The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives and Contemplation of the Mind-ground

THE MAHAYANA SUTRA OF PREVIOUS LIVES AND CONTEMPLATION OF THE MIND-GROUND dBET PDF Version © 2021

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BDK English Tripiṭaka Series THE MAHAYANA SUTRA OF PREVIOUS LIVES AND CONTEMPLATION OF THE MIND-GROUND

(Taishō Volume 3, Number 159) Translated by Rolf Giebel BDK America, Inc. 2021

Copyright © 2021 by Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai and BDK America, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means —electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— without the prior written permission of the publisher. First Printing, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-886439-83-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021937079 Published by

BDK America, Inc.

1675 School Street

Moraga, California 94556

Printed in the United States of America

A Message on the Publication of the

English Tripiṭaka

The Buddhist canon is said to contain eighty-four thousand different teachings. I believe that this is because the Buddha's basic approach was to prescribe a different treatment for every spiritual ailment, much as a doctor prescribes a different medicine for every medical ailment. Thus his teachings were always appropriate for the particular suffering individual and for the time at which the teaching was given, and over the ages not one of his prescriptions has failed to relieve the suffering to which it was addressed.

Ever since the Buddha's Great Demise over twenty-five hundred years ago, his message of wisdom and compassion has spread throughout the world. Yet no one has ever attempted to translate the entire Buddhist canon into English throughout the history of Japan. It is my greatest wish to see this done and to make the translations available to the many English-speaking people who have never had the opportunity to learn about the Buddha's teachings. Of course, it would be impossible to translate all of the Buddha's eighty-four thousand teachings in a few years. I have, therefore, had one hundred thirty-nine of the scriptural texts in the prodigious Taishō edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon selected for inclusion in the First Series of this translation project. It is in the nature of this undertaking that the results are bound to be criticized. Nonetheless, I am convinced that unless someone takes it upon himself or herself to initiate this project, it will never be done. At the same time, I hope that an improved, revised edition will appear in the future.

It is most gratifying that, thanks to the efforts of more than a hundred Buddhist scholars from the East and the West, this monumental project has finally gotten off the ground. May the rays of the Wisdom of the Compassionate One reach each and every person in the world.

NUMATA Yehan

Founder of the English

August 7, 1991 Tripiṭaka Project

v

Editorial Foreword

In the long history of Buddhist transmission throughout East Asia, translations of Buddhist texts were often carried out as national projects supported and funded by emperors and political leaders. The BDK English Tripiṭaka project, on the other hand, began as a result of the dream and commitment of one man. In January 1982 Dr. NUMATA Yehan, founder of Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism), initiated the monumental task of translating the complete Taishō shinshū daizōkyō edition of the Chinese Tripiṭaka (Buddhist canon) into the English language. Under his leadership, a special preparatory committee was organized in April 1982. By July of the same year the Translation Committee of the English Tripiṭaka was officially convened. The initial Committee included the following members: (late) HANAYAMA Shōyū (Chairperson), (late) BANDŌ Shōjun, (late) ISHIGAMI Zennō, (late) KAMATA Shigeo, (late) KANAOKA Shūyū, MAYEDA Sengaku, (late) NARA Yasuaki, (late) SAYEKI Shinkō, (late) SHIOIRI Ryōtatsu, (late) TAMARU Noriyoshi, (late) TAMURA Kwansei, (late) URYŪZU Ryūshin, and (late) YUYAMA Akira. Assistant members of the Committee were as follows: KANAZAWA Atsushi, WATANABE Shōgo, Rolf Giebel of New Zealand, and Rudy Smet of Belgium. After holding planning meetings on a monthly basis, the Committee selected one hundred and thirty-nine texts for the First Series of the project, estimated to be one hundred printed volumes in all. The texts selected were not limited to those originally written in India but also included works composed in China and Japan. While the publication of the First Series proceeds, the texts for the Second Series will be selected from among the remaining works; this process will continue until all the texts, in Japanese as well as in Chinese, have been published. Given the huge scope of this project, accomplishing the English translations of all the Chinese and Japanese texts in the Taishō canon may take as long as one hundred years or more. Nevertheless, as Dr. NUMATA wished, it is the sincere hope of the Committee that this project will continue until completion, even after all the present members have passed away.

vii

Publisher’s Foreword

Editorial Foreword

Dr. NUMATA passed away on May 5, 1994, at the age of ninety-seven. He entrusted his son, Mr. NUMATA Toshihide with the continuation and completion of the English Tripiṭaka project. Mr. Numata served for twenty-three years, leading the project forward with enormous progress before his sudden passing on February 16, 2017, at the age of eighty-four. The Committee previously lost its able and devoted first Chairperson, Professor HANAYAMA Shōyū, on June 16, 1995, at the age of sixty-three. In October 1995 the Committee elected Professor MAYEDA Sengaku (then Vice President of Musashino Women's College) as Chairperson, and upon the retirement of Professor Mayeda in July 2016, the torch was passed to me to serve as the third Chairperson. Despite these losses and changes we, the Editorial Committee members, have renewed our determination to carry out the noble ideals set by Dr. NUMATA. Present members of the Committee are Kenneth K. Tanaka (Chairperson), MAYEDA Sengaku, ICHISHIMA Shōshin, KATSURA Shōryū, MINOWA Kenryō, SAITŌ Akira, SHIMODA Masahiro, WATANABE Shōgo, and YONEZAWA Yoshiyasu.

The Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research was established in November 1984, in Berkeley, California, U.S.A., to assist in the publication of the translated texts. The Publication Committee was organized at the Numata Center in December 1991. In 2010, the Numata Center's operations were merged with Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai America, Inc. (BDK America), and BDK America continues to oversee the publication side of the English Tripiṭaka project in close cooperation with the Editorial Committee in Tokyo.

At the time of this writing, in July 2017, the project has completed about sixtyfive percent of the seven thousand one hundred and eighty-five Taishō pages of texts selected for the First Series. Much work still lies ahead of us but we are committed to the completion of the remaining texts in order to realize the grand vision of Dr. Numata, shared by Mr. Numata and Professor Hanayama, to make the Buddhist canon more readily accessible to the English-speaking world. Kenneth K. Tanaka

Chairperson

Editorial Committee of

the BDK English Tripiṭaka

viii

Publisher's Foreword

On behalf of the members of the Publication Committee, I am happy to present this volume as the latest contribution to the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series. The Publication Committee members have worked to ensure that this volume, as all other volumes in the series, has gone through a rigorous process of editorial efforts. The initial translation and editing of the Buddhist scriptures found in this and other BDK English Tripiṭaka volumes are performed under the direction of the Editorial Committee in Tokyo, Japan. Both the Editorial Committee in Tokyo and the Publication Committee, headquartered in Moraga, California, are dedicated to the production of accurate and readable English translations of the Buddhist canon. In doing so, the members of both committees and associated staff work to honor the deep faith, spirit, and concern of the late Reverend Dr. Yehan Numata, who founded the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series in order to disseminate the Buddhist teachings throughout the world. The long-term goal of our project is the translation and publication of the texts in the one hundred-volume Taishō edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon, along with a number of influential extracanonical Japanese Buddhist texts. The list of texts selected for the First Series of this translation project may be found at the end of each volume in the series.

As Chair of the Publication Committee, I am deeply honored to serve as the fifth person in a post previously held by leading figures in the field of Buddhist studies, most recently by my predecessor, John R. McRae.

In conclusion, I wish to thank the members of the Publication Committee for their dedicated and expert work undertaken in the course of preparing this volume for publication: Managing Editor Marianne Dresser, Dr. Hudaya Kandahjaya, Dr. Carl Bielefeldt, Dr. Robert Sharf, and Rev. Brian Kensho Nagata, Director of the BDK America English Tripiṭaka Project.

A. Charles Muller

Chairperson

Publication Committee

ix

Contents

A Message on the Publication of the English Tripiṭaka NUMATA Yehan v

Editorial Foreword Kenneth K. Tanaka vii Publisher's Foreword A. Charles Muller ix The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives and Contemplation of the Mind-ground Translator's Introduction 3 Fascicle One

Chapter I. Introduction 11 Fascicle Two

Chapter II. Repaying Debts of Gratitude 37 Fascicle Three

Chapter II. Repaying Debts of Gratitude (continued) 57 Fascicle Four

Chapter III. Renunciation 89 Fascicle Five

Chapter IV. Nondefilement 119 Chapter V. The Araṇya 135 Fascicle Six

Chapter VI. Detachment from the World Chapter VII. Revulsion of the Body 143 159

Fascicle Seven

Chapter VIII. The Pāramitās 165 Chapter IX. Adornment with Merits 177 Fascicle Eight

Chapter X. Contemplation of the Mind Chapter XI. Generating the Bodhi-mind Chapter XII. Becoming a Buddha 185 193

199

Chapter XIII. The Entrustment 205 xi xi

Contents Notes 211 Glossary 217 Bibliography 221 Index 223 A List of the Volumes of the BDK English Tripiṭaka (First Series) 247 xii

THE MAHAYANA SUTRA OF PREVIOUS LIVES AND CONTEMPLATION OF THE MIND-GROUND

Translator’s Introduction

Translator's Introduction

The Text

The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives and Contemplation of the Mind-ground (Dasheng bensheng xindi guan jing), a lengthy work perhaps best known for its exposition of the four debts of gratitude, was the last Buddhist text to be translated into Chinese with the full support of the Tang imperial house. The translation, by Prajña (or Prajñā; 733/734-ca. 810), a Kashmiri monk and the last of the great translators of Buddhist texts in the Tang period, was begun in 810 and submitted to the throne the following year. The translation is also notable for the fact that the Japanese monk Ryōsen (759?-827?) played a key role in the actual translation, acting as the scribe who wrote down the initial draft translation, the only instance in which a Japanese monk is known to have played such a prominent role in the translation of a Chinese Buddhist text. The sutra's title, Dasheng bensheng xindi guan jing, has been translated into English in various ways, including Mahāyāna Former Birth Scripture on Contemplating the Mind-ground, Mahāyāna Sutra of Contemplating the Mind Ground in the Buddha's Life, Sutra on Contemplation of the Ultimate Source of the Heart Ground, Mahayana Sutra on Contemplation of the Mind-ground of Essential Nature, and Scripture on the Contemplation of the Mind Ground of Intrinsic Origination in the Mahāyāna. It is the term bensheng, corresponding in the above renderings to "former birth," "Buddha's life," "ultimate source," "essential nature," or "intrinsic origination," that is the most problematic, for it does not appear once in the text of the sutra. When one considers, however, that bensheng is a standard translation of jātaka, signifying narrative accounts of previous lives of the Buddha, and several incidents from previous lives of the Buddha are indeed mentioned in Chapter I, it would seem reasonable to take bensheng in the sense of "former birth" or, as translated here, "previous lives," which is how it would seem to have been interpreted by the editors of the Taishō canon when they included this sutra in the Jātaka section of the Taishō canon. Here 3

The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

the title has accordingly been translated as Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives and Contemplation of the Mind-ground.

The Chinese translation is said to have been based on a Sanskrit text that had been brought to China from Sri Lanka during the reign of Gaozong (r. 649-683). No Sanskrit manuscript of this sutra has been discovered nor was it translated into Tibetan, and in view of the absence of any references to it in Indian materials, as well as the seemingly mutually unrelated topics with which it deals, it has even been suggested that it was in fact composed in China. However, judging from the character of several other translations attributed to Prajña, it would seem more likely that Prajña had at hand a base text in Sanskrit (brought to China more than a hundred years earlier if the historical record is to be believed), which he then augmented in various ways.

A word-for-word commentary on the Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives and Contemplation of the Mind-ground is provided by the Dasheng bensheng xindi guan jing qianzhu (Manji Zokuzōkyō, vol. 34), completed in 1696 by Yunzhong Laizhou (d.u.), who refers to himself as the twenty-eighth patriarch of the Xianshou (i.e., Huayan) school. For a more modern commentary, reference can be made to the Dasheng bensheng xindi guan jing jiangji by Taixu (1890-1947). A representative Japanese rendition in classical kundoku style is included in the Kokuyaku Issaikyō series ("Kyōshū-bu" 6).

Contents

As noted above, in content the Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives and Contemplation of the Mind-ground covers several seemingly unrelated topics, and its thirteen chapters can for convenience's sake be broadly divided into five parts. The first part, corresponding to Chapter I ("Introduction"), first sets the scene, as it were, in the conventional format of Buddhist scriptures, and this is followed by a manifestation of the Buddha's miraculous powers in the form of great rays of light in which there appear all manner of scenes, including some from the Buddha's previous lives when he was still a bodhisattva. It is to be supposed that it is these events to which bensheng in the title refers. As is the case in many of the following chapters, the contents of the prose section are then reprised in verse, in this case by the bodhisattva Siṃhanāda.

The second part, corresponding to Chapter II ("Repaying Debts of Gratitude"), the longest chapter, provides a detailed exposition of the four debts of gratitude, 4

Translator's Introduction

i.e., one's debts of gratitude to one's parents, to all beings, to the king, and to the Three Jewels, first in prose and then in verse, the latter for the benefit of a householder named Jñānaprabha, who arrives belatedly at the assembly together with his recalcitrant son. It may be noted that a different enumeration of four debts of gratitude is found in the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna-sūtra, translated into Chinese circa 538-543 (Taishō no. 721), where the objects of indebtedness are given as mother, father, Tathāgata, and Dharma teacher. The third part, corresponding to Chapters III-IX, extols and describes the practices of the renunciant bodhisattva. There are some close parallels with the Ugraparipṛcchā in particular, and Yoritomi Motohiro has speculated that this section constituted the core of Prajña's Sanskrit text.

Chapter III ("Renunciation") begins with Jñānaprabha voicing doubts about what he sees as inconsistencies between the teaching of repaying debts of gratitude and the life of a renunciant. The Buddha dispels his doubts with nine analogies that illustrate the many ways in which the renunciant bodhisattva is superior to the householder, and this chapter ends with several thousand people, including Jñānaprabha, being ordained by the bodhisattvas Maitreya and Mañjuśrī. Chapter IV ("Nondefilement") deals with a set of practices for renunciants known as the four "noble traditions" (āryavaṃśa), for each of which ten benefits are enumerated. In Chapter V ("The Araṇya"), in response to a question posed by the bodhisattva Nityodyukta, the Buddha extols the fourth of the practices described in the previous chapter, namely, dwelling in an araṇya, i.e., the wilderness or a forest (which is not, however, included in standard enumerations of the four āryavaṃśa). In Chapter VI ("Detachment from the World") a bodhisattva named *Vivekacārin first sets out the various fears that may assail the bodhisattva and then goes on to describe in further detail the araṇya and its benefits. In Chapter VII ("Revulsion of the Body") the Buddha lists in response to a question by Maitreya thirty-seven ways in which the bodhisattva is to observe the shortcomings of his body. In Chapter VIII ("The Pāramitās"), again in response to a question by Maitreya, the Buddha explains how the renunciant bodhisattva living in an araṇya should practice the ten pāramitās, or perfections, and in Chap ter IX ("Adornment with Merits"), the final chapter of the third part, he describes, again prompted by Maitreya, the requisite qualities of the bodhisattva who is suited to living in an araṇya as well as the qualities that he should cultivate while living there.

5

The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

In part four, corresponding to Chapters X-XII, "Contemplation of the Mind," "Generating the Bodhi-Mind," and "Becoming a Buddha," the Buddha's interlocutor is Mañjuśrī, and these chapters deal with the second element in the sutra's title, namely, "contemplation of the mind-ground." Following a discussion of "mind," there is described a meditative practice that represents an abridged version of a five-stage process for attaining enlightenment (pañcākārābhisaṃbodhikrama) that is distinctive of the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha, along with the associated mantras and mudrās, or hand gestures. Several passages describing the Buddha in these chapters are also reminiscent of the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha, one of the most important Buddhist tantras, and it would seem reasonable to suppose that this section was added, or at least given its Tantric overtones, by Prajña. It should be noted that Prajña translated a text closely related to the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha, the Zhufo jingjie she zhenshi jing (Taishō no. 868), although the date of its translation is not known, and there are some parallels between this text and part four of the present work. The fifth and final part, corresponding to Chapter XIII ("The Entrustment"), brings the sutra to a close with an explanation of the benefits of upholding and disseminating the sutra along with an exhortation to the assembled multitudes to do so.

As can be inferred from the brief overview of its contents presented above, the Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives and Contemplation of the Mind-ground is a composite text that would seem to bring together several disparate strands of thought. Rather than being a faithful translation of a single Sanskrit text, it would seem more reasonable to suppose that, assuming that there was a Sanskrit base text, it was augmented in various ways by the translator Prajña. The Chinese text draws on Vijñānavāda thought and, in addition to the texts already mentioned, the influence of sutras such as the Mahayana Mahānirvāṇa-sūtra, Avataṃsakasūtra, Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, Acintyabuddhaviṣayanirdeśa, and Fanwang jing (*Brahmajāla-sūtra) can also be discerned. In addition, the structure of Prajña's translation would seem to suggest a progression from the practices of the householder, as exemplified by the repaying of the four debts of gratitude, to the ascetic practices of the wilderness-dwelling renunciant bodhisattva, and finally to the visualization practices of Tantric Buddhism. There is, however, no way of knowing to what degree this reflects the contents of the original Sanskrit text and to what degree it is due to Prajña's embellishments.

6

Translator's Introduction

This scripture is best known in China and Japan for its exposition of the four debts of gratitude and perhaps, to a lesser extent, its instructions concerning an abridged version of a visualization practice characteristic of the Sarvatathāgatatattvasaṃgraha. It also merits attention on account of its chapters on the renunciant bodhisattva and his practices, which are likely to be the most faithful to Prajña's Sanskrit base text and provide further insights into the current of eremeticism that is known to have constituted an important aspect of the early Mahayana. 7

Contents

The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives and Contemplation of the Mind-ground Translated by Tripiṭaka [Master] Prajña from the Land of Kashmir during the Greater Tang

Fascicle One

Chapter I

Introduction

Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying in the city of Rājagṛha, on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa (Vulture Peak), together with a great multitude of thirtytwo thousand monks, all of whom were arhats whose minds were well liberated, whose wisdom was well liberated, and who had done what had to be done, were free from heavy burdens, had attained what was to their own advantage, had put an end to the bonds of existence, had gained great freedom, abided in the pure precepts, were skilled in expedient means and adorned with knowledge, had realized the eight liberations, and had reached the further shore. Their names were the Venerable Ājñātakauṇḍinya, Aśvajit, Mahānāma, Bhadrika, Mahākāśyapa, Gavāṃpati, Revata, Uruvilvākāśyapa, Nadīkāśyapa, Gayākāśyapa, Śāriputra, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Mahākātyāyana, Mahākapphina, Zhentina,1 Pūrṇamaitrāyaṇīputra, Aniruddha, Subāhu, Subhūti, Bakkula, Nanda, Sundarananda, and Rāhula. These venerable arhats, and Ānanda and others who were still learning, were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. Each made obeisance at the Buddha's feet, withdrew, and sat down to one side. With him were also bodhisattvas and mahāsattvas, eighty-four thousand of them, all of whom were great Dharma princes who would succeed to the position [of a buddha] after one more birth. They possessed great awe-inspiring virtue like great nāga kings; they were perfectly endowed with a hundred blessings; light shone forth from their bodies, just like a thousand suns breaking through the darkness; their wisdom was more pellucid than the ocean, and they fully understood the buddhas' state of mystery; lighting great Dharma torches, they guided beings, and in the sea of birth-and-death they acted as great ship masters; they took pity on beings as if they were infants, and at all times they constantly bestowed happiness; their fame was universally known throughout world-systems in the ten directions; they disported freely 11

The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

291b

with subtle supernormal faculties; they had been well able to master the dhāraṇī gateways; they were masterful, being endowed with fourfold unimpeded eloquence; they were masterful, having achieved fulfillment of their great vow; they were masterful in their wonderful accomplishment of deeds; they were masterful, having been well able to enter samādhi; they were masterful in their complete perfection of merit; they were always uninvited friends for beings; they had for immeasurable eons diligently cultivated the six perfections and served buddhas one after another without abiding in nirvana; they had cut off mental afflictions and eliminated all latent habit energy; though they might be born in the six paths [of transmigration] they were faultless; manifesting themselves in the ten directions,2 they discoursed on the wondrous Dharma, and in immeasurable world-systems they converted and benefited many beings; they brought non-Buddhists under control, vanquished their wrong thoughts, freed them from the causes of [the wrong views of] annihilation and permanence, and caused them to engender the right view, and yet they showed no signs of coming and going or vacillation; they adorned without adorning buddha fields in the ten directions and taught without teaching that the wondrous [truth-]principle is quiescent; abiding in a state of nonabiding, they had delivered multitudes of humans and gods [to the further shore]; they had experienced unexperienced vast Dharma bliss;3 they had donned the armor of effort, wielded the sword of wisdom, destroyed Māra's army, beaten the Dharma drum, and always sat in all places of practice everywhere; they had blown the great Dharma conch to awaken all kinds of beings; all sentient beings received benefit and there were none who, having heard their names and seen their person, spent the time in vain; they were endowed with the knowledge of the three attainments and understood the dharmas of the three ages; they were familiar with the faculties of beings, both sharp and dull, and dispensed medicine according to the illness without entertaining any doubts; they deployed great Dharma clouds from which showers of nectar rained down; they turned the Dharma wheel of the seal of knowledge of nonretrogression; they had shut the prison of birth-and-death and opened the gate to nirvana; and they had made a vast vow to liberate all beings until the end of time.

These bodhisattvas would before long gain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and their names4 were: [the bodhisattva] Untainted (Vimala), the bodhisattva 12

Fascicle One

Maitreya, the bodhisattva Lion's Roar (Siṃhanāda), the bodhisattva Wondrous Auspiciousness (Mañjuśrī), the bodhisattva Vimalakīrti, the bodhisattva He Who Is Masterful at Observing (Avalokiteśvara), the bodhisattva He Who Has Attained Great Strength (Mahāsthāmaprāpta), the bodhisattva King of the Adamantine Repository (Vajragarbharāja), the bodhisattva King of the Earth Repository (Kṣitigarbharāja), the bodhisattva King of the Repository of Empty Space (Ākāśagarbharāja), the bodhisattva King Masterful with Dhāraṇīs (Dhāraṇīśvararāja), the bodhisattva King Masterful in Samādhi (*Samādhī śvararāja), the bodhisattva King of the Wondrous High Mountain (Sumerurāja), the bodhisattva King of the Depths of the Ocean (*Sāgaragam bhī rarāja), the bodhisattva King of the Adornment of Wondrous Eloquence (Pratibhānālaṃkārarāja), the bodhisattva King of the Loftiness of Joy (*Unnatanandarāja), the bodhisattva King of Great Supernormal Transformations (Maharddhirāja), the bodhisattva King Masterful in the Dharma (Dharmeśvararāja), the bodhisattva King of Pure Rain (*Śuddhavarṣarāja), the bodhisattva Medicine King (Bhaiṣajyarāja), the bodhisattva Medicine Superior (Bhaiṣajyasamudgata), the bodhisattva Healer of the Illnesses of Mental Afflictions (*Kleśavyādhipraśāmin), the bodhisattva Jewel Mountain (Ratnaparvata), the bodhisattva Jewel Wealth (Ratnadhana), the bodhisattva Jewel Supreme (Ratnottama), the bodhisattva Jeweled Virtue (Ratnaguṇa), the bodhisattva Jewel Repository (Ratnākara), the bodhisattva Heap of Jewels (Ratnakūṭa), the bodhisattva Jeweled Hand (Ratnapāṇi), the bodhisattva Jeweled Seal Hand (Ratnamudrāhasta), the bodhisattva Jeweled Light (Ratna prabha), the bodhisattva Gift of Jewels (*Ratnadāna), the bodhisattva Jeweled Banner (Ratnaketu), the bodhisattva Great Jeweled Banner (Mahā ratnaketu), the bodhisattva Rain of Jewels (Ratnavarṣa), the bodhisattva Jeweled Attainment (*Ratnādhigama), the bodhisattva Jeweled Staff (Ratnayaṣṭi), the bodhisattva Jeweled Topknot (Ratnacūḍa), the bodhisattva Jeweled Auspiciousness (Ratnaśrī), the bodhisattva Masterful with Jewels (Ratneśvara), the bodhisattva Sandalwood Fragrance (Candanagandha), the bodhisattva Great Jeweled Torch (Mahāratnolka), the bodhisattva Great Jeweled Adornment (Mahāratnavyūha), the bodhisattva Sunlight (Sūryaprabha), the bodhisattva Moonlight (Candra prabha), the bodhisattva Starlight (Jyotiṣprabha), the bodhisattva Firelight (Agniprabha), the bodhisattva Lightning (Vidyutprabha), the bodhisattva Bestower of Mindfulness and Wisdom (*Smṛtiprajñāprada), the bodhisattva 13

291c

The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

Destroying Māra (Mārapramardin), the bodhisattva Victorious Over Māra (Māra vijayin), the bodhisattva Constant Exertion (Satatasamitābhiyukta), the bodhisattva Never Resting (Anikṣiptadhura), the bodhisattva He Who Does Not Break the Great Vow (*Avicchinnamahāpraṇidhāna), the bodhisattva Great Fame (Mahā yaśas), the bodhisattva Unimpeded Eloquence (Asaṅgaprati bhāna), and the bodhisattva Unimpeded Turner of the Dharma Wheel (*Asaṅga dhar ma cakrapravartin). The bodhisattva and mahāsattva Vimala and these others were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also billions of gods (devaputras) of the six [heavens in the realm of] desire. Their names were: the devaputra Well-abiding (Supratiṣṭhita), the devaputra Awesome Virtue (*Tejovati), the devaputra Universal Light (Samantaprabha), the devaputra Pure Wisdom (Viśuddhamati), the devaputra Auspicious One (Śrī), the devaputra Great Auspicious One (Mahāśrī), the devaputra Masterful One (Īśvara), the devaputra Great Masterful One (Maheśvara), the devaputra Sūryaprabha, and the devaputra Candraprabha. These devaputras, headed by Śakra Devendra, all cherished the wondrous Dharma of the Mahayana and wished to serve tathāgatas of the three ages, enter an inconceivable state of mystery, and adorn the buddhas' assemblies and places of practice. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also gods (devaputras) of the realm of form [as numerous as] the sands of the Ganges. Their names were: the devaputra Universal Illumination by Great Light (Mahāvabhāsaprabha), the devaputra Untainted Adornment (Vimalavyūha), the devaputra Disporting with Supernormal Faculties (*Ṛddhivikrīḍin), the devaputra Masterful in Samādhi (*Samādhivaśavartin), the devaputra Masterful with Dhāraṇīs (Dhāraṇīśvara), the devaputra Great Nārāyaṇa (Mahānārāyaṇa), the devaputra Fulfilling the Superior Vow (*Prava ra praṇidhānaparipūrṇa), the devaputra Unimpeded Eloquence (Asaṅgaprati bhāna), the devaputra Auspicious Merit (*Puṇyaśrī), and the devaputra Constantly Making Great Vows (*Nityanibaddhamahāpraṇidhāna). These deva putras, headed by the heavenly king and Great Brahmā Radiance (Jyotiṣprabha), were all endowed with the supernormal faculties of samādhi and with eloquence in their desire to preach; they had served buddhas and tathāgatas of the three ages one after another, and when these had sat on an adamantine seat beneath a bodhi tree and, having destroyed Māra's army, realized bodhi, they had gone to assemblies everywhere and had all at the outset requested 14

Fascicle One

the tathāgatas to turn the wheel of the wondrous Dharma, open the gate to the nectar [of nirvana], and deliver multitudes of humans and gods [to the further shore]; and they well understood the secret intent of the buddhas and would never again turn back from great bodhi. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also forty-eight thousand great nāga kings: the nāga king Manasvin, the nāga king Takṣaka, the nāga king Nanda, the nāga king Upananda, the nāga king Anavatapta, the nāga king Great Golden Face (*Mahāsuvarṇamukha), the nāga king Wish-fulfilling Jewel (Cintāmaṇi), the nāga king Raining Wondrous Rare Jewels (Ratnavarṣa), the nāga king Constantly Discharging Sweet Rain (*Sadāpravarṣin), the nāga king Possessing Great Majesty (Mahātejas), and the nāga king Masterful in Strength (*Baleśvara). These nāga kings, headed by the nāga king Sāgara, all cherished the wondrous Dharma of the Mahayana and had made a vast vow to revere and protect it. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also fifty-eight thousand yakṣa gods: the yakṣa god Great Lion King (Mahāsiṃharāja), the yakṣa god Effulgence of the Sun Disc (*Sūryamaṇḍalaprabhāsa), the yakṣa god Wondrous Nārāyaṇa (Sunārāyaṇa), the yakṣa god Extremely Terrifying (Bhīmottara), the yakṣa god Lustrous Color of Lotuses (*Padmavarṇa), the yakṣa god Exquisite in Sense Organs (*Cārvindriya), the yakṣa god External Protector of the Right Dharma (*Saddharmaparigrāhaka), the yakṣa god Worshiping the Three Jewels (*Ratnatrayapūjaka), the yakṣa god Raining Rare Jewels (Ratnavarṣa), and the yakṣa god Maṇipāla. These yakṣa gods, headed by the yakṣa god Saṃjñeya, were all endowed with the radiance of knowledge difficult to conceive, the torch of knowledge difficult to conceive, the conduct of knowledge difficult to conceive, and a mass of knowledge difficult to conceive, and for the sake of beings they subdued wicked demons, made them attain happiness, extended their merit and knowledge, and protected the Mahayana to ensure that it would not come to an end. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also eighty-nine thousand gandharva kings: the gandharva king Jeweled Crown on the Head (*Śiromakuṭa), the gandharva king Universally Emitting Radiance (*Raśmipramuñcaka), the gandharva king Adamantine Jeweled Banner (Vajraratnaketu), the gandharva king Pure of 15

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Wondrous Sound (*Madhurasvara), the gandharva king Going to Assemblies Everywhere (*Sarvaparṣadanugata), the gandharva king Universally Manifesting in All Directions (*Sarvadiksaṃdarśana), the gandharva king Cherishing the Mahayana (*Mahāyānābhirata), and the gandharva king Turning the Nonretrogressing Wheel (*Avivarticakrapravartin). These gandharva kings, headed by the gandharva king Pure of Sense Organs (*Śuddhendriya), had all aroused a deep love and respect for the Mahayana, brought benefit and happiness to beings, and were forever tireless. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also a thousand million asura kings: the asura king Rāhula, the asura king Vemacitra, the asura king Manifesting Majesty (*Tejaḥsaṃ bhava), the asura king Great Firm Strength (*Mahādṛḍhabala), the asura king Exquisite Voice (Madhurasvara), the asura king Illuminating Everywhere with Radiance (*Virocana), the asura king Ever-victorious in Battle (*Saṃgrā mavijayin), and the asura king Skilled in Illusionary Transformations (*Nir mita kauśalya). These asura kings, headed by the asura king Vast Wondrous Eloquence (*Vipulapratisaṃvid), were skilled in practice and free from all [kinds of] self-pride, upheld the Mahayana, and venerated the Three Jewels. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also five million garuḍa kings: the garuḍa king Ratnacūḍa, the garuḍa king Adamantine Pure Light (*Vajraśuddharaśmi), the garuḍa king Swift Like the Wind (*Vāyuvega), the garuḍa king Pure Wisdom of Empty Space (*Ākāśaviśuddhamati), the garuḍa king Vast in His Wondrous Body (Mahākāya), the garuḍa king Nonretrogressing in the Mind (*Cittāvaivartika), the garuḍa king Wide-eyed Purity (*Virūpākṣaśuddhi), the garuḍa king Big-bellied Satiation (*Mahodarapūrṇa), the garuḍa king Mahātejas, and the garuḍa king Radiance of Wisdom (Jñānaraśmi). These garuḍa kings, headed by the garuḍa king Light of Wish-fulfilling Jewels (*Cintāmaṇi prabha), had all achieved acceptance of the nonarising of dharmas and were adept at bringing benefit to all beings. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also nine million kiṃnara kings: the kiṃnara king Earth-shaking (*Pṛthivīkampin), the kiṃnara king Wondrous Jeweled Flower Banner (*Suratna puṣpaketu), the kiṃnara king Radiance of Jeweled Trees (*Ratnadrumaprabha), the kiṃnara king Radiance of the Wondrous Dharma (Sudharmaprabha), the 16

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kiṃnara king Supreme Adornment (*Paramavyūha), the kiṃnara king Radiance of the Great Dharma (Mahādharmaprabha), the kiṃnara king Upholding the Wondrous Dharma (Dharmadhara), the kiṃnara king Adorned with Wondrous Jewels (*Ratnabhūṣita), and the kiṃnara king He Who Has Accomplished Wondrous Vision (*Svavalokanasiddha). These kiṃnara kings, headed by the kiṃnara king Sound Pleasing to the Mind (Manojñasvara), all possessed pure wondrous wisdom, were blissful in body and mind, and disported freely. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also ninety-eight thousand mahoraga kings: the mahoraga king Wondrous Topknot, the mahoraga king He Who Has Great Majesty (Mahātejovati), the mahoraga king Adorned with a Jeweled Topknot (*Ratna cūḍālaṃkṛta), the mahoraga king Subtle with Pure Eyes (*Sūkṣmavimala netra), the mahoraga king Radiant Jeweled Banner (*Prabharatnaketu), the mahoraga king Lion's Breast (*Siṃhastana), the mahoraga king Unmoving Like a Mountain (*Parvatācala), and the mahoraga king Delightful Radiance (*Priyaprabha). These mahoraga kings, headed by the mahoraga king Ṛddhi vikrīḍin, were already well-practiced in skillful means to make beings forever free from the entanglements of craving. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also wheel-turning sage-kings from myriads of millions of lands in other directions: wheel-turning sage-kings with a golden wheel, wheel-turning sage-kings with a silver wheel, wheel-turning sage-kings with a copper wheel, and wheel-turning sage-kings with an iron wheel together with their seven precious things, a thousand sons, and attendants. Their finery was immeasurable: elephant- and horse-carriages, innumerable jeweled banners hung with great jeweled pennants, garlands of flowers, jeweled canopies, silk festoons, white fly whisks, all kinds of rarities, necklaces of fine jewels, and unguents and powdered incense compounded with myriads of kinds of fine and special aromatics. Each [sage-king] held a priceless many-jeweled censer burning very precious incense as an offering to the World-honored One, and having with fine words extolled the Tathāgata's profound oceanlike wisdom, they said to the Buddha:

World-honored One, I do not now seek the contaminated rewards of humans and gods in the three realms, but seek only supramundane anuttarā 17

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samyaksaṃbodhi. Why is this? Although the blessings and happiness of humans and gods in the three realms occupy an honorable position, once the merits of previous lives have been exhausted, one will be reborn in an evil destiny and experience immeasurable suffering. Who, possessing wisdom, would take pleasure in worldly happiness?

Having spoken these words, they singlemindedly pressed their palms together. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also the kings of sixteen great countries:5 Great King Pure Rice (Śuddhodana) of the land of Kapila[vastu], King Bimbisāra of the land of Magadha, Great King Kāśi of the land of Vārāṇasī, Great King Udayana of the land of Yuyutuo, and King Kapphina, ruler of the land of Sāla. These sixteen great kings as well as petty kings and King Prasenajit, ruler of the land of Śrāvastī, were headed by [a king] named Candraprabha,6 and they were all endowed with merit, knowledge, and supernormal faculties and possessed great majesty like that of wheel-turning kings; all their foes spontaneously surrendered, their people thrived, their lands were prosperous, and their roots of goodness planted in the presence of immeasurable buddhas were always protectively thought of by the buddhas. During the [past] Eon of Adornment one thousand buddhas appeared, and these kings always acted as their patrons; during the [present] Good Eon (bhadrakalpa) one thousand buddhas will appear, and these kings will again act as their patrons; during the Eon of Constellations (tārakopamakalpa) in a future age one thousand buddhas will appear, and [these kings] will act as their patrons; and in all worlds in which buddhas will appear in the future these kings will through the power of their original vows always practice charity, bring benefit to sentient beings, and duly enter the gateways of expedient means as appropriate. Although they had become kings, they did not hanker for worldly happiness; having an aversion for birth-and-death, they cultivated the causes of liberation, diligently sought the path of the Buddha, cherished the Mahayana, converted and benefited all beings, were not attached to [distinguishing] characteristics, and continued the lineage of the Three Jewels to ensure that it would not come to an end. In order to hear the Dharma they made offerings to the Tathāgata, providing a wide range of rare dishes and solemnly bearing incense 18

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and flowers, and came to where the Buddha was. They were each accompanied by one myriad, two myriads, or thousands of myriads of attendants. There were also the wives of the kings of the sixteen great countries: Queen Vaidehī, Queen Fine Excellent Garland (Śrīmālā), Queen Very Delightful (*Priyatamā), Queen Incomparable in the Three Realms (*Trailokyātulyā), Queen Radiance of Blessed Recompense (*Puṇyaphalaprabhā), Queen Light of Wish-fulfilling Jewels (*Cintāmaṇiprabhā), Queen Malli[kā], and Queen Wondrous Virtue (*Supuṇyā). These wives, headed by Queen Exceptionally Fine Face (*Sumukhaviśeṣā), were already well able to enter immeasurable right concentrations, and in order to deliver beings [to the further shore] they had manifested female bodies; they had trained their minds with the three liberations, possessed great wisdom, were perfect in merit, and with unconditional great kindness and unimpeded great compassion took pity on beings as if they were infants. Through the power of their original vows they had been able to encounter the World-honored One, and out of a desire to hear the Dharma they had come to where the Buddha was and, gazing up at his august countenance with unwavering eyes, offered up to the World-honored One immeasurable kinds of superior offerings among those of humans and also made offerings of innumerable necklaces of fine jewels to the Tathāgata. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also hundreds of thousands of innumerable people: monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, brahmans, kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, śūdras, and eminent and ordinary householders and all people of [many] realms. These great multitudes had engendered pure faith, aroused thoughts of reverence, and planted in the past the roots of goodness; having been born [in this life], they had encountered the Buddhist Dharma, and in order to seek the supramundane they had aroused the thought that it is difficult to meet [a buddha] and had come to where the Buddha was, where they singlemindedly pressed their palms together. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also innumerable non-Buddhists: non-Buddhists who engaged in austerities, non-Buddhists who were very learned, non-Buddhists with worldly knowledge, non-Buddhists who delighted in detachment, and the Lokāyata non-Buddhists. Headed by the Lokāyatika7 non-Buddhists, they had accomplished the five [supernormal] faculties and could fly freely. They 19

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had aroused thoughts of wonder, and in order to hear the Dharma they came to where the Buddha was. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also immeasurable and innumerable nonhumans and hungry ghosts: namely, demons without wealth, demons who eat human vomit, demons who torment beings, demons who eat mucus and spittle, demons who eat insatiably, piśāca demons, demons who smell very smelly, demons who eat excrement, demons who eat human fetuses, demons who eat children [just] born, demons who eat impurities, and demons who produce auspiciousness. These demons, headed by the great king of demons and spirits Virūḍhaka, had abandoned venomous thoughts and taken refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and all of them protected the Tathāgata's right Dharma. In order to hear the Dharma they came to where the Buddha was, prostrated themselves on the ground, and looked up yearningly at the World-honored One. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also immeasurable and innumerable kings of birds and beasts: the king of pheasants, the king of parrots, the king of lions, the king of elephants, and the king of deer. All these kings of birds and beasts, headed by the golden-colored king of lions, had all taken refuge in the Tathāgata and Great Teacher, and out of a desire to hear the Dharma they came to where the Buddha was. Each, in accordance with the power of his vow, made offerings to the World-honored One and said to the Buddha: We but beseech you, O Tathāgata, to accept out of pity our meager offerings. May we be forever free from the seeds of evil deeds that lead to the three [evil] paths! May we be able to receive the rewards of the blessings and happiness of humans and gods! And may we open up the Dharma gateway to the nectar of the Mahayana, quickly cut off ignorance, and obtain liberation!

Then the kings of birds, having spoken these words, singlemindedly pressed their palms together and gazed up at the Tathāgata. They were each accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also hundreds of thousands of King Yamas, together with innumerable great rākṣasas, all kinds of beings, evil kings, officials of the netherworld, and jailers and penal officers who weigh up sins and merits. 20

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Moved by the Buddha's awesome power, they had forsaken evil thoughts and come together with King Yama to hear the Dharma. [King Yama] said to the Buddha:

All beings, because of ignorance, hanker for the pleasures of the five desires, commit the five heinous crimes, enter into the various hells, transmigrate endlessly, and on account of their actions experience great hardship, just as a silkworm in the world at large enmeshes itself in its cocoon. I but beseech you, O Tathāgata, to cause great Dharma showers to rain down, to extinguish the fires of hell, to send cool breezes, to open the gate to liberation, and to shut off the three evil destinies. Then King Yama, having spoken these words, made offerings of all kinds of rare jewels to the Tathāgata and circled him one hundred thousand times with singleminded reverence. He was accompanied by some hundreds of thousands of attendants, who each made obeisance at the Buddha's feet, withdrew, and sat down to one side. At that time the World-honored One was seated on a lion seat atop a jeweled lotus. The lion seat was the color of dark blue beryl and was studded and adorned with all kinds of rare [gems]. The stem [of the lotus] was made of precious crystal, the lotus petals were made of purple-tinged polished gold, and, as for the pericarp of the lotus, the pistils and stamens were made of maṇi jewels. [The seat] was attended by eighty-four thousand great jeweled lotuses made of gold from the Jambū River and surrounded in front and behind by great multitudes, who honored, revered, venerated, and praised [the World-honored One].

Now, the Bhagavān (Lord) was seated cross-legged on the lion seat with extraordinary bearing, just as four-jeweled Mount Sumeru rises naturally far up out of the ocean, just as one hundred thousand suns illuminate empty space, emit immeasurable light, and destroy the darkness, and just as a koṭi of full moons, [each] alone among the stars, sheds refreshing light and brightens world-systems. At that time the Tathāgata entered the very best samādhi of the heaven Pinnacle of Existence (Akaniṣṭha), called "King of the Mind's Adornment with Necklace Jewels." Dwelling in this state of concentration, he did not move in body or mind.

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Then all the devaputras in the realm of nonform rained down immeasurable kinds of exquisite flowers and incense, which descended through empty space like clouds. The eighteen Brahmā kings of the [eighteen] heavens in the realm of form rained down hundreds of thousands of myriads of kinds of innumerable heavenly flowers of sundry colors and the wondrous incense of Brahmā's heaven, which perfused empty space and descended like clouds. The gods and multitudes of devaputras of the six [heavens in the realm of] desire, through the power of the gods' merit, rained down all kinds of flowers—the utpala flower, the padma flower, the kumuda flower, the puṇḍarī[ka] flower, the campaka flower, the atimukta flower, the vārṣikā flower, the sumanas flower, the māndāra[va] flower, the mahāmāndāra[va] flower, the mañjūṣa[ka] flower, and the mahāmañjūṣa[ka] flower—which fell through empty space in confused profusion, and these they offered to the [Three] Jewels of the Buddha, Sangha, and Dharma. They also rained down priceless precious incense from the heavens above; this incense, like clouds, took on the colors of a hundred jewels, and through the supernormal powers of the gods its fragrance perfused these world-systems in an offering to the great assembly. Then the World-honored One came out of samādhi, whereupon, [seated] on the same seat, he again entered the samādhi "Resolute Speed of the Lion" and manifested great supernormal faculties, causing this trigalactic megagalactic world-system to quake in six ways. That is to say, it shook, shook violently, and shook violently everywhere; it rose, rose violently, and rose violently everywhere; it moved, moved violently, and moved violently everywhere; it reverberated, reverberated violently, and reverberated violently everywhere; it roared, roared violently, and roared violently everywhere; and it crackled, crackled violently, and crackled violently everywhere. Further, this world-system rose in the east and sank in the west, rose in the west and sank in the east, rose in the south and sank in the north, rose in the north and sank in the south, rose in the center and sank at the edges, and rose at the edges and sank in the center. The ground was wholly purified and completely soft, it made plants and trees grow bigger, and it benefited all beings. The trigalactic [megagalactic world-]system was made devoid of hells, hungry ghosts, animals, and other inopportune evil destinies; beings all gained freedom from suffering, and after having abandoned this [present] body, they would be born in the path of humans and the six heavens [of the realm] of 22

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desire; all knew their former lives, danced for joy, went together to where the Buddha was, bowed their heads at the Buddha's feet with thoughts of reverence, brought rare jewels and innumerable necklaces, and, understanding the emptiness of the threesome [of giver, recipient, and gift], thereby repaid their debt of gratitude to the Buddha.

Then the Tathāgata emitted great rays of light from his chest and pores, called anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi in which bodhisattvas disport with supernormal faculties to bring about nonretrogression. The color of these rays of light was like gold from the Jambū River, and this golden-colored light universally illuminated the trigalactic megagalactic world-system and other [world-]systems, as well as one hundred million Mountain-king Sumerus, all Snowy Mountains (Himavat, i.e., Himalayas), Fragrant Mountains (Gandha[mādana]), Black Mountains (Kīṭādri), Golden Mountains (Kāñcanaparvata), Jewel Mountains (Ratnaparvata), Meru Mountains, Great Meru Mountains, Mucilinda Mountains, Mahāmucilinda Mountains, Smaller Ironring Mountains (Cakravāḍa), and Greater Iron-ring Mountains (Mahācakravāḍa); rivers, oceans, springs, and ponds, as well as one hundred million worlds with the four great continents; suns, moons, and stars; palaces of gods, palaces of nāgas, and palaces of honored spirits; countries, towns, royal palaces, and hamlets; Yamarā[ja]'s world; scenes of beings with sinful karma experiencing suffering in all eight cold and eight hot hells through to scenes of animals and hungry ghosts in the ten directions experiencing suffering; and scenes of beings in all worlds and five destinies experiencing suffering and happiness. In this manner they all appeared in these golden-colored great rays of light.

In this light there also appeared various scenes of the bodhisattva practicing the path to buddhahood, from when in a former time the bodhisattva Śākyamuni was King Radiant (Arcimat) and first generated the aspiration for anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi through to his accomplishment of the path to buddhahood beneath the bodhi tree and entry into nirvana in the grove of sal [trees], and in between all the [acts of] kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity and the gateways to eighty-four thousand pāramitās during three [a]saṃkhyeya hundreds of myriads of eons. That is to say, in the past he was a [wheelturning] king with a golden wheel ruling over the four continents as far as the edge of the ocean; the people thrived, the land was prosperous, the right 23

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Dharma had transformed the world for immeasurable eons, and every rare treasure filled the country, whereupon the wheel[-turning] king, observing that all worlds are impermanent, grew tired of the pleasures of the five desires, abandoned the position of wheel[-turning] king, and left home to study the path. Or he became the beloved son of a king in a large country and forsook life and limb, throwing himself to a starving tigress. Or he became king of the Śibis and cut off part of his body to save a dove. Or he saved a pregnant doe by giving up his body as the king of deer. Or he gave up his whole body in the Snowy Mountains in order to seek a half-verse. Or he manifested birth into the household of King Śuddhodana, where he abandoned sixty thousand handmaidens in the royal harem, forsook all kinds of fine merriment, and surmounted the city walls to leave home; during six years of austerities he ate hemp and barley daily, defeated heretics, and after having sat beneath the bodhi tree and destroyed Māra's army, he gained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. There were practices and vows like these, equal [in number] to the sands of hundreds of thousands of Ganges Rivers and difficult to conceive, and scenes of them all suddenly all appeared in these golden-colored great rays of light. Further, in this light there appeared the inconceivable eight great jeweled stupas of the Tathāgata: the jeweled stupa at his birthplace in the palace of King Śuddhodana of the land of Kośala; the jeweled stupa where he became a buddha beneath a bodhi tree on the outskirts of the city of Gayā in the land of Magadha; the jeweled stupa where he first turned the Dharma wheel and saved people in the Deer Park in the land of Vārāṇasī; the jeweled stupa where he debated for six months with heretics in Anāthapiṇḍada's garden in the land of Śrāvastī and won renown as an Omniscient One; the jeweled stupa of the miracle when, on the outskirts of the city of Kanyakubja in the land of Andhra,8 he ascended to Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, preached the Dharma for his mother, and, manifesting a triple jeweled staircase, descended from the Heaven of the Thirty-three [Gods] (Trāyastriṃśa) to Jambū[dvīpa] together with the heavenly king Brahmā, Śakra Devendra, and a multitude of one hundred and twenty thousand; the jeweled stupa where he preached the Mahayana—the scriptures Great Prajñā[pāramitā], Lotus, One Vehicle, Mind-ground,9 and so on—on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa on the outskirts of the city of Rājagṛha in the land of Magadha;10 the jeweled stupa where the eminent householder Vima[lakīrti] mysteriously manifested an illness in the grove 24

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of Āmrapālī in the land of Vaiśālī;11 and the jeweled stupa where [the Buddha entered] perfect quiescence in the grove of sal [trees] on the banks of the [Ajira]vatī River in the land of Kuśina[garī]. These eight [jeweled] stupas are ways for the Great Sage to convert [people] and places of refuge for sentient beings in [the realms of] humans and gods, and if one worships and reveres them, they become a cause of buddhahood. These sounds and stupa images, as well as things difficult to conceive in the three ages, all appeared in the great rays of light.

Further, among the magical transformations due to supernormal faculties and the rare occurrences in the places of practice and assemblies of buddhas and great bodhisattvas of the three ages in [world-]systems in the ten directions, and in the wondrous Dharma preached by the tathāgatas, there was, just like the responses of echoes, nothing that was not seen or heard in these golden-colored great rays of light. All beings, on encountering this radiance and seeing these auspicious scenes, generated the aspiration for unequaled anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.

Then the great multitudes, seeing the inconceivable things due to the Buddha's supernormal powers, marveled at the unprecedented [occurrence] and said to one another:

The Tathāgata has today entered samādhi, emitted great rays of light, and illuminated [world-]systems in the ten directions, and we have been able to see past incidents involving the Tathāgata difficult to conceive, how he subjugated beings of wrong views in evil ages and made them arouse right understanding and aim for bodhi. Remarkable is the Tathāgata, the father of all worlds and difficult to gain sight of during immeasurable eons. Having cultivated practices and vows eon after eon, we have been able to encounter the great teacher of humans and gods in the three realms. We but beseech you, compassionate Honored One, to take pity on the world, rise from meditation, preach the most profound Dharma, and, by revealing and teaching it, bring benefit and joy to all beings. Having spoken these words, they looked up at his venerable countenance and remained silent.

At that time there was in the assembly a bodhisattva named Siṃhanāda. He had for three [a]saṃkhyeya [eons] cultivated merit and knowledge, and 25

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The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

in the Good Eon he would next succeed to the position of a buddha, receive [initiation into] the stage of consecration,12 and become a great Dharma king. Looking in the four directions at the great multitude in the oceanlike assembly, he spoke these words in a loud voice:

During immeasurable eons in former times, having generated the aspiration for anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, I served one after another all buddhas [as numerous as] the sands of the Ganges, and once at the site of the first assembly13 I saw inconceivable magical transformations due to [the Buddha's] supernormal faculties. But I have never seen this golden-colored radiance manifesting all the practices and vows of the bodhisattva, showing various scenes [from former lives] of the Tathāgata, and making us see incidents from the three ages difficult to conceive.

I but beg you, good people, to press your palms together single mindedly and look up at the [Buddha's] venerable countenance so that he may rise from meditation, bestow nectarlike medicine, remove illnesses due to burning anguish, and make us realize the Dharma body and its permanence, bliss, self, and purity. There are two means on account of which tathāgatas do not dwell for long in samādhi. One is great kindness and the other is great compassion. Relying on great kindness they give beings happiness, and relying on great compassion they remove the suffering of beings. By these two means [the Buddha] habitually cultivated his mind for innumerable eons and accomplished right awakening. Beings in the world have many hardships, and for this reason the Tathāgata will before long rise from samādhi. He will expound the method of contemplating the mind-ground, the wondrous Dharma of the Mahayana, and declare to the great multitudes, "Would that you do not seek all the blessings and happiness of humans and gods, but quickly seek supramundane anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi!"

Why is this? Today the World-honored One has from his chest emitted golden-colored light, and everything illuminated by it is like gold in color. The import of that displayed by the Buddha is most profound and cannot be known by śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas in any worlds even if they ponder it to the best of their ability. You ordinary people do not observe your own mind, and consequently you drift about in the sea of birth-and-death. Because 26

Fascicle One

buddhas and bodhisattvas are able to observe their minds, they cross the sea of birth-and-death and reach the further shore. The Dharma of the tathāgatas of the three ages is all like this, and the emitting of this radiance is not without reason.

On hearing the words of the great man, the hearts of those in the assemblies danced for joy at having experienced something unprecedented. Thereupon the bodhisattva and mahāsattva Siṃhanāda, wishing to restate his meaning, spoke these verses:

I pay reverence to the Great Awakened One, the Honored One among gods and humans,

who has perfected all merits and knowledge [as numerous as] the sands of the Ganges.

His golden radiance and his embellishing marks of hundredfold merit engender thoughts of delight in beings. Transcending the three realms, he alone is honored, his merits supreme and without equal.

Using the masterful powers of his supernormal faculties everywhere, he appears to people in accordance with the deeds they have done. When I observe the world with my divine vision, there is no one anywhere like the Buddha. Rare is his golden appearance, similar to that of a full moon, and his rarity exceeds that of an uḍum[bara] flower. His infinite merit and knowledge benefit beings, and his great radiance shines everywhere like a thousand suns. The suffering of foolish beings through the long night [of transmigration] is completely eliminated when illuminated by his radiance. I see the Tathāgata's former conduct,

how he served and honored innumerable buddhas, Passed through [a]saṃkhya immeasurable eons, and aimed for bodhi for the sake of beings. In the midst of the sea of suffering of birth-and-death he always acts as a great shipmaster and saves all kinds of beings. He expounds the nectarlike true and pure Dharma and makes people enter the gate to unconditioned liberation. 295a

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The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

For three [a]saṃkhya eons he saved beings and diligently cultivated eighty thousand pāramitās. The causes having been perfected and their results fulfilled, he accomplished right awakening;

he is long-lived and motionless, neither coming nor going. Every one of his major marks and minor signs pervades the Dharma realm,

and the characteristics of buddhas in the ten directions are all like this.

Their most profound state is difficult to conceive, and no humans or gods can fathom it.

In their essence and function there are no differences between buddhas, just as a thousand lamps, when shining, increase each other's brightness.

Their wisdom, like space, has no bounds; it assumes a form in response to things, like the moon [reflected] in water.

The infinite Dharma realm is always quiescent; thusness is unmoving, like empty space. The Tathāgata's pure and wondrous Dharma body is naturally endowed with virtues [as numerous as] the sands of the Ganges;

It pervades the Dharma realm without end, is neither born nor perishes, and is without coming or going. The Dharma king permanently resides in the palace of the wondrous Dharma, and there is nothing on which the radiance of the Dharma body does not shine.

The Tathāgata's Dharma-nature is without hindrance; responding everywhere in accordance with conditions, he benefits beings.

Beings each see themselves in his presence [and think,] "He is expounding the nectarlike Dharma for me!" He is able to annihilate mental afflictions at will, and the sufferings of humans and gods are all eliminated. 28

Fascicle One

The Dharma king, destroyer of [delusionary] existence, is most remarkable,

and his radiance gleams like a mountain of gold. In order to save beings he appears in the world, and burning the torch of the Dharma, he destroys darkness. Beings submerged in the sea of birth-and-death transmigrate in the five destinies with no chance of escape. The Sugata constantly acts as a boat of the wondrous Dharma, cleaving the current of craving and crossing over to the further shore. His great wisdom and expedient means, which cannot be measured, constantly give inexhaustible happiness to beings. Acting as the greatly compassionate father of the world, he takes pity on all sentient beings.

The Tathāgata's appearance in the world is most difficult to encounter, and he appears once in innumerable millions of eons. It is, for example, like the uḍum[bara], a wonderfully auspicious flower, regarded as rare by all humans and gods, Which appears once in immeasurable eons— to witness the Buddha's appearance in the world is also like this. Those beings without merit or knowledge are always foundering in the sea of birth-and-death; Not seeing any tathāgatas for millions of eons, they constantly experience suffering in accordance with their evil deeds.

We have for innumerable hundreds of thousands of eons been practicing the four immeasurables and three liberations, And now we behold the Great Sage, Muni, the Honored One, just like a blind turtle encountering a floating piece of wood [in the ocean].

I hope that in future ages, for eons [as numerous as] the sands of the Ganges,

I will not abandon the teacher of gods and humans for even a moment And, like a shadow accompanying a shape, will not leave him even briefly,

diligently cultivating [all-]faceted knowledge day and night. 29

The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

295b

I but pray that the World-honored One will have pity on me and always enable me to see the Honored One of Great Kindness. Tirelessly always upholding [his teachings] with the three activities [of body, speech, and mind],

I pray that I may accomplish right awakening together with [all] beings.

Now the great guide of the three realms,

cross-legged on his seat, has entered samādhi. Alone, he rests motionless in an empty and quiet abode, his body and mind unmoving, like [Mount] Sumeru. No Brahmā or Māra in the world

can arouse the Tathāgata from his meditation. The multitudes of ordinary people and holy ones in this realm and in other quarters

all know that the Tamer [of Men] dwells in dhyāna. Extensively preparing infinite and exquisite offerings, they offer them up to Śākyamuni, with his supreme virtues. The gods of the six [heavens in the realm of] desire come to make offerings:

heavenly flowers fall in confusion throughout empty space, And priceless incense, reward for [the practice of] the ten good [deeds], changes into fragrant clouds the color of a hundred jewels, Which completely cover the immeasurable multitudes of humans and gods,

rain down sundry wondrous jewels, and offer them to the Tathāgata. Fragrance fills the air in front of the Three Jewels, hundreds of thousands of musical instruments are suspended in midair, And without being struck they play of their own accord, creating wonderful melodies

in offering to the Honored One among two-legged human beings. The eighteen heavens [of the realm of form, starting with] the hosts of Brahmā, rain down heavenly flowers

and rain down sundry jewels of thousands of myriads of kinds, Pure maṇi gems, wondrous necklaces,

fine heavenly vestments adorned with jewels, 30

Fascicle One

And great jeweled and flowery banners, hung with pennants of victory, with which they make offerings to Muni, the Honored One. Gods of the heavens in the realm of nonform rain down precious flowers, flowers as big as wheels,

And they rain down delicate incense that fills the world in offering to the samādhi difficult to conceive. Nāga kings, [a]suras, humans, and nonhumans offer up rare and wondrous jewels miraculously obtained, Each offering them to the god of gods

out of a desire to hear the path to supreme bodhi. Then the Bhagavān, the great king of physicians, who skillfully treats the world's suffering from mental afflictions, Like a lion roaring, with the power of his samādhi caused [the earth] to quake in six ways throughout the trigalactic [megagalactic world-system].

With this he awakened those with the right conditions, and those without the right conditions for this did not wake up. Those humans and gods who were to be saved saw the various supernormal faculties of the Buddha. They looked up at Muni, the Honored One, with his moonlike visage, their three activities purified as they all gathered in clouds. The Tathāgata can, with his unconditional kindness, bring benefit to beings so that they accomplish superior merits. From his chest he emitted these great rays of light, called "nonretrogression of bodhisattvas." Like the seven suns that appear when an eon comes to an end, they blazed fiercely, emitting a thousand rays. All the bright lights in the world

cannot match the light from a single pore of the Buddha. The immeasurable and unimpeded great divine light illuminated buddha lands everywhere in the ten directions. The Tathāgata's merit and knowledge having been all perfected, the divine light emitted by him is also without compare. His light resplendent, like the color of gold, illuminated lands everywhere in the ten directions. 295c

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The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

In what appeared in the golden light of the Great Sage there were visible all the material images of the world. All the mountain kings

of the trigalactic megagalactic world-systems, Mount Sumerus composed of the four jewels, Snowy Mountains, Fragrant Mountains, Seven Golden Mountains, Mucilinda and Meru Mountains,

Greater Iron-ring Mountains, Smaller [Iron-ring] Mountains, Oceans, rivers, and bathing pools,

innumerable hundreds of millions of the four great continents, Suns, moons, and stars, jeweled palaces, palaces of gods, palaces of nāgas, palaces of spirits, Countries, towns, royal palaces, and hamlets— the likes of these all appeared in the light. It also manifested the Tathāgata's past causes [of his awakening], how he accumulated merit, amassed virtue, and sought the path to buddhahood.

Formerly in the kingdom of the Śibis the Tathāgata once occupied an honorable position and became king of the people. Rare treasures all filled the country,

and he always governed the world by means of the right Dharma. He never wearied of kindness, compassion, joy, or equanimity, and able to renounce that which is difficult to renounce, he aimed for [becoming] a bodhisattva.14

He cut off part of his body to save a dove and had no regrets; taking pity deep in his heart, he saved beings. Then, when the Buddha was formerly an ordinary person, he entered the Snowy Mountains in search of the path to buddhahood; He concentrated his mind, valiantly and diligently applied himself, and gave up his whole body in order to seek a half-verse. Because he had sought the right Dharma,

he transcended the suffering of birth-and-death for twelve eons. Once, when he was the seer Māṇa[va],

he spread his hair [over the ground] in offering to the Buddha Dīpaṅkara,

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And because of this effort

he transcended the sea of birth-and-death for eight eons. Once, when he was Prince [Mahā]sattva, he gave up his beloved body and threw himself to a starving tigress, And because he had benefited himself and benefited others, he transcended the causes of birth-and-death for eleven eons. Jalavāhana, [the son of] an eminent householder and great king of physicians,

in order to rescue beings equally,

Saved fish, who each gained birth in heaven, and the gods rained down necklaces and came to repay their debt of gratitude.

For seven days [in a former life the Buddha] kept his foot raised, extolling the Tathāgata,

and because of his efforts he transcended nine eons. Once he was a six-tusked white king of elephants, whose tusks were especially fine and incomparable; In order to give up life and limb he threw himself to hunters, seeking the Buddha's unsurpassed great bodhi. Or he became a king of perfect merit and knowledge and gave his eyes in an effort to seek the path to buddhahood. Again, he became a golden-colored great king of deer and gave up his body in an effort to seek the path to buddhahood. He became King Maitrībala of the kingdom of Kāśi and offered his whole body to five yakṣas. Again, he became King *Mahāvyūha

and gave away his wife and children unstintingly. Or he became the bodhisattva *Uttamakāya and offered his head, eyes, marrow, and brain to beings. In this manner the bodhisattva practiced compassion, all out of a wish to seek realization of the path to bodhi. The Buddha once became a wheel-turning king: the four continents were all full of rare treasures, He had a thousand sons and many attendants, 296a

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The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

and he governed the people by means of the ten good [deeds] for hundreds of thousands of eons.

The land was safe and secure like a palace of the gods, and he experienced the pleasures of the five desires without end. Then this wheel[-turning] king realized that his own person and the world are not solid,

That for the gods [of the heaven] without thought, after eighty thousand years

their merit is exhausted and they return to the evil paths [of transmigration],

And that [everything] is just like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a reflection,

and like morning dew and a flash of lightning. Fully understanding that the three realms are like a house on fire, filled with the eight sufferings and difficult to escape, And not having attained liberation and crossed to the further shore, who, possessing wisdom, would enjoy transmigration? There is only the supramundane Tathāgata's body that is neither born nor perishes and is eternal and blissful. These bodhisattva's practices difficult to practice all appeared in the golden light.

Further, in this light there appeared eight stupas, all of them good fields of merit for beings: The stupa of [Śākyamuni's] birthplace in the palace of King Śuddhodana, the stupa where he became a buddha beneath the bodhi tree, The stupa [marking the turning] of the Dharma wheel in the Deer Park, the stupa [marking his] renown in Anāthapiṇḍada's garden, The stupa [marking] the jeweled staircase on the outskirts of the city of Kanyakubja,

the stupa [where he preached] the Prajñā[pāramitā]-sūtra on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa,

The stupa of Vimalakīrti in the grove of Āmrapālī, and the stupa where [he entered] perfect quiescence in the grove of sal [trees].

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Fascicle One

These eight jeweled stupas of the World-honored One are always worshiped by gods, nāgas, and spirits, And adamantine ones with secret traces (*vajraguhyaka) and the Four Heavenly Kings

protect them day and night, never leaving them. If one erects the eight stupas and worships them, in one's present life one's blessings and life span will increase of their own accord;

One will increase one's wisdom and be honored by all, and one's wishes, mundane and supramundane, will all be fulfilled. If someone makes reverence and keeps them in mind, such is the inconceivable nature of these eight stupas That both people15 will acquire merit equally, without any difference, and will quickly realize the path to unsurpassed bodhi. Among these benefits of the three ages, there were none that were not seen in this light. Bodhisattvas from buddha lands in the ten directions, numinous seers who disport with their supernormal faculties, And wheel-turning kings from myriads of millions of lands all gathered in clouds, seeking this radiance. Each with supernormal power came to make offerings, raining down wish-fulfilling jewels and offering them to the Honored One of Kindness.

Musical instruments of the gods, of hundreds of thousands of kinds, spontaneously emitted wonderful sounds without being struck. Heavenly flowers fell in confusion, filling empty space, and many fragrances suffused the entire great assembly. Jeweled banners and innumerable necklaces they bore and offered them to the Honored One among humans. With exquisite gāthās (verses) they extolled the Tathāgata: "Excellent! You have entered samādhi,

Manifested inconceivable great supernormal powers, and subjugated sentient beings difficult to convert, Making them abide in firm thoughts of nonretrogression: in the presence of the Buddha we deeply rejoice."16 296b

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The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives

I but beseech the World-honored One to rise from meditation, turn the Dharma wheel for beings,

Cut off all their mental afflictions forever, and make them abide in nonabiding great nirvana. Those of my ilk, with minds pure,

have come from myriads of millions of lands to listen to the Dharma. Always clearly observing with the power of samādhi, please be kind enough to accept our meager offerings. The giver, the recipient, and the gift are not apprehended in the three ages. Dwelling at ease in supreme thoughts, we make offerings to all buddhas in the ten directions.17 Life after life we have drawn near to the Lord of Great Compassion and have always served the Honored One of Great Kindness. With inapprehensible wondrous roots of goodness we have perfectly merged with the Dharma realm and are aiming for true awakening.

Tathāgatas of the past entered quiet meditation, manifested great supernormal faculties, and turned the Dharma wheel; Now the Buddha and World-honored One, too, in the same way has entered meditation and emitted light just as those buddhas did. Therefore, I surmise that the Lion of the Śākyas definitely wishes to preach the method of [contemplating] the mind-ground.

If you wish to distance yourselves from the causes of birth-and-death and assuredly gain the fruit of true permanence in the three ages, Press your palms together, O people, and wait singlemindedly: you will enter the Tathāgata's palace of happiness. [Here ends] Fascicle One of The Mahayana Sutra of Previous Lives and Contemplation of the Mind-ground

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