sixty sublime beings

you must learn how your actions are your own responsibility and how to align yourself with their ripening. When you take responsibility for your actions and align yourself with their ripening,

33

it was you who were at that time the universal monarch Inexhaustible Merit.

Within this great city was King Inexhaustible Merit’s palace built of the seven precious materials

at that time

in Deer Park in the vicinity of Vārāṇasī, where the sages spoke

To our knowledge a Sanskrit version of this sūtra is no longer extant

As with many Great Vehicle sūtras, this discourse contains prophecies of many beings’ awakening to buddhahood, and in this case, after Nāga King Sāgara is given his prophecy, he is congratulated by King Ajātaśatru. Sāgara, however, adopts an ultimate perspective to call into question the existence of both the phenomena of prophecy and there being anyone whose awakening can be prophesied.

Beyond that, Toh 155 appears unrelated to the other two, while Toh 154 was likely taken as an excerpt from Toh 153 and circulated independently in India before all three texts were transmitted to Tibet during the imperial period.

The first of two extreme views that keep one deluded with regard to reality.

Literally, “to flow” or “to ooze.”

implies

A “sublime being” and bodhisattva present for this discourse

root

While he was a prince, he became friends with Devadatta, who convinced him to have his father killed and become the king instead. After his father’s death, he became tormented with guilt and regret, and became a follower of the Buddha.

The end of all wealth is its liquidation

if I posited the elder on one side and all the ordinary beings on another, I would, in this case, regret it. So why do I not regret positing the elder and all the ordinary beings as not being different? It is because, Honorable One, when we say ‘on par with,’ it is a synonym for the fact that all phenomena are undifferentiated, that they are like space.

How? Is thusness something to be known

They are not produced, but neither have they been blocked. They are also not dropped. Rather, I just know thusness as it is

do you drop

Neither am I afflicted, nor do I abandon the afflictions

if no one says anything, an echo cannot occur. Likewise, Honorable Mahākāśyapa, until bodhisattvas are inquired of, their eloquence does not arise.

absorbs

Girls, you do know that as far as unsurpassed and perfect awakening is concerned, you will be unable to fully awaken in a female body. It would be difficult to accomplish.

Because all phenomena are nonentities, and their roots are discontinuous

life principle, life,

life principle, life,

Not only that, such sublime beings

it is like this:

also

Through the extraordinary intention of these beings in possession of excellent qualities, the trichiliocosm shook

Thereby, such virtuous beings are able

then

factitious

and situations

,

beings and know what benefits them

“Omniscient one, skilled in all respects, you know the proper time and conduct. You are skilled in the divisions of phenomena and always observe the vinaya.

then addressed

also

also

also

:

For what reason? Because,

Nāga Lord, therefore

that are the protection of

experiences this protective manifestation of dhāraṇī

attended to the process of

stutasarvaguṅa arthikeh

!

ulakamukhe

prabha­mukate

pratsāraketu

vāsana apagate

sthāna anugate

buddha adhiṣṭhite

sarva­buddhanāṃ

saṃgrahodeva­manuṣyānāṃ

hariṣānāṃ

codana avimānikānāṃ

anupakramodharma­bhaṇakānāṃ

avajranāṃpariṣada

anupacchedastri­ratna vidaśasya

the princes and the princes’ people are unknown to you

, appeared

What

applied to all terms

colors of

the

the

the

the

the

while

the childish can become attached, angry, or deluded due to the one who conveys them

cannot become attached, averse, or deluded

they

circulate in

circulate into any of

being undiscouraged

does not originate

As long as this profound teaching is heard here in Jambudvīpa, for that long the sublime Dharma will not disappear here.

take

clearly seeing phenomena

life force and personhood

principle

beings

Not seeing is clearly seeing phenomena

because knowledge is ignorance

personhood

personhood

a being

beings

disrupt

disrupt

disrupt

In the conclusion

shared

Later

,

on

lesson in the effects caused by actions

Interestingly,

In the Tibetan canon, there are

inclusive of

Although they each deal with separate topics, all three present teachings delivered to Nāga King Sāgara and his populace in Sāgara’s court deep in the ocean