by Andy Rotman
1178Divy 582.21, pātrasrāvaṇam(sic. mss.). Nobel (1955: i, 107n1) suggests pātraparisrāvaṇam, which is the form that occurs at Divy 582.24. Cf. Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. parisrāvaṇa).
1179Divy 582.23, pātraṃ ca. Nobel (1955: i, 107n2) suggests emending to prakṣālya. That is, “washed.” Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 73) suggests its omission.
1180Following Divy 582.11, 582.13, Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 73), and Nobel (1955: i, 107n5), read pāśālepān. Divy 582.29, pāśān.
1181Divy 583.9, karākārasadṛśam. Nobel (1955: i, 107n9), following the Tibetan (123a6; 130b7), queries ānakākara-. That is, “size of a drum.”
1182Divy 583.19, yady atra suvarṇạpalo ’pi dātavyo ’haṃ pariprāpayāmīti. Nobel (1955: i, 108n4) and Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 73), following the Tibetan (123b2–2; 131a4), read suvarṇapaṭṭaḥ. That is, “golden bandage.” Perhaps, “Even if a golden bandage needs to applied in this case, I’ll get it for you.”
1183Following Divy 567.22, the Tibetan (123b3; 131a4), and Nobel (1955: i, 108n5), add tat prāptam. Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 73) suggests prāpya. Divy 583.20 (omitted).
1184Divy 583.25, nave kumbhe. Nobel (1955: i, 108n6), following the Tibetan (123b5; 131a6), suggests suvarṇe kumbhe or survarṇakumbhe. That is, “golden pot.” Cf. Divy 327.25.
1185Following the Tibetan (123b5; 131a6), Nobel (1955: i, 108n7) suggests adding rathyānāṃ catvare (or rathyācatvare). That is, “at the main crossroads.”
1186Following the Tibetan (124a1–2; 131b2–3) and Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 73), read enaiva ca karmāvaśeṣeṇa tasminn evodapāne pañca janmaśatāni mṛgo jātaḥ saviṣeṇa śareṇa marmaṇi tāḍito yāvad. Divy 584.6, tasminn api codapāne saviṣeṇa śareṇa marmaṇi tāḍitas tenaiva ca karmāvaśeṣeṇa(mss. AB, karmaviśeṣeṇa; ms. C, karmāviś-). Nobel (1955: i, 109n3) suggests this reconstruction for the passage: tasya karmaṇo vipākena kalpam avīcau mahānarake taptas tenaiva karmāvaśeṣeṇa pañcajātiśatāni tasminn evodapāne mṛgo bhūtvā(or mṛgībhūtvā) saviṣeṇa śareṇa marmaṇi tāḍitaḥ kālagataḥ | etary api arhattvaṃ prāptaḥ śastreṇa praghātito nirvṛtaḥ. That is, “As a result of that action, he suffered for an eon in the great Avīci hell, and because of the karma that remained, for five hundred lifetimes, at this very pond, he was born as a deer, struck in a vital point with a poisoned arrow, and died. Even now, after obtaining arhatship, he died by the sword before entering nirvāṇa.”
1187Following Nobel (1955: i, 110n5) and Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 73), omit yāvad anyatamaḥ pratyekabuddho janapadacārikāṃ(mss., -kāṃś) caraṃs taṃ karvaṭakam anuprāptaḥ(Divy 584.26–27). That is, “Meanwhile a certain solitary buddha, after traveling through the countryside, arrived at that market town.” Its inclusion here is redundant; the same passage occurs at Divy 585.2–3.
1188Following the Tibetan (124b6; 132a7–b1) and Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 73), read daivam. Nobel (1955: i, 110n6) suggests daivena or daivāt. Divy 585.7, “It’s not like that” (naivam).
1189Following Divy 585.7, Nobel (1955: i, 110n7), and Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 73–74), read āgatā. Divy 585.8, nāgatā.
1190Divy 585.10, tadā dārikayā. Nobel (1955: i, 111n1) and Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 74), following the Tibetan (124b7; 132b1), read tayā dārikayā.Divy 585.4 and 585.6 read likewise.
1191Following the Tibetan (124b7; 132b2), Nobel (1955: i, 111n1) and Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 74), read anyasyā. Divy 585.11, asyā. Cowell and Neil (Divy 585n5) query asya.
1192Following the Tibetan (125a1; 132b3) and Hiraoka (HA 32; HD 74), read kuśaladharmau. Nobel (1955: i, 111n4) suggests śubhadharmakau. Divy 585.16, samakau. Perhaps, “of the same status.”
1193Following Nobel (1955: i, 111n5), read tābhyām uktam. Divy 585.17, “they told her” (sābhyām uktā). The householders are addressing wrongdoers in general—note the plural vocative—not just the girl.
1194Divy 585.17, vardhate. Perhaps meant to be vartate.
1195Nobel (1955: i, 111n6), following the Tibetan (125a3–4; 132b5), offers this reconstruction of the Sanskrit: yad ebhiḥ pratyekabuddhānām ṛṣīṇāṃ mātapitror upari saṃkāraś chorita.That is, “Since they threw garbage on solitary buddhas, seers, mothers, and fathers . . .”
1196Read yau etau. Divy 585.23, yo ’sau.
1197Following Vaidya (Divy-V 492.11), omit cittam. Divy 585.28, yadi tena na vipuṣpitaṃ cittaṃ. Nobel (1955: i, 111n7), following the Tibetan (125a5–6; 132b7), offers this reconstruction of the Sanskrit: yadi mahākātyāyanena bhikṣuṇā evaṃvidho guṇagaṇo nādhigato mahākātyāyano bhikṣuḥ pāṃśunāvaṣṭabdho ’nayena vyasanam āpanno ’bhaviṣyad iti. That is, “If the monk Mahākātyāyana had not amassed a great collection of virtues, then he would have been buried under [a pile of dirt] and straightaway met with his death.”
1198The chart included here is a composite of the work of other scholars. See Collins 1998: 297–302; Gethin 1998: 112–32; Kloetzli 1997; and Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé 1995.
1199For more on this term, see Coomaraswamy 1939: 116–117.
1200The Divyāvadāna (225.10–11), however, determines that the lifespan of Śakra—the chief god of Trāyastriṃśa—is 360,000 years. See Collins 1998: 298 and Gethin 1998: 117.
1201The Pāli equivalents for the names of these first three cold hells all seem to refer to large numbers (cf. CPD, s.vv. abbuda, aṭaṭa). The idea here may be that the denizens of these hells suffer for a long time.
1202The Tibetan (Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé 1995: 247) has variant names for these last three hells. They are “Splitting Like a Blue Lotus” (utpala ltar gas pa), “Splitting Like a Lotus” (padma ltar gas pa), and “Splitting Like a Great Lotus” (padma ltar cher gas pa). Perhaps these names are meant to conjure an image of a lotus beaten down by the cold. This is an image not uncommon in Sanskrit literature. See, for example, Kālidāsa’s Meghadūta (part 2, v. 23) and Bhāsa’s Svapnavāsavadatta (book 5, v. 1).
Glossary
Āgamas. See four Āgamas.
aggregates (skandha). See five aggregates.
Ajātaśatru. Prince of Magadha, who became king after he killed his father, King Bimbisāra.
analytic insights (pratisaṃvid). There are four: with regard to dharma, meaning (artha), languages and linguistic usage (nirukti), and eloquence (pratibhāna).
Ānanda. One of the Buddha’s main disciples and a veritable treasurer of the dharma. He was the Buddha’s cousin and, for the latter stage of the Buddha’s life, his personal attendant.
Anāthapiṇḍada. The Buddha’s chief patron. After purchasing a park from Prince Jeta, son of King Prasenajit, he had a monastery constructed there for the Buddha to pass the rainy season.
antigod (asura). One of a class of demigods whose home is beneath the waters at the base of Mount Meru. Positioned just below the lowest heavenly sphere, these “not [quite]” (a) “gods” (sura) often vie with the gods above them (cf. Divy 222.23ff.).
arhat. A “worthy one,” who has destroyed all of his defilements and thereby attained awakening. Often an epithet of a buddha. According to Paul Griffiths (1994: 62), it is used as a title for a buddha “to indicate both Buddha’s worthiness to receive the homage (pūjārhattva) and offerings of non-Buddhists and, using a different etymology, Buddha’s success in killing (han-) the enemies (ari) to awakening.”
armed wheel-turning king (balacakravartin). A king who needs to use force or the threat of force to establish his dominion. For more, see Strong 1983: 49–56.
aśoka. Saraca indica L. (= Jonesia asoca Roxb). A tree that blossoms with fragrant orange-yellow flowers when, according to poetic convention, kicked by a beautiful woman.
atimuktaka. Following James McHugh (2012: 266n25), “Monier Williams [1990] says this refers to a number of shrubs ‘surpassing pearls in whiteness.’ Apte [1986] says that it can refer to a creeper that embraces the mango tree. Here, [it is] classed ‘with other great trees,’ so perhaps it is, in fact, a tree? The commentary of Bhanūji Dīkṣita on Amara[kośa] 4.26 gives a Hindi synonym as t
iniśa, a tree, Ougeinia oojeinensis Hochr. (= Dalbergia oojeinensis W. Roxburgh).”
auspicious age (bhadrakalpa). An eon, such as the present one, in which five buddhas appear. In our present eon, the buddhas Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, Kāśyapa, and Śākyamuni have already appeared, and Maitreya will be the fifth and last.
bakula. Mimusops elengi. A tree that is said by poets to bloom with fragrant flowers when young women sprinkle it with mouthfuls of wine.
bhadanta. A respectful term used to address Buddhist monks.
billionfold world-system(trisāhasramahāsāhasralokadhātu). More literally, “the great thousand third-order thousand world-system.” As one nineteenth-century Tibetan commentator explains,
The area that includes the four continents, Mount Meru, and the outer rim of mountains . . . is referred to as a four-continent world-system. An identical world-system is located in space at a distance of one thousand times the magnitude of that world-system. A total of one thousand such world-systems [evenly distributed in space], encircled by a rim, is referred to as a first-order thousand world-system. This considered as a single unit, replicated one thousand times and surrounded by a perimeter, is referred to as a second-order thousand world-system. One thousand [second-order thousand world-systems] enclosed by a great rim is called a third-order thousand world-system. Thus, one billion four-continent world-systems is called one great thousand third-order thousand world-system. (Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé 1995: 102–3).
Bimbisāra.The king of Magadha, who reigned in Rājagṛha and who was a patron of the Buddha. He was killed by his son, Prince Ajātaśatru, who then ascended the throne.
blessed one (bhagavān). An epithet of a buddha. I translate bhagavān as “Blessed One” when it refers to Gautama Buddha, and as “lord” when it modifies a buddha (e.g., the lord Vipaśyin).
bodhisattva. One who has vowed to attain awakening as a buddha for the welfare of all sentient beings.
bonds to existence(saṃyojana). See five bonds to the lower realms of existence and three bonds to existence.
Brahmā.The highest deity in the world we inhabit. He lords over the “Brahmā world” (brahmaloka), which consists of three heavens: Mahābrahmaṇa (Great Brahmā), Brahmapurohita (Brahmā’s Priests), and Brahmakāyika (Brahmā’s Assembly).
Brahmā-like voice (brahmasvara). The twenty-eighth of the thirty-two marks of a great man. According to the Dīgha-nikāya(ii, 211), such a voice is “distinct, intelligible, charming, pleasant to hear, compact, concise, deep, and resonant.”
Brahmā world (brahmaloka). The first three heavens in the form realm (rūpadhātu): Brahmakāyika, Brahmapurohita, and Mahābrahmaṇa. See appendix.
brahman(brāhmaṇa). One of the four hereditary classes (varṇa) according to Brahmanical Hinduism (i.e., brahman, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra). The primary duties of this class involve ritual activity.
buddha. One who has attained the highest possible awakening—who is, literally, an “awakened one.” In the Divyāvadāna, “the Buddha” is often used as a title to refer to Śākyamuni.
buddha vision (buddhacakṣu). Buddhas are said to possess five faculties of vision: the physical eye (māṃsacakṣu), the divine eye (divyacakṣu), the wisdom eye (prajñācakṣu), the dharma eye (dharmacakṣu), and the buddha eye (buddhacakṣu). This last quality I translate as “buddha vision.”
campaka. Magnolia champaca(L.) Figlar (= Michelia champacaL). This tree, which is also known as the yellow jade orchid tree, has very fragrant flowers that are white, yellow, or orange in color.
celestial musician (gandharva). One of a class of beings who inhabit the lowest heaven, the realm of the Cāturmahārājika. Dhṛtarāṣṭra, one of the four great kings, is their lord. However, in the Divyāvadāna (Divy 202.29), Supriya is said to be their king.
community (saṅgha). The Buddhist order of monks (bhikṣu) and nuns (bhikṣuṇī). The text often speaks, however, of a community of monks (bhikṣusaṅgha).
coral tree (mandārava, māndārava, māndāraka). Erythrina indica. One of the five celestial trees. Flowers from this tree are sometimes said to rain down from heaven as a divine greeting of respect.
corruptions (āsrava). These negative karmic forces, which must be interrupted to escape from saṃsāra, are sometimes translated as “cankers” or “outflows.” They are often equated with the four floods.
deadly sin (ānantarya-karma). There are five such sins of immediate retribution: killing one’s father, one’s mother, or an arhat, drawing the blood of a buddha, and creating a schism in the monastic community. For more, see Silk 2009: 21–37.
desire realm (kāmadhātu). The world of desire and sense pleasure, which includes the realms of hell beings, animals, hungry ghosts, humans, and the first six divine realms. See appendix.
dharmic form (dharmakāya). The corpus of a buddha’s teachings or, as it were, a buddha embodied in the dharma.
dhānuṣkārī (or dhātuṣkārī). A kind of flowering tree that is perhaps a kind of jasmine. See note 53.
disciple (śrāvaka). A follower of the Buddha is known as a “hearer” (śrāvaka), signaling the importance in early Buddhism of listening to the Buddha’s dharma. In the Divyāvadāna, however, devotees are enjoined to look, as much as to hear, for visual practices are represented as the primary means of cultivating faith.
divine hearing(divyaśrotra). The quality of clairaudience, one of the superhuman faculties.
divine sight (divyacakṣu). The quality of clairvoyance, one of the aspects of buddha vision. It is also one of the superhuman faculties.
dukūla. A fine cloth made from the fiber of the dukūla plant.
eight sciences (aṣṭavidyā). One list in the Divyāvadāna includes the sciences of elephants, horses, jewels, wood, cloth, men, women, and various commodities (Divy 100.1–3). Elsewhere, the sciences of young men and women occur instead of the sciences of men and women (Divy 58.19). In addition, there are instances in the text when some manuscripts attest to “the science of cloth” while others attest to “the science of building sites” (Divy 58.17, 100.3). The Tibetan corresponding to Divy 26.12–14 lists the sciences of objects, cloth, jewels, wood, elephants, horses, young men, and young women.
eightfold path (āṣṭāṅgamārga). See noble eightfold path.
eighty minor marks (aśītyānuvyañjana). The secondary characteristics of a great man. Following Robert Thurman’s enumeration (1983: 156–57), these are:
[1] fingernails the color of brass, [2] shiny [3] and long; [4] round fingers; [5] tapered fingers; [6] fingers wide-spreading; [7] veins not protruding, [8] and without tangles; [9] slender ankles; [10] feet not uneven; [11] lion’s gait; [12] elephant’s gait; [13] swan’s gait; [14] bull’s gait; [15] gait tending to the right; [16] graceful gait; [17] steady gait; [18] his body is well covered, [19] clean, [20] well proportioned, [21] pure, [22] soft, and [23] perfect; [24] his sex organs are fully developed; [25] his thighs are broad and knees round; [26] his steps are even; [27] his complexion is youthful; [28] his posture is not stooped; [29] his bearing is expansive, [30] yet extremely poised; [31] his limbs and fingers and toes are well defined; [32] his vision is clear and unblurred; [33] his joints are not protruding; [34] his belly is relaxed, [35] symmetrical, [36] and not fat; [37] his navel is deep [38] and wound to the right; [39] he is completely handsome; [40] he is clean in all acts; [41] he is free of spots or discolorations of the skin; [42] his hands are soft as cotton; [43] the lines of his palms are clear, [44] deep, [45] and long; [46] his face is not overlong [47] and is bright as a mirror; [48] his tongue is soft, [49] long, [50] and red; [51] his voice is like an elephant’s trumpet or like thunder, [52] yet sweet and gentle; [53] his teeth are rounded, [54] sharp, [55] white, [56] even, [57] and regularly arranged; [58] his nose is long [59] and straight; [60] his eyes are clear [61] and wide; [62] his eyelashes are thick; [63] the pupils and whites of his eyes are clearly defined, and the irises are like lotus petals; [64] his eyebrows are long, [65] soft, [66] evenl
y haired, [67] and gently curved; [68] his ears [69] are long-lobed and symmetrical; [70 ] his hearing is acute; [71] his forehead is high [72] and broad; [73] his head is very large; [74] his hair is as black as a bee, [75] thick, [76] soft, [77] untangled, [78] not unruly, [79] and fragrant; [80] and his feet and hands are marked with lucky signs [of the śrīvatsa, svastika, and nandyāvarta].
Thurman follows Mahāvyutpatti §269–348. Edgerton (BHSD, s.v. anuvyañjana) constructs a slightly different list. For alternate translations, see Jones 1976: ii, 40–41 and Mitra 1998: 130–31. For more on the lucky signs, see Bapat 1953.
elements (dhātu). “The psycho-physical constituent elements of the personality in relation to the outside world,” to quote Franklin Edgerton (BHSD). There are eighteen: the six sense organs (i.e., eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind), the six objects of the sense organs (i.e., the visible, sound, odor, taste, tactile objects, mental objects), and the resultant six consciousnesses (i.e., eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, mind consciousness).
emptiness (śūnyatā). The Buddhist doctrine that all persons and things have no inherent existence.
fervent aspiration (praṇidhāna, praṇidhi). A firm vow or resolution to attain some higher form of karmic development, usually in a future life.
field of merit (puṇyakṣetra). Entities, such as the Buddha or the community, who are such great repositories of virtue that meritorious deeds directed toward them are especially beneficial for the donor.
five aggregates (pañcaskandha). These constitute the physical and mental constituents of a person. They are matter (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), recognition (saññā), conditioning (saṃskāra), and consciousness (vijñāna).
five [bad] qualities (pañcāṅga). Equivalent to the five hindrances (pañcanīvaraṇa). These are sensual desire (kāmacchanda), ill will (vyāpāda), tiredness and sleepiness (styānamiddha), excitement and lethargy (auddhatyakaukṛtya), and doubt (vicikitsā).
