Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā

Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā (T. 'jam dpal gyis dris pa འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱིས་དྲིས་པ།; C. Wenshushili wen pusa shu jing 文殊師利問菩薩署經), lit. The Question of Manjushri, is an early Mahayana sutra that presents a dialogue between the Buddha and the bodhisattva Manjushri on the topic of merit (puṇya).

The Kīrtimukha Translation Group states:

The bodhisattva Mañjuśrī approaches the Buddha and asks about the extent of the merit represented by the Buddha’s “Dharma conch,” which here seems to mean the Buddha’s voice. The Buddha proceeds to illustrate the vastness of this merit by means of a cosmic multiplication‍—sequentially compounding the merit of all beings in a certain realm if they each possessed the merit of a cakravartin, a brahmā god, a bodhisattva, and so forth, each having more merit than the previous one. The expansion continues through a list of the eighty designs marking the body of a buddha and the thirty-two signs of a great being, which, multiplied inconceivably, are said to be equal in merit to the Dharma conch. The Buddha then explains how the voice, body, and light of the Buddha are made known throughout countless realms and take on numberless manifestations to tame beings.

Translations

Tibetan translation:

• can be found in the General Sutra Section of the Tibetan Kangyur, Toh 172

English translation:

• Kīrtimukha Translation Group (2023), The Question of Manjushri, 84000 Reading Room

Sources

• Kīrtimukha Translation Group (2023), The Question of Manjushri, 84000 Reading Room
• Nattier, Jan (2008), A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms Periods (PDF), Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica, Volume X, Soka University: International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology (IRIAB)