INTRODUCTORY ARTICLE, TRANS. FROM SANSKRIT AND COMMENTS BY M. A. RUSANOV

The oldest collection of Buddhist texts, the Pali Canon (Tipitaka), does not contain a consistent life of Gautama Buddha. The main value for the early Buddhist community, which should have been carefully preserved and passed on to future generations, was the dharma-the teachings expounded by the Buddha in many conversations and sermons. It was the Master's speeches that, according to legend, were remembered by the participants of the first council in Rajagriha. Of course, the Tipitaka contains many accounts of the circumstances under which the conversation took place, and sermons often include these or other stories as illustrative material. Yet early Pali writers paid much more attention to the words of the creator of the sangha than to his biography. This is not to say that early Buddhism had no interest in the works of the Buddha. Such an interest must have always existed: no founder of a religious community in ancient India (and even in modern India) could have done without stories about miracles, past lives, enlightenment, and the like. There is a lot of evidence about the existence of such stories in the Tipitaka. However, the fact that the compilers of the canonthe Theravadas did not try to build a single hagiographic narrative out of these episodes, which proves that the status of such stories was significantly lower than that of sermons that put the Buddhist dharma into words. A significant part of hagiographic legends probably originally existed in the form of religious folklore, which did not involve strict fixation.

In the first centuries of our era, the situation began to change. By this time, Buddhism was already divided into controversial schools, and many of them were working in parallel to create a biography of the one who "turned the wheel of dharma" [Warder, 2004, p. 317-319]. New trends are recorded not only in the form of written texts. If in early Buddhist art the Buddha was not depicted, replacing his image with symbols (for example, a wheel or a tree), then in Gandhara art (I - III centuries AD) Gautama and episodes of his biography become the main subject of the image [Winternitz, 1977, p. 254-255]. For many, the Buddha had become an object of worship, and now his life had to be carved in stone, painted in frescoes, and written down in books. Old folklore traditions are collected, edited, supplemented with new material and become monuments of Buddhist hagiography, such as "Mahavastu", "Lalitavistara" and Pali "Nidanakatha". Only a small part of this literature has come down to us in the original. Some works are known in Tibetan and Chinese translations, and many are completely lost.

Below is a translation of one chapter from the famous biography of the Buddha and at the same time the most important Mahayana text - "Lalitavistara". Interpretation of the name "Lalitavistara" presents certain difficulties. Most Buddhologists consider the word "lalita "as a substantive adjective meaning" game","fun". At the same time, the name of the monument is interpreted as "the exhausting narrative of the sport of the Buddha" [Nariman, 1998, p. 19], "the extended account of the sports (of the future Buddha)" [Thomas, 2005, Introd., p. 20], "a lengthy narrative of the beauty of the world" [the Life and Words of the Buddha] "[Androsov, 2001, p. 58] , etc. This understanding goes back to F. Foucault, who made a French translation of the Tibetan [Foucaux, 1847], and then the Sanskrit [Foucaux 1884 - 1892] texts of the Lalitavistara and understood the name as "Development des jeux". However, "lalita" can also be considered as an adjective with the meaning "elegant", "beautiful". Then the name of the monument is "Elegant lengthy story" or, more briefly, "Elegant Details". Such an understanding seems to be preferable.-

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It is instructive, since the Lalitavistara is not just a story about the Bodhisattva's deeds: the creators of the hagiography clearly tried to decorate the story with familiar figures of traditional rhetoric.

The book is divided into chapters called parivarta, literally "turning", which indicates "turning the wheel of dharma" (a metaphor for a Buddhist sermon). In each chapter, the narrative combines poetry and prose. At the same time, a very characteristic technique is when the event is first told in prose, and then in verse. A poetic story is usually significantly shorter than a prose one. It also happens that two stories contradict each other in detail. In addition, it is impossible not to notice significant linguistic differences between the poetic and prose texts of the monument. The prose of "Lalitavistara" is written in a completely normative Sanskrit language and differs from it only by using some special Buddhist terms, while poetry (gathas) is a typical example of the so-called Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit, i.e., it is written in the form of a traditional Sanskrit text. e. constant mixing of Sanskrit and Middle Indian (Prakrit) word forms. All these circumstances have long allowed scholars to conclude that the verses of" Lalitavistara " are much older than her prose. Moreover, these poems probably did not initially form a single book; they were separate poems or songs on hagiographic themes, "religious ballads", as M. Winternitz called them (Winternitz, 1977, p. 253). Some works of this kind are also included in the Pali Canon; the Dutch scholar G. Kern even found similarities between a number of stanzas of " Lalitavistara "and" Mahavaggi " [Kern, 1996, p. 9-14]. In the first centuries of our era (a more accurate dating is hardly possible), these poems were collected and then combined with the help of an" elegant and lengthy " prose story. However, this story itself is not uniform: according to the Chinese tradition, "Lalitavistara" was created in the Hinayana Sarvastivada school [Nariman, 1998, p. 19], but the text that has come down to us was revised and expanded in the early Mahayana [Warder, 2005, p. 319], and the texts that are found in the work are not the same. references to vajrayana (originated after the sixth century). AD) indicates that processing continued further. In general, it should be considered fair to say that the monument was built for about 1000 years [Androsov, 2001, p. 59].

The fact that hagiographic literature was formed and processed within specific schools is very important. Each of her monuments is not just a statement of events that should have been believed, but also a defense of the views of representatives of a certain trend in Buddhism, raising these views to the Buddha himself. By grouping episodes, emphasizing some details and omitting others, each school built its own concept of the Bodhisattva, often polemically directed against other schools. In other words, all the monuments of Buddhist hagiography are highly biased. When European Buddhologists in numerous books about the life of the Buddha choose stories from different sources, trying to separate historical information from legends, this very tendentiousness of each specific biography is lost. Strictly speaking, we do not have any reliable historical information about the life of the person who founded the Buddhist community. Everything that is known about Gautama Buddha, whether it is completely plausible stories or fantastic stories, is part of the hagiography and should be considered as one of the options for constructing the life of the saint in Indian culture. The task should not be to separate true information from fictional ones (we do not have any reliable criteria for such a division), but to analyze the structure of each monument, try to understand the strategy of its creators, find out how and with what tasks they processed the elements of a common tradition.

The most important idea of the Lalitavistara, the very core on which the whole concept is based, is the idea of the supernatural nature of the Bodhisattva, depicted as devatideva ("god above the gods"). The Bodhisattva, who needs nothing, is omniscient and omnipotent, and is at the center of the Buddhist cosmos, acts like a human being, goes through the path of human life, but only to show people the way to salvation. All the events of his earthly biography are anuvartana (literally, "movement after") - repetition, imitation of the actions of an ordinary person [Edgerton 1998, vol. 2, p. 33]. This very consistently determines the entire strategy for developing individual life episodes. Thus, the descent of a Bodhisattva into the earthly world should look like the birth of a living being from a father and mother, and at the same time this event should be presented as something exceptional, having nothing to do with ordinary birth. From the text of the following chapter, you can understand how the problem of such a story was solved. The question of historicism is irrelevant here, since we are talking about the Bodhisattva's sojourn in the womb of his mother, Queen Maya, where he descends from the Tushita sky, preserving consciousness and memory (see Comm. 5). However, ,

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Although not of interest to another essay on the historical Buddha, this chapter contains a lot of interesting information about understanding the Buddha in Mahayana.

The Lalitavistara is not the only Buddhist text that focuses on the events leading up to the birth of the Bodhisattva. In the Majjhima-nikaya (p. 123) of the Pali Canon, the birth of Gautama is described in the Accariyabbhutadhamma-sutta. In this sutta, Ananda, at the Buddha's command, repeats what he has heard from the Buddha himself - about the supernatural properties of Buddhas. These properties are realized primarily in the circumstances of the future Teacher's birth. There are several topics that will be developed in Lalitavistar as well. The bodhisattva retains consciousness when he descends to the earthly world. "I have heard and learned this, venerable one, from the Master himself:' Endowed with memory and consciousness, Ananda, the Bodhisattva, left the world of Tushita and entered the womb of his mother '" [Majjhima-nikaya, p. 200]. The Bodhisattva's mother is not ill during pregnancy, and the Bodhisattva does not go through the usual stages of embryonic development. "I have heard and learned this, venerable one, from the Master himself:' When Ananda, the Bodhisattva, descended into the womb, the Bodhisattva's mother did not feel any pain; the Bodhisattva's mother was happy and her body did not suffer; the Bodhisattva's mother saw the Bodhisattva in her womb, endowed with all the parts of the body and all the senses '" [Majjhima- nikaya, p. 204]. The future Buddha is born pure; being in the womb does not defile him. "I have heard and learned this, venerable one, from the Master himself:' When Ananda, the Bodhisattva, came out of his mother's womb, he came out clean, not soiled with water, not soiled with mucus, not soiled with blood, not soiled with anything impure, [he was] pure and untainted.'" 206].

The Bodhisattva's stay in the mother's womb is also described in another famous monument of Buddhist hagiography, the Mahavastu: "The bodhisattva who entered the mother's womb was neither too high nor too low; he was neither lying on his back nor lying on his stomach; he was not in the left side; he was not squatting. He was sitting cross-legged on [mother's] right side. The bodhisattva who entered his mother's womb was not smeared or defiled with bile, mucus, or anything impure. Then the Bodhisattva remained in his mother's womb, anointed, washed, and with clean parts of His body. A bodhisattva who entered the mother's womb saw the mother, and the Bodhisattva's mother saw the Bodhisattva who entered [her] womb, [whose] body was as if made of gold, and when she saw it, she rejoiced "[Mahavastu, 2003, p. 12].

The presence of common motives indicates that the allocation of the pregnancy of Queen Maya in a separate stage of the life of the Buddha goes back to the early stage of the formation of the tradition. However, all these reports of a miraculous pregnancy and an amazing birth are extremely far from the majestic, cosmic picture of the Bodhisattva's descent into the earthly world, which the creators of Lalitavistara managed to present.

The translation is based on the edition published by P. L. Vaidya in the Buddhist Sanskrit Text series (Lalitavistara, 1958).

translation

So, bhikkhus 1, when the winter season is over, in the month of Vaisakha, when [the moon] has passed the constellation Visakha 2, in the best of the seasons, in the spring season, when the trees are covered with beautiful foliage, when the best flowers have bloomed, when there is no cold darkness, no hot dust, when the tender grass has grown. grass, a Bodhisattva, the best in the three worlds, revered in the world, having accurately calculated the season and time, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the full moon, at the conjunction of [the moon] with the constellation Pushya 3, when the mother was observing the posadha vow 4, left the beautiful world of Tushita 5, took the form of a white elephant with a red head and six golden with his tusks, and retaining consciousness and memory, 6 having all the parts of his body and fully developed sense organs, he entered the right side of the mother's womb. And when he came in, he was on the right side, but not on the left side. And the Maya Queen, who was sleeping quietly on the bed, had this dream:

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1. * Shining like snow or silver, the lord of elephants with six tusks, slender legs, a beautiful trunk, a red head, a graceful gait, and body joints as strong as diamonds, entered [her] womb 7.

2. " I have never seen, experienced, or heard of such happiness; it was as if I was deep in meditation, feeling pleasure in my body and bliss in my soul."

Then the Maya queen, indifferent to ornaments, serene in mind and body, having found joy, joy and peace, rose from the best bed and surrounded by a crowd of women, accompanied by [them], descended from the top of the best palace, came to the asho-kovuyu 8 grove. Then, sitting comfortably in the ashoka grove, she sent a messenger to King Suddhodana, saying: "Lord, come, the queen wants to see you."

Then King Suddhodana, hearing these words, with a joyful heart and trembling body, rose from his throne and, surrounded by councillors, townspeople, members of the assembly, and relatives, came to the Ashoka grove, but when he came, he could not enter the ashoka grove. It was as if he felt an increased heaviness in himself. Standing in the doorway of the ashoka grove, thinking for a moment, he said the following gatha::

3. "I do not remember that my body, being at the head [of the army], in the intoxication of battle, was so heavy as it seems to me today; I cannot enter my own ancestral home, 9 what has become of my body, whom should I ask?"

Then the gods of suddhavas 10, who appeared in the sky and made half of their bodies visible, said to King gatha:

4. " Endowed with the virtues of asceticism and vows, revered in the three worlds, amiable and compassionate, sanctified by virtue and knowledge, a great Bodhisattva in spirit descended from the city of Tushita 11 and became, O king, your son in the womb of Maya."

5. Then, clasping his hands, shaking his head, showing reverence, the king entered and, seeing Maya free from pride and vanity, [asked]: "Tell me what I should do, tell me what you need?"

The queen said:

6. " Like snow and silver, surpassing the sun and the moon [in radiance], with slender legs, well-formed, with six tusks, great in spirit, the best of elephants, with strong joints [of the body], like a diamond, beautiful in appearance, entered my womb-tell me the reason for this."

7. I see three thousand millions of 13 shining gods singing praises in their chariots; there is no bitterness or malice in me, there is no anger or confusion of mind; endowed with the happiness of meditation, I experience peace.

8. Verily, O king, quickly summon the brahmans, the interpreters of dreams and the Vedas, and the experts in domestic rites, for this dream of mine is prophetic, true; what is my future, good or ill? sort of?".

9. When the king heard this speech, he immediately summoned the brahmans who were knowledgeable in the Vedas and learned in science, and Maya stood before them and said to the brahmans,"I have had a dream, tell me the reason for it."

The brahmans said: "Tell us, my lady, what dream you had, and after listening, we will understand."

The queen said:

10. " Like snow and silver, surpassing the sun and the moon ,with beautiful legs, well-formed, with six tusks, great in spirit, the best of all animals.-

* Here and further in the translation text, numbering marks the poetic parts of the original. - Approx. an interpreter.

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a new man with strong joints, like a diamond, beautiful in form, entered my womb-tell me the reason for this."

11. After hearing this speech, the brahmans said: "We should expect great joy, there is no trouble for [your] family, know that you [will have] the son, of a noble royal family, with a body decorated with the attributes of 14, is a great chakravartin.

12. But he, leaving the city, the desired kingdom, 15 and the house, becoming a wandering ascetic, free from attachment, compassionate to the whole world, will become a Buddha, revered in the three worlds; he will give the whole world to drink the excellent moisture of amrita."

13. After pronouncing the prediction in a pleasant voice, having tasted the royal food and taken the gifts, the brahmans left.

And so, bhikkhus, King Suddhodana, having listened to the brahmanas, the soothsayers, the interpreters of omens, who can interpret dreams, was satisfied, joyful, exultant, happy, and prosperous, and after giving those brahmanas plenty of solid and liquid food, as well as sweets, and giving them gifts, he dismissed them. At that time, in the great city of Kapilavastu, 16 at the four gates of the city, and at all the intersections of the city, he distributed gifts: food to those who asked for food, drink to those who asked for drink, clothing to those who asked for clothing, and carts to those who asked for carts. And those who asked for the necessities of life, [gave] the necessities of life in the form of incense, garlands, anointings, beds; [all] this is to honor the Bodhisattva.

Then, bhikkhus, King Suddhodana thought: "In what house will the Maya queen live happily and peacefully?" At the same time, the four great lords [of the four countries of the world]17 appeared before King Suddhodana and said::

14."Don't worry, master, live happily and without worry, we will build a house for the Bodhisattva."

So Sakra, the lord of the gods, approached King Suddhodana and said:

15. " The excellent palaces of the guardians [of the lands of light] are not suitable, I will give the Bodhisattva a house like Vaijayanta 18."

So the god of Suyama 19 came to King Suddhodana and said:

16. " Tens of 20 million sakras are astonished to see my palace-the beautiful Suyama palace I will give for the Bodhisattva."

So the god Santushita 21 approached King Suddhodana and said:

17. " In which the illustrious one formerly dwelt among the [gods] of Tushita, this excellent palace I will give to the Bodhisattva."

So the god of Sunirmita 22 approached King Suddhodana and said:

18. " Created by thought, a beautiful palace built of precious stones, I will deliver, O king, to honor the Bodhisattva."

And so the god Who owns the Magical Creations of Others 23 approached King Suddhodana and said:

19. " No matter how many beautiful palaces there are in the desire worlds, the radiance of my palace outshines their brilliance.

20. I will give up this beautiful, auspicious palace built of precious stones, I will bring it, O king, to honor the Bodhisattva.

21. I will bring [here] a spacious palace, covered with divine flowers and fragrant with divine perfumes, where the queen will live."

And so, O monks, all the lords of the gods of Desire, in order to honor the Bodhisattva, have erected their palaces in the great city named Kapila. And King Suddhodana prepared the best of palaces, more beautiful than human [dwellings] and more magnificent than divine ones. There the great Bodhisattva being . And the Bodhisattva who had entered the womb was sitting on a couch on the right side of Queen Maya's womb. And every one of those gods thought: "The Bodhisattva mother lives in my house, not in another."

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This is stated as follows:

22. The meditating mahavyuha [Bodhisattva], having created an incomprehensible magical creation, satisfied all the gods, and the king's wish was then fulfilled.

Then in that gathering of the gods some of the gods thought: "Even the four great god overlords, after entering the human body, are reduced to ignorance. What can we say about the other noblest gods, the thirty-three, or the [gods] from the world of Yama, or the world of Tushita? So how did the world-transcending Bodhisattva, a pure, odorless jewel among beings, descend from the abode of the Tushita gods into the fetid human body and remain in his mother's womb for ten months? " 26
So the venerable Ananda 27, prompted by the Buddha, said to Master 28, " It is amazing, Master, because women are supposed to be repulsive, and as the Tathagata says, they are subject to passion. And this, Sir, is even more surprising. How was it that the Lord, who had ascended above all the worlds and had previously become a Bodhisattva, descended from the abode of the Tushita gods into the fetid human body and was on the right side of the mother's womb? I do not dare, Sir, to repeat what the Master has said before." The master said: "Do you want, Ananda, to see the property of a Bodhisattva - ratnavyukha 29, which [then] was the property of a Bodhisattva who entered the womb?" Ananda said, " Now, Sir, is the time for this, now, Sugata 30, is the time for the Tathagata to show this Bodhisattva's possession; when we see it, we will rejoice."

Then the Lord made such a sign that Brahma, the lord of the earth, together with sixty-eight thousand brahmas, who is in the world of Brahma, 31 appeared before the Lord. He bowed down at his Master's feet and walked around him three times, 32 then stood at a distance and clasped his hands to greet his Master. Then the Master, recognizing Brahma, said to the lord of the earth,"You, Brahma, have taken away the ten-month-old possession of a Bodhisattva, which I had when I was still a Bodhisattva in my mother's womb." Brahma said: "That's right, Master. That's right, Sugata." The master said, " Where is it now, Brahma? Show it to me." And Brahma said, " It is in the world of Brahma, Lord." The master said, " Then show me, Brahma, the Bodhisattva's ten-month possession, and let [everyone] know how perfect it is."

Then Brahma, the lord of the earth, said to the brahmans, " Wait until I bring the property of the Bodhisattva ratnavyu."

Then Brahma, the lord of the earth, bowed down at the feet of the Lord, left the Lord, and immediately went to the world of Brahma.

Then Brahma, the lord of the earth, said to the god Subrahma: "Go, venerable one, from here from the world of Brahma to the abode of the thirty-three [gods]." Say in a loud voice :" We will bring the property of Bodhisattva ratnavyuhu to the Tathagata. If any of you want to see it, let them come soon!"".

Then Brahma, the lord of the earth, together with eighty-four hundred thousand million gods, took the property of the Bodhisattva ratnavyuha and placed it in the great vimana of 34 Brahma, [the size of] three hundred yojanas, 35 surrounded on all sides by hundreds of thousands of millions of gods, and let it down on Jambudvipa.36
At this time, a great number of gods gathered, " living [in peace] wishes" to go to the Master. And that ratnavyukha, the Bodhisattva's possession, was decorated with divine fabrics, divine garlands, divine perfumes, divine flowers, divine musical instruments, divine objects of enjoyment. Then the great 37 gods surrounded her, and Shakra, the king of the gods, stood on the mountain At dusk in the ocean, and holding a palm-leaf umbrella close to his face, he peered from afar with a steady gaze or with the help of concentration with his eyes open.38 But I couldn't see it. Why? The great brahmana gods, as well as the tridas-

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tsat three [gods], [gods from the world] Yama and Tushita, [the gods] who enjoy the Magical Creations of Others, [the gods] who possess the Magical Creations of Others-and they have had a mental breakdown, let alone Shakra, the king of the gods!?

Then the Lord made the divine sound of musical instruments inaudible. Why? Because if they heard it, the people of Jambudwipa would become intoxicated.

Then the four great lords approached Sakra, the king of the gods, and said, " O king of the gods, what should we do if we cannot see ratnavyukha, the Bodhisattva's property?" He said to them, " Gentlemen, what can I do? I can't see it either. However, venerable ones, we will see her when she is delivered to the Master." Then they said, " O king of the gods, then make it so that [we]will be able to do so." see her soon." Shakra said: "Wait a moment, venerable ones, while the highest of the high gods propitiate the Bodhisattva." Then, standing at a distance, they stared intently at the Master.

Then Brahma, the lord of the earth, along with those eighty-four hundred thousand million gods, took ratnavyukha, the Bodhisattva's possession, and delivered her to the Lord. And this ratnavyukha, the Bodhisattva's possession, is magnificent, pleasant, beautiful, square, with four corners. And on top of it was decorated with a tower 40 the size of a six-month-old child. And in the middle of that tower is a bed, like a footstool for a six-month-old baby. And this ratnavyukha, the property of a Bodhisattva, is of such a color and structure that such colors and forms are not found in the world of the gods, nor in the worlds of Mara or Brahma. When the gods saw her, they were astonished. Their eyes were wandering. And she, delivered to the Bodhisattva, shone brightly, flamed, sparkled. And like twice-refined gold, well worked by a skilled blacksmith, free from impurities, that tower shone then. And in that domain of the Bodhisattva, a bed was established, the like of which is not found in the world of the gods in color and structure, except in the Bodhisattva Kambugriva 41. And the robe that the great Brahma was wearing did not shine next to the Bodhisattva's bed, but was like a black blanket worn by rain and wind. And the turret was made of snake sandalwood42; one grain of it is worth as a thousand worlds; here is the purest tower made of such serpent sandalwood. And the same second turret was created, which was located inside the first turret, not connected and not connected. And the same third turret, which was located inside the second turret, not connected and not connected. And in that third fragrant tower, a bed was set up and made. The color of that snake sandalwood is the same as the best dark lapis lazuli. And those flowers that are above that fragrant tower, [beauty] surpassing the divine [flowers], all of them have bloomed on that tower, acquired by growing from the root of the Bodhisattva's past good deeds. And this ratnavyuha, the Bodhisattva's possession, was solid, indestructible, like a diamond, and pleasant to the touch, like a fine cloth. And in this ratnavyukha, the Bodhisattva's domain, all the palaces of the gods "living in the desire world" were revealed.

And on the night when the Bodhisattva descended into his mother's womb, that same night, down on the waters of the ocean, splitting the great earth into eighty-six hundred thousand yojanas, the lotus grew to the world of Brahma. And this lotus was never seen except by the best charioteer of the world and ten hundred thousand great brahmas. And what power there is in three thousand thousand worlds, or the best part, or the essence - all this was gathered in that great lotus like a drop of nectar.

The great Brahma placed it in a pure vessel of lapis lazuli and brought it to the Bodhisattva. The bodhisattva took it and drank it out of compassion for the great Brahma. And there is no being among beings who, having tasted this drop of power, would properly digest [it], except a Bodhisattva who is in the last birth, who has passed through all the stages [to become] a Bodhisattva.45 Through the maturation of what karma did a drop of power come to the Bodhisattva? Previously, the Bodhisattva, having led the Bodhisattva lifestyle for a long time, gave medicines to emaciated beings, and fed pi to creatures in need of food-

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He always gave the best flowers, the best fruits, the best drink to the tathagatas, the shrines of the tathagatas, the communities of the tathagatas ' disciples, to his father and mother, and only then did he eat for himself. It was because of the maturation of this karma that the great Brahma brought that drop of nectar to the Bodhisattva.

And the excellent places that were created in that tower for playing and enjoying the virtues of Maya 46, they all came from the maturation of the Bodhisattva's former karma.

In that ratnavyukha, the Bodhisattva's possession, there appeared a pair of robes called the appearance of the hundred thousand.47 There is not a single being among all beings for whom it has appeared, except the Bodhisattva who is in the last birth. And there is nothing beautiful in shape, sound, smell, taste and touch that was not in that tower. And if the tower is a possession, then it is a good possession, perfect, well-built and soft inside and out. Although it is said to be pleasant to the touch, like a fine cloth, it is just an example, but there is no similarity to it. Such is the righteousness of a Bodhisattva, and [such is] the consciousness of magical abilities [48] because of the previous vow [49] that a great being, a Bodhisattva, must necessarily appear in the world and, after leaving home, having attained unsurpassed correct enlightenment [50], must turn the wheel of dharma. And in the mother, in whose womb the appearance of a Bodhisattva occurs, the tower of ratnavyukha first appears in the right side of the abdomen. And then the Bodhisattva, who has descended from the Tushita world, sits down on a couch in this tower. After all, the body of a Bodhisattva who is in the last birth was not in the state of an embryo appearing, an embryo in the first month, an embryo in the second month ,an embryo in the third month [etc.] 51.But it appeared endowed with the characteristics of all the main and secondary parts of the body 52. And the sleeping Bodhisattva's mother, the Maya queen, learned that the great elephant had descended.

When the Bodhisattva was sitting there, Sakra, the king of the gods, and the four great lords, and the twenty-eight great generals of the yakshas, and called the lord of the guhyaks, 53 Va-jrapani, 54 from whom the yakshas are descended, [all] of them, when they learned that the Bodhisattva had entered the womb of his mother, were constantly and inseparably with him. And the Bodhisattva had four serving goddesses: Utkhali, Samutkhali, Dhvajavati, and Prabhavati. When they learned that the Bodhisattva had entered the womb, they constantly protected him. And Sakra, the lord of the gods, along with five hundred gods, when he learned that the Bodhisattva had entered the womb of his mother, constantly and constantly accompanied [him].

And the body of the Bodhisattva who entered the womb was such that, just as on a pitch-black night a large bonfire on a mountaintop is visible for a yojana, so it was visible for five yojanas. This was the appearance of the Bodhisattva who entered the womb-radiant, beautiful, delightful, magnificent. He shone brightly as he sat on the couch in that turret, like pure gold set on lapis lazuli. And the mother of the Bodhisattva, immersed in meditation, saw the Bodhisattva enter the womb. As lightning bursts out of a great cloud and creates a great radiance, so the Bodhisattva who entered his mother's womb illuminated that first tower of precious stones with beauty, fervor, and brilliance. And when he lit up, he also lit up the second fragrant tower. And when he lit up the second fragrant tower, he lit up the third tower of precious stones. And when he lit up the third tower of precious stones, he lit up the whole body of his mother. And when he lit it up, he lit up the seat where she was sitting. And when he lit it up, he lit up the whole house. And lighting up the whole house, through the top of the house lit up the eastern side of the world. And also south, west and north, bottom and top, all ten cardinal directions, each side for a whole crumb55 The bodhisattva who entered his mother's womb was radiant with beauty, fervor, and brilliance.

And in the first half of each day, O monks, four great lords and twenty-eight great yaksha generals, along with five hundred yakshas, came to see the Bodhisattva, to praise him, to serve him, and to listen to the dharma. Then the Bodhisattva, knowing that they had come, raised his right hand and pointed with one finger at Si-

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denya. And those peace keepers and others sat in the seats as directed. And they looked at the Bodhisattva who entered the womb with a body like gold, moving, withdrawing, raising, lowering his hand. They worshiped the Bodhisattva, experiencing joy, merriment, and happiness. And the Bodhisattva, learning that they had sat down, instructed, encouraged, encouraged, and pleased them with the dharma story. And when they wanted to leave, the Bodhisattva, intelligently understanding their intention, raised his right hand and moved it. And when he moved it, he took it away. And I didn't cause my mother any inconvenience. And then those four great lords [understood], " The Bodhisattva has released us." They would circle around the Bodhisattva and the Bodhisattva mother three times and set out on their journey. This is the reason, this is the explanation, that the Bodhisattva raised his right hand on a quiet night and moved it. And having moved, he, endowed with memory and consciousness, lowered his hand. And when someone else, a woman, or a man, or a boy, or a girl, came to see the Bodhisattva, they were greeted first by the Bodhisattva, and then by the Bodhisattva's mother.

And so, O monks, the Bodhisattva who descended into the womb was able to greet the beings. And there is not a single god, or naga 56, or yaksha, or human, or non-human, who can greet a Bodhisattva first. But the Bodhisattva greeted first, and then the Bodhisattva's mother.

And when the first half of the day was over and it was midday, then Shakra, the king of the gods, would come out. And the thirty-three gods came out to see, praise, and propitiate the Bodhisattva. And they went to listen to the dharma. And seeing them coming from afar, the Bodhisattva extended his right hand, which was like gold in color, and saluted Shakra, the lord of the gods, and the thirty-three gods. He pointed one finger at the seats. And Sakra, the king of the gods, could not, O monks, resist the Bodhisattva's command. And Shakra, the king of the gods, sat down with the gods on the seats as indicated. And the Bodhisattva, learning that they had sat down, instructed, encouraged, encouraged, and pleased them with the dharma story. And in whatever direction the Bodhisattva pointed his hand, the Bodhisattva's mother also turned in that direction. Then they [thought]: "The Bodhisattva talks to us." And it seemed to everyone: "It is with me that the Bodhisattva talks, it is he who greets me."

And in that tower was the reflection of Shakra, the lord of the gods, and the thirty-three gods. Indeed, nowhere else is there a Bodhisattva's holy possession like that of a Bodhisattva who descended into the womb. And when, O bhikkhus, Sakra, the king of the gods, and the other gods wanted to leave, the Bodhisattva, intelligently aware of the change in their minds, raised his right hand and moved it. And after moving it, he pulled it away, and then, endowed with memory and consciousness, lowered it again. And I didn't cause my mother any inconvenience. Then Shakra, the lord of the gods, and the other thirty-three gods [understood], " The Bodhisattva has released us." They would circle around the Bodhisattva and the Bodhisattva mother three times and set out on their journey.

And when, bhikkhus, the time of noon passed and the time of evening came, Brahma, the lord of the earth, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of gods of the world of Brahma, standing in front, taking the divine drop of power, appeared to the Bodhisattva to see, praise and propitiate the Bodhisattva and listen to the dharma. The bodhisattva, O monks, noticed that Brahma, the lord of the earth, was approaching with his retinue. And the Bodhisattva raised his right hand, which was the color of gold, and saluted Brahma, the lord of the earth, and the gods of the world of Brahma. He pointed one finger at the seats. And, bhikkhus, Brahma, the lord of the earth, has no power to resist the Bodhisattva's command. Brahma, the lord of the earth, together with the gods of the world of Brahma sat on the seats, as indicated by the Bodhisattva. The bodhisattva, when he learned that they had sat down, instructed, encouraged, encouraged, and pleased them with the dharma. And in which direction the Bodhisattva pointed his hand, the Maya Queen turned her face. Then each of them [thought]: "It is the Bodhisattva who speaks to me, and it is he who greets me." And when Brahma, the lord of the earth, and the other gods of the world of Brahma wanted to leave, the Bodhisattva, knowing intellectually about the change in their minds, raised his right hand, the color of gold, and moved [it]. And when he moved it, he took it away. And having moved and taken away, waved

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use your hand to indicate that [the meeting] is over. And I didn't cause my mother any inconvenience. Then Brahma, the lord of the earth, and the other gods of the world of Brahma [understood]: "The Bodhisattva has released us." They would circle around the Bodhisattva and the Bodhisattva mother three times and set out on their journey. And the Bodhisattva, endowed with memory and consciousness, would lower his hand.

Many hundreds of thousands of bodhisattvas have come from the east, south, west, north, above and below, from the ten cardinal directions, O monks, to see, hear, and propitiate the Bodhisattva, to listen to the dharma, and to sing chants about the dharma. When they came, the Bodhisattva radiated radiance from his body and created shining thrones. And when he had created them, he placed them on the thrones of the Bodhisattvas. And when he learned that they had sat down, he inquired and inquired in detail about the mahayana structure of the bodhisattva. And no one else saw them, except for the same gods. This is the reason, O bhikkhus, this is the explanation that the Bodhisattva radiated radiance from his body on a quiet night.

And the Maya queen, O monks, when the Bodhisattva entered the womb, did not experience heaviness, but, on the contrary, lightness, softness and bliss. And she didn't experience any suffering coming from the womb. And I didn't burn in the fire of passion, in the fire of anger, in the fire of confusion of the mind. And she had no thoughts of desire, no thoughts of anger, no thoughts of violence. And she knew and experienced neither cold, nor heat, nor hunger, nor thirst, nor apathy, nor excitement, nor suffering. And she didn't perceive unpleasant shapes, sounds, smells, tastes and touches. And she didn't have any bad dreams. And she was not tormented by women's delusions, deceit, jealousy, or women's sufferings. But the Bodhisattva's mother at that time accepted the five moral principles, 57 was virtuous, and embarked on the path of the ten good deeds.58 Neither the Bodhisattva mother was attracted to any man, nor the man to the Bodhisattva mother. And in the great city named Kapila, or elsewhere, all men, women, boys, and girls who were possessed by God, naga, yakshi, gandharva, asura, garuda, or bhuta, 59 were healed and remembered by the mere sight of the Bodhisattva's mother. And those non-humans immediately walked away. And beings who are afflicted with disease, or have suffered from diseases caused by the collision of wind, bile, and phlegm, or have suffered from eye disease, or ear disease, or nose disease, or lip disease, or tooth disease, or neck disease, or throat or cheek disease, or abscesses on the chest, leprosy, lethargy, dryness, insanity, epilepsy, fever, boils in the throat, pimples, cramps, scabies and other diseases - all of these [beings] the Bodhisattva mother put her hand on their heads. And as soon as she laid her hand on them, they would be free of their illnesses and go back to their homes. The Mayan Queen also plucked bundles of grass from the ground and gave them to the infirm creatures. And they, having received [this herb], became healthy and prosperous. And when the Maya Queen looked at her right side, she saw the Bodhisattva enter the womb, and he was visible like a face in a clear mirror. And when she looked at him, she would again become contented, joyful, exultant, delighted, happy, and prosperous.

And for the Bodhisattva who has entered his mother's womb, O monks, always, constantly, day and night, divine musical instruments appeared and played. And divine flowers rained down. In due course, the gods would rain. The winds blew in due course. The seasons and constellations changed in due course. And the kingdom enjoyed prosperity and an abundance of crops. And in the great city named Kapila, all the sakyas and other beings ate, drank, made merry, played, amused themselves, distributed gifts, and did good deeds, as if on the full moon festival of the first month of the season, 60 they were engaged only in 61 happy amusements and games. And King Suddhodana, devoted to abstinence, although engaged in the affairs of the kingdom, performed the dharma as if he had gone to the holy forest of asceticism.

With such manifestations of magical powers, O monks, the Bodhisattva was in the womb of his mother. The lord said to the venerable Ananda, " You will see, Ananda,

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ratnavyuhu, the property of a Bodhisattva, in which the Bodhisattva who entered the womb enjoyed himself." He said: "I would like to see, Master, I would like to see, Sugata!" The Bodhisattva showed it to venerable Ananda, Shakra, the lord of the gods, and the four guardians of the world, as well as other gods and humans. And when they saw [her], they became contented, joyful, exultant, delighted, happy, prosperous. And Brahma, the lord of the earth, raised it again to the world of Brahma and established it as a sanctuary.

Then the Master turned back to the monks: "A bodhisattva, bhikkhus, who entered the womb for ten months, has brought thirty-six million people and gods to a mature understanding of the three vehicles 62." This is stated as follows:

23. [When] The bodhisattva, the best being, was in his mother's womb, the earth and the forests trembled sixfold 63; a golden glow appeared, all misfortunes were removed, and the host of gods rejoiced - the treasury of dharma will appear!

24. The great vimana is well made, colored with many precious stones; the hero-leader stands on it; it shines, full of fragrant sandalwood, of which one karsha 64 is worth three thousand precious stones.

25. After splitting the thousand lower worlds, the lotus of the Container of Virtues 65 with a drop of power came out; on the seventh night, it, having the fervor of [past] merits [of a Bodhisattva], ascended to the world of Brahma; Brahma, taking a drop of power, offered [it] to the Bodhisattva.

26. There is no one among beings who has swallowed it and digested it, except a Bodhisattva who has done much during the age of Brahma; having tasted a drop of power that has the fervor of merit of many ages, beings come with a body and mind purified by knowledge.

27. Shakra, Brahma, the guardians of the world, to honor the mentor, came to the Bodhisattva three times, praised and paid homage, listened to the best dharma, and, after walking around, went back.

28. There came bodhisattvas from [all] worlds who loved the dharma, and they were seen sitting on thrones in prabhavyuha, 66 and when they heard from each other about the dharma, about the excellent and best chariot, 67 they all set off joyfully, chanting mantras.68
29. Among the women and girls, those who were then suffering, possessed by bhutas, distraught, naked, smeared in dust, all of them, when they saw Maya, came to their senses and, having gained memory, intelligence and the ability to walk, went to their homes.

30. Those who, because of the wind, because of bile, because of the disturbance of phlegm, had eye disease, ear disease, diseases of the mind and body, who were afflicted with diseases of various kinds and different origins, recovered only when Maya put her hand on their heads.

31. Or the Maya would pluck a tuft of grass from the ground and give it to her. the sick, and all became well; the happy and prosperous went to their homes, for the healer was the king of physicians, who was in the womb.

32. When the Maya queen looked at her body, she saw a Bodhisattva in the womb - just as the moon in the sky is surrounded by stars, so the Bodhisattva was decorated with signs.

33. She was not tormented by passion, hatred, or confusion of mind, nor was she tormented by love, envy, or cruelty; she was of a cheerful heart, of a joyful heart, happy and contented; she was not tormented by hunger or thirst, cold or heat.

34. All the time divine musical instruments sounded by themselves, fragrant, pure divine flowers rained down, the gods, seeing people, and non-human people, did not harm or harm each other there.

35. [All] creatures rejoiced and played, food and drink appeared, [people] with hearts contented and happy shouted joyfully; the earth got rid of dust, the gods rained in time, and herbs, flowers and medicinal plants grew at that time.

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36. In the royal palace for seven days it rained with precious stones, so that the poor took, distributed gifts, divided; there was no being poor and suffering - as in Nandana on the top of Meru, the creatures rejoiced.

37. The king of the sakyas, who was observing the posadha vow, did not rule the kingdom; being devoted to the dharma, he entered the forest of asceticism and asked Queen Maya about the bliss of the body supporting the Bodhisattva.

comments

1 "Monks" - "Lalitavistara" is written in the genre of sutras, therefore, it is constructed as a speech of the Buddha addressed to the monks.

2 "Vaisakha" is the second month of the Indian lunar calendar (April - May). The main unit of time measurement in Ancient India was the lunar day (tithi); 30 or 29 such days (four phases of the moon) made up the month that began and ended with a full moon (to eliminate the gap between the lunar and solar year, after every 30 months, another month was added to the year). The names of months are associated with lunar sites, constellations (naksatra) lying near the ecliptic, and most months are named after the lunar site in which the full moon appeared [Beinorius, 2004, p. 126-128]. "Visakha" (visakhe, dual.) - the fourteenth lunar site, is under the patronage of Indra and Agni consists of two or four stars in the constellation Libra (Monier-Williams 1993, p. 952). As for the time of Gautama's birth, the Lalitavistara differs from the Pali tradition: according to the Tipitaka, the Bodhisattva's descent into the womb occurred during the full moon of the month of ashadha (asadha, Pali - asalha, June - July), and the full moon of Vaishakha is considered the date of his birth (Thomas, 2005, p. 34)..

3 "pusya" - the sixth or eighth station of the moon, corresponding to part of the constellation Cancer; this probably refers to the time of night when the moon passed through this station.

4 "Posadha" (posadha) - Vedic upavasatha, Pali uposatha, posatha; originally - "eve of the day of the soma sacrifice", in Buddhism-the name of the days preceding the rising and descending of the moon, i.e. the first, eighth, fifteenth and twenty-third days of the lunar month. In these days, lay Buddhists vowed to observe the eight "virtues" (Sha): not to kill, not to take what is not given, not to commit adultery, not to lie, abstain from wine and fun, not to eat at the wrong time (after noon), avoid entertainment, and not to use ointments and ornaments [Rhys Davids, Stede, 2003, p. 712-713; 708].

5 "Tushita" - tusita, literally, "satisfied", in the Buddhist cosmogony, the fourth of the six orders of gods " living in the [world of] desires "(kamavacara); in Mahayana, the divine world of Tushita is considered as the abode of bodhisattvas waiting for their descent to earth. The gods of this world, like the inhabitants of the earth, are attracted to sense objects, but all their desires are immediately satisfied [Ermakova and Ostrovskaya, 2003, p. 119]. A bodhisattva has merits that allow him to be born in any of the higher worlds, but their inhabitants will never come down to earth again. Aspiring to become a Buddha and show all beings the path to salvation, the future bodhisattva does not rise above the Tushita world (Foucher, 2003, p. 18-19).

6 According to Vasubandhu, the future chakravartin (emperor) retains full consciousness only while entering the womb, the pratyekabudda (sage who attains personal enlightenment) also during his stay in the womb, and the "enlightened one" (buddha) does not lose consciousness even when leaving the mother's womb [Vasubandhu, 1994, p. 101].

7 The white elephant entering the side of Queen Maya is a common subject of Buddhist art [Foucher, 2003, p. 23-25].

8 Asoka (Saraca indica) - a low evergreen tree with orange or red flowers; in Sanskrit poetry-an indispensable element of descriptions of the spring season.

9 svakulagrha-the Ashok grove, which King Shuddhodana cannot enter, is part of the palace complex.

10 "Suddhavasa" (literally, "having a pure abode) is the highest of the four classes of gods" living in the [world of] forms "(rupavacara).

11 "Tusitapura City" - the divine world of Tusitapura is named here.

12 "Tell the reason for this" - tasya hetum srnusva, the phrase is repeated with the singular of the verb replaced by the plural in stanzas 9 and 10 (smotha); in all these cases, the simple basis of the present ("listen") probably has the meaning of the causative ("tell, tell"), which is permissible in the hybrid in Sanskrit [Edgerton, 1998, vol. 1, p.189].

13 "Millions" (powish) - huge numbers are constantly used in the Lalitavistar to calculate episodic characters; according to the Edgerton dictionary, nayuta is "10 to the tenth power" [Edgerton, 1998, vol. 2, p. 291], but here and further the word "million"is used to translate this numeral, because it's not about counting accurately, but rather creating an image of countless crowds praising every Bodhisattva-related event.

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14 "Attributes" (laksana) - refers to the "32 attributes of a great man" listed in Chapter 7 of the Lalitavistara.

15" The desired kingdom " (kamarajya) - if you understand kata as a proper name, the translation "kingdom of Kama" is possible, but probably the meaning of the composite: "the kingdom [promising] enjoyments."

16 "Kapilavastu" (kapilavastu) - the capital of the Shakya state; according to the legend set forth in the first chapter of Ashwaghosha's poem "Soundarananda", the city was founded on the site of the monastery of the ascetic and sage Kapila; the exact location of Kapilavastu is still controversial, the right to be called the hometown of the Buddha is disputed by Tilaurakot in Nepal and Pirawa in northern India [Schumann, 2004, p. 14-17].

17 The" Four great lords " (catvaro maharajdnah) are the guardian gods of the world; in Hinduism they are Kubera (North), Indra (East), Yama (South) and Varuna (West), but in Sanskrit Buddhist monuments these gods are called differently: Vaisravana, Dhritarashtra, Virudhaka and Virupaksha [Edgerton 1998, vol. 2, p. 425]. In cosmography, these gods are the lowest class of gods "living [in the world of] desires" (kamavacara), their abode is the closest to the earthly world; for more details, see: [Vasubandhu, 1994, p. 164] and [Ermakova and Ostrovskaya, 2004, p. 113-117].

18 "Vaijayanta" - vaijayanta, literally, "victorious", the name of the palace of Indra (Shakra), for a description, see: [Vasubandhu, 1994, pp. 165-166].

19 Suyama (suyama) is the name of the lord of the gods Yama (Uata), the third category of gods "living [in the world of] desires" [Edgerton, 1998, vol. 2, p. 602].

20 "Shakras" - the general name of the gods subordinate to Shakra (Indra), hereinafter referred to as Brahma gods from the world of Brahma.

21 Santushita (samtusita) - the name of the lord of the gods of the world Tushita.

22 Sunirmita - chief of the nirmanarati gods (Enjoying Magical Creations); see comm. 39.

23 "Possessing the Magical Creations of Others" (paranirmitavasavartin) - the highest order of gods "living [in the world of] desires" [Edgerton, 1998, vol. 2, p. 319]; Vasubandhu wrote: "There are living beings [consumed only by] sense objects magically created by others[ beings]; they live in the grip of a desire for mastery over sense objects magically created by others" (Vasubandhu, 1994, pp. 168-169).

24" World of desires " (kamadhatu) - a common name for worlds whose inhabitants are subject to desires (all worlds up to the world of gods Who Own the Magical Creations of Others, inclusive).

25 "Mahavuha" - (mahavuha), literally, " a great manifestation of magical power."

26 "Ten months" - cf. in the Accariyabbhtadhamma-sutta (205) of the Madjhima-nikaya: "I have heard and learned this, venerable one, from the Master himself - other women give birth after they have carried an embryo in the womb for nine or ten months, but this is not how a Bodhisattva's mother gives birth to a Bodhisattva. A Bodhisattva's mother gives birth to a Bodhisattva after she has carried him in her womb for exactly ten months."

27 As already mentioned, the entire Lalitavistara Sutra is formally a speech addressed to monks by the Buddha, who speaks of himself in the third person. Thus, in the first chapter, the Buddha says that he recited this sutra at the request of the gods and sages (Lalitavistara, 1958, p. 4). However, here Ananda's question interrupts the Teacher's monologue, and the situation of talking to the monks and telling them the sutra is depicted from the outside. In the Pali sutra dedicated to the birth of a Bodhisattva, it is Ananda who repeats the story of the pregnancy of Queen Maya, once told to him by the Buddha himself (see intro. article).

28 "Lord" (bhagavari) - literally, "happy"; this word is used in Hinduism to refer to the gods (especially often in the form of the vocative case when addressing), and in Buddhist monuments always refers to Shakyamuni Buddha.

29 "Ratnavyuha" (ratnavyuha) - the exact translation is difficult; the word is a composite consisting of two parts: ratna ("precious stone") and vyuha (lit., "division", also "army", "mass, multitude", "body", "structure"; in the Vishnu Puranas, it has the terminological meaning of "partial manifestation of the deity" [Monier-Williams, 1993, p. 1041]. In Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, it means "supernatural magical creation", "manifestation of supernatural abilities"; it is often used in "Lalitavistara" as the last component of complex words, in particular, in the names of meditations (dhyana), cf. above "mahavyuha" or in the first chapter (Lalitavistara, 1958, p. 2), buddhalamkaravuha "the manifestation of the magical power of the Buddha's ornaments", and also when it comes to the appearance of miraculous objects, for example, ratnachattravyuha - "the appearance of an umbrella [decorated with] precious stones" [Lalitavistara, 1958, p. 241]. For more examples, see [Edgerton, 1998, vol. 2, p. 520]. "Precious stone" can be used as a metaphorical designation of the Bodhisattva himself (cf. "precious stone among beings" above), then the meaning of the composite is "supernatural creation of the Bodhisattva". It should also be noted that in the verse text at the end of the chapter, the structure in which the Bodhisattva resides in the womb is called prabhavyuha, where prabha means "radiance", "brilliance", "splendor", and F. Edgerton understands this composite, which is repeatedly found in the" Lalitavistara", as a manifestation of splendor (Lalitavistara, 1958, p. 241). Therefore, the compound word ratnavyuha can also mean "supernatural appearance of a treasure", i.e. "precious stone" can be considered as a metaphor for the structure itself. J. K. Nariman believed that ratnavyukha was a palace made of precious stones erected by the gods in the womb of Queen Maya for the Bodhisattva to live in [Nariman, 1998, p. 215]; M. Foucault translated it from Tibetan as "l'exercise precieux" [Foucaux, 1846, p. 66], R. L. Mitra preferred to leave the composite without translation [Mitra, 1998, p. 92].

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30 Sugata (literally, "well gone") along with Tathagata (literally, "so gone") is one of the names of the Buddha.

31 "Brahma's World" (brahmaloka) is the lowest of the four abodes of the gods "living in the world of forms" (rupavacara); [Edgerton, 1998, vol. 2, p.270].

32" Walking around " (pradaksinlkrtya) refers to performing a pradakshina, a ritual circumambulation of a shrine or deity "from left to right", i.e. so that the right shoulder is always facing the object of worship.

33" The abode of the thirty-three [gods] "(trayatrimsadbhavana) - the second realm of the gods "living [in the world of] desires". The ruler of this sphere is Shakra (Indra); there are detailed descriptions of his capital and palace [Ermakova and Ostrovskaya, 2004, pp. 117-118]. The number 33 is associated with the idea of 33 gods dating back to the Vedic era.

34 "Vimana" means the palace of God, which can fly at the behest of its owner; it also means simply "palace" and "temple."

35 "Yojana" - a measure of length, approximately equal to 14 km.

36 jambudvlpa - according to Buddhist cosmography, the earth world consists of four main and eight intermediate continents (dvlpa-letters, "island"), located in the ocean on four sides of Mount Sumeru. The continent of Jambudwipa, on which India is located, got its name from the Jambu tree, which grows in a place inaccessible to ordinary people beyond the Himalayas [Vasubandhu, 1994, pp. 157-158].

37" Great "(mahesakhya-literally, "called the great lord") is a stable epithet used in descriptions of kings, bodhisattvas, and gods [Edgerton, 1998, vol. 2, p. 427].

38 "Holding a palm leaf umbrella close to his face, peering from a distance with a fixed gaze or with concentration with his eyes open" (duurata eva mukhe talacchatrakam dattva slrsavyavalokanenanuvilokayati sma unmesadhydyikayd va) - the phrase is not entirely clear; perhaps the Shakra holds a palm leaf over his eyes so that the light of the sun does not interfere with looking into the distance; translation of part of the statement based on the interpretation of F. Эджертона; slrsavyavalokanendnuvilokayati sma - "looked with a side-ways turn (look) of the head (to try to see better)" [Edgerton, 1998, т. 2, p. 516] и unmesadhyayikaya va - "or with open-eyed intentness" [Edgerton, 1998, т. 2, p. 288]. Перевод Р. Митры: "held forth from a distance a palm-leaf umbrella, and, turning his head towards it, watched the house attentively" [Mitra, 1998, p. 93].

39 "The Enjoyer of Magical Creations" (nirmanarati) - the fourth order of gods "living in [the world] desires "(kamdvacara); Vasubandhu wrote: "There are living beings [consumed only] by sense objects created magically; they live in subjection to the desire to dominate magically created sense objects. These are the [class]gods Enjoying Magical Creations."

40 "Tower" (kutagura-literally, "house on top") - a term of traditional Indian architecture, meaning a small structure for housing on the flat roof of a palace or house.

41 "Except for the Bodhisattva Kambugriva" (anyatra kumbagrivaya bodhisattvasya) - the text is probably corrupted: the word kumbagriva (lit. "[having] a neck [like] a shell") It is in the feminine gender and therefore cannot be an epithet of a Bodhisattva. According to Edgerton, this is the name of a demoness (paisaci), but the context does not allow such a meaning.

42 "Snake sandalwood" (uragasuracandana)-according to the dictionaries of Monier-Williams and Edgerton, the composite is found only in Buddhist texts; perhaps the name is associated with the idea known from Sanskrit poetry that snakes like to live on sandalwood trees, but it remains unclear whether this is a real kind of sandalwood or some "mythical"one the material.

43 "Water" (apaskandha-literally, "mass of water") - we are talking about the waters located under the continents of the terrestrial world; see: [Vasubandhu, 1994, p. 152 and note p. 264].

44 Best charioteer (sarathinarottama-literally, "best charioteer husband") is a metaphorical name for a Bodhisattva who is called to control people like a charioteer with horses and a cart.

45" All stages [to become] a Bodhisattva " (sarvabodhisattvabumni) - 10 stages of moral cultivation that a being must go through over many lifetimes to become a Bodhisattva.

46 " Places for play and enjoyment "(mayagunaratikrldasamavasrtasthanani) - the translation of this composite is difficult; R. Mitra believed that taua should not be understood here as a proper name; his text: "all and every place of superhuman excellence as regards enchantment and pleasure" [Mitra, 1998, p. 95].

47 "The appearance of the hundred thousand" (satasahasravyuha, on the word vyuha, see note 29). The number " one hundred thousand "is probably related to one of the Sanskrit names of the lotus - satasahasrapattra - "having one hundred thousand petals"; then the Bodhisattva's robe is similar in color and beauty to the lotus; in the translation of R. Mitra, "like the aggregate of a hundred thousand pieces" [Mitra, 1998, p. 95].

48 "Magical abilities" (Rddhi), i.e. the ability to perform miracles (pratiharya); ranked among the highest abilities (abhijna) Bodhisattvas: divine sight (divyacaksus), divine hearing (divyasrotra), knowledge of other people's thoughts (aracittajnana), memory of past births (purvanivasanusmrti), magical abilities (jddhi); [Edgerton 1998, vol. 2, p.50].

49 "Because of a previous vow" - this refers to a vow made many lifetimes ago (pranidhana) - to become a Bodhisattva; for more information, see [Strong, 2001, pp. 35-48].

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50 " Unsurpassed correct enlightenment "(anuttama samyagsambodhi) - two permanent epithets of Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment are repeatedly found in the Pali canon [Rhys Davids and Stede, 2003, p. 695].

51 "Embryo" - Vasubandhu identified five stages of embryo development [Vasubandhu, 1994, p. 103], of which 4 are listed in our text (kalala, arbuda, ghana, pesin), but the third and fourth stages are reversed; for more information about Indian embryology, see: [Dasgupta, 1961, p. 302 - 319].

52" Major and minor parts of the body " (angapratyaiiga) - according to traditional Indian medicine, the human body consists of six main parts (ariga): the head, torso, arms and legs; all other components of the human appearance - eyes, ears, nose, fingers, etc. - were considered as secondary (pratyariga).

53 "Yaksha and guhyaka" (yaksa, guhyaka) - synonymous names of divine beings of the lower category, who live not in the higher worlds, but on earth; yakshas are repeatedly mentioned in the Tipitaka and are often depicted in Buddhist sculpture.

54 Vajrapani (vajrapani-literally, "one who has a vajra in his hand") is the name of a yaksha repeatedly mentioned in Buddhist literature and sometimes identified with Indra [Edgerton 1998, vol. 2, p. 467]. In the Tipitaka, he is depicted as a dangerous and formidable demigod armed with an iron hammer and able to fly [Rhys Davids, Stede, 2003, p. 545].

55 " Krosa "(krosa - letters," cry", measure of length) - one-fourth of a yojana (see note 35).

56 "Naga" - a mythical creature, half-human, half-snake, the main object of veneration in the cult of snakes.

57 "Five Moral Principles" (paricasiksdpada) - five rules that are mandatory for all Buddhists, both monks and lay people: do not kill, do not appropriate someone else's property, do not commit wrong actions for the sake of pleasure, do not lie, abstain from alcohol [Warder, 2004, pp. 185].

58 "Ten good deeds" (dasakusalakarma) - also "ten virtues" (dasasila) - the basic principles of Buddhist ethics: do not kill, do not appropriate someone else's property, do not commit adultery, do not lie, do not slander, refrain from rude speech, refrain from senseless and cheeky speech, do not envy, refrain from anger, avoid violence, do not be angry. false views [Rhys Davids and Stede, 2003, p. 712-713].

59 "Gandharva" (gandharva) - a mythical creature; in the Vedic era, gandharvas were considered the masters of the bride before the wedding, dangerous to married women during pregnancy and capable of harming the embryo; in Hinduism, gandharvas are celestial musicians, along with apsaras, included in Indra's retinue; in Buddhism, the presence of a gandharva was considered a necessary condition for conception [Vasubandhu, 1994, p. 89]. "Garuda" - in Hinduism, the king of birds, on which the god Vishnu moves; here, probably, it serves as a designation of a certain class of creatures. "Bhuta" - the spirit of the deceased remaining on earth, a demonic and malicious being.

60" The full moon festival of the first month of the season " (kaumodi caturmasi) - probably refers to the full moon of the first month of autumn, Ashwin (September-October), celebrated as a holiday (kaumudicara); but it can also refer to all the first full moons of the six seasons.

61" Only " - in the text of ekantare ("next"), which seems meaningless. It is preferable to replace this word with the one given as a misreading ekante (adv.) - "only", "exclusively".

62 "Three chariots" - hinayana (hinayana-letters, "small chariot"), mahayana (mahayana - letters, "great chariot") and vajrayana (vajrayana - letters, "diamond chariot") - three directions in Buddhism.

63" Sixfold " (sadvikara). R. Mitra considers this composite as a definition for the word "earth "and translates" the product of the transformation of the six " (Mitra, 1998, p. 100). In the translation note, the scientist writes: "I believe that six implies the five elements and prakriti, but I am not sure." In my translation, the word is interpreted as an adverb related to prakampita ("shuddered"), but I am not sure either.

64 "Karsh" (karsa) - a measure of weight used to weigh gold and silver; the exact meaning is unclear.

65 "Pot of Virtues" (gunakara) is usually the name of one of the Buddhas of past eras, but here it is probably an epithet of Gautama himself.

66 "Prabhavyuha" is a "hybrid" form of prabhaviyuha in the text; a synonym for ratnavyuha (see note 29).

67 "The best chariot" (yanasrestha ) is a metaphor for Buddhist teaching.

68 " Mantra "(varnamala-letters, "garland of sounds", i.e. "alphabet") is an assumed translation; in R. Mitra's translation, this part of the stanza is not reflected [Mitra, 1998, p. 101].

69 " Nandana "(nandana-literally, "joy") is the name of one of the four parks near the capital of Shakra, Vaijayanta, see: [Vasubandhu, 1994, p. 165].

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Ermakova T. V., Ostrovskaya E. P. Classical Buddhism. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie Publ., 2004.

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