Toh 321Những Bài Kệ về Nhiễu Tháp

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.

Acknowledgements

Translated, introduced, and annotated by David Fiordalis and George FitzHerbert, in consultation with a draft translation made from the Tibetan by Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen and Chodrungma Kunga Chodron
of the Sakya Pandita Translation Group.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. David Fiordalis and George FitzHerbert edited the translation and the introduction, and
Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Sameer Dhingra was in charge of the digital publication process.

Introduction

The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines concerns the benefits of performing the practice known in Sanskrit as pradakṣiṇa (Pali:
padakkhiṇa). This term means “on the right-hand side,” and refers to the practice of paying homage to or venerating something (or someone) through circumambulation. This usually entails walking around the sacred object or person in a clockwise direction so that one keeps whatever is being circumambulated on one’s right-hand side as a gesture of respect.
This ancient Indian practice remains prevalent throughout contemporary South Asia and its cultural diasporas, and among Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Translated into Tibetan as bskor ba (“circumambulate” or “circle”), pradakṣiṇa continues to be one of the main devotional practices for Buddhists in Tibet and around the world. Such a practice
may involve walking around a holy site, a sacred mountain or lake, a sacred tree, a holy person, or the shrine that houses such a person’s remains. The practice can also be accompanied by prayer, song, or the
recitation of mantras. As such, it is possible to imagine reciting a text like The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines translated here as part of the practice, even though it reads more like a hymn or encomium to such a practice than a liturgy for one.

The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines focuses specifically on the benefits of ritual circumambulation of a stūpa or caitya of a buddha. The word stūpa refers to the mounds or domed reliquary monuments that are among the most visible features of Buddhist material culture and appear to date from at least the
time of King Aśoka in the third century bce. The word caitya can be understood as almost synonymous with stūpa.
However, it can also have a somewhat broader designation in reference to a holy place or natural object, such as a cave or tree, as well as the shrine or construction that marks the site as holy. The latter
may even be something as simple as a pile of rocks. Both caitya and stūpa are translated with the same Tibetan term, mchod rten, meaning a “support” or “basis” (rten) for an “offering” or “veneration” (mchod), and so we have chosen to translate this term as “shrine.”

While stūpas or caityas may have been simple constructions at first, and they still may be, they also came to feature ornate designs rich in layers of story and symbolism, such as at the great
stūpas in India at Bhārhut, Sāñcī, and Amaravati, and the stūpa complex at Borobodur in Indonesia. While many stūpas
are said to contain physical relics of a buddha, they may also contain ritually empowered representations of a buddha or of the awakened state in the form of statues, texts, mantras, and so forth, which
represent the body, speech, and mind of an awakened buddha. Some Buddhist texts also speak of the value of making even small mounds of dirt or clay and treating them as stūpas or caityas, which may be related
to the practice of making small clay votive offerings (Tib. tsa tsa). In any case, the practice of making stūpas or caityas and venerating them goes back to the first
millennium of Buddhism in India.

The benefits of sponsoring, making, ornamenting, cleaning, and otherwise venerating stūpas or caityas are mentioned in numerous Buddhist texts found in the Kangyur and elsewhere. For instance, one
that bears a particularly close relationship to The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines is The Verses for Prasenajit, Toh 322, the very next work in the Degé Kangyur. Also,
The Sūtra on
Dependent Arising
(Pratītyasamutpādasūtra, Toh 212/520/980) describes the merit earned by making a stūpa where one did not exist before, even if it is only
the size of a fruit “with a central pillar the size of a needle and a parasol the size of a flower” (Toh 212, 1.6).
The White Lotus of the Good Dharma (Toh 113,

–

) mentions the rewards of worshiping stūpas and images of the
buddhas, while Describing the Benefits of Producing Representations of the Thus-Gone One (Toh 320) focuses
exclusively on the benefits of producing images of them.

The Avalokinī Sūtra (Toh 195), another text that discusses the benefits of worshiping stūpas, has a number
of stanzas containing lines that are quite close or identical to some found in The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines translated here. The Avalokinī
Sūtra has a close relationship with the Avalokitasūtra of the Mahāvastu, a Vinaya work said to belong to the Lokottaravāda strand of
the Mahāsāṅghika monastic lineage, and some of its stanzas are also quoted in Śāntideva’s compendium, The Training Anthology (Śikṣāsamuccaya). Additionally, the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, which was translated into Tibetan and formed the basis for the Tibetan monastic lineages,
contains further stanzas, in sections detailed later in the introduction, that are nearly identical to some found in The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines.

In addition to these parallel stanzas found in other texts, previous scholarship has identified a number of Sanskrit witnesses to different versions of this work, with the title The Verses on Circumambulation (Pradakṣiṇagāthā) given when a colophon is extant. These witnesses include some fragments found at Bamiyan (in present day
Afghanistan), Kucha (in present day Xinjiang Autonomous Region), and Gilgit (in present day northern Pakistan). The Gilgit manuscripts, which date
approximately to the sixth or seventh century ce, include two separate fragments of several stanzas each and a complete version of the text that corresponds to the first
forty-four verses of the Tibetan translation.

In addition to the above Sanskrit witnesses, there is another, somewhat later Sanskrit manuscript—likely of northern Indian origin, although purchased in Nepal—containing another complete version of
the work. This version is slightly longer than the fifty-eight verses found in the canonical Tibetan translation of the work, but seems to correspond quite closely to what has been preserved in Tibetan. The colophon to the work in this manuscript refers to it by the title Pradakṣiṇāgāthā (The Verses on
Circumambulation), and in the manuscript it directly precedes another version of the aforementioned Verses for Prasenajit, Toh 322.

Given the many and various Buddhist works that discuss themes related to constructing and worshiping stūpas and caityas, and the evidence from the different versions of The
Verses on Circumambulating Shrines preserved in Sanskrit, it is possible to take a text-critical approach to analyzing the content of this work. The Verses on Circumambulating
Shrines can be analyzed in several parts. The first part corresponds to the first forty-five stanzas, which can be seen as a complete work in itself. These verses are framed by a narrator’s voice
telling the audience that Śāriputra asked the Buddha a question about the benefits of circumambulating shrines. It quotes Śāriputra’s question in direct speech, and then gives the Buddha’s response in
forty-two verses detailing the many future benefits of such a practice. This part of the work is further linked thematically and poetically by the refrain, “Those who circumambulate a shrine…” (Tib. mchod rten bskor ba byas pas ni, Skt. stūpaṃ kṛtvā pradakṣiṇaṃ), which is found in most of these stanzas.

While verse 45 can be seen as a concluding verse to those preceding it, it can also serve as a kind of bridge to the verses that follow. The identity of the speaker of the latter verses is not made
clear in the work itself, but almost identical parallels to verses 46–48 are found in The Chapters on Monastic Discipline (Vinayavastu), Toh 1, of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya—located both in The Chapter on Shelter (Śayanāsanavastu, Toh 1-15) and in The Chapter on Schisms in the Saṅgha (Saṅghabhedavastu,
Toh 1-17)—in the context of a narration describing Anāthapiṇḍada’s approach as he first encounters the Buddha. Although the extant Sanskrit for these verses does not mention either shrines or circumambulation
explicitly, the stanzas are linked thematically and poetically to what comes before them in The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines by the idea that “taking a single step” has a
value that cannot be measured by vast quantities of gold. In the Vinaya it is a step taken toward the Buddha, while in The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines, the implication—as
made explicit in the Tibetan translation—is that it is a step taken along the route of circumambulation.

The remaining verses, 49–58, have an almost identical parallel in a series of verses found in The Chapter on Medicines (Bhaiṣajyavastu,
Toh 1-6,

–

) in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. Here, they are spoken by the Buddha Śākyamuni to King Prasenajit and others in relation to
the veneration of the former Buddha Kāśyapa’s relics, which the Buddha Śākyamuni had just made visible. It is also worth mentioning that this same episode is also found twice in the Divyāvadāna. Such parallels aside, these verses are
linked thematically and poetically to what comes before them in The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines by the fact that in them the Buddha Śākyamuni extols the tremendous
value—described as exceeding vast quantities of gold from the Jambu River—of various acts of worship “at shrines of a buddha” (Skt. buddhacaityeṣu, Tib.
sangs rgyas mchod rten la). The first of these acts is “taking a step” at shrines of a buddha, and subsequent verses mention other acts of worship “at
shrines of a buddha,” such as offering a lump of clay, flower petals, a garland, scented water, and so forth.

The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines concludes with two significant claims. The first is that the merit earned from venerating a living buddha is the same as one earns by venerating a buddha who has
entered nirvāṇa, so long as one does so with the same quality of mind. In the Sanskrit, this quality is described as one of serene confidence or faith (prasannacitta), which the Tibetan translation appears to interpret slightly more along the lines of a joyful mind (dga’ ba sems pa). The second
claim is that, since buddhas and their qualities are both inconceivable (or inconceivably great (Skt. acintya, Tib. bsam
mi khyab)), those who have faith (Skt. prasannānām, Tib. dad rnams) in what is inconceivable will
receive karmic results that are also inconceivable; that is, they will become inconceivably great.

Apart from the various Sanskrit witnesses mentioned above and the canonical Tibetan translation in the Kangyur, a Chinese translation of the work was made by Śikṣānanda 實叉難陀 between 695 and 704 ce, entitled You rao fo ta gong de jing (右繞佛塔功德經 Taishō 700). It
is located in the Chinese canon immediately after The Sūtra on the Merit of Building a Stūpa (造塔功德經 Taishō 699), a
text which corresponds closely to the aforementioned
Sūtra on Dependent Arising
, Toh 212/520/980, in the Tibetan
canon.

There is also a Khotanese version of the work in the Saka language, which survives in a manuscript from the cave library at Dunhuang. This version has been tentatively dated to around 995 ce, and a transliteration and English translation of it were published by Harold W. Bailey. Unlike the extant Sanskrit and Tibetan versions,
however, it refers to itself as a sūtra and begins in a style typical of a sūtra in that it is set at Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvasti. Although it shares a general theme with other versions of the work, as
well as being an encomium on the benefits of circumambulation, its wording and details are different from those preserved in Sanskrit and Tibetan.

Finally, there is another Tibetan version of the work that is worthy of mention here. It is inscribed in the southern niche of the mchod rten
opposite the entrance of the Sumtsek (Tib. gsum brtsegs) temple at Alchi in Ladakh. This inscription, now fragmentary, has been tentatively dated to the
thirteenth century, and was the focus of a detailed philological study by Kurt Tropper (2010).

Not only does all this evidence add to the complexity of the textual history of The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines, but it would also seem to point to the widespread
popularity of the practices of creating and worshiping shrines and representations of the buddhas. It is indicative of the depth and breadth of support for such practices in Buddhist literature.

The identity of the translator(s) of the canonical version of The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines into Tibetan is unknown. The work bears no colophon in any version
of the Kangyur. However, the title is found in both the Denkarma and the Phanthangma imperial catalogs, where it is listed among translated sūtras of the “Lesser Vehicle” (Tib. theg pa chung ngu) and preceded by the aforementioned Verses for Prasenajit (Toh 322). Its inclusion therein thus suggests a translation no later than the early ninth century.

We are aware of two prior translations of The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines from Tibetan into English by Warner Belanger (2000) and Elizabeth Cook (1977). In
addition, Tropper (2010) includes an English translation of the verses found on the inscription in Alchi.

Our translation was made from the Tibetan as found in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the alternative readings recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur
ma), the Stok Palace Kangyur, and in certain instances other versions of the Kangyur. We also consulted the Sanskrit manuscript held at the Cambridge University Library and its readings informed our
work.

The Translation

##
The Verses on Circumambulating Shrines

Homage to the Three Jewels.

Śāriputra, the greatly wise one,

Foremost among those with wisdom,

Who turns the wheel of Dharma in the world,

Asked the Teacher a question.

“What karmic result will there be

For those who circumambulate a shrine?

Illustrious one, supreme in the world,

Perfect guide, please tell me.”

The best of those who walk on two feet,

The teacher, the perfect Buddha, answered,

“I will only teach a portion of the virtues

Of those who circumambulate a shrine.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Shall be honored everywhere

By devas, nāgas, and likewise by yakṣas,

And, indeed, by piśācas and rākṣasas.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine,

Even only a single time,

Having gained the opportunity so hard to find,

Will be freed from the eight inopportune states.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will possess mindfulness, intelligence,

Beauty, and clearsightedness,

And be honored everywhere.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will acquire a long lifespan

As a god or likewise as a human,

And great renown too.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be born possessing intelligence

And also a lineage that is pure

In the foremost clan in Jambūdvīpa.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will have a kind and pure countenance,

A good complexion, and be bright too.

They will dwell in happiness.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will have great wealth and riches.

They will not be miserly, but generous,

And will take pleasure in giving.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will achieve great prosperity.

They will be beautiful and gorgeous,

With an attractive and lovely skin tone.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will not be deluded about phenomena,

Seeing conditioned things as empty,

And will quickly obtain happiness.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be born as a most excellent kṣatriya,

Surrounded by a wife and children,

And endowed with strength and vigor.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be born as a great landowning brahmin,

Endowed with moral discipline and learning,

With knowledge of the Vedas and mantras.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be born as a great landowning householder,

Having much wealth and many riches,

With grain and cattle in abundance.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will become lord and sovereign of Jambūdvīpa,

A righteous king whose rule extends

To the ends of the earth.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will become a wheel-turning king,

Possessing the seven royal treasures,

And roll the wheel according to the Dharma.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will go to higher realms once they pass on from here,

Find joy in the Buddha’s teachings,

Become yogins, and gain great miraculous powers.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine,

After passing on from the divine realms,

Will be reborn again among humans,

Entering the womb without delusion.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will not become tainted

By the impurities and flaws of the womb;

They will be like a pure jewel.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will dwell at ease inside their mothers.

They will be at ease as they are born;

At ease they will suckle their mothers’ breasts.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be supported and nourished by many servants,

As well as by their fathers,

And always cared for by nurses.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will prosper right from birth,

Be dearly beloved of relatives,

And especially doted upon by parents.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will not be able to be harmed

By piśācas or rākṣasas.

They will enjoy unhindered abundance.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will have an immaculate body

And never be blind or crippled,

Through hundreds of eons.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will have perfectly clear eyes,

Long and shapely, dark, alluring,

And also obtain the divine eye.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be steady in body, steady in mind,

Steady too in diligence,

And have steady, rounded shoulders.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be strong, perfect in shape and form,

And their limbs will be well adorned

With all auspicious marks.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be the great lord of the gods,

Śakra, whose miraculous powers are great,

Lord of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be king of the gods in the Heaven Without Strife,

Or likewise in the Heavens of Joy,

Joyful Emanation, or Controlling Others’ Emanations.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be lord of brahmās

In the Brahmā World,

Honored by tens of millions of gods.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will have wisdom and continually be honored

Over tens of billions of eons or, indeed,

For millions upon billions of eons.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will have clean bodies, clean clothing,

And the immaculate Dharma,

For tens of millions of eons.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be endowed with strength and vigor,

Have no laziness at all,

And achieve the greatest accomplishment.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will be steady in diligence, steady in power,

Steady in skill, be their own master,

And swiftly accomplish their goals.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will have melodious speech,

A fine, pleasant voice,

And be free from harm and illness.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will quickly achieve a rebirth

In a place I myself have described

And have a great urgency there.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will obtain the four applications of mindfulness,

The four immeasurable states of mind,

And control over the bases of miraculous power.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will obtain the four noble truths,

The faculties, the powers,

And the fruition of the factors of awakening.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will become arhats, ones with great miraculous powers,

Possessing the six supernormal faculties,

Without defilement, and all their afflictions dispelled.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will release attachment and aversion,

Release all enmities,

And achieve the awakening of a pratyekabuddha.

“Those who circumambulate a shrine

Will become a tathāgata in the world,

With a body the color of gold

And adorned with the marks.

“Circumambulation is an act of the body.

Circumambulation is an act of speech.

Circumambulation is an act of the mind.

Circumambulation is also the making of a vow.

Here, one easily achieves through circumambulation

Goals that are difficult to reach.

“Mere words cannot well convey,

Even slightly, the virtues of those

Who perform a circumambulation

At a shrine of the World Protector.”

When asked by Śāriputra,

The World Protector explained

The virtues of venerating shrines,

Out of compassion for beings.

“A hundred horses, a hundred gold pieces,

A hundred mule carts,

And a hundred mare-drawn carriages

Filled with all manner of jewels

Do not add up to even a sixteenth of the worth

Of a single step of a circumambulation.

“A hundred Kamboja girls

Wearing jeweled earrings and bangles,

Their upper arms bearing golden armlets,

Their necks well adorned with gold necklaces,

Do not add up to even a sixteenth of the worth

Of a single step of a circumambulation.

“A hundred Himalayan elephants,

With huge bodies, broad chests,

And trunks like plows,

Adorned with gold and jewels,

Do not add up to even a sixteenth of the worth

Of a single step of a circumambulation.

“Hundreds of thousands of gold pieces from the Jambu River

Are not equal to a single step

Taken with a thought of joy by a wise one

At shrines of a buddha.

“Hundreds of thousands of nuggets of Jambu River gold

Are not equal to a single lump of clay

Offered with a thought of joy by a wise one

At shrines of a buddha.

“Hundreds of thousands of bowls of Jambu River gold

Are not equal to a handful of flower petals

Scattered with a thought of joy by a wise one

At shrines of a buddha.

“Tens of millions of bushels of Jambu River gold

Are not equal to a flower garland

Held up with a thought of joy by a wise one

At shrines of a buddha.

“Hundreds of thousands of heaps of Jambu River gold

Are not equal to scented water

Sprinkled with a thought of joy by a wise one

At shrines of a buddha.

“Hundreds of thousands of grams of Jambu River gold

Are not equal to an oil lamp

Lit with a thought of joy by a wise one

At shrines of a buddha.

“Hundreds of thousands of mountains of gold

Are not equal to a banner or canopy

Raised with a thought of joy by a wise one

At shrines of a buddha.

“This is the teaching on the benefits

Of making offerings to tathāgatas,

Perfect buddhas, peerless caravan leaders,

Who are limitless, just like the ocean.

“Whether one makes offerings to a living buddha

Or makes them to one who has passed into nirvāṇa,

There is no difference in merit

If the thought is equally devout.

“In this way, buddhas are inconceivable;

A buddha’s qualities are also inconceivable.

For those who have faith in the inconceivable,

The karmic fruit is also inconceivable.”

This concludes “The Verses On Circumambulating Shrines.”

Notes

Abbreviations

D
Degé Kangyur

S
Stok Palace Kangyur

MS
Cambridge MS Os.131

T
Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)

Toh
Tōhoku Catalog of Tibetan Buddhist canons.

Bibliography