wonders about the validity of the ritual offerings being made for the deceased by the family and asks the Buddha seven questions about current beliefs on death and the afterlife. The Buddha answers each of the questions in turn. After two interlocutors interrupt to test the Buddha’s omniscience, the discourse continues to present the Buddhist account of death and rebirth using a set of eight analogies, each of which complements the others in a detailed explanation.

Toh 309: The Sūtra on Impermanence (1)

Summary In this brief sūtra, the Buddha reminds his followers of one of the principal characteristics of saṃsāric existence: the reality of impermanence. The four things cherished most in this world, the Buddha says—namely, good health, youth, prosperity, and life—are all impermanent. He closes his teaching with a verse, asking how beings, afflicted as they are by impermanence, can take delight in anything desirable, and indirectly urging his disciples to practice the path of liberation.

Toh 310: The Sūtra on Impermanence (2)

Summary The Sūtra on Impermanence ( Anityatāsūtra ) is a short discourse on the impermanence of conditioned states. The Buddha explains that it does not matter what one’s social status is, whether one is born in a heaven, or even if one has realized awakening and is an arhat, a pratyekabuddha, or a buddha. All that lives will eventually die. He concludes with a series of verses on impermanence exhorting the audience to understand that happiness is to bring conditioned states to rest.

Toh 311: The Noble Sūtra “Teaching the Eleven Thoughts”

Summary Teaching the Eleven Thoughts takes place just before the Buddha attains parinirvāṇa, when he bequeaths his final testament to the assembled monks in the form of a brief discourse on eleven thoughts toward which the mind should be directed at the moment of death. He exhorts his listeners to develop nonattachment, love, freedom from resentment, a sense of moral responsibility, a proper perspective on virtue and vice, courage in the face of the next life, a perception of impermanence and the lack of self, and the knowledge that nirvāṇa is peace.

Toh 312: The Noble Mahāsūtra “On Entering the City of Vaiśālī”

Summary Invited to visit the city of Vaiśālī, which has been ravaged by a terrible epidemic, the Buddha instructs Ānanda to stand at the city’s gate and recite a proclamation, a long mantra, and some verses that powerfully evoke spiritual well-being. Ānanda does so, and the epidemic comes to an end. One of the mahāsūtras related to the literature of the Vinaya, this text, like other accounts of the incident, has traditionally been recited during times of personal or collective illness, bereavement, and other difficulties.

Toh 313: Auspicious Night

Summary In Auspicious Night , the deity Candana appears before a monk in Rājagṛha and asks if he knows of the Buddha’s teaching called Auspicious Night . Since the monk has never heard of it, the deity encourages the monk to ask the Buddha himself, who is staying nearby. At the monk’s request, the Buddha teaches him how to continuously remain in a contemplative state by following these guidelines: do not follow after the past, do not be anxious about the future, and do not be led astray or become distracted by presently arisen states. The Buddha then teaches several mantras and incantations for the welfare of all sentient beings and explains the apotropaic and salvific benefits of the instructions.

Toh 314: The Sūtra “Entry into the Gloomy Forest”

Summary Entry into the Gloomy Forest tells the story of the eminent brahmin Pradarśa, who is converted to Buddhism upon receiving teachings from the Buddha and goes on to establish a Buddhist community in the Gloomy Forest. The text describes the exceptional circumstances of Pradarśa’s birth, his going forth as a monk, and the miraculous founding of the monastic community in the Gloomy Forest. This is followed by the Buddha’s account of the deeds and aspirations undertaken by Pradarśa in his previous lives that have resulted in the auspicious circumstances of his present life.

Toh 316: The Sūtra on the Four Truths

Toh 317: The Dharma Instruction “Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings”

Summary The sūtra Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings begins with an introductory section, offering the context of the teachings. An explanation of twenty-seven topics is then presented by the Buddha, starting with the five aggregates and ending with the eighty minor marks of a great person. The Buddha then concludes by exhorting the bhikṣus to meditate in solitude and avoid negligence.

Toh 318: The Dharma Discourse on the Vast Meaning

Toh 319: The Noble Marvelous Dharma Discourse

Summary In The Marvelous Dharma Discourse Ānanda asks the Buddha about the relative merit accrued by huge offerings made to revered beings as compared to the merit accrued by making even a miniature stūpa for the veneration of a buddha who has passed into parinirvāṇa. The Buddha replies that the merit accrued by creating even a tiny stūpa the size of a small fruit for the veneration of a buddha is greater than that accrued by offering the entire world, or even the universe and its palaces, to all stream enterers, once-returners, non-returners, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and the saṅgha in the four directions.

Toh 321: The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines

Summary In response to a question from Śāriputra, the Buddha extols the benefits that result from the practice of circumambulating shrines, that is, walking around them while keeping them on the right-hand side. Such benefits include being reborn in beautiful and healthy bodies with intelligent minds and virtuous qualities, in fortunate and privileged circumstances, and in various heavenly realms. Ultimately, the Buddha says, such practice may even result in the achievement of different types of awakening.

Toh 322: Verses 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.

Toh 323: The Single Stanza

Summary The Single Stanza is a praise to the Buddha in one verse. It states that there is no ascetic equal to the Buddha, neither among the gods nor in the ordinary world.

Toh 324: The Four Stanzas

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.

Toh 325: The Verses of Nāga King Drum

Summary The Verses of Nāga King Drum contains the Buddha’s narration of a tale from one of his past lives as the nāga king Drum. While traveling with his younger brother Tambour, they come under verbal attack by another nāga named Drumbeat. Tambour’s anger at their mistreatment and desire for retaliation prompts Drum to counsel Tambour on the virtues of patience and nonviolence in the face of aggression and abusiveness. Through a series of didactic aphorisms, he advises his brother to meet disrespect and persecution with serenity, patience, compassion, and insight, in order to accomplish what is best for oneself and others. The Buddha now recounts King Drum’s wise counsel as a helpful instruction for his own followers.

Toh 326: Untitled

Toh 327: The Noble Sūtra on the Good Person

Summary While staying in Śrāvastī, the Buddha gives a short teaching on five ways in which gifts are given and discusses the karmic results of giving them.

Toh 328: The Sūtra of Nanda’s Going Forth

Summary In this sūtra, the Buddha Śākyamuni, accompanied by Ānanda, visits the house of Nanda during his stay in Banyan Grove near Kapilavastu. A discourse ensues in which the Buddha explains to Nanda the importance and benefits of going forth as a monk. Nanda expresses hesitation about going forth, so the Buddha explains by means of analogies how fortunate Nanda is to have obtained an auspicious human birth, to have met the Buddha, and to have the opportunity to become a monk. Nanda is deeply impressed by the Buddha’s teaching and decides to renounce worldly life and go forth.

Toh 329: The Devatā Sūtra

Summary A radiant divine being appears before the Buddha shortly before dawn and asks a series of questions, in the form of riddles, about how best to live a good life. The Buddha’s responses constitute a concise and direct teaching on some of the core orientations and values of Buddhism, touching on the three poisons, the virtues of body, speech, and mind, and providing wisdom for daily life.

Toh 330: The Shorter Devatā Sūtra

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Toh 331: The Sūtra of the Moon (2)

Toh 332: The Penthouse Sūtra

Toh 333: The Noble “Sūtra of Vasiṣṭha”

Summary While residing in Nyagrodha Park in Kapilavastu, the Buddha meets an emaciated, long-haired brahmin named Vasiṣṭha. When the Buddha asks Vasiṣṭha why he looks this way, Vasiṣṭha explains that it is because he is observing a month-long fast. The Buddha then asks him if he maintains the eightfold observance of the noble ones, prompting an exchange between the two about what the eightfold observance entails and how much merit is to be gained by maintaining it. After outlining the eightfold observance, the Buddha tells Vasiṣṭha that there is far more merit to be had in maintaining it, even just once, than there is to be gained by making offerings. At the end of the sūtra, Vasiṣṭha takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, and he pledges to maintain the eightfold observance and practice generosity in tandem.

Toh 334: The Noble Sūtra of Nandika

Summary While staying at the Vulture Peak Mountain in Rājagṛha, the Buddha describes the negative consequences of breaking the five basic precepts to the layman Nandika and five hundred other lay practitioners. This sūtra is often mentioned and quoted in traditional Buddhist works, mostly concerning the consequences of inebriation by alcohol .

Toh 335: The Noble Sūtra on the Ringing Staff

Summary In this short sūtra, the Buddha first instructs the monks to carry the ringing staff and then provides a brief introduction to its significance. In response to Venerable Mahākāśyapa’s queries, the Buddha gives a more detailed explanation of the attributes of the staff and the benefits that can be derived from holding it. In the course of his exposition, he also elucidates the rich symbolism of its parts, such as the four prongs and the twelve rings. Finally, the Buddha explains that while the ringing staff is carried by all buddhas of the past, present, and future, the number of prongs on the staff might vary.

Toh 336: Translated by the Sarasvatī Translation Team under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha Konchog Norbu Zhuo Siyu Dr. Shenghai Li Nathaniel Rich Zhuo Siyu Laura Goetz Dr. Andreas Doctor Steven Rhodes v 1.1.3 2021 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone. This work is provided under the protection of a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution - Non-commercial - No-derivatives) 3.0 copyright. It may be copied or printed for fair use, but only with full attribution, and not for commercial advantage or personal compensation. For full details, see the Creative Commons license. An early mistake in the assigning of UT numbers within the 84000 project means that these ids diverge slightly from the standard logic. 2020-11-17 Toh 336 Degé Kangyur, vol. 72 (mdo sde, sa), folios 274.a–275.a 18/01/2023 14:48:50 Automated version increment 2.d 2.h 2.d 2.b 2.a v 0.1.1 2 intro lines about rattle staff edited according to Nate's suggestions changed "rattling" to "ringing" staff Added link to Toh 335 Auto (update-contributors) Auto (update-contributors) 1 First Published Version added ref pending tag minor changes ref pending tag for toh 335 removed A few minor fixes. Auto (TEI migration 2.0.0) Auto (TEI migration 2.1.5) Updated colophon and intro to Bandé fixed bad link added @xml:lang tag to a few Chinese strings that were missing it, removed namespace prefix "tei:" from some of the elements Added mention of Chomden Raltri & Khotan to intro, with biblio entries to match. Auto (script-increment-version-published) Auto (removing-tid-from-back-list-items) Summary The Rite for the Protocols Associated with Carrying the Ringing Staff

Summary The Rite for the Protocols Associated with Carrying the Ringing Staff is a short text that deals with the practical matters relating to the use of the mendicant’s staff known in Sanskrit as a khakkhara , or “rattling staff.” It begins with a simple ritual during which a Buddhist monk ceremoniously takes up the ringing staff in front of his monastic teacher. The text then provides a list of twenty-five rules governing the proper use of the staff. The rules stipulate how a Buddhist monk should or should not handle it in his daily life, especially when he goes on alms rounds and when he travels.

Toh 338: The Exposition of Karma

Summary In The Exposition of Karma , the Buddha presents to the brahmin youth Śuka Taudeyaputra a discourse on the workings of karma. This is enlivened by many examples drawn from the rich heritage of Buddhist narrative literature, providing a detailed analysis of how deeds lead to specific consequences in the future. For the Buddhist, this treatise answers many questions pertaining to moral causation, examining specific life situations and their underlying karmic causes and emphasizing the key role that intention plays in the Buddhist ethic of responsibility.

Toh 339: The Dharma Scripture “Transformation of Karma” in one fascicle

Summary In Transformation of Karma the Buddha is staying in Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, where he is visited by the brahmin youth Śuka, who asks the Blessed One to explain the reason why living beings appear so diversely. The Buddha answers Śuka’s question with a discourse on various categories of actions as well as rebirth and the actions leading to it. The discourse presents fifty-one categories of actions, followed by explanations of the negative consequences of transgressing the five precepts observed by all Buddhists, the advantages gained through caitya worship, and the meritorious results of specific acts of generosity.

Toh 340: The Hundred Deeds

Summary The sūtra The Hundred Deeds , whose title could also be translated as The Hundred Karmas , is a collection of stories known as avadāna —a narrative genre widely represented in the Sanskrit Buddhist literature and its derivatives—comprising more than 120 individual texts. It includes narratives of Buddha Śākyamuni’s notable deeds and foundational teachings, the stories of other well-known Buddhist figures, and a variety of other tales featuring people from all walks of ancient Indian life and beings from all six realms of existence. The texts sometimes include stretches of verse. In the majority of the stories the Buddha’s purpose in recounting the past lives of one or more individuals is to make definitive statements about the karmic ripening of actions across multiple lifetimes, and the sūtra is perhaps the best known of the many works in the Kangyur on this theme.

Toh 341: The Sūtra of the Wise and Foolish

Toh 342: The Sūtra “The Questions of Dīrghanakha the Wandering Mendicant”

Summary As the Buddha teaches the Dharma to the fourfold saṅgha on Vulture Peak Mountain, the brahmin and wandering mendicant Dīrghanakha approaches and questions the Buddha about his doctrine concerning the incontrovertible relationship between karma and its effects in the world. He then poses a series of ten questions regarding the karmic causes of certain attributes of the Buddha, from his vajra body to the raised uṣṇīṣa on his crown. The Buddha responds to each question with the cause for each attribute, roughly summing up the eight poṣadha vows and the ways he observed them in the past. Dīrghanakha drops his staff and bows to the Buddha, pledging to take refuge in the Three Jewels and maintain the eight poṣadha vows.

Toh 343: The Hundred Exemplary Tales, Beginning with That of Pūrṇa

Toh 344: The Noble Sūtra of Jñānaka: An Exemplary Tale of the Buddha

Summary In the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, a god has reached the end of his life. He foresees his rebirth as a pig and calls out to the Buddha to save him. The Buddha prompts him to seek refuge in the Three Jewels and, as a result, the god finds himself reborn into a wealthy family in Vaiśālī. In this life as a child named Jñānaka, he encounters the Buddha once more and invites him and his monks for a midday meal. The Buddha prophesies to Ānanda that the meritorious offering made by Jñānaka will eventually lead the child to awaken as the buddha known as King of Foremost Knowing.

Toh 345: The Sūtra “The Exemplary Tale About a Sow”

Summary In The Exemplary Tale About a Sow , the Buddha recounts the earlier events surrounding a god in Trāyastriṃśa heaven who foresaw that he would be reborn as a pig in Rājagṛha. At the encouragement of Śakra, this god, in the final moments of agony before his death, took refuge in the Three Jewels and thereby attained rebirth in the even higher Tuṣita heaven. The story thus illustrates the liberative power of taking refuge in the Three Jewels, as befittingly expressed in the concluding verses of this short avadāna.

Toh 346: The Exemplary Tale of Sumāgadhā

Summary The Exemplary Tale of Sumāgadhā opens at Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha is staying. At the time, Anāthapiṇḍada’s daughter Sumāgadhā is married off to Vṛṣabhadatta, the son of a nirgrantha merchant in the distant city of Puṇḍravardhana. After arriving at the home of her in-laws, Sumāgadhā is repulsed and disheartened on encountering the nirgrantha mendicants. When her mother-in-law asks why she seems despondent, Sumāgadhā tells her about the Buddha. At her mother-in-law’s request, she invites the Buddha and the saṅgha of monks for a meal, and she does so by preparing an offering and calling out from the rooftop. When Ānanda inquires about this invitation, the Buddha announces that all monks with miraculous powers must take a tally stick and travel to Puṇḍravardhana. As the śrāvakas arrive with their miraculous displays, Sumāgadhā relates a brief story about each of them. Finally, the Buddha arrives and converts the people of Puṇḍravardhana with his own miraculous display. When the monks ask how Sumāgadhā’s marriage has benefited so many beings, the Buddha relates the story of her past life as the princess Kāñcanamālā during the time of the Buddha Kāśyapa and, in turn, Kāñcanamālā’s past life as the virtuous wife of a farmer, explaining that she has performed buddha activity in the past and continues to do so. This sūtra also contains the popular account of the ten dreams of King Kṛkin, which are interpreted by the Buddha as for

Toh 347: The Exemplary Tale of Puṇyabala

Summary In Śrāvastī, at Prince Jeta’s Grove, several elder monks in the Buddha’s assembly cannot agree on which human quality is most valuable and beneficial: beauty, diligence, artistry, or insight. They ask the Buddha, who replies that merit , which gives rise to all the qualities they have noted, is of most benefit to beings. To illustrate this point, he tells the story of a past life in which he was born as Puṇyabala, with four older brothers who were each named after their most prized quality: Rūpabala, Vīryavanta, Śilpavanta, and Prajñāvanta. In an ensuing contest to determine which quality produces the best outcomes in real life, Puṇyabala wins, and through his merit is granted dominion over much of the world. The Buddha then goes on to tell the story of his even earlier lifetime as Dyūtajaya, during which he developed the intention to attain buddhahood through the accumulation of merit .

Toh 348: The Exemplary Tale of Candraprabha

Toh 349: The Exemplary Tale of Śrīsena

Summary In this discourse, the Buddha Śākyamuni describes his past life as King Śrīsena of Ariṣṭa, a bodhisattva renowned for his unstinting generosity and spiritual resolve. In that life, a sage orders his disciple to ask King Śrīsena for his beautiful wife, Jayaprabhā. Out of compassion, King Śrīsena gives his wife to the disciple. Śakra, lord of the gods, then claims that King Śrīsena is also able to give away his own body. The other gods have doubts about this, so to prove his point, Śakra disguises himself as an old brahmin whose lower body has been eaten by a tiger, and then asks King Śrīsena to gift him his own lower body. With altruistic motivation, King Śrīsena agrees to the request and orders carpenters to saw him in half. He offers the bottom half to the brahmin, whose body is magically made whole again. King Śrīsena claims he has felt no regrets and by the power of his words, his own body is restored. During this ordeal, Śakra has kept the king alive and carefully monitored his reactions. Observing nothing but pure altruism, Śakra then confirms that the king is a true bodhisattva who is capable of the highest acts of generosity. With this past life story, the Buddha illustrates the kinds of personal sacrifice a bodhisattva will make to attain awakening, even when these go against the protestations of those closest to him.

Toh 350: The History of Kanakavarṇa

Toh 350: The Past Endeavor of Kanakavarṇa

Summary In The Past Endeavor of Kanakavarṇa the Buddha Śākyamuni illustrates the power of generosity by narrating a distant past life as a magnanimous king named Kanakavarṇa, who ruled over the entire continent of Jambudvīpa. While faced with a devastating famine, this bodhisattva king decided to offer the last bit of food left in Jambudvīpa—which had been kept especially for him—to a pratyekabuddha who had come to his palace begging for alms. As a result of King Kanakavarṇa’s selfless gift, the whole continent was miraculously showered with all possible foods and goods, and the people of Jambudvīpa were saved. In addition to this immediate fruit of the king’s meritorious deed, a further fruit of the king’s good deed is implied when the Buddha discloses King Kanakavarṇa’s identity at the end of the story. The king’s generosity would reach full karmic fruition in his perfect awakening in a future life as the Buddha Śākyamuni.

Toh 351: The Sūtra of Prince Arthasiddhi

Toh 352: The Sūtra of Brahmā’s Net

Toh 353: The Sūtra of Repaying the Kindness of the Buddha Who Has Great Skill in Means

Toh 354: The Sūtra “Teaching the Causes and Results of Good and Ill”

Summary Teaching the Causes and Results of Good and Ill describes karmic cause and effect. The discussion begins with Ānanda, who asks the Buddha why beings—particularly human beings—undergo such a wide range of experiences. The Buddha replies that one’s past actions, whether good or ill, bring about a variety of positive and negative experiences. To this effect, he offers numerous vivid examples in which results in this current lifetime parallel actions from a past life. Emphasis is placed on the object of one’s actions, such as the Saṅgha or the Three Jewels. The discourse concludes with the Buddha describing the benefits associated with the sūtra and listing its alternative titles, while the surrounding audience reaps a host of miraculous benefits.

Toh 355: The Sūtra “Teaching the Ripening of Virtuous and Nonvirtuous Actions”

Summary Teaching the Ripening of Virtuous and Nonvirtuous Actions begins with Nanda asking the Buddha why beings living in this world experience different ranges of conditions. This leads the Buddha to explain how all experiences are brought about by the ripening of a variety of virtuous and nonvirtuous actions. The results of nonvirtuous actions are detailed first, prompting Nanda to ask about people, such as benefactors, who, conversely, are committed to performing virtuous actions. The Buddha’s discourse then details the workings of karma by making use of a plethora of examples before concluding with a description of virtuous actions and the benefits they bring.

Toh 356: From the Sūtra of the Questions of Candragarbha: Showing How the Buddha’s Teaching Abides and Perishes

Toh 357: The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga”

Summary In this scripture the Buddha Śākyamuni travels miraculously from Rājagṛha with a large retinue of bodhisattvas, hearers, gods, and other beings to the Central Asian region of Khotan, which in this discourse has not yet been established as a kingdom but is covered by a great lake. Once there, the Buddha foretells how this will be the site of a future land called Virtue , which will contain a blessed stūpa called Gomasalaganda. The Buddha proceeds to explain to his retinue the excellent qualities of this land, foretelling many future events, and instructing his disciples how to guard and protect the land for the sake of beings at that time. At the end of his teaching, the Buddha asks the hearer Śāriputra and the divine king Vaiśravaṇa to drain the lake, thus diverting the water and rendering the land ready for future habitation.

Toh 358: The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa

Summary The Exemplary Tale of Śārdūlakarṇa begins with the dramatic story of an outcaste girl named Prakṛti, who falls in love with the venerable Ānanda but is subsequently led by the Buddha to liberation and arhathood. In order to explain these events to the upper-caste community of Śrāvastī, the Buddha narrates the story of a learned outcaste king, Triśaṅku, who sought to marry his son, Śārdūlakarṇa, to the daughter of an eminent brahmin named Puṣkarasārin. In this story, the outcaste king advances various arguments against the notion of caste and displays at length his brahmanical—mostly astrological—learning from past lives. When the brahmin’s pride is finally overcome, he grants his daughter’s hand in marriage. At the end of his narration, the Buddha reveals that he was the outcaste king at that time, and that Prakṛti and Ānanda were the brahmin maiden and the outcaste prince, thus showing that caste designations have little meaning in the light of karma and merit across multiple lives.

Toh 359: The Sūtra of the Twelve Eyes

Toh 359a: The Sūtra of the Forty-Two Sections

Toh 360: Reciting the Names of Mañjuśrī

Toh 361: Summary of Empowerment

Summary The Summary of Empowerment is considered to be the only extant portion of the root text of the Kālacakratantra . According to the Buddhist tantric tradition, the Sekkodeśa was transmitted by the Buddha in his emanation as Kālacakra, to Sucandra, the first king of Śambhala. The text’s 174 verses cover a wide range of topics. After a short introduction to the eleven empowerments that constitute a gradual purification of the aggregates, body, speech, mind, and wisdom, the treatise turns to the so-called “sixfold yoga.” It begins by teaching meditation on emptiness via the contemplation of various signs, such as smoke or fireflies. Following the description of the control of winds and drops within the body’s channels and cakras, along with the signs of death and methods of cheating death, the text goes on to describe the three mudrās — karmamudrā , jñānamudrā , and mahāmudrā . After a concise criticism of cause and effect, the text concludes by describing six kinds of supernatural beings closely related to the Kālacakratantra , along with their respective families.

Toh 365: Performance of the Initiation

Toh 368: The Smaller Śaṃvara

Toh 370: Vajraḍāka

Toh 374: The Arising of Heruka

Toh 375: The Rotation of Yoginīs

Toh 377: The Awakening of Vārāhī

Toh 380: The Propitiation Ritual of Vajrayoginī

Toh 381: The Foundation of All Tantras, the Great Sovereign Compendium “Emergence from Sampuṭa”

Summary The tantra Emergence from Sampuṭa is an all-inclusive compendium of Buddhist theory and practice as taught in the two higher divisions of the Yoga class of tantras, the “higher” ( uttara ) and the “highest” ( niruttara ), or, following the popular Tibetan classification, the Father and the Mother tantras. Dating probably to the end of the tenth century, the bulk of the tantra consists of a variety of earlier material, stretching back in time and in the doxographical hierarchy to the Guhyasamāja , a text traditionally regarded as the first tantra in the Father group. Drawing from about sixteen well-known and important works, including the most seminal of the Father and Mother tantras, it serves as a digest of this entire group, treating virtually every aspect of advanced tantric theory and practice. It has thus always occupied a prominent position among canonical works of its class, remaining to this day a rich source of quotations for Tibetan exegetes.

Toh 382: The Tilaka of Sampuṭa

Toh 409: The Glorious King of Tantras: The Fearsome Vajra of Destruction

Summary This short tantra, The Fearsome Vajra of Destruction , presents a dialogue between the bodhisattva Vajragarbha and the Blessed One, in which the latter gives detailed explanations of the meanings of the terms that constitute the tantra’s title. The majority of the tantra deals with elucidations of the various aspects of the word vajra , which center on a vajra’s quality of indestructibility and its ability to crush and destroy dualistic concepts.

Toh 435: The Vajrāmṛta

Toh 436: The Fifty Verses on the Guardians of the World