The Ullambana Sutra
Translation of 佛說盂蘭盆經
- Language
- English
- Date
- 2005 CE
- Translator
- Shojun Bando
- Extent
- 3 passages, 1,426 words
- Text
- complete digital text
- Source
- bdk · Shojun Bando (tr.), The Ullambana Sutra, BDK English Tripiṭaka 25, Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist… · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, digital edition…
Contents
- 1 — 3 parts
Text
1.1
Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying at Anāthapiṇḍika’s Jetavana Monastery in Śrāvastī, when Mahāmaudgalyāyana attained the six supernatural powers. He desired to deliver his deceased parents from an evil
1.4
realm of rebirth in order to repay his debt to them for raising and nurturing him. As he viewed the world of transmigration with his supernatural eyes, he discovered that his deceased mother had been reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts ( pretas), and as there was nothing to eat there she had wasted away to skin and bones. Stricken with grief, Mahāmaudgalyāyana filled a bowl with rice and approached his mother to offer it. His mother held the bowl in her left hand and took some rice with her right hand, but before the rice reached her mouth it turned into a piece of burning charcoal, and she could not eat it at all. Crying loudly in anguish, Mahāmaudgalyāyana hurriedly returned to the presence of the Buddha and related to him in detail what had happened.
The Buddha said to him, “Your mother’s evil karma is so deep-rooted that it is beyond your individual power [to alleviate it]. Although you are filled with filial piety and your cries shake heaven and earth, even the gods of heaven and earth, evil spirits, brahmans, bodhisattvas, and the Four Gate Guardians can do nothing about it. But she can be delivered through the divine power of [all] the monks in the ten directions.
“Now I shall teach you the way of deliverance. I shall enable all suffering beings to be freed from pain and anxiety and from the consequences of their evil karma.”
The Buddha said to Mahāmaudgalyāyana, “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when the monks end the summer retreat, for the sake of your parents of the past seven generations and your present suffering parents, you should fill a tray with the world’s finest delicacies, together with foods of rich variety and taste and five kinds of greens and cereals, and offer it to the monks in the ten directions. You should also offer them ladles, kettles, basins, perfumed oil, lamps, carpets, and bedding.
“On this day the monks of great virtue may be those who contemplate on a mountain, or those who have attained the fourfold fruits, or those who engage in walking meditation under a tree, or those who freely instruct śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas with the six supernatural powers, or bodhisattvas
The Ullambana Sutra
in the tenth stage (bhūmi) who have transformed themselves into bhikṣus.
Those monks who [live] among people receive the meal offered after the
retreat with the same mind. They all keep the pure precepts, and their virtues,
worthy of enlightened ones, are profound and all-pervasive. Those who make
offerings to the monks after the retreat will enable their present parents, their
parents of the past seven generations, and their six close relatives (i.e., fathers,
mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, and children) to be delivered from the suf-
fering of the three evil realms of rebirth (i.e., the realms of hell, hungry
ghosts, and animals). Their relatives will in due course be liberated—food
and clothing will be given to them spontaneously. If their parents are still
alive, they will enjoy the blissful lifespan of one hundred years. If their par-
ents are deceased, their parents of the past seven generations will be born in
heaven. They will freely transform themselves to be born in the light of heav-
enly flowers and receive infinite pleasure.”
Then the Buddha enjoined the monks in the ten directions, “First of all,
for the sake of the donors, you must pray for their parents of the past seven
generations. You should practice contemplation and then, with a settled mind,
receive the food. When you first receive the food, you should place it in front
of a stupa. After you finish your prayers, you may help yourselves to the food.”
Thereupon, Bhikṣu Mahāmaudgalyāyana along with all the bodhisattvas
in the great assembly greatly rejoiced, and his painful cries ceased once and for
all. On that very day, Mahāmaudgalyāyana’s mother was freed from the suf-
1.7
fering in the realm of hungry ghosts [in which she had been living] for a kalpa.
Then Mahāmaudgalyāyana again addressed the Buddha, “My parents
who raised me have received the power of the virtues of the Three Jewels
(i.e, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha), thanks to the spiritual power of the
monks. If all future disciples of the Buddha are filial to their parents and
uphold this Ullambana Sutra, then they will be able to deliver their present
parents and their parents of the past seven generations. Is this not so?”
The Buddha replied, “Very well, that is a good question. I will certainly
speak on this, since you have now asked the question. O son of good fam-
ily, if there are bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, kings, crown princes, ministers, prime
ministers, head officials, various civil servants, or tens of thousands of com-
moners who are filial to their present parents and their parents of the past
seven generations, they should, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, a
The Ullambana Sutra
joyous day for the Buddha and a day after the retreat, offer a meal of various tastes on a tray to the monks who participated in the retreat. They should then ask [the monks] to pray that their present parents will have a lifespan of one hundred years, free of illness and all kinds of suffering, and that their parents of the past seven generations may be free from the suffering of the realm of hungry ghosts and be born in the realm of heavenly beings (devas) which is accompanied by infinite happiness and pleasure.”
The Buddha enjoined men and women of good families, “Disciples of the Buddha who practice filial piety should constantly think of their parents and make offerings to their parents of the past seven generations. Every fifteenth day of the seventh month, out of filial piety recall your parents of the past seven generations and prepare a tray of offerings for the Buddha and the monks in order to repay your debt to your parents. All disciples of the Buddha should uphold this teaching.”
Upon hearing this discourse of the Buddha, Bhikṣu Mahāmaudgalyāyana and the four groups of followers (monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen) were delighted and paid reverence to him.
The Sutra of Forty-two Sections (Sishierzhangjing) is considered the first sutra to have been translated into Chinese. According to tradition it was brought to China and translated by two monks from the Western Region (present-day India or Central Asia), Kāśyapa Mātaṅga and Gobharana, during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming of the Later Han dynasty (58–75 C.E.). According to the Collection of Notes Concerning the Translation of the Tripiṭaka (Chusancangzhiji), the sutra was translated at White Horse Monastery (Baimasi) in Luoyang, the first Buddhist monastery established in China.
Some modern scholars, however, such as Liang Qichao, Yin Shun, and Donald S. Lopez, have argued that the text is apocryphal in nature, pointing out that it is imbued with Mahayana and Daoist doctrines. And the resemblance between the Sutra of Forty-two Sections and the Book of Filial Piety (Xiangjing) have led other scholars to question whether it is a translation of a Sanskrit original or a Chinese compilation. However, according to the noted historian Tang Yongtong, a careful study of the history of the various editions of the text show that the oldest edition does not contain Mahayana concepts or traces of Daoist thought. Since the text has undergone rewriting and revision at the hands of later copyists, compilers, and annotators who may have added their personal points of view, it is only natural that there exist variations among editions. Further scholarly evidence is needed to definitively prove that this text is apocryphal.
The various editions of the Sutra of Forty-two Sections can be divided into three categories. The first includes the Korean, Song, and Yuan editions, which are nearly identical. The second is the edition with a commentary by Zhenzong of the Song dynasty (r. 998–1023). This edition was adopted by Nancang of the Ming dynasty. The third is the edition with a commentary by Shousui, a Chan monk of the Caodong sect, which flourished in the early twelfth century. The Korean edition, an old text translated during the Han period, was used as the basis for this English translation. The Song edition by Zhenzong contains a few additions not found in the Korean edition, most obviously the completion of