Bodhisattvapitakasūtra, Chapter 9: The Perfection of Energy (Gandhārī)

This is a Gandhāri fragment of the Bodhisattvapitakasūtra — "The Sūtra of the Bodhisattva Treasury" — a major Mahāyāna text presenting, in dialogue between the bodhisattva Prāmodyarāja and the Buddha, a comprehensive treatment of the six perfections. The fragment belongs to the ninth chapter on the Perfection of Energy (Vīryapāramitā).

Only the left portion of a single palm-leaf folio survives (Schøyen Collection MS 2179/17), measuring 10 cm by 4.3 cm, with five lines of Kharoṣṭhī script on each side. Radiocarbon dating of related Bamiyan manuscripts places the fragment between the 2nd and 4th centuries CE. This is one of eight known Gandhāri Mahāyāna manuscripts — the earliest surviving direct testimony of any Mahāyāna sūtras.

The surviving text contains verses about five qualities that cause a renunciant bodhisattva to fail to encounter the arising of Buddhas, followed by the parable of the hungry dog standing in the road with a bloodied bone. Parallels exist in Sanskrit (Lhasa manuscript), Tibetan, and Chinese.

This is a Good Works Translation from Gandhāri Prakrit. Translated from the critical edition published by Stefan Baums, Jens Braarvig, Timothy J. Lenz, Fredrik Liland, Kazunobu Matsuda, and Richard Salomon (2016). No prior freely available English translation existed.

Gospel Reading

Verses on the Five Obstacles

At that time, the Lord uttered these verses:

"These are five qualities by which understanding does not grow,
and wisdom is swiftly destroyed — he fails to encounter the best of men.

He deceives beings, like a soldier in the king's court.
By this root of demerit, he does not see the lords of the world.

He engenders fear among creatures, taking ...
Having done evil deeds, he fails to encounter the best of men.

Having fallen from the morality of monks and nuns, he becomes wretched.
He fails to encounter many Buddhas — the fortunate moment is for him hard to obtain.

He prevents his mother, father, and wife from hearing the dharma.
He does not hear the dharma swiftly — he is covered by delusion.

He creates obstacles for one going forth into renunciation.
He fails to encounter many Buddhas — the fortunate moment does not arise for him.

Having heard about such a dharma where emptiness is proclaimed,
he still perceives the self as real. Feeling anger and hostility,
he says, 'This is not the dharma.'

All these obstacles do not amount to a sixteenth part
of rejecting the true dharma — congenitally blind, he becomes wretched.

He does not see a fully awakened Buddha, and even seeing one, has no pure mind toward him.
He is reborn as a woman, a eunuch, or congenitally blind — as a dog or a donkey.

But he whose Buddhas and enlightenment, whose bodhisattvas are dear and precious,
having avoided obstacles, may develop the good path.

He engages his mother and father in the dharma again and again.
He who immediately encourages all beings toward renunciation —

having engaged his mother in the dharma, he swiftly goes to the good destiny.
Having praised renunciation, he swiftly awakens to enlightenment."

The Parable of the Hungry Dog

"When endowed with five characteristics, Śāriputra, a renunciant bodhisattva fails to encounter the arising of Buddhas. Which five? ... And fifthly, he arouses stinginess by his actions toward another community. Endowed with these five characteristics, Śāriputra, a renunciant bodhisattva fails to encounter the arising of a Buddha.

Śāriputra, it is as if a hungry dog were to take a bit of bone with some flesh smeared with blood. Standing in the middle of the road, he would eat the bone, smeared with his own saliva. Seeing a man coming from a distance, that hungry dog might think, 'He is going to take this delicious morsel from me!'"

Colophon

Translated from Gandhāri Prakrit by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with Claude (Good Works Translation, 2026). Source text: Stefan Baums, Jens Braarvig, Timothy J. Lenz, Fredrik Liland, Kazunobu Matsuda, and Richard Salomon, "The Bodhisattvapiṭakasūtra in Gāndhārī," in Buddhist Manuscripts from Gandhāra (2016). Fragment: Schøyen Collection MS 2179/17, palm-leaf, Kharoṣṭhī script, 2nd–4th century CE (Bamiyan). Verses reconstructed with reference to the Sanskrit parallel (Lhasa manuscript, fol. 95a6–b8). All English is independently derived from the Gandhāri Prakrit; the Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese parallels were consulted as reference only.

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Source Text

Gandhāri Prakrit Transliteration (Kharoṣṭhī Script)

Recto:

r1. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + (atha kho bhagava) tae ca velae ima gatha
r2. (abhaṣi ◦ imani paṃca dharmani ◦ yehi praṃña na vardhati ◦ budhi ca naśati kṣipro ◦ virageti narotamo ◦ 1 visa��vadeti so satva ◦ bhaṭo rayakule yatha ◦ tena akuśalamulena ◦ lo)kanatha na paśati ��� 2 bhayo janeti satvana ◦ deyad.
r3. + + + + + (◦ dukaṭo karmo kritvana ◦ virageti narotamo ◦ 3 bhikṣubhikṣuniśilado ◦ cavitva bhodi dukhido ◦ bahu budha virageti ◦ kṣaṇo asya bhoti du)labho ◦ 4 madapidara bharya ca ◦ dharmaśravanado .. ..
r4. (dharmo na śrunati kṣipro ◦ bhoti mohena avrudo ◦ 5 parvaja gachamanasya ◦ aṃtarayo karitvana ◦ bahu budha virageti ◦ kṣaṇo asya na bhoti ca ◦ 6 śrutvana idriśo) dharma ◦ bhudo paśati atmano ◦ krodho doṣo upaditva ◦ na
r5. (so dharmo di bhaṣati ◦ 7 sava ime aṃtaraya ◦ kala na uveti ṣoḍaśi ◦ paḍikṣivitva sadharmo ◦ jacaṃdho bhoti dukhido ◦ 8 na sa paśati saṃbudho ◦) driṭhva ca na prasidadi ◦ istripaṃḍagajacaṃdho ◦

Verso:

v1. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + (śunaho bhoti gadhavo ◦ 9 yasya budho ca bodhi ca ◦ bodhisatva priyapriye ◦ aṃtarayo vivarjitva ◦ margo bhaveya bhadrako ◦ 10 madapidara dharmaṃmi ◦ niyojeti) punapunaṃ ◦ parvaja sarvasatva yo ◦ kṣipram eva sa
v2. + + + (◦ 11 mada dharme niyoyitva ◦ kṣipro gachati sagati ◦ parvaja varnayitvana ◦ kṣipro budhi vibuȷ̄ati ◦ 12 paṃcahi śariputra dharmehi samunagado ◦ parva)yido bodhisatvo ◦ budhupado virageti ◦ kadame-
v3. (hi paṃcahi ◦) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + (ma)tsariyo upadeti ◦ imehi śariputra paṃcahi
v4. (dharmehi samunagado ◦ parvayido bodhisatvo ◦ budhupado virageti ◦) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + (lo)hidamakṣidama��sa ◦ so rachamukhe ṭ́hahitva ◦ sval.
v5. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + tasyevam asa ida

Source Colophon

Source text: Stefan Baums et al., "The Bodhisattvapiṭakasūtra in Gāndhārī," in Buddhist Manuscripts from Gandhāra (2016). Schøyen Collection MS 2179/17. Palm-leaf fragment, Kharoṣṭhī script, 2nd–4th century CE (Bamiyan). Transliteration follows the Dictionary of Gāndhārī system (Baums & Glass 2002–). Parenthesized italic text indicates reconstruction from the Sanskrit parallel (Lhasa manuscript).

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