2188. According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “Dharma lotuses.” The Chinese has 妙蓮華 (miao lian hua, “supreme, excellent lotuses”).
2189. According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “of all beings.” The Chinese has “the bodies of all beings.”
2190. According to the Stok Palace ’don pa (“to bring out”). Degé, etc. have the error gdon pa (“harmful” or “prayer”), while the Sanskrit has nirmāṇakāryaprayoga (“dedication to emanation activity”). Cleary has “representations of phantom bodies of all beings.” Carré has permirent à tous les êtres de sortir du cercle (“enable all beings to leave saṃsāra”). The Chinese has 令一切眾生皆得出離 (ling yi qie zhong sheng jie de chu li, “cause/enable all beings to leave”). The term “saṃsāra” is omitted but implied, and the order of the ninth and the tenth events are reversed.
2191. According to the Tibetan kun tu lta ba. The Sanskrit has samantabhadracakṣur (“eyes of Samantabhadra”). Cleary has “eye of universal good.” Carré has œil universel (“universal eyes”), appearing to base his translation on 普眼 (pu yan, “all-seeing eyes”).
2192. According to the Sanskrit praṇidhāna, usually translated as smon lam and here translated as smon pa, and as 願 (yuan) in the Chinese.
2193. According to the Sanskrit viharenạ and the Yongle, Kangxi, Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok Palace spyod. Degé has dpyod (“examine”). The Chinese has “accomplishing the wisdom, entering the realm of tathāgatas, and dwelling on the level of Samantabhadra.”
2194. Degé has an incorrect negative at this point.
2195. From the Sanskrit deha, which can also mean “shape” but most commonly “body,” which is how it is translated into Tibetan as lus, which does not appear to quite fit the context. Not present in the Chinese.
2196. The Sanskrit has “the inconceivable play.” The Chinese has “Having seen the immeasurable, inconceivable miraculous power of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.”
2197. According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan and the Chinese omit “all Dharmas.”
2198. According to the Tibetan rgya mtsho and the Chinese 海 (hai), presumably translating from manuscripts that had samudrā. The present Sanskrit has mudrā (“seal”), apparently omitting sa.
2199. According to the Tibetan yid du ’ong ba. The Sanskrit appears to mean just “visible to all beings.” Carré translates as “bringing ecstasy to beings.” The Chinese has 令其見者靡不欣樂 (ling qi jian zhe mi bu xin le, “whoever sees it will be delighted and joyful”).
2200. According to the Sanskrit śṛṇvanti and the Yongle, Kangxi, Narthang, Urga, Lhasa, and Stok Palace thos. Degé has the error thob (“attain”). The Chinese has 見聞 (jian wen, “see and hear”).
2201. According to the Tibetan rgyur bya ba. The Sanskrit upanisāma is obscure, but the Pali upanisā can mean “cause,” “method,” etc. and is synonymous with upaccaya.” Not present in the Chinese.
2202. According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “with as many qualities as there are…” The Chinese has “many times more than.”
2203. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan omits “buddha realms,” resulting in “as many as there are atoms in an anabhilāpyānabhilāpya of world realms.” The Chinese interprets as “with each step, he would pass by world realms as numerous as the atoms in an anabhilāpyānabhilāpya of buddha realms.”
2204. From the Tibetan lhun (which can also mean “mass” or “aggregate”), apparently not meaning here “mountain.” The Sanskrit has garbha (“interior,” “essence,” “womb”). Cleary and Carré have “matrices.” Osto has “origins.” The Chinese has 藏 (zang, “treasuries”).
2205. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan omits “as many” and “atoms.”
2206. Later on, in verse 15, this same phrase is translated less obscurely as gang rnams ji snyed pa. A more literal translation would be “whoever many,” and thus in the first verse it was translated as ji snyed su dag. The Chinese has “all.”
2207. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan repeats bowing with the synonym phyag tshal, presumably from a text that had praṇāmaiḥ in error for pramāṇaiḥ.
2208. According to the BHS adhimukti. Translated into Tibetan as dad pa (usually translated as “faith”). The Chinese includes related descriptions: 廣大勝解心 (guang da sheng jie xin, “vast, supreme understanding”), 深信 (shen xin, “deep faith or devotion”) in buddhas of the three times, and the power of devotion to good conduct.
2209. The Sanskrit text uses the synonym pratyekajina, and the Tibetan uses the equivalent rang rgyal. The Tibetan appears to separate “those practicing” and “those who are accomplished” from pratyekabuddha.
2210. The order is according to the Sanskrit; the Tibetan reverses it, beginning with “the jinas.” The Chinese has 二乘有學及無學 (er sheng you xue ji wu xue, “two yānas at learning and non-learning stages”).
2211. According to the Tibetan. “Little” is not present in the Sanskrit or the Chinese.
2212. According to the Sanskrit udāra. The Tibetan translates according to an alternative meaning as “vast.”
2213. According to the Tibetan des and the Sanskrit peśalu. The Vaidya edition of the Sanskrit has ye khalu. The Chinese translates peśalu as “pure,” but in reference to the practice of perfection rather than the person.
2214. According to the Tibetan las, which could be an error for lam or a translation of the Sanskrit patha, which can mean “path” or “way.” The Chinese has 境 (jing), translating from patha.
2215. According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit is patha. Subhūṣita’s commentary interprets this as meaning “for as long as the realms last.” The Chinese includes both meanings.
2216. According to the Sanskrit, which is singular. The Tibetan has plural. The Chinese presents the first line as two lines and omits the fourth line of this verse.
2217. The Tibetan translates as smon lam, which is usually translated into English as “prayer” or “aspiration.” The BHS praṇidhāna can also mean “vow” or “resolution.” The Chinese translates as 願 (yuan, “prayer,” “aspiration,” “vow,” “resolution”)
2218. According to the Tibetan rgya cher and the Chinese 廣大 (guang da), translating the Sanskrit udāra.
2219. According to the BHS paridīpayamāna, translated into Tibetan as snang bar byed (“illuminate”). The Chinese translates as 光顯 (guang xian), incorporating both meanings.
2220. According to the BHS first-person singular optative bhavi. The Chinese translates as 獲 (huo, “attain”).
2221. As in other verses, the verb is otari, meaning here “to comprehend,” while the commentary specifies “comprehend through hearing.”
2222. According to the Tibetan, some Sanskrit versions and commentaries, and the Chinese. Some Sanskrit versions have jina instead of jaga (“beings”).
2223. The Tibetan translates gata literally as “gone,” though the meaning as used in the Sanskrit can mean “present in.” The Chinese has “tathāgatas.”
2224. The Sanskrit has naya in the singular, but the Tibetan has the plural tshul rnams. Yeshé Dé enumerates in his commentary these various ways of guiding beings.
2225. The Tibetan translates gata literally as “gone,” though the meaning in Sanskrit is “present in.” The Chinese does not include the preposition “in,” but it could be understood as such.
2226. According to the Tibetan theg pa (“vehicle”) and the Sanskrit yāna. The Vaidya edition has jñāna, and Cleary translates accordingly. The Chinese has 大乘 (da sheng, “Mahāyāna”).
2227. According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit and the Chinese have “be immersed in.” The Chinese has 甚深入 (shen shen ru, “enter deeply into”).
2228. In the verse the name is given in the form “Samantatabhadra.” The Chinese has 普賢尊 (pu xian zun), “Lord Samantabhadra.”
2229. According to the Tibetan. “All” is not present in the Sanskrit, which is transcribed into Chinese as 文殊師利 (wen shu shi li).
2230. According to the Sanskrit that uses yathā and tathā in this sentence. The Tibetan could be interpreted to make this refer to one’s training being the same as both of them, which is anyway the meaning of the verse, but it lacks the statement that Samantabhadra is equal in wisdom to Mañjuśrī.
2231. The name as given at this point in the Sanskrit is Samantatabhadra.
2232. While the concluding statement above is specific to The Stem Array only and has counterparts in many other Kangyurs, the rest of the colophon here is intended to apply to the entirety of A Multitude of Buddhas. The mention of these translators is only found in the colophons of the Degé, Urga, and Ragya Kangyurs. Many Kangyurs including the Lithang, Qianlong, and Zhey do not mention translators. The Narthang, Lhasa, Stok Palace, Toyo Bunko, Ulaan Baatar, and some of the peripheral Kangyurs have “Lotsawa Vairocanarakṣita was the chief editor and established the text.” Ngorchen Könchok Lhundrup ascribes the translation of the sūtra to Vairocanarakṣita. The extensive note by the Degé scholar Tashi Wangchuk that follows is (unsurprisingly) unique to the Degé Kangyur.
2233. This accords with the classification by Ngorchen Könchok Lhundrup in his sixteenth-century History of Buddhism.
2234. Chapters 1 to 27. According to Pekar Zangpo in his sixteenth-century Presentation of the Sūtras, this first section is divided into two sections: The Tathāgata Earring Sūtra (as a translation of Tathāgatāvataṃsaka-sūtra), which comprises chapters 1 to 11, and The Bodhisattvapiṭaka Sūtra (consisting of chapters 12 to 27), so that in his classification the Avataṃsaka Sūtra has eight sections.
2235. Chapters 28 to 30 according to Pekar Zangpo.
2236. Chapter 31 according to Pekar Zangpo.
2237. Chapters 32 to 42 according to Pekar Zangpo.
2238. Chapter 43 according to Pekar Zangpo.
2239. Chapter 44 according to Pekar Zangpo.
2240. Chapter 45 according to Pekar Zangpo. Chapter 45 is the sūtra translated here.
2241. According to the version of the Denkarma in the Degé Tengyur (F.295b.1), it has the same number of fascicles and verses as quoted by Butön Rinpoché.
2242. The Degé recension has 112. The Degé dkar chag (F.120a) notes at some length the various discrepancies in the lengths in ślokas and fascicles (bam po) recorded in different inventories and catalogs, which it attributes at least in part to the varying numbers of ślokas used in different definitions of a fascicle.
2243. rgya nag gi ’gyur la/ su ren+t+ra bo d+hi dang / bai ro tsa na rak+Shi tas zhus chen mdzad par bshad cing. Our rendering in English of this sentence follows the most likely interpretation syntactically. The facts of such a statement seem unlikely (see also van der Kuijp 2023, p. 398 n24). However, although we have wondered what other possible interpretations there might be, Tashi Wangchuk appears to be quoting the statement directly from earlier sources. Among these, one that we have identified is the transmission record of Minling Terchen Gyurme Dorje, part 2 (vol. kha), F.203a.6–b.1; immediately after making this statement, Minling Terchen lists the lineage figures of the transmission from India.
2244. This refers to the Sakyapa hierarch Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen (rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1147–1216).
2245. Yunnan. The king was Mutseng (or Muzeng, Muktsang) Karma Mipham Sönam Rapten (mu tseng/zeng karma mi pham bsod nams rab brtan) (1587–1646, r. 1598–1646). He was the tusi or ruler in the “native chieftain system” of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
2246. slar yig rnying dag pa mang du btsal nas zhu dag bgyis pa yin la. Our translation is tentative, and in particular (as noted by van der Kuijp 2023, p. 399 n27) it is not clear whether yig refers to words, phrases, or texts.
2247. bkod pa is the usual translation of vyūha (“array,” “display,” etc.) as in the Mahāvyutpatti. This translation at times uses rgyan, which is usually a translation for alaṃkara, and so on, with the meaning of “adornment.”
2248. The usual translation for prasara (“vast extent,” etc.), as in the Mahāvyutpatti, is rab ’byams, while ’byam klas does not appear in that dictionary.
2249. These are both translations of pratisaṃvit (“discern,” “distinguish,” etc.).
2250. thugs normally translates citta (“mind”), while dgongs pa translates abhiprāya (“intention,” “outlook,” “regard,” etc.).
2251. This phrase, meaning “for a day and night,” or “for a waxing phase and a waning phase of a month,” occurs on folio 26.b within The Inconceivable Qualities of the Buddha (sang rgyas chos bsam mi khyab), which is the 39th chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.
2252. tha snyad usually translates vyavahāra, which in BHS means “a term or designation,” while rnam par dpyod pa usually translates vicāraṇa, etc. (“contemplation,” “analysis,” and so on).
2253. This is some years before the eighth Tai Situpa Chökyi Jungné (1700–1774) began his work on editing the Kangyur in 1729.