འཕགས་པ་རྨད་ད་བྱང་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བའ་ཆས་ཀྱ་རྣམ་གྲངས intro: 84000's introduction
The Marvelous Dharma Discourse intro
- Language
- English
84000's introduction
intro.1
In The Marvelous Dharma Discourse Ānanda asks the Buddha about the relative merit accrued by huge offerings made to revered beings as compared to the merit accrued by making even a miniature stūpa for the veneration of a buddha who has passed into parinirvāṇa. The Buddha replies that the merit accrued by creating even a tiny stūpa the size of a small fruit for the veneration of a buddha is greater than that accrued by offering the entire world, or even the universe and its palaces, to all stream enterers, once-returners, non-returners, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and the saṅgha in the four directions.
intro.2
The Marvelous Dharma Discourse is a short Mahāyāna sūtra concerned with the merit resulting from making stūpas. The sūtra takes place in the Bamboo Grove near Rājagṛha, where the Buddha Śākyamuni regularly stayed and gave teachings. The text begins when Ānanda, while on an alms round in the city of Rājagṛha, notices a fine palace and wonders whether the merit accrued by offering such a palace to the saṅgha in the four directions would exceed the merit produced from constructing a miniature stūpa the size of a small fruit for the veneration of a buddha. Resolving to ask the Buddha about this, he returns to the Bamboo Grove and asks his question. The Buddha replies that the merit accrued by creating even a very small stūpa for the veneration of a perfect buddha is far greater than the merit accrued by any form of offering made to all stream enterers, once-returners, non-returners, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and the saṅgha in the four directions.¹
intro.3
The Marvelous Dharma Discourse is found in the General Sūtra section of the Kangyur. Its colophon states that it was translated by the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé and the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, who were regular collaborators in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. The text is also included in the Denkarma catalog, dated to 812 ce,² while in the Phangthangma inventory there are two texts listed with this name, one among the short Mahāyana sūtras and one among the Hīnayāna discourses.³
intro.4
Three Sanskrit manuscripts of the text have so far been identified in the Gilgit collection, and all three have been published in facsimile in Gilgit Buddhist Manuscripts.⁴ Yael Bentor has published an edition and translation from Sanskrit, as well as a comparison of redactional differences between the manuscripts.⁵
intro.5
Two translations of this sūtra are available in Chinese. The first (Taishō 688)⁶ was produced by an unknown translator sometime during the late Han dynasty (25–220 ce). The second (Taishō 689)⁷ was translated by Xuanzang in 649 ce. According to Bentor, these two Chinese versions, which are supposed to be translations of The Marvelous Dharma Discourse, are in fact closer to the Sanskrit text of The Great Rumble ⁸ (Toh 208).⁹
intro.6
The basis for this translation was the Degé version in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the version included in the Stok Palace Kangyur. Bentor’s edition and translation of the Sanskrit were also consulted, and all significant differences between the Tibetan and the Sanskrit are mentioned in the notes to this translation.