Toh 28 — The Samantabhadra Perfection of Wisdom
Samantabhadraprajñāpāramitā
Translated by the Nyimé Translation Committee under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra
The Samantabhadra Perfection of Wisdom
F.177.b Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the country of Magadha in a solitary place,[1] the essence of Dharma,[2]F.178.a accompanied by bodhisattvas who had gathered there from limitless, countless buddhafields in the ten directions and were as numerous as the minute particles of those buddhafields.[3] All of them maintained the conduct of having mastered Samantabhadra’s aspiration.
Then the bodhisattva Samantabhadra entered[4] the meditative stability called the display of the nonconceptuality of all phenomena.[5] Through the power of that meditative stability, world systems as numerous as the minute particles of buddhafields were all shaken. The Blessed One then touched the bodhisattva Samantabhadra’s head with his hand, and through that touch all the buddhafields, too, were shaken. The gods praised him with a harmonious verse:
Then the bodhisattva Samantabhadra asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, how should we train in the goal of training that resembles wisdom, and that which is wisdom?”[8]
The Blessed One replied, “Samantabhadra, that which resembles wisdom is the wisdom of those traveling the worldly path of accumulation. That which is wisdom is the wisdom of the first ground onward.”
When the Blessed One had spoken these words, the bodhisattva Samantabhadra and the whole world with its gods and humans rejoiced and praised what the Blessed One had said.
This completes “The Noble Samantabhadra Mahāyāna Sūtra.”[9]Notes
H: ma ga dha’i dgon pa; Z: ma ga dha dgon par; N: ma ga ta dgon par; D, J, He: ma ga dha dgon pa; Y: ma ga ta dgon pa.
backThe sequence of phrases describing the place, places, or states in which the Blessed One was staying could be interpreted in several different ways. Conze translates this as “in a remote forest called the ‘Pith of Dharma,’ ” and Driessens as “at the hermitage Essence of the Doctrine” (translated from French). We have chosen to translate chos kyi snying po (as in D and J, but chos kyi snying por in Z and N) as the essence of Dharma but the essence of phenomena or the essence of the teachings would also be possible renderings. This phrase may be either simply descriptive, or a place name, or the name of a meditative stability; if either of the latter two, one might expect the marker zhes bya ba, but its absence is not conclusive.
backWe followed D, J, Z, N: phyogs bcu’i sangs rgyas; He: phyogs bcu sangs rgyas.
backWe followed D, H, Z, He: zhugs; L, N, C: bzhugs.
backthams cad rnam par mi rtog pa bstan pa. We followed D, J, Z, H: bstan, while N, He read brtan. We translate bstan pa here as “display,” while Conze (using the Narthang Kangyur) uses “firm,” brtan pa.
backWe followed D, J, Z, N: mi’i; C: ma’i.
backWe followed D, J, Z, N: ’gro khyod kyis sgrol. The Hemis manuscript presents a variant: ’gro ba rab tu sgrol.
backWe followed D, J, Z, N: bslab par bya; He: brlab par bya.
backThe title given here at the end of the sūtra, like in most of the Kangyurs, is ’phags pa kun tu bzang po theg pa chen po’i mdo, and differs from the main title at the beginning. The Hemis Kangyur mirrors the title at the beginning: ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa kun tu bzang po theg pa chen po’i mdo.
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