I have been telling myself and my students that there may not be a great deal of mundane and supra-mundane incentives for trying to keep on studying. There is also no explosion of immense joy, something like what a bodhisattva upon attaining the pramuditābhūmi is said to experience. But there are small moments of joy that arise when discovering tiny details. I just had such a moment today. The theory and practice of the “dedicatory transfer of beneficial earnings” (puṇyapariṇāmanā: bsod nams yongs su bsngo ba) or the “dedicatory transfer of basic virtues, or, wholesome [deeds]” (kuśalamūlapariṇāmanā: dge ba’i rtsa ba yongs su bsngo ba) is so popular in the Buddhist traditions, that is, both in the Northern and Southern Buddhist traditions. The topic has drawn the attention of several prominent Buddhologists. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Klong-chen-pa (1308–1363), for example, has summed up the role of pariṇāmanā in his Yid bzhin mdzod thus: khyad par theg chen dge ba rlabs po che || sbyor ba sems bskyed dngos gzhi dmigs pa med || rjes la bsngo bas yongs su zin pa ni || thar lam bgrod pa’i gces pa rnam gsum nyid ||. Later rNying-ma scholars would not fail to cite this verse when it comes to the topic pariṇāmanā. This is, however, not my concern today. My concern is this verse: ji ltar rgya mtsho che nang chu thigs lhung || rgya mtsho ma zad bar du de mi mdzad || de bzhin byang chub yongs bsngos dge ba yang || byang chub ma thob bar du de mi ’dzad ||. A quick search in the digital platforms would confirm its popularity. But also the confusion or uncertainty that reigned in the Tibetan tradition would become apparent. Some scholars simply cite it with the phrase ji skad du. If one is not sure of the source, it is a good solution. Most scholars provide the source as the Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra. If one were to search the verse in the Tibetan translation of the Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra, however, one would be frustrated and disappointed. Some scholars seem to have made this experience. So they explained that this verse was composed by some bKa’-gdams masters based on the Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra. It is often tempting to attribute all subhāṣitas to bKa’-gdams masters. Some explained that this verse is a versified summary of the idea of pariṇāmanā found in the Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra as cited in the Śikṣāsamuccaya. But one would look for a possible passage in the Śikṣāsamuccaya in vain. One Tibetan scholar identified the source as Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra. One may easily like to dismiss it as a mere confusion of Blo gros mi zad pa (Akṣayamati) and Blo gros rgya mtsho (Sāgaramati). Now it turns out that it is not the Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra that has this pertinent idea. It turns out that it is not the Śikṣāsamuccaya that cites such a Sūtric passage but the Sūtrasamuccaya (Pāsadikā 1989: 25) that cites such a passage, purportedly from the Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra. I did not check the Tibetan translation of the Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra yet. sKa-ba dPal-brtsegs’s gSung rab rin po che’i gtam (P, fol. 163b4–6) also cites the Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra. Such an idea can also be found in the Dharmasaṃgītisūtra cited in the same work (P, fol. 176b1). It also turns out that the verse is not likely composed by a bKa’-gdams master but it stems from Āryaśūra’s Pāramitāsamāsa, and the Tibetan translation of it reads: rgya mtsho chen por chu thigs gcig bor ba || rgya mtsho ma zad dus su zad mi ’gyur || de bzhin byang chub mchog tu bsngos pa yi || bsod nams rnam pa zad par ’gyur ba med ||. And fortunately, the Sanskrit text of the Pāramitāsamāsa does exist and it has drawn the attention of modern scholars. See Pāramitāsamāsa 4.13 (Meadow 1986: 210): mahatsu vāmbhaḥsu yathā niṣikto naivodabinduḥ kṣayam abhyupaiti | saṃbuddhabhāve pariṇāmitasya tathaiva puṇyasya na saṃkṣayo ’sti ||. For an English translation of the verse, see Meadow 1986: 211 “As surely as a drop of water sprinkled into the ocean does not perish, so in like manner there is no perishing of merit that has been dedicated to the state of a complete Buddha.”
Pratisaṃvid 