ལྷའ་མད་ཉང་ང intro: 84000's introduction
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra intro
- Language
- English
84000's introduction
intro.1
While staying in Śrāvastī, the Buddha is approached by an unnamed “divine being,” who inquires as to what behavior merits rebirth in the higher realms. In response, the Buddha explains, in a series of concise and powerful verses, that abandoning each of the ten nonvirtues—killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, telling lies, slander, harsh words, idle talk, covetousness, ill will, and wrong views—and embracing their opposites, the ten virtues, will lead to rebirth in the higher realms.
intro.2
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra (Skt. Alpadevatāsūtra, Tib. lha’i mdo nyung ngu) is a brief sūtra in which the Buddha, while staying in Śrāvasti, is approached by an unnamed divine being (Skt. devatā, Tib. lha), who inquires about what behavior merits rebirth in the higher realms. The Buddha replies with a series of simple and powerful verses in which he states that those who relinquish the ten nonvirtues of body, speech, and mind—killing, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, telling lies, slander, harsh words, idle talk, covetousness, ill will, and wrong views—and embrace their opposites, the ten virtues, here called “the tenfold path of the good Dharma”, will be reborn in the higher realms.
intro.3
A Sanskrit manuscript fragment of the Alpadevatāsūtra, covering only the initial part of the sūtra, is found among the Gilgit Buddhist manuscripts discovered in 1931.¹ This fragment is written in the proto-Śāradā script that was in use from the seventh century ce and is mostly found in non-Mahāyāna texts. It is believed that the Gilgit manuscripts were written during the Palola Ṣāhi Dynasty (sixth to eighth century ce). In this manuscript, as in the Tshalpa Kangyurs, The Shorter Devatā Sūtra appears immediately after The Devatā Sūtra (Toh 329),² which is slightly longer and shares the general framing narrative and the theme of rebirth in higher realms but is otherwise distinct. Both texts have been published in a number of modern Sanskrit editions, all based on the Gilgit manuscript.³ As compared to the Tibetan, the Sanskrit fragment of the Alpadevatāsūtra has a slightly longer prose introduction, specifying that the devatā who came before the Buddha was beautiful and arrived at night. Otherwise, the three extant Sanskrit stanzas that open the dialogue are very close to the first three verses in the Tibetan translation.
intro.4
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra is extant in two Chinese translations, both of which are found in the Saṃyuktāgama, and are probably based on a Sanskrit text from the (Mūla)sarvāstivāda school. These are sūtra no. 1299 of the Saṃyuktāgama (Za a han jing 雜阿含經, Taishō 99), which was translated by Guṇabhadra during the Song (宋) between 435–443 ce in Jiankang (today’s Nanjing);⁴ and sūtra no. 297 of what is known as the Alternative Saṃyuktāgama (Bie yi za a han jing 別譯雜阿含經, Taishō 100), which was translated earlier during the Three Qin (三秦) period, probably between 385–431 ce, by an unknown translator in the Gansu corridor.⁵ While the Sanskrit and Tibetan correspond in their parsing of the opening three verses, the second Sanskrit verse is instead found as a short prose passage in Taishō 99. However, the opening narrative in both Chinese translations aligns more closely with the Sanskrit than the Tibetan translation.
intro.5
A colophon in Kangyurs of the Tshalpa lineage as well as the Narthang and Lhasa Kangyurs states that the sūtra was translated into Tibetan by the master translator Bandé Yeshé Dé, suggesting a translation from a Sanskrit source. The sūtra is listed among “Hīnayāna” (Tib. theg pa chung ngu) sūtras in the Denkarma imperial catalog,⁶ as well as in the Phangthangma catalog,⁷ confirming that it was translated no later than the early ninth century ce.
intro.6
Although no copy of The Shorter Devatā Sūtra is found among the manuscripts recovered from the cave library at Dunhuang, we know that the teaching on the ten virtues (Tib. dge ba bcu) had considerable prominence in the Tibetan imperial period, when it was established as a public code of ethics that would lay the foundation for Tibetan law (khrims) for centuries to come.⁸
intro.7
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra has been the object of Western scholarly attention since the end of the nineteenth century, when a full French translation from the Tibetan was published by Léon Feer in his Extraits du Kandjour,⁹ together with a short introduction on the subject of the ten virtues. Most modern scholarly attention on the sūtra has been concerned with the Gilgit manuscript. Adelheid Mette published a Sanskrit edition of the fragmentary Shorter Devatā Sūtra along with The Devatā Sūtra (Toh 329), in which the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts are compared, and a partial German translation from the Tibetan is presented. Soon after that publication, Hisashi Matsumura published further Sanskrit editions of the same texts in two separate articles, also based on the facsimile edition of the Gilgit manuscripts, and improving on Mette’s editions.¹⁰ The second of these articles (Matsumura 1983) presents The Shorter Devatā Sūtra with the Sanskrit and Chinese (Taishō 99) texts placed side by side, and in those portions of the text where the Sanskrit is not extant, with the Tibetan and Chinese side by side. Differences are highlighted and references are also made to some textual parallels identified by Fumio Enomoto, such as two corresponding verses in the Gāndhārī Dharmapada.¹¹
intro.8
The Shorter Devatā Sūtra is found in the General Sūtra (mdo sde) section in all Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line, the mixed line, Hemis I, and in the independent Kangyurs, such as the Phukdrak, Langdo, and Namgyal. It is also included in some collections from Western Tibet, such as Tholing and Gondhla. However, it is missing from the Kangyurs of the Thempangma lineage.
intro.9
The Tibetan title, in all editions, is lha’i mdo nyung gu, but the various Kangyurs offer three variants on its Sanskrit title. In most Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line, the title is Alpadevatāsūtra, while the Qianlong and Kangxi have Albalbadevatasūtra and Alpalbadevatasūtra (sic for Alpālpadevatāsūtra) respectively, meaning The Very Short Devatā Sūtra. The Yongle, Hemis I, and independent Kangyurs have Svalpadevatāsūtra, also meaning The Shorter Devatā Sūtra.
intro.10
This translation is based on the Tibetan as found in the General Sūtra (mdo sde) section of the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the variants recorded in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), and other editions such as the Phukdrak, Hemis I, and Gondhla. All significant variations have been recorded in the notes. Matsumura’s annotated edition of the Sanskrit fragment among the Gilgit manuscripts as well as the parallel verses of the Gāndhārī Dharmapada have also been consulted, and where differences with the Tibetan are apparent this has also been recorded in the notes. Léon Feer’s French translation, and Adelheid Mette’s partial German translation were also consulted.