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Parinirvana Sutra
At that time, there was a Buddha land to the East, beyond worlds whose number was like the infinite and innumerable sand grains of an asankhya of Ganges rivers. It was called the Beautiful Voice with the Intent of Happiness and its Buddha was called Emptiness, a Tathagata, an Arhat, a completely and perfectly Enlightened One, who is perfect in wisdom and conduct, well gone, a knower of the world, unsurpassed, a tamer of men, a teacher of men and gods, and a World Honored One.
At that time, that Buddha addressed the best of his great disciples, saying, "Good son, you should now go to the Saha world to the West. In that land there is a Buddha called Shakyamuni, a Tathagata, an Arhat, a completely and perfectly Enlightened One, who is perfect in wisdom and conduct, well gone, a knower of the world, unsurpassed, a tamer of men, a teacher of men and gods, and a World Honored One. It is not long from now that that Buddha shall enter parinirvana. Good son, you can take the fragrant food of this world with you. That food is a fragrant and beautiful meal of personal peace. You may take and present it to that Buddha, that World Honored One. Once that World Honored One has eaten it, he will enter parinirvana. Good son, you can pay your respects to him and ask to have your doubts put to rest."
At that time, the Bodhisattva-mahasattva Limitless Body accepted that Buddha’s instruction and rose from his seat. He prostrated himself at the Buddha’s feet, circled him clockwise three times, and, with an assembly of infinite asankhyas of bodhisattvas, he left his land and came to this Saha world.
In response, the grounds in the trichiliocosm all trembled and quaked in six ways. The grounds beneath the great assemblies of the brahmas, indras, the four [protector] god kings, the mara king Papiyan, and Mahesvara also shook. The hair on their bodies stood on end and their throats and tongues became parched. They were frightened and outraged. They wished to scatter in all directions. They saw that their bodies no longer glowed and that their majestic virtue was completely eliminated, without exception.
At that moment, the Dharma prince Manjusri got up from his seat and called out to the great assemblies, saying, "Good sons! Do not be afraid! Why should you not be afraid? To the East, beyond worlds whose number is like the infinite and innumerable sand grains of an asankhya of Ganges rivers, there is a Buddha land that is called the Beautiful Voice with the Intent of Happiness.
It’s Buddha is called Emptiness, a Tathagata, an Arhat, a completely and perfectly Enlightened One. He has fulfilled all ten of the epithets [of a Buddha]. And in that land there is a bodhisattva whose name is Limitless Body [610b] who is accompanied by an infinite number of bodhisattvas who wish to come and make offerings to the Tathagata. It is the majestic virtue of those bodhisattvas that has caused the glow of your bodies to completely cease to shine. This is why you should be elated and not alarmed or afraid."
At that time, those in the great assembly all saw the other Buddha’s great congregation, which was like looking into a bright mirror and seeing themselves.
At that time, Manjusri again address the great assembly, "You are now seeing that other Buddha’s great assembly, which is like seeing this Buddha [and his great assembly]. With the Buddha’s spiritual power, you again shall see the infinite Buddhas in the other nine directions."
At that time, those in the great assembly said to one another, "The suffering, the suffering! The world is vacant! It will not be long now that the Tathagata will enter parinirvana." Then the great assembly all saw Bodhisattva Limitless Body and his retinue. From each hair on the bodhisattva’s body was produced a great lotus flower. Each one of these lotus flowers had 78,000 cities on them that sprawled out like the city Vaisali. The cities’ walls and moats were embedded and filled with a variety of mixtures of the seven treasures. There were jeweled Tala trees and the seven kinds of path railings. The common people were prosperous, peaceful, wealthy, and happy. The Jambu river, whose sands were gold, had tributaries, each of which had forests of seven-treasured trees on their banks. These trees flowered and bore fruit abundantly. A fine wind whistled and moved in the trees, producing a marvelous sound. The sound was harmonious and graceful like heavenly music.
Inside the cities, the people heard this music and, when they did, partook of a most wondrously resolute happiness. There were depressions filled with wondrous waters that were pure and clean smelling, like true agate. In these waters there were boats made of the seven treasures that carried people who played sports and bathed on the decks. They enjoyed each other’s company and theirs was a firm and unchanging happiness. And there was an infinite number of variously hued lotus flowers. There were blue lotuses, white lotuses, red lotuses, and silver lotuses. These flowers had diameters measuring like cartwheels.
And on the outside of the cities’ moats there were numerous forest parks. In each of these parks there was five springs and lakes. And in these lakes there were lotuses. There were blue lotuses, white lotuses, red lotuses, and silver lotuses. These lotus flowers had a diameter that was also like cartwheels. They perfumed the air with luxuriant fragrances that were most lovely. The waters of the lakes were pure, the lotus flowers soft and pliable, the best. There were drakes, geese, ducks, and other waterfowl that frolicked in the lakes.
Those parks had palaces and households. Each of these palaces and households had a diameter and height filling four yojanas. They possessed property walls made completely of four precious materials. Those were gold, silver, agate, and rock crystal. Windows of real gold were set in the encircling wall. The floors were made of ruby and coated with gold dust. Inside of the palaces and households were bathing pools made of the seven treasures. Around the border of each of these bathing pools there are eighteen golden staircases and ladders. And on the shores of the Jambu rivers were [610c] plantain trees. These parks were comparable to the elation of the Trayas-trimsa heaven.
Each of these cities had 84,000 human kings. Each of these kings had an infinite number of wives and concubines. They enjoyed one another’s company, happily frolicking. The remaining people of the cities were also so. In each home they happily frolicked. In these places sentient beings do not hear the names of the heretics. Purely, they hear the voice of the unsurpassed Mahayana.
In each those lotus flowers, there was a lion’s throne. The four feet of those thrones were all made of a deep blue agate. A soft and pliable cloth covered the tops of the thrones. That cloth was marvelous and made beyond the three realms. Atop each of those thrones a king sat who transformed sentient beings with the Dharma teachings of the Mahayana. On some on the thrones there were sentient beings who copied, kept, read, and recited as they were taught the Mahayana scriptures, thus propagating them.
At that time, Bodhisattva Limitless Body stood still and this caused the infinite sentient beings on his body to abandon their worldly pleasures. They all said, "The suffering, the suffering! The world is vacant! It will not be long now before the Tathagata shall enter parinirvana."
At that time, the Bodhisattva Limitless Body, encircled by the assembly of infinite bodhisattvas, demonstrated in this way his spiritual power. He brought the variety of infinite offerings of supplies and the most wondrous, fragrant, and beautiful food and drink. Those who happened to smell the food’s aroma had their afflictions and defilements completely annulled. Because of that bodhisattva’s spiritual powers, all in the great assembly saw the transformation of Bodhisattva Limitless Body’s body into a great limitless expanse of space. Only those governed by the other Buddhas were exempt from seeing the bodhisattva’s body in its ultimate dimensions.
At that time, Bodhisattva Limitless Body and his retinue gathered together offerings twice as great as the last and went to the Buddha. They prostrated themselves at his feet and with palms together said to him, "World Honored One, our only wish is for you to mercifully accept our food." The Tathagata remained silent when he saw this and did not accept their offerings. After three such attempts, he still did not accept them. At that time, Bodhisattva Limitless Body and his retinue withdrew to sit at one side.
And in the Buddha worlds to the South, West, and North, there were also an infinite number of bodhisattvas with limitless bodies who gathered offerings twice as great as the last, went to the Buddha, and eventually withdrew to sit at one side. They were also so.
At that time, the grounds around the pair of Sala trees were most auspicious. A great assembly filled an area with a diameter of thirty-two yojanas, leaving no space therein unoccupied. At that time, in all four directions, there sat the Bodhisattva Limitless Body and his retinue, some of them so small as to fit on the head of a drill or the point of a needle, like grains of dust. From the Buddha worlds of ten directions that numbered like grains of dust, great bodhisattvas came and gathered together. [611a] And all of the great assemblies from Jambuvipa came and gathered. It was only the two assemblies of the Venerable Mahakasyapa and the Venerable Ananda that were missing. King Ajatasatru and his retinue, poisonous snakes that were capable of killing people, crickets, vipers, lizards, and the other beings of sixteen ways of evil actions all gathered together. Daanavat, spirits, and asuras all abandoned their evil thoughts and there arose in them the compassionate mind, like that of a father, mother, elder sister, or a younger sister. Throughout the trichiliocosm, there arose in sentient beings a compassion for one another. The only exceptions were the icchantikas.
At that time, because of the Buddha’s spiritual power, the grounds throughout the trichiliocosm became soft and pliant so that there were no more hilly lands, sands, pebbles, rocks, thorns, brambles, or poisonous plants. Myriad treasures adorned the lands just as in the Buddha Infinite Lifespan’s (Amitayus) world of Utmost Bliss (Sukhavati) to the West. And then all those in this great assembly saw into Buddha worlds of the ten directions, which numbered like grains of dust, and it was like looking into a bright mirror and seeing themselves. They were seeing [scenes] in those Buddha lands that were also [like their own].
At that time, the Tathagata emitted from his facial orifices a light of five colors and that light lit brilliantly the entire assembly. It outshone the bodily glow of those in the assembly. It then returned again and entered his mouth. At that moment, the gods and their assemblies, the asuras, etc. who saw the Buddha’s brilliant light enter his mouth were all greatly alarmed and the hair on their bodies stood on end. And then they said, "This light that has left the Tathagata and returned again is not without causes and conditions. It must be a portent to all in the ten directions that his parinirvana is at hand. How he suffers! How he suffers! And what about the World Honored One on this morning leaving aside the four immeasurable minds and refusing to accept the offerings brought to him by men and gods? The sunlight of noble wisdom shall from now to eternity be extinguished. The unsurpassed ship of the Dharma shall sink and be destroyed. Alas, the affliction of this world’s great suffering!"
They lifted their hands to their heads, beat their breasts, and gave a great cry.
Their behavior was outrageous, for they were unable to maintain their composure. From the pores of their bodies blood flowed and bathed the Earth.
Here ends fascicle one of the Great Parinirvana Sutra
Endnotes to Chapter 1
1.The Chinese translates koti into the numeral 100,000 and nayuta into the numeral 1,000,000. In this draft version of the English translation, I am transliterating back into Sanskrit in most of the instances of these terms until I’ve settled on a way to deal with the differing usages. Sometimes these two terms seem to be used as straight numbers, and sometimes as batch quantities (like the English term "dozen" for a batch of twelve items).
2.The text literally reads "84,000". However, since the number of upasikas has already been described as "numbering like the sands of three Ganges rivers" (a number somewhat larger than 84,000!), I am reading "84,000" here in the figurative sense of "a myriad quantity".
3.I am still deciphering the Chinese transliteration of this dharani.
Chapter 2: Cunda
Here begins fascicle two of the Great Parinirvana Sutra
[611b] At that time there was in the assembly an upasaka, a worker from Kusinagara, whose name was Cunda. He was accompanied by fifteen other such workers. In order to cause the world to attain a good effect, they discarded their majestic deportment and rose from their seats, adjusted their robes, and kneeled upon their right knees. With their palms pressed together, they felt empathy for the Buddha. Their tears flowing, they prostrated themselves at his feet and said, "Our only wish is for the World Honored One and the bhiksu sangha to mercifully accept our very last offerings in order to save the infinite number of sentient beings. World Honored One, from now on we shall be without a master, without a companion, without succor, without refuge, and without advancement. Poor, impoverished, hungry, and distressed shall we be. We hope that the Tathagata will seek another meal [1]. Our only wish is for him to mercifully accept our fine gifts before his Nirvana.
"World Honored One, it is just like those of the ksatriya, brahmana, vaisya, and the sudra castes [2]. When they are impoverished, they go to other countries to become laborers and farmers, obtaining good and tame oxen as well as excellent farmland that is flat and devoid of sand, salt, bad weeds, or deserted rubbish. Their only concern is about the rains from heaven. The aforementioned tame oxen are a metaphor for the seven commandments [dealing with] bodily and verbal actions. The excellent farmland that is flat is a metaphor for wisdom. The absence of sand, salt, bad weeds, and deserted rubbish is a metaphor for the removal of affliction.
"World Honored One, I myself now have a tame ox, excellent farmland, and have weeded out the myriad pollutants. My only concern is whether the Tathagata will rain down the sweet Dharma dew. Poor are those of the four castes, and so am I. Poor are they in the wealth of the unsurpassed Dharma. My only wish is for you to have mercy and root out our poverty, troubles, and anxiety. Take away, also, the infinite sufferings of the sentient beings. I now make these offerings. Although they are small and meager, I wish that they could fill up the Tathagata’s great congregation [grounds]. I am now without a master, without companion, and without refuge. My hope is that you will confer upon us compassion as you would on [your son] Rahula."
At that time, the World Honored One, with the knowledge of all modes, the unsurpassed tamer, addressed Cunda, "Excellent, excellent! I will now root out this poverty for you and rain down the unsurpassed Dharma rain upon your fields, causing the Dharma to sprout and grow there. You now wish to seek my life span, form, powers, peace, joy, unobstruction, and talent in discourse. I shall give you that eternal life span, form, powers, peace, unobstruction, and discourse ability. And why? Good son, the giving of alms has two rewards [611c], which are not distinguished. What are the two? One, once accepted, one attains the anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Two, once accepted, one enters into Nirvana. I now accept your very last offerings in order to lead you to the consummation of the perfection of giving (dana-paramita).
At that time, Cunda said to the Buddha, "The Buddha has said that these two rewards of giving are undistinguished. The meaning of this is unclear. Why? Prior to the acceptance of the charity, the afflictions have not yet ended and the knowledge of all modes has not yet been brought to fruition. And one is not yet able to lead sentient beings to consummate the perfection of giving. After the acceptance of the charity, the afflictions are then ended and the knowledge of all modes is brought to fruition. And one is able to lead sentient beings to the consummation of the perfection of giving. Prior to the acceptance of the charity, one is like a sentient being; while after the acceptance of the charity, one is a god in heaven. Prior to the acceptance of the charity, the body is a body of component parts, a body of afflictions, a body with boundaries, and an impermanent body. Yet, after the acceptance of the charity, the body is devoid of afflictions, a body of adamantine (vajra-kaya), the essential body (dharma-kaya), the eternal body, and a limitless body. Why do you say that the two rewards of charity are undistinguished?
"Prior to the acceptance of the charity, one is not yet able to consummate the perfection of giving through to the perfection of wisdom (prajna-paramita). Merely having the eye of flesh, one has not yet attained the Buddha eye through to the wisdom eye. Yet, after the acceptance of the charity, one has attained the consummation of the perfection of giving through to the perfection of wisdom. And one then consummates the Buddha eye through to the wisdom eye. Why do you say that the two rewards of charity are undistinguished?
"World Honored One, prior to the acceptance of the charity, once the alms are accepted, they enter the stomach and are digested. And then one acquires the life span, acquires form, acquires power, acquires peace, and acquires unobstructed discourse. After the acceptance of the charity, the meal is not taken, not digested, and there are none of these five rewards. Why do you say that the two rewards of charity are undistinguished?"
The Buddha replied, "Good son, for infinite and limitless asankhyas of kalpas the Tathagata has not had a food body or a body of afflictions. His body is limitless, an eternal body, the essential body, and a body of adamantine. Good son, it is the body of one who has not yet seen this nature of the Buddha that is called an afflicted body or a body of component parts and food. This is a bodhisattva with a limited body. At the time that this food and drink has been accepted, he then enters the adamantine samadhi. Once the meal is digested, he sees the nature of the Buddha and attains the anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. This is why I have said that the two rewards of giving are undistinguished. The bodhisattva at that time obliterates the four maras. This is why I have said that the two rewards of giving are undistinguished. That bodhisattva at that time, while he could not thoroughly explain the twelve-section scriptural canon before, he could penetrate through it [afterward]. Now that he has entered Nirvana [612a], he can discern and thoroughly explain it for the expanse of sentient beings. This is why I have said that the two rewards of giving are undistinguished.
"Good son, for infinite asankhyas of kalpas, the body of the Tathagata has not accepted any drink or food. It is for voice-hearers (sravaka) that it is said that first he accepted from Nanda and Nandapara [?] a pasture with two cows which gave him milk and gruel and then afterward he attained the anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. In reality, I did not eat them. I now shall demonstrate it to all of the great assembly of congregations. This is why I have taken your very last offerings. In reality, I will not eat them."
At that time, upon hearing that the Buddha, the World Honored One, would mercifully accept Cunda’s very last offerings for the sake of the great assembly, the congregation was elated, danced joyfully, and sang praises in unison, saying, "Excellent, excellent is this most extraordinary Cunda! Your name shall be established to be a non-empty praise. The meaning of the word Cunda is ‘Free and Marvelous’. You are now the expression of such a great meaning. This is why it is in accord with reality that your name is established from this meaning. It is why you are named Cunda. In this present life, you have attained this great name, your blessed virtue and vows are fulfilled. Most exceptional is Cunda who has been born human and attained this difficult blessing of the unsurpassed.
"Excellent is this Cunda! He is a rarity in the world like that of the udumbara flower. The appearance of the Buddha in the world is also very rare [3]. To meet with the birth of a Buddha and have faith in the Dharma one hears [from him] is again difficult. Being able to provide the very last offerings when the Buddha nears parinirvana is also the rarest of events. Namo Cunda, namo Cunda! You have now fulfilled the perfection of giving. Just as the Autumn moon is pure for a period of fifteen days and nights, it is completely full without any clouds to obstruct the view. Just as none the sentient beings can avoid look at it with reverence, you are also so. And we do look reverently upon the Buddha who has accepted your very last offerings and lead you to consummate the perfection of giving. Namo Cunda! This is why we say that you are like the moon at its peak fullness, which none of the sentient beings can avoid look at with reverence. Namo Cunda! Although you have received a human body, your mind is like the Buddha’s mind. You, Cunda, are truly a Buddhist disciple, no different than Rahula.
At that time, the great congregation proclaimed gathas, saying,
"Although you were born into the path of humans You have transcended even the sixth heaven [4]. Because of this, we and all of the sentient beings Now prostrate ourselves to and beseech you.
