Summary

At Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, the Buddha teaches an assembly of monks about three worthy qualities (dharmas) that will ensure the monks maintain generosity, meritorious deeds, and ethical discipline. These three qualities are nonattachment, being without miserliness, and being conscientious. The foolish or immature, who do not have these three qualities and are attached, miserly, and careless, will not practice generosity or meritorious deeds and will fail in their commitment to ethical discipline. Those who have the three qualities will, after death, enjoy higher rebirths. Those who do not will fall into lower rebirths. The teaching is then reiterated at greater length in verse. The monks are reminded of their own aging and inevitable death, and encouraged with the thought that even a small act of generosity by a renunciant is worth more than vast offerings and donations made hypocritically, or by those who have exploited or oppressed others.

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 Ibby Caputo copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.

Introduction

This teaching takes place in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha addresses a large assembly of monks at Prince Jeta’s Grove. Without the prompting of an interlocutor, the Buddha points out how the foolish have three qualities (dharmas) that are contrary to the sacred Dharma. These are attachment, miserliness, and carelessness. Those under the influence of such qualities do not practice generosity, do not engage in meritorious deeds, and lapse in their ethical discipline. Consequently, after death they will fall into lower rebirths. However, those who have the three worthy qualities of nonattachment, being without miserliness, and being conscientious, will successfully practice generosity, engage in meritorious deeds, and maintain the ethical discipline to which they have committed. As a result, after death they will be reborn in the higher realms.

The teaching is then reiterated at greater length in verse, emphasizing the disadvantages of miserliness in this and future lives. As an antidote to being attached to things, the Buddha exhorts the monks to be mindful of aging and death, and to strive to accumulate merit for future rebirth in the higher realms. He concludes with verses on the importance of practicing generosity in conjunction with ethical discipline, with the example that even vast donations, if they have been obtained by unethical means or given with hypocrisy, do not match the merit accrued by even a very small offering made with sincerity by a renunciant who lives in accordance with the Dharma.

Little is known about the early history of the sūtra as it is not extant in Sanskrit and was not translated into Chinese. It is preserved in Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line, as well as the Phukdrak and Mustang manuscript Kangyurs, but it is not found in Kangyurs of the Thempangma line. According to the colophons of the Degé and Phukdrak Kangyur witnesses, it was translated into Tibetan by the Indian preceptor Jinamitra along with chief editor-translator Bandé Devacandra, and edited and finalized by the translator Paltsek. This indicates a translation made under Tibetan imperial sponsorship in the late eighth or early ninth century. However, the sūtra is not listed in either the Phangthangma or Denkarma imperial-era catalogs of translated texts, nor in Chomden Rikpai Raltri’s survey of translated texts compiled in the late thirteenth century. It is, however, found listed among translated texts in Butön Rinchen Drup’s catalog compiled in 1322.

The Tibetan text of The Three Qualities is almost identical to the opening section of The Exemplary Tale of Puṇyabala, which was also translated by Jinamitra and Bandé Devacandra and is categorized in the Denkarma catalog as a Hīnayāna sūtra (Tib. theg pa chung ngu’i sde). Notably, the Chinese translation of Puṇya­balāvadāna does not contain the section corresponding to the Tibetan text of The Three Qualities. It is said that King Ralpachen (r. 815–38) issued an edict in the early ninth century forbidding the translation of Hīnayāna scriptures, except those acknowledged by the Sarvāstivādins. In light of this, one wonders if The Three Qualities may have been omitted from the imperial catalogs due to censorship, or possibly added to the Puṇya­balāvadāna to preserve the text. Alternatively, the Tibetan text of The Three Qualities could also have been extracted from the Tibetan translation of the Puṇya­balāvadāna at a later date and considered a separate text.

In many of the Tshalpa Kangyurs, including the Degé Kangyur, The Three Qualities is not located among other Hīnayāna sutras as one might expect (that is between Toh 287 and Toh 359 of the Degé Kangyur), but is included instead after a group of five sūtras in which the Buddha lays out teachings in sets of four. Although there are several suttas in the Numerical Discourses (Aṅguttara Nikāya) of the Pali canon organized according to sets of three, no text directly parallel to The Three Qualities has been identified there, or in its counterpart that was translated into Chinese, the Ekottarikāgama.

This translation was prepared based on the Tibetan text as found in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), the Phukdrak Kangyur, and the Hemis Kangyur. We have also consulted Feer’s French translation and the Tibetan and English translations of The Exemplary Tale of Puṇyabala.

Summary

At Prince Jeta’s Grove in Śrāvastī, the Buddha teaches an assembly of monks about three worthy qualities (dharmas) that will ensure the monks maintain generosity, meritorious deeds, and ethical discipline. These three qualities are nonattachment, being without miserliness, and being conscientious. The foolish or immature, who do not have these three qualities and are attached, miserly, and careless, will not practice generosity or meritorious deeds and will fail in their commitment to ethical discipline. Those who have the three qualities will, after death, enjoy higher rebirths. Those who do not will fall into lower rebirths. The teaching is then reiterated at greater length in verse. The monks are reminded of their own aging and inevitable death, and encouraged with the thought that even a small act of generosity by a renunciant is worth more than vast offerings and donations made hypocritically, or by those who have exploited or oppressed others.

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 Ibby Caputo copyedited the text. Martina Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.

Introduction

This teaching takes place in Śrāvastī, where the Buddha addresses a large assembly of monks at Prince Jeta’s Grove. Without the prompting of an interlocutor, the Buddha points out how the foolish have three qualities (dharmas) that are contrary to the sacred Dharma. These are attachment, miserliness, and carelessness. Those under the influence of such qualities do not practice generosity, do not engage in meritorious deeds, and lapse in their ethical discipline. Consequently, after death they will fall into lower rebirths. However, those who have the three worthy qualities of nonattachment, being without miserliness, and being conscientious, will successfully practice generosity, engage in meritorious deeds, and maintain the ethical discipline to which they have committed. As a result, after death they will be reborn in the higher realms.

The teaching is then reiterated at greater length in verse, emphasizing the disadvantages of miserliness in this and future lives. As an antidote to being attached to things, the Buddha exhorts the monks to be mindful of aging and death, and to strive to accumulate merit for future rebirth in the higher realms. He concludes with verses on the importance of practicing generosity in conjunction with ethical discipline, with the example that even vast donations, if they have been obtained by unethical means or given with hypocrisy, do not match the merit accrued by even a very small offering made with sincerity by a renunciant who lives in accordance with the Dharma.

Little is known about the early history of the sūtra as it is not extant in Sanskrit and was not translated into Chinese. It is preserved in Kangyurs of the Tshalpa line, as well as the Phukdrak and Mustang manuscript Kangyurs, but it is not found in Kangyurs of the Thempangma line. According to the colophons of the Degé and Phukdrak Kangyur witnesses, it was translated into Tibetan by the Indian preceptor Jinamitra along with chief editor-translator Bandé Devacandra, and edited and finalized by the translator Paltsek. This indicates a translation made under Tibetan imperial sponsorship in the late eighth or early ninth century. However, the sūtra is not listed in either the Phangthangma or Denkarma imperial-era catalogs of translated texts, nor in Chomden Rikpai Raltri’s survey of translated texts compiled in the late thirteenth century. It is, however, found listed among translated texts in Butön Rinchen Drup’s catalog compiled in 1322.

The Tibetan text of The Three Qualities is almost identical to the opening section of The Exemplary Tale of Puṇyabala, which was also translated by Jinamitra and Bandé Devacandra and is categorized in the Denkarma catalog as a Hīnayāna sūtra (Tib. theg pa chung ngu’i sde). Notably, the Chinese translation of Puṇya­balāvadāna does not contain the section corresponding to the Tibetan text of The Three Qualities. It is said that King Ralpachen (r. 815–38) issued an edict in the early ninth century forbidding the translation of Hīnayāna scriptures, except those acknowledged by the Sarvāstivādins. In light of this, one wonders if The Three Qualities may have been omitted from the imperial catalogs due to censorship, or possibly added to the Puṇya­balāvadāna to preserve the text. Alternatively, the Tibetan text of The Three Qualities could also have been extracted from the Tibetan translation of the Puṇya­balāvadāna at a later date and considered a separate text.

In many of the Tshalpa Kangyurs, including the Degé Kangyur, The Three Qualities is not located among other Hīnayāna sutras as one might expect (that is between Toh 287 and Toh 359 of the Degé Kangyur), but is included instead after a group of five sūtras in which the Buddha lays out teachings in sets of four. Although there are several suttas in the Numerical Discourses (Aṅguttara Nikāya) of the Pali canon organized according to sets of three, no text directly parallel to The Three Qualities has been identified there, or in its counterpart that was translated into Chinese, the Ekottarikāgama.

This translation was prepared based on the Tibetan text as found in the Degé Kangyur, in consultation with the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma), the Phukdrak Kangyur, and the Hemis Kangyur. We have also consulted Feer’s French translation and the Tibetan and English translations of The Exemplary Tale of Puṇyabala.