BTJDDHIST

INSIGHT
Essaysby
Alex Wayman

EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

George Elder

MOTILAL BANARSIDASS
Delhi Yaranasi Patnq Madras
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction,by GeorgeR. Elder

Part I. BuddhistPractice
l. Buddhaas Savior 1l
2. Ancient BuddhistMonasticism 29
3. Aspectsof Meditation in the Theravd,daandMahiSdsaka69
4. The BodhisattvaPracticeaccordingto the Lam Rim
ChenMo

Part II. BuddhistDoctrine

5. The SixteenAspectsof the Four Noble Truths and
Their Opposites r17
6. The Mirror as a Pan-BuddhistMetaphor-Simile r29
J. The BuddhistTheory of Vision 153
8. DependentOrigination-the Indo-Tibetan Tradition r63
9- Nescienceand Insight accordingto Asanga's
Yogdcdrabhumi 193
10. The Twenty Reifying Views (Sakkdyadillhi) 215
I l. Who Understands the Four Alternativesof the
Buddhisttexts ? 225
12. The Intermediate-stateDispute in Buddhism 25t

Part III. InterpretativeStudiesof Buddhism

13. No Time, GreatTime,and ProfaneTime in Buddhism 269
14. The Role of Art amongthe BuddhistReligieux 287
15. Secretof the Heart Sutra 307

Part IV. Texts of the Asangaschool

16. The Sacittikd and Acittikd Bhumi, Text and
Translation 327
17. Asanga'sTreatise,the Paramdrtha-gdthd 333
18. Asanga'sTreatiseon the ThreeInstructionsof
Buddhism 353
 (vi)

Part V. Hindu and BuddhistStudies

19. Two Traditions of India-:Truth and Silence 369
20. The Hindu-BuddhistRite of Truth-an Interpretation 39r
21. Significanceof Dreamsin India and Tibet 399
22. The Significanceof Mantras,from the Vedadown
to BuddhistTantric Practice 4r3
23. The GoddessSarasvati-from India to Tibet 43r
24. The Twenty-onePraisesof Tird, a Syncretismof
Saivismand Buddhism AAI
Acknowledgments 453
Index 457
 TNTRODUCTION

Alex Wayman-Professor of Sanskrit in the Department of

Middle East Languagesand Cultures and Professor in the Depart-
ment of Religion at Columbia University-enjoys a world-wide
reputation as a truly outstanding scholar in the field of Buddhist
Studies. This reputation is founded upon two decadesof teach-
ing and writing, with his recent full-length publication entitled
Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real, a translation from the
Tibetan of a portion of Tson-kha-pa's expansive Lam rim cherc
mo, published in 1978. While Wayman's half a dozen other
books have become a standard of quality in this field, it is still a
surprisefor colleaguesto learn that this scholar has also published
more than ninety essaysto date. These essayshave appeared in
what are now generally accessibleanthologies of other scholars
and in the premier journals of the United States. Many have also
been written at the requestof editors in Europe, India, and Japan"
Indexes being what they are, and libraries and one's capacity to
keep track being limited, a number of these fine short treatments
have not yet been sufficiently known.
Professor Wayman has already attempted to bridge the gap
by publishing sixteen of his essaysin the collection, The Buddhist
Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism, 1973. While that
volume focuses upon contributions to tantric Buddhism, the
present volume makes more readily available to scholars and the
intelligent reader wayman's contributions to our understanding
of non-tantric Buddhism. The twenty-four essayscollected here
focus almost entirely upon Early Buddhism (what the Mahd-
ydnists refer to as Hinaydna) and upon Mahdydna Buddhism in
India. Except one, each of these essayshas already been pub-
lished. Their appearance together here has been advised by
Alex Wayman himself; and this has allowed the author of the
essaysthe opportunity to make corrections and to provide addi-
tional materials. My own emendations have been in terms of
2 BuddhistInsight

regularizing punctuation and diacriticals as much as feasible and

seeing to it that the work reads more or less as a coherent state-
ment rather than as so many separate papers. But it is also
true that the general consistencyof Wayman's translations and
his reliance in one article upon positions established in another
lend a natural coherence-and, I think, strength-to the book.
The method of scholarship found in this volume has been
explained by the author in the prefaceto his The B.uddhistTantras'
There, he states: "Al1 those works, whether published or in
press or preparation, have a common method which is the sub-
ordination of personai opinion about the Tantra to authoritative
explanations by the proficients of this cult." Accordingly, the
reader will find here some of Wayman's views on the nature of
non-tantric Indian Buddhism. But mainly he or she will discover
the Buddhists' own Yiews on the nature of their religion-and
this by way of translations of scripture (fairly literally rendered)
illuminated by authoritative commentary. The commentators
in this instance are most often Asanga (375-430, A.D.),
especiallyhis Yogacdrabhilmiin Sanskrit, and Tson-kha-pa (1357-
titg, A.D.), especially his Lam 6m chen mo in Tibetan. The
felicity of this combination is attestedby the fact that the Tibetan
reformer often quotes from Asanga. While both of these
ancient scholars are known to be Mahiydnists by religious per-
suasion, their works mentioned are encyclopedic in scope and
provide a high standard of commentary on virtually all phases of
Buddhism. It follows that the essayscollected here are also of
a high standard with a minimum of mere speculation and with a
ceftain fidelity to the complexity of the materials concerned.
Since Buddhism is a rich religion and at times an obscure one'
the reader will come upon passages, and perhaps articles,in this
work that will seemopaque except to those trained in the issues;
but the attentive reader will also find much to inform the intellect
and delight the soul. In any case, in the essaysassembled here
an extraordinary wealth of information, some of it entirely un-
expected,is presentedin a manner that should give it an enduring
uuio.. It might be mentioned also that there is actually a variety
,of styles in the collection. Most of the articles appearedin the
seventiesbut one as early as 1959 and some as recent as 1980;
furthermore, Professor Wayman was writing at different times
for different publishers who have had their own purposes.
 trntroduction
3
This bringsus to the questionof the sort 6f
readerfor whom
this volume is intended. wayman, the ..schorar,s
scholar,,,
wrote the essaysoriginally for coileaguesin the
field; and they,
of course,remain the primary audience.
Graduatestudentsin
BuddhistStudiesor Indian religionsin general
will alsofind this
work invaluable. But I would like to suggest
stronglythat these
€ssaysbe considered asa secondary source-alongsidlr.ripru..r_
within the undergraduatecurriculum. From
-y o*n experience
with collegestudents,I know that the surveysor guoonismnow
availableareuseful;but I alsoknow that theyprovide
information
of a kind that theprofessorhimserfor herslican
only too easily
provide in lecture. The undergraduate
student is left without a
bridge betweenintroductory statementsand the
foreign com-
plexitiesof Buddhistscripture.with thisin
mind,theseessays have
beenarrangedasa sortofsurveyof non-tantricIndian
Buddhism-
by way of in-depthdiscussion of its mostimportantissues.
Part one' "Buddhist practice," opens ,itt
a treatment of
"Buddha as savior." It is not immediately
apparent that this
essayhas to do with the path; but it p.ouio.,
an initial focus
upon the Indian man who fou'ded Buddhism
at the end of the
sixth century,B.c. while "Buddha,'-.6Jfus
Awakened Qng,,_
can be said to be the chief epithet of siddhdrtha
Gautama, we
learn hereof the many namesgiven this figure
in scripture and
commentary;and Waymanshowshow the various
namespoint
to a variety of views of Buddha'sactivity
within the rerigion.
was GautamaBuddha a "savior" simpry because
he reveared
the truth about reality? or did he ..save,,also
in the senseof
somehowproviding otherswith the power to perceive
this truth?
In the first instance,discipleswould needto^..work,,
out their
salvationwith diligence;and in the second,they
couldrery more
upon the "grace" of the Lord. Thus, the proflem
of Buddhist
practiceis engaged..And wayman discusses the discipre,s..con-
version"from an ordinarypersonto specialperson-one
who has
developedhis native"insight" and beco*, u ..son,,
in the f;it
of the Buddha. The article that follows, ..Ancient
Buddhist
Monasticism,"provides at some length a description
of the
monasticcontextin which the processof conversion
took jprace:
the kinds of ordination, the rures,the confessions-and
stages
of progress.Scholarsin particularwill bepleased
to flnd here a
technicaldiscussion of thetranslationof p ia tfuok sa as..Liberation-
 Buddhist Insight
4

or
onset.,' But there are in BuddhiSm "Three Trainings"
on
instructions; and the "morality" emphasized in the essay
monastic life is only one of them. The practice of "meditation
upon
is yet another-indeed, it is a mental training which follows
And so there follows
the right establishmentof moral behaviour.
the informative essay, "Aspects of Meditation in the Theravdda
are
and Mahisasaka." Since the Theravdda and Mahisd'saka
sects of Early Buddhism, the final essay in this section-"The'
Bodhisattva Practice According to the Lant Rim chen i'[s"-
turns our attention to the stage of discipleship called the bodhi'
sattva within the MahdYana.
third
Part two can be looked upon as a presentation of the
training-training in f insighf"-5inss it takes up the "Doctrine"'
by
which must be "discerned" once the mind has been "calmed"
and
meditatron. This is by far the longest section of the book,
it opens with a discussionof "The sixteen Aspects of the Four.
Truths
Noble Truths and their opposites." The Four Noble
taught by Gautama Buddha at his first
are said to have been
to see how the basic doctrine grows
sermon; and it is interesting
times the
with the tradition to encompass eventually four
..truth,, complete with opposites or o'coverings"which obscure
that
these truths for ordinary persons. Buddhists ares aying
is generally misperceived ; and
ordinary rcality, called salnsdra,
will not perceive the extra-
unless one seessaqnsdracorrectly, one
to the
ordinary reality called nirvdrya. Having been introduced
'owheel" with sixteen aspects
religious use of the symbol of the
the essay'
or spokes, we encounter the symbol of the "mirror" in
..The Mirror as a Pan-Buddhist Metaphor-simile." The
the imagi-
materials presented are particularly rich, capturing
the data move
nation u, t.ligiorrs symbols are intended to do; and
the tantric
through the varied traditions of Buddhism, including
the short
formr. This is all by way of prepatation, I think, for
vision'"
but important statement, "The Buddhist Theory of
begins to justify his translation of prajfia as
Professor wayman
ooinsight" (rather than as "wisdom," a translation preferred by
but it is
,o*.-; toward the close of the essayon "Meditation;"
sense the significance of a translation that
really here that we
'oseeing." FOr it is "seeing"-4nd having
preserves
^the a nuance Of
"eye" for it-which servesas the primary symbol of under-
standing throughout the history of Buddhism'
Introduction 5

While the successful yogin must "see" the Four Noble Truths
in their multiple aspects,he must also seeDependent Origination.
There follows, then, the long and complex discussion, "Depen-
dent Origination-the Indo-Tibetan Tradition." Published only
recently, this essay is a culmination of the author's previously
published researchon the subject; and the extensive notes provide
a sort of sub-text for the body of this essay. Avidya is the first
member of this twelve-member formula for conditioned reality,
and FrofessorWayman focusesupon it in his article, "Nescience
,and Insight According to Asanga's Yogdcdrabhumi." Actually,
we learn that "nescience" is a general translation of avidyd
since it might better be rendered "ignorance" as the first
member of Dependent Origination so as to preserve an unex-
pected meaning as a kind of "waywardness'oin association with
"feelings," the seventh member of the formula. "fnsight"
opposes"nescienceo'in any form, and Asanga'slong list of meta-
phors for prajfid-including the most telling ones that have to do
with "light" -can be found here. But the problem of "ne-
science"for the ordinary personis a persistentone; and so we read
next of "The Twenty Reifying Views''. These must yield place
in favour of the Buddhist view called "non-self" which is, in
this instance, the view of the five skandhas,each denied in four
ways as being "self." As the section comes to a close, we are
treated once again to the Buddhist penchant for a four-fold
analysis in the essay,"Who Understands the Four Alternatives
of the Buddhist Texts?" This is the most philosophical, in some
ways the most technical, essayin the volume; it goes directly to
problems of logic-and Wayman takes on a number of his col-
leaguesin debate. The subject matter itself includes such ancient
problems as this: Does the Tathdgata exist after death? And so
the section closeswith the topic, "The Intermediate-State Dispute
in Buddhism." Here, the debate is among Buddhists alone.
And the question is whether a person who is not yet Enlightened
goes directly to his or her next life upon death, or goes to an
"intermediate state," some state in between. I think it is im-
portant to seein this essayand elsewherewithin the volume that
a dispute among Buddhists may exhibit the difference between
the Hinayana and Mahayana forms but may just as readily cut
acrosssectarianlines.
Part three is entitled "Interpretative Studies of Buddhism"
6 nuddhist Insight

since the author brings to bear upon Buddhist materials in these

essavspoints of view which are not in themselvesnecessarily
Buddhist. The first, "No Time, Great Time, and profane Time
in Buddhism," allows categoriesmore usually associatedwith the
"history of religions" school to inform our understanding of the
Buddhist religion; the second, "The Role of Art Among the
Buddhist Religieux" blends art history with a fair amount of
modern aesthetic theory while relying upon positions already
established in the essay on "Dependent origination." The
third, "secret of the Heart.Siltra," is unique. Wayman calls it
an "Asian-type commentary composed by a westernsl"-s1d fus
is the Westerner. Here, this scholar brings to bear upon a
famous Mahdydna scripture a more or less yogdcdra point of
view in opposition to the usual Buddhist commentary from the
point of view of the Madhyamika school. It is a style of scholar-
ship which wayman also employs in his work, yoga of the Guhya-
samdjatantra, published in 1977.
Part four, "Texts of the Asanga School," provides a change of
pace. It contains edited sanskrit and translated excerpts from
the Yogacarabhumi of Asanga whose commentary, as already
noted, has informed many of the preceding essays. Readers
will gain from this section a clear idea of the kinds of materials
involved in Buddhist scholarship, and scholars in particular will
gain edited materials for their own work along with a clear sense
of wayman's style of translation. The best introduction to these
excerpts is actually found in the opening paragraphs of the second
essay' "Asanga's Treatise on the Paramdrtha Gatha"-4nd, also,
in the opening of the essay entitled, "Nescience and Insight
According to Asanga's Yogdcdrabhilmi" introd,uced above. This
is becauseof the preferenceshown to a presentation in the order
of its appearance within the yogdcdrahbilmi itself. The short
text, "The Sacittikd and Acittika Bhfrmi" was previously pub-
lished only as edited; and wayman has taken the opportunity
to provide the translation here as well. It contains Nos. g and
9 of the seventeenbhumis or "stages." The "paramdrtha Gatha"
text already mentioned is a set of verses with commentary by
Asanga which form a portion of "stage" No. I l; this material,
by the way, was previously published as part of wayman's fuil-
length Analysis of the SrdvakabhilmiManuscript,l96l. It appears
again here with corrections. And, finally, the text "Asafiga's
Introduction

Treatiseon the ThreeInstructionsof Buddhism"takesup the set

of versesand commentarythat follow the "Paramdrtha Githi"
within "stage" No. 11. This materialin the book has not been
publishedin someform earlier.
Part five extendsour appreciationfor the range of Professor
Wayman'swork. It is entitled," Hindu and Buddhist Studies;"
and its comparativeapproachshouldgivea certainfeelingfor the
characterof Buddhismin India which was always surrounded,
we might say,by Hinduism. The essayscan be looked upon as
pairs. The first pair is made of : "Two Traditions of India-
Truth and Silence" and 'The Hindu-Buddhist Rite of Truth-
an Interpretation." They move through the Vedas,Upanisads,
and Buddhism; and they articulate the tradition of the muni
or "silent sage" as distinct from the tradition of the sagewho
verbalizeshis truth, especiallyby way of mantra. And the 'orite
of truth" is shown to be a particular instanceof the power of
truth spoken. The second pair of esSays-"Significanceof
Dreamsin India and Tibet" along with "Significanceof Mantras,
From the Veda Down to Buddhist Tantric Practice"-are less
united in theme. Both, however,focusupon important features
of Indian religiouslife and provide valuabledetailedclassifica-
tions. Finally, it is appropriatethat a volumeentitled Buddhist
Insiglttshouldend with its attentionupon the Feminine since,in
Buddhism, "Insight" is sometimes a "Woman." Wayman's
treatment, "The Goddess Sarasvati-from India to Tibet,"
tracesthe history of a deity from her form as a river to her many
forms within Buddhist meditation; and the translation essay,
"The Twenty-OnePraisesof Tdrd, a Syncretismof Saivismand
Buddhism," bringsthe volumeto a closewith a beautiful hymn.
Sincethe last two essaystouch upon materialsthat are ambi-
guously related to both the non-tantric and tantric forms of
MahdydnaBuddhism,they may serveas an encouragementto
continue this "survey" of Buddhism by consultingAlex Way-
man's other collection of essays,The Buddhist Tantras: Light
on Indo-TibetanEsotericism.
GeorgeR. Elder
Hunter College,New York City
 PART ONE

BUDDHISTPRACTICE
 BUDDHA AS SAVIOR

The Buddhistteachingsabout Buddha as a savior go deep into

the meaningof Buddhism,and alsoinvolvedeep-seated difference$
in the personswho might be subjectto this salvific activity. our
investigationshowsone situation during the time of the histori-.
cal Buddha,another coming to the fore after his passingas the
disciplesyearnedfor and receiveda new dispensation.Fortunate-.
ly, it is all at hand-the old Buddhistscriptures,the later Mah6-
ydnadevelopments; and so it is possibleto discernsomechanges.
in viewpointas time went on.
A problem in one extensivecorpus of Buddhist literatureis.
whether the Buddha's salvific operation is consistentwith
Buddhist emphasison individual responsibilityand enterprise.
But in anotherbranch of Buddhistliteraturethis doesnot appear
to be a problem at all. There are also some highly disputed
matters,as to whethersuch an activity as "grace" is accepted_
The old teachingof the Buddharesistedthis, and one must pass.
to Mahdydnadevelopmentsto find convincingexamples.

RrrnvaNr EprrlIETs oF THE BuooHa

The celebrated Buddhist dictionary Mahdvyutpatti devotes its
first section to epithets of the Buddha, and a later section to terms
about the greatness of the Tathagata (a title of the Buddha).r
From these two sections I have selected certain names that can
be arranged in sets as follows:

I Mahavyutpatti,editedby Rv6zanun6 sar.crr, 2nd edn., Tokyo, 1962,

2 vols.
12 BuddhistInsight

a. Names indicating the Buddha as refuge and savior: worthy

of refuge (iarapya), the refuge (iarattd, protector (Sopti;
savior (trdyin, tdraka), rescuer of all (viivamtara).
b. Buddha's double nature: perfect in clear vision and walk-
ing Q i dyacar a Uasar.npanna).
c. Names of Buddha as guide and teacher: teacher(of gods and
men) (iastr-devamanwydndm), guide (ndyaka, parindyaka,
netr); charioteer of persons to be tamed (purusa-damya-
saratlil); caravan leader for the beginners (sdrthavaha-
adikarmikdndm).
Some of those titles are in a scriptural passageof the Pdli
canonical collection called Anguttara-nikaya (Book of Threes):2
Here aTathdgata arisesin the world, an Arahantwho is rightly
completely enlightened, perfect in clear vision and walking,
Sugata,World-knower, incomparable charioteer of personsto
be tamed, teacher of gods and men, a Buddha Bhagavat.
He proclaims thus: "Come ! This is the Path. This is the
course I announce: I so mastered it that myself realized
directly rvith supernormal faculty the incomparable yoga-way
of brahma-conduct (bralmmcaril'ogadha).Come you also!
I\{ay you so coursethat having masteredit you too yourselves
may directly realize rvith supernormal faculty the incompar-
able yoga-way of brahma-conduct, and having acquired it
may abide (therein) !" It is in this way that the Teacher
. teachesthe Dhamma, and others coursefor the thusnessgoal.
You should know, moreover, that these amount to many
hundreds, many thousands,many hundred thousands.
My rendition "perfect in clear vision and walking" for the
well-known epithet vidydcaranasaivpannais in part verified in the
Mahaprajfiaparamitaiastra, which explains the term vidya as pos-
sibly the three kinds of visions which the future Buddha had
under the tree of enlightenment,namely, the memory of previous
lives, the divine eye, and the ending of the fluxes. Theseare both
o'clear visions" and supernormal faculties (abhijfifl,
while the
remaining three supernormal faculties of the standard Buddhist

zThe passage
wascalledto my attentionin A.K. Coouluswauv and
I. B. HonNnn,GotamatheBuddha(London,1948),p. 43,but the translation
is my own.
Buddha as Savior 13

list are merely supernormal faculties and not clear visions.s

However, the Chinese idstra takes the carana part as practices,
while I render it more literally as "walkingo' to indicate the
wanderings during which the Buddha taught his Doctrine that
was establishedin the clear visions.
The Mahaprajfiapdramitaidstra, when explaining the epithet
"teacher of gods and men," raises the question of why the title
is restricted to two of the five (or six) destinies that also count
the animals, hungry ghosts (preta), and hell beings. It replies
that the Buddha frequently saves beings included among men
and gods and rarely savesbeings of the "bad destinies," animals,
etc. It adds that men have weak bonds and can easily gain
detachment, while the gods have sharp insight (prajfia), and so
both these can easily attain the Path.a
The Chinese idstra fortunately also has an entry for the
charioteer of persons to be tamed, which partially overlaps the
caravan-leader epithet, which, however, it does not explain. The
Buddha with his great benevolence (mahamaitrl), great compas-
sion(mahakarurld),and great wisdom (mahajfiana),employs a voice
sometimes sweet, sometimesharsh, sometimes of mixed quality,
so that the caravan (sartha) does not lose the Path. Verses set
forth that the Buddha's Dharma is the chariot, the disciples are
the horses, the true dharmas are the merchandise, the Buddha is
the charioteer. The usual theory of the epithet is that the term
"person" (puru;a) refers to males, whether human or animal.
The question of why women are not included, although women
are also installed in the Path, is answeredwith the usual Indian
remarks that women have detractions-here, that they cannot
become a Cakravartin king, or Sakra (: Indra) , a Mara king,
or have the rank of Brahma, and so were not intended in the title.s
The "caravan-leader" epithet occurs in the early teaching that
the Buddha's becoming completely enlightened did not necessitate
a proclamation of the Path. Thus the Majjhima-nikdya has a
celebrated passagethat the Buddha at first was not inclined to
teach his Doctrine, deeming it too profound for persons imbued
3Cf. ftInNNr LauotrE, Mahaprajfiapdramitdidsta, Tome I (Louvain,
1944), pp. 1,28-129;and A. Wewev, Calming the Mind and Discerning the
Real (Delhi, 1979), pp. 42-43.
4LAMorrE, tr. Tome I, pp. 135-137.
5l.a.uorrr, tr. Tome I, pp. 133-135.
 t4 Buddhist Insight

with lust, hatred, and delusion. And then.Brahmd sahampati

exhorted him to teach, saying among other things:
Arise, O hero who defeated the troop [of Mara] !
Caravan-leader without a debt, walk in the world !
May the Bhagavat teach the Doctrine.
(Some) will be those who understand (it).
The scripture continued with the Buddha's surveying the world
with his Buddha-eyeand noticing that persons were of all sorts,
of little or much impurity, of keen or dull faculty, like lotuses of
different colors and in different stages of development. He
decided it would be helpful to preach his excellent Doctrine
among men so that the "doors of the Immortal would be opened
for them."s
The verse shows the early occurrence of the epithet "caravan-
Ieader," which was to be widely used in stories and with varying
transcriptions and translation in Central Asia and various Asian
Ianguages.TThe term sdrthavdhin also means a "merchant," and
it is of interest that the early transmissalof Buddhism to China
was by merchantsand in merchant communities.8 This meaning
seemsto agreewith the qualification ,'without a debt," but this
may also imply that the Buddha has no debt to requiteby walking
in the world (cf. the previous epithet, "perfect in clear vision and
walking"), i.e. would do it by virtue of his benevolenceand com-
passion. The expression "for the beginners" evidently intends
the "novices,o' in short that they are being brought to a new
,country (: new sets of doctrines
) by the caravan leader who
knows the Buddhist route and can avoid the pitfalls and wrong
;side-paths.

CHeNcr FRoM OnorNnRy pnnsoN ro Anye

The preceding section has shown that the Buddha's role as
savior amounts to revealing the Path. This in effect separated
persons into two groups-the ordinary persons who paid no heed
to the Buddha's message, and those who hearkened. The
0This directly precedes the Dhammacakkapavattana episode
of the
Majjhimanikaya, Vol. I, pp.218-219,in the Bihar, 1958,edition.
7 See Arssnr E. DrcN, "Thesa-paoproblemRe-examined," Journalofthe
American oriental society,82:3, July-sept., 1962,pp. 335-346,for the details.
8cf. E. Ztinonn, The Buddhist conquest of china (Leiden, 1959), p.
59.
 Buddha as Savior 15

ordinary person is called the prthagjana, wrile the one who be-
came a disciple is called the arya. The Pali scripture sarpyutta-
nikdya describes the ordinary person (p. puthujjana) as the one
who has not heard the Doctrine or been disciplined in it, who has
not come in contact with the noble ones (ariya) or illustrious
persons; and this ordinary person identifies his self with the five
personal aggregatesof form and so on.e According to the teacher
Asanga, the arya person, the Buddha's disciple, views illustrious
persons, is skilled in the noble doctrinesi he knows, as it truly
is, suffering as suffering, the source as the source, cessation as
cessation, the path as the path.ro rhus the disciple knows the
four Noble Truths, or Truths of the Nobles, proclaimed by the
Buddha in the first sermon, Setting into Motion of the wheel
of Dharma.
while the dryais the one who "enters the stream," and proceeds
on the Buddhist path, this does not mean that the "ordinary
person" was neglected. According to a Mah6y6na scripture
called Kulagdra-siltra, ordinary persons were called "fish."ll
Ananda, "fish" is a term for ordinary persons (prthagjana).
The "fishing hook" is a term for the Tathdgata's generating
(in them) the root of virtue (kuiata-muta).
The "line" is a term for the "means of conversion.,,
"Fish(erman)" is a term for the Tathdgata.
"Fish rescuen'is a term for installing sentient beings in the
Nirvdqa-fruit.

Thus, much emphasis was put on the change from being an

"'ordinary person" to being an "drya," installed in the Buddha,s
family. The Pali author Buddhaghosa uses a mixed sanskrit-
Pdli term gotrabhilfidqa (knowledge of gotrabhrT)as the basis of the
path aiming at Nibbdna. A recent article about the term gotrabhu
has decided that it signifies "(one) having the state of the line-
e.ge,"'z while the translator of the pali Abhidhamma work

eSarpyutta-nikdya,iii (Khandha-yagga,42).
10A. wevuaN, Analysisof the sravakabhumi Manus*ipt (Berkeley,1961),
p.67.
rr rhis scripture,found in both ribetan and chinese,was
cited in a
nativeTibetanwork by Tsor.i-xna-ra,his sansrgyasso lrta,imnonrtogsdart
|
lha ska'iphyagtshad,Tashilunpocollectedworks,Vol. Da.
12D. SeyFonrRuncc, "pali GottafGotra and the term
Gotrabhfrin
16 BuddhistInsight

Puggala-pafifiatiunder the title Human Types takes the term to

signify "one become of the Ariya family."rs A special kind of
drya became the "ascetic son of the Buddha,o' and I will show
elservherein this volume that this birth in the Buddhist family
as a monk coincided with oneostaking of the vow called "Pati-
mokkhasa\nvara."74
The Pali Saryyutta-nikaya hints at the nature of this change to
an drya rvhen it points out that the ordinary person does not hear
the Doctrine. This is because in Asanga's Yogdcdrabbumiit is
taught that persons have a native "insight" (prajfid) attained
through birth, and which he refers to as "eye of insight." This
native insight contrasts with the promoted insight called "eye of
insight belonging to the Aryas,o' which is presumably the three
levels of prajfia, consisting of hearing, pondering, and cultiva-
tion. Hence, the change to being an arya is when this native
faculty is promoted to hearing scriptures and so on with faith,
whereupon it is called "insight consisting of hearing" (irutamayi
prajfia).15
The "ordinary persons" also constitute the field for what are
called the "four means of conversion" (samgralnvastu), that are
enumerated in the Pd,li canon and undergo a development in
Sanskrit Buddhist literature. The first one, giving (ddna), coin-
cides with the first of the six Mahiydna perfections (pdramitd).
Following the description of a Mahayana scripture, the Aksaya'
matinirdeia-sfitra, this "giving" means giving any material thing
and also giving the Dharma. The second, pleasant speech
(priya-vadita) means sweet and attractive words to persons mak-
ing requestsand listening to the Dharma. The third one, promot-
ing aims (artha-caryd) means fulfilling the aims of oneself and
others in strict accordance with hopes. The fourth one, consis-
tency in advice (samdndrthafi) means, for example, that what-
ever the vehicle of teaching that oneself adheres to with the

Pali and Buddhist Sanskrit,'o Buddhist Studies in Honour of I. B. Horner

(Dordrecht, Holland, 1974), pp. 206-207.
13B.C. LAw, tr., Designationof Human Types(London, 1922),p. 19.
14A. WlvlraN, "Ancient Buddhist Monasticism," Studia Missionalia
28, 1979,p. 197.This essayappearsin this volume.
15All the citations from Asanga's Yogacarabhumi are in my essay,
"Nescience and Insight accordingto Asanga's Yogacarabhfimi,"appearingin
this volume.
 Bucldhaas Savior n

attitude that it is meritorious, one installs in that very vehicle

persons who accept the material things and'Dharma of the first
means(dana).rE
A problem of this theory that one has become stationed in a
species (s. gorra) with the inherent nature of parinirvdlta, is
whether those who are not stationed in the speciesare incapable
of it; and another problem is why those stationed in the species
seem still so far away from parinirvana. Asanga, in common
rvith early Buddhism as indicated in the preceding section, d,oes
not appear concernedwith the problem of whether some persons
are incapable of the change into an drya, thus resident in the
speciesof the Buddhist religious goal, although some Mahdydna
currents felt obliged to treat this problem; and the Lankavatdra-
.rutra like some other sources employs the term icchantika for
persons who lack the requisite "root of virtue" (kuiata-mula)
(cf. the previous'ofish" passagefrom the Katragara-sutra)suscepti-
ble of forming the basisfor entranceinto the "species."r? Asanga
does concern himself rvith why personswith the nature of parinir-
t'apahave "moved it sarytsdrafar so long in former times and still
have not attained parinir.vdqte,"a.nd he sets forth four reasons:
l) they were born ir1 unfavorable circumstances; 2) they had
the fault of heedlessness; 3) they enteredupon a wrong or perverse
corxse; 4) they \,verehindered; and he proceeds to explain each
of the four.l8 Thus Asanga's extensivewritings were aimed at
the persons who were converts to the Buddhist position or had
entered the religious life.

Bupnnn as Snvron nNl SnIr-RELTANCE

It has been usual in western expositions of Buddhism to bring

up the Buddhist stress on "self-reliance." one such passage
appealed to is in the Buddhist classicDhammapada(no. 276), in
Radhakrishnan's translation: "You yourself must strive. The

r6This material comes from the Ak;ayamatinirdeSasiitra itself, of which

l.
i: I have been preparing a translation. one may consult HaR Dayar. The
l1 Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist sanskrit Literature (Delhi, 1975), pp.
li 251-259, for more material on the four vastus.
t 17For the icchantika, cf. D. s. Runcc, La theorie du Tathagatagarbha
et du gotra (Paris, 7969), pp. 75, ff.
! r8Cf. Arsx WAvuaN, Analysis, pp. 59-60.
i
 18 BuddhistInsight

Blessed Ones are (only) preachers. Those who enter the path
and practise meditation are releasedfrom ihe bondage of Mdra
(death, sin)."re Along these lines there is a verse of unknown
source which I cited elsewherewith annotational expansion:20
The Munis do not wash away the defilements (of the streams
of consciousnessof the sentient beings) with water (as though
it were a matter of washing away dirt). And they do not
remove the suffering of beings with a hand (as though it were
a matter of pulling out a thorn). They do not shift to another
the (features of) comprehension of reality (as though it were
a matter of shifting a tool from the right to the left hand).
(But rather) they liberate (the beings from the cyclical flow)
by the Teaching (provided the beings meditate on its meaning)
of the truth of real nature (or absolute truth).
It is possible to overly stress this self-reliance, as though the
Buddhas are only preachers. This is because all the scriptures
begin with "Thus by me it was heard" (evam mayd Srutam),
admitting that the disciple did not derive the scripture from him-
self but from another. In Tibet, the author Tson-kha-pa cited
the Tathagata, "The one rvho has heard (it) from another, is
liberated from old age and death." And the Tibetan author
added:21

In that passage,the Teacher clearly explains by personally

drawing from his own memory. The words "The one who
has heard (it) from another" means that he heard the exposi-
tion of nonself from another. Hence he listened previously
to illustrious friendly guides for the meaning of nonself; and
having done the hearing and pondering, in order to reject the
adherence to the notion "It came from within" he states
"heard it from 2ne[fus1"-of this there is no doubt.
Thus. the cardinal Buddhist doctrine of "non-self" had to be
learnedfrom another, sinceo'self" cannot originate the teachingof
non-self. But then the important issueis what part of the corpus
1eS.Rlon,rKRrsHNAN, The Dhammapada(London, 1950),p. 146.
20A.WavrvrAN,"Purification
of Sin in Buddhism by Vision and Confes-
sion," in GruruN H. Sasarr, ed.,A Study of Kleia (Tokyo, 1975)pp. 73-74,
The passageis drawn from the annotational edition of Tson-kha-pa'sLam
rim chen mo.
21A. WayrratN,Calming the Mind, p. 175.
I

;
t
I
t
Buddhaas Savior 19

must come from others and what part is to be added by oneself.

It is not necessaryto cite a multitude of passages,
sinceit is easyto
get the answer that "right views" (samyagdysli),first member of
the eightfold noble path, is what one.must receive from others.
This part from others is referred to metaphorically as a "lamp"
in the Northern Buddhist expansion of the Dhammapada called,
Uddnavarga (XXII, 3-6). Here there is first mention of the
person who entering a house enwrapped in darkness does not
see objects in it even though he has eyes. when he listens he
understands the natures that are virtuous or sinful: this is his
"lamp", so he is a man who both has eyes and bears a lamp.
Having hearkened, he understands the dharmas. Finally, having
hearkened, he reaches Nirvana.2z This implication of the bor-
rowed lamp is also in the canonical passages,saqnyutta-nikaya
and elsewhere,saying, "he who seesthe Dhamma seesme, and
he who seesme seesthe Dhamma."23
Therefore, the Buddha as savior is the one who shows or points
out the Path, affords a glimpse (5. dariana). When one enters
the path, he cannot do it just with a glimpse, but must enter with
his body and all its faculties. The trouble is that this self-reliance
is premature if it is not preceded by a glimpse of the right hall
to enter.
As to the "right viewso'-in Pdli, sammd ditthi, Nyanatiloka,
rendering it "right understanding," has as full a list as could bb
expected: the four noble truths; merit and demerit in terms of
body, speech, and mind; the three characteristics (imperma-
nence,suffering,and non-self); unprofitable questions;five bonds
(saryyojana);unwise considerations (e. g. "Have I been in the
past?" and other egoistic questions); wiseconsiderations(through
hearkening); theory of the "Stream-enterer" and stages of the
Path; supramundane "right understanding" when conjoined
with the Path; the middle doctrine of Dependent Origination
avoiding the extremes of nihilism and eternalism; doctrine of
karma and fruit.z4 This, then, usuallv called the Buddha's
Teaching, is also the dariana.
22F. BpnNsARD, ed., Udanavarga,Bandl (Gclttingen, 1965), Sanskrittexte
aus den Turfanfunden.
2sCooM,qnaswAMy and HonNsR, Gotama, p. 23.
z4NvaNarrLoKA, The Word of the Buddha ('Island Hermitage,' Ceylon,
1952), pp. 29-47.
20 BuddhistInsight

As long as \\'e restrict ourselvesto the,ancient position of

Buddhisrn,such as f ound in the early scriptures,and avoid certain
novel directions of Mahd,ydna Buddhism, we cannot ascribe to
the Buddha's role more than this. still, this role of teaching the
"right viervs" is by no means negligible if we are to understand
this situation of ancient Buddhisrn. Later, such considerations
rvereto be reevaluatedas we shall seein the next section.
Even here more could be said. For instance,passing to Arya-
deva's Catultiataka, we notice that he devotes Chap. XII to
refutation of wrong views. Verse I refers to the o'hearer."
The hearer who is upright (like a post) has discrimination
(buddlimat : the native insight) and strives, is called the
o'vessel."
Otherwise,there would be no merit cf the speaker,
nor any in the listener.
Now the hearer comes in for some inspection. We should not
forget that there is no point to teachingthe "right views" unless
there is an appropriate audience. And in the Jatakamdld,
XVII (The Story of the Jar): "But the speaker of the beneficial
words is to be honoured by accepting his words and by putting
them into practice (: taking them to heart)." This is advice
for the -qrateful disciple. Finally, the Mahaydna-Sutrdlarykara
(i. 16) summarizeshis sequenceof attainment: "Having based
himself first on hearing, there ariseshere the 'mental orientation'
(manaskdra); from the 'mental orientation' there arises the
knowledge (jfiAna) whose field is the meaning of reality."zr

Buroua AND ADHI;1HANI

In the Mahdydna period, the Buddha had become equipped with
multiple bodies; in particular the body with which he appearedon
earth was not an ordinary human body but one called a Nirmd4a-
kdya. This body was credited with various supernormal powers,
e.g. adhi;lhdna, with a frequent verbal form adhitistrhali. The
appendix to Viifiaptimdtratdsiddhi summarizes what is attributed
to the Buddha by this term, starting with the Abhidharmakoia;
and La Vallde Poussin here finds Burnouf's rendition "benedic-
tion" excellent in many passages. In these passages,there was
rsThe Catuhflataka, Jatakamala, and Mahayana-Stitralarytkara passages
are selected from among quotations in Tson-kha-pa's Lam rim chen mo, in
my quotation notebooks.
 Buddhaas Savior
2l
especiallyan ability to conserve
the body, mtrke it rastfor aeons.26
suzuki, sturJies in the Lankdvardra-sutra,
exprains it as the
sustainingpower of the original
vows.2z This rendition is close
to the usageas an architectur.al
term for the Indian temple, where
it is the foundation of the superstructure.2s
Thus, the term
suggeststhe sustaining or support
for the spiritual component,
the part in the ..intermediate
space,, (antarik.ra).
It is somewhat of a jump to pass
to the usage by way of the
Tibetan translation of the norn
as ,,byin rlabs.,l We read in the
book, Tibetan Yoga and Secret
Docltrines, ..O Thou, in the
Akanistha Hea'en, the emanation
of the pure Realm of the
Dharmakdya, vouchsafe me
Thy ,gift-waves, (so) that
Knowledge, the Immutabre state Setf_
of the Dharma-k aya, may
attained'"2e Here, the rendition be
"gift-waves,,is after the fornl
of the Tibetan words, which,
howwer, thernselves render the
sanskrit word adhi;{hana. rt shourd
be rnentioned that the root_
guru in the Akanistha Heaven
is u'derstood i' Mahaydna
theology as the sar'bhog a-kitya
of the Buddha. The context
of the passage,furthermorr,
ug.r* with a rendition .,spiritual
support."
It is clear that^th.edeveropment.ca'ed
.with its theory Mahdyana Buddhism,
of the multipie bodies of the
Buddhu, had made
possiblea contributio'presurnabry
by the Buddha to the discipre
that extended beyond the old
"showing of ilr" Futi .', The
in its Tibetan fgrm was frequent term
in a work wtrictr F. D. Lessing
and I translated into Engrish
under the titre utrt,o, grub
Fundamentals of the nuicthfst r.ie,s
Tantras (Mouton, The
1968), now feprinted with a new Hague,
introduction a, Intrortuction
the Buddhist Tantric systems (Mot'al to
Banarsidass,Delhi, Ig7g.).
Here we rendered it usually as ..blessing,,,
anJ ih. u.rbal form
as 'oenergizer',,rempowerr',and
ihe like.

"irlirl.^r-Lre PoussrN,viifiaptirnatratasidcthi,
,rfil;. Tome rr (paris,
suzuxt, studiesin the Lankavatdra
,r;iTil" rliIii." siltra (London,
z8cf' pnasaNN.q, K_u^{aRAcuan"o, Dictionary
(London'1927)' l
pp' l7-1g,saying,".-ii d"not", of Hindu Architecture
-'tends'...itimpries un ouj."t onwrrrctsomething
the baseorlne corumn,beingthe
:haft and the pedestal, if memberbetweenthe
there beany.,,
zvKe.zt Dawa-sauDup,
tr., W. y. EvaNs_WrNTz,
dtid Secret Doctrines (London, ed., Tibetan yoga
tgZSl, p. 264.
22 BuddhistInsight

Now, the developed theory that the Buddhas or celestial

Bodhisattvas like Avalokitesvara could extend a power to chosen
disciples to fortify the latters' limited resources, caused some
change in the literature and encouraged the kind of praises and
evocation rituals in which the deity is implored to extend this
kind of blessing or empowerment (adhislhana). The theory
undoubtedly helped to make the Bodhisattva practice flourish,
to extol the possessionof compassion (karulta), and to attribute
the intense form of this, "great cotnpassion" (mahakaru7A),
to the supramundane Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. So the scrip-
ture Aryagayaitrpa is cited: "Maflju5ri, the practice of the
Bodhisattvas has what inception, has what spiritual foundation?
MafljuSri replied: Son-of-the-gods, the practice of the Bodhi-
sattvas has great compassion as its inception, and has the sentient
beings as its spiritual foundation (adhislhdnn)."
o'Bythe cognition of
A N{ahdyarrasutacalled Akaiagarbhasays:
insight (prajnA) all defilementis castout of doors. By the cognition
of means (upaya) all the living beings are given hospitality."
Candragomin's Si;1'alekha(v. 101) cornpares this nature of the
great beings to the sun's impartial radiation and illumination of
the worlds; the secondhalf of the versesays: "Such is this nature
of the great ones -to have no aim of their own-who delight
in the single taste of benefit and happiness for the worldlings."
Such passagesare very numerous in the Mahdyd:naliterature, and
this sample mereiy suggests how the Mahd:ydna authors were
inspired to stress these points with all the beauty of expression
they could muster.so
I should give still another citation with the word adhislharn
in the senseof a "spiritual foundation," sincethe Jlkpasamuccaya
cites the Sanskrit of this passage from the Arya-Ratnacu(apari-
pyccha: "Thus, girding himself with the armor of benevolence
(maiti) and having based himself on the spiritual foundation of
great compassion (mahakarupadhi;lhana), he works at the medi-
tation (dhyAna) which realizes the voidness possessedof all the

soThe Aryagayaiir;a, Akaiagarbha-sutra, and the Si;yalekha passages are

selected from among quotations in Tson-kha-pa's Lam rim chen mo, in my
quotation notebooks. The line translated from the s;i;yalekha (1.P. Minaeff's
edition) is: I na sa svarthalt kaicit prakytir iyam iva mahatarp yadete lokanarTt
hitasukharasaikantarasikAh l.
 Buddhaas Savior 23

best aspects. What is the voidness possewed of all the best

aspects? The one that does not lack giving, does not lack
morality, does not lack forbearance,does not lack striving, does
not lack meditation, does not lack insight, and d.oesnot lack
mgans."31
The foregoing and much more that could be cited in amplifi-
cation should serve to show that in the Mahdydna period the
new role attributed to the Buddha by virtue of his various bodies
could easily have produced teachingsthat the Buddha exercisesa
"graee"-1o use the Western religious term. And yet, just when
the stage is set for such a magnanimous activity by the Buddha,
so that such an enlightened being could be regarded as a ..savior"
in terms comprehensible to westerners, a reaction that also
belongs to the Mahiydna was to set in. This other development,
also a consequence of the theory of multiple bodies, will be
clarified in the next section.

Dm rnn Bunone sAvE ANy sprNcs ?

Early Buddhism was realistic and so took the position that
beings were either "rescued" or "not rescued." But a scripture
called A;lasahasrika Prajfiaparamita that was translated by
Edward conze, -and which was probably the earliest of all thl
@res, takes the'iillusionist" position:32
The Lord.' Here the Bodhisattva, the great being, thinks thus:
countless beings I should lead to Nirvana and yet there are
none who lead to Nirvana, or who should be led to it. How_
ever many beings he may lead to Nirvana, yet there is not any
being that has been led to Nirvana, nor that has led others
to it. For such is the true nature of dharmas, seeingthat their
nature is illusorv.
Again:
subhuti: The form of any illusory man is neither bound nor
freed. The suchnessof the form of, an illusory man is neither

slSdntideva's ed. by p. L. varova (Darbhanga,196l),

siksasamLtccaya,
text,p. l45.ll-13,withinthelongerpassageof similarsentiments.Thepait
I have translatedis the Lam rim chentno quotation.
s2EowaRn coNzr, tr., The perfection of laisdom in
Eight thousand slokas
(Calcutta,1958),Chap. l, pp. g-9, 11.
l'1 BuddhistInsight

bound nor freed. Becausein reality i{ is not there aI all,

becauseit is isolated, becauseit is unproduced.
In this first chapter of the celebratedwork, the Buddha's early
disciple S6:riputra,said to have been the best in "insight" (praifia)
of those disciples,put a hard question to Subhuti, saying:

As I understaud the teaching of the Venerable Subhuti, a

Bodhisattva also is a non-production. But if a Bodhisattva
is a non-production, how thei'r does he go on the difffrcult
pilgrimage, and how can he possibly endure the experience
of those sufferings (which he is said to undergo) for the sake
of beings?

Subhuti responded:

I do not look for a Bodhisattva who goes on the difficult

pilgrimage. Irr any cASe,one who coursesin the perception of
difficulties is not a Bodhisattva. Because one who has
generated a perception of difficulties is unable to work the
r v ealof c oun tl e s sb e i n g s ....

We see that there is sorne attractivenessin this position (or

non-position) of illusion: it gets rid of the difficulties,because
difficulties are a feature of the real n'orld. Even the unknown
composer of the Ag{asdhasrikahad to work at it.
A JapaneseBuddhologist Susumu Yamaguchi (then President
of Otani University, Kyoto) wrestled r,vith this problem after he
read Santideva'sBodhicarydvatdraand concluded that the Buddha
was always absorbed in contemplation r,vithoutdoing anything for
the salvation of the human beings during the half century from his
attainment of enlightenment at the tirirty-fifth year of age till his
entering into Nirvala when he was eighty years old. He further
noted: "The Buddha is commonly said to have been preaching to
save mankind during that period, but in reality he said no word
through thesedecades." He also noted that the Indian Buddhist
scholar Bodhiruci, coming to China in the sixth century A.D.,
claimed that the Buddha preached using one word only. So
Yamaguchi gave lectures about it in Japaneseto show the posi-
tion of his Shin Sectof JapaneseBuddhism;and his lectures were
translated into English by Shoko Watanabe, a professor at Toyo
University, in a book published in 1958. Yamaguchi kindly
 Buddhaas Savior 25

presentedto the piesent writer on the occa$ionof an early 1960's

visit to Kyoto this book entitled Dynamic Buddha and static
Buddlta. Professor Yamaguchi noticed that these tlo forms of
Buddha were representedin sculpture. one was the meditating
Buddha, contemplating prajfiaparamita, making no audible
words; the other was the preaching Buddha, sometimes showing
elongated tongue-what he calls the "dynamic Buddha."
These two kinds of Buddha reflect the Mahdyana teaching of
Buddha bodies: the Dharma-kaya is the "static Buddha", and the
Sapbhoga-kaya and NirrnA4a-kdya the "dynamic Buddha." In
the Tibetan tracirtion, the Dharma-kdya does not teach; only the
"bodies of form" (sarpbhoga and Nirmd4a) teach.B' This,
however, is a theory that goes back to the early parinirvdpa-
stttra. Thus, in the Mahaparinibbdna-suttdntaof the p1tli Dtgha-
nikdya, the Buddha, giving final instructions, told the gathering
that after his passing. the Dharma and vinaya which he had
taught would be their Teacher.Ba rhus this corpus, the Dharma-
vinaya, would be the 'oteacher" only metaphorically, because it
was understood to be the topic of study. However, the Dharma-
vinaya (although composed of words) was silent: it never said
a word, never explained itself. This rvas eventually personified
as the "static Buddha" in Yamaguchi's book.Bb However,
Mahdydna Buddhism arose to explain it and thus devised two
bodies, the Sarybhoga-kayaand the Nirmala-kaya, the so-called
"dynamic Buddha."
of course,the Buddha did preach in words. In fact, he taught
continuously; and much of what he taught is preservedin the old
Buddhist canon, the four Pali Nikayas, and the four chinese
Agamas. The Buddha, while a Bodhisattva, had engaged in
many difficult practices and later uttered difficult doctrines-but
this happenedin the real world, amidst the beingswhc live and die.
some western expounders of Mahayina Buddhism speak
about Prajffaparamita Buddhism as though it were the voidness
(iunyata) -which they render as "emptiness"-dsyeid of all the
I
J

best aspects. After all, it is this very author Santideva-the one

33For the Sambhoga-kdya and Nirmdna-kdya

as teachers, cf. Mkhas
grub rje's Fundamentals of the Buddhist Tatttras, Chapter One.
saThe Dighanikaya (2. Mahd vagga) (Bihar, l95g), p.
llg.l5_16.
sssusurr,ru YaNrlcucHr, Dl,namic Buddha and static
Buddha(Tokyo, l95g).
 26 Buddhistrnsight

who composed the Bodhicarydvatdra tlnt inppired Yamaguchi's

somewhat sensational book-who also composed the Siksasa-
muccara citing the Arya-Ratnacu{apariprcchdabout the voidness
possessedof all the best aspects. So Santideva,if one will read
him further, provided the solution to the problem.
The Prajfraparamitd scripture As[asdhasrikd is a profound
work; and it does not help to understandit to translate the term
"prajfiaparamita" as the "perfection of wisdom." According
to the teacher Asanga, man has a native uncultured form of
prajiid, which certainly is not "wisdom," otherwise why need
culture it through the three forms called in Sanskrit irutamayi
prajfid, cintdmayt prajiia, and bhavanamayi prajiid, or try to get
it to the perfection (paramita) ! So also the future Buddha Gautama
is held to have said according to the Mahdydna biography
Lalitcn,istara: "Alas, O charicteer, for the unawaking discrimina-
tiorr of the childish person" (dhik sarathe abuclha bdlajanasya
buddhtt,S.za
Thus the problem of whether the Buddha "saved" any beings
becamemore confused rvhen personswriting on the topic did not
even knorv the meaning of the main terms.

TnersrrR oF THEsALVrFrcACTIVITy
As though to underline a conclusion that the Buddha's teach-
ing of the Path-valuable as this is-did not constitute "saving"
as later followers of this religion would prefer it, there arose other
deities to do this job. Thus, there was the Buddha Amitabha or
Amitiyus whose o'heaven"is called sukhdvati, along with scrip-
tures followed by the chinese and JapaneseBuddhists for many
centuries. Then in Northern India there arose the cult of the
goddessTarn (the Savioress), popular in Nepal, Tibet, and
Mongolia. Twenty-one forms of this deity are presented
at the close of this volume. There were other deities too.
In Japan the name Amitdbha occurred as Amita or Amida.
In the classic of shin Buddhism, the Kyogyoshinsho,we read:Bz
Now the Buddha Meditation Samadhi is the truly superb and

soFnaNrrru EncERroN, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Reader (Delhi,

1978) p.14.
sTKosuo Yauauoro, tr., The Kyogyishinsho (Tokyo, l95g), p. 41.
 Buddha as Savior 27

wonderful gate. with His name as vowed in the forty-eight

vows, Amita Buddha, with the vow's power, savesall beings,
...oh how great! The Law of rhusness that is one with
reason is one. It savesand benefitsmen. This is so because
the vows are different. our Sakyamuni answered the call
and took birth in this defiled world and Amita Buddha
appeared in the Pure Land. Places differ like as the defiled
world and the Pure Land, but salvation is one. It is easy to
practice and easy to attain, for truly this is the way of the
Pure Land School.
So the historical Buddha Sakyamuni took birth in this defiled
world and announced the difficult practice, becausesuch was his
vow; while the Buddha Amitdbha stayed in the pure Land, the
western paradise, and announced the easy practice, becausesuch
was his vow. But salvation is one.
Turning to the Goddess Tara, there are the praises of the white
Tara by Dge-'dun-grub (posthumously the First Dalai Lama),
including this:
I bow to Thee the virtuous Mother of Buddhas
of the three ages, who protects against all dangers
such as lion, elephant, fire, poison, snakes;with your
left hand holding a blue lotus (utpala) and making the
gestureof the "giving of protection."
I bow to Thee, the locus of all protection, she who guides
all beings to the great-ecstasycity of liberation by means of
eyes borne on the palms of hands and soles of feet that are the
four gates of liberation of voidness and so on.
I worship Thee who is adorned on the head with Amitayus,
the Lord who mindfully confers long life and knowledge,
and who holds the vesselfull of immortality nectar.
I bow to Thee who confers occult powers as desired like
imrnortal life, knowledge, and merit, simply by (our) reciting
such incantations as "Tdre."
Those are verses from Dge-'dun-grub's lovely work.s8 By the
"Tare" incantation he means or.n tdre tuttdre ture svdhd, the
ten-syllabled evocation of the goddess Taru. Ratnakarasdnti
explains the formula as or.n, the seedknowledge made clear at the

38I translated
this work in 1970whilestayingin Dharmsala,
H. p. India.
28 Buddhistrnsight

end with svdha. Then "Tare" (o Tdrd, who rescuesby bringing

to the other side-the paramitd); 'oTuttare" (O rescuerfrom
suffering); "Ture" (o Tur6, the fast one, who rescuesspeedily.)Be
Amitdbha and rdrd were not the only deities appealed to.
There were the Medicine Buddha (Bhaisajya-guru) and the great
Bodhisattvas like Avalokitesvara and Mafljusri. It is not neces-
sary to cite more verses, which so often were fashioned with
beautiful phraseology. The situation is clear enough. The
devoteesexpectedthese deities to supply very human wants and
fulfil aspirations. In return the devoteessupplied all the finances
and wherewithal for splendid temples and art in Asia. This
does not mean that Sakyamuni was forgotrcn in the shuffie.
He is always there or far off, sometimesshadowv or comins back
into focus.

asSeeChapter 22.
 2

ANCIENT BUDDHIST MONASTICISM-

IxrRooucrroN
There have been many studiesof Buddhist monasticism,oriented
both to the ancient forms and to modern features in certain
Buddhist countries of Asia and south-east Asia. Many of these
studies have been prepared by fine scholars. It is impossible to
deal with the manifold aspects in one paper. So the present
writer restricts the topic, first of all, to the ancient period, while
stressingthose particular aspectsas appear to be of vital concern
in all periods. It is well to admit that there are a number of
disputed points in regard to the ancient form of Buddhism
portrayed in this paper, and to mention that this writer will not
shirk the responsibility when such points deservefair appraisal
and conclusions. In the first part, emphasizingthe pratimokqa,
vinitadeva's commentary on the vinaya is employed to suggest
a new rendition for the term; the theory of two oral traditions-
vinaya and Dharma-is combined with a division into two
Prdtimoksa-s to advance a position that various vinaya lineages
were in Buddhism from the beginning and that the separationinto
Buddhist sects was due to doctrinal and not vinaya disagree-
ments. In the second part, emphasizingthe monastery inhabi-
tants, there is exposition of well-establishedfacts of monastery
life with a comparison to the Brahmanical "stages of life." In
the third part, emphasizing the offences,only some of the pre-

+Abbreviations: P. for Pdli language;s. for sanskritlanguage;JBRS

for TheJournalof theBihar Researchsociety;pTT for pekingTibetanTripi-
taka,the Japanese photographic reproductionof the pekingTibetancanon.
 30 BuddhistInsight

vious scholarly'findings can be presentecl. There are a number

of selections from Asanga's Yogdcarabhumi)which appears not
to have been utilized by other western specialistsin the topics
of this paper.

I. Solre EARLv Rrucrous oF INorA, THE TERM pRArruorqe,

Vrulya BEGTNNINGS
At the time of the Buddha (6th - 5th centuries, B.c.) there were
various religious orders, with namesthat were sometimesobscure
in later times. The main classification seemsto be into brdh-
malta atd iramaqta, with both including the wanderers (parivra-
jaka).L While these words were not always used with the same
meaning, it appears that the term brdhmaryastood, for persons
adhering to the Vedic religion, and who sooner or later would
follow four stages of life; and that the iramaryas were ascetic
orders. Asanga provides a more detailed breakdown: "There
are six kinds of persons, as follows: (l) the ascetic (iramaqta),
(2) the braltmona, (3) the chaste person (brahmacdrin),(4) the
monk (bhik-ru),(5) the restrainer (.vati), (6) the one gone forth
(to the religious life) (prat'rdjita)." In further detailing, Asanga
gives four kinds of ascetics:a. the one victorious over the path
(ntargajina),u'ho is the Sugata,having achieved,without remain-
der, the extirpation of lust, hatred, and delusion; b. the teacher
of the path (margadeiika); c. the one who lives by the path, who
has entered the stream, etc. (margajivin); d. the one who insults
the path (margadusin).,
Since in the Buddhist religious way, the one gone forth to the
religious life (pravrajita) and the one called "monk" (bhiksu)
had to severprevioussocial relationsand enter into a monasterial
situa.tion living with other novices and monks, rules had to be
devisedboth for their daily conduct within the monastery and for
their encounterswith the lay community, as when seeking alms.
The various prohibitions and other rules are in the code called
P. Pdtimokklta-or S. Prqtimoksa-sutra. This contains some one
hundred fifty rules called 'opoints of instruction" (P. sikhapada,

1Cf. B. C. Llw, "A Short Account of the Wandering Ascetics (Parivra-

jakas) in India in the sixth Century,B.C." JBRS,LIII, i-iv, 1967,pp.17-26.
zArpx WAyuaN, Analysis of the Sravakabhumi Manuscript (University
of California Press,Berkeley, 196l), p. 103.
 AncientBuddhistMonasticism 31

s. iiksapada) emphasizing prohibitions, which are roughly the

samein various forms of this vinaya (discipiine) work (some only
extant in chinese translation) that have been handed down;
along with extra rules called P. selihiya dhamrna, s. iaik;a-dharma,
emphasizingpcsitive rules of deportment, which differ consider-
ably in number and kind in the various Vinayas.
Since in the Buddha's lifetime a nun order was started, it was
necessaryat that early date to make up a separate pdtirnoklcha
for the nun, dropping some of the monk rules and adding a
further set, especia.llyto define the nun's conduct toward a monk
and her attire.
The Patimokkha was rehearsed along with scriptures at the
bimonthly meetings of the ordained monks in a meeting called
in P. Uposatha ("well-beirg"), narnely on full moon and new
moon days, which are traditional days in h-rdiapicked for festivals.
These are the two days, P. cdtuddasi, the l4th day in a lunar
fortnight of decreasing phase (: first day of disappearance
, of the moon), and P. Palnarasi, full moon day. The way it
works out according to one explanation is that in the four months
of a season, the 3rd and 7th meetings are cdtuddasi, and the
others, lst , 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and gth are panlarasi. Hence,
most of the Uposatha meetingswere on a full-moon day.t
The term "Patiinokkha" has been much discussed.,and its
meaning disputed. of course,the observanceof the prohibitions
and precepts of the Patimokkha is independent of knowing the
derivation of the term. when the Buddhist vinayas were trans-
lated into chinese principally in the 5th century, A.D. , there was
a difficulty in interpreting the s. "pratimok$a." The translators
either transcribed the term phonetically or else translated it as
though it read Pratimoksa, with prati-understoodin the distri-
butive sense ("each one") and mok;a of course rendered as
"liberation."a This rendition appearsto agreewith avoiding the
prohibited elementsof the list, confessingeach one as was com-

3c. s. IJTASAK, Dictionary of Earty Buddhist

Monastic Terms (Bharati
Prakashan, Varanasi, 1975), pp. 52-53.
aMy wife (who is Japanese) has read for me the entries
on the term in the
Buddhist dictionaries by ono, Hakuju ui, and Hajime Nakamura; and all
sources agree that when the lerm was translated into Chinese it was always
with this distributive meaning of pratt, although there are differing interpre-
tations of this distributive meaning ..each one."
 32 BuddhistInsight

mitted, and, when indicated, rnaking amends by penance. When

the Vinaya was translated into Tibetan starting in the early 9th
century, A.D., the term was uniformly rendered as so sor thar
pa, which understands the distributive sense of prati- in agree-
ment with the Chinese translations. When in the l gth century
the Pali scriptures began to be translated into English, an inter-
pretation was rnade that the term Patimokkha should be under-
stood with the short a, arrd that P. pati (: S. prati) should be
taken in the "against" sense; and since "against liberation"
entails a bond, the translators with this persuasion decided on
the rendition "obligation" and have been using this regularly.s
This rendition appearsto agreewith the obligation of the monks
to recite the list at the Uposatha and to abide by the pronounce-
ments within the text. Of course, these translators knew cf the
gloss (to be explained below) on the term found ia the Vinaya
exegesiscalled Maltdvagga: patimokkham ti adiry eto/.n, mukhar.n
etaUt,pamuklnryxetary kusalanarytdhammanam, tena vuccati p.6
. It is easyto misunderstandthis and think it is a false etymology?
and so should be disregarded.s The reason I am led away from
the false-etymology theory is my having found in Vinitadeva's
commentary on the Mulasarydstivdda Vinayavibltangathe saying,
so sor thar pa |es bya bs ni dafi por thar pa'o.e This comment,
taking pratirnoksa as equivalent to adimoksa ("libei-ation at the
beginrring, aditas"), is grammatically justified by understanding
prdtimoksa : pra I atimolc5a. SeeSpeijer: "The upAsara 'pra'
has sometimes the power of denoting the beginning of the
action," citing Kai on P. l, 2, 2l for the terrn pradyotitalt ("He
commencedto shine").to Now atimoksa is a pre-Buddhist term
found in the Satapatha-Bralmraqta,14, 6, l, 8, with identical

5Cf. The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary, ed. by T. W. Rnys

Davros and Wu-rtav Srror (The Pali Text Society,London,7952 reprint),
P a r t V ( P - P h . )p, . 7 3 .
sMahavagga(Oldenbergedition), ll, 3, 4.
TMore recently, J. W. oe JoNG, review, Cnant,es S. Pnrsrsu, Buddhist
Monastic Discipline, in Indo-IranianJournal, 19 (1977), p. 127.
8But this is no excusefor Nathmal Tatia to omit the line from his edition
of the Mahavaggain Samkhitta-pi1akam,Vol. I (Nava Nalandd Mahivihdra,
1975),p. 71,circaline 11.
gPTT, Vol. 122,p. 304-1-1.
10J.S. SrrtJrn, SanskritSyntax (Reprint, Kyoto, 1968),Para.309,p. 232;
herc pra- is prefixed to the verb.
Ancient BuddhistMonasticism 33

passage in Brhaddraqtyaka-(tpqnisad,3.l, 6,tt and which was

presumably replaced in later Sanskrit wiih the term rnoksa.
Hence, vinitadeva's comment-possibly repeated in his vinaya
lineage for a thousand yearslz-understands the termpratimok;a
to mean 'ocommencementof liberation," which can be rendered
more neatly, "liberation-onset." Nor,v we can return tc the
Mahavagga gioss (above cited) to render it with fidelity: .,As
to the 'Pdtimokkha,'ra it is the beginning (adD, to wit, it is the
orifice {mukha) and it is the commencement (s. pramukha)
of the virtuous natures (s. dharma); therefore, one says,.Libera-
tion-Onset.'"r4
Furthermore, there is a canonical passagesuppcrting the above
conclusion. This is in the Anguttara-nikaya (Book of Fives),
Rajava.gga, the Yassamdisam-sutta. Here a Ksatriya king is
said to have five salient points whereverhe abides: (1) being well-
born through his father and mother; (2) having bountiful trea-
suries; (3) mighty through his army; (4) having a wise minister;
(5) abiding where he has conquered. The monk also is said to
have five comparable salient points wherever he abides. As to
the first point, "in that a monk has morality, dwells restrainedby
the Pdtimokkhasamvara,...[and so oo, much like a Digha-
nikaya passagecited belowl-he has the perfection of birth like
the consecratedKsatriya king." Since the taking of the pati-
mokkhasar.nvara(seebelow) is likened to an illustrious birth. this

llReferencefrom BonrrrNcr and Rorn Sanskrit-Wdrterbuch(reprint

of
Meicho-Fukyti-Kai,Tokyo, 1976).
lzRaNrsno GNoLr, The Gilgit Manuscript of the saighabhedavastu, part
I
(Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo oriente, Roma, lg77), General
Introduction, p. xix, decidesthat the compilation of rhe Mulasarvdstivada
vinaya dates back to the times of Kani;ka, of course,the content would
frequently go back to much earlier times.
I3Arn,q HrRarawa, A Study of the Vinaya-pitaka (Sankibo_Busshorin,.
Tokyo, 1970) [in Japanesewith a summary including table of contents in
Englishl, p. 419, points out that Buddhaghosain his vinaya commentary
Kankhavitarani analyzed "Pdtimokkha" into pa+ ita mokkha, understood
as "especiallyexcellentliberation."Thus, p. pa-S.pra was understood only
by its classicaImeaning.
larhere still remains the problem of why the words mukha, pamukha were
chosenfor the gloss. The author of the Mahavaggamay have intended, while
the words can signify in the manner of my rendition, to have also suggested
the "facing" or confrontation as happens in the confessionalpart of the
Patimokkha, as will be pointed out later in this essay.
 Buddhist Insight
34

birth
supportsthe rendition"Liberation-onset.":this onsetis a
in the inner precinctsof Buddhism,so the monasticfollowers
of the
were called samarydSakyaputtiyd,"asceticswho are sons
Ruddha."16
T heDigha- nik a y a p a s s a g e (I,6 2 )th a ts h o u l dnow bementi oned
is from the well-known scripture samafifia-phala-sutta:
(s. pravra'
when the ascetic(s. iramalta) has thus gone forth
by the Pdtimokkhasa{nvara (s'
jita) he dwells restrained
prd,timoksa-sar.nvara).He has the perfection of good be-
views
havior and of lawful resort (dcdragocarasar.npanna),
fearfullyeventheminort}ringstobeavoided.Herightfully
(s. iiksapada),
takes and learns the "points of instruction"
whileaccompaniedbyvirtuousactsofbodyandvirtuous
equipped with
acts of speech. With pure livelihood and
morality,heguardstheSensedoors,accompaniedbymind-
fulness and awareness. He is happy'
"Patimokkhasamvafa'"
This brings up the important expression
means a "vow," the solemn promise.lG As used
Here sarytvara
but ccnveys the sense of
here, it does not mean "restraint,"
..holding together," i.e. adhering inthe streamof consciousuess;
phrase "while accom-
becauseu vow is not to be forgotten. The
actsof speech"raises
panied by virtuous acts of body and virtuous
mind, since Buddhism
it . q,r.riion: why not by virtuous acts of
of karma, three of body' four of speech' and
,p.ui, of ten paths
makes up ten, a typical number of the
tirree of mind? This
BuddhistVinayacode.However,morality(ii|a)perseamounts
bad acts of body
to the seven abstinences, i.e. from the three
so the number seven also is im-
and four bad acts of speechilT
detailed variously, as in the citation
portu"t for Vinaya theoiy, but
(Book of Sevens' Vinayavagga)
below. The Aiguttara-'nikq'a
possessed of seven natures (dhamma),
states that when a monk is
of the Buddhist discipline,
he is a vinayadhlra (holder, or retainer
Vinaya), as follows:
(Suttavibhanga)
15Cf. I. B. HonNBn, tr. The Book of Discipline Yo]l. l
p' lii'
(London, 1g4g),translator's introduction'
pa; and in this
16The term sar.nvarais translated into Tibetan by sdom
languagetherearesdomgsumbooksonthe'othreevows,"namely,thePrati-
mokga, the Bodhisattva, and the Mantra vows'
l?Cf. DpaKKUMAR Blnu.r., An analytical Study of the four Nikayas
(Rabindra Bharati University, Calcutta, 1'97t)' pp' 128'129'
AncientBuddhistMonasticism 35

Hc knows what is a transgression (apatti) and knows what is

not. He knows what is a light (lahukfi transgression; he
knows what is a grave (garuka) one. you shourd know (kho)
'that when both Patimokkhas are well-handed to
him in
'extenso,well-analyzed (suvibhatta), well set-in-motion (suppa-
vatti), well-determined (suvinicchita) according to scripture
and according to anuvyafijana (? commentary)-having
trained, then at will, easily, without trouble, he attains and
dwells in the four Jhdnas (the four s. dhyanasof the Realm of
Form), derived from mentals, a comfortable state in the
present life; and having extinguished the fluxes, (he attains
and dwells) in the liberation of mind (cetas) and liberation of
insight (pafifia) which are nonfluxional; and in this life realizes
for himself.
while it is not clear how one divides up this passageto get the
number seven, the important thing is that the commentary-
presumably Buddhaghosa's-cited in Hare's translation (the
above is my own), The Book of sevens,says that the expression
'"both
Fatimokkhas" means "of monk and nun.o' previously,
we observed that the monk and nun have each a patimokkha
list.le However, this interpretation does not appear to fit in
the context referring to a monk, not a particular nun (although
a nun can also be a vinayadhara). Therefore, we may well
presume that "both Pdtimokkhas" refer to an alternate classifi-
cation, namely, two kinds of recitation of pd:timokkha: by ex-
hortation (ovada) and by cornmand (a4q1.rn A certain Chinese
vinaya commentary has considerable information about these
two Patimokkhas.2' we learn that the former Buddhas and then
Sakyamuni himself recited only the patimokkha of exhortation,
such as the lines, "abstain from all kinds of evil; accumulate all
that is good;" while the monks (and nuns) only recited the pati-
mokkha of command, which is the code recited during the upo-
satha. The Buddha announced: "The Tathagata cannot recite
the Pdtimokkha at the time of the uposatha in a congregation
18E. M. HARE, tr., The Book of the Gradual sayings (Ariguttara-Nikaya)
Vol. IV (London, 1955 reprint), p. 95, n.
1sCf. Upasl', Dictionary, p. 152.
20P. V. Bap.qr and A. Hnarawa, trs., Shan-Chien-p,i-p'o-Sha; a Chinese
version by Saighabhadra of Samantapasadika (Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute, Poona, 1970), pp. 134-136.
36 BuddhistInsight

which is not pure." For the Buddhas "know with their own
minds the minds of their followers and then instructed them.'o
That is to say, the Buddha knew with superhuman vision the
minds of the persons assembledfor the Pdtimokkha-recitation;
but the monks themselvesare not able to assesstheir fellows by
this supernormal faculty: they have to rely upon the more obvious
acts of body and speechwhich define "morality" for them. Hence
the distinction: the monks will concern themselvesin the Pati-
mokkha of the Uposatha with "moraliry" in the meaning of the
sevenabstinences,among others;zl while the Buddha will do the
exhortation which requires knowing the minds of others.
Let us try out the new rendition of the term "Patimokkha"
in two important passagesof the scripture "Upili and the Pati-
mokkha" (from the Anguttara-nikdya, Book of Tens):
In consideration of what purpose were the "points of instruc-
tion" prescribed for the disciples (5. iravaka) by the Tathd-
gata and the Ltberation-Onsetrecited? (Upali is told, in
consideration of ten purposes,to wit:) For the excellenceof
the Congregation (Sar.n-uha); for the well-being of the Congre-
gation; for chastising errant persons; for the comfort of the
virtuous monks; to restrain the (defiled) fluxes (asrava) of
the present life; to prevent the (defiled) fluxes in the future
life; to instill faith in those of scarcefaith; to promote even
more those with faith; to establish the illustrious Dharma;
to assistthe Vinaya.
Then UpAli asked in what circumstances the Liberation-Onset is
suspended,i.e. recitation of it postponed; and was told there are
ten such, to wit:
When a "defeated" person is seatedin that assembly; when
talk of whether one is "defeated" is not finished; when an
unordained person is seated in that assembly; when talk of
whether one is unordained is not finished; when a personwho
has repudiated the instruction is seated in that assembly;
when talk of whether one has repudiated is not finished;
when a eunuch is seated in that assembly; when talk of
whether one is a eunuch is not finished; when a seducerof a
2lThree offences of body and four of speech (as the ten paths of karrna
has it) is not the only classification; cf. Bnpar and Hrnartwa, Shan-Chien*
P'i-P'o-Sha, pp. 535-536, for allusion to the Vinaya breakdown of the numbers*
AncientBuddhistMonasticism 37

nun is seatedin that company; when talk of whether one is a

nun-seducer is not finished.
The meaning of "defeated" will be explained later. Meanwhile
we observethat the circumstancesfor suspensionof the recitation
are in terms of acts of body and speech, as was mentioned
previously.
There is little doubt that both kinds of Pdtimokkha, i.e. of
exhortation and of command, were in existenceat the time of the
Buddha; although the now extant forms of the Pdtimokkha (the
"command" kind) in the senseof a text may not be exactly the
original one that the monks recited in the Buddha's time, even
leaving out the set of Saiksa (precept) rules. It has been noticed
by scholars that each of the main Vinayas of Buddhist sectshad
its own Prdtimoksa-sutra.2z This need not be attributed to a
single reason. The fact of different Vinayas has in the past been
deemed intimately bound up with the division of the Buddhists
into different sects, involving difficult historical matters of what
are called the Buddhist Councils. According to Buddhist tradi-
tions, the First Council at Rajagaha (S. Rajagpha), held in the
year after the Buddha's passing, rehearsed the Stlra division
according to Ananda's mernory and the Vinaya division accord-
ing to Updli's memory. Later, a third divisicn called Abhi-
dharma was added-the three called tripi{aka, often rendered
the "Three Baskets." The Second Council, held under the
sponsorship of king KalaSoka about 110 years after the Buddha,
concerned the errant Vajjian monks at VaiSali who were commit-
ting some or all of ten prohibited things, including No. 10,
the receiving of gold and silver. It is generally conceded now

22AsE. Fn.a.uwarrNrn, The Earliest Vinayaand the Beginnings of Buddhist

Literature (Is. M.E.O., Roma, 1956),pp. I-2, points out, Vinayasof these
schools are preserved: Sarvdstivddin,Dharmaguptaka, Mahisdsaka, and
Mahasdmghikain Chinesetranslation; Pali school in original Pali; MUla-
sarvdstivddinin Chineseand Tibetan translations. Cf. ErrcNuB LAuorrr,
Histoire du bouddhismeindien (Louvain, 1958),pp. 181-193,for structureand
analysis of the Vinayapitaka. Cf. W. Pncnow and RnulKANrA MmuRA,
The Pratimoksa-sfitra of the Mahasanghikas(Ganganatha Jha ResearchInsti.
tute, Allahabad,1956), pp. 15-22,for concordancetables of severalPratimo-
k5a-siltra,showing their almost complete agreement,except for the Saikla-
dharmas. Cf. Hm.artwa,, A Study (n. 13, above), English summary, pp.
15-18, for his conclusions about various Pratimok;a-sfrtra-s.
38 BuddhistInsight

that while earlier (or at this time or later)'the Buddhist Sdr.ngha

(congregation of monks) divided into the Mahdsdryghika and
Sthavira, the Mahisar.nghika group of monks were not them-
selvesguilty of the ten prohibited things. But that the division
was over the errant monks and so is placeable at this time is not
necessarily the implication of the Pdli Vinaya text called Culla-
vaggq in its Chap. XII (Oldenberg edition) devoted to this Council
of Vai6dli. While discussing individually the commission of
the ten prohibited things, the authors included in the list two
items suggestinga rival Uposatha.2s This appears to have been
a defiant act on the part of the errant monks, rather than the
independent Uposatha by a separate well-established Buddhist
sect. The Cullavagga accovnt stops with saying the ten dis-
puted points were brought up at a duly organized Sdr.nghameet-
ing and does not rnention the outcome. However, the Milasar-
vdstivdda Vinaya account, as we know from the Tibetan tradi-
tion which has only this Vinaya, holds that the errant monks
were ejectedfrom the Sdr.ngha.zaThe "five thesesof Mah6deya"26
downgrading the "Arhat," about 137 years after the Buddha,
could well be the causeof doctrinal splits in Buddhism but hardly
capable of generating another Vinaya. Hence, the existence of
multiple Vinayas in connection with sectarian splits has been a
mystery that attracted various scholarly researchesand specula-
tions. our previous findings suggest that Demi6ville has been
on the right track in stressing two oral traditions, that of the
Vinaya-dharas and the Dharma-dharas, where Dharma really
means the stttra class, first gathered by Ananda.26 Combining

23For the first item, cf. Cullavagga,

tr. by RuysDavrosandOronNnrRG,
SacredBooksof theEast,Y ol. 20,p. 410(for XII, 2, 8): "'Is it allowable,
Lord,
for a numberof Bhikkhuswho dwellwithin the samecircuit,withinthe same
boundary,to hold separate Uposatha?''No, Sir, it is not allowable."'
24As one Tibetan source, cf. Mkhas grub rje's Fundamentals of the
BuddhistTantras,tr. by FrnorNaNoD. LEsslNc and Arpx WayuaN(Mouton,
The Hague,1968),pp.63-67.
25Fora comparisonof differenttextual traditionsof the fivetheses, cf.
J.qNtcsJ. Narrtrn and Cnanus S. PnrersH,"MahdsSryghika Origins:The
Beginnings of BuddhistSectarianism," Historyof Religionst6:3,Feb. 1977,
pp. 250-257.But the expositionof the presentpaperdoesnot allow me to
acceptthe conclusions of thesewritersin their attempt(cf. their p. 238)to
fix theschismat year116afterBuddhaand dueto a Vinayaquarrel.
z6Cf.Paul Drrrarsirlr,B,
"A propos du Concile de Vai6ali," T'oungPao,
Ancient Buddhist Monasticism 39

this with the thesis of two Pd:timokkhas, one the Buddha's

exhortations and the other the instruction of morality preserved
in the Vinaya recited in the Uposatha, a distinct possibility of
some of the divergent Vinaya traditions having been in Buddh-
ism from the beginning emerges. Such is the implication of an
alternate tradition that not much credence was perhaps hitherto
given by reason of obviously faulty features, namely, that the
Scripture was recited in four different languages, Sanskrit,
Apabhrar.nSa,Prakrit, and PaiSdcika, accounting for four basic
divisions-Mfllasarvastivddin, using Sanskrit, descended from
the son Rdrhula; the Mahisdmghika, using Apabhrar.n6a, des-
cended from Mahdki6yapa; the Sar.nmatiya, using PaiSici,
descendedfrom Upali; and the Sthavira, using Prakrit, descended
from Katyayana.z1 Of course, the sectarian divisions cannot
be properly attributed to these dialect differences. Even son
the seemingly arbitrary associations of this tradition are sug-
gestive.2s
According to Edgerton,2ethe Buddha had allowed and perhaps
urged the monk-teachers to preach the scriptures in their own
dialects so as to bring the Buddhist teachings to the widest
audience. Later King ASoka sponsored a council in which the
scriptures were collected and an attempt made to homogerrze
them, with perhaps the Magadha type taken as the basis; and
from the homogenization resulted the sacerdotal language of
Pali. This is what the above-mentioned tradition calls Prakrit,
claimed to descend from Katyayana. At about this time, or

Vol. 40, 1951, p. 254, n., mentioning that the compounds dharma-vinaya
and siltra-vinaya(of course,meaning the same: dharma:siltra, and vinaya)
are frequent in the accounts of the Council of VaiSali; and pp. 260-261,
agreeingwith N. Durrn Early Monastic Buddhism,on the important distinc-
tion dhammadhara and vinayadhara, retainers of the dhomma (5. dharma),
and retainers of the vinaya.
27As one Tibetan source, cf. Mkhas grub rje's Fundamentals (n. 24,
above), pp.67-69.
zaCf. LtN Lt-KouaNo, L'Aide-Mdmoire de la Vraie Loi (Adrien-Maison-
neuve, Paris, 1949), pp. 194-228,for a lengthy discussionof these matters;
but his sourcesmake somewhat different correlationsbetweenschools and
languages.As we shall see,this difference, per se, does not matter much:
the main thing is that such correlationsare made at all.
zeFnaurr,INEoceRtoN, BuddhistHybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary :
Vol. I: Grammar (Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1978),pp.t-2.
40 BuddhistInsight

perhaps later, the canon was also rendered into Sanskrit, and this
is the language of both the Sarvdstivddin and Milasarvasti-
vddin, supposedlydescendedfrom the son Rdhula. But it appears
now that the attempt to create a Middle Indic canon in a Prakrit
form or the Sanskrit canon of the scriptures was done either
with an exemption or a compromise that it would not extend to
the Vinaya, the disciplinary code. Hence, the various forms of
the Pratimoksa-siltra. For the other two, first take the Mah6-
sdr.nghika,said to have used Apabhrarysa and to have descended
from MahakaSyapa. It is of interest that the Vinaya of the
Lokcttaravadin sect of the Mahdsdryghika, preservedunder the
title Mahdvastu, uses a kind of language that Edgerton calls
"Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit" and includes in the earliest form of
this mixed language. Th.is is not how the word ApabhrarySa
("fallen-off language") is used nowadays, but conceivably it
applies to the languageof the Mahdvastu.Tltelast one mentioned,
the Sammatiya, is attributed a dialect called PaiSdciso and said
to descend from Upali. This suggestsa confused association
of names and is hardly identifiable l,vith the remaining extant
Vinayr,s, those of the Dharmaguptaka and the Mahi(asaka;
and it is dubious that Updli, the great Vinaya-dhara of early
Buddhism, rvould be more associatedwith a tradition leading
to these vinayas than to the others. This alternate traciition is
obviously too neat, with its fourfold description, to suit what is
probably a complicated situation. In any case,the partial truth
of this tradition cannot account for the doctrinal divisions among
the Buddhists: it rather points, albeit confusedly, to a diversity
of Vinaya lineages.
It appears then that the division into Buddhist sects, said in
some accountsto have amoun.tedto eighteen,is an independent
matter from muitiple Vinayas; and this lends credenceto the
position Bareau has argued at length, attributing the initial split
to Mahadeya'sfive theses,which were of doctrinal nature.sl The

30Fcr locales of this dialect. cf. MauRrce WlNrrRNrrz, A History of

Indian Literature,Vol. II: BuddhistLiteratureand Jaina Literature(English
translation)(MLBD Delhi, 1980),p.604.
arANoni BAnE.nu,Les premiers conciles bouclclhiclues (PressesUniversisi-
taires CeFrance,Paris, 1955),p. 89, by decidingin favor of the datecircal3T
after Buddha for the schism,efrectivelyseparatesthe considerationfrom the
Council of VaiSali. After careful considerationof the various factors, he
 AncientBuddhistMonasticism 4l

fact of having a slightly different vinaya-different not by reason

of the basic monk and nun prohibitions, but by extra precepts
and varying amplitude of associatedlegends and later of Jdtakas
(previous-birth stories of the Buddha)-cannot be judged the
sourceof sectariansplits along doctrinal lines unlessthesedoctrin-
al divisions had somehow invaded one or more of the vinayas.
For the early period there is no evidence of this at all. when
we come to the Mahdvastu (as a sub-sectvinaya of the Mahd-
siryghika), we do see some doctrinal intrusion, for example, the
early Mahdydna Buddhist theory of ten Bodhisattva stages;
but this text Mahdvastu is assembledperhaps five hundred y.urc
after Buddha, long after all the old Buddhist councils. Frau-
wallner's conclusion about the old Skandhakatext (which besides
the details of monastic life contains all the legends, including
biography of the Buddha) that "rt must have been composed
shortly before or after the second councilo',i.e. in the first half
of tlre 4th cent., B.c.,t, should be accepted. This is becausethe
obviously great challenge to the sdr.ngha by the errant monks
of vai6ili forced a stock-taking of legends;therefore, the organ-
izers of the second Council would be responsiblefor settling the
form of the Skandhaka. However, if it is true that some other
vinaya lineages were present in Buddhism from the beginning,
theselineagescould continue, if not at vaisdli, then at Rajagpha,
and so on. That is why legen,Jscontained.in vinayas other than
the Theravada (cescendedfrom the Sthavira) might conceivably
be different for having been accepted from Buddhist beginnings,
or for having been added centuries later.
In the light of the preceding-in order to rationalize the Bud-
dhist vinaya history about the eighteen schools, especially the
initial break that was between the groups called the Mahds6r.n-
ghika and the Sthavira-we have simply to assume that the
monks at vaisali in a legal Uposatha rehearsed the vinaya
legends. And when the news reached Rdjagpha, this promptld
similar rehearsals of legends, not in the spirit of rivalry with
vaisali but becauseit seemeda good thing to do. If some years

concludes(p. 109),among other things, that the schismbetweenthe Maha-

sdmghikaand the Sthavira rook praceat pdtaliputra, capitalof Magadha,
over
the five thesesabout the Arhat, that the King of Magadha vainly atlempied
to
arbitrate the dispute.
s2FRauwar,LNER, The Earliest Vinaya(n.22, above), p. 67.
42 BuddhistInsight

later there should be a divisive quarrel over the status of the'

Arhat (per the five points of Mahddeva), and the monks who
acceptedthe five points could claim that there were more monks
of this persuasionthan on the other side, they could then begin
to call themselvesthe Mahisiryghika (the great clergy). But
this rvas not becausetheir Vinaya was different in the essentials
from the Vinaya of the Sthavira; nor did they differ in the
main points of Buddhist doctrine, non-self, impermanence,suffer-
ing, dependent origination, and so on, from the other sect.
However, the quarrel about the Arhat had profound implica-
tions for the theory of the Buddhist path and was later to in-
augurate the great movement called Mahdyina Buddhism.
Such sectariandifferenceswould eventually bring some differences
in the associatedlegends of the school, simply becauseit was a
different sect and therefore had differing ability to draw upon the
old legends. In this light, while some doctrines-namely, those
found in the Pali canon of the four Nikdyas-are clearly earlier
than others, say some of those found in Mahdydna siltra,r, it is
uncertain to state such "earlier" or "later" in terms of Vinaya
legends. As an indication of this, even for the meaning,of the
term Pitimokkha, I resorted to the Vinaya tradition of the M[la-
sarvastivada, i.e. Vinitadeva's commentary on its Vinayavibhanga
-which some scholars think arose many centuries after the
Theravdda-while specialists in the Vinaya preserved in the Pali
language were unable to come up with such an explanation.

II. Tsn MoNAsTERYeNn PsnsoNs IN IT

Since the monk and nun had to leave home and to give up lay-
man's money transactions, from the beginning there had to be
dwellings set aside for such persons, either supported by the com-
munity of lay followers or else self-supporting.ss In India the
Buddhist monastery was usually called a vihdra,sawhich can also

33Inthe caseof Indianand ChineseBuddhistinstitutions,

onemay referto'
ANoni BAnEAu,"Indian and Ancient ChineseBuddhisme:Institutions
Analogous to Jisa," Comparative Studies in Society and Hfstory, III: 4,.
July 1961, pp. 443-451;and in the case of Himalayan area and Mongolian
'oBuddhistMonastic Economy: the Jisa
institutions, to Rosrnr J. Mrusn,
Mechanism,"in ibId.,III: 4, July 1961,pp. 427'438.
BaSeeDrpar Kuuan BlnUA, Viharas in Ancient India (Indian Publicationsn
Calcutta, 1969).
44 BuddhistInsight

outer respect to secular authority.al But by the seventh century,

admission to the priesthood was by public registration.az
For some generalities about the tay follower and the one in
the monastic life, we turn to the teacher Asanga, referring to the
teacher converting people to the Buddhist position and what the
lay follower does in return:ag
What is dissemination of the preserved doctrines? That very
person who has fully comprehended the Illustrious Doctrine
informs people that there is good fortune and power in the
direct perception of the Illustrious Doctrine. With precepts
only a.she has fully comprehended it and which are in con-
formity with it, he follows it in teaching and follows it in
introducing (people). What is corresponding sympathy from
others? "Others" means donors and patrons. They bring
the conditions of things useful for living, as follows: religious
garb, alms, bedding, seats,medicaments,and whateverutensils
rnay be in point. One is shown sympathy by them.
Just as rnonks gain rnerit (pu4t1,a)by their practices, so do the
laity by their contributions of living materials for the monks,
their adornments to tire Buddhist structurescalled stupa, and the
like; they gain trusting faith (5. prasada) in the three Jewels
(Buddha, Dharma, San-eha)and plant the virtuous roots (kuiala'
mula) for appropriate results in future lives.aa
Asanga tells how to differentiate the layman and the one
gone into the religious life in terms of prevalent defilement:a5
Reflections (vikalpa), elaboration (prapafica), attachment
(sanga), and (mundane) ideas (sarr.jfia) are four kinds of

a1Cf. LsoN HunvITz, oo'Render Unto Caesar'in Eariy ChineseBuddhism:

Hui Yiian's Treatise on the Exemption of the Buddhist Clergy from the
Requirementsof Civil Etiquette," LiebenthalFestschrift(Santiniketan,India,
1957), pp. l-36.
a2J.Taxarusu, tr. A Record of the Buddhist Religiort by l-Tsing (Munshi'
ram Manoharlal, Delhi, 7966),p. 98.
a3ArEx WAymAN, Calning the Mind and Discerning the Real; Buddhist
Meditation and the Middle View, from the Lam rim chenmo of Tson-kha-pa
(Motilal Banarsidass,Delhi, 1979), p. 34, from Asanga's Sravaka-
bhumi.
al-oursRrNou, et al.,L'Inde Classique,TomeII (EcoleFrancaised'Extr€me.
Orient, Hanoi, 7953),p. 597.
45PTT,Vol. 111, p.238-5-7,8, in the Parydya-sarygrahagi.
 AncientBuddhistMonasticism 45

defilements. The former two are on the side of the one in the
religious life (pravrajita); the other two are on the side of the
householder (grltastha). Those gone-forth have reflections
from recalling experience of (mundane) sensory objects; and
elaboration from that swaying addiction. The householders
have attachment from living amidst (mundane) sensory
objects; and (mundane) ideas resulting from adherence to
attachment's sign-sources.
Asanga reveals the mind of the rnonk, his fixed ideas in five
situations:a6
(1) the idea when entering a city that one is enteringa prison;
(2) when in the monastery, continually having the idea of the
monk, e.g. "f have abandoned the home attire and adopted
one of bad color, so am not 'good-looking,"' and so on.
Twenty-two points were stated in the sutra;a7
(3) the idea of antidote to the sickness that is continually in
f ood;
(4) the idea when in seclusion, that in regard to forms to be
perceived by the eye, the sounds to be perceived by the ear,
one is blind and deaf and dumb;
(5) the idea when lying down, that one has stretched out his
hands and feet like the deer of the hermitage.
Asanga may perhaps speak more for himself than for the
generality of monk and nun. There are of course a wide diversity
of such persons, who ordinarily started out as a Buddhist layman
-male, the updsaka, or female, the upasika.
In the beginning the Buddha conferred the "going forth" (p.
pabbajjQ ordination of the male novice (Srama4era),perhaps the
first female novice (iramaperika), and postulants (iikgamdnd);
and he conferred the "full ordination" (P. upasampada)of the
monks (bhik;u) and perhaps the first of the nuns (bhiksuni). But
as Buddhism spread to other parts of India, it became necessary
for qualified monks to be permitted to conduct these two kinds

e6PTT,Vol. 111,p. 225-1-2, f., in the Vinaya-sarytgraha4i.

4?Asanga's list is somervhat
larger(his sourceunknown)than that oi the
Pali Vinaya;cf. HonNax,tr.TheBookof Discipline,Vol. I, p. 42, for the
eighteenidentificationsof "monk." For extended explanations
of theeighteen.
cf. Bapar and Hrnarawn, ShanChien-P'i-P'o-Sha, pp. 178-183.
-46 BuddhistInsight

of ordination.4s Perhaps this shift coincided with the event

mentioned in this paper above when the Buddha stopped parti-
cipating in the Uposatha, and there arose the distinction of two
kinds of Pdtimokkha. Since this might have led to a large
number of unwarranted ordinations by a person seekingto build
up a power center, it was prescribed that only a bhiksu of ten
years standing and of proven learning couid confer the full
ordination.ae These wise rules helped to ensure the integrity
of the Sdr.ngha;and so, by and large, the main disputes between
Buddhist sects in later times were over doctrinal rather than
Vinaya matters.
Accordingly, there were different forms of ordination, mainly
in terms of complexity. The ones conferred by the Buddha
himself were the most simple.0oThe first, later called the Pafrca-
vargenaganena upasampadd, was the ordination of the 'ofor-
tunate band of five" in the episode of Sarnath; when seeingthe
Buddha coming from afar their own resolution was broken, and
the monk marks-namely, the shaven head, begging bowl, and
yellow monk garb-appeared upon them in a miraculous manner,
and they becamethe first disciples.sl The next one, apparently,
is the Ehi Bliksukaya upasampada,the "Come, O bhikgu!" for-
mula, addressedto the candidate for ordination. A third forrn is
the Saraqtdgamanaupasampadd, what is called the Svam upasam-
padd, done by the candidate himself, who first adopted the marks
of a monk, shaven head, etc., and appearing before the Buddha
thrice uttered, "I take my refuge in the Buddha, I take my refuge
in the Dhamma, I take my refuge in the Sangha." But once the
ordination processwas turned over to the senior monks, a more
elaborate procedure was required, involving a formal act of the
Sd:mgha.52This formal ordination is called, P. Natti catuttha-
kamma upasampadd and S. Jfiapticaturthakarma upasampadd.
asMnoaN MonaN STNGH, "Life in the Buddhist Monastery during the 6th
Century B.C.," JBRS, XL, Pt. 2, June 1954,pp. 134-135.
4eMaoaN MonaN STNGH,ibid., p. 135.
50For the following names of various upasampadd,cf. B. JrNaNaNoa,ed.,
Upasampadajfiaptih,Tlbetan Sanskrit Works Series,Vol. VI (K. P. Jayaswal
ResearchInstitute, Patna, l96t), Introduction, p. 2.
srThis story is part of the introduction to "The First Sermon" in both the
Mahdvastu and Lalitavistara; cf. FnaNxrn EocsntoN, Buddhist Hybrid
Sanskrit Reader(MLBD Delhi, 1978),pp.17,20.
SrMap.eNMonaN SrNcH,op. cit., pp. 136-137.
 AncientBuddhistMonasticism 47

As the nun order started later in the Buddha's pilgrimage, it

appears that all nun ordinations-with the'possible exception of
the Buddha's aunt, the first Buddhist nun-took place through
a formal Sdr.nghaact; but becauseof certain differencesfrom the
monk ordination, it was given a different name, P. Atrlhavdcika
uposampada.ss There was much emphasis on seniority of "bhiksu-
becoming,o' with respectful devotion extended to the senior
monks.
The age of entering the religious life in different countries,
where Buddhism establisheditself with the sdrygha, has a rower
limit at l55aand caseswhere a boysswas ordained. when ordina-
tion becarne formalized, this increased the period between p.
Pabbajja and P. upasampadd, i.e. the novice and the fully ordain-
ed. A period of five years has been mentioned,s6but this has
perhaps not been standard during the many centuries and various
countries.
There are various well acknowledged reasons for entering the
Buddhist order. In Buddhist countries orphans frequently
entered the Sdr.ngha,as did widows the nun order. There are
stories about devout parents urging their sons to enter this re-
ligious life, even with the background of auspicious dreams.s?
The ancient story "conversion of Sdriputra and Maud, galyayana,'
concerns the "seeker" of the truth, the way, who finally decides
to enter the Brotherhood.bs
while in the beginning the Buddha admitted virtually every-
body into the order, soon exclusions of certain types-criminal
element, etc.-had to be enforced. It appears that the more the

53Cf. Up,qsl.r, Dictionary, p. 50.

54MADANMonLN Srucn, op. cit., p. 135.
55For example,LAuorrr, Histoire du bouddhismeindien, p. r85, mentions
that Kumarajiva (350-409)was ordained at the age of six (356). This is
known as the Kdkuttepaka pravrajyd.(the ordination of thosewho scare away
crows), cf. Anukul c. Banerjeg, sarvdstivdda Literature (calcutta, r9s7),
pp. 179-180.
s6MaoaN MonaN SrNcn, op. cit., p. 137.
5zcf. the rather primitive article, Arsx wavMAN, "The parents of Buddhist
Monks," Bharati (BanarasHindu University),1966-68,No. X & XI (..Central
Asia Number," ed. by A. K. Nanan), pp. 25-29.
58cf. EocsRroN, BuddhistHybrid sanskrit Reader pp.26-33, for hisedited
text from the Mahavastu, with introductory notes about the versions of the
story.
48 BuddhistInsight

imperial patfonage enjoyed by Buddhism, the more it excluded

persons-such as desertersfrom the army, sons lacking the per-
mission of their parents-so as not to offend the civil and military
authority. This process appears to have been completed during
the patronage of the celebrated King A5oka.5e For obvious
reasons,personswith contagiousdiseaseswere excluded,as were
persons with severe sensory affiictions, such as deafness (not
allowing the person to hear the precepts).60
It seemsuseful to compare the two ordinations of the Buddhist
system with the Brahmanic "stages of life." As well known this
is a sequenceof the celibate student, followed by the householder,
for the first two stages. There followed two stagesof homeless-
ness,the Vdnaprastha and the Sannyasa. It has been proposed
that the P. Pabbajja (the "going-forth") or the ordination as a
novice somewhat resemblestheVanaprastha stage; while the full-
ordination (P. Upasampadd) is equivalent to attaining the San-
nyasa,which is sometimescalled the Bhiksu A$rama.01 However,
in consideration that the ascetic orders did not recognizethe re-
quirement to be a householder, i.e. to repay a debt to the fore-
fathers by procreating progeny, which is essential to the theory
of the four stages,the comparison must be done in a different
way. Indeed, also in the Brahmanic system,the lad left home to
take up the Vedic study with a preceptor who would give him a
second birth (make him dviia). Hence, the nearest equivalent is
to take the Buddhist novice as equivalent to the brahmacdrin
student in the first stage; and to take the fully-ordained monk
and nun, becausethey have loosened their soctal duties, to be
roughly equivalent to the Vinaprastha (forest-hermit) in the third
stage. The equivalent to the sannydsa stage can be noticed in
the description of this stagein the New Upaniqads: he only needs
strip of, cloth, water pot of wood or earth, and staff: sleepson
the ground, with the sky for roof; stays at one place during the
rains, rest of the year travels continuously; avoids theatre,
families, feasts.62 This bears some resemblanceto the Buddhist
o'Some Aspects of Buddhism as Gleaned
5eCf. RaogAKRISHNA CsoUogl,RY,
through ASokan Inscriptions," ,IBR,S (Buddha Jayanti special Issue, vol.
Two), 1956, p. 426.
60For a longer list, cf. (JrAsa'r, Dictionary, p. 138.
olMaoaN MonaN StNcn, op. cit., pp. 135-136.
62Cf. K. V. G.q,Jnl.toRAGADKAR,Neo-Upanishadic Philosophy (Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1959), pp. 109-113.
 AncientBuddhistMonasticism
49
ascetic practices called the dhutagupa (qualities of
a purified
man), thirteen in number (infra), and the ti,vo-week retreats
by
the monks (iryfra). However, in the Brahmanic theory,
th;
sannyasastage was in the declining period of life,
after complete
disengagementfrom social duties; whereasin the
Buddhist case
the asceticpractices and retreats could take place
when the person
was relatively young and in full possessionof his strength
and
sensoryfaculties.
' An important
differenceto add to the above is that in the case
of the sannydsinthere was an automatic extinction
of his property-
rights. But the Buddhist monk or nun did
not undergo a .,civil
death" at ordination. This is becausetrre Buddhist
monk could
return to the social group if he found the
monastic life too hard,
or if he experienceda change of heart about
this kind of life;
and there was no extinction of his property rights
in the mean-
time.63
Turning to ordination practices themserves,
we note agreement
between the Theravd.da and the Mfllasarvdstivdda
use of the
P' upajjhdy4, s. updcthydya. In both cases,
ltl- the Buddha,s
injunction that a person should seek out
a ..competent,, monk
to act as his upajjhaya refers both to a person
ordaining a novice
and to a person looking after a disciple (p.
saddhiviharika, s.
sardhavihdrin), serving this master who
will eventuaily introduce
him to an appropriate meeting of the sar.ngha
r* ,n. purpose of
ordination as a bhiksu.'t tn the Mfilasarvdstivdda
practice, for
example, the continuance of this Vinaya tradition
in Tibet where
it.was the only Yinaya,the usage of the term
can be seen in the
biography of rson-kha-pa
ltisl-t+t9), founder of rhe Gerugpa
sect.65"In his seventh year, he .went forth,
to the religious life.
The lama Don-grub Rin-chen becamehis 'princ
ipar, (upacrrrydya),
charged with admitting the candidate to
the religiou, ori.r.
Glon-nu Byan-chub became his 'instructor' (acdrya).
He took
the vow of novice (iramanera), and"was given
the name Blo-bzan
Grags-pa'i-dpal." Notice that a superior called
upddhydya
and an underling called dcdrya both playeo
a paft in-fulfiiling
the candidate's "going forth" as a novice.
Latir the biographt
63Dr' DBv Rar cuawaNA,"The vinayapitaka
andAncie't Indian Juris-
prudence," Vol. XLIV, pts.i & ii, March-June,
"rBR^t, tgSg,pp. 22_23.
6cCf.
Upasltx, Dictionar!, pp. 44-45.
65Wayuau, Calnting the
Mind, pp. 16, 19.
50 BuddhistInsight

mentions the persons who directed Tson-kha-pa's full ordination

as a bhik5u: 1) one who was his "principal" @pAdhyAya,Tib'
mkhan po), a monastery abbot in spiritual descent from Sakya-
dribhadra (1127-1225),who introduced the third Milasarvdsti-
vida ordination lineage to Tibet; 2) one, happening to be the
abbct of another monastery, who was his "counselor" (Tib. Ias
kyi slob dpon; s. karma-acdrya);3) a third one, a kind of reli-
gious head, who was his "confidant" (Tib. gsan ste ston pa; s.
ialtonuiasaka). Thus, the term upddhydyc was used for the
principal at the novice vow and at the monk vow and could be
iwo different persons. The Tibetal equivalent to upadhydya,
namely mkhan po, was regularly used ior the head of a monastery.
For the vow of the novice, the followilg comes from the M[la-
sarvastivida practice:66After the applicant (already a tay Bud-
dhist) before the assembled Sd:mghahas expressed a desire to
obtain the "going forth" ordination from an upadhydya, a pte-
arranged monk asks on his behalf if he can be gralted the
ordination, whereupon the sd,r.ngharesponds-he can be, if he
is pure. After that, the applicant seeks out an upadhydya, who
arrangesfor the Dersonto get his hair and beard shaved;and after
yellow
bathing, he is furnished by the upadhl'aya with bowl and
robes. Then in front of the upddhy'dya the applicant takes his
refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sdr.ngha, announces
that he is giving up his marks of a householder and accepting
those of one "gone forth"-and this is said three times. The
'oFine!" The applicant is then
upddhydyc says something like,
turned over to another monk who inquires of the upadhydya if
he has ascertained the applicant's purity; a1d with assent, the
applicant again goes through the set formulas as above of refuge
anO ttooice's vow. Some monks require the applicant to be
able to tell from a shadow the time of the day. Now the "in-
structor" (acarya) makes the novice state in his presencethe ten
points of instruction (.frk,rdpada) which are the ten things he will
ior.go or give up. Of these, he had previously agreed to desist
from five during the Buddhist layman's vow, natnely, from killing
living beings, stealing, unlawful sexual activity, lying, and intoxi-
adds desisting from witnessing pleasurable
cants. He now
entertainments, from use of beautifying things like unguents,

66B.q,NsRlsB,Sarvdstivada Literature, pp' 109-113'

AncientBuddhistMonasticism 5l

using high and big beds, taking meals at wrong times, and
accepting gold and silver. The dcdrya says something like,
"Fine!"
For the vow of the monk, the following also comes from
Mfrlasarvdstivdd,a practice0z: The novice having attained an
age, of which the minimum is stated as "twenty" (as before,
presumably l5+5; and with inevitable exceptions), asks the
upddhyaya for an alms-bowl and religious robes. He also asks
the karmakdraka bhik;u (previously called the karmq-dcarya)
and the rahonusdkato conduct their proper rcles in the ceremony
and asks some other monks to participate. The information is
given tbat at least five vinayadharas (retainers of the vinaya
code) had to participate in the upasanpadd ardination. The
candidate makes his salutations, then squatting in front of the
upadhydya, three times implores him to act as the upddhydya
fcr his full-ordination. Assenting, the upadhyay,aprovides the
candidate with three robes either already made up, or with cloth
for the same; and the two go through a robe conflerment cere-
mony with formulas repeated thrice. Then comes exhibition of
the bcwl, and afterwards the upadhydyaconfers the bowl. Three
times the candidate states the proper use of the bowl. The
candidate is moved to the side, standing wirh folded hands, but
in view of the assembled Sar.ngha.
The karmakdraka bhikpu now asks the rahonusdsaka bhiksu
if he is willing to make the confidential inquiries to the candidate
with the named upadhyaya.upon getting the assent of the ral.io-
nuiasaka bhik;u the karmakaraka bhiksu makes a muktika-
jfiapti-apparently meaning his motion to the assembledSdr.ngha,
upon his sitting down-that the rahonuiasaka bhik;u be permit-
ted to make his confidential inquiries to the candidate. There
foliows the jfrapti-kq,rmq of the rahonuiasaka bhiksu apparerftly
meaning his questions to the candidate, out of ear-shct of the
Sdingha (hence as the "confidant") on various private matters,
starting with "Are you a man?" "Do you possessthe male
organ?" "Are you at least 20 years of age?" "Are your three
robes and bowl complete ?" and going down to questions
of whether he is a thief, a king's soldier, nun-seducer, indebted
to someone, aflicted with various illnesses, and so on (in fact,

oTBeNBnlrs, Literature, pp. 114-141.

Sarvdstivdda
52 BuddhistInsight

the entire list, which if in any case is not answered properly

would drop him from consideration as a monk); and he
informs the candidate to stay there until called and not to be shy
about revealing to the assembledSdr.nghahis answer to any of the
questions. The rahonuidsaka bhiksu moving within ear-shot
of the assembled monks declares that the candidate, aftet being
questioned, speaks of himself as free from all restrictions (to
his full ordination). The assembled monks say, "If he is per-
fectly pure, then let him come." The candidate is now brought
before the monks and salutes them. The karmakardka bhiksu
(in his role of "counselor") then directs the novice on what he
should say, namely, the formula of asking for the upasampadd
ordination with the named upddhydya, andthat he is willing to
answer any question. The kqrmakaraka bhiksu, after being
saluted by the candrdate who sits down in front of him, tells the
candidate to give answers to the questions without shyness-
and then goes through the samelist that the rahonuidsaka bhikgu
had asked in confidence. After this, the karmakdraka bldk;u
does his karnn of three times declaring that the candidate is a
man rvith male organ, has completed 20 years of age, has all the
robes and begging borvl, and is pure concerning the restrictions;.
and that if it be the Sdmgha'sconvenienceand approval, then
let the Sdr.nghaconfer the upasompada ordination on the given
candidate rvith the named upadhyaya; andthat all in favor should
remain silent, and those against speak up. After the third time,
he declaresthat since the Sapgha has remained silent (if that was
the case), it must be concluded that the Sdr.ngha has granted
the upasampadaordination on the candidate with such and such
name, who has the named upadhyaya. This completes the ful[-
ordination of the candidate as a monk (bhiksu). The newly
ordained bhikgu is made to measure the shadow and then is in-
formed about the parts of the day and night and about the seasons.
This ends the formal cererirony of ordination. He is then told
about monastery life, about robes, food, etc., and asked if he is
willing to live this way. He is told about the four gross falls, for
which he would be ousted from the Sd:rygha. He is told about
the four rules about ascetics,i.e. their brotherly conduct, of not
reviling others even when reviled, etc. He is told about the moral
rules of the Prdtimoksa and his expected service from this day
onward to the upadhyaya, who is as a father to a son. He is
 AncientBuddhistMonasticism 53

told to study the Buddhist doctrines of the personal aggregates,

dependent origination, etc.
The above rituals of "going forth" (pravrajya) and "full
ordination" (upasampad6) are called p. kammavdcd, s. karma-
vd.kya.as According to the Tibetan history text The BIue Annals,
both Nagdrjuna, founder of the Madhyamika sect of Buddhism,
and Asanga, founder of the yogdcara sect, received their ..full
ordination" in the Milasarvastivdda vinaya.Ge Hence, ordina-
tion as a monk was independent of doctrinal affiliations, as this
paper has already set forth.
As to the newly-ordained monk's learning about parts of the
day and the seasons,this is apparently a brief reference to in.
forming him of daily and seasonal observances. There have
been doubtlessmany differencesin daily observancesin Buddhist
monasteries in different countries and centuries. For example,
there is description about the daily life of the monks in ancient
ceylon that they arose before sunrise and contemplated the
Buddha, loving kindness, impurity of the body, and death;
then proceeded to their ablutions, sweeping,dressing according
to the rules, meeting with other monks to recite the ..Loving-
kindness scripture" (Metta-sutta);then to the hall for their break-
fast.?' There is a modern publication on the morning and
evening chanting in Thai Buddhism.?1
The vinayas set forth extensively the main observancesin topics
frequently called vastu. Hence, the Mllasarvastivdda vinaya
is called vinayavastu.zz In this vinaya, the first book is the pra-
vrajyavastu, from which previous material on the ordination
of novices and monks was drawn. This book goes also into the

.sBaNpnJBr, sarvdstivddaLiterature,p. 142.For more information,cf.

HsnnnnrHAnm, Karmavdcanri (sanskrittexte aus den Turfanfunden;Aka-
demie-Verlag, Berlin, 1956). For ordinationceremonies of countriesother
than India, cf. J. P. MrNavBnr,Recherches sur Ie Bouddhisme (pais,1g94),
"La communaut6 desmoinesbouddhistes," pp. 296-315.
eeGsoncnN. RorRlcH, The BrueAnnars,part
one (Delhi, r97g), pp.
34-3s.
T'warpora RAHuLA,History of Buddhismin ceylon (M.D.
Gunasena&
Co., Colombo,1956),pp. 173-174.
Trrhe Pali chantingscripturewith rhai & EnglishTranslation,
T962.
72Thefollowing material on the vinayavastuis summarized
from
Banerjee, sarvdstivddaLiterature, pp. 10l-246.FnauwaLLNER, The Earliest
l/inaya,pp.70-129,compares all the vastu-sof the variousvinayas.
54 BuddhistInsight

qua.lificationsof the monks chiefly engagedin the ordination rites

and the reasonsfor asking the various questions of the candidate
for bhik;u. The second book, the Popdhavastu concerns the
Prdtimoksa recitation which has been already mentioned by
the name P. Uposatha (S. Upavasatha). More details will
follow in this paper. This Vinaya then reversesthe proper order
of two books, the Varqdvastu,concerning the conduct of monks
during the rains-their restriction to one residence, etc.-and
the Pravdranavastu, to confess any offences committed during
the three-month retreat of the rains in a l-day ceremony conclud-
ing this retreat.Ts The fifth one, the Carmavastu, on footwear;
the sixth, Bhaipajyavastu,on food and medicaments;the seventh,
Civaravastu, on the materials and preparation of monk robes;
and the eighth, Kafhinavastu, on distribution of robes at the end
of the rainy season and laymen's gifts-are mainly on the food
and clothing needs and the rules for special cases. The ninth,
KoSdmbakavastu, on suspension (utksepaniya) of a monk, in-
augurates chapters showing the internal ecclesiasticallaw code
of the Buddhist monasteries. Then, the tenth, Karmavastu,
concerns limitations of monks to perform suspension; the
eleventh, Pap{ulohitakavastu, gives the disciplinary actions for
various serious offences; the twelfth, Pudgalavastu, goes into
particular casesof punishment for specific offences;the thirteenth,
Pdrivisikavastu, the duties of monks undergoing light punish-
ment (parivdsa); the fourteenth, Posadhasthdpanavastu,estab-
lishing the impurity that would exclude a monk from participa-
tion in the Upavasatha (P. Uposatha). The concluding parts
in this Vinaya are the fifteenth, Sayanisanavastu,on construction
of monastery buildings and furnishing them; the sixteenth,
Adhikara4avastu, formation of the nun order and settlement of
disputes among the monks; and finally Sar.nghabhedakavastu,
which should be concerned with splits in the monk community
but in fact in this Vinaya goes in to the legendary origin of the
Sakya race and the life of Gautama, who became the Buddha,
from birth to leaving home for the religious life.
As to the thirteen "qualities of a purified man" (dhutagu4a),
or elseto be renderedoostrands that were shaken off," they consti-

73Thatis, in this Vinayathe Pravdra4dvastu

is the third vastu,though
logicallyit shouldbe the fourthone.
AncientBuddhistMonasticism 55

tute a movement to adopt more ascetic practices than monastery

life was prone to, in consideration that the Middle Path of the
Buddha avoided the extremes of mortification of flesh and indul-
gence in desires but also that the Buddha was called "great
ascetic" (mahalrama7a).74 In the Visuddhimagga the thirteen
(called here dlrutanga) are: l. to wear robes made of refuse rags
(parysukulikafigam); 2. to have not more than three robes (teci-
varikangam); 3. to eat only food collected by begging (pirtda-
pdtikangam);4. to not miss any housein the regular rounds when
begging (sapaddnacdrikangam);5. to sit down for eating only
once a day no matter what (eka,sanikangam);6. to be satisfied
with whatever is received in one's single bowl (pattapiryQilcangam);
7. to refuse any food after finishing one's meal (khalupacchabhatti'
kangam); B. to dwell in a forest, away from the city (arafifii'
kangam); 9. to dwell at the base of a tree (that is not prohibited
for the purpose) (rukkamulikangam); 10.to live in an open space
(except when raining) (abbhokasikangant);11. to live in a cemetery
(sosanikangam);12.to usewhateverbed or seatis offered,without
adversecomment (yathasanthatikangam);13.to take rest at night
only by sitting (nesajjikangam). Needless to say, a practitioner
would adopt a certain one of these ascetic practices, which nor-
mally meant a renunciation of certain privileges accorded to the
monks in monastery life. Asanga explains that these practices
are meant to purify the mind and make it fit fordwelling in chastity
(brahmacarya).75
Besides,it appearsthat the monks dwelling in the usual mon-
astery setting had an opporfunity to practice more toward
santddhi during the three-month retreat of the rains when they
did not go begging. There are indications that they may have
had to get along with less food than at other times.?6 Indeed,
it is said:1l "If during the three months of summer-retreat, a
?aCf. NITINAKsHADurr, Early Monastic Buddhism (Calcutta, 1960), pp.
155, f., from which the following thirteen dhutarigaare summaized, for the
theory that Devadatta's attempt to force certain rigorous practiceson the
Slmgha as a whole-an attempt opposed by the Buddha-attained some
measureof successin time in terms of adoption by various monks, although
the list was not itself ever incorporated in the Vinaya.
75Wa,vvnN,Analysis of the Srdvakabhumi,p. 82.
76Cf. HonNan, The Book of Discipline, Vol. f, on the Fourth Defeat,
pp. 153-154.
TTBapatand Hmartwa,, Shan-Chien-Pi'-P'o-Sha, p. 142.
56 BuddhistInsight

Iarge number of monks who had started practising samadhi have

not finished their job, the Tathdgata cioesnot observe the Great
Pavarand.." By "Pavarani" is meant the one-day ceremony,
as alluded to above, for concluding the retreat during the rainy
season. The Buddha was also mentioned as going into retreats
for specifiedpurposes: once in a solitary place for a half-month,
except for one bringing food-to enter a samddhi for examining
the past on a certain matter;?8 at another time for a retreat of
three months-apparently to set an example.zeIt appears that
the two-week retreat was a favorite of rnonks, as the writer has
observed some Tibetan monks doing the same in present times,
for coming to a conclusior on some troublesome point of
doctrine, etc.
we should nct leave this topic of Buddhist monasterial life
rvith the impression ihat it just amounted to a big problem of
persons adjusting to this sort of life, some obeying injunctions,
others committing offencesto be censured or deservingejection
from the Sarygha. This may be clarified by a cursory compari-
son of the Brahmin with the Bhiksu and by an ancient quarrel.
It is rvell knorvn that rvhen Gautama left home to seek the
religious life he undertook an asceticdisciplineespeciallyby the
River Nairaiijand for six years, perhaps for some time with no
more food intake than some asceticswere reported to have taken
in those days-a handful of beans every third day.aoAt the end
of that time he decidedthat this coursedid not lead to the highest
goal (the Dharma transcendingman's) and he undertook a middle
path between mortification of the flesh and indulgence in sensory
desires, taking a modest nourishment while meditating at the
base of the Bodhi Tree. So also the Hindu Laws of Manu (lI,
100) state: "Keeping the village of the sensesin subjection and
controlling the mind, he would accomplish all (human) aims
rvithout reducing his body through t-oge." This indicates that
rvhen the Buddha decided on the middle path he accepteda certain
pcrtion of the Brahmanical "stages of life," and while continuing
to uphold the ascetic ideal renounced its more extreme form.

T8Bapar and Hnlrtw4 Shan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha, p. 290.

?eB.qpar and Hmarawt, Shan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha, p. 434.
80cfl. A. L. Basnau, History and Doctrines of the Aitvikas (Luzac &
Company, London, 1951), 50, for this practice.
Ancient Buddhist Monasticism 57

what he accepted in common with the Brahmanical course be-

came called in Buddhist terminology "instruction of morality"
(adhisila-iiksd),amounting, in monasterial language,to adherence
to the Patimokkha (s. Pratimoksa). Then a Brahmin lad, start-
ing at eight years and taking the vedic course.for twelve years,
would become a Brahmin priest in his village at the same age
(twenty) that the Buddhist vinaya gives for "fulr ordination"
as a monk (bhiksu). This Brahmin lad for the normal period
of twelve years had been adhering to a standard of continence
called braltmacarya, which was precisely enjoined upon the en-
trants to Buddhist monasterial life. However, while the Brahmin
proceededto the next stage of life, the householder who raises
a family, the Buddhist monk continued his celibate ways, attempt-
ing, as the first part of this article has cited from the Anguttara-
nikaya (Book of Sevens),to surmount the Realm of Desire,
dwell in the forn Dhyanas of the Realm of Form and then in the
liberation of mind and of insight, and have the full realization
in this life. And so the quarrel is over how to attain all (human)
aims.
It is easierto compare the two systemsin terms of a sequence
from AsangaosSravakabhutni: going forth, restraint of morality,
restraint of senseorgans, moderation in food, practice of staying
awake (in the former and latter part of night), conduct with
awareness,solitude, elimination of hindrances,right dwelling in
samddhi.sl Thus, in the Brahmanical system, the lad went forth
to the preceptor, becametwice-born; and the Buddhist monastic
followers became "ascetics who are sons of the Buddha." The
Brahmanical youth restrained his morality in the code called
'brahmacarya and was supposed to restrain his senseorgans in the
manner set forth in the Laws of Manu, Chap. 2; while the Buddhist
monasterial novice was supposed also to restrain his morality
and then his sense organs, as set forth at length in Asanga,s
Srdvakabhumi. But then the Buddhist system went on to claim
something over and beyond the Brahmanical procedure for
attaining the (human) aims. It was claimed that the ascetic in
the Buddhist order would proceed to oomoderationin food,"
o'practice
of staying awake," and so on. In the description of
"practice of staying awake" Asanga states that when one has

81Cf.WayuaN,Calmingthe Mind, pp. 31-38.

58 Buddhist Insight:

moderation in food in the manner set forth, he goes on to purify

his mind from obscuring natures by walking and sitting during
the day and during the first watch of the night; and also during
the last rvatch of the night after resting in the middle watch of the
night. Notice that Asanga claims something for this phase that
was not claimed for the restraint of morality or for the restraint
of senseorgans, namely, a purification of the mind from obscur-'
ing natures, as a preparation for entering into samadhi. That
is not to denigrate those previous observancesand behavior
restrictions as trivial; indeed, Buddhism puts great stock on this
prior base of morality for proceeding to meditation. In short
the Buddha's rejection of the extreme of mortiflcation of the flesh
should be viewed as a rejection of asceticpractices that are not
preceded by a previous moral training involving a continuous
discrimination of things to be rejected and things to be accepted
(especially by the senses). And the Buddhist rejection of the
Brahmanical "stages of life" is an attitude that if one waits until
the last period of life before one is an ascetic, there is not much
that this ascetictsmwould accomplish in the senseclaimed for the
asceticismthat follows directly upon the restraint of senseorgans.
It is not the business of the present writer to take sides on this
great cleavage between the two systems, except to observe the
foregoing as essential for understanding the great movement of
Buddhist monasticism. Of couise, the training of the Brahmin
youth for a number of years with the brahmacarya code, followed
by the stage of householder, doubtless helped to preserve Hindu-
ism through the many centuries. The non-return to society of
the Buddhist monk in the sense of raising a family (except for
the person leaving the monkhood) meant a more fragile base in
society for the Buddhist monastery.

ru. TgB orrBNcEs, coNFESSIoN,AND PENANCE

Since the offences are listed in the Pdtimokkha (S. Prdtimokqa),

it should be recalled that this paper already establishedthe mean-
ing of the term as "Liberation-onset." Consistent with my
findings, Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakoia (IY, 16) states: "Ths
Prdtimokqa path-of-act is the pair, candor (vtifiapti) and reticence
(avijfiapti), at the outset" (adye viifiapty-aviifiapti prdtimoksa-
kriydpathal). And Vasubandhu comments in part: "Priti-
Ancient Buddhist Monasticism 59

moksa is the candor and reticence at the commencement, of the

person taking the vow (saynvara)" (saqnvara-samdddnasya
prathame vijfiapty-avijfiapti prdtimokga ity ucyate).82 These
terms are in the Mahdsdmghika listed tenets I have elsewhere,
cited: No. 60 "virtue causedby a vow increases";No. 61 "candor
(aijfrapti) is virtue"; No. 62 "reticence (auijfiapti) is immoral."83.
"Path of-act" apparently refers to the confessional.
The Pratimoksa-siltrq, verse 16, of the Mfilasarvdstivdda Vinaya
is cited in Tson-kha-pa's Lam rim chen mo as illustrative of the
Instruction of Morality (adhiiilaiiksA) for the monks:8a
This Pritimoksa (Liberation-Onset) is like the bridle of a
hundred sharp nails on the difficult-response mouth of the
horse-like mind driven by incessant effort.85
According to the context of this verse's citation, the "difficult-
response mouth" means the spiritual guide's speech endowment
(uacasd'bhyupetary) of Mahayana-Sutralarytkdra,XVII, 10..
The "hundred sharp nails" are presumably the "one hundred
kermoso' of the work Millasaruastiuddanikayaikaiatakarman,
briefly alluded to by I-Tsing but not listed by him, and apparently
all the main monastery rites starting with ordination as a novice.86
The teacher who has gone through these "karmas" is said to have'
these as a bridle on his mouth, capable of answering the difficult
questions of the disciples,while his mind, like a horse, is spurred
on. Vinitadeva explains the "hundred sharp nails" as the "points
of instruction" (iikpapada),87 which might signify the 150-odd

82P. Pn.noHaN,ed., Abhidharmakoiabhalyam of Vasubandhu (K. P.

JayaswalResearch Institute,Patna,1975),p.207.
83A. W,q,yr\aAN,
"The Mahisdmghikaand the Tathigatagarbha," The'
JournalofthelnternationalAssoctationof BuddhistStudies,Vol. 1, No. 1,
1978,p. 36.
seTashilunpo ed. of Lam rim chenmo, fol. 20b-5,in an introductory,
sectionon the topic; relianceon the spiritualguide(kalya4amitra).
85ANurur, CnaNona BnNeRlnn, ed., Prdtimok;a-sfitra (Mulasarvdstivada)-
(Calcutta, 1954),p. 3, mentionsthat reconstructedpassageshave beenput in
bracketsin his text. He had to reconstructa number of lacunae with the.
help of the Tibetan. However, in the case of verse 16, his reconstruction
does not appear to have been successful;and so I have used the rest of the
verse(extant Sanskrit)plus the Tibetan translation to arrive at the translation"
given.
s6Tararusu, tr., A Record, p. 95.
87PTT,Yol. 122, p.279-3-2.
60 Buddhist Insight

prohibitions of the Prdtimoksa-siitra or might conceivably refer

to the "one hundred karmos.o'
The Prdtimoksa as a morality (iila) beyond the five layman's
vows is called "morality of a day and night," since during the
Poqadha (P. Uposatha) there is no eating atter noon for a day
and a night, which is the fast (upaudsa) accompanied by the eight-
fold mor ality (as!Angai tla).88
The recitation of the Prdtimoksa is ordinarily in full, but it
could be cut short to the minimum of the four "defeats" (pdrd-
jika) alone.8e Thesefour, mentioned first in the list, are the worst
offences, requiring immediate expulsion from the Simgha:
l) sexualintercourse,of any sort; 2) theft of a valuable, with aware-
nessthat it does not belong to oneself; 3) murder, or commending
it or abetting it; 4) pretending to superhuman powers.eo
As to the secondone, "stealing," it has been wrongly suggested
as relevant that the monk upon entering the Order had renounced
any claim to private property.el Rather, the four 'odefeats" are
related to the Buddhist Genesisstory, where-portraying the fall
from a superhuman state of the first eon men-sexual intercourse
went along rvith eating of coarsemorsel food, requiring crops of
same, leading to their theft and mortal blows on that account.e2
Indeed, all the "defeats" have features of "theft", sometimes
metaphorical. Thus the first one, sexual intercourse, m€ans taking
a sexualpartner, who (or even,which) does not belong to the monk
for such a purpose sincehe is supposedto be celibate. The second
ssCf. Errsrwn Lauorrl, Le TraitddelaGrandeVertudeSagesse,TomeII
(Louvain,7949),esp.pp. 825-832,
for this fast,the "eightfoldmorality,"and
informationabouta six days'fast,whichmay amountto threedaysat full
moonandthreedaysat newmoon, or elsetwo dayseachat full andnew, plus
two "eighth" days.
8eB.JN.q,NaNDA, ed., AbhisamdcarikalBhik;uprakir{rakal (K. P. Jayaswal
Researchlnstitute, Patna, 1969),Introduction, p. viii.
e0cf. the extended treatment in Bapnr and Hnlx swa,,Shan-Chien-p'i-
P'o-Sha, op. cit.
elSo HonNnn, The Book of Discipline, Vol. I, introduction, p. xxi. Cf.
precedingconclusion,employing the.IBRS article by Dn. Dpv Rar Cg.nNANA,
n. 63, above.
e2Cf. Anx WAvuaw, "Buddhist Genesis and the Tantric Tradition,"
Oriens Extremus,9:1,1962,pp 1,27-131, for a summaryof the story and im-
plication for the 'oupward" progressof the Buddhist monk. This essaycan
be found also in A. wayman, The Buddhist Tantas (samuel weiser, Newyork,
1,973),pp. 24-29.
 AncientBuddhistMonasticism 6l

one is theft per se, especially of material, valuable objects. The

third, murder, means taking or promoting the taking of a life,
which belongs to another and has irreplaceable preciousness.The
fourth one of pretense to realizations and powers in its explana-
tion has five explicit thieves:e3i) the big thief in the story about
the "defeat": monks living on the bank of the River vaggumuda
near vesali (S. vaisali) getting by false pretensionsfood, medicine,
and other valuables.ii) the big thief monk who pretendshe learned
the Dhamma (s. Dharma) from himself (through his powers of
realization) and not from someone else. iii) the big thief evil-
minded monk who condemns those monks who are following the
path and progressing in meditation, praising himself as the really
pure man. iv) the big thief who secretly takes and gives gifts of
monastery property in order to get favors and support of certain
householder. v) the big thief who acts as though the monastery
property belongs to hirn and freely takes it and uses it or gives it
away. The preceding shows that thievery, either concretely or in
metaphorical senses,was viewed with particular horror. perhaps
this attitude is behind the Mahi.ydna Buddhist emphasis oo
o'giving"
(ddna) as the first perfection (pdramita), even ahead of
"morality" (irla).
The Pdtimokkha of the nan (bhikkhuni) has eight ..defeats,"
the above four in common with the monk, and four additional
ones: 5) enjoying the contact of a male person between the
collar-bone and knee; 6) concealing the "d.efeat" offence of an-
other nun; 7) becoming the follower of a monk who has been
suspended; 8) possessing any of eight sexual dispositions.ea
Besides, a nun had to accept the eight guru-dltarma, which the
Buddha enjoined upon the women who would enter the order,
considering that women are also capable of attaining Arhatship,
but which doubtless did not encouragethem to become nuns:eb

ssCf.Bapar and Hrnarlw.q, Shan-Chien-p'i-p'o-Sha,

pp. 335, ff. for an
extendeddiscussion
of thefivebig thieves.
eaCf.Upasl'x, Dictionary, p. 158.
esFor the eight guru-dharma, cf. Gusrav Rorn, Bhik;u4i-vinaya (K. p.
Jayaswal Research rnstitute, Patna, 1970), Introduction, chap. III, pp.
xxix-xxxii. The association of the number eight with women appears an
establishedmatter in the Pdli Anguttara-nikaya (Book of Eights), where be-
sides the canonical story about Mahapajdpati's acceptanceof the eight
dharmas,there is the account that women have eight qualities who after death_
62 BuddhistInsight

i) no matter how old the nun, she should bow her head,to the feet
of a monk, even one ordained that day; ii) being a virgin of eight-
'een years she requests the Orders of monks and nuns for two
years' training at the end of which she may be fully ordained;
iii) nuns may not addressmonks regarding the true and the false;
a monk may address nuns regarding the true but not the false;
iv) the nuns must wait until the monks have been supplied with
food, bedstead,and lodging before being themselvessupplied; v)
.a nun guilty of a grave offence must apply to the Order of nuns
for the severe penance of isolati on (mdnatva) for half a month
and certification of rehabilitation from both the Orders; vi) every
half month the nuns should desire the coming of the monks on
Uposatha day, for instruction; vii) the nuns may not spend the
rainy seasonat a place devoid of a monk; viii) upon the conclu-
sion of the rainy seasonthe nuns should desire to invite each other
before both the Orders (to be open about what transpired during
the rainy season).'
Then for the monks comes a section of thirteen Sanghddisesa
offences. One of the traditional explanations for the title-
whereby it is rendered "beginning with (Adi), and remaining with
(sesa) the Sangha,"e6 i.e. entirely within the purview of the
Sangha-seems confirmed by Vinitadeva's commentary on the
Vinayavibhanga, with the S. SdryghdvaSesa ("remains in the
'Sdrygha"). Thus Vinitadeva: "depends on the Sar.ngha" (Tib.
'dun Ia rag 'dun
dge lus pa); "entailed by the Sdr.ngha" (dge dan
'brel 'dun
ba); "arises from the Sar.ngha"(dge las rnampar ldan par
'gyur);
and "'without a remainder' (would be) becausethere is
'with a remainder'
no common (shared) means of purification;
(would be) becausethere is a common means of purification."e?
Hence, the term Sanghddisesaseemsto have been adopted to
contrast with the Parajika ("defeat"), namely, where there is a
means of purification within the Sdr.nghafor a serious offence
and where there is no such means.As to the list, the first five relate
to sexual indiscretions short of sexual intercourse. Then come
offences relating to construction of morrastic dwellings, false

are reborn as lovely fairids; and earlier the 'oGreat Chapter" has a passago
that a woman enslavesa man in eight ways.
e6For a discussionof the title, cf. FIoRNER,The Book of Discipline, Vol. f,
Introduction, pp. xxix-xxxii.
gzPTT,Yol. 122,p. 313-4.
AncientBuddhistMonastioism 63

accusations, abetting schisms in the Sangha, and polluting the

faith of a devout family. The nun had'some more possible
offences. There was a light punishment of living apart called
parivdsa and a severe penance of isolation called manatta
(5. manatva), both requiring the sanction of the Sangha in the
beginning and end. By "end" is meant that one becomes ready
for restitution (abbhdna) by the official act of the Sangha,
consisting of at least twenty persons.es
Next come the two aniyata-dhammesor Indeterminate Offences
about the associationof a monk with a woman, where the gravity
of the offence (whether o'defeat", Sanghidisesa, or the lesserfault
called Pacittiya) is determined by a reliable witness, especially a
reliable female layman (upasika).se
The Theravdda Vinaya now presents thirty Nissaggiya-
picittiyas, offences especially about the religious garb-its
measurements,renewals,etc.; and the begging bowl; as well as
money transaciions with laymen.lm These are followed by
ninety-two infractions (pacittiya; Sanskrit uses the term pdtayan-
tika) of the monk in the Bhikkhu-Pdtimokkha, with a hundred
sixty-six of the nun in the Bhikkhuni-Pdtimokkha. Some of these
are heretic views on matters of morality, such as declaring permis-
sible acts that are permissible, and vice versa. Violations of the
prohibition on monks to view entertainments, concealing a serious
offence of another monk, are among the miscellaneousoffences.1o1
Various Vinayas differ considerably in the material presented on
each of these sins. For example, Pdcittiya No. 33 in one list on
"taking food successively"is quite short.102In the Mtlasarvasti-
vada Vinaya this is Pdtayantika No. 31, and Vinitadeva's com-
mentary, taking its cue from the basic Vinayavibhanga,launches
into a lengthy description of drawing the "Wheel of Life" (well-
known from its Chinese and Tibetan forms),103of which there
is nothing corresponding in the other account of this offence.
The Patidesaniya are a group of offences to be confessedin a

ssThissummaryof the list is basedon Upasak,Dictionary,pp,2l3-2I4.

seBaparand Hrurrwd,, Shan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha, Introduction,p. xxxi.
100{Jp4s411, Dictionary,pp. 121-122.
l0lUpAsAK, Dictionary, p. 15I; B.lrer and Hmarawn, Shan-Chien-p'i-
P'o-Sha, Introduction, pp. xxxiii-xxxv.
10296p41 and Hrnarltwt, Shan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha, pp. 470-47I.
loaPTT, Vol. 123, p. 1.2-3-3, f.
 64 BuddhistInsight

manner prescribed by the text: "r have fallen into a blameworthy

matter, unbecoming, which ought to be confessecl,I confessit.'"
They are the offences of requesting food from impoverished
persons,four related to monks and eight to nuns.1oa
The group of sekkiya (S. Saiksa) is precepts. The Ther avada
Yinal'a has 75 such rules, samefor monk and nun : l-2, on proper
dress, 3-26 on how to enter a village, town, or house, 27-56 on
taking meals, 57-72on preaching of the Dhamma,73-75 concern-
ing toiiets, etc.losThe Dharmagupta school is quite different here,
n'ith 24 rules dealing with the stilpa}os
The final entries in the pdtimokkha have to do with settling
of disputes.loT
Asanga, in vinaya-samgrahani, says:108"one may understand
all transgressions(dpatti) to be established by the fifteen wicked-
nesses (dugkyta)," as follows:

1. a grave thing, e.g. the four defeats. But the beginner can
have them in a pre-defeat form, which taken care of in
time, can ayert a "defeat.,'
2. non-contentment with lack of things one might want
more of.
3. creating incidents, or opportunities, to have offensive
relations with nuns, etc.
4. acting in such a way among raity as to causethose without
faith not to get faith and for those with faith to lose it.
5. trading or trafficking in merchandise and precious things
like gold and silver.
6. lust, leading to sexualdischargesand to erotic advances.
7. hurting othersby calumny,etc.
8 . causinginjury to othersby requiringthem to carry excessive
loads,etc.
9. interruptingthe progressto "heaven" (sugat by breaking
)
the concordin the Sangha.

104!4p41 and HrurAwA, p. 436; Upasak, Dictionary,

p. l5l.
105{Jp454K,Dictionary, pp. 240-241.
1068A'4T and HrnarawA, Introduction, p. xxxv,
and pp. 4g7_4gg.
107upASAK,Dictionary, has a good summary,pp. 223-224,
and refersto the
lengthl, description in Cullavagga.
108PT"I',vol. 111, p. 222-5-5to p.223-4-3; in thistranslation
from the
Tibetan I have given only the main list with meagerexpansionfor some items.
 AncientBuddhistMonasticism 65
10. interrupting the way of the ascetic(or novice) by refusing
precepts,saying, "Don't tell me!,,
11. not eliminating what is to be eliminated; and eliminating
what should not be eliminated.
12. dwelling where one should not dwell; and not dwelling
where one should dwell.
13. not venerating what one should. venerate, e.g. the prati-
moksa; and venerating what one should not venerate.
14. to tell what should be kept secret, e.g. to express the
superior dltarma (uttaradharma)to one not ordained; and
1o concealwhat should be told, e.g. not to tell theneophy-
tes about the transgressions(apatti) that concern them.
15. t o r ely upon w h a t o n e s h o u l d n o t re ry u pon a.g.on not
,
properly examined clerical garb; and not to rely upon
what one should rely upon.
Asanga was pteviously mentioned to have been ordained in
the MDlasarvastivada vinaya; therefore, the foregoing and
the
following from the vinaya section of his great work should
be
taken as consistent with that vinaya. He classifies by their
nature (svarupa)ecclesiasticar offences (apatti)as minor, middling,
and great, where the Defeats are the great transgressions,
the
sdr.nghdvasesathe middling kind, and any other the minor
transgression. He gives another classification where the Defeats
and the Sdr.nghdvasesaare grave (s. guruka; p. garukdpatti),
the infractions (Patayantika) and the pratidesaniya are middling,
and the Dusklta is a light one. Classified by agency, he ,uy,
what is done through ignoranceand heedlessness is a minor trans-
gression; what is done through many defilementsis a middline
transgression;and what is done through (deliberate)disrespect
ii
a great transgression. classified by intention, whatever one
does in a small way when enwrapped by lust, hatred, and delu-
sion, is a small (transgression);does in a medium way, is
a
medium one; does in a great way, is a great (transgiession).
classified by points (of instruction), there are also the minor, the
middle, and the great transgression. classified by the number
of monks required for the case,minor transgressionsrequire
one
to five; middling transgressionsrequire ten, or twenty, or thirty;
for the great one, no number given.ros
'0ePTT, vol. 117,p.224-l-6to 224-3-2;rhave takenfromTibetanthemain
detailsof Asanga'sremarks.
66 BuddhistInsight

Turning to the confessional,it should be observedthat certa.in

offenceswere never a.dmittedto be atoned for by confessingthem.
We have seenthe four Defeats (para.iika)as a mandatory expul-
sion from the Order. The grave sins that could be handled by
the Sdmgha, and called S. SamghdvaSesa, required suspensiort
and penance, not expulsion. Any others, i.e. the minor trans-
gressions,could be atoned for by confessing,also referred to as
"pacifying" the sin. According to the Pd:li Vinaya text Mahd-
ragga: "If a Bhikkhu, after a threefold proclamation, does not
confess an existing offence which he remembers, he commits
an intentional falsehood.llQ The confessingof sins one by one
was a traditional explanation in Asia for the translation of the
term prdtimok;a by "liberation one by one." Thus I-Tsing
writes: "While thus confessing one's own faults and desiring
to be purified, one hopes the sins are expiated being confessedone
by one. To confess sins all at once is not permitted in the
Vinaya."lrr The settlement of sins susceptibleof being handled
in this manner is referred to in Pdli as palififiatakararya.lr2The
monk admits the offence before the assembledSangha or before
a monk. This is a procedure wider than the confessionof minor
infractions. If one restricts the consideration to these minor
ones, this is probably the situation referred to in the often-cited
report of a J. F. Dickson (lournal of the Royal Asiatic Society
for 1875) who was allowed to witness a Patimokkha in Ceylon
and said, among other things: "After we were seatedthe priests
retired two and two together, each pair knelt down face to face
and made confession of their faults, one to another, in whis-
pers."rra ElsewhereI cited sourcesfor the Mahdyina equivalent
to this confession "face to face," pointing out that this abate-
ment of sin, tantamount to a calming of the mind, is involved in
facing the Thirty-five Buddhas of Confession and in other forms
of "facing" under specified 114ul.q.rqgsQrgces.l1a
lloRHYs Devlos and OrorNeunc,"t tld*P#kmra (SacredBooksof the
East, XIII, Oxford, 1881), \1, 3, 4 (Uposatha Ceremony and Patimokkha),
p. 243.
111f46ar<gsu, tr., A Record, p. 89.
112{Jp4s66, Dictionary, p. 130.
113Cf.HeNny Ctanxe, WAnREN,Buddhismin Translations(Harvard Uni-
versityPress,1947),pp. 405-408.For variousfeaturesof this confessional,
see
the Mahavagga(Ruvs Dlvros and OrorunrRc, trs.), 1I 27, l-15, pp. 282-286.
lla{1py WAyMAN, "Purification of Sin in Buddhism by Vision
 Ancient Buddhist Monasticism
67
However, if the monk is guirty even of minor infractions, it
is held that concealment, i.e. failure to confess it in
the appro_
priate circumstances,acts as a hindrance to his success
in medi_
tation. He is "sitting on thorns," and the text continues: ..If
the vinaya-master goes to his place and asks him: .Good
friend,
how is the state of your mind? Did you attain samadhi
or not?,
he replies: 'No samddhi.' The vinaya-master says: .In this
world,
one who commits an offence cannot conceal it. If
at the time
when one commits the offencefor the flrst time, he tries to
conceal
himself, then the beneficentdeities would certainly first
come to
know it. So also the Samansand Brdhmans who can
know the
minds of others.'" 115By ,.Samaqs,,iS meant the ascetics
(p.
samz(tq, S. irama4a).
Also in the case of the more grave offencescalled p.
sar.nghd-
disesaor S. Sdr.nghdvasesa, it is necessaryto approach immediate-
ly another monk to inform him of the offence ano make
arrange-
ment for expiation, in which case the offending monk
need only
observe the six nights of "Man atta." But concealment
of the
offenceentails a period of penancecalled ,,parivasa',equal
to the
time he concealed the original grave offence, in addition
to the
six nights of "Manatta." The sar.nghadecides on the limitations
of his movements, etc. during the period of penance.
The nuns
were treated differently: whether or not a nun concealsthe
offence,
she only undergoes a Mdnatta of a fortnight. The
stringency
of the limitations on the monk during this penance period
is
supposedto sufficefor the expiatiol.rre Again, in
the period of
Mahdyina Buddhism, there is a rite of ripentance
associated
with worship of the Bodhisattva Akasagarbha, as cited: ,,Full
of shame, like a patient with sores upon his eyes, from
one to
seven days you must worship Buddhas, and especially
the name
of the Great compassionate Bodhisattuu Atasugarbha,
and you
must wash your body and burn severalkinds of incense.
... out
of compassion with.iinners this Bodhisattva in all kinds
of
shapes appears in their dreams or in samddhi, and
with the
cintamaryi seal stamps their arms, thus removing the
marks of
fession,"A study of Kreia, ed. by GsNruN H. sesarr (shimizukobundo
Ltd.,
Tokyo, 1975),pp. 64-66.
11514p41and HrnarAwn,, Shan_Chien_p,i_p'o_Sha,
p. l7l.
116cf. the entries 'parivdsa (I)' and .Mdnatta'
in upasak, Dtctionary, pp.
142-144and pp. 183-184.
68 Buddhist Insight

crime. After havingobtainedthis sign they must return to the

congregationof the monks and explain tlie commandments as
before."117

117$/avM4rr,"Purification of Sin in Buddhism by Vision and Confession,"

pp. 70-71, citing M. W. on Vlsssn's translation from the Kwan Kokuzd
Bosatsu Kyd inhis The BodhisattvaAkasagarbha(Kokazo) in china and Japan
(Amsterdam, 1931).
 3

ASPECTSOF MEDITATION IN THE

THERAVADA AND MAHISASAKA

'
INTRoDUcrroN
Monks, if a monk should wish: "May I be agreeableto my
fellows in the pure life, liked by them, revered and re-
spected," he should be one who fulfills the moral rules
(sila), who is intent on calming the mind (cetosamatha)
within, whose meditation (jhdna) is uninterrupted, who is
endowed with discerning (vipassand),a frequenter of soli-
tary abodes (sufifidgdra).

Akankheyy asutta (Digha-Nikdya, I, 33)

All Buddhist sects granted that the truths of Buddhism were

discovered by the Buddha in the course of his meditations, espe-
cially beneath the Bodhi-tree at Gayd in India. Thus medita-
tion has a paramount role in Buddhism for indicating man's
own ability to attain to truth. of those sects, Theravdda is the
well-known Buddhism still prevalent in various south-east Asian
countries such as Ceylon, Burma, and Thailand. Probably the
most famous commentator of this tradition is Buddhaghosa
whose fifth century A.D. work the Visuddhimagga is arranged in
three parts in accordance with the Buddhist categories of three
instructions, that of morality forming the basis for the other two:
mental training aimed at samddhi; and insight, leading to the see-
ing of things as they really are with full comprehension of
Buddhist truth or the discerning of reality. Bareau has observed
70 Buddhist Insight

that the sectcomparable to the Theravdda that rernainedin India

was called the Mahi5dsaka,l and I observed that its later form
(the Later Mahi5asaka)had as its most famous son the Buddhist
teacher Asanga (c. 375-430).2 Asanga did not organize his en-
cyclopedic work the Yogdcarablrumiby the three instructions;
but he cherishedthese instructions in voluminous writing that
could easily be put under the headingsof those three. It is the
last two instructions, mental training and insight that properly
cover the topic of Buddhist meditation; and this paper must deal
with the two topics, although necessarily stressing the mental
training, called "calming the mind."
The literature about Buddhist meditation became quite exten-
sive, especially when taking into account the full regims, the
various techniquesand meditation topics, the prcmised fruits,
and the inevitable controversies. Of the extensivecoverageson
the textual, rather than interpretive level, Vajirafra4a's Buddlist
Meditatio,rusmay be signalled as representativeof the Theravd'da
exegesis in the Pdli language and for the Indian schools which
wrote in Sanskrit the extensivetreatment preservedin Chinese
and now renderedinto French by l-amotte, Le Trait|,a Tome III,
and a section in Tome II. Whcn present-day Buddhist monks
write on Buddhist meditation the treatment amounts to an ex-
position of how to do it, rather than of what is going on. A fine
example is Buddhadasa'sAndpanasati.s Western writers have
various interpretations on behalf of their expectedreaders. For
o'Yoga Techniques in
example, there is Eliade's chapter on
Buddhism,"6 using the important passagesthen available and
bringing in non-Buddhist movements of the Indian tradition.
lANonr BAnrau,Les sectesbouddhiques (Saigon,1955),
du Petit Vdhicule
p. 34.
2Arsx WAyvtAN, Analysis of the Sravakabhumi Manusuipt (Berkeley,
1961), pp. 25-29.
3PlR.q.v.q,nsna,ValnaNANa MagATHERA, Buddhist Meditation in Theory and
Practice (Colombo, 1962).
a6rtgNNe LAMotrE, Le Traite de Ia Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nagarjuna
(Mahaprajfiaparamitaiastra),Tome II (Louvain, 1949), especially pp. 1013-43;
Tome III (Louvain, 1970), especially pp. 1209-1309.
sBuoon.loAs.q. BHrxrHv, Anap u nasati (M indful nessof Breathi ng) (Bangkok,
reTr).
oMncrl Erlaou, Yoga: Immortality and Freedon (New York, 1958), pp.
162-99.
Aspects
of Meditationin theTheravada
andMahiSisaka 1l

An essay by Cousins, "Buddhist Jhdna,'.'1is restricted to the

second instruction, calming the mind, with some modern ob-
servations from Southern Buddhist countries. Another essay,
by Goleman, "The Buddha on Medit&tion,"8 uses Buddhaghosa's
Visuddhimaggaas a Buddhist textual base to make contact with
the "altered states of consciousness" terminology of modern
Psychology. These three Western approaches are similar in not
purporting to guide anyone in meditation: they are attempts to
grapple with certain technical features of the system which most
interest the respective authors.
The present article seeksa middle ground: to convey only in
summary fashion what is actually done in this classicalform of
Buddhist meditation in order that there be room to deal with
certain matters of considerable contemporary interest, such as
whether the meditation brings the yogin to a break with human
reason and whether it results in faculties which a person did not
have in the beginning.
It is also well to mention that most of the Western works that
deal with Buddhist meditation as a major topic have treated rather
well the general practices enjoined upon all applicants, such as
the seeking out of a spiritual guide (the kalya1ta-mitrar'ovirtuous
friend"), and the various restrictions on daily activities, exemplify-
ing morality as the base for meditation. These works are fre-
quently less useful for defining the specific practices which differ
for various beginners and for the various degreesof advancement
of a given meditator.
The restrictions on mental and physical acts are ritualistic in
the sensethat the usual random movements are being cut down.
Even so, the meditation practice is a comprehensible human
pursuit, since many other persons-for example, athletes--have
to follow special regimes with carefulness of diet and sleeping
habits, along with unremitting practice. Musicians too must
seek out good teachers and spend years of perhaps daily practice,
ever attentive to avoid faults of performance. And again, one
must take the entire drill; for example, it is no use to stay awake

?L. S. CousrNS,
"BuddhistJhdna:Its natureand attainmentaccordingto
ReligionIIl, 2 1973,pp. 115-31.
thePalisources,"
sDaNrtt GotrMeN, "The Buddha on Meditation and States of Conscious-
ness", Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, IV, l, 1972, pp. l-44.
 72 BuddhistInsight

in the former and latter parts of night for meclitating, if one is not
also to practice moderation irr food

MtntrlrloN pARTIcuLARLyrHE ..DEVICES"

oBJECTS,
The specific practices especially relate to different types of
persons. The post-canonicalPali Abhidhamma exegesiscompiled
a treatise on different classifications of persons (the puggala-
pafifiatti). However, the old passageswere sketchy about treat-
ing personality differences,and it is rikely that the guru lent
guidance that was not always spelled out in the texts. The
visuddhimagga is content to assign a few meditation objects to
certain persons, six in number, in terms of their .,disposition,'
(carita). vajiraffd4a translates :e "disposed to lust, to hate, to
delusion, to faith, to intellectuality and agitation." Here,
instead of "intellectuality" I render buddhi as ..discrimina-
tion," and insteadof "agitation" render vitakka as ,,conjecture,"10
Thesedispositionsare assessed mainly by a person's movements,
in his manner of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down (fre-
quently called the four postures).1lThe spiritual guide, having
determined by such signs the predominant disposition of the
candidate, then steers him to an appropriate meditative object.
vajirafrdna,12following Buddhaghosa'sworks, tabulates the res-
pective meditative objects. I have elsewhere given Asanga's
solution,ls which it should be of interest to compare in part
w;th
Buddhaghosa'slineage (pali: p., Sanskrit: S.):

sBuddhistMeditation,p. 9g.
10It is difficult to assign a good rendition for
vitakka. My suggestionof
"conjecture" (or "specuration") is based on the availabreevidence
that the
term (in Sanskritvitorka)is an abbreviationfor .'inquiry and investigation,,
(uitarkavicafa)(seelater, "progress in theRealm
of Form") ofthe type in the
Realm of Desire,hencedefiledby lust, hatred,and delusion.
nAmong Westernthinkers,it is especially
Hegelwho insistedthat character
is revealed by movement; cf. J. B. Bl'LrE, tr., Hege|s phertomenotogy
of
Mind (London, rev. ed., 1949),p. 349: "The true being of
a man is, on the
contrary,his act; individuality is real in the deed.,,
rzBuddhistMeditation, p. ll0.
13Wayuau, Analysis, pp. 86-7.
 Aspectsof Meditation in the Theravddaand MahiSdsaka IJ

Candidate's Appropriate meditative objects

disposition Buddhaghosa (Theravida) Asanga (Mahi5asaka)
Lust (raga) Revolting objects (P. asubha; Revolting objects
S. aiubha);
ditto Mindfulness of bodies --

Hatred (P. dosa, Four totalities(blue,yellow,red,

S. dve;a) and white);
ditto four Brahmi.-vihdras(love,compa- Love (maitri)
sion, sympatheticjoy, equanimrty)
Delusion (moha) Mindfulness while breathing Origination in De-
in and out (P. dndpdnasati, S. pendence of this
osmrti) condition (idarn-
pratyayata-pratitya-
samutpdda)
Conjecture (P. ditto Mindfulness while
vitakka, S. vitarka)ra breathinginand out
Pride (mana) Analysisof the ele-
ments (dhatu-
prabheda)
Mixed character Six totalities (five elements Whichever medita-
(sabbocarita\ plus light); tive object on which
Four formless realms the yogin has up-
surge of rapturels
Faith (P. saddha) Six Recollections
(Buddha,etc.)
Discrimination Mindfulness of death. etc.
(buddhi't
.
In Asanga's school, the -rOiiuti* oU:.rtr fo. tft. p.ilni ;rth
predominanceof lust, hatred, delusion, conjecture,and pride, are
commonly referred to by a word pratipakta, which, along with
other translators,I used to render as "antidote";but to whichl
now apply the standard lexical entry of "opponent" or 'oadver-
sary." In short, the meditation on love is not an antidote for
racf. Bnxrnu ftANauorr, The path of purffication(visuddhimagga)
by
BhadantacariyaRuddhaghosa(colombo, 1956), p. 103, for the pairing of
moha and vitakka, including," And just as delusionvacillatesowing to sgper-
ficiality, so do applied thoughtsthat are due to facile conjecturing."
rsThisis a teachingfrom Asanga'sSravakabhumi, as cited jnmy manuscript
translation from Tibetan, Calmingthe Mind and Discerningthe Real (colum-
bia Uuiversity,New York, 1978).Asarigarefersto "mixed character"by the
terminology "addiction of equal parts" meaning that each of the faulty
dispositionsis of insufficientstrength to predominateover the others, and so
the meditative object is indeterminate.
74 BuddhistInsight

hatred, but an adversary meant to supplant hatred in the mind.

That is so, becauseaccordingto this theory the seconctinstruction,
calming the mind by way of successwith a meditative object, aims
to remove the visible tops (the rnanifestation in the conscious
mind); while it rs the third instruction, of insight (P. pafifia, S.
prajiia), that is required for removrng the tracesdeep down in the
mind. But before thesetracescan be extirpated, it is necessaryto
supplant the iratred, etc. from the consciousfield. Therefore, in
Asanga'sschool, the sameset would not, as in Buddhaghosa'slist,
include "hAtred," and "faith," and "discrimination"; because
"hatred" has a meciitative object meant to supplant i1, while
"faith" and "discrimination" have meditative objects meant to
promote them.
It is also necessaryto speak about the "totalities" (P. kasipa,
S. krtsna) frequently referred to as "devices." The Visucldhimagga
has a lengthy treatment of these "devices," far in excessof what
one would expect from the scriptural sources which are quite
meagre. The main ca.nonicalsourceis the Maha-Sakuladdy,i-sutta
of Majjhimn-Nika1,aII, 7, ff., which setsforth then ten "totalities"
as one of the meditation techniquestaught by the Buddha. The
list is also explainedin the Anguttara-I{ikayat'Book of Tens, and
it occurs tlice in the Digha-i,likdya as a mere list. However, the
Pali term ka.silradoes not occur at all in the Saryyutta-Ir{ikaya,
which is rich in material on meditation.lG The standard ten are
the four colors, blue, yellow, red, and white; the four elements,
earth, water, fire, and wind; space and perception (S. vijfrana).
The practicewas to contemplatethe entire world by this "totality"
or "device," i.e. all blue, all earth, etc.17Such a totality seemsto
be illustrated by the Fire Sermon: "All things, O monks, are on
fi re. . . T he ey e, O mo n k s , i s o n fi re ;..." r4
l6Per ClnottNp Rnvs DAvtos, Samyutta-Nilca),a, Indexes Pdli Text Society,
Vol. 54 (Lonclon, 1904).
lTAccording to the brief Buddhist scripture "The log of wood" in Aigu-
ttara-Nikaya (The Book of Sixes), E. M. HARn, tr., The Book oJ'the Gradual
Sayings (London, 1952), Vol. lII, pp. 240-41, the monk Sariputta (S.
Sariputra) explained to a group of monks, pointing to a large log of wood,
that when someone has learned to control his miiid he can be convinced
(P. adhimucceyya) that the log is earth, or water, fire, air, beautiful, or ugly,
because all those elements are in the log of wood.
r8Cf. HnNny Cr.rnrn Wl,nRrN, Buddhism in Translations (Cambridge,
Mass., 1947), pp. 351-53, translation of "The Fire-Sermon" from the Maha-
 and MahiSisaka
of Meditationin theTheravdda
Aspects 75

Buddhaghosa'sgeneroustreatment appeqrsexplainedby Vajira-

ffana1ein agreement with the Visuddhimagga,zonlentioning that
the "devices" were employed as a means of induciqg Jhdna (S.
Dhydna).21 By this is meant the Jhiina-s of the Realm of Form
among the three Buddhist realms (Realm of Desire, Realm of
Form, and Formless Realm). As an example, Bapat writes re-
garding the water device,22"He (Upatissa) also agreeswith B.
(Buddhaghosa)in sayinga beginnershould not practiseon natural
sheetsof water Such aS ponds, lakes, rivers, ocean, but should
practise on water i1 a bowl or basin, placed in a quiet, solitary
place,neither too dark nor having too much light." C.A.F. Rhys-
Davids writes,2g"We have read of the great lay-mystic, Jacob
Boehme, accidentally falling into self-hypnosis by gazing at a
surface of shining pewter. Thereupon, so he declares,he seems
,to behold the inward properties of all things in nature opened to
him.' By certain similar devices (kasiAa) the Indian sought to
obtain similar results systematically." Lounsbery points to their
'olt will readily be seen that auto-suggestionplayed an
danger:24
important part in this practice, which has been almost abandoned
in Ceylon since the death of a famous Guru three hundred years
ago. The Kasinas are said to be stilt used in Burma."
But this use of the "devices" to induce Jhana, as in Buddha-
ghosa's tradition and as exposed in the foregoing tabulation for
personsof hatred and of mixed character,seemsto be a corruption
of Buddhist practice. Thus, Asanga explaiirsin his exegesisof the

vagga of the Pili Vinaya; and WupoI-l, RlHura,, What the Buddha Taught
(Bedford, 1972 reprint), pp. 95-97, for the equivalent Sfrtra translated from the
Saryyutta-Nikay a.
tsBuddhist Meditation, p. 139.
zofiaNnrtaort, The Path, p. ll3.
21So also in Buddhaghosa's Abhidhamma commentary called Atthasalini;
cf. Pe Maung Tinn tr., which CanortNr Rnvs Dlvms edited and revised,
The Expositor,Yol.I (London, 1958 reprint), p.248, in reference to the kasi4a,
"But why was this method taught? Because it led to the produrction of
jhdna."
22P. V. BAnAt, Vimuttimagga and Visuddhimagga: A Comparative Study
(Poona, 1937), p. 57.
2sCaRotrNe Ruvs-Davros, Preface, P. xii, to F. L. Woodward, Manual of
a Mystic (London, 1916).
24G. CoNsraNr LouNSBERy, Buddhist Meditation in the Southern School
(New York, 1936), pp. 43-44.
 76 BuddhistInsight

Samdhitabhfimi:2s "The bases of Mastery and the bases of

Totality are the path of purilying the Liberations. The Liberations
are classifiedby liberation from the hindrance of the knowable;
they liberate the mind of irdvakas and pratyekabuddhas from
whatever hindrance of the knowable." Since the Liberations
begin in the Realm of Form, meant for thosewho have surmounted
the Realm of Desire, the basesof Totality must begin with the
Dhydnas where the Liberations begin, and therefore cannot serve
to induce Jhdna (Dhyana). Le Traitd26makes the same point,
mentioning that the first two Liberations and the first four
Masteriesare contemplationsof revolting objects,i.e. the cadaver
in decomposition, and are practiced in the First and the Second
Dhydna. The Manual of a MysticzT seems to agree because it
precedes the use of the "devices'o by accomplishment of the
"mindfulness while breathing in and out" meditation that takes
the meditator out of the Realm of Desire into the Realm of Form;
and then the subsequent chapter devoted to the "devices" cons-
tantly mentions the Jhdnas,which are of course the divisions of
the Realm of Fonn. This is technicalbut irnportant: it shows
the Buddhaghosa'sexposition of these 'odeviiJes"permits them
to be used by persorls who have not surmounted the Realm of
Desire, becauseusing the devicesfor the very purpose of that
surmounting ; and for these persons such "devices" carry some
danger,as suggestedby Lounsbery. The danger probably amounts
to somethingtoo strong for the psyche,just as a strenuousphysical
exerciseis dangerousif not worked up to by the gradual strength-
ening of the muscles.
ThereasonwhyAsanga does not employ the kasi4as in his
Sravakabhumi(Stageof the Disciple),althoughhe cloeshavematerial
on these in the Sarnahitabhumi of his Yogacarubhumi, seemsto
be that the main task of teachingBudrlhist meditation is to get the
disciple over the great hurdle of the Realm of Desire, with its lust,
hatred, and delusion, with its five hindrances(infra), and its 'oacts
of Mira."28 There is also no mention of these devices in mv

2sPhotographiceditionof the Tibetancanons(PTT),Vol. 111,p. 10-5-7

to p. 11-1-1.
26l-auorre
, Le Traitd,III, p. 1289.
2TWooowaRD, Manual,pp. 67 tr.
28Seein this connection, Jaues W. Bovo, Satan and Mara (Leiden, 1975),
especially Chap. Six "The Deeds of Mira," pp,77-99.
 of Meditationin theTheravdda
Aspects and MahiSisaka 77

manllscript translation from Tson-kha-pa'g large treatment of

"Calming the Mind."2e Presumablythis is also the reason for the
silenceon the topic in the Sarytyutta-Iiikayaof the Pali canon. The
theory is that by calming the mind, the yogin may transcendthe
Realm of Desire in which humanit;' is plunged; and when he has
advancedto the Realm of Forn:r,he can resort to various kinds of
meditative objects and "devices" that would be contraindicated
for him while he is still a tyro, a slave of ordinary human nabits
and appetites. When the yogin advancesto the Realm of Form,
he has new preceptsto observe, especiallywith the Liberatiorrs,
the basesof Mastery, and the basesof Totality, which also are
involved with the Formless Realnr.
But that some persons,by reason of a peculiar constitution can
transcendthe Realm of Desire without the regular courseof train-
ing, has long been recognized. Thus Asanga statesin the exegesis
of his Srdvakablturniin the Viniicayasarpgrahaqt;of the Yogdcara-
bhumi:3o
The domain of magical power either arises from praxis
(prayoga) or is attained from birth. Among those, the one
arising from praxis is as follows:-the fruit of the cultivation
by ordinary persons (prthag.ianu),those in training (iaik;a),
those beyond training (aiaiksa), and Bodhisattvas, born in
this world. The one attained from birth is as follows: -the
subsequentattainment from birth after the former recourseto
the cultivation, on the part of those born in the Realm of
Form; the attainment through the porverof merit by the deities
and certain men who range in the Realm of Desire, for exam-
ple, like the fiegendary]King Md:ndhdtr's. Magical power also
belongsto flying creatures[e.g. Vidyadhara-s]incorporated in
the same categories[the 1wo Realms] and to certain disem-
bodied men (preta). There is also the power of gems,mantras,
and herbs [respectively],as follows: to create a hypnotic fas-
cination,to lay a eurse,or to inducedeath or a comatosestate,
and which is called "magical power."
2eThisis a portion of the encyclopedicwork Lam rim chenmo by Tson-
kha-pa (1357-t4t9),referredto above(n. 15).
soThispassage is found in the Tibetancanon,DergeTanjur,Semstsam,
Vol. y'i,259a-1,ff.; with the equivalent in the Chinesecanon,
statement
Taisho,Vol. 30, p. 683c-8,ff. However,the PekingTibetancanon(PTT)
at thispoint,PTT,Vol. ll1, p. 47-2.
is defective
 Buddhist Insight

pRocRESS rN AsaNca.'s
A srnrcH oF MEDTTATTvE scHool.

Here I shall construct an abbreviated accourrtof meditative pro-

gress according to Asanga's Yogacarabhumi. There are these
parts: (a) Trying to get beyond the Realm of Desire; (b) Progress
in the Realm of Form; (c) Frogressin the Folmless Realm; (d)
Further information on the Form and FormlessRealms.
(a) Trying to get beyoncl the Realm of Desire. In Asanga's
schocl,there is what is callecllhe "equipment" (,sarnbhara),
arnount-
ing to thirteen conditions, one chief and twelve subordinate, as
detailed in his Sravalcabhumi,where he sets forth:31

Among those, if personshave the element of parinirvdna, and,

lack defective(organs),but have not approached(the spiritual
guides),what are their conditions (pratyaya) for parinirvdna?
He said: There are two conditons. What are the two? Chief
(pradhana)and subordinate (hma). What is the chief condi-
tion? He said, as follorvs- l. the discourseof others domi-
nated by the Illustrious Doctrirrc (saclcllmruna) 'and the inner
rnethodical rnental orientation (yoniio manaskdra). What is
the subordinatecondition? He said: There are numerous
suborclinateconditicns,as follcrvs- 2. personalachievement
(dtmasantpat),3.achievementof others (parasampat,\,4. vir-
tuous craving fcr the doctrine (kuialo dlnrmacchandal.t),5.
going forth (pravrqiya), 6. restraint of morality (Sila-sarTtvara),
7. restraint of senseorgans(indriya-sarTtvara),,8.moderation in
food (bhojanemdtrajiiata), 9.practice of staying awake (jagari-
k dnuyoga), I 0. conduct with awareness (saryprajanaclvihari t a).
1l. solitude (prdvivekya),12. elimination of hindrances (niva-
rana-viiuddhi), 13. right dwelling in samddhi (samadhisarynii-
raya).

There is no rooln to dilate upon each of those conditions; some of

them will come into our subsequentdiscussions.Besides,four of
the subordinateconditions are especiallypointed out in this litera-
ture as constituting the "equipment" for both calming and dis-
cerning, i.e. for both the secondand third instructions. These are
ltos. 7-10 "restraint of sense organs" through "conduct with
awareness."Asto the favorable placeto perform the meditations,

slWavnalN, Analysis, pp. 59-60.

Aspects of Mcditation in the Theravdda and Mahi6dsaka 79

the Sutralarnkdra(XIII, 7) givesthe main list:32 "The place u'here

'good access,''good
the wise man accomplisheshas the merits
and' good usage' ."
set t lem ent , ' ' go o ds o i l ,' ' g o o d c o n i p a n i o n s h i p,'
The theory of overcoming the tremendouspower of the realm
of desire is especiallyin terms of the five hindrances (nivararya)
whicli are in the standard listing: sensuouslust, ill-rvill, torpor and
sleepiness,rnental wandering and regret, and doubt. Ratnakara-
Sdnti states in his Prajfiaparamitdbhdvanopadeia,s3 following the
Saryulhinirntocuna-sutra, Chap. 8: "Here of the five hindrances,
'mental wandering and regret' is a hindrance to calming; 'torpor
'doubl' arehindrancesto disceming;'setlsuous
and sleepiness'and
'ill-will' are hindrancesto both."
lust' and
The yogin, having restrained his senses,being aware of his
conduct, in a place suitable for meditation, meciitateswith folded
legs in the former and latter parts of night, resting in the middle
part. His spiritual guide had previously advisedhim on a medita-
tive object, and how to avoid the faults of meditation. F{e is sup-
posed to stick with this rneditative object, without thinking about
it or using discursive thought toward it, until solne measure of
successappears. Of the main faults, the two most troublesome
ones are the scattering(auddltatya) or fading (laya) of the medita:
tive object. The Bhavandkrama1 states:34
When, overcome by torpor and sleepiness,and becausethe
apprehensionof the meditative object is not vivid, one's mind
fades, then he should dispel the fading by the contempiation
of the idea of light and by a rnental orientation toward a glad-
dening entity, the merits of the Bucldha,and so on. Thereafter,
he should apprehendthat samemeditative object more firmly.
Or, again, from the samework:
When he noticeshis rnind scatteredfrom time to time through
remembranceof former laughter and delight, then he pacifies
the scatteringthrough a mental orientation to a sober (mentally
aroused)topic, such as impermanence. Thereupon, he should

s2SvrvaIN Ldvt, ed., Asanga: Mahayana'Sutralarykara (Paris, 1907), p. 86.

33PTT, Vol. 114, p. 235-3.
saThe Bhavanakrama citations are drawn from my manuscript translation
of Tsori-kha-pa's "Calming the Mind" (n. 15, above). For KamalaSila's
Bhavandkrama I, see Glusnppl Tucct, Minor Buddhist Texts, Part II (Roma,
1958), Chap. 2 "The Contents of the First Bhavanakrama."
 80 tsuddhist
Insight

make an atteinpt to engagethat samemeditativeobiect without

ins t is at i. - ' of
ir th e mi n d .
Also. BltdrcncTl;
rama 11states:
At the rirnethere is no fading or scattering,one notices repose
of rnind rorvardthat meditativeobject; then one should relax
the effort and be equable;thenone should abide (in that state)
for as long as he r,vishes.
.{cc.rrclrnsto the ,irdvakabltu,ti, there are nine stagesof thought
tlratiorr (cittasthiti) from the initial fastening of the mincl to a
m:'ditation object to the point where the mind, after learning to
avcid the various rnajor faults, is made to flow one-pointedly
(stagerro. B), and finally has a natural concentration (samadhi)
in
an automiitic manner with lack of effort (stageno. 9). There are
instructions going lvith each one of the nine stages.s5 But even
if one gets to the ninth stage,it does not necessarilyconstitute a
surmounting of the Realm of Desire to arrive at a stage of equi-
poise(somapatti)in the Realm of Form. why so? According to
the Rlumi-vastu (part of the yogiicdrabhilnti):86
why is it that only it is called oostageof equipoise," while any
single area (of mind) belonging to the realm of craving is not?
As follows-That samadhiis accomplishedwith lack of regret,
the highest rapture, the cathartic, and pleasure.BTHowever,
the one that rangesin craving is not that way.
lstill,) there is
no lack of thinking-volition that approachesright doctrine in
the realm of craving.
But then, how is one to know if he is surmounting the Realm
of Desire,if gaining this effortlessone-pointedness of mind does
not shou,it?38 The reply is that it is also necessaryto have what
rs called the cathartic (prairabdhi), especiallyshovrn by a service-
abilitl' of bociy-an animation and lightness,ancl a serviceabilitv

35Asertensively
setforth in "Calmingthe Mind".
36As cited in "Calming the Mind,,.
3;Cf. Cousr\s, "Buddhist Jhana." pp. 120-22, for an
eraborate discussion
of the meditatii'e "rapture" (5. priti) by its plii form ptti.
ssrherefore one must now correct Erraor, yoga, p. r69, "Real
Buddhist
meditation begins with experiencing the four psychic states called jhanas
(cf. Skr. dhyana)," since one may not have attained the Jhana states
even
when having achieved one-pointedness of mind by elimination of faults of
meditation.
 of Meditationin theTheravdda
Aspects and Mahi6dsaka 8l

of mind that prevails without hindrance upon the meditative ob-

ject by an exchange(parivftti) of mental-concomitant natures.
And this has a portent, as the Sravakabhumi states:3e
A short time before the obvious cathartic of mind and body
and the single area of mind become easy to discern, there
occurs a portent (pfirvanimitta) of that, the appearanceof a
weight on the head, and this is not a sign of harm. No sooner
does this occur, than the mind contamination in the category
of defilementsthat interrupt the joy of elimination, is (itself)
elirninated; and, as its opponent [or, supplantor], the service-
ability of mind and the cathartic of mind arise.
And this cathartic is a kind of wind, according to the Sravaka-
bhumi:
As a result of its production, the great elements (mahabhuta),
urged by the wind, and concordant with the production of the
cathartic of body, course in the body. By ree-sonof their
coursing, any contamination (dauglhulya)of body disappears.
Also, the whole body is filled with its opponent, the cathartic
of body, as though it were a radiance.
And the sarnewol'k states:
Furth.ermore, when one has emerged (from that samddhi) and
is occupied with his (ordinary) mind, some measure of the
cathartic continuesin his body and mind. The mental orienta-
tionos marks and signs consistenttherewith should be under-
stood as pure.
The late Mongolian Lama, Dilowa Gegen Hutukhtu, once told
me that if one does the procedure correctly, it takes about six
months to get to this attainment" called the calming of mind
(cetoflamatha)within. This in short is the successin the meditative
object, without discursivethought, without deliberating it at all.
(b) Progressin the Reaim of Form. According to Buddhist
traditions, to become a Buddha one must pass through the four
Dhydnas of this realm.a0 The calming already delineated means

seThefollowingcitationsfrom the Sravakabhumi

areall translatedin the
contextof the manuscript"Calmingthe Mind".
a0ANon6 BAREAU,Recherchessur Ia biographie du Buddha dans les Sufta-
pilaka et les Vinayapilakaanciens(Paris, 1963),pp. 69-71,points out that all
five Buddhist traditions that he examined agree that the four Dhydnas
82 Buddhist
Insight

the yogin has atta.inodthe threshold of the First Dhyana..At that

time, he can procced further through the varior-rsdivisions of the
Realm of Form and the FornrlessRealm, even up to the surnmit
of existenceand still not be liberated from the cyclical flolv
(sarysara). But, it is taught, if he combinescalming with discern-
ing (the union of the two) he can attain liberation from the bond-
age of cyclical flow. The value anyway of proceedingto a higher
state, even without the wherewithal of liberation lrom saqnsdra,
is that the yogin's atta.inmentof a realm giveshim the good fortune
of possiblebirth among the gods of that realm.al
Now, supposethe yogin proceedsthrough the various statesof
the Realm of Fonn and the FormlessRealm. It should be noticed
that the basic staternentsfor each state were established in the
ancient Buddhist canon, but in post-canonicaltirnes, presumably
to resolveconflicts of scriptural passages, each one of those states,
except for the bltavdgra (summit of existence).was divided into
two parts, called in Sanskrit the "threshold" (sdmantaka) and
"main part" (maula or rnauli), and in Pnli the "access" (upucdra)
and "full concentration" (appana).a2In such a division the term
"attainment" (samapatti)-which I frequently render as "equi-
poise"-stands for the "main parl" of "full concentration," and
there are ei-qhtof these(four in the Realnl of Form, and four in the
Formless Realm), with a ninth one sometimes added for the
"summit of existence."
The four suchtwo-part staresof the Realm of Forrn are usually
referred to as the four Dhydnas (in Sanskrit) or four Jhanas (in
Pali), and Asangaincludesthem under "right dwelling in samddhi."
I now render the four statementsfrom the old Buddhist canon.
along with commentsfrom Asanga'sschool.as
"Right dwelling in samddlti" (I) : Separatedfi'omdcsires(kama),
separated from sinfiil and unvirtuous natures, with inquiry

d. Jha*) a*Jhe preparatory phasefor the great enlightenment, and then

setsforth his reservations
aboutthe historicityof the tradition.
4lAsanga's Sravakabltfimi, PTT, Vol. 110, p. 121-3; and Karunesha
Shukla, Sravakabhumi of Acarya Asariga (Patna, 1973), pp. 468-69.
42For the Pdli terms, cf. Cousins, "Buddhist Jhdna," p. 118 and note;
Buddhaddsa, Anapanasati, p. 37.
a3By Asanga's school, I mean especially the treatment in his SqmAhitubhumi
and Srdvakabhumi (Fourth Yogasthdna), both being portions of his great
Yogacarabhumi.
Aspectsof Meditationin theTheravada
and MahiSdsaka 83

(vitarka) and investigation (vicdra), haviTtgattained the First

Dhydna , he dwells in the rapture (priti) and pleasure (sukha)
arising from the separation.
In the Sravakabhilmi, Asanga explains "he dwells" as "up to
endeavoring to reach seven days and seven nights,"ca for which
the Japanese trarrslation notes that seven days is the limit for
maintaining strength while refraining from morsel food.as Also,
the chosen meditative object is unsteady (vyagra).ao In the
SamahitabhumiAsanga states that in the First Dhydna the body
has an outer light like a gem.a1

"Right dwelling in samqdhi" (II): Through allaying inquirlt and

investigation, through inward serenity, through continuitl, of
tlnught, he accomplisltesand dwells in the SecondDh1;fi11o which
is vtithout inquir.v or investigation,and wltich has rapture and
pleasure arising .from sanfidhi.

Now the meditation object is steady, and the mental orientation

is "without interruptions" by avoiding the faults of inquiry and
investigation. Caroline Rhys Davids, following the Theravada,
says:aB"The discursiveintellection of the First Jhana, troubling
the ceto [the mind], as waves rendering water turbid, has in the
Second Jhina sunk to rest." The Samdhitabhumi explains the
" inward serenityo'as mi ndfulness (smr t i), awareness(sarppr ajanya),
and equanimity (upeksd). Here, the body has an outer light like
that of a flame.ae

"Right dwelling in samddhi" (III): He dwells with equanimity

after losing the feeling of rapture. futindful and aware he ex-
periencespleasure by way of body, just as the one to whom the
nobles referred, "Equable and mindful he dwells in pleasure."
He accomplishesand dwells in the Third Dhydna which is with-
out rapture.

44SHuKLA, Sravakabhumi, p. 451; yavad akaik;amanah saptardtriqn-

aivasdni.
a'Kokuyaku Daizdkyd,Rombu, Vol. 7, p. 144.
4oSnurua, Sravakabhumi,p. 451-6.
47PTT,Vol. 109,p.278-1.
48Canornqr A. F. Rnvs DAvIos, A Buddhist Manual of Psychological
Ethics (London, 1900),p. 46, note.
4ePTT,Vol. 109,p.278-1.
 84 tsuddhist
Insight

The Srdvakabhuntiexplainsthe words "he experieri.ces pleasure by

way of body": "with the body of form anc!the body of rlind he
experiencesthe pleasureof feelings which is tl-replcasure of the
cathartic."5o Here he avoids the fault of rapture (.priti). The
"nobles" a.rethe Buddhasand their disciples. According to the
samdlitabhtuni, this is the bestplacefor the santrTcihiofknovrledge
and vision (jiianaderiana) and the Diamond -like,;arndcihi(va.iropa-
masamddlti).5lAlso, by sayii-rgin the sameplacothat love (maitrt)
best accomplishesthe pleasureof the Third Dhyana, Asa.ngamay
have hinted at what his brother vasubandhu rvasto rnention in a
comment on a Mahdyina scripture, namely, tha.t the future
Buddha defeatedthe "son-of-the-gods" Mara by the samatlhi of
love (mairri) during the celebratedassaultcf Mara.b2 In tli.is case,
the 'oearth-touchinggesture" would go r,viththe "bocly of form"
while the "gesture of samapatti" would go with the ,,body of
mind."s3 Besides,Vasubairdhu, Abhidhctrmakoia, Chap. VIII,
says this Dhyana is "shaken by its excellent pleasurs.,,6aAnd
in the legend, earth shook ar the future Buddha's tcuch. This
would accord rvith the general Iirdian theory that it is precisely
rvhennatural forcesare inimical that the soiritual victory is possi-
ble (thus during the stressof the full-rnoon,the clin'racticof sun-
down, etc.),55so also rvhenthe Dhyana is shakenby its excellent
pleasure.
"Right dwelling in santddhi" (IV): Tlrough elirnination of
pleasure, through former elinination of pain and vanishing of

60Rfipakayenamanaltkdyenaveditasukharpca prasrabdhisukhar\pratisam-
vedayate;shukla, srdvakabhumi,p.453-9. improperly separatesvedita from
sukharyt.
51PTT,Vol. 109,p.278-3.
52ArBx wnylaaN, "studies in Yama and Mh.ra," Indo-Iranian Journal,
Vol.III, No.2, 1959,p.116.
53Thereferenceis of courseto the celebratedincident in the Buddha'slife
of the "Assault of Mdra," when the Buddha appealedto the "authority', or
"measure"(prama4a)of earth by touching it with his right hand, while his
left hand indicatedby the "equipoisegesture"(sarncipatti-mudrtl)
his n-reditative
attainment,an incidentwhich long ago I attemptedto interpret, per "studies
in Yama and Mdra," op. cit., pp. 117-18.
Eal,outsor La vanfn PoussrN,L'Abhidharmakoiade vasritandlzr,Septidme
et huitidmechapitres(Paris,1925),p.209.
55cf. Arrx wAyrrrl.N,"climactic Times in Indian Mythology ancl Rerigion,"
History of Religions Vol. 4, No. 2, Winter 1965, pp. Z9S-318.
Aspectsof Meditationin theTheravada
and MahiSdsaka 85

havfutg attained the Fourth

satisfaction and dis,catis-factiort,
Dhyana, he abides in the purification of equanimity and mind-
ftilness free from both pleasure and pain.
Accorcling to the Sravakabhumi, this Fourth Dhydna has eliminat-
ed the pleasure that characterized the Third Dhyana. Formerly,
the SecondDhydna eliminated pain; the Third Dhydna eliminated
satisfuction; the First Dhyiina eliminated dissatisfaction.sGHow-
ever, Sthirarnati,subcommentaryon Abhidharmakoio,Chap. VIII,
disagrees,presenting an Abhidharma tradition that both pain
and dissatisfactionceassin the First Dhydna.57 Besidesit says in
the Sravakabhilmi:the Fourth Dhyana is accornplishedby avoid-
ing the fault of inhalation and exhalation;58and consciousness
(citta) remainsunshaken.se Le Traitb agreesthat it is citta which
is unshaken.6o
It will be observedthat the four Dhydnas divide into two groups
of trvo, since the first two Dhyd.rlasal'e realized by the mind, and
the meditative object is respectivelyunsteady and steady; while
the last t,,voDhyanas are realized by the body, and are respectively
shaken or unshaken by pleasure. For these considerations, it
should be recognizedthat "pleasure" (suklta) has both corporeal
and mental varieties,while "rapture" (priti) is only mental. Also,
the first two Dhydnas, according to the Abhidltarmakoia and Le
Trait6,6\go together by their associationwith the first two Libera-
tions and first four basesof Mastery-in which associationtheir
meditation object is the visible form of the realm of desire, espec-
ially the revolting object.
Furthermore, accordingto both the Theravada and MahiSdsaka,
all four of the Dhyd:nashave a singlearea of thought, becausethat

56Cf.Ssurra,,Sravakabhfimi,
p. 454-8-11.
5?PTT,YoL 147,p. 265-2.
58SHUKLA, Sravakabhumi, p. 454.16.
seSo reads the Tibetan: PTT, Vol. 110, p. 119-l-4,withthewordserns(con-
sciousness), and included in the Sanskrit as properly edited at this point by
Shukla (p. 454.18-19): cittaryt...aniryjyaryt santi;thate. But then he gives a
wrong reading, sarvaiijitayatenat.n, while the Bihar Society's manuscript which
he used (l3A-7,last line) reads: sarvveftiitapagatatn, verified by the Tibetan,
g'yo ba thams cad dan bral bas na,"being free from all shaking."
6ol-auottp, Le Traitd, II, p. 1031.
oll-euorrr, Le Traitd,III, p. 1289.
86 BuddhistInsight

is the meaning of "Dhyana" (P. Jhdna)here.62Besides(Samdhita-

blumi), each of the four Dhydnas is "one's partial nin,d7e"
(anganirvdna),becauseit eliminatesonly the sideof defilement and
Iacks the side of certainty.os To avoid thc attachment to one of
the Dhydnas as "Nirvarla," in Asanga's school one contemplates
the lower planesas 'ocoarse"and the higher onesas "subtle" or
"calm"; and is thus motivated to emergefrom one plane and go
to the next one.6a
Besides,the Buddhist theory of the reahns placesat the top of
the Fourth Dhyd:na what are called the "pure abodes," five in
number. The highest one, ca.lledAkaniqtha, is wherc certain
Buddhist traditions say Sakyamuni was enlightened. Finally, it
should be mentioned that each of the four Dhyarrasis divided into
three degreescorresponding with the gods of the realni being
ordered into three groups. Thus, there are twelve such divisrons
in the basic four Dhydnas, to which the five pure abodes, each
with their own gods, are added to make the total of seventeen
levelsin the Realm of Form.
(c) Progressin the FormlessRealm. For the yogin prcceeding
in the FormlessRealm, the statesare explainedby these passages
found in the Srayakabhtini:65
(l) He (the Lord) said: When one has transcendedin every way
the ideas of form (rupasaryjiia-), wherr the ideas of impediment
(pratighasaryjfiO have abated, and when one pays no attention to
ideas of diversity (ndnatva-sarnjfin),one perceivesspaceas infinite,
accomplishesand dwelis in the baseof infinite space (atcaianantya-
yatanam upasampaciyavihar,a/i). Now, he said, '.when one has
trapscendedin every way the idea of form," becausethere would
be conviction of spacewhen the ideas of color-blue, yellow, red

62Thisis thetraditionalimplication "dwells,'or ,,abides,'

of theexpression
usedin the traditionalstatements of the four Dhyanas. More technically,
Asangadefinesthe term dhyanain the samahitabhumi(prr, vol. 109,
p'269-5.1):"Sincethereistherightdirected thinkingwhichpurifiesconscious-
nesspursuantto the (instructionof) mentaltraining(adhicitta),
thereis the
term 'dhyana'." Cf. my Inrroduction.
63PTT,Vol. 109,p. 269-5-8,to p. 270-1.
64WavuaN, Analysis,pp. 126-29.
65SHUKLA,
sravakabhumi,pp. 455.6,ff.; Bihar Society'smanuscript of the
Sravakabhumit3B-7, ff.; edition in Tibetan canon, pTT, Vol. ll0, p. 119-
1-6, ff.
 of Meditationin thoTheravidaandMahisdsaka
Aspects 87

and white-disappear,oc and when one is freed from ald trans-

cends the clinging to weariness.Ftresaid, "when the ideas of im-
pediment have abated," becausewhen they have abated, one is
freed from the numerous and diverseideasof hindrafice (avarana-
saanjiia)that are assembled by colors. He said, "when one pays
no attentiol to ideas of drversity," becausewhen one does not
have them, ideas concerned with accumulation (aupacayikd
saryifrd),such as ideas of food, drink, vehicles, clothes, adorn-
ments, houses,gardens and glades,armies, mountains, etc.' and
one'Spossessionsin every sense,do not operate. The Samdhita-
bhunti6?adds that the best compassion(lcarulta)would be in the
base of infinite space; since compassionseeksto free the sentient
beingsfrom their manifold sufferings.
(2) One gets to the infinity of perception base (r,ylidnanantydya'
tana) by that very perceptionthat was convinced of the space with
the infinite aspeat. The Santdhitabhumios adds that the best sym-
pathetic joy (mudila) would be in this base; becausehere one can
perceivewhateverbeingsare happy, have attained, and So on, and
have syrnpatheticjoY with them.
(3) One emergesfrom the base of infinite perception by search-
ing whether there is another object-support (alambana) different
from perception (viifiana),whether with form or formless; and not
finding such an object-support,one transcendsthe baseof infinite
perception with its threshold and basic part. Being convinced
ihut th.r. is no other object-support,one is convinced about only
the idea of nothing-at-all (akificana-sarfifid). Frequently repeat-
ing the conviction of that idea one transcends the threshold of
nothing-at-all, accomplishesand dwells in the main part of the
nothing-at-all base (atcificanydyutana). The samdhitabhilmi$s
adds that this is the outer limit for those with non-fluxional mind
(anasrava-citta)and that it is the best place for those with equani-
nrty (upekpa).
(4) Then he emerges from the base of nothing-at-a11. As to

66Since"form" (rupa)covelsboth "shape" (sarpsthdna) and "Color" (varpa),

in the FormlessRealm colors also disappear. Observethat thesecolors in the
sameorder are the traditional mention of the four color kasilta-s.
67PTT, Vol. 109, P. 278-3-3-
68PTT, Vol. 109, P. 278-3-8.
6epTT,vol. 109,p.278-3-8to 278-3-1.It is worthwhileto give the chinese
reference,Taisho Vol. 30, p. 338b-27.
88 BuddhistInsight

the idea of the base of nothing-at-a.ll,one possesses the idea of

coarseness(auddrika-surltjfiin)and the idea of (eventual) trouble
(ddinava-saryfifiin),soturns away from the idea of the base of
nothing-at-all and transcendsit. Therefcre, thereis no idea (naiva-
sarpjfia)(of the baseof nothing-at-all). But also, one proceeds in
a subtle manner in an idea r,vhoseobject-support (alarnbana)is
imageless (animitta). Therefore, there is no lack of an idea
(nasarfifia). Being convinced that it is a base (ayatana) one
accomplishesand dwells in the base of neither idea nor no-idea
\naivasary{fia-ndsaryjiidyatana).Asanga mentiorrs that the ordi-
nary person (prthagjana) has the "equipoise without idea"
(asarfifii-samapatti)in this base;while the noble ones wish for the
quiescentabode and so emergefrcm the base of neither idea nor
no-idea, to reach the cessationequip oise (nirodhasamapatti)-and
those who reach it are the Arhats. Asanga does not identify the
cessaticnequipoisehere with the item in other texts of "cessation
of feelings and ideas" (satyjfiaveditunirodha);but he does mention
this, what others call the "ninth samdpatti", in the Sqmdhita-
bhunil as the eighth I-iberation, with the statementof the ancient
scripture: "having directly realized with the body the cessation of
feelingsand ideas,he drvellstherein."
(d) Further information on the Fonl arrd Formless Realms.
Asanga has a remarkable statement in the Srarakabhunii about
the respective appearance of the body in the reakn of form in
comparison with the formless realm:?0

Among (those states), the appearance shown by the body at

the time of equipoise in the Dhyinas is like entenng subter-
ranean chambers and at the time of equipoise in the formless
realms is like rising to the sky.

This suggeststhat the usual Western manner of listing the clivisions

of the Realm of Desire, Realm of Form, and Fornrless-as though
these were successivelylayered upwards-does not appraise them
rightly. One is not really going anywhere,becausecalming of the
mind is an inward process;and still the yogin's body (if orie has

ToBiharManuscript,134-8.4b: I tatra dhyanasamapattikale

adhorasa-
talapraveSavat/ klyasar.nprakhydnalingam
/ arupyasamdpattikdle
6ka6ot-
patanavat/. CompareSrturt"a, Sravakabhumi,
p. 458.16-18.Tibetan at
PTT,Vol. 110,p. 119-5-7-8.
Aspects
of Meditationin theTheravada
andMahiSasaka 89

the "eye" to seeit) exhibits those various features("like a gefll,"

"like & flarne").zr
The theory of the yogin's attainments in the Realm of Form
and FormlessRealm is further clarified by ancient Buddhist scrip-
tural passagesabout the Liberations, basesof rotality, and bases
of Mastery.zz Asanga summarizes the Liberations (vimoksa)
at the beginning of the Saniahitablurni:?g
l. Having form, he seesform. This is the first Liberation.
2. Having the idea (sa,jiiin) that he is formless personall.y,
he seesexterior forms. This is the second Liberation.
3. Having directly realized with the body the Liberation, he
accomplishesit and dwells in it. This is the third Liberation.
4, 5, 6, 7, 8. H a v i n g a c c o m p l i s h e d4 . th e base of i nfi ni te
space,5. the baseofinfiniteperception,6. the baseof nothing-
at-all,7. the basc cf neither idea ncr nc-idea, and g. having
directly realized with the body the cessationof feelings and
ideas, he dwells therein. This is the fourth through eighth
Liberations.
As to the bases of rotality (krtsnayatana), Asanga summarizes
them in the exegesisof his Samdhitabhilmi:1a
The cultivation by the yogin of the ten basesof rotality per-
forms five deeds. What are the five?-
l. By the earth totality, etc. up through the white totality
(eight in all) he aoccmplishesthe ncbre magical power (aryi-
Tddhi)of magical manifestation and transmutation of substance.
2. By the base of space totality, he accomplishesthe noble
magical power of coming and going.
3. By the base of perception totality, he accomplishes the
merits of " samadhi purifying others" (ara4d-samadhi), "know-
ledge of aspirations" (praaticthi-jfiana),and the four ..special
knowledg es" (p r at isatpvi C).7E
zrrhis showsthe difficultyof acceptingGoleman,o.TheBuddhaon Medi-
tation,"Table1, pp.30-31,on his imputedphysiological differencesof these
states. For how is oneto knowwhichstatetheyoginis in, unlessone has
the "eye" for it?
72Fortheliterature,seeLauorrr , Le Traitd,III, chap.xxxlv, pp. l2gl,
ff.
73PTT,Vol. 109,p. 276-2-5 ff.
74PTT, Vol. 111,p. 10-5-3ff.
z5cf.La v,c.rrfnPoussrN,L'Abhidharmakoia, Septidme, pp. g5 ff. where it
is saidthat the threewhichAsangamentionedare in commonbetweenthe
90 tsuddhistlnsight

4. Upon accomplishing the base of perception totality, he

accomplishesthe Liberation in the base of nottring-at-ail and
the Liberation irr the base of neither idea nor no-idea.
5. On the basisof that accomplishment,he is equipoised in
the Liberation which is the cessation of feelingsand ideas,
c om pr is edby th e s u p re mes ta ti o n .
The traditional Buddhist statement of the first base of Mastery
ana) reads:
(abhibhval,at
Having the iclea of form personallY, he seesexternal forms,
as small, of good and bad color. He has this idea: "Mastering
those fornts, I know them; mastering them, I see them'"
This is the first baseof MasterY.
Substitutingthe expression"large" for "small," one has the state-
ment of the secondbaseof Mastery. According to the Samahita'
small forms are sentient beings,tools, etc.; large forms,
blu.-tmi,16
houses, tetnples, etc. Substituting in the first two statements,
"Having the idea that he is formlcss personally" for "having the
idea of form personaliy" one has the third and fourth bases
of N{astery. For the fiith through eighth bases of Mastery, the
statemetrtbe-sinsrvith "Having the idea that he is formless per-
solaily, he seesexternal forms as blue" (or yellow, red, and white,
respectively).
There are some problems about dovetailing the three lists.
According to the Santdhitabhumi,TT the first Liberation has the
mental orientation toward forms, "f was born in the Reahn of
Desire and achievedfreedom of craving toward desires,but am
not free from the craving toward fortns (of the Realn of Form)."2e
This Liberation is correlated with the first two basesof Mastery.

Buddha and the aryas,but here associated with the Fourth Dhydna, in contrast
with Asanga's assignment of them to the Formless Realm, the base of infinite
perception. Of these terrns, the praqidhi-ifiana is a type of knowledge of the
future; and the four "special knowledges" ale of entities (artha), scriptural
elements (dharma), denotation (nirukti), and eloquence (pratibhana).
zoPTT, Vol. 109, p.276-4-7.
7?PTT,Vol. 109, p. 276-2-2,3'
zsThis seems to be involved in a disputed point among the Buddhist sects
aS Bareau, Les sectes p. 267, summarizes, "Il y a riiparaga dans Ie seul,
rupadhatu," meaning that craving for forms is restricted to the Realm of Form,
which the Andhaka and the Sammatiya sects concurred in, and the Theravida
rejected.
Aspects of Meditation in the Theravdda and MahiSdsaka 9l

Then, tl'lesecondLiberaticn hasthe idea, "I was born in the Realm

of Desire and am free from the craving toward forms, but have
not reahzedthe formless equipoise." This Liberation is correlat-
ed with the next two basesof Mastery. The correlation with the
bases of Totality is more controversial, but Asanga states:?e
"Among them, the formal ones (rupin) are totality equipoises of
the lower Realm of Form." Now "fornl" (rupa) in Buddhism
is the four elementsand their derivatives; thus, it is certain that
Asanga associatesthe first four Totalities (earth, etc.) with the
first two Dhydnas. Furthermore, the second group of four
totalities, the color ones, agree with the fifth through eighth bases
of Mastery, involved with the third Liberation. But there was a
controversy over placing the third Liberation, since both the
Third and Fourth Dhyanas are directly realized by the body.
The Maha-Parinibbdna-sutta described this third Liberation as
"pleasant" (subha),so it would be natural to conncct it with the
Third Dhydna whose deities are called the "pleasant' ' (p. subba,
S. iubha) deities. However, Vasubandhu (Abhibharmalcoia, YIII,
32c) gives the Abhidharma tradition that the Ttrild Dhylna is
shakenby its excellentpleasurean<lhenceis not a place of Libera-
tion;and so this Liberation belongsto the Fourth Dhydna (at the
top of which the Buddha is reputed to have attained Parinibbdna).
Asangasoraisesthe question of where it is to be located, and"asso-
ciatesit with the purification of equanimity and mindfulness, and
so placesit in the Fourth Dhyina. On the other hand, Vajira-
frana81points out that the ccmmentary on the Mahd-parinibbana-
sutta mentions that the Buddha's skillfulness in the particular
basesof Mastery that deal with the fcur color-kasina objecls "was
the basis of his fearlessness even at the sight of Mara." In the
light of my previous discussion (based on Asanga's and Vasu-
bandhu's Mahiyana works), associatingthe Buddha's defeat of
the "son-of-the-gods" Mara with th.eThird Dhyana, tr find here a
support (against Asanga.'sand vasubandhu's Abhidharrna-type
comments) for associating the third Liberation with the Third
Dhydna. But this solution has the demerit of allotting no Libera-
tion to the Fourth Dhyana. It seernsthat a solution which woultj

zesamdhitabhfimi,
PTT, vol. 109,p. 276-5-5.
sosamahitabhilmi,
PTT, vol. 109,p. 276-3-4,ff.
stBuddhist Meditqtion, p. 481.
92 Buddhist Insight

allorv the greatestcompatibility with all the foregoing positions,

is to allot the third Liberation, r,vithits prcrnotiolal yoga of four
basesof Mastery associateclwitn colors, and the equivalent bases
of Totality, to both the Third and Fourth Dhydnas. Then there
would be Liberations corresponclingto all the four Dhyanas as
well as to all the formless states.
Another correlation with the Form and Formless Realms, that
is apparently independent of the Liberations along with their
basesof Mastery and Totality, concernsa remarkable passagein
Asanga's Samahitabhumi.sz He raises the question, "When one
'motiva-
has the cessationequipoise,how do the three kinds of
tions' (sarytskara)sequentially cease?" And he answers:
There is both practice (carya) and station (uilwra). Arnong
these, at the time one is involved with practice, there is also
discourse,becausethat is the verbal motivati on (uaksaryskara)
which is the act of the First Dhyina. At the time one enter-
prises stations, since one is equipoisedin the Second Dhydna
and subsequentstations in succession,they (the three "motiva-
tions") ceasesuccessivelY.
He raises the question, "If the thought (citta) and mentals
(caitasikadharma)of the one in equipoise cessationceased,how
'perception' (uiifiana) and body?"
would he avoid a separation of
And he answers:
There is no absence of "store-consciousness"(alayauijfiana)
controlled by the seedof evolving perception (prattrttiuiifiana)
in his non-altering formal senseorgans-because this is the
true nature of the coming event.
There is no doubt that Asanga here refers to the three kinds of
"motivation" which the Arthauiniicaya-sutra8r assigns to the
second member of Dependent Origination (pratityasamutpada).
The three, of body, speech,and mind, ceaseduring the succession
of "stations" (uihdra), which therefore begin with the Second
Dhyana. The manner of ceasing is clear from the traditional
82PTT,Vol. 109,p. 281-1-4
ff.
sgThe portion of this sfitrathat is relevant here is included in the fragment
published by Alfonsa Ferrari in 1944 in Atti Reale Della Accademia D'Italia,
Roma,serie Settima,vol. V,fasc. 13. InN. H. SAMT,INI, Tlrc Artlnviniicaya'
sfitra and its Commentary (Nibanrlhana) (Petna, I97I), the passage is in the
text, pp. 7-8.
Aspects of Meditation in the Theravdda and MahiSAsaka 93

Buddhist statements of the realms. Thus.the Second Dhydna

eliminates the fault of inquiry (uitarka) and investigation (uicdra)
that was present in the First Dhyana, and so "motivation of
speech" ceases. The Fourth Dhydna eliminates the fault of in-
halation and exhalation, so "motivation of body" (kaya-sarytskara)
ceases. Finally, the summit of existence (bhouagra)eliminates
feelingsand ideas,and so "motivation of mind" (manaft-sarytskdra)
ceases.saBut this third kind of cessationof "motivation" does
not constitute a radical separation from ordinary consciousness
according to Asanga. So Falk is right in saying,85"In primitive
Buddhist ti jfianavada the notion of alayavijfiana is foreshadowed
in the conception of citta:wteno:uiiifiana (synonyms in Pali
literature) as origin, source, and essenceof all the dhammas
(Dhp. 1)." She refers to Dhammapada1, including: "The natures
(dhatnma, S. dharma) are preceded by manas,have mqnas as chief,
are made of manas." By mentioning the 'onon-alteringformal
senseorgans" Asanga alludes to a celebrated Buddhist legend,
that at the time of convoking the second Buddhist council the
Arhat Kubjita, being in the cessationequipoise,did not hear the
gong. Kubjita's ear organ did not alter; and yet when he emerg-
ed from his cessation equipoise, a deua informed him of the cir-
cumstances. Asanga's equivalent to the "deue" is the yogin's
own o'store consciousness" (dlayauijfidna) controlled by the seed
of evolving perception-a seed which holds futurity. The story
continues that Kubjita, by virtue of his magical power (rddhi),
then "flew" to the meeting.86
The tabulation will sholv the foregoing correlations, which
only in the caseof the Third Dhyana has a contribution of my
o w n.

8aAccording to the ArthaviniScaya-sutra, when "motivation of mind" ceases,

so must cease the volition (cetana) of an impassioned thought (rakta), of a
hating thought (dvista), of a deluded thought (mu/ha). Moreover, LAuorrr,
Le Traitd,III, p. 1299, when feelings and ideas cease, the tradition has it that
also all thoughts (citta) and mentals (caitasika-dharma) cease.
SsMnnvra FALr, Natna-rupa and Dharma-rupa (University of Calcutta,
1943), p. 85.
86For the story, see for example, Ferdinand D. LsssrNc and Anx WAyMAN,
Mkhas grub rje's Fundamentals of the Buddhist Tantras (The Hague, 1968),
o. 65.
 BuddhistInsight

Eigfri**."G". (samapatti)
.t"ti"*t fttl ara) of eqr-ripoise

VIHARA SUMMIT OF EXISTENCE (bhavagra)

8 (freqtrently called the "ninth santapatti")

Cessationof ideasand feelings:cessationof "motivation of mind":

eighth Liberation.

FORMLESS REALM

7 Baseof neitheridea nor no-idea:seventhLiberation.

6 Base of nothing-at-all:sixth Liberation; the best place for those
with equanim*y (upek;a).
5 Base of infinite perception:fifth Liberation; perceptionTotality,
with the four specialknowledges,etc.
4 Baseof infinite space:fourth I-iberation;spaceTotality, with magic
power to come and go.

REALM OF FORM

3 3 Fourth Dhyana:
, E u n s h a k e nb y p l e a s u r e - c e s s a t i o n Third Liberation; bases of
)of "nrotiuaiion of body" Mastery 5-8; basesof Totality
c 5 - 8 ; 5 . b l t r e ,6 . y e l l o w , 7 . r e d ,
2 lThird Dhydna: 8. white
Sshakenby pleasure
)
I :SSecondDhyana: SecondLiberation;
,-cmeditativeobject basesof Mastery,3-4
)steady:cessation Bases of Totality,
I of "motivation of [. earth, 2. water,
h speech" 3. fire, 4. wind
F First Dhyana: First Liberation;
Caryd j meditativ-eobject basesof Mastery, 1-2
samdpatti unsteady

Asanga's Samahitabhumi presents three degrees of passing

through these equipoises:87(l) passing through them without
skipping, i.e. First Dhydna up to Summit of Existence, and in
reverseorder, for a yogin who is not pure. (2) leaping over the
second one in order, but not over the third which is too far to
j,rmp, for erample, First directly to Third Dhyana, to Base of
infinite space,to Base of nothing-at-all; and in reverseorder in
comparable manner-for a yogin who is pure. (3) entering any

s7PTT, May'sentry"Choj6" in Hdbdgirin,

Vol.109,p.275-4,5.Cf.Jacques
Fascicule:Chi-Ch6otsush6,
Quatrieme p. 358.
pp. 353-60,especially
 of Meditationin theTheravidaandMahiSisaka
Aspects 95

of them from any other one as wished, for Tathdgatas and Bodhi-
sattvas who have passedthe second incalculable aeon (explained
in the Prajffdparamitd tradition as the last three stages,8th, 9th,
and 10th of the Bodhisattva path).88

THs INSTRUCTToN
oF INSTcHT
The instruction of insight-the third of the three instructions-
is frequently set forth by the term "discerning" (uipasyana). Thus
Sutralarykara,XIY, 8:
One should know his path of calming and the concise
statement of the doctrines; one should knolv his path of
discerning-the deliberation of the meaningsof that (concise
statement).
As was indicated previously, the path of discerning,which gradu-
ally perfects insight (prajmA),is meant to eliminate the deep-seated
traces (anuSaya)of defllements,whereas the training in concentra-
tion of the mind aims at a one-pointednessleaving no room in the
mind atthat time for a defilement. This position, so much stressed
in the writings of Asanga's school (the later Mahisasaka) is also
what the Theravdda says.se
But, while calming the mind was already set forth as necessary
to attain the threshold of the First Dhydna, one does not continue
through the various stations depicted above by calming alone.
Thus the Yogdcdra sub-commentator Sthiramati states in his
commentary on the SutralarTtkara(XVIII, 65-67) that in the first
three Dhyanas, discerning is major, calming minor; while in the
Fourth Dhydna there is the pairwise-union (yuganaddha)of calm-
ing and discerning. He means, starting from the main paft
Qnauli) of the First Dhydna.
The path of discerning, otherw.isecalled the instruction of
insight, presents methodical mental orientations in terms of
deliberating, investigating the object. Thus the Visuddhimagga
includes under this instruction such matters as understanding the
personal aggregatesto be void of self or of what belongs to self,
observingimpermanence,and the like. It is not necessaryto have
precededthis path of discerningwith calming of the type associat-
ed with the cathartic and rapture; because,as was cited, "(Still,)
88Cf. LBssrNc and WAyuAN, Mkhas grub rje's, p. 21.
ssBuddhist Meditation, p. 341
96 BuddhistInsight

there is no lack of thinking-volition that approachesright doctrine

in the realm of craving." What is taught is that it is necessary
to calm the mind in order to transcendthe Realm of Desire.
Along these lines, Buddhadasaeocites the Visuddhimagga.'"The
wise man, standingfirm on th'eground, takes up the edgedweapon
in his hands, sharpensit on the stone, and, working diligently,
succeedsin clearing away the thick jungle." And he well explains,
"The 'wise man' is anyone with inborn insight (sahajata-pafifia)
or what is nowadays called intelligence. This is an immature
form of insight which has to be developedinto true and genuine
insight (uipassandpafifid)." In a separate essay,elI have cited
Asanga's explanation of the scriptural "eye of insight" as the
native insight (sahaja prajfia); and have mentioned his later ex-
planation that the native insight is attained through birth, and
that he contrasts the promoted insight possessedby the learned
man (paqfita) with the native insight possessedby the intelligent
man (uijiia). He defines the term buddhi as standing for any
native insight capable of differentiating (alternatives). Earlier
in his great rvork he shorvshorv the eye of insight is assailedin
the Realm of D e s i re : " F o r e ra mp l e . s m o k e i s precededby the
elem entof f lr e a n d h u rts th e e 1 ' e .... In th e same rvay, cravi ng
t t " ' t . iit is pr ec e d e db 1 ' l u s t.h a tre d ,a n d d e l u s i onand hurts theeye
of insight ..." It ri.ould be hard to find a more perfect agreement
beru'eenthe Theravdda (as in Buddhaddsa) and the MahiSdsaka
(as in Asanga).
Besides,there are numerous referencesin Buddhist texts to three
kinds of "insight." The teacherAtiSa, who was very influential in
Tibet starting with his arrival in 1042,A.D., mentions the three in
this rvay:e2 "What is insight? As follows:-native (sahaja),or
consisting of hearing (Srutamayi), consisting of pondering (cinta-
mayi), or consisting of intense contemplation (bhauanamayi)."
Le Trait6e3 has a different way of referring to kinds of insight,
discussing the prajfia of the irdualra, the pratyekabuddha,and the
Buddha, and also of the heretics; and claims that Prajiidpdramitd
(the Perfection of Insight) encompasses all the insights.

soBuddhadasa, Andpanasati, p. 21.

el"Nescience and Insight according to Asanga's YogacarabhzTni," published
in this volume.
szBodhimorgapradipa-pafiijka-nama, PTT, Vol. 103, p. 39-4-1.
e3l-auorrr, Le Traitd,II, p. 1066 ff.
Aspectsof Meditationin the Theravdda
andMahisasaka 97

f'herefore, it is not the position of theseschoolsthat in develop-

ing a faculty called "insight" (prajiia) the yogin has acquiredsome-
thing he did not have before. Rather, it is clear that the process
of promoting this insight through the path of discerningis a matter
of trading certain defiled concomitants, in the category of lust,
hatred. and delusion,for other better concomitants, suiting prajfia
in a more splendidfashion. The technicalword for this trading is
pariurtti ("exchange"). while thesetexts speakof different kinds
of prajfrii, this is necessarybecauseof the undoubted differencein
degreeand usage of this faculty in different persons. It cannot
have been the intention of quite properly mentioning the "prajfid
of the irduaka (disciple)" that the Buddha's prajfraparamitd ex-
cludes and is radically different from that irduaka-prajiia,. fbr, if
this were the case,then Le Traitd should not have taken the posi-
tion that Prajfrdpdramita encompassesall insights. Thus, even
Prajffaparamita cannot be something to acquire as entirely new.
Asanga makes the same point with his "store-consciousness"
theory, namely, that even if the yogin manages to attain the
"summit of existence" called equipoise-cessation,this "store
consciousness" continuesand from it there issuesforth at a later
time the host of mental natures.
Granted that there are Buddhist scriptural passagessuggesting
the ,v-ogin's radical separationfrom mankind. Such is this verse,
whose Pdli form is in the sarpyutta-Nikdyas+and which the teacher
Asanga citesfrom the Sanskritcanon:eb
As the tortoise in its own shell withdrarvs its limbs, so may
the monk (withdraw) his mind's (outgoing) conjectures;resort-
less, not harming another, denouncing no one, proceed to
Parinirvapa.
Asanga explains that this monk is progressing along the seven
stations (vihara) which begin with the Second Dhydna. Along
the way, it is taught, he may gain supernormal powers, special

saSaryyutta-Nikaya,I, p. 9 (in the India Devandgari edition):

kummo va angdni sake kapdle

samoda-ham bhikkhu manovitakke
anissito aiiffam ahethayano,
parinibbuto nupavadeyya kaflci
escintdntayibhilmi, PTT, vol. 110, p. 16-4, 5. Asanga would naturally
be
citing the verse from the Sarpyuktagarna.
98 BuddhistInsight

knowledges, and so on. But no matter what the meditative attain-

ment, the yogin should be able to return to society and communi-
cate on mundane matters, even if it is difficult or impossible for
him to communicate his visions and meditative success. Indeed,
as it was previously cited, "When one has emerged (from that
samadhi) and is occupied with his (ordinary) mind , some measure
of the cathartic continues in his body and mind." Accordingly,
the only way the yogin could lose the insight of ordinary men is
to lose insight itself.
 4

THE BODHISATTVA PRACTICE ACCORDING

TO THE LAM RIM CHEN MO

Westernreadersinterestedin Buddhism of the Great Vehicleform,

and particularly in Buddhism of the Tibetan form, have undoubt-
edly encounteredthe great stressthat this Buddhism lays on Com-
passionfor the sentientbeings.It is of course easyfor such teach-
ings to take on a sentimental tone, as though they are simply
high-soundingwords as "compassion." This may very well have
been the case in the past because the usual presenter of such
thoughts has sought to spare the Western reader from what he
believed would be boring to him. What these books really
contain-their wealth of quotations,their listsof subdivisions,their
occasionaldisputesover points, might be difficult for the Western-
er to appreciate but which were once burning issues. On the
other hand, some scholarly books with no solicitude about boring
the reader, and no way of getting to the inside of the subject-
dissectit as a corpse in a mortuary.
The present essay seeks a middle ground between those ex-
tremes. It will present this remarkable point of view of Buddh-
ism that was preservedand embellishedin its Tibetan form and
do it with sufficient technical material that the reader can know
what the person enrolled in this way of life is actually doing to
promote that flne-sounding Compassion. At the same time, it
will avoid-on account of brevity-those extended explanations
which often confusethe issue. If the reader will bear this in mind,
he will begin to appreciate, even without a knowledge of the
1 00 Buddhist Insight

Tibetan lan-uuage, rvhat is actually in the Tibetan books, although

o nly by a s am pleo f a n e n o rm o u sl i te ra tu re .
T s on- k ha- pa( 13 5 7 -1 4 1 9A.D
, .),fo u n d e r o f th e Ti betanGel ugpa
se c t ,f inis hedhis g re a t c o m p e n d i u mo f B u d d h i sm,the Lom ri nt
chenmo, in 1402,A.D. This u'ork elaboratelypresentsthe stages
of the path to enlightenmentin extensiveamplificationof Ati6a's
indicationsin the latter's brief work "A Lamp on the Path to En-
lightenment" (byafi chublam gyi sgron ma). He is the great Indian
pandit who came to Tibet in 1042,A.D. In this work, AtiSa set
forth three religiousdegreesof personsin the verses3-5:
3. Whoever, by whatever means, pursues only his own aim
in just the pleasuresof this world, he is known as the inferior
person.
4. Whoever, turning his back on the pleasuresof phenomenal
existence,and averting himself from sinful actions, pursues
only his own quiescence,he is known as the mediocre person.
5. Whoever, through the sufferingbelongingto his own stream
of consciousness,completely desiresthe right cessationof all
the suffering of others-that person is superior.
Tson-kha-pa explainsthe mental training (blo sbyon) for each
of those three persons.In the sectionfor the superiorperson-the
bodhisattua-it becomes clear that the path here is especially a
practice rather than a doctrine, despite the title of a useful book
by Har Dayal, The Bodhisattua Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit
Literature (London, 1932).
The emphasison practice is at the very beginning of Tson-kha-
pa'ssection.We learn that to servethe aim of others is a possibility
of the human condition, not of animals who only work for them-
selves.The Bodhisattva is not distinguished from the Srdvaka
(auditor), or the Pratyekabuddha(one enlightenedforhimself), by
viewpoint; becauseas far as Insight (ies rab) is concerned,there is
no difference between the Lesser vehicle (Hinay6na) or Great
vehicle (Mahaydna). They are distinguishedby practice. In the
caseof the Bodhisattva,thepracticeis calied Means (thabs), and,
the chief Meaus is the Thoughtof Enlightenment(byan chtibsems).
This Thought is the door to the Great vehicle, and when one
has it he is called "son of the Buddha."
The person who would enter this path must generate the
Thought of Enlightenment with its double goal-enlightenment
TheBodhisattva
Practice
According
to theLam Rim chenMo 101

for oneself and benefit for others. In ordei to generate it as a

vow, it must be taken ritually. Now it appearsto have been the
experienceof the Indian rnastersthat if one simply went through
the laid-down procedure of generatingthe Thought of Enlighten-
ment, it could easily be dispersed,that is to say, not cohere in the
stream of consciousnessin the senseof the citation, "Therefore
in all his births he loses not the Thought of Enlightenment.
Even in dreams he has this Thought: much more if he be awake."
Therefore, certain preliminaries are required. First of all, the
person must have the right circumstancesof life, which are called
the four reasons:1. he should be in this family (rig,s),2.taken in
hand by spiritual guides (dge bies), 3. be compassionatetoward
living beings,4. have zest for austerities.And he should have one
or other power to generatethat Thought : 1. his own power, where-
by he craves the perfect Enlightenment through his own force
(of character), 2. another's power, whereby he craves it by way
of another's power, 3. the polver of a (deep-seated)cause, where-
by he generatesthe Thought through the mere hearing in the
present life of praisesof the Buddha and Bodh.isattvasby reason
of having formerly cultivated the Great vehicle, or 4. the power of
praxis, in the course of which he has for a long time been follow-
ing a path of virtue, seekingout high-minded personsand listen-
ing to the Law. Given that the person has such reasonsand is
endowed with such a power, then he is given a religious exercise
to further put his rnind in the right frarne for generating the
Thought of Enlightenment.

ColrpessroNASnN ExencrsEoF Mrr.ro

Tson-kha-pa presentstwo alternate methods of such a religious
exercise,one which was handed down from AtiSa, and the other
found in the texts by Santideva (i.e. his ,Siksasarnuccq)qand
Bodhicaryduatara;,in Tibetan Bslab btus and Spyod iiu7.
A. Atiia's precepts of "Seuen cqusesand efficts". The seven
are as follows: perfectedBuddhahood arisesfrom the Thought of
Enlightenment; that Thought, from altruistic aspiration; that
aspiration, from compassion; compassion,from love; love, from
gratitude; gratitude, from recollection of kindness; recollection
of kindness,from seeingas "mothsl"-ssysn in all. The candidate
reflects that in the inflnite past and in the infinite future, all the
102 BuddhistInsight

uncountable rebirths are possiblethrough a mother's loving care.

Every sentient being has sometime or other served as one's own
"mother." Thus, the meditator first seesvividly his own mother,
and through her passesbeyond all bounds of love for all the
sentientbeings. He dwells on his mother's kindnessin taking care
of all his needswhen he was completely helpless. This recollec-
tion arouses gratitude; gratitude arouses love. Having gotten
into that frame of mind, he recognizesas his "mother" also his
father and friends. He then proceedsto the more advanced task
of recognizingas his "mother" the neutral persons. When he
is able to regard the latter the sameway as he thinks of his friends,
he proceedsto the still more advanced task of recognizing as his
'omother"
all his enemies. When the latter can be seenthis w&Y,
he recognizesall the living beings of the ten directions as his
"mother," expanding his meditations into the boundlessstate. In
this way he brings on the BoundlessState of Love. Having come
to see all these sentient beings as one's "mother" in the Bound-
less State of Love, the meditator then reflects on their manifold
sufferin-esin their subjection to transmigration. The intensereali-
zation of suffering by einpathy ri'ith the loved objects-the
"mother"-produces Compassion. As applied to all the sentient
beings, one enters the BoundiessState of Compassion.Having
this compassionthrough realizing the sufferingsof these sentient
beings,the meditator then aspiresto free them from sufferingand
to bring them happiness-as one wishesto do this for one's mother.
Hence, the next stage, called "altruistic aspiration," which ex-
pands into the third BoundlessState of Sympathetic Joy with all
the happiness accruing to those sentient beings. The next stage
is reflection on the Thought of Enlightenment itself as having the
two aims of Enlightenmentfor oneself and Deliverancefor others.
The candidate reflects on the seventh stage as perfect Enlighten-
ment-the final fruition of the sequence.
B. Precepts based on SAntideua'stexts. 1. Firstonereflects on
the benefit of changingplaceswith another:
Whoever desiresto speedily rescue oneself and others too,
Should practice what is the highest secret-changing places
between himself and another'
$pyod lljug,vlll, 120)
What is meant is that the usual condition of holding oneself as
 PracticeAccordingto the Lam Rim ChenMo
The Bodhisattva 103

dear must give way to holding others as dear. And if one manages
that conversion,then even that person who'had been considered
one's worst enemy and who caused disagreeablefeelingsjust by
hearing his name-becomes converted into a friend who would
causedispleasureby his mere absence.This changeof heart comes
about through cultivating this view of personality interchange.
Now, somebody challenges this procedure on the grounds that
another's body is certainly not our body, and so it is questionable
that anything like our own mentality could be generated therein.
The answer given is that we did something analogous when we
descendedto rebirth in a habitation formed from materials of the
father and mother, who are "different" from us, although we
ooourbody." Having come to see the benefit, he then
speak of
proceeds to 2, the steps of cultivating the interchange between
oneselfand another. Now, one should not confuse this procedure
with the thought, "f am seeing through his eyes," and so on.
Rather it is the interchangeof feelings,taking on another's suffer-
ing, installing in him one's bliss. There are two hindrancesto this
interchange. (a) One has the thought, "This is mine" and "That is
his" much the same way as the colors green and yellow are
distinct. One counteracts that with a contemplation given in
Bslqb btus (final verse section):
Through the repeated cultivation of the samenessof oneself
and another, the Thought of Enlightenment would be firmed.
The relation-oneself-and-another-ness-like this side and
the further bank (of a river) is in falsehood.
Not becauseof our own is that bank the other one; for, with
relation to what is there a "this side" ?
Ego is not proved by our own; in relation to what would there
be the other (where the "other" is ourself)?
(b) One has the thought, "His suffering does no harm to me;
why try to dispel it?" One counteracts that by contemplating in
such a caseone should make no provision for old age, becausethe
suffering of the aged does no harm to the youth; and by contem-
plating that in such a case one should not bother to use a hand
to relieve a foot from something distressing, becauseit is
ooanother." An objection is raised that the old man and the
youth have a single stream of consciousness,and the foot and
hand are in the same set, while in contrast one cannot say the
to4 BuddhistInsight

same of oneself and another. The answer points out that the
stream of consciousnessis momentary and the set is subject to
reformations. Thus it is a similar situation and one could just
as well posit oneselfand another self in the caseof the youth and
the old man. Having in that way eliminated the wrong ap-
proaches,one can attend to 3. the basic method of cultivation.
Make sure, O mind, that I belong to the other;
And exceptfor the aim of all the sentientcreatures.henceforth
you must not plan.
These eyes,which are theirs, must no longer see my aim:
These hands, which belong to another, must not work my
aim; so also all the other organs of action.
(S p y o d U u g, V III, 137-138).

TsB TsoucHT or ExucHTENMENTAND THE

BonslsarrvR Pa'tr
Assuming that the person r,viththe necessary reasons, and pos-
sessedof one or more of tire powers, then reflects in the proper
manner in one or other of the two religious exercisespresented
above, he is norv preparedto generatethe Thought of Enlighten-
ment. Here a distinction is introduced that the Thought has two
degrees:
Precisely the distinction that is made between the one who
desiresto go and the one who is on the way,
Just that distinction is to be understood respectivelyamong
the two.
(Spyod l,jug, I,16)
The verse refers to the Aspiration Thought (smon serns)and the
Entrance Thought (hjus sems), respectively. The Aspiration
Thought is understood as the aspiration of thinking, ,,I shall
become a Buddha for the sake of the living beings," or such a
formula, and then the practice of the perfections(par rol tu phyin
pa) beginning with Giving. The Entrance Thought means that
one is holding that Thought as a vow (sdontpa), i.e. that it coheres
in the stream of consciousnessin all circumstances;ancl then the
practice of the Perfections takes on an addecl significance. It
will be noticed that the foregoing religious exerciseseach have
somethingin common with Aspiration Thought. Indeed.,a rvide
The BodhisattvaPracticeAccordingto the Lam Rim Chen Mo 105

latitude of eventsand objects is acknowledgedas possibly serving

the purpose of inspiring the Aspiration Thought. However,
the Thought of Enlightenment as the Entrance Thought is a true
conversion of the mind; and for taking it, a good guru is prefer-
able-as explainedby Atisa: "The guru is known as 'good' who is
skilled in the procedure of the vow, himself is one who adheres
to the vow, and who possessesthe forbearance and compassion
to impart the vow." Tson-kha-pasetsforth the elaborateceremony
of Refuge formula and the like, obviously intended to make the
occasionmemorable. At the appropriate point, the candidatetakes
the rite of seizing the Thought, by reciting the following thrice:
All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas dwelling in the ten direc-
tions, pray take cognizance of me ! Preceptor, pray take
cognizanceof me ! I, named so-and-so, have the root of
virtue of this and other lives, consistingin the self-existence
of Giving to others, the self-existenceof Morality, and the
self-existenceof conteinplation; and by means of that root
of virtue consisting of'what has been done by ffie, what has
been granted to do, and of sympatheticjoy with what is done.
Just as the former Tathagata-Arhat-samyaksambuddhasand
the great Bodhisattvasdwelling on the great earth were made
to generatetheir heart into the Incomparable Right-perfected
Enlightenment,
In the salneway, f, named so-and-so,also holding from this
time on, up to reachingthe precinctsof Enligirtenment,shall
generate my Thought to the Incornparable Right-perfected
Great Enlightenment;shall rescuethe unrescuedbeings;shall
savethe unsaved;shall encouragethe discouraged;shall bring
to Nirvana those who have not attained complete Nirvala.
In the casewhere it is not possibleto find a good guru or preceptor,
an adjustment is made so the person can take it by himself. In
fact, he has to imagine the Buddha dwelling in front, go through
the rites of bowing and offerings; and when taking refuge and
making the above statement, he must omit the entreaty of the
preceptor. Tson-kha-pa continueswith the care the person should
take so that the vow is not broken; and there is a procedureof
broadening the base of the vo\,vby reflecting on its benefits and
greatness,becausethe Thought of Enlightenment is the seed of
all the Buddha natures.
106 BuddhistInsight

In order to appreciate how the Bodhisattva-as he is called

by reasonof having that vow-is to proceedthereafter, it is neces-
sary to consider some fundamental principles. Tson-kha-pa
quotes a most important passagefrom the "Revelation-Enlighten-
ment of Vairocana" (rnam snnn mnon byan), also known as the
"Great Sun S[tra":
Master of Secrets! The omniscientknowledge has Compassion
for a root, has the Thought of Enlightenment for a motive,
'
and has the Means for a finalitY.
In that passage,the expression"omniscient knowledge" is equiva-
lent to the Buddha's Insight (ies rab). Compassion provides
this Insight with a root in the phenomenalworld. The Thought
of Enlightenment provides this Insight with a motive, the vow
as cause. The Means provides this Insight with a finality, its
fulfilment. We have seen in the foregoing that the person desir-
ing to embark on this Bodhisattva path had to arouse com-
passion,and then to take the Thought of Enlightenment asavow.
Therefore, he has taken care of the first two steps in bringing the
"omniscient knowledge" to full expression. He has left to take
the third step, called the Means. And this Means consists of
the first five Perfections, rvhich are (1) Perfection of Giving
(sb1,ittpa),(2) Perfecrionof Morality (tshul khrims), (3) Perfection
of Forbearance(bzoclpa), (4) Perfection of Striving (brtson ltgrus),
(5) Perfection of Meditation (bsam gtan). This Means must be
combined with Insight, which is the sixth Perfection, (6) Perfection
of Insight (ies rab). The Means must be combined with Insight,
because Buddhism of the Great Vehicle is aimed toward the
"Nirvapa of no-fixed-abode," as Tson-kha-pa explains:
what is to be accomplishedby the Mahd:ydnistsis the Nirvdla
of no-fixed-abode. This involves no fixed abode in pheno-
menal life (hkhor ba), accomplished by the profound path
(zab mohi lam) along with the steps of the path based on
supreme (Truth) (don dam pa) withthe Insight that fully under-
standsreality, as well as accomplishedby the portion of Insight
with the collection of knowledge (ye Seskyi tshogs). And it
involves no-fixed-abode in quiescent nirua4ta, accomplished
by the ample path (rgya che bali lam) along with the steps of
the path based on Conventional Truth (kun rdzob kyi bdenpa)
with the Insight that knows the phenomenal side (ii sfied pa),
 Accordingto theLam Rim ChenMo
Practice
TheBodhisattva 107

as well as accomplished by the portion of Means with the

collection of merit (bsodnams kyi tshogs).
The Lam rim chen mo cites numerous passagesto show in various
ways the necessityto combine Insight and Means. For example,
from the Sru-Paramddya (dpal mchog dan po): "Perfection of
Insight is his Mother; Skill in the Means is his Father." This
happens to occur in the last chapter of that work, where it is seen
that they are the Mother and Father of the hierophant (uairasattua,
rdo rje sems dpai). Again from the "Questions of KdSyapa" (ltod
srun gls 2us pa): "Ka6yapa, thus, for example,just as the king
who is governed by ministers performs all the acts of a king,
likewise the Insight of the Bodhisattva which is governed by
the Means performs all the Acts of the Buddha." And in the
(Ittaratantra (rgyud bla ma): "The painters who are its aspects
are Giving, Morality Forbearance, and the rest. The Voidness
(ston pa fiid) furnished with the best of all aspects is called the
picture." Tl-re point of this last citation is that there is no
picture if a portion is omitted; therefore, all the Perfections
are necessary.
This requirement to practice all the Perfections simultaneously
is essentialto the theory of ten Bodhisattva stages. For this pur-
pose, on each successivestage all the Perfectionsare present but
with one or more predominant; and so on each stagethe "picture"
is different. It is the Thought of Enlightenment which is moving
upward through these ten stages. With the end of the seventh
stage,however, conventionaldescriptionsalso conclude,because
a mysterious change occurs upon entrance into the Eighth Stage.
And great as this new situation may appear, it is not the same as
Buddhahood. Therefore Tson-kha-pa cites the "Slttra of Ten
Stages" (sa bcu pa) about the Eighth Stage called "Motionless"
(mi sYo ba):
O Prince! You should know concerning the Bodhisattva who
has entered this Motionless Bodhisattva Stage, who dwells
there adding to the power of his former aspiration, that the
blessedBuddhas make for him, in that current at the mouth
of natures, a providing of the knowledge of the Tathdgata [an
epithet of the Buddhal. And they speak thus to him. "Very
well, very well, Son of the Family. This is the supreme for-
bearance for understanding the Buddha natures. But you
 108
BuddhistInsight
should know, son of the Family, thatour perfection
of Buddha
natures consisting of the Ten powers, the Four confidences,
and so forth-that is not in you ! So, apply yourself
to the
quest for perfection of the Buddha natures!
Begin your
striving !
"Furthermore, Son of the Family, remember your
former
aspiration-the inconceivablemouth of knowledge and
achiev-
ing the aim of sentientbeings!
"Also, you should know, son of the Family, that
this is the
True Nature of all natures. And whether tathagatas
arise or
do not arise, this True Nature abides, this Realm of
Natures
abides, in this sense: the voidness of all natures, the
non-
apprehension of all natures. But the Tathagatas cannot
be
determined by this alone, for also all the srdvakas
and
Pratyekabuddhas reach this True Nature devoid
of
discursivethought!"
This is the teachingthat in the ascentof the Thought of Enlighten-
ment, the Bodhisattvareachesa decisivepoint in his career when
he attains the True Nature of all natures,which happensto be
also
the quiescentnirt'aua for those rvho reach that niruaua. But
the
Bodhisatt'a should not think he has reachedthe highest realm,
and so he is reminded of his former aspiration and instructed
that he must begin all over again in this new manner of existence,
and continue onrvard. The students of the Lam rim chen
mo
are expectedto know that the Bodhisattva reachesthe end of
his
careeras a Bodhisattva in the Tenth stage when he is tantamount
to a Buddha, but is not a comprete Buddha, for which
a further
stage,called the Eleventh, is allotted.
The foregoing shows that the six perfections are the chief kind
of Bodhisattva instruction. They can also be grouped under
the
Three Instructions of Buddhism: Giving, Morality, Forbearance
are grouped under the Instruction of Morality; Meditation
is
included in the Instruction of Mind Training; Insight is included
in the Instruction of Insight; and Striving is included under
all
three Instructions. The first four perfections (Giving, Morality,
Forbearance, and striving) can be considered as accessories
to
samadhi (tin ne lldzin) because they are different forms of
non-
swerving, and promote the f,fth perfection, the non-straying
meditation; hence, if one cultivates clear vision (lhag mtlroiy
with them as basis, one comprehendsreality.
The BodhisattvaPracticeAccording to the Lam Rim Chen Mo 109

Reasons are advanced for the traditional order of the perfec-

tions. when there is Giving that is unattached becauseit does
not look to possession,Morality is adopted. when one has
Morality well restrained from evil conduct, he has Forbearance
toward harm. when there is Forbearance unwearied toward
austerity, there is ability to go ahead with Striving that has scarce
occasion to turn back. When one enterprisesday and night with
Striving, there arisesthe deep concentration (or Meditation) that
easily serves a virtuous meditative object of mind. when the
mind is stabilized, it rightly understands (with Insight) the way
things are. It is also taught that the six Perfectionsare successive-
ly higher or loftier. Besides, they are considered successively
more subtle since each later one is found harder to enter and to
perform in than the earlier one.
It was primary that the Bodhisattva has two aims, one for him-
self and one for others. The six Perfectionsmature the Buddha
natures 1'or himself, and what are called the four persuasions
mature the stream of consciousnessof others.

MlruRrNG THE Bunonn Nl,ruRrs noR ONEsBtn

l. Giving. From the extensivematerial on this subject, a few
points only: It is said in the Spyod l,jug (Iil, lI):
Nirvdpa is the renunciation of everything; and my mind is
intent on Nirvapa.
If I must renounce everything, best it be given to the sentient
beings!
And it is said in the Phar phyin bsdus pa (paramita-sen1dsa,
l,llB-12):
This thing is only yours (plural). I have no pride of "mine"
with respect to it.
whoever he be, having such marvellous reflections-pursuant
to the complete Buddha's mode of being-arise again and
again.
That one, outstanding among enlightenment beings (bodhi-
sattuA,byan chub sensdpak), the Buddhas (sansrgyas) who are
the inconceivable beings (bsamgyis mi khyab), call great being.
There are varieties in the essentialnature of Giving: (a) giving of
the BuddhistLaw (dharma),teachingthe sublime Doctrine without
110 BuddhistInsight

error; (b) giving of security against fear of men, fierce animals,

and the elements; (c) giving of material things, either concretely
or imaginatively. Speakinggenerally,the household or layman
Bodhisattva does the giving of material things, and the Bodhi-
sattva ri'ho has enteredthe religious life does the giving of the Law.
In illustration of how the Bodhisattva practices all six Perfec-
tions simultaneously with Giving predominant, the Great Com-
mentary on the "Perfection of Insight in Eight Thousand lJnits"
explains: At the time he practices, say, the Giving of the Law,
he has the Morality of restraint against the mental orientation of
the Sravaka and Pratyekabuddha; he has both the Forbearance
with conviction of the Law of the Omniscient One and the For-
bearance of mistreatment by another; he has the Striving pur-
posive to promote ever higher that very (Giving); he has the
Meditation of one-pointed mind not mixed with the Lower
Vehicle, that transfers the merit of the perfected Bodhisattva. to
other sentient beings; and he has the Insight which knows in the
manner ofan illusion all three, the gift, the giver, and the receiver.
2. Morality. Morality is the abstinent thought that averts the
mind frorn anything involving harin to another. The Spyod kjue
( V , 1 1 )s a y s :

How lead away all fishesand so on, that I may not kill any?
When the abstinent thought is achieved,there is the Perfection
of Morality.

Generally in Buddhism this abstinent thought refers to abstinence

from the ten evil acts, three of body, four of speech,and three of
mind. Morality makes the rest work. The Phar phyin bsdus pa
(I I , l) s ay s :

The person whose interest has been aroused to make beings

delighted by the Complete Buddha's jewel of Morality,
Should first of all purify his own Morality, for Morality in-
stills the power of effectiveness.

Without it, one's own aim as well as that of others is out of reach.
for the samework (II, 48) says:

The person who falls from Morality is impotent even in what

benefits himself. In what procedure for another's sake is he
capable?
 PracticeAccordingto the Lam Rim chen Mo II1
TheBodhisattva

Therefore, it is especiallyimproper for one pursuing the aim

'
of others to relax his care in this matter'
There are three kinds of Morality: the morality of restraints,the
for
morality of gathering virtuous natures, the morality of acting
the aim of sentient beings. The morality of restraints covers all
Buddhist order, starting from those of the
the regulations of the
layman and adding until those of the monk and nun are included'
The morality of gathering virtuous natures means paying atten-
tion to all virtues associatedwith the six Perfections, developing
those not yet developed, and guarding and enhancing those al-
ready developed. The morality of acting for the aim of sentient
beings means paying attention to the aims of the various kinds
of sentient beings, and pursuing those aims, sooner or later, in
a sinlessmanner.
3. Forbearunce. This is the forbearance of not retaliating in any
caseof another's harm-doing, the acceptanceof suffering in one'S
own stream of consciousness, and the unshakableconviction while
thinking with certainty about the Dharma'
In the first aspect of Forbearance, the Bodhisattva reflects that
brutish beings are uncountable-he could never succeedin killing
them all. But when angry thought is slain, all enemiesare slain !
There is not enough leather to cover the earth; but with the leather
of a shoe, earth is spanned! So the Spyod kiuS. "The fault of
anger hems in the good things of the world like a dam, the
1ry4fs1s"-Phar phyin bsduspa. Anger is looked upon as a flash
of fire that destroys all the accumulated Perfections of Giving and
Morality. So the Bodhisattva notes the benefit of Forbearance:
few enemies; few discords; pleasantstateof mind; no regretsat the
time of death; and certainty of joining the gods in heaven after
his death.
The second aspect of Forbearance-the acceptanceof suffering
in himself-is in fact a solution of the problem posed by the first
Noble Truth of Buddhism: "There is Suffering-a Noble truth.
The Bodhisattva reflects that in pursuit of worldly desires he was
tortured in hell and yet accomplished no worthy aim of himself
or others. But it is different with the suffering that accomplishes
the great aim. It is ecstatic suffering that dispels the suffering
o'From what source
of the whole world. Then the question arises 'Ihere
arises the suffering one should accept?" are eight such
bases,for example, suffering arising from the place where one is
 112 Budclhist
Insight
practicin-qthe pure life, or arising from tire perishablenatures
of
the rvorld. or arising while one is engagedin religious exercises,
a nd s o on.
The third aspect of Forbearanceamounting to conviction is
erplainedas eightfold. For example,when the field of conviction
is the pure-mindedtrust tov,'ardthe Three Jewels(the Buddha,
the Dharma, the Samgha),or r.vhenthe field is realizablein the
senseof two kinds of selflessness, of personalityand of natures;
a nd s o on.
1. striuing. The spyod {,jus (vII, 24) says: ',what is Striving?
\-irtuous perseverance." The sutrularytkara
Qndo scleli rsyin)
proclaims striving to be chief among the host of virtues because
based thereon one subsequentryattains that host. So the
Bodhisattuq-bhumi(.byai sa) declares that Striving achieves the
Incomparable, Rightly-consummated Enlightenment. And the
Phar phyin bsduspa says, "There is nothing at all that cannot be
reached by the forivard step unacquainted with rveariness.',
Three varieties are set forth: the armored striving, the striving
that amassesvirtuous natures, and the striving which performs
the aim of sentient beings. Armored striving means the striving
which is carefully guarded to apply tor,','ardEnlightenment (one's
own aim); this presentsthe Bodhisattva in heroic form. He cares
not how long it might take, but is confident of the ultimate result.
By reason of compassion for tire sentient beings he does
not
desire to become a Buddha in a short time (whirL in fact would
cause it to take a long time). Having donned such armor,
he
can practice the kind of striving that amassesvirtuous natures
in himself, namely the six perfections; and he can practicethe kind
of striving r.vhich performs the airn of the different classes of
sentientbeings.
Furthermore, there are favorable circumstancesfor Striving,
especially conviction (mos pa), steadfastness(brtan pa), joy (dlin
ba) and giving up (dor ba). Longing ({tctunpa) is said to form the
basis for Striving; and in this caselonging is identified with con-
viction in the La\/, which is the root of all virtuous natures.
steadfastnesssupports striving during the term of the Striving,
that is, ensuresthat Striving will not swerve from the goal. Joy
should be presentfrom the beginning of the Striving, becauseit is
natural that personsdo not rvant to give up an activity that gives
joy to them-so also rvith Striving. Again,
the power of giving
The BodhisattvaPracticeAccordingto the Lam Rim Chen Mo 113

up temporarily stops the Striving for a needed rest, whereupon

the Striving can resumeto reach higher than before.
5. Meditation. The essentialnature of Meditation is the virtuous
one-pointedmind fixed without straying away from the meditative
object. Tson-kha-pa devotes a rvhole rnajor section of the Lam
rim chen mo entitled Calming (2i gnas) for the means of engaging
in the cultivation of Meditation. As to varieties in terms of its
essentialnature, it is mundane, supramundane,in the category of
Calming, in the category of Clear Vision. It also has varieties
in terms of its results: the Cathartic of body and mind in the one
who is stabilized; noteworthy qualitiessharedwith the Sravakas,
such as the supernormal faculties, and the liberations; and ac-
complishing the eleven aims serving the sentient beings. The
Bodhisattva having himself mastered Meditation, then installs
another in it: this is the Giving of Meditation.
It was already mentioned that possessionof the first four Per-
fections (Giving, Morality, Forbearance, and Striving) enables
the Bodhisattva easily to master Meditation. Moreover, certain
"equipment" or accessoriesare specifiedto serveas a foundation
for the speedyand pleasant accomplishmentof Calming. These
are (from the Calming sectionof the Lam rim chenmo): residence
in a favorable place (good access,good settlement,good soil, good
companionship, good usage); meagre desire; contentment;
elimination of multiple activities, such as buying and selling;
purity of morality; elimination of discursivethinking, ofcraving,
and so on. Purity of morality, seeingthe disadvantagesin craving,
and residencein a favorable place are the chief ones.
6. Insight. The essentialnature of Insight is the analysis of the
nature of an examinedentity, in particular, skill in the five sciences,
which are inner science(Buddhism), logic, medicine, grammar,
and the arts. Tson-kha-pa devotesa separatelarge section of the
Lam rim chen mo entitled Clear Vision (lhag mthon)for the means
of engagingin its generation, in fact, the style of thinking of the
Mddhyamika School (dbu ma pa).
Nagirjuna (klu sgrub) says: "Insight is the root of all this
visible and invisible merit; hence, to accomplish both, one must
hold on to Insight. It is the great science-the sourceof (present)
nature, (future) purpose, and liberation; hence, with devotion
from the outset, one must hold on to Insight, the Great Mother."
Insight has three sources:insight consisting of hearing, insight
ll4 BuddhistInsight

consisting of pondering, and insight consisting of cultivation. It

says in the "Questions of Ndraya\a" (sred med kyi bus ius pa):
"Thus, Sons of the Family, Insight comes to the one who hears.
Defilement ceasesin the one with Insight. For him devoid of
defilement, the tempter (.Mdra, bdud) does not appear."
Also, there are three kinds of Insight:Insight that understands
the Supreme (don dam), that understands the Conventional
(kun rdzob), and that understands what will servethe purpose of
sentient beings. The first ponders in a general way the meaning
and ponders by way of direct realization.
of reality of selflessness
The second is the Insight skilled in the five sciences. The third
knows the sinless way of accomplishing the present and later
purpose of sentient beings.

MnruRrNG THESrnnnu op CoNscrousNESS

op OrnsRs
There are four methods of persuasion (bsdu balti dnos po) which
mature all the sentient beings. They are (1) giving, equal to the
Perfection of Giving, already discussed;(2) fine, pleasantspeech;
(3) acts in accordance:(4) oneself serving as an example. By
the first one. the subject becomes a fit vessel,psychologically
preparedto listento the Lau'. 81'the secondone, faith is aroused
in him ton ard the Lari' that is taught. By the third one, he is
made to exercise in accordance with the Teaching. By the
fourth one, he is led to continue training his mind accordingly.
Also, the first one involves material things, and the last three in-
volve dharma (chos).
That stressesthe importance of the Perfection of Giving, not
only as the first of the six Perfections,but also as the first thing for
the Bodhisattva to do in regard to introducing a change for the
better in another's stream of consciousness. That is why Tson-
kha-pa devotessuch a long section to the Perfection of Giving.
Some idea of the main points in Tson-kha-pa'streatmentof the
Bodhisattva practice is presentedhere. However, I have given
only in brief measure what Tson-kha-pa has explained in great
detail and extensivelywith numerous citations of texts to clarify
each point as he goes along.
 PART TWO

BUDDHISTDOCTRINE
 5

THE SIXTEEN ASPECTSOF THE FOUR NOBLE

TRUTHS AND THEIR OPPOSITES

The sixteen aspects of the four Noble Truths are not canonical
and are not found in the Abhidhamma of Southern Buddhism.l
They are a specification resulting from the version of the First
Sermon of Buddhism, the Setting into Motion of the Wheel of the
Dharma, which, after stating the four Noble Truths, adds a triple
turning of the wheel with twelve aspects.This is the tripariuartaqn
duddaidkaram of the Mahauastu.2The sixteenaspectswere possibly
representedby the aniconic symbol of the wheel of 16 spokes,
four main ones and twelve intermediate spokes. A number of
illustrations of theseDharmacakra are collectedby Dhanit Yupho
in a Bangkok publication.s The sixteenaspectsare treated in the
Northern Abhidharma, as observedin vasubandhu's Abhidharma-
koia, Chap. VII, verse 13, where a number of theories are pre-

lcoNpsnLoursnr La varrfB Poussrx,tr. L'Abhidharmakosa

de vasubandhu,
Septidme...(Paris,
1925),p. 30,note.
zCoNrnnFRaNxrn EocrnroN, BuddhistHybrid Sanskrit Reader(New
Haven,1953),p. 17,introductorynote aboutthe two originalpartsof the
Dharmacakrapravartana-sfitra; and p. 19, triple turning of the wheel in the
secondpart, namely in the Mahdvastuversion.
sDnaNIr YurHo, Dharmacakraor The wheel of the Law (The Fine Arts
Department,Bangkok, Thailand, B.E. 2511; third edition, 1968). Among
the illustrations, the twelve-spokedwheel presumably or possibly synibolizes
the twelve-membereddependentorigination (pratitya-samritpada);thesixteen-
spoked one, the sixteen aspectsof the four Noble Truths; the thirty-two-
spoked one, the Buddha himself with thirty-two characteristics.
118 BuddhistInsight

sented.4 Besides,Asanga discussesthe l6 aspectsin his ,irduaka-

bhumi.s I have found the list in a native Tibetan text, lecturesby
Tson-kha-pa on Buddhist logic, where he presentsa list of sixteen
that are the oppositesor adversariesof the sixteenaspects,agree-
ing in large part with one of the theoriesin the Abhidharmakoia$.
In short, the earliest specificationof the sixteen aspectsis in the
Northern Abhidharma schools,Vaibhdsika and Sautrdntika.How-
ever, if the list of terms originated in these Abhidharma schools,
it is curious that some obscurity should still remain after their
explanations.
Asanga's school contemplatesthe sixteenaspectsin the category
of uipaiyana (discerning), i.e. discerning the truth (satya), after
calming the mind (iamatha).? This agreeswith the Abhidharma-
koia, which identifies the list with prajfid ("insight"),8 since the
term prajfrd is frequently equated with uipaiyands. Tson-kha-pa
in those lectures refers to Dharmakirti's Pramdnaudrttika, Svdr-
thdnumdna chapter, verse 218 (Sastri's ed., but verse 2I7 in the
autocommentary and Tibetan version): "So as to determine the
reality of rejecting and accepting together with the means, by
virtue of non-deceptionregarding the chief aim, there is inference
(anumdna)in terms of the beyond."lo The autocommentary on

al-aVarrir PousstN, pp. 30-39.

op.cit.,Septidme,
sThe lengthy treatment begins with Lokottaramdrga and then the exposition
of the vipari4ama kind of impermanence (anityata), Sravakabhumi, K. SuurrA,
ed. (Patna, 1973), p. 470, where the sixteen aspects are named.
6TsoN-rna-ra, collected works (Tashilunpo edition), Vol. Pha, Tshad
ma'i brjed byan chenno (Rgyal-tshab-rje's notes on Tson-kha-pa's lectures),
f. 13b, and following. For the comparable Abhidharmakoia theory, confer
La Vallde Poussin, op. cit., Septidme, p.38 referred to simply as the "fourth
explanation," which was appealed to by Samghabhadra to demonstrate that the
a s p e c t sa r e i n d e e d s i x t e e n .
?CoNrsn Alsx Wavu aN, Analysis of the Sravakabhumi Manusurpr (Berkeley,
1961). pp. 130-131, for the exposition, in particular, examination of the
Noble Truth of Suffering with the kind of discerning (vipaiyana) called "special
knowledge" (pratisaqnvid) of the characteristics (lak;atta).
8La Valmn PoussrN, op. cit., Septidme, p. 39.
eCoNrrn Arex W.lyMAN, tr., Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real
(New York, 1978), p. 28.
rolheyopadeyatottvasya sopayasya prasiddhitah I pradhanarthavisarTuadad
anumanarp paratra va ll By "auto-commentary" is meant Dhannakirti's
Svarthanumana-pariccheda, edited independently by Raniero Gnoli and by
o'vytti"
Dalsukhbhai Malvaniya; and means the one by Manorathanandin.
TheSixteenAspectsof theFourNobleTruthsandTheirOpposites 119

this mentions the four Noble Truths, and the .Vrtti clarifiesthat the
rejectingis of sufferingand the sourceof suffering,that the accept-
ing is of cessationand the path. The beyond means theparolc,sa(what
is beyond sight), namely, the chief aim, Nirvarla, which therefore
has to be inferred. Tson -kha-pa takesfor granted that his audience
knows the sixteen terms and their opposites that are referred to
in the Pramdnasiddhi chapter of Pramdnaudrttika, namely in the
block of versesin Miyasaka's edition 146-283.11 But Tson -kha-
pa expands to sixteen terms using Abhidharma-type vocabulary,
and this is reasonable,since Buddhist logic has an Abhidharma
base.l2 The Abhisamaydlaqnkdrasummary of the Prajfiaparamitd
includes the sixteenaspectsof the four Truths as a concentration
in the path of the Srdvaka (as does Asanga), and a feature of this
path is the identification of Nirvdqa with the Truth of Cessation
(nirodha-satya).13
While the list of sixteenwas included, or generallyalluded to, in
a variety of texts as mentioned above, there is a question of how
viable a classificationit is, i.e. to what extent such terms help to
explain this cardinal teaching of Buddhism-the four Noble
Truths. We should note that not only does the Southern Abhi-
dharma textual tradition not use the sixteen-term system,rabut
also the SatyasiddhiSdstraof Harivarman, completely devoted to
the four truths, appears opposed to employing this organizational

rrThisis theeditionpublished in ActaIndologicaII (Naritasan

Shinshoji,
Japan,1971172).
12Atleastthis is the casein Tibetantradition,sinceaccordingto my ob-
servationthe chiefTibetancommentators on Buddhistlogicalsowrote com-
mentaries on eitherVasubandhu's Abhidharmakoia or Asanga'sAbhidharma-
samuccaya.
lsCoNrnn E. OsBnrvrtrLER, "The Doctrine of Prajfrd-pdramiti as exposedin
the Abhisamayalarykara of Maifieya," Acta Orientalia, Yol. XI (1932), pp.
18-19.
laThe well-known Pili exegeticalwork, the Netti-pakara4a (translated
under the title The Guide) applies six terms to the four Noble Truths (E.
Hardy's edition, p. 8): Adinavophalafi ce dukkhary,assadosarnudayo,nissara-
narp nirodho, upayo a4atti ca maggo. "Trouble and fruit are suffering;
gratificationis the source;exit is cessation;meansand commandare the path."
Here, "means" and "command" might be equivalent to the two kinds of
Pdtimokkha, by exhortation(ovada)and by command@ryA);cf. C. S. Uspasak,
Dictiotnry of Early Buddhist Monastic Terms (Varanasi, 1975), p. 152; and
chapter 2 above.
l2o BuddhistInsight

terminology.ls To arrive at a conclusion about these matters, it

will be necessaryto treat each.of the sixteenseparately,using the
above works. The Buddhist dictionary Mahduyutpatti (nos. l l90-
1205) gives the individual terms as follor,vs: (Noble Truth of
Suffering,) dulikham, anityam, iunyam, andtmakam. (Noble Truth
of Source,)samudayaiL, prabhaualt,hetulr,prat))q)a/2.(Noble Truth
of Cessation,) nirodhah, iantah, pranitait, niltsqranah. (Noble
Truth of Path,) mdrgah, nyayait,pratipattiit, nairyd4tikah.
of the sixteenaspects,the easiestare the four of the set going
with the Truth of Suffering,mainly becausethe terms are so cele-
brated in Buddhist texts. Leaving out the "voidness" (iunya) term,
the other three are the well-knorvn set of three characteristics
(lak;ana) which all constructedthings (sarytskara) have: imperma-
nence (anitya) pain (dui'kha), and non-s elf (anatntan). For canoni-
cal references,one may consult Nyanatiloka, BuddhistDictionary,
under Ti-lakkhana.16 Asanga in the section mentioned writes
mostly about this set.17 He introduces a group of ten aspects
(akara) for treating the Truth of Suffering, namely, aspect of
(1) transformation (uiparindma), (2) destruction (uinaia), (3)
separation(t'i.samvoga), (4) closeness(samnihita),(5) true nature
(dltannatcl),(6) fetters and bondage (san_t,ojanabandhana), (7) the
disagreeable(ani,ta), (8) no securiry(ayogak-reffia), (9) non-appre-
hension (anupolanfiha), (10) non-independence (asudtantrya).
He states that the aspectof impermanenceis examined by five
of these ten aspects, namely, of transformation, destruction,
separation, closeness,and true nature. The aspect of pain is
examined by three aspects,namely, of fetters and bondage,of the
disagreeable,and of no security. The voidnessaspectis exarnined
by one aspect, namely, no-apprehension (of a certain object).
The aspect of non-self is examined by one aspcct, namely, non-
independence.
The Arthouiniicaya-likd (author unknown, Tibetan Tanjur)

15N. Atvaswaul SasrRr has reconstructed from Chinese to Sanskrit of the

Satyasidhiiastra (Baroda, 7975), and has translated it into English (Baroda,
1978).
loNvaNrurorn Buddhist Dictionary (colombo, 1950). (155-6). The late
Edward Conze gave his views on the three, calling them 'omarks" in his
Buddhist Thought in India (London, 1962), Part I, Chapter 3.
rTSeethe referencesin notes 5 and 7. above.
TheSixteenAspectsof the Four NobleTruthsandTheir Opposites l2l

briefly explains the four in a description of the satnskdrapersonal

aggregate(sk andha) :r8

It is impermanent, becauseit perishes in each instant. It is

painful, becausepossessingthe nature (dharma) of birth, old
age, and so on. It is void, becausethose saqnskdrasare not
the self imagined by the heretics. It is non-selfbecauseprecisely
those are not the self-existence(suabhaua)of self imagined
by the heretics.
One should also notice that Harivarman's work attributes the list
to an unnamed siltra passage: *dharma anityd dullkhdlr iunyd
andtmdnalzpratityasamutpannd..." but includes this passage
and its discussionnot under the first Truth, that of Suffering, but
under the third one. that of Cessation!1e Harivarman stresses
pursuant to this passagethe voidnessof dharmas, but also insists
on voidness of self. Here there is a difficulty shared with the
Arthauiniicaya-lika, as cited above, that in the list of four terms
including both void (sunya) and non-self (andtmaka), to interpret
the term "void" as denying a self should make one wonder why
the term "non-self" is included as a separateaspect. Asanga was
apparently appreciative of this point, since for him the voidness
aspectis examinedjust by the aspectof non-apprehensionwithout
further qualifying the non-apprehension.
Passing to the coverings or adversaries20of these four aspects
in Tson-kha-pa's list,21 that the covering of impermanence is
permanence, of pain is pleasure, of non-self is self-is simple
enough. However, the covering he gives for voidness (iunya) is
with a term gcang, which I correct to bcang, "taking hold (of an
object)." This agrees with Asanga's "non-apprehension" for
voidness in the present context. The various explanations in the
Abhidharmokoiq seem not to take account of a requirement to
show some adversityfor the terms listed undertheTruthofSuffer-
ing, and in particular the term I render "voidness." Presumably
the adversity is the senseof "voidness" that it is here the absence
of the thing one hunts and looks for, expectsto find, leaving one

lsPhotoeditionof PekingTanjur(PTT),Vol. 145,p. 162-1,2.

leArvasw.l,ur Sanskrit,p. 354.
SlstRr,Satyasiddhisaslra,
20The 'coverings' are indicated by the word aropya in Pramdqtavdrttika,
Pramarya-siddlti chapter, verse 27I : ;o(aSakaran dropya.
2lSee the reference in note 6, above.
lZ2 BuddhistInsight

in a kind of despair. Asanga's "non-independence" for non-self

does indeed take account of the adversativeintention. It might
be for the reason which Vasubandhu gives as one tradition:22
akdmqkdrituad iti "because there is no performance of what one
wishes." Harivarman's placement of the list under the Truth of
Cessation of course avoids the implication of adversativesense
that placement under Truth of Suffering entails. In support of his
placement, there is the set called the four "aphorisms of the
Dharma"; cf . Mahdydna-Sutrdlarykdra, SVIII, 80, and commen-
tary; "All sarpskdras(constructions) are impermanent; alI sarps-
kdras (motivations) are suffering;23 all dharmas are non-self;
Nirvdqa is calm (idnta)." Observe that this set has an entry "Nir-
vdqa" in place of the term "void" of the other list, and that
Harivarman practically equatesvoidness(iunyata) with Nirvana.2a
Before leaving the Truth of Suffering, it is well to mention even
if briefly the theory of three kinds of dultkhqfa (misery). Asanga
(Viniicayasaqngrahanton Cintdmayi bhumi)25identifies the three
with the three standard kinds of feelings,painful, pleasurable,and
neither painful nor pleasurable. The first dultkhatd is the misery
of suffering(dultkha),and as the painful kind of feeling; it is the
misery experiencedand acknowledged in the world, since the pair
"pain and pleasure" (dukkha and sukha) are among the eight
worldly dharmas, of course comprehended by ordinary persons.
The Arthauiniicaya-tikd (Tibetan Tanjur)26 describes this kind
of dulLkhafdconsistently with a detailed list that shows it covers
the pains people can do something about, as well as those recog-
nized to be outside bf one's control. The second dukkhatd is the
misery of change (uiparipdma), and as the pleasurable kind of
feeling; it is not recognized as misery by ordinary persons. So
Sarytyutt a-1,{ikdya, Part IV (Saldyat ana-Vagga):/ yom par e sukhato
'happiness' that
AhuI tad ariyd ahu dukkhato I "What others call

22La Vallis PoussrN, op.cit., Septidme, p. 32.

23I translate the word sarytskara differently in the first two aphorisms,
because when saryskara is identified with suffering (dullkha) it is variously said
'with
to be the five personality aggregates (skandha) or to be flux' (sasrava).
On the other hand, the saqnskara said to be impermanent means all of the
'constructed
natures' (sarysk r ta-dhar ma).
zaSee N. ArylswaN{t SlstRr, Satyasiddhiiastra, Eng. tr., pp. 358-359.
25Asanga, Yogacarabhumi,PTT, Vol. 111, p. 28-3,4.
2 6 S e en . 1 8 , a b o v e , o p . c i t . , p . 2 0 9 - 2 , 3 .
TheSixteenAspectsof theFour NobleTruthsandTheirOpposites 123

the noble ones call'suffering,"", The third dultkhatais the misery

of motivations (sarTtskdra),and as the feeling that is neither pain-
ful nor pleasurable,it is also not recognizedas misery by ordinary
persons. Asanga explains:28"It was in connectionwith the misery
of motivations that the Lord said: 'In short, the flve grasping
aggregatesare suffering.' What is the misery of motivations?
These and those bodies with motivations generated by karma and
defilement (kleia) arising,..." He also mentions that this misery
is evidencedby the four waywardnesses(uiparydsa),i.e., regarding
the impermanent as permanent, the painful as pleasurable, the
unclean as clean, the non-self as self; and finally, that this misery
is the trace (anuSaya)of nescience(auidya).
It is clear that the duhkha of the flrst Noble Truth has a wider
scope than the ordinary person can understand, and has a meta-
physical side that is comprehensible to the drya, in the ancient
use of this word. Some persons accordingly challengedthe trans-
lation of duhklta as "suffering" or "pain." However, the present
translator translatesthe term in those two ways to accord with the
various contexts in which the term is found, sometimesin concrete
sensesto apply to old age, sickness,and death, and sometimesin
a metaphorical way. And to leave the term untranslated, as has
been recommended by at least one modern author, would entirely
defeat any communication of metaphorical nuance.
As we pass to the remaining three Truths, it turns out that the
coveringsin the list of sixteen adversariesbecome of greater im-
portance.
The second set going with "Noble Truth of Source (of Suffer-
ing)" has the requirement of providing cause or causes for the
suffering without constituting suffering. Here there are the aspects
cause (hetu), source (samudaya),production (prabhaua), and con-
dition (pratyaya). The trouble with the AbhidharmakoSaexplana-
tions in the main is that they define these terms as various kinds
of causes without thereby showing their natures as causes for
suffering. Asanga is quite superior here becausehe facesup to the
necessity that they not only be causes, but cause for suffering.zo
2zlntheeditionof BhikkhuJ. Kashyap, Nikaya,4,Saliyatana-
TheSaryyutta
vagga,p. 116. 16.
28Seen. 25, above,p. 28-3,4.
2eSeen. 5, above,op. cit., p.493, where Shukla wrongly editsdukkhak;ema-
for hetu; read instead; tr;ryayadukkhqk;epakatvdddhetutalj."By cause (hetu)
124 BuddhistInsight

One of the many explanationshe furnishes,isespeciallyinteresting

since it relates these terms to Buddhist Dependent Origination
pratitya-samutpdda).30This particular solution takes the aspect
of "cause" tc be craving (tfsUa),8th member of Dependent Ori-
gination, heading the flve members which bring about new destiny.
Asanga here says it is the cause of "indulgence" (upadana), and
casts gestation and suffering. The aspect of "source" is indul-
gence (upadana), 9th member, which finalizes after the casting.
The aspect of "production" is gestation (bhaua), lOth member,
hence embryonic life, prior to the manifestation of suffering.
The fourth aspect,of conditiot(pratyaya) is-birth UAfi), thg__l_1!h
-
\
member,
member. which
which holds
holds the
the seed
seedof flltglqlqgqriitgald
future sufferi iis the cqqdi--.
lgnlga"ld age,sickness,a\rd death.
,_qt"krrg;s,_q"d !t{o!icethAt
4:.nth_flo!ice that i4-!hiq
in tt sqlUlion, ,
utrt.Oir u
r,@ theryfopllo
t iqgquiur.ri"e. rtg-l4e@u=-
mika tradition of the Pratitya-samutpdda
com@
l:U:" atolgne
;'Uiitry-"r
'sirTrlu-fiR6?i@f!_m.anseit c_ounts
1 - "r;-f lag
suffEilng members of Dependent Origination.3l
-Tsofr&ha-pits
list of coverings or adversaries of these four
seemsto amount to non-Buddhist positions.szThus, for the aspect
of "cause," from his list, positing that there is no causeof suffering
amounts to the position of the ancient materialisticCdrvakas,the
position called ahetuka ("having no cause"), which Buddhism
always denounced. For the aspectof "source," positing the un-
affiliated as the cause, or positing only a single cause, might be
equivalent to the fourth account in the Abhidharmakoiass men-
tioning at this place a Lord (ISvara), or pradhdna; sincethe Lord
csuld be considered unaffiliated to the effect, and pradhdna as the

tfrrougn-c*;ttg ttrlnd; which casts suffering."The otherthreeaspects

are also explained as sources for suffering.
BoSincethere is further confusion in Shukla's edition (p. 493) at this point,
I have consulted the Tibetan translation, PTT, Vol. 110, p. 126--5-4,5,6.
sTDasabhumikaiisutra is cited in Sdntideva's Siktasarnuccoya (Vaidya ed.,
p. 123.21-22), happening to be in agreement with the Pratiyasamutpada
commentary, that of the members of dependent origination, avidya, t{t7d,
'action' (karma)',
and upadana are defilement (kleSa); sarpskara-s an<lbhava are
'birfh' (jtiti) is
and the rest are sufferrng (duhkha). Hence, counted as a
'suffering.'
32Seen. 6, above, f. 13b-6 to l4a-1.
ssl-e VaLLJe PoussrN, op. cit.,Septidme, p. 38.
The SixteenAspectsof the Four Noble Truths and Their Opposites t25

Sar.nkhyaprakrti could be considereda single cause. For the as-

pect of "production," positing (suffering)as createdby the evolu-
tion of the Sabdabrahman,would be a Vaiplava theory according
to S. Dasgupta;3awhile the Abhidharmakoia here mentions the
evolutionary theory of the Sdr.nkhyacalled parindma, in which
the effect is pre-existent in the cause. For the fourth aspect of
"condition," positing (suffering) as created by a former lSvara-
buddhi (cognition of a Lord), is the same as given in the Abhi-
dharmakoia.
When coming to the treatment of the third set under "Noble
Truth of Cessation (of Suffering)" and of the fourth set under
"Noble Truth of Path (leading to the Cessation)," Asanga con-
tents himself with a few neutral remarks for his possiblereluctance
to enter into the controversiesinvolved in a longer treatment. Let
us pass first to the coveringsin Tson -kha-pa's list,asnamely, for
the third set, cessation (nirodha), calm (ianta), the excellent
(praqtita), exit (niltsarana); and for the fourth set, path (marga),
principle (nyaya), accomplishment (pratipotti), way of deliverance
(nairyapika).
For the aspect of o'cessation,"the covering is the positing by
one gone astraythat thereis no liberation; for the aspectof"calm,"
positing that there is a special liberation attended with flux of un-
calmed defilements; for the aspect of "the excellent" (usually ex-
plained as anuttare, "the best"), positing that there is a higher
liberation than stopping suffering; for the aspect of "exit,"
positing a temporary liberation and that there is no final liberation.
For the aspectof "path," the covering is the positing that there
is no final path of liberation; for the aspect of ,'principle"
(: method), positing that the insight comprehending non-self is
not a path of liberations; for the aspect of o'accomplishment,',
positing the situation of the object-scopehaving gone astray; for
the aspect, "way of deliverance," positing that none can put a
final end to suffering.
The "coverings" in Tson-kha-pa's list for the third and fourth
sets amount to a paraphrase of the fourth Abhidharmakoia ex-
planation. The adversary views do help to bring out the meaning
of the aspect terms for these two sets.
saSuRpNonANArH DAscurra, A History of Indian phitosophy(cambridge,
1940),Vol. III, p. 58.
35Seeno. 6, above, f. l4a-1 to l4a-4.
126 BuddhistInsight

Now, a striking feature of the aspects given under "Noble

Truth of Path" is that they are not obviously related to the usual
statementof the Path, namely, the eightfold members, frequently
listed under the three instructions which form the organization of
Buddhaghosa's visuddhimagga. These three are the Instruction
of Morality, the Instruction of Mental Training of samddhi, and
the Instruction of Insight. Even though Asanga does not organize
his Yogacdrabhumialong the specific lines of the well-known three
instructions (adhiiik;a), thesecategoriesare basic for much of his
writing. Examining the statementsof Tson-kha-pa's adversaries
for the four of this path group in comparison with the four of the
cessationset, a suggestiveparallel emerges,which may provide an
opening for relating the three instructions. By this I mean to call
attention to the covering of "cessation" claiming that there is
in fact no liberation, while the covering of "path" is the claim that
there is no final path of liberation; then, forthe aspect of "exit"
claiming that there is no final path of liberation, while the covering
of "way of deliverance" is the claim that one cannot put a final
end to suffering. These seeming affiliations of statement gave
me the idea that the two setsof four terms might be correlated in
their given order. Following this suggestion,I may propose that
the aspect of path (marga) leads to the aspect of cessation
(nirodha); that the aspectof principle (: method) (nyAyQ leads to
the aspect of calm (ianta); that the aspect of accomplishment
(pratipatti) leads to the aspect of the excellent (pranita); finally,
that the aspect 'o*ay of deliverance" (nairydqika) leads to the
aspect "exit" (nihsarana). Then the way of relating the three
instructions follows readily, namely, that the instruction of mind
training is the principle or method that leads to calm, since
samadhiis the standard procedure for calming the mind; that the
instruction of morality is the accomplishment that leads to the
excellent,which is consistent with ancient Buddhism's great stress
on morality and extolling of its merit; that the instruction of in-
sight (pra.ifiA)is the way of deliverance that leadsto the "exit" or
"escape" from phenomenal life, constituting the Arhat ideal of
early Buddhisms6. Such a correlation would leave the main terms
s6TsoN-rna-y4 brjed byan, n. 6, above, f. 13a-5, states: "The acarya (i.e.
Dharmakirti)...took the prajiia that comprehends non-self to be the chief
(thing) of the path to liberation from phenomenal life, and the others to be
ancillary."
The SixteenAspectsof the Four Noble Truths and Their Opposites 127

of "cessation" and "path" as headingsunderwhich are ranged the

respective three aspectsthat go with the three instructions. This
is consistentwith the early tradition that takes "cessation" as
equal to Nirvdfa, and with the Tibetan translation of this term
as "beyond suffering" (myangan la.s'das pa).This is becausethe
thrust of these Abhidharma-type explanations of the four Noble
Truths is that liberation amounts to the cessationof suffering
(dulpkha).
Besides,a feature of the first sermon, Setting into Motion the
Wheel of Dharma, in various versions, is to take the four Noble
Truths as objects. Thus, the statement is made : "Suffering, a
Noble Truth, is to be fully known (parijfieyam)." Again, "The
Source of Suffering is to be eliminated (prahatavyal.r).""The
Cessationof Sufferingis to be realizeddirectly (sakgatkartavyah)."
"The Path leading to the Cessationof Suffering is to be cultivated
(dultkhanirodhagamini pratipad bhavayitavyd)."t2 This promptly
raisesa question:If cessationis to be realizeddirectly,i.e.,saksdt,
as though before the eyes,then how could this cessationbe equated
to Nirvdrla, if Nirvala be taken in Dharmakirti's senseas some-
thing to be inferred rather than seenin direct vision? The resolu-
tion here would be to take Nirvd4a in such usagenot to be identi-
fied with cessation(nirodlta). And we note that Dharmakirti is
writing in the mature Mahdydna Buddhism period, when a Nir-
vala of no fixed abode (aprati;lhitantrvapa)had come to the fore.
Thus, a consideration of the sixteen aspectsof the four Noble
Truths, and their sixteen"coveringso'or adversaries,does appear
to bring out important featuresof the four Truths, and to make
salient certain striking differencesof the traditions. The investiga-
tion attests to the teaching of the four Noble Truths as basic to
the earliest Buddhism and to later disputesof what to placeunder
each of the four. Thus, one strong current of interpretation took
the sixteenaspectsas a guide, while another was either oblivious
of, or uncomfortable with, the neat list.

37So in the Lalitavistara, as presented in Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrlt

Reader (n. 2, above), pp. 22-23.
 6

THE MIRROR AS A PAN.BUDDHIST

METAPHOR-SIMILE

INrRooucrroN
The extensive literature of Buddhism contains works of sharply
contrasting spirit: some are dry metaphysical treatises; others,
inspired sermons; and there are a host of ritualistic works, even
on how to conjure rain. If one passesfrom one work to another
collecting material on a given topic, it is easy to amassnumerous
undigested passages. But the authenticity of the mirror metaphor
rests-I believe-on the easewith which one can go from one work
to another, written centuries apart, while paying attention to this
metaphor and assemblingthese passageswith an overall senseof
relevance. In the end I shall expressa reservation about bringing
together so many passagesin one article.
Even so, it is as though-here a metaphor-Buddhist religion
and philosophy were an enormous tangle of string, and we should
happen to notice among the innumerable loose ends a certain one
to pull and thereby begin to resolve the entire tangle. If other
scholars-except for a sinologist like Demi6villel-have not
deemed this study important, they can be excusedon the grounds
that it looked like just one of many loose ends.
Indeed, the importance of the mirror metaphor was enhanced
when Buddhism spread from its native India to various Asian
countries. China was fond of mirror symbolism; and Asian

rP. DrurfvrllE, o'Lemiroir spirituel,"Sinologica

| (1,947):
ll2-37.
r30 Buddhist Insight

forms of shamanismemphasizethe mirror, as when it figures on

the chestof the Tibetan oracle or is placed on high in the Japanese
Shinto worship hall.
So far I have only publish.edtwo articlesdealing with the subject
-one on the mirror of ladies(which included a divination section)2
and one on the mirror-like knowledge of Mahdyina Buddhism.s
The material has so increasedthat it is a matter of selection to
present the main ideasin a single essay. Speaking nrost briefly,
there are three parts. First, the early Buddhist use of the mirror
as a metaphor of the mind, which becomesdirtied as a mirror
collects dust, eventually led to the highly evolved philosophical
position of Asanga and his school called the Yogdcdra, and then
in Buddhist tantric ritual to the washing of the mirror while a
deity was reflected therein. Second, the rise of the Prajffdpdra-
mitd literature as interpreted by the teacher Nagirjuna avoids the
metaphorical mirror and employs the mirror simile for such illus-
trative purposesas the theory of dharntas(natures, features), and
the meaning here is succinctly shown in the brief tantric ritual,
initiation of the mirror. Third, the ancient use of a mirror for
predictivepurposes,as knorvn in the Pdli scripturesand in stories
called Jatakas, develops into the representationof mirrors in
Buddhist art and eventually into remarkable forms of mirror
divination in the Buddhist Tantras. And there is an appendix
on the problem of where to include the "prajiin--mirror."
It is also necessaryto establish the character of the mirror
metaphor. The Sarydhinirmocana-sutra-which is the basic scrip-
ture of the Mahayana Buddhist Yogdcdra school-mentions in
its chapter 5 that when conditions are present a clear mirror will
reflect one image, two images,and so on, and yet the mirror sur-
face is not changed thereby. The appropriating consciousness
(ddana-u ij fidna)-pr actically equivalent to t he store-consciousness
(alaya-ui.iiidna) of this systern-is compared to this mirror (adaria)
and also to a swift current of water (ogha).4 The swift water

zA. WavlaAN, "A Jotting on the Mirror: Thoseof Ladies," Mahfil 7

(Fall-Winter 197l) : 209-13.
3A. WaylrAN, "The Mirror-like Knowledgein MahayanaBuddhistLitera-
ture," AsiatischeStudien25 (1971): 353-63.
aE. Lrvorrs, in his edition and translation of the Tibetan Sarydhinirmocana
Sutra (Louvain and Paris, 1935), reconstructs in part: tadoghasthdniyam
adarSasthaniyamadanavijfianary. It is of interest that Sthiramati, TrirpSika-
Tre \{irror as a Pan-Buddhist
Metaphor-Simile l3l

current as a metaphor of the mind implies a progression,extend-

ing forward and backward but not laterally-that is, a temporal
successiveness.[n contrast, the mirror as a metaphor of the mind
irnplies alateral extension,a spacialsimultaneity.Atfirst consid-
eration, the two metaphors are inconsistent,and the application
of both of them helps the reader to avoid the concretization of
either metaphor.
In this light, it is signiflcant that the Yogdcara school prefers
the mirror as a metaphor-simileof the mind, while the Mddhya-
mika is lesslikely to use it and, r.vhenit does, usesthe samemeta-
phor-simile in any way except for the mind. Of course, in both
Eastern and western thought, the application of this rnetaphor to
the mind suggeststhat it will entertain an image for which there
is a model somewhere;and this is the dualistic position. The
argument was transferredto china, where one branch of the ch'an
school, following the Lankquatora-slttra, applied the mirror meta-
phor to the mind; ivhile another Ch'an school, turning to the
Prajiiaparamita scriptural position, rejected this metaphor for
the mind.

A. Tire MnrApHoRrcAr MrnRoR AND rHE

YocAcAnR Scnoor
Asariga, rvho heads the Yogacdra school, attributes to a sutra or
.su!ras presumablyin the olcl Buddhist canon(the four Agamas
in the northern Buddhist version) the rnetaphoricalidentification
of a beggingbowl (patra), a mirror (adaria), and a pond (hrada)
with the three faults that stir up consciousness. The three such
faults are "unrnethodical mental orientation" (ayoniio mqnqsi-
kdra),'otracas" (anuiaya), and "entrapment" (paryauasthdna).s
Besides,he mentions in the same place the three gateways to
liberation, the placeof ambrosia (amrta-dhdtu):theseare the wish-
less (apraqihita), voidness (iunyata), and signless(animitta) gates.
Elsewherehe explains that the wishlessgate is the opponent of

bhrisya,ed. Sylvair-rt-6vi (Paris, 1925),p. 33, has merely tacloghasthaniyant

iilayavijii1narT,irTlike context. That is, by only mentioning the swift current
of water, he may thereby be judging that this metaphor and the mirror one
are incompatible.
sviniScayasarygraha\i,photographic ed. of Tibetan canon (prr), The
Tibetan Tripitaka, Peking ed. (Tokyo and Kyoto, lg5s-61), ll0:239-3, 4.
132 BuddhistInsight

wish for gestationor becoming(bhaua);the voidnessone, of defile-

ment (kteia); and the signlessone, of signs.6Taking into consi-
deration Asanga's further explanations of what he means by
"traces" and "entrapment," it is reasonablyclear that in his sym-
bolism, the begging bowl, minus its craving, is the wishless gate;
the mirror with its traceserasedis the voidnessgate; and the pond,
devoid of entrapment, is the signlessgate.
At least one of the sutras which Asangahad in mind would be
the Sanskrit equivalent of the Pdli Anguttara-I'{ikdya [Book of
Ones], section 5, where the turbid pool of water stands for the
turbid mind (duila-citta). This same section concludes and contin-
ues into the next section with the sentence: "Monks, this mind
fcitta] is luminous, but defiled with adventitious defilements."
This passageis undoubtedly the reason for the thesis pushed by
the Mahdsdnghika school: "The mind is intrinsically pure." But
while in this context the siltra used the pond metaphor, the mirror
was later employed in this metaphorical role for the mind that is
intrinsically pure but covered by defilements.
A possible reason for the growing importance of the mirror
metaphor may come from the early account of Brahma's urging
the Buddha to teach. As recorded in the Sarpyutta-Nikdya,
volume 1, the Buddha saw with a Buddha's eye sentient beings
hardly dusty and sentient beings very dusty,T and he compared
them to lotuses in different stagesof growth from the bottom fo
the pool to the surface where they were not adhered to by the
muddy water. While the lotus comparison would favor the pond,
his observation of the relative dustinessof the sentient being would
favor the mirror metaphor.s According to the celebrated account
called the o'conversion of Sariputra and Maudgalydyana," the
dust collects on the dharma-eye-also called the knowledge-eye-
directed toward dharmas.e
Another reason for the ascendancyof the rnirror metaphor over
the other two (the begging bowl and the pond)) is the association
6lbid., lll:ll4-4.
?SeeJ. J. JonEs,trans., The Mahavastu,Vol. III (London, 1956),p.372,
n., for a discussionof the word here translated"very dusty."
sThis is not to deny the importance in Buddhism of water symbolism,
whether of pond, stream, ocean,and so on.
esee FnaNxrrN EocBRToN,Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Reader (New Haven,
Conn., 1953),p.29; and chapter7.
 TheMirror asa Pan-Buddhist
Metaphor-Simile 133

n'ith the voidnessgate to liberation. Indeed, the growing impor-

tance of the mirror metaphor would be fost'eredby the Prajfrd-
paramitd scriptures,which emphasizedthe realization of voidness,
even if these scriptures themselvesdrd not feature the mirror
metaphor in this manner (the pure and defiled mind).
Still another factor favoring the mirror metaphor was the
Mahdydna Buddhist theory of five kinds of knowledge or wisdom
as the content of enlightenment, of which the flrst one is the
"mirror-like knowledge." In Asanga's school, this knowledge is
achievedthrough 'orevolutionof the store-consciousness basis."10
According to the Lankduatdra-sutra this occurs in the Eighth
Bodhisattva Stage,where the Bodhisattva lives in a "body made
of mind" which is like a current of dreams.11 Among the most
revealing passageswhich I collected on this subject is one in
Abhaydkaragupta's M unimatdl aynkdr a :r2 " The mirror-like know-
ledge is where consciousnessof the infinite three realms and the
'other
one'-all the finest atoms of substance-come together
individually. The objective domain lui;ayal which is distant and
(called) the 'other one,' and temporal statesof past, present,and
future (there) come together individually, just as a reflected image
appears vividly in a mirror." This brings out the senseof the
metaphorical mirror's ability to reflect all things without itself
being changed, and to display simultaneously both the subjective
states of past, present, and future, and all sensory objects. It
seemsthat both the metaphorical swift stream and metaphorical
mirror are combined in this particular explanation of the mirror-
like knowledge.
Turning to the philosophical position of the Yogdcara school,
I have devoted an article to rejecting the common attribution to

l0Asangain his Mahayanasarpgraha (trans.E. Lalrorrr [Louvain, lg3gl,

pp. 278-79) merelystatesthat the set of four knowledgesbeginningwith
"mirror-like knowledgeo'areobtainedthroughtherevolutionof the aggregate
of perceptions (vijfrana-skandha),while Vasubandhu, in his commentary
thereonn clarifies that one obtains the o'mirror-like knowledge" through
revolution of the "store-consciousness"
(alayavijfiana)basis.
rlSee the Lankdvatdra referencesin G. Tucci, Minor Buddhist Texts, pt. I
( R o m e ,1 9 5 6 ) p, . 2 0 1 .
12WAYMAN, "The Mirror-like Knowledge," p. 358, n.In 1970I had a
helpful suggestionabout this passagefrom the lama Gonsar Rimpoche of
Dharmasala.
134 B uddhi st
Insi ght

the Yogacara school of the unqualified denial of an external

object.t:t In this case,there is the mirror sirhile of the Saindhinir-
rnocena'sMaitreya chapter, which deniesa differencebetrveenthe
image in the mirror and the model of the image.ra Here the
scripture alludes to the situation of samadhiwhen the perceiving
mind (the reflecting mirror) that dwells upon a rneditative object
(the model) is not different from that model anci so the latter is
called "representation-only" (uijfiapti-matra). This passagedoes
not constitute an idealistic denial of an external object, but rather
a disinterestin externals; becausethe yogin has retreated frorn
manifold senseobjects and dwells only on the meditative object
in his mind.
Moreover, Asanga writes in his Yogdcarabhumi: "In short,
there are two uijfianas, 'store-consciousness'falayauijfiana) and
'evolving perceptions'
fpraurttiuijiiana]. Among these, the store-
consciousness is the place and evolving perceptionis placed. The
latter is sevenfold, the (five) eye, etc. perceptions, rnind-based
perception,and manas. The trvo are like a body of water and the
waves are like a mirror and a reflectedimage. In that way, this
establishmentof supreme method establishesthe place and the
placed."rs Later, in the exegesisof his Bodhisottuablwmi,Asanga
discussesthe three charactersor naturcs (suabhaua)of the Yog[-
cara school-the perf-ect(parini5panna),the dependency (para-
tantra), and the imaginary (parikalpita); and under the rubric
"thorough knowledge of, the dependency character," he places
the similes of natures (dharma) that happen to be repeated again
and again in the Prajfiaparamitascriptures,to wit: "like an illu-
sion, a dream, a hallucination, an echo,the moon in the waters,
a reflectedimage, a magical materialization."l6 Therefore,Asanga
intends his likening of the "store-consciousnsss" and "evolving
perceptions" to a body of water and waves,or to a mirror and a
reflectedimage,to constitute metaphoric languageappropriate to
understanding the dependency characteristic of the Yogacara
s ) ' s t em .
r3A. WaylrAN, "Yogdcdra and the Buddhist Logicians," The Journal
of the Interrntional Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 2, No. l, 19j9,
pp. 65-78.
lll-arvtorrr , Sarytdhinirmocana Sutra, pp. 211-12.
15AsA\-cA, Viniicayasamgraha4i, PTT, 111:16-1.
16lbid., 111:75-4.
The\lirror asa Pan-Buddhist
Metaphor-Simile 135

Passing to the numerous mirror sirniles of the Lahkat,atdra-

sutra, we observea greater interest in describing external objects
than is noticed in Asanga'sschool. Now the mirror simileis em-
ployed in the problems of identity and otherness,and of error and
nonerror. Despite its "mind-only" passages,the philosophical
position of the Lankduatdra-sutrais shown by its mirror passages
as only somewhat idealistic.l?
Then there is the theory of the mind as a two-sided mirror-
which the Buddhist tantra tradition has in common with Kashmir
Saivism.l8 In this case, the phenomenal mind (ntanas), on one
side, reflects with error the external world,, and the superior dis-
criminating mind (buddhi), on the other side, reflects errorlessly
becauseit is devoid of images. Along the same lines the Maha-
yana-SutrdlarTtkdra is cited: 'oAs in a broken water-pot the reflec-
tion of the moon cannot be seen,in the sameway to those that are
evil the Buddha does not manifest himself."ls In the languageof
the two-sidedmirror, the buddhi side of the mirror can represent
the Buddha becauseit is devoid of competing irnages.
The foregoing directly leads to the tantric ritual of rnirror
washing preservedin Tibetan Buddhisrn. The meaning, of course,
is washing the mind so it can properly reflect the divine world in
the form of a deity's body. This is consistentwith the practice,
enjoined by the tantric work vairam'ala, of contemplating the
reflectedimage of the Lord ( ==the icon) while washingthe mirror.20
For the rite in brief, Mkhas-grub-rje says.2r

Thereupon he reflectsthe image in a mirror, if he can provide

it, and gives an actual bath to the reflected,image. If he
cannot provide it, such personsas the assistantto the offering
or other personsmake the seal (mudra) of "washing the body,,,
that is, form a level surface with the backs of their hands, so
that the tops of the thumbs and the index fingers touch each

rTTo establishthis conclusionwould requireconsiderablediscussion-

beyondthe scopeof the presentarticle-includingthe comparisonof the
Sanskritand Tibetan versionsfor certain important passages.
l8see F.D. LrssrNc and A. wAyuAN, trans., Mkhas grub rje's Fundamentals
of the BuddhlstTantras(The Hague, 1968),p. 210,n.
rsMahayana-SutAlarykara, ed. Syr.varN LEvr (paris, 1907), 9:16.
zovajramald (an explanatory tantra of the Guhyasamaja),prr, 3:223-2.
2llrssrNc and wavuAN, trans., Mkhasgrub rje's Fundamentals,p. lgl.
136 BuddhistInsight

other. He offers abath,while reciting, OM SARVADEVATA

ACIN TYA-AM RTA SVAHA (Orn, the inconceivableambro sia
of all the gods, svaha).

A text by MafrjuSrimitra mentions five perfume drops on the

mirror.22 The reason,as Gonsar Rimpoche of Upper Dharmsala
(India) told me, is that the water for washing the icon is always
perfumed water. Geshe Rabten, tutor to H.H. the Dalai Lama,
explained that in the beginning they draw a square on the mirror
to represent the bathing room. The flve perfumed drops are in
each corner of the square and one in the middle. They signify
the five Buddha families, becauseall Buddhas are included in one
or another of those five. Or the five drops stand for the guru,
the tutelary deity, the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, and the Pro-
tectors of the Faith.
The rite in more developed form has been studied extensively
by the late F. D. Lessing, who, however, published only one
article on the subject.2s In his summary, he says: "An originally
simple devotional act is interpreted symbolically as (a) purifica-
tory, removing sins, both ritualistic and ethical, (b) mystical, con-
ferring gifts, both temporal and spiritual, and (c) consecratory,
communicating the three-fold gift of purification, illumination,
and mystical union with the deity, as preparation for the attain-
'gifts of grace' (siddhi) and final beatitude."
ment of

B. TsB MnRoR SIMILE AND rHn MAoHYAMIKA ScHoor

The mirror simile is rare in Mddhyamika works but found in

important contexts. The Madhyamika follows the Praifidpdra'
mitd scriptures,which stressvoidness of dhqrmqs and give similes
for it in lists, for example, all dharmasare like an illusion , a mirage,
a dream, a city of gandharuas. Ndgdrjuna, in his Madhyamaka-
kdrikd, has "like an illusion, like a dream, like a city of gandhar-
uAS"; also, "resembling a mirage" and "like a phantom man and

2zMawruSnIMITRA, Arya-maftjuiri-namasaqngiti-cak;ur-vidhi-nama, PTT, 75:

t35-4.
23F.D. LESSING,"Structure and Meaning of the Rite Called the Bath of the
Buddha according to Tibetan and Chinese Sources", in Studia Serica Bernhard
Karlgren Dedicata (Copenhagen, 1959), pp. 159-71.
TheMirror asa Pan-Buddhist
Metaphor-Simile 137

like a reflectionlpratibimbel."z+ Of these,"like a reflection" may

mean as in a mirror, or as the one moon reflects in many waters.
Whenever a list in a Mahayana scripture was long enough (as
though aiming at completeness),it would normally include the
"reflected image," but by and large these scriptures preferred to
use the language "like an illusion, a mirage, adream." fn fimethe
list grew to ten, as in the two largest Praifidpdramitd scriptures;
and these ten similes, including the mirror one, are the occasion
for lengthy commentary in the Mahdprajfidpdramitdidstra, chap-
ter l1 (as availablein Lamotte's French translation).25As I under-
stand the matter, the longer lists are found in the later and larger
Mahdyina scriptures. If for no other reason, I am loathe to
agree with the Chinese tradition that attributes the immensely in-
fluential M ahdpr ajfidpdr amitdi dst r a to Ndgdrjuna.
The mirror simile is of course more important when a whole
sentenceor developed idea turns upon it than when it is simply
one member in a stereotypedlist.
The first case concerns one of the most argued points of early
Buddhism-the question of what transfers from life to life, or the
manner in which the fruit is ensured for the karma as cause. The
Arya SattstambhaSutrq states:26o'Now, no dharma transfers from
this world to the other world. Still, there is recognition of karma
and fruit on account of the suffi.ciencyof causeand condition. For
example, the facial reflection is seenin a clean mirror, but the face
does not transfer into the mirror. There is recognition of the face
on account of the sufficiencyof causeand condition." Nagdrjuna,
in his ,ialistambha-kdrika,writes: "Just as in a well-polished
mirror the reflected image of the face is seen,and while the reflect-
ed image is in the mirror there is no transfer (to that place), in the
same way, the birth manifestation, irrespective of the agent and
deed which are mutually without discursive thought, comes in
sequence from the previous casting."" Along the same lines,
Ndgd:rjuna states in his Pratityasamutpddahrdaya-uydkarayta:

2aThesesimileswerecollectedby the lateRichardH. Robinsonin his Early

Madhyamika in IndiaandChina(Madison,Wis.,1967).
zsdusNur L.nrraottr,,
Le Traitd de la GrandeVertu de Sagesse (Louvain,
1944),I:357-90.
26N. AryaswAMrSnsrnr, ed., Arya Satistambha Sutra (Madras: Adyar
Library,1950), Sanskrittext,p. 16.
2?PTT,103:270-3.
1 38 Insi ght
B uddhi st

"Just as in the case of a flame from a flante, the reflectedimage in

a mirror from a face, an impression from a seal, a fire from a
burning crystal, a sprout from a seed...aperson is not taught to
understand that the one is differentfrom the other, so also in the
case of reconnection [pratisarytdhilof the personal aggregates
fskandha],the wise person will understand that there is no
transfer.2s Buddhaghosa has a consistent remark in his
Vi.suddltimagga.2e
The Prajfraparamitascriptural passagesstressthat the reflected
inrage has no discursive thought (uikalpa), as in the A5lasdhasrikd
praj fidpdramitd (chap. 26) 7to
lt is also this way, for example,Lord. It does not occur to a
reflected image fpratibhasa] that "the support-object which
produces the reflectedimage is close to me, but those that do
not approach in the mirror or in the bowl of water are far
from me." For what reason? Lord, because the reflected
image has no discursivethought. In the same way, Lord, it
does not occur to a Bodhisattva great being who is coursing
in the Perfection of Insight that "the incomparable complete
enlightenmentis close to me, but the stage of the disciple
lirritakul and the stage of the self-enlightenedone fpratyelca-
bucidha)is far from me." For rvhat reason? Lord, because
the Perfection of Insight has no discursivethought.
It seernspossibleto associatethis passagewith the previousones
about no transit of the personal aggregates. That is, it does not
occur to the new personal aggregatesas a reflectedimage, "Back
there are the old personal aggregates," because the reflected
imagehas no discursivethought, at leastnot about the old personal
aggregates.
But perhaps the most important use of the mirror similein later
Madhyamika cornmentary, especially Candrakirtl's Madhyama-
lcduatdra,is its use to illustrate that the self has no character of
its own. In this connection, the Ratnaklta scripture Pitdputra-

zsPTT,103:271-4.
2eBnrrruu NANAvtott, trans., The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga)
(Colombo, 1956), p. 639.
30U. Woctnau, ed., AbhisamayalarykcTraloka Prajiiaparamifivyakb,a
(Commentary) on Aslasahasrika-Prajfiaparamita): The ll'ork of Haribhadra,
fasc. 7 (Tokyo, 1935),p. 841.
T h e M i r r o r a . sa P a n - B L r d d h i s tV l e t a p h o r - S i m i l e 139

.\antdgomaIMeeting of father and son] ilro\/ides a lnuch-cited

pa.tsage:3r "In the way that an inragc void of self-existence
is seen in a very clean mirror, so Drurna, understand these
rlharmas.'' The passage llteans tli.at natures (dharma) arise
dependently,devoid of self-existence(,ruabhtiua).Also Nirgarjuna
statesin the Ratnduali:22

With recourseto a rnirror, one seesttrereflectedimageof one's

face" but in reality this (reflection)is nothing at all. In the
same way, with recoursc to the personal aggregates,the idea
of self faharytkdra]is conceived,but in reality it is nothing at
all, like the reflection of one's face.
Without recourseto a nrirror, one does not see the reflected
irnageof one'sface. Likelvise,ivithout recollrseto the personal
aggregates,onc does not speak of a self. Having learned the
nreaning this rvay, the noble Ananda gained the dharma-eye,
and himself repeatedly spoke the same to the monks.

Before proceeding furiher, it is well to summarize those

Madhyamika usesof the rnirror simile. It is used to illustrate the
all-important Bucldhist theory of nonself, both of personality
(pudgala)and of natures (dharma). It heips to explain the thorny
problem in Buddhisin, becauseof its nonself th.eory,of wirat, if
anything, transfers from lif'e to life. I'here is an assist to the
Buddhist dependent-origination theory, with the natures so
arising doing so lvithout self-existence. /\nd sincs the face in the
mirror has no opinions about tite person lool<ing in the mirror,
this simile shows the rneaning of "no discursive thought," a
terminology that is fiequent in Buddhist rvorks.
Now we can evaluatea passagein the Mahaprajiidparamitdiastre's
explanation of the mirror sirnile.ts3"The reflection in the mirror
is not produced by the mirror fadaria], nor by the face lualctraf,
nor by the holder of the mirror (adariadhara), nor by itself

srAs cited in Santideva's Siksasamuccaya, Vaidya ed. (Darbhanga, l96l),

p . 1 3 9 . 1 7 - 1 8 ,i t i s i n p r o s e , b u t t h e T i b e t a n q u o t a t i o n s o f i t a r e i n v e r s e .
32As cited in candrakirti's commentary on the Madhyamaka-karika
(chap. l8). See this chapter in translation, J. w. de Jong, cinq chapirres de la
Prasannapada (Paris, 1949), p. 6.
sslamotte, Le Trcrite, l:378, where the way of talking is traced back to the
Selasutta of the Saryyutta-rtikdya, and to Nagdrjuna's Madhyamaka-karika
1.1.
 140 BuddhistInsieht

fsuatalt];but it does not exist in the absenceof causesand condi-

tions fhetupratyayaf." In the explanation there, all the factors-
mirror, face, and so on-are required. If one is lacking, the
remainder cannot produce the reflection in the mirror. This is a
use of the mirror simile not met with hitherto, although admittedly
this is merely negative evidencefor denying the Indian authorship
of this famous work of Chinese Buddhism. On the surface the
passageseemsto be the way Ndgdrjuna writes in his Madhyamaka-
kdrika 1, 1: "There is no entity anywhere that arisesfrom itself,
from another, from both (itself and another), or by chance."se
Besides,Nagdrjuna says in the Lokdtttastaua:s5 "The sophists
claim that suffering is done by oneself, by another, by both, or by
chance. But you teach that it arisesin dependence.That very
thing which arisesin dependenceyou affirm as void. There is no
entity self-dependent. Such is your incomparable lion's roar."
But the author of the Chinese work goes on to say about the
reflection in the mirror: "If it existedwithout causesand condi-
tions, it would exist eternally. If it existedeternally, it would be
produced even in the absence of the mirror and the face."36 This
is a remarkablepieceof circular reasoning. According to Candra-
kirti's Prasannapadd(on chap. l), the reason is found in Ndgdr-
juna's own Madltyamaka-kdrikd, chapter 8, especially verse 4:
"If there were no cause [hetu], there would be neither effect nor
instrument; in such a case,there would be no deed, agent, or way
of effecting." Therefore, if the author of the Mahaprajfidpdra-
mitdidstra had been Nagdrjuna, as the legend claims, we would
have expectedhim to explain: If what you call a reflection existed
without causesand conditions, it would not be an "effect," and
therefore would not be a "reflection" of something.
Moreover, there are the mirror verses of ChineseCh'an Bud-
dhism. According to the legend, at the time of the Fifth Patriarch
the head monk Shen-hsiuwrote a verseto establishhis credentials:

3aL. or L.q Varrie PousslN, ed., PrasannapadaCommentatrede Candraktrti,

BibliothecaBuddhica,vol. 4 (SaintPetersburg,1903-13),p. 12.
35L. oe L.q Vanfs PoussrN,"Les quatre odes de Nagdrju na," Musdon
3l-32 (1913): 13-14,cites for theseverses(Lokattta-staya,19-20)the Sanskrit
for the first one in candrakfuti's Prasannapadaand for the second one in
B odhi cary avat ar apafiji k a.
solamotte. Le Traitd.I :378.
The Mirror asa Pan-Buddhist
Metaphor-simile l4l

The body is the Bodhi tree,

The mind is like a clear mirror,
At all times we must strive to polish it,
And must not let the dust collect.sT
We observe at once that this is the tradition going back to early
Buddhism, where the mind is intrinsically pure but coveredwith
adventitious defilements, here the 66dss["-4 view favoring the
metaphorical mirror as the mind, a metaphor pushed by the
Lankduatdra school.
However, a boy (Hui-neng) who in the legend becamethe Sixth
Patriarch wrote his verse:
Bodhi originally has no tree,
The mirror also has no stand,
Buddha nature is always clean and pure;
Where is there room for dust?38
This is the switch to the Prajfrdparamiti language. Notice even
that the mirror has no stand, recalling the argument in the
Prajfidpdramitdidstra that if the holder of the mirror is missing,
then there is no reflection in the mirror. But also in the Tun-
huang version it is consistentwith the theory of the two-sided
mirror, with the bttddhi-side capable of reflecting errorlessly be-
causeit has no image in it.
The Mddhyamika employment of the mirror simile is continued
in tantric ritual, in particular in the Mirror Initiation of the
Akpobhya Guhyasamaja-tantratradition;but here we notice that
the former theory of the deity appearing in the pure mind-the
metaphorical mirror-is also involved. This is an extract from a
commentary by the Tibetan author Tson-kha-pa:sg
Having had his eye opened in that manner, (the disciple)
should look upon all dharmas as reflected images. So (the
disciple) may accomplish this, he (the guru) shows a mirror
incanted with an AH, and recites:
All dltarmqs are like reflected images, clear and pure, with-

sTTranslationby P. B. Yampolsky,ThePlatformSutraoftheSixthPatriarch
(New York, 1967),p. 130.
ssTranslationby Yampolsky,p. 1.32.
seThefullerform of thisbriefritualis translated
in A.Wayman,TheBuddhist
Tantras:Light on Indo-TibetanEsotericism(New York, 1973),pp. 68-70.
142 '.
Buclclhist
Insight

out turbulence:ungraspable,inexpressible.
truly arisen from
causoand action lhetu and,karnia].
Just like vajrasattvaon a mirror that is clear, pure, without
turbulence;so also rhe Buddhas,uni.,rersal lords, themselves
abide in the heart o1'thee,lny son.
Noiv that you have so understood the dltarmasas without
intrinsic nature and lvithout location, may you perf,ormin-
comparably tlie aim of sentientbeings so they may be
born as sonsof the protectors!
Tsori-kh.a-pa goes on to explain: "Tl^,oseversesenjoin (the <lis-
ciple) to understandin generalthat all dharma.sare like a reflected
image, and in particular that the Vajrasattva dlvelling in one,s
heart is like a reflectedimase in a rnirror."

C. Tss PnporcrrvE MrRRon

In my article on the rnirror-likeknorvledge,I discusseda passage
found in the Pali scriptLrre Parinibbuna-silftct;ao "-fherefore,
Ananda. in this u'orld I u ill reveal the rcirresentationof the lalv
called 'mirror of the l;111r.' possessedof rvliich zr noble disciple
p lanningu' oilld p re d i c tfo r s e l l ' o r s e l v e s',w i th no more soj ourns
i n hell, no m or e a n i m a l b i rth .n o mo rere a l mo f the hungryghosts,
no more disaster.evil destiny, ruin-f have enteredthe strearl,
not liable to purgatory, assured,proceedingtowards enlighten-
ment.' " The mirror of the law is explainedin that pali context as
the four kinds of "faith with understanding" (auecca-pasdda, s.
auetya-prasoda). The passagescarcelydisguiseswhat must have
beena current practicein India of using mirrors for divination. It
also clearly sl-lorvsholv Buddhisrntakes prestigior-is or irnposing
symbolsof secularlife and transformsthcur into religioussymbols.
In my previousstudy on mirrors of ladies,I have alluded to the
use of a girl for mirror divination according to the writings of
Naropa connectedwith the Krilacakra cult.al srojkowitz shorvs
that in Tibet a boy wasutilizedfor the purpose.az In old Buddhist
literaturethe divining personcould be referredto as "mirror-face".

4oW,q,vvnN,"The Mirror-likeKnowledge,',p. 359.

41WayuaN, "A Jottingon the Mirror," pp.2ll-lZ.
42R.nr Nneesrv-woJKowrrz., oraclesandDemons of Tibet (The Hague,
t956),p. 463,
The Mirror as a Pan-Buddhist Metaphor-Simile 143

In Pili there is a Jataka (previous-birthstory of tfte Buddha),

"Story of King Mirror-Face,"43which has a Sanskritcounterpart,
"Story of King Adar6amukha."aa This also appearsto be the
meaning of the verse in the Sacldharntapun/arika.'45 "Just as
one SeeS an irlage on the surfaceof a mirror, so also the world is
seenon his body. Self-born,he seesno other beings.Just theseare
the forms on his pure body." The hint is in tire line, "Self-born,
he seesno other beings." This points to tfie denial of ordinary
vision and agrees.,vith the stressin variouspassagesthat one'sown
face must disappearfrom the rnirror, becausethat lnirrored face is
the projection of phenornenalillusions r.vhich"dirty" the mirror'
And when the face is no longer reflected, it becomesitself the
reflector,"so also the world is seenon ilis body."
The disappearanceof the face is irnplied by the terrninology of
the void mirror. Presumably one must void his olvu face, and
then the mirror will be ciear to reflect other images which the
hierophant will then interpret. This magical use of the mirror
agreeswith the description of the mirror-like knowledge as being
free from configuration (dkara) and so able to reflect all
forms.a6
Now, to eliminate the face from the mirror requires that a
person appreciatethe value of so doing. This was alluded to in
the Mahiyana Nirvaqa Sutra as cited in The Kyogyoshinsho:47
"O Great King! This is like a ntan who takes up a ntirror and
seesin it his orvn self. The ignorant r,vill think this is the true
face, while the wise u'ill see through and knou' this is not so."
But the realizationthat the usual face is not the true one does not
in itself remove the false face.a8Then horv is one to avoid seeing
one's face in the mirror? This is of courseeasierwith the Asian
mirrors that are somewhat duller than our modern ones. How-

43H.T. FnauctsandE. J. THonaas, JatakaTales,lndiaed.(Bornbay,1957),

pp. 120-28.
aaSeeN. Dutt, GilgitManuscripts(Srinagar, 1947),3,pt. 1:l l4-15, where
the story is part of the Bhaigajya-vastu
of the Mtrlasarvastivdda-Vinaya.
45U. WocnraRl and C. TsucHtol, eds., Saddharmapu?Sariku-sutrant
(Tokyo, 1936),chap. 18, verse62.
46WnyuaN,"The Mirror-like Knowledge,"p. 356.
4?Kosuo Yauauoro, trans., The Kyogyoshinsho(Tokyo, 1958), p. 153.
asSeeA. Wavtt^nw,"significance of Dreams in India and Tibet," History of
Religions7 (August 1967):9. See chapter2l,
144 BuddhistInsight

ever, the practice may be what is shown in Maitripada's Mahd-

mudrdsiddhdntopadei a : as
First one worships the tutelary deity and goes through the
sevenfold rite. Then he gazes at his reflected image in the
mirror in front. The constructed colored features of the face
are void of entity. The face of the reflected image looks
hither; his own face looks thither. Becausethere is no dis-
agreement of mindfulness, the genuine face is (also) void of
entity. According as he manages not to be attached, the ap-
pearance of the reflected image is his own mind. He con-
templates the color of his mind, for example, the manifesta-
tion of lust, thinking it to be void. He contemplateshis mind
to be a reflected image, and the appearanceof body to be his
own mind. Body and mind are like reflected images. Deny-
ing a person that way, he has become free from attachment by
gazing at the reflected image in a mirror.
In this process of transferring the mirror to his own face which is
genuine, the yogin divests the objective mirror of the false face
and replacesit with the colors of his mind, which will be referred
to below as the "karma-mirror." So this voiding of the false
face is a kind of symbolic death.
The disappearanceof the face is also an omen of actual death
according to the Sambarodaya-tantra.s0 The visions which can
then appear on the mirror of the mind are properly on what is
'
called the "karma-mirror,' depicted in judgment scenesin Asian
art.51 Charles Luk translatesin theSurangama Siltra: "The two
habits from karma and disputation end in the exposure (of sins);
for the mirror and lamp reveal former karmic deeds for (final)
judgmenl."sz This might be the same passagealternately trans-

4gPTT,87:162.
50PTT,vol.2, chap.19of theSambarodaya-tantra, p.212.
sUudgmentsceneswith largekarma-minorsare depictedin TheAncient
BuddhistArts in CentralAsia ond Tun-Huang(Kyoto: Hozokan, 1962),
pl. 504, A and B. Accordingto the Englishintroductionin a monograph
thereinby YushoTokushi,"PaintedManuscriptsof the Shih-Wang-Sh€ng-
Ts'i-Ching,"thesearepart of the picturesof theten kingsfoundat the Caves
of Thousand-Buddhas, Tun-huang.They belongto the late T'ang, tenth
century.
s2CnaRrEs Lvx, TheSurarigama Sfrtra(London,1966),p. 182. This work
is probablya nativeChinesecomposition andshouldnot beconfused with the
 The Mirror as a Pan-BuddhistMetaphor-simile
145
lated: "There is a mirror reflecting a glaring,cand.le. In the day-
time it is not able to store the image - the mirror of karma and.
the jewel of a fire, reveal the stored karmaandmake various affairs
experienced."ss The karma-mirror is mentioned in a native
Tibetan sddhana of Yama (lord of the dead) where four fearful
goddesses,called "mothers of worldly existence',(Tib. srid pa,i
ma mo) each hold the karma-mirror in their right hands along with
the sack of diseases,the destructive ball of thread, and the notched
board of the Maras, and in their left hands hold a pair of dice.ba
one mirror in art representationsthat is difficult to explain is
that depicted as held by the dancing musicians in paradise, for
representationsof which one may consult Stein's work.br Now, it
is not impossible that these representationsare of the shaman in
his mystic flights, who in his frenzy can give prophecy. Also, in
the veda the gandharua was a musician in the intermediate space,
but later on in Buddhism the gandharua became the being in ttre
intermediate state (antardbhaua) between death and rebirth. If
the beings depicted in those representations can be construed
as gandharuas,the suggestionis that the mirror reflects the being's
future destiny, which was decreed by the karma-mirror.
More particularly about the predictive mirror itself, the theory
that the prognostic descendsinto the divinatory mirror is already
in the Pdli scriptwe Digha-nikaya l, which twice has the expression
dddsa-pafihaan(questions put to the mirror), on which the com-
mentary states: "adase devatan otaretvd pafiha-pucchenan.,'56
Here, otaretua means "having brought down," so "having brought
the deity down into the mirror, (then) to ask guestions."az

Surartgamasamadhisutra of Indian origin, which E. Lamotte has translated

under the title La concentration de la Marche Hdroique (Brussels1965).
53Asa Columbia University student,Shinjo Kawasakihastranslated
forme,
from the same Silrafigamatext in the chinese Buddhist canon, the Taisho
Tripitaka, vol. 19, 144a.
sasgrub thabs kun btus (Dehra Dun, 1970).vol. Ta (9),
fol. 623,lines 3-4.
Also, see Nebesky-Wojkowitz (n. 42 above), pp. g4-g5.
55R. A. sruN, Recherchessur I'dpopdeet le barde
au Tibet (paris, lgsg),
p p . 3 2 6 , 3 3 6 , 3 4 9p, l . 2 , 3 7 2 - 7 5 .
56Sees.v. "eddsa" jn The pali rext
society's pali-English Dictionary, ed,.
T.w. Rhys Davids and william stede, reprint ed. (London,7952), p. gg.
6?Ascited in wavuaN, "A Jotting on the Mirror," p.2|2,N6ro-pdextends
the items that can servethe samepurpose: "the entranceof the prognostic is
said to be in the unreal mirror, sword, thumb, lamp, moon, sun, water, pot,
 146 BuddhistInsight

Besides,I have studied chapter 23 of the Laghu-tantra of Saryvara,

along with Tson-kha-pa's commentary. In this chapter there is
difficult mystical language associated with the spirits- called
(dkinis. The questionsare put to mirrors, which are apparently
one's own consciousness. There are three mentioned: (1) in its
own house,like q uaira along with a mirror; (2) like a sword along
with a mirror; (3) like a banner and like a javelin with a closed-
mouth (double) mirror.58
As to where in the body itself would be located a divination
mirror, there is a suggestionthat it is in the heart, becausethe
native Tibetan deity Zhang Blon has a mirror for his heart. The
Tibetan author Bu-ston also has a phrase,"mirror and mirror-like
in the heart."5e I have been told that the Tibetan oraclesalways
wear a mirror on their chest to show their ability to capture any
desired information; and that when deities are shown by their
apparel only, a mirror is regularly placed in the position of the
heart. Sometimes the syllable HR is put on the mirror-the
syllable itself probably an abbreviation of hrdaya (heart).60 Pre-
sumably this heart mirror is intended in a work on the Buddhist
goddess Ndro-pdkini in which I found mention of a red two-
sided mirror rvhich has the capacity to display brightly all the
chiliocosm, becauseon one side are the five "strands of desire"
(the senseobjects) and on the other side, the inner forms such as
the "beautiful form" (one of the six allotments of the Lord,
Bhagavat).61Of course,this is an extensionof the two-sidedmirror
with manas reflecting the phenomenal world and buddhi as the
upper or inward side that displays such knowledges as the super-
normal faculties.
A divination mirror is especially indicated in Tibetan icono-
graphy by accompanying arrow and silk streamer.62 For

Tt* word "thumb" refers to the thumbnail, according to advice

"t "yt"me in Calcuttain
given 1970.
58Tson-xna-pA'scommentary called "Sbas pa'i don kun gsal ba," PTT,
157: 49-50.
seTheCollected Ll/orksof Bu-ston, reprinted. (New Delhi: International
Academy of Indian Culture, 1969),vol. 15, no. 66.
60Conversationwith Gonsar Rimpoche, in Dharmasala, 1970.
61TheDpal nd-ro mkha' spyod dbari mo'i lam rim pa gfiis kyi zab khrid ji ltar
nospa'i zin bris iin tu gsanba gnasmkha''gro'i sfrinbcud(paper),fols. 40b-41a.
6zln Tibetan: mda' dar me lori.
 TheMirror asa Pan-Buddhist
Metaphor-Simile 147

example, the Tibetan Earth Goddess, Sa'i-ll1a-rnobrtan-ma, has

such a divination mirror in her right hand. This is presumably
also the meaningof the mirror held by Manene, the goddessof the
Tibetan epic Gesar of Ling, who was continr,rallymaking pro-
pheciesto the hero Gesar.63 The chief tantric deitiesdo not cafiy
a mirror. Hence, tlr.ereis the suggestionthat when a deity does
hold a mirror there is a divination cult associatedwith that deity.
In illustration, the deity Kalacakra is depictedas holding a mirror
among the objectsheld by four white hands among his left hands,
and in his retinue Amitdbha holds a mirror in one of his left
hands.6a But we have previously observedin a commentary by
Ndrcpa that the Kalacakra has precisely such a divination
subcult.
After those theoretical considerations,it may be useful to give
an actual ritual which concerns evocation of the white Tard to
obtain an omen, which I now translate from a native Tibetan
sadhana:65

Homage to the gurus. As to the precept of having an omen

arise in irnmediacy: Previously one has well performed in one
sessiontherealizationin contemplation of one's tutelary deity.
In that state, one has generatedhimself into the momentary
reproduction of the White Tara. He imagines a white TAM
on the center of the opened lotus of his heart, and from that
syllable ablazing light which completelyfills the empty interior
of his body. He setsfour silver mirrors in the four directions
of the TAM syllable. Reciting A-NU-TA-RA he imagines
it [i.e., its four syllables]like a reflectedimage in the sequence
of the four mirrors of East, South, West, and North. With
rays emanated from that TA\4 he invites Tari from the
Akanirtha heaven and he reabsorbs them. Three times
he prays that the omen may arise in immediacy. Then
he imagines that whatever be his own aim is a white
TAM, that from it rays emanate which perform the

GsArnxaNoRaDavro-Nen and L,lrrla yoNGonN, The superhuman Lfe

of Gesarof Ling (New York, 1934),p. 132: "in one hand she held a bow,
in the other a mirror."
oaAccordingto the Kilacakra maodalain B. Bhattacharyya,ed,.,Ni;pannayo-
gdvali cf Mahapapdita Abhaydkaragupta(Baroda, 1949).
tsSgrubthabskun btus vol. Ga (3), fols. 438-39.
148 BuddhistInsight

aim of all beings of the kingdom, and in particular perform

all of one's own aim; and imagines that then the rays of this
TAM becomelike a meteor which penetratesthe middle of his
forehead. With fierce craving of imploring the siddhi [rnagical
successl,he imaginesthat he swallowsthis TAM and that it is
absorbed into the TAM of his heart; and imagines that his
desired thing doubtlessarisesas a dream. Then he goes into
deep sleep with the resting posture of the lion [i.e., on his
right sidel.. . (Later) he prepares a thanksgiving offering66to
the venerableGoddess.

It is plain that the above rite is tantamount to a yoga state of

dream, in which the four silver mirrors become the basis of the
prophetic vision, or omen. Combining this with our previous
indications, the rite should be preceded by a kind of symbolic
death, ayoga state of dreamlesssleep,sincethe diviner has voided
the phenomenal dream of his face in the mirror.

CoNcruorNc Rnuanrs

After the foregoing sampling of the numerous mirror passagesof

Buddhist literature, I suppose it would not be possible to find
another Buddhist metaphor-simileso enduring throughthe vicissi-
tudes of religious history, and so revelatory of Buddhist attitudes
or instructive on how the educated Buddhist would structure his
argumentson crucial issuesof his religion and associatedphiloso-
phies with a metaphor-simile. Even so, these mirror studies are
not the most fascinating of study topics, because-I may venture
to suggest-the mirror is a static image. And there are sounds to
hear, for which a mirror fails. Besides,such a study as I have
made tends to place the mirror metaphor in a tiresome role.
After all, in their natural habitat these metaphors occur in a
spread-out, occasional manner. It perhaps violates their meta-
phorical integrity to bunch them, jostling their relatives, each
of whom would prefer the other to have stayed in his own book !

F. D. Lpsstuc,'oMiscellaneous
68See LamaistNotes.I. Noteson theThanks-
givingOffering,"CentralAsiaticJournal2, no. 1 (1956):58-71.
 The \4irrorasa Pan-Buddhist
Metaphor-simile

ApprNorx

Tirn PnnrNA-MnnoR : DoESrr HAVE AN INDTANOnrcrN

walter Liebenthal rendered great serviceto students of Chinese

Buddhism and Buddhism generally by his translation, first pub-
lished in 1948, The Book of chao; and years later, by his revision
of the same,published in 1968,chao Lun: The Treatisesof seng-
chao.67 Seng-chaowas a youthful discipleof the famous Kumara-
jiva in A.D. 401. His wonderful work has many obscure state-
ments about prajfia and some in particular about prajfid as a dark
mirror. It is usually taken for granted that there is non-Buddhist
influence on seng-chao. can this mysteriousprajfid-mirror be
traced to Indian Buddhism?
Near the end of his Madhyamakduatdrq, candrakirti employs
the mirror simile in the senseof simultaneous appearanceof all
parts, to show the nature of enlightenment, as well as to show the
appearanceof a divine body. In Tson-kha-pa's commentary (the
part on the Tenth Stage of the Bodhisattva) the commentarial
sentenceis as follows.Gs "This Sarpbhogakayarevealsitself only
to the attainers of the state [i.e., the Bodhisattva of the Tenth
Bodlrisattva Stagel who have the mind of enlightenment [bodhi-
cittal free from proliferating imagination [prapafica] and have
gained the immaculate mirror of prajfrdfrom their own two collec-
tions [of merit and knowledge]; and it does not reveal itself con-
cretely to the ordinary persons [prthagjana] attended with proli-
ferating imagination." Passing to the Lankduatdra-sutra, the
equivalent language is the mirror wherein the reflections of all
forms are seen simultaneously (yugapat) and free from discursive
thought (uikalpa).6s rhis Lsnkduqtdra passagealso speaksof the
Niqyanda-Buddha associatedwith the Akaniqtha mansion, which
is obviously this scripture's equivalent to the sambhogak[ya of
other texts.
Earlier in his Madhyamakiiuatdrq (self-commentary,) candra-

67The 1948 publication was Monograph 13 of Monumentd serica (Catholic

University of Peking); the 1968 one was published by Hong Kong University
Press.
68TsoN-rura-pA's commentary called "Dgons pa rab gsal,,' pTT,
154:
105-4.
6sThe Lankdvatdra Sutra, ed. Bunyiu Nanjio (Kyoto, 1956),
55, 1g.
/tsOa BuddhistInsight
\-/'
kirti (on 6, 174-75) speaks of purifying the face of proiiid from
nescience(auidya).70
Now Seng-chaowrites (Chao-lun,p. 54): "A perfect void where
nothing grows (and decays)such is, perchance,the transcendent
realm as it shows in the dark mirror of Prajfla." Again (p. 67):
"Prajfla reflects what is totally concealed, Yet does so rvithout
cognition." Indeed, except for the word "dark" applied to the
mirror, these statements agree perfectly with the fbregoing mate-
rials from the Mddhyamika tradition of Candrakirti and the
Tibetan commentary by Tson-kha-pa, and with the Yogdcdra
tradition of the Lankduatdra-sutra, although these particular
works were not available to Seng-chao.7l But as a disciple of
Kumdrajiva, Seng-chaoshould have had accessto, and would
have consulted eagerly, the encyclopedic Buddhist work, the
Mahaprajridpdramitdidstra, which Kumdrajiva is credited with
having rendered into Chinese; and Seng-chao should have had
accessiblea number of other Buddhist works already translated
into his language. Seng-chao's "perfect void" and "without
cognition" afe the equivalent for the statementsin those other
works "boclhicitta free from proliferating imagination" and "free
'fhe
from discursive thought." closest an Indian work comes
to calling this Perfection of Insight (prainapdramita) a mirror is
perhaps Candrakifii's praifia-face, although we are reminded of
the mirror-face of the Pdli Jdtakas. It does seem, therefore, that
the terminology "dark mirror of praifra" originated in China, while
the state to which this terminology applies may have already been
described in the Buddhist literature of Indian origin that was
available to Seng-chao. That is, for lack of Indian Buddhist
texts using this terminology,it may bepresumed that Tson-kha-
-fibetan
pa's term "projfid-mirror" derives from earlier Buddhism
that was influenced in this matter by ChineseBuddhism.
On the other hand, the celebrateo Japaneseauthor Klkai seems
not to have received or adopted this dark mirror terminology, for

to the citationof Candrakirti'spassage

?0According Lam
in Tson-kha-pa's
rim chen mo, namely in the vipasyana (discerning the real) section in my MS
translation , Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real (Columbia University,
New York, (1978).
TrIn particular, Gu4abhadra translated the Lankavatara into Chinese some
years after Seng-chao's passing.
 The Mirror as a Pan-BuddhistMetaphor-simile rsl

he writes in the safite context of the Buddha's enlightenment

wisdom: "Just as all the forms are reflectedin a clean mirror on
a high stand, so it is with the Tathagata's Mind-mirror. The
clean mirror of Mind hangs high on the top of Dharmadhatu,
being sereneand shining on all without perversion or mistake.
What Buddha does not possesssuch a clean mirror?"?2

?zH.Inagaki,"Kukai's Sokushin-Jobutsu-Gi
(Principleof Attaining Buddha-
hood with the PresentBody)," Asia Major n.s. 17 (1971-72):215.
 7

THE BUDDHIST THEORY OF VISION

The Buddhist treatment of vision, especiallyin terms of eyes,

whether meant concretely or metaphorically, is among the most
important topics of Buddhist thought from its inception to the
present. The stress begins with the first sermon of Buddhism.
while the present essayis relatively brief, it is possible to present
here the main ideas by means of trenchant passages chosen from
a wide variety of sources.

I. THE Elnly THEony op Vlsrox aNo CoNsrsrENTTrxrs

It is well known that every version of the first sermon, "setting

into Motion the wheel of the Law", has the Buddha's explanation
that when he oriented his mind to each of the four Noble Truths,
a series of experiences occurred beginning traditionally with the
expressions o'knowledge arose, vision arose" eali fidrya and
cakkhu, Sanskrit jfidna and caksus). The same point is made in
other sermons with the expression 'oknowledgeand vision" (p.
fidqtadassana,Skt. jfidnadariana). A most important passage
occrurs in the Ahguttara-Nikdya (Book of Eights, "At Gaya"):
'oMonks,
before my awakening, when being a bodhisattuaI was
not completely enlightened, I conceived (mystic) manifestations
(obhdsa)but did not see(mystic) forms (rupa). Monks, it occurred
to me, 'If Iwere both to conceive(mystic)manifestationsandto see
 154 BuddhistInsight

(mystic) forms, in that caseknowledge and vision would be better

purified in me'." It is quite clear that "knorvledge" is going with
the conception (saiirid) of manifestations and that "vision" is
going with the seeingof forms.
The copulative interpretation of the cornpoundiidnadassanais
continued down the centuries to the commentary Arya-Daia-
bhftmiuydkhydna,attributed to vasubandhu in the Tibetan canon
(Tohoku Cat. No. 3998), where (Derge ed., Mdo ltgrel, jvi, f.
l77a-6. ff.) we read: "Four of the supernormalfaculties (abhiiiid)
are categafizedby knowledge (jfidna),the fifth is categorized by
vision (dariana). The one supernormalfaculty of magical ability
Qddhi) purifies the actions of body. The supernormalfacultiesof
both divine hearing and knowing the make-up of others' minds
purifies the actions of speech. The supernormalfaculties of both
the memory of former lives and the (knowledge of) passing away
and rebirth purifies the actions of mind". (/mnon par 6es pa
rnams lasbii ni sespas rab tuphye bairo/Lna pa ni mthon bas
rab tu phye baho / rdzuhphrul rhnon par sespa gcig gis ni / lus
kyi las yons su dag go / lhahi rna ba dah/ pha rol gyi sems ses
pahi mnon par Sespa gfriskyis ninag gi las yons sir dag go/ snon
gyi gnas rjes su dran pa dan/ hehi hpho dan/ skye ba mnon par
Sespa giiis kyis ni yid kyi las yons su dag go /). This interesting
passageagreeswith rvhat is well established,namely that the fifth
supernormalfaculty, the knowledge of passing away and rebirth,
is otherwisecalled the "divine eye" (dibba-cakkhu, diuya-caksus)
and so constitutesthe categoryof "vision". The passagefurther-
more groups this ability with the memory of past lives, suggesting
that this memory is an inward-directedknowledgewhile the divine
eyeis an associatedfaculty that is directedoutwards in the lnanner
of an eye.
The emphasison vision was continued in other kinds of termi-
nology: "he who seesthe Dhamma seesme, and he r,vho sees me
seesthe Dhamma" (S. iii. 120;It.9l; Mil. 73).r The Mahayana
equivalent to this is found in many places, for example in the
Bodhisattua-pitraka, part of the Ratnakflta collection:z
lANaNoa K. CoouaRASwAMyand I. B. HonNrn, Gotama The
Buddha
( L o n d o n ,1 9 4 8 ) p
, .23.
zThe passageoccursin Tibetan in Photo ed., Vol. 23, p. 19-5;
and I have
included the translation in my "Buddhism", Historia Religionum yol. 2
Brill, Leiden, l97l).
TheBuddhistTheoryof Vision 155

Whatever is the meaning of Dependent Origination, is the

meaning of Dharn-ra;whatever is the meaning of Dharma, is
the rneaning of Tathagata. Therefore, whoever seesDepen-
dent Origination, seesDharma; whoever seesDharma, sees
the Tathdgata. Also, seeing that way, and accordingly fully
understandingin the senseof Thusness,still one seesscarcely
anything. What is that 'oscarcelyanything"? It is the Sign-
lessand the Non-apprehension;the one who seesin the manner
of Signlessand Non-apprehension,seesrightly.
Besides,the third Noble Truth, of Cessation (nirodha), must be
realized directly (sdkgdt, "before the eyes") according to the
ancient Buddhist prescription. Thus, niruanain its oldest senseis
attained when it is seen;and it is seen,accordingto the suggestion
of our next section, by the o'eye" of insight (pafifid,prajfia).8

lI. TsB TuRan Eyss AND rHE Frve Eyrs

The three eyesare well-known in Pdli literature as the eye of flesh

(marysacakkhu),the divine eye(dibbacakkhu),andthe eyeof insight
(paiiiiacakkhu). Falk has discussed these eyes in terms of the
bodies rvhich they respectivelysee. The eye of flesh sees the
rupa-personality, the divine eye sees the manomayakdya ("body
made of mind"), and the eye of insight "sees" Nirvdla. She
understandsfrom her study of Pali literature that theseeyes con-
stitute the successivespheresor fruits of the Buddhist ascension
treated in the three instructions, respectivelyof morality (sila),
meditatiot (samddhi), and insight (paiind).a
The five eyesare an expansion in Mahdydna Sanskrit works of
the original three (marytsa-,diuya-, and prajfra-cak;us). The two
that are added are the eye of dharma and the Buddha eye. Having
collecteda number of passageson the group of five, I have noticed
that some lists have the "eye of knowledge" (jfiana-caksus) as
a substitutionfor the "eye of clharnma."s In fact, thesebooks took

s"Contributionsto the Mddhyamikaschool of Buddhism",in Journal

of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 89.1. The same doctrine about Nirvaqa
being of utmost imporiance for understanding Nagarjuna's position is held
here.
4Manyra, FAtr, Nama-Rupa and Dharma-Rupa (University of Calcutta,
1943),pp. 114-115.
olndrabhUti's commentary on the SrFSarppulatilaka-tantra, Derge Tanjur,
 156 Buddhist
Insight

the "eye of insight" and added the "eye of dharma" and "Buddha
eye" to make a Mahiydna set of three eyes. Thus vasubandhu's
commentary on the Ak;ayamatinirdeia-sutra (Derge Tanjur, Mdo
lrgrel, Ci, l5b-6, tr) states: "The three eyes are .eye of
dharma,' 'eye of insight,' and ,'eye of Buddha',' (f spyan gsum ni
chos kyi spyan dan/ 6esrab kyi spyan dah / sans rgyas kyi spyan
no/). Kamalasila's commentary on the vojracchedikd (Tohoku
No. 3817,Derge Tanjur, Sesphyin, Vol. Ma,25la-2,ff.)also sets
asidethesethree eyes,defining them as follows: "He has the 'eye
of insight' toward the object which is the selflessness
of person and
nature (pudgala-and dharma-nairdtmya). The 'eye of dharma' is
toward the realm of dharma alone in the conventional sensewhen
there is the appearanceonly of dharmawhile personality (pudgala)
is void, there being no personality (in view). The omniscience
concerningall forms of the knowable is calledthe'eye of Buddha'."
(lean zag dan chos la bdag med pahi yul la ni Sesrab kyi spyan
mnaho/kun rdzob tu chos tsam du snan ba iid de gan zag ni ma
yin na zes gan zag sroir ste/ chos tsam gyi yul la chos kyi spyan
no / sesbya thams cad rnam pa thams cad du mkhyen pa ni sans
rgyas kyi spyan Lesbya ste/).
A complete explanation of the five eyes from the yogdcdra
standpoint is in Sthiramati's commentary on the Mahdydna-
sutrdlarykdra (Bodhipakqya chapter) from which the essentials
are given here:6
(a) The eye of flesh seesforms in present time.
(b) The divine eye is of two kinds, both seeing forms in past
and future: (1) that born of past action (karma), the eye of the
gods; and (2) that born of contemplation (bhauand) in the
samddhi of a yogin, and which seesthe sentient beingspassing
away from here and going to various destinies in accordance
with past actions.
(c) The eye of insight is the non-discursive knowledge which
understands the individual and the general characteristic of
the dharmas,seeingthem in the absolute sense(paramdrthatas).
(d) The eye of dharma understands without impediment all

Rgyud lrgrel, Ga, 75b-6, ff., states the five eyes as eye of flesh, divine eye,
eye of insight, knowledge eye, and eye of Buddha, thus omitting the eye
of
dharma and having in its place the knowledge eye.
6I have included this summary in my "Buddhism",
Historia Religionum.
 The BuddhistTheory of Vision 157

the scripture, understandsthe stream of consciousnessof per-

sons in the senseof discriminating whether it is an ordinary
person,or one of the eight classesof disciples(on the four paths
or in the fruits of the four paths), or a Bodhisattva and if so
then on which of the ten Bodhisattva Stages; and seeing the
dharmas in the conventional sense(sarpurtitas).
(e) The eye of a Buddha understands all dharmas, whether
with or rvithout flux, whether constructed or unconstructed;
and realizes directly every knowable field; understands the
state of Arhat ensuing from the "diamond-like samddhi" and
the freedom frorn fluxes of the Tathdgatas.

It can be observedin Sthiramati's treatment that all three of the

eyes which have been grouped above as a Mahayana set, turn
out to be concerned with dharma or dharmas. Furthermore,
the eyesof insight atd dharma can be grouped together as consti-
tuting two levels of "discriminative knowledge" (pratyauek-
saryd-iiidna),namely in the absolute and in the conventional sense.
Since Mahdydna scriptures insist that in the absolute sense the
natures (dharma) neither arise nor pass away, rro prophecy can
be made for them, and so the eye of insight is not prophetic. On
the other hand, those scripturesassertthat in a conventional sense,
those dharmas arise void of self-existence (suabhdua). Since
they "arise" a prophecy can be made for them.?
Asanga, in his Yogdcdrabhumi-uiniicayasanxgrahant(Derge
Tanjur, Sems tsam, Yol. Zi, f. 56b-7, ff.) compares the "divine
eye" with the "eye of insight" and explains that the "divine eye"
seesall visible forms (nidariana-rupa), rvhile the "eye of insight"
ranges in all forms, namely visible and invisible, whether obstruct-
ing or non-obstructing. "All visible forms" includes (cf. Abhi-
dharma-koia, III, l4a-b) the forms of beings in the intermediate
state (antardbhaua),presumably becausethose beings also have a
"visible form" of a sort, ordinarily visible only to beings of the
same class. Tson-kha-pa, in his Don gsal commentary on the
Gultyasomdja-tantra(Lhasa ed., Vol. Cha, f. 23b-1, ff.), basing his
remarks also on Asanga's Yogacdrabhilmi,explains that with the
"divine eye" one sees the six classesof "passion gods" in the

?Theseremarksabout prophecystem from the Pitaputrasamdgama-sfitra

(chapteron the Tutita gods),asreadin the Tibetanversion.
@ Buddhist Insight

"realm of desire" (kama-dhdtu),andall other beingsin the "realm

of desire,"includingthe sixteenhells.
Follorving up the previous remark by tralk that the divine eye
seesthe nnttoma.r-akd.y'a, it is worthwhile to inquire what would be
this manomayql(71y,among the three given a prominent place in
the Lariliduottirq-st1tra. I have sumrnarized this S[tra's treatment
of that kind of body in rny "studies in yama and Mara". Inclo-
Iranian Journal, III:2 (1959), p. l19:
The sanskrit text (136-7,f.) setsforth three manomaya-lrdya:
(l) the mental body rvith stabilization in the pleasure of
samddhi (samddhisukhasamdpatti-manomaya); (2) the mental
body which completelycomprehendsthe intrinsicn ature of the
dharmas (dharmasuabhduduabodha-manomaya) ; (3) the mental
body which performs the instigations natural to its class
(nikdvasahajasarytskdrakriya-manomaya).The commentary
by Jfrdnavajra shovrs that the first of these, prevalent up
through the Seventh Bodhisattva stage, does not involve
transmutation of the basis (dirayapardurtti) of the eightfold
set of perceptions (uijiiana). The second is prevarent on the
Eighth or Superior Stage of the Bodhisattva; and.here, with
a body comparable to that (of the Buddhas) one proceedsto
all the Buddha Realms.
In the Abhidharma-koia, rlr,4ac-41a, the being of antardbhaua
is called manomaya,sambhauei;in, and Gandharva. This parti-
cular manomaya appearc to be the first of the Lankduqtdra-siltra
set. It would be the one treated by Paravahera vajirafld4a as
the one of the Digha Nikaya i, 77, which the meditating monk
draws from his own body with identical form.8 Hence,this would
be the manoma))a-kayawhich is seen by the divine eye. Since
the second manoma))a-kaya of the Lankduatdra-stTtracompre-
hends the intrinsic nature of the dltarmas,this would include both
the "eye of insight" and the "eye of dharma" as metaphoricaleyes.
The third manoma),a-kayawould involve the Buddha eye. This
eyeof a Buddha is mentionedin a famous passagein the saryyutta-
It{ikdya,vol. I (the Brahma suttas), beginning, "Then the Exalted
one, understandingBrahma's entreaty,becauseof his compassion

sP,rn,qvanpnn varmaiiiANA ManATHERA, Buddhist

Meditation in Theory and
Practice (Colombo, 1962), p. 440.
The Buddhist Theorv of Vision 159

toward all sentientbeings,looked dor,vnwith a,Buddha'sEye over

the world...." This shows that the original conception of a
"Buddha's eye" is the eyewith which a tsuddhalooks at the lvorld
aiter his attainment of CornpieteEnlightenrnent.
Then the question arisesof whcther one seeswith only one eye
at a time or can seesimultaneo::slylvith more than one of those
eyes. For example,what eye or eyesare employed by the celestial
Bodliisattva Avalokite5varawhen hc surveys the beings in the
six destinies(gali)? Sorneyears ago, wllen I rvasreading'fibetan
literature at th,eUniversity of California I asked tlie Mongolian
Lama named Dilou,a Gegen Flutukhtu if AvalokiteSvaralooked
at the world rvith the "eye of knowledge." FIe replied that Ava-
lokite6vara and every Buddha sees with all five eyes. There
is a textual confirmation of this remark in Abhayakaragupta's
Sarltpula-tilakq commentary called Amndya+naiijari, in the Japair-
o' oBy
esephoto edition of the Tibetan canon, Vol. 55, p. 238-1:
gazes'means. by the fleshly, divine, insight, dharma, and Buddha
eyes".(l1a dan lha dan Sesrab dan chos dan sansrgyas kyi spyan
gyis gzigs pa rnams kyis so/). Tson-kha-pa makes reference to
the same point in his commentary on Candrakirti's Madhya-
makduattira,Photo ed., Vol. 154, p.238-2: "When one applies
eyeointment to the eye and the eye becomesbright, the eye (itself)
is not nullified. In the sameway, when one applies the eye oint-
ment for seeingvoidness and the eye of discrimination (buddhi)
becomesbright, the eye of knov,rledgeis not nullified. If one
understandsthat (i.e. knor,vs the implication of the foregoing re-
mark), (he realizes that) not rightly applied is the disparaging
viewpoint that there is no knowledge (jiiana) in drya-sanfipatti".
(lmie sman bskus pas mig gsal du 1:gro yi/mig bdon pa min pa
blin du ston frid mthon batri mig sman bskus pasI blolii rnig sal
du hgro ba gyi/ye Seskyi mig fdon pa min par Sesna / l.rphags
pahi rnffam gzag tu ye Sesmed ces pahi skur l:debs kyi lta bden
pa mi gos so/). As previously mentioned,this "eye of knowledge"
is the 'oeyeof dharma"; it is not nullified when the "eye of insight"
is operating. In the M6dhyamika school, this "eye of insight" is
said to look upon the voidness,which in the oldest senseis the
voidness of self and of what belongs to self.
 160 BuddhistInsight

IU. THs Eyss rN BuDDHrsr CULT AND IcoNocRApHy

In the celebrated story of King Sibi, the generous king received
his eyesback through the rite of truth.e Arya-Sura's formulation
of the tale in the Jataka-mald has this verse in the words of Indra:
And there will arise an unhindered power of your two eyesto
see.
All around for a hundred yojanas, even when interrupted by
mountains.
Tson-kha-pa, in his Dban don ("Meaning of Initiation"), Lhasa
collectedworks, Vol. Ca, f.45a-2, writes: ooBythe rite of eye oint-
ment one dispels the obscuration of the nesciencefilm over the
eye of discrirnination and generatesthe supernormal power of the
'divine
eye'." (/mig sman gyi cho gas blo yi mig ma rig pahi lin
tog gis bsgrib pa bsal nas lhahi mig gi mnon Sesskyed pa danfi.
The rite of eye ointment is presented in his snags rim chen mo
(Peking block print, f. 278b-3. ff):
(The guru) placesin a gold or silver vesselthe golden eyeoint-
ment consisting of butter and honey. While the disciple
imagines on his eyes the syllable PRAM, (the guru) applies
(the eye ointment) with a probe (ialdkd), reciting OM VAJRA-
NETRA APAHARA PATALAM HRIH (..OTn.Remove the
film that is on the diamond eye! Hril.r".) And he repeatsthe verse
of the vairocqndbhisarybodhi-tantra,'oJustas the King of Heal-
ing (bhai;ajya-rdja) with his probe removed the worldly film,
so may the Buddhas dispel your fllm of ignorance, my son!',
I have also noticed a number of ritual passagesabout "eye oint-
ment"in the Amoghapdiakalpardjd (No. 686 in the Tohoku
catalog).
There are other tantric rituals about the eyes which involve
imagining the syllables MA changing into a sun in the right eye
and T.A changing into a nroon in the left eye, and aHO in between
the two, radiating light. For example, such a ritual occurs in
Kukuri-p a' s M ahdmdydsddhanama qt(al aui dhi (No. I 630 in Tohoku
cat.) and in Jf,anavajra's Karunodaya-ndma-bhduandjapauidhi
(No. 2524 in Cat.)
e"TheHindu-BuddhistRite of Truth-An Interpretation",Studiesin Indian
(Volumepresented
Linguistics to Prof.M. B. Emeneauon hissixtiethbirthdav
year),Poona,1968,pp. 365-369,
reprintedhere.
TheBuddhistTheoryof Vision 161

Concerning the "diamond eye" (uajranetra) the tantric Candra-

kirti in his commentary on the Guhyasantdja-tantracalled Pradi-
podyotana (Derge Tanjur, Rgyud hgrel, Ha, 94a-I) writes: "His
eye (i.e. of Mahdvajradhara) seesby means of a perfectly pure
'diarnond eye'." (/dehi spyan ni
bright light; and that is the hog
gsal bas rnam par dag pas gzigs pa gan yin de ni rdo rje spyan
teD. In the Amndya-mafijari(op. cit., Vol. 55, p. 245-2), Abha-
yakaraguptaquotesthe scriptural passage:"O Mafrju5ri, in regard
to that, the Tathagata, by means of the six supernormal faculties
which see everywhere,seesthe sentient beings passing away and
beigg reborn, also proceedingto a good destiny or a bad destiny.
Likewise, the Tathdgata seeswith the u,rpi;a; likewise, he sees
with the urpa-koia,' so also with each characteristic". The same
author quotes the last portion of this passageagain in his Muni-
matdlarykdra(Photo ed., Vol. 101, p.268-3) and hereidentifiesit as
coming from tl'te,sraddltabatadhqna-siltra (No. 201 in theTohoku
cat.). That relatesto numerous passagesin Mahdyana literature
narrating that from the Buddha's ugqti;aotthe crown of his head,
or from the urryd-koia it the middle of his forehead there arose
streamsof light, illuminating all the worlds, and the like. Hence,
the usnisa and the urnd-koia as well as the remaining thirty-two
characteristics(laksarya)function as a sort of eye,answeringto the
description of the "diamond eye". According to the Bhqdra-
kalpita-sutra,the light emanatingfrom theu$nisa is the fruit of
the "perfecti on of insight" (pr ajiidpdr arnitd).r0
The urltd-koia in this senseof an eye is presurnably equivalent
to the "third eye" depicted frequently on tantric deitiesin Asian
art, especiallyTibetan.

10Ascited by Hjam dbyans bzad pabi rdo rje inhis Mthak dpyod of Chapter
8 of the Abhisamayqlarnkara(Tibetan text).
 8

DEPENDENT ORIGINATION_:
THE INDO-TIBETAN TR.ADITION

INrnooucrroN
In the Mahd-niddna-suttantaof the Digha-Nikdya, the Buddha
reproved Ananda for saying that while Dependent Origination
looks deep it is clear to him. The Buddha announcedthat it both
looks deep and is deep. In this casethe Buddha was on the side
of the gods, becausethe Brhadaranyaka-Upani;ad(IY, 2,2) says,
"The gods love that which is hinted at darkly, and hate that which
is uttered directly." As William Blake puts it, the "dim Windows
of the Soul ... leads you to Believea Lie When you seewith, not
thro', the Eye"-because Dependent Origination not quite "is"
and not quite "isn't".
This signalsthe difficulties which authors of the past and present
have experienced with the Buddhist formula. They considered
Dependent Origination as something before their eyes to see in
clear relief, as one might see a book. This essay claims that
Dependent Origination could not become clear in such a way,
since there are two distinct and contrasting interpretations of the
series,the first one which I label "discovery and seeing", and the
second "lives of a person," and since both interpretations are re-
quired for understanding the formula. The first, without concern
for particular persons, attempts to develop the Buddhist Doctrine.
The second, recognizing individuals, showsthe role of defilement
and karma in successivelives. In order to demonstratethis inconti-
 164 BLrddhist
Insight

nuance of mv previous published materialsl on the subject, it

would lead me too far afield to deal with the rnultitudeof theories
advancedby sympatheticauthors or to counter the hostile criti-
cism that the Buddhist forrnula does not make sense.2 I shall
report the Indian tradition through the well-known Phli or Sans-
krit works, and for the Tibetan part especiallyrely on the Depen-
dent Origination section of Tson-kha-pa's Latn rim chen mo.

I. T',n Two KrNns oRrcrNarroN

":";^DENr
The essentialpoint of dependent(pratitya) origination (samutpada)
is the requirementof a condition (pratyaya)for somethingto arise.l
The standard sequenceof twelve such conditions in Sanskrit and
my English translation is this: l. nescience(auidyd),2. motivations
(sorpskdra), 3. perception (uijfidna), 4. name-and-form (nama-
rilpa), 5. six sensebases(saddyatanq),6. sense contact (sparia),
7. feelings (uedcmd),8. craving (ty,rqd), f. indulgence (updddna),
10. gestation (bhaua),ll. birth (jAD, 12. old age and death (jard-
marana)- I stumbled upon a possibility of trvo kinds by finding
in Asanga's Yogdcdrabhilmithat there is a nescience"unmixed
with defilement" and in another placethat Dependent origination
can be classifiedin terms of defilem ent (klesa),karma, and suffering
(du/tkha), where nescienceis labelled as a defilement.a Even-

rcf. thearticlesreferredto belowin notes38or 46,and51;andthework in

Note 37.
zAmongthe many treatments,I mention here A. B. Knrru, Buddhist
Philosophy in India and ceylon(India reprint),pp. 105-109,for someof the
older Europeantheories. Eowrno J. Tnovrls, The History of Buddhist
Thought (1933,with reprints),the causationchapter,for a numberof views
from Buddhist tex-tg. S[gtonr_Iida, in a mi-meggl4phed paper-eqtitlg{
"r6f,.ti"i"g.-couiu-u's wheel of causation--an lnterpretationof the
dvadaffiffi9d3, anclfor a numberof
lTFLq, VarrBn PousslN, Thdorie des douze causes
nd, 1913),for a still valuablesurveyof the scholastictheoriesof the causal
chain. K. N. Jay,qrlrrrrr, Early Buddhist Theorl, of Knowledge (London,
1963),esp. pp. 445-457,for a Pali specialist'sevaluationof the theories.
3Cf. J,qyarILLEKE, Early Buddhist Tlrcory, p. 449, for the basic statements
and canonicalreferences:'owhenever A is present,B is present" (imasmtryt
sati idary hoti), and whenever I is absent, B is absent" (imasmirytasati
idary na hoti).
4Asarigaexpoundstwo kinds of nescience(avidya)in the part of his Yogd-
carabhumicalled Viniicaya-sarpgrahaltt,Japanesephoto edition of the Tibetan
 Dependent _.TheIndo-Tibetan
Origination Tradition 165

tually, I took the first kind as discovered

by Gautama Buddha
and as unconcernedwith particular beings. The second kind is
applied to lives of an individual rvhosekarma is differentiated or
unshared.
My division also follows the implications of Ndgdrjuna,s
Madhyamaka-kdrilcdxxrv,40: "The one who seesDependent
origination, seestltis (idam) precisely (caiua) as suffering and the
Source, precisely (eua ca) as cessation and path." This verse
afforded the commentators a splendid opportunity, which they
seemnot to have taken, to point out that Nagdrjuna's association
of voidness (iilnyata) with Dependent origination makes it possi-
ble to see Dependent origination as any one of the four Noble
Truths, i.e., one can seeit as the "tree of suflering" (infra.) and as
any other one of the four Truths.5 SinceDependent origination
is not areal thing, seeingit one way does not prevent anyonefrom
seeingit another way. Hence I offer this explanationin terms of
the present article: The first two Noble Truths of suffering and
source are associatedwith the first kind of Dependent origina-
tion that dealswith beingsas a whole and not with particular ones.
The last two l{oble Truths of Cessationand path are associated
with the second kind of Dependent origination concerned with
lives of individuals including the specializedones who follow
the Path. As to the "seeing" itself, later I cite various passages.

I.1. The First Kind o.f DependentOriginatiort

There is a celebrated account in Pdli, Sarpyutta-Nikaya, ii, 2s,
presentingthe twelve membersin reverseorder: "with the condi-
tion of birth, o monks, there is old age and death. with the

canon, vol. 110,p. 28-1-5,ff. I gatheredmaterialsfrom many placesof his

Yogaccirabhumi and organizedthem in e papcr ,,Nescienceand Insight Ac-
cording to Asahga's Yogacdrabhumi",for the volume Bucldhiststudies in
I{onour of the venerablewalpola sri Rahula (Gorclon Frazer,London, l9g0),
cf. esp. pp. 154-255,and n. 11. This essayis publishedin this volume.
sAmong the commentariesthat do not face up to the issue
is Canrlrakirti,s
Prasannapada, the chap. xxIV of which is tra'slated into Frenchby Jacques
May (Paris, 7959);Bhavaviveka'sprajfitrpraclipa, the chap. xxlv of which
is availablein a draft translarioninto Engtishby Ryushin Uryuzu,
locally
distributedin Madison, wisc., Nov. 1966,for a seminarin Madhyamika
philosophy; Abhayakaragupta'sMunimatalarnkaraphoto ed.
of ribetan
canon,Vol. 101,pp.220-223.
166 BuddhistInsight

condition of gestation, O monks, there is birth..." And then,

"Whether Tathagatas arise or do not arise, there remains this
realm (dhatu), the continuance of dhamma,the rule of dhamma, the
having of this for condition. This the Tathagata has discovered;
this he fully understands;and having discoveredit and fully under-
stood it, he teachesit,..." And finally, the Arya disciple, having
rightly understoodit, doesnot let his mind run to past tirne, think-
ing, "Did I live in the past?" and so on. The important feature of
this passageis that the discovery and concordant teaching of
DependentOrigination is not concernedwith whether Tathagatas
arise or r.vhethersentient beingsarise,existedin the past, will exist
in the future, etc. As to the meaning of such expressionsas "conti-
nuance of dhamnta," "ru,le of dhammc," there is also the pithy
utterance, "Whoever sees Dependent Origination, sees the
Dharma."6 There is nothing mysterious about this: Once the
Tathagata had discovered Dependent Origination, he taught it,
whereupon it became the Dharma. This must be the Dharma
among the Three Jewels; so it is the Buddhist Doctrine, or an
essentialor salient part thereof.
But also the Sar.nyutta-Nikaya,ii,120,saysin the Vakkali-sutta.
..Whoever,Vakkali'seesthecl|nmn,,4,SeeSme;@,
sees the ciltantnta." Since DeiF-dent @nadffi;J-f-t[
aM ed with whether lathagata$ ari$_q.gr.,nq!,it
fdlffisTbqill-rg not coniernedwith whether dhqmm-(singll-lar
orQlilral) ariles olnot. A similar identificationof dharma (the
Sanskrit equivalent to the Pali dhamma) with the Tathd.gata is
made in the Mahiyina scripture "Meeting of Father and Son"
(Pitdputrasamdgama-sutra).t Here, after a discussion of Depen-
dent Origination, it teaches: "Therefore, by understanding De*
pendent Origination, one understands the dhqrmadhdtLt," anp_
"Lord, the TarhagataffiiisTics(/akio,io , ; is
'riue -
Tnusnesil
Dharmadhatu, End fbhnafroli). Att dharmus
are also bhutakoli. Therefore, all dharmas are the Tathagata."
The foregoing suggeststhat the Buddha's discovery of Dependent

aCf. Satistambasutra in La llarlir PoussrN, Thiorie de-sdoy4s ggU-es,

p. 70 : yo, blt<jglel4lrliurs:ffi@g! to'a-Eor^o,n po{yari; wtrite
inlhe Pali Gml (Majjffia-Nikaya, I, l9[ITs in a discourse by Sariputrg/
attributed to Buddha \/
TPhotoedition of Tibetan Canon, Yol. 23, chapter on "Instruction of the
B1'halphalaDeities," p. 181-1,ff.
 DependentOrigination-TheIndo-Tibetan
Tradition 167

Origination involved no perceptual reach of particular sentient

beings, ordinary or advanced; or of particular dharmas,
ordinary ones like love and hate or supernal ones like Buddha
natures. Along the same lines, the discourse to Kaccdyana
(S3nqyotlu{ikayg=iii,134-135)andNdgdrjun4usi6T-I[-#-$
c@anskrit namercatvay@trffi uiinyamatca-
kdrikd, show that the middle doctrine or path of Dependent
Origination avoids the attributions of'"The world exists" or "The
world does not exist," hence also avoids such formulations as
"The Tathd.gataexists" or "The Tathigata does not exist," or
again, such formulations as "He is happy," or "He is unhappy."
To further clarify this kind of Dependent Origination, I shall
translate below a Pdli Sutta (Sapyutta-Nikdya, Nidana Book, ii,
2) which has no mention of such matters as karma and transmigra-
tion. In particular, by explaining nescienceas ignorance of any
of the four Noble Truths, it avoids any direct implications of
defilement (kleiq). Asanga also denies that ignorance of the four
Truths is defiled since it does not involve waywardnessof thought
(citta-uiparydsa).8 Rather, the ignorance of the four Truths is
tantamount to not knowing Dependent Origination. The early
nature of this Pdli scripture is also confirmed by certain non-
standard listings, such as its detailing of o'name" in o'name-and-
form" and of the member "feelings."e
When the Buddha was dwelling at Sdvatthi,he said: "Monks,I
will teach you, I will analyzeDependentOrigination.lo Listen to

sThisis in the Yogacarabhumiin thesamepassage

referredto above,Note4.
HereAsangagivestwo kindsof "unmixednescience" (i.e.,not mixedwith
defilement), "the confusionof not comprehending"
and the "undefiledcon-
fusion". He expresslymentionsthe failure of attentionto the Truth of
Sufferilg,etc. underthe headingof the "unmixednescience," and givesthe
term cittaviparyasa.
sThat is, this Sutta has for 'oname"the five items, feelings,ideas, volitions,
sensecontacts, and mental orientations. It is usual to have, as does the
SAlistambasiltra,the four "formless" aggregates,of which "feelings" and
"ideas" are the first two, followed by "motivations" and "perceptions".
More rarely, as in the Dependent Origination section of Buddhaghosa's
Visuddhimagga, "name" includesonly the three middle aggregates, leaving
out "perceptions". Again, the detailingof feelingsas born from the six sense
basesis not standard. It is usual to have three kinds, painful (duhkha),
pleasantgukha), and neither prinful nor pleasant.
10Itis of interestthat the Buddha'sanalysissetsforth the last two members,
 r68 BuddhistInsight

it, orient your mind well, and I will explain" "Agreed !" those
monks responded to the Lord. The Lord spoke as follows:
"Monks, with the condition of nescience,there is motivation.
With the condition of motivation, there is perception. With
the condition of perception, there is name-and-form. With
the condition of name-and-form,there is six sensebases. With
the condition of six sensebases,there is sensecontact. With
the condition of sense contact, there is feeling. With the
condition of feeling, there is craving. With the condition of
craving,there is indulgence. With the condition of indulgence,
there is gestation. With the condition of gestation, there is
birth. With the condition of birth, then old age and death,
grief, lamentation, suffering, dissatisfaction, perturbation,
appear tcgether. Such is the source of this entire mass of
suffering.
"And what, monks, is old age and death? Whatever,of this and
that sentient being, in this and that group, is aging, decrepi-
tude, falling apart, whiteness of hair, wrinkled skin, affiiction
of life force, spent sensefaculties, this is called old age. What.
ever, of this and that sentientbeing, in this and that. group, is
falling or passing away, separation or disappearance,death
which is concretedeath, the appointed time, collapseof per-
sonal aggregates, laying down of corpse, severance of life
faculty, this is called death. Such is this old age and this
death, that is called old age and death.
o'And what, monks, is birth? Whatever, of this and that sen-
tient being, in this and that group, is birth-process,the beget-
ting, the entrance (into life), definition and differentiation,
manifestation of personality aggregates,acquisition of sense
organs, this is called birth.
"And what, monks, is gestation? There are three gestations:i'
gestationin the realm of desire,gestationin the reaim of forpn{
gestationin the formless reahn. This is called gestation. ( ,
o'And what, monks, is indulgence? There are four indul- \
gences: indulgence in desires (kdma), indulgence in (false)
views (drsti), indulgence in (fruitless) rules and vows (S.

birth, and old age and death, by sets of terms that are near-synonyms
(5. paryaya), and the remaining ten members by varieties (5. prabheda).
DependentOrigination-The Indo-TibetanTradition 169

iilaurata), indulgence in the self-theory (S. dtmauada). This

is called indulgence.
"And what, monks, is craving? There are six partite cravings:
craving for forrns, for sounds,lbr odors, for tastes, for tangi-
bles, for mental objects (dhamma, S. dharma). This is called
craving.
"And what, monks, is feeling? There are six partite feelings:
feeling born from eye-contact, feeling born from ear-contact,
feeling born of nose-contact,feeling born of tongue-contact,
feeling born of body-contact, feeling born of mind-contact.
This is called feeling.
"And what, monks, is sensecontact? There are six partite
sensecontacts: eye-contact,eavcontact, nose-contact,tongue-
contact, body-contact, mind-contact. This is called sense
contact.
"And what, monks, is six sensebases?The eye-base,ear-base,
nose-base,tongue-base,body-base,mind-base. This is called
six sensebases.
"And what, monks, is name-and-lorm? Feelings (5. uedand),
ideas (S. saryfiiia),volitions (S. cetand). sense contacts (S.
sparia), rnental orientations (S. manasikdra)-this is called
name. The four great elements and the forms derived from
the four great elements-this is called form. Such is this
name and this form that it is called name-and-form.
"And what, monks, is perception? There are six partite
perceptions: perception with eye, oerception rvith ear. per-
ception with nose, perception r,vith tongue, perception with
body, pcrception with rnind. This is called perception.
"And what, monks, is motivation? There are three motiva-
tions: rnotivation of body, motivation of speech, motivation
ot nrind. This is called motivation.
"And what, monks, is nescience? Whatever ignorance (S.
ajiidna) of Suffering, ignorance of the Source of Suffering,
ignorance of the Cessation of Suffering, ignorance of the Path
leading to the Cessationof Suffering-this is called nescience.
'oThus,monks, with the condition
of nescience,there is motiva-
tion; with the condition of motivations,there is perception;...
(and so on down to)...perturbation. Suchis the sourceof this
entire mass of suffering. But with the utter dispassion and
cessationof nescience,motivation ceases. With the cessation
 170 BuddhistInsight

of motivation, perceptionceases... (and so on down to)...per-

turbation. Suchis the cessationoithis entife massof sufferins.

1.2 The SecondKind of DependentOrigination

But also, from its inception Buddhism never denied that a Tatha-
gata arises,or that dharmasarise.l1 It was claimed that anything
that arises,arisesdependently. Therefore, there must be a usage
of DependentOrigination to cover the arising of particular beings
or natures. Indeed, some Pali specialistshold that this is what the
Buddhist formula amounts to. For example, Jayatilleke asserts
that the formula expiains rebirth and karma anilifie-arising gf
suffering while avoiding the extremes of atman-eternalism and
nihilism of Materialism.lz Now rebirth is necessarilythe rebirth
of a particular being, and so this is the secondkind of Dependent
Origination as applied to lives of a particular being. This kind of
Dependent Origination has been popularized in the West by re-
productions of the "Wheel of Life" especiallyfrom its Tibetan
version.
To further clarify this kind of Dependent Origination, I shall
translate below from Sanskrit a passageof the
@lhyantauibhdga
along with Vasubandhu'scomment.ls Defilem'enffi p6minenlly
sufgested by the verb kliiyate ("is tormented or defiled"). The
glossfor "perception" (uijnana)rendersit "a conducting" (nayana),
i.e., to the birthplace, and the comment brings in the "habit-
energy of karma." This pa.ssageis therefore concerned with the
past, present,and future life of some person or being:

The world is tormented by a covering (chadana),a quickening

(ropaqa), a conducting (nayana), a circumscribing (sarppari-
graha), a finishing (pura7a), a trisection (triparicclteda), an
experience (upabhoga), af,L attaetion (kar5a4a), a bondage
(nibandhana), a confrontation (abhimukhya), a sorrowing
(dwltkhana). (MadhyantauibhagaI, 10)

11And see Jrcroo TATASAKT, A study on the Ratnagotravibhaga(Rome,

1966),p. 35, for the information thzt a chapter of the Mahayana scripture
Avatarpsaka with title Tathagatotpattisarytbhavanirdeia("Dealing with the
Arising of the Tathagata") was translatedinto chinese as an independent
S[tra in the 3rd century, A.D.
l2Jayartnnrcn, Early Buddhist Theory, p. 450-
raCf. GaouN M. Nacao, Madhyantavibhaga-bhasya (Tokyo, 1964y,p.Zl.
 Dependent
origination-TheIndo-Tibetan
Tradition l7l

(vasubandhu's cornment:) The world is tormented (or defiled),

among those, by 1.a covering, i.e., by nescience'shind.eringof the
view of how things really arc.2.a quickening,i.e., by motivation's
depositing in perception (uijiiana) of the habit-energy (udsand) of
karma. 3.a conducting,i.e., by perception'sreachingof the birth-
placer 4. a circumscribing, i.e., by name-and-form's embodiment
(atmabhaua),5. a finishing, i.e., by six sensebases. 6. a trisection,
i.e., by sensecontact. 7. an experience, i.e., by feeling. g. an
attraction, i.e., by the craving for re-existence(punarbhaua) cast
by karma.9. a bondage,i.e., by indulgencesin desires,etc., that
agreewith the occurrenceof perception. 10. a confrontation, i.e.,
by gestation'splacing-in-front for yielcling the maturation in re-
existenceof the kqrma previouslyenacted.ll-12. a sorrowing, i.e.,
by birth and by old age and death.
This formulation can be traced back to the Mahd-niddna-
suttanta of the Digha-Nikaya, where the Buddha asks Ananda
(Digha, ii, 63): "If perceptionwould not descendinto the mother's
womb, would name-and-form become consolidated in the
womb?" And Ananda replied that it would not.

II. I)rscovnny AND SnuNc

I' short. the Buddha discoveredthe formula of Dependentorisin-
atio'; and when he ta*ght it, the forrnula becaml the Buddiist
Dharma or Doctrine. The later disciple can repeat the process_
discover the formula in the reverse order (12--_l) and see the
Dharma in the direct order (l-12).

II. l. Discoueryby the Buddha

Asanga alludes to this first kind of Dependent origination in his

Paramdrthagatha along with his own commentary. There
are
two parts to it: "the dhartnaspossessedof cause',are the first seven
members, frorn 'onescience"down through ..feelings,'-here the
creatures are caught by delusion. "The suffering possessedof
cause" is the last five members, from "craving', down through
"old age and death"-[e1e the creatures are caught by cravinglrn
According to the suggestionsof the pdli scripture and later the

lacf. Arsx wrvuAN, Analysisof the sravakabhumi

Manuscript(Berkeley,
1 9 6 l )p.
, 181.
 172 BuddhistInsight

Lalitauistara. wlten Gautama was meditating beneath the tree of

enlightenmenthe thought: There is this oid age and death and the
massof other suffering. What is its condition for arising?Indeed,
it requires birth. And birth requires a gestation (or a pregnancy),
and this requires an indulgence (the taking of it, grasping, and so
on), and this requires a craving. Thus, Gautama, working back-
wards, re-discoveredthe finding of the Vedic seer who, searching
with his intelligence (manipa) for the original principle, found
"desire" (kdma) as the first-born and as the bond of the existent
in the non-existent. Gautama stressedit somewhat differently:
It is the first two Noble Truths: the Truth of Suffering, and the
Truth of the Cause of Suffering. Here the cause is specified as
"craving"-trsttd in Sanskrit, or tanhd in Pali. Even so, the
Vedic account is apparently continued in Buddhist dogmatics by
the karma theory, since o'craving" along with the bondage con-
firmed by indulgence establishesman's free will by permitting a
new bondage and so a new karma ("gestation"), and could be
said to connect the existent habit with the non-existent future.
But Gautama did not stop there. He thought: What is the
condition for the arising of craving? And concluded: It is feelings.
And this requires sensscontact, and this requires the six sense
bases, the five outer ones and the mind (manas) as the sixth.
Searchingfor the condition enabling the six sensebasesto arise,
he concluded it was "name-and-form" (ndma-rupa)-an impor-
tant term of the old Indian Brahmanas and Upaniqads. As its
condition he assigned "perceptions" (uijfidna); and for this,
"motivation" (sarTtskara);and for this, "nescience" (auidyd).
According to the Pdli scripture, the Third Noble Truth of Cessa-
tion is applied to nesciencein order to undo the whole seriesthat
Ieads to the mass of suffering. It is a curious feature of Depen-
dent Origination that while "craving" is the source or cause of
suffering, once suffering has become the regular thing one can
get rid of it only by the cessationof "nescienca". But this accords
with human experiencegonerally: the broken leg is not healed
simply by eliminating the cause of the broken leg. Asanga's
statementhelps with this group becausehe refers to these seven
members as "the dhanna,gpossessedof cause." This ties in these
members with tbe Buddhist Abhidharma theory of "all dharmas"
as included in the flve personal aggregates(skandha) (:'oname-
and-lbrm"), twelve sensebases(: "six sense bases" multiplied
 Dependent
Origination-TheIndo-Tibetan
Tradition 173

for personal and objective bases), and eightecn realms (dhAtu)

(: "contact," the six objects, the six sense organs, and the six
perceptionsbased thereon).15 Since the dharmas are included by
membersNos. 4-6, it follows that membersNos. 1-3 are the
"cause" of the dlrurmas. Member No. 7, "feelings," also a
dharma as a personal aggregate.is left over to culminate the
deterministic series,or the old bondage.
The following tabulation of the discovery order includes the
subdivisionsaccordingto Asanga'sschool:
12. old age and death j
1 1 .b i r t h Suffering
J
10. gestation I
f. indulgence F Cause of Suffering
8. craving )
7. feelings f
I
6. sensccontact i
5. six sense bases f Dharmas
4. name-and-form J I
3. perception I
2. motivations I Cause of Dharmas
l. nescience )
Naturally, the Buddhist works do not refer to the pre-Buddhist
religion (the Veda and ancillary works); hence they are sketchy
and probably incomplete as regardsthe "discovery" of the series.
In a partiai unravelling of this discovery, I have already observed
that the first four members, starting with "nescience," curiously
match tl-Lecosmic development of the Brhaddra4yaka-Upanisadla

II.2. Seeing by the Disciple

Since to see Dependent Origination in this senseof "seeing" is
tantamount to seeingDharma, the later writers could fill in. This
expansion was conservative at the sutra level, as evidencedin the

15Cf.NAnlon, A Manualof Abhidhantma.(Kandy, 1968),pp. 348-350,for

thecomprisalof "all" (sabbc)in the personalaggregates,
the sensebases,
and
the elements,with the usualtranslations followed by moderntranslators
from Pali. Of course,the "all" is the abbreviationfor 'oall dhamma"in
Sanskrit sarvadharmdl4.
16Ar,BxWlvuAN, "The Intermediate-State Disputein Buddhism",Buddhist
Studiesin Honourof LB. Horner eds.L. Cousinset al. (Dordrecht,1974),
p. 230. This essayis includedin this volume.
 174 BuddhistInsight
t.
I sg,veralprafit),asantutpdda-typescriptures available in Sanskrit.rz
lzlldgdrjuna's works on the subject are just as brief.18 The Abhi-
dharma schools of course rlilated the mernbers. vasubandhu,
whose early years were devoted to the Abhidharma. has a rather
large commentary on pratit),asamutpdda, and in the Tibetan
Tanjur this is followed by Gu4amati's still larger commentary.le
These Abhidharma works inevitably introduce differentiateddoc-
trines of Buddhism beyond the primitive Dharma alluded to in
the phrase o'whoever sees Dependent origination, sees the
Dharnta.'o
Frowever,the foregoing leavesopen the question of whether the
"seeing" of d/zarma ot dharmas, when one 'osees" Dependent
origination, is the concrete'oseeing"as done with eyesight, or is
away of speakingtantamount to "understanding" or is something
else again. The teacher Asanga has a section about this in his
encyclopedic work Yogdcdrabhilmi, in the portion called vastu-
samgraha4i,second division devoted to analysis of sense bases
(dvatana). After detailing various superlativebenefits, such as
calming the mind, to be gained by seeing crharmas,Asanga ex-
plains what is entailed by "seeing" a clhar.me:zo

There are two kinds of seeing dharmas: seeing constructed

natures (sarltskrta-dharma)and seeing unconstructed natures

lTTheseare now conveniently collected in p.L. vaidya, Mahayana-s[ttra-

sarhgraha,Part I (Darbhange,lg6l), namely,two versionsof the Salistambasutra
and two versions of the Pratityasamutpada sijtras.
lsl-a Varre'p Pousstrqpresentsthe Tibetan version with a French
translation
of Ndgarjuna's Pratityasamutpadahrdayakarikain Thdorie des douze caLrses,
pp. 122-14. Ndgdrjuna briefly expands upon those seven verses in his
Pratityasamutpddahrdayavyakhyana, preservedin the Tibetan Tanjur. And
just precedingthose two works in the Tanjur is his Arya-Salistambaka-karika.
Besides,he devotestwelveversesto the topic as chap. xxvl of his Madhya-
maka-karika.
leGrussppBTuccr, 'A Fragment from the pratityo.-samutpada-vyakhya
of
vasubandhu',Journal of the Royal Asiatic society Jury, 1930,pp. 611-623,
presents someSanskritfragmentsof vasubandhu'sccmments on membersl.
nescience,7. feelings,8. craving, f. indulgence,and 10. gestation.
z0Photoedition of Tibetan Tanjur, vol. III, p. 175-3-g,ff. The
equivalent
chinese is in Taishd vol. 30, p. 924-c-2, ff. Tibetan and chinese agree on
the term "name-and-form" (nama-rupa);but whereTibetan continues ..called
the 'own-nature of a man' " prior to the question"what is trutho' the Chinese
text has a seriesof severalwords beginningwith ..man,'.
DependentOrigination-The Indo-TibetanTradition r75

(asorytskrta-dharma). Among thern, seeingconstructed natures

(is as follows:) Just as there is here some place of tn-rth, he
rightly knows it as it is, and rightly knows as it is the truth
(thereof). What is a place of truth? name-and-form. called
the'oown-natureof a man" ('i'manu.tya-suarupa). Whatis truth?
Conventional truth (satlturti-satya) and supreine truth
(paramartha-satya). What is conventional truth? Any idea
(sary.imQregarding that place of tr uth that it is a self, a,sentient
being, a living being, or a person. Also, the thesis "f seeforms
witlr the eye," ... (and so on, down to) ... "f perceivedharmas
with the mind". Also, the attribution, "Accordingly, his
name is called this," ... (and so on, down to, as previously)
"His measureof life amounts to this." Anything involving the
idea of it, the thesis, the attribution, is conventional truth.
What is supreme truth? Attaching to that place of truth that
it is impermanent,... (and so on, down to, as previously) it
arises in dependence. And thinking that according as there is
impermanence, so there is suffering. Any monk who, in regard
to a place of conventional or absolute truth, rightly knows the
conventional truth as conventional truth and the absolute
truth as absolute truth, he is worthy of being called one who
seesconstructednatures.What is seeingunconstructednatures?
Any monk who attaches to a place of truth with skill in the
two kinds of truth; and taking recourseto that skili, engages
his mind with the view that all the personal aggregates
(skondha)are exhausted,Nirvd4a is calm ... (and so on, down
to, as previously ) there is liberation; and has the thought, "I
see unconstructed naturss," he is worthy of being called one
who seesunconstructed natures. Besides,one should know
that there are three kinds of persons who see dharmas: (1)
the one who engagesdlnrmas consistent with dharmqs of the
ordinary person. (2) the one who is skilled in and heedful
to equipoisehis mind, and methodically coursesin dharma(s),
and accordingly sees the points of instruction. (3) the one
beyond training whose fluxes are exhausted.

Nigdrjuna's equivalent statement for seeing "unconstructed

natures" is in his Yuktisastrikd (k. 10-l IAB):zt "Having seen
zlThe1-1/2versesaretranslated
from theTibetanversionin theDarjeeling
publication,Four Minor MadhyamakaTexts in TibetanTranslation Also
 176 Buddhist
Insight

with right knov,'ledge(: clear vision) rvhat has arisen with the
condition of 'nescience'li.e. 'motivation'], there is no apprehen-
sion at all ol either arising or passingaway. That very thing is
\u,.::r3;s tiris life (:the dltarruaseen),22 and the requirement is
i.-,:: ' -. :e-ki't)'a)." Here is a version from the Bodhisattuapilaka-
|t - .:,. ' ; . . r \ lahay dna s c ri p tu re .2 s
\' \\-hatever is the meaning of Dependent Origination, is the
meaning of Dharma; whatever is the meaning of Dharma, is
the meaning of Tathagata. Therefore, whoever seesDepen-
dent Origination, seesDharma; rvhoeverseesDharma, seesthe
Tathagata. Also, seeingthat way, and accordingly fully under-
standing in the senseof Thusness,still one seesscarcelyany-
thing. What is that "scarcely anything"? It is the Signlessand
the Non-Apprehension; the one who seesin the manner of the
Signlessand the Non-Apprehension seesrightly.
I
Those passagesby Asanga, Ndgirjuna, and in the Bodhisattua-
pilalca, agree that the "seeing" is not the ordinary concrete o'see-
ing." But also, these works persist in using a word meaning
"seeing." Sthiramati ri'ould erplain: becauseit is without discur-
sive thou_sbt(rtirt'ikalpa).2t In the terminology of "eyes" it is ex-

I h.*"*k"- i,'rou..ountthecontextin whichtl-ris

iscitedin Abhydkaragupta's
.\[urtitttcttdlan*ara.
op. cit., p. 220-2-2.
::Nigir'juna apparentlyusedin the original Sanskritthe term drstadharma,
u'hich is rvell known to signify in Buddhisttexts"this life". However, since
he associatedit with the precedingverse which employs the verbal form
"having seen,"it may be concludedthat he intendeda doublemeaning for the
term, so dr;tadharma also means "the dharma that is seen," or "the visible
dhorma." Thus, Ndgarjunaimpliesthe seeing(which amountsto not seeing
of the unconstructeddharmaNirvana. But sincethis is the Nirvdna of this
rery life, this Yukti;astilca passagehelps explain Ndgdrjuna's famous verse
in the Nirvdqa chapter of the Madhyanmka-karika(xxv, 19): "There is no
difference between Nirvala and Sams6ra; there is no difference between
Sanrsdraand Nirvd4a."
:sPhoto edition of ribetan Tanjur, Yol. 23,chapteron "Inconceivabilityof
the Tathagata," p. 19-5-2,ff.
:rSthiramati's Abhidharmakoiabhasyalika-tatvartha-nama, photo edition
.''f Tibetan Tanjur, Yol. 147,commentaryon Samipatti chapterof the Abhi-
dlnrntakoia, p. 274-2-1,in the course of explaining the jfiana-dariana, com-
ments on the word dariana ("vision"): "vision bears comparison with eye-
perception (cakSur-vijffdna), becauseit is without discursivethought" (mthon
ba ni mig gi rnam par Sespa dan mtshuns par ldan pa ste/ rnam par mi rtog
pa phyir ro).
Dependent Tradition
Origination-TheIndo-Tibetan 177

pressly stated to be the o'eyeof insight" in the SAtistambasfitra.zs

In agreement, Buddhaghosa's Visuddhinxaggaplaces the consi-
{eration of nep@-in the Insiruction of lnsight
@amiiA);and the bhilmi theory of Mahdydna Buddhism includes
that consideration in ttie Perfection of lnsight (ptygimdpdramita)
-predominate
&Id t" in the Sixlh !tag6 @humi). Furthermore,
Asanga pffits'out that tlie "seeing" differs according to the
person who "sges."
The manner in which a person may'osee" Dependent Origina-
tion is set forth in the Sixth Stage of the Daiabhumika-sutra. The
presentationhere is based on Tson-kha-pa's citation and discus-
sion of the passagein his Tibetan commentary on Candrakirti's
Madhyamokduqtdra:26
(The Bodhisattva on the Sixth Stage) reflects on Dependent
Origination (pratnyasamutpdda) in the forward direction
(and so on down to:) Thus he thinks. Only this heap of suffer-
ing, this tree of suffering develops, devoid of a creator, a feeler
(kdraka-uedaka). This occurs to him: Becauseof the clinging
to a creator, activities are known; wherever there is no creator,
there also activities are not perceptively reached in the absolute
sense. This occurs to him: These three realms are this mind-
only; whatever those twelve members of generation,all those,
while explained by the Tathdgata in multiple aspect (prabheda-
ias),infact dependon a singlecitta(ekacitta).

In the Sfltra itself this passageis embeddedin a long exposition of

Dependent Origination. The S[tra states that the tree develops
devoid of a creator; so Tson-kha-pa says, "Having denied an
eternal self as the creator, (the Bodhisattva) understands that the
creator is just the conventional (sarpurti) mind-only." Or, as
Asanga mentioned in the previous citation, the conventional
mind has the idea of it, the thesis,the attribution. The Bodhisattva

25Ll VarrfB PoussIN,Thdoriedesdouzecatrses, p.T2.However here it is the

Buddha using the prajffa-eye that is mentioned.
26Thepassagecited is in Sanskrit original in J. Rahder, ed., DaSabhumika'
sfrtra et Bodhisattvabhumi,p. 48 and p.49:' RYUKOKoNo6, ed., Daiabhumi'
SvarondmdMahaydnasutrarn,p. 97.13and p. 98.6-10: (evap hi bodhisattvo)
'nulomikdrar.n pratityasamutpadampratyavekqate1...1 evam ayaln kevalo
(and so on, down to) sarvdnyekacittasamaSritani/. Tson-kha-pa'sdiscussion
is in Photo edition of Tibetancanons,extravolumes,Vol. 154,p. 7l-4 to 72,1.
 178 Budclhist
Insighr

is said to reflect: "becauseof the clinging to a creator', which

is done by 'onescience","activities" (: .,motivations") ,,are
known," to wit, by "perceptions," the third member--thus in-
augurating the Dependent origination in the forward direction.
Then, to show how the seriesis eliminated, so that finally, in the
absenceof "nescience", "perception" does not arise, the Sfrtra
says: "wherever there is no creator (i.e., as delusivelyheld by the
conventionalmind), o'therealso activities"( : those "motivations',)
"are not perceptively reached in the absolute sense" (i.e., "per-
ception" does not perceivethem). Nag6rjuna's way of statingthe
same point in that Yukti,raptrikdverse is to deny any apprehension
of the arising or passing away of that "motivation," whereupon
the Dharma seenis Nirvd4a.
Besides,Nigdrjun a's Sunyaffisaptati(k. 9-10) states:22 ..When
there is neither permanence nor impermanence, neither self nor
non-self, neither purity nor impurity, neither pleasure nor pain,
then there are not the waywardnesses. In their absence,there is
no possibility of the nescienceborn from the four wayward.nesses
(uiparyastz).In its absence,motivations do not occur. and like-
wise the remaining members." This agrees with Asanga's dis-
tinction of "nescience" as defiled (through wayrvardness)and un-
defiled. There is the striking conclusion that when the Bodhisattva
meditatesin the manner prescribedby the Daiabhumika-siltrahe
eliminates the defiled nesciencethat heads the second kind of
Dependent origination, but still has not eliminated the undeflled
nescience,wherefor he is still a Bodhisattva2sand not a Buddha.
27Thetwo versesare translatedfrom the Tibetanversionin Four Minor
Madhyamaka Texts in Tibetan Translation (op cit.).
28La Vatl-p'r PousstN, Thdorie des clouzecauses,p. v, note, mentions that
accordingto certainsoLlrces,which he does not name, the meditationon the
twelve causesis reservedto Pratyekabuddhas.Indeed,the attribution of a -
Bodhisattva meditation in the Daiabhumikasfttraseemsto be simply due to
this text being a Mahdyina scripturethat expoundsthe stagesof the Bodhi-
sattva. But as far as the expositionof DependentOrigination is concerned,
the meditation on it does not seemto require a Bodhisattva. Tson-kha-pa
placeshis Dependentorigination sectionin the portion of his Lam rim chen
mo devotedto the training of the middling person,accordingto the description
in Ati6a Bodhipatha-pradtpa:"whoever, turning his back on the pleasuresof
phenomenalexistence,and averting himself from sinful actions, pursuesonly
his own quiescence, he is known as the middling person." This is the second
kind of person,and the Bodhisattvais the third kind and calledthe superior
person,
 DependentOrigination-The Indo-Tibetan Tradition 179

According to Tson-kha-pa's indications, the Bodhisattva on the

Sixth stage when reviervingthe tr,velvemembers seriatum empha-
sizesthe subjectmind to the neglectof the objectiveform; thus he
is awakening from the dream of defileclnescience. In lotus sym-
bolism this is the budding of the lotus. The Tath agata,when gras-
ping the whole serieswith a singrethought (citta),emphasizesthe
objeciive form to the neglectof the subjectmind. This is the full-
blown stateof the lotus. This lotus symbolismis applied to kqrma:
and we must observe that in the Daiabhumika-sutra as in Ndgdr-
juna's Dependent origination commentary, the two karmas
are
members No. 2 "motivations" (sarp,skdra) and No. l0..gestation"
(bhaua).Tson-kha-pa maintains in the same place that all the
diverserealms (the bhdjana-loka)of the sentientbeingsare formed
by the shared (sadhdrana)karma accumulated by the minditself,
which must refer to a group karma. The sentient beings also have
unshared(asadharana)or individual mental karma. Tson-kha-pa
employs the metaphor of the "variegated eye of a peacock'stail',
(mecakain sanskrit) for the unsharcdkarma. and the metaphorof
"variegated petals and colors of lotuses" fb" the shared karma of
sentient beings, which generates the variegated receptacle
realms. The metaphoric language agrees with the distinction
of two kinds of Dependent origination, because the lotus
symbolism, applying as it doesto sharedkarma and to the process
of enlightenment,must be associatedwith the flrst kind of Depend_
ent origination that is not concernedwith particular beings and
specializedkarma. It is the second kind of Dependent origina-
tiorr whose karma would have t/ii metaphor of the .,variegated
eye of a peacock'stailt /
There remains to be eftplr{ned,the SDtra referenceto the devel-
opment as the "tree of suffering". According to the Arthaui-
niicayalikdzs rhe first seven members of Dependent origination
show the development of the tree: 1. 'onescience"is the manure
covering, 2. "motivations" is the field, 3. fluxional 'operceptions",
the seed; 4. "name-and-form," the sprout; 5. "six sensebases,"
the leaves and twigs; 6. "cont aet," characteristic flowers bloom-
ing;7.'ofeelings," characteristicfruit matured. In agreementwith
Asanga's attribution to the last five members of the role, ..suffer-

zgrhepassageis takenfrom the Arthaviniicayalika

(authorunknown)in
DergeTaqjur,Sna-tshogs,
Vol. No. f. Z7b-4.f.
180 BuddhistInsight

ing possessedof cause," the Arthauiniicayatikd account continues;

Someone craves that fruit ("craving"), takes it (("indulgence"),
moistensit with water and eats it ("gestation"), whereupon sharp
pains arise ("birth"), he shrivels up and dies ("old age and
death";.so The "tree" thus exhibits the two karma members as
the "field " into which the seed is cast, and as the "eating" or
digestion process.

III. LtvEs on'a PnRsox

This section is much indebted to Tson-kha-pa's Dependent Ori-
gination section in his Lam rim chen nto,31where he describesthe
formula as applying to one life, two lives, and three lives of a
person. This treatment undoubtedly draws much from Asanga's
encyclopedic work, the Yogocdrabhumi and its summation in
Asanga's Abhidharmasamuccayq. In particular, there is Asanga's
grouping of the twelve members as available in Sanskrit from the
latter work: "The downcasting members are nescience,motiva-
tions, and perceptions. The members cast down are name-and-
form, six sensebases,contact, and feelings. The producing mem-
bers are craving, indulgence. and gestation. The members pro-
duced are birth, and old age and death."32 The expression"down-
casting" means casting down into the cyclical flow (sarylsdra).
Besides, the Tibetan treatment accepts Ndgdrjuna's brief exposi-

30Inthat DependentOriginationsectionalreadymentioned, Tson-kha-pa

'perception'
refersto the SAlistambasfitra as "explainingthat the seedof
(vijftana)is plantedin the field of karmawhichhas manure onescience'
the of
(avidya);andthat is moistened with the waterof craving,andthenthe shoot
of oname-and-form ' in the wombproceeds to completion." The Sanskrit
passage is in Thdoriedesdouzecauses, p. 84 3rd paragraph.Anyway,
thisassociates the metaphorical waterwith "craving",andthismayhavealso
been the intention of the Arthavini1cayatika'saccount of the 10th member
"gestation," to wit, that the fruit's moisteningsuggeststhe water of "craving".
slThe Lam rim chen mo js Tson-kha-pa'sencyclopedicexposition of the
path to enlightenmentfor the three orders of persons(cf. n' 28, above). The
many quotations in the part containing the Dependent Origination material
has numerous quotations from such works as the Lalitavistara emphasizing
the sufferingsand ills of the world, representingit as a kind of prison. One
should understanclhow all this mass of suffering came about, and how to
escape. Accordingly, such teachingsas that of Dependent Origination are
expounded.
s2Pnersan PnADHAN,ed., AbhidhQrma-samuccdya'text, p. 26, lines 20 ff.
Dependent
Origination-TheIndo-Tibetan
Tradition 181

tion in his Pratityasamutpdda-hrdaya-kdrtkd, in part that three

defilements-nescience, craving, and indulgence-give rise to two
karmas-motivations and gestation-which in turn give rise to
the seven sufferings, namely, the remaining members, and that
'othus
the wheel of becoming (bhauacakra) itself revolves again
and again." Tson-kha-pa's treatment introduces the terminology
of 2-l/2 and 4-l/2. By 2-l/2 is meant the members 'onescisnce,"
"motivation," and then the visionary half of "perception" which
is called the "causal uijfidna". By al/2 is meant the members
beginning with the fallen half of "perceptions" which is called the
"fruitional uijfidna". One should note about all the above termi-
nology that it agreeswith the second kind of Dependent Origina-
tion, involving karmo and rebirth of the person.
Besides,it is necessaryto clarify the member No. l0 "gestation"
(bhaua)as a karma. The ancient explanation by varieties of three
worlds (desire, form, and formless) immediately associates the
member with the Buddhist theory of food; and it will be recalled
that in the detailing of the "tree of suffering" the eating of the
fruit was credited to this karma member. The Samyutta Nikdya,
ii, 98, sets forth four kinds of food "for maintaining the sentient
beings who have been born or for aiding those who wish to come
forth." The standard order of the four is morsel food, coarse or
subtle; sensecontact (sparia); volition (manaltsarycetand);and per-
ception (uijfiana). The Abhidharmakoiu (chap. IIf explains that
the first two foods nourish the being already born-extend its
life-and that the last two foods enable the being not yet born to
come into existence. The kinds of food that are necessarydiffer
according to which one of, the three realms the sentient being
aspires to or lives in.s3 Hence, the role of this member as the
new karma by the act of eating. while I employ the rendition
"gestation," the words "digestion" arrd "brewing" probably also
apply. My "gestation" for bhaua agreeswith its representation as
a pregnant woman in the Tibetan wheel of Life. There is partial
confirmation from a definition in the Satistambasutra suggesting
that this bhquais a self-perpetuating entity. According to the pdli
Abhidharma it both looks behind (Epimethean) and looks ahead

33The abovediscussion
of thefour foodsis basedonmy treatment
in Analysis
of the SravakabhumiManuscript,chapter v, "Asanga'sviews on Food,"
pp. 135ff.
 182 Insight
Buddhist
(Promethean). Perhaps this member gives the mane bhaua-cakra
(Wheel of Becoming) to the whole seriesof tr,velvemembers.Ba
The follorving, based on Tson-kha-pa's Dependent origination
section, probably cannot be worked out in the commentarial
tradition consistent with the Theravdda. of course. all these
Buddhist schoolsbelievedin rebirth.

III. l. One Li/b of a Single Person

l. Nescience,and 2. motlation, constitutean Intermediatestate
that forecaststhe destiny. Nescienceforecasts either a good or
bad destiny,to r,vit,confusion (sammoha)about karma and its fruit
forecastingan evil destiny, confusion about the meaning of reality
(tattua) forecastinga good destiny. Motivations are virtuous, non-
virtuous, and indeterminate.
3. Perceptions,4. name-and-form, 5. six sensebases,6. sense
contact, and 7. feelings, are a set going with the destiny. per-
ception (uijiidna) is imbued by motivation (sarytskdra)with habit-
energy (udsand)either for good or bad destiny. Good destiny is
said to be gods and men; bad destiny, animals, hungry ghosts
Qtreta), and hell beings.
8. Craving, and f . indulgence,again and again foster the habit-
energy of the destiny. 10. gestation-no information, but pre-
sumably it would be a repetition of the realm, whether desire,form,
or formless, with the same 'food' being eaten over and over.
11. Birth, i.e. rebirth, means that again and again one repeats
in this one life the same destiny.
12. old age and death; finally one sees the trouble or
disadvantage(adinaua)of the destiny.
This explanation of Dependentorigination seemsto go with the
"tree of suffering" previously mentioned to agr:eewith the phases
of sevenand five members. The first sevenare the growth of the
tree. The last five reinforce the habit-energyof the destinyand reap
the consequence. Finally, "old age and death" furnishesthe real-
ization that the destiny is deplorable, and the being determinesto
leave it.

III.2. Two Liues of a Single Person

(l) The past life:life no. l.
l. nescience(as delilement)
Saofcourse,"existence"
and "becoming"are established
meanings
of the
 Dependent
Origination-TheIndo-Tibetan
Tradition lg3

2. motivation (as karma)

3A.. casual uijfiana (as suffering:last perception)
q |craving (defilement,with r (death and
J indulgence objectnor defined) [intermediatestate)
,7
10. gestation(asKarma) :" karmq-pi11e1"ssJ
(2) The present life ..-life no. 2, as effect.
38. resultant uiifidna \
4. name-and-iorm I
5. six sensebases
| (the seed of later suffering)
6. sensecontact I
7. feelings )
I 1 . bir r h ?
12. oid age and deattr tttre present suffering)
J
There are various casesin Buddhist theory to which this for-

tetm bhava. Still, whereBuddhisttradition callsthis

bhavaa karmamember
of Dependentorigination, one wondershow such renderings .,existence,,
as
convey the connotation of the warned-of hells and glorified-of
heavens for
good and bad acts (the karma. of course) of laity
and monks ! A Tibetan
work included in the canon, probabry of the earry ninth
century, with recon-
structed title P r at i ty asamutpdda-gaqtandnusrir erja ci t ta sthap p
ano ay a, Japanese
photo edition of the Tibetan Kanjur-Tanjur,
vol. 145,;. 278-2-2,mentions
that there are four ways to summarize the series,to
wit, by count, nature,
denotation, and grouping. Under the category of denotation
(5. Nirukti,
Tib. nespa'i tshig) the unknown author presentsthe list that
happensto be in
the salistambasutra,Thdorie des douz causes,p. B1;
N. Aiyaswami sastri,
ed., Arya ,gcilistamba Sutra (Adyar Library, 1950),p. ll; p.L. Vaidya,
Mahayana-sutra-sarhgraha,part I, p. 103-30to p. to+.i.
when the list comes
to bhava,it haspunarbhavajanandrthena bhavart.,,rt is bhavabecauseit engen_
dersbhavaagain." While the term punarbhavais usually
rendered,.rebirth,',
such a renderingin the presentcasewould imply that the
definitionrefersto
the following member, 11. "birth" (iati), for which
the definition should
have had instead punarjanma. However, none of the
other ,,denotatior-r,,
is in terms of the immediatelyfollowing member,
but is stated in terms of
the member itself. Accordingry,this definitio' of bhavais
'oexistence" simprya recogni-
tion that the word means but that we should regar,cit here as
signifyingthe promotion of re-existence (hencemy translationof the term in
vasubandhu's conment on the Madhyanta-vibhagaverse,
supra). In short,
that bhavais a self-perpetuating entity. rt both looks to the past and looks
to the future accordingto c.A.F. Rhys Davids in her Hastings'ERE
article,
vol. 9, p. 672,giving the pari scholastictradition of two kinds,
kamma-bhava
"fruition of past actions" and upapatti-bhava..result in future life,,.
35For the "karma-mirror", cf. A*x
wAyltaN, ,,The Mirror as a pan-
Buddhist Metaphor-Simile",History of Rerigion"vXIII:
4, May 1974, pp.
264-265. This essayis pubrishedersewhere in this volume.
184 BuddhistInsight

mulation of the members may apply. For example, there are

many popular stories of lcarma where something happening to a
person is explainedas due to his previous life.36 There is also the
caseof the Arhat, who is in his last life, for which reasonhis pre-
ceding life is called "having one more lifc." Then there is the
theory, so much identified with Tibetan Buddhism, of the incar-
nate Lamas. It was held that certain high Lamas could be im-
mediately reborn, e.g., the Dalai Lama series;and so it would be
pertinent to refer to the last life and the present life. The Srimdla-
sutra has a remarkable specialization of the theory called the
"inconceivable transference" of Arhats, Pratyakabuddhas,and
Bodhisattvaswho have attained power. These beings are held to
have a special kind of nescience,presumably undefiled, called
the nescienceentrenchment (auidyduasabhumi);and a special kind
of motivation described as non-fluxional karma (andsraua-karma).
With those two members as conditions, they have a specialkind of
causal-uijiidnarefened to as "bodies made of mind," with which
they have the "inconceivabletransference"to another life.3z The
formulation of members also seemsto accord with a tantric des-
cription in rvhich the three members 8, 9, and 10, are called
"rebirth consciousness"in the Sequence,"Gandharva cgnsciouS-
ness," "Indulgence-in-desire consciousness", and "Seizing-of-
birth consciousness".s8

III.3. Three Liues of a Single Person:

Here there are two solutions.
A. Solution in Tson-kha-pa's section, with no Intermediate
State explicit.
BoThere
is anenormous Buddhistliteratureof thekarmastories.Besides,
the
numerousJdtakatales,thereis the Karma-Sataka kxtant in Tibetan). One
may signal also the huge Arya-Saddharmasmttyupttsthana'sutrafor popular
accounts of getting into the heavensand hells. The extensiveverse section
of this scripture, with numerous kArmq verses, has been edited in Sanskrit,
Chinese,and Tibetan versions,and translatedinto French with title Dharma'
samuccayaby Lin Li-kouang, lst part (Paris, 1946); 2nd and 3rd parts
posthumouslywith revisionsby A. Bareau,J. W. de Jong and P. Demi6ville
(Paris, 1969 and 1973).
37Cf. AI-Bx WlvuaN and Htosro WAYuAN, The Lion's Roar of Queen
Srimala; a Buddhist Scripture on the Tathagatagarbha Theory (New York,
1974), pp. 29-31.
g8Arrx Wayua.N,"Buddhist DependentOrigination", History of Religions,
'Eastern'Tradition"'
10:3,Feb., I97t, p.195, in the Table"An
DependentOrigination-The Indo-Tibetan Tradition 185

Life No. I : the producing life, the previops life. This consists
of 8. craving, f. indulgence,and 10. gestation.se
Life No. 2:the life produced, the present life. It is possible
to have a seriesof these. Each such life consistsof 38. resultant
uijfidna,4. name-and-form,through 7. feelings; and these consti-
tute a set included within 11. birth, and 12. old age and death.
Life No. 3: the forecast life, the future life. This consistsof
1. nescience,2. motivation, 3,\. causal-uijfidna.

This formulation also can be interpreted to go with a number

of Buddhist situations. This essayhas previously indicated that
8. craving, which is usually of sullied character and conceivably
so in the present formulation, has the decisive role of altering
destiny becauseit leads to a new bondage. But also it might be
a virtuous craving for the religious life. For example, in the Indian
Buddhist tradition there was a disciple phase called "entering the
stream," rvhich would be Life No. 1, when a set number of lives,
say seven, could be predicted for progress up to the Arhat-fruit,
each of which lives could be counted as Life No. 2, with the Arhat-
fruit itself counted as Life No. 3, with the "causal-viifiana" as the
"body-made-of-mind" already mentioned. Then, Mahdydna
Buddhism sets forth its hero called the Bodhisattva, whose vow
and action irr faith would be his Life No. 1; the lives necessaryfor
the first sevenBodhisattva Stagescould be counted as Life No. 2;
and when he attains the status of a Bodhisattva of the Eighth
Stage,this could be his Life No. 3, with the "inconceivabtetrans-
ference" mentioned in the Srimdld-sutra. This agrees with the
tantric maxim, "By passion the world arises; forecast by passion
it goes to its end. By knowledge of the diamond passion, the

seVasubandhu, in Tucci,"A Fragment," op.cit.,p.621,statesthat in other

stitrasthe Lord saidthat bhava('gestation')
is the five "graspingaggregates"
"(paftcopadana-skandha). Nagarjunaacceptsthis explanationin his Madhya-
maka-karikcXXVI, 8. This interpretation seemsto accordratherwell with
the presentsolutionof DependentOrigination. And it agreeswith the
"Promethean"definitionof bhava,implying"new karma". In contrast,the
bhavain the previoussolution"Two Lives of a SinglePerson"should be
'Intermediate-
understoodas the "Epimethean"kind, and agreeswith the
State' (antara-bhava),a variety of bhavawhich Vasubandhuacceptsin Tucci,
"A Fragment," p. 621,line 6. As the Therav6da denies an Intermediate
State,it usesthe terminology kamma-bhavarather than antard-bhava.
 186 Buddhist
Insight

mind becomesthe Diamond Being.',no Besides,Ndgdrjuna con-

cludes his vigrahauyduartini by bowing to the Buddha ..who ex-
plained voidness (iunyatd), Dependent origination, and the
Middle Path (madhyama-pratipad) in the same sense." And
according to the Sattstamba-sutra,when it was said, ..whoever
seesDependent origination, he seesthe Dharma," the Dharma
which he seesis the Eightfold Noble path.al And this is the path
proclaimed in the Buddha's First sermon as avoiding the ex-
tremes of senseindulgence and flesh mortification. Now, in order
to treat Dependent origination as the lvliddle path, it appears
that this formulation in three lives of one person works out the
best for the reasons given above.
B. Solution of the Theravada, which denies an Intermediate
State.a2

Past Life:
1. nescience,2. motivation.
Present Life:
3. perception,down to 7. feeling. This is rebirth process.
8. craving, f. indulgence, 10. gestation.This is karma process.
Future Life:
I 1. rebirth, 12. old age and death.
The remarkable difference between this solution and the pre-
ceding Tibetan solutions, by suggestion of Asanga's workq
is
that while the Theravdda Abhidharma tradition assigns the last
two members-birth, and old age and death-to the future life,
the Tibetan solutions all place these two members in the category
of suffering of the present life.
what they all, including the Theravdd.a,agree upon is that the
sequenceof twelve conditions does not by virtue of that order
constitute a temporal sequence.There is a time factor, and it is
stated in terms of "past life," "present life," and .,future life.,'
In Asanga's school, as the Dependent origination section of the
Lqm rim chenmo puts it, there are "two cyclesof causeand fruit."

a0The Dakini-vajrapafijra, as cited in the

subha;ita-saqngraha (Bendall
edition).
aTThdor[edes douzecauses,pp. 7l-72.
azcf. Nyanatiloka, BuddhistDfctionary (colombo,
1950),p. ll4; and, with
more complications, Ndrada, A Manual of Abhidhamma, Diagrams XVI
and
XVII.
Dependent
Origination-TheIndo-Tibetan
Tradition lg7

This means that the chief temporal factor of the series is the
alternation of cause(hetu) and fruit (phala) ifl terms of lives, while
the sequenceof conditions (pratyal,a) is the sufficiency causesfor
the members to arise. The two cyclesare Asanga's groupings of
the members into o'downcasting" (Nos. 1-3A) and "producing"
(Nos. 8-10) as against the members "cast down" (Nos. 3B-7)
and "produced" (Nos. ll-l2l.at Asanga's structuring permits
the solutions in the Tibetan tradition to shift blocks of members,
differing in this matter from the Theravida which sticks to the
usual order of the twelve terms.
Another difference is that the Theravada, by not accepting an
Intermediate State, was obliged to place nescienceand motivation
in the past life. A more subtle differenceis that the Theravdda
had only one solution in comparison with the three from the
Tibetan tradition's working over of Asanga's teachings. This
indicates that the Theravdda insists on a single interpretation of
the series, and so followers of that traditicn would likely not
accept my organization of materials into o'two kinds" of Depen-
dent origination-and in terms of "original Buddhism" they
might be right.

IV. TsB Buoollrsr Fonuura AND rHE SAyrurvl

The Buddhist doctrine of Dependent origination can be further

clarified by corrrparisonwith a non-Buddhist system,the Sarykhya.
My foregoing materials have presentedtwo kinds of Dependent
origination; and it turns out that the classicalSar.nkhyaand even
the kind of Sir.nkhya attributed to the teacher Ard{a, the older
contemporary of the Buddha, are to be discussedalong with the
second kind, of Dependent Origination, as foliows.

+srhus,Tsor.i-rsa-pA,
in theDependent
originationsection,mentions
from
Asanga's Bhumivastu (the first part of the yogacarabhumi): ,,The members
reaching from viifiana down to vedana have the characteristic of being mixed
with the members birth, old age and death; that being so, why does one teach
two kinds? For the purpose of teaching the difference of characteristic as
the basis of suffering, and for the purpose of teaching the difference between
the downcasting members and the producing members." By further citations
of Asanga, Tson-kha-pa shows that the rnembers vijftana (No. 38) down to
vedana (No. 7) are the "seed" of suffering , while jati (No. 1 l) and,jara-mara(ta
(No. 12) are the manifest suffering.
 188 Buddhist Insight

The initial comparison is with the third member, "perception"

(uijfiAna). Previously, it was shown that "perception" is referred
to metaphorically as the "seed" (btio). So also Aryadeva in his
Catuhiataka (XIY , 25): " Vijfidna,is the seed of phenomenal life;
the (inner and outer) objects are its field (of apperception). When
it seesthe object as selfless,the seedof phenomenallife ceases."44
That tlus uijfidna is the Buddhist equivalent to the dtman or
"field-knower" of the pre-Buddhist literature is supported by
ASvaghota's portrayal of the future Buddha's visit to Ardda
(Buddhacarita, Canto XII, 70-7 3) :as
For I deem the field-knower even though liberated from pri-
mary matter (prakrti) and secondary characters has the attri-
bute of giving birth and the attribute of being a seed.
For even if the purified soul (dtman) be deemed to be liberated,
again it will be bound by reason of the real presence of the
conditions.
It is my belief that just as a seed does not spring up through
lack of the season,earth, and lvater; and springs up by reason
of theseand those conditions, so also does it (the soul).
And rvhat is imagined to be liberation through abandonment
of (the three things) act, ignorance, and craving (: Buddhist
Dependent Origination Nos. 2, I , and 8) is ultimately not a
complete abandonment of them as long as there is a soul.
Along the lines of the previous finding of this paper, one may infer
that when the Buddha denies a true liberation of the purified self
it is because the purification is from defilement (kleia), so from
defiled nescience and from craving as well as from concordant
acts; while there is still no liberation from undefiled nescience
which, serving as the condition for an appropriate motivation,
provides a condition for the seed-no matter which seed-to
again spring up.
Now, I have elsewherediscussedthe terminology of 2-l/2 and
4-l/2 members and concluded that the first l/2 of "perception" is
the equivalent to the Sdr.nkhyabuddhi and that the second l/2 of
"perception" is the equivalent to the SaankhyaaharTtkdra. They
aaTranslatedin the contextof its citationin Tson-kha-pa's Lam rim chen
mo, Lhagmthofi(vipafyana) section.Cf. V. Bnetucsaxvt, TheCatuhiataka
of Aryadeva,p. 230.
45E.H. JouNsroN(ed.),TheBuddhacarita, Part I (Calcutta,1935),p. 137.
 Tradition
Origination-TheIndo-Tibetan
Dependent 189

roughly correspondto the two selves,supremeand individual, of

the early Upanisads, which stem from the B.g-ueda; although
Buddhism does not call those halves of "perception" "Selves"or
o'perception"
a higher and a lower self, and in fact only counts
(uijfrdna) once to be the third member of Dependentorigination.4G
To carry the comparisonfurther, just as "perception" in Buddh-
ism was shown above to be the seed of phenomenal life, in the
Sar.nkhyasystem it is buddhi or Mahat that is the initial evolute,
o'recon-
inaugurating the phenomeual series. In Buddhism, the
necting perception" (pratisarTtdhi-uiifidnaof the Abhidharma
traclition) first arises as the "appropriating consciouslless"
(dddna-ui.ifidnaof the dlay,auiiiidnatradition), i.0., the vision of
the phenomenal abode (the future parents); this is rather close
to the Sdr.nkhya Mahat as a field knower (k5etraifia)-the first
creation (sarga) of the Anugitd (of the Mahdbharata). Thus the
first half of "perception" has the role in Buddhism of establishing
the initial division into subject-object by perceiving an object, as
does the Samkhya buddhi which cognizes "thatness" and which
'oascertainment"
in Sdfnkhya-kqrikd No. 23 has the function of
(adhyauasdya).
The reconnecting "perception" then falls into the womb as the
fruitional consciottsness(orpakauijfidna ot iiuitendriya), rather
close to tire Simkhya aharykdra-the second creation of the
Anugitd. The second-half uijfidna is followed by lame-and-form
ancl the six sensebases,just as in Snmkhya the aharykdra,accord-
ing to Sdrfkhya-kdrika No. 24, through its function of conation
(abhimana)gives rise to the various organs and elementsconstitut-
ing the body. According to the Viifiaptimatratdsiddhi the beings
o'I" (suam
take the alayauijfiana ("store consciousness") as their
abhyantarant dtmdnanx or sua adhydtmika dtman) because of its
continuity and homogeneity, but one should not take it as a
ooself."47This text of Yogdcdra Buddhism thus makes it equiva-
'I' " (aharytkdra),but insists that one should not
lent to "calling
call it that way.
Now reverting to the first two members of Dependent Origina-
tion I shall continue the comparison with the Sdpkhya in a

46WlvuaN,"BuddhistDependentOrigination",p. 202.
4Tl-ours TomeI, pp. 150 and
or La Vanfe PoussrN,Vijfiaptimatratdsiddhi,
181.
 190
Buddhist
Insight
manner employed some years ago, while interpreting
the cele-
brated Yogacdra work Marthydntauibhdgato have two
realities:
"Thus, the Buddhist text replaces the sarnkltya purusa
'imagination with the
of unreality ' (abhutaparikalpa)and repla cesprakrti
with 'voidness' (iunyatd). In this tsuddhist system, both
'imagination the
of unreality' and 'voidness' are real, co-exist, and
are yet distinct."a8 Enforcing my theory, "nescience"
and
"motivation" are added to the replacement correspondences:
Dependent Origination Madhyantauibhdga Samkhya
terminology terminology terminology

nesclence imagination of purusct

unreality
motivations voidness prakrti
The Buddhist formula starts with "nescience,'(auidvd);
Sdlnkhya
holds that the puru.ws emergein the new developmenteach
with
their specific auidjd.4s Next Buddhism places ..motivations,,
(sarpskdra),the karrna of body, speech,and mind;
here Saqnkhya
has its prakrti (also with three strands, the gunas). prakrti
and,
samskarahave the sameverbal root, and in both systems
have the
role of causing a development-in the Sdmkhya, prakrti
as the
original cause (pradhana); in Buddhism, ,oqrriar:o as the
efficacy
of former karma to attain a fruit. Moreover, the sdlnkhya
sets
forth an irreducible duality of purusa (pure consciousness,
not the
agent) and Prakl'ti (pure matter, the impersonal
agent); while
Buddhism sets forth a primeval duality oi auidyd (nescience,
not
the agent, but metaphorically the manure) and samskdrcr
(motiva-
tions, the impersonal agent, but metaphoricaily the ground).
As to the "voidness," Tson-kha-pa'sgreat commentary
on the
Abhisantaydlarykdra helps, becauseof his section .,the
subjective
knowledge (yul can ye .fes) and the objective voidn ess(1,ur
ston
fiid)," showing that no matter how many the void.nesses,
e.g., the
list of twenty, they are all objective, the ob.iectof the
knowledge
or insight that discerns them.b0 Thus, the ..Imagination
or
a8A. wavlrAN, "The yogicdra Idearism(Review
Articre),,, philosophy
Eastand West,Xy:1, Jan. 1965,p. 66.
4esunswonANATH DAscuprA,A Historyof Indianphitosophy,
5'Tso*-rga -pA, Bstan bcos mnon
vor. I, p.249.
rtogs rgyan'grer pa dan bcas pa,i rgyacher
bSad,"Legs biad gser phren,, (Sarnath, Varanasi, 15'TOy
Vol. I, p.407,
 Dependent
Origination-TheIndo-Tibetan
Tradition lgl

Unreality" has cnly voidness (: the void Dharmadhdtu) as its

object,just as Puru$ahas only prakrti as its object.
The "Imagination of unreality" is deflnitelya form of nescience;
and the Madhydntauibhaga(I, l l) states that from this "imagina-
tion" proceed the twelve members of Dependent origination
beginning with 'onescience." The "rmagination of unreality"
may therefore be this Yogdcara text's expressionfor what Asanga
calls the unmixed nescience,or undefiled nescience. This text,
as previously pointed out, counts the series as "defiled." or
"afflicted," and vasubandhu in his comment accordingly explains
o'nescience"
as the first member to be the positive irnpediment to
the view of reality.
In summary, the Madhyantauibhdga agreeswith the Sar.nkhya
in positing two preexistent realities that are on an equal footing.
In contrast, the Buddhist Dependent origination has the first
and subjective member, nescience, serving as the condition for
the arising af the second and objective member, motivations.
And in any case, it was never my position that correlation and
replacement of terms meant identiflcation. one should grant
that the Buddhist series,no matter of which Buddhist sect'sinter-
pretation, develops quite differently from the Sdr.nkhyaevolutes,
even though there are some striking parallels.
There is another way I compared Dependent origination with
the Sdr.nkhyain an early and admittedly speculativeeffort.bl
Here, partly by suggestion of the Kdlacakra and,other Buddhist
Tantric material, I set the first three members of Dependent
origination, namely, nescience,motivations, and perception, in
correspondencerespectively with the three kinds of Ahankdra
of the classical Sdr.nkhya system, namely tdmasika-, rdjasika-,
and sdttuika-ahantkdra. f'his is tantamount to saying that if one
succeededin abolishing the tr,velvefold Dependent origination,
one would be at the level of Mahat, the cosmic intellectual sub-
stance. I do not deny a possible merit of a comparison involving
even late works like the Buddhist Tantras, but there is no point in
following up this kind of comparison in the present essay.

51A. wavuaN, "Buddhist Dependentorigination and the Sarhkhyagu4as",

Ethnos(1962),pp. 14-22.
t92 BuddhistInsight

V. CoxcrusroN
Certainly much more is written about the formula of Dependent
Origination in the Buddhist canon and commentarial traditions
than can possibly be conveyedwithin the limits of this paper. In
the application of writings from a long time span,it was inevitable
that the "discovery" and "seeing" of the serieswould be inter-
tn'ined. It could also be argued about the two kinds of Depen-
dent Origination that if one can 'osee" Dependent Origination,
one can see both kinds in the form here organized, or perhaps
"see" just one kind. But if what I have tried to show is indeed
the case. much of the past argumentation misses the mark.
Those theories were not based on "seeing" Dependent Origina-
tion, but rather on the premise that if one theory about the series
is right, the others must be wrong.
 9,

NESCIENCE AND INSIGHT ACCORDING

TO ASANGA'S TOGACANrcUAMT

Th.e topic treated here is of enormous importance to Buddhism.

"Nescience" is adopted as the translation of auidyd to include
"ignorance" (ajfidna) and "waywardness' (uiparyasa ). For uidya
I accept ooclearsight," opposed by nescience'sblindness. "Way-
wardness," the seeondkind of nescience,has its "traces" (anuiaya)
and 'oentrapment" (paryauasthdna\. "fnsight" is my usual trans-
lation of prajfia, and the paper shows its association with light
and vision; it is the chief facuity to counteract 'onescience"inthe
senseof ignorance, and to erase the "traces" of "waywardness."
Asanga, circa 375-430A.D., rvho wrote in Sanskrit, is probably
the most famous author of the Buddhist school called tiie Later
Mahi5dsaka; and the vielvs of this school have the most extensive
corpus of preservation in Asanga's encyclopedic work, the
Yogacdrabhumi,which also includes some Mahdydna positions
especially based on the scripture Sarytdhinirmocana-shtrql.
Tltrs Yogdcdrobhumizby Asanga has five major divisions (some-
times incorrectly entered in catalogues): Bhilmiuastu or Bahu-
bhtTmilca,comprised of sevent een bhwmis; Vinii caya-sot?tgr aharyi,
tlre exegesisin order of those seventeen; Vastu-sarTtgrahani, by

1C1'.A. WavuaN, Analysisof tlrc SravakabhilmiManuscript(IJriv. of Calif.

Press,Berkeleyand Los Angeles,1961),pp.25-29.
2Paur DBMrdvrrr-s, La Yogacarabhumide Ssngharak;a,BEFEO,44 (Ig54),
shows that there were other works of the sametitle.
r94 BuddhistInsight

basic Buddhist topics, sa:skdros, etc.; Parydya'sarpgrahalti,of

synonyms, etc.; Viuara4a-sarytgrahapi,misceilaneous explana-
tions. The seventeenbhfimis are:
(1) Stage associatedwith the set of five perceptions (paficauii-
iidnakdy a-saqnprayuktd bhumi).
(2) Stage of mind Qnanobhumi).
(3) Stage with inquiry and with conclusions (sauitarkd sauicdrd
bhilmi).
{4) Stage without inquiry and with only conclusions (auitarkd-
uicdra-mdtrti bhumi).
(5) Stage without inquiry or conclusion (auitarkd'avicdrd
bhilmi\.
{6) Stabilised stage (somdhitd bhumi).
(7) Unstabilised stage (asamdhitd bhumi).
(8) Stage with thought (sacittikd bhumi).
(9) Stage without thought (acittikd bhfimi).
(10) Stageconsistingof hearing (irutamayi bhumi).
(11) Stage consisting of pondering (cintdmayi bhumi).
,(12) Stage consisting of contemplation (bhduandmaytbhnmi).
(13) Stage of the disciple (Srduakabhumi).
(14) Stage of the self-enlightenedperson (pratyekabuddhabhumi).
(15) Stage of the Bodhisattva (bodhisattuabhumi).
(16) Stageof Nirvapa with remainder (sopddhikdbhumi).
(17) Stage of Nirvdqa without remainder (nirupddhikd bhumi).

It is necessaryto mention these divisions becausevarious ones

will be ref'erred to in rny following materials. The entire work
is preserved in Tibetan and Chinese translations, and portions
are extant in original Sanskrit. Bhlrmis 3-5 are grogped as
Sauitarkddir bhumi in V. Bhattacharya's edition of the Sanskrit
text which ends with Bhumi No. 5.3

Tnn Two KtNos oF NESCIENCE

The two kilds of nescienceare ignorance and waywardness. It
is well to include here from Tson-kha-pa's Lam rim chen mo an
exceptionaily clear explanation icientifying the ignorance kind as

BVronusnr,KHARA of AcaryaAsartga,
BnnrracnnRvn, The Yogacdrabhumi
Part I (Universityof Calcutta,7957).
 Nescience
andInsightAccordingto Asanga 195

the first member of Dependent origination (pratttya-samutpdda),

which I now translate from the Tibetan:a
Nescience is as stated in the (Abhidharma) Koia (in III, 28):
"the contrary of clear sight like enmity and untruth." Besides,
one should not regard enmity and untruth as just the negation
of friendliness and truth, or as just different from those two;
rather, as the opposite side which actively opposesfriendliness
and truth. Accordingly, nescienceshould not be regarded in
the senseof an opposite as just the negation of clear sight or
as just different from it; rather as the contrary side which
actively opposes clear sight (uidyd). Here, the opposing clear
:sight is the clear sight with the meaning of right selflessness
of person (pudgala-nairdtmya), so it is the view which destroys
its enemy, the positing of self in person (pudgala-dtmagrdha)-
such was maintained by the great acarya Dharmakirti
fPramdnaudrttilca, I, 2l5cd-2l6abl. Acdrya Asanga and his
brother (i.e. Vasubandhu) maintained that from among the
adhering to waywardness about the right meaning or just the
confusion about the right meaning, it is the latter; in short,
that from among the deviant reflection and the intellect
(buddhi) that does not understand, it is the intellect that does
not understand. However, this is tantamount to maintaining
that the chief opponent to the opposing side is the insight
@rajrta) which understands selflessness. When one analyzes
that confusion, there are two: confusion about karma and
its fruit, and coniusion about the meaning of reality (tattua).
According to the (Abhidharma) Samucce))e,with the former,
one amassesthe motivations (sarytskara)that send one to an
evil destiny, and with the latter, one amasses the motivations
that send one to a good destiny.
since this is an explanation of nescienceas the first member of
Dependent origination, it emphasizesthe flrst kind of nescience,
that of ignorance (ajiiana) or confusion (sarytmoha),as contrasted,
with the second kind of nescience, that of deviant reflection or
waywardness,as regards Asanga's position.s

aTheeditionwhichI useis theTashilunpoone,andthepassage is translated

from the Dependentorigination section,as part of the instructionto the
"middlingperson".
my earlyarticle,'The Meaningof Un-
sForthe two kindsof nescience,cf.
tg6 BuddhistInsight

Now, Asanga includes within the Cintdmayi bhumi these verses

of the Paramdrtha-gathd(nos. 10-11):0
One finds that creatureslie in two categories.
They are heedlessin sensefields; moreover, deviantly setting
out.
Truly those caught by delusion are those deviantly setting out.
While those caught by craving arc those heedlessin sensefields.
Asanga's self commentary relates this classification to Buddhist
Dependent Origination in two parts: "the dharntaspossessedof
cause" are the fi.rSt seven memberS, front "nescience" (auidyd)
down through "feelings" (uedand)-here the creatures are caught
by delusion. "The suffering possessedof cause" is the last five
members, from "craving" (trsUa) down through "old age and
death" (jard-mara4a)-here the creatures are caught by craving.
That explanation shows that in Asanga's position, when one
has eliminated "craving" he has overcome "the suffering possessed
Of cause," while when one has eliminated "nescience" he haS
understood "the dharntaspossessedof cause." This implies that
in his school, "non-self of personality" (pudgala-nairdtmya)is
a realisation to eliminate "craving," while "non-self of dhaymas"
(dharma-nairdtmya)is a realisation to eliminate "nescience."7
This nrust also be why he states in the Bodhisattuabhumi((text'
p. 3), ',r\mong them, the lineage of all the irduakas and pratyeka'
buddhas becomes pure through purification of the hindrance
of defilem ent (kleia), not through purification of the hindrance
of the knowable (ifieya). However, the lineage of bodhisattuas
becomes pure not only through purification of the hindrance of
defilement, but also through purification of the hindrance of the
knowable."s This indicates that when Asanga mentions that
"creatufes lie in tWo categories" he means also those follorving

*@ilosophyEastandWest,YII:|-2.,April,Ju|y,|957,
pp. 21-25. I no longerusethe rendition"unwisdom," but my conclusions
thereare consistentwith the presentstudy.
\Analysis o.f the SravakabhumiManuscript, pp. 169, 180-181'
zThis observationsets the position of Asanga-Vasubandhu in opposition
to that of Dharmakirti, according to the previous passageof Tson-kha-pa's,
where it representsDharmakirti as assigningselflessness of person(pudgala-
nairatmya) the role of countering nescienceas the first member of Dependent
Origination.
sAnalysis,p.29.
 andInsightAccordingto Asafiga
Nescience 197

the religious life in the Buddhist sense. Some (the irduakas and
pratyekabuddhas) manage, by non-self of personality, to be not
caught by craving with its attendant defilement. Some (the
bodhisattuas) manage not only that, but also, by non-seif of
dharmas, to be not caught by delusion.
Previously it was mentioned that in Asanga's school, the first
kind of nescience, that of ignorance, is the first member of Depen-
dent Origination. That leavesthe problem of where in Depen-
dent Origination is the emergenceof the secondkind of nescience,
that of waywardness. In this case there is an irnportarrt passage
in the Pdli scripture MadhupiqtQika Suttcr of Maijhima-nikdya
(I, 111),in my translation:

(Yary uedeti taryt saiijdndti, yam safijdndti, tar.nuitakketi, yatV

uitokketi tarTtpapaficeti...) What one feels, on has an idea
about. What one has an idea about, one inquires about.
What one inquires about, one develops upotr.e

This passageshows that the "feelings" member, last of the first

seven members, has a concomitant inental state involving dis-
cursive thought, with the possibility of "way'nvardnessof idea"
(saryi,4d-uiparydsa). Hence, when o'craving" arisesin dependence
on "feelings;" these feelings, according to a passageof Asauga's
I shall later cite, may be associatedwith the three "poisons,"
lust, hatred, and delusion; and, to anticipate tire later finclings,
these psychological poisons lvould be in the form of "traces"
(anuiaya). Thus r.vhile'ocraving" has the frecdot,r to inaugurate
a new bondage, it is usually not a pure "cra-/i119"but is suliied
with deviant leflection.
Asanga himself expounfu two kinds of nesciencein the Vinii-
caya-sar.ngrahani (PTT',10Vol. 110,p. 28-1-5,ff.). Before translat-
ing it from the Tibetan, I sirali outline the main elements of the
passage. And before that, it should be menlioned that Asanga
evidently means by "nescience" here the auidya of Dependent
Crigination independent of the life of a single sentient being, since

eCompare with the translation by Bntrcuu NiANaNaNn a,, Conceptand

Reality (Buddhist Publication Society,Kandy, 1977),p. 3.
10PTTis the abbreviatedreferenceto the "Peking Tibetan Tripitaka," the
photographicreproduction in Japan of the Peking edition of the Tibetan
198 Buddhist Insight

two types of persons are mentioned, and so there is a nescience

without defilement.l1
A. Unmixed nescience (: ignorance)
a. The confusion of not comprehending
d. The undefiled confusion
B. Having the mental conco,mitants of defilement (:wayward-
ness)
b. The confusion of heedlessness
c. The defiled confusion
The translation follows :
Among them, what is nescience (auidyd)? The obscuration
('gebspar byedpa fiid) and the hindeing (sgrib par bycd pa fiid)
of consciousnessin regard to the reality of the knowable that
is to be comprehended. Moreover, it is to be understood
briefly as four kinds-the confusion (saqnmoha\of not com-
prehending; the confusion of heedlessness;the defiled con-
fusion; and the undefiled confusion. a. The confusion of not
comprehending is the ignorance (ajfrdna) of not seeing and
not hearing, and not analyzing the variety, and not perceiving
the meaning of the knowable. b. The confusion of heedless-
ness is the ignorance, when having seen,heard, analyzed the
variety, and perceived it (the meaning of the knowable), one
has mental straying and forgetfulness. c. The defiled con-
fusion (klipla-saanmoha)is the ignorance through waywardness
of thought (citta-uiparydsa). d. The undefiled confusion
(aklisla-sarTtrnoha)is the ignorance free from waywardness
uThis positionof Asanga'sof a nescience that is unmixedwithdefilement,
apparentlythe nescience whichis the first memberof DependentOrigination,
seemsdirectlyopposedto Ndgirjuna'spositionthat the lst, 8th, and 9th
membersarc kleia (defilement), as set forth in A. W.ryrrlaN,"Buddhist
DependentOrigination,"History of Religions,Vol. 10, No. 3 (Feb. l97l),
esp. pp. 188-189. Ffowever,in the Viniflcaya-sarygrahaqti, on the first two
bhDmis,Asangaalso states(PTT, Vol. 110,p. 269-4)that the lst, 8th and
9th members(avidya,tr[Ud, and upaddna)arc comprisedby kleia. The
seemingdiscrepancymay be resolvedby noting that when Asangasays,
'creatures lie in two categories,'he is usingthe formulaof DependentOrigi-
nationin its discovery orderby GautamaBuddhaand independent of applying
it to a singlesentientbeing. Whentheformulais so interpreted, it is possible
to speakof a nescience that is unmixedwith defilement. But whenthe for-
mulais appliedto a singlelife, two lives,or threelivesof a sentientbeing, one
thenspeaks of thelst member,avidyd,beingcomprised by kleia.
Nescienceand Insight According t o Asafrga 199

of thought. All those kinds of nesciencernay be summarised

as two kinds: having the mental concomitants of defilement,
and unmixed. B. The one having the mental concomitants
of defilement is in the case where someone seeks that there
be no confusion and that no defilement arise, but still there
are present other defilements from the group of lust, etc.,
and nescienceis present. A. The unmixed nescienceis in the
case of some person of dull insight who, while not entrapped
by the other group of defilements, lust, etc., has the wrong
method of orienting his mind to the Truth of Suffering, etc.
and (the Truths) do not appear to him in the genuine way as
they really are; and there is obscuration, hindrance, entrap-
ment, and darkening of consciousness.

It is noteworthy that Asanga qualifles the two kinds of nescience

in terms of persons following the Buddhist path. This is consis-
tent with my observation that he did not lose sight of the distinc-
tion alluded to in the Paramdrtha-gdthd,"One finds that creatures
Iie in two categories." In the outline f reversed the order in
which he presentsthese two persons so as to preservethe order in
which the two kinds of nesciencearise in this interpretation of
Dependent Origination. Asanga's order is consistent with the
passage I cited above from tus Bodhisattuabhumt. He scarcely
disguises his implication of the irduakas who seek to eliminate
the hindrance of defilement, and yet there are still present other
defilements, namely, the "traces" of lust, hatred, and delusion.
And then there are the bodhisattuas,whose nescience is unmixed
with the defilementsof lust, etc., and yet their insight is not strong
enough to eliminate the hindrance of the knowable. It is this
passagewhich may be the one that led to Tson-kha-pa's remark
that in Asanga's position it is insight (prajfiQ which is the
main opponent to nescienceas the first member of Dependent
Origination.
The foregoing should make it clear that Asanga does not refer
to the two kinds of nesciencewhen in his Vastusarpgraha(ti(PTT,
Vol. 111,p. 138-1)he saysthat nesciencehas two states,former-
the state of "traces" (anuiaya), and later-the state of "entrap-
ment" (paryauasthdna). But then the question arises of which
one of the kinds-or is it both?-that has the former and later
states mentioned. Asanga discusses these two terms ootraces"
200 BuddhistInsight

and "entrapment" at length in ltiniicaya-samgrahani on his

Sauitarkadir bhilmi, PTT, Vol. 110, p. 281-4, through p. 282,
and to p. 283-1. For exarnple, he says (p. 281-4), "On account
of the state of waking, there is entrapment; on account of sleep,
there are the traces."12 Furthermore (p. 281-5), "When one
has eliminated entrapment, but has not eliminated the traces,
again and again the entrapment arises." Asanga (p.282-$ settles
on the number eight for the o'traces"in connectionwith the Truth
of Source (samudaya-satya). Here he means the eight-fold
def;lementper Bhattacharya, (ed., text, p. tr61),with each defined
(pp. 162-164). In the exegetical section he stressesthe "exag-
geration of vielvs" (dr;li-pardntaria); and the rernaining ones are
"deviant views" (mithyd-drsli), exaggeration of rules and vows
(iilaurata-pardmaria), passion (raga), enmity (pratigha), pride
(mana), nescience (auidya), and doubt (uicikitsa). These two
states, being forms of defilement (kleia), cannot apply to the flrst
kind of nescience,becauseas was shoivn above the first kind is
"unmixed," i.e. unmixed vlith defilement. Therefore, they are
statesof the secondkind of nesc;ence,that of waywardness. Now,
the eight "traces" must be a fuller list of possibilitiesthat go along
with the seventh member of Dependent Origination, "feelings."
This is becauseat p. 282-2, in the caseof the suffering ranging in
the "realm of desire," Asanga adds to the set of eight, "reifying
view" (satkayadrpri) and 'nview holding to an extreme" (antagrd-
hadrp{i). This set of ten defilementstherefore applies to the five
last mei'.lbersof Dependcnt Origination which Asanga described
'othe
as sufferingpossessedof cause." It follows that the kind of
meditation that gets rid of the entrapmentsthat are in the nature
of those ten defiiements has not elirninated the traces of eight
defilernents that iie deep and are vitalised in sleep, as Asanga
mentioned. Thus, Asanga's scriptural authority, the Sarytdhinir-
tnocanq,says, "By means of meditation one suppresses the defile-
ments; by meansof insight one well erasestheir traces."13 There-
fore, the power of insight must be applied to eliminate the "traces"

12Forillustrations
of thesetracesin sleepin termsof the three"poisons",
seechapter2.1,whereTable1 givesdreamdefilements of thesix senses.This
essayis reprintedin this volume.
l3EusNNs LAnaorrn, ed. and tr. Sarydhinirmocana Sfitra (Louvain, 1935),
p. 132 (Tib. text) and p. 244 (French translation).
 and InsightAccordingto Asanga
Nescience 201

of the second kind of nescience as well as. to counteract the

"ignorance" constituting the first kind of nescience.

Nescience as lgnorance
Asanga in the latter part of the Sauitarkddir bhumi (text, p.20a)
presentsa list of nineteen entities about which one rnay be igno-
rant, each with brief explanation. Then he mentions (text, p.
205.11,ff. : PTT. Vol. 109,p. 260-2-3,ff.) a list of sevenignorances:
confusion about time (adhua-sollxmolza),confusion about entity
(.uas
t w"), confusion about transfer (sarytkrdnti- "), confusion about
the excellent (agra-'), confusion about reality (tattua-"), con-
fusion about defilement and purification (sarTtlcleiauyauaddna-"),
confusion about pride (abhimana:).
The same group of seven has been subdivided and partially
explained in the Artha-uiniicaya-likd (author unrecorcled), in
Tilretan (PTT. Vol. 145, p. 172-3). Here there ?.re sevorrkinds
of confusion (sarytmoha) :
.a. Three degreesof nescience(auidyd\-
1. rninor nescienceis delusion (moha'),confusion about reality
(tattua).
2. middling nescienceis nescience,confrision about defilement
and puriflcation.
3. great nescienceis blind obscuration, confusion about pride
(abhimdna).
b. Four fornrs of ignorance (aifiana)-
4. confusion about time (i.e. the three times), is ignorance.
5. confusion about entity (inner, outer, and both inner and
outer), is not seeing (adariana).
6. confusion about transfer (i.e. karma ... Dependent Origina-
tion) is "not understanding" (anabhisamaya).
7. confusion about the excellent (the Three Jewu.ls of the
Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) is darkness (tamas).
This subdivision helps to clarify Tson-kha-pa's remark as was
prerriously cited: ooWhenone analysesthat confusion, there are
two: confusion about karma and its fruit, and confusion about
the meaning of reality (tattua)." That Artha-uiniicayclcommen-
tary includes "confusion about realityl" as a degreeof nescience
(auidya), and includes "confusion about transfer" (which involves
.karma and its fruit) as a form of ignorance. This implies that it
 202 BuddhistInsight

is the forms of ignorance, here listed as four, that constitute the

nescienceheading Dependent origination that is the condition
for the second member "motivations" (saqnskdra)of the type
leading to an evil destiny. And implies that when one is nolonger
plagued by this ignorance, it is the degreesof nescience,here listed
as three, that are the condition for motivations toward a good
destiny, and keep one in !'cyclical flow" (sarlesdra).
Besides,Asanga mentions (Sanskrit text, p. 205, 17; pTT, p.
260-2-6) another list with five kinds of ignorance (ajfiaita), each
called a "confusion", which are associated with the list of nine-
teen ignorances, in the follorving manner:la
a. confusion about view (drsli-sarpmoha).
f. ignorance of prior limit (the past sarytskdras)
2. ignorance of later limit (the future sarytskdras)
3. ignorance of prior and later limit (with doubt)
4. ignorance of the personal (one's own sarytskdras)
5. ignorance of the other: person (the other,s saqnskaras)
6. ignorance of the personal and the other person (in terms of
friend, enemy, and neutral)
7. ignoranceof cause(believingin a creator lord, etc.)
8. ignorance of saqnskdrasgenerated from cause(the sinful,
the sinless,and the mixed)
b. confusion about heedlessness
(pramdda-').
f. ignorance of karma
10. ignorance of maturation
11. ignorance of karma and maturation (with waywardness),

c. confusion about the meaning of reality (tattudrtha-").

12. igrrorance of the Buddha
13. ignorance of the Dharma
14. ignorance of the Sangha
15. ignorance of suffering
16. ignoranceofsource
17. ignorance of cessation
18. ignorance of path

laln the following,occasional extramaterialwithin parentheses, e.g."the

pastsaqnskdres," constitutesminimalextraexplanation from the definitions
of the nineteenignorancesin the Sanskrittext, (p. 204).
Nescienceand Insight According to Asanga 203

d. confusion about pride (.abhimdna:).

19. ignorance of the special knowledge of the six sensebases
as they really are (with waywardness of consciousness)l5
c. confusion about the entity (artha-saqnmoha). Under this
heading one places all nineteen ignorances"
Therefore the comprehensive kind of ignorance called "con-
fusion about the entity" is equal to the previously-mentioned kind
of "unrnixed nescience" called "the confusion of not compre-
hending," where the creatures are caught by delusion. But some
items add a "waywardness'o element.

Nescience as Waywardness
As was previously indicated, the second kind of nescienceenters
the mind as a concomitant of the o'feelings" that are the seventh
member of Dependent Origination. With this condition there
arises "craving" the eighth member, which is followed by "indul-
gence'o (updddna), the ninth member. It is this ninth member
which according to the Abhidhqrmakoia is of four kinds, indul-
gence in the five strands of desire (the five senseobjects), indul-
gence in any of the 62 views of the Brahmajdlosiltra,indulgencein
rules and vows, indulgence in the self-theory.
Along these lines, Asanga explains "waywardness" in the
Sauitarkddir bhumi, (Sanskrit ed., p. 166):
There are seven kinds of waylvardness(uiparydsa),as follows:'
(l) waywardness of idea (sarpjfrd:), (2) waywardness of view
(dfsli-"), (3) waywardness of consciousness(citta-"), (4) way-
wardness that considers impermanent as permarrent, (5) way-
wardnessthat considerspain as pleasure,(6) waywardnessthat
considers impure as pure, (7) waywardnessthat considersnon-
self as self. What is the waywardness of idea? It is the
discursive thinking (parikalpa) of idea that considers the im-
permanent as permanent, etc. What is the waywardness of

rsThiscategoryregarding confusion aboutprideespecially

concerns Asafiga's.
discussionof Arhat attainment,asin the viniscaya-sarygrahapi
of the Nirvipa-
with-Remainderand Nirvd{ra-without-Remainder stages,(PTT., Vol. I[,
p. 119-1,ff.) wherehe appearsto hold that Nirvdna-with-Remainder keeps
the six sensebases,while Nirvdna-without-Remainder lacks the six sense-
bases. For the inrplicationin termsof gotra (species),
seechapter12.
204 BuddhistInsight

view? Any acceptance,belief, settling on, or clinging right

there to the so-discursively-thought idea. lVhat is the way-
wardness of consciousness? Any defilernentof passion, etc.
in preciselythat so-clung-to (view). Here one should under-
stand defilement by three aspects-There is defilement, the root
of waywardness. There is r,vaywardness. There is the out-
flow of waywardness. Among them, the "root of wayward-
ness" is nescience (auidya). "Waywardness" is the reifying
view (sotkdysdfs{i); the onesidednessof view that adheres
to an extrerire; the exaggeration of view and exaggeration of
rules and vows; and passion. The "outflow of waywardness"
is the deviant view (mitlrya-d75!i), the onesidednessof view
that adheresto an extreme, enmity, pride, and doubt. Among
those. the reifying view is the waywarclnessthat takes non-self
to be self. The onesidednessof view that adheresto an ex-
treme is the r,vaywardnessthat takes the impermanent to be
permanent. The exaggeration of view is the wayrvardness
that takes the impure to be pure. The exaggerationof rules
and vorvs is the wayrvardnessttrrattakes pain to be pleasure.
Passioninvolves the pair of rvayrvardnesses, the one th.at takes
the irnpureto be pure, and the one thattakes pain to be pleasure.
As Asanga mentions, one should understand defilementby three
aspects. By defining the "root of waywardness" as nescience,
he means the second kind, as he explains (Skt. text. p. 163):
o'What is nescience?
Any defiled ignorance-whether refecting
upon or not reflecting upon the knowable entity (jfieya-uastu),
be it (relying on) ignoble persons,flistening to heretic doctrine,
orienting the mind in an improper manner, naturally] losing
memory (smrti)."76 It is feasiblethat by the alternatives"whether
reflecting upon or not reflecting upon the knowable entity" he
intends the states "entrapment" and "traces." By mentioning
o'waywardness'in terrns
of the five "traces" he means them in
application to the four "waywardnessesof idea,"as made explicit
at the end of the citation. Then, the "outflor.v of waylvardness"
includes sorne other "traces." Since the three aspectsof deflle-
ment include all ten of ttre defilementspreviously mentioned as
going with "the suffering ranging in the realm of desire," it is
roTheportion within bracketswassuppliedfrom the Tibetantranslation,
(PTT,Vol. 109,p.250-4).
Nescienceand Insight According to Asanga

clear that Asanga means by that "waywardness" passage "the

suffering possessedof cause." It will be iecalled that here the
creatures are caught bY craving.

Insight as qn Instruction
The division established previously of two parts of Dependent
Origination is consistent with the first sermon of the Buddha,
setting forth th.efour Noble Truths (or Truths of the Nobles, the
dryas), where the Buddhist path begins with operating on the
implications of the last fi.ve members of Dependent Origination,
and the candidates are those caught by craving and henceheedless
in sense flelds. So in that sermon the Buddha stressed the
avoidance of the extremes of indulgence in sensegratification
and mortification. These two extremes may well be what were
referred to among the ten defilernents as "passion" and "exag-
geration of rules and vows."
Furthermore, the Buddhist training was expressedby the three
Instructions, of Morality, of Mind-control, of Insight. Asanga
(Cintdmayi bhumi, PTT, Vol. 110, p. 18-4) says, "Thus the one
rightly enterprising, basing himself on the morality set (adhiiila),
generatesthe mind-control set (adhi-citta); basing himself on the
mind-control set, generates the insight-set (adhipraiiid)." In his
Viuqrana-sarTigrahant (PTT. Vol. I I 1, p. 244-5) he says: "By the
Instructions of the morality-set and the mind-control set, there
is non-lust, non-hatred, and non-delUsion. (Thus,) the absence
of the four rvayu'ardnessesbelongs to the Stageof accumulating
(merit) (sarpbhdramarga)and to the stage ofl praxis (prayoga-
mdrga). clear sight (uid|,a)and liberation (uimukti)belong to the
Instruction of the insight set, the stage of vision (dariana-mdrga),
stage of contemplation (bhauand-mdrga), and ultimate state
(ni;lhdgamana-mdrga)." Here Asanga combines the early
Buddhist theory of three Instructions with the Mahdyana classific-
ation, developed in the Prajiidpdramitd exegesis,of five paths
(marga), although the Tibetan word sa in each case shows that
Asanga used the term bhumi rather than marga.rT
In the Viniicaya-saqngrahaltt, Asafiga points out that the four

Obermiller,"The
1?Thetheoryof fivepathsis workedout in detailin Eugene
Doctrine of Prajfla-paramitl as exposed in the Abhisamayalar.nkara of
Maitteya," Acta Orientalia, Yol. XI, 1932.
 206 BuddhistInsight

aspects of the Truth of Suffering serve to oppose the four way-

wardnesses. That is, the aspect o'There is impermanence', op-
poses the waywardness that the impermanent is permanent; the
aspect "There is pain" opposes the wayward.nessthat pain is
pleasure;the aspects"There is voidness" and "There is non-self"
oppose the waywardnessthat non-self is self.l8 Here the medita-
tions on voidnessand non-self serveto counteract the reifying view
(satkdyadrsli) that takes non-self to be self. In Asanga's position,
the first two Instructions counteract the entrapment state of the
defilements during the phase "the suffering possessed of cause."
But, as was already pointed out, for liberation from the traces
state of nescience,the Instruction of insight is required.
According to Asanga's Srutamayi bhumi, (pTT, Vol. 109,
p. 297-1,) among the members of the Eightfold Noble path, one
cultivates Insight with Right views, Right conception, and Right
Effort. consistent with assigning Right views, he says a little
previously, (p. 296-5), that the faulty adhiprajfid is adopting any
of the 62 wrong views (of the Brahmojdla-siltra).
Also, he statesin the Srduakabhilmi(PTT, Vol. ll0, p.70-1):
"what is the person liberated by insight? The person who has
achieved in every last degreethe ending of fluxes (dsraua-k$aya),
but rvho does not drvell accomplishingthe eight liberations as a
'rvitnesser
rvith body' (k d1,a-sdk ;in) i'

Terminology of Insight
Asanga has a rather remarkable list in his parydya-sayngraharli
(PTT , V ol. 111,p . 2 3 2 -1 ,2 ,3 ).So me c o rre c ti onsw ere made by
consultation of the equivalent chinese section in Taisho, (vol.
30. 751).1e one of the most striking features of what follows is
the set of similes emphasizing light, with five entries that are in
the Pali "Book of Fours," Chap. XV. Here five paragraphshave
the sarne form, e.g. "There are four olustres'(abhd), that of the
moon, sun, fire, and insight, and the last one is greatest." Like-
wise, four "beams" (prabhd), "lights" (dloka), "secondary lights,'
(obhdsa),and "lamps" (pajjota). But there is no hint in the pdli
scripture that these similes have the implications which Asanga
makes explicit. This is indeed a mystery of Asariga's sources.

l8'oThe Meaning of Unwisdom," p. 23.

leMy wife Hideko aided me at this point.
 and Insight Accordingto Asanga
Nescience 207

Taking the order of terms as in Asanga's text, I have grouped them

by rather obvious headings.

A. (1st group, 'oinsight" as the object, in sfitra passages):

"obtaining insight" means any insight that is virtuous without

qualification, or which is purposeful.
"increasing, enhancing, and expanding insight" refers to an
ascending scale of small, middling, and great.
"perfectly pure insight" means the maturation at another time
of the insight formerly and repeatedly cultivated.
"equipped with insight" means the insight that recognizes
defi"lementof the one which eliminates it.
"fulfllling insight" is the proceeding to the ultimate state.

B. (2nd group, "insight" qualified in various ways, in sfrtra

passagesfor Sravokas):

"non-retreating insight" is the insight that does not retreat,

but goes on to the ultimate state.
"speedy insight" is the insight that cannot be overtaken.
"sharp insight"is what well comprehendsthe phenomenon and
noumenon.
"insight that conduces to liberation" (nairydltika-prajfiA) is
what well comprehends the natures that conduce to liberation,
as well as the freedom from mundane cravings.
"insight that penetrates" (nairuedhika-") is what well compre-
hends the freedom from supramundane cravings.
"profound insight" (ganfihtra-") is rvhat rvell comprehendsthe
dharma possessed of profound voidness consistent with
Dependent Origination, and what rightly reflects on the pro-
found meaning and insight which the Tathdgatas enjoin. It is
the great insight enjoined for the disciples (irduakas), in order
that this insight would be for a long time and repeatedry
cultivated.
"favranging insight" is the one whose domain is boundless
and infinite.
"incomparable insight" is the insight unequalled by others.
C. (3rd group, emphasisinglight):
'Jewel
of insight" is the insight that is chief of all faculties
(indriya), becauseit illuminates with a light like lapis lazuri's
208 BuddhistInsight.

among the gems of the Cakravartin. "Possessingit" means

possessingthe jewel of insight.
"eye of insight" is the native insight (sahajdprajiid).
"lustre of insight" (dbhd)is the insight gained from others, or
lvhat arises through the generative praxis of others.
"beam of insight" (prabhd) is the kind consistingof praxis, i.e.
consisting of hearing (irutamayi prajfia) and consisting of
pondering (cintamayip.).
"li_sht of insight" (dloka) is the insight consisting of contem-
plation (bhduandmayip.).
"lamp of insight" (pradyota) is the kind which establishesthe
profound scriptures expressed by the Tathagata, and which
illumines.
"torch (or meteor) of insight" (ulka) is the one which goes
along only with the time of Teaching of the Dharma [i.e.
during Gautama Buddha's teaching career].
"secondary light of insight" (auabhdsa)is the one which goes
along with subsequenttimes, when the Dharma is well consi-
dered with insight in this and that way, and it is not directly
realised by the body [i.e. after the Buddha's Nirvdna].
"insight free from darkness" is the one directly realised by the
body [i.e. the Buddha's eye of insight].

D. (4th group, emphasisingfaculty or function):

"faculty of insight" is the insight used to comprehendothers.

"power of insight" is the invincible insight about principles
and dharma used to comprehend the distinction of former and
later of oneself.
"treasure of insight" is the one r,vhichgeneratesamong lord-
Iinessesthe best lordliness, which secures the consecration
(abhi;eka) for one's own mind, which is best of all treasures,
and q,hich is the basic causeof all mundane treasures.
"s\r'ord of insight" and "knife of insight" is what cuts all the
bonds of rebirth (sarytyoiana).
"stake of insight" is the one which dispels the Maras ail the
way from the "defilement" one to ths "son-of-the gods" one.
"reins of insight" is the reins of the horse of mind-organ for
virtuous practice.
"expiatory insight" frees the body (of sins) and destroys (them).
 Nescience
andInsightAccordingto Asanga Z0g
'ofence
of insight" (has only one gate), crosesoff the innumer-
able gates to the various defilements.
"ladder oi insight" is the path arising frorn the praxis.
"temple of insight" is the one concernedwith the ultimate.

Asanga, Vastu-sawgraha4i,PTT, Vol. 111, p. 172_3_4,refers to

insigtrt's weapon (mtslton) fol eliminating ail defllernent. As to
the "bonds of rebirih" {s'atTtycjnna), Asaitga lists nias or"them,
(ibid., p. 152-5)starting vrith entrapment by clinging to sentient
beings and non-ssntien'r entities associate<lwith householder,s
life, and nine vrere narned (in Bhattacharya, ed., p. 16l). The
"stake" suggestsan iinpaling of the Miras, who arc of coursethe
four, s'kailtii;a-', klesa-o, nTerana-o
, and,deuaplttt,{t-"
.zo
It is intr;guing that Asanga's list seems to iiave no elernents
drawn from Mahayd.naiiterature, arthough he is generaily taken
as a Mahayanist. The list appears basedon the fow Agamas
(th.eSanskrit canon roughly equivalent to tire fcur pdli I,{ikdyas)-

Insight as Metapharical Light

Asanga's third group of terms, ernphasisinglight, obviously

begins r,vith'Jewel of insight" as can be observedby the descrip-
tion "a light like lapis lazuli's". This group agrees with the
translation of prajiid as "insight."zr
The "eve of insight" as the native insight (sahajdprajfid) deserves
more er'planation. Asanga himsellcxplains a iittle later (paryclya-
samgrahat.ti,p. 234-1) that the native insight is aitained through
birth (skyesnas thobpct). He contrasts (ibid., p. T2-$ the pro-
nroted insight possessedby the learned man (pa;.t(ita) rvith the
native insigirt possessedby the intelligent person (ui.irte. He
defines(ibid., p. %3-g buddhi(-{. blo) as any narive insighi capable
of differentiating (alternatives). Therefore, this native insight is
present in every rational act of thinking.22 As such it is usually

20Cf.A. WAv.raN,"siudies in yarna aild Mdra,', Vol. trII, No. 2,

pp.112-114.
21Tlre nou,n prajiia is ren<lered into Tibotan as .fes rab
{"superior,,, rab,.
"knowing," jfia), u'hcre pra- ?,sa nonrinatrplefix has ihis pcssible significance
in classical sanskrit. In contrast, pta- as in prajanrTli ("[:iiolvs about',) keeps
the oltl significa:rce of "f,orth" as a verbal prefix.
zzln thc vastu-samgraltani (1st topic, saqnskara-pravicaya; prr,
vol. lll,
p. 137-3), Asanga gives five childish states belonging to chilCish (cr foolish)
2tO BuddhistInsight

affiicted. Thus, Asanga in Srutamayt bhilmi, PTT, Vol. 110,

p. 2-3, givesa simile to show how the eye of insight is assailed:
For example, smoke is preceded by the element of fire and
hurts the eye.... In the same way, craYing (typaa)is preceded
bJ' lr.rst,hatred, and delusion; and hurts the eye of insight....
Asan-eaindicates a wide range of possibilitiesfor this "eye" (in
ibid., PTT, Vol. 109,p.290-$: "With the eye of insight one sees
all aspects (akara) of all dharmas, whether with form (rilpin)
or formless (arupin)." He indicates an inferior and a superior
variety in Vastu-saqngrahani,(PTT. Vol. ll1, p. 170-4,) speaking
of "mundane eye of insight" in contrast with "eye of insight
belonging to the nobles (drYa)."
A feature of this "mundane eye of insight" is the developrnent
of the coarse to the subtle prajfra as a discursive series, which
Asanga mentions in Viniicaya-sarygrahanion Sauitarkddir bhumi,
'mental
(PTT, Vol. 110, p. 281-3); "The coarsepraifid based on
'adumbration' (uitarka); ... the subtle
murmur' (manojalpa) is
'thinking with signs' (uictira)." Whether this uitqrka-uicdra
one is
is a member of the First Dhydna of the "realm of form" or is the
kind in the "realm of desire," it always constitutes the develop-
ment of discursive thought, as speech motivation (uaksarytskdra),
starting, as Asanga says, with "mental murmur". "Presumably
the "arya" eye of insight is the three levels of praifid, consisting of
hearing, pondering, and contemplation.
Asanga states (Parydya'salngrahaUi, P. 231-4): "'Knowledge'
(jfidna)is any insight arising from supramundanepraxis (lokottara-
'Ob-
prayoga). It is the insight transcending mundane insight.
taining insight'means any mundane insight obtained after (pfslha-
tabdhi) the supramundane insight." This is illustrated in Sruta-
mayiblrumi, (p. 16-1): "With that eye of insight, he perceivesand
witnessesthe Tathigata as the inner Dharmakiya. And when he
seesthe body of form, a caitya, or an external painting, he thinks,
'indeed, in the absolute sense, this is not the right perfected
Buddha."' Thus, after witnessing the inner Dharmakaya, he

persons (bata\, namely, 1. not having attained initially the native insight;
2. not having obtained insight arising by reason of others' words; 3. not
having a.ttainedthe insight of the iryas; 4. remaining with entrapment of
confusion; 5. conjoined with the traces of that (entrapment). Thus, Asaflga
admits that the irrational personmay lack or be deficientin this native insight.
Nescienceand Insight According to Asanga 2ll

returns to mundane discursive thought, but not with idle verbiage,

to deny something "in the absolute sense."
The foregoing involves the theory of flnal resorts (pratisaralta),
including,in aclassicalstatement,o'Oneshould cultivate by resort
to knowledge (jfidna), not by resort to perception (uijfrdna)i'
This points to the superiority of supramundane praxis, and does
not intend to deny the value of the mundane praxis. Asanga
says (Parydya-s., p. %3-Q: "The 'exercise of insight' (prajfid-
pracdra) means any insight possessedof what is to be perceived
higher and higher of perceiving the meaning by way of scripture,
its recital in low voice, inquiries, the certainty of cogent discourse,
and so forth." These provisional and final resorts are clarified
in my previously published note:23
For the most obscure set-jfrdna and uijfidna-when we com-
bine the references in de La Vall6e Poussin (especially from the
Bodhisattuabhnmi)with RatndkaraSdnti's explanations, we arrive
at the following:
jfidna is supramundane insight (projfid) devoid of discursive
thought, namely, insight consisting in creative contemplation
(bhduandmayiprajfid), uijfidna is mund,ane insight, with dis-
cursive thought, namely, insight consisting in hearing (iruta-
mayi prajfid) and insight consisting in pondering (cintdmayi
prajfid).

As to those three levels of prajfia-the first two, consisting of

hearing and pondering; and the third consisting of creative
contemplation, Asanga briefly explains them in Bhauandmayl
bhumi (PTT, Vol. 110, p. 23-3):

Taking recourseto the insight consisting in hearing itself, there

arise three kinds of trust regarding the path and the fruit of the
path which is Nirvaqa, namely, the trust that it exists,the trust
that it has good qualities, the trust that oneself can attain it
and learn the means. So as to accomplish the insight consist-
ing of pondering, there is the trust that when one has isolated
body and mind, with isolation from hindrances and reflections,
and that taking recoursethereto, one is especiallycertain about
the meaning-one accomplishes the prajiia consisting of

zsArExWaynaaN and HroBro WayulN, trs. The Lion's Roar of eueen

Srlmata(ColumbiaUniv. Press,New York and Lonclon,1974),p. 103.
212 BuddhistInsight

pondering. Taking recourse to that (i.e. the 2nd level of

prajiia) when one continually performs contemplation and has
the praxis and engagement of devotion, by this sequenceone
attains in the meantime the prajfid consisting of contemplation,
Taking recourse to it, one starts the conviction which views
samsdro as base and starts the conviction which views nirud4a
as superb. Repeatedly contemplating this, one attains the
comprehension of truth (satya-abhisamaya),the path of vision
(dariana-mdrga) which understands directly, the learned
liberation (saik5a-uimukti),and views the essential(gli mthon
bar'gyur). After that, by repeatedlycultivating the bhduand-
mdrga, one attains the liberation beyond learning (aiaik5a-
uimukti) and completes the liberation. Now, the liberation
which has bcen completed is, namely, only the Nirvd4a-with-
remainder realm (sop adhii e.ra-nirud 7ta-dhat u) .

Regarding the "lights" associatedwith theseprajfid levels,Asanga

explains in the Bhduandmayiblrumi, (p.25-2), that the "light" is a
variety of the "idea of light" (dlolcasaryffid)meant to counteract
one or another kind of darkness,such as the frequent darkening
of consciousness lvhen one is trying to keep the mind on a medita-
tive object. He points out that various kinds of "light" are set
fortlr in the Samdhitabhilmi. Referring back to this part (PTT,
Vol. 109,p. 268-5to p.269-1), rve find "abstinences" (an-dhara)
(from darkness)explained as when there is "light" (dloka) and fre-
quent mental orientation thereto. There are three kinds of light-
the opponent of darkness, the light of dltarma, and the light of
ttre body. The "opponent of darkness" means at night the moon
and stars, etc.; in daytime, the sun;and at both times, the light
of fire, gems, etc. The "light of clkarina" means reflecting on the
doctrines (dharma) as they were heard, as they were pondered,
ancias they werefelt, or contemplating mindfulnessof the Buddha,
etc. The "light of body" meansthe light whicir arisesfrom sentient
beings themselves(as in certain states of yoga). Asanga says
(Bhcluanamayi bhilmi, p.25-2) that in the presentcontext the "idea
of light" is meant that is aimed at the "light of dharma". There-
fore, in that seriesin the Pali "Book of Fours,"-u1ong the lines
of Sarytyutta-nikdya,(I, 14)-the lights of moon, sun, fire, and
insight, refer to the light of nighttirne, daytirne, both night and day"
and the iight of dharma.
Nescience
andInsightAccordingto Asanga 213

Asanga explains in the same place that in the practice of calm-

ing the mind (iamatha) and discerning (uipalyand), there are
various kinds of faults or darkening; and to counteract these
darkenings, there are four "ideas of light" associated with the
insight consisting of pondering, and seven associatedwith the
insight consistingof contemplation. Thus, the "beam of insight"
(prabh@ is the four "ideas of light" that counteract the four
.damaging factors of the pondering, and the "light of insight"
(dloka) is the seven "ideas of light" that counteract the seven
damaging factors of the contemplation.
It is the hope of the writer that the foregoing not only clarifies
some matters of Asanga's positions on nescience and insight
.concerningsome of the most fundamental problems of Buddhism,
but also gives a taste of Asariga's encyclopedic work, the Yoga-
carabhumi, by excerpts from its great extent.
 10

THE TWENTY REIFYING VIEWS

(SAKKATADITTHI)

The Buddhists were fond of making lists of doctrinal terms and

their varieties. Perhaps this bent justifies in part the Theravdda
claim, which can be found in the translation of the Kathduattnu
(Points of Controuersy,London, 1913), that the Buddha was a
Vibhajjavddin (an "Analyst"). However, it is now difficult to
determine rvhich of the many lists found in the Pali canon were
so expressed by the Buddha himself or were added by later
"Analysts."
A splendid exampleof this type of analysisisthe Buddhisttheory
of the "reifying view." This theory stems from the well-known
Buddhist stresson "non-self" (andtman),especiallywhile analyz'
ing man's make-up as five personal aggregates (slcandha), and
o'self." The
denying in four ways that any of these five is a
commonplace view of man, thus denied, was referred to with a
technical term I render "reifying view."
This particular kind of analysis also serves to illustrate how
subsequentteachersdisagreedabout these lists. This is because
in this particular case,the opposing positions are well defined and
each supported by eminent authorities. To anticipate my find-
ings, on one side there is the scriptural statement in the Saryyutta-
Nilcdya, the evidence of the Palisambhiddmagga, artd the teacher
Nagarjuna. On the other side there is the Abhidharma work
Jfidnaprasthdna, the Vinaya commentator Vinitadeva, and the
Sanskrit-Tibetan Buddhist dictionary Mahduyutpatti. Therefore,
 216 BuddhistInsight

study of this topic may reveal a sense in which Nagdrjuna

diverged frorn the Abhidharmists.
Therc is a valuable article on sakkiiyadiyyltiby J. F.ahder,1 but
it seenrspossible to make a modest aclvanceby considering the
various bits of evidence. In the foilowing, 'F' will stand for
Pali, 'S'for Sanskrit, e.g. (5. satl<dyadr;{i,P.sakkiij,adilyhi). The
portion S. ,satkiiyaar P. sakkcl1,aisvaricusly Cefined,but the 'kr77'a,
is frequently explained and provisionally acceptcdin this paper
as rei'crring to the five pcrsonal aggregates (s. slcancfi'ta, F.
khandlia).: in this acceptance,the full tern cr-rutrrl-l.e renclerecl
"vier,v that the aggrcgates are treal," but th.is is an unrvieldy
translation and I prefer to ernploy the rendition "reifying
view." T'ranslators from Pali sometimes rencler it "theory of
indiviciuality."s
The trventy views (.5. drsli, P. ditrtrhi)are variously referred to,
in the Di!trhikathd of the Palisambhiricimaggapaftof the Khucldctka-
Nikdya as an "aspect" (P. dl;ara), in the Abhidhannakoia (Chap.
IX) as an "alternative" (5. kolika), iii Candrakirti's lvfadliyama-
kduatdra as a "piece" (S. atyia), in the Mahdtyutpatti as a'opeak"
{iikhara).
Those viervsare applied in four \\,aysto each of the five aggre-
gates to give a total of trventy. since the listing of the twenty
aspectsshou'sin each casean observingof self (dtman)in a r,vrong
manner, it arnounts to a commentary on the waywardness (S.
uiparydsa) in the traditional statement, taking as self what is non-
self. Asanga explicitly statesthis:a "Among those, the reifying
view is the waywardnessthat takes non-self to be self." Further-
more it is a 'oview" kind of waywardness.s
At the scripturai stage,we may consult the Indian edition edited
by Jagdish Kasyap of the Sarytyutta-Ir{ikdya,sect. 41, "Citta-
rJ. RanorR, "La satkdyadrqti d'aprds Vibhdqd, 8',, Melanges chinois et
bouddhique, I, l93l-32, p. 227-239.
zSeeAbhidharmakoia, Chap. V, La VarrfB PoussrN tr.,p. 15-17.
3So BntrrHU NAxauorr, The Path of Purification (Visuddhimag7a) by
Bhadantdcariya Buddhaghosa (Colombo, Ceylon, 1956).
4V. BuarrncHARyA, ed., The Yogacarabhfimi of Acarl,a Asanga (University
of Calcutta, 7957), text, p. 166.19: tatra satkdyadStir anatmany atmeti
viparydsall.
sFor the three stages of waywardness, including the "view" stage, cf.
ArBx and Hnmo Wavlraw, The Lion's Roar of Queen Srimata (Columbia
University Press, 1974), p. 102, note.
The TwentyReifyingViews(Sakkayadighi) 217

saqnyutta,"3. Dutiya-Isidatta-sutta,Vol. III, p.256, for the passage

beginning, "Well, then, your honor, how is there the reifying
view?" ("kathar.n puna, bhante, sakkayaditthi hoti" ti?). The
passagecontinues with the reply, in my translation:

In that, householder, the ordinary person (P. puthujjana)

who does not listen (to the Buddha's teaching), who does not
observe the nobles, who is not skilled in the doctrine of the
nobles, who is not trained in the doctrine of the nobles, who
does not observeillustrious persons,who is not skilled in the
doctrine of illustrious persons, who is not trained in the
doctrine of illustrious persons, regards form (rupa, or body)
as a self, or the self as having a form, or the self as in form, or
form as in the self; regardsfeeling as a self ... or feeling as in
the self; ideation as a self ... or ideation as in the self; motiva-
tion as a self ... or motivation as in the self; perception as a
self ... or perception as in the self. Thus, you should know,
householder, there is the reifying view.
'The
scripture continues' "Well, then, your honor, how is there no
reifying view?" And the reply: "trn that, householder,thenoble
disciple,who listens(to the Buddha's teaching) ... (and so on, with
the opposite of the foregoing statement, dorvn to). Thus, you
should know, householder,there is no reifying view." One may
find approximately the same statement in Majjhima-Nikaya,
(III, l7-18).
The scriptural style continues in the Dillhikatha which classifies
the views under "nihilistic views" (P. uccheda-di1trhi)or under
'oeternalistic
views" (P. sassata-dilthi).u The views, o'observes
form as a self," observesfeeling, ideation, motivation, percep-
tion, as a self, constitute "nihilistic views." The views, ooobserves
self as having form," "form as in self," "self as in form," with
analogous views for the other aggregates,namely, feeling, ideation,
motivation, and perception, constitute o'eternalisticviews." The
point of the classification seemsto be that since form (or, body)
in time perishes, the identification of self with form (rupa),like-
wise with the other aggregates, is the nihilistic view. On the

GTheonly editionavailableto me is AnNoro C. T.nyron,PaliText Society,

Palisambhidamaggd;Vol. I, 1905,p. 150.
218 Buddhist Insight

other hand, if self is other than form, by reason of having it,

form being in self, or self being in form, likewise self vis-a-vis the
other aggregates,then the fact that form perishes, likewise the
other aggregates,still leaves self to continue; and so this is the
eternalistic view of self. Thus, five of the aspects are nihilistic
views, and flfteen are eternalistic views.
The twenty are listed in the Dhammasangani.T Buddhaghosa's
commentary on that work, the Atthasdlini, has the remark:8
"A11 of them are to be consideredas blocking the way to the Path,
as not blocking the way to happy rebirth, and as that which is to
be slain by the First Path." By "First Path" is meant "Entering
the Stream."
For the tradition of Sanskrit Buddhism, we first notice Nagdr-
juna's Madhyamokakarikd, Chap. XXII, especially verse l, which
on first sight one would think to translate this way:e
The Tathagata is not the aggregates(5. skandha); not other
than the skandhas,' the skqndhas are not in him; nor he in
them; he does not possessthe skandhas. What, then, is the
Tathdgata?
But in the context of Candrakirti's Madhyamakduatdra, citing this
very verseunder YI,744,to Candrakirti points out that when one
takes this verse as having five terms, when applied to each of the
five aggregatesit would yield a total of twenty-five rather than the
traditional twenty. He denies that there are more than four
terms, and so we are forced to translate Ndgdrjuna's verse
diffetently:
The Tathagata is not the aggregates; also not other than the
aggregates(skandha), to wit, the aggregates are not in him,
nor he in them, nor does he possessthe aggregates. What,
then, is the Tathdgata?
Candrakirti's verses VI, 144-145 are especially devoted to the
zTr. by CanorrNpA. F. Rnvs Davros under title A BuddhistManual of
Ethics(London,1900),p. 259.
Psychological
aTr. by Pp MauNc TrN under title TheExpositor,ed. and rev. by Mns.
RHysDlvms (London,1958reprint),Vol. II, p. 457.
el-outsoE Ln Varies Poussnv,
Mulamadhyamakakarikas avecla Prasanna-
pada, p. 432: skandha na ndnyah skandhebhyo ndsmin skandhd na te;u sal.r/
tathigatah skandhavan na katamo 'fta tathdgata\.
lol-ours on La Var,rf,e PoussrN, Le Musdon,lgll, p.311,-312.
The TwentyReifyingViews(Sakkayaditthi) 219

topic, and are among the few verses of his Madhyamakduatdra

cited in the Subhd;itasarytgraha:11
The atman is not the rupa, nor does dtman have a rf,rpa,dtman
is not in rilpa, the riipa is not in dtman. Likewise, know all
the skandhas in four ways. These are held to be the twenty
pieces of the self-view.
These are the high peaks located on the large mountain of
reifying views. With the thunderbolt of enlightenment to
non-self, the self is rent asunder, and along with them (the
high peaks) the mountain of views collapses.
La Vall6e Poussin points out in the note what is the first modifica-
tion of position in comparison with the Pali Buddhism tradition
set forth above. That is to say, there are here two kinds of reify-
ing view; the first, the imagined (S. parikalpita), no longer exists
among those who have entered the stream, the First Path; but the
second kind, the "co-natal" (5. sahajS remains.l2 Tson-kha-pa,
in his native Tibetan commentary on the Madhyamakduatara,
Photo edition, PTT, Vol. 154, p. 89-4, explains that the one who
has entered the stream has given up the bad doctrinal systems,
and so no longer has the "imagined" kind of reifying view. The
more subtle form of "reifying view," is still there.
Now we move to the Mahavyutpatti dictionary, where in the
Sakaki edition, item No. 4684 is the title, S. uirytiati-iikhara-
samudgatah.satkdyadr,rli-iailalt (the mountain of reifying views,
high with trventy peaks). The twenty follow:
1. Form (5. rupa) is a self like a prince (suami).
2. The self has a form like an adornment (alankara).
3. Form belongs to self like a servant (bhTtya).
4. The self is in form like a pot (bhaiana).
5. Feeling (5. uedand)is a self.
6. The self has feeling.
7. Feeling belongs to the self.
8. The self is in feeling.
9. Ideation (S. sary{fi.a)is a self.
lrlbid.,p. 312-313.
tzSeeAbhidharmakoid,Chap.V, tr., p. 41,for an old Abhidharmatheoryof
Rahder,"La satkayadrpti,"
the two kinds. Furthermore, p.239,pointsout
that the Brahmajala-sutra says that the satkayadr;li is the root of all the sixty-
two false views.
 Buddhist Insight

10. The self has ideation.

11. Ideation belongsto the self.
12. The self is in ideation.
13. Motivation (5. sarytskaralisa self.
14. The self has motivation.
15. Motivation belongs to self.
15. Motivation is in self.
17. Perception {5. uijiiana) is a self.
18. The self has perception.
19. Perception belongs to the self.
20. The self is in perception.

Virritadeva, in his Vinaya-uibhafiga-pada-uydkhyana,part of his

commentary on the "Fourth Defeat" (PTT, YoL 122,p. 310-1,2),
gives the iist of trventy as in the Mahauyutpatti, and, moreover,
repeats for each of the aggregatesthe similes, "like a prince,"
"like an adornment," "like a servant," and "like a pot." Since
his is a commerfiary on the words of the Vinayauibhanga(of the
Millasarvdstivddin Vinaya), it follows that in all likelihood the
Mahdryutpatti list stems from this Vinaya, r,vhichrvas the only
Vinaya acceptedin Tibet. Vinitadeva, p. 310-1-4,explains that
the reifying vier,vsare said to be like a mountain becausethey are
difficult to shatter. Candrakirti s expression "thunderbolt of
enlightenment" (bodhakulria) also occurs in Vinitadeva's account
by the same Tibetan translation, and with the explanation, "be-
cause the defilementsthat are simultaneously destroyed are eli-
minated by the path of vision (dariana-mdrga)."
Notice the difference from the Pali formulation of the four
terms, which obey a pattern of quasi-inflections, "nominative,"
"genitive," "locative", "locative", as follows:
X is a self,
or the self has X,
or the self is in X.
or X is in the self.
The Mahauyutpotti in common with the Mfrlasarvistivddin
Vinaya has a list with apattern of quasi-inflections, "nominative,"
"genitive," oogenitive,""locative," as follows:

X is a self,
or the self has X.
TheTwentyReifyingViews(Sakkayaditthi) 22t

or X belongs to the self,

or the self is in X.
In short, the Mahauyutpatti reversesthe third and fourth aspects,
and substitutes "X belongs to the self" for "oX is in the self."
While this is a definitely formal departure from the old pdli
Buddhist formulation, still in terms of the division into "nihilistic
views" and "eternalistic vier,vs" it would make no difference.
This is becausein the Mahduyutpattt account, the first one would
also be "nihilistic view" and the next three, all involving the self
as "other," would be "eternalistic" just as in the Patisambhi-
damagga,n.b., if indeed the Mahauyutpatti list belongs to atradi-
tion which is classifying the twenty vielvs, as "nihilistic" or
"eternaiistic", but this is not borne out.
Rahder's article shows that the vibhdsd cites the Abhidharma
work Jfidnaprasthdnawhich takes five of the views to be "view of
self" (dtnnadrgli), and the remaining f,fteen to be "view of
what belongs to self" (atmtyadr,rli); that this work mentions that
the Buddha expressedthe list of twenty views, and that Sdriputra
when explaining thern did not divide them into dtmadr5li and,
dtrniyadrsli.L' It then appears that Sdriputra's explanation is
the one found in the Palisarnbl'aidctunagga, with the division into
"nihilistic views" and "eternalistic views." The Jiidnaprasthdna
classification also furnishes a reason for the differencebetween the
Mahduyutpatti list and the P51iliterary tradition, which is that the
interpretation of the second, third, and fourth aspectsas dtmiya-
dr.rli favors the reinterpretaiion that substitutes"X belongs to the
self" for "X is in the self." Hence, the Jiianaprasthdna is here
consistentwith the Mfilasarvastivadin Vinaya tradition preserved
in Vinitadeva's commentary and with the Mahduyutpatti list.la
We may now conclude that Ndgirjuna in his Madhyamaka-
kdrikd, Chap. XXII, is faithful to the old Buddhist scripture-
he was probably using the canon known as the four Agamas,
including the Sarytyuktdgama-in that he uses the four terms, o'X
is a self," or 'otheself has X," or "the self is in X," or "X is in the

13RAHDER, "La satkdyaolqti," pp. 228-229.

14trnagreementwith this conclusion,notice th:rt the Vibha;a,perRahder, o.La
satkdyadp.;{i,"p.231, usesthe ternrinology,(1) rlrpa is the 6tman,and so on,
including, (2) vedand is the ornament of dtman,(3) vedana is the servant of
dtman, (4) vedandis the receptacleof dtman.
222 BuddhistInsight

self," but of course denies each of them. Furthermore, in my

retranslation of his verse XXII, 1, deciding that "not other" is a
covering expression for denying the next three terms, we should
note that Ndgirjuna has no implication of "not belonging to."
Passing to Candrakirti, he is presumably familiar with the alter-
nate tradition and affected by it sufficiently to empioy the termi-
nology of a mountain with twenty peaks that is shattered by the
"thunderbolt of enlightenment" (bodhakuliia); but since he is
following Ndgdrjuna's school, the Mddhyamika, he does not
depart from this in favor of the list r,vhichmade its way into the
Mahduyutpatti.
One may appreciate further this distinction by noticing Ndgdr-
juna's treatrnent of the topic in Madhyamaka-kdrikd,XYIII, l-2.
Thus, verse 1: "If the self were the aggregates(5. skandha), it
would be subject to arising and passing away. trf it were other
than the aggregates,it would exclude the characteristic of aggre-
g&tes."ls And verse 2: "When there is no self, how will there
be what belongs to self ! By cessationof self and what belongs to
'I' or 'mine.' " Nd,gdrjunaexpressesin these
self, there is neither
versesti.vo quite different problems. Cessation of self automati-
caily ends what belongs to self, bnt cessationof self per se does
not end rvhat is other than self.16 Therefore, for him, the inter-
pretation of the twenty aspects of the reifying view as a matter
of self and other than self is incompatible with interpreting them
as a matter of self and what belongs to self.rz For Ndgarjuna,
apparently in agreement with Sariputra, if indeed he is responsi-
ble for what was recorded in the Palisambhiddmagga,the reifying
view is not restricted to self and what belongs to self, but applies
to self and what is other than self. Therefore. for him the

15For the last part of the verse: bhaved askandhalak$(tah. Candrakirti's

Prasannapadacommentary,text, p. 343.2,3explains:lyathahi gor anyo 'fvo
na golak;a1tobhavatil "Just as a horse, being other than a cow, excludes
the cow characteristic."
16Asin Candrakirti's illustration, when a cow characteristicpassesaway,this
providesno information on what happensto a horse characteristic.
1?Inshort, Ndgdrjuna'sverseXXII, 1, citeCabove(note 9) showsa rejeciion
of the Abhidharma position espoused by Vasubandhu, Abhidharmakoia,
Chap.V. tr., p. 17,who, restrictingthesatkayadr;titobeliefin "I" and o'mine"
shows an agreement with the Abhidharma tradition of t}:reJfianaprasthana,
and so on, as was discussedabove.
The TwentyReifyingViews(Sakkayaditthi) 223

"kdyA" of the satkdyady,i/i is not only the personal aggregates

(5, skandha), but also anything that is other.than those personal
aggregates that could be understood as kdya (accumulation).
This is consistent with classifying the 4X5 views as "nihilistic"
or "eternalistic," since "nihilistic views" are other than"eternal-
istic views," and the ending of one set does not entail the ending
of the other set, as would be the casewhen ending the view of self,
the view of what belongs to self also ends.
The present writer hopes the foregoing can be considered the
modest advance promised at the outset.
 11

Wi-{O UNIDERSTANDS TF{E FOUR

AI-T"ERNATIVES OF TI{E BUDDHIST TEXTS ?

INtRopucrroN
The Buddhist four alternatives are often referred to by their
sanskrit naine cctuskoli, and given in the form that something is,
is not, both is and is not, neither is nor is not, with observation
that each of theseterms may be denied. As we proceed we shall
see that this is not the oniy manner of presenting a catu;koli.
since so many authorities and scholars of ancient and modern
times have discussedthis cardinal matter, sometimesheatedly, it
is not possibie to deal rvith all the previous studies. Certain dis-
cussions wiil be considered herein within the scope of my five
sections: I. The four alternatives and logic, II. The four alter-
natives in a disjunctive system, III. The four alternativesapplied
to causation, each denied, IV. The four alternatives applied to
existence,each denied, v. The three kinds of catugkoti,various
considerations.
My findings differ from those of the western schorarsthat have
come to my notice, and the differences stem frorn my having
published a translation of Tibetan work that deals in several
places with the formulal. In fact, Tson-kha-pa's separationof

rTsor.r-t<rrn-pA's
Lam rfm chenmo, the sections"calming the Mind and
Discerning
theReal."Thefour-alternatives
discussionoccursin theo'Discern-
ing the ReAl" section. see A. wavuaN calming the Mind and Discerning the.
Real (Columbia University, New York, 1978),
226 BuddhistInsight

the causation and existence aspects of four alternatives,each

denied, goes back to AtiSa (l lth century), who in hrs Bodhimorga-
pradipa-paiijika-nama presents four ways of realizing insight
{prajfia), as follows:2
(1) the principle that denies existence by four alternatives
(discussedin section IV herein).
(2) the principle called "diamond grain" (uajrakaqa). He
illirstrates this in his text by Ndgarjuna's Madhyamaka-karika
(M.K.), I. 1, with alternativesapplied to causation (discussed
in section III herein).
(3) the principle free from singleness and multiplicity. He
appeals to such an author as Santideva (especially his Badhi-
caryauatara, Chap. IX).
{4) the principle of Dependent Origination (pratityassmut-
pAds). Here he means, for example, that the dkqrmas arise
dependently and are void of self-existence.

AtiSa's classificationis revealing of the meditative use put to the

denial of four alternativeswhen applied to causation or to exis-
tence. The fact, then, that his listing does not allude to the dis-
junctive systemof the four alternatives,that I discussin sectionII,
may be simply becausethis systemwas not put to meditative use.
The tivo topics of causation and existencerelate to Buddhist
teachings that are essentially distinct. Thus, in Buddhism the
problem of how aTathagata or Buddha arisesby reason of merit
and knowledge, that is, the problem of cause,is distinct from the
problem of the existence, for exampie, of the Tathagata after
death. Naturatrly, the causal topic is first, since a Tathagata trras
to have arisenbefore there is a point to inquiring whether he exists
after death. Historically, the first topic represents what the
Buddha preferred to talk about, and the second topic includes
matters which the Buddha sometimesrefused to talk about.
As suggestedeariier,my main sourcesare from Asian languages.
I ail also indebted to certain Western writers, namely, Hermann
Weyl for the limitations of symbolic systems,Bernard Bosanquet
for treatment of disjunctive statements, and Willard Van Orman
'ologic" (bibliography herein).
Quine for his use of the world

2Thepassage
is in the TibetanTanjur,photoedition,vol. 103,pp. 39-4-8
to 40-2-2.
 who understandsthe Four Alternatives
of the BuddhistTexts? 227

1. TnB Foun ArrrnNarrvEs AND Locrc

Jayatilleke says, 'othere is little evidence that Nagdrjuna under-
stood the logic of the four alternativesas formulated and utilized
in early Buddhism."s This scholar v,rasnot content with putting
down Nagdrjuna, founder of the Mddhyamika school; for he
concludes that scarcely any western scholars, ciassical Indian
scholars, or modern Indian and Japanese writers have compre-
hended tiris logic either. Richard F{. Robinson. one of the
western scholars whose theories on the matter were rejected for
the most paft by Jayatilleke,subsequentlyreplieclto him,a among
other things, questioning the use of the word 'ologic" to refer to
the four alternatives. F{e hacl written an article entitled, ,,some
Logical Aspects of Nagarjuna's System,,,swhich included a dis-
cussion of the four alternatives, and incruded a section entitled
"Nagarjuna's Logic" in his book (Earty Madhyainika...\.a
chataiian, in turn, assertsthat Robinson dicl not justify his use
of the word "logic" in his book.z wjriie agreeingwith chatalian
thus far, I am still puzzled by Robinson and Chatalian for their
overattention to other persons'use of the word ,,logic.,,
euine
points out that while writers have used the term ..logic', with
varying scope, a common part of their usageis called ..the science
of necessaryinference", although he admits that this is a vague
description.8 F{e then states that it is less vague to call logical
certain locutions, including "if,', ,,then,,, ,,ar\d,,, ,,or',, .,not',,
ttunless", ttscnlet',
"alltt, ttevery", "arry", ,,itrr, gtc. Furth.er-
more, he metrtions that a set pattern of ernploying theselocutions

3K. N. JavannrBrE,'orhe Logic of Four Alternatives,,' philosophyEast

and Vf/est, ,.Logic,'.
17: 1967):82; hereaftercited as Jayatilleke,
aRIcnaRo H. RostNsot't,book review of Jayatilieke,
Early BucldhistTheory,
PhilosophyEast and west 19, no. 1 (Jan., 1969):72-8tr.,seeespecialiy 75-76;
hereaftercited as Robinson, book-review.
sRrcnARo H. R-onnvsoN, 'osome
Logical Aspects of Ndgarjunaossystem,"
"Philosophy East and West 6, no. 4 (Jan. 1957): 291-30g.
GRtcnano H. RosNsoN, Early Mcdhyamika in India
and chirua (Madison,
wisc.: The University of wisconsin press, 1967),pp. 50-5g: hereafter Robin-
son, Early Madhyamika.
7G. cnlrnlrAN, 'oA study of R. H. Robinson's Early
Madhyamika in
India and china," Journal of Indian philosophy I (i,g7z), section II, Logic and
Argument, pp. 315-325.
8lvrrrlno vaN onuax
Qunr, Elementary Logic (New york: Harper &
Row, 1965),pp. 1-3.
228 BuddhistInsight

allows us to speak of the logical structure. This is tantamount

to saying that every grammatical English sentencein the indicative
mood has a logical structure. Then, when Ndgd,rjuna writes
(Macthyamaka-kdrikd, XV[I, 8), in an English translation,
"all is genuine or is not genuine-" this has a logical structure.
Indeed, every statement with the paltern, "Every X is an a ot
& b," has the same logical structure. Quine further qualifies a.
statement as logically true if its logical structure alone yields
'ologic" involves truth and
truth; and thus his use of the term
falsehood in this sense. Other writers have used such terms as
..formally valid," "analytic proposition", or "tautology" as
closely related to this usage of "logic.o'e Accordingly, the
application ofsymboliclogic to Ndgdrjuna's statements,to prove
them logically true or false, goes along with such a title as "the
logic of the four alternatives": and this application of symbolic
logic has been engagedin by H. Nakamura, Robinson' Jayatilleke,
R. S. Y. Chi, among others, including Shohei Ichimura in h.is
recent dissertatioo,"A Study on Nigarjuna's Method of Refuta-
tion." It does seem that both Jayatilleke and Robinson were
justified in using the term "logic" in a study of these matters
when tirey employed symbolic logic.
This still leavesthe important problem of whether Ndgarjuna's
statements are indeed logically true, and thus have truth or false-
ness according to their logical structure regardless of content,
regardlessof what is given. By "given," what is meant here is
the usual "granted, assumed." This involves a problem of
translation, becausewhen Ndgd,rjuna's statements are assumedto
be at hand, the rnere fact that there are marks on a page in th-e
English language purported to be his statements does not prove
that tl-ley faithfully relay Nd:girjuna's intention by marks on a
page in the original Sanskrit language. Here there are two
pointr: If the statements do not have an easily isolated logical
^structure,
it is hazardous and probably contraindicatod to apply
symbolic logic. Even if they do have an easily isolated logical
one
structure, one asks if they are also so complicated that
to sift or sho'v truth and
requires a symbolic representation
falsehood.
eCoNrER,HsnulNN WEYL, Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science
as
(Princeton,N. J.: Princeton University Press,1949),p' 13; hereaftercited
Weyl, PhilosoPhY.
 of the BuddhistTexts?
the Four Alternatives
Who Understands 229

We may start to solve this problem with its two points, by

Iecourse to Weyl's remarks regarding "constructive cognition":10
"By the introduction of symbols the assertionsare split so that
one part of the [mental] operations is shifted to the symbols and
theleby made independent of the given and its continued existence.
Thereby the free manipulation of conceptsis contrastedwith their
applicatiotr, ideas become detached from reality and acquire a
relative independeltce." Thus Weyl, an eminent mathematician,
is frank to admit that the pule operations of mathematics are
independent of the existenceof the given. In the case of the
catupko!i, the given is a rather considerable corpus of material
in the Pdli scriptures and then in Ndgd,rjuna'sworks, not to speak
of contributions by later Asian authors. And there is the assump-
tion that this corpus is at hand in a translated form of English
sentencesthat are susceptible,in whole or part, of being converted
from their natural form to the artificial language of a symbolic
system.
Now to the first point. Let us assumethat the catuskoli state-
merrts do not have an isolatable logical structure, and yet sym-
bolic logic is utilized. If one would grant the applicability of
Weyl's remarks. even if there were a valid utilization of symbolic
logic, it could not account for the full corpus of the given, as the
'"given"
has been explicated earlier. So it may be merely a
sectionor subsetof the given whose logical structure is not isolat-
able. But then the application of symbolic logic is a matter of
mastering the art of the symbols. And so one may presumethat
it is an arrogated comprehensionof the -siven-although in fact
the symbols are independent,partially or rvholly, of the given-
whereby an undeniably brilliant rvriter as Jayatilleke takes the
stance that he virtually alone understands "the logic of the four
alternatives," while claiming that such a renowned author as
Ndgdrjuna cannot understand it ! Or claiming that a modern
writer like Robinson cannot undersfand, because he does not
apply the formal symbolic system right, that is, has not mastered
the art. Thus the symbolic system becomes a vested interest,
the usersjealous of its misuse,while they champion its misappli-
cation to the given, and even to what may not be at hand, for
example, a correct translation of a passagefrom an ancient text.

loWEYL, Philosophy, pp. 37-38.

230 BuddhistInsight

Then to the second poirrt. I do not propose to denigrate, in

general, the employment of symbolic systems for representing
propositions of Indian philosophy. But are the catuskoli state-
ments so complicated that a symbolic restatement is necessary,
with the implication of an understanding already at hand to
certify the necessity? Perhaps there is working a psychological
factor which could be called '"wonder." what mathernatics
student getting the "right answer" with calculus has not at tirnes
felt a wonder at the ability of the mathematics-beyond his
native capacities-s&y, to determine the interceptedvolume of the
cone? As Buytendijk has been cited: "wonder is charactefized,
by a halting of the thing observed. This halting, which men call
attention, is at the same time permeated by a premonition that
light may be shed on this thing."' But this premonition of
light thrcugh the symbolic system is a will-o'-the-wisp, a subtle
infatuation. Becauselight can only be shed on the given, and the
symbolic system is independent, in whole or part, of the given
as it has been describedearlier. rt is like a person fascinated by
a brilliant lamp and therefore is not seeing anything illumined
by the lamp. The master of the art is hirnself masteredand uses
the symbolism willy-nilly: even for the simplest computation,
he needsthe computer. For centuriesthe Buddhists believedthat
the given of the four alternatives,including the traditional exegesis,
provides sufficient material for understanding-if a person can
understand. Some of the modern writers have rendered the
discussions into an artificial language, and then have dwelt on
false issuesof whether this or that scholar's formulation is a
'ologic."

II. Tnr Foun ArrrnN,qrrvrs rN a DlsruNCTrvESysrEu

Here by a "disjunctive system" is meant a system of statements

subject to the judgment 'oA is either B or c." Either B or c is
left and one of these two is excluded. Such a juclgment appears
to be involved in the Indian syllogism, whose "reason" (hetu)
is relevant to the "thesis" (sddhya)when the case referred. to in
the thesis is agreed to be present in similar casesand absent in

llconNpus vsnuosvrx, The Philosophyof wonder trans. Mary Foran

(NewYork: TheMacmillanCompany,1967), p. 38.
Who Understands
the Four Alternatives
of the BuddhistTexts? 23I

dissimilar cases.12Anyway, the disjunctive judgment is a forin

of inference (anumdna), and for a particular system it is necessary
to state the rule of the disjunction. Jayatilieke has shown that
various systemsof four alternativesfouird in the early Buddhist
texts are in a disjunctive systemwhose rule seemsto be that when
one of the alternatives is taken as "true" the rest are certainly
false. He points to such systemsas: "A person is wholly happy...
unhappy;...both happy and unhappy;...neither huppy nor
unhappy". "X is a person who torments himself; ... torments
others; ... both torments himself as well as others; ...who neither
torments himself nor othetrs".13 Bosanquet has an apt illustra-
tion:1a "f supposethat the essenceof such a systemlies in arrange-
ments for necessarilyclosing every track io all but one at a time
of any tracts which cross it or converge into it. The track X
receivestrains fiom A, B, C, D; if the entranceforthosefrom
A is open, B, C, and D are ipsofacto closed; if A, B, and C are
closed,D is open, and so on."
But the matter is not without complications. The Pali work
Kathduqtthu recards a dispute between the two Buddhist sects
Theravdda and Andhaka about the nature of the meditative
state which is called in Pali neuasafiiidnasafiiiayatana(thebase of
neither the safifia nor non-rafifia), where saiid means something
like "idea", and the disagreement was over the presence
or absenceof safifitiin that state. The section concludeswith an
appeal to the case of the "neutral feeling" (the neither-pleasure-
nor-pain), thus consistent with the traditional Indian syllogism
which uses, as example, something well known to society
(lokaprasiddha). Just as it rvould not be cogent to ask if that
neutral feeling were either pleasureor pain, so is it not proper to
assert there either is or is not sqfifid on the basis of neither the
safiiid nor non-.rqfifid.taThis conclusion agrees with the previous
observation that only one of the four alterna+"ives is the case at a

tzCoNFER, Tn. SrcnenBATSKy, Buddhist Logic (New York: Dover Pubiica.

tion, 1962), vol. 1, pp.242-245.
l3JayarnrEKr, "Logico', pp. 70-7l.
14BeRN.lno Bos,rNeurr, The Essentials of Logic (London: Macmillan and
Co., 1948), p.125: hereafter Bosanquet, The Essentlals of Logic.
lsCoNrnR in translation of the Kathavatthu, Points of Controversy, by Shwe
Zan Aung and Mrs. Rhys Davids (London: Pali Text Society, 1915),
pp. 155-156, where the term safifid is rendered "consciousness."
232 Buddhist Insight

particular time. Besides, we learn that the "neither...nor"

alternative points to a neutrality with indeterminate content.
Jayatilleke quito properly explains tb.e third alternative: "S is
partly P and partly non-P".16 Thus for the content of the third
alternative, stated as "the universe is both fiuite and infinite,"
the Braimta-jdla Sutta explainsthis as wh.enone h.asthe idea (safifil)
that the world is finite in the upward and downward direc-
tions, and has the idea that the world is infinite across. In
agreement, Ndgdrjuna states in his Madhyamaka-kcirika,
XX V I I , 17-18:

If the same place (elcadeia)that is divine were the same place

that is human, it would be (both) permanent and imperma-
nent. That is not feasible. If "both th"epermanent and the
impermanent" were proven, one must also grant that the pair
"neither the permanent nor the impermanent" is ilroven.

One should note about this passage(Jayatillekemistranslatesand

misunderstandsit),17that Ndgarjuira does not here deny au aiter-
native of "both the permanent and the imperrnanent" per se;
he deniesthis for one and the sameplace.This can be illustrated
by his own verse(MK XXV, 14, cited later),implying thatniruana
is presentin the Buddha and absentin ordinary persons,but not
present and absent in the same place. Nagarjuna, in the present
verses (XXVII, 17-lB), also makes explicit his position that the
fourth alternative (neither the permanent nor the impermanent)
is derived from the third one, and that tire third one (both the
permanent and the impermanent ) combines the presumed first
one (the permanent) and the second one (the impermanent).
This brings up Ndgarjuna's remarkable verse (MK XVIII, 8):
AII (sarua)is genuine (tathyahl),78or is not genuine,or is both
genuineand not genuine,or is neither genuinenor not-genuine.
That is the ranked instruction (aruSdsana)of the Buddha.

Accorclingto Candrakirti's comment ary "all" means the person-

ality aggregates(skandha), the realms (dhdtu), and the sensebases

l6Ja,varttrErt, "Logic," p. 79.

1zlbid., p. 82.
18My rendition 'ogenuine" is close to the dictionary. Confer, the negative
forms atathya ("untrue, unreal") and avitatha ("not untrtte, not futiie").
 the Four Alternativesof theBuddhistTexts?
Who Understands 233

(dyatana).ls See,along the same lines, Kalupahana's discussion2o

about the "Discourse on "Everything' " (Sabbasutta), available
both in the Pali canon and in the Agama version in Chinese
translation. Therefore the word "aIl" in Ndgd:rjuna's verse
amounts to "anything," where the "anything" is any entity chosen
from th.eset of "all" entities according to the Buddhist meaning,
as just expounded.This agreeswitil Bosanquet'sobservation that
the content of the disjunctive judgment "A is either B or C"
"is naturally taken as an individual, being necessarilyconcrete."21
Next, the interpretation of the word anuidsana as "ranked
o'marvels"
instruction" comes from observing it among the three
(prdtihdrya) of the Buddha's teaching. of which the f,rst one is
o'magical performance" (rddhi), the second is "mind readingo',
(ddeiand), and the third, "ranked instruction" (anuidsana),
apparently made possible by the preceding "mind reading."zz
This interpretation is confirmed in Vasubandhu's Buddhdnttsmrti'
likd, saying in part, ".. .with the three kinds of marvels observing
the streams of consciousnessof the noble Sdriputra, and so on,
and of otirer fortunate sentientbeings,teachesthe true nature of
the Sravakayanaexactly accordingto their expectationsand th.eir
potentialities."2s Th.is only clarifies rvhy Candrakirti's com-
mentary on th.e verse interprets it as a ranking, and not vrhy his
commentary interprets the ranking as follows:

(a) The Buddha taught to u,crldly beings the personal aggre-

gates,tlie realms,and sensebases,with their various enumera-
tions, in a manner that "all is genuine" ir. order to lead them
onto the path by having them admire his omniscienceabout
all these elements. (b) After these beings had come to trust

teln translation, see J. W. oe JoNG, Cinq chapitres dela Prasannapada (Paris:

Paul Geuthner, 1949), p. 27: "il a enseign6 que ces agr6gats, 6l6ments et
bases ... sont vrais." Hereafter cited as de Jong Cinq chapitres.
20D. J. KaLup.qFraNA, "A Buddhist Tract onEmpiricism," Philosophy East
and West 19, no. 1 (Jan., 1969), 65-67.
ztThe Essentlals of Logic pp. 123-124.
22See FnlNrrrN EoceRToN, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary,p. 392,
undet pratiharya. Here the form anuiasani is used.
2 s T i b e t a nT a n j u r , p h o t o e d i t i o n , v o l . 1 0 4 , p p . 3 3 - 5 - 8t o 3 4 - 1 - 1 : . . ' p h a g s p a
Sa-ri'i bu la sogs pa dan/de las glan pa skal pa dan ldan pa.rnams kyi sems
'phrul gsumbstan pas
can gyi rgyud la gzigs nas cho bsam pa ji lta ba dahl
skal pa ji lta ba bZin du ffan thos kyi theg pa'i chos flid ston cin...1
234 BuddhisrInsight

the Lord, it was safe to inform them about all those divisions
of the world that "all is not genuins", i.e. "all is spurious",
because they rnomentarily perish and charrge. (c) Certain
select disciples could be told 'all is both genuine and not-
genuine'. That is, that the sarne element which is genuine
to the ordinary person is not-genuine or spurious to the
noble person who is the Buddha's disciple. He tells them
this, so they may become detached,i.e. not see it in just one
way. (d) To certain advanced disciples, far progressed in
viewing reality and scarcely obscured, he taught that "all is
neither genuine nor not-genuioe", just as in the case of the
son of a barren woman, one assertsthat the son is neither white
nor black ( : non-white;.zc

However, he seems to be following, in his own way, the four

"allegories" or "veiled intentions" (abhisarltdhi) which are listed
and then defined in the Mahaydna-Sutrdlarykara, XII, 16-17.25
The f,rst one is auatdrarya-abhi"(the veiled intention so they will
enter), expiained as teaching that form, and sc forth, is existent,
so as not to scare the irduakas from entering the Teaching. The
second one is lolr,rana-abltio (the veiled intention about the
character, namely, of dharmas), explained as teaching that all
dharmas are ri'ithout self-existence,without origination, etc.
The third one is pratipak,ta-abhi" (the veiied intention about
opponents, namely, to faults), explained as teaching by taking
into account the taming of faults. So far these terms agreequite
well with Candrakirti's exposition. For example, in the case of
the third one, the application to Ndgarjuna's line "all is both
genuine and not-genuine" is the opposition (pratipaksa) to the
fault of one-sidedness. It is the fourth one whose relevance is
obscure: this is the pari4dmana-abhi" (the veiled intention about
changeover, namely, to reality). In illustration, the Sutra-
larytkdracites a verse: "Those who take the pithless as having
a pith abide in waywardness. Those who are mortified with the
pains [for austere endeavor] [abide] in the best enlightenment."
Candrakirti is at least partially consistent by saying 'oto certain

2aI have summarized.In full translation,seede Jong, Cinq chapitres

pp. 27-28.
zsAsanga: Mahdyana-Sutralafnkara, 6dite par Sylvain L6vi (Paris , 1907),,
p. 82.
Who Understands
the Four Alternatives
of the BuddhistTexts? 235

advanced disciples, far progressed in viewing reality," because

these ones would take the pithless as pithless.
Jayatilleke26refers to the samepassageof Candrakirti's and to
a different commentary on Nagaijuna's verse in the Prajiia-
pdramitoidstra, both as presented in Robinson's book,zz to den.y
that in th.everse cited above, the four alternativesare in a "rela-
tion of exclusivedisjunction" a{Ldto claim that they amount to
the non-Buddhist relativistic logic of the Jains. However,
Candrakirti's commentary is consistent with Nagarjuna's
MK XXVII,17-18 (translatedearlier, herein) concerning the depen-
dence of the subsequentalternative on the previous one or ones.
Jayatilleke's hostility to Candrakirti's commentary on the verse
may stem from the modern Theravadin's reluctance to attribute
a ranked instruction to the Buddha. ordinarily the canonical
passagecited in this connectionis, as Thomas rendersit: "Buddha
replied, "What does the O'der expect of me? I have taught the
Doctrine without making any inner and outer, and herein the
Tathagata has not the closed fist of a teacher with regard to
doctrines.' ')28 From the modern Theravddin standpoint, Candra-
kirti's explanation attributes to the Buddha precisely such an
inner and outer, becauseit portrays the Buddha teaching worldly
beings (: the outer) in the realistic manner, and then teaching
those beings once they had become disciples (: the inner) in the
illusional manner. And going on with a still different teaching to
certain advanced disciples. But that same scriptural passage
from the traditional, last sermon of the Buddha could be taken
differently than it usually is, and perhaps consistently with
Ndgdrjuna's verseas Candrakirti understood it. That is because
the original Pali (Digha-Nikdya, ii, 100) reads: mayd dhammo
qnantaraLnabdhirary karitud ("By me was the Dhamma preached
without inner, without outer"). The phrase "without inner,
without outer" can be restated as "with neither an inner nor an
outer." And then just as the "neutral feeling" (neither pleasure
nor pain) is not either pleasure or pain, so also one could not
determine if the Buddha's doctrine was either inner or outer.

26J,qyA,rtttEKE, o'Logic," p. 82.

2TRoerNsoN, Early Madhyamika. pp. 56-57.
z8Eow.q,RoJ. THouas, The Life of Buddha (New York: Barnes & Noble,
7952), p. 146.
236 BuddhistInsight

and one homogeneous character, wearisome by repetition of the

same doctrine over and over again. Ndgdrjuna's verse, by use
of the word anuiasano,seemsto mean that the Tathagata, without
the closed fist, would gladly communicate in a graduated manner
so that disciplesin different stagesof progresscould have a teach-
ing suited to their particular level. While this position may not
be agreeableto some rnodern exponents of the Theravadatradi-
tion, it is not a "Mahaydna" quarrel rvith the earlier "Flinaydna"
school, becausealso Buddhaghosa of the Theravdda tradition in
his Atthasalini insists that the Buddha's teaching was fittingly
modified in accordance with the varying inclinations of both
men and gods.2e

III. THn Foun ArrrnNarrvEs AppLrEDro CauslrroN.

Eacu Dnuro
Starting with the Buddh.a'sfirst sermon, the four Noble Truths
have been a basic ingredient of tsuddhist thinking and attitudes.
Of theseTruth.s,the first is the Noble Truth of Suffering; and of
th.e fourth Truth, the Noble Truth of Path explairied rvith eight
members, the first member is called "right views" (sam1,ag-drpti).
Sometimes "right views" \\/ere establishedby determining and
eliminating the wrong t iervs. So in the Pdli Samyutta-Nikaya
(II, l9-21),so the Buddha, replying to questions by Kassapa
(KdSyapa),denied that suffering is causedby oneself,by another,
by both oneselfand another, or neither by oneselfnor by another.
Then, in answer to further questions,the Buddha stated that he
knows suffering and seesit. Then Kassapa asked the Buddha
to explain suffering to him, and was told that claiming the suffer-
ing was done by oneselfamounts to believingthat one is the same
person as before, which is the eternalistic view; while claiming
that the experiencerof the suffering is different from the one who
causedit, amounts to the nihilistic view. Thereupon the Buddha
tanght the Dharma by a mear1 namely, the seriesof tr,velvemem-
bers which begin with the statement"having nescienceascondition

zsTheExpositor (Atthasalinr), trans. Pe Maung Tin, edited and revisedby

Mrs. Rhys Davids, vol. I atd 2 (London: Luzac & Company, 1958reprint),
l:246: 2:318-31,9.
soAscited by I. B. HonNER,BuddhistTexts Throughthe Ages,ed.byEdward
Conze (Oxford: Bruno Cassirer,1954),pp. 68-69,and my summary.
Who Understandsthe Four Alternativesof the Buddhist Texts? 237

the motivations arise" and continue with' similar statements

through the rest of dependent origination (pratitya-samutpdda).
The Buddha proceededto teach that by the cessationof nescience,
the motivations cease,and so on, with the cessationof this entire
mass of suffering. In agreernent, Ndgirjuna's Madhyamaka'
kdrikd, I, 1 states:
There is no entity anywhere that arises from itself, from an-
other, from both (itself and another), or by chance.

In this casethe given elernentis called the "entity" (bheua). The

first two of the denied atternatives have the given element of
"cessation" (nirodha) in MK YtrI, 32. The element is "suffering"
(duhkha) or "externat entity" (bdhya-bhdva)in MK XII' The
meaning of the denial here is aptly stated by Bosanquet: "Nega-
tion of'a disjunction would mean throwing aside the whole of
some definite group of thoughts as fallacious, and going back to
begin again with a judgment of the simplest kind. It amounts
to saying. 'None of your distinctions touch the point; you must
begin afresh."'31 In the discourse to Kassapa, Io begin afresh
amounts to accepting "dependent origination." This is also
Ndgdrjuna's position, follorving the ancient discourse to Katyd-
yana, as mentioned later in the Madhyamaka-kdrika, and as
stated in Candrakirti's Madhyamakduatara,VI, 114:

Since entities do not arise by chance, (i.e.) from a lord, and so

on (primal matter, time, atoms, suabhdua,Purusa, Nirayanat
etc.), or from themselves,others, or both (themselvesand
others) then they arise in dependence (ot causes and
conditions).32

Besides, to begin afresh amounts to the establishmentof void-

ness(lunyata), for so the Anauatapta (ndgardja)pariprccha is cited:
..Any (thing) that is born (in dependence)on conditions, is not
born (to wiQ: The birth of this (thing) does not occur by self-
existence (suabhdua). Any (thing) that is dependent on condi-
tions, is declared void. Any person who understands voidness,

slBosANQUur, The Essentials o.f Logic, p. 125.

s2Here translated from the Tibetan in the context of TsoN-rcra-pa's
o'Discerning the Real" section. See Wayman, Calming the
Lam rim chen rno,
Mind and Discerning the Real.
 238 BuddhistInsight

is heedful."33 since Ndgdrjuna begins his Madltyamaka-karikd

with this theory of causation,it is reasonableto assumethat it is
essentialfor the rest of his work. Also, since voidness ((Sunyatd)
is establishedin the course of the causal denials, it is taken for
granted in the denial in tcrms of existence, and so the attempt to
establishvoidnessby way of existencebecomesa faulty point of
view (dr;!i), as in MK XXII, 11:
One should not say "It's void," nor ,.it's non-void.," nor ..It's
both (void and non-void)," nor '.ft,s neither." But it may
be said in the meaning oi designation.
one should not say, "It's void," becausethe four alternatives
applied to existencecannot establishvoidness. But in the mean-
ing of designation (prajfiaptyarthom), as in the celebrated verses
(MK xxIV, 18-19),there is the act of calring dependent origina-
tion "voidness" and the dharmas so arising "void"; and here
Ndgarjuna adds that the act of calling when there is the depen-
dency, is the middle path.se
Besides,the denial of the four alternatives in the scope of
causation (confer, MK I, l, earlier) rvas aimed at four philoso-
phical positions, as follorvs:Bs
l. The denial of arising from itself is the rejection of the

33For the various occurrences of the important verse,

seeLouis DE LA
varrf,r Foussin,Mfrlamadhyamakakarikasde Nagarjuro o|"" la prasannapadd
cantmentairede candralcirti, Bibliotheca Buddhica, vol. 4 (St-p6tersbourg,
1903-1913),p. 239.
34HereI accept Matilal's correction of my earlier stateclposition;
confer.
Bimal Krishna Matilal,Epistemology, Logic, and Granrnar in Indian philo-
sopltical Analysis (The Hague : Mouton, lg77), p. l4g-149; hereafter cited
as Matilal, Epistemology,Logic, and Grammar. Flut now my understancling
only partialiy agreeslvith his, to wit, o'Depenclent
origination:Emptiness:
Dependent cesignation:The Middle way." Because I would say that as
far as Nagarjuna is concerned,dependentorigination is the way things happen
and that it is voidness,whiie the dharmasso arising are void, whethei cne
recognizesthis to be the case. But r,vhilehis school designatesdependent
origination voidness,this is not what every other Bucidhist sect does; and
Ndgarjuna goes on to add that the act of so designating,when there is the
dependence,is indeed the middle path. so it is not voidnessthat is desis-
nation.
85HereI have taken suggestionsfrom the context of the Lam rim
chenmo
when MK r, 1 is cited,_andfrom the annotational comments of the Tibetan
work called Mchan b/i.
Who Understands
the Four Alternatives
of the BuddhistTexts? 239

Sdr.nkhyaposition, which is the satkdrywsdda (causation of

the effect already existent). Murti is certainly right on this
Point'so
2. Tlne denial of arising from another rejects the creator being
(tiuara), and Kalupahana increases the list from a Jaina
source for "caused by another": destiny (niyati), time (lcala),
God (tiuara), nature (suabhdua),and action (karma). The
later Buddhist logicians heid a theory of "efficiency" that
belongs here.3? Murti incorrectly puts this kind of denial
under the heading of asatkdryauada(the non-existenceof an
effect before its production).38
3. The denial of arising from both itself and another is the
rejection of the VaiSe+ika,who say the clay pot arises from
itself (clay) and frorn the potter, wheel, sticks, etc. trn fact,
this theory is in both the Nydya and Vai6esika philosophy,
which Dasgupta,se in agreement rvith Shastri,aocalls the
asatkdryaudda, the opposite of the Sar.nkhya'ssatkdryaudda.
Here, the clay is the material cause; the stick, wheel, etc.,
the instrumental cause.
4. The denial of arising without a cause(or by chance), is the
rejection of the Lokdyata (the ancient materialistic school),
which espousesthe arising from self-nature.alThat school held
ttrrat consciousnessis just a rnode of the four elements(flre,

36T.R. V. Munrr, The CentralPhilosophy (London: George

of Buddhisrn
Allen and Unrvin,1955),pp. 168-169.
37confer, Davro J. KarupaHANA, causality : The central philosophyof
Buddhism (Honolulu : The University Press of Hawaii, 1975), pp. 5, 46.
For the theory of the Buddhist logicians as later expressedby Ratnakirti,
see surendranath Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy,vol. I (London :
cambridge university Press, 1932), 1:158-159.This is a theory that "effi-
ciency" (arthakriyakaritva) can produce anything, ancl so a momentary,
efficient entity is the 'oother" from which something may arise. The stream
of consciousness is held to be of this nature, with one "moment" of conscious-
nessgiving rise to the next one. Hereafter cited as Kalupahana, causality.
38Murti. The central Philosophy, p. 170. rnisused the term asatkaryavada
(for the correct usage,see below).
gsA l[[story of Indian Philosophy. 1:320.
40DnanusNona Narn Snasrru. critique of Indian Realism (Agra : Agra
University, 1964), p. 236.
41seenow KarupanaNa., causality, pp.25ff, for a valuablediscussion of the
svabhdvavdda in connection with the ancient Materialists, and on p. 3l he
admits for them the appelation'non-causationists'(ahetuvada).
240 BuddhistInsight

air, water, earth): consciousnessis not the effect of another

consciousness.42
Hence, there is no denial of arising per se, but the alternatives
are meant to deny the arising falsely ascribedto certain agencies,
to wit, itself, another, both itself and another, or by chance-
This, then, is one of the "right views."

V. TsB FouR ArrnnNATrvESApprrno ro ExrsrENCE.

EacH Dexrrn
The Buddha rejected each of the four alternativesregarding the
existence after death of the Tathagata, becausenone of the four
are relevant (na upeti), or defined(auydkata).a3Ndgdrjuna devotes
Medhyamaka-karikd, chap. XXV to the same topic, saying gene-
rally (XXV, 22): "Since all given things ("uastu\noare void, what
is endless,what rvith end, what both endlessand with end, r,vhat
neither endlessor with end?" Tiris refers to the celebrated four-
teen "undefined given things" (auydkrta-uastuni).asSo in the
chapter, nirudryais treated in verses5, 8, 13, 16; and the Lord
before and after cessation,in verses17, 18. For example,this is
verse 17: "One should not inferaGthat the Lord existsafter cessa-
tion (i.e. in NirvdrSa). One should not infer that he does not

a2The Tattvasafigrahaof Sdntarak;ita with the Commentary of Kamalaiila,

trans. by Ganganatha Jha, vol. 2 (tsaroda : Oriental Institute, 1939),
pp. 887-888.
a3Cf. JnvarrLLEKE,o'Logic," p. 81; and K. N. Jayatilleke,Early Buddhist
Theory of Knowledge(London : George Allen & Unwin, 1963),pp. 473-474.
acWhile the verse in Sanskrit has the locative plural dharme;urather than
vastLttu,Candrakirti's commerrtary makes it clear that the latter word is
intended, becausehe promptly talks of the fourteen avyAkrtu-vastilniand
does not mention any dharma-s:while in the Tibetan translation of the verse,
instead of the stairdard translation for dharma (T. chos),one finds the term
ditospo, which is frequently used to translate vastu; confer, Takashi Hirano,
An Index to the Bodhicaryavatara Pafiiika, Chapter IX (Tokyo: Suzuki Re-
searchFoundation,1966),pp. 273-27 6.
45EowaRo J. Tnouas, The History of Buddhist Thought (London :
Rotrtledge& Kegan Paul, 1963reprint), p. I24, statesthat they are actually
four, but become fourteen by stating them in different ways.
aGMytranslation "should not infer" is for the Sanskrit nohyate.The verb
uh- has a number of meanings,including "to infer", and the latter meaning
is more associatedwith the verb root when there is the prefix abh[,withsuch
a form as abhyuhya" having inferred."
 who understandsthe Four Alternativesof the Buddhistrexts?
z4I
exist, or both (exists and does not exist),'or neither.,,
Hence
the rejections,again, are aimed against att phitosophical
positions
that resort to inference or to ordinary human reason
in such
matters.aT The failure of reasoning is clearly expressed
in the
Mahdydna work Ratnagotrauibhaga (chap. I, verse
9) when
denying the four alternatives about the Dharma-sun
as the
ultimate nature:
I bor,v to that Dharma-sun which is not existence
and not
non-existence,not both existenceand non-existence,
neither
different from existencenor from non-existence;
which cannot
be reasoned (aiakyas tarkayitum), is free from
definition
(nirukty-apagata!),, revealerl by introspection,
and quiescent;
and lvhich, pervasively shining with immaculate
vision,
removes the attachment, antipathy, and (eye-)
caurs toward.
all objects.as
The question arises whether it is proper to interpret
this to
involve denial in tsosanquet'smeaning, what
he calls, ..contrary
negation."4e "As we always speak and think
within u g.n.rul
subject or universe of discourse, it follorvs
that every denial
substitutes sorne arlirmation for the judgment
which it denies.,,
one could argue that simply to deny onr
ludg.ent and trrereby
affirm another judgment would be a proceur
or triinking that is
negatedby the goal arlrrdedto in the precedingpassage,
since the
Dharma-s'n "cannct be reasoned." Floro.ii,
if Bosanquet,s
statement were altered to read "every cle'ial
substitute, ,o,n"
affirmation for the de'ial," it then appears to
suit the state of

azThisconclusion,however,goesagainstvariousspeculative sclutionsthat
havebeenadvancedto <ietermine particurarschoolsto go with thevarious
denialsappliedto existcncc,namely,those of JayatilrJ<e.
EarryBuddhist
Theoryof Knowledge, pp. 243ff.: Murti. The Centralphitosophy, pp. 130_
131: I(' v' Ramanan,Nagarjuna's phirosophy (varanasi: Bharatiya vicya
Prakashan, pp. 155-158.
1971), It is noteworthy that thereis littleagreement
betweentheseauthors'solutions,ancl their arbitrariness itseif stemsfrom
humanreason,while to ccuntersuchpositionsNdgdrjuna
wourdalsohave
had to use ordinaryhurnanreason.
aETheRdtfiagotravibhaga Mahdyanottcratdntraiastra.
ed. E. H. Johnston
(Patna: Bihar Researchsociety, 1950), pp.
10-il : confer, arso Jikido
Takasaki, A study on the Ratnagotravibhaga (uttaratantrc)
Roma : rnsti_
tuto Italiano per il Medio ed EsrremoOriente, 1966),pp.
163-166.
aeBosauqurr, The Essentialsof
Logic, p. I29.
242 BuddhistInsight

affairs alluded to in the passage above. In short, the whole

system of four alternatives would be denied in this contrary
negation, thus to suggestthe retirement of convention (satpurti)
in favor of absolute truth (paramdrtha-satya).
In the preceding illustrations, it is the Tathagata or the Dharma
or Nirvif a which is affi.rmed as the affirmation of absolute truth
in the processof the denials, becausethese denials afe a medita-
tive act-and acts succeedwhere theories fail-which downgrades
the role of inference and human reason generally,and upholds
the role of vision, so-as AtiSa indicated-to promote insight
Qtrajfid).
Therefore, it is now possible to evaluate two interpretations
which seem to be starkly contrasted: (l) Murti's "The Md,dhya-
mika denies metaphysicsnot becausethere is no real for him;
but becauseit is inaccessibleto Reason. He is convinced of a
higher faculty, Intuition (praifia)...."50 (2) Streng's, "In Ndgdr-
juna's negative dialectic the power of reason is an effi"cientforce
for realizing Ultimate Truth."51 One could argue that the dis-
agreementis deceptive,sinceif reasonis to be taken as the mental
processof making the denials which substitute an affirmation of
the Real or Ultirnate Truth, then indeed while the Real is in-
accessibleto reason,it cannot be deniedthat reasonbrought about
that higher faculty, the supernal insight(praifiQ, to which the Real
is accessible, This very pointis madein the Kaiyapa-pariuarta:
Ka$yapa, it is this way: example,for when two treesare rubbed
together by the wind, and fi.re arises (from the friction), (that
fire) having arisen, burns the two trees. In the same way.
KdSyapa, (when given things are analysed) by the most pure
discriminalion (pratyaueksalta). the faculty of noble insight
is born; and (that Fire) having been born, (it) burns up that
most pure discrimination itself.5z
Hence, the very discrimination which is the kind of reasoning

50\{1rp1v,The Central Philosophy,p. 126.

srFnpoEnrcr J. SrnsNc. Emptiness : A Study in Religious Meaning
(Nashville. Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1967), p. 149.
b2Thepassageis translatedin the context of its citation in Tson-kha-pa's
Lam rim chen mo. lt is number 69 in A. Stael-Holstein.ed., Kaiyapapari'
varta, (Commercial Press, 1926),but original Sanskrit is not extant for this
passage.
Who Understandsthe Four Alternatives of the Buddhist Texts? 243

that deniesthe alternativesis describedmetaphorically as a friction

which arousesthe fire of insight that in turn destroys this kind of
reasoning.
Turning to Tson-kha-pa's section,ssdefending the denial of
the four alternatives, this concerns the presence and absence of
entities. Tson-kha-pa states that there are only two possibilities
for an entity, that is, accomplished by own-nature, and effi.cient.
Then, if the first alternative is stated in the form, "An entity
exists," this is denied-the denial meaning to the Prasangika-
Madhyamika that, in the case of both truths (saryturti and
paramdrtha), one denies that an entity existsaccomplishedby own-
nature, while the efficient entity is denied in the paramdrtlta or
absolute sensebut not conventionally.
Likewise, the Prdsangika-Md:dhyamika rejects the nonexistence
of an entity, should someone affi.rm the nonexistence of an
entity accomplished by own-nature among the unconstructed
{asaryt5krta) natures (dharma).
Likewise, this Mddhyamika rejects the simultaneity of existence
of that sort of entity with the nonexistence of the other sort of
entity. And he rejects that there are neither, even one accom-
plished by own-nature.
While I have insisted that the ultimate nature is affflrmedby the
four denials, it should be granted that tbe acceptanceof this
absolute in Ndgdrjuna's Madhyamika is a matter much disputed
by Western scholars; de Jong's thoughtful article5aon the topic
deservesconsultation. In any case, Candrakirti's position is
clear, as he stat:s in his own colnmentary on the Modhya-
makduatara:
Regarding this sort of suebhdua(self-existence)as written in
particular (Madhyamqka-kdrikA, XY, I-2), received from the
mouth of the acarya ( : Ndgdrjuna), does it exist?(In answer:)
As to its authorization, the Bhagavat proclaimed that whether
Tathagatas arise or do not arise, this true nature of dharmas
abides, and so on, extensively. The "true nature" (dharmata)
(of that text,:slssbhaua) (necessarily)exists. Which (elements)

5sReferredto in note1,herein.ThereweremanyTibetan controversies

on
this issue.
54J.W. oB JoNc. "The Problemof the Absolutein the Madhyamaka
school,"Journalof IndianPhilosophy 2 (1972):1-6.
244 Buddhist Insight

have this "true nature" ? These, the eye, etc. have this
suabhdua. And what is their suabhdua? Their uncreate
nature and their non-dependence on another; the self-nature
which is to be understood by knowledge (in dryasantapatti)
free from the caul of nescience (and its associated habit-
'oDoes
energy). When it is asked, that sort of thing exist?"
who would answer, "No."? If it does not exist, for which
goal do the Boddhisattvas cultivate the path of the perfections?
For what reason do the Bodhisattvas, in order to compre-
hend the true-nature, assumemyriads of difficulties that way?55
fn short, Candrakirti explains the suabhduaof MK XV, 1-2, as the
"true nature" of the scriptures, and in a manner equivalent to the
dharma-sun of the Ratnagotrauibhagapassage.s6

Finally, the denials concerning existenceare also referred to as

the rejection of four "views" (dys!i). So MK XXVII, 13:

Thus whatever the view concerning the past, whether o'f

existed," "I did not exist," "I both (existedand did not exist),"
"I neither (existed,nor did not exist)," it is not valid.

Such passagesundoubtedly support the frequent claim that the

Midhyamika rejects all "views." But note that the views here
are of existence,not of causation; and that Nagarjuna elsewhere
adheres to the view of Dependent Origination, which in
Buddhism rvould be counted as a "right view" (samyag-drsli).

V. THE Tnnps KrNos or Cnru;KoTr, Vanrous CoNslonRATloNs

It might be argued that there are not really three "kinds" of

55Thepassage occursin the Tibetan Tanjur, photo edition. vol. 98,

pp. 151-2-3to l5l-2-7. immediatelyprecededby Candrakirti'scitation of
MK XV, l-2I l:evetranslated it in Lam rim chenmo context.
soWhileit is not possibleto deal here with the many misconceptionsin
Ives Waldo, "Nagarjuna and Analytic Philosophy."PhilosophyEast and
West25, no. 3 (July, 1975),one may observethat Candrakirti'spassage
directlycontradictshis remarks(p. 283)that the acceptanc
e of "relational
conditions"(pratyaya)entailsa denialboth of svabhava
and of nonrelational
"significantevents."BecauseCandrakirtiaccepts,as doesBuddhismgene-
rally, the pratyaya in the causalchain of Dependent Origination, and yet he
also insists here upon the svabhavaas well as on a significance (the bodhi-
sattve's goal) that is perhaps nonrelational.
 who understandsthe Four Arternatives
of the BuddhistTexts? 24s

catu,skoli but simply different applications of the catu;ko1i.

.
Perhaps an exaggeration of contrast is involved in using the word
"kinds." still I feel the word is necessaryto counter the fre-
quent discussion of the catugkoli as though the catu-rko{i is at
hand and the only difficulty is in how to explain it. Hence we
may observe that the first kind of catuskoli, in a disjunctive
system, is explanatory of the individual propositions, and thus
serves as an introduction to the next two kinds or uses of the
catuskoli, to wit, to apply to the problem of causation or to the
problem of existence. There were disputes concerning each
of the three kinds, but it is especiallythe causation and existence
applications of the four alternatives that occasioned spirited
disagreementsbetweenthe two main schoolsof the Mddhyamika-
the Prdsangika and the Svdtantrika-disagreements which
would require too many technical explanations to be treated in
this article.
Moreover, all three kinds of catuskoli arcfound in early Buddh-
ism and later in the Madhyamika school. The first case where
the four alternatives constitute a disjunctive system, rvith the
individual terms not necessarilydenied, was well representedin
passagesof early Buddhism, as preservedin the pali canon; and
then was included in Ndgdrjuna's Madhyamaka-kdrika in the
verse about the ranked instruction of the Bucldha. The second
case, denial of alternatives regarding causation, stating with the
discoursesto Kassalra and to Kaccayana, is rnade much of by
NagSrjuna as the basis of the Mddhyamika, but does noi seem
to have been stressedas much in other schools of Buddhisrn.
The third case,denial of four alternatives,has important examples
in both early and later Buddhism, and, of course, is generously
treated in the Mddtryamika. Therefore, when Jayatilleke says,
"rt is evident that Ndgdrjuna and some of his commenrators,
ancient and modern, refer to this logic with little understanding
of its real nature and significanee,"s7these remarks define the
limitations of Jayatilleke's own views of these problems, outside
of which is his own "little understanding." Robinson answered
Jayatilleke in a different way: "And since the catuskotriis not a
doctrine but just a form, later writers were at liberty to use it in
new ways, doing which does not itself prove that they misunder-

SUayarnrEKE, o'Logic," p.
82.
246 BuddhistInsight

stood the early forms."58 This is well stated and is meant not only
to reject Jayatilleke's criticism of Ndgdrjuna and others, but
apparently also to justify the application of symbolic logic. How-
ever, I have brought up sufficient evidence to show that Ndgdr-
juna, in the matter of the catu;ko!i, is heir to and the continuator
of teachings in the early Buddhist canon (in Pali, the four
Nikd:yas; in Sanskrit, the four Agamas). Furthermore, I cannot
concede that the catuskoli is just a form. Indeed, if Ndgdrjuna
had used it in new ways, Jayatilleke would have been more
justified in his attribution of misunderstanding to N6g6rjuna.
Next, we observe by the foregoing materials that the flrst kind
of catu;koli is a disjunctive system that was used to explain the
Buddha's teaching. The second, applied to causation, each of
the alternatives denied, is a meditative exercise,and besides serves
to classify some of the philosophical positions rejected by the
Mddhyamika. The third kind, applied to existence,each of the
alternatives denied, is another meditative exercise, and besides
serves to establish the absolute by negating the notional activity
of the mind (sorytjfiaskandha) and its net of imputed quali-
fications.ss
The priority of the causality to existencetreatments-as I have
already insisted upon-is consistent with Ndgdrjuna's Modhya-
nnka-kdrikd, which devotes chapter I to conditional causes
(pratyaya), beginning with the denial of four alternatives concern-
ing origination of entities, but in the same chapter begins alter-
natives of existence,nonexistence,etc. So MKI,6: "Neither
an existent nor a non-existent entity has a valid condition
(pratyaya). What non-existent has a condition? What is the
use of a condition for an existent?" The next verse (I,7)
shifts to the word dharma: "Whenever a featute (dharma) neither
existent nor non-existent, or both existent and non-existent,
operates, in that case how could an operator-cause be valid?"
(and it is not valid.) MK chapteresIII, IV, and V, deal with the

s8RouNsoN, book review,p. 76.

ssThisis well statedin the Tibetanlanguageby Red-mda'-ba's Commen-
tary to.Aryadeva's"Four HundredVerses,"ed. JetsunRendawaShonnu
Lodo (Sarnath: SakyaStudents'IJnion, 1974),p. 170:"The form andvariety
of natures (dharma) are posited as different by dint of saryjfia (notions, ideas)"
but not by reason of the own-form (svarupa) of given things (vastu)-because
all of them being illusory, it is not possible to distinguish their own-forms.n'
 of the BuddhistTexts?
the Four Alternatives
Who Understands 247

products of causes,namely, the sensebases,personal aggregates'

and elements,that amount to "all entities" (sarua-bhaua,IV,J)-
Here again, "all entities" presupposetheir arising as products'
so the causality. The establishment of causality in conventional
terms and of existencein absolute terms is therefore implied in
MK XXIV, 10: "Without reliance on convention, the supreme
(paramdrtha)is not pointed to."
I propose that it was by not distinguishing these uses of the
catuSkoli that there has been in the past various improper of
misleading attributions to this formula. For example, there is
the problem of which two kinds of negations is involved: the
prasajya-prati.sedha(negation by denial) or paryuddsa-pratisedha
(negation by implication). Matilal concludes that the catuskoli
is of the prasajya type and that so understood the catu,skoli
is free from contradiction.co Staal after admirably explaining
the two kinds of negation (the paryuddsa type negates a term;
the prasajya type negates the predicate) agrees with Matilal that
the catu;kotri exhibits the prasajya type, but ciisagreesthat this
frees the formula of contradiction.cl However, r,vhenone consi-
ders this along with my preceding materials, one can promptly
agfee r,vith Matilal and then with staal that it is the prasaiya
negation which is involved with the catu;koli, nota bene, the four
alternatives in their explicit form applied to existence,becausethe
proposition "f bow to that Dharma-su,nwhich is not existence"
'x
is of the prasojya type (confer, Staal: is not F'). But when one
examinesthe propositions of the four alternativesin their explicit
form applied to causation,one can pfolllptly disagreewith Matilal
and then with Staal, becausethe proposition "There is no entity
anywhere that arisesfrom itself," is of the paryuddsa type (confer,
Staal: "not -x is F'). And this paryuddsatype is of the variety
implying action, for which there is the stock example, "Fat
Devadatta does not eat food in the daytime." But "fat Deva-
ooat
datta" must eat sometime, so when? The world responds,
night!"oz Also, the entities that do not arise from self, another,

60Mlrrrar, Epistemology, Logic, and Grammar, pp. 162-167..

GlFnrrs SrAat, Exploring Mysticism (London: Penguin Books, 1975),
pp. 45-47; hereafter cited as Staal, Exploring Mysticism.
62Confer, DsrRsNoRa SuARMa, The Negative Dialectics of India (Leiden :
E. J. Brill, l97O), p. 94; note where the example illustrates the Veddnta autho-
rity (pramapa) called'presumption' (arthapatti).
 248 BuddhistInsight

both, or by chance, must arise somehol, so how? Buddhism

responds, "in the manner of Dependent origination (pratitya-
samutpdda)." In illustration, the first two membersof Dependent
origination are: (l) "nescience" (auidya), and (2) "motivations"
(sarTtslcara)."Motivations" do not arise from self (motivations)
or from another (nescience), or frorn both self and another
(motivations and nescience), or rvithout a cause(that is, bychance);
"motivations" do arise with "nescience" ascondition (pratl,aya);
and since "motivatiolis" are a lcarmamember, have acause (hetu)
which is karnia, hence the other lcarnta-member,which is (10),
'"gestation"
(bhaua)or "re-existence" (punarbha?:a).,'as
But then lvhat of staal's position that even so (that is, allowing
the prasajya interpretation for the catugkoli of existence),this cioes
not save the prasajya propositions from mutual contradiction?
saying, "In rejecting the tiiird clause, the denial of the principle
of non-contradiction is rejected, not the principle of non-con-
tradiction itself,"0ch.einterprets the third proposition in its literal
forrn, denial that somethingboth existsand does not exist. How-
ever, at least in tlie Tsoir-kh.a-pa Prasangika-Miidhyamika
explanation that I gave earlier, it is not possibleto uncierstand the
four denials in terrns of existencejust by their literai form, be-
cause one must brin-e in tire tireory of two truths (,raryurti and
paramdrtha) to unclerstand Nagarjuna's position. Iu such a
case,the denial of th.e ttiirci proposition amounts in commentarial
expansion to: This Madhyamika rejects, in the absolute sense
(paramdrthatas), tl'e simuitaneity of existence by own-nature of
that effftciententity rvith th.e non-existenceby own-nautre of the
unconstructedentity. In short, it is here claimed that '.existence"
and "non-existence" refer contrasting entities. Along the same
lines, Nagdrjuna says(MK XXV, 14);
How could Nirvina be both a presence and an absence?
Like light and darkness, there is no existenceof the two
in the same place.

63Foi Ndgdrjuna's classification of the two members, nos. 2 and 10, as

karma, see, for example, A. Wayman, "Buddhist Dependent Origination,"
"History of Religions 10, no. 3 (Feb., 1971):188. I have gone much more
into the cause and effect (hetu-phala) side of the formula in my forthcoming
"'Dependent origination-the Indo-Tibetan Tradition," (special issue of
Journal of Chinese Philosophy). See Chapter 8.
64Staal, Exploring Mysticism, p. 47.
Who Understands
the Four Alternatives
of the BuddhistTexts? 249

Thus the third alternative of this type of catuskoli can be resolved

in various ways, for example, one may deny both a presence and
an absenceof nirud4a, adding"that is, in the same place"i or,
with a different subject, adding perhaps, "that is, at the same
time"; or, with still other subjects,perhaps drawing upon the two
truths, "that is, with the same truth." A11 these additions are
consistent with Ndgarjuna's verses in the MK. Thus, in such
interpretations it is not the intention of the denial, as Staal claims,
to save a principle of human reason from default; but rather it is
held that such is really the meaning of the third proposition, to
wit, that a qualification of place, time, or truth must be added.
However, it follows that the denials of alternatives appried to
'existence, while in their explicit form constituting the prasajya
type of denial, turn out, by reason of the qualifications added in
the Madhyamika school, to be paryudasa negations. Indeed,
study of the two main traditions of the Midhyamika, candra-
kirti's Prdsangika and Bhdvaviveka's Svitantrika, will show that
both of them insist on adding qualifications, especially in terms
of the two truths (saryurti and paramdrtha), theft disagreement
stemming from how such qualiflcations are made. But that a
qualification should be added is consistent with most of the
attempts of westerners to explain the catu.rkoli, because they
usually added something, to wit, their theory of the catwskoli.
So the Mddhyamika cornmentatorsand the western writers share
this solicitude to rationalize, even in the case of the absolute,
which was supposedto cut ofr the net of qualifications. Even so,
as was indicated previously,the Madhyamika is not againstreason
as the faculty which denies a self, denies the alternatives,and so
on, becausethis reason leads to the insight which realizes the
absolute.

CoNcrusroN
Now we must revert to the initial question: who understands the
four alternativesof the Buddhist texts? It is easierto define the
personswho do not understand: as was shown, they are the ones
who do not want to understand, or are not confident of their
own ability to understand. Besides, no one understands the
four alternatives, but perchance one does understand the four
alternatives in a disjunctive system,or the four alternatives applied
250 BuddhistInsight

to causation, or the four alternatives, applied to existence. The

four alternatives, disjunctively considered, constitute a prelimi-
nary orientation. The alternatives of causation, each denied,
are a meditation with upholding of human teason with its in-
ferences, definitions, and the like. The alternatives of existence,
each denied, are a meditation with ultimate downgrading of
human reason. Then to answer more along the lines of the
way Candrakirti writes:-Whether one who understands arises
or does not arise, "this true nature of dharmqs abides,"-the
suabhduaof that sort. So Candrakirti says in his Prasannapadd
commentary on Madhyamaka-karikd, chapter XV:
By suabhdua one understands this innate nature, uncreate,
which has not deviated in the fire in the past, present, and
future; which did not arise earlier and will not arise later;
which is not dependent on causesand conditions as are the
heat of water, (one or another) of this side and the other side,
long and short. Well, then, does this own-nature of flre that
is of such manner (i.e. uncreate, not dependent)exist? (In
reply:). The (suabhauaof such sort) neither exists nor does not
exist by reason of own-nature. While that is the case, still
in order to avoid frightening the hearers, we conventionally
make affi.rmations (such as "It is suabhaue" and "It is dhqr-
mata") and say it exists.6;

osl,a Vall6e Poussin, Mulamadhyamakakdrikds,pp. 263.5 to 264.4.

 I2

THE INTERMEDIATE.STATE DISPUTE

IN BUDDHISM

The possibility of life after death has always fascinated mankind.

India was no exception, even with its metaphysical setting of
rebirth theory. Then, with the belief in the extraordinary powers
of yogins to delve into nature's secrets, it was held that some
individuals could communicate what really happened after death:
as when the Buddha used a divine eye (diuya-cak;us) to observe
the sentient beings going from here to various good and bad
destinies,and later told his disciples about it.
But is there life between death and rebirth? It is well known
that the theory of such an intermediate state (ontard-bhaua)was
a disputed point among the early Buddhist sects. The ones
agreeing that there is such a state were the PlrvaSaila, Sammatiya,
sarvdstivddin, vdtsiputriya, and the Latet Mahisdsaka. The
Buddhist sects that rejected the notion were the Theravadin,
vibhajyavddin, Mahdsdnghika, Mahisdsaka, as well as the work
Sdriputrabhidharmaidstra (of the Dharmaguptaka sect, which
issued from the Mahi5dsaka).l
In the Mahdyana period vasubandhu's Abhidharmakoia,
Chapter III, and self-commentary, amassed strong scriptural
evidence in support of the intermediate-state theory.2
1Andr6Bareau,Les sectesbouddhiques du Petit Vdhicule,Saigon 1955,
p. 283.
sL. de La Vall6ePoussin,in his translationof Vasubandhu'swork, gave
the main known references of his day, L'Abhidharmakofla de Vasubandhu,
troisidme chapitre, Paris 1926, p. 32, n.
 252 BuddhistInsight

At the outset it should be admitted that the material is abundant

on the side of the sectswhich admitted the intermediate state in
this sense,sinceit allowed a greatscopefor rnythological elabora-
tion. In contrast, the sects which rejected this kind of inter-
mediate state apparently did not make rnuch of a negative posi-
tion; so their immediate textual contributions to the problem are
meagre and their reasoning has mostly to be inferred. It is
possible that the Buddhist sects did not always understand the
expression"intermediate-state"the sameway, and so in somecases
there is only a seemingdisagreement.
our considerationspromise to relate early Buddhism to certain
Brahmanical teachings,to clarify the position of the Buddhist
teacher Ndgdrjuna, and also to tie in this intermediate-state
dispute with Buddhist embryology theory.

I. Trm Tnrsrs oF No INrEnurnr.q.rr-Srarr

The Theravada rejection of the intermediate-stateis set forth in
Points of controuersy,sbut the spaceis devoted to rejecting some
arguments for the intermediate-statervithout giving in its stead
a coherent alternate position. This is not to deny the relevance
of criticism that only three realms are stated.in the scriptures,
that of desire (kama), of form (rupa), and the formless realm.
Perhaps this criticism forced the proponents of the intermediate-
state theory-as this paper will show-to treat this state in terms
of the three realms. Also, the Theravdda attempted to interpret
the scriptural name antardparinirudyin as "attaining Nirvdpa
before half of his life in a Brahma world ha.sexpired."4 vasu-
bandhu arguesagainst this, charging that one could then reinter-
pret the other ones among the five Andgamins.s

sTranslation of the Katha-vatthz by s. z. Aung and Mrs. Rhys Davids,

London 1915, pp. 212-13.
4Katha-vatthu(tr.), pp. 212-13; and Designation of Human Types (puggala-
pafifiati) (tr. by B. C. Law), London 1922, pp. 24-25.
5de La vall6e Poussin(tr.), rII, p. 38. vasubandhuappearstoargue that
in such a case, we could say that the upapadya-parinirvaylr means one who
attainsparinirvdqtaupon being born in a Brahma world, which is of course
absurd. It seemsthat in his way of disputing, if a term is a member of a
standardlist, a reinterpretationof such a term has implications for the other
members of the list.
 Disputein Buddhism
The Intermediate-State 253

How then, does one cf the early sectsexpressits denial of an

interrnediate-statein a positive way? I appeal to the Mahisd:n-
ghikas, having shown elsewhere that the Srtmald-sutrq was a
product of this school,6and it may be cited in this connection
even though it belongs among the early Mahdyana scriptures:

Lord, as to "cyclical flow" (sarytsara),no sooner do the sense

organs for perception pass away than it (the Tathagatagarbha)
takes hold of sense organs for perception, and that is
"cyclical flow."?
Presumably all the Buddhist sects-the Theravadin, etc.-that
posited centers of consciousness other than the mano-uijfidna
and also deniedthe interrnediate-state,would have someanalogous
theoretical statement in terms of the senseorgans.
Of such sects, the Theravadin irave a bhauanga-uififianq,the
Vibhajyavddin a bhaudnga-uijfiana,the Mahdsdnghika a mula-
uijfidna, the Mahisisaka a saqnsdrakotrinislha-skandha-thefore-
runner of the alayauijfrdnaof the Mahdyanaa-and the Dharma-
guptaka as an offshoot of the Mahisasaka inferentially the
equivalent.
Passingto the Mahdydna period in its philosophical sense,three
reasons may be advanced for believing that Nigdrjuna did not
subscribe to the thesis of an intermediate-state (antard-bhaua).
(1) He writes in the Pratityasamutpddahydaya-uydkarana:s
Just as in the caseof a flame from a flame, the reflectedimage
in a mirror from a face, an impression from a seal, a fire
from a burning crystal, a sprout from a seed.. a person is
not taught to understand that the one is different from the
other, so also in the caseof reconnection(pratisarpdhi)of the
personal aggregates (skandha), the wiseperson will under-
stand that there is no transfer.
64. Waymanand H. Wayman(trs.) TheLion'sRoarof eueenSrtmala;a
BuddhistScriptureon the Tathagatagarbha Theory,New york 1974,pp.Z-3.
zlbid. p. 104.
8Bareau,Les sectes,pp. 72, 177, 187,and 240.
sPhotoed. of TibetancanonefT).Vol. 103,p. 271-4:I ii ltat mar me
las mar me dan I bLin las me lon gi gzugsbrflan'byun dan / rgyalas rgya,i
'bur dan me Sellas me dan sa bon las myu gu
/ / danI . . I de dag kyan
de fiid dan de las gtan no ZesSespar slobma yin pa de bLin du / phun
po flin mtshamssbyorba yan / mi'pho bar yan mkhasrtogsbya /.
254 BuddhistInsight

Since the old skandhqs do not transfer, there is no intermediate-

state for them, just as there is no intermediate-statebetween
the two flames in the case of a flame from a flame.

(2) He rvrites in the Madhyamaka-k,urikd (XXVI, 20):

What be the limit of nirudpa is also the limit of salnsdra.
There is nothing, however slight, intermediate (antara) be'
trveen the two.

This shows an aversion for intermediate states.

(3) He does not refer to an intermediate-state in his Friendly
Epistle.loalthough his description of the bells, and so on, in this
work allows him a context to bring in an intermediate-state if
this were his sectarian position; and this is the context in which
those who espousethe intermediate-statedo in fact mention it.
Then what can we decidefrom this about Ndgirjuna's school?
Now, the Mddhyamika school based on Ndgdrjuna always main-
tains that of the uijiianas, besides the five based on outer senses,
he acceptedonly the mano-uijiidna. We arrive then at the striking
conclusion that while Ndgdrjuna appears to be in the camp of
those rejecting an intermediate-state,he cannot be identified with
any one of the knorvn sectsrvhich reject it. But since Ndgdrjuna
is an independentthinker of the early Mahd'ydna,there is no reason
to insist that he be identified with any early sect.
Perhapsthe most important doctrinal effectof the opposition to
an interrnediate state is the interpretation of the flrst two members
of Dependent Origination (pratitya-samutpdda)aspertaining to the
previous life. This interpretation is deeply impressed on the
Abhidharma literature, both in the Pali and Sanskrit languages.ll
Of course, birth was standardized in terms of uiifiana, third mem-
ber of DependentOrigination. Therefore, the first two members,
nescience (auidyQ and motivations (sarpskcira)would perforce
constitute an intermediate-state,after No. 12, old age and death
(jordmara4ta), unless the first two members could somehow be
understood to not follow upon death. A solution was to say
that those two belong to the previous cycle. We can see this

l0"Ndgirjuna'sSuhyllekha"(tr. by H. Wenzelin Journalof the Pali Text

Society,1886,pp. 2-32).
11See,for exar^rple,
Ndrada,A Manual of Abhidhamma, Kandy, Ceylon,
1968,DiagramXVII; and de La Vall6ePoussin(tr.) III, pp, 62-63.
 Disputein Buddhism
The Intermediate-State 255

same theory in the Dependent Origination verses of the

Mahiy6na biography of the Buddha called the Lqlitauistara,
,containingthis verse:12

By the wrong procedure engendered by the constructions of

imagination, nescience(auidyd)arisesand thereis no originator
of it at all. It provides the cause of motivations (sarpskara),
and there is no transfer. Perception (uiifiana) arises with
transference in dependence(on motivations).
This is consistentwith Nd:gdrjuna'sstatement cited above (from
his pratityasamutpdda commentary), becauseuiifidna, not the pre-
vious nescienceand motivations, now Starts the transferenceby
descending into the womb, or other birthplace. Here uijfidna
dependson the old sarytskdrajust as the face in the mirror depends
upon the model face. Thus the Lalitauistara agrees with the
theory found in Pdli Buddhism that the first two members of
Dependent Origination pertain to the previous life. Hence they
are said to be reflected in the new series, started by uiifiana,
the seed.
But if the first two members of Dependent Origination are
attributed to the previous cycle, the question arises: Where? A
kind of answer is suggestedby the Pitaputrasamdganta-sutra:13
So, great King, a "first perception" (pratltamauiiiidna) arises
having two conditions pertaining to "birth" (aupapatti)-by
reason of the "last perception" (.coramauifidna)as predomi-
nant condition (adhipati-prat1'a1'a)and by reason of karma as
support condition (or antba 4ta-p r at1'a1'ct).
In fact-as I have shown in a different contextl4-this passago
takes "death" to be divided into two phases-expiration as the last
perception and death vision as the karma. The karma is called

12F.Eocrntor.t,BuddhistHybridSanskritReader,New Haven1953,p. 24 :
sar.nkalpakalpajanitena ayoniSena
'sya kaScit
bhavate avidyd na pi sar.nbhavako
'sti
samskdrahetu dadate na ca salnkramo
vijfldnam udbhavati sar.nkramanam Watitya ll
13As cited in Santideva's Sik;asamuccaya (ed. by the Mithila Institute),
135, 12-13.
14A. Wayman, 'The Fivefold Ritual Symbolism of Passion', in Studies
of EsotericBuddhismand Tantrism ,Koyasan, Japan, 1965,p. 133.This essay
also appears in A. Wayman, Buddhist Tantras (Samuel Weiser, New York,
re73).
 256 BuddhistInsight

in Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist mythology the *karme-mirror"

of Yama's judgment hall.ls It is well accepted in the theory of
Dependent origination, in the case where the f,rst two members
pertain to the previous life, that member No. 2, sarpskdra,is the
old karma, and furthermore that member No. 1, auidyd, is the
state of previous defilement (kleia). Hence auidyd in this context
is tantamoun.t to the "last perception" (caramauijfrana); and per-
haps it is for this reason that vasubandhu compares this auidyd
with a king who, when he comes, is accompaniedby his courtiers
(the host of defilements).lo Then member No. 3, uijfidna, be-
comes the "first perception " (prathamauijfidna) in the new life.
There is a remarkable foreshadowing of this death-fertility-death
as the instigator of another life-in the Brhaddranyaka (Ipani,rad
(I,2,2): "There was nothing whatsoever here in the beginning.
By death indeed was this covered, or by hunger, for hunger is
death. He created the mind, thinking, 'Let me have a self'. Then
he moved about, worshipping. From this, thus worshipping,
water was produced." Observe how neatly this fits the first four
members of Buddhist Dependent origination in the interpretation
denying an intermediate state:
B rhaddrapyaka stat ement Dependent Origination
"by death indeed was this covered" 1. nescience(auidyd\
"or by hunger, for hunger is death" 2. motivations (saryskdra)
"He created the mind, thinking, 'Let 3. perception (uijfidna)
me have a self"'
'Then
he moved about, worshipping. 4. name-and-form (ndma-
From him, thus worshipping, water rupa)
was produced" (:uijfidna in the womb)
In short, the Buddhist sects that deny an intermediate-state
are consistent with the tradition, pre-dating Buddhism, that life
comes from death.

II. Tnn Tsnsrs oF AN INTERunnnrn-SrArE

There must have been flerce argument on the subject to have called

15Ihaveincludeda discussion of this matterin a paper,"The Mirror as

a Pan-BuddhistMetaphor-Simile", History of Religions,13: 4, May 1974,
pp. 264-65.This essayis includedin this volume.
rcAbhidharmakoia,III, 21a-b : / pDrvakleSadasavidya p[rva-
sar.nskaralr
karmanah/ And de La Vall6ePoussin(tr.), III, p. 63.
 The Intermediate-StateDispute in Buddhism
257

forth from vasubandhu his spirited defence of the intermediate

state. He says (Abhidharmakoia III, 12, commentary):

lasaty antardbhave katham antaraparinirvdyi nama sydt/were

there no intermediate state, how could there be the term
[found in the scriptures] "a being who has parinirud4a in the
intermediate state" ?

This is part of the teaching that among the five kinds of non-
returnees (anagomin),there is the antard-parinirudyinwho, accord-
ittg to the interpretation which vasubandhu follows, reaches
Nirvdna in the intermediate state. He refers to the satpurugagati-
siltra for varieties of the antard-parinirudyin (infra.).
vasubandhu explains the intermediate-statebeing in two verses
(ibid., IIr, 13-14):

It [the intermediate-state being] has the configuration of what

is to be the configuration of the future being, since it has the
same forecastingi to wit, which is subsequent to the moment
of birth and prior to death (i.e. the future being has the period
of moment right after birth to moment just before oeattr;.
It is seen by the pure divine eye belonging to beings of its
class. It has the force of magical power of act. Its sense
organs are perfect. It cannot be impeded or turned back.
It feeds on odours (gandhabhuk).

Vasubandhu's commentary refers to a saptabhauasiltralTfor the

teaching that the five destinies, men, gods, animals, hungry
ghosts, and hell beings, have their cause (sahetuka),namely
ihl
karma-bhaua, and have their access(sagamana), namelythe aitard-
bhaua. His commentary explains the term gandhabhuk as
gandharua. He refers to the Aiualayana-sutra (presumably from
the Madhyamdgama) for the reference to the word gandh-aruaas
some kind of being, to wit (as Miss I.B. Horner translatesfrom
the equivalent Pali scripture, the Assaldyanasuttain the Majjhima-
nikaya): "But do you, sirs, know whether that gandhabba is
u
noble or brahman or worker or merchant?', And this question
was preceded by the remark (her transration): 'owe do know, sir,
how there is conception. There is here a coitus of the parents, ii

lzde La vall6ePoussin,II, p. 13,statesthat the authenticity

of thissfitra
was contested.
258 Buddhist Insight

is the mother's season and the gandhabbais present; it is on the

conjunction of these three things that there is conception."ls
In the Vedic period the gandharua is a kind of spirit generally
placed in the antarikpa (the intermediate space betweenearth and
sky) along with the Pitaras (ancestors)and Asuras (demi-gods).1e
The intermediate space can be understood as having Indra in the
daytime and the Gandharva at nighttime for chief or typical
deities.2o Besides being a musician, the gandharua in the Veda
could be a cloud,2Landthis meaning was continued into Mahayana
Buddhism as a simile of illusion (mdy\, the often mentioned "city
of gandharuas", meaning the "castle in the aif ," a particular at-
mospheric phenomenon.2z Even this use of the word continues
the association with the midspace. According to Vedic concep-
tionszs the gandharua was the second, of the three non-human
deities that married a woman before she married a human male
(:one born of woman), the first being Soma (:Candra) in the
sky, and the third being Agni (:Yama) on earth.24 The gan-
dharua, in these old Indian ideas, gave the woman her sweetness
of voice. Of course, the Vedas did not contain the notion of
gandharua as a disincarnate entity headed for rebirth; indeed, the
rebirth theory has never been traced to the four vedas.
However, since the theory of karma and rebirth has a sympathe-
tic treatment in certain old Upanisads, the question arises as to
whether the gandharuais mentioned therein along the lines of the
Assaldyanasutta. Such a mention may be intended, although
obscurely, in the Kalha Upanisad,which prgsumably is to be dated
at about the same time as that old Buddhist scripture. The Kalha
states(II, 3, 5):

18I.8.Horner(tr.) TheMiddleLengthsayings,vol. II, London1957,p. 349-

lecf. A. A, MacDonell,YedicMythology,Strassburg 1897,pp. 136-37.
20Atleastsuchare my conclusions in "climactic Timesin Indian Mytho-
logyandReligitt,"HistoryofReligions,4:2,Winter1965'p'300'
21R. S. Panchamukhi,Gandharvas& I(innaras in Indian Iconography
(Dharwar,
-rrCf. 1951),P. 3.
Eii"rrn" famotte, Le Traitdde la GrandeVertude Sagesse,I,Louvain
1944, pp. 369-73.
2sTheMarriageHymn, $'gvedaX, 85, 40'
2aMy interpretation,"Climactic Times", pp. 298-99'was written with
leaningsto the "intermediatestate" position,generallyacceptedin Tibetan
Buddhism.
The Intermediate-StateDispute in Buddhism 259

As one seesin a mirror, so (Brahman) in.the dtman;

As (one sees)in a dream, so (Brahman) in the world of the
forefathers (Pit rloka) ;
As (one sees)toward (pari) the water, so in the world of the
gondharuas;
As in light and shade, so in the world of Brahmd.
If we interpret this passage of the Kalha as a progression, as
Radhakrishnan thinks it is,25then the similes can be clarified as
follows:
simile referent progression
"as in a mirror' Brahman in the dtman present life
n'as
in a dream" Brahman in the world state after death
of the forefathers
"as toward the water" Brahman in the world heading for
of gandhoraas rebirth
n'as in light
and Brahman in the world uijfiana in the
shade" of Brahmd heart26
since "toward the water" (apsu pari) implies "toward the
female", it follows tbat the "world of gandharuas" may reasonably
be identified with the gandharuas that are meant by the Assa-
Idyanasutta.
Taking these gondharuasin the meaning of intermediate-state
b_eings,we notice that a Mahdydna Buddhist scripture, the Arya-
Ananda-garbhdvakrdntinirdeia, classifies them so as to be within
the Buddhist three wcrlds. It explains that beings headed for an
evil destiny have in the intermediate state a displeasingcolour of
personal aggregates,namely hell beings have a colour like the
burnt stump of a tree; animals, like smoke; hungry ghosts, like
water; and that beings headed for a good destiny have a pleasing
colour in the intermediate state, namely, men and gods (in the

zsS.Radhakrishnan, ThePrincipalUpani;ads,New york 1953,p.643,

26sostatesAsafigain the Yogacarabhumi (part I, ed. by v. Bhattacharya),
Universityof Calcutta 1957,24.18-19:I yatra ca kalaladese tadvijflanar.n
sammtircchitar.n so 'sya bhavati tasminsamayehrdayadesatr /
,.At the time
that the viifianabecomesunconsciousat whereverbe the kalala,itsplaceis
the heart." For the comparableidea in the Pali commentarialtradition,cf.
Y. Karunadasa,BuddhistAnalysisof Matter, colombo 1967,pp. 62-66,
in a discussionof the term hadaya-vatthu.
Thecomparableupaniladic theory
is in terms of the vijfianamaya-puruta.
260 Buddhist Insight

realm of desire),like the colour of gold; gods in the realm of form,

the colour of abiding white; while gods in tbe formless realm are
colourless for the very reason that the realm is formless (and
therefore lacks both colour and shape)." This is presumably what
Vasubandhu means by saying the being has the configuration of
the future being, as one of the five destinies.
Asanga, who belongs to the later MahiSd:sakaz8 and so accepts.
the intermediate state, speaks along the lines of that Mahdyina,
scripture in his Bodhisattuabhumiwhen he saysthat the antar dbhaua
is of two kinds, the kind invested with darkness (tamalt-pardyalta)'
like pitch-black nights, said to have a bad colour (duruarpa); and-
the kind invested with light (jyotilt-pardyalta) like nights that are'
lighted, said to have a good colour (suuarrya).2e The kind of a bad
colour leads to a bad destiny; and the kind of a good colour leads.
to a good destiny.
Asanga also explains:3o
Besides, there is its synonymous terminology. The term
"intermediate state" is used becauseit manifests in the inter-
val between the death-state and the birth-state. The term
gandharua is used because it has access(gamana) by way of'
odour and has growth (pusti) by way of odour. The term
"made of mind" (manomaya)is used becausethe mind, taking
recourse to itself, proceeds to the birthplace, but not because'
its going to a body is going with an object-support (alambana).
The "resultant" (abhiniruytti) is used because it is productive'
in the direction of birth.

The AbhiChqrmakoia (III,40c-4la) adds a further name "seeking

birth" (sarTtbhauaigin),which Asanga apparently includes in
"made of mind", according to his explanation.sl The denial of'

2?Inthe TibetanKanjur, Ratnakfi{acollection,PTT, YoL 23, p. 103-5.

28Cf.A. Wayman,Analysisof theSravakabhumi Manusuipt,BerkeTey 7961,.
pp. 25-29.
zsBodhisattvabhumi, (ed. by Wogihara),II, pp. 390-91.
\oYogdcdrabhumi,I,20.9-13: I tasyapunah parydyFt ity ucyate
antardbhava
maralabhavotpattibhavayor antarile pridurbhdvat / gandhawaity ucyate
gandhenagamanidgandhenapultitaSca / manomayaity ucyate tannisritya
manasa upapattylyatanagamanatayi / Sariragatyd,ca punar nilambana-
gatyd / abhinirvrttir apy ucyate upapatterabhimukhyenanirvartanatayd f:
BrCf. Abhidharmakoia,(tr.), III, pp. 122-23.
 The Intermediate-StateDispute in Buddhism 261

an object-support seemsinconsistent with the explanation for the

name gandharua.sz So the proponents of the "intermediate state"
also have here a problem that does not appear to be resolved.ss
Anyway, the gandharua has perfect senseorgans, as Vasubandhu
has already been cited.
Besidesthere are the periods by weeks,found both in the inter-
mediate-state theory and in the theory of intra-uterine develop-
ment which could therefore be labelled the "lunar route." Thus,
Asanga states:3a

Also, the intermediate state lasts for seven days. But when
there is not the condition for rebirth, and when there is the
condition for rebirth-is an uncertain matter. And when this
[condition] is not attained, then it lasts from seven days to
seven times seven days after one has died, while the condition
of rebirth is not being attained. When that period has elapsed
certainly one attains the condition of rebirth. Sometimes in
that very place there is the "resultant" (abltinirurtti) of the one
passed away since seven days. Sometimes,in the case of one
with bad fortune (or: who is unlucky) (a "resultant") else-
where, for if another activity of the karma should change the
course, it would cause that seed of antardbhaua to change
course.

Presumably what Asanga means by the "bad fortune" is that the

3zThatis to say,odouris ordinarilytakenasthe object-support of thesense

of smell.CompareMacDonell,VedicMythology,p. 137: "The RV. adds
the touch that Gandharvawears a fragrant (surabhi)garment(10., 123?),
whilein the AV. (l2.tzs1the odour(gandha) of the earthissaidto riseto the
Gandharvas."
33Onerationalizationto avoid the object-supportcould be that the gan-
dharvais "perfumed"by vdsand(habirenergy), so provides its own odour.
On the otherhand,it wouldbenaturalto rationalizethatthe odourof sexual
unionis the odourwhichrisesto thegandharva, and this ordinarily would
be construedas an object-support (alambana).
saYogdcdrabhumi I, 20.4-8:/ sa punar antardbhavalr saptahar.n tiqthaty
asaty upapattipratyayaldbhe / sati punahpratyayardbhe 'niyamal.r alabhe
/
punaScyutvdpunahsaptdhar.n tilthati ydvatsaptasaptdhani ti;thatyupapatti-
pratyayamalabhamlna\I tata iirdhvamavaSyam upapattipratyayam labhate/
tasyaca saptdhacyutasya kaddcit tatraivdbhinirvlttirbhavati/ kaddcidan-
yatra visabhageI sdcetkarmintarakriyi parivartetatad antardbhavabijar.n
parivartayati ll
262 BuddhistInsight

gandharua has contributed to the conception in the womb, and

then has gone away.
In the case of the intra-uterine development, there are the two
garbhduakrdnti scriptures in both Tibetan and Chinese of the
Ratnakfita collection. The smaller of these, the Arya-dyugman-
nandagarbhduakrdntinirdeia, was translated from Chinese into
German by Huebotter.ss Both of thesetexts have the teaching that
parturition occurs upon 38 weeks.36 Interestingly, this total of
266 days happens to be exactly the number stated by a modern
biological work to be the full term of pregnancy.sT
As the Mahdydna developed into tantric Buddhism, there was
much made of the intermediate state, with differerrt kinds of
bardo, as it is now frequently referred to by the Tibetan equivalent
(abbreviated) of the word antardbhaua. My studiesinthis literature
showed me one usage of the term "intermediate state" practically
equivalent to the ten lunar months of intra-uterine development.ss
Even the Points of Controaersy would not have objected to the
"intermediate state" ifthe opponent had said that this is what it is.
Indeed, Asanga's statement of the periods of seven-day multiples
suggestsa coordination of this "intermediate state" with the early
development of the embryo.
However, the early proponents of the "intermediate state"
doctrine necessarilyunderstood this in some way that put them at
variance with; and made them opponents of, those who reject the
intermediate state. Just as there are doctrinal implications in the
case of those who reject the intermediate state, so there are such
implications for those who accept it. Perhaps it is in the light of
the intermediate-state position that Asanga has an alternate way
of grouping the members of Dependent Origination, as found in
Sanskrit in his Abhidharma-semuccqva :3e

35Dr. Med. et Dr. Phil. Huebotter(tr.), Die Sutra iiberEmpfdngnisund

Embryologre(DeutscheGesellschaftfiir Natur-u. Volkerkunde Ostasiens),
Tokyo 1932.
s6Huebotte4 p. 2l; Tibetanfor the sametext,PTT, Yol. 23,p.99-3; atd
Tibetan for the larger text, the Arya-Ananda-garbhavakrdnti-nirdeia,
PTT,
Yol. 23, p. 107-4.But, accordingto P. V. Bapat, Vimuttimagga and Visud-
dhimagga,Poona7937,p. l29,the Vimuttimaggagives42weeksfor thesame
development.
szMartin and Vincent, Human Biological Developmenf,The Ronald Press
Company, New York, 1960.
38Wayman,"The Fivefold Ritual Symbolism of Passion", p. 130.
3sP. Pradhan (ed.) Abhidharma-samuccaya,26.20 ff.
 Disputein Buddhism
The Intermediate-State 263

How are the members grouped-[Into] the groups [catled]

members which cast downward, memberswhich are cast down'
ward, productive members, and resultant members. What are
the members which cast downward? They are nescience'
motivations, and perception. What are the members which
are cast downward? They are name-and-form, six sense
bases,contact, and feelings. Whatare the productive members?
They are craving, indulgence, and gestation. What are
the resultant members? They are birth, and old age
death.

SinceAsanga does not classifythe first two members as "past life",

it is not possible to make the kind of correlation that was done
previously in association with the Brhaddraryyaka Upani;ad. One
may conclude that the first three members-those which cast
downward-are the intermediate state, although admittedly I
have not found Asanga stating this explicitly.
Moreover, when speaking of the species(gotra) of the religious
family, Asanga raises the question as to whether it belongs to a
single or multiple lineage, and answers in part, "That seed does
not have the characteristics of difference as long as it stays apatt
from the six sensebases(ga/dyatanA)."u0This remark immediately
contrasts with the position previously cited from the Srmdld-
siltra. When Asanga allows a possibility of the "species" staying
apaft from the six sensebases, he assumesan intermediate state
between the prior set of six sensebasesand the later set of six
sensebases. PerhapsAsanga must take this position because of
his emphasis on yoga training, with its premise that one may
detach himself from the senses. But usually such detachment
would be from the five outer senses,and Asanga allows such de-
tachment also from the sixth sense,the manas.
Turning now to the three kinds of antardparinirudyin in the
theory of flve kinds of andgdmin,long ago Louis de La Vallde
Poussin made a comparison of the Sanskrit version from the
Satpurusagati-siltracited by YaSomitra in his Abhidharmakoiq-
uydkhya, with the Pali version in the Anguttara-nikdya, vii, 52.a1
For the putpose of the present article, I have edited from the

aoWayman, Analysis of the Sravakabhumi Manuscript, p. 59.

4l"Pali and Sanskrit", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,1906, pp. 346-51-
 BuddhistInsight

Bihar MS of Asanga's Srdaqkabhilmi his statement about three

kinds, which I thereafter translate:a2

f antara-parinirvdyi pudgalah katamah f antard-parinirvdyilah

pudgalds trayab/
/ ekdntard-parinirvayi pudgalah cyutamd.tra evantaribhavd-
bhinirvartikale antaribhavam abhinirvartayaty abhinirvartate
samakilam eva parinirvdti / tadyathd parittah sakalikagnir
utpannaiv a parinftv ati f
/ dvitiyo'ntara-parinirvdyi pudgalah antardbhavam abhinir-
vartayaty abhinirvartate antardbhave tatrastha eva kaldn-
tarena parinirvdti/ no tu yenopapattibhavas tenddydpy upana-
to bhavati / radyathdyogu{dniry vd ayahsthaldndm va
diptdgnisar.nprataptandm ayoghanair *unmathitanam4r ayah-
prapatikd utpataty eva parinirvdti /
/ tvtryo'ntara-parinirvdyi pudgalah antarabhavam abhinir-
vartya yenopapattibhavas tenopanamati / upanatas ca punar
anup apanna eva pari nirvat i / tady atha/ ay ahprapati ka u tp adya
plthivyim apatita eva parinirvdti f taime trayo 'ntara-parinir-
vdyi4ah pudgali ekadhyam abhisar.nk$ipya antara-parinir-
vdyi pudgala ity ucyatef
what is the person who attains parinirudna in the intermediate
state? There are three persons who attain parinirudna in the
intermediate state.
The first person who attains parinirudna in the intermediate
state is made to fulfill the intermediate state no sooner has
he died, at the time of accomplishing the intermediate state.
He accomplishes it at exactly the same time and attains
parinirud4a. For example, a tiny flame of hay arises and
immediately disappears.
The secondperson who attainsparinirudryainthe internrediate
state is made to accomplish the intermediate state and ac-
complishes it, just staying there in the intermediate state and
in the intervening time attains pariniradno, but where be the
state of rebirth (upapattibhaua)does not just now head toward

azThisis the manuscriptutilizedin the work of n. 2g above.The present

excerptis not includedin that work. The Tibetanequivalentis found in the
TibetanTanjur,PTT, Yol. 110,p. 69-3tr.
a8Partof this word was coveredby a tackused whenR. sankrityayana
photographedthe manuscriptin Tibet.
The Intermediate-State Dispute in Buddhism 265

that place. For example,just as wheniron ballsor iron plates

aremadeburninghot by beingviolently struckwith iron ham-
mers,and the massof sparksfrom the irons just ascendsand
disappears.
The third person who attainsparinirudqa in the intermediate
statewhen he accomplishes the intermediatestatedoes head
to whereis the rebirth state;and havingheadedthere,without
beingreborn,attainsparinirud?a. For example,just as when
a massof sparksfrom the iron ascendsand then whenfalling
quite reachingthe earth, disappears.
when onetakesthesethreeafiara-pctrinirudyinpersons together,
the expression"person who attainsparinirudpain the inter-
mediatestate"is used.
so this is the theory repeatedby Asangaand his brother vasu-
bandhu centuries after the points of controuersy rejected this
interpretationof the word antardparinirudyin.But, upon inspec-
tion of the three kinds of antardparinirvdyinas Asanga states
them,we find it is actuallyonly the secondonethat hasan afiara-
.bhauanot acceptedby the opponentsof such a state. This is
becauseall the Indian Buddhistsectsagreedthat thereis a death
state followed by a rebirth statewithin the womb (in the caseof
human birth), and therefore would not deny the antardbhauas
which coincidewith the deathand rebirth states. But they would
likely ask, "Then why usethe expression 'intermediate
state' in
'thesecases?"

III. FrNar. CoNsroERArroNS

My investigation indicates that the old Upanisads and the old
Buddhist scriptures both present the rival theories of "no inter-
mediate state" and "intermediate state". perhaps in the upa-
niqads this reflects a contrasting orientatiorr of the "re-death" (per
Brhaddraryyaka) and the "re-birth" (per Kalha) positions. In
the Buddhist sectsthe difference is partly temperamental, to wit,
those rejecting the state preferring to have a rational control of
Buddhist doctrine; and those accepting the state willing to allow
mythological exuberance. once one accepts the intermediate
state, there is no end to the elaboration, as evidenced in the
Tibetan Book of the Dead.
This research also leads to the curious conclusion that the same
266 Buddhist Insight

ancient Buddhist scripturescan lead to opposing doctrines with

partisansequally divided among the old Buddhist sects. This
should unsettle the all-too-frequent posture among modern
exponentsof Buddhism where someoneclaims that he knows
better than others the Dharma of the Buddha. Of course,as
disputeis concerned,there is no need
far as the intermediate-state
to attribute one position over the other to early or "original"
Buddhism.
 PART THREE

STUDIES
INTERPRETATIVE
OF BUDDHISM
 13

NO TIME, GREAT TIME AND PROFANE

TIME IN BUDDHISM

This essaymaintainsthat some important Buddhist texts con-

tribute to a neat formulation of man's most treasuredmodes of'
thought: No Time as the sourceof religion, Great Time as the
sourceof myth, and ProfaneTime asthe sourceof reason. These,
threeforms of Time are not so namedin the Buddhistworks. The
limitation of data to Indo-Tibetan materials makes possiblethe'
additionof an expression "No Time" to the two categories
"Great
Time" and "Profane Time" utilized by Eliade for worldwide cul-
tural materials,while he marshalsthe evidenceand terminology
that facilitate the integration of Eastern and Western spirit.l
Eliade'sontologicalinterpretationof suchmodesis well known.
The presentwriter is not therebyreleasedfrom the obligationto
rework the availabledata arcordingto his understandingof Bud-
dhism. Then-to anticipatethe development-without asserting
any ontologicalstatusfor suchmodeselsewherein the world, it
doesappearthat in the Buddhist case,in the Indian context, the
threemodesof thought alludeto threemodesof being.
Thereis no claim to involveall of Buddhismin this treatment,
althoughthe prevalentBuddhistgenesislegend,already studied,
will play a significantrole.z The metaphysicaldiscussionstems
rAmong the works of Mircea Eliade, the following have been especially
important to this paper : Myths, Dreams and Mysteries (London, 1960);
The Sacred and the Profane (New York, 1961).
2AIex Wayman, "Buddhist Genesis and the Tantric Tradition," Oriens
Extremus, g (1962): 127-31.The essayalso appears in A. Wayman, Buddhist'
Tantras (Samuvel Weiser, New York 1973).
No Time, Great Time, and Profane Time in Buddhism 271

some early WesternOrientalistsconsideredBuddhismto be pre-

eminently rational.

Accononlc ro rHE MADHYANTA

CnB.q,rtoN
VmsAce
Before setting forth the intended structure of three modes of
thought, I shall separatelytreat the rather technical data of the
Madhydnta-uibhdga, which not only contributesdecisivelyto the
presenttopic but also conveysa rather different picture of the
Yogdcira from the way the latter is depictedin current surveys
of Indian philosophy.
The two realitiesof the Yogdcdrametaphysicsare calledabhitta'
parikalpa and iunyatd, here translated respectivelyas the "fm-
aginationof Unreality" and "Voidness,"compatiblewith Stcher-
batsky's respectiverenditions, the "Llniversal Constructor of
Phenomena"and the "Absolute." The Madhydnta'uibhdgastates
(I,1):
Therewas the Imagination of Unreality,
And in it no duality (of subjectand object).
There was Voidnessin it,
And it was in that (Voidness).5
Of the reality called "fmaginationof Unreality," what is the
"IJnreality" (abhuta) and what the "Imagination" (parikalpa)?
'ob-
The text states(I, 5): "What is imaginedis explainedas the
jective thing' (artha); what is dependent,as the construction
processof unreality; and what is perfect,as the unrealityof both
(subjectand object)."6 And from the text (I, 3) andVasubandhu's
commentary,we learn that the "Imagination" has its own four
characters(sualak$a(ta), called "objective thing" (artha), "per-
sonal organ" (sattua), "self" (dtman), and "representation"
(uijfiapti):
Perceptionwas engenderedas the projectionof (sixkinds of)
objective things, (five) personal organs, self (:mind), and
(six kinds of) representations.The objectivething doesnot

sabhtrta-parikalpo 'sti dvayan tatra na vidyate /

ftrnyatd vidyate tv atra tasyim api sa vidyate ll
okalpitah paratantraS ca parinigpanna eva ea I
arthad abhtitakalpdc ca dvaydbh6vdc ca de5itab //
 272 Buddhist
Insighr
belongto it (i.e.,perception). sincethe former (the objective
thing) is unreal,the latter (perception)is also unreal.z
The implicationis that when the Imaginationof unreality is not
so imagining,its four charactersare not groupedin zubject-object
relation,and that when it is so imagining,the ..self" approa.h.*
the "personalorgan," whereuponthe "representation,' ialsely de-
picts the "objectivething." As with all suchultimate processes'
the modus operandiof the primordial subject-objectemergence
is wrappedin mystery. However,it seemsto involvean interac-
tion of the "self" and the "personalorgan" with voidnessasDhar-
madhdtu("realm of Dharma"), which is the materialcause.8
The reality called "voidness" has this character(I, l3a-b):
"the unreality of both (subjectand object),and the reality (sub-
jacent) of this unreality."s rhis translation,following strh.r-
batsky,is consistentwith yogicdra definitionsin other works as
typified by two statements,one of which specifieswhat is voided
and the other of which specifieswhat remains not voided. The
following verse(I, 14) clarifiesthe senseof the ..reality (subja-
cent)of this unreality" by namesof voidness,justifiedin the next,
verse(I, 15):
Thusness (tathatd) becausenot otherwise,TrueLimit (bhiltako i),
1
becausenot wrong, Attributeless(animitta)becausethe cessa-
tion of attributes, ultimate state (paramdrthatd)becausethe
domainof the nobleones,the Realmof Dharma(dharmadhdtu).
becausehavingthe noble natures(dharma).
versesI, 8-9 and vasubandhu'scommentaryportray the Ima-

Tartha-satvitma-vijfiapti-pratibh6sar.n prajdyate
I
vijflanam nasti cdsyarthas tad-abhivdt tad apy asat ll
vasubandhu's commentary (Nagao, Madhydntavibhaga-bha;ya, pp. 1g-19),
clarifies the word "self" (atman) as the "corrupted mind', (kti;lamanas) and
the six things as objects grasped by the six sense organs (five by the word
sattva), including mind as the sixth, in terms of six representations(vijfiapti)-
sSuch an idea is found near the beginning of Asanga's Srdvakabhtlmi,in
a passagefor which original Sanskrit is lacking; here it is translated from
Tibetan (Derge edition of raqiur, sems tsam, Sravakabhumi, 2b): ..Frow-
ever, that seeddoes not have the characteristicsofdifference so long as it stays.
apart from the six sensebases$adayatana). That seedhas been handed down
in lineage from beginninglesstime and has states obtained through the six
sense bases which are attained by means of 'true nature' (dharmata).,,
sdvayibhdvo hy abhavasya bhavah Stinyasyalakqa?am.
No Time, Great Time, and Profane Time in Buddhism ZTj

gination of unreality in a new role. Since its own characters

(saalakgana) had projected the unreal perception, the younger
Imagination of unreality is now precisely that unreal perception
of the unreal objective thing:
Now the Imagination of unreality was consciousness (of) and
mentals, composing the three realms (of desireoof form, and
formless). Perception ( - "consciousnessof ") sees the ob-
jective thing itself; its mentals seemodifications of the objective
thing. The first one is the foundation-perception (: alaya-
uijrtdna). The other ones pertain to experience. These are the
mentals (namely, feelings, uedana)which enjoy, (ideas,sarltjfid)
which distinguish, and (motivations, saqnskdra)which activate
(perception).10
That passagecovers two stages of the process which the present
essay intends to keep separate. They are "consciousness of,"
which sees the objective thing itself, and mentals, which see
modifications of the thing. They are preceded by the atemporal
state in which the Imagination of Unreality abides with Voidness
deprived of the subject-object relationship.

No Tlrua, THE Souncp or. RsrrcroN

No Time means the revelation of reality, everywhere, always.
Man may or rnay not intuit the dazzling ultimate. rtis other than
Great Tirne rvhen nature predicts by omens and man obeys. It is
other than Profane Time when man predicts by reason and nature
obeys.
The story of Buddhist genesisalludes to a mode of being pre*
vailing as o'men of the flrst eon" while the lower receptacleworlds
are reevolving after the periodic destruction. These men have
bodies made of mind, are self-luminous, feed on joy, and are
wherever they wish to be. Their actions have immediate fruition,
and so involve No Time.ll
In the Madhyanta-uibhdga,No Time is the mysterious truth of
a voidness reality subjacent to the unreality of subject and

loabhfitaparikalpaS ca citta-caittistridhdtukah/
tatrirtha-drqtirvijfidnaintad-viSe,se tu caitasdbll
ekam pratyaya-vijflinamdvitiyam aupabhogikam/
upabhoga-pariccheda-prerakis tatra caitasAbI I
llWayman, "Buddhist Genesis."
274 Buddhist Insight

object-a reality neither joined to nor separatefrom the creative

center called Imagination of Unreality. This Voidness is the goal
to which the noble ones (the elect) aspire, because it has the
noble natures, called in other Buddhist texts the "Buddha natures"
(buddhadharma).
Generally, Buddhist texts referred to this state as Nirvi{ra,
more properly "Nirva4a without remainder." "Nirva4a with
remainder" is approximately Great Time. The Mahdydna
"Nirva4a without fixed abode" (apratiglhita-nirudqta)is all three
Times.

Gnner Ttltn, rsn SouncE oF MYrn

Great Time is the marvelous beginning of time in the senseof an
interval not always progressing in a continuous line, as does Pro-
fane Time, which has an anterior past, a present moment, and
a posterior future. The interval of time is colored by a glorious
quality, becausethen is the contact with earth by the hero, walk-
ing with erect stature. His fabulous and exemplary adventures
need only be recounted in myth to inspire the imagination, and
possibly also th.econduct of men in later Profane Time; especially
men who are close to the soil. The myth of the Buddha's life also
begins with this walking, as the child leaves his mother's womb
by the right side, takes seven steps toward the north, and an-
nounces, "f am at the top of the world. . .)'rz The future Bud-
dha's sevensteps are (No Time in) Great Time; his announcement
is (No Time in) Profane Tirne.
All those examples point to the touching of earth as constitut-
ing a symbolic moment which we could call Moment 1, as the
preliminary moment to rnundane life (in case of infant), to
spiritual life (in case of Buddha), to the symbolization of the
spiritual life (in case of main body of the rite), to acceptance
in marriage (in caseof the auspiciousbride). At Moment l,
the being is not yet alive, but anticipates the whole future life.
Astrologically, at the moment of birth the infant is at the
center of the universe, in sympathetic communion with the
planets and stars, which indelibly impress the being with a
sort of centriPetal force.13
rzCf.Eliade,Myths,DreamsandMysteries,pp.110'15.
l3Alex Wayman,"Climactic Times in Indian Mythology and Religion"
Historyof Religions, 4 (1965):310-1I.
 No Time, Great Time, and Profane Time in Buddhisrn 275

This place where earth is touched is the center, of which Eliade

frequently speaks.
In the Buddhist story of genesis,on the rsurfaceof earth there
appeared an earth essence-in the Tantric version called an
ambrosia (am7ta)-which a greedy being tasted with his finger
and then ate mouthfuls of. other beings followed suit. Thus
they became dependent on subtle morsel food and no longer fed
on joy. They gradually lost the body made of mind as their bodies
became heavier and more substantial. The ones who indulged
least proudly retained their beautiful form. The sun, moon, and
year becameknown. Hell beings, beings in the embryonic states,
and the gods involved with desire (kdmduacdradeua)still have
the subtle kind of food which does not give rise to excrement or
urine.la
According to the Madhydnta-uibhdga, in the beginning the
world becameinner-outer, or subject-object. That is to say, what
was always there in No Time continued just the same. But an
imaginary relationship was introduced among the four characters,
t semi-divine beings as it were, of the Imagination of Unreality.
) Perhaps in a magic square they projected their own being through
Voidness into an Imagination of Unreality the younger. This is
first the foundation perception called "basic perception" (dlaya-
uijfiana) which has as object the objective thing itself. Since as
yet there are no modifications (alsesa) of the objective thing,
there is no error (bhrdnti) or specific illusion. Nevertheless,the
objectivething is said to be unreal. The unreality here is the cos-
mic illusion, the begiiining of downfall. The fascinating objective
thing conceals in its very freshness the specific illusion that is
sure to follow in a subsequentremove of Profane Time. From the
beginning, the world was pervaded by delusion (moha). It is as
the Buddha tells: all constructed things (sarpskdra) are suffer-
iog. In Great Time, the suffering is of transformation.

PnopaNe TlMn, rne SoURCEoF RuasoN

This is horizontality. Man has nature down where it can be
handled. But he believes that his inner knowledge stems from
outer happenings. Time now, according to L6vy-Bruhl, is what

laWayman,"BuddhistGenesis."
276 BuddhistInsight

"our" minds-the minds of us, the "civilizedl'-take it to be. In

his graphic words:
extending indefinitely in imagination, something like a straight
line, always homogeneousby nature, upon which events fall
into position, a line on which foresight can arrange them in
an unilinear and irreversible series, and on which they must
of necessityoccur one after the other.ls
As long as man lives a profane life, his best guide is reason, which
is limited and superficial, accompanied by the latest "laws of
thought." The remarkable achievements of science fall here.
Profane existence proves itself by accumulations such as mer-
chandise and books (religious and. secular), and also by desacra-
lized leavings or residues. It is "the rest of life" after Moment 1.
In Buddhist genesis, the beings began to subsist on coarse
morsel food, which gave rise to excrement and urine. The dis-
tinguishing characteristics of male and female arose, along with
sexual desire and relevant acts. Then the idea of "private pro-
perty" arose with individual rice plots, followed by stealing and
consequentviolence. Those beings electeda"great chosenone"
(mahdsammata)to provide security.lo This shows the emergence
of lust and hatred, then private property and the status of ruler
and ruled.
The Madhyanta-uibhagaalludes to this state of being by "men-
tals'o seeingthe modifications of the objective thing. These men-
tals pertain to experience,and are feelings, ideas, and motivations.
They are also called the "evolving perceptions" (praurtti-uijfidna).
This state is full-blown illusion.

R.ecaprruLATroNs
It is a basic feature of Eliade's writings that h.edenies a purely
prcfane existence. The homogeneity of profane space is inter-
rupted by certain "holy places" dear to the memory of even the
profane rronreligiousman.l? While Eliade has not defined the
profane life in the terms I have employed above, I seeno conflict
with his position on this matter. I can therefore go on to agree

lsl-ucienL6vy-Bruhl,PrimitiveMentality(Boston,1966),p. 123.
16Wayman, "BuddhistGenesis."
17Soin Eliade,TheSacredand the Profane.
No Time,GreatTime,andProfaneTime in Buddhism 277

with him on this denial of the pure profane. There is no need to

repeat here his well-presented justifications. My methods of
demonstrating this conclusion are additional. Here there are
two kinds of recapitulation-that of childhood and that of the
daily life of man.

The Recapitulation in Childhood

In a brief communicationls I called attention to the Indian
theory of life stages, of which the first three are in point now.
They are the first year of life under the Moon, the second and
third years under Mars, and the fourth through twelfth under
Mercury. In the first year-as modern child developrnent study
shows-the baby begins with no distinction between himself and
his environment, and so is akin to the nondual state of No Time,
from which he gradually emergesduring the balance of the year.
Recently emerged from the primeval waters called the amni-
otic fluid and still dependent on liquids, the infant is governed
by the Moon. For purposes of our correspondencesbased on
Indian classifications,the entire year will be taken conventionally
as the "nondual state." About the beginning of the secondyear,
the child starts to walk: this inaugurates the heroic stage of walk-
ing on earth. It is a kind of anabasis,"advance uphill" (classi-
cally used for "military advance"). Also in the next two years
the child speaks magic syllables expressinghis desiresand com-
manding their fulfillment by parents. Morbid regressionsto this
state could be called catabasis, "retreat to the sea" (classically
used for "military retreat"). So the child during those two years
is goverrredby Mars, the commander-in-chief in Indian astrology.
This is childhood's type of Great Time. Phylogenetic recapitula-
tion in Profane Time is shown by the last period of childhood, the
fourth through the twelfth year, when the lad or girl develops the
power of reasoning while playfully dashing hither and yon under
the dominion of Mercury. Modern studies show that the child
is now a "socialized being" and his gamesincreasinglyhave rules.le
The ages assignedto these stagesare of course stated with gener-
rality and. are not meant to deny individual differences.
18"TheStagesof Life accordingto Varihamihira,"Journalof theAmerican
OrientalSociety,83 (1963):360-61.
leJeanPiaget,Play, DreamsandImitationin Childhood(New York, 1962),
p. 142.
278 Buddhist Insight

The Daily Recapitulation

Each duy, manos life exhibits modes that disguise the three
times. Properly speaking, the disguiseis inaugurated by puberty,
becausethe maturation of the sexually differentiated characteris-
tics recalls rvhat in the Buddhist genesis legend inaugurated the
last period, corrupted by lust and hatred. fn short, dreamless
sleep corresponds to No Time, dream to Great Time, and the
u'aking state to Profane Time.
I must stress-and in a similar vein, so does Eliade20-that
the kind of correspondencereferred to in the iternization of re-
capitulations does not imply identity with the three Times. In-
deed, elements in correspondenceare both related in some way
and differ in some way. No Time, Great Time, and Profane Time
each have a universal or shared character. The recapitulations
are personal or private. Thus, Great Time is the source of myth
as held by a certain society to work out public problems while a
dream is a private matter to work out private problems. The
dream is also like Great Time in its shortened psychological dis-
tance between subject and object, evidencedby the conversion of
discursive thinking into nondiscursive imagery, especially in
dramatic presentation, and also by its premonitory character (in
the sense of shorving trends). In contrast, dreaming is mostly
inspired by experiencesof the waking state, preeminently Frofane
Time, while Great Time is mostly inspired by No Time. Certain
cases of unsuccessful(o'unresolved") dreaming even parallel the
successful"walking" of Great Time by the striking act of som-
nambulism. The recapitulations of childhood are more faithfi.rl
to the three Times (hence the Biblical advice for entering the
Kingdom of Heaven). That the third period (agesfour through
twelve), when the child is allowed to go out and play with other
children, establishes Profane Time, is a matter to be justified"
Buddhism generally explained that "discursive thought" (uikalpa)
is the nescience(auidyQ, or causeof it, that heads the Dependent
Origination (pratitya-somutpdda) constituting Phenomenal Life
(sarysdra). This "discursive thought" is the basis of human
reasoningwith its rules. Butachildplayingby itselfdoesnotdevise
rules for games.zl Therefore, I understand the third period of

20Eliade, Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, p."1.7.

2lPiaget, Play, Dreams and Imitation, p. 142.
No Time,GreatTime,and ProfaneTime in Buddhism 279

childhood to be involved in the parable of the Buddhist Mahdydna

scripture called Sdgaramatipariprcchd: "Now suppose this boy,
being a child, would fall into a pit of night-soil while playing...."
It turns out that this "pit of night-soil" is a term for salnsdra.zz
While the recapitulations in both childhood and daily life are
not identical with the three Times, they do share the universal
character in a salient feature. That is to say, we can combine the
childhood and daily recapitulations to observe that although the
child, and then the child becomesan adult, are in aspectsof Pro-
fane Time, they do indeed still recapitulate all three Times. They
do so irrespective of the degree of religious feeling in particular
persons, do so irrespective of such rites as baptism, and do so
whether or not people indulge in food and sex sacramentally. In
every life the "Moment 1" is Great Time, the rest of life Profane
Time, but throughout life there are these recapitulations, echoes,
and intimations of the Sacred. This is why no person in Profane
Time can be utterly dissociated from No Time and Great Time.
In this light, an irreligious as well as a religious person may use
with sincerity such expressionsas the "sanctity of the home."

Breakthroughs
By "breakthrough" I refer to the numinous experience as des-
cribed by Otto (Das Heilige). It is an irrational revelation of
overrvlielming majesty or of mysterious power. The complete
otherness of the revelation makes it appear as a breakthrough
from a superior, nonhuman realm. According to the classifica-
tion utiiized above, this breakthrough would be from No Time
into Great Time or from No Time into Profane Time. In the
Indian context, the first case-overwhelming majesty of No Time
in Great Time-is illustrated in the Bhagauadglta by Krishna's
revelation of his cosmic form to Arjuna. This is also the saqn-
bhogalrayaof the Buddha preaching to the great bodhisattuasin
the Akaniltha Heaven. The second case-the mysterious power
of No Tirne in Profane Time-is illustrated by the Hindu-Buddhist
Act of Truth. This act is done by Sita in the Hindu epic Rdmd-
yallq.and there are many examples in Buddhist scriptures. Here
the performer declares the truth of his outstanding acts and

22Theparableis quotedin Jikido Takasaki,A Study on the Ratnagotra-

vibhaga(Uttaratantra)(Rome,t966,) pp. 246-47,
280 BuddhistInsight

commands the gods to produce the desiredmiracle. The miracle-

an incredible event apparently violating "Nature's laws"-is the
breakthrough. Anandagarbha contains this ritual statement in
his Srparamddi-1tkd: "He should recite, 'oh Bhag avatyajrasattva,
just as it is true that all dharmas are like a dream, by virtue of
that truth may r be allowed to see and be allowed to hear the
such-and-such desired dream t' ))zg
Both kinds of breakthrough have been responsiblein numerous
casesfor the striking religious phenomenon of "conversion." In
the category of breakthrough I would also place some debatable
religious experiences, of more or less sullied character, all for
"ego-defense": battlefield traurna, epilepsy, young man in the
whorehouse, psychedelic drugs (as indicated by such images of
"shattering" as walls breached by sea-water).

Participations
There is also the attempt to ascend to higher states of conscious-
ness as though to live integrally in them, reified as modes of
being-a sort of rnystical immersion-or at least to be able to
get into and out of those stateswheneverone lvishes. Hence we
spea.kof participation in Great Time or in No Time. Success
here can be understood as either discoveryor verification of spiri-
tual truth, and also as the acquisition of supernormal powers.
Eliade writes:
up'n the plane of the archaic religions, participation in
the condition of the "spirits" is what endows the mystics and
the magicians with their highest prestige. It is during his
ecstasy that the shaman undertakes, in the spirit, long and
dangerous mystical journeys even up to the highest Heaven
to meet the God, or up to the Moon or down into Hell, etc.za
whatever be the truth in these cases, it is the human mind
which so assertsit. It is a wonderful feature of Profane Time that
it assertsthe truth of religion. The higher Times have truth but
do not assert it. Great Time should include the Buddhist search

za/ bcom ldan hdasrdo rje semsdpal.rbdenpa gan gischosthamscad

rmi lam dan lldra bar mfiampa[i bdenpa desbdaghdodpat'i rmi lamche
gemo mthonbarmdzodcig/ thospar,mdzod cigcesbrjodpar byahol(Kyoto-
Tokyo Photographic reprint [1959-6Uof Kanjur-Tanjur,
vol. 72, pp.305-3).
z4Eliade,Myths, Dreamsand Mysteries,p. 95.
 t{o Time,GreatTime,and Profane Time in Buddhism 2Bl

for or experience of suffering as a Noble Truth. For this it is

necessary to reduce, even to abolish, pslichological distance-
man's advancing self-awarenessin Profane Time that he is dif-
ferentiated from the object (nature), which curtails a person's em-
pathy with beings located mentally by that person in other groups.
This factitious grouping-the castesof India and the world-is the
prejudice engendered during the third period of childhood (see
*'Recapitulations").
Buddhism, in common with Hinduism, believed that by a regu-
lar course of conduct, such as restrictions on food and sex activity,
and by finding the proper place and there a guru, a person (prefer-
ably male) could then undertake the somewhat arduous training
for samddhi and thus ascend to various levels of consciousness,
even the highest, the Incomparable complete Enlightenment of
the Buddha. This meditative ascensionis usually stated in terms
of sensory experience. The attainment of mental calm gradually
brings out certain supernormal faculties, such as divine hearing.
Eliade points out, 'oln short, throughout religious history, sensory
,activity has been used as a means of participating in the sacred.
,and attaining to the divine."25 In the bodhisattua doctrine of
Mahdydna Buddhism this is also stressed.Thus. in Atisa's Bodhi-
pathapradtpa (verses 35-36):
Just as a bird with unspread wings cannot fly up to the sky,
in the sameway the one without the power of the supernormal
facultiescannot servethe aim of the sentientbeings.
The merits of a single day that are due to the supernormal
faculties would not occur in a hundred births for one lacking
the supernormal faculties.26
rn that way, those bodhisattuas who are called "great beings"
'(mahasattua) are in Great Time, vastly able to serve the aim of
,sentient beings by dint of the supernormal faculties.
Extraordinary sensory experience is governed by the second
instruction of the Buddhist path, which is arranged in three
instructions : ( I ) m orality (adhii IIa-i i k t a), (2) concentration (adhisa-
t
mddhi-Sik ; a), and (3) insight (adhipr ajfia-i ik sa).zt The implicati on
j

zsEliade,Myths, DreomandMysteries,p. 74.

I
ll 2oManuscript translationfrom Tibetanby Alex Wayman.
il 27Thefamous Pdli text, Buddhaghosa'svisuddhimagga, is arrangedin
- three parts in accordancewith three instructions.
282 BuddhistInsight

of these instructions is that Buddhism is not seeking to attain

Great Time or No Time just for the sake of doing so, or for the
sake of gaining a striking experience. The old Buddhist aim was
of liberation (No Time) and later came the Bodhisattva ideal
(Great Time). Since Great Time had the seed of downfall into
Profane Time, the Buddhist rationale of reaching that lofty state
is to do it in circumstances whereby the concurrent hypnotic
delusion is elirninated. And so it rvas taught that on top of the
mental calming, the fruit of the second instruction, there should
be the insight which sees things as they really are (what early
Buddhism said) or which seesthings arising as in a dream (what
later Buddhism said).
The order of instructions places morality as the foundation for
both mental calrning and insight. This is borne out by the assign-
ment of certain rites to Great Time. Ritual action has this in
comrnon with the heroic conduct of Great Time: one has to give
up all random action and do things with exactitude in the per-
formance of a rituai, and one has to give up all means and timid
acts in order to have h.eroicconduct. That is to say, they both de-
mand the abandonment of the usual huriran weaknessesexhibited
in Profane Time. Theserites have featuresin common with medi-
tation procedures. I have in mind especiallythe map(a/a rites of
Tibetan Buddhism,2srvhich are analogousto stepsof meditation.
Here one has to select the proper site, remove all the stones,
potsherds, and other pains of the soil, and meditatively seizethe
site by vowing to perform the reviewed rite. In Buddhist medi-
tation one must also find the right meditative object, eliminate
gross corruptions frorn the mind, and seize the meditative object
by leaving off the usual mental dashing hither and yon to a mul-
titude of sensoryobjects.
'oshortcuts"
These meditative procedures-the old ways or the
such as the Tantras claim to have-are meant to reach an other-
worldly condition. It is here that the myth, especiallythe genesis
legend, serves the function of reminding profane man of that
mode of being he has lost and even suggestinghow he may return.
Then, what does Buddhism have to say about participating in
Great Tirne and No Time as modes of beins in the senses

28See
FerdinandD. Lessingand Alex Wayman,trans.,Mkhasgrub rje's
of the BuddhistTantras"),(The Hague,1968),pp. 279 ff-
("Fundamentals
No Time, GreatTime, and ProfaneTime in Buddhism 283

suggestedby the genesislegend? It was believed in ancient Buddh-

ism that by advanced meditative techniques one could draw from
the physical body a duplicate of it called the "body rnade of mind"
(manomaya-kdya), as recorded in the Digha-nikaya:
Here a monk createsa body from this (his) body, having form
mind-made, with all limbs and parts, not deprived of senses.
Just as if a man were to pull out a reed from its sheath, he
would know: "This is the sheath, this the reed. The sheath
is one thing, the reed is another. It is frorn the sheath that
the reed has been drawn forth."2e
The Lankduatdra-siltra distinguishesthree degreesin development
of this "body made of mind": (l) its potential separationduring
stabilization in the pleasure of samadhi; (2) its separation due to
reversal ofthe basis of the evolving perceptions and of the basic
perception (dtayauijfidna), with a reorientation ("alteration of
consciousness") toward dharmas (natures); and finally, (3) its
becoming a body of the Buddha.3o The second stage, pervaded
by "forbearance of the unoriginated natures" (anutpattikadhar'
mak,sdnti),means living without terror in Great Time; while the
third stage, when the "body made of mind" has been initiated as
a Buddha, means living in No Time. These three stages of the
"body made of mind" appear to reversethe three downward stages
of the Buddhist genesislegendand, by masteringthe three Times,
to prove the myth.
In addition, there are ancient and modern claims that certain
drugs, now called "consciousnessexpanding" (psychedelic),such
as the current LSD-possibly tbe soma of the ancient Vedic cult
is in the same category-bring one easily to the experience of
Great Time. Drugs that arouse striking sensory images have
precisely this intensemindfulness(smrti) in common with yoga.In
the case of drugs, however, the experienceis of kaleidoscopic and
o'one pointedness of
somewhat distorted images rather than the
mind" (ekdgrata-citta) of samddhi and is uncontrolled by the sub-
ject except for some affective preconditioning ("expectancy").

2eSeeParavaheraVajiraffdqraMahdthera,BuddhistMeditationin Theory
and Practice(Colombo,Ceylon, 1962),p. 440:'and Mircea Eliade, Yoga:
ImmortalityandFreedon(NewYork, 1958),p. 165.
30SeeAlex Wayman,"studies in Yama and Mira," Indo-IrdnianJournal,
3 (1959):1.19.
 :284 BuddhistInsight

Therefore, these drugs cannot supply the mental calm (iamatha)

necessaryfor the supernormal faculties. They seemto amount to
at least one of the two extremes rejected by the Buddha in favor
of the Middle Path-the extreme of indulgence in a riot of sense
images; possibly also they represent the extreme of mortification,
of body chemistry.
Indeed, an artist of the visionary type is more likely to live in
Great Time than any drug-taker. This is becausewhen percep-
tion seesthe bare objective thing, that object, as "nature,,' has
the upper hand: being the only thing perceived, it has virtual
hypnotic value. Notice the words of picasso:
There must be darkness everywhere except on the canvas, so
that the painter becomes hypnotized by his own work and
paints almost as though he were in a trance.... He must stay
as close as possible to his own inner world if he wants to tran-
scend the limitations his reason is always trying to impose on
him.31
Jung writes consistently: "A great work of art is like a dream;
for all its apparent obvjousnessit does not explain itself and is
never unequivocal. A dream never says:'you ought', or: 'This
is the truth."'32 The breakdown of formal profane structures
through shortened psychological distance can bring types of reli-
gious experiencesto artists and drug-takers as well as to yogins.
However, there is no special distinction in reaching Great Time
or No Time somehow or other, no matter in how disoriented a
manner; for, after all, there are the recapitulations which all of
.usexperiencenormally without risk.

CoNcl,usroN
If one accepts the terminology of three Times associated with
three modes of thought and further accepts that these modes of
thought allude to modes of being, he can easily grant that there
are various ways of reaching or plunging into those modes of
being as a veritable transfer or flight of consciousnessto a different

slFrancoiseGilot and carlton Lake, Life with picasso(New york, 1965),

p p . 110- 11.
32C.G. Jung,ModernMan in Searchof a Soul(New york, 1933),p. 171.
No Time, Great Time, and Profane Time in Buddhism 28s:

field or domain, one that is initially strange and possibly.

frightening. The threeTimesthemselves, and the corresponding
procedureusedfor dealingwith them, area kind of thinking well
known from the ancient Upanigads, or the background of
which Buddhisrnitself arose. The statesof Waking, Dream,and
DreamlessSleepare encompassing categoriesand are themselves.
includedin the Fourth state (Turiya),which seemsto be the fore-
runner of the Mahdyina "Nirvala without flxed abode.,'
The useof the categories"No Time," "Great Time,', and ..pro-
fane Time" for subsumingd,isparatefeaturesof man's d,evelop-
mentor statesof consciousness is not surprisingsincethe mind of
man is structurallytbe same,though given to different"ways of
thought"; and, after all, one can selectfrom varioussourcesthe
particular materialthat fits into a prearrangement. The formula-
tion would be outstandingif it shouldprove to fit well with other
salientfeaturesof man's thought and life which personsat large
might cogentlyadduceas worthy of inclusionin such schema-
that is, if it shouldturn out to be a more convenientdescription
for worthy data than other schematicdescriptionsin use. This,
is for othersto judge.
 T4

THE ROLE OF ART AMONG THE

BUDDHIST RELIGIEUX

This paper will flrst go into some generalitiesabout Buddhist art,

then proceed to the aniconic period, the iconic period, and
problems of discursive and non-discursive thought and art. An
attempt will be made to compare meaningfully with some Western
contributors to aesthetics theory, such as Herbert Read and
J. P. Sartre. The comparisons are non-historical, witir the premise
that these problems are common to man, of whatever period of
time. The author hopes to communicate his own fascination
with the topic as suggesting intriguing implications beyond
Buddhist art itself. Among the significant findings is that the
term "freedom" is employed in two contrasting senses.

I. GnNnRarttIns
The term "art" is here employed for the visual arts-namely,
architecture, sculpture, and painting-which constitute the greatest
artistic achievement of Buddhism. In contrast, rnost of the
versified Buddhist works are of a didactic nature, emphasizing the
messagerather than poetical finesse. This is not to deny certain
outstanding works of Buddhist literature, such as ASvaghoga's
early Kavya and his drama, the works of Mdtrceta andAryaStrra,
as well as Sri Harsa's dramatic work. Probably others were
composed in the early A.D. centuries whose authors were not
sufficiently appreciated in monastic circles to have their works
288 Buddhist Insighr

repeatedly copied and thus preserved. There is presumably a.

sizeable body of Buddhist poetry in the various Asian languages;
and the Buddhists along with other Indians were fertile in tales,
often of an elegant form. whether or not original, Buddhist
music does not appear to have been especially influential. Let.
us then turn to the visual arts which are our concern here. Many
flne Buddhist art objects are preservedin the great museumsof the
world. certain monuments and art centers, such as sdffchi,
Ajantd, and Ndgdrjunakop{a, are also well preserved at or near
their original locations in India. Debala Mitra's Buddhist
Monumenls (Calcutta, 1971) is a satisfactory modern coverage of
most of the Buddhist monuments of the ancient India area, in-
cluding modern Pakistan and part of Nepal. The remarkable
outpouring of art was characteristic of Buddhism in every country
in which it became followed by a sizeablepart of the population.
one can gain an idea of how Buddhist art spread through south
Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Far East, by consulting the com-
prehensive catalogue Guide du Musde Guimet I (Paris, 1966)-
Many Buddhist monuments have been irretrievably lost when they
lay in the path of invading armies in Northwest India, or in other
parts of Asia when they fell to marauders and depredation. As
far as this writer knows, the only present-daycreativity of Buddhist
art is in some of the best Tibetan tankas and carpets; and we
should not overlook the continuing artistry of the Japanese.
As to the origins of the aft, it seemsthat the groundwork was
laid by instructions attributed to the last sermon of the tsuddha
to allow a kind of division of labor for the monks and Buddhist
laymen.l It was the laymen who were to take care of the memo-
rial edilices called stupas which contained the relics. But about
a century after the Buddha's passing, there was a schism in the
Buddhist order with the splinter group called the Mahdsinghika,
continuing alongside or geographically separatedfrom the school
of the Elders (the Sthavira or Thera, as now called). It seems
that the Mahdsdnghika came in league with these laymen who
were probably among the prominent and especially devout of the
Buddhist laymen, and began to make theological justifications

tThe Mahaparinibbana-sutianw;cf. in English translation,T. W. and

C. A. F. Rhys Davids,Dialoguesof the Buddha,Part II (London : Luzac&
CompanyLtd.,4thed.,1959), p. 154.
 The Role of Art amongthe BuddhistReligieux
Zgg
for stilpa worship.2 Be that as it may, the production
of Buddhist
art now as in past centuries is mainly by well-trained laymen,
although of course sometimesmonks themselveswere
artists, as
we find these days in the case of some Tibetan lamas.
For the
Gandhara Buddha-type, the local Buddhist establishment,
or
wealthy Buddhist laymen, perhaps hired some sculptors-say,
from Rome.3
The preciousnessof this art is inclicated by the depiction
of
"donors" at various art sites and numerous inscriptions
which
name th.e benefactor. Besides,as is well known, gifts of
art are
made to show appreciation for servicesrenderecl. For
example,
there is the caseof Tson-krra-pain Tibet, founder
of the yellow-
cap sect called Gelugpa, whose new school was sponsored
by a
powerful hereditary family calred 'ol tr(ha. Tuccia
shows how
by invitation of the family, Tson-kha-pa had the
worn_away
paintings of the local temple dcne over in accoidance
with the way
those gods had appeared to him in his own samddhis.
Also, in
ancient times temple icons were not saleable (apanya)
according
to the grammarian patafrjali's gloss on a panini siltra,s
but thet
were undoubtedly stealable.
In the long history of Buddhist art, the most striking
feature is
perhaps ttre shift of subject matter. Basically
it is the movement
from aniconic to iconic type art, but there is
much more to it
than that. In the early days it was trre historical
Buddha
sakyamuni that was stressed,even if the art was
aniconic. The
former sevenBuddhas also appear in the aniconic period.
Later,
with the first icons, again it rvas Sakyamuni as the
main theme.
The artists.poured out a deluge of art around all
t'e details of
sdkyamuni's life, whether historical or somewhat
legendary.
But then the theme of heavenscame to include the
iconic former
seven Buddhas, the "Thousand. Buddhas of the Fortunate
Aeon
(bhadrokalpa)l' and the Buddha Amitdbha-Amitdyus.
shadowy
srhis is my deductionfrom the materialspresented
in Akira Hirakawa,
"The Rise of MahayanaBuddhismand its Rerationstrip
to the worship of
stupas," Memoirsof the ResearchDepqrtmentof the Toyo Bunko,
(Tokyo : The Toyo Bunko, 1963). No. 22
'cf. Alexandersoper,"The Romanstyle at
Gandhata,,,AmericanJourna\,
of Archaeology, LY, 1951,pp. 301-319.
.GiuseppeTucci,Tibetanpaintedscroils(Rome,
1g4g),
68. N. Puri, India in the Timeof patafijati(Bombay, vor. I, p.4r.
|OSV,p. lg2.
2go BuddhistInsight

flgures called Arhats, standardized as sixteen and then eighteen

and appearing even in groups of five hundred, came in for a share
of the art. The great Bodhisattvas, suctr as the future Buddha
Maitreya, Avalokite6vara, and Mafiju5ri inspired many artists.
Wiiletts's tableo shows that in the- century before the T'ang
dynasty, near the Chinese Lo-yang eapital, Sakyamuni and
Maitreya were the chief subjects, but that apparently starting
with the T'ang near tfre same capital the Amitdbha-Amitdyus and
Avalokitesvara types were dominant among the new art repre-
sentations. His data should be compared with Soper's.7 The
Tibetan art school, being later, missed the early stress on the
founder, Sakyamuni, and went directly to the Amitd,bha and
AvalokiteSvara types, and then to the host of tantric deities.
The seerningreptacement of the founder of Buddhism, sakya-
muni, with. these hosts of Arhats, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas,
paraltels the ernergenceof a huge new religious literature, the
Mahdyd:na scriptures, which seeminglyreplace the early Buddhism
of the Pali canon. As I have elsewhere suggested, the local
differencesof BuCdhist art involve an adaptation to the particular
country, a showing that Buddhism is "at home" t"!rere. Doubt-
less the Southern Buddirist countries are more conservative,
both in art representationsand in doctrine. In agreement,their
art keeps mainly the first state of iconic representation, the
Buddha depicted in scenesof his life (such as the Great Departure.).
In contrast, the Malay Archipelago being subject to later influences
also exhibits Chinese-type deities and tantric art of later Indian
Buddliism.
But the contact with original Buddhism is not lost to the extelt
it appears on the surface or at first giance. Deep sttrdy of the
Matidyana scriptures shows not so much a replacement aS a
reworking and overlay of the early canon. Again, it seeixs that
certain Bcdhisattvas began as personifications of high ievels of
the Buddha's life. Thus, Avalokitesvara may personify the
Buddha's look, i.e. his surYeyof the living beings when he was
seated under the Bodhi tree. MafijuSri may be the Buddha's
insight (prajfiA). Arnitdbha may be Sakyarnuni's other-worldly

Art (PenguinBooks,1958)'I, pp. 348-349.

oWilliamWilletts,Chinese
?AlexanderSoper, Literary Evidencefor Early BuddhistArt in China
{Ascona,Switzerland,1959).
The Role of Art amongthe BuddhistReligieux Zgl

form, the Dharmakdya so called, hence a substitution. No

matter what their inception, these Bodhisattvaq and other Buddha
figures developed a life of their own in the course of time. It is
ail Buddhist art and can be regarded as the oak tree that does
not resemblethe acorn, from which by somo commonplace miracle
it emerged. And yet the art forms become fixed by hieratic
standards, such as the proportions and icon size, as though to
preserve intact that tree.

II. THp ANrcoNrc PnRroo

It is well known that in its first period Buddhist art was aniconic.
The founder of the religion, Gautarna tsuddha, was not at first
represented in a human form, but rather by symbols such as:
the elephant representing his conception; the auspicious marks
such as his footprint representingprophecy; the tree representing
the enlightenrnent as does the empty throne; the wheel as the
first teaching set in motion; the parasol as the protective dome;
the stilpa his Parinirvdf a. These symbols were images (in Greek,
agalma) of deity, but not likenesses(Greek, eidon).8 As such they
amounted to living embodiments; and this sense is maintained
in subsequent centuries by the stupa (ot caitya). They are also
"symbois for the unknown."e
That certain images in the above sense were associated with
pilgrimage, and so a Buddhist kind of ritual, is weli stated by
Foucher, quoting fro;l the last sermon of the tsuddha:10 "There
are four places,o Ananda, rvhich an honorabie worshipper should
visit with religious emotion. wirat are these four?" Foucirer
answers : "They are, as we know, those r,vhere the predestined
one for ttre first time received iliumination and preachecl and
those rvhere for the last time he was born and dieci. Now just
in the devout practice of the four great pilgrimages resiclesany
hope which we have of at last coming upon the long-sought point
of departure. In order that we may grasp at once th.egerm and

8cf. FrancisM. cornford, Plato'scosmology(New york eclition,lg57),

p. 99.
scf. Herbert Read,Icon & Idea (Newyork, 1972repfint), chapterIII,
pp. 53, ff.
r0A. Foucher,TheBeginningsof BuddhistArt (paris, London, lglT),
p p . 1 0- 11.
 Buddhist Insight

the directing principle of Buddhist art, it is necessaryand sufifi-

cient to admit that the Indiarl pilgrims were pleased to bring back
from these four holy places a small material souvenir of what
they had there seen."
Foucher has an excellent point about these theorized souvenirs,
which would have been images (Gr. agalma) of deity. They
would be invested with an intangible power through the religious
zeal of the pilgrim who had travelled to the site-associated with
legends of miracles-often with considerabledifficulty and sacri-
fice while filled with faith. Pilgrimage was ordinarily associated
with the cyclical return of a certain date of the year, and group
visitation at the given place. Thus many persons would partici-
pate in this auspicious concatenation of time and space. The
image here is involved in a sort of spiritual synesthesia, a visual
form somehow correlated with the auditory word which is the
"insight consisting of hearing" (irutamayl prajfia), the sermon
associatedwith the spot visited.
The aniconic symbols reached triumphal expressionin elaborate
stfipas. The bas-reliefs of Barhut suggest wealthy patrons of
Buddhist art already in the 2nd century, B.C. The extraordinary
and still-survivingstitpa of Sdiiclii implies that in the lst century"
B.C., the sectionof India norv calied Madhya Pradeshr,vasstrong-
ly Buddhist. In the samecentury (the 1st,B.C.) such Buddhist art,
usually in cave and stupa elaboration r.vould be establishedjust
south of the Vindhya range in a band that extended clear across
India, and has such surviving centers as Ajanti and the more-
recently discovered stupa near Nagpur. Sivaramamurti believes
that the Amaravati Sttpa ofAndhra in South India by the Krishna
River was founded by King ASoka in the 3rd century, B.C.11
Certain images-the tree, the wheei, and the stltpa-were in
time rendered banal by appearing on punch-marked coins, the
so-called"Buddhist" coins.lz Perhapsthis very rnultiplicationand
dispersalof imageswould eventually result in a weakeningof the
holiness associated with the images, furnishing a reason for the
Buddhist world to becomereceptiveto a new form of art. But even
after the iconic art appeared, the aniconic form exerted its

11C. Sivaramamurti,Amaravati Sculpturesin the Madras Government

Museum(Madras, 1'956),P. 4.
12Cf.Foucher,TheBeginnings,pp. 14-15.
The Role of Art amongthe BuddhistReligieux 293

,religious fascination. Thus Subramanian says:13"As late as the

sixth century A.D. and even later, the Buddhist stupa^scontinued
to exercisetheir influence over the Andhras who visited the holy
spots and showed their reverellce to them in the shape of bene-
factions and votive offerings."
Now, let us attempt to fathom some of the aniconic symbolism.
At the old Karle cave stilpa in present-day Mahirdshtra, on the
facade by the entrance, there is a much-reproduced representation
of a magnificent male and female pair: the woman depicted with
rnature sensual corporeality, and the man as a well-built strong
male. Inside there is the bare, unadornedstupa. There is evidence
that at one time the cave walls were painted with Jdtaka-type
scenes. It seems that the outside representations-and the cave
paintings like the Jataka sculptures of Barhut would be an exten-
sion of them-are meant to show the "realm of desire" (kama-
dltatu) which is left behind or surmounted when one turns to the
plain stupa. This produces a stark contrast betweenthe teeming
scenesof "outside" and the spare 'oinside,"and servesfor a much
greater challenge to the sculptor (and later to the painter of the
cave walls) than if he werejust to construct the stereotypedcentral
stltpa. The symbolism of the one's being detailed and the other
one's being plain apparently agreeswith Herbert ltead's descrip-
tioala of the ti,vo principles of att: "vital image" or "vitality as
an aestheticfactor", and beauty as the "still 6enf1e"-because the
sculpturcs and later paintings of rire Karle monriment are the
vital image, and tL'testupa is the still centre.
Indeed, if it is not stretphingthe caseto attribute "beauty" to
the stiil centrc, rvhich is the central stupa,one can f,nd intriguingly
applicable Keats's "Ode On a Grecian urn," at least in Gom-
brich's interpretation. I would be loathe to cite Keats's line
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," for fear of abusing the poet's
intention by quotation here, were not theserema.rksof Gombrich's
at hand: "For beyond the general neo-platonic faith in the truth
of the artist's vision sucir as it is exp;:essedin Keats's letters, the
idea that the realm of beauty can be entered by man only at the
price of renunciation plays an important part in eighteenth century
aesthetics.Thus Schiller's speculations turned round the contrast

13K.R. subramanian, BuddhistRemains in Andhra(Madras,lg32),p. 16.

L4lcon,Chap.I, pp. 17,[f., especiallypp. 32,33,
294 Buddhist Insight

between the enslavement of our animal nature and the freedom

of aesthetic contemplation."ls Later in this paper I shall revert to
the nature of this "freedom," so called. For the present, let us
notice that the foregoing ties nicely with Read's two basic princi-
ples of art -the principle of vitality and the principle of beauty.16
If we take Keats's line in the above sense,we can split Buddhist
art-as at Karle-into two: the "outer" with the vitality of our
animal nature, to be renounced; and the "inner" with the beauty
that is truth, where is the so-called freedom. Eventually the
Buddhist Midhyamika school was to represent the "outer" as
cyclical flow (sarysdra), referring to the vitalism as "effi.ciency"
(arthalcril,dkdritd); and in this interpretation, the "inner" would
be the absolute truth (paramdrtha-satya), the changelessbeauty
of what never arose to pass away, like the Lover on the
Grecian Urn.

III. TsE IcoNrc Prnroo

Buddhism in its inception was not hostile to idolatry, as was Islam.
But that early Buddhist texts are simply silent on the matter has
been disputed by scholars. Also, Foucher says the idolatry starts
with what he calls the "Gandhdrian revolution," the consequence
of the Greek incursions into India in the early centuries, B.C.;
but his theory of the Greek-type has been countered by evidence
taking the Gandhdra Buddha rather as a Roman Apollo type.tt
Furthermore, others lean to the native evolution of the Buddha
statuary, starting at Mathurd. The provenence is not very impor-
tant to the role of art; becausethe main point is that the icons of
the Buddha becamepopular, rvith their earliest remains belonging
perhapsto the lst century,A.D. The icon, as was suggestedabove,
is lifeless through being a likeness. Preciselybecauserecognized
as a similitude, it is not taken as the residence of the Buddha;
and so there are meditative practices-as will be illustrated later
on-aimed at getting the Buddha to descend into the icon. In
contrast, the aniconic symbols, such as the tree, are already the

15E. H. Gombrich, "Visual Metaphors of Value in Art," in Symbolsand

Values: An Initial Study, ed. by Lyman Bryson, et al (New York, 1954),
p. 271.
t6Cf. Icon, p. 93.
1?PerSoper (n. 3, above).
The Role of Art among the Buddhist Religieux 295

seat of deity and so are not associatedwith meditation but rather

with practices of faith, such as the circumambulation of stupas.
The artists were not oblivious to the distinction; and in a com-
promise with the earlier form of art manage to include in the
background the aniconic symbols, such as the tree, and a touch
of vitalism, as with the hooded serpent-king who servesas a kind
of umbrella or sun-shadefor the meditating Gautama. The shift
from aniconic to iconic art might constitute a movement from
impersonal reverence to the kind of personal devotion called
bhakti (In Hinduism it is easierto trace the hhakti movement from
its intellectual form in the Bhagauadgltd to the more emotional
type centuries later in the Bhugauata-purdna and later to the
erotic forms).
Buddhist doctrine apparently supports the Bucidha icon by the
insistence on the human state as essential for enlightenment.
Asanga, doubtless giving the old teaching, deflnes "personal
SucceSS"as Successof the embodiment and heads the extended
list rvith "human state" (manu;yatua).rB Ndgd.rjuna's "Friendly
Epistle" states the theory negatively as the "eight unfavorable
moments" (ak5aym): "Adhering to wayward views; being born
among the animals, among the hungry ghosts (preta), or among
the heil-beings; being born rvhen the Buddha's promulgation is
not present, or among the heretics in far-off places; having defec-
tive organs and stupidity; or birth among the long-lived gods-
these are the eight unfavorable moments. If freed from these
you should get a favorable moment, exert yourself to avoid the
birth (of those eight)."r0 Nigdrjuna mentions the states to be
negated in order all the more to affi.rmthe favorable state of being
in the presence of the Buddha and, generally, the saints and
gurus, and being able to listen with human intelligence and good
organs. So also there is the ideal human representation in art to
symbolize the condition o1' enlightenment.2o The iconic type

rsCf. Alex Wayman,Analysisof the Sravakabhumi Manuscript(Betkeley,

196l), p. 60.
rsCf. Nagarjuna's"Friendly Epistie," Translatedfrom the Tibetan by
Dr. H. Wenzel,Journalof the Pali Text Society,1886,p. 19.
2oDoubtless.oncethe Buddhabecamerepresented there
iconographically,
would be sometextualinsertionsto justify it. So one may understand the
passages mentioningthe paintingof the Buddhain suchworksof aboutthe
4th and 5th centuries,A.D., the DamamukaNidanaSutra and the Chinese
 296 BuddhistInsight

thus has the role of constantly reminding the devoteeof the

oorra
bility of consummation by reason of human birth. In the later
tantric period a goddess,such as Tara, as well as the male god,
sewes the iconic purpose.
Another kind of Buddhist teaching would oppose realistic art-
types. This was the instruction to the one in the reiigious life that
he should have sense-restraint(inclriyosarltuara),tirat is, l-resl1ould
avoid taking hoid of signs(nimitta-grdha)or taking hold of details
(ndnuuyaiijanagrdha)from sensory experience that would incite
sinful, unvirtuous natures.2lBut hell scenescould be represented.22
rt is feasible that in the old days this favored the aniconic repre-
sentations. Indeed, the non-realistic form rs usual in Bucldhist
hieratic art, granting the early and temporary exception of the
Gandhdra Buddha with the wavy hair. The Buddha is normally
representedwith the ugnisaon his head and elongateclears,neith.er
of which featuresare characteristicof the actual male head. These
two elementsare included among the 32 standard characteristics
of the Buddh.a; and various other characteristics,sucir as the ab-
normally lon-qarms, are also non-realistic.In a paper long ago I
pointed out that tire variant lists cf the Buddha's g0 secondary
nrarks favor in one case an interpretation as a great
1,ogitr,and.
in another case, as a k'atri):a (the Buddha's reputed caste).2s
In fact, the trvo interpretations give rise to tr,vo Buddh.a types-
the seatedone in meditation, and the standing one equivalent to
the universal emperor (the Cakr.avartin).
The non-realistic representations of the Buddha in tiine were
corrrbinedwith meditation exercises. Numerous benefitswere set
forth to be derived frorn contemplating the body of the Buddha
wlriclr brcught calming of the rnind (iamatha), and then from

legend of King A6oka, as are citerl in ArexanderSoper, "Early Buddhist

Attitr-rdesToward ihe Art of painting," Art Builetin,xxxll, 2, June 1950,
pp. 149-150.
:1Wayman,Analysis,pp. 6l-62.
zzNagdrjuna's "Friendly Epistle,"p. 24 (verse84): "But thosewho, seeinga
picture of hell, hearing (of hell), remembering (it), reacring(about it), or
making images (of it), generatefear (of it), they certainly will experience
immense rewards (vipaka)."
23Alex wayman, "Contributions Regardingthe Thirty-Two Character-
istics of the Great Person," Sino-Indian Studies; Liebenthal Festschrift, ed.
by Kshitis Roy (Visvabharati,Santiniketan, 1957),p. 255.
The Roleof Art amongthe BuddhistReligieux 297

making offerings thereto, confession of sins, etc., before the so-

contemplated Buddha. In this case, the icon servesas a sort of
meditative prop to assistin transferring the likeness to the mind,
since samddhi is not accomplished by what the outer sensesare
.awareof, but rather by what the mind is aware of. So in Kamala-
,Sila'sBhauqndkrama III:2a
In regard to that, first the )togin fastenshis mind on the formal
body of the Tathagata as it is seen and as it is heard, and then
is to accomplish calming. He orients his mind continuously
on the form of the Tathigata's body, yellow like the color of
purified gold, adorned lvith the (32) characteristicsand the
(80) minor marks, di,vellingwithin its retjnue, and acting for the
aim of the sentient beings by diverse means. Generating a
desire for the merits cf tirat (body), he subduesfading, excite-
ment, and the other faults, and should practice meditation
until such timc as that (body) dwells in front and is seenclearly.
'concerning the remark
"dwells in front," as I have written else-
rvhere, "the god assumesa concrete attitude, reflecting the repose
of the Dh.arrnadhatr"r, or rnergeslvith the external icon." Besides,
shifting to the tantric literature, we know that showing an icon
doesnot violate tantric secrecy,since the violation doesnot consist
in revealing to the eye, but to the ear.25
Coomaraswamynnakesa sirnilar poiot about art creation: "Thus
the artist's model is ahvaysa melrtal image."zo rhe sarneauthor
has relevantremarks rvith someIndian terms.zz Here the term
pratyctk.rameans "direct senseperception," hence of the icon;
whiie the terrn parok.ra fireans "beyond the senses ," hence beyond
vulgar experience. We may appeal now to a great line of the
Buddl"rist logician Dharmakirti (Pramdna-udrttika, II, l32b):
'"When
the goal (:cessation of suffcring) and its cause (.:the
means) are out of sight (pcro!r;a), to explain them is difficult."
Difficult, but not impossible. Anyway, words rather faii to explain
the santiidhi, the religious goal, and the artist's model.

zaAlex wayman, The Buddlist Tantras; Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism

,(New York, 1973), p. 58.
2,Ibid., p. 67.
26Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The Transformation of Nature in Art (Dover
Publications, New York, 1956), p. 79.
ztlbid., Chap. V. on Parokta.
298 Buddhist Insight

However, the icon-and the category includes the tantric icon

as well-is exposed to direct sense perception (pratyak5a), and
so is the basis for feeling. Buddhism explicitly statesthis situation
in the formula of Dependent Origination (pratitya-sanautpada)
where the first seven members are understood as the passive un-
rolling of causesestablishedin the o'previouslife" and run down
to No. 5, "six sensebases," which establishpartite experienceand
o'contact", of sense organ,
serve as the condition for No" 6,
sense object, and partite perception, which serveas the condition
for No. 7, "feelings" (uedand),pleasurable, painful, and neutral.
Therefore, feelings, and this includes of course the pleasurable
feeling aroused by an art object, are not a matter of free will, since
they are the culmination of the deterministic series. Besides,
Buddhist scriptures insist that feelings are associated with the
'onaming faculty" (sarTtjiia),amounting to such particular views
o'The pot is pretty," etc. Hence, one
or judgments as "ft hurts,"
does not chooseto appreciate art. This is not necessarilyin con-
flict with Sartre's position, as cited in Kaelin: "For this is quite
the final goal of art: to recover this world by giving it to be seen
as it is, but as if it had its source in human freedom."28 As this
paper will argue later on, the spectator seemsto have, although
he does not have, freedom.
It is the second part of Dependent Origination, beginning with
member No. 8, "craving" (tr;ttd.., in Pdli taryha),furnishing the
condition for No.9, "taking" otr "indulgence" (upadana), that
amounts to free will, if it is at all to be adrnitted by Buddhisrn. This
is becauseit is thesemembers which create the new circumstances,
prepare the new destiny of the being. Sartre is remarkably parallel:
"We have seenthat the act of imagination is a magical ona. It is
an incantation destined to produce the object of one's thought,
the thirrg one desires,in a mannel that one can take possessionof
it. . . . Next, these objects do not appear, as they do in perception,
from a particular angle, they do not occurfrom a point of uiew. . . .
For the rest, the object as an image is an unreality. It is no doubt
present, but at the same time, it is out of reach."2eSartre further

28EugeneF. Kaelin, An ExistentialistAesthetic(The University of Wis-

consinPress,Madison,1962),pp. 123-124.
2eJean-Paul
Sartre,ThePsychology of Imagination,tr. by BernardFrecht-
man (WashingtonSquarePressedition,New York, 1968),p. 159.
The Role of Art amongthe BuddhistReligieux 299

o'Certainly the
agreeswith the old Buddhist series when he says:
unreal always receivesand never gives."so This is the intention of
Buddhist member No. 9, upddana,which always means "taking,"
and never "giving." Thus the new being is childlike and is free
in desire,even though to perception it rnight look helpless. And
like children, art products generally survive best in peacetime.

ry. DlscuRstvE AND NoN-DtscuRSIvE

Tsoucnr AND ART
This section is quite technical but hopefully will permit some
further comparisons with modern aesthcticstheory.
The Buddhists more than trvo millenia ago had gone profoundly
into the matter of discursive and non-discursive thought. Was it
solely by introspection? In this connection I recall Francis
Galton's retort to Max Miiller who had claimed that all thought
involves language or language-signs: "Prof. Max Miiller . . has
fallen into the common error of writers not long since, but
which I hoped had now become obsolete, of believing that the
minds of every one else are like one's own. His aptitudes and
linguistic pursuits are likely to render him peculiarly dependent
onwords...."31
Now compare what Santideva writes in his Bodhicaryduatdra
(IX, 25) :
One illumines himseif by seeingsomeoneassociatedrvith other
conditions. The pot that is seen through the adept's rite of
eye-ointment is not just eye-ointment.
Sdntideva's verse points to the supernormal facuity (abhiimQ ot
knowing another's state of mind (paracittaiiidna), i.e. knowing it
as impassioned if it is impassioned, etc. Sometimes this is referred
to as a faculty or eye which is opened by the magical eye-ointment;
but the object viewed by the supernormal faculty is independent
of the o'eye-ointment" itself. Thus, one learns from others' minds
the nature of one's own mind-just the opposite of IVIax Miiller's
procedure of judging everyone else's mind by his own or what
he conceives to be his own.
goJean-Paul of Imagination,tr. by Bernard Frecht-
Sartre,ThePsychology
man p. 178.
sLF.Max Milller on the Scienceof Thought(Chicago,The Open Court
Publ. Co., 1909),Appendix,p. 4.
.3oo BuddhistInsight

Modern aesthetics theory has had its own "idealists." Thus

croce rejects the reality of the external world; and refusing to
.admit an inner and outer in art, insists on the singleness
of the
intuition-expression. For Bernard Bosanquet's refutation, see
his "croce's Aesthetic."B2 According to Bosanquet, rvhile an art
work must originate in an artist's mind, its representationin ex-
ternal or material forms is an essential part of the art process.
Langer in turn takes R. G. collingwood to task, questioning why
'"he
is anxious to deny craftsmanship any role in art and conse-
quently to reject the concept of technique...."BB curiously, the
Buddhist teacher Asanga-whom both oriental and western
tsuddhologistsusually associatewith the idealist school of Euddh-
ist philosophy-accepts an "outer" part of art rvhen he desclibes
the parallelism of meditation and art tecirnigue:sq
If he would be convinced regarding the rneditati.re object at a
single time, he wor-rldnot again and again leave off the intense
contemplation. His conviction (acihimok;a)does not become
ever higher, completelypurified, conpletely cieansecl, up to the
comprehensionu'ith direci perception of the knovrable entity.
Hence again anc a-sain ire is convinced; again and again he
leaves off tire intense contemplation. Hence his conviction
becomeseverhigher, more completelypurified,most completely
purified, up to comprehension v,,ith clirect perception of the
knor,vableentity. A case in point: suppose th.e pupil of a
painter for the first time is engaged in the work of painting.
F{e, having first had instruction from the master, takes a mod"el
and, haviirg looked and looked, makes an image. Having
d.oneit and done it, he leaves ofi the intense contemplation,
destroys it, ar,d remakcs it. Just as, having rejected and
rejected, he makes it, so also one declares his image ever
higher, more completely purified, more completely cleansed.
Being rightly engaged ihat way, after some time he becomes
the equal of the rnasteror even his superior. Furthermore,
if, without h.aving rejected that image, he were to make it

s2scienceand Philosophy and other Essaysby the late Bernard

Bosanquet
(Books for Libraries Press,Inc., Freeport, N.y., reprint 1967), especially
p.417.
ssSusanne K. Langer, Feelingand Form (New york,lg53), p. 3g3.
saWaymen,Analysis, p. 119.
The Role of Art among the Buddhist Religieux 301

repeatedly by taking a stand on just that, never would that

image of his become completely pure. So also in the present
case one should understand the method (as that).
The tantric cornmentator Buddhaguhya writes, "fn the manner
that a thousand ounces of silver are changed into gold by using
gold paint, it is said that one blessesthe defilement into purity by
using the paint of samadhi-knowledge". Both the meditation and
the painting art require undivided attention, like being rapt in
wonder at an object.rs
Asanga's passageenables us to define one kind of discursivs
thought that is especiallyemployed in art creation. The improve-
ment of meditation, comparable to the improvement of painting,
seelnsto be what Read36calls the "truthful consciousness"which
is "the foundation of all genuine art," as when he cites Colling-
wood: "And this is preciselywhat evel'y artist is doing when he
'This
says, line won't do.'" This is the pursuit of perfection
founded on despising one's olvn imperfection-the imperfect
picture. This is apparently the kind of thinking which Asanga
mentions in his Srauakabhumias when the yogin regards the lower
planes as coarser and the higher planes as finer, and thus emerges
from a given plane and attains the next higher stage of conscious-
ness. In the last serrnon of the Buddha, the Mahuparinibbdna-
sutta, the Buddha is thus held to have surmounted the "realm of
desire," and to have passedsuccessivelythrough the planes of the
"realm of form" and "formless realm," then to have proceeded
downward to the lowest plane of the "realm of form" and up-
ward to the top of the "realm of form," from which plane he is
held to have entered Parinirvala. The emergencefrom each of
theseplanes would, according to Asairga's indications, require this
specialkind of discursive thought, which is the very kind of think-
ing as when the artist says,"This line won't do."
Turning to the role of non-discursive thought, Langer says,
'oNow
consider the most farniliar sort of non-discursive symbol,
? pictu1s."3z If the word "symbol" here suggestsan ontological
status, Buddhism would probably not agree with her, since at

3sWayman,TheBuddhistTantras,p. 94.
36lcon,p. 92.
sTSusanneK. Langer, Philosophy in a New Key (Penguin Books, 1948)".
p.76.
302 BuddhistInsight

least the Madhyamika school does not allow such a status for
"voidness"; and the picture is voidness in the Ratnagotrauibhaga
([, r'erse92): "Those painters are the aspects,Giving, Morality,
F-orbearance,and so on; and the voidness, attended with all the
best aspects,is said to be the picture (pratimd)." The full list of the
"painters" (: the act of painting) adds to the three already named
Striving and Meditation. The group of five, often catrtredthe
"meairs" (updya), is essentiallynon-discursive; although language
can be employed to expatiate upcn the individual ones. This
use of the word o'means" in connection with the painting process
agreeswith Bosanquet's and Langer's point that technique is an
indispensable part of art. But why would "voidness" be said to
be the picture, as in that R.atnogotrauibhaga passage? Perhaps the
answer is in a passage of the hfahdydna-Sutrolarykdra (XIII, l7)
associated with Asanga, as cited by Coomaraswamy,ss "There
is no actual relief in a painting, and yet we see it there" (citre...
natonnatary ndsti ca, driyate atha ca). We flnd this as i,vell in the
Lankduatdra-siltra (text, p. 91), where notice is taken that a paint-
ed surface (citrakrta-pradeia) is observed in relief (nimnonnata)
though flat (animnonnata). Recalling that "voidness" in Mah6-
ydna literature is associated with illusion (mayd), we can get the
point: the "painters" rvho are the Giving, Morality, Forbearance,
and so on, are seenin relief, and yet the picture which is voidness
is really flat: the "painters" are an illusion. In the earlier period
of Buddhism, more given to realism, the relief portion is really
there, as Coomaraswamy points out: "in Vinaya, IV, 61, a monk
'raises' (uwllhdpeti)a picture (cittam) on
a cloth; and in Sariryutta
'raises
Nikdya, Comm., II, 5, a painter up' (samu!{hapeti) a
shape (rnpant) on a wall surface by rneans of his brushes and
'fhus,
colors."se passagesabout the artist's techniques suggest
the phiiosophical positions.
Now, reverting to the topic of discursive thought, in Buddhist
literature its importance is emphasized by assigning it the rather
nefarious role of prornoting nescience(auidya). And yet rve were
introduced previously to a kind of discursive thought tirat is im-
provement-oriented, the kind that serves for the Buddhist path,
which is of course lauded in Buddhist circles. Sornetimes the

38TheTransformation,p. 145.
3slbid.,pp. 144-145.
The Roleof Art amongthe BuddhistReligieux 303

expression"right discursivethought" (samyag-uikalpa)is employed

for the right kind, observedpreviously by the ifustration "This line
won't do." Now a challenge would be apropos : Certainly the
goal of the painter and the gbal of the Buddhist path are different:
Of course, they are sharing this right kind of discursive thought,
and their goals are different. In addition to the rvord uikalpa
for "discursive thought," previously we met with a kind of dis-
cursive thought attributed to the "naming faculty" (sary1ifia),
which properly belongs to the determined, involuntar.v part of the
psyche. But the philosophical discussions especially involve an
archaic pair of terms-uitsrka-uicdrA, terms which occur in the
traditional statement of the first meditation plane of the Buddhist
"realm of form" (among the three realms), and are assumed for
the "realm of desire." ft would certainly be a gross digressionin
the present paper for me to treat this pair of terms with anything
like the amplitude of the materials I have collectedfor a separate
study. I should mention my renditions of "adurnbration" and
"inquiry" for uitarka, and "thinking with signs" for uicdra; and
that the Arthauiniicaya-sutra calls this pair "speech motivation"
(uak-saryskdra). Suffice it to add that according to Asanga's
Yogdcarabhumi, uitarka and uicdra always amount to discursive
thought; but there is a discursive thought outside of uitarka and
uicdra, especiallyin regard to supramundane knowledge (lokotta-
rajfitina). Although Asanga does not name this distinguished type
of discursivethought, this is surely the improvernent-orientedone,
or "right discursivethought," rvhich we have already noted to be
the one used on the Buddhist path as n,ell as by the good painter,
and presumably by inventors, etc.
Dharmaklrti's l,{ydyabindu (Chap. f, t has a term pratiti :
"constructive thou ght (kalpana) is a cognitive dawnin g (pratiti)
of a mental reflex able to coalesce with verbalism." The text
refers to the initial universal (samanya-lakgaqta)
wleich is the fielcl
of inference,subsequentto the sericsof point-instants, the parti-
culars (sva-laksaqta), that are the field of direct perception
Qtratyakpa); and this pratyak.;a may be of the five outer senses,
of the mind, of introspection, or of the yogin. The verbalism
is the "naming faculty" (saanjfid),the idea that something is
such-and-such. This pratiti (literally: "approach") seems to be
the most primitive discursive thought, a sort of bed-fellow
to the non-discursive thought, the mental imagery of sound,
304 Buddhist Insight

color, etc. After coalescingwith the name, this discursive thought

could tend "downward" (hence, "wayward") toward the,.realm
ofdesire" in the manner of aitarka-uicdra,or tend "upward" (hence,
"right") in referenceto supramundane knowledge.
our technical meanderingsdo have this positive result-to show
that Buddhist teachings, based as they are on much meditation
and practice, clearly differentiate between passive enjoyment and
the creative imagination. This distinction was establishedby the
Buddhist Dependent origination formula. Here the first seven
members develop perception in a determinacy seriesand wind
up witlr feelings and their associatednotions (uedana and saryjrta)
in the manner of a syndrome. The last five members are headed
by craving (tfsUa), which is the freedom to inaugurate a new
destiny. An example of this freedom, becauseissuing from desire
rather than perception, is Sanfideva's Bodhicaryduatdra VtrII,
120: "Whoever desires (icchati) to speedily rescue oneself and
others too, should practice what is the highest secrets changing
places between himself and another." This is the Mahayana,
Buddhist version of 'ocreativeimagination."
Therefore, when I claim that Sartre makes the same distinction,
this is not said by way of explaining the Buddhist position. lndeed,
this position had to be understood prior to the comparison with
a Western theory. The reverseprocedure would have amounted
simply to a projection on to Buddhism of some system of our
culture, an attempt to make Buddhism come out or be in that
manner. But that Sartre has a comparable position is clarified
by Kaelin: "It will be remembered that for Sartre the perceptive
consciousnessintends a real object of the spatio-temporal conti-
nuum we normally call the real world, while in imaginative ex-
perience, consciousnessintends an unreal or absent object which
may appear only on the margins of the real world."4o Sartre's
perceptive consciousnessgoes with the Buddhist first seven mem-
bers of Dependent Origination which develop perception with an
imputed realistic object, while what is here called "imaginative
experience" (in fact, the creative imagination) goes with the last
five members of Dependent Origination, headed by "craving.o'
The foregoing permits an assessmentof the word "freedom" as
employed in more than one sense. That is, the "freedom of

L0AnExistentialistAesthetic,p. 364.
 The Role oi Art amongthe BuddhistReligieux
305

aestheticcontemplation,'-which was brought up in tirediscussion

of aniconic art-is different from the o.freedtm,, of creative
imagination-which was used in treating ic,xic art. Th.,
first
kind, of aestheticcontemplation, is not altereclessentiallyby travel-
ling far to a grandiose vista as cofirparecl r.vitir the lowl}, gazing
appreciativell; s6 the local sunset. since it involves perception
of
the object as a real thing, with feelings and the naming f*nction,
it reduces to th.ebackyald-garden varieiy of having passive
enjoy-
ment and no creative imagination. we have already noticed
ihat
some authors trave regarded this "free,Jom" as reali;i freed.om,
although it is not. Moreover, we find the .,freedom,, io be
in-
fatuation that the object is confolled by naming it. so
Neitzsche
in The Genealogy of Morals has the "masters' right
of giving
names . . they say 'this ls that, and th.at,' . . and take possession
of
it."4' Heidegger, in l4that is catted Thinking?, resumes
this
position: "By naming, we call on what is preient
to arive.,,az
To cite sartre again, it is "as if it had its source in human
free_
dom." Tliat is, while the naming function has an involuntary
character, following upon feelings pleasurable, painful,
or neutrai
these authors arrive at a seemingfreedom called o.masters,
right,'
to apply names. All the while they demonstrate that
they liave
learned nothing frorn others, having resorted solely
to intro_
spection.
In contrast, the "freedom" of creative irnagination
is to be
taken as the genuine freed,rm becauseit is not limited
by pcrcep_
tion of this and that. sintideva's aspirationis of
this iyp., u.-
causenot directedin particularity to this or that being_in
a \,/orcl,
what Buddhist texts called "equanimity', (upeksa).
Thus there
may be creative imagination as when an actor
acts his role,
r'vhetheror not he enjoys the make-beiieve, r,zhilethe
spectators
edoy what thcy take as a real object.
Besides, my study of the Buddhist nependent
origi*ation,
divided as it is into trie deterrninacyand the reratively-free
s.ries,
indicatesthat there is neither incompatibility between
the two, nor
requirement of their conju'ction. In this Buddhist
sense,one
may have both passiveenjoyment a'd creative irnagination,
as
possibly does the creator of a piece of art.
Atong the same
alln HoraceB. Samuel's translation.(TheModern Library),p. 4.
a2lnthe translationby Fred D. wieck
and J. GjennGray (Ftrarper Torch*
books),p. 120.
306 Buddhist Insight

lines, the lack of incompatibility betweenthe.first sevenand second

five members of Dependent Origination (i.e. the Buddhists accept
that "nescience", the first member, can cohabit with "craving",
the seventh.one--called the "father" and the "mother"), permits
a Buddhist solution for man's nature as a compound of deter-
minacy and free-will. And, I suppose, this includes a nature
with desiresand indulgence eYeryoung, and with perceptions and
feelings ever older.
Finally, whether it be the seemingfreedom of aestheticcontem-
plation or the genuine freedom of creative imagination, neither are
equivalent to the Buddhist "liberation" (mok1a) or "release"
(nirudpa). This is because for this liberation it is necessary to
have cessation of Dependent Origination. In contrast, both
kinds of "freedom" require Dependent Origination for a platform
in cyclical flow (sarpsara). Accordingly, the vinaya work
samantapdsddikd prohibits a monk from holding any of the
images of a woman made out of clay, wood, or painting'as The
monk is of course seeking liberation, not freedom in the aesthe-
tic sense. But when a Tibetan monk keeps a miniature painting
of his tutelary deity, the goddess Tara, and daily offers devotion
to it, he h.asthe Mah6,yanaideal of enlightenment. This devotion
is not opposed to either of the two kinds of freedom mentioned.
In conclusion, the role of art among the Buddhist religieux
involves their appreciation of beauty and creation of great art
schools, the occasional monkish avoidance of some afi repre-
sentations, the Buddhist description of the plocessesof art pro-
duction in comparison with meditation techniques' and in general
a sufficiently detailed and ratioralized presentation of their pc'si-
tion to permit some comparisons with Western thinkers, provided
one is able to make the comparisons. That is, the present writer
believes in the feasibility of East-West comparisons on these
matters, and that the actual comparisons have clarifled some im-
portant issues. Unfortunately, such comparisons are frequently
made wittr insufficient background in Buddhist sources.

asshan-Chien-P'i-P'o-Sha;A Chineseversion by Sanghabhadraof Samanta'

pasadika, by P. V. Bapat and A. I{irakawa (Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute, Poona, 1970), P. 368:
 15

SECRE,'IOF THE HEART SUTRA

fNrRooucrroN
commentarieson the Heart siltra: There are two distinct typesof
commentariesof the Heart siltra (prajfidpdramitdhrdayaiatra):
the Asian sectariancommentary,and the western non-sectarian
commentary.Here thereis easilya rnisunderstand.ing, to wit, that
whenan Asian talks in the west on the lreart sutrahe communi-
cateshis Asianlore, say,as an Asian Buddhistmonk. This is not
necessarilythe case. For example,when Daisetz Suzuki wrote
about the Heart sutra, it must be grantedthat he wrote out of his
knowledgeof sourcesespeciallyin his nativeJapanese.But what
he said,for example,l"as far as we can ascertain,the Bodhisattva
Avalokitesvaradoes not appear in any of the prajfldparamitd
sttras..." is not whatwouldhaveeverbeensaidin the traditional
Asian commentaryon the Heart sfitra: it would havebeenconsi-
dered impertinent and impugning the validity of the S[tra. In
the western sensethis is a most helpful remark. It is quite
apparentthat most of what Suzuki writes about the Heart Siltra
is not the renditionof Asian commentarybut ratherwhat he thinks
the westerner,assumedto be an outsiderto the topic, needs to
be told so that, hopefully, he will understandthis scripture. It
is almost inevitablethat an Asian (whether chinese, Japanese,
lDaisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Essaysin zen Buddhism (Third
series)London:
Luzac and Company, 1934, p. 195.
308 BuddhistInsight

or Tibetan), were he to lecture to a Western audience on the

Heart Sutra would start by assuming-and ordinarily quite
correctly-that his audience members are ignorant of the funda-
mental teachingsof Buddhism; and so, without ever intending to
depart from the Heart Sutra, would end up spending the time
lecturing on general Buddhism and never really explaining the
Heart Sutra itself. Such lectures thernselvesnray be quite in-
formative of other matters.
In contrast, the Asian sectarian commentary is the type found
in the Tibetan Tanjur collection, and among Chineseand .Iapanese
native commentaries. A good illustration from the Far East is
Kfikai's "secret Key to the Heart Siltra."z In this casealso, it is
a sectarian commentary filled with allusions to thc special tenets
of Kukai's own school (the Shingon)-suctrr as the Diamond
Realm and the Lotus Realm, and inCicating that portions of th.e
Sltra refer respectively to the Srivakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and
the Mahdyana Bodhisattvas. F{ence it is valuable for showing
Kflkai's position.
. There is easily another misunderstanding,namely, that when a
Westerner talks on the Heart Sutra he cannot help but give a
Western-typetreatment, or could not be expectedto speak as an
Asian would. But just as the Asian can speak as a Westetner,
so also the Westerner can speak as an Asian. My present com-
mentary is probably to be describedas an Asian-type commentary
composed by a Westerner. That is, it follows a certain type of
explanations from sources in Asian languages, and could be
understood by porsons with the appropriate background. Tiris
background is especially in the Buddhist theory of meditation,
for wirich I have used some Yogdcdra passagesof, Asanga (who
understood), Vasubandhu (who poputrarized), and Sthiramati
(who clarified); but the illustrious Mdrlhyamika Aryadeva also is
helpful, as is the Vinaya master Vinitadeva.
Backgroundof thepresenlcotntnentary.'Al'ouild the middle 1950's
when I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley, tbe
poet Gary Snyder had received a scholarship from the First Zen
Institute of Nerv York to participate in the training of a Zen
monastery in Kyoto, Japan. After a while he wrote me a note

zYoshitoS. Hakeda,Kukai : Major WorksNew York : Columbia Uni-

versityPress,1972,pp. 262-75.
Secretof the Heart Siitra 309

saying that while the monks recite the Heart Siltra every day, he
had been unable to find anyone who could expiain what it meant,
and asking me if I could find out wh.at it means. In those days I
used to spend much time reading in the Tibetan canon, the
Kanjur and Tanjur in the Derge edition at Berketrey. So I con-
sulted the Tdhoku catalog of the Derge canon and located the six
Tanjur commentaries on this sutra in the section devoted to
Prajiiaparamitd scripture commentaries. One feature of these
commentaries on the Heart Sutra struck me quite forcibly: each
commentary seemed so different from. the others, and yet they
seemed all to show in greater or less degreethe influence of the
Mddhyamika school of Buddhist philosophy. The writers seemed
to be experiencing some difficulty in exposition, as though they
were not writing through having inherited a tradition about this
scripture going back to its original composition, but rather were
simply applying their particular learning in Buddhism to the
terminoiogy of the sutra. That would account for the great
variety of their cornments. Then, for tire most part being follow-
ers of the Madhyamike, tliey rvould sl:.olv this sectd.rianposi-
tion by their kind of citation. It occurred to me that perhaps the
Heart Sutra h.ad a different theoretical basis than what these
commentaries were irnpressing upon it, and that the basis might
actr"iaily be of Yogacara nature. Certain commentaries gave
explanations of the concluding inantras, and attempted to relate
tlie structure of the siltra to what are calledin Buddhism the "three
gates to liberation"-ysid1s55, rvishiess, and non-sign-source.
Accordingiy, I made my own translation of the sutra, using the
Max Mtiiler and Bunyiu Nanjio edition of the shorier version
and taking into account some remarks from certain Tanjur
commentaries. In those days I communicated my understanding
of the sutra to the Berkeley Buddhist Church. Later I incorporated
my interpretation of the lfeart Sutra rvithin a published paper,
"The tsuddhist'Not this, Not this'. "3 From my presentvantage
ground, the interpretation of tire Heart Sutra in this early essay
suffers from various faults, such as a misappiication of the three
gates to liberation; and I cannot commend it. There are perhaps
only two important points that I saw or rendered correctly in
those days, namely, 1) that the Tanjur commentaries, while help-

sPhilosophy
Eastand West,1l:3, Oct.,1961,pp. 109-13.
310 BuddhistInsight

ful on this or that phrase, still were not really explaining this
siltra; and that it would be more fruitful'to consult Asanga's
works; and 2) that the commentary by the author calling himself
Vajrapd4i correctly related parts of the concluding mantra to
earlier sections of the Heart Siltra. The present interpretation is
based on certain findings in my researchon Buddhist meditation;a
and in the case of the concluding mantra, based on my essay
about mantras.s Furthermore, f now find Conze's editions of the
longer and shorter Heart Sutra preferable to the editions of Miiller
and Nanjio.6 For the purposesof my present explanation I have
translated, the shorter version and added in parenthesescertain
sentencesfrom the longer version that I deem essentialfor under-
standing this sutra.
As to translation of individual words, the rendition that most
needs defending is my o'aftetwards" f,or tasmdt, which is usually
and quite properly rendered as "therefore," o'hence," and "for
this reason" as the "conclusive" interpretation of the ablative
tasmdt, for which see Speijer.T This is the reasoned conclusion,
which is a sort of logical afterwards for what went before. As is
well attested, the purely temporal interpretation of the ablative
in Sanskrit, i.e. as "after, " is rare' but as I have occasionally
noticed, when the "after" interpretation is demandedby a context
it may be overlooked for that very reason of rarity. Anyrvay,
in the context of the Heart Sutra, the usual translation of the
two tasnta-f-sas "therefore" strikes a janing note, since there
is no obvious antecedentto appeal to as the reason for saying
"therefore."
Doctrinal introduction: This commentary of mine, called "Ex-
plaining the Difficulties," would not be comprehensible to the
usual Western reader, unless prepared by introductory teachings,
at least as concerns the Buddhist three worlds and the theory of
two dharmas.
aSee Chapter 3.
sSee Chapter 22.
6For these editions, see Edward Conze, Thirty Yearsof Buddhist Studies
(Columbia, S. C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1968), pp. 148-67;
F. Max Miiller and Bunyiu Nanjio, eds., "The Ancient Palm Leaves.." in
AnecdotaOxoniensia,Aryan Series,Vol. III (Oxford: ClarendonPress,1884),
pp. 48-50.
U. S. Speijer, Sanskrit Syntax (Kyoto : The Rinsen-ShotenBookstore,
1968). Para. 444, p. 344.
Secret of the Heart Sfitra 311

a. Cessation of "motivations" in the three worlds. The second

member of Buddhist dependent originatioh (pratityasamutpada)
is "motivation" (sarpskdra),and one explanation of this member
in the old Budcihist canon (the Pali scriptures) is that it has the
varieties of body, speech, and mind. The Buddhist theory of
three rvorlds (desire, form, and formless) is also ancient. In
my essay on Buddhist meditation8 I have gathered the textual
sourcesto show how three kinds of motivaticn successivelycease
in various parts of the three vrorlds. The following lay-out will
show the nrain elements of the solution:

Sulrriarr or ExrsrnNcn (bhauagra)

3. Cessationof ideasand feelings: cessationof "motivation of
rnind" (manairsaryskdra);
cessation of constructed
dharmas.

Fonnrnss Rparvt

R.Barlr oF FoRM
2. Fourth Dhydna: free from inbreathing and outbreathing;
- cessation of "motivation of bodv"
(kayasaryskara).
Third Dhydna: pleasure by way of body.
l. SecondDhyana: free from inquiry (uitarka) and investi-
gation (uicara): cessation of "motiva-
tion of speech" (udk-saryskdra).
First Dhydna: inquiry and investigation.

oF DEsIRE
RB.q.rN{

b. The two dharmas. One may contrast the older and later
religious aims of Buddhism. For the ancient view there is the
verse in the Saryyuttanikdya:s
As the tortoise in its own shell withdraws its limbs, so may
the monk (withdraw) his mind's (outgoing) conjectures; resort-
less, not harming another, denouncing no one, proceed to
Purinirudna.

sThe one of note 4, above.

eSar.nyutta-Nikaya, I, p. 9 (in the India Devandgari edition).
312 BuddhistInsight

However, with the rise of the Mahdyanaideat of the Bodhisattva,

who has opted to stay{n the world for the benefit of other beings
rather than pursue the personal aim of liberation, there rvere in
'effect trvo gcals-the older one of liberation from the cyclical
flavt (sc.titsaro),and the newer one of cleliberately postponing
tliis iiberaticn to servercankind and later to acllieve complete
eriiiglitenmcnt. The two are statecl this way in Aryadeva's
Catuiilatal:a, XItr, 23 (:r,/erse 298), available in Sanskrit:

T'he Tatiiaigatashave stated in shorl that the Dharrna is non-

harming (of r:thers),and that .roidnessis Nirvana. Here there
are only these two.

As candrakirti e>rplainsin part tiiis passage,"Non-harming and

voidness-these two clharntasattain heaven (,ruarga)andliberation
,{apauarga)."r0 The Tibetan ar,-thorRed-mcla'-ba,in his lectures
on the catttf#ataka, refers to tl-ris vory pessage along with a
citation,ll "Tkrc i"dirvil4arvith rernaincleris explained as the two
Forrnal Bodies [i.e. Sargbirogakava and Nirma4akayal; the
NirvSla r,vithoutremaind.sras tire Dharrnakdya." Accordingly,
non-harm leads to iiear:ea (sr:arga), and iir tlie l\4ahayana sense
to the two Forrnal Bodies; ri,hile voidness ieacis to liberation
(apauorga), and in th.e Mahdyana senseto ihe Dharmakaya. In
the Frasqnnapa-do,where the verse is cited amidst the commen-
tary on chap. xYuI, 4,72 the discussion appears limited to the
voirlnessdhsrnca,sincr:.xvIII, 4, is concernecu'ith this sicle.The
Bodirisattva path is the other one of ihe pair, lvith the dharma
"non-harm." The Heart Sutra, r.,,ith its stress on voidness,
mainiy presents the "dliarnta of voidness," but has hints of the
other dharma.
It is in connection with those two dharnrus that this essayis
entitlectr"secret of the trreart siltra." .Ifrdnagarbha explains the

rovidhushekharatshattacharya,The catuhiatakaof Aryadeva(Calcutta:

visva-BharatiBook-shop,1931),p. 163:mi 'tsheba danstonpa iiid cespa'i
.chosde gfiis ni mtho ris dai bvan grol thob par byed pa ste.
lrRed-mda'-ba GZon-nu-blo-gros, Commentary to Aryadeva's,Foi.r
Hundred verses',ed. by JetsunRendawashonnu Lodo. sarnath: sakya stu-
dents' Union, 1974, p. 157.
12J.w. de Jong, cinq chapitres de la Prasannapaddparis: paul Geuthner,
1,949,pp. 10-13.
.Secret
of the HeartSDtra 313

term 'osecret": "Because for immature sentient beings, the pro-

.found Dliarma is secret."13

Tsn PRnri{ApAnar,rrrAHBDAyA-sUrRA. TneNsrRrED FRoMTHE

'1,/ERSIon-s,
LoNcBn AND SHoRTER wirll THECoMMENTARy
"ExPLRININGTHEDiprlcurrlEs"
{And at tltat timc, you should k;tow, the lord was equipoised
in tlte sctmddhi"profounC aDpeat"ance").Tlrc noble Bodhisattva
Avalokitei,,,atre,while engaged in the pra.ctice of profuund
pra.jfiaparamitd, ins:pactcdond observe;!that theJive personality
aggregaiesare void of "self-exi,stence".(The noble BoCkiscrttva
great being Avalokiteiyara spoke as fellsy,s 7s tlrc venerable
Sariptttra).
'There
&re three persons mentioned: the Lord, i.e. the Bud-
dha, is the enlightened one, the inaugurator of Buddhism;
Avalokiteivara, ome of the great Bodhisattvas, the sons of
the Buddha, is especially noted fcr surveying the sentient
beings in compassionatemairner; Sariptltra, one of the great
early discipies of the Buddha, is especially noted for pre-
eminence of his insigirt (prajf;tt, in pAh, paiifra). The
Heart s*tra represents the Buddha, wh.ile in the samddhi
" Prafc,und Appearance," inspiring Avalokitefvara to instruct
Sdriputra. it is claimed in Mahiyana Budcihism that the
Buddha teaches Avalokitelvara rvith a body callecj the sam-
bhogakal,a, and teachesthe discipleslike Sariputra witir a body
,called th.e Nirmatakaya. So the Buddhist master vasubandhu
explainsin the Buddhdnusntrtilikd:Ia "According to tlle scripture
(agama), the Lord (bhogauct), with the Sambhogakiya, staying in
the abode of the Akani.rlha fheaven], teaches the Mahayana
Doctrine to Avalokitesvara and the other grcat beings on th.e
Tenth Stage, and with his hiirrnd.irakaya,staying in the range of
'desire for as long as the cyclical flow (sa4tsdra)lasis, observing
the strcams of consciousnessof the noble Sariputra, ancl so on,
.and of otlr.er fortunate sentient beings, with the three kinds of

13T.T. vol. 109,Jfranagarbha's Aryamaitreyakevalaparivartabhd,sya

(com-
mentary on the Maitreya chapterof the sarpdhinirmacanasutra), 203b:Bto
2 0 3c : 1.
14TT . . , V ol.104.3 3 e :5to p .3 4 a :7 .
314 BuddhistInsight

marvels (pratihdrya) teaches the true nature of the Srdvakayana

exactly according to their expectations and their potentialities.o'
since Avalokitesvara teaches Siriputra, the Nirmalakaya is here
represented by Avalokite$vara.
Concerning the Samdclhi "Profound Appearance," the Sans-
krit expression is gambhira-auabhdsa. The Pdli equivalent to
auabhd,sais obhdsa,' and Gautama tsuddha spoke thus to the
monks in a passage preserved in Pali in the Anguttaranikdya
(Book of Eights). The additions "profound" and "far-spread" are
bracketed in my translation:15
Monks, before my awakening when being a Bodhisattva I
was not completely enlightened, tr conceived [profound]
appearances(obhdsa)but did not see[far-spread] forms (rupa).
Monks, it occurred to rne, "If I were both to conceive [pro-
found] appearancesand to see [far-spread] forms, in that case
knowledge and vision would be better purifled in me."
This expression "linowledge and vision" (5. jfidna-darSana) is
important in early Buddhism in the theory of advanced medita-
tion. Vinitadeva explains the expressionin his commentary on
the Fourth Defeat of the Vinaya:16 "'knowledge' (jfidna) is the
insight (prajfia) involved in search; 'vision' (dariana) is the insight
after search." Thus vinitadeva's comment is directly applicable
to that passage from the Book o.f Eights, to help explain the
Samddhi "Profound Appearances." That is, the opening of the

reThisis in the Book of Eights,chapteron Earthquakes, suttacalled"At

GayE i' in TheAnguttaraNikaya(chakkanipdta, sattakanipdtaand Attha-
kanipita),ed. by BhikkhuJ. Kashyap@aliPublication Board,1960),p. 391.
+9.
loVinitadeva,Vinayavibhangapadavyakkydna, T. T., Yol. 122-3ll: iespa
les bya ba ni rjes su'tsholbq'f flesrab bolmthoriba /es bya bani rjessutshol
ba'i fiesrab bol. Probablythe term rjes su tsholba translateda perfectform
indicatingcompletedaction,eventhoughthereis evidentclumsiness with a
possibilitythat the second"rjes su" rneant"after". This is made certain
in Ytian-ts'6's great commentary on the Sarpdhinirmocancts[itra,Maitreya
chapter, in the Tibetan translation, T. T. Vol. 106:219 when, in the course
of giving numerous explanations for the term jfidnadaridnd, he presents one
that is the obvious expansionof Vinitadeva'sgloss, 219:e:5-6: "Also, any
insight searching the dlnrma-.r is knowledge; any insight discriminating
(them) after search is vision" I S2an yan chos rndms yoris su tshol ba'i Sesrab
gari yin pa de iti iespa2es bya'olyons su btsal ba la(s) so sor rtog pa'i ies rab,
gan yin pa de ni mthon ba Zes bya'ol.
Secretof the HeartSltra 315

Heart Siltra represents the Buddha entering the Samddhi "Pro-

found Appearances" to inspire Avalokitesvira with the pre-
enlightenment stages called "knowledge," i.e. when prajfid was
involved in search, and was assistedby sentient beings.1?
Besides,Avalokite6vara as an advanced Bodhisattva has certain
abilities in proceeding through what Buddhism calls the "three
realms": desire, form, and formless. As meditative attainments
the realm of form is divided into the four Dhydnas (Pali, Jhdna),
and the formless realm with its four "equipoises" (sarndpatti) is
surrnounted by the "summit of existence" (bhauagra). Asanga's
Sarndhitabhumiteaches that a yogin who is not pure can do no
better than pass through these states sequentially, and likewise in
reverseorder. But he says that a yogin who is pure can leap over
the second one, and not the third which is too far, and comparably
in reverse order: for example, jumping from the First Dhydna
directly to the Third Dhydna. And finally, Tathagatas and
Bodhisattvas of the last three stages, hence Avalokite6vara and
other great Bodhisattvas, can enter any of these stagesfrom any
other one.18
Finally, more can be said of Sariputra from the Pdli canon with
00...
his Fali name Sariputta in the Majjhfmanikaya (III,29):
speaking rightly he would say of Sariputta-'He is the Lord's son,
born frorn his heart and his mouth, born from the Dharnma, a
creation of Dharnma, an heir of Dtrramma,not an heir of material
things.' " Asanga explains some of the terms of this sutrq passage
in the Parydya-sarygrahaniof the Yogdcdrabhtimi:1s
"Son of the Teacher" is the brief reference. "Born frorn his
heart" means among the inner sons,becauseomitting ordinary
persons (prthagjana) who are unadvanced. "Born from his
17TheMahayanasfrtralamlcara,
Chap. XVI devoted to the Perfections
(paramita), agrees with this identification af prajiia with iiiana because in
verses36 through 40 each of thefirst five Perfections(giving, etc.) is said to
stay in the world with the assistanceof knowledge(jiiana); and when coming
to verse 41 to deal with prajfiaparantitd the text usesihe word jiiana instead
of prajfra and says "with the assistanceof sentientbeings" (sattvaparfgra-
herya).
18For this leaping of a Bodhisattva, cf. Edward Cowe, The Large Sutra
on Perfect Wisdom (Berkeley: University of California Press,1975),pp.7l-
73, and p. 502, note, containing the reference to J. May's article CffOfO
(Hobogirin IV, 1970), which also includes Asariga's treatrnent.
leT. T. Vol. lll:238a.
316 BuddhistInsight

mouth" means born from the words which teach the Dharma.
"Born from the Dharma" means born frcim orienting his mind
methodically to the Dharma and accomplishing the Dharma
accordingly.
Then Avalokitesvara spoke to Siriputra about how the Sravaka,
Pratyekabuddha, and Bodhisattva contemplate the five personal
aggregates(skandha)to reahze"non-self of personality" (pudgala-
nairdtmya):
"Hcre, Sdriputra, form is voiclness, and voidness verily rJ
fo.rn't, voidnessis not dffirent from .form;Jbrm is not dffirent
-fi"omvoidness. What is form, that is voidness;what is voidness,
that is form. The sqi?rc is the cnse with Feelings, Ideas,
Motivatiott,s,and Perceptions."
Here (iha) means the Second Dhyana of the "realm of form"
where occurs the cessationof "speech motivation" (udk-saryskdra),
since here there is neither "inquiry" (uitarka) nor "investigation"
(as development of discursive thought) (uicdra). And here the
yogin especiallycontemplatesrevolting objects,suchasthecadaver
in decomposition, as suggested in the htahaydnasutrdlamkdra,
XIX, 50, by mention of the sign-sourcein front; Sthiramati's
subcommentary clarifies that this contemplation is meant to
destroy the immemorial attachrnentto the sign-sourceof location
(p r at i ; thdnimi t t a), the "recep tacle-realm" (bhAjanalok a), or sensory
objects (ui,raya).2o Form is voicilrcsr may be understood from
Vimatramitra'scommentary this r,vay:21 it is void of self-existence
whether form be a mode-of-being @hAua)or a designation (pra-
jfiapti). Tire same would apply to the other aggregates-feelings,
ideas,motivations,and perceptioits.
Voiclness verily is form means according to Vimalamitra the
voidnessof the "city of gandhalyss"-fusnce, also the voidnessof
a dream, of the o'moon in the waters (of earth)," and so on. Using
his hint, the statement voiCnessvuily is form and a like statement
for the other personal aggregates,can be illustrated by combining
Asanga's explanations from two placesof his Yogdcdrabhumi
for tlie similes of the ancient Buddhist canon:22

2oT.T. Vol. 109:99b-c.

2lArya-Prajfiapdramitd-tikA, T. T. Vol. 94:280.
zzYogdcdrabhtimiin the edition of the Derge Tanjur, sems tsdm, vastu-
sarygrahalti,Zi, f . l47b-2 to 6; and Parydyasarpgrahani,'i,f. 40a-5to f. 40b-6.
 Secret of the Heart Sutra 317

"a lump of foamo' uerily i; form.

Asanga: becauseform (i.e. the body) has arisenfrom the element
of rvater, appearsas though it is a self while it is not a
self, and is incapable of behaving as it wishes.
"a bubble" uerily is feelings.
Asanga: by way of a triple association,to wit, by way of cloud
(senseobject), soil (senseorgan), and rain (senseper-
ception).
'oa mitage" uerily is ideas.
Asanga: by way of the appearanceof a knorvable, and as though
tormented (by thirst) and deluded.
"a plantain trunk" uerily is motiuqtions.
Asanga: by way of (the noble disciple's) cutting the root which is
the reiiying view (satkdyadr"oli),which amounts to the
diverse causes of many kinds of body (" upright
shoots"); peeling it (pulling off the various volitions,
cetand) he does not find a core.
"an illusicn" uerily is perception.
Asanga: by way of perception being a "magician" approaching
(motivations) virtuor:s, unvirtuous, and unshaken;
o'traveler at the crossroads" based on
and being the
four stations(i.e. form, feelings,ideas,and motivations).
Voidnessis not dffirent frotn form; form is not different from
voidnessmeans according to Vimalamitra: there is no respective
external entity (bdlryartlta) of form and voidness, that is to say,
voidnessis not external tofarnt, and vice versa. This agreeswith
the Mddhyarnika pcsition that positing voidness as an external
entity would be reifying it. As with form, so also in the cases
of feelings, ideas, motivations, and perceptions. As I take the
twcr statementsindividually voiclnessis not different fromform-
because ii differeat in the sense tltat voidness possessesa form,
likewise, feeling,s, ideas, moiivations, and percepttons-then
'ovoidness"would be reified as a self. And
form is not different
from voidness-bscause if different in the sense that form is a lay-
out, so aIso, feelings, ideas, motivations, and percepttorts, upon
voidness as a base-then lve could also say that the paints used for
painting a picture are different from the picture, stand out as
different from the picture which is the reified void base.
Then Avalokitesvara spoke to Sariputra about how the,

I
318 BuddhistInsight

Pratyekabuddha and the Bodhisattva contemplate "all dharmas"

to realize "non-self of dhqrmas" (dhanna-nairdtmya):
'oHere Sariputra, all natures (Dharma)
huve the character
of voidness;are not originated and not destrol,ed; not defiled
and not ptre; without subtraction and without addition."
Here (iha) meansthe Fourth Dhydna,free from the fault of inhala-
tion and exhalation, i.e. the cessation of "body motivation"
(kay a-sar.nskdr a) . Vasubandbu' s Abhidharmakoi a (VI, 24) states:

The Teacher (i.e. the Buddlia) and the rhinocerus (i.e. the
Pratyekabuddha) up to (their individual) enlightenments at the
upper end of (the F'ourth) Dhydna, have a single basis (i.e.
of the four paths). Before that: what is conducive to libera-
tion (i.e. the path of equipment).

Hence here there are the two dharmas-non-harm and voidness,

as alluded to in Aryadeva's verse.
The character of voidness: Sthiramati, subcommentary on
Sutralarykdra, XIX, 48, uses the term o'character of voidness"
(iunyatd-laksa4a, Tib. ston pa fiid kyi mtshan fiid) in connection
with the verse's "knowing as they really are" of the Bodhisattva
starting with his First Stage.23 Thus "character" (laksapa) points
to the "dharma of non-harm," becauseit involves the Bodhisattva's
path as contrasted with that of the Pratyekabuddha. The
Madhydntauibhdga says: 'oThe unreality of the two (subject and
object), and the reality of the unreality, is the character of
the void (funyalaksana)."2a
All natures (dharma) means thepersonal aggregates(skandha),
the elements (dhatu), the sensebases (ayatana). The Mahdyana
scripture "Meeting of Father ond Son" (Pitaputrasamdgama) has
this: "O great king. Thus all dharmos are the gateway to libera-
tion."25 This points to the o'dharmavoidness " for the Pratyeka-
buddha. According to Asanga, Viniscayasaqngrahaptof the
Samdhitabhumi, the gates to liberation-voidness, wishless, and

23T. T. Vol. 109:98d.

ztM adhyantavi bhaga-bha; y a, ed. by Gadjin M. Nagao. Tokyo: Suzuki
ResearchFoundation, 1964,p, 22: dvayabhavahy abhdvasyabhavah ifrnyasya
Iakiaaarhl.
25T. T. Yol. 23:208e.
Secret of the Heart S[tra 319

non-sign-source-distinguish the Fourth Dhydna.z8 And further,

it says in " Meeting of Father and son" :27
Great King, when one understands it rightly as it really is, the
eye sense-baseis void of the eye-sense-base.Why so? This
eye-sense-baseis a non-sign-source (animitta). Why so?
When the sign-source of the eye-sense-base is void of the eye-
sense-base-this is voidness. When the sign-source of the eye-
sense-baseis free of sign-source-this is the non-sign-source.
When it makes no wish, this is the wishless. Great King
accordingly the eye-sense-base is the three doors of liberation.
The eye-sense-base is directed toward liberation... Likewise,
all dharmas are directed toward liberation.
Are not originated and not destroyedmeansthe voidness gateway-
because the sign-source is void of the eye-sense-base,i.e. is
comparable to a dream.28
Not defiled and not pure means the non-sign-sourcegateway-
becauseit is sign-sourcesthat are defiled or pure.2e
Without subtraction and without addition means the wishless
gateway-because there is nothing to subtract or add for the eye-
sense-baseto wish for.
Having told the two dharmas related to heaven (suarga) and
liberation (apauarga), and since there is no other dharma in
Buddhism than those two in the sense'oborn from the dhamma"
(as was said of Sdriputta), Avalokitesvara explained to Sdriputra
the Truth of Cessation (nirodhasatya):30

26T.T. Vol. 111:11d. I surveyeC much of Asanga'sYogdcarabhumi for

variousexplanations of the gatesto liberation,and the particularone here
presented seemed mostto fit the contextof the Heart Sfitra.
27T.T. Vol. 23:201b,c.
28Cf.Pifiputrasamdgamasiltra, T. T. Vol. 23:201d:3-4"O greatking, the
senseorgansare illusory; the senseobjectsdream-like"(rgyalpo chenpo dela
dbanpo rnamsni sgyumalta bu I yul rnatnsni rmi lamlta buriespar bya stel).
2ecf. A. Wayman,Analysisof the Sravakabhumi Manuscript.Berkeley:
Universityof CaliforniaPress,7961,p. 6l: "he doesnot takehold of sign-
sources(nimitta-graht)ot detailsby reasonof whichsinful,unvirtuousnatures
(dharma)would flow in his mind."
svThe Paftcavirltiatisahasrika
Prajftaparamita,ed. by Nalinaksha Dutt
(London;Luzac& Co., 1934),pp.46-47, setsforth approximatelythe same
materialas in the Heart Stitra under the title "precept of cessation-truth"
Corue, Thirty Years,p. 158, calls attention to this
(nirodhasatyavavdda).
,similarity.
 320 BuddhistInsight

"Afterw.ards, Sdriputra, in voidness there are no form, no

feelings, no ideas,no motivations, na perceptions;
No eya, eer, nose) tongue, body, or mind; no fcrm, sounds,
sntell, triste, ttngibb, or mental;
No reolm of eye ... [down to]... no realm of mind-percep-
t I on:
No nescienct, no ext[nctionof nescience...ldown to]--no old
age and deatli, ito extit'tciion of olC age and death;
No sulfering, s'ource,cesscttionor path;
No knowledge;
No attainment, to non-attainrnent."

Afterwards (tasmat): In the summit of, existence(bhauagra), there

is cessation of "mind-motivation" (manah-sarTtskara)-referred
to in the ancient Buddhist scriptures as "cessation of feelings and
ideas" (sa4njfiduedita-nirodlta).
since here there is cessationof all
"constructed natures" (sarytskrta-dharma),this is not the state in
which the Buddha discovered'all dharmas':five personal aggre-
gates (form down to perceptions), twelve sensebases(eye d.ovrn
to mind; form dorvn to mentals), eighteen realms (realm of eye
down to realm oJ' mind-percaptlon);nor in which he discovered
the twelvefold dependent origination and the manner in which
it is extinguished (nesciencedown to old age and death; extinction
of nescience down ta extinction of otd age and death); nor in
which he discovered the four Noble Truths (su/fering down to
patlt); nor in which he had the knov,ledge and the attainment.
And in this condition there is no non-attainmentjust as one cannot
speak of darkness, if there is no light. According to the Mahd-
parinibbanasutta, the Tathdgata took his leave of the monks and
attained the First Dhydna, and successivelythe vari.rus equipoises
(samdpatti)up to the base of neither idea nor no-idea, and ernerg-
ing from this base, reached the cessaticn of feelings and ideas.
Then, according to the tradition, the venerableAnanda said to the
venerabie Anurudcha, "Reverend Anuruddha, the Lord has
passed. into Nirvdna.'" 'oNoy,brother Ananda, the Lorcr has not
passedinto Nirvdqa; he has reachedthe cessationof feelings and
ideas." Thereupon, you should know, the Lord emerging from
the cessation,entered the base of neither idea nor no-idea, and
successivelythe equipoisesdown to the First Dhydna; and emerg-
ing from the First Dhydna, proceeded again through the Dhydnas
 Secretof the Heart Sutra 321

to the Fourth Dhydna, and emerging from the Fourth Dhydna,

the Lord passedinto Nirvdna.
Avalokitesvara explained to Sdriputra that afterwards the
Bodhisattva returns to attainment by recourseto prajfidpdramitd:

"Afterwards, sariputra, by reason of the non-ottainment, tlre

Bodhisattva takes recourse to prajfiaparamita, and dwells
without obscuration of thought.,,

Afterwards (tosmdt): After proving that there is no attainment,

and so also no possibility of non-attainmentin the cessationof
feelings and ideas, the Bodhisattva of the upper three stages
among the ten returns promptly to the realm of form. The
M ohdydnasutr dIarykAr a (XIX, 28, 29), explains:

For the right praxis of the wise in the six perfections is the
giving of the one without wish, the morality of the one without
enthusiasm for re-existence, forbearance everywhere, the
striving to bring forth all good; likewise meditation (cthydna)
apart from the formless realm,sl and insight (prajm@ tied to
the means (i.e. the other five perfections).

The Bodhisattva's meditation is apart from the formless realm,

for this realm leads to the non-attainmentsummit. Besides,there
is a theory that among the Dhyanas of the realm of form, the
Bodhisattva of the EighthStage is in the First Dhydna, the one of
the Ninth Stage is in the second Dhydna, the one of the Tenth
Stageis in the Third Dhydnq.sz
tskes recourseto prajfiaparamitd, and dwells without obscuration
of thoughr: It is said, "He takes recourseto the wife of another,"
and explained: 'vrife of another' is prajfidpdrantitd; the ..other" is.

srvindrfipyar.ntatha dhyanary.
azThistheory is presentedin Yiian-ts'€, commentary on sarnchinirmocona-
sfitra, T. T. Vol. l06:209e where he combines the Daiabhumil;asutra's deify-
ing of the irreversible Bodhisattvas(those of the last three stages)lvith the
Dhyana tradition, since each of the four Dhycinaheavenshas various types
of deities.Thus, in the Eighth Stagethe Bodhisattvais Mahdbrahmd.This
is not necessarilyinconsistenti,vith the previous information that Sthiramati
associatesthe "character of voidness" with the First StageBodhisattva,and
my piacementof the informaticn under the Fourth Dkyana. This is because
the present referenceto the irreversibleBodhisattvashas to do with their.
return to the realm of form, wherein are the four Dhvanas.
322 BuddhistInsieht

defile-
the Diamond being (Vajrasattva).33 He dwells without the
the upper three stages,
ment obscuration, as a Bodhis attva of
in terms
although still with obscuration of the knowable. Then,
from vinita-
of the two kinds of "insight" previously mentioned
in search called
deva,s vinaya commentary, the one involved
"knorvled ge" (ifiana) and the one after search called "vision"
(dariona), this one is the "vision." And Gautama Buddha in that
passagepreservedin the "Book of Eights" explained that when he
(devatfl
developed the "vision" he saw the forms of the deities
of the different classes.sa
at
Avalokitesvara explained that the Bodhisattva has arrived
the Summit-Nirvdna:
o,Becauseof the non-existence of thought obscuration, he
is at the summit'
fearless, having transcended waywardness,
Nirvdqa."
on the sutrd'
fearless; According to Sthiramati, subcommentary
laqnkdra, there ur. i*o kinds of fear: l) oftemporal unexpected-
i.e. of rulers, robbers,fire,
ne,ss(sadyas), floods, etc',2) of objective
(spatial) domains (ui;aya), such as planes of yoga, and sarysdra
fear for the two
itself.35 The Bodhisattva has no temporal
ooafterwards" (tasmat), and no spatial fear for the two "here-S"
(iha).
waywardness: waywardness (uiparydsa) means taking the
impermanent as permanent, pain as pleasure, nonself as self, and
the impure as pure. There are three stagesof waywardness,to wit,
of ideas (saanjfia),therr of views (drsti) attached to the ideas, and
finally of consciousness(citta) with secondary defllements going
with the view attachment.so Since the Bodhisattva does nothave
thought obscuration (cittd-auarana) he cannot have tfie last stage

33TheCollectedWorks of Bu-ston,Part 14 (Pha) (New Delhi: Indian

Academyof Indian culture, 1,969), the abbreviatedsurveyof the Tantras
(in Tibetan).Fol. no. 910.Bu-stongoeson to explainthat Prajfldplramita
is the son mo ('she r,vhoarrives')at the other side of sarpsdra, while
Vajrasattvais the sonpo ('he who arrives')at the other sideof sarytsara'
salnthe suttacalled"At Gay6" (cf. note 15,above).
35T.T. Vol. 109: 19c 2,3, 4, commentary on XVI, 52'
seCf. Tlte Liott's Roar of QueenSrinnla; a EudclhistScripture on the Tatha'
gangarbha Theory, tr. by Alex wayman and Hideko wayman (New York :
Columbia University Press,1974).p. 1'02'and note.
Secret of the Heart Sutra 323

ofwaywardness, that of consciousness(citta); and the sDtra intends

this to mean the Bodhisattva has transcended.waywardness.
The summit-nirvd(ta: He is at the summit (ni;lh\ where the
Buddha entered Parinirvaqa, i.e. at the upper extreme of the
Fourth Dhydna. Besides, Le Traitd gives the denotation of the
word pdramitd (perfection) as applied to prajfrd:87 "she is called
pdramitd, becauseshe arrives at the other shore (pdra) of the ocean
of insight, because she arrives at the extremity (anta) of all the
insights and attains the summit (niplhagata)i,
Avalokitesvara then made the Mahdydna identification of
Nirvila and enlightenment:
"All Buddhas of the past, present, and future, after taking
recourse to the perfection of insight, completely realize the
incomparable, right complete enlightenment.,,
with the sambhogakiya, they realize the complete Enlightenment
at the top of the realm of form in the Akanittha heaven.
Avalokitesvara then summed up all the foregoing by way of an
incantation:
"Therefore one should know the great incantation of
prajfidpdramitd. The incantation of great vidyd, the incom-
parable incantation, the equal-and-unequalincantation, the
incantation which allays stffiring, true because devoid of
falsehood, proclaimed in the prajiidparamitd, as foilows: gate
gate pdragate pdrasarytgatebodhi svdhd."
The great incantation of prajfiapdramita, the incantation of great
vidya is gate gate pdragate parasarTtgatebodhi svdha, because
uidya means the female variety of incantation (mantra) and sudhd
is the final mantra of a female formula.Bs Flaving referred to the
mqntra in general terms, the sirtra now treats the individual terms
of the marfira:
The',incomparable incantation is gate gate becausethis means
one has embarked (tirlta),'s with cessationof speechmotivation in
the Second Dhydna.
sTEtienneLamotte,Le Traiti de la Grandevertu de sagesse,Tome II.
Louvain: Bureal.rx
du Musdon,1949,p. 1066.
s8cf. Wayman,"The Significance of Mantras,'(note 5, above).
seFortheseterms tirrya,pdragata,and sthalagata,seeFranklin Eclgerton,
BuddhistHybrid sanskrit Reader,New Haven: yale Universitypress,1953,
"Conversionof Sariputraand Maudgalyiyana,', p. 31.
324 Buddhist Insight

The equal and unequal incantation is pdragate because this

means one is well on the way (pdragata), with cessationof body
motivation in the Fourth Dhydna. The Pratyekabuddha, and the
Bodhisattva, is equal to the Buddha in attaining the cessation of
body motivation in the Fourth Dhydna. But these yogins are not
equal to the Buddha as regards having attained the incomparable
enlightenment in the Akanirtha, with the Sambhogakdya.
The incantation which allays suffering is PdrasarTtgate,because'
this means one has reached the dry land (sthalagata), beyond the
swirling waters of sarpsdra. But is this cessation of mental
natures to be called 'oNirvaqa"? True becausedevoid of false-
hood is bodhi. "Enlightenment" (bodhi) is true, because devoid
of the various falsehoods, by suggestion of PraSS.strasena's
commentary and partial adoption of his remarks: devoid of the
falsehoods of body, speech,and mind.ao
Proclaimed in the prajfidpdramitd is sudhd because this is the
clarification at the end.al
Thus Avalokitesvara finished his instruction to Sdriputra.
(Then, you should know, the Lord emergedfrom thot samadhi
and told Arya-Avalokiteivara, " sddhu Sddhu").
According to Vimalamitra,a2 rvhile this sutra was expressedby'
Arya-Avalokitesvara, it was in fact the Tathdgata's promulgation
(ajna),'accordingly, AvalokiteSvara was empowered (adhitistha) by
the Tathdgata in the Samddhi "Profound Appearance" (gambhtra'
auabhasa).So the Tathagata, saying sddhu, sadhu (It is well, it is.
well) indicates concurrence with Avalokiteivara's exposition.
So ends the "heart" of noble prajfidpdramitd.
Heart: There are two kinds of "heart" (hydaya)intended by this.
scripture. 1) there is the "heart," i.e. the essenceof Mahdyina
teaching with reference to Prajfrdpiramitd as the mother of the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. 2) there is the "heart" witlt reference
to the sonsof the Buddha, as was Sariputra, "born from his heart."
So ends the commentary, composed by Alex Wayman, called
"Explaining the Dififlculties" (paiijikd-ndma) of the Aryapraifid'
p dr amit d-hydaya-silt r a.
a0Edward Conze, "PraSistrasena'sArya-Prajfiiparamita-hydaya-!ikA,"
BuddhistStudiesin Honourof I. B. Horner.Dordrecht:D. ReidelPublishing
Company,1974,pp. 58-59.
crThis explanationof svahais from a tantric commentaryby Ratndkara-
Sdnti,cited in Wayman,"The Significanceof Mantras"(note5, above').
42T.T. Vol. 94:284e:5, 6.
 PART FOUR

i IEXTS OF ASANGASCHOOL
 l6

THE SACITTIKA AND ACITTIKA BHUMI

TEXT EXP TRANSLATION

The brief text here edited is from the photographic Srduakabhumi

manuscript, and is a portion of the encyclopedic work Yogdcdra-
bhAmi by Asanga (circa 375-43A,A.D.).t The Sacittikd and
Acittikd bhumis occupy only one folio side in the manuscript and
yet constitute Nos. 8 and 9 of the seventeenbhumis. They have
an importance far greater than their length might indicate, since
the Sacittika and Acittika text is Asanga's most extreme sum-
marization of the psychological states that rvere discussed ex-
tensivelyin ihe first five bhilnis (edited in Sanskrit by V. Bhatta-
charya), and then discussedfrom another standpoint in bhhmis
Nos. 6 and 7 (samohitd and assmAhifi bhilmis). Asanga then
deals r,vith the traditionatr three levels of proiiia (insight)-bhumis
Nos. 10-12 (irutamayi, cintdmayi, and bhduandntayibhuntis). F{e
then exposes the three vehicles (yAna)-bhumis Nos. 13-15
(srduaka-, pratyekabuddha-, and bodhisattua-bhumis). He con-
cludes with the fruits (phola) of the path-bhunzis Nos. 16 and lV
(sopadhiiesd and nirupadhiie sa bhumis).
Sacittika Acittika ca Bhumih
/ sacittika'cittikd ca bhflmilr katamd / sa dvidhdpi paiicabhir
Frkarak veditavya / bhtmiprajflaptivyavasthdnato'pi citta-

rCf. Alex Wayman,"The Sacittikaand AcittikaBhumiand the Pratyeka-

buddhabhumi(Sanskrit texts)," Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies
(Tokyo),7:1, 1960,pp. 375-379.
328 BuddhistInsight

bhrdntivyavasthanato'py utpattyanutpattivyavasthdnato'py
avasthdvyavasthanato'pi paramarthavyavasthanato,pi //
f tatra bhfimiprajfiaptivyavasthdnatah paffcavijfianasampra-
yukti bhlmir manobhfrmilr savitarka savicara ['vi]tark6
vicdramatrd ca bhfmir ekantena sacittika / avitarkdydm
av ic aruyar.nb hfl m au samapattyupapattikam asar.njfrikam niro -
dhasamapattim ca sthdpayitvd tadanya sacittikaiva bhumih
samdpattyupapattika lasam] iffiko nirodhasamdpattis ca td
(a)cittika bhnmih //
/ tatra cittabhrantivyavasthanato yat caturviparydsap viparya-
star.ncittar.n tad bhrdntam ity ucyute/ yat punas caturbhir
viparydsendviparyastar.ntad abhrantam ity ucyatef tatra yad
bhrdntacitta(r.n) tad acittam ity ucyate (p)r(akrti)bhra;tlat /
tadyathil lokair vacas uktam f unmattakqiptacittar.ndrptvd
'[yam purusapudgalo 'citta
unma]ttah ksiptacitta iti I tad
anena paryayena yad bhrdntary cittarp tad acittikd bhumir
yat punar abhrdntap tat sacittikl, //
'ttabhih
/ tatrotpattyanutpattito karaqaih cittasyotpddo
['nutpado] va / tadyatha indriyaparibheddd viqayd:ndbhisam
ayandd manasikaravaikalyddapratilabdhadvirodhdt prahdldd
nirodhdd utpadac ca f etad viparyaydd utpddo drastavya{r
kqaya(e)va karataib / tatra ya utpddakaraqais cittasyotpidah
sa sacittikl bhflmih / ya\, punar anutpadakara4air anutpddah
sd 'cittikd bhnmi\ //
/ tatr av asthdvyavasthanatab pa{ avasthdh sthdpayi tvd sacittika
bhumir veditavyd / ;ad avasthdb katama tadyathi acittika-
middhdvasthd'cittikamurchavastha'sa4rjfrasamdpattir dsar.n-
jffikam nirodhasamdpattir nirupadhiSesanirvd4adhdturyd
punar etah qad avasthd iyam acittik[ bhnmi\ //
/ tatraparamarthavyavasthdnato nirupadhiseqo nirvdnadhdtur
acittikd bhumih / tat kasya hetoh / tatha hy alayavijffdnar.n
niruddhar.n bhavati f tadanyasv avasthasu pravrttivijfidnar.n
niruddhary bhavati / yenacittika bhfimir ity ,rtu,. / Filaya-
vijfrinary tu na niruddhap bhavati / panmirthato 'cittika
bhunrir ity ucyate //
/ yogacarabhflmau sacittikd bhlmir acittika ca samaptalf
Translation of Asanga's Sacittika and Acittikd Bhumi
with minimal additions from Asanga's own comments in
V ini i cayasarltgr ahan i.
The Sacittikiand AcittikaBhDmi,Text and Translation 329

What is the stage "with thought" and. the one "without

,thought"? Each of these is known under five categories:
establishment in terms of stages, establishment of thought delu-
sion and non-delusion, establishment of (thought) occurrence and
non-occurrence, establishment of states, establishment of the
,absolute.

EsranrrsnrvrENTlN Trnus or, Sr,c,crs

'These
stagesare in each casea stagewith thought: l. Association
with the five (sensory) perceptions (uijfidna), 2. Mind (manas),
3. With inquiry (uitarka) and deliberation (uicdra), 4. Without
inquiry and with only deliberation. A stage"with thought" must
be apart from 5. without either inquiry or deliberation, under
which there are non-ideational equipoise,non-ideational exis-
tence, and cessationequipoise. Non-ideational equipoise, non-
,ideationalexistence,and cessationequipoise (each) constitute a
istage"without thought."

EsranllssMENT or TsoucHr DnrusroN

nNo NoNr-Drlustotr
A thought wayward with four waywardnesses is said to be deluded.
Any thought not wayward with the four waywardnessesis a non-
deluded thought. Among those, the deluded thought is said to be
"destitute of intellect" becauseit has lost its primal nature. For
example, when worldly personsseesomeoneof insane, distracted
mind, they say, "That person is 'destitute of intellect,' insaneo
his mind distracted." Hence,in those terms, any deludedthought
is a stage "without thought," and any one not deluded is ,'with
.thought."

Esr.q,srrsHMENTop OccunRENcEAND
Nox-OccuRRENcE
Thought occurs or does not occur by eight causes,as follows:
f . impairment of senseorgan (six in number), 2. non-appearance
of sense object (six in number), 3. lack of attention, 4. non-
attainment (of other realms, such as the Dhyana heavens, by
reason of not accomplishing the path), 5. opposition (to a thought
by another thought which is present,as when experiencing pleasure
330 BuddhistInsight

one does not experiencepain), 6. elimination (of a thought by the

path leading to the elimination, as when lust, hatred, and delusion
are eliminated by the Eightfold Noble Path), 7. cessation (i.e.
statesnos. 3-6 in "Establishment of states," below), 8. occurrence'
already (i.e. having finished occurring, as in momentary theory).
The opposites of those constitute origination (of thought), just
when there is ending of those causes. Among them, any origina-
tion of a thought by causesof origination, is a stage"withthought."
And any non-origination by causesof non-origination, is a stage
"without thought."

EsrasusHMENToF STATES
One should knorv the stage "with thought" as exclusive of six
states. What are the six? As iollows: 1. state of sleepdevoid of
thought (:dreamless sleep), 2. state of faint devoid of thought,
3. non-ideational equipoise,4. non-ideational existence,5. cessa-
tion-equipoise,6. Nirvd0a-realm without residual basis. Further-
more, thesesix statesconstitute a stage"without thought."

EsrasrtsHMENToF TI{EAssorurP
This is the stage "without thought," Nirvafa-realm without resi-
dual basis. For what reason? For the reason that there is cessa-
tion of the "store consciousness" (dlaya-uiifidna). In the other
(five) states, there is cessation of evolving perception (prauytti'
uijfidna), and consequently they constitute a stage "without
thought" (in the conventional sense),but (in those flve) there is no
cessationof alaya-uijfidna: in the absolutesense,they do not cons-
titute a stage "without thought." Finished is tho Sta-se With
Thought and Without Thought in the Yogacarabhumi.
According to Asanga, there are four casesfor possessionof
al ayauij ii dna andf o r evolr'ing perceptio n (p r aurt t i-uii iidna) :
1. Possessingalayauijiidna and not possessingevolving per-
ception: personsin statesnos. 1-5 in "Establishmentof states."
2. Possessingevolving perception and not possessingalaya-
aijiidna: Arhats, Pratyekabuddhas, irreversible Bodhisattvas,
'owith thought."
and Tathagatas, when in stages
3. Possessingboth: persons other than those (mentioned
above), when in stages"rvith thought."
4. Possessingneither: Arhats, Pratyekabuddhas,irreversible,
TheSacittikdandAcittikaBhumi,fe*t arrJfranslation 331

Bodhisattvas, and Tathagatas, when in cessation-equipoise,

or in Nirvdla-realm without residual basis.
The evolving perceptions are mind (manas) and the five sense
perceptions. Together with dlayauijfidna, they make a set of seven
uijfidna. The set can also be counted as eight by taking the sixth
uij fidna asmanouijfidna, the seventh as "defi led mind" (k li ; ! amanas),
and the eighth as dlayauijfiana. The set of eight is more common.
The associate natures (caitasika-dharma) that go with all the
uijfrdna, are: attention (manasikdra), contact (spar,ia), feeling
(aedand), idea (sar.njfid),volition (cetand). Besides, the mind
(manas) has many other mental elements associated with it.
There are fi.vemental elementsnever associatedwith dlayauiifidna:
longing (chanda), conviction (adhtmoksa), mindfulness (smrti),
one-pointedness(samddhi), insight (pr aifia).
The four waywardnesses are to regard the impermanent as
permanent, suffering as happiness,non-self as self, and the impure
as pure.
Asanga in the foregoing mentioned only "Nirvdqa without
residual basis." BothNirvir:as (with and without residualbasis)are
treated in the comments to the Paramdrtha-gathd.The two kinds of
Nirvifa constitute two stages(Nos. 16 and 17) of the seventeen
bhumi of Asanga's Yogdcdrabhumipriorto the exegeticalsections.
Regarding the three stages,"non-ideational equipoise," "non-
ideational existence,"and "cessationequipoise," the essay"Medi-
tation in Theravada and MahiSasaka" above and Asanga's
Srduakabhumiexplain the "non-ideational equipoise" (or "equi-
poise without idea") as that of the ordinary person, and the
"cessationequipoise" as that of the drya (noble person),and relate
this terminology to the "formiess realm." The term "non-idea-
tional existence" (dsaryjfiika) refers, according to the Abhidharma'
koia, II, 41, to a class of deities abiding in the Dhyina
heaven Bphatphala,placed as the highest of the three divisions
of the "fourth Dhyana" in the "realm of form." Speaking
generally, Asanga states in his Vastusalngraha4i (PTT, Vol.
111, p. 134-3) that elimination of ideas(sarnifiilhappensin the
samadhi of "signless mind" (dnimittacitta). (See my essay
"secret of the Heart Sutra"). Asanga points out there also
that some outsiders (wrongly) attributed the two kinds of
Nirvdla to this Brhatphala heaven.
 T7

ASANGA'S TREATISE, THE

PARAMAnTUI-;A,r
uA

The intrusive folios in the unique Bihar Srduakabhilmi manuscript

include a large portion of the cintdmayt Bhumi, an earlier section
of the Yogdcdrabhumi. The intrusive folios of that bhumi contain
the Paramdrtha-gdthd and the complete text of Asanga's comments
thereon; the Abhrprdyikdrtha-gdthd, with incomplete text of
Asanga's comments; and the first part of the Sqrirartha-gathd,
small sets of verseswith Asanga's comments. Long ago I edited
and translated the Paramdrtha-gdtha and commentary in my
doctoral dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley,
published as Analysis of the SrduakabhumiManusuipr (1961).r
Now I shall present this text and translation with various correc-
tions.z Some introductory remarks are necessary.
The bulky work called Yogdcdrabhumiwas composed for per-
sons in the Buddhist religious life. Thus "yogacara" in the title
'oStages(bhumi)
of Yogdcara" does not stand for the Buddhist
philosophical school sometimes referred to as "yogacara

luniversity of california Publicationsin classicalphilology, vol. 17

(Universityof CaliforniaPress,Berkeleyand Los Angeles,196l),pp. 163,
ff. for detailsof this text as originallyeditedand translated,
bibliographyfor
the Asian renditions,and so on.
2FromFranklinEdgerion'sgenerous reviewin Language, vol. 3g, No. 3
(1962),I haveadoptedall his suggestions exceptone(on verse3g). Besides,
I havemademinorimprovements throughoutthe translationaswell as major
correctionof two verses(nos.4 and 38).
334 BuddhistInsight

philosophy." Much of the large work is given over to

Buddhist abhidharma-type doctrinal categories; and, generally
,speaking, the treatise exposes extensively the doctrine and
practice indications for one aiming to follow the Buddhist
path, either in the old senseof early Buddhism or in the later sense
of the Mahd:ydnaBodhisattva. However, the work does contain
an early form of what is called "Yogacara philosophy," especially
by Asanga's use of the term "store consciousness"(alayauiifidna)
and his three lakpa7a-s or suabhdua-scalled "imaginary" (pari'
k alpi t a), " dependency" (p arat antr a), and "perfect" (p ar ini ;p anna),
The Paramdrtha-gdtha themselves do not clearly evidence any
technical o'Yogacara philosophy," but Asanga's comments do
bring in some indications of this philosophical position.
The verse that most needs some explanation in this senseis no'
4,withtwo mentions of the word "self" (atman). The translation
of the versefollowed commentarial suggestions,especiallyAsanga's
use of the word parinippanna, which, as a grammatically passive
participle is possibly controlled by the instrumental of another
word, thus forcing the term dtmanas (genitive or ablative) to be
interpreted ablatively in overlap of instrumental function. So my
translation of dtmano ndsti as "is not by way of self." When the
verse states that the "self" is imagined in reverse manner, it
follows that it is imagined to be "by way of self." Asanga's
comment with the word parini5pannaimplies the other two terms
of the three lak;aua. Thus, the "self" is "imagined" in reverse
rnanner-the "imaginary charactet." The "dependency charac-
ter" is shown by the phrase "not by way of self," sinceAsanga's
Srduakabhumi examines the "non-self" aspect of the Truth of
Suffering by the one aspect "non-independence" (asudtantrya).t
Finally, the "self" is not the "perfect character" (parini;powru-
lakSaqta). Asanga's interpretation of the verse no. 4 is not in-
consistent with the {Iddnauarga, I, 20, including: f dtmeua lty
dtmano ndsti lcutoputrd lruto dhatto* / , since kuto (: Skt. kutas) is
abiative; thus, "For the seif is not through self. Through what the
sons? Through what the wealth?" In short, one should realize
ooindepenclent"self, and
that the self is not autonomous ; that an
one that "possesses"sons and wealth is an illusion.

sCf.V/ayman,"The SixteenAspectsof the Four NobleTruthsand Their

placewith n. 17.
Opposites,"
Asanga's Treatise, the Paramdrtha-gdthi 335

For the meaning of the word paramArtha, we note that the

commentary on Sutrdlarytkdra, VI, l, says that paramdrtha
.("absolute meaning") is non-two meaning (aduayartha). Asanga,
in his Vastusaqngrahaqti (PTT, Vol. 111, p. 162'5) says: "By the
'world' (loka)-arisen
manner of paramdrtha one should know the
by dint of ideas (saanjfid)and cognition (ifiana); theme44$ ofcom-
'world'-iightly knowing as it really is the
ing to the end of the
arising-transformation of aspectsbelonging to the six sense bases
'world'-apprehending the end of
of contact; and the end of the
'body,' (after ending the craving for any senseobject."a Ending
)
the craving points to Nirva0a with residual basis; the end of
'"body"
points to Nirvdla without residual basis (cf. gdthd 42).
Hence "non-two meaning" of paramdrtha signifies-this way and
no other way.

The Paramdrtha-gdthdss

t . svdmi na vidyate ka5cin na kartd ndpi vedaka\,/

'pi ni6ceqtaatha ced vartatekrtyd
dharmdl,: sarve //
There is no proprietor at aIl, no doer, no feeler;
Although all the dharmas are inactive, yet possible activity
evolves.
2. dvddaSaiva bhavdn gini skandhdyatan adhlfiava\ /
vicintya sarvarty etdni pudgalo nopalabhyate l/
The trvelve members of phenomenal life are the aggregates
(skandha),sensebases(dyato.na),and realms (dhotu).
Pondering all those, a person (pudgala) is not found.
3 . Silnyam ddhydtmikar.n sarvar.nSunyar.nsarvar.n bahirgatary /
'pi ka6cidyo bhdvayati Strnyatarnl/
na vidyate so
Void is all within; void all rvithout.
Nor exists anyone who contemplatesvoidness.
4. atmaiva hy dtmano ndsti viparitena kalpyate /

aI havecondensedAsanga'spassage,usingjust his words, from the Tibetan

version.
'By gc\thaAsanga apparently meant the ancient versesor verse portions
that he pieced together to make this set of forty-four. This meaning is certi-
o'master
fied by his own commentarialconclusion,calling this group of verses
lineage" (aptagama), i.e. scriptural authority. Flence, the commentarial dha
(he says) refers to the Buddha.
336 BuddhistInsight

naiveha sattva dtmd vd dharmds tv ete sahetukift //

For the self is not by way of self; it is imagined in reverse
manner. Here there is no being or oneself. But these dharmas
have their causes.
5. ksapikah sarvasamskdrdasthitdndm kutah kriyl /
bhfltir yesar.nkriydsau ca kdrakah saiva cocyatef f
AII the saqnskdrasare momentary; how could there be the
activity of transient things?
Preciselytheir arising is the activity as well as the agent.
6-7. caktuh paSyati no rlpar.n Srotram Sabddm Srnoti nab /
ghrdqary jighrati no gandhdm jihva ndsvddayedrasam /
kayah sppsatino spar5dmano dharmdn nakalpayetf
ndsti caisam adhitthdta prerako vidyate na ca //
Neither does the eye seeform; nor the ear hear sounds.
Neither does the nose smellodord; nor the tonguetasteflavors.
Neither does the body feel tangibles; nor the mind conceive
dharmas.
And these have neither controller nor instigator.
8. na paro janayaty enam svayar.nnaiva ca jayate/
pratitya bhdvi jdyante niqpurdpa nava navd //
Another does not engenderthis; nor is it engenderedof itself.
Entities arise dependently. They are not old, but ever new.
9. na paro nd5ayaty ena{n svayar.nndpi ca nalyati /
pratyaye sati jiyante jatdh svarasabhahgura\ //
Another doesnot destroy this; nor is it destroyedof itsetf.
When there is the condition, things arise; and having arisen,
are perishable by their own essence.
10. pakqadvaye ni5rita hi janatd upalabhyate f
pramatta viqayeqveva mithyd coccalitd punab //
One finds that creatureslie in two categories.
They are heedlessin sensefields; moreover, waywardly ad-
vancing.
I 1. mohenapahptdste vai mithyd uccalitasturyef
t1'qfayd:pahftdste tu pramattd viqayequye //
Truly thosecaught by delusion are those wayward.lyadvancing.
While those caught by desireare those heedlessin sensefields.
12. sahetukatvad dharmS-n5"r.n duhkhasyeha tathaiva ca /
maulam kle6advayarykltva dvadaSangodvidhd krtab //
Becausedharmas have their cause, as does also suffering,
Asanga'sTreatise,the paramirtha-satha
J5 |

Since one has createdthe two fundamental defilements,

there
are the twelve mernbers,of two kinds.
13. svayamkrta kriyir naiva tatlta parakpta na ca
f
paraf kriyiqn na karayati na ca nasti kriyd pur,a\
//
The activity is not created by self, nor created by another;
Another (life) doesnot causeilie activity; but also the activitv
does not fail to exist.
14. nddhydtma{n na bahir va ca nantarale tayor api
/
anutpanno hi saryskarah kaddcid upalabhy ate
//
Whether within, without, or between the two,
The sarpskdra that rras not (yet) arisen is nowhere found.
15. utpanno 'pi ca samskaralrtendsaunopalabhyate
/
anagatam nirnimittam atitam tu vikalpy ate
//
Even 'rhen the sarpskarahas arisen, it is not thereby found.
The future is devoid of sig*. But one imaginesthe past.
16. kalpyate 'nubhtrtary (na) ca ninubhutar.n ca karpyate
/
anadimantal.r sarpskdr6 idiS caivopalabhyate
//
one imaginesnot just the experienced,but imaginesalso the
not-experienced.
The saqnskdrasare beginningless.still, a beginning is found.
17-18. phenapirl{opamarprlparp vedani budbudop ama/
maricisadlSi sapj nd sarirskdrdlr kadalin ibhab,
/
mdyopamaln ca vij fi dnam uktam adityaban dh.and
/
ekotpad.i5 ca samskara ekasthitiniro,llinah
//
The solar kinsman has proclaimed formation to be like a
lurnp of foam; feeling like a bubbre; ideation like a mirage;
motivations like plantain trunks; and perception like an
illusion.
The sarytskdra,s arise alike, abicleand perish alike.
19. na moho moirayed moirar.nparam naiva ca mohayet
f
na paro mchayaty ena4-lna ca moho na vidyate f
Delusion does not delude delusion, nor cloesit at all delude
any one else;nor doesany one elsedeludeit; and yet delusion
does not faitrto occur.
20. ayoni6omanaskaratsarnmoh.ojdyate sa ca f
ayoni5omanaskAro nasarprnu$hasya jAya& l/
Thai coni'usionis born of unmethodical mental orientation,
And tlie unmethoclicalmental oricntatioir is born of one not
free from confusion.
21. pu1.1yaaputyd anifl1'yasar.nskdrdstrividhd mata\ /
338 Buddhist Insight

trividham cdpi yat karma sarvar.netad asarlrgatam//

Meritorious, demeritorious, and motionbss are the motiva-
tions (and) held to be threefold; andwhichever be the three-
fold karma, alI that is disjoined.
22. prabhangura vartamana atita na kvacit sthitd/
ajatah pratyayadhinal. cittar.ncipy anuvartaka\n l/
The present ones are disintegrating;
Those of the past abide nowhere;
The unborn depend on conditions,
And the mind evolves accordingly.
23. atyantikah sar.nprayogoviprayogas tathaiva ca f
na ca sarvair hi sarvasyacittary copagam ucyatel/
In an absolute sensenot all (mind) has association-
dissociation likewise-with all (sarTtskdr a).
It is said that mind evolves accordingly.
24. tasmin srotasya vicchinne sadp6isadpSepunah /
dtmadfqtyanusarena samvrtih kriyate tv iyary //
Again, the stream (of consciousness)has similar and dissimilar
disruption, but this convention works by follorving the view
that there is a self.
'pi nalyati
25, bhidyate rupakdyas ca namakdyo f
'pabhogaSca paratreha nirucyate
svayar.nklto //
The setof formation breaksup; the setof namesalso perishes;
and the self-doneis declared "fruit-eating" both in this and in
the other worid.
26. paurvaparyef a cdnyatvdt svahetuphalasamgrahAt/
sa eva karta vetta ca anyo veti na kathyate //
'odoer" and the "feeler" through difference priori-
That is the of
ty and posteriority, and through comprising in itself the cause
and thefruit. But one should not explain (that) as "different."
27. hetuvartminupacchedit simagryd vartate kriyit /
svasmad dheto6 ca jayante kurvanti ca parigrahaTn//
Given that the course of causes is not disrupted, activity
evolves by reason of the asseinblage(of causes).They are
born by their individual cause and take control.
28. prapaflcibhirati hetu tatha karma SubhdSubham/
sarvabijo vipdkaS ca ittdniqtatn tatha phalar.n//
When the causeis delight in elaboration, likewise the action
(karma) is good or evil. When any seedmatures, likewise the
fruit is desirable or undesirable.
 Asaiga's Treatise,the Paramdrtha-gathi 339

29. sarvabijo vipiko 'bhijdyate atmadar5ana\nf

pratyitmavedaniyo 'sau arDpi anidar6anab //
When any seedmatures, the view of self is reproduced.
what is to be known of one's own self is that it is formless,
invisible.
30. kalpayanty antarutmdnar.n tam ca biid ajdnakA\ /
dtmadarSanamdSritya tatha bahvya5 ca dy;taya\ //
And that is what the immature and ignorant imagine to be
the self within, having based themselveson the view of self.
Thus there are many (false) views.
31. pindagrdhdtmabijdc ca ptrvabhydsdt sahayata\ /
Sravaldd anukildc ca jayate dtmadar5anaan//
': As a result of the coheringseedof self,the former concomitant
habitual practice, and (present) hearing in conformity there-
with, the view of self arises.
32. snehas tatpratyayam caiva adhyatmam upajayate I
anugrahabhild+aSca bahih sneho mamayitarg l/
Attachment originates in addition to that condition within;
And attachment craving for acquisition (originates in addition
to) the cherished thing without.
33. yato bibheti loko 'ya\n tan mohitmar.n haraty asauf
pfrrvar.nniveSanarykptvd tenopaiti prapafrcita\n //
whatever this world fears, that brings the self of delusion.
Having formerly made an abode,it undertakesthe elaborated.
34. yat ian nivesanatn krtar.n tad arya duhkhato viduh /
yena duhkhita sadd baldh ktairamatram upaSamito nahi
l/
Whatever the abode that is made, that the noble ones know
as suffering.
Thereby the imrnature always suffer, for it is not appeased
even for a rnoment.
35. vain"rpyaparigatarycittam acinoti duhkhar.n tathdvidha\n /
yada cittary bhavati baldnam ahar.nkdrasukhaduhkhapra-
tyayarp //
The mind that is filled with variations gathers suffering of like
kind. Whenever it is a mind belonging to the immature, it is
the condition of egohood, happiness,and suffering.
36. yatra saktdl.rsarvabdli6dhparike patati kuffjaro yathd /
sar.nmohastatra cadhikah sarvatragah sarvaceqtitetatpara\ //
Where all fools are stuck, as an elephant sinks in a bog,
There is the remaining confusion, proceeding everywhere,
 BuddhistInsight

glven over to every actlvlty.

3 7 . sarvasrotasdr.nvinirbhedaya ylni loke srotdrysi viqamdni /
'tiSoqayed anyatra
naitad asty agnir na vayur na bhdskaro
dharmacaryayA//
No fire, wind, or sun could dry up those unbearable streams
in the world, so as to destroy all streams-
Nothing but the practice of the Dharma.
3 8 . Duhkhi duhkhito 'ham asmity atmanary sukhito v[
duhkham vyavasyati f
parikalpo dpqtisamutthdpakah sa tasmdj jdtas taj jinayaly
z
api //
When suffering, one thinks, o'f am suffering;" or "I am
happy,o' when he ascertains himself suffering. Imagination
is the arouser of (right and wrong) views. It is produced from
them and generatesthem in turn.
39. sahotpannaniruddham hi kle6aih kli+tam manalr sada /
tasya nirmokqo na bhlto na bhavi;yati l/
The defiled mind always arisesand ceasestogether with defile-
ments.
Its releasehas not occurred and will not.
40. na tad utpadyate pa5cacchuddharn anyatra jiryate I
tac ca plrvam asar.nkliltamkle5ebhyomuktam ucyate //
That does not arise later. On another occasion it is born
pure. Precisely that which formerly was nnstained is called
"freed from defilements."
4r. yat kli;tam tad ihatyantac chuddham prakytibhisvara\n I
na ceha SudhyatekaScitkutaScidvipi Sudhyati ll
That which was defiled, here in the end is purified, with its
intrinsic light. Anything not purified here would surely not
become pure anywhere !
42. sarvabijasamutsddit sarvakleSaparik;aydt /
tatraiva c6py asarpkleSaddvidhdbhinnar.n pradarSita\n //
By reason of the utter destruction of all seeds-the total
elimination of all defilement; in the satne place, as well, by
reason of no stain, a portion of trvo kinds is specifled.
43. pratyatmavedaniyatvdd duhkhamdtraparik;ayFft /
tathaiva nilprapafrcatvat sarvatha na prapaficayet //
Through what is to be known of one's own seif, through
elimination of suffering only; just so, through no elaboration,
one does not elaborate at all.
Asanga'sTreatise,the Paramdrtha-gdtha 341

44. pravahe pudgaldkhyd syad dharmasatnjry ca lakqane /

na veha kascit sa(nsarta nirvdty api na kalcana //
The terrrr "person" (pudgala) means "continuous stream"
and the expression "natufe" (dharma) means "character."
Neither is there any transmigrator here, nor is anything
allayed (in pariniruapa).

CorraunNraRy

/ pudgalanairdtmyar.nparamdrthatas tadadhikdrat paramirthaln

gdthd / samaropdpavdddntadvayapratipakpfa / tatta sudmi
parigrahasya karta kriyd4dr.n uedakalz/ tat phalind:rir gdthdrd-
dhendrthantaraparikalpitam dtmdndm pratikqipati / dharmalt
sorue 'pi niice;ld iti dharmdfdm evatmatvary pratiksipati I etena
samaropantary parivarjayati / atha ced uartate kriyety anena
dharmastitvena cd,pavdddntar.nparivarjay ati f tatr a kriya trividhd
svdmikriyd karakakriyd vedakakriyd ca / yayd kriyaya svami
prajflapyate / karako vedako vd katame te dharmd iti noktam ata
itha / duddaiaiueti gdthdrddhap yatha bhavdngakramena ye
vartante skandhds tdn parid ip ay ati / skandhadhdtvdyatanagraha-
\ary\ I svdmikdrakavedakagrihakapratipakqela cak$uh pratitya
rupdi:i cotpadyate cakpurvijfrdnaqnphalagr na tu iuicid uedako
'stity
aqtddaSabhirdhatubhir vedakibh6vam paridipayati f suami
nd uidyata ity uktar.n/ sa punar yatha na vidyate tat paridipayati /
uicirttl'a serL:dr.tj' etdni pudgalo nopalabhyata iti f uicintyeri tribhiir
pramanaih pariksya / tasmin na vidyamdne katham ddhyatmika-
bdhyavyavasthanarlr sidhyatity aba I iilnyant adhyatntikary sor-
aaryt iunyatp saruatn balirgatarpf vyavasthanamltraln tv etad
iti j fl apay ati I kathar.n parik gyaparikpakavyavasthan atn sidhyatiti
'pi
/Ahal na uidyate so kalcid yo bhduayatiiilnyatamiti f katham
aryapythagjanavyavasthanar.nsidhyatiti I ?rhaf dtmaiua hy dtm'
eno ndsti uiparitena kalpyata aryappthagjanatmaiva taddt-
manah parinippanno nasti viparyasena tu kalpyata iti jrt,apayati/
katham paratmavyavasthanam sidhyatiti / aha naiueha sattuo
frtnna ueti I katharlr sar.nkle5av y av adanavyavasthanar.nsidhy atiti /
aha dhqrmds tu ete sqhetukAk / na sa$klista na vyavadita va
'pi niiceg[a ity uktar.n na tuktar.n
kaScid astiti f dharmalt sarue /
kathap ni6ceptaitiI ataAhaI ksanik{tit saruasarpskaraasthitanaryt
kutah kriyeti I atha ced uartate kriyety uktar.n/ tat katham asatydin
kriyiydan kriyd vaftata iti aha I bhutir yetArytkriyasau ca kdrakas
saiua cocyata iti I phalatvdt kriyi hetutvat katakah I tam punar
 342 Buddhist Insight

bh[tir yayatanebhyo vijfianotpattyd sfrcayati tadutpattya ca

/ I
caksurddinap ndntarena tatsiddhel,r dharmah sarue 'pi niice;la ity
/
uktary / tary niscestatarysaptavidhdrn darsayati kiritraniscegta-
/
tary cak;ult paiyati no rilpam ity evam ddind
/anuvidhdnanisceqia-
tlnp / nasti cai;dm adhistrhdtdprerako uidyate na ceti svdmikdra-
f
kabhavdd yathdkramary yasyanuvidhdnam kuryuh/ utpddana-
niScestatdryna paro jo.nyaty enam iti utpattiniscestatam suayaryt
/
naiua ca jayata iti / samkrdntiniscestatdr.nprattya bhaud jayante
nispurd?d naudnavditi vindsananiScestat aryf na paro ndiayaty enqm
iti vinastinisce;tatdnl f suayamndpi ca naiyatiti
/ kiyathd,pratitya
jdyante tatha pratitya vinaSyantifi
/ aha f pratyaye sati jdyante
jafik suarasabhafigurdl3 dharmds tu ete sahetukd ity
f uktam /
atas tan samklesasvabhdvdn gr-hasthapra.rrajitadharmansahe-
tukan paridipayati / palc;aduaye niiritd hi jantateti dvabhydr.n
f
gathabhydm avidyatrst d.hetuparidipandt ata\ param paff
/ cabhir
gdthdbhis tam eva saryklesam prabheda tab dsrayatatr
/ hetutah
kdlatas ca samdarsayati f tatra sahetuka dharmlh avidya ydvad
vedana sahetukary duhkha{n trud ydvad jaramarana etena trivi-
dhar.n klesakarmajanmasamklesaln darsayati maulary lclesadua-
f
y arytk rtueti / kle(;asapklesat pradhanaklef agraha+ar.nd,arsayati
/
suayantkrta kriya naiueti karmasamklesasya puna[ ppthagjanarp
vacanar.n tatkrtatvad vaicitryasya f tadvipikasya cdcintyatvltt
/
tatra na svayamkrtaiva kriyd pdpakalydlramitraparopasatnhdras
caksanan na parakStaiva purusakardpekqandtf na para euakriydryt
karayati / plrvajanmahetvapek qa4at/ ndcthydtmarnnq bahir uety
anaya gathaya / anitgatasritasamklesasambhavaqr pratyutpannd.-
titasar.nskirasritasamklesam darsayati
f utpanno,pi sarpskdralt
tenaiva na vikalpyate 'ndgatarlt tu nirnimittatudn navikalpyate
/
idam idlpm vd bhavi sy atity anavadhdrartdd anyathahi kalpitam
I
anyathaiva kaddcid bhavati f atitarp tu uikalpyate nimittakaralid
idary caivam cabhud iti / na kevalam anubhltam eva kalpyate
/
ananubh[tary canagatary vikalpyate vindpi nimittikarela etena
kalpandhetukary saryklesary pratyutpannar.n sar.nskdrisrayar.n
darsayati / anddimantah saqnskdrd ddii caiuopalabhyata iti
/
sar.nkleSasya kdl ar.ndafi ay ati/ anddikaldnugatatvdd abhin avotthi-
panac ca / atah parar.n vyavadandpakqary darsayati
/ yathlt
parik-syamano vyavadayate / svalakqanato rDpadindry phenapin-
{ddyupamayEt, sdmanyalakranatah sa4rskptalaksanasamdny6d
ekotpat t ist hi t inir odhataya sar.nvptiparamarthasatyatas ca f tathit
hi na kascid mohako na ca / moho ndsti pratitya samutpannah
 Treatise,
Asanga's the Paramirtha-gdthd 343

sar.nvgtydaa moho mohayatity ucyate I yan namuQhasl'dyoni

Somanaskdrqhtasmad asau mohary na mohayatiti / paridipayati /
tatha hi vijfldnary puqtyddisaryskdropqgamucyate saryv$yd para'
marthatas tu nopagacchati / trtuidha matd ity atitdnagataptatyut'
panndh I triutdharytcdpi yat karmeti kayddikarma snruam etad
qsarygataryx / paraspare4asamadhdndt tatha hi prabhangurd
uartamdndk I atitd nakuscit sthitdft | aiAffiftpratyayadhindh cittaln
capy anuruartakarTt/teqdfnyattatsalnprayuktam I atoyathd pulyd:-
dindr.n saryskarir.rdr.nsailgamo ndsti I tatha tat samprayuktas-
ydpi cittasyeti katharyr tasyopagatatvaqr bhavi-syatiI yad dhi
cittain yena saryskarena sar.nprayukta4rvd, i viprayuktar.n vd /
na tarp tena f kadicid asar.nprayuktaln va I aviprayuktaln vd
bhavati I na ca sarvasya cittasya sar.nprqyogova uiprayogo va f
evar.nparamarthataScittasyopagatatvam asiddham / cittaryxcopa-
gam ucyatef saryv5tyayena karaqena tad darSayati 1 tasmin sro-
tasya uicchinna iti gathnyaTn saryturtikkriyate tu iyam ity upagam
ity eqd yathd cdsati kdrake / vedake ca paramdrthatah suoya\n-
krtopabhogah sarllttya nirucyate I yatha ca punah sa karoti /
sa prativedayate I anyo ueti to vydkriyate I tat paridipayati /
paurudparyena cdnyatuAd ii I gifihayd evar.n paramafthatah svi-
miny asati karake vedake va hetuphalamdtre ca sati codyapari-
hdrain hetuphaialak$alar.nf tatra cdtmaviparydsar.n/ pafrcabhit
gitlrabhih paridipayati I tatra yathdtmany asati punarbhavo
bhavati / nocchedahl yathd ca hetuto yugapat phalary nabhavatif
yatha ca sarvatal] sarvar.nna bhavati / yathd ca yasya hetuvart-
manah ucchedo na bhavati I tad ekayd gathaya paridipayar.n6
caturvidhar.ncodyar.nparidip ayati harati / caturbhil: padair yathf,-
kramaln dvitiyayd. hetuphalalakianafn / tisrbhis tatranatmani
hetuphale yathatmadgqtiviparyasah I tat punar dlambanata\ /
afuayatab phalatalr hetuta5 ca paridipayati / tasydlarnbanam
ekayd gathayaf tac ca pratyatmavedaniyatvam arupitvdnidarsa-
ndbhydr.nsd,dhayatyatarkyatvat / rnpa1d hi tarka4d sirtra ukta /
'desanaya a*ayary phalap ca
anidarSanatvac ca f parebhyo f
dvitiyaya/ bald a6rayastadanya drqtayah phalam hetur.ntstiyayd/
tatra sahajdtmadyqlipiadagrahasvabrjatca tadanuSayaj jayate /
parikalpitn tirthikatmadlstih purudbhyasdd iti I sa ca tirthika-
drqlih abhyastd bhavati f ayonii;aSceha tarkayati f tadanukular.n
vdsaddharmaql paratab Slnoti / ity a6rayamanasikdrdlambana-
dotaiir parikalpitasyatmadarSanasyotpattir.ndarSayati I atall
paratn yathd: tad, dtmadarianaryt / sarnudayanuplrvam dubkham
 344
BuddhistInsight

nivartayati / yathd ca tad"duhkham punah sdhainkdrayor

dvayor
dubkhatayoh karapa4n bhavati
/ yatba ca moksasya vibacrdhdya
bhavati / tat paflcabhir gathabhih paridipita
ry f tatra pratia-
maya gathayi samudayar.ndarsavati dvitiyatptiyibhydr.n
/ oulrmra-
sar.nskiraduhkhafrsar.ngrhitam ilay avijfiitnar{r
ay au7 tad. n iuei q-
naqn krtuti f tenopdti prapaficitam bhavisyami
na bhaviqyamity
evamadi f niueianam ity dtmabhavaparigrah
ary,/ tac ca duhkhar.n
sarvakalanusaktatvat f rc;arlam,trant apy anupaSantarp
thyi yatha duhkham anyayor duhkhavor I catui-
atrarnkarasyaca prat-
yayo blravati f paficamya yatha p*nar
moksasya vibaddhaya
bhavati sarytrrtohastatra ca(thikah itariibhydrr-r
/ duhkhatabhyam
antikat f sawairagal3 sarvaved.itanugatatva.t sarucce.r{ite
/ kusa-
lakusaidvydkl'te / tasyeclanim iirayavijflanasarygrrritasya
duh-
khasya sarah.sa-r.pyaqi darsayitva visoqagarp
dharmacarltqiy^
6o;Ftt/ tatra ui.ramani srotdmsi caksuradini pa! paflca
gatayall
trayo dhitavas ity evamddini ti4r ca dharmacaryary
I bandha-
moksaparijfraya darSayati
I tatra bandhaparijna yad evar.n
parijdniti / duhkham eva vyavasyati yo out trritatr
/ sukhito,smiti
atmana4r vyavasyati / sa ca parikalpo ci19!el3samutthapakas
tata eva / dpsterjdtas tajjanako bhavati moksaparijiidm
/ sesa-
bhih pdbhir garhabir.irr paridipay ati saltotpannaniruddhaqn
I
hi kleiaih kli;lary ntanah sada kresebhyastasya nii.mokso na
bhuto
yadi klesais sahotpannary na bhauisyati yada tai\
/ sahanirud-
dham yada tarhi muktam ,cyate tat samciarsayati tad
I eva
paicdc chuddham utpadyate 'nyatra sucldhanamano jayate
f tac
ca pfrrvam evasamkii,<tatvadrnuktam ity ucyate etam evarthary
f
punaf sadhayati I yot kli;larr tad ihatyantdct it,t anayagSthayd
tary ca / moksap dvidham darsayati kiefamokqarp vastumok-
/
;ary ca f sarvabijasamusadena klesaparik":ayat klesamok qa\n
/
tatraiva capy asar.nklesadvastumokqary yo bhikqavas caksuqi
/ /
chandaragas tam prajahita f evary ca tac caksul.r prahi4ar.n
bhavigyatiti / sltrapadanyayenaf eva41 sopadhisesarymoksarn
dar5ayitva nirupadhiSelar.n dar(;ayati pratl,61n.taueclaniy,ataya
/ f
tasyacintyatirp clarsayati I abhavamAtragrahavyudasartham
dultkhamctrakscyenopadhiricqapanayary tatai; ca sarvathapy
/
aprapaiicaniyatvam f anyo vd sah ananyo va bhavati vi
f parary
maraqan na bhavati vety evamadi / saty api ca banclhe mokse
ca I yatha na pucigalo na dharmah sar.nsarativa parinirvati vd
tat paridipayati I praudhe pudgaldkhyd syad ity anaya gitthayd
I
samaptam ca paramarthagdthdn amaptagamavyAkhydnary
II
 ,Asanga'sTreatise,the paramdrtha-gdthd
345

TRaNsrauoN oF FaRaviARTHACoMMrNranyo
-/l

L$t-af adversary to the extremes of affirmation and denial, there

are the verses of suprerne Meaning, referring to ..non-selfhood
of a person" (pudgalanairdtmya)from the standpoint of supreme
rneaning.
Among them, the "proprietor,' is of property; .odoer,,,of acti-
vities; "feeler," of the latter's effects. By the half-gdtha
[la_b]
he r;fates the self (dtman) imagined of other meaning. ny sayinj
"Althougb all the clharmasare inactive',
[1c],herefutes the posses-
;sion of self by the dhermas. frrereby he removes the extreme
of
affirrnation.By saying "yet activity evolves"
[id), through exis-
tence of the dltarmas, he removes the extreme of denial.
Here
activity is of three kinds: activity of the proprietor, of the d.oer,
of the feeler. The proprietor is pointed out by the activity, like-
wise the doer or feeler.
what those dharm{ts are, has not been (so far) stated. There-
fore, he saysthe half-verse"The twelve. . . ."f2a-b] so that he may
exponnd those personal aggregates (skandha) r,vhich evolve
according to the sequenceof the tnembe.s of phenomenal life
[i.e.
pratityasamtttpddalT;(expound) the sensory object, that is, ..per-
sonality aggregates" (skandha), "realms" (dhate, and ,.sense
bases" (ayatana);8 and (expound) that the fruitional eye-based.
perccption arisesdependently on the eye and formse with exclu-
sion of a subject, tirat is, 'oproprietor,,, .,doer,,' and o.feeler.,,

eQuotations in 1hs ccmnentary

of rire gathtis ai'e tier-e identified by the
gatha nunrber and by pados,l:ibelcd a through
cl.
TThe "members of phenomeual life"
are the twelve of dependent origina-
tion, referred to in gathas Z, 1l-I2.
srho f,ve personal agglegates
are iisted by similes in gathas 17-1g. The
twelve sense bases, six personal (eye, etc.) and six objective (forms, etc.)
are
listed in gdthas 6-7. The eighteen rearms, mentioned below in the
cornmen-
tary, are arrived at by adding six "perceptions" (vijiiana), e.g. perception
based on the eye, to the twelve sense bases, making a total of eighteen ihatr.
9Asanga here accepts the ancient doctrine,
as in the stock P6li phrase (cf.
saryyutta-Nikdya, Pafi LY, salayatana-vagga, 32): I cakkufi ca paticca rupe
ca uppajjati cakkhuvififiuryary / "The eye-basedperception arises dependenrly
on the eye and form." Note that Asanga admits vijfiana is fruitional. This
shows that the frequent translation of the termvijfiana(Pdlivifiiia4a) as .,cons-
sciousncss" badly misses the meaning, since the word .,conscionsness,'is
ordinarily used as a faculty independent of and preceding the function
*'con.ciousness
of (something)."
346 BuddhistInsight

By saying "There is no feeler," he expounds the non-existenceof

the feeler in the eighteen realms. It was said, "There is no pro-
prietor"; and he now expounds how there is none with the words,
'person' (pudgala) is not found"
"Pondering all those, a [2c-d].
"Pondering" (uicintya) means inspecting by means of the three
authoritie s (p r amd4a).1o
In the light that there is none, how does he prove the establish-
rnent of inner and outer ? He says [3a-b] : "Void is all within;
void all without." (Thu$ he teaches the mere establishment.
How does he prove the establishment of the thing inspected and
the inspector ? He says [3c-d] : "Nor exists anyone rvho contem-
plates voidness." How does he prove the establishmentof the
noble one (c\rya) and the ordinary person (prthagjana) ? He says
[aa-b] : "For the self is not by way of self; it is imaginedin reverse
manner." (Thu$ he teachesthat it is preciselythe self of the noble
one andof the ordinary person that is not perfect (parini;panna)
by way of their self, but is imagined in reverse manner. How
does he prove the establishmentof another and oneself ? He says
[4c] : "Here there is no being or 919ry]!" How:{ogqhe prove the
establishment of stain (sarykleia) an4 pqdfication (uyauadana)?'
He Jivit4d1 ' "th. se dharmashave their causes"; that is, there,!-s
nonfeither stained or-pure.
tt-was slated, "Although all the dharmctsare inactive," but it
was not stated how they are inactive. Hence hd says [5a-b] :
"All the saqnskdra,rare momentary; how could there be the acti-
o'yet possible activity
vity of .transient thir-rgs?" It was stated,
evblves.;' Then, in the light that activity is unreal, how does acti-
vity evolve ? He says [5c-d] : "Precisely their arising is the activity
as well as the agent." From the standpoint of effect, it is activity;
from the standpoint of cause, it is the agent. Further-nao{-e,-that
arising he indicates by the production of perception (uiifiana)
at the sensebases(ayatana) and by the production of that through
accomplishing it in a manner not apart from the eye, and so on.
It was stated, "Although all the dharmas are inactive." That
inactivity he shows to be sevenfold :
{'

10Thethree "euthorities"(pramarya)
are direct perception(pratyak;a),
inference (anumatn\, and master lineage (aptagama), as described inAsanga's
hetuvidya section of the Yogacarabhtimi, a section I have translated ("Rules
of Debate") for inclusion in a separate work.
 Asanga'sTreatise,the paramdrtha-githa
347

l. Inactivity of agent, by [Gatha 6] "Neither does the eye see

f o r m. . . . "
2. rnactivity of obedient evolving, by (Gatha 7) ..And these
have neither controller nor instigator', for which they would
make obedient evolving in proper order-because of the non-
existence of the proprietor and the doer.
3. Inactivity of generator, by the words ..Another
[ga] does
not engenderthis."
4. Inactivity of generation, by the words ..Nor
[Bb] is it engen-
dered of itself."
5. Inactivity of transmigration, by the words .,Entities
[gc-d]
arise dependently. They are not old, but ever new.,,
6. Inactivity of destroyer, by the words [9a] ..Another does
not destroy this."
7. Inactivity of destruction, by the worcls [9b] ..Nor is it des-
troyed of itself."

Is it the case that as they arise dependently, so are they destroyed

dependently ? He says [9c-d] : "when there is the condition,
things arise . and, having arisen, they are perishable, by their
own essence."
It was stated, "These dharmas have their causes." Hence
he
(norv) expounds the dharmas,having the nature of stain,
of house-
holder and monk, with their causes,by expounding the nescience-
craving causesby means of tr,vogdthas ,,creatures
[ncs. 10, 1l] :
lie in trvo categories.. . . " Moreover, by means of five gathds
[nos. l2-16], he shorvsthis stain in varieties : thatof basis(diraya),
cause (hetu), and time (kale. Among them
[l2a-b], the clharmas
possessedof causesare [the seven,viz.] nescience(auidya) through
feeling (uedand); the suffering possesseclof causes is
[the five,
viz.l craving (trsud) through olcl age and death (iarimaroaro),.
Thereby he shows the three kinds of stain (sarykteia): defilement
(kleia), action (karma), and birth (ianma). with the words
[l2c]
"since one has created the two fund.amentaldefilements,,he shows
the chief defilement object by way of 'defilement stain' (kteia-
sarytkleia). with the words [13a] "The activity is not created by
self" (he shows) furthermore the ordinary-person parlance of
"action stain" (karma-satTtkteia)that is manifold by way of what
was (formerly) done and has its maturation in an inconceivable
348 Buddhist Insight

way.ll Here the activity "not created by self?' is what is brought

about by others-sinful and beneficial friends, through advice;
that "not created by another" is with reference to human effort.
The words Ii3c] "Another (life) does trot causethe activity" refer
to a cause from a preceding1ife.12
With another gdthd [no. 14] he shows the non-origination of
stain that is based on the future and of stain that is based on
present and past saqnskdra,t."Even rvhen satflskdra has arisen"
[15a] it is not thereby imagined; the "future" one [15c], because
"devoid of sign," is not imagined. Since therc is no assurance
of the type, "This, or similar will occur," it sometimeshappens
in one way r,vhile imagined in another way. "One imagines the
past" [15d] through making a sign expressing"So this arose."
Not only the experiencedis irnagined [see 16a-b], but also the
unexperienced future is imagined without sign construct. There-
by he shows the stain which is the cause of imagination to be
present as the basis (diraya) of motivations (sarytskdra).With
the vrords [6c-dl "The soqnskclrasare beginningless. Still, a
beginning is found," he shorvs tlr.e time of stain, by reason of
following it for beginninglesstime and by reason of generatingit
anew.
Nor.r, he shou's the category of purification. In the same v,'ay
as one purifies by inspecting from tfuestandpoints of conventional
and absolute truth, that is, (by inspectiirg) forrnations and so on
from tire standpoint of individual characteristic (sualak;a4a)
by the similes of "himp of foam," and the iike [GAthA 171te
and (by inspecting) the generality of constructed characteristic
from the standpoint of generalizing characteristic (sdmanya-
lak.ra7a)by "like arising, abiding, and perishing" lcatha 18]-
. So also [Gathas lg-2O]-there is no deluder at all; there is no

rrThis remarkmay referto the popularusageof the wordkarma,as when

peopiespeakOf "my kormo," and "your kertna," as though the unpredictable
resultsrnu:t h.avebeen due to the different actions of former lives, not of the
presentlife.
12In the casesof the human effort and causefrom a previous life, Asanga
accepts the usual Indian terminology of "human effort" (puru;akdra), but
o'callsefrom a previous life" (pilrvaianmahetu)for the usual daiva
substitutes
(fate, or u'liat is due to the gods).
13For Asanga'sexplanationsof these similes, cf. Wayman, "Secret of the
Heart Siltre," place with n. 22.
Asanga's
Treatise,the Paramdrtha-githa 34g

delusion arisen dependently, and one says (only) by convention

that delusion deludes; hence, the unmethoclical mental orienta-
tion of one not free from delusion he expounds with tire words
"It (i.e. delusion) does not deludo delusion" [19a]-
So also lcatha 21]-by convention it is said trrat perception
evolves after motivations (sarpskdra) neritorious, and so on, but
from an absolute standpoint it does not evolve. "Herd to be
threefold" means past, future, and present. "And lvhichever be
the threefold karma," that is, karma of body, and so on,14 ,,all
that is disjoined" for the reason of mutual unlike receptacle
(asama-dhdna)-
So also lcatha 22-26]-"rhe present ones are disintegrating;
those of the past abide nowhere; the unborn depend on condi-
tions; and the mind evolves accordingly" [Githa 22], associated
with them, as the casemay be. still, inasmuch as there is no join-
ing of the motivations meritorious, and so forth, howcan themind
associatedtherewith evolve accordingly ? Since the mind is either
associatedor dissociated with a motivation, it is neither entirely
unassociated nor entirely undissociated with it. And not all
mind has either association or dissociation. Thus, from an abso-
lute standpoint, there is no proof that mind evolves accordingly.
By convention "it is said that mind evolves accordingry" [23d],
for which reason he sh.owsthat. In the gdthd lno. 24l "Again,
the stream has. . . . disruption," the vzords "this convention
works" mean "evolves accordingly." while the doer and. feeler
is unreal from the absolute standpoint, "The self-done is declarecl
'fruit-eating"'
lin 25c-d] by convention. Moreover, how that
creates, experiences,and is not determined as different he sets
forth by the gdtha [no. 26]'o...through <iifferenceof priority and
posteriority. ." Thus, while frorn an absolute standpoint the
proprietor is unreal, iikewise the doer or feeler; and, while cause-
and-result-only is real, the characteristic of cause-aird-effect re-
moves objections.
And among those (gdthds), he expounds the delusion of seif
(dtman) with five gdthas [nos. 27-31]. F{ere, (a) how, while the
seif is unreal, rebirth occlrrs undisrupted; (b) how ttre effect does
not occur simultaneously with the cause; (c) how nothing at all
occurs; and (d) how its courseof causesis not disrupted;-setting

laThe reference is to karma of body, of speech, and of mind.

350 BuddhistInsight

forth that rvith one gdtha (no. 27), he sets forth and removes a
fourfold objection with four pddas in sequence.With the second
(Getha 281 he sets forth the characteristic of cause-and-fruit.
With three (Gathds 29-31) he sets forth how, whiie cause-fruit is
without self, there is the delusion of self-view (dtmadrili); and that
he sets forth from the standpoints of consciousness-support
(dlambana), basis (diraya), fruit {phala), and cause (hetu). With
the first gdthd lno. 291 he proves its consciousness-support-
what is to be known of one's own self since it is formless and in-
visible; namely, since it is non-rational; in the siltra "conception
of form" (rupand) was declared "rational" (tarkaaru); and since
it is invisible : through non-display to others. With the second
lcatha 30] he sets forth the basis (diraya) and the fruit (phala) :
the immature are the basis; other (false) views are the fruit. With
the third [GathA 3l] he setsforth the cause (hetu). In that (verse),
it is generated from the self seed-the natural coherence of the
self-view, which is its traces (anuiaya). "As a result of the former
habitual practice," there is the irnagined heretic view of self.
Not only is that heretic view habitually thought, but also one
unmethodically reasons in this world. Or one hears from another
a non-illustrious doctrine consistent therewith. Thus he shorvs
the origination of the imagined view of self by the faults of basis,
mental orientation, and consciousnesssupport.
Now, with five gdthos [nos. 32-361he sets forth how that view
of self arouses suffering following upon its source; how that
suffering then becomes the reason for two kinds of misery (duft-
khatd) accompanied by egohood; and hor.vit becornesan obstacle
for release. Among them, with the first giithd [no. 32] he shows
the source (of suffering). With the second and third [Gathas
33-341he shorvsthe store-consciousness(dlayauijiidna) that incor-
porates the suffering-(dultkha) and motivation-(samskara)
miseries (dultkhata).tu That is to say, 'oHaving (formerly) made
an abode, it undertakes the (verbally) elaborated" (33c-d]-"I
shall be," "I shall not be," and so forth. "Abode" means the

lsTherearethreekindsof "misery"(duhkhafi)foundin theancientBuddhist

scriptures(cf. Sarytyutta-Nikaya,
Part IV, Saldyatana-Vagga,259), the two
that Asangamentionsas incorporated by the "storeconsciousness"plusthe
o'misery of change" (vipariqtdmadukkhata).
Ferhaps the "misery of change"
is incorporated by what the Yogdcdra philosophy calls the "evolving con-
sciousness" (pravytti-vijfiana).
 Asariga'sTreatise,theparamirtha-gathi 351

possessionsof the ernbodim ent (dtmabhaua). And that suffering,

by reason of adhering to it in all time, "is not appeasedeven for
a moment" [34d]. with the fourth lcatha 35] he shows how
suffering becomes the condition for two other sufferings
[or,
miseriesl as well as for egohood. wirh the fifth
lcatha :01 rr.
shows that it then becomesan obstaclefor release. ..There is the
remaining delusion" [36c], becausecloseto the other two miseries;
"proceeding everywhere," because following after all feelings;
"to every activity," that is, to virtue, non-virtue, and the indeter-
minate.
Now, having shown [Gatha 37] that this suffering comprised
by the store-consciousness compares with a lake, he shows its
drying up: just "the practice of the Dharma," for drying it. In
that (verse), "unbearable streams" means the six (senses) of
eye, and so on, the five destinies,the three realms, and so forth.16
He shows that practice of the Dharma by complete knowledge
of bondage and release.Among these, there is complete know-
ledge of bondage when one so recognizes:he ascertainsit as just
suffering. But [38b] he who thinks "r am happy," when he has
ascertainedhimself as suffering, has an imagination that arouses
a (false) view; and (imagination) born of just that (false) view
is a generator of that (view).
He setsforth the complete knowledge of releasein the remain_
ing six gathds [nos. 39-44]. "The defiled mind always arises and
ceases together rvith defilements" [39a-b]. ,,Its release" from
defilements"has not occurred" [39c] rvhen it arises together rvith
defilements,and "will not" [39d] rvhen it ceasestogether with
them. The time when it is called "freed"
[40d], he shows that :
just that later arisespure. At another time, the pure
minci arises;
and precisely that, by reason of its prior non-stain, is called
"freed." Moreover, he proves precisely this meaning by the gdthd
[n o .4 1 ] " T hat whic h wa s d e fi ]e d ,h e re i n th e e n d ...., ,
And that release he shows lcatha 42] to be of two kinds :
reieasefrom defilements (kleiamokpa) and release from materials
(uastumokrc). There is releasefrom defllements by destroying
all
16Thesix personalsensebaseswere previouslylistedin gathas
6-7. The
five destiniesare the gods (deva)and men (manu;a); and evil destiny(durgati)
consistingof the animals (tiryagyoni), hungry ghosts (preta), and hell deni-
zens (noraka). The three realms are the realm of desire (kamadhatu),
the
realm of form (rupa-dhatu), and the formless realm (arupadhatu).
352 Buddhist Insight

seeds as a consequenceof ending defilement; and in the same

place, as well, there is releasefrom materials as a consequenceof
no stain. The sutra says : "O monks, whatever be the sensuous
lust in the eye, abandon that ! So also wiil the eye disappear." ltt
In the manner of that text he thus shows the releaservith rernain-
ing basis and then shows the one without remaining basis.
Becauseit is "what is to be known of one's own self" lno.43al
he shows the inconceivability of that (release)so as to elirninate
the positing of mere absence. He sholvsthe removal of the remain-
ing basisby "elimination of sufferingonly" [no. 43b]. As a conse-
quence, he shows the condition with nothing at all to be (verbally)
elaborated; for example, "He becornesdifferent, or not different,
or beyond death does not exist," and so on.
Furthermore, he sets forth how, while there is bondage and
release, no "person" (pudgala) or 'onature" (dharma) revolves
lin sar.nsarafor is allayed lin pariniruapal; namely, with the gdtha
lno. 441" The term'person' (pudgala) means'continuousstream.. . "'
The explanation of the master lineage named Paramartha-
gdthd thus ends.

17A similar statemgnt occurs in Sa4tyutta-Nikaya, Part IV (Soldyatana-

Vagga), 7: I yo cakkusmiry chandaragavinayo chandarogapahanam I idarn
calckussa nissaranarp | "That restraint of sensuous lust, that elimination of
the sensuous lust in the eye-that is the way of release from the eye."
 l8

ASANGA'S TREATISE ON THE THREE

INSTRUCTIONS OF BUDDHISM

The sanskrit title of this treatise Abhtprdyikartha_gdthd

signifies
the gdthd set on the meaning of what was intended,
or iiplied
(in the Buddha's teaching). It seems that
the word gdthd is here
used for verses that summarize sutra teachings
about the three
instructions in a way to bring out the sutralntentions_which
perhaps amounts to the school called Sautrdntika.
Thus, these
gathd are not pieced together as were
the poramdrtha_gdthd
that immediately precede the present set in the
cintdmayi Bhumi
of the Yogdcdrabhumi, but are presumably the
author,s own
composition. There are fifty-one gdthd, first one
for Brahma,s
question, then fifty for the Bhagavat's reply.
These verses on
the three instructions are among the same intrusive
folios from
which I drew the paramdrtha-gdthd. r edited the gdthd
both
from the separate verses and. from the partially extant
commen-
tary, which cites each of the verses.l Some bad places
in the
manuscript of the gdthd required. reconstructions of a
few terms.

t'the gathaandcommentary areon plates3A-Bandl5A-B of the Sravaka-

bh*mimanuscript, a description
of whichmay befoundinwayman,Anarysis
of the sravakabhumiManuscript (1961).The extant commentary (at least
onefolio is missing)goesfrom the beginningdownthroughciting
verse g;
it resumeswith the commentaryon verse30 and continues
through
verse51.
354 Buddhist Insight

that are italicized.2 I add my translation including commentarial

€xcerpts.
One verse that deservesspecial mention is no. 38 : "One should
not adhere to one's own view, discarding the old lineage (paurd-
1tam dgamam). .." This verse supports a conclusion I made long
ago in my Analysis of the SrquqlcqbhumiManuscript, p. 29,
that when Asanga was converted, according to the legend, to
the Mahdydna, he did not forget or reject the four Agama
(sometimes called "Hinayana"). The verses also prove that
Asanga is a "moralist," and believed that the three instruc-
tions-of Morality, Mind Training, and Insight-were prornul-
gated for the monks, not for laymen. He evidently considered
that of the three instructions it was the morality one that needed
the most exposition. Of course, Asanga does not neglect the other
instructions. His Paramdrtha-gdthd emphasizes the instruction
of insight, and his following extended section in the Yogdcdra'
bhumi-the Sartdrtha-gdthd-deals much with Mind Training.
I tatra abhiprayikafthagathdvyavasthanatah // atha khalu
brahmd sahirypatir yena bhagavdrys tenopasarykranta upasar.n-
kramya bhagavatab pddau Sirasi vanditvd ekinte nyalid(ad)
ekintanipalno brahmi sahir.npatir bhagavantaln gathabhigitena
praSnar.nprcchati sma f
(l) Sik;asupiramipraptah sarvasar.nSayandsakta\ /
Sikqim udglhite pf$Io ydnuSik+d suSikqaAn//
{2) adhi5ilam adhicittam adhiprajflam ca mari;a /
tisrah Siksdh samasena Srrru yd td su5ikqaqLa //
(3) bhavet qa{angasar.npannaScittasthitisukhdnvita\ /
catursu caturdkdra(h) jflanaSuddhah sadd bhavet l/
(4) supratisthitamllab yaS cittasyopa6ame rata\ /
samyuktavyd visamyuktavya drqtyadptyaryanarya /l
(5) adi5uddho dhydnantab satye ca kuSalo bhavet /
utpddayed (vi)varjayed brryhayet satyam eva ca /f
(6) Sikqdpadequvidyante catasro gatayas trisu /
vivarjayitvd dvigati dvigati samudinayet //
(7) dve dvayapratyupasthdne ekd nirvdtagdmini /
anupfrrvopanisadabhinnasarybhinnabhavita / /

2Thereconstructions in 16, vyalambana; in 25, civarasarptu;ta;in 49.

prihi-are certain; while in 29. ca yacitavyarTt-is
possiblynot the original
term.
Asanga'sTreatiseon the Three Instructions of Buddhism
355

(8) nirkaukrtyo bhaved ddau paScdc ca sukhit o yatah

f
ddydsau sarvaSikqa{rir.nyatra Sikseta parygita(\)
//
(9) yato viSodhaye jfrdnar.n Sucotpattisukhanvita\
/
madhydsau sarvaSikqanam yatra Sikseta paqgitah
//
(10) yato vimocayec cittatn prapaflca(m) ca nirodhayet
/
Sreqthdsausarvasiksapdr.nyatra sikqeta paaditah
l/
(11) aSuddhagdmini pratipat tathd sugatigamini
/
ddyd pratipad ukteyary sa ca niskevald mald
//
(12) viSuddhagdmini pratipad na sarvatyantagAmiii
/
madhyi pratipad ukteyary ndpi niskevala matd
l/
(13) vi6uddhagdmini pratipat sarvatyantagamini
/
Srqthd pratipad ukteyarir sa naivadvayakevall
//
(14) Sikseta yo na Sikqetaubhau tau pa4{itau matau
f
sikqeta yo na sikqeta ubhau tau balau sarymatau
ff
(15) parigrahaparityagdd dautthulyapagamat tathd
/
pratyakqatvdc cajfreyasya sikrddinam tridhi bhavet
//
(16) sdlamband v(ydtambana) slkqmoddrikasar.nhird
/
sdmdddnaprdvivekyaghoqadbhogasar.nh rA / /
(17) eka ekd bhavec chiksd sadvitiyd paro bhavet
f
ekasydtmd tltiyaiva td budhah samatikramet
//
(18) ahrastaSilah SiksAt(sa)pratijf,eyagaro bhavet
/
agarhitasamdcdralt paf,casthdnavivarjitab
//
(19) anapattaye vyutthdtd niskaukrtyo ,tha kaukrtya
/
Sikqam agamayet tatra pratipadyeta bhdvatas
//
Q0) pratydkhydnar.n na kurvita jivitdrthar.n na nalayet /
pratipattau sthito nityar.n pravrttavinayo bhavet
//
QL) pratijf,aan Sodhayer pfrrvam djivam api SodhayetI
antadvayar.n varjayitvd praqidhd,nary vivarj ayet
//
(22) antarayakardn dharma(n) ndbhigrdhyet karhary cana
f
cittakpobhakardn dharmdn urpannd(n) nadhivasayet
/i
(23) natilino ndtisltalr sadd supasthitasmitih
/
maulasamantakaiir Suddham brahmacaryar.n bhaved api
//
Q4) bhaved drabdhaviryaS ca nityar.n d1{hapar akramah /
niqevati pramddarp ca paflcingasuprati;thitayn
//
Q5) bhavet salnchannakalyir.rah tathd vivltapdp aka\ /
lDhena vd pranitena (ciuarasarptu;!)AdinA//
Q6) alpena vartayed mdtr6r.n 1[hen6pi ca vartayet f
dhttdn gutdn samdddydn samarthar.nkle5ava{ita\
//
Q7) syid irydpathasar.npanno mdtrdp kurydt pratigrahe /
tadarthar.n kalpitdm irydr.n kurydn naiva katha$ ca na
//
 356 BuddhistInsight

(28) atmands ca gu+an bhutdn na ldpen ndpi liryayet /

tdn gur:rin atha cdrthitvary nimitteria na datsayet /f
(29) pares[m antikdt kramin na yacfrary ca ydcitauydry f
dharmenopagatary labham ldbheneha na sar.ncayet//
(30) labham naivdbhigldhyeta satkdratn ca kathar.n cana f
drqtiS ca nibhinivi6et samaropapavd,dikar$/l
(31) lokdyatdr.nstathd mantrdt nirarthan na paramlSet /
apdrthary dhdrayen naiva utsadar.n pdtracivara\n //
(32) Brhasthaih sahasar.nsargamna kurydt klesavarddhanar.nI'
kuryaj jfldnaviSodhanary //
dryais tu sahasar.nsargar.n
(33) kurydn mitrakular.n naiva Sokavydkgepakdraka\n/
duhkhasya janakdn klesan utpannd(n) nddhivdsayet /l
(34) Sraddhndeyatnna bhufljita kathar.n cic ca ksatavratah /
pratyikhydnarn na kurvita saddharmasya kathatn cana/f'
(35) paresary skhalite do$e andbhogasukhi bhavet /
dtmanah skhalitam doqar.njffdtvd: vivlScaydt puna\ //
(36) dpattir.n ca tathapanno yatha dharmar.n prakalpayet f
tatheti kara4iyesu svayar.nkdri patur bhavet //
(3i) buddhd,nd:r.nSrd.vakdndm ca anubhdvar.n ca desanary f'
'vadyadar5i ca ndbhyacakpita satvatha
Srdddho //
(38) sugambhiresu dharmesu atarkavacare$u ca /
paura4am igamaln tyakqvo svadrltir.n na par4myiet /[
(39) vyavakpqtavihari syit prdnte hi Sayanasane/
ku5aldn bhavayed dharmdn d1{haviryaparakrama\ //
(40) acchadrikaS chadrajito apradusto vidl$alah /
nirmiddhaS caiva middhi ca kale Sinto na ca stfutah //
'tha ca kdnkqati
(41) niskaukl'tyalr sakaukrtyo nihkdmkqvo /
sarvatha sarvada yukto bhavet samyakprayogavdn//
(42) nudano bodhanaS caiva tathd samyojanopatah f
naimittika snehanaS ca tatha vilasanoparuh //
(43) nispidanas ca paramah snehanah kalpa ucyate f
kdmaragasya janakas tam budhah pativatjayet ff
(44) atrptikarakdh kdmd bahusddhdralds tathd /
adharmahetavaScaiva tatha trqna(m) vivarddhakd\ //
(45) satdry (vi)varjaniyds ca ksiprar.n vilayagdminab /
pratydyeqv aSritalr kamdh pramadasya cabhnmaya\ /f
(46) karanka-sadlSd:h kamdh malnsapesyupamdstatha /
tr4olkisadr6ds caiva tatha agniSikhopamA\ l/
(47) aSiviqopamdScaiva tatha svapnopamil.r punah /
ydcflydlar.nkdrasadlSds tatha vskqaphalopamdh //
A,sanga'sTreatiseon the Three Instructions of Buddhism 357

(48) evar.n kdmdn paijnaya nabhigrdhyet katham carLaf

saddharmar.nSrtu yo nityar.n cintayed bhivayed api //
{49) Sdnto ddrikadar6i prag yavan aikdntiko bhavet /
prthi yo kle6adauqthulyam prahd4e carato bhavet //
(50) mimatmakah sydn nimitte prayogaparamo bhavet /
kurydc ca kamavairigyar.n rDpavairagyam eva ca ff
(51) satyabhisamayam kurydt sarvavairagyam eva ca f
dftte dharme ca nirvayat tatha upadhi(r.n) saryksayifi //
For the following translation of the gdthd,I have selectedpor-
tions of Asanga's commentary to go with relevant versesor verse
groups. since half of the sanskrit commentary is missing, it is
practical to add commentarial remarks from the Tibetan version.g
However, the extant Sanskrit portion was consulted for editing
the verses,and will be cited in a few placesof the commentarial
remarks.

Then, you should know, Brahmi Sahaqnpati went there

where was the Bhagavat, and having bowed with his head to
the feet of the Bhagavat, went to one side; and remaining at
one side Brahmd sahdrypati put a question to the Bhagavat
by reciting a verse :
(1) You have been perfected in the Instruction and have
cleared all doubt. whatever be the training and the points of
instruction, pray tell how one embracesthe Instrnction !
(commentary advancesthe vieri' that in considerationof persons
being fearful of too many rules and tending to raziness,the
Buddha presentedthe Instructions compactly as three kinds :)a
(2) Exalted friend, Morality, Mind Training, and Insight
are the three Instructions in short. Listen, what be the train-
ing !
(3) one should be equipped with the six members (of urora-

3. Besides,
nlY wife Hideko gavesomevaluablesuggestions
for thetrans-
lation from the sino-Japaneseversions of the text in the yogucarabhumi,
namely, chinese trans., T30 [no. 1579i, pp. 365-67;Japairesetrans., Koku-
yaku Daizokyd, Rombo 6, pp. 462-82.
Asanga'sfurther commentarialremarks make it clear that he has in mind
the Brahma sutras of the sarltyuktagama (in pali, the sa4tyutta-Nikdya, i,
136-138),with the implication that since personsare of widely different
character and ability, there should be an appropriate teaching for the lazy
person as well as for the enterprising one.
358 Buddhist Insight

lity), endowed with the pleasure of mind-fixation; and the

four kinds among the four should ah,vayspurify knowledge.

The six menbers are: l. one$remainsin possessionof morality;

2. is restrainedby the Pratimoksa vow; 3. has perfection of good
behavior (dcdrasarytpannah);4. has the perfection of lawful
resort (gocarasarltpannalt);5. views fearfully the major and minor
sins; 6. rightly takes and learns the "points of instruction"
(iiksapada). The Instruction of Mental Training is fixation of
mind (cittasthiti) of four kinds, namely the four kinds of Dhyina;
its pleasure by way of beatific dwelling of present life. The Ins-
truction of Insight is the purification of knorvledge by the four
kinds for each of the four Noble Truths.

(4) (Namely, respectively,) a) have what is the well-estab-

lished basis; b) have joy in the pacification of mind; c) take
on the nobie right view and leave off the ignoble wrong view.
(5) He should be pure from the outset; have the pleasure of
Dhydna; and should have skill in truth, to wit, he should
(respectively) generate, eliminate, and promote truth.
He should generate the truth of path; should eliminate the truths
of suffering and source of suffering; should promote the truth of
cessationby cessation of defllement whettrrerminor, rniddling, or
great.
(6) When there are ti'le ttrree "points of instruction," there
are the four destinies,to wit, having warded off two destinies,
one should acquire two destinies.
He should ward off two destinies, the bad destiny (durgati) and
the good destiny (sugati) of the realm of desire; and should acqu-
ire two destinies, the "upper" destiny of the realm of form and
formless reaim, and the Nirvana destiny.
(7) Two are based on two; one is the Nirv64a-road. One
should cultivate th.embecoming in sequencea basis, unmixed
and mixed.
Of the two, Instruction of Morality and Instruction of Mind
Training, the first one, Instruction of Morality, is the basis for
both the Instruction of Mind Training and trnstruction of trnsight.
The second, middling one, the Instruction of Mind Training, is
the basis for the Instruction of Insight and that part of the Ins-
 Asanga'sTreatiseon the Three Instructions of Buddhism 359

truction of Morality as pertains to the "restraint of meditation."

The best one, namely, the Instruction of Insight, is the road to
NirvAna. One should cuitivate them unmixed (abhinna), i.e.
consistent respectively, and mixed (sarpbhinna),i.e. consistent in
leading to the goal.5

(8) Wherein the wise one trains, that one should be at first
without regret, next happy-this is the first of all instructions.
In sequence,be without regret through the Instruction of Mora-
lity; and be happy through the Instruction of Mind Training.

(9) Wherein the wise one trains, whereby knowleclge is for

purification and one has pleasure in arousing purity-this
is the middling one of all instructions.
The Instruction of Mind Training especiallypromotes the root of
virtue (kuiala-mula).

(10) Wherein the wise one trains, whereby one would liberate
the mind and destroy verbal elaboration-this is the best one
of all instructions.
This refers to the Instruction of Insigirt.
(11) The path said to be first, nameiy the impure way, likewise
the way to good destiny-this is held to be by itself (keuala).
Through failure of the Instruction of Morality, there is the impure
way rvhich is the way to bad destiny. Through adherence to the
Instruction of Morality, there is the rvay to good destiny. And
either one is accomplishedby one instruction alone.

(12) The path said to be middling, namely the path which

is the pure way and not the final way-this is held to be not by
itself.

This path is pure of the defilements of the realm of desire. But

it is not free from the defilementsof the realm of form and form-

slt appearsthat the "unmixed"expositionoi the threeInstructions is pre-

sentedin thefollowinggathanos.8-10,sincethethreeare definedindividually
withoutreference that the'omixed',exposi-
to theothers.Likewise,it appears
tion is presented
in gathanos.11-13,sincethethreeaie explained in termsof
"peth" and in consideration of whetherthey are lrevala(by thenrelves).
Hence, the Tibetan translation of the two terins as .so .r, "respective,' for the
abhinna, anrl.'dren mo "guiding" for the sarybhinna. This information can be
added to Franklin Edgerton's Buddhist Hybrid sanskrit Dictionary, p. 5g0-
360
BuddhistInsight

less realm, becauseit has not erased the tracps (anuiaya)

of sen-
suous lust. It is not the flnal way, since by itself, i.e. without
the
first and the best (instructions),it does not fulfil.
(13) The path said to be best, namely the path which
is the
pure way and the final way-this is not by itself, i.e. not
with-
out the two.

The way freeing from all defilements of the three worlds and
finishing off the traces, is not accomplished without the prior two
(instructions) or by itself.
(1a) The one who trains and the one who doesn't train,
both
those are held to be wise (pa4{ita). The one who trains and
the one who doesn'ttrain,both those are held to be fools (bate.

The one who trains rightly with the three Instructions, and the
one rvho does not train in a wayward manner, is the wise one.
The one who trains in a wayward manner, and the one who does
not train rightly, is the fool.
(15) The taking of the Instruction is threefold by way of a)
renouncing possessions,b) elirninating contaminations, c)
and direct perception of the knowable.
Possessions are home, wife, etc. contamination s (dau;trhulya)
are the discordant elements lo samddhi. The knowable are the
four Truths. The versepoints to the three Instructions in their order.

(16) They are accompaniedwith meditative object or devoid

of meditative object, are subtle or coarse; and are accompli-
shed by rightly taking, solitude, word, and bent.
The trnstruction of Morality does not have a defined meditative
object; the other two do have; thus the Instruction of Morality
is "coarse," the other two "subtle." The Instruction of Morality
is accomplished by rightly taking; the Instruction of Mental
Training, by solitude of body and mind; the Instruction of trn-
sight, by the word of another and the bent (abhoga) of rightly
orienting the mind within.
(17) one Instruction (the first) is a single one. The Instruc-
tion with a second one is the subsequentone. The third Ins-
truction is the nature of one. The wise person should surmount
those.
."Asanga's
Treatiseon the Three Instructions of Buddhism 361

The Instruction of Morality is single. But.the Instruction

of
Mental Training needs a second one, the rnstruction of Morality.
The Instruction of Insight shourd not lack those two. The one
"beyond training" (aiaik;a)and the Arhat have surmounted
those
three Instructions.
(18) His morality should not fall away from the Instruction;
he should be possessedof the vow; he should not condemn
good behavior; and he should avoid flve places.
The Instruction is that of Morality. The vow is the prdtimokqa.
Not condemning good behavior, he does not lose good behavior.
The monk adheres to proper resort by avoiding five places, to wit,
the royal palace, butcher shop, liquor shop, prostitute quarters,
house of outcast.
(19) when he regrets that he cannot again sin, he should rise
with no regret. one should rely on the Instruction and prac-
tice therein sincerely.
He should view fearfully the major and minor sins, and rightly
.take the "points of instruction."
(20) one should not repud.iateit; not lose it even for life's
sake; should always be stationed in the endeavor; should be
involved with the discipline (uinaya).
These in order are the four o'roots" : permanenceof morality;
firmness of morality; no interruption of it; staying in it ,onii-
nuously.
(21) one should purify his former vow, and should also purify
his life. Having eliminated the two extremes,he should reject
the (wrong) aspiration.
The two extremesare indulgencein sensedesiresand ascetic auste-
.rity. He should reject the (wrong) aspiration for heaven, for this
.constitutes merely the pure Instruction of Morality.
(22) one should not at all hanker after natures that create
obstacles. one should not acquiesce in natures that have
already arisen that disturb the mind.
(23) with mindfulness always present, he is neither over-
reiaxed nor overly spirited (in mind). His pure conduct
(bral'rmacarya) is purified by the main part and threshold (of
.the four Dhydnas).
362 BuddhistInsight

Q$ He should begin his striving and always have a stead-

fast forward step by staying close to heedfulnessthat is well based
in five members.
Striving means the kind that is armored and does not retreat
from the praxis. Staying close to heedfulness shows distingui-
shed purification of the Instructions. The fi.ve members of heed-
fulness are of 1. past,2. future, 3. present-time, 4. action
from previous (striving), 5. practice in conformity (with
striving).
(25) He should be reserved about his virtues and confess his.
sins; be satisfied with his religious garb, etc. whether inferior
or fine.
(26) He should abide the amount, even small; and abide it,
even inferior. Rightly adopting the virtues of a purified man,
he should eliminate defllements for the purpose of calming.
(27) He should be possessedof dignified posture, and should
be judicious in acquisition. On that account, he should in
no case ever assume artiflcial postures.
(28) One should not say one's own merits are real, or induce'
someoneto say it. Besides,one should not reveal those merits
by signs in terms of desired objects.
(29) One should not ask for alms forcefully in the presence
of others. When what was received came righteously (with
dharma), one should not speak badly of what was received.G
(30) One should not hanker in any way for receiving things.
or for respect. One should not cling to views that over-em-
phasize or under-value.
(31) One should not adhere to the meaningless mantras of
the Lokiyatas.T One should not uselessly bear the begging
bowl and religious garb in excess.

6Asto "should speakbadly"for the readingsatncayet, both Tibetanand

Sino-Japanese agreeon the rendition.While this readingis definitelyin the
manuscript, it shouldbe understood as thoughavaiatpsiyat.
?Asariga docsnot employthe nameLokdyatain the ancientsenseof the
materialistschool,but ratherin his commentary hereas a term of disrespect
for authorsof worldly treatisesthat are bad (kuiastra)with bad views
(kudr;ti), referred to in the gatha as "meaninglessmantrA.s."To adhere to
such treatisespreventsthe disciplefrom getting rid ofthe five upddanaskandha,
(grasping aggregates).
 of Buddhism
Treatiseon the ThreeInstructions
Asanga's 363

One should not wear the religious garb and begging bowl in
excessso as to receive material things and respect.
(32) One should not associate with householders, who pro-
mote defilement. One should associatewith the nobles, who
purify knowledge.
(33) One should not make residence rvith friends who cause
grief and distraction. One should not tolerate the defilements
that have already arisen that generate suffering.
(34) One who has lost his vow should not utilize in any case
what is to be gained by faith. One should not repudiate in
any case the illustrious Dharma.
(35) Should one have thoughtless pleasure in a stumbling
fault of others, he should reflect upon his own stumbling
fault and in turn confess it.
(36) According as an offence has occurred, one should apply
the appropriate Dharma (right act). The wise person should
involve himself in duty for the matter concerned.
(37) With faith in the power and teaching of the Buddhas
and their disciples (irduakas), one should never blame by
noticing faults.
(38) One should not adhere to one's own view, discarding
the old lineage (paurdltam dgamam) regarding the profound
doctrines (dhsrma) which are not in the range of iogic.s
(The gatha-s 18-38 present various aspectsfor purifying the Ins-
truction of Morality).
(39) Should he be dwelling in solitude, using a resting cot in
the outskirts, he should contemplate virtuous natures, with
steadfast forward step of striving.
So as to fulfill the praxis, he has solitude of body and mind, a
resting cot concordant with his samadhi. Contemplating only
virtuous natures, he is not oppressed by secondary defllements
such as "fading" (laya) and "scattering" (auddhatya) (of the
meditative object). This is a special means of the Instruction of
Mind Training.
(40-41) Should he, having been without longing, have long-

BThe phrase "not in the range of logic" is a frequent one in Buddhist

scriptures, starting with the Brahmajala-sutta,para. 28.
364 BuddhistInsight

ing arise; having not blamed, be blaming; been not sleepy,

at this time sleepy; not abiding with calm; been without
regret, now regretting; been without lusts, now lusts,-he
should get yoked in every way at all times, possessedof the
right praxis.
This means he must purify his mind from the five hindrances :
1. sensuouslust, 2. ill-will; 3. torpor and sleepiness;4. mental
wandering and regret; and 5. doubt. This right praxisistheright
Instruction of Mental Training.
(42-43) "stirring" and "awakening"; likewise being fettered;
grasping sign-sourcesand passion; also given to multiple
pleasures; being 'opressed,"and sensual climax-are called
"irnagination" (kalpa), the generator of sensuouslust (kdma-
raga). This a wise man should thoroughly eliminate.

There are eight kinds of such imagination : 1. "stirrin g" (nudana)

is any imagination that instigatesthe mind along with an improper
mental orientation in a sensual object Qtudanouikalpah yo rafija-
niye uastuni / ayoniio manaskdra sanxprayuktai ca cittasya pre-
rakalr). 2. "awakening" (bodhana) is the being attended with
awakening enrvrapment oi lust toward precisely that object
(bodhanalryat tasminn eua uqstuni prabuddhardgaparyauasthdna-
saryxprayuktait).3. being fettered (satTtyojana)is the seeking for
precisely that object (samyojanas tasyaiu(t uastunaitparyeSakal).
4. grasping sign-sources(naimittika) apprehendsvarious pleasant
signs in precisely that object (naimittikas tasminn eua uastuni
uicitrqiublrunimittagrdhakah). 5. passion (snehana) is the cling-
ing to this object when it is obtained (snehanaltprapteh tasmin
aastuni adhyauasanasorylprayuktalt). 6. given to multiple pleasures
(uilasana) is the engagement from various sides in multiple sen-
suous enjoyment in that object (uilasanai ca tasminn eua uastuni
uicitraparibhogdbhild;andndntukhapraurttak).7. being pressed
(ni,rpidana)is rvhat is at the tirne when two unite the two sexual
organs (ni.rpidanal1yo duayaduuyendriyasamdpatt ikale). 8. sensual
climax (porama-snehana)is what is at the time of sexual discharge
(paramosnehanahf J)o dsrauiuipramok;akale)s.
eWhilethis sequenceofeightisexplicitlystatedintermsofsexual
attraction
and union, a generalityfor the processof addictionmay also have been
intended.
 Asanga's
Treatiseon theThreeInstructionsof Buddhism 365

(44-45) Desires are not satisfied, and have many cohorts;

likewise cause bad conduct (adharma) and promote craving
(tf;rtd).They should be avoided by illustrious persons and
quickly brought to destruction. Desires are based on condi-
tions (pratydya), and are the stagesof heedlessness.
(Commentary indicates that one sees the trouble of desires and
avoids them by the eight identifications of the verses 44-45).
(46-48A) Desires are like bones, like a piece of meat, like a
torch of hay, like a peaked fire; like a poisonous snake, like
a dream, like a borrowed ornament, like the fruit of tree.
Having recognized desiresin this way, one should not hanker'
after them at all.
Like bones, because they do not satisfy; like a piece of meat,
because they are frequent and common and occasion wrong
conduct; like a torch of hay, becauseif not hurled away, but left
in place, they burn one up; like a peaked fire, becausewhile pro-
moting craving, they dry one up; like a poisonous snake, because
they are to be avoided by illustrious persons. They are like a
dream, because they quickly perish. They are like a borrowed
ornament, because they are based on conditions. They are like,
the fruit of tree, because they are the stagesof heedlessness.
(48B-51) Listen to the illustrious Dharma, whoever would
ponder it and cultivate it ! First one should be calm and far-
sighted, and continue on up to single certitude. Rejoice,
whoever is engagedin eliminating the contamination of defile-
ment ! Should he analyze the sign-source, he would become
uppermost in the praxis. He would eliminate desire of the
desire-realmand eliminate desireof the form-realm. He would
bring about the clear realization of truth and the dispassion
toward everything; would attain Nirv6{ra in the present life;
and would erase the (remaining) basis.
The verses48B to 51 shorvthe pure Instruction of Insight in terms
of the seven mental orientations.l0 Of these, the first o11e,"rea-
lizatiot of the characteristics" (laksaua-pratisarytuedt),is shown

10Seenow Tson-kha-pa's
discussionof thesesevenmental orientations,
basedon Asanga's in theSravalcabhumi,inA.Wayman,
exposition translator,
Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real (Columbia University Press, New
York, 1979), pp. 165-169.
366 Buddhist Insight

by listening to and pondering the illustrious Dharma. The second,

n'made
of conviction" (ddhimokSika), is sh'own by cultivating
this Dharma. The third, "seclusion" (prduiuekya), is shown by
the expressions"calm" and "far-sighted." The fourth,'oattrac-
tion of rapture" (ratisarygrahaka) is shown by "continue on up
to single certitude." The fifth, "orientation with comprehen-
sion" (mimar.nsa-manaskdra),is shown by "should he analyze
the sign-source." The sixth, "final stage of application" (prayoga-
nis(ha), is shown by "would become uppermost in the praxis."
The seventh, "fruit of the final stage of application" (prayoga-
nislhaphala),is shown by "He would eliminate desire of the desire-
realm and eliminate desire of the form-realm; would bring about
the clear realization of truth and the dispassiontoward everything.
This seventh mental orientation (manaskdra), namely, "fruit
of the final stage of application," is the mundane fruit, Nirvdr.ra
with remainder; and the supramundane fruit, Nirvdqa without
remainder.
 PART FTVE

HINDUAND BUDDHIST
STUDIES
 t9

TWO TRADITIONS OF I}.{DIA_

TRUTH AND SILENICE

Elsewhere I cited the Laws of Manu :

maundt satyarn t,iii;yate
("Truth is super:ior to silence;'; and
turned the citation to my
own purpose with the implication, ..Now
is the time to speakout,
becausetruth is superior to silence.,,1
However, admittedly, the
celebratedIndian raw book had something
else in mind with this.
intriguing maxim. rn this study I shall
attempt to clarify the two
traditions called 'otruth" and ..silence,,
and to show that they
borrow from each other but maintain
sufficientcontrast to allow
the later philosophical schools to treat
them as though distinct.
It should be acknowledgeclthat the findings
of this article differ
rather strikingry from the generarity
of tie surveys of Indian
philosophy and religion. Also, the juxtaposition
of materials
from diverse traditions of rndia requires
u ,Jorgu' izationfrom the
original order of discovery for communi
cation purposes. To
justify that these traditions
of trutrr and silence can be treated in
contrast, tr have prepared individual sections ,Jevoted
first to the
silence and then to the truth which the
Laws of Monu takes to be
superior.As a conseqllenceof these
main findings, it turns out
that there are trvo Upanisadic traditions,
althongriot in terrnsof
truth and silence;and that some later philosophical
formulations,
such as "conventional truth" and .,absolute
truth,,, take their
l"observationson Transration
from the crassicarTibetan Language
into EuropeanLanguages,"
in Indo-Iranian
Journal14,nos. 3-4(1972):r92.
370 BuddhistInsight

inceptions in the old Upaniqads. This shows a sensein lvhich later

Indian philosophy developsfrom the early religion and mythology.

Tnr Mtnu TnaotrioN

For "silence" the word used was mauna (PAli, mona), related to
the word muni (one rvho has the vow of silence), used in the &g-
aeda hymo X, 136: "The munis, girdled with the wind, wear
garments soiled of yellow irue. They, follorving the rvind's swift
coufse, go rvhere the gods have gone before." The word muni is
important in Buddhism, where the founder has the title Sakya-
muni (muni of the Sakya clan). The Buddha is called "gtaatmLtni,"
and he adopted for his order (the Sangha) the soiled yellow hue
of dress that was alluded to in the Vedic hyrnn.z
The Chdndogya {lpanisad, VIU, 5, 2, in the course of its pro-
gressive expianation of breltmqcarya (the pure practice of the
'oNow, what they call 'silent asceticisrn'(tnauna)
student), says:
is really the pure practicc (brahmacarya), for only after finding
the self by the pure practice, does one think about it."3 This
passageapparently explains mqunt (ascetic silence) as a thinking
about, or contemplation of, the higher self.
The tlddnauarga, which is the northern Buddhist expansion of
the Dhammapada,has an important muni verse in its lt{irudrya
chapter (xxYI,27): "According as the Muni, with the state of
being a munia derived from himseli understands in this place

zTheSanskritword muni, accatdingto ManfredMayrhofer(Kurzgefasstes

etymologisches Worterbuchdes AltindischenHeidelberg:Carl Winter, Uni-
versitdts-verlag, 1963,volume 2, pp. 654-655) is cognatewith our word
o'mllte"through Greek words,and this cannot be doubted.It has been
arguecl-butthe matteris not settled-thatit is relatedto the Greekntaentis,
our word "mantic" (giftedwith propheticpowers),this beilg in the group
of wordsincluding"mania," from the weak gradeof the Indo-Germanic
root mert,whichthe OxfordEnglishDictionarysaysis represented in many
wordsreferringto mentalstates,emotions, etc. In Sanskrit this would be
moi.t-,the verb meaning"to think,to deem,"etc.The Indiangrammarians
affiliatedthe word muni with the verb n?an-, but asolutioncannctbe found
within the Indian contextalone, for it a justificationof this vowel
requires
changein the early Indo-European languages'
z. I athayan maunamity [caks,ate brahmacaryam evatat / brahmacaryena
hy evd 'tmdnam anuvidYamanute /.
A..State of beinga muni" translatesmauneyafollowingFranklin Edgerton,
Two Traditions of India-Truth and Silence 371

(i.e., in NirvdTa), then is he freed from form and formless, from

all suffering."s Along the same lines, but not using the words
muni or mauna,Aryadeva statesin his Catul#ataka, as cited in the
Prasannapadd: "He who knows how to ward off at first sin, then
to ward off the self, and firrally to ward off everything, he is the
sage(buddhimat)."0 Also, it appears that the ubiquitous Buddhist
terminology of body, speech, and mind, stems from the muni
tradition. The Recital Sermon (sangtti Suttanta, of the Digha-
nikdya, III) allows me to use the word "muted" in the sense
"rendered mute, silent, muffied" in this entry among the three-
fold items : "There are three states of being a muni. (Pali : tiyti
moneyydni) : muted body, muted speech,muted mind." Elsewhere
I cited Vasubandhu's commentary on the Daiabhumikasutra on
how to classify the five supornormal faculties (abhijfrfl by their
respective purification of the acts of body, speech, and mind.
The one cailed magical abiiity (yddhi) purifies the acts of body;
the divine hearing and knowing the makeup of others' mind,
those of speech;the memory of former lives and the vision of the
passing away and rebirth, those of rnind.T Therefore, this is the
theory of supernormal faculties consistent with the muni tradition.
As to how a muni describeshimself, the Uddnauargahas these
verses iir its Tathagata chapter (XXI, 1-4)-the words attributed
to the Bilddha intmediately r.rpon his enlightenment (my trans-
Iation) :
I knorv all, have overcome all, am forever unstained by the
dharmas, have eliminated everything, am free from all fear;
having come to iully understand by myself, who can teach me !
I am the Tathagata, teacher of gods and men; have compre-
hended enlightenment as a revealer by myseli; having reached
omniscience, am endowed i,vith the powers; incomparable
and unequalled, rvho can teach me !

Buddhist Hybrid ^\anskrit Grainmar and Dictiorcry (New Haven, Conn.:

Yale University Press,1953),p. 441.
sFraru Bernhard, Udanavarga,Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissens-
chaften in Gottingen Philologisch-HistorischeKlasse, Third Series,l.lr. 54
(Grittingen, 1965).
ol-ouis de La Vall6e Poussin, ed., Milla-Madhyamaka-vrtti-prasannapatld,
p. 359.
?See Chapter 7.
312 BuddhistInsight

I am the Arhat in the worlds ; I am incomparable in the worlds;

and in the worlds with their gods I ani the Victor (jina),the'
ionqueror of the Maras.
As there is no one like me, none can be my instructor (acarya);
alone in this world, I am fully awakened, have attained the
ultimate, complete enlightenment.
W. Woodville Rockhill, in the appendix to his translation from
Tibetan of the Uddnauarga,cites the commentary preserved in the
Tibetan Tanjur. He says :
I translate the following lines to show how very nearly the
Commentator follows the received Pali version of the events.
that occurred shortly after Gautama had become a Buddha.
"When he (Bhagavat) had obtained perfect enlightenment,
Brahmd the lord of the universe, humbly begged of him to
teach the dharma. Then the great Muni thought, 'To whom
shall I first teach the law ?' Rudraka had died seven days
before that moment, Alara Kaldma had also passed away.
'I
Then he thought, will teach the five.' So Bhagavat started
for Vardfasi, and on his w&y, an Ajivaka saw Bhagavat,
and said to him, 'Ayusmat Gautama, your senses(appear)
composed, your complexion is clear, your garments clean;
who is your master (upddhyAya)? Ayusmat, to what sect do,
you belong ? In what doctrine do you find pleasure ?' Then
'I
he answered, am the Jina who has conquered Mdra (the evil
'Then, Ayuqmat Gautama, you say that you are the
one).'
'The Jinas are all like me,' he answered. 'Where
Jina ?' are
you going, Ayusmat ?' 'I am going to Vard4asi."'S
Sir Jotrn Woodroffe cites the Hindu tradition about the word
'The
muni to the same effect : "As the Mahdbharuta says, Veda
differ, and so do the Smriti. No one is a muni who has no inde-
pendent opinion of his own (nasau munir yasya nmta;p na bltin-
nem)."'e This practically adrnitsthat the only person r,vhocould
start a new religious movement in India must be, or must have
beerr. a muni.
The lvord muni is uncterstoodas "the capable one" in Tibetan

sUdanavarga : A Collection of Verses from the Buddhist Canon (London,

1892), pp. 209-210,
slntroduction to Tantra Shastra (Madras : Ganesh & Co., 1952), p. 30.
 Two Traditionsof India-Truth andSilence 373

translation. According to Buddhaguhya, "The munis arepratyeka-

buddhas.' becausethey have their own religious practice, pledge,
and vow, and are capable by themselveswhile lacking a master,
they are the capable ones (muni1."to This explanation is consis-
tent with tho account about the Sanskrit name Rsipatana (Pali,
Isipatana), another name of the Deer Park where the Buddha
gave his first sermons :11
Formerly when the time approached for the Buddha Kdsyapa
to appear in the world, there lived on that hill flve trundred
Pratyekabuddhas. They learned from a message given by
the devas that the Buddha was to rnanifest himself. By their
magical power they soared up to the sky and equipoised them-
selves in the element of fire (teiodhatu). The fire that issued
from their own bodies burned their material bodies, and the
ashesfell to the earth. It was said, "The l.{qis have fallen,"
and for this reason the place is called gsipatana (the falling
of the Rlis).
Hence, in considerationof this silence,thereare the silent persons
called munis, who are called pratyekabuddhas since they are en-
lightened by thernselveswithout depending on another teacher,
and who are also callecl Bqis or seers.The association of the
munis rvith flying, as mentioned in the vedic hymn, r,vascontained
by otirer names,pratyekabuddha and r,ri.72That the association
of the munis lvith the sky or spacervasnot forgotten in later times
is apparent in the SaiTtditiul,dkarapa,afl explanatory tantra of the
Guhyasamdjatantra,in a Sanskrit passageI have edited from the
Pradipoddyotana manuscript :
Thus, the Reality, rrrasheard by me on a certain time extra-
ordinary. The Bhagavat, diamond lord of mysteries,wirh the
supreme pledge of the triple uajra,
Was dwelling as the l\{ahamuni (great silent one) in the pure
heart of the worlcl, in this unique self-existenceof sky having

loAlex Wayman, "Buddhism," Historia Religionunt(Leiden: E. J. Brill,

1971),vol. 2, p. 397.Buddhaguhya'sp:rssage is from his commentary on the
Sarvadurgatipariiodhana-talxtrain the Tibetan Tanjur.
11Wayman,"Buddhism," pp. 397-399.
rzrhis flight of the asceticis shown in later rndian art by beings
called
vidyadhara(holders of the mystic science).Also, the Buddhist Tantra had
heroes called {aka or khecarin (sky-walkers).
374 BuddhistInsight

the modes of omniscient knowledge," in the all-Tathagata

gnosis having the inconceivable perfection of merits; beyond
existence, non-existence and both, called "place of no loca-
tion."13

While the foregoing has been mainly basedon Buddhist sources,

it should be observed that the ruuni tradition is part of the great
ascetic non-\redic tradition tirat becameincorporated into l{indu-
ism with worship of the god Siva, as R. N. Dandekar has well
described,r4although this Saivitic incorporation apparently takes
place after the advent of Buddhism. It is well known that Sar:r-
kara, the great Advaita Veclantin, was a follower of Siva and
insisted that knowledge (jfiAna) is the main thing for liberation
(mokga). His followers use, among other works, the Aslduakra
Saryhitd,in which Aqtavakra says(chap. XVII, 1): "Hehas gained
the fruit of knowledge as well as the practice of loga, who, con-
tented andwithpurified sensgs,ever'enjoysbeing alone (ekakt1."ts
All th.is gives a new complexion to the Hindu opponent's chal-
lenge to Sar.nkara-that he was a "Buddhist in disguise." This
is often misconstrued as having doctrinal implications. In fact,
the criticism was a rejection of Sarykara's monastic retreat system,
which afforded and stiil affords individuais an opportunity to leave
society for seeking divine knowledge in solitude.
There are severalforms oi the Buddha's silence. First there was
his ascetic silence; then upon his enlightenment, when he hesi-
tated to teach, deeming his doctrine too profound for people at
largc, this was the first withhoiding type of siience. Later, he
sometimes refused to answer certain questions dealing with ulti-
mates, with a selectivesilence. A certain Buddhist sect had a tenet
"The Buddha never said a word."16 Of course, the Hindu oppo-

ra / evar.nmayi Srutar.ntattvam ekasminsamayesphule/

bhagavdnguhyavajreSas trivajrasamayottama(D
II
sarvatathdgatejfldne acintyaguqasampadi/
sadasaCubhaydtlte asthdnasthitisar.njfl ini //
ikdSaikasvabhave'sminsarvajfiajfldnabhdvini/
jagaddhrdi viSuddhnkhye vrjahira mahdmunih ll
1a"Hinduism," in Historia Religionumvol. 2, seeespeciallyp. 247.
l5Swami Nityaswarupananda,trans., A$avakra Satnhita,3d ed. (Calcutta:
Advaita Ashrama, 1969), p. ll4.
reCf., A. Bareau, Les sectesbouddhtques du Petit Vdhicule(Saigon: Ecole
Two Traditions of India-Truth and Silence 375

nents of Buddhismwould notlosethe opportunity to argue cogent-

ly that it is a fine thing to know through asc'3ticsilence, but that
this does not furnish validity for the Buddha's teachings, since
he would have to renounce the ascetic silence in order to teach,
and so ri,hat proof is there that the teaciring itself reflectsthe omni-
science of the silence ? Presumably it was through such attacks
that Buddhism was forced into its multiple-body theory, with
the Dharmakaya remaining silent and omniscient, and another
body, such as the Nirmaqakaya of the Buddha, doing the teach-
ing.rz Also the buddhas were said to help chosen disciples of a
progressed nature with adhiglhana (blessing, empcwerment, or
spiritual support), a kind of silent power. Thus, in Mahdydna
Buddhism, the Buddha came to have a role tantarnount to the
solar deity.

Tsp Tnurn TnlntrtoN

o'truth" the ancient Indians generally employed two words,
For
satya arrd rta, r,vhichhave respectively a subjective and objective
referenco. Satya is the truth of men and gods; and rta is the truth
of the universe-that the sun will rise and set and that seasonal
characteristics wiii recur.
trt is well recognizedthat in the ancient Vedic tradition the deity
Varula was in charge of the rta, the-universal order; and it was
believed that liars incurred his punishment in tfueform of dropsy,
presumably becausetheir lies constituted a violation of the world
order. In time, Varu4a's supremacy faded, and a new deity
named Indra camo to the foie, to be succoededby Vilnu. The
latter two deitieswere not especially asscciated with preserving
the rvorld order; and in time the supreme spirit was generally

Francaised'Extrdme-Orient,1955),p. 60, amongthe thecries of the Maha-

sanghikas:The Buddhasneversay a word, becausethey rernain eternally in
contemplation; but beings,thinking they havepronouncedwotds, leap frorn
jov.
17Thismatter is set forth at length,of courservith Buddhistdeflense, in the
Tattvasarytgraha of Santaraktitarvith the Pafiiikd commentary of Kamala-
Sila, chap. 3l, "Examination observingthe entity that transcencls the senses"
(atindriyarthadarii-partk;a),which is the last chapter.The text has beenreedi-
ted by Dwarikadas Shastri in two volumes (Varanasi:BauddhaBharati,
1968).The Englishtranslationby G. Jha is not availableto me at present.
 376 BuddhistInsight
.called Bratrman. With all these changes
of terrninology for divi-
nity, the prestige of "truth,, by the word. shtya continued un-
abated.
For the rneaning of satyd, the adjective, I follow the late H. D.
veiankar of the university of Bornbay who explained the word
in the introduction to his retranslation of Mar.r{ala seveir of the
$g-ueda.l8 This satyti is the undeniable, after being said, thought,
or done by someone; that is, bound to happen.le we shall ob-
serve that this meaning continues into the chanclogya (i:elorv).
Accordingly, one should reject the frequent transiation o,f satya-
kdmdit in this upanisad as "real desires," as though the word.
satya meant the "genuine," rvhat is simply a fact.Instead, it
means a fact that is productive.
The Brhaddrspyaka [Jpani,rad(rrr, 5, r) provi.Jes the first
answer to wh.at the Laws of Manu rneant by saying, ,,Truth is
superior to silence" :

"Therefore, let a brcThma4ta,after being satiateclwith learning,

live as a child. After being satiated with childhood o, ,u.ll
as with learning, lct h.im be a nitmi (one vowecl t,l silence).
After being satiated rvith non-silcnce(cmatma)as well as i,,,ith
silence(maiina),let him be a brijltmana." "In what manner
(kena) is that brdltriia4ia?" "rn rvhatevermanner he be, he is
just the same in that manner; every thing else is afflicted.,'
Thereupca, Kahola Kausitakeya held his poace Qqararatna).

That is, the state of a brdhmana, who is as he is, is claimed to

be superior to the state of a muni.
The wholc verseof the Manustnrti (Laws of Manu,II, g3) rllns:
"The mcnosyllable (i.e., om) is the highest Brahman. S*ppres-
sions of the breath are the best austerity. But nothing surpasses
the Savitri. Truth is superior to silence." My commcntarial
edition does not help rnuch. It observes that "truth" is verbal,
but this is the obvious part. However, it is easy to seethe struc-

lsRgvedaMa4(ala VII (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavair, 19d3),iv-x.

relt is of interest that a different way of expressingthe acljectivc,.trlle,"
to wit, by the sanskrit word a-vitatha 'onot untrue" (that is, "not contrary
to the fact"), has a secondarymeaning "not vain or futile"; and so, like the
word satya, indicates that what is true is not in vain. rn contrast, for lying,
.a prohibition of the ancient five Buddhist layman vows, the expressionmr;d-
vdda was used, rather than a negation of the word satya.
 'Two
Traditions
of India-Truth andSilence
377
ture of the verse. when the breath is suppres$e,J,
one dces not
speak-and tiiis is the best aasterity. Bui superior
to this is the
savitri, anr:ther name of the Gayatri, the
cerebrated mantra
recited by the Brahmans at tireir morning
and eveningdevotion_
als; and this mantra is designatedas ';truth,,,
namely-as we
have observed-the undeniable that is not in vain.
And so truth
is s,perior to silence. At the same time, the
verse shows the pre_
ference for the Brahmans rvho recite the
Gdyatri over the munis
and other asceticswho engage in sucrr austerities
as suppressing
the breath. The Giyatri (!?g-uecra,rfr,62,l0)
is translated appro-
ximately as follows: "we meditate on or may
we attain,the great
glory, of the god savita, that he may inspire
or who inspires, our
thoughts or works." It is precededby the
mantraom in the later
editions.
That remark in the Lows of A,Ianurvoulcl equalry
appry to what
is often cailed the "Act of Truth.', This truth
act is well known
fro:n the Hindu epic Rdmdyana and.from
Buddhist sources. It
has a traditional forrn: the performer announces,
if such-and-
such be true, then let this or that happen. ..such-and.-such,,
is,
according to w' Norman Brown's herpful explanation,
the ,up.r-
lative performance of the person's duty (dharrna),
and ..this or
that" is what the gods are commanded to
bring about as a mira-
culous interve'tion.2' In tire following essay
ipoint out that it
lvas not suficient for the pcrson to have been
extraordinary in
fuifilling iris duty, but it rvas also necessaryfor
the person to
verbalize this fact; and so this is a verbal truth
that is superior
to silence.2lIn short, that a person deservesto
be aided by the
gods is not sufficient; this person must in
addition command the
aid.
Tiie prececiingmakes one issue quite clear. The
. tradition of
"truth" is follov,zedby trrose *,ho rvould be
inspirecl by or would
command the deity, especiallythe solar deity. The
tradition of
"silsnca" is followed by thosc who, o't of their
own resources,
would rise to a status beyond ord.inary mankind.
And certainlv

20"TheBasisfor the Hindu Act of Truth,"

in Reviewof Religion(Nov.
1940):36-45.I-{islatestarticleon the subjectis.,Duty as Truth in
Aqcie't
lndia," in Proceedings
of theAmericanphilosophicat sicrety ll6, iro. 3 (June
1972): 252-268.
2rSeeChapter20.
378 BuddhistInsight

these routes are distinct and in vivid contrast, and so command

divergent allegiance. The Marusmfii definitely insists that the
Brahmans who appeal to the sun deiiy at dawn are superior to
the silent ascetics who try, like the Buddha, to be enlightened
just prior to dawn.
One comolication comes, for example, in the development of'
Buddhism, lvhere the Buddha began on the muni side, the Tathi-
gata who becameenlightenedwithout reliance on another teacher.
Then he moved to the other side as the Teacher who inspires the
disciples. tsut when the Buddha did decide to teach and gave
his first sermon, what he talked about was satya. The Buddha
mentioned four kinds oi satya of the dryas, meaning the persons,
who hearkened to his doctrine and became disciples in contrast
to ordinary people (the prthogjana) who do not hearken. The
satyas, as was already exposed, are the "undeniables"-that
there is suffering, there is the origin of suffering, there is the cessa-
tion of the origin, and there is the path leading to the cessation.
And sort of analogous to the Vedic and Upanipdic usage of the
word, there is more to it. So the Buddha in the first sermon
(Setting into Motion the Wheel of the Law) made explicit this
somethingmofe. Sufferingis not only undeniable; it is also to be
fully known; likervise,its origin is to be eliminated; the cessation
of the origin is to be directly experienced; the path is to be culti-
vated or contemplated.
In the case of the Lqws of Manu, as a legalistic text, "truth"'
means the verbal kind; and this kind was observed above as in-
tended in the magical function of truth, illustrated in the "Act
of Truth." This amounts to what is often called the lcarma'
kdryda (section of rites). Incleed, this is the tsuddhist senseof the
Four Noblo Truths, which are the announced truths of Buddhism
establishing the norms of conduct, even though early Buddhism
opposed the old Veclic ritual.
This is not to insist, however, that "truth" (satya) was emplo-
yed in the old upaniqads solely with this verbal sensewhen, as
though by magic, it was undeniable. That it was already used in
the more philosophical sense of truths that are understood or
realized, and are sometimes inexpressible (aniruacaniya),is ctrear
enough in the celebrated Pfllan vefse. This frequently cited verse
about truth is the flrst of four verses that appear both in the
Brhaddranyaka (Y, 15, I-4) and the brief isa {Ipanisad (15-18),
Two Traditions of India-Truth and Silence 379

and which constitute the prayer to the sun god,by a dying person;
S. Radhakrishnan mentions, ooEvento-day they are used by the
Hindus in their funeral rites."22 The first verse can be translated:
"The face of truth is covered by a golden bowl. Unveil it, O
PDsan, so that I who have trutir as my duty (satyadharma) may
see it !"
This verse foreshadows, on the one hand, the later terminology
of absolute and con.,zentionaltruth (p ararndrt ha andsarytur t i saty a) ;
and on the other hand, the distinction between direct view (pra-
tyak,ra) and the out-of-sight (parok;a). In Buddhist literature,
both approaches are explainable in terms of the Four Noble
Truths. Thus the Mddhyamika commentator Candrakirti in
chapter 5 of his Madhyamakduatdra explains why the truths of
Suffering, Source, and Path are conventional truth, while the
Truth of Cessation is supreme truth.z3 In the case of the Upa-
nisadic verse, the "face of truth" would representabsolute truth;
and "truth as duty," conventional practice of a distinguished type.
The later formulation of view distinction is found, for example,
in Dharmakirti's Pramdnaudrttika (II, 132): "The compassionate
one applies himself in the rneans so as to destroy suffering.
When the goal (: cessationof suffering) and its cause (: the
means) are out of sight, to explain thern is difilcult."2a The emi-
nent Tibetan commentator of Buddhist logic, Rgyal-tshab-rje,
expands this verse in his brief work "Guidance on the path of
authority" (p r amdpa-mdrga) :25

As to the perfection of application:-the person possessed

of great compassion at first himself comprehends directly the
ultimate condition of the four truths; and in conclusion
properly strives in the application. But when the two truths
of the causal means and the two truths of the fruitional goal

22ThePrincipalUpani;ads CNewYork : Harperand Bros.,1953),p. 577.

z3Wayman,"Buddhism," pp. 423-424.
zaI daydvdnduhkhahdndrtham updyegvabhiyujyate/
parok;opeyataddhetos taddkhyanaryhi duskarar.nll
26Tshad ma'i lamkhrid(Varanasi reprint),pp. 36-37:/ sbyorba phuntshogs
la sfiinrje chenpo danldan pa'i ganzaggi thogmar ran flid bdenbZi'i gnas
lugsmnon sum du rtogspa mthar thug pa la mnon par sbyorba'i brtson
'grusmdzadrigs te
/ thabsrgyu'i bdenpa gflis dafl thabsbyun 'brasbu'i
bden pa gfiislkog tu gyur pa'amsion du gyur kyanblo mi gsalba'i lhagma
lus na gtan la phyinci ma log par 'chadmi nus Zespa /.
380 Buddhist Insight

are out of sight or are not eariier clear to the intellect, there is
no capacity to explain them completely utio in errorless man-
ner to others.
Here, the two truths of the causal means must be the truths of
suffering and source of suffedog; rvhile the tr,vo of the fruitional
goal must be the cessationof suffering and the path leading to the
cessation.Interpreting the PDsan verse along the same lines,
we see that only when a person first has truth as duty can he
subsequentlycommand the exposure of the face of truth.

Tsp Two TR,qorrroNsoF TRurs aNo SneNce

In setting forth two traditions of India, as has been done with
truth and silence,it is tempting to list various sectsunder one or
another column. one can, for exarnple, place the Brahmanical
lineage-faithful to the four stagesof life-in tlie ,,truth', ,blumn,
and the asceticgroups (muni or sramana) in the ,,silenca,'column.
This runs into the immediate difficulty that the Buddha, rvho is
calied "great silent one" Qnahdmuni)and "gteat ascetic',(mahd-
sramarya),announces the four tirya truths and is held to be the
teacher of gods and men. His followers never depart frorn this,
eventually-although centuries later-naking much of trvo
truths, conventional and absolute. And again, the Brahmanical
linea-eehas its emphatic visionary side; and all sects have their
silence, even r'vhen merely exclusi.reness.Indeecl, it may be
principally the opponents who classify one or another school
under a particuiar heading, thus to attribute a limitation of action
or view to an adversary.
Holvever, it should have already become apparent that the two
traditions called "truth" and "silence" are roughly equivalent
to the vedanta classification, the karma-kdnqla and the jiidna-
krlt.tdct,where "truth" in its sense of the magical verbal truth
anrounts to the karma-kdn{a, and o'silence"as the attainment of
tlre r.r'ithdrawnascetic amounts to the jiidna-kdatda. Expounding
the Sar.nkaraposition, Surendranath Dasgupta says:

The teachings of the other parts of the vedas, the karrna-

kdt.trJa(those dealing r,vith the injunctions relating to the
performance of duties and actions), lvere intended for inferior
types of aspirants, r,vhereasthe teachings of the upanisad.s,
the jfianakaada (those which declare the nature of ultimate
Two Traditions of India-Truth and Silence 381

truth and reality), were intended only for superior

aspirants
who had transcendedthe limits of sacrificial duties
and actions,
and who had no desire for any earthly blessing or for
any
heavenly joy.ru
But the Laws of Manu takes the opposite point
of view, declaring
that the ritual performance of the savitri at dawn
is superior tJ
the silence-rvith whatever its knowredge (iiiana)-of
the yogi
meditating during the night. The celebrated.law book
is forced
into this position by its defense of dharma, the
Hindu cod.e of
duty.
It has been called to my attention that Kumdrila-bhatta
(the
seventh-century A.D. comrnentator on the Mimdrysd),
when dis-
cussing the nonorthodox systems as authority
lpramd4a) for
dharma (ad Jaimini-sfitraI 3.ll-14), asks whether
the Buddhist
dharma, being as it is a prq)oga-iastra (statement
of norms for
proper performance), is authoritative; and thus
deals with the
Buddhist dharma as an alternative to the brdhmalical
karma_
kdrtda and not as an alternative to the upaniqads.2?
Natu rully,
this observation is quite consistent with what has
been pres.nt.i,
namely, that one can indeed separatethe two traditions,
especially
from how commentators treat the opponent.
consequently,
there is a competition as to what properly constitutes
the verbal
truth (: korma-kaqt(a) as well as to the content
of silence
(: jfidna-kdat(a).In illustration, Buddhisrn not
onry presentsan
alternative dharma. but an alternative enlightened person
(the
Buddha as the MahdmunD. At the same time, it is
comprehen-
sible that these Indian systemsrvould not and do not treat
them-
selvesin the manner that the opponentsdo. Therefore, Buddhism
does not separateitself into two traditions, the dharma
and the
Buddha; rather it i'sists that the dha,na colnes from the Buddha
and has its authority (pramdrya) accorciingiy.

Tlln UpaNrgADrcDispurB Oven ,,TRUEDESTRES,,

while my main purpose has been to expose two traditions
in

26Histor!of hdian philosophy 5 vols.(cambridge:at the universitypress,

1932), l:436.
2Tcommunication from Fred lllorgan,lecturerin AsianReligicns,Univer_
sity of Bristol,in connectionwith my article,',The Buddhist.Not This,.
Not This'," Philosophy Eastand LV'est,2l, no.4(Oct.,1961):gg_I14.
382 Buddhist Insight

terms of "truth" and "Silence," I must acknowledge that such a

classification may imprison the mind in categories and lead to a
kind of game in which different schools and sects are mechani-
cally placed within this and that categorY, irrespective of how
those schools are constitr-rtedin reality. Categories should not be
formulated just for the sake of making them. The importance of
a classification is what one learns or brings forward in the course
of making it. Now, while collecting materials, as previously
organized, on this topic, there was no intention of bringing the
Brhaddraryyaka and Chandogya into conflict-but this is exactly
what happened. According to the Chandogya, when one finds
the self, he finds and achieves all desires-which that text quali-
fies as "true"; according to the Brhqdaraltyalca,when one finds
the self, lie overcomes ail desires.
Indeed, my anaiysisagrees with Dasgupta's advice: "It vrill
be better tbnt a modern interpreter should not agree to the claims
of the ancients that all the Upaniqads represent a connected
system,but take the toxig independentlyand separatelyand deter-
mine their neanings, though keeping an attentive eye on the
context in lvhich they appeaf."2s A disagreementbetvreen the
Brhaddraryyaka and the chandogya was long ago noticed by
Paul Deussen : "Betlveen the two great Upanishads, Brhadd-
ra0yaka, which servesas toxt-bock for the studentsof the (white)
Yajur-veda, and Chindogya, rvhich servesfor the students of the
Samaveda, ate tc be observed Inany, often Verbal agreements,
but side by side with iirese, certain traces of a thorough-going
polemic, which is shown, among other things, by the iact that
teachers,wfuo appear in the one Upanishad as the highest autfuo-
rities, oocuty only a subordinate positicn in tlie otirer. Thus, for
examplo, ushasta.. . .)'2s The present essaydefiles tlie polemic
in terms of the attitude torvard tire desires (kanta) that are
"true" (satya).
The meaning of the word satya as the undeniable is continued
into the well-known chapter 7 oit the "City of Bratrrnan" in the
Chandogya. Within this city of Brahman is contained all crea-
tures (bhuta) and all desires (kama); and the Upaniqad says,

zsHistor!of Indian Philosophy,l, p. 42.

zsTheSystemof the Veddnta,trans. CharlesJohnston (Delhi: Motilal
1972),pP. 146-147.
Banarsidass,
"TwoTraditionsof India-Truth and
Silence 3g3

"Those who depart hence, having found here the self (annan)
and those desires (koma) that are satya-for ttem in all worlcis
there is engagernentwith the desircs." That is, their desires are
unclr-niable(satya), as illustrated in section 2 of the chapter 7,
"If he desires the worid of the fathers, by his very conception,
fathers arise." Likewise, the world oi the rnothers, the world of
brothers, the rvorld of sisters, and so with tire worlcl of friend.s,
of periumes and gariands, of food and cirink, of song and music,
and fnally the world of r,vomen. His desires, being sa1)a, upon
being thought, are bound to happen. Then, in section 3, the
upanisad continues, oorhesesaffre are true (i.e. undeniable)de-
sires, with a covering of the false (anrta, the negation of rta)."
And it goes on to illustrate what is meant by the false : "Just as
those who do not knolv the field walk again and again over the
hidden treasure of gold and do not flnd it, even so all creatures
here go day after day into the Brahman-ivorld and yet do not flnd
it, for they are carried av/ay by untrutli." This shows that the
creatures are carried away by disorder, since snrta is the negation
of the objective truth of regularity and universal order.
This chdndogya position v/as not forgotten in subsequent
Upaniqadic literature. The Mu'qt{aka Upani;ad (III 1, 6), coming
after the rise of Buddhism, f,urnishes modern Ind.ia's motto
"Trutir alone conquers" (satyam eua jayate). This has politi-
cal overtones and rich slogan-connotation rvlr.entaken out of its
context : "Truth (i.e., tire undeniable) alone is victorious, not
untruth (artrta, i.e., disorder). By truth is laid out the path fead-
ing to the gods by which the seers (rsi) who have their desires
fulfllled prooeed to r.vhereis that supreme treasure." This trea-
sure, according to the Chandogya, is in the Brahman-world.
But the Byhaddraqryaka (III, 5, l), rvhen setting forth pro-
gressive renunciation as the way to know Brahnlcn, has a
significant opposrtion to the chdndogya's and ttte Mur3r.laka's
emplrasis on reahzing desires :
Norv l(ahola Kausitakeya asked him, "Yajfiavalkya,', said
he, "explain to me the Brahman tirat is directly experienced
and not indirectly experienced, rvhich is the self (dtinan)
rvithin everything." "This is your self which is within every-
thing." "Yajfiavalkya, rvhich one is r,viihin everything i',
"The one which transcends hunger and thirst, sorrow and
delusion, old age and death. The brdhmanas, having recog-
394 BuddhistInsight

nized (uidituO that Self, having overcome the desire for sons,
the desirefor wealth, and the desirefor'worlds (loka),live the
life of rnendicants (bhiksr). A desire for sons amounts to a
desire for wealth; a desire for wealth amounts to a d.esiref,or
worlds; for both of these amount only to desires.Bo

And if that passagedid not sufficiently castigatedesires,BTha-

doraryyaka,rY, 4, 6-7, drives home the point. After mentioning
forcefully that the man who desires (lrdmayamdnal) is simply
reborn, it gives this verse for the man who does not desire :
"when all the desires(kamQ that abide in his heart are renoun-
ced, then the mortal becomes immortali he here attains
Brahman."
But the question immediately arises : what is in back of this
disagreement, the Brhaddragyaka eschewing all desires, and the
chdndogya pushing for true desires. The answer appears to be :
their creation myths. The two positions of those upanisads
probably both have in their background the S.g-ueda"Hymn of
creation" (x, 129), where it was said, "Desire enterecrthe one
in the beginning : it was the earliest seed... the bond of being in
non-being." Then the question arises: Does one attain_the highest
state by reverting to the beginning condition ? The Brhaddran-
yaka, and Buddhism as well, answers,No. The Chandogya, and
inferentially any other treatise that lines up with it, answers,yes.
The Brhadarapyaka would not recommend getting back to the
original state because(chap. l, sec. 2) it says : ..There was no
particular thing here in the beginning. only by death was this
covered, or by hunger, for hunger is death." The Chandogya
(chap. 3, sec. 19) has a different story, called '''The Cosmic Egg.',

The sun is Brahman-so it is taught. This has an explanation:

In the beginning this (worid) was non-existent (asat). It be-
came existent (,sat). It grer,'r.It changed into an egg. It lay
for the e;r.tentof a year. It burst open. trn the egg-shell there
were the silver and the gold. what rvas the silver, that is this
eartir. what was th.e gold that is the sky. v/hat rvas the
outer member (i.e. the chorion) is the mountains. what was
the inner membrane (i.e. tire arnnion) is the mist with the

soThispassage precedes
immediately the previouscitationof Brhadara4yaka
Il I, 5, 1.
 Two Traditions of India-Truth and Silence 385

clouds. what were the veins are the rivers. what was the
fluid of the membranous sac is the ocean. Ancl that which
was born, it is yonder sun. As he was being born, shouts and
cries rvere directed toward him, as were also all creatures and.
all desires. Therefore, at his rise and at his every return,
shouts and cries are directed toward him, as are also all crea-
tures and all desires. He who knowing it in this way, repeat-
edly meditateson the sun as Brahman, is one to whom well-
disposed shouts would be directed, and they would gratify
him, yea, gratify him.

Thcrefore, in the chandogya lineage, it is an appropriate aim to

return to the original condition, namely, to find in the city of
Brahman all creaturesand all desires,to be as the sun when it was
being born.
About the true desires, the Bhagauadgtta(III, i0) says in appa-
reat agreement: o'of yore when the Lord of Creatures created.
men with sacrifice,he said : 'By this may you bring forth, and
may this be for you the cow which grants desires(i$akfunaclhuk,\.,,,
There were other rvords in Indian literature : cintdma4ri (the
fabulous gern which grants all desires to its possessor),kalpa-
urlcsa (the wishing tree in Indra's paradise). However,
K. N. upadhyaya regards "disinterested action" (nipkama-karmq\
as the "crux" of the tshegauadgitd's message.slTherefore, it
rnight be the case that the Bhagauadgtta was attempting to re-
concile the Upanisadic dispute exposed earlier rvith a formula
that nonattachment to the desirable is eventually rewarded by all
desires.If this possibility has not hitherto been recognize,l by
interpreters of the Bhagauadgitd,it may be simply due to the fact
that they failed to acknorvledgean upanipdic dispute which the
Bhagauadgtta might try to bridge.
As to schools affiliated to the BThadararlyaka,tr make bold to
point to Bu<ldhism,becausethe tsuddhist goal of niruiina is also
beyond desire. And Buddhisrn heads its formula of Dependent
origination with nescience(auidyi)-a word. which is not found
at arl in th.e Bhagauacigfta.sz At least once Budclhism says ne-
scienceis the father,and craving(tr;pa)isthe mother (per Lankd-

stEarlyBuddhismand the Bhagavadglta(Delhi,IgT1.l,,p. 146.

s2Surendranath
Dasgupta,History of Indianphilosophy,vol. 2, p. 49g.
386 BuddhistInsight

uatdra-sfitra);33but the commentary on "the (Iddnauarga says

nescienceis the mother.sa The Buddhist genesismyth in the Pdli
and other scriptures starts out with the sentient beings in bodies
made of mind that are wherever they wish to be, and who feed
on joy (compare Vedic creation hymn). Their fall begins with
greed stemming from delusiol; next there is lust arising from
eating; and finally hatred due to stealing.soBuddhism not only
has negative procedures-removal of deflling conditions-for
reversion to a superior plalle of consciotlsness,but also a positive
requirement for adding knowledge arrived at in samddhi attain-
ment. The Vedintic currents that stress knowledge (ii;dna)
as the main requirement for liberation QnokSa)thereby agfee on
this particular point that one does not simply return to a pri-
mordial condition. Consequently, our previous observation that
Buddhisrn and the Upaniqads fuave a rival jfidna-karyqlashould
be rnodified to admit the possibility that Buddhisrn shares to some
extent the jiiano-kaat(.taof the Brhadararyyaka.At least this is a
partial breakthrough in the mystery of the Buddhist relation,
if any, to the Upanisads.
Holvever, it should be noticed that the categotizing of the old
Upaniqads as the jiidna-kdncla in contrast to the preceding Brah'
malla ritual literature categorized as the karma-ktiltc.lats again
an ovelsimplification that becomes strained when one examines
the facts. The Chdndogya naturally exemplifies the previously
exposed connotation of "trLLth," because it is an appendage to
the sdma veda (rneaning the collection of vedic hymns to be
chanted), and the word "Chando gya" means singer of these
chants. This Upaniqad is therefore ooncerned in part with the
Vedic meters rvhich, by their proper utterance, would satisfy the
Laws of Manu use of the word "truth" (satya); but this belongs to
the karma-kc14(a, The Brhaddra7yakq has a mantra section and
many other topics that are not easily subsumed under a single
rubric, so it is by no means to be thoroughly qualified as a ifiana'
kduda. Presumably, the over-all inclusion of the upanilads in
the jfiana-kaAqla intends the emphasis or principal object of the

ssDaisetzTeitaro Suzuki, trans., TheLankavataraSutra (London, l93Z),

p. l2l.
saCf., note 8 herein, PP. 210-211.
3bWayman,'oBuddhism," pp. 428-430.
 Two Traditions of India-Truth and Silence 3g7

upanipads; and, in particular, the part of the Upaniqads which

most interests the Advaita Veddnta.
The subsequent Tantric currents-mainly of Saivitic or of
Buddhist character-also have their two sides. As van Gulik
writes : "Above all, they enumerate what desires can be granted
by reciting this dhdrapt and how many times it should be recited.
certain rites are required to accompany the reciting in order to
obtain the fulfillment of certain d.esires.,'s6But this recitation of
dhdraqtis,whether incantations or spells, is in the ample category
of ritual utterances,including the sdvitri, which the Laws of Manu
plainly counts as 'otruth".
D. L. Snellgrove, in the introduction to his work, The Heuajra
Tantra, says, "To dislike the tantras, is but to dislike the r,vorst
tendenciesin man, and of the terrible existenceof these tenden-
cies we have ample experience in every generation. The tantras
claimed to remove like by like, and sc of r,vhat else should they
tell ?"37 By removing like by like, snelrgroverefers to such lines
as the citation in the Dohi commentary, "By passion the rvorld
is bound; and precisely by passion it is rereased'; (rdgeryabadlryate
loko rdge\aiua hi rnucyare). His remark about disliking the
tantras is consistent with what I consider to have been a serious
cleavage between the Brhsdaranyaka and the chdndogya follow-
ing. Because-even ii modern scholars do not transfer their
dislike of the tantras to the Chdndogya Upanipad_the fact still
remains that the chdndogya theory of desiresin the hearr could be
paraphrased,"By false desire the world is bound; and precisely
by true desire it is released." so, as often happens, people clo
not know what thev dislike.

CoNcrusroxs
In the foregoing I have attempted to set forth a rivalry of two
traditions, "truth" and "silence," while admitting that the tradi-
tions becorne distinguished especially by the opponent to a sect,
who finds it easier to mount a "refutation" by tieating somelvhat

36R.H. van Gulik, siddham;An Essayon the History of sanskrit

studies
in china andJapan(NagpurInternationalAcademyof Indian culture, 1956),
p.77.
37TheHevajraTantra: A criticat study (London:oxford universitypress,
1959),part I p. 42.
388 Buddhist Insight

artificially, a single aspect of an opposing sect. Then, while

acknowledging that the Upaniqads themselves are not distingui-
shed by the two ffaditions, the same investigation shows that the
Upaniqads are indeed distinguished by the attitude to "true
desires." The traditions thus made salient appear more fasci-
nating than what T. R. V. Murti sets forth in The Central Philos*
ophy of Buddhism as the "two traditions in Indian philosophy"-
the acceptanceor rejection of the permanent dtman or self of the
Upaniqads. Therein Buddhism is characterized as rejecting this
permanent dtman in favor of a changing, impermanent self.
Of course, Buddhism does have its positive disagreementswith
the Upaniqadic position, especially as concerns this theory of
dtman. The Upani;ads do agree on stressing a Self, even though
obviously disagreeing about some matters, such as the role of
desire. Murti's classification is faithful to the usual commenta-
rial style of distinguishing the orthodox and the non-orthodox
among the Indian schools.
A value of exposing the Indian traditions in the manner of the
present article is the readiness of the classification for problem
solving, that is, for explaining in contrast to simple portrayal.
For example, one can immediately find a plausible solution for
the term satydgraha in the modern movement associated with
Gandhi.38 In the light of the rich connotation of such words as
satya and anrta, Gandhi did not really have to deliver a learned
exposition of his term satydgraha (adherence to the truth). In
fact, the power of the term dependsin part on its not being ration-
alized or intellectually explained. It insimrated that the produce
of the spinning wheel was satya, to wit, undeniable and not in
vain, and therefore victorious, while the British stuff was anrta,
to wit, disordered and a lie, and therefore the sure loser to satya.
The wornen doing the spinning-for the most part illiterate-
would not have read the Upaniqads. They were raised in a culture
steeped in the connctation of the word satya.
Further, the meaning of satya as explained by Velankar is its
usage in ritual and politics, while the meaning in the Plqan verse
turns out to be its philosophical usage in subsequent centuries.
Finally, the precious book by Max Picard, The World of Silence,

sBGandhi ; An Autobiography : The Story of My Experiments with Truth

(Boston : BeaconPress,1965),pp. 318-319.
Two Traditions of India-Truth and Silence 389

reminds us of the spiritual resourcesthat develop in silence,

consistentwith the Tibetans' translatingthe word muni by the
"capable one" (thub pa). Picard also writes, in agreementwith
the Lows of Monu, "Languageis more than silencebecausetruth
is manifestedin language."
 20

THE HINDU.BUDDHIST RITE OF TRUTI{-_

AN INTERPRETATION

some years ago at the university of california professor Murray

B. Eunxenu r,vas teaching a class in Aryastrra's Jatqkamald-
*hi+ it r,vasmy privilege to attend-and during the reading of
the Siuijataka called attention to two articles : (l) Eugene watson
BunrrNcaME, "The Act of Truth (Saccakiriya) : A Hindu Spell
and its empioyrnent as a psychic motif in Hindu Fiction," Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society 1917, 429-467; (2) W. Norman
BRowx, "The Basis for the Hindu Act of Truth," Reuieiu of
Religion, Nov. 194A, 36-45. The contribution of BunTTNGAME
is to collect many examples oi this motif; and for the process
involved he goes no further than to assert, "An Act of Truth is a
formal cleclaration of fact, accolnpanied by a command or reso-
lution or prayer that the purpose of the agett shall be accornp-
lished." BnowN decidesthat"inevery casethe basis of the Trutir
Act is the singlenesswith which the performer, or some other
person used by the performer as a dynamic reference, fulfils his
personal duty...In this way ihe individual achievespersonal inte-
grity and fits the cosmic purpose. Life then becomes a sacrificial
act, a rite (kriya), and as such, when perfectly executed, it can
accomplish any wish, compelling even the gods, as we are taught
in the vedas and the Brahmarlas is possible through the sacrifice."
There is an obviously different approach in those two articles_
BuRrwcal,rn is more interested in the Truth Act and the results
credited to it as elements in stories than he is in real life masic.
 392 BuddhistInsighr

BnowN treats them as miracles, which, while related in stories,

are neverthelessgrounded in the religious outlook of the people
who therefore regard these miracles as possible even though
'exceptionally rare. In the "real life" approach,
one then lvonders
why the people think such events might occur, and Bnowx well
states the case in terrns of the person u'ho so succeeds : he has
been superlative in doing his duty, the Hinciu clharnta, whatever
it may be--as, s'y, the dha,nq of a king, of a wife, of a
courtesan.
BnowN was aware that there is more to it than this, becausethat
person doing the Truth Act must verbalize the fact of his super-
human performance of dharma. So Bnowx rightfuliy brings into
the discussion "the confession ritual perforrned. at the varuna-
praghasas,when the priest asks the sacrificer's rvife rvith whom
she consorts other than her husband." And he continues, ,,rt
is essentialfor her to speak, not becausespeakinglessensthe sin,
but because it brings exactitude, that is 'truth', into the rite.
And it is significant that she speaks out before varuna, r,vho is
the vedic custodian of the rtq, cosmic truth or order.,, It is of
interest that thc spoken appeal is also to varrina in the case of
the four ordeals-the balance, fire, water, ancl poison.l But in
the casesboth of the varunapraghdsas and the ordeals the object
is the ascertainment of the unknown truth; whereas in the case
of the Truth Act, the emphasis is not on ascertainrnent of the
truth however unpleasant, but on teiling the truth that is extra-
ordinary, superhuman.
In the Pali expression saccakiriyd, tbe lciriyd (skt. kriya) is
the doing that is here the ritual speaking. HrnRrsoN states that
in Latin, Sanskrit, and Greek there are nominal iormations based
on the verbs o'to do, make " that have side meanings of .,ritual
operations of a magical character," but provides no textual refe-
rences.2For the case of sanskrit she cites the word kytya.
our present word kriya also conforms to her view : one of its
standard rneanings is "rite." Magical aims are certainly behind
the performance of many rites in ancient times, while certain
social rites, such as those of marriage, may also have had in an-

1Dr. Ludo RocHrR, vacaspati Miira, vyavahdracintamani (Gentse orienta-

listiscle Eljdragen: Gent, 1956), pp. 320 ff.
zJane Ellen HAnnrsoN, Themis, Meridian Books, p. g2.
 'The
Hindu-Buddhist Rite of Truth-an Interpretation 393

cient times some magical associations. Therefore I employ the

rendition "Rite of Truth.', '
The classicalsourcesof the Rite of rruth are the Hindu Rama-
yqrla and the Buddhist Milindapafiha. However, the vedic lite-
rature already sets forth the creative nature of truth, especially
in these two passagesof the Atharua-veda and the yajur-veda :
It
(Td-qeqqrTl( tq f,rarTq( il"{o 1{, 1, ? |

"That becameTruth, by That was produced (the world)."

l1l
q q'i..
3r€ fr 3r* 1l,io mtrf,r{ rrqojc, { |
"May my Truth and my Faith bringlabout (the wish) through
,sacriflce!"
The former passage posits Truth in a way comparable to the
doctrine of the Logos, an intermediary between the Divine intel-
lect and the created r,vorld.3The latter passagedepicts the method
by which man may duplicate the primordial achievement : by
sacrifice he will copy the plan of the Divine intellect, by Faith
convince himself of the eiticacy of the procedure, and by Truth
bring about the desired extra-normal results. This tenet of the
verbal component acting as an intermediary between mind and
the objective lvorld is worked out in a variety of ways in old
Indian lore and classicalIndian metaphysics.we need only re-
call the role of vak (the female personification of speech) uttiog
as the iqkti, or power, for the lord to reveal himself in the world.
This doctrine was elaborated with vak as a group of phonetic
powers, the mdtrikd, and Kashmir Saivism as well as the Tantric
'schools wrote extensively on the emanation process of these
mediating phoneme mothers.a
The verbal form of the Rite of Truth is not a tradition al mantra.
It is rather analogous to the upanisadic expressionscalled vidyas,

3cf. H. J. Rosr,Religionin Greece

andRome,HarperTorch-books, p, 132.
+cf. Andr6 PAooux,Recherches sur Ia syrnbolique
et I'dnergiede la parole
,dans certains textes tantriques, Publications de I'institut de civilisation
indienne Fasc. 21 (Paris, 1963), especialry chap. v, ,,L 'dmanation
.phon6matique".
394 BuddhistInsight

which are really updsand-s or meditative exercises.5 As K.

Narayanaswami Aryan points cut,6 there are three fruits of these
Vidyd-s, namely (1) Duritaksaya, the warding off of calamities;
(2) AiSvaryaprdpti, gaining of the Siddhi-s or occult powers;
and (3) Krarnamukti, progressive liberation. The standard
examples of the Rite of Truth e-xhibit fruits falling within the
first two categories.For example, in AryaSfira's Jdtakamdld the
first categoryis exhibited by the Rite of Truth in three jdtakas,
i.e., No. XIV, The Story of Supdraga, to turn a ship back
frorn its perilous position near the fabulous Mare-mouth,
site of the submarine fire; No. XV, The Story of the Fish, to
call down the rain, thus averting the calamity to the fish in a
lake almost exhausted of water; No. XVI, The Story of the
Quail's Young, to turn back a forest conflagration. The second
category is exhibited in No. II, the Sibilatat<a, wherein the Rite,
of Truth achieves for King SiUl the divine eyes.
Arya6Dra'sformulation of the Sibijataka around fourth century,
A.D., not only employs the Upaniqadic trptisana aspect of the
rite but also contains elements of considerable interest and rele-
vance to an understanding of this R.ite of Truth. In the first
part of the story, Indra appears in the form of a blind beggar
before tire generous King Sibi and asks for the King's eyes,which
the King with great delight gives to the beggar. In the second
part, the King is seatedwith crossedlegs at a lotus pond, indicat-
itrg that he is in meditative retirement-his "blindness" sug-
gesting allegorically the blindfold of the candidate for initiation.T
There is the humming of a swarm of bees (madhukaraganopa-
kujita); later on, when the King obtains two eyes of divine sight,
large drums (dundubhi) of the gods sound forth with deep pleas-
ing sounds-the former and latter sounds suggestingthe first and
last of the five andhata sounds going with yoga success.sIndra

sCf. Dr. V. RacnavaN'sintroductionto K. Narayanaswami Atutx, The

Thirty-Two Vidya-s(Adyar; IVladras,2nd ed., 1962).
elbid.,p. 9.
zCf.Giuseppe Tucct, TibetanPaintedScrolls(Rome,1949),p. 247.
sSriSaChandra VASu, tr. The Shiva Sanhita (Allahabad, 1905),Chap. V,
verse2T : "The first sound is like the hum of the honey-intoxicatedbee, next
that of a flute, then of aharp; after this by the gradual practicc of Yoga, the
destroyerof the darknessof the world, he hears the sounds of ringing bells.
The Flindu-Buddhist Rite of Truth-an Interpretation 395

decides it is time for the King to get his eyes back. Why cannot
Indra, the porverful one of the Gods (Deuendra),simply go ahead
and restore the eyes ? As a preliminary answer to this question,
Indra is now made to say, "Hence I shall endeavour to have his
eye produced by showing away." The word updya is used for this
w&y, or approach, which turns out to be the Rite of Truth.
Later, AryaSura will give a Buddhist dogmatic answer in terms of
the requirement of two causes (hetu and pratyaya) fot a thing
to arise. Indra asks Sibi why he still has his mind on the mendi-
cants, suggesting that the answer will remove the condition of
blindness. The King replies : "Why is there this urging of your
honor that I be made to boast ? (ko yam asmdn uikatthayitum
atrabhauato nirbandhalt). But, Devendra, pray lend ear ! Just
as at that time and at this time, the mendicants' words, which are
certainly expressions of mendicancy, are as pleasing to me as
if made of benedictions, so may one eye of mine appear." The
narrative continues, "Then, by the king's power of truth blessing
(satyddhislhdna) and by his outstanding accumulation of merit
(pu4yopocaya), no sooner had he expressed those words, than
one eye appeared,..."
Let us consider the implications of Arya5ira's account. First
of all, we observe that the Rite of Truth is conducted before
Indra, so Buddhism is here preserving a bit of the old Indra
religion for the goal of AiSvaryaprapti. It could be expected that
after Indra dethroned Varufa as the chief Vedic deity, Indra
would have to carry on in some fashion certain functions formerly
the business of Varula. While Varula was the upholder of the
rta and satya, Indra becomes the one who tests the satya and
besiovrsappropriate reward or punishment. However, in the three
stories Nos. XIV, XV, and XVI, for the goal of Duritakqaya
there is an indiffflerentrelation to Indra. In No. XIV, the R.ite
of Truth is done before the sea-traders(visible witnesses)and the
gods in the sky (invisible witnesses).In No. XV, it is done before
the King of the Devas (deuardja), who in this case is probably
Indra incorporating the function of the rain-god Parjanya; and
the story continues with a eulogy by Sakra, Indra among the
deuas. In No. XVI, it is done before the fire-god, Agni.

then soundslike roar of thunder." The original Sanskritof this text wasnot
available to us at the time of writing.
 "396 BuddhistInsight

Next, we observe that the basic cause (hetu) of the eye is the
accumulation of merit, which professor BRowN's article enables
us to identify as a substitution for the Hindu dharma. This is
entirely puruSakdra, obvious acts of men, as is also the Rite of
Truth, constituting the updya as well as the anu5thdnafor a corres-
ponding adhislhdna. The blessing (adhis{hane by the deity is rhe
conditional cause (pratyaya) and constitntes a sort of daiua dis-
pensation. But note that in the Milindapaiiha account set forth
in BunrmcAME's article, pp. 437, ff., the Buddhist monk N6ga-
sena holds that through the Power of Truth and no other cause,
King Sibi received heavenly eyes. consistent with early Buddh-
ism's rejection of the necessity for an Isvara or lorcl, Nagasena
rejects any need for the adhi;trhanaprovided by the deity. Naga-
sena'smeaning of the word for "truth" implies th.ecreative agency
of vak incorporated by Truth. This is the implication also in the
category of Buddhist scripture said to be promulgated by "mind
truth-force," for exampie, "the r,vord.sof the doctrine (dharma),
which proceed from mountains, trees,vralls, ancl so forth, through
the force of having been uttered by the Bhagavat rnentally with
the power of truth (satya-bala)."s In such case, tire successful
performer of tire Rite of Truth is himself the deity; and truth is
not simply the ethical kind, included by tire Buddhists in the
"accumulation of merit," but has in addition a metaphysical
implication of "reality" as the word scfiya is translated in Upa-
nisadic contexts by Deussen.lo In the oldest vedic literature
Nagasena'sposition would be untenable becausethe first mortal
to become exemplary in dharma u'as the celebrated yama and
so he received the title Dharmaraja; but in the old tradition he
did not become a god : he was tantamount to a deua with the
commensal relation of drinking with the gods,1l and presumably
also with the interlocutory relation of talking to the gods, as is
the situation in the Rite of Truth.
Finally, there is the explicit element of boasting, which rong

gFromtheMs. translationby F.D. LsssrNc

and Arex wayuaN of Mkhas
grubrje'sFundamentalsof theBuddhistTantras, (Mouton,The Hague, l96g),
ChapterTwo.
10PaulDnussrN,ThePhilosophyof theupanishads, auth. Eng. tr. by Rev.
A. S. GEnrN,(Edinburgh, 1906),p. 162.
1lcf. our "studiesin Yamaand Mara," Indo-IranianJournal,III (1959),
p. 50.
 The Hindu-Buddhist Rite of Truth-an Interpretation 397.

ago attracted my attention. It is a feature of r4any vedic hymns

that the deity proclaims his prowess in a boasting manner or the
poet boasts on the deity's behalf. For example, the goddess
vdk boasts (RV, x, 125,5) : "I myself announcethis thing favor-
able for gods and men. whomever the man I love, him I make
mighty, him a brahman, him a seer, him a wise man." As long
as men believe in gods, they are not held in vain to boast or have
their deeds boasted of, because they are believed to perform in
fact the acts as stated. But holv can puny man claim such super-
human action except with the hurnan fault of boasting ? Arya-
S[ra suggeststhat boasting ceasesto be a fault, and hence be-
comes divine, when it is uttered in the Rite of Truth. This feature
of boasting seems to have an eiernent in common with what
anthropologists call "the breaking of the taboo" in the case of
"primitive" societies.For example, the classic exposition by
cn.q.wtnv12 uses this terminology for marriage breaking the
taboo involved in segregation of the sexes. If it is permissible to
apply this description to Hindu rites or festivals, certain ones,
such as the Holi festival in its older form, and Tantric rites with
their striking indulgence in foods and sexual partners-seem to
be more appropriately char acterized.thereby than is the Rite
of Truth. In a negative way, the latter Rite exhibits a weak aspect
of taboo breaking. In a pcsitive way, the Rite has some feature
of rvhat is called a "rite of passage,"rs.o incorporate and confirm
an individual in a new group, in this casethe society of the gods.
The performer has an interrnediary, a meditative utterance,
the uidyd-which is a goddess (strtdeuatd),rain this caseVak, the
Truth of himself, producing the desired reification.

l2Ernest CRAwLry, The Mystic Rose, Meridian Books, Inc.

lsArnold van GBNNTp, Les rites depassage,available in Englisir translation,
The Rites of Passage,a Phoenix Book, university of chicago press.
14cf. Yoginitantra(venkatesvarapress,Bombay,1962), p.
40r : mantra-
vidyavibhage tu dvividhar.n jdyate priye I mantrdh pumdevatih prokti
vidyah stridevatdh smrrah //.
 2l

SIGNIFICANCE, OF DREAMS IN
INDIA AND TIBET

Dreams exert a perennial fascination on the lvaking mind. whe-

ther or not we accept a certain western theory of dream arche-
types, it is certain that in the fact of clrearning itself, in that an
individual culture attributes significance to it and makes conse-
quent use of it, we find a common bond of mankind.
The allusions to drearns and the recording and classification of
thenr in India (by the word suapna) and in Tibet (by the rvord.
rmi-lam) usually occur in brief passagesin biographies, psycho-
logical rrrritings, Mahdyd.na Buddtrist and Tibetan tantric iexts,
and in general literature, or at most in chapters cf rvorks on medi-
cine and astrology and in Jaina omen books. There are, however,
some treatisesrepresentedby title to be devoted entirely to dreams,
pre-eminently Jagaddeva'ssuapnacintdmar3i,which has a Gerrnan
translation, as well as the brief works such as suapnddhydya,
in Sanskrit with Hindi translation, and the suapnauicdr,in Hindi.
There are undoubtedly such brief tracts on dreams in all the ver-
naculars of India and of course in the ubiquitous Gypsy d.ream
book in English which one can purchase from sidewalk book
displays in large Indian cities.l

lDreambibliography for the Vedicliteratureis referredto in an articleby

the Japanese SanskritistN. Tsuji, "on the Adbhuta-br6hma4a" (in Japa-
nese),Annualof Orientaland ReligiousStuclies(original title in Japanese),
No. 1 (1964),p. 41. Indian dreamsand their interpretationhave a briei
popularizingsurveyin French by Anne-MarieEsnoul, ..Les songeset leur
400 Buddhist Insight,

A. DREAMS POPULARLY BELIEVED AND AS THEMES IN LITERATURE

we may cite first the d.reamswhose importance is independent of

whether they were really dreamt, it only being necessary that
people at large think so. Thus the dreams of parents establish-
ing sacred mother-son or father-son relations. The dreams attri-
buted to the mother of Mahavira, historical founder of the Jaina
sect (i.e. , the fourteen, beginning vrith the white elephant), as well
as to the mother of Gautama Buddha (e.g., the white elephant
entering her womb) are of this type. It would be difficult to prove
that a different social order (polyandry) is responsiblefor the fact
that to both the father and mother of rson-kha-pa, founder of'
the Gelugpa sect in Tibet, are attributed the dreams by which
Tson-kha-pa was regarded as all three bodhisattuas,Maffju6ri,
Avalokitesvara, and Vajrapdti.2
Again, the dream theme of literature depicts dreams in roles
that may or may not have occurred in reality. The parallel dream
is illustrated by the tale in Kathdsaritsdgaraof how king Vikrama-
ditya and the princess Malayavati first met in dream and were
flnally united in reality.s fn the work attributed to Bh6sa, the
SuapnaudsauaCatta, the king goes to Padmavati's empty bed,
falls asleep on it, and dreams of seeing Visavadatti and talking
to her, but there in fact she happens not to be dreaming. This
example, cited in Bhoja's Srngdra Prakdia, illustrates the capacity
of a dream to breed love and thus serveas a literary theme.aIn this
connection the Tamil classic Tirukkural (No. 1216)rnay be cited :
And if there tvere no waking hour, my love
In dreams would never from my side remove.s

interprOtation Oansl'fnde," in Les songeset leur interprdtation

(Paris: fAi
tionsdu Seuil,1959),pp. 207-47.'
Thereis a psychological treatmentfrom rnedical,Indian philosophical, and
AbhidharmaBuddhistsourcesin a chapterby JadunathSinhain his Indian
Psychology : Perception(Lonclon,1934),pp. 306-23.
2Thesedreanrsare in the brief biographycalledZur ltdebsrnam thar
legsbiadkun hdus,inTson-kha-pa's Gsunftbum(Collected Works), Lhasa
edition. The identificationof Tson-kha-pawith the three bodhisattvas
is in the well-knownpoemof the Gelugpasecitradition,Dmigs brtse rna.
3Esnoul,op. cit., pp. 226-27.
aV. Raghavan,Bhoja's,iyngaraPrakasa(Madras : publishedby author,
1963),pp. 738,895.
iTirukkural,with translations
in Englishby Rev. Dr. G. U. Pope, Rev.
W. H. Drew, Rev. John Lazaras,and Mr. F. W. Ellis (Tirunelveli,1,962).
Significance
of Dreamsin India andTibet 40I

As also Kdliddsa's The Cloud Messenger : "Wretch, I saw thee

in a dream caressingsome woman or other."6 The ominous drearn
appears in the Shilappadikoram.' "The Pdndya queen spoke :
'Al a s !
I s aw, in a d re a m ..th e n i g h t d e v o u ri ng the sun....I
saw the rainbow shining in the night....Alas !"'?

B. CLASSIFICATION OF DREAMS
with regard to dreams in general, the Indian genius for classifying
comes into play. There are some differences between the Hindu,
Jaina, and Buddhist works as well as much in common. The
simplest division is into auspicious (iubha) and inauspicious
(aiubha). The division is seen to be very ancient by the words
sDapna and dultsuapnato mean good and bad dreams and also
much later in a chapter of mundane astrology.8 Esnoul points
out that the key words for good dreams and bad dreams stayed
fairly constant from the earliest lists down to the tv;elfth-century
work by Jagaddeva.eThe Suapnddhyayais based on this two-
fold division by the words i;laphala, 'ohaving desirable effect,"
and anisyaphala,"having undesirable effect." This work begins
the good dreamsby saying (s1.2-4):"rf a man seesa crossingover
of a stream or body of water, the sun rising into the sky, a blazing
fire, the vision of moon-disk among the asterisms and. planets,
a mounting in palaces or to the summit of temples, he attains
success."It begins the bad dreams (Sl. 39-40): "If one seesthe
sun or moon devoid of light or the asterisrns and other stars
tumbling down; or sees the ASoka tree, the Oleander, or the
Pald6a tree in full bloom [apparently all of red blossoms], he
attains sorrow."lo

eKdliddsa, The Cloud Messenger,trans. Franklin and Eieanor Edgerton

(Ann Arbor : IJniversity of Michigan Press, 1964),p. 79.
zllango Adigal, Shilappadikaram by Prince llango Adigal, trans. Alain
Dani6lou (New York : New Directions, 1965),p. 126.
sTsuji, op. cit., p. 41. Seealso the words used in N. P. SubramaniaIyer
(trans.), Kalaprakaiika (Tanjore : Lawley Electric Printing Press, l9I7),
chap. xlii.
eEsnoul,op, cit., p, 221.
toSvapnddhyaya, with Hindi commentary (Bombay : VenkatesvaraSteam
Press, 1927):
/ nadi-samudra-taraqamakdSa-gamanarnyathd /
/ bhiskarodayanar.n caiva prajvalar.n tar.n hutd1anamll2ll
402 Buddhist Insight

Nebesky-wojkowitz reports that in Tibet it is believed that

various deities and demons produce dreams : "If one saw a snowy
mountain or a soaring white bird, then the lha fdeua]caused this
dream. . . . To see snakes,frogs, girls with a pale-blue skin, and
mountain-meadows,are mirages caused by the klu [naga]... .
and if one trembles with terror and fear in the sleep, this is due
to the influence of the bdud [Mara]" (to mention only those due
ro spirits identifiable with Indian deities).l1
The Jaina work R.islasamuccayasays :

ll2. Dream is twofold. One is that which is told by the god

and the other is a natural dream. That drean is a dream told
by a god vrhere a mantra (sacred formula) is recited.
li3. The other (viz., a natural dream) occurs when one, void
of worries and well-poised body and r,veli-proportionedhumo-
urs, gets [it], indeed, without (muttering) a mantra (sacred
formula).12

The expression "lacking well-proportioned humours" suggests

the threefoid division rvhere pathologicai disorders are explained
in the medical works to involve imbalance of the three hurnours,
"wind," "bile," and "phlegm." In the sixty-eighthPariSistaof the
Atharuu-Veda men are said to h.ave the temperaments bilious
(fiery), phlegmatic (watery), and sanguine (windy). Different
dreams are attributed to such persons respectively: for ttre bilious,
dreams, for exampie, of arid land and of burning objects; for
the phlegmatic, dreams, for example, of nature in splendor and
burgeoning life; for the sanguine, dreams, for example, of racing
clouds and of forest creatures running in terror.re In the Ques-

I graha-nak$atra-tdrdndrncandrama4dala-darsanarnI
/ harmyelv irohanam caiva prdsada-Sikharepi va ll3ll
/ evam ddini samdrttvd naral] siddhim avdpnuydtll4ll
adityarn vdtha candram vi vigatacchavikamyathd ll
patar.ntacdtha nak.:atramtarakddim6ca vd Vadill39ll
a6okaln karaviram v6. paldSamvdtha pulpitam /
svapndnte yas tu pa5yetanaralt Sokamavdpnuydtll40ll.
1lRene de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet ('s-Graven-
hage : Mouton & Co., 1956),p. 466.
lzDurgadeva, Ri;tasantuccaya,trans. A. S. Gopani (Bombay : Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan, 1945),p. 56.
13Esnoul,op. cit., pp. 215-17.
 Significance
of Dreamsin India and Tibet
403
tions of King Miltndo, there are said to be
six men who d.ream :
the foregoing three, (4.)those under influence
of a deity, (5)'those
who dream under influence of their experiences,
and (6) those
with prophetic dreams. The text adds tlat
only the last-named
dream is true.la The basic Jai'a classification
in the wonderful
book of omens, Afigauijjd, is into cliitrha, .,seen,,
; rta_di1tha,
-auyakta-clr,t{a),
"unseen"; and auatta-dillha (sanskrit : .,inscrut_
ably seen" (or both seen and unseen).1sVarious
lists increase
the number of sense organs invoived. Trre tsuddhist
Mah ayana
text "Meeting of the Father and son" (pityptrtrasamdgama)
'dreams based on all six senses, gives
the usual five plus the mind as the
sixth sense; but here again the basic classification
is three-fold by
the three "poisons," lust (:atftaction), hatred
(:repuision), ancl
delusion (:incapacity), becausethe text gives
a sampledrearn for
each of the three in termsof each of the r*r.r,
shown in Table 1.16
TABLE I

sEEi-i
T,rt','iF-[31,J?, Isc"r]nnerTrt
ir,"^i"iia"""" "' fffiwrt.illrenomv :"1"Tr"'iokli,
f i i and beine
confusedwit[
Hearing fear
I Hears ,]"gilq ff.T lame'tation I Hror. ro_ething
und, ,11."-
illt1llmgn!{ I yop" _"ih;;t';;
musicor theberre I | ,u,o,
I ritrr..'i--affi, Jr I i,?il6r.ro un-
of the land uoon iori- oi'' ony I
I dersrand the
-;i
pleasantthing ,rl."ning
|
smelling t,
1..l'] srnels
; ^^,T.li:il;l"g^_
bocly
withiandre_ ;{";
t^hqctingingI t.tlinlii,t,"r,
't;il
orher
I "ili";;?;;", | i,ii,i,lir
I^9.?d g. I of _dog, muii, o, I
pcrfumed sub I snake
rasting ,o j *uu.oot1s
hsresortsrnu,
I "{i?,1[r".:rr.
satratronvery sa- | tqeating tire seeds I
- hehasrost
hl;-^r_"i'
voryfood
i of pLinrpkiri-- i| rasre "f
gourds and other
(disagreeable) seeds
rouching j Empr,i-ce;
the waist i d;i:; r#[," Tiu:r: ] rnat he haslost
bene of theI ing
I i":f" "opp.i ;i;b i ,i; i*i.?|:!
tix*,if,'J'* o,,?lg"
I "i:lf',;lu'rn:":l;
I || tffii'['ff.i.?
yi:l-^?,,i:1
i ,q4: anareilnue,
l?:^1.h"*5-_::.']:.:
-^i^1il.";ui.,r"'fv
,:',1,'5 ;5;;g}#;#tl *i,'"
i;,'i:".I;..*i*,diYl
magrclan
tslbid., pp. 232-33.
tsAngavijjd (Prakrit Text society
No. l) [Banaras: prakrit Text society,
19571jIntroduction,p. 51, and texi, pp. tdO_gt.
16Pit rputrasamaeain-mahali rrtt iir;lky
oto-rotyo photographic reprint of
Tibetan-canon),*xIIl., ioI!+' a;A' tr'
q4 Buddhist Insight

The Indian medical text Carakasarnhitd adds the category of

dreams as mere past experience (anubhuta) though immediately
apprehended, and the category as mere imagination (kalpita)'
though based on memory data. Some dreams are wish fulfllment
(prarthita), the principal category in the Western Freudian classi-
fication, and some are prophetic (bhauika). The Buddhist cate-
gory of recurrent dreams seems to amount to the VaiSesika
"dreams due to the intensity of subconsciousimpressions" (torn-
skdrapdtraua).1'Accordingly, Santideva quotes the Sirphapari-
prccha, "Therefore in all his births he loses not the thought of'
enlightenment. Even in dreams he has this thought : much more
if he be awake."18 The Jaina text has a classificationof the beings
in the dream. Under "gods in dream" are gods and goddesses.
In human variety are the dead, the living, the unborn, women,
men, and the sexless.Under animals there are five : (l) birds,
(2) four-footed animals, (3) reptiles, (4) aquatic creatures, (5)
insects.leThe category of dead persons is consistent with Eme-
neau's study, "Toda Dream Songs", showing that in Toda belief'
only dead men sing in the dream.2o

C. PROPHETIC ASPECT OF DREAM

In the Atharua-Veda it was said that the dream comes hither from
Yama's world.z1 Yama, the lord of the dead, is stationed in the
south. Therefore, we see the reason that the Adbhuta-brdhmana,
as analyzed by Tsuji, requires that one divine the dream while
facing south.z2 Caraka and Sudruta both describe certain dreams
as prognostics of impending disease or death.23A similar view

l?Sinha,op. cit., pp. 314-15.

rsSdntideva, Sik;asamuccctya, trans, C. Bendall and W. H. D. Rouse
(London : John Murray, 1922),p. 54; and Sanskrittext, ed. P. L. Vaidya
(Darbhanga : Mithila Institute, 196l), n ? ?
nArtgaviia (cited in n. 15).
zoMurray B. Emeneau,"'Toda Dream Songs," Journal of the American'
Oriental Society, LXXXV, No. I (January-March, 1965),39-44.
zrWifliam Dwight Whitney (trans.),Atharva-Veda-Sarphita(Delhi: Motilaf ,
Banarsidass,1,962),II, 993-94.
22Tsuji, op. cit., p. 41.
zsSinha,op. cit., p. 321.
 ,Significanceof Dreams in India and Tibet
405

was held by Aristotle.za rhe Indian view is that the prophetic

'character of the dream is
the adyg{a(the unseen agency), namely,
the merit and demerit (dharmadharma)of the dreamer.2b
Prophetic dreams (bhauika) did not imply a fatalistic belief,
because palliative measures were indicated. The suiruta-sam-
,hita says : "If one has a sinister dream, he should
not relate it to
anyone, but should pass three nights in the temple to honor the
pretas (the deceased).He will then be delivered from
the bad
dream."26 rn the Malini school of Kashmere Saivism, if
the
worshipper seesa good dream he may express it to his disciples
'and if otherwise he should perform the homa (burnt
offering;.zz
rn the Buddhist work Mrtyu-uaficana ("cheating Death"),
the
author states several portents of death of the dreamer himself,
for example, the dream that a shepherd is wandering at night
without a companion and is unable to see the moon
'To or stars.
counteract such a portent one performs the ritual of Amitayus,
the Buddha of "Eternal Life."28 rn the above-cited Buddhist
text classifying dreams by the three poisons and the six senses,
the position is taken that the psychological poison first shorvs
in
the dream and subsequentlyin actions of body, speech,and mind.2e
similarly, the tantric work Arya-Tdra-xurit ulle-kalpa says,
"when the sign appears in the dream, the siddhi
[occult power
or success]will arise automatically.,,B0This agrees with
other
Buddhist tantras, where auspicious dreams that come true
indi-
2aPedroMeseguer, s. J., Thesecretof Dreoms(westminster,
Md.: New-
man Press,1960),p. 19.
zsSinha,
op. cit., p. 315.
26Esnoul,
op. cit.,p. 225.
zTPandit Madhusfidan Kaul, Malinivijayottara
Tantram (Bombay, 1922),
fntroduction, p. xxxi.
2sMrtyu-vaficana(Kyoto-Tokyo photographic
reprint of Tibetan .canon),
LXXXVI, I21.
zeThisremark occurs in an almost invariant
formula after each dream ex-
ample. Fortunately, one such dream with the stanclardremarks was
cited by
sdntideva,op. cit., Sanskrittext, p. 135,showinghowthe dream
of lust, be-
causefor the while believed in, establishesa propensity leading to
three bad
actions of the body, four of speech,an,cthree of mind : .bhiniviftal:
/so san'
anuniyate/ anunitah sar.nrajyate / samrakto rigajam karmdbhisaryskaroti...
trividhar.n kayena, caturvidhar.nvdcd, trividham manasa
/.
soArya-Tard Kurukulle-kalpa (Kyoto-Tokyo photographic
reprirt of
Tibetan canon),vol. III., p. r20, fol. 2: / rmi lam mtshan ma ston zin
grub ran flid hbyun bar hgyur /. 7 onos
406 BuddhistInsight

cate approach of the tutelary deity and successin the meditative

process as contrasted with the bad dreams indicating that the
deity stays far away as does the success (sidcthi).3lHere the dream,
especially the one with psychologicai poison, reveals the ten-
dency; and Buddhism in common with Hinduism always main-
tained that one need not follow a portentous jnclination because
both religions have their regular ways of purifying pollution.s2
Prophetic dreams are well known in the traditional life of
Gautama Buddha. The Pali text Anguttaranikcya relates the five
dreams Gautama had as premonitory of his full enlightenment.s3
sixteen dreams are attributed to the King of Kosala in the Mahd-
sttpina-Jdtaka. For example, No. 2 : "Methought little tiny
trees and shrubs burst through the soil, and when they had grown
scarcea span or two high, they flowered and bore fruit.,' Then the
Buddha, cast in the role of a dream oracle, explains the dream
as foretelling the degenerate times when men wjll be shortlived
and young girls will cohabit with men as mature women do and
so conceive and bear children.BaHere also we see the metirod of
dream interpretation : tiny tree of dream equals young girl in
actuality, interpreted in context by the dream oracle. This con-
trasts with the set meaning of a symbol in lists of good and bad
dreams. The dream attributed to a king in the time of the former
Buddha Kdsyapa in the Buddhist Sarvdstivddin vinaya about
eighteen men pulling on a piece of cloth and unable to rip it, as a
prophecy of Gautama Buddha's doctrine, is obviously fabricated
after the rise of the eighteen Buddhist schools, which hopefully
coull not pull Buddhism apart.Bb
The life of AtiSa, the great Indian pandit who debated the invi-
tation to teach in Tibet, shows him worshipping Tdrd to receive
a dream advice : o'His tutelary gods directed him in a d.reamto go
to the great Tirthika city called Mukhena in the neighborhood of
srMkhasgrub rje,Mkhasgrub rje's Fundamentars of the BuddhistTantras,
trans.F. D. Lessingand Alex wayman (Indo-IranianMonographs,vol.
VIII ['s-Gravenhage : Mouton & Co., 1966D.
32rnthe Hindu case,the brahminsmaketheexpiatoryoffering(prayaicitta
arghya),especiallyin the earlymorningalongwith the gayatririte. The Bud-
dhist monks have confessional and meditativeprocedures.
33Esnoul,op. cit., p. 237.
34H.T. Francisand E. J. Thomas,JdtakaTales(Bombay: Jaicopubli-
shingHouse,1957),p. 48.
35Oneof the talesin Mkhasgrub rje, op. cit.
 Significanceof Dreams in India and Tibet

vikrama Sila, at the centre of which there stood on a hillock a

small Buddhist temple. He rvas told that there he would meet
witir a female ascetic who coulcl tell him all that he wished to
know."36 Also, Tson-kha-pa's biography contains many pro-
phetic dreams. In some caseshe first saw in dream a teacher later
to be important in his life, as in the caseof the aged larna Khyun-
po-lha, repository of the Yoga tantra.B, once he and a disciple"
Tsha-go-pa,fasted and worshipped near the Jo-bo statue of Sirkya-
muni in Lhasa, and both had dream omens. Tsha-go-pa saw in
dream two great white conchshellsdescendfrom the sky and fall
into his coat flap. Instantly they merged into one. when he took
that in hand and blew upon it, it soundedan unfathomably great
sound. This was an auspice of a great spread and enhancement
of the Buddha's teaching.BsIt was also a prophecy about Tson-
kha-pa, dreamt by a second person.
In the Appendix to the Tibetan Gesar epic there is a page
devoted to each dream analysis in terms of good and bad omens.
Among the auspicious ones, if one dreams of the sunrise and dis-
pelling of darkness,this portends happinessof oneself and coun-
try. If one dreams of hearing tales of praise while surrounded by
a retinue of servants,it is an auspicefor movingupward in society.
Among the ominous omens, if one dreams that a house cavesin
or is ruined by fire, one fears for men and others in the house and
should call upon Sitatapatra (the v,'hite Umbrella Lady).se
The Atharua-veda tradition holds that dreams in the first rvatch
of the night bring their fruit in the year, those of the secondlvatch
in six months, while those of the third watch are alread.y half-
realized.a' The Kdlaprt kaiika, written much later when the night
was divided into quarters rather than thirds, says : "The effect of

sosaratchandra Das, Indian pandits in the Lancl of snow (calcutta :

Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay,1965),p. 66.
sTManuscript of Tson-kha-pa's biographycompiledby Arex wayman.
The card files of the late F. D. Lessingcall attentionto the story that the
EmperorHsuan-tsung dreamedthat he hadmet an eminentmonk oi unusual
appearaoce. "The Emperor, applying the paints himself, portrayed(the
dreammonk) on the wall of his hall. when shan-wu-woiarrive<l, he (found
him to be) identicalwith (the monk) of the dream.,'
s8Manuscripiof Tson-kha-pa'sbiography.
selohponTcnzin Namcak(ed,.).TheEpic of Gesar(Delhi : sper khan,
1965)'Appendix. seeaisothelistin Nebesky-wojkowitz, op. cit., pp. 465-66-
4oEsnoul, op. cit., p. 217.
408 BuddhistInsight

'dreams during the first quarter of the night will be realized in a

year; that of dreams of the 2d quarter, in'six months; the in-
fluence of dreams in the 3rd quarter will be evidcnt in a month;
'dreamsbefore dawn will be realized in twelve days; dreams before
sunrise announce their effects in a day."al Again, the Afigauijjd
claims it is important to notice whether the dream occurred in the
increasing phases of the moon or decreasingphasesand, in each,
whether in the first part, middle part, or last part, which each
.amount to sixty degreesof lunar motion.a2

D. THE NATURE OF A DREAM

'The
philosophical treatment of the dream is especially interesting.
Mahdydna Buddhism and Hindu Vedanta compared the world to
a dream in the sense that it is unreal but works regardless of
whether we understand it. The viewpoint is well stated by Rama-
krishna : "ft is not easy to get rid of illusion. It lingers even after
the attainment of knowledge. A man dreamt of a tiger. Then
he woke up and his dream vanished. But his heart continued to
Palpitate."Ea
The classical schools of Indian philosophy took two basically
'different interpretations of a dream. Sinha adopts the Western
terminology "presentative theory" and o'representative theory."
The Nyaya-VaiSeqikaschool mostly held to the presentativetheory
wherein a dream cognition is explained as a perception of the
mind itself in retirement when the external sense organs have
,ceasedto function. The Mimarysakas with Prabhakara as spokes-
man held to the representative theory that dream consciousness
amounts to a false recollection. In the Indian philosophical context,
Prabhdkara's representativetheory comes in for weighty blows
f,rom many quarters, including Sankara, the great Veddntin.aa
To make th.e two positions clear, I should say that they just
involve the belief or disbelief in the rnind as a sixth sense;in which
the Buddhists generally believed. If the eye as a sense organ
enables perception of forms, and not sounds, which require an

arThisis the wayIyer,op.cit.,p. 236,understands

the Sanskritpassage.
azAfigavijja,
p. 190,II. 30-33.
a3Ram krishna, Tales and parables of Sri Ramalcrishna(2d ed.; Myla-
pore : Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1947).
44Sinha,op. cit., pp. 308-10.
 lSignificanceof Dreams in India and Tibet

'ear, so also the mind-"because it is a

senseorgan like other sense
organs," as Bhdvaviveka stated itab-would have its own partite
reality of object not shared as object by the other senses.There-
fore, when it retires into itseli in sleep,the d.reamis its own object,
hence a presentation of that perception alone, to which the five
external sense organs cannot contribute. Bhavaviveka explains
that th.e perception that is based on the sixth-sensemind (mano-
uijfrdna) and that has the dharmas ("mentals" or "natures") as
'object is what perceives the dream.a6 Hence this
manouijfiana is
equivalent to Kashmere Saivism's buddhi, conceived of as mirror-
like because it not only reflects external objects as perceived,
through the five outer sensesbut also displays the revived.traces
(satytskdras)"at the time of free imagination, remembrance, and
'dream."a? Dandekar explains that in the Ftrindu view
the subtle
body (silk,rma-iartra)is the basis for dream consciousness,having
become equivalent to th.eprdrtamaya (vitar), ntanomaya (mental),
and uijiidna (intellectual) sheaths(koia) ali taken together.a8This
subtle body of Hinduism agrees with the Budd.hist manouiiiidna
as a kind of body that can detach itself from the coarse body
,and wander, thus perhaps similar in regard to dream as the
wandering soul of so-called primitive peoples, although the texts
I have seen do not spell out the 'owand.ering.,'
The philosophical interpretation of dream in India began espe-
'cially rvith the upanisadic formulation
of four states : waking,
dream, deep sleep, and a state that is the first three all in all.
certain later upanisads took a metaphysical and rnystically
physiological rather than philosophical turn and gave rise in time
to the special viewpoints of the tantra. Thus, they teach that the
'"person"
(puru;a) has those four states when dwelling in the four
places, namely, waking state in the navel, d,ream in the neck,
'dreamless sleep in the heart, and the fourth in
the head,.,'aerhe
Buddhist tantras explain that the white and red. elements of the

asBhdvav
iv eka,TarkajvaIa (Ky oto-Tokyophotogra.phi
c reprint), xcv r, 9z.
46Ibid.
47K. c. Pandey, Abhinavagupta; an Historical
and philosophical study
.(Benares : Chowkhamba, 1935), p. 252.
48R. N. Dandekar, "Man in Hindu Thought,"
Annals of the Bhandarkar
Oriental Research Institute, XLIII, Parts I-IV (1962), p. 9.
aeMircea Eliade, Yoga : Immortality and Freedon (New york
: pantheon
,Bocks, 1958), p. 128.
 410 BuddhistInsight

bodhicitta passing up and down the o'centralchannel" of the body

generate those respectivestates and hence stay in the neck
at the
time of dream.b' There were also numerous speculationsin corres-
ponding terms. So, in the theory of four forms of vdc,
or
"speech," the madhyamd "middling" form correspondsto
d.ream
and, in the southern Saiva formulation, is the kind of speech
dissociated from consciousness.ElIt makes us recall the Jaina verse
above cited about the dream being told by a god when a mantra
is recited. This alludes to the state when the constant repetition
of a mantra rcaches the point where it seems to sound by itself
and, being imagined as independent of the mind, is believed to
be pronounced or told by a god.sz In fact, the sound with this
life of self-sounding is the dream condition of sound, or,onames,,
as things. This formulation of the situation rationalizes the above-
mentioned correspondenceof dream to dissociated speech.
This theory of creating a dream state by repeated incantation,
thus to evoke a deity, implies that the bulk of Lamaist icono-
graphy-those fierce and mild deities-amounts to sets of control-
led dreams. Indeed, the production of an artificial dream state is.
prevalent in the Buddhist tantras and in certain ones is called
"purifying or exerting the dream" (rmi lam sbyan 6a). Further-
more, the tantric machinations aim at a mixing (sre ba) of the,
states of dream, deep sleep, and waking to attain the fourth state.
These methods are rnuch practiced by Tibetan lamas, and the
method of one of thesesectsis well set forth by chen-chi chang,rs.
as also in a work by Tson-kha-pa showing his standpoint.ba
The above cursory survey of the subject should attest to (l) a
spirited interest in dreams, both in India and ribet, in regard to
their nature and purport and (2) to the attempt to use them widely
in literature and even in some techniques of yoga. I could have,
soAlexwayman,"FemaleEnergyand symbolismin the BuddhistTan-
tras," Historyof Religions,
rr, No. | (1962),g4. SeealsoA. wayman,Bud-
dhist Tantras(SamuelWeiser,New york, (1973).
51P.T. SrinivasaIyengar,outlinesof Indianphilosophy(Madras : Adyar,.
1909),p. 160.
szMkhasgrub rje, op. cit., Kriy6 and caryd,Tantrasection,meditationof'
"dwelling in the flame and in the sound."
saChen-chi Chang,Teachings of TibetanYoga(New Hyde park, N. y. :
UniversityBooks, 7963),pp. 88-94.
sarson-kha.-pa, Dmar khrid (Kyoto-Tokyophotographicreprint), vor..
CLIX.
Significance
of Dreamsin India andTibet 411,

stressed more the differences between the Indian and Tibetan

traditions, but enough has been presented to suggest that Tibet,
despite being swamped by Indian Buddhism in its classical and
late forms, has a distinct tradition of its own, perhaps affiliated
with the rest of the Flimalaya area as well as with china.
 22

THE SIGNIFICANCEOF MANTRAS, FROM

THE VEDA DOWN TO BUDDHIST
TANTRIC PRACTICE

The subject of mantra is of course too vast for a single article,

although Gondal in one essay has an excellent coverage, especi-
ally in terms of secondary sources. I find it possible to treat the
principal issues in even briefer compass. The old word mantra
came in time to have specializedusages,and, in Buddhist litera-
ture, to be paired with dharapi and sometimes to overlap this
latter word. our procedure will be to lay a foundation of the
theme in the old Brahmanical literature, then show that the per-
formance of mantros is in terms of varieties, and finally to venture
conclusions in the disputed topic of the meaning of mantras.

An OId Indiqn Theory

The old Indian division of the Veda was into Mantra and Brdh-
malta. Dasgupta writes, "The word Brahman originally meant
in the earliest Vedic literature, mantra, duly performed sacrifice,
and also the power of sacrifice which could bring about the desi-
red result."z Therefore, in the standard division of the Veda,
the Brdhmallas are texts dealing with the actual performance of
the sacrifice, while the Mantra is the sacrifice itself. Pdlini also

U. GoNoa, The Indian Mantra, in "Oriens", 1963,pp. 244-295.

zSuRrNoReNarn DescuprA, A History of Indian Philosophy, Cambridge,.
1932, Yol. I, p. 2ll.
 '41'4
Buddhist Insight

opposes the terms "Mantra" and "Brahmzila."s rhe Satapatha-

.brd,hmanastates4:
"Make ye Agni's paths to lead to the gods !"-as the text so
the meaning;. . "making the parents young again,'_the
young parents, doubtless, are speech and mind, and these two
fires are speech and mind.

But the Satapathabrdhma\taalso record.s a dispute between

speechand mind as to which was the better of thetwob. Inagree-
ment with the other passagethat these two are paths leading to
the gods, they appealed to prajdpati for a decision. when he
picked mind, saying speech was only its imitator, speech, being
dismayed, 'omiscarried" and refused henceforth to be Frajipati's
oblation-bearer. Hence, in the sacrificefor prajapati the perform-
er speaks in a low voice, since the Goddess of speech refusesto
speak out on these occasions.GThe Anuglta of the Mahdbhdrata
expands upon the story?. when Prajapati chose the mind., speech
reminded him that, after all, it was she wxro yielded his d.esiress.

3V. S. Acnawara,Indiaas Knownto pdryini,2ded., Banaras, 1963,pp.

319-320,saysthat for Palini the mantrameansa sacredformula whethera
vedic stanza(rich)or in prose(vajus),and that theBrahma\dsarc norr-nxantrA
literature. M. GaNcaNarHAJua, The purva-Mimarytsd-sutras of .Iaimini,
Allahabad,1911,pp. 163-164, citesprabhdkarafor mantraas including.oall
thosevedic passages to whichthelearnedmenapplythat name',.The Siltras
saythat the name"Brahma4a"is appliedto the rest of the veda.Also both
"Mantra" and "Brdhmelxa"are referredto as ,,vidhi".
aJ. EccsrrNc, tr., Satupathabrahmarya, part IV, StsE,Vol. XLIII, pp.
723'124, from VIII, 6, 3, 22.
5J.EccnrrNc,tr., Satapathabrdhmarya,PartI, SBE,Vol. XII, pp. 130-131,
from I, 4, 5,8-12.
6Pt. GaNca PnasanUnaoHyaya,SatpathaBrdhma4am, Vol. II, Delhi,
1969,p. 318,mentionsfor this story particularlyAum prajapatayesvaha
Idam Prajapataye idam na mama, as on oblation spoken silently. However,
the injunction is general in the yajiia.
7K. T. TeraNc, Tlte Bhagavadgitawith the sanatsujatiya and the Anugitd,
SBE, Vol. VlI, pp. 263-266.Critical ed., A|vamedhaparva,Section 21.
8Cf. Anrsun BsRRrnoaLEKElrn, The Aitareya Ara1tyaka, London, 1969
reprint, p. 180 : "Speechyields all desires,for by speechman expressesall
desires.Speechyields all desiresto him who knows this". So from I, 3, Z.
Also, Sotapathabrdhmaila, YI,1, 2, sets forth Prajapati's union by his mind
(manas)with speech(vac) to createcreatures,to wri the eight Vasusto inhabit
the earth, the eleven Rudras to inhabit the intermediate space, the twelve
Adityas to inhabit the sky, and the All-gods to inhabit the quarters. Thus,
Vdc yielded Prajdpati's desires.
"The significance
of Mantras, veda and Buddhist Tantric practice 415

Prajlryati mollified the goddess by declaring tliat there are

" kinds two
of,mind, the stationary $thauara)and tle moving (iangama).
The stationary was his own. The rnoving, to ouit, uny
mantra,
or letter (uarna), or sound (suora), was in the dominion of the
cowlike goddess, from whom comes the twofold flowing. Thus
the Anugttd sayss: "rt (speech)always proceeds aioud, or
noise-
less after birth; and of these two, the noiselessone is snperior
to
the one aloud." These two kinds are apparently the trvofold
flowing. In the later refinement of thi Agnipurdna, chapter
ccxcflI (Mantraparibhdsd, verse 2g), there woutd be a .,four-
fold flowing"ro '

The traditionll is that one uttered in a low voice is superior in

the recitation by tenfold merits that loud ones have. trn
the
case of recitation by tongue, a h.ilndredfoid inerits (superior),
by mind a thousandfold.
The foregoing is instructive of the ancient metaphorical langu-
age. speech was a fire when it was a duly performed sacrificerr,
leading to the gods; and it was a cow when it brought the
desired
resultl'. Taking the two metaphorical referencesas a guide,
one
can separatoout the instruction. Thus, when speechis a fire, there
is the practice of reciting certain formulas three times, ior
thc
gods cannot be contacted,by random action. In agreement,
Goirdala cites the Maitrdyaqtisaryltitdr,4,g,..becausethe gods
are
three times in accordance with truth." Also, in Buddhist
non-
gCritical
ed., 14,2I, 16 :
gho;i4i jatanirgho;d nityam eva pravartate
I
tayor api ca gito;inyor nirgho;qiva gariyasl ll rc.
roAnanddsramaed., p. 47I :
uccair japad viii;yalr syad uparlciur daiabhir gu1taift
I
jihvajape Satagu4ahsahasro manasah,smrtak
ll 2.g.
uThe tradition is alluded to in h[anusntrti, ch.
II, g5.
12cf. Ksrrn, The AitareyaAraltyaka.from
rr,4, r: o.Fromthe mouth carne
speech, from speech fire".
13K. N. ArvAR, The Thirty-two vidyd-.r,
Adyar, Madras, 2d, ed., 1962,p.
58, points out that there is no vidya devoted to vik itself, and
thrn
Brhadaranyaka,Y,8, 1, for the meditationon speechas Dhenu (milch "iti,
cow).
Two of her udders, (the btja-s) svdha and vafat, fecd the Deva-s;
a third
Hanta, feedsmen; a fourth one, Svadhd,the pitrs. Her bull is pr64a
and calf
Manas. This calf, the manas,is presumablyAnugitas..moving" mind.
uThe Indian Mdntra, p. 267.
416 BuddhistInsight

tantric as well as tantric practice the voWs are repeated three

times by the disciple after the preceptor, and this implies that
the vow constitutes a sacrificial truth. So also the three
times of circumambulation.ls One recalls here the theory of the
"act of truth" (satya-kriya), as has been discussed in several
articles by Brown and in one by myself above.16This act requires
the prior surpassingperformance of duty (dharma) it the Hindu
usage,or to have accumulated much rnerit (puuyo) in the Buddhist
usage. But in addition the performer must declare his appeal or
command to the deity : the fact that the person desiresaid from
the deity does not suffi.ce.One may observe that in this o'act of
truth" there is no implication of relative loudness for expected
degreeof fruit. Thus, even though the "act of truth" traditionally
involved an attempt to derive an extra-normal fruit, the emphasis
is on communication with the gods; and so it must be included
with speech as a fire.
When it is the case of speechas a cow, there is the emphasison
the role of the guru. Accordingly we may understand the Agni-
purdna, same chapter, v. 20B,-2lA : "A mantra heard by chance,
by deceit, by power (i.e. forcibly), found on a leaf; and in gdtha
form, one would generate in vain". Presumably this is because,
v. 20A, "the guru should bestow the mantrt". Hetrce,getting the
mantra in any way except from the guru renders it worthless.
The guru is responsible for setting up the ritual circumstances,
starting in Vedic times with imparting the celebrated Gdyatri
or Sduitri of the Veda, according to P.T.S. Iyengar's eloquent
remarkslT :
By sacramental use is meant the recitation of a mantra for
producing a saryskdrq conceived as a subtle change in the
mind and body of the reciter. A sarpskdra renders a man fit
to perform some mystic duties...The Aitareya Brahmaryam
(1, i, 3) describesthe dtksha for yajfias,' in it the candidate for

15Cf. AnrnuR BeRRrsoarpKErrn, RigvedaBrahma4as,Harvard Oriental

Series,Vol.25; Deihi reprint, 1971, Aitareya Brdhma4a, ii, 5, 5, "Thrice
round the sacrificeAgni goeth like a charioteer"(he says),"for he like a chario-
teer goes round the sacrifice".
16W.Norman Brown's most recent article on the subjectis Duty as Truth
in Ancient India, in "Proceedings of the'American Philosophical Society",
Vol. 116,No. 3, June 1972,pp.252-268.My own articleis Chapter20.
1?P.T. SRrNrvasIyrNc,l,n, The Gayatri, Madras, 1922,p. ll.
 The Significanceof Mantras, veda and Buddhist Tantric practice 417

initiation is clothed with a skin to symbolize the foetus being

encasedin the arnniotic membrane. The sduitrt mantra is the
chief one ussd for bringing about Saviia, the generator.
This is the general implication of mantras down the ages,
namely, that they involve the freedom to alter destiny by ushering
in a kind of rebirth. Also the initiate of the Buddhist yajrayana
enters a new and rnysterious world, as suggestedby the Guhya-
samdiatantra.rs "The pledge (samaya) and vow (saryuara) said
to be liberated from worldly conduct, when protected by all the
'diamonds'
(uajra), is pronounced 'practice of mantras' ".

VaRrprrrs rN TnRus op Fnurrs

These textual statementsof mantravarieties exemplify speechasthe
"cow-of-plenty". The previously mentioned varieties in degrees
of loudness of course also belong here.
Turning to the much later Puralic classifications, we apoeal
to the Agnipurdna, the Mantraparibhd;d, chapter, v.14-15.le

One should imagine them, beginning with the Siddhas, a$

follows : The Siddha, by reason of surpassing merits. When
there is Siddha, the Siddha is through recitation (japa). The
Sadhya is by way of recitation (japa), worship (puj\, oblation
(huta), etc. The Susiddira by just meditation (dhyana). The

18-B.BgarrAcHARyA, ed., Guhl,asamajaTctntra, Baroda, reprint, 1967.

p. 156.16-17.
rcAnanddsramaed., p. 471:
siddhadin kalpayed evaln siddho 'tydntagu4air api I
siddhe siddho japat sadhyo japapujahutadina I I 14
susiddho dhyanamatrena scdhakdry ndiaysd arih I
du;tarryapracuroyaft sydn mantralt.sarvavinfnditaltll 15.
On the occasionof the SecondWorld Sanskrit Conference,Torino, Italy"
June 1975, ProfessorFleleneBrunner infolmed the writer that these terms,
accordingto varioustexts,refer to a given disciple.Her positionis justified in
a valuablework, "Una tantra du nord.'/e Netra Tantra", in BEFEO, Tome
L){I, 1974,p. 169. However, in Raslr Vrrnnr JosHr,Le rituel de la divotion
Kr;uaite, Pondich6ry,1959,pp. 20-21,the terms are used for magical squares
each containing four smailer squares,which the master e',zaluates to deter-
mine how the incantationwill work for the disciple.Even here the terms
siddha,etc., carl be understood as types of mantras in agreementwith the
Agnipuraqa. There seemto be different traditions for the use of these terms,
and so the Agnipurdlta'sversion is justifiably understood at face value.
418 BuddhistInsight

Ari would destroy the performer (sddhaka). Whatever mantra

abounds in bad letters should be completely shunned (sarua-
uinindita).
Here the varieties called Siddha and Sadhya evidently agree
with the Vedic mantra, according to Haug's description.zo
The Agnipurdqa chapter (verses 1-3A) starts with the varieties
in terms of syllables : "O twice-born one, the 'garland-mantras'
(mdld-mantra) are said to be mantras with more than twenty
syllables. 'Mantras' have more than ten syllables. Less than that
(todarudg), they are called 'bijas"'. The author thereby clarifies
that performance is by way of a variety, and points out that the
varieties establish the speed and degree of success, namely
enjoyment (bhukti) and liberation (mukti), with the longer the
mantra the shorter the time.
The Agnipurdga continues (verses 3B-5A) with a well-known
division by sex or genderzl : "The speciesof mantras are of three
kinds by way of the female, male, and neuter. The female mantras
end with the wife UAyil of Vahni (the Fire God) (i.e. Svaha).
The neuter ones end with nqmah. The remaining ones are the
masculine ones, and these are approved in the casesof subduing
and ruining (of an adversary). The female ones (approved) in
the cases of eradication of disease, and minor acts. The neuter
ones (approved) in other situations". Here the varieties concern
the type of siddhi aimed at, the female ones for appealing to ini-
mical forces to d.esist,the male ones for domineering the oppos-
ing side, and the neuter ones otherwise, and so for miscellaneous
fruits. Tucci in his l92B article cites the Sdraddtilaka (Calcutta
ed., 2d palala,57-58) for a further clarification of the three genders,
saying : "... .amqntra must end with one of the following words:
hur1t,phatr,sudhd,namalt. According as a mantra is concluded by
the first two syllables or the third or the fourth, it is called mas-
culine, ferninine, and neuter."zz He points out that the Bud.dhist
20ManrmHAuc, TheAitareyaBrahmanam of theRigveda,Vol.I,Bombay,
1863,Introduction,p. 2.
2rAnanddsrama ed., p. 470:
strtpuryndpurysakatvenatridha syur mantrajatayahll 3
strimnntra vahnijayanta namontai cd napurpsakah I
fe;dh pumdrylsaste Sastd vaiyoccdandketu ca ll 4
k;udrakriyamayadhvarpsestriyo'nyatra napurpsakaft l.
22GlusnppeTuccr, Notes on the Lafikavatara,in "Indian Historical Quar-
terly", lV-3,1923; he discussesthe Lankavatara-sfitra's
dhdrapi-s,pp. 553-556.
 TheSignificance
of Mantras,
vedaandBuddhist
Tantricpractice 4p
Tantrashave a crassificationof
mantra and oidyd, but of course
Hindu Tontras, such as the yogint_tanri
Ji_; have this.z' In
this case, the Agnipurdrla's"mare
mantra,,'(puf,tmantra)is calred
simply "montr," : and the "femare
montra"'iriii-*ontra) is cared
"tsidyd".
The Buddhist rantra susiddhikara-mahdtantra-sddhanopdyika_
palala, extant in Tibetan translation,
sts.tssza;
Mantras which pl. few syllables
and have Orn and.Sudhd,
speedilyaccomprishalr propitiatory
rite; (idntika_karma).
The mantraswith a prenitudeof
vowersuod and
are equippedwith Hurn as well pha!, "onronants
as u.. ur.o by the wise
for harsh rites (abhicdruka_korrna).
The wise should apply mantras
other than the preceding,and
which have the field of the supreme
(paramdrtha) word,,for
prosperity rites (pauslika_karnta).
In this description,it is a manlra
usefuifor prosperityritesthat
is the logical candidatefor equivarence
to the neuterone of the
other classification.The third verse
of the susiddhikorq,sexposi-
tion doesnot contain the word
namalt,but possiblyalludesto it
by the terminology"supreme word"
since namart is used to
expresshomageto a deity or being
superiorto the humanstate.
The precedingarrd further indication,
the fruits of the uidydpermit an ;;;resent paper for
"f ,oriparison
immediur.
upanipadicuidyd-s.Thus K. N. with the
Aiyar points o* ,t... kinds of
fruits of those uidyd-saccording
to the veddnta-sutras : (r) duri-
zsYoginitantra, yenkatesvara press,
B_gmbav, 1g62,p. 401 :
purndevatahprokta vidyak strtdevatdk l mantralt
smytaft/. See also RaNrERo
dellesacrescritture (Tantraroka)diAbh113u3,upta, GNoLr, Zace
herethe vidyd isnot associateO Torino, 7g72,p.71g, but
wlth SieUl,and later (p. 721),when
the respectivefunctions or operations assignins
of cerrain ;r;;;;, ;ii;;';r";;:,1;:o
"l'oblazione" as one would
expect ror its operation i" ,r.l ,to
and there is no suggestionof iis being vedic ritual;
a femaremantrq al menrorred in
sourceswhich I cite. the
24Becauseof textuar
difficurties wijh_ t^rrepeking Kanjur
Japanesephoto edition,.vol. 9, p. version of the
5i4-5.3,I alsoi*rri"o the Narthang
Kanjur version, from which I adopied
the reading aor-aii' trnig (paramdrrha_
pada), o'supremeword". Both editions
were unsatisfactoryfor what I trans_
late "vowels and consonants" (the presumed
originar Sanskrit beingarikati,
for which see F' EoceRroN, iraitrt
ltybrid sanskrit Dictionary). There
was no difficulty with the remainder
of the three verses-
420 BuddhistInsight

the
taksaya, warding off of calamities; Q) aiiuaryaprdpti, gaining
render the possessorinvincible; (3) krama*
occult powefs which
the
mukti, successivereleaseby way of knowledge, thus reaching
These fruits appear to go with the female
Sagurla Brahman.2s
*irtro norv called uidyd, and seem also to illustrate the Agni-
amounting to meditation
'(dhyona),susiddha type of mantrq
purdrya,s
especially referred to as updsand-s or meditative exer-
Therefore, the aidya-s of the
cises in the upaniqadic context.
(Jpani5aclsmay be taken as the forerunner of the later tantric
"female mqntra".
A Tibetan text in my possessionwith numerous examples of
be
the three kinds of mantras (male, female, and neuter), may
"the four
cited.zo This includes the mantrqs of the group called
gods of the sublime heart", stressed by Atisa, the influential
Buddhist paafit who came to Tibet in 1042 :

l. ortt nlune mtme mahdmuneye sudha. This is the mantra of

Gautama Buddha, but it is also the uidyd of the A5lasahasrika
Prajfidpdramitd, and so the suahd emphasizesthe female side"
insight (praifiA) of the Buddha.
2. Ortt muni paclme hilttt, the celebrated six-syllabled mantrq
of the male deitY Avalokite5vara.
3. Ottt tdre tuttdre ture sudhd, the ten-sytlabled uidyd of the
goddessTaru.
4. Ortt canqlanruhdro,rqna huan pha1, the ten-syllabled mantra
of the fierce male deitY, the blue Acala.

In further agreement with the classiflcations, the formula Gate

garc parogate pdrasalngate bodhi lyal suahd. is the uidyd of the
formula concludes the cele-
loddess Prajfldpdramitd since the
brated Heart-sutra (Praifiapdramita-hrdaya-sutra).And when we
fincl the formula for the "Healing Buddha" (Bhai5aiya-guru)
to conclude with a sudha, this may be understood as the female
healing f,unction, as a fruit of the female formula according to
previous citation of the Agtripuraqa.
This same Tibetan text has many illustrations of the namalt
formula, as a thircl kind. It is intriguing that this so-called "neu-

Viclyas,pp. 9-10.
25TheThirty-'s,,r6
zoThebook is entitled: GzunssriagsdanI debzhingiegspa'i mtshanI bka'
,gyur siiin po sogs kha 'don byed rgyu zab mo'i rigs phyogs gcig tu bkod pa

don siiig lhun grub ces bYa ba l.

 The Significance
of Mantras,VedaandBuddhistTantricPractice 4Zl

ter" (napurysaka) formula was always translated into Tibetan,

while the formulas referred to as 'omale" and "female" lvere trans-
cribed phonetically. This does show that the fidelity of pronun-
ciation of the "male" and o'female" ones is an important issue,
lvhile a possible mispronouncing of the "neuter" one seemsnot to
have been an issue. For example, the text includes : "Reciting
''I
bow to the Tathagata Aksobhya' [completely translated into
Tibetan], one purifies all the obscuration of evil karma and sin,
and is born, by transformation from a lotus, in Aksobhya's field
(ksetra)". Since this text always specifiesa fruit from the recita-
tion of a namah formula, and only does so for a few casesof the
"male" and "female" formulas, the implication is clear that this
text agrees with the Agnipurdna in assuming a well-definedfruit
from the "male" or "female" kind; while the "neuter" kind,
standing for all the miscellaneous cases,must have a particular
fruit specified in each case,since there would be no rvay of infer-
ring the fruit from the mere fact that it is a "neuter" kind.
Speaking generally, Abhaydkaragupta in his Munimatdlary-
kdra (extant only in Tibetan translation) states : "Furthermore,
mqn is knowledge; traina is protection. This knowledge (which
knows) and compassion (which protects) is referred to by the term
mentra; and the syllablesof such affiliation are also called mantras.
Those for the purpose of eiiminating nescience(auiC1,a)and pro-
moting clear vision (uidyQ are the uidyd-s".zz
The overlapping with the rvord dhdrani can be observed from
.Jfrdnavajra's commentary on the Vajrauiddra1ta-dhdrani(a Tantra
of the Buddhist tantric deity Vajrapd4i). Again from the Tibetan:
"Dhdrani is of two kinds : uidyd-dh.and mantra-dh. Of these, the
present work is called a mantro-dh".28Notice that the varied
usage of the word rnantra resulted in adding the word dharapi
in this type of classification to indicate the respective evocation
of female and male deities, and in the present case, as Jfrdnavajra
mentions, it is a mantra-dhdraqti since the male deity Vajrapdiri
is evoked. An earlier usageof the word dhdrani, as Tucci men-
tioned in the 7928 article, was to indicate a long formula made
up of a series of mantras. Jfldnavajra states in agreement, "Be-

27Inthe Tibetantranslation,Thubpa'i dgonspa'i rgyan,TibetanTanjur,

Photoedition,Vol. I0[, p. 241-2.2,3.
28Inthe photoed. of TibetanTanjur,Vol. 78,p. 169-4.3.
422 BuddhistInsieht

sid,es,because it retains many meanings and terms, it is called

dhdrayi. The vajraiekhara states that the dtiaroryt both provides
a basis for all virtuous dharmas, and renders the meaning unfor-
gotten".zs Hence, the word dhdrapi practically has the usage of
memory", but more generally I render it o'retention".s0Among
the two kinds, the mantra-dh. is obviously the dhdrani made up
of a string of mantras, while the uidyd-dh. is perforce a dhdrapi
made up of a string of uidyd-s. If one were to translate the two.
expressions-granted the hazard-it could be somethjng like
"retention of incantations" (mantra-dh.)and "retentionof charms"
(uidya-dh.)
ElsewhereI translated an explanation of three kinds of mantra:
mqntra, uidyd and dhdraryi.rn short, the mantra constitutes a
non-duality type of recitation, i.e. the non-duality of insight
upon the void, and protection from signs and discursive thought.
The uidyd opposes nescience (auidyd). The dhdraryi holds, i.e.
retains, the Buddha-dharmas.sl This classification is consistent
with the preceding explanations of this essay except for having
dhdrarlt as a third kind. The meaning of a dhdraryi as a separate
type from both mantra and uidyd can be observed as a memorial
device. For example, there is the A-RA-?A-CA-NA formula of
the large Prajffdpdramita scripture of Buddhism.Bz Thus the
scripture states, "The syllable I is the gate to all dharmos, be-
cause of their non-birth from the beginning" (ddy-anutpannat-
udd). Each of the remaining syllables is said to be a gate to all
dharmas, RA "because they are free from dirt (rajas)"; pA
'obecause
of the settling of the supreme meaning (paramartha)";

zelbid.,Vol. 78, p. 169-5.3,4, andworth giving : I yan na dontshigmnn'

po 'dzinpas gzuis so I rdo rje rtse mo lds dgepa'i chosthamscadkyi rtenpa
byedpas na yari gzurisso I yan na mi brjedpa'i dongyis nn gzuis zhesbya'o l.
3oThisappearsalso to be the meaningof dharaptas in Asafiga'sBodhi-
sattvabhilmi(U. WocTHARA ed., pp.272-274) wherefour kindsare givenand
defined: ooretention of doctrine" (dharma-dh.)."retention of meaning"'
(artha-dh.)"retention of mantrd" (mantra-dh.), and "retention for acquiring
patience" (k ; anti labhaya-dh.).
3lArpx Wayua,N, The Buddhist Tantras; Light on Indo-TibetanEsotericism,
New York, 1973, pp. 64-65.
32Thefollowing exposition of the A-RA-PA-CA-NI formula is basedboth
on Eowano CoNzE, The Large Sutrd on Perfect Wisdom, Berkeley, 1975, p.
160; and on the Munimatalaqnkdra,Tibetan translation (cf. note 27, above),
p. 240-5 to p. 241-1.
 The significanceof Mantras, veda and Buddhist Tantric practice
4zi,

cA "becausetheir decease(cyauana)and birth are not the object

of consciousness";NA "becausethey are free from names
(ndma)". The syllablesstem from the initials of the
respective
terms. Therefore,A-RA-?A-1A-NA is a formula for remember-
ing in the given order the five statements about all dharmas,
and thus illustratesdhdraptas a memorial device.
For other ways of referring to varieties,we may resort to the
Agni-purdpa.rn its Mantraparibhd,rdchapter, verses g-r0,
it
speaksmysteriously;aa
A mantra which is sleeping,or has merely been awakened,
does not attain success.The time of sleepis the great evoca-
tron (maha-duaha). The waking state is the conveyance by
way of the right.
One should ascertainthe waking time of the Agneya-Manu
from the oppositeof that of the Saumya-mantra, i.e. the day
of both respectively.
(The suara) should avoid the Manu-s when there are
hostile
letters, etc., bad asterisms(1kpa) and" zodiacarsigns (rdii),
etc. The suara (should avoid) the Kurus when an enemyhas
intervened to the purpose of attaining the kingdom.
Here, the term "Manu" is known to mean a mantro,but also
the Manu-s in Purd{ric tradition representthe solar lineage;
while the Kuru-s representthe lunar lineage.Hence,the ..Kuru,,
is also employedfor a certainkind of formula, and it is evidently
the "female" kind in contrast to the Mqnu as the ..male,,
mantra. This is made certain by the end,of the abovecitation,
"when an enemy has intervened.to the purposeof attainingthe
kingdom", at which time the suara should be of the Manu-typ"
that subduesthe adversaryand not of the Kuru-type, which being
female,servesfor eradicationof disease,etc. on-the other hand,
when the stellar signs are unfavorable,what is neededis the
female'mantra,or Kuru, to appeasethe gods,and not the male-

saAnanddsrama ed., p. 470:

suptaftprabuddhamdtro vd mantraft siddhrry na yacchati
I
svdpakdlo mahdvdho jdgaro dak;i4dvahaft
ll g
dgneyasya manol.t sdumyamantrasyaitadviparyaydt
I
prabodhakalarp janiyad ubhayor ubhayor ahah
ll g
dutlark;araiividve;ivarnddtn varjayen maniln ll
rajyaldbhopakardya prarabhyarill svaralt kurun
ll 10
424 Buddhist tnsight

mantra which would only make matters werse. This interpreta-

tion is consistent with the Siuasuarodaya(v.1001.a4"During the
flow of the Moon, poison is destroyed; the Sun leads to control
over the powerful. During Susumna, there is liberation. One
deua stands in three forms." Here the flow of the Moon is equi-
valent to the female-nwntra or Kuru; the flor,vof the Sun is equi-
valent to the male-mantra ot Manu. The "Manu" and the "Kuru"
are respectively the mantra and the uidya of the previous termino-
logy. Furtherrnore, tite Agnipurarya apparefttly intends the fiery
mantra (Agneya-Manu) to be taken as the male-mantra, and the
mild (,Sartmya)one to be understood as the female-mantra. Hence,
when the male one is awake, the female one is asleep, and vice
versa. This terminology of "alvake" and o'asleep" r-nay amount
to a striking way of emphasizing the fact that they cannot be
simultaneous,since the fiery or male mantra and the mild or female
mqntra servecontrasting pu{poses.But since both are expressions
of the goddessVac, the goddessherself is neither awake nor asleep.
The phrase "conveyanco by vray of the right" for the waking
state agrees with my citation elservhereof the Buddhist Tantra
Sarpuarodaya: "Having entered by the left, the right is the path
of leaving".35 Here expiration of the breath is said to be by way
of the right; in-breathing by way of the left. The Anwgitd (Sect.
21, verse 15) says36: "Then the Praqta appeared,strengthening
speech. Therefore, it (prana), having reached expiration, speech
never speaks up." According to the Agnipurdqta,this is the time
when Ihe mantra is successful.There must also be vrhat the Anu-
gita calls the "moving" (jangama) mind, which is in the dominion
of the goddess. In apparent agreement, there is Sri-Laksmi's
comment on the Buddhist tantric lvork Paficakranta: "The cause
'real-
is prdita, the effect is mantra,' and their reality (tattua)-isthe
ity of mantrA' ".37
scThepopulareditionof BanarasCity, BihD ThakurPrasadGuptaBook-
.seller,reads: I
candracare vi;ahate (src. for -hati) suryo balivaiatp nayet I
suSumnayarn bhaven mok,rd. eko devas tridha sthitalj ll
35lVavuaN, The Buddhist Tantras, p. 159.
s6Critical ed. :
tatalz praqtalt prddurabhud vacam apyayayan punah I
tasmad ucclnasam asadya na vag vadati karhicit ll15
szThis passage is in my Yoga of the Guhyasamajatantra; the Arcane Lore
af Forty Verses, (Motilal Banarsidass, Deihi, 1977).
 "The Significanceof Mantras, Veda and Buddhist
Tantric Practice 425

Now, the AnugftA also says (Sect. 21, ver$e l4): "Verily, the
goddess speech always dwells among the prdpa and Apdna"
(prdpdpondntare deui ttdg uai sma tis[hati). The Anugita said.
eariier (verse 7) : "The Apdna, having become lord (pati), conse-
quently summons tbe apdnata. That (apdnata) (the inhalation)
one declares the intelligence (mati) of the mind (manas). The
mind in consequence considers".ssAccordingly, this mind must
be the "stationary" (sthduora) kind, which being prajapati's own,
is superior to the goddess.
But what does the Agnipurdnq mean by saying, "The time of
sleep is the great evocation ?" we suppose that the rsls were en-
.gagedin the "great evocation" per Brhsddeuatq(i.3): "at the time
when the seers had their vision of the mantras" (75tttd4tmantra-
dy,r{i,ru).3s
The Jaina rvork Ri5{asamuccar-a (verse 113)says:..That
dream is a dream told by a god where a mantra (sacredformula)
is recited." In an article citing this Jaina passage,I pointed out
that the dreai:r level of vac is calleclmadhvamd. and,is the kind of
speech dissociatedfrom consciousness;and so the mantra by
repetition reaches the point where it is objectified as told by a
god, as in a dream.a' Hence, the mantra is heard in the normal
"waking state and is seen (as by
the r;zs) in a yoga state of dream.
The author of this chapter of the Agnipurdryaapparently wished
to rcassure the reader that he r,vasnot denying that an extra-
ordinary kind of sleepis a "great evocaton" (as would also be the
message of the Mdnc.lukl,a upani;ad) rvhen he stated that ,,a
marttra lvhich is sleeping,or has merely been awakened,does not
attain success."
ssCriticaled. :
tam apanallpatir bhnna tusmAtpreryaty apdnatamI
tam matirp manasaltprahur manastasmadavek;ate 7
sevarious tales of rpi-s seeingmantras ll
are relatedjntheAitare),aandKau;i-
taki Brahma4as.There is the celebratedstory of Kava$a Ailula (the .,Sudra
R$i"), who saw the hymn of fifteen versescailed the Aponaptriya. The Gods,
becauseable to see the "silent praise" (tu;nimiarysa)invisiute to the Asuras,
were able to defeat their enemy. rn the episodeof rndra,s fight with
v1tra,
when the Gods were frightened away, and rndra's friends, the Maruts,
'ostrike, ex-
horted him saying, o Bhagavat ! kill (v1tra) ! show thy prowess !,,-
according to Martin Haug's translation (The Aitareya Brahmananr,vol.
II,
Bombay, 1863,p. 192)"This saw a Rishi, and recordedit in the verse
vrtrasya
...." KrtlH, RigvedaBrahmanas,p.777, agreesbut is lessclear.
a'wavvaw, significanceof Dreams in Inelraand
Tibet, in ,.History of Reli_
gions", Yol. 7, No. 1 (Aug., 1967),pp. 4,11. This essayappears
above.
 426
Buddhist Insight

Tns MnaNrNG oF MANTRAS

The preceding section should have mad.e it clear that when the
texts themselves speak of varieties of m,ntres, the intention was
to relate them to designated fruits. However, there is another-
way of classifying mantrqs, and this is in terms of their meaning.
The skepticism about the meaning of mantras is very ancient in
India, but we shall see that the problem involves different species.
of ritual utterance.
certain differencesof ritual formuras emergefrom initial consi-
derations. Thus, there would appear to be an inherent d.ifference
between the kind of formulas which abound among the minute.
details of a ritual, and the kind of formulas which a candidate
cherishes and repeats daily. For example, in Buddhist tantra
ritual the candidate is drawn into the near retinue of the ma4(ala
deities as he pronounces the so-called 'odiamond pledge" (uajra-
samaya),AH KHAM uiru HCM41; but this doesnot seem to occur
in another ritual circumstance.4zAmong the daily recitation types
of formula is of course the Gdyatri of the Hindus and the formula
oM maui padme HaM of the Buddhists. It can be stated gene-
rally that the disciple daily repeats the formula associated with
his tutelary deity (istradeuatd).
of a different nature are the three mystical utterances (uydhrti),
which the Satapathabrdhmana ascribed to prajapati.a' He uttered
Bhur which became this earth, subsequently to ue described by
the layers of Pdtdla, the underworld. He uttered Bhuaalt, which
becamethis firmament, subsequentlyto be describedby the stories
of the "upon-world," the bhilmi-s. He uttered. suar, which
be-
came that sky, later the pinnacle of existenceor heaven (suarga)..
In the Buddhist Tantras there is a set of seed syllables, o,fl,-Ak,
Hu1n, repeated innumerable times. The three are correlated to,

41wavuax, The Ritual in Tantric Buddhism

of the Disciple's Entrance
into the Maq/ala,in ..StudiaMissionalia",Vol. Zi (tgl+), p. 45.
a2ln Brahmanismprobablythe most extensivecollection
of these occa-
sionalmantrasis now to be found in the Srautokoia,of which the English
sectionhas been publishedin two monumentalvolumesby the vaidika.
SarhSodhana Ma{rdala,poona, l95g and 1962.
asAccording to the satapathabrahmaua,
xI, r, 6, z-4, prajdpatiwas born
alongwith theyear,and whenfirst he spokethe wordsBhfir, etc.,did so like,
a child with wordsof one and two syllables;cf. J. EccsLrNc,tr., part v".
SBE XLIV, pp. 12-13.
 The significance of Mantras, veda and Buddhist Tantric practice 427'

the threemysteriesof the Buddhaand to the r[rmerous threefold

groups.Thereis somethingin commonbetweenthe threeuydhrti-s
of the Brdhmanicliterature and the three seedsyllablesof the
Buddhist Tantras.That is, both sets have an element of the
memorial device, the dhdraui.By this I would suggestthat in
reciting the setsof three one may recall the associations-in the
caseof the three uydhrti-s,the contentsand deitiesof the three
worlds;aainthe caseof the threeseedsyllables,the variousthree-
fold sets, as with orp rcmemberingthe night, with Ah the day,
and with Hurn the juncture of day and night.asSo underrtooi,
the memorial syllableshave no meaningin the ordinary sense;
their meaningis in what they intend by way of the respective
associations.
on the other hand, numerousmantras,and the vedic onesare
principallyof this nature,consistof, or includewords with mean-
ing to thosewho understandthe language(here Sanskrit).Natu-
rally, evenallowing for such meaning,thereis occasionallysome
obscuritywith difficulty of interpretation.In the classificationof
mantra as the male formula ar,.duidydas the femaleone,thereare
numerous caseswith formulas having standard word meanings,
with additional syllablesat both ends that are of the memorial
type. since the Tdrd uidyd (or7t tdre tuttdre ture sudhd)occurs in
the Guhyasamdjatontro,chap. xIV, Ratndkaraidnti in the
Kusumdfijali-guhyasamdja-nibandho-ndmahasaverse(his own ?)a6:

Preciselybuddhi (discrimination)is the root of knowing. It

achievesthrough offering. Hence, at the beginning oi th.
mantra is or7t,and it is made clear at the end with sudhd.

This verseexplainsthe orp as associatedwith buddhi,the root

of knowing, which comesfirst; and explains the sudhdas the

arro which may be added the three strides

of viqnu according to Satapatha-
brahma4a r.9,3,10. vilnu strode on earth by means of the Gayatri
meter,
in the air by means of the Tri$ubh meter, and in the sky by
means of the
fagati meter.
45cf. wavlvraN, The Buddhist Tantras, Tables
14 and 15, for a number of
threefold sets going with the three seed syllables.
cerhis is in the Tibetan Taqiur, Japanesephoto
ed., vol. 64,p. 16g-3:I blo
tsam frid ies rtsa ba yin I mchodpa las ni rab tu byed des na sriagskyi thog
I mar
Orp I mthar ni Svd-ha zhesgsal byed l.
.428 Buddhist Insight

clarification or revelation at the end.4?The same work explains

the Tard uidyd : Tdre ("O Tard.") because she rescues by
bringing to the other side (i.e. is the pdramita). Now tud-is pain;
tuttd, suffering; Tuttdre ("O Tdrd, from suffering"), because she
rescuesfrorn pain. Then Ture ("O Tura, the fast one"), because
she is fast, i.e. rescuesspeedily. Thus Ratndkaraidnti explains the
uidyd as composed of two kinds of elements, the syllables Ont
and Sudhd which have a general intention no matter what the
uidyd, and then the individual words of the particular utdya which
have meanings of the iexicons along with grammatically defined
inflexions. in this case the vocatives.
But also, even when the words of the mantra appear to have the
ordinary meanings of words, thero can arise an argument over
their meaning and their function, just as happens in the case of
any other ancient sentencewhich now can occasion an argument
between prospective translators. For example, in the Nyaya-
Maiijari (section translated in "The Calcutta Review", Oct. 1955),
the opponent had argued that a mantra renders its assistanceto
.a Vedic rite only by its recitation, referring to the case of the
rnantra,'ol:[ear, oh slabs of stone l" (ir4tota grdua4alt), and ob-
serving that stonescannot hear. The author of the Nydya-Mafiiari
repliecl : "$rnota grdudi.tahis..a miraculous act by the influence
of which slabs of stone can even hear". In this case,both sides of
the argument have a point. The opponent could argue that this
remark just comes up in the course of the ritual, and evocation is
more to be ascribed to the daily-recited formula like the Gdyatri.
The Nydyo-Mafiiari author is also on good ground, becausehe
is emphasizing the role of faith or conviction, that those going
through the ritual should believe that events take place as stated
47For some other explanationsof Orp, seeK. V. G.nnNoRAGADKAn, Neo
[tpanishadicPhilosophy,Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1959, pp. 26-29.
It should be understoodthat RatndkaraSanti'sexplanation has been specia-
lized for the caseof a vidya, as shown by the Svahaat the end. That is, the
Ory is here the seedfrom which comesthe successes attributed to the vidya.
Since the preeminentsuccessof a vidya is the divine knowledgeleading to
liberation, the Ory is here explainedas the root of knowing. The term buddhi
is here involved, apparently since it is the processleading to the Buddha,
who has been enlightened.While the term is employed in various ways in
the Indian texts, the usage here seemsabout the same as in the Bhagavad-
glta, Chap. II, verse 39, including : o'associatedwith which buddhi, O Pdrtha,
you will get rid of the bondageof karma".
The Significanceof Mantras, Veda and Buddhist Tantric Practice 429"

(whether or not they do), this flrm belief ensuring the successof
the whole ritual. In any case,this shows that the insiders of a cult
frequently do not agree on the meaning or function of a mantra;
and so, the meaning or use of mantras cannot be established by
the criterion that all the followers of the cult agree upon it.48
Then notice also how some formulas which seem meaningless
are ascribed meanings in the cornmentaries ! Once I noticed in a
commentary on the Buddhist dhdrani of Vimalopqita theseuidyd-s/
ksaqtak;aqta / ksitti ksini f ksuUu ksunu /.nn At usual thesewere
transcribed into phonetic Tibetan letters. The explanations were
translated; and the three pairs were explained respectively :
"Guard, guard !" (sruns iig sruns ^flg),"Rescue, rescue !" (skyobs
Sig kyobs ,fig), "Nourish, nourish !"(tshos fig tshos .flg). Besides,
it appears tnat any mantra which is o'meaningless"in terms of
its constituents might also be consideredmeaningful in terms of
the intended fruits to be derived from the ritual utterance.so
Still another case is when a mantra appears meaningful, and
yet the commentary ascribes an unexpected meaning.sr Thus
a work called Bolimdlika- preserved in the Tibetan Tanjur canon,
consists of mantras transcribed into Tibetan, and a translation
into Tibetan is regularly added. Once I noticed therein the mantra
hana hana, which we would expect to mean "Destroy, destroy !".
But the translator added the Tibetarl snun snun, which means.
"Prick, prick !" and seemsto preserve a Vedic meaning of the
verb han-, "to hurl a dart upon".sz
a8Cf.Jna, ThePurva-MImarysa-Sutras, pp. 43-54,whichtakesup various
arguments by the opponentto the effectthat mantrasare meaninglessand
then replies defendingthe significanceof nnntras.
aeThisdhara4i has a very long title, and l.heauthor of its commentaryis
known in Tibetan as Lhan cig skyespa'i rol pa (*sahajalalita); it has No.
2688 in the Tohoku Catalog of the Kanjur-Tanjur; and the passage is in
Derge Tanjur, Rgyud, Vol. Thu, f. 2B5b-1,2.
50Jne. The Purva-Mimanxsa-S[itras,p. 53, informs us "Examples of the
interpretation of apparently meaninglessmanftas are given in the Tantra-
vartika (Translation, pp. 100-101)".
51Or, again, as Asanga'sBodhisattvabhumi (Wogihara ed., p. 273) puts it:
"Preciseiy this m:aning of them (i.e. the mantra words) is, to wit, fruitless-
ness" (ayam eva cai$am artho yad uta nirarthatd).
52I originally consultedthis work in the Derge Tanjur, where it is included
in the Rgyud (Tantra commentary)sectionbut in the Narthang as well as the
Peking Tanjur editions it is placed among the miscellaneousworks concerned
lvith grammar and lexicography.
430 Buddhist Insight

In conclusion,the chargethat mantrqsare meaningless is to be

grouped with the innumerableother chargesof meaninglessness
that have been traded back and forth in India in past millenia,
and the natural retort is that the opponenthaseither not beenin
.a position, or has not taken pains to ascertainthe meaning.And
it is also obviousfrom the presentstudy that later religiousprac-
tices of India, suchas the Buddhist Tantra, have a profounddebt
to the Vedic religion.
 23

THE GODDESS SARASVATI-FROM

INDIA TO TIBET

rn the vedic period, vedic lore and rearning

deveroped on the
banks of river Sarasvati in North-west
India. This river once
flowed to the sea, but in time disappeared
in the desert sands,as
though to bring the vedic period to
an end. Thereafter the god-
dess of the same name, sarasvati, would
convey this learning,
as the inspirer of eloquence became calred
11d by the Hindus
Vdgdevi or the goddess of speech.
swdmi Prajfrdndnanda (Historicar Deueropment
of Indian
Music)r conveniently presents the essentials
or the vedic worship
of this deity. she was one of a triad
of goddesseswho, accord-
ing to the commentator sdyana, were
conceived as three blazing
flames of fire (agni); and sarasvati
in time became preeminent
as a fire by which there was comm'nication
with the gods. This
author writes (p. 5r): "In the mytho-historical
riteratu re, Deui
sarasaati, the presiding deity of learning
and all arts, was des-
cribed as the tongue of the sacrificial
fii (agniiihud sarasuati),,.
And again, "The ancient authors on music
conceived and deified
the primal sound, Ndda, as a symbol of
the goddess ,sarasnati.,,
He refers (p. 56-57) to rhe satapatha-Brdhiarya
(yrr, 2.4.r-7),
for the legendary association of ihe godder,
*ith the Gandhar-
vas, the celestialmusicians. The Gandharva
visvavasu had stolen
the nectar Soma from Gdyatri (which is a certain
meter, and also
rPublishedby Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay,
Calcutta"1960.
 Buddhist Insight.
432

when the'
the charm, uidyd, addressedto the Sun dgity at dawn).
maiden
Deuaslearned of the theft of Soma, they sent the beautiful
are said to be
vdc or vdgdevi to rescue Soma. The Gandharvas
they
fond of women and beauty, so when vdgdevi approached,
yours be the soma
went to the gods (the deuas), and said, "Let
be ours." Since the Gandharvas lrad thus
and let Vdc or Vdgdevi
their ranks, from that time they excelled in
secured Sarasvati ior
mentions that sri or Laksmi, the god-
music. This author also
from Sarasvati
dess of good fortune, was gradually separated
though frequently paired with her'
pro-
J. N. Banerjea-line oeuelopment of Hindu lconography)z
Hinduism period' As
vides the main details for the classical
sometimes connected with
known by the Purd4as, sarasvati is
and sometimes
Brahma, both as his daughter and his consort,
(who thrives). The Jains
with vitqu as one of his consorts, Pupli
the Vidyddevis'
put her at the head of the Srutadevatis and
she is usually
i, uo independent goddess (i.e. not a consort),
as four-armed,
described in such texts as ttre Vi;ryudharmottara
with many
white colored, dressedin white garments and decked
of ttre following
ornaments, holding in her four hands any four
instrument,
objects : manuscript, r,vhite lotus, rosary, musical
,o ott. The musical instrument is possibly the
*ut r-n.rsel, and
the manuscript is'
oldest emblem associated with her, although
with Brahmd;
also old. A late Gupta form shows her in association
gift-bestowing gesture (uaramudrd),
she is four-armed, with
the musical instrument (uiTd), and the
the rosary (aksamala),
her four arms. one of her names is
water-ves sel (kamaudatu) in
is autumnal," also the autumn
Sarada, wtricil means "she who
moon;andthenamealsostandsforakindofVi4aorlute.
B.Bhattacharya(ThelndianBuddhistlconography)sSumma-
period, namely
rizes the forms of surutuati in the late Buddhist
and a form with three faces
four types of the two-handed goddess,
the foll0wing :
urro si* arms. From his work comes
(1)Mahasarasvati,resplendentliketheautumnmoon,rests'
gift-giving (uarada)
on the moon over the *hit. lotus, shows the
the white lotus with
g.rtor. in her right hand, carries in the left
(smeramukhi), is extre-
is stem. She has a smiling countenance

' 1956'
zPublishedby the Universityof Calcutta
sPublishedby Firma K. L' Mukhopadhyay' Calcutta'1958'
 The GoddessSarasvati-from India to Tibet 433

mely compassionate,wears garments decorated.with white sandal

decked in many ornaments; she appears a maiden of twelve years,
and her bosom is uneven with half-developed breasts like flower-
buds; she illumines the three world.s with the immeasurable light
that radiates from her body. She is surrounded by four goddesses
who are apparently facets of herself : Insight (prajme in front,
cleverness (medha) to her right, Memory (smrti) to her left, and
backed up by Intelligence (mati).
(2) Yaravi+Ft Sarasvati. She is distinguished by carrying
in
her two hands the Vild, and she plays upon it.
(3) As Yajrailarudi (deification of the autumn), she has
a cre-
scentin her crown: is three-eyed, and two-armed, carrying
the
book in the left hand and the lotus in the right.
(4) Aryasarasvati is also called vajrasarasvati, a common
name
of sarasvati among the Buddhist tantrics. She is a maiden
of
sixteen, in the prime of youth, has white complexion, and
in her
left hand holds a lotus stalk on which rests ihe prajRdparamitd.
book. No mention of what is in her right hand is made.
The other form which Bhattacharya found is vajrasarasvati,
with three faces and six arms, in pratydttdha dsana (this means
right foot bent forward, left retracted), on the red lotus.
She is
red in color, with right face blue and left face white. In
her three
right hands she carries the lotus on which is the prajfrdpAramitd.
book, the sword and curved brade; and in the three left, the
skull
borvl of Brahma, the jewel and the wheel (cakra). An alternate
description has a simple lotus (no mention of book on top)
and.
a sirnple skull bowl (no mention of its being Brahma's).
Passing to the Tibetan tradition, I have used the collection
sgrub thobs kun btus, vor. Kha,a which is mainly given over
to.
rituals of the three insight deities : Mafrjusri, Sarasvati,
and the
white Acala. The sarasvati section has seven works occupying.
consecutivefolio side numbers 394-546,or about 150 folio
;id.;
which I have surveyedfor this paper. First some general remarks.
may be made.
(a) since there is only one goddess, namely sarasvati,
among
the three "insight" deities, it follows that prajfr FryFnamita(who
is occasionally depicted iconographically)s is here incorpoiated
aDehradun. G. T. K. Lodoy,N. GyaltsenandN. Lungtok,rg70.
sSeefrontispiecein Edward conze,selectedsayings
from the perfection,
of Wisdom(The BuddhistSociety: London,195t.
434 BuddhistInsight

in the Sarasvati treatment. The reason is suggestedby a Mahd-

yana scripture that was popular in both Tibet and china, the
Suuarnaprabhdsa-sutra,which devotes a chapter to Sarasvati
setting forth her sddhana, together with the rite of expanding in-
sight (prajmfl and cognition (buddhi).u At several places in the
Tibetan materials, e.g., at f. no. 472, tbere is a discussion of the
nature of prajfid. At f. no.524, the Praiiidlatakais cited.? "Prajfla
is the root of all merits, whether seenor unseen. Since it accomp-
lishes both, first one should endeavor to promote insight". And
the same folio side States: "Among the numerous means for
promoting insight, the one that is best is the reliance on Devi
Sarasvati."
(b) There were numerous sddhanas, or evocation rituals of
deities, translated into Tibetan; and the iconographical descrip-
tions are not always included in Bhattacharya's pioneer and still
invaluable work. Thus, he did not include a four-handed type;
but in this Tibetan collection the Sarasvati of the Bo-don school
is a four-handed one embraced by a four-handed Mafijughoqa,
although not having in her four hands the four hand symbols of
the Gupta forrn previously mentioned. Both Furdlic legends
afe fepresented in the collection : The white Sarasvati of the
Brahmin Kilas school is called "Brahmd's daughter," although
also referred to as a metamorphosis of Arya Lokesvara's great
tooth, a legend contained iL Mkhas grwb rie's Fundamentalsof
the Buddhist Tantras.e The Sarasvati in the lineage from Bo-don
pal-chen phyogsJas-rnam-rgyal makes her an emanation frorn
Vi+lu (in Tibetan, khyab' jug).
(c) It is of interest that where the age was given I could not find
in the iconographical descriptions of this Tibetan collcction the
age "twelve" that was prevalent in the types Bhattacharya pre-
sented. The preferencefor the 16 yeared Sarasvati in these sddha-
nas is also evidenced by the description of the breasts, usually
"round, firm, high, and large." There is some significancein this
switch, becauseas the Guhyasamdjatantra,Chap. XV, 66, suggests,
the twelve-yeared girtr or boy was ernployed as a vesselfor divi-
eCf. FerdinanriD. I-essingand Alex Wayman,Mkhasgrub rje's Funda-
mentalsof theBuddhistTantras(Mouton: The Hague,1968),p. 111.
TThiswork is includedin theTibetanTanjur,andattributedto Nagirjuna.
sSanskritizedfrom the Tibetanname,Bram ze phur bu.
eSeenote 6 above.
 The GoddessSarasvati-from India to Tibet 435

nation of ritual success.l0The 16-yearedforrn loses the possible

divination connection, and by the suggestion of nubility fits the
form of Viplu's consort, called Pupli ("thriving"). Also, the age
of 16 agrees with the well-known Buddhist association of "in-
sight" (prajma) with the sixteen voidnesses(iunyata); and saras-
vati's epithet vdgdevi agreeswith the sixteen vowels of the sans-
krit alphabet.
(d) These Tibetan materials help solve a problem allud.edto by
Madame Mallmanll in her study of Maffjusri's iconography
where she mentions (p. 16) that Mafrjusri's association with
sarasvati was previously pointed out by A. Foucher and by s.
L6vi (the latter in his Le Ntpal), but that"so far she has not found
this in the sanskrit text she consulted. In the esoteric sdclhana
of the red Sarasvatidescendedfrom the KashmirianpayrdirBhiksa-
parama, the statementis made (at folio no. 52r . 2) : o'Now, here
the esoteric evocation of the red Sarasvati is explained accord-
ing to the KTspayamdritantra." This indicates that the association
of sarasvati wiih MafrjuSri is in the tantra devoted to his angry
form called yamdri or yamdntaka. Therefore, it should be in such
a Sanskrit text that sarasvati would be thus set forth.
(e) These Tibetan sddhanasbring up some of their own prob-
lems. Thus, the divorce from the original association with the
Sarasvati river seems complete by such remarks as frequently
occur, "Sarasvati dwells at the shore of the southern ocean."
More fully (f. no. 481): "o11the shore of the southernocean,the
divelling of the gandharua maiden, in the pleasure grove of the
vidyddh.aras." The term "gandharua" should be unclerstood by
the previous expianation, narnely, "heavenly nusician.', The
vidyddharas seem also to be flying spirits {cf. Kramrisch's illeis-
tration "Flying Vidyddhara"rr).
The Tibetan materials at f. no. 444 call Sarasvati thelvife of the
Gandharva Tambura. Now prajfrdndnanda when discussing
10Thereasons,
as pointedto in Tson-kha-pa's
annotaticnof the pradrpocl-
dyotana cornmentary on the Guhyasamajatantra,in the Japanese photo
is the sexuarisoration,hence, .,puberiy crisis,,
edition, vol. 158,p. 125-3-4,5,
unmixed with the other ssx. chap. XV oi the Gwhyasanzdja especiallyconcerns
dream and other auspices.
uMarie-Thdrdse de.Mallmann, Etude,iconographique
sur Mafijuiri (Ecole
francaise d'Extreme-orient: paris, 1964.)
rsstella Krarnrisch The Art of hdia (phaidon publishers
rnc. : London,
19s4). P1.68.
436 BuddhistInsight

(p. 384) the varieties of ainds, says : "Tambyra, tamburd or tdna--

purd is known as the tumburu-ueend".Thus, the name o'Gan--
dharva Tambura" probably means o'Gandharva who plays the'
tumburu-uinii". In Mallman (p. 94),PafrcaSikha,king of the Gan-
dharvas, is playing a Virtd; and this entry is followed immediately
by reference to "Sarvarthasiddha, king of the Vidyadhara,'"
thus pairing the Gandharvas and Vidyddharas, as in the Tibetan
text cited above.
An. unsolved problem of the Tibetan sddhanasis the epithet of
Sarasvati at f. no. 520-3,4, "messengerof Sila."13
As to the descriptions of the goddessin this Tibetan collection,
there are three basic forms: 1) the independent white goddess;,
(2) the independent red goddess; (3) the goddess as a consort.
(1) Here there is the white Sarasvati of the Brahmin Kilaschool,,
f. no. 413 : The officiant goes through the various preliminariesn
such as bathing, taking a comfortable seat, taking refuge, gene-
rating the mind of enlightenment, and contemplating the four
boundless states. Then he purifies the void with the mantrc
"suabhdua", etc.la Thereupon he contemplates that from the
realm of the void appears a temple inhabited by the gods and the
host of accomplished rpis and gandheruas)surrounded by delect-
able herbs of a Mt. Meru grove, within a white and pure ocearl
of milk. From a PAM appears a trunk of white lotus with large,
petals; and frorn an A a moon disk, and thereon a white HRIII
from which arises Vdg-devi Sarasvati, with white body, one face,.
two-armed, her face calm, smiling, and lovely with charming
youth of sixteen years, breasts firm and high, naffow waist, in
squatting posture; with her hand holding an instrument of many
strings of lapis lazuli, and evoking it with the fingers of her right
hand, producing an ocean of sounds. The back half of her black
glistening hair is tied together, and the remainder freely hangs.
dorvn. She is beautified on the crown of head with a crescent
moon, and on her head is tied a garland of white lotuses; and
her tressesof hair are beautified with various jewels. The upper
part of her body is covered with white silk, and the lower part

rsThe name o'Sdla" was transcribed into Tibetan phonetically.

laThe mantra is given fully on f. no. 541 : Orp svabhavaiuddhah sarvadharmah
I
'oor.n.
svabhdvasuddho'haml All dharmas are intrinsically pure. I am
intrinscially pure".
 The GoddessSarasvati-from India to Tibet 437

wound around in variegatedfashion like a rai4bow. she is adorned

with strings of gems and jewels and with nets having small bells.
Her body, lacking self-existence,emits light rays without end
,and has in back a shining curtain in the form of a
moon. The
officiant contemplates in his own heart a lotus stalk with flowers
that had been suspended downwards, that becomesdirected up-
wards and takes on the aspect of a red lotus opening up; that
within the flower is a moon, and on it a white o\4. And he con-
templates that while he hardly breathes out, the nddar| of theo$
'(meaning the small circle on top
of the oM) emits white rays,
which pass out through his right nostril, and enter the left nostril
'of sarasvati like the one he
has contemplated (in front) but
dwelling in the entrancing glade of the vidyadharas on the shore
of the southern ocean, and there entering her heart, attracts
sarasvati in the gnosic form together with retinue, blazing with
light, which leaving via her right nostril, like the rising moon of
autumn, in an instant appears in the sky in front (of the officiant),
trlling the heavens with offering clouds. He offers flowers, etc.
with the appropriate mantras, and then invites the godd.ess,while
muttering with barely audible sound, while he holds breath within.
He contemplates that the shining circle enters by his left nostril
and merges with the oM in his heart. Then the oM transforms
into a rvhite eight petalled lotus with sarasvati and retinue. .
(and so on down to) pervades his whole body with light, which
dispels the darkness of ignorance and expands the light of intelli-
gence directed without hindrance on all the knowable (and so
on, for the concluding part of the ritual).
(2) There is the secret evocation of the red Sarasvati in the
lineage from the Kashmirian poryfit Bhiksaparama (f. no. 505).
The aim is to expand the fulfilment of praifid. After the various
ritual preliminaries, much the same as in the case of evoking the
white Sarasvati, the officiant meditatively ascends to the void
contemplating all dharmas as void and without self. He contem-
plates that from the realm of the void there appears an eight-
petalled lotus, that upon it his own mincl changes into a red.
HRIH, which sends out rays that make offering to the nobles,
chase away the darkness of nescienceof the sentient beings, and.

lscomparethepreviousmentionof nddaasa symbol

of thegoddesssaras-
vati.
438 BuddhistInsight

amount to the light of prajfid; then returning, change into a

knowledge mirror. That melts into light, and himself (i.e. the
offfrciant)imagines that he becomes the Devi Sarasvati with body
red like the color of coral, with one face, two hands, the right hand
holding the rvish-granting jewel (cintdmaryi) and the left hand
holding the knowledge rnirror (jfianddar,"ra),with right leg bent
forward and left retracted, breasts firrn and large, with head
ornament of various jewels, earrings, necklace, hand bracelets, a
girdle belt of pearl, a garment of variegated silk that flares out,
the rrraiden aged exactly sixteen, countenance calm, smiling, and
charming, (body) sending out innumerable rays; and he imagines
that appearances are devoid of self-existence, like reflections
on the mirror; and imagines on the head a white OM, on the
neck a red AH, and in the heart, a black HUM. (Then the offi-
ciant, as in the earlier rite attracts from the shore of the southern
ocean Sarasvati in the gnosic form just as he has imagined her
above).
In explanation of the meditation procedures in the above cases
of the white and the red Sarasvati, the officiant first evokes the
Ceity, here the goddess Sarasvati, as the symbolic being (samaya-
sattua)-a conventional representation; then attracts tire know-
ledge being {jfianasanua)-usually from the sky, but here from the
shore of the southern ocean, perhaps meaning the Milky Way;
and the entrance of the knowledge being or circle into the offi-
ciant to be lodged in his heart, is held to establish the lineage of
the deity in that person, who thus unifies the symbolic and knowl-
edge beings.16
(3) Here, for the red Sarasvati as a consort in the Bo-don
lineage, the offrciant follows preliminaries somewhat along the
lines of the preceding evocation of the red Sarasvati, leading
(f. iro. 542)to the officiant's becoming meditatively Vajradevi Vagi-
Svari, the venerable Sarasvati, whose color of body is red, with
one face, four arms, of which the trvo basic ones embrace the
male deity; and with the two remaining ones, in the leftholds a
precious musical instrument of many strings that is resting on
her left side, which with the fingers of her remaining right hand
she slowly plays, producing an ocean of musical sounds with the

rGCf. Lessing and Wayman, Mkhas grub rje's

Symbolic Being and Knowledge Being.
 The GoddessSarasvati-from India to Tibet 439

full gamut of notes, gratifying all the Buddhas; while her two
feet are in the lotus intertwine. Next to her is the Lord, the vene-
rable Mafljughosa, with body red-yellow, one face. and four arms,
with the two basic arms embracing the goddess; and with the two
remaining ones, in the rightwields a sword thatblazeswith light
rays, and in the left holds a blue lotus on top of which is the
Prajfiaparamitd book. Both of them have bodies wondrous to
see,adored with all manner of jewels, and dwell amidst a furious
light display. on the petal to their East is Insight (prajfra), on
the southern one is Intelligence (ntati), on the western one is
Memory (smrti) and on the northern one is cleverness (medho).
Each of these have one face, two arms, hold a sword with the
right and, a white lotus with the left, are each adorned r,vith silk
and jewels, and stand with their two feet together. The central
deities and the retinue all have on their forehead an o\{, on their
neck an AH, in their heart a HUM.
In this case, there was no indication of the goddess'sage, al-
though the presumption is that she is here also sixteen years old.
Finally, the elaborate ritual of the white sarasvati in the lineage
from Bo-don pap-chen phyogs-1as-rnam-rgya1mentions a role
of the goddess'sutpa in the yoga of the watches (at f. nos. 473-
474). This has to do with the yoga procedure of evoking the
goddess at the sandhis, especially dawn and dusk, taking rest
rvith the goddess'sblessing,and being aroused by the sound of
her tiltcT.The text sa)'s : "The great music from the sounding of
the ui\ta, of the profound and far-reaching dharma. ar,vakens
him from all the inner and outer sieep; and he seesdirectly her
face".
In conclusion, the powerful goddess personality of sarasvatl
that had developed in the vedic period continued unabated
through the many centuries,even though the iconographic details
varied. Despite the adaptation of the goddess to later tantric
meditation procedures, the goddess's ability to promote insight
and inspiration did not suffer serious detraction even when she
advanced from twelve to sixteen vears.
 24

THE TWENTY-ONE PRAISESCTFTARA,

A SYNCRETISM OF SAIVISM
AND BUDDHISM

Dr. A. S. Altekar's wonderful and often-moving work named,The

Position of women in Hindu Ciuilisation from Prehistoric Times
to the Present Day mentions that Tantric writers joined the cru-
sade against the Sati custom. Using the Mahdnirud4atantra
(X, 79-80) as authority, "They pointed out that woman was the
embodiment of the suprerne Goddess, and boldly declared that
if a person burnt her with her husband, he would be condemned
to eternal hell." The Buddhist Tantras also stress the sacred
nature of all women, and the fourteenth of the fourteen funda-
mental transgressions (milldpatti) of the Anuttara-yoga-tantra
'code is "to disparage women, who are the self-presenceof Insight
,(prajfiit-suabhaua)".1Inthe latter texts "fnsight" (prajmfl is a name
of the Great Mother.
There is no need here to dwell upon the importance of the
Mother-goddess in India or upon the antiquity of the cult.z In

lA6vaghola's Mulapattisarygrahais not completely availablein Sanskrit,

as edited and translated by Sylvain Levi, Journal Asiatique (1929), 266-7.
'The
fragment did not go down to the fourteenth one, which, therefore, is
translated here from the Tibetan version.
2Among the numerous discussionsof this subject, one may refer to the
treatise by Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sircar, "The Sakta pi!has,', J. R. A. S. B.
Letters, XIV (1948), 1-108, especiallyAppendix YI, Siva and Sakti in the
,Orthodox Indian Pantheon, pp. 100, f.
442 Buddhisr Insight

the west, the analytical psychologist c. G. Jung has pioneered

a theory that this is an archetype in the hurnan psyche.
The worship of the Supreme Goddess under the name Tara
began r,vith the Bucldhists, and subsequently Tal:- was admitted
to the F{indu pantheon. This is recognized by Handiqui.s The
briei text wirich forms the basis of the present essay covers the
various moods, calm and fierce, of the Goddess,and doesso with
'a frank employment of both Saivitic and Buddhist terminology.
It coirtains a rare use of the word iqkti (fernale power) in appli-
cation to a Buddhist goddess. Such a syncretism is also rare.
Ordinarily, Buddhist works, and perhaps the same is the case
with other trndian schools, disguise the influence of rival sects
by adopting ideas and changing the terminology. The situation
is comparable to that of a manuf,acturer whose product is really
not different from that of a rival firm, but who maintains through
packaging and advertising a distinct image in the public mind.
While there are probably personsin every age who seekthe under-
lying unity or secret resemblance, they usually gain little appre-
ciation for their efforts because these do not appear to serve
sectarian interests. Yet, the u.nknor,vnauthor of our tsxt mana-
ged to strike a winning coinbination. Waddell, who made a
rather unsuccessfulattempt to translate the versesfrom Tibetan,a
mentions that the hyrnn is very popular among Lamaist people
in Tibet, Sikkim, etc. The circumstances that originally caused
such a text to become prominent are probably those depicted
by Dutt in his essay "Buddhism in Kashmir". Speaking of the
Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Ts'ang's (or Yuan Chwang's) observa-
tions in Kashmir in the 7th cent., Dutt writes, "He saw 100 monas-
teries, but the religion followed in them, he remarks, was mixed,
hinting thereby that the people r,vorshipped both Buddha and
Siva."s
The Sanskrit for the text irere edited r,vastranscribed in the
third chapter of the Tibetan translation of the Saruatathdgata-

sKrishan Kanta Handiqui, Nai;adhacarita of Srihar;a, Poona, 1956,

548-51.
4L. A. Waddell, "The Indian Buddhist Cult of Avalokita and his Consort
Tird 'the Saviouress,'illustrated from the Remains in Magadha," J.R.A.S.
(1894), 7l-4.
sNalinakshaDutt, Gilgit fuIanuscripts,Vol. I (Srinagar, 1939),"Buddhism.
in Kashmir," 36-'/.
TheTwenty-one
Praises of SaivismandBuddhism443
of Tdr6,a Syncretism

mdtrtdrduisuakormabhauatantra-nAma. The text was also trans-

lated as a separatework in the Kanjur collectibn, which was pre-
sumably Waddell's source. This information was found in a
native Tibetan text on the Tantras by Khai Dub.6 Using the
transcribed Sanskrit, which is treated in that Tantra as a dharaqti,
and the Tibetan translation, I made a draft edition and trans-
lation. Then I compared my materials with Godefroy de Blonay's
edition of the text, based on two manuscripts, in his Matdriaux
pour seruir a I'histoire de la ddessebuddhique Tdrd (Paris, 1895).
Of course, most of his edltion is correct, but many a verse has
some serious fault-which may be the reason that he did not
present a translation. However, the Kanjur transcription in the
Derge edition has several corruptions, and there are also a few
places where this transcribed Sanskrit does not agree with the
Tibetan translation. Therefore, I was glad to have de Blonay's
edition, and it proved helpful in several details. Also the edited
colophon is a modiflcation of the one in his edition.
The Tibetan Tanjur collection has a number of works based on
this Tard text. However, they are not true commentaries, but
rather ritual works dealing with the twenty-one aspects of Td:rd.
These are principally by the dcdryas Suryagupta and Candra-
gornin. The first work by Sfiryagupta is the sddhano,or iconogra-
phic description for evoking the deity, for each of the twenty-one
forms of Tard. This rvork is plesumably the source of the rough
descriptionsgiven by Waddell in the same article.? It is beyond
my present essayto deal with these Tanjur texts. Some of them
are important in Tantric Buddhism, but they could contribute
little to the type of annctations which would bring out the origi-
nal syncretic intention of the text. I expectto draw out this inten-
tion in annotations to rnv translation that follows the edited
Sanskrit.

{q rRrd'
{qE, ilTt T q1t eTut{ldiq'ridr
fu)+qqrrrqf,dr"qfi{s'€rc+:q'tgi
I|1II

GThiswork by Mkhas grub rje, has been translatedfrom Tibetan by Dr.

F. D. Lessing and myself in collaboration. It appearsas Mkhas grub rje's
of the Buddhist Tantras,(Mouton, The Hague, 1968).
Fundarnentals
zWaddell (op. cit.), 83-9.
4M Buddhist Insight

TU:v1-6vlFffrrfxuir.qFt I
ilrtrqffiflrx-{HRfipnscq}' rrRrr
rq: mqsffiqqqlqr+R r
il{fr4dq:qnfqmilqnbrmrH 11111
rqq 6Trq1ffi1qk{q5ft-qrfruft I
sqls@rrvrr
aqffir
qcil*frz;rrff,rfl. fr:viqa6iquq- | I{ |I
;fq:@f
laiarwr;eriTqqerg{€6} 11q I1
anq ateflowa.il<q{q*"6rqf(h r
ftqrtrffitrq-rtfqr|qGftrr{frwfr rrsrrt
qqq gt rrfl*t qrqm{r[qrfa r
C

ilct l
g:6urwrfufrrrlqt r
ruq fa-<a'gcr
s1f@qrfr+;{€'fiT5fr rrrrr
;rq: qqfEil-afqqgeTferffirt(q'1 r
qVeryC -rnUtqr{dTrq{'ttnf{ || i o1I
E'q: ttwf,rrTFilTeqrqr.iurertr
mTg=Tf,-f,mrrqq.iq{mm II I I I I
qq: ftrqu-squi€q3arwufrsrqt r
erf+rarrwErqr{lTTFqTfs'q{e'-
rr1Rrr
q'q:sflT.rilGow'se'TcTTrFff.T{fte{t
r
en-dtatR?irqatrgq+f,EqrfqrfE
|| 1I rr
Tg: s'kt"TTvra*vn6o5t I
Tgats'Qffiltiy11
;Ft: fqf* {ri qnfr qn'FilHrmffi r
r*-6xur+q+t vqmrvsq-rfqrfr- I| 1{r r
q'q:sq|<ilr+aRguraxrtffi I
€TTTrfiqnrtqsris,rcft'fqt rr1qrr
rq gtrcrqrtf,+T <ffir<frfqt r
tqq;En*,crsyra+arfoh II1e||
8 I have accepted here the reading of the Sanskrit transcription in the
Kanjur against both de Blonay's edition, iikhijvalakulojjvale,and the Tibetan
which agreeswith the latter, me kbar hkhrug pa fin tu ftbar ma.
 The Twenty-onePraisesof rird, a syncretism
of saivism and Buddhism 44s,

nr:S@qtr
dT{AeEdft-r,{riTffiaq-.gffi- tt 1 c Ire
;rq:gT{rurTeqerg{ffifufrr
3ilqdq"fEilTffieq:eqcq'1Tf$t{ | | Qrr
I
@vrgtr
ilCr@nRotl
arq@qf,qt1
TEEdrrqeI{rur;rRrfq-srq.tgt ftRI il
rqTeFrE Ff,td;rqFs.risf:{qm,I
4: qeffi"ftfiqT{ |eq.'t rrt+-aq.qf}qn: 1?Rlr
Trq ET qkrcceTTq.. Fqtq{trrqT{ |
tr*wqqrrsfietUfmmqTqrrRRrr
srnTnE{il} rriqui sqftfwrqmefrT. r
efrrFwqtaqrq-{v}st qtarE ilifl l?ytl
ffr ilFr rqr*r {sT.trRETeTwg.q.r
w<qrerezrznfd qrfqil fltT+{ qT tfR{t I
r-gaTtqqTtrTirEqrfrtffirq-r+i r
qeiqt qq triqmf fafMrrqfum
ttRqtl
ff,friqi^ il*t36 em6* e,fu r
q,+nrqri.acfrfd r f+i: Tfirdqt
. nR\erl
Tt:Rrs'"q'Sdtirfud rrT*ffiaqr qqr+-riqffiirEaj-a
qt{d Ht3i H.'qT€r art FflBr 1u1-t{il_
I

HorrlecE ro TAnA

1' Adoration ! o Tdrd, the quick one (ture),

the heroine, bright-
eyed with twinklings;
Who has sprung from the opening flower
on the lotus face
of the lord of the three worlds lro

er havetakenthe ribertyof writing

pharkarairaie.!a,arthoughboth the
Kanjur transcription
and de Bronay"
l'The threeworrdsin the epic "artion nuu"pnoiii,a ase;a.
are Bh'rr.ka, nnuuu.iotu,and svarr.ka.
Possiblytheseare what Buddhismcails the Rearm
oi D"ri." (kdmadhatu),
Realmof Form (rupa-dhatu),andFormlessRealm(arupadhatu).
body, the threeworrdsappearto correspondto (1) In thehuman
naveldownwards,(2)
neckdownto naver,(3) head.Thesedivisionsof the
foo",.." Iegailyrecog_
nized in Kautilya'sArthaiastra,XIX, 195 (translation
ty R. Shamasastry,.
-446 BuddhistInsight

2. Adoration ! O Lady whose canopy faoe is full of a hundred

autumn moons;
Who blazes with the laughing beams of a thousand starry
clusters !
3. Adoration ! O Lady adorned with hand-held lotus colored
blue and gold;
Who ranges in giving, striving, austerity, peace, forbearance,
and meditation !11
4. Adoration ! O Lady of boundless movement in the victory
of the Tathagata's u;Ui;a;
Who is frequented by the Victor's Sons who have attained
every single Perfection lLz
Adoration ! O Lady who fills the quarters, intermediate direc-
tions, and space with the sounds of Tuttdre and H[m;
Who pressesdown the seven worlds with Thy steps and is
able to summon all !13

p. 219). As will be demonstratedmore specificallyby verse 12, TdrE"is the

sacredGafiga which flows from Siva's matted hair. She is the Gangd in hea-
ven, or the Milky Way. According to Indian legend, once Tdrd, understood
as an asterism,was carried away from her husband Bihaspati by Soma or
the Moon. When she was recovered after a waro she gave birth to Budha,
or the planet Mercury, and confessedthat the latter was fathered by Soma,
not by Brhaspati.
11with Saivitic flavor, austerity and peace here substitutefor morality
(iila). The Sanskrit word titik;a substitutes for kfinti, both meaning "for-
bearance". Thus, she who ranges in givlng, etc. is the Perfectionof Insight
(prajiiaparamita). She ranges in the first five Perfectionsof the Victor's Sons,
namely, in Giving, Morality, Forbearance, Striving, and Meditation. In
Mahdyana Buddhism, she is regarded as the Mother of the Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas.
12Sheis {Jlnilavijayd, born from the characteristic(lak;aua) of the Great
Person(.mahapuru;a) called the uyti;a. This is representedin Buddhist images
as a spiral hairlock of the Kapardin type on the head of the Tathdgata,one
who o'hascome the same way" or "understood tlie same" as the former Bud-
dhas. This characteristicrem.indsus of Rudra, of whoni Sir R. G. Bhandar-
kar writes in ooVaifnavism, Saivism,and Minor Religious Systems,"p. 147:
'oHe is calied
[in the Satarudriya]Kapardin, or the wearercf mattedhair, which
epithet is probably due to his being regardedas identical with Agni, or fire,
the funres of wirich look iike matted hair." The Victor's Sonsare the Bodhi-
sattvas.They unite the sixth Perfection, that of Insight, with the first five,
giving, etc. (verse3). Hence, she (Prajfla or Ulnilavijaya) is frequented by
them.
lsRegarding the seven worlds, E. Washburn Hopkins, "Mythological
 "The Twenty-one Praisesof
Tird, a Syncretismof Saivismand Buddhism 447

6 . Adoration ! o Lady worshipped by Indra, the Fire God.

Brahma, the Maruts, and Vi5veSvara; i
Placed above all by the elementary spirits, vampires, songster
spirits, attendants of Siva, and secret folk !
7. Adoration ! o Lady who defeats with the souncls of Trat
and Phat the magical diagrams of others,
while Thy left foot is placed forward and Thy right retrac-
ted, and Thy wild glance blazes like fire !1a
B. Adoration ! o thou quick one, most-fearfur Lady, who des-
troys the heroes of the Mdras;
who slays all the enemy by contracting the brorvs of Thv
lotus face !15
9. Adoration ! o thou adorned with the heart's ..thumb,,
marked by the seal of the Three Jewels;
The distraught Lady whose own beams in bundles adorn all
the directional wheels.16

Aspects of Trees and Mountains in the Great Epic,',

J.A.o.s. vor. 30
(1909),373,says: "rn the Purd4as, e.g.VP. 2.7.
l f., thereis fully developed
the idea of the planetary spheres(not Dvipas) which go
by the nanresMaliar-
I6ka, Janaldka, Tapardka, and satyardka, superaddeld
uion the order Bh[r-
I6ka and Svarldka or svargaldka (theseare epic) with
the intermediate bhuvas
as Bhuvarl6ka.,'
laHere we recall the legend that glance
a from siva's third eye recluced
Kdma to ashesand that such a glancedestroysthe gods
and all thi'gs
at the encisof certain aeons. In any case,the u.rr" i, "rrut.,i
emphasizing fire in ils
destructi'e sense.The secondritual work by srryaguptu
Gqo. l6g6 in the
TohokLr Kanjr-rr-Tanjur catalogue), contains for each
of the twenty_one
Taras the rite (vidhf) constitutinga karmanga.In the case
of the seventhiaJ,
the rite is called Gofi du hprto ba (sanskrit ilrddhva-sr6tas),,,going
up*u.d,
in the sti:eam", strryag'pta mertions here (Derge Tanjur,
- Rgyud l:gier, sa,
13a-5): / i.ichi bdag bdud ni gzom pali phyir/hero ba
rnams la srog styin
zin / "so as to defeat the Death Mdra (mytya-mara),(she) gives
life force
(praaa) to the living beings."
lsThere are four Mdras in Mahayana
Buddhism. Their narn€sare usuaty
given as skandha-mdra, Klesa-mdra, Mltyu-mdra,
and Devaputra-mdra. r
have explained the word mdra to mean ..death" (understood
metaphorically)
in my essay "studies in yama and Mdra, ,,Indo-Iranian
Journar, vor. rII
(1959), Nr. 2, 113.
16TheThree Jewelsare of course the
Budclha,his Doctr ine (dharma), and
the order (sarygha).The "seel" (mudra) of trresejewers is
thei*v-uoti.
representation,perhaps as discnssedby Tarapada Bhattacharyya,
The cult
of Brahma (Patna, 1957),168. The dharmajewel is usually
representedby a
wheel (cakra). The heart's thumb is presurnably the heart's liiga,
und,erstood
to be erect.
48 BuddhistInsight:

10. Adoration ! O Lady whose garland is tossed about the dia-

dern as you swell with delight;
Who domineers the world of Mdra with the laughing, mock-
ing sound Tuttare !
1 1 . Adoration ! O Lady able to summon the multitudes of all
the Local Genii;
Who liberates all in distress with Thy Hlrm of shaking con-
tracted brows !
t2. Adoration I O blazing Lady of the diadem ornament with
the plumed crescent;
Who is the constancy of radiant beams from Amitdbha's
mass of braided hair !17
1 3 . Adoration ! O Lady who lives amidst the garland blazing
like the flre at the aeon's end:
Who overcomes the enemy circle delighted in the circular
band of right foot forward and left drawn back !18
14. Adoration ! O Lady who strikes with the palm of her hand
and pounds with her feet the surface of the earth;

ttCf. Nai;adhacarita,XXII, 142 (translatedby Handiqui, op. cit., p. 352):

"The sixteenthpart of the moon is called a digit, but only fifteen digits round
off the moon, growing from the new moon to the full moon night. Was then
the rernaining digit, which had no lunar day allotted to it, taken out of the
moon, an<lmade an ornament for Siva ? And, in its place, do I see in the
moon a dark cavity, namely, the lunar spot ?" Jitendra Nath Baneriea, The
Development of Hindu Iconography (Calcutta, 1956), p. 486, discussesthe
Gangadharamtlrrtiof Siva : "Siva releasesGangi pent up in his matted
Iocks by stretchinga coil of hisjatas with his back right hand, while caressing
with his front right hand his principal consortUm6...." The Buddha Ami-
tibha, whose name means "infinite light," here substitutes for Siva. In
Tantric Buddhism, Amitabha is the progenitorof the Lotus Clan(padma-kula),
of which AvaldkiteSvarais the master,and the red-coloredTdrd is the Mother.
The latter, by reason of white dress,is also known as Pandard, and is often
describedas being "16-yeared".
18TheSanskrit for "circular band", abaddha(or is it abandha?), is here
translated into Tibetan by kun nas bskor, "completely circumambulating".
The Sanskrit expressionis a substitution for the rak;d-cakra ("protective
circle"), which is the name of the rite for the thirteenth Tdrd in the work by
Sfiryagupta used above (note 14). In this rite, it is customary for the hiero-
phants in the cardinal directionsto adopt the egoity and posture of an appro-
priate rvrathful deity (krodha). Thereby, an inner circular region is freed from
inimical elements,and the ma4{ala may be drawn. It is not clear why the
outer enemycircle should be delighted. Perhapsa type of hypnotic fascination
is involved.
 The Twenty-onePraisesof Tdrd, a Syncretismof Saivismand Buddhisnr
44g

who shatters the seven underworlds with the Hrlm mad.e

by her contracted brows lle
15. Adoration ! Lady of calm, Lady of virtue, Lady of peace,
who ranges in the quiescent Nirvdqa;
who is attended by the sounds svaha and or.n, who destroys.
the great sin !
16. Adoration I Lady who crushes the bodies of the enemy deli-
ghted in the circular band;
who is manifested from the H[m of the magical formula
clnsisting in the arrangement of ten syllables !20
17. Adoration ! o Lady seededwith the appearance of the H[rn
syllable, who strikes with the feet of Ture,
shaking Meru, Manddra, Kaildsa and the three world.s !"21
lB. Adoration ! o Lady who stays in the hand aspected.by a
divine lake and marked by a deer;
who dispels all poison with a twice-uttered Tdrd and the
sound Phat !22

lsrhe sevenun,cerworlds (patata)are of course,in order : Atala, yitala,.

sutala, Patala, Mahdtala,Rasdtala,Taldtala.cf. Fausta Nowotny,.Eza
durch MiniaturenerlauterteDoctrina mysticaaus srinagar (,s-Gravenhage,
1958),30-1.In the samework (p. 2r), we read: saptupaftlamayr prtivi,
"Earth ccnsistsof sevenunderworlds,'.
20InTantric-Bucdhism, a vfdydis a manifestationin femaleform, or the
magicalthoughts,utterances, and gestureswhichproclucethat manifestation.
Hencethe worCis translatedhere"magicalformula". The ten syllablesare
in a sddhanaof Td,rd.translatedby B. Bhattacharyya in TheIndianBuddhist
Iconography (calcutta,1958),p. 23 : om Tdr6 TuttdreTure Svihd; ..This
is the lord of all Mantras,is endowedwith greatpowers,and is saluted,
worshippedand reveredby the Tathagatas." when the versespeaksof the
HDry of the magicalformula,it is not clear whetherit refersto theentire
setof ten syllables as a H[ry, or intendsthe middleterm,TdreTuttire Ture,
to constitutea HDm. The latter casemay be the intentionof thenextverse.
2rshe is seeded in the sequence depicted by the Advayavajrasaqngraha
(edited by Haraprasad shastri), p. 50, line 7 : sunyatdbddhirobijaanbijad
bimbam prajayate. "From the realization of voidness proceeds the geim-
syllable; from the germ-syllable,the image of the deity.,,
22.'Markedby a deer" signifiesthe moon. Together with "a divine lake"n
this is the "moon in the watet". The referenceis presumably to the level
hand gesture (sarndhita-mudra)which symbolizes the samahita-citta or equi-
pcised minrl that seesthings as they really are. Therefore, the poison that is
dispelledmay be understood-besides the external poisons-as psychological
poison. Buddhism speaks of the three poisons-hatred (dve;a), lust (raga),
and delusion (rnoha).In connection with the mention of poison here, fever-
450 BuddhistInsight

7 9 . Adoration ! O Lady visited by the supefintendent of the host

of gods as well as by the gods and the horse-headedmen;
who destroys quarrel and bad dreams with the delightful
winding of the circular band !
20. Adoration ! o Lady of bright light in (both) eyes that are
filled with the sun and moon;
who dispels the terrible fever by a twice-uttered Hara and
the sound Tuttdre !
2 t . Adoration ! o Lady endowed with the Power (sakti) of siva
to dispose the state of the Third;
Who destroys the host of, possessingspirits, vampires, and
secretfolk ! Most excellent Lady ! O quick one !23
22. With clear cognition and full of reverencetoward the goddess,
one should recite this Praise, which is both the basic montra
and twenty-one adorations.
23. At dusk or rising at daybreak he should rernember (this
praise), which grants complete fearlessness,dispels all sin,
destroys every evil fate.2a
24. He would be initiated speedily by sevenmyriads of Buddhas.
Arriving at greatnessherein, he would proceed in the end
to the rank of a Buddha.
2s. trf he has eaten or drunk a terrible poison, stationary or
locomotive, he dispels it as soon as he remembers (this
Praise).25

in verse 20 and fire elsewhere,one shor"rldnote that of the Atlnrva-veda Sir

Bhandarkar (op. cit., p. 148) mentions, "Rlldra is implored not to bring on
consumption,poisott, and celesiialfire (XI, 2,26)." The deity in whose domi-
nion the particular misfortune lies, is naturally tho one who can avert that
misfortune. F{ence,Tdrd ("the Savioress"),as the power (!akti) of Siva, can
saveone from thoseCangers.
2BThethird one of the Hindu triad is Siva. The relation betweenSiva and
Sakti has been lvell describedby S. K. Das in Sakti or Divine Pov'er (Calcutta,
lg34), for exarnple, p. 75, "In reply to this Bhairavaassertsthat Saktiis nothing
'one who fashions,sustainsand
but Hrs own self (Svarupa)in the aspect of
withdraws the world' Bhairava is of course all three-Bratrlmi, Vilnu, Siva."
The preseni verse refers only to Siva. Hence, Tdrd is the destructiveself or
ability of Siva, who withdraws the lvorld.
zaln tsudclhism the three evil fates or destinies (durgati) are of animals
(tiryagyonikc), ghosts (preta), and hell-beings (naraka).
2bThetwo kinds of external poison of classicalIndian medicineare meant.
For example,poison of plants is the stationary type; poison of snakesistr
 The Twenty-one Praisesof T6rd, a syncretism of Saivism and Buddhism 451

26. By repeatingit twice,thrice or seventimes, he removesthe

great pains, pains of seizure,fever, and poison, of even
other sentient beings.
27. D esiring$ons,he obtains sons. Desiring wealth, he obtains
wealth. He achievesall his desiresand is not frustratedbv
obstacles.
completed and endedis the praise consisting of Twenty-one
Adorations of Her Lordship, Taru, the Goddess,together with
the merit and benefit, expressedby the samyaksambuddha.
Hail, Tdra !

locomotive type. r have pointed out a third externalcategory,createdpoison,

for example that made from quicksiiver or from amyta, in my little essayin
honor of Leonardo olschki, "The concept of poison in Buddhism,,, eriens,
Vol. X (1957), 107-109.
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

"Buddha as Savior," StudiaMissionalia,29(l9BO),pp. l9I-207.

Reprintedby permission.
"Ancient Buddhist Monasticism,"studia Missionaria,2g (1979),
pp. 193-230.Reprintedby permission.
"Meditation in Theravddaand Mahisasaka,"studia Missionalia,
25 (1976),pp. 1-28.Reprintedby permission.
*'The Bodhisattva
Practice According to the Lam-Rim-chen-
Mo," The Tibet SocietyNewsletter,l:2 (July-December1967),
pp. 85-100.Reprintedby perrnission.
"The SixteenAspectsof the Four Noble Truths and their oppo-
sites,"The Journalof the InternationalAssociationof Buddhist
Studies,3-2 (1980),pp. 67-76.Reprintedby permission.
*'The Mirror
as a Pan-BuddhistMetaphor-Simile,"History of
Religions,13:4 (May 1974),pp. 251-269.Reprintedby permis-
sion of the university of chicagoPressand copyright (c) rg74
by the University of Chicago Press.
n'The Buddhist
Theory of Vision," Afijali, Wijesekeravolume
(1970), pp. 27-32.Reprinted by permission.
"Dependent origination; the Indo-Tibetan Tradition," Journal
of ChinesePhilosophy,7 (1980), pp. 275-300.Reprintedby
permissionof D. Reidel PublishingCompany and Copyright
(c) by D. Reidel PublishingCo., Dordrechr.
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Buddkiststudiesin honourof walpolaRahulo, (]-980). Reprin-
ted by permissionand copyright (c) 1980by Gordon Fraser,
London.
"orhe twenty reifying viervs(sakknyaditthi),"studiesin pali and
Buddhism,Bhikkhu JagdishKashyapmemorialvolume (1979),
pp. 375-380.Reprintedby permissionof B. R. publishingcor-
poration and copyright (c) 1979by B. R. publishingcorpo-
ration, Delhi.
454 Buddhist Insight

"who understandsthe Four Alternativesof the BuddhistTexts,"

PhilosophyEast and West, 27:l (Januiry 1977),pp. 3-21.
Reprintedby permissionof the university Pressof Harvaii.
"The Intermediate-State Disputein Buddhism,"BuddhistStudies
in honourof I. B. Horner (1974).Reprintedby permissionof
D. Reidel Publisiing Companyand Copyright (c) 1974by D.
Reidel FublishingCompany,Dordrecht.
"No Time, Great Time, and ProfaneTirneinBuddhism," Myths
and Symbols; Studies in Honor a/' Mircea Eliade (1969), pp.
47-62.Reprintedby permissionof The University of Chicago
Pressand Copyright (c) 1969by The University of Chicago
Press, Chicago.
'oThe
Role of Art among the Buddhist Religieux," East-\4/est
Dialoguesin Aesthetics(1978),pp. 2-15.Reprintedby permis-
sion of StateUniversity of New York at Buffalo and Copy-
right (c) StateUniversityof New York at Buffalo.
"secret of theHeart shtra," Prajfidparamitdand Relatedsystems;
Studies in honor of Edward Conze (Igl7), pp. 135-125.
Reprintedby permissionof Regentsof the Universityof cali-
fornia and copyright (c) 1977by Regentsof the university of
California.
"The Sacittikd and Acittika Bh[mi," text and translation, is
basedon "The sacittika and Acittika Bhumi and the pratyeka-
birddhabhfrmi(sanskrit texts)," Journal of Indian and Buddhist
Studies,7:l (1960),pp. 375-379. Reprintedby permission.
"Asanga's Treatise,Patamartha-gatha,"is a corrected version
of the text and translationin A. Wayman, Analysis of the
sravakabhumi Manuscript" (Liniuersity of california pubti-
cationsin ClassicalPhtlosophy,l7 (1961),pp. 167-185.Re-
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"Asanga's Treatiseon the Three Instructionsof tsuddhism" is
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and West, 24: 4 (October 1974),pp. 389-403.Reprinredby
perrnissionof the UniversityPressof Hawaii and Copyright(c)
1974by the UniversityPressof Hawaii.
"The
'* Hindu-BuddhistRite of Truth-an Interpretation,"Studies
in Linguistics,Murray B. Emeneauvolume (1968),pp. 365-
369. Reprintedby permissionof the LinguisticSocietyof India
Acknowledgments 455

and Copyright (c) 1968 by the Linguistic Society of India,

Poona.
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7: 1 (August 1967), pp. 1-12. Reprinted by permission.
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 INDEX
.Abha_yakaragupta ^ 133,159,161,165n, Ak ; ayamat inirdeia-sutra | 6, | 56
175n,421- I4l, 421.See.iBuddha.',
Abhidharnlx (p.. Abhidhamma) 37, S,kuoU.lv+ (:Ardda).
lj3il Sglam? tB7_tBB,372
z ? , 8 5 . 9 1 , 1 1 7 _ 1 1 91.2 7 . t 7 2 _ 1 7 4 ' .otqyavrJnarta (store_consciousness, ba-
f ! f , 1 - 8 _ 31.8n6, ,1 8 9 ,2 1 6 , 2 2 1 2, 2 2 n ' , sr-c-perceptron) 92_93, 97. 130.
254, 334. 40an 189,
Abhidharmakoia 20, 58, B4-g5. 90n. !11-!14, 2s3, 273,27s,)81"
l l 7 - 1 r 8 , t 2 3 _ 1 2 st .5 7 _ 1 5 81,8 i ; i10-3.i l, 334,350,'350n. S".' .;r,j'J
?1._ iidne."
L21,?03, 216,222n, ZSt, ZSti, )AO', Arnitabha.:6-38, 147, 2gg-290,44g,
3 1 8 ,3 3 1
A.bhidltarmakoia- bharya 59n
AmirayLrs, 405.Sce.;Budl
iflX";
A bhidhar makoi abha;y ayik a-|at n ar tha_ Amnq,a-nnfijar
i 1 59, 161
nama lTGn
A bhi dharinakoi a-vy akhya 263 4 moghapa iakatparaja 160
A n a n d a 3 7 - 3 8 , 1 3 9 , 1 4 2 , 1 6 3 ,1 7 I , 2 g l ,
Abhicllnrmasamuccaya'Ig0, lg 5, 262- 320
263
oblr1flA^ (supernornralfaculty) !2_13, dnandagarbha 280
Anan da-gar.bh a vak r dn t i ni r cleSa 259,
? 9 , 3 5 , 9 7 . 1 1 3' ,1 4 6 , 1 5 4 . ' i 6- 0 _ 1 6 i . _ 2 5 2 n
:80-:8t. :3.1. 299, :zi. s G Anapanasati 70
_ "tacult_v."" rdr{hi." Aila.v.aI ap I a- t nga r oja- pa r ip r cclt ii 237
Abhiprd,rik,Trrlta-gJtha Chapter lg; A n d h l k a s e c t 2 3 1
Ab hisamacarik a (Bhik ; uprakir qaka) Aitgavtjjct 403, 404n, 4Ag
60n Anguttara-nikaya 12, 33-35, 35rr, 57.
7,4.,-74n, 132,-153- l54, 261-,
ilq-,'{2)',
llliymatalarTkdra ltg, 161n, 190 446
"u,'i,' o PrainaPara-
if,r,:;Y1; i{ "
1Y';n 4_4ts, 415n, 424_425
abhit e!;a(consecrrtion, inii iation)20g, K:; 13;::\41
394,417 Aristotle405
abhiltaparikalpa(Imtgi nation of Un_ Arhar 3p)^42,88, 105,126,157,lg4-
reatrt$ | 90-19 | . 27l_27s 1 8 5 ,2 0 3 n 2
, 9 0 ,3 30-33t,
:Oi ;-i tre
Acala, a deity 420,433 s.r.xtegn, etc.290;asepithetof Bud-
o,persons.,'
(cit t i kablturni Chapier 16; 194 . dha 12, 372. See
Ad.arSamukha, a tiing t43 Arjuna 279
Adbltuta-brahmana4e4 Arthaiastra 445n
adhi;yhana(blessing,empowerment. A.rt hav ini i caya- sfi t ra 92, 303
sprrrtual foundation) 2A_23,324', Artltaviniicaya-rika 120-122, I 79-l g0,
375,395-396 201
Advayn vajrosan graha 449q 20,43,188,308,372,3rB,
AgSltr _(scripturc)25, 131, Z0g, 221, l'{?f*"
. 2 3 . 3 ?. ! ( t . 3 t 3 ; - . t i n c a g c ' 3 5 4 3
, 'i i ' Aryadelsa's "Foltr Hundred Verses,,'
A g n i 2 5 _ 83. 9 5 . 4 1 4 ,4 1 6 n ,4 4 6 n , 4 4 7 _ Commentaryto 247n
Agnipurano 415-421,417n, 423_425 4ryagayalir,ra 22
anql(}ry - (egohood) t88-199, t9l. lrya-p r ajiirtparatnitd-tik ci 316n
. . 3 J 9 .3 4 [ r . 3 5 0 - 3 5 1 . : s e t]f 3 i .{ryaSr-ira 287, 3g1,.391-395,3g7
Ar-fcrayaArap.vaka414n, 415n Arya-t ara-k urukuIIe-lcatps 405
lilareTa Brdhnaqa ' 416,'416n, 425n At^"lgl.. Ch-iprers9. t6-18; t5-17,26.
Aiivaka"sect 372 30, 44-45.55,57_58,64-65.70.'
ALuiqinu, a heaven21,85, 147,l4g, 7t:
',15t.
74. 75-77, llg-126, t30_1.15.
_279,3133 , 23 1 6 4 . 1 6 8 . 1 7 1 - 1 8 01, 8 6 _ 1 8 7l 9. i .
!kafikkeyvcsutta 69 2i 5. 234n.259n,26C-265. 270^ 27:;'.
Akadagarbha67. See.'BcChisattva.',
ak;?4o _(unfavorable moment), the ?21. 3oi):rcl, 363, 3lo, 315-3te;
335n,.3.45n,422n; meCitetiv.irrol
eight 295 grcssin Asanga'sschool. 7g-95
458 Buddhist Insight

ASoka, a king 39, 48, 2 9 2 , 2 9 6 n ;a Bhumi-vastu80

tree 401 Blake,W. 163
dsrava (fluxes) 35-36, 125, 157, 175, Blue Annals 53
184,206 Bodhicaryavatara(Spyod'jug) 24-26,
A;lasahasrika Prajfiaparamitd 23-24, 101-104,109-11 l, 226, 299, 304
26,138, 420; Great Commentary Bodhicary iivaturapafiji k a | 40n
on 110 bodlticitta(thought or mind of enlight-
Altavakra 374 enment) 100-103, 149-t50, 436.
Allavakra Saryhita 374 tantric 410
ASvaghola188,287,44ln Bodhimargapradipa-p afijika 9 6n, 225
AsvaIay ana-sutra (P., Assalay anasutta) Bodhipathapradipa178n, 281
257-259 Bodhiruci 24
Atharva Veda393, 402, 404, 407, 450n Bodhisattva77, 153, 157, 177-179,
AtiSa 96, 100-102,778n, 225,242, 2Bl, 178n, 184-785,194, 196-197,244,
406,420 244n, 270, 281-232, 312, 446n;
attaehrirent(sanga) 44-45, I44, 339 greet, celestiai, suprantundane22-
Atthasalint 75n 218, 236 2 4 , 2 8 , 9 5 ,1 3 3 ,1 3 5 ,1 3 8 ,2 7 9 , 2 8 1 -
AvalokiteSvara22,28, 159, 290, 400, 282,290-291,315n,321n,330-331,
42A, 448n. See "Bodhisaitva"; 400. See"Path," "persoits'o;Chap-
Chapter i5 ters4, 15.
Avaiarytsakal70n Bodhisattva-bhilmiIl2, 134. I9'+, 195,
avidya (nescience,ignorance) Chap- 199,zIt, 260, 327, 422r^t
ters8-9; 150,160,164,236-237,244,Bodhisattvapitaka-sutra15,1-155,176
254-256,263, 2i8, 3A2, 306,320, Bo-don school 434,438
3 4 7 , 4 2 1 , 4 3 7 ; f i v ke i n d s2 0 2 ;s e v e n body (kaya, Sarlrt) 103, l4l, t43-144,
kinds 201:' nineteen kinds 202; 1 4 6 , 1 5 5 , 1 6 9 ,1 8 9 , 2 0 6 , 2 A 8 , 2 1 0 -
-cravins. 374 212,217, 260, 283-284,3ll, 316-
Ay u; tnanictnrlagarbhi valcr dntini r d.e3a 317, 320, 335-335,349, 350,363,
262 373,4*2-403,199,,138 ; subtir 409;
nradeof ttitd (tnatrcnn-','akd;'a) 733,
155, 153, 18-1-135 2 ,7 3 , 2 7 5 , 2 8 3 ,
Balinnliki 429 386.409;ofthe BudCha20-25,270,
BhadrakaIpi :a-sil tra 16I 283, 296, 375 (Nirmina-kaya 20,
BhagavadgltA 279,295, 385, 428n 25, 270, 312-313,375;Saubhoga-
Bhdgavata-pilrana295 kd,ya21, 25, I49, 270, 279, -112-
Bhai-sajya-guru("Healing Buddha") 313,323-324;Dh.arnra-kiya21, 25,
28, 420. See"Blrddha." 210,270,291, 312, 375); of deitY,
Bhasa 400 1.35,149, 433,436-438;tr:ntric409-
Bhavar:fikrarna I, 79-80; II, 80; III, 410: -satnskara317,318, 324;:
297 tlre three worlds 445r,.:bodY and
Bhavanrsnmy t bhumi 194,2II-212 mind 35A, 353, 416. See "bo':1y,
Bhdvaviveka249"439 speech,and mincl"; Chapter 3.
Bhik;aparama435,+37 body, speech, and nind (kctya-vak-
bhik;u (monk) 30, 117, 165, 167-169, citta\ 19, 110, t54, 190, 371, 324,
175, 183n, 283, 288-2'39,302, 306- 350, 371, 405, 4A5n.See "body,'o
307, 311, 315, 320, 3t7, 352, 354, "speech,t'oo citta."
351" 384, 395, 4A7n; fivc s:Jient Boehme,J. 75
points of 33; five placesavoiciedbY Brahrnd L3-14,252, 252n, 259, 353,
351; "defeats" of 60-51(See"offe- 357, 372, 432-434,447, 450n; as
n-ces");cornparel to brahmana 56' celestialBodhisativa 32I rt
53, 406n. See "persons"; ChaPters brahnrucarya, -cdr i n (b'Lirm t-conduct,
2-3. chrsie p:rscrt) l:. 30. 48. 55, 57-
bhiksutti(nun) 31, 35, 42-58,67,lll; 58, 361, 370. See "persons"'
"defeats"of 61,62(See"offences"). Brah,majala-sutra 203, 206, 2l9n;
See o'porsons";Chapters 2-3. -sutta 232, 363n
Bhiktutti-vinaya 6ln Brahman 259, 376, 382-385, 413;
Ehcja 400 Saguira-420
bh'litti (st::ge)seventeen193-194,327, brahisna 3C,375-378, 383; comoared
333; as stories of thc wotl.d 426- to bhik;u 56-58, 406n. See "Por-
See "Patlt," "stagosof life." sons."
Index 459

Brahmaltas172, 386, 391, 4I3, 414n. 186-187,190, 196, 200, 202, 205-
Seetitles. 206,225-226,.236-241, 244-248,250,
Brahmanical tradition 252, 380-3E1. 255, 257, 297-299,336, 338, 346-
413-414,426n.See 'ostages of life." 350, 348n, 379-380,395-396,424;
Bralrmin Kila school 434, 436 the eight 329-330; material cause
ByhadaranyakaU,pani;ad33, 163,173, 239, 272; insirumentiii cause 239;
256, 263, 265, 376, 379" 382-397, :reason 229. See "condition."
415n Chandogya Upani,sad370, 376, 382-
Byhaddevatq425 384,386-387
Brhatphala,a heaven331 Ch'an schocl 131, 140-141
Bstan bccs mnon rtogs rgyan'grel pa Chao Lurt: The Treatisesof Seng-chao
.... 190n (:Book of Chao) 149
Budclha Chapters 1, 14; epithets of clraracieristics(or charact.:rs)(lak-
1l-14; symbols of 291; boCiesof ;aqta;P., lakkhana)166,234, 272n,
(Sce"body"); the seven,the thou- 318, 348-349,366: rhree 19, 120-
sand 289; the Thirty-Five Buddhas 122, 334 four 277-272,275; thirty-
of Confession 66; suprarnundane t w o 1 6 1, 2 9 6 - 2 9 7 , 4 4 6 t t
22, 26-28, 105-109,136, 142, 160 Cintdmayi-bhfini 97n, 122, 194, 205,
(See names); dynamic and static 327. 333.353
24-251' as Jina 372; Nilyanda-Bud- citta (thovght, minC, consciousncss)
dha 149; Samyaksaqrbuddha 451; Chapters3, 6, 1.6:157-170,177,179,
as Vilr-hajjavadin (Analyst) 215. t94, 1gg, 203-'204,211, 239-240,
See "Sikyamuni," "Tathagata," 2 4 5 n ,3 2 2 - 3 2 33, 3 8 , 3 3 9 ,3 5 8 , 3 5 0 -
"Caktavartiil," "Arhat," 'oSra- 361, 383, 423. 449n: Aspiration
ntoi.lf,lr" "l?lttni." See also "eyer" thought104-105, 107-108 ; Enrrance
' jcivel," t'persons." Thotrght 104-10-s; ekagratci-citta
Budrlitacarita 183 283. See "men{!s," "bodhicitta,"
Buddhaghosa35, 59, 72-76,126, 138, "iametlta."
167n, 177, 216n, 218,236, 28ln Cloud Messenger401
BuCdhaguhya 301,373 compassion(karuna) 22, 87, 99-IA2,
Buddhc1n usrnyt i-t tk u 233, 313 1 1 2 , 3 1 3 , 3 7 94, 3 3 ;g r e a t1 3 , 2 2 - 2 3 ;
budc!hi(intellect,cogniiion, discrimi- BoundlessState of 102
natingminC,discriminatior)20,26, condition (or conditional catse)(pra-
7 2 . 9 6 ,1 3 5 ,1 4 1 .1 4 6 .1 5 9 . 1 9 s . 2 C 9 . tyaya) 123-124,137, 140, 164-166,
4?1. 4i3n. 434: -nnt (sag-',y371:. 158-169,187-188,236-237,244n,
i n S a i v i s n4t 0 g ;i n S 5 . n r k h l !; S
: 3 - 1 8 9 246, 248, 250, 299, 335. 338-339,
Buddhist art Chaptet 14;.40'7,407n, 3 4 7 , 3 t 1 9 ,3 5 1 , 3 { t 5 , 3 9 i . 1 } 5 . S e e
446n; music 432-433,438-439 "ca,r-lse."
BuddhistCouncils37-38 confession 58-59, 66-69, 362, 392,
Buidhist genesis 60, 269-270,273- 406n; Thirty-five Buddhas of 66
278" 282-283.386 conficlences,the four 1C8
Bu-ston146,322n conversion103, 1C5; four means of
Byafi cltub lam gyi sgroil tna ("A Larnp (sarygrahavastu-) 16
on ihe Path to Enlightenrneilt") 100 "Conversion of Sarioutra ancl Maud-
galyayzna" 323n
craving (or desire) (tr;tta; P., taqtha)
Cakravartin 13, 2A8,296 96, ll-1, 124,149,ig6-197,203,207,
Candragomin22, 443 210, 263, 298, ?'04, 306, 335-335,
Candrakirti 138, 140, 149-1.50,159, 339, 365, 385; nescicncl-craving
165n, 177, 216-222,222n,23?,-235, 347. See o'desire"; Chapter 8.
237, 240n-,243-2+4,244n, 249-25O, Cullavogga38
312, 379:.tire tantric 161
Caraka 4A4
Caraka,samhifi 404 dakini 146; Narc-dakini 145; fuka
Cdrvdkas 124 373rr.Seeoodeity."
CatuhSataka20" 188, 312, 371 D cikini -vajr apaiii ara 186n
catutkoti (the four alternatives)Chap- Damam[ilia NidCna Sfitra 295n
ter 11 Daiablifintika-sntra121,|i7 -179,321n,
cause(or basic cause)(hetu) 123-125, 371
137, 140-142,171, 17-2,180-183, Daiabhilmivvalc hvana I 54
-460
Buddhist Insight

Dbait don 160 mirror of 141-142;-sun 241, 244,

deafh Chapter 12; lll, 144-145,l4g, 247; dharynadharma ("merit and
1 5 ! , 1 6 l , 1 6 9 ,1 9 6 , 2 2 6 , 2 g l , 3 2 0 , demerit") 405; Dharma-kaya (See
347, 352, 393-394, 404_405.See "body"); Dharmadhara38; Dhar-
Chapter 8. m a d h a t u1 5 1 , 1 5 6 , 1 6 6 , l g l , 2 7 0 ,
,deity (deva, devata) 26-27, 135-136. 272, 297; Dharmatd 120,243, 250,
!!\-tg. 144-145,163,2s8_259,280', 272,n;dharmardja395. SeeoJewel,"
289,295-296,322, 332, 348n,351n, "wheel."
370-390,398,391,394-397.402-404'. Dharmaguptakasect40, 64,251,253
409, 414-4'16,415n, 419,'423-427'. Dharrnakirti 118, 118n, 195, 196n,
425n; images of 291-292; Asurai 297,303,379
258, 425n; as irreversibletsodhi- Dharma-samuccayal84n
s.ltlves-321n, 420; tutelary 144,306, dhatu (realms), the three (:three
406,426; tantric 290,421;."passion worlds) 293,301,303-304,311, 315-
gcds" 157,275:wrathful448n:four 3 1 6 ,3 2 1 ,3 2 1 n ,3 2 3 , 3 3 1 ,3 5 1 ,3 5 8 -
ilods of thc sublimc heart 420: 360. 365-356.427. 433, 445,445n,
Divine inteilect 393. See namesi 447n,449:defined351n
"(dkini," "gati." Digha-nikaya 25, 33-34, 69, 74, 145,
Dependent Origination (pratityasa- 158, 163, 171, 235, 293, 371
mutpada)Chapters8-9; 19, 53, 92. dispositions (carita) 72-73
124, 139. 155, 2)5, 237-238,244. Dirthilcaths 216-217
?/:8, ?i1-256, 262-263, 278, 298', Dmar khrid 4l0n
304-306,3ll, 320,345. 385 Dmigs brtse ma 400n
desire (kfitrta)365, 381-388.414-416. Dohd 387
4-14n,451; eight similesof 365; as Don gsal157
the goJ Kinra 447n: sensuousiust Dpal na ro mkha' spyod dban mc'i lqm
(kc1ma-ruga) 352, 360, 364. See riin pa giiis. . . .145n
"craving," o'poisorI,"'":dht\! tt.,, drean {svapna)Chapter2l: I0l,133-
Dge-'dun-grub 27 134, 136-137,749, I7g, 259, 279,
.Dgonspa rab gsal 149n 280, 282, 291-295,316, 3lg, 330,
Dhammapada17, 19, 93, 370 365, 4.25,435n, 450; Gypsy dream
Dhamma,sangani 218 bock 399
.dhara7i (retention)Chapter 22: 387, duitlcha(suffering, pain) 15, 19, 100,
413, 421-423,427, 429, 443; four 102-103,lrl, l2a-127, 196,200-206,
kinds 422n. Sec"morrtre." 2_14-237, 275, 280-281,297-299,305,
dharma (P., dhammrz)(natures, fea- 320-321,330-33l, 336,339-340,350-
tures)73,19,93,105,107,ll2, l2l- 351, 358, 363, 371, 379-380,429,
122,130,1,34-739, 741-14.2, 156-l59, 450-451;sevenfold179-180;duhk-
166-t 67. 170-!7s. 195-197 . 207,210, hati (misery) 122-123, 350-351,
234, 238, 243,24.6,245n, 250, 280, 350n;:Pi1q1 Noble Truth (See
283, 31{n, 319-32CI, 324, 331, 335- "truth". S3e "tree"; Clraptcr 8.
336, 341, 345-347,352, 361, 371, D ut[ya-I si d,ttt a-sutta 217
422-423,437; seven dltarmas of a
nronk 34-35;,:mental ob-iects169,
409; consiructcd174.-175, '-111,
320; earth 274-275,282, 316-317,373, 406,
unconstructed i74-175. 243: virtu- 414n, 425, 427:t, 448, 449n; dirt
o u s 3 3 , I I l - 1 1 2 ,3 6 3 .4 2 2 ; u r r v i r t u - 4?.2:dry lanJ 324, 351,402
ous 296: iliusory 231' Buddha- Egg, Cosmic384-385
natures105,107-i09,167,27A,274, Enligirt:nment (bodhi) 100-101,105,
422; ttoble 272, 274. See "eye." 112,133, 738, 142, l4g, I53, l5g,
Dharma (P., Dhairrnre) (Doctrine, 219, 234, 270, 295, 306, 314, 3lB,
Teaching,Laiv) 13, 17-19.25, 37- 323-324,371-372, 374, 404,(Incorn-
38, 51, 64, 10'.1., l0g-114, 122, 154- parable) Complete 281, 312, 323,
156, 163" 166. 171, 173-178,186, 372; thnnderbclt of 219-22A,22I.
207-208,212,217,233-237,255,340, See"bodlticitta."
351, 362-363,-?65-366,372, 374, equipm:nt (sarybh,lro), as thirteen
378-381, 395,
'ogo3l,"of two 406-407,447n; conditions78
kinCs310-312,318- eye Chapter 7; 19,27, 103-104,127,
'J,41,
319; born from 315-316:as Hindu 163,1.69,175,177n,I79, 241,
"'dlrty" 377-381, 392, 396, 416; 244, 297, 299, 335, 345-347,351-
 fndex 461

352, 352n, 382, 394-395,408; of Guhyasamaja-tantral4l , 157, 16l , 373,

flesh155-159;divine 160,251,257, 417,427, 431
394, 396; of divinity 445, 4501'of gu4a (quality, merit) 362; of a puri-
insight 16, 96, 155-159,177, 209- _ fied nran (dhutagulta)49, 54-55
210; of knowledge155,159;dlnrma- Gunabhadra150n-
eye 132, 139, 155-156,158-159; Gunamati 174
dianrond-eye160-161 ; Buddha-eye guru 281,295,416
14, 732,155-159:threefoldor third Gzuns-sfiagsdanlde b2in giegs pa'i
433, 447n; -ointment 160, 299 mtsharil... 420n

faculty (indriya) 193,399;keen or dull Haribhadra 138n

74, 132; insight as chief 207, 2081' Harivarman 119-122
^ .slrpernormai(See "abhijrta") Harca 287
faith (prasada) 142, 185, 263, 292-293, heart (hrdaya) 142, 145-148,259, 315,
393,429 324, 373, 384, 4AE-409,420. 437_
fatlrer 103,I07,306,383,386,400,403, 4 3 8; t u o k ; n c s3 2 4 ;h c ; r t ' s . . [ h u l n b ' ,
415n : liiga '147, 447n. See ,,Ileert
faults 397: three 131 Sutra."
fear 371,403.450: two kinl,s 322 Heart Siltra (Prajiiclpr\ranitahrdaya-
feeling (vedana) 197, 200, 203, 217, s[itra) Chapter 15; 331, 420
219, 231, 235, 263, 273, 276, 276, H e g e l G , .l72n
299,3A4,305-306, 311,316-31 7,320- Heidegger,M. 305
^ 3 2 1 , 3 3 1 ,3 3 7 , 3 5 1 .
S e eC h a p i e r8 . Hevajra Tantra 387
fire 212, 250, 253, 264-265,322. 340, hinCrances
365, 373, 40I-402, 437, 445n-M7n, Qivrlra1ta), the five 76,79,
364
447-448,4-{0;r;sermcrl 74; speech hou_seholder (glhastha)45, 48, 50,57,
as 415, 424; of insight 242-243; lI0, 209, 217, 347, 363. See .,per-
glance as 447n: ordeal 392. See sons."
"Agni," "Vahni," "Sarasvali.,' Hsuan Ts'atg 442
fog{ 45, 14-s7.60.62.64. 87,276.27s, F{suan-isr-rn g
2 8 1 ,3 8 3 ,3 8 6 , 3 9 7 , 4 0 3f:o u r k i n d i Hui-neng 141407n
o f 1 8 1 - 1 8 2s; u b r l e2 7 5 Hui-yuair
forebearance,perfection oi 23, I05- "Hymn of43
106, Creation," Vedic 384.3g6
_ 109-112, 302, 321, 446,' 1trl6n
ft"_*{o"t 287, 294, 298, 304-305,337,
351, 360, 371
ideas(or iCcation)(saryifia)44-45.273.
-340, 2 7 6 , 3 l l , 3 1 6 - 3 1 73, 2 0 - J 2 2 , ' 3 3 1 ' .
gandharva (P., gandhabba)145, I58, 115, ]]J: as naming facutty 298',
303,305
184.257-261,316, 431-432.435_436 impermanence(anitya)
G a n d h i3 8 8 '123, 79, 95, 120-
ll5, l7g, 203-204,206;,,322. '
Gangd 446n,448n 331. See "characieristics."three.
gatesto liberation,thc three l3l-133. In{.q 258; 375, 394-395,425,t,
44'/;:
309,318-319 Sakra 13
gari_(destinies) 13, 121, 142,156-158, I n d r a b h t r tIi 5 5 n - 1 5 6 n
!91_,1q2, 195, 202, 251. 257, 259', insight(prajfiu: F., pailiia) Chapter 9:
27-5,295, 2gg, 304, 351, 35g_359; 13,
380, 397, 404; def,necl 351n. 22. 24. 96-98,100,106,1l'8. 126:
2 0 9 r r - 2 1 02n2. 6 , 2 9 0 , 3 1 J - 3 1 5n,l '
450n;-q;yali 239:-as Nirvana 358 420, 422, 434-435,438-439:.three
'oG&ya,At" (a
sutta) 3l4n l^e1^els^gf 19,?6,96-97, tt3-114, tg4,
GA1,9 r,t'i,(7 S.qv! rr t) 377, 381,387,406n, 208, 2A9-212,292, 327; two kinOj
416-417,426, 427n, 428 3t4, 322; terrninology of 206-209:
Gelugpasect 100, 289,4A0 noble-242;personified433,439,447';
Gesarof Ling 147,407 as light 209-Zl3;as jcwel 2A7-ZO9.
giving (dana) 16-17,61, 104-110.ll2- as ocean 323; eye of (See .,eye")i
114,2gg. 302, 321, 432, 416,446n. - m i r r o r 1 3 0 ,1 4 9 - l 5 l :a m o n g. , i h r e 6
See"perfections." instructions"69,74,95-98,125.177.
grace 1l, 23, 136. See"adhi;!hdna.,, 205-206,282(SeeChapter t8). Se6
462 BuddhistInsight

"perfection of insight," "instruc- 242"245,405

tions."
instructions (or traini nes) (adhifikta),
three Chapter 18; 69-71,74, 108,
126, 155, 205-206, 281-282.See
'"rncraliiyr" o'meditationr" "in-
srgnt."
inteimediatespace(antarik;a) 21, 145,
258
intermediate state(antardbhava)Chap-
ter 1,2;145, 157-158,182-187;two
kinds 259-261
Iia Upani;ad 378
lslam 294
I-Tsing 44n, 59,66
Jagaddeva399,401
Jainism 235, 239, 399-404,410, 425,
432
Jdtakanwla 20, 41, 130, 143, 150, 160,
184n, 274, 293, 391, 394, 406
jewel (ma4,) 110, 1,45,207-209, 433,
436-439; three Jewels (Buddha,
Dharma, Sar.ngha)44, 46, 50, tlz,
1.66,2AI-202, 447, 447n (See each
member); cintdmani 67, 385, 438
Jfidnagarbha313
Jffdnaprasthdna215, 221, 222n
Jfidrravajra158, 160, 421
joy 105,t12, 273,275, 3Bl, 386,375n;
BoundlessStateof SympatheticJoy
ra2
Jung, C.G. 284, 442
Kahola Kaulitakeya 376, 384
Kalacakra-tantra 142, 147, l9I
Ka lapr aka3i lra 40I n, 407
Kalidasa401
Kamala6ilat56, 297, 375n
kalpita (inaagination) 336-337, 346,
348, 404, 410, 417,438; of eight
kinds 364. See "vika!pa." "pari-
kalpa."
karma (act) 19, 123,137, 142, 144-145,
156, 795, 241202,248,255-258,261,
338, 347, 348n-1319n, 335, 396-397,
421; two 179-181;three 190, 338;
onc hr:ndreC59; ten paths of 34;
-mirror (Sec "rnirr,:r"); Truth Act
(See"truth").
Karma-iataka 1,84n
I(arrnavaccrna53n
Kar unoday a-natna-blmvanujapavi dhi
160
kasirya(5., krtsna) (totalities) 72-77;
bases of 76-77, 89, 9l-94. See
o'meditation."
KdSyapa (P., Kassapa) 107, 236-237,
KaSyapa-padvarta242
Kathasaritsagara 400
Karha Upani;ad 258-259,265
Kathnvatthu (Points of Controversy)
215, 231, 252, 262, 265
Katy-ayana(P., Kaccf,yana)167, 237,
245
Kau; italci Brahinana 425n
Kaulilya 445n
Keats" J. 293-294
Khanda-vaggaISn
Khuddaka-Nikaya 216
Khyun-po-lha 407
kleia (defilement) 18 22-23, 81, 95,
ll4, 123, 125, 132, 141, 163, 167,
170-17 7, 77g-179,192-194,I gg, 1gl,
1,96-197,198n, 199-201, 204-205,
207, 209, 220,256,301, 319-319,
322, 337, 337, 340, 346-347,351,
359-360,362-'365, 386; three 181,
358; four 44-45; eisht 2A0-201 ; ten
201, 205; sarpkleia (stain) 346-347,
352,37I
knowiedge (or cognition) (.ifiana; P.,
iiAtta) 21.0-211,225, 314-315, 320-
3 2 2 ,3 3 5 ,3 5 1 ,3 5 9 - 3 5 93,6 3 ,3 7l - 3 75 ,
378,380-391, 395-396, 420-421, 427,
428n.450; srrorainrrndlne 303-J04 ;
:vidyti, five kinds of 133; -sqttva
438; eye of 155. SeeChapterc7,9.
Kokuyalcu Dafzdkyd 83n
KrWa 279
Kf ; tta.yamari -t antr a 435
lc;atriya 296; five salient points of 33
KDkai 150-15tr, 308
Kukuri-pd 160
Kumarajiva 149-150
Kurnirila-bhatta 38i
kuiala+nula(root of virtue) 15, 17, 44,
1 0 s . 3 5 94. 34
Kusumaii.iaIi -g uhyasamaja+tibandha-
ndma 427
Kutos(lrasufrai)
Ky:o{yishinshc 25n, 26-27, 143
Lakqrni424,432
Lalitayistara26, 127n"I72, 1E0n,255
Lama 184,289"4I0,442
lamp 19, 144,206, 208, 230
Lam rint clten mo (includiirg "Calrn-
ing the Mind and Discerning the
Reai") Chapter 4; l3n, l8n, 14n,
4 9 t , 5 7 t , 5 9 , 7 3 n , 7 7 n , 7 9 n ,1 5 0 n ,
164,180, lE5, 178n, 180n,194,225n,
242n,365n
Ianguages228, 288, 299, 302; of scrip-
ture 39-40
 -ic3

Larikavatdra-stltra17, l3l, 133, 135, Mahdydnasarpgraha I3jn" I 7-tn. I83n

1,41,149-150, 158,2U, 302,385-386 Mq@yury-SuftAlatttkAra 20. 59, ig,
Large Surra on Perfcti Wisdon3ffi., 9-r,-112,722, 135,156,2_t-1, _191, 316;
422 318, 321-322,315n,335
Laws of Manu 56-57, 369, 376-378, Mahisasakasect Chapter3; 40, 15l,
3 8 1 ,3 8 7 ,3 8 9 2 5 3 , 3 3 1 ;t h e L a t e r 1 9 3 , 2 5 1 , 2 6 0
lay person. See"persons." Maitrayanlsaryhin 415
liberation (mok ; a, vimok; a, apavar ga) Maitreya 134, 270n, 290, 314n. See
76-77, 88-94,lt3 , 306,312,318-319, "Bodhisattva."
359,374,386,394, 4lB, 424, 428n; Mai t r ey akevalapar i vartabha;y a 313n
eight206. See"gatesto liberation." maitri (love) 84, l0l-102; Boundless
li9ht 23C,259-260,320, 340, 346, 401, State of Love 102
433, 437-439,448n,450; three kinds }'IaitripFlda 144
of 212; insightas 193,205-213,438 Majjhima-nikaya 13, 74, 766n, I97,
liitga 447n 2 r 7 , 2 5 7 ,3 1 5
Logos 393 Malayavati 400
Lokatitastava 140 Malinlv ijayottara Tantram 405n
Lokayata school 239, 362, 362n menas(mind, phenomenai
Lokottaravidin sect40 ',1.94, minC) 134-
135, 146, 172, 209, 263, 271,
lotrs (padma) 1.4,27, 132, 179, 394, 299-300,304, 3ll, 320, 329, 337,
421, 426, 432-433, 436-437, 439, 336, 349, 351, 403, 409-410, 414-
445-447;Realm 308 415, 415n, 424-425;two kinds 415;
kli;!a- 272n, 340, 351; -sarTtskara
31.1, 320; mqnoma),a (rnade of
Madhyanulgann 257 mind) 260, 409 (See "body',). See
Madhi'amikaschool53, 113,124,136- "citta."
147, 150, 159, 221-222,254.,294, maltlela 282,426,448n
302,308-309, 317,379.SeeChapter Mandilkya Upani;ad 425
11. Manene,a goddess147
Madhyamaka-karika 136, 140, 165, Mafljugho;a 434,439
767, 174n, 175n, 185n, 218, 222, Mafijufri 22, 28, 16l, 2gO, 433, 435.
254. SeeChaoter1l See "Bodhisattva."
J I arlh.t aniaka va.iara138, 149-150, 158, I\{afljusrimitra 136
1 t - 7 .2 1 6 - 2 t 9 .2 3 7 . 2 1 3 . 3 7 9 Ma iij u! r i-namasarytgi t i -cak 9ur-vi dhi-
Iladhyrlnravibhdga 170. 190-191,183n, nanu 736n
270-276,318 Manorathanandii-r 118n
Madhyantavibhaga-bhu; ya 170n, 270n, nlantia (sacred frrmula, incantation)
272n,378n Cfgpt-er22; 77,309-310,323424,
Madhy anta- Vibhaitga 270n 462, 395-397,393, 402, 410, 436_
Madhupi nrlika Sutta 197 337, 449n, 450; ol prajrtaparatnita
Mahabharata 189, 372, 414 3.23-324
Maha mudr osi ddhdntopadei a | 44 ; Ory 377, 419-420,- 426-428,
428n, -437-439,449; svaha 323-324',
Malru-nidana-suttanta 163. 1,71 418-42A,419n, 427-428,428t. 449'.
Mahdnirvonatantra 441 See."dhuranl," "vilya"; "secd,"
Mahdparinibbana-sutta 25, 142, 288n, svllables.
3 0 1 ,3 2 C
-
Manuat of Abkirlhamnn 254n
r . f
Me lt ripraj fi apd ram i t alo stra (Le Tra i tc Manual of a hfysyfs ]6
de la Grsnde Vertu de Sasesse de Manusmrti 376-378.
Naglrjuna) l:-13, 60n, 70, 76, 85, M4!u l3-I4" 18,91,114,145,I5B,'372,
93it, 96-97, 737, 139-l4l 235, 323 4C7,447-448;the four-203-20),372.
Ma in- Sak u !adayi-su t ta 74 447, 447n: "scn-,;f-the-go,js"Mara
iVlahasan'lghika-sect 38-40, 59,'1.32, 84, 9tr,209; Deaih Mara 209,447n;
251, 253, 2gB, 375n acts of 76
Maltds upi tia- J Atuka 406 Maruts 447
Mahivogga 32-33, 66, 66n Mq{r{I, basesof (rzDhibhvdyatana) 76-
Mahdvairadhara 161 77" 90-94
Mahavastu 40-41, 117, !32n Ml.ticeta 287
Mahdvira 400 Maudgaiyiyana47,132
Mahavyutpatti 71, 120, 215-216, 219- mcA:r,s (upaya)22, 100, 106-107,118.
222 297, 302, 321, 379-390,395_396'
464
medicine 399, 400n, 402, 404, 450n
meditation (dhyana:P., jhana) Chap-
ter 3; 200, 206, 226, 231, 242, 246,
250,291-283,294-297, 300-301, 303-
304,306,309-311, 314,331,3gl, 395,
393-394,397, 406 406n,415n,4t7,
420, 437-438;four Dhyinas 35, 57,
210, 315-316,320-324,321n, 329,
331,358,361;perfectionof 23,106,
108-109,113,302,445, 446n (See
"perfections"); objects of (See
"kasitn"); among "i.hree instruct-
ions" 100, l0B, 126 (See "instruc-
tions").
nerit (punya) 44, 395-396, 415-417
fuIetta-sutta53
Mimdrysaschool381,408
nrindfirlness76, 83, 91, 144,212,283,
331,361
mind-only (cit t a-matra) 177
nrirror (adaria) Chapter 6; 253, 255,
259, 409; of the law 142; karma-
144-145,183,256; knowledge-438;
prajfia- 130,149-15l
Milindapafiha (Questionsof King Mil-
inda) 393,396, 402-403
Mkhas-grub-rje (:Khai Dub) 136,
M3
Mkhas grub rje's Fundamentalsof tlte
BuddhistTantras21,25n,38n, 39n,
93n, 95n, 135n,282n, 396n, 406n,
410n, 434, 434n, 438n, 443n
monastery Qihara) 42-58, 308
monasticismChapter 2; 374
moon 316, 401,405, 408, 424, 432,
436-437,445, 445n, 448n,449n, 450
nrorality(ftla) 69,71; threekinds 110-
111; six membersof 357-358;four
roots of 361; as sevenabstinences
34-36;perfectionof 23,61, 106-113,
302, 321,446n (See'operfections")
; "sslf"; Cha-oter10.
among "three instructions" 57, 59,
126,205,281-282(SeeChapter 18).
See Chapter 2.
mother 102-103,107, ll3, 145, 274,
3A6,324,383, 385, 393, 400, 403,
441, 446n. See "iakti," "Tdrl.."
mountain 219-220
1.1rtltu-vsii.ana (Cheating Death) 405
1t uIapatt isarytgraha441n
JI il Iasarvast ivadanik ayaik aiat akar man
59
\{Irlasarvdstivddasect 38-40, 42, 49-
51, 53, 59, 63, 65,220-221
Millasarvastivdda Vinayavibhariga 32,
42, 62-63,143n,22A
Mundaka Upaniwd 383
nuni (silent sage)370-375;Buddha as
mahd-muni380-381.Seeo'Buddha."
Buddhist Insight
Munimatdlarykara 133, 16l, 165n,
176n,421s 422n
Nagarjuna43, 53, 173,124,130,136-
7 3 7 , 1 3 9 - 1 4 01, 5 5 r r ,1 6 5 , 1 6 7 , 1 7 4 -
180,185n,186,198n,215-216,2I8,
221-222,252-255,295, 296n, 434n.
SeeChapter11.
Nagdrjunako4da288
Nagasena396
Nai;adhacarita 448n
Nalanda University 43
n-ame-and-forrn (nama-r upa) 256, 263.
SeeChaptei 8.
Naropa 142, 145n,147
Netti-pakarana l19n
Nietzichs, f'. :OS
Nikayas 25, 42, 209, 246. See titles.
Nirmana-kaya See "bcdy",. of the
Buddha.
nirvdna (release)15, 19, 23, 86, i05-
1 0 5 ,1 0 9 ,l l g , 1 2 2 , 1 2 7 ,7 5 5 ,1 5 5 n ,
175,176n,I78, 794,208, 2ll, 232,
240,242, 249-249,252, 254. 274,
306,312,320,323-324, 359-359,365,
370-371,385,449: with remlinCer
203n, 212, 274, 335, 352, 365-366:
without renuindcr 2C3n,274. 312.
330-331, 335,352,355;wirhrut fixed
abcde 106,274,285,374 Surnmit-
257; parinirvdna17, 78,9l , 97, 252n,
257,264-265, 29I,301,3I I, 323,341
352 "
N i ; pannalt0g4vali | 47n
Noble Truths, four See "truth."
non-self (andtman) 18, 19, 95, ll2,
111, 120-125,l3g, 179, 1gg, 195-
197, 203-204,206, 195n, 316-318,
322, 331, 334, 345, 437-439.See
"chau.cteristics," three; " iunyata"',
Nyaya-Mafijari 428
Nydya school 239; -VaiSeqika408
offences59-65: the worst as four "de-
feats" (parajika) 60, 64-65, 3141'
fourteen transgressioas 441
'Od srun gis
2us pa ("Questionsof
KdSyapa")107
'Ol I(ha family 289
ordination 46-54: compared with
oostages of life" 48-49
PadmSvati400
Pali Chanting Scripture with Thai and
English Translation 53n
Paficakrama 424
Index 465

Paficavirnfiatisdhasr ilcd P r ajiiaparani ta 1 7 8 , r .l 0 l . l i l j - 1 5 5 . J - ' ' l : > i r k i n l s

319n 403; six religiouskil.i: l,-r: tlrree
Paqini 289, 413, 414n Ce.gt'ecs or"reiigicu:99:;. .. '. . .:.:o-
Pafijika 375n sitions 72-73 : fir'e cirr!- , ii I -r')r-
paramartha (absolutesense,sllpreme, 2l0n; orilinary (pitlrtgjtt,r:r)\1. I t',
suprememeaning)Chapter17;'1"56- 77, BB,122,149,157,167, l'.i5. :17,
1 57,177-178, 210-211,246-247,329- 2 3 2 , 2 3 4 , 3 1 5 , 3 3 1 , 3 4 5 - 3 4 73, 1 7 -
330, 335, 338, 345, 349, 419,422; 378; lay (upasika,-kA) 44-45,50, 63,
truth 18, 106, 114, 175, 242-243, 110, 183n, 228, 354, 376n (See
248-249, 294, 369, 378-381; -ta "householder"); novice t4, 30, 45,
(Ultimate State) 272 47-53; directing ordinatron 49-52;
Paramdrtha-gatha(Versesof Suprene noble (arya) 14, 17,84, 123, 166,
Meaning)Chapter17; 17l,196,199, 205, 210, 217, 234, 272, 331, 339,
337,345,352-354 346, 363, 378, 431, 437; lazy 357,
Pdramitd-samasa (Phar plD,in bsdus 3-57n.Sec trtles.
pa) l0l-lll persuasions,I'our t09, lt4
parikalpa (imagination) 219, 272, 334, P i c a s s oP, . 2 8 4
340, 345, 350; : dissllrsivetl-rinking Pitftpufrasaniigama-sfitra (Meetiiry of
203. See'oabh[itaparikalpa,""kal- F a t h e ra n d S o n )1 3 8 - 1 3 9 , 1 5 7 n , 1 6 6 ,
pite," "vikalpa." 2 5 5 .3 1 9 . 4 0 3
o
p arinirvdna See' nirvapa.o' Platform Sutra of the Sixth Pairiarclt
parivrdjaka (onegoneforth) 30,31,45, l4ln
49-50,78. See"persorls." poison 392,424, 449-451,450n-451n;
Parjanya 395 the three'Poisons(lust, hetred, de-
Paryaya-sarygrahaqti44n, 206, 2A9- Itrsicn) 14, 30, 76, 96-97,197, 205,
2 1 0 -3 1 5 ,3 t r 6 n 210,330,386,403,405,449n(among
Patafljali 289 "dispositions"72-74)
Path (marga) Chapters2-4; lI9, 125' postures,fout 72; "walkiirg posture
127, 165, 1,99,202, 205, 212, 2lB- of the Buddha 12-13
220,233, 281, 302-303,320, 327, powers,ten 108
329-330,334,359-360, 383, 424; as Prabhakara408
a ladder 209 the,four 318; the five Pradtpoddyotana161, 373, 435n
205; Eightfold Noble Path 19, 126, praj iici See" i nsight.o'
186, 206, 236, 330, 358, 378-379; P raj iiap11 ramit abhavanopade3a 79
Middle Path avoiding extrenes 55- Prajdpati 414-415,4!4n, 425-426,426n
56, 58, 167,186,205,238,234, 345; Frajiicipradlpa 165n
stagesof BodhisattvaPath 41, 95, Prajialataka 434
107-108, 149,157 -t58, 177 -179, 185, prakTti (primal netuie) 1.90-191, 237,
244, 312-315, 3i8, 321-322, 32rn, 329
333; :Fourth Noble Truth (See pramd4ta(authority) 381; three 346,
ootruth.") 346n
Patisambhidamagga215-216, 221-222 Prarnrinavdrttika118-119, 195, 297,
Pavdra4dceremony56 379
penance63-5E Prdsangika-Mddhyarnikaschool 243-
perception See" vijfidna." 245,249
perfection of insight (prajfia-paramifi) PrasannaJta;1,: l39n-140n, 140, 165n,
, 6 - 9 7 1, 0 6 - 1 0 81,1 3 - 1 1 41,3 8 ,
2 5 - 2 69 2 2 2 n ,2 3 3 n , 2 5 0 ,3 1 2 ,3 7 1
1 5 0 ,1 6 1 , 1 7 7 , 3 1 3 ,3 2 1 - 3 2 44, 4 6 n ; Pra5dstrasent324
personified321-324,322n, 420, 433, pralrobdhi (caihrrtic) 80-81, 84, 95,
445n, (See "mother"); mattra of 98,113
323-324;as a type of literature 130- Prdtimokia (F., Pitimokkha) (Liber-
133, 1,34,136-138,l4l, 205, 422, ation-Onset) 30-42, 52-54, 58-68;
433,439(SeeChapter15).See"per- two kinds 35-37, I 19n; -saqnvara16,
fections," "insight." 33-34,59,358, 361 (See'ovow").
perfections (paramita) 244, 323, 428; Prdtimok ; a-s[itra 30-42, 59-60
six Chapter 4; 16, 23, 61, 104-114, P r at ttyasamutp dda-gaitandnusdre4acit -
302, 321,315n, 446,446n. See"giv- tusthepanopayal83n
ing," etc.; "perfection of insight." P rat i ty asarnutp dda-hydaya-kAri k a 18
persons180-187,195n;two kinds 198- Pr ati ty asamutpddahydaya-vy dkara4
1.99,360, 380-381;three kinds 175, 1,37,253; -vyakhyana174n
466 Buddhist Insight

PratitydsamutpadaSutra 174n Sa bcupa ("S[tra of Ten Stages")107

P rat i ty asamutpada-vy ak hya l7 4n Sacittikabhumi Chapter 16; 194
pratyak{a (direct perception, direct sddhana(evocation)145,147-148,410,
view) 297-298,300, 303,346n,360, 428, 434-439, 449n; defined 443;
379 Sadhya 417-418; sadhaka 418;:
p r aty ek abuddha (self-enlightened one) avaha 423, 425
7 6 , 9 6 , 1 0 01, 0 8 ,1 1 0 ,1 3 8 ,1 8 4 ,1 7 8 n , Saddharmapu4(ar ika | 43
194, 196-197,308, 316, 318, 324, Saddharmasmyty upasthana-sil t r a l84n
330, 373; as rhinocerus 318. See Sagaramatiparip yccha 279
ttpersons."
Sahajalalita 429n
pudgala(person,personality)139,1,56, Sa'iJha-mo brtan-ma (Earth God-
775, 195-796, 196n, 264-265, 316, - dess)147
335, 341, 346, 352 Saivism Chapter 24, 135, 374, 387,
Puggala-pafifiati (Designation of Hu' 393, 405, 409-410,442, 446n
man Types)1,6,72, 252n iakti (power)393,442,450,450n.See
Purdnic tradition 41.7,423,432, 434, 'oTdt-a."
- "mother,"
447n Sikyamuni 27-28,35, 54, 56,289-290,
Pure Land (Sukhavati)26-27 370
purus. a (person)190-191, 237,396,409; Saldyatana-Vagga122, 345n, 350n,
maha- 446n 352n
P firva-M imdqnsd-Sutr as 429n Safistambaka-karika137. 174n
PurvaSailasect 251 SAlistambasutra137, | 66n-167n, 1,74n,
Pu;an 378-380, 388 1 7 7 , 1 8 0 n , 1 8 11, 8 6
samadhi(concentration, one-pointed-
Rajavagga 33 ness,meditation) 55-56,67-69,78-
Ramayalra279,377,393 8 4 , 8 9 , 9 8 , 1 0 9 - 1 1 01, 2 6 , 1 5 5 - 1 5 8 ,
Ratnacu(ap arip ycchd 22, 26 281, 283-284, 289, 297, 301, 313-
Ratnagotravibhaga241, 244, 302 315, 324, 331, 360, 363, 386; Dia-
Ratnikara6 dnti 27, 79, 211, 324n, 428, mond-like 84, 1571'of "knowledge
428n and vision" 84; of "love" 84
Ratnakirti 239n Samahitabhumi76, 83-84, 86-90, 92,
Ratnakuta138, 154, 260n,262 94, 194,212,315, 318,327
Ratncvali 139 S1mofiiia-phala-sut ta 34
rddhi (magical power) 77, 89, 93, 154, Samantapds adika (Shan-Chien-P' i-P' o-
233, 257, 371, 373. See "abhiifrd," Sha) 35n-37n, 45n, 55n-56n, 61n,
"siddhi." 63n, 64n, 67n,306
reasons,four 101 samdpatti (equipoise) 80, 82, 84, 88,
Red-mda'-ba246n,312 90, 92-94, 97, 159, 175, 313, 315,
12; the
refuge (iararya).Buddha as oJewel." 320,329-33t,373, 449n
taking of 46,50, 105. See iamatha (P., samatha) (calmine) 66,
\g-veda 189, 370, 376-377,384 7 7 , 8 1 , 8 8 ,1 1 3 ,l l 8 , 1 7 4 , 2 8 1 , 2 8 4 ,
Rgyal-tshab-rje379 296-297, 362, 364-366, 436, 442,
Ri ; tasamuccaya402, 425 449; combined (:yuganaddha) with
o'discerning"82, 95, 213; among
rite (kriya, vidhi) 291, 378-381,386-
388,397, 406n, 417-419,426-429, three "instructions" 69-71,74, 78,
433-439,447n-448n; of truth ChaP- 95, 125-126. See "meditation,"
ter 20; of passage397; of eye oint- "vipaSyand"; Chapter 3.
ment 160, 299; of mirrorwashing Sama Veda382,386
135-136;confession392; homa 405, sarrbhavai;tn,a being 158
pilgrimage 291-292; sacrifice 381, Sambhoga-kayaSee "body", of the
385, 391, 393, 413-416,416n. See Buddha.
"mcn(ala"; Chapter 22. Sarpdhinirmocana-sfitra79, 130, 134,
Rnam snan mnon byari ("Revelation 193,200, 3l4n,32ln
Enlightenment of Vairocana") 106 Sarydhivyakarapa373
Rii (Seer)373,383,397,425,425n,436 Samgha (P., Sangha) (Congregation,
Rudra 446n, 450n; -ka 372 Order) 235, 370, 447n; eighteen
early sects40, 406(Seenames). See
oJewel"; Chapters 2-3.
Sabbasutta (Discourse on "Every-
thing") 233 Sarnkhya-karika 189
Index 467

Samkhya school 125, 1,87-791,239 secretChapter15; 313,331,442

Sammatiya39-40,251 "secret Key io the l{eart Sutra" 308
SatTtpula-tilaka-tantra155n, 159 seed (btja) 179, 183, 187n, 188-189,
sarytsdra(cyclical flow, phenomenal 253,255, 261, 263, 272n, 282, 338-
, 2 , 1 0 6 , 1 7 6 n1, 8 0 ,1 8 8 -
l i f e ) 1 7 - 1 88 340, 350, 352, 4491'syllabies418,
lB9, 202,212,253-254,278-279, 294, 426-427,427n-428n,437-439, 449n.
o'mantra."
306, 312-313,322, 322n, 352; as See
swirling waters324 self (atman) 18, 95, 102,104,121,138,
.sarytskdra(motivations) 92-94, 1,20- 142-1,43, 159,169-170,175-178,188-
123,191-195, 202"21.7 -220,237, 248, 189, 195, 203-204,206,247-249,27l-
254-255,263, 273, 276, 303, 3ll, 271, 317, 322, 33r-340, 345-350,
316-317 , 320,336-338,346,348-350, 350n, 352, 370-371,382-384,388,
404,409,416(See"skandhe"; Chap- Upanipadic 256, 259; as kli,rlama-
ter 8); :traces 409; :gsnstructions nas 272n; :aharykdra 139. See
120, 122, 174-175, 275 (See "non-self"; Chapter10.
"d/1arma"\ Seng-chao149-150
,saynvarodayaTantra 144, 146, 424 sense lrases (iyatana) 169-172, 175,
sar.nv rti (conventional) I57, 242, 247, 179-180,182-183, 203, 233, 247,
330, 338, 349,438; truth l05, ll4, 263, 272n, 298, 318-320,335, 345-
775, 243, 249-249,349, 369,379; 346,345n
mind 178 Sgrubthabskun btus 145n,147n,433
Saqnyuktagama227, 357n sham:rn130.145.280
Samyutta-nilcaya75, 16, 19, 74, 77, Shan-Chien-F'i-P' o-Shz See" Saman-
97, 122,132,158,165-167,',212,215- taDasadrKa."
216,236, 302, 3ll, 345n, 350n, Shen-hsiu140
352n, 357n Shilappadikaram 401
Sanghabhadra118n, 306n Shingo;rschool308
Sanghabltedavastu33n S h i ns c h o o l 2 4 , 2 6
Sangharakla193n Shinto 130
Sangiti-Suttanta (Recital Sernton) 37| Shiva Senhita 394n
Sankara374..381.408 Sibilatata 391,394
Safisrgya.rso lna'i mfionrtogs. . . . 15n Siddha417-418,417n
Sdntarakrit t 240n.375n siddhi (success, magical suscess,
SintiCeva24-26,1.01 -102, 124n,139n, occult power) 136, I48,394, 405-
o'rdChi,"
226, 255n, 299, 3M-305, 404, 405n 406, 418. See "abhijiia,"
Saptabhavasiltra257 "Siddhe."
Saradatilaka 4I8 iik;rlpada (P., sikheryada)(pcints of
Sarasvati Clttpter 23 - instruction)30-31,34,50, 59, 175
Siriputra (P.. Sariputta,)24, 47, 132, Sik;asarnilccaya22, 26, 101, 124n,
- 1 6 6 n , 2 2 1 - 2 2 2 , 2 3S3e. eC h a p t e r1 5 . 139n.255n^ 4041t
S-ariputr abhidharma!dst ra 251 Sila See"rnorality."
Sarirdrtha-gAtha333, 354 S.iryhapariprccha404
Sarvadurgatip ar ii odltana-t ant r a 373n Si;yalekha22
'Sarvistivdda 251, sil, 279
40, 406
Sar vatathdgatamat rt ar dvi i vakar rnabh- Sitdtapatr6 (White llmbrella Lady)
avatantra 442-443 407
Satapathabrdhmana 32, 414, 426, Siva 374, 442, 446n, 447, 447n-448n,
426n-427n,431 450. 450n
Satpuru;agati-siltra 257, 263 Sivasvarodaya424
SatyasiddhiSastra ll9
'Sautrantika skandha(personal aggregates)15, 53,
sect 118,353 95, 12'.1.,123, 138-139,158, 172-173,
Savita377, 417 232-233, 246-247, 253, 259, 313,
Savitarkddir-bhumi t94, 200-201,203, 316,320,335,345,362n. SeeChap-
210 ter 10.
Sdyala 431 smrti (memory) 283, 372; personified
Sbas pa'i don lcun gsal ba l46n
'Schiller,
433,439
J. 293 Sriassrim chen mo 160
sciences, five 113 soma 283: personified 259, 432, 446n
seal Qnudrd)67,135, 138, 253, 447, speech - (vdi), and mind 414, 4l4n;
447n.449n -sarnskdra210, 303,311, 316, 323;
 468 Buddhist Insight

as fire or cow 415-417, 4l5n: oer- 348, 422, 436-437: sixteen kinds
sonified 393, 39G-397,410.' 414. 435. See "gates to liberation."
414n-415n.424-425,431-432.435: -
436. See "rrio;:lrG,"'obody,speech, S-fi $ilnyatasaptati l7B
r atigamasamq{ti ti,gilt r a 145n
and mind"; Ctraptcrs tg-:26,ZZ.' Silra;igamaSiltra I44
(i -
Sraddh l,a|(1r!hii na sttt rtt | 6l SDryagupta443, 447n-448n
Srayaly (\., satntt.ta;(as.;ctic)30, 34, Susi ddltilcara-nmhdtanira-sarihattopay-
55-57,67, 3ai. 374-315,375" 3e}i i ka-parala Tantra 419-420
o1"f'oLrrkilr:!s30. tsuCdliir *s'nw!ru- SuSruta404
. , p , r . u o i r . ; '
, 3 8 0 ; . f e r n r l e 4 0 7 .S u c Suiruta-sarythittl405
Srautakoia 426n Suttavibhanga34n, 45n,55n,60n, 62n.
irdvaks (disciple)30, 36, 76. 95-97. See'oVinaya."
1 0 0 ,i 0 B ,l t 0 , t ! 1 , l t 9 , l 3 s . t 5 7 : Suvar napr abhus{t-sutra 434
1 7 3 . 1 9 4 . 1 9 ( , - 1 t 7 t. 9 9 , 2 0 7 : 2 1 7 ' . svabhava(self-existence, intrinsic na-
? r - 2 1 9 , 2:hearers
5 1 , 3 0 8 , 3 1 3 , 3 t 6 _ 3 1 7 ' , turo, olrl-n:1ture,nature) 721, I34,
363, 415; 250. See.,per- 139, 142, 157-158,I74n, 226, 234,
so-lis," 237-244.244n, 248, 250, 316, 334,
Sraval;abhtimi l5n.l7rr, 30n"55n. 57. 3 7 3 , 4 3 8 ; a s m a n t r a4 3 5 , 4 3 6 n
7-Qry,72r1r76-7'd, BO-Eu. 8.9,I I8, l7l i.r, Svap;::ic;ntannni399
1 8 1n . 1 9 4 , 1 9 . i n , i 9 6 n , 2 0 5 . 2 C + . ' SvopntTdhyaya 399, 40t
260n,263n. 27Cn,271n,l9-;;r,29on. Svaytnava savadatt a 400
i 9 9 ' r ,j Q 1 , 3 1 9 4 3 ) 7 , 3 3 1 ,3 3 3 - 3 3 4 ; Sltapnavicdra399
3 5 3 n , 3 5 43. 6 5 n S't,tir thannmdna-par i ccheda | 18n
Sred nicd kyi brtsl,,t pn (..eucstions Svdtantrika-Madhyamikaschccl 245,
- of Nar'dyana")I 14 249
SrimC{rj-siiit'o(Ti:c Lion's Rcar of syr,rbol (sanmya)tr.17,117n, 205-209,
Qu-e eit,Slin-ti /i) 18-+-1 85, 2lln, 215i, 291, 293, 294-295,301, 406, 4I7,
- 253,263,322:t 431, 434, 437*, 447;t, 449tt;-sattva
S-ripar anii d:-t i k C 280 438. See "Bu.icihistart"; Chapter
Sri-ParamAdya 107 6-7.
\rngcrra Prakaia 4A0
Srutamayi-bkumi194,2A5, 210
stagr.sat life 277. tsrallaran;c380 T anfta.130, 135-136, l4l-14.2,145-t47,
(contp;rr;d wirh Iil'r:of a tsir:l<lu56- I 60-i61,184-185,191,262,275, 282,
58; conri:;l'edr.viihBulrlhist or.di- 29A,296-298,301,322it,373,'s73n,
nation 48-49). See"bhfirsti.', 387, 393, 399, 405, 409-410,433-
Sthaviraseci 38-39.288 435, 439-4'43,419n; Caryi 410n;
Sthiramati 85, 9:;, 130n, I5T, 176. Kriya 4tr0n; Yoga 407; Anuttara-
270ir,308, 3\6, 318, 321n, 322 yoga 411. See tities; Chzpter 22.
strcaril 340.i41, j-i9, 35! -J5:. 401. Tantrayurtika 429n
447n: - . i , a r c r 1 5 , 1 9 , 3 0 , 1 4 2 ,l B 5 . Tara Chrpter 24; 25-28,29.6,306, 406,
218-219;oi cr::rc;cusn:s.;99-104. 'Idrl,27-28,
420; White 147; vidya
1 0 9 , 1 7 1 , l l 4 , 1 5 7 , 2 3 3 , 3 1 3 ,3 3 8 of 320,427-423;as Gangd 446n;
(cf. mind as u arcr 130-| 3l) as FanCara 448n. See "mother,"
strivirrg 108, 352, 353; three kinds "iakti."
!12; porfection of 23, 706,108, 1 13,
302,321, 446, 446n (See "perfec- Tarkajvala 409n
tions") Tathigatagarbha 253
Tattvasarpgraha24Cn,375n
stupa 44, 64, 288-289"291-292: see Theravaia sect Chapter 3; 4I-42, 49,
caitl'a 291 63, 182, 186-187,785n, 215, 231,
Subhat i ta-sarytgraha 185n, 219 235, 236, 251-252,288, -731
Subhrrti23-24 Thusness(tailtata) 12, 155, 166, 176,.
Suhrllclrka (Fi'icndly Epistle) 254, 295 189,272
iunya (voiri) or i{tnyato (voiCness)22, Tibetan Book of the Dead 265
2 5 , 2 7 , 1 0 7 - 1 0 91, 2 A - 7 2 11, 3 1 - 1 3 3 , time (kalct)Chapter'13; 201, 239, 323,
736,139-14A, 113-14,4,148, 150,157, 347-343,362, 359, 373, 395, 406:
159, 165, 136, 190-191,206-207. 408,439
237-239,240 27C-274, 275, 302,309, Tirukkural400
312-313,316-320, " 321tt, 335, 346, "Toda Dream Songs" 404
 Index
469

tree-242,259.Z9l-292,294, 317. 365. Vajrapani 310,40A,4Zl

226,_4911406; wishing-385: boaii Vajrasarasvati 433. 438
12,t,t ; orsuttering
fl ].ol+iTia2eo Vajrasattve (Dianiond Beine | 142.
t8.6. 2!Q; -husbandof praJniparal
Tr i rni ik ubha; ya l30n-l3I n mitd 322.322n
tripila+a (Three Baskets)37 Vajraiekhara 422
"\k!'fl{g'[,'3r'^i'ru]?i;-?l3i?1o'.
358.376n,403; the two tiulfii iS-# Vakkalidna
Vajravi dar a1ta-dhdr a pl- Tantr a 421
Y ajray See"Tanira.',
166
,'i3fli:
T#"# ig:{6':
{,',1'
f!;1"'t: Vakkali-sutta 167
VaraharnihiraZ77n
I3Z',393',123:'r\'r?33t331'3ii;131;
) : 6 ) ; a n d s i l e n c e( S e e C h a p t e r ^ 1 9 ) :
Varuqa 3-75,392,395;-praghdsas392
vayy! (habit-energy) lZO:t7t, IBZ,
244.261n
riie or Act of 160,'ztg, iiTISJS,'ii6 V5:savadatta
(_See 400
_ Chapter 20) Vasttnorpgrahani 174, I99, 209n, 209-
T4na-ma'i'brjed byan chen mo l|gn 210, 316tt,331. 335
rshad ma'i lom khrid (,,Guidanceon Vasubandhu
path of Authority") 58. 84, 91, 117,122,154.
_rsna-go-pa
ln" 379 1 5 6 , 1 7 0 - 1 7 11. 7 4 , ' t 9 1 ,1 8 3 n ,1 8 5 n .
407
Ts91r-kj1al-g1 Cfraprer 4; l5n, 18, 49_ l9_1,196n,222n, 233,2SI-252,256:
257, 260-261.265, 25| tt, 252n.270n.
__ 2 7 0 - 2 7 23,0 3 ,3 1 3 ,3 1g , 3 7 1
ii:t'l+'2,'ltul12;'_l?a,'l];_i:;.'ilio,.
.
r80n.184.
Vatsipr,rtrivasect 251
Yellytq !a7n, 380, 386,408; Advaita
l{i;',oi;ojllx:
,trt". 374.387
225_n.237n, rorT";1!1,
|o'J.,
1il; Vedarim-,satras419
_ J.o?n,400, 407, 410, 435n V"!!: 145, 172-173,25B, Z6in, 283.
ratnagila lS5, 176,21g;definedIl, 370,372-3763 , 7 9 , 3 S 0 ,3 S 6 . 3' ,t i :
Tufita, a heaven 270 __}?3,. 395-397.See ChaptercZZ_23.
Vibhqjravadin 257, ZS:; :nuOOtra
215
Viblta;A221
o- 2,386
37
.'l; -l!,0 37
{,t;::r:z::gq vidya {clear vision, clear srght; charm,
mrgical fornrula)12, lg3, tgS. Zii-
j i?,i"0#,,
1Jr'i
"llt :'t1'u zl!,';',f!; 393, 4.22,431; ihree fruits of 394-
419-42O;-dhura
of 40e-4r0 (ruriyazes).-sre f c m r l c n n t l r r a 3 2373n. 4-15-437: as
3 , 3 9 7 , 4 1 5 na, $ _
;ffrS: 42t.r_42-1, 42i-429. 428n.4lg, 449n:
Upa sam-padajfiapt i h 46n
of Tdra 420. 428, 449n. See ,,aii-
"fi:]i:?'% :T^*?Ji;j,1",'
:,ts? 5:
([,tti;a 161, 296,446, 446n
. dyd."_"lcnoul+Cge." ntentre.',
vterv(dr.cti:P.. ditrhi) 158,200. 239-
..

u t tf{a tant ra (: Ratnagot ravi bhaga) 3 2 : , i J 8 - 1 3 9 ,3 5 0 , 3 5 4 . 3 7 9 ; f o u i

?11; Q?,.1,false, deviail 200', 203-
2 0 4 , 3 5 0 - r 5 1 .3 5 8 , 3 6 2 n ; r e i f v i n s
240..2A+206,317(SeeChaptertO;l
norning to an extremc 200, 204:
VacaspatiMiSra 392n right l9-10,2OS,237, 240,244.35g
Vahni 418 "Parh," "eightfoid;
Vaibhaqikasect1lB _..(Se?
Vigrahavyivartini 186
Vairocana 106. See.,Buddha.,' vij fiu rta (perception, conscio usness)74-
VaIr ocandbhisar7tbodhi -t ant r a | 60
varse$rkaschool 239, 404 !2,, l5-8_, 194,209_21 l, 217_220, zfi:
2^16., 2?2:259n,263,Z7I-273,283-
Vai$nava traditiott 125
vai!! ldi+rylond,rhunderbolt)I 85_l86, ?91, ??9, 303-306,. 316_3 17. 320,
329,337,345-346,'345n, 40g-409i
21.6,-417; triple 373: _iord 373; pravrtti- 134,254,276. 293.330_33 I:
Iteatq 308; -ptedge426; cf. kuliii
(urunderbott)
349, 350n; adtrna-130; cau;al lgl_
219-220, 22L See 1 8 5 ;f i ' u i t i o n a l
l 8 l - 1 8 5 ,l g 9 . 3 4 5 r i :
"Va.;rasattva."
ryalo- 253-254,409:. -kosa409. See
VajracchedikA156 a layavijfrarua" g.
Vajramala 135 - -.'.' ; Chapter
VijfrdnavadaSec'.yog6cara.,'
470 Buddhist Insight

vijfiapti (representation)137, 271,-272 sattvavow 101, 104-106.See.,pr6-

vij iiaptimatr atasiddhi 20, l8g timok$a."
vikalpa (discursivethought) 108, 113,
137 -739, 149-150,176, 197,210-211,,
278, 297, 2gg, 301, 302-304, 316, wl1e9l (cakra) 291-292, 433, 447; of
422; right 303; :i*ugination 337. Dharma 15, ll7, ll7n, 127, 153.
See" k aIpi ta," " par i k alpa," 378, 447n; of Life or Becomins
Vikramdditva 400 (bhavacakra)63, 170, 182: spinninE
Vimalamitia 316 388;rak;a-cakra448n. See.,Cakral
Vimalotnila 429 vartin."
Vimuttimagga 262n wickednesses(dulkrta), the fifteen 64-
Vinaya (discipline)24, 30-42,215,220- 65
221, 302, 306, 314, 322, 361, 406; woman 306, 383, 388, 401-402,404-
-_dlrdra34, 38, 40, 51. See titlesi 406, 432; sacred nature of 441:
Chapter 2. detractionsof 13. See "bhik;u4i,,t
Vinayavastu53 "mother."
Vinaya-vi bhanga-pada-vy akhy ana 220,
374n
Vinaya-sarytgraltapi 45n Ydjfiavalkya 383
Wniicayasaqngrahani77, 122, 131n, Yajur-veda382,393
734n, 157, 164n, 197, 198n, 200, Yama 145, 158, 256, 258, 396, 404
203n, 205, 210,318, 328 Yassamdisam-sutta 33
Vinitadeva 32-33,42, 59, 62-63.215. yati (restrainer) 30. See "persons."
220-221,309,314,322 yoga 56,212, 263, 283,322, 374, 394,
viparydsa (waywardness) 21.6, 234: 324n, 410, 425, 439. See "Path";
1!!e" stagesof 322; four 123, 178, Chapters2-3.
322,329,331;seven203. SeeChap- YogacarabhumiChapters 9, 16; l6n,
ter 9. 70, 76-77,126, 157, 164, 764n-165n,
vipaiyand (P., vipassana)(discerning. 1.67n,175, 187n, 216n, 259n-261n,
clearvision)69, 108, ll3, 118,176, 303, 315-316,333, 315-316,333,
190;amongthree"instructions"78. 346n, 353-354, 357n; meditative
95; conrbined (-yuganaddha) with progressin 78-96
"calming" 82,95,213. See"iama- Yogdcdraschool 53, 95, 130-134,150,
tha"; Chapter 3. 156, 189-19l, 270-273, 309-309,333-
vision (cak;us; P., cakkhu) (dariana; 334; as vijfianavada93
P., dassana)Chapter 7;' 314, 322, yogin 251, 284,297, 301, 303, 315-316,
380. See "eye," "insight." 324,381
Vilnu 375, 42in', 432, 434-435,450n Yoginitantra397n,419
Vfiuudharmottara 432 Ytian-ts'0 3l4n,32ln
Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification\ Yukti;a;likA 175,178
55, 69, 72-76,73n, 7 5n, 95-96,126,
138, 167n,177,216n,262n, 28ln
Yisvesvara 447 Zen schcol 308
Vivar ana-salngrahani 205 Zhan Blon, a deity 146
vow.(samvara)168,200, 204, 282, 361, Zur'debs rnam thar legs biad kun'dus
363, 373, 376n, 416-417; Bodhi- 400n