The Questions of Dirghanakha the Wandering Mendicant

The Questions of Dirghanakha the Wandering Mendicant (Skt. Dīrghanakhaparivrājakaparipṛcchā; Tib. ཀུན་ཏུ་རྒྱུ་བ་སེན་རིངས་ཀྱིས་ཞུས་པ།, Wyl. kun tu rgyu ba sen rings kyis zhus pa). In this sutra, as the Buddha teaches the Dharma to the fourfold sangha on Vulture Peak Mountain, the brahmin and wandering mendicant Dirghanakha approaches and questions the Buddha about his doctrine concerning the incontrovertible relationship between karma and its effects in the world. He then poses a series of ten questions regarding the karmic causes of certain attributes of the Buddha, from his vajra body to the raised ushnisha on his crown. The Buddha responds to each question with the cause for each attribute, roughly summing up the eight poshadha vows and the ways he observed them in the past. Dirghanakha drops his staff and bows to the Buddha, pledging to take refuge in the Three Jewels and maintain the eight poshadha vows.

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The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the General Sutra section of the Tibetan Dergé Kangyur, Toh 342.

• English translation: The Questions of Dīrghanakha the Wandering Mendicant