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See The Absorption of the Thus-Gone One’s Wisdom Seal (Tathāgatajñānamudrāsamādhi, Toh 131).
See for example Roberts (tr.) The King of Samādhis Sūtra (Toh 127), introduction i.24. In her book Women in Buddhism (p. 169) Diana Paul identifies three ways in which Mahāyāna sūtras deal with the question of female bodhisattvas and buddhas. While most deny the possibility of buddhahood in a female body, some implicitly deny that women can be bodhisattvas at all, some accept that women may be “lower-stage” bodhisattvas, and some accept that women may potentially be “advanced” bodhisattvas whose buddhahood is “imminent.”
See UCSB Buddhist Studies Translation Group, trans., Aśokadattā’s Prophecy, Toh 76 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024).
See Karma Gyaltsen Ling Translation Group, trans., The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā (Toh 84), 2021.
See Sakya Pandita Translation Group (International Buddhist Academy Division), trans., The Questions of an Old Lady (Toh 171), 2011.
See Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans., The Prophecy Concerning Strīvivarta (Toh 190), 2021.
A notable exception to the seeming constancy of such outcomes can be seen in the Gaṇḍavyūha (see Roberts, trans., The Stem Array, Toh 44, chapter 45, 2022) in which advanced female teachers appear with no mention of their eventual need to become male.
A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).
The king of Magadha and a great patron of the Buddha. His birth coincided with the Buddha’s, and his father, King Mahāpadma, named him “Essence of Gold” after mistakenly attributing the brilliant light that marked the Buddha’s birth to the birth of his son by Queen Bimbī (“Goldie”). Accounts of Bimbisāra’s youth and life can be found in The Chapter on Going Forth (Toh 1-1, Pravrajyāvastu).
King Śreṇya Bimbisāra first met with the Buddha early on, when the latter was the wandering mendicant known as Gautama. Impressed by his conduct, Bimbisāra offered to take Gautama into his court, but Gautama refused, and Bimbisāra wished him success in his quest for awakening and asked him to visit his palace after he had achieved his goal. One account of this episode can be found in the sixteenth chapter of The Play in Full (Toh 95, Lalitavistara). There are other accounts where the two meet earlier on in childhood; several episodes can be found, for example, in The Hundred Deeds (Toh 340, Karmaśataka). Later, after the Buddha’s awakening, Bimbisāra became one of his most famous patrons and donated to the saṅgha the Bamboo Grove, Veṇuvana, at the outskirts of the capital of Magadha, Rājagṛha, where he built residences for the monks. Bimbisāra was imprisoned and killed by his own son, the prince Ajātaśatru, who, influenced by Devadatta, sought to usurp his father’s throne.
A high-ranking deity presiding over a divine world; he is also considered to be the lord of the Sahā world (our universe). Though not considered a creator god in Buddhism, Brahmā occupies an important place as one of two gods (the other being Indra/Śakra) said to have first exhorted the Buddha Śākyamuni to teach the Dharma. The particular heavens found in the form realm over which Brahmā rules are often some of the most sought-after realms of higher rebirth in Buddhist literature. Since there are many universes or world systems, there are also multiple Brahmās presiding over them. His most frequent epithets are “Lord of the Sahā World” (sahāṃpati) and Great Brahmā (mahābrahman).
Eighteen special features of a buddha’s behavior, realization, activity, and wisdom that are not shared by other beings. They are generally listed as: (1) he never makes a mistake, (2) he is never boisterous, (3) he never forgets, (4) his concentration never falters, (5) he has no notion of distinctness, (6) his equanimity is not due to lack of consideration, (7) his motivation never falters, (8) his endeavor never fails, (9) his mindfulness never falters, (10) he never abandons his concentration, (11) his insight (prajñā) never decreases, (12) his liberation never fails, (13) all his physical actions are preceded and followed by wisdom (jñāna), (14) all his verbal actions are preceded and followed by wisdom, (15) all his mental actions are preceded and followed by wisdom, (16) his wisdom and vision perceive the past without attachment or hindrance, (17) his wisdom and vision perceive the future without attachment or hindrance, and (18) his wisdom and vision perceive the present without attachment or hindrance.
A set of eighty bodily characteristics borne by buddhas and universal emperors. They are considered “minor” in terms of being secondary to the thirty-two major marks of a great being.
The four types of fearlessness possessed by buddhas: They have full confidence that (1) they are fully awakened, (2) they have removed all defilements, (3) they have taught about the obstacles to liberation, and (4) they have shown the path to liberation.
The four correct and unhindered discriminating knowledges of (1) the doctrine or Dharma, (2) meaning, (3) language, and (4) brilliance or eloquence. These are the essential means by which the buddhas impart their teachings.
A class of generally benevolent nonhuman beings who inhabit the skies, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds, and more specifically to dwell on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru, where they are ruled by the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. They are most renowned as celestial musicians who serve the gods. In the Abhidharma, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by sentient beings during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances (gandha) in the desire realm, hence the Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”
The name of a future buddha.
One of the wives of King Bimbisāra. May possibly be the Khemā of Pali literature.
An epithet for the god Śiva.
The bodhisattva Maitreya is an important figure in many Buddhist traditions, where he is unanimously regarded as the buddha of the future era. He is said to currently reside in the heaven of Tuṣita, as Śākyamuni’s regent, where he awaits the proper time to take his final rebirth and become the fifth buddha in the Fortunate Eon, reestablishing the Dharma in this world after the teachings of the current buddha have disappeared. Within the Mahāyāna sūtras, Maitreya is elevated to the same status as other central bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara, and his name appears frequently in sūtras, either as the Buddha’s interlocutor or as a teacher of the Dharma. Maitreya literally means “Loving One.” He is also known as Ajita, meaning “Invincible.”
For more information on Maitreya, see, for example, the introduction to Maitreya’s Setting Out (Toh 198).
Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.
The ancient capital of Magadha prior to its relocation to Pāṭaliputra during the Mauryan dynasty, Rājagṛha is one of the most important locations in Buddhist history. The literature tells us that the Buddha and his saṅgha spent a considerable amount of time in residence in and around Rājagṛha—in nearby places, such as the Vulture Peak Mountain (Gṛdhrakūṭaparvata), a major site of the Mahāyāna sūtras, and the Bamboo Grove (Veṇuvana)—enjoying the patronage of King Bimbisāra and then of his son King Ajātaśatru. Rājagṛha is also remembered as the location where the first Buddhist monastic council was held after the Buddha Śākyamuni passed into parinirvāṇa. Now known as Rajgir and located in the modern Indian state of Bihar.
The lord of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three (trāyastriṃśa). Alternatively known as Indra, the deity that is called “lord of the gods” dwells on the summit of Mount Sumeru and wields the thunderbolt. The Tibetan translation brgya byin (meaning “one hundred sacrifices”) is based on an etymology that śakra is an abbreviation of śata-kratu, one who has performed a hundred sacrifices. Each world with a central Sumeru has a Śakra. Also known by other names such as Kauśika, Devendra, and Śacipati.
A category of qualities that are distinctive of a thus-gone one. They are as follows: knowing what is possible and what is impossible; knowing the results of actions or the ripening of karma; knowing the various inclinations of sentient beings; knowing the various elements; knowing the supreme and lesser faculties of sentient beings; knowing the paths that lead to all destinations of rebirth; knowing the concentrations, liberations, absorptions, equilibriums, afflictions, purifications, and abidings; knowing previous lives; knowing the death and rebirth of sentient beings; and knowing the cessation of the defilements.
The thirty-two major signs of a buddha that manifest as specific physical attributes to indicate the perfection of the awakened state of buddhahood.
An ideal monarch or emperor who, as the result of the merit accumulated in previous lifetimes, rules over a vast realm in accordance with the Dharma. Such a monarch is called a cakravartin because he bears a wheel (cakra) that rolls (vartate) across the earth, bringing all lands and kingdoms under his power. The cakravartin conquers his territory without causing harm, and his activity causes beings to enter the path of wholesome actions. According to Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa, just as with the buddhas, only one cakravartin appears in a world system at any given time. They are likewise endowed with the thirty-two major marks of a great being (mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇa), but a cakravartin’s marks are outshined by those of a buddha. They possess seven precious objects: the wheel, the elephant, the horse, the wish-fulfilling gem, the queen, the general, and the minister. An illustrative passage about the cakravartin and his possessions can be found in The Play in Full (Toh 95), 3.3–3.13.
Vasubandhu lists four types of cakravartins: (1) the cakravartin with a golden wheel (suvarṇacakravartin) rules over four continents and is invited by lesser kings to be their ruler; (2) the cakravartin with a silver wheel (rūpyacakravartin) rules over three continents and his opponents submit to him as he approaches; (3) the cakravartin with a copper wheel (tāmracakravartin) rules over two continents and his opponents submit themselves after preparing for battle; and (4) the cakravartin with an iron wheel (ayaścakravartin) rules over one continent and his opponents submit themselves after brandishing weapons.
Name of a hill close to Rājagṛha. It is famous as the place where the Buddha is said to have taught the Prajñāpāramitā and other teachings.
’phags pa bde ldan ma lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. Toh 154, Degé Kangyur vol. 61 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 243.b–246.a.
’phags pa bde ldan ma lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i 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. 61, pp. 660–66.
’phags pa bde ldan ma lung bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 74 (mdo sde, ’a), folios 55.a–58.b.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa (Nighaṇṭu). Toh 4347, Degé Tengyur vol. 204 (bstan bcos sna tshogs, co), folios 131.b–160.a.
84000 Translation Team, trans. The Sūtra of Gaṅgottara’s Questions (Gaṅgottaraparipṛcchāsūtra, Toh 75). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.
Bien, Annie, trans. The Prophecy of the Girl Candrottarā (Candrottarādārikāvyākaraṇa, Toh 191). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2025.
Braarvig, Jens Erland, trans. The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī (Mañjuśrīvikrīḍita, Toh 96). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020.
Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. The Prophecy Concerning Strīvivarta (Strīvivartavyākaraṇa, Toh 190). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.
Dharmachakra Translation Committee, trans. The Good Eon (Bhadrakalpika, Toh 94). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2022.
Dharmasāgara Translation Group, trans. The Inquiry of the Girl Sumati (Acintyabuddhaviṣayanirdeśa, Toh 74). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.
Edgerton, Franklin. Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953.
Feer, Léon. “Deux vyākaraṇas bouddhiques.” Revue Orientale 60 (1866): 341f. Reprinted in Fragments extraits du Kandjour, 376–381. Paris: E. Leroux, 1883.
Karma Gyaltsen Ling Translation Group, trans. The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā (Dārikāvimalaśraddhāparipṛcchāsūtra, Toh 84). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
Sakya Pandita Translation Group (International Buddhist Academy Division), trans. The Questions of an Old Lady (Mahallikāparipṛcchā, Toh 171). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2011.
Malalasekera, G.P. Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names. 2 vols. London: Pali Text Society, 1937.
Monier-Williams, M. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899.
Paul, Diana Y. Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in the Mahāyāna Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.
Roberts, Peter, trans. The King of Samādhis Sūtra (Samādhirājasūtra, Toh 127). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018.
Roberts, Peter, trans. The Stem Array (Gaṇḍavyūha, Toh 44, ch. 45). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.
Skilling, Peter. Questioning the Buddha: A Collection of Twenty-five Sūtras. New York: Wisdom Publications, 2021.
Yoshimura, Shyuki. The Denkar-Ma: An Oldest Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons. Kyoto: Ryukoku University, 1950.
UCSB Buddhist Studies Translation Group, trans. Aśokadattā’s Prophecy (Aśokadattāvyākaraṇa, Toh 76). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2024.
C Choné
H Lhasa
J Lithang
K Kangxi
N Narthang
S Stok Palace
Y Yongle
On their morning alms round, the Buddha and Maitreya meet Queen Kṣemavatī who is bedecked in all her royal jewelry. When the Buddha asks her about the source of such fine jewelry, referring to it metaphorically as fruit, Queen Kṣemavatī explains that her worldly position is the fruit of the tree of her previous good deeds. The remainder of the sūtra describes how one’s good actions can eventually lead to buddhahood, and it concludes with a prophecy of the queen’s future awakening.
Translated by the Subhashita Translation Group. The translation was produced by Benjamin Ewing, who also contributed to the introduction (later completed by the 84000 editors). Lowell Cook checked the translation against the Tibetan and edited the text.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī begins with the Buddha and his disciple, the bodhisattva Maitreya, walking through the city of Rājagṛha on their morning alms round. As they near King Bimbisāra’s palace, they are met by Queen Kṣemavatī, who is adorned with a dazzling display of royal jewelry. The Buddha asks the queen, in a seemingly playful way, for the name of the tree that produced the magnificent fruit that she is wearing. Kṣemavatī continues the analogy by describing her jewelry and her current station in life as the “fruit” borne by the “tree” of her past good deeds accumulated over lifetimes.
This exchange emphasizes one of the main themes of the text: one’s current situation is the result of previous actions, so if we desire a good future we should persevere in meritorious behavior. This applies not just to ordinary happiness but to spiritual pursuits as well. While Kṣemavatī’s “fruit” might at first seem worldly, she firmly sets the “tree” of her own past and present actions within the framework of the bodhisattva path, with her aspiration to awakening and her practice of the six perfections. The fruit and tree analogy continues throughout the sūtra, with the Buddha describing his own station, that of complete awakening and all its excellent qualities, as also being the result of his past good deeds. His account of his own path reflects that of Kṣemavatī, similar to his even if much less advanced in time.
The text concludes with Kṣemavatī declaring that she will dedicate all her future good deeds toward reaching buddhahood and thereby be of benefit to all beings. The Buddha responds to this prayer by prophesying the queen’s eventual awakening to buddhahood.
Kṣemavatī is mentioned in at least one other sūtra in the Kangyur as one of Bimbisāra’s queens. She may well represent the same person as the Khemā who appears in the Pali literature as Bimbisāra’s consort, at first infatuated by her own beauty but later, on meeting the Buddha, becoming an arhat and bhikṣuṇī. Here, however, she is described as a bodhisattva who has already embarked on accumulating merit on the initial stage of her “natural career” (prakṛticaryā) and has vowed to attain awakening on the subsequent stage of her “resolution” (praṇidhānacaryā), as implied in 1.10. In the present narrative she reinforces her previous vow and receives her “prophecy” (vyākaraṇa) of future buddhahood from the Buddha himself.
Twice in this sūtra, Queen Kṣemavatī aspires to be reborn as a man so that she may continue to progress on her path to awakening. It may be jarring to modern readers to hear the queen lamenting her womanhood, but such attitudes are not uncommon in Mahāyāna sūtras, in some of which it seems to be assumed without question that not only buddhas but bodhisattvas, too, are male. This sūtra, in which the focus is on a bodhisattva who is a woman, can therefore be seen as belonging to a distinct but quite large genre of texts that counter such assumptions. The genre includes other Kangyur sūtras featuring women bodhisattvas who are also queens or princesses and who, like Kṣemavatī, receive their predictions of future awakening, such as The Sūtra of Aśokadattā’s Prophecy (Toh 76), The Questions of Vimalaprabhā (Toh 168), The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā (Toh 84), The Questions of Vimaladattā (Toh 77), and The Lion’s Roar of Śrīmālādevī (Toh 92), as well as those in which nonroyal laywomen are the main interlocutors, like The Questions of the Girl Sumati (Toh 74), The Questions of Gaṅgottara (Toh 75), The Questions of an Old Lady (Toh 171), The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī (Toh 96), The Sūtra of the Girl Candrottarā’s Prophecy (Toh 191), and, notably, The Prophecy Concerning Strīvivarta (Toh 190). In some of these sūtras gender is dismissed as irrelevant or merely notional, yet all these accounts—even those of Strīvivarta and Vimalaprabhā, the most advanced bodhisattvas in their abilities to manifest in different forms—culminate in the prediction that the female protagonist will ultimately become male, at least for the final stages of the path to buddhahood. So while this sūtra, like the others mentioned, imposes the traditional stance of male primacy, it is perhaps in countering texts that make no mention of women bodhisattvas at all that it is framed as an inspiration to women, and ends with many thousands of women developing the intent to reach buddhahood.
While the text does not include a colophon that identifies its translators, The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī is listed in the earliest Tibetan textual catalog, the Denkarma, so we can say with certainty that it appeared in Tibet at some point during or before the early ninth century
The English translation presented here was prepared based on the Degé Kangyur version of the text in consultation with the Stok Palace manuscript and the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma).
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in Rājagṛha on Vulture Peak together with a large monastic congregation of twenty thousand monks and many bodhisattva great beings including Maitreya and Mañjuśrī. At dawn, the Blessed One donned his robes, picked up his alms bowl, and, together with the bodhisattva great being Maitreya, went to the city of Rājagṛha for alms. As they progressed through their rounds in the city of Rājagṛha, they neared the palace of King Bimbisāra. From atop the royal residence, King Bimbisāra’s queen, Kṣemavatī, could see the Blessed One approaching from a distance. Filled with joy at the sight of the Blessed One, Kṣemavatī descended from the palace and laid out ornate cushions made of white silk for the Blessed One and the bodhisattva great being Maitreya. The Blessed One and the bodhisattva great being Maitreya seated themselves on the seats that had been prepared for them, and Kṣemavatī, bedecked in all her jewelry, bowed her head at their feet. So that she might hear teachings on the Dharma, she sat before the Blessed One with great respect and reverence for him.
The Blessed One saw Queen Kṣemavatī bedecked in all her jewelry and, although he knew the answer, addressed her in order to benefit all beings. He asked, “Kṣemavatī, what is the name of the tree that bears the kind of brilliant, dazzling, shining fruit that adorns your body?”
Queen Kṣemavatī answered the Blessed One with the following verses:
The Blessed One responded, “Kṣemavatī, you have acted to bring benefit and happiness to many people and have compassion for the world. You have acted for the sake of the vast assembly of beings, for the happiness and benefit of gods and humans alike. Excellent, excellent indeed!”
“Blessed One,” Queen Kṣemavatī replied, “the Blessed One has the thirty-two major and eighty minor bodily marks of a great being, the ten powers of the thus-gone ones, the four fearlessnesses, the four special modes of knowledge, the eighteen unique qualities of a buddha, great loving-kindness, great compassion, great joy, and great equanimity. Where do all of your qualities come from? And, furthermore, where do the unfathomable, inconceivable, immeasurable, ineffable, incalculable qualities of the Buddha come from?”
The Blessed One answered Queen Kṣemavatī with these verses:
After hearing of the qualities of the Blessed One, Queen Kṣemavatī praised the Blessed One’s well-spoken teaching and rejoiced, offering these verses:
The Blessed One then offered his approval to Queen Kṣemavatī with this verse:
Queen Kṣemavatī was joyful, elated, and jubilant. Filled with joy and delight, she offered the Blessed One and the bodhisattva great being Maitreya plenty of food and drink until they were satisfied. After the Blessed One put away his bowl and washed his hands, he gave Queen Kṣemavatī extensive Dharma teachings, encouraged her to uphold them, inspired her, delighted her, and then made this prophecy:
“In the future, Kṣemavatī, many eons from now, you will become a thus-gone, worthy, perfected buddha, a teacher for gods and humans. You will be a blessed buddha known as Guṇaratnaśrī, and your buddha field will be supremely pure. It will be free of the suffering of descending to lower rebirths and the lower realms. It will be an abode of beautiful, pleasant, and supremely pure bodhisattvas. Such will be your buddha field.”
As this teaching was given, many thousands of laywomen developed the intent to reach unexcelled, perfect awakening. Thousands of beings and many gods and humans obtained the light of the Dharma.
When the Blessed One had finished speaking, Queen Kṣemavatī, her retinue, and the entire world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas all rejoiced and praised what the Buddha had taught.
This concludes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra “The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī.”
On their morning alms round, the Buddha and Maitreya meet Queen Kṣemavatī who is bedecked in all her royal jewelry. When the Buddha asks her about the source of such fine jewelry, referring to it metaphorically as fruit, Queen Kṣemavatī explains that her worldly position is the fruit of the tree of her previous good deeds. The remainder of the sūtra describes how one’s good actions can eventually lead to buddhahood, and it concludes with a prophecy of the queen’s future awakening.
Translated by the Subhashita Translation Group. The translation was produced by Benjamin Ewing, who also contributed to the introduction (later completed by the 84000 editors). Lowell Cook checked the translation against the Tibetan and edited the text.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī begins with the Buddha and his disciple, the bodhisattva Maitreya, walking through the city of Rājagṛha on their morning alms round. As they near King Bimbisāra’s palace, they are met by Queen Kṣemavatī, who is adorned with a dazzling display of royal jewelry. The Buddha asks the queen, in a seemingly playful way, for the name of the tree that produced the magnificent fruit that she is wearing. Kṣemavatī continues the analogy by describing her jewelry and her current station in life as the “fruit” borne by the “tree” of her past good deeds accumulated over lifetimes.
This exchange emphasizes one of the main themes of the text: one’s current situation is the result of previous actions, so if we desire a good future we should persevere in meritorious behavior. This applies not just to ordinary happiness but to spiritual pursuits as well. While Kṣemavatī’s “fruit” might at first seem worldly, she firmly sets the “tree” of her own past and present actions within the framework of the bodhisattva path, with her aspiration to awakening and her practice of the six perfections. The fruit and tree analogy continues throughout the sūtra, with the Buddha describing his own station, that of complete awakening and all its excellent qualities, as also being the result of his past good deeds. His account of his own path reflects that of Kṣemavatī, similar to his even if much less advanced in time.
The text concludes with Kṣemavatī declaring that she will dedicate all her future good deeds toward reaching buddhahood and thereby be of benefit to all beings. The Buddha responds to this prayer by prophesying the queen’s eventual awakening to buddhahood.
Kṣemavatī is mentioned in at least one other sūtra in the Kangyur as one of Bimbisāra’s queens. She may well represent the same person as the Khemā who appears in the Pali literature as Bimbisāra’s consort, at first infatuated by her own beauty but later, on meeting the Buddha, becoming an arhat and bhikṣuṇī. Here, however, she is described as a bodhisattva who has already embarked on accumulating merit on the initial stage of her “natural career” (prakṛticaryā) and has vowed to attain awakening on the subsequent stage of her “resolution” (praṇidhānacaryā), as implied in 1.10. In the present narrative she reinforces her previous vow and receives her “prophecy” (vyākaraṇa) of future buddhahood from the Buddha himself.
Twice in this sūtra, Queen Kṣemavatī aspires to be reborn as a man so that she may continue to progress on her path to awakening. It may be jarring to modern readers to hear the queen lamenting her womanhood, but such attitudes are not uncommon in Mahāyāna sūtras, in some of which it seems to be assumed without question that not only buddhas but bodhisattvas, too, are male. This sūtra, in which the focus is on a bodhisattva who is a woman, can therefore be seen as belonging to a distinct but quite large genre of texts that counter such assumptions. The genre includes other Kangyur sūtras featuring women bodhisattvas who are also queens or princesses and who, like Kṣemavatī, receive their predictions of future awakening, such as The Sūtra of Aśokadattā’s Prophecy (Toh 76), The Questions of Vimalaprabhā (Toh 168), The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā (Toh 84), The Questions of Vimaladattā (Toh 77), and The Lion’s Roar of Śrīmālādevī (Toh 92), as well as those in which nonroyal laywomen are the main interlocutors, like The Questions of the Girl Sumati (Toh 74), The Questions of Gaṅgottara (Toh 75), The Questions of an Old Lady (Toh 171), The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī (Toh 96), The Sūtra of the Girl Candrottarā’s Prophecy (Toh 191), and, notably, The Prophecy Concerning Strīvivarta (Toh 190). In some of these sūtras gender is dismissed as irrelevant or merely notional, yet all these accounts—even those of Strīvivarta and Vimalaprabhā, the most advanced bodhisattvas in their abilities to manifest in different forms—culminate in the prediction that the female protagonist will ultimately become male, at least for the final stages of the path to buddhahood. So while this sūtra, like the others mentioned, imposes the traditional stance of male primacy, it is perhaps in countering texts that make no mention of women bodhisattvas at all that it is framed as an inspiration to women, and ends with many thousands of women developing the intent to reach buddhahood.
While the text does not include a colophon that identifies its translators, The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī is listed in the earliest Tibetan textual catalog, the Denkarma, so we can say with certainty that it appeared in Tibet at some point during or before the early ninth century
The English translation presented here was prepared based on the Degé Kangyur version of the text in consultation with the Stok Palace manuscript and the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma).
Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in Rājagṛha on Vulture Peak together with a large monastic congregation of twenty thousand monks and many bodhisattva great beings including Maitreya and Mañjuśrī. At dawn, the Blessed One donned his robes, picked up his alms bowl, and, together with the bodhisattva great being Maitreya, went to the city of Rājagṛha for alms. As they progressed through their rounds in the city of Rājagṛha, they neared the palace of King Bimbisāra. From atop the royal residence, King Bimbisāra’s queen, Kṣemavatī, could see the Blessed One approaching from a distance. Filled with joy at the sight of the Blessed One, Kṣemavatī descended from the palace and laid out ornate cushions made of white silk for the Blessed One and the bodhisattva great being Maitreya. The Blessed One and the bodhisattva great being Maitreya seated themselves on the seats that had been prepared for them, and Kṣemavatī, bedecked in all her jewelry, bowed her head at their feet. So that she might hear teachings on the Dharma, she sat before the Blessed One with great respect and reverence for him.
The Blessed One saw Queen Kṣemavatī bedecked in all her jewelry and, although he knew the answer, addressed her in order to benefit all beings. He asked, “Kṣemavatī, what is the name of the tree that bears the kind of brilliant, dazzling, shining fruit that adorns your body?”
Queen Kṣemavatī answered the Blessed One with the following verses:
The Blessed One responded, “Kṣemavatī, you have acted to bring benefit and happiness to many people and have compassion for the world. You have acted for the sake of the vast assembly of beings, for the happiness and benefit of gods and humans alike. Excellent, excellent indeed!”
“Blessed One,” Queen Kṣemavatī replied, “the Blessed One has the thirty-two major and eighty minor bodily marks of a great being, the ten powers of the thus-gone ones, the four fearlessnesses, the four special modes of knowledge, the eighteen unique qualities of a buddha, great loving-kindness, great compassion, great joy, and great equanimity. Where do all of your qualities come from? And, furthermore, where do the unfathomable, inconceivable, immeasurable, ineffable, incalculable qualities of the Buddha come from?”
The Blessed One answered Queen Kṣemavatī with these verses:
After hearing of the qualities of the Blessed One, Queen Kṣemavatī praised the Blessed One’s well-spoken teaching and rejoiced, offering these verses:
The Blessed One then offered his approval to Queen Kṣemavatī with this verse:
Queen Kṣemavatī was joyful, elated, and jubilant. Filled with joy and delight, she offered the Blessed One and the bodhisattva great being Maitreya plenty of food and drink until they were satisfied. After the Blessed One put away his bowl and washed his hands, he gave Queen Kṣemavatī extensive Dharma teachings, encouraged her to uphold them, inspired her, delighted her, and then made this prophecy:
“In the future, Kṣemavatī, many eons from now, you will become a thus-gone, worthy, perfected buddha, a teacher for gods and humans. You will be a blessed buddha known as Guṇaratnaśrī, and your buddha field will be supremely pure. It will be free of the suffering of descending to lower rebirths and the lower realms. It will be an abode of beautiful, pleasant, and supremely pure bodhisattvas. Such will be your buddha field.”
As this teaching was given, many thousands of laywomen developed the intent to reach unexcelled, perfect awakening. Thousands of beings and many gods and humans obtained the light of the Dharma.
When the Blessed One had finished speaking, Queen Kṣemavatī, her retinue, and the entire world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas all rejoiced and praised what the Buddha had taught.
This concludes the noble Mahāyāna sūtra “The Prophecy of Kṣemavatī.”