Śālistambakakārikā/Full text
The Śālistambakakārikā (Tib. 'Phags pa sA lu ljang pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa, "Verses on the Noble Rice Sprout") is a verse rendering of the Śālistambasūtra, attributed in its colophon to Ārya Nāgārjuna. Following the sūtra's narrative, it opens with the Buddha on Vulture Peak, who looks at a rice sprout and says that whoever sees dependent origination sees the Dharma and sees the Buddha, then falls silent. Śāriputra asks Maitreya what this means, and Maitreya's explanation makes up the body of the text. Maitreya first sets out outer dependent origination, using the growth of a sprout from a seed and its conditions (earth, water, heat, wind, space, and season), and then inner dependent origination, the twelve links from ignorance to death. Throughout, he stresses that nothing passes from one moment or one life to the next, illustrating rebirth with the images of a face reflected in a mirror, the moon reflected in a small vessel of water, and fire that burns only while its fuel and conditions are present. The text also describes outer and inner dependent arising in terms of the imagined (brtags pa), dependent (gzhan dbang), and perfected (yongs su grub pa) natures. It closes with the seed of affliction burned by the fire of wisdom, the attainment of buddhahood, and Śāriputra rejoicing and reporting Maitreya's teaching to the monks. The colophon names no translators.
| Reference | Nāgārjuna ('phags pa klu sgrub). Śālistambakakārikā [शालिस्तम्बककारिका]. sA lu ljang pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa [སཱ་ལུ་ལྗང་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ།]. [Verses on The Rice Seedling (84000)]. Tengyur, RKTST 3325 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3325&typ=2. |
|---|---|
| People | Nāgārjuna |
