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Buddhahood

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The nature of a Buddha in Mahayana

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Various Mahayana sutras and treatises contain explanations of the nature of a Buddha and the various attributes which Buddhas are said to have. These attributes are significantly different and more exalted than the way a Buddha is understood in non-Mahayana Buddhism.

Some of the key attributes of Buddhahood in Mahayana include:

  • Triple body (Trikāya): This is the central Mahayana buddhological theory which states that a Buddha has three aspects, or functions (Sanskrit: vṛṭṭis): the Dharmakāya (Sanskrit; Dharma body, the ultimate reality, the true nature of all things), the Sambhogakāya (the body of self-enjoyment, a blissful divine body with infinite forms and powers) and the Nirmāṇakāya (manifestation body, the body which appears in the everyday world and presents the semblance of a human body).
  • Eternity and Immutability: In its ultimate aspect (i.e. Dharmakāya), Buddhahood is said to be unchanging, non-arising, un-created, eternal, permanent (nitya) and unceasing.[1][2] Various sources like the Lotus Sutra also indicate the Buddha's lifespan (ayus) is also immeasurable or eternal ("ever enduring, never perishing").[3] Furthermore, in Mahayana, Buddhahood is also understood as timeless, beyond any concept of past, present or future, since any concept of time is a mental construction.
  • Beyond thought: A Buddha has no thoughts or ordinary cognition (samjña), he does not plan, conceptualize, think (amanasikāra). His mind is beyond all mental proliferation (nisprapañca). Instead, Buddhahood naturally and spontaneously manifests myriad skillful means to benefit all beings in an automatic manner without any thought or planning.[4][5][6] Thus he is said to have a mind which is no-mind (Sanskrit: acitta) or without discrimination (nirvikalpa).[5][7][8]
  • Wordless Teaching: Various sutras, like state that the Buddha "has never once uttered a single word" since Buddha is always in a state of meditative samadhi.[9] In spite of this, the Buddha manifests innumerable skillful means that magically appears to all sentient beings as various teachings appropriate specifically for them, in whatever language they can understand.[10]
  • All-knowing wisdom: Buddha's knowledge and wisdom is said to be all-knowing (Sanskrit: sarvajña), i.e. omniscient.[2][11] This is because a Buddha knows the true nature of all reality as well as all phenomena (dharmas).
  • All-pervasive wisdom: Sutras like the Avatamsaka Sutra state that Buddha's light and wisdom is all pervasive and omnipresent throughout out the cosmos. As such, Buddhahood is present everywhere, including in the minds of all beings as buddha-nature. However, most beings do not detect Buddha's presence, because their minds are deluded and clouded over by defilements.
  • Measureless Power: Buddha's power is said to be immeasurably vast, though not claimed to be omnipotent.
  • Purity: Buddhahood is totally beyond the defilements and thus perfectly pure (visuddhi), transcends samsara, all suffering (duklha) and unstained. Yet, according to Mahayana sources, he is also not separate non dual from samsara and thus is not absolutely separated from the world of defilement either.
  • Great Compassion: Buddha's great compassion (mahākaruṇā) and kindness (maitrī) is universal and embraces all beings in the universe. It is due to this great compassion that the Buddha works to liberate all beings, and will unceasingly continue to manifest immeasurable numbers of emanation bodies (nirmāṇakāyas) and skillful means in order to save all beings.[2][11][12]
  • Skillful Means (Upaya): Buddha's compassion and love manifests as Buddha's skillful means which take immeasurably many forms. For example, Buddha may appear as a human, any deva, animal, etc. In order to liberate all different types of beings, the Buddha also teaches many paths to awakening (such as the three vehicles), many teachings (such as the three turnings) and many methods of spiritual cultivation.
  • Inconceivability (acintya): In numerous sources, the Buddha is seen as being inconceivable (acintya), beyond all concepts, indescribable by language, unable to grasped by thought or intellectual understanding. For example, one of the names of the Buddha Amitabha is Acintyaprabha, inconceivable light.

In Asian thought and religion

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Indian religions and philosophies are often eclectic, in the sense of drawing upon ideas and practices from diverse philosophical and religious traditions. Indian thought included a diversity of traditions, each with its own distinct teachings and practices, such as Vedānta, Sāṃkhya, Nyāya, and Buddhism. These traditions have shown a remarkable ability to assimilate and adapt elements from one another. This tendency goes back to the Upaniṣads, which incorporate and synthesize a wide array of ideas about the nature of reality, the self (ātman), and the ultimate principle (Brahman). The Upaniṣads do not represent a single, uniform doctrine but rather various perspectives.

Medieval India saw the rise of bhakti movements, which were also characterized by their eclectic use of varying philosophical ideas and religious practices, including Vedānta, Tantra, and local folk practices. Similarly, the Sikh tradition exemplifies eclecticism by combining elements of bhakti Hinduism and Islam. Modern Hinduism is also the result of an eclectic process that brought together numerous philosophical and religious influences (Unifying Hinduism). Modern Hindu figures like Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi continued this tradition of eclecticism. Vivekananda drew upon Vedānta, Sāṃkhya-Yoga, and Western philosophy to present a universalist view of religion. Gandhi, influenced by Jain, Hindu, and Christian ideas, developed a unique philosophy of nonviolence (ahimsa) and social activism.

Indian Buddhism, especially the Mahāyāna tradition is also notable for its openness to a wide range of philosophical ideas and practices. Mahāyāna absorbed and reinterpreted concepts from earlier Buddhist schools while also integrating elements and deities from non-Buddhist traditions. The later Vajrayana Buddhist movement also drew on numerous Mahayana streams of thought as well as on Shaiva Tantra to develop its systems of thought and practice.

In a similar fashion, Chinese thought can also tend towards the harmonization of diverse philosophical and religious traditions, allowing for the coexistence and mutual influence of Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and other indigenous beliefs. The three major Chinese religious and philosophical traditions - Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism - have been coexisting and interacting with one another for over two millennia. The synthesis of the "Three Teachings" (Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism) became increasingly pronounced in later periods of Chinese history. The Song dynasty (960–1279 CE) witnessed the rise of Neo-Confucianism, a movement that sought to revitalize Confucian thought in response to the growing influence of Buddhism and Daoism. Neo-Confucian thinkers such as Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming developed more systematic and metaphysical systems which drew upon other systems of thought, including Buddhism. In the modern era, intellectuals of the late Qing dynasty and the Republican period, such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, sought to integrate Western philosophical ideas with traditional Chinese thought. In contemporary China, there is a renewed interest in Confucianism, often blended with elements of modernity and other philosophical systems to address current social and ethical issues.


Jingying Huiyuan

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Jingying Huiyuan (Chinese: 淨影寺, "Huiyuan of Jingying Temple"; c. 523–592).

Also known as 隋遠, 小遠, 大遠, and 北遠. Originally from Dunhuang, he traveled to Shanxi, where he entered the saṃgha at age 13, studying the Vinaya and basic Mahāyāna doctrine until his full ordination at the age of twenty. After this, he studied under the Southern Dilun 地論 patriarch Huiguang 慧光, and his later work, although being broad in scope, would come to center on works seminal to the Dilun and Tathāgatagarbha 如來藏 traditions. Huiyuan is attributed to be the author of a number of exegetical works on major scriptures, with extant attributed works including the Dasheng yi zhang 大乘義章 (T 1851), the Shidijinglun yiji 十地經論義記 (ZZ1.71.2 and 3), the Huayanjing shu 華嚴經疏 (not extant), the Da panniepanjing yiji 大般涅槃經義記 (T 1764), Fahuajing shu 法華經疏 (not extant), Weimojing yiji 維摩經義記> (T 1776), Wuliang shou jing yishu 無量壽經義疏, Guan wuliangshou jing yishu 觀無量壽經義疏, and the Shengmanjing yiji 勝鬘經義記 (ZZ1.30.4). He is attributed as the author of one of the major commentaries to the Awakening of Mahāyāna Faith, the 大乘起信論義疏 (T 1843), although his authorship of this work is doubted by modern scholarship. 〔翻譯名義集 T 2131.54.1114b4〕



Ghanavyuha chapters

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Chapter 1

Zen Transmission

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According to Borup the emphasis on 'mind to mind transmission' is a form of esoteric transmission, in which "the tradition and the enlightened mind is transmitted face to face".[13] Metaphorically this can be described as the transmission from a flame from one candle to another candle,[13] or the transmission from one vein to another.[14] In exoteric transmission requires "direct access to the teaching through a personal discovery of one's self. This type of transmission and identification is symbolized by the discovery of a shining lantern, or a mirror."[13]


Sources

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Printed sources

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Web sources

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Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra

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https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Texts/%C5%9Ar%C4%ABm%C4%81l%C4%81dev%C4%ABs%C5%ABtra

file:///C:/Users/javier.fernandez/Downloads/Jonathan%20A.%20Silk%20-%20Brill's%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Buddhism.%201-Brill%20(2015).pdf

https://terebess.hu/english/vim2.pdf

https://www.jstor.org/stable/602656

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3270277

file:///C:/Users/javier.fernandez/Downloads/(Buddhist%20Traditions)%20Alex%20Wayman,%20Hideko%20Wayman%20-%20The%20Lion's%20Roar%20of%20Queen%20%C5%9Ar%C4%ABm%C4%81l%C4%81_%20A%20Buddhist%20Scripture%20on%20the%20Tath%C4%81gatagarbha%20Theory%20(1990).pdf

Part of a series on
Mahāyāna Buddhism
 
Teachings
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Mahayana sutras
Major schools
Key figures
Regional traditions

The Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra[15] (traditional Chinese: 勝鬘師子吼一乘大方便方廣經, Lion’s Roar [zh] of Queen Śrīmālā) is one of the main early Mahāyāna Buddhist texts belonging to the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras that teaches the doctrines of Buddha-nature and "One Vehicle" through the words of the Indian queen Śrīmālā.[16] After its composition, this text became the primary scriptural advocate in India for the universal potentiality of Buddhahood.[17]

History

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Relief image of the Great Stupa at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, India

Brian Edward Brown, a specialist in Buddha-nature doctrines, writes that the composition of the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra occurred during the Īkṣvāku Dynasty in the 3rd century CE as a product of the Caitika schools of the Mahāsāṃghikas.[17] Alex Wayman has outlined eleven points of complete agreement between the Mahāsāṃghikas and the Śrīmālā, along with four major arguments for this association.[18] Anthony Barber also associates the earlier development of the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra with the Mahāsāṃghikas, and concludes that the Mahāsāṃghikas of the Āndhra region were responsible for the inception of the Buddha-nature doctrine.[19] In the 6th century CE, Paramārtha wrote that the Mahāsāṃghikas revere the sūtras that teach the Buddha-nature doctrine.[20]

Translations

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The Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra was translated to Chinese in 436 CE by Guṇabhadra (394-468) and later by Bodhiruci (672-727).[16] A complete Sanskrit original is no longer extant,[21] but extensive quotations are found in the Sanskrit text of the Ratnagotravibhāga as well as some recently discovered fragments conserved in the Schøyen Collection. It was later translated into English by Alex and Hideko Wayman as The Lion's Roar of Queen Srimala.

Content

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The Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra teaches the reality of an ultimate, immaculate consciousness within each living being, which is the Buddhic "Dharmakāya" (essence of Truth), which is yet temporarily sheathed in obscuring defilement. This Dharmakāya, when viewed as intrinsically free from spiritual ignorance, is said to constitute eternity, bliss, the self, and purity in their perfect state. The use of the word "self" in this sutra is in a way unique to this class of sutra. The great Queen Śrīmālā, who according to this text is empowered by the Buddha to teach the Dharma, affirms:[22]

[T]he Dharmakāya of the Buddha has the perfection of permanence, the perfection of pleasure, the perfection of self, the perfection of purity. Whatever sentient beings see the Dharmakāya of the Tathagāta that way, see correctly. Whoever see correctly are called the sons of the Lord born from his heart, born from his mouth, born from the Dharma, who behave as manifestation of Dharma and as heirs of Dharma.

The scripture, which was extremely influential by way of clarification of the Tathagātagarbha view of Śūnyatā, insists that the ultimately correct understanding of emptiness is that the Tathāgatagarbha is empty of all knowledge that is not liberation, whereas, in contrast, the qualities which characterise a Buddha are not empty of inconceivable virtues. An alternative title offered by the Buddha for this sutra expresses this idea of an ultimate meaning to the emptiness doctrine: "The True Revelation of the Buddha's Intention when Teaching Emptiness."

The sūtra has, furthermore, significantly contributed to the Mahāyāna notion of the permanent, steadfast and eternal Tathagātagarbha, which is nothing less than the perfect Dharmakāya temporarily concealed by (ultimately unreal) mental contaminants:

“The tathāgatagarbha is without any prior limit, is nonarising, and is indestructible, accepting suffering, having revulsion toward suffering, and aspiring to nirvana. O Lord, the tathāgatagarbha is not a substantial self, nor a living being, nor ‘fate,’ nor a person. The tathāgatagarbha is not a realm for living beings who have degenerated into the belief of a substantially existent body or for those who have contrary views, or who have minds bewildered by emptiness.[23]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Williams, Paul. Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. Routledge, 2008, p. 179.
  2. ^ a b c Xing, Guang (2005). The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikāya Theory, p. 90. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-33344-3.
  3. ^ Hurvitz, Leon (1976). Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma: The Lotus Sutra (1st ed.), p. 239. New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231037891
  4. ^ Lai, Whalen W. 'A Clue to the Authorship of the Awakening of Faith: "Siksananda's" Redaction of the Word "Nien"*' Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Volume 3, 1980, Number 1.
  5. ^ a b "The Sūtra of the Sublime Golden Light (1) / 84000 Reading Room". 84000 Translating The Words of The Buddha. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
  6. ^ Buswell, R.; Lopez, D. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 1005. Princeton University Press, 2013.
  7. ^ Buswell, R.; Lopez, D. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 1005. Princeton University Press, 2013.
  8. ^ Edelglass, W.; Garfield, J. Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings, p. 317. Oxford University Press, Apr 21, 2009.
  9. ^ Shingan, Shaku (2021). The Secrets of the Tathāgata A Mahāyāna Sūtra Archived 2021-12-24 at the Wayback Machine, p. 38. Kamakura. ISBN 978-1-716-23850-5 (Lulu).
  10. ^ Shingan, Shaku (2021). The Secrets of the Tathāgata A Mahāyāna Sūtra Archived 2021-12-24 at the Wayback Machine, pp. 32, 37. Kamakura. ISBN 978-1-716-23850-5 (Lulu).
  11. ^ a b Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro. Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text, p. xiii. 1932, London
  12. ^ Gethin, Rupert (1998). The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford, p. 228. Oxford University Press.
  13. ^ a b c Borup 2008, p. 9.
  14. ^ Faure 2000, p. 58.
  15. ^ The Teaching of Queen Śrīmālā of the Lion's Roar (PDF). Translated by Paul, Diana. BDK America. 2017. ISBN 978-1-886439-31-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-12-09.
  16. ^ a b McRae 2004, p. 5.
  17. ^ a b Brown 2010, p. 3.
  18. ^ Barber 2008, pp. 153–154.
  19. ^ Barber 2008, pp. 155–156.
  20. ^ Hodge 2006.
  21. ^ Tola 2004, p. xiii.
  22. ^ Wayman 1990, p. 102.
  23. ^ McRae 2004, p. 45-46.
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