བསླབ་པ་ལྔའ་ཕན་ཡན་གྱ་མད intro.12

intro.12

This English translation was prepared from the Tibetan and compared with the Pali witnesses when they were available. The first part of the sūtra concerning the married couple was translated in close consultation with the Pali Samajīvīsutta as found in the Pali Text Society’s edition of the Aṅguttaranikāya¹⁴ and with Bhikkhu Bodhi’s English translation.¹⁵ Comparison with the Pali was very helpful, since, as observed by Skilling, there are some difficulties with the Tibetan of the “thirteen late-translated sūtras.”¹⁶ Where the Tibetan translation diverges in any significant way from the Pali it has been recorded in notes, as have significant variants in the Pali text across the major lineages of the Pali canon. The second part of The Benefits of the Five Precepts was translated from the Tibetan alone, as found in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the variant readings noted in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur. Variant readings that have been preferred over the Degé version or that offer plausible alternatives have also been recorded in notes.