The Sūtra of Dharmaketu
Toh 254
Degé Kangyur, vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 70.b–71.a
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Table of Contents
Summary
While the Buddha Śākyamuni is staying in Śrāvastī, a bodhisattva named Dharmaketu asks him what qualities a bodhisattva must possess in order to reach awakening quickly. In response, the Buddha enumerates the ten most important qualities for bodhisattvas to cultivate.
Acknowledgements
This text was translated and introduced by Bhikṣuṇī Thubten Damcho and team. Bhikṣuṇī Thubten Damcho translated the text and Norbu Samphel reviewed the translation.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. George FitzHerbert edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. André Rodrigues was in charge of the digital publication process.
Introduction
The Sūtra of Dharmaketu, also known as Dharmaketu’s Question,1 is among the shortest sūtras in the Kangyur.2 While the Buddha Śākyamuni is staying at Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park in Śrāvastī, a bodhisattva named Dharmaketu asks him what qualities a bodhisattva requires to achieve full awakening. In his response, the Buddha enumerates ten key qualities that must be cultivated.
As noted by Peter Skilling,3 three of these qualities—bodhicitta, never forsaking spiritual mentors, and dwelling in seclusion—overlap with those also enjoined in The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors (Caturdharmakasūtra, Toh 251, 1.4–1.8). An additional three qualities—meditative concentration, ethical conduct, and joyous effort—are among the six perfections that constitute the core of the bodhisattva path. The remaining four factors are faith, compassion, being learned in the Buddha’s teachings, and seeking out the oral instructions of masters.
No Sanskrit version of this sūtra is to our knowledge extant, and it does not appear to have been translated into Chinese. The translators of the text into Tibetan are unknown since none of the Tibetan versions carry a colophon. It is not listed in the Phangthangma or Denkarma catalogs of Tibetan imperial period translations, nor in Chomden Rikpai Raltri’s survey of translated texts compiled in the late thirteenth century. It is, however, listed in Butön Rinchen Drup’s catalog compiled in 1322.4 The sūtra is preserved in both the Tshalpa and Thempangma lineage Kangyurs, although under slightly different titles.5
A recent English translation, based on the Peking Kangyur edition, has been published by Peter Skilling (2021). As noted by Skilling in his introduction, the bodhisattva Dharmaketu does not play a prominent role in Buddhist literature, although he is mentioned as a member of the audience in a number of discourses.6
This translation is based on the Tibetan as found in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) and the Stok Palace Kangyur. Where alternative readings have been preferred over the Degé version, that has been recorded in the notes.
Text Body
Sūtra of Dharmaketu
The Translation
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī, in Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park. At that time, a bodhisattva named Dharmaketu who was present in his retinue rose from his seat and addressed this question to the Blessed One: “Blessed One, which are the qualities that bodhisattvas must possess to become unsurpassed, perfect, and completely awakened buddhas quickly?”
The Blessed One replied, “Noble child, there are ten qualities that bodhisattvas should possess to become unsurpassed, perfect, and completely awakened buddhas quickly. What are those ten? They are as follows:
The Blessed One spoke these words, and the bodhisattva Dharmaketu8 and all those in that retinue praised what the Blessed One had said.
This concludes the noble “Sūtra of Dharmaketu.”
Notes
Bibliography
Source Text
’phags ba chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyi mdo theg pa chen po’o (Dharmaketusūtra). Toh 254, Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 70.b–71.a.
chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyi mdo. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 66, pp. 200–201.
chos kyi rgyal mtshan gyis zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Dharmaketudhvajaparipṛcchā). Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 59 (mdo sde, nya), folios 402.a–403.a.
Other Sources
Butön Rinchen Drup (bu ston rin chen grub). The Collected Works of Bu-Ston. Edited by Lokesh Candra. 28 vols. Śata-piṭaka Series 41–68. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71.
———. chos ’byung (bde bar gshegs pa’i bstan pa’i gsal byed chos kyi ’byung gnas gsung rab rin po che’i gter mdzod). In The Collected Works of Bu-Ston, vol. 24 (ya), pp. 633–1055. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1965–71. BDRC W22106.
Chomden Rigpai Raltri (bcom ldan rig pa’i ral gri). bstan pa rgyas pa rgyan gyi nyi ’od. In gsung ’bum [Collected Works], vol. 1 (ka), pp. 96–257. Lhasa: khams sprul bsod nams don grub, 2006. BDRC W00EGS1017426.
’phag pa chos bzhi pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Cāturdharmakasūtra, Toh 251), Degé Kangyur vol. 66 (mdo sde, za), folios 60.b–61.a. English Translation as The Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors.
84000. Determining the Vinaya: Upāli’s Questions (Vinayaviniścayopāliparipṛcchā, ’dul ba rnam par gtan la dbab pa nye bar ’khor gyis zhus pa, Toh 68). Translated by UCSB Buddhist Studies Translation Group. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.
————. The Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors (Cāturdharmakasūtra, chos bzhi pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Toh 251). Translated by Adam Pearcey. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023.
————. The Stem Array (Gaṇḍavyūha, phal po che las sdong pos brgyan pa’i le’u, Toh 44–45). Translated by Peter Alan Roberts. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.
————. The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa, Toh 176). Translated by Robert Thurman. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2017.
Feer, Henri Léon. “Le Sūtra des Quatre Préceptes.” Journal Asiatique, 6, tome 8 (1866): 269-357. Reprinted in Fragments Extraits du Kandjour, pp. 192–198. Annales du Musée Guimet 5. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1883.
Resources for Kanjur & Tanjur Studies. University of Vienna. Accessed January 8, 2024.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ’phang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Skilling, Peter. “Advice for Bodhisattva Dharmaketu.” In Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2021, pp. 207–11.
———. “Four Dharmas Never to Be Abandoned.” In Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2021, pp. 181–87.
Yoshimura, Shyuki. The Denkar-Ma: An Oldest Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons. Kyoto: Ryukoku University, 1950.
Glossary
Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language
Attested in source text
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Attested in other text
This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.
Attested in dictionary
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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.
Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.
Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering
This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.
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Butön Rinchen Drup
- bu ston rin chen grub
- བུ་སྟོན་རིན་ཆེན་གྲུབ།
- —
Chomden Rikpai Raltri
- bcom ldan rig pa’i ral gri
- བཅོམ་ལྡན་རིག་པའི་རལ་གྲི།
- —
compassion
- snying rje
- སྙིང་རྗེ།
- —
do not forsake their spiritual mentors
- dge ba’i bshes gnyen yongs su mi gtang ba
- དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་ཡོངས་སུ་མི་གཏང་བ།
- —
dwell in seclusion and abandon worldly distractions
- dgon par bsten cing ’du ’dzi spang ba
- དགོན་པར་བསྟེན་ཅིང་འདུ་འཛི་སྤང་བ།
- —
faith
- dad pa
- དད་པ།
- —
learned in many teachings
- mang du thos pa
- མང་དུ་ཐོས་པ།
- —
Prince Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park
- rgyal bu rgyal byed kyi tshal mgon med zas sbyin gyi kun dga’ ra ba
- རྒྱལ་བུ་རྒྱལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཚལ་མགོན་མེད་ཟས་སྦྱིན་གྱི་ཀུན་དགའ་ར་བ།
- jetavanam anāthapiṇḍadasyārāmaḥ AD
seek out the oral instructions of gurus and preceptors
- bla ma dang mkhan po’i gdams ngag yongs su btsal ba
- བླ་མ་དང་མཁན་པོའི་གདམས་ངག་ཡོངས་སུ་བཙལ་བ།
- —