Bodhisattvaprātimokṣacatuṣkanirhāra

Not to be confused with Bodhisattvaprātimokṣasūtra.

Bodhisattvaprātimokṣacatuṣkanirhāra (T. byang chub sems dpa’i so sor thar pa chos bzhi sgrub pa བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སོ་སོར་ཐར་པ་ཆོས་བཞི་སྒྲུབ་པ།), or "The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimoksha," is a Mahayana sutra that describes how bodhisattvas train and the qualities that they cultivate.

The Dharmachakra Translation Committee states:

In The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa, Venerable Śāriputra requests the Buddha Śākyamuni to explain the conduct of bodhisattvas. The Buddha responds by describing how bodhisattvas train in many practices and in the cultivation of many qualities, here presented in sets of four, related to generosity and diligence in particular, and more broadly to their attitude, conduct, learning, insight, and teaching. In this way bodhisattvas swiftly progress along the path to buddhahood.

Overview

The Dharmachakra Translation Committee states:

The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa is a sūtra significant for its wide-ranging discussion of the various attitudes, deeds, pursuits, and insights that constitute the practical discipline‍—the prātimokṣa—engaged in by bodhisattvas. The sūtra presents a dialogue between Śāriputra and the Buddha Śākyamuni at Vulture Peak near Rājagṛha, the capital of the former kingdom of Magadha (present-day Bihar). Śāriputra opens the conversation by asking the Buddha, “What are the deeds related to the aspects of the bodhisattvas’ truth?” The Buddha responds by expounding on a wide variety of qualities that bodhisattvas cultivate on their journey to awakening. These include, but are not limited to, expositions on the importance of generosity and diligence. The qualities are generally presented in groups of four and relate to vastly different themes.

One of the sets of four, for example, is patience, unimpeded wisdom and vision, undivided wisdom and vision, and unattached wisdom and vision, for which the Buddha says that bodhisattvas will be praised. In another set of four, the Buddha teaches that bodhisattvas will remember their past lives once they have perfected their training so that their acts are in accord with their words, their words are in accord with their acts, they have abandoned aggression, and they rely on wisdom. The Buddha also teaches that bodhisattvas will remember their past lives when they transcend and acquire virtuous qualities, establish others in virtue, seek the Dharma devotedly, and teach the Dharma extensively. Bodhisattvas will be joyful, the Buddha explains, when their search is meaningful, they have the treasure of learning, they possess insight based on that learning, and they give the gift of the Dharma. Many other such sets of four qualities are presented with brief explanations. Thus, The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa provides a concise synoptic view of the many positive qualities to be cultivated by bodhisattvas on the path to awakening. The altruistic motivations, active pursuits, and more subtle insights promoted in the sūtra form a mosaic of what it means to train in the prātimokṣa of the vehicle of the bodhisattvas as opposed to the prātimokṣa of the vehicles of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.

Text

The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra Section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 248

• English translation: Dharmachakra Translation Committee (2024 ), The Accomplishment of the Sets of Four Qualities: The Bodhisattvas’ Prātimokṣa, 84000 Reading Room