The Sūtra on the Threefold Training
Introduction
Toh 282
Degé Kangyur, vol. 68 (mdo sde, ya), folios 55.b–56.a
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Translated by the Dharmasāgara Translation Group
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Table of Contents
Summary
In The Sūtra on the Threefold Training, Buddha Śākyamuni briefly introduces the three elements or stages of the path, widely known as “the three trainings,” one by one in a specific order: discipline, meditative concentration, and wisdom. He teaches that training progressively in them constitutes the gradual path to awakening.
Acknowledgments
This text was translated from the Tibetan, with comparison to Sanskrit, Chinese, and Pali editions, introduced, and edited by the Dharmasāgara Translation Group: Raktrul Ngawang Kunga Rinpoche, Rebecca Hufen, Shanshan Jia, Jason Sanche, and Arne Schelling.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Introduction
The Sūtra on the Threefold Training is, in essence, a brief outline of the core teachings of Buddha Śākyamuni, which he gave while traveling toward Kuśinagara in the last year before his parinirvāṇa. It was given to a large audience of fully ordained monks in a grove to the north of Kuṭigrāmaka, a village in the ancient Indian country of Vṛji, which extended from the north bank of the Ganges opposite Pāṭaliputra up to the Madhesh regions of what is currently southern Nepal. The sūtra’s condensed teaching represents the three stages of the gradual Buddhist path to enlightenment and emphasizes how the trainings are undertaken in progression. The first training, discipline, is taught as the basis for the second training, meditative concentration, which in turn is a prerequisite to wisdom, the third training.
There appear to be several parallels or versions of this text. In its Tibetan translation it is preserved not only as an independent sūtra, but also in the form of short passages in two long vinaya texts, the Bhaiṣajyavastu (sixth chapter of the Vinayavastu)1 and the Vinayakṣudrakavastu.2 It is also found as a passage in the non-Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, of which so far only incomplete Sanskrit manuscripts are extant, although a Sanskrit version has been reconstructed by Ernst Waldschmidt (1951). With some variant readings, the same passage appears, too, in the still extant Pali Mahāparinibbāna Sutta. Translations of it in Chinese can be found as part of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and passages in some vinaya texts.3
A number of studies and translations of the aforementioned texts in Western languages have been carried out, for example those by Waldschmidt (1951) and Rhys Davids (1951). However, there have hitherto been no translations, as far as we know, of the independent sūtra.
In this translation of the sūtra from the Tibetan Kangyur, the text is introduced with the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, proceeding with the homage and then the general opening formula of “Thus have I heard at one time.” Naturally, in the other versions in which this text is embedded as part of a larger work, these introductory statements and the concluding sentence are not included. Besides this, there are a few variant readings in the Tibetan, Sanskrit, Pali, and especially in the Chinese. Since most of them do not alter the meaning significantly, we have chosen to note only the most important variants.
Text Body
The Translation
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. As the Bhagavān was wandering in the land of Vṛji, he arrived at the village of Kuṭigrāmaka and settled to the north of that village in a grove of sāl trees,4 [F.56.a] with a great saṅgha of bhikṣus. Thereupon the Bhagavān taught the following to the bhikṣus:
“This, bhikṣus, is discipline.5 This is meditative concentration. This is wisdom. Bhikṣus, training in discipline will lead one to abide for a long time in meditative concentration. Training in meditative concentration will lead one to gain wisdom. By training in wisdom, one’s mind will be completely liberated from desire, anger, and ignorance. In this way, having a completely liberated mind, a noble śrāvaka will perfectly know: ‘My defilements6 have ceased. I have lived the sublime life. What was to be done has been done. From here onward, I will not know any further existence.’ ”
This completes “The Sūtra on the Threefold Training.”
Notes
Bibliography
Tibetan texts
bslab pa gsum gyi mdo. Toh 282, Degé Kangyur, vol. 68 (mdo sde, ya), folios 55b–56a.
bslab pa gsum 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), 2006–2009, vol. 68, pp. 165–166.
sman gyi gzhi (Bhaiṣajyavastu), chapter 6 of ’dul ba gzhi (Vinayavastu), Toh 1. Degé Kangyur, vol. 1 (’dul ba, ka), folio 277b– vol.3 (’dul ba, ga), folio 50a. Translated in Yao (2021).
’dul ba phran tshegs kyi gzhi (Vinayakṣudrakavastu), Toh 6. Degé Kangyur, vol. 10 (’dul ba, tha), folio 1a– vol. 11 (’dul ba, da), folio 333a. Translated in Jamspal et al. (forthcoming).
Other works
Jamspal, L., and Fischer, K., trans. The Finer Points of Discipline (Vinayakṣurakavastu, Toh 6). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha (forthcoming).
Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F. and Thomas W. Dialogues of the Buddha: Translated from the Pali of the Dîgha Nikâya. Third Edition. Published for the Pali Text Society. London: Luzac, 1951.
Waldschmidt, Ernst. “Das Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra: Text in Sanskrit und Tibetisch, verglichen mit dem Pali nebst einer Übersetzung der chinesischen Entsprechung im Vinaya der Mūlasarvāstivādins auf Grund von Turfan-Handschriften,” in Abhandlungen der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Klasse für Sprachen, Literatur und Kunst. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1951, vol. 2, pp. 101–303.
Yao, Fumi, trans. The Chapter on Medicines (Bhaiṣajyavastu, Toh 1-6). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.
Glossary
Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language
Attested in source text
This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.
Attested in other text
This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.
Attested in dictionary
This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.
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.
Source unspecified
This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.
bhikṣu
- dge slong
- དགེ་སློང་།
- bhikṣu
discipline
- tshul khrims
- ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།
- śīla
Kuṭigrāmaka
- spyil bu can
- སྤྱིལ་བུ་ཅན།
- kuṭigrāmaka
meditative concentration
- ting nge ’dzin
- ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
- samādhi
sāl tree
- shing sa la
- ཤིང་ས་ལ།
- sāla
śrāvaka
- nyan thos
- ཉན་ཐོས།
- śrāvaka
Vṛji
- spong byed
- སྤོང་བྱེད།
- vṛji
wisdom
- shes rab
- ཤེས་རབ།
- prajñā