370. “Names” is absent in the Chinese and the Sanskrit. It appears that nāma was in the manuscript that the Tibetan translated from and also in the manuscript on which the Vasubandhu commentary was based. Vasubandhu quotes ming dang gzugs kyi sku tha dad pa bstan pa (“the manifesting of different names and rūpakāyas”).
371. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version has “by the wisdom of the buddha bhagavats.”
372. According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has mārgāntarārambhaviśeṣeṣu (“the superior undertakings within the path”), and the Chinese accords with the Sanskrit.
373. According to the Tibetan, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Sanskrit has saṃjñā instead of jñāna.
374. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version omits “acceptance,” which here translates one of the BHS meanings of kṣānti, which in Classical Tibetan is restricted to “patience” and “endurance.”
375. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version omits “in each instant.”
376. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version has “ten” instead of “four.”
377. According to the Sanskrit adhiṣṭhāna and Vasubandhu (gnas). This is presumably referring to the four states of stream entrant, once-returner, non-returner, and arhat. The Kangyur version chose byin rlabs (“blessing”) for adhiṣṭhāna.
378. From the BHS meaning of praṇidhāna, which can also mean “a vow,” “a goal,” or “a wish.” Cleary translates this as “vow.” The Tibetan smon lam is generally translated as “prayer,” but here it indicates an aspiration rather than an actual prayer.
379. According to the Tibetan and Vasubandhu. The Chinese and the Sanskrit have “from the eighth bhūmi up to the final conclusion.”
380. The Chinese and the Sanskrit have “easily see.”
381. According to the translation of prāyogikacaryā in Vasubandhu’s commentary as sbyor ba las byung ba’i spyod pa. In the Kangyur version it is translated as sbyor ba can gyi spyod pa (“the conduct of one who has engagement”).
382. Sanskrit has “the ten virtues.”
384. Sanskrit has “the ten nonvirtues.”
385. According to Vasubandhu, this concerns how one word can have different meanings.
386. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. Here, the Kangyur version translates as chos (“phenomena”), perhaps from a manuscript where artha was corrupted to dharma.
387. The Kangyur version has yon tan (“qualities”). Vasubandhu has phan yon (“benefit”). The BHS Sanskrit is anuśaṃsa, which also can mean “benefit.” Cleary translates this as “praise,” which is the meaning of anuśaṃsa in Classical Sanskrit.
388. According to the Kangyur version and Vasubandhu. The Sanskrit and the Chinese have “great compassion” instead of “compassion and kindness.”
390. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version has “That is not so.”
391. According to the Sanskrit adhipati. Cf. Cleary: “lordship.” The Tibetan translates as byin, an indigenous Tibetan term for “the divine power of a monarch.”
392. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version has “bodhisattva mahāsattva.”
393. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version has “bodhisattva mahāsattva.”
394. In the London and Cambridge manuscripts of the Sanskrit and the Chinese, the sentence continues: “and he is not affected by the harm of considering the ultimate pacification of the composite.”
395. “In order to ripen beings” is according to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. This is missing from the Tibetan.
396. The Sanskrit and the Chinese read “has reached the treasury of the Buddha’s wisdom.”
398. According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “in the four great continents.”
399. “And ripens all grains” is from the Sanskrit and the Chinese. It is omitted in the Tibetan.
400. From the BHS padānusarī. The Tibetan translates pada as dam tshig.
401. The Sanskrit only has the implication of the negative, saying only “features and aspiration.”
402. Translated into Tibetan as “following the equality of the true nature.” Cf. Cleary: “Gone to the state of felicity.”
403. From the Sanskrit śodhenti. Cf. Cleary: “They purify.” Tibetan has spyod, presumably as a corruption of sbyong.
404. According to the Tibetan, the Chinese, and certain Sanskrit manuscripts. Susa’s edition has karma instead of kalpa.
405. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan has shes rab lam (“path of wisdom”), presumably translating from prajñamārga instead of varamārga.
406. According to the Sanskrit pradeśa and the Chinese. The Tibetan has “entry,” presumably translating from praveśa.
407. According to the Tibetan and the Rahder Sanskrit edition. The Suzuki edition has “path of good actions for all.”
408. This line has numerous variations in Sanskrit: parnām-upāya, parṇam = pariṇāmana. The Tibetan has “still desiring and dedicating—that is their prayer.”
409. From the BHS nitīraṇa. Mistranslated into Chinese as “guidance.” The Tibetan translates this as “high realization” (shin tu rtogs pa).
410. The Comparative Edition has drug po (“the six”), instead of Narthang, Urga, and Lhasa’s correct drug pa (“sixth”).
411. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan has “many activities of wisdom,” perhaps translating from bahu-jñāna-karmā instead of bahu-sthāna-karmā.
412. From the Sanskrit alipta. The Tibetan reads chags med.
413. Here pratyaya, the synonym for pratyekabuddha, is used.
414. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan had “seventh” (presumably from saptamaṃ) instead of “limitless” (apramāṇaṃ).
415. According to the Tibetan and the Chinese. The Sanskrit does not explicitly mention the gold.
416. According to the Tibetan rang rgyal. The Sanskrit has only pratyeka.
417. According to the Tibetan. These two lines of verse are absent in the Sanskrit and the Chinese.
419. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan has “incense and precious powders.”
420. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan has “a rain of excellent clouds of garlands.”
421. Literally, “best of the two-legged.”
422. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan translates as zhing (“realms”), presumably from a corruption of kṣema to kṣetra.
423. Literally, “tens of millions” (bye ba), which translates the Sanskrit koṭi.
425. According to the Sanskrit.
426. In the verse he is referred to as Mokṣacandra instead of Vimukticandra. The Tibetan translation for both is the same.
427. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version has “bodhisattva mahāsattva.”
429. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version reads “has the power of having made prayers.” Vasubandhu states that this was attained on the first bhūmi.
436. According to Vasubandhu and the Chinese, the compound tathatāvikalpasarvajñajñāna is interpreted as “nonconceptual, omniscient wisdom that is like (or ‘is the same as’) the true nature.”
437. According to the BHS meaning of asambhinna and the meaning in the Chinese translation. In both the Kangyur version and Vasubandhu, this passage was translated into Tibetan as “not separate,” the meaning in Classical Sanskrit. Vasubandhu says this profundity is on the pure bodhisattva bhūmis, and hence it is “unadulterated.”
438. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version omits “ninth.” Here, “ninth” is not referring to the ninth bodhisattva bhūmi, but to the last of the common nine stages of dhyāna.
439. According to the Sanskrit and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version reads “devoid of all movement, mentation, and unstable thoughts.” The Vasubandhu translation of the same passage is “devoid of all instability and arrogance.” Cf. Cleary: “free of all stirring cogitation and flowing thoughts.” The Sanskrit is sarveñjita-man[y]a-nāsyandita-vikapāpagataḥ, with an obscure first compound.
440. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The words of the analogy are repeated here but omitted in the Kangyur version.
441. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. “To save himself” is absent in the Tibetan.
442. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. “For liberation, for omniscient wisdom’s enlightenment” is absent in the Tibetan.
443. Sanskrit: nimittasamudācāra. The Kangyur version reads mtshan ma rgyu ba. Vasubandhu reads mtshan ma kun tu spyod pa, literally “conduct of features.”
444. According to Vasubandhu, “not at peace” means they are in the bondage of the kleśas. “Do not have deep peace” means that they have not eliminated latent kleśas.
445. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. “Which is the emptiness of all phenomena, the inconceivability of all phenomena” is absent in the Tibetan.
446. According to the Sanskrit and Vasubandhu.
447. From the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan translates as “believe and aspire,” changing from first person present to imperative.
448. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version omits the negative, so that the sentence makes no sense.
449. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan omits “of omniscient wisdom.”
450. According to the Kangyur version and Vasubandhu, presumably translating from dharmanaya. The present Sanskrit has dharmakāya. Cf. Cleary: “principles of buddhahood.”
452. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. “Everywhere, without exception” is omitted in the Tibetan.
453. According to the Chinese and the Sanskrit. In the Tibetan, the knowledge of the destruction of the realms precedes that of their creation.
454. According to the Sanskrit adhitiṣṭhati and the Chinese. The Tibetan translates as an alternative meaning, “bless.”
456. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version appears to have been translated from a corruption in the manuscript of ākaṅkṣa (“desired”) to ākāśa (“space”) with the resulting translation “he blesses the bodies of beings as bodies of space.”
457. According to Sūryasiddha, this means “a universe that is a group of a thousand worlds.”
458. According to Sūryasiddha, this means “the second thousand” universe—a thousand groups, each with a thousand worlds, i.e., a million worlds.
459. According to Sūryasiddha, this means “the third thousand” universe—a thousand groups of a thousand groups, each with a thousand worlds, i.e., a billion-world universe.
460. According to the Sanskrit vyatyastatā. Cf. Cleary: “confusion.” Vasubandhu has chol ba. The Kangyur version has the obscure snrel zhi or snrel bzhi.
461. According to the Sanskrit adhomūrdhatā. Cf. Cleary: “inverted.” The Kangyur version translates as spyi tshugs (“crown of the head”). Vasubandhu translates as steng g.yogs med pa nyid (“without overhead covering”).
462. From the BHS samavasaraṇatā. Cf. Cleary: “their interaction.” Vasubandhu translates as ’jug pa’i khyim can nyid (“having a family that has been entered”), and the Kangyur version erroneously conjoins it with the previous quality, gzhi mnyam par yang dag par ’jug pa (“perfect entry into the bhūmi”), presumably because of a corruption of samatalatāṃ ca samavasaraṇatāṃ to samatalavasaraṇatāṃ. Both Vasubandhu and the Kangyur version translate samavasaraṇatā according to its alternate meaning “descent” as in avatara or avatāra, which is generally translated as ’jug.
463. Vasubandhu states that these last five obscure terms are described in the commentary on the first bhūmi. However, they do not appear there. Sūryasiddha does not mention them.
464. According to Sanskrit avikopanatā and Vasubandhu mi ’khrugs pa. The Kangyur version translates with the alternate meaning ’khrul pa med (“without confusion or delusion”).
465. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version has sems can (“beings”).
466. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version omits much of the sentence.
467. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. Tibetan has the sentence on aspiration preceding the one on prayer.
468. According to the Sanskrit and the Tibetan. The ACIP edition of Vasubandhu has dpung med in error for dbus med.
469. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan has the sentence on wisdom preceding that on Dharma.
470. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. Omitted in the Tibetan.
471. Sanskrit: mahākaruṇāpūrvaka. The Tibetan translates pūrvaka as sngon du ’gro ba, which was also just used to translate pūrvaṃgama. If the last word of this compound is apūrvaka, this would mean “extraordinary.”
473. According to the Kangyur version and Vasubandhu. The Chinese has “They have purified method and wisdom,” which is what the Sanskrit viśodhita-prajñ’upāyā appears to mean.
474. According to the Sanskrit jñāna, the Chinese, and the corresponding prose passage in the sūtra. The verse has sems (“mind,” “motivation”).
475. According to the Sanskrit vikalpa. Cleary translates from the Chinese as “unproduced.” The Tibetan translates as rgyu ba, which is also used in the fourth line of this verse to translate cara (“activity”).
476. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Kangyur version repeats “no birth or destruction.”
477. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version appears to have been translated from a corruption of gambhīra’calya to gambhīra-carya (“profound conduct”).
478. In the Sanskrit, the term used here for pratyekabuddha is pratyaya.
479. According to the Kangyur version and Vasubandhu. The Sanskrit and the Chinese have “without thought.”
480. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese.
481. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese.
482. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version omits “destruction.”
483. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version adds “colors.”
484. From the BHS samosaranti, which is equivalent to samavasaranti.
485. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Kangyur version has “six realms.”
486. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Kangyur version has “in all human and deva assemblies.”
487. The Comparative Edition has brgyad instead of brgyan, as in the Kangxi, Lithang, and Narthang.
488. This line is only in the Tibetan.
489. Literally, “tens of millions” (bye ba), which translates the Sanskrit koṭi.
490. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan has “peaceful, tamed, and completely peaceful” instead of “all these bodhisattvas.”
491. The Sanskrit here has bhujaga (“serpent”).
492. The last two lines are according to the Sanskrit.
493. Here, the word for Pratyekabuddhayāna is pratyayāna, the same as “way of causes” (or “specifically conditional causes”).
494. According to the Sanskrit jñeya and the Chinese. The Tibetan has ye shes (“wisdom”) instead of shes bya (“knowledge,” according to the meaning of “things to be known”).
495. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Comparative Edition has spyod. We find the correct dpyad in the Yongle, Kangxi, Narthang, and Lhasa.
496. According to the Sanskrit guhya, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version has the corruption of gsang ba to gsungs pa.
497. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan omits the name.
498. Vasubandhu defines it as a multiplicity. The word can also mean “a thicket,” “darkness,” or “densely crowded.” Vasubandhu states that it means that these activities are difficult to know. Cf. Cleary: “complexity.” The Tibetan translation of the sūtra has this word as the adjective for “minds of beings,” instead of for “mode of activity.”
499. Here phung po is translating rāśivya and not skandha. The groups are classifications into good, bad, and neutral.
500. Vasubandhu explains that this refers to the mind being composed of mind, mentation, and the six sensory consciousnesses.
501. According to the Sanskrit and Vasubandhu. In Vasubandhu’s commentary, prabhūtatā was translated as “many-ness” (mang ba nyid), while in the Kangyur version it was translated as “governing” (dbang byed pa). Vasubandhu explains that this is the mind’s characteristic of engaging with infinite objects.
503. According to Vasubandhu this refers to an ordinary being taking birth as a result of karma.
504. From the BHS paryupasthānatā. In the Vasubandhu commentary it was translated as “being wrapped in” (kun nas bkris pa). In the Kangyur version it was translated as “being encircled by” (kun nas ’khor ba).
505. Vasubandhu explains that the mention of the time when the propensities are not conjoined with the mind is referring to the time of the state of liberation. The following sentences describe what occurs to the mind that is conjoined with the propensities and not liberated from them.
506. According to BHS śalya, meaning “rope” and “binding.” The Tibetan translates from the Classical Sanskrit meaning of “anything sharp that can cause pain,” although it translates it purely as “pain.”
507. These three, starting with “the differentiation of transcendent qualities,” are according to the Sanskrit and the Kangyur version. They are absent in the Chinese and Vasubandhu, and therefore may be an addition made between the fifth and ninth centuries.
508. This parsing of the Sanskrit compounds into three parts is in accordance with the Kangyur version and Vasubandhu, although Vasubandhu does not explain the meaning of this passage. Cf. Cleary: “their nature as grasping of appearances in the rapid disintegration repeated in the net of faculties.”
509. According to the Sanskrit durānugata, which also has a meaning of “imitation.” The Tibetan translates as ring du song ba (“gone far”), which is the same translation as used for dūraṃgamā, the name of the seventh bhūmi. Cleary translates as “extent,” and instead of “innate” has “occurrence.”
510. According to the Sanskrit and Vasubandhu.
511. Vasubandhu states that this means “the higher and lower realms.”
512. According to the Sanskrit avasita/āvasita, an alternative translation would have been “remaining.” Tibetan translates as (bsgos), which tshig mdzod chen mo defines as “stained” as well as “command.” Mahāvyutpatti has bsgos as the equivalent of paribhāvita, which has a number of meanings, including “saturate” and “soak,” and also defines it as having a negative meaning, as being “stained” or “polluted.” Mahāvyutpatti does not give a Tibetan equivalent for āvasita. Other translations into English include “deposit” and “abide in,” the latter in particular being closer to the Sanskrit āvasita. The Chinese translations simply do not include a translation of the word; Śīladharma in his ninth-century translation simply transliterated āvasita without attempting to translate it.
513. According to the Kangyur version. The Sanskrit has “qualities.” Vasubandhu’s commentary omits this word.
514. According to the Sanskrit anupūrva. The Tibetan translates obscurely as mthar gyis, although Vasubandhu explains it as “the stages of giving rise to a result.” Cf. Cleary: “habituation gradually becoming dominant.”
515. According to Vasubandhu this refers to tendencies toward the Dharma and tendencies toward other traditions. Adravya (“insubstantial”) here appears to have its common classical Sanskrit meaning of “worthless.”
516. According to the Sanskrit saṃvāsa and Vasubandhu. Omitted in Cleary and the Kangyur version.
517. At this point in the Sanskrit and the Chinese there are four further qualities that are described.
518. Vasubandhu states that this refers to selflessness.
519. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version has dran pa (“memory”) instead of snang ba (“illumination”).
520. Vasubandhu states that this means that there is no difference in their objective.
521. Vasubandhu states that this means that they are all equally not intimidated by liberation.
522. Vasubandhu states that this means that there are limitless ways that individuals attain liberation.
523. According to Vasubandhu, “time” here refers to the times when buddhas appear, “matter” refers to realms and bodies of buddhas, and “characteristics” denotes buddhas’ names.
524. Vasubandhu states the realization is that of buddhas.
526. According to the Tibetan. The Sanskrit has “and he attains…”
527. According to the Kangyur version. Absent in the Sanskrit and Vasubandhu.
528. In this passage, “countless millions” is literally “countless hundreds of thousands times ten” ( brgya stong grangs med pa phrag bcu; Sanskrit daśa … saṃkhyeyaśatasahasrāṇi).
529. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. Absent in the Tibetan.
530. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, the Chinese, Narthang, and Lhasa. The Comparative Edition has de (“that”) instead of ’di (“this”).
531. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. In the Kangyur version there are several sentences missing, from “I will have a vast memory” up until “different classes of Dharma pupils.”
534. According to the BHS paritārayanti.
535. According to the Sanskrit. The Tibetan reads, “The composite, the number, and the movement— / They enter into that just as the world does.”
536. This line is absent in the Sanskrit. The Chinese has a different line. Cf. Cleary: “And comprehend who can be taught, what the end and the beginning are.”
537. According to BHS kleśānanādina and the Chinese. The Tibetan has mtha’ yas (“infinite”), perhaps from a corruption of thog med or a Sanskrit corruption to kleśānantina.
538. According to the Tibetan and the Chinese. Presumably from the BHS vajireṇa, the instrumental of vajira, which is the equivalent to the Classical Sanskrit vajra. The Sanskrit has vinayena. The analogy here is to the vajra, which is the supreme invincible and indestructible weapon employed by Indra and other deities. The parallel prose section uses the term the ārya (“noble”) path.
539. Cf. Cleary’s translation of this fourth line: “…who are those sunk in views, and who are those with knowledge.”
540. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan has “They ripen, according to their aspirations and dispositions, the beings in the billion-world universe.”
541. According to the Sanskrit paricālayanti and the Chinese. The Tibetan has skyong (“protect”), presumably a corruption of skyod.
543. These two lines of verse are in the Tibetan only.
545. Literally, “tens of millions” (bye ba), which translates the Sanskrit koṭi.
546. According to the Sanskrit trisahasrakoṭi. The Tibetan has khrag khrig, which in this translation was used for both nayuta and koṭi. Cf. Cleary: “trillions.”
547. Literally, “tens of millions” (bye ba).
548. In the verse he is referred to as Mokṣacandra instead of Vimukticandra. The Tibetan translation for both is the same.
549. The Sanskrit has “asked three questions.”
550. From the Sanskrit maṇḍala. Translated into Tibetan as snying po (“essence”). Cf. Cleary: “pinnacle.”
551. According to the Sanskrit and Vasubandhu. Cf. Cleary: “plenitude.”
552. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese.
553. According to the Sanskrit. Cf. Cleary: “the names of all buddha-lands are voiced.”
554. From the Sanskrit dhyāmikṛtya and Vasubandhu mog mog por byed pa. Cf. Cleary: “eclipses them.” The Kangyur version has gzil gyis mnan (“overpower with brilliance”).
555. From the Sanskrit and the Chinese. Omitted in the Tibetan. “Clockwise” is an anachronistic expression, but this means with the world on the right-hand side of the light rays.
556. The Sanskrit adds “throughout the entire realm of phenomena without omission.”
557. From the Sanskrit cīvara, which is used solely for monks’ robes.
558. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. Omitted in the Tibetan, which may have had vastra corrupted to vara as an adjective for the jewelry.
559. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version omits much of this description.
560. According to Vasubandhu. The Sanskrit has nirvāṇa instead of nirmāṇa, and the Chinese has translated from nirvāṇa also.
561. The Sanskrit and the Chinese have also “have the perfection of every kind of good quality and have the inconceivable empowerment of being empowered by nirvāṇa and are a great rain of a display of various riches onto each of the assemblies of the followers of the tathāgatas.” This is omitted in the Tibetan, but for clarity, “onto each of the assemblies of the followers of the tathāgatas” has been added to the translation.
562. Śrīvatsa and vajra-svastika are synonymous, but the Tibetan lists śrīvatsa (dpal gyi be’u) as separate from svastika. It also separates vajra from svastika, which is translated simply as bkra shis (“good fortune”). Cleary translates as “the thunderbolt symbols of well-being.” Vasubandhu specifies that they are located at the region of the heart of the bodhisattvas.
563. Literally, “highest limb.”
564. In the Sanskrit and the Chinese: “flowers, incense, lamps, garlands, perfumes, powders, cloth, parasols, banners, music, and song.”
566. From the BHS Sanskrit samudāgama, which can also mean “attained.” The Kangyur version has yang dag par bsgrub pa, and the translation of Vasubandhu’s commentary has yang dag par ’grub pa, both of which primarily mean “accomplished.”
567. From the Sanskrit dṛṣṭikṛtakleśa and the Chinese. Vasubandhu has lta ba gyur pa’i nyon mongs, which could be “kleśas that have become views.” The Kangyur version has lta ba’i rnam pa dang nyon mongs (“the aspect of views and the kleśas”), which is possibly from a corruption of the Sanskrit.
568. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Kangyur version has “turning and reversing the Dharma wheel.” Vasubandhu has “turning the Dharma wheel and entering nirvāṇa.” Both omit “displaying.”
569. From the Sanskrit sarvanirmāṇa-kalpākalpatāṃ. In Vasubandhu’s commentary this is translated as sprul pa thams cad la rtog pa yang rtog pa med pa nyid. Here kalpa is translated as rtog pa, which can mean “concept,” “examination,” or “recognition.” In the Kangyur version it is rnam par dgod pa dang rnam par mi dgod pa (“establishment and nonestablishment”). Cf. Cleary: “the feasibility and unfeasibility of projections.”
570. The interpretation of the compounds in this paragraph on emanations follows Vasubandhu’s commentary. In the Kangyur version they are all interpreted as having an implicit genitive, as in, for example, “emanations of the bodies of beings.”
571. From the Sanskrit adhiṣṭhāna. Cf. Cleary: “basis.” In the Tibetan it is translated as byin rlabs, which is usually translated into English as “blessing,” but this meaning does not appear to fit the context here.
572. At this point in the Sanskrit and the Chinese there are also the subtleties of the Dharma teaching and the various kinds of Dharma. Absent in the Tibetan.
573. At this point in the Sanskrit there are also the subtleties of manifesting the caste and physical form, of not transcending the disciplined way of beings, of spreading throughout all worlds, of seeing the mind and conduct of all beings, of seeing all the three times in one instant, of the entirety of the past and future, of the totality of the different kinds of minds and conduct of all beings, of the inconceivable powers, and of the confidences and the buddha qualities of the tathāgatas. This is not present in the Tibetan.
574. In the Sanskrit the last two are “the parinirvāṇa of the tathāgatas” and “the presence of the Dharma, which is the basis of the teachings,” which are followed by “he has the correct knowledge of these and has all the other immeasurable countless wisdoms the tathāgatas have, which comprehend subtleties.” Cf. Cleary: “the ultimate nirvana of the buddhas, of the lasting of the true Teaching based on instruction.”
575. From the Sanskrit nigraha, which could also mean “restrain,” etc. Translated into Tibetan as tshar gcad pa (“destroy”), though this may be the result of an omission in the Sanskrit manuscript, so that satvasamgrahanigraha and vineyotsādanāvasāna becomes satvasamgrahāvasāna. Cf. Cleary: the entire compound satvasamgrahanigraha is represented by “taking care of beings” and “the impartiality of giving instructions at the appropriate time.”
576. At this point the Sanskrit and the Chinese list two “secrets” absent in the Tibetan: “the secret of the elevation and conclusion (or termination) of those to be guided.” Cf. Cleary: “encouragement and censure.”
578. The Sanskrit and the Chinese have here “the secret of the categories of the conduct and faculties of bodhisattvas,” which is absent in the Tibetan.
579. At this point the Sanskrit has an additional seven and the Chinese an additional six secrets.
580. From the Tibetan ’jug pa. Vasubandhu glosses it as gzhol ba (“enter into,” “be absorbed in”), and Sūryasiddha glosses it as mnyam pa nyid (“equality,” “sameness”). BHS samavasaraṇatā (“coming together,” “uniting”). Cf. Cleary: “interpenetration.”
581. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The Tibetan has suffered an omission so that “countable eons are congruent with countless eons, that countless eons are congruent with countable eons” has become “countless eons are congruent with countless eons.”
582. According to Sanskrit cittakṣaṇa and the Chinese. The Tibetan omits “of mind.”
583. According to the Sanskrit. According to Vasubandhu it is past and future congruent with the present, the past congruent with the future, and the past congruent with the present. The Kangyur version is obscurely worded. Cf. Cleary: “past containing future and present, present containing past and future, future containing past and present.”
584. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. The last in the list is omitted in the Tibetan. The Sanskrit adds “and so on, with incalculable, countless congruences of eons.”
585. Sanskrit avatārajñāna. Translated in Vasubandhu as ’jug pa shes pa. Cf. Cleary: “penetrating knowledge.”
587. According to Vasubandhu, who emphasizes this point. The Chinese and the Kangyur version have “hair tip.” The present Sanskrit has vālapatha (“hair path”), which is presumably a corruption of bālapatha, which had already occurred by the time of the Chinese translation but after the composition of Vasubandhu.
588. The Tibetan translates kāya (“body”) as “many” and has only “realms.” The Sanskrit and the Chinese have “buddha realms.”
589. At this point the Sanskrit and the Chinese list further attainments such as hundreds of thousands of lights of wisdom, miraculous powers, and skills in method and wisdom.
590. According to the Tibetan bzod and the Chinese. Cf. Cleary: “bear.” Absent in the Sanskrit.
591. Vasubandhu explains these four verbs to be associated with, respectively, aspiration, the words, the meaning, and both words and meaning.
592. The Kangyur version at this point erroneously repeats “Why is that?”
594. According to Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version translates as “the fire of the dust.”
595. According to the Sanskrit, the Chinese, and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version omits “level” and instead has bstan (“shows,” “manifests”).
596. According to the Sanskrit vaśita, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese.
597. From the Sanskrit adhiṣṭhati, translated into Tibetan as byin gyi rlabs (usually translated into English as “bless”). Cf. Cleary: “show.”
598. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version later repeats “blesses purity to be kleśa and blesses kleśa to be purity.”
599. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese.
600. According to the Sanskrit and Vasubandhu. Omitted in the Kangyur version and Cleary.
601. According to the Sanskrit and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version has “hair tip.”
602. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version omits “inconceivable.”
603. Jujubes being unknown in Tibet, kola was translated as “juniper seed.”
604. According to the Sanskrit naḍavana and veṇuvana. Vasubandhu translates as ’od ma’i tshal lam ’dam bu’i tshal. The Kangyur version translates as smyig ma’i tshal lam ’od ma’i tshal.
605. “Fields of rice” is from the Sanskrit. Omitted in the Tibetan.
606. According to Vasubandhu, who states that here tryadhva has the alternate meaning (bgrod pa gsum) referring to the three paths (of the śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva), unlike the Chinese and the Kangyur version, which have “three times” ( dus gsum).
607. These four qualities, beginning with knowing the time for ripening beings, are absent in the Kangyur version but present in Vasubandhu, the Sanskrit, and the Chinese.
608. Literally, ten times ten million times a million times a hundred thousand, which is actually ten quintillion.
609. According to the Sanskrit and the Chinese. Most of this paragraph is presumably inadvertently absent in the Tibetan. Vasubandhu does not include most of this concluding section.
610. These are rivers said to flow in each of the directions in Jambudvīpa. The list varies, but the Abhidharmakośa lists them as the Ganges (south), the Indus (west), the Vakṣu, which is the Oxus (north), and the Sīta, which has been identified with the Brahmapūtra (east).
611. In the Degé Kangyur, folio 277.b is incorrectly the folio from Avataṃsaka vol. ga, folio 277.b rather than vol. kha, folio 277.b.
612. One list of the ten jewels has pearls, conch, coral, silver, gold, white coral, red pearls, conch with a clockwise spiral, and two unidentified stones: keśaragarbha—“crest or filament-essence” (which may be the same as kekeru in an alternative list), and aśmagarbha (stone-essence). There is a Sanskrit verse that describes aśmagarbha jewels among rubies as being like green parrots among red foliage, which implies that this is one of the Sanskrit names for “emerald,” more commonly called markata (the source of the Tibetan mar gad). Another list of the ten jewels has gold, silver, copper, beryl, emerald, pearl, lapis, ruby, diamond, and an unidentified yellow-green stone named kekeru, which may be sapphire (which can be yellow or green as well as blue) or heliodor (yellow beryl).
613. According to Vasubandhu these are the four śrāvaka families—the stream entrant, once-returner, non-returner, and arhat—and the pratyekabuddha family, each divided into the two categories of those practicing that stage and those who have attained its result. Cf. Cleary: “ten religious groups.”
614. According to BHS Sanskrit saṃlekha (Edgerton: “extreme frugality,” “asceticism”) and Vasubandhu’s yo byad bsnyungs. In the sūtra this was combined with the preceding quality as gyi sdom. Cf. Cleary: “frugality.”
615. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version adds “liberation” as a second quality.
616. From the Sanskrit parivarta. Translated in the Kangyur version as rgyud but in Vasubandhu as le’u. Cf. Cleary: “book.”
617. This list is in accordance with the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Kangyur version omits three of the verbs.
618. From the Sanskrit and Vasubandhu. The Kangyur version omits “flowers and incense.”
619. From the Sanskrit. Absent in the Tibetan.
620. According to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. Omitted in the Kangyur version.
621. Banners and flags according to the Sanskrit, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. Absent in the Kangyur version. At this point the Sanskrit and the Chinese have “There fell rain from magnificent clouds of round kings of jewels that were the disks of suns.” This is absent in both Vasubandhu and the Kangyur version. The Sanskrit has two further kinds of magnificent clouds.
622. The number of bodhisattvas is from the Sanskrit and the Chinese.
623. From the Sanskrit nirukta. Translated in the Kangyur version as khong du chud par bya ba (“that which is to be understood”) and in Vasubandhu as rim pa (“stages”).
624. According to the Sanskrit sākṣībhuta, Vasubandhu, and the Chinese. The Comparative Edition has dbang in error for dpang.
625. From the Sanskrit niryūha. Tibetan has only rgyan (“ornament”). The passage is not in Vasubandhu. Cf. Cleary: “crest.”
626. Literally, “tens of millions,” which translates the Sanskrit koṭi.
627. In Sanskrit the actual term used is the synonym pratyayajina.
628. The Kangyur version translates śiri as “glorious.”
630. The Sanskrit and the Chinese have “perfectly comprehend.” The Kangyur version has the Tibetan equivalent of samatā (“sameness”).
631. From this verse onward there is considerable variation from the Chinese and the Sanskrit, which do not have descriptions of the successive progress through the bhūmis. The Tibetan has twelve fewer verses than the Sanskrit.
632. According to bstan of most Kangyurs. The Degé has bsten (“depend”).
633. All of the Tibetan versions of this verse consulted for this translation omit the seventh bhūmi.
634. There is no translator’s colophon, as this constitutes a chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. The colophon at the end of the sūtra gives the translators as the Indian preceptors Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, and the chief editor Yeshé Dé.