The Bodhisattva Path

The Bodhisattva Path in The early Mahāyāna Sūtra

Table of Contents

·         Introduction to Bodhisattva based on Sūtras in Mahāyāna

·         The Institutional Bodhisattva Setting

·         Bodhisattva in the early Mahāyāna Buddhism

·         Bodhisattva in the contemporary Mahāyāna Buddhism

·         The Bodhisattva Career

·         Karuṇā as compassion and self-compassion

·         Primary Bodhisattvas

·         Conclusion of the Bodhisattva Path

 

1.      Introduction to Bodhisattva based on Sūtras in Mahāyāna

1.1) Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra (The Inquiry of Ugra) is one of the most influential Mahāyāna Sūtras, preserved and transmitted in both India and China between the 2^nd and 5^th centuries CE, and actively quoted in treatizes on the bodhisattva path. The Ugra emerges to be one of the earliest bodhisattva scriptures, which is a study and translation of the Ugra that will fundamentally alter previous perceptions of how Mahāyāna was viewed and practiced by its earliest adherents.

To achieve a better intendment of the universe of ideas, activities, and institutional structures within which early self-announced bodhisattvas lived. The Bodhisattva’s practice, as described in the Ugra, is anything but simple, and the sūtra holds out no promise of the attainment of Buddhahood in this lifetime. On the contrary, the Bodhisattva must expect to suffer through thousands of additional lifetimes in order to acquire the merit and acknowledge necessary to procure all the qualities that constitute a Buddha. (Nattier 2007)

1.2) The Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra or “Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines” was probably put in writing in the 1^st century BCE. Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, is one of the earliest known Mahāyāna texts, contains a brief and straightforward definition for the term bodhisattva, which is also the earliest known Mahāyāna definition. This definition gives as the following: “Because he has bodhi as his aim, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is so-called.” (Hirakawa 2007)

2.      The Institutional Bodhisattva Setting

In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated Bodhicitta, an unplanned wish and compassionate mind to achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. 

2.1) The Ugra was intended for an audience consisting exclusively of bodhisattvas, for it never addresses non-bodhisattvas (Whether lay or monastic) directly. Therefore focus only on the three segments of the Buddhist community that appear in the text: male lay bodhisattvas (He portrayed as gravely disadvantageous to his religious pursuits), male monastic bodhisattvas (He applied to Śrāvakas as Upāsaka or his eventual ordination as a Bhikṣu), and male monastics that are not on the bodhisattva path. (Nattier 2007)

2.2) The Aṣṭasāhasrikā also divides the path into three stages. The first stage is that of bodhisattvas who “first set out in the vehicle” (prathamayānasaṃprasthita), then there is the “irreversible” (avinivartanīya) stage, and finally, the third “bound by one more birth” (ekajātipratibaddha), as in, destined to become a Buddha in the next life. (Nattier 2007)

3.      Bodhisattva in the early Mahāyāna Buddhism

3.1) Mahāyāna Buddhism (often called the “Bodhisattva Vehicle”) is based principally upon the path of a bodhisattva. It is ironic, and the “Mahāyāna” often portrays in 20^th-century publications as more welcoming of women than earlier Buddhism had been, the reality appears to have been the opposite. While the highest goal of Arhatship was, in early Buddhism, entirely accessible for women, the goal of Buddhahood was not. (Drewes Updated 2019)

Thus as specific groups of Buddhists—including those responsible for the production of the Ugra—began to shift their efforts toward becoming Buddhas, the status of women in the Buddhist community appears to have suffered a precipitous decline.

3.2) The Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra describes it as an arduous, steep monastic path suited only for the few, which is nevertheless the most glorious path one can take. Three kinds of bodhisattvas mention the forest, city, and monastery bodhisattvas—with forest-dwelling be promoted a superior, even necessary path in sūtras such as the Ugraparipṛcchā and the Samadhiraja Sūtras.

3.3) This Bodhisattva path sees as nobler than becoming an ‘Arhat’ or a solitary Buddha. According to David Drewes, “Mahāyāna Sūtras unanimously depict the path beginning with the first arising of the thought of becoming a Buddha (prathamacittotpāda), or the initial arising of bodhicitta, typically eons before one first receives a Buddha's prediction, and apply the term bodhisattva from this point.” (Drewes Updated 2019)

3.4) Some Mahāyāna Sūtras promoted another revolutionary doctrinal turn, claiming that the three vehicles of the Śrāvakayāna, Pratyekabuddhayāna, and the Bodhisattvayāna were just one vehicle (ekayana). It most famously promotes in the Lotus Sūtra which claims that the very idea of three separate vehicles is just an Upaya, a skillful device invented by the Buddha to get beings of various abilities on the path. Nevertheless, ultimately, it will be revealed to them that there is only one vehicle, the Ekayana, which ends in Buddhahood. (Silk, Hinüber and Vincent Eltschinger 2016)

4.      Bodhisattva in the contemporary Mahāyāna Buddhism

4.1) Contemporary Mahāyāna Buddhism encourages everyone to give rise to Bodhicitta and ceremonially take bodhisattva vows. With these vows, one makes the promise to work for the complete enlightenment of all sentient beings by practising the transcendent virtues or paramitas. (Williams 2008)

In the various Mahāyāna texts, two theories can discern.

-          One view is the idea that a bodhisattva must postpone their awakening until full Buddhahood is attained (at which point one ceases to be reborn, which is the classical view of Nirvāṇa in Pañcavimsatisahasrika-prajñaparamita Sūtra ).

-          The second theory is the idea that there are two kinds of Nirvāṇa, the Nirvāṇa of an Arhat and a superior type of Nirvāṇa called Apratiṣṭhita (non-abiding) that allows a Buddha to remain engaged in the world.

Therefore while earlier sūtras may sometimes speak of “postponement”, later texts saw no need to postpone the “superior” Apratiṣṭhita Nirvāṇa.

4.2) The teaching in Vajrayana Buddhism is on three types of motivation for generating Bodhicitta. According to Patrul Rinpoche’s 19^th-century Words of My Perfect Teacher, a bodhisattva might be motivated in one of three ways. They are:

-          King-like bodhicitta – To aspire to become a Buddha first in order to help sentient beings then.

-          Boatman-like Bodhicitta – To aspire to become a Buddha at the same time as other sentient beings.

-          Shepherd-like Bodhicitta – To aspire to become a Buddha only after all other sentient beings have done so. (Group 1994)

 

5.      Guidelines for the Bodhisattva career path

5.1) The Bodhisattva vow is the vow taken by Mahāyāna Buddhists to emancipate all living beings. That one who has taken the vow is nominally known as a Bodhisattva. It can be done by venerating all Buddhas and by cultivating supreme moral and spiritual perfection, to place in the service of others. Though the Ugra never prescribes the making of vows as a practice the Bodhisattva ought to do, it does mention in passing one specific list of four vows: (Nattier 2007)

“The unrescued I will rescue.

The unliberated I will liberate

The uncomforted I will comfort”

Those who have not yet reached Parinirvāṇa I will cause to attain Parinirvāṇa.

In the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, Shantideva describes that the Bodhisattva vow takes with the following famous two verses from that sūtra:

The previous Sugatas, the Buddhas generated the mind of enlightenment,

Furthermore, the person completed all the phases of the Bodhisattva practising.

So will I, too, for the sake of all beings, generate the mind of enlightenment,

Moreover, accomplish all the stages of the Bodhisattva training.

5.2) In particular, Bodhisattvas promise to practice ‘The six Pāramitās has the six perfections as giving, moral discipline, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom in order to fulfil their ultimate bodhicitta goal of attaining enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings. Whereas the Prātimokṣa vows to cease at death, the Bodhisattva vow extends into future lives. (Nattier 2007)

5.3) Considering these four types of “devotional” activity in the specific context of the Ugra. (Nattier 2007)

- Paying Homage: an act of salutation made toward a person (Living or Dead) or an object viewed as worthy of reverence.

- Making Offerings (Dāna): the act of providing material goods to objects of reverence.

- Service (Upāsanā): the act of attending and caring for a venerated person o object.

- Meditative Remembrance (Anusmṛti): the act of bearing a respect-worthy object in mind.

6. Karuṇā as compassion and self-compassion

Karuṇā (in both Sanskrit and Pali) generally translates as compassion and self-compassion. It is an essential part of the spiritual path of Buddhism. Karuṇā is a co-essential for appropriate a Bodhisattva in Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition. (Monier-Williams 1899) Karuṇā is one in the two qualities, along with enlightened wisdom (Sanskrit: prajña), to cultivate on the bodhisattva path.

According to Rupert Gethin, this hight of karuṇā to the status of prajña is one of the differentiated causes between the Theravāda Arahant ideal and the Mahāyāna Bodhisattva ideal. For the Mahāyāna, the path to Arhatship emerges attainted with residual parsimony since it lacks the motivation of the great compassion (mahākaruṇā) of the Bodhisattva, and ultimately the only legitimate way of Buddhist practice is the bodhisattva path. Throughout bodhisattvas, take the vow to liberate all sentient beings. Having come into this practice, they will certainly complete the collection of merit and insight. Therefore, since compassion is the only root cause of omniscience, one should become familiar with this practice from the very beginning. (Kamalashila 2013)

7.      List of Bodhisattvas

7.1) Avalokitāśvara or Padmapani (Sanskrit: अवलोकितेश्वर) is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. This Bodhisattva variably depicts, described, and portrayed in different cultures as either male or female. (Leighton 1998)

7.2) Kṣitigarbha is the vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all living beings between the death of Gautama Buddha and the rise of Maitreya.  In some Buddhist manuscripts such as the Amitabha Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra, he refers to as Ajita. According to both Mahāyāna and Theravada Buddhism, Maitreya regards as the future Buddha. Maitreya is a bodhisattva who will emerge on earth in the future, achieve enlightenment, and preach the pure dharma. According to scriptures, Maitreya will be a successor to the present Buddha, Gautama Buddha. (Zhiru 2007)

7.3) Mahāsthāmaprāpta is a mahāsattva expressing the power of wisdom, often described in a trinity with Amitābha and Avalokiteśvara, especially in Pure Land Buddhism.

7.4) Mañjuśrī is a bodhisattva associated with prajñā (Transcendent Wisdom) in Mahāyāna Buddhism. He is also a yidam. His name means “Gentle Glory” In Tibetan Buddhism. (Hodge, Jones and Tinti 2003)

7.5) Samantabhadra Universal Worthy is associated with practice and meditation. Together with the Buddha and Mañjuśrī, he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism. He is the patron of the Lotus Sūtra and, according to the Avatamsaka Sūtra, made the ten excellent vows which are the basis of a bodhisattva. In China, Samantabhadra is associated with action, whereas Mañjuśrī is associated with prajñā. In Japan, Samantabharda often venerates by the Tendai and in Shingon Buddhism, and as the protector of the Lotus Sūtra in Nichiren Buddhism. Samantabhadra is also the name of the Adi-Buddha or in indivisible Yab-Yum union with his consort, Samantabhadrī in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. (Katō Bunno 1975)

7.6) Vajrapāṇi (Sanskrit, “Vajra in (his) hand”) is one of the earliest-appearing bodhisattvas in Mahāyāna Buddhism. He is the protector and advise of Gautama Buddha and rose to symbolize the Buddha’s power.

Vajrapāṇi extensively represents in Buddhist iconography as one of the three protective deities surrounding the Buddha as Mañjuśrī appears all the Buddhas’ wisdom, Avalokiteśvara an all the Buddhas’ compassion and Vajrapāṇi manifest all the Buddhas’ power as same as the power of all five tathāgatas. (Linrothe 1999)

8.      Conclusion of the Bodhisattva Path

Having studied in detail what this once highly influential scripture reveals about an early stage in the development of the Bodhisattva vocation, we may now move on to the study of other scripture that can tell us how this path understands in other times and places. Though most of these sources have lost in their original Indic-language versions, the Chinese canon (and to a lesser extent, the Tibetan) contains a treasure trove of texts that promise to cast light on the whole range of other understandings of the Mahāyāna. For those few who embark on the sometimes daunting vocation of the Buddhologist.

Bibliography

Drewes, David. “Mahāyāna Sūtras and Opening of the Bodhisattva Path.” Paper presented at the XVIII the IABS Congress, Updated 2019: 1.

Group, The Padmakara Translation. Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of A Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Altamira: Walnut Creek, 1994.

Hirakawa, Akira. History of Indian Buddhism: from Śākyamuni to Early Mahāyāna. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 2007.

Hodge, Damien Keown (editor) with Stephen, Charles Jones, and Paola Tinti. Keown, DA A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Kamalashila, Acharya. Stages of Meditation-The Middle Section. New Dehli: Tibet House Publications, 2013.

Katō Bunno, Tamura Yoshirō, Miyasaka Kōjirō. The Threefold Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings; The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law; The Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue. New York & Tōkyō: Weatherhill & Kōsei Publishing, 1975.

Leighton, Taigen, Dan. Bodhisattva Archetypes: Classic Buddhist Guides to Awakening and Their Modern Expression. New York: Penguin Arkana, 1998.

Linrothe, Robert N. Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art. Chicago: Serindia Publications, Inc., 1999.

Monier-Williams. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1899.

Nattier Jan. The Bodhisattva Path. Delhi: Narendra Prakash Jain, 2007.

Silk, Jonathan, Oskar von Hinüber, and eds. Vincent Eltschinger. Lotus Sutra, in Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume 1: Literature and Languages. Silk, Jonathan; Hinüber, Oskar von; Eltschinger, Vincent; eds. (2016). "Lotus Sutra", Leiden: Silk, Jonathan; Hinüber, Oskar von; Eltschinger, Vincent; eds. (2016). "Lotus Sutra", inBrill, 2016.

Williams, Paul. Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations. New York: The Taylor & Francis Group, 2008.

Zhiru. The making of a saviour bodhisattva: Dizang in Medieval China. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2007.