JIABS 9-2

THE JOURNAL

Of THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION Of

BUDDHIST STUDIES

CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Gregory Schopen Indiana University

Bloomington, Indiana, USA

EDITORS

Peter N. Gregory University of Illinois

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA

Alexander W. Macdonald

Universiti de Paris X Nanterre, France

Bardwell Smith

Carleton College

Northfield, Minnesota, USA

Roger Jackson Fairfield University

Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

Ernst Steinkellner

University of Vienna Wien, Austria

Jikido Takasaki University of Tokyo

Tokyo,japan

Robert Thurman

Amherst College

Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Volume 9

Bruce Cameron Hall

College of William and Mary

Williamsburg, Virginia, USA

1986 Number 2

THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUDDHIST STUDIES, INC.

This Journal is the organ of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Inc. It is governed by the objectives of the Association and accepts scholarl; contributions pertaining to Buddhist Studies in all the various disciplines such as philosophy, history, religion, sociology, anthropology, art, archaeology, psychology, textual studies, etc. The ]lABS is published twice yearly in the summer and winter.

Manuscripts for publication (we must have two copies) and correspondence concerning articles should be submitted to the ]lABS editorial office at the address given below. Please refer to the guidelines for contributors to the ]lABS printed on the inside back cover of every issue. Books for review should also be sent to the address below. The Editors cannot guarantee to publish reviews of unsolicited books nor to return those books to the senders.

The Association and the Editors assume no responsibility for the views expressed by the authors in the Association's Journal and other related publications.

Andre Bareau (France)

M.N. Deshpande (India)

R. Card (USA)

B.C. Cokhale (USA)

Gregory Schopen ]lABS clo Dept. of Religious Studies 230 Sycamore Hall Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405 USA

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Joseph M. Kitagawa (USA)

Jacques May (Switzerland)

Hajime Nakamura (japan)

John Rosenfield (USA)

John C. Huntington (USA) David Snellgrove (U.K.)

P.S. Jaini (USA) E. Zurcher (Netherlands)

The Editors wish to thank Ms. Rena Haggarty for her invaluable help in the preparation of this issue.

Copyright © The International Association of Buddhist Studies 1986 ISSN: 0193-600X

Indexed in Religion Index One: Periodicals, American Theological Library Association, Chicago, available online through BRS (Bibliographic Retrieval Services), Latham, New York, and DIALOG Information Services, Palo Alto, California.

Composition by Publications Division, Grote Deutsch & Co., Madison, WI 53704 .. Printing by Thomson-Shore, Inc., Dexter, MI 48130.

CONTENTS

I. ARTICLES

1. Signs, Memory and History: A Tantric Buddhist Theory of Scriptural Transmission, by janet Gyatso 7

2. Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa, by Girard Fussman 37 3. The Identification of dCa' rab rdo rje,

by A. W. Hanson-Barber 55 4. An Approach to Dagen's Dialectical Thinking

and Method of Instantiation, by Shohei I chimura 65 5. A Report on Religious Activity in Central Tibet,

October, 1985,byDonaldS.Lopez,jr. and Cyrus Stearns 101

6. A Study of the Earliest Garbha Vidhi of the Shingon Sect, by Dale Allen Todaro 109

7. On the Sources for Sa skya Pal)<;lita's Notes on the "bSam yas Debate," by Leonard WI van der Kuijp 147

II. BOOK REVIEWS

1. The Bodymind Experience in japanese Buddhism: A Phenomenological Study ofKukaiandDogen, byD.Shaner (William Waldron) 155

2. A Catalogue of the sTog Palace Kanjur, by Tadeusz Skorupski (Bruce Cameron Hall) 156

3. Early Buddhism and Christianity: A Comparative Study of the Founders' Authority, the Community, and the Discipline, by Chai-Shin Yu (Vijitha Rajapakse) 162

4. The Heart of Buddhist Philosophy: Diimiiga and Dharmakirti, byAmar Singh (Richard Hayes) 166

5. Shobogenza: Zen Essays by Dagen, translated by Thomas Cleary (Steven Heine) 173

6. Studies in Ch'anandHua-yen, edited by Robert M. Gimello and Peter N. Gregory (John Jorgensen) 177

7. The Tantric Distinction, by Jeffrey Hopkins (Bruce Burrill) 181 Jeffrey Hopkins Replies Bruce Burrill Replies

NOTES AND NEWS [2 items] 189 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 191

Signs, Memory and History: A Tantric Buddhist Theory of Scriptural Transmission

by Janet Gyatso

Within the broad group of Buddhist sacred scriptures loosely characterized as the canon of the Mahayana are included, by some, the scriptures of the Vajrayana, the tantras. These are in turn classified into two canons by Tibetan Buddhists, the Old· (rnying ma) and the New (gsar ma), the former of which spawned yet a further genus of scriptures called Treasures (gter ma). Not strictly to be considered a canon, and in fact not compiled into one collection until the late nineteenth century, the Treasures are nonetheless accorded the same status of "word of the Buddha" (buddhavacana) as are the classical texts of the Siltra or Vinaya Pi takas, and sometimes even bear the hallmark introductory line "Thus have I heard at one time."l

The Treasures are texts of mystical revelation. Tibetan visionaries, particularly of the rNying rna School, have been producing them since the tenth century A.D.2 They are in most cases said to have been revealed to the visionary by Padmasambhava, the Indian teacher who brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century A.D. 3 According to tradition, Padmasambhava and others concealed in Tibet texts and other items for future "discovery." The number of texts said to have been found in a Treasure cache and attributed to Padmasambhava in this way is now considerable. The Treasure cycles preserved in the current edition of the Rin chen gter mdzod collection alone fill 111 volumes, and there are many others published independently.4

Although differing in content with regard to divinities, prac-

7

8 JIABS VOL. 9 NO.2

tices, doctrines, and many other matters, the Treasure cycles are structured in fairly constant patterns. Each cycle is made up of a group of texts, the generic labels of which are somewhat stan~ard. There i~ usually.a "root text," i.e.; the Treasure scripture Itself, along wIth assoCIated commentaries, siidhanas, numerous rituals and liturgies, and usually a "historical" section (10 rgyus) describing the origin of the cycle and its subsequent reve~ lation. The historical section will often include a biography of the Treasure's discoverer; both this narrative and the account of the cycle's origin portray the process of scripture transmission in quite typical ways, allowing us to make reliable generalizations.5

The following remarks are based on my reading of a representative sample of the major cycles, including some of the earliest, and on the few Tibetan works that discuss the tradition theoretically or historically.

The linkage of a Treasure with the canon of the old Tantras is asserted most explicitly in the Treasure's own account of its origin. Here the evolution of the Treasure is portrayed in terms of the same paradigm by which the rNying rna School describes the transmission of all Buddhist scriptures, and in particular the Old Tantras. This transmission paradigm has three phases: the Jina's Transmission of the Realized (rgyal ba'i dgongs brgyud); the Vidyadhara's Transmission in Symbols (rig 'dzin brda brgyud); and the Transmission into the Ears of People (gang zag snyan khung du brgyud).6 The progression is as follows. The point of inception, or the ultimate ground of the Buddha's teaching, is the Transmission of the Realized. This is placed in the context of a buddha-field, and consists in the teachings of a primordial buddha (iidibuddha) such as Samantabhadra-with-consort. In the second phase, that of the Symbolic Transmission, the teaching devolves through the mediation of symbols. Here the teachers and students are the early patriarchs of the rNying rna School, somewhere on the scene of late Indian Tantric Buddhism. Finally, in the third phase, the Ear Transmission, there is a discursive and overtly verbal conveying of the text. The classical instance of the Ear Transmission is Padmasambhava's dissemination of Buddhism to King Khri srong Ide btsan and the Tibetan royal court.

SIGNS, MEMORY AND HISTORY 9

It is· during the last cited phase that three further stages of transmission, unique to the Treasure scriptures, take place. These concern the special measures taken by Padmasmabhava to conceal c.ertain texts in Treasure caches until the time is right for their revelation. First he conveys such texts in a Tantric Empowerment Ceremony (smon lam dbang bskur, Skt. abh4ekapra'IJidhana?), and appoints (gtad rgya), or confers upon one of the recipients the responsibility to discover the Treasure at a determined time in the future. Then he utters a Prophecy of the Revelation (bka' babs lung bstan) in the future. In the third phase, Appointing of l)iikinzs (mkha' 'gro gtad rgya), he identifies the protectors who will guard the Treasure during its interment.7 Then Padmasambhava or one of his disciples, often his consort Ye shes mtsho rgyal, commits the text to writing. Finally, the text is buried somewhere in Tibet, in a statue or stupa, under the ground or in a mountain, in the elements, or even, simply, in the mind.

The story does not end here. In a second segment of the Treasure's historical section, the account of the revelation resumes, centuries later, in the biography of the visionary. Here we are given an intimate portrayal, often in poetic and candid lariguage, of the discoverer's personal struggles in the visionary quest. There are the search for the requisite confidence that he or she is indeed the appointed individual, the search for the concealed Treasure itself, and, once it is found, there is the search for the understanding of the content of the revelation. Finally, the discoverer or a disciple codifies the Treasure as a cycle of texts to be disseminated to students, and later to be published.

Before attempting to unravel this complex accourit of scripture generation, a few remarks are in order concerning views on the source of scripture in Buddhism as a whole. In the Pali tradition, the word of the Buddha is what was preached by the specific historical personality Sakyamuni Buddha (or certified by him)8, and which was uttered during the finite period of Sakyamuni's lifetime. Traces of the idea that scripture has an historical source can still be found in the early Mahayanasutra, the A~tasiihasrikii-prajiiiipiiramitii, where it is proposed that the disciples who preach the Prajiiiipiiramitii studied that very teaching with Sakyamuni in previous lives.9 By and large, however,

10 JIABS VOL. 9 NO.2

the necessity of an historical origin of the word of the Buddha was discarded by the ~ahayanists. As the A~~a itself asserts, "Whatever, Venerable Sariputra, the Lord's disciples teach, all that is known to be the Tathagata's work."l0 Here no stipulation is made about time, place or explicit certification. The rise of the Mahayana marks the dawning of such notions as the "Buddha-nature," with full BuddhahoQd possible for anyone, at any time. 11 Another claim, known best from the Lotus Sidra, is that the Buddha remains present in the world-and therefore would theoretically always be available as a source for authentic scripture. 12 In any case, the Mahayana expansion of the pantheon of buddhas renders obsolete the necessity to ascribe a sacred text to the historical person of Sakyamuni himself, because there would be countless buddhas in countless realms who are CO,Il

stantly preaching the Dharma. In short, a number of doctrinal innovations of the Mahayana effectively demolished the old notion of a closed canon and radically reoriented the generation of the Buddhist truth to an ahistorical, atemporal dimension.

Thus, it is striking to discover that the proponents of the Treasures, late Mahayana Vajrayanists, were not content to call upon the timeless presence of the ubiquitous Buddha-nature as the source of revelation. The teachings of the many Tibetan masters who are said to have attained Buddhahood, even those of the closely aligned Pure Vision (dag snang) tradition, would, strictly speaking, be differentiated from the revelations of a Treasure discoverer. 13 The distinction consists precisely in the claim that the latter is the reincarnation of a historical person of the eighth century who was a disciple of Padmasambhava, and who was appointed to reveal the Treasure. The Treasure tradition is preoccupied with pinpointing the source of scripture in a specific historical event. It does not really matter that this event, indeed the entire story of the introductiori of Buddhism during Tibet's Yarlung Dynasty, was largely recast and mythologized in· the tenth to twelfth centuries, to the point where fact in the modern scientific sense ofthe word can barely be separated from fiction. 14 For Tibetans, regardless of education or sophistication, Padmasambhava's sojourn in Tibet is a constituting event of the national heritage. As an historical personage, significantly eulogized as "the second Buddha," Padmasambhava comes to offer the same sort of authority for the


Treasure tradition as does the historical Buddha Sakyamuni for the Pali canon.

And so the Treasure tradition is concerned with history, . the passage of text through a temporal progression of epochs, in which changing circumstances of author, place and audience are mirrored in the evolution of the text itself. For the discoverer of Treasure, the dimension of the past is anchored in the numinous moment when Buddhism was introduced into Tibet, a Golden Age. In the present time of the discoverer, which is the degenerate age, it is the connection to that previous period that makes for a weightier and more authentic revelation of truth than what is available to enlightened insight alone.

An important corollary of the emphasis on history in this tradition is that revelation comes to be understood as memory. This memory is diachronic, a recollection of times past, in this case of that significant moment when the Treasure was transmitted by Padmasambhava. This notion of memory can readily be identified with the early Buddhist view that the scriptures recited at the First Council were memorized renditions of Sakyamuni's previously delivered sermons. There are other dimensions of memory here, however. In the most general sense. the Treasure tradition as a whole is seen as a commemoration of Padmasambhava's dispensation, with the lineage of discoverers characterized as a "reminder [lit. list that prevents forgetting] of that teacher from Uc;lc;liyana."l,5 The Treasures are also, in a very general way, reminders of the Dharma: it is explained that the Tibetans, new at Buddhism, tend to forget even Avalokitesvara's mantra; thus their memory needs to be jogged by the periodic appearance of new Treasures. 16 Taken more individually, memory refers to the discoverer's recollection of the events of a past lifetime. It is precisely the personal memory of being an appointed discoverer that inspires sufficient confidence to proclaim a visionary revelation as genuine Treasure scripture. Furthermore, and most importantly, revelation itself is an act of memory, an event of evoking, through a set of hints and codes, the actual content of the Treasure previously received at Padmasambhava's Empowerment rite. As stated in the prophecy of the discoverer 'Jigs med gling pa: "Using the essential key, which is the six nails, the dhiirarj/i for remembering and not forgetting, open the door to the Klang gsal dgangs pa Treasure.,,17


* * *

Having observed that the source of the Treasures is characterized in terms of history and memory, I will devote the rest of this essay to a factor that appears repeatedly in this literature, and is thematic of that very characterization. I am referring to the factor of semiosis in the Treasure tradition. The use of signs seems to be intrinsic to the process of Treasure dissemination, at virtually every step described above, be that function explicit or implicit. In the following I will consider the principal segments of the Treasure transmission where semiosis is specifically identified as such.

It must be noted that the Tibetan terms for the various kinds of signs used in the Treasure literature are not always rigorously distinguished. Drawing upon the Peircean convention that the symbol, icon, and index are the three main types of signifiers, I will use the words "sign," "semiosis" and "signify" in a general way to refer to the function as a whole. IS The Tibetan brda is appropriately rendered "symbol" in the phrase Transmission in Symbols (brda brgyud) , since here a variety of codes, utterances, or gestures convey a message not physically connected or iconically similar to the sign itself. brDa grol, which translates as "breaking the code," is used in a number of contexts in this literature. The phrase "symbolic script" (brDa yig) refers to inscriptions that signify in several ways at once, and I will also adopt the more general "literal signs" in discussing this phase of the Treasure semiosis. rTags is another term often employed here, and can safely be rendered simply as "sign," although it frequently has the specifically indexical function of being connected with or pointing to the indicatum. mTshon, which literally means pointer, has a range of senses, sometimes in fact meaning "symbol," and sometimes referring to signification more generally. lTas here means "portent" or "omen" in most instances, and we also come across mtshan, best translated as "mark." Since all of these translations are contextual, I will supply the original in parentheses whenever I am drawing a semiological term from the Tibetan texts.

Within the general setting of Tibetan Buddhism, where aspersions have often been cast upon the Treasures as authentic "words of the Buddha," the Treasure signs function most overtly


as legitirnizers. 19 Even writers of the rNying rna school, the principal holders of the Treasure lineages, stress the need to subject any cycle to scrutiny, and cite instances of frauds and charlatans. 2o As I have discussed elsewhere, the primary function of the historical section of the Treasure cycle is to present evidence-precisely in the form of signs-that the Treasure is an authentic Buddhist scripture preached first by an iidibuddha, later concealed in Tibet by Padmasambhava, and then actually discovered by the predestined individual. These narratives are thus thought to "engender confidence" (nges shes bskyes pa). The sixteenth-century Tibetan historian dPa' bo gtsug lag phreng ba, notably judicious in his treatment of the Treasure tradition, affirms this function: "In general, if you investigate the Treasure signs (gter rtags) , [you can ascertain if] the Treasure has an authentic source. Even if not found today, the signs and name of the discoverer and place of the Treasure should all be fairly definitely identifiable-even if just roughly.,,21 Or as the discoverer 'Jigs med gling pa recalls, "Through examples one understands meanings; through signs (rtags) one becomes confident.,,22

But there is a far more profound role for semiotics in the Treasure tradition than legitimation, one that is germane to the very process of textual transmission itself. For the rNying rna school, semiosis is the stage next to the first in the generation of all Buddhist scripture, not only Treasure. This stage, already named above, is the Vidyadhara's Transmission in Symbols. But here we must first take into account the very primary, or original moment, the Transmission of the Realized, which is explicitly asemioticized, i.e., deprived of all sign vehicles. The Transmission of the Realized is also, I might add, ahistorical (dus gsum ma nges pa'i dus).23 This is important, because despite our initial remarks about the peculiarities of Treasure transmission, the ultimate source for these scriptures is very much in line with the Mahayana's pervasive and timeless ground of enlightenment.

Firstly, therefore, there is the asemioticized text. The Transmission of the Realized is set in the buddha-field. As gTer bdag gling pa describes it, this is "the realm of the uniformly pervasive dharmatii from which there is no falling away, in the center of the palace of the uncompounded dharmadhiitu, transcending


measurement.,,24 The language of nonduality is everywhere in these descriptions. The teacher is "immersed in the equanimity of neither light nor dark, staying without coming or going, beginning or ending.,,25 "Taking on the guise of a body, he teaches the Dharma. ,,26 This teaching is the "Great Speaking, in which nothing at all is said";27 it is an "expounding by [the Buddha him]self in his own nature, to his own retinue,,,28 where the audience is but a manifestation of the teacher. 29 Of course , strict nonduality is somewhat difficult to maintain if there is discourse. There is, in some accounts, a second, sometimes the consort Samantabhadri, at whose behest the teaching was initiated.30 Then as the teacher devolves from the sviibhiivikakaya and the dharmakiiya, there appear the bodily marks (sku mtshan) and the exemplary form (dpe byad) of the sambhogakiiya. 31 But even in the teachings of the nirmiiTj.akiiya of the Transmission of the Realized, gTer bdag gling pa maintains that neither words nor symbols (brda) are used. Rather, there is a "speaking without speaking, in which the own-voice of primordial awareness appears effortlessly and spontaneously.,,32

The Symbolic Conveying of the Dharma

Although many of the descriptions of the Transmission of the Realized have at the end of that narrative some incursion into what we might identify as a human or a deva world,33 the main thrust of the initial dissemination of scripture to human disciples occurs in the second phase, that of the Transmission in Symbols. At this point, when the self-realized Dharma is first conveyed with some duality between teacher and student, semiosis is the manner in which that takes place.

The semiosis of the Transmission in Symbols takes many forms. It can even consist in the chirping of a bird, as when Vajrasattva assumes the form of a swallow and sings to the rNying rna patriarch dGa' rab rdo rje, "Ka la ping ka, ka la ping ka.,,34 An exemplary narrative of the Transmission in Symbols is found in the teacher Sri Sirhha's response to Padmasambhava's request for "an introduction to the meaning of the Letterless Teachings.,,35 Here we can see how the semiotic transmission proceeds through several acts of sign production and decipher-


ing, ~n which both verbal and non-verbal signs are employed. SrI Sirhha's transmission is cryptic: "Within the fence of the

four elements there is a red cow,. in whose stomach there is a crystal that radiates a five-colored light. Put your hand over the cow's right eye, and say 'Come out of the left!'" It then becomes Padmasambhava's task to decipher the meaning. This is effected when he meets a woman, who points to her heart, covers her right eye with her thumb and middle finger, peers with her left eye into space, and freezes her gaze. Seeing this, Padmasambhava understands the Transmission in Symbols. Then he asks the woman to "break the code" (brda grol). There follows her verbal and discursive explication of her symbolic actions, called "meeting with the meaning of the symbols" (brda don sprad pa), which consists in a series of correspondences. The fence of the four elements symbolizes (mtshon) the body, the arena for wisdom and skillful means; pointing the finger at the heart symbolizes the self-born buddha, which is obscured by ignorance, in turn symbolized by the cow. The covering of the right eye symbolizes the cessation of attachment to skillful means. 36 The five-colored light of the crystal symbolizes the natural play of awareness (rig pa). Gazing into space with a frozen stare symbolizes the appearing of self-born primordial wisdom which abides in limitless space; and so on. Then when Padmasambhava returns to his teacher, Sri Sirhha uses these "symbols (brda) of awareness to transmit the Dharma into Padmasambhava's heart." The episode ends with Padmasambhava's exalted visions and Buddhahood.

The Semiotic Reduction oj Scripture

The specialized mode of Treasure dissemination begins in the next phase of the transmission paradigm, the Transmission into the Ears of People. Here, semiosis has an even more complex and finely defined function, although it remains analogous to the basic pattern of sign presentation and deciphering that we saw in the Transmission in Symbols, where both the intention of the transmitter and the interpretive response of the receiver are key.

Ironically, just when the text has entered the fully historical


and human plane, when Padmasambhava is openly teaching (at least to his circle of students) a determinant text in a discursive exegetical manner via the Ear Transmission, there dawns th~ necessity to conceal the text again. Padmasambhava has in mind Tibet's future: adverse political and social conditions in which the practice of Buddhism will be difficult. Inspired by a compassionate teleology not unlike that which underlies the Vajrayana as a whole, Padmasambhava identifies certain tantras whose teachings and practices will be particularly efficacious in the degenerate times that lie ahead. He proceeds to convey these texts using the three stages of transmission particular to the Treasures: the Empowerment Ceremony, the Prophecy of the Revelation, and the Appointment of I)akinfs. Among these, the Empowerment comes to the fore as the critical moment when Padmasambhava selects the individual with the appointment (gtad rgya), i.e., the responsibility and obligation to discover the Treasure at the prophesied time in the future. 37 And it is at this juncture that the relation between history, memory and signs becomes clear.

One of the principal acts in the Empowerment rite is the guru's ensconcing of a condensed form of the teaching (in this case the Treasure) in the student's stream of consciousness. The site of ensconcement, equated with the place where the Treasure abides (gter gnas) , is rendered variously as "the adamantine body, the essence of enlightenment,,,38 or "own mind abiding in its own aspect of dharmadhatu. ,,39 Here, during the Empowerment, the germ of the teaching is "placed in the mind as a lot for future accomplishment.,,4o

It would seem that the reduction/ensconcement of the Dharma conveyed in Empowerment is what facilitates the Treasure mode of transmission-it allows the text to be easily preserved in memory over time. According to rDo grub chen Rinpoche, the content of the Empowerment becomes an "indestructible point of space that is the clear light of primordial intelligence.,,41 In this form the Treasure cannot be "stolen," and is impervious to the vicissitudes of the "winds of karma" during.the appointed individual's series of lifetimes before discovery.42 Thus, we can say that the Treasure is transformed into a mnemonic device of sorts. This condensed seminal teaching granted in the Empowerment becomes the basis for semiosis


(mtshan bya dan gyi man ngag), that which is pointed to by the signifying symbols (mtshan byed brda) later employed by the diikinzs who conceallreveal the Treasure.43

But there is also a medium that carries the semioticized Treasure over time and induces the appointed discoverer to remember the Treasure at the appropriate moment. This is usually conceived of as the "yellow paper" (shag ser, also called "paper scroll," shag dril). rDo grub chen, whose brilliant and original essay informs the following several paragraphs, refers mostly to this yellow paper in his discussion, but actually his own analysis shows that there can be many other types of media, such as the physical elements, or random mental events. However, the yellow paper is the most concrete medium; it is the manuscript, written by Padmasambhava or a disciple, that is physically buried; it is the Treasure substance itself. It is also one of the few material traces whose existence is sometimes cited as actual evidence of a Treasure discovery.44

The text inscribed on the yellow paper or other medium is a brief and specially coded form of the Treasure. This code corresponds to the condensed teachings granted in the Empowerment, although the precise nature of this correspondence is not specified. Somehow, however, the appointed discoverer "holds the Dharma of the previous period's yellow paper as marks (mtshan ma), so that later, depending on that (same) yellow paper, it is like a reminder (dran pa gsa ba) of the (full Treasure) teaching.,,45

The discovery of the Treasure in its encoded form in the subsequent life is of course the climactic revelation event. However, what is considered to be a complete revelatory transmission (gtan pheb, lit. "definite descending") actually has more to do with the internal state of the discoverer, when he or she can reconstruct and understand the full Treasure scripture. According to rDo grub chen, the discovery of Treasure really involves a replay of all three paradigmatic stages of scripture transmission: "The Transmission of the Realized of Padmasambhava's realization of clear light descends in a sudden jump (thad rgal) into the heart of the discoverer; when the symbolic letters (brda yig) are found, there is the awakening of the propensity (viisanii) to reveal Treasure that was established during the Empowerment by Padmasambhava, which constitutes the Transmission


in Symbols; and when the code written on the yellow paper is broken, the Ear Transmission is obtained."46

Thus, just as SrI Sirilha's Symbolic Transmission was disclosed to Padmasambhava in stages, the semiotic Treasure revelation proceeds gradually. In the first place, the discoverer is put directly and instantaneously in mind of the Treasure in its most basic form; then follows the presentation of its symbols in the form of the discovered Treasure medium, and finally the decoding. Each of the latter two steps can involve considerable difficulty. Just to attain a clear perception of the symbolic letters can be elusive, with the text on the yellow paper changing or even disappearing before the discoverer's eyes. And once the encoded text reaches "stabilization" (gtan khel) , there remains the complex task of deciphering it, which can require months or years of reflection.47 It is only at the point that the encoded text can be translated into the fully remembered Treasure scripture that rDo grub chen can properly equate a medium such as the yellow paper with the discursive Ear Transmission.

The Encoded Treasure: Literal and Other Signs

The text inscribed on the yellow paper or other medium has the dual role of concealing the Treasure in code, and of revealing the Treasure by means of that same suggestive code. rDo grub chen identifies three aspects of this encodinglreminding feat of semiosis.48

l. The first concerns the "type of letters" (yig rigs), i.e., the script in which the encoded Treasure is written. This is usually some form of the "symbolic script of the qakin'is" (mkha' 'gro brda yig). There are many varieties, such as thang yig, spung yig, bshur yig, and so on, but rDo grub chen also admits that non qakin'i alphabets and even some of the Tibetan scripts can be used. 49

2. The second aspect of the encoded Treasure's semiosis concerns the means by which the discoverer breaks the cipher of the qakin'i script and comes to "meet with" or be "introduced to" (ngosprod) the literal encoded Treasure.5o Three possibilities are listed:

2.a) There can be a manifest script that is encoded ac-


cording to a "key" (lde mig can), such that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the symbolic script and the letters of the Tibetan alphabet. In this case, access to the key would enable the discoverer to read the text given on the yellow paper.

2.b) Alternately, the discoverer can perceive the encoded Treasure text as a result of some external prompting. In this case there does not seem to be a yellow paper as such. Rather, the discoverer will see something in the environment, which serves as the encoding medium, and which presents the diikini cipher. An example given by my consultant, mKhan po dpal ldan shes rab, is a goat nibbling grass: the discoverer sees this visual configuration as a letter of sorts, which then brings the encoded Treasure's textuality to mind. 51 This is labelled "certainty through circumstances" (rkyen las nges); in rDo grub chen's words, "without (reference to) an alphabet, there is a spontaneous knowing (of the encoded Treasure) as a result of some sort of circumstance in the environment involving either inanimate objects or animate beings.,,52

2.c) Thirdly, the "face value of the letters" (yig ngo) of the encoded Treasure text can simply become clear to the discoverer, "without regard for either (an alphabet or external circumstances)" (gnyis la mi ltos). Again, there would not seem to be a yellow paper involved. Rather, the medium is a spontaneous vision or some other internal prompting, which results either in a direct perception of the encoded Treasure text, or consists in a gradual process, in which repetition of the internal clue or image finally evokes a perception of the text.

3. Not only is a cipher script employed, and that script presented in a variety of media and with a variety of modes of correspondences to Tibetan, but thirdly, what is "set out" ('god tshul) can be semioticized. This refers to the content of the encoded text, and how that relates to the content of the full Treasure scripture. Again rDo grub identifies three possibilities:

3.a) In the case of 'Just an appearance" (snang tsam) , there will appear a single symbol, or a character or two,not necessarily completing a phrase or even a word. We might understand this mode as a mnemonic cue of wrts; the discoverer is given the opening letters of the Treasure, which serve to evoke in his memory the full text.

3.b) In the second way of setting out, 'Just a support"


(rten tsam), there are two options: the memory of the full Treasure may be "evoked by a section of the actual text" (dngos skul byed) , or "evoked through a recollection" (rjes dran skul byed).

3.b.l) The first, like the appearance mode, functions as a mnemonic cue: it consists in the presentation of the title of the actual Treasure, or a portion of the introduction, or a history of the. text. This brief section is like a "tiny seed that suffices to produce a huge nigrodha tree"-it encourages the full flowing forth of the Treasure in the discoverer's memory.

3.b.2) The second type of support consists of a statement that causes a recollection of the full Treasure. We should note that here, the meaning (tshig zin) of what is written on the yellow paper is said to have determinant significance (dan rtags).53 This meaning must be understood by the discoverer in order for the reminding to occur, whereas in all of the previously discussed modes, despite some ambiguity, merely the literal or phonetic value of the text of the Treasure code may be sufficient to evoke the memory of the literal surface of the Treasure text proper. There are two types of evocation of recollection:

3.b.2.1) In the first case, the determinant significance of the content of the Treasure medium is unrelated to the content of the full Treasure. Instead, the encoded text reminds the discoverer of the peripheral circumstances of the time and place· in the previous life when the Treasure Empowerment was received. As rDo grub chen explains, this memory enables the discoverer to recall the Treasure itself: "For example, on the yellow paper it may be written, 'when the cuckoos first arrived, the Guru and his disciples were all at Brag dmar mtsho mo mgul. Every day in front of the canopy of the tent where they were sitting, ducks, cranes, cuckoos and all sorts of birds gathered and played-an extremely pleasing (sight).' Seeing that, the (discoverer) thinks, 'At that time Guru Rinpoche gave us disciples such and such teaching.' And then that teaching in its entirety appears (to the discoverer).,,54

3.b.2.2) The second way in which the recollection of the Treasure is evoked is vaguer: "In the actual contents conveyed in the symbolic characters, there is nothing explicit about the past, but rather it seems to be a random statement. However, as a result of (reading that statement), it is said that (the discoverer) remembers how the (Treasure) was explained in the past,


and is able (to cause it to) come forth (lit., "descend," 'beb) in just the way as it was previously.,,55 An example of this mode offered by my consultant, mKhan po dpalldan shes rab, is a

. statement .containing the word "diamond," which reminds the discoverer of a Treasure concerning Vajrasattva, the "Diamond Being." In this mode, again, it is clear that the discoverer comprehends the meaning of the inscription in the· Treasure medium.

3.c) Finally, there is a third type of setting out, which is not semioticized. Rather, the full Treasure text is simply "freely put forth" (thar chags). We might note that in such a case, the text may still be given in symbolic script, and be "introduced" to the discoverer through a semiotic medium.

If the semiotics of the encoded Treasure were not intricate enough, it is striking to realize that the 'process of receiving the full revelation is not limited to the reading of the yellow paper or other medium and the bringing forth of the full Treasure on its basis. There are many other acts of decoding that occur both prior and subsequent to the discovery of the Treasure. On the posterior side, there is the further task of translating the Treasure. As already noted, the scripture that the discoverer retrieves from memory as prompted by the Treasure medium may only be a literal document, i.e., something the discoverer could recite without necessarily understanding it. Indeed, Treasure texts are often said to be written in the "symbolic language of the qiikinfs" (mkha' gro brda skad) , 56 to be distinguished from the symbolic script of the qiikinfs discussed above. Further, after the language is deciphered, there is an even more critical act of decoding: in order to be able to translate the Treasure, the discoverer must come to understand its content, its philosophy and practices. It is said that if one attempts to render the Treasure prematurely, the correct grammar, order bf concepts, and appropriate style may be elusive.57 Finally, the rendering also involves the codification of the Treasure cycle into the various ritual and doctrinal genres, the forms of which are determined by the needs of the discoverer's own followers.

All of these acts of deciphering, translating and interpreting are thought to require maturity and wisdom. A teacher often advises the discoverer to wait some time before committing the


revelation to writing or making its contents known to others.58

The discoverer typically enters a meditative retreat, prays to Padmasambhava for inspiration, and develops spiritual insight and agility in yoga. A necessary ingredient in the decoding of Treasure is said to be the union in sexual yoga with a consort, a "secret friend" (gsang grogs), or "female helper" (pho nya mo).59 This facilitates the breaking of codes (brda grol) , here a metaphor for the loosening of the psychic knots that bind the cakras, necessary for the mature rendering of the full Treasure scripture in determinant form.

Signs Before the Signs: The Personal Signs

The active participation and spiritual development required for the work of deciphering is just as pronounced in the period prior to the discovery of the encoded Treasure text. The discoverer-to-be has a variety of experiences that seem to indicate an impending Treasure revelation, yet there is uncertainty. The location of the hidden Treasure, the way to reach that location, and the method of extraction must all be determined. Instructions received in dreams, however, are cryptic, images are blurry, and visions disappear into thin air. Most important, the young visionary is beset by doubts that he or she might not be the appointed discoverer. This last is critical, for without the requisite confidence, a Treasure cannot be found, much less deciphered.6o

The perplexity, as might be guessed by now, is resolved by the recognition and interpretation of yet another cluster of signs. Highly diverse in form and content, these signs have not been systematically analyzed in the literature,61 but they are labelled with the same semiological vocabulary that we found in the other portions of the Treasure narrative, and they constitute a rich dimension of the tradition's semiosis. I label this category "personal signs" because of the special significance such configurations have for the discoverer's personal development.

We read of the personal signs in two genres of the Treasure literature: the biographies of the discoverers, and the prophecies. This is in itself of interest. The biography is written after the events of the revelation, whereas the prophecy is sup-


posedly uttered by Padmasambhava before those events occur, during the transmission of the Prophecy of the Revelation. The text of the prophecy usually appears in a dream or is discovered

. as an antecedent Treasure text; its receipt and effect on the visionary is recounted in the biography. When the prophecy is read, what it predicts has either transpired already, such as the discoverer's birth, identity of parents, early visions, etc.; or it lies ahead· in the future, such as the circumstances and location of the full revelation. Those of the predictions that have already occurred are for that very reason to be understood as signs: the corroboration confirms that Padmasambhava's intended plan for the Treasure discovery is now being fulfilled in the discoverer's own life. As for the events that have not yet occurred, they become indicative signs. The discoverer looks for the predicted places and circumstances, and when they are recognized, they thereby become confirming signs that encourage the discoverer to proceed with the quest. In this way, biography becomes a sign or confirmation of the truth of the prophecy, and the prophecy a sign that the biography is one of an authentic Treasure discoverer.

Not all of the factors that are taken semiotically in the discoverer's life appear in the prophecy, however. Events or configurations that in any case are interpreted in the Tibetan milieu as auspicious also concatenate as confirmations of the individual's identity as an appointed discoverer, or of the appropriateness of the time or place for Treasure revelation. When contiguous with overt Treasure signs, anything that is normally taken as a propitious portent tends to be· appropriated as a Treasure sign as well. These signs are of such wide variety that they belie comprehensive description.

'Jigs med gling pa, pondering the significance of his own personal signs, such as his bearing of the name Padma, and the thirty red spots marked (mtshan) with vajras on his chest, recalls another Treasure text that lists the three main signs (brda rtags) of a genuine discoverer: "On the body, flesh marks at the heart, navel, and on moles. In speech, there should be facility in teaching and singing; and one should bear the name of Padmasambhava. The mind should be one-pointed and strong in remembering me (Padmasambhava).,,62

In particular, the concreteness of physical marks, always


sought eagerly by Tibetans, is noted significantly on the bodies of discoverers. The biography of Nyang ral nyi rna 'od zer reels off numerous such marks that were visible when he was born: "As a sign (rtags) of being of the Padma family, his flesh had a reddish cast. . . . As a sign of possessing the qualities of an embodiment of thetathiigatas, there was a white flesh mark in the shape of an om in the parting of his hair .... As a sign of having completed the five margas and the ten bhilmis, there was a picture of an eight-spoked wheel on his foot ... ," and so on.63 Letters or bija syllables on the body are especially favored; in his prophecy, 'Jigs med gling pa is predicted to be recognizable by the presence of a hya in his thumb print, and an a in the grain of a tooth.64

Signs not only mark the individual; equally significant is the time, which refers both to the period of the discoverer's lifetime as a whole, as well as to the precise moment of the Treasure's extraction. The major prophecies, such as those in the Padma thang yig, allude to events of national importance such as political, military or astronomical situations that will mark the era of the Treasure.65 dPa' bo gtsug lag 'phreng ba cites these cryptic references, and links them with actual historical events during the period when the specified Treasures were revealed. For example, the prophecy states punningly that the sign of 0 rgyan gling pa's time is that "the pig (phag) eats up the earth (sa).,,66 And in fact, as the historian points out, Phag mo grus pa's defeat of Sa skya (1358) did occur during 0 rgyan gling pa's lifetime. 67 Again, Guru Jo rtse's discovery took place when dPan chen kun bzang was executed by the Mongols (c.1280), this event is referred to in the prophecy as "the time when Hor pa troops arrived at Bya rag rdzong in lower Myang.,,68 .

Signs of the time can also be local and specific. For Rig 'dzin rgod Idem can, the appearance of the star rGyal phu on the horizon was the indication to proceed with a Treasure reve- _ lation. 69 'J a' tshon snying po's prophecy warns of the danger in ignoring his predicted temporal signs when they appear: "There will be an epidemic in that country. You will almost die. At the site of the Treasure, a monastery with a school for Buddhist studies will be flourishing. Inside a lake there will be a burning fire that all can see during the day. When such signs (rtags


mtshan) appear, take out the Treasure! Without the temporal signs (dus rtags), it is not permissable to take it out .... Yet if you ignore (the signs), and the master of the Treasure flees, his powers will dissipate.7o Therefore it is advisable to be cautious in what you do.'>7l

The site of the Treasure is also recognized by signs of various sorts. The prophecies typically liken the appearance of the place to anthropomorphic or animal shapes, or to ritual objects. 'la' tshon snying po is instructed to seek a "mountain shaped like the swirl on a gtor ma for wrathful deities.'>72 Nyang ral is given this description: "Here in your country there is a red mountain like a lion leaping into the sky. In the four directions are four great ministers, from the center of which the light of the shining sun radiates, and into which the rays of the setting sun collect. At that place is the Secret Mantra Treasure.,,73

The place where the Treasure is hidden will often be specifically pinpointed by theophanic figures or inanimate mechanisms that direct the discoverer to the site. Such phenomena are also taken as indicative signs by the discoverer: Rig 'dzin rgod Idem can writes that he sighted "a sign (rtags) in the form of a light ray, like the trunk of the kalpalatika tree, that struck Mt. bKra bzangs.':74 When he reached that spot on the mountain, a rainbow appeared in the sky as a sign of confirm ation.75

Another sort of confirming sign is experienced ina concretely physical way. rGod Idem can, praying with his disCiples for revelation, feels the cave in which they are sitting begin to shake. This shocks and frightens them, but it is interpreted as a portent (ltas) of the arrival of the Treasure's discoverer. 76 Decidedly somatic signs are predicted to accompany 'la' tshon snying po's discovery: "When you find it without mistake, you will experience a sudden rush ('ur). Your body will be trembling. You will start sweating, and frightened, you will lose your memory (of mundane matters).'m According to rDo grub chen, the feelings of rushing, heat and bliss are standard signs of the inner experience of all discoverers at the time of revelation, an experience that is also often described in specifically yogic terms. 78

Other events of personal significance to the discoverer may not be explicitly labelled as signs. Of particular importance are the overt confirmations of being the reincarnation of the ap-


pointed individual. A theophanic figure of some sort, or even an appearance of Padmasambhava himself, will address the discoverer as such; 79 or there will be a written certificate (byang bu) identifying the discoverer, a certificate that is received in revelatory fashion at some point prior to the full revelation. so Both the visionary figure and the certificate will also convey specific information on the location of the Treasure and the procedure by which to extract it. But the connotative implication of such divine intervention is of far greater significance for the discoverer than is the specific information conveyed, critical as that is. In brief, all of these "miraculous appearances" (cho 'phrul) are interpreted as evidence of Padmasambhava's active agency. By recognizing the pattern of events as an instance of the paradigmatic mode of Treasure transmission, the conclusion, by a kind of abductive logic, is that a discoverer's life, and a Treasure revelation, is in progress. S1 This conclusion, in turn, supplies the critical confidence for the discoverer to label his vision and revelations as Treasure scripture.

Finally, the semiotic reading of the discoverer's life becomes so thick that, at some level, every experience becomes a sign. We have already noticed above the sense in which the discoverer's biography itself becomes a confirmation of the veracity of Padmasambhava's prophecies. On another, more general level, it might simply be a sign of being a Treasure discoverer to interpret everything as a sign. 'jigs med gling pa, introducing his own account of his Treasure revelation in terms of the Vajrayana path, explains, "When one assimilates the blessings and compassion of the buddhas into one's own discursive thought, all appearances that are reflected in the incipient great magical show are symbolic significations (brdar btags pa) of the circle of pure awareness."S2

On a larger scale, the very geography of Tibet is seen as being covered with the signs of the legacy of Padmasambhava. To begin with, there is the widely held belief that Padmasambhava left footprints and handprints in the mountains and rocks of Tibet; these traces are sought eagerly by the discoverers. S3 More importantly, according to the Treasure tradition, Padmasambhava transformed the entirety of Tibet into a place for Buddhist practice, a repository of the Vajrayana; in this view, the Treasures deposited for discovery throughout the


country are signs of Padmasanibhava's pervasive blessings and guidance.84 As the prophecy of Ratna gling pa states, "In each great valley there is a great Treasure; these also are reminders of the onefrom O-rgyan. In each minor place there is a minor Treasure; these also are reminders of the one from O_rgyan.,,85

Ultimately, any instance of Treasure discovery is itself a sign. For 'Jigs med gling pa, this significance is personal, as he reflects when handed the gSol 'debs le'u bdun ma Treasure, "The cfiikini must have given me this as a sign (brda) of my mastery of this teaching in many past lives.,,86 But especially in the case of a ~reasure such as the gSol 'debs le'u bdun ma, which in varying rescensions was revealed by a number of discoverers,87 its revelation also signifies the continuing vitality of the Treasure lineage as a whole. And that, as we have already seen, IS a commemorative sign of Padmasambhava himself.

* * *

The Treasure .... ..discoverer's preoccupation with recognizing signs is, of course, continuous with a general Tibetan obsession. Propitious portents, omens, and signs of good karma (or, to use the classical Buddhist term that is commonplace in colloquial Tibetan to refer to a confluence of destiny and good timing, "a fitting interdependent origination" [rten 'brel khrigs pa]) are always sought as confirmations of time, place, persons, and so on, in undertakings ranging from a day's journey to a state ceremony.88 However, it is clear that for the Treasure discoverer, signs have a dimension beyond the mere indication of a general state of auspiciousness. Rather, what is signified is a specific and determinant moment in history, a moment that is constitutive of the discoverer's very destiny and being .

. Given the gravity and importance that the Treasure tradition assigns to the past historical moment, however, a critical question arises. Why are signs necessary at all? If Padmasambhava's intention is so all-determining, why doesn't he simply· appear at the right time and hand the discoverer the manifest Treasure cycle in its proper form? Why does the discoverer have to wrestle with a complex series of signs in order to receive the revelation?

The answer to these questions involves a paradoxical conclu-


sion: the very signs that point to the authoritative past also undermine the authoritativeness of that past. The presence of semiosis in the transmission of scripture ensures that the discoverer's ability as interpreter is necessary to the process. Rather than being a passive conduit for a divine teleology, the discoverer is called upon to exercise his or her own talents. In recognizing bodily signs, reading the shape of landscapes and the tenor of the times, in pondering the internal signs for a clue to scripture hidden in memory, and certainly in undergoing the rigorous meditative training that is always part of the discoverer's life, the discoverer's own spiritual powers and creativity are surely essential. Thus, despite the fact that all of these signs are ultimately thought to be produced by Padmasambhava, it is precisely because the signs conceal, because they must be interpreted, that the Treasures can never be entirely determinant scriptures, frozen in content and format, or truly canonical in the classical sense.

As much as the Mahayana grounding in a pervasive, timeless enlightenment has been set aside in the Treasure tradition, it also remains as the very basis upon which the historical transmission can take place. This becomes clear when we consider some of the earlier stages in the Treasure's semiosis. In the Transmission in Symbols, and also in the Treasure's reduction to code in the Empowerment rite, what is being signified is indeed indeterminant and ahistorical. It is the very essence of the Buddhist teachings, which, as we know, is no essence at all. Ultimately, the nondual Transmission of the Realized stands as the ground of all scriptural transmission. In some sense every revelation is a synchronic memory of that ground. But if there were only the ubiquitous Transmission of the Realized, and never the introduction of duality or history, creativity and newness would be rendered just as impossible as they are by a totally determined revelation of an omnipotent Padmasambhava.

Signs, after all, mediate. They are the media that convey the Dharma of the teacher to the student. They also mediate between the discoverer and the diachronic memory of the past, and between the adept and the synchronic memory of ever-present enlightenment. As the central element in a theory of sacred scripture transmission, the presence of semiosis places the Treasure tradition in a mediate position between the completely closed


canon of the Hinayana and the completely open canon of the Mahayana.

* * *

I would like to thank mKhan po dPalldan shes rab and mKhan po Tshe dbang don rgyal for their erudite assistance and for kindly discussing this essay with me at length.

NOTES

1. The principal comprehensive description of the Treasure tradition in Tibetan is Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas (1813-1899), Zab mo'igter dang gter ston grub thob ji ltar byon pa'i lo rgyus mdor bsdus bkod pa rin chen baidurya'i phreng ba (abbr. gTer mam brgya rtsa), in Rin chen gter mdzod, edited by Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas (Paro: Ngodrup & Sherap Drimay, 1976), vol. 1, pp. 291-759. This forms the basis for bDud Joms Jigs bral ye shes rdo rje's (1904- ) account in the sixth chapter of his Gangs ljongs rgyal bstan yongs rdzogs kyi phyi ma snga 'gyur rdo rje theg pa'i bstan pa rin po che ji ltar byung ba'i . tshul dag cing gsal bar brjod pa lha dbang gyul las rgyud ba'i mga bo che'i sgra dbyangs (abbr. rNying ma'i chos 'byung) (l{alimpong, 1967). bDud Joms Rinpoche's text has been translated into English by Gyurme DOlje and Matthew Kapstein, and is to be published, along with extensive notes and indices, as The History and Fundamentals of the Nyingma School, by Wisdom Publications in winter 1986. Parts of the sixth chapter were translated previously by Eva Dargyay in her The Rise of Esoteric Buddhism in Tibet (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas, 1977). An important essay on the Treasure tradition, not previously noticed by Western scholars, is rDo grub chen Jigs med bstan pa nyi rna (1865-1926?), Las 'jJhro gter brgyud kyi mam bshad nyung gsal ngo mtshar rgya mtsho (abbr. gTer kyi mam bshad), in The Collected Works ofrDo Grub Chen 'jigs Med Bstan Pa Nyima (Gangtok: Dodrup Chen Rinpoche, 1975), vol. 4, pp. 377- 447. This work has been translated into English by Tulku Thondup, and will also be published by Wisdom Publications in 1986, as Hidden Teachings of Tibet. I have not had the opportunity to consult Tulku Thondup's translation for the purposes of the present study, although I have used certain sections of rDo gr~b chen's work herein. .

Among the few Western studies of the Treasure tradition and related matters, the following are particularly noteworthy. By Anne-Marie Blondeau: "Le IHa-'dre bKa'-thaIi," in Etudes tibitaines didiies a la memoire de Marcelle Lalou (Paris 1971), pp. 29-126; "Analysis of the biographies of Padmasambhava according to Tibetan tradition: classification of sources," in Tibetan Studies in Honour of Hugh Richardson, edited by Michael Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1980); Comptes rendus de conferences,


Annuaire de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes-Etudes, Ve section (Paris, 1975 through 1978); and her "Le 'Decouvreur' Du Mal).i Bka'-'Bum Etait-il Bon-po?" in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Alexander Csoma De Karas, edited by Louis Ligeti, (Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1984) pp. 77-123. Cf. also Ariane Macdonald, "Une lecture des P.T. 1286, 1287, 1038, 1047 et ~290. Essai sur la formation et l'emploi des mythes politiques dans la religion royale de Sroll-bcan sgam-po," in Etudes tibetaines, pp. 190~391; E. Gene Smith, Introduction to Kongtrul's Encyclopaedia of IndoTibetan Culture (New Delhi, 1970), pp. 1-87; Per Kvaerne, "The Canon of the Tibetan Bonpos," Indo-Iranian Journal 16 (1974) 18-56; 96-144; Matthew Kapstein: "Remarks on the Mal).i bka'-'bum and the cult of Avalokitesvara in Tibet," to be published in the proceedings of the North American Tibetological Society; Kapstein's "A dGe-lugs-pa Defense of the Gter-ma Tradition," to be published in Buddhist Apocryphal Literature, edited by Robert Buswell and Lewis Lancaster (Berkeley: Berkeley Buddhist Studies Series, No. 10, 1986), and Ramon Pratz, Contributo Allo Studio Biografico Dei Primi Gter-Ston (Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1982). My own work on these topics includes "The Internal Logic of Legitimation Within the Textual Structure of the Tibetan Treasure Cycles," to be published in Buddhist Apocryphal Literature; and "The Relic Text As Prophecy: Analogous Meanings of Byang(-bu), And Its Appropriation In The Treasure Tradition" to be published in Tibet Journal (Festschrift for Burmiok Athing), 1986.

2. Khyung po dpal dge and !Dang rna lhun rgyal are identified by Pratz, Contributo, as belonging to the end of the tenth century.

3. The great majority of the Treasure cycles are linked to Padmasambhava; however, there are a number of other figures to whom Treasures are also attributed, most importantly Vimalamitra (eighth century), the source of the Bi ma snying thig cycle. The MaTfi bka' 'bum is said to be the teaching of Srong btsan sgam po, the seventh-century king of Tibet. There are a variety of other exceptions as well. Moreover, the Bon-po Treasures are not attributed to Padmasambhava.

4. The Rin chen gter mdzod was compiled by Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas in the nineteenth century. The sTod lung mtshur phu edition has been published in Paro by Ngodrup and Sherap Drimay, 1976. III volumes.

5. For a discussion of what I have identified as the two types of history of Treasure, the account of the origin of the cycle and the account of the revelation, see my "The Internal Logic of Legitimation."

6. The three transmissions are recounted in numerous works, and the terminology used can vary considerably. For this paper I have utilized some of the versions given in the historical sections of the Treasure cycles themselves. A fairly extensive rendition may be had from bDud Joms Rinpoche, rNying ma'i chos 'byung, p. 63 ff. The tradition of Nyang ral nyi rna 'od zer's (1124/36--' 119211204) bDe gshegs 'dus pa cycle divides the same transmission sequence into five phases: rgyal ba dgongs brgyud; rig 'dzin rig pas brgyud de dkar chags la btab pa; mkha' 'gro ma gtad rgyas brgyud de gter du ji ltar spas pa; grub thob rnal 'byor pa La brgyud de bka' rgya bkrol ba; and gang zag snyan du brgyud de bod du byung tshul. See bDe gshegs 'dus pa'i bka' byung tshul, in Nyang ral nyi rna 'od


zer, bKa' brgyad bde gshegs 'duspa'i chos skor (Gangtok: Sonam Topgay Kazi, 1978), vol. 1, pp. 231-271. This tradition is an early instance of a general tendency to recognize a Treasure transmission in India during the Vidyadhara phase. The bDe gshegs 'dus pa cycle explains-the Treasure transmission in Tibet as being devised specially for King Khri srong Ide btsan in his future incarnations. See pp. 259 and 269 of the above cited work.

7. Note that the term gtad rgya is being used in two instances: the appointing of the individual who will discoverer the Treasure in the future, -and the appointing of the guardians of the Treasure. See rDo grub chen, gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 382.

8. For a recent study of the authoritative expositors of buddhavacana and the sense of history in the Palicanon and in early Mahayana, see Graeme MacQueen, "Inspired Speech in Early Mahayana Buddhism I," in Religion (1981) 11:4, pp. 303-319.

9. Graeme MacQueen, "Inspired Speech in Early Mahayana Buddhism II," in Religion (1982) 12:1, p. 52, citing Aqtasahasrikaprajnaparamitiisiltra 226---:--229 and other passages.

10. U. Wogihara, ed., Abhisamayalamkara'loka Prajnaparamitavyakhya: The Work of Haribhadra (Tokyo: The Toyo Bunko, 1932), p. 28: yat ki'T(tcid ayuqman sariputra bhagavatalJ, sravaka bhiiqante desayanty upadifanty udirayanti prakafayanti samprakasayanti sa sarvas tathagatasya puruqakaro veditavyalJ,. Translation as by Edward Conze, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary (Bolinas: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973), p. 83.

11. Although the term "Buddha-nature" seems to have been used most in East Asia (Ch.fo-hsin), it can be traced in early Buddhism and is a seminal Indian Mahayana doctrine (Skt. buddhata). See entry "Buddha Nature," in Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, edited by G.P. Malalasekera (Colombo: Department of Cultural Affairs, 1973), vol. III. See also Edward Conze, Buddhist Thought In India (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1962), pp. 198 and 225 ff.

12. E.g., chapter 15, vs. 3: NirvaTJ.a-bhilmim c'upadarsayami / vinayartha sattvana vadamy upayam / na capi nirvamy ahu tasmin kale / ihaiva co dharmu prakasayami I" SaddharmapurJl:tarika~siltram, edited by U. Wogihara and C. Tsuchida (Toyko: The Sankibo Buddhist Book Store, 1958), p. 275.

13. The Pure Vision revelations also yield texts which are assigned a status akin to sacred scripture, and the formal distinction that I am identifying is sometimes ignored in practice. By and large, however, Pure Visions are teachings of Dharma received spontaneously from buddhas, bodhisattvas, or, as Kong sprul notes, birds, trees, the sky, etc. See Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas, gTer rnam brgya rtsa, pp. 683 and 297, where he is clear' in identifying dag -snang as a mode distinct both from bka' ma and gter ma. A classical instance of Pure Vision is Asariga's revelations from Maitreya.

14. With regard to the date of the development of the AvalokiteSvara cult, in which King Srong btsan sgam po is cast as an emanation of the bodhisattva, see Ariane Macdonald, Une Lecture; Yoshiro Imaeda, "Note preliminaire sur la formule Om MaI).i Padme hum dans les manuscrits Tibetains de Touen-houang," in Contributions aux etudes sur Touen-houang (Geneve~Paris: Droz, 1979), pp. 71-6; and Matthew Kapstein, "Remarks on the MaI).i bKa'-


'bum." Anne-Marie Blondeau, in her Annuaire report of 1977-1978, traces the connection between the Avalokitdvara cult and the legend of Padmasambhava. Our earliest reference to the life of Padmasambhava seems to be Pelliot Tibetain 44. See F.A. Bischoff and Charles Hartman, "Padmasambhava's Invention of the Phur-bu: Ms. Pelliot Tibetain 44," in Etudes Tibetaines, pp. 11-28.

15. rDo grub chen, gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 38l. brjed tho = mi brjed pa'i dran tho. Gene Smith, Introduction, p. 12, translates this term alternately as "testimony" and "sign." For the various terms I have employed for types of memory, I am grateful to Edward Casey, whose forthcoming book Remembering: A Phenomenological Study (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1987), is illuminating for the present topic.

16. gTer kyi rnam bshad, pp. 401-2. 17. Klong chen snying gi thig le'i rtogs pa brjod pa qiikki'i gsang gtam chen ma

(abbr. sNying thig rtogs brjod), p. 13, in 'jigs med gling pa (1729-1798), Klong chen snying thig (New Delhi: Ngawang Sopa, 1973), vol. l.

18. See Umberto Eco, A Theory of Semiotics (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976), p. 178. Symbols are arbitrarily linked with their object (e.g., letters, which signify sounds); icons are similar to their object (e.g., pictographs); and indices are physically connected with their object and point to the object as a whole (e.g., a book that represents a scholar).

19. For an example of the criticisms levelled against the Treasure scriptures, see Matthew Kapstein, "A dGe-lugs-pa Defense of the Gter-ma Tradition."

20. See my "The Logic of Legitimation." 2l. dPa' bo gtsug lag 'phreng ba (1503-1565), Chos 'byung mkhas pa'i dga'

ston (Delhi: Delhi Karmapai Chodhey Gyalwae Sungrab Partun Khang, 1980), vol. 1, p. 633.

22. 'Jigs med gling pa, sNying thig rtogs brjod p. 13, quoting sGron ma rnam pa bkod pa.

23. Rig 'dzin rgod kyi Idem 'phru can (1337-1490), Kun bzang bgongs pa zang thai las yid ches brgyud pa'i 10 rgyus stong thun gyi spyi chings chen mo (abbr. dGongs pa zang thai 10 rgyus), p. 7, in his rDzogs pa chen po dgongs pa zang thaI and Ka dag rang byung rang shar (Leh: S.W. Tashi Gangpa, 1973) (Smanrtsis Shesrig Spendzod, vol. 60).

24. gTer bdag glingpa 'gyur med rdo rje (1646-1714), rDzogs chen a ti zab don snying po'i lo rgyus (abbr. A ti zab don lo rgyus), p. 8, in his rDzogs pa chen po a ti zab don snying po'i chos skor (Dehra Dun: D. G. Khochhen Trulku, 1977).

25. Ibid., p. 9. 26. Rig 'dzin rgod Idem can, dGongs pa zang thalia rgyus, p. 7. 27. gTer bdag gling pa, A ti zab don 10 rgyus, p. 10: ci yang mi gsung ba'i

gsung ba chen po. 28. dGongs pa zang thalia rgyus, p. 7. 29. Ibid., p. 8: sprul pa'i 'khor . .. 30. A ti zab don 10 rgyus, p. 9: 'gro 'ong dang skyes 'gag 'pho 'gyur med pa

bzhugs pa las gnyis su med pa'i ngo bar gnas kyaJ1-g gnyis su snang ba rgyal ba thams cad skyed par byed pa'i yum ...


31: Ibid., pp. 13-14. 32. Ibid., p. 16. 33. dCongs pa zang thallo rgyUs, p. 11. For example, Vajrasattva's granting

of various boxes (dga'u) to the rNying rna patriarch dGa' rab rdo rje is included in the Transmission of the Realized.

34. Ibid., p. 12. 35. Ibid., p. 15 ff. 36. According to mKhan po dPalldan shes rab, in an intervi'ew in May

1986, there is a greater tendency to be attached to upiiya, which is analogous with the view of realism (yod pa), than to prajiiii, analogous with the view of nihilism (med pa).

37. The importance of the Empowerment transmission is emphasized by rDo grub chen, gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 383.

38. sCrub thabs snying po skor lnga, p. 452, in Rin chen gter mdzod, vol. 4: rdo rje lus byang chub snying po.

39. dPa' bo gtsug lag 'phreng ba, Chos 'byung mkhas pa'i dga' ston, p. 296: gter gnas rang sems la chos nyid rang chas su gnas pa.

40. 'Jigs med gling pa, Klong chen snying gi thig ie las dbang gi spyi don snying po don gsal, p. 123 and throughout, in his Klong chen snying thig, vol. 1: ... 'grub pa'i skal ba rgyud la bzhag.

41. rDo grub chen, gTer kyi rnam bshad, p: 383. 42. Ibid., p. 383. 43. Ibid., p. 383. These two phrases drawn from a somewhat more com

plex statement by rDo grub chen concerning the three special transmissions for Treasure.

44. See, for example, mNga' ris pan chen padma dbang rgyal rdo rje's (1487-1582) account of his search for the actual paper of the Treasure (gter shog dngos) of Nyang ral's bKa' brgyad bde gshegs 'dus pa cycle, which he finally finds in Lho brag: bKa' brgyad bde gshegs 'dus pa'i 'chad thabs rnun sel nyi zla'i 'khor lo, p. 210 seq., in Nyang ral Nyi rna 'Od' zer, bKa' brgyad bde gshegs 'dus pa'i chos skor, vol. 1. Is it just this yellow paper that is also identified as the original "Kagye Desheg Duepa," as reproduced in Lopen Nado, "The Development of Language in a Buddhist Kingdom," Druk Losel, iv no. 2 (August 1982), p. 5? I am grateful to Michael Aris for bringing Lopen Nado's article to my attention.

45. gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 383. 46. Ibid., p. 385. Paraphrased. 47. Ibid., p. 408 seq. An extended discussion of the problems involved

is presented here. 48. Ibid., especially pp. 403-406. 49. The following scripts are listed (explanations in parentheses are

based on the comments of mKhan po dPalldan shes rab in a conversation in February 1986): thang yig (letters with long ligatures, used in records and old documents); spung yig (abbreviated letters); bshur yig (an old term for Tibetan dbu can); ldem yig (cursive script); spas yig (an even more abbreviated script than spung yig); mkhar brtsegs (letters that resemble architectural structures); thig le'i yi ge (rounded letters); 'khyil chen and 'khyil chung (both are curved letters). rDo grub chen also mentions styles of writing the conventional Tibetan


alphabet omitting prefixes, headletters, suffixes, etc., which are also ways of encoding the text. gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 404.

50. That only the literal surface of the encoded Treasure is being (un)coded in this category is clear from rDo grub chen's closing statement for this section: "All of the above is an analysis only of the qakin'i letters." gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 405.

51. Conversation, February 1986. 52. gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 404: ka dpe med la brtan gyo'i yul rkyen nges med

la brten nas rdol thabs su shes pa. 53. gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 405. However, as pointed out below, the

meaning is in this case unrelated to the actual content of the Treasure scripture. 54. gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 406. 55. Ibid., p. 406. 56. gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 406. According to rDo grub chen, this language

can only be understood by the discoverer. The encoded Treasure text may also be written in other languages, such as Tibetan, Sanskrit, or the "language of U<;i<;iiyana."

57. See gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 408 seq. 58. See my "The Logic of Legitimation." 59. Mentioned in many of the accounts of Treasure revelation. See gTer

kyi rnam bshad, p. 408. Referred to by 'Jigs med gling pa, sNying thig rtogs brjod, pp. 11 and 13. I have not seen such terms applied to the male consorts of female discoverers, however.

60. For a fuller discussion of this problem, see my "The Logic of Legitimation."

61. gTer kyi rnam bshad, p. 414, merely calls them the "symbols that are secondary to the symbolic script" (brda yig gi 'khor du gyur ba'i brda), referring briefly to the animate and inanimate forms that function as the blessings of qakin'is and vidyadharas, etc., which aide in the breaking of the Treasure code.

62. 'Jigs med gling pa, gSang ba chen po nyams snang gi rtogs brjod chu zla'i gar mkhan (abbr. gSang chen rtogs brjod), p. 40, in his Klong chen snying thig, vol. 1. He is quoting Sangs rgyas gling pa's Bla ma dgongs 'dus.

63. Mi 'gym rdo rje, sPrul sku mnga' bdag chen po'i skyes rabs rnam thar dri ma med pa'i bka' rgya can (abbr. mNga' bdag rnam thar), p. 87 ff., in Nyang ral nyi rna 'od zer, bKa' brgyad bde gshegs 'dus pa'i chos skor, vol. 1.

64. gNadbyangthugskyisgrombup. 73,inhisKlongchensnyingthig, vol. 1. 65. See U rgyan gling pa (= 0 rgyan gling pa, b. 1323), U rgyan ghuru

padma 'byung gnas kyi skyes rabs rnam par thar pa rgyas par bkod pa padma bka'i thang yig (Leh, 1968), chapter 92 (ff. 218b-225b).

66. dPa' bo gtsug lag 'phrengba, Chos 'byungmkhaspa'idga'ston, p. 635. 67. Ibid., p. 637. See Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History

(repr. New York: Potala Publishing, 1985), chapter 5. 68. Chos 'byung mkhas pa'i dga' ston, pp. 634 and 636. See Shakabpa, Tibet,

p. 69. See also Pratz, Contributo, pp. 57-61. 69. Rig 'dzin rgod kyi Idem phru can, gTer gton pa'i lo rgys, p. 28 in his

Byang gter rdzogs chen dgongs pa zang thai and Thugs sgrub skor (Sumra: Orgyan Dorji, 1978), vol. 1.


70.· According to mKhan po dPalldan shes rab, conversation May 1986, this statement implies that the protectors would kill the delinquent discoverer.

71. Yang zab nor bu'i lde mig, pp. 20-21, in 'Ja' tshon·snying po (1585-1656),dKonmchogspyi 'duskyichosskor (New Delhi: Topden Tshering, 1977). . 72. Ibid., p. 16. gTor mas are the traditional Tibetan offering cakes, gen-

erally made in e"Iaborate shapes. . 73. Mi 'gyur rdo rje, mNga' bdag roam thar, p. 94. 74. Rig'dzinrgodldemcan,gTergtonpa'ilorgyus, p. 28: rtagskyi 'odzer ... 75. Ibid., p. 29. 76. Ibid., p. 29. 77. Yang zab nor bu'i lde mig, p. 18. 78. See rDo grub chen, gTer kyi roam bshad, p. 418. See also, for example,

jigs med gling pa, gSang chen rtogs brjod, p. 52. 79. See my "The Logic of Legitimation." 80. See my "The Relic Text as Prophecy." 81. I am following Eco's understanding of abduction as defined by Peirce.

See Eco, A Theory, pp. 131-133. Abduction seems to be a special type of inference in which a hypothesis about a case is based on the presentation of a "rule" and a "result." Peirce's example was his sighting of a man in Turkey on horseback with four men holding a canopy over his head. Hypothesizing that this show of honour would only be given to the governor of the region, he concludes that the man is the governor. For the Treasure discoverer there is a similar progression of thought. For example, there is a dream of Padmasambhava granting his blessings; the hypothesis is then made that such a dream would be a sign that the dreamer is a Treasure discoverer; and the conclusion is that this dreamer is in fact a discoverer.

82. 'Jigs med gling pa, gSang chen rtogs brjog, p. 21: sangs rgyas rnams kyi thugs rje dang byin dabs rang gi kun rtog dang 'dres nas Jug pa'i cho 'phrul chen po la snang cha'i gzugs brnyan ci yang srid pa'i phyir I de riyid la tag pa ye shes kyi 'khor lo'i brdar btags pa stel.

83. See Ibid., pp. 23 and 27. 84. See rDo grub chen, gTer kyi roam bshad, pp. 397-8. 85. Cited by Smith, Introduction, p. 12, quoting from Kong-sprul's gTer

mam brgya rtsa, f.35v. My translation. 86. 'Jigs med gling pa, gSang chen rtogs brjod, p. 43. 87. Originally discovered by bZang po grags pa, later inherited by Rig

'dzin rgod Idem can and others. 88. See Norbu Chophel, Folk Culture ofT.ibet (Dharamsala: Library of

Tibetan Works and Archives, 1983), for a detailed description of the many events, experiences, configurations, etc., that are interpreted as signs in Tibetan life, from birth to death, and beyond.

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Symbolisms of the Buddhist Stupa *

by Gerard Fussman

Prior to the seventies, the problem of the origin and symbolism of the Buddhist stupa did not interest many scholars outside France. As they were written in French, seminal studies on this particular topic by oustanding scholars (Foucher 1905, Mus 1935, Benisti 1960, Bareau 1962), though often referred to, were only known by a handful of scholars, mainly from Europe. As a consequence the conveners of the seminar on "The Stupa, Its Symbolism, Its Religious, Historical and Architectural Relevance" (Heidelberg, July 3 to 7,1978) could write: "We felt that though there are quite a few books, articles, and essays on the stupa theme, they are not only very difficult to locate, scattered as they are in journals and old publications, and for this very reason they are perhaps unknown or forgotten, but we also felt the need for a fresh approach to this 'core' problem of Indian and South East Asian civilisation and art" (Dallapiccola 1980, vii). Since then, a good deal of literature has been published on this specific subjec~, ranging from short papers or stray remarks in various articles to the epoch-making studies by Irwin (1979 and 1980) and Roth (1980), and culminating in a 407 page book by Snodgrass in 1985. A new international conference was even convened on "The Buddhist Stupa in India and South-East Asia" (Varanasi, March 22-26, 1985).

It would have been presumptuous or useless to dare write anew on this topic were it not for the need to remind the reader that we cannot deal with Buddhism as an unchanged whole: history, chronology and geography have also to be taken in consideration. The point is that the earliest stupa-which was not necessarily Buddhist-was built c. 2500 years ago; that since then Buddhism has spread over the whole of India and in many

37


countries abroad; that we know for sure that Buddhism was a many-sided creed; that Buddhist speculations and metaphysics evolved differently at different times and in different countries so that it is likely that the symbolism of the stfjpa did not remain the same through the ages, nor for every Buddhist sect, nor in every country; and finally that laymen, ordinary monks, supposed arhants or bodhisattvas did not necessarily view the st1lpa in the same way.

The most recent writer on the subject, however, is freed from this prejudice. "The symbol addresses not only the waking consciousness but the whole man; 'symbols speak to the whole human being and not only to the intelligence.' Symbols communicate their 'messages' even if the conscious mind remains unaware of the fact. This being so, the hermeneutic of a symbolic form such as the stupa is freed from the necessity of asking 'how many individuals in a certain society and at a given historical moment understood all the meanings and implications of that symbol.' If the stupa can be shown to have clearly expressed a meaning at a certain moment of its history one is justified in supposing that the meaning inhered within its form at an earlier epoch, even if it is not consciously perceived or explicitely affirmed in the writings of those who built it ... These considerations are deemed sufficient to justify a non-historical and atemporal exegesis of the symbolism of the stupa."l Not being a seer, I shall restrict myself to the humbler duties of the historian. I feel bound by necessity to ascertain what meaning a stilpa had in the conscious minds of the people who commissioned it, built it and paid homage to it in such and such a country and at such and such a time. Prima facie, that seems to have been the very purpose of]. Irwin; his brilliant papers (Irwin 1979 & 1980), written with much acumen and understanding, backed by an impressive erudition, are undoubtly to be referred to by every scholar interested in unravelling the symbolic meaning of the Buddhist stilpa. Nevertheless, some points need to be clearly articulated. Some of these have already been dealt with by Harvey (1984), mainly from Pali (Theravadin) sources; more is still to be gained by sifting the enormous amount of data collected by the outstanding scholars I named above. Since this data is in the main known by most scholars perhaps I need not dwell on it here.

THE BUDDHIST STUPA 39

1. J. Irwin's Thesis

Following Mus (1935), J. Irwin states that the early stupa had two main components, an axial pillar rising from the ground, and an hemispheric-shaped dome or arp4a, "egg". The whole was a cosmo gram, i.e., a replica of the ·cosmic order and a means through which that very cosmic order was imposed on the country or on the spot where the stUpa was built. J. Irwin goes further. He tries to show that the axial pillar was called yupa (Skt) or Inda-kh'ila (Pali), which for him is indisputable evidence of its cosmo gonic and religious significance. "In the earliest stage, this pillar had not been erected simply to mark the center of the mound: it had taken structural precedence over the raising of the mound itself, the latter serving as an envelope to enclose it.,,2 Moreover this axial pillar was first made of wood. It was "none other than the Axis Mundi itself, metaphysically identified with the World Tree and the World Pillar as interchangeable images of the instrument used to both separate and unite heaven and earth at the Creation ... By its orientation to the four cardinal points, the Axis expresses the unity of Space-Time and enables the worshipper, by performance of the rite of sunwise circumambulation (pradak4irpii-) to identify with the rhythm of the cosmic cycle.,,3 He adds that some stupas were metaphorically encircled by water4 and that that water is to be understood as the Cosmic Waters. That means that the stupa is a "microcosm, i.e., an image of the creation of the universe dynamically c~nceived"5 as it is articulated, according to Irwin, in the J!.g-Veda: from the depths of the cosmic waters arose a clod of earth to float restlessly on the surface; after a while it expanded to become the Primordial Mound (symbolised by the hemispheric dome (arp4a) of the stupa); then Indra separated earth and heaven, propping up the sky with the world axis (the pillar inside the stupa) and at the same time "pegging" with the same pillar (Indra-kfla) the Primordial Mound to the bottom of the Cosmic Ocean.6

When reading Irwin's papers, and moreover when you have the privilege of listening to him, as I have had a number of times, you cannot fail to be immediately convinced. His is a brilliant demonstration backed by a wealth of evidence: scrutinizing of archaeological data, careful analysis of Vedic and


Buddhist texts, use of comparative history of religions and so on. Everything seems to fit in--everything but chronology. At times it is difficult to know whether the story told by J. Irwin applies to the Buddhist stupa historically and archaeologically known, or to much earlier mounds and representations. Indeed J. Irwin's interest in the stupa seems to stem from the idea that the stupa embodies much older concepts, that it is evidence for a lost neolithic ideology which prevailed the world over; and that whether the Buddhists, or the Buddhist elite, was aware of it or not does not matter.

II. Some Flaws in J. Irwin's Constructs

The only piece of evidence J. Irwin could bring to support his contention that ancient Indians believed in the cosmogony described supra does not stem from Vedic texts. It is a construct and, as Irwin himself repeatedly indicates, it is a quite recent construct. It stems from analyses made by such great scholars as Luders, Brown and Kuiper, who tried to piece the evidence together and make sense of it. In fact you can quote many a IJ.c to support various parts of that construct, but you will never find the whole story so told in a connected way in a SarIJhitii, or in a Briihma'f}a, or, later, even in an Upan4ad or in a Purii'f}a. In fact, Brown, Kuiper and Luders were only pointing to a way of interpreting some obscure stanzas of \<.V which are stuti only and not detailed and connected expositions of myths. They also knew that there were many different Indian creation myths, and that Indra's creation myth was only one of them, possibly the older and more important one, but nevertheless still only one of them. Indeed, I would venture to say that there are so many different cosmo gonic stories in Indian lore precisely because creation is not the core of Indian religions. Many Indian texts begin with a history of creation; many Indian gods are creators, but that is not what matters most: Indian creation myths, possibly with the exception of the PurU0a-sukta (which is not Irwin's cosmogonic story), are not so crucial for Indians as the Genesis story is for Jews and Christians. Perhaps that explains why today Jews and Christians work so hard to find in the Veda a connected creation story. The absence of such a connected


story did not seem to bother Indians, who never tried to stick to one and the same cosmogonic myth.7 As a consequence there is no proof of the correctness of the constructs proposed by Brown, Kuiper, Liiders and Irwin: The data they use is there,

. and they use. it in a very clever way. But we cannot exclude the possibility that they pieced together parts which belonged to very different myths, and we have to admit that many different creation stories were currently told at the same time. Moreover, even if they are right, it would still remain true that "their" creation myth soon fell into oblivion since neither Buddhists nor Hindus continued to refer to it. Why then should it have been remembered by stupa builders and only by them?

Buddhist textual evidence also is not strong. It has been shown by de J ong (1982) that the occurrence of yupa-ya~(i- in Divyavadana XVIII (p. 244, 11) is doubtful. Only one of the four manuscripts reads so and the meaning of the compound yupa-ya~(i-, if it really occurs (and it is the only occurrence so far known in a Buddhist text), is obscure: dvandva (yupa- and ya~(i-) or karmadharaya (a ya~(i- which is a yupa)? The only other occurrence of yupa- in a Buddhist text dealing with stupas goes contrary to Irwin's thesis. In Mahava'Y(lsa 28, 2, we are told that King DutthagamaJ)i when entering the city saw a stone pillar (szlayupa-) raised upon the place where he was to build the Mahathupa. But, contrary to Irwin's hypothesis, this pillar was not to be the core or the Axis of the stupa: before building the stupa, the King had the yupa- taken away (haretva).8 This wellknown Du((hagamarpi story makes it diffidult to agree with Paranavitana,9 who maintains that the stone pillar was an essential component of early-Sinhalese stupas. The archaeological evidence is at least dubious. Even if Paranavitana and Irwin were right in supposing that such stone pillars were embedded inside the Sinhalese stupas, still there is nothing to be concluded from the Pali name Sinhalese pandits gave to them when specifically asked about them by Paranavitana: inda-khZla-, i.e., Skt. indrakZla-. In Pali and in Buddhist Sanskrit,lO inda-khila- no longer has the etymological meaning of "Indra's peg"; it means only a short post rammed deep into the ground against which the wings of a gate are closed. II Moreover, these pandits never saw the stone column they were asked to name by Paranavitana actually standing inside the masonry of a stupa: they were shown


some stone post lying in the debris around some demolished stilpa and when asked what they would call it, they simply and exactly answered "post," i.e., inda-khila-.

Itis quite true, nevertheless, that a pillar stood inside many stilpas. Irwin collected all the evidence he could get from excavation reports. He could have added that according to a late story told to (and by) Hiuan-tsang,12 a stilpa was made ftom three parts: square bases, to remind us of the Buddha's clvara-; a rounded dome, to remind us of the Buddha's alms-bowl; and a post which is Buddha's staff, ya~~i-. But ya~~i- also has a cosmographic meaning: a ya~~i- was supposed to have stood in the middle of the capital-towns of former cakravartins 13 and Irwin points out that such a pillar protruded from the top of many Amaravati stilpas and was apparently not meant to hold any parasol (chattra-). 14

This, however, is late evidence, stemming from Andhra Pradesh (2nd c. A.D.) only. Taken as a whole, the archaeology is simply not conclusive. Although excavators have discovered shafts for poles inside manystilpas, many more had none. This is true, for example, of the very early stilpas of Vaisali: and Piprahwa,15 of those at Sand, Bharhut, and Amaravatl, of all the so-called votive stilpas, of the relic-boxes carved into stilpashape, and especially of the big stone stilpas carved inside of caves, as at Ghaja, Bedsa, Karla and so on. Even when the remains of such shafts or poles have been found during excavations, they very often cannot be used as evidence of a cosmic symbolism. For instance, in most Gandharan stilpas, there was a pole, sometimes a very big one, but it never went through all of the masonry: a shaft was sunk in the upper part of the dome so that the pole could be firmly set inside, but the shaft was never dug to the ground, i.e., it was never deeper than necessary for buttressing the pole. We may also add that if the pole, which in most instances is needed for holding the parasols, were a cosmic axis, and if the stilpa were an image of the world (Mus) or of the creation of the world (Irwin), how could it stand inside a cave, with a mountain over it, as in so many instances that we know? And how could it have occurred that the shape of the hemispheric dome (a'rJq,a-), made in the likeness of the celestial vault (Mus) or the primitive mound (Irwin), came to evolve and be surimposed, as early as Bharhut (c. 100 B.C.), on a circular drum and later on square bases?


I need not dwell upon other suggestions made by J. Irwin. Three late instances of prada~irJii-patha- covered by blue-glazed tiles 16 do not prove that the hundreds of prada~irJii-patha- so far known were meant to symbolize the Cosmic Waters; the more so as in many instances it would have been easy to bring water around the stupa if the builders had wanted to do so. More puzzling is the fact that in some (not many, as Irwin says) late (lst-2nd c. A.D.) depictions of stupas, "the axial pillar breaks out of the summit in the actual form of a tree, with foliage resembling parasols.,,17 In at least one depiction that I know,18 this type of stupa is being honoured by niigas and niiginzs, the foliage· looks like lotus leaves, and it is quite possible that the intention was to depict the stupa standing under water where it would quite naturally receive the homage of niigas and niiginzs. In other instances,19 a seven(?)-headed niiga is depicted in front of the stupa so that the explanation could well be the same. But I must confess it cannot hold true for the depiction of the stupa reproduced by Irwin (1979 p. 829, fig. 19): here the stupa is clearly depicted standing in the open air, with birds flying around it and without niigas. In any case, even if Irwin's explanation is true, it is valid only for post-Christian Andhra Pradesh, not for the whole of India.

The strongest point to make against Irwin's reconstruction, however, is the following one. Every Indian building is supposed to be built according to some diagram (marJ4ala-); its main axes are determined by using a gnomon and, wherever possible,20 made according to the cardinal points, which are not four, as in the West, but at least five, the fifth one being the direction of the zenith. This would have. been no scandal for Indian Buddhists, so that it is difficult to understand why they did not acknowledge that the stupa was some sort of marJ4ala if they' actually believed it to be so. Moreover, from the beginning, the conceptions of the Buddha and the cakravartin are closely associated; the Buddha is mahii-puru:;a-; he is omniscient (sarvajna- ); he is above the gods; he emits rays of light as if he were the sun, so that it would have been quite easy for Indian Buddhists to have conceived of his main monument, the stupa, as a cosmogram. Why did they not acknowledge it if they in fact actually believed it, or if lay-followers believed it? In short, J. Irwin's thesis is the following: in the beginning, well before the advent of Buddhism, the stupa was a cosmo gram or a permanent


cosmogony; Hindusforgot it; Buddhists forgot it; Jains forgot it; or if they knew, they concealed it, why, we do not know; but the Indian illiterate peasant stuck to that old conception so that 19th century "Hindu fakirs" knew better than archaeologists the sanctity of such spotS.21 We are here no longer in the realm of history. As far as neolithic people are concerned, I am afraid all we can tell is mere guess; as far as Indian Buddhism is concerned, I deem it far better to stick to the facts, even if they are not as attractive as Irwin's constructs. Let us only summarize here some of these facts.

III. The Early Buddhist Stupa

The Buddhist literary tradition seems to imply that there were stupas before the advent of Buddhism. In one of the earliest and best known Buddhist sutras, the Mahii-parinirvii1Ja-sutra (c. 3rd century B.C.?), Buddha tells Ananda not to be concerned with his body: his corpse is to be burnt and buried under a stupa, as was done for cakravartin kings.22 Although no such royal tomb has ever been discovered, we know for sure that kings could be buried under a stupa as late as the 3rd c. B.C.23 Plutarch's famous story about various cities dividing Menander's ashes equally and erecting monuments (!!vy)!!cLa) over them24 may be only a reflection of the war over the relics which is supposed to have ensued after Buddha's death.25 But Strabo XV, 54 has preserved an account ofIndian funerals, taken from Megasthenes, which, from the context, must refer to royal funerals: "Their tombs are plain and the mounds raised over the dead, lowly ... Attendants follow them with umbrellas.,,26 These umbrellas point to kings or to holy people. Still in the 2nd century B.C. the Sinhalese king Dunhagamal)i (161-137 B.C.) raised a cetiya, i.e., a st~~a, over the ashes of his defeated enemy, the Tamil king Elara.2

That does not mean that the stupa was a tomb. Indeed early Buddhists were not overly concerned with relics. A stUpa, with or without relics, is only a memorial. When seeing it, people remember (anusmaranti) the Buddha and his teaching, which induces in them a good thought (kusala-citta-), which produces good karma (pu1Jya_).28 By building astupa and paying it homage,


one could also reap good fruits: "Devas and men produce what is skilled when they have paid homage to the relics and the jewel of the knowledge of the Tathagata who has attained complete nibbiina and does not accept. And through what is skilled, they allay and assuage the fever and the torment of the threefold fire.,,29 Built over ashes or empty, astupa, thus, was not a proper tomb; it was a memorial and did not differ greatly from those chattri we see built not over Rajputs' ashes, but as cenotaphs.3o

That is why stupa and caitya, from CIT, are quasi-synonyms.31 Being memorials much more than tombs, even for Hindus,

stupas could be raised over anything likely to induce a good thought, be it personal belongings of the Buddha, places where he passed through, ashes of arhants and so on.

IV. The Sarira-stupa

There is some evidence that in early times "the construction and worship of a stupa was the concern of laymen and not of monks.,,32 These upasaka had gone to the Buddha for refuge, to the Dharma for refuge, to the SaT(lgha for refuge. Everyone knew what Dharma meant and where the SaT(lgha was to be found. But where was the departed Buddha? It seems that the stupa soon became, at least among lay-followers, a substitute for the Buddha. If the Buddha had left for nirvarpa-, who (or what) could receive puja- in lieu of Him and bring good karma to the worshipper except for stupas? The stupa became thus a symbol of the parinirvarpa-gone Buddha, i.e., for most people, of the dead Buddha. The symbol would be stronger if there were inside some corporeal relics (sarira, sarfra-dhiitu, dhiitu) of the Buddha, and Buddhists became more and more engrossed in the search for relics.

This change did not set in before the 2nd century B.C. The story about Asoka dividing Buddha's relics and building 84,000 stupas over them, or the story of Sakka sending Buddha's collarbone to the Sinhalese king Devanarp.piyatissa, friend of Asoka, are fictitious: nothing points to something like this in Asoka's inscriptions, not even in the Buddhist ones. In Bharhut and Gaya epigraphs, in Mathura, even much later in Mahara~tra, donors never allude to Buddha's relics. The same holds true


for the Sane! and the Vidisa topes, built over relic boxes containing ashes and inscribed with arhants' names, where there is no evidence of Buddha's relics nor inscriptions mentioning his sarira. 33 The earliest occurrences I know of such 'a "trade in relics" are the enshrinement of relics in the Mahathupa by Dunhagamai).i Abhaya (161-137 B.C.),34 and especially in numerous Kharo~thj epigraphs recording the establishment of corporeal relics of the Buddha where previously there were none. 35 It is no accident that the sarira-cult is referred to in the Kashmir Sarviistiviidin Vibhii~a around the beginning of our era.36

This search for relics stems from the belief that the stupa is the Buddha. The same idea explains the setting up of Buddha images, around the same time, against Buddhist stupas, as exemplified in Mathura and in Gandhara. Many Mahayana sutras, for instance the Saddharmapurpcf,arika, not only praise the worship of relics deposited in stupas; they maintain that such and such a Buddha is actually sitting inside the stupa, for instance Prabhuta-ratna.37 The same trend is conspicuous in the great cave-stupas of Ajanta, Ellora and so on, carved in the 5th century A.D., where the Buddha is depicted actually sitting both in the forepart and inside the stupa. 38 Buddhists more concerned with "orthodoxy," if this concept means anything in Buddhism, explained that the stupa was indeed Buddha's body, not his human and mortal body (catur-mahii-bhuti-kiiya-, rupa-kiiya-), but his dharma-body. One may find in Roth (1980) texts where every component of the stupa is attributed a dogmatic symbolism. Thus, the first stepped terrace represents the four smr;ty-upasthiina-, the dome, the seven bodhy-miga-, etc.

V. Stupa and Marpcf,ala

The use of mawf,alas and yantras is very ancient in India. The Vedic agni-cayana- is already a marpcf,ala. It is quite possible that from the earliest times, Buddhist monks used marpcf,alas as an aid for the kind of meditation they call bhiivanii-. After the beginning of the Christian Era these marpcf,alas became common occurrences. This could explain why stupas came also to be perceived as structural (viistu-)marpcf,alas. We have already noticed

THE BUDDHIST STOPA 47

that stupas were usually facing the cardinal points; inside many of them was a pillar, stemming from the ground or more often stuck in the dome, protruding from the top and looking like a zenithal axis even if it bore parasols. In Nepal, eyes are painted on the harmika- and are said to represent the four loka-palas. In SrI Lanka, over the harmika- a cylindrical devata-kotuwa, "house of gods," is built, on which are sometimes carved the eight ~ta-dik-palas. Since the loka-palas dwell around Meru, the pro- . truding part of the ya~ti- could be intended for Meru. 39 In the same way Tibetan stupas are crowned by a moon and sun.4oBut alongside of these facts I must point out that although we have many descriptions of Buddhist mar]q,alas, no one text has ever been produced, as far as I know, stating that the stupa is a cosmogram embodying Mount Meru. This could mean that the interpretation of the stupa as symbolizing the orderly cosmos is not linked with the Buddhist monastic community, but with the lay-followers and especially the royal lay-followers.

It is not by chance that evidence for the stupa as an embodiment of Mount Meru comes from Nepal and Sri Lanka, i.e., two countries where the stupa was closely linked with the welfare and even the existence of the country. In former times, the Kathmandu valley was a lake; in the midst of it, the self-produced Adi-Buddha (svayar(t-bhu-) sat on a wonderful lotus. To provide access to him, the bodhisattva ManjusrI drew his sword and drained the valley of its waters. Over the spot where Svayar(tbhu was to be seen, the king-turned-bhi~u-, SantasrI, raised the Svayar(tbhu-natha stupa, the holieststupa in Nepa1.41 In Sri Lanka, from Dutthagamal)i's time on, and perhaps before, Buddhist relics and the stupa which enshrined them were the true palladium of power and magically protected the kingdom. The citation of two instances will suffice. When Dutthagamal)i had conquered the whole island of Lanka and had been consecrated its sale and supreme ruler, he went out to indulge in water sports "to observe the tradition of crowned kings." As he needed no weapon, "in the very place where the stupa (afterwards) stood the king's people who carried (his) spear planted the splendid spear with the relic (mounted on/in it)" by means of which he had won his previous victories. In the evening, when they wanted to take it back, they could not remove it. The King was delighted since he took it as a very good omen and "had a cetiya built


around it. That is the Marica-viai-thupa. ,,42 The same DunhagamaI).i, before enshrining other relics in the Mahathiipa, dedicated thrice his kingdom to them and honoured them with his white parasol of state.43 '

Some stupas, therefore, are directly responsible for the emergence of the kingdom (Nepal) or its preservation (SrI Lanka). They have a magic and protective power for the king and his subjects. Again in the same countries, several kings tried to equate their kingdom with the whole world by transforming it into a replica of the cosmos, with Mount Meru at its center and a row of deities (in Hindu kingdoms) or stUpas (in Buddhist countries) placed in such a way that the whole country, or at least its capital town where the king sat, was perceived as a gigantic marJ,q,alii-. Instances of this are the whole of Hindu Nepal;44 the four so-called Asokan stupas protecting the mostly Buddhist town of Pat an in Nepal;45 Sigiriya in Sri Lanka, where the marJ,q,ala- is clearly to be seen; and--outside India properAngkor in Cambodia, the Borobudur vastu-marJ,q,ala- in Java46 and the big stUpas and monasteries transforming the whole of Tibet iGto some kind of sacred space.47 It is quite understandable that in such countries, and by people holding such beliefs, the stupa came to be viewed as the world itself, with Mount Meru concealed inside it and protruding from its top.48

The roots of such a conception of the stupa may be very old. We may suppose that in the 2nd century B.C. and later, when petty kings established the sarzra-stupas we alluded to supra, they wanted also to protect their kingdom and their own royal power. This very conception is the core of the well known legend told about Asoka: he is said to have divided one part of the Buddha's relics, to have sent them all over his kingdom, and to have built 84,000 stupas to enshrine them, i.e., one stupa in each part of the inhabited world,49 spreading thus the Buddhist dharma all over the world and at the same time equating his kingdom to the entire world. At this point we are back where we started from: a stupa is an embodiment of many symbolic conceptions, but the cakravartin symbolism appears to be the maIn one.


NOTES

*Revised text of a paper originally sent to the Varanasi conference on the Buddhist stupa.

. 1. Snodgrass 1985, p. 9, whose quotations are from Eliade. 2. Irwin 1980, p. 12. 3. Irwin 1979, p. 834. 4. Irwin 1979, pp. 828-829. 5. Irwin 1979, p. 842. 6. Irwin 1979, pp. 826-827. 7. Varenne 1982, pp. 27-31. Varenne translates into French in this

book 34 creation hymns coming from the sruti: 11 RV hymns, 5 from A V, 9 excerpts from the Briihma'TJas, and 9 from the Upan4ads. Most of them tell a different story.

8. Mhv. 28, 2: tato puraTIJ pavisanto thilpatthiine nivesitaTIJ passitviina siliiyupaTIJ . . . .

Mhv. 29, 2: hiiretvii hi tahiTIJ yupaTIJ thupatthiinam akhiinayi ... De Jong 1982, p. 318. Thup., ch. 12. For a discussion of yupa as a simile in Pali texts, see Harvey 1984, pp. 77-8l.

9. Quoted by Irwin 1979, pp. 820-824. '10. Mahiiviistu I, 195,6. 11. See CPD s.v. and Harvey 1984 pp. 80-81. 12. S. Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, London, 1906, I, pp.

47-48. 13. Mahiiviistu I, 196, 15 and II, 229,12. 14. Irwin 1979, pp. 821-823. 15. As pointed out by Gupta 1980, pp. 267-268. 16. Irwin 1979, pp. 821-823. 17. Irwin 1980, p. 16. 18. Bachhofer 1929, II, PI. 129, 1. 19. Irwin 1980, PI. I, 4. Bachhofer 1929, II, PI. 124, 1-2. 20. Mountain stupas in Gandhara face East only where the topography

allows it. When looking at the plans of Sravastl and specially Sarnath one may see that not every stupa is facing East. From the location of the stairs and of the Asokan pillar, it appears that Sand stupa n° 1 faced South, maybe West, certainly not East.

21. Irwin 1979, pp. 807-808. 22. Discussed by Bareau 1971, p. 35. 23. For earlier instances, see Bareau 1971, note ad p. 38. 24. Plutarch, Moralia, 821 D-E. Narain 1957, p. 98. 25. On this war and its supposed historicity, see now Bareau 1971, pp.

265-288 and more precisely pp. 270-273. 26. Mac Crindle 1901, p. 57. 27. Mhv. 25,73: taTIJ deha-patitatthiine kutiigiirenajhiipayi

cetiyaTIJ tatha karesi parihiiraTIJ adiisi call Thup., p. 87. In older literature Dutthagama1J.i is said to have reigned from 104 to 80 B.C. My revised dating comes from Bechert 1982, p. 32 n. 17, quoting recent Sinhalese literature.


28. Bareau 1975, p. 2l. Hirakawa 1963, p. 88, n. 170. Lamotte 1958, pp,701-705.

29, Mil., 98 (translation Horner, I, p, 137), It must be said that besides this orthodox explanation, there is some evidence, even in P::ili texts, for more "popular" beliefs. My colleague G. Schopen is collecting data showing that in many instances relics were thought to be endowed with life.

30. Already noted by Foucher 1905, p. 50, n. 2. 31. Bareau 1975, p. 2l. 32. Roth 1980, pp. 183-186. Hirakawa 1963 makes too much of this

point. 33. Lamotte 1958, pp. 358-361. 34. Lamotte 1958, p. 399. Mhv., chap. XXXI. Thup., chap. 15. 35. Fussman 1980, 1982, 1984. Salomon and Schopen 1984. 36. Apratis.!hite Pr,thivi-pradese tathiigatasya sarira11J stupa11J pratisthiipayati /

aya11J ' .. brahma11J pU'T}yam prasavati / References and explanations by La Vallee Poussin in Kosa, 4 (tome III), pp. 250-251. References to sarira!] stupa!] are also to be found in Vinaya of MSV, Samghabhedavastu, I, p. 161 and p. 162.

37. Hirakawa 1963, pp. 85-88, 38. As pointed out by my colleague D, Srinivasan, the obvious parallel,

and perhaps the explanation, is to be sought in the so-called mukha-liriga compared to the purely symbolic liriga.

39. Gail 1980. Harvey 1984, p. 81. 40. These Tibetan stupas may se,em to be late. However there is now a

very early (and unrecognized) Indian instance of such a stupa crowned with a moon and sun, It is a graffitto found by my colleague Prof. Jettmar at Chilas II, in the Upper Indus Valley, and illustrated in Dani 1983, p. 97 n° 76. It is certainly to be dated in the 1st century A.D.

4l. Levi 1905, I, pp. 331-333. Slusser 1982, p. 298. 42. Mhv., chap. XXVI (especially XXVI, 9-13). Thup., chap. 10 (transla-

tion, pp. 89-90). 43. Mhv., XXXI, 90-92. Thup., translation, p. 132-133. 44. Giitschow 1982. 45. Levi 1905, II, pp. 1-2. The legend adds that there was a fifth stupa,

which had disappeared, standing at the centre of the town. These stupas were thus facing the five cardinal points.

46. Lokesh Chandra 1980. 47. Stein 1981, pp. 17-18. Aris 1982. 48. Further instances of ma'T}ljala symbolism in hinduized and Buddhist

southeast Asia are fully commented on by Snodgrass 1985, pp. 73-77. 49, Strong 1983, p. 117. In Suvar'T}ao a sentence is found referring to

the 84,000 kings and the 84,000 towns constituting the whole inhabited world (p, 170,31-33 of the Tibetan text; p, 191, at the end, of the German translation).


BIBLIOGRAPHY

a) Texts

Divyavadana, edited by E.B. Cowell and R. A. Neil, Cambridge 1886. Kosa: Louis de La Vallee Poussin, L'Abhidharmakosa de Vasubandhu, traduction

et annotations, nouvelle edition anastatique presentee par E. Lamotte, Bruxelles 1971-1980. .

Mhv.: Mahiiva'T(lSa, edited by W. Geiger, London, Pali Text Society, 1908; translated into English by W. Geiger, London, Pali Text Society, 1912.

Mahiivastu: Texte publie par E. Senart, Paris, Societe Asiatique, 1882-1897 (reprint, Tokyo, 1977); translated into English by J.J. Jones, London, Pali Text Society, 1949-1956.

Mil.: Pali text edited by V. Trenckner, London, Pali Text Society, 1880; translated into English by LB. Horner, London, Pali Text Society, 1963-1964.

Suvarrtao: Suvarrtaprabhasottamasutra, Das Gold-glanz-Sidra, Ein Sanskrittext des Mahiiyana-Buddhismus, herausgegeben von J. Nobel, Leipzig, 1937; Die Tibetischen Ubersetzungen, herausgegeben von J. Nobel, Leiden, 1944-1950; I-TSING's Chinesische Version und Ihre Tibetische Ubersetzung, iibersetz ... von J. Nobel, Leiden, 1958.

ThUp.: The Chronicle of the Thupa and the ThUpava'T(lSa, being a Translation and Edition of Vacissarathera's ThupavarIJsa by N.A. Jayawickrama, London, Pali Text Society, 1971.

Vinaya of MSV: The Gilgit Manuscript of the Sdnghabhedavastu, Being the 17th and Last Section of the Vinaya of the Mulasarvastivadin, edited by R. Gnoli, 2 vol., S.O.R. XLIX, 1-2, Roma 1977 et 1978.

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Bachhofer 1929: L. Bachhofer, Die Friihindische Plastik, Leipzig, 2 vol., 1929. Bareau 1962: A. Bareau, "La construction et Ie culte des stupa d'apres les

Vin.ayapi(aka," Bulletin de l'Jicole Frant;aise d'Extreme Orient, L, 2, 1962, pp. 229-274.

Bareau 1971: A. Bareau, Recherches sur la biographie du Buddha dans les Sutrapi(aka et les Vinayapi(aka anciens: II, Les derniers mois, Ie parinirvarta et les funerailles, tome II, Publications de l'Ecole Fran<;aised'Extreme-Orient, vol. LXXVII, Paris, 1971.

Bareau 1975: A. Bareau, "Sur l'origine des piliers dits d'Asoka, des stupa et des arbres sacres du bouddhisme primitif," Indologica Taurinensia, II (1974), Torino 1975, pp. 9-36.

Bechert 1982: Heinz Bechert, "The Date of the Buddha Reconsidered," Indologica Taurinensia, X, 1982, pp. 29-36.

Benisti 1960: Mireille Benisti, "Etude sur Ie Stupa dans l'Inde Ancienne," . Bulletin de l'Jicole Frant;aise d'Extreme Orient, L, 1, 1960, pp. 37-116, PI.

I-XXX; see also G. Roth, "Bemerkungen zum Stupa des K~emarpkara,"

52 JIABS VOL. 9 NO .. 2

Studien zur Indologie und lranistik, heft 5/6, 1980, pp. 181-194. CPD: A Critical Pali Dictionary, begun by V. Trenckner, Copenhagen, 1924-Dallapiccoia 1980: The Stupa, Its Religious, Historical and Architectural Signifi

cance, edited by A.L. Dallapiccoia in collaboration with S. Zingel-Ave Lallemant, Beitrage zur Siidasien-Forschung, Siidasien-Institut, Universitat Heidelberg, Band 55, Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden 1980.

Dani 1983: A.H. Dani, Chilas, The City of Nanga Parvat (Dyamar), Islamabad 1983.

De long 1982: ].W. De long, Review of Irwin 1980, Indo-Iranian Journal, 24, 4, Octobre 1982, pp. 316-318.

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Fussman 1982: G. Fussman, "Documents epigraphiques kouchans III: L'inscription kharo~thi de Senavarma, roi d'Odi: une nouvelle lecture," Bulletin de Nicole Franr;aise d'Extreme Orient, LXXI, 1982, pp. 1-46.

Fussman 1984: G. Fussman, "Nouvelles inscriptions saka II," Bulletin de l'Ecole Franr;aise d'Extreme Orient, LXXIII, 1984, pp. 31-46, PLI-VI.

Gail 1980: A. Gail, "Cosmical Symbolism in the Spire of the Ceylon Dagoba," in Dallapiccola 1980, pp. 260-266.

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Hirakawa 1963: A. Hirakawa, "The Rise of Mahayana Buddhism And Its Relationship to the Worship of Stupas," Memoirs of the Toyo Bunko, 22, Tokyo 1963, pp. 57-lO6.

Irwin 1979: ]. Irwin, "The Stupa and the Cosmic Axis: The Archaeological Evidence," South Asian Archaeology 1977 edited by M. Taddei, Naples, Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1979, pp. 799-846. .

Irwin 1980: ]. Irwin, "The Axial Symbolism of the Early Stupa: An Exegesis," in Dallapiccola 1980, pp. 12-38.

Lamotte 1958: E. Lamotte, Histoire du Bouddhisme Indien, I, Des Origines a l'Ere Saka, Bibliotheque du Museon, vol. 43, Louvain 1958.

Levi 1905: S. Levi, Le Nepal, 3 vol., Paris 1905-1908. Lokesh Chandra 1980: Lokesh Chandra: "Borobudur: ANew Interpretation,"

in Dallapiccola 1980, pp. 301-319. Mac Crindle 1901: ].M. Mac Crindle, Ancient India as Described in Classical

Literature, Westminster 1901, reprint Amsterdam 1971. Mus 1935: P. Mus, Barabudur, Esquisse d'un histoire du bouddhism fondee sur la

critique archiologique des textes, HanOI 1935.

THE BUDDHIST STOPA 53

Narain 1957: A.K. Narain, The Indo-Greeks, Oxford 1957. Roth 1980: G. Roth, "Symbolism of the Buddhist Stiipa," in Dallapiccola 1980,

pp. 183-209. Salomon & Schopen 1984: R. Salomon and G. Schopen, "The Indravarman

(Avaca) Casket Inscription Reconsidered: Further Evidence for Canonical Passages in Buddhist Inscriptions," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, VII, 1, 1984, pp. 107-123.

Snodgrass 1985: Adrian Snodgrass, The Symbolism of the Stupa,· Studies on Southeast Asia, New York, Cornell University, 1985.

Slusser 1982: M.S. Slusser, Nepal Mandala, A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley, 2 vol., Princeton University Press, 1982.

Stein 1981: R.A. Stein, La civilisation tibetaine, 2nd edition, Paris 1981. Strong 1983: J.S. Strong, The Legend of King Asoka. A Study and Translation of

the ASokiivadiina, Princeton University Press, 1983. Varenne 1982: J.. Varenne, Cosmogonies Vediques, Paris, Les Belles Lettres,

1982.

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The Identification of dGa' rab rdo rje

by A. W. Hanson-Barber

dGa' rab rdo rje, who was the first human to teach the ati-yoga (T. rDzogs pa chen po) system,l and thus can be called the human founder of the system, has, up to now, been incorrectly identified and given a date that is far too early.

In order to resolve these problems, we must correctly reSanskritize the various names given dGa' rab rdo rje in his hagiography. Then, by comparing these names with lists of various lineages of transmission of the tantras, we should be able to locate him within these lists. Finally, by assigning dates to the siddhas that are well known, and then working backwards, we should be able to assign a probable date to him. Therefore, it is the intention of this paper to identify dGa' rab rdo rje correctly and assign a date to him.

The ati-yoga system constitutes the highest phase of tantric practice for the rNying rna school of Tibetan Buddhism. However, the system originated in India and is completely based upon Indian Buddhist tantra. 2 It has two different branches: ati-yoga in relation to the lower vehicles3 and the "Great Secret Explanation." This last is further broken into three classes: the Mind Section (T. sems sde), the Great Expanse Section (T. glong sde), and the Instruction Section (T. man ngag gyi sde).4 The two branches are not mutually exclusive; indeed, they have many points in common.

Both from a meditational aspect and a philosophical point of view, the ati-yoga bears considerable similarity to the mahamudra, although there are important differences.5 The ideal is to arrive at a state of pure awareness (T. rigpa), and, by refinement, never to depart from this state. This can be achieved by progressing through the three divisions mentioned

55


above. In essence, the experiences relating to these are as follows: the Mind Section relates to the experience of the mind in its nakedness; the Great Expanse Section relates to the experience of the openness of being or emptiness (silnyatii); and the Instruction Section relates to the stabilizing of the experience. These three divisions are further sub-divided into many different levels, each with its own mental outlook and with a host of meditations to be practiced.

However, since this paper is historical and not philosophical, the above brief introduction should suffice. 6

I. A Brief Hagiography

dGa' rab rdo rje was born in U<;l<;liyana, near the Dhanakosa lake. His mother was Sudharma, who had become a nun. She was the second daughter of the king of U<;l<;liyana. One evening she had an auspicious dream, and shortly thereafter gave birth to a son. 7 However, because she was full of fear and shame, she placed the child on a dust heap; but even after three days the boy was still radiant and healthy. Because of this incident, he was given the name Ro langs bde ba.

At the age of seven, he requested of his mother that he be allowed to enter the assembly and dispute with the pa'fJditas; she, thinking him too young, denied his request. He persisted and finally was granted permission. He entered upon a dispute with five hundred pa'fJditas, and was victorious. At this time, he was given the name dGa' rag rdo rje by his grandfather, the king, who was delighted with the child's performance.

Later, he wandered to the places frequented by ghosts in the mountains around U <;l<;liyana. It was here that he had a secret realization of Vajrasattva, from whom he received the ati-yoga teachings. 8 After his realization, he made the earth shake seven times. Because of this, a heretic accused him of injuring the Hindu faith, and the king and people of that area decided to kill him. When they arrived at his retreat, however, he ascended to the sky and inspired great faith in them.

With the help of diikinis, he compiled an index of the entire ati-yoga system. Finally, with the daughter of Rahula, he de-

DGA' RAB RDO RJE 57

parted for Magadha, and the Sltavana cemetery, where he extensively taught the ati-yoga. 9

II. The Sanskritization of "dCa' rab rdo rje"

According to this brief hagiography, primarily abstracted from a recent work by H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche, dCa' rab rdo rje had another name of importance to our study, Ro langs bde ba.

In the Peking edition of the Tibetan canon, the Sanskrit name given for dCa' iab rdo rje is Surativajra. IO Professor Guenther gives as possibilities Surativajra and Pramuditavajra. 11

Each reconstruction suffers from its author's reliance on relatively late sources; in fact, the re-Sanskritization of dCa' rab rdo rje's name is quite problematic. Das's dictionary, for instance, lists seventeen different Sanskrit words that are translated into Tibetan as dga' ba,12 and five different Sanskrit words that are translated as rab. 13 This gives one eighty-five possible ways of re-Sanskritizing the Tibetan!

It must be remembered that, for the most part, these modern sources were working from material translated under the "new" system of translation started in Tibet at the time of Rin chen bzang po. Since dCa' rab rdo rje is important in the rNying rna pa tradition, and since one can already find his name mentioned in the earliest material translated into Tibetan, it would make sense that his Sanskrit name was translated into Tibetan using the old system of translation produced by Vairocana and his contemporaries. Therefore, in looking for the correct way. to translate dCa rab rdo rje back into Sanskrit, it seems much wiser to look at the Mahavyutpatti,I4 a work composed during the same time period. 15

There, the word dga' ba is synonymous withdga' bo, which equals the Sanskrit Nanda. 16 Rab, according to the Mahavyutpatti, can be translated into the Sanskrit prefix "adhi." 17 Das also infers that it can act as a prefix, giving the Sanskrit su as a possibility. IS However, here it seems that rab may be short for rab tu, in which case, according to Das, it should equal the Sanskrit prefix pra. 19 This also seems to be the Sanskrit preferred


by the. Mahiivyutpatti. 20 In this sense, one must understand that pm has the meaning of "fully" or "greatly," for it is to be added to nanda to form the adjective 'joyful," or perhaps 'joyous." However, pra does not seem to be a preferred prefix when used with nanda and, therefore, a different prefix with the same general meaning is needed. This, of course, can be found in the prefix a, thus giving the Sanskrit word ananda, a well known Buddhist name. The Tibetan word rdo rje is re-Sanskritized as vajra. All sources agree on this. Thus, the re-Sanskritized name of dGa' rab rdo rje should be Anandavajra.

The name Ro langs bde ba consists of two parts: ro langs and bde ba. The first is re-Sanskritized by Das and the Mahiivyutpatti as vetala. 21 The Mahiivyutpatti further lists /4ema for bde ba. 22

Because of the reasons noted above, this latter would have been the preferred translation during the period of the early translations. Therefore, for Ro langs bde ba, the Sanskrit is Vetalak~ema.

III. The Dating of dCa' rab rdo rje

Three authors who have put forth a date for dGa' rab rdo rje all agree that it was approximately 55 A.D.23 However, since each of these authors is associated with the others, it seems likely that they are simply following one another in this matter. None offers a reason for this date in the works surveyed, despite the difficulty of justifying so early a date for a "Tantric Master." It may, therefore, be reasonable to arrive at a more acceptable date by working backwards from a known siddha's date, following the various pertinent lineages.

In The Life and Teachings of Vairocana,24 I have tentatively reconstructed the Ati-Yoga lineage as follows: Vairocana and Vimalamitra II, Sri Simha, Maiijusrlmitra II, Vimalamitra I, unknown, Maiijusrimitra I, and dGa rab rdo rje. 25 Further, if one uses the standard of thirty-five years between student and teacher,26 the dates for the above can be assigned as follows: 760 A.D., 725, 690, 655, 620 and 585; thus, dGa' rab rdo rje's date would be 550 A.D.

In the Jiianasiddhi of Indrabhiiti,27 there is a lineage given for that line of teachings, and it is accepted in the Blue Annals. 28

DCA' RAB RDO RJE 59

The latter is most clearly identified with teachings that would, only a short while after its "publication," be called mahamudrii. The mahamudrii and ati-yoga have a great deal in common. This is, of course, well known to scholars of the tantras, and will not be discussed here. However, they also have a historic connection, not only after the time of Kumara raja in Tibet,29 but also at the time of their birth. This is brought out in another lineage given in the above-mentioned work. This lineage is as follows:

. Cittavajra, Sarvajagannatha (vajra), Siddhivajra, Brahmanvajra, Anandavajra, etc. The first thing to note here is that each of these siddhas' names ends with the word vajra (T. rdo rje). This may indicate a particular line of transmission where, in imitation of the vinaya lineage, the student takes on part of the name of his ordination master. Be this as it may, because I)ombhI Heruka was at least in part a student of SrI Lak~ml, who was the sister of Indrabhuti, the date of 730 A.D. can be assigned to her. This is further corroborated by the fact that Vimalamitra II, who helped transmit the ati-yoga teachings to Tibet, was invited from Indrabhuti's court to Tibet. Vimalamitra II, it is known, was active at the same time as Vairocana, and the above-given date is in accordance with this. Thus, for Cittavajra, the date would be 695 A.D.; for Sarvajagannatha (vajra), 660; for Siddhivajra, 625; for Brahmanvajra, 590; and for Anandavajra, 555. Anandavajra, as we have seen, is another name for dCa' rab rdo rje.

There is another list that is of interest to us here. This lineage is found in the Blue Annals and represents the early anuyoga-tantra line.3o It begins with Vasudhara, the Napalese king,31 along with Dharmabodhi;32 then Sukhaprasanna, Sthiramati, Dhanarak~ita, Sakya Sirpha, Prahasti, Vajrahasa, V etalak~ema, Kukuraja, and Indrabodhi. 33 Their dates would be: 800 A.D., 765, 730, 695,660, 625, 590,555, 520 and 485, respectively.

What is to be noted in this lineage list is, of course, the name Vetalak~ema. As we have seen, this is the Sanskrit name for Ro langs bde ba. However, the names Indrabodhi and Kukuraja are also important in the various lines of transmission of tantras for the r N ying rna school.

Thus, applying the same standard to lineage lists of the Ati-yoga, the Jiiiinasiddhi and the anuyoga-tantra, one can place dCa' rab rdo rje in the mid-sixth century. This is a time much


more appropriate for a "Tantric Master" than that given by other authors. However, the basis for this date is that dGa' rab rdo rje is, in fact, a Tantric author, a fact that is still to be determined.

IV. Works Associated with dCa' rab rdo rje

There are several categories of works in which one finds dGa' rab rdo rje's name, primarily hagiographies, commentaries and meditational texts.

First, as was seen just above, there is at least a brief hagiography of dGa' rab rdo rje found in some more recent sources. These, it is presumed, are based on much older versions. One also finds dGa' rab rdo rje's name playing a prominent role in the hagiographies of Mafijusrimitra, Sri Sirp.ha, and Vairocana. In the latter, not only does Vairocana have visions of dGa' rab rdo rje, but his name is also associated with particular tantric cycles.34

In the second category, one can find in the Peking edition of the Tibetan canon the following works listed: 'Phags pa 'jam dpal gyi mtshan yang dag par brjod pa'i don gsal bar byed pa;35 bsgom pa rgya mtsho dang mnyam pa'i rgyud kyi dka' 'grel;36 'Bras bu rin po che dang mnyam pa'i rgyud kyi dka' 'grel;37 spyod pa nyi zla dang mnyan pa'i rgyud kyi dka' 'grel;38 and rTa ba nam mkha' dangmnyam pa'i rgyud dka' 'grel. 39

In the final category, there are two divisions: texts that dGa' rab rdo rje received, and texts that originated with him. Examples of the first are: rDo rje sems dpa' nam mkha che rtsa ba'i rgyud skyed ba me pa40 and Jam dpal 'dus pa'i rgyud las bsdus pa rdzogs SO.41 Examples of the latter are: Byang chub sems bchos thabs mdor bsdus,42 gNod sbyin gyi rgyal po sgrul pa'i thabs,43 and the Tshig gsum nad brdegs. 44 The last-mentioned is perhaps his most famous work dealing with the ati-yoga, and has commentaries on it by Patrul Rinpoche and many others.

From reviewing the above list of works, there can be little doubt that dGa' rab rdo rje/Anandavajra's name is well connected with the tantric tradition. There is not only secondary evidence, such as the information gained from the hagiographies of various individuals, but there is also one siidhana, a

DGA' RAE RDO RJE 61

text on the rtsa lung thig Ie practice, and numerous commentaries on both well-known and obscure tantric practices.

V. Conclusion

We have shown that previous attempts to re-Sanskritize the name dCa' rab rdo rje are incorrect. Instead of Surativajra or PramuditavaJra, the name should be Anandavajra. Second, dCa' rab rdo rje's other name, Ro lang bde ba, should be reSanskritized as Vetalak~ema. Further, the method of reSanskritization in the preceding pages is based on the translation into Tibetan of Sanskrit words as found in the Mahavyupatti. This is a work that dates from the time of the early propagation of the Dharma in Tibet. Thus, it is more reliable than reSanskritizations based on sources from the second spread of the Dharma, from which it would seem the incorrect re-Sanskritizations of these names were derived.

In arriving at a reasonable date for this Tantric author, we have presented evidence from three different lineage lists. By using the same standard of time between teacher and disciple, the date of Anandavajra from the ati-yoga lineage was determined to be 550 A.D., the date of Anandavajra from the Jiiiinasiddhi was determined to be 555 A.D., and the date of V etalak~ema from the lineage of the early anuyoga tantra was determined to be 555 A.D.

Finally, that dCa' rab rdo rje/Anandavajra was, in fact, a tantric author is well attested by information gained from hagiographies, commentaries on tantric practices and meditational texts authored by him.

NOTES

1. The rNying rna count nine vehicles: sravaka, pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva, kriya tantra, carya tantra, yoga tantra, mahayoga tantra, anuyoga tantra, and ati-yoga. Because the ati-yoga does not form a separate school I have called it a system.

2. A.W. Hanson-Barber, The Life and Teachings of Vairocana. Unpublished dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1984.


3. See Rdo rje sems dpa' nam kha' che rtse ba'i rgyud skye ba med pa, chapter 1, in Vairo rgyud 'bum,vol. 1; Grub mtha 'mdzod by kLong Chen pa, Dodrupchen Rinpoche pub., Sikkim National Press, p. 325-336; and Hanson-Barber, op. cit., p. 102 ff. & p. 135 ff.

4. kLong Chen pa, ibid., and Hanson-Barber, p. 135 ff. 5. A comparative study of ati-yoga and Mahiimudrii is still wanting. 6. For the philosophy of the ati-yoga, see H.V. Guenther, Matrix of

Mystery (Boulder, 1984) and Kindly Bent to Ease Us (Emeryville, CA, 1975). Also see Hanson-Barber, throughout. .

7. Crystal Mirror vol. V, pp. 182-3, reports this happened in a vision while she was meditating; it also gives the year for this as wood-female-ox.

8. Dudjom Rinpoche told me in a conversation that dGa' rab rdo rje had known the ati-yoga from birth.

9. Dudjom Rinpoche, Bod snga rabs pa gsang chen rnying ma'i chos a'byung (1977), p. 119 ff.

10. Tibetan T~ipi(aka, Peking Edition: see for example #4554, vol. 81. 11. Crystal Mirror, vol. III, p. 86. However, he gives no reason for these

re-Sanskritizations. 12. Sarar Chandra Das, A Tibetan English Dictionary, p. 167. 13. Ibid., pp. 1167-8. 14. Mahiivyutpqtti, Tokyo, 1915. 15. Specifically, before the time of Ral pa can. 16. Mahiivyutpatti, p. 228. 17. Ibid., p. 193. 18. Das, p. 1167. 19. Ibid., pp. 1167-8. 20. Cf., e.g., pp. 493, 886, 1536. 21. Ibid., e.g., pp. 39,41,69, 74, and 25l. 22. Ibid., pp. 413, 414. 23. Guenther Crystal Mirror, vol. III, p. 86; Eva Dargyay, The Rise of

Esoteric Buddhism in Tibet, p. 245. (This author seems to follow the dating in the Chos 'byung by Karmapa dPa' bog tsung lag, but this is not specifically stated) and Tarthang Tulku, Crystal Mirror, vol. V, p. 182.

24. Op. cit., p. 35 ff. 25. The reconstruction is based on the following argument: There is

sufficient evidence to suggest that there were two MafljusrImitras. (Dargyay, p. 245 & 20ff.) Also, since Vimalamitra is said to have lived for 200 years, there were probably two individuals with this name (not to be confused with Vimala, the elder, mentioned in the Blue Annals p. 191-2). Since there is no mention of any Vimalamitra studying with a teacher other than Sri Sirpha, I have postulated an "unknown" for Vim ala I's teacher.

26. Although thirty-five years is somewhat arbitrary, there are approximately thirty-three years' difference between the ages of SrI Sirpha and Vairocana at their meeting,

27. Jiiiinasiddhi, in Two Vajrayana Works, ed. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1929).

28. George N, Roerich, The Blue Annals (Delhi, 1979), p, 552.

DCA' RAB RDO RJE 63

29: The third Karmapa and Kumara raja worked at bringing together the mahamudra and ati-yoga teachings. Kumara raja was also the teacher of kLong Chen pa. Cf. Guenther, Kindly Bent to Ease Us, vol. 1, p. 245; and Karma Thinley, The History of the Sixteen Karmapas of Tibet, p. 57.

30. Op. cit., p. 159 ff. . 31. This king is known only from Tibetan sources. Be is not mentioned

in Nepali sources. 32. Not to be confused with Bodhiharma. 33. This would be Indrabodhi I. See Wayman, The Yoga of the

Guhyasamaja. (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1977), pp. 89-91, 96. 34. Hanson-Barber, p. 65. 35. #2942, vol. 67. 36. #5037, vol. 87. 37. #5039, vol. 87. 38. #5038, vol. 87. 39. #5036, vol. 87. 40. The Bai1"O rGyud 'Bum, vol. I. 41. rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum, vol. 7. 42. Op. cit., vol. V. 43. Tibetan Tripitaka, Peking Edition #4554, vol. 81. 44. Author's collection (no bibliographic information).

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An Approach to Dagen's Dialectical ,Thinking and Method of Instantiation (A Comparative Study of Sho-bo-gen-zo-ku-ge)

by Shohei Ichimura

I. Introduction

During the 1970's, Dagen studies began to grow in North America. This phenomenon has attracted me for some time, partly because of the transcultural and trans-linguistic aspect of Dagen's Zen, especially as related to the early Mahayana tradition, such as Madhyamika, and partly because of the significance' of the trend growing in the new cultural horizon of North America. Since Buddhism was born in India and was transmitted to Japan by way of China, I have taken it for granted that Buddhist religiosity transcends the cultural and linguistic differences between these countries, and, for the same reason, that Buddhist religiosity can be at home in North America despite its cultural and linguistic differences from the land of its birth or lands where it has been previously transmitted. As part of a philosophical enquiry into religion, therefore, I have attempted in this paper to see how and why Buddhist religiosity transcends such differences and to demonstrate this primary thesis with reference to the insight and method of instruction of Dagen (1200-1253), as expressed in his major work Sho-bO-gen-zo. 1

Dagen, the founding father of the Sata Zen school of Buddhism in Japan, left as his magnum opus the ShO-bO-gen-zo, which consists of ninety-two essays written over the period from immediately after his return from China, in 1231, until the end of his life. The essays deal with a variety of subjects, covering every aspect of Dagen's thought, practical as well as theoretical.

65


Some of the essays, especially those which deal with philosophical and doctrinal subjects, contain difficult passages, and cannot be understood in terms of the logic of ordinary discourse. I believe that this is because such passages reflect Dagen's dialectical thinking. His dialectic, however, as far as I have been able to study it, appears to have an intrinsic affinity with that of the Madhyamikas, who advocated dialectical negation as the sole method of demonstration of sunyatii (emptiness). I am, of course, not saying that Dagen himself engaged in reductio-ad-absurdum arguments (Skt., prasmiga-viikya) like those of the Indian masters, but I do assert that his spontaneous expression can best be analyzed and comprehended on the basis of the "dialectical context" out of which Nagarjuna and his followers justified the Madhyamika approach. It is my contention that Buddhist thinkers, whether of Indian, Chinese, or Japanese origin, have invariably made such a dialectical context the basis of their insight into and demonstration of sunyatii, and hence that it is this dialectical context that transcends every and any form of cultural or linguistic heritage.2 For the sake of identifying and analyzing this context in Dagen'S writing, I have chosen a particular essay, entitled "Sky-flower," (ku-ge) for this paper.

II. Dagen's Instantiation in Terms of Sky-Flower

Buddhist thinkers in medieval India frequently resorted to the image of the "sky-flower" (i.e., kha-pu~pam) as part of logical and dialectical demonstration. In ordinary logical contexts, the "sky-flower" is used to denote figuratively anything impossible, or simply to instantiate or exemplify a given subjective term as empirically non-existent and thereby to disprove the validity of the proposition that asserts it. The same image, however, conveys an entirely different meaning in the dialectical context. Like the anonymous authors of the Prajiiaparamita literature, Madhyamika dialecticians like Nagarjuna invariably resorted to the use of metaphors, such as "magical entity" (miiyiivat) , "dream" (svapna), "mirage" (mr:gatr:~7!a), and so forth, to demonstrate sunyatii, i.e., the absence of self-identifying essence (nihsvabhiiva) in every and all phenomena (bhiiva).3 Now, in the essay, "Skyflower," Dagen uses the image in question to embody the ulti-

DOGEN'SDIALECTICAL THINKING 67

mate insight attributed to Buddhas and Patriarchs, as well as to exemplify the ultimate reality that manifests itself in any and all phenomena. I believe that Dagen's usage can be meaningfully shown to parallel that of Madhyamika dialecticians, and that his metaphorical instantiations, such as "sky-flower," stem from that dialectical context that transcends all forms of linguistic and cultural differences.

There is a problem, however, with his usage, because, despite his perfect accordance with the Madhyamikas in exemplifying the insight into sunyata attributed to Buddhas and Patriarchs in terms of the "sky-flower," he does not repudiate the reality of phenomenal existence or its real occurrence. On the contrary, he asserts the reality of phenomena and their real occurrences in terms of a "sky-flower." This requires some explanation.

Nagarjuna and his followers articulated the insight of sunyata invariably as twofold (1) that every phenomenon, insofar as it is denoted by language (word or name), has nothing but a conditioned existence based on its reciprocal dependence with others (parasparapek!iata), and (2) hence, that it has no real essence of its own (niJp-svabhava) which would identify its own being as distinguished from others (parabhava). It is this twofold insight to which the Madhyamikas applied "sky-flower" in order to instantiate such an entity which is not only functionally existent but also ultimately non-existent. Dagen also expresses the same insight of sunyata in his essay with an unmistakable emphasis, but his instantiation about it in terms of the "sky-flower" implies something different in intention from that of the Madhyamikas, which I would call an "affirmative usage."

I say that in the Buddhist tradition we have the image of the "sky-flower." No one other than Buddhists knows this, nor does he ever understand its (true) meaning. It is only Buddhas and Patriarchs who alone know the way the "sky-flower" and the "ground-flower" as well as the "world-flower" bloom and wither, and also the way in which they become the scriptures. This is the standard path through which one learns to become a Buddha. Since the vehicle on which Buddhas and Patriarchs ride is this "sky-flower," not only the world of Buddhas but also their Dharma is the "sky-flower" in itself. 4

Whatever difference Dagen might have implied in his usage


becomes more apparent if it is compared to ordinary convention. In the passages which immediately follow, Dagen tries to explain his affirmative use of "sky-flower" as an instantiation for "ultimate reality," and this usage especially is in'sharp contrast to logical convention. For instance, he quotes the following passage from scripture, but gives it an entirely different reading from that of convention.

Sakyamuni Buddha said: It is like the case that people who suffer from visual affliction perceive flowers in mid-air, but when the affliction is removed, such flowers will vanish from the sky.5

The passage obviously contrasts an illusory perception with a valid one. From the point of view of convention, it is anerroneous cognition if a man with eyes afflicted by disease perceives flowers in the sky, because a man with healthy eyes perceives no such illusion. Dagen deliberately reverses these cases with an emphasis on the fact that it is the former which yields true insight, whereas the latter does not:

No scholar has ever understood the meaning of this passage. Because he does not know sunyatii, neither does he know the meaning of "sky-flower." Because he does not know the "skyflower," neither does he know who the man with afflicted eyes is, nor does he perceive him or meet him, nor does he become the one like him. 6

The question is twofold: (1) How can we understand his unique reading which totally contradicts logical convention; and (2) can we reconcile his affirmative use of "sky-flower" with that of the Madhyamikas?

III. Dagen'S Dialectical Principle: Eigen-kuge-no-dari

The concept of ku-ge or "sky-flower" as Dagen uses it in his essay is contrary to logical convention in a number of ways. While he attributes the vision of sky-flowers to Buddhas and Patriarchs, he introduces the common sense view which he deems to belong to fools (i.e., ordinary men). People are convinced, Dagen says, that the kha (or ku in Japanese) is the sky

DOGEN'S DIALECTICAL THINKING 69

where warm air hovers and where stars hang, and that the "sky-flower" means those varigated, colorful flowers flying east and west, up and down, like clouds in the transparent atmosphere. They only know that sky flowers appear and vanish in mid-air, but they do not know how they appear from the sky. How much less do they know the truth that they also grow from the ground! 7 Moreover, it is a short-sighted view to think, Dagen claims,

that "afflicted eyes" means the eyes of deluded men seeing things in an upside-down way, that these men whose visual faculty has already been affected by disease and become delirious, perceive and hear about "sky-flowers" even in the transparent sky, and hence that when such affliction is removed, they will no longer visualize the illusory appearance of sky flowers. 8

Nor is it strictly a Buddhist view to think, he warns again,

that sky-flowers are unreal while all other flowers are real, or to reason that flowers, by nature, should not be seen in the sky, or to think that they now temporarily appear there though actually they are non-existent. 9

All these statements by Dagen naturally make us wonder about the meaning he is attributing to the use of "sky-flower." Unexpectedly, his meaning has something to do with concrete, actual phenomena, such as flowers blooming and withering in nature, be they of a stalk of wild grass or of plum or pear trees, or in the pr~sent season or past or future seasons. IO Dagen, in fact, asserts the reality of "sky-flowers" by identifying them not only with every and all flowers of the actual world but also with those flowers of the past as well as of the future:

Perceiving the multiple colours of sky-flowers, one may measure the endlessness of effects arising in space (or sunyata); observing sky-flowers blooming and withering, one may fathom their seasons, such as spring and autumn. The spring in which sky-flowers bloom must be identical with the spring in which all other flowers bloom. Just as sky-flowers are many, there are equally many spring seasons. II

Dagen's concept of ei-gen, which literally means "afflicted


eyes," does not coincide with literal meaning either, since he attributes such fatulties (ei-gen) to Buddhas and Patriarchs as a corollary to his concept of ku-ge (sky-flower). He offers an argument to defend his conception that both ei':gen and ku-ge are equally real in reference to the epistemic structure in which both an active agent of perceving and its recipient object to be perceived are necessarily involved. It is in this argument that we can witness the presence of Dagen's dialectic, which he calls the "eigen kuge no dori" (i.e., the nature of things in regard to afflicted eyes and sky-flowers). 12 In identifying the man of visual affliction (ei-nin) with the enlightened one, Dagen develops his argument as follows:

One must not foolishly regard "affliction" (ei) as an illusory (false) entity (dharma) and think that there is a real (true) one other than this. For, such is an (inferior) view held by men of meager capacity. If the flower perceived by the afflicted eyes is a false entity, this subjective assertion and the asserted proposition, both of which are based upon holding that the entity is unreal (false), must necessarily both become (equally) false e~tities. If all are equally false, there is no way to establish the true nature of things. If there is no way to accomplish this, (even) the assertion to the effect that the flowers perceived by afflicted eyes are false entities cannot be made. 13

The reason that the dori to which Dagen refers is rather of a dialectical nature than a logical one, can be detected within the passages immediately preceding and following, in which he specifically introduces the causality of reciprocal dependence between the afflicted eyes and the sky-flowers. Dagen suggests that common men are not quite aware of the fact that everything can be identified with sky-flowers, i.e., not only the four material factors (mahii-bhuta) which make up both the active faculties (e.g., visual organs) and recipient objects, but also the totality of things that make up the objective world, as well as the subjective world, such as "original enlightenment," "original nature," and so forth. 14 Nor do they realize that not only the four material factors but also the subjective and objective, sentient and nonsentient, worlds are originated and sustained, depending upon multiple psycho-physical elements (dharmas). They think only of the causal factor by which those psycho-physical elements


arise, depending upon the external world, but cannot think of the other way around. 15 Thus laments Dagen:

People .tend to see only the causal factor by which sky-flowers arise, depending upon the visual affliction, but scarcely see the truth (dari) that the visual affliction also arises, depending upon the sky-flowers. 16

Here is the most significant parallel between Dagen and the Madhyamikas in regard to their common insight, namely, the causality of reciprocal interdependence (parasparape~ata) between the faculty of cognition and the object cognized. It is obvious that the nature of this causal reciprocity is the key to an understanding of Dagen's use of the "sky-flower" as an instantiation.

IV. N agarjuna 's Dialectical Principle: Reciprocity and Dual Reference

In Classical India the relationship between active faculty (prama7J,a) and its recipient object (prameya) as crucial to every epistemic phenomenon, became one of the central doctrinal issues between Buddhist and non-Buddhist thinkers. In the simplest terms, their differences can be provisionally specified in reference to the polemics exchanged between the Madhyamika dialecticians and the Nyaya logicians on the nature of language and the nature of things it denotes. The Madhyamika critique of the N aiyayika theory of prama7J,a generally represents the critical Buddhist attitude towards the grammatico-linguistic convention upon which the latter's system of logic was founded. This is inferable from Vatsyayana's defense of the validity of prama7J,a in reference to the grammatico-linguistic principles such as the syntactical category (kiiraka) and the semantic signification (samakhyanimitta) of words and sentences. 17 It was Nagarjuna, in the 2nd century, who initiated such Hindu-Buddhist polemics. In Nyayasutra (II, i, 8-11), for instance, his dialectic, which appears in Vigrahavyavartanz, is concisely recorded. It may be rephrased as follows:

Perception cannot be established in the past and future, because


it arises only from the contact of sensejaculty and its objective stimuli, which is confined to the present moment. But if perception and its object are simultaneous, since there is a fixation between cognition and its object, there is no successive occurrence of cognition. 18

In defense against this critique, Vatsyayana argues in his Bha!iya that the role of pramana need not be fixed to the present moment as long as it is fixed to a syntactical category, such as the instrumental case. A musical instrument, for instance, can be a pramar],a for producing the sound of a tune, but the sound itself can be a pramar],a for identifying the instrument which is being played. 19

It is a function of the speaker's intention that one thing can become a pramar],a at one time and a prameya at another time in a different context.

Now, the point of confrontation is twofold: (1) whether pramar],a and prameya are fixed within a given syntactical context; and (2) whether they reciprocate their functional identities within one and the same context. It is clear that the Madhyamikas held that the two correlative entities are fixed within a given context and reciprocate between themselves, just as light and dark interact to produce illumination, and that there is an obvious categorical difference between the Madhyamika and the Naiyayika positions. In Vigrahavyavartan'i Nagarjuna applies two types of dialectic,20 one of which may be called the analytic method since it is based on the Abhidharmist causal concept of hetupratyayata. This method has as its single purpose reducing every entity to its constituent elements and thereby making known the nominalistic nature of every object and universal. It is designed to repudiate the Naiyayika notion of sabda (vocal word) postulated as possessing its self-identifying principle (svabhava) and linguistic efficiency. The other type of dialectic Nagarjuna applies is the reductio-ad-absurdum argument (prasmiga-vakya), especially designed to deal with a categorically deeper dimension than the semantic and syntactical one. Consider· the way communication is accomplished between two people. Communication is nothing but a parallel occurrence of similar cognitive processes in the minds of the two people. Nagarjuna, as a Buddhist thinker, must have considered the ultimate source of linguistic efficiency as residing in such a dimension. Thus, the difference between the Madhyamika and


the common-sense Naiyayka positions was (1) whether linguistic efficiency derives from the grammatico-linguistic rules and postulates with which the Nyaya logicians aligned the nature and function of pramarj,a; or (2) whether it derives from the more fundamental epistemic dimension in which sense faculties and incoming external stimuli interact in creating subsequent logicolinguistic mental processes.

As a convention we say that the eye (pramarj,a) sees the object (prameya) and assume that these two entities somehow establish a contact so as to create vision. Nagarjuna demonstrates here two points: (1) that the spatio-temporal sphere to which such interaction is referred is no longer a logical context as Nyaya logicians insisted, but uniquely a dialectical one; and (2) that in that referential sphere which is dialectical, the pramarj,a and the prameya no longer maintain their self identity but reciprocally exchange their functions. 21 Ingeniously, Nagarjuna resorts to a metaphorical analogy of "light" and "dark." These, though conceptually incompatible, are in convention required to be co-present, precisely because the fact of illumination requires contact, upon which, we say, the light of wisdom dispels the darkness of doubt, and so forth. It is such a convention that the Madhyamika dialectic repudiates. In Vigrahavyavartanz, especially karikas 36 through 39, Nagarjuna argues that wherever light is, dark cannot be, nor can light be present wherever dark abides. It follows that the two entities, though conventionally required to be co-present, find no place to meet. In order to escape this absurdity and ensure convention, it is necessary to accept that light and dark are simultaneously different and yet identical, which ipso facto repudiates the concept of svabhava, hence nif?,-svabhava or sunyata follows. It is such an empirically impossible entity, i.e., simultaneously "light" and "dark," "existent" and "non-existent," which Nagarjuna and the Madhyamikas articulate by means of metaphorical instances such as a magical object, a dream, the sky-flower, etc.

V. Dagen's Dialectic and Concrete Instantiation

It is a corollary assumption of this paper that Buddhist thinkers throughout the ages relied equally upon dialectical methods for the purpose of disclosing the aforementioned con-


text which ordinarily transcends our empirical consciousness as shaped by the logico-linguistic forms of expression. Renowned teachers invariably exhibited an accomplished skill to help students acquire the insight into that deeper dimension I referred to at the beginning of this paper as the "Dialectical Context." The authors of the Prajfi.aparamita literature applied a thoroughgoing negation, while Chinese thinkers, such as Seng~ chao as well as notable Zen masters, frequently resorted to paradoxical expressions. As instructional methods, these forms of dialectic exhibited a common intention, namely, to create disquietude in the mind in regard to logical and linguistic convention and thereby to induce in it the dialectical context where both empirical and transcendental aspects of the mind come to play in unison. Such a characteristic can also be detected in the instructional method adopted by Dagen, and I think that his affirmative use of the "sky-flower" as an instantiation points precisely to that characteristic.

Dagen's metaphorical instantiation is not confined to the "sky-flower," but extends to the use of other instances. For instance, in the essay entitled, "Preaching Dreams within a Dream" (mu-chu setsu-mu), he offers such instances as a "rootless tree,"a "shadowless sunny ground,,,b and "echoless valley,"C and praises them as "no region for men and gods as it is inaccessible to common men's fathoming.,,22 That Dagen's instantiation has its affinity to that of the Madhyamikas can be further confirmed from the fact that he makes "affliction" (ei) identical not only with "enlightenment" but also with its opposite, "delusion"; he identifies the "afflicted faculty" (ei-gen) with the "sky-flower" (ku-ge) , and multiple dharmas with "flowers visualized in affliction" (ei-gen). The following passage, which is clearly dialectical, attests my point of view:

When "enlightenment" is identified with "affliction," all its co-efficient (concurrent) dharmas become the co-efficients (concurrents) of "affliction." When "delusion" is identified with "affliction," all its co-efficientdharmas become the co-efficients of "affliction." Consider the following awhile. When the "afflicted eye" bears universal identity (byodo, samata) , the "sky-flower" bears universal identity as well. When the "afflicted eye" bears no origination, the "sky-flower" bears no origination either. When multiple dharmas manifest themselves as they are in their own form,


all the flowers arisen from "afflicted vision" manifest themselves in their own form. (This state of affairs) transcends past, present as well as future, for it has neither beginning nor interim nor ending. It arises in mid-air and perishes there; it arises in "affliction" and perishes in it. It arises in "flowers" and perishes in them. And so on in all of other spaces and times. 23

Although Dagen thus depicts the state of affairs as something transcendent of space and time and something mystical and extra-phenomenal, he does not forget to state at once that it is also extremely concrete and actual like that belonging to our ordinary experience, and that it is variant and multiple in accordance with different individuals, different spiritual- attainments, and at different times, such as ancient, medieval, or the immemorial past. 24 Though people may equally perceive the "sky-flower" on all these occasions, what is seen by them varies in regard both to the insight of funyata (ku) and in regard to the actuality of the "flower." Thus, continues Dagen:

One must know that sunyatii (ku) is a single stalk of grass; this sunyatii will bloom without fail, just as flowers bloom in all kinds of grass. In understanding this truth (doTi) , one may take it as equivalent to understanding that the path of the Tathagata is sunyatii and by nature flowerless, and yet it bears flowers now, just as flowers bloom on peach and pear trees, on plum and willow trees. (This state of affairs) may be compared to that in which the plum tree had no flowers before but then has flowers in the spring. As this is the case, when the time comes, flowers are bound to bloom; this is the time of flowers; this is their manifestation. There has never been any irregularity in the right time for flowers to bloom.25

Dagen's use of instantiation as shown in this passage, however, clearly conveys its uniqueness and distinction from the Madhyamika usage, according to which instantiation never takes the degree of concreteness and phenomenality that Dagen attributes to his instantiation. For instance, Nagarjuna's instantiation in Vigrahavyavartanf is totally bereft of a sense of concreteness and phenomenality. Here he intended to exemplify the way linguistic symbols, though having no real existence or efficiency, still established communication, in assertion and negation, for example:


Just as a person created by maya repudiates another as equally fabricated, or a magician may repudiate (whatever object) is created by his magic, just so should this repudiation be considered.26

Perhaps the following passage, taken from the Diamond Sidra of the Prajnaparamita literature, further evidences the marked difference of Dagen's use of instantiation:

As stars, a fault of vision, as a lamp, a mock show, dew drops, or a bubble, a dream, a lightning flash, or cloud, so should one view what is conditioned (i.e., what is phenomenal).27

VI. Buddhist Logical Principles of Dual Instantiation

In Indian Buddhist logic the principle of instantiation was essential to valid inference and hence crucial to efficient demonstration. The principle of instantiation, which was much discussed in Buddhist logic is, however, not confined to the Buddhist system. On the contrary, it is quite universal for the very same reason that language is universal despite its variations in form. Language is a system of symbols semantically agreed upon for their denotation and also syntactically agreed upon for their linkage. What is functionally essential to the use of language is twofold: (1) the classification of the facts of experience by symbols; and (2) the linkage of symbols or their meanings (me to another, whether in logic or grammar or causation. Thus, every language contains a vast number of classifications. Every common name expresses the recognition of a class; every word, irrespective of whether in Japanese, Chinese, English or Sanskrit, is the expression of some implicit classification. By the same token, each language comprises a set of grammatical rules, especially the system of syntactical word-order. Some contemporary grammarians have finally reached a similar conception to that of the ancient Sanskrit grammarians in regard to the latter, i.e., that the deep sentential structure is universal irrespective of the differences in the surface structure.28

The principle of instantiation that determines whether the way of classifying an object into a particular class which a given symbol denotes is correct, as well as whether the way of linking


symbols is valid, consists of dual rules, namely, positive instantiation and negative instantiation. Ancient Indian thinkers called these two respectively anvaya and vyatireka,29 while ancient Chinese thinkers, such as the Mohists, referred to them as the method of agreementd and the method of differencee . 3o In the contemporary West, these dual rules are invoked also as essential to the pragmatic principles of verification and falsification. Given a fact of experience, we are ready to determine what it is by applying a name (or predication) to it. We are obliged, however, to compare it to something similar to which we have applied that name in our previous experiences. In order to determine a distant hill, over which we observe a billow of smoke, to be probably on fire, we compare this particular case with some other cases within our familiar experiences, such as a kitchen, where most of us know, smoke and fire are generally found to be co-present. This is the principle of similarity or of positive instantiation. Simultaneously, however, we are also obliged to determine if this classification is correct, and in order to do so, we further compare it to something dissimilar which is neither capable of combustion nor smouldering, such as an iceberg. This is the principle of dissimilarity or of negative instantiation. Thus, the dual principles of similarity and dissimilarity, or mutually contra positive instantiations, regulate a proper flow of inferential thoughts from a cognition: "There is smoke on the hill" to another: "There is fire on the hill." In actual operation, a kitchen as a positive instance verifies the two related propositional symbols, whereas a negative instance, such as an iceberg, falsifies them. This is the necessary condition of any rational and logical discourse, which we may call the "Logical Context." In short, the Logical Context can be defined by means of the dual instantiations: (1) every positive instance (sapak!ia) is supposed to verify a given predication or proposition as "position" in regard to its subject term; and (2) every negative instance (vipak!ia) is supposed to falsify the same predication or proposition as "contraposition" in regard to the same subject term.

In doctrinal and philosophical polemics, the method of instantiation is a powerful tool to defend one's own doctrine while refuting the opponent's. For instance, in order to refute a man's claim that he has perceived flowers in the sky, the counter-dem-


onstration consists of three steps: First, in order to make the man recognize a common truth that "wherever flowers grow, there is a patch of soil," one is obliged (1) to invoke positive instantiation in reference to "a patch of soil" in his backyard, and thereby let him accept that flowers and a patch of soil are co-present; and (2) to invoke negative instantiation in reference to "some desert" where neither a patch of soil nor flowers are supposed to be found, and thereby let him accept that "wherever there is no soil, there no flower grows." These dual instantiations· ipso facto accomplish defense as well as refutation simultaneously. The third remaining step is simply to question the opponent as to whether a patch of soil is to be found in the sky, since his negative answer will itself disprove his own claim. It is interesting to note that there is a close parallel between the foregoing procedure and the dual operations of the Western hypothetical syllogism, namely, modus ponendo ponens and modus ponendo tollens. 31 Now, three points of reflection are in order: (1) in our ordinary logical context "sky flower" cannot be used for any empirical instantiation, except for asserting empirical impossibility (2) accordingly, the Madhyamika and Dagen's instantiation is not applied to the ordinary logical context; and (3) thus, the meaning of their instantiation must have been directed elsewhere, namely, the Dialectical Context.

VII. Dialectical Context as Distinguished from Logical Context

The reason that Dagen's use of "sky-flower" as an instantiation is not logical but dialectical can be clarified in reference

. to the necessary condition of Madhyamika dialectic precisely because the dialectical context is structurally identical with the logical context which I have just explained. The dialectical context is, however, radically different in two major ways. In logic, the dual operations of anvaya and vyatireka are clearly separated from each other in reference to the respective classes of variables. In dialectic, the dual operations are totally juxtaposed over one and the same spatio-temporal sphere, the immediacy context, where the human mind encounters nature in an instantaneous moment and is activated to bifurcate the dual processes. Suppose we are listening to an ongoing speech in which phonemes, words and


sentences are incessantly coming and going. Catching a series of rapid sounds, our mind instantaneously configurates them into a word, a series of words into a sentence, and a series of sentences into a unified understanding. It is within this dynamic flow of speech or thoughts that, at each moment, the dialectical context emerges as the linkage point where two consecutive moments are assumed to be juxtaposed. It is this same linkage point which Nagarjuna ingeniously disclosed by juxtaposing the pramarj,a (cognitive faculty) and the prameya (its object), or their metaphorical counterparts, "light" and "darkness" over it as an ultimate referential sphere.

Although Nagarjuna is not explicit about the formula of anvaya and vyatireka in his dialectic, it is possible to detect them from the way he manipulates propositions for inducing the dialectical context. For the sake of making my demonstration plain and simple, I shall utilize a set of symbolic notations. It is generally known that the five-membered Indian syllogism can be reduced to a three-membered formula as Dignaga himself theorized, but Buddhist logicians seem to have considered that even this formula can eventually be reduced to that of dual instantiations.32 Buddhist logicians conceptualized the inferential process as widely as possible so that it could include spontaneous thought movements. Given a hetu (Reason) that "the hill 'bears a billow of smoke'," Dignaga theorized that this hetu-assertion in turn has already implied its concomitant assertion (sadhya, thesis) that "the hill 'may have an outbreak of fire'," thus revealing the tendential frame of all human mentality.33 Dharmakirti attributed ultimate efficiency exclusively to instantaneous moments (~arj,a) alone and not to any universal, such as names and sentential symbols.34 Ratnakara even considered that the inner concomitance (antarvyapti) can dispense with concrete examples on the basis of universal momentariness (~arj,ikatva).35 Thus, it is based on these theoretical considerations that I have formulated the logical context in terms of dual instantiations. Now, the positive (anvaya) and negative (vyatireka) instantiations can be transcribed respectively as follows:

(x){P(x).Q(x)} and (y){ - Q(y)" - p(y)p6

provided that "x" and "y" respectively symbolize "similar" and


"dissimilar" instances (resp. sapak:ia and vipak:ia), and "P.Q" and "- Q. - P" stand respectively for "position" (anvaya) and "contraposition" (vyatireka).

The following is a simplified translation for Karikas 36-39 of the Vigrahavyavartanf accompanied by my two supplementary arguments in the left-hand column and their symbolic notations based on the form ula just explained in the right-hand column: 37

KariM 36: Anvaya and Vyatireka

Where light "x" illumines itself and others "P.Q"

Darkness "y" also obstructs illumination from both" - Q. - P"

(x){P(x).Q(x)} . (y){ - Q(y). - P(y)}

K. 37: Anvaya only (Vyatireka negated)

Where there is light there is no darkness;

How can light illumine anything? (x){P(x).Q(x)}. - [(y){ - Q(y). - P(y)}]

= (x,y){P(x,y).Q(x,y)}

Supplement: Vyatireka only (Anvaya negated)

Where there is darkness there is no light;

How can light illumine anything? - [(x){P(x).Q(x)}] . (y){ - Q(y). - P(y)}

= (y,x){ - Q(y,x). - P(y,x)}

K. 38: Anvaya and Vyatireka

Does light illumine darkness at its moment of arising?

No, light does not reach it from the beginning.

(x){P(x).Q(x)} . (y){ - Q(y). - P(y)}

K. 39: Anvaya only (Vyatireka negated)

If light here illumines darkness without reaching it,

This light illumines all the world. (x){P(x).Q(x)} . - [(y){ - Q(y). - P(y)}]

(x, y){P(x, y. ).q (x, y)}

Supplement: Vyatireka only (Anvaya negated)

If darkness here destroys light without reaching it,

This darkness here destroys light in all the world.

- [(x){P(x).Q(x)}] . (y){ - Q(y). - P(y)} =' (y,x){ - Q(y,x). - P(y,x)}

The formulas expressed in Karikas 36 and 38 may equally be read as: Wherever light "x" illumines itself and others (which means "P.Q"), darkness "y" also obstructs illuminations from both (which means" - Q. - P"). It is obvious that the predica-


mentis created by an unexpected contradiction implied in our logical and linguistic convention, and that this is suddenly disclosed in the dialectical context when two mutually contrapositive entities, i.e., light and darkness, are juxtaposed over the same sphere and moment of illumination. Since an interaction of pramiirJ,a and prameya is an a priori condition for any form of cognition, there is no sophistry in this dialectical context, which, however, efficiently demonstrates the fact that our linguistic expressions, such as "light illumines darkness," have no independent referential objects, apart from the two entities totally identified. This empirical absence of a referential object is further demonstrated in the subsequent Kiirikii. From Kiirikiis 37 and 39 as well as my supplements, it is logically correct to think that, being mutually exclusive, light and darkness cannot be found at the same space and time, and yet this leads to the absurdity that the phenomenon of illumination is unaccounted for. Although it is not detectable in linguistic expression, the symbolic notation for these Karikiis reveals two significant insights behind their apparent absurdity:

(1) that the affirmative formula: (x,y){P(x,y).Q(x,y)}, and the negative one: (y,x){ - Q(y,x). - (y,x)}, are both derived from the negation of their respective contra positions;

(2) that despite the fact that the variables "x" and "y" are identical while at the same time different. It is this dual natured riference which, made apparent by the juxtaposition of dual instantiations, is the second point of difference which pertains to the Dialectical Context.

VIII. Dagen's Instantiation as Compared to that of Bhiivaviveka's Syllogism

Both features of the dialectical context, as distinguished from those of the logical context, have a natural consequence in the manner of instantiation. Such differences can best be analyzed in the syllogistic demonstration of sunyatii adopted by Bhavaviveka, the forefather of the Svatantrika Madhyamika school. Though it is in syllogistic formula, his method of demonstration is clearly dialectical in terms of the above two features,


and hence, it is possible to compare Dagen's method of instantiation with it. In his Kara~alaratna, for instance, Bhavaviveka gives two syllogistic arguments as specimens to repudiate respectively empirical (sa'Y(lskr:ta) and trans empirical (asa'Y(lskr:ta) entities (dharmas) in regard to their real existence, and in fact, applies the image of the "sky-flower" in the second argument as its instantiation: 38

sam~kr:ta-dharmas (phenomenal entities) are empty (sunyiiJ1) from the transcendental point of view (paramarthatas);

because they are composite (pratyaya-bhavalj,); like a magically created entity (mayavat).

asa'Y(lskr:ta-dharmas (transempirical entities) are unreal (asadbhutalj,);

because they have no origination (anutpadalj,); like a sky-flower (kha-pu~pavat).

A few formal peculiarities regulate these syllogisms: (1) the thesis (pratijiia) is invariably negation; (2) it is controlled by an adverbial term paramarthatas (from the transcendental point of view or transempirically); and (3) it has the sapa~a but no viPa~a, or viPa~a but no sapa~a (depending upon whether one takes the predication in terms of "emptiness" as affirmation or negation), for, in the Madhyamika insight, there is nothing that is not empty. These peculiarities are corollary to the "logical concomitance" (vyapti) between hetu (reason) and sadhya (thesis), and are designed to establish not only that every empirical entity (that arises from causes and conditions as a sapa~a), but also every member of the viPa~a class (that empirically does not arise), is equally "empty.,,39

Bhavaviveka, of course, invariably indicates by means of an adverbial term paramarthatas, that his syllogism is not totally logical but dialectical, and that though the subject term of his proposition is empirical, its negative predication is transcendental. It is my contention that Dagen'S method of instantiation can be seen as parallel to this state of affairs. For the sake of demonstration, I shall simplifyBhavaviveka's concomitance (vyapti) and its respective instantiation as follows:


r--vyapti ~ hetu siidhya

Whatever (sa'TIJSkr:ta) is composite Whatever (asa'TIJSk'(ta) has no origin

ation

is empty, is unreal,

dntanta

like a magical entity. like a sky-flower.

The fact that the two subject terms refer to mutually contrapositive classes (phenomenal and transphenomenal), and yet are predicated by similar predicables, such as "being empty," "unreal," "without a self-identifying principle" (nilJ,svabhiiva) , and so forth, evidences logical violation on two accounts: (1) that the class boundary between sapa~a and viPa~a is vitiated; and (2) that the nature of both instances (miiyiivat and kha-pu~pavat) is peculiarly dual, because they simultaneously instantiate every sa11}Skr:ta and asart}skr:ta dharma as existent and real and yet also as non-existent and unreal.

N ow, Dagen's method of instantiation can be seen as parallel to the foregoing analysis. Along with convention, Dagen fully knows the ordinary meaning of the "sky-flower" as an instantiation for anything empirically impossible, and yet, rejecting this usage, he emphatically asserts that common men do not know the true meaning of it as embodying transcendental reality which is neither obstructed by space nor by time, neither by origination nor by cessation. He identifies the "sky-flower" not only with those empirical flowers blooming and withering in nature in accordance with their appointed seasons, but also with doctrinal entities, such as enlightenment, original nature, and so on. He deliberately violates the class boundary of "sky-flower" and "flowers on the ground" (ji-ge) by stating:

It is the "sky-flower" that ultimately makes all flowers bloom both in mid-air and on the ground.40

It follows that insofar as the predication of "being empty" is concerned, his instantiation in terms of "sky-flower" has no contraposition; namely, there is nothing that is not a "sky-flower" either in mid-air, or on the ground, or in the entire world (sekaige). This extensive identification of the "sky-flower" with empirical as well as trans-empirical entities, which constitute the total-


ity of the universe in Buddhist thinking, is undoubtedly identical with the Madhyamika instantiation. as formulated by Bhavaviveka.

There still remains an unresolved question with Dagen's method of instantiation, namely, how and why his instantiation in terms ofthe "sky-flower" takes a singularly affirmative expresSIon, which puts it in marked contrast to that of the Madhyamikas. More than once, Dagen praises the "sky-flower" which activates the "afflicted faculty" (ei-gen) as an embodiment of supreme truth:

It is a pity that people such as they (common men) do not know the beginning and end of the appointed season in which the sky-flower blooms as an embodiment of the path of Tathagatas. For, the truth (dari) of "afflicted eyes" and "sky-flowers," which is embodied in the path of Buddhas has never been accessible to them. Buddhas and Tathagatas all received their seats in the patriarchal room of transmission through practicing the path of the "sky-flower" and realized the path and its goal. Sakyamuni Buddha's raising a stalk of flowers and twinkling his eyes, all this certified the fact that the truth of "afflicted eyes" and "sky-flowers" was realized.41

It is the heart of this paper to render intelligible how and why Dagen could justify his method of instantiation such as it is expressed in this passage by having recourse to the N agarjunian insight of the reciprocity (parasparape~ata) and juxtaposition of anvaya and vyatireka as explained above.

IX. Dagen's Instructional Method of Instantiation as Compared to that of the ~~asahasrikii-Praj'fiaparamita

Although Dagen does not present his dialectic in the manner of logical refutation as the Indian masters did, his dialectical thinking can be recognized in the way he uses the "sky-flower"

. and expresses his insight of the causal reciprocity between the "afflicted eye" and the "sky-flower" consistently in reference to that dialectical context upon which this paper has focused. The Madhyamika dialectic was initially introduced by Nagarjuna as a method of refutation, but simultaneously served as an instruc-


tional- method for realization of the ultimate insight. Dagen's dialectic apparently bears more strongly the instructional nature along with the age-old tradition of the Prajiiaparamita literature. The anonymous authors of this literature earnestly advocated the practice-of samiidhi as corollary to the insight of silnyatii, and in some texts, inculcated the practice of samiidhi which was designed to induce the vision of the sublime image of the Buddhas. What was intended is not a mystical vision itself, but a particular experience in which two different levels of consciousness, empirical and trans-empirical, come to play in unison.

In the A4tasiihasrikii-prajiiiipiiramitii-siltra (Chaps. 30-31), for instance, Sadaprarudita, the hero bodhisattva, is said to have experienced an ecstatic vision of the Buddhas, but coming out of it somehow he felt gravely distressed about the disappearance of those Buddhas. Then a question arose in him, which, thereafter, became the primary source of his drive in his search for ultimate insight; namely, "where did those Buddhas come from, and where did they gO?,,42 There lies beneath this question the dialectical context created in his consciousness. For the linkage between the vision of the Buddhas at one moment and that of their disappearance at another moment became the primary concern for Sadaprarudita. In this way the dialectical context was created in him, since conceptually there is a singular spatiotemporal sphere of reference to which his question refers the two incompatible phases of his experience (i.e., presence of Buddhas and their absence).

There are two major reasons why Dagen's instructional method is parallel to the aforementioned example. First, throughout his essay, Dagen consistently asserts the trans-empirical status of the "sky-flower" as incomparably superior to its empirical status as generally held in convention, and toward that end he identifies the vision of the "sky-flower" with that of the JiPpo-butsus, i.e., the Buddhas of Ten Directions.

I say that the vision of the Jippa-butsus cannot be said to be "not real," as it is essentially idetttical with the vision of "flowers in the eye" (gen-chu-ge). It is "within the eye" (alone) that theJippobutsus reside. Unless it is within the eye, it is 'not the abode of theJippo-butsus, "Flowers in the eye" are neither non-existent nor existent, neither unreal nor real, but themselves are theJippo-but-


sus. This is like the case in which when one earnestly wishes to see the Jippa-butsus, they are no longer "flowers in the eye," whereas when he wishes to see "flowers in the eye," they are no longer the Jippa-butsus. 43

Thus, his tactical exhortation creates a tension in his student's mind concerning two different meanings of the "sky-flower,"· one belonging to common men, another to the enlightened. A passage that follows immediately further confirms Dagen's instructional intention:

Even though scholars of the scriptures, masters of doctrines, may hear about the name of the "sky-flower," no one other than Buddhas and Patriarchs would have the occasion to see and hear ab~ut the vital life line of "ground flowers."44

Secondly, though Dagen's instructional method refers to concrete actuals to instantiate them by the "sky-flower," he does not fail to state, along with Bhavaviveka, that the "sky-flower" has no empirical origination and, hence, no cessation, extending the same negation to actuals as well:

Flowers have neither originated, nor have they perished. This is the truth (dari) , that neither have the flowers been the flowers, nor has the sky been the sky. One must not look for a before and after ofthe appointed time of the flowers and thereby elaborate one's thought as to whether they are or they are not. Flowers are, as it were, necessarily dyed by variegated colours, but these colours are not confined to flowers. It is the same with appointed times which are as variegated as blue, yellow, red, white, etc. Spring invites flowers, and flowers invite Spring.45

By variegated colours Dagen obviously refers to the aggregates, the ultimate basis, where a given spatio-temporal sphere or the dialectical context is to be configurated, and where he expresses his causal insight of reciprocity in concrete terms: "Spring invites flowers, flowers invite Spring." It is here also that we can read Dagen's insight, that the "sky-flower" (ku-ge) creates the "afflicted eye" (ei-gen) and vice versa.

The dialectical context which Nagarjuna metaphorically demonstrated as an interaction of "light" and "darkness" re-


vealed its structure to be open to two directions: phenomenalization and dephenomenalization. In one direction "light" and "darkness" create total incompatibility,.1eading to mutual negation; the expression naturally appears as "neither 'light' nor 'darkness'" over the singular spatio-temporal sphere of juxtaposition. In another direction, however, this bi-negation opens a new horizon, precisely because the dialectic is double edged. The negation of the ascribed principle of existential identity (svabhiiva) from "light" as well as "darkness" ipso facto enables both to simultaneously co-exist through reciprocation. The author of the A~tasiihasrikii-prajiiiipiiramitii-sutra let Bodhisattva Dharmodgata, the great teacher and mentor of Sadaprarudita, answer the latter's question with a precisely similar negation:

Oh, son of good family, those Buddhas did not come from anywhere, nor did they go anywhere. Why, because things as they are do not move. This state of things as they are is the Tathagata. Son of good family, nothing is born, nor coming. Nothing is leaving nor born. This is the Tathagata. Supreme truth is neither going nor coming. This truth is the Tathagata. Emptiness is neither coming nor going. This emptiness is the Tathagata.46

It is now apparent that Degen uses the image of the "skyflower" as an instance to exemplify that Tathagatas and Buddhas, the embodiment of supreme truth, and Emptiness such as it is expressed by negation. For the author of the Prajfiaparamita literature, the use of images like the "dream," "magical entity," or "sky-flower," was an instance of skill-in-means (upaya-kauSalya) used to instantiate actuals and ideals quasunyatii (i.e., in regard to their empty nature), but whereas Degen uses the same skill-in-means he uses it to instantiate sunyatii qua actuals and ideals. Like the author of the Prajfiaparamita text, Degen does this, however, exclusively in reference to that dialectical context in which causal reciprocity holds and hence in terms of affirmative expression:

Therefore, I say that when the (image of) the flower created by visual affliction (ei-gen) falls away, it is the moment when the (truth of) the Buddhas (i.e., sunyata) is realized. The image of the flower and its concurrents (ke-kwa) is what the (truth of) the Buddhas (i.e., sunyata) sustains. On the basis of visual affliction


(ei), the visual faculty (gen) is activated to function and to visualize the (image of) the "sky-flower" or to realize its function within the (image of) the "sky-flower" (ku-ge-chu) ... No matter when or where, once a visual faculty is activated,' there necessarily co-exists (the objective image of) the "sky-flower" and the (image of) the flower within the subjective vision (gen-ke). Here the flower within the eye (gen-ke) is called the "sky-flower" (kil_ge).47

X. Dagen's Instructional Method of Instantiation as Compared to that ofChao-Lun

Dagen's instructional method of instantiation can further be paralleled with the paradoxical method of dialectic which Seng-chao (374-414), one of the early Chinese Madhyamikas, applied to create the dialectical context. His work Chao Lun f ,

which consists of several essays, can be regarded as an authentic specimen of Madhyamika dialectic developed by the Chinese mind on two accounts: (1) it creates the same effect as created by the juxtaposition of anvaya and vyatireka; and (2) it also creates thereby the dual natured reference as instantiated by metaphorical instances. The two passages below are chosen from among many to show the form of his paradoxical method. The first one is quoted from his essay "Things Do Not Move," in which the concepts of movement and non-movement are paradoxically matched in regard to the passage of time:

If we want to express the realg, we go against conventionh . Ifwe follow convention, we fail to express the reali . Because past things did not reach the present state, people say that things change, thinking that past things changed and hence, did not stay unchanged. Forthe same reason, however, I say that things do not change, thinking that past things are in the past and did not come to the present. When people say that things are "abiding"j, I say that they are "gone"k. When they say that things are "gone," I say that they are "abiding." Although "gone" and "abiding" are different in expression, what they mean has one reference. 48

As a corollary to this juxtaposition feature of the "Dialectical Context," I shall now quote a passage from the essay, "Whatever Is Unreal Is Emptiness," in which the dual-natured reference is


instantiated by a metaphorical instance, in this case, by a "magically created being": .

We want to say that dharmas exi"st, but their existence is not a real pro'quction1• We want to say' that dharmas do not exist, but phenomenal formsm are already configura ted. Phenomenal forms cannot be said to be "identical with nothing"n, but we only say that anything unrealo is not a real existentp . It follows that the meaning of "Emptiness of Whatever Is Unreal" is thus revealed. Accordingly, the PaiicavirvJati-siihasrikii-prajiiiipiiramitiisutra says: "Dharmas are called metaphorically 'unreal,q just as a magically created man is. For, we cannot say that there is no magically created man, but that such is not a real manr .',49

Seng-chao's awareness of the "Dialectical Context" can be confirmed also in his essay, "Prajiiii Is No-knowing," where he deals with the reciprocal dependence of the knowing <pramiiTJaS ) and that to be known <prameyat ). The point to be noted is that Sengchao tried to resolve the dualized factors of the knowing and the known into the unconfigurated totality of the aggregates, and that such is the basis of our phenomenally configura ted consciousness, being simultaneously the unconfigurated transcendent from it. Dagen also dealt with this state of affairs in terms of eigen kilge no dori, but depicted the reciprocity of the "afflicted eye" and the "sky-flower" as the e~sential insight of the Buddhas and Patriarchs and yet also at the same time as concrete actuals such as flowers in nature.

Aaalysing man's symbolic systems such as language, we are aware of three different categories that are indispensable to our thinking and epistemic processes. Linguists and philosophers analyze these three respectively as "word," "meaning," and "object," or "symbol," "concept," and "referent." The most crucial is, however, the use of words or symbols itself, without which the human mind just cannot operate. Convention holds that the use of symbols relates subject form (i.e., concept) and object form (i.e., referent) in terms of correspondence. Buddhist thinkers saw, however, that human cognition or thinking depends rather upon the way we apply symbols than upon the way things really are. This means that we superimpose our thought forms onto objects by way of names and sentential symbols, while these in turn determine only subjective images with no corresponding


objects, as such, externally. Dagen's demonstration in part points to this same insight, but indeed, more than that. In ordinary usage no one expects the afflicted eye (ei-gen) to yield any corresponding object for its visual form, because the object, such as the "sky-flower," is only a subjective image. Nevertheless, such cognition significantly shares a common feature with healthy vision, namely, the use of symbols.

The author of the A~~asahasrika-prajnaparamita-siltra indicates that ordinary language creates attachment because people do not know things as they really are, whereas the man of prajna insight creates no such attachment in himself since he knows things as they really are.50 Seng-chao distinguishes the prajna faculty from the ordinary faculty of knowing by defining it as "no-knowing"u. This means that the prajna faculty has no empirical reference as required by the dual rules of anvaya and vyatireka. He tries to explain this transcendental faculty as (1) "only specifying marks without an external projection of reference;" and (2) "only mirroring, as it were, reflecting objects which are actually not there.,,51 The tendential mind, expressed in convention as "referential" and "inferential," represents the forms of attachment and defilement (kleSa). If the insight of silnyata is concerned with the use of symbols or with the symbolic process of the mind, Dagen is certainly justified in using metaphorical instances, such as the "sky-flower," to demonstrate the insight of silnyata qua actuals and ideals.

In dealing with the primary subject, such as Reciprocal Causation, in parallel with Nagarjuna and Seng-chao, Dagen, however, does not rely on the method of reductio-ad-absurdum argument, nor does he apply the method of paradoxical assertion and negation, but he spontaneously uses the method of instantiation very efficiently and successfully. His awareness of the Dialectical Context and his method of instantiation in terms of the "sky-flower" and the "afflicted eye" are dearly seen in the following passage which is to be found in the first paragraph of his essays. Without such a criterion (i.e., the dual features of the dialectical context), it is almost impossible to make such a passage intelligible:

It is like the case where the spatio-temporal sphere where the uhatsura-ge (i.e. utpala, a red lotus flower) blooms is identical with the space and time of fire. A blazing fire, a rising flame, all this

XI.


arises (exclusively) in the space and time where and when the uhatsura-ge blooms. If it is outside such appointed space and time, no single spark comes forth, nor is its life possible. I say that within a single (instantaneous) spark, hundreds and thousands of lotus .flowers spread open not only in mid-air and on the ground but also into the past as well as into the present. Learning' (i.e., perceiving and listening to) the instantaneous spatio-temporal sphere of fire means to learn the same space and time of the lotus flower (uhatsura-ge). Do not miss the spatio-temporal sphere of uhatsura-ge, but learn it. 52

In reading Dagen's essay, most difficulties result from technical terms, especially those bearing epistemic significance; for instance, ei-gen (the eye with cataract or with affliction), ei-ge (the flower created by visual affliction), gen-chu (literally, "in the eye"), gen-ku (the sphere or space of the eye), gen-ke (the flower in the eye), ku-ge-chu (within the sky-flower). The term gen-ke is obviously identical with gen-chu-ge, and yet a question remains as to what "the flower in the eye" is supposed to mean in contrast to the meaning of ku-ge, since Dagen identifies them in the final analysis. In Dagen Studies, I think that there are two possible methods for disclosing the dialectical thinking that underlies his expressions: (1) analysis of his language, such as sentential forms, expressions, terms, etc.; and (2) analysis of his philosophy or thought in parallel with Buddhist logic and dialectic. Calling these methods respectively the "formal" and the "structural" approaches, I believe that my attempt is in the line of the latter, i.e., structural analysis of the Dialectical Context. This, at least, has proved its feasibility as complementary to the former method.

NOTES

l. (V) i.e., literally, "The Storehouse for the Eyes concerning the Right Dharma," or interpretatively "The Essentials of the True Dharma," of which I have made D. Okubo's edition my textual basis, namely, Dagen-zenji Zen-shuw (The Complete Works of the Zen Master Dagen), Vol. I, published by Chikuma Shabo, Tokyo 1969 (hereafter, DZZ).

2. Cf. S. Ichimura: "Buddhist Dialectical Methods and their Structural


Identity," presented at the 31st Orientalist Congress in Tokyo; will appear in Dr. S. V. Sohoni Felicitation Volume, JBRS issue, 1983.

3. Cf. Ichimura: "A Study on the Madhyamika Method of Refutation and its Influence on Buddhist Logic," ]lABS, IV, 1 (1981),87-95.

4. DZZ, p. 109 (10-13) I See (X) in the attached glossary. 5. Ibid., p. 110 (3) I (Y). 6. Ibid" (4-6) I (Z); The term ku, which I render there as sunyata, means

also "sky," or "vacuous space." Dagen obviously plays on the double meanings of the Chinese characterZ •

7. Ibid., (9-11) and p. 115 (6-8) I (aa). Here, Dagen again plays on the double meanings of ku, as he says: "People do not know even how flowers appear from the sky." In part he obviously refers to the insight of sunyata, on account of which even an illusory appearance of sky-flowers bears transcendental significance.

8. Ibid., p. 109 (14-17) I (ab).

9. Ibid., p. 112 (3-4) I (ae). 10. See the passage quoted below (Note 25); (ibid., p. III (12-16). 11. Ibid., p. III (19)-p. 112 (1-3) I (ad).

12. (ae); See the passage immediately following and also the passage (Note 16).

13. Ibid., p. 110 (18-19)-p. 111 (1-2) I (af).

14. Cf. Ibid., p. 110 (12-14) I (ag).

15. Cf. Ibid., p. 110 (14-16) I (ah). 16. Ibid., (15-16) I (ai).

17. Cf. NBh. Nyayabh~ya II, i, 15 (Nyayasutra, Kashi Sanskrit Series Vol. 43 (1942), p. 56):

pramiinam prameyam iti ca samiikhyii samiivesena varttate samiikhyiinimittavaSiit I samiikhyiinimittam tilpalabdhasiidhanam pramiinam upalabdhav4ayaS ca prameyam iti I

NBh. II, i, 16 (Ibid., p. 57):

tathii kiirakaSabdii nimitavaSiit samiiveiena vartanta iti I ... kiirakaSabdaS caivam pramiiTJ-am prameyam iti I sa ca kiirakadharmam na hiitum arhati I

18. Nyayasutra II, i, 8-11 (Ibid. pp. 52-3):

pratyak:;iidfniim apramiinyam traikiilyasiddheIJ II 8 purvam hi pramiiTJ-asiddhau nendriyiirthasannikar~iit pratyak:;otpatM 119 paSciitsiddhau na pramiiTJ-ebhyah prameyasiddhiIJ II 10 yugapatsiddhau pratyiirthaniyatatviit kramavr:ttitviibhiivo buddhfniim II 11

19. NBh. II, i, 15 (ibid., p. 56):

sabdiid iitodyasiddhitviit iti I yathii PaSciit siddhena sabdena

DOGEN'S DIALECTICAL THINKING

pilrvasiddham iitodyam anumiyate I siidhyam ca iitodyam, siidhanam ca sabdah, ... I

93

20. For further discussion as to Nagarjuna's intention and method applied in his treatise, see Ichimura: "An Analysis of Madhyamika Dialectic in Terms of the Logical Principle of anvayavyatireka," in the forthcoming Studies in Buddhology: Professor P. V. Bapat Felicitation Volume (Motilal Banarsidass: 1987).

21. Cf. Section VII here where an elucidation is given on Nagarjuna's arguments (Karikiis 36-39) as to how and why these two points of demonstration can be reached.

22. "Sho-bo-gen-zo MuchU-setsumu," DZZ, p. 241 (11-12) / (aj ).

23. Ibid., p. III (2-7) / (ak). 24. Cf. Ibid., p. III (8-11) / (al). 25. Ibid., p. III (12-16) / (am). 26. Vigraha., KariM 23 (Ed. by E.H. Johnston & A. Kunst, MCB (1948-

51), p. 123):

nirmitako nirmitakam mtiyiipur11.lah svamiiyayii sniaml prat4edhayeta yadvat prat4edho 'yam tathaiva syiit II

27. Vajracchedika-prafiiaparamita-sutra, translated by E. Conze, Buddhist Wisdom Books, Containing the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra, London: Allen & Unwin, 1958, p. 68.

28. Cf. Anil C. Sinha, "Generative Semantics and Pal)ini's Karaka,"Journal of the Oriental Institute (Baroda), XXIII, 1-2 (1973), 83-117; Kiparsky, P., & Staal, J.F.S.: "Syntactic and Semantic Relations in Pal)ini," Foundation of Languages, V (1969), 83-117.

29. Cf. G. Cardona: "Anvaya and vyatireka in Indian Grammar," The Adyar Library Bulletin, XXXI-XXXII, (1967-8), 313-352; also Ichimura: "A Study of the Madhyamika Method of Refutation, especially of its Affinity to that of Kathiivatthu," ]lABS, III, 1 (1978), 7-15. Here, it is verified how and why the anvaya-vyatireka principle was already in frequent use for doctrinal polemics as the criterion of logical argument.

30. Cf. Hu Shih, The Development of the Logical Method in Ancient China, Shanghai: the Oriental Book Co., 1928; pp. 102--4. It is this Neo-Mohist method of inference, with which the Indian, especially, Buddhist inferential method, consisting of anvayavyatireka operations, can be parallelied in terms of the pragmatic principles of verification and falsification. Also, see C. Graham, Later Mohist Logic, Ethics, and Science, Hong Kong: the Chinese University Press, 1978, p. 102 and p. 130; Here, the principles of agreement and difference are translated as "Having respects in which they are the same is being of the same kind. Not having respects in which they are the same, is not being of a kind."an. ao means more literally "having some thing by means of which they are Gudged to be) the same."

31. The hypothetical syllogism based upon the antecedent "p" and the consequent "q" has its position and contraposition respectively as "If 'p' then


'q,' but 'p,' therefore, 'q'." (modus ponendo ponens) and "If 'p' then 'q,' but '-q,' therefore '-p'." (modus ponendo toliens). Here, the position and contraposition: " 'p' therefore 'q' " and" '-q' therefore '-p' " can be parallelled with the anvaya and vyatireka operations, provided that the Indian formula is concomitance relation (vyapti) rather than conditional one.

32. Cf. A. Kunst, "The Two-membered Syllogism," Rocznik Orientalistyczny, XV (1939-40), 72-83. See also Note 36 here.

33. Dignaga defined the object of inferential knowledge as "a pa~a (substratum) marked by reason (hetu) which implies theses (sadhya)." Cf. Stcherbatsky, Buddhist Logic, I, p. 280. For further reference, see Dignaga's refutation of the Naiyayika notion regarding the object of inference, PramarJasamuccaya II; the three karikas are quoted in Vidhyabhusana's A History of Indian Logic (Calcutta Univ.: 1921), pp. 281-2.

34. Dharmakirti used the term arthakriyakiirin for "causal efficiency" as exclusively pertaining to an instantaneous moment (~arJa). In fact, Dignaga and Dharmaklrti equally used bothsvala~arJa andparamarthasat synonymously for designating such ultimate reality. Hence, the idea was already in Dignaga. Cf. Stcherbatsky, op. cit., p. 557.

35. Ratnakara: Antarvyaptisamarthana, edited by Harasprasad, Bibliotheca Indica, new series, No. '1226, (Calcutta: 1910), p. 103 (15-6):

tat tena vyaptam yat yatra dharmi71i tatra kea71ikatvaml

36. For Buddhist logicians, such as Dignaga and Dharmakrlti, real members of a syllogism, the necessary members of the logical processes,. are only two, the general rule or universal concomitance (vyapti) and its application to an individual instance (dntanta). The first establishes a necessary interdependence between two terms or propositions, the second applies this general rule to the point in guestion (pa~a). The definition of inferential rules (anvaya and vyatireka) by Sankarasvamin can be transcribed into the following notation:

1. pakea-dharmatva (hetu-position)

2. sapakee sattva (position) (general rule applied as positive) instantiation)

3. vipakee asattva (contra position) (general rule applied as negative instantiation)

pea) "a" = "a hill" "P" = "is smoky"

(x){P(x).Q(x)} & P(b).Q(b) "b" = "a kitchen" "Q" = "is fiery"

(y){ - Q(y). - pry)} & - Q@. - P(~)

"W' = "an iceberg"

Here both instantiations can be dispensed with for the inner concomitance (antarvyapti internalized universal) by making the value of "x" and "y" the instantaneous moments which ultimately underlie our mental process to regulate the tendential imputation such as "P and Q" or "P then Q."

37. This chart is duplicated from my previous articles. Cf. "An Analysis of Madhyamika Dialectic in terms of anvaya and vyatireka," op. cit.; "A Study


on the Madhyamika Method of Refutation and its Influence on Buddhist Logic," loco cit.

38.Sanskritized by N. Aiyaswami Shastri from the Chinese Chang-chenlunap; Visva-Bharati Annals, II (1949), p. 34:

tattvatah sarftsk,tiih silnyii miiyiivat pratyayabhiiviitl asaT(lSk,tas tv asadbhilta anutpiidiih khapV4pavatl I

39. Cf. Ichimura "A New Approach to the Intra-Madhyamika Confrontation over the Svatantrika and Prasari.gika Methods of Refutation," jIABS, V,2 (1982), 41-52.

40. DZZ., p. 115 (10-1) / eq).

41. Ibid., p. 109 (17-19)-p. 110 (1) / (ar). 42. Hsiao-p'in-pan-Jo-polomi-chingas , Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo (Vol. 8), p.

582a (l0-18) / (at). 43. DZZ., p. 114 (13-16) / (au). 44. Ibid., p. 114 (19)-p. 115 (1) / (av). 45. Ibid., p. 112 (6-9) / (aw). 46. Hsiao-p'in- . .. , Taisho. (8), p. 584a (21-25) / (ax). 47. DZZ., p. 114 (4-8) / (ay).

48. Cf. Chao-lun, Taisho. Vol. 45, p. 151a (15-16), (23-25), (28-29)-b (1), b (3-5), and c (10-12) / (az).

49. Ibid., p. 152c (15-20) / (ba). 50. Cf. Hsiao-p'in- ... , Taisho (8), p. 584b (18-29) / (bb). 51. Chao-lun, Taisho. (45), p. 154c (2-10) / (be). 52. DZZ., p. 108 (7-11) / (bd).

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Report on Religious Activity in Central Tibet, October 1985

by Donald S. Lopez~ Jr. and Cyrus R. Stearns

We led a Smithsonian Institution ~our to Tibet in early October 1985, visiting Lhasa, Gyantse, and Shigatse. On the road from the airport at Gong-dkar to Lhasa, we passed prominent hilltop ruins of the fortress of Gong-dkar rDzong, behind which is the Sa-skya monastery of Gong-dkar Chos-grwa (f. 1464). We were told that the monastery had not been completely destroyed, and that there were about thirty monks there presently.l Our bus fortuitously broke down at dPal Chu -bo-ri on the gTsang-po river, near the site of ICags-zam monastery, built by the engineer and saint Thang-stong-rgyal-po (1361-1485). It was the fifteenth day of the Tibetan month, a time for religious observances, and a small group of Tibetans could be seen on the summit of the mountain burningjuniper boughs as offerings to the local spirits. The monastery of ICags-zam has been totally destroyed, without a single brick remaining in place. A group of pilgrims circumambulating the mountain told us that permission has been granted for new construction to begin on Chu-borio The iron suspension bridge erected by Thang-stong-rgyal-po in 1444 has also been destroyed. All that remains is a pile of stones in the middle of the river that once served as the support for the northern end of the bridge.2

Outside of Lhasa, we stopped briefly at sNye-thang monastery, where AUsa died in 1054. The monastery, which appeared to have been recently restored, was in good condition and contained three temples. In the first was a large stiipa said to contain certain possessions of AUsa. The second was a temple to the twenty-one Taras, containing almost lifesize identical statues of Tara on three tiers along three walls. They appeared to be the

101


same images photographed by Tucci.3 The third hall contained a small (IS") statue of Atisa that the monk in residence said had been sculpted by Ansa himself. It appeared to be identical to the image that appears in plate 50 of Ferrari's mK'yen brtse's Guide to the Holy Places of Central Tibet. 4 There were also three Buddha images, approximately fifteen feet in height, the central figure identified by Tucci as that of Maitreya5 and reported to us by a monk in residence to also have been made by Ansa. That statue was flanked by images of the Buddhas Kasyapa and Sakyamuni. There were also standing images of the eight Bodhisattvas. During our short time there, it was impossible to determine how many of the statues were original and how many have been replaced since the Cultural Revolution.

In Lhasa, a large plaza has been constructed in front of the Jo-khang. We were able to spend considerable time on the ground floor of the Jo-khang, and found the layout to be essentially unchanged from that described by Richardson in his article, "The Jo-khang 'Cathedral' of Lhasa.,,6 In the central hall a new statue of Padmasambhava, some twenty feet in height, has been erected to the left of the main statue of Maitreya. Each of the twenty-four chapels on the ground floor was in excellent condition. The entrances to two were closed by doors of chain: the chapel of the famous statue of the thousand-armed Avalokitesvara in the center of the north wall of the Jo-khang and the chapel containing the statue of J o-bo Rin-po-che. The latter was opened for us. We were told by the monks in residence that every single statue on the ground floor of the J o-khang, including that of Jo-bo Rin-po-che7, had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution,with the exception of the nine statues in what is called the Thon-mi chapel, preserved presumably because they recall the ancient link between Tibet and China. The chapel contained statues of the three religious kings Srongbtsan-sgam-po, Khri-srong-Ide-bstan, and Ral-pa-can, the Chinese consort Wen-ch'eng Kungcshu, the Nepalese consort Bhrkuti Devl, the ministers of Srong-bstan-sgam-po, mGarstong-bstan and Thon-mi Sam-bhota. All the other statues in the Jo-khang have been newly made since 1979.

The market area surrounding the J 0-khang was very active, with pilgrims from all over Tibet. Texts were offered for sale at several stalls, mostly prayers and tantric sadhanas. However,

REPORT ON CENTRAL TIBET 103

a few 'philosophical texts were available, for the most part elementary dGe-Iugs-pa textbooks on blo rig and rtags rigs but also more advanced works, such as the first Dalai Lama's Tshad ma'i rig rgyan.

'Bras-spung monastery presently shows few signs of overt damage, but is in poor repair, unpainted and overgrown with grass and weeds. There were very few monks to be seen, most of them at work building roads. We were told that, except for the elder monks, the monks work all but five days per month, leaving little time for study. There are currently some 400 monks at the monastery; they all use the bLo-gsal-gling assembly hall rather than the main assembly hall of the monastery. The famous image of Maitreya in the main assembly hall is still to be seen, as is the conch shell purportedly unearthed by Tsong-khapa. The debating courtyard of bLo-gsal-gling college appeared to have gone unused for many years.

Se-ra monastery seemed considerably more active and in better repair. There are approximately 300 monks there, but only 50 or so were monks before 1959. The protector's temple at Byes College contained a remarkable array of old weapons around the ceiling: spears, armor, helmets, and quivers of arrows covered with what appeared to be several centuries of accumulated dust. The famous statue of Ma~usri .leaning toward the window to the debating courtyard of Se-ra Byes was intact, as were other famous images in the monastery. There were thirty or forty young monks debating at the Byes College on the topic of cause and effect (rgyu 'bras chung ba). We were informed by one of the instructors that the most advanced class has now moved on to the study of Maitreya's Abhisamayalarrtkara and is working on the structure of the path (sa lam) and the seventy topics (don bdun cu). This would suggest that the study of dialectics (mtshan nyid) has been reinstituted in the last five years. A monk at the Jo-khang reported with sadness thatthere is not a single monk in Tibet who began the dge bshes curriculum after 1959 and has subsequently completed it.

The Potala appears to be have been kept in good condition, with many of the murals recently repainted. Among the thousands of treasures of painting and sculpture were four very large three-dimensional mal;u;lalas of KaIacakra, Guhyasamaja, Cakrasa:rp.vara, and Bhairava. Chicken wire has been nailed to


a height of about ten feet along those walls that contain bookshelves, to prevent tourists from handling the texts. A catalogue of the art contained in the Potala is much needed, but would require several lifetimes for a single art historiarHo do properly. 8

The tantric college of rGyud-stod is active at the Ra-mo-che, with 43 monks. It is in the process of being restored. The original statue of Jo-bo-mi-skyod-rdo-rje at age eight, according to tradition brought to Tibet by the Nepalese consort of Srong-btsansgam-po, was apparently broken in half during the Cultural Revolution and the pieces taken to Beijing. A replica was made and put in its place. Subsequently, through the good offices of the Panchen Lama, the original statue was located, repaired, and reinstated. It can be seen at the Ra-mo-che, with the replica mounted behind it. The Tantric College of Lower Lhasa (rGyud smad) is not active; the building is being used for the printing of the Lhasa edition of the bKa'-'gyur.

The medical college that was located at the summit oflCagspo-ri in Lhasa is gone, with only the foundation stones remaining. A large radio transmitting tower has been erected on the summit by the Chinese. Another well-known, although less important, site in old Lhasa was the iron suspension bridge over the sKyid-chu river, connecting Lhasa to the area of Grib on the easternbank. Built in 1430 by Thang-stong-rgyal-po, it was the oldest iron bridge in Tibet. We were told that it had been washed away five years ago. A new iron cable foot bridge, covered with prayer flags, has been erected in its place and receives constant use.9

The journey by bus from Lhasa to Shigatse takes about eleven hours, including a stopover in Gyantse. Several hours south of Lhasa, we reached the summit of Campa Pass (elevation 16,000 feet), from which there is a magnificent view of the Turquoise Lake of Yar-'brog. Along the road there were many ruins visible on the hillsides, but it was impossible to take time to investigate and identify any of them.

The fortress residence of the rulers of Cyantse is still intact, at least as viewed from outside. The monastery of dPal-'khor Chos-sde (f. 1418) at the foot of a nearby ridge as well as the great stupa beside it suffered considerably during the Cultural Revolution, but are being beautifully restored by Tibetans. Many original statues and frescoes from the 15th century have survived intact. 10


We were told by monks that the monastery had seventeen colleges (grwa-tshang) at the time of the Chinese occupation. Most of these were dGe-lugs-pa, although there were several Sa-skya and. Zhwa-Iu colleges. Fifteen of the colleges were destroyed in the recent past, but two remain, one of which was identified as Sa-skya-pa. At its height, the monastery housed 1500 monks. Today there are forty. No organized program of study is being pursued and the two remaining colleges appeared to be closed.

The main assembly hall in the temple is vacant and n9t in use. One of the side chapels contains a large gilded statue of Vairocana, with the four remaining Buddhas of the five families, crafted in terracotta, along the walls. Monks pointed to large muslin bags in one corner, stating that they contained the fragments of hands, feet, and faces from large statues that have been destroyed. The statues which remained intact in the chapels had been skillfully repaired.

The chapel to the rear of the main hall had a large gilded ma.hiibodhi stiipa in the center, with statues of Maiijusrl, AvalokiteSvara, and the Buddhas of the past and future along the walls. The inner circumambulation path was in use by lay people, mostly women, children, and the elderly. The walls were graced with large, well-executed frescoes, with paintings of the thousand-armed Avalokitesvara and Sitatapatra framing the main entryway. .

Another side chapel has an image of the thousand-armed AvalokiteSvara in the center, with fine old statues along the rear wall of the three religious kings, along with Ansa, Kha-che Panchen, Padmasambhava, and KamalasIla, among others. In an adjoining chapel there was an exquisite gilded stiipa containing the remains of the mother of Si-tu Rab-brtan-'phags (1389-1442), or "Great Dharma King," as the monks referred to him, the patron founder of the monastery and the. great stiipa of Gyantse. On the surrounding walls in this room, as in several other chapels, there were rows of scriptures. We were told by the monks that there were three full sets of the bKa'-'gyur and bsTan-'gyur in the temple, all calligraphed with gold ink on black paper.

The second floor of the main hall contains chapels, most notably the Lam-bras lha-khang, which holds beautiful ancient life-sized figures of the great Indian master Viriipa and teachers


in the lineage of the Lam 'bras explication of the Hevajra Tantra. In the center of the room is a magnificent three-dimensional Cakrasarp.vara ma:Q.<;lala of copper, gilded with gold and studded with jewels. '

The great stiipa or sKu-'bum (f. 1427) of Gyantse stands beside the main temple. It is still being restored and was not fully open to us. The external portions are in good condition, as are the chapels around the lower level that we were allowed to enter. The frescoes appeared to be both ancient and well-preserved, but the lack of opportunity to examine them closely prevented any certain conclusion as to whether they had been restored from a damaged state. We were not able to examine the upper stories of the stiipa. Here, as in the main temple, pilgrims came to receive blessings.

Upon leaving Gyantse, the road crosses to the south side of the N yang River and continues northwest to Shigatse. Outside Gyantse, massive hill ruins can be seen, including the remains of the fortress of Pa-rnam.

In Shigatse, the great monastery of bKra-shis-lhun-po is in excellent condition, but the stark ruins of the great fort of Shigatse loom on the adjoining ridge. The monastery now has 400 monks and seemed quite active, perhaps even more than usual because of the presence of the Panchen Lama, who had just finished giving the initiation ofVajrabhairava. He was residing in his new palace, the bDe-chen pho-brang, separate from the monastery. Local people informed us that he had given a public speech in Shigatse on October 1, in which he lamented that young people have only been taught Chinese language in school and urged Tibetan women to wear traditional dress rather than pants, as the Chinese women do.

Within bKra-shis-lhun-po itself we saw a small group of monks, all quite elderly, performing a tantric ritual in a chapel and some younger monks printing prayer flags in a courtyard. On the hill above, a large new monastery building in traditional Tibetan architectural style was almost ready for paint. The most spectacular temple is still that containing the immense golden image of Maitreya, the largest statue in Tibet.

Our visit to central Tibet provided reason for both hope and despair. The Tibetan people seem to have survived the horrors of the Cultural Revolution with their faith intact; we found a very real hunger for dharma among both monks and


lay people. It is also clear from the numerous new statues and murals that Tibetan artistry and craftsmanship remain at a remarkably high level. Two dangers seem particularly threatening at this time, One is the dramatic increase in tourism that will take place in central Tibet in the next five years. It is uncertain what effect foreign tourists and the consumerism that they bring with them will have on what remains of traditional· Tibetan culture. The second danger lies in the severe shortage of qualified teachers of the Buddhadharma. A relaxation of Chinese policy regarding the practice of Buddhism has occurred at a time when those few lamas who have survived the last three decades are in their seventies and eighties. Several monks urged us to ask the lamas in exile to return to teach. It is difficult to predict the future of Buddhism in a Tibet without the lama.

NOTES

1. See Alfonsa Ferrari, mK'yen brtse's Guide to the Holy Places oj Central Tibet, Serie Orientale Roma XVI (Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1958), plate 32. Ferrari refers to the rdzong asa monastery. All that now remains are the foundations and lower walls of the structure.

2. See L.A. Waddell, Lhasa and Its Mysteries (London: Dutton, 1906), p. 315 for a picture of the ICags-zam monastery, the iron bridge, and support in the river.

3. See Giuseppe Tucci,To Lhasa and Beyond (Rome: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, 1956), photograph facing page 130.

4. Ferrari, plate 50. 5. See Giuseppe Tucci, To Lhasa and Beyond (Rome: Istituto Poligrafico

dello Stato, 1956), p. 70. 6. See Ariane Macdonald and Yoshiro Imaeda, ed., Essais sur l'art du

Tibet (Paris: J. Maisonneuve, 1977), pp. 157-188. 7. We were told, however, that portions of the original statue had been

enclosed within the new image, thereby preserving the sanctity of the image. 8. An excellent, although by no means comprehensive catalogue of the

architecture and art of the Potala has been recently published in a bilingual Tibetan-Chinese edition entitled Pho-brang-Po-ta-la, (Rigs gnas dngos rdzas dpe skyan khang, 1985).

9. A photograph of the old iron bridge appears in David Snellgrove and Hugh Richardson, A Cultural History ojTibet (New York: Frederick Praeger, 1968), p. 42.

10. For a study of Gyantse and the artwork found there, see Giuseppe Tucci, Indo Tibetica IV: Gyantse ed i suoi monasteri, 3 vol., (Rome: Reale Accademia d'Italia, 1941).

A Study of the Earliest Garbha Vidhi of the Shingon Sect

by Dale Allen Todaro

This is an exegetical study of the Carbhaa Vidhib,l first introduced to Japan by Kiikai2 (A.C.E. 774-835), founder of the Japanese tantric school of Shingon Buddhism. Kiikai records that in the sixth and seventh months of 805 he was initiated into both the Maha-karu7!a-garbha-maha-marpJalac and the Vajradhatu-maha-mawJalad by his master Hui-kuoe (A.c.E. 741-805) of the Ch'ing-Iung templef in Ch'ang-an. 3 Both these initiations he refers to as gakuhO, g which usually means to be granted permission to receive tantric initiations.4 After these initiations he was taught the method of contemplating the various deities in both ma7!Qalas. Then, in the eighth month, Kiikai records that he received a denbOh consecration empowering him to transmit the practices and teachings he had been taught. He returned to Japan in 806 and, after gaining court sanction for his activities, began initiating followers into both the above ma7!Qalas. 5 He thus introduced to Japan the ryobui or twofold system of practice and doctrine based on the Mahavairocana-sutra Gap: Dainichikyoi) and the Tattvasarpgraha lineage of texts Gap.: Kongochokyo shuk).6 As the term garbha indicates, this evocation rite concerns the Maha-karu7!a-garbhodbhava-ma7!Qala (hereafter abbreviated MKG). 7 Because of the continuing role of this garbha vidhi in the training of Shingon adherents it is important to clarify its literary basis, structure, purpose and content.

Ever since Kiikai's introduction of the Carbha Vidhi it has been an integral part of the practices stipulated for all Shingon adherents. Although there are no records that show conclusively what if any practices were systematized by Kiikai for his followers,s by the end of the Heian period (794-1185) a fourfold set

109


of rites styled kegy{/ became and continues to be the course of required, preliminary practices for any novice wishing to receive the denbO consecration. 9 This fourfold set of rites includes the Jilhachido nenju shidaiffi (Recitation Manual of Eighteen Ritesan evocation rite of Cintamal)icakra A valokitesvara), Kongokai nenju shidain (Recitation Manual of the Vajradhiitu) , Taizokai neriju shidaio (Recitation Manual of the Carbhadhiitu) and the Coma nenju shidaiP (Recitation Manual of the Homa).10 The word kegyo is a translation of the Sanskrit word prayoga, meaning to join together and practice,u Specifically, these four rites are joined together as a single preliminary practice prior to the iiciirya (denbO) consecration. In addition to being consecutive practices, they are accumulative as well. The Kongokai shidai includes practices already undertaken in the prior Jilhachido shidai. The Taisokai shidai likewise includes practices from both the Jilhachido and Kongokai shidai. The final Coma or burnt offering rite is the longest and contains practices from all three previous rites as well as a central fire ceremony. This final Coma rite is meant to remove all obstacles that would prevent one from receiving the iiciirya consecreation, and is classified as a siintika rite (Jap.: sokusaiq)P Despite the importance of these practices for the Shingon school, they have yet to receive a detailed study in any Western language. 13 In Japan descriptions of representative examples of these vidhis have been published, but only two works have briefly interpreted them on the basis of commentaries. 14

In addition, although the Carbha Vidhi introduced by Kiikai was recognized for centuries to be based in large part on chuan four and seven of the Mahiivairocana-siltra,15 ever since the publication of Ryujun Tajima's Etude sur le Mahiivairocana-sutra, 16 attention in the West has focused on chuan one of this sutra. 17 No effort has been made to show how other chapters were influential in the Shingon school. Very recent Japanese research has confirmed the indebtedness of Kukai's Carbha Vidhi system to chuan four and seven of the Mahiivairocana-sutra. The results of this research will be examined below.

1. Literary Basis of the Garbha Vidhi

The Carbha Vidhis attributed to Kukai are found in his so-

STUDY OF THE GARBHA VIDHI 111

called Collected Works or Kobo Daishi Zenshu. These are as follows: 1) Taizo bonji shidai/ copy dated 1727; 18 2) Taizo ryaku shidai,s copy dated 1156; 19 3) Taizo furai gosan shidai, t copy dated 1024;20 4) Sarai hOben shidai,u copy dated 1170;21 note that this manual is attributed to Genj6V (tenth century) in the Nihon Daizokyo (vol. 44)22; 5) Corin toji shidai,w copy dated 1676;23 6) Taizo bizai shidai,x copy dated 1743;247) Bizai shidai,Ycopy dated 1170;25 8) Taizokai HUrIJ ji shidai,Zcopy dated 1743;26 also at~ tributed to Kanch6G6)aa (916-998) or K6geiab (977-1049). No Carbha Vidhi has been found written by Kukai. Until recently the Shingon school traditionally regarded only those vidhis contained in the first three volumes of his Collected Works as likely but not conclusively Kiikai's works. Of the above vidhis, numbers one through five are found in volume two while numbers six through eight are found in volume four, making the former historically more authoritative and influential.

After Kukai introduced the Carbha Vidhi to Japan, a succession ofTendai monks introduced four other Carbha Vidhis, which thereafter became influential in both the Shingon and Tendai sects.27 These four vidhis are the 1) She ta i-kuei, ac translated by Subha.karasirpha;28 2) Ta-p'i-lu-che-na-ching kuang-da-i-kuei, ad also translated by Subhakarasirpha;29 3) Hsuanja-ssu i-kuei, ae composed by Fa-chuanaf (ninth century),30 a second generation disciple of Hui-kuo; and 4) Ch'ing-lung i-kuei, ag also composed by Fa-chuan.31 The latter two vidhis of Fa-chuan are almost identical, and were written at the Hsuan-fa and Ch'ing-lung temples, respectively. These four vidhis are referred to collectively as the Shibu gikiah by Japanese scholars. (Although they will not be given here, four other works introduced by Kukai and listed by him in his Coshoraimokuroku are related to the Carbha Vidhi. 32 ) According to Annen's Catalogue33 Ennin (793-864), Enchin (814-891) and Shuei introduced from China the She ta i-kuei, Shuei introduced the Kuang-da i-kuei, Ennin introduced the Hsuanja-ssu i-kuei and Enchin and Shuei both introduced the Ch'ing-lung i-kuei.

Recently, in two important articles, Ueda Reij6 made a critical analysis of the Carbha Vidhis attributed to Kukai.34 He has made a convincing case that the Taizo furai gosan shidai, Sarai hOb en shidai and Corin toji shidai were written by Shueiai (809-884) and/or his immediate circle of followers (for example Genj6;


the Nihon Daizokyo claims Genjo wrote the Sami hOben shidai) because the mudriis and mantms of these vidhis show a marked indebtedness to the two vidhis written by Fa-chiian, as well as the Kuang-da i-kuei. This is not surprising, since Fa-chiian initiated Shuei into the MKG in the Ch'ing-lung-ssu in Ch'ang-an. Shuei was in China from 862 to 865, and later became the fifth chief abbot of the Toji in KyotO.35 Also, by tracing a number of mantms and mudriis in the Taizo bonji shidai and Taizo ryaku shidai to just the Mahi'ivairocana-sutra and its commentary the Ta-p'i-lu-che-na ch'engju ching-shu,36 U eda argues these two vidhis in their original form were written by Kukai. The Taizo bizai shidai, Bizai shidai and Taizokai HUr[t ji shidai, because of a similar structure and indebtedness to the Mahiivairocana sutm and its commentary, likewise were written by descendents of the same lineage. Ueda states that even when mantms and mudriis of the Taizo bonji shidai and Taizo ryaku shidai can be found in the Shibu giki (and most of those he discusses are found in these vidhis), if they are not explained in either the Mahiivairocana-sutra or its commentary, then neither the Taizo bonji shidai or Taizo ryaku shidai use them.

Fa-chiian's influential vidhis were written after Kukai's return to Japan, so they have no direct bearing on the vidhi system introduced by Kukai. Of course, the vidhis of Kukai and Fachiian belong to the same oral tradition and share in common many mudriis and mantms derived from the Mahiivairocana-sutra and/or its commentary, these being the chief but not the only sources for the Carbha Vidhi in China. It should be noted that while the sutm gives transliterated mantms, it does not explain in detail how to form specific mudriis. Traditionally mudriis were transmitted from master to disciple and they are not typically drawn in the vidhis. On the basis of Ueda's research there can be no doubt that the author(s?) of the Taizo bonji shidai and Taizo ryaku shidai relied on the Mahiivairocana-sutra and its commentary, although this still does not prove conclusively that Kukai alone wrote these. It is almost certain that Hui-kuo strongly influenced their content. Kukai states in his Coshoraimokuroku that he learned from Hui-kuo the bonji giki of the MKG (i.e., the Siddham letters of the mantms and evocation rites).

I have made a detailed comparison in list form of all the vidhis in the Collected Works of Kukai, the Collected Works of


his Disciples, etc.37 Because there are from~250 to 350 items in each vidhi, this list cannot be shown here. Because these vidhis do not always explain fully the prescribed mudriis or mantras, these could not be compared. Although mudras and mantras can differ as detailed by G6h6,38 these differences do not mean a change in the rite to be performed. This comparison has shown conclusively that the structure and contents of the Taizo bonji shidai, Taizo ryaku shidai, Taizo bizai shidai, Bizai shidai and the Taizokai HUTIJ ji shidai are practically identical. Based on the results of this comparison, which corroborate and compliment Veda's findings, there can be no doubt that the above five vidhis stem from a single source and that they represent the early vidhi system transmitted by Kukai, as tradition maintains. This group of five vidhis will thus be analysed in this article.

Before we examine these in more detail, a few general comments should be made about the eight vidhis traditionally attributed to Kukai. A feature of almost all of these, as well as those attributed to Kukai's disciples Jichieaj (786-847) and Shingaak

(801-79),39 is that their mantras40 are all written in the Siddham script,41 with about half of them including the Chinese transliterations. In contrast, Fa-chuan eliminated this script in his two vidhis and substituted the Chinese transliteration of the mantras. Geng6 11 (911-995) and G6h6 state42 that because Kukai's Taizo bonji shidai contains Sanskrit it is impractical and cannot be used. They advocate, instead, the use of Fa-chuan's Ch'ing-lung i-kuei because Fa-chuan added glosses on the meanings of the mantras. This is the principal reason for the influence of this vidhi in Japan. Amoghavajra also developed a systemic method for the transliteration of the sounds of the Siddham syllables into Chinese in his Yii-chia chin-kang-ting ching shih-tzu mu p'in. 43 Despite this evidence of how difficult it was for the devotees of this tradition to use Siddham, those Carbha Vidhis still being written today continue to use this script,44 undoubtedly because Amoghavajra and Kukai maintained that mantras pronounced in Siddham were more effective.45 Needless to say, few Japanese in the ninth century could have understood the pronounciation or meaning of the mantras they were reciting, as Sanskrit studies were just beginning in Japan. Kukai's work entitled Bonji shittan jimo shakugi46,am was the first work by a Japanese on Siddham and even he made errors in the script.47 Another observation


to be made is that from the start there was never any question that each Tendai or Shingon iiciirya was free to compose his own vidhi,48 changing its length as he saw fit. The short manuals of Jichie and Shinga49 are good examples of how vidhis tended to become abbreviated and suggest an adjustment to Japanese needs. 50 Time and again in the commentaries on the Carbha Vidhis we are told that an acarya is free to compose or practice a vidhi as he pleases,5l in part because there never was a single authoritative text accepted by all Shingon or Tendai practitioners. Annen states that it is because Ennin studied with eight different masters in China (whom he lists) that there are so many different traditions about the mantras and mudriis in the Carbha Vidhis. 52 With the growth of thetantric tradition in China and Japan, which stipulated a close master-disciple relationship, and because this was an oral system that in fact led to changes in mudriis and mantras, it was inevitable that many lineages would have arisen transmitting their own secret and preferred vidhis. This is one reason why there was and continues to be a great deal of factionalism in the Shingon sect. 53 Nevertheless, to whatever extent vidhis differ in their mudriis and mantras, there was a common structure to all of them that was early recognized.

II. Structure of the Garbha Vidhis

This structure is described by G6h6 (1301-1362), in his work entitled Taizokai nenju shidai yoshilki,54 as being based on chilan seven of the Mahiivairocana-siltra. 55 Although another Shingon monk, Shingo,an (934-1004)56 and the Tendai monk Kakuch6ao (955-1034?)57 give differently worded analyses, they too maintain the Carbha Vidhi is based on chilan seven. The major sections of chilan seven G6h6 identifies are as follows: a) section two of chilan seven, entitled "Increasing Benefits and Protection and Purifying Action,,;ap this concerns the purification of vows and in all vidhis involves purifying the body, robes and the nine expedients;aq b) section three, entitled "Offering Rite,,;ar this involves the three parts of visualizing the palace of Mahavairocana (i.e., the Mahii-karu1fii-garbhodbhava-ma1f4ala) , beckoning all gods to enter this palace and making offerings, as described in the vidhis; c) section four, entitled "Method of


DharaI).l Recitation,,;as this entails the two parts of perfecting the body (i.e., beconiing one with Mahavairocana) and dhara'YJz recitation. In the vidhis, after these evocation rites, the deities are asked to leave the ma'YJef,ala, the palace is dissolved and the devotee leaves the shrine or seat of meditation. at

On the basis of this structure Goho further proposes in his Taizokai nenji shidai yoshuki a way of analysing all of the Carbha Vidhis, although his work in particular examines the Shibu giki. He thus identifies two initial sections named "Preliminary Expedients"au and "Establishing the Altar."av These correspond to a) above. Next comes the "Visualization of the Seat of Enlightenment," corresponding to b) above. There follow sections on all the assemblies of the MKG,aw the "tathagatakaya"ax (also corresponding to b) above) and offering and recitation rites,ay corresponding to c) above. This analysis does make it easier to analyse the Shibu giki, although all of these are not consistent in their placement of the tathagatakaya assembly. In contrast, the above five Shingon vidhis all agree in placing the tathagatakaya assembly before the assemblies of the ma'YJef,ala. Interpretations of these differences will be given below. Although Goho's analysis is not exclusively relied on by all Japanese scholars, 58 because of its practicality it will be followed below in the exegesis of the structure and contents of the five Shingon vidhis.

There are two further distinctive features of the five Shingon vidhis that distinguish them from Fa-chuan's manual and those of Shuei's lineage. First, in their initial sections on purification, they repeat the same purification rites found in the Juhachido and Kongokai gikis, these often being prior rites in the systematized Shido kegyo system. Second, these vidhis are unique in taking their section on the assemblies of the MKG ma'YJef,ala almost verbatim from chi.1an four, section nine, of the Mahavairocana-sutra 59 entitled "Secret Mudras. "az Even in the two longer vidhis attributed to Jichi and Shinga60 who, as direct disciples of Kukai would be expected to show greater conformity to these five vidhis, there is a shared but different series of rites. In contrast to the "Secret Mudras" section, the vidhis of Jichi and Shinga and those of Shuei's lineage contain evocation rites for many more deities of the mal],q,ala (especially for those of the exterior assembly or Kongo gaibuinaaa) and are much longervidhis over all.


III. Commentaries on the Garbha Vidhis

Although there are many so-called commentaries on the Carbha Vidhis by both Shingon and Tendai moriks, very few are of any great interpretative value. Both the Tendai61 and Shingon traditions rely on the Mahiivairocana-sutra and its commentary the Ta-p'i-lu-che-na ch'engju ching-shu62 for authoritative interpretations. Although this article analyses the five Shingon vidhis discussed above, none of the available Japanese commentaries specifically analyses these. Instead, they focus on the influential Shibu giki. Nevertheless, these will be used because they are the only Sino-Japanese commentaries available63 and because all vidhis share in common a core of evocation procedures interpreted alike on the basis of the Ta-p'i-lu-che-na shu.

One of the best commentaries is Shingo's Renge Taizokai giki kaishaku,64 which interprets Fa-chi.ian's Ch'ing-lung i-kuei. The commentaries of Raiyuaab (1226-1304),65 Goho,66 and the Tendai monk Kakucho67 are also valuable, although they focus on explaining the different traditions of making a single mudrii and often neglect to interpret the contents of the vidhi discussed. The commentaries of Ennin 68 and Annen 69 particularly become occupied with explaining how the mudriis of the Shibu giki and Mahiivairocana-sutra differ or are the same, and offer very little bona fide interpretation.7o

Due to the length of these vidhis only a few of the important components of each section will be presented and interpreted. These vidhis can be very tedious, especially when read without the aid of the commentaries. My purpose in presenting the following survey is to clarify the structure and contents of these vidhis, these being little investigated in the West. In addition to using Goho's proposed title headings for each section, I will also offer my own section titles to further clarify their purpose. A list in Chinese of the contents of a typical, early Carbha Vidhi is given at the end of this paper.

IV. Purpose of the Garbha Vidhi

The Ta-p'i-lu-che-na shu states71 that the assemblies of the MKG ma7Jqaia express the tathiigata dharmadhiitu body as well as


perfed and complete enlightenment. Paraphrasing Raiyu, he says the word garbha, or womb, symbolizes great compassion, the means by which the mind of enlightenment (bodhicitta) is cultivated.72 Just as a child is born from the womb, is taught manners and customs by its parents, and later is shown how to perfect actions, so does this mar],qala symbolize the innate, pure but unawakened mind of the Shingon practitioner who by means of the Carbha Vidhi cultivates this mind and achieves enlightenment. Thereafter, the devotee works to save others. In the mythological terms of the Shingon school, because living beings are unaware of their innate enlightenment Mahavairocana out of compassion reveals both the Carbha Vidhi and the MKG mar],qala so the bodhicitta of all living beings can be cultivated. 73 Gengo states that the assemblies of the mar],qala are divided into the three families of Buddha, Vajra and Lotus74 because it deals with samadhi, wisdom and compassion, respectively.75 G6h6 also correlates these three families with the three mysteries of the body, mind and speech, respectively.76 He writes that the Vajradhiitu mar],qala is concerned with practices that are for the pleasure of the Self-oriented Dharmakaya in Bliss Oap.: Jijuyo hasshinaac) while the MKG mar],qala is concerned with practices of the Other-oriented Dharmakaya in Bliss 0 ap.: Tajuyo hasshinaad) which benefit and save living beings.77 The anonymous author of the Himitsudan toha daiajari jonenju shaki also correlates the three families of this mar],qala with the dharmakaya (Buddha family), sa7(lbhogakaya (Lotus family) and nirmar],akaya/ ni~yandakaya (Vajra family).78

As described by Hakeda,79 Kukai taught that the Vajradhiitu mar],qala represented Mahavairocana (the dharmakaya, bodhicitta) as the Body of Wisdom while the MKG mar],qala represented Mahavairocana as the Body of Principle.

"Kukai interpreted these two aspects of Mahavairocana as being inseparably related and asserted that both bodies are nondual (richijuni). He said 'that which realizes is wisdom (chi) and that which is to be realized is principle (ri). The names differ but they are one in their essential nature.' "

This doctrinal interpretation of these two mar],qalas of the Shingon school by Kukai derives from the unique methods of medi-

118 JIABS VOL. 9NO. 2

tation of the Vajrayana. These involve visualizing oneself in the form of a Buddha, as exemplified below, and promise the rapid attainment of Buddhahood.80 As Jeffrey Hopkins writes in clarifying this form of meditation in the Vajrayana of Tibet:

"In deity yoga, one first meditates on emptiness and then uses that consciousness realizing emptiness-or at least an imitation of it-as the basis of emanation of a Buddha. The wisdom consciousness thus has two parts-a factor of wisdom and a factor of method, or factors of (1) ascertainment of emptiness and (2) appearance as an ideal being-and hence, through the practice of deity yoga, one simultaneously accumulates the collections of merit and wisdom, making their amassing much faster ...

The systems that have this practice are called the Vajra Vehicle, because the appearance of a deity is the display of a consciousness which is a fusion of wisdom understanding emptiness and compassion seeking the welfare of others-an inseparable union symbolized by a vajra ... ,,81

The bodhicitta has the two inseparable aspects of "that which realizes" or "ascertainment of emptiness" and "that which is to be realized" or "appearance as an ideal being." This practice of "deity yoga" in the Shingon tradition helps explain why the Carbha and Vajradhiitu rites have always been performed as a pair in Japan. Today these vidhis are sometimes performed before the MKG and Vajradhiitu mart4alas, which are hung in the shrine, and these two mart4alas express the two inseparable aspects of the bodhicitta which is perfected through "deity yoga."

V. Preliminary Expedients-Rites oj Purification

There are approximately twenty-five ritual acts in this section, a few of which are given below. These involve cleansing the body, prostrating before all buddhas, purifying the altar offerings, summoning all buddhas to come and protect the devotee, etc. All of these can be classified as purification rites.

Every Shido kegyo system begins with the devotee first bathing or otherwise cleansing his body and robes. Upon approaching the shrine one visualizes that "my body is that ofVajrasattva." This initial visualization expresses the Shingon teaching that a


devotee of whatever talent is essentially enlightened. The vidhi is meant to awaken the innate bodhicitta symbolized by Vajrasattva.

When purifying the three karmic actions of the body, speech and mind one intones the mantra: Or(l, svabhava-suddha sarvadharma svabhava-suddho 'har(l,82 (Or(l, All natures are pure by nautre; I am pure by nature). One contemplates that the ten evil deeds of the three actions83 are hereby purified. The lotus anjali (mudra no. 1), formed with the middle fingers slightly apart, expresses the budding mind of enlightenment, not yet fully awakened. 84

The purification of the Buddha, Lotus and Vajra class of deities also focuses on the purification of the body, speech and mind respectively. The devotee imagines the deities of each family empowering one and causing one to attain rapidly pure actions of the body, speech and mind. The mantras of each family are as follows: Or(l, tathagatodbhavaya svaha (Or(l, Homage to the Tathagata-born! svaha); Or(l,padmodbhavayasvaha (Or(l, Homage to the Lotus-born! svaha); Or(l, vajrodbhavaya svaha (Or(l, Homage to the Vajra-born! svaha). The three mudras accompanying these recitations (mudra nos. 2, 3, 4) are samaya, or symbolic mudras, representing the Buddha's head, a lotus and a threepronged thunderbolt, respectively, and are formed during the empowerment. The Ta-p'i-lu-che-na ShU85 says svaha means to exhort all the deities of the three families to protect and empower the devotee.

When donning armour one recites Or(l, vajragni pradzptaya svaha (Or(l, Homage to thunderbolt Agni, bursting into flames! svaha). The devotee's body is visualized encircled by flames. Any who would hinder the devotee in his practices are now unable to do so. The two middle fingers of the mudrii (no. 5) represent the flames of wisdom fanned by the wind (the two index fingers). By realizing sunyata (the two thumbs) the four demons (defilements, five aggregates, death, Lord of the Heaven of Desire) are subdued (the two little and ring fingers pressed on by the thumbs).

One purifies the earth with the thunderbolt anjali (mudrii no. 6), saying rajo' pagatah sarva-dharmah (Mayall elements be free from impurities!). This mantra is meant to purify the site of the vidhi. The pure land of the Dharmakaya Mahavairocana


(right hand) in union with the defiled realm of living beings (left hand) means both realms are not-two.

The above ritual actions and many more not discussed are found in the prior Jilhachido and Kongokai rites, and are a unique feature of the five Shingon vidhis. The following nine expedients are found in all Carbha vidhis.

These nine expedients and their mantras are based on chuan seven of the Mahavairocana-siltra. (The siltra does not give the mudriis, and these vary from one vidhi to the next.) All commentaries equate these nine ritual acts with the nine deities in the center of the maTJ.qala as it is drawn in Japan. 86 These are called expedients because by the power of these nine mantras and mudriis the perceptions (vijiiiina) are transformed and the devotee realizes the five wisdoms. The correlations of the deities and the expedients is as follows: 1) Paying Homage-Samantabhadra; 2) Expelling transgressions-Manjusrl; 3) Going for Refuge-Avalokitesvara; 4) Offering the body-Maitreya; 5) Generating the Mind of Enlightenment-Ratnaketu; 6) Sharing Joy-SaITlkusumitaraja; 7) Request-Amitabha; 8) Requesting the Dharmakiiya-Divyadundubhimegha-nirgho~a; 9) Transfer of Merits-Mahavairocana. Raiyu says these nine expedients are used because the MKG is the maTJ.qala of cause while the Vajradhiitu maTJ.qala is the maTJ.qala of effect. By these expedients the five wisdoms symbolized by the five buddhas in the center of the Vajradhatu MaTJ.qala are realized. 87 This interpretation indicates how the two maTJ.qalas and their respective vidhis are viewed as inseparable.

VI. Constructing the Altar-Visualizing Oneself as Vajrasattva

There are approximately fifteen ritual acts in this section, all centered around visualizing oneself as Vajrasattva.

The devotee visualizes the syllable ma in the right eye and the syllable ta in the left eye. These become the light of the sun and moon. This visual;,zation facilitates seeing Vajrasattva. Ma and ta express insight and samadhi, respectively.

The Ta-p'i-lu-che-na. shu88 identifies the next three rites (entering the Buddha's pledge; birth of the dharmadhiitu; turning the wheel of the teaching) with the pledges of the three families


of the MKG. One is empowered here as a master of these families. Kakuban (1095-1143) repeats this interpretation.89

These three rites are also based on chuan seven of the Mahiivairocana-sidra.

When doing the Buddha's pledge one recites nama}JSamantabuddhiiniir(l asame trisame samaye sviihii (Homage to all the buddhas! Oh pledge, without equal, of the three equalities! sviihii). Kakuch6 writes one here attains a tathiigata body endowed equally with the three mysteries (the above three equalities) of the body, speech and mind. 90 The mudrii to be formed here is the lotus aiijali (mudrii no. 7). The four fingers of each hand pressed together represent the as-yet-unawakened mind of man (the eight consciousnesses), while the two extended thumbs represent the samiidhi and insight which the devotee cultivates. This mudrii seals the five places (forehead, right and left shoulders, chest and throat), which symbolizes perfecting the five wisdoms.

With the mudrii (no. 8) and mantra of the birth of the dharmadhiitu, the devotee becomes identical with the dharmadhiitu. 91

The mantra to be recited is namah samanta-buddhiiniir(l dharmadhiitu-svabhiivako' har(l (Homage to all the buddhas. I am the self-nature of the dharmadhiitu). The two index fingers of this mudrii represent generating the flame of the Buddha's knowledge. The three fingers grasping the thumbs means the three poisons (ignorance, attachment and hatred) are transformed and one's nature becomes pure like space (the thumbs mean space).

The mantra for turning the wheel of the teaching is namah samanta-vajriirtar(l vajratmako 'har(l (Homage to all the vajras. I consist of vajra). One visualizes one's body as Vajrasattva holding a vajra. The mudra shows the wheel of the teaching being turned (the two thumbs represent the hub and the other eight fingers represent the eight spokes, i.e., the eightfold path) (mudra no. 9).

Now one visualizes the syllable rar(l, brilliant and white, on the head. This eliminates all defilements and transgressions accumulated over 100 kalpas and enables one to attain wisdom and blessings. The syllable rar(l represents the tathiigata's fire of wisdom. 92

The final act of this section is called Constructing the Altar or, the tathiigata-first mudra93 (mudra no. 10). Shingo says that this and the following rite of sprinkling perfumed water on the site are the final actions taken to remove impurities in the mind


before visualizing the marJe/ala. 94 It is apparent from this interpretation that all the rites in this section were performed in order to make the devotee a suitable "shrine" for this visualization. The devotee has now become completely purified and abides in the samadhi of Mahavairocana, realizing the five wisdoms. The thumb of the left hand (the devotee's consciousness) is placed within the palm of the right hand; it is then· grasped by the four fingers of the right hand and the tip of the right hand's thumb presses down on the tip of the left hand's thumb (i.e., the devotee's consciousness is transformed into the five wisdoms symbolized by the right hand's five fingers; also, the two thumbs of both hands touching together signify taking refuge in sunyata).

VII. Visualizing the Seat of Enlightenment-Visualizing the Container World

There are approximately forty ritual acts in this section. These rites concern establishing a proper container world (i.e., marJe/ala ) and the invitation of the deities to descend into the marJe/ala.

The rite of visualizing the five cakras is derived from chuans five and seven of the Mahavairocana-sutra. Coho states that by this visualization the devotee's body becomes identical with Mahavairocana.96 There are various descriptions of this rite but all focus on visualizing the five syllables a, vaT(l raT(l, haT(l and khaT(l, which together are the five-syllable mantra of Mahavairocana in the MKC maI).<;lala.97 The Taizo Bonji Shidai says that these syllables should be visualized on the moon disc in one's own heart so as to form the body of Vajrasattva, whom even the great Mara cannot obstruct.

Shingo says that these five syllables are the seed syllables of the five elements behind all physical phenomena.98 Even the Taizo Bonji Shidai makes the same statement. However, this contradicts Kukai's own statement in his Sokushin jobutsu gi (Principle of Attaining Buddhahood with this Very Body),99 where he identifies the five syllables a, va, ra, ha and kha as the seed syllables of earth, water, fire, wind and space. Both Shingo and the editor of the Taizo Bonji Shidai are thus confusing this mantra


of Mahavairocana with the seed syllables of the five elements. The King of One Hundred Lights is taken from chuan six

of the Mahavairocana-sutra. lOO One recites nama'" samanta-buddhiina11} a11} tHomage to all the buddhas. a11}) and forms the vajra anjali (mudra- no. 11). The letter a11}, Kakucho says, symbolizes the mind of enlightenment. This is to be visualized on top of the head. IOI The two hands are joined together with the tips interlocking. The mudra symbolizes the inseparable union of the MKG marpq,ala and the Vajradhiitu marpq,ala.

The Visualization of the Container World is also based on chuans five and seven of the Mahiivairocana-sutra, and is explained in chuan fourteen of the Ta-p'i-lu-che-na shu. 102 The latter says that this visualization is always performed when a MKG marpq,ala is to be visualized. The Taizo Bonji Shidai describes this visualization as follows:

Below (imagine) there is the syllable kha1'1), which forms the space circle, of various colors and round in shape; above that is the syllable ha1'1), which forms the wind circle, black in color and crescent shaped; above that is the syllable ra1'1), which forms the fire circle, red in color and triangular in shape; above that is the syllable va1'1), which forms the water circle, white in color and circular; above it is the syllable a1'1), which forms the earth circle, yellow in color and square in shape. Above the earth circle there is syllable ka1'1), which forms the seven concentric mountain ranges. Above these in the sky is the syllable a which becomes Mahavairocana. From his stomach cakra there flows out a milk rain which falls down on the mountains. This turns into a perfumed ocean of eight blessings. In the midst of the ocean is the syllable pra which changes into a Golden Tortoise. On the back of the tortoise is the syllable hu1'1), which becomes a five-pronged vajra. Above it is the syllable alp which becomes a great lotus. Above the lotus are the syllables pra, SU, hu1'1)" va1'1)" etc., which change into the King of this marvellous, high mountain (It has eight peal<.s composed of the four gems). 103

The above obviously is one version of the Indian Buddhist cosmos that was transplanted to China and Japan. Mount Sumeru is the central peak surrounded by the- seven concentric mountains. The milk rammg down is a symbol of Mahavairocana's constant teaching. This becomes the setting of Mahavairocana's palace and the MKG marpq,ala.


Next, the Taizo Bonji Shidai describes the mart4ala to be visualized:

Above the Lord of Mount Sumeru there'is the syllable ah which turns into an eight-pillared palace. Its four gates are open and adorned with the seven precious gems. In the center of the palace is the syllable hrih which forms an eight-petalled lotus. On the lotus is the syllable a which turns into a stupa. This turns into Mahavairocana. His body is endowed with the fortuitous marks and is brilliant, being completely luminous. The four buddhas and bodhisattvas and the sacred ones of the thirteen assemblies104 encircle him in front and behind and are seated.

Raiyu says that the devotee should imagine the inhabitants of this palace singing wonderful music and playing stringed instruments that produce wonderful sounds. 105

A common request found next in the five Shingon vidhis is as follows:

"I request Mahavairocana, all the tathiigatas of the countless assemblies, the multitude of thunderbolt bodhisattvas of the two vehicles, the omnipresent assemblies of the great palace, the countless sages and all enlightened beings, I now, like the Buddha, have perfected the two worlds, I have perfected my body and established the maY!4ala; it is now variously adorned; do not abandon your vows of compassion but do now descend. I only pray that all you sages fulfill your original vows and receive me and others so that I attain success."

There follows in these vidhis the evocation rites of the four Guardians of the four gates, the Space net and Fire enclosure, etc., all of which are meant to protect the mart4ala from demons while the deities descend into it. A bell is rung (this signifies samiidhi)106 to attract the deities, lotus seats are prepared for them, and the following eight deities are the first to arrive.

These eight, secret mudriis are based on chiian five of the Mahiivairocana-sutra l07 and are explained in the Ta-p'i-Iu-che-na shu. 108 In the latter it is stated that by means of these eight mudriis and mantras all deities will spontaneously descend into the mart4ala and fulfill the devotee's vows and praxis. If the yogin then unites with these deities and dwells in their seats magical powers (siddhi) are attained. The Ta-p'i-Iu-che-na shu


correlates these eight mudriis and mantras with the four buddhas and bodhisattvas in the very center of the mar],q,ala as follows: 1) Yamfmtaka (literally: Great majesty and virtue engendered)Ratnaketu . in the east; 2) Vajra Indestructible-Sa:rp.kusumitaraja in the south; 3) Lotus Store-Amitabha in the west; 4) Adorned with ten thousand virtues-Divyadundubhimeganirgho::;a in the north; 5) All Limbs engendered--.:.Samantabhadra in the southeast; 6) Dharma abiding-Mafijusrl in the southwest; 7) The Dhiirar],z of the Bhagavat-Avalokitesvara in the northwest; 8) Promptly Empowering-Maitreya in the northeast.109 Shingo says that by these mudriis the devotee can abide in the body of Mahavairocanapo Two of these follow.

1) Mudra no. 12. This mudra represents ajewel; the thumbs, index fingers and little fmgers represent radiating light. That is, this is the wish-fulfilling gem of Mahavairocana. From this mudra the great virtues of a tathiigata arise. Goho says that the two ring fingers express principle while the two middle fingers express wisdom-the two inseparable aspects of the mind of enlightenment. III The mantra to be recited is nama!], samanta-buddhiina'TIJ ra'TIJ ra!], svahii (Homage to all the buddhas! ra'TIJ ra!], svalia). Ra'TIJ and ra!], are based on the two syllables a'TIJ and a!]" meaning perfect enlightenment and nirvar],a, respectively. Ra is the seed syllable of the fire element (the two middle fingers also represent the burning flame of wisdom) and thus ra'TIJ and ra!], signify enlightenment and nirvar],a, and are present in the fire element from which arise the tathagata's virtues.

8) Mudra no. 13. This is the mudra of turning the Wheel of the teaching. It is revolved in a circular motion three times counter-clockwise and three times clockwise. The mantra here is nama!], samanta-buddhiina'TIJ mahii-yoga-yogini yogeSvara kha'TIJjarike svahii (Homage to all the buddhas! Oh yoginz of great yoga! Oh Goddess of yoga! Oh space-born! svahii). (When the mudra is turned counterclockwise, the right thumb is on the left thumb; when turned clockwise, the left thumb is on the right thumb.)

Two stages of mediation have been introduced above which should be clarified. These can be explained by referring to the Kriya tantric tradition of Tibet whose fundamental text is the Mahiivairocana-sutra. Previously, the entire mar],q,ala and its deities were visualized, 112 whereas now deities begin to descend into this mar],q,ala. In the former, the yogin visualized and iden-


tified with the samaya-sattviis (symbolic beings), i.e., the deities the yogin has imagined, a product of the mind. Those deities who descend into the ma1'Jq,ala are jiiiina-sattvas (knowledge beings).113 These are considered celestial deities 'or buddhas, corporeal manifestations of Mahavairocana, and are summoned from the AkiiSa realm. As hinted at above, once the latter descend, the symbolic being is identified with the knowledge being114 and magical powers are obtained. 115

VIII. The Tathagatakaya Assembly-Realization of Mahiivairocana's Virtues

This assembly is based on chilan four of the Mahiivairocanasidra. 116 There are three traditions concerning the place of this assembly within the Carbha Vidhis. As explained by Gengo,117 it can be found before the visualized seat of enlightenment, as in the HSilanja-ssu i-kuei and Sarai hoben shidai; it is also placed after the seat of enlightenment and just before the assemblies of the ma1'Jq,ala which are manifested below, as in the five Shingon vidhis, the vidhis of Jichie and Shinga and the Ch'ing-Iung i-kuei; finally, it is also placed after the ma1'Jq,ala assemblies as in the Taiza furei gosan shidai and Corin taji shidai. Gengo says that if this assembly is placed before the visualized seat of enlightenment it signifies the adornment of the yogin's body and a necessary preparation for the visualization of the container world. If this assembly comes before the ma1'Jq,ala assemblies it expresses the virtues of Mahavairocana (as a manifestedjiiiina-sattva). If this assembly is found after the ma1'Jq,ala it expresses the results of the practice. The anonymous author of the Himitsu dantohO daiajari janenju shaki writes that if this assembly comes after the ma1'Jq,ala it is meant only to express the origin of the ma1'Jq,ala assemblies and not the way the vidhi is practiced. Placed before the ma1'Jq,ala it expresses the inner realized virtues of the yogin which are then manifested externally in the ma1'Jq,ala. 118

Regardless of these differences, it is clear that this assembly represents the. virtues of Mahavairocana that the devotee realizes. Shingo writes that this assembly represents Mahavaironcana's entry into sarJ}siira, i.e., the mudriis of this assembly clarify the traits of the nirmii1'Jakiiya buddha who appears

STUDY OFTHE GARBHA VIDHI 127

to teach Buddhism. 1l9 The Ta-p'i-lu-che-na shu says that the practices of this assembly result in the complete purity of the body and mind and the fulfillment of the yogin's vows. 120

Only a few of the nearly thirty rites of this assembly will be presented. Coho and Kakuban classify these rites as representative of the mystery of either the body, speech or mind. 121 In the MKG marz,dalas of Japan the deities of this assembly are depicted in the Sakyamuni assembly.

Tathagata's u~rz,z~a (mudra no. 14); mystery of the body. The two middle fingers stand erect. The index fingers press against the back of the middle fingers while the thumbs press against the base of the middle fingers. This represents a three-pronged vajra, i.e., an u~rz,z~a. The mantra to be recited is namah samantabuddhiina11J, hu11J, hu11J, (Homage to all the buddhas 1 hu11J, hu11J,). The Ta-p'i-lu-che-na shu says that the two hu11J, syllables mean cause and effect or practice and buddhahood.

Tathiigata's tongue (mudra no. 15); mystery of speech. This is represented by the two ring fingers inserted in the palms; these two fingers are pressed by the two thumbs. Mantra: namah samanta-buddhanam tathiigata-jihva satya-dharma-prat~thita svahii (Homage to all the buddhas! Tathagata's tongue! Dweller in the true teaching! svahii).

Tathagata's mindfulness (mudra no. 16); mystery of mind. Mantra: namah samanta-buddhana11J, tathagata-smJ:ti sattvahitabhyudgata gagana-samiisama svaha (Homage to all the buddhas! Oh mindfulness of the Tathagata, creating the benefits of living beings, equivalent to space and without equal! svahii). The two index fingers, representing cause and effect, press down on the two thumbs (representing space and sunyatii) , i.e., the two obstructions of cause and effect are resolved in the realization of sunyata. The three other erect fingers represent the virtues of the Buddha, Lotus and Vajra families. This mudrii is also called the Sword of Wisdom.


IX. The Twelve Assemblies of the MKG MarJe/ala in japan-Aspects of Enlightenment

Avalokitd

vara*

K~itigarbha *

1

2

* The two Lotus families

East

Exterior Vajras

Manjusrl 2

Sakyamuni 2

All I knowledge

Eight petals

1

Vidyadharas 1

Akasagarbha 2

Susiddhi 2

3

1

2

The seven

assemblies

in the center

are the Buddha family.

VajrapaI).i**

SarvanivaraI).a

vi~kambhl**

** The two Vajra families. The exterior Vajras sometimes are classified as a

Vajra family.

The numbers 1-3 indicate the rank of each assembly.

These assemblies in the five Shingon vidhis are based on chuiin four of the Mahiivairocana-siltra. 122 In these vidhis all 414 deities depicted in the MKG marJe/ala do not have corresponding evocation rites. In contrast to these shorter vidhis, those attributed to Jichie and Shinga contain many more mudriis and mantras for the deities in each assembly of the MKG marJe/ala. 123

These latter two vidhis, as well as that attributed to Engyo (799-852),124 present these assemblies in the same order as does the Kuang-da i-kuei: 1) All knowledge; also called Buddha's mother (Henchiaae); 2) Lotus family or Avalokitesvara (Rengebuaaf); 3) Vajrapa1)i or Vajra family (Kongoshu aag); 4) Five Vidyiidharas or jimyoaah assembly; 5) Mafljusrjaai; 6) Sarvanivara1)a-vi~kambhl or jogaishoaaj assembly; 7) K~itigarbha (Jizoaak); 8)Akasagarbha (Kokuzoaa1); 9) Sakyamuni (Shaka aam); 10) Exterior Vajras (Gekongoaan). The five Shingon vidhis present these assemblies in the same order as the vidhis of Fa-chiian and the She-ta i-kuei as


follows: 1) All-knowledge; 2) Avalokitesvara; 3) Mafijusri; 4) Sarvanivaral)a-vi~kambhl; 5) K~itigarbha; 6) Akasagarbha; 7) Vajrapal)i; 8) Vidyadharas; 9) Sakyamuni; 10) Exterior Vajras.

In all these vidhis the previous section on the "eight secret mudriis" and. the evocation rite of the "all illuminating rays of 1 00 syllables" are correlated with the nine deities of the eightpetal assembly. Shingo and Raiyu write that in these abbreviated vidhis the Susiddhi assembly is not delineated because it is interpreted as being represented by Susiddhikara Bodhisattva, aao

depicted in the Akasagarbha assembly. 125 This is how the vidhi's account for the twelve assemblies.

Annen attempts to explain why the assemblies appear in different orders in the vidhis. 126 When the yogin starts from the center of the marJ,q,ala and moves outward as in the Kuang-da i-kuei, that is, from the first rank of the marJ,q,ala (Eight petals, All-knowledge, Avalokitesvara, Vajrapal)i and Vidyadharas) to the second (Sakyamuni, Mafijusrl, Sarvanivaral)a-viskarpbhi, Akasagarbha and K~itigarbha) and the third rank (Exterior Vajras) , this is a method of recitation beginning from the source and moving outward towards manifestations.aap In contrast, Annen and the Ta-p'i-lu-che-na-shu 127 say that a recitation beginning in the outer assemblies and moving inward represents a practice moving from a cause to an effect, i.e., this is a practice seeking the mind of enlightenment represented by the eightpetal assembly. Notwithstanding this "explanation," the commentaries do not explain why the five Shingon vidhis proceed in the rank order 1-2-1-2-3, and this topic needs to be further investigated.

There are approximately 100 deities with their mudras and mantras in the Shingon vidhis. Instead of giving examples of these it will suffice here to state the basic concept behind the structure of the MKG marJ,q,ala as this relates to the vidhis. As the Ta-p'i-lu-che-na shu states, 128 due to the Tathiigata's empowerment the first rank of assemblies is manifested by virtue of the Buddha's enlightenment. The second rank of great beings is manifested due to the practice of great compassion. The third rank appears by virtue of skillful means. Thus, in reciting the mantras and forming the mudras of the deities in the marJ,q,ala, the yogin cultivates compassion based on the bodhicitta and develops


skillful means to aid all living beings in attaining enlightenment. 129

X. Offerings and Dharani Recitation - Siddhis

A distinctive feature of this section in the five Shingon vidhis is that its structure and many of its rites (there are about thirtyfive rites) are based on the Vajradhatu Vidhi system introduced by Kiikai, and not the Mahavairocana-si1tra, although some major rites presented below are based on the sidra. 130 The rites in this section clearly illustrate the accomplishments of the yogin who has successfully summoned the deities to the marJ4ala.

After all knowledge beings of the mal).Qala have been attracted, drawn in, tied and subdued by the four attracting (sar(lgraha aaq) deities, bringing about non-duality between the yogin and these knowledge beings, the offerings of powdered incense, flowers, stick incense, food and lights are offered to them. As interpreted by the Ta-p'i-lu-che-na shu, Shingo and Kakucho 131 , powdered incense means purity, flowers represent all practices born from compassion, stick incense means the ability to penetrate the dharmadhatu (i.e., in accord with each virtue cultivated a fire of wisdom burns and the breeze of liberation blows; in accord with the power of one's vows of compassion one perfumes all spontaneously), food refers to the results of one's practices, i.e., a supreme ambrosia (enlightenment) that is beyond sar(lSara and lights refer to the yogin'S boundless wisdom that illuminates all living beings. In some vidhis, argha water (feet-cooling water) heads this list, making six offerings. Kakucho says these refer to the six perfected paramitas of charity, morality, patience, striving, samadhi and insight. 132 It is obvious that these offerings involve both "outer" and "inner offerings," the latter representing the attainments of the yogin.

The next series of rites, concluding the vidhi in general, are interpreted as the turning of the Wheel of the Teaching by the yogin.133 When either contemplating a circle of syllables on the body or reciting certain mantras, the devotee is really the enlightened Mahavairocana who is constantly teaching the esoteric doctrine. This is the implementation of skillful means for the enlightenment of all living beings.

The practice of the rite entitled "Lord of Twelve Mantras"


involves visualizing twelve syllables on twelve parts of the body. Because all vidhis employ slightly different syllables, these varying schemes need not be individually interpreted. The twelve parts of th~ body are the head, brow, two ears, two shoulders, chest, back (or throat), stomach, loins and two feet. The Ta-p'i-luche-na shu says that by contemplating these letters on the body the yogin becomes the Buddha Vairocana, the essence of the dharmadhiitu, and turns the Wheel of the Teaching. 134 As described by this commentary and Annen 135, the letters a, ii, arfJ,

and aft" meaning giving rise to the thought of enlightenment, cultivating it, realizing enlightenment and entering Nirviir],a, are virtues found in the Buddha, Lotus and Vajra families. These families are represented by the letters a, sa and va, respectively. The scheme of twelve syllables resulting from this interpretation is as follows:

Four a's a a a7(t alt-

Family

Buddha a a a a7(t alt-

Lotus sa sa sa sa7(t salt-

Vajra va va va va7(t valt-

When he visualizes these twelve syllables on the twelve parts of the body, the yogin embodies the above four virtues as cultivat~d in each of the three families. 136

The above set of twelve syllables is also used in the following visualization, entitled the Three Families and Four Places." The syllables a, sa and va, referring to the three families, are contemplated on the top of the head and on the right and left shoulders, respectively. The yogin thus is the Lord of the Teachings of the three families. Then the syllables a, sa and va are contemplated on the head, ii, sii and vii are contemplated on the chest, arfJ" sarfJ" and varfJ, are visualized at the stomach and aft" saft, and vaft, are visualized below the loins. These four groups of syllables represent the four mar],q,alas (Great, Symbolic, Law and Action) realized by the yogin. 137

Following this visualization, the yogin contemplates


Mahavairocana entering the body and the yogin entering Mahavairocana (nyuga_ganyuaar). As explained in the Taizo bonji shidai138 the yogin

" ... visualizes in the mind a full moon disc with nine concentric layers139 (these are the abodes of the nine deities - in the center of the marJ4,ala). Above this is the syllable a. Because the syllable a (a symbol of Mahavairocana) is fundamentally unborn and cannot be comprehended the intrinsic nature of my mind also cannot be comprehended; the minds of living beings also are fundamentally unborn and cannot be comprehended; the realm of all buddhas also is fundamentally unborn and cannot be comprehended; buddhas and living beings are not two and are equal. For this reason I am Mahavairocana and Mahavairocana is myself."

The devotee now recites the mantra of Mahavairocana in the MKG manc/4ala: a vi ra hu'f!L kha'f!L. Then follows the empowerment of the Buddha's mother (also called Buddha's Eyes because the five eyes, i.e., wisdoms, are perfected). This is also practiced in the Vajradhiitu Vidhi (mudra no. 17). The two index fingers touch the backs of the upper joints of the two middle fingers. The tips of the two little fmgers touch one another. The two thumbs touch the middle joints of the two middle fingers. (Various explanations exist concerning how this mudra represents five eyes. 140) The forehead, right and left shoulders, chest and throat are empowered with this mudra. The mantra to be recited is: namo bhagavat-Wirpi~a O'f!L ru ru sphuru jvala t~tha siddha-locani sarvartha-siidhani svahii (Homage to the u~l,lI~a of the Bhagavat! Orp Speak! Speak! Fill up! Radiate! Remain! Oh, gaze of the accomplished one! Oh, one who makes achieve all aims! svahii).

The five Shingon vidhis conclude with further recitations, the transfer of the merits of the practice to all living beings, the farewell to the knowledge beings and their return to the A..kasa realm, the dissolving of the marpdala, and the departure of the devotee from the shrine.

XI. Concluding Remarks

In this brief survey I have attempted to identify the major components of the Garbha Vidhi system introduced to Japan by


Kflkai; The five vidhis judged to be representative of this system are long manuals, and without some knowledge of their structure and components the rationale behind the ritual-meditation process is otherwise difficult to understand. We have seen that the kalpa is a composite practice. Its structure is based on chiian seven of the Mahavairocana-sutra, and specific rites are taken from chiians four, five and six as well. Based on the explanations of authoritative commentaries I have labeled the major sections ofthevidhi system as follows: 1) Rites of Purification; 2) Visualizing Oneself as Vajrasattva; 3) Visualizing the Container World; 4) Realization of Mahavairocana's virtues; 5) Aspects of Enlightenment; 6) Siddhis. As a result of this survey, the character and natural progression of the meditation process becomes evident ..

This process can be summarized as follows. The yogin begins by purifying and protecting his body, speech and mind. Without the removal of defilements, both physical and mental, the proper environment for the visualization of deities is not established. The yogin then visualizes Vajrasattva (another name for the Tathagata Mahavairocana), the Lord of the three families. Next, the yogin generates the residence of Mahavairocana (the MKG mafJ,qala) at the summit of Mount Sumeru and visualizes Mahavairocana and all the deities of the mafJ,qala residing in this palace. Thus far, all visualizations have been of symbolic-beings, i.e., these are products of the mind with which the yogin temporarily identifies. Mount Sumeru is in the Akan4fha heaven, the highest of the form realms, and here clearly is also a product of the mind. Once this ma~la has been protected the knowledge-beings are summoned and they descend into this container world. The yogin then unites the knowledge- and symbolic-beings and attains various powers not discussed in the manuaL Once these knowledge-beings descend, the yogin's vows to attain enlightenment, etc., can be fulfilled. Presumably the mafJ,qala is visualized in the Akani~fha heaven because it is here that the knowledge-beings are able to take on form. These knowledge-beings are offered food, incense, etc., both of the physical and mental varieties, as explained in the commentaries. Finally, the yogin recites dharafJ,zs. These are recited while dwelling on the shapes of syllables visualized on different parts of the body. At the conclusion of the ritual the same visualizations that were performed to establish the mafJ,qala are performed again, this time with the goal of


dissolving the visualization. The protective space net, fire enclosure, etc. are removed, the knowledge-beings are bid farewell and the yogin dwells in sunyata. 141

It is obvious that all visualizations are accompanied by external, ritual actions. These represent, but are not substitutions for, the visualization (e.g., the mudra of "the budding mind of enlightenment" represents the state of the mind of the yogin). On the other hand, even when the goal of attaining enlightenment for oneself and others is intensely generated, if this goal is pursued without ritual contemplation, it cannot be rapidly achieved. The Shingon tradition maintains that when the mudriis, mantras and visualizations together are properly performed, only then can the vidhi be successfully accomplished. The practitioners of the Shida Kegya system also believe that one cannot really understand these practices or their effects just by reading about them as we have done here. The way of forming a mudra, the way of ringing a bell, etc. have to be learned from a teacher. Of course, without prerequisite training, visualization cannot be practiced either. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this study has clarified the contents and theory of the Carbha Vidhi.

MUDRAs

~ ~ , ,( ~ ~~ ~ ~ 1 2 3 4 5 6,11

(J ~ <ZI\ !I IT1 ~a J.' ~ c {J0} '\) -7 8 9 10 12 13

[f01\ ~h

' o.J,

g~~ ItiJ \: it ~

14 15 16 17


Source: Toganoo Shoun, Himitsu Jisa no Kenkyu (Koyasan: Mikkyo Bunka Kenkyujo, 1959), pp. 287, 322,401,404.

NOTES

Abbreviations

KDZ - Kobo Daishi Zenshu, eight vols. (Koyasan: Mikkyo Bunka Kenkyujo,

1965-67).

KDDZ - Kobo Daishi Shodeshi Zenshu, three vols. (Kyoto: Rokudai Shimposha,

1942).

T - TaishO ShinshU Daizokyo

TS - Toganoo Shoun, HimitsuJiso no Kenkyu (Koyasan: Mikkyo Bunka Ken

kyujo, 1959).

1. The titles for these evocation rites, or vidhis a p.: giki), as illustrated in this paper have always varied in Japan. Garbha is my translation for the Japanese word taizo. The Mikkyo Daijiten (Kyoto: Hozokan, 1983), pp. 1489, 1492, translates taizo as both garbha and garbhakosa. Four vidhis attributed to Kukai also use the word garbhakosa. The word taizo is found in the Chinese translation of the Mahiivairocana-sutra (T. 18, No. 848) and until a Sanskrit version of this scripture is found or until all references to this word in Tibeten and Chinese commentaries are analysed the restoration of the correct Sanskrit will be problematic.

2. Paul Groner has argued convincingly that Saicho could not have introduced this vidhi to Japan. SaichO and the Bodhisattva Precepts (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1981), pp. 44-72.

3. See Kukai's "Goshoraimokuroku," KDZ, Vol. 1, p. 99. Mahii-karurp'igarbhodhava-ma7Jrj,ala is a more technically accurate, Sanskrit restoration of the full Chinese name Ta-pei-t'ai-ts'ang-sheng-man-t'o-lo. See Toganoo Shoun, Mandara no Kenkyu (Koyasan: Mikkyo Bunka Kenkyujo, 1958), p. 63.

4. The Gno branch of early Shingon Buddhism interprets thesegakuhO initiations in this way. In contrast, the Hirosawa branch. interprets Kukai's gakuhO initiations as denbo initiations (transmission of the teaching), which empower one as a master (iiciirya). The Hirosawa branch believes Kukai altogether received three denbo consecrations. TS, pp. 107-09.

5. See Kukai's record (the original is in Kukai's own hand) of those he personally initiated into the Vajradhiitu and Mahii-karu7Jii-garbha ma7Jrj,alas at Takaosanji, the Takao kanjoki. Kobo Daishi Zenshu, Vol. 3, edited by Sofu senyokai (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1911), p. 620ff.

6. Kukai gives in his Shingonshu shogaku kyoritsuron mokuroku (KDZ, vol. 1, pp. 105-23) a list of the sutras, commentaries, etc. he required his disciples to study. The list contains sixty-two sutras belonging to the Tattvasa'T(Lgraha lineage but only seven sutras belonging to the Mahiivairocana-sutra lineage.


7. The classic study of this marpjala is by Ishida Hisatoyo, MandaTa no Kenkyii, two vols. (Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu, 1975).

8. The Shingon denju sakuhO ascribed to Kukai (KDZ, vol. 4, p. 417) prescribes the following set of practices: 1) Kechien kanja, (for establishing a personal relationship with one deity); 2)Jiihachida; 3) Issonba (offering rite to one deity); 4) Kongakai; 5) Taizakai; 6) Coma. When the court sanctioned three Shingon nembundosha just before Kukai's death they were required to master, among other things, an Issonba of one deity from the MKG and one deity from the Vajradhiitu ma7J4ala, the Jiihachida rite, the Bonji shittan sho (a textbook on the Siddham letters Kukai introduced from China but which now is lost), etc., but not the Coma. KDZ, Vol. 5, p. 92. As Kukai's sect grew the need arose eventually for a structured discipline. TS, p. 23ff.

9. Toganoo Shoun, Shingonshii Tokuhon (Jisshuhen), Koyasan: Koyasan Shuppansha, 1968), pp. 90-93.

10. The Hirosawa branch of the Shingon sect, on the basis of the Kongacha yuga gomaki attributed to Kukai, practices the Coma before the Taizakai shidai. The Ono branch, on the basis of the Kenritsu mandara goma giki, also attributed to Kukai, practices these four rites in the order given. TS, p. 33ff.

11. The earliest reference to these rites in Japanese as Kegya is found in a work by Jichi (A.C. 786-847), a disciple of Kukai. Oyama Kojun, Himitsu Bukkya Kayasan Chiiinryii no Kenkyii (Koyasan: Oyama Kojun Hoin Shoshin Kinen Shuppankai, 1962), p. 63.

12. TS. pp. 85-88. 13. Only theJiihachida has been studied. Taisen Miyata, A Study of the

Ritual Mudra in the Shingon Tradition: A Phenomenological Study on the Eighteen Ways of Esoteric Recitation (Jiihachida Nenju Kubi Shidai Chiiinryii) in the Kayasan Tradition, (Rev. Taisen Miyata, 1984). The Jiihachida is based on T.no. 1005.

14. TS. The original work published in 1959 was reprinted in 1982; Oyama Kojun, Himitsu Bukkya. See also Tanaka Kaio, Himitsu Jisa no Kaisetsu (Tokyo: Shikanoen, 1962); "Kokuyaku Taizo Nenju Shidai," in Kokuyaku Seikya Taikei, Tamitsu bu, Dainihan (Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai, 1974), pp. 1-143; Horiou M. Toki, Japanese Mudra based on Si-do-in dzou (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1973). The latter was first published in Annales du Musee Cuimet, Tome huitieme, (Paris, 1899).

15. E.g., Goho (1306-1362) states this in this Taizakai Nenju Shidai Yashiiki, Shingonshu Zensho (hereafter abbreviated SZ), vol. 25 (Tokyo: Shingonshu Zensho Kankokai Shibu, 1934), p. 444.

16. Tajima Ryujin, Etude sur Ie Mahiivairocana-sutra (Dainichikya) avec la traduction commentee du premier chapitre (Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1936). An English translation of this work along with an annotated translation of chapter two of the sutra by Alex Wayman will be published shortly by Motilal Banar-sidass. .

17. E.g., William Kuno Muller, Shingon-Mysticism Subhakarasi'f[!ha and I-hsing's Commentarry to the Mahiivairocana-sutra, Chapter One, an annotated translation (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1980); Minoru Kiyota, "The Mahavairocana-sutra (first chapter): An annotated English Translation," in Daija Bukkya kara Mikkya e Katsumata Shunkya Hakase Koki Kinen Ronshu (Tokyo: Shunjusha, 1983), pp. 17-43.


18. KDZ, Vol. 2, pp. 247-86; also called Carbha Ku (sic:ko)sa dharma. 19. KDZ, Vol. 2, pp. 291·337; also called CarbhakuSa dharma. 20. KDZ, Vol. 2, pp. 342-388; also called CarbhakuSa dharma, Taizokai

shidai, Usugami shidai or Atsugami shidai. 21. KDZ, Vol. 2, pp. 396-451; also called Carbhakosa dharma or Taizo

Usugami shidai. ' 22. Nihon Daizokyo, fifty-one vols. ( Tokyo: Nihon Daizokyo Hensankai,

1914-21). 23. KDZ, Vol. 2, pp. 454-481; also called Taizokai nenju shidai. 24. KDZ, Vol. 4, pp. 559-617. 25. KDZ, Vol. 4, pp. 620-663. 26. KDZ, Vol. 4, pp. 665-694; also called CarbhakuSa dharma or Taizokai

bizai shidai. 27. In the ninth century the Tendai sect also formed a Shido Kegyo

system. An example dating from 1272 is found in Horiou Toki's japanese Mudra based on the Si-do-in-dzou.

28. T. 18, No. 850. 29. T. 18, No. 851. 30. T. 18, No. 852. See Mikkyo Daijiten (Kyoto: Hozokan, 1983), p.

2022, for a short biography. 31. T. 18, No. 853. 32. T. 18, Nos. 854, 856, 857, 859. 33. T. 55, No. 2176, p. 115c. 34. Veda Reijo, "Daishi gosaku Taizo shidai no Kosatsu (1)," Mikkyo

CakkaihO, No. 23, 1984, pp. 49-58; "Daishi gosaku Taizo shidai no Kosatsu," Mikkyo Bunka, no. 146, 1984, pp. 1-11.

35. See Mikkyo Daijiten, p. 850, for a short biography. 36. T. 39, No. 1796. Subhakarasiqlha's oral explanations are here re

corded by I-hsing. I-hsing also adds his own interpretations. 37. Sixteen vidhis were compared. These included the eight traditionally

attributed to Kiikai as well as the following vidhis: Taizokai shidai (KDDZ, Vol. 1, pp. 519-575) and Taizokubishidai (KDDZ, Vol. 1, pp. 271-74), both attributed to Jichie; the Taizo daihO shidai (KDDZ, Vol. 2, pp. 1-74) and Taizo kubi shidai (KDDZ, Vol. 1, pp. 75-79), both attributed to Shinga, another of Kiikai's disciples; the Taizo daishidai, attributed to Engyo (799-852) (KDDZ, VoL 3, pp. 165-346); Yiikai's (1345-1416) Taizokai shidai (T. 78, No. 2509, p. 901£f.); Gengo's (911-955) Taizokai nenju shiki, found in TS, pp. 400-516 or Kokuyaku Seikyo Taikei, Tomitsu bu, Vol. 2, pp. 1-144; and Iwahara Taishin's Taizokai nenju shidai (Koyasan: Matsumoto Nishindo, 1976).

38. SZ, Vol. 25. 39. The Tq,izokai shidai (KDDZ, Vol. 1) attributed to Jichie and the Taizo

daihO shidai (KDDZ, Vol. 2) attributed to Shinga. 40. For a recent study of dhara1J,ts and mantras see Vjike Kakusho,

Darani no Sekai (Osaka: Toho shuppanshi, 1984). 41. A script that developed in the fourth and fifth centuries in India.

See Mikkyo jiten, edited by Sawa Ryuken (Kyoto: Hozokan, 1975), p. 308ff. 42. TS, pp. 71-72; SZ, Vol. 25, p. 4. 43. T. 18, No. 880.

138 JIABS VOL. 9NO. 2

44. See Iwahara Teishin's manual listed above in ft. nt. 37. 45. KDZ, voL 1, pp. 90-91, 561; R.H. va? Gulik, Siddham: An Essay on

the History of Sanskrit Studies in China and Japan, Sata-piraka series, Indo-Asian Literature, VoL 247 (Delhi, 1980), pp. 52-3.

46. T. 84, No. 2701. This. however is not a grammar book on Sanskrit. Kiikai interprets sunyatii in reference to the Siddham letters he lists.

47. Bonji Daikan, edited by Shuchiin Daigaku Mikkyo Gakkai (Tokyo: Meicho fukyokai, 1983), pp. 61-81.

48. The Mikkyo Daijiten (p. 1488fO lists fifty-two different vidhis. 49. KDDZ, VoL 1, pp. 271-74; VoL 2, pp. 75-79. 50. By maintaining the most essential contents and structure of the

Carbha Vidhi the abbreviated manuals must have been considered as effective as the longer ones. The shorter vidhis always reduce the number of evocation rites to the deities in the MKG. There are no comparable short Carbha Vidhis in the Taisho canon;

51. T. 75, No. 2399, p. 633c; T. 75, No. 2404, p. 806c. 52. T. 75, No. 2390 (Taizo daiha tai juki), p. 54a. 53. See Matsunaga Yiikei, Mikkyo no Rekishi (Kyoto: Heirakuji shoten,

1974), pp. 209-15,275-280, for the origins and modern ramifications of this factionalism.

54. SZ, VoL 25, pp. 2, 444. 55. T. 18, No. 848, p. 45f£. 56. T.61, No. 2232 (Renge taizokai giki kaishaku), p. 865c. 57. T. 75, No. 2404 (Taizokai shaki), p. 799b. 58. C£. Takai Kankai, Mikkyo Jiso Taikei (Kyoto: Yamashiroya Bunseido,

1976), pp. 301-313; TS, pp. 70-84. 59. T. 18, No. 848, pp. 24-30. Ueda has discussed the ten mudriis which

alone differ. See his "Daishi gosaku Taizo shidai no Kosatsu (1)," pp. 54-55. 60. KDDZ, Vol. 1, pp. 519-575; VoL 2, pp. 1-74. 61. T. 75, No. 2390, p. 108c; T. 75, No. 2399, p. 633c. 62. T. 39, No. 1796. 63, There is another commentary of interest by Subhakarasirpha's Ko

rean disciple Pul ka sa ue (Jp.: Fukashigi). See T. 39, No. 1797. This interprets chiian seven of the Mahiivairocana-sutra.

64. T. 61, No. 2231. 65. T. 79, No. 2534; Taizo nyu risM. 66. SZ, VoL 25. 67. T. 75, No. 2398 (Taizo sammitsusha); T. 75, No. 2399 (Sammitsu sM

ryoken); T. 75, No. 2404 (Taizokai sMki). 68. T. 75, No. 2385 (Taizokai koshinki). 69. T. 75, No. 2390 (Taizokai daiMtaijuki); See also T. 75, No. 2397. 70. Also read were the following commentaries: Kakuban's (1095-1145)

Taizokai sata (T. 79, No. 2579); Gengo's Taizokai sanbu hishaku (T. 78, No. 2472) and the Himitsudan toM daiajarijonenju shoki (T. 75, No. 2405), anonym-ous.

71. T. 39, No. 1796, p. 714a. C£. T. 75, No. 2405, p. 807b. 72. 'T. 79, No. 2534, p. 145b. Raiyu himself refers to the famous passage

of the Mahiivairocana-sutra (T. No. 848, p. 1 b-c) which, in describing enlighten-


ment,~ays "Bodhicitta is the cause, . great compassion is the root and skilful means IS the end."

73. T. 39, p. 722b. 74. Geng~'s analysis is given by Minoru Kiyota, Shingon Buddhism:

Theory and Practice ·(Los Angeles and Tokyo: Buddhist Books International 1978), pp. 83-87. '

75. T. 78, No. 2472, p. 74. 76. SZ, Vol. 25, pp. 8-9. 77. On the four forms of the dharmakaya in the Shingon school see

Y.S. Hakeda, Kilkai: Major Works translated, with an Account of his Life and a Study of his Thought (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1972), p. 83. This theory is based on sutras of the TattvasaT(Lgraha lineage translated by Amoghavajra. See Kato Shinichi, "KobO Daishi no Busshinkan no Keisei . katei," Mikkyogaku Kenkyu, No. 10, 1978, pp. 41-49.

78. T. 75, p. 807. 79. Y.S. Hakeda, Kukai Major Works, p. 85. 80. This latter point is discussed by Kukai in his Benken mitsu nikyo ron,

KDZ, Vol. 1, pp. 474-506. 81. Jeffrey Hopkins, "Reason as the Prime Principle in Tsong Kha pa's

Delineation of Deity Yoga as the Demarcation Between Sutra and Tantra," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 7, No.2, 1984, pp. 100-10 1.

82. Yoshida Keiko's Kontai Ryobu Shingon Geki (Kyoto: Heirakuji shoten, 1978) and TS were referred to for an understanding of the Siddham mantras in these vidhis. All translations are my own.

83. Killing, stealing, adultery, lying, immoral language, slander, equivocation, coveting and false views.

84. The pictures of the mudras were taken from TS. There are often two or three variations for one mudra. Those depicted are meant to be representative only. The interpretation for these mudras was based on Oyama Kojun's Himitsu Bukkyo. Although he does not acknowledge it, Oyama bases his interpretations on standard commentaries. For example, his explanations of the mudras in the section entitled "Preliminary Expedients" are based on Raiyu's Kongokai hotsu-e sho (T. 79, No. 2533); Kozen's (1120-1203) Kongokai sho, SZ, Vol. 24, pp. 62-204; Donjaku's (1674-1742) Kongokai shidai shiki, SZ, Vol. 24, pp. 205-372, etc. A key to the meaning of the fingers of each hand can be found in Mikkyo Jiten, p. 347, Taizo Zuzo VIII, T. No. 3168, pp. 298-99, and Dale E. Saunders' Mudra: A Study of Symbolic Gestures in Japanese Buddhist Sculpture (Princeton University Press, 1985), p. 32.

85. T. 39, p. 714. 86. See Minoru Kiyota, ShingonBuddhism, pp. 83-89. Cf.MikkyoDaijiten,

pp.349-50. 87. T. 79, No. 2534, p. 147. 88. T. 39, p. 675c. 89. T. 79, No. 2519. 90. T. 75, No. 2404, pp. 799-800; Cf. T. 79, No. 2534, p. 14b; T. 75,

No. 2385, p. lb. 91. T. 39, p. 715a; T. 75, No. 2385, p. 2b.


92. T. 75, 2385, p. 3b; T. 75, No. 2404, p. 800b. 93. SZ, Vol. 25, p. 73; TS, p. 415. Also called Chi ken in, Mudra of the

Knowledge fist. Cf. Saunders, Mudra, p. 102ff. 94. T. 61, No. 2232, p. 571; Cf. T. 79, No. 2519, p. 33. 95. T. No. 848, p. 30ff, 47ff. 96. SZ, Vol. 25, p. 81; Cf. T. 75, No. 2399, p. 635a. 97. Mikkyo Daijiten, p. 600b. 98. T. 61, No. 2231, p. 573. 99. KDZ, Vol. 1, p. 509.

100. T. No. 848, p. 40a. 101. T. 75, No. 2404, p. 801a. 102. Cf. T. 79, No. 2534, p. 150a; T. 18, p. 48a. 103. KDZ, Vol. 2, p. 252. This is quoted as an example of this visualiza

tion in the early vidhis of the Shingon school. 104. Although the Mahavairocana-sutra and its commentary discuss thir

teen assemblies, the MKGma1l4ala as it is drawn in Japan has twelve assemblies. See Toganoo Shoun, Mandara no Kenkyu, p. 102. When the four Vidyadharas of the Susiddhi Assembly are separately drawn, they become the thirteenth assembly.

105. T. 79, No. 2534, p. 150. 106. T. 61, No. 2231, p. 572b. 107. T. No. 848, pp. 36c-37b. 108. T. 39, pp. 750-51. 109. This explanation is repeated by all the major commentaries. 110. T. 61, No. 2221, p. 583c. Ill. SZ, Vol. 25, p. 130. 112. Raiyu further explains this. T. 79, No. 2534, p. 150. 113. T. 18, No. 869 (The Chin-kang-ting-ching yu-ch'ieh shih-pa-hue chih

kuei), p. 284c, 1.22, also refers to the deities of the Vajradhiitu Ma1l4ala as knowledge-beings. Kukai also calls them knowledge-beings in T. 61, No. 2221, p. 21 (Kongochokyo kaidai), while quoting from T. 18, No. 869.

114. Donjaku describes this process in reference to the Vajradhiitu Vidhi. See his Kongocho daikyo shiki (T. 61, No. 2225, p. 337cff.).

115. Cf. F.D. Lessing and A. Wayman, Introduction to the Buddhist Tantric Systems (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1978), pp. 163-203,235.

116. T. 18, No. 848, pp. 24-26. 117. T. 78, No. 2472, p. 120. Cf. TS, pp. 498-99. 118. T. 75, No. 2405, p. 807. 119. T. 61, No. 2231, p. 574. 120. T. 39, p. 714b. 121. T. 79, No. 2519, p. 34; TS, p. 497. 122. T. 18, pp. 26c-30. 123. KDDZ, Vol. 1, pp. 519-75; Vol. 2, pp. 1-74. 124. KDDZ, Vol. 3, pp. 163-346. 125. T. 61, No. 2231, p. 586b; T. 79, No. 2534, p. 162. 126. T. 75, No. 2390, p. 1l0ff. 127. T. 39, p. 610b. -(

STUDY OF THE GARBHA. VIDHI 141

128. T. 39, p. 610b. 129. The meaning of the assemblies of the ma'TJ4ala and the deities is

discussed by Hatta Yukio, "Mandara no Sekei," Gendai Mikkyo Koza, Vol. 5 (Tokyo: Daito shuppansha, 1977), pp. 14 7 ~266. Cf. Alex Wayman, "Symbolism of the MaI).dala Palace," The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1973), pp. 82-109.

130. Raiyu points this out in his commentary. T. 79, No. 2534, p. 172c. Those rites based on the Kongokai shidai (See KDZ, Vol. 2, p. 232ff.) include the various offerings discussed in this article, the stanza of three powers, (also found in the Mahiivairocana-sutra), empowerment of Buddha's mother, the entrance of Mahavairocana into the yogin and vice-versa (J p.: nyuga-ganyu), etc.

131. T. 39, p. 654c-660c; T. 61, p. 578c; T. 75, p. 64l. 132. T. 75, p. 805. Cf. Alex Wayman, "Offering Materials and Their

Meaning," The Buddhist Tantras, pp. 71-8l. 133. T. 75, No. 2405, p. 808; T. 75, No. 2404, p. 805. 134. T. 39, pp. 629b, 631c, 724c. Kukai and the Buddhist tradition in

Japan did not differentiate between Mahavairocana and Vairocana. Mikkyo Daij"iten, p. 1583, top.

135. T. 39, pp. 722a-723a; T. 75, No. 2390, pp. 93a-97a. 136. The Taizo bonji shidai states that the yogin should visualize a1!Z on

the top of the head and on the right ear, a/f on the brow, kha1!Z on the left ear, sa1!Z on the right shoulder and sa/f on the left, ha1!Z on the throat, half on the chest, ra1!Z at the stomach, ra/f at the loins, va1!Z at the right foot and va/f at the left foot. This scheme is based on T. 18, No. 848, chilan 5. See Yoshida Keiko, Kontai Ryobu Shingon Geki, p. 592ff.

137. T. 39, p. 724c. 138. KDZ, Vol. 2, p. 285. 139. There are various traditions concerning this visualization. TS, p.

513; SZ, Vol. 25, p. 506-507. 140. Oyama Kojun, Himitsu Bukkyo, p. 200.

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Rites of Purification

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STUDYOFTHEGARBHA VIDHI 143

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Aspects of Enlightenment Rengebuin 119. ff,W-lt

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On the Sources for Sa skya PaI)cjita's Notes on the Bsam yas Debate

by Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp

In an earlier issue of this journal, R. Jackson (1982: 89-99) published a translation of, and a commentary on, Sa skya Pal).c;lita's (1182-1251) account of the well-known, if still historically questionable, Sino-Indian controversies in eighth century Tibet. His paper was based on a passage that occurs in Sa pal).'s Thub pa'i dgongs pa rab tu gsal ba (TGRG), a work which he completed towards the end of his life. 1 This passage is found in the section in which he discusses the status and the reach and range of discriminative awareness (prafna), the sixth transcending function (paramita). In his survey, Sa pal). takes the opportunity to assail certain Bka' brgyud pa doctrines known under the generic name of the "white panacea" (dkar po chig thub) that are preeminently associated with the writings of Zhang g.yu brag pa brtson 'grus grags pa (1123-1193).2 Sa pal). links the doctrine of the "white panacea" with the quietistic teachings of the Chinese Buddhists active in early Tibet which, as he painstakingly indicates, were already discredited by the alleged outcome of the "debate" between KamalaSlla and his Chinese counterpart.

On the basis of the primary sources available to him, R. Jackson has attempted to show that Sa pal)., perhaps wilfully, employed "history as polemic" in order to criticise the "white panacea" of his immediate predecessors (and contemporaries) and that, moreover, he " ... was the first Tibetan scholar to 'use' Hva shang Mahayana in this way, and ... perhaps the most egregious ... ". However, in the light of a corpus of texts, apparently unavailable to R. Jackson at the time of his writing, these conclusions stand in need of an about-face revision. As I shall try to show as briefly and briskly as possible, these sources tell

147


us quite a different story, decisively exculpate Sa pal) from those . charges, and render R. Jackson'S inferences untenable.

A most significant source for the Tibetan phyi dar perception of the "Bsam yas debate", which has thus far escaped the attention of scholarly scrutiny, is the monumental Chos 'byung me tog snying po'i sbrang rtsi'i bcud or Mnga' bdag Nyan gi chos 'byung written by the Rnying ma pa scholar and "teacher of treasures" (gter ston) Nyang ral nyi-ma['i] 'od-zer (1124-1192 or 1136-1204).3 Two slightly different manuscripts of this text, Manuscript A and Manuscript B, were published in the "supportive volumes" (rgyab chos) Five and Six of the Rin chen gter mdzod collection in 1979 in Paro, Bhutan. Another cursive dbu med manuscript of the same, housed at the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, was published this year (1985) by R. Meisezahl in a facsimile edition. Based on a comparison of these three manuscripts, Meisezahl (1985: 14) came to the conclusion that: "Wer sie (the Berlin manuscript) benutzt, kann auf die in Bhutan publizierten Manuskripte "A" und "B" unbedenklich verzichten, falls nicht eine kritische Edition erwiinscht ist." Turning to the useful table of contents compiled by L.S. Dagyab of Bonn University, we find that Nyang ral has devoted some fifteen folia to the "Bsam yas debate" (Meisezahl 1985: fols. 425-440). The very close, at times virtually literal correspondence between the wording of Nyang ral's account and the various notices in several of Sapal)'s texts can only lead one to conclude that either Sa pal) made use of Nyang ral's Chos 'byung, or that both derive their information from a third, as of yet unknown, earlier source. In order to show the degree of correspondence, I reproduce first a small segment of the account found in Sa pal)'s "open letter", his Skyes bu dam pa rnams la spring ba'i yi ge, SSBB 5, pp. 331/4/6-332/1/1 :

rgya nag mkhan po na re ! 'khor bar skye ba'i rgyu rang ngo rang gis ma shes pas Zan! rang ngo rang gis shes na 'tshang rgya I de'i phyir sems ngo 'phrod na dkar po chig thub yin / ... zer nas /

Apart from the preamble of this passage, "The Chinese abbot, alleging 4 ... ," Nyang ral (Meisezahl 1985: fo1. 425, Tafel 287) reads virtually the same:

THE "BSAMYASDEBATE"

'khor bar skye ba'i rgyu / rang ngo rang gi ma shes pas lan / rang ngo shes nas rtogs na sangs rgya / de'i phyir sems ngo 'phrod dgos / de ngo shes na dkar po chig thub yin /

In the TGRG p. 24/44/6 we have:

... rgya nag gi dge slong na re / tshig la snying po med tha snyad kyi chos kyis 'tshang mi rgya sems rtogs na dkar po chig thub yin zer /

149

And, on p. 25/3/6 Sa pal) refers to some "later scholarly 'dge ba'i bshes gnyen rnams'" who alleged that:

... sems ngo 'phrod pas sangs rgya bar 'dod pa dkar po chig thub du 'gro ba'i rgyu mtshan de yin gsung /

Each of these three texts, after having outlined the salIent features of the Chinese doctrine, then proceed to give a listing of five works which the Chinese abbot and/or monk had written. To some extent these have been identified in Karmay (1975: 153) and Kimura (1981: 186-187). Striking is the number of "buzzwords" used in these characterisations; such terms as rang ngo, sems ngo 'phrod, and rtogs are "loaded" with specific connotations found especially in the Rnying rna pa rdzogs chen tradition as well as in certain mahamudra teachings of the Dwags po Bka' brgyud pa schools and sects. Also noteworthy is the linkage effected between the "white panacea" and the teachings of the Chinese, a linkage first found in Nyang ral's text. As far as I am aware, the expression "dkar po chig thub" is only to be met with in the Tibetan medical literature and in early Dwags po Bka' brgyud pa texts. As for the former, modern dictionaries indicate it to denote renshen (ginseng), or the root of the Panax ginseng.5 This seems to reflect a later development of the semantic range of this expression, for the Rgyud bzhi counts it among the "unmeltable 'stones'" and it is commented upon as such by Sde srid Sangs rgyas rgya mtsho in his famous Vaictilrya sngon pO.6 Other Tibetan materia medica texts provide different identifications 7 and the great forerunner of the Zur-tradition of Tibetan medicine, Mnyam nyid rdo rje (1439-1475) has even


written a "history" (lo rgyus) of the dkar po chig thub in his celebrated Bye ba ring bsrel (Leh, 1975, 1977).8 Interestingly, Mnyam nyid rdo rje connects the dkar po chig thub drug with the otherwise unknown Nepalese physicial Haka, suggesting thereby that its origin should be sought in Nepal. As far as I am aware, Nepal is not traditionally associated with the production of Panax ginseng; the other species of Panax known to me is the Panax quinquefolius found in North America. It seems therefore that, broadly speaking, we will have to distinguish between at least two possible referents of "dkar po chig thub," an Indo-NepaliTibetan one and a Sino-Tibetan one. 9

As I already mentioned, "dkar po chig thub" is found among the early writings of the Dwags po Bka' brgyud pa masters. Both Sgam po pa bsod nams rin chen (1079-1153)10 and Zhang g.yu. brag pa II make use of it when illustrating their mahamudra theories. Particularly in Sgam po pa's .oeuvre, medical terminology is often resorted to when he describes certain doctrinal positions in a metaphoric way. An excellent topic for future research would be a study of such medical metaphors in light of the fact the Sgam po pa, alias Dwags po lha rje, was a physician of some repute.

Besides these terminological parallels between Nyang ral's account and the TGRG passage, there is also other evidence which, if it does not point to a direct dependence of Sa pal) on the former, at least does not rule out the existence of an even earlier common source. In both texts (TGRG p. 25/2/2-3 and Meisezahl 1985: fo1. 432 a-b) reports that KamalaSlla argued against the validity of these illustrations as well as against the substance of the Chinese argument, alleging that "not only is your example false, but the substance (of your argument) is also erroneous." (khyed kyi dpe nor bar ma zad / don yang 'khrul te .. ). The exact wording is also reproduced in the TGRG p. 25/2/4-5. These and similar instances, which could be multiplied ad infinitum, leave no doubt that Sa pal) was simply transmitting a received tradition and that he was by no means its originator. Of course, Nyang ral does not connect the dkarpo chig thub notion of the Chinese with his Dwags po Bka' brgyud pa contemporaries as Sa pal) has done. This would, however, not appear illegitimate since the Dwags po Bka' brgyud pa did make use of it.

Sa pal) lists his sources for his account of the "Bsam yas

THE "BSAM VAS DEBATE" 151

debate" at TGRG p. 25/3/6-4/2.12 There he refers to "another testament," the Rgyal bzhed, Dba' bzhed (sic), and the 'Ba'-bzhed (siC).13 Van der Kuijp (1985a: appendix, originally submitted

. in 1982) has dealt with the various quotations of the Sba bshed in the later. Tibetan historical literature, and there seems little point in reproducing those findings here. Suffice it to say that the newly discovered cursive sba bzhed manuscript as edited in Mgon po rgyal mtshan (1980: 72-75) contains a verbatim account of Sa pal)'s TGRG which is prefixed by the statement "Furthermore, according to one tradition" (yang lugs gcig la). Abbreviated versions of this account (and explicitly cited from the "Sba bzhed") are also found in Spos khang pa rin chen rgyal mtshan's Sdom pa gsurri gyi rab tu dbye ba'i gzhung lugs legs par bshad pa, Vol. 2 (Thimphu, 1979), p. 295 which was completed in 1423 (water-female-hare), and in Dpa' bo gtsug lag's Mkhas pa'i dga' ston. This would seem to indicate that the association of dkar po chig thub with the Chinese goes back to pre-phyi dar Tibetan literature, and that there just might be some substance to Sa pal)'s linkage of some of the Dwags po Bka' brgyud-pa doctrines with those promulgated by the Chinese in eighth century Tibet. In this connection, it will be essential to try and ascertain the exact referents of "dkar po chig thub" as one cannot of course a priori exclude the good possibility that it was the terminological ambiguity of "dkar po chig thub" which led to Sa pal)'s association. It may thus very well turn out that the referent of the "dkar po chig thub" used by the Dwags po Bka' brgyud pa was quite different from that of the Chinese.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS

Dargyay, E. (1979), The Rise of Esoteric Buddhism in Tibet, New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Dung dkar blo bzang 'phrin las (1981), Deb ther dmar po, Ed. comm., Beijing: People's Publishing House.

Jackson, D. (1983), "Notes on Two Early Printed Editions of Sa-skya-pa Works", The Tibet Journal 8 (2), pp. 3-24.

Jackson, D. (1983a), "Commentaries on the Writings of Sa-skya PaI).c;lita: A Bibliographic Sketch", The Tibetan Journal 8 (3), pp. 3-23.

Jackson, R. (1982), "Sa-skya paI).c;lita's Account of the bSam yas Debate: History as Polemic", The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 5 (2), pp. 89-99.

Karmay, S. (1975), "A Discussion on the Doctrinal Position of Rdzogs-chen from


the 10th to the 13th Centuries", journal asiatique 263 (1), pp. 147-156. Kimura, R. (1981), "Le dhyana chinois au tibet ancien", journal asiatique, 269

(1), pp. 181-192. van der Kuijp, L.W.]. (1985), "Some Recently Recovered .Sa-skya-pa Texts,

A Preliminary Report" ,] oumal of the Nepal Research Centre 7, p p. 87-94. van derKuijp, L.W.]. (l985a), "Miscellanea to a Recent Contribution on I to

the Bsam-yas Debate", Kailash 10 (?). Meisezahl, R. (1985), Die Grosse Geschichte des tibetischen Buddhismus nach alter

Tradition, Sankt Augustin: VGH Wissenschaftsverlag . . Mgon po rgyal mtshan (1980), ed. Sba bzhed, Beijing: People's Publishing

House. Roerich, G. (1979), The Blue Annals, New Delhi: -Motilal Banarsidass. SSBB Sa skya bka' 'bum, Sde dge edition, compo Bsod nams rgya mtsho, 15

Vols., Tokyo: The Toyo Bunko, 1968-69. TGRB Sa skya Pal).Oita Kun dga' rgyal mtshan, Thub pa'i dgongs pa rab tu gsal

ba, SSBB 5, pp. Iff. Tshe tan Zhabs drung (1982), Bstan rtsis kun las btus pa, Xining: Qinghai

People's Publishing House.

NOTES

l. For the available prints of, and commentaries to, this text, see D. Jackson (1983:6-7) and (1983a: 4-5); for an additional commentary and a cursive dbu med manuscript, see van der Kuijp (1985: 88-89).

2. On him and his life, see Dung dkar BIo bzang' phrin las (1981: 126 ff., 445 ff.), where he gives the alternative birth-date of 1122. He also mentions that Tshal pa kun dga' rdo rje (1309-1364) had written his biography, but that it was not available to him. See, furthermore, Roerich (1979: 711-715) and 'Gos 10 tsa-ba's Deb ther sngon po, Smad cha, Chengdu: Sechuan People's Publishing House, 1985, pp. 832-836.

3. I am inclined to accept the latter dates as several of his biographies associate him with Sakyasrlbhadra who, having come to Tibet in 1204, apparently took part in the ceremonies for Nyang ral's funeral; see Dargyay (1979:101).

4. Despite recent reports to the contrary, I think it necessary to emphasize that Sa pal). never associates Hwa shang Mahayana with the actual "debates". A complete listing of references to Sa Pal).'s notes on Chinese Buddhism and Buddhists is provided in van der Kuijp (1985a:note 16).

5. See, for instance, the Rgya bod ming mdzod, Lanzhou: Gansu People's Publishing House, 1979, p. 23. It is, however, not listed in Y.N. Roerich's Tibetan-Russian-English Dictionary with Sanskrit Parallels, Issue 1, Moscow: Nauka Publishers, 1983, p. 95.

6. See his Gso ba rig pa'i bstan bcos sman bla'i dgongs rgyan rgyud bzhi'i gsal byed vaiq:urya sngon mallika, Stod cha, Lhasa: Tibetan People's Publishing House, 1982 (Sde dge edition), p. 255. This passage consists of his comment

THE "BSAM YAS DEBATE" 153

to the Rgyud bzhi, Bshad rgyud, chapter twenty, Lhasa: Tibetan People's Publishing House, 1982 (Sde dge edition), p. 67: dkar po sbal rgyab dkar po chig thub dang II smug po chig thub la sogs de dang 'dra II. A garbled (?) version of these two lines is found in Yuthok's Treatise on Tibetan Medicine, ed. L. Chandra, New Delhi, 1968, p. 290 in the Ming don brda sprod roam lnga which omits dkar po chig thub! The verse of the Rgyud bzhi is reproduced in Dil dmar dge bshes bstan 'dzin phun tshogs' Bdud rtsi sman gyi roam dbye ngo bo nus pa ming rgyas par bshad pa dri med shel phreng, Leh, 1983, p. 75. He glosses dkar po chig thub by "a white spear-head" (dkar po mdung rtse). According to Tshe tan zhabs drung (1982:276), Dil dmar dge bshes completed this work in 1840.

7. See, for instance, the recent Gso rig snying bsdus skya rengs gsar pa, Lhasa: Tibetan People's Publishing House, 1974, pp. 194-195 and Dil dmar dge bshes' text (see above note 6) pp. 257-258. Note too that 'Jam dpal rdo rje in An Illustrated Tibeto-Mongolian Materia Medica of A.yurveda, ed. L. Chandra, New Delhi, 1971, p. 146 also lists dkar po chig thub under the heading of "potion" (thang sman) and remarks on the difficulty of establishing its precise identification. This should be a matter of concern as he evinces a thorough knowledge of the traditional repertoire of Chinese drugs.

8. This work is, however, not available to me. The information given here is based on a chapter of this text which enjoyed separate circulation in the mountainous regions of northern Nepal. It bears the title of Sman dkar gyi lo rgyus .... Zur mkhar ba'i khyad chos, consists of two folia, and was filmed by my friend Chr. Clippers of the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project.

9. An admittedly cursory perusal of several Dunhuang manuscripts dealing with medicine has thus far not yielded the term dkar po chig thub.

10. See, for instance, the Rje phag mo gru pa'i dris lan in The Collected Works of Sgam po pa bsod nams rin chen, Vol. 1, New Delhi, 1975, p. 472.

11. It occurs in his highly provocative Phyag rgya chen po'i lam mchog mthar thug in the Gdams ngag mdzod, ed. Kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas, Vol. V, New Delhi, 1971, p. 769. Later Sa skya pa scholarship has identified this text as one of the sources for Sa skya Pal).Q.ita's critical remarks in his Sdom gsum rab dbye.

12. Jackson (1982:93) has omitted the 'Ba bzhed (sic) from his translation. The TGRG p. 25/4/1 reads: .. .'dir yi ge mangs pas ma bris te I which Jackson renders as " ... (but) since I have already detailed much of this, I will write no more." I think this should be understood somewhat differently. In this passage, Sa pal). comments on several other sources for the aftermath of the "debate" and declines to reproduce their readings. Hence, I understand this statement to mean: " ... since it would get too wordy here (in my account), I have not written (about them in detail)."

13. The Skyes bu dam pa roams la spring ba'i yi ge, SSBB 5, p. 33211/4 adds "chronicles" (lo rgyus roams) to his list of sources for his version of the "debate", and provides better readings for the three Bzhed-s: Rgyal bzhed, Dpa' bzhed (sic), and 'Bangs bzhed.

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II. REVIEWS

The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism. A Phenomenological Study of Kukai and Dagen, by David Shaner. Albany: State University of N ew York, 1985.

Comparative philosophy offers an author one of the most promising and, at the same time, potentially perilous tasks. It provides unique possibilities for insight and cross-cultural understanding, or alternatively, it may result in gross misrepresentation or facile reductive comparisons. David Shaner in The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism (one of the State University of New York's Buddhist Series) carefully threads his way through the comparative enterprise, while explicitly acknowledging its methodological limitations. In this work the author is concerned not so much with a strictly comparative study as such, as with the hermeneutical possibilities that the phenomenological tradition has to offer for a study of two of the most outstanding Japanese Buddhist thinkers, Kukai and Dogen.

The author begins with a fairly lengthy discussion of phenomenology, emphasizing its applicability for comparative philosophy. Phenomenology is particularly appropriate, according to Shaner, because it is a methodology of "description exclusively oriented towards introspection 'upon the axioms of the experiential process" which is common to all mankind. Phenomenology attempts to examine the structure of experience that gives rise to and exists a priori to the noesis! noema, mind! body split. Shaner then proceeds to outline a phenomenological description of the experience of "bodymind" as it is "primordially given" without any thetic positing whatsoever. Body and mind are seen "to share an organismic process in which they are mutually dependent" because "phenomenologically speaking, one can never experience an independent mind or body."

It is Shaner's contention that this is similar in structure to the paradigmatic state of enlightenment articulated by both Kukai and Dogen throughout their work. Kukai expressed the non-duality of body! mind in the phrase "enlightenment in this very body," and based his teachings for attaining it on practices that focused on sensual phenomena, such as marfqala, mantra, and mudra, in order to aid the practitioner to gain an awareness of immediate experience free from discursive thought. Dagen

155


taught that to attain understanding one must "cast off (the concepts of) body and mind" and centered his teaching on the incessant practice of 'just sitting," which he considered the very activity of enlightenment itself, free even from the concept of "attaining enlightenment." In Shaner's interpretation, it is the experience of "bodymind" free from thetic positing based on the noesis / noematic split that characterizes both Kiikai's and Dogen's de-

scription of the enlightened mode of awareness. This strongly parallels the phenomenological analysis.

Thus phenomenology provides a powerful hermeneutical tool for us to gain an appreciation of these Japanese Buddhist thinkers. It also transposes their philosophies directly into the framework of current discussions of the "mind-body problem." This is of particular relevance now, the author suggests, because the "mind~body antimony ... [is] irresolvable unless the Platonic or Cartesian assumptions about 'what is mind' and 'what is body' are reconsidered."

The main shortcoming of this work lies with phenomenology itself. Shaner takes great pains to qualify HusserI's exaggerated truth-claims for phenomenology and to explicate his own presuppositions, but it often seems that we are then left with little more than an "appropriate" hermeneutical strategy, since the whole of the study lies "within the limits of the phenomenological epochi" outside of any attempt at evaluating its ultimate validity. But then, this is a problem that the phenomenologists' and their critics have thrashed out in greater detail elsewhere.

By applying phenomenology hermeneutically the author is able to skillfully explicate often tradition-bound concepts and doctrines and extract vital and (contemporaneously) relevant meaning from them. If it is any measure of success, his work prompts one to return to the original texts themselves (a la HusserI's cry "to the things themselves") to reread them in a new, and perhaps brighter, light.

William Waldron

A Catalogue of the sTog Palace Kanjur, by Tadeusz Skorupski. Bibliographia Philologica Buddhica, Series Maior, IV. Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1985. xxvi + 367 pp.

Tadeusz Skorupski teaches in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His previous publications

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include The SarvadurgatipariSodhana Tantra (Sanskrit and Tibetan texts with English translation, 1983) and The Cultural Heritage of Ladakh (with D.L. Snellgrove, 2 volumes, 1977, 1980). The present work describes a manuscript set of the Tibetan Kanjur preserved ip the Tog (or sTog) Palace near Leh, Ladakh (cited in this review as the Tog MS). More precisely, it catalogues a photooffset reproduction: The Tog Palace Manuscript of the Tibetan Kanjur, published by C. Namgyal Tarusergar (Leh, Ladakh: Sherig Dpemzod, 1975-1980) in 109 unbound Tibetan-style volumes (not including the dkar chag, or Tibetan table of contents, published separately). These 109 volumes contain 811 separate texts. This reproduction can be found, for example, in the libraries of the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and Indiana University (Bloomington), and is available in microfiche from the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions (Stony Brook, New York).

Skorupski's introduction discusses the Tog MS, its contents and possible origin, the Leh reproduction, and the organization of the catalogue. The catalogue itself describes the 811 texts, which are arranged in twelve sections and by volume numbers. Each main entry gives a text number, the Tibetan title, the Sanskrit title (given for all but 113 texts) or Chinese title (given for 4 texts), le'u or bam po subdivisions if known, the text's colophon if it has one, and the folio, side, and line on which the text begins and ends. Five indexes (Tibetan and Sanskrit titles, and Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese names of translators) refer back to the text numbers. The title indexes also give cross-references (by text number) to the Derge, Peking, and Ulan Bator Kanjurs. Skorupski used three main sources for this catalogue: the dkar chag mentioned above, the Leh reproduction itself (in which each volume begins with a table of contents), and an independent dkar chag, contained in the collected works of Jaya PaI).Qita, describing the older Them spangs ma Manuscript Kanjur from which the Tog MS may ultimately derive. The historical importance of the Tog MS merits a lengthy comment.

The Kanjur (Bka' 'gyur) and Tanjur (Bstan 'gyur) , the collected Tibetan translations of Indian Buddhist sutras and siistras, are, along with the Piili and Chinese Tripitakas, our most importantso4rces for the Buddhist Canon. Beginning with the Yung-Io Kanjur: (1410), numerous blockprint or xylographic editions of the Tibetan Canon have been printed in China and at various places in Tibet and Mongolia. Many of these are represented in Western collections, in modern printed or microform reproductions, and in catalogues. The (Ch'ing Dynasty) Peking editions


are well known through the Japanese reprint and the Otani Catalogue; the DergeKanjur and Tanjur through the Tahoku catalogue and the Nyingma and Rumtek reprints. The Narthang and Cone editions also include both Kanjur and Tanjur; the Narthang Kanjur and Cone Tanjur are available in microfiche. Lithang, Urga, and Lhasa editions of the Kanjur alone are now attested by exemplars and dkar chags. Other xylographs are now known only from references. Ideally anyone editing a Tibetan canonical text should use all available testimonia. The number of research tools to assist such work is steadily increasing.

Beside these xylographic printed editions, the Tibetan Kanjur also survives in complete manuscript sets. The Kanjur must have existed as a manuscript collection before being printed, but the importance of surviving MSS as evidence for this Ur-Kanjur is only now becoming clear. Early 20th century Western scholars knew only two MS Kanjurs: the Berlin MS (formerly in the Royal Library, now in the Staatsbibliothek Preussische Kulturbesitz) and the London MS (in the British Museum). As it happens, the Berlin MS closely resembles the printed Peking editions, and the true position of the London MS was not understood until recently (see especially Helmut Eimer in Zentralasiatische Studien 15, 1981). Other MS Kanjurs are now known. The manuscript preserved at the Tayo Bunko in Tokyo was described by Kojun Saito (in Japanese) in Taisho Daigaku Kenkyu Kiyo 63 (1977). Geza Bethlenfalvy has published A Hand-list of the Ulan Bator Manuscript of the Kanjur Rgyal-rtse Them Spans-ma (Budapest: Akademiai Kiad6, 1982). Finally, there is the Tog MS, its published reproduction, and the present catalogue. It now seems that the London, Tokyo, Ulan Bator, and Tog MSS form a separate recension of the Kanjur and a separate body of textual evidence. The history and inter-relationships of the various Kanjurs is being clarified, partly in the introductions to catalogues and handlists, partly in articles (especially recent works by Helmut Eimer and Yo shiro Imaeda). Skorupski's introduction contributes to this discussion.

Skorupski presents evidence for the history and contents of the Tog MS, and speculates about its position among the various Kanjurs, particularly the manuscript versions. The Tog MS was copied from a Bhutanese MS, being completed before or shortly after the death of King Nyi rna Rnam rgyal of Ladakh (reigned 1691-1729). No direct evidence is known for the nature and antecedents of this Bhutanese original. Skorupski cites Eimer's suggestion that the Tog MS belongs to the recension stemming from the Them spangs ma MS Kanjur, preserved in the Dpal 'khor chos sde at Gyangtse (Rgyal rtse) in Central Tibet. Although the

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chronological evidence for this Gyantse MS is contradictory, indicating either the 14th or the early 15th century, it may preserve a version of the Kanjur predating the oldest known printed edition (1410). The Them spangs ma redaction survives in presumed copies (the Tokyo, Ulan Bator, and, possibly, London MSS), and in Jaya PaI)Qita's description of its contents. It is not clear whether the original MS survives in Tibet. According to Skorupski the Tog MS differs, in structure and contents, from all other Kanjur editions, but is closest in both regards to this Them spangs ma recension. After considering the few differences between the Tog MS and the Them spangs ma tradition, Skorupski endorses the suggestion that the Bhutanese source of the Tog MS was based on the Them spangs ma Kanjur.

Merely comparing the number of volumes in different Kanjurs signifies little; a different number of volumes may contain the same texts, while the same number of volumes contains different texts. Kanjurs can be compared by their arrangement into sections, the arrangement of texts within sections, and the variation in their readings. The last criterion is beyond the scope of a catalogue; the first two, though not conclusive, can be persuasive in combination. The Tog MS differs from other Them spangs ma representatives in the overall order of its sections. Skorupski explains this by the attempt in the Tog MS dkar chag to relate the sections of the canon to a theory of different proclamations of the Buddha's teaching. However, the order of sections in the Ur-Kanjur has not been established. Kanjur editions differ widely in this regard, as may be seen from the examples listed in the following table. Kanjurs contain some or all of the following sections: Vinaya (A), Prajnaparamita in 100,000 (B), 25,000 (C), 18,000 (D), 10,000 (E), and 8,000 (F) Stanzas, Short Prajnaparamita Texts (G), Avamtamsaka (H), Ratnakuta (I), Miscellaneous Sutras 0), MahaparinirvaI)a Sutra (K), Tantra (L), Old Tantras (M), Kalacakra Commentary (N), and DharaI)l Collection (0). Sections lacking in particular editions mayor may not be included in other sections.

Tog Palace MS: Ulan Bator MS: London (Eimer): Narthang Kanjur: Lhasa Kanjur: Derge (Tohoku): Cone Kanjur: Peking (Otani):

A, B, H, I, C, D, E, F, G,j, K,L. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I,j, K, M, L. L,j, K, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, A A, B, C, D, E, F, H, I,j, K, L. A, B, C, F, D, E, G, I, H,j, K, L. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I,j, K, L, M, N, O. L,j, B, C, F, G, D, E, I, H, A. L, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, H,j, A.

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The Tog MS also differs in its arrangement of texts within the Vinaya and Tantra sections. For the Vinaya the Tog MS follows the order of the printed Kanjurs against that of the Them spangs mao It seems as if the first five Tantra texts of the Them spangs ma have been moved in the Tog MS, so that its Tantra section begins with the Laghusamvara Tantra. Skorupski relates this to the preference for that Tantra by the 'Brug pa Dkar brgyud pa sect of Bhutan and Ladakh. Otherwise, the Tog MS closely agrees with the Tokyo and Ulan Bator MSS. According to Bethlenfalvy (1982) the Ulan Bator MS contains 834 texts to the 811 of the Tog MS. This discrepancy largely disappears when we note that the Tog MS lacks the "Old Tantra" section, which contains 19 texts in the Ulan Bator Kanjur.

These MSS together differ from the printed Kanjurs, not only in sectional arrangement, but also in containing texts lacking elsewhere. Skorupski lists 15 texts absent in the Peking and Derge canons, and 12 texts which are found in the Tanjur in the Derge and Peking editions. The Tog MS places these 12 among the Miscellaneous Sutras. They are of various types, including a stotra (Tog MS no. 44), several avadanas (nos. 310, 311, 319), and three abhidharma texts: the Karma-, Loka-, and Kara7!a-prajnapti (nos. 286, 313, 316). All four editions of the Tanjur place these last three texts at the beginning of the Abhidharma section of the Sutra Commentaries, before Vasubandhu's Abhidharma-kosakiirika. They seem to be the only pre-Vasubandhu Abhidharma texts known in Tibetan, and the only Abhidharma texts ever found in Kanjurs. If the MSS preserve a tradition predating the printed Kanjurs, this shows an earlier stage in the process of classifying texts into the "Buddha's Word" and the siistras of his Indian successors. Further study is needed of other points of agreement in arrangement and readings between the Tog MS and the Them spangs ma tradition, against the other Kanjurs. This will help to clarify the history of the Kanjur and its recensions.

These and other fascinating peculiarities of the Tog MS now lie open to our scrutiny, thanks to Dr. Skorupski's excellent catalogue. I have only two criticisms. Skorupski has "normalized" the spelling of Tibetan and Sanskrit text titles, giving what he considers important variants in footnotes. This normalization is necessary to allow cross-reference to other editions; Sanskrit titles especially are often quite garbled in Tibetan transcription. However, it would have been useful to give as well all the actual readings of the Tog MS, since even simple misspellings can be textual evidence for relationships between editions.

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A more serious problem is the lack of a comparative table of Kanjurs by text number. Such a table is included, for example, in Bethlenfalvy (1982) giving text numbers of the Ulan Bator MS, in order, in the first column, with corresponding text numbers for six other editions in successive columns. Such a table reveals a great deal of information at a glance. Skorupski does give cross-references, by text number, to the Derge and Peking editions, but these are given (twice) in the two title indexes. This format is very cumbersome if, for example, one wants to see whether a string of texts occurs together and in the same order in various editions. If not summarized in a table, these cross-references should have been given under the main entry for each text. Space saved in the indexes could be better employed to include variant titles.

These criticisms are minor, detracting little from the value of this catalogue, which is otherwise easy to use, well organized, and clearly printed. Specialists in the history of the Kanjur will appreciate the historical information in the introduction. Any scholar interested in using the printed or microfiche reproductions of the Tog Palace Kanjur should welcome this catalogue, which makes the 109 volumes and 811 texts ofthe Tog MS really accessible for the first time. We can all join Dr. Skorupski in the hope, expressed in his introduction, that he will do further work on this Kanjur. The catalogue itself should encourage textual and comparative studies of specific texts.

Reliable and usable catalogues and bibliographies are indispensable research tools for Buddhist Studies. Dr. Akira Yuyama, Director of the International Institute for Buddhist Studies (formerly the Reiyukai Library), merits the gratitude of Buddhologists for giving us many such tools through his own publications and by publishing works of other scholars in the Institute's Bibliographia Philologica Buddhica. The Tibetan Canon is particularly well represented in this series. Most of these publications are available for the cost of the postage. A list of titles can be obtained from the International Institute of Buddhist Studies, 5-3-23 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, Japan.

Bruce Cameron Hall


Early Buddhism and Christianity: A Comparative Study of the Founders' Authority, the Community, and the Discipline, by Chai-Shin Yu. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981. xv + 241 pp.

The comparative study of Buddhism and Christianity presented in this work revolves around some considerations that are deemed to be of special relevance in understanding their character as "two of the greatest and most influential of world religions." Doctrinal matters have been the major focus of many a previous endeavour in the scholarly juxtaposition of Buddhism and Christianity. This study, which seeks instead to examine the authority of the founders, their respective communities and the discipline enforced within them during their early formative stages (covering, that is, a period of about a century from the demise of the Buddha and Christ) is in some ways novel in scope, and offers much that should interest Buddhist scholars and comparativists alike. Indeed, it is Yu's belief that Early Buddhism and Christianity may not only contribute to a better understanding of the three specific topics examined, but that in so doing it will also help explain the continuing vitality and success of the two religions .

. The main contents of this book are arranged in three parts: the first two parts are separate examinations of early Buddhism and early Christianity in relation to the study's focal concerns; the third part is a brief retrospective review of the similarities and differences exhibited by the two traditions. Yu displays here a good grasp of the positions taken by these very different religions, clarifying their basic assumptions and emphases with the help of the classic nomenclatures adopted in their respective scriptural writings (especially those rooted in the Buddhist Vinaya texts in the original Pali and the later Chinese redactions on the one hand, and the Greek versions of the Christian Gospels and Epistles on the other). His comparison itself is rather brief, and, as we shall see shortly, it has other limitations as well. Still, considered overall, the scholarly resources brought to bear on this complex inquiry (which include a notable use of modern Japanese expository literature on Buddhism) are rather impressive. Its conclusions might indeed help students of Buddhism in particular recognize how their tradition stands vis a vis another tradition as religion rather than as mere philosophy.

The body of Yu's investigation yields a rich array of clarifications and insights regarding early Buddhism, early Christianity and their relationship to one another as viewed from a comparativist perspective. Buddhism, significantly, receives most attention (pp. 1-127), and the discussion here could even be viewed

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as a compressed exposition of the Buddha's authority and role within the samgha and the disciplinary structures that sustained the early Buddhist community. Some of the points made at this level are noteworthy. The Buddha's authority is traced to his realization and the proclamation of the Dhamma; and he is represented as having a virtual "ruling" function within the samgha. Though the Buddha was thus the "king of the Dhamma," his authority, it is argued, was never personal or absolute; for most practical purposes religious discipline (sila-vinaya) was the basis of the unity and the integrity of the samgha. Indeed, Yu rightly underscores the importance of the latter factor, and dwells at some length on the character and scope of this discipline, which in sustaining the samgha has finally helped to preserve and diffuse the Buddha's Dhamma. Srla is identified as the ethics of Buddhist culture, vinaya the mores of communal living elaborated as an explicit body of rules (pii(imokkha) encompassing prescriptions and prohibitions. It is interesting to observe that democratic valuesequality, individual liberty and decision making procedures through voting-were upheld within the salvation-oriented society of monks and nuns; and Yu makes several references to places in the Vinaya Pi(aka where these admirable characteristics come to light (pp. 78, 80, 85). Though doctrinal matters receive only "secondary consideration" here, Yu has on occasion insightfully highlighted the way in which doctrine impinged on communal life: the Buddhist stress on the "Middle Path," for example, was in his view a basis for avoiding partisanship and promoting cooperation. All in all, the Buddha, Dhamma and samgha emerge as interrelated cardinal influences that together shaped Buddhism into a religion and finally made it a belief system of world scope.

With a shift in focus to early Christianity, the basic emphases of the book change. Jesus proclaimed himself as God incarnate in fulfillment of scriptural prophecies; and his authority, Yu points out, was the ultimate mandate for the existence of the Christian Church. Though Jesus' immediate disciples were witness to his miracles and the resurrection, his messianic mission and authority as Christ had to be accepted on faith, not reason. And the Christian ecclesial community in turn is represented as a response to God's saving act through Christ: Paul, it is observed, indeed viewed the Church as the "Body of Christ" (p. 171). Christian unity was finally sustained by a common recognition of Christ as Savior; and since this recognition was deemed to be a transforming experience, Yu sees it as a basis of moral discipline within Christianity. Still, drawing attention especially to the Gospel of St. Matthew and Paul's Epistles, he has rightly noted that


Christianity too affords scripturally elaborated norms of conduct. The concern for communal discipline evident in early Christianity sometimes parallels Buddhism's stress onsZla-vinaya, but there are differences as well, and these together with other, larger issues that arise in comparing the two faiths are addressed in the third and concluding part of the book.

Here, Yu identifies Buddhism and Christianity as "two great missionary world religions, taking their origin from two of the greatest figures in world history, with many parallel ideas of ethics, communitarian structure and life style, ideas that manifest striking similarities in secondary characteristics, although in the primary ones they would appear to be vastly different" (p. 195). Some of the more prominent similarities and differences that are brought to light in the course of the comparison presented at this level are noteworthy. As regards the founders' authority, the two religions are held to be similar in that both the Buddha and Christ were ~'spiritual kings" who led communities of disciples and proclaimed "saving" messages that later assumed the status of universal religions. These communities in turn played equally crucial roles in preserving and diffusing the respective messages of their founders; and they were, moreover, held together by disciplinary rules that reflected the soteriological orientation so much in evidence in both early Buddhism and early Christianity. However, the differences that separate these two religions, according to Yu, are equally, if not more, striking. The authority ascribed to the Buddha and Christ had different roots: the authority of the former stemmed from the timeless Dhamma which he only realized and proclaimed, while that of the latter is traceable to the believer's faith in him as the Son of God. The Buddhist samgha was mainly united through the dhamma-vinaya, with the Buddha playing the role of omniscient guide and preceptor; the Christian Church, in contrast, viewed Christ as the ground of its unity. Finally, with respect to discipline itself, the Buddhist samgha, as a monastic community, was organized (and indeed functioned) on the basis of a well elaborated code encompassing prescriptions, prohibitions and procedures for enforcing discipline and settling disputes. Little of this, strictly speaking, is paralleled in early Christianity, where discipline, finally, had its fons et origo in the faith-oriented commitment to God in Christ and continuing guidance through the Holy Spirit.

This book as a whole can be said to further Buddhist-Christian dialogue, and, as already indicated, its discussions also serve to illuminate certain issues that are important for the understanding of Buddhism as a religion. However, a critical reader is likely

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~odetect some .deficiencies (both methodological and otherwise) In. Early Buddhzsm and Christianity. For one thing, insights stemmIn~ from t~e behaviora! sC.iences could have been usefully apph.e? to clanfy the orgamzatIOnal features of the religious commumtIes .that developed under the inspiration of these two religions. Some aspects of their discipline (especially the prohibitions) appear to invite psychological comment, while the procedures for conflict resolution laid down in the Buddhist vinaya perhaps deserve closer scrutiny because of the democratic spirit that they tend to manifest. There also appears to be a shortcoming in Yu's treatment of Christianity. He fails to come to grips in a serious way with the trinitarian view of God, though this doctrine is important to an understanding of the spiritual underpinnings of the early Church. His actual comparison, on the other hand, is rather brief and overly compressed, and the criss-crossing convergences and divergences that tend to be brought to light at this level are sometimes not carefully sorted out. Indeed, on occasion, the differentiations are drawn onthe basis of considerations that hardly could be called edifying-the Buddha and the samgha, for example, are represented as not partaking of the divine, and nirvana is depicted as a goal that could be contrasted with heaven. Naive or rathel' awkward judgements of this nature might perhaps have been avoided through a deeper awareness of the distinction between the "homologues" and the "analogues" that come to the fore in juxtaposing religions (Cf. Gustav Mensching, Structures and Patterns of Religion, 1978). In any event, there is one less overt (yet interesting) area of contact between Buddhism and Christianity that is largely overlooked here, faith: though it was certainly not as crucial to Buddhism as it was to Christianity, still,some dimension of faith might have entered into the disciples' attitude towards the Buddha, and its nature no doubt deserves some probing. It would be well to remark in conclusion, however, that these various shortcomings do not seriously undermine the value of Yu's inquiry, which, to repeat, has much to offer to the student of Buddhism, the comparativist and all those who seek to further Buddhist-Christian dialogue.

Vijitha Rajapakse


The Heart of Buddhist Philosophy: Dinniiga and Dharmak'irti, by Amar. Singh. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal; 1984. xvi + 168 pp. Appendices, glossary, bibliography and indices.

The purpose of the work under review is to demonstrate that two of the key figures in the history of Indian Buddhist philosophy, Diimaga and Dharmakirti, were members of .the Sautrantika school rather than of the Vijnanavada or any other Mahayana school. In evaluating any treatise setting out to defend such an hypothesis, it is important to take into consideration the following three issues: 1) To what extent would certainty concerning scholastic affiliation of these two philosophers affect our interpretation of their wo:r:ks? 2) To what extent is it possible to decide the matter of scholastic affiliation given the evidence now available? 3) How well does the treatise being examined marshall evidence for the conclusion that it advances? Let us examine each of these issues in turn.

Would knowing for certain that Dirinaga and Dharmakirti belonged to any given school influence our interpretation of their works? Dr. Singh clearly answers this question strongly affirmatively, stating (p. 16) that if his thesis is correct "then the history of the Buddhist Indian philosophy from 5th century onward has to be re-written." But before agreeing that the scholastic affIliation of Dirinaga and Dharmakirti is a matter of such radical importan<:e, we must ask exactly what it means to say that a giv.en philosopher belongs to a particular school. In the context of Indian Buddhism does scholastic affIliation imply that the philosopher so affIliated held unswervingly to a given set of welldefined sectarian dogmas, or does it imply merely that he tended to adhere to certain intellectual trends? Is saying that Dirinaga was a Sautrantika, in other words, analogous to saying that someone is,for example, a Roman Catholic of the Cistercian Order? Or is it more analogous to saying that someone is part of the humanist movement? Insofar as there were rigidly defined sects within Indian Buddhism, these sects tended to be defined according to the body of vinaya rules under which their members were ordained. Knowing the set of vinaya rules to which Dirinaga was bound might be interesting in itself, but it would hardly shed any light on his investigations into epistemology or indeed into any subject matter other than vinaya itself. And so I assume that far more illuminating than knowing a thinker's sectarian membership would be some determination of the relatively loosely defined intellectual movement to which the thinker belonged.

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But here we must proceed most cautiously. For, despite the efforts of later Indian and Tibetan academics to classify Buddhist doctrines into a highly artificial schema of four schools-two Hinayana and two Mahayana-with well-defined dogmatic boundaries, IQ.dian philosophical schools were constantly evolving. Particularly in the highly creative period to which Vasubandhu, Dinnaga and Dharmak"irti belonged, it can practically be said that each of the men whose works survive down to the present day was a school unto himself. The differences between Dinnaga and Dharmak"irti are so many as to make their common membership in a single "school" a very abstract membership indeed, one based on little more than the fact that both philosophers addressed approximately the same set of issues. Like any other abstraction or generalization, the matter of the "school" of Vasubandhu, Dinnaga and Dharmakirti will inevitably fail to apply perfectly to any particular member of the shcool or to any particular text that is deemed to represent the school. In short, knowing to which school of thought Dinnaga belonged is only of very limited value in helping us understand what, for example, he had in mind when he used the term svala~a"f!a. To settle a problem of how to interpret a specific passage or how to construe a particular technical term, we must set stereotypes aside altogether and engage in the very complex task of textual analysis. And so, supposing that Singh can in some sense prove that Dinnaga was a Sautrantika rather than a Yogacara, a reasonable response would be: "So what?"

Can one prove scholastic affiliation? Clearly, if schools are fluid intellectual trends rather than sects with fixed dogmatic boundaries, the task of assigning someone to a school is relatively arbitrary. Even deciding whether an author was a Mahayanist not is not an easy matter in the absence of some such reliable criterion as explicit references to texts that only a Mahayanist would cite as authority. That KamalaSlla is a Mahayanist is easy to determine, because he makes explicit issue of the fact and he cites sutras that non-Mahayanists presumably rejected as spurious. But Dinnaga and Dharmak"irti do not citesutras at all as authority. What, if any, sutras they read while not writing works on logic must be regarded as a matter of almost pure conjecture, for it is a dearly held doctrine of the Buddhist epistemologists that sutras do not have an authority independent of reason anyway.

As can be seen from all that I have said up to here, I am at the outset rather dubious about both the significance and the possibility of anyone's establishing Dinnaga's and Dharmakirti's

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scholastic affiliations. Let me nevertheless make an assessment of Singh's particular arguments. His arguments are, unfortunately, rather chaotically presented and leave the reader confused as to what is being said and towards what end. But f6cussing on Singh's treatment of one or two issues may be of value in giving some indication of the overall value of his work.

The central argument of Singh's first chapter, "The Sautrantika Tradition," can be epitomized as follows. Since "Diimaga is the follower, commentator and defender of. Vasubandhu's philosophical standpoint" and "Dharmakrrti is the follower, commentator, and defender of Diimaga," if one can determine Vasubandhu's school one will know the school of Diimaga and Dharmakrrti as well (pp. 45-46). If any of these three thinkers had changed his philosophical loyalties during his lifetime, or if there has been a failure of a disciple to be consistent with the views of his master, the Brahmanical critics would have been unlikely to "overlook" such a weak point of an opponent, i.e., . his inconsistency (p. 33). Therefore, Singh argues, we can be fairly sure that Vasubandhu, Diimaga and Dharmakrrtiall held unswervingly to the same philosophical conclusions. Working on this supposition, Singh devotes most of his first chapter to determining the philosophical affiliations of Vasubandhu. His point of departure is Erich Frauwallner's now well-known and widely accepted theory that there were two Vasubandhus, but, as we shall see, Singh's account of Frauwallner's two-Vasubandhu hypothesis is somewhat garbled.

According to Singh, Frauwallner "in 1951 put forward a thesis that there were two famous philosophers by the name of Vasubandhu. One was the Vijiianavadin Vasubandhu, Asarpga's brother, and the other was the Sautrantika Vasubandhu who remained Sautrantika till death." This thesis was attacked by P.S. Jaini in 1957 and Alex Wayman in 1961 and updated by Schmidthausen in 1967. All of these scholarly advances, says Singh, then led Frauwallner to amend his thesis in 1969, stating in this new version that the Sautrantika Vasubandhu also converted to Vijiianavada and wrote the Vijiiaptimatratasiddhi. Singh, convinced that Frauwallner's 1951 thesis had been correct in the first place (p. 37 and p. 42), sets out to criticize those scholars who putatively led Frauwallner to change his views for the worse. Before looking at some of those arguments, however, let me set the record straight on the development of Frauwallner's two-Vasubandhu theory. In 1951 Frauwallner did indeed argue that the elder Vasubandhu was Asailga's brother and composed a number of

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key Mahayana works, including a commentary to Maitreyanatha's Madhyiintavibhiiga, the Dasabhumikasiistra and others. And in that same work Frauwallner did indeed argue that the younger Vasubandhu wrote the Abhidharmakosa. But Frauwallner did not commit himself to saying that Vasubandhu II died a Sautrantika. In fact, he said that he was not yet in a position to decide whether the Vijnanavada-oriented Vijiiaptimiitratiisiddhi was written by the elder or the younger Vasubandhu. 1 In 1956 (not 1969), before the two-Vasubandhu theory had been criticized by the scholars that Singh mentions and tries to refute, Frauwallner stated the opinion that the younger Vasubandhu had composed the Vijiiaptimiitratasiddhi. 2 In 1957 he added three logical works to the list of Vasubandhu II's writing. 3 In 1961 he reiterated his opinion that Vasubandhu II had written the Abhidharmakosa and· "in his old age had completely changed over to Mahayana" and written both the Virnsatikii and the TririzSikii-Vijiiaptimiitratiisiddhi.4

In other words, Singh is incorrect in saying that "Frauwallner has altered his previous thesis for one which seems less satisfactory" (p. 37), for Frauwallner never did express the thesis that Singh attributes to him as his first. The only alteration in Frauwallner's account was from being undecided to being decided on the authorship of the Vijiiaptimiitratasiddhi and the logical works. Singh's carelessness with secondary sources, exemplified here in his treatment of Frauwallner, occurs frequently in his book.

Singh is also careless in his translation of Sanskrit. To give one example, he offers "Dar~tantikas are the Vaitulika people who do not follow reason (yukti) and the scriptures, but are arrogant regarding their logic (sophistry)," (p. 25) as a translation for tadanye viidino diir:j~iintikavaitulikapaudgalikiih na yuktyiigamiibhidhiiyinah, tarkiibhimiiniis teo Through a serious misconstrual of the syntax of the sentence, Singh fails to arrive at a more correct translation, which might be: "Other theorists, namely the Dar~tantikas (or Sautrantikas), Vaitulikas and Personalists (Pudgalavadins), do not invoke reason and scripture; they have a high regard for speculation."

And equally careless IS Singh's formulation of argument. For example, in the context of trying to explain away the tradic

tional attribution of several Mahayana works to Diimaga, namely the PrajiiiipiiramitiipirvJiirtha and Yogiivatiira, Singh argues that the language of the former "clearly reveals the fact that this is not the work of the logician Diimaga or any other logician. It is apparently a work by a poet who does not know anything about

170 nABS VOL. 9 NO.2 .J

logic or epistemology" (p. 35). Moreover, the Prajiiiipiiramitiipin,rf,iirtha is full of Mahayana terminology that is not to be found in the Pramii7}asamuccaya (p. 34). Therefore, Singh concludes, these two Mahayana works cannot have been 'written by the author of Pramii7}asamuccaya. If the suppositions behind this argument were granted, of course, we should also have to conclude that Diimaga's Pramii7}asamuccaya, in which there are virtually no references to abhidharma terminology, could not have been composed by the author of the Abhidharmakosamarmad'ipa, which is virtually free of the technical terminology of pramii7}a. But this would thoroughly undermine Singh's entire thesis that Diimaga must belong to Vasubandhu's school on the grounds that Diimaga wrote a commentary to Abhidharmakosa.

In his second chapter Singh examines the views of a number of modern scholars on the scholastic affiliation of Diimaga and Dharmaklrti. The arguments of Stcherbatsky, Malvania, N.C. Shah, Vetter, C.D. Sharma, Satkari Mukerjee, Sailk:rtyayana, Dasgupta and Warder are reviewed and criticized. Since there have been so many conflicting conclusions reached, all apparently based on an examination of the available evidence, it is clear that if a definitive answer is to be found to the question of which school the Buddhist logicians followed, that answer must be based either on new evidence heretofore unavailable to modern scholars or on a masterfully careful and impartial investigation of all available evidence. Singh provides us with no new evidence on this whole matter, but rather tries to reexamine all the evidence considered by other scholars and to show that it points ineluctably to the conclusion that both Diilnaga and Dharmaklrti were unswervingly Sautrantika in the~r commitments. Prima facie this seems like a Quixotic task, since everyone, whether they conclude that Diilnaga and Dharmaklrti are Sautrantikas or Vijfianavadins, concedes that these philosophers founded a new movement, generally called nyiiyiinusiirin (based on reasoning) to contrast it with iigamiinusiirin (based on scripture). And so if Dharmaklrti is a Sautrantika, he is in any case far from being an uncritical continuator of the early Sautrantikas or Dar.'!tantikas whose views are outlined in the Pali Kathiivatthu or in the fragments of works by Kumaralata, et al., whose views are discussed, sometimes favorably and sometimes unfavorably, in the Abhidharmakosa. The very topics upon which those pre-Diilnaga Sautrantikas expressed distinctive views are not topics that come up in Diilnaga's Pramiir]asamuccaya or in the works of Dharmaklrti. As for postDharmaklrti accounts of Sautrantika views, when they conform to the positions argued by Diilnaga or Dharmaklrti, the confor-

REVIEWS 171

mity is due to the simple fact that the authors of those accounts took DharmakYrti as the paradigmatic Nyayanusrin Sautrantika. But other authQrs took DharmakYrti as the paradigmatic Nyayanusarin Vijiianavadin. So whom should we believe: Vacaspatimisr~, Udayana and others who refer to Dharmaklrti as a Sautrantika, or VinHadeva, Manorathanandin and others who refer to Dharmakirti as a Vijiianavadin? To side with either without compelling reasons seems arbitrary, and a more productive approach might be to begin with the acknowledgment that Diilllaga is just Diilllaga and that he is approaching a new set of issues with a relatively fresh mind, while Dharmakirti is an ingenious thinker who builds a significantly new edifice upon the foundations of Diilllaga's work. But rather than taking the approach just outlined, Singh tries to show why Vacaspatimisra is to be believed while VinItadeva and Manorathanandin are guilty of distorting the facts. For example on pp. 76-77 Singh says:

Vacaspati categorically called Diimaga and Dharmakirti Sautrantikas. When Diimaga and Dharmakirti called themselves Y ogacara Vijiianavadins is not to be traced in any of their writings, Some Vijiianavadin commentators have created this confusion. Why does Vacaspati present them as opponents of Y ogacara? Nowhere have they expressed "their own opinion" of belonging to Yogacara. There is no internal evidence, either in the work of Diimaga or of Dharmakirti, that they have called themselves Y ogacarins or Sautrantika-Y ogacara.

Singh does not explain, however, why the absence of Dharmak"irti's saying explicitly "1 ,am. a Vijiianavadin" shows more conclusively that he was not a Vijiianavadin than the absence of his saying "1 am a Sautrantika" would show that he was not a Sautrantika. Perhaps the absence of explicit self-identification shows simply that DharmakTrti himself did not regard his scholastic affiliation as relevant to what he had to say. The effort to place all Buddhist philosophers into the rather flat architectonic of two Hinayana and two Mahayana schools was, after all, the concern of academics who lived several centuries after Dharma- , k"irti's time, and it may be quite anachronistic to treat the issue as a concern of Dharmaklrti himself. And so the testimony of such later academics as Vacaspati, Udayana, Parthasarathi and numerous Tibetan authorities, all of whom were heavily influenced by the artificial four-school schema, should be treated with this possible anachronicity in mind. Above all, both Diilllaga and Dharmak"irti should be allowed to speak for themselves as to their scholastic predilections. Being allowed to do so, they both, as Singh himself acknowledges, remain silent.


In summary, the specialist in Buddhist epistemological theory is unlikely .to find new insights into that theory in Singh's book. Nor is the beginner in this area likely to be able to use the book as a reliable guide through the secondary literature on the subject, for the author is far too ready to sacrifice accuracy in order to make every scrap of evidence appear to work towards his conclusion. So convinced is Singh of his conclusion at the outset that one can scarcely imagine his admitting that any fact serves as counterevidence to it, the result being that the book is more a polemical tract than a work of scientific scholarship. If the book succeeds in anything it is to show, albeit inadvertantly, the bankruptcy of treating the philosophers under discussion as spokesmen of doctrinaire schools rather than treating the schools as heuristic categories into which individuals, who differ considerably from one another, can provisionally be placed for pedagogical purposes.

Finally, there is a false claim about the author himself that should be rectified. He is identified on the title page as the holder of a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, and the dustjacket specifies that the Toronto Ph.D. was awarded in 1978. No Ph.D. has ever been awarded by the University of Toronto to Amar Singh, who in 1979 underwent his last unsuccessful attempt (after previous failures) to defend the dissertation on which the book now being reviewed was based.

Richard P. Hayes

NOTES

1. Erich Frauwaliner, On the Date of the Buddhist Master of the Law Vasubandhu. (Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1951), p. 56.

2. Erich Frauwallner, Die Philosophie des Buddhismus (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1958, c. 1956), p. 351. Frauwallner writes: "Ausserdem sind unter dem Namen Vasubandhu zwei kleinere Werke erhalten, die beide den Namen Vijnaptimatratasiddhi/:I ... fiihren, eines in zwanzig Versen (Virpsatika), das andere in dreissig (Trirpsika). Die aussere Uberlieferung lasst keine Entscheidung ZU, ob diese beiden Werke von Vasubandhu, dem Bruder Asangas stammen, oder von Vasubandhu dem Jiingeren, dem Verfasser des Abhidharmakosa/:I. Meiner Ansicht nach ist Vasubandhu der Jilngere ihr Verfasser, doch kann diese schwierige Frage hier nicht weiter erortert werden, ... [Trirhsika) gilt als das letzte Werk Vasubandhus, der gestorben sein soli, bevor es ihm moglich war, den beabsichtigen kommentar zu schreiben. Es enthalt eine Dogmatik der Yogacara-Lehre in Knappster Form."

3. Erich Frauwallner, "Vasubandhu's Vadavidhi/:I." Wiener Zeitschriftfilr die Kunde Sild- und Ostasiens 1:104-146. See pp. 104-105.

4. Erich Frauwallner, "Landmarks in the history of Indian logic." Wiener Zeitschriftfilrdie Kunde Sild- und Ostasiens 5: 125-148. See especially pp. 131-132.

REVIEWS 173

Shobogenza: Zer: Es~ays by Dagen, translated by Thomas Cleary. Honolulu: Umversity of Hawaii Press, 1986. vii + 123 pp.

This volume presents the translation of thirteen fascicles of Dagen's masterw?rk wit~ an introductory essay on Dagen's use of language and ItS relatIOn to meditation in light of traditional Zen practice, as well as prefatory comments (and in sorpe cases, annotations) to each fascicle. Cleary is one of the most noted and prolific translators of Zen and Far Eastern Buddhist texts; his previous publications include works by Dagen and the Sata sect. In this case, the material presented has become increasingly familiar. All of the fascicles have appeared in English at least once, some of them two or more times, and particularly important and famous pieces such as "Genjakaan" and "Uji" are available in a half-dozen versions. Yet, Dagen's creative but idiosyncratic Sino-J apanese writing is generally recognized as being so complex and multi-dimensional in its interweaving of novel approaches to traditional Buddhist doctrine that there will continue to remain room for some time for new interpretations if they are faithful to the text and supported by classical and modern Japanese scholarship. So, an important question in evaluating this volume is, What does Cleary'S approach to translation and broad background in Mahayana and Zen contribute to the subtle and profound philosophical maze of the Shabagenza?

According to the introductory material (in the Foreward, Introduction and jacket notes), there are three main rationales for this translation: first, it attempts to preserve "the form as well as content, on, the premise that both are functional parts of the original design, which is arresting and demands close attention" (p. 20); second, its commentary and notes help make "accessible to a wider audience a Zen classic once considered to be the private preserve of Sata monks and Buddhologists ... including readers from various fields in the sciences and humanities" Uacket); and third, it has "selected [fascicles] for their emphasis on perennial issues in Buddhist learning and action." (Foreward)

The last of these points is probably the strongest. Cleary uses his considerable expertise in Chinese Buddhist texts to illuminate the development and forms of expression of Dagen Zen. His references in the introduction to other Zen writings, such as those by Gyazan and Wanshi, underscore the influence of Chinese thought on Dagen without losing sight of the uniqueness of Dagen's approach. Cleary convincingly argues that "a great deal of Dagen's writings for contemplation in Shobogenzo would fall into the general category of complex Man, and can


be used with great effect in aiding the mind in the practice of fluid integration of multiple perspectives" (p. 8). In some cases, the connections may be overstated. For example, the interpretation of the elusive opening paragraph of "Genjakaari" in terms of the traditional Chinese Sata doctrine of "five stages" (goi) could be valid, but it does not account for Dagen's explicit criticism of the goi standpoint in certain sections of the ShObi5genzo. Yet, Cleary's work may help initiate further research into relatively unexplored territory and reverse the tendency to interpret Dagen in light of his mentor, Ju-ching, while overlooking other significant Chinese influences.

The rationale concerning form in addition to the content of the original material, however, is somewhat problematic. Since the Shobogenzo is written in a conventional prose form-and not in an unusual or unexpected poetic or calligraphic form (although it contains references to Zen poems as well as a poetic quality in its composition)-the question of capturing "form" would not seem to present an issue for the translator. What Cleary basically means by form is that "passages· and phrases which the original text keeps in Chinese, as well as certain technical terms which seem to stand out for emphasis, have been italicized in the English." (p. 20) The practice of highlighting the Chinese references is valuable, since Dagen's writing frequently consists of reinterpretations or rewritings of early Chinese sources. But most translations, at least the careful ones, do set the references off by quotation marks or indentation. Perhaps Cleary is more thorough than some because he italicizes each word from a source passage that is mentioned in Dagen's commentary. The real difficulty in this issue arises from the fact that both the Chinese references and the technical terms are highlighted in exactly the same way. In the original text, these socalled technical terms are never identified as such. Thus, doing so here entirely reflects the translator's own judgments, which are not explained and are also not a matter of the text's form. In addition, this practice is not always followed consistently. Many of the important doctrines, such as shinjin-datsuraku (casting off or shedding body-mind) and kikan (pivotal working), are not italicized; some that are, including kyoryaku (passage), are not explained in the commentary. Perhaps a comprehensive glossary would have been a more effective means of indicating the special concepts in Dagen's thought.

Thus, the key question remains, How does the translation fare in terms of content? This is generally a thorough and accu-

REVIEWS 175

:ate jOb: which is often quite successful in conveying the full Imphca~lOns of Dagen's highly suggestive writing. Several of the translations, such as "S~nsuikya" and "Kuge," are particularly noteworthy for capturmg the tone and essence of Dagen's thought. In other cases, however, the translation is not as meticulous or as certain as one might hope. An examination of the crucial "Genjakaan" fasicle (pp. 32-35), which appears first in most Japanese editions, reveals a number of problems. First, the translation seems too literal in the phrase, "enlightenment on top of enlightenment," by which Dagen means "enlightenment beyond enlightenment" or "self-surpassing enlightenment." In a related context, Cleary translates the term (ja orue) as "progress (or transcendence)" (p. 30). On the other hand, the rendering of the central doctrine of ju-hOi as "normative state" (which is not italicized) appears to take too much liberty. Dagen's term, which is usually translated more literally as "abiding dharma-position" (Cleary's rendering in "Dji") refers to the concrete manifestation of the interpenetrating currents of life and death, akin to Nishida's logic of place (basha) of absolute nothingness. "Normative state" not only loses the temporal significance underlying the spatial metaphor, but seems to overlook the point that the type of philosophical perspective articulated by Dagen is descriptive of the ontological condition of reality as it is, rather than offering an axiological recommendation for how things should be.

While the problem in the above points may be a lack of familiarity with the standard Japanese commentaries, another difficulty is the awkward rendering of Dagen's philosophical writing. For example, the final sentence in the well-known passage in "Genjakaan" concerning the relation between self-forgetfulness and the casting off of body-mind is translated as: "There is ceasing the traces of enlightenment, which causes one to forever leave the traces of enlightenment which is cessation." (p. 32) This version seems to carry a threefold redundancy: ceasing the traces causes one to leave the traces which is an act of ceasing. In Dagen's writing, however, the two clauses build upon and enhance one another as well as the metaphor of shedding. Thus, an alternative version would be: It [casting off body-mind] is the cessation of the traces of enlightenment, and this traceless enlightenment is perpetually renewed."

Another example of awkward or misleading translation is in the title of several fascicles. For instance, "Genjakaan" is rendered as "Issue at Hand," which may be an interesting but controversial attempt to capture in contemporary idiom Dagen's


unique sense of spontaneity. As Cleary explains, genjokoan means the "manifestation" or "present actuality" of the Zen kOan. But it does not seem likely that the phrase "issue at hand" will clarify for the reader that actuality should not be understood in the ordinary sense of "ready-made" or simply "in front of me." Rather, genjokOan suggests. the primordial realization of the priority and immediacy of here-and-now experience without the impediments of presupposition and conceptualization. The problem with Cleary's rendering in the title is reflected by the fact that he translates genjo as "manifestation" or "actualization" when it is used in the body of the fascicles. Similarly, "Zenki" translated as "The Whole Works" may not convey the unity of the totality (zen) and dynamism (ki) of unobstructed and interpenetrating temporal reality suggested by the original terms. One case in which Cleary's approach does seem effective is the translation of "Immo" (Skt., tatM) as "Such." By leaving off the substantive suffix in "suchness," which most translations use, he illuminates Dagen's expression of concrete experience without abstraction.

The rationale concerning the book's appeal to non-specialists in the sciences and humanities is also questionable. Certainly Dagen's thought can and should continue to be explored in terms of disciplines such as psychology, philosophy and aesthetics for its views on time, nature, language, ethics, etc., in addition to religious attainment. However, these issues are not directly addressed in the introduction or commentary. Nor do the fascicles selected necessarily reflect an interest in interdisciplinary dialogue. For example, the philosophical and literary richness of "Bussha," "Shi~ingakuda," and "Muchu-setsumu" are not included, while several of the fascicles that are focus almost exclusively on meditative realization. In this context, the title is rather misleading since this volume contains only a small portion of the entire ShObOgenzo Oapanese editions range from 75 to 95 fascicles), with no mention of how the fascicles were selected or put in sequence in relation to the original complete work.

In summary, this is a handy and generally reliable translation if used with some caution, but it probably only accomplishes part of the goals it sets.

Steven Heine

REVIEWS 177

Studies in Ch'an and Hua-yan, edited by Robert M. Gimello and Peter N. Gregory.The Kuroda Institute: Studies in East Asian Buddhism No. l. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1983.

This book of five articles introduces new research on Ch'an and Hua-yen Buddhism by expanding upon Japanese and French research.

The first two articles describe Chinese Ch'an in Tibet. Jeffrey Broughton, "Early Ch'an Schools in Tibet," is a sum

mary of research on the Ch'an from Szechwan that influenced Tibet in the 750s to 780s A.D. The Ching-chung Ch'an of the Korean monk Mu-sang (Wu-hsiang) was the first to reach Tibet. It was soon followed by the competing Ch'an of the Pao-t'ang "school" ofWu-chu. Therefore when the Nothern Ch'an master Mo-ho-yen arrived in Tibet, he had to compromise with Pao-t'ang doctrine and adopt some of its pseudo-history in order to gain a hearing among the Ch'an followers he was asked to represent.

There is also some discussion of a third Ch'an lineage in Tibet, a Pure Land-style Ch'an. (For further details· see Tsukamoto Zenryu, Ti5chuki no Ji5dokyi5, Kyoto, 1976.) The article concludes with hints for further research which may reveal the contribution Ch'an made to the rDzogs-chen "school" which preserves many Ch'an works in Tibetan translation.

Translations from the Li-tai fa-pao chi and Tsung-mi's Yiianchiieh ching ta-shu ch'ao illustrate the history and doctrines of Szechwan Ch'an, and translations from Tibetan texts are used to outline the early history of Ch'an in Tibet. Luis O. Gomez, in "The Direct and the Gradual Approaches of Zen Master Mahayana: Fragments of the Teachings of Mo-ho-yen," edits and translates the sayings and works preserved in Tibetan in scattered fragments of the Ch'an master Mo-ho-yen, who took part in a dispute between Chinese Ch'an teachers and Indian Madhyamika teachers in Tibet in the last half of the eighth century. An attempt is made to reconstruct the original texts and sort them into five genres. Not all the fragments attributed to Mo-ho-yen are included, but this is the most comprehensive work to date.

In the analysis of the texts, the author suggests that Mo-hoyen's doctrinal position was that of an extreme non-dualist who thought practice came after enlightenment. Consequently Moho-yen denied the value of means to that enlightenment, yet he still had to allow for a means for people of lesser abilities. This admission probably gave his opponents grounds for criticism.


There is a glossary of Tibetan terms and their Chinese equivalents based on a comparison of the fragments in Tibetan with the Chinese of the Tun-wu Ta-sheng cheng-li chueh which depicts Mo-ho-yen's side of the dispute (for which it may have been profitable to consult Hasebe Koichi's edition from the Pelliot and Stein Chinese manuscripts, the "Toban Bukkyo to Zen", Aichigakuin Daigaku bungakubu kiyo no. 1). Gomez in fact suggests that terminological ambiguity was one source of misunderstanding between the Chinese and Indian parties. Recently R.A. Stein has begun work on the Tibetan translations of Chinese and Indian vocabulary ("Tibetica Antiqua", BEFEO 72, 1983) which sheds more light on the subject. For example, lun and mdo (Gomez p. 87, notes 23 and 39), or gzhung and gzhun (Gomez p. 140) are interpreted slightly differently by Stein (pp. 175-6 and p. 179 respectively) .

John McRae, in "The Ox-head School of Chinese Ch'an Buddhism," shows that the Ox-head (Niu-t'ou) "school" did not claim an independent lineage beginning from Fajung, a supposed pupil of Tao-hsin, the so-called fourth Ch'an patriarch, until after Shen-hui formulated the notion of a patriarchal lineage in the early eighth century. This they did to connect themselves with the increasingly popular Ch'an movement. The Ox-head even claimed to be a different and yet superior lineage because they transcended the dispute between Northern and Southern Ch'an initiated by Shen-hui. The early members claimed for the lineage could not have been a succession of master and disciples. They were contemporaries who lived in the same area of south China, and they practiced a meditation influenced by San-Iun doctrine rather than Ch'an.

McRae analyses Ox-head doctrine primarily through the Chueh-kuan lun which he suggests has some parallels with the Platform Sutra in its use of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. He agrees with Yanagida Seizan's theory that the Platform Sutra was compiled by the Ox-head "school". However, it also contains elements of Shen-hui's doctrine and the pseudo-history of Huineng which the Chueh-kuan lun does not.

Biographies are given for all prominent members of the lineage, especially those who in later times forged the lineage.

This is a thought-provoking article, but it does have some mInor errors:

p. 236 note 1: Shao-shih is the name of a mountain, not a cave. p. 239 note 16: Fa-jung and Ching-chueh were probably not of

related clans as Fajung was from Jun-chou in Kiangsu and

REVIEWS 179

Ching-chueh was a member of the capital territory Wei clan. p. 188: WasJu-hai an "ordained student" ofHsuan-su? Hsuan-su

died on 21st Dec. 752, but Ju-hai only became a monk in North China in 755 after having served in the civil service in Ch'eng-tu. There is no evidence that earlier he was in the lower Yangtze region where Hsuan-su was. The Ma-su referred to in the stele may not refer to Hsuan-su.

p. 193: The Emperor who invited Fa-ch'in to court in 789 must be Te-tsung, for Tai-tsung died in 780. Fa-ch'in did not die in 792, but on 13th Feb. 793.

The final two articles deal with the practical aspects of Huayen.

Peter N. Gregory's "The Teaching of Men and Gods: The Doctrinal and Social Basis of Lay Buddhist Practice in the Huayen Tradition" concerns the adoption of a preparatory, karmic moralism, made up of the five Buddhist precepts for the laity, as the lowest level of Buddhist teaching by the Ch'an and Hua-yen master Tsung-mi (780-841) in his Yuan-jen {un (Inquiry into the Origin of Man). By practising these precepts it was claimed one could be reborn as a man or a god. Originating in the Northern Wei forgery of c. 460 A.D., the T'i-wei Po-li ching, the teaching of men and gods was a co-ordination of the five Buddhist precepts with Chinese cosmology and the five Confucian virtues. Tsungmi instead co-ordinated these precepts and virtues with the Buddhist cosmology of the states of rebirth.

Tsung-mi gave Confucianism and Taoism a provisional status as paths leading to morality, but only Buddhism contained the ultimate teaching that leads to Buddhahood. So while Tsungmi was more syncretic and less partisan than his Hua-yen predecessors in that he adopted Confucianism into his scheme, he also criticised Confucianism and Taoism by saying that their ideas of Heaven, Tao, tzu-jan and yuan-ch'i could not account for the origins of evil, or provide an "ontological" basis for morality, both of which Buddhism did by means of the doctrines of causation and karma.

Tsung-mi was attempting to blunt the Confucian and Taoist attacks on Buddhism by shifting the grounds of the dispute from partisan social and racist polemics to a philosophical debate. His inclusion of Confucian values was also a response to the growth of lay Hua-yen Buddhist societies in his time. The history and background to these societies is outlined and the relevant section from the Yuan-jen lun is translated.

Robert M. Gimello, in "Li T'ung-hsuan and the Practical


Dimension ofHua-yen," attempts to take Hua-yen studies beyond its traditional "sectarian" confines by showing that the obscure and "unorthodox" Hua-yen layman Li T'ung-hsuan (653-730) probably had more influence on non-Hua-yen thinkers than the mainstream Hua-yen philosophers.

At first Li was known only in Shansi as a miracle-worker, but by the Sung dynasty his ideas were used widely by Lin-chi lineage Ch'an monks, and as a result his works spread to Korea and Japan where they were used by such important figures as Pojo Chinul (1158-1210) and Koben (Myoe Shonen, 1173-1232).

The Korean Son (Ch'an) monk Chinul used Li's idea that the initial arisal of faith is the sudden understanding of one's own inherent buddhahood which is the culmination of the stages of the bodhisattva. This faith then is the practical equivalent of the potential for buddhahood. Chinul, who was trying to harmonize the contending Hua-yen and Ch'an of Korea, found Li's concern with the path of spiritual cultivation useful in his endeavour.

Koben, aJapanese Shingon monk, found Li's explanation that the light emitted by the Buddha Vairocana would induce faith in the contemplator an aid in interpreting his own visionary experiences as well as in explaining the Shingon Mantra of the Buddha's Radiance. Using these authorities, Koben created the Samadhi of the Buddha's Radiance, asserting that it was effective in the Period of the Termination of the Dharma even for beginners.

These monks thought that Li T'ung-hsuan had made the abstruse doctrines of Hua-yen available to ordinary practitioners by providing simpler and more experiential methods of practice for entering the ineffable state Hua-yen theory tried to describe.

For Chinul and Li T'ung-hsuan's thought see also Hee-Sung Keel, Chinul: The Founder of the Korean Son Tradition (Harvard Ph.D. 1977, published Berkeley 1984); Shim Jae-ryong, The Philosophical Foundation of Korean Zen Buddhism: The Interpretation of Son and Kyo by Chinul (Univ. of Hawaii Ph.D. 1979, published T'aegaksa, Seoul, 1981) p. 22 ff.; and Sung Bae Park, Buddhist Faith and Sudden Enlightenment (SUNY Press, Albany 1983) chapter 15.

John Jorgensen

REVIEWS 181

The Tantric Distinction: An Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, by Jeffrey Hopkins, edited by Anne C. Klein. London: Wisdom Publications, 1984. pp. 176. Glossary. Softcover $8.95.

Over the past several years, Jeffrey Hopkins has given us a small library of excellent scholarly expositions and translations of works of the dGe lugs pa Prasangika Madhyamika school of Tibetan Buddhism. This latest effort is a popular work based on a series of lectures explaining the tenets of that school. Not being a scholarly work in that it lacks the scholarly apparatus of footnotes and references, it is by Hopkins' allowance, a "personalized account" of a scholar who is also a practitioner.

The first part of the book is a variation of the classical presentations of impermanence, salllsara, and nirvaI)a. Hopkins gives us a fresh and novel look at these subjects, though the language throughout the book is at times tortured, needing more extensive editing. The second part gives a neat overview of much of his other work. In many ways it could be looked upon as a Reader's Digest version of his other works, for he nicely condenses into these few pages much of what he exposes at length elsewhere. This work could be seen as a primer of dGe-Iugs-pa thought and so could be profitably read. We are, however, confronted with a serious dilemma that may face all scholar-practitioners. Hopkins' scholarly works can clearly be seen as being expository-that is, he objectively puts forth the traditional views as they are traditionally held. Can, however, a Western scholar attempting to write from totally within a tradition, as Hopkins does here, balance his personal commitment to the tradition with the more objective dictates of a scholarly approach? There seems to be no simple answer to this question. Though Hopkins' method raises this issue, he shows no cognizance of it in this book.

Reading this book brings the issue strongly to the fore. This becomes painfully evident when Hopkins attempts to set forth the background (chap. 8) for the Consequence, Prasangika school. Here 'we might expect to find conflict between the scholarly approach and that of the practitioner; however, it seems a choice has already been made. Hopkins states, "Buddha is said to have taught doctrines on which both the Low Vehicle and the Great Vehicle tenet systems are based" (p. 85). In the context of what follows the "is said" is not the expression of somebody else's opinion; it is an expression of what Hopkins regards as fact. Hopkins goes on to state, "But he [the Buddha] did give teachings on which the four tenet systems rely, and these remained intact


until about forty years after his death. At that time the Great Vehicle teaching went underground or, as some say, to the country of the gods, dragons (naga), and so forth .... Nagarjuna brough the Great Vehicle teaching back to India, using books from the land of the Nagas" (p. 85).1 In other words, Hopkins holds the view that the Buddha did in fact teach the Great Vehicle in some form that would be recognizably distinct from the "Hinayana." Hopkins offers no elaboration, nor is any alternate history provided, nor does it seem likely that Hopkins is restating Conze's evolutionary statement: "There is in Buddhism really no innovation, but what seems so is in fact a subtle adaptation of pre-existing ideas.,,2 This traditional history is the only history Hopkins gives as the only explanation for the way things are in Buddhism, and it is, by the standards of historical-critical methodology, nothing more than a pious fiction.

If Hopkins' ignoring the hard won results of historical studies is a problem, his strident polemical stance is no less so, particularly since this is a book for a general or non-scholarly audience. We shall let Hopkins speak here. (Please note this is only a very small sampling, and no injustice has been done to context.) Footnoting the first mention of the Low Vehicle, he states that Low Vehicle is an appropriate description of these non-Mahayana schools, and he goes on to state that it is possible to fall from the Great Vehicle by being born in Sri Lanka "where Low Vehicle Buddhism is widespread" (p. 90). "This means that according to the Consequence [Prasangika] School the Low Vehicle schools do not even know how to present a path of liberation because the Low Vehicle tenet systems incorrectly describe the method for becoming a Foe Destroyer [arhat]. In this sense the Consequence School is exclusive. In another sense, however, it is inclusive because it teaches that all the great Foe Destroyers of the past [Anand a, Sariputra, etc.?] cognized the same most subtle emptiness that the Consequence School describes" (p. 111). "The Buddha described by Low Vehicle tenet systems is not a Buddha at all according to the Consequence School, for he is depicted as cognizing a very coarse type of emptiness. Such a being has not even attained liberation from cyclic'existence .... " (p. 123). Finally, we face these rhetorical questions: "If you love people and wish to help them and understand the compatibility of emptiness and appearance, why would you seek your own liberation from cyclic existence? In other words, why would anyone be a Low Vehicle practitioner" (p. 161)?

REVIEWS 183

In reading this book, it is apparent, though not always clearly so, that we have here two Low Vehicles: The non-Mahayanist Low Vehicle schools and the Low Vehicle of the Mahayana, particularly of the Consequence school. The latter are those who do not or cannot develop bodhicitta, but who realize the Consequence school emptiness. Their situation is bad enough, but it is the former group that is in real trouble. These unfortunates, among whom Hopkins counts the modern Theravadins, are so bootless they "do not even know how to present a path of liberation," and, following a bogus Buddha, they are incapable of any genuine attainment. Hopkins can, in all likelihood, point to one or another exegetical source for most, if not all, of his statements, but why put forward this polemic? It is highly doubtful that his polemic helps the general reader understand Buddhism, which is Hopkins' stated purpose. There are, after all, modern Tibetan expositors of their -tradition, such as Geshe Rabten, who rarely resort in their writings to such extended and vociferous polemics as those that are so painfully present in Hopkins' book. There is no pressing need to take a polemical stance, and given the present state of knowledge, there is no reason not to put the Tibetan, or any Buddhist, polemical tradition into a historical perspective. There is, however, no attempt in this book at genuine historical contextualization, and thus there is nothing to prevent this work from being dismissed as a divisive and polemical sectarian tract. This is unfortunate, given the quality of Hopkins' expository works and his undoubted philological learning. There is no reason that the needs of the practitioner cannot be served by scholarship, and there is no need for the scholar-practitioner to do an injustice to the store of historical, philological, or philosophical knowledge that is available.

Bruce Burrill

NOTES

1. This is a reiteration of an exposition already given in Hopkins' Meditation on Emptiness; it is based on the traditional doctrinal history, Jam-yang-shay-ba's Great Exposition of Tenets. London: Wisdom Publications, 1983. p. 358.

2. Edward Conze, Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies (Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, 1967) p. 75.

184 JIARS VOL. 9 NO.2

Jeffrey Hopkins Replies:

My scholarly roots are to be found in classes with the anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn and the psychologist Henry Murray (Social Sciences 4) and the literary critics Reuben Brower and Richard Poirier (Humanities 6) at Harvard in 1958. Kluck hohn and Murray opened me to cultural relativism and psycholanalysis and Brower and Poirier opened me to what was then the New Criticism, a capacity to step into the setting of literature as if in a common social situation. All four professors were very person-oriented, appreciating the significance of human response and human meaning.

I admit to sometimes taking too much for granted these perspectives of cultural relativism (though not of the nihilistic variety-I am almost over that!) and emphasis on personal meaning. I have sometimes been surprised to find that, when I speak from within a system, a few people think that I have assumed that system. I understand the tension that such a voice creates because in my senior year at college T.R.V. Murti gave a course on the classical Indian systems of philosophy (which I audited), and we in the class were struck with his ability to move from system to system describing each in such a vivid way that we felt it was his own. A considerable way into the course, we often conjectured, before class, about what system was his, some people trying to force the matter one way or another. His method of exposition caused us to take more seriously each system, and the tension of wondering what he himself thought brought energy to the classroom.

In this particular case, however, it should be clear from the preface of The Tantric Distinction that I wrote the book not as a Buddhist but as someone attempting, by making it more personal, to give a glimpse of a system of another culture as a living phenomenon. The account is "personalized" not in the sense that everything said in it is a matter of my own belief (though it does contain personal anecdote) but in the sense that what are often taken as merely dry abstractions are treated as of human relevance. In the preface, I make reference to Wilfred Cantwell Smith's description of a movement in inter-cultural dialogue to the point where "we all" are talking with each other about "us." As I say:

This progression means not that we necessarily adopt another culture but that we arrive at the point where it can be seen as a configuration of our human spirit.

REVIEWS 185

I include within this rubric not just the more socially salutary features of other cultures, such as techniques for developing compassion, but also the most unsalutary, such as the attitudes that gave rise to murderous Nazism. I feel that it is important, no matter how hard it may at first seem, to view even these as configurations of our human spirit, something that my human spirit could manifest under conducive circumstances. (As Jung said, most theory is subjective confession, and thus the theory that I am advancing here may be just a confession of the fluctuations of my own spirit!) The cultural determinist may find it hard to take such an open and playful attitude toward "others'" cultures, but such serious play, essential to philosophy and mathematics, is also helpful in religious and theological studies.

As Mr. Burrill himself points out, the specific section on the history of Great Vehicle teachings that he sees as evincing my own convictions is ,prefaced by a distancing "is said," since I find it difficult to put on the hat of even prete riding to hold that Sakyamuni Buddha said everything that traditional histories say he did. I, of course, either accept the contemporary critical historical scholarship on such matters or have a hunch that it presents what is more likely the case, given the tendency in these traditions to reform history in order to make sectarian points in even more ingenious ways than we do (e.g., kLong chen rab 'byams, who in many ways is to the rNying ma order of Tibetan Buddhism what Tsong kha pa is to dGe lugs pa, is said by at least one dGe lugs pa lama to have become a dGe lugs pa in his very next lifetime!)

Must one say "it is said" at the beginning of every sentence on traditional history or on positions of Indian sages? It is assumed.

My prime interest is in telling a story; remember my literary roots. I do recognize that some persons do not bring the same perspective to my work as I do, and thus it may be necessary to make my position, especially on historical matters, clearer. At the University of Virginia after a lecture on traditional cosmology, a student asked, "Do you really believe the world is flat?"! I have wondered what made him vulnerable even to consider that I might think such.

The second part of the book is explicitly concerned with following out the implications of the differentiation between the sutra vehicle and the tantra vehicle set forth by the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century scholar, Tsong kha pa. That this section is presenting Tsong kha pa's opinion (1) is clear from the sources given on the part title page, (2) is announced in the


first paragraph, and (3) is structurally obvious throughout the entire section from my use of a list of thirty-one points drawn from Tsong kha pa's exposition of the topic.

Tsong kha pa's argument revolves around understanding that Prasangika-Madhyamika, as he interprets it, presents the only valid view through realization and cultivation of which cyclic existence can be overcome. He argues, explicitly and in detail in several of his works, why this is philosophically so, drawing out the consequence that liberation from cyclic existence cannot be attained through the views of the other schools of tenets. It may turn out that the real drama here is to be found in the sociological need for group distinctiveness, couched in this case in philosophical exclusivity, but we cannot pass off the entire argument until we investigate its many issues.

His arguments that liberation from cyclic existence cannot be achieved without the view as described in PrasangikaMadhyamika apply to philosophical positions of the Theravada school, which posit selflessness only with respect to persons and not with respect to other phenomena; thus, it would have to be said that from Tsong kha pa's point of view liberation could not be attained merely through realization and cultivation of the selflessness set forth by the Theravada school. Tsong kha pa makes many claims to having delineated a view of emptiness in Prasangika-Madhyamika that not only differs in its profundity and power from that of other schools but also differs from its interpretation by other great masters in Tibet. For anyone interested in exploring philosophical and theological claims and for anyone interested in an accurate portrayal of Tsong kha pa's estimation of the emptiness of inherent existence, it is necessary to delineate this exclusivity.

Mr. Burrill, in the interests of sectarian harmony within Buddhism, feels that the presentation of these distinctions is necessarily polemical, and he would have me by-pass the issue. He advises that, instead, I should follow the example of certain contemporary dGe lugs pa scholars who, in his experience, do not present Tsong kha pa's exclusivistic claims. Not only would such skirting of central issues do an injustice to the history of dGe lugs pa philosophical discourse but also I would have to forsake my own philosophical interests in exploring Tsong kha pa's claims, for I would have to reduce a presentation of dGe lugs pa views on emptiness to something to which all contemporary Buddhist orders could agree. To do what he suggests would, for me, amount to intellectual dishonesty.

REVIEWS 187

Mr. Burrill seems to assume that J am a dGe lugs pa Buddhist. Let me merely say that when, about ten years ago, a Western monk told me that during the ordination ceremony the Dalai Lama advised the Westerners becoming monks not to think of themselves as dGe lugs pas, I was struck with a sense of amazement at what it might mean for a Westerner to be a dGe lugs pal Such a possibility had never even occurred to me. It, therefore, is at once amusing and bewildering to be accused of being a dGe lugs pa polemicist.

If _Buddhist and Christian scholars can meet in theological encounters, explaining their different philosophies and benefitting from it, I would think that philosophically oriented Buddhists could benefit from exchanging views on the nature of cyclic existence, the means to overcome its root, and so forth, without having to hide from or paste over the implications of exclusivity. As long as the attitude of the participants is to probe the structure and implications of their systems within the spirit of homo ludens, inter-sectarian harmony should be improved, especially since so many Buddhists call for investigation and analysis and not mere adherence to dogma. Central to my method is the development of an attitude of vigorous play with the concepts of a system within an attitude of suspended judgement.

Bruce Burrill Replies:

Hopkins' response clarifies what he vaguely stated in his preface, but it does not change my criticism of his book. He is correct in pointing out that it is a powerful didactic method to speak in the voice of the system one is expositing, but without an objective reference, how do we distinguish the statements of one who, for didactic reasons, speaks as a dogmatist from the statements of one who is a dogmatist? Would not the effect of these statements be the same? Other than his vague statement in his preface, there is no sens"e in this book of a stepping back from the material to give us an objective reference. The last line of Hopkins' response about vigorously playing with concepts "within an attitude of suspended judgement" is quite telling. The suspended judgement is not the suspension of the judgements the dogmatist may make of a competing system, for Hopkins plays that role well; it is the historical and philosophical judgement of the scholar that is suspended. Let us not forget that this


work is not-meant for the scholar who would have the background for this; rather, this book, published by a sectarian press, is directed to Joe and Jane Dharma from the local Tibetan center who view Hopkins-rightly or wrongly-as a Buddhist and a Buddhist scholar, and they are probably not going to know that what Hopkins states, for example, about the Theravada school is at best problematic. These readers are given what amounts to sectarian editorializing that goes far beyond the straightforward exposition of his scholarly works. Maybe it is only in the sense of "play" that the Hopkins' statements are presented, but that is where the book fails, for we are not given the tools for distinguishing between the one playing at being a dogmatist and the one who is a dogmatist. If one is directing a book to a general audience, then why continue the MahayanalHlnayana debate without giving the reader the tools for some sort of unbiased judgement? Hopkins is not being asked to ignore Tsong ka pa's exclusivity, but to contextualize it historically and philosophically. I have to end by saying that my sympathies are with Hopkins' student: "Do you, Professor Hopkins, really think the world is flat?"

IV. NOTES AND NEWS

Tibetan Text Processing System

A new Tibetan text processing system has been developed for creating reproduction-quality Tibetan typesetting with an IBM-PC or compatible computer and certain dot matrix printers. The Tibetan characters were fashioned after models taken from a wood block edition of the Buddhist Sutras printed in Lhasa, Tibet. Roman and italic fonts with a complete set of Sanskrit diacritical marks are also supplied and may be interspersed with the Tibetan. The program and manual are available for a nominal charge. For more information and a list of Tibetan-English bilingual publications contact:

Mahayana Sutra and-Tantra Press 216A West Second Street Howell, New Jersey 07731 U.S.A

189


International Buddhist Directory. A Wisdom Reference Book. London: Wisdom Publications, 1985. 120 pp., softcover. $8.95.

All of us in Buddhist Studies have at least once' answered the phone to find on the other end of the line a question we have difficulty answering: "Will you please give me a list of the names of the universities in your country which offer degrees in Buddhist Studies, and a list of all the centers or groups involved with Buddhism." (I wish the questions would be so clearly worded, and the distinction between a university offering a degree and a religious center would be understood!)

We still will have to send our callers on long treasure hunts to compile their own lists of universities that offer degrees in Buddhist Studies, (the reference books in the libraries are hopeless), but Wisdom Publications has taken a great step in providing us a book that offers the information on centers and groups throughout the world involved in Buddhism. This little directory lists 1800 Buddhist centers in sixty-three countries. It is divided into two parts: Part One gives information, confirmed as correct at the end of 1984, about the name, address, phone number, Buddhist tradition, and many other facts concerning 500 centers. Part Two gives unconfirmed addresses and any information that the editors were able to glean for some 1300 centers.

Although the only category in this directory is Centers, the publishers hope to expand future editions to include as many activities as possible: artists, bookshops, computer services, filmmakers, journals, libraries, newspapers, printers, publishers, schools, typesetters, etc. I hope that our lABS membership is kept informed, so that efforts can be strengthened instead of duplicated. (l am thinking offhand ofthe efforts by Bruce Burrill, Jamie Hubbard, Alan Sponberg, Richard Gard, John Carter, Robert Miller, etc., just in the area of computers). If this project can be kept coordinated, and the common goal of service can be remembered, I have great hope for it. Maybe soon we will be able to answer those phone calls happily, knowing that someone has taken the trouble to put together a solid reference book that is accurate and answers the academically mixed questions we in the field are constantly asked to answer.

Rena Haggarty

Mr. Bruce Burrill Dept. of S. Asian Studies 1244 Van HiseHall University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 53706

Prof. Janet Gyatso Institute for the Advanced

Studies of World Religions Melville Memorial Library,

5th Floor SUNY at Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY 11794

Prof. Gerard Fussman Clois de Vanneaux 1, rue de Bouvreuils 67100 Strasbourg FRANCE

Prof. Bruce Cameron Hall Religion Department College of William and Mary Williamsburg, VA 23185

Ms. Rena Haggarty Dept. of S. Asian Studies 1244 Van Hise Hall University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 53706

A.W. Hanson-Barber 3975 Pleasant View Drive Middleton, WI 53562

Prof. Richard Hayes Religious Studies University of Toronto Mississauga, Ontario CANADA L5L lC6

Prof. Steven Heine Religious Studies Dept. Villanova University Villanova, PA 19085

CONTRIB UTORS

191

Prof. Jeffrey Hopkins Dept. of Religious Studies Cocke Hall University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22134

Prof. Shohei Ichimura 5236 22nd, N.E. #2 Seattle, WA 98105

Prof. John Jorgensen Dept. of Oriental Languages University of California at

Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90024

Prof. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. Dept. of Religion Middlebury College Middlebury, VT 05753

Dr. Vijitha Rajapakse 35950 Timberlane Dr. Solon, OH 44139

Mr. Cyrus Stearns Dept. of Asian Languages

and Literature DS-21 University of Washington Seattle, W A 98195

Dr. Dale Allen Todaro 30-86 49th Street Long Island City, NY 11103

Prof. Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp Institute fur Indische Philologie

und Kunstgeschichte Konigen-Luise-Strasse 34a D-I000Berlin 33 WEST GERMANY

Mr. William Waldron Dept. of S. Asian Studies 1244 Van Hise Hall University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 53706

JIABS 9-2

Documents

Transcript of JIABS 9-2