Divine Stories

by Andy Rotman

  450Following Divy 23.28–24.1 and GM-Saṅgh 266/48v3–4. Divy 348.3, “and so on as before” (pūrvavat).

  451For a translation, see Hiraoka 2007: ii, 263–75. For Sanskrit parallels, see MSV i, 68.17–79.2 (GBM 159b[987]3–162a2[992]8); Divy 76.10–80.5 [cf. Divy 465.10–469.16]; and Mahāvastuii, 379.12–395.19. The corresponding Tibetan can be found at P 1030 ge 145b4–151a2 and D 1 kha 157a2–162b5. For more, see Hiraoka 2007: ii, 272 and HD 52.

  452Following Cowell and Neil’s query (Divy 461n3), MSV i, 68.17, the Tibetan (145b4; 157a2; cf. Shackleton Bailey 1951: 100), Speyer (1902: 115) and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52), add ānandam. Divy 461.11 (omitted).

  453Divy 461.12–13, cārikāṃ prakrāntaḥ. MSV i, 68.19–20, carikāṇ caran prakrāntaḥ. Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52) follows the latter reading.

  454Cf. MSV i, 69.10–11, where the brahman responds in verse.

  455Following MSV i, 69.14 and Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. bāṣpāyati), read vāṣpāyamānaḥ. Divy 462.2, vāpyāyamānaḥ.

  456Divy 462.5, mahābrāhmaṇa. Cf. MSV i, 69.16, where the Buddha addresses him as a “brahman,” not a “great brahman.”

  457Following Divy 71.25, add yaṃ śrutvā. Divy 462.11, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvad).

  458This formulaic expression usually reads “that arises with its twenty peaks of incorrect views.” Cf. Divy 46.25, 52.24–25, 71.25–26, etc.

  459Divy 462.13, atikrānto ’haṃ bhadantātikrāntaḥ. Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52) suggests bhadantāham atikrāntābhikrāntaḥ.

  460Shackleton Bailey (1951: 100), following the Tibetan (146b6; 158a4–5), suggests adding saṃvṛttam. Divy 463.2 (omitted).

  461Following MSV i, 70.22, the Tibetan (146b7; 158a5), and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52), read yat tavābhipretam. Divy 463.5, yathābhipretam (mss., yatrobhipretam). Cowell and Neil (Divy 463n4) query yat te ’bhi-; Shackleton Bailey (1951: 100) concurs.

  462Following Divy 461.16–23 (modified accordingly). Divy 463.12, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvad).

  463Following Divy 71.25, add yaṃ śrutvā. Divy 462.11, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvad).

  464Following MSV i, 71.16, the Tibetan (147a6; 158b5), and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52), read tenāñjaliṃ praṇamya. Divy 463.22, tenopasaṃkrāntāḥ | praṇamayya.

  465Following MSV i, 71.16, the Tibetan (147a7; 158b6), and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52), read labhema vayam. Divy 463.23, “teach us [so that we may] . . .” (deśaya).

  466Following 281.23–26 (modified accordingly). Divy 463.25–26, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).

  467Divy 463.26, te panthitā. Cowell and Neil (Divy 463.11) query te naiva sthitā. Vaidya (Divy-V 302.16) emends to te avasthitā. MSV i, 71.18, reads naiva sthitā. Likewise, in other instances of this stock passage, we find naiva sthitā (Divy 48.24), nopasthitaḥ(Divy 281.27–28), and nopasthitā (Divy 342.2), which Vaidya emends, respectively, to evaṃ sthitā(Divy-V 29.32), upasthitaḥ(Divy-V 174.19), and evaṃ sthitā(Divy 211.23). Here the reading may hint at nepatthitā, the emendation suggested by Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. nepatthita) and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52). Nevertheless, as I do in other instances of this passage, I follow Vaidya.

  468Following Divy 281.29–282.4 (modified accordingly). Divy 463.27, “and so on as before” (pūrvavat).

  469Following MSV i, 58.1–3. Divy 464.4, “The Blessed One taught them the dharma with three principles—and so on as before—like when he crossed the Gaṅgā River and taught geese, fish, and tortoises” (teṣāṃ bhagavatā tribhiḥ padārthair dharmo deśitaḥ pūrvavad yāvad yathā gaṅgāvatāre haṃsamatsyakūrmāṇām). The corresponding passage in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya (MSV i, 72.1–5) is nearly identical. MSV i, 57.19–58.3, however, preserves an unabridged version of the passage, although with slightly different wording than the abridged version suggests. It reads, “Now when the Blessed One crossed over the Gaṅgā River, he was surrounded and respectfully encircled by five hundred geese, fish, and tortoises. The Blessed One taught them the dharma with three principles. ‘Friends,’ he said, ‘everything that is conditioned is impermanent, all phenomena are without self, and nirvāṇa is peace. Cultivate faith in me and then you will escape animal existence’” (atha bhagavān nadīṃ gaṅgām avatīrṇas tatra pañcabhir haṃsamatsyakūrmaśataiḥ parivṛtaḥ pradakṣiṇīkṛtaś ca| teṣāṃ bhagavatā tribhiḥ padair dharmaḥ deśitaḥ| iti hi bhadramukhāḥ sarvasaṃskārā anityāḥ| sarvadharmā anātmānaḥ śāntaṃ nirvāṇaṃ| mamāntike cittam abhiprasādayata| apy evaṃ tiryagyoniṃ virāgayiṣyatheti). Hiraoka (1998: 428–29) cites this as an example of the compiler of the Divyāvadāna uncritically borrowing from the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya. These three principles are part of the well-known “four seals” of Buddhism.

  470Divy 464.5, svarbhavanam. Shackleton Bailey (1951: 100) and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52), following the Tibetan (147b2–3; 159a2) and MSV i,72.4, read svabhavanam. That is, “their homes.”

  471Divy 464.7, kiṃ nu. Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52), following MSV i, 72.7 and the Tibetan (147b3; 159a3), suggests kiṃ bhadanta. This is part of a standard passage in the text (Divy 53.28, 191.6, 282.7).

  472Following Divy 131.7–14 (modified accordingly). Divy 464.12–13, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).

  473Following Divy 344.5–7. Divy 464.15, “and so on as before” (pūrvavat).

  474Divy 464.22, vihārasvāmī. Commenting on a passage from the Kṣudrakavastu, Silk (2008b: 142n24) remarks that “the Chinese has ‘the dānapati [donor] who built the monastery,’ which means precisely the same thing as vihārasvāmin.” For more on this term, see Lévi and Chavannes 1915. See too Schopen 2004: 219–59.

  475Following Divy 23.28–29.1 Divy 465.8–9, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).

  476This rest of the story (Divy 465.10–469.18) also occurs, nearly verbatim, at Divy 76.10–80.9.

  477Following Divy 76.10, add ānandam. Divy 465.10 (omitted).

  478Following Divy 67.5–7. Divy 465.15, “and so on as before” (pūrvavad yāvat).

  479Divy 465.21, pratodayaṣṭyā. Both “The Story of the Toyikā Festival” and “The Story of a Brahman Named Indra” make use of this story, and hence this image, but in different ways. Here the associated image is the cattle prods that bruised the oxen’s bodies in the previous embedded story (Divy 463.9–11). In the latter avadāna, the associated image is the Buddha-sized “post” (yaṣṭi) whose discovery engendered a brahman’s faith (Divy 75.14–19).

  480Following Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. kṣūṇa) and Divy 76n3 (ms. D), read kṣūṇa. Divy 465.23, kṣaṇa. Cf. Divy 76.25, and the corresponding note (DS 419n434).

  481Divy 465.24, samyak pratyātmajñanadarśanaṃ[read -jñāna-] pravartate. Cf. 76.26, which reads pratyaya- for pratyātma-.

  482Divy 465.26, upasaṃkramya. Cf. Divy 76.28, which reads upasaṃkrameṇa.

  483Divy 466.15, draṣṭukāmaḥ. I think darśayitukāmaḥ (“desired to show”) would have been better. Cf. Divy 77.18–19.

  484Following Divy 78.7, MSV i, 76.2, Shackleton Bailey (1951: 100), and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52), read -saṃjananārtham. Divy 467.3, -samjanārtham.

  485Divy 467.21, teṣām api cittam ājñāya. Cf. Divy 79.21–22, which reads teṣām api cetasā cittam ājñāya.Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52) follows the latter reading, which is a common turn of phrase in the text.

  486Divy 467.22, suvarṇam ūḍham. Vaidya (Divy-V 305.1) reads suvarṇamūḍham. In the Divyāvadāna, the term mūḍhausually occurs in a list of types containers and means of transport. See Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. muṭa). Cf. Divy 78.23, which reads suvarṇaniṣkā.

  487Divy 467.24–25, muktakapuṣparāśim.Cf. Divy 78.24, which reads muktasupuṣparāśim. There I understood mukta in the sense of muktā, and translated the compound as “heaps of pearls and lovely flowers.” But I now prefer to read mukta, in the sense of “loose.” There is a progression here of increasingly more valuable gifts to offer at stūpa, and “loose flowers” flows logically to “garlands.” My th
anks to Chris Clark for this observation.

  488Divy 467.28, teṣām api cittam ājñāya. Cf. Divy 77.27–28, which reads teṣām api cetasā cittam ājñāya.Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52) and Shackleton Bailey (1951: 100) follow the latter reading.

  489Divy 79.10 adds “thus with their minds” (evaṃ cetasā). Divy 468.10 (omitted).

  490Divy 468.18, dhvajapatākāropaṇam. Cf. Divy 79.17, which reads chattradhvajapatākāropaṇam. In what follows (Divy 468.21), “umbrellas” (chattra) is likewise included with “flags and banners.”

  491Divy 468.22, teṣām api cittam ājñāya. Cf. Divy 77. 27–28, which reads teṣā[m api cetasā] cittam ājñāya.Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52) follows the latter reading.

  492Following MSV i, 78.3, read eṣā hi. Divy 468.27, eṣāṃ hi.

  493Following Divy 79.22, read acintiye. Divy 469.6, acintiyaiḥ (ms. C, acintiyaḥ).

  494Vaidya (Divy-V 306.12) omits Divy 469.6–7.

  495Divy 469.7, apratihatadharmacakrapravartinām. Divy 79.23, however, reads apratihatadharmacakravartinām. MSV i, 78.12, concurs. The present reading is more grammatically correct, yet it breaks meter. This suggests that it may be a later hypercorrection.

  496Following MSV i, 79.1, the Tibetan (151a5; 162b4), and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 52–53), read śrāddhaiḥ. Divy 469.17, sārdham.

  497Following ms. H 179a5 and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53), read pañcakārṣakaśatāvadānam. The manuscripts used by Cowell and Neil (Divy 469.18–19) read “The Story of the Youth Sudhana” (Sudhanakumāra-avadānam), but this is the name of the preceding story. Vaidya (Divy-V 306.21) renames it the Toyikāmaha-avadāna.

  498For a translation, see Hiraoka 2007: ii, 276–94. For insightful studies of the text, see Ohnuma 2000 and Mrozik 2006. For Sanskrit parallels, see Haribhaṭṭa’s Jātakamālāno. 6 (Hahn 1992: 51–57; trans. Ohnuma 2004b); Jātakamāla no. 1; Avadānakalpalatā no. 51 (Rani 2005: 55–56 and woodcut R-15; Tucci 1949: ii, 489 and plate 115). See Vajracarya 1977 for a modern retelling in Newari. For more, see Hiraoka 2007: ii, 289–90; HD 53; and Grey 2000: 328–29.

  499Following Divy 290.14, Cowell and Neil (Divy 470n3), and Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53), insert lokam. Divy 470.8 (omitted).

  500Following Divy 290.20, which reads saced bhikṣavaḥ, read evaṃ saced bhikṣavaḥ. Divy 470.14, “and so, monks” (evaṃ ca bhikṣavaḥ). Cowell and Neil (Divy 470n4) query ced for ca. Cf. Itivuttaka 18–19.

  501Vaidya (Divy-V 307.14) omits Divy 470.15–16.

  502Divy 470.17–18, tam api nāsaṃvibhajya pareṣv ātmanā vā paribhuñjiran.Perhaps read eva for vā.

  503Divy 470.18, mātsaryacittaṃ paryādāya tiṣṭheyuḥ. Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53), following Divy 290.25, reads mātsaryaṃ cittaṃ paryādāya tiṣṭhet. Cf. Divy 481.11, tiṣṭhet; and Divy 470.24 and 481.15, tiṣṭhati.

  504Divy 470.22, kavaḍaḥ paścima. For both terms, Cowell and Neil (Divy 470nn1–2) write “sic.” Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53) reads kavaḍo ’paścima. Cf. Divy 290.22–23, apaścimaḥ kavaḍaḥ(mss., karadaḥ).

  505The standard passage (Divy 62.9, 131.17, 435.6–7, etc.) adds “with plenty of food” (ca subhikṣā). Divy 471.2 (omitted). Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53) suggests its addition.

  506Dimitrov (2008: 47n8) notes, “There is a certain inconsistency in the spelling of the heroine’s name and consequently of the title of the legend. Apart from rūpāvatī, as it is given in the editio princeps, some MSS and modern sources cite the name as rūpyāvatī and more rarely rūpavatī.” Cf. Steiner (2002), who suggests that rūpyāvatī is to be given preference.

  507Divy 471.7, rūpāvatī strī. The text refers to her throughout as the “woman Rūpāvatī,” but I generally translate this simply as “Rūpāvatī.” The emphasis on her gender may be a way to highlight the enormity of the change that she will undergo in what follows.

  508Divy 471.10, prajātābhirūpam. Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53) suggests prajātam abhirūpam.

  509Divy 471.12, svāni putramāṃsāni. Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53) suggests svaputramāṃsāni.

  510Divy 471.14, svakāni putramāṃsāni. Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53) likewise suggests svakaputramāṃsāni.

  511Following Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53), read te na. Divy 471.15, tena. Cf. Divy 471.17, na me.

  512Divy 471.22, pṛthivī. Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53), following the Chinese, suggests pṛṣṭham. That is, “back.”

  513Divy 472.7, sthāmaṃ ca balaṃ ca vīryaṃ ca. Regarding this passage, Susanne Mrozik (2006: 27–28) notes, “Vīrya can mean anything from ‘valor,’ ‘courage,’ or ‘vigor,’ to ‘manliness,’ ‘virility,’ and ‘semen.’ . . . In a story about the transition of a female Bodhisattva to a male Bodhisattva, I find most suggestive a masculine reading of vīrya as virility. According to such a reading, Beautiful Woman [Rūpāvatī] generates masculine qualities in her body prior to becoming male.” For more on vīrya and its connection to an idealized form of masculinity, see Whitaker 2011: 59–108.

  514Following Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53), read sahakṛte tenāsmin. Divy 472.28, sahakṛtenāsmin.

  515Divy 473.1–2, atityāgo ’tityāgagauravatāyā (ms. A, atityośātityāga-; mss. BC, atityāgātityāga-; ms. D, atibhyāśātibhyāga-) rūpāvatyāḥ striyāḥ kṛtaḥ. Vaidya (Divy-V 308.28–29) emends to atityāgo ’tityāgagauravatā yā rūpāvatyā striyā kṛtaḥ. Perhaps read -gauravatayā.

  516Being Śakra, lord of the gods, is a position that one attains by accumulating large amounts of merit through the performance of meritorious deeds. Here Śakra is afraid that Rūpāvatī, as a result of her great sacrifice, will accrue enough merit to force Śakra from his post.

  517Following Divy 473.19, read brāhmaṇa. Divy 473.20, brahman.

  518Following Divy 473.19, read brāhmaṇa. Divy 473.22, brahman.

  519For accounts of Rūpāvatī’s sex change, see Mitra 1981: 314 and Burlingame 1917: 451. Mitra translates this passage as follows: “I long not for kingdom, or wealth, or supremacy; I yearn for the absolute knowledge, which would enable me to rescue the fallen, redeem the lost, and restore mankind to eternal beatitude. I wish therefore to become a man.”

  520Divy 475.12–13, aṅkadhātrī maladhātrī stanadhātrī krīḍāpaṇikā dhātrīḥ. In the Divyāvadāna a newborn child is usually given over to eight nurses: “two shoulder nurses, two playtime nurses, two nursemaids, and two wet nurses” (dvābhyām aṃśadhātrībhyāṃ dvābhyāṃ krīḍanikābhyāṃ dvābhyāṃ maladhātrībhyāṃ dvābhyāṃ kṣīradhātrībhyām | Divy 3.13–14; cf. 99.24–26, 271.18–20, etc.). Here we have “lap nurse” (aṅkadhātrī) instead of “shoulder nurse” (aṃśadhātrī), and for “wet nurse,” stanadhātrī instead of kṣīradhātrī, with “breast” (stana) metonymically replacing “milk” (kṣīra). The text also reads krīḍāpaṇika, yet as Cowell and Neil (Divy 475n2) note, “Mss. vary between krīḍāp- and krīdāy- and between -nikā and -ṇikā.”

  521Divy 475.17–18, dakṣakāṇām(mss., dahukānām). Speyer (1902: 356–57) conjectures daharāṇām or daharakāṇām. Edgerton (BHSD) conjectures dahara(ka) or dahraka. Hiraoka (HA 23; HD 53), following Speyer, suggests daharakānām (sic).

  522Divy 475.18–19, akāyikā sakāyikā(mss. ABD, saṃkāyikā) vitkoṭikā.Agrawala (1966: 67, 75), “mere heads without being attached to busts” (ākāyikā), “full figurines, complete with head, bust and legs” (sakāyikā), “grotesque bandylegged female dwarf figurine” (vitkoṭikā). Agrawala notes that Edgerton approved of these changes and said as much in a personal letter. M. G. Dhadphale (personal communication) also suggests “personal and impersonal toys” (akāyikā sakāyikā).

  523Divy 475.19, syapeṭārikā. Agrawala (1966: 75), “basket full of miniature cooking utensils.” Perhaps equivalent to Hindi, sītā-piṭārīor sītā kīrasoyī.

  524Divy 475.19, agharikā. This is obscure. Edgerton (BHSD) simply notes that it is “a kind of toy.”

  525Divy 475.19, vāṃśaghaṭikā.Cf. Agrawala 1966: 75. Edgerton (BHSD) thinks it may refer to a bamboo stick used in a game.

  526Divy 475
.19–20, saṃdhāvaṇikā. This is obscure. Again Edgerton (BHSD) simply notes, “a kind of toy.”

  527Divy 475.20–21, balīvardavigrahāḥ kathayanti dhanurgrahāḥ. The term kathayanti(“they say”) makes little sense in this context and so has not been translated.

  528Divy 475.21–22, kāṇḍakaṭacchupūrakūrcabhaiṣajyasthavikāś ca purataḥ parikṛṣyante. This is obscure.

  529Following Speyer (1902: 357) and Hiraoka (HA 24; HD 53), read eta [= ehi] dārakā. Divy 475.28, etad dārakā.As Speyer translates, “Now then, boys, let all of us make up our mind to strive for Highest Wisdom.”

  530Divy 476.10, uccaṃgamaḥ pakṣī. Here uccaṃgamaḥseems to be a description—that is, “high flying”—but in what follows (Divy 480.12–13) it is said to be the name of the bird. What is clear is that it is a bird of prey, perhaps a vulture.

  531Divy 476.16, iṣye. Cowell and Neil (Divy 710) suggest this is a substitute for iṣyate [or, perhaps, iṣṭam]. As they note, “This dialogue [Divy 476.15–17] seems to be purposively written in a debased Sanskrit, thus iṣye for iṣyate, pakṣifor pakṣin, and utpāṭayitu and muñca for utpāṭayitvā and muñces.”

  532Divy 476.17, manye. Hiraoka (HA 24; HD 53), following the Chinese, “tentatively” suggests manyase.