A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in the region of Vatsa.
Dwelling place of the bodhisattva Vajraśrī.
“Glorious Goodness,” the bodhisattva who resides at a place called Jyotiṣprabha.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in Gandhara.
An epithet of bodhisattvas. See g.47 for the definition of Victorious One.
The two Chinese translations of this text render the name as zhendan 眞旦 (Taishō 278) and zhendan 震旦 (Taishō 279), both of which refer to China. In this chapter, it is the region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Nārāyaṇa Cave is located.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in the region called Relinquishing the Vase.
“Intelligence of Dharma,” the bodhisattva who resides at a place called Heap of Glory.
“Nobility of Dharma,” the bodhisattva who resides at a place called Vajra Mountain, Site of Four Great Oceans.
The bodhisattva who resides at a place called Stūpa.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in Kamboja.
“Elephant of Incense,” the bodhisattva who resides at a place called Heap of Incense.
“Fragrant Mountain,” the dwelling place of the bodhisattva Radiating Luminous Incense.
The present-day Gandhara region was located in northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. This region was historically important for the development of Buddhism. In this chapter, Gandhara is identified as the region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Cave of Provisions is located.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in Pāṭaliputra.
Dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in the great ocean.
A hill in the Central Asian oasis city-state of Khotan. According to The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga (Toh 357), it is here that the Buddha prophesied that this area would one day become a great Buddhist kingdom. Gośṛṅga means “cow horn” in Sanskrit, and the hill is said to have received this name due to having two pointed peaks. Note that in The Prophecy on Mount Gośṛṅga this place name is rendered ri glang ru.
Dwelling place of the bodhisattva Dharmamati.
Dwelling place of the bodhisattva Gandhahastin.
The region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Sthavira Cave is located.
An ancient city in northern India, possibly the present-day Jalandhar in the Punjab region. Here it is identified as the region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Teaching with Hands Folded་is located.
“Starlight Mountain,” the dwelling place of the bodhisattva Bhadraśrī.
An ancient kingdom at the crossroads of present-day South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia. In this chapter, it is the region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Exalted by Love is located.
The area known today as the Kashmir Valley, situated between the Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. In this chapter, it is identified as the region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Sudarśaka is located.
The Central Asian city-state more commonly known in Tibetan as li yul and in English as Khotan. Here mentioned as the region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Gośṛṇga is located.
Name of the bodhisattva who teaches this and other chapters in A Multitude of Buddhas.
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.
Here the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī resides at a place called Mountain of Meadows.
A city approximately fifty kilometers north of present-day Agra in what is now the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In this chapter, Mathurā is the location of the bodhisattva dwelling place called Satisfying Cave.
Dwelling place of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in the region called Perfect Virtue.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in China.
The capital of Magadha was moved to the city of Pāṭaliputra during the Mauryan expansion, after which it served as the capital of Aśoka’s empire. It is identified with the modern Indian city of Patna. In this chapter, Pāṭaliputra is the location of the bodhisattva dwelling place called the Golden Park of the Saṅgha.
The region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Mucilinda Cave is located.
Dwelling place of the bodhisattva Walks with the Gait of a Lion.
The bodhisattva who resides at a place called Gandhamādana.
The region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Dharma Seat is located. Thomas Cleary translates this (from the Chinese) as Kuchara.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in Mathurā.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas, located south of Vaiśālī.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in the region called Increasing Joy.
Dwelling place of the bodhisattva Divine Aggregates.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in Kashmir.
A dwelling place of bodhisattvas located in Jalandhar.
Capital of the Licchavī republic and an important city during the life of the Buddha. An attested Sanskrit equivalent of the Tibetan shin tu yangs pa is Viśāla, which is synonymous with Vaiśālī.
Dwelling place of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata.
“Glorious Vajra,” the bodhisattva who dwells on the mountain called Appearance of a Sage.
One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India. The region in which the dwelling place of bodhisattvas called Añcala is located.
An epithet of buddhas.
The bodhisattva who resides at a place known as Possessed of Vajra Radiance.
byang chub sems pa’i gnas. Toh 44-38, Degé Kangyur vol. 36 (phal chen, kha), folios 394.b–396.a.
byang chub sems pa’i gnas. 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. 36, pp. 827–30.
byang chub sems pa’i gnas. Stok Palace Kangyur vol. 31 (phal chen, ga), folios 352.b–354.a.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ’phang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
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.
Buddhabhadra, trans. Dafang guang fu hua yan jing 大方廣佛華嚴經. Taishō 278.
Śikṣānanda, trans. Dafang guang fu hua yan jing 大方廣佛華嚴經. Taishō 279.
Cleary, Thomas. The Flower Ornament Sutra: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1984.
Yi Ding. “A Philological Look at ‘Chapter Bodhisattva-Abodes’ in the Buddhāvataṃsaka: Its Reconstruction, Textual Origin, and Mahāyāna Context.” A paper presented at the International Conference on Mount Wutai and The Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra, Shanxi province, China, July 12–15, 2017.