Toh 172 — The Question of Mañjuśrī
Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā
Translated by the Kīrtimukha Translation Group under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra
The Question of Mañjuśrī
B1F.1.b Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Samanta Assembly Hall in Śrāvastī together with a great saṅgha of 1,250 monks, innumerable bodhisattva mahāsattvas, and many hundreds of thousands of beings to be tamed, and other bodhisattva mahāsattvas headed by Avalokiteśvara.
The Blessed One sat unwavering upon a jeweled lion throne. Through the power of the Buddha, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mañjuśrī rose from his seat, draped his upper robe over one shoulder, and knelt on his right knee. Joining his palms toward the Blessed One, F.2.a he said, “Blessed One, how extensive is the great merit of the Tathāgata’s Dharma conch,[1] the great merit by which the wishes of the many hundred sextillions of beings to be tamed are completely fulfilled?”
The Blessed One replied to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Mañjuśrī, “Mañjuśrī, the great merit of the Tathāgata’s Dharma conch,[2] the great merit by which the wishes of a hundred sextillion beings to be tamed are completely fulfilled, arises from insight and is imbued with great compassion.[3] It is inconceivable.[4]
“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in the world were to engage in the path of the ten virtuous actions, and if that collection of merit, which is the collection of merit of all those beings, were multiplied by a hundred, it would equal that of a cakravartin king who has dominion over the four continents and possesses the seven treasures. The seven treasures are as follows: the precious wheel, the precious elephant, the precious horse, the precious jewel, the precious woman, the precious steward, and the precious minister. He has a thousand heroic sons who are courageous, have excellent well-built bodies, and utterly defeat opposing armies. Mañjuśrī, such is the cakravartin king’s great miraculous powers and might.F.2.b
“Mañjuśrī, if all beings in the world with its four continents were to possess the cakravartin king’s merit, and if that merit, which is the merit of all those beings, were multiplied by a hundred,[5] it would equal that of Śakra, lord of the gods. Such is the lord of the gods’ great miraculous powers and great might.
“Mañjuśrī,[6] if all of the beings in the realm of the world with its four continents were to possess Śakra’s merit, and if that merit, which is the merit of all those beings, were multiplied by a hundred thousand,[7] it would equal that of Māra, lord of the desire realm, who understands the teachings within the desire realm.[8] Such is Māra of the desire realm’s great miraculous powers and great might.
“Mañjuśrī,[9] if all of the beings in the realm of the world with its four continents were to possess Māra’s merit, and if that merit, which is the merit of all of those beings, were multiplied by a hundred thousand, it would equal that of a brahmā, sovereign of a chiliocosm,[10] whose love pervades the domain of a chiliocosm.
“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in this chiliocosm were to possess the merit of a brahmā god, sovereign of a chiliocosm, and if that merit, which is the merit of all those beings, were multiplied by a hundred thousand, it equal that of a brahmā god, sovereign of a dichiliocosm,[11] whose love pervades the domain of a dichiliocosm.
“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in this dichiliocosm were to possess the merit of a brahmā god, sovereign of a dichiliocosm, and if that merit, which is the merit of all of those beings, were multiplied by a hundred thousand, it would equal that of a supremely great almighty brahmā, sovereign of a trichiliocosm,[12]F.3.a whose love pervades the domain of a great trichiliocosm.
“Mañjuśrī, consider a supremely great almighty brahmā. In a single intermediate eon following the rise of the waters after the eon of destruction,[13] the trichiliocosm fills up with rainfall with its droplets of water. A supremely great almighty brahmā knows all the drops of water that have amassed in his world. Therefore, he is endowed with great wisdom and has great miraculous powers and great might. The root of virtue of a great almighty one is no trifling thing.
“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in this trichiliocosm were to possess the merit of a great brahmā, sovereign of a trichiliocosm, and if that merit, which is the merit of all those beings, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would equal that of a pratyekabuddha who had obtained great might.[14]
“Mañjuśrī, put aside this great trichiliocosm. Mañjuśrī, if all the beings in the domain of the buddhas, the realm of the worlds of the ten directions, were to possess the merit obtained by a pratyekabuddha who had obtained great might, and if that merit, which is the merit of all of those beings, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would equal that of a single bodhisattva in their final existence.
“Mañjuśrī, if all of the beings in the realm of the worlds of the ten directions of space—beings born from an egg, born from a womb, born from heat and moisture, and born miraculously; those with form and those without; and those with perception, those without perception, and those with neither perception nor nonperception[15]F.3.b—were to possess the merit of a bodhisattva in their final existence, and if that merit, which is the merit of all of those beings, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would equal that of a single hair pore on the body of the Tathāgata. Each of the nine million nine hundred thousand hair pores on the body of the Tathāgata are established in the same way.
“Mañjuśrī, if the merit that is equal to the merit contained in all those hair pores were multiplied many hundred sextillions, it would equal that of one of the eighty excellent signs on the body of the Tathāgata.[16] Each of the eighty excellent signs is established on the body of the Tathāgata in the same way.
“Mañjuśrī, if that merit, which is the merit contained in the eighty excellent signs, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would be like that of one of the designs marking the Tathāgata’s hands and feet.
“The eighty designs are as follows:[17] (1) a parasol, (2) a victory banner, (3) a śrīvatsa, (4) a garland, (5) a hook, (6) a diadem, (7) a staff,[18] (8) a vase, (9) an elephant, (10) a horse, (11) a tiger, (12) a makara, (13) a fish, (14) a turtle, (15) a peacock, (16) a kalaviṅka bird, (17) a partridge, (18) a cāṣa bird,[19] (19) a cakravāka shelduck, (20) a parrot, (21) a goose, (22) a dove, (23) barley, (24) the great medicine, (25) bamboo, (26) a gayal, (27) a nāga, (28) a goat, (29) a bull, (30) a mountain, (31) a bilva fruit tree,[20] (32) a black antelope, (33) a precious jewel, (34) a supreme sword, (35) a vajra, (36) a bow, (37) an arrow, (38) a lance, (39) a trident, (40) a plow, (41) a mace, (42) an axe, (43) a lasso,[21] (44) a boat, (45) a pearl ornament, (46) a cloud, (47) Brahmā, (48) Indra, (49) Dhṛtarāṣṭra,[22] (50) Varuṇa, (51) Virūḍhaka, (52) Virūpākṣa, (53) Dhanada, (54) a great sage, (55) Śrī, (56) a sun, (57) a moon,F.4.a (58) a fire, (59) wind, (60) a lotus, (61) a nandyāvarta, (62) a triangle,[23] (63) an excellent throne, (64) a mirror, (65) a tail whisk, (66) dūrvā grass, (67) puroḍāśa cake, (68) a boy, (69) a girl, (70) a drum, (71) a conch, (72) a mṛdaṅgadrum,[24] (73) a bracelet, (74) an armband, (75) an earring,[25] (76) a ring, (77) a dangling earring, (78) an excellent flower, (79) a wish-granting tree, and (80) a lion at the center of a wheel.
[26] These are the eighty designs. They appear on the palms of the Tathāgata’s hands and the soles of his feet.
“Mañjuśrī, if that merit, which is the merit contained in those eighty designs, were multiplied by many hundred sextillions, it would be like one of the signs of a great being on the Tathāgata’s body; each of the thirty-two signs of a great being are established in the same way. They are as follows:[27] (1) the uṣṇīṣa on the head, (2) right-curling dark blue hair on the head, (3) an even forehead, (4) being adorned with a beautiful complexion,[28] (5) an ūrṇā hair between the eyebrows, (6) dark blue eyes with bovine eyelashes, (7) forty close-fitting teeth, (8) white canine teeth, (9) cheeks like a lion, (10) a large and slender tongue, (11) a torso like a lion, (12) an arm span and height that are identical like the banyan tree, (13) a hair growing from every pore,[29] (14) a concealed male organ, (15) full and rounded thighs, (16) calves like those of Eṇeya, king of antelopes, (17) broad heels, (18) palms and soles that are soft and supple, (19) webbed fingers and toes, (20) long fingers and toes, (21) feet with high arches, (22) a supreme organ of taste, (23) round shoulders, (24) the seven prominent parts, (25) fine skin the color of gold, (26) the ability to reach the hands to the knees without bending, (27) well-positioned feet, (28) palms and soles with the mark of the wheel,F.4.b and (29) the voice of Brahmā.
These are the thirty-two signs of a great being. They appear on the body of the Tathāgata.
“Mañjuśrī, if that merit, which is the merit contained in the thirty-two signs of a great being, were multiplied innumerable times, multiplied inconceivably, multiplied incalculably, and multiplied beyond expression, it would be like that of the Tathāgata’s Dharma conch. By the power of taming with the Dharma conch, with his voice the Tathāgata engenders understanding throughout limitless and countless world realms. Just as with his voice, so it is with his light and his body.[30]
“In this way, Mañjuśrī, this great merit, arisen from great insight, imbued with compassion, generated through skill-in-means and aspirations, completely pure in moral discipline,[31] and authentically born from the distinctions of practice, is inconceivable to all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.[32]
“Mañjuśrī, the form body of the Tathāgata is especially exalted for two reasons. What are these two reasons? They are the power of aspiration and the power of the complete ripening of the virtue of sentient beings to be tamed. Mañjuśrī, for these two reasons the form body of the Tathāgata is especially exalted.
“Mañjuśrī, just as the form body of the Tathāgata is especially exalted,[33] the Dharma taught is also especially exalted.
“Mañjuśrī, just as the Dharma taught by the Tathāgata, his light is also especially exalted.
“Mañjuśrī, just as the light of the Tathāgata is especially exalted, his conduct is also especially exalted.
“Mañjuśrī, the Tathāgata pervades the entire world with his body.[34]
“Mañjuśrī, whatever particular color, shape, or conduct will tame sentient beings, F.5.a sentient beings will see the Tathāgata accordingly as having that particular color, shape, and conduct.
“Mañjuśrī, whatever particular signs will tame sentient beings, sentient beings will see the Tathāgata accordingly as having those particular signs.
“Mañjuśrī, whatever Dharma teachings will fully ripen sentient beings, sentient beings will understand the particular Dharma teachings of the Tathāgata to be Dharma teachings of that kind.
“Mañjuśrī, whatever conduct tames sentient beings and causes them to engage with the teachings of the Tathāgata, sentient beings will see the Tathāgata abiding by that conduct.
“Mañjuśrī, in this way the tathāgata, arhat, perfect Buddha comes into the world, benefits and brings happiness to many beings, has love and affection for the world, and takes birth in order to help, benefit, and bring happiness to gods, humans, and the host of beings.”
Then the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī rose from his seat and, approaching the Blessed One, pressed his palms together and said, “Blessed One—my unparalleled, matchless teacher, supreme protector in the three realms and benefactor for all sentient beings, unperturbed by worldly phenomena, unblemished like the sky, inconceivable, a worthy inspiration, desirable to behold, and beautiful to behold—I have truly found a great treasure! Sugata, I have truly found a great treasure!”
Youthful Mañjuśrī was overjoyed at what the Tathāgata had said. The bodhisattva great beings and the monks praised the words of the Blessed One.
This completes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra “The Question of Mañjuśrī.”Notes
Here we followed the Sanskrit, KY, F, S, and U, which have “Dharma conch” (chos kyi dung); C, D, and J have “in the presence of the Tathāgata” (de bzhin gshegs pa’i drung); H, K, and N, have “in the presence of the Dharma of the Tathāgata” (de bzhin gshegs pa’i chos kyi drung). In these cases, drung is likely a scribal error for dung.
backFollowing Sanskrit, KY, F, S, and U. See #UT22084-060-001-33.
backGo. adds several descriptions qualifying this great merit: “it is engendered by skill in means and aspirations, and it is authentically born from special meditation that fully purifies discipline. This great merit is inconceivable to all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas” (thabs la mkhas pa chen po smon lam gyis bskyed pa/ thul khrims dang / ting nge ’dzind shind tu rnam par dag pa bsgoms pa’i khyad par gis yang dag pa grub pa ste/ nyan thos dang / rang sang rgyas thams cad kyis bsam gyis myi khyab pa yin no/). This correlates with the description of the Dharma conch at the end of the sūtra.
back"Following this, the Sanskrit text includes an additional stage in the hierarchy of merit not attested in the Tibetan translation. This stage, for a rājā jambudvīpeśvaraḥ (“a king who is lord of Jambudvīpa"), ranks below a cakravārtin king, the first stage in the hierarchy of merit as listed in the Tibetan text.
backFrom here throughout the rest of the text, the numbers for multiplying merit vary in the different sources. Here, for example, Go., Taishō 473, Taishō 662, and the Sanskrit have “multiplied by a thousand”; Taishō 661 has “multiplied by a hundred thousand.” For the sake of simplicity, we have translated the text from D and refrained from annotating these numerical variations from the sources unless they significantly change the meaning.
backTaishō 473 adds an additional stage in the hierarchy of merit comparing that of Śakra to that of Nārāyaṇa, before going on to compare Nārāyaṇa to Māra.
backThe Sanskrit witness of this sūtra abruptly ends here.
backD: ’dod pa’i khams su bstan pas go bar byed pa. Our translation here is corroborated by Taishō 662: 教受護持 “who upholds and bears in mind the teachings.” The implication of this remark is not clear. Taishō 473 adds “in the heaven of Paranirmitavaśavartin.” This implies that Māra is the highest deity presiding within the bounds of the desire realm, where Paranirmitavaśavartin is the highest heaven according to Abhidharma cosmology.
backThe following passage is omitted in Taishō 473, which skips to the next stage in the hierarchy of merit, comparing the merit of Māra to that of a brahmā, sovereign of a dichiliocosm, in the same format.
backTaishō 662 adds that this is a brahmā “of the first dhyāna.” This is consistent with the cosmology presented in the sūtra. As Māra represents the highest deity of the desire realm, “a brahmā, sovereign of a chiliocosm,” represents a god in one of the three lowest strata of the form realm, which is associated with the first dhyāna, while the brahmās of a dichiliocosm and trichiliocosm represent gods of the higher strata associated with the second and fourth dhyānas respectively. There are some sources that seem to give the dhyānas and the spatial locations they encompass in the form realm progressively greater dimensions. For instance, the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya states that while each chiliocosm contains a thousand sets of four continents, along with a thousand suns, moons, Mount Merus, and so forth up to the desire realms, there is one position that states that the first dhyāna encompasses a single world system, the second dhyāna a chiliocosm, the third dhyāna a dichiliocosm, and the fourth dhyāna a trichiliocosm. The text goes on to state that there is a differing opinion in which the first dhyāna encompasses a chiliocosm, the second dhyāna a dichiliocosm, and the third dhyāna a trichiliocosm, and the fourth dhyāna is without measure. The first of these two opinions would seem to be validated by the context of this sūtra, where the sequential brahmās are described as being “sovereign” of exponentially larger domains. See Vasubandhu, Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, in Sangpo (2012), pp. 1075–6.
backTaishō 662 adds “a brahmā of the second dhyāna.”
backTaishō 662 adds “a brahmā of the fourth dhyāna.”
backAll the Chinese versions of the sūtra describe this moment as the destruction of the world through fire rather than water, and then, following this, the great brahmā commands the rain to come down and fill the trichiliocosm up to the brahmā heavens in the form realm. Go. has the phrase “when the eon of incineration arises” (’sreg pa’i bskal pa ’byung ba de’i tshe), and following this it also describes the trichiliocosm filling up with rain and drops of water. The Abhidharmakośabhāṣya describes the destruction of the world through water up to the top of the first dhyāna, through fire up to the top of second dhyāna, and through wind up to the top of the third. See Vasubandhu, Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, in Sangpo (2012), pp. 1109–15.
backGo. adds an additional stage in the hierarchy of merit, comparing the merit of a great brahmā, sovereign of a trichiliocosm, to that of a great śrāvaka with great miraculous powers (nyan thos chen po rdzu ’phrul chen po dang ldan pa). Then, in the next passage, the śrāvaka’s merit is compared to that of a pratyekabuddha, and it continues in the same form as in the other versions.
backThis is a truly all-inclusive list of possible beings found in Buddhist cosmology. The latter categories, including those with and without forms or perceptions all the way up to those with neither perceptions nor the absence of them, is representative of beings abiding in formless realms. See also the glossary entry for “beings with neither perception nor nonperception.”
backTaishō 661 and Taishō 662 provide a list of the eighty excellent signs here.
backThere are many minor spelling variations found among the Kangyur recensions for the eighty designs. For the sake of clarity, variant readings have not been noted unless they affected the meaning or interpretation of the term; however, all the attested spelling variations have been represented in the glossary. For a detailed analysis of the eighty designs compared across various sources see Skilling (1992), pp. 67–79.
backGo. has dbyig tog; all other Tibetan recensions have dbyig to. The meaning of “staff” is derived from correlation with Taishō 473 and from consultation with a series of dictionary entries. The meaning of dbyig to(g) could also be “jewel” or “crest jewel.” For more details on this see Vinītā (2010), p. 741, note d. Also see Skilling (1992), p. 73.
backGo. omits.
backGo.: bil shing ba; F: bil ba dang; C, D, H, J, K, KY, N, S, and U: bil ba dang / shing dang / (“a bilva fruit, a tree” as two items). In addition to Go., F and the Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛtaviniścaya also omit “a tree” as a separate item. We have chosen to translate this as one item, “bilva fruit tree,” following Go., as this results in a list of exactly eighty items, and the “wish-granting tree” already appears as item number 79 in the list.
backF omits.
backC, D, H, J, N, and U: ’khor srung. This form is listed as an alternate spelling for Dhṛtarāṣṭra in the Mahāvyutpatti (the imperial period Sanskrit–Tibetan dictionary), no. 3381. K and KY: ’khor bsrung; S: ’khor bsrungs; Go.: yul ’khor srung.
backGo. omits.
backF and S: mri tang ga (transliteration of the Sanskrit mṛdaṅga). Go. and the Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛtaviniścaya have rdza rnga, which has the same translated meaning as the former transliteration. D, H, J, and N: smri ga; K: smri dang ga/ ga dang /; KY: smri dang ga; C and U: smrig.
backGo.: rna cha gdub ’khord (“round earring”).
backTranslated from Go. and the Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛtaviniścaya: ’khor lo’i dbus kyi seng ge. C, D, H, K, KY, J, N, and U: ’khor lo dang / dpung gi seng ge; F and S: ’khor lo dpung gi seng ge.
backOnly twenty-nine of the thirty-two signs of a great being are listed here, although in other sources (6) and (7) are usually counted as two signs each. There are many instances of the list of thirty-two signs found throughout the Kangyur, and significant differences can be found among them. For other examples of the list complete with thirty-two signs, see Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Play in Full, Toh 95 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2013), 7.98; or Padmakara Translation Group, trans, The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines, Toh 11 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018), 2.15 (which contains thirty-three signs). In the latter, see also note 61 for further details concerning the various locations of the list found throughout the Kangyur. There is also a standard list found in the Mahāvyutpatti (the imperial period Sanskrit–Tibetan dictionary), entries 235–67. If one looks to the latter as a standard, the missing three can be accounted for by entries 242, “even teeth” (samadanta, tshems mnyam pa), and 243, “close-fitting teeth” (aviraladanta, tshems thag bzang ba), which in the Mahāvyutpatti is separate from the sign of “forty teeth,” whereas in The Question of Mañjuśrī they are joined; 251, “collarbones that are well covered” (citāntarāṃsa, thal gong rgyas pa); and 257 “body hairs that grow upward” (ūrdhvagaroma, sku’i spu gyen du phyogs pa), which is found in Go. (see #UT22084-060-001-76). Note that here in The Question of Mañjuśrī, the fourth sign in the list, “being adorned with a beautiful complexion,” is not found in the Mahāvyutpatti. Thus by omitting these four and adding one more The Question of Mañjuśrī lists a total of twenty-nine signs.
backGo. omits.
backGo. adds: “body hairs that grow upward” (sku’i spu gyend du phyogs pa). This is usually included in other lists of the thirty-two signs.
backA very similar passage, with the same sequence of meritorious figures and signs culminating in the Buddha’s voice, can be seen in the Ratnameghasūtra (Toh 231); see Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Jewel Cloud (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2019), 1.233–4. A somewhat less similar calculation of merit beginning with the Buddha’s pores, but culminating specifically in the Dharma conch, is found in the Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra: see Jens Braarvig and David Welsh, trans., The Teaching of Akṣayamati, Toh 175, (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020), 1.103. See also Āryaśūra’s Pāramitāsamāsa (pha rol tu phyin pa bsdus pa, Toh 3944), folios 227a–b.https://read.84000.co/translation/toh3944.html
backGo. adds “and samādhi” (dang / ting nge ’dzin).
backGo. again adds the passage, “The presence of the Tathāgata’s Dharma completely fulfilling the wishes of beings to be tamed” (de bzhin gshegs pa’i chos kyi mur ’gram gdul bya’i bsam ba yongs su rdzogs par byed par ’gyur ro/).
backThis following sequence of comparison differs in Go., which first compares the Tathāgata’s body to his voice (gsung sgra), then compares his voice to his “signs” (mtshan), and then compares his signs to the Dharma taught (chos bstan pa). From there the sequence continues in the same manner as D and the other sources, continuing with his light and so forth.
backFor this sentence Go. has “Mañjuśrī, the Tathāgata’s body is vast through all its marks.” (’jam dpal de bzhin gshegs pa’i sku mtshan thams cad kyis rgyas pa yin).
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