༄༅། །ན་མ་པར་ས་པ།

Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings

Arthaviniścaya
 ན་མ་པར་ས་པ་ས་་བ་ས་་མ་ངས།
don rnam par nges pa zhes bya ba’i chos kyi rnam grangs

The Dharma Instruction “Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings”

Arthaviniścayanāmadharmaparyāya

· Toh 317 ·
Degé Kangyur, vol. 72 (mdo sde, sa), folios 170.b–188.a

ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛɪʙᴇᴛᴀɴ ʙʏ

· Jinamitra · Prajñāvarman · Yeshé Dé ·
 Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

First published 2021

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co. TABLE OF CONTENTS
ti. Title
im. Imprint
co. Contents
s. Summary
ac. Acknowledgements
i. Introduction
tr. The Translation
1. The Dharma Instruction “Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings”
c. Colophon
ab. Abbreviations
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
· Tibetan Sources
· Pāli Sources
· Sanskrit and Secondary Sources
g. Glossary
s. SUMMARY
s.1 The sūtra Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings begins with an introductory
section, offering the context of the teachings. An explanation of twenty-
seven topics is then presented by the Buddha, starting with the five
aggregates and ending with the eighty minor marks of a great person. The
Buddha then concludes by exhorting the bhikṣus to meditate in solitude and
avoid negligence.
ac. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ac.1 This text was translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under
the supervision of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. Mattia Salvini translated the text
from Sanskrit and Tibetan into English and wrote the introduction. Thomas
Doctor and James Gentry checked the translation against the Tibetan and
edited the translation. Thankful for his profound kindness, the translators
dedicate the merit of this translation to the swift reappearance of Kyabje
Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche in this world.
ac.2 The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
i. INTRODUCTION
i.1 “Since apart from analyzing the dharmas
There is no other means to pacify mental afflictions,
And since due to mental afflictions people wander in this ocean of
existence,
For the sake of that analysis, this has indeed been taught by the
Teacher.”1

–Vasubandhu

i.2 “The instructions found in Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings are for the
purpose of analyzing the dharmas, since without the sūtras’ instructions a
disciple cannot analyze the dharmas. Analyzing the dharmas is for the
purpose of pacifying the afflictions; pacifying the afflictions is for the
purpose of attaining the ultimate state.”2

–Vīryaśrīdatta

i.3 Vīryaśrīdatta (fl. eighth century ᴄᴇ), the Nālandā master who commented on
this sūtra, explains the expression distinctly ascertaining the meanings as a
synonym of analyzing the dharmas, or classifying entities, so as to see directly
both their unique traits and their shared features. This analysis constitutes a
path to the realization that everything produced by assemblages of causes
and conditions is impermanent, that everything leading to mental defilement
is suffering, and that nothing whatsoever is or has a permanent and
independent self.
i.4 According to a well-established tradition, having the right view is to
recognize impermanence, suffering, selflessness, and that nirvāṇa is peace.
This liberating vision vanquishes the mind’s poisons of attraction, aversion,
and confusion. The mind then turns toward the virtues of merit and wisdom,
gradually giving way to the peace of nirvāṇa.
i.5 Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings is a step-by-step contemplation of all
facets of reality and freedom from suffering. It starts with the five aggregates
that constitute the common basis of defilement and purification and goes
through the teachings on selflessness, the path to realize selflessness, and
the higher stages of realization, and it culminates in the special features that
belong exclusively to a fully awakened buddha. This invaluable archive of
Buddhist terms and ideas is to be well absorbed and remembered, so as to
make all other teachings easier to comprehend.
i.6 Masters of the great monasteries of ancient India such as Nālandā,
Vikramaśīla, and Odantapurī are likely to have held this text in high regard
as an authoritative outline of the Dharma. The sūtra’s detailed and accessible
commentary, the Gathering (Nibandhana) by Vīryaśrīdatta, is a didactically
subtle and comprehensive manual of Buddhist philosophy. The Gathering
reproduces much of the content of Vasubandhu’s Treasury of Abhidharma
(Abhidharmakośa), an unsurpassed and thorough treatise of fundamental
Buddhist thought; but while Vasubandhu’s text goes into much detail with
the subject matter, the Gathering offers a much more accessible presentation
of the same topics.
i.7 Vīryaśrīdatta shows the purpose and structure of the sūtra, connects it to
other texts, and offers convincing, cogent, and well-supported
interpretations. He explains the structure of the sūtra by analyzing it into six
topical elements:
i.8 1. the introductory presentation of the occasion when the sūtra was
spoken (nidāna), which starts from the very beginning and goes up to the
mention of the number of bhikṣus present;
i.9 2. the opening remarks by the Buddha (upodghāta), which immediately
follow, in which he tells the bhikṣus that he is going to teach and they agree
to pay attention;
3. the purpose of the teaching (prayojana), embedded in the very title of the
sūtra, which is wisdom or, more precisely, “analysis of the dharmas”
(dharmapravicaya);
i.10 4. the initial list of topics (uddeśa), which is the long list of twenty-seven
topics that follows the opening remarks;
5. the explanation of the topics (nirdeśa) mentioned in the initial list, which
starts right after the initial list and continues to the end of the sūtra;
i.11 6. the connection between the different expressions (anusandhi), more
specifically showing how a later expression is thematically and/or logically
connected to a prior one, which applies to the whole text.
i.12 The sūtra is also mentioned by Yaśomitra, the author of an extensive
explanation (vyākhyā) on Vasubandhu’s Treasury of Abhidharma. Yaśomitra
writes that according to “those who emphasize the sūtras” (Sautrāntika),
 while it is correct to say that the Buddha taught abhidharma, he did not
teach separate abhidharmic treatises (as the Vaibhāṣika think); he taught the
abhidharma in specific sūtras, such as Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings. As
the Buddha’s own paradigmatic statement on the actual nature of reality
(dharmalakṣaṇa), the sūtra can be considered an authoritative overview of
insight meditation (vipaśyanā). It shares some features with another sūtra
transmitted in the Sarvāstivāda tradition, The Discourse on the Twenty-Two
Faculties.3
i.13 The Sanskrit text of Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings was first edited by
Alfonsa Ferrari in 1944 on the basis of two incomplete manuscripts: one she
describes as a “modern copy of a Nepalese manuscript from around the
fourteenth century”4 in twenty-eight folios, about one third of which, she
informs, contains the Nibandhana commentary, and another consisting of
three folios photographed by Giuseppe Tucci in Ngor monastery in Ü-Tsang
(an institution famous for its library of Sanskrit texts), which cover the first
five paragraphs as per her edition. Ferrari points out that the Ngor
manuscript may have been produced in Nālandā,5 and she further writes
that “Professor Tucci has noted the presence of copies of the Arthaviniścaya,
in Sanskrit, at Žalu and in other monasteries of Tibet.”6
i.14 A complete edition, on the basis of a Nepalese paper manuscript dated to
1858, preserved in Baroda, was published by P. L. Vaidya in 1961. Vaidya
reports that, according to the postscript, the manuscript was copied from an
older palm-leaf manuscript, in Newari script, from the Bir Library in
Kathmandu.7 One rather striking feature of this manuscript, Vaidya reports,
is that it contains the following sentence in Sanskrit, showing its awareness
of Tibetan texts: “The complete information about this is found in the sūtra
called Abhiniṣkramaṇa; thus it is related in the Tibetan language.”8 The
anonymous Sanskritist was also a Tibetanist, it seems, or at least someone in
dialogue with Tibetanists.
i.15 In 1971, N. H. Samtani offered a much-improved and complete edition,
including the first edition of the Nibandhana commentary, based on the
photographs taken by Rahul Sankrityayan of a palm-leaf manuscript from
Ngor monastery.9 Samtani’s edition, based as it is on the photographs of the
oldest-available complete manuscript, is particularly valuable, and we have
used it as the primary reference for the Sanskrit. However, all the above
Sanskrit versions differ, in various respects, from the Kangyur version, and
the Nepalese manuscripts edited by Ferrari, although not comparably old,
contain sections that match the Tibetan translation more closely. Overall, the
hypothetical Sanskrit original of (almost all) the Tibetan translation can be
evinced by comparing the existing Sanskrit versions and looking at parallel
passages in other Sanskrit and Pāli texts. This is extremely helpful, for it can
 greatly clarify the intended syntax of the Tibetan and, in a few cases, show
how some obscure expression may be due to a mistake (even a printing
mistake) in the transmission of the Tibetan.
i.16 This English translation was prepared based on the Tibetan translation in
the Degé Kangyur in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur
ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur. According to the Tibetan translators’
colophon, the Sanskrit text was translated into Tibetan by the Indian
preceptors Jinamitra and Prajñāvarman, and the Tibetan translator Yeshé Dé.
This would place the translation in the early ninth century, but it is worth
noting that the translation is absent from both the Denkarma and
Phangtangma inventories of Tibetan translations dated to that time. It is also
worth mentioning that Jinamitra and Yeshé Dé figure among the compilers
of the great Sanskrit–Tibetan lexicon the Mahāvyutpatti, which is a useful
point to bear in mind when trying to understand the relationship between
the Tibetan translation and the various Sanskrit versions.
i.17 The sūtra was also translated, twice, into Chinese: once by Faxian in the
tenth century, and later by Jin Zong Chi in the eleventh century (Taishō 762
佛說決定義經 and Taishō 763 佛說法乘義決定經 , respectively). Samtani (to
whom the present translation is heavily indebted) points out that the two
Chinese translations are based on a shorter and longer version, respectively,
and discusses to some extent the differences between the different
transmissions of this sūtra. According to De Jong, “Strictly speaking one can
distinguish six different recensions: (1) the Ṅor manuscript; (2) the Nepalese
manuscripts; (3) the first Chinese translation; (4) the second Chinese
translation; (5) the Tibetan translation; (6) the text on which the commentary
is based.”10
i.18 We could add the version commented on in the anonymous don rnam par
gdon mi za ba’i ’grel pa (Arthaviniścayaṭīkā, Toh 4365), an elaborate commentary
that survives only in its Tibetan translation. This commentary follows a
different scheme than the one adopted by the Nibandhana. It is worth noting
that the Tibetan terminology differs, to some extent, from the one employed
in the Kangyur version of the sūtra. For example, the very title of the sūtra
(Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings) is translated as don rnam par gdon mi za ba
rather than don rnam par nges pa; this is significant, considering also that the
Mahāvyutpatti has an entry rendering arthaviniścaya with don rnam par nges pa.
Similarly, śrāvastī is translated as mnyan du yod pa, rather than just mnyan yod
as in the Kangyur translation of the sūtra, even when the term appears as a
quote of the root text. Alfonsa Ferrari described this commentary as “very
long but pedestrian and attached to the letter,”11 comparing it unfavorably to
the Nibandhana, which she describes as “shorter and juicier.”12 We are not
sure whether this is a fair assessment, but “juicy” may be a very good way to
 speak of the rewards of reading Vīryaśrīdatta’s comments, some of which
will be found in the notes and in the glossary, so as to offer at least glimpses
of what one may be missing by not reading the Nibandhana. The
Mahāvyutpatti explicitly relied on Vasubandhu’s work, and so does
Vīryaśrīdatta in explaining the contents of this sūtra. His glosses thus offer
some keys to the subtlety, greatness, and extraordinary dedication of the
ancient translators from Sanskrit into Tibetan.
i.19 There are at least three modern translations of Distinctly Ascertaining the
Meanings: one in Italian by Ferrari (1944), and two in English by Samtani
(1971) and Ānandajoti (2016). None of these translations represents the
Kangyur version, and we furthermore differ from all three in certain matters
of interpretation. We hope this translation carries at least some of the flavor
of the original with its recurrent phrases and topical lists so conducive to
chanting and memorization.
The Dharma Instruction “Distinctly Ascertaining the
Meanings”
1. The Translation
[F.170.b]

1.1 I bow to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.

1.2 Thus did I hear at one time.13 The Bhagavat was residing in Śrāvastī, at the
eastern14 pleasance in the palace of Mṛgāra’s mother, with a great saṅgha of
one thousand two hundred and fifty bhikṣus.
1.3 There, with a Brahmā voice that, like a cloud, was deep, delightful, and
vast, the Bhagavat addressed the bhikṣus: “Bhikṣus, I will teach you the
Dharma that is auspicious in the beginning, auspicious in the middle, and
auspicious in the end,15 that has good meaning and is well expressed.16 I will
clarify the unique, complete, pure, and purified Brahman conduct, the
Dharma instruction Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings. [F.171.a] Listen
properly and keep it firmly in your mind;17 I am going to speak.”
“Good, Bhagavat,” the bhikṣus answered.
1.4 The Bhagavat spoke to them thus: “What, bhikṣus, is the Dharma
instruction Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings? It consists of the five
aggregates, the five aggregates of clinging, the eighteen bases, the twelve
entrances, dependent arising with twelve parts, the four truths of the noble
ones, the twenty-two faculties, the four meditations,18 the four Brahma
abodes, the four courses, the four cultivations of samādhi, the four
placements of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four footings of
success, the five faculties, the five strengths, the seven parts of awakening,
the noble path with eight parts, mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation
with sixteen aspects, the four parts of entering the stream, the ten strengths
of the Tathāgata, the four confidences, the four special knowledges, the
eighteen dharmas exclusive to a buddha, the thirty-two marks of a great
person, and the eighty minor marks. This, bhikṣus, is the list of topics for the
Dharma instruction Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings.
1.5 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the five aggregates? They are the aggregate of
form, the aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of notion19, the aggregate of
assembled factors, and the aggregate of consciousness. These, bhikṣus, are
the five aggregates.
1.6 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the five aggregates of clinging? They are the
aggregate of clinging of form, the aggregate of clinging of feeling, the
aggregate of clinging of notion, the aggregate of clinging of assembled
factors, and the aggregate of clinging of consciousness. [F.171.b] These,
bhikṣus, are the five aggregates of clinging.
1.7 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the eighteen bases? They are the eye base, form
base, eye-consciousness base, ear base, sound base, ear-consciousness base,
nose base, smell base, nose-consciousness base, tongue base, flavor base,
tongue-consciousness base, body base, tangibles base, body-consciousness
base, thought base, dharma base, and thought-consciousness base. These,
bhikṣus, are explained as the eighteen bases.
1.8 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the twelve entrances? They are the internal
entrance of the eye, the external entrance of form, the internal entrance of the
ear, the external entrance of sound, the internal entrance of the nose, the
external entrance of smell, the internal entrance of the tongue, the external
entrance of flavor, the internal entrance of the body, the external entrance of
tangibles, the internal entrance of thought, and the external entrance of
dharmas. These, bhikṣus, are explained as the twelve entrances.
1.9 “Now, bhikṣus, what is dependent arising with twelve parts?20 It is thus:
assembled factors with ignorance as their condition, consciousness with
assembled factors as its condition, name-and-form with consciousness as its
condition, the six entrances with name-and-form as their condition, contact
with the six entrances as its condition, feeling with contact as its condition,
craving with feeling as its condition, clinging with craving as its condition,
existence with clinging as its condition, birth with existence as its condition,
and decay, death, grief, lamentation, suffering, mental anguish, and ensuing
weariness with birth as their condition come into existence. Thus is the
arising, in its entirety, of what is purely a great aggregate of suffering.21
[F.172.a]
1.10 “Due to the cessation of ignorance, assembled factors cease; due to the
cessation of assembled factors, consciousness ceases; due to the cessation of
consciousness, name-and-form ceases; due to the cessation of name-and-
form, the six entrances cease; due to the cessation of the six entrances,
contact ceases; due to the cessation of contact, feeling ceases; due to the
cessation of feeling, craving ceases; due to the cessation of craving, clinging
ceases; due to the cessation of clinging, existence ceases; due to the
cessation of existence, birth ceases; due to the cessation of birth, decay,
 death, grief, lamentation, suffering, mental anguish, and ensuing weariness
cease. Thus is the cessation, in its entirety, of what is purely a great
aggregate of suffering.
1.11 “Now, what is ignorance? It is this: nonawareness regarding the prior
limit, nonawareness regarding the following limit, nonawareness regarding
the prior and the following limit,22 nonawareness regarding what is internal,
nonawareness regarding what is external, nonawareness regarding what is
internal and what is external, nonawareness regarding karma,
nonawareness regarding maturation, nonawareness regarding karma and its
maturation, nonawareness regarding the karma that is a good deed,
nonawareness regarding the karma that is a bad deed, nonawareness
regarding the karma that is a good and bad deed,23 nonawareness regarding
the cause, nonawareness regarding the result, nonawareness regarding the
cause and the result, nonawareness regarding dharmas that arise due to
causes, nonawareness regarding dharmas that are dependently arisen,24
nonawareness regarding the Buddha, nonawareness regarding the Dharma,
nonawareness regarding the Saṅgha, nonawareness regarding suffering,
nonawareness regarding its origin, nonawareness regarding cessation,
nonawareness regarding the path, nonawareness regarding virtuous and
nonvirtuous dharmas, nonawareness regarding blameworthy and blameless
dharmas and regarding dharmas that should and should not be practiced,25
and, regarding the six contact-entrances, [F.172.b] nonawareness of the way
they are,26 not seeing, not comprehending, no clear understanding,
darkness, confusion, and the blinding darkness of ignorance. This is
explained as ignorance.
1.12 “As for ‘assembled factors with ignorance as their condition,’ what are
assembled factors? Assembled factors are of three kinds: assembled factors
pertaining to the body, assembled factors pertaining to speech, and
assembled factors pertaining to thought. What are the assembled factors
pertaining to the body? They are inhaling and exhaling, for these are bodily
dharmas,27 based on the body, and bound to the body; they come about on
the basis of the body. Therefore, inhaling and exhaling are explained as the
assembled factors pertaining to the body. What are the assembled factors
pertaining to speech? A person speaks after deliberating and after analyzing,
not without deliberating and analyzing. Therefore, deliberation and analysis
are explained as assembled factors pertaining to speech. What are the assembled
factors pertaining to thought? They are the intention of someone who has
attraction, the intention of someone who has aversion, and the intention of
someone who has confusion, for this is a mental dharma, based on the mind
 and bound to the mind; it occurs on the basis of the mind. Therefore,
intention is explained as the assembled factor pertaining to thought. These,
bhikṣus, are explained as assembled factors.28
1.13 “As for ‘consciousness with assembled factors as its condition,’ what is
consciousness? It is the six collections of consciousness. What are the six?
They are eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue
consciousness, body consciousness, and thought consciousness. These are
the six collections of consciousness.29
1.14 “As for ‘name-and-form with consciousness as its condition,’ what is
name-and-form? ‘Name’ refers to the four formless aggregates:30 the
aggregate of feeling, the aggregate of notion, the aggregate of assembled
factors, [F.173.a] and the aggregate of consciousness. This is name. What is
form? Whatever form exists, it all consists in the four great elements and in
what depends on the four great elements.31 What are the four? They are the
earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the wind element.
What is the earth element? It is heaviness, hardness, and roughness.32 What
is the water element? It is fluidity and flow. What is the fire element? It is
heat and maturation. What is the wind element? It is contraction, expansion,
lightness, and motility. Such ‘form’ and the preceding ‘name’ are abbreviated
as one thing, which is then called name-and-form.
1.15 “As for ‘six entrances with name-and-form as their condition,’ what are the
six entrances?33 They are the entrance of the eye, the entrance of the ear, the
entrance of the nose, the entrance of the tongue, the entrance of the body,
and the entrance of thought. These are explained as the six entrances.
1.16 “As for ‘contact with the six entrances as its condition,’ what is contact? It
is the six collections of contact. What are the six? They are eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body, and thought contact.34
1.17 “As for ‘feeling with contact as its condition,’ what is feeling? It is the six
collections of feeling. What are the six? There is feeling born from eye
contact, which is pleasant, painful, or neither painful nor pleasant. Likewise,
there are also feelings born from ear, nose, tongue, body, and thought
contact. Each of these may in turn be pleasant, painful, or neither painful nor
pleasant.35
1.18 “As for ‘craving with feeling as its condition,’ what is craving? It is the six
collections of craving. What are the six? They are craving for form, craving
for sound, craving for smell, craving for flavor, craving for tangibles, and
craving for dharmas.
1.19 “As for ‘clinging with craving as its condition,’ what is clinging? It is the
four types of clinging. [F.173.b] What are the four? They are clinging to
desire, clinging to views, clinging to discipline and vows, and clinging to the
proposition of a ‘self.’
1.20 “As for ‘existence with clinging as its condition,’ what is existence? It is
the three existences. What are the three? They are existence with desire,
existence with form, and formless existence. What, then, is existence with
desire? It is the sentient beings of the great hell called Unwavering below up
to the deities in Control of Others’ Emanations. This is explained as existence
with desire.36 What is existence with form? It is the deities of the Brahmā
group up to the deities of Lesser than None. This is explained as existence
with form.37 What is formless existence? It is the deities placed in the abode
of the infinity of space up to the deities placed in the abode of neither
perception nor no perception. This is explained as formless existence.38
1.21 “As for ‘birth with existence as its condition,’ what is birth? It is the birth
of sentient beings in a specific class of sentient beings, and it is their descent,
full birth, and coming forth, the coming into existence of the aggregates, the
obtainment of the entrances, the coming into existence of the life faculty, and
the fact of being brought together within a shared class. This is explained as
birth.39
1.22 “As for ‘decay and death with birth as their condition,’ what is decay? It is
baldness, grayness, an abundance of wrinkles, decrepitude, crookedness,
being bent down like rafters; having a body that breathes in and out with
wheezing sounds,40 is marred by black moles, and leans forward, supported
by sticks; and the complete maturation and breaking apart of the faculties,
the aging of the assembled factors, lassitude,41 dullness, slowness, loss, and
all-around loss. This is explained as decay. [F.174.a]
1.23 “What is death? It is the falling away of sentient beings from a specific
class of sentient beings, their movement, separation,42 impermanence,43 and
death, the completion of one’s time,44 the loss of lifespan, the loss of heat, the
cessation of the life faculty, and the casting away of the aggregates. This is
explained as death. Such ‘death’ and the preceding ‘decay’ are abbreviated
as one thing, which is then called decay and death.
“This, bhikṣus, is dependent arising with twelve parts.
1.24 “Now, what are the four truths of the noble ones? They are the noble ones’
truth of suffering, the noble ones’ truth of the arising of suffering, the noble
ones’ truth of the cessation of suffering, and the noble ones’ truth of the path
that leads to the cessation of suffering.
1.25 “What is the noble ones’ truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, decay is
suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering, separation from what one
likes is suffering, conjunction with what one dislikes is suffering, and failing
to obtain what one wants despite searching for it is suffering; in brief, the
five aggregates of clinging are suffering. This is explained as the noble ones’
truth of suffering.
1.26 “What is the noble ones’ truth of the arising of suffering? It is craving that
is conducive to a new existence and that is accompanied by rejoicing and
attraction,45 furthermore delighting in this and that. This is explained as the
noble ones’ truth of the arising of suffering.
1.27 “What is the noble ones’ truth of the cessation of suffering? It is the
complete abandonment of, thorough relinquishment of, termination of,
destruction of, nonattraction to, cessation of, pacification of, and
disappearance of that very craving that is conducive to a new existence and
that is accompanied by rejoicing and attraction, furthermore delighting in
this and that. This is explained as the noble ones’ truth of the cessation of
suffering. [F.174.b]
1.28 “What, then, is the noble ones’ truth of the path that leads to the cessation
of suffering? It is the noble path with eight parts: right view, right thinking,
right speech, right activity, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness,
and right samādhi. This is explained as the noble ones’ truth of the path that
leads to the cessation of suffering.
“These are the four truths of the noble ones.
1.29 “Then, what are the twenty-two faculties? They are the eye faculty, the ear
faculty, the nose faculty, the tongue faculty, the body faculty, the thought
faculty, the male faculty, the female faculty, the life faculty, the suffering
faculty, the pleasure faculty, the mental well-being faculty, the mental
anguish faculty, the neutrality faculty, the faith faculty, the heroism faculty,
the mindfulness faculty, the samādhi faculty, the wisdom faculty, the ‘I will
completely know what I don’t yet know’ faculty, the complete-knowledge
faculty, and the ‘I have completely known’ faculty. These, bhikṣus, are the
twenty-two faculties.
1.30 “Now, what are the four meditations?
“Here, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu46 isolated from desires, isolated from sinful,
nonvirtuous dharmas, endowed with deliberation and analysis, and having
the joy and pleasure born from isolation reaches and abides in the first
meditation. Due to the pacification of deliberations and analyses, due to
being inwardly very well disposed, and due to the mind having a single
texture, one reaches and abides in the second meditation, without
deliberation or analysis and having the joy and pleasure born from samādhi.
Due to nonattraction to joy, [F.175.a] one abides with equanimity, and one is
mindful, discerning, and feels pleasure in one’s body. Hence, the noble ones
say, ‘equanimous and mindful, he abides in pleasure.’ Thus, one reaches and
abides in the third meditation, which is without joy.47 Due to the
abandonment of pleasure, due to the prior abandonment of pain, and due to
the disappearance of mental well-being or anguish, one reaches and abides
 in the fourth meditation, which is without pleasure or pain and purified in
terms of equanimity and mindfulness. These, bhikṣus, are the four
meditations.48
1.31 “Now, what are the four Brahma abodes? Here, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu, with (1)
a mind accompanied by friendliness, a mind without enmity, antagonism, or
harming, an expansive, great mind without duality, without measure, and
well cultivated, becomes intent upon one direction, fills it, reaches it, and
abides thus. He then does the same for the second, the third, and the fourth
direction and above, below, and across; for this world on all sides and on all
ends, he, with a mind accompanied by friendliness, a mind without enmity,
antagonism, or harming, an expansive, great mind without duality, without
measure, and well cultivated, becomes intent upon one direction, fills it,
reaches it, and abides thus. In the same way, with (2) a mind accompanied by
compassion, (3) a mind accompanied by rejoicing, and (4) a mind
accompanied by equanimity, a mind without enmity, antagonism, or
harming, an expansive, great mind without duality, without measure, and
well cultivated, he becomes intent, fills, reaches, and abides thus. These are
the four Brahma abodes.
1.32 “Then, what are the four courses? There is the course that is painful and
that is slow in superior cognition. There is the course that is painful and that
is quick in superior cognition. [F.175.b] There is the course that is pleasant
and that is slow in superior cognition. There is the course that is pleasant
and that is quick in superior cognition.
1.33 “Among those, what is the course that is painful and that is slow in
superior cognition? Here someone has, by his very nature, intense attraction,
intense aversion, and intense confusion. Due to his intense attraction, he
constantly feels pain and mental anguish born of attraction; due to his
intense aversion, he constantly feels pain and mental anguish born of
aversion; due to his intense confusion, he constantly feels pain and mental
anguish born of confusion. His five supramundane faculties are slow; they
are weak and not intense, not carrying him swiftly toward the destruction of
the fluxes. What are the five? They are the faith faculty, heroism faculty,
mindfulness faculty, samādhi faculty, and wisdom faculty. Thus, because
these five supramundane faculties are slow, weak and not intense, and do
not carry him swiftly, he will only slowly reach the samādhi that immediately
precedes the destruction of the fluxes. This is the course that is painful and
that is slow in superior cognition.
1.34 “Among those, what is the course that is painful and that is quick in
superior cognition? Here someone has, by his very nature, intense attraction,
intense aversion, and intense confusion. Due to his intense attraction, he
constantly feels pain and mental anguish born of attraction; due to his
 intense aversion, he constantly feels pain and mental anguish born of
aversion; due to his intense confusion, he constantly feels pain and mental
anguish born of confusion. His five supramundane faculties [F.176.a] are
above measure, intense, and carry him swiftly. What are the five? They are
the faith faculty, heroism faculty, mindfulness faculty, samādhi faculty, and
wisdom faculty. Thus, because these five supramundane faculties are above
measure, intense, and carry him swiftly, he will very quickly reach the
samādhi that immediately precedes the destruction of the fluxes. This is the
course that is painful and that is quick in superior cognition.
1.35 “Among those, what is the course that is pleasant and that is slow in
superior cognition? Here someone has, by his very nature, little attraction,
little aversion, and little confusion. Having little attraction, he does not
constantly feel pain and mental anguish born of attraction; having little
aversion, he does not constantly feel pain and mental anguish born of
aversion; having little confusion, he does not constantly feel pain and mental
anguish born of confusion. His five supramundane faculties are slow; they
are weak and not intense, not carrying him swiftly toward the destruction of
the fluxes. What are the five? They are the faith faculty, heroism faculty,
mindfulness faculty, samādhi faculty, and wisdom faculty. Thus, because
these five supramundane faculties are slow, weak and not intense, and do
not carry him swiftly, he will only slowly reach the samādhi that immediately
precedes the destruction of the fluxes. This is the course that is pleasant and
that is slow in superior cognition.
1.36 “Among those, what is the course that is pleasant and that is quick in
superior cognition? Here someone has, by his very nature, little attraction,
little aversion, and little confusion. [F.176.b] Having little attraction, he does
not constantly feel pain and mental anguish born of attraction; having little
aversion, he does not constantly feel pain and mental anguish born of
aversion; having little confusion, he does not constantly feel pain and mental
anguish born of confusion. His five supramundane faculties are above
measure, intense, and carry him swiftly. What are the five? They are the faith
faculty, heroism faculty, mindfulness faculty, samādhi faculty, and wisdom
faculty. Thus, because these five supramundane faculties are above measure,
intense, and carry him swiftly, he will very quickly reach the samādhi that
immediately precedes the destruction of the fluxes. This is the course that is
pleasant and that is quick in superior cognition.
“These are the four courses.
1.37 “Now, what are the four cultivations of samādhi? There is, bhikṣus, a
cultivation of samādhi that, once it is practiced, cultivated, and repeated,
brings about the abandonment of attraction. There is a cultivation of samādhi
that, once it is practiced, cultivated, and repeated, brings about a pleasant
 abiding in this very life. There is a cultivation of samādhi that, once it is
practiced, cultivated, and repeated, brings about the obtainment of the vision
of awareness. There is a cultivation of samādhi that, once it is practiced,
cultivated, and repeated, brings about the obtainment of wisdom.
1.38 “Among those, what is the cultivation of samādhi that, once practiced,
cultivated, and repeated, brings about the abandonment of desirous
attraction?49 Here, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu, having gone to the forest, to the root of
some tree, or to an empty house, observes this very body as it is,50 upwards
from the soles of the feet and downwards from the hair and head, in its
entirety, to be full of many types of impurities:51 [F.177.a] ‘In this body there
are hairs of the head, body hairs,52 teeth, nails, dirt, filth, skin, flesh, bones,
sinews, channels, kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, stomach for the raw, stomach
for the ripe,53 entrails, mesentery, bladder, spleen, excrement, tears, sweat,
snot, spit, grease, fluid, marrow, fat, pus, phlegm, bile, blood, head, head
membrane, and urine.’ Thus, he observes it to be full of many types of
impurities, as it is.54
1.39 “Just as, bhikṣus, when there is a granary with its doors open on both
sides and full of many types of grains such as śāli rice, grain, barley, wheat,
beans, lentils, horse gram, corn, split red lentils, mat beans, sesame, millet,
and white mustard seeds,55 any person with eyes who looks at all that will
know ‘This is śāli rice, this is rice, this is barley, this is wheat, these are
beans, these are lentils, this is horse gram, this is corn, these are split red
lentils, these are mat beans, this is sesame, this is millet, these are white
mustard seeds.’56 In the same way, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu, having gone to the
forest, or to the root of some tree, or to an empty house, observes this very
body as it is, upwards from the soles of the feet and downwards from the
hair and head, in its entirety, to be full of many types of impurities, as before
up to head, head membrane, and urine.57 This, bhikṣus, is the cultivation of
samādhi that, once practiced, cultivated, and repeated, brings about the
abandonment of desirous attraction. [F.177.b]
1.40 “Among those, bhikṣus, what is the cultivation of samādhi that, once it is
practiced, cultivated, and repeated, brings about a pleasant abiding in this
very life? Here, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu, having gone to the forest, or to the root of
some tree, or to an empty house, drenches wholly and thoroughly,
completely fills, satiates, and suffuses this very body with the joy and
pleasure born from the samādhi of isolation.58 There is no place in his body
that is not filled and suffused with the joy and pleasure born from the
samādhi of isolation.59 Just as, bhikṣus, water lilies, lotuses, joy lilies, or
white lotuses, born in water and immersed in water, are wholly and
thoroughly drenched, completely filled, satiated, and suffused by the cool
water, in the very same way, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu, having gone to the forest, or
 to the root of some tree, or to an empty house, drenches wholly and
thoroughly, completely fills, satiates, and suffuses this very body, inwardly,
with the joy and pleasure born from samādhi.60 There is no place in his body
that is not filled and suffused with the joy and pleasure born from samādhi.61
This is the cultivation of samādhi that, once it is practiced, cultivated, and
repeated, brings about a pleasant abiding in this very life.
1.41 “Among those, bhikṣus, what is the cultivation of samādhi that, once it is
practiced, cultivated, and repeated, brings about the obtainment of the vision
of awareness? Here, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu has well and properly62 grasped the
perception of light; [F.178.a] he has placed it well in the mind, practiced it
well,63 and thoroughly penetrated it. He cultivates a mind sustained by the
perception of daylight,64 with the same brightness: as by day, so by night; as
by night, so by day; as in front, so behind; as behind, so in front; as below, so
above; as above, so below. Thus, with an open and unbound mind, he
cultivates a mind sustained by the perception of daylight, with the same
brightness.65 Just as, indeed, bhikṣus, during the last month of summer, at
midday on a cloudless day free of any impediment to light, everything
appears very clearly, bright and luminous, and untouched by darkness, in
the very same way, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu has well and properly grasped the
perception of light; he has placed it well in the mind, practiced it well,66 and
thoroughly penetrated it. He cultivates a mind sustained by the perception
of daylight,67 with the same brightness: as by day, so by night; as by night,
so by day; as in front, so behind; as behind, so in front; as below, so above; as
above, so below. Thus, with an open and unbound mind sustained by the
perception of daylight, he cultivates a mind with the same brightness. This is
the cultivation of samādhi that, once it is practiced, cultivated, and repeated,
brings about the obtainment of the vision of awareness.
1.42 “Among those, bhikṣus, what is the cultivation of samādhi that, once it is
practiced, cultivated, and repeated, brings about the obtainment of wisdom?
Here, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu, having gone to the forest, to the root of some tree, or
to an empty house, may—due to the abandonment of pleasure, [F.178.b] the
prior abandonment of pain, and the disappearance of mental well-being or
anguish—reach and abide in the fourth meditation, which is without pain or
pleasure and is purified in terms of equanimity and mindfulness. This is the
cultivation of samādhi that, once it is practiced, cultivated, and repeated,
brings about the obtainment of wisdom.
“These are the four cultivations of samādhi.
1.43 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the four placements of mindfulness? Here,
bhikṣus, with respect to his own body, a bhikṣu abides contemplating the
body—ardent, perfectly cognizant, mindful, and having removed coveting or
mental anguish regarding the world. With respect to an outer body, with
 respect to his own and an outer body, with respect to his own feelings, with
respect to outer feelings, with respect to his own and outer feelings, with
respect to his own mind, with respect to any outer mind, with respect to his
own and an outer mind, with respect to dharmas belonging to himself, with
respect to outer dharmas, and with respect to dharmas belonging to himself
as well as outer dharmas, he abides contemplating dharmas. These, bhikṣus,
are the four placements of mindfulness.
1.44 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the four right efforts? Here, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu
generates zeal, strives, brings forth heroism, takes hold of his mind, and
properly sets it so as to abandon sinful, nonvirtuous dharmas that have
already arisen. He generates zeal,68 strives, brings forth heroism, takes hold
of his mind, and properly sets it toward the nonarising of sinful, nonvirtuous
dharmas that have yet to arise. He generates zeal, strives, brings forth
heroism, takes hold of his mind, and properly sets it toward the arising of
virtuous dharmas that have yet to arise. [F.179.a] He generates zeal, strives,
brings forth heroism, takes hold of his mind, and properly sets it toward the
abiding, non-loss, non-destruction, recurrence, greatness, and fulfillment of
virtuous dharmas that have already arisen. These, bhikṣus, are the four right
efforts.
1.45 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the four footings of success? Here, bhikṣus, a
bhikṣu, endowed with the zeal samādhi and with the factors of
abandonment, cultivates the footing of success based on isolation, based on
nonattraction, based on cessation, and matured by relinquishment. His own
zeal is neither too absorbed nor too tightly grasped. Endowed with the
heroism samādhi and with the factors of abandonment, he cultivates the
footing of success based on isolation, based on nonattraction, based on
cessation, and matured by relinquishment. His own heroism is neither too
absorbed nor too tightly grasped. Endowed with the mind samādhi and with
the factors of abandonment, he cultivates the footing of success based on
isolation, based on nonattraction, based on cessation, and matured by
relinquishment. His own mind is neither too absorbed nor too tightly
grasped. Endowed with the investigation samādhi and with the factors of
abandonment, he cultivates the footing of success based on isolation, based
on nonattraction, based on cessation, and matured by relinquishment. His
own investigation is neither too absorbed nor too tightly grasped. These,
bhikṣus, are the four footings of success.
1.46 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the five faculties? They are [F.179.b] the faith
faculty, heroism faculty, mindfulness faculty, samādhi faculty, and wisdom
faculty.
1.47 “Among these, what is the faith faculty? It is that faith thanks to which
one has faith in four dharmas. Which four? One has faith in the worldly right
view that applies to saṃsāra. One goes for refuge in the maturation of karma.
One thinks, ‘Whatever karma I perform, whether virtuous or nonvirtuous, I
will experience the maturation of that karma only.’ Even for the sake of one’s
own life, one does not perform sinful karma. This is explained as the faith
faculty.
1.48 “Among these, what is the heroism faculty? Through the heroism faculty,
one establishes those dharmas that one has faith in thanks to the faith
faculty. This is explained as the heroism faculty.
1.49 “Among these, what is the mindfulness faculty? Thanks to the
mindfulness faculty, one does not cause the disappearance of those dharmas
that one establishes through the heroism faculty. This is explained as the
mindfulness faculty.
1.50 “Among these, what is the samādhi faculty? Through the samādhi faculty,
one makes one-pointed those dharmas that one does not cause to disappear
thanks to the mindfulness faculty. This is explained as the samādhi faculty.
1.51 “Among these, what is the wisdom faculty? Through the wisdom faculty,
one penetrates those dharmas that one makes one-pointed through the
samādhi faculty; one becomes the type that carefully observes those
dharmas. This is explained as the wisdom faculty.
“These, bhikṣus, are the five faculties.
1.52 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the five strengths? They are the strength of faith,
the strength of heroism, the strength of mindfulness, the strength of
samādhi, and the strength of wisdom. These, bhikṣus, are the five strengths.
[F.180.a]
1.53 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the seven parts of awakening? They are the part
of awakening of mindfulness, the part of awakening of classifying the
dharmas, the part of awakening of heroism, the part of awakening of joy, the
part of awakening of ease, the part of awakening of samādhi, and the part of
awakening of equanimity.69 Here, bhikṣus, a bhikṣu cultivates the part of
awakening of mindfulness: this is based on isolation, based on nonattraction,
based on cessation, and matured by relinquishment. In the same way, he
cultivates the part of awakening of classifying the dharmas: this is based on
isolation, based on nonattraction, based on cessation, and matured by
relinquishment. He cultivates the part of awakening of heroism: this is based
on isolation, based on nonattraction, based on cessation, and matured by
relinquishment. He cultivates the part of awakening of joy: this is based on
isolation, based on nonattraction, based on cessation, and matured by
relinquishment. He cultivates the part of awakening of ease: this is based on
isolation, based on nonattraction, based on cessation, and matured by
 relinquishment. He cultivates the part of awakening of samādhi: this is
based on isolation, based on nonattraction, based on cessation, and matured
by relinquishment. He cultivates the part of awakening of equanimity: this is
based on isolation, based on nonattraction, based on cessation, and matured
by relinquishment. These, bhikṣus, are the seven parts of awakening.
1.54 “Now, bhikṣus, what is the noble path with eight parts? It is right view,
right thinking, right speech, right activity, right livelihood, [F.180.b] right
effort, right mindfulness, and right samādhi. This, bhikṣus, is the noble path
with eight parts.
1.55 “Among these, what is right view? It is supramundane; arisen from the
view of no-self; not arisen from the view of a sentient being, of a living being,
of a nourishing being, of a man, of a person, of a descendant of Manu, or of a
human being; not arisen from the view of cutting off or eternality; not arisen
from the view of existence or nonexistence; not arisen from the view of the
virtuous, nonvirtuous, or undetermined; and not arisen from the view of
saṃsāra or nirvāṇa. This is called right view.
1.56 “Among these, what is right thought? One does not think those thoughts
due to which the afflictions of desire, aversion, and confusion rise up. One
thinks those thoughts due to which the aggregates of discipline, samādhi,
wisdom, liberation,70 and the vision of awareness of liberation rise up. This is
called right thought.71
1.57 “Among these, what is right speech? One is endowed with the speech
through which one does not torment oneself or others, one does not afflict
oneself or others, and one does not do wrong to oneself or others, the speech
that is conducive to what the noble ones find fit, with expressions of
samādhi and joy. This is called right speech.72
1.58 “Among these, what is right activity? One does not perform karma that is
black and has black maturation. One performs karma that is white and has
white maturation. [F.181.a] One does not perform karma that occurs as white-
black and occurs having white-black maturation. One performs karma that is
conducive to the destruction of the black and what occurs having black, non-
white maturation. One has good karma as refuge; one has good activity. This
is called right activity.
1.59 “Among those, what is right livelihood? When, in accordance with the
noble lineage, one does not abandon the good qualities of purification and
does not abandon frugality; when one does not engage in hypocrisy, chatter,
or extortion; when one is in the habit of behaving heroically; when one has
no envy at others’ gain and is content with one’s own gain; and when one
has a blameless livelihood that is approved by the noble ones, this is called
right livelihood.
1.60 “Among those, what is right effort? One does not endeavor in the effort
that is wrong, due to which attraction, aversion, and confusion insidiously
grow. One follows the effort that enters into the truth73 of the right path of
the noble ones, the effort that bestows the path that leads to nirvāṇa. This is
called right effort.74
1.61 “Among those, what is right mindfulness? It is well placed, unshakeable,
upright,75 is not crooked, and rightly sees the flaws of saṃsāra76 as being
misery; it is the mindfulness that guides on the path to nirvāṇa;77 and it
means not to forget the path of the noble ones. This is called right
mindfulness.78
1.62 “Among those, what is right samādhi? It is the samādhi that is even79 in
the sense that it is right.80 [F.181.b] It is the samādhi abiding in which one
steps into the right certainty of steadfastness toward the liberation of all
sentient beings. This is called right samādhi.81
1.63 “Now, what is mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation with sixteen
aspects?
1. “Mindful82 as one breathes in, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that
‘Mindful, I am breathing in.’ Mindful as one breathes out, one is perfectly
aware, as it is, that ‘Mindful, I am breathing out.’
1.64 2. “Breathing in a long breath, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘I am
breathing in a long breath.’ Breathing out a long breath, one is perfectly
aware, as it is, that ‘I am breathing out a long breath.’
1.65 3. “Breathing in a short breath, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘I am
breathing in a short breath.’ Breathing out a short breath, one is perfectly
aware, as it is, that ‘I am breathing out a short breath.’
1.66 4. “Experiencing the assembled factors of the body as one breathes in, one
is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing the assembled factors of the
body, [F.182.a] I am breathing in.’ Experiencing the assembled factors of the
body as one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing
the assembled factors of the body, I am breathing out.’
1.67 5. “Experiencing the entirety of the body as one breathes in, one is
perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing the entirety of the body, I am
breathing in.’ Experiencing the entirety of the body as one breathes out, one
is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing the entirety of the body, I am
breathing out.’
1.68 6. “Experiencing all the assembled factors of the body as one breathes in,
one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing all the assembled factors of
the body, I am breathing in.’ Experiencing all the assembled factors of the
body as one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing
all the assembled factors of the body, I am breathing out.’
1.69 7. “Placing at ease the assembled factors of the body as one breathes in,
one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Placing at ease the assembled factors of
the body, I am breathing in.’ Placing at ease the assembled factors of the
body as one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Placing at ease
the assembled factors of the body, I am breathing out.’
1.70 8. “Experiencing joy as one breathes in, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that
‘Experiencing joy, I am breathing in.’ Experiencing joy as one breathes out,
one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing joy, I am breathing out.’
1.71 9. “Experiencing pleasure as one breathes in, one is perfectly aware, as it
is, that ‘Experiencing pleasure, I am breathing in.’ Experiencing pleasure as
one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing pleasure,
I am breathing out.’
1.72 10. “Experiencing the mind as one breathes in, one is perfectly aware, as it
is, that ‘Experiencing the mind, I am breathing in.’ Experiencing the mind as
one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing the mind,
I am breathing out.’
1.73 11. “Experiencing the assembled factors of the mind as one breathes in,
one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing the assembled factors of
the mind, I am breathing in.’ Experiencing the assembled factors of the mind
as one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Experiencing the
assembled factors of the mind, I am breathing out.’ [F.182.b]
1.74 12. “Placing at ease the assembled factors of the mind as one breathes in,
one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Placing at ease the assembled factors of
the mind, I am breathing in.’ Placing at ease the assembled factors of the
mind as one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Placing at ease
the assembled factors of the mind, I am breathing out.’
1.75 13. “Gladdening one’s mind as one breathes in,83 one is perfectly aware, as
it is, that ‘Gladdening the mind, I am breathing in.’ Gladdening one’s mind
as one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Gladdening the
mind, I am breathing out.’
1.76 14. “Liberating one’s mind as one breathes in, one is perfectly aware, as it
is, that ‘Liberating the mind, I am breathing in.’ Liberating one’s mind as one
breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Liberating the mind, I am
breathing out.’
1.77 15. “Concentrating one’s mind as one breathes in, one is perfectly aware,
as it is, that ‘Concentrating the mind, I am breathing in.’ Concentrating one’s
mind as one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Concentrating
the mind, I am breathing out.’
1.78 16. “In the same way, having insight into impermanence, having insight
into nonattraction, having insight into cessation, and having insight into
letting go, as one breathes in, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Having
 insight into letting go, I am breathing in.’ [F.183.a] Having insight into
letting go, as one breathes out, one is perfectly aware, as it is, that ‘Having
insight into letting go, I am breathing out.’
“This, bhikṣus, is mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation with sixteen
aspects.
1.79 “Now,84 what are the four parts of entering the stream? Here,85 a noble
śrāvaka is intelligently well disposed toward the Buddha, thinking, ‘Thus
indeed is the Bhagavat: he is the tathāgata, arhat, perfect and complete
Buddha, endowed with knowledge and feet, the Sugata, the knower of the
world, the unexcelled charioteer of persons to be tamed, the teacher of gods
and humans, the Buddha, the Bhagavat.’
1.80 “He is intelligently well disposed toward the Dharma, thinking, ‘The
Dharma of the Bhagavat86 has been well spoken, it is to be seen for oneself, it
is free from fever, it is timeless, it is a guide, and it is to be seen here, to be
experienced by the wise for themselves. It is the abolition of conceit, the
removal of thirst,87 the destruction of the dwelling, the cutting off of the
continuum of the path,88 and the destruction of craving; it is nonattraction,
cessation, nirvāṇa.’
1.81 “He is intelligently well disposed toward the Saṅgha, thinking, ‘The
Saṅgha of śrāvakas of the Bhagavat practices well, as they practice in the
proper way, they practice upright,89 they practice suitably, they practice the
Dharma that accords with the Dharma,90 and they act in accordance with the
Dharma.
1.82 “In the Saṅgha, there are those practicing to directly realize the result of
entering the stream. [F.183.b] In the Saṅgha, there are the stream enterers. In
the Saṅgha, there are those who practice to directly realize the result of the
once-returners. In the Saṅgha, there are the once-returners. In the Saṅgha,
there are those who practice to directly realize the result of the non-
returners. In the Saṅgha, there are the non-returners. In the Saṅgha, there are
those who practice to directly realize the result of arhathood. In the Saṅgha,
there are the arhats: there are the four pairs of persons, or eight types of
persons. The Bhagavat’s Saṅgha of śrāvakas is endowed with faith,
endowed with discipline, endowed with aural learning, endowed with
samādhi, endowed with wisdom,91 endowed with liberation, and endowed
with the vision of awareness of liberation. It is worthy of oblations, and it is
worthy of higher oblations. One should fold one’s hands in front of it and act
properly toward it; it is the unexcelled field of merit, worthy of the offerings
of the world.
1.83 “He is endowed with the types of discipline that are highly valued by the
noble ones. And as for those types of discipline, they are unimpaired,
unbroken, whole, unadulterated, unalloyed, not violated, well completed,92
 praised by the wise, and not reproached by the wise. These 93 are the four
parts of entering the stream.
1.84 “Now, bhikṣus, what are the ten strengths of the Tathāgata?
1. “Here, bhikṣus, the Tathāgata perfectly cognizes, as it is, what is the
case as being the case, and what is not the case as not being the case. This is
the first strength of the Tathāgata.94
1.85 2. “He perfectly cognizes, as it is, the taking up and maturation of different
types of karma in the past, future, and present. [F.184.a]
3. “He perfectly cognizes, as they are, the different, manifold inclinations
of other sentient beings.95
1.86 4. “He perfectly cognizes, as they are, the many, varied basic natures of the
world.
5. “He perfectly cognizes, as they are, the higher and lower faculties of
other sentient beings.
1.87 6. “He perfectly cognizes, as they are, the paths that reach everywhere.
7. “He perfectly cognizes, as it is, the condition of either defilement or
purification in other sentient beings’96 faculties, strengths, parts of
awakening, meditations, liberations, samādhis, and attainments.
1.88 8. “He 97 remembers many previous lives, including their specific aspects,
locations, and causes. He remembers one life; he remembers two, three, four,
and even up to many hundreds of thousands of millions of crores of lives,
and so forth.
1.89 9. “With his divine eye 98 that is pure and beyond that of humans he sees
sentient beings as they are born, as they are born in good or bad destinations
according to the good or bad deeds of their body, speech, and mind, and so
forth.
1.90 10. “Through his wisdom he perfectly cognizes, as it is, the mind’s
liberation without fluxes, which comes from the destruction of the fluxes.
“These, bhikṣus, are the ten strengths of the Tathāgata.
1.91 “Now, what are the four confidences of the Tathāgata?
1. “In this world, the Bhagavat acknowledges himself as the perfect,
complete Buddha.99 If in this world with its gods, māras, and brahmas,
[F.184.b] or among the beings including the śramaṇas, brahmins, gods,
humans, and asuras, someone were to tell him ‘You have not realized these
dharmas,’ he would see no ground for their statement. Not seeing any
ground for it, the Tathāgata abides at ease and fearless. He knows well his
place as supreme. When in the assembly, he rightly100 roars the lion’s roar.
He turns the Brahma wheel, not turned in the world by any śramaṇa or
brahmin or by anyone else, in accordance with the Dharma.
1.92 2. “As for those dharmas that he declared to be obstacles, if someone were
to tell him that ‘For someone who practices them, they are not obstacles,’ it
would then be as above.101
1.93 3. “Moreover,102 as for the path that he declared to be noble and leading to
the final exit, if someone were to say that ‘For someone who practices it, it is
not the final exit that brings the right destruction of suffering for someone
who enacts it,’ it would then be as above.103
1.94 4. “He is one whose fluxes are destroyed, and he acknowledges himself to
be so: thus, if in this world with its gods, māras, brahmas, or among the
beings including the śramaṇas, brahmins, gods, humans, and asuras,
someone were to say that ‘These fluxes of yours are not destroyed,’ he
would see no ground for that statement. Not seeing any ground for it, the
Tathāgata abides at ease and fearless. He knows well his place as supreme.
When in the assembly, he rightly104 roars the lion’s roar. He turns the
Brahma wheel, not turned in the world by any śramaṇa or brahmin or by
anyone else, in accordance with the Dharma.
“These are the four confidences.
1.95 “Then, what are the Tathāgata’s four special knowledges? [F.185.a] They
are the special knowledge of meaning, the special knowledge of dharmas,
the special knowledge of explanations, and the special knowledge of
brilliancy.105 These are the four special knowledges.
1.96 “Then, what are the eighteen dharmas exclusive to a buddha?106
“(1) For a tathāgata, there is no error; (2) there is no yelling; (3) there is no
forgetfulness; (4) there is no unconcentrated mind; (5) there is no perception
of difference; (6) there is no indifference due to lack of discrimination; (7)
there is no loss of zeal; (8) there is no loss of heroism; (9) there is no loss of
mindfulness; (10) there is no loss of samādhi; (11) there is no loss of wisdom;
(12a) there is no loss of liberation; (12b) there is no loss in the vision of
awareness of liberation;107 (13) with respect to the past, his vision of
awareness is neither stuck nor obstructed; (14) with respect to the future, his
vision of awareness is neither stuck nor obstructed; (15) with respect to the
present, his vision of awareness is neither stuck nor obstructed; (16) all his
bodily activities are preceded by awareness and follow awareness; (17) all
his verbal activities are preceded by awareness and follow awareness; and
(18) all his mental activities are preceded by awareness and follow
awareness. These are the eighteen dharmas exclusive to a buddha.
1.97 “Then, what are the Tathāgata’s thirty-two marks of a great person?108
1. “He has the Tathāgata’s mark of a great person109 that consists in
having well-placed feet.
1.98 2. “The two soles of his feet are marked by a wheel.
3. “He has broad heels and prominent ankles.
 4. “He has long fingers.
1.99 5. “His hands and feet are webbed.
6. “His hands and feet are soft and tender. [F.185.b]
7. “There are seven elevations on his body.
1.100 8. “He has antelope shanks.110
9. “His secret organ is retracted within a sheath.
10. “The upper half of his body is like a lion’s.
1.101 11. “The space between the shoulders is broad.
12. “He has evenly rounded shoulders.
13. “His arms stretch to the knees when he does not bend down.111
1.102 14. “His body is pure.
15. “His neck is like a conch.
16. “He has a lion’s jaw.
1.103 17. “He has forty even teeth.
18. “His teeth are even and have no interstices.
19. “He has very white teeth.
1.104 20. “He has a long tongue.
21. “Any flavor for him tastes supreme.
22. “His melodious voice is like the melodious voice of Brahmā and like
the kalaviṅka’s note.
1.105 23. “He has intensely blue eyes.
24. “His eyelashes are like those of a cow.
25. “He has fine skin.
1.106 26. “He has golden skin.
27. “He has one hair for each pore.
28. “Each bodily hair points upward and turns to the right.
1.107 29. “The hair on his head is like sapphire.
30. “He has a very white ūrṇā on his forehead, the part of the face between
the brows.
1.108 31. “He bears the uṣṇīṣa on his head.
32. “He has the mark of a great person that consists in his body’s girth
being like a banyan tree and all-around pleasant.
1.109 “These are the thirty-two marks of a great person.
1. “He has well-placed feet: this mark of a great person has come about
because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person, pursued his
undertakings with a firm resolve.
1.110 2. “The two soles of his feet are marked by a wheel: this mark of a great
person has come about because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person,
accumulated manifold acts of generosity.
1.111 3. “He has broad heels and prominent ankles: this mark of a great person
has come about because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person, did not
intimidate other sentient beings.
1.112 4. “He has long fingers: this mark of a great person has come about
because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person, protected, sheltered, and
guarded the Dharma for sentient beings. [F.186.a]
1.113 5. “His hands and feet are webbed: this mark of a great person has come
about because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person, did not break up
others’ retinues.112
6. “His hands and feet are soft and tender: this mark of a great person has
come about because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person, offered
many types of fine garments.
1.114 7. “There are seven elevations on his body: this mark of a great person has
come about because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person, offered large
quantities of food and drink.
1.115 8. “He has antelope shanks: this mark of a great person has come about
because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person, embraced the
Buddhadharma.
9. “His secret organ is placed within a sheath: this mark of a great person
has come about because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person, guarded
the secret mantras, and because he gave up the copulation dharma.
1.116 10. “The upper half of his body is like a lion’s: this mark of a great person
has come about because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person,
conducted himself in accordance with virtuous karma.
1.117 11. “The space between the shoulders is broad: this mark of a great person
has come about because in the past the Tathāgata, the great person,
practiced virtuous dharmas.
12. “He has evenly rounded shoulders: this has come about because in the
past the Tathāgata offered fearlessness and solace to others.113
1.118 13. “His arms stretch to the knees when he does not bend down:114 this
has come about because in the past the Tathāgata was eager to perform
tasks for others.115
14. “His body is pure: this has come about because in the past the
Tathāgata was never satisfied with the extent to which he undertook the
paths of the ten virtuous karmas.
1.119 15. “His neck is like a conch: this has come about because in the past the
Tathāgata offered many types of medicines to the sick. [F.186.b]
16. “He has a lion’s jaw: this has come about because in the past the
Tathāgata fulfilled the practice of the roots of virtue.
1.120 17. “He has forty even teeth: this has come about because in the past the
Tathāgata acted evenly toward all sentient beings.116
 18. “His teeth have no interstices:117 this has come about because in the
past the Tathāgata united sentient beings who were divided.
1.121 19. “He has very white teeth: this has come about because in the past the
Tathāgata offered beautiful gifts. He has even teeth: this is because he
guarded well the karmas of body, speech, and mind.
1.122 20. “He has a long tongue: this has come about because in the past the
Tathāgata guarded the truthfulness of his speech.
21. “Any flavor for him tastes supreme: this has come about because in the
past the Tathāgata attended to merit beyond measure and made offerings to
others.118
1.123 22. “His melodious voice is like the melodious voice of Brahmā and like
the kalaviṅka’s note: this has come about because in the past the Tathāgata
spoke gentle words to sentient beings,119 and because he proclaimed speech
that gives joy.
1.124 23. “He has intensely blue eyes: this has come about because in the past
the Tathāgata protected sentient beings with friendliness.
24. “His eyelashes are like those of a cow: this has come about because in
the past he 120 kept an uncontrived disposition.
1.125 25. “He has fine skin: this has come about because in the past he became
adept at perfectly chanting and collecting the Dharma.121
26. “He has golden skin: this has come about because in the past the
Tathāgata offered beds, seats, mats, and attractive garments.
1.126 27. “He has one hair for each pore: this has come about because in the past
the Tathāgata avoided crowds.
28. “Each bodily hair points upward and turns to the right: this has come
about because in the past the Tathāgata seized with courteous dexterity122
the instructions of his ācāryas, upādhyāyas, and good friends.
1.127 29. “The hair on his head is like sapphire: this has come about because in
the past the Tathāgata had compassion for the lives of sentient beings,123
and because he laid aside stones, sticks, and blades. [F.187.a]
1.128 30. “He has a very white ūrṇā on his forehead, the part of the face between
the brows: this has come about because in the past the Tathāgata praised
those worthy of praise.
31. “He bears the uṣṇīṣa on his head: this has come about because in the
past the Tathāgata showed reverence to his gurus.
1.129 32. “His body’s 124 girth is like a banyan tree: this has come about because
in the past the Tathāgata enjoined himself and others toward samādhi.
1.130 “That his body has the all-around pleasantness of Mahānārāyaṇa has
come about because in the past he made images of the tathāgatas, repaired
broken stūpas, and consoled others when they were scared.125 Thanks to
 roots of virtue beyond measure, he attained mastery in respect to these
dharmas, and thus the thirty-two marks of a great person have come forth on
the Tathāgata’s body.
1.131 “What are the eighty minor marks?
1. “The buddhas, the bhagavats, have nails the color of copper,
2. “glossy nails,
1.132 3. “prominent nails,
4. “even lines on their palms,126
5. “round fingers,127
1.133 6. “plump fingers,
7. “regularly shaped fingers,
8. “hidden channels,
1.134 9. “channels without knots,
10. “hidden ankles,128
11. “and level feet;
1.135 12. “the buddhas move with a lion-like gait;
13. “they move with an elephant-like gait;
14. “they move with a geese-like gait;
1.136 15. “they move with a bull-like gait;
16. “they move circling to the right;129
17. “they move elegantly;130
1.137 18. “they move without crookedness;131
19. “they have rounded bodies,
20. “smooth bodies,
1.138 21. “and regularly shaped bodies;
22. “their bodies 132 are wide and elegant;
23. “they are complete in their marks; [F.187.b]
1.139 24. “they take even steps;
25. “they have clean bodies,
26. “soft bodies,
1.140 27. “pure bodies,
28. “unimpaired bodies,
29. “broad bodies,
1.141 30. “very firm bodies,
31. “and well-proportioned bodies;
32. “their vision is free from defects and clear;
1.142 33. “they have round bellies,
34. “clean bellies,133
35. “bellies without defects,
1.143 36. “slender stomachs,
37. “deep navels,
 38. “and navels that turn to the right;
1.144 39. “they are all-around pleasant;
40. “they conduct themselves in a pure manner;
41. “their bodies have no freckles or moles;
1.145 42. “they have soft hands like cotton wool,
43. “glossy lines in the palms,
44. “deep lines in the palms,
1.146 45. “and long lines in the palms;
46. “their faces are not too long;
47. “their faces reflect forms;
1.147 48. “they have thin tongues,134
49. “soft tongues,
50. “red tongues,
1.148 51. “voices like an elephant’s roar or like the sound of thunder,
52. “voices that are pleasing and beautiful,135
53. “round cuspids,
1.149 54. “sharp cuspids,
55. “white 136 and level cuspids,
56. “regular cuspids,
1.150 57. “prominent noses,
58. “clean noses,
59. “wide eyes,
1.151 60. “elongated eyes,
61. “and thick eyelashes;
62. “the white and black parts of their eyes are wide 137 and beautiful like
the petals of a blue lotus;
1.152 63. “their chests are broad, tall, and firm;138
64. “they have long eyebrows,
1.153 65. “smooth eyebrows,
66. “eyebrows with even hair,
67. “glossy eyebrows,
1.154 68. “full, long ears,
69. “level ears,
70. “unimpaired ear faculties,
1.155 71. “well-shaped foreheads,
72. “wide foreheads,
73. “perfect heads,
1.156 74. “hair black like bees,139
75. “thick hair,
76. “smooth hair,
1.157 77. “hair that is not disheveled,140
 78. “hair that is not rough,
79. “and fragrant hair; [F.188.a]
1.158 80. “and the buddhas, the bhagavats, have marks like the śrīvatsa, the
svastika, the nandyāvarta, the wheel, the vajra, the lotus, the fish, and so
forth on the palms of their hands and on the soles of their feet.
“These are the eighty minor marks.
1.159 “I had said, ‘Bhikṣus, I will teach you the Dharma that is auspicious in the
beginning, auspicious in the middle, auspicious in the end, that has good
meaning and is well expressed. I will clarify the unique, complete, pure, and
purified Brahman conduct, the Dharma instruction Distinctly Ascertaining the
Meanings.’ Thus, I have now explained what I had said I would.
1.160 “Bhikṣus, dwell in forests, under trees, in empty dwellings, in mountain
glens and rocky caves, in heaps of straw, in spaces out in the open, in
charnel grounds, in forest glades, or in border regions. Meditate with
certainty. Bhikṣus, if you become careless, you will regret it later. This is my
instruction.”
1.161 As this Dharma instruction was being delivered, the minds of five hundred
bhikṣus were liberated from the fluxes of clinging.
1.162 Thus spoke the Bhagavat. With their minds delighted, the bhikṣus, that
entire assembly, and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and
gandharvas rejoiced at what the Bhagavat had said.

1.163 This completes the Dharma instruction “Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings.”
c. Colophon
c.1 This was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian upādhyāyas
Jinamitra and Prajñāvarman, and the chief editor-translator Bandé Yeshé
Dé.141
ab. ABBREVIATIONS
ANe Three Nepalese manuscripts of Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings
F Edition of Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings edited by Ferrari (1944)
n. NOTES

n.1 dharmāṇāṁ pravicayam antareṇa nāsti kleśānāṁ yata upaśāntaye ’bhyupāyaḥ | kleśaiś
ca bhramati bhavārṇave ‘tra lokas taddhetor ata uditaḥ kilaiṣa śāstra (Abhidharmakośa-
kārikā 1.3).

n.2 tasyārthaviniścayasūtrasya dharmapravicayārtham upadeśaḥ | na hi vinā

sūtropadeśena śiṣyaḥ śakto dharmaṁ pravicetum | dharmapravicaya
upakleśopaśamanārtham | tadupaśamo ‘pi naiṣṭhikapadāvaptaye bhavati (Artha-
viniścayasūtranibandhana, Samtani 1971, p. 72). We read dharmapravicaya
upakleśopaśamanārtham rather than dharmapravicayopakleśopaśamanārtham as per
Samtani’s printed text.

n.3 Skilling 2012.

n.4 Ferrari 1944, p. 617; translation ours.

n.5 Ferrari 1944, p. 522.

n.6 Ferrari 1944, p. 549; translation ours.

n.7 Vaidya 1961, p. 319.

n.8 asya sarvaṁ vṛttāntaṁ abhiniṣkramaṇanāmasūtre vidyate iti tibbatabhāṣayā kathitam,

Vaidya 1961, p. 319. The term employed for “Tibetan” is tibbata.

n.9 See Samtani 1971, pp. 8–9.

n.10 De Jong 1975, p. 116.

n.11 Ferrari 1944, p. 551; translation ours.

n.12 “Succoso,” Ferrari 1944, p. 552; translation ours.

 The Tibetan opts for one of two possible ways of parsing the syntax of the
n.13
first paragraph, rather than retaining the ambiguity of the Sanskrit; the
original may be understood as taking “at one time” (ekasmin samaye) either
with what precedes or with what follows, as commentators including
Vīryaśrīdatta point out (see Samtani 1971, pp. 75–76). As Vīryaśrīdatta also
points out, saying “this is what I heard at one time” implies that one has
heard other teachings at other times, thus indicating the arhat Ānanda’s
quality of having heard a lot (bāhuśrutya), i.e., being learned in the Dharma.

n.14 The Nibandhana (Samtani 1971, p. 78) explains that it is “eastern” either
because it is in the eastern part of Śrāvastī or because it is to the east of the
Jeta Grove, the location of the very famous pleasance offered by the foremost
of male lay practitioners, Anāthapiṇḍada.

n.15 The Nibandhana (Samtani 1971, pp. 80–81) explains that this expression
means two things: it refers to the three trainings, i.e., discipline, mental
concentration, and wisdom (adhiśīlaśikṣā, adhicittaśikṣā, and adhiprajñāśikṣā);
and it also indicates that the beginning, middle, and end of the Dharma are
not mutually contradictory.

n.16 It is worth noting that Pāli Suttas read this as “with meaning” and “with
expression” (sātthaṁ sabyañjanam); Vasubandhu is also aware that “some”
(kha cig) read something along those lines, although it is difficult to say
whether he was referring specifically to the Pāli texts or to parallel Sanskrit
transmissions (*sārthaṁ savyañjanam): kha cig ni don dang ldan pa dang / tshig ’bru
dang ldan pa shes ’don te (Lee 2001, p. 5; see also Nance 2012, p. 131 for a
translation).

n.17 The Nibandhana explains that this sentence is meant to ensure that the
listeners avoid three defects: not listening, listening but understanding the
meaning of what was heard in a distorted manner, and not being able to
retain even what has been heard and understood correctly, since it was not
listened to with the necessary reverence. These three defects are exemplified
by a vase upside down, a dirty vase, and vase with holes: such a vase will
not be able to profit from the rain of Dharma (Samtani 1971, p. 83). This
example is also found in Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti, in the Pratītya-
samutpādādivibhaṅganirdeśa, in the Gāthārthasaṁgrahaśāstra, and in Haribhadra’s
Abhisamayālaṁkārālokā, where he attributes it to Vasubandhu (see Skilling
2000, p. 301).

n.18 In addition, the four ārūpyasamāpattayaḥ (“formless attainments”) are found

right after this item in the Sanskrit (Samtani 1971, p. 2; p. 18).
 Saṁjñā is not easy to translate: it refers to a concept or idea through which
n.19
one identifies, correctly or incorrectly, the object of cognition by determining
that it has a certain “sign” (nimitta, a term closely connected to perceptual
experiences). Its function is associated with naming, since saṁjñā can be
verbalized by those who are acquainted with language, as pointed out in
Abhidharma texts. It can also refer to an evaluative belief about something,
such as it being desirable, etc., or a notion that one should develop through
training (such as the idea that the Dharma teacher is the Buddha). In some
forms of Abhidharma, it is explained that the consciousnesses based on the
five senses have weak saṁjñā, while it is sharp in case of thought-
consciousness. Saṁjñā complements the perception of objects
(vijñānaskandha) with enough determination to become fit to be put into
words, expressing specific referents and their features. It is regarded as a
mental state (caitta), accompanying the basic mind (citta) that is defined as
the mere perception of objects, incapable of grasping their specificities.

n.20 Here there is an additional sentence in Samtani’s edition of the Sanskrit that
reads yaduta asmin satīdaṁ bhavati asyotpādād idam utpadyate (Samtani 1971,
p. 5). This additional sentence in Samtani’s edition of the Sanskrit could be
translated as “It is thus: this being there, this comes about; due to the arising
of this, this arises.”

n.21 The Nibandhana explains kevalasya as implying that the aggregate of suffering
has no self, i.e., it is “nothing more than” an aggregate of suffering; Pāli
commentaries often prefer another possible sense of kevala, “entire,” and
previous translators have rendered parallel passages accordingly. However,
we do find Pāli commentators including the Nibandhana understanding of
kevala (suddhassa vā, sattavirahitassāti attho). We could not find a single English
word carrying both the sense of “which is no more than” and “in its
entirety,” hence we have used a longer expression to translate the single
term kevala.

n.22 The Sanskrit in Samtani’s edition (Samtani 1971, p. 6) has “the present”
(pratyutpanne) instead of “the prior and the following limit” (pūrvāparānte);
this agrees with the Chinese translations and, importantly, with some of the
Sanskrit manuscripts (F and ANe in Samtani’s edition). “Prior limit” and
“following limit” are technical terms referring generally to the past and
future, but more specifically to past and future lifetimes, and are often used
while describing the twelve parts of dependent arising and its subdivision
into three lifetimes and when describing wrong views about identity or
difference between lifetimes. Thus, the referent of “prior limit” and
“following limit” is occasionally the “past” and “future,” but the meaning of
 the terms is different (they indicate what marks the border between the
present life and other lifetimes, hence the use of -anta, here translated as
“limit”).

n.23 Samtani’s edition does not contain the word karma (karmaṇi), but he reports
that karmaṇi is found in F (Samtani 1971, p. 6, n. 3). The third type of karma,
according to the Nibandhana commentary, refers to a mixture of the first two.

n.24 Before this phrase, the Sanskrit in Samtani’s edition also has “nonawareness
in respect to instances of dependent arising” (pratītyasamutpādeṣv ajñānam,
Samtani 1971, p. 6), and Samtani reports ANe as having the alternative
“nonawareness in respect to dependent arising” (pratītyasamutpāde ’jñānam,
Samtani 1971, p. 6, n. 5).

n.25 Here there is an additional portion in Sanskrit in Samtani’s edition that reads
sāvadyānavadyeṣu dharmeṣu ajñānam sevitavyāsevitavyeṣ dharmeṣu ajñānam hīna-
praṇīteṣu kṛṣṇaśukleṣu dharmeṣu ajñānam (Samtani 1971, p. 6). This could be
translated as “nonawareness in respect to blameworthy and blameless
dharmas, nonawareness in respect to dharmas that should and should not
be practiced, nonawareness in respect to low and foremost, or black and
white dharmas.”

n.26 Samtani did not consider yang dag pa ji lta ba bzhin as one of the possible
renderings of yathābhūta, rather understanding it as matching a hypothetical
*samyak yathāvat (Samtani 1971, p. 7, n. 1). However, parallels suggest that
here the Tibetan matches the Sanskrit.

n.27 Here the Degé version has lus ’di ni lus las byung ba; Ferrari usefully pointed
out that here lus ’di ni is probably a printing mistake for chos ’di ni (Ferrari
1944, p. 557); we agree that here we should read the Tibetan as chos ’di ni lus
las byung ba, matching the Sanskrit kāyiko hy eṣa dharmaḥ, since the transmitted
reading would make little sense.

n.28 Here the Sanskrit reads ime bhikṣavaḥ trayaḥ saṁskārā ucyante (Samtani 1971,
p. 8). This could be translated as “the three assembled factors.”

n.29 Here the Sanskrit reads ime ṣaḍ vijñānakāyā vijñānam ity ucyante (Samtani 1971,
p. 8). This could be translated as “These six collections of consciousness are
explained as consciousness.”

n.30 Here the Sanskrit reads tatra kataman nāma catvāro’rūpiṇaḥ skandḥāḥ | katame
catvāraḥ (Samtani 1971, p. 8). This could be translated as “What, then, is
name? It is the four formless aggregates. What are the four?”
 Here the Tibetan lacks the expression “and in what depends on the four
n.31
great elements”; we have nevertheless included it on the basis of Samtani’s
Sanskrit (catvāri ca mahābhūtāny upādāya, Samtani 1971, p. 9), as it represents a
standard definition of “form,” and thus the omission seems odd. We have
also included the rhetorical question that immediately follows, which is
absent in the Tibetan.

n.32 Samtani’s Sanskrit edition (Samtani 1971, p. 9) does not include “roughness,”
nor does the Nibandhana seem to read it. The Tibetan suggests the following
hypothetical Sanskrit: *gurutvaṁ khakkhaṭatvaṁ karkaśatvaṁ ca.

n.33 Here the Sanskrit reads ṣaḍ ādhyātmikāny āyatanāni | tadyathā (Samtani 1971,
p. 9). This could be translated as “the six internal entrances; they are…”

n.34 Here the Sanskrit reads cakṣuḥsaṁsparśaḥ śrotrasaṁsparśaḥ ghrāṇaśaṁsparśaḥ

jihvāsaṁsparśaḥ kāyasaṁsparśaḥ manaḥsaṁsparśa iti | ayam ucyate sparśaḥ
(Samtani 1971, p. 10). This could be translated as follows: “Eye contact, ear
contact, nose contact, tongue contact, body contact, thought contact. This is
explained as contact.”

n.35 Here the Sanskrit reads idam ucyate vedanā (Samtani 1971, p. 10): “This is
explained as feeling” (additional sentence not found in the Tibetan
translation).

n.36 Here the Sanskrit reads tadyathā uṣṇanarakā aṣṭau | katame ’ṣṭau tadyathā
saṁjīvaḥ kālasūtraḥ saṅghātaḥ rauravaḥ mahārauravaḥ tapanaḥ pratāpanaḥ avīciś ca |
śītanarakā aṣṭau | [katame’ṣṭau] tadyathā arbudaḥ nirarbudaḥ aṭaṭaḥ hahavaḥ huhuvaḥ
utpalaḥ padmaḥ mahāpadmaḥ | pretāḥ tiryañcaḥ manuṣyāḥ ṣaṭ kāmāvacarāś ca
devāḥ | katame ṣaṭ cāturmahārājikāḥ trāyastriṁśāḥ yāmāḥ tuṣitāḥ nirmāṇaratayaḥ
paranirmitavaśavartino devāḥ (Samtani 1971, p. 11). The Sanskrit text could be
translated as “It is the eight hot hells. What are the eight? They are Reviving,
Black Thread, Crushing, Howling, Great Howling, Burning, Intense
Burning, and Unwavering. It is the eight cold hells. What are the eight? They
are Swelling, Thorough Swelling, Aṭṭa, Hahava, Huhuva, Blue Lotus, Lotus,
and Great Lotus. It is the pretas, animals, humans, and the six deities within
the sphere of desire. What are the six? They are the Four Great Kings, the
deities of the Thirty-Three, Yāma, Tuṣita, Emanation-Delight, and Control of
Others’ Emanations.” Samtani also points out that the order differs in Fe and
ANe (Samtani 1971, p. 11, n. 5). See also the Nibandhana (Samtani 1971,
pp. 140–41) for useful explanations of the names of these different classes of
deities.
n.37 Here the Sanskrit reads tatra rūpabhavaḥ katamaḥ tadyathā brahmakāyikāḥ brahma-
purohitāḥ mahābrāhmaṇaḥ parīttābhāḥ apramāṇābhāḥ ābhāsvarāḥ parīttaśubhāḥ
śubhakṛtsnāḥ anabhrakāḥ puṇyaprasavāḥ bṛhatphalāḥ avṛhāḥ atapāḥ sudṛśāḥ
sudarśanāḥ akaniṣṭhāś ceti (Samtani 1971, p. 12). This could be translated as
“What, then, is existence with form? It is those in the Brahmā group, the
Provosts of Brahmā, the Great Brahmās, Limitedly Splendid, Splendid
without Measure, Wholly Good, Unclouded, Merit Increasing, Abundant
Result, Not Great, Without Pain, Seeing Well, Good Sight, and Lesser than
None.”

n.38 Here the Sanskrit reads ime trayo bhavāḥ (Samtani 1971, p. 12): “These are the
three existences” (additional sentence found in the Sanskrit but not in F and
ANe or the Tibetan; Samtani 1971, p. 12, nn. 9–10). See also the Nibandhana
(Samtani 1971, pp. 141–44) for useful explanations of the names of these
classes of deities.

n.39 Here the Sanskrit reads bhavapratyayā jātiḥ | jātiḥ katamā yā teṣāṁ teṣāṁ
sattvānāṁ tasmiṁs tasmin sattvanikāye jātiḥ saṁjātiḥ upapattiḥ avakrāntiḥ abhi-
nirvṛttiḥ prādurbhāvaḥ skandhapratilambhaḥ dhātupratilambhaḥ āyatanānāṁ
pratilambhaḥ skandhānām abhinirvṛttiḥ jīvitendriyasyodbhavaḥ nikāyasabhāgatāyāḥ
samavadhānam (Samtani 1971, pp. 12–13). This could be translated as “ ‘As for
birth with existence as its condition,’ what is birth? It is the birth of such and
such sentient beings in such and such specific classes of sentient beings; it is
their thorough birth, descent, coming forth, and manifestation, the
obtainment of the aggregates, the obtainment of the bases, the obtainment of
the entrances, the proceeding of the aggregates, the coming into being of the
life faculty, and the fact of being brought together within the commonality of
a specific class. This is explained as birth.”

n.40 Here the Sanskrit reads khurukhuruniśvāsapraśvāsakaṇṭhatā (Samtani 1971,

p. 13): “having a throat that sounds like khurukhuru when exhaling and
inhaling.” The Sanskrit khurukhuru and the Tibetan ngar ngar resemble the
English term “wheezing,” whose etymology is also onomatopoeic.

n.41 Samtani points out that ANe and F lack the ca after jarjarībhāvaḥ, and we think
this matches the Tibetan and seems altogether preferable.

n.42 The commentary explains this as “the separation of the collection of name
from the collection of form” (arūpiṇo hi nāmakāyasya rūpakāyād viśleṣo bhedaḥ;
Samtani 1971, p. 154).

n.43 Here the Sanskrit reads antarhāṇiḥ (Samtani 1971, p. 14), meaning something
like “disappearance.” The Tibetan mi rtag par ’gyur ba could correspond to
 anityabhāva. Samtani (1971, p. 14, n. 4) proposes anityatābhāvaḥ, but we do not
think the Tibetan is intended to represent the tal-pratyaya.

n.44 The Nibandhana commentary explains this as the loss of the projecting force
of karma, which “throws” the assembled factors (like an arrow), at birth, only
for a determinate length of time (pūrvopāttāyuḥsaṁskārāṇām āvedhakṣayaḥ,
Samtani 1971, pp. 155–56).

n.45 The Tibetan dga’ ba’i ’dod chags may suggest rather a genitive case
relationship between dga’ ba and ’dod chags, but this seems highly unlikely
and is not supported by the Nibandhana; in general, we would read the usage
of particles in Tibetan texts translated from the Sanskrit with some degree of
flexibility, and not necessarily in their most idiomatic sense.

n.46 The Tibetan here has a plural marker, rnams, but it seems out of place and is
not supported by any parallels we could find.

n.47 Samtani (1971, p. 17) does not have anything that matches dga’ ba med pa
(“without joy”). He proposes that it could translate prītirahitam (Samtani 1971,
p. 17, n. 8). We think, on the other hand, that the probable Sanskrit original
should be niṣprītikam, which is attested in a sūtra quotation, very close to our
passage (indeed we wonder whether this is a quote of Distinctly Ascertaining
the Meanings), that appears in Ratnākaraśānti’s Sāratamā: yat tad āryā ācakṣate
upekṣakaḥ smṛtimān sukhavihārīti niṣprītikaṁ tṛtīyaṁ dhyānam upasampadya
viharatīti (Jaini 1979, p. 50). In the same context of the third meditation
(dhyāna), the term niṣprītikam also appears in the Saṅghabhedavastu (Gnoli
1978a, p. 144).

n.48 Samtani’s Sanskrit edition here includes a section on the four formless
attainments that is absent in the Tibetan (Samtani 1971, p. 18).

n.49 Tib. ’dod chags does sometimes translate rāga, instead of kāmarāga as we have
in the Sanskrit edition. However, ’dod chags is elsewhere attested as a
translation of kāmarāga, not only of rāga, and we have translated accordingly.

n.50 Here the Sanskrit reads yathāvasthitam yathāpraṇihitam (Samtani 1971, p. 23):
“as it is disposed and placed/set/directed.”

n.51 Here the Sanskrit reads iha bhikṣavo bhikṣur araṇyagato vā vṛkṣamūlagato vā
śūnyāgāragato vā imam eva kāyam ūrdvaṁ yāvat pādatalād adhaḥ keśamastakāt
tvakparyantaṁ yathāvasthitaṁ yathāpraṇihitaṁ pūrṇaṁ nānāprakārasyāśucer
yathābhūtaṁ samyak prajñayā pratyavekṣate (Samtani 1971, p. 23): “Here, monks,
a monk, having gone to the forest, or to the root of some tree, or to an empty
house, observes with right wisdom this very body, up from the soles of the
 feet and down from the hairy head, enclosed in skin, just as it is disposed
and placed, full of many types of impurities, as it is.” The Tibetan has some
small differences; it could be back-translated as *tatra katamā samādhibhāvanā
āsevitā bhāvitā bahulīkṛtā kāmarāgaprahāṇāya saṃvartate iha bhikṣavo bhikṣur imam
eva kāyam ūrdhvaṃ pādatalād adhaḥ keśamastakāt paryantaṃ pūrṇaṃ
nānāprakārasyāśucer yathābhūtaṃ pratyavekṣate.

n.52 Samtani remarks, convincingly, that kha spu should be in fact read as ba spu
(Samtani 1971, p. 24, n. 10).

n.53 These two terms refer to Āyurvedic physiological categories.

n.54 Here the Sanskrit reads santi asmin kāye keśā romāṇi nakhā dantā rajo malaṁ tvak
māṁsam asthi snāyu śirā vṛkkā hṛdayaṁ plīhā klomakam antrāṇi antraguṇā āmāśaya
pakkāśaya udaryaṁ yakṛt purīṣam aśru svedaḥ kheḍaḥ siṁhāṇako vasā lasikā majjā
medaḥ pittaṁ śleṣmā pūyaṁ śoṇitaṁ mastakaṁ mastakaluṅgam iti pūrṇe
nānāprakārasyāśucer yathābhūtaṁ pratyavekṣate (Samtani 1971, pp. 23–24): “In this
body there are hair, body hairs, nails, teeth, dirt, filth, skin, flesh, bones,
sinews, channels, kidneys, heart, spleen, lungs, entrails, mesentery, stomach
for the raw, stomach for the ripe, bowel content, liver, excrement, tears,
sweat, spit, snot, grease, fluid, marrow, fat, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, head,
and head membrane.” We would here propose to emend āmāśaya to āmāśayaḥ.

n.55 Samtani also counts thirteen types of grain in the Tibetan (Samtani 1971,
p. 24, n. 5). We are especially uncertain about “corn,” which is a possible
translation of nivāpa (assuming that nisvapa in the Tibetan is a misspelling of
nivāpa). “Mat bean” is a possible translation of mukuṣṭa/makuṣṭa, assuming
that the Tibetan mon sran na gu is a mistake for mon sran nag gu (the Stok
Palace Kangyur edition has, in fact, nag gu). The list in Samtani 1971, p. 24 is
as follows: dhānyatilasarṣapamudgayavamāṣāṇām (“rice, sesame, mustard,
lentils, barley, and beans”).

n.56 Here the Sanskrit reads imāni śūkadhānyāni imāni haladhānyāni (Samtani 1971,
p. 25): “These are grains with awn, and these are grains to be ploughed.” The
Tibetan repeats the whole list, but the Sanskrit only presents this
abbreviated sentence.

n.57 Here the Sanskrit reads evam eva bhikṣavo bhikṣur imam eva kāyaṁ yathāvasthitam
yathāpraṇihitam yāvat pratyavekṣate (Samtani 1971, p. 25): “In the same way,
bhikṣus, a bhikṣu thus observes this very body … up to … just as it is
disposed and placed.” The Sanskrit contains the abbreviation yāvat, which is
often difficult to interpret conclusively: it is quite likely that in some cases it
is meant as just an abbreviation for saving space in manuscripts, so that the
 yāvat should then be understood as outside of the main text, not in the voice
of the speaker. The Tibetan also has an abbreviation here, snga ma bzhin du
(“just as before”), which we think would be translating *pūrvavat.

n.58 Here the Sanskrit reads adhyātmaṁ vikekajena samādhijena (Samtani 1971, p. 25):
“born from isolation and born from samādhi,” instead of Tibetan dben pa’i
ting nge ’dzin las skyes pa’i.

n.59 See n.58.

n.60 vivekajena (Samtani 1971, p. 26): “from isolation” is here added in the Sanskrit,
right before “born from samādhi.”

n.61 adhyātmaṁ vivekajena (Samtani 1971, p. 26): “born from inward isolation.”

n.62 The Tibetan here has shin tu legs par, while the Sanskrit has sādhu ca suṣṭhu ca
(“well and properly”). According to Samtani, what has not been translated in
the Tibetan is suṣṭhu; on the other hand, shin tu legs par is an attested
translation of suṣṭhu, which suggests that perhaps what was not translated
was sādhu. Since, however, sādhu would be legs par, we suggest that shin tu
legs par may be meant as a translation of sādhu ca suṣṭhu ca.

n.63 Samtani (1971, p. 26, n. 6) suggests that reg par should be corrected to rig par,
which would give suviditā and somehow be related to sudṛṣṭā (“seen it well”);
he also reports that the manuscript that he calls N3 has a correction to sujuṣṭā.
Having found a number of parallels where supratividdha(ā) is preceded by
some form of dṛś, Samtani’s suggestion of sudṛṣṭā sounds like a good
suggestion. However, the Nibandhana’s gloss to sudṛṣṭā is bhāvanākāle
viśeṣotpattiyogāt sudṛṣṭā | susevitety arthaḥ, which suggests that adopting the
reading of the manuscript that Samtani refers to as N, sujuṣṭā, would be more
sensible (in fact, sudṛṣṭā there hardly makes any sense). We propose to read
sujuṣṭā in the Sanskrit and consider reg par byas as a possible translation of
juṣṭā.

n.64 Reading divasasaṁjñādhiṣṭhitaṁ for divasasaṁjñādhiṣṭhitā, in analogy with the

subsequent section. The commentary does not seem to read adhiṣṭhita.

n.65 Here the Sanskrit adds sarvāntam imam lokam (Samtani 1971, p. 27):
“throughout this world on all sides.” This additional phrase, however, as
Samtani reports, is not in ANe (Samtani 1971, p. 27, nn. 5–6).

n.66 See n.63 on reg par.

n.67 Here too reading divasasaṁjñādhiṣṭhitaṁ for divasasaṁjñādhiṣṭhitā, in analogy
with the previous section; Samtani notices that “the reading is corrupt” in
ANe (Samtani 1971, p. 27, n. 10).

n.68 Tibetan here has dran pa, but we agree with Samtani (1971, p. 29, n. 5) that this
seems most likely a mistake for ’dun pa, since this is a stock expression
repeated in this very passage (and in many other texts).

n.69 This sentence is lacking in the Tibetan, but given the overall structure of the
sūtra, we have decided to include it on the basis of Samtani’s Sanskrit
edition: tadyathā | smṛtisambodhyaṅgaṁ dharmapravicayasaṃbodhyaṅgaṁ vīrya-
saṁbodhyaṅgaṁ prītisaṃbodhyaṅgaṁ praśrabdhisaṃbodhyaṅgaṁ samādhi-
saṃbodhyaṅgaṁ upekṣāsaṃbodhyaṅgam (Samtani 1971, p. 33).

n.70 The Sanskrit lacks the first liberation. See Samtani 1971, p. 321, n. 3.

n.71 The Tibetan for all this section corresponds to F and ANe, as reported in
Samtani’s appendix (Samtani 1971, pp. 320–22).

n.72 For the matching Sanskrit, see Samtani 1971, p. 321.

n.73 Sanskrit has āryamārga (Samtani 1971, p. 322).

n.74 For the matching Sanskrit see Samtani 1971, p. 322.

n.75 ṛjukā, drang pa (rather than dran pa).

n.76 The Tibetan suggests doṣa rather than dveṣa (Samtani 1971, p. 322). It also
suggests samyagdarśikā.

n.77 Here the Sanskrit has spharaṇa (“pervasive”) (Samtani 1971, p. 322; see also
n. 9, reporting the alternative orthography sphuraṇa in the manuscripts that
he abbreviates as N2 and N3).

n.78 For the matching Sanskrit, see Samtani 1971, p. 322.

n.79 “Even” here translates samā; there is a wordplay between samā and samādhi.

The Tibetan suggests *yā samyaktvena samā. The Sanskrit has yā samyaktvena
n.80
samādhiḥ.

n.81 Here the Sanskrit adds ayam ucyate āryāṣṭāṅgo mārgaḥ (Samtani 1971, p. 322):
“This is called the noble path with eight parts.” The Tibetan brtan pa’i gnes par
gyur pa suggests that sthiratvaṁ niyāmam (Samtani 1971, p. 322) should
probably be emended to sthiratvaniyāma.
 Here the Sanskrit has iha bhikṣavo bhikṣuḥ smṛta āśvasan smṛta āśvāsāmīti
n.82
yathābhūtaṁ prajānāti (Samtani 1971, p. 43). The Sanskrit adds iha and specifies
that “someone” is a monk (bhikṣuḥ); we think the Sanskrit version here is a
better reading, matching standard phrasings also found in Pāli parallels (idha
bhikkhave bhikkhu […]).

n.83 Following the commentary (abhipramodayan ceti […], Samtani 1971, p. 237) in
reading abhipramodayan ca rather than abhipramodayan me (Samtani 1971, p. 44).
we read the syntax differently from Samtani (2002, p. 44), as we believe cittam
should be taken as the object, rather than as the agent, of abhipramodayan;
Ferrari (1944, p. 605) also understands cittam as the agent (“Si rallegra la mia
mente […]”), but the wording of her text is indeed different (abhimodati me
cittam, Ferrari 1944, p. 576).

n.84 Samtani (1971, p. 45) adds bhikṣavaś between square brackets; we understand
this as indicating that bhikṣavaś (“monks”) was also omitted in the available
Sanskrit manuscripts.

n.85 Samtani (1971, p. 45) reports that manuscripts F and ANe here add bhikṣavaḥ.

n.86 Samtani, also taking into account Pāli parallels, writes bhagavatā (Samtani
1971, p. 45; Samtani 1971, p. 248, n. 5). However, he reports the manuscript
reading as bhagavato (Samtani 1971, p. 45, n. 7); furthermore, the manuscripts
of the Nibandhana commentary that Samtani abbreviates as G and N are also
reported as reading bhagavato (Samtani 1971, p. 248, n. 5). The Tibetan would
suggest bhagavato, we think, rather than bhagavatā.

n.87 Here the Sanskrit reads pipāsāprativinayaḥ (Samtani 1971, p. 46). Samtani
suggests that the Tibetan would rather correspond to tṛṣṇāpraṇāśanaḥ
(Samtani 1971, p. 46, n. 2). However, the Tibetan sred pa is one of the possible
translations of pipāsā; and rab tu sel ba translates a few different terms. It is
quite possible that the Tibetan was meant to translate pipāsāprativinayaḥ.

n.88 Here the Sanskrit has dharmopacchedaḥ śūnyatopalambhaḥ (Samtani 1971, p. 46):
“the cutting off of the dharmas, the obtainment of emptiness.”

n.89 Here the Sanskrit has ṛjudṛṣṭipratipannaḥ (Samtani 1971, p. 46): “practicing
with upright view.” The Tibetan would most likely correspond to
ṛjupratipannaḥ, matching Pāli parallels (ujuppaṭipanno). The Nibandhana
commentary too reads ṛjupratipannaḥ (Samtani 1971, p. 251).

n.90 The Nibandhana explains that this expression refers to the “Dharma of
teaching” (deśanādharma), which is said to “accord with the Dharma” of
 realization (adhigama), since it elucidates it. See Samtani 1971, pp. 251–52.

n.91 prajñāsampannaḥ (shes rab phun sum tshogs pa) does not appear in the Sanskrit
edition of the main text, which has a different order for the first few elements
in this list. It does appear, however, in the commentary (Samtani 1971, p. 254).

n.92 susamārabdhāni (Samtani 1971, p. 47): “well undertaken” is additionally found

in the Sanskrit. Samtani has a note (Samtani 1971, p. 47, n. 11) for vijña-
praśastāni, saying that it is missing in the Tibetan, as well as in ANe; we
suspect that the note was supposed to be for susamārabdhāni and was
somehow printed in the wrong place. The commentary does not represent
the last list of qualifiers in the same vibhakti (the nominal endings indicating
syntactical roles) as the root text, but we wonder whether there is some
corruption in this part of the commentary, since in two different but nearby
sentences we find aparāmṛṣṭair iti and then aparāmṛṣṭāṇīti, where both should
be quotes from the root text.

n.93 Sanskrit adds bhikṣavaḥ (“monks”) (Samtani 1971, p. 47), but note 14 reports
that ANe and F do not have it and thus match the Tibetan.

n.94 Samtani (1971, p. 48, nn. 4–5) reports that ANe and F have yathābhūtaṁ
prajānāti | idaṁ tathāgatasya prathamaṁ tathāgatabalam, which corresponds to the
Tibetan yang dag pa ji lta ba bzhin and ’di ni de bzhin gshegs pa’i ltobs dang po’o;
his edition, on the other hand, lacks these portions.

n.95 parapudgalānām (Samtani 1971, p. 48); “other persons” is added in the Sanskrit.

n.96 Here the Degé block print has the correct reading sems can gzhan, while the
Degé as reported by Samtani has sems gzhan, an obvious mistake. It seems
that Samtani had been relying on the Zhol version.

n.97 punar aparam (Samtani 1971, p. 49); “furthermore” is added in the Sanskrit, but
Samtani reports that F and ANe do not have it (Samtani 1971, p. 49, n. 3).

n.98 punar aparam (Samtani 1971, p. 49); “furthermore” is added here too in the
Sanskrit, but Samtani reports that F and ANe do not have it (Samtani 1971, p.
49, n. 3).

n.99 tathāgato 'rhan (Samtani 1971, p. 49); “the tathāgata, the arhat” is added in the
Sanskrit, but Samtani reports that F and ANe do not have tathāgata.

n.100 The Sanskrit syntax is ambiguous as to what samyak may be qualifying, but
the Tibetan reads samyak as qualifying nadati.
n.101 The Tibetan zhes bya bar rgyas par sbyar ba matches iti vistaraḥ (Samtani 1971,
p. 50). This could have been meant as a scribal abbreviation, meaning that the
previous section is understood as repeated. We think Samtani understood it
in this way, for he translates by repeating it (Samtani 2002, pp. 196–97).
However, as the Tibetan abbreviates rather than repeats, we have conformed
to this convention.

n.102 Here the Sanskrit has punar mayā (Samtani 1971, p. 50): “moreover, by me.”
Samtani (1971, p. 50, n. 11), however, reports ANe and F as having anena,
which we believe matches the Tibetan ’dis.

n.103 Here too the Tibetan has zhes bya bar rgyas par sbyar ba, which is more likely a
translation of iti vistaraḥ, rather than of iti pūrvavat (Samtani 1971, p. 50).

n.104 The Sanskrit syntax is ambiguous as to what samyak may be qualifying, but
the Tibetan reads samyak as qualifying nadati.

n.105 Here the Sanskrit reads arthapratisaṁvit katamā yaduta paramārthe yad
avaivartyajñānam | dharmapratisaṁvit katamā anāsraveṣu dharmeṣu yad
avaivartyajñānam | niruktipratisaṁvit katamā abhivyāhāre yad avaivartyajñānam |
prabhānapratisaṁvit katamā yuktam uktam abhilāpitāyāṁ samādhivaśe
saṁprakhyāneṣu yad avaivartyajñānam (Samtani 1971, p. 52): “What is the special
knowledge of meaning? It is irremovable awareness of the highest meaning.
What is the special knowledge of dharmas? It is irremovable awareness of
dharmas without fluxes. What is the special knowledge of explanations? It is
irremovable awareness of what is uttered. What is the special knowledge of
brilliancy? It is irremovable awareness that what has been said is fit and free
when something is expressed within the mastery of samādhi.” This
explanation is not found in the Tibetan; Samtani (1971, p. 52, nn. 2–6) reports
that F and ANe also omit this part.

n.106 yad uta (Samtani 1971, p. 53); “it is thus” is additionally found in the Sanskrit
as edited by Samtani, but Samtani (1971, p. 53, n. 1) reports that ANe and F
accord with the Tibetan, omitting it.

n.107 Samtani’s edition does not have this item, but he reports (Samtani 1971, p. 53,
n. 5) that it is found in ANe and F (and in the Tibetan). The only way to get to
eighteen items is to count this together with, possibly, the previous one.

n.108 yad uta (Samtani 1971, p. 54); “it is thus” is additionally found in the Sanskrit
as edited by Samtani, but Samtani (Samtani 1971, p. 54, n. 1) reports that ANe
and F agree with the Tibetan in omitting it.
n.109 Although the Sanskrit edition lacks “he has the Tathāgata’s mark of a great
person,” Samtani reports that ANe and F have it, thus agreeing with the
Tibetan (tathāgatasyedaṁ mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇam, Samtani 1971, p. 54, n. 2).

n.110 As pointed out by Samtani (1971, p. 54, n. 5), in this instance the Tibetan not
only translates eṇeya with ri dvags but also offers a transliteration.

n.111 Here the Sanskrit does not have anything explicitly matching pus mo
(“knee,” often representing jānu). Samtani notices that there is a textual
problem and supports his preferred reading with the Nibandhana
commentary and with the relevant Mahāvyutpatti entry (Samtani 1971, p. 54,
n. 7). It is to be noted that the relevant Mahāvyutpatti entry also has pus mo in
the Tibetan but nothing explicitly matching it in the Sanskrit; we thus think
that the Tibetan was in fact meant to translate the Sanskrit without jānu, but
was meant to make it more explicit.

n.112 Here, Samtani (1971, p. 56, n. 7) suggests that the Tibetan g.yog ’khor may be
translating parijana rather than parivāra, and he supports this suggestion with
the relevant Mahāvyutpatti entry. However, g.yog ’khor is an attested
rendering of parivāra (see Negi vol. 13, p. 6095).

n.113 Here and in the following sentences the Sanskrit continues to have mahā-
puruṣasya mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇam, but the Tibetan omits it (see also Samtani 1971,
p. 57, nn. 7–8). “Fearlessness” (abhaya) does not appear in the Tibetan. It does
however appear in the don rnam par gdon mi za ba’i ’grel pa commentary.

n.114 Again, the Sanskrit does not explicitly represent pus mo (but see the relevant
note above).

n.115 Although the Tibetan does not have a precise correspondent for utsukatayā,
we feel that “eager to perform tasks” should still work for kimkaraṇīyatā on its
own, as reflected in the Tibetan rendering bya ba ci yod ces bya ba.

n.116 Sanskrit adds sarvasattvāśvāsaprayogatayā (Samtani 1971, p. 58): “due to having

offered consolation to all sentient beings.”

n.117 Here the Sanskrit reads samāviraladantatā (Samtani 1971, p. 58): “his teeth are
even and have no interstices.” Sanskrit adds sama (“even” teeth), which
corresponds to how the item had been previously listed; however, Samtani
(1971, p. 58, n. 7) reports that F and ANe do not have sama, thus matching the
Tibetan.

n.118 Here the Sanskrit reads, pūrve ’pramāṇapuṇyaskandho[pasevitā]tmatatayā

(Samtani 1971, p. 59). Samtani reports that “Ms. has faulty and faint reading.
 So also F and ANe” (Samtani 1971, p. 59, n. 4; F and ANe are abbreviations
used by Samtani).

n.119 Here the Sanskrit reads snigdhavacanasatyapālanatayā (Samtani: 1971, p. 60):

“because he guarded affectionate speech and truth.” Samtani proposes that
the Tibetan should correspond to sattvebhyaḥ mṛduvacanālapanatayā (Samtani
1971, p. 60, n. 2).

n.120 Here and in the following item, in the Tibetan de bzhin gshegs pa’i (tathāgatasya)
is omitted.

n.121 Here the Sanskrit reads dharmasaṅgīticittakarmaṇyatayā (Samtani 1971, p. 60):

“he had a mind that was workable for chanting the Dharma.” Samtani
proposes that the Tibetan chos yang dag par sdud pa could correspond to
dharmasaṁgrahakarmaṇyatā (Samtani 1971, p. 60, n. 6). However, the
Mahāvyutpatti has chos yang dag par sdud pa as the translation for the entry
dharmasaṁgītiḥ (see Negi vol. 3, p. 1293).

n.122 Samtani suggests that ’thun par/mthun par should be translating anukūla
rather than pradakṣiṇa (Samtani 1971, p. 61, n. 2). However, ’thun par/mthun par
is attested as a translation of pradakṣiṇa (see Negi vol. 5, pp. 2116–17; see also
De Jong 1975, p. 117). We have used “courteous dexterity” so as to reflect, at
least in part, the etymological rationale for this explanation (where the
pradakṣiṇa = “turning to the right” is caused by pradakṣiṇa = “courteous
dexterity”). This rationale is unfortunately lost in Tibetan translation.

n.123 Here the Sanskrit reads sarvaprāṇa (Samtani 1971, p. 61): “all life forces.”
Tibetan would correspond to sattvaprāṇa (“the life force of sentient beings”),
as pointed out by Samtani. We believe that the Tibetan reading is better, and
sattvānāṁ prāṇa- is indeed attested elsewhere. See sattvānāṁ prāṇarakṣāya
(Hevajratantra 2.4.90 in Tripāṭhī and Negi 2001, p. 193) and sattvānāṁ
prāṇahāriṇi (Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa 12.18
(https://read.84000.co/translation/toh543.html# UT22084-088-038-1997);
12.14 in Śāstrī 1920, p. 119).

n.124 sku here has no matching term in the Sanskrit.

n.125 This mark is not in Samtani’s edition but is reported by Samtani as found in
Ms, F, and ANe (Samtani 1971, p. 62, n. 3) with the addition of one reason in
the manuscript that Samtani abbreviates as Ms: “and helped broken sentient
beings to cross beyond their own troubles” (bhinnasattvasantāraṇatayā). It is
also found in the Nibandhana commentary (Samtani 1971, pp. 305–6).
n.126 The Sanskrit has tulyapāṇirekhāś ca (Samtani 1971, p. 63); this is omitted in the
Tibetan, but without it we get only seventy-nine marks. Samtani reports that
F and ANe also omit this (Samtani 1971, p. 63, n. 4).

n.127 The Sanskrit here has vṛttāṅgulayaś ca (Samtani 1971, p. 63), “round fingers,”
while the Tibetan has sen mo rnams zlum pa, “round nails.” Samtani (1971, p.
63, n. 5) speculates that the Tibetan may contain a mistake in the
transmission wherein sor mo was accidentally substituted with sen mo in this
item. This is very plausible. It is worth noting, though, that Samtani (1971, p.
63, n. 5) also reports that F and ANe have vṛttāṅgulinakhāś ca, “round
fingernails.” (Also, the Tibetan version consulted by Samtani, as he reports it,
contains one further mistake for sor mo, while the Degé Parphud (par phud)
printing is fine.) Stok has indeed sor mo, thus supporting our preference and,
first of all, Samtani’s insightful proposal. The relevant entry in the
Mahāvyutpatti has vṛttāṅguliḥ/sor mo rnams zlum pa.

n.128 “Hidden” translates gūḍha/mi mngon pa.

n.129 Here the Sanskrit reads pradakṣiṇāvartagāminaś ca (the reading of manuscript

F; see Samtani 1971, p. 64, n. 1); pradakṣiṇagāminaś ca (Samtani 1971, pp. 63–64).
Whether we read āvarta or not, we could have the same English translation.
We believe that the Tibetan g.yas phyogs su ldog cing gshegs pa translates the
reading of F; the relevant Mahāvyutpatti entry (Mahāvyutpatti no. 283) has this
expression as the translation of pradakṣiṇāvartagāmī (see Negi vol. 13, p. 6064).

n.130 Samtani (1971, p. 64, n. 2) reports the Tibetan as having instead mi g.yo bar
gshegs pa, but the Degé Parphud edition has it as mdzes par gshegs pa.

n.131 Here the Sanskrit has avakragātrāś ca (“bodies that are not crooked”), but we
wonder whether something might have gone wrong in the transmission: the
Tibetan mi g.yo bar gshegs pa (that Samtani thought was in place of the
previous item) would correspond to avakragāminaś ca (see Negi vol. 10, p.
4380, reporting the relevant Mahāvyutpatti entry), which seems likely to us.
However, we find attestations for both avakragāmitā (Abhisamayālaṁkāraśāstra-
vṛtti, Amano 1975, p. 286; Abhisamayālaṁkārālokā, Wogihara 1932–73, p. 921,
lines 4–5; Dharmasaṁgraha, Müller and Wenzel 1995, p. 19) and avakragātratā
(Sāratamā, Jaini 1979, p. 182).

n.132 The equivalent, gātratā, is not included in the Sanskrit, but it is found in
parallel passages from other texts: pṛthucārumaṇḍalagātratā (Abhisamayālaṁkāra-
śāstravṛtti, Amano 1975, p. 286; Abhisamayālaṁkārālokā, Wogihara 1932–73, p.
921, line 9) cārupṛthumaṇḍalagātratā (Sāratamā, Jaini 1979, p. 182; note that this,
as well as the phrase in the Vṛtti and in the Ālokā, is commenting on the same
 expression occurring in the root text of the Abhisamayālaṁkāra). Importantly,
sku kho lag yangs shing bzang ba is attested as the translation of pṛthucāru-
maṇḍalagātraḥ (Negi vol. 1, p. 175, referring to Mahāvyutpatti no. 293).

n.133 Samtani (1971, p. 64, n. 6) suggests that the Tibetan should rather correspond
to spaṣṭakukṣayaś ca; however, dku skabs phyin pa is attested as a translation of
mṛṣṭakukṣiḥ (Negi vol. 1, p. 105, reporting the relevant Mahāvyutpatti no. 302);
thus the Tibetan, we think, matches the Sanskrit well.

n.134 This item and the next appear in reversed order in Samtani’s edition;
however, the “thin tongue” is added by him on the basis of the Tibetan ljags
srab pa, rendered as tanujihvāś ca as per Ferrari’s conjecture (Samtani 1971, p.
64, n. 12; this conjecture is supported by the relevant Mahāvyutpatti entry, no.
317; see Negi vol. 4, p. 1460). This item should probably have gone first
anyhow, considering the Tibetan.

n.135 Tibetan cing snyen la ’jam pa does not repeat “voice,” and Samtani points out
that F has mañjusvarāḥ. We would propose *madhuracārumañjusvarāś ca as the
more likely Sanskrit from which the Tibetan was translated. The relevant
entry in the Mahāvyutpatti (no. 320) indeed has madhuracārumañjusvaraḥ
(although the wording is slightly different: gsung snyan cing mnyen la ’jam pa;
see also Negi vol. 16, p. 7363).

n.136 Sanskrit does not have anything that could match dkar ba (“white”). We are
not sure whether the Tibetan considers these two as one item or two. If these
are counted as two, we get eighty marks.

spyan dkar gnag ’byes shing ud pa la’i ’dab ma yangs ba lta bur ’dug pa dang. The
n.137 Sanskrit reads nīlotpaladalanayanāś ca (Samtani 1971, p. 65), “eyes like the
petals of a blue lotus”; Samtani (1971, p. 65, n. 7) points out that Ferrari adds
sitāsita- (“white and nonwhite”) before -nīla- (“blue”). The conjecture
resembles the wording of the relevant Mahāvyutpatti entry (no. 331), which is
somewhat different: spyan dkar nag ’byes shing padma’i ’dab ma rangs pa lta
bu/sitāsitakamaladaraśakalanayanaḥ (see Negi vol. 8, p. 3397). The wording
sitāsita- is also found in the Dharmasaṁgraha (sitāsitakamaladalanayanatā, Müller
and Wenzel 1995, p. 20), in the Abhisamayālaṁkāraśāstravṛtti (sitāsitakamala-
dalanayanatā, Amano 1975, p. 288), Haribhadra’s Abhisamayālaṁkārālokā (sitāsita-
kamaladalanayanatā, Wogihara 1932–73, p. 922, line 9), and also, most likely, in
Ratnākaraśānti’s Sāratamā (We think that the printed text sitasitakamaladalana-
yanatā [Jaini 1979, p. 184] should be emended to sitāsitakamaladalanayanatā).

n.138 “Firm” is not in the Sanskrit; we were unable to find parallels for this
passage.
n.139 “Black” is not explicit in the Sanskrit (bhramarasadṛśakeśāś ca, Samtani 1971, p.
66). Samtani (1971, p. 66, n. 2) suggests that the gnag in the Tibetan could
correspond to an additional asita in the Sanskrit, but parallels suggest that it
is just a slightly explanatory translation, and it corresponds to this very
Sanskrit. See for example Negi vol. 9, p. 3978, where the relevant
Mahāvyutpatti entry (no. 342) is given.

n.140 asaṁhatakeśāś ca (Samtani 1971, p. 66); Samtani (1971, p. 66, n. 4) suggests that
the Tibetan might be translating asamṛditakeśāś ca, corresponding to the
reading of F. However, we think that the reading that he reports for ANe,
asaṁsuditakeśāś ca, is likely to preserve traces of the right reading; it could be
emended to asaṁluḍitakeśāś ca. Parallels suggest that the Tibetan could more
likely match asaṁluḍitakeśāḥ (asaṁluḍitakeśatā, Abhisamayālaṁkāraśāstravṛtti,
Amano 1975, p. 290; Abhisamayālaṁkārālokā, Wogihara 1932–73, p. 922, line 19;
Sāratamā, Jaini 1979, p. 284).

n.141 The Sanskrit colophon as per Samtani’s edition reads ye dharmā hetuprabhavā
hetus teṣāṁ tathāgato hy avadat | teṣāṁ ca yo nirodha evaṁvādī mahāśramaṇaḥ ||
likhitam idaṁ samvat 319 caitra śukla 9 (Samtani 1971, p. 68): “ ‘For dharmas that
come about from causes, the Tathāgata spoke of their causes, and also their
cessation: the great śramaṇa speaks in this way.’ This was written in the
Saṁvat 319, in the month of Caitra, on the ninth of the white half.” The
Sanskrit colophon as per Ferrari’s edition reads śubhaṁ || samvat 1971
dharmarājena likhitvā divyadevaśarmaṇāya dattam idam pustakam iti | tatpustakāt
pratilikhitam (Ferrari 1944, p. 587): “Good! In the year 1971, this book was
given by Dharmarāja, after having written it, to Divyadevaśarmaṇa. It has
been copied from that book” (1971 Nepali Samvat = 1915 ᴄᴇ). Stok includes a
Tibetan transliteration of the ye dharmā verse, followed by dge’o/ bkra shis par
shog. The Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) Kangyur records that the
Yongle, Lithang, Kangxi, Narthang, and Choné versions are all missing a
colophon and that Stok is also missing a colophon.
b. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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g. GLOSSARY

· Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding ·

source language

AS Attested in source text

This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.

AO Attested in other text

This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.

AD Attested in dictionary
This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding
language.

AA Approximate attestation
The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names
where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested
in dictionaries or other manuscripts.

RP Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the
term.

RS Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan
translation.

SU Source unspecified
This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often
is a widely trusted dictionary.

g.1 abode of neither perception nor no perception

’du shes med ’du shes med min skye mched

འ་ས་ད་འ་ས་ད་ན་་མད།
naivasaṁjñānāsaṁjñāyatana
 A formless state, either a meditative state or its resultant realm of existence,
i.e., a class of deities of the formless realm.

g.2 abode of the infinity of space

nam mkha’ mtha’ yas skye mched

ནམ་མཁའ་མཐའ་ཡས་་མད།
ākāśānantyāyatana
A formless state, either a meditative state or its resultant realm of existence,
i.e., a class of deities of the formless realm.

g.3 ācārya
slob dpon

བ་དན།
ācārya
Teacher, sometimes more specifically the deputy or substitute of the
upādhyāya.

g.4 affliction
nyon mongs pa

ན་ངས་པ།
kleśa
Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:
The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by various
psychological defilements, which destroy the mind’s peace and composure
and lead to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, acting as causes
for continued existence in saṃsāra. Included among them are the primary
afflictions of desire (rāga), anger (dveṣa), and ignorance (avidyā). It is said that
there are eighty-four thousand of these negative mental qualities, for which
the eighty-four thousand categories of the Buddha’s teachings serve as the
antidote.

Kleśa is also commonly translated as “negative emotions,” “disturbing

emotions,” and so on. The Pāli kilesa, Middle Indic kileśa, and Buddhist
Hybrid Sanskrit kleśa all primarily mean “stain” or “defilement.” The
translation “affliction” is a secondary development that derives from the
more general (non-Buddhist) classical understanding of √kliś (“to harm,“ “to
afflict”). Both meanings are noted by Buddhist commentators.

g.5 analysis
dpyod pa
 དོད་པ།
vicāra
A mental factor understood either as “the subtlety of the mind” or as the
cause for such subtlety. More elaborate definitions explain it as a type of
“mental murmur” (manojalpa) that is searching (paryeṣaka) and can be either
based on intention (cetanā) or on wisdom (prajñā). See also “deliberation”
(vitarka).

g.6 arhat
dgra bcom pa

ད་བམ་པ།
arhat
Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:
According to Buddhist tradition, one who is worthy of worship (pūjām arhati),
or one who has conquered the enemies, the mental afflictions (kleśa-ari-hata-
vat), and reached liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. It is the
fourth and highest of the four fruits attainable by śrāvakas. Also used as an
epithet of the Buddha.

g.7 as it is
yang dag pa ji lta ba bzhin du

ཡང་དག་པ་་་བ་བན་།
yathābhūta
Yathā means “in accordance”/“just as,” and bhūta is a participle from the root
bhū, which can mean “to exist” or “to come into existence.” The term
yathābhūta is a key term in Buddhist texts, indicating the way things are, the
nature of things, etc. It is usually used adverbially, indicating the way in
which someone cognizes.

g.8 assembled factor

’du byed

འ་ད།
saṁskāra
In its broadest sense, the term saṁskāra includes all impermanent entities
when understood as causes. The prefix sam is here understood as indicating
“coming together” or “assembling,” while the root kṛ means “to produce,”
“to create.”

g.9 asura
 lha ma yin

་མ་ན།
asura
Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:
A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views,
but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification
of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said
to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the
pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature
prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in
the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as
being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).

g.10 attraction
’dod chags

འད་ཆགས།
rāga
One of the three basic mental afflictions (together with aversion and
confusion) within which all other mental afflictions can be subsumed. The
term rāga comes from the root rañj, which can also have the sense of “to
color,” thus making it possible to create significant double-meanings in
Sanskrit (rakta can thus mean “impassioned,” but also “red” or “blood”).
Liberated beings are often described as vītarāga, “free from attraction.”

g.11 awareness
ye shes

་ས།
jñāna
The term jñāna is formed by the root jñā, meaning “to know,” “to know of,”
“to understand,” “to be aware of,” with the addition of the pratyaya lyuṭ,
which can be interpreted as having different values (the instrument of
awareness, its agent, or the action of awareness). We have chosen
“awareness” as it was the only that seemed to fit for two important (and not
unrelated) contexts wherein jñāna is used: awareness of something, and
nonobjective, nonconceptual awareness. In Tibetan the two senses are
sometimes distinguished by using shes pa and ye shes, respectively, but the
distinction in the usage of these two terms is not clearly marked in works
that are translations from the Sanskrit, and hence it is less relevant for the
Kangyur than it may be for indigenous Tibetan works. The nature of jñāna
 and its relationship with “wisdom” (prajñā) is the topic of one of the chapters
of the Abhidharmakośa and is also thematized in a number of Mahāyāna sūtras
and śāstras.

g.12 bhagavat
bcom ldan ’das

བམ་ན་འདས།
bhagavat
Epithet of a buddha; “one who has fortune” (explained as having six
features) or “one who has vanquished (Māra).”

g.13 bhikṣu
dge slong

ད་ང་།
bhikṣu
The term bhikṣu, which is often translated as “monk,” refers to the highest
type among the eight types of prātimokṣa vows that make one part of the
Buddhist assembly. The term is explained as having at least three possible
meanings: (1) someone who begs; (2) someone who has taken the highest
level of Buddhist ordination; and (3) someone who has destroyed mental
afflictions.

g.14 bodhisattva
byang chub sems dpa’

ང་བ་མས་དཔའ།
bodhisattva · bodhisatva
Someone who practices according to the vehicle of the bodhisattvas, those
who aim at complete buddhahood; the term is explained as “awakening
hero,” “one who has a wish for awakening,” or also “one who awakens
sentient beings.”

g.15 Brahma
tshangs pa

ཚངས་པ།
brahman
Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:
 A high-ranking deity presiding over a divine world; he is also considered to
be the lord of the Sahā world (our universe). Though not considered a creator
god in Buddhism, Brahmā occupies an important place as one of two gods
(the other being Indra/Śakra) said to have first exhorted the Buddha
Śākyamuni to teach the Dharma. The particular heavens found in the form
realm over which Brahmā rules are often some of the most sought-after
realms of higher rebirth in Buddhist literature. Since there are many
universes or world systems, there are also multiple Brahmās presiding over
them. His most frequent epithets are “Lord of the Sahā World” (sahāṃpati)
and Great Brahmā (mahābrahman).

g.16 Brahma wheel

tshangs pa’i ’khor lo

ཚངས་པ་འར་།
brāhmacakra
Here the sense is “the supreme wheel” or perhaps “the wheel of what is
supreme.” See brahmacakkaṃ pavattetīti ettha brahmanti seṭṭhaṃ uttamaṃ
visiṭṭhaṃ | Mahāsīhanādasutta-Aṭṭhakathā, Mūlapaṇṇāsa, Majjhimanikāya.

g.17 Brahman conduct

tshangs par spyod pa

ཚངས་པར་ད་པ།
brahmacarya
Brahman is a Sanskrit term referring to what is highest (parama) and most
important (pradhāna); the Nibandhana commentary explains brahman as
meaning here nirvāṇa, and thus the brahman conduct is the “conduct toward
brahman,” the conduct that leads to the highest liberation, i.e., nirvāṇa. This
is explained as “the path without outflows,” which is the “truth of the path”
among the four truths of the noble ones. Other explanations (found in the
Pāli tradition) take “brahman conduct” to mean the “best conduct,” and also
the “conduct of the best,” i.e., the buddhas. In some contexts, “brahman
conduct” refers more specifically to celibacy, but the specific referents of this
expression are many.

g.18 brilliancy
spobs pa

བས་པ།
pratibhāna
 The translation is meant to somehow echo the etymology of prati + bhāna
(“forth” + “shine”), and the term does mean something like “intelligence,”
“inspiration,” or “eloquence,” often referring to the intelligent presence of
mind that allows one to speak in the most appropriate way, even for very
long stretches of time.

g.19 clinging
nye bar len pa

་བར་ན་པ།
upādāna
The term upādāna figures in at least two prominent contexts within basic
Buddhist classifications. Firstly, the five aggregates are also called
“aggregates of clinging” when they refer to a nonliberated person.
According to the Nibandhana commentary on Distinctly Ascertaining the
Meanings, they are called “aggregates of clinging” for different reasons: they
are “born from the clingings” because the aggregates arise due to the three
mental afflictions of attraction, aversion, and confusion, which can also be
called “clingings”; or, they are so called because the aggregates are under
the control of the “clingings,” in the sense that it is due to the three mental
afflictions that the aggregates remerge, after death, in a new realm of
existence (Samtani 1971, pp. 87–88; the explanation in the Nibandhana partly
follows Abhidharmakośabhāṣya on kārikā 1.8; see Pradhan 1967, p. 5).

Another important context of the term upādāna is as the ninth of the “twelve
parts of dependent arising.” Here upādāna arises with craving (tṛṣṇā) as its
condition. The difference between “craving” and “clinging” is explained by
Vasubandhu as follows: it is “craving” when one strongly wants enjoyments
but has not yet started searching for those objects of enjoyments (yāvan na
tadviṣayaparyeṣṭim āpadyate); it is “clinging” once one starts seeking ways to
obtain those objects of enjoyments and thus runs in all directions (viṣaya-
prāptaye paryeṣṭim āpannaḥ sarvato dhāvati). See Pradhan 1967, p. 132.

g.20 consciousness
rnam par shes pa

མ་པར་ས་པ།
vijñāna
The term vijñāna is formed by the prefix vi plus a formation from the root jñā,
which means “to know,” “to understand,” “to know of,” “to be aware of.”
(This is reproduced in the Tibetan as rnam par + shes pa.) “Consciousness” has
a specific meaning in Buddhist texts and refers to awareness of an object,
 point of reference, or support. This meaning is occasionally obtained by
understanding the vi as standing for viṣaya, which means a domain of
activity and, in this case, the object of perception. The standard list of
consciousness types is six, corresponding to the five sense faculties plus the
“thought consciousness.” This refers to a type of mental perception that
arises taking as its basis not a sense faculty but a prior moment of
consciousness itself; this type of consciousness is unrestricted as per its
possible range of objects, both in terms of their location in time (past,
present, or future) and in terms of their type (visual, audible, etc., including
entities that are not within the range of any of the five senses).

g.21 contact
reg pa

ག་པ།
sparśa
This can mean either, more literally, “touch,” or coming into contact; in the
context of the twelve parts of dependent arising, “contact” refers more
specifically to the coming together of the object, faculty, and consciousness.
According to some abhidharma masters, this coming together gives rise to a
specific entity called “contact,” while others consider “contact” to simply
describe a specific state of those three entities, i.e., when object, faculty, and
consciousness are “together” and thus able to give rise to notion. It is also
worth noticing that the root spṛś is used far more often in Sanskrit than either
“to touch” or “to come in contact with” is used in English, and can often
mean something like “to obtain” etc.

g.22 Control of Others’ Emanations

gzhan ’phrul dbang byed

གཞན་འལ་དབང་ད།
paranirmitavaśavartin
The highest level of the desire realm.

g.23 copulation dharma

khrig pa’i chos

ག་པ་ས།
maithunadharma
This refers to the habit of copulation, called a dharma perhaps as it is a
property/feature that belongs to those who copulate, or in the sense of
something that is one’s course of behavior.
g.24 craving
sred pa

ད་པ།
tṛṣṇā
The eighth of the twelve parts of dependent arising.

g.25 deities of the Brahmā group

tshangs rigs kyi lha

ཚངས་གས་་།
brahmakāyika
A class of deities, the first, i.e., lowest, in the form realm.

g.26 deliberation
rtog pa

ག་པ།
vitarka
A mental factor understood either as “the coarseness of the mind” or as the
cause for such coarseness. More elaborate definitions explain it as a type of
“mental murmur” (manojalpa) that is searching (paryeṣaka) and can be either
based on intention (cetanā) or on wisdom (prajñā). See also “analysis” (vicāra).

g.27 dependent arising

rten cing ’brel par ’byung ba

ན་ང་འལ་པར་འང་བ།
pratītyasamutpāda
A key term for Buddhist philosophy that represents the basic Buddhist
understanding of causal processes.

In pratītya-samutpāda, a compound of two terms, samutpāda means “arisin” or

“coming into existence” and poses little interpretive difficulty. The preverb
sam- is sometimes understood as meaning “together” (samavāyena), referring
to the doctrine that no entity whatsoever arises on its own—ultimately
existent bits of materiality always arise with other bits, and moments of mind
are always accompanied by mental states. The sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa
commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti, however, clarifies that the Tibetan
translation has ’brel par in the sense of “connection,” a rendering of
sambandha resulting from an interpretation of the sam- as indicating
connection (sam ni sambandha stes ’brel pa la bya).
The first part of the compound, pratītya, can be explained in two very
different ways, which have occasioned lengthy debates at the crossroads of
philosophy and grammar. According to one explanation, it would mean
“things that are each bound to go, to vanish,” hence the whole expression
would mean something like “the arising of things that are each bound to
vanish,” i.e., the arising of impermanent things. This explanation is favored,
for example, by Bhāviveka, and Candrakīrti criticizes him for it (see
Macdonald 2015, pp. 121–32). It is also the one opted for by Vīryaśrīdatta in
the Nibandhana commentary on Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings (see
Samtani 1971, p. 98).

The other interpretation takes pratītya as meaning “having obtained” or

“having depended upon,” more flexibly also “depending,” i.e., without
necessarily implying temporal succession of two activities by the same
entity, which is problematic, as the entity cannot be easily expected to do
something (even “depending”) before it has come into existence (unless one
is a Vaibhāṣika who accepts existence of future entities). In this
interpretation, the sense of the whole expression is expanded as “arising in
dependence upon an assemblage of causes and conditions.” This
interpretation seems to be prevalent, and hence it has been followed in the
translation (it is also the basis for the Tibetan rendering as rten cing ’brel par
’byung ba). It has the distinct advantage of matching the only possible sense
of pratītya when it appears outside of a compound in sūtra passages where
the dependent arising of, say, eye consciousness is described. A long
discussion of the proper sense and the two interpretations of the term
pratītyasamutpāda can be found in chapter 3 of the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya
(Pradhan 1967, p. 138).

We find numerous different explanations of dependent arising in the

Buddhist texts, but three of them are most prominent: a short general
definition of contingent coming into existence, as “A being there, B exists;
from the arising of A, B arises”; the example of the arising of a single
momentary entity, as “depending upon visible form and the eye faculty, eye
consciousness arises”; and lastly the process of causality known as
“dependent arising with twelve parts,” which describes the birth, complete
life cycle, death, and rebirth of a sentient being in the desire realm (the part
of the universe where we live and where several classes of sentient beings
are born from a womb).

The twelve parts of dependent arising are often distributed into three
lifetimes: ignorance and assembled factors belong to the previous lifetime;
consciousness, name-and-form, the six entrances, contact, feeling, craving,
clinging, and existence belong to the present lifetime; and birth and decay-
 and-death belong to the future lifetime (see Abhidharmakośabhāṣya 3.25,
Pradhan 1967, pp. 133–34). This explanation allows one to make good sense
of the frequent sequence, found in the sūtras, where first dependent arising
is explained, and then it is said to vanquish all views regarding past,
present, or future lives (this progression is also found in the
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā; see Salvini 2011).

g.28 dependent arising with twelve parts

rten cing ’brel par ’byung ba yan lag bcu gnyis

ན་ང་འལ་པར་འང་བ་ཡན་ལག་བ་གས།
dvādaśāṅgapratītyasamutpāda
See “dependent arising.” These are the twelve causal links that perpetuate
life in cyclic existence, starting with ignorance and ending with death.

g.29 descendant of Manu

shed las skyes

ད་ལས་ས།
manuja
Literally “born from Manu,” considered the first ancestor of all humans.

g.30 Dharma
chos

ས།
dharma
Among its many meanings, this term can refer to the teachings of the
Buddha (when capitalized in this translation); positive actions that accord
with it; an entity, which has (dhṛ) certain features through which it may be
cognized (also the relevant sense in which it is used when dharmas are
listed as the objects of thought); and a property or a quality (such as when
discussing the Buddhadharmas, i.e., the dharmas of the Buddha, meaning his
special qualities or properties).

g.31 distinctly ascertaining the meanings

don rnam par nges pa

ན་མ་པར་ས་པ།
arthaviniścaya
The Nibandhana commentary explains the term arthaviniścaya twice. It first
states, “ ‘Distinctly ascertaining the meanings’ means classifying/analyzing
the dharmas” (arthānāṁ viniścayo dharmāṇāṁ pravicayaḥ, Samtani 1971, p. 73).
This interpretation equates arthaviniścaya with the key term dharmapravicaya
(“classifying the dharmas”), a synonym of “higher cognition” (prajñā),
“special insight” (vipaśyanā), and, importantly, abhidharma.

The second explanation is slightly more elaborate: “For sentient beings, by

listening to this, there is an ascertainment of the meaning/purpose in
manifold ways; thus, this is a name wherein the meaning corresponds”
(arthasya vividhākāreṇa niścayo bhavaty etat-śravaṇāt sattvānām ity anugatārthā
saṁjñā, Samtani 1971, p. 83).

Samtani (1971, p. 57ff.) argues against taking the word artha to here signify
“meaning(s),” and suggests instead that it should be understood as “topic,”
“subject matter,” or “category”; thus, while Ferrari’s previous rendering
would translate into English as “the determination of the meaning” (“la
determinazione del significato,” Ferrari 1944, p. 588) and match our own
preference, his own translation of arthaviniścaya is “compendium of
categories” (Samtani 2002, p. 3). Bhikkhu Ānandajoti prefers “analysis of the
topics” (Ānandajoti 2016, front cover), which also matches Norman’s
preference (“analysis of the (Buddhist) topics,” Norman 1973, p. 677).

While we do not think that translating as either “category” or “topic” is, per
se, wrong (for, one could say, the two senses of artha as “topic” and artha as
“meaning” are somewhat overlapping), the arguments offered by Samtani
do not entirely convince us. One of his arguments is that dharma =
“category,” and therefore, since the commentary tells us that artha = dharma,
it follows that artha is a category; here our difficulty is with the premise, since
we believe that here dharma means “entity” rather “category,” and indeed
dharmas as entities are meanings/referents as opposed to words (śabda).
Another argument adduced by Samtani is based on his interpretation of a
quote from Yaśomitra, where artha is equated with viṣaya, which in turn
Samtani explains as “subject matter.” However, we think that the context of
that passage (Wogihara 1989, p. 23) rather strongly suggests that it is not
explaining the word artha as meaning “subject matter” but rather as “object,”
i.e., viṣaya as “domain,” here in the sense of the domain of sensory activity of
one of the five sense faculties. Yaśomitra is here explaining the term artha
appearing in the expression “objects of the sense faculties” (indriyārthāḥ,
Abhidharmakośakārikā 1.9).
Furthermore, we are not entirely sure that the sense of artha in the two
explanations offered by the Nibandhana is exactly the same; we think that in
the second explanation it is quite possible that artha (in the singular, unlike
in the first interpretation) also, or maybe even primarily, carries the sense of
“purpose” or “goal” (one could say “what is meaningful,” with a bit of a
stretch). It is also quite likely that different nuances of the sense of artha are
implied in the commentary, which is a virtue rather than a defect in Sanskrit
writing (as we understand it).

We opted for “meaning” for the following reasons: it has a somewhat more
vague/less specified feel (to us; “ascertaining the topics” could well mean
ascertaining which topics are there (rather than, in fact, ascertaining their
meanings); and, also taking into account other passages where the term
arthaviniścaya occurs, we think it desirable to retain at least a suggestion of
the opposition between “word” versus “meaning” (śabda vs. artha), which is
of crucial importance in the Buddhist tradition (“relying on the meaning
rather than on the words” is one of the four reliances (pratiśaraṇa); “relying
on the topics” or “on the categories” may not sound too far from “relying on
the words,” let alone be its opposite. Thus,
“meaning/meaningful/purpose/what has purpose” is the range of
meanings that we primarily read in the artha appearing in the expression
arthaviniścaya.

The following passages use the term arthaviniścaya in contexts that are
different from our sūtra, and thus we do not claim that any of them, or even
all of them taken together, should lead to a conclusive ascertainment of the
meaning of artha. However, we think they may clarify our purpose in using
“meaning”:

“The awareness of all sounds of speech; the awareness of the etymological

explanations; the awareness of the distinct ascertainment of the
meaning/what is meaningful/what is of benefit; the avoidance of what is
not of benefit/what is meaningless” (sarvarutajñānaṃ | niruktivyavasthāna-
jñānaṃ | arthaviniścayajñānaṃ | anarthavivarjanaṁ, Samādhirājasūtra 37.27; Dutt
1941, p. 18).

“He sets aside the incoherent meaning/unconnected purpose; he is very

certain in respect to the distinct ascertainment of the meanings/purposes”
(asaṃsaktam artham uddharati suviniścito bhavati arthaviniścaye, Śayanāsanavastu,
Gnoli 1978b, p. 45).

“This is a negation of the word-meaning; the real thing is not set aside. In
this way, the distinct ascertainment of the meaning should also be
understood in respect to other sentences” (śabdārthapratiṣedho 'yaṃ na vastu
 vinivāryate | evam anyeṣv api jñeyo vākyeṣv arthaviniścayaḥ, Prajñāpāramitā-
piṇḍārthaḥ of Dignāga, Tucci 1947, p. 58; Tucci here translates arthaviniścayaḥ
as “determination of the things,” p. 65).

“What is the distinct ascertainment of the meaning? It is where there is a

distinct ascertainment in respect to six meanings. Which six meanings? The
meaning of own-being, the meaning of cause, the meaning of result, the
meaning of karma, the meaning of yoga, and the meaning of occurrence”
(arthaviniścayaḥ katamaḥ| yatra ṣaḍarthān ārabhya viniścayo bhavati || katame ṣaḍ
arthāḥ | svabhāvārthaḥ hetvarthaḥ phalārthaḥ karmārthaḥ yogārthaḥ vṛttyarthaś ca,
Abhidharmasamuccaya, Hayashima 2003, p. 858).

g.32 eight types of persons

skyes bu gang zag ya brgyad

ས་་གང་ཟག་ཡ་བད།
aṣṭapuruṣapudgala
See “four pairs of persons.”

g.33 eighteen bases

khams bcwa brgyad

ཁམས་བ ་བད།
aṣṭādaśadhātu
Eighteen collections of similar dharmas under which all coproduced and
unproduced dharmas may be included: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and
thought, plus their objects —visible forms, sounds, smells, flavors, tangibles,
and dharmas —plus the consciousnesses corresponding to each of the first
six. The eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and thought are the basis for the
arising of consciousness, though here there is the technical sense of a prior
moment in any of the six consciousnesses. The first five consciousnesses
depend on the five sense faculties as their basis, while the basis for the
thought consciousness can be any of the six consciousnesses but not a sense
faculty. Hence thought is classified among the dhātus (“elements”) in the
section meant to offer a complete list of the possible bases of consciousness,
i.e., what is most frequently listed as the second set of six elements.

The term dhātu is explained as having the sense of an ore (gotra), like a
mineral ore, hence a point of origin (ākara). The bases are the points of origin
for the arising of similar dharmas. The Nibandhana commentary on Distinctly
Ascertaining the Meanings explains that the order of enumeration of the
eighteen bases can be explained in terms of the specific way in which
different sense faculties operate within their domains or in terms of the
 placement (from higher to lower) of the eye faculty, the ear faculty, and so
forth. The Abhidharmakośa explains that the teaching of the bases is for those
who are of weaker abilities, since it is very detailed; it is for those who prefer
special insight meditation (vipaśyanā), because it contains extensive analysis;
and it counteracts a delusion of “self” that is evenly distributed between
sentient and nonsentient elements, since the eighteen bases offer an
analysis both of form and of mind and mental derivatives.

g.34 eighteen dharmas exclusive to a buddha

sangs rgyas kyi chos ma ’dres pa bcwa brgyad

སངས་ས་་ས་མ་འས་པ་བ ་བད།
aṣṭādaśāveṇikabuddhadharma
This refers to eighteen properties/qualities that are unique to buddhas,
“property” being one of the possible meanings of the term dharma.

g.35 eighty minor marks

dpe byad bzang po brgyad cu

ད་ད་བཟང་་བད་།
aśītyanuvyañjana
The set of eighty physical marks that identify both a buddha and a universal
monarch (cakravartin); in the case of the former they indicate the perfection of
the awakened state of buddhahood.

g.36 element
khams

ཁམས།
dhātu
The list of dhātus in the sense of “elements” comprises the four great
elements (see “great elements”) of earth, water, heat, and wind, plus space
and consciousness, and is a list specifically designed to describe the
assemblage of conditions that makes it possible for a new moment of
consciousness to arise after the last moment of consciousness at death, i.e., it
is meant to explain the process of rebirth.

g.37 endowed with knowledge and feet

rig pa dang zhabs su ldan pa

ག་པ་དང་ཞབས་་ན་པ།
vidyācaraṇasampanna
 The Nibandhana explains this as a metaphor of the eye and the feet, which,
operating together, allow one to move; knowledge, interpreted as either
“right view” or as “the training in wisdom,” is like the eye, while the other
seven parts of the noble eightfold path, or the two other trainings in
discipline and samādhi, function as the “feet.” This explanation is also found
in the sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti, which
further clarifies that zhabs is here simply the honorific term for “foot” (caraṇa
ni rkang pa). Thus, although it is not uncommon to translate caraṇa here with
“conduct,” this loses the significance of the metaphor.

g.38 ensuing weariness

’khrug pa

འག་པ།
upāyāsa
The Nibandhana explains this as “the fatigue that is preceded by grief and
lamentation” (śokaparidevapūrvakaśramaḥ, Samtani 1971, p. 102).

g.39 entering the stream

rgyun du zhugs pa

ན་་གས་པ།
srota-āpatti
The first level of realization that transforms an ordinary person into a “noble
one,” someone who has directly seen the nature of reality and has a
sufficiently stable level of realization to be already bound toward liberation
from saṃsāra.

g.40 existence
srid pa

ད་པ།
bhava
The tenth of the twelve parts of dependent arising.

g.41 existence with desire

’dod pa’i srid pa

འད་པ་ད་པ།
kāmabhava
The lowest of the three planes of existence, where coarse desires for all the
sense objects are present.
g.42 existence with form
gzugs kyi srid pa

གགས་་ད་པ།
rūpabhava
The middling type among the three planes of existence, where desire for
coarse food or copulation is absent.

g.43 factors of abandonment

spong ba’i ’du byed

ང་བ་འ་ད།
prahāṇasaṃskāra
The Nibandhana explains that this refers to a standard list of eight assembled
factors: zest (chanda), effort (vyāyāma), faith (śraddhā), mindfulness (smṛti),
discerning awareness (saṁprajanya), intention (cetanā), and equanimity
(upekṣā) (Samtani 1971, p. 221).

g.44 faculty
dbang po

དབང་།
indriya
“Faculties” is a translation meant to represent the preferred etymologization
of indriya in Buddhist texts as indanti, meaning “they have power,” which is
also reflected in the Tibetan translation as dbang po. Different lists of indriyas
exist within the Buddhist texts, their common trait being that they have
“power” over a specific domain of activity. For example, the five sense
faculties have causal power with respect to seeing, hearing, smelling,
tasting, and touching.

g.45 faith
dad pa

དད་པ།
śraddhā
Here “faith” is not used so much in the sense of “religious faith,” but rather
as when one says, “I have faith in you” or “I have faith in your good
qualities.” It is often explained as “a good disposition of the mind” (cetasaḥ
prasādaḥ) toward something and is occasionally divided into three types: faith
 as the conviction that something exists, faith as the conviction that
something has good qualities, and faith as the conviction that something
with good qualities can be obtained.

g.46 feeling
tshor ba

ར་བ།
vedanā
The second of the five aggregates and the seventh of the twelve parts of
dependent arising.

g.47 five aggregates

phung po lnga

ང་་།
pañcaskandha
Five collections of similar dharmas under which all dependently arisen
dharmas may be included: form (materiality), feeling, notion, assembled
factors, and consciousness.

g.48 five aggregates of clinging

nye bar len pa’i phung po lnga

་བར་ན་པ་ང་་།
pañcopādānaskandha
The five aggregates of form, feeling, notion, assembled factors, and
consciousness. They are referred to as the bases for clinging insofar as all
conceptual grasping arises based on these aggregates.

g.49 five faculties

dbang po lnga

དབང་་།
pañcendriya
The faculties of faith, heroism, mindfulness, samādhi, and wisdom. They are
the same as the five strengths, only at a lesser stage of development.

g.50 five strengths

stobs lnga

བས་།
pañcabala
 The strengths of faith, heroism, mindfulness, samādhi, and wisdom. They are
the same as the five faculties, only at a greater stage of development.

g.51 five supramundane faculties

’jig rten las ’das pa’i dbang po lnga

འག་ན་ལས་འདས་པ་དབང་་།
pañcalokottarendriya
See the “five faculties.”

g.52 flux
zag pa

ཟག་པ།
āsrava
Most of the explanations of the term āsrava derive it from the root sru (“to
flow,” “to ooze”) and understand the preverb ā- variously either as “flowing
in,” “flowing out from,” or simply emphasizing the action of flowing. The
Tibetan translation also translates the sense of the root but does not
explicitly render the preverb; zag pa is attested as a translation of several
other Sanskrit terms that mean “to flow,” “to ooze,” etc. (sravaḥ, srāvaṇam,
syandī, etc.; see Negi vol. 12, p. 5353). The derivation from ā + sru follows clear
grammatical principles (vyākaraṇa); furthermore, there is another derivation
from the root ās (“to sit,” “to remain”), which is in accordance with
etymology by sound association (nirukti).

Vasubandhu offers two alternatives: “They cause beings to remain (āsayanti)

within saṃsāra” and “They flow from the Summit of Existence down to the
Unwavering, out of the six wounds that are the entrances” (āsayanti saṃsāre
āsravanti bhavāgrādyāvadavīciṃ ṣaḍbhir āyatanavraṇair ityāsravāḥ, Abhidharmakośa-
bhāṣya on 5.40, Pradhan 1967, p. 308). The “Summit of Existence” is the
highest point within saṃsāra, while the hell called “Unwavering” is the
lowest; the six entrances here refer to the five sense faculties plus the mind,
i.e., the six internal entrances in the scheme of twelve entrances.

The Pāli tradition offers similar derivations. For example, the commentary on
The Sutta on All the Āsavas explains the term āsava in the following ways:

“They flow (āsavanti), thus they are āsavas: even from the eye, up to even
from thought, they ooze, they come about—this is what is being said here”
(āsavantīti āsavā, cakkhutopi … pe … manatopi sandanti pavattantīti vuttaṃ hoti,
Aṭṭhakathā on the Sabbāsavasutta.) (This explanation matches quite closely the
second one in the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya.) The “up to” here reproduces the pe,
an abbreviation meant to convey an incomplete list. The complete list would
 be “even from the eye, even from the ear, even from the nose, even from the
tongue, even from the body, even from thought”—i.e., the list of the six
internal entrances.

“Alternatively, from the dhammas to the gotrabhū, from space to the Summit
of Existence, they flow, thus they are āsavas. Entering inside these dhammas
and this space, they come about—this is the sense; for this ā- has the sense of
‘entering inside’ ” (dhammato yāva gotrabhuṃ okāsato yāva bhavaggaṃ savantīti vā
āsavā | ete dhamme etañ ca okāsaṃ anto karitvā pavattantīti attho. antokaraṇattho hi
ayaṃ ākāro || Aṭṭhakathā on the Sabbāsavasutta).

“ ‘Liquor and so forth are āsavas’ in the sense that they stay in one place for
a long time; since they are ‘like the āsavas,’ these are ‘āsavas.’ For, in this
world, liquor and so forth that stay in one place for a long time are called
āsavas. And if they are āsavas in the sense that they stay in one place for a
long time, these indeed are worthy of being so. For, it has been said, ‘A prior
limit, bhikkhus, is not found for ignorance, wherein one could say that
“before this there was no ignorance,” and so forth’ ” (cirapārivāsiyaṭṭhena
madirādayo āsavā | āsavā viyātipi āsavā. lokasmiñ hi cirapārivāsikā madirādayo āsavāti
vuccanti || yadi ca cirapārivāsiyaṭṭhena āsavā | eteyeva bhavitum arahanti | vuttañ
hetaṃ purimā bhikkhave koṭi na paññāyati avijjāya ito pubbe avijjā nāhosītiādi ||
Aṭṭhakathā on the Sabbāsavasutta A.Ni.10.61).

“Alternatively, they ooze, they ooze forth, future suffering of saṃsāra—thus

they are āsavas” (āyataṃ vā saṃsāradukkhaṃ savanti pasavantītipi āsavā,
Aṭṭhakathā on the Sabbāsavasutta).

From all this, we conclude that (1) the derivation from the root sru (“to flow”
etc.) is in some ways primary, and it follows principles of grammar (vyākaraṇa)
rather than those of etymology by sound association (nirukti), as Yaśomitra
clarifies is the case for the etymology from ās (“to sit” etc.); (2) the value of
the preverb ā- was understood variously (“from,” “out of,” or as an
intensifier), thus it is impossible to decide whether to render it as “in,” “out,”
etc.; (3) translators who chose zag pa to render āsrava were most likely aware
of both the above points.

Considering all the above, we have opted for “fluxes” rather than
“influences” or “outflows.”

g.53 form
gzugs

གགས།
rūpa
The first of the five aggregates.
g.54 formless existence
gzugs med pa’i srid pa

གགས་ད་པ་ད་པ།
ārūpyabhava
The highest type among the three planes of existence, where
form/materiality is either absent or, according to some, present only in its
subtlest aspects.

g.55 four Brahma abodes

tshangs pa’i gnas pa bzhi

ཚངས་པ་གནས་པ་བ།
caturbrahmavihāra
Friendliness, compassion, rejoicing, and equanimity are called “Brahma
abodes,” according to the commentarial traditions, because one abides with
a mind like that of the deity Brahmā and because they are a cause to be born
in the world of Brahmā. It is important to point out, though, that the original
Sanskrit compound brahma-vihāra does not specify the gender of the term
brahman, which could therefore either refer to Brahmā as a deity or to
brahman, meaning more generally “what is most exalted,” as is sometimes
simply used in the sense of “sublime” etc. We have therefore attempted to
retain the ambiguity by using neither “Brahmā” (which is by common
convention used only for the deity) nor “brahman” (which is by common
convention used only for “what is most exalted” etc.), but rather “Brahma.”

g.56 four confidences

mi ’jigs pa bzhi

་འགས་པ་བ།
caturvaiśāradya
Four confidences of a tathāgata in proclaiming that they have (1) completely
awakened, (2) taught the obstacles to awakening, (3) shown the way to
liberation, and (4) destroyed the fluxes.

g.57 four courses

lam bzhi

ལམ་བ།
catuḥpratipad
 Listed here as the course that is painful and that is slow in superior
cognition, the course that is painful and that is quick in superior cognition,
the course that is pleasant and that is slow in superior cognition, and the
course that is pleasant and that is quick in superior cognition.

g.58 four cultivations of samādhi

ting nge ’dzin bsgom pa bzhi

ང་་འན་བམ་པ་བ།
catuḥsamādhibhāvanā
Listed here as the cultivation of samādhi that brings about the destruction of
attraction, the cultivation of samādhi that brings about a pleasant abiding in
this very life, the cultivation of samādhi that brings about the obtainment of
the vision of awareness, and the cultivation of samādhi that brings about the
obtainment of wisdom.

g.59 four footings of success

rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa bzhi

་འལ་ི་ང་པ་བ།
caturṛddhipāda
Extraordinary abilities that arise due to success in meditation. They are the
footings of success based on isolation, based on nonattraction, based on
cessation, and matured by relinquishment.

g.60 four formless aggregates

gzugs can ma yin pa’i phung po bzhi

གགས་ཅན་མ་ན་པ་ང་་བ།
caturarūpiskandha
Listed here as the aggregates of feeling, notion, assembled factors, and
consciousness.

g.61 four meditations

bsam gtan bzhi

བསམ་གཏན་བ།
caturdhyāna
A standard classification of four increasingly refined meditative states found
in Buddhist texts.

g.62 four pairs of persons

skyes bu zung bzhi
 ས་་ང་བ།
catuḥpuruṣayuga
This refers stream enterers, once-returners, non-returners, and arhats, along
with those practicing to attain the realizations of those states.

g.63 four parts of entering the stream

rgyun du zhugs pa’i yan lag bzhi

ན་་གས་པ་ཡན་ལག་བ།
—
Described as four attributes of śrāvakas: they are well disposed toward the
Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, and they are endowed with the types of
discipline that are highly valued by the noble ones.

g.64 four placements of mindfulness

dran pa nye bar gzhag pa bzhi

ན་པ་་བར་གཞག་པ་བ།
catuḥsmṛtyupasthāna
Mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of feelings, mindfulness of the mind,
and mindfulness of dharmas, the last understood variously as either all
dharmas or a specific list of dharmas.

g.65 four right efforts

yang dag par sbong ba bzhi

ཡང་དག་པར་ང་བ་བ།
catuḥsamyakprahāṇa
Four correct ways in which to strive, sometimes also employed to explain
“right effort” in the context of the noble path with eight parts. They are
abandoning nonvirtuous dharmas that have not yet arisen and those that
have already arisen, generating virtuous dharmas that have yet to arise, and
maintaining virtuous dharmas that have already arisen.

g.66 four special knowledges

so so yang dag par rig pa bzhi

་་ཡང་དག་པར་ག་པ་བ།
catuḥpratisaṃvid
A list of special cognitive abilities that characterize realized beings. They are
the special knowledges of meaning, of dharmas, of explanations, and of
brilliancy.
g.67 four truths of the noble ones
’phags pa’i bden pa bzhi

འཕགས་པ་བན་པ་བ།
caturāryasatya
A paradigmatic set of teachings traditionally believed to have been taught in
the Buddha’s very first sermon. They are the truths of suffering, the arising
of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path that leads to the
cessation of suffering.

g.68 granary
sbyang

ང་།
koṣṭhāgāra · mutoḍī
De Jong points out that “the word sbyaṅ is recorded in Sumatiratna’s Tibetan-
Mongolian Dictionary, II, (Ulanbator, 1959), p. 357: rtsva daṅ ‘bru-la sogs-pa
’jog-pa’i gnas-te sgo daṅ skar-khuṅ med-pa/yaṅ baṅ-ba ’am rdzaṅ yaṅ źes-
pa sbyaṅ “a place without doors and windows where herbs and grains are
stored; also a store-room or a box” (De Jong 1975, p. 117). (We thank James
Gentry for pointing out the sense of “granary.”)

The term sbyang, if it may indeed be understood as something akin to a

“box,” could rather match the term mutoḍī (see Edgerton 1993, p. 436),
reported by Samtani as the reading of ANe Comy (the manuscript of the
Nibandhana commentary), and also appearing (as mūtoḍī) in the relevant
Śikṣāsamuccaya parallel (see Samtani 1971, p. 24, n. 2), rather than the term
koṣṭhāgāra in the printed edition. The term mutoḍī matches the Pāli
putoỊī/mūtoỊī/mutoli found in Pāli passages parallel to this and explained as
follows:

“A putoḷi is a circular container made by tying together clothes and so forth

in the shape of a sack” (vatthādīhi pasibbakākārena bandhitvā kataṃ āvāṭanaṃ
putoḷi, ṭīkā on the Mahāsatipaṭṭhānasutta, Mahāvagga, Dīghanikāya; vatthādīhi
pasibbakākārena bandhitvā kataṃ āvaṭanaṃ putoḷi, ṭīka on the Mahāsatipaṭṭānasutta,
Mūlapaṇṇāsa, Majjhimanikāya; here we take it that āvāṭanam/āvaṭanam =
āvaṭṭanam).

g.69 great element

’byung ba chen po

འང་བ་ན་།
mahābhūta
 The four great elements of earth, water, heat, and wind do not refer to the
coarse entities by the same name, but rather to minimal entities characterized
by specific features (such as “hardness” for the earth element) and specific
functions (such as “supporting” for the earth element). These elements are
usually believed to be in principle invisible; all primary rūpa
(“form/materiality”) is in principle invisible, while visibility is a type of
secondary rūpa, which depends on the four great elements but is not to be
confused with them.

g.70 heroism
brtson ’grus

བན་འས།
vīrya
The term vīrya is related to, and often derived from, vīra, which is related to
the Latin vir, from which both “virility” and “virtue” are derived. Vīrya brings
to mind heroism, valor, virility, courage, and strength. Although vīrya is often
translated as “diligence,” we have here chosen to render it “heroism.”

g.71 isolation
dben pa

དན་པ།
viveka
This may refer to either literal, bodily isolation, i.e., seclusion, or to the
isolation of the mind from certain (usually undesirable) mental factors. The
two senses are related, and as the relationship between the two senses is
both implicitly and explicitly thematized in Buddhist texts, a single
translation for both the more “outer” and the more “inner” forms of isolation
is here meant to respect a clearly intended suggestion found throughout
Buddhist literature. The term can also refer to conceptual isolation, i.e.,
discernment.

g.72 Jinamitra
dzi na mi tra

་ན་་།
jinamitra
An Indian paṇḍita resident in Tibet during the late 8th and early 9th
centuries.

g.73 kalaviṅka
 ka la ping ka

ཀ་ལ་ང་ཀ
kalaviṅka
A legendary bird whose voice is believed to be extremely beautiful. It is often
depicted as having a human head.

g.74 karma
las

ལས།
karman
Intention or what follows an intention. Intention is mental karma; what
follows an intention is verbal and bodily karma.

g.75 Lesser than None

’og min

ག་ན།
akaniṣṭḥa
The highest level of the form realm.

g.76 Mahānārāyaṇa
sred med kyi bu chen po

ད་ད་་་ན་།
mahānārāyaṇa
A powerful deity of the desire realm, more commonly known as Viṣṇu.

g.77 mindfulness
dran pa

ན་པ།
smṛti
The root smṛ may mean to “recollect,” but also simply to “think of”
something. “Mindfulness” means, broadly speaking, bringing something to
mind, not necessarily something experienced in a distant past but also
something just experienced, such as the position of one’s body.

g.78 mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation with sixteen aspects

dbugs dbyung ba dang rngub pa rjes su dran pa rnam pa bcu drug

དགས་དང་བ་དང་བ་པ་ས་་ན་པ་མ་པ་བ་ག
 ṣoḍaśākārānāpānānusmṛti
A method of meditation that requires the practitioner to be aware of different
aspects of the breath and what accompanies it.

g.79 Mṛgāra
ri dags ’dzin

་དགས་འན།
mṛgāra
The name of a rich man.

g.80 Mṛgāra’s mother

ri dags ’dzin gyi ma

་དགས་འན་ི་མ།
mṛgāramātṛ
This is the nickname of an upāsikā (female lay practitioner), actually called
Viśākhā, who is sometimes considered the most prominent among female
lay followers of the Buddha. She had married the son of a man called Mṛgāra,
who was originally a Jaina but went to meet the Buddha and even became a
stream enterer thanks to her. Feeling indebted to her, he said that she was
like his mother, which is the origin of the nickname.

g.81 name
ming

ང་།
nāma
The term nāma ordinarily means “name,” but in the context of “name-and-
form” it refers more specifically to everything that makes up sentience, i.e.,
the mind and mental factors. In that context, the term is sometimes
etymologized from the root nam in the sense of “bending,” either toward an
object (perceiving an object), or toward a new birth.

g.82 name-and-form
ming dang gzugs

ང་དང་གགས།
nāmarūpa
The fourth of the twelve parts of dependent arising.

g.83 nandyāvarta
 g.yung drung ’khyil ba

གང་ང་འལ་བ།
nandyāvarta
A special symbol sometimes resembling a W.

g.84 noble
’phags pa

འཕགས་པ།
ārya
When referring to a person, it is someone who has entered the “path of
seeing”—someone who has a direct and stable realization of the four truths
of the noble ones and who thus ceases to be an “ordinary person,” becoming
a “noble one.”

g.85 noble path with eight parts

’phags pa’i lam yan lag brgyad

འཕགས་པ་ལམ་ཡན་ལག་བད།
āryāṣṭāṅgamārga
Right view, right thinking, right speech, right activity, right livelihood, right
effort, right mindfulness, and right samādhi.

g.86 non-returner
phyir mi ’ong ba

ར་་ང་བ།
anāgāmin
One who has achieved the third of the four levels of attainment on the
śrāvaka path and who will not be reborn in saṃsāra.

g.87 nonvirtuous
mi dge ba

་ད་བ།
akuśala
The opposite of “virtuous.”

g.88 notion
’du shes

འ་ས།
 saṃjñā
The third of the five aggregates.

g.89 nourishing being

gso ba

ག་བ།
poṣa
Edgerton favors the theory according to which poṣa/posa should be derived
from puruṣa; however, the Tibetan translation reflects a different
etymologization of the term that must have been current at the time of the
Tibetan translations of Sanskrit texts. Pāli etymologies also suggest a link to
the idea of “nourishing” (attabhāvassa posanato poso), and therefore we have
preferred to follow traditional etymologies that better reflect how the South
Asian and Tibetan masters understood the term.

g.90 once-returner
lan cig phyir ’ong ba

ལན་ག་ར་ང་བ།
sakṛdāgāmin
One who has achieved the second of the four levels of attainment on the
śrāvaka path and who will only take one more rebirth before attaining
liberation.

g.91 parts of awakening

byang chub kyi yan lag

ང་བ་་ཡན་ལག
bodhyaṅgāni
See “seven parts of awakening.”

g.92 pleasance
kun dga’ ra ba

ན་དགའ་ར་བ།
ārāma
Somewhat akin to what in English is expressed by the term “pleasance”
(also in its etymology), an ārāma is a pleasant garden, a green habitable
space. The Buddha and his disciples are often found to dwell in such ārāmas,
and the term is even found in contemporary usage in names of Thai
monasteries.
g.93 Prajñāvarman
pra dz+nyA barma

་་བ།
prajñāvarman
A Bengali paṇḍita resident in Tibet during the late 8th and early 9th
centuries. Arriving in Tibet on an invitation from the Tibetan king, he
assisted in the translation of numerous canonical scriptures. He is also the
author of a few philosophical commentaries contained in the Tibetan
Tengyur (bstan ’gyur) collection.

g.94 proper way

rigs pa

གས་པ།
nyāya
The Nibandhana explains nyāya as follows: “Nyāya refers to the dharma of
nirvāṇa, for it has been said that āya means a path, and that an “eternal path”
(nityam āyaḥ) is called nyāya.”

g.95 rejoicing and attraction

dga’ ba’i ’dod chags

དགའ་བ་འད་ཆགས།
nandīrāga
The Nibandhana explains that “rejoicing” refers to a happy, joyful mind
(saumanasya).

g.96 samādhi
ting nge ’dzin

ང་་འན།
samādhi
Some readers may be familiar with the term samadhi, written without
diacritics as it would appear in English dictionaries, where it is usually
explained as referring to meditation or meditative states.

In a more restricted sense, and when understood as a mental state, samādhi

is defined as the one-pointedness of the mind (cittaikāgratā), the ability to
remain on the same object over long periods of time. In Vaibhāṣika
abhidharma, samādhi is a mental state that accompanies each and every
moment of mind; the practice of meditation and the like is for the purpose of
 making samādhi more powerful (samādhiś cittasyaikagrateti | agram ālambanam
ity eko 'rthaḥ | yadyogāc cittaṃ prabandhena ekatrālambane vartate | sa samādhiḥ |
yadi samādhiḥ sarvacetasi bhavati | kim arthaṃ dhyāneṣu yatnaḥ kriyate |
balavatsamādhiniṣpādanārthaṃ, Abhidharmakośavyākhyā 2.24, Wogihara 1989, p.
128). Some forms of abhidharma (Yogācāra, for example) do not consider
samādhi as a mental factor that accompanies every moment of mind.

In a slightly less technical sense, samādhi can describe a number of different

meditative states, including the highest such as the “samādhi that is like a
diamond” (vajropamasamādhi).

If we understand the term samādhi as derived from sam + ā + dhā, the sense is
something like to “place together” or “collect.” In the Tibetan rendering of
this term, the ’dzin represents, we think, the root dhā and matches one of the
senses of this root, “to hold” (dhāraṇa). The possible etymology of ting nge is
debated and possibly a complex matter; if we accept the hypothesis that ting
nge is related to gting, then the sense is probably akin to “profound” or
“deep,” which may indicate taking sam + ā more or less as intensifiers.

The sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti explains the
term samādhi as referring to the instrument through which mind and mental
states “get collected,” i.e., it is by the force of samādhi that the continuum of
mind and mental states becomes collected on a single point of reference
without getting distracted (samādhi zhes pa samādhiyante anena zhes bya ste |
ting nge ’dzin gyi mthus sems dang sems las byung ba’i rgyud dmigs pa gcig la sdud
cing mi g.yo bar ting nge ’dzin ’jog pas na ting nge ’dzin zhes bya).

g.97 saṅgha
dge ’dun

ད་འན།
saṅgha
Explained as a “cohesive assembly,” saṅgha refers ultimately to those who
have realized the nature of reality in accordance with the Buddhist path or,
in a more conventional sense, with an assembly of monastics.

g.98 seven elevations

bdun mtho ba

བན་མ་བ།
saptotsada
This refers to seven convex surfaces on different parts of the Buddha’s body.

g.99 seven parts of awakening

 byang chub kyi yan lag bdun

ང་བ་་ཡན་ལག་བན།
saptabodhyaṅga
A standard list of seven factors that arise at a certain point on the path
toward awakening and facilitate it. They are the parts of awakening of
mindfulness, classifying the dharmas, heroism, joy, ease, samādhi, and
equanimity.

g.100 six contact-entrances

reg pa’i skye mched drug

ག་པ་་མད་ག
ṣaṭsparśāyatana
This refers to the six “internal entrances,” i.e., the five sense faculties plus
thought.

g.101 six entrances

skye mched drug

་མད་ག
ṣaḍāyatana
Six sets of similar dharmas under which all compounded and
uncompounded dharmas may be included: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body,
mind, and their objects —visible forms, sounds, smells, flavors, tangibles, and
dharmas. The fifth of the twelve parts of dependent arising. Another name
for the “twelve entrances.”

g.102 slowness
zhan pa

ཞན་པ།
mandatva
The Nibandhana explains this as a change in one’s mnemonic abilities, such
as forgetting quickly and not remembering clearly, i.e., a kind of mental
slowness.

g.103 śramaṇa
dge sbyong

ད་ང་།
śramaṇa
The word śramaṇa refers to ascetics/religious practitioners who are often
distinguished from brāhmaṇa (brahmins). It seems that a common
characteristic of śramaṇas was to have “gone forth” (pravrajita), i.e., to not be
householders, or at least this is how the Buddhist commentarial tradition
understands the term. At some point, the term also became an established
way to distinguish non-Vedic ascetics from those who followed the Vedas;
renunciates, not just Buddhists, could be called śramaṇa if they were not
within the Vedic/brahminical fold. Thus, the term has several layers of
meaning, and it was such a key term in Buddhist texts that the result of
practice came also to be known as “the fruit of being a śramaṇa” (Skt.
śrāmaṇyaphala, Pāli sāmaññaphala); the Buddha himself is epitomized as “the
great śramaṇa” (mahāśramaṇa) in one of the most famous Buddhist verses (the
ye dharmā stanza, found in colophons and epigraphy throughout the
Buddhist world).

The term śramaṇa is formed from the root śram, most likely in the sense of “to
exert oneself” (tapasi). This is reflected in the second element of its Tibetan
translation (sbyong, which is sometimes used as a translation of abhyāsa); thus,
śramaṇas are —as per the Tibetan rendering —those who exert themselves
(sbyong) toward virtue (dge). The reference to virtue may be connected to an
etymology found in the Sanskrit Udānavarga and Pāli Dhammapada, according
to which one is a śramaṇa if one has pacified sins (śamitatvāt tu pāpānāṁ
śramaṇo hi nirucyate, Udānavarga 11.14, Berhard 1965, p. 190; sdig pa zhi ba de dag
ni/ dge sbyong nyid ces brjod par bya, Udānavarga Tib. 11.15; Zongtse 1990, p. 127;
samitattā hi pāpānaṃ samaṇo ti pavuccati | Dhammapada verse 265).
Commentarial literature occasionally distinguishes between this as the
higher sense of śramaṇa vs. the more ordinary sense of being a
śramaṇa/samaṇa “only due to having gone forth” (pabbajjāmattasamaṇo); this
distinction appears in contexts where the word is together with “brahmins,”
as it often happens in sūtras/suttas (yaṃ no payirupāsato cittaṃ pasīdeyyāti
vuttattā samaṇaṃ vā brāhmaṇaṃ vāti ettha paramatthasamaṇo ca
paramatthabrāhmaṇo ca adhippeto na pabbajjāmattasamaṇo na jātimattabrāhmaṇo cāti
āha samitapāpatāya samaṇaṃ | bāhitapāpatāya brāhmaṇanti | Ṭīkā on the
Sāmaññaphalasutta, Sīlakkhandavagga, Dīghanikāya).

The Kāśyapaparivartasūtra lists four types of śramaṇa: one who is so only in

outer appearance (varṇarūpaliṅgasaṃsthānaśramaṇa), one who is hypocritical
and hides their real conduct (ācāraguptikuhakaśramaṇa), one who does
everything for the sake of fame (kīrtiśabdaślokaśramaṇa), and one who practices
genuinely (bhūtapratipattiśramaṇa). (See Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya 2002, pp.
41–44).
g.104 śrāvaka
nyan thos

ཉན་ས།
śrāvaka
Someone who practices according to the vehicle of the hearers (those who
hear the teachings from others) or someone who has heard the Dharma from
the Buddha.

g.105 Śrāvastī
mnyan yod

མཉན་ད།
śrāvastī
A city of ancient India, in what is now Uttar Pradesh. The name Śrāvastī is
explained as being derived from the name of a sage, Śravasta, who used to
live in that area (this explanation is found in the commentary Nibandhana,
Samtani 1971, p. 77, and is also found in the ṭīkā on Distinctly Ascertaining the
Meanings found in the Tengyur, where, however, the name of the sage is
transliterated as Śravasti). Pāli sources offer three explanations for the term:
one is the one just mentioned, that Sāvatthī is derived from Savattha, just like
other city names (Kākandī, Mākandī, Kosambī); alternatively, it is so called
because “everything is there” in terms of possible objects of enjoyment for
humans; and lastly the name refers to the reply, “there is everything,” that
the Buddha offered when asked about what kind of shops were there
(sāvatthīti savatthassa isino nivāsaṭṭhānabhūtā nagarī yathā kākandī mākandī kosambīti
evaṃ tāva akkharacintakā | aṭṭhakathācariyā pana bhaṇanti yaṃkiñci manussānaṃ
upabhogaparibhogaṃ sabbamettha atthīti sāvatthī | satthasamāyoge ca kiṃ bhaṇḍam
atthīti pucchite sabbamatthīti vacanam upādāya sāvatthī | Aṭṭhakathā on the
Sabbāsavasutta of the Majjhimanikāya, Mūlapaṇṇāsa). The Tibetan translation as
mnyan yod seems to derive the first part of the name from the root śru (“to
hear”) and the second part as “there is” (asti); this derivation seems to be
implied in one of the explanations of the Arthaviniścayaṭīkā.

g.106 śrīvatsa
dpal gyi be’u

དཔལ་ི་།
śrīvatsa
A special symbol, often represented as an endless knot in the Tibetan
tradition.
g.107 sugata
bde bar gshegs pa

བ་བར་གགས་པ།
sugata
The term sugata is formed by the preverb su- (“well,” “good,” “completely”)
and the participle gata, from the root gam (“to go” but also “to understand”).
A recurrent explanation offers three different meanings for su- that are meant
to show the special qualities of accomplishment of one’s own purpose
(svārthasampat) for a complete buddha. Thus, the Sugata is “well” gone, as in
the expression su-rūpa (“having a good form”); he is gone “in a way that he
shall not come back,” as in the expression su-naṣṭa-jvara (“a fever that has
utterly gone”); he has gone “without any remainder” as in the expression su-
pūrṇa-ghaṭa (“a pot that is completely full”). These three senses of su-
distinguish the Buddha from non-Buddhist practitioners who are free of
desirous attraction (bāhya-vītarāga), from Buddhist practitioners who are still
in need of training (śaikṣa), i.e., are not liberated, and from Buddhist
practitioners who have no more need of training (aśaikṣa), i.e., are liberated
but have not obtained complete buddhahood (svārthasampat sugatatvena
trividham artham upādāya praśastatvārthaṃ surūpavat apunarāvṛttyarthaṃ
sunaṣṭajvaravat niḥśeṣārthaṃ supūrṇaghaṭavat arthatrayaṃ caitad bāhyavītarāga-
śaikṣāśaikṣebhyaḥ svārthasampadviśeṣaṇārtham, Dignāga, Pramāṇasamuccaya 1.1,
Steinkellner 2005, p. 1; see also Prajñākaramati’s Pañjikā on Bodhicaryāvatāra
1.1, de La Vallée Poussin 1901–14, pp. 2–3; and Arthaviniścayasūtranibandhana,
Samtani 1971, p. 244).

The sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti, apart from
the three explanations above, contains an additional interpretation of the
preverb su-, as meaning “happiness/bliss/pleasure” (sukha), attributed to
the Dharmaskandha (one of the abhidharma treatises of the Sarvāstivāda
tradition); thus su-gata is understood as “one who has reached happiness”
(su[khaṁ]gata): “The Bhagavat has happiness; he has heavenly happiness,
since he is endowed with the untroubled dharma” (dharmmaskandha las
’byung ba sugata iti sukhito bhagavān | svargita avyathitadharmmasamanvāgata | tad
ucyate sugata ces ’byung ste). The commentary further explains that the Tibetan
rendering bde bar gshegs pa is in fact in accordance with the Dharmaskandha
interpretation of the term (dharmaskandha las ’byung ba dang sbyar te bde bar
gshegs pa zhes btags), which explains why the Tibetan rendering does not
seem to match the more recurrent interpretations of sugata in Sanskrit
treatises. The connection with sukham can also be found in lexicographical
literature (see for example Subhūticandra’s Kavikāmadhenu commentary on
 the Amarakośa, Deokar 2014, p. 121; and also the Pāli Abhidhānappadīpikāṭīkā,
Saggakaṇḍavaṇṇanā, which seems to be a shortened version of the
Kavikāmadhenu gloss on sugata).

The Pāli tradition offers a slightly different explanation, in four parts: “his
way of going is good,” “he has gone to a beautiful place,” “he has gone in
the right manner,” and, deriving gata not from gam but from gad (“to speak,”
“to say”), “he speaks in the right manner” (sobhanagamanattā sundaraṃ ṭhānaṃ
gatattā sammā gatattā sammā ca gadattā sugato | Visuddhimagga, 1.134).

g.108 superior cognition

mngon par shes pa

མན་པར་ས་པ།
abhijñā
A type of cognition that is beyond the range of ordinary people, sometimes
referring to a specific list of superknowledges.

g.109 svastika
bkra shis

བ་ས།
svastika
A special symbol, considered auspicious in many South Asian traditions,
whose name is derived from the word svasti, which is often used as a
greeting.

g.110 tathāgata
de bzhin gshegs pa

་བན་གགས་པ།
tathāgata
The term tathāgata is formed by the indeclinable tathā (“thus,” “in that
manner”) and gata, a participle from the root gam (“to go,” but also, like all
Sanskrit roots indicating going or reaching, “to understand”). According to
the sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti, the Tathāgata
is one who has “gone in the same way that all the past buddhas have gone”
(sngon gyi sangs rgyas rnams ji ltar gshegs zhing phyin pa) and also “someone
who has understood the nature, i.e., the tathatā, of all the dharmas, as it is”
(chos thams cad gyi rang bzhin de bzhin nyid ji lta ba mkhyen).
 The Nibandhana commentary on Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings derives
tathāgata from the root gad (“to speak,” “to say”) and interprets it as meaning
that “he teaches the Dharma just as it is, without distortion” (tathaivāviparīta-
dharmaṁ gadatīti, Samtani 1971, p. 242).

Another explanation of the term tathāgata can be found in The Diamond Cutter
Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra: “Tathāgata, Subhūti, is explained as not gone
anywhere, not arrived from anywhere; in this sense he is called the tathāgata,
the arhat, the perfect, complete Buddha.” (tathāgata iti subhūte ucyate na kvacidgato na
kutaścidāgataḥ | tenocyate tathāgato 'rhan samyaksaṃbuddha iti, Vaidya 1961, p.
88).

g.111 ten strengths of the Tathāgata

de bzhin gshegs pa’i stobs bcu

་བན་གགས་པ་བས་བ།
daśatathāgatabala
Distinctive qualities of a tathāgata: (1) cognizing what is and is not the case,
(2) cognizing the maturation of karma, (3) cognizing the various inclinations
of sentient beings, (4) cognizing various natures of the world, (5) cognizing
the higher and lower faculties of beings, (6) cognizing the paths that reach
everywhere, (7) cognizing the condition of either defilement or purification
in other sentient beings’ faculties, strengths, parts of awakening,
meditations, liberations, samādhis, and attainments, (8) cognizing previous
lives, (9) cognizing the birth and death of all beings, and (10) cognizing the
mind’s liberation without fluxes.

g.112 thirty-two marks of a great person

skyes bu chen po’i mtshan sum cu rtsa gnyis

ས་་ན་ ་མཚན་མ་་་གས།
dvātriṃśanmahāpuruṣalakṣaṇa
The set of thirty-two physical marks that identify both a buddha and a
universal monarch (cakravartin); in the case of the former they indicate the
perfection of the awakened state of buddhahood.

g.113 twelve entrances

skye mched bcu gnyis

་མད་བ་གས།
dvādaśāyatana
 Twelve collections of similar dharmas under which all compounded and
uncompounded dharmas may be included: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body,
mind, and their objects —visible forms, sounds, smells, flavors, tangibles, and
dharmas.

g.114 twenty-two faculties

dbang po gnyis shu rtsa gnyis

དབང་་གས་་་གས།
dvāviṃśatīndriya
Listed here as the eye faculty, the ear faculty, the nose faculty, the tongue
faculty, the body faculty, the thought faculty, the male faculty, the female
faculty, the life faculty, the suffering faculty, the pleasure faculty, the mental
well-being faculty, the mental anguish faculty, the neutrality faculty, the
faith faculty, the heroism faculty, the mindfulness faculty, the samādhi
faculty, the wisdom faculty, the “I will completely know what I don’t yet
know” faculty, the complete-knowledge faculty, and the “I have completely
known” faculty.

g.115 Unwavering
mnar med pa

མནར་ད་པ།
avīci
The lowest hell; the eighth of the eight hot hells.

g.116 upādhyāya
mkhan po

མཁན་།
upādhyāya
Teacher, (monastic) preceptor; “having approached him, one studies from
him” (upetyādhīyate asmāt | Dādhimatha 1995: 252).

g.117 ūrṇā
mdzod spu

མད་།
ūrṇā
A single coiled and very long hair on the Buddha’s forehead. One of the
thirty-two marks of a great person.

g.118 uṣṇīṣa
 gtsug tor

གག་ར།
uṣṇīṣa
A protuberance on the top of the Buddha’s head. One of the thirty-two marks
of a great person.

g.119 vajra
rdo rje

་།
vajra
The term can refer to both a diamond and a thunderbolt.

g.120 virtuous
dge ba

ད་བ།
kuśala
The term kuśala can function both as a qualifier or as a noun in its own right,
which makes it difficult to resort to a single translation (I have resorted to
“virtue” and “virtuous”). It refers to something beneficial or virtuous and is
sometimes etymologized as something that keeps badness in check (kutsitaṁ
śalate); when the sense of kuśala is more akin to “skillful” or even “virtuoso,”
the etymology is that it is “someone who can cut the kuśa grass” (kuśān lāti), a
type of grass that is very sharp and thus requires remarkable skill to cut it
without being cut in turn.

g.121 vision of awareness

ye shes mthong ba

་ས་མང་བ།
jñānadarśana
The Nibandhana explains that awareness itself is vision, as it functions as
direct perception.

g.122 well disposed

dang ba

དང་བ།
prasāda · prasādena samanvāgataḥ
 From the root sīd (to “sit” or “settle”), this term is connected to a metaphor of
water settling down and becoming clear, and thus prasāda can often mean
“clarity” in the physical sense. This is contrasted with kaluṣa (“turbidity”),
which is also used in a metaphorical sense, in this case of looking
unfavorably upon someone/something. When we translate it as “good
disposition,” or “being well disposed,” it is in contexts where the term has
meanings akin to faith and devotion, or generally looking upon
someone/something else in a positive light.

g.123 wisdom
shes rab

ས་རབ།
prajñā
The term prajñā is formed by adding the prefix pra, usually understood as
meaning “excellent,” to the root jñā, meaning “to know,” “to know of,” “to
understand,” “to cognize,” “to be aware of,” etc. Prajñā is used in more
mundane contexts as referring to something very akin to “wisdom,” while in
a Buddhist context it is often defined as dharma-pravicaya, the classification or
analysis of entities, predicated upon a recognition of their specific nature. It
is thus also a synonym of abhidharma and of “insight” or “clear sight”
(vipaśyanā).

g.124 Yeshé Dé
ye shes sde

་ས་།
—
Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:
Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator
of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more
than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred
additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great
importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era,
only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources
describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is
also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his
own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam)
clan.