Summary

While Buddha Śākyamuni is residing in the Sudharmā assembly hall in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, he explains to the great bodhisattva Maitreya four factors that make it possible to overcome the effects of any negative deeds one has committed. These four are: the action of repentance, which involves feeling remorse; antidotal action, which is to practice virtue as a remedy to non-virtue; the power of restraint, which involves vowing not to repeat a negative act; and the power of support, which means taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, and never forsaking the mind of awakening. The Buddha concludes by recommending that bodhisattvas regularly recite this sūtra and reflect on its meaning as an antidote to any further wrongdoing.

Acknowledgements

Translated by Adam Pearcey, with the assistance of Alak Zenkar Rinpoche. An earlier draft of this translation was published on Lotsawa House in 2013.

The present updated version was then completed in 2017 under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

The The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors (Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra, Toh 249) is the first of three short sūtras with similar titles, all referring to sets of four dharmas or factors, elements that contribute to accomplishing the goal of the path. In many Kangyurs (predominantly those of Tshalpa origin, including the Degé Kangyur), these sūtras are found grouped together.

Of the other sūtras in this set, The Four Factors (Catur­dharmaka­sūtra, Toh 250) identifies four beliefs that a wise son of a good family should not accept as true, while The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors (Ārya­catur­dharmaka­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra, Toh 251) identifies four factors of the path which bodhisattvas must not abandon under any circumstance. Two further works, The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa (Toh 248) and The Fourfold Accomplishment (Toh 252) also concern themselves with various “sets of four” (catuṣka, bzhi pa), thereby forming a group of five sūtras in the Degé Kangyur that lay out key elements of the practice of the path in discrete sets of four factors.

In The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors, translated here, the factors relate to the practice of confession (even though no equivalent of that word occurs in the sūtra itself) and the purification of misdeeds or negative, harmful actions (pāpa). The Bodhyā­patti­deśanā­vṛtti (Commentary on the Confession of Bodhisattva Downfalls), for example, which is attributed to Nāgārjuna, cites the sūtra and elaborates on the four powers (stobs bzhi), as the four factors came to be known, despite the fact that only the final two are labeled “power” (stobs; bala) in the sūtra itself. Bhāviveka’s Tarkajvālā, too, refers to the sūtra in support of the view that even the very gravest of negative actions can be purified. And chapter eight of Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya (Compendium of Training), on the purification of misdeeds (pāpaśodhana; sdig pa sbyong ba), not only quotes from the Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra, but even takes the four factors as its central theme.

Tibetan authors, too, make it clear that the four powers are the key elements of confessional practice (bshags pa). In his famous Ornament of Precious Liberation (dwags po thar rgyan), Gampopa Sönam Rinchen (sgam po pa bsod nams rin chen, 1079–1153) relates the powers to episodes in the lives of the Buddha’s contemporaries Nanda, Aṅgulimāla, Ajātaśatru, and Udayana, in order to demonstrate the necessity of each factor. Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa (tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357–1419) draws on both the Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra itself and Śāntideva’s discussion in the Śikṣāsamuccaya to explain the powers in some detail in his magnum opus, the Lamrim Chenmo. It is also common to find reference to the four powers in Tibetan purificatory rites and commentaries on them. There are slight variations in the spelling of the names and the sequence of these powers, and not all Tibetan works cite the Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra as their source, but the derivation is clear enough.

At least two Sanskrit editions of the Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra exist today. One is a manuscript from a collection held in the Potala library in Lhasa, which recently became available in a critical edition. It exhibits several variations from the versions in the Tibetan canon, most notably in its inclusion, near the end, of a four-line verse that it attributes to the Buddha himself:

• “Even minor transgressions prove the downfall of the foolish,
• Whereas even serious transgressions do not affect the wise.
• A lump of iron, though small, sinks in water;
• But even a great mass of iron, when made into a vessel, floats.”

Some other minor differences are also noted below.

Recently, Peter Skilling has included a fine translation of the sūtra from the Tibetan along with some helpful notes in his 2021 collection, Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras.

The following translation was made primarily on the basis of the Degé block print and the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), although it follows the Peking Yongle and Kangxi recensions on one significant point, for reasons that are explained in a note. Otherwise, since the various Tibetan canonical versions vary among themselves only slightly in matters of orthography, such instances have not been specified here.

Summary

While Buddha Śākyamuni is residing in the Sudharmā assembly hall in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, he explains to the great bodhisattva Maitreya four factors that make it possible to overcome the effects of any negative deeds one has committed. These four are: the action of repentance, which involves feeling remorse; antidotal action, which is to practice virtue as a remedy to non-virtue; the power of restraint, which involves vowing not to repeat a negative act; and the power of support, which means taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, and never forsaking the mind of awakening. The Buddha concludes by recommending that bodhisattvas regularly recite this sūtra and reflect on its meaning as an antidote to any further wrongdoing.

Acknowledgements

Translated by Adam Pearcey, with the assistance of Alak Zenkar Rinpoche. An earlier draft of this translation was published on Lotsawa House in 2013.

The present updated version was then completed in 2017 under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.

Introduction

The The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors (Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra, Toh 249) is the first of three short sūtras with similar titles, all referring to sets of four dharmas or factors, elements that contribute to accomplishing the goal of the path. In many Kangyurs (predominantly those of Tshalpa origin, including the Degé Kangyur), these sūtras are found grouped together.

Of the other sūtras in this set, The Four Factors (Catur­dharmaka­sūtra, Toh 250) identifies four beliefs that a wise son of a good family should not accept as true, while The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors (Ārya­catur­dharmaka­nāma­mahāyāna­sūtra, Toh 251) identifies four factors of the path which bodhisattvas must not abandon under any circumstance. Two further works, The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa (Toh 248) and The Fourfold Accomplishment (Toh 252) also concern themselves with various “sets of four” (catuṣka, bzhi pa), thereby forming a group of five sūtras in the Degé Kangyur that lay out key elements of the practice of the path in discrete sets of four factors.

In The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors, translated here, the factors relate to the practice of confession (even though no equivalent of that word occurs in the sūtra itself) and the purification of misdeeds or negative, harmful actions (pāpa). The Bodhyā­patti­deśanā­vṛtti (Commentary on the Confession of Bodhisattva Downfalls), for example, which is attributed to Nāgārjuna, cites the sūtra and elaborates on the four powers (stobs bzhi), as the four factors came to be known, despite the fact that only the final two are labeled “power” (stobs; bala) in the sūtra itself. Bhāviveka’s Tarkajvālā, too, refers to the sūtra in support of the view that even the very gravest of negative actions can be purified. And chapter eight of Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya (Compendium of Training), on the purification of misdeeds (pāpaśodhana; sdig pa sbyong ba), not only quotes from the Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra, but even takes the four factors as its central theme.

Tibetan authors, too, make it clear that the four powers are the key elements of confessional practice (bshags pa). In his famous Ornament of Precious Liberation (dwags po thar rgyan), Gampopa Sönam Rinchen (sgam po pa bsod nams rin chen, 1079–1153) relates the powers to episodes in the lives of the Buddha’s contemporaries Nanda, Aṅgulimāla, Ajātaśatru, and Udayana, in order to demonstrate the necessity of each factor. Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa (tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357–1419) draws on both the Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra itself and Śāntideva’s discussion in the Śikṣāsamuccaya to explain the powers in some detail in his magnum opus, the Lamrim Chenmo. It is also common to find reference to the four powers in Tibetan purificatory rites and commentaries on them. There are slight variations in the spelling of the names and the sequence of these powers, and not all Tibetan works cite the Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra as their source, but the derivation is clear enough.

At least two Sanskrit editions of the Catur­dharma­nirdeśa­sūtra exist today. One is a manuscript from a collection held in the Potala library in Lhasa, which recently became available in a critical edition. It exhibits several variations from the versions in the Tibetan canon, most notably in its inclusion, near the end, of a four-line verse that it attributes to the Buddha himself:

• “Even minor transgressions prove the downfall of the foolish,
• Whereas even serious transgressions do not affect the wise.
• A lump of iron, though small, sinks in water;
• But even a great mass of iron, when made into a vessel, floats.”

Some other minor differences are also noted below.

Recently, Peter Skilling has included a fine translation of the sūtra from the Tibetan along with some helpful notes in his 2021 collection, Questioning the Buddha: A Selection of Twenty-Five Sutras.

The following translation was made primarily on the basis of the Degé block print and the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), although it follows the Peking Yongle and Kangxi recensions on one significant point, for reasons that are explained in a note. Otherwise, since the various Tibetan canonical versions vary among themselves only slightly in matters of orthography, such instances have not been specified here.