Toh 311 — Teaching the Eleven Thoughts
Saṃjñānaikadaśanirdeśa
Translated by Nathaniel Rich and the Sakya Pandita Translation Group under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
The Noble Sūtra
Teaching the Eleven Thoughts
F.157.a Homage to the Three Jewels.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Grove of Twin Sal Trees, in the city of Kuśinagarī in the country of the Mallas.[1]
At the time of his parinirvāṇa, he spoke to the bhikṣus: “Bhikṣus, at the time of death you should bring to mind[2] eleven thoughts. What are the eleven? You should bring to mind the thought of nonattachment to this life, F.157.b the thought of love for all beings, the thought of giving up all resentments, the thought of acknowledging all faulty moral discipline, the thought of undertaking the entirety of moral discipline, the thought that even great harms that have been caused are insignificant,[3] the thought that small acts of virtue are significant, the thought of a lack of fright with respect to the next world, the thought that everything conditioned is impermanent, the thought that all phenomena lack a self, and the thought that nirvāṇa is peace.”
When the Blessed One had spoken thus, the bhikṣus rejoiced and praised what the Blessed One had said.
This completes “Teaching the Eleven Thoughts,” the Blessed One’s final testament.Notes
Degé and Stok read ku sha’i grong khyer na gyad kyi nye ’khor shing sA la zung gi tshal na bzhugs te. We have adopted the reading in Teaching the Ten Thoughts (Stok), which is more straightforward: ku sha’i grong khyer gyad kyi nyen kor shing sA la zung gi tshal na bzhugs.
backTib. mngon du bya. Interestingly, there are variant readings of the verb here. In the Stok version of Teaching the Ten Thoughts, the verb is mngon du bsgom par bya (“cultivate”) at the beginning of the list and mngon par bsgrub par bya (“establish”) at the end of the list. In the Dunhuang manuscript PT 45, the verb is mngon du dran par bya (“be mindful of”).
backTib. nyes pa chen po byas pa dag la yang yang ba’i ’du shes. Presumably this refers to previous harms to oneself caused by others.
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