36. Supuṣpacandra

Overall Teaching

Bodhisattvas can endure unimaginable hardships without faltering in their pursuit of awakening because they maintain pure, unbroken precepts. Even those who commit grave offenses, like King Śuradatta who brutally executed the dharma-protector Supuṣpacandra, eventually face karmic consequences but can still atone by revering the Dharma and building stūpas. Ultimately, upholding precepts, practising dhāraṇī, and protecting the teachings leads to swift progress toward Buddhahood without encountering such suffering.

Summary

• Introduction: Venerable Ānanda respectfully requests permission from the Buddha to ask questions. The Buddha grants Ānanda permission and encourages him to speak.

  • Ānanda’s Question: Ānanda asks why bodhisattvas, when practising the bodhisattva path, can endure extreme physical suffering—such as bodily mutilation—without retreating from anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.

  • The Buddha’s Initial Response:  The Buddha suggests that if Ānanda knew the extent of the suffering He (the Buddha, in past lives) endured for the sake of attaining awakening, Ānanda would not even consider asking the question. Just as a person engulfed in flames cannot enjoy worldly pleasures, the Buddha, while practising the bodhisattva path and seeing the suffering of sentient beings, never experienced ordinary joy.

  • Unbroken Precepts and Attainment of Awakening: The Buddha explains that bodhisattva mahāsattvas who fully perfect pure, unbroken precepts do not encounter these extreme forms of physical harm and suffering. Instead, they swiftly attain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.

• Past Example of a Buddha and Decline of the Dharma: The Buddha recounts an earlier era with a Buddha named Ratnapadmacandravisuddhabhyudgatarāja who brought countless sentient beings to non-retrogression in the Dharma. After that Buddha’s parinirvāṇa and the decline of his true Dharma, there emerged a time of chaos and hardship, during which many beings rejected the sūtra. In this troubled future, seven thousand bodhisattvas, led by the Dharma teacher Supuṣpacandra, retreated from the cities to a forest known as Samantabhadra Forest.

  • Supuṣpacandra’s Resolve to Protect the Dharma: The Dharma teacher Supuṣpacandra sees countless bodhisattvas needing the “dhāraṇī door”* to maintain their resolve in the cities. Without hearing the dhāraṇī door, they would lose their aspiration for anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Despite warnings of danger and pleas to remain safe in the forest, Supuṣpacandra is determined to protect the Dharma. He teaches through verses that truly maintaining the Tathāgata’s Dharma involves abandoning self-centred notions, guarding precepts, cultivating patience, and protecting the teachings in times of decline.

  • Supuṣpacandra’s Journey and Sacrifice: Supuṣpacandra leaves the forest, enters cities and towns, and repeatedly brings innumerable sentient beings to non-retrogression in the Dharma while continuously fasting and making great personal sacrifices. Over several days, as he endures hunger, he inspires vast numbers of beings to attain firm resolve on the path to Buddhahood.

  • Encounter with King Śuradatta: King Śuradatta, surrounded by wealth, chariots, and palace women, sees Supuṣpacandra. When the palace ladies turn their reverence towards the bhikṣu, removing their precious ornaments and praising him, the king becomes jealous and fearful of losing his power. In anger, the king orders Supuṣpacandra’s brutal execution by the ruthless servant Nandika, who cuts off the bhikṣu’s limbs and eyes. When Supuṣpacandra is cut, blood does not come out, but rather bright light.

  • Aftermath: Following the murder, supernatural beings denounce the king’s deed. The king sees the corpse after seven days, and realises that it has not decayed at all. The king realises too late that Supuṣpacandra was a great bodhisattva destined for Buddhahood. Overcome by remorse and fear of future retribution in hell, the king grieves and acknowledges the gravity of his crime.

  • Repentance: In repentance, the king arranges for the bhikṣu’s remains to be honoured, gathering various exquisite and fragrant woods, oils, incense, and cloth to cremate the body with utmost respect. He constructs a grand stūpa at the place where Supuṣpacandra was killed, adorning it with precious banners, canopies, and offerings, and returns to it three times a day with reverence. For an immense span of time, he continually repents and makes offerings, determined to atone for his violent act. In this way, the king attempts to protect the legacy of the Buddha-Dharma he once violated, seeking to purify his unwholesome deeds through sincere dedication and devotion.

  • Later Developments: Even though he repented, the karma of the deed was so great that the king still endured severe karmic retributions over countless kalpas due to this deed, including blindness, mutilation, and repeated suffering in hell realms. However, after his evil karma was spent, he proceeded to cultivate the bodhisattva path.

• Revealing Identities and Encouragement to Practise Precepts: The Buddha reveals the past identities of those involved: King Śuradatta was a past life of the Buddha Śākyamuni himself; the murdered bhikṣu Supuṣpacandra was Padmottara Buddha [of another world]; the executioner Nandika became a future Buddha named Śāntarāja [of another world]; the king’s sons became the Buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa [our aeon, leading up to Śākyamuni and Maitreya]. Ultimately, the teaching encourages following pure precepts, cultivating virtues, upholding the dhāraṇī, and protecting the Dharma, ensuring swift progress to Buddhahood without encountering such extremes of suffering.

• Conclusion: The chapter concludes by stating that to achieve the thirty-two marks of a Buddha and become a true Dharma King, one must guard the precepts and maintain the dhāraṇī. Moreover, bodhisattvas abiding in dhāraṇī and pure conduct do not suffer such calamities and will realise Buddhahood.

*In Mahāyāna Buddhism, dhāraṇīs are mnemonic devices, protective chants, or doctrinal encapsulations that "hold" (dhṛ) the essence of teachings, aiding in mindfulness, wisdom, and spiritual protection. The "dhāraṇī door" symbolises a gateway to profound spiritual states, allowing practitioners to internalise and actualise these teachings for awakening. See the commentary below also.

Commentary

Thrangu Rinpoche's commentary largely summarises the chapter again, but brings up two points. The first is that the Mahāmudra teacher Gampopa revealed that in a past life he was Supuṣpacandra, and that this chapter expresses the time when he first aroused the bodhicitta resolve (resolve to attain buddhahood) [thus it implies that Gampopa was also a manifestation of the buddha Padmottara]. The second point is that the essence of the chpater indicates that a bodhisattva does not consider his or her own safety, but will sacrifice them when there is benefit for others to be achieved. 

Mañjuśrīkīrti's commentary on this chapter highlights the centrality of ethics, compassion, and the resolve of bodhisattvas in their path to awakening. He emphasises the transcendent nature of morality, not merely as adherence to precepts but as a profound cultivation of inner qualities that lead to unwavering dedication to the liberation of sentient beings. Mañjuśrīkīrti underscores the bodhisattva's capacity to endure immense suffering without attachment to self, demonstrating the primacy of the dhāraṇī as a source of strength, wisdom, and protection against regression on the spiritual path.

1. Ethics as a Foundation: Bodhisattva morality transcends mere adherence to rules and is presented as a means to protect and benefit all beings, aligning with the profound Dharma.

   • The Dharma-body as the True Indestructible Body: Mañjuśrīkīrti clarifies that the Buddha's statement at the outset of the chapter, that bodhisattvas with pure precepts don't experience severe suffering, is actually an expression of the Dharma-body, the body of true suchness which cannot be harmed; it cannot increase or decrease, etc. but is the embodiment of pure and boundless wisdom of thusness and compassion. [The light that emerges from Supuṣpacandra's body when cut can be said to symbolise the inherent wisdom of the Dharma-body, and his conduct while alive embodies its compassion.]

   • Compassion and Patience: The bodhisattva path is thus characterised by boundless compassion and patience, ensuring that their actions benefit all beings despite personal suffering.

2. Role of the Dhāraṇī: The dhāraṇī, i.e., the Samādhi/sūtra acts is a stabilising force that helps bodhisattvas cultivate inner resilience and prevents retrogression. He clarifies that in this chapter, the term Dhāraṇī is actually used to refer to this sūtra and the King of Samādhis that it indicates.

3. Impact of Teaching: The commentary highlights the transformative power of bodhisattvas teaching the Dharma, even in times of moral decline and social disorder.

4. Bodhisattva as a Refuge: The bodhisattva, embodying wisdom and compassion, serves as a refuge for sentient beings, inspiring them to transcend worldly attachments.

Overall, Mañjuśrīkīrti presents the chapter as a call to unwavering dedication to the Dharma, illustrating the bodhisattva's role as a protector of the teachings and a guide for sentient beings amidst the challenges of saṃsāra. This commentary reaffirms the profound virtues required on the path to enlightenment and the transformative power of selflessness and devotion.

Discussion

• As ordinary beings, what is our orientation to this chapter:

  1. We should emulate these practices in self-sacrivice?

  2. We should use it as encouragement to give rise to entrustment in the buddhas and bodhisattvas for their hard work on the path?

• Is the chapter prescriptively literal, or serving to illustrate the immensely compassionate nature of the Dharma-body?