CHAPTER XI.

TRANSLATION OF AN ADDRESS TO THE BUDDHAS OF CONFESSION.

TRANSLATION AND EXPLANATORY REMARKS.

In the chapter on "Metempsychosis" I have already alluded to the various means of purification from sins, a very efficacious one, it will be remembered, consisting in the supplication of the deities. I have likewise there referred to the addresses offered up to the Buddhas of confession, which are contained in various compilations of prayers. A sacred treatise of this nature forms the subject of the present chapter. The original I found concealed in a Chorten my brother Hermann had obtained from the Lama at Saimonbóng, in Sikkim;' it is written in small characters (the Vumed) on two sheets

The Chorten stood on the altar in the Lama's praying-room already when Hooker was there. See the View of the interior of the house of the Lama at Saimonbóng in his "Himalayan Journals.”

DETAILS ABOUT THE DOCUMENT.

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of unequal size. The larger is about four feet square, its height being two feet four inches, its breadth one foot nine inches; the smaller has the same breadth, but its height is only six inches, giving a surface of square foot. These two sheets were lying one upon the other, but separated by grains of barley interposed between them. They were wound round a wooden four-sided obelisk which filled the central part of the Chorten. The four sides of this obelisk were covered with Dhāranī inscriptions.

As the size of the two sheets does not allow of my reproducing here this invocation of the Buddhas of confession in the form of a facsimile, I preferred giving it transcribed in the head characters in the ordinary form of Tibetan books, at the end of the chapter. The contents of the two parts are separated by a distance left between them; the beginning of the second part is besides also marked in the Tibetan text by the recurrence of the initial sign.1

1

Its full title runs thus: Digpa thamchad shagpar terchoi, "Repentance of all sins, doctrine of the hidden treasure."2 The words ter-choi were illegible in the sentence at the head of the treatise, and it was only through their occurring at the foot of the larger leaf in connexion with the rest of the phrase that the hiatus could be filled up. Here also the other words preceding them had suffered considerable injury, but the general

1 In the English translation the words in parenthesis are rather explanatory paraphrases, than literal translations of the Tibetan.

2 Sdig-pa "sin, vice;" thams-chad "all;" bshags-pa "repentant confession;" r, the sign of the locative, is often used in stead of the genetive sign (comp. Foucaux, Gram. Tib., p. 94); gter "a treasury;" chhos "the doctrine."

context and the few letters still decipherable proved sufficient to remove all doubt that the title had been repeated. Another name for the petition, and one which we several times meet with in the text, is Digshag ser chi pugri, "the golden razor which takes away sins," this designation evidently signifying its extraordinary efficacy in delivering the sinner.

The larger leaf commences with a general laudation of the Buddhas-past, present, and to come—who are considered to have approached nearest to perfection; then fifty-one Buddhas are mentioned each by name; of some the region is stated in which they dwell, to others is added the number of their births from the moment in which they entered the Buddha career down to the time when they obtained the Buddhaship. Sins are said to be annihilated by reading or uttering the names of these Buddhas, and the sins are specified from which each Buddha has the power to purify. The wickedness of the human race, which caused the destruction of the universe, is alluded to, and the prophecy is made that man shall have recourse to this treatise and derive from it great advantages.

The second, smaller leaf, begins with the words: "Enshrined in the sacred box at the time of the uttering of benedictions," which refer to the usual inauguration ceremonies of religious buildings, as also to the blessings pronounced on such solemn occasions. Their effects upon the salvation of man, and the ad

1 Gser "gold;" kyi, chi, is the sign of the genitive case; spu-gri "a razor."

TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST PART.

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vantages which the inhabitants of the monastery shall derive from repeating them, are also again noticed. It concludes with four Dhāranīs.

The address styles itself a Mahāyāna Sūtra (in Tibetan, Thegpa chenpoi do), under which we should also have to class it from the nature of its contents. The addressing of imaginary Buddhas and the admission of a magical influence of prayers upon the deity implored is particularly to be mentioned in evidence of its being written in this period of mystic modification of Buddhism. We may also, with equal right, regard it as a translation from an ancient Sanskrit work, on account of the occurring of the title in Sanskrit.

The personal names of the Buddhas, and the Tibetan terms explained in the notes, are given in exact transliteration, and are not reprinted in the GLOSSARY OF TIBETAN TERMS, APPENDIX B., if they occur in the text; the native spelling of the other words may be looked for in this Glossary.

Translation of the first part.

"In the Sanskrit language3.

Reverence be to the

For the characteristic signs of a Mahāyāna Sutra, see Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 121.

2 The Sutras Phal-po-chhe and Rim-pa-Inga which are referred to for particulars concerning several Buddhas, are contained in the Kanjur.

3 My original is injured in this place, and the Sanskrit name cannot be read. It is a curious custom, differing from translations in European languages, that books which have been translated from the Sanskrit have frequently two titles, the Sanskrit and the Tibetan one. Some larger works of the Kanjur also receive an additional title in the Tibetan dialect called Dulva zhi, "the basis of religious discipline." See Csoma, "Analysis," As. Res., Vol. XX., p. 44.

very spotless Buddhas, who all came in the same way. In Tibetan: Repentance of all sins" (or sdig-pa-thamschad-bshags-par).

3

"I adore the Tathāgatas of the three periods, who dwell in the ten quarters of the world, the subduers of the enemy, the very pure and perfect Buddhas, (I adore)

1 In the original, Na-mo-sarva-bi-ma-la-ta-tha-ga-ta-bud-dha; the words are all Sankrit. Tathāgata, in Tibetan De-bzhin, or more fully De-bzhin-gshegs-pa, an epithet of the Buddhas who have appeared upon earth, implying that they have gone in the manner of their predecessors. Comp. pp. 4, 15.—In the sequel I shall translate De-bzhin-gshegs-pa by its Sanskrit equivalent Tathāgata, the literal rendering of the passage making the phrase inconveniently long.

Similar sentences begin religious treatises; the Kanjur e. g. has in the first page three images representing Sakyamuni, with his son on his left, and one of his chief disciples on the right, the following legends being written respectively under each: "Salutation to the prince of the Munis; salutation to the son of Shārikā; salutation to Grachen dzin (Sanskrit Lahula)." The title-page of the work is followed by the Salutation to the three holy ones. Csoma, "Analysis of the Dulva class of the Kanjur," As. Res., Vol. XX., p. 45. Our historical document relating to the foundation of the Hímis monastery, an abreviated translation of which is appended to the chapter on monasteries, commences with the words: "Hail! praise and salutation to the teachers!"

2 The three periods are the past, the present and the future; the Buddhas of the past are those who had preached the law and have now returned to Nirvana; the Buddha of the present time is Sakyamuni, the last of the Buddhas that have yet appeared; the Buddhas of the future time are the Bodhisattvas, the candidates for Buddhaship. The Buddhas of the three periods include all the Buddhas.

3 In Tibetan phyogs-bchu. These ten quarters of the world are: north; north-east; east; south-east; south; south-west; west; north-west; the quarter above the zenith; the quarter below the nadir. Each region is inhabited by its own Buddhas and gods, and to know their feelings towards a particular man is considered of the greatest importance. Compare for details Chapter XVII. No. 2.-A totally different meaning must be attached to Sa-bchu-pa "the ten earths," a term equivalent to the Sanskrit Dasabhūmi, referring to the ten regions or degrees of perfection which a Bōdhisattva has to pass in succession in order to attain the Buddha perfection. Comp. Csoma's "Dictionary," p. 89; "Analysis," As. Res., Vol. XX., p. 469; 405. Burnouf, "Introduction," p. 438. Wassiljew, "Der Buddhismus," p. 405.