The Ocean of Dharma

Translation of ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད་ཆས་རྒྱ་མཚ་ཞས་བྱ་བ (ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་ཆོས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ)

Language: English
Translator: Lowell Cook
Extent: 42 passages, 4,118 words
Text: complete digital text
Source: 84000 · Published by 84000 (v 1.0.5 2025). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha,… · 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 — 11 parts
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notes Notes — 24 parts

Text

84000's introduction

intro.1

At Mount Potalaka, on an island in the ocean, the bodhisattva Lord of the World asks the Buddha what it means to successfully take full ordination as a monk. The Buddha answers that it is only by transcending various forms of dualism that one truly takes full ordination. When the bodhisattva Maitreya asks for clarification of what the Buddha has said, the Lord of the World offers a discourse on the ultimate truth. This discourse wins the Buddha’s approval, and the Buddha in turn further elaborates on the ultimate nature of phenomena.

intro.2

The Ocean of Dharma is one of the few sūtras to take place on Mount Potalaka, the abode of Avalokiteśvara who is featured in this sūtra under his epithet of Lord of the World. This mythical mountain is said to be found on an island to the south of the Indian subcontinent. It is also identified by some as being in the Pothigai Hills in Tamil Nadu.¹ Nevertheless, it appears that this sūtra takes its title from this island’s location in the ocean.²

intro.3

It is here, the sūtra tells us, that the Buddha grants the Lord of the World the opportunity to query any teaching he likes, at which the latter inquires as to the true meaning of ordination as a monk. The Buddha’s answer emphasizes that true ordination is not an external transformation, like shaving one’s head and donning saffron robes, but rather an internal transformation. Specifically, what is required is not just severing attachment to the life of a householder, but also acceptance of the teachings on emptiness. These are particularly associated with the Perfection of Wisdom teachings regarding the transcendence of all dualistic perception or apprehending of objects. It is only when a monk has fully given rise to such nonattachment, extending even to the objects of perception, that he becomes a worthy recipient of offerings.

intro.4

The Buddha’s teaching is further elaborated when the bodhisattva Maitreya inquires as to the Buddha’s intent. This prompts the Lord of the World to give a further discourse that acts as a commentary on the Buddha’s statements. He describes the profound nonduality of the ultimate truth which is beyond reifying perception. The Buddha then gives his approval to the Lord of the World’s teaching, but he specifies that these profound teachings are not suitable for anyone who has broken their vows or is full of pride. Indeed, while seventeen thousand monks gain immense benefits through these teachings, there are also five hundred monks, described as “those prone to apprehending”, who stand up and depart the scene.

intro.5

Stating the benefits associated with a given discourse usually signals its conclusion. Here, however, the sūtra continues with a further section in which the Buddha elaborates on the appropriate audience for the sūtra’s teachings before demonstrating to Maitreya the dream-like nature of reality. The sūtra concludes with many bodhisattvas describing the benefits that reciting the sūtra brings both to a physical location and to an individual.

intro.6

The Ocean of Dharma is thus among just a few Mahāyāna discourses in the Kangyur whose theme is how being an authentic monk is not a question of keeping outward rules but of realizing the teachings on emptiness. Other sūtras that share this central concern are The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline (Toh 220)³ and The Episode of Dṛḍhādhyāśaya (Toh 224).⁴

intro.7

Some uncertainty surrounds the history of this sūtra’s translation into Tibetan. The colophon found in most Kangyurs states that it was “translated from Chinese” and that it was “established according to the new terminology.” This suggests that an early translation was revised in the early ninth century CE to conform with the standardization of translation terminology introduced by the decree of the Tibetan emperor at that time.⁵ However, no translators are named and no corresponding Chinese (or Sanskrit) texts have been identified.⁶ There is, however, a different sūtra in the Chinese canon bearing the identical title The Ocean of Dharma (Taishō 34, Fai hai jing 法海經)⁷ with which this one is not to be confused.

intro.8

A text with the title Noble Ocean of Dharma is listed in the Denkarma catalog of translated texts compiled in the early ninth century.⁸ This may refer to the present text, as suggested by Herrmann-Pfandt.⁹ However, it is also possible that this entry refers to the dhāraṇī text of the same name and same length that is listed in the other extant imperial-era catalog, the Phangthangma, namely The Noble Dhāraṇī Ocean of Dharma,¹⁰ a text which is found in the Tantra section of the Kangyur (Toh 654). If the two listings do indeed refer to the same text, then our present text would not be found in the imperial catalogs at all. However, when Butön listed a text called The Ocean of Dharma in his History, it is clear that he was referring to the present text (Toh 255).¹¹

intro.9

The language of the sūtra is in places unusual, and though most versions of the colophon indicate that it may have been revised to conform with the ninth-century royal language decrees, there remain indications that it had been translated in a rather literal style from Chinese. In the title, for instance, one would expect a connective particle kyi between chos and rgya mtsho, yet this is omitted, perhaps in order to parallel the assumed Chinese title of *fai hai 法海. Similarly, individuals’ titles are given after their names as per Chinese syntax, rather than preceding them as they would according to Tibetan syntax. Thus, in literal translation, the text reads “Maitreya bodhisattva” instead of “bodhisattva Maitreya.” The text is also unusual for a sūtra in not starting with a translator's homage.

intro.10

Two features of the sūtra might suggest a relationship with the texts of the Buddhāvataṃsaka family—its setting on Mount Potalaka, and the recurring vocative used by Lord of the World in addressing Maitreya, rendered in this translation as “O heir of the victorious ones” (kye rgyal ba’i sras). Neither feature, however, is unique to that genre, and furthermore the focus on what qualifies monks to receive offerings would seem far from the Buddhāvataṃsaka’s principal themes.

intro.11

The sūtra does not appear to have been quoted widely in the Tibetan tradition, nor has it been studied or translated into any Western language. With no Sanskrit or Chinese parallel available, the present translation is based on the edition preserved in the Degé Kangyur with reference to variant readings preserved in the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), the Stok Palace Kangyur, and the Shelkar manuscript.

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Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying at Mount Potalaka, on an island in the ocean, surrounded and attended to by a large gathering of heirs of the victorious ones, who had attained irreversibility.

The Blessed One addressed the bodhisattva great being Lord of the World, “Wise one, you may ask about any Dharma teaching you like.”

¹²Lord of the World, who was liberated through unobscured love, then asked the Blessed One, “Honorable one, how do youthful ones attain victory over Māra?”

“The moment you engender the mind of awakening, you will examine desire and will not rely on it. You will be free and without pride. You will possess insight, be skilled in means, and be inspired by emptiness. You will relinquish existence and nonexistence, and for countless lives, considering it to be unreal, will remain in saṃsāra.”¹³

“How does one go forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya and take full ordination correctly?”

“To go forth is to transcend the phenomena of different kinds of beings;¹⁴ to transcend the thoughts, mind, and mental consciousnesses that depend on and engage in the bases of suffering; and to hear the teachings on nonduality.

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A being of any different kind who goes forth in this way has truly gone forth. When someone has gone forth, yet has let their discipline, conduct, livelihood, view, and motivation deteriorate, it is pointless for them to shave their heads and beards. They are bound by disturbances and hence are led by such disturbances to the lower realms.

“I have granted permission for donations from the faithful to be used by those who are coherent and liberated:¹⁵ that is, monks who while not discarding their perseverance do not discard form, sensation, perception, formation, or consciousness, but examine the five aggregates individually and together and view them as by nature impermanent, as suffering, as empty, and as without self. Yet even these views they always cultivate without apprehending them, and taking the elements and the sense sources strictly as nonexistent manifestations.¹⁶ What they repudiate as being insubstantial, infected, painful, faulty, antagonizing, and of a deceptive nature, they do that too without any apprehending in their approach, and in that way with their bodies give up craving the body, loving the body, believing there is a self in the body, and clinging to the body. Monks like this have gone forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya, and have faithfully taken full ordination correctly and completely. Such monks are worthy recipients of donations from the whole world along with its gods.”

The bodhisattva Maitreya then asked the bodhisattva Lord of the World, “What did the Blessed One mean when he taught, ‘Those who have transcended the phenomena of the different kinds of beings and have attained the phenomena beyond the world have gone forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya and have correctly taken full ordination’?”

“There are other people who may have gone forth and taken full ordination, yet are still confused. Just as a bat¹⁷ is neither a rat nor a bird, these people are neither householders nor renunciants.

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Understand the position of these foolish people to be so. But, wise one, the phenomena of different kinds of beings are like illusions and, as such, cannot be transcended. The phenomena of different kinds of beings are imperfect and, as such, are difficult to transcend. The realms of beings¹⁸ do not exist outside, do not exist inside, and are not to be apprehended in either. Thus, what is an entity of the realms of beings is an entity of the phenomena of different kinds of beings. That is difficult to transcend, and it is in this respect, O heir of the victorious ones, that the Blessed One has taught that someone who has transcended the phenomena of different kinds of beings and attained the phenomena beyond the world has gone forth in the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya, has correctly taken full ordination, and is a worthy recipient of offerings who may use what is donated by the faithful.

“O heir of the victorious ones, if there is no solid basis, what could there be to attain? If the phenomena beyond the world could be attained, they could be observed. The true nature of the thus-gone, worthy, perfect buddhas cannot be observed, and it is from this perspective that the Blessed One taught that someone who has transcended the phenomena of the different realms of beings and attained the phenomena beyond the world is a genuine monk and a worthy recipient of offerings who may use what is donated by the faithful.”

The bodhisattva Maitreya asked the bodhisattva Lord of the World, “What did the Blessed One mean when he taught that a monk who while not discarding his perseverance does not discard form, does not discard sensation, perception, formation, or consciousness, is a monk who has gone forth; he is a monk who has fully gone forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya and, as such, is a worthy recipient of offerings who may use what is donated by the faithful?”

The bodhisattva Lord of the World answered, “O heir of the victorious ones, what the Blessed One meant was the true nature. As the realm of phenomena does not exist outside, does not exist inside,

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and is not to be apprehended in either, to identify it as being without sickness, identify it as unborn, and identify it as not arising are not designations to be made. For the sameness of the realm of phenomena accords with the realm of beings being the same, and the sameness of the realm of beings accords with the realm of phenomena being the same. The sameness of the realm of beings and the sameness of the realm of phenomena are thus not two things and cannot be separated. Since they are not two things and cannot be separated, there is nothing to be discarded and nothing not to be discarded. Since there is nothing to be discarded and nothing not to be discarded, it is not possible to transcend or attain anything.

“That is what the Blessed One meant by a monk who is not to be designated not engaging in identifying things. The monk without any labels transcends labels. For him, even using a formulation to point things out is not right. He does not come, does not go, does not stay, does not sit, and even while sleeping is without concepts.

“Being at peace and bringing to peace are the criteria for monks who have no apprehending. The ways they behave are criteria, too. The behavior of monks who have all sorts of mistaken concepts is not a criterion.¹⁹ That is what the Blessed One meant by the former kind of monk being a worthy recipient of offerings who may use what is donated by the faithful.”

The Blessed One then gave the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara his approval: “Wise one, you have taught in accordance with my meaning. Excellent, excellent indeed! To go forth into the well-taught Dharma and Vinaya is the seal of the true and unsurpassed Dharma. Do not teach this in the presence of those who have let their discipline deteriorate, who are untamed, and who are full of pride. However, if there are such people who aim to rid themselves of their arrogance, they may use their insight to see this seal of Dharma just as it is and realize the body that is not apprehended. If they do so they will quickly attain the mental body. With this mental body, they will ripen countless beings to awakening.”

As this Dharma discourse was being delivered,

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the minds of seven thousand monks were liberated from the defilements into the birthless state. Ten thousand bodhisattvas attained acceptance that phenomena are unborn. However, five hundred monks who were prone to apprehending did not practice or apply this Dharma discourse. Lacking faith in it, they rose from their seats and departed.

The Blessed One said, “Since what I have intended and said in these teachings is the antidote for all worldly beings’²⁰ lack of trust, this Dharma discourse is not in accordance with those who apprehend things. It is not in contradiction with those who rely on the nonexistence of things. Know that this Dharma discourse of mine may be taught by those under the guidance of a spiritual guide, those who find inspiration in profound teachings, those who are dissatisfied with saṃsāra, those who are content with austerity, those who delight in isolated places, and those who have accrued roots of virtue with buddhas of the past.

“O heir of the victorious ones, consider the following analogy. Although a person may mistakenly dream in their sleep that they are speaking in front of a crowd of people and teaching the Dharma, they are not actually heard by anyone in the world. O heir of the victorious ones, what do you think, would the existence of those crowds not contradict that person’s teaching the buddhadharma?”

Maitreya answered, “Dreams are not real; they are simply delusion.²¹ So how could he ever have taught the Dharma to crowds of people?”²²

“O heir of the victorious ones, all phenomena are similar to dreams in the very same way, for they are not real. While they arise, they arise without existing. Although relatively they exist as mere delusion, ultimately they do not exist. Even when the meditation that through noble insight makes this manifest in the mind just as it is, the meditator does not apprehend it. For him it exists only in the manner that phenomena do—they are imputed and the activity of dependent power, not something that exists.

“It is in this way that this teaching is not in accordance with worldly people. Phenomena are taken as the ultimate truth by those who apprehend them,

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but the noble ones do not apprehend them.²³ Childish beings cling to phenomena out of ignorance and thereby end up experiencing the afflictions of suffering in the hell realms and as hungry ghosts.

“How this Dharma discourse is, that is apprehended. How it is apprehended, so are all phenomena. Because the sameness of all phenomena throughout the three times is not apprehended, what is apprehended is understood. What is understood is attained. What is attained is awakening. What is awakening is suchness. What is suchness is the limit of reality. What is the limit of reality is emptiness. What is emptiness is signlessness. What is signlessness is wishlessness. What is wishlessness is the ultimate. What is the ultimate is the realm of phenomena. What is the realm of phenomena is the extent of nonduality. What is the extent of nonduality is the achievement of the middle way. What is the achievement of the middle way is the completely perfect Buddha’s dharma body, which is permanent, perpetual, and unchanging—that is to say, it is neither permanent nor impermanent, neither imputed nor not imputed, and not the one who imputes. What is not imputed is neither worldly nor transcendent. What is neither worldly nor transcendent is ineffable. What is ineffable does not exist even in the slightest. What does not exist even in the slightest is the field of merit for beings. What is the field of merit for beings is the Teacher. What is the Teacher is the unconceived. What is the unconceived is the absence of apprehending. What is the absence of apprehending is unchanging presence. What is unchanging presence is the precious, wish-fulfilling jewel, which fulfills all the wishes of beings to be tamed in accordance with their inclinations.”

Then the many bodhisattvas present spoke in unison: “Any place in which this Dharma discourse is recited will be like vajra.

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Since the buddhas and bodhisattvas will be present there, understand that any being there will swiftly gain the higher perceptions and sharp faculties. Whoever explains, memorizes, reads aloud, masters, chants, or properly contemplates this Dharma discourse will not fall prey to Māra.”

When the Blessed One had elucidated his intent, bodhisattvas such as Lord of the World, Maitreya, and others, as well as hearers, and the entire world with its gods and humans, asuras, and gandharvas all rejoiced in what the Blessed One had taught.

Colophon

Translated from Chinese and established according to the new terminology.²⁴

Notes

notes.1

1. See Buswell 2014, p. 652.

notes.2

2. Mount Potalaka is the setting for the Avalokiteśvara chapter in The Stem Array (Gaṇḍavyūha, ch. 45 of the Buddhāvataṃsaka, Toh 44), . It is also the setting of The Sūtra on the Samādhi in which the Buddhas of the Present All Stand Before One (Pratyutpannabuddhasaṃmukhāvasthitasamādhisūtra, Toh 133). In both these texts, the Tibetan for Mount Potalaka is ri gru ’dzin rather than the transliterated form used in the present text. As far as we are aware these are the only sūtras set in this location, although it also figures in tantras and dhāraṇī texts related to Avalokiteśvara.

notes.3

3. The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline , (Buddhapiṭakaduḥśīlanigraha, Toh 220).

notes.4

4. The Episode of Dṛḍhādhyāśaya , (Dṛḍhādhyāśayaparivarta, Toh 220).

notes.5

5. On the other hand, the colophon in some Kangyurs states the opposite: that it was not established according to the new terminology (see ). On the royal decree in the early ninth century to standardize the terminology used in translations of Buddhist texts, according to which many older translations from Chinese, in particular, were re-edited, see R. A. Stein (trans. McKeown) 2010.

notes.6

6. Silk 2019, p. 239.

notes.7

7. 法海經 (Taishō 34, CBETA).

notes.8

8. Denkarma, folio 299.b: ’phags pa chos kyi rgya mtsho. It is worth observing that, unlike this listing, the title of the present sūtra has no ’phags pa prefix and does not include the connective kyi. It is also worth observing that the Denkarma listing is not found in the section of the catalog for texts translated from Chinese.

notes.9

9. Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, p. 114.

notes.10

10. Phangthangma 2003, p. 25: ’phags pa chos kyi rgya mtsho’i gzungs. This clearly refers to The Noble Dhāraṇī “Ocean of Dharma” (’phags pa chos kyi rgya mtsho zhes bya ba’i gzungs, Āryadharmasāgaranāmadhāraṇī, Toh 654), a text with no overlap with the current sūtra. The colophon to Toh 654 states that it was translated by Surendrabodhi, Prajñāvarman, and Bandé Yeshé Dé, clearly indicating an imperial-era translation.

notes.11

11. Butön, chos ’byung (fol. 152.a): chos kyi rgya mtsho. It is clear that Butön was referring to this text here as it is listed alongside the texts that precede and follow it (Toh 254 and Toh 256) in Tshalpa-line Kangyurs and its colophon states it is “translated from Chinese.”

notes.12

12. Many Kangyurs appear to have a missing passage here, as the Buddha’s invitation to Lord of the World to question him runs without a break (S and Z), with the word ces inserted but no punctuation (C), or with punctuation (J, K, N), straight into the second phrase of his answer starting ’dod pa la rtog cing… (“you will understand desire”), thus omitting Lord of the World’s question entirely. Only D, H, and U include the question and the beginning of the answer.

notes.13

13. Translation tentative. D: yang dag pa ma yin pa la brtags pas [var. pa] grangs med par yang ’khor bar ’gyur. Another interpretation would take pa (from S and Z) instead of pas and read this as brtags pa yid la ’khor or sems la ’khor, “think,” and hence translate “countless thoughts examining the unreal will occur.”

notes.14

14. Tib. ’gro ba tha dad pa’i chos rnams. This unusual turn of phrase, which is unique to this text in the entire Kangyur, appears to refer to the experiences of saṃsāra in general.

notes.15

15. Tib. rigs pas grol ba ste. Although on the face of it this could be read as “liberated by reasoning,” in this context it is likely a reference to the pair of qualities often found as the defining criteria of proper members of the saṅgha, expressed most commonly in later literature as “knowledge and freedom” (rig pa dang grol ba). Here, in place of rig pa, we find rigs pa, as is also the case in some chapters of another sūtra on similar themes, The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline (Toh 220); in both texts the sense of rigs pa seems to be more broadly “connectedness” or “coherence” rather than “reasoning” or “logic.” On the alternative pairs of terms rigs pa dang grol ba, rigs pa dang grol ba, and ldan pa dang grol ba, see The Buddha’s Collected Teachings Repudiating Those Who Violate the Discipline (Toh 220), .

notes.16

16. Translation tentative. D and S: khams dang / skye mched kyi lha rnams ma yin pa spro ba dam par byed pas. C, J, K, Y, and N: skye mched rnams.

notes.17

17. Following S, pha wang (bat) instead of D, pha bong (boulder).

notes.18

18. Tib. sems can kyi khams. The translation of this section remains tentative. In the underlying Sanskrit, there appears to have been play between the parallel Sanskrit terms sattvadhātu and dharmadhātu, which is lost in the Tibetan translations of those terms as sems can gyi khams and chos dbyings, respectively.

notes.19

19. Translation tentative. D and other Kangyurs read: zhi ba dang nye bar zhi ba rnams mi dmigs pa’i dge slong la brtags pa ste/ spyod pa rnams kyang brtags pa’o/ log pa la rnam pa mang du rtog pa’i dge slong spyod pa ni ma brtags pa’o. S and Z read: zhi ba dang nye bar zhi ba’i rnams mi dmigs pa’i dge slong la brtags pa ste/ spyod pa’i rnams kyang brtags pa’o/ log pa la rnam pa mang du rtog pa’i dge slong spyod pa ni ma brtags pa’o.

The Ocean of Dharma

Contents

Text

84000's introduction

Notes