Toh 226 — The Sūtra on Transmigration Through Existences

Bhavasaṅkrāntisūtra

Translated by the Kīrtimukha Translation Group under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra

Transmigration Through Existences

F.175.a Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Kalandakanivāpa, at the Veṇuvana near Rājagṛha, together with a great monastic saṅgha of 1,250 monks and a multitude of bodhisattva mahāsattvas. The Blessed One, surrounded F.175.b and venerated by an audience of many hundreds of thousands, taught the Dharma. He expounded the wholesome conduct that is virtuous in the beginning, virtuous in the middle, and virtuous in the end, and that is excellent in meaning, excellent in words, distinctive, perfect, completely pure, and thoroughly refined.

At that time King Śreṇya Bimbisāra of Magadha set out from the great city of Rājagṛha. With great royal pomp and power, he arrived at the Veṇuvana before the Blessed One. He bowed his head to the feet of the Blessed One, circumambulated him three times, and sat to one side.

Seated to one side, King Śreṇya Bimbisāra of Magadha inquired of the Blessed One,^[1] “Blessed One, how does an action, performed and accumulated, having ceased and ceased for a long while, manifest in the mind when the moment of death is imminent?^[2] Since all formations are empty, how are actions not lost?”

The Blessed One replied to King Śreṇya Bimbisāra of Magadha,^[3] “Great king, it is like this: To give an analogy, a man has dreamed that he has cavorted with the most beautiful woman in the land,^[4] and then upon waking he keeps recollecting that most beautiful woman in the land. What do you think, king? Does that most beautiful woman in the land from the dream exist?”

“No, Blessed One, she does not,” he replied.

The Blessed One then asked, “Great king, what do you think? In that case, is that person who has become fixated on the most beautiful woman in the land wise in nature?”^[5]

“No, Blessed One, he is not,” he replied. “Why is that? Blessed One, the most beautiful woman in the land from the dream is utterly nonexistent and cannot be F.176.a observed; as there is no way he can cavort with her, that man is bound to be miserable and exhausted.”

“Great king,” said the Blessed One, “childish and unlearned beings, in the same way, become fixated on pleasant^[6] forms that they see with their eyes. Having become fixated, they then become desirous. Being desirous, they then become enamored. Being enamored leads them to commit actions stemming from passion, anger, and ignorance, which are conditioned by body, speech, and mind.^[7] The actions, thus conditioned, then cease.^[8] Having ceased, an action does not remain anywhere—in the east or in the south, in the west or in the north. It does not remain above, below, or in the intermediate directions.

“But at some other time, whenever it might be, when the moment of death is approaching and the karma concordant with one’s fortune for this life is exhausted, the final consciousness ceases, and this next karma—just like the most beautiful woman in the land for the person in the analogy sleeping and waking from sleep—will manifest in the mind.^[9]

“Great king, that is how, as the final consciousness ceases, there arises the first consciousness belonging to the next life,^[10] be that among the gods, humans, asuras,^[11] hell beings, animals, or pretas.^[12]

“Great king, immediately after that first consciousness ceases,^[13] there arises the mindstream concordant with one’s fortune along with the experiences of karmic fruition that manifest therein.

“Great king, no phenomenon whatsoever transmigrates from this world to another world,^[14] yet there are the manifestations of death and birth.^[15]

“Great king, the cessation of the final consciousness F.176.b is known as death. The arising of the first consciousness is known as birth. Great king, the moment the final consciousness ceases, it does not go anywhere. The moment the first consciousness pertaining to birth arises, it also does not come from anywhere. Why is that? It is because they^[16] are devoid of essential nature.

“Great king, the final consciousness is empty of final consciousness, transmigration after death is empty of transmigration after death,^[17] action is empty of action,^[18] the first consciousness is empty of the first consciousness, and birth is empty of birth, yet actions manifest without being lost.

“Great king, no sooner does the first consciousness pertaining to birth cease than there arises, without any interruption, the mindstream in which the experiences of karmic fruition manifest.”^[19]

Thus spoke the Blessed One. The Sugata having spoken, the Teacher further declared:^[20]^[21]

“All of these are mere names—

They abide only as notions.

Set apart from their verbal designations,

What is designated does not exist. {1}

“By whatever names

Any phenomena are designated,

They do not exist therein.

This is the very nature of phenomena. {2}

“The nature of name is empty of name.

A name does not exist as a name.

All nameless phenomena

Have been designated by name. {3}

“These phenomena do not exist;

They originate from conceptual thought.

The conceptual thought that conceptualizes them as empty

Also does not exist. {4}

“ ‘The eye sees form’

Is said by one who observes correctly.

To the world with its perverse arrogance,^[22]

This was taught as the relative truth. {5}

“What the Guide has made known—

That seeing comes from a conjunction^[23]—

The wise speak of

As the grounds for designating ultimate truth. {6}

“The eye does not see form

And the mind does not know phenomena.

That is the supreme truth;

The world does not fathom^[24] it.” {7} F.177.a

The Blessed One having spoken, King Śreṇya Bimbisāra of Magadha, the bodhisattvas and monks, and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

This concludes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra “Transmigration Through Existences.”

Colophon

Translated and edited by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Dānaśīla and the chief editor and translator Bandé Yeshé Dé. It was then revised and finalized according to the new terminology.

Notes

In Taishō 575 and Taishō 576, the Buddha initiates the conversation by immediately describing the example of a man dreaming of a beautiful woman. This corresponds to the parallel passage found in PPSS.
back
See #UT22084-063-007-5.
back
The following section from here up until the verse section at #UT22084-063-007-83 has a parallel in the PPSS.https://read.84000.co/translation/toh60.html
back
In the Chinese versions, the content of the dream varies slightly. Taishō 575: “Suppose a man had a dream in which he saw a crowd of people, and among them was a beautiful woman taking part in amusement.” Taishō 577: “Suppose a man, while asleep and dreaming, saw some people, and among them was a very beautiful woman, and he became completely overwhelmed.” The other versions more closely resemble the scenario here in D.
back
In the Sanskrit, the Buddha’s question here varies slightly: “Great king, what do you think? Would the man be wise who would reminisce about the most beautiful woman in the land, whom he has enjoyed in his dream and consequently become passionate for?” (tat kiṃ manyase mahārāja, api tu sa puruṣaḥ paṇḍitajātīyo bhavet, yaḥ svapnāntare bhuktāṃ janapadakalyāṇīṃ striyam anusmaret, tataś cāsyāḥ pratiharṣanam). There are also slight variations in the way the question is worded in the Chinese and the editions of the parallel passage found in PPSS, although the meaning is essentially the same.
back
Sanskrit reads “pleasant and unpleasant” (saumanasyadaurmanasya).
back
PPSS reads “enacted by three types of conditioning of the body, four types of conditioning of speech, and three types of conditioning of mind” (lus kyis rnam pa gsum/ ngag gis ni rnam pa bzhi/ yid kyis ni rnam pa gsum mngon par ’du byed).
back
Sanskrit: “ceases in the mind” (manasi nirudhyate); PPSS: “are exhausted and cease from the beginning” (thog ma nyid nas zad cing ’gags).
back
Taishō 575: “Just as with the man waking from a dream who does not see the beautiful woman and the crowd.” (Note that in Taishō 575, the man dreams of a crowd; see #UT22084-063-007-57.) In all the other versions, the woman appears in the mind of the person waking from the dream; here perhaps it is implied that while she is not seen in actuality, the mental attachment to her continues in the waking state. It is also possible that this is a scribal error in the Chinese.
back
PPSS adds: “Great king, on the basis of two conditions, the last consciousness as the empowering [condition] and the action as the object [condition], the first consciousness pertaining to birth appears” (rgyal bo chen po de la rnam par shes pa tha ma’i dbang dang / las dmigs pa de dag dang / rkyen gnyis kyis skye ba’i char gtogs pa’i rnam par shes pa dang po ’byung). This phrase is not found in the quotation of PPSS found in the Śikṣāsamuccaya.
back
Y, K, Taishō 575, and Taishō 577 omit being born among the asuras. All the other versions, including PPSS, mention six realms of birth. Hakamaya suggests that this indicates that this prose section originated from a non-Mahāyāna discourse. See Hakamaya (1977), p. 481.
back
On the fact that this sūtra does not implicate an intermediate state between lives, see #UT22084-063-007-35.
back
Sanskrit and Taishō 577 have “arises” (pradurbhūta). PPSS also has “ceases” (’gag).
back
Here Taishō 575 is unique among all the sources, reading “there is one phenomenon that transmigrates from this life into the future life.” Based on this statement, Sastri theorizes that this edition may indicate that the sūtra originates from schools, such as the Vātsiputrīya and Saṃmitīya, that assert the transmigration of a “person” (pudgala) or some similar phenomenon from one life to the next. See introduction, #UT22084-063-007-27; and Sastri (1938), pp. xvi–xvii. However, with little context or commentary for this statement in Taishō 575, it is difficult to say exactly what is meant by this curious statement.
back
The Chinese version of the PPSS (Taishō 310) reads (quoted from Vinītā’s translation), “It is perceived that both the performed karma and the experienced result do not perish. There exists neither a doer, nor an experiencer.” Vinītā (2010), p. 433, note b.
back
Sanskrit has sarvadharmāṇaṃ (“all phenomena”), as does Candrakīrti (Madhyamakāvatārabhaṣya).
back
Taishō 576 omits this part of the list (“transmigration after death is empty of transmigration after death”).
back
Sanskrit omits this part of the list (“karma is empty of karma”).
back
Sanskrit reads, “Then, great king, when the first consciousness pertaining to birth has consecutively arisen, there arises, without interruption, the mindstream concordant with one’s fortune, in which the experience of the result of the previous actions is perceived” (tasya ca mahārāja aupapattyaṃśikasya prathamavijñānasya samanantaropapannasya tatsabhāgāvicalā cittasaṃtatiḥ pravartate yatra karmaṇāṃ vipākasya pratisaṃvedanā prajñāyate).
back
In the following verse section Taishō 576 is significantly different; it is only six verses long and, in several instances, quite difficult to decipher. Taishō 575 and 577 are more coherent and generally accord with the Tibetan and Sanskrit, albeit with some differences in phrasing. See Sastri (1938), pp. 16–19 for a comparative translation of the three Chinese versions of this verse section.
back
In addition to being quoted extensively among Tengyur treatises, the following verse section contains many parallels to other sūtras and treatises. These citations are provided in the #UT22084-063-007-146.
back
The Tib. nga can (N, H: ngang can) is likely a shortened form of nga rgyal can, which conforms with the Sanskrit abhimānin. This is supported by the translation of the last two lines of this stanza in Prajñāpradīpaṭīkā (Toh 3859)https://read.84000.co/translation/toh3859.html, vol. 100, folio 8.a5: log pa’i nga rgyal ’jig rten la / / de ni kun rdzob bden par bstan / /.
back
Meaning a combination of causes and conditions such as the object, the eye, the consciousness, etc.
back
Translated from H: mi dpog, in reference to the Sanskrit na gāhate (“does not penetrate”). C, D, K, Y, J, N, and S read dpogs, which is the same verb but usually only used for the imperative tense.
back

Предыдущая сутта Следующая сутта