འཕགས་པ་མྱ་ངན་མད་ཀྱས་བྱན་པ་ལང་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད notes: Notes
Aśokadattā’s Prophecy notes
- Language
- English
Notes
notes.1
1. The Tibetan of the Degé Kangyur recension of this text gives the Sanskrit title of the sūtra as Aśokadattavyākaraṇa. Since the titular character of the discourse is a girl, we have given her Sanskrit name throughout as Aśokadattā (ie with a long ā for a feminine ending), and amended the Sanskrit title of the sūtra accordingly to Aśokadattāvyākaraṇa.
notes.2
2. The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā (Vimalaśraddhā, Toh 84).
notes.3
3. The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī (Kṣemavatīvyākaraṇa, Toh 192).
notes.4
4. The Questions of Śrīmatī the Brahmin Woman (Śrīmatībrāhmaṇīparipṛcchā, Toh 170).
notes.5
5. Sumatidārikāparipṛcchāsūtra , Toh 74.
notes.6
6. The Questions of Gaṅgottarā (Gaṅgottaraparipṛcchā, Toh 75).
notes.7
7. The Questions of an Old Lady (Mahallikāparipṛcchā, Toh 171).
notes.8
8. The City Beggar Woman (Nāgarāvalambikā, Toh 205).
notes.9
9. The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī (Mañjuśrīvikrīḍita, Toh 96).
notes.10
10. bsgom pa’i rim pa mdo kun las bdus pa (Bhāvanākramasūtrasamuccaya), Toh 3933, folios 134.b–135.a.
notes.11
11. Ruegg 1981, 109ff.
notes.12
12. ting nge ’dzin gyi tshogs kyi le’u (Samādhisambhāraparivarta), Toh 3924, folio 81.b.
notes.13
13. Chang 1983, pp. 115–33.
notes.14
14. Chang 1983, p. 132.
notes.15
15. Phangthangma 2003, p. 14.
notes.16
16. Herrmann-Pfandt 2008, pp. 32–33.
notes.17
17. Tib. gzungs thob pa. This could also be interpreted as “had achieved the power of retention.”
notes.18
18. Tib. zhang blon gyi bu tsha, literally “sons and nephews of uncle-ministers.” The Tibetan term zhang blon, literally “uncle-minister” has no direct Sanskrit correlate. It was the term used of senior ministers during the period of the Tibetan Empire, when this translation into Tibetan was made, who were typically related by marriage to the ruler. Here it is likely used as a translation of the Sanskrit amātya.
notes.19
19. Following, here and passim, Stok, Lhasa, and Choné Kangyurs: bsur mchi ba. Degé: bstsur mchi ba. Kangxi: bsur ’chi ba.
notes.20
20. Translation tentative. Tib. ’jig rten na tshangs pa’i snga khang bla na med pa don du gnyer ba na.
notes.21
21. The term nga rgyal is translated here as “conceited.” It might also be translated as “proud.”
notes.22
22. The five qualities mentioned here—moral discipline, meditative stability, wisdom, liberation, and knowledge and seeing of liberation—are the five undefiled aggregates that characterize noble ones, contrasted with the five defiled aggregates of ordinary sentient beings.
notes.23
23. The following verses are presented in Tibetan in nine syllable lines.
notes.24
24. Tib. ye shes rig pa.
notes.25
25. Following the Stok Palace, Kangxi, and Yongle Kangyurs: tsha ba yis/ /gdungs pa’i skye bo rnams kyis nye bar bsten pa lags. The Degé reads skye bo rnams kyi.
notes.26
26. The Narthang and Stok Palace editions have bAr shi ka instead of bal shi ka, which is a more faithful transliteration of vārṣika, or better vārṣikī, referring to the species Jasminum sambac, known in English as Arabian Jasmine.
notes.27
27. Tib. mkha’ la thig le bzhin du mdzes. To this day, Indian women wear bindis (Tib. thig le), a mark or dot applied on the forehead between the eyebrows.
notes.28
28. There is a play on the polysemic term dharma (Tib. chos) that continues through these exchanges with the eminent śrāvakas.
notes.29
29. Here the term dharma (Tib. chos) is used to connote “teaching” or “doctrine.”
notes.30
30. Here the term dharmas (Tib. chos rnams) is used to connote “qualities.”
notes.31
31. Here the term dharma (Tib. chos) is taken by Aśokadattā as connoting “qualities,” though the phrase used by Mahākāśyapa, sangs rgyas kyi chos, normally denotes the Buddha’s Dharma (teaching).
notes.32
32. Here “inherent existence” and “inherent nature” are used as alternative translations for the term svabhāva (Tib. rang bzhin).
notes.33
33. Following the Narthang, Yongle, and Stok Palace reading, dring ’jog pa’i shes rab can dag ni. Degé: dring mi ’jog pa’i shes rab can, “those wise ones who do not rely...”
notes.34
34. Translation tentative. Tib. ci’i phyir bstan pa thams cad bstan du med ce na/ de ni bstan kyang rung/ ma bstan kyang rung dngos po ma yin te/ dngos po med pa dang brjod du med pa’i mtha’ mi spong ba’i phyir ro.
notes.35
35. The term translated throughout this passage as “appropriate,” Tib. rung ba, could also be translated as “right,” “suitable,” or “fitting.”
notes.36
36. Following the Degé, Choné, and Urga recensions and the Chinese (Chang 1983, p. 131), which all have “eight years.” The Narthang, Lhasa, and Stok Palace editions read “a hundred years.”
notes.37
37. In the Chinese, the bodhisattva Aśokadattā, to address the king, again takes the form of the king’s daughter. Chang 1983, p. 132.