The Hundred Deeds
The Hundred Deeds (Skt. Karmaśataka; Tib. ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ།, Wyl. las brgya tham pa) or The Hundred Karmas is a sutra comprising more than 120 individual texts. This sutra is perhaps the best known of the many works in the Kangyur on the theme of karmic ripening of actions across multiple lifetimes.[1]
Text
The original Sanskrit version is no longer extant.
Tibetan Translation
The Tibetan translation is found in the General Sutra section of the Kangyur, Toh 340. The Tibetan text has no translator’s colophon, and there is no direct evidence of when, or by whom, it was made. Several sources, including Butön’s History of the Dharma, mention that it was translated by Drenka (bran ka) Mūlakośa and Nyak Jñanakumara during the reign of King Tridé Tsuktsen.
- English translation: Dharmachakra Translation Committee,
The Hundred Deeds
Quotations
བསྐལ་པ་བརྒྱར་ཡང་ཆུད་མི་ཟ། །
ཚོགས་ཤིང་དུས་ལས་བབས་པ་ན། །
When the time arrives—and even if
A hundred eons pass—
Fruit is born of every act
That sentient beings amass.[2]
- Buddha Shakyamuni, The Hundred Deeds, 1.72 (first occurrence)
The ocean, home of creatures fierce,
Could fail to send its tides on time.
But when the time has come to tame
Their offspring, buddhas never fail.
References
- ↑ 84000 Translating the Words of the Buddha.
- ↑ Quoted in The Words of My Perfect Teacher, page 119.