Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 28 Number 1 2005 David Seyfor RUEGG The Kalawan Copper-plate Inscription: Early Evidence for Maha-yana-type Thinking?......... .......................................... ...................... 3 Jinhua CHEN Fazang (643-712): The Holy Man ................................................... 11 Richard D. McBRIDE DMral}l and Spells in Medieval Sinitic Buddhism .... ........ .............. 85 Jacob DALTON A Crisis of Doxography: How Tibetans Organized Tantra during the 8th_12th Centuries............................................. .................................. 115 Pieter C. VERHAGEN Studies in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Hermeneutics (5). The mKhas pa mams 'jug pa'i sgo by Sa skya Pal}cjita Kun dga' rgyal mkhan...... 183 Jm HOLBA Index to JIABS vol. 22-26................................................................. 221 e watermarkThe Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (ISSN 0193-600XX) is the organ of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Inc. It welcomes scholarly contributions pertaining to all facets of Buddhist Studies. JIABS is published twice yearly, in the summer and winter. Address manuscripts (two copies) and books for review to: The Editors, JIABS, Section de langues et civilisations orientales, Universite de Lausanne, BFSH 2, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Address subscription orders and dues, changes of address, and business correspondence (including advertising orders) to: Dr. Jerome Ducor, Treasurer IABS, Section de langues et civilisations orientales, Faculte des lettres Universite de Lausanne, BFSH 2 1015 Lausanne-Dorigny Switzerland email: iabs. treasurer@orient.uniLch Web: www.iabsinfo.org Fax: +41 21 6923045 Subscriptions to JIABS are USD 40 per year for individuals and USD 70 per year for libraries and other institutions. For informations on membership in IABS, see back cover. Cover: Cristina Scherrer-Schaub Copyright 2005 by the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Inc. Printed in Belgium EDITORIAL BOARD SCHERRER-SCHAUB Cristina A. TILLEMANS Tom J.F. Editors-in-Chief BUSWELL Robert COLLINS Steven Cox Collet G6MEZ Luis O. HARRISON Paul VON HINOBER Oskar JACKSON Roger JAINl Padmanabh S. KATSURA Shoryu KuoLi-ying LOPEZ, Jr. Donald S. MAcDONALD Alexander SEYFORT RUEGG David SHARF Robert STEINKELLNER Ernst ZDRCHER Erik THE KALAWAN COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION: EARLY EVIDENCE FOR MAHAYANA-TYPE THINKING? D. SEYFORT RUEGG The copper-plate inscription found in the north-western part of the South Asian subcontinent, at Kalawan (Taxila or raises questions of importance for the historian of Buddhism and early Mahayana. Recording the installation (Skt. of a corporeal relic (Skt. sarira), and placed in the base of a stUpa (gahathuba: g[hastilpa) at Cha-qasila, the inscription is dated in the 134th year of Aja (= c. 77nS CE?)l. Its installer-dedicator was a certain upiisikii named CaqIdrabhi (or bha), the daughter of the householder (Skt. grhapati) DhraqJ.ma (Skt. Dharma) and the wife of Bhadravala. In the inscription it is specified that she was acting together with her householder brother (Skt. Nan-divardhana), her two sons and daughter, her two daughters-in-law, and JivaI}.aqIdi (Skt. Jivanandin), the teacher (Skt. iiciirya). For the historian of Mahayana this inscription is of considerable potential significance, but in its final portion it is difficult to interpret with complete certainty. The Prakrit (GandhlirI) text in script as edited by R. Salomon reads as follows in its final portion (lines 4-5): ... sa[rvajsti[line parigrahe puyafta puyae pratiae hotu2 I On the era of the Saka ruler Aja/Aya (= Azes), equated with the Vikrama sarrzvat of 58/57 BCE, see recently R. Salomon, Indian epigraphy (New York, 1998), p. 182, follow-ing on A.D.H. Bivar, 'The Azes era and the Indravarma casket', South Asia archaeology 1979 (ed. H. Hartel, Berlin, 1981), pp. 369-76, and G. Fussman, BEFEO 1980, p. 43. The identification of 'Aja', here without title or biruda, has been much debated (compare below, n. 4), as has been the starting date of the Azes era. As for the enigmatic expression gaha-thuba, its significance has been briefly remarked upon by G. Fussman, JIABS 27 (2004), p. 242 n. 8. 2 R. Salomon, op. cit., pp. 269-70. Salomon has translated the end of the inscription as follows: 'for the acceptance of the Sarviistiviidins. The country and the town are [hereby] honored; [and] it is for the honor of all beings. May it lead to [their] attainment of Nirviil}.a., Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Volume 28 Number 1 2005 4 DAVID SEYFORT RUEGG The precise significance for the history of Mahayana of this part of the inscription not being entirely clear, it was not considered in the present writer's recent article 'Aspects of the study of the (earlier) Indian Maha-yana'3. The epigraph states explicitly that the installation was pJaced by the donor in the parigraha - the 'acceptance' or perhaps rather 'keep-ing' - of persons described (by a Prakrit equivalent) as Sarvastivadins, one of the main schools (nikiiya) of the Sravakayana. At the same time it hopes for the attainment of nirvii1)a by the dedicator herself and per-haps by her entourage - possibly even by all sentient beings, an idea characteristic of various stages of Mahayanist thought. At this point the syntax is unfortunately ambiguous. The wish for nirvii1)a with no refer-ence to all sentient beings appears frequently in inscriptions and texts4. In developed Mahayanist thought the hope for the attainment of nirvii1)a - nirvii1)iiviipti or its equivalent - by all sentient beings (sarvasattva) The Kalawan inscription was first published by S. Konow, EI 21 (1931-32), pp. 251-9 (cf. id., 'Kalawan copper-plate inscription of the year 134', fRAS 1932, pp. 949-65). See also 1. Marshall, Taxi/a, i, p. 327; D.C. Sircar, Select inscriptions 2 (Calcutta, 1965), pp. 131-2; and K. Tsukamoto, Indo-bukkyo himei no kenkyt1- A comprehensive study of the Indian Buddhist inscriptions, i (Kyoto, 1996), p. 971. The inscription has recently been discussed by G. Fussman, fIABS 27 (2004), pp. 241-2, who translates the end as follows: 'Given in trust (parigrahe) to the Sarvastivadins. The kingdom and its corporations are honoured. All beings are honoured. May it be attainment of nirviil}a. ' The use here of the word puyae 'in honour, for respect of' in connexion with 'all sen-tient beings' finds numerous parallels in the use of this word, or of etymologically related words, in connexion not only with, e.g., 'all the Buddhas' but also with 'all beings' and with the dedicator's parents in Mathura inscriptions (see H. Liiders, Mathurii inscriptions [Gtittingen, 1961], p. 124 with p. 80), as well as in connexion with Buddhas, with the ded .. icator's parents, and with all sentient beings in inscriptions (where in relation to 'all sentient beings' hita-sukha also appears; see S. Konow, Kharoshthf inscriptions [Cn ii/I, 1929], pp. 77, 114 and 155, with pp. 5, 62, 65, 100). 3 fIABS 27 (2004), pp. 13-18. 4 See e.g. Konow's Kharoshthf inscriptions, p. 77: the Taxila silver scroll inscription dated in the year 136 of Aya [/Aja] = 79 CE (?), where the dedicator himself may be the only beneficiary of the wish for nirviil}a; the inscription of Ajitasena, father of Senavarma, published by G. Fussman, BEFEO 75 (1986), p. 2; and the inscription dated in the year 98 of Azes published by A. Sadakata, fA 1996, pp. 308-09. On Senavarma's inscription dated to no later than the middle of the first century CE, and also on the inscription from Hidda dated to the year 28, see below. Compare also G. Schopen, 'Mahayana in Indian inscriptions', IIl21 (1979), pp. 1-19. Concerning the wish that all sentient beings might attain nirviil}a, see our 'Aspects of the study of the (earlier) Indian Mahayana' (as in n. 3), p. 13 J. TIIE KALAWAN COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION 5 stands beside another characteristic wish: that all sentient beings may attall the Gnosis (ofthe buddha), anuttara-(buddha)jfziinas. Now, concerning the possible reference in the Kalawan inscription to the attainment of nirviil}a by all sattvas and at the same time the mention of Sarvastivada, the following considerations may be noted: 1) It is possible that the reference to the attainment of nirviil}a is not to. be connected directly with the preceding sarva[sva]tval}a, from which 5 The Govindnagar (Mathura) Brahmi inscription from the time of HuveOka/HuviOka dated to the year 26 reads: ... sar(va)(sat)[v]a anut(t)ara(-) bud(dh)ajnana- pra(pnva)-(tu) ... See 'Aspects of the study ... ', p. 13. A further variant of the formula appears in another inscription from the same reign recently published by H. Falk, 'Two new inscriptions from the time of BIS 12-14 (2000), p. 32 f.: *imena kualamiilena sarvasattvanut-tarasya nirantarasya jiianavaptaye*, where nirantara jiiiina 'unimpeded, or inunediate, Gnosis' does not appear to be the precise equivalent of terms such as anantaratattva-jiiiina, iinantaryasamiidhi, iinantyamiirga, iinantaryamurdhaprayoga found notably in Prajiiaparamitii literature ( on which see E. Obermiller, 'The doctrine of Prajiiaparamitii, AO 11 [1932]). A variation on this very frequent formula appears in an inscription of Queen MahiidevI of Gupta lineage on a bronze of the Buddha with his hands in dharmacakra position, now in the British Museum, and dated to the fIfth century. The recent editor of this inscription, O. von Hiniiber, reads (Die Palola [Mainz, 2004], p. 127): ... yad atra pUlJyaTfl tad bhavatu sarvasattviinii(TfI) miitiipit[purvaTflgamana anuttarapadajiiiiniiviiptaye. (In v. Hiniiber's book, the more usual formula anuttara-jiiiinaO is found in colophons of Qilgit Mss. published on pp. 18,77 and 79; it is of course frequent elsewhere.) Whether the form of words on the bronze in the British Museum - also known as an Icchawar inscrip-tion (H. Liiders, List no. 11; K. Tsukamoto, op. cit., p. 612) - represents a conflation or contamination with the expression am[ta(pada/dhiitu) (cf. ibid., p. 179 n.) - equivalent to nirviilJadhiitu (7) - is not perfectly clear. - For amuda dhatu, a Prakrit equivalent of am[ta-dhiitu (: nirviilJadhiitu), see line 12b of Senavarma's inscription in O. von Hiniiber, . Beitriige zur Erkliirung der Senavarma-Inschrift (AWL Mainz, Stuttgart, 2003), p. 37. Cf. lJivalJadhatu [Le. nirviilJadhiitu] in line 7c of the same inscription, ibid., p. 23. Sena-varma's inscription has again been discussed by G. Fussman, BEFEO 90-91 (2003-04), pp.517-20. It is interesting to note that the inscriptions on the British Museum bronze and on the Kalawan copper-plate both originate with women, the fIrst a queen and the second an upiisikii. For a further instance see n. 12 below. It is to be recalled that, in one of the main canonical texts of the tathiigatagarbha teaching according to which all sattvas carry in them-selves the potentiality of becoming tathiigatas or buddhas, the SrfmiiliidevfsiTfl-haniidasutra, the Buddha's interlocutor and speaker of this teaching is Queen SIimruadevI. The inscriptional materials gathered in this article are to be added to those noticed in our Theorie du tathiigatagarbha et du gotra (paris, 1969), p. 31 n. 2. 6 DAVID SEYFORT RUEGG it is separated by the word puyae. In other words, the syntax allows the rendering: 'May [this installation] be for respect towards all sentient beings, for attainment of nirviilJa [viz. by the upiisikii and perhaps her cir-cle, namely her relatives andthe A.carya, but not by all sentient beings]'. This interpretation would be in conformity with the text of numerous other inscriptions. The syntax is ambiguous, however, and the words 'for respect towards all beings' and 'for attainment of nirviilJa' are juxtaposed asyndetically, with the only verb hotu at the very end. Hence, it does not seem syntactically impossible, or altogether unnatural, to regard the attain-ment of nirviilJa as here relating to all sentient beings6. 2) There perhaps existed no problem, at least in the view of the installer-dedicator. For Sravakayanists may hold that all sentient beings are able to attain nirviilJa (of the kind classified scholastically as that of the Sravaka, perhaps along with an anuttara-jftiina distinct from anuttara-bud-dhajftiina?)7. 6 This is the way some previous translators of the Kalawan inscription have understood its final portion (see n. 2 above), but not Konow who translated 'may it be for the obtain-ment pf Nirvfu:1a' without connecting this phrase with 'all sattvas'. It may be noted that a question concerning exactly to whom the hoped for attainment of the amuda dhatu (Skt. amrta-dhiitu: nirviil)a) is relatable arises also in interpreting line 12b of the inscription of Senavarma, ruler of Ov'-C (Research on Siltras from the Viewpoint of the Fayuan zhulin: Centering on Daoshi), IBK 24, no. 2 (1976): 974-977. I would like to thank James Benn for introducing me to the F ayuan zhulin and these secondary sources on this important work many years ago as we attended graduate school together. 57 Fayuan zhulin 60, T 2122, 53.734c13. AND SPELLS IN MEDIEVAL SINITIC BUDDHISM 103 massive obstacles into nothingness, and they extenninate bad karma that has piled up oflifetimes. Daoshi demonstrates his understand-ing of dhlirm;li in a technical sense, as well as how it was understood by Buddhist exegetes, by saying that "dhlirm;li" is, of course, an Indic word, which, if translated literally into Chinese would be called chi :Rf (to hold, to support, to maintain). Thus, he says that dhlirm;li "are chanted to hold on to what is wholesome and not lose it and to hold on to what is unwhole-some so it will not be produced. "58 With these explanatory doctrinal underpinnings he moves to what is important to him: that the unseen forces of the natural world may be con-trolled by means of speaking or chanting particular spells. If the spells are administered and performed in accordance with their prescribed meth-ods, one will recognize immediate merit and effects. People will be able to work miracles, or, in other words as he says "to smash rocks or pluck out trees, remove illness and eradicate disease." Also, people may control the spirits, take a ride on dangerous and destructive flood dragons, and rouse the clouds to open and fertile rains to fall59 Following his overview of dhlirm;li, Daoshi catalogs some Of the most important, well-known, and efficacious spells of the mid-seventh cen-tury. (1) He begins with a section on dhlirm;li used in repentance rituals. (2) He then turns to spells used to invoke the power of the Buddha Amitabha and the bodhisattvas Maitreya and AvalokiteSvara (in that order). (3) He con-cludes with dhliraI}I chanted to eradicate sins. For instance, he says that in order to repent you must first set up a ritual space called an ment site" (Ch. daochang Skt. bodhimal;uJa), cover it with a silk cloth and place a parasol on top of it. Secure various types of incense and perfume, close your doors, clean your house, keep visitors and intruders away, bathe, hold blended perfume in your mouth constantly, and pray to the buddhas of the ten directions for repentance. If you are not lazy, he promises, you will have an experience and will cease to doubt6. DhliraI}I were chanted during repentance rituals long before the seventh century and were produced by the participants to demonstrate the efficacy 58 Fayuan zhulin 60, T 2122, 53.734cI7-23. 59 Fayuan zhulin 60, T 2122, 53.734c23-28. 60 Fayuan zhulin 60, T 2122, 53.735a6-11. 104 RICHARD D. MCBRIDE, II of their repentance. For instance, Buddhist spells deriving originally from dharal).l siitras were an integral aspect of repentance rituals developed by Tiantai Zhiyi (523-597) and he is also reported to have "man-ifested" dharal).I as a consequence of perfonning a repentance ritual based on the Lotus Sutra61 The final section presents dharal).I chanted for the eradication of sins (miezui bu It is by far the longest section, comprising more than six pages in the standard edition of the Buddhist canon, and includes thirty-six dharal).!-62. All manner of dharal).I and the ritual proceciures for their efficacious use are included in this section. All of the spells address the ordinary needs and concerns of the common people and the elite in medieval Chinese society. For instance, Daoshi includes a spell for women that causes them to stop menstrual bleeding and other awkward and embar-rassing bodily functions63; a spell that protects against all manner of calamities, perversities, defilements, and poisons64; a spell that causes one to remember what he has heard for a long tirne65; a spell invoking Avalokitesvara in order to fulfill one's wishes or designs (yuan while traveling on the road (apparently in order to get there safely)66; a spell for curing a toothache67; and a spell summoning Avalokitesvara for pro-teCtion against poisonous snakes68. There is even a spell for protection against all manner of leprous diseases and exposed wounds, which was also taught by A valokitesvara. The instruction, included by Daoshi, for people who would use this spell technique is to chant the associated 61 For spells in Zhiyi's repentance rituals see Fangdeng sanmei xingfa :1:N!'=:IJ;f