Like Gold Dust
Translation of འཕགས་པ་གསར་གྱ་བྱ་མ་ལྟ་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད (འཕགས་པ་གསེར་གྱི་བྱེ་མ་ལྟ་བུ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ)
- Language
- English
- Translators
- Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen, Chodrungma Kunga Chodron
- Extent
- 22 passages, 2,235 words
- Text
- partly digitised
- Source
- 84000 · Published by 84000 (v 1.0.5 2024). 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…
Contents
- intro 84000's introduction — 9 parts
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- notes Notes — 6 parts
Text
84000's introduction
intro.1
This sūtra presents a short dialogue between Ānanda and the Buddha on the theme of limitlessness. In response to Ānanda’s persistent inquiries, the Buddha uses analogies to illustrate both the limitlessness of the miraculous abilities acquired by realized beings, and the limitless multiplicity of the world systems in which bodhisattvas and buddhas are to be found.
intro.2
The Buddha then concludes his teaching with a further analogy—referenced in the sūtra’s title—to illustrate that although buddhas and bodhisattvas are innumerable, it is nevertheless extremely rare and precious to find a buddha within any given world system, or to find bodhisattvas who engage sincerely in bodhisattva conduct. To encounter such beings, he says, is as rare as finding a single grain of gold dust among all the sands of the ocean, or all the sands of the mighty river Gaṅgā.
intro.3
The short Mahāyāna sūtra known as Like Gold Dust ¹ presents a dialogue in which Ānanda questions the Buddha on the theme of limitlessness.
intro.4
In response to Ānanda’s persistent inquiries, the Buddha illustrates, by means of analogy, both the limitlessness of the miraculous abilities acquired by realized beings, and the limitless multiplicity of the world systems in which bodhisattvas and buddhas are found. The analogy he uses to illustrate miraculous abilities is the extraordinary speed with which his disciple Mahāmaudgalyāyana can travel across world systems. As a starting point for trying to imagine such speed, the Buddha offers a vivid description of a fine chariot racing through water so fast that the water does not even touch the rims of its wheels. This, he goes on to explain, is but a vanishingly small fraction of the speed with which Mahāmaudgalyāyana can traverse world systems.²
intro.5
The analogy is then extended to illustrate the limitless number of worlds in which there are buddhas and bodhisattvas. If one were to travel in each of the ten directions at this lightning speed for seven days and seven nights without stopping, and then enclose the enormous area thus delimited within a fence, and create in it a single gargantuan city, then the number of mustard seeds it would take to completely fill such a city from top to bottom would barely begin to approach the number of world systems in which bodhisattvas are striving at various stages of the journey to awakening.
intro.6
The Buddha then concludes his teaching with a further analogy—referenced in the sūtra’s title—to illustrate that although buddhas and bodhisattvas are innumerable, it is nevertheless extremely rare and precious to find a buddha within any given world system, or to find a world system in which bodhisattvas engage sincerely in bodhisattva conduct. To encounter such things, he says, is as rare as finding a single grain of gold dust among all the sands of the ocean, or all the sands of the mighty river Gaṅgā.
intro.7
According to its colophon, the Tibetan translation of Like Gold Dust was made by the Indian masters Surendrabodhi and Prajñāvarman working with the Tibetan master translator and editor Yeshé Dé, indicating a translation made during the height of the Tibetan imperial patronage of Buddhism in the early ninth century ce. This is corroborated by the text’s inclusion in the Denkarma imperial catalog.³
intro.8
No extant parallel versions of this text have been identified in either Sanskrit or Chinese. An English translation, together with a brief introduction, is included in Peter Skilling’s recent anthology, Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras.⁴
intro.9
The present translation is based on the Tibetan as found in the Degé Kangyur, with reference to the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur version.
1
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
2
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī, in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park, along with a great saṅgha of 1,250 monks and many thousands of bodhisattvas.
Venerable Ānanda rose from his seat, draped his upper robe over one shoulder, placed his right knee on the ground, and bowing toward the Blessed One with palms pressed together, asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, are thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas limitless? Blessed One, do thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas possess limitless good qualities?”
The Blessed One replied to Venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda, thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas are limitless. Ānanda, thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas possess limitless good qualities.”
Venerable Ānanda then asked the Blessed One a second time, “Blessed One, are thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas limitless? Blessed One, do thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas possess limitless good qualities?”
The Blessed One replied to Venerable Ānanda a second, and also a third time, “Yes, Ānanda,
3
thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas are limitless. Yes, Ānanda, thus-gone, worthy, perfectly complete buddhas possess limitless good qualities.
“Ānanda, do you wish to hear of the limitlessness of thus-gone ones, to know about the range of thus-gone ones,⁵ and to know of the good qualities of thus-gone ones?”
“Yes, Blessed One, please teach the monks,” Venerable Ānanda replied. “Please teach us, Well-Gone One. If the monks hear it from you directly, they will retain it well.”
The Blessed One then asked Venerable Ānanda, “Ānanda, do you know the miraculous powers with which Mahāmaudgalyāyana can travel in the cardinal and intermediate directions?”
Ānanda replied, “Please tell us, Blessed One. With what miraculous powers does Mahāmaudgalyāyana travel in the cardinal and intermediate directions? Well-Gone One, please teach us.”
“Ānanda, I will illustrate it for you by means of an analogy,” said the Blessed One. “Why? Because, Ānanda, learned people reach understanding through analogies. Ānanda, take the analogy of a pool measuring eight thousand leagues. It is so filled with water that a crow can drink from it, it is of equal depth on all sides, and it is covered with lotus leaves. Over this pool someone then rides an iron chariot pulled by fine horses that are stronger than the wind. They race with such power, force, and speed that the wooden rims of the wheels do not even touch the water, nor do the horses’ hooves touch the water, and the lotus leaves are not crushed by the horses’ hooves, not even slightly.
4
Ānanda, if a poisonous snake were to appear from that pool and coil itself around the chariot eight times before the chariot had left the lake, well, Ānanda, in the time it took to coil itself just once around that chariot, you can give eight kinds of Dharma teaching and make them understood. But in the time it takes you, Ānanda, to utter one word, Mahāmaudgalyāyana can give eight kinds of Dharma teaching and make them understood. However, Ānanda, in the time it takes Mahāmaudgalyāyana to utter one word, the elder Śāradvatīputra can give eight kinds of Dharma teaching and make them understood. Similarly, in the time it takes the elder Śāradvatīputra to utter one word, a pratyekabuddha can give innumerable kinds of Dharma teaching. And in the time it takes a pratyekabuddha to utter one word, a bodhisattva can give unutterably and inconceivably innumerable kinds of Dharma teaching and make them understood.⁶ Well, Ānanda, in the time it takes a bodhisattva to utter just one word, the elder Mahāmaudgalyāyana can traverse eighty thousand world systems.
“Ānanda, imagine if one who has developed such a miraculous ability traveled in this way in the eastern direction for seven days and nights without rest, through however many world systems there may be; and then, in the same way, traveled to the south, to the west, and to the north; and likewise for seven days and nights without rest to the southeast, to the southwest, to the northwest, the northeast, and likewise in the upward and downward directions. Then, imagine someone enclosed all of those world systems in the ten directions within a fence, and, having leveled the ground and cleared it of rocks, stones, gravel, and debris,
5
made it into a single city, and filled it right to the top with mustard seeds. Well, Ānanda, I see beings embarked upon awakening in world systems even more numerous than the number of mustard seeds in that city. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas engaging in bodhisattva conduct. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas taking birth among the gods of the Heaven of Joy. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas seated among the gods of the Heaven of Joy. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas dying among the gods of the Heaven of Joy. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas entering their mothers’ wombs. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas emerging from their mothers’ wombs. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas engaged in child’s play. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas abandoning their kingdoms and going forth as renunciants. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas demonstrating the practice of austerities. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas proceeding towards the seat of awakening. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas gazing upon the seat of awakening. In world systems even more numerous than that,
6
I see bodhisattvas circumambulating the seat of awakening three times with the utmost devotion and respect. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas seated at the seat of awakening. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas seated before the Bodhi tree. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas who will completely realize unsurpassed and perfectly complete awakening. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see bodhisattvas who have completely realized unsurpassed and perfectly complete awakening. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see blessed buddhas turning the wheel of Dharma. In world systems even more numerous than that, I see blessed buddhas displaying the great parinirvāṇa.
“All of these are merely those bodhisattvas with fitting names and fitting family lineages, which is not to mention those great bodhisattvas, in whichever world systems, with different names and different family lineages, who are renouncing, who are proceeding toward the seat of awakening, who are gazing upon the seat of awakening, who are circumambulating the seat of awakening, who are seated at the seat of awakening, who are seated before the Bodhi tree, who are completely awakened and have turned the wheel of Dharma, and who are displaying the great parinirvāṇa.”
Venerable Ānanda then asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, are there any world systems in which blessed buddhas do not appear?
7
Are there any world systems in which bodhisattvas do not engage in bodhisattva conduct?”
The Blessed One replied, “To draw an analogy Ānanda, in those world systems that I have spoken of, the appearance of blessed buddhas, and bodhisattvas who engage in bodhisattva conduct, is as rare, Ānanda, as gold dust among the sands of the great ocean or the sands of the river Gaṅgā. Ānanda, the appearance of blessed buddhas in any world system, and world systems in which bodhisattvas engage in bodhisattva conduct, are as rare as this. Ānanda, world systems in which blessed buddhas appear, and in which bodhisattvas engage in bodhisattva conduct, are as uncommon as someone finding a single grain of gold among all the sands of the great ocean or the sands of the river Gaṅgā.”
Thus spoke the Blessed One, and Venerable Ānanda, together with the monks and bodhisattvas, as well as the world of gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas, rejoiced and praised what the Blessed One had said.
Colophon
Translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptors Surendrabodhi and Prajñāvarman, and the chief editor-translator Bandé Yeshé Dé, and others.
Notes
notes.1
1. The Stok Palace Kangyur, the only Kangyur of the Thempangma line consulted for this translation, renders the title of the sūtra with the Tibetan phye ma rather than the bye ma found in all the Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line. Both spellings, like the Sanskrit vāluka, can indicate any kind of powder or dust, including sand. Since in English “gold dust” is the common idiom, while “golden sand” would be ambiguous (between color and substance), we have rendered the title with the English “gold dust.”
notes.2
2. See .
notes.3
3. Denkarma, folio 299.b; see also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 114–15. The Denkarma catalog is believed to have been first compiled ca. 812 ce, with further additions for some years afterwards. This text is not listed in the Phangthangma catalog believed to have been compiled only a few years before the Denkarma.
notes.4
4. Skilling 2021, pp. 439–50.
notes.5
5. Tib. de bzhin gshegs pa’i yul. Lit. the “realm” or “domain” of thus-gone ones. Peter Skilling suggests that here it likely translates the term tathāgataviṣaya. On this topic, see Skilling 2021, pp. 441–45.
notes.6
6. This rather striking analogy for speed (using the pool, the chariot, and the snake, followed by the sequence of further fractions of time based on the efficacy of various figures in teaching the Dharma) is not unique to the present sūtra but, as pointed out by Peter Skilling, is also found in The Seal of Engagement in Awakening the Power of Faith (Śraddhābalādhānāvatāramudrā, Toh 201), , and in a citation in The Compendium of Sūtras (Sutrasamuccaya, Toh 3934) which identifies it as being from the Buddhāvataṃsaka. For a discussion comparing the varying details of these three instances, see Skilling 2021, pp. 441–44.