Abstract This early Mahāyāna sutra, included in the Ratnakūṭa collection, interprets the career of the bodhisattva. It covers his important past lives, his course to the Great Awakening under the Bodhi Tree, and his teaching career as Śākyamuni Buddha, all in the light of his use of skill in means. Some past lives of other great bodhisattvas are also evinced, including that of the future buddha Maitreya. Prefaced to this is a discussion of the skill in means of bodhisattvas, and how it separates them from the prātimokṣa practice and ethics of the mainstream monastic community. Some notorious incidents are explained as the application of skill in means, such as sexual engagement with women, murder, and denigration of a buddha. Contents Introduction The Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara, A Mahāyāna Sutra Part One: THE SKILL IN MEANS OF BODHISATTVAS The Setting section number 1 The Question The Answer section 3 6 What is Moral Transgression for a Bodhisattva? 20 The Bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Bodhisattva “King at the Head of the Masses” 23 The Bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Story of Jyotis 32 The Bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Story of Vimala Illustrations of Bodhisattva Gnosis 36 40 The Bodhisattva and Sexuality Concluded: Priyaṁkara and Dakṣiṇottarā Mahākāśyapa’s Simile: The Wasteland and the City 60 Part Two: THE SKILL IN MEANS OF ŚĀKYAMUNI Where is the Awakening in a Shaven Head? Why the Bodhisattva Continues to be Reborn Entering the Womb Birth Youth 74 80 90 Departure from Home 98 70 72 48 Austerities: “Where is the Awakening in a Shaven Head?” At the Site of Awakening 104 117 Part Three: THE TEN KARMIC CONNECTIONS Statement of Principle 127 Murder with Skill in Means: the Story of the Compassionate Ship’s Captain 132 (1) The Thorn that “Resulted” 138 (2) Taking Forbidden Medicine (3) Empty Alms-bowl 146 149 (4) Cañcā’s Feigned Pregnancy 152 (5) Death of the Wanderer Sundarikā (6) Eating Horse-feed (7) Backache 164 (8) Headache 167 154 156 (9) Scolding by Bharadvāja (10) Persecution by Devadatta 169 170 INSTRUCTIONS ON THE TRANSMISSION OF THE SŪTRA 174 OVATION 178 COLOPHONS Indian Colophon Tibetan Colophon Notes Name, Place and Text Index Bibliography Introduction Summary The Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara, a sutra of medium length, constitutes Chapter 38 of the Ratnakūṭa collection as translated from Sanskrit.1 A shorter version, translated from Chinese, is found in the Miscellaneous Sutras section of the canon under the title The Skill in Means Sūtra. The question posed by Jñānottara goes like this: “The bodhisattva great heroes have something known as skill in means. What is that ‘skill in means’? How are bodhisattva great heroes ‘skilled in means’?” The epithet “bodhisattva great hero (bodhisattva mahāsattva)”, which is applied to Jñānottara (“Higher Knowing”) himself, is not defined in the sutra. But it clearly refers to bodhisattvas of a high stage. This teaching is directed primarily to them. Part One of the sutra2 gives the Buddha's answer, enlivened by discussion with others and illustrative incidents of a dramatic nature. Each point introduces practices characteristic of a bodhisattva, contrasting them with mainstream, or what the sutra calls prātimokṣa Buddhism. The basic practice of a bodhisattva is holding to the thought of awakening (bodhicitta), frequently referred to as “thought of omniscience”―the aspiration to become an all-knowing buddha for the sake of others. The first such practice is dedication of the merit that is gained by giving. The merit that he gains3 from giving even a morsel of food he turns over to the future attainment of buddhahood by himself and all sentient beings. The merit that he gains from appreciating the merit gained by others he likewise dedicates to omniscience. And that is, ironically, how he advances on the path―by giving away his merit, as opposed to accumulating it. The suggestion is also made that he takes upon himself the suffering of others. However, all of this is imaginatively generated. When the bodhisattva has little to give or little to say in the way of Dharma, he gives gifts or Dharma with the aspiration for omniscience, because “gifts become great when given with great thoughts.” The bodhisattva is not discouraged by the disapproval of his non-bodhisattva colleagues. He reasons that they evolve from the teachings of the Buddha, whereas buddhas evolve from bodhisattvas; therefore he is chief. Why might the bodhisattva elicit disapproval? On some occasions he tends to commit infractions, even grave transgressions of the monastic code. But for him, the only seminal transgression would be to adopt the narrow concerns of those coreligionists, and to lose hold of the aspiration for universal buddhahood. To illustrate this principle, the assembly is interrupted by an accusation brought forward by Ānanda, who in this sutra speaks on behalf of strict adherents to monastic discipline. Ānanda happens to have spied, in another part of the city, a bodhisattva seated indoors together with a woman on a couch, a violation of the monastic code, although not in itself grounds for expulsion, as would be violation of celibacy. The bodhisattva in question demonstrates by flying that he has not broken celibacy. The Buddha explains that a bodhisattva has more elevated concerns than holding to the letter of the law. And he explains the beneficial effects of that bodhisattva's deeds in this case. The Buddha then tells a story of his own past life when he broke celibacy, and out of compassion cohabited with a woman. A follow-up story illustrates the pitfall of mistaken accusation. The accuser falls into hell. A series of analogies then describe the superiority of the bodhisattva's deeds, fortified as they are by skill in means. The bodhisattva is likened to a prostitute and to a warrior, among others. Then again a contemporary incident intervenes. A bodhisattva monk on his begging round causes, by his beauty, the daughter of the house to sweat to death out of desire for him. He himself masters his lustful thought by means of the analysis of phenomena (dharmas) as unarising, a characteristic bodhisattva practice. The bodhisattva in question comes flying to the Buddha's gathering. The girl, now reborn as a male god, comes also, with her divine entourage. And her parents, whose anger must be mollified, also attend. We have the words, but lack the music to which the many verses in this gathering are sung. At the close of Part One, Mahākāśyapa delivers an extended simile, a precursor to the famous “three children escape from a burning house” parable of the Lotus sutra. Unlike the father in the Lotus, bodhisattva his illustration of skill in means is not a trick. Those who do not follow from “from the vast wasteland to the great city” are not offered alternative vehicles; they get left behind. Therefore the term eka-yāna should be understood here to signify “the one and only way”. The wilderness has only one exit gate, the city has only one entrance. Part Two is introduced by a follow-up question from Jñānottara: Why did the Buddha, in a past life as a brahman youth, say, regarding a proposed visit to meet Buddha Dīpaṁkara, “To see a śramaṇa shave-pate? What is that to me? Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head? Awakening is very rare.” In this Part Two, skill in means is a prism through which to view and understand the illustrative career of the Buddha, including his past lives as a bodhisattva and the steps to awakening in his present life as well. Then in Part Three it helps us to understand and interpret certain problematic events that occurred after the Great Awakening, during his teaching career as a buddha. The answer to Jñānottara's follow-up question is answered fully at the end of Part Two. For now, the short answer is that Jñānottara should refrain from judging the deeds of buddhas and high-stage bodhisattvas; their skill in means leads them to do whatever should be done for the benefit of others. From this point on, Parts Two and Three are narrated entirely as speech of the Buddha. They are given their own title (at section 71), such that it appears as though a second teaching (not labeled a sutra) has been attached to Part One, or the reverse, a general explanation of skill in means has been prefaced to the discussion of the life and nature of the Buddha. So, Part Two: Why is the bodhisattva reborn in the first place? Once he has obtained “conviction that phenomena are unarising”, he could become a buddha at any time. The various deeds and stages of his life―entering the womb, emerging from it, youthful education and dalliance with women, departure from home, (the fruitless) practice of austerities, accepting food and a cushion at the Awakening Tree, defeat of evil Māra, remaining at the Tree for seven days post-awakening, and not teaching until requested by Brahmā―are each explained as his exercise of skill in means, and merely illustrative. In point of fact he has never left Tuṣita heaven; he “demonstrates all the deeds...by means of magical creations”. As for that past-life denigration of Dīpaṁkara, he allowed himself to be dragged into the presence of that buddha for the edification of his five brahman companions. Part Three continues the discussion of his life, now as a teaching buddha. Ten documented incidents of suffering are explained. Contrary to previous accounts, these are not “residues of karma”. Each is connected to an actual past-life violation of natural morality (as for example, murder), of legislated morality (as in violating a vow of celibacy), or of etiquette (as in verbally denigrating a buddha). Each has a problematic outcome for the Buddha in the present. However, they are properly regarded as the skill in means of the Bodhisattva (in the past) and/or of the Buddha (in the present). For a buddha, there is no residue of karma. For example, having killed a man in the past, the bodhisattva experienced the karmic result also in the past; the thorn in his foot that “results” from it in the present is a teaching aid; it holds lessons for people of the present and the future. The list of ten “karmic connections” may be viewed in the Table of Contents above. Key Mahāyāna Concepts “Skill in means” is of course the key concept. It is allied with compassion, and harnessed with knowledge and understanding. It is described as the outcome of the Perfection of Wisdom. Hence it is a tool of buddhas and advanced bodhisattvas. It enables one to supersede ('das pa, an important term to Tibetan commentators), not only prātimokṣa or monastic vows, but also natural morality or lay vows, as for example murder.4 Whether the bodhisattva is required or merely permitted to commit such an act is a question taken up by Tibetans. Other early Mahāyāna concepts,with reference to sections in the translation: • dedication of merit 6-13 • the body of a buddha is: non-material dharma 166; like unbreakable, indestructible vajra 138 magically created, emanated (nirmita) 76, 97 • multiple buddhas exist at the same time 24 • purified buddha-field 29, 47 • omniscience, the Buddha as omniscient, Part One throughout, especially 26 • inherent buddha nature (varṇa) 43 • single vehicle (eka-yāna) 65 • speech with a hidden intention (saṁdhā-vacana) 104, compare 127 • conviction that phenomena are unarising 1, 49, 72, 110 • perfection of the wisdom of emptiness 43-44, 107 • skill in means as a perfection (pāramitā) 71 • levitation is evidence that celibacy has been maintained 24, 38-39 Two other other notes of interest: • the term Mahāyāna does not appear in this sutra. “Inferior (hīna)” is applied frequently to practices, and once to “foolish common persons” (174) who have no path to liberation, in that passage explicitly not to “auditors and independent buddhas”. • Proper names applied to the Buddha are Śākyamuni 56(1), Śākyputra 122, and “(the śramaṇa) Gautama” 124. See also “jewel in hand” (ratnapāṇi or ratnahasta) 13. Texts and Translations The Skill in Means sutra does not survive in its original Indic language, except for eight passages quoted in the Śikṣā-samuccaya ("Compendium of Training", abbreviated SS), all from Part One of the sutra.5 The Tibetan translation of the Ratnakūṭa version (abbrev. R Tib) was edited from three editions: • • • (1) Sde-dge, the Tshal-pa photo offset of a block print published by Karma Triyana Dharmacakra in New Delhi. Dkon-brtsegs Cha 30a1-70b7. (2) Snar-thang, the block print in possession of Tibet House, New Delhi. Cha 79a6-139b7. (3) Peking, the block print photo-reduced by Otani University. 'I 4b6-50b5. The Ratnakūṭa was also translated into Chinese, also from Sanskrit. The title, identical in the Chinese and Tibetan versions, is “From the noble, the great Ratnakūṭa doctrinal system of a hundred thousand chapters, Chapter Thirty-eight: The Noble Mahāyāna Scripture entitled ‘The Chapter of the Great Secret of All Buddhas, the Skill in Means, the Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara’ (ĀryaSarvabuddhamahārahasya-Upāyakauśalya-Jñānottarabodhisattvaparipṛcchā-parivarta-nāmamahāyānasūtra).”6 The Tibetan and Chinese versions differ only slightly, in most cases attributable to variations of Sanskrit text or interpretation. These are noted to the translation below. The Tibetan was translated in Central Tibet by Dānaśīla of Kashmir and Karmavarman of India in collaboration with Ye-shes-sde. and later revised by Ye-shes-sde circa 815. The length is given as 4 fascicules, 30 lines. It is assuredly identical to the text listed in the catalog of Ldan-dkar as 4 fasc., 53 lines. The catalog numbers are Toh 82=O 760:38, Ldan-dkar 62. The Chinese translation (abbrev. R Ch) is catalog number K 22(38) in the Korean Buddhist Canon.7 The translator is identified as *Nandi of India, and dated Year Two of the Yüan Hsi reign (=C.E. 420) of the Eastern Chin dynasty. It was incorporated into the Ratnakūṭa compilation, probably without revision, by Bodhiruci in A.D. 713.8 An earlier Indian version of the Skill in Means sutra is preserved in the Miscellaneous Sutras (mdo sna-tshogs) section of the Tibetan canon,9 translated from Chinese.10 The translator is Wou Fach'eng, or Fa-ch'eng of the Wou clan, known in Tibet as 'Gos Chos-grub. He lived in Tun-huang circa C.E. 755-849 and was abbot of a monastery of Tibetan and Chinese monks.11 The Fa-ch'eng (abbrev. Fa) version is translated separately in this 84000 project; here it serves for comparison and correction. There is no important doctrinal difference. The Ratnakūṭa version is lengthened by numerous glosses and explanatory additions. Where the Sanskrit diverges, it agrees with Fa. Variants are noted in the translation. The two versions were published together in 1992 with annotation, critical apparatus and speculative introduction more extensive than this digital version provides.12 The annotation that is retained here emphasizes primary-source texts, for several purposes: • • • First, to clarify or correct R Tib. Second, to connect to other Mahāyāna sutras. Third, to place it in context of Buddha biography and the evolving understanding of the nature of a buddha. Primary sources include the Sutra and Vinaya sections of the Kanjur (bka'-gyur), the Mahāvastu, and Sutra, Vinaya and past-life tales (Jātaka, Apadāna) from the Pāli canon. Modern scholarship not retained includes “Buddha as Indian mythic figure” and the like. However, elements of pan-Indian and extra-buddhist yogic lore that appear, such as levitation and rain-making, are annotated with reference to Wendy O’Flaherty's Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Śiva. Of the highest importance for the second and third streams above is the Mahāvastu (“the great subject”, abbrev. Mv).13 What we call Buddha biography was originally preface to Vinaya; it established the authority for the organization and the rules of the monastic community. Another example is the Mahāvagga preface to the Vinaya in Pāli. Separate biographical works such as Lalitavistara sutra (translated as The Play in Full) and the Buddhacarita come later. The Mv is a description of the path, the deeds, the history and the nature of all buddhas. From this great cloud of buddha-data the Upayakauśalya sutra derives the concept of skill in means. The Mv was preface to the Vinaya of the “protoMahāyāna” Lokottaravāda school (“those who hold that [the Buddha] is transcendent”), of which Vinaya the Prātimokṣa also survives.14 Also referenced in the notes in regard to the second stream is Perfection of Wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) literature. Here the source is the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (the PW in eight thousand lines, abbrev. PW A), and its verse summary, the Ratnaguṇasaṁcaya-gāthā (“Verses of the Accumulation of Precious Qualities,” abbrev. PW Rg), translated together by Edward Conze and dating perhaps from the first century B.C.E. For wisdom specifically, the source is the Kāśyapa Chapter (Kāśyapa-parivarta), which is itself the original teaching named Ratnakūṭa and the kernel of the eventual compilation of that name.15 Secondary sources (śāstra, bstan-gyur) used for annotation include: • The Abhidharmakośa by Vasubandhu of the Sarvāstivāda-Sautrāntika schools, especially for • • lists and technical terminology. The Visuddhimagga by Buddhaghosa of the Theravāda school, especially for meditation practices. Most important, the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-ṥāstra by Kumārajīva of the Madhyamaka school,16 a commentary to the long (25-thousand line) version of the Perfection of Wisdom sutra, especially for the awesome erudition of author and translator. The translation into French is incomplete, but the initial volumes exhaust the discussion of buddha and bodhisattva. And finally, I have quoted the Indian stalwarts Śāntideva and Asaṅga, their succinct distillation of the sutra's limited parameters for sex and murder.17 Mark Tatz November 23, 2014 Dumaguete The Skill in Means Sūtra, the Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara18 Salutation to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas! PART ONE THE SKILL IN MEANS OF BODHISATTVAS The Setting 1. Thus have I heard at one time. The Lord dwelt at Śrāvastī in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, together with the great community of monks consisting of eight thousand monks – those who were yet in training and those who were adepts. There were also sixteen thousand bodhisattvas, great heroes, who were each and all well known for supernatural knowledge, who had mastered the incantations and whose eloquence had no hindrance, who were skilled in calling forth supernatural knowledge, who had obtained conviction that phenomena are unarising—bodhisattvas with many hundreds of thousands of good qualities.19 2. As the Lord emerged from seclusion, he was encircled by many hundreds of thousands in attendance. He prepared to teach the doctrine. He prepared to reveal the clean; the wholesome at the beginning, the wholesome in the middle, the wholesome at the end; the good content, the good expression; the unadulterated, the complete, the pure, the refined. The Question 3. At that time the bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara (“Higher Knowing”) joined the circle and sat down. Then the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara rose from his seat, threw his robe over one shoulder, and placed his right knee to the ground. Bowing, palms joined, towards the Lord, he made this request: “If the Lord (bhagavān) should grant me the opportunity to ask a question to be answered, I would question the Lord, the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha (tathāgataarhat-samyaksambuddha) upon a certain matter.” PAGE BREAK 24 The lord responded to the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara: “Son of the family (kulaputra), ask the Thus-Come-One whatever question you desire, and I will gratify you with an answer to it.” 4. The bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara asked this of the Lord: “Venerable Lord, the bodhisattva great heroes have something known as skill in means. What is that ‘skill in means’? Venerable Lord, how are bodhisattva great heroes ‘skilled in means’?” 5. And the Lord spoke thus to the bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara: “Son of the family, well and good! Carry on, son of the family, and you will promote good for many people, well-being for many people, sympathy for the whole world, and welfare, benefit, wellbeing and the knowledge of present and future bodhisattva great heroes for masses of divine and human beings. You will fulfill all the qualities of buddhahood. You will promote the holy doctrine of the lord buddhas of the past, the future and the present. Son of the family, for you to think of questioning the Thus-Come-One on the skill in means of bodhisattvas— that, O son of the family, is well and good of you. “Let you therefore listen well, son of the family, and be attentive, and I will explain to you the skill in means of bodhisattva great heroes.” The Answer 6. The bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara said: “Yes, Lord”; he heeded the Lord and the Lord spoke thus to him: “Son of the family: the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means can give a single morsel of food to all sentient beings. How can this be so? Son of the family: the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means, when he performs the mere act of giving a single morsel of food even to an animal, performs that act of giving with an aspiration for omniscience, and he dedicates the store of merit to the fulfillment of the qualities of buddhahood by all sentient beings.20 “There are two reasons that it fills21 all sentient beings: the aspiration for omniscience and the skillfulness in dedication. “Son of the family, this is the skill in means of a bodhisattva great hero. 7. “Son of the family, the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means appreciates others’ creation of stores of merit, and he dedicates the merit from that appreciation as well to all sentient beings, transferring it to them—he performs a further act of dedication. And with the merit of having dedicated it to omniscience, PAGE BREAK 25 he outshines those who give without the thought of awakening; he outshines any great patrons; he outshines even any of the recipients.22 Son of the family, that also is the skill in means of bodhisattva great heroes. 8. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means will mentally find, gather, and present to all the buddhas any flowering trees and incense trees, flower garlands, incense, aromatic powders and unguents to be found in all directions that do not belong to anyone, that are unowned. And the merit stored by this he transfers to all sentient beings, and having thus renounced it, he dedicates it to omniscience. “The bodhisattva who is skilled in means will also present to all the buddhas the fragrance, borne by a breeze, of any flowering trees, incense trees, flowers, flower garlands, incense, aromatic powders and unguents to be found in all directions that belong to someone, that are owned. And the merit stored by this he dedicates to the fulfillment of omniscience by himself and all sentient beings. “By dedicating the store of merit to omniscience, he will obtain measureless aggregates of morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation and liberated intuitive-vision.23 Son of the family, that also is the skill in means of a bodhisattva great hero. 9. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means appreciates the collective well-being experienced by sentient beings in the realm of the universe of all directions. He dedicates the appreciation to omniscience. “He exposes24 the collective feelings of suffering experienced by sentient beings in the realms of the universe of all directions. He fortifies himself thus: ‘May all the feelings of suffering of those sentient beings fall upon myself! May they be well!’ “Because he now generates a thought that has omniscience as its object, he will in future alleviate all the suffering of all sentient beings. He dedicates the appreciation to omniscience, and the merit stored by that will result in the obtainment of everything that makes for well-being on the level of a buddha. Son of the family, that also is the skill in means of a bodhisattva great hero. 10. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means, when he makes salutation, pays respect, displays reverence, does honor, PAGE BREAK 26 worships and serves a single thus-come-one, considers himself to be making salutation, paying respect, displaying reverence, doing honor, worshiping and serving all the thus-come-ones. He trains himself to think thus: “ ‘The lord buddhas evolve from the same element of dharma; they have the same morality, the same concentration, and the same wisdom, the same liberation and the same liberated intuitive-vision;25 the same knowledge and the same understanding.’ “The bodhisattva who is skilled in means mentally procures anything that would serve as an offering to the lord buddhas of infinity, and then he makes a dedication to omniscience. Son of the family, that also is the skill in means of the bodhisattva great hero. 11. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means does not discount himself when he is dull-witted, nor is he discouraged (na samlīyate). Reciting but a single four-line stanza, he considers that the meaning of the stanza comprises the sense of all the Word of the Buddha. He practices recitation of the stanza and, without being discouraged, but generating great compassion and having no desire for gain, respect or fame, he makes the following resolve: “ ‘I will expound this stanza in detail to masses of people in village, town, and market, in the countryside and in the capital.’ And he resolves: “ ‘ May all sentient beings who hear this four-line stanza of mine be assured of supreme, right and full awakening (anuttarasamyaksambodhi-niyata).’ “The store of merit thus acquired by skill in means will result in his becoming as erudite as any sentient being—including Ānanda—and obtaining the very eloquence of a buddha. That also is the skill in means of a bodhisattva great hero. “That store of merit outshines the boundless, incomparable erudition of any sentient being, and obtains the very eloquence of a buddha. 12. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means, in the rare instance when he is impoverished,26 performs the deeds of others at least to some extent. Without being discouraged, he takes something as slight as a spoonful of food and presents it to a monastic or an ordinary person. “In giving it, he considers: ‘The Lord has said that gifts become great when given with great thoughts. I may have only a little something to give, but given with the thought of omniscience, it is measureless.’ 13. “He gives something as slight as a spoonful of food with that measureless thought of omniscience27 and dedicates it, thinking, “ ‘By this store of merit of mine, may I and all sentient beings come to have the most excellent taste (a mark of the superhuman) and come to have a jewel in hand—like the Lord, the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the full and perfect Buddha.’28 “Dedicating that store of merit to omniscience outshines the meritorious work of giving on the part of sentient beings who lack the thought of awakening.29 Son of the family, that also is the skill in means of a bodhisattva great hero. 14. “Son of the family: the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means may live together with the auditors and independent buddhas, but he is not pleased with them. If the bodhisattva who is skilled in means should see that they are excessively esteemed in relation to himself, he draws two contrasts with himself. What are the two contrasts? He thinks: “ ‘First, the lord buddhas evolve from bodhisattvas, and the auditors and independent buddhas evolve from buddhas. When they are excessively esteemed, I myself am being esteemed foremost: I am chief, and not they. Secondly, they are using my father’s accumulated wealth: Let me be neither pleased with, nor envious of them.’30 15. “No one who resolutely generates the thought will be puffed-up even if he be esteemed by someone as a thus-come-one, nor will he be discouraged at not being esteemed. He will succeed in eliminating both affection and resentment—in effect, adopting even-mindedness towards all sentient beings. Son of the family, that also is the skill in means of the bodhisattva great hero. 16. “Son of the family: The bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means fulfills all six perfections in giving a gift. How does he fulfill them? The bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means, when a beggar comes before him, suppresses stinginess—making omniscience his mental object—and develops a strong sense of renunciation, engendering the intention to give: this is his perfection of giving. “He gives to those who have undertaken and maintain a vow of ethics; he impels the immoral to be moral and gives them a gift, thus projecting them to supreme, right and full awakening: this is his perfection of morality.31 17. “Giving a gift with thoughts that are loving, benevolent, unfeigned, not agitated, not apathetic, unpolluted and absorbed: this is his perfection of patience. “He performs a welcoming salutation to those who are to eat and drink, regardless of whether they are persons who drink, lick, or otherwise consume;32 he makes effort, he serves with body and he serves with mind; he rises, he acts busily: this is his perfection of vigor. “In any act of giving his thinking is one-pointed; his attitude is elated, happy and jubilant; he is free from mental wandering: this is his perfection of meditation.33 18. “Giving a gift, he focuses his attention (samanvāharati) upon the nature of things (dharmatā). He thinks: ‘Who performs the giving? To whom does he give? What is given? Who will enjoy the karmic reward for it?’ He searches in this way, but cannot envisage any phenomena (dharma) that performs the act of giving, to whom something is given, that is given, or who will enjoy a karmic reward. This is his perfection of wisdom. “Son of the family, this is how the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means fulfills all six perfections in giving a gift.” 19. Then the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara said this to the Lord: “Venerable Lord, such skill in means of bodhisattva great heroes is amazing. The very giving by which other sentient beings are kept in saṁsāra, enables the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means to acquire the qualities of buddhahood.”34 The Lord replied “That is how it is. Son of the family, what you said is so. The bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means, with skill in means and the perfection of skill in means accomplishes a great deal with just a little giving. With much giving, his accomplishment is measureless and incalculable.” What is Moral Transgression for a Bodhisattva? 20. Then the Lord said to the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara: “Son of the family:35 The bodhisattva who is skilled in means attenuates even a grave transgression with skill in means. How does he do so? “Son of the family: The bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means, on the rare occasion upon which a transgression befalls him because he is under the influence of an unwholesome adviser or because he is confused, will consider the matter thus: “ ‘Let me not enter nirvāṇa with these aggregates, elements, and sense-fields in any case, lest I burn with anxiety.36 Instead, let me prepare myself to remain in saṁsāra until its future end, in order to bring sentient beings to maturity. Let me not be discouraged, fearful or anxious: As long as I continue to samsarize as recompense for that transgression, I will bring sentient beings to maturity. Besides, I will be bound that it not recur. Moreover, I will teach doctrine to all sentient beings in order that they be extricated from transgression.’ “Suppose, son of the family, that a bodhisattva who is a monastic should fall into all four seminal transgressions.37 If he removes them with this skill in means, I would call it no transgression on the part of the bodhisattva.” 21. Then the bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara asked this of the Lord: “Venerable Lord, when is a bodhisattva possessed of transgression?” 22. The Lord replied to the bodhisattva, the great hero Jñānottara:38 “Suppose, son of the family, that a bodhisattva were to train himself in the prātimokṣa training, subsisting on roots and fruit for a hundred thousand eons, patiently enduring the approbation as well as the scorn of all sentient beings.39 Yet, if he were to adjust himself to concerns associated with auditors and independent buddhas—that, O son of the family, would be what is known as a seminal transgression of the utmost gravity for a bodhisattva. “By analogy, son of the family, if someone of the vehicle of the auditors incurs a seminal transgression, he loses the opportunity to enter nirvāṇa with those aggregates, elements, and sensefields. In the same way, so long as the bodhisattva fails to confess his fault and to eliminate auditor and independent buddha-like concerns, he loses the opportunity to enter nirvāṇa, understood as supreme, right and full awakening; he loses the opportunity to attain the stage of a buddha. It becomes impossible.”40 The Bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Bodhisattva “King at the Head of the Masses” Then the master Ānanda said to the Lord. “Venerable Lord, the Thus-come-One may be the teacher of all sentient beings; and it may be that there is nothing not known to, not seen and realized by, nor directly evident to him. Nevertheless, the Thus-Come-One has said, ‘When you see a monk incur a transgression, do not dissemble, but tell your fellow celibates and the Thus-Come-One.’41 Therefore I relate this to the Lord, with friendliness and the intention of avoiding an act of transgression: “Venerable Lord, as I was making my round for alms in the great city of Śrāvastī, I saw the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses inside a certain house, together with a woman on a couch.” When master Ānanda had finished speaking, the great earth suddenly shook in six ways.42 24. Then the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses levitated and sat in the atmosphere before the Lord at seven times the height of a palm tree. Addressing Master Ānanda, he said: “Master Ānanda, what do you think of this? Can someone sit in the atmosphere while possessed of a subject of transgression?” Ānanda answered, “No, son of the family, he cannot.”43 The bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses asked again: “Then let master Ānanda ask the thus-come-one who is now present before us how one comes to be possessed of a subject of bodhisattva transgression.”44 Master Ānanda was disconcerted. Bowing his head to the feet of the Lord, he said to the Lord: “Venerable Lord, I disclose as an offense the offense I have committed in accusing such a standard-bearer of a fault. May it please the Lord to accept as an offense the offense I have confessed as an offense.” 25. The Lord replied to master Ānanda: “Ānanda, do not conceive of a holy person, someone practicing the greater vehicle correctly, as being faulty. Ānanda, this is how you should understand it: A person of the vehicle of the auditors, in order to be absolutely peerless in maintaining meditative calm, will seek uninterruptedly to exhaust the outflows. In the same way, Ānanda, the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means, who is endowed with the thought of omniscience, will seek uninterruptedly for omniscience, even to the point of abiding among a holy retinue of woman and enjoying, playing with and taking pleasure in it.45 “Why so? Ānanda, the bodhisattva great hero who is skilled in means takes a retinue only to introduce it to the three jewels—the jewel of the buddha, the jewel of the doctrine and the jewel of the community—and to supreme, right and full awakening. “Ānanda, if you should see a son of the family or a daughter of the family (someone of the bodhisattva vehicle) who, while not parted from the thought of omniscience, is enjoying, playing with and taking pleasure in the five sensuous qualities—then, Ānanda, you should understand that the holy person in question is endowed with five faculties like those of a thus-come-one.46 26. “Now listen, Ānanda, to why the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses was sitting together with a woman on a couch. That woman, PAGE BREAK 32 Ānanda, had been the wife of bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses for the past five hundred lives. Because of that tendency latent (anuśaya)47 from the past, her thoughts clung to that son of the family. On the other hand, she perceived the splendor and majesty (generated by the power of his past morality) of the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses. She found herself incapable of uttering the words that would take her to a lower rebirth. “Off in private, the thought arose in her mind, ‘If the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses were to sit with me on a couch, I also would generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening.’ 27. “Ānanda, the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses cognized that sister’s supposition with his mind. He let the night pass and in the morning put on his inner and outer robes, took his bowl and went for alms to the great city of Śrāvastī. Wandering through the great city of Śrāvastī for alms, he came to the house of that sister. “He thought about the earth-equivalency—the spiritual exercise of equating the internal and external elements of earth.48 He took that sister by the right hand, and they sat down on a couch. As soon as they had been seated, he spoke this stanza: The Buddha does not praise desire; That is the range of the foolish. Eliminate craving for sense objects, And become the best of humanity—a buddha. 28. “Ānanda, then that sister, hearing the stanza, was elated and jubilant. She rose from the couch and fell at the feet of the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses. Then she uttered these stanzas: Desires censured by the Buddha, I will not seek hereafter; Abandoning thirst for sense-objects, I’ll become the best humanity—a buddha. The offensive thought I was thinking, PAGE BREAK 33 I hereby confess to you; For the welfare of 49 all living creatures, I generate the wish for awakening. 29. “Ānanda, the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses instructed that sister in supreme, right and full awakening, built her up to it, introduced her to it, and established her in it with that skill in means. Then he rose from the couch and departed. “Ānanda, regard the distinction of his beneficent intentions! Ānanda, I make this prediction in regard to that sister: Upon transmigrating from here, she will exchange her woman’s body. After 9.9 million ‘incalculable’ eons, she will become and appear in the world as the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha named Free From Obsession. In the buddha-field in which he obtains awakening, sentient beings will have no unwholesome obsession at all in their minds.50 “Ānanda, you may understand by this account how a bodhisattva takes a retinue without its becoming a subject of transgression.” 30. Then the bodhisattva King at the Head of the Masses descended from the atmosphere. He made a prostration to the Lord and said: “Venerable Lord, a bodhisattva maintains skill in means and great compassion. Venerable Lord, this is how I think of it: “Suppose that a transgression would befall a bodhisattva in the course of creating a store of merit for a particular sentient being, and the offense would cause him to burn in hell for a hundred thousand eons. The bodhisattva will incur the transgression—and the suffering of hell—enthusiastically, O venerable Lord, rather than relinquish the welfare of a single sentient being.”51 31. The Lord gave a “Well done!” to the bodhisattva King as the Head of the Masses. “Well done, well done, holy personage. With such great compassion, a bodhisattva avoids any transgression; he possesses no subject of transgression. How is this the case? PAGE BREAK 34 The Bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Story of Jyotis 32. “Son of the family, this I know for myself. Once upon a time, incalculably longer ago than an ‘incalculable’ eon, vastly, immeasurably, inconceivably long ago, there was a brahman youth named Jyotis. He practiced celibacy in the forest for forty-two thousand years. When those forty-two thousand years had passed, he came to a capital named Surāṣṭra. As he entered the great city, the brahman youth’s fine figure, beauty, and attractiveness was noticed by a merchant's daughter. She ran up to the youth and threw herself before him with her mind obsessed with lust.52 33. “Son of the family, Jyotis the brahman youth then said to the maiden, ‘Sister, what do you want?’ “She answered him, ‘Brahman youth, I seek you.’ “He said to her, ‘Sister, I am not eager for sense-pleasures. I am celibate.’ “She said to him, ‘Brahman youth, if I cannot be with you, I will die.’ “Jyotis the brahman youth thought to himself, ‘It is not right for me to break my vow of austerity (vrata) today, after having kept celibacy for forty-two thousand years.’ He pulled himself forcibly away, rejecting the woman, and fled. He was seven steps away when compassion was born in him. He thought: “ ‘I may go to hell for breaking my vow of austerity. But I can bear to experience the pain of hell. Let this maiden not die, but be happy.’53 “Son of the family, Jyotis the brahman youth returned. Taking the woman by the right hand, he said, ‘Sister, arise. I will do whatever you desire.’ 34. “Jyotis the brahman youth lived the home life for twelve years before leaving it again to generate the four stations of brahma. When he died, he was immediately reborn in the heaven of Brahmā.”54 35. “Son of the family: At that time, in that life, I was none other than Jyotis the brahman youth. Do not view it otherwise. Have no second thoughts or doubt on this point.55 The merchant's daughter was the Śākya maid Gopā. “Son of the family: Because I generated a thought that was endowed with great compassion but conjoined with transitory passion, birth-and-death was curtailed for ten thousand eons.56 PAGE BREAK 35 “Son of the family, take note: Something that sends other sentient beings to hell, sends the bodhisattva who is skilled in means to rebirth in the world of Brahmā.”57 The Bodhisattva and Sexuality: The Story of Vimala 36. Then the Lord again addressed the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara: “Son of the family: If the monks Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana had been skilled in means, the monk Kokālika would not have gone to hell. Why so?58 37. “Son of the family, this I know for myself. Once upon a time, during the promulgation of the Thus-Gone-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Krakucchanda,59 there was a monk, a preacher of doctrine named Vimala (‘Immaculate’) who dwelt in a remote cave. Not far from him lived five hundred rishis. During that period a mass of clouds arose unseasonably, and a great rain came to fall. A pair of women who were en route between villages entered Vimala’s cave seeking refuge from the rain. When they re-emerged from the cave, they were spied by the five hundred rishis. Seeing them, the five hundred rishis thought harsh and hateful thoughts: “ ‘Aha! This monk Vimala is lusting for wickedness. He is uncelibate.’ 38. “Then the monk Vimala, knowing in his mind the thinking of those five hundred rishis, levitated into the atmosphere to seven times the height of a palm tree. Seeing him sitting there, the rishis thought to themselves: “ ‘According to our theories, someone who is uncelibate cannot levitate and sit in the atmosphere.’ “Without further ado they made prostration with five limbs to the feet of the monk Vimala and confessed their fault to be a fault. “Son of the family: If the monk Vimala had not levitated and sat in the atmosphere at that time, those five hundred rishis would have fallen physically into hell.60 39. “Son of the family, what do you think of this? At that time, in that life the present bodhisattva Maitreya was none other than the monk Vimala.61 Do not view it otherwise. Have no second thoughts or doubt on this point. PAGE BREAK 36 “Son of the family: You should understand by this account that if the monks Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana had levitated and sat in the atmosphere, the monk Kokālika would not have gone to hell. Illustrations of Bodhisattva Gnosis 40. “Son of the family: You should also understand, by the above account, that the gnosis of the bodhisattva who is skilled in means, whatever it turns towards, is beyond the stage (bhūmi) of auditors and independent buddhas.62 41. “Son of the family, he is like a courtesan who is learned and proficient in the sixty-four arts. Desiring money, she will yield herself and give pleasure to a man and not withhold anything necessary until she has obtained everything that she wants from him. And after she has obtained what she wants she will ignore him and reject him, not giving him another thought, and she will have no regard for him at all.63 “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means knows how to bring sentient beings to maturity with that skill in means. As in the above example, he adapts himself to the dispositions of sentient beings; he does not withhold anything that is necessary for them. He takes pleasure in the virtue of sentient beings, and in doing so he surrenders himself; but it is not the case that he enjoys what happens to be necessary. When the time comes that he knows, ‘At last, these sentient beings have developed stores of merit, and cannot lose them in future,’ he proceeds to ignore and reject all sense-pleasures and games, leaving them without another thought. 42. “Son of the family: he is like a bee (the creature of the animal class of rebirth). Although he smells and tastes all the flowers, the bee never develops a notion of their permanence, nor does he allow himself to develop a craving for them to remain. He does not try to steal the scent from them, or the leaves, the stalk or the flowers. “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means indulges himself in all manner of sensual pleasure and games in order to bring sentient beings to maturity, without developing any notion of permanence in them, nor allowing himself to generate a craving for them to remain. Nor does he harm himself or anyone else. 43. “Son of the family, he is like a seed burned by fire: it does not lose its character (varṇa), even if it lacks the opportunity to sprout. In the same way, son of the family, when a bodhisattva’s defilements have been burned by the perfection of the wisdom of emptiness, signlessness, wishlessness, and selflessness, he does not entertain defilement that leads to great distress, even if he should indulge himself in all manner of sensual pleasure; nor does he lose the character of buddhahood.64 44. “Son of the family, he is like an expert fisherman. The fisherman puts an unbaited hook on a line and casts it into a great lake. He draws whatever he desires from the great lake, whenever he so desires with that single well-guarded line. “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means will focus his thought firmly on omniscience, cultivating the perfection of the wisdom of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness and selflessness. He enters the great swamp of sensedesire but he will be reborn in the heaven of Brahmā, rejecting the realm of sense-desire whenever he so desires by only guarding well the thought of omniscience. 45. “Son of the family, he is like a man bearing spells and mantras. The king’s men (vidyāmantradharaḥ puruṣaiḥ)65 may seize and bind him with a bond of five ropes, but he will go wherever he desires, whenever he so desires, cutting the bonds by only generating the force of the spells and mantras. PAGE BREAK 38 “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means will take pleasure in the five kinds of sense-qualities in order to bring sentient beings to maturity; he will allow himself to be permeated by them. Yet, he will cut through all the bonds of sense-qualities whenever he so desires and transmigrate from there to be reborn in the world of Brahmā by generating the force of the spell and mantra of wisdom and by only guarding well the thought of omniscience.66 46. “Son of the family, he is like a seasoned warrior.67 Armed with sharp weapons concealed in cloth, he sets out to escort a company of travelers. Some sentient beings among them, being ignorant that he knows weaponry, pity the warrior; they think contemptuous thoughts of him, and they say: “ ‘He has no bow, nor sword, nor arrow. He has no companions. He cannot defend this company of travelers. He cannot defend even himself: how can he defend the travelers and defeat a company of bandits? It is impossible. He will end in disaster (anaya-vyasanam).’ “Then the warrior goes into the wilderness. A band of robbers attacks. He ruthlessly arms himself with his weapons. Raising his weapons, he fires them at the bandits and slays them all. Then he puts his weapons away again. 47. “In the same way, son of the family, the bodhisattva who is skilled in means ruthlessly wields his weapons of the perfection of wisdom in order to bring sentient beings to maturity. With skill in means he indulges in pleasure and play with the five kinds of sense-desire. Some individuals of the auditors’ vehicle who do not fathom his knowledge of the skill in means, see him and lack faith in him. They pity him and say: “ ‘This person, living in a state of carelessness, cannot even save PAGE BREAK 39 himself. How can he save all others and defeat the legion of Māra. It is impossible. He will end in disaster.’68 “But the bodhisattva is possessed of skill in means and wisdom and he can, whenever he so desires, slash all the nets of defilement with his sword of wisdom and betake himself to a purified buddha-field conjoined with wisdom that is free from women and licentiousness.” The Bodhisattva and Sexuality Concluded: Priyaṁkara and Dakṣiṇottarā 48. At that time—while that account was being given—a bodhisattva great hero named Priyaṁkara (“Exhilarating”) entered the great city of Śrāvastī for alms. While on his round for alms in the great city of Śrāvastī, he came to the house of a certain wealthy merchant (śreṣṭhī). The merchant had a daughter in the flush of youth named Śrī Dakṣiṇottarā (“Superior Donations”) who was on the terrace atop the house. Hearing the call of a monk, she took up some food and brought it out to the bodhisattva Priyaṁkara. Then the maid Śrī Dakṣiṇottarā saw the bodhisattva Priyaṁkara. Immediately, she perceived features of his beauteous proportions, the sound of his voice, and his complexion with her thoughts possessed by a sexual passion. With her thoughts possessed by passion, aroused by passion, obsessed with passion, burning with passion, her whole body burst into a sweat and while standing there, she died. 49. For his part, the bodhisattva Priyaṁkara also gave rise to clumsy discursiveness—a thought of sexual passion—upon seeing the maid Śrī Dakṣiṇottarā. At the same moment, however, he became mindful of it, thinking, “What is the phenomenon (dharma) of becoming attached, and what phenomenon is its object? Does the eye become attached to an eye? But an eye does not become attached: The eye itself is inert, inactive, insentient, conditioned, rigid, a lump of flesh; the eye is inherently empty, hence it does not cognize and it does not feel.69 “The same holds for the ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, organ, skin, complexion, and flesh.” Making analysis in that way from the soles of the feet to the top of the head, he could not find any phenomenon, inside or outside, that could become attached, hateful or confused. Failing to find anything, his thought of desire-attachment was dispelled. By correct mental analysis, he came to obtain conviction that phenomena do not arise. With elation and jubilation at that, he was elevated into the atmosphere to seven times the height of a palm tree. Seven times he circled the great city of Śrāvastī. Then he came down from the sky to the Jeta Grove and came before the Lord. 50. The Lord saw the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṁkara coming from the atmosphere, unobstructed like a wild goose. And having seen him, he said to master Ānanda: “Ānanda, do you see the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṁkara coming from the atmosphere, unobstructed like a wild goose?” And the answer of Ānanda was, “I do see him, Lord.” The Lord said, “Ānanda: The bodhisattva great hero Priyaṁkara has analyzed all phenomena in terms of desire-attachment, and in so doing he has tamed the legion of Māra and turned the wheel of the doctrine.” 51. When the maid Śrī Dakṣiṇottarā died, she transformed her woman’s body to obtain a male body and be reborn in paradise among the gods (deva) of the Thirty-three. As soon as she had been reborn, a twelve-leagued palace made of the seven precious substances appeared for him.70 Fourteen thousand goddesses (apsaras) dwelt there to serve him. 52. The thought occurred to him, “What have I done to be reborn here?” Knowledge that is a recollection of past deeds arose in him, and he thought: “I was the daughter of a merchant in the great city of Śrāvastī. While there I gazed amorously upon the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṁkara. After dying with my mind possessed by lust, I transformed my woman’s body to obtain a male body here. I have become opulent beyond measure.”71 Then the male divinity (devaputra) thought: “If this be the reward for thoughts of lust, what would be my reward for doing prostrations and service with thoughts of faith to the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṃkara?72 It is inappropriate and wrong for me to continue in a state of careless indulgence in sensual exhilaration and play and sexual pleasure. Instead, let me go before the Lord and the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṃkara.” 53. Then that divinity, with his five hundred attendants, went before the Lord and the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṃkara bearing celestial flowers, incense, garlands and unguents, with a golden effulgence lighting up the Jeta Grove with a great glow.73 He made offering to the Lord with the celestial flowers, incense, garlands and unguents, and he made prostration to the Lord. He made prostration to the bodhisattva great hero Priyaṃkara, to all the bodhisattvas, and to the community of monks. Then he made circumambulation of the Lord seven times. Before the Lord, palms joined, he spoke these stanzas: 54. (1) “The Buddhas, the best of men, are beyond conception, And seekers of high awakening are beyond conception; The doctrine of the Thus-Come-Ones is beyond conception, And the course of the renowned is beyond conception. (2) “Once I was a maid in Śrāvastī, A merchant’s daughter, Dakṣiṇā by name Beautiful in the initial flush of youth, Fostered lovingly by my parents. (3) “An irreproachable son of the Buddha, Called Priyaṃkara of great might, While in Śrāvastī seeking alms. Came to the house of my father. (4) “When I heard his sweet, pleasing voice, I willingly took up food, And came before Priyaṃkara, Mighty son of the Thus-Come-One. (5) “My mind was aroused to see him, With clumsy desire-attachment; I thought, if I cannot have him as I desire, I may as well die, indifferent to my life. PAGE BREAK 42 (6) “I caught fire with clumsy passion, And could not speak a single word to him; Unable even to bestow the alms, Standing there I sweated right to death. (7) “At the very instant of my death, Lord, my woman’s body was abandoned; I was born in paradise by transmigration, And obtained this luminous body of a male. (8) “A place of peerless beauty then appeared, Pleasing to look at, made of precious things, Filled with fourteen thousand celestial females, The retinue of servants I obtained. (9) “Then the wholesome thought occurred to me: Of what is such maturation the reward? Remembering, this is what I thought: Such is the maturation of a thought of lust. (10) “By looking with a mind possessed of lust At Priyaṃkara the pleasing, the luminous, the wise, Such wholesome maturation is reward, Such majestic power have I. (11) “If this be the maturation of attachment, What would come of worshiping him? This is scarcely the stage of auditors and self-made buddhas, But leads one to a sugata sort of gnosis. (12) “Before this victor I hereby resolve To obtain the highest gnosis of a Buddha: Coursing for eons as many as sands found in the Ganges, Let this my obligation never be renounced. (13) “Priyaṃkara my holy adviser I will worship, With the best offerings of doctrine;74 I’ll make no offerings to any other guides Other than those who actively seek awakening. PAGE BREAK 43 (14) “May any woman who looks at me,75 With thoughts of desire-attachment, Transform her female body to obtain The confident form of a man, And take the highest course of awakening.” (1) The maid’s parents, seeing that she has sweat herself to death, Thought that her life had been expelled By an ascetic with devil lore; They wept, and spoke ill of ascetics.76 (2) That male divinity, empowered by the Buddha, Went and spoke with the parents: “Be not angry with the ascetic, Lest you incur protracted suffering. (3) “Your daughter Dakṣiṇottarā who died, Has been reborn among the Thirty-three; She has transformed her woman’s body, Into that of a luminous deity, a male. (4) “Go now before the One Who is Well Gone, And confess your fault of thinking angry thoughts; Only in the buddhas, the best of humanity, Is there a place for beings to have recourse.” (1) Properly exhorted by this confident one, Both parents set out the hear the Buddha’s word; With their household and a gathering of kinsmen, 55. 56. They came into the presence of the Śākya sage. (2) Prostrating to the feet of the best of men, They confessed the transgression of having an angry thought; Then showing respect for the Thus-Come-One, They asked this of the Sugata, the self-existent. PAGE BREAK 44 (3) “With how much should we make offering to the Guide, And with how much to the Doctrine and the Community? We beg your predication to the question, And will act according to what it is we hear.” (4) The Victor was aware of their predispositions, And the World-protector answered in this way: “Someone who wishes to do worship to all the Buddhas, Should generate a firm thought for awakening.” (5) The girl’s father and her mother and their kinsmen, All of them no fewer than five hundred, Heard the promulgation of the man among men, And generated firm thoughts for awakening. (1) Then the Victor spoke to good Ānanda, “Ānanda, listen now to what I shall explain: The course of the bodhisattva is beyond all thought, For skill in means as well as for its wisdom. (2) “Priyaṁkara has a continuing aspiration, That any woman who directs a look at him With passionate intent, will lose her female form And quickly become a confident male.77 (3) “Ānanda, consider what good qualities it has: Some people generate passion and are reborn in hell, But when that passion is directed towards the heroes It results in masculinity in heaven.78 (4) “This divine male who now has done me worship, Undertaking high awakening out of respect, Will worship future buddhas by the millions, And become the victor Beautiful to See. 57. PAGE BREAK 45 (5) “The five hundred who have begun the path to awakening, Will also rise to become the best of humanity; Who would not pay respect to the World-protector, Faith in whom produces inconceivable bliss? (6) “Women, numbered not one or two or three, But many hundred-thousand million of billions, Will attach themselves to Priyaṁkara, And transmigrate to be reborn as men. (7) “Who could feel aversion towards the bodhisattvas; They are like the famous kings of healing: Even to the defiled they are givers of well-being, How much more to those who do them honor?”79 58. Then master Ānanda said to the Lord: “Venerable Lord, it is like this. All sentient beings who stand before Sumeru, the king of mountains, have the same color—the color of gold—regardless of whether they have thoughts of hatred, serenity, or attachment, or thoughts hindered in access to the doctrine. In the same way, Venerable Lord, all sentient beings who stand before bodhisattvas, whether they have thoughts of hatred, serenity, or attachment, or thoughts hindered in access to the doctrine, all have thoughts of the same complexion—the complexion of omniscience. Venerable Lord, henceforth I will consider all bodhisattvas to be like the king of mountains.80 59. “Venerable Lord, it is like this. There is a great class of medicine known as Beautiful to 81 See. Any sentient being stricken by any sort of illness is healed by seeing it, whether he has thoughts of hatred or thoughts of serenity. In the same way, venerable Lord, sentient beings who stand before bodhisattvas, whether with thoughts of hatred or thoughts of serenity, are healed of their defilementillness of desire, aversion, and bewilderment.” The Lord said to master Ānanda: “Well and good, Ānanda. What you have said is true.” PAGE BREAK 46 Mahākāśyapa’s Simile: The Wasteland and the City 60. Then the master Mahākāśyapa said to the Lord:82 “Venerable Lord, it is wonderful of bodhisattva great heroes. Well-gone One, it is most wonderful! Venerable Lord: Bodhisattva great heroes abide in peaceful concentration (praśāntasamādhi) at the same time that they dwell in the realm of sense-desire (kāma-dhātu) out of sympathy for sentient beings, abiding with phenomena that are empty, signless, wishless and unconditioned.83 Avoiding contact with auditor and independent-buddha qualities, they foster great compassion and embody the thought of omniscience. “Venerable Lord, bodhisattva great heroes guard against all attachments. They are like this: Dwelling in skill in means that is inconceivable, they course in form, sound, smell, taste, and touch— all of which are occasions for attachment—yet are not attached to them. “Venerable Lord, inspire me to tell a certain simile regarding the bodhisattva great heroes. Wellgone One, inspire me!” The Lord said, “Kāśyapa, be inspired.” 61. Mahākāśyapa said: “Venerable Lord, suppose there were a vast wasteland, surrounded by a wall as high as the summit of existence, with several hundreds of thousands of inhabitants and but a single gate. Not far from that vast wasteland lies a great city that is prosperous and flourishing, secure and well-provisioned, populous and convivial. The great city has but a single gate. The inhabitants of the great city do not grow old and die. The way to that great city (which is very dangerous) is but a span in width; it falls off on either side to chasms of a hundred-thousand cubits. 62. “Once, someone appears in the middle of that vast wasteland who is thoroughly learned and straightforward. Endowed with great compassion, he is someone who seeks what would be of benefit to all sentient beings, who seeks their security, their accomplishment, their happiness and their healing. He calls out and proclaims in the vast wasteland: “ ‘O friends! Not far from this vast wasteland lies a great city that is prosperous, flourishing, secure, well-provisioned and convivial. Those who enter it do not grow old and die; and they teach measureless numbers of sentient beings doctrine by which to transcend birth, old age, illness and death. O sentient beings, now that you know of it, come with me. Come to that great city. I will be your guide.’ PAGE BREAK 47 63. “At that, sentient beings who are predisposed to inferiority and who aspire to selfdevelopment (niryāṇa) say: ‘Let us seek those teachings, those places84 without moving from here. We can develop the good qualities of being in that city while remaining here by ourselves.’ “Those sentient beings who are predisposed to greatness say, ‘We will go to the city as you do.’ “Those sentient beings who are limited in merit listen to and hear his speech, but do not believe it; they do not act according to that person who is wise by nature. 64. “Then the wise by nature person departs from the vast wasteland and he sees the way: he sees the very dangerous way that is but span in width, that falls off on either side to chasms of a hundred-thousand cubits. He walls the chasms from side to side with boards and crawls across the way on hands and knees. He does not look to the right or the left, nor does he look back at assailants who shout from behind and try to frighten him, but he goes his way neither anxious nor alarmed. He only has eyes for the city, and as he sees it, all his fear and his reason for fear disappear. Reaching the city, he is freed from old age, death and illness, and he accomplishes the welfare of measureless numbers of sentient beings, teaching doctrine to enable them to transcend birth, old age, illness and death. 65. “Venerable Lord: here the ‘vast wasteland’ stands for the wilderness of saṁsāra. The ‘wall as high as the summit of existence’ stands for ignorance, craving and the ignorance of craving for renewed existence (bhava-tṛṣṇā). “The ‘several hundreds of thousands of inhabitants’ of the vast wasteland represent all foolish ordinary people. “The ‘single gate’ in that vast wasteland is to be interpreted as the way of the single vehicle (eka-yāna).85 66. “The wise by nature person represents the bodhisattva great heroes. “The sentient beings predisposed to inferiority who aspire to self development and wish to seek the good qualities of the city without moving from that place, are to be interpreted as auditors and independent buddhas. “Those sentient beings predisposed to greatness say, ‘We will go to the city as you do’ represent other bodhisattva great heroes. “Those sentient beings limited in merit who listen to and hear his speech but do not believe it, stand for heterodox tīrthikas and wanderers.86 67. “ ‘Departing from the vast wasteland’ should be interpreted as undertaking vigorous initiatives with the thought of dedicating them to omniscience. PAGE BREAK 48 “The ‘way that is but a span in width’ represents the element of dharma (dharma-dhātu). The ‘great chasm that falls off a hundred-thousand cubits on either side’ represents the stages of the auditors and independent buddhas. To ‘wall the chasms from side to side with boards’ should be understood as the perfection of wisdom and skill in means. “To ‘crawl across the way on hands and knees’ corresponds to the bodhisattva great hero winning and crossing over measureless numbers of sentient beings with the four means of attraction. “ ‘Assailants who shout from behind and try to frighten him’ correspond to Māra and the divinities of Māra’s legion who ridicule and direct sarcasm towards bodhisattvas.87 “ ‘Not looking back’ stands for the perfection of patience and the generation of high resolve (adhyāśaya). Not looking to the right or left signifies his dissatisfaction with the stage of the auditors and independent buddhas, and all-knowing gnosis (sarvajña-jñāna). 68. “ ‘The great city’ stands for the city of omniscience. “ ‘He only has eyes for the city’ stands for the thus-come-one, free from all fear, and for the bodhisattva who sees the good qualities and the gnosis of buddhahood and trains himself prodigiously in the perfection of wisdom and skill in means. “ ‘As he sees it, all his fear and reason for fear disappear’: all sentient beings are confident and free from doubt. “ ‘Reaching the city, he is freed from old age, death and illness, and he accomplishes the welfare of measureless numbers of sentient beings, teaching the doctrine to enable them to transcend birth, old age, illness and death’: this stands for the Thus-Come-One—the Worthy, the fully awakened Buddha. “Venerable Lord, the bodhisattva great heroes are endowed with gnosis. Venerable Lord, I make salutation to all bodhisattva great heroes.” 69. The Lord bestowed a “Well done!” upon master Mahākāśyapa: “Kāśyapa, well and good! Kāśyapa, with this you have created enthusiasm for the PAGE BREAK 49 bodhisattva great heroes. And that is well and good. Kāśyapa, with your telling of this simile twenty million living creatures, divine and human, have generated the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. Kāśyapa, bodhisattva great heroes who are trained in skill in means are endowed with measureless good qualities. Kāśyapa, the bodhisattva who is a great hero will not perform a deed that would harm himself or someone else, nor will he speak a word that would wound himself or someone else.” PART TWO THE SKILL IN MEANS OF ŚĀKYAMUNI Where is the Awakening in a Shaven Head? 70. The bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara said to the Lord: “Venerable Lord: The Lord has stated that a bodhisattva will not speak a word that would wound himself or someone else. But Lord, why then during the promulgation of the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully awakened Buddha Dīpaṁkara, did the bodhisattva, then a brahman youth named Jyotipāla who was bound by one more rebirth say: “ ‘To see a śramaṇa shave-pate? What is that to me? Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head? Awakening is very rare.’ “Lord, what was the purpose of saying this?”88 71. The Lord made this answer to the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara: “Son of the family: Leave off trying to reason out what the doings of the thus-come-ones and bodhisattvas may be to you. Why so? Son of the family: The bodhisattvas, the great heroes are endowed with inconceivable skill in means and so these holy personages live in whatever way will serve to bring sentient beings to maturity. “Nevertheless, son of the family, listen well and attentively as I present an account of doctrine known as the Introduction to the Perfection of Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya-pāramitā-avatāraṇanāma-dharma-paryāya). I will teach you something of the inconceivable skill in means demonstrated by the Bodhisattva from the time of the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the full and perfect Buddha Dīpaṁkara.89 Why the Bodhisattva Continues to be Reborn 72. “Son of the family: From the time the Bodhisattva has seen the Thus- PAGE BREAK 52 Come-One, the Worthy, the full and perfect Buddha Dīpaṁkara, until he obtains conviction in the nonarising of phenomena, he is unerring, not boisterous, not forgetful, never faltering in concentration, never failing in wisdom.90 “Son of the family: Once the Bodhisattva has obtained conviction that phenomena are unarising he may, should he so desire, fully awaken in one week. He may fully awaken in one eon, a hundred eons, one thousand eons, or one hundred-thousand eons. On the other hand, the Bodhisattva may continue to renew his existence at will, in order to bring sentient beings to maturity. By virtue of his skill in means and his wisdom, he may fully awaken to supreme and perfect awakening whether he pleases, or he may remain for many hundreds of eons to the future end [of saṁsāra] indefatigably. That is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. 73. “Son of the family: The bodhisattva settles into or induces states of peaceful concentration just as the auditor does. The latter, however, becomes physically and mentally inactive, and considers that he himself has entered nirvāṇa, whereas the bodhisattva settles into peaceful concentration without ceasing his efforts to win over sentient beings with the four means of attraction and to bring sentient beings to maturity by means of the six perfections. And in bringing sentient beings to maturity, he generates great compassion. That is also the bodhisattva’s skill in means. Entering the Womb 74. “Son of the family: The bodhisattva could fully awaken to supreme, right and perfect awakening and turn the wheel of doctrine while abiding in Tuṣita heaven, if he so desired. But he thinks, ‘Human beings of Jambu Continent cannot mount to the Tuṣita abode to hear the doctrine, but gods are capable of descending to Jambu Continent.’ For that reason, the Bodhisattva becomes a fully manifest buddha on Jambu Continent. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 75. Son of the family: the Bodhisattva could become a fully manifest buddha and turn the wheel of doctrine, if he so desired, at the very instant that PAGE BREAK 53 he transmigrates from Tuṣita heaven, without entering the womb and coming into contact with impurity. In that case, however, some sentient beings would suspect, they would doubt, they would be of two minds that he is a god, a nāga, a yakṣa, a gandharva, a magical creation or some local spirit. With such suspicion, doubt, and uncertainty, they would not listen to doctrine in order to exhaust their defilements, they would not know doctrine, they would not undertake vigorous initiatives. For these reasons the Bodhisattva demonstrates abiding in the womb. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means.91 76. “Son of the family, do not think that the Bodhisattva enters a womb. How so? There is a bodhisattva concentration called Immaculate (vimala-nāma-samādhi). While yet abiding in Tuṣita, the Bodhisattva settles into it, he resorts to it, and then he reaches the site of awakening from that same Tuṣita heaven without moving from that state of concentration. The gods of Tuṣita heaven think that the Bodhisattva has arisen from concentration (samādhyas vyutthita),92 because they no longer see him. But the Bodhisattva great hero demonstrates all the deeds of changing lives, birth, leaving home and austerities by means of magical creations, never moving from Tuṣita heaven. The Bodhisattva demonstrates all of these with emanations. Why so? Son of the family, the Bodhisattva is clean in his habits, so he no longer enters a womb. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 77. “Why does the Bodhisattva change himself into a white bull elephant to demonstrate entry into his mother’s womb? The whiteness stands for innocence. How so? The Bodhisattva is the most distinguished of sentient beings; therefore he must demonstrate an entry into the womb different from that of any deity or other human being. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 78. “Why does the Bodhisattva remain in his mother’s womb for ten months, rather than nine? Because some sentient beings would think, ‘Aha! This infant must have faculties that are incomplete, for he has not completed his time in the womb.’ To prevent such suspicions and to show that his time in the womb and his faculties are complete, the bodhisattva stays in the womb for ten months, rather than nine.93 “And while the Bodhisattva stays in this mother’s womb during those ten months, the gods return to see the Bodhisattva, to do him honor, and to serve him. While the Bodhisattva is dwelling in his mother’s womb, they behold the Bodhisattva’s enjoyment, a storied castle (kūṭāgara) arrayed with treasures that surpasses all enjoyments of the gods. Thereupon two million, four hundred-thousand divinities generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. “That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 79. “Why does the Bodhisattva show himself to enter the womb (through his mother’s right side)? Some sentient beings would think, ‘The Bodhisattva is not born from his parents’ embryo (arbuda); he is born apparitionally.’ He enters the womb (through his mother’s right side) in order to prevent them entertaining such a suspicion. “Divine Mother Māyā as no scar on her body after he enters, but during that period while the Bodhisattva dwells in her womb, she experiences pleasure such that she has never felt before. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means.94 Birth 80. “Why does the Bodhisattva take birth in forest seclusion, and not in town? The Bodhisattva has praised seclusion, enjoyed isolation, and lived cleanly for a long time. If he were to take birth in town then the gods, nāgas, and yakṣas would not come to make great offerings of divine powders, incense, flower garlands, unguents and flowers. In addition, the human beings of Kapilavastu would become conceited and intoxicated. For these reasons the Bodhisattva takes rebirth in forest seclusion, and not in town. 81. “Why does the Bodhisattva’s mother give birth to him inclined upon a branch of the plakṣa tree, not taking to bed?95 Some sentient beings would think, ‘Divine Mother Māyā feels pain like any other woman, giving birth to the Bodhisattva.’ To show those sentient beings the ease of the childbearing and to prevent such suspicion, she gives birth to the Bodhisattva inclined upon a branch of the plakṣa tree curvaceously. 82. “Why does the Bodhisattva emerge from the womb, with mindfulness and full awareness, through his mother’s right side, rather than emerging from her vagina or some other part of her body? The Bodhisattva is best in the triple world for cleanliness of habits.96 In addition, he does so to convert sentient beings who are to be converted. Therefore, he must show his birth to be dissimilar to that of lesser sentient beings: He does not dwell in a mother’s vagina—that is to say, he does not depend on, he is not born from one. That is why the Bodhisattva emerges from the womb, with mindfulness and full awareness, through his mother’s right side. And after he has taken birth there is no wound or scar on the side of Divine Mother Māyā. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 83. “Why is the Bodhisattva swaddled by Indra, ruler of the gods (śakro devendra) when he has taken birth, rather than by others who are human? That is because the Bodhisattva’s store of wholesomeness is blazing, bending the gods to submission, and Indra, ruler of the gods, has previously made the aspiration, ‘Let me swaddle the Bodhisattva with precious clothing as soon as he takes birth.’ So he is vigorous in doing great deeds of worship of the Bodhisattva.97 84. “Why does the Bodhisattva take seven steps unsupported when he has taken birth, rather than six or eight? The Bodhisattva takes seven steps unsupported, rather than six or eight, because the bodhisattva must show indubitably, as no one has previously shown, the extraordinary vigor of wonderworking power (mahārddhika-balavīrya) and the stride (vikrama)98 of a holy person; and because seven steps suffice to satisfy any sentient being, whereas six would not suffice and eight would be excessive. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 85. “Why does the Bodhisattva, when he has taken seven steps, enunciate: ‘I am senior in the world. I am premier in the world. I shall put an end to birth, old age, illness and death.’ “Son of the family: This is because Indra, Brahmā and illustrious divinities are gathered and present in that assembly. Puffed up with pride, they think that they, and not the Bodhisattva, are the highest, and they do not bow to the Bodhisattva; they fail to prostrate themselves; they make no obeisance.99 Because they fail to bow to him, the Bodhisattva thinks, ‘Indra, Brahmā, and these devaputras will be hapless, damaged, miserable, and deprived for a long time.’ On that account the Bodhisattva enunciates: ‘I am senior in the world. I am premier in the world. I shall put an end to birth, old age, illness and death.’ PAGE BREAK 56 “This universe of a thousand million worlds (trichiliocosm)100 resounds with the sound of that speech and some divinities who are not yet gathered there also come because of hearing the sound. And then the brahmā gods, Indra and the divinities are alarmed; they wonder; and respectfully they cup their palms together and bow to the Bodhisattva; they prostrate themselves to him. “For these reasons the Bodhisattva says: ‘I am senior in the world. I am premier in the world. I shall put an end to birth, old age, illness and death.’ That speech of the Bodhisattva is correct, and it is also the Bodhisattva’s skill in means.101 86. “Why does the Bodhisattva give a great burst of laughter after taking birth?102 “Son of the family, the Bodhisattva has no wild laughter, no horse-laugh generated concurrently (sahaja) with desire-attachment, with aversion or with bewilderment. Nevertheless, the Bodhisattva thinks: ‘These bodhisattvas generated the thought of awakening concurrently with me. Since then, I have attained awakening but they remain stuck in dense saṁsāra because of their apathy. Alas! These sentient beings are failing to undertake vigorous initiatives in all the factors conducive to the compassionate path to the attainment of omniscience. “While generating great compassion in that way, he thinks: ‘These sentient beings will know that the Bodhisattva has fulfilled his aspiration. They will know that they themselves have been deficient and careless. Then they will bow to me. “That is why the Bodhisattva gives a great burst of laughter. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 87. “Why is the Bodhisattva bathed by Indra and Brahmā when he has taken birth, whereas he is immaculate?103 Son of the family, this is an act of worship on the part of Indra and Brahmā. Bathing an infant after birth is a necessary custom. The Bodhisattva must also follow worldly custom. Therefore Indra and Brahmā, seeing the necessity, bathe the Bodhisattva when he has taken birth. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 88. “Why does the Bodhisattva return home when he has taken birth in forest seclusion, rather than proceeding to the site of awakening? So that he might demonstrate departure from home life (to the point of renouncing sovereignty over four continents out of indifference) only after demonstrating the deed of bringing his faculties to full maturation, followed by the women’s quarters and the deed of pleasure and dalliance.104 In that way, other sentient beings will imitate him in renouncing sensual pleasure, dalliance, indulgence and an extensive retinue in order to leave home for the religious life. For those reasons the Bodhisattva returns home when he has taken birth in forest seclusion, rather than proceeding to the site of awakening. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 89. “Why does Divine Mother Māyā expire seven days after the Bodhisattva has been born? The birth of the Bodisattva is not at fault in this. Divine Mother Māyā expires because her span of life is exhausted, but the Bodhisattva is not at fault. While the Bodhisattva is yet residing in Tuṣita heaven, he examines the life span of Divine Mother Māyā with his pure divine eye, by which he knows that no more than ten months and one week remain in the life span of Divine Mother Māyā.105 Only then does the Bodhisattva pass from Tuṣita heaven to enter his mother’s womb. Therefore, son of the family, you may know by this account that Divine Mother Māyā expires when her span of life is exhausted—the birth of the Bodhisattva is not at fault. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. Youth 90. “Why does the Bodhisattva educate himself, in accordance with the way of the world, in writing and engraving; in science; in mathematics and counting; in swordsmanship, archery, gymnastics, and wrestling; in astrology; in pleasure and amusement? The Bodhisattva needs no education from the outset in demonstrating (saṁdarśana) any art, mantra, spell, science, dance, song, instrumental music, jesting, entertainment, pleasure, or amusement that is to be found in the trichiliocosm universe; all arts and professions, both worldly and transcendent, are evident to the Bodhisattva from the moment of birth.106 “Why so? Because he has been well educated in the past, and because of the generated force of the store of merit that has been brought to fruition. PAGE BREAK 58 91. “Why does the Bodhisattva take a wife and a retinue of male and female servants in his last lifetime? Son of the family: The Bodhisattva is not eager for sense-pleasure. “How so? The holy person is free from desire-attachment during this time. Yet he simply must demonstrate taking a wife and retinue of female and male servants in his last lifetime, lest some sentient beings think, ‘The Bodhisattva is not a holy man, but a type of natural eunuch,’ and they be hapless, damaged, miserable, and deprived for a long time. To prevent doubt on the part of those sentient beings, the Bodhisattva demonstrates having a son: Rāhula. And to do this, he takes the Śākya maid Gopā and the rest.107 92. “Some people may think that his son Rāhula is born from the embryo of his parents. Such is not the case. Why so? Rāhula has made a resolve to be his son in this last existence. Based upon that, Rāhula is conceived apparitionally, transmigrating from among the gods: he is not born from the embryo of his parents. 93. The Śākya maid Gopā as well is taken because of a previous resolve. Before the ThusCome-One Dīpaṁkara she said: ‘Brahman youth, be my husband up through your last lifetime, and I will be your wife.’ “And the Bodhisattva replied: ‘Sister, I am not eager for sensual pleasure. But let it be as you intend.’ Thus he promised, in return for the utpala. “A promise made before a buddha is unbreakable, so the Bodhisattva takes the Śākya maid Gopā.108 PAGE BREAK 59 94. “Furthermore, the Bodhisattva simply must demonstrate having retinues of wives and servants in his last lifetime. The Śākya maid Gopā, for one, sees the Bodhisattva’s triumphant body, the triumph of offerings coming from heaven, and the triumph of departure from home life; and she cries, ‘O let me also come to have such qualities!’ And with that high resolve, she generates the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. Accordingly, the Bodhisattva takes the Śākya maid Gopā in order to inspire her to generate a firm thought of awakening. 95. “Furthermore, some sentient beings are saturated with the business of sense-pleasure, servants, wife, work, home and property, and incapable of relinquishing their possessions for the religious life. The Bodhisattva shows these sentient beings how to disregard craving for sense-pleasure, goods, property and wife by taking the Śākya maid Gopā and then departing, renouncing them unconcerned for home, property, wife and retainers. Those sentient beings think: ‘The youth achieved all goals (sarvārtha-siddha)—wife, property, retainers and extensive goods—and then he renounced them without a care in favor of the religious life. Why do we not also undertake the religious life (pravrajati)? 96. “Furthermore, while the Bodhisattva traveled the bodhisattva course in the past, he brought to maturity the wholesome qualities of some young women who did him service, and was a trusted friend to them. They made the resolve, ‘May we be your wives up through your last lifetime.’ Hence the Bodhisattva takes them as his retinue, in order to bring their wholesome qualities to a great fruition. Forty-two thousand women from the women’s quarters he brings to the fruition of supreme, right and full awakening. The remainder he brings to a state where they are no longer subject to distress.109 In this way the Bodhisattva takes a retinue. PAGE BREAK 60 “Furthermore, some women who are afflicted by the great burning of sexual passion see the Bodhisattva and immediately find themselves to be free from passion. 97. “Furthermore, the Bodhisattva creates emanations like himself in size, color and shape. Those creations enjoy, play and take pleasure with those women, who each think that they are playing and so forth with the Bodhisattva. But the Bodhisattva remains in a state of the enjoyment of meditative trance.110 “All of the Bodhisattva’s indulgence in sense-pleasure, from the time of the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the right and full Buddha Dīpaṁkara, should be regarded as the same as the indulgence in sense-pleasure by those emanations. Departure from Home “The Śākya-son Chandaka and the horse Kaṇṭhaka should also be regarded as having made a previous resolve.111 That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 98. “Why does the Bodhisattva enter trance in the shade of a jambu tree? The Bodhisattva converts seven-hundred million gods by staying there, and he shows his parents that he will leave home for the religious life. He simply must demonstrate the magnitude of his wisdom, and he must demonstrate not being abandoned by the shade of the jambu tree; that also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means.112 99. “Why does the Bodhisattva go to a park, whereas he is not eager for any amusements? To demonstrate old age, illness and death. The Bodhisattva does not want to hurt his relatives,113 but to let them know that he is to depart from home out of fear and trembling for old age, illness and death, and that he is aware that to remain at home is out of the question because the home life is flawed with many disadvantages. In addition, the Bodhisattva goes to a park, although he is not eager for enjoyment and amusement, in order to show all sentient beings his fear of old age, illness and death. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 100. “Why does the Bodhisattva depart at midnight, and not by day?114 To demonstrate that sentient beings should remain only where a store of merit develops into a greater store of merit. That is to say, a son of the family who is eager for good qualities may already have vast well-being but he will renounce it to depart from home (at midnight, when he is unquestioned and unnoticed), and he will renounce the things he has that make for well-being so that good qualities not be allowed to diminish. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. PAGE BREAK 61 101. “Why are the people put to sleep by the Bodhisattva when he departs? To show that the gods are at fault—for the gods put the people to sleep. Were his relatives and the people to generate harshness and anger toward the Bodhisattva, they would be hapless, damaged, miserable and deprived for a long time. But they believe that the Bodhisattva the great hero is not at fault, because the gods have opened the gate and carried him through the atmosphere. He puts them to sleep when he departs with the consideration that they will come to have great faith in the Bodhisattva.115 That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 102. “Why does the Bodhisattva give his horse and ornaments into the hands of Chandaka? To demonstrate his contentment—others will say that the Bodhisattva undertakes the religious life disregarding all things; he does not care for gold and silver. “Furthermore, the Bodhisattva must inspire people of the future to imitate him: ‘Those who are to undertake the religious life during this promulgation should imitate me and enter the religious life based on the four customs of the nobles, disregarding all things.116 Someone who enters the religious life seeking a livelihood has failed at the outset upon entering the religious life.’ That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 103. “Why does the bodhisattva cut his hair with a sword himself and undertake the religious life? Son of the family: no god, nāga, yakṣa, gandharva, human being or spirit117 in the trichiliocosm could bear to cut his hair, for not one outshines the splendor and glory of the Bodhisattva. In addition, the Bodhisattva shows that he himself is eager for the religious life, and therefore is someone who has faith. “In addition, cutting his hair himself and undertaking the religious life eliminates the possibility that King Śuddhodana would demand, out of displeasure, ‘Who has dared to cut my son’s hair?’ Hearing that the Bodhisattva himself has put his own sword to his hair, King Śuddhodana cannot say a word. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means.” PAGE BREAK 62 Austerities: “Where is the Awakening in a Shaven Head?” 104. Then the Lord again addressed the bodhisattva Jñānottara: “Son of the family, listen now to why the Bodhisattva practices austerities for six years. The Bodhisattva, being skilled in means, must necessarily alert (udvejayitavya) sentient beings to the functioning of their unwholesome deeds (akuśalakarmakṛtya), and bring them under his influence (āvarjayitavya).118 “Son of the family: During the promulgation of the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, the Bodhisattva said: “To see a śramaṇa shave-pate? What is that to me? Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head?’ “That speech should also be regarded as the Bodhisattva’s skill in means; it should be regarded as speech with a hidden intention. [The apparent sense is that] the Bodhisattva practices austerities for six years by reason of that obstacle caused by a past deed.119 105. “With what in mind did the Bodhisattva speak those words? Son of the family: In that life, during the promulgation of the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, there was a brahman youth named Jyotipāla. He had five childhood companions, sons of a well-to-do brahman clan, who had embarked upon the bodhisattva vehicle.120 They had forgotten the thought of awakening under the sway of an unwholesome adviser, having met an unwholesome adviser . Those five sons of the family had come to be observing brahmanical rites (tīrthika-vrata) instead of Buddhist rites; they were applying themselves to brahmanical mantras instead of Buddhist mantras; and they said, ‘We have awakening! We are Buddhas!’ claiming to be the Teacher. “The brahman youth Jyotipāla was aware that those sons of the family were fit vessels. So being skilled in means, he wanted to gradually recover those five sons of a well-to-do brahman family from among the tīrthikas. So being skilled in means, he said to the potter Ghaṭikāra: “ ‘To see śramaṇa shave pate? What is that to me? Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head?’ PAGE BREAK 63 106. “Son of the family, this is how it came about. At one time the brahman youth Jyotipāla was together with his five childhood companions in a certain place when the potter Ghaṭikāra arrived. The potter Ghaṭikāra spoke praise of the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, and having spoken his praise, he said to the brahman youth Jyotipāla: “ ‘Jyotipāla come! Let us go before the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa.’ “Son of the family, then the brahman youth Jyotipāla thought: ‘Alas, these brahman youth are not mature in their stores of merit. If I were to praise the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa and disparage the tīrthikas, these sons of the family would be skeptical and refuse to come before the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa.’ “Then the brahman youth Jyotipāla, while continuing to guard his original commitment, said— with skill in means that is the outcome of the perfection of wisdom—‘To see a śramaṇa shave pate? What is that to me? Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head? Awakening is very rare.’ 107. “How is it skill in means that is the outcome of the perfection of wisdom? The bodhisattva coursing in the perfection of wisdom has no conception of awakening (bodhi), nor any conception of a buddha. He does not perceive a buddha that could be labeled ‘buddha’, nor does he perceive awakening. He does not perceive bodhi inside, nor does he perceive bodhi outside; he does not perceive bodhi inside and outside. Because all phenomena are unarisen and unapprehended, awakening is entirely emptiness. So the brahman youth Jyotipāla said, with skill in means that is the outcome of the perfection of wisdom: ‘To see a śramaṇa shave-pate? What is that to me? Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head?’ PAGE BREAK 64 108. “Thereafter, on another occasion, the brahman youth Jyotipāla was together with his five childhood companions on the bank of a pond, when (in order that the Buddha might have the opportunity to enforce discipline upon those five sons of the family) the potter Ghaṭikāra came there to the bank of the pond.121 He said to the brahman youth Jyotipāla: “ ‘Jyotipāla, come here! For lord buddhas to arise in the world is very rare. Come to see the ThusCome-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, to salute him, to do him honor.’ “ ‘The brahman youth Jyotipāla answered: ‘To see a śramaṇa shave-pate? What is that to me? Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head? “Whereas the brahman youth Jyotipāla refused to go to see the Thus-Come-One, to salute him, to do him honor, the potter Ghaṭikāra seized him by the chignon and led him to the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa. 109. “The five brahman youth surrounding the brahman youth Jyotipāla were influenced to come before the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa. “The five sons of the well-to-do brahman clan, who had been born into a household of wrong views, were greatly influenced. They thought: ‘The potter Ghaṭikāra is risking his life to drag the brahman youth Jyotipāla by the chignon to go before the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa to see, to salute and to do him honor in order to bring his wholesome qualities to fulfillment. He is to go before the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa. But what is a buddha like? What are the qualities of a buddha?’ PAGE BREAK 65 “The five sons of a well-to-do brahman clan were influenced to go straight to the Thus-ComeOne Kāśyapa to see the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa. As soon as they had seen the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, their wholesome roots from the past were activated and they regained their faith. “Finding their faith, they scolded the brahman youth Jyotipāla, saying, ‘Why did you not tell us in the first place that the Teacher has such good qualities?’ 110. “Son of the family: Then the five sons of the well-to-do brahman clan saw the glory and the majesty of the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, and they heard his eloquence; and hearing the sound of his brahmanic voice resounding, they generated the thought of supreme, right and full awakening with a high resolve. “Son of the family: For his part, the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa, realizing that the sons of the family had formed a high resolve, taught a doctrinal system of the bodhisattva collection known as the Incantation of the Irreversible Wheel, the Diamond Word, the Nonarising of All Phenomena,122 which was exactly sufficient to enable them to attain conviction that phenomena are unarising. 111. “Son of the family: I therefore confirm to you, with the unobstructed gnosis of a Buddha, that if the brahman youth Jyotipāla had praised the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa and disparaged the tīrthikas before those five sons of the family, those sons of the family would have had no possibility or opportunity to go before the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa—not to mention the possibility of regaining their faith. 112. “Son of the family: That is why the brahman youth Jyotipāla spoke these words, ‘To see a śramaṇa shave-pate? What is that to me? Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head?’— in order to bring those five sons of the family who had entered the vehicle of the bodhisattva to maturity with skill in means that is the outcome of the perfection of wisdom. However, son of the family, the irreversible bodhisattva has not the shadow of a doubt in the buddha or in awakening; nor any doubt in the qualities of a buddha. That also is the bodhisattva’s skill in means. 113. “Son of the family: I had to bring those five bodhisattvas to maturity, and I had to demonstrate the maturation of deeds to them. I have come to practice austerities for six years as the [apparent] maturation of the karma of having done so. The Thus-Come-One displays such karma in order to demonstrate the functioning of deeds to other sentient beings who, out of PAGE BREAK 66 ignorance, might view righteous śramaṇas and brahmans wrongly and speak harshly of them. If they should speak thus, whether knowingly or unknowingly, with awareness or without, they would be hapless, damages, miserable and deprived for a long time. But the bodhisattva has no obstacle at all resulting from the deed. 114. “Furthermore, some sentient beings speak harshly of righteous śramaṇas and brahmans and then think, ‘I have lost the opportunity for liberation,’ persisting in their regret and failing to make further effort. He displays that karma in order to dispel the regret of those sentient beings. They think, ‘The bodhisattva, when he was bound to one more birth only, during the promulgation of the ThusCome-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Kāśyapa said: “Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head?” And he still had the opportunity for liberation. How much more so must we, who are ignorant!’ So they confess their fault of evil karma and do not manufacture any more.123 115. “Furthermore, son of the family, I the Bodhisattva do austerities for six years in order to convert tīrthikas; the cause is not an obstacle from past deeds. How so? There are śramaṇas and brahmans who eat no food but single jujube berries, sesame seeds and grains of rice, supposing that they will be purified by it. To confute them, the Bodhisattva shows that purification is impossible eating bad food consisting of single jujube berries, sesame seeds and grains of rice, without relying on the path of the nobles.124 116. “For those reasons the Bodhisattva great hero says, ‘Awakening is very rare. Where is the awakening in a śramaṇa’s shaven head?’ He practices austerities for six years with the functioning of karma in mind. “During those six years of practicing austerities, the Bodhisattva causes four million, twohundred thousand divinities and heterodox rishis who are devoted to wretched practices to attain the goal of realizing gnosis—after converting them with inferior food. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means.125 At the Site of Awakening 117. “Why does the Bodhisattva go to the Awakening Tree after taking food and generating physical strength, energy and power, rather than going while his body is emaciated and impotent? The Bodhisattva could nirvāṇize to full awakening without eating, with his body emaciated and impotent.126 What need to mention eating inferior food? Nevertheless, the Bodhisattva takes food out of pity (anukampā) for people of the future who intend to search for awakening but cannot achieve gnosis because their stores of merit are immature and they worry that they will be hungry. “How so? Those who are comfortable can address (abhivadanti) the doctrine, not those who are suffering. So I showed those sentient beings the realization of gnosis (jñānādhigama) in comfort. Why? Sentient beings will imitate me, saying ‘The Bodhisattva himself took food from the village girl and attained awakening with the comfort of food.’ 118. “Furthermore, the Bodhisattva demonstrates the attainment of awakening only after taking food so that the village girl Sujātā may fulfill the qualities constituting aids to awakening, and out of pity for people of the future. Nevertheless, son of the family, the Bodhisattva is capable of living without eating for many hundreds of thousands of eons on the elation and jubilation of a single trance and concentration. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means.127 119. “Why does the Bodhisattva beg for grass? Buddhas of the past enjoyed grass mats, they did not set store by cushions, so he is content with that. And the grass-cutter Swastika is enabled to fulfill the qualities constituting aids to awakening: I confirm that because he offers grass to the Bodhisattva and generates the thought of supreme, right and full awakening, he will in future time become a ThusCome-One, a Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha named Viraja.128 That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. 120. “After sitting down before the Awakening Tree, why does the PAGE BREAK Bodhisattva not nirvāṇize to supreme, right and full awakening quickly, before the arrival of evil Māra? Son of the family, sinful Māra would have no opportunity to come before the Awakening Tree at all, did not the Bodhisattva create one—it would be impossible. Although there are no grounds for it, son of the family, the Bodhisattva sits before the Awakening Tree and thinks: ‘Under whose influence have these sentient beings come?’ “And he thinks, ‘It is evil Māra. They have come under his influence.’ 121. “Then the Bodhisattva thinks, ‘Let me combat evil Māra. Defeating him, I will have tamed all the Realm of Desire. The many circles of Māra will be drawn in. The circles of yakṣas, the circle of demons (rākṣasas), the circle of gandharvas and the circle of asuras will be drawn in, and those assembled multitudes will see the lion’s play of the Bodhisattva, whereupon they will generate the thought of, and aspire to supreme, right and full awakening. For anyone else who sees, it will function as an intermediary cause for eventual nirvāṇa.’129 122. “Son of the family: Then the Bodhisattva, seated before the Awakening Tree, emits a ray of light from the tuft of hair between his eyebrows. That light illumines this trichiliocosm, outshining the sun and the moon and eclipsing all of Māra’s abodes. From the light comes a voice that says: “ ‘This son of the Śākyas has departed from the home of the Śākya clan. He will now nirvāṇize to full awakening, transcending the range of Māra. Countless hundreds of thousands of sentient beings will also transcend his range, decreasing Māra’s faction and decreasing Māra’s circle. Go ahead and combat him!’130 123. “Son of the family: Upon being exhorted by that light, PAGE BREAK 69 Māra is torn by fierce sorrow and anguish. Angered and horrible, he loses not a moment in mobilizing and gathering his armed host of four divisions and marching to the Awakening Tree. Māra’s army fills thirty-two square leagues in order to obstruct the Bodhisattva. “Thereupon the Bodhisattva, stationed in great wisdom, great love and great compassion, strikes the great earth with his hand like the color of gold that has evolved from precious wisdom, and defeats all the legions of Māra with the strength of his love. “No sooner has he defeated the legion of Māra than eight hundred and forty thousand millions (840,000,000) of gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, kinnaras, and mahoraga and kumbhāṇḍa monsters see the glory and splendor, the complexion, physique, and shape, the power, energy and might, and the lion’s play of the Bodhisattva, and generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means.131 124. “Why does the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the perfected Buddha, having attained awakening, then gaze for seven days at the king of trees, not breaking his sitting position and not blinking? Divinities dwelling in the Realm of Attenuated Materiality whose course is calm are present; they see the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, remain in a cross-legged position and they are vastly elated, serene and jubilant. Being elated, serene and jubilant, they think: “ ‘Let us determine upon what the śramaṇa Gautama’s thought relies.’ “For seven days they investigate, their thought concentrated (ekotībhūta), but they cannot discover upon what the thought of the Thus-Come-One relies. Then being vastly elated, serene and jubilant, thirty-two thousand divinities generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening, thinking: “ ‘At a future day may we also, continuing to course in calm, come to gaze at the Awakening Tree in that way.’ For those reasons the Thus-Come-One, having attained awakening, gazes for seven days at the king of trees, unmoving and unblinking. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means.132 PAGE BREAK 69 125. “Why does the Thus-Come-One not teach doctrine until requested to do so by Brahmā, whereas for an incalculable eon he has inspired and invited all sentient beings expressly to liberation? “Son of the family: at this point, the Thus-Come-One considers: ‘The worlds of gods and human beings mostly serve Brahmā and hold Brahmā to be chief. They think, “We have been created (nirmita) by Brahmā. We are born from Brahmā. The world has no maker besides Brahmā, no teacher besides Brahmā.” ’133 “So at this point, the Thus-Come-One considers: ‘I will make Brahmā come. I will wait for him. With Brahmā doing salutation, the worlds of gods and human beings that serve Brahmā will also make salutation to the Thus-Come-One. The Thus-Come-One will teach doctrine with Brahmā making the request, but he will not teach unrequested, lest they be uncertain whether to accept my doctrine.’ “So Brahmā is impelled by the Thus-Come-One himself to come before him to request him to turn the wheel of the doctrine. Brahmā himself has not a single thought of making such a request of the Thus-Come-One. 126. “Accordingly, the Thus-Come-One makes Brahmā come and waits for Brahmā so that sentient beings who serve Brahmā will abandon him. At the same time that Brahmā entreats the ThusCome-One, persuading him to turn the wheel of doctrine, some six million, eight hundred-thousand brahmā gods generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening, thinking: “ ‘This Lord Buddha is premier among sentient beings. He is the chief. He is the very highest. Let us also come to have such gnosis and such qualities.’ “That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means.” PART THREE THE TEN KARMIC CONNECTIONS Statement of Principle 127. Then the Lord again addressed the bodhisattva Jñānottara: “Son of the family: The Thus-Come-One demonstrates ten karmic connections to sentient beings. These also should be regarded as the skill in means of the Bodhisattva and the Thus-ComeOne. They also should be regarded as having a hidden meaning.134 128. “Son of the family: If the Bodhisattva had the slightest fraction of a hair’s tip worth of unwholesomeness, he would have no opportunity to go before the Awakening Tree, the site of awakening, and there nirvāṇize to supreme, right and full awakening. There would be no occasion. It would be impossible. “How so? Son of the family: The Thus-Come-One is endowed with all wholesome qualities; he has eliminated all unwholesome qualities that are to be eliminated. Son of the family: The Thus-ComeOne has no habit patterns at all that are yet to be eliminated—residues that would manufacture evil deeds. What need is there to mention obstacles caused by past deeds? “Nevertheless, the Thus-Come-One demonstrates karmic connections in order to demonstrate the maturation of deeds to certain sentient beings who waste the fruition of deeds, and to sentient beings who do not believe in karmic fruition. By showing them karmic connections in himself, the Thus-Come-One raises the question: ‘If deeds come to fruition for me, the master of doctrine, why should they not come to fruition for yourselves?’ He shows them the maturation of karma, but the Thus-Come-One himself possesses not even the slightest obstacle caused by past deeds. 129. “ Son of the family: By analogy, a teacher who is already educated in letters, numbers, and engraving will recite the alphabet, in the way that PAGE BREAK 72 children call it out, in order to teach it to children. He is not ignorant of it, nor has he any obstacles caused by past deeds. In any case, children hear him and imitate what they hear, reciting the alphabet in order to learn letters, numbers, engraving and counting. “In the same way, son of the family, the Thus-Come-One who is already educated in all doctrine will expound it and teach karma in whatever ways will cause other sentient beings to purify their deeds. 130. “Son of the family: By analogy, a physician who is educated in pacifying all varieties of illness, while he is free from illness himself, will taste strong medicine in front of sentient beings who are ill—and he will praise it, he will sing its praises. The patients, seeing this, will drink the strong medicine and partake of it, whereby they will be freed from their illness. “In the same way, son of the family, the Thus-Come-One, the great king of healing, is freed from all the varieties of illness of defilement; he has attained freedom from obstacles to all doctrine. Yet he displays karma saying, ‘This is the fruition of this wholesome or unwholesome deed.’ He displays karma thinking that sentient beings should fear and tremble at obstacles caused by past deeds and purify their deeds of body, speech and mind.135 131. “Son of the family: By analogy, soon after the son of a rich man or a householder is born, his parents may give him a wet nurse. While the wet nurse is not ill, she will measure and drink bitter and astringent medicine thinking to purify her milk for that boy. “In the same way, Son of the family, the Thus-Come-One, the father of all the world, has no illness. Yet he displays karma in order to bring to maturity sentient beings who waste the working of deeds. These sentient beings are alarmed (udvigna-mānasa) to hear, ‘Such and such a deed matures into this’ and they no longer manufacture evil karma. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means.” PAGE BREAK 73 Murder with Skill in Means: the Story of the Compassionate Ship’s Captain 132. Then the Lord again addressed the bodhisattva Jñanottara: “Son of the family: Once upon a time, long before the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha Dīpaṁkara, there were five hundred merchants who set sail on the high seas in search of wealth. Among the company was a doer of dark deeds, a doer of evil deeds, a robber welltrained in the art of weaponry, who had come on board that very ship. He thought, ‘I will kill all these merchants when they have completed their business and done what they set out to do, take all their possessions and go to Jambu Continent.’ “Son of the family: Then the merchants completed their business and set about to depart. No sooner had they done so, than that deceitful person thought: ‘Now I will kill all these merchants, take all their possessions and go to Jambu Continent. The time has come.’ 133. “At the same time, among the company on board was a captain named Great Compassionate (sārthavāha mahākāruṇika). While Captain Great Compassionate slept on one occasion, the deities who dwelt in that ocean showed him this in a dream: “ ‘Among this ship’s company is a person named so and so, of such and such sort of physique, of such and such garb, complexion and shape—a robber, mischievous, a thief of others’ property. He is thinking, “I will kill all these merchants, take all their possessions and go to Jambu Continent.” To kill these merchants would create formidable evil karma for that person. Why so? These five hundred merchants are all progressing toward supreme, right and full awakening. If he should kill these bodhisattvas, the fault—the obstacle caused by the deed—would cause him to burn in the great hells for as long as it takes each one of these bodhisattvas to achieve supreme, right and full awakening, consecutively. Therefore, Captain, think of some skill in means to prevent this person from killing the five hundred merchants and going to the great hells because of the deed.’ 134. “Son of the family: Then the captain Great Compassionate awoke. He considered what means there might be to prevent that person from killing the five hundred merchants and going to the great hells. Seven days passed with a wind averse to sailing to Jambu Continent. During those seven days he plunged deep into thought, not speaking to anyone. PAGE BREAK 74 “He thought, ‘There is no means to prevent this man from slaying the merchants and going to the great hells, but to kill him.’ “And he thought, ‘If I were to report this to the merchants, they would kill and slay him with angry thoughts and all go to the great hells themselves.’ “And he thought, ‘If I were to kill this person, I would likewise burn in the great hells for one hundred-thousand eons because of it. Yet I can bear to experience the pain of the great hells, that this person not slay these five hundred merchants and develop so much evil karma. I will kill this person myself. 135. Son of the family: Accordingly, the captain Great Compassionate protected those five hundred merchants and protected that person from going to the great hells by deliberately stabbing and slaying that person who was a robber with a spear, with great compassion and skill in means. And all among the company completed their business and each went to his own city.136 136. “Son of the family. At that time, in that life I was none other than the captain Great Compassionate. Have no second thoughts or doubt on this point. The five hundred merchants on board are the five hundred bodhisattvas who are to nirvāṇize to supreme, right and full awakening in this Auspicious Eon. “Son of the family: For me, saṁsāra was curtailed for one hundred-thousand eons because of that skill in means and great compassion. And the robber died to be be reborn in a world of paradise. 137. “Son of the family, what do you think of this? Can curtailing birth and death for one hundred-thousand eons with that skill in means and that great compassion be regarded as the Bodhisattva’s obstacle caused by past deeds? Do not view it in that way. It should be regarded as his very skill in means. (1) The Thorn that “Resulted” 138. “Son of the family: The Thus-Come-One initiates sentient beings into the functioning of karma. With skill in means, he shows an acacia thorn pierce his foot. The piercing of the foot of the Thus-Come-One by an acacia thorn should be regarded as the very power of the Buddha. How so? The body of the Thus-Come-One, like unbreakable vajra, is indestructible. PAGE BREAK 75 “Nonetheless, son of the family, there are in this same great city of Śrāvastī twenty persons who are in their last lifetime and twenty persons who are enemies of those first twenty persons. The twenty persons who are enemies, each with his own dishonesty, give rise to the thought of going to the home of their particular enemy pretending to be friends and killing them. They do not say a word to each other. 139. “Son of the family: Then those twenty persons in their last lifetime and those twenty murderous persons who are their enemies come, by the power of the Buddha, to where the Thus-ComeOne is—the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha. 140. “Son of the family: Then the Thus-Come-One, the worthy, the fully perfected Buddha, in order to bring his influence to bear upon many other people at the same time, addresses the elder, the great Maudgalyāyana: “ ‘Great Maudgalyāyana: Today an acacia thorn will emerge from the earth. It will pierce the sole of the right foot of the Thus-Come-One.’ “Not long after Thus-Come-One has said this, a sharp thorn of acacia measuring a span in length emerges from the earth. Then the elder, the great Maudgalyāyana makes this request of the Thus-ComeOne: “ ‘Lord, permit me to dispatch this acacia thorn to some other realm if the universe.’137 “I reply to him, ‘Great Maudgalyāyana: You cannot dispatch this acacia thorn elsewhere from this place.’ 141. “Son of the family: Then the elder, the great Maudgalyāyana seizes the thorn of acacia with all his might so that this trichilocosm heaves and shakes. But that thorn of acacia does not move even a fraction of the tip of a hair. “Son of the family: Then the Thus-Come-One by wonder-working power ascends to the heaven of the gods of the class of the Four Great Kings, and the thorn of acacia also goes to the heaven of the class of the Four Great Kings. Then the Thus-Come-One ascends to the top of Sumeru to the heaven of the gods of the Thirty-three, and the thorn of acacia also goes to the top of Sumeru. Then the Thus-Come-One ascends further, to the heavens of the gods of the Yāma, the Tuṣita, the Nirmāṇarati, and the Paranirmita-vaśavartin; he ascends further up to the world of Brahmā, and the thorn of acacia goes to the world of Brahmā as well. Then the Thus-Come-One descends from the world of Brahmā and sits on his seat, while the thorn of acacia also descends from the world of Brahmā and remains in him. 142. “Son of the family: Then the Thus-Come-One grasps his right foot with his right hand. One end of the thorn of acacia sticks in the earth. He steps on the end pointed upward out of the earth. Just as the Lord steps on the acacia thorn, the trichiliocosm shakes. 143. “Then the elder Ānanda asks me, ‘Venerable Lord: What obstacle of a deed did the Thus-ComeOne previously perform of which this is the fruition?’ “I answer him: ‘Ānanda, once when I had sailed off upon the ocean I stabbed and killed a dishonest merchant with a spear. This is the residue of that deed.’ ” Then the Lord utters this stanza: Not in the sky, not in the sea, Not in a mountain cavern— There is no place one can enter To escape the effects of deeds. [Dharmapada 127] 144. “Son of the family: Then those twenty people who want to kill those twenty people—the twenty people who are pretending to be friends—think this: “ ‘Even the Thus-Come-One, the master of the doctrine, incurs a recompense of deeds. Is there any reason that we should not incur a recompense?’ “Upon that instant they disclose their offense to be an offense before the Thus-Come-One: “ ‘Venerable Lord, we have also been about to commit a slaughter of living beings. Before the Lord we hereby disclose our offense to be an offense, requesting the venerable Lord to accept the confessed offense as an offense.” 145. “Thereupon the Thus-Come-One teaches doctrine, beginning with the functioning of deeds and the exhaustion of karma, so that those forty persons realize gnosis. Forty thousand other living creatures also realize gnosis (jñānābhisamayante). PAGE BREAK 77 “For those reasons the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the fully perfected Buddha has a thorn of acacia stick in his foot. That also is the skill in means of the Bodhisattva and the Thus-Come-One. (2) Taking Forbidden Medicine 146. “Why does the Thus-Come-One snuff the purgative utpala-hastagandha from the king of physicians Jīvaka,whereas he is free of illness.138 “Son of the family: At a time not long after the prātimokṣa rules of training have been enacted, there will be five hundred monks dwelling in a certain forest who are in their last lifetime before release. Stricken by a critical (ajīvitavya) illness that cannot be pacified by the remedy of foul waste, they will not seek, that is to say resort to other medicine because of their respect for the Thus-ComeOne.139 “Son of the family, the Thus-Come-One considers: ‘What means is there for them to seek other medicine without my giving them permission? Why so? If the Thus-Come-One were to give them permission, the usages of the nobles would decline in future times.140 147. “Therefore the Thus-Come-One, with skill in means, begs and requests the purgative utpala-hastagandha from the king of physicians Jīvaka. Then the divinities of the ‘Pure Abodes’ class will say to those monks:141 ‘Masters, do not let yourselves die—seek another medicine.’ “The monks will say: ‘Divinities: We are unable, we are helpless to supersede the rules of training established by the Thus-Come-One. We PAGE BREAK 78 will not transgress the rules of training of the Thus-Come-One even though we may die.’ “The divinities of the ‘Pure Abodes’ class will say to those monks: ‘Masters: The Thus-ComeOne himself, the master of doctrine, sought medicine other than the medicine of foul waste. Let you seek other medicine!’ 148. “Then the monks will be freed from their reluctance. They will seek and resort to another medicine and be freed from their illness. Within one week of being freed from their illness, they will actualize arhatship. “Son of the family: Had the Thus-Come-One not sought other medicine, those monks would not seek other medicine either; they would lack any basis or opportunity to be freed from that illness, to be liberated from the defilements, and to attain arhatship—it would be impossible. That also is the ThusCome-One’s skill in means. (3) Empty Alms-bowl 149. “Why does the Thus-Come-One, who is endowed with all merit, return from seeking alms in a village with his bowl as clean as it was when he went?142 Son of the family: The Thus-Come-One has no obstacles caused by past deeds at all. Nevertheless, the Thus-Come-One must pity and safeguard people of the future. “Among mendicant monks who go to village, town, market town, metropolis, and royal capital for alms, some will be small in merit and fail to receive alms. Then they will give a thought to the Thus-Come-One: “ ‘The Thus-Come-One himself, who is exalted with the majesty of all merit (sarvapuṇyatejasābhyudgata),143 returned from seeking alms in a village with his bowl as clean as it was when he went, failing to receive alms. What can we expect with our small stores of merit? Let us not be upset at failing to receive alms.’ “Considering this eventuality, the Thus-Come-One returns from seeking alms in a village with his bowl as clean as it was when he went. 150. “Furthermore, certain persons say: ‘In any case, the brahmans and householders who fail to donate alms to the Thus-Come-One are possessed by evil Māra.’ Son of the family: Do not view it in that way. Why so? Evil Māra is not capable of interfering with the alms of the Thus-Come-One. Quite the contrary: Evil Māra inspired those brahmans and householders by the inspiration of the ThusCome-One himself—it is not his own idea. The Thus-Come-One has no obstacle caused by past deeds at all in this regard. He returns from seeking alms in a village with his bowl as clean as it was when he went in order to bring those very sentient beings to maturity. “While he is fasting then, the Thus-Come-One as well as the community of monks have no unhappiness. They are just as they were before: neither haughty, nor downcast. 151. “Upon the instant, seventy thousand divinities find faith and bow to the Thus-Come-One. And the Thus-Come-One teaches all of them the precise dharma that will make their dharma eyes pure, dustless and immaculate in regard to dharmas. “As for the brahmans and householders: they will at some other time hear of the qualities and the contentment of the Lord Teacher, and they will gather before the Lord. They will disclose their fault to be a fault and the Thus-Come-One in his turn will reveal to them an account of the four truths of the nobles. Thereupon twenty-two thousand living beings among the generations of gods and human beings will have dharma eyes that are pure, dustless and immaculate in regard to the dharmas. “For these reasons the Thus-Come-One returns from seeking alms in the well-to-do brahman 144 village with his bowl as clean as it was when he went. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means. (4) Cañcā’s Feigned Pregnancy 152. “Why does the brahman girl Cañcā bind a wooden bowl to her belly PAGE BREAK 80 and cast aspersions upon the Thus-Come-One, saying: ‘Śramaṇa, you have made me pregnant. Now keep me with food and clothing’? “Son of the family: The Thus-Come-One has no obstacle caused by past deeds. The ThusCome-One might fling away the brahman girl Cañcā to the distance of as many realms of the universe as the Ganges’ sands. But the Thus-Come-One is deliberately impassive; he displays the functioning of karma out of skill in means.145 “How so? In future, during this promulgation, it will happen that monastics are calumniated. They will be filled with regret and disheartened; they will be disaffected and in danger of failing. When aspersions are cast upon them, they will recollect the Thus-Come-One and say: “ ‘The Thus-Come-One, who is endowed with all wholesome qualities, was himself subject to calumny. Why should we not be?’ “And they will immediately overcome the aspersions and practice celibacy that is perfectly pure and highly refined, not allowing it to fail. 153. “Assuredly, the brahman girl Cañcā is permeated by evil karma and abundantly unfaithful. Obscured by such obscuration caused by past deeds, there is no question but that she wounds this promulgation with her actual aggregates, elements and sense-fields, and is permeated by evil karma. To calumniate the Thus-Come-One even in a dream would contaminate one’s waking life. “Son of the family. If the Thus-Come-One had any means by which to stop her from the manufacture of unwholesome karma, he would stop her. If the Thus-Come-One could act to protect her, he would protect her. Why so? The Thus-Come-One will not abandon any sentient being. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means. (5) Death of the Wanderer Sundarikā 154. “Why is the Thus-Come-One, who is all-knowing, impassive to the wanderer Sundarikā, slain by fellow wanderers and thrown in a dump in the Jeta Grove? The Thus-Come-One knew what was occurring, for he is endowed with gnostic vision without obstruction to omniscience (sarvajñāpratihata-jñānadarśana). But the wanderer Sundarikā’s span of life is exhausted, and it is certain that she will die by violence at the hands of others. “And because of that incident the other tīrthikas are quite confuted by their own misdeed, knowing that whatever will result in fostering wholesome146 qualities and developing stores of merit for sentient beings is what gnosis of the Buddha is grounded on, in whatever way it should be grounded (sthāpita). 155. “The Thus-Come-One does not enter the city for one week. During that period he converts six-hundred million gods. When the week has passed, the four assemblies gather before the Lord,147 and the Lord teaches doctrine in ways that enable eighty–four thousand living beings to give rise to gnostic vision. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means. (6) Eating Horse-feed 156. “Why does the Thus-Come-One together with the monastic community, during a rainyseason retreat in the Vairambha district, when he eats food, for three months reassure people and eat barley horse-feed of the brahman Vairambha? “Son of the family: The Thus-Come-One, is aware that the householder148 will request his presence and that of the monastic community and then fail to appreciate him. Yet he deliberately accedes and makes himself impassive. 157. “Why so? The Thus-Come-One, together with the monastic community, spends three months eating barley that is the feed of five hundred specific horses. All of those five hundred horses are progressing in the bodhisattva vehicle. They have each done service to a victor of the past and they have done evil deeds and manufactured evil karma under the influence of an unwholesome adviser, because of which karma they have been reborn in the animal realm. Among those five hundred horses is one horse who is a thoroughbred. He is known as the bodhisattva Sūryagarbha (‘Core of the Sun’). He has been reborn intentionally, by virtue of a resolve. Bodhisattva Sūryagarbha has previously, when they were human beings, prompted all those five hundred horses to undertake awakening; now he is reborn there in order to bring them to freedom and maturity. Impelled by that thoroughbred horse, all the five hundred horses have come to recollect their previous lives and to evince the thought of awakening. 158. “Son of the family: That is why the Thus-Come-One eats food during the three month rains —out of sympathy for those five hundred bodhisattvas-become-horses—for the sake of those who have been reborn in the animal realm. Each of the five hundred horses offers half his barely-feed to the five hundred monks there. The thoroughbred horse offers half his barley-feed to the Thus-Come-One. The thoroughbred horse eats half his food himself and with a horse’s neigh prompts all the five hundred horses to confess their misdeeds and make salutation to the monastic community headed by the Buddha, making them understand that half of the barley-feed of each is to be eaten by the Thus-ComeOne and the monastic community. So these five hundred horses confess their misdeeds and generate faith in the monastic community headed by the Buddha. 159. “Those three months pass and eventually the five hundred horses pass on to be reborn among the gods of Tuṣita. And having become gods, they offer food, pay respect, venerate, show honor to and worship the Thus-Come-One, and the Thus-Come-One teaches them doctrine that will assure them of supreme, right and full awakening. “The one groom who had tamed and tended the five hundred horses is confirmed by the ThusCome-One to become the independent buddha ‘Taming the Mind’ (*Sudāntacitta). “The Thus-Come-One further confirms that the thoroughbred horse will make offerings to measureless numbers of lord buddhas, fulfilling the qualities that are aids to awakening, and then appear in the world as the Thus-Come-One, the Worthy, the perfected Buddha ‘Taming the Mind’. 160. “Son of the family: For all that, there is no human food unpalatable to the Thus-ComeOne. And son of the family, just suppose that the Thus-Come-One should ingest even wood, clumps of earth, pebbles and bricks: there would be no more excellent taste, nor better savor in this trichiliocosm than that wood, clumps of earth, pebbles and bricks. Why so? Son of the family: Because the ThusCome-One is endowed with the most excellent taste as a mark of the superman;149 therefore any unpalatable food, as soon as it is eaten, becomes, in the body of the Thus-Come-One, endowed with taste surpassing that of food of the gods. Son of the family, you should therefore know by this incident that all the food of the Thus-Come-One is palatable. 161. “Son of the family: At that time, the monk Ānanda thinks unhappily; “ ‘The Thus-Come-One has renounced the sovereignty of a universal monarch for the religious life. Now he is apparently eating barley horse-feed.’ “The Thus-Come-One divines his thought and says: ‘Ānanda, do you know the taste of this?’ handing him a barley corn. He marvels to eat it, and says to me: “ ‘Lord, I was born and raised in a king’s palace, yet, Lord, I have never before been granted the experience of such an excellent taste.’ “By virtue of being given it, the monk Ānanda is happy and healthy eating nothing else for a week. 162. “Son of the family: By this incident you should understand that the Thus-Come-One is skilled in means, whereas he has no obstacle from past deeds whatsoever. Furthermore, son of the family, this display of a karmic connection serves as a lesson in doing what one has promised to do for sentient beings who issue invitations to righteous śramaṇas and brahmans but distractedly fail to honor them. “Son of the family, note the character of the thus-come-ones: Anyone requesting the presence of a thus-come-one is confirmed by the thus-come-one to be not liable to fall into the states of woe (avinipāta-dharmin), even though he fails to honor him. 163. “Son of the family: Furthermore, among the five hundred monks who accede to the threemonth rainy-season retreat together with the Thus-Come-One, who eat barley horse-feed with him, there are forty monks who course in desire-attachment and course in pretty features. If they were to eat palatable food during that period, their preoccupation with desire-attachment would increase drastically. As it turns out, by eating bad food their obsession with desire-attachment is attenuated and disappears. They dispel their obsession with desire-attachment and they all attain arhatship within one week subsequent to those three months. “Son of the family: That is why the Thus-Come-One, out of skill in means, eats barley horsefeed for three months—in order to influence those five hundred monks and to bring those bodhisattvas to maturity. This is not the fault of an obstacle from a past deed; it also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means. PAGE BREAK 84 (7) Backache 164. “Why does the Thus-Come-One while observing Uposatha day declare: ‘Kāśyapa, my back is unwell. You explain the limbs of awakening’?150 “Son of the family: At that time, eight thousand divinities have been drawn into that assembly, converted by the auditors. The monk Kāśyapa has already prompted them again and again to generate faith in buddha, doctrine and community, and in the duty to act with vigilance; and they have already heard him tell of the limbs of awakening. That being the case, they would not take note of doctrine taught by anyone but the monk Kāśyapa—not even if it were taught by a hundred-thousand buddhas. So the monk Kāśyapa explains the division of the limbs of awakening in detail, and those eight thousand divinities realize gnosis. 165. “Furthermore, sentient beings who do not come to hear doctrine because they are impaired by illness and in bad health, sentient beings who do not study doctrine because they have no opportunity to hear it will then think: “ ‘The Thus-Come-One himself, the master of doctrine, was freed from his illness by hearing an account of the limbs of awakening. Why should we not listen to doctrine?’ 166. “Son of the family: That is why the Thus-Come-One says: ‘Kāśyapa, my back is unwell. You explain the limbs of awakening’—in order to influence those divinities, and to display respect for the doctrine to sentient beings who are ill. But it is not the case that the body of the Thus-Come-One has illness. Why so? Son of the family: The thus-come-ones, the worthies, the fully perfected buddhas are dharma-bodies, they do not have gross bodies composed of the elements.151 That also is the ThusCome-One’s skill in means. (8) Headache 167. “Why does the Thus-Come-One, when the Śākyas are destroyed, say: ‘Ānanda, my head aches; I am unwell’? “Son of the family: Certain sentient beings are not aware that the Thus-Come-One has ended his relatives’ aggregate of suffering up to the peak of existence (bhāvāgra). When this occurs, they think: “ ‘Since the Thus-Come-One left home for the benefit of the world, the dynasty has perished. Far from defending his relatives, the Thus-Come-One does not wish benefit for his relatives, nor does he wish their welfare, nor their well-being; he does not wish their survival and happiness.’ “To guard against such thoughts on the part of those sentient beings, the Thus-Come-One says to the elder Ānanda: ‘Ānanda, my head aches; I am unwell.’152 168. “Son of the family: At the time that the Thus-Come-One says to the elder Ānanda, ‘Ānanda, my head aches; I am unwell,’ three thousand annihilationist divinities and very many murderous sentient beings have been drawn in. The Thus-Come-One displays a karmic connection, saying that his head aches and he is unwell as the residue of murder, in order to initiate those annihilationist divinities and murderous sentient beings to the functioning of deeds. “In displaying that deed of speech, the Thus-Come-One converts ten thousand living beings among the generations of gods and men. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means. (9) Scolding by Bharadvāja 169. “Why does the Thus-Come-One acquiesce to the insults of the brahman Bharadvāja, who scolds him with one hundred forms of abuse?153 “Son of the family: The Thus-Come-One could take the insulting Bharadvāja and return his insults, or fling him to some other place, or render him by the exercise of supernatural power unable to utter a single word of abuse to the Thus-Come-One. However, many gods and human beings have been drawn into that assembly. They see the absence of discouragement or arrogance in the Thus-Come-One, his composed and benevolent disposition, his mind gentle and tender; and they see him generate the power of forbearance, remaining the same as he was before. Then four thousand living beings generate the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. With that goal in mind the Thus-Come-One makes himself impassive to the insults of the brahman Bharadvāja. And with that, the insulting brahman Bharadvāja finds faith in the Thus-Come-One; he then takes refuge in the Buddha and creates the seed for attaining nirvāṇa. That also is the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means, (10) Persecution by Devadatta 170. “Son of the family: That is also why the Bodhisattva is pursued by Devadatta from life to life and rebirth to rebirth. That also is the Bodhisattva’s skill in means. “How so? I fulfilled the six perfections and accomplished the welfare of numberless sentient beings, dependent upon Devadatta. By what account? Son of the family: Whenever sentient beings were well-off, but ignorant of giving and receiving, then Devadatta would approach the Bodhisattva and beg for his children, wife and sovereignty, his hands, feet and eyes, his head and such things that are difficult to give away and which create well-being (kuśala) for sentient beings. Undiscouraged, the Bodhisattva would give these things, and numberless sentient beings would see this and be gladdened, inspired and jubilant; energetically they would devote themselves to generosity and aspire to awakening, thinking, ‘Let us be the same way.’154 171. “Furthermore, Devadatta and countless sentient beings who wish to violate ethics would see the Bodhisattva refuse to violate ethics, and they would hold to ethics themselves. While imitating the Bodhisattva, the sentient beings would see his triumphant forbearance. Then when they were insulted, reproached or struck, they would not be irritated but would themselves fulfill forbearance. In that way also he accomplished the welfare of sentient beings. 172. “Occasions upon which Devadatta dispatches assassins, incites the elephant Dhanapāla, and inspires the hurling of a rock to kill the Thus-Come-One, should also be regarded as the ThusCome-One’s skill in means, rather than the fault of obstacles caused by past deeds.155 Why so? Dependent upon that skill in means, he accomplishes the welfare of numberless sentient beings. PAGE BREAK 87 173. “Son of the family: To summarize, Devadatta the benevolent is my teacher.156 All ten karmic connections should be regarded as the Thus-Come-One’s skill in means, rather than as the faults of obstacles caused by past deeds. How so? Sentient beings who waste the functioning of deeds and their maturation are introduced to the functioning and the maturation of deeds. The Thus-Come-One displays a karmic connection with skill in means to indicate that such and such is the maturation of such and such a deed. And hearing it, sentient beings can no longer be passive in the face of obstacles caused by unwholesome deeds and the need to manufacture wholesome karma. INSTRUCTIONS ON THE TRANSMISSION OF THE SŪTRA 174. “Son of the family: This explanation of the teaching of skill in means is to be kept secret. Do not speak of it, teach it, explain it or recite it in the presence of inferior sentient beings whose store of merit is small. “Why so? This teaching is not the stage of the auditors and independent buddhas—what need to mention foolish common persons who are inclined to something inferior (hīnādhimuktabālapṛthagjana)?157 “Why so? They are not trained in this skill in means. They have no need for it. No one but a bodhisattva great hero is a fit vessel for this teaching of skill in means; no one else is to be trained in this teaching. 175. “Son of the family: By analogy, in the darkest gloom of the night an oil lamp is lit, and all the household vessels are illumined. In the same way, son of the family, if a bodhisattva hears this teaching of skill in means, he will see all the practices of a buddha and will train sentient beings in them as well.158 “Son of the family, adhere to this and fathom it. The son or daughter of the family who is eager for awakening will travel a hundred-thousand leagues when it comes to his ears that this perfection of skill in means will be taught somewhere. Why so? Hearing that teaching on skill in means, the bodhisattva will attain illumination and be freed of doubt and hesitation.” 176. Then everyone among the four assemblies of the world, including the gods, who were fit vessels for this system of doctrine, who had been drawn into that assembly, heard this system of doctrine promulgated by the Lord. All who had been drawn into that assembly who were not fit vessels, did not have this system of doctrine enter their ears. While the system of doctrine was being presented, seventy-two thousand living beings generated the thought of supreme, right and full awakening. 177. Then master Ānanda asked the Lord: “Venerable Lord, what is the title of this system of doctrine? How should it be remembered?” The Lord answered: “Ānanda, remember this account of doctrine as the Teaching of the Perfection of Skill in Means. Remember it as the Chapter on Skill in Means. Remember it as the Teaching on Skill in Means, the Great Secret of All Buddhas.” OVATION 178. Thus spoke the Lord. Enraptured, the master Ānanda as well as the bodhisattva great hero Jñānottara, those of the vehicles of the auditors and the independent buddhas as well as householder men and women progressing in the vehicle of the bodhisattvas, and the world including gods, human beings, asuras and gandharvas acclaimed the Lord’s promulgation. COLOPHONS Indian Colophon From the noble, the great Ratnakūṭa doctrinal system of a hundred thousand chapters, Chapter Thirty-eight—The Great Secret of All Buddhas, the Skill in Means, the Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara—is completed. Tibetan Colophon Translated and edited by the Indian preceptors (upādhayāya) Dānaśīla and Karmavarman in collaboration with the editor-translator, the bande Ye-shes-sde, subsequently revised in accordance with the “new language” enactment and published.159 1230 ślokas. Name, Place and Text Index References in bold are to section numbers of the translation. All persons are indexed, but only only terrestrial places, not heavens or hells. Titles or epithets are those given by the text. Ānanda, monk; elder (sthavīra), master (āyuṣman) 23-29, 50, 57-59, 143, 161, 167-168, 177-178 Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, in Śrāvastī 1 Avaivartikacakra-dhāraṇi-vajrapada-sarvadharmānutpāda-bodhisattvapiṭaka-dharmaparyāya, a teaching by Kāśyapa Buddha 110 Bharadvāja, brahman 169 Brahmā, god (deva) 85-87, 125-126 Buddha, Lord (bhagavān). 1 & foll Cañcā, brahman girl (māṇavikā) 152-153 Chandaka, Śākya-son 97, 102 Dakṣiṇottarā, Śrī (“Superior Donations”), merchant’s daughter 48-49, 51, 55 Devadatta “the benevolent” (hita-kāma) 170-173 Dhanapāla, elephant 172 Dharmapada (cited but not identified) 143 Dīpaṁkara, past buddha 72, 93, 97 Free From Obsession (niḥparyutthāna), future buddha 29 Ganges, river 54, 152 Gautama, the śramaṇa, buddha 150 Ghaṭikāra, potter 106, 108 Gopā, Śākya maid, wife 35, 91, 93-95 Great Compassionate, bodhisattva, ship's captain 133-136 Indra, god (deva) 83, 87 Jambu Continent 74, 132-133 Jeta Grove, in Anāthapiṇḍada’s park 1, 49, 53, 154 Jñānottara, bodhisattva great hero (bodhisattva mahāsattva) 3 & foll Jyotipāla, bodhisattva, brahman youth (māṇavaka) 105-109, 111 Jyotis, bodhisattva, brahman youth (māṇavaka) 32-35 Kaṇṭhaka, horse 97 Krakucchanda, past buddha Kapilavastu, city 80 Kāśyapa, past buddha 104, 106, 108-111 Kāśyapa, Great (Mahākāśyapa), monk, master (āyuṣman) 60, 69, 164, 166 King at the Head of the Masses (*gaṇapramukharāja), bodhisattva 23-24, 26-31 Kokālika, monk 36, 39 Maitreya, present bodhisattva 39 Māra, god, “evil” 47, 50, 67, 120-123, 150 Maudgalyāyana, Great (Mahāmaudgalyāyana), monk, elder (sthavīra) 36, 39, 140-141 Māyā, Divine Mother 79, 81, 89 Priyaṁkara (“Exhilarating”) bodhisattva great hero (bodhisattva mahāsattva) 48-50, 52, 57 Rāhula, son 91-92 Śākyaputra (“son of the Śākyas”) 122. See also Chandaka Śākya sage (Śākyamuni) 56 (1) Śāriputra, monk 36, 39 Śrāvastī, great city 1, 48 Śuddhodana, King 102 Sujātā, village girl 118 Sundarikā, wanderer or renunciate (parivrājikā) 154 Surāṣṭra, capital city 32 Sūryagarbha (“Sun Essence”), bodhisattva, horse 157 Swastika (svastika), grass-cutter 119 Vimala (“Immaculate”), monk, past life of Maitreya 37-38 Viraja, future buddha 119 Yaśodharā, Śākya maid, wife 35, 91 Bibliography and Abbreviations AK = Abhidharmakośa. Translated by Louis de la Vallée Poussin, L'Abhidharmakośa de Vasubandhu. Six volumes and index. Paris: Geuthner, 1923-26 Apadāna = Therāpadāna. Edited by Mary E. Lilly. Pali Text Society, 1925 Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā. Translated by Edward Conze as The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and its Verse Summary. Bolinas, California: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973 Aśvaghoṣa, Buddhacarita. Chapters 1-14 edited and translated by E.H. Johnston. Lahore, 1936. Chapters 15-28 idem in Acta Orientalia 15 (1937) Bc = Aśvaghoṣa, Buddhacarita Bhadramāyā sutra = Bhadramāyākāravyākaraṇa. Edited and translated by Konstanty Régamey. Warsaw Society of Science and Letters: Publications of the Oriental Commission no. 3 (1938) Birnbaum, Raoul 1979. The Healing Buddha. Boulder: Shambhala CPD = A Critical Pāli Dictionary. Edited by Dines Anderson et al. Copenhagen 1924 et seq Dbh = Daśabhūmika-sūtra. Edited by Johannes Rahder in Le Muséon 39 (1926). Translated by Megamu Honda in Śaṭapiṭaka Series 74 E = Edgerton, Dictionary Edgerton, Franklin, 1953. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. Two volumes. New Haven: Yale University Press Fa = Fa-ch'eng/Dharmarakṣa translation of the Skill in Means Sutra Hob = Hōbōgirin. Edited by Sylvain Lévi et al. Tokyo: Maison Franco-Japonaise, 1931 et seq Jātaka. Edited by V. Fausboll. Six volumes. London 1877-1896. Translated by E.B. Cowell et al. Cambridge 1895-1907 Kāmasūtra. Vatsyāyana's Kāma Sūtra. Translated by S.C. Upadhyaya. Bombay: Taraporavela, 1961 Kāśyapa-parivarta. Edited by A. von Staël-Holstein. Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1926 Kp = Kāśyapa-parivarta Lalitavistara-sūtra. Edited by P.L. Vaidya. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute, 1958. See also S. Leffmann, edited. Two volumes. Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, 1902 Lamotte. See Mpps Lamotte 1976. See Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. Translated by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki. London: Routledge, 1932 Lotus sutra = Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra. Translated by Leon Hurvitz as Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976 Lv = Lalitavistara sutra Mahāvastu, edited by E. Senart. Three volumes. Paris 1882-1897. Translated by J.J. Jones. Pali Text Society, 1949-1956 Majjhima-nikāya. Three volumes. Edited by V. Trenckner and R. Chalmers. Pali Text Society, 18881899 Mhv = Mahāvyutpatti. Edited by Sakaki Ryōzaburō. Two volumes. Reprinted Tokyo: Suzuki Research Foundation, 1967 Mmk = Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa. Edited by Gaṇapati Śāstri. Two volumes. Trivandrum 1920-1925 Mpps = Mahāprajñāpāramitā-ṥāstra. Translated in part by Étienne Lamotte as Le Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse. Louvain: Institut Orientaliste, 1949 et seq Mv = Mahāvastu. Nk = Nidānakathā. Translated by T.W. Rhys-Davids as Buddhist Birth Stories. London: Trübner, 1880. Revised translation by C.A.F. Rhys-Davids. London: Routledge, 1925. Cited according to the 1880 translation O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger 1973. Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Śiva. London: Oxford University Press Paul, Diana 1979. Women in Buddhism. Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press Pedersen, K. Priscilla, “Notes on the Ratnakūṭa Collection” in Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 3:2 (1980) Prebish, Charles, 1975. Buddhist Monastic Discipline. Pennsylvania State University Press PW A = Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā PW Rg = Ratnaguṇa R Ch = Ratnakūṭa, Chinese translation of the Skill in Means-sūtra R Tib = Ratnakūṭa, Tibetan translation of the Skill in Means-sūtra Ratnaguṇasaṁcaya-gāthā. Edited by Akira Yuyama as Prajñā-pāramitā-ratna-guṇa-saṁcayagāthā. Cambridge University Press, 1976. Translated by Edward Conze in Aṣṭa. (It is the “verse summary”.) Saṁghabhedavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya. Edited by Raniero Gnoli. Serie Orientale Roma 44 (1977) Śāntideva, Sikṣā-samuccaya. Edited by P.L.Vaidya. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute, 1961. Edited by Cecil Bendall. St. Pétersbourg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1902. Translated by Cecil Bendall and W.H.D. Rouse. London, 1922 Sbhv = Saṁghabhedavastu Sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa. In Sonam Angdu, edited, Tibeto-Sanskrit Lexicographical Materials. Leh: Basgo Tongspon, 1973 SS = Sikṣā-samuccaya. See Śāntideva Śūraṁgama-samādhi sūtra. Edited by Étienne Lamotte. In Mélanges Chinois et Bouddhique 13 (1965) Tatz, Mark 1986. Asaṅga's Chapter on Ethics with the Commentary of Tsong-kha-pa, the Basic Path to Awakening: The Complete Bodhisattva. New York: Edwin Mellen Press ―― The Skill in Means Sūtra. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1992, 1994 Thomas, E.J 1949. The Life of the Buddha as Legend and History. Third edition. London: Routledge Up, Upāya = Upāyakauśalya-sūtra Upāli sutra = Upāliparipṛcchā-sūtra. Edited and translated by Pierre Python. Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1973 Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra. Translated by Étienne Lamotte as L'Enseignement de Vimalakīrti. Bibliothèque du Muséon 51. Translated from the French by Sara Boin as The Teaching of Vimalakīrti. London: Pali Text Society, 1976 Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosācariya. Edited by Henry Clarke Warren, revised by Dharmananda Kosambi, 1950. Harvard Oriental Series 41. Translated by Ñaṇamoli as The Path of Purification. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1975 VM = Visuddhimagga 1 More properly, “translated from Indic”. The Buddha taught in the regional vernacular (the Prakrit) of his listeners. His teachings were later fully or partially Sanskritized, as was the literary convention of times. The original dialect of this sutra cannot be determined, as in the case of the Pāli Canon, which is generally understood to be Middle Magadhan (Ardha-Magadhī). Eight passages of the Skill in Means survive in good Sanskrit, as quoted in the Sikṣā-samuccaya by Śāntideva. 2 Divisions and subheadings are supplied by this translator. 3 The buddhas and bodhisattvas in this sutra are exclusively male, as are the monastics. There are female supporting characters. The single exception is at section 25, where R Tib alone refers to bodhisattvas generally as “son or daughter of the family”. There are females predicted to attain buddhahood, but only after changing into a male body. 4 Natural versus legislated morality is a formulation introduced by Indian commentators. Among the lay precepts, which consititue natural morality, only the first, against taking life, is actually violated in this account. As for sex, in only one instance, in the case of Jyotis, does the bodhisattva consummate the violation and cohabit with the woman. In all other instances there is only the appearance of impropriety, and at most a possible violation of the (legislated) monastic precept against being alone with a woman. Nowhere is there violation of the lay vow against harmful sexuality, as for example adultery or rape. Why shy away from actual violation of the vow of celibacy, but not from murder? Is sexuality the greater sin? On the contrary: it is the lesser, hence more tempting to justify. Murder never tempts the bodhisattva because by his nature and his vow he maintains a loving orientation towards others. Such is the reasoning of Tibetan commentators. The term “supersede” is used in the sutra (at section 147) to allow for the use of medicine not allowed for monks by prātimokṣa. AT the same time, the Buddha avoids discarding the more stringent rule of training. 5 SS passages are referenced in notes to the appropriate places in the translation below. 6 In Tibetan: 'phags pa sangs rgyas thams cad kyi gsang chen thabs la mkhas pa byang chub sems dpa' ye shes dam pas zhus pa'i le'u zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo. To consult a Tibetan text, start here: https://www.istb.univie.ac.at/kanjur/xml3/xml/verif2.php?id=82 7 Short title: Ta ch'eng fang pien hui (ching). 8 On the history of the Ratnakūṭa collection see Pedersen 1980. Several texts, including this one, have been translated in Chang, G.C., edited, A Treasury of Mahayana Sutras: Selections from the Maharatnakuta Sutra. Pennsylvania State University, 1983. In the most favorable light, this effort may be regarded as a failed experiment, never repeated, in the approach to translating a buddhist canon. 9 Title: “The Noble Mahāyāna Scripture entitled ‘Skill in Means’ (Ārya-Upāyakauśalyanāma-mahāyānasūtra)”. In| Tibetan: 'phags pa thabs mkhas pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo. 10 Translated from Indic into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa and published on the 17th day, 6th month, 6th year (=August 4, 285 C.E.) of the T'ai K'ang reign, Western Chin dynasty at either Tun-huang or Ch'ang-an. Korean Canon item number K 48. Title: Hui shang p'u sa wen ta shan ch'üan ching. 11 Among the Bka'-'gyur editions used to edit that text, only the Sde-dge index credits the translator. 12 Tatz 1992, 1994. 13 We have the Mv only in Indian language. Dating back to the second century B.C.E., it is a primary exemplar of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. 14 From a trove discovered at Bamiyan, the site of a docetist (lokottaravāda) monastery. The Mv text was preserved in Nepal. 15 Pedersen 1980:62, 64. 16 Attributed by Kumārajīva (C.E. 350 to 409 or 412) to Nāgarjuna, but in the sense of being nagarjunian, in the exegetical tradition of Madhyamaka. 17 See the notes to sections 41, 135. 18 “From the noble, the great Ratnakūṭa doctrinal system of a hundred thousand chapters, Chapter Thirty-eight: The noble Mahāyāna sutra entitled ‘The Chapter of the Great Secret of All Buddhas, the Skill in Means, the Question of Bodhisattva Jñānottara’ (Ārya-Sarvabuddhamahārahasya-Upāyakauśalya-Jñānottarabodhisattvaparipṛcchā-parivartanāma-mahāyānasūtra).” 19 Śrāvastī was the capital of Kośala under King Prasenajit; there the Buddha passed twenty-five of the forty rainy seasons of his teaching career (Mpps 1:173 n.3). One among his residences there was the park purchased by the merchant Anāthapiṇḍada from prince Jeta for the number of gold pieces required to cover its surface (references ibid. 181 n.2). On the number of monks and bodhisattvas see the discussion at ibid. 1:233-34. “Yet in training” and “adepts” (śaikṣa aśaikṣa): the latter state is equivalent to arhatship; see AK 45b. All the bodhisattvas are “great heroes” (mahāsattva): bodhisattvas of a high stage who cannot regress (Mpps 1:309-15, Hob. 141). “Well known for supernatural knowledge” (abhijñāta): wonder-working power, divine ear, divine eye, knowledge of others’ thoughts, and recollection of past lives (ibid. 1:328-33). “Mastered the incantations” (dhāraṇī-pratilabdha): spells drawn from passages of scripture (ibid. 317-31). “Eloquence. . .”: asaṅga-pratibhāna. “Calling forth supernatural knowledge”: abhijñā-nirhāra. “Conviction that phenomena are unarising” (anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti): a stage of understanding that precedes gnosis (jñāna), ibid. 1:325-27, 2:902-26; see sections 49, 72, 110 following. 20 “ Omniscience” (sarvajñāta) = buddhahood; he dedicates the merit gained by the deed (the “store of merit”, literally “wholesome root”, kuśala-mūla) to the attainment of buddhahood by others. Giving is the premier meritorious act, and dedication of merit the highest form of giving, so PW Rg ch. 31; see also Mpps 2:721, 723. 21 Here following Fa; R: “he dedicates it to”. Vimalakīrti fills an assembly with a morsel of food; see Lamotte 1976:212-13. 22 So also PW Rg 31:15-17. Sentient beings might donate countless gifts, etc., to buddhas, arhats, and pratyekabuddhas, but with an inferior religious aspiration; the bodhisattva who appreciates (Conze: “rejoices at”, anumodayi) their merit, and dedicates (Conze: “turns over”) the merit of his appreciation to their full awakening, surpasses the merit of that inferior generosity. R Ch specifies the “recipients” to be auditors and independent buddhas. 23 “Morality etc.” comprises the set of five “spiritual aggregates” (dharma-skandha) that more or less replace the five “grasping aggregates” (upādāna-skandha) which constitute the ordinary person: matter, sensation, ideation, karmic formation and consciousness. (“More or less”: see the discussion at AK 1:27). The spiritual aggregates are part of the thirty-seven aids to awakening (bodhi-pakṣya). 24 The meaning “expose” for āviṣkaroti is clear at Upāli 25; see also ākoṭita at SS 40:21, cited E s.v. ākoṭayati. 25 “Element” or “realm” of dharma (dharma-dhātu): the origin of all the attributes of the nobles (ārya-dharma). See Kp 80: “auditors evolve from the element of dharma”. Compare usage at section 67 following. 26 Rarely would a bodhisattva be impoverished, because of his store of merit. 27 “Measureless” thus applied to the thought of awakening seems to support Fa’s reading of the previous sentence, that the thought is measureless, rather than the implication of R that the gift itself is measureless. 28 The principle being expounded is that generosity gives rise to future well-being, and especially wealth. “Marks of a superman” (mahāpuruṣa-lakṣaṇa): thirty-two physical characteristics of someone destined to temporal or spiritual greatness (a cakravartin or a buddha). “Excellent taste” appears also at section 160 following; references noted there. “Jewel in hand” (ratnapāṇi; or ratnahasta, attested Mv 1:141:13 as the name of a former buddha); in later sutras the name of a bodhisattva (Lotus p. 2, Upāli 11; compare Mhv 655, other references E s.v. Ratnapāṇi). At Mmk 425:19 Ratnapāṇi is listed among bodhisattvas between Kṣitigarbha and Maitreya, which supports his identification with Śākyamuni. 29 R Ch and Fa name the three sorts of meritorious work (puṇyakriyā-vastu): giving, morality and meditational development. Compare PW A 124 on appreciation versus other meritorious work. By internal harmonization, R Tib continues with “come to have. . .” (not translated) as in the previous paragraph. 30 The reasoning: To become a buddha, one must take the bodhisattva path, so “Buddhas evolve from bodhisattvas”; to become an arhat (whether śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha), one must hear the teachings of a buddha, so arhats “evolve from buddhas”. The following section (no. 15) is absent from R Ch as well as from Fa. 31 On the mutual inclusiveness of the six perfections, see Bhadramāyā 121, Mpps 2:750-69. For example, on giving see ibid. 752-54: Failing to give, one will be reborn poor, one will steal, etc.; immorality thus arises from not giving. To give to someone who is poor, on the other hand, decreases the likelihood that he will steal, etc., thus fostering morality. 32 He gives a warm welcome and energetic service even if the beneficiaries lack good manners and lick their hands and bowls—practices of some heterodox schools that are forbidden by the monastic code (Mhv 8587, E s.v. avalihaka, PTSD s.v. apalekhana. Fa seems to miss the point, as does R Ch. 33 All the terms found here represent experiences in meditative trance (dhyāna); they are also used by Kumārajīva in this context (Mpps 2:763). 34 Ordinary giving, not dedicated to the attainment of buddhahood, brings the karmic reward of a good rebirth; it binds one still to saṃsāra. 35 The remainder of this line up to “Son of the family. . .” is lost in R Tib; it is attested by R Ch. For the Sanskrit of this section 20, see SS 93:23-29. 36 “Aggregates. . .” (skandha-dhātv-āyatana): The sense is, “Let me not enter nirvāṇa with this organism—in this lifetime.” The final clause is absent in the Sanskrit, and it is counter-intuitive that anxiety be experienced in nirvāṇa. 37 Each of the four seminal transgressions (mūlāpatti) or “defeats” requires expulsion from the monastic community: uncelibacy, murder, theft, and false claim to spiritual attainments. See Mhv 8363, Prātimokṣa, the text, at Prebish 1975:50-53. 38 R Tib omits this sentence. For the Sanskrit of this section 22, see SS 40:25-30. 39 In this context, prātimokṣa refers not to rules codified for the monastic community (as at Prebish 1975), but to simplicity of lifestyle, to equanimity, and to restraint. For ascetic practices permitted by Buddhaghosa see VM 2. 40 A monastic who is “defeated” is defrocked for life, and it is popularly believed that he cannot win the goal during that lifetime. (Technically speaking, however, that is not the case. See Dharmamitra, Vinayasūtra-tīkā, Otani 5622, cited by Tsong-kha-pa, Tatz 1986:197-98). In the same way, to adopt lesser-vehicle concerns, and thereby relinquish the greatervehicle goal of reaching buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, is to violate the most fundamental element of the bodhisattva moral code and consequently cease to be a bodhisattva. Such defeat does not last for a lifetime in the case of a bodhisattva; like the less serious monastic offenses, it can be remedied by confession and reform. 41 “Dissembling” or “concealment” (pratichādana) is a factor needed for a deed to become a defeat (see AK 4:39dc, p. 99); but Ānanda is overzealous in presuming that failure to inform on his fellow would constitute a transgression. In cases of “indeterminate” (aniyata) intimacy, evidence is to be brought by “a trustworthy laywoman” (Prebish 1975: 6264). Observe also Ānanda's doubt as to the Buddha's omniscience: Why is there needed a rule to inform on others, if the Buddha knows everything? 42 King at the Head of the Masses: *gaṇapramukharāja. Fa/Dharmarakṣa is apparently trying to render gaṇaprabhārāja: King of Much Light. “Inside a certain house”: R reads “in a certain other city”—certainly, an error by internal harmonization. 43 The ability to levitate is not a standard established by vinaya, but a part of general yogic lore: see O’Flaherty 1973:378 ref. motif no. 25e, “sex destroys tapas”. See also section 38 following. 44 “The buddha present before us” points to the doctrine of multiple buddhas existing simultaneously, an issue among the schools; see Mpps 1:299-308. 45 “A person. . . absolutely peerless (aprati[sama]pudgala)”: as opposed to a bodhisattva. “Meditative calm (śamatha)”: as opposed to skill in means. “To exhaust the outflows (āsrava-kṣaya)” is to eliminate desire-attachment, aversion, and ignorance. 46 The five faculties (indriya) of a buddha are faith, vigor, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom: They are opposed to the moral laxity of indulgence in the five objects of sense-desire (pancakāmaguṇa). 47 But R Tib: “because of that clumsiness (ayoniśa) in the past”. R Ch agrees with Fa: anuśaya, “latent tendency”. 48 “Spiritual exercise”: more literally, “dharma door (dharma-mukha).” Matter is composed of four elements: earth, water, fire and air. In this discursive meditation, the earthy (i.e. solid) components of the (female, for example) body are conceived as being the same as earth (soil, etc.); the aim is avoidance of lust. See VM 11:31, 41; 18-19. 49 “For the welfare of”: R Tib “as medicine for”. 50 “ ‘Incalculable’ eon” (asaṁkhyeya-kalpa): according to the secondary sources (AK, etc.), one “great” (mahā) eon contains twenty “intermediate” (antara) or ordinary eons. “Free from obsession” (niḥparyutthāna): free from defilement as manifest, as opposed to latent. “Buddha field” (kṣetra): When he becomes a buddha, the world in which he resides becomes a pure land, free from defilement; see Lamotte 1976, Appendix note 1. 51 For the Sanskrit of this statement by the bodhisattva, see SS 93:20-23. 52 The phrase “I know this for myself” (abhijānāmi) points to the supernatural knowledge (abhijñā) of past lives. Jyotis is a brahman youth (māṇavaka). R elevates the woman from water-carrier (as per Fa) to merchant’s daughter— inadvisably, for the lower her caste, the more dramatic the effect of his cohabitation with her. In the tale of the Bodhisattva as Megha alluded to at section 93 following, future spouse Yaśodharā is a water carrier. Surāṣṭra is a tentative reconstruction. There Nārada—the Bodhisattva in a past life—also fails in morality; see Jātaka tr. 3:277. 53 “Seven steps” alludes to the Indian ceremony of marriage; see also notes to sections 49, 51 following. 54 “Four stations of Brahma” (brahma-vihāra): love, compassion, appreciation, and even-mindedness. Success in the (meditative) cultivation of these four brings rebirth as a brahma god, despite Jyotis’ previous uncelibate conduct, abrahmacarya. See section 35 following. 55 This formula authenticates a past-life tale. 56 For the wife of Śākyamuni, Fa has “the water-carrier Yaśodharā”; see section 91 and note following. Jyotis’ deed of mixed karma—lust and compassion—brings about the moderately positive result of rebirth on a high plane and temporary release from the process of saṁsāra; compare sections 136-37 and note following. Contra the Sanskrit, R reads itareṇa for itvareṇa, “a little” instead of “transitory” passion. 57 For the Sanskrit of the last two paragraphs, see SS 93:17-19. 58 On Kokālika see Mpps 1:63n., 2:806-13. During the rainy season, Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana pass a night in a potter’s house in which a woman is hidden, unknown to them. She dreams and has an impure discharge. Kokālika passes by the next morning, notices the discharge and the two monks inside, and proclaims them to be impure, finally coming before the Buddha. Unlike Ānanda in the incident above, he refuses to recant. (Thus he is guilty of suspension offense no. 9; see Prebish 1975:56.) The next night he dies and falls into hell. The traditional accounts do not regard S. and M. as being at fault for failing to prove their innocence to K. (M. can fly according to tradition.) In one version (Mpps 813n.), M. descends into hell to try to save him.. 59 Fa Kakutsunda. The two refer to the same Buddha, most often numbered the third of the six proceeding Śākamuni; see Mv 1:1-2. See Sgra-sbyor 15-16 for the derivation of the names. 60 “Physically”: they would have fallen directly into hell without waiting to be reborn there. The rishis (ṛṣis) may have erred by assuming the rainfall to be caused by sexual intercourse; see Jātaka no. 526 (vol. 5), OFlaherty 1973: 42-52. 61 Maitreya, the buddha to come after Śākyamuni, resides in Tuṣita heaven. 62 Fa: “is beyond the range (viṣaya)”, also in Upāli. All acts of the high-stage bodhisattva are accompanied by gnosis (jñāna), unlike those of the auditor, etc. Gavāṁpati for example, re-chewed his food—as though it were a cud—even after attaining arhatship; “such an act is not accompanied by gnosis” (Mpps 3:1659). 63 The sixty-four arts form part of kāma-śāstra; see Kāmasūtra 3: song, instrumental music, painting, self-adornment, etc. SS cites this analogy at 94:9-11. But this, adds Śāntideva, is a practice of someone at the level of the six perfections, not of someone who has merely attained the stages. 64 R expands the “three doors to deliverance” (vimokṣa-dvāra) by adding “selflessness” from the list of the “three marks of all conditioned things”. See also the contamination at sections 44, 60 following. To paraphrase: The bodhisattva may indulge himself in sensual pleasures that would normally lead to a lower rebirth, if he has first purified them of defilement by comprehending their emptiness, etc. Compare Kp 48: “Poison cannot kill someone in possession of mantras and medicine, so . . . the poison of defilement cannot send a bodhisattva to a distressing rebirth when he possesses gnosis and skill in means.” The term varṇa in this context suggests the later usage of gotra “class” in the sense of “inherent qualities of buddhahood”. 65 Contra Sanskrit: seized by the king himself. 66 For the Sanskrit of this section, see SS 92:15-19. Bendall (SS tr. 161) takes prabhujya, not unreasonably, as “having enjoyed”; so “whatever he wishes, by a single thought of omniscience based on the strength of knowledge after having enjoyed all the kinds of desire, he is reborn in Brahmā’s world.” See also the elaboration at PW A 233-35. 67 “Warrior” is literally “archery teacher”; see CPD s.v. issācāriya. 68 “Living in a state of carelessness (pramāda-vihārin): a designation for the secular life; see references to Saṁyutta Nikāya, etc. at CPD s.v. appamāda. On Māra, ruler of the realm of sense-desire, see section 120 and note following. 69 For a similar analysis see VM 15:15-16, also 18:31: “The psycho-physical organism is empty, inert.” 70 The heaven of the Thirty-three (trāyastriṁśa) at the peak of Mount Sumeru is inhabited by the vedic equivalents of the gods of Mount Olympus. The seven precious substances according to Lotus Sanskrit are gold, silver, beryl, coral, pearl and crystal (Hurvitz 1976:183, 373); other lists E s.v. On sex change in Mahāyāna sutras see Paul 1979. 71 Fa: “I have obtained immeasurable wonder-working power (ṛddhi).” The Sanskrit for R Tib is undoubtedly ṛddha, “opulence”. R Ch agrees with Fa, as does verse 10 following: “majestic power”. 72 Compare Mv 3:311-12: A poor woman offers a rag robe to the Bodhisattva as an ascetic, is reborn in Trāyastriṁśa and wonders what her reward would have been if he had made use of the robe. Compare also the story of the village cow-girl Sujātā, who according to Mv gives Śākyamuni food because of her lust for him, and is predicted as a consequence to independent buddhahood (Mv 2:206:17-8). 73 Both versions are unclear. The original term seems to have been suvarṇāvabhāsa, read by Fa as varṇāpramāṇa and mistranslated by R Tib as shin tu’phags pa. 74 So R, translating dharmodārena ,“with the best offerings of doctrine”. Fa reads udārodārena, “with offerings vast and sublime.” 75 R Tib “thinks of me”, reading preṣet for prekṣati. 76 “Devil lore”: kākhorda, khakhorna. If Dakṣiṇottarā had attempted to seduce a non-buddhist ascetic, she might have been cursed to sweat to death; see O’Flaherty 1973, motif no. 11c, 36a. 77 “Confident (vaiśāradya)”: so R Tib, as in the verses preceding. But Fa, Sanskrit: “To become a man and a truly exalted being.” R Ch seems to read ādāra in place of udāra, “exalted”. 78 R Tib has the “heroes” going to heaven. For the Sanskrit of verses 2-3 see SS 94:3-6. 79 For this Sanskrit of this verse, see SS 94:7-9. The SS comments (94:9): Where benefit for a sentient being is at issue, desire-attachment is not a transgression. Bhaiṣajyarāja, “king of healing”, is later considered a specific bodhisattva, but the sense here is: No one hates a successful physician. In the chapter of the Lotus devoted to that bodhisattva, it is said that a woman who studies the chapter will be reborn as a male in Sukhāvatī. See also Birnbaum 1979:24-25, Mpps 1:17n.1 and references, 228. 80 Mount Sumeru, in the cosmology of the AK, has sides of gold, silver, lapis and crystal. Anything stationed before the side of gold is tinged a golden color by the sun’s reflected light. (The southern side is lapis, hence our sky is blue.) For the same upāya by which a bodhisattva reflects the thoughts of others, see Bhadramāyā 110; as done by the Buddha see ibid. 15. On the other hand, hateful thoughts and the like are obstacles to study; see PWA 167-68. 81 This panacea, known as a “king of healing” is also mentioned in the Gaṇḍavyūha sutra, references E s.v. sudarśana 10. This passage has also been noticed by Birnbaum 1979:24-25. 82 This Kāśyapa, called “great” (mahā) to distinguish him from others, is known for solitude and austere practice (Mpps 2:1547, Lamotte 1976 s.v. Mahākāśyapa, E s.v. Kāśyapa). He is associated at an early stage with what Conze called the New Wisdom school, especially by the very early Kp. 83 R again contaminates the three marks of all conditioned things with a fourth item; compare sections 43, 44 above. 84 “Those places (pradeśa)” is a pun for “region” upon “teachings”. 85 chab sgo gcig cas bgyi ba ni, de ltar theg pa gcig gi lam du blta bar bgyi'o 86 Tīrthikas and parivrājikas: brahmanical and non-brahmanical religieux, exclusive of buddhists; see the incidents at sections 152 and 154 following. 87 On Māra see section 120 following. The four means of attraction (saṁgrahavastu) are generosity, kind words, helpfulness, and consistency of words and deeds. 88 The incident will be treated at sections 104-16 following. Śramaṇas are non-brahmanical religieux, including buddhists. 89 Dīpaṁkara is the first buddha of the Auspicious Eon bhadra-kalpa). In his presence, according to tradition, the Bodhisattva begins the path to buddhahood by generating the thought of awakening. That rebirth is again adduced at section 93 following; see also Mv 1:1:14-2:1. 90 “Conviction. . .”: see n. 2 above. “Unerring” etc. are five of the eight “special qualities of a buddha” (āveṇika-buddhadharma) known to Mv (1:160:8ff), Pali commentaries, and later sources (CPD, E. s.v.). Number 4 diverges here. What stage is this in the bodhisattva’s career? The “special qualities of a Buddha” here precede “conviction”, which is a specifically bodhisattva attainment. However, “conviction” may be taken to correspond to the point in the Nk account (134) of the Pali canon at which the Bodhisattva, as the Cakravartin Vijitāvin under Buddha Kauṇḍinya, masters the Tripiṭaka, the three higher forms of knowledge, etc. Mv ignores these attainments in its chapter on Vijitāvin (vol. 3); it has already assigned the buddha qualities to a bodhisattva of the eighth stage (Mv 1:105-7). PW A refers to “conviction” as characteristic of an irreversible (avaivartika) bodhisattva who is certain to achieve the next step, gnosis (241, translated “cognition”). Dbh likewise places “conviction” at the seventh stage, adding that whereas nirvāṇa has been achieved at Stage Six, the bodhisattva at that stage declines to enter cessation but renews his exertions at Stage Seven (7 K-L). 91 Compare Mpps 1:21: “If the Bodhisattva could walk and speak from birth, people would say, ‘ . . . he must be a god, a nāga, or an asura. How can we follow his teachings?” On the misapprehension by some disciples that he is a god, etc., see ibid. (from Aṅguttara 2:38, etc.) 92 Fa: “has changed lives (pratisaṁdhau gata).” “Reaches the site of awakening” (bodhimaṇḍa-niṣīdana) refers to the Awakening Tree; see sections 177ff following. “Magical creation”, “emanation”: on nirmāṇa-kāya see Mpps 1:20n. and references. His birth is like the birth of gods, according to Lv 47, v. 22. In accounts older than Up he descends in person, but “mindful and in full awareness” (as he emerges from the womb at section 82 following; see Majjhima 3 118 cited Thomas 1949:30-31 Mv 2:9:20). In some versions, he is attended by the gods of Tuṣita. So also Nk. 93 The sutras specify ten (lunar) months exactly—not a bit more or less as with other gestations; see Nk 65, Thomas 1949:153, Mv 1:148:1, Mpps 1:271 (noting at p. 269 that he has the strength of Nārāyaṇa, the Indian Heracles). 94 Here the magical (nirmita) birth of the bodhisattva—as specified at section 76 above— is distinguished from the apparitional (aupapāduka), non-sexual birth of hell-beings, gods and ghosts; see Mpps 1:270-71, AK 3:8cd. In the Mv they are not thus distinguished (1:177:13; see also Mv 2:20:16-17: his mother’s side is not rent because “Buddhas manifest themselves with physical bodies made by mind”). On her lack of wounds see Lv 69:17. On her lack of discomfort see Nk 65; Majjhima tr. Thomas 1949:30; Mv 1:147:17, 2:12-15. The phrase “physical and mental joy” (in place of “pleasure”) in R Ch is closest to Lv (43:16-17). At section 92 below, his son is said to be conceived apparitionally, not from the embryo of his parents. 95 In specifying the plakṣa tree (ficus infectoria, the “waved-leaf fig”), the text follows Mv verse (1:149:15-16, 2:19:17-18) agreed with by Lv prose (61:17-18). In contrast, Mv prose ( 2:18:8-9) and Nk (66) name the śala tree (shorea robusta); so also Mv 1:220:8-9 for the birth of the Buddha Dīpaṁkara. See also Thomas 1949:33-34. At Bc 1:8, Māyā is encouched. 96 “Cleanliness of habits” (śuci-samācāra) refers primarily, of course, to celibacy. Most other accounts likewise emphasize the cleanliness of the birth. He emerges through the right side also at Mv 1:148:1-2, 1:220:10-11; Lv 61:20-22, Bc 1:11. The triple world consists of the realms of sense-desire, attenuated materiality and non-materiality. 97 Nk (66-67) engages almost all deities save Indra. See also Thomas 1927:33. Bc has no formal reception. Mv does not name the gods; but the world-protectors bear him “on the hip” (2:21:5-6). Lv 61:23-35: Indra and Brahmā swaddle him with clothing; so also Mpps 3:1343. But compare section 87 following. For Indra’s prior service see for example Nk 67. 98 The question is posed in these words at Mv 2:21;1-2, save that Mv has apariśrānti “not tired [of the womb]”, whereas Up and Lv (62:13) have aparigṛhīta “unsupported”. At Mv 2:20:19-22:7, 24:5=1:219:3 on Dīpaṁkara, and at Bc 1:14, he takes seven steps upon the earth and gazes into the directions. At Lv 62:13, Majjhima 3:123, etc. he takes seven steps in each direction. Texts, other references Mpps 1:6-10n. 99 Indra does not belong among the proud, for he has done the swaddling recounted just above. Compare Mv 2:22:2-5: The newborn bodhisattva laughs, and makes his enunciation in response to the māra gods, who have suggested that he become a secular monarch. Lv adds, “This is my final rebirth”. Texts, references Mpps 1:6-10n. 100 A universe comprising one billion, or 109 worlds (trisāhasra-mahāsāhasra-lokadhātu), each world consisting of a single Mount Sumeru world of four continents with its attached heavens and hells. 101 Compare Mv 2:22:6-7 (and variant 1:220:5-6): “The teachers praise this as a karmic reward,/For thus the teaching of the Buddhas is announced.” Lv 62:25: “This is the way of the bodhisattva’s higher knowledge, made manifest as a karmic reward.” 102 This occurs otherwise only at Mv 2:20:20 and 1:218:18 (on Dīpaṁkara): mahāhāsaṁ ca ūhati. In Mpps (1:6) the laugh becomes a “lion’s roar”, emboldening the claims he made in the preceding section. 103 R Ch attests this last clause. In early sūtras, two clouds pour water and gods assist the bathing; see Nk 66-67 cited Thomas 1949:33, in which his inherent cleanliness from afterbirth is also noted. So also Bc 1:16. In some early sources and at Mv 2:23:4-7, 24:16-20, Sbhv 1:45:17, the showers are hot and cold. Lv 62:1: bodhisattvaṁ snāpayataḥ sma; here the bath attendants are two nāga kings. 104 “Sovereignty over four continents (caturdvīpa)”: the mantle of a cakravartin, who reigns over the four continents in a Mount Sumeru world-system. “Women’s quarters (anthaḥpura)”: the arts of pleasure—dance, song, women, etc. are implied; see Lv ch. 13, Up section 90 following. 105 The same question and answer are found at Mv 2:3:1-20 (and 1:199:3-19, in context of Dīpaṁkara). The interpolation by R of “pure divine eye” resembles Mv: “he examines his mother with great mindfulness obtained by pure karma.” The divine or god-like eye enables long-distance examination. Lv (70:25-29) poses the question in the same words and answers (but without referring to a prior examination from the height of Tuṣita) with two reasons: her span of life is exhausted, and his later departure from home, if she lived to see it, would “break his mother’s heart”. Nk (65) reasons that the womb that housed the Bodhisattva is a virtual shrine (caitya), and cannot be later inhabited by someone else; compare Mv 2:3:15-16. 106 See Mv 1:153:4-5: the Bodhisattva knows all arts without a teacher. At Nk 76 the Bodhisattva tells his father that there is no art he need learn; yet he must demonstrate to his clansmen that he is not entirely pleasure-loving, but is also prepared for the eventuality of war (see also Thomas 1949:48). In the Nk he shows it with archery. In the Mv (2:74:875:19) he demonstrates warfare and pugilistics to win his bride, but only archery is described. This demonstration is made in response to a complaint by the bride's father that he has been raised in the women’s quarters and has no education in the arts, archery, elephantry, weaponry or political science (Mv 2:73:6-9). The Bodhisattva proposes a seven-day tournament in any or all of the arts, archery, warfare and pugilistics, cutting and stabbing, foot racing, wrestling, elephantry, horsemanship, chariot, bowmanship, swordsmanship and reasoning. In Lv the reason for the demonstration is the same, though the names of the bride and her father differ. He engages in a tourney of letters, numbers, sports and martial arts (Lv 102:7ff), concluding with an account of the sixty-four arts (108:818). The second list in R is drawn from a similar list of sixty-four. Only mantras and spells (mantra-vidyā) are not found in the list of the Lv; these may derive from a misunderstanding of an alternative tradition, e.g. Bc 2:24: he learns “all the fields of knowledge (vidyā) suitable to his class. Bc 2:35: he does not learn harmful vidyā but pacific knowledge, jñāna; and 2:52: he studies peaceful śāstra and renounces arms. 107 The question in Mv (1:153:6-8) goes: “Bodhisattvas, from the Tuṣita existence forward, do not indulge in sensepleasure. . . How then is Rāhula born?” The question is posed also in the Śūraṁgama-samādhi Sūtra (139, 177-78). For the name Rāhula, Fa has *Dhanadhara/Ṛṇadhara here and following; see E s.v. on Rāhula, Lamotte 1976:74n. and references. Fa names the chief queen as Yaśodharā here and following, agreeing with Mv and most sources (e.g. Bc 2:26). The name Gopā, as in R, agrees with Lv. The earliest sources refer to her only as “Rāhula’s mother” (DPPN s.v. Rāhulamātā). Msv, however, names her among three wives Mpps explains that Gopā was first but she was sterile (2:1003-4). See also Mpps 5:2236 and references n. 2; Thomas 1949:48-50; E s.v. the various names. 108 The story of Megha and Prakṛti is alluded to here; the tale is told at Mv 1:232:13-234:15. The maid Prakṛti declines an offer by Megha to purchase five of her seven utpala (blue lotus flowers) for an offering to Buddha Dīpaṁkara. Instead, she gives them free of charge, in return for the promise of marriage, promising in turn not to hinder his bodhicitta. The incident is absent in the Nk account of Sumedha (2ff), but a corresponding tale occurs in the Apadāna. 109 “Distress” (vinipāta) is code for a lower state of rebirth. The total number of consorts is only forty thousand in Pali commentaries (Nk 75, Thomas 1949:48). Mv 2:48:7 refers to “many thousands”. Lv 108:31-23: eighty-four thousand. 110 “Creates emanations” (nirmitān abhinirmaṇati): this is well attested as a capability of a buddha in Mv and Lv. This observation upon harem life does not appear elsewhere, but at Lv 196:19-20 the Bodhisattva multiplies his bodies for the village maid Sujātā. The similarity to Krishna and his gopis demands mention. 111 Chandaka is the groom. On the great departure see Sbhv 1:84-93; Thomas 1949, ch. 5; Lv ch. 15, Nk 81-87; Mpps 1:711. The age of the Bodhisattva is 29 (Thomas 1949:51). 112 This childhood incident is mentioned here, out of chronological order, because it prefigures the great departure. The Bodhisattva sits under a jambu (rose-apple) tree and falls into meditation, attaining the first trance (Lv ch.11: all four trances). As the day wears on, the shade of the tree does not leave him (chāyā bodhisattvaṁ na jahāti, Mv 2:45:14). See also Bc ch. 5, Sbhv 75-78, Thomas 1949:44-46, E s.v. vihahanatā from Nk 74-75. 113 R Tib, losing a word, reads “does not dislike his relatives”. See also Mv 2:150-51 Nk 76-79, Sbhv 67-75, Bc ch. 3, Thomas 1949:51-52. 114 Mv specifies midnight, and describes son Rāhula entering the womb at that time (2:159:3, 13). For the timing of Rāhula's birth see Mpps 2:1001-2n. Compare the reasons for his stealthy departure given at Mv 2:117, 161-62, and Bc 6:15-24. 115 Mv: Kaṇṭhaka neighs loudly, but the gods have put the city to sleep; the doors are opened by yakṣas (2:160-61). In Nk (83) the gate is opened by a deva. Bc 5:82: he is borne in flight by yakṣas; the gates have opened by themselves. 116 The “customs of the nobles” (āryavaṁśa) are (AK 6:7cd): contentment with the clothing, alms and bedding of a renunciate and delight in the path to nirvāṇa. See also section 146 and note following. 117 Amanuṣya, a ghost or spirit. In Mv (2:165:19) and Lv (164:2), the hair is taken up by the Trāyastriṁśa gods. 118 Fa has a different Sanskrit version: “The Bodhisattva does not practice austerities in response to obstacles brought about by past deeds (karmāvaraṇāparādha). The Bodhisattva, being skilled in means, must necessarily demonstrate (uddeśayitavya) to sentient beings the functioning of deeds.” 119 The interpretation current among the schools is that the six years of austerities undergone by Śākyamuni (which proved to be irrelevant to the attainment of awakening) were the karmic result of his denigration of Buddha Kāśyapa with those words. So Msv 1:*27-28, 217-18; Apadāna 1:301, v 29-30. Msv refers to the Madhyamāgama for the full story; compare Majjhima no. 81, vol. 2, Nk 51, Mv 1:317-38. Sbhv 2:22-30, Jātaka 1:43, Mpps 1:22-23n. Refuting that interpretation, Up will in Part Three explain those six years, as well as nine other apparent “karmic connections”, to be well-considered applications of skill in means to the benefit of others. The earliest understanding of the six years of austerities— that they demonstrate a wrong way in order to point up the Middle Way— will also be adduced by Up, at section 115 following. “Speech with a hidden intention” (saṁdhā-vacana): see Majjhima 1:503:17, Lotus 349-50, E s.v. See also section 127 following. 120 In earlier versions Jyotipāla's childhood companion is the potter: Mv 1:319:11 vayasya, Sbhv 2:23:2 vayasyaka, Majjhima 2:1:46:5 sahāya. “Well-to-do” (mahāśāla) describes the family of Jyotipāla in older versions; see the gloss at Sbhv 2:22:3-4 121 In the Mv, Jyotipāla and Ghaṭikāra are together on the verge of a lotus pond when found by the companions (1:320:1718). 122 Sanskrit: Avaivartikacakra-dhāraṇī-vajrapada-sarvadharmānutpāda-bodhisattvapiṭaka-dharmaparyāya. Mv mentions only instructions “with a doctrinal discourse” (dhārmayākathayā, 1:322:6-7), following bestowal upon Jyotipāla of refuge and lay precepts. Jyotipāla later becomes a monk; still later, he resolves to become a buddha and receives confirmation that he will do so (1:330, 331-32). 123 “Bound to one more birth only” (ekajāti-pratibaddha): a phrase used by Lv (8:19) to describe the Bodhisattva in Tuṣita; here it refers to the life before Tuṣita (which is the last lifetime proper, see section 76 above). So also Mpps 1:267. The bodhisattva should not “grow obsessed with excessive regret” for a misdeed, because he can rectify the fault if bodhicitta is still intact (Upāli 39). 124 “To confute them”; the argument derives from Mv 2:127:17-128:1. The daily food that is itemized corresponds to Mv, Lv and Bc (12:96); Nk lacks the jujube berries; Mpps corresponds to Nk. References Mpps 1:12n. 125 The terminology “devoted to wretched practices (lūhādhimuktā)” derives from Mv 2:131-5; see also Lv 193:13. 126 “The path cannot be gained with the body emaciated, impotent” (kṛśeṇa, durbalena; Mv 2:131:5; compare Lv 193:9). The Bodhisattva takes food from the cow-girl Sujātā (but she is not mentioned by name in the early versions). In the Mv, intervention by devas is needed; other gods and the local people expect him to fast. See also Nk 90-94, Thomas 1949:7071. 127 Other texts offer varying explanations: Sujātā intended the offerings for a tree deity in hope of bearing a son (Nk 91); she has been the Bodhisattva’s mother in five hundred past lives (Mv 2:206:17). This explanation by Up resembles that of Bc 12:112: she (named Nandabālā) became capable of awakening (bodhiprāptau samartho ’bhūt). Lv also confirms her future buddhahood (195:9-12). In early versions, she and her family take refuge. 128 Viraja: “dustless”, free from passion. Fa reads “Vairocana”. No other source predicts buddhahood for Swastika (svastika). 129 “Intermediate cause”: antara hetu? Fa has nirvāṇa-hetu, compare the phrase bodhi-hetu at Lv 119:12 and discussion; Mv 1:536, note to line 6; E s.v. hetu (2) on the adverbial use of hetu. Many among Māra’s host already have stores of merit; see Mv 2:315:10. See also Lv 218:8-9: seeing his lion’s play, the hosts of Māra generate bodhicitta, etc. “Lion’s play” is a brilliant, earth-shaking samādhi (commented upon at Mpps 1:431-52). On “lion” see also Mv 2:281, 309-14, 316:20. On “play” see Mv 1:178:8, Lv 130:19 (the “play of his great skill in means”), E s.v. vikrīḍita. 130 The world is likewise illuminated at parallel passages of Mv (2:313ff) and Lv (218:10ff), and Lv also credits the light with speech. “Will nirvāṇize” (nirvāpayiṣyati): compare Lv 218:22. 131 Mv verse (2:342:20): “thirty square leagues (yojanas)” of flowers thrown by the gods); Mv prose (2:315:4ff): an army of “many yojanas”. Compare Lv 222:29: samantāntā dasītir yojana. Mahorāga: land-serpents. Kumbhāṇḍa: a class of demons. 132 At this point in the Mv account of Dīpaṁkara (1:230:12-231:2), he remains in the lotus position in which he attained awakening, receiving homage from the same divinities and acceding to their request to teach doctrine. Description of the sitting position, etc. follows Mv 2:15-16. See also Mv 3:281:14-7; Nk 105-6; Bc 14:94; Lv 274:20, 279:25-26. The gods identified as dwelling in “the Realm of Attenuated Materiality whose course is calm (rūpāvacārapraśāntacarya)” reside well above Māra’s realm of desire. They are born there from states of trance. 133 The Bodhisattva agrees to the request by Brahmā, according to Mv (3:318:14-15), because of his compassion, the request itself, and a resolve made seven eons before; Lv (292:30-293:2): because of the request itself and his compassion. See also Nk 111, Thomas 1949:81-86, Bc 14:95-103, Sbhv 1:129-30, Mpps 1:13 and 55-63. But compare Mv 3;447:1-8, misplaced verses that may indicate teaching unrequested. 134 “Karmic connections” (*karma-saṁtati) is literally “continuations of karma”. Compare the nine “results of misdeeds” (āpatti-vipāka) at Mpps 1:507-17, and references ibid. to lists from Msv, Apadāna, etc., including a passage of the Daśadharmaka-sūtra of the Ratnakūṭa collection (511n.) Further discussion at Lamotte 1976:294-98. A similar list is known to the Laṅkāvatāra (207). See also Mpps 3:1661-90 for a set of apparent misdeeds committed by the Buddha in his last existence. 135 This passage is translated at Hob 235, the translation reproduced at Mpps 1:511n. On “king of healing” see section 57 and note above. 136 According to the analysis of this tale by the Ethics chapter of the Bodhisattva-bhūmi (at Tatz 1986:214-15), these elements must be present for an act of murder to be permissible, if not required: someone about to commit a deed of immediate retribution, there being no other means to prevent it, the bodhisattva aware of the consequence for himself, his own attitude not unwholesome but compassionate, and mastery of skill in means. In the version of this tale in the Mv (etc., references and Mv Sanskrit at Mpps 1:283-4n.; compare also Jātaka no. 463, vol. 4), the Bodhisattva as sārthavāha Mahākāruṇika sacrifices his own life to save his companions from shipwreck when a sacrifice is demanded by a deity of the sea. “Jambu Continent” here refers to the mainland of India. The tale is intended to adduce the deed in a past life that resulted in Śākyamuni being pierced by a thorn; see following. In the Apadāna the thorn is explained by a past life in which the Bodhisattva was a king who slew a man with a spear (1:300, v. 21-22; see also Mpps 1:508n.). 137 Maudgalyāyana is famed for supernatural power. The incident occurs while the Buddha is walking in a wood (Mpps 1:510; other references ibid. 508n.) 138 The account of this incident appears to come from the Msv (2:47:7-14): for an illness, there called guḍaharītakīm, which may be gastroenteritis, Jīvaka compounds a purgative from thirty-two utpala, the blue lotus, which the Buddha snuffs (ghrāta). R’s utpalahastagandha, a medicine “smelling like a handful of utpala”(?) is not otherwise attested. Textual corruptions of the medicine in Sbhv (2:90-93) and Mahīśāsaka-vinaya (cited Hob 233a-b) result in “thirty-two ounces of ghee” and “infusion” (ghṛta, nārācaghṛta). Fa reads simply “medicine of the utpala flower from the physician Jīvaka”. Jīvaka is physician to the court of Rājagṛha and the buddhist community. He is entitled “king of physicians” (vaidyarāja) at Msv 2:42:4 and other places. The illness is described as recompense for a past deed at Sbhv op. cit, Apadāna 1:301, v. 28; and Msv 1:*27, 218. Apadāna: “I was a physician who purged a merchant’s son,/ For which deed I now have diarrhea”. Not receiving his fee from the merchant for previous consultations, the Bodhisattva damaged the son’s intestines with too strong a medicine. This illness is not part of the Mpps list of nine karmic connections (1:506-11). 139 In the ceremonies of monastic ordination (though not in the text of prātimokṣa), the medicine prescribed for general use by monastics is pūtimukta, “excrements”, such as cow dung topically applied. See section 147 following; also the article by J. May at Hob 329a-355a. 140 This follows Fa, R misses the point, reading, “Son of the family, the Thus-Come-One considers: ‘What means is there for me to give them permission to seek and resort to other medicine? What way is there?’ Why so? If the Thus-ComeOne did not make other medicine permissible for them, monks of future times would not comply with the usages of the nobles; they would violate the usages of the nobles.” The dilemma correctly understood is that waiving a rule for monks in this instance would precipitate a general decline in adherence to it in the future—the rule being that monks may use only excrement for medicine. Evidently, the avoidance of other medicine is regarded by Up as one of the āryavaṁśa, “usages of the nobles”, perhaps a version of the problematic fourth (see section 102 and note above). More usually, it is fourth in another list, that of the four reliances (niśraya) of religious life (the first three: sleeping at the foot of a tree, begging one’s food, and wearing rags). 141 “Pure abodes” (śuddhāvāsa): several levels of deity, belonging to the Realm of Attenuated Materiality, corresponding to the highest stage of trance. 142 The Buddha’s failure to get alms in a brahman village is related in the Piṇḍasūtra; discussion, references Mpps 1:45758. As a karmic connection it is part of the Msv and other lists (ibid. 509n., 511), but not that of the Apadāna. 143 Fa: “who has gathered the resource of merit (puṇyasambhāropacita).” 144 “Well-to-do”: mahāśālin; this may be the proper name of the village. In older Indic sources it is called Śālā; in Pali sources it is called Pañcasālā, “five sāla trees” (Mpps 1:458n.) 145 Cañcā-māṇavikā is hired by brahmans to pretend to pass nights at the Jeta Grove for some months and then confront Śākyamuni, during a lecture, with an apparent pregnancy, feigned with the aid of a wooden bowl. Up seems to follow versions (for example Msv 1:161-63) in which the god Indra causes the bowl to fall to earth; the girl is banished and goes to hell when she dies. In other versions she falls to hell immediately, or spontaneously catches fire and burns alive. References Mpps 1:123n.; see also Thomas 1949:111. This incident is by some accounts a karmic recompense for having slandered religious figures in past lives. See Apadāna 1:299, v. 7-9; Mvs 1:*24, *29, 212:9-216:2, Mpps 1:508. The Bodhisattva went to hell for those deeds; this incident is a residue of the karma. 146 Corrected from “unwholesome” by reference to Fa. Sundarī/Sundarikā is a non-buddhist renunciate (parivrājikā) who is directed by her instructors to pretend to pass a night with the Buddha. Thereafter, they hire thugs to slay her and conceal her body in a rubbish pit nearby. For one week, until the assassins are discovered, the buddhists are blamed for her death. References Mpps 1:507-8, Jātaka introduction to no. 285 (vol. 2), Thomas 1949:111-12, Sbhv 1:207-9. This incident as the residue of a past deed: see Msv 1:*22-24, Apādana 1:299-300 (v. 3-6), Mpps 1:509-10n. 147 The four assemblies (catuṣpariṣad) are male and female monastics, and male and female householders. 148 According to Msv, Agnidatta is responsible, and Vairambha is the location, according to Rhys Davids “in Kośala”. During the twelfth rainy season of the Buddha’s ministry, a brahman invites the community but neglects to feed them; the countryside is in famine and the Buddha declines to beg. In some versions the patron is said to be under the influence of Māra. References Mpps 1:124-25; see also Msv 1:24-48, Thomas 1949:118. For this incident as a recompense for a past deed see Apadāna 1:300-1, v. 25-26; Msv 1:*26-27, 216-17; Mpps 1:50910n. 149 “Most excellent taste” is mark number 26 of 32 in the list: “He has (taste) conductors which give him the most excellent taste.” More detail is provided by Mpps (1:278), for example, “the two extremities of his throat secrete an ambrosia that concentrates all savors.” 150 “Observing Uposatha day” (upavāsa-stha): days of the lunar cycle on which monastics recite the prātimokṣa while householders observe semi-monastic precepts and audit discourses; see CPD s.v. uposatha, Mpps 2:825-26n. This incident comes from the Śaikṣa-sūtra (also Majjhima 1:353-59), in which the Buddha directs Ānanda to teach the seven limbs of awakening (references Mpps 1:244, 2:942-44, 3:1649). The Buddha’s back is troubled by (the humor) wind, and the brahman Devahita cures it with a cold-water massage; reference ibid. 1:509n. As a karmic connection see ibid.; also Apadāna 1:301, v. 27. The seven limbs of awakening (bodhyaṅga) are mindfulness, investigation into dharmas, vigor, joyous zest, tranquility, concentration and even-mindedness. 151 For the phrase “gross bodies composed of the elements” (audārikabhūtakāya-pariniṣpanna), see references E s.v. audārika. At Mv 2:277:18, Māra says, “The śramaṇa Gautama has a gross body born from his parents; mine is a mindmade body”. The four elements (bhūta) of matter are earth, air, fire and water. 152 The dynasty ends when Siddhārtha, an only son, renounces home life. Later the Śākyas are massacred by Virūḍaka. On the reaction of the Buddha see Mpps 1:511 and references ibid. 508-9n.; also Thomas 1949:139-40 (how the Buddha tried to save them, according to Pāli sources). 153 This incident is not part of the other lists of karmic connection. A brahman of the Aggika-bharadvāja clan hails the Buddha, insulting him as shave-pate, śramaṇa, and outcaste, but he is ordained at the end of the Buddha’s response. 154 The past-life tales alluded to are legion; see Jātaka indices s.v. Devadatta; for example, Devadatta as the brahman Jūjaka in the Vessantara-jātaka (no. 547, vol. 6). However, it may be noted that Devadatta's final request, at the end of the Buddha's lifetime, to inherit leadership of the community, is not granted, and acts of violence are the outcome. 155 Three incidents: (1) The assassins are sixteen archers of King Ajātaśatru. Sbhv consolidates this with the incident of the catapult. (2) The elephant Dhanapāla/Nālāgiri is maddened and set upon the Buddha by Devadatta. (3) Devadatta himself looses a boulder from a hillside. The rock breaks apart before reaching him, but a fragment injures the foot of the Buddha and this is his “residue of karma”. References Mpps 2:874. See also Sbhv 2:166-70 (the boulder); Bc 21:4058, Sbhv 2:189-91. 156 Fa’s “ambitious” (yaśas-kāma) is perhaps preferable to R’s “benevolent” (hita-kāma); compare Mpps 3:1545. Devadatta’s ambition is to inherit leadership of the Buddhist community; for his schismatic efforts to that end see Sbhv entire, Mpps 2:868-78; on the Buddha’s refusal, see ibid 3:1671-74, DPPN 1008. Compare Devadatta with Ajātaśatru, who kills his father to accede to kingship. 157 Fa, variant: “What need to mention sentient beings whose store of merit is small (hīnakuśalamūlasattva)?” 158 Here following Fa. R misplaces the qualifier “all” and loses track of the analogy, reading: “all sentient beings will see the Bodhisattva undertaking his practice and they will think that he will educate them in skill in means (and sentient beings who are unprepared will have it only in name).” 159 On the enactment of a new language standard for translation (incorporated into Mhv and Sgra-sbyor) by these and other scholars, see Sgra-sbyor, Introduction.