འཕགས་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་བརྒྱད་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro: 84000's introduction
The Eight Buddhas intro
- Language
- English
84000's introduction
intro.1
While the Buddha is dwelling together with a great saṅgha of monks in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park, the whole universe suddenly begins to shake. The sounds of innumerable cymbals are heard without their being played, and flowers fall, covering the entire Jeta’s Grove. The world becomes filled with golden light and golden lotuses appear, each lotus supporting a lion throne upon which appears the shining form of a buddha. Venerable Śāriputra arises from his seat, pays homage, and asks the Buddha about the causes and conditions for these thus-gone ones to appear. The Buddha then proceeds to describe in detail these buddhas, as well as their various realms and how beings can take birth in them.
intro.2
In the Jeta’s Grove outside Śrāvastī, the ancient capital of the Kośala state, the Buddha and his saṅgha of monks have taken up residence during the rainy season. Suddenly, during a gathering of the saṅgha, the whole universe begins to shake, the grove is flooded with lights and sounds, and eight buddhas miraculously appear on jeweled lotus flowers. The Buddha’s close disciple, Śāriputra, requests the Buddha to explain the causes and conditions that have made these buddhas appear. The Buddha begins by introducing Śāriputra to each of the eight buddhas by name and then describes the location, name, and qualities of each of their buddha realms.
intro.3
Following this, the Buddha teaches Śāriputra how hearing, remembering, carrying, reading, teaching, chanting, and mastering the names of these buddhas will produce a great number of benefits for the practitioner. Śāriputra is told that these names have the capacity to ensure that practitioners will not be reborn in the three lower realms and that they will always have extraordinary knowledge, realization, and dhāraṇī. They will never have defective faculties, lack donations, or find themselves without the practices and discourses of the Mahāyāna. They will also no longer have to take birth as women unless they wish to do so, nor will they experience any misfortune caused by kings, thieves, fire, water, or evil spirits. Eventually, they will attain wisdom, which in turn will lead them to become buddhas themselves.
intro.4
The notion that a disciple can become destined for awakening merely by recalling the names of buddhas who live in other realms appears in a number of Mahāyāna sūtras, where it represents an important aspect of Mahāyāna practice. In the Tibetan canon these sūtras are found throughout the various sūtra collections. Not only is there a plethora of buddhas present in the universe, but through their blessings, beings can make great progress on the path to awakening simply by bringing them to mind.
intro.5
There is to our knowledge no extant Sanskrit version of this sūtra. According to the colophon to the Tibetan translation it was translated into Tibetan by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra and Surendrabodhi, along with the editor-translator Yeshé Dé. The text is also recorded in both the Denkarma¹ and Phangthangma² catalogs of the Tibetan imperial translations, so it would have been translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan no later than the early ninth century, as the Denkarma is thought to have been compiled in 812 ce. Four Chinese sūtras with cognate material are included in the Taishō Buddhist Canon (Taishō 427, 428, 430, and 431).³ The earliest of the Chinese translations (Taishō 427) dates to the early third century, so the materials presented in this sūtra have their roots in very early Indian Mahāyāna.
intro.6
This English translation was prepared based on the Tibetan translation in the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (Tib. dpe bsdur ma).