Auspicious Night

Translation of འཕགས་པ་མཚན་མ་བཟང་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་མད (འཕགས་པ་མཚན་མོ་བཟང་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ)

Language: English
Translator: Bruno Galasek-Hul
Extent: 67 passages, 5,528 words
Text: complete digital text
Source: 84000 · Translated by Bruno Galasek-Hulunder the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the… · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha). Shown whole and unaltered, with its notes, on a…

intro 84000's introduction — 21 parts
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notes Notes — 41 parts

Text

84000's introduction

intro.1

In Auspicious Night, the deity Candana appears before a monk in Rājagṛha and asks if he knows of the Buddha’s teaching called Auspicious Night. Since the monk has never heard of it, the deity encourages the monk to ask the Buddha himself, who is staying nearby. At the monk’s request, the Buddha teaches him how to continuously remain in a contemplative state by following these guidelines: do not follow after the past, do not be anxious about the future, and do not be led astray or become distracted by presently arisen states. The Buddha then teaches several mantras and incantations for the welfare of all sentient beings and explains the apotropaic and salvific benefits of the instructions.

intro.2

The Content of the Sūtra

intro.3

While the Buddha is staying in the Bamboo Grove in Rājagṛha, the capital of the kingdom of Magadha, a monk has taken temporary residence on the banks of Rājagṛha’s hot springs. One night, a beautiful deity appears before the monk, filling the entire area of the hot springs with a bright light. The deity asks the monk whether he knows the teaching known as Auspicious Night. The monk replies that he does not, and in turn asks the deity whether he knows it. Since neither know the teaching, the deity advises the monk to visit the Buddha and ask him to teach it to him, and then to remember it and put it into practice. The following morning, the monk visits the Buddha and tells him about his encounter with the deity the previous night. The Buddha reveals the name of the deity to be Candana and identifies him as a general of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. After the monk expresses his wish to hear the teaching of Auspicious Night, the Buddha explains how to cultivate a contemplative state of mind in relation to the three times: (1) Do not think about the past, (2) do not worry about the future, and (3) do not become distracted by whatever arises in the present. Following this basic outline of Auspicious Night, the Buddha repeats the instruction in verse, adding commentary and further injunctions. Having presented the teaching of Auspicious Night, the Buddha proceeds with the recitation of several mantras and incantations used for the protection of beings. He then explains the benefits of preserving the complete teaching of Auspicious Night and offers more detailed benefits regarding specific actions such as reading and reciting the sūtra and having it fastened to one’s body. The sūtra concludes with further incantations for the attainment of wealth and protection, including an invocation for the help of Vajrapāṇi, and a closing formula.

intro.4

The History of the Sūtra

intro.5

In his important study of the Mahāsūtras, Peter Skilling identifies Auspicious Night as a sūtra belonging to what he calls the rakṣā class of literature, that is, a text that is believed to protect one from disease, misfortune, and malignant spirits and to avert disaster.¹ The version preserved in Tibetan, which is the basis for this English translation, is classified as a work of the Śrāvakayāna school of the Mūlasarvāstivādins;² however, the invocation of deities or bodhisattvas such as Vajrapāṇi, the inclusion of mantras and incantations, and the promotion of the secular benefits of preserving and studying Buddhist scriptures are considered hallmarks of Mahāyāna sūtras.³

intro.6

Auspicious Night is one among a long list of Indian Buddhist sūtras that are only fully accessible in their Tibetan translations because the Indic originals are lost or extant only as fragments. Several differing recensions of Auspicious Night have been preserved or have partly survived in Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. The extant texts can be broadly grouped into two versions: an earlier version represented by the Pali texts and the earlier Chinese translations, and a later version represented by the Sanskrit texts, the Tibetan translation, and one of the Chinese translations (Taishō 1362). At the core of all these texts are a set of four to five stanzas that elucidate the sūtra’s main teaching on avoiding attachment, anxiety, and preoccupation with thoughts of the past, future, and present. The stanzas are framed uniquely in the different versions of the sūtra, and these differences help us understand the evolution of this teaching and the history of the texts that articulate it.

intro.7

Tibetan

intro.8

The Degé Kangyur contains three recensions of Auspicious Night, one each in the Sūtra (mdo sde), Tantra (rgyud), and Dhāraṇī (gzungs) sections. The Peking Kangyur includes two recensions of the sūtra—one in its Sūtra section and one in its Tantra section—whereas the Thempangma (them spangs ma) Kangyurs classify Auspicious Night exclusively as a tantra. Two of the three recensions preserved in the Degé Kangyur (Toh 617 and Toh 974) attribute its translation to a team consisting of two Indian preceptors, Jinamitra and Dānaśīla, and the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé. The recension of the text in the Sūtra section (Toh 313) does not include a colophon naming the translators, but it appears to be the work of the same team. This attribution, as well as the fact that Auspicious Night is recorded in two imperial period catalogs—the Denkarma and Phangthangma—indicate that the Tibetan translation was completed no later than the early ninth century.⁴ The three Tibetan texts in the Degé Kangyur show only minor differences with respect to variant readings of certain words, primarily in the transliterations of Sanskrit mantras, suggesting that these differences are the result of later scribal emendations or errors.

intro.9

As described in the synopsis above, the Tibetan translation frames the core set of verses with a narrative set at the hot springs near Rājagṛha, features a deity named Candana and an unnamed monk as the primary interlocutors, and includes several incantations and mantras that broaden the use of the sūtra to include magical and talismanic applications.

intro.10

There are no extant commentaries on Auspicious Night preserved in the Tengyur, but the sūtra is referenced sporadically in indigenous Tibetan Buddhist literature. The sūtra’s title is found in the writings of the Sakya patriarch Drakpa Gyaltsen (grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1147–1216), the Nyingma master Longchenpa (klong chen pa, 1308–64), the Sakya hierarch Künga Sangpo (kun dga’ bzang po, 1382–1456), the Sakya hierarch Anyé Shap (a myes zhabs, 1597–1659), and the fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Losang Gyatso (ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1617–82). In these instances, the sūtra is typically cited as part of a list of works that were studied by the author or for which he had received reading transmission. Two prominent Tibetan authors, the second Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa (dpa’ bo gtsug lag phreng ba, 1504–66) and the eighth Tai Situ Chökyi Jungné (ta’i si tu chos kyi ’byung gnas, 1699/1700–1774), quote the first two verses of Auspicious Night as proof that the Mahāmudrā meditation instruction of not letting the mind follow after, cling to, or examine thoughts concerned with the three times (past, present, and future) is not a teaching of the controversial Chinese teacher Hashang (whom the Tibetan tradition usually portrays as having taught a form of meditation in which thoughts are actively suppressed), but an authentic—that is, Indic—instruction that can be found in a canonical text.⁵ It appears, then, from these quotations that the sūtra (or, to be precise, the first of the verses of Auspicious Night) was used in Tibet by schools/lineages propagating the Mahāmudrā and/or Dzogchen systems of meditation.

intro.11

Pali

intro.12

The Majjhima Nikāya of the Pali canon includes four suttas with bhaddekaratta (the Pali equivalent of bhadrakarātrī) in their title, which are constructed around the core stanzas common to this body of scripture.⁶ Each sutta begins with an introductory narrative frame, followed by the stanzas and a commentary by the Buddha or a prominent disciple on the meaning of the stanzas. While the verses are identical in all four texts, the ensuing instructions and the details of location, time, and characters vary in each. While no direct relationship seems to exist between these Pali texts and the Tibetan translation of Auspicious Night, certain details from the Pali suttas appear in the Tibetan text, such as the hot springs of Rājagṛha (as in the Mahākaccānabhaddekarattasutta) and the involvement of the deity Candana (as in the Lomasakaṅgiyabhaddekarattasutta). As might be expected, the Pali suttas do not include the mantras and incantations recorded in the Tibetan text.

intro.13

Sanskrit

intro.14

Sanskrit witnesses to Auspicious Night are preserved in two manuscript fragments. The first takes up approximately one folio of a palm-leaf manuscript from the Kizil cave complex in the Kucha area, an oasis kingdom at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert on the northern branch of the Silk Road.⁷ In this Sanskrit fragment, the sūtra is set in Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, differing from the Tibetan text but in accord with the Pali Bhaddekarattasutta. The fragment also preserves a few scattered syllables of mantras, including a phrase that can be reconstructed as piśācini pārṇaśavari (“O piśācinī Parṇaśavarī!”), which is also found in the version of the text translated into Tibetan.

intro.15

The second Sanskrit witness to Auspicious Night is preserved in a manuscript fragment discovered in Kashgar, in present-day Xinjiang province.⁸ The framing narrative, in which Ānanda asks the Buddha for protection from a spell cast by a caṇḍālī, is unique among the versions of this sūtra but has clear parallels to a story preserved in the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna of the Divyāvadāna. Though this narrative does not correspond to that of the Tibetan text, it does frame the ensuing discourse in a way the supports the inclusion of incantations and mantras, a feature not found among the Pali sources.

intro.16

Chinese

intro.17

The Madhyamāgama (Taishō 26), which was translated by the Kashmiri monk Gautama Saṅghadeva in the years 397 and 398, contains three sūtras that are close parallels to three suttas in the Pali Majjhima Nikāya: Discourse on a Deity in the Hot Springs Grove (Wen quan lin tian jing 溫泉林天經), Discourse on a Venerable One in a Meditation Hall among the Śākyas (Shi zhong chan shi zun jing 釋中禪室尊經 ), and Discourse Spoken by Ānanda (A nan shuo jing 阿難說經). These correspond, respectively, to MN 133, 134, and 132 of the Pali Majjhima Nikāya. Dharmarakṣa translated Discourse Spoken by the Buddha to a Venerable Elder (Taishō 77, Zun shang fo shuo jing 尊上佛說經) between 267 and 313 ce. This individual translation also parallels MN 134. Finally, The Scripture of a Good Night (Taishō 1362, Shan ye jing 善夜經), which was translated by Yijing (635–713 ce) in 701 ce, is the latest among the Chinese translations⁹ and the only one that aligns with the Sanskrit and Tibetan texts in including mantras and incantations along with descriptions of their benefits.¹⁰

intro.18

In summary, at the core of these different versions and their recensions is a set of four to five stanzas that articulate the main teaching of the sūtra: not to dwell on the past, be concerned about the future, or be distracted by present events. The narratives that frame this discourse vary widely across the versions of the text and their translations, but these core verses are relatively stable. The starkest difference between the Pali suttas and early Chinese translations on the one hand, and the Sanskrit fragments, later Chinese translation, and the Tibetan translation on the other, is the incorporation of incantations and mantras, which expands the import of the sūtra beyond the articulation of Buddhist doctrine to include the magical and apotropaic. Thus the two Sanskrit fragments, the latest of the Chinese translations, and the Tibetan translation should be considered recensions of a sūtra that differed significantly from the suttas preserved in the Pali canon and the three earlier Chinese translations.

intro.19

The English Translation

intro.20

The primary basis for this English translation is the recension of the sūtra preserved in the Sūtra section of the Degé Kangyur (Toh 313). This witness was compared with the two parallel versions in the Tantra and Dhāraṇī sections of the Degé Kangyur (Toh 617 and Toh 974, respectively), the Stok Palace manuscript Kangyur, and the appendix of variant readings reported in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Degé Kangyur.¹¹ Only those variant readings that reflect text different from the Degé and/or affected the meaning of a passage have been reported in the notes. Orthographic variants of words, different verb stems used, differences in punctuation, and minor differences in terminology that yielded the same meaning were not recorded. In addition to the Tibetan versions, we consulted the electronic version of the Pali Text Society’s edition of the Pali text of the Bhaddhekarattasuttas (MN 131–34) as well as the published editions of the Sanskrit fragments, SHT III 816 and the Kashgar manuscript fragment SI 2044. Occasionally, we also refer to the Chinese translation Shan ye jing 善夜經 (Taishō 1362).

intro.21

When citing the mantras and incantations recorded in the Tibetan translation, we chose to create “synthetic versions,” meaning that we have generally retained readings of a particular word or syllable that correspond with the majority of the consulted versions. We have also reconstructed Sanskrit words when it was clear and obvious what the terms would be based on the phonetic Tibetan syllables. Some of the mantras and incantations recorded in this sūtra appear to incorporate Dravidian or Proto-Dravidian syllables and words, as evidenced by the presence of retroflex sounds (ṭ, ṇ, etc.). Representing these syllables as proper words would be highly speculative on our part, so we have refrained from doing so. For the sake of clarity and readability, we have not included notes reporting our comparative analysis of the mantras and incantations in the main body of the translation. For interested readers, we have instead presented the mantras and incantations along with our complete comparative apparatus in a separate appendix.

1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Bhagavān was staying in Rājagṛha’s Bamboo Grove, in the Habitat of Kalandaka Birds. At that time, a certain monk was residing on the banks of Rājagṛha’s hot springs. When night had fallen, a deity with a brilliant golden complexion appeared before the monk and¹² illuminated the entire bank of the hot springs with a vast radiance.

The deity asked, “Monk, do you know the teaching of Auspicious Night?”

The monk replied, “Deva, I am ignorant of the teaching of Auspicious Night. Now, are you, Deva, aware of the teaching of Auspicious Night, or are you unaware of it?

“Monk, I too do not know the teaching of Auspicious Night.”

In turn, the monk asked, “Deva, who then exists who knows the teaching of Auspicious Night?”

The deity said, “The Bhagavān is staying nearby in Rājagṛha’s Bamboo Grove, in the Habitat of Kalandaka Birds. Go straight to the Bhagavān and ask him! Retain the Bhagavān’s instruction exactly as it is given to you, and apply yourself to it!” He then disappeared suddenly.

The next morning,¹³

2

the monk went to the Bhagavān. On arriving, he bowed his head to the Bhagavān’s feet and remained to one side. Sitting to the side of the Bhagavān, the monk asked the Bhagavān, “Venerable sir, last night, after dusk, a deity with a brilliant golden complexion appeared before me and illuminated the entire bank of the hot springs with a vast radiance. The deity said to me, ‘Monk, do you know the teaching of Auspicious Night?’ I replied, ‘Deva, I am ignorant of the teaching of Auspicious Night. Now, are you, Deva,¹⁴ aware of the teaching of Auspicious Night, or are you unaware of it?’ ‘Monk, I too do not know the teaching of Auspicious Night,’ the deity responded. ‘Deva, who then exists who knows the teaching of Auspicious Night?’ The deity then said, ‘The Bhagavān is staying in Rājagṛha’s Bamboo Grove, in the Habitat of Kalandaka Birds. Go straight to the Bhagavān and ask him! Retain the Bhagavān’s instruction exactly as it is given to you, and apply yourself to it!’ He then disappeared suddenly. Therefore, Venerable Bhagavān, I have come to ask you the meaning of this.”

The Bhagavān asked, “Monk, do you know that deity?”

“Sir, I do not know that deity,” the monk replied.

“This deity is a general¹⁵ of the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. His name is Candana.”¹⁶

“Sir, I wish to hear the teaching of Auspicious Night,” the monk entreated.

The Bhagavān replied, “Then, monk, listen well and carefully, and pay attention! I will teach you. Monk, when monks are endowed with three special qualities, they are called those who abide by the teaching of Auspicious Night. Which three? They are as follows: By possessing the three special qualities of (1) not following after the past,¹⁷ (2) not hoping¹⁸ for the future, and

3

(3) remaining uncaptivated by presently arisen states, a monk is known as someone who follows the teaching of Auspicious Night.”

This is what the Bhagavān said. After the Sugata had thus spoken, he furthermore stated the following:

“Do not follow after¹⁹ the past
Or hope for the future!
What is past has ceased to exist;
The future has not yet arrived. {1}

“Having thoroughly examined
Each presently arisen thing,
And knowing each,²⁰ one understands,
Undeceived by false conceptions. {2}

“ ‘Will I²¹ die tomorrow?’ Who knows?
Today the effort should be made.
The lord of death and his great army²²
Do not come to offer friendship.²³ {3}

“May all sentient beings and creatures
And the entirety of living things
Achieve perfect happiness,
And be free from the afflictions!
May all good things be seen,²⁴
And may nothing²⁵ evil at all occur!²⁶ {4}

“So that one maintains this and applies oneself
Night and day, without idleness,
The sage has unremittingly proclaimed
The teaching of Auspicious Night.”²⁷ {5}

Then the Bhagavān, for the safeguarding of all sentient beings, offered this teaching of Auspicious Night ²⁸ and taught the following Dravidian mantras:

tadyathā| bi nā bi ni| bi na pūraṇi| buddha-martaṇḍe| mānini mānini| ṇi ṇi ṇi ṇi| ṭi ṭi ṭi ṭi| vīrati| gauri| gāndhāri| caṇḍāli| mātaṃgi| pukkasi| brāhmaṇi| drāviḍi| drāmiḍi| śavari| sadālambha| hīnamadhyamadhāriṇi| maholani| dalabhani| dalābhadre| mahādalini| calini| muṣṭe| cakravarti| mahācakravarti| śavari śavari| mahāśavari| bhu tsing gi| bhu tsi ring gi ni| ni mi ni ming gi ni| nimiṃdhari bhu ta ni svāhā

tadyathā| e ṭu ṭu ṭu ṭu| na ṭu mi rṇi| ki rṇi| eṁ ku| sid da ta ri| tsa la lu| rni rtu| nirma llu| gallu| a ba tra no ne| śe ku nir ba ra da sa le| ta ra ke| ta re| ta rod tu| nod tu| ti la

4

la lu| bhūtapataye| ba ta yi ye svāhā

tadyathā| arakāte | narakāte| pāṃśuka| pāyiye| kapotaka pāyiye| tapodhane svāhā

“Monk, when, with the intention of safeguarding all sentient beings, sons of good family or daughters of good family keep the meaning of Auspicious Night’s teachings,²⁹ together with its prose, its stanzas, and its Dravidian mantras, in their mind, or when they remember it, read it,³⁰ concentrate on it, master it, or correctly teach it in detail to others, their body will be indestructible by fire, indestructible by poison,³¹ and unharmed by punishment inflicted by authorities³² or assault from thieves; furthermore, they will not die prematurely and will certainly reach nirvāṇa.

“No matter where one is reborn,
When one has read the sūtra Auspicious Night,
One is bound to remember one’s past lives, become an arhat,
And even attain mastery.³³

“With a single recitation,³⁴ all beings in all circumstances,
Be it untimely death or the intermediate state,
Will be protected from and purged of
Untimely death and non-Dharmic fates
Without any effort of their own.
In the case of illness, pain, fearful births,
Or the sorrow³⁵ caused by inauspicious dreams,
Uttering it will bring good luck.

“Whoever writes it down
And fastens it to the body of a man or a woman
Will create good fortune, splendor,
And prosperity for them.

“The sūtra Auspicious Night
Will rescue from premature death³⁶
All those who, with body, speech, and mind,
Have committed minor evil deeds of any kind.

“Remembering the Auspicious ³⁷ protects
From kings, water, fire and lightning,
Bandits, illness, and foes,
As well as in battle and fighting.

“Uninterrupted recitation of the Auspicious incantations³⁸
And the mantras,
Especially silent recitation,
Makes people forever³⁹ fearless.

“Homage to the completely perfect buddhas, the tathāgatas, the arhats of the past, present, and future!

“Having thus paid homage,

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one should recite the following incantations:

“Through this incantation, may I become prosperous!

tadyathā| nimi nimiṃdhare| timi timiṅgali| trailokya-avalokini| triśūladharaṇi| a ku phi ni| kṛmīkṛti | ki li ki li| kud to kud to| kud to kud si| kurti ku pi ti

“May I and all sentient beings, accompanied by Vajrapāṇi,⁴⁰ be protected everywhere from all dangers, illnesses, poisons, fevers, evil spirits, bites from venomous creatures, thieves, all humans and nonhumans, all dangers, injuries, infectious disease, fighting, troubles, wrongdoing, discord, quarrels, and disputes, as well as from all evil deeds committed with body, speech, and mind, and from all fears! Protect!

tadyathā| hi li mi li| tsi li| i li| mi li| piśācini parṇaśavari tsi li tsi li svāhā

When the Bhagavān had spoken these words, the monks and all the assemblies,⁴¹ together with the world and its deities, humans, asuras, garuḍas, gandharvas, kinnaras, mahoragas, great yakṣas, rākṣasas, pretas, and piśācas, delighted and rejoiced in the Bhagavān’s words.

Notes

notes.1

1. On rakṣā literature, a term introduced by Peter Skilling to describe this kind of apotropaic and performative literature, see Skilling 1992 and, more recently, the brief but clear overview in Strauch 2014, 64–67. See also Skilling 1997, 15, 63–88 (on the Mahāsūtras as rakṣā literature) and 78–84 (on the general problem of the classification of the Mahāsūtras).

notes.2

2. However, the Denkarma (ldan dkar ma) catalog of the early phase of translation in Tibet (up to the ninth century) classifies Auspicious Night—“mistakenly,” according to Skilling, “since it is a Śrāvaka text” (Skilling 1997, 82)—as a sūtra of the Mahāyāna (see Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, 120–21). For more details on the problems of the classification and formation, nature, and later citations of Auspicious Night, see Skilling 1997, 81–84.

notes.3

3. For some features thought by contemporary scholars to distinguish Mahāyāna sūtras from non-Mahāyāna sūtras, see Drewes 2010b, 66–74. See also Davidson 2009 and Drewes 2010a. Also, the association of dhāraṇīs and mantras exclusively with the Mahāyāna is not conclusive; Skilling (1997, 74–78) has shown that a number of texts of the Śrāvakayāna contain mantras and dhāraṇīs (see also Hidas 2015, 130).

notes.4

4. Denkarma, folio 299.b; see also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, 120-21. Phangthangma 2003, p.26.

notes.5

5. See Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa’s commentary on Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra (byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa la ’jug pa’i rnam bshad theg chen chos kyi rgya mtsho), in chos tshan sna tshogs (Kathmandu: Karma Leksheyling, 2012), BDRC W3JT13346: eText search “mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo.” For Tai Situ Chökyi Jungné’s quotation of the first two verses, see Chökyi Jungné, nges don phyag rgya chen po smon lam gyi ’grel pa grub pa mchog gi zhal lung, folios 27.b.5–6. For a translation of this, see Roberts 2010, 238.

notes.6

6. They are the first four suttas of chapter fourteen of the Vibhaṅgavagga: Bhaddekarattasutta (MN 131), Ānandabhaddekarattasutta (MN 132), Mahākaccānabhaddekarattasutta (MN 133), and Lomasakaṅgiyabhaddekarattasutta (MN 134).

notes.7

7. This fragment was published in the series Sanskrithandschriften aus den Turfanfunden (see Sander and Waldschmidt 1971).

notes.8

8. This fragment was first edited by the Russian Indologist Sergej Fedorovič Oldenburg (1863–1934) and was published in Minayeff and Oldenburg 1983, 242–43.

notes.9

9. This information was compiled from Lewis R. Lancaster and Sung-bae Park, The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue , and Anālayo 2012, 755–67. The English translations of the Chinese titles are Bhikkhu Anālayo’s.

notes.10

10. Like the Tibetan translations, Taishō 1362 is set in the hot springs in Rājagṛha, does not give a name to the monk to whom the deity Candana appears, and has the Buddha explain the identity of the deity as a general in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Additionally, Taishō 1362 preserves lines from the core verses that are only otherwise attested in the Tibetan translation.

notes.11

11. This text, Toh 974, and all those contained in this same volume (gzungs ’dus, waM), are listed as being located in volume 101 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 102. This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimalaprabhānāmakālacakratantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the volume 100 of the Degé Kangyur, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation. Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 974 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 974, , for details. Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 974 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 974, , for details.

notes.12

12. Syntax according to D phyin nas. Y and K read phyi nas (“later on”). The reading in D seems preferable since it faithfully reproduces the syntax of a well-known stock phrase in Sanskrit and Pali expressing that someone approaches another person (yena … tena).

notes.13

13. According to A, D, D617, D974 de nas dge slong de nang par langs nas; S just reads de nas dge slong de nas langs nas (“Then, the monk, having departed/left from there”) without specifying the time.

notes.14

14. C, H repeat lha (“Deva”) here; A, D add lta; D974 omitted; D617, S do not add lta or lha. Translated according to D974 and S.

notes.15

15. Translating A, D sde dpon. D617, D974, S read ded dpon. Although the semantic range of the two terms partly overlaps—both designate a leader of some kind—a sde dpon is typically a military leader, such as a general, whereas ded dpon can refer to a civic leader, such as the head of a merchant caravan or ship captain.

notes.16

16. The reason for the appearance of the general Candana can be explained by referring to MN 134, the initial portions of which bear a considerable resemblance to the beginning of Auspicious Night: in the Pali version, the deity Candana recalls the stanzas of the discourse of Auspicious Night in his meeting with the monk Lomasakaṅgiya. To the monk’s question about how and why he remembers it, the deity replies, “Bhikkhu, once the Blessed One was living among the gods of the heaven of the Thirty-three, on the Red Marble Stone at the root of the Pāricchattaka tree. There the Blessed One recited the summary and exposition of ‘One Who Has Had a Single Excellent Night’ to the gods of the heaven of the Thirty-three” (translation taken from Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi 2005, 1050).

notes.17

17. The Tibetan of A, D313, D617, D974 here reads rjes su phrad, which is very unusual (as far as we were able to ascertain, this is the only occurrence in the Kangyur) and poses text-critical difficulties. S is unclear, and reads either rjes su phrad or phrod. The Sanskrit of SI 2044 reads anvāgamayed, meaning “to follow,” “walk,” or “go along,” a term often rendered in Tibetan as rjes su ’brang. Therefore, and specifically in the light of the extant Sanskrit parallel, we read rjes su ’brang for rjes su phrad and have translated it accordingly with the English verb “to follow.” It should be pointed out, however, that a survey of all available scans of Kangyurs on the University of Vienna’s Resources for Kanjur and Tanjur Studies site shows that the reading rjes su phrad (and the variants rjes su ’phrad and rjes su phrang) is found in all the recensions and editions. Thus, the curious reading rjes su phrad may either have its origin in a textual corruption or is just a graphically unusual form. It may furthermore be worth noting that Taishō 1362 reads, in the first half-pada of the first verse, 過去不應念 – 過去(“What is past one should not remember”). The reading nian 念 (“mindfulness,” “memory”) here suggests that we should expect a form of Sanskrit anu+smṛ in the Sanskrit/Prakrit original. Similarly, Taishō 77 reads 過去當不憶, with yi 憶 likewise meaning “to recollect,” “to remember.” The obvious candidate in the Tibetan would be rjes su dran.

notes.18

18. Translation according to A, D, D617, D974, S re ba; N, K, Y read reg pa (“to touch” or “contact”).

notes.19

19. The Pali MN 131 explains the meaning of this as follows: Remembering a past state of any one of one’s five constituents (Sanskrit skandha), e.g., “in the past my form was thus,” one wishes oneself or the past state of affairs to return. The explanation is similar with regard to the future: one wishes one’s body/form etc. to be a certain way in the future.

notes.20

20. According to the Tibetan in D617, D974, S de dag mkhas pas; A, D, N read de dag thams cad (“those all”).

notes.21

21. According to S shi’am sus shes kyis. A, D, N, S read shi yang; A, D shi yang su shes kyis; D617 ’chi’am su shes kyis; D974 ’chi’am sus shes kyis.

notes.22

22. We interpret Tibetan sde here to be short for dmag sde (“army,” “platoon”). Cf. the Pali mahāsenena maccunā (“death, whose army is mighty”).

notes.23

23. We have translated according to A, D, S bdag tu [S rtag tu] bshes pa ma yin no. D617, D974 read bdag tu shes pa ma yin no.

notes.24

24. According to A, D, S bzang po; D617, D974 read thams cad bzang por mthong gyur te (“having come to see that all is good”).

notes.25

25. According to A, D gang yang; D617, D974, S gang dag.

notes.26

26. This stanza, which is longer than the other stanzas (six padas instead of four), is absent in the Pali version and its Madhyamāgama parallel (MĀ 165; see Anālyo 2008, 12). Only SI 2044 preserves a similar passage.

notes.27

27. In the Pali version of this verse, the person who thus maintains this mindfully day and night is called bhaddekaratto, “one who has had an auspicious night” The whole fourth, and last, stanza in the Pali Bhaddekarattasuttas in Bhikkhu Anālayo’s (2012, 758n15) translation reads, “dwelling diligently like this, day and night without laziness, to him, indeed, the night is auspicious, so the peaceful sage has explained” (evaṃ vihārim ātapiṃ, ahorattam atanditaṃ, taṃ ve bhaddekaratto ti, santo ācikkhate munī ti).

notes.28

28. According to D617, D974, S mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo sde ’di; A, D mdo ’di.

notes.29

29. According to A, D mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo sde ’di’i don. S instead reads mtshan mo bzang po’i don (“the meaning of (an?) auspicious night” [or simply “the meaning/contents of Auspicious Night”]); D617, D974 read mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo (“the sūtra Auspicious Night”).

notes.30

30. The Tibetan verb klog (“read”) most likely means to recite the text out loud.

notes.31

31. According to A, D dug gis mi tshugs pa yin; D617, D974, S dug gis ma yin (“not by poison”). D617, D974, and S also add “not [vulnerable] by the blade; not by water” (mtshon gyis ma yin| chus ma yin).

notes.32

32. Tibetan rgyal po’i chad pa literally means “punishment inflicted by the king.”

notes.33

33. Tibetan dbang phyug tu yang nges par ’gyur; dbang phyug is polysemous, and the exact sense of the word here is unclear. According to Mvy it usually renders the Sanskrit īśvara (“lord, master; king, ruler”). The Sanskrit word itself can also mean “almighty god” or refer to the supreme god (parameśvara) or the Supreme Being. The Tibetan dbang phyug can also be used as a synonym of the Sanskrit tathāgata and bodhisattva, or for the god Śiva. In the Buddhist doctrinal context, it often renders the Sanskrit aiśvarya, which designates the “sovereignty,” “self-mastery,” “supremacy,” or “superhuman powers” of a buddha.

notes.34

34. We have supplied the word “recitation” here. An alternative interpretation of the Tibetan lan cig gis may be “at once,” “immediately,” or “directly.” H lan gcig.

notes.35

35. According to A, D, S mya ngan; Y mang; K phan; H, N ngam.

notes.36

36. According to A, D, D617, D974 dus ma yin par ’chi las skyob; S dus ma yin ltas ’chi las skyob (“protects from omens of premature death”).

notes.37

37. Tibetan bzang po dran na. We have interpreted bzang po to be short for mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo, “the sūtra Auspicious Night,” but it may simply mean “remembering it well.” It is also possible that the wording here is deliberately ambiguous.

notes.38

38. This translates Tibetan rig pa bzang po ’di dang ni. As in the instance above, we have interpreted bzang po to be short for mtshan mo bzang po’i mdo (“the sūtra Auspicious Night”). Alternatively, it may be translated literally as “this auspicious incantation (Sanskrit vidyā)” or “this good incantation.” However, in light of what has been stated in the previous verses and their frequent reference to Auspicious Night, we interpret rig pa (vidyā) here to refer to the whole sūtra Auspicious Night itself.

Auspicious Night

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84000's introduction

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