འཕགས་པ་གསར་གྱ་བྱ་མ་ལྟ་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro: 84000's introduction
Like Gold Dust intro
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- English
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.