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'''[[Sutra]] of the Wise and the Foolish''', (Skt. ''Damamūka-nidāna-sūtra'', Tib. མདོ་མཛངས་བླུན།, Wyl. ''mdo mdzangs blun'', Pali: ''Bala-pandita Sutta'') sometimes called ''Ocean of Narratives'', consists of [[Jataka]] stories in fifty-one chapters, tracing the causes of present tragedy in human lives to events which took place in former lifetimes. The theme of each narrative is the same: the tragedy of the human condition, the reason for this tragedy and the possibility of transcending it.  
'''[[Sutra]] of the Wise and the Foolish''' (Skt. ''Damamūka-nidāna-sūtra''; Tib. མདོ་མཛངས་བླུན་, [[Wyl.]] ''mdo mdzangs blun''; Pali: ''Bala-pandita Sutta''), sometimes called ''Ocean of Narratives'', consists of [[Jataka]] stories in fifty-one chapters, tracing the causes of present tragedy in human lives to events which took place in former lifetimes. The theme of each narrative is the same: the tragedy of the human condition, the reason for this tragedy and the possibility of transcending it.  
For centuries, it has been a source of inspiration, instruction and pleasure for all who have read it. The history of this unusual scripture is still uncertain. Legend has it that the tales were heard in [[Khotan]] by Chinese monks, who translated them into Chinese. In the caves of [[Dunhuang]] there are many wall paintings illustrating stories from the ''Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish'', as well as painted scrolls on the same theme.  
 
The history of this unusual scripture is still uncertain. Legend has it that the tales were heard in [[Khotan]] by Chinese monks, who translated them into Chinese. In the caves of [[Dunhuang]] there are many wall paintings illustrating stories from the ''Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish'', as well as painted scrolls on the same theme.  


The text was translated into Mongolian from Tibetan. The version available in English is translated from the Mongolian.  
The text was translated into Mongolian from Tibetan. The version available in English is translated from the Mongolian.  
==[[Quotations: Sutras|Quotations]] from the sutra==
{{:Quotations: Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, Do not Disregard Small Misdeeds}}
{{:Quotations: Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, Do not Disregard Small Positive Acts}}


==Translations==
==Translations==
* ''Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish'', translated from the Mongolian by Dr. Stanley Frye, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, ISBN : 81-85102-15-5  
*''Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish'', translated from the Mongolian by Dr. Stanley Frye, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, ISBN 81-85102-15-5


==Tibetan Text==
==Tibetan Text==
* [[Derge Kangyur]], vol.74, ff.129r-298r (pp.257-595)
*[[Derge Kangyur]], vol.74, ff.129r-298r (pp.257-595)


==External Links==  
==External Links==  
*[http://tbrc.org/#library_work_ViewByOutline-O1GS1298001JW13862|W22084 Read the Tibetan text online at Tibetan Buddhist Resource Centre]
*[http://tbrc.org/#library_work_ViewByOutline-O1GS1298001JW13862|W22084 Read the Tibetan text online at Tibetan Buddhist Resource Centre]
*[http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=6623&partid=1&output=Places%2F!!%2FOR%2F!!%2F2490%2F!%2F%2F!%2FExcavated%2FFindspot+%E5%8D%83%E4%BD%9B%E6%B4%9E%2F!%2F%2F!!%2F%2F!!!%2F&orig=%2Fresearch%2Fsearch_the_collection_database%2Fadvanced_search.aspx&currentPage=28&numpages=10 Painted scrolls from Dunhuang illustrating the sutras, at the British Museum.]
*[http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=6623&partid=1&output=Places%2F!!%2FOR%2F!!%2F2490%2F!%2F%2F!%2FExcavated%2FFindspot+%E5%8D%83%E4%BD%9B%E6%B4%9E%2F!%2F%2F!!%2F%2F!!!%2F&orig=%2Fresearch%2Fsearch_the_collection_database%2Fadvanced_search.aspx&currentPage=28&numpages=10 Painted scrolls from Dunhuang illustrating the sutras, at the British Museum.]



Revision as of 07:59, 18 June 2019

Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish (Skt. Damamūka-nidāna-sūtra; Tib. མདོ་མཛངས་བླུན་, Wyl. mdo mdzangs blun; Pali: Bala-pandita Sutta), sometimes called Ocean of Narratives, consists of Jataka stories in fifty-one chapters, tracing the causes of present tragedy in human lives to events which took place in former lifetimes. The theme of each narrative is the same: the tragedy of the human condition, the reason for this tragedy and the possibility of transcending it.

The history of this unusual scripture is still uncertain. Legend has it that the tales were heard in Khotan by Chinese monks, who translated them into Chinese. In the caves of Dunhuang there are many wall paintings illustrating stories from the Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, as well as painted scrolls on the same theme.

The text was translated into Mongolian from Tibetan. The version available in English is translated from the Mongolian.

Quotations from the sutra

སྡིག་པ་ཆུང་ངུ་དག་ལ་ཡང༌། །

མི་གནོད་སྙམ་དུ་བརྙས་མི་བྱ། །
མེ་སྟག་ཆུང་ངུ་དག་གིས་ཀྱང༌། །

རྩྭ་ཕུང་རི་ཙམ་སྲེག་པར་བྱེད། །

Do not disregard small misdeeds,
Thinking they are harmless,
Because even tiny sparks of flame,
Can set fire to a mountain of hay.

Buddha Shakyamuni, Sutra of the Wise and Foolish


དགེ་བ་ཆུང་ངུ་དག་ལ་ཡང༌། །

མི་ཕན་སྙམ་དུ་བརྙས་མི་བྱ། །
ཆུ་ཡིས་ཐིགས་པ་བསགས་པ་ཡིས། །

སྣོད་ཆེན་རིམ་གྱིས་གང་བར་འགྱུར། །

Do not disregard small positive acts,
Thinking they are without benefit,
Because even tiny drops of water,
Will eventually fill a large container.

Buddha Shakyamuni, Sutra of the Wise and Foolish


Translations

  • Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, translated from the Mongolian by Dr. Stanley Frye, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, ISBN 81-85102-15-5

Tibetan Text

External Links