8 passages · 8,385 Tibetan characters · 1,761 English words
Translation
gemma4:31b (English, machine-assisted)
Status
Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights
Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
The Sūtra Examining the Virtuous and Non-Virtuous Effects serves as a disciplinary exhortation for monks, linking the failure to uphold monastic vows and confession protocols to specific karmic retributions. The text is structured as a series of warnings that correlate different types of negligence—such as the failure to observe training dharmas or the failure to maintain commitments made during confession—with rebirth in various hells, including the Saṃjīva, Black Line, Crushing, and Screaming hells. To emphasize the severity of these consequences, the text employs a system of temporal relativity, calculating infernal lifespans through the vastly expanded time-scales of divine realms. Conversely, it presents the positive outcome of full confession as rebirth in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations. By contrasting these extreme outcomes, the sūtra commits the reader to a state of constant mindfulness and rigorous adherence to the Vinaya to avoid future regret.
Provenance
About this text
Examining the meritorious and non-meritorious results of the five classes of downfall, the Pañcāpattinikāyaśubhāśubhaphalaparīkṣāsūtra is a sūtra of the classical Tibetan tradition. The record provides no attribution for the original author. It was translated into Tibetan by Śrī Gubṭa and the monk Śākya Blo-grub, and is preserved in the General Sūtra Section of the Kangyur, volume ས, where it extends over six pages. The work functions as a disciplinary exhortation for monks, correlating the failure to observe training dharmas and confession protocols with rebirth in various hells, such as the Saṃjīva and Black Line hells. To illustrate the gravity of these transgressions, the text employs a system of temporal relativity, contrasting the lifespans of the human realm with those of divine and infernal realms. Conversely, it presents the positive outcome of full confession as rebirth in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to understand the specific karmic retributions linked to monastic negligence and the mechanisms of confession used to avoid such outcomes.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “The Sūtra Examining the Virtuous and Non-Virtuous Effects” (Toh 304), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh304
Summary & commentary
Significance
This work is significant for its integration of monastic discipline with a detailed cosmological map of karmic retribution. It illustrates how the tradition uses the fear of prolonged infernal suffering and the promise of divine status to enforce the internal and external regulations of the monastic community.
What the commentary adds
The commentary provides philological clarifications of Tibetan terms, such as the specific categories of monastic defeat and the nature of full confession. It distinguishes between textual descriptions of karmic results and the standard formulaic conventions of sūtra openings and exhortations.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction
Standard sūtra opening including homage and the setting in Śrāvastī.
2-4
Karmic Consequences of Negligence
Detailed descriptions of the lifespans of the Saṃjīva and Black Line hells, linked to the failure to observe training and confession dharmas.
4-6
Temporal Scales and Higher Hells
Analysis of the Crushing and Screaming hells, using the lifespans of gods in the intermediate realm and the Heaven of Joy as comparative units of time.
7
Merits of Full Confession
Description of the positive rebirth in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations for those who have fully confessed their transgressions.
8
Conclusion and Exhortation
A list of specific locations and a final imperative for monks to remain mindful to avoid future regret.
Themes
Monastic Discipline and Downfall (1-3)
Karmic Retribution and Hell Lifespans (2-5)
Temporal Relativity (Divine vs. Infernal Time) (4-6)
Purification and Merit (7)
Reading notes
The text is specifically addressed to the bhikṣu (monk) community.
The focus is on the 'five classes of downfall,' suggesting a context of Vinaya (monastic law) study.
The use of precise time measurements serves as a pedagogical tool to illustrate the severity of non-virtuous actions.
Limitations
The provided text is a fragment or summary consisting of 8 passages, leaving some transitions between hells and heavens abrupt.
The specific nature of the 'five classes of downfall' is mentioned in the title but not explicitly listed in the body of the provided text.
Commentary by gemma4:31b, verified by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate; 6 high · 2 medium · 0 low confidence; 0 unsupported unit(s) removed.
AnuvādaThe Sūtra Examining the Virtuous and Non-Virtuous Effects·
The Sūtra on Examining the Meritorious and Non-meritorious Results of the Five Classes of Downfall. Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas. Thus have I heard: at one time the Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park. From there, the Blessed One addressed the monks: "Monks, fifty years of the people of the Jambudvīpa continent are equal to one day of the gods of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; five hundred such years are the lifespan of the gods of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings. Monks, those who observe the training dharma, do not violate it, protect it fully, do not transgress it, and do not teach others to exceed it or teach it excessively, will, upon the death of the body, be reborn as gods in the Heaven of the Four Great Kings. There, they will possess divine lifespan, divine color, divine strength, divine happiness, and power over divine Īśvara, as well as divine form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and divine attendants. Monks, five hundred years of the gods of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings are equal to one day in the Great Avīci Hell. Thirty such days make one month."
Five hundred years, calculated as twelve months to one year, is the lifespan of the great Saṃjīva hell. Monks who do not observe the dharma of training, who do not uphold it, who do not protect it, who transgress it, who do not disclose those transgressions, and who do not fully disclose them, will, after the death of a body, be born in the great Saṃjīva hell; there they will experience intense suffering, harshness, heat, and unpleasant feelings.
Monks, one hundred years of the people of the Jambudvīpa continent is a single day for the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Thirty such days make one month, and one thousand years, calculated as twelve months to one year, is the lifespan of the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Monks who observe the dharma of individual liberation, who uphold it, who protect it, who do not transgress it, who disclose those transgressions, and who fully disclose them, will, after the death of a body, be born among the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three; there they will possess the life of a god, the color of a god, the strength of a god, the happiness of a god, the power of an Īśvara, and the form, sound, smell, taste, and touch of a god, as well as the attendants of a god.
Monks, one thousand years of the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three is a single day in the great Black Line Hell.
Thirty days constitute one month; twelve months are reckoned as one year. One thousand such years is the lifespan of the great Black Line Hell. Monks who do not observe the dharma they have individually confessed, who do not uphold it, who do not fully protect it, who transgress these, who do not disclose those transgressions, and who do not fully disclose them, will, after the death of a body, be reborn in the great Black Line Hell. There, they will experience intense suffering, harshness, heat, and unpleasant feelings. This is the examination of downfalls resulting from misconduct.
Two hundred years of the people of the Jambudvīpa continent constitute one day of the gods of the Trāṣṭyapa heaven. Thirty days constitute one month; twelve months are reckoned as one year. Two thousand such years is the lifespan of the gods of the Trāṣṭyapa heaven. Monks who observe the dharma regarding the commission of downfalls, who uphold it, who fully protect it, who do not transgress it, who disclose those transgressions, and who fully disclose them, will, after the death of a body, be reborn in the happy state of the Trāṣṭyapa gods. There, they will possess the lifespan of gods, the color of gods, the strength of gods, the happiness of gods, and power over the Īśvara of gods, as well as the form, sound, smell, taste, and touch of gods, and the retinue of gods.
Monks, two thousand years of the gods of the intermediate realm is one day in the great hell of the Crushing. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; two thousand such years is the lifespan of the great hell of the Crushing. Monks, those who do not observe the phenomena that cause downfall, who do not practice them, who do not fully protect them, who transgress them, who do not disclose those transgressions, and who do not disclose them fully, will, after the death of this body, be reborn in the great hell of the Crushing. There they will experience extremely intense, harsh, hot, and unpleasant feelings. This is the examination of the downfalls that cause downfall.
Monks, four hundred years of the humans of the realm of Jambudvīpa is one day of the gods of the Heaven of Joy. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; four thousand such years is the lifespan of the gods of the Heaven of Joy. Monks, those who observe the phenomena of excellence, who practice them, who fully protect them, who do not transgress them, who disclose those that have been transgressed, and who disclose them fully, will, after this body, go to a happy rebirth among the gods of the Heaven of Joy. There they will possess the life of a god, the color of a god, the strength of a god, the happiness of a god, the power of Īśvara, and the form, sound, smell, and taste of a god.
They will possess objects of touch and a retinue of gods. Monks, four thousand years of the gods of the Heaven of Joy is one day in the great hell of the Screaming. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; four thousand such years is the lifespan in the great hell of the Screaming. Monks who do not observe the major phenomena, who do not uphold them, who do not fully protect them, who transgress them, who do not disclose those transgressions, and who do not disclose them fully, will, after the death of this body, be reborn in the great hell of the Screaming. There they will experience extremely intense suffering, harshness, heat, and unpleasant feelings. This is the examination of major downfalls. Monks, eight hundred years of the people of Jambudvipa is one day of the gods of the Magic Joy. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; eight thousand such years is the lifespan of the gods of the Magic Joy. Monks who observe the remaining phenomena, who uphold them, who fully protect them, who do not transgress them, and who disclose those that have been transgressed and disclose them fully, will, after the death of this body, be reborn in the happy state of the gods of the Magic Joy. There they will possess the lifespan of gods, the complexion of gods, the strength of gods, and the happiness of gods.
They will have power over the Īśvara of the gods and will possess the form, sound, smell, taste, and touch of the gods, as well as the attendants of the gods. Monks, the eight thousand years of the gods of the Joy of Emanations are equal to one day in the great screaming hell. Thirty such days make one month. Eight thousand years, calculated as twelve months to a year, is the lifespan in the great screaming hell. Monks, those who do not protect, do not uphold, and do not fully maintain the remaining dharma, those who transgress them, and those who do not disclose or fully disclose those transgressions, after the death of one body, will be born in the great screaming hell. There, they will experience extremely intense, harsh, hot, and unpleasant feelings of suffering. This is the examination of the remaining downfalls. Monks, sixteen hundred years of the people of Jambudvīpa are equal to one day of the gods of the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations. Thirty such days make one month. Sixteen thousand years, calculated as twelve months to a year, is the lifespan of the gods of the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations. Monks, those who protect, uphold, and fully maintain the four dharma that lead to defeat, who do not transgress them, and who disclose those that have been transgressed...
Those who are fully confessed will, from one body, be reborn as gods in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations. There, they will possess the lifespan of gods, the color of gods, the strength of gods, the happiness of gods, the power over the Īśvara of gods, the form, sound, smell, taste, and touch of gods, and the retinue of gods. Monks, sixteen thousand years of the gods in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations is equal to one day in the Great Hot Hell. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are counted as one year; six hundred thousand such years is the measure of the lifespan in the Great Hot Hell.
Those monks who do not observe, do not uphold, do not fully protect, transgress, do not confess, and do not fully confess the four dharma that lead to downfall will, after death from one body, be reborn in the Great Hot Hell. There, they will experience extremely intense, harsh, hot, and unpleasant feeling. This is the examination of the downfall regarding the four dharma that lead to downfall.
Monks, therefore, because those who have heard the treatises wish to benefit the self, are affectionate, compassionate, desire the purpose, and seek to be helpful, out of this affection you should do as follows: monks, in monasteries, beside trees, in empty houses, in mountain retreats, and in mountain caves...
Palapunja, Bakasha, Durkhrod, Nagadab, and the outskirts of the settlement; these should be certainly understood. Monks, be mindful. Do not act in a way that you will later regret. This is my instruction.
Having spoken thus, the Blessed One left the monks delighted, and they praised what the Blessed One had taught.
Thus concludes the sūtra examining the merit and non-merit of the five classes of downfall.
Translated and finalized by the Indian abbot Acharya Jnanasri Gupta and the Tibetan translator monk Shakya Blogros.
Commentary·
1
Literal: The Sūtra on Examining the Meritorious and Non-meritorious Results of the Five Classes of Downfall. Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas. Thus have I heard: at one time the Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī, in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park. From there, the Blessed One addressed the monks: "Monks, fifty years of the people of the Jambudvīpa continent are equal to one day of the gods of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; five hundred such years are the lifespan of the gods of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings. Monks, those who observe the training dharma, do not violate it, protect it fully, do not transgress it, and do not teach others to exceed it or teach it excessively, will, upon the death of the body, be reborn as gods in the Heaven of the Four Great Kings. There, they will possess divine lifespan, divine color, divine strength, divine happiness, and power over divine Īśvara, as well as divine form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and divine attendants. Monks, five hundred years of the gods of the Heaven of the Four Great Kings are equal to one day in the Great Avīci Hell. Thirty such days make one month."
text
The title specifies 'five classes of downfall' (ltung ba sde lnga), referring to the categories of monastic defeat.
lemma: ལྟུང་བ་སྡེ་ལྔ་
background
The setting in Śrāvastī at Jeta's Grove is a standard formulaic opening for many sūtras in the Vinaya and Abhidharma sections.
lemma: མཉན་ཡོད་
text
The text contrasts the temporal scale of humans in Jambudvīpa with that of the gods in the Heaven of the Four Great Kings.
lemma: འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་པ་
text
The 'training dharma' (bslab pa'i chos) refers here to the monastic vows (vinaya) whose adherence ensures a favorable rebirth.
lemma: བསླབ་པའི་ཆོས་
text
The term dbang phyug is rendered as Īśvara, referring to divine lordship or sovereignty over the celestial realm.
lemma: དབང་ཕྱུག་
text
The text introduces the Great Avīci Hell (yang sos), contrasting its temporal scale with that of the celestial realms.
རྒྱལ་ཆེན་བཞིའི་རིས ryal chen bzhi'i ris · caturmahārājika-loka — Heaven of the Four Great Kings
Ambiguities:
The phrase 'དེ་དག་ལས་འདས་པ་སྟོན་པ་' may be read as 'teaching that which exceeds them' or 'teaching them to be exceeded'; I have chosen the former to align with the context of improper instruction of the vinaya.
confidence: high
2
Literal: Five hundred years, calculated as twelve months to one year, is the lifespan of the great Saṃjīva hell. Monks who do not observe the dharma of training, who do not uphold it, who do not protect it, who transgress it, who do not disclose those transgressions, and who do not fully disclose them, will, after the death of a body, be born in the great Saṃjīva hell; there they will experience intense suffering, harshness, heat, and unpleasant feelings. Monks, one hundred years of the people of the Jambudvīpa continent is a single day for the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Thirty such days make one month, and one thousand years, calculated as twelve months to one year, is the lifespan of the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Monks who observe the dharma of individual liberation, who uphold it, who protect it, who do not transgress it, who disclose those transgressions, and who fully disclose them, will, after the death of a body, be born among the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three; there they will possess the life of a god, the color of a god, the strength of a god, the happiness of a god, the power of an Īśvara, and the form, sound, smell, taste, and touch of a god, as well as the attendants of a god. Monks, one thousand years of the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three is a single day in the great Black Line Hell.
text
The lifespan of the Saṃjīva hell is specified as 500 years, based on a 12-month calendar year.
lemma: ཡང་སོས
text
Failure to observe, uphold, protect, or confess transgressions regarding the training dharma results in rebirth in Saṃjīva hell.
lemma: བསླབ་པའི་ཆོས
text
The temporal scale shifts: 100 human years equal one day in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.
lemma: སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གསུམ
text
Observance and confession of the dharma of individual liberation leads to rebirth in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three.
lemma: སོ་སོར་བཤགས་པའི་ཆོས
text
Divine rebirth grants the power of an Īśvara and the five sensory qualities of a god.
lemma: དབང་ཕྱུག
text
One day in the Black Line Hell is equivalent to 1,000 years of the gods of the Thirty-Three.
The phrase 'སོ་སོར་བཤགས་པའི་ཆོས' is rendered as 'dharma of individual liberation' (prātimokṣa), though it literally refers to the dharma of individual confession/vows.
confidence: high
3
Literal: Thirty days constitute one month; twelve months are reckoned as one year. One thousand such years is the lifespan of the great Black Line Hell. Monks who do not observe the dharma they have individually confessed, who do not uphold it, who do not fully protect it, who transgress these, who do not disclose those transgressions, and who do not fully disclose them, will, after the death of a body, be reborn in the great Black Line Hell. There, they will experience intense suffering, harshness, heat, and unpleasant feelings. This is the examination of downfalls resulting from misconduct. Two hundred years of the people of the Jambudvīpa continent constitute one day of the gods of the Trāṣṭyapa heaven. Thirty days constitute one month; twelve months are reckoned as one year. Two thousand such years is the lifespan of the gods of the Trāṣṭyapa heaven. Monks who observe the dharma regarding the commission of downfalls, who uphold it, who fully protect it, who do not transgress it, who disclose those transgressions, and who fully disclose them, will, after the death of a body, be reborn in the happy state of the Trāṣṭyapa gods. There, they will possess the lifespan of gods, the color of gods, the strength of gods, the happiness of gods, and power over the Īśvara of gods, as well as the form, sound, smell, taste, and touch of gods, and the retinue of gods.
text
The lifespan of the great Black Line Hell is specified as 1,000 years, following the lunar calendar defined in the first sentence.
lemma: ཐིག་ནག
text
The text refers to the dharma of confession (bśags pa), specifically the failure to maintain the commitments made during the process of purifying transgressions.
lemma: བཤགས་པའི་ཆོས
text
The phrase 'examination of downfalls' (ltung ba brtag pa) serves as a structural marker, concluding the analysis of negative effects.
lemma: ལྟུང་བ
background
The calculation of time in Jambudvīpa is contrasted with the divine time-scale of the Trāṣṭyapa heaven to illustrate the vastness of celestial lifespans.
lemma: འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་པ
text
The phrase 'power over the Īśvara of gods' (lha'i dbang phyug la dbang byed) indicates a state of spiritual or social superiority within the divine realm.
The term 'mtshe ma' (མཚེ་མ) is rendered as Trāṣṭyapa based on standard cosmological mappings of the four heavenly kings' realms, though the Tibetan is a phonetic transcription.
confidence: high
4
Literal: Monks, two thousand years of the gods of the intermediate realm is one day in the great hell of the Crushing. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; two thousand such years is the lifespan of the great hell of the Crushing. Monks, those who do not observe the dharma that causes downfall, who do not practice them, who do not fully protect them, who transgress them, who do not disclose those transgressions, and who do not disclose them fully, will, after the death of a body, be reborn in the great hell of the Crushing. There they will experience extremely intense, harsh, hot, and unpleasant feelings. This is the examination of the downfalls that cause downfall. Monks, four hundred years of the humans of the realm of Jambudvīpa is one day of the gods of the Heaven of Joy. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; four thousand such years is the lifespan of the gods of the Heaven of Joy. Monks, those who observe the dharma of excellence, who practice them, who fully protect them, who do not transgress them, who disclose those that have been transgressed, and who disclose them fully, will, after the death of a body, go to a happy rebirth among the gods of the Heaven of Joy. There they will possess the life of a god, the color of a god, the strength of a god, the happiness of a god, the power of Īśvara, and the form, sound, smell, and taste of a god.
text
The term 'bsdus 'joms' refers to the 'Crushing' hell, one of the eight great hells.
lemma: བསྡུས་འཇོམས་
text
The 'gods of the intermediate realm' refers to the inhabitants of the Antarāla.
lemma: མཚེ་མའི་ལྷ
text
The phrase 'downfalls that cause downfall' is a technical summary of the causal link between transgression and rebirth.
lemma: ལྟུང་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ལྟུང་བ
text
Jambudvīpa is the southern continent in traditional Buddhist cosmology.
lemma: འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་པ
text
The 'dharma of excellence' (sbom po'i chos) is contrasted here with the 'dharma that causes downfall'.
lemma: སྦོམ་པོའི་ཆོས
background
The text describes the gods as exercising power over Īśvara, rather than possessing his power.
The phrase 'དབང་ཕྱུག་ལ་དབང་བྱེད་ཅིང་' can be read as 'possessing the power of Īśvara' or 'exercising power over Īśvara'; the latter is chosen based on the syntax of 'dbang byed'.
confidence: medium
5
Literal: They will possess objects of touch and a retinue of gods. Monks, four thousand years of the gods of the Heaven of Joy is one day in the great hell of the Screaming. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; four thousand such years is the lifespan in the great hell of the Screaming. Monks who do not observe the major phenomena, who do not uphold them, who do not fully protect them, who transgress them, who do not disclose those transgressions, and who do not disclose them fully, will, after the death of this body, be reborn in the great hell of the Screaming. There they will experience extremely intense suffering, harshness, heat, and unpleasant feelings. This is the examination of major downfalls. Monks, eight hundred years of the people of Jambudvipa is one day of the gods of the Magic Joy. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are reckoned as one year; eight thousand such years is the lifespan of the gods of the Magic Joy. Monks who observe the remaining phenomena, who uphold them, who fully protect them, who do not transgress them, and who disclose those that have been transgressed and disclose them fully, will, after the death of this body, be reborn in the happy state of the gods of the Magic Joy. There they will possess the lifespan of gods, the complexion of gods, the strength of gods, and the happiness of gods.
text
The term refers to the tactile object of sense, specifically the physical environment and retinue available to a deity.
lemma: རེག་བྱ་
text
The 'Screaming' hell is identified as the specific location of rebirth for those committing major transgressions.
lemma: ངུ་འབོད་
text
The 'major phenomena' refers to the primary ethical precepts or vows whose violation leads to a major downfall.
lemma: སྦོམ་པོའི་ཆོས་
text
This phrase serves as a structural marker, concluding the analysis of the effects of major downfalls.
lemma: སྦོམ་པོའི་ལྟུང་བ་བརྟག་པའོ
background
Jambudvīpa is the southern continent in Buddhist cosmology, serving here as the baseline for temporal measurement.
lemma: འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་པ་
text
The 'Magic Joy' (likely a translation of a specific deva realm) is the destination for those who observe the remaining dharmas.
The term སྦེད་པ་ (sbed pa) is read as 'uphold' or 'practice' in the context of ethical discipline, though it can occasionally imply 'to be greedy' in other contexts.
confidence: high
6
Literal: They will have power over the Īśvara of the gods and will possess the form, sound, smell, taste, and touch of the gods, as well as the attendants of the gods. Monks, the eight thousand years of the gods of the Joy of Emanations are equal to one day in the great screaming hell. Thirty such days make one month. Eight thousand years, calculated as twelve months to a year, is the lifespan in the great screaming hell. Monks, those who do not protect, do not uphold, and do not fully maintain the remaining dharma, those who transgress them, and those who do not disclose or fully disclose those transgressions, after the death of one body, will be born in the great screaming hell. There, they will experience extremely intense, harsh, hot, and unpleasant feelings of suffering. This is the examination of the remaining downfalls. Monks, sixteen hundred years of the people of Jambudvīpa are equal to one day of the gods of the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations. Thirty such days make one month. Sixteen thousand years, calculated as twelve months to a year, is the lifespan of the gods of the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations. Monks, those who protect, uphold, and fully maintain the four dharma that lead to defeat, who do not transgress them, and who disclose those that have been transgressed...
text
The phrase དབང་བྱེད་ (dbang byed) indicates exercising power or dominion over the Īśvara of the gods.
lemma: དབང་བྱེད་
text
The 'Joy of Emanations' refers to the nirmāṇarativāsa heaven.
lemma: འཕྲུལ་དགའ
text
The 'remaining dharma' (lhag ma'i chos) refers to the rules of discipline remaining after the four defeat-rules.
lemma: ལྷག་མའི་ཆོས
text
The 'examination of the remaining downfalls' refers to the analysis of the karmic results of violating these rules.
lemma: ལྟུང་བ
text
The 'Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations' refers to the paraniṣpatti heaven.
lemma: གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད
text
The 'four dharma that lead to defeat' are the pātimaṅga (defeat) offenses.
The phrase མི་སྦེད་པ་ (mi sbed pa) is read as 'do not uphold/maintain' in the context of monastic discipline.
confidence: high
7
Literal: Those who are fully confessed will, from one body, be reborn as gods in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations. There, they will possess the lifespan of gods, the color of gods, the strength of gods, the happiness of gods, the power over the Īśvara of gods, the form, sound, smell, taste, and touch of gods, and the retinue of gods. Monks, sixteen thousand years of the gods in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations is equal to one day in the Great Hot Hell. Thirty such days make one month, and twelve months are counted as one year; six hundred thousand such years is the measure of the lifespan in the Great Hot Hell. Those monks who do not observe, do not uphold, do not fully protect, transgress, do not confess, and do not fully confess the four dharma that lead to downfall will, after death from one body, be reborn in the Great Hot Hell. There, they will experience extremely intense, harsh, hot, and unpleasant feeling. This is the examination of the downfall regarding the four dharma that lead to downfall. Monks, therefore, because those who have heard the treatises wish to benefit the self, are affectionate, compassionate, desire the purpose, and seek to be helpful, out of this affection you should do as follows: monks, in monasteries, beside trees, in empty houses, in mountain retreats, and in mountain caves...
text
The phrase refers to the act of full confession (pāṭikarmaka) of transgressions.
lemma: རབ་ཏུ་སྟོན་པ་
text
The verb implies exercising power or authority over the Īśvara of the gods.
lemma: དབང་བྱེད་
text
The text specifies 16,000 years, contrasting with the 8,000 years mentioned in the previous passage.
lemma: ལོ་སྟོང་ཕྲག་བཅུ་དྲུག་
text
The lifespan in the Great Hot Hell is given as 600,000 years.
lemma: ལོ་ཁྲི་དྲུག་སྟོང་
text
Refers to the four specific dharmas whose violation leads to the status of 'downfall' (pātimokṣa-defeat).
lemma: ཕམ་པར་འགྱུར་བའི་ཆོས་བཞི་
text
The term refers to the śāstra (treatises) as the source of the monks' knowledge.
lemma: བསྟན་བཅོས་
གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད gzhan 'phrul dbang byed · parinaṃśā-svarga — Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations
The phrase 'ལུས་ཞིག་ནས་' (from one body) is interpreted as 'after the death of the current physical body' in the context of rebirth.
confidence: high
8
Literal: Palapunja, Bakasha, Durkhrod, Nagadab, and the outskirts of the settlement; these should be certainly understood. Monks, be mindful. Do not act in a way that you will later regret. This is my instruction. Having spoken thus, the Blessed One left the monks delighted, and they praised what the Blessed One had taught. Thus concludes the sūtra examining the merit and non-merit of the five classes of downfall. Translated and finalized by the Indian abbot Acharya Jnanasri Gupta and the Tibetan translator monk Shakya Blogros.
text
The phrase 'should be certainly understood' indicates the conclusion of a descriptive list of locations associated with specific karmic results.
lemma: ངེས་པར་བསམ་པར་བྱའོ
text
The imperative 'be mindful' (appamāda) serves as a standard exhortation to avoid negligence in monastic discipline.
lemma: བག་ཡོད་པར་གྱིས་ཤིག
background
The 'five classes of downfall' refers to the five categories of parājika (defeats) in the Vinaya.
lemma: ལྟུང་བ་སྡེ་ལྔ་
text
The formula 'translated and finalized' denotes the completion of the translation process and its formal authorization.
lemma: བསྒྱུར་ཅིང་གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པ
background
The colophon identifies the Indian scholar Ācārya Jñānaśrī Gupta and the Tibetan translator Śākya Blo-gro as the agents of the translation.
The proper names Palapunja, Bakasha, Durkhrod, and Nagadab are transliterations of Sanskrit place names; the exact Sanskrit orthography is not provided in the Tibetan text.