“Frame a true idea”
background
On: who, when these very words of the Sûtras are being preached, will frame a true idea?
Source quotation · F. Max Müller, translator’s footnote 1, page 116 (1894)
Will understand them properly.
Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā (Diamond Sutra) · F. Max Müller, Buddhist Mahāyāna Texts, Sacred Books of the East XLIX, Part II (1894), section VI, printed pages 115–118; Internet Sacred Text Archive transcription. Accessed 11 September 2026. Web transcription checked; no scan collation claimed. Paragraph breaks and whitespace normalized. Historical spelling retained, including host forms that may be transcription errors. Footnote callouts and page-break labels removed; the Diamond Sutra translator’s substantive notes are separate attributed annotations. No internal passage omissions.
Source reuse and transcription
Public domain in the United States: historical English translation published before 1931. The historical translation and translator’s historical notes are reproduced.
Community response to this revision: 0
Published revision history
2026-09-11T15:40:29+00:00
Will understand them properly.
A translation question about faith
background
On: will obtain one and the same faith.
Source quotation · F. Max Müller, translator’s footnote 1, page 117 (1894)
I am doubtful about the exact meaning of ekakittaprasâda. Childers gives ekakitta, as an adjective, with the meaning of 'having the same thought,' and kittaprasâda, as faith in Buddha. But ekakittaprasâda may also be 'faith producted by one thought,' 'immediate faith,' and this too is a recognised form of faith in Buddhism. See Sukhâvatî, pp. 71, 108.
Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā (Diamond Sutra) · F. Max Müller, Buddhist Mahāyāna Texts, Sacred Books of the East XLIX, Part II (1894), section VI, printed pages 115–118; Internet Sacred Text Archive transcription. Accessed 11 September 2026. Web transcription checked; no scan collation claimed. Paragraph breaks and whitespace normalized. Historical spelling retained, including host forms that may be transcription errors. Footnote callouts and page-break labels removed; the Diamond Sutra translator’s substantive notes are separate attributed annotations. No internal passage omissions.
Source reuse and transcription
Public domain in the United States: historical English translation published before 1931. The historical translation and translator’s historical notes are reproduced.
Community response to this revision: 0
Published revision history
2026-09-11T15:40:29+00:00
I am doubtful about the exact meaning of ekakittaprasâda. Childers gives ekakitta, as an adjective, with the meaning of 'having the same thought,' and kittaprasâda, as faith in Buddha. But ekakittaprasâda may also be 'faith producted by one thought,' 'immediate faith,' and this too is a recognised form of faith in Buddhism. See Sukhâvatî, pp. 71, 108.
Müller’s reading of the five-hundred-year periods
interpretation
On: in the last 500 years, during the time of the decay of the good Law
Source quotation · F. Max Müller, translator’s footnote 3 to section VI (1894), quoting material supplied by Bunyiu Nanjio
I have changed Pañkâsatî into Pañkasatî, because what is intended here is evidently the last of the periods of 500 years each, which, according to the Mahâyâna-Buddhists, elapsed after the death of Buddha. The following extract from the Mahâsannipâta-sûtra (Ta-tsi-king, No. 61 in Tripitaka), given to me by Mr. B. Nanjio, fully explains the subject.
'It is stated in the fifty-first section of the Mahâsannipâta-sûtra, that Buddha said: "After my Nirvâna, in the first 500 years, all the Bhikshus and others will be strong in deliberation in my correct Law. (Those who first obtain the 'holy fruit,' i.e. the Srota-âpannas, are called those who have obtained deliberation.) In the next or second 500 years, they will be strong in meditation. In the next or third 500 years, they will be strong in 'much learning,' i.e. bahusruta, religious knowledge. In the next or fourth 500 years, they will be strong in founding monasteries, &c. In the last or fifth 500 years, they will be strong in fighting and reproving. The pure (lit. white) Law will then become invisible."'
The question therefore amounts to this, whether in that corrupt age the law of Buddha will be understood? and the answer is, that there will be always some excellent Boddhisatvas who, even in the age of corruption, can understand the preaching of the Law.
Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā (Diamond Sutra) · F. Max Müller, Buddhist Mahāyāna Texts, Sacred Books of the East XLIX, Part II (1894), section VI, printed pages 115–118; Internet Sacred Text Archive transcription. Accessed 11 September 2026. Web transcription checked; no scan collation claimed. Paragraph breaks and whitespace normalized. Historical spelling retained, including host forms that may be transcription errors. Footnote callouts and page-break labels removed; the Diamond Sutra translator’s substantive notes are separate attributed annotations. No internal passage omissions.
Source reuse and transcription
Public domain in the United States: historical English translation published before 1931. The historical translation and translator’s historical notes are reproduced.
Community response to this revision: 0
Published revision history
2026-09-11T15:40:29+00:00
I have changed Pañkâsatî into Pañkasatî, because what is intended here is evidently the last of the periods of 500 years each, which, according to the Mahâyâna-Buddhists, elapsed after the death of Buddha. The following extract from the Mahâsannipâta-sûtra (Ta-tsi-king, No. 61 in Tripitaka), given to me by Mr. B. Nanjio, fully explains the subject.
'It is stated in the fifty-first section of the Mahâsannipâta-sûtra, that Buddha said: "After my Nirvâna, in the first 500 years, all the Bhikshus and others will be strong in deliberation in my correct Law. (Those who first obtain the 'holy fruit,' i.e. the Srota-âpannas, are called those who have obtained deliberation.) In the next or second 500 years, they will be strong in meditation. In the next or third 500 years, they will be strong in 'much learning,' i.e. bahusruta, religious knowledge. In the next or fourth 500 years, they will be strong in founding monasteries, &c. In the last or fifth 500 years, they will be strong in fighting and reproving. The pure (lit. white) Law will then become invisible."'
The question therefore amounts to this, whether in that corrupt age the law of Buddha will be understood? and the answer is, that there will be always some excellent Boddhisatvas who, even in the age of corruption, can understand the preaching of the Law.