འཕགས་པ་ཚངས་པ་ཁྱད་པར་སམས་ཀྱས་ཞས་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད notes: Notes

The Questions of Brahmaviśeṣacintin notes

Language: English

Notes

notes.1

1. The text lacks a unifying thematic or narrative structure. In an attempt to order the material, the Korean rendering of Kumārajīva’s translation divides the text into eighteen chapters, although the original Sanskrit was most likely devoid of such chapter headings. These are also absent from the Tibetan translation, which merely divides the text into six sections (bam po) based on length rather than thematic content.

notes.2

2. Taishō 585, translated by Dharmarakṣa in 286 ce, in the Western Jin: Chi xin fantian suo wen jing (持心梵天所問經). Taishō 586, translated by Kumārajīva in 402 ce, in the Later Qin: Si yi fantian suo wen jing (思益梵天所問經). Taishō 587, translated by Bodhiruci in 536 ce, in the Northern Wei: Sheng siwei fantian suo wen jing (勝思惟梵天所問經). See Lancaster, Lewis, The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue . Kumārajīva’s translation (with comparison to the other Chinese renderings and the Tibetan translation) has been translated into French by Jean-Marie Lourmé (Lourmé 1978). In addition, over the last decade Kiyotaka Goshima has published several articles on, and partial translations of, this sūtra in Japanese. We have not consulted Goshima’s publications due to language limitations on our part.

notes.3

3. See Denkarma, F.297.a.6. See also Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, 55, no. 97.

notes.4

4. In the colophons, Dharmatāśīla is at times listed under the Tibetan version of his name, Chönyi Tsültrim (chos nyid tshul khrims).

notes.5

5. Despite reading “sixteen” (bcu drug) here, the text lists seventeen names.

notes.6

6. The Tibetan reads mtshe ma. This is an earlier translation of the yāma/yama realm, which was later translated as ’thab bral. For details, see Scherrer-Schaub 2002, 330.

notes.7

7. Tentative translation following S: rigs kyi bu ’dong la rag go/ ’dong la rag go. D: rigs kyi bu ’dod la rag go/ ’dod la rag go.

notes.8

8. K and S provide the more sensible reading of mtho (exalted) instead of thos; and KY, J, K, N, C, and S all read dmas pa (dejected) instead of ngoms pa.

notes.9

9. Reading ’jig (instead of ’jug) as reflected in KY, J, K, N, C, H, and S.

notes.10

10. Reading la (rather than las) based on U and S.

notes.11

11. Tibetan: nyi tsher spyod pa. Sanskrit: pradeśakārin. This refers to a lay practitioner (upāsaka) who observes two or three precepts out of the five lay vows (see Lamotte 2001, vol. 2, 644). However, it is possible that in the present context it refers to lay practice more broadly. Monier-Williams defines the term simply as “a type of ascetic.”

notes.12

12. The five strengths listed here differ from the more common five strengths.

notes.13

13. This name means “Lattice Light.”

notes.14

14. D has ’zung. However, all the other editions read ’jungs, which is old Tibetan meaning “miserly.”

notes.15

15. This sentence is missing from D but appears in KY, K, and C.

notes.16

16. The text says thirty-two, while listing thirty-three.

notes.17

17. See .

notes.18

18. Despite the word smras pa in Tibetan, which indicates a change of speaker, given what comes before and after in the conversation, it seems that both “No” and “awakening . . .” are the words of Brahmā.

notes.19

19. Translation tentative. Here we have read yongs su ma dris pa instead of yongs su dris pa as it appears in the Tibetan.

notes.20

20. Translation tentative. The Tibetan reads: de byed pa’i brtson ’grus kyis thos pa thams cad khong du chud par byas pa’i de bzhin gshegs pa de dag gis ming yang bskal pa’am/ bskal pa las lhag par brjod du yod kyang de bzhin gshegs pa de dag gis nga bla na med pa yang dag par rdzogs pa’i byang chub tu lung ma bstan.

notes.21

21. Translation tentative. The Tibetan reads nam bdag kyang dge ba’i rtsa ba yongs su mi ’bri la/ chung ngu na dud ’gro’i skye gnas su song ba yan chad sems can gzhan gyi dge ba’i rtsa ba rnams bskyed pa ’di ni byang chub sems dpa’ rnams kyi dge ba’i rtsa ba yongs su dag pa’o.