OF THE PROGRESSE OF THE BODHISATTVA IBD

Sinopse

ABSTRACT The Buddha is credited with clearly and succinctly expounding the Buddhist path (mÄürga). Despite the eloquence and brevity of the Buddha&rsquo,s exposition, the corpus of Buddhist scriptures explaining the path is prolix. It is generally thought that the moral precepts (Åóiká¹úÄüpadas), correct practices (samudÄücÄüras) and restraints (saá¹âvaras) for a bodhisattva are to be found in MahÄüyÄüna sÅ«tras. Yet it seems that the most likely outcome of reading these sÅ«tras is not enlightenment, but confusion. MahÄüyÄüna sÅ«tras appear too extensive and complex to be of much practical benefit to an incipient bodhisattva. This paper asserts that the ÅÜiká¹úÄüsamuccaya (ÅÜS) and ÅÜiká¹úÄüsamuccayakÄürikÄü (ÅÜSKÄü) are composed by ÅÜÄüntideva (ÅÜ) to counter the bewilderment which results from reading MahÄüyÄüna sÅ«tras. Both works explicate the essential principles (marmasthÄünas) of these sÅ«tras for the benefit of a bodhisattva new to the way. Further, this paper asserts that of all the various practices described in MahÄüyÄüna sÅ«tras, ÅÜ believes that the practice of giving (dÄüna &equiv, utsarjana) is fundamental. In the ÅÜSáand ÅÜSKÄü the way of the bodhisattva (bodhisattvamÄürga) is essentially the way of giving (dÄünamÄürga). In short,áÅÜáexpects a bodhisattva: to give everything (sarva+&radic,dÄüá&equiv,ásarva+ut+&radic,sá¹ój) in order to attain perfect enlightenment (samyaksaá¹âbodhi), to make a worthy gift of his person (ÄütmabhÄüva), enjoyments (bhogas) and merit (puá¹çya) in order to give everything, to preserve (&radic,raká¹ú), purify (&radic,Åóudh), and increase (&radic,vá¹ódh) his gift in order to make a worthy gift, and to practice the four right strivings (samyakpradhÄünas) in order to preserve, purify and increase his gift. It is asserted in this paper, then, that ÅÜ considers the unsurpassed and perfect enlightenment of the Buddha attained by the practice of complete giving (sarvadÄüna &equiv, sarvotsarjana) and complete giving attained by the practice of the right strivings. ... Overall, this paper attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of the content, structure, theme and meaning of the ÅÜSáand ÅÜSKÄü. To the knowledge of the present writer, it is the first of its kind. ... á