Toh 346Nhân Duyên Mẫu Chuyện Về Sumāgadhā (Sumāgadhāvadāna)

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 foretelling the future decline
of the Dharma.

Acknowledgements

A draft of the translation was made from the Tibetan by
Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen and Chodrungma Kunga
Chodron in 2010 at Tsechen Kunchab Ling in Walden, NY. This
draft was then revised and edited by Laura Goetz, who
checked the Tibetan against the Sanskrit editions and also
wrote the introduction and annotations.

The translation was completed under the patronage and
supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
David Fiordalis edited the translation and the introduction,
and Ven. Konchog Norbu copyedited the text. Martina Cotter
was in charge of the digital publication process.

Introduction

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 a
merchant who follows the nirgrantha or Jain
tradition, in the distant city of Puṇḍravardhana.
After arriving at the home of her in-laws, Sumāgadhā
is 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
on different extraordinary vehicles that they have
created with their miraculous
powers, Sumāgadhā relates a brief story
about each of them, with these stories alluding to
other tales about the śrāvakas.

Finally, the Buddha arrives in the company of a
retinue of gods and gandharvas and converts the
people of Puṇḍravardhana with his own miraculous
display. When the monks ask how it is that
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 foretelling the future
decline of the Dharma.

The story of Sumāgadhā and the subsequent
conversion of the nirgranthas has been a popular
narrative in the Buddhist world, going back to its
apparent circulation in ancient Gandhāra as early as
the second century, if not earlier. It has been told and retold
many times, also appearing, for example, in
Kṣemendra’s (ca. 990–ca. 1070 ᴄᴇ) Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā, a poetic retelling of a number of Buddhist
avadānas and jātaka stories. The account of King
Kṛkin’s ten dreams, too, has also circulated
independently of this sūtra, appearing in various
formulations in a variety of texts, and even finding
its way into Persian, Arabic, and Slavic
literature. Gö Lotsāwa Shönnu
Pal (’gos lo tsA ba gzhon
nu dpal, 1392–1481), in his Blue Annals (deb ther sngon po),
mentions the ten dreams at the beginning of his
account of the division of the Buddhist community
into eighteen schools after the death of the Buddha
Śākyamuni, during the reign of King Aśoka. In
particular, Gö Lotsāwa highlights the passage in
The Exemplary Tale of
Sumāgadhā concerning the dream of the
cloth remaining untorn though being pulled by
eighteen men, explaining that although the teaching
of the Buddha was divided, each of the eighteen
schools provided a viable path to liberation.
According to Noriyuki Kudo, King Kṛkin’s story was
likely added to the story of Sumāgadhā at the end of
the second century, shortly after the story of
Sumāgadhā and the conversion of the non-Buddhists
had spread in Gandhāra.

Tracing the origins of this sūtra is a complex
matter and has been studied in painstaking detail.
It will have to suffice here to offer a condensed
summary of our understanding of the history of the
text to date as it relates to the Tibetan
translation found in the Kangyur. In short, there
are several fragmentary Sanskrit manuscripts from
Gilgit that predate the Tibetan translation,
probably by three or four centuries, and present a
text that appears quite similar to the hypothetical
manuscript used for the Tibetan translation. Other
Sanskrit manuscripts from Nepal postdate the Tibetan
translation and include additional material possibly
culled from other sources such as the Divyāvadāna.

The sūtra was first studied by Tsurumatsu
Tokiwai in a dissertation at the University of
Strasburg published in 1918. This was followed in 1968 by Yukata
Iwamoto’s edition of several Sanskrit manuscripts
from Nepal dated to the seventeenth century, which
he compared with a thirteenth-century “Calcutta”
manuscript. This publication also included
English translations of four Chinese versions. In
1993, Markus Görtz completed an (unpublished) MA
thesis containing a new edition of the
Sanskrit, which was
not accessible to us.

More recently, in 2011, a new color facsimile of
the Gilgit Manuscripts discovered in 1931 was
published, allowing for the identification of three
Sanskrit fragments of The
Exemplary Tale of Sumāgadhā among them.
Kudo estimates these manuscripts to date to the
sixth or seventh century at the latest. With three manuscripts (A, B,
and C) of the Delhi collection, and fragments from
the Srinagar collection, Kudo was able to
reconstruct in almost its entirety a Sanskrit source
that appears to be similar to that which would have
been used for the Tibetan translation.

According to Kudo’s account, the story of
Sumāgadhā and the conversion of the non-Buddhists circulated in
the Gandhāra region in the second century ce, and by the end of that
century had been compiled, along with the story of
King Kṛkin’s dreams, as The
Exemplary Tale of Sumāgadhā. One of these
manuscripts presumably made its way to Kashmir and
then to Tibet. Much later we have the seventeenth-
or eighteenth-century “Nepalese” manuscript, to
which material—which Kudo suggests may date to the
first half of the third century and includes
material that also appears in the Divyāvadāna
— had been added. This Nepalese
manuscript was edited by Iwamoto along with the
thirteenth-century “Calcutta” manuscript. We also
have Kṣemendra’s poetic retelling from the eleventh
century, which, like the Tibetan, was probably based
on a Kashmiri version.

In Pali literature, too, particularly in the
Pali commentary on the Dhammapada, we find the story of Cullā
Subhaddā, the virtuous daughter of Anāthapiṇḍika,
which shares several features of the story found in
the Sanskrit and Tibetan versions of The Exemplary Tale of
Sumāgadhā. The story of
Visākhā from the same commentary also narrates a
story about Subhaddā, but this version lacks the
elements found in the Sanskrit versions of the
story. Iwamoto also notes a parallel version in the
Manorathapūraṇī,
Buddhaghosa’s commentary on the Aṅguttara
Nikāya.

There is also a version of The Exemplary Tale of Sumāgadhā found in
the Mongolian Kangyur, titled Sayin magada-yin domuγ-i
ögülegči kemekü.

Since there is no single complete Sanskrit
source that corresponds precisely to the Tibetan
translation—at least one that is not based on
reconstruction—we have translated the sūtra based
primarily on the Degé edition of the Tibetan
Kangyur. We have, however, consulted the Sanskrit as
edited by Kudo from the Gilgit manuscripts and the
edition by Iwamoto reconstructed from the later
manuscripts. Through this process we found that the
Tibetan aligns quite closely but by no means
perfectly with what is found in the Gilgit
manuscripts.

The Translation

Homage to all
buddhas and bodhisattvas.

As soon as he heard that, Vṛṣabhadatta assumed
the guise of a nirgrantha mendicant and traveled to
Śrāvastī. He entered the home of the householder
Anāthapiṇḍada to collect alms, and there he saw the
girl. He was enamored the moment he saw her, and
when he received the alms, he took them in his
hat. The girl saw his improper
behavior and laughingly said, “This one is
absentmindedly accepting alms!”

But as soon as she saw the nirgranthas, who were
like naked wild buffalo, with plucked hair like
pigeon squabs, Sumāgadhā was embarrassed and averted
her face. Her mother-in-law asked, “Daughter, why
are you displeased?”

Her mother-in-law asked her, “Do you have
teachers who are superior to these?”

The girl replied, “In my father’s monastery,
Prince Jeta’s Grove, there is a teacher known as the
Buddha. He is the object of veneration of the entire
animate and inanimate world.”

“What is your teacher like?” she asked.

The girl replied:

“My teacher is golden like a heap of campaka
flowers,

Stainless like refined gold.

His discipline pure, his wisdom spotless,

He is unequaled in the three worlds, the supreme
among beings.”

Sometime later they said, “The offerings of food
have been prepared, so you should invite the Blessed
One tomorrow.”

Then Sumāgadhā climbed to the very top of the
house. She folded her hands and paid homage in the
direction of the Blessed One, recalled the good
qualities of the Blessed One, and strewed flowers
and made offerings of incense. In order to
invite the Blessed One, she sprinkled water from a
golden vase.

And she spoke these words:

“Your discipline pure, your wisdom spotless,

Great śrāvakas with faithful hearts,

Please care for me—I who am without a
protector—

And out of compassion come to this place.”

Just then the flowers, incense, and water from
the golden vase rose into the sky, and at that
moment the Blessed One arose from his deep
absorption and taught the Dharma to the fourfold
assembly. The water from the golden vase came to
rest before the Blessed One like a staff of beryl,
the flowers rested like a pinnacled temple in the
sky above the Blessed One, and the fragrant incense
came to rest like heaps of clouds.

The Blessed One replied, “Ānanda, it came 163
yojanas from the city of Puṇḍravardhana. Ānanda, as
that city is held by non-Buddhists, we must go there
with an extraordinary display of miraculous power.
Therefore,
distribute the tally sticks to the monks.”

Right away, the venerable Ānanda distributed the
tally sticks, starting with the most senior monk. He
said, “Tomorrow we will go to the city of
Puṇḍravardhana. As that city is completely held by
non-Buddhists, those among you who have attained
miraculous power must take these tally sticks.” Then
the process of taking the tally sticks began,
starting with the most senior monk.

Among them was the elder known as Pūrṇa. Although he had not attained miraculous
power, he reached out his hand to take a tally
stick. The venerable Ānanda said to him, “Elder, we
are not going to the home of Anāthapiṇḍada, but we
must travel to a place 163 yojanas from here known
as Puṇḍravardhana.”

The elder thought, “I have abandoned the
defilements to which I had been habituated since
beginningless time, so what could be difficult about
such miraculous power, which is common even to
non-Buddhists? I will not produce it.” Due to that
thought, however, at that very moment the miraculous
power was produced. As the second tally stick had
not yet been distributed, the elder reached out his
hand like an elephant’s trunk and took the tally
stick.

Sumāgadhā’s master saw this
and asked, “Sumāgadhā, is this your teacher?”

Then the elder Mahākāśyapa made his entrance
from the sky above, having magically created a great
rocky mountain covered with hundreds of variegated
trees and various forms of birds, lushly carpeted
with a diversity of flowers, and beautified by
manifold rivulets.

The master of the house saw that and asked,
“Sumāgadhā, is this your teacher?”

She replied, “This one who now arrives is known
as Mahākāśyapa. The Blessed One pronounced him chief
among the preachers for his abiding in ascetic
practices. He gave up nine hundred ninety-nine pairs
of oxen and abandoned, like spittle in the dust,
Kapilabhadrā, the most beautiful woman in the
land, and great
wealth and much gold, and went forth and became a
renunciant.”

She replied, “This is the monk known as
Śāriputra. The Blessed One pronounced him chief
among those endowed with wisdom. As soon as he
entered his mother’s womb, he was victorious over
all those who engage in of debate throughout the
entire world. He who arrives in the lion chariot is
the second teacher, the second supreme one, the
Dharma chief who subsequently turns the wheel of
Dharma.”

The master of the house saw that and asked
Sumāgadhā, “Is this one who arrives on an elephant
that is like Airāvaṇa, the king of elephants, your
teacher?”

She replied, “This is the monk known as
Mahāmaudgalyāyana. The Blessed One pronounced him
chief among those with miraculous power. With his
miraculous power, he shook Vaijayanta, the mansion
of Śakra, the lord of the gods, with his big toe,
and he tamed the nāga kings Nanda and Upananda. It
is he who arrives on an elephant chariot.”

Seeing that, the master of the house asked,
“Sumāgadhā, is this your teacher?”

She replied, “This one is the monk known as
Aniruddha. The Blessed One pronounced him chief
among those possessed of the divine eye. He conducts
himself such that by the power of his merit five
hundred vessels filled with cooked food arrive at
his door by merely thinking of them. At the
slightest thought, robes, alms, food, bedding,
medicines for illness, and all necessities arise. It
is he who arrives on a lotus chariot.”

She replied, “This one is the monk known as
Pūrṇa. The Blessed One pronounced him chief among
the teachers of Dharma. It is he who arrives on a
garuḍa chariot.”

Next, the venerable Aśvajit made his entrance in
an extremely peaceful manner.

She replied, “This is the monk known as Aśvajit.
With his tranquil manner, he tamed a mad elephant.
Seeing his tranquil manner, the noble Śāriputra saw
the truth, went forth and became a renunciant in the
teaching of the Blessed One, and, having become a
renunciant, attained arhathood. It is
he who arrives in a tranquil manner.”

Then the venerable Upāli made his entrance from
the sky above using his miraculous power, having
magically created a forest of golden palm trees.

She replied, “This is the monk known as Upāli.
The Blessed One pronounced him chief among the
holders of the Vinaya. As many as five hundred Śākya
renunciants placed a great heap of ornaments such as
necklaces, bracelets, armlets, golden parasols, and
garments in front of him. When he saw them, he felt
a great revulsion. Understanding them all to be
impermanent, he became a renunciant in the teaching
of the Buddha, and, having become a renunciant, he
realized the state of an arhat. It is he who arrives
in a forest of golden palm trees.”

Next, the venerable Mahākātyāyanaputra made his
entrance from the sky using his miraculous power,
having magically created a pinnacled temple made of
beryl.

She replied, “This is the monk known as
Mahākātyāyanaputra. The Blessed One pronounced him
chief among the Sautrāntika and Vaibhāṣika teachers.
It is he who arrives seated in a pinnacled temple
made of beryl.

She replied, “This is the monk known as
Pilindavatsa. The Blessed One pronounced him chief
among those who abide in compassion. When he wished
to cross the Ganges River, he commanded, ‘Stay,
servant woman!’ As soon as he spoke those words, she
remained like a mountain peak, not flowing at all.
It is he who arrives on a swan chariot.”

Next, the venerable Koṭīviṃśakarṇa made his
entrance on foot, walking in a mountain forest.

She replied, “This is the monk known as Karṇika.
The Blessed One pronounced him chief among those who
exert themselves in diligence. As soon as he was
born, he possessed a worth of two hundred million
chaffed grains, and from the soles of his feet
sprouted golden hair four finger-breadths in length.
He is the one on whom five hundred karṣāpaṇa coins
were spent for his first cooked meal, and when the
Blessed One was ill and Mahāmaudgalyāyana brought it
as a food offering for him, its aroma filled the
whole of the Veṇuvana, so that King Bimbisāra
smelled it and was greatly amazed. He is the one
who, merely setting down his two feet, caused this
earth to quake. He is the one, after he became a
renunciant and stepped onto the meditation walkway,
from whose two feet blood flowed and was drunk by crows. It is
he who arrives on foot.”

She replied, “This is the son of the Blessed
One. The Blessed One pronounced him chief among
those who hold the precepts. He gloriously
demonstrates what was relinquished by his father,
and in the appearance of a universal monarch he is
possessed of the
seven treasures and surrounded by thousands of
youths. He is the one who arrives like the moon
surrounded by a host of planets, constellations, and
stars; like a lord of humans who has entered the
royal road; like an ocean filled by the cascading of
a thousand rivers; like a great protector of beings
who dispels fear, illness, and misery; like a lion
among beasts; like a garuḍa among birds; like the
all-clearing sun; and like a universal monarch
ruling the four continents. It is he who arrives
like the thousand-eyed protector of the Dharma in
the assembly hall of Sudharma.”

Then the Blessed One emitted a light by which
all of Jambudvīpa was filled with light the color of
refined gold. By sending forth a great mass of light
from Śrāvastī all the way to Puṇḍravardhana, nowhere
was there anything that could not be seen by the
eyes; thus was there total visibility. The Blessed
One too proceeded through the sky, with Vajrapāṇi
following
behind him, the residents of Śuddhāvāsa above, the
gods of the desire realm below, Śakra on the left,
and Brahmā on the right.

Meanwhile, the Blessed One established
seventy-seven thousand beings in the truth for the
first time and, having done so, he arrived at the
city of Puṇḍravardhana. The city had eighteen gates,
at which the Blessed One emanated eighteen buddhas,
a buddha appearing
at each of the gates. Then the Blessed One arrived
at Sumāgadhā’s house.

Since they could not see the blessed Buddha,
the great crowd of people became angry and started
to break down the house. So, the Blessed One used
his intention to transform the entire city into
crystal, so that the body of the Buddha could be
seen seated within each and every house.

Sumāgadhā and many hundreds of thousands of
other beings in Puṇḍravardhana then offered flowers,
perfumes, garlands, and incense to the Blessed One.
The Blessed One taught the Dharma to Sumāgadhā and
the rest of the great gathering of people in such a
way that those who heard it—Sumāgadhā and the many
hundreds and thousands of other beings—obtained the
direct vision of the truth. The entire assembly
became inclined toward the Buddha, disposed to the
Dharma, and favorable toward the Saṅgha.

Yet, the monks were perplexed, and to ease all
their uncertainty, they addressed the Blessed One:
“Blessed One, it is wondrous how by Sumāgadhā’s
going to the other side, many hundreds of thousands
of beings have become inclined toward the higher
realms and toward liberation, and that by this she
has accomplished buddha activity.”

The Blessed One replied, “Listen to how she
accomplished buddha activity, not only at present
but in the past, too. Monks, in ancient times, long
ago, when the lifespan of humans was twenty thousand
years, the perfectly complete buddha known as
Kāśyapa, one endowed with perfect knowledge and
conduct, a well-gone one, a knower of the world, an
unsurpassed charioteer who tames beings, a teacher
of gods and humans, a blessed buddha, emerged in the
world. At that time, a king known as Kṛkin ruled the
city of Vārāṇasī. His daughter was born with a
golden garland, and so they named her
Kāñcanamālā.

“Later, when the girl had grown up, she went
together with a retinue of young ladies, in all five
hundred young girls of the same age, to pay her respects
to the perfectly complete Buddha Kāśyapa. Because
they had faith in him, for as long as they lived
they continued to serve that perfectly complete
buddha, the blessed Kāśyapa, providing him with
robes, alms, food, bedding, medicines for curing
illness, and other necessities.

“During that time, one night, King Kṛkin dreamed
ten dreams. As he recalled, ‘I dreamed of a king of
elephants who, emerging from a window, was caught by
its thin tail; I dreamed of hastening to a well when
no longer thirsty; I saw the sale of a measure of
pearls for a measure of flour; I saw sandalwood and
ordinary wood being given equal value; I saw thieves
stealing sumptuous fruits from a garden; I saw an
elephant calf scaring a rutting elephant; I saw a
dirty monkey smearing others with filth; I saw a
monkey who was consecrated as king; I saw a piece of
cloth not being torn though it was pulled by
eighteen men; and I saw a great crowd of people
assembled together who passed the time quarreling, arguing,
fighting, and criticizing one another.’

“However, because the brahmins despised
Kāñcanamālā, they said, ‘Your Majesty, you must make
a sacrificial offering to the fire with the heart of
the one who is most dear to you of all.’

“In despair, the king thought, ‘The one who is
to me the sweetest of all is my Kāñcanamālā!’

“Kāñcanamālā heard about this, and since she was
learned, she approached the king. ‘Your Majesty,
when the sun is shining, what need is there for the
flame of a lamp? The perfectly complete Buddha, the
blessed Kāśyapa, is dwelling at the Ṛṣivadana in
Deer Park—you should go there and ask him. That
blessed one will give you an accurate prophecy, to
which you should adhere.’

“Then King Kṛkin sounded a great gong and
announced, ‘Now I will go to the city of Vārāṇasī,
to the presence of that blessed one,’ and together
with Kāñcanamālā and a retinue of many hundreds of
thousands, he went to where the Blessed One was.
There, they bowed their heads to the feet of the
Blessed One and sat before the
Blessed One in order to listen to the Dharma.

“After some time, King Kṛkin rose from his seat
and approached the Blessed One. He bowed with his
hands folded and told the Blessed One, ‘O Blessed
One, in a single night I witnessed ten dreams. An
elephant, emerging from a window, was caught by its
tail…’ and so forth as before.
‘Please, Blessed One, tell me the portent of these
dreams.’

“The Blessed One replied, ‘Be not afraid, Great
King. Your kingdom will not decline, and your life
is not in danger. On the contrary, Great King, in
the future, when the lifespan of humans is one
hundred years, a perfectly complete buddha known as
Śākyamuni will appear, and in the latter part of
that time there will emerge śrāvakas whose bodies
are unrestrained, whose minds are unrestrained,
whose moral discipline is unrestrained, and whose
wisdom is unrestrained. They will abandon their kin
and become renunciants, yet by engaging the notion
of the household while in monasteries, they will
still be attached. The elephant being caught by its
tail when emerging from a window is a premonition of
that.

“ ‘Great King, your dream of thieves stealing
sumptuous fruits from a garden is a
premonition that there will emerge śrāvakas whose
bodies are unrestrained, whose minds are
unrestrained, whose moral discipline is
unrestrained, and whose wisdom is unrestrained, and
that they will take the best flowers and fruits of
the saṅgha and give them to householders for the
purpose of their livelihood.

“ ‘Great King, your dream of a dirty monkey
smearing others with filth is a premonition that
there will emerge śrāvakas who have faulty moral
discipline and are possessed of sinful propensities
and that they will deprecate those who possess moral
discipline.

“ ‘Great King, such unbearable things will come
to pass in the future.’

“And with these words, King Kṛkin and
Kāñcanamālā generated roots of virtue toward the
perfectly and completely awakened Buddha Kāśyapa
that made them conducive to liberation.

The Blessed One replied, “Monks, it was due to
this action: Long ago, the wife of some farmer or
other made garlands of variously colored flowers and
tied them up at the caitya of a pratyekabuddha. By
the ripening of that action, she was born tied with
a golden garland. Therefore, monks, the ripening of
purely dark actions is purely dark, the ripening of
those that are purely white is purely white, and the
ripening of those that are mixed is mixed.
Therefore, monks, you should abandon purely dark and
mixed actions and exert yourselves in purely white
actions. Monks, you should train in this way.”

Thus spoke the Blessed One, and the monks
thoroughly praised the words of the Blessed One.

This completes “The
Exemplary Tale of Sumāgadhā.”

Colophon

Notes

Sanskrit manuscripts

consulted

Bibliography