[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Buddhist Sanskrit literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit) › [Mahāyāna sūtras](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra) › [Pratītyasamutpādasūtra (Mahāyāna)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra) › [འཕགས་པ་རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་པར་འབྱུང་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980) › The Sūtra on Dependent Arising # The Sūtra on Dependent Arising Translation of [འཕགས་པ་རྟན་ཅང་འབྲལ་པར་འབྱང་བ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད (འཕགས་པ་རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་པར་འབྱུང་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980) - **Language:** English - **Translators:** [Rolf Scheuermann](https://indike.org/pramana/person/rolf-scheuermann), [Casey Kemp](https://indike.org/pramana/person/casey-kemp) - **Extent:** 30 passages, 2,280 words - **Text:** complete digital text - **Source:** 84000 · Translated by the Buddhavacana Translation Group under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating… · 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](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.intro) — 8 parts - [1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.1) - [2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.2) - [notes Notes](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes) — 20 parts ## Text ### 84000's introduction ### [intro.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.intro.1) While the Buddha is residing in the Realm of the Thirty-Three Gods with a retinue of deities, great hearers, and bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara asks the Buddha how beings can gain merit from building a stūpa. The Buddha responds by stating the Buddhist creed on dependent arising: ### [intro.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.intro.2) All phenomena that arise from causes, The Tathāgata has taught their cause, And that which is their cessation, Thus has proclaimed the Great Renunciant. ### [intro.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.intro.3) The Buddha then explains that this dependent arising is the dharmakāya, and that whoever sees dependent arising sees the Buddha. He concludes the sūtra by saying that one should place these verses inside stūpas to attain the merit of Brahmā. ### [intro.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.intro.4) The topic of this sūtra, as is evident from its title, is the Buddhist doctrine of the dependent arising of conditioned phenomena. This concept is considered by many Buddhists to be the essence of the teaching, the Dharma. Dependent arising is often presented as a series of twelve links (nidāna) of causes and effects that begins with ignorance and ends with death. This schema is found in many canonical texts, and is the principal topic of the two works that precede the present sūtra in the Degé Kangyur, the Rice Seedling Sūtra (Śālistambha­sūtra, Toh 210), and the Sūtra Teaching the Fundamental Exposition and Detailed Analysis of Dependent Arising (Pratītya­samutpādādi­vibhaṅga­nirdeśa­sūtra, Toh 211).¹ ### [intro.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.intro.5) The teaching on dependent arising is epitomized by the famous “creed” (dhāraṇī) in verse-form, stating that the Buddha teaches the causes for the arising of phenomena as well as that which is their cessation. This verse formula is perhaps best known from a narrative in the Vinaya recounting Śāriputra’s life. The story tells of Upatiṣya (as Śāriputra was called before he met the Buddha) first hearing about the Buddha from Aśvajit, one of the Buddha’s five erstwhile companions and earliest disciples. When Upatiṣya asks Aśvajit to summarize the very essence of the Buddha’s teaching, Aśvajit answers him by reciting this verse. As soon as he hears it, Upatiṣya immediately attains a preliminary state of realization.² ### [intro.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.intro.6) In the sūtra translated here, however, these same lines are taught to Avalokiteśvara by the Buddha himself.³ The Buddha then instructs his followers to insert them into stūpas in order to generate the merit of Brahmā, an extraordinary type of merit.⁴ The practice of inserting these verses, as well as impressing or inscribing them on religious images, appears to have become popular during the second half of the first millennium,⁵ and was observed by Xuanzang in the seventh century.⁶ The creed can be found inscribed on, or inserted within, miniature caityas or stūpas at holy sites throughout the Buddhist world such as Sarnath, Bodh Gaya, and Rājagṛha, as far east as Kedah and Java, and as far west as Afghanistan.⁷ This practice was continued by the Tibetans into the second millennium and to this day it is considered by Buddhists to be a meritorious act.⁸ ### [intro.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.intro.7) Xuanzang mentions that these objects were considered relics of the Dharma (dharmaśarīra). Buddhist scripture came to be identified as a type of relic of the Buddha from the time of early Mahāyāna discourse, according to which worshipping the words of the Buddha was considered to be equivalent, if not superior, to worshipping the Buddha himself.⁹ Canonical sources, such as the Rice Seedling Sūtra (Toh 210), have furthermore equated dependent arising with the Dharma itself.¹⁰ Thus, inserting or inscribing the verse of dependent arising empowers an object just as a fragment of the Buddha’s remains would.¹¹ Included in the Tibetan text of this sūtra is the Sanskrit transliteration of the verse, implying that they were used like a mantra or dhāraṇī;¹² the Sanskrit syllables are considered potent in their own right as a manifestation of the Dharma and thus of the Buddha himself. ### [intro.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.intro.8) The sūtra is found in three places within the Degé Kangyur: in the General Sūtra section (Toh 212), the Action Tantra section (Toh 520), and the Dhāraṇīs (Toh 980).¹³ In two of those locations, it is followed by duplicates of a short separate text (Toh 521, Toh 981)¹⁴ containing the verse of dependent arising, which is also, of course, cited in numerous other texts. To date we do not know of any extant Sanskrit original version of the sūtra,¹⁵ and although there appear to be a few minor spelling mistakes and inconsistencies found in some versions, there are no significant variations among the available Tibetan texts. One modern translation of the sūtra that should be mentioned is that of Peter Skilling, who published it along with some helpful notes on it in his 2021 collection, Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras.¹⁶ ### [1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.1) ¹⁷ Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas! Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was in the Realm of the Thirty-Three Gods, seated on the throne of Indra. With him were great hearers such as the venerable Aśvajit; bodhisattva mahāsattvas such as noble Maitreya, noble Avalokiteśvara, and Vajrapāṇi, who were adorned with immeasurable precious qualities; as well as various gods such as the great Brahmā, who is the lord of the Sahā world, Nārāyaṇa, the great Īśvara, Śakra, who is the chief of the gods, and Pañcaśikha, who is the king of the gandharvas. On that occasion, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Avalokiteśvara rose from his seat and, having draped his upper robe over one shoulder, knelt down with his right knee on the peak of Mount Meru. His palms together, he then bowed toward the Blessed One and addressed to him these words: “Blessed One, these gods all really wish to build a stūpa. Now that they are present in this entourage, please teach them the Dharma in such a way so that their merit of Brahmā will increase, and the merit of the monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen will increase much more than that of all types of beings in the world of gods, māras, and Brahmā, including renunciants and brahmins.” ### [2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.2) At this, the Blessed One spoke the verses of dependent arising: ye dharmā hetuprabhavā hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgato hy avadat teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃvādī mahā­śramaṇaḥ ¹⁸ “All phenomena that arise from causes, The Tathāgata has taught their cause, And that which is their cessation; Thus has proclaimed the Great Renunciant. “Avalokiteśvara, it is like this. This dependent arising is the dharmakāya of all the tathāgatas. A person who sees dependent arising sees the Tathāgata. Avalokiteśvara, if a faithful son or daughter of a noble family, who has built in an uninhabited place a stūpa—even one no bigger than a gooseberry fruit, with a central pillar the size of a needle and a parasol the size of a flower of the bakula tree—inserts into it this verse of dependent arising which is the dharmadhātu, he or she will generate the merit of Brahmā. When such persons pass on from here and die, they will be reborn in the world of Brahmā. When they pass on from there and die, they will be reborn with fortunes equaling those of the gods of the Pure Abodes.”¹⁹ After the Blessed One had thus spoken, the hearers, bodhisattvas, the whole assembly, and the universe of gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised his words. Colophon Translated and edited by the Indian preceptor Surendrabodhi and the principal editor and translator Bandé Yeshé Dé.²⁰ ### Notes ### [notes.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.1) 1. For the first, see Reat (1993) and Dharmasāgara Translation Group (2018); for the second, see Bien (2020). There is a famous commentary to the Pratītya­samutpādādi­vibhaṅga­nirdeśa­sūtra entitled the Pratītya­samutpāda­vyākhyā, attributed to Vasubandhu. For an overview of the content of this sūtra and its commentary, see Mejor (1997a, 1997b). ### [notes.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.2) 2. In the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya, the story is told in the Pravrajya­vastu, the first chapter of the Vinaya­vastu (Toh 1-1), Degé Kangyur vol. 1 (’dul ba, ka), folios 32b et seq. For a translation, see Miller (2018), 1.232 et seq. In the Pāli Canon, the same story is told in the Vinayapiṭaka (Mahāvagga I.23.1-10). See also Oldenberg (1997, pp 39-41). ### [notes.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.3) 3. It would nevertheless seem significant, in view of the story mentioned in the previous paragraph, that this sūtra makes specific mention of Aśvajit, his name (unusually) being the only individual one used to represent the group of hearer disciples in the assembly. ### [notes.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.4) 4. For a detailed study of the use of the concept of the merit of Brahmā in Buddhist inscriptions and textual sources, see Salomon and Schopen (1984). This article also includes a partial translation of the Pratītya­samutpāda­sūtra (see p 117). ### [notes.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.5) 5. See Boucher (1991), p 1. ### [notes.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.6) 6. See Boucher (1991), p 7. ### [notes.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.7) 7. See Sykes (1856), pp 40 and 48; and Skilling (2003). Both articles outline some locations in which this “creed” has been discovered and the linguistic variations found among them. ### [notes.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.8) 8. Bentor mentions that prominent Tibetan Buddhist figures such as Jetsün Trakpa Gyaltsen (rje btsun grags pa rgyal mtshan), the fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho), and Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé (’jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha ’yas) all list the verses on dependent arising (rten ’brel snying po) among the Five Great Dhāraṇīs (gzungs chen sde lnga) that are to be inserted into stūpas. See Bentor (1995), p 254. ### [notes.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.9) 9. The identification of the Dharma with the Buddha himself is expressed in multiple early canonical sources, including the Saṃyutta Nikāya (III, 120), of the Pāli sūtra canon (Suttapiṭaka), in which the Buddha states, “He who sees the Dharma, Vikkali, sees me. He who sees me, sees the Dharma.” (yo kho vakkali dhammaṃ passati so maṃ passati, yo maṃ passati so dhammaṃ passati). Ibid., p 2. ### [notes.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.10) 10. dge slong dag sus rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba mthong ba des chos mthong ngo/ sus chos mthong ba des sangs rgyas mthong ngo, “Bhikṣus, whoever sees dependent arising sees the Dharma. Whoever sees the Dharma sees the Buddha.” (Dharmasāgara Translation Group, 2018, 1.3). For available editions of the relevant passage, see Reat (1993), p 27. ### [notes.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.11) 11. This equivalence is made explicit in another sūtra preserved in Chinese, which may in fact be a slightly longer version of the same sūtra, titled Sūtra on the Merit of Building a Stūpa by the Buddha. Boucher (1991), pp 8-9, provides a full translation of this sūtra. ### [notes.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.12) 12. This is also attested, of course, by the inclusion of a copy of this work (as Toh 980) in the gzungs ’dus (Dhāraṇī) section of the Kangyur. ### [notes.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.13) 13. Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 980 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 980 note 13 for details. Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 980 version of this text within vol. 101 or 102 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 980 note 13 for details. The present text (Toh 980), and all those contained in the same volume (gzungs ’dus, waM), are listed as being located in volume 101 of the Degé Kangyur by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC). However, several other Kangyur databases—including the eKangyur that supplies the digital input version displayed by the 84000 Reading Room—list this work as being located in volume 102. This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that the two volumes of the gzungs ’dus section are an added supplement not mentioned in the original catalog, and also hinges on the fact that the compilers of the Tōhoku catalog placed another text—which forms a whole, very large volume—the Vimalaprabhā­nāmakālacakra­tantraṭīkā (dus ’khor ’grel bshad dri med ’od, Toh 845), before the present volume, numbering it as vol. 100, although it is almost certainly intended to come right at the end of the Degé Kangyur texts as volume 102; indeed its final fifth chapter is often carried over and wrapped in the same volume as the Kangyur dkar chags (catalog). Please note this discrepancy when using the eKangyur viewer in this translation. ### [notes.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.14) 14. See 84000 Translation Team (2024). ### [notes.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.15) 15. There is a version in Sanskrit, available on the internet and originally published by P.L Vaidya (Mahāyāna-sūtra-saṁgraha, part I, Buddhist Sanskrit Texts 17, Darbhanga: Mithila Institute, 1961, p 119), which he reproduced from N. Aiyaswami Sastri (in Ārya Śālistamba Sūtra, Pratītya­samutpāda­vibhaṅgha Sūtra and Pratītya­samudtpāda­gāthā Sūtra, Śāntiniketan: Adyar Library, 1950, pp 25-27). However, Sastri states that he back-translated his Sanskrit version from the Tibetan. ### [notes.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.16) 16. See Skilling (2021), pp. 269–75. ### [notes.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.17) 17. Two sets of folio references have been included in this translation due to a discrepancy in volume 88 (rgyud ’bum, na) of the Degé Kangyur between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings. In the latter case, an extra work, Bodhi­maṇḍasyālaṃkāra­lakṣa­dhāraṇī (Toh 508, byang chub snying po’i rgyan ’bum gyi gzungs), was added as the second text in the volume, thereby displacing the pagination of all the following texts in the same volume by 17 folios. Since the eKangyur follows the later printing, both references have been provided, with the highlighted one linking to the eKangyur viewer. In the Toh 520 version of the text there is a slight discrepancy in the folio numbering between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings of the Degé Kangyur. Although the discrepancy is irrelevant here, further details concerning this may be found in note 17 of the Toh 520 version of this text. In the Toh 520 version of the text there is a slight discrepancy in the folio numbering between the 1737 par phud printings and the late (post par phud) printings of the Degé Kangyur. Although the discrepancy is irrelevant here, further details concerning this may be found in note 17 of the Toh 520 version of this text. ### [notes.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.18) 18. There are multiple variations of this creed found throughout the Buddhist world. See Sykes (1856) and Skilling (2003). ### [notes.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.19) 19. This last sentence is omitted in the otherwise identical copies of the work found in the Tantra and Dhāraṇī sections of the Kangyur, Toh 520 and Toh 980, respectively. ### [notes.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000.notes.20) 20. Mention of the translators is omitted from the colophon in the versions Toh 520 and Toh 980 (see previous note). --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.pratityasamutpadasutra*bo-d980~en-84000) · Pramāṇa